At the semiconductor plant, Minhyuk and Peniel were picking their way through the maze of automated assembly machines. They moved stealthily, searching for clues while Changsub guided them through their earpieces.

 

“Changsub. How many culprits did you see going in?” Minhyuk asked.

 

“I counted five, but I’m still scanning the footage and it’s pretty chaotic with all the employees running around evacuating so I can’t tell yet if they’ve left the building or not.”

 

“Got it. Keep scanning.”

 

Minhyuk looked to Peniel.

 

“We’d better stay alert in case any of them are still here.” He whispered.

 

Peniel gave a short nod.

 

The pair kept moving until they reached the part of the plant that was used to produce ZONE Inc’s most specialized microchips. The ones which contained very minute quantities Hutazite and were usually reserved for a few select buyers.

 

Minhyuk’s brow furrowed as he surveyed the damage with a calculating eye. It was hard to believe that the attackers had targeted this part of the plant simply by coincidence.

 

“I don’t get it.” Peniel said, picking up a stray microchip from the floor. “How come they didn’t just steal the chips instead of causing all this damage?”

 

“I don’t know but I don’t like it.” Minhyuk replied darkly.

 

Minhyuk paused to think for a moment, then called to Changsub through his commlink.

 

“Changsub. Can you check the access logs for the vault where the Hutazite is stored?”

 

“Yeah give me a sec.” Came Changsub’s reply.

 

A few seconds later Changsub spoke again.

 

“I don’t see anything weird in the logs. It looks like everything’s still inside the vault.”

 

Minhyuk looked at Peniel who shrugged with an equally confused expression. He should’ve felt relieved that the small amount of Hutazite kept at the plant had remained secure but something still bothered him about the whole break in situation. It wasn’t adding up.

 

“I’m gonna go check it out.” Minhyuk said decisively. “Changsub. Can you direct us there?”

 

“Yep. Just take the hallway on the right.” Changsub instructed.

 

Minhyuk motioned for Peniel to follow and together the two made their way towards the vault.

 

When they reached their destination, Minhyuk and Peniel began to scan the area for any sign of their targets. As Peniel was checking the perimeter of the room, Minhyuk went up to the control panel next to the door of the vault and inspected it carefully. From the looks of it there appeared to be no signs of tampering or forced entry.

 

“Changsub. Keep an eye on the cameras while I check inside the vault.” Minhyuk whispered.

 

He holstered his weapon and stepped closer to the control panel. Just as he was pulling out his ZONE Inc. key card to scan at the door, there was a loud shout from Changsub through the earpiece.

 

“PENIEL! GUNMAN AT 8 O’CLOCK!”

 

Minhyuk whipped around, eyes ablaze with red energy as he sprang to Peniel’s defense and before Peniel even had time to process, Minhyuk was already knocking him out of the way.

 

“What the- “

 

Peniel’s eyes widened as he watched the bullet fly just inches away past his head.

 

Time seemed to go into slow motion for an instant, but Peniel recovered quickly and managed to draw his weapon just in time as Minhyuk flew in to disarm the man who’d shot at Peniel. Minhyuk made quick work of the attacker’s gun and began fighting with an inhuman swiftness of which only he was capable. Or so he thought.

 

The man, who was disguised in a factory worker’s uniform, seemed strangely unfazed by Minhyuk’s fleet footed movements, and took the flurry of blows with a serenely manic smile.

 

“So you really do exist. Fascinating.” He said with interest.

 

Minhyuk could’ve sworn he saw the faintest spark of red in his opponent’s eyes. Then suddenly he found his moves were being matched with an almost identical level of speed and strength.

 

 

Having been temporarily caught off guard, Minhyuk stumbled back. This was the first time he’d encountered someone else with a similar power to his, but as the other man wasn’t giving him any time to think he had no choice other than to let his fighting instinct take over. He felt a fresh rush of heat course through his veins as he drew more power from the crystal around his neck. There would be no room for mistakes this time.

 

With a fierce new focus, Minhyuk picked up the pace of the fight, darting and weaving through the steel jungle of factory equipment at a breakneck speed that was much too fast for Peniel to follow, even with the advanced weapon he was carrying.

 

Minhyuk, noticing Peniel’s confusion, shouted at him amidst the commotion.

 

“Peniel! Stay out of the way! This is too dangerous for you!” He yelled.

 

Peniel opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by Changsub through his earpiece.

 

“Guys watch out! There’s three more guys headed your way!” Changsub warned.

 

“Seriously dude? Can’t you lock the ing doors or something?!” Peniel shouted, dodging a falling tray of circuit boards as he ran for cover.

 

“It’s not that simple damnit! I’m over here watching 20 screens at once and doing my best to watch your back but I only have two eyes and ten fingers okay!” Came Changsub’s stressed voice. “Ah . There’s fourth one coming in from the other side. That’s it. I’m sending Hyunsik to get you guys out.”

 

“Tell him to hurry!!” Said Peniel.

 

Meanwhile Minhyuk, who’d lost his earpiece somewhere in the scuffle and hadn’t heard Changsub’s warning, was gaining the upper hand in his fight against his mysterious adversary.

 

Finally, Minhyuk managed to get in close enough to kick the man’s joints out from under him and slammed him down to the floor. In a flash he drew his weapon and pressed it forcefully between his opponent’s eyes which now glinted with a very noticeable red tinge.

 

“Who are you.” Minhyuk demanded.

 

The man in the factory uniform chuckled.

 

“It’s nice to finally meet you Lee Minhyuk.”

 

“How do you know who I am?”

 

“Oh I bet you’d love to know.” Said the man in a sinister tone.

 

Minhyuk’s finger inched towards the switch on his weapon that would change the default stun setting to kill, but he paused.

 

 

He withdrew his finger and settled back on the stun trigger.

 

“I’m gonna need you to answer some questions.” Minhyuk said threateningly.

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” The man replied with a sly grin.

 

“What do you- “ Minhyuk began.

 

A gunshot rang through the room and suddenly there were enemy bullets mixed with Peniel’s laser fire flying everywhere as three more men in factory uniforms entered from the main door. Not a moment later a woman also joined the fray from a side corridor.

 

With Minhyuk momentarily distracted, the red eyed man took his chance and slipped from Minhyuk’s grasp, plucking the ZONE Inc. key card from his pocket along the way. Minhyuk made a quick swipe for the card but the man darted out of his reach and made straight for the vault.

 

“! Changsub! Changsub come in! You have to deactivate my card!” Minhyuk yelled as he took off after the man.

 

Unfortunately however, Changsub could not hear Minhyuk’s command as Minhyuk hadn’t yet realized his earpiece was gone.

 

As Minhyuk chased his target to the vault, Peniel, who was struggling to fend off the other three men was screaming into his earpiece for Changsub to do something, anything, to help him stop them.

 

“Hyung! What kind of hacker are you! Can’t you do something over here?!” He shouted desperately.

 

“I’m trying something. Hold on!” Changsub said frantically.

 

All of a sudden the assembly line equipment around the room roared to life and the robotic welding arms began stabbing the air at random.

 

“Holy crap! Hyung you’re going to get us all killed.” Peniel swore.

 

“Sorry! Just hang in there I’m reprogramming them right now!” Said Changsub.

 

While all this was happening, the three men suddenly stopped shooting at Peniel and began sprinting towards the vault door where Minhyuk was now fighting the first man for the key card. Peniel was confused for a split second, but then when he saw what was happening at the vault his eyes widened.

 

“Minhyuk look out! They’re coming your way!” He called as he scrambled after the three men, trying to get a clear shot.

 

Minhyuk looked up at the sound of Peniel’s voice and cursed. With four enemies now to fight and more bullets to dodge it was going to be very difficult to keep up. One slip up from him was all these men were going to need to make a getaway with the Hutazite.

 

He fought like a firestorm in an almost frenzied state, but despite his best efforts he was beginning to feel the strain and eventually, one of the men finally managed to scan the key card.

 

“No no no this can’t be happening.” Minhyuk thought feverishly as he desperately tried to stop the men from entering the vault.

 

As the door of the vault slid open, Minhyuk felt a surge of energy from the tiny capsules of refined Hutazite inside. The other men seemed to feel it as well but instead of becoming overwhelmed like anyone else would without a protective suit, they became more energized. With renewed speed, the men snatched up the capsules and before Minhyuk could do anything they flashed out of the vault and disappeared down the corridor.

 

Minhyuk by this point was on the verge of bursting with frustration but after spending so much of his energy for one day he knew he wouldn’t have enough to go after the men in this state. He let out a string of profanities and pulled at his red hair in anger.

 

“Hyung…” Peniel said as he came out from the corner where he’d been trying to shoot from.

 

Minhyuk’s hand went to his ear, searching for his earpiece but when he didn’t find it he swore again. Peniel, upon seeing this, removed his own earpiece and handed it to Minhyuk without hesitation.

 

“Thanks.” Minhyuk said wearily.

 

He took the earpiece and put it on.

 

“Changsub.” He called.

 

“Minhyuk? Is that you?”

 

“Yes it’s me. I lost my commlink so I’m using Peniel’s.”

 

Changsub sighed on the other end of the line.

 

“Bro it looked crazy from the CCTV. What the hell happened in there and how’d you let those bastards get away?” He demanded.

 

“There were too many of them and they were all…like me…” Minhyuk trailed off, unable to believe what he was even saying.

 

“Like you? You mean they can use the Hutazite too…?” Changsub asked.

 

“Yeah. I think so.” Minhyuk said grimly.

 

“Damn. That’s bad. Like. Really bad.” Said Changsub.

 

“Obviously.” Minhyuk replied.

 

“Anyways,” He continued, “We can speculate later but right now I need you to deactivate my key card in case they try to use it somewhere else again and get a tracker on them ASAP so we can find out where their hideout is.”

 

“Roger that.” Said Changsub.

 

“Hyung. How far away is Hyunsik?” Peniel asked, leaning in close to Minhyuk’s ear to be heard over the commlink.

 

“I’ll be in the loading zone in 3 minutes.” Came Hyunsik’s voice through the device.

 

“Okay. We’ll meet you there.” Minhyuk said.

 

He removed the earpiece and handed it back to Peniel then looked around at the array of bullet holes that peppered the walls. Several of the assembly machines were now sparking dangerously and a couple were even smoking.

 

“Ilhoon is gonna be pissed isn’t he.” Peniel said nervously.

 

“Yep. This is definitely gonna cost a lot more than half a billion won.” Minhyuk agreed weakly.

 

Together, the two began to trudge through the wreckage towards the exit. But as they were about to leave, they heard a groan from under one of the conveyor belts. Minhyuk and Peniel exchanged looks then peered cautiously under the conveyor belt.

 

There, lying on the floor was a young woman. She was dressed in the same factory uniform as the other men had been, but hers was completely soaked through with blood from the bullet wound in her side.

 

Peniel gasped and immediately rushed towards the girl.

 

“Miss? Miss can you hear me?” He said, waving a hand in front of her face.

 

The girl’s head lolled to the side as she moaned something indistinguishable in response.

 

Peniel looked up at Minhyuk hopefully but Minhyuk was already shaking his head.

 

“How do we know she’s not one of them?” Minhyuk hissed.

 

“I didn’t see her shooting at me.” Peniel replied.

 

“That’s not a good enough excuse.” Minhyuk said, sternly. “Besides, it’ll already be too late for her even if we call an ambulance.”

 

“No! If we take her back to headquarters Sungjae can save her. We both know he can!” Peniel insisted. “Please hyung…even if she is one of theirs maybe she can give us some information. She could be useful.”

 

Minhyuk considered Peniel’s pleading look then gazed again at the girl on floor. She looked to be just about their age and she was admittedly quite pretty despite her pallid state of severe blood loss.

 

“Fine. We’ll take her back.” Minhyuk conceded after a moment’s thought.

 

He watched as Peniel carefully lifted the girl in his arms. There were so many things wrong with what they were about to do, bringing an outsider back to headquarters, but he knew that Eunkwang would understand. The man was too kind to leave anyone to die when they could still be saved. Even if the person in question might hold highly questionable allegiances.