xIX. in action Pt.ii

 A simple wooden box exchanged hands as Chess finally convinced Alys that it would be safe with her. "I hope your leader keeps his word." Stashing the box away in her coat - it was small enough to fit - she looked at the faerie in front of her, whose lips were pulled into a thin line, eyes narrowed. "We have been hearing...news about his behaviour. The Glyph is our sacred treasure. If you lose it under your care..." 

 Alys didn't need to finish her sentence. The Seelie had always been extremely protective about everything they owned, from their treasures to their children. Chess didn't need a reminder about what would happen if Gemini so much as dropped the box. It was instant punishment, no excuses.

 However, the second part of her warning bothered her. "What do you mean, news about our King's behaviour?" The language of the Fey, for some reason, was the Underworlder tongue she specialised in. It had always came easier to her than the others. 

 In response, the woman hissed at her, eyes blazing a warning. "Gemini's leadership had always been a sensitive topic. Every other generation, the leader - " 

 Just before she could continue, however, a rapt knock at the door broke through her words. Chess was expecting it, but it still startled her. Alys jumped at the sound, obviously startled. Instantly, she whirled on Chess, panic obvious in her eyes. "I thought you said we'll be safe and not overheard here!" 

  "I told you there is a lesser chance," Chess corrected, unwavering calmness still on display, but mind began racing. "But also warned you beforehand that there would be CARDS agents crawling around nonetheless. HQ had already alerted me that there is a pair of human agents on our tail." 

  "I had Gemini's word that I would be safe and protected," She insisted, taking a threatening step towards Chess, who stood her ground firmly. "If you don't abide by your promise - "

  "And you did," She cut off, taking a step of her own towards Alys. Despite the other towering over herself, Chess did not budge. "Now be quiet. If the person outside hears nothing, they would go away." 

  They stood in silence facing each other, the air broken only by the sounds of breathing, while Chess continued to try and think of a way out of the situation. When the knock became more insistent, Alys became agitated. "Do you have a plan or are we just to stand and wait?" 

 The agent bit her lip, before realising they, in fact, had eyes on the situation. Turning her back to Alys and putting a hand over to muffle her words, she tapped on her earpiece, and  murmured in English, "Seo - Gossamer, you there?" 

 Seoah's voice crackled, before becoming clearer. "In standby. Why?"

 "Check the camera in the second floor of the foyer above the ballroom, outside room 2017." There was a pause as sounds of rustling came from the other side of her earpiece. "Who's outside?"

  "A woman."

 Chess continued chewing her lip. Not exactly useful information. "Was it the same woman who tried to come after me when Celeste was singing?"

  "Not sure, I can't see her face properly."

 "Alright. Thanks." The agent waited until the white noise from HQ faded to the background, before it was muted completely, and turned back to face the faerie. 

  "Anything useful from your little conversation?" A sarcastic comment from Alys. The panic was still there in her eyes, but apparently she had recovered enough to argrue back. Well. 

  "Yes." Chess took a deep breath. "Here's what we will do. You go out of the room and rejoin Celeste in the main ballroom. Open the door before the other person could come in, so you have the upper hand. I'll stay here." 

  "What for?" The suspicion was apparent in her tone. 

  "Distraction. According to Gossamer's information, there is only one person outside. Separating the two of us means that she would have to make a choice between which of us to go after. You walking out of here would centre the target on me. I'll be ensuring you walk out of here unscathed, while Celeste can protect you." Chess' eyes flickered up to meet Alys' mismatched ones. "We would be upholding the promise made to you." 

  There was a pause as Alys processed that information. "There would be a higher chance of the Glyph being taken, then. You're forcing me to choose between my own safety and the Glyph." 

  "That is the hard choice we have to make," Chess agreed. "However, according to what you have told me, the Glyph could be rebuilt. You are a valuable asset to the Seelie King, no? Princess," She added, almost mockingly. "It would be more scandalous if the princess of the Seelie Court is captured and held." 

  "It was all thanks to the knights that I managed to walk free and deliver this to you." Alys paused. "Alright. That is the best course of action at the moment. I agree to your plan." She held her hand out, and Chess shook it. A ghost of a smile lingered on her lips. "It was great doing business with you. Stay safe, sister." 

  Sister. The Seelie never call anyone by that name, not even their own. A shiver ran down Chess' spine, and before she could question further, Alys had already her heel and headed towards the door. "I'll catch you later, then?" Reverting back to English, she spoke with a heavy accent as she opened the door, revealing the woman on the other side. "Sure," Chess responded, the silent encouragement in the other's eyes registering in her own. 

  As soon as the faerie started walking off, Chess re-directed her gaze to the woman standing in the threshold, the panic apparent in her eyes as they flitted between herself, who still remained in the room, and Alys, whose footsteps were already fading down the corridor. Her face, however, was a perfect mask. Clearing , Chess broke the tension. "May I help you with something, ma'am?" 

 "Oh!" Immediately re-arranging her panic into a startled expression. "Yes, well, I was in this room before the meeting, and I lost something." She cleared , almost as if something was preventing her from forming the right words. "Do you mind me looking around for it?" 

  "By all means," Chess gestured around at the furniture behind her, stepping aside to allow her in. As the woman closed the door, she could hear the distinct click of the lock, and immediately tensed up. Here it comes. "What are you looking for, by the way?" She continued casually, as if she hadn't heard the room being locked. "Maybe I could help you." 

 "Yes, well, I lost my fountain pen." East-Asian, likely of Korean descent, and in her mid-twenties. Chess started taking inventory of her features to recognise her in future missions. "It was a gift from my father, so it meant a lot to me." Long black hair. It was brushed back on her ear as she stooped over the couch. "It's brown with gold lining, and a gold cap. It might've dropped onto the floor somewhere." 

 "Alright." Chess dropped to her knees, pretending to look all over the burgundy carpet for the pen, while subtly sending glances to the woman next to her. "What's your name, by the way? If I may ask?" 

 "You can call me Maria." Likely a fake name. "It's really difficult to make acquaintances at meetings like these, so I really appreciate your help. What's yours?" 

 "Cheshire." Chess had no idea where that came from, but it sounded right. "Like the cat in Alice in Wonderland?" 

 "Sorry, I don't read much." Her apologetic tone played it off well. "It's a really unique name though. I'm sure I would be able to remember you." 

  "I look forward to that." A warning bell went off in her head, but it was too late. At least it wasn't her real name. She was about to take it back when Maria - whatever her actual name may be - let out a triumphant 'Aha!'. 

   "You got it?" Chess started to stand up, brushing bits of lint off her stockings.

   "Yeah, it was in the corner over there. Thanks for helping out." A sheepish smile spread her lips, and doubts began to plant themselves in Chess' mind. Is the woman really a CARDS agent? Maybe she had judged her wrong. "Do you want to take a look? It's a really nice piece."

  "Sure, if you want to." Chess was about to take a step forward with her head bent towards Maria's hands, when something went flying to her face. Registering a blade at the last second, her instincts kicked in and she dodged to the left neatly. However, Maria took advantage of that brief twist of her body, and grabbed her right arm, spinning her around so Chess' back was faciing her, and slammed her down to the ground. Before she could react, Maria had her legs pinned down with her knees, one hand still forcing her right arm behind her back, while another held a knife to . She pinned Chess' arm down with her elbow, and the agent coughed when the human pressed the blade harder against her skin. 

   "Where's the Glyph?" Maria hissed, jerking her arm back so her body arches off the ground more. When Chess choked on her own spit, she dug the blade against her skin harder. "Answer me!" 

  "Finally showing your real colours here now, are you?" The faerie rasped back. "I'm glad I didn't let my guard down. Maria." 

  "Can't have my real name floating around to let you bastards track me down easily, now, can I?" A dry chuckle against her ear. Chess struggled to free herself of the hold, but the other woman had an iron grip. "Now tell me where the Glyph is."

  "Or what, you kill me?"

  "No." The blade dug deeper into her skin, and Chess could smell her blood in the air as it opened a cut. It'll heal, she thought. Underworlders have a quicker healing rate than humans. "But we do have a great interrogation unit. I'm sure they can't wait to get a faerie on their hands."

  "I look forward to that." When a sharp pain stabbed the cut on , Chess cursed under her breath. The smell of sizzling fresh also alerted her to the likely fact that the blade was cursed. Maria stabbed her collar to the ground, and eased a little on her back, taking her elbow off her arm. Taking advantage of the ease in pressure, Chess swung her right hand back, the effect of her actions awarded with a small grunt. With her other arm free, she wretched the blade free, though was immediately restrained again.

   "Nice try," Maria was panting, but the iron grip pinning her wrists in front of her didn't loosen up. If anything, it was stronger. "But I'm trained in hand-to-hand combat." Chess couldn't see since she was face-down, but she could feel cool metal slipping around her wrists, before Maria's hold loosened. When Chess attempted to swing her hands back to hit Maria again, her wrists were jerked back by the...metal manacles wrapped around them? Maria's weight eased on her again, and the human flipped her around so she was lying on her back, facing her. Immediately, Chess opened her palm to throw a spell at her, only to find nothing coming out of her hands. The faerie snarled at the grim face staring down at her.

  "Finally showing your true colours, huh?" Chess spit at Maria, whose grim smile turned into a snarl of her own. "ing faerie scum. I'll hand you over to our interrogation agents and they'll tear you apart, limb by limb. They'll make you confess all the secrets of Gemini, and you'll end up betraying your teammates." Pinning her joined wrists down onto the ground, Maria retrieved another blade from her coat and drove it down on where her hands met, effectively restraining her hand movement. Still straddling her, she began searching her clothes, and that was when real panic hit Chess. Indeed, almost immediately Maria was able to find the commnication device that Gemini used, and watched in muted horror as she inspected it carefully, before slipping it into her own coat. Refusing to continue and look at the human putting her hands on her precious equipment, Chess threw her head back and stared at the window, hoping, praying against all forces that Celeste, or possibly even anyone else, would rescue her from this nightmare-like situation. It was extremely embarrassing and a hit to her pride to have anyone see her in such a compromising situation, but in cases like these, she knew the prioirty was not herself, but the mission. And currently, the mission was just seconds away from being taken by the goddamn human in front of her. 

  Just as Maria's fingers started to search the pocket where the weight of the Glyph's box rested against, Chess spotted a dark speck against the blinding summer light. She squinted, unsure whether her vision had went wrong due to her own hopes, and blinked. The figure was still there. 

  "C...ess. Chess, can you hear me?" Seoah's voice crackled in her ear, and suddenly there was a sense of heightened optimism within her. "Chess?" 

  "Oh, for God's sake Seoah don't ask her if she could hear or not in an emergency like this." Minkyung's impatient voice elbowed Seoah out of the way, and Chess nearly choked with relief. "His Majesty the Queen is arriving at the Palace for backup, and would be incoming in about three seconds...two seconds..."

  Crash. Just as Minkyung's voice counted down the seconds, the large windows broke apart into a thousand mini pieces as a very familiar figure came crashing through the window. Immediately, the force of the crash threw Maria off her, though Chess could feel the box containing the Glyph being plucked from her coat. Jineul came up on a kneeling position next to her, face stoic as if he didn't just fly in into the eleventh story of a grand hotel and accumulate thousands in property damage at the same time. 

  "Chess." Jineul acknowledged her with a bare nod, and she could see his staple weapon on tow next to him. Antiopa, Gemini's deadliest weapon, planted on the ground next to him as if it weighed nothing. He knelt on the ground and pulled the blade from her manacles, effectively freeing her. Chess sat up immediately, but as Jineul went to break apart her manacles, she stopped him. "Never mind me. That woman has the Glyph. Small brown box, likely in her palm. That's the priority right now."

  "I don't answer to you," The Queen merely replied, but nonetheless complied. Plucking his battleaxe off the ground, Jineul went to Maria, who was slumped over, but quickly recovering. Running over to his side as best as she could, Chess also tried to rummage for the Glyph, before the human came to and stop them. 

  Just as she had found the box and handed it to Jineul for safekeeping, however, Maria's eyes immediately flew open and she kicked Chess off her, narrowly missing the large hole on the window. The wind knocked out of her, Chess gasped as she slid down the frame, trying to regain her senses. Luckily the fey recover quickly, and in a few seconds she could make out Jineul immediately trying to mow her down with his axe.  

  "Chess." Minkyung's voice in her ear, hushed and urgent. "Get Nymphalis out of there asap. The Palace is still a human institution, whatever people might have been there. You don't want to be there to explain the wreckage away."

  "Celeste - " The faerie struggled onto her feet, distinctly hearing the sounds of metal clashing against each other while she focused on the flow of information directly feeding into her ear. 

  "She's back in Gemini HQ, having escorted Alys back. We're now making transport arrangements for the Seelie princess." That means the other CARDS agent is free to help Maria. Making that linkage in her mind, Chess cursed under her breath. It would likely be seconds before the male agent burst into the room and help his partner. 

  "Nymphalis!" She shouted, successfully catching Jineul's attention. Unfortunately, that also meant that he was distracted, and Maria landed a strike on his cheek. Bad decision. His eyes immediately flashed red as he brought his battleaxe down, which missed Maria's head but caught her right arm, amputating it instantly. She let out a guttural scream at the injury, and went down, craddling her stump. Jineul directed his attention back to Chess. "We have to go. Now."

   "There's a helicopter waiting outside," Minkyung continued. "Jump, and Jaebin will catch you."

   "Alright." Jineul hauled the axe back onto his back and secured it, Just as he started for her, a force coming from the door slammed him against the other wall, resulting in a sickening crack, but also caused a cloud of dust come billowing up. For the second time that day, Chess was thrown back by the force, and coughed from the resulting dust. Pushing herself up from the wreckage, she squinted through the dust, and could make out the outline of a man standing a slab of wood - she guessed it was the door to the room - that was likely pining Jineul down, a long weapon in hand. 

   The other CARDS agent. 

Gemini Headquarters - Emergency Command Room 
—  disclosed location; 27.7.2017

   Minkyung cursed as the video feed in front of them showed yet another new enemy emerging. "CARDS just keep coming back like bugs," She muttered, taking a swing from her whiskey glass again. Seoah could practically see the gears turning in her head as she tried to think their way out of the situation.

  "Do you want me to be over there instead of here?" Minwoo's voice broke through from behind. 

  "You might be more useful if you actually use your brain instead of yabbering away!" Minkyung snapped back, eliciting a fake surrender from their resident interrogator, before he came around and leaned on the wall next to her. 

  "We got the dirt on those two from our, ah, friend in CARDS, right? Maybe those files would contain their weaknesses." Useful, but in urgent situations like these, completely useless. Minkyung started pacing, trying to use her surgeon instincts on a situation like this. "What about our Majesty the Queen going on a rampage and summoning a storm to crash the heck out of them?" 

   "That would work if we have time. But right now, we don't. Where's Celeste?" 

   "Just finished with Alys." The actress emerged from a separate room, where the Seelie princess was still seated at. She was taking off her extensive jewelry while scanning the video screens, the frown on her face apparent from thinking. "Sadly, Minwoo's right. That's the only way we could do it. Jaebin could swoop in and help, but he's piloting that helicopter and we really are short on resources at the moment. Chess?" Minkyung stepped aside as Celeste leaned over, taking control of the central mic that they used to relay messages or orders to Chess. 

   "Yes?" Her voice came crackling over the speakers. 

   "Can you cast spells?" 

  The faerie flexed her fingers, and a small puff of purple smoke came billowing out. "Barely. The restraining spell on these things are really no joke." 

  "Do you think you can cause a distraction, at the very least?" 

  "I - yes, I think I have enough in me. It's possible that I would pass out afterwards immediately though." 

  "Good. Jaebin?" Minkyung watched in muted amazement as Celeste flipped through channels with ease, relaying orders to each of their members. Celeste, who was by trade an artist, but in emergency moments like these, where most of them were useless in, or at the very best, could only act without thinking, was the person to turn to. "Fly the helicopter closer to the window." When he objected, she cut through. "The humans won't see you. And even if they could, ignore it. Our members are the priority right now."

   The surgeon turned her gaze back onto the video screens. At the moment, the unknown man who went flying into the room was fighting Jineul - who had managed to get himself out of the wreckage - with twin katanas, and she had to admit, he was holding his ground. Maybe not fighting with ease, but at least on par with Jineul. Jineul, their best fighter. What would happen if any of the others engage that man in combat? She shuddered when remembering Jineul's stoic expression when the woman - Maria, was it - screamed when her arm was amputated by his axe. Minkyung would definitely not want to be caught in battle with someone of the same calibre. 

   And besides, fighting an opponent wielding the same weaponry as herself would be a big no. She counted on her agility to power through larger enemies, but judging from the stature of this man, he was likely as agile and lithe as her. No, Minkyung would definitely avoid being in the same battlefield as him. 

  "Minkyung?" Celeste's voice, likely laced with siren magic judging on how easily people were complying, cut through her thoughts. Immediately she whirled her head around to respond. "Prep infirmary. Seoah, go with her. Minwoo and I would take charge here."

   "Yes, ma'am!" Yes, Celeste was definitely the person best suited for being the tactician in their group. No one, not even the King, doubted her wisdom or her ability to make judgements in the heat of the moment. Even Minkyung, a trained surgeon in her own right, who had encountered endless situations like these, could not compete with the level of calmness she was displaying right now. Perhaps she was panicking in the inside, but on the outside she was definitely all business. Nodding her response, Minkyung her heel and quickly exited the room, with Seoah trailing behind her.

  Celeste was not doing well.

 As soon as Minkyung and Seoah had left the room, she could feel the tension immediately building up on her shoulders, and she looked down to see her knuckles clenching so hard they turned white.

  "You okay?" A glance to her right showed Minwoo still against the wall, and for the first time, with his hands devoid of any food or cigarette. "I saw how hard you were holding up there. Had to reassure the kids somehow."

  Celeste snorted. "Minkyung would kick you if she heard you calling her a kid."

  "That's true," He agreed. "Then again, she just needs an excuse. You see that expression she has evertime she's around me? That woman's tired of me."

  "I think everyone does need less of that stuff you sprout on a daily basis," Celeste agreed. "Say, Minwoo. Do you think they would make it back?" 

  "Oh yeah, definitely." The answer came without any hesitation whatsoever. "In one piece too. I have absolute faith in you." 

  "I'm glad you do." Celeste lowered her head, and massaged her sore temples, temporarily blocking the world out. "Because I have zero faith in myself." 

  "That's rare." She glanced at him, but there was no trace of sarcasm in his tone. "I thought you were, you know. Used to this stuff."

  Celeste bit her lip. The Gemini elders were probably keeping an eye on her right now through a hidden camera somewhere, and if she replied him truthfully, she would likely be dragged in for questioning and afterwards, punishment. "We don't really have many conflicts with other organisations as Gemini," She started carefully, sending a warning through her eyes at Minwoo, hoping he would get the hint. "It's been a long time since a...war of this kind." 

   Apparently he did, and didn't question further. Detaching himself from the wall, the interrogator leaned towards the video feed next to her. "You'd need all the help you can get, then."  

HELLO PEOPLE IT'S CHINESE NEW YEAR TOMORROW AND I HATE IT HERE

Also lemme just say this chapter took forever to edit and...boy am I glad it's done

Mainly because it's long asf and I haven't written anything that long whoops

And uh...side characters page still not yet up, but the tumblr meme page is up! Link here 

Also Celeste is NOT doing well, but does she trust Minwoo? HELL YEAH SHE DOES 

(Btw if anyone hasn't realised it yet Maria is Helena) 

And woah so much originality for that title amiright