Wahrheit

(Truth)

CHAPTER 20: ☗

Soft grunts coupled with the loud pounding of feet and fists on a punching bag filled the practice room where Mai trained. She was alone for the morning, opting to spend her day-off in the office instead of at home. Yesterday’s events still played out vividly in her head, and each of her strikes progressively increased in strength as she remembered the assassin Junho had called Ayame.

Sweat dripped down her face and she tossed her head to the side to propel the moisture away. The lighter feeling of not having her long pony-tail swinging in her face unsettled her. That same morning, Mai had her hair trimmed into an angled pixie cut, shorter at the back and much longer at the front. It was more of an effort to salvage what was left of the cut off braid. Again, her hand unconsciously flew to the back of her head. The rough pads of her handwrap grazed her bare nape and she sighed. Blowing away the longer strands that framed her face, Mai rolled her shoulders to begin her training again.

Her arms were covered in slight abrasions she didn’t notice during the fight. Only until after they had returned to the ambulances in front of the building did Junho take her aside to have them dressed. Her worst injury from yesterday’s first engagement with the deadly assassin was a cut on the side of her neck. It didn’t hurt as much anymore, but Mai was now wary of it. Had the cut be any deeper, she would have probably bled out just as much as the other.

She bounced on the balls of her feet and kicked hard with a powerful roundhouse. The bag swung around violently on the chain suspending it from the ceiling, and she slowed it with both her hands. Puffing out a breath, Mai was more than certain that if she hadn’t been lucky enough to have found her target’s weak spot, their fight would have lasted much longer than it had. The assassin didn’t seem to be taking her seriously either, at least not in the injured state she was in. This irked her more than she liked. If anything, not being taken seriously was the worst thing she could think of being done to her.

The double doors swung open, and in came Junho with a large cup of what appeared to be an energy drink in one hand, and his digital tablet in the other. He took one look at her and boredly returned his eyes to his monitor. “Mai, please wear a shirt,” he said, dropping down on the couch.

Mai rolled her eyes. “I am wearing one,” she replied, referring to the combat sports bra she wore. She stepped away from the blue and red mats lining the training floor and plopped down next to him. Reaching out, she snatched his drink away and peered into the monitor.

On the screen was yesterday’s surveillance tapes, and Mai watched intently at the moving figures in the elevators. “What did Fuu say?” she asked, taking a sip of the purple drink.

“She’s still filtering out the tapes from the Weather Station. Captain expects us to have some kind of report from the crime lab before reporting later on. Are you coming? It’s supposed to be your day-off.”

“It’s not like I have anything else to do,” Mai answered in an offhand manner, but Junho knew she was agitated by yesterday’s run-in. “Did you figure out who they were?”

Junho shook his head. “I’m still waiting for whatever the Station can get me.”

Mai leaned back, a little disturbed. The Weather Station was the Force’s sector-wide surveillance system. The whole of NeoSeoul was being watched as they spoke, and Mai shuddered inwardly at what kinds of things station personnel saw everyday.

Junho watched the surveillance videos from the elevators closely. There were only two units in the whole building, and he had already finished the other one before coming into the practice room. He meant to do some long bow exercises, but his mind was far from calm, haunted as it was from startling amber eyes. It nagged at him and his memory. Ayame, he had called her, but he questioned himself and the possibility that she truly was who he thought she was.

It had been years, almost eight to be exact, since he last heard and saw of her. Of her face and eyes he could be certain, but Ayame an assassin? He shook his head to clear it from these thoughts. He only knew of one other way to prove her identity, and he realized he had the chance yesterday though the thought hadn’t crossed his mind then.

“That’s her.”

Mai’s voice brought his attention back to the screen. “She stopped at the twelfth floor,” he stated, glancing at the number indicated at the bottom. “What’s on the twelfth floor?”

“You’re supposed to know, remember?” Mai replied, surprised Junho even asked the question. “I haven’t gone over the files yet because you said you’ll take the logistics and I’ll go over the evidence with the crime lab.” She was tempted to ask him what was wrong with him, but Mai already knew. Whoever this Ayame was, she was going to make things very complicated and Mai hoped Junho was mistaken. “So we have her inside the building. Why just her though? Where were the other two? Why were they even there?”

Junho didn’t answer Mai’s questions. His mind was boggled by the fact that he even found Ayame. His brain couldn’t seem to grasp that she had become a target. Granted he wasn’t sure of her identity just yet. He pulled the list of building tenants, highlighted in yellow on the document was the name Choi Zara. “We only have one high-profile tenant, and she lives on the twelfth floor. What would they want from a scientist?”

“They’ve been targeting scientists lately. I still can’t figure out why. What do Hu Fengmin and Zara Choi have in common? What does Eric Mun have to do with all this?”

Her train of thought was cut short when the double doors slammed open, and a cacophony of voices reached their ears. Five men entered the gym and headed straight for the fighting ring at the center of the room. “Who’re they?” she asked.

“Special Ops,” Junho answered, twisting in his seat to get a better view. “Seulong and Taec were talking about them. They’re here for the evals too. Higher ups are also coming in. Captain’s more than a little worried. I haven’t seen him smile in days.”

Mai sighed audibly. “Where are the others? We need to get some training done. It’s not like we’re the only tactical combatants on the unit. Where’s the Inspector, Taecyeon? Seulong?”

“Seulong says he’s at the lab working on Explosive X-point-two. Taec is harassing the Weather Station personnel so he and Fuu can finally work on something. I told you, Captain’s meeting with the Chief and the Army General. There’s too much happening this week.”

Mai kept her attention on the five men in the ring. Two of them, the tallest one with almost white hair, and the other with short black hair that lay flat were already rolling the strips of cloth on their knuckles, both laughing as they jibed at each other. The shortest of them leaned his elbows against the ropes surrounding the raised platform. He looked at them half-bored and half-interested as the other two next to him chatted animatedly. Mai’s eyes settled momentarily on the one with a mohawk, before travelling right. “Daesung?”

“You...know them?” Junho asked, turning slightly towards his companion.

“Yeah, well, one of them.” Mai stood from her seat and approached the ring. Cheers were loud even with only three people. Junho followed Mai, and both watched the sparring match attentively.

The two fighters slipped into the ring, both bouncing on their feet and swinging their arms to stretch them. They knocked fists and crouched into position. It was the silvery-blonde who attacked first, starting off with a few cautionary jabs.

“Tabi! Man what’s wrong with you? Hit him hard so we can all go and eat! I’m hungry!” said the one leaning onto the ropes. The one they referred to as Tabi, the silvery-blonde rolled his eyes and took a step forward.

To this, his opponent visibly cringed. “Not too close!” he whined.

Mai studied both fighters. The taller man crouched low and bent his knees, protecting his core. There were a number of styles that used this fighting stance, but Mai couldn’t figure out which one he used. The other, however, stood with his fists covering his face, every once in a while he would peek out from the sides, but he didn’t attack.

“Yo, Seungri, just kick him so we can get this over with! It’s almost lunch.”

Seungri turned to the guy with the mohawk. “Youngbae, you want to switch?” he rolled his forefingers around each other, and Mai frowned. That was not the proper way to gesture a substitution.

Daesung was laughing in his side of the ring, “You lost the rock-paper-scissors round, you deal with the consequences. Hurry up.”

Seungri pushed his lower lip forward. With a resignated sigh, he skipped forward using his back foot, throwing a kick with front foot before bringing the back knee to strike his opponent. The silvery-blonde easily sidestepped, evading the attack. His hands grabbed at the material of Seungri’s training pants, and pulled him forward before grabbing an arm and flinging him to the floor.

Another round of cheers erupted from the sides, while Seungri grumbled as he rolled on the floor. “That,” he groaned, “was not fair. No grabbing!”

“There were no rules remember!” Daesung howled in delight, jumping around Youngbae who poked his head into the ring.

“Looks like you’re paying for lunch again Seungri.”

“I’m the youngest dammit, you all should be taking care of me!”

All four elders ignored him as they rounded together next to the ring. Both fighters were now unwrapping their hands, and Mai took this moment to approach them. Junho followed hesitantly behind her and in his head, he was already running reasons why he should stop her.

Daesung looked up first, and a grin spread across his face. “Mai! I was hoping I’d see you around.”

“Daesung, what are you doing here? I didn’t know you got drafted into Special Ops,” Mai asked, skipping forwards and landing into Daesung’s hug.

“I don’t think anyone thought I would. Big evals in the next few days remember? General Yang sent us over for a case too, so we’ll be sticking around for a bit. Let me introduce you to the guys.”

Daesung waved at the others and his pointed to each one as he made introductions. “That one’s Jiyoung,” he said, pointing towards the short guy hanging on the ropes earlier. “Then Seunghyun,” The tall silvery-blonde nodded his head with a slight smirk. “Then Youngbae, and Seungri who’s buying us lunch. Wanna come?”

Seungri’s face contorted into disapproval, and Mai shook her head in response to Daesung’s invitation. “Not today. My unit has a lunch briefing.”

“Aww, that’s too bad. I’ll see you around then.” Daesung looked behind her, over to Junho, and his smile grew. “You too. Maybe we can get some time on the mats later.”

Daesung and the others waved goodbye, and Mai watched them exit the practice room. She turned back to Junho who had something akin to a scowl on his face. “What?”

Junho shook his head to dismiss the issue. “Captain should be at the office now. Let’s pass by Seulong and Fuu’s lab on the way.”

…

Changmin perused through the reports Mai sent him, they were thorough, though perhaps a little too exhaustive than what was required of her to do. He flipped through the crime scene photos, skipping over them, and instead focusing on the victim’s profiles.

He didn’t pay any attention to it on their first assignment, but it had come to badger him eventually, giving him more sleepless nights than he saw fit. Mai had mentioned the same thing in her report, though as an off the record comment on a sticky note when she passed the papers. He leaned back on his chair and ran everything in his head again. It was suspicious, but the scope was more than Changmin could imagine.

The door knobs clicked open, and one by one Schatteinheit filed in and took their respective seats. Mai and Junho both came in with boxes in their hands It appeared as if Taecyeon and Seulong had bullied the two juniors into bringing lunch. Changmin was not about to complain- Mai and Junho brought home-cooked meals, that was a reward unto itself. Taecyeon and Seulong’s reprimand would have to come in at some other time, and it may even include some secret congratulating. Seulong soon came in, and behind him was Taecyeon who did not come in empty-handed. In his hands were another batch of rice cakes from his fiancee. This time Fuu joined them, taking her table on the front row and sandwiching Mai in between her and Taecyeon. Changmin’s thoughts took a pessimistic turn. Wooyoung was the last to arrive and wordlessly took his seat. The captain took this as his cue to begin. Mai passed out the lunch boxes, and he brought out his files. All this good fortune could not possibly foreshadow an impeding doom, would it?

“Mai and Junho gathered all the intel we have from the crime labs and the medical examiner’s office. Taec and Fuu ran all the tapes from the Station. We have everything we need, why can’t we still take these guys down?”

Mai dropped her gaze, she had yet to tell Changmin that she and Junho had engaged the assassins yesterday. “The evidence is inconclusive. We’ve asked about DNA, blood samples, fingerprints, everything concerning the Tony Ahn Case, Andy Lee, the Beast killings, then recently Dr. Hu and Eric Mun. Even Detectives Lee Minwoo and Park Junjin had been connected to one of them.

“Blood, DNA, fingerprints, they’ve all been found one way or another, but all the evidence has been compromised. Blood baths are no help at all, DNA showed no matches to the system or if they did they all came back to those of the victims. Fingerprints were either smudges and even if we did find any, there would be too many to isolate and trace.”

Changmin rubbed his face with his hand. “We’re not getting anywhere. Taec, Fuu, please tell me you found something?”

“We did find something, but it doesn’t say much. The White Tiger laboratories had several surveillance tapes, but most were blurred. We tried clearing them up, but the technology isn’t just enough right now. What we need is an actual visual.” Fuu replied, adjusting her round glasses up her nose.

Junho bore his eyes into Mai’s back. It was unlike her not to report engaging the assassins. He was uncertain how to bring it up, and he hoped Mai was just waiting for the proper moment to address the issue. The clock ticked by, but still nothing.

“For now we need to put this case on hold for a few days. General Yang Hyunsuk is coming for a visit, and Chief Lee Sooman and Asst. Chief Park Jinyoung are all going to be there during the evaluations. This is not your ordinary test. I need you all to be at top condition. They say it’s not a competition, but with the General’s special unit in, I need you to match up to them.”

Seulong gulped audibly. “Are you sure? Because, you know, we’re this little unit off the records.”

“Doing good means we get to be taken seriously. So far all our cases have gone bust,” Changmin answered, eyeing Seulong steadily. “We’ll meet after shift to work on our strategies.”

The room fell silent immediately and an awkward air surrounded Schatteinheit. The schedule alone felt heavy in Changmin’s hands, and simply thinking about it made him weary. If he were to be rough on his unit, then they couldn’t afford to push back their cases for even a day, and achieve less than record time for the practical evaluations.

“Hey Mai,” Seulong suddenly said, staring closely at the back of Mai’s head. “What happened to your hair?”

Mai huffed and turned to Changmin. “Sir, Junho and I, we actually came across our targets.”