Soonyoung skipped into the breakroom with a pep in his step, lighter than a feather after a job well done. Another great day spent saving the city from evil!

He’d just gotten back from a mission downtown. Relapsed Villain zoologist ‘The ringmaster’ had entrapped civilians in the local zoo and released a rabid pack of wild animals free. Not only had he managed to get everyone to safety without a single casualty, he’d spent half a day rounding up adorable zoo creatures and breaking them from their trance. Which, honestly, he’d have done it even if they weren’t paying him to do so.

Sometimes, he really had to think of his job as a dream come true.

He turned a corner to the coffee machine, halting at the sight of a familiar silhouette, dawned in obnoxiously stiff business attire. Soonyoung backed away quietly, turning away in hopes of avoiding his hot-headed ‘pal’.

“Yo, Soonyoung! Nice work today, tiger!” His coworker patted him on the shoulder with a smile as he passed. He grinned at him, before turning around again, freezing as he found himself eye to eye with the very man he’d been avoiding.

“Seungcheol!” He greeted with an awkward smile, straightening up. “What’s new?”

Seungcheol frowned. “What’s new? Is that all you have to say to me?”

He grimaced. When he’d heard through the grapevine that Seungcheol was pissed at him, he’d made a conscious effort to avoid the boy. This way, he hoped by the time the fire had reached him, it would have cooled down a bit. If only he knew why he was pissed in the first place, this confrontation would be a lot less complicated.

Soonyoung smiled Naively. “Uh, long time no see?”

“Follow me. We need to have a talk.”

When Seungcheol walked forward, Soonyoung shuffled his feet, unsure what to do.

Seungcheol turned back, expression impatient. “Now.”

~

He twiddled his thumbs as his senior sat before him. A mug of coffee entered his vision, placed before him by Jisoo, who’s smile remained empathetic.

“Thank’s, Jisoo.” He blew at the steam, looking anywhere other than Sergeant hot-head.

Before he could take the time to relax and gather his thoughts, Seungcheol was on his , leaning forward with dark eyes. “Do you think it’s funny, Soonyoung? Am I a joke to you? Cause in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not laughing!”

He blinked, confused. “Seungcheol, I would never laugh at you.” Not to your face, at least. “Why would you think that?”

“Oh, so am I supposed to believe you did this unintentionally?”

“Did what?” he questioned, timorous.

Seungcheol tossed a phone down at the table between them, gesturing towards it as he glowered. Soonyoung recognized the device in an instant, mind wandering to the news he’d seen prior. Sure, it was shocking that Seungcheol had joined the program in the end, but it wasn’t his fault.

He raised his eyebrows, questioning. “What? Do you regret signing up?”

“It’s not a matter of regret, Soonyoung. I never ‘signed up’ willingly in the first place!” When Soonyoung eyed him with a stumped expression, Seungcheol pressed on. “You said this thing was an information brochure, not a digital contract!”

“A… Huh?” After taking a moment to register Seungcheol’s words, he snatched the phone off the table, fumbling with the device with wide eyes. “No, no, no, wait a damn second.” It lit up, flashing red warnings as Soonyoung tried to navigate it. Obviously, public information doesn’t come with a warning. Somehow… he’d ed up big time.

Seungcheol crossed his arms, huffing. “I guess I’ve caught the tiger by the tail, huh? Now explain yourself, .”

“Hey, don’t use your stupid hero quips on me! I swear, the guy who gave it to me said it was just information! I’m just as confused as you are…”

The man before him stared slack-jawed. “Are you kidding me? Well then who the hell gave it to you? I want his head on a stick.”

“One, Murder is wrong. And two…” He looked away, expression sober. “I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember?” Seungcheol deadpanned, unsure what to say. Who the hell was he supposed to throw off the balcony then?

Before he could continue his interrogation, Jisoo chipped in with an optimistic expression. “Well, it’s no big deal anymore, is it Seungcheol? We can’t cry over spilled milk, so why don’t we let this matter go?”

“Always a man of wisdom, Jisoo! I agree whole-heartedly.” He smiled, holding up his coffee cup as if sealing the remark with a toast.

Seungcheol fell back on the couch with a harrumph, headache persisting. “Easy for you two to say. You’re not the ones who have to deal with him.”

The boy perked up, smirking. “Hey, I never did hear who you got as a partner. What’s he like?”

He scoffed. “He’s a stubborn, disrespectful brat.”

“He’s only two younger than you, Seungcheol.” Jisoo chuckled. “And from what I’ve heard, the electronics’ department has taken quite a liking to him.. Plus, your popularity has soared ever since you partnered up with him!”

“You’re my assistant, aren’t you supposed to be on my side?”

Soonyoung held back his laughter with a grin. “What’s he doing with the electronic department? Isn’t he supposed to be on-call with you?”

“Yeah right, I haven’t been called in for a job in a week…”

Jisoo filled in with a humored expression. “Jihoon doesn’t have any superpowers, so he’s being overlooked by the technology team while he builds himself some tools. He’s a genius with a wrench!”

Jisoo shrinked when Seungcheol turned to him, expression apparent. His eyes were reminiscent of feeble playground jealousy, which Jisoo couldn’t help but find humorous. Though as his assistant, he had to maintain some level of unbiased professionalism.

“Jihoon?” Soonyoung quirked his head. “What was his villain name?”

Seungcheol looked to him bitterly. “Does Paladin ring a bell?”

His eyes widened. “Oh , are you serious? How the hell did they set you up with an ex-nemesis?” A wave of curiosity overwhelmed him at the mention of his name. He thought back to months prior, images of chaos sweeping through his mind. For the little time he’d been active, the Paladin had made a hell of a name for himself. Plus, he really had to wonder, was he as cute as the rumor’s implied?

Unfortunately, judging by Seungcheol’s expression, now was not the time to sate his curiosity.

“Beats me… They were way off when they said I’d be set up with someone I got along with. This kid has been nothing but a pain in my neck since day one.” The beeping of Seungcheol’s pager diverted their attention. He read the message incuriously. “Speak of the devil…”

“What’s up?” Soonyoung questioned.

He turned to Jisoo exasperatedly as he deciphered the request. Having linked pagers for long distance communication was one thing… but this was just ridiculous. “Remind me again why I’m at this guy’s beck-and-call?”

Jisoo picked up his clipboard as he prepared to depart, already used to this happening. “You’re not. Jihoon can’t do anything out of our guidelines without your permission. You just need to go and give him the thumbs-up.”

He grumbled. “How about I give him a different finger…”

His assistant shot him a look of disapproval, pressuring him to get to his feet despite his bitter mumbling.

Soonyoung shot up to follow, feeling meddlesome. “Are you going to meet him?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

He acknowledged Soonyoung with a quirk of his brow. Something about that innocent smile gave him a bad feeling.

“Can I come?”

“Why?”

Soonyoung smirked. “I’m kind of curious about the guy who’s got the mighty Sergeant Coups at his beck-and-call.”

Seungcheol rolled his eyes, too tired to convince him otherwise. “Fine.”

~

Jihoon crouched by the boot of the mannequin, face shielded by a visor as he adjusted the wires within a metal plate, sparks flying past his gloves. Music streamed through his earphones harmoniously, enticing him to hum along to velvet-soft melodies as he worked. At this point, what was once a gaudy suit of useless accessories, was now officially a product of his own. Given the top-notch materials of Mansae’s technology department, and all the money he needed to fund his creativity, he’d churned out something seriously knock-out. He wished he could trash the base of his costume altogether, but unfortunately, Mansae wasn’t going to allow him to go against the aesthetic they’d assigned to him.

He’d kept his partners abilities in mind during creation, and after hundreds of trashed idea’s, he’d blueprinted the perfect sidekick suit. Sergeant Coups had super-strength, flight, speed, and agility. Basically, he was perfect in any hand-to-hand combat situation. Therefore, Jihoon decided it was best to fill in the blanks his partner left, and focused on building up long-distance abilities. Though, with the addition of a strength-enhancing exoskeleton lining the inside of the suit, his hand-to-hand wouldn’t be anything for bad guys to laugh at.

Most of his designs and ideas were shot down without discussion in the beginning, cause of safety concerns or some like that. But luckily, Jihoon had found a loop-hole to his troubles. Apparently, if your partner is Sergeant-ing-Coups, you have some room to bend the rules.

A foot nudged him in the back where he was squatting. Jihoon twisted around, pulling his visor off as he faced his partner, wiping sweat and oil away from his forehead.

“What do you need now?” Seungcheol crossed his arms, looking annoyed as usual.

Jihoon simply smiled, rustling through the papers scattered throughout the floor until he found the one he was searching for, holding the sketch towards Seungcheol with an optimistic glimmer in his eyes.

He snatched the paper up, reading through details with a sigh.

“Are these… grenades?” Sergeant asked, dubious.

Jihoon stood up, pulling off his gloves to elaborate. “They’re not just grenades! They’re voice-activated, multifunctional, and remote-controlled Hoon bombs. I can make them stick to any surface, control the size and effect of the explosion, and set them to time-down. I already made the first batch, but the team turned them down..”

Jisoo leaned forward, examining the blueprints with a nervous smile. This was… definitely against the rules.

“Permission denied.” Seungcheol tossed the paper, leaving Jihoon stumbling to grab it-mid-air.

Jihoon lunged forward to stop him before he could turn, frowning stubbornly. “Why not?”

“It’s a danger to the public. What if innocent people get caught up in your pyro-mania?”

“Obviously I’ve taken that into consideration.” He huffed, not budging despite being flicked away like a mosquito. “I have complete and utter control on the size and severity of the explosions. They also come with options other than fire-power. There’s non-lethal settings like sleeping gas and logic bombs.”

“If you up, you know I’m the one in the doghouse, right?” Seungcheol retorted, crossing his arms “And in what situation would you need a logic bomb?”

Jihoon smiled confidently, not backing down. “Of course, I’m aware. But I guarantee these are vital for my assistance to you.”

This was the only guy in the entire building who would hear Sergeant Coups say no, and still try to put up a fight. Seungcheol huffed, far too tired to persist. “Fine. But this is the last one I sign for you. Aren’t you almost done?”

“I am, there’s only a few minor additives left. I can start working basically whenever.”

Jihoon smirked as Seungcheol got to work signing permit papers. Although he may have crushed quite a few chances to work on ‘getting closer’ to the man, at least he’d be able to hold his own when they start working together. Maybe his fighting abilities would work better than his social ones.

He realized after a moment, that there was a new face hovering over them. Jisoo nudged Seungcheol in reminder, prompting him to acknowledge the stranger who stood staring at Jihoon like he was an animal at the zoo.

“Soonyoung, this is Private Hoon.” Sergeant spoke without looking, oblivious to Jihoon’s stormy expression.

Jihoon stifled the anger he felt riling up. That name was so ing stupid, and Sergeant stupider knew he hated it. He faced the guy with a sigh. “Just call me Jihoon.”

The boy stepped forward with an outstretched hand and a bright smile. “So, you’re the Paladin I heard so much about! The rumors really didn’t lie, huh?”

“Oh… Uh, yeah?” He blinked in surprise as he returned the shake. He hadn’t heard anyone call him that in a while, besides Seungcheol. The guys here tended to avoid talking about his villainous past. Judging by his enthusiasm, he had to wonder which rumors he was referring to.

“You can call me Soonyoung! Me and Seungcheol are pretty high on the ladder, but don’t worry about addressing me formally.” He backed away from Jihoon and turned, raising his hands up and striking the air as if his hand were claws. “Do you recognize me?”

Jihoon squinted. Judging by the attitude, he must be a superhero. And although He held some confidence in his knowledge of the Mansae staff, he honestly didn’t have a clue who he was. Was there a bigshot on the team who looked like this? Blonde hair, Sharp eyes, a friendly face…

As Jihoon’s eyes raked over him, Soonyoung lowered his hands, feeling shy. “What if I do this?” he struck another pose, claws out again. “Black yellow and white, I’m not backing down without a fight! It’s Horangi!”

“Horangi?” Jihoon looked him up and down with a curious hum. “But… you’re human? Are you a shapeshifter?”

“Bingo! I can only transform into a tiger, though.” He held his nose up, feeling smug.

Jihoon examined his face with a curious glimmer. He could… turn in to a tiger? Just whenever?

Just as he was building up the courage to ask, Seungcheol stepped between them, passing Jihoon the finished papers before turning to the door. “That’s it, right? We’re leaving.”

before he could drag Soonyoung away, Jihoon was tugging at the boys sleeve, staring up with round eyes. He mustered up some courage, speaking determinedly. “Can I watch you transform?”

“Soonyoung’s not gonna waste his powers just to-“

In the midst of his confident claims, a wave of yellow light had burst from Soonyoungs figure, and in a flash, his silhouette was morphing into that of a humanoid Tiger. He struck his trademark pose, prompting Seungcheol to shake his head at him.

Jihoon jumped forward, brushing his hand over the striped fur along his face, tugging at his ears, and patting velvet-soft whiskered cheeks. Jihoon hated to admit it, but he had a soft spot for cats. And it’s not like you run into a walking, talking tiger every day.

“Are you serious, Soonyoung?” Seungcheol ran a hand down his face in disbelief.

Soonyoung shrugged. “How could I say no when he asked so kindly?” He looked off to a corner as the boy fussed over him with fascination, heart thumping unexpectedly. Did he realize how close he was?

After a moment of hesitation, Soonyoung was back to his human form, backing away with a shy expression. “I’m done work for today anyways.”

Seungcheol sighed. “You still shouldn’t waste you powers like that. What if there was an emergency?”

“It’s not like I could help even if there was. I gotta recharge, you know?”

Seungcheol shook his head, turning to leave. This time, Soonyoung and Jisoo followed him without protest.

Jihoon turned back to his work as his excitement sizzled. A regular human was much less interesting to him. He shut the panel on the boot he’d been working on, smirking. All he needed to do now was build in some kind of jumping, flying mechanism. He wasn’t gonna be able to keep up if he was stuck to the ground while the sergeant soared.

He peeked behind at the manic crashing against the door, watching as a man in a suit huffed to catch his breath. “Soonyoung! Thank god I found you, there’s an emergency!”

Soonyoung froze. You’ve to be kidding…

“Pheroman is calling for backup! He’s not going to be able to hold out much longer, and it seems the perpetrator is targeting an important foreign diplomat. Can you go?”

Soonyoung gaped, ruffling his hair nervously. “, is there no one else available? I can’t transform again today…”

“I’ll go.” Seungcheol stepped up, pulling off his suit to reveal the uniform beneath without hesitation.

“But… aren’t you on probation?” The man asked, nervous.

“You need someone to go, and I’m available, is that a problem?”

The man shrunk under his gaze, avoiding his eyes as he stepped down. “No Sir, I mean Sergeant.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened in realization. Oh , if Sergeant’s going, he’s going too, right?

As Jihoon hopped to the corner to pull on his suit, Seungcheol moved to leave, stopping before the door as Jisoo jumped in front of him.

“Seungcheol, you can’t go without Jihoon.”

“He’s not even ready yet!”

“I’m ready!” Jihoon ran over as he clipped a belt of grenades to the side of his suit, stumbling to follow.

Seungcheol turned to him with a huff, walking past Soonyoung’s assistant as he spoke. “Send me the details. Sergeant Coups and Private Hoon are on their way.”

~

Seungcheol flashed through the space of the hallway in the blink of an eye, halting just before the emergency exit before blasting off. He shot his head back to Jihoon, who was wasting his energy trying to catch up on foot.

With a huff of annoyance, he was back in front of the boy, blue eyes staring impatiently. “I thought you said you were ready?”

Jihoon rolled his eyes. “I’m ready where it counts. I just haven’t finished the boots yet…”

He thought for a moment, eyeing Seungcheol’s arms with a sour expression. It was the last option he’d shoot for usually, but he didn’t have time to be thinking about his own fleeting dignity at the moment.

Jihoon huffed, raising his arms towards the Sergeant determinedly. “Carry me.”

“What? Hell no.”

“Are you going to argue with me while there are people in danger? I said Carry me damnit!”

Seungcheol glared. He was right, there was no point in wasting time. He’d just have to fly fast enough that nobody would see them… The last thing he needed was more unwanted attention from the press. He grabbed Jihoon by the waist, holding him firm in his arms as he flew through the emergency exit, soaring through the air as he watched his surroundings with a trained eye. The sight of smoke rising to the sky had him bee-lining to the center of town, landing on the top of a nearby building to scout the situation.

When he turned his head, he was nose to nose with Jihoon, who’s hair was mussed about in every direction, looking absolutely scandalized.

“A warning would have been nice!” He frowned, brushing at his hair with gloved fingertips.

“It was your idea, don’t act surprised.” Seungcheol turned away, ignoring the jump in his chest as he watched the fight from afar. His pager beeped after a moment, feeding him information on the situation before them. It seemed to be a new villain, so the information they had was scarce. Either way, Seungcheol could handle them.

“Get in character, were going in.”

“Shouldn’t we have a game plan?” Jihoon narrowed in on the villain in question, who appeared to have Pheroman backed into a tight corner. He remembered facing him in the past, so he knew better than anyone why he was at such a disadvantage. The villain in question wore a freaking gas mask.

“There’s no time.” He pointed over to the roof of city hall “I’m going to drop you on that building, sit tight, keep your mouth shut, and stay out of my way until it’s over.”

Jihoon smirked, wheels turning as he thought. There was no way he was sitting back and doing nothing. He was going to prove himself useful to this stiff son of a . “Whatever, let’s just go.”

In a flash of cyan light, the two of them were on the roof, noticed immediately by the crowd of people surrounding the fight. Sergeant struck his usual hands-on-hips pose, waving to the crowd which cheered upon his arrival. Jihoon followed his lead, smiling hesitantly.

“Have no fear! I’ve come to turn the tables to the side of good, criminal scum.”

The mask adorned villain turned to them; eyes squinted to suggest that he was smiling beneath his face-covering. He wore a full body, pitch-black chemical suit, so Jihoon could only guess he’d based his entire villainous persona off whatever gas-related powers he possessed. Really, could you get any less original?

The man dropped Pheroman, who appeared to be beaten up quite badly. Behind him, laid an unconscious foreigner, who Jihoon recognized to be an important diplomat from the Philippines, who’d only recently come to Korea for a luncheon meeting. Obviously, this was going to be a sensitive situation to handle.

“Well, if it isn’t Sergeant Coups and his new pet!” He stared up at Jihoon with a smug expression, voice taunting. “Oh Paladin, look how far you’ve fallen from greatness.”

Jihoon scoffed. “Yeah? Well, who the hell are you?” As an elbow jabbed into his side, he turned to Seungcheol, who was staring down at him with eyes that said ‘didn’t I tell you to keep your mouth shut?’ Jihoon sighed, altering the tone of his voice to match up with Seungcheol’s goody-goody heroism act. “Uh, that’s Private Hoon to you, criminal scum!”

“Ah yes, Private Hoon, was it? I’m surprised they didn’t outright name you Robin Hood, since they’re so keen on pushing your misunderstood antihero rhetoric. So, how does it feel being Mansae’s corporal slave?”

Sergeant held his smile, but it was obvious he was fed up with the conversation. “Enough of the small talk. Why don’t we exchange fists for a bit and test if your confidence is warranted?”

The man smirked, crouching into a readying stance as he reached into his pockets. But before Sergeant could rain down in a fury of fists, Pheroman was speaking up in a panicked voice.

“Wait! He has a detonator!”

The crowd gasped, backing away in shock. Jihoon focused his eyes on the villain’s hands, one of which held a small black device. He supposed anyone confident enough to challenge Sergeant Coups had to have some sort of trick up their sleeve.

The villain chuckled quietly, quickly gaining volume until he was laughing with full-blown hysteria. “That’s right! I have all of city-hall under my control. One wrong move and I’m blowing everyone here to smithereens!” He stared up at them with eyes full of confidence. “For my name is the Anarchist!”

Jihoon crossed his arms, impassive. “Really? The Anarchist? What kind of unoriginal garbage-“

Seungcheol turned to him, laying a hand on his shoulder with a smile, though it was clear to Jihoon that the man in front of him was an inch away from pushing him off the edge of the building. He spoke in a warning voice, quiet. “Hoon?”

“Right, right.” He straightened up, pointing down. “Nice try, Anarchist! Justice won’t let you get away with this! For our middle names are… Justice!”

He turned to his partner for approval, but Seungcheol simply sighed.

The Anarchist looked to be a bit disheveled. Obviously, he was expecting fear and panic when he exposed his plans, but Sergeant Dee and Private Dum seemed to be having more trouble with their chemistry than with the literal bombs he’d planted.

Sergeant adjusted his expression before turning back to the villain. “So this is your game huh, Anarchist? You plan on blowing everyone up along with you? Well, not if I can help it!”

He chuckled. “That’s right. Only I don’t plan on going down with you. I’ll be gone with the wind leaving nothing but bodies behind when I’m done!”

Jihoon cringed. Was this how he’d sounded when he was the Vulcan? How did anyone take these people seriously?

He pondered on the villain’s words for a moment, until something hit him. Why would a villain focused on terrorism wear a gas mask? Unless he had some kind of regenerative powers, he wasn’t going to be able to survive an explosion big enough to cover the entirety of town square… If his intuition was correct, then maybe, it wasn’t going to be that kind of an explosion.

“Sergeant.” He spoke quietly. “I have an idea.”

The man turned around briefly, shooting Jihoon a look of warning. “This is not the time.”

“Quit talking!” Anarchist warned. “If I see you two planning something, I’m pressing this button without hesitation.”

Seungcheol glared down at him with blue eyes, crossing his arms. This wasn’t a situation he could take care of like he normally did. He could beat him easily, but he wasn’t going to risk it. If it wasn’t a bluff, far too many people were in danger. “What do you want, Anarchist?”

The man smirked, finally garnering the desperation he yearned for. “How about you bring me this man’s worth in change?” he looked to the foreign diplomat with greedy eyes. “I think about ten Billion won should suffice.”

Sergeant exchanged an understanding glance with Pheroman, who seemed to get what was happening even without expressing it verbally. “If I give you the money will you let these good people go?”

“I guess we’ll have to see how long you take to deliver! I’m not a very patient man, Sergeant Coups.”

Jihoon looked between them with wide eyes. Seriously? We’re just going to give it to him? Did Seungcheol really not realize what was going on?

“And why should I trust that you’ll keep your word, Anarchist?”

He chuckled, eyes blaring. “I don’t think you have a choice but to trust me, Sergeant.”

Jihoon’s mind raced as they bantered, thinking. How could he distract this guy?

“How much time do we have, then?” Sergeant spoke, expression unfazed.

The anarchist poked around with his device, pointing it towards the two of them smugly. “Since I’m feeling gracious, how does five minutes sound?” After a beep, the numbers on the device began to count down.

Although many within the vicinity of the building began to run, the most important man in the situation was knocked out cold, sat next to Pheroman who was in no condition to carry him away. Seungcheol had to think fast, but what could he do to get the upper hand?

Beside him, Jihoon had stepped forward, crossing his arms over his chest with a smile. “Big mistake, Anarchist.”

“Excuse me?”

Seungcheol turned to stop him from continuing, but Jihoon brushed him away, leaning over the edge of the building with a confident stride. “You think we can’t take you down before the five minutes are up?”

Anarchist furrowed his brows, irked. “I can detonate these bombs any time I want to, so don’t try to pull any funny-business, Robin Hood.”

Seungcheol looked up to the skyline, where a news drone was recording their every move. He couldn’t out-right tell Jihoon to shut up, not as long as the cameras were on them… But, did he realize how reckless he was being?

Jihoon looked back at him and forced a wink, as if he’d get the hint to follow along.

Although, if that was his attempt at being subtle, Seungcheol had a feeling they were about to be royally ed…

“So, what? Sergeant Coups is fast enough to get everyone to safety in the blink of an eye. Your threats are shallower than a puddle, felon!” Jihoon stared down at him as if the Anarchist were nothing but an ant on the concrete, prompting the villain to grit his teeth.

“He may be fast, but my finger is faster. Just give me the money, you bluenose pricks!”

Seungcheol pulled Jihoon back, stepping past him in an attempt to mediate. “You’ll get your money, but first you need to hand over the hostages.”

He scoffed. “You think I’m stupid? That’s not how this works, Sergeant. Money first, hostage second.”

Jihoon made a face at the villain, confidence unwavering. “Stupid is as stupid does! And you had the audacity to challenge the greatest hero in Seoul city, so I think our opinions are valid.”

“Stay out of this, Robin Hood, you’re nothing but a sidekick!” he retorted, anger rising visibly.

Jihoon ducked past his partners arm, taunting the anarchist with a grin. “How about this, Anarchist. First, give us the hostage. Second, I’m going to shove my foot up your . And Thir-mh!“

“Hoon!” Seungcheol held a hand over his mouth to stop him. But the damage was already dealt. The anarchist glared up at them, body trembling with anger.

“Shut up! If your brat of a partner doesn’t start treating me with respect, I’m painting the sidewalk with this guys guts!”

Jihoon pulled away from Seungcheol’s hand, reaching behind his back to release one of the grenades from the loop at his side, unseen by the villain below. He kicked it off the building, calling down. “Go ahead and try, Anarchist!”

It happened too quick for anyone to realize Jihoon’s intentions. Seungcheol registered the grenade below him far too late, missing it by a hair as it flew towards the three at the bottom. Upon realizing what it was, the Anarchist fumbled with the detonator, pressing the button in a panic. Jihoon watched him with a satisfied smirk.

All eyes fell on the grenade, which clinked against the concrete, rolling to a stop at the Villain’s feet, completely intact. What the hell was Jihoon thinking? Seungcheol flew in to evacuate the diplomat, stopping near the bottom when he realized…

“What? Why the isn’t it working?” The Anarchist pressed the button frantically, looking panicked as the numbers on the device glitched and sparked.

He turned up to Jihoon, who was chuckling at the sight of him. “You’re not the only one with a knack for explosions. How do you like them apples, Anarchist?”

“What are you talking about? Your bomb didn’t even go off!”

Jihoon continued with a grin. “Oh no, it did. What I threw is a logic bomb of my own creation. I’ve scrambled the connection between you and whatever bomb’s you had set up. Checkmate, er!”

“What?!”

Seungcheol coughed away his nerves, speaking up. “Seems like your greed won’t be satiated today, Anarchist.”

He turned behind him, where Sergeant Coups had Pheroman and the diplomat hoisted up in his arms, smiling confidently. He blasted off in a flash of blue, far enough from the property that they would be safe, in a way that would convince anyone watching that he’d been in on the plan all that time. Though internally, Seungcheol was manifesting a murderous vendetta.

“No… No!” The Anarchist turned back to the boy on the roof, pulling away at his gas mask and exposing the identity beneath. His eyes shun a dark shade of red, powers pulsing from his body with ripples of radiating energy. Apparently, he did have something other than bombs up his sleeve. “You’re dead, Paladin!”

The Anarchist jumped up from the ground with inhuman speed, ripping away his suit as he did so. In the second it took for him to enter his vision, Jihoon recognized what was beneath his suit to be sticks of dynamite… Which, unfortunately, wasn’t something a logic bomb could handle.

….

The Anarchist honed in on him quickly, preparing to light up and die alongside him, apparently. He sure was loyal to the terrorist concept. But, in a flash, just as his fingers had itched the trigger, Seungcheol was by his side at the speed of light, kicking the Anarchist up into the air, and jumping from the building with Jihoon in his arms. He held the boy close to him, avoiding the fiery blast by the skin of their teeth.

Jihoon dug his face into his partners chest to shield himself from the explosion, watching as bits of fabric and the Anarchist rained to the ground in a gory mess. He looked up at Seungcheol with wide eyes, arms around his neck as they hovered mid-air away from the carnage.

When Jihoon looked to him, Seungcheol was staring with wide, panicked eyes, in a way that made his heart clench. As if the man were so desperately worried for him despite himself. But in the time it took for Jihoon to focus his gaze, his expression had changed to one of pure fury.

“Are you crazy!?”

Jihoon smiled at him. “What? We won, didn’t we?”

“But you-” Seungcheol stopped, registering the incoming news drone in his peripheral vision closing in on them. He turned to the camera with a triumphant smile, patting Jihoon on the back to prompt him to do the same.

They were on the ground after a moment, taking care of press conferences and caring to the injured, before evacuating to a far-off location while the maintenance team searched the property. A multitude of camera shutters and cheers of victory later, they were back at the office.

Out of frame at last, Seungcheol had pushed Jihoon into a corner, eyes blazing. “What did I tell you?”

Jihoon looked up at him, hiding his nerves with a neutral expression. “We won, nobody died, so what’s the big deal?”

“You were way too rash! What if your logic bomb had failed? People would have died, Jihoon!” His expression was serious, but Jihoon found him focusing on one thing in particular. That was… the first time Seungcheol had called him by name. Usually it was ‘hey you’ or ‘paladin’ or usually just ‘private ing Hoon.’

Jihoon leaned back into the wall, matching his partner with a stoic gaze. “It wasn’t a bomb, Seungcheol.”

“Huh?”

“I figured it out when you guys were chatting. How would he survive the explosion if he didn’t have regenerative powers? Which are rarer than a blue ing moon. And why would he wear a gas mask when his whole concept revolved around terrorism? The bombs he planted weren’t explosive. They were probably deadly gas, so even if something had gone wrong, we would have had time to evacuate the hostages.”

Seungcheol knitted his brows, disbelieving. “You can’t go risking lives based on a guess!”

“Did you have a better plan?” He countered, feeling vexed.

“We would have given him the money in exchange for the hostages, and caught him later when he tried to run away.” Seungcheol backed away, giving himself space to breathe as his eyes returned to their normal colour. “If you had just done what I said we wouldn’t be having this issue.”

“What if he’d pressed the button after you gave him the money?” Jihoon continued. “No matter what you do, there’s always a gamble. You’re always saying ‘once a villain always a villain,’ so don’t you think I’d know better than anyone how those guys think?”

Seungcheol snapped back to him. “I’m not taking advice from a criminal!”

When he looked at Jihoon, he was expecting anger. What he wasn’t expecting, was to see those familiar brown eyes round with dejection, an emotion he’d never seen in the boy until now. His usual boundless egoism was nowhere to be found. Seungcheol shrunk in his confidence, feeling a nasty pang of guilt tug at his consciousness as he struggled with his words.

“You could have let me die in the explosion.” Jihoon grumbled.

“What?”

He looked up at Seungcheol with sharp eyes, reddened in dismay. “If I wasn’t around, your life would just be so much easier, right?”

Seungcheol paused, flustered. “Wha-… Do you really think I would do that?”

Jihoon turned away, suppressing his anger as he made his way to the door. “I know you would. I’m just a criminal, after all.” Before making his leave, he turned back to Seungcheol with melancholy disdain. “Next time, don’t bother saving me. I’d rather not be indebted to a guy who hates my guts.”

“Jihoon, I-” The door shut behind him before he could muster an apology. Seungcheol pressed his forehead against the wall, clutching at his chest with a pained expression. No matter how much he disagreed with him, Seungcheol wouldn’t wish death upon anybody… especially not…

He breathed, staring down at the floor as he reflected. He was right to be angry at a subordinate for not following orders… But, had he been too harsh?

The beeping of his pager had him staring into his wrist, reading the information left by the cleanup crew.

Investigation resolved at 7:46pm, no bombs found on the premises, property sprinkler system discovered to be laced with deadly amounts of Sarin. Cleanup should be finished by morning tomorrow.

Seungcheol sighed. Though he hated to admit it, he was acting like a jerk. He’d gone through his whole career keeping his emotions bottled up for the sake of justice, so why was it that when it came to Jihoon, he always felt himself unwinding?

If this arrangement was going to work, he supposed an apology was in order.