...Should You Choose to Accept It

The IMF gets a dangerous new mission... again

“Your mission,” said the recording, “should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate a headquarters on a mountain deep within a hostile nation and retrieve the data on the Omega Project.”

“Oh man, that does not sound easy,” Steve said as the others there listened closely.

“As always,” the recording continued, “should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed…”

“Oh, I hate this part,” Steve muttered.

“…the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in ten seconds. Good luck.”

“Should we back further away?” Steve asked as he stared at the Amazon box that contained the message.

“We’re fine,” Ethan Hunt said, “what we have to do now is focus.” Smoke started coming from the Amazon box.

“Should I get a fire extinguisher?” Steve asked.

“No, it’s fine,” Ethan said as the smoke billowed behind him. “So, we all know our mission. Now let’s get prepared to—”

“No,” Steve stated, shaking his head.

“Sorry, what do you mean ‘no’?” Ethan asked.

“Well, it said there in the recording, ‘should you choose to accept it,’ so I’m not accepting it,” Steve explained.

“We have to,” Ethan said. “The world could be at stake.”

“We don’t have to,” Steve countered. “It said so right in the recording. And guess what: We’re government employees. We get paid the same whether we save the world or not — and if you want a real impossible mission, try firing a federal worker. On the other hand, think of what happens if we take the mission and fail: We get disavowed. I’m pretty sure that means no pension. It’s all downside.”

“He makes a good point, Ethan,” Luther said.

“No, he does not,” Ethan stated. “We can’t ignore our responsibility.”

“But why is this always our responsibility?” Benji asked. “Can’t we just sit one out and let other people handle things for once?”

“No!” Ethan shouted. “I need all of you on this!”

“Do you really?” Benji asked. “I’ve been meaning to bring this up for a while, but both Luther and I are tech guys. We seem kind of redundant.”

“No, I need both of you.”

“Ethan, a proper IM Force is supposed to be a leader,” Luther said, pointing at Ethan. “…a tech guy…” He pointed at himself. “…another field guy for holding rope and stuff…” He pointed at Steve. “...and a woman.” He pointed at the woman of the group, who name no one had bothered to learn. “Two tech guys is weird; one of us is usually just sitting around doing nothing. But it doesn’t matter; I think Steve is right and we should take a break this time.”

“So, how do we officially not take a mission?” Steve asked. “Is there a form or something?”

Ethan sighed, defeated. “Yeah, there is a form.” Ethan fished a form out of his back pocket and handed it to Steve.

Steve looked at the form. “Oh, you have to put in a reason for not accepting the mission.” Steve then wrote on the line while saying it aloud. “Sounded impossible.”