Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

“-And then the guy threw him onto a table! And guess what! The table broke!” Baekhyun exclaimed from the front seat of the car.

There wasn’t any exchange between Kai and Ileana as he pulled her along and shoved her into a car with a waiting Chen and Baekhyun inside. Baekhyun just finished revisiting how the chaos started as they drove away. Apparently there was some verbal disagreement between the supposed crime group and some other group. What was an argument, turned into a small shove and then the fists flew and fights broke throughout the banquet hall.

“-It was almost impossible to find you in the crowd. Thank goodness for Kai’s sharp eyes though! Otherwise, I’m sure no one would have wanted to deal with the officers when they showed up.” Baekhyun continued to ramble in a fast manner, waving his arms about. Ileana glanced over at Kai, who was moodily looking out the window.

The rest of the car ride consisted of Baekhyun chattering and Chen occasionally telling him to be quiet. Baekhyun would follow his demand for a few minutes before the silence got to him and he rambled on again. Ileana and Kai waved goodbye to Baekhyun and Chen after they exited the car and stood outside of the entrance of the shop. They waved back from within the car and drove away.

Ileana turned around to face the door but Kai slipped in front of her. Her escape route was now blocked.

“Explain.” He said in a sickly monotone voice that made her jaw tense. She wanted to play dumb and tell him she didn’t know what he was talking about. Sadly, she knew he was smarter than that.

“It was nothing.” She tried, and attempted to get around Kai. Kai gripped her shoulders and stationed her to remain in front of her.

“A random man taking you away isn’t nothing. Try again.” Kai stated firmly. She knew then that she wasn’t going anywhere until she gave a satisfactory answer.

“He was just some guy who offered to take me home. I chatted with him a little on the second floor before the fight broke out. I tried to get away from him but he was stronger than I expected. I was going to wait until we were outside to give him a quick kick to the shin.” She explained, trying to look annoyed while maintaining eye contact with Kai as the words flowed from .

“And what happened to your mask?”

“The strap broke and I lost it in the crowd.” She promptly replied. Kai didn’t seem pleased with either of her answers, but there wasn’t much else he could say at that point.

“I…was worried.” He said after a few moments of silence, “I thought you got hurt or taken away.” The expression on his face made her chest ache. For a robot, he was well programed on displaying emotions.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, “But I thought I should go off and find inform-“

“I was given the task to look after you, how do you expect me to do that when you leave my sight like that?”

“I wasn’t originally going to go so far, but I found a really strong lead and followed them.” She muttered, frowning a little. Kai paused before replying.

“You should have at least told me where you were going.” Kai murmured back and opened the door, “Let’s just get in and share what we got with Sehun.”

She didn’t need to be told twice as she rushed into the doorway, finally glad the interrogation was done…for the moment.

When she entered the shop, Sehun was sitting behind the cash and was hunched over a bunch of papers with a small lamp to light his surroundings. When the door opened, he looked up and basically jumped out of his seat and rushed over to Ileana and Kai.

“Why are you guys back so early? Did something happen?” Sehun spat the words out at a mile per second.

“A fight broke out, so we left with the crowd.” Kai explained, hanging up his vest on a nearby coat rack. Sehun turned his head between Kai and Ileana frantically.

“Fight? Are you guys okay? Did you hurt yourself?” Sehun rushed over to Ileana and ran his eyes over her figure, searching for any signs of obvious injuries.

“We’re fine. It was just two groups of idiots just throwing their fists around, it wasn’t that bad.” Kai explained. But she knew he was actually toning down the actual mess they were just in. Sehun accepted the innocent white lie and glanced between the two.

“So, did you guys get anything?” Sehun asked slowly, trying hard to hide his curiosity.

“We both did.” Kai once again answered. She eyed him, curious about what he actually found out. ”Your suspicions that a crime group from Sector M is behind the upcoming war is most likely true. It’s all anyone ever talked about at the banquet. The leader of said group is unknown and just came into power recently.”

Sehun let out a long and shuddering sigh, “Okay… and you, Ileana?”

“Um, I heard basically the same thing as Kai…but one person I was eavesdropping on said they knew how they were going to start the war.” She paused for a moment, “They said something about using a crystal. But, I’m not sure-“

“The crystal?!” Sehun cut her off, shock evident on his face, “But that’s impossible! So many people have tried to find and retrieve it but no one has been successful. And even if they did, wielding that crystal could bring on a wave of….of…I can’t even imagine the damage that could be caused if it was placed into the wrong hands.” Sehun and Kai were looking troubled at best. Sehun was ruffling his hair nervously while Kai was blankly staring off into space with anxious eyes.

“Wait, what exactly is this crystal? What does it have to do with the war?” She cautiously peeped out. Sehun sharply met her eyes while exhaling.

“The crystal has the power to control EXO’s energy, the energy that every living thing on EXO filters and uses. The wielder of the crystal could manipulate energy, which in turn can manipulate the things filtering said energy. To use it in a war would leave the other side completely useless. The wielder could choose to turn people against each other, force them to think in different ways or they could just cut the energy off entirely, affectively killing anyone in a matter of seconds.” Sehun explained with his hard stare never leaving hers.

She processed the information and a shiver of terror ran through her. How could something so powerful even be created?

“But, you said it was impossible, right? No one has been able to find and use it, right?” Ileana asked, hoping to give some reassurance to them and herself.

“Both Sector M & K agreed that they would join forces to create a group that would hide and guard the crystal. Where the crystal is and what guards it has been completely kept hidden with only the group itself. So, yes, no one has been able to find and use it.” Sehun replied.

“Then we’re okay, right? I mean, what are the chances of him finding it?”

“I would have thought the same, but there’s one thing preventing me from thinking so.” Sehun looked at her dejectedly.

“What is it?”

“You.” He promptly replied, “If he didn’t succeed, then why would be you sent here?”

Silence entered the space between them along with realization hitting. Sehun was right. She was sent to EXO to prevent a war. That meant she had to prevent something that could cause the war. That exact something happens to be stopping a crime group leader from finding and using the crystal.

“I have to stop them…” She muttered, staring at the ground with fists clenched. She was offered no reply. “I’m going to do it. I’m not sure how, but I’ll do it.”

Sehun sighed in return and ruffled his hair again, “At least you’re confident. I’ll see if I can find any leads on the crystal's whereabouts. But I don’t think we can get our hopes up.” They all looked at each other anxiously. They were one step closer, one rather painful step forward too.

“If that’s all, I think it’s safe to say we should all call it a night.” Kai cut in. Sehun and Ileana nodded toward Kai. He bowed his head before walking off to the storage room.

“Oh, by the way-“ Sehun rushed over to a counter and pulled a bundle of clothing off of it. “Here. I thought you might like a change of clothes.” And he shoved the bundle into her hands.

“Thanks.” She whispered out and gave him a small smile. Sehun nodded and looked her over.

“You look good.” He said in a raspy tone.

“Thank you, you chose a wonderful dress.” She and Sehun slowly walked toward the stairs that led to his flat.

“Did you…have a little fun tonight? The dancing was okay?” Sehun asked as they climbed the stairs.

“I did have fun, but gosh I was so angry with Kai and Lay.” She pouted and pulled the stairs up when they were in the flat. Sehun raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? And why’s that?”

“Oh my goodness. First, Kai changes the damn choreography while we’re dancing. And halfway through the song, Lay shows up and starts dancing with us! I was so overwhelmed!” She huffed.

“I’m sure you did well anyways.” Sehun chuckled as they walked further into the flat.

“Oh, I gave them a taste of their own medicine all right! But they got back at me in the end.” She scowled as the ending pose flashed into her mind.

“Do tell.” Sehun said as he sat down on the couch.

“Well, I made them chase after me for a while. But when the ending came, I got trapped between them in the final pose.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “Trapped?”

“Yes trapped, Lay pressed himself against my back with an arm around my waist while Kai had my thigh hitched up on his hip. I felt like I was in the middle of a sandwich. Didn’t help that Lay decided to sniff-“

“I’m going to bed.” Sehun sharply cut her off and zoomed by her. She tilted her head, rather confused. She shrugged her shoulders and made her way to the bathroom for a nice shower. When she finished, she changed into the new clothing Sehun gave her. She was thankful he included a new change of underwear in the mix. The pants he gave her were an edgy styled leather pant and the top he gave her was a jean button up shirt with a jean material bow tied around the collar.

She took the dress and exited the bathroom. She placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch and laid down. She twidled her thumbs and closed her eyes. She quickly opened them and sat up on the couch.

Going to sleep sounded nice, but she realized that if she did, she would have to face a certain someone. And she honestly did not want to face him after the banquet incident with Kai. She didn’t even have an explanation ready.

She kept recreating scenarios for Kris in her head and she was surprised when she realized that so much time had past that sun was rising. Had she really stayed awake the entire night? Yes, the fatigue was indeed washing over her. It was too late though. It was a new day and she would just have to nap later. And of course, think of an excuse before napping. Sehun came out of his bedroom and greeted her in the living room. He whipped up some breakfast for the both of them before he departed for work.

She worked at the shop with Kai the best she could with her energy running low. She never pulled an all-nighter before, considering they never ever appealed to her. She really did like her sleep.

“-Ileana!” Kai'd shout woke her from her sleepy day dream. “Are you okay? You look really tired.”

“Yeah, I am. Don’t worry about me” She lazily smiled and continued cleaning a table.

“I wouldn’t usually worry, but you’ve been cleaning the same spot on that table for the past twenty minutes.” Kai narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. She quickly stopped her hand and looked down at the table. Had she really been cleaning it that long?

“Oh, I didn’t realize…” She mumbled as her eyelids became very heavy. She stepped away from the table and felt her sense of balance tilt. She blinked and realized that she had just fallen over and Kai caught her.

“Ileana!” Kai exclaimed, looking over her features frantically. “You are definitely not okay.”

“I’m fine!” She closed her eyes and smiled, “I’m…just…tired-“

A sharp tug and she fell onto her back. She opened her eyes and saw darkness. Damn it, I’m not ready for this! She shouted in her head. She sat up quickly and was surprised by the view.

The screen wasn’t set in the typical white room she usually met Kris in, but instead, a gloomy dark room. Within the setting was Kris with his back to her.

“You understand that you’ve caused a lot of trouble last night.” She heard Kris say in a chilling tone, “You’ve cost me a lot of time and effort. I’m afraid you’ll have to pay for it.”

“No! Please don’t! They were bad mouthing you and-”

“Silence.”

She stared at the scene before her in terrified shock. Who was this person? This wasn’t the Kris she knew.

Kris reached for something beneath his coat and pulled out a gun. He moved to the side as he attached cylinder onto the nose of the gun. She met eyes with a man tied to a chair placed in front of kris. It was one of the men from the banquet and he had tears streaming down his cheeks.

She felt tears of her own weld up in her eyes when Kris pointed the tip of the gun to the man’s forehead. The man let out a shuddering sob and with a short whistle, the man went limp in the chair with a drop of red trailing down his forehead.

“Tao, clean this up.” Kris murmured as he pulled a handkerchief from a pocket and cleaned the gun. Tao came from behind the screen and dragged the chair with the dead man in it out of two doors. Drops of blood followed them out.

When the doors closed, she felt an uncontrollable sob escape her. She quickly covered , but it was too late. Kris had turned around and saw her, with the gun still in hand.

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DUH DUH DUHHHHHHHH! Damn, I'm mean. Krissy poo ain't so nice, is he?

Anyways, still in Disney though I'm flying back tomorrow. I was going to have this out yesterday but goodness I was tired. I swear I walked an average 10km per day that I was here. (I don't work out, Imma lazy. So this makes me pass out everytime I saw a bed.)

Anyways, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TAO!! (And myself, my birthday was on the 1st ^^ We're only one day apart. I feel slightly connected.)

Tao you angry bundle of cuddling goodness. First you're all RAWWRR, which went perfect for my story:

And then you go and cry, saying how much you miss EXO-M. Do you realize how difficult it is to make you a badass in this fic when you're the most adorable kungfu panda maknae I know?

And so, we move on:

YOU ALL SCARED ME WITH THE LAST UPDATE. I got so many subscribers and commenters *sobs* You're all so wonderful. I was like; is this real? Impossible. WOW <3
I guess all I have to say is thank you so much and KEEP COMING!