Rating: Strong T

Warning: None.

A/N: Thank you for reading, up voting, commenting and subscribing people. The chapters will steadily get longer as the story continues because a lot of detail will be required in the coming plots. I hope it doesn’t discourage anyone. Sorry it took so long, I was finishing entries for a competition and was stuck on how to properly write a certain scene. But, here is the next installment.

|Nine|

Kai knew he was going to get ripped a new one for going MIA for more than 24 hours, but he couldn’t exactly let Jinri go camping and exploring a forest on her own. If anything he was surprised that Sunny-noona and Hyoyeon-noona had let her go alone, especially to this forest. So, he’d invited himself on her little adventure, unapologetic and undeterred by her protests.

“What are we collecting exactly,” he asked, adjusting the strap of his back pack as he trekked through the path.

Jinri consulted her digital map, ensuring they were on the right track, “Soil samples, water samples and plant samples. According to studies done by a few botanist, the plants that grow in this forest thrive more strongly than anywhere else in Korea –soil supposedly enriched, weather ideal and water abundant. I want to study why.” Maybe studying the plants genes would help the species she’d created to be more resilient.

“Wait, I thought you were studying genetic engineering or something. Why are we talking about botanists?” he asked, picking up the sound of the rushing river’s current a little way ahead.

She rolled her eyes, but answered anyway, “Because my thesis and final project is on a plant and I need to study the plant’s genes and how the soil and water help them thrive. Basic –”

“Okay Hermione we get it, you’re smart,” he cut her off not wanting her to go off on a tangent about her hypothesis and how different variations changed the end result. “The river isn’t too far ahead. Can I ask something?”

“Do you ever ask to ask something?” she returned.

“Is this also because of Sooyoung-noona?” He could hear her halt in her tracks, prompting him to look back to gauge her reaction. She looked like she’d been slapped. “Jin-sunbae…”

Swallowing thickly, she finally looked at him. “Partially,” she confessed, unable to deny the truth. “But, for now we need those samples so let’s go.” She stormed ahead not wanting to think of her sister, grabbing his arm to pull him along as she went.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

“So have you managed to pull up any schematics on the school we can use?” Yunho came in, sitting down at the head of the table with Changmin at his side, and Junsu and Yoochun taking seats on either side of him.

Changmin sighed, “I guess, but then again these are all blueprints on record when it was still a SIST’s property. Things are bound to have changed when Shin took over. Not to mention this,” he typed away bringing up the images they were seeing earlier, pointing out a visible line in the dense greenery. “That would be a parameter wall, and the closest we are ever going to see it before hand. We’ll be going in pretty blind on this one.”

“And since they are moving in and out underground, we can except a few surprise on route,” Yoochun added, factoring in the decommissioned road. They were hiding something and were likely to do everything to keep people away who were too curious. So they had to think about possible preventative measures they may encounter.

“Motion detectors, pressure pads we can probably handle just fine if we move fast enough, but a camera will probably catch us if we don’t know where they are located,” Junsu added to the discussion.

“This isn’t going to be as quiet as we hoped,” Yunho mumbled, “Could we get a closer view of the compound maybe we can calculate the height of the wall, to see if we can scale it without aide.” Math especially mechanics could help them estimate the length.

Something Changmin already thought of, “Already run it through a program –inconclusive. So we’ll have to gear up just in case, but chances are, we can probably scale it bare. Our biggest problem is where we’ll be coming from, because that could change everything.”

 “Through the swamp, if it’s small enough we could probably leap over it and we’ll only have to deal with the wall,” Yoochun suggested, seeing it as the easiest and quickest way in.

Junsu frowned, “but isn’t that too …easy. Won’t that be the first thing they would think of?”  Usually the easiest way in was the one most heavily guarded?

“Junsu’s right. They would see that from a mile away,” As always Junsu voiced the obvious, but most important point the over analytical Yoochun was missing.

“Yeah for an ordinary,” Yoochun argued. “We are not exactly ordinary, so we can probably get past whatever they have set for us.” Come on, did they think he was that brain dead to not factor that in? Of course the way through the swamp was the easiest to access with little trouble, so any competent risk analyst would advise Shin to guard in accordingly.

It was clear for Yunho to see the obvious annoyance on Yoochun’s face at being challenged, being that he thought himself the best strategist in the group and to be called out by Junsu of all people was annoying, “Fine, that options still on the table; Any other suggestions?” Not wanting them to get sidetracked by an unnecessary argument.

“There’s the gorge,” Changmin offered, tracing the said valley on the map. “It would have been better if it was sitting right next to it, but it’s still viable. We get into the valley a kilometer or so away and make our way through it to about here,” Showing a spot that had appropriate tree cover to climb onto. “This side of the building sits pretty close to the wall, so if we do it right, we’ll volt right over the wall and onto the roof. Crouching low and moving fast enough, the sensor operated flood light would be slow to catch us. Problem would be whether we’ve got cameras on the inside.”

Yunho hummed in contemplation. The 100 meter or so distance between the edge of the gorge and the wall could prove problematic, but if they pulled it off then access to inside the build would be easier. “So we’ve thought of the swamp and quarry, what about the main road? They might not be expecting us to just walk up through the front. We are saying the swamp is the most obvious, but road leading to the compound is even more obvious.”

“Stupid, but it just might work,” Changmin agreed, because no one would think anyone would be stupid enough to just come knocking on the front door so to speak. “And since the property is supposedly abandoned, the guard rotation and density at the front would be light to avoid stirring up curiosity.”

“We could also just go from all sides,” Junsu giving his thoughts on the matter. A multiple assault always surprised the other side.

“On any other occasion that would actually be a pretty intelligent suggestion, but we are trying to get in and out without them being the wiser,” Yoochun refuted wondering why Junsu ever tried contributing. He wasn’t an idiot, far from it, but come the hell on.

 “I wouldn’t dismiss it though,” Yunho countered. “We can combine all three.”

“You’ve got a point, Hyung.” The maknae spoke up after a long contemplative silence. “We can get to the roof from the coming through the gorge, we got the back through the swamp and front and side if we go to the main road. Yoochun and I can work on it and come out with something more solid by tonight?”

“We can’t move tonight like we’d planned,” Yunho making the call, because a lot still needed to be done if they wanted to do things right and not spook Chu to move his site again. “We’ll have to go over and canvass the area so we can layout a more concert plan. We’ll move tomorrow night.”

“We’ve got a problem though,” Junsu informed them, gaining their attention. “We can’t exactly leave Sooyoung and Jaejoong alone in the house, that’s a disaster waiting to happen.” One night alone without any buffers would probably push whatever tentative civility the two had to a full on fight. Jaejoong didn’t practice restraint with his words when it came to Sooyoung, and her patience was bound to wear thin if it was continually threatened.

Junsu was right. Knowing Jaejoong, he could probably manage to drive Sooyoung out of the house should he be left with opportunity. Tomorrow night the two would have a mission between them to not have a war of words. It would have been ideal if Professor Ahn would be home, but he had a conference to attend early morning and had chosen to stay on campus instead. “I’ve got it covered,” Yunho assured, hoping the person he had in mind would help them out.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

There was no denying that her initiating the airing of her dirty laundry with Jaejoong, had been pretty petty and unprofessional. So she took advantage of Jaejoong not being there yet, to address the issue with the Captain, who had arrived like he said he would.

“Captain Dojin,” Sooyoung began, “I would like to apologize for what happened yesterday. It was unprofessional and I assure you it won’t happen again or affect the assignment,” adding a bow to emphasis her sincerity.

It didn’t surprise him that it was Sooyoung that thought to arrive on time and apologize, “Jaejoong is a pain in the even on a default setting. A level headed woman like yourself shouldn’t let that influence how you handle things,” wondering why he was indirectly advising her and lecturing her. Goodness was he going soft. “On my team you don’t even have to like each other because this isn’t some summer camp where we hold hands and sing kumbaya, but I expect you to not bring personal strife into work. So make sure it doesn’t happen again, because this is already a rarity for me –giving second chances.”

“Understood, sir,” relief filling her heart as she fought a grateful smile, taking a seat at the table. Of course, this was the moment Jaejoong chose to snidely make his entrance.

“You know Captain, I think you’re getting soft in your old age,” did this woman have no limit? The guy didn’t know what second chance was if it bit him in the , and never gave advice and just one apology from her had him bending over backwards for Sooyoung? “Next you’ll be showering us with hugs and kisses.”

“You know, the compulsion to shoot you gets harder to resist every time you open your mouth, Kkotminam. Do not tempt me,” The older man returned with a smile that contradicted his words. “Now, I’m guessing you’ve acquainted yourselves with the mission particulars,” already expecting the bugger to open his mouth, but he surprisingly kept his mouth shut and let Sooyoung speak.

She hadn’t reached to the point of wanting to shoot Jaejoong yet, but she did contemplate kicking him in the head almost every day, so she could only imagine what he’d done to the Captain to warrant that kind of reaction. “We’ll be going to a private mixer as Mr. and Mrs. Hans Landenberg, A nuclear physicist and owner of a nuclear energy plant from Germany. We’ll be there to take snap shots of the attendees and leave as quickly as possible without notice.”

“This is delicate because the type of system they have can only be hacked once, and even then the smallest glitch will be picked up in less than 30minutes. So once you are in, you need to move quickly. It will be more productive if you split up once your inside,” The Captain went on, clicking away at his laptop that was already linked to the display screen to bring Kyuhyun into the conversation. “You’re going in clean. No guns, no knives or weapons of any sort. There will also be minimal communication with Base to avoid tracing. Kyu, take it away.”

“What you see on your screen right now is the security layout schematics of this Dr. Evil convention,” Kyu began as the building plans registered by the owner with the building registry came up on the screen. “These were hard to get so pay close attention, people.”

“I’m guessing I should be impressed you know how to use a keyboard?” Jaejoong asked, sarcasm drenching his voice. The kid was acting like he just hacked into the military black ops database or something. This was a private security firm, they were unbelievably lax on their system security it was laughable.

“I’ll ignore your obvious bitterness, since you always have a stick up yo –”

“–Kyu ignore Jaejoong and focus on the task or I’ll be having you debugging NDI computers for a month,” The kid was good at what he did, but he’d just finished telling Sooyoung to be profession and the two bickering would make his words redundant. Not to mention that the threat of doing such a mundane task also scared the guy.

“Right, at the front we’ve got four cams to give them a 3D profile should they need to back track, but with the right angles you can probably avoid getting caught by them,” The cams locations he was talking about blinked green on the screen as the model rotated to give them a better interpretation of what he was talking about. “When you get through the first door you’ll let me know you’re in immediately, so I can plant you profiles before you get to the concierge to verify the authenticity of your invitation. Soon as you let me know you’re in; switch off all comms before they start scanning.”

“So how do we know you’ve been successful in planting the information, if we have to switch off comms as soon as we are in?” Sooyoung asked, “Won’t it be better to stay in communication?”

Captain Dojin was the one to answer, “Chu and his friends are excessively paranoid and don’t want any form of record this meeting took place. All electronics should be left at home or risk being confiscated at to the door. The hand held scanners they’ll be using to scan for electronics and weapons will also emit a weak EMP that will knock out all electronic devices should they be on your person. You leave your comms on and risk them getting knocked out permanently.”

“The second scanner, that is built into the doorway, will do a morally and ethically invasive body scan to ensure the hand held scanners didn’t miss anything. I’d advise you to leave any embarrassing underwear at home, because they’ll know about it,” Kyu completed with a cheeky smile. “This is the main area, with a total of 5 cameras as shown on the screen, with revolution time of 180 degrees in 10 seconds. Try to not get caught by any of them if you can.”

Jaejoong swung lazily in his seat, “we didn’t get a precise number on the guest list. How many snapshots are we talking about?”

“Capacity of the place taking account avoidance of any fire code violations is 60 if you’re pushing it,” Kyuhyun revealed having calculated the numbers he’d put in the mission particulars. “There aren’t any specifics here. Peaking into their systems isn’t easy. They had me locked within minutes, I had to get on the defensive to prevent them from locking down my location.”

That definitely didn’t sound promising, especially if they were meant to carry everything out in a short period of time. Not to mention the fact that they had to look out for the camera and the guards who would be overseeing this event. “And what’s our time frame like?” Sooyoung asked.

“If you don’t stir any interest, you’ve got an hour. Should they have a good tech, it will take them 20 to figure out I was in their system, so it will be best to be in and out as fast as you can.”

“I think now you can understand why it needed to be you two,” The Captain reminded them. “You are the only ones that can go in and out fast enough, should things hit the fan. That, and you fit Hans and Xiaoyu’s profiles to well.”

Jaejoong sniggered, “trophy wife couldn’t agree more.” She’d managed to make herself somewhat useful, but that didn’t detract from the fact that she was still mooching of them like a kept woman.

He was blatantly trying to provoke her, but she’d already promised herself that she would handle him with cold indifference. “What type of cams will we be using for this?” Sooyoung asked ignoring him altogether, not wanting to entertain his childishness.

“Very stylish and very now that makes Google Glass look outdated,” Kyuhyun answered giddily, he had to admit Yesung had out done himself with the design.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

Junsu didn’t even know how he got talked into these situations. Seriously, did he somehow have Drag-Queen on Standby tattooed on his forehead and he didn’t know? He wasn’t even all that feminine looking to begin with, that was Jaejoong and if they were talking drag candidates he’d pick the maknae.

“I’m guessing I shouldn’t ask,” Sooyoung stated not even sure what emotion to give into at the sight of Junsu. Okay, maybe the urge to giggle was the most overwhelming, but she was fighting it hard.

She was trying hard not to burst out laughing he could see it, which made his predicament even more embarrassing by the minute. “Just laugh, I look ridiculous,” he grouched, his arms flopping against his side in resignation.

“Not really,” she began, but got a raised eyebrow of disbelief, which prompted her to change words. “I wasn’t going to laugh.”

Placing a hand on his waist and hip tipped to the side, he questioned disbelievingly, “Really?” Only for her contained chuckles to burst through. “See!”

“Wait, oppa!” holding onto his arm to prevent him from storming off, despite still being in a fit of chuckles. “I just never expected to see…this,” finally managing to get out after her laughter got under control. “Why are you even wearing this?”

“We are going to do recon at the old SIST site,” Junsu explained even if he was pouting slightly. “People tend to trust women more than men. We want to see how close we can get to the compound before getting obstructed. I just don’t understand why I have to wear the wig and lipstick!”

The plan was indeed plausible, but she could understand how donning a dress could be slightly emasculating. “If you needed a woman, I could have done it,” she had no issue doing a little recon for them.

“Jun, you won’t even have to get out of the car, stop being so over dramatic,” Yunho interrupted, hearing the younger man whining.

“Then why aren’t you wearing the dress, hyung,” Junsu challenge, hands on his hips in defiance.

“Because I have facial hair,” as much as he wasn’t an awful looking guy, he would honestly make an odd looking woman. “Now let’s go we’ve got a lot of road to cover.” Watching as the guy stormed out of the room in a huff. “How did things go at the briefing?”

“You mean did Jaejoong and I pull each other’s hair?” she corrected with a knowing smile. “One lecture on professionalism and conduct was enough. I was on my best behavior, promise.” She didn’t even mentioning Jaejoong’s attempts at provocation, because at the end of the day her reaction to him was what mattered.

“Alright,” The Captain hadn’t mentioned it when he’d given him the progress report, so he believed her words. “We’ll be back tomorrow or day after,” he mentioned off handedly having nothing else to say, as he headed out.

“Please have a safe trip,” she wished him with a smile, before continuing onto the kitchen to make herself something to eat and continue studying the person she was meant to imitate.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

It wasn’t an awful thing that Yunho had asked her, but Boa had to admit it put her in an awkward position. Sooyoung wasn’t a bad person, but all they were to each other was civil. But, she couldn’t exactly leave the poor woman alone with Jaejoong for an entire night; it would just be too cruel. Even though it wasn’t the smartest idea, she brought Yuri along as well to meet Sooyoung and act as a buffer.

Her excuse for coming over was a colleague’s friend opening a noodle shop and offering them copious amount of broth to test out for free, which was just too much for her and Yuri to handle alone so she thought of the guys and her. Boa even managed to feign ignorance of the fact that she knew the professor and the others were gone, and being okay with it being just the two of them.

“Junsu and Yoochun are unlikely to ask, and I doubt Changmin can tell you to do anything,” Sooyoung began as she and Boa set to prepare their first bowl of noodle with a vegetable broth. “So, I’m guessing Yunho?”

Sooyoung wasn’t oblivious, and was bound to put two and two together so she wasn’t at all surprised, “That obvious?” Boa cringed prettily at getting caught.

“We aren’t exactly close to warrant a girl’s night in, and I don’t know anybody who would willing spend an evening in Jaejoong’s presences. So, I came to the conclusion that you were asked over to be a buffer between me and him,” She explained her deductions. “Not that I’m complaining, though.”

Boa laughed, because she could think of a million mundane things she could do other than spend time with Jaejoong. “So it was the Jaejoong factor that gave it away? I should have known,” earning a chuckle from the younger woman. “But, for what it’s worth, I’m glad I got this opportunity to know you better,” Boa confessed knowing there was no time better than the present to have this discussion. “In fact, I want to take the opportunity to apologize for the way I treated you the first days you were here –”

“–Boa-ssi, that’s unnecessary. I understand why you acted that way,” Sooyoung cut the older woman off knowing it was rude, but necessary. “What they are is a delicate secret that can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and I was a stranger who had been brought into it with no knowledge of how I would handle it. You honestly had every right to be distrustful.”

She had to admit that it was partially true that she was being protective of those she considered family, but honestly that wasn’t the only reason she had been abrasive. “It was all that and the fact that I felt you threatened my position in their lives,” it was an embarrassing fact, but true. “For years I was the only woman in their lives, the one that shared their secret and the one they trusted. Then you came in and I felt my alpha female feathers raffled and bared my nails unfairly.” Her word painted her as an insecure teenager, but she wanted to clear the air so they could start a fresh.

“Boa-ssi I could never be what you are to them no matter how long I stay, and I would never want to take your place,” surprised at the words. With the exception of Jaejoong, they’d all been doing their best to make her comfortable, but it wasn’t at the level they regarded the doctor nor would it ever be. They were a family before Yunho had brought her into their lives, and they would continue justly even with her present. “My presence will never change the bond you have with them.”

“All of which I know, but doctors get irrationally childish sometimes,” she even wondered why she ever questioned it. “Besides, there’s more than enough room for another woman in their lives, they deserve not to feel so isolated because of things they can’t control. So, even if you don’t accept it, I want to apologise.”

Sooyoung smiled brightly, “Thank you for accepting Yunho’s request to come tonight. I’m glad we had this conversation.” All she got was a mirrored dimpled smile from the petite woman. “What I’d like to know, is how your sister can stand being around Jaejoong.”

“When he’s not being the jerk you know him as he is potently charming and my sister is, unfortunately, not immune,” Boa sighed in defeat. Putting Yuri in the line of fire tonight was irresponsible of her, but she’d hoped his interaction with Sooyoung would deter her dongsaeng from her growing crush. “Yuri-ah, food’s ready!”

Sooyoung’s brain couldn’t quiet fathom the word charming being associated with the spiteful kkotminam. That was like saying a porcupine was cuddly soft? His prickly disposition was anything but charming.

“Should I be worried about you spitting in my food?” Jaejoong asked sauntering into the room with lazy grace, speaking mostly to Sooyoung than Boa. He’d heard the entire conversation, and walked in on the skeptical surprise playing on the woman’s face at Boa’s words. Did she not think he could be charming?

“If you doubt me, then you are free to make your own,” raising her eyes to meet his, not surprised that he was invading her space yet again to attempt to make her comfortable. She wasn’t a child to spit into someone’s food –not only was it disgusting, but it was also immature. “Boa-ssi, do you want me to open the wine you brought? It’s probably chilled by now?” bypassing his frame to address the doctor.

The question stirred Boa from her shock enough to answer, “Yes, I’ll get the glasses,” not really moving immediately as she watched Jaejoong watch Sooyoung attentively. How was Sooyoung not affected by Jaejoong’s proximity, when even she gotten a little hazy on occasion by it?

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

“Henry’s working on getting our wish list together, so we’ll be out when he’s done,” Changmin informed the Captain who was going over last minute details of the Jaejoong-Sooyoung op with Kyuhyun. Their canvass of the compound had forced him and Yoochun to double back for tech supplies, as Yunho and Junsu remained behind making sure nothing changed in the compound that would mess with logistics. “How’s your op going,” he queried, biting into his apple much to the annoyance of the Captain.

“They’re both getting prepped to match their aliases; should be moving out as soon as we run one last tech check,” if it wasn’t the oldest being an insufferable jackass, it was the youngest one munching away loud enough to annoy.

The first one to come through was Jaejoong spotting a goatee, blue eyes and glasses, a wig of silver blonde hair sitting convincingly on his head, obvious insoles giving him a vertical advantage, and a black pinstriped Italian suit. “Aren’t you supposed to be trekking through swamps right about now,” surprised to see Yoochun and Changmin in the room.

“We needed some extra tech support,” Yoochun assured, since Changmin was too busy to care to reply. “Are you wearing insoles?” his tone amused, since his newly blonde hyung was now all but towering over him.

“Yah, Jugulle?”Jaejoong threatened with a less that pleasant smile. Was it his fault that the ordinary was a freakishly tall woman, who got even taller in heels? Yes, usually he was a head or so taller, but now he had to wear insoles so he wasn’t dwarfed by her.

Changmin sniggered, “don’t be so sensitive shorty, it’s not our fault you stopped growing at what, 14?” not afraid to make a wise crack, because it would have been a missed opportunity.

“I wouldn’t be talking Sasquatch; your abnormality isn’t something to boast about,” Jaejoong returned just as snidely, why couldn’t Yunho have been the one to come back instead of the smart mouth punk? Yoochun wasn’t any better, laughing behind the hand he was using to cover his mouth –traitor!

He expected another caustic response, because the maknae loved having the last word but the guy seemed to be distracted by something behind him –distracted enough to forget the half eaten apple in his hand –which was just unusual. Heck, he even tilted his head to the side to get a better look. “Yah –”

“–I thought you’d pick red,” the captain commented, when Sooyoung finally walked in the room fully dressed –if that is what you could call it –and looking like a dead ringer for Xiaoyu.

She tugged at the hem even if it was ultimately useless, “I feel like if I take long enough strides everyone will know my business. I have swimsuits that cover more than this dress.” The red dress he was referring to was something she wanted to un-see, because there was no way on earth any respectable woman would ever wear something that scanty even in the confines of a bedroom. The current dress she was wearing was the lesser of two evils, not that it was any better. “The red dress, I’d rather forget it was ever an option.”

Changmin didn’t know what she complaining about, the dress was perfectly fine from where he was sitting. Granted it gave the world a feast of mile long legs and hugged her subtle hourglass figure like a glove, but the neckline was unfairly demure not even giving a hint of cleavage. “I wouldn’t mind knowing your business,” it was salacious, especially if you accounted the smirk tugging at his lips and roaming eyes.

“I wouldn’t either,” Yoochun voice deeper than ever, taking her in. Sure, he saw her every day but, damn, he didn’t know that much leg was being hidden by the jeans and sweatpants. The slight weight gain looked even better.

“I expect Min-oppa to say something, but you?” Yoochun’s words had surprised her, since she’d been busy trying to glare Changmin to death for his innuendo. The guy was usually a gentleman, rarely putting a foot out of line, but this was definitely a new side she hadn’t seen.

Yoochun didn’t even try to defend himself, “hey just giving credit where credits due.” The short cut of the wig she was wearing, the heavy eyeliner and ruby red lips added to the oddly alluring sight. He was a man and he definitely wasn’t dead, you couldn’t fault him for looking.

He wasn’t a father and was far too young to be one to the young woman, but the less than innocent looks the guys were aiming at Sooyoung –even Kyuhyun who he’d began assuming as aual was stealing glances –was disconcerting. From what he knew Yoochun and Changmin weren’t all that celibate, so he would think they had their fair share of women to not salivate over Sooyoung. “Kyu…Kyuhyun, how about fixing the two of them with the necessary,” suddenly he was glad she’d chosen black instead of red.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Kyuhyun smiled all too gladly, more than happy to comply. Hey, he was never opposed to help a pretty woman, snapping open the box to reveal relatively innocent looking contact lenses. “These will be your eyes for the night,” handing them to her and the other pair to a less than impressed looking Jaejoong. “They are basically equivalent to a camera lens that links up to these, which is the rest of the camera so to speak. Basically find your man or woman, look them straight on while you press the button down for 3 seconds and move onto the next one.” Even though it was unnecessary, he took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. “Has anyone ever told you have pretty hands?”

“Has anyone ever told you, you have the subtly of an elephant?” Jaejoong interrupted in disgust, pushing the smitten idiot away. Did it really take a long pair of legs and short skirt to make these idiots go crazy? He’d expect such reactions from hormonal teenagers, but come the hell on, Yoochun and Changmin were way past the innocent stage to be swayed by a nice pair of legs. “Stick to things you know, computers.”

The captain interjected before Kyuhyun had the chance to respond to the dig, “How about we focus on the mission and less on ogling Sooyoung?” They had very little time to brief on the mission. “Once again –you walk in, do your thing and walk out as quickly as possible. Should there be trouble, we’ve got teams 10 minutes away. Both in the water and on land. Your main objective however, is getting as many candids as possible. Questions?”

“How illegal was the red dress?” Changmin knew it wasn’t appropriate to ask, but if it covered even less he would at least like to get the score on the propriety scale. Because the black one was becoming his new favorite given that all the modesty it present on the front was completely forgotten in the back, showing the expanse of tanned skin on her back down to the…

“I swear this kid was dropped on his head when he was a child,” Captain Dojin didn’t even bother with a lecture.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

The ride to the venue was unbearably uncomfortable, not only was the dress too short and rid up with every small movement, but she had to endure whatever mood swing Jaejoong was having at the moment. He may not have been making his usual snide comments, but the stony aura filled the car with unneeded tension.

“Stop,” Jaejoong laid a restraining hand on her knee when she shifted round once again. “Are you a child who can’t sit still or what?” he demanded in a silky tone as he leveled his eyes on her for the first time that night. Seriously, either the ordinary had ants in her pants, or she was fidgeting just to annoy him further. He’d made a concession to not even acknowledge her, but then she started shifting around every two minutes granting on his patience.

Her focus should have been on his face, but it was the hand that still grasped her bare thigh. Who on earth gave him the right to touch her like that, “Yah, if you like your hand, I suggest you get it off me right now?” she probably wasn’t fast or strong enough to manage it, but if it remained she would find a way to break it.

“So you can start dancing around the seat?” He inquired, wondering if the ordinary had really threatened him. He could put his hands wherever he liked, even on her if he liked and she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

“Jaejoong-ssi, I won’t ask again, remove your hand,” she demanded in a measured tone, but his hand dared to tighten, as if to provoke her –forcing her to act. As expected, however, he was much faster and grabbed her wrist in an unrelenting hold.

“Sit still or I will be forced to treat you like the child your behaving like,” he warned her. Tonight she seemed to irritate him more than ever, and provoke his patience, but he wasn’t going to be like the others.

Her attempt to snatch her hand away was fruitless, and she was forced to stay captive. She was saved from being less than cordial by the driver announcing their arrival at the venue, but he remained holding onto her wrist. “What is it, Jaejoong-ssi?”

“Try not to botch this, ordinary,” finally letting her go, as the chauffer opened the door for him and he stepped out.

She couldn’t help chuckle in disbelief, because this couldn’t possibly be real. Her, stuck with the worst partner she could ever ask for, and for an entire night. Give me strength, she willed herself as her own door was pulled open only to find Jaejoong at the other end with an outstretch hand and not the chauffer. Despite her ill feelings toward him, this was a mission and she submitted put her hand in his, trying to get out of the car without exposing too much at the same time.

“Punk, we are at the venue and will be going off line soon, standby,” he spoke into his communicator, bypassing offering an arm and instead wrapping and arm around her waist, hand resting on her hip.

“Who do you think your calling punk, old man?” Kyuhyun bristled through the comm.

She tried to pull away, but he remained firm, “Are you trying to provoke me?” she gritted as he began leading her to the door, even if she wanted to break every single finger on the hand he dared to hold her with, not to mention make sure the Kim Jaejoong line stop reproducing for the sake of humanity.

“Xiaoyu and Hans are never scared to display intimacy. Be grateful I’m not going for other ets he usually favors, but you fortunately lack,” he returned through a forced grin. Hans wasn’t conversant with Korean culture and grabbed at his wife when he pleased, and since he was him tonight, he need to do the same. She was acting like he enjoyed all of this and she was some tragic victim. Give him a break, he doubted she was that innocent. “Now act like the good little trophy wife and smile.”

Even as he said it his thumb swiped the skin on her lower back, making her steel herself against going with instinct and punching him in the jaw. “Going through the first door now,” Sooyoung informed Kyuhyun through a forced smile, as Jaejoong led her through the door. Both of them switching of there comms as instructed through their earlier briefing, ready for the scan as they approached the concierge desk.

She’d imagined being bodily searched by a woman would be less invasive than by a man, but after it all she felt was violated. It didn’t help that the woman gave her a salacious smirk, like she was proud to have been so asive. Her actions making Jaejoong’s earlier skinship look like child’s play. But, she was Xiaoyu and not Sooyoung at the moment, and the woman wasn’t the type to feel embarrassed by such a thing, so she tried stoic even if it made her skin crawl.

Jaejoong had watched the whole thing while he was searched, lucky for him the man was less hands-y than Sooyoung’s handler. The woman was probably hyperventilating at being grabbed at so much in less than innocent ways, given that she’d almost flipped a table at a hand place on her hip. Kyuhyun’s profile plant seemed to have worked, concierge ushering them further.

It took her a little to not want to march back and punch the woman so hard that her ancestors felt it, but Sooyoung managed it. Repressing her emotions by focusing on the objective, she easily spotted the five cameras, keeping the longish strands strategically covering her face. “We should split and work our way through the room, you want to take left or right?” If it was anyone else she wouldn’t have expected resistant for her commanding suggestion, but since Jaejoong lived to contradict her she didn’t know what to expect.

“left, be at the exit door in 20 minutes,” despite her thinking he was petty, they were on a mission and he hated failing. Making concession so they could get the job done wasn’t above him, picking up a champagne glass as he went evading the glare of security cams.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

Moving through the room seamlessly, executing their paparazzi duties of the night was fairly easy. Until she had the unfortunate luck of bumping into Jang Soori in the flesh, who sneered in obvious disapproval.

“Xiaoyu, is it?” the woman asked calculating eyes assessing Sooyoung in discreet scrutiny. Sooyoung could only hope the heavy make-up and provocative dress threw the woman off as to not look to closely. Having confronted the woman before, it was a possibility she remembered her. “You aren’t with your husband?”

She was at a loss and forced to speak when she probably shouldn’t, but was saved when Jaejoong descended on the conversation, hand resting on the small of her back yet again. “Dr. Jang Soori, I see you’ve found my wife?” At first she’d stiffened at his brazen actions, until she felt the light tapping at her skin that was an obvious code. Escape. Now. They had been found out long before she’d bumped into the sociopath.

“In a matter of speaking,” Forcing a charmed expression, Sooyoung knew the woman didn’t feel. Most would swoon at Jaejoong’s smile and charms, but the woman was too unemotional to feel something so trivial. “I was hoping to discuss –”

“ –Yes. Unfortunately I have some urgent matters that cannot wait. Perhaps, we can have his discussion some other time?” Jaejoong interrupted, knowing they were cutting it close if they stayed a minute longer. The guards had been eyeing him strangely for a while, only for Kyuhyun to confirm that their cover had been otherwise blown and they needed to high tail it. “Goodnight,” he bid the woman, pushing Sooyoung toward the exit.

“Units are unresponsive, so I would suggest you wing it and hang tight while I try them again,” Kyuhyun’s voice crackled in their ears.

Slipping off her heels, Sooyoung tossed them out of the nearby window into the ocean taking off down the hall at top speed behind Jaejoong, the guards on their tail, but no match for their extraordinary speed. Through the door they rounded the corner, rushing up the stairs toward the balcony that faced the sea. “Where’s our ride?”

“I’d advise you to jump, because they’ll be a while,” Kyuhyun deadpanned.

Sooyoung blood run cold as she looked down at the waves crashing heavily against the dock, “You and I can easily hold them off until EVAC gets here,” just the thought of jumping into its currents enough to weaken her knees and have her heart palpitate in fear.

“And blow our cover out of the water? Jump,” Jaejoong ordered with no remorse, ears hearing the rapidly approaching guards closing in on them. The advantage they’d managed to have over them diminishing as time passed. Did she not understand the meaning of covert? Engaging was the last thing they were meant to do in this situation. “Yah, Choi are you waiting for the rising sun? Jump,” he asked again when the woman remained rooted not making moves to head his words.

They didn’t have time she knew, but she just needed a minute –

He took away her options to follow through, when she continued to dally. Easily grabbing her round the waist and jumping off the dock to the long drop into the water.

She barely had time to catch a breath before being the engulfed by the water, sinking slower due to the momentum. Instincts kicked in to replenish her depleted air supply, kicking toward the surface only for Jaejoong to clamp onto her ankle and pull her back down. Her squirming did nothing against his superior strength allowing him to easily trap her in his arms, even as her lungs burned for air. Was this what he wanted, her death?

Jaejoong could understand her panic, the fear of drowning clouding her mind. But the struggling was getting on his nerves. Honestly, did she think he would let her drown? Her hands still uselessly pushing at his chest and legs kicking furiously trying to escape the hold on his waist, did she forget who was holding her? Aish, cupping the back of her neck he brought her face to his, covering with his own giving her the much needed air she was struggling for, but the action made her fight him even harder. He remained firm, tightening his hold even as she attempted to push him off her.  They needed to remain submerged, until his ears couldn’t pick up the echoes of the guards voices up above something her panick had blinded her from.

--~*+*~-:-o-:-~*+*~--

Despite their discovery, Sooyoung and Jaejoong had managed to gather what they needed to discover the faces behind Chu’s new project. Faces that certainly solidified some of the theories, Captain Dojin already had in mind. EVAC had picked them up in the water a few docks down after they’d successfully managed to escape, albeit cold and wet. They were currently on their way back to base for the official debrief.

He had yet to hear from Yunho and the other boys, since Changmin and Yoochun had left the base with much needed equipment, but wasn’t all that worried about them not accomplishing the task they’d undertaken. With Yunho at the helm, the mission was almost a guaranteed success. Hopefully it would tie-in nicely with what Jaejoong and Sooyoung gathered, to nail the Chu bastard.

“Captain,” Siwon knocked to get his superior’s attention, completed task in hand. He was in need of redeeming himself after the unfortunate failure of the last op he’d headed. To prove himself worthy again to the man that had possibly began questioning his abilities. “I have successfully completed the task you assigned me, Sir.”

The captain held out his hand for the report, “I’ll be the judge of that.” It was awfully presumptuous of the man to assume he’d satisfied his standards where his mission was concerned, without him reviewing the report. But, he liked the confidence, he just hoped it was warranted or Siwon would be settling down in desk duty much longer than already planned. “This is the entire list?”

“He’s gone out of his way to acquire information and records on them, sir. Especially number 3, Baek met with her informally to try and coax her to apply as researcher in one of Chu’s labs while she waited to begin her master’s program,” Siwon confirmed, more than confident that he had indeed been successful, especially with the discovery of number three.

Well isn’t this something, Dojin identified the name, only partially surprised. However, this couldn’t go beyond the two of them yet, it would affect team objectives. “I trust you’ll be discreet with what you found?” It was a subtle ‘keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you’, but it needed to be said.

“Sir,” Siwon confirmed. Choi Jinri being on the list of possible Chu recruits was something the Captain wanted to keep under wraps, so he would follow instruction. It would only work in his favor to do so.

TBC

A/N: The idea in my head didn’t come out at all well in this chapter. But, since there are a lot of moments I liked between Soo and the guys happening here, I posted it as a Christmas presentJ.  But it isn’t entirely useless though. The next one will be better, and I have it already shaped up well in my head. All I need to do is type it up. Yes I purposely left the SooJae scene like that (for a reason).

Glossary: Kkotminam – (flower) pretty boy; Jugulle –Want to die?

The plotline and story is mine. Please do not repost, copy, translate anywhere without consent and plagiarism is a bad thing.

Comments would be lovely and greatly wanted, helps me know what you think. Constructive Criticisms is welcomed, because it helps me improve. Flames … “to each his own”.