"I am Kang."

You froze and your eyes widened in fear as Hyunwoo, or Kang, stood up straight and walked back to his desk.

"And the plot thickens," he chuckled and shook his head with an ironic smile as he collected the samples of your blood.

You swallowed hard and your mouth started to develop a bad taste. You tried to keep your expression blank, but you could tell that your fear was starting to show.

"I'll be back later," he patted you on the head and smirked down at you when he saw you flinch, "And don't try too hard to escape, you wouldn’t want your pretty little wrists to get hurt, right?" he laughed as he walked out of the room.

You bit down on your lip and closed your eyes as he slammed the door shut and locked it from the outside.

---

 "Hey, have you seen Miyoung?" Suho asked Chen when he entered the basement.

Chen glanced up at him and shook his head.

Baekhyun angled his head towards the leader, his eyes still on the screen and his fingers still pressing buttons of the remote in his hands, "Did you check -"

"Yes, I checked her bedroom," Suho sharply cut him off and started to pace, "And the living room and the laundry room and the library and the communication room and the bathrooms and every single one of your rooms."

Suho's head snapped up when the door opened but his shoulders sagged when he saw Luhan bounce into the room.

"Where is she?!" Suho yelled in frustration and threw himself onto the couch.

"You can't find Miyoung?" Luhan raised his eyebrows.

"No, have you seen her?" Suho looked up at the boy and sighed when he shook his head sadly.

"Do you think she was taken again?" Chen asked from his seat on the floor next to Baekhyun.

The room went quiet after Chen and Baekhyun paused the video game that they were playing and turned their attention to the distraught boy laying on the couch.

"I don't know, it's weird though," Suho sat up and leaned his elbows on his knees, "The first time she was taken, her room was all messed up, like she was struggling and fighting back. But this time, there're no signs of a struggle at all. Everything in the house is exactly like how it was yesterday. Nothing's broken or damaged and the only missing is Miyoung."

Luhan puffed his cheeks as the two other boys furrowed their eyebrows in thought. Suho ran his hands through his hair and rubbed his face, trying to calm himself down and think about everything rationally before he started to panic.

The boys all looked up when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The door opened to reveal a frantic Lay.

"Guys, communication room. Now," he ordered quickly before running back up the stairs.

The boys glanced at each other before following the healer's trail.

"Wait, is this about Miyoung?" Suho asked when he fell in step with Lay as they entered the foyer.

Lay stayed silent, only giving him a worried look.

"Oh, god," Suho breathed and sprinted up the steps to the second floor.

He flew the door to the communication room open and looked around at the other Guardians sitting inside.

"Where's Miyoung?!" he yelled, taking frantic looks at all the boys who were sitting in the room.

"She's in trouble," a voice behind him spoke up.

Suho turned around to see a woman on the giant screen staring down at him.

"What do you mean 'in trouble'?" he asked the Archangel, "Where is she?!"

She took a deep breath and dropped her eyes, "Kang has her."

Suho felt like someone had just punched him in the gut when he heard her words come out of the speakers that were set up around the room. He felt his knees give out and he would have ended up on the floor if Luhan didn't catch him from behind.

He vision blurred and he couldn't breath as Luhan walked him over to his chair.

"How do you know this?" Kris asked with an edge to his voice.

"I may have stripped her of her duties, but she's still an Angel," the Archangel said, emotionless, "I've been keeping tabs on her this whole time."

She looked away from Kris and towards Suho. Her eyes softened when she saw the boys trying to comfort one of their leaders who looked to be close to having a mental breakdown.

"You all have a lot to talk about," she said quietly to Kris, "I'll let you know if I find anything else."

"Thank you," he nodded before the screen went black.

"He's going to kill her!" Suho croaked, tears starting to gather in his eyes, "She could already be dead."

"He's not going to kill her," Kris shook his head, "He'd be stupid to."

"I can't believe I let this happen again," Suho buried his face in his hands and took a labored breath.

"Hyung, it's not your fault," D.O said, "He probably had this whole thing planned out from the beginning."

Suho knew D.O was only trying to help. But his words didn't seem to make thing any better.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Kai stood up from his chair, "We can't just sit here."

"We're going to make a plan," Kris declared, "But we have to be smart about this, we're actually going up against Kang personally. And he was a Guardian once, so he knows a lot of our strategies."

The boys nodded and moved around the room, some going on computers and others pulling out files from different cabinets.

Kris walked over to Suho, who had his head bowed towards the floor, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Suho, we need you right now," Kris tried to say as gently as possible, "You're the only one who hasn't lost a game of Capture the Flag, making you the best strategist out of all of us. So you need to pull yourself together and help us think of a plan."

Suho looked up at his fellow leader, fear in his eyes.

"Do it for Miyoung," Kris said quietly, "She needs you."

Suho took a deep breath and nodded as he  stood up from his chair. Kris gave him proud smile and patted him on the shoulder before he walked over to Lay who was pulling up a blueprint of Kang's lair.

---

You were staring down at your feet blankly when the door suddenly opened.

"Brought you some food," Kang walked it with a plate in his hand.

"Thanks," you said sarcastically as he placed it on the small table next to your chair, "If only I could eat it myself."

He made a confused face at you but realized what you meant when his eyes flickered down to your hands that were still strapped down.

"Oh, well I could always feed you," he gave you smile.

 You probably would have thought it was cute a day ago, but now, his smile just churned your insides.

"I'd rather starve," you threw back and looked away from him.

Kang clenched his teeth and glared at the back of your head, "Fine, have it your way."

You bit your lip when he started to walk out of the room and turned your upper body to look at him.

"Wait!" you called as he placed his hand on the doorknob.

He looked back at you and raised his eyebrows.

"You still didn't answer my question," you said softly.

Kang took his hand off of the metal knob and walked back over to you.

"And what question was that?" he stood in front of your chair.

"Why are you doing this?" you asked, "What motive do you have? There has to be more to this than just the immortality."

"So you want to know the story," he nodded and leaned against his desk.

You nodded silently.

"Fine, I'll tell you. But I'm going to warn you now," he crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at you, "you may not like what you're about to hear." 

---

No author's note for today! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! 

~Admin Kelc