Within a few weeks, Tiffany was able to learn most of the skills required to be a Liner. Although I wasn’t able to grow as much as I could have, there was still a lot of progression on my end. Each of us still had room to improve, but time was a luxury we couldn't afford...

 

“Okay girls, we’ve already spent more time than I would have liked to, but that can’t be helped. Now, we must start making moves to set this plan into motion.”

“So, what’s first?” Tiffany asked.

“We need to find the engineer before our opposing groups can get to him…”

“That can’t be an easy thing to do if no one has been able to find him yet.” I stated.

“Well that all depends.” Mr. Hwang responded. “The last time that we spoke, he randomly name dropped a book that is in one of the libraries owned by the Liners. I believe that the key to finding his location is hidden in that book."

"Then let's go get it."

"It's not that easy, I'm afraid. The library is a hangout spot for the "new liners". From what I was able to find out, there are a lot of them. Not to mention that they're keeping an eye out for Taeyeon. Also, they potentially have an experience Middle-Liner leading them. On a positive note: They don't know Tiffany's face, and the last thing they would expect is for us to waltz right into their territory."

"So, we are going to go get it..." I reiterated.

"Hahaha yes, but we are going to do so intelligently. Tiffany's going to walk in as a distraction. While she's distracting them, Taeyeon is going to quietly sneak in and get the book."

"That doesn't sound difficult at all." Tiffany decided. "... But how exactly do you expect me to distract all of those guys... Wait, never mind, I know..."

"Alright, let's do this thing!" I hopped up and down like boxer getting pumped for a fight. The idea of going out into the field ceased to be nerve-wracking because it seemed small compared to what I had already been through and read.

"Well the library is about half-a-day away. You two will leave first thing in the morning, so you should get there late in the afternoon.  Rest up – I have some things I need to take care of before things get started. Go enjoy yourselves... And Taeyeon, remember that you need to figure out what you're going to tell your sister."

"I'll figure something out..." The realization that I would have to leave my sister, brought me back down to reality. It was hard enough for the both of us to be away from our parents, but now we would have to be separated from each other.

She won't have anybody... But I have to do this.

"I can help out, if you want." Tiffany put her hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head. "It'll be better if it's only me."

...

Haeyeon jumped through the doorway; being excited after her first day of school.

"Looks like you enjoyed your first day." Her happiness, made me feel better about things.

"Meh, it was alright." She responded, trying to hide her smile.

"Make any new friends?"

"Well my one current friend was there, and she introduced me to all of her school friends. It turns out we all like the same things, so we're going to start a group thing and..." the rest of what my sister said was somewhat of a blur as she grew more and more excited by the sentence.

It's good that she's finding a group of friends...

"Well before you go off making plans with your new friends, we're going out tonight." I cut her off.

"Oh, really? What are we going to do?" Her excitement didn't skip a step as the topics changed.

"I was thinking the movies."

"Great, I'll go get changed!" she ran upstairs. "Oh, and make sure Tiffany Unnie comes along too... I'm going to convince her to buy us ice-cream."

She's never called Tiffany, Unnie before.

...

"That movie was great!" Haeyeon shouted as we exited the theater.

"I didn't expect it to be so vulgar." I said to Tiffany

"Well you'd figure a movie named: Sunny, would be more... sunny." she responded. "It was a good movie though."

"It was..." A thought popped into my head; causing me to stare at the ground.

I'm going to miss being this carefree...

"Tae, don't worry." Tiffany said as if she could read my mind. "We'll do this again once things are back to normal." The tiny smiles made by her eyes warmed my heart and reassured me.

"...but next time I'm not buying the ice-cream!" she said loud, so Haeyeon could hear her.

My sister responded by making a silly face and sprinting towards the car.

"Well at least you were able to get your pink lemonade." I attempted to make the situation seem better than it was.

"It's not even pink lemonade." Tiffany pouted. "They were out of lemonade, so I got strawberry soda... It's not even pink... but it was the closest thing they had..."

"We'll get you some pink lemonade on the way home." I tucked my arm under hers as we headed towards the car.

...

"So when are the two of you leaving?" Haeyeon said from the backseat of the car.

"Huh?" Was the only response I could think of: at the time.

"Wait, you already know?" Tiffany asked; turning around to look at Haeyeon.

"I'm not stupid; I kind of assumed it a little while ago, but I used my spy-kit to confirm it."

Stupid spy-kit...

Tiffany looked at me as I thought of something to say.

"I'm not upset or anything. Just make sure you hurry up and bring our mom and dad back."

"Hae..."

"... And Tiffany, if she gets hurt, I'm holding you responsible."

"Don't worry about a thing." Tiffany said with complete confidence. "We'll get your parents and be back in no time."

"Good... By the way, I'm going to use your room as a hangout spot while you're gone."

"That's fine." Tiffany responded with a smile on her face. "Like I said, we're not going to be gone long, so make sure you keep it clean."

I sat there quietly; not knowing at all what to say.

 

"Unnie, don't tell me you're already psyched out before you even leave."

My sister's words caused a jolt through my body.

 

"I'm good now, thanks." I regained the enthusiasm that I had earlier in the day. "I just feel bad for whoever gets in our way..."

 

Save for our journey to find Tiffany some pink lemonade, the rest of the car ride was quiet. Each of us were stuck thinking about the reality of the situation we were in.

...

We all woke up before the sun.

I imagine it was hard for anyone to sleep.

My sister was among us as we prepared to leave for mine and Tiffany's first mission.

 

"I've set up com-links between your bracers and my PDA – we'll be able to communicate at any time..." Mr. Hwang began informing us as we packed the car.

I hadn't seen this car at the house before: It apparently was the most common car in Korea, so driving it would make us inconspicuous. The plates on it were real, but the name it was registered to was a fake one – Mr. Hwang took all of the necessary precautions to make sure that we could do our job without hiccups.

As he finished speaking, Tiffany asked her father a question.

"Dad, I have yet to see you wearing a bracer... and you mentioned that the com-link would be with your PDA. Do you not have one?"

"My bracer is in the possession of your sister." he responded. "After your mother's death..." The words stung all of us there. "... I became suspicious, so I trained your sister and insisted on the two of you going to America – to keep you safe."

Tiffany stared at the ground for some time.

"It all makes sense now." she said slowly. "Wait, so the Jung's are...!"

Mr. Hwang put his finger over his lips.

"We're officially in mission mode now, so there's no reason to mention unnecessary information."

Who are the Jungs?

...

We soon finished packing the car, and it was time for our goodbyes.

Things were not as sentimental as I would have assumed, but they still turned out well...

"Don't go out there and die." Mr. Hwang said in a stern voice. Being stern wasn't common for him, but this was his way of letting us know to take things serious.

Haeyeon walked up to me and handed me a small metal keychain with an ice-cream cone imprinted on it.

"I'm expecting that back." she said as she turned and walked towards the house. "Go, kick some !" she shouted, kicking her leg in the air.

I smiled as I put the keychain in a small pocket on my shirt.

"You ready to do this?" Tiffany asked with a smirk on her face as our eyes met.

I nodded.

"Let's go"

 

...

It's about to go down!

...

 

During the car ride, Tiffany and I received a message from her father...

*"I forgot to tell you this when we were packing the car: If you see anybody wearing the symbol of a skull and crossbones, run in the other direction. That symbol is the emblem of the Ten Demons. Do not confront them! - I cannot stress this enough. Stay safe, I know you'll do well."*

 

Tiffany pulled the car over to the side of the road and stared at me; waiting for me to say something.

I stared intently at the floor for some time.

"What should we do, Tae? Do you want tell him about your nightmare, or...?"

"Do you feel like we're going to run into them?" I asked as I raised my eyes from the floor to look at Tiffany.

"... Probably not, but I have a bad feeling about this."

"Then we should tell him – I trust your gut."

"Hmmm... That seems like a good idea initially, but he's probably going to blow it out of proportion. The whole thing is most likely a coincidence." Tiffany stated as she got back on the road and headed towards our destination.

I hope you're right...

 

...

 

We arrived in the town a lot later than we had expected. Packing took us some time, and random spurts of traffic halted our progress.

It was late enough to the point where the library was already closed, which I figured to be a good thing...

*"... But if no one is there, won't it be a lot easier to get in and out."*

*"There's no need to risk it. Chances are: The library is a front for some other business they have going on. There are probably people still in there, and if you walk in after-hours they're going to be suspicious."*

*"We should just find a hotel, and wait until tomorrow."* Tiffany joined in the conversation.

*"That's appears to be the best idea."* Her father responded. *"Remember Taeyeon, patience is key.'*

*"Yeah... I didn't even stop to think about the place still being occupied – I got a little carried away. We'll go find a hotel now."* I responded.

*"Okay, let me know if anything else comes up. Hwaiting!"*

...

 

"Ughh... I'm beat from all of that driving." Tiffany sighed as she fell to the bed.

"Even with a taking turns, it was still draining." I plopped on the bed – next to her.

We lay there for some time just relaxing. I didn't know how to approach downtime during a mission. I figured that stressing about factors that I couldn't control would be unproductive, so I chose to not really focus on anything.

"Do you think things are going to go according to plan?" Tiffany randomly asked; keeping her eyes on the ceiling.

"There's no way to tell... But I can't think of any reason why they shouldn't."

"We could just and screw things up." Tiffany laughed.

"If that were the case, I would probably die of embarrassment before anybody got the chance to kill me..."

 

...

 

We parked our car about a mile away from the library.

Tiffany walked down the sidewalk like an average citizen. She wore a long sleeve sweater to cover up her bracer, so no suspicion was drawn. I was able to stealthily get to the side of the library by blending into crowds. The long sleeves on my shirt covered the blue bracer on my left arm.

*"Are you in position yet?"* Tiffany asked through the messaging.

*"Yeah, I'm at the side of the library – just waiting for your signal."*

*"Okay, I'm heading in right now. Wish me luck."*

*"Hwaiting!"*

 

I peered around the corner of the building and was able to spot Tiffany entering the library.

 

...

 

It's been a few minutes already... How long does it take to distract a few guys?

A few seconds later, Tiffany contacted me.

 

*"Tae, you need to come see this."*

*"I'm on my way... Is anything wrong?"*

*"I'm not sure..."*

 

I quietly opened the doors of the library, and entered.

 

I instantly spotted Tiffany standing alone in the middle of the room. A scan of the room made me realize that we were the only two people in it.

 

"Where is everybody?" I asked.

"That's the thing... I looked around, and there's no one here."

What is going on?

"We shouldn't question it, let's look for the book." I stated as I began searching through the shelves for our book.

Tiffany quickly followed suit, and the two of us began searching all of shelves within the enormous library.

 

*

"Did you hear that?" I asked Tiffany

"I heard a noise, but I just thought it was you..."

 

The two of us stopped our search and looked around the library.

"I still don't see anyone..."

"Try using your bracer." Tiffany responded. "I'm still getting used to it, so I don't want to risk using mine."

 

I made my way to the middle of the library and started to slow my breathing.

"La, La, La... La, La, La, La-La." My bracer activated as I hummed the tune out loud.

I need to focus on my ears...

I consciously made an effort to put my brain's focus on my ears. As I gradually became more and more concentrated, my hearing got better and better.

*

"There it is." I pointed towards the direction of the noise, which was at the back of the library. My bracer shut itself off as I my emotions adjusted due to the discovery.

"What kind of noise was it?" Tiffany asked me as we crept towards the back.

"It was someone's breathing, but it was off... They seemed frantic."

"They must be afraid because whatever happened here... but we should be cautious, just in case."

 

Tiffany and I stepped into the back room of the library.

"It's empty." Tiffany realized as she looked around the room.

"They're in the closet." I pointed towards a door on the far side of the room.

 

The two of us approached the door.

I looked at the door and nodded to Tiffany; giving her the go-ahead to knock on the door.

*Knock, knock, knock*

 

"AHH! NO! Please don't kill me... I didn't see anything, I swear!"

 

The person on the other side of the door became erratic as soon as they heard the knocking.

 

Tiffany shot me a glance before twisting the handle and opening the door.

 

In the closet was a cowering boy around the age of sixteen. He tucked his head in his hands and began to cry as he saw our figures.

"It's okay; we're not going to hurt you." Tiffany tried to console the boy as she stepped into the closet.

He whimpered and jittered the moment Tiffany put her hand on his shoulder.

"You're going to be alright." she said in a calming voice.

As she spoke, Tiffany reached into a small bag that was looped within her belt. Out of her bag came a small green stick; most likely a part of some rare plant. Tiffany placed the stick under the boy's nose for a second before putting it back in her bag.

As the boy breathed in the aroma of the plant, his body relaxed a bit, and his heart-rate slowed. Within a few seconds, the boy was sitting up against the wall in a trance-like state.

"What did you do?" I asked Tiffany.

"I just gave him something to help his body with the trauma... I didn't expect it to work so fast."

"Can he speak when he's like this?"

"He should be able to..."

 

We sat in front of the dazed boy and started interrogating him.

 

"What happened here?"

"Some people...... They came looking for....... a book."

Tiffany and I gave each other looks as we realized that there was great chance he was speaking about the book we were searching for.

"Did you give it to them?" I asked him.

"It's not here...... Boss took it... to the factory...."

"Can you tell us where this factory is?" Tiffany spoke this time.

"Just go.... north a few miles; along this road.... you can't miss it."

That's where we need to go.

The boy suddenly propped his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

Tiffany shot me a glance as he did this. "Now, can you tell me what happened to everyone else?"

"They.... they..........." the boy's voice trailed off. Out of nowhere he grabbed Tiffany's forearm. "....Thank you for whatever you did...." He said before letting go as his body went limp.

 

"Omo!" Tiffany shouted

"Is he dead?!"

 

"zzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzz.....zzzzzzZZZZZzzzzz"

 

The two of us were able to relax once we found out that the boy had just fallen asleep, and not passed away.

 

"Let's hurry up and get that book." I didn't want whoever was behind this to take away our only lead to the engineer's whereabouts.

"Alright, give me a moment." Tiffany responded as she reached in the boy's pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and called an ambulance. "Let's put him in the main room, so they can find him."

The two of us effortlessly carried the boy into the main room and sat him on a chair in the middle. Once we were sure he wouldn't fall down, we darted out the door and headed for the factory.

 

...

 

"Do you see anybody?" Tiffany asked me as we stared down at the factory.

"There's nobody outside, but I see a backdoor we can go through."

"Are you able to tell how many people are inside?"

"The active machines inside the building are making too much noise for me to tell if anyone is inside... What's wrong? Are you having second thoughts?"

"No, I just want to form a plan or something before we go in."

"This is one of those situations where you have to create a plan on the fly. No matter what plan we go in with, we'll most likely have to make adjustments depending on the situation." I responded.

"... Something doesn't feel right to me, but I realize that we don't have much of a choice." Tiffany sprang to her feet. "Once we get in, let's use those machines to get a good vantage point, and decide what to do once we've gathered all of the information."

"Sounds like a plan."

...

Tiffany and I crept through the factory with surprising ease. The back door that we used was open, and nobody was around to notice our presence. Our situation turned from easy to suspicious once we didn't see anybody inside of the factory.

*"This is too strange... I think we should head back..."*

*"Wait, do you see that?"* Tiffany responded. *"I just saw someone's shadow moving behind that door."*

*"Is there any other way into that room?"* I asked, not wanting to walk into a trap

*"There's a little spot between those machines that I think we can squeeze through..."*

*Well, it's too late to turn back now..."*

...

The area between the machines was hot, yet chilling, at the same time. Tiffany and I were able to crawl through the small section and get a good look over the room:

 

Below us was a nearly empty room: There was a small desk in the middle, with two people – one man, the other a female – standing next to it. Another person, with a scared look on his face, was backed into a corner.

"Just get us what we asked for... You saw what happened to your friends." The woman spoke loudly towards the man in the corner.

"Why should I?!" The man shouted back. "You're going to kill me either way."

"That is true... but if you cooperate, I'll make it as painless as possible. So what is it going to be?"

The woman began messing with the two large hairpins in her hand. The hairpins had extremely sharp points, and seemed to be coated in some kind of liquid.

"Okay, okay... I'll go get it."

The man slowly made his way over to a small, broken machine. He lifted it up and brought out a small book with a wrinkled page poking out of it. As he turned around, I spotted what appeared to be a bracer on his arm.

*"I feel so torn about this situation..."* Tiffany communicated to me.

*"That guy is technically our enemy, but he's still a human... and a Liner to boot."*

*"Even considering that, you have to think about it strategically: If an established Middle-Liner is at the heels of these people, then what chance do we have?"*

*"So you want us to just sit here, and watch?"* I responded

*"No, but..."*

Tiffany was cut off as the Middle-Liner reached the spot where the other two people were standing.

 

He handed the book over to the female, who snatched it out of his hands.

"We don't need the entire book, just the loose page. I swear; all men are idiots..."

:(

"You should be more polite to people."

It occurred to me, that this was the first time the woman's partner had spoken. He was wearing an odd loose fitting suit, and seemed apathetic about his position.

"Pshhh... You only need to be polite to people that are tougher than you."

"If that's the case: why aren't you more polite towards me?"

"What?! You wanna go old man?!"

The man chuckled. "... It was merely an observation... Why have you not tried to run?" He averted his attention to the Middle-Liner standing in front of them.

 

"... I know who you people are: I'm aware that running will only make things more difficult for me."

"That is commendable." The man in the suit responded as the woman raised her hairpins.

"Since you cooperated, I'll make this fast." The woman said before her partner raised his hand in front of her.

"Let me take this one..."

"What?! You actually want to kill somebody? I think I might be rubbing off on you..."

"I still disagree with the policy... but I haven't used my blade in some time, and I'm afraid I'll get rusty."

"Hmph... you and your honor... Go ahead, he's all yours."

 

Tiffany and I watched without a word. There was a strange sensation where it felt like neither of were actually in the situation, but our role was to be spectators.

 

The man in the suit stepped forward as a small blade poked out of the sleeve of his raised arm.

"I'm sorry it has to be like this... Do you have any last words?"

The Middle-Liner remained silent, and did not move an inch.

 

"If you have no last words..."

 

In a quick flash, the man's arm appeared to twitch.

A moment later, the Middle-Liner's body slumped over and fell to the floor.

 

Is he...

*"They just..."* Tiffany thought

The two us of were in shock at what just happened. My first intention was to yell, but my vocal cords didn't seem to work at the moment.

I had never seen anyone killed before... and what shocked me the most was how the killers reacted afterwards:

"That still amazes me..." The woman said as she flipped over the lifeless body. "... I mean: There's no blood spill. It's practically impossible for me to find the stab wound."

The man in the suit didn't respond as he sheathed the blade in his sleeve.

"Don't look so glum; we got what we came for... You want me to deal with the body?"

"There's no reason; nobody is going to come looking for him."

"Suit yourself." The woman chuckled at the pun she made.

She stood up from the body and moved around a bit.

"We still have some time before we're supposed to leave, and I'm starving – let's get something to eat."

"Some barbeque would be nice." Her partner responded.

"Whatever, but you're paying."

As the two prepared themselves to leave, I spotted something.

My shock suddenly turned to anger, on the border of rage.

 

The woman tied her long hair into a bun, and stuck the hairpins into it. After that, she pulled a hair tie out of her pocket and placed it behind the hairpins. The hair tie was black, and on it was the symbol of a skull and crossbones.

The man turned to the side and fixed the cuffs on his suit. His cufflinks were made of diamond, and appeared to be a skull and crossbones, as well.

 

...

 

"We're in over our heads." Tiffany spoke as the two people casually walked out of the building.

I nodded. "We stand no chance against the demons... but we can't just turn tail and run: we need that note."

"So then let's take it from them."

Tiffany's response shocked me. "That's extremely risky... what's gotten into you?"

"I can't just sit here while those killers do whatever they want." Emotion fluttered her voice. "I understand that we're not strong enough to stop them, yet... but we can at least get what we came for, while foiling their plans."

"... I agree... but if things look even the slightest bit suspicious, then we're out of there."

Tiffany gave me a thumbs up in recognition.

...

*"Make sure you don't stand out – try to blend in with the crowd."*

*I'll be fine. You need to worry about not falling."*

After they left the factory, it was difficult for us to find a trace of the demons. It took some time, but we were able to spot the man in the suit because it made him stand out.

We thought it was best to follow them separately, so we weren't too obvious. Tiffany positioned herself on the sidewalk opposite of the demons. I took the aerial approach, and decided to follow from the rooftops.

*"We'll just follow them until they enter a crowd, so we can swipe the note."*

*"I'll be ready when it happens – just keep an eye on them, so we don't lose them."*

 

*

 

The man in the suit randomly stopped walking, causing his partner to also stop.

I turned my bracer on and focused on my ears to try and eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Why'd you stop?" The woman asked.

"I know you're there." He responded, except he wasn't speaking to her.

*"Tae, what's going on?"*

The man waited some time before continuing.

"Fine, if you don't want to come out of hiding..."

The man's voice seemed to trail off as I spotted a small throwing knife drop down from his sleeve.

Oh, no...

An instant later, the man's arm twitched and the knife flew in my direction at a speed faster than I could move.

 

I don't think I can dodge this...

 

At the moment the knife was about to make contact, I felt a push from behind. The force from the push was enough to get me out of the knife's trajectory, but it caused me to hit the floor head first. My ears ringing, I began to doze in and out of consciousness...

______________

:P