The ballroom is crowded as expected; the perfect place to execute an assassination.

“Don’t forget to flirt.”

“I don’t flirt,” Solar grunts, fumbling with the unfamiliar device in her right ear, “and I hate this thing in my ear.”

“What kind of bodyguard never wore an earpiece? And flirting is one way to get information.”

Solar scoffs. “I have my own way to do that.”

A soft sigh reverberates in Solar’s ear and then, “Suit yourself.”

Finally, the device in her ear – the earpiece – falls silent.

Solar breathes a sigh of relief, thinking that she can finally focus on her own task. But not a moment later, she catches sight of her.

With a jet-black bob that looked too shiny to be real, the woman known as Hwasa looks stunning in her pearl white dress – the kind of dress that hugs her body in all the right places – and coupled with her tan skin, Hwasa reminds Solar of the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra.

“Like what you see?”

Solar’s head snaps up when she hears Hwasa’s voice in her earpiece. Her eyes are met by Hwasa’s piercing gaze – even the kohl she wears around her eyes resembles the ancient queen – and Solar can’t help but be mesmerized.

Then, Solar hears a soft laugh in her ear and finally realizes that she has been staring. Solar quickly looks away, trying to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks.

“I was studying the faces around you,” Solar gives her excuse, “don’t flatter yourself.”

“If you say so,” Hwasa chuckles, “my offer from before still stands if you’re interested.”

Earlier that morning, Hwasa had invited Solar out for drinks after their bodyguard stint is done, but Solar had refused; she couldn’t afford the distraction – and Hwasa is a distraction of epic proportion – and losing her focus means losing more than one innocent life tonight.

“I’ll have to refuse again,” Solar breathes, finally regaining her composure again, “let’s just focus on getting through tonight.”

“Too bad,” Hwasa’s voice sounds anything but regretful, “I purposely dressed up like this because I thought you had a thing for Queens.”

Solar chokes on her saliva but holds herself back from looking in Hwasa’s direction. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she wills herself to move as far away from Hwasa as possible as past memories rush into her mind, “why would you assume that?”

“It’s just a feeling-”

Hwasa’s voice is cut off by a piercing scream.

Solar swiftly makes her way through the crowd in the direction of the scream and comes upon a sobbing woman and an unconscious man.

“What’s wrong here, miss?” Solar kneels next to the woman, a comforting hand on her shoulder. “What happened to him?”

“He…he…he’s dead…” the woman sounds distraught but a moment later, she is laughing hysterically, looking up at Solar with bloodshot eyes and a wide, maniacal smile, “I. Killed. Him.”

Solar jumps back, surprised by the woman’s admission. That’s when she notices the blood on the woman’s hands, the bloodied knife on the ground and the blood on the man’s abdomen, slowly seeping through his dress shirt.

Another scream erupts from the other end of the ballroom, followed by another until everyone starts to panic and rush for the exit, fearing for their lives.

Solar has seen this before – couples killing their significant other until there is panic and chaos, distracting the masses from what is really happening.

Solar curses to herself. She should have noticed this; she should have been more focused and maybe innocent lives could have been saved.

Solar quickly gets to her feet. “Hwasa, where’s the boss?”

“!” Hwasa’s voice sounds breathless but still loud and clear in Solar’s ear. “The boss is gone.”

No!

Solar grits her teeth. She can’t let her mission be ruined by her own negligence. She needs to find the boss and fast.

Solar takes a long and deep breath. Then, she focuses her senses until she detects a faint energy that is not human somewhere outside of the ballroom.

Solar opens her eyes, her irises slowly turning silver in colour, and she rushes towards the side door that leads into the garden.

Just as Solar bursts through the door, she sees a black shadow creeping up the side of the mansion towards the rooftop.

“Hwasa,” Solar takes a deep breath and squares her shoulders, “how fast can you get to the roof?”

“A minute tops,” Hwasa replies smugly, “want to race me?”

Solar smirks. “See you there in 30 seconds.”

Solar takes off her dark blue dress jacket and her sleeveless white silk top, until she's standing there in her black sports bra and dark blue pants. Then, she grits her teeth and lets out a loud grunt as she makes a visible effort to push something out from within her. A moment later, with a loud cry, pure white feathers sprout from Solar’s back – from between her shoulder blades and just above her bra strap – and grow until they become large, bird-like wings.

Without waiting for the pain in her back to subside, Solar pushes herself off the ground and speeds up the side of the mansion towards the rooftop. She arrives there in less than a minute and hovers over the mansion, eyes scanning for the being she has been hunting down for aeons.

“What the ?!”

Solar forgets that she still has that earpiece in her ear. She looks down to see Hwasa standing on the rooftop, looking up at her with hanging wide open.

“You’re not supposed to see this,” Solar says briefly, her eyes shifting to look for her prey, “but this is an emergency. We have to save the boss no matter what.”

“R-Right,” Hwasa mumbles and starts looking around, “do you see her anywhere?”

Solar’s silver eyes shine as she activates her skill – an ability that allows her to see things that are normally invisible to the human eyes. She scans the rooftop and finally she sees two figures standing at the edge of the roof, cloaked in dark purplish energy that disguises them from the prying human eyes.

Solar blinks, deactivating her skill, and lands