IAA: Agent N

Chapter 23 - Chase

I slowed my pace as I reached the door and swung open the door. I was now in a small room with a spiral staircase that went at least five stories up. What is up with the design of this f*cking place?

I ran to the start of the staircase and looked up between the gap of the spiral. I could see Carlos' hand against the rails and his quick footsteps going further up.

I ran up the stairs with full speed, skipping a few steps along the way. I was running on anger. Rage. Bloodlust.

I'm going to get this f*cker.

I groaned in anger as I increase my speed. I heard the sound of a door slamming shut. I was getting closer. I reached the end of the staircase and I opened the door at the end.

"Oh for f*ck's sake" I cursed in anger as I entered another white hallway. I saw the back of someone's foot going into an intersection on the right about 20 meters away from me. I ran towards the intersection and as I was about to turn, I got tackled to the ground.

Hard.

"*groan*" Carlos turned me on my back and started punching me in my stomach.

I gritted my teeth and flex my abdomen muscles to try to lessen the blow. I punched him in his bloodied mouth, but he was also running on adrenaline which didn't really do much. I looked him in the eyes and it was full of insanity.

"You. B*tch. You. Ruined. Every. Thing" With each word he said, he punched me in the face. The last blow was in my jaw, which made my ears ring and eyes go dark. I spat out the metallic substance I tasted in my mouth.

He gripped my neck with his hands and pressed my neck to the ground, choking me. I could see his veins popping out and blood dripping from his mouth on my face. I gripped his hands, trying to remove them from my neck but he was too strong. The man is twice my size.

I could feel my circulation getting cut as I couldn't breath at all anymore. I started to feel pressure around my eyes and my eardrums. My arms laid helplessly on my sides as I felt myself getting weaker.

What do I do?

I can't die like this. I refuse to die like this. I've come so far. I looked into Carlos' eyes as I thoughts went to Mr. Kim.

More specifically, at what he said.

---

- 12 years ago -

After I got out of the bathroom, after the whole grown-man-trying-to-kill-me-fiasco, I saw Mr. Kim sitting on a bed in the room we were staying at.

Mr. Kim looked at me and walked towards me. He smiled and kneeled on the floor on one knee and looked at the 10-year-old me. His eyes skimmed around my body and he sighed in relief when he saw that I was fine.

"How did you feel your first mission went?" He looked at me with curiosity. I shrugged and looked at him.

"…I don't know…I kind of liked it" I smiled at him. Mr. Kim's face went from curiosity to a slight concern. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"You liked it"  He repeated.

"Yes…I want to do it again" My eyes glinted. Mr. Kim chuckled.

"Alright…I'll see what I can do..." He patted my head and shook his head in disbelief. Then he smiled and looked at me with excitement.

"We're going to have so much fun working together. This is great!" he said and briefly tickled my neck. I shoved his hand away and giggled. He chuckled and walked to his bed. I stayed where I was. His cheerful face slowly turned gloomy.

"You know...when I saw what that disgusting pig was doing to you I wanted to kill him myself. But you already took care of him" He looked back at me.

"…I do have one piece of advice" I looked at him with curiosity.

"When you're ever in a situation when you can't move or you feel helpless without a weapon…I want you to mess with their senses. Be it their smell, their sight, their taste…" I had complete focus on what he was saying.

Mr. Kim looked me in the eyes as his eyes darkened with satisfaction.

"…or their f*cking hearing"

---

'Or their f*cking hearing'. My helpless eyes looked into Carlos'. I used all the energy I had and slammed both of my hands with full power against his ears, rupturing his ear drums.

Carlos' hands immediately covered his ears making me finally gasp for the air that finally filled my lungs.

"AH!" Carlos fell to the side, writhing in pain.

I slowly leaned to my left side and laid there, with my hand rubbing my aching neck as I coughed violently. My eyes landed on Carlos. I slowly got up and hissed as I felt a sharp pain on my left side.

He must've hit me in my lower rib. I limped towards him and shoved him to the side to make him face me. I leaned towards him and smirked.

"Look at you now. A defenseless man without his men to protect him" I said to him, not sure if he can still hear me.

"…F*ck you" Carlos whispered. He raised both of his legs and shoved them hard against my torso, making me fall on my back.

"Oof" I sat up as fast as I could, but Carlos already took off running towards the intersection. I stood up and took off running after him. It was another hallway, but there was an opening instead of a door.

As I followed Carlos through the opening, I wasn't surprised at what stood in front of me. There was an entire bridge in a room without a roof with a helicopter at the end of the bridge. Luckily, there wasn't a pilot in it.

Carlos ran towards the helicopter. I increased my pace, and ran after him on the bridge. I looked down and saw that the floor was seven stories down. It would be a long fall. I kept running until I reached Carlos, and jump kicked him in his back with both of my legs, making both of us fall on the bridge.

I quickly looked around and saw a metal chain hanging from one of the rails of the bridge. I quickly went to the chain and untied it with my back facing Carlos.

Well, that was a stupid mistake.

"Aahh!!" I screamed as I felt an object penetrate the muscle on my left shoulder.