Woohyun’s heart fell into his stomach as soon as their connection went dead. Out of anger, he threw the device away before turning around and punching at the prison cell. A loud clang came echoed through the hallway causing everyone to stop in their track. Hoya watched with Dongwoo by his side holding him up in shock as it was the first time he had seen the elder act that way.

“We need to get them out.” Woohyun hurried over to Dongwoo who nodded in reply. L furrowed his eyebrows, unclear of the elder’s intentions. Letting go of Victoria, L lunged forward to Woohyun, turning on his heel and grabbing the other by his collar. Anger was in his eyes but Woohyun didn’t back down. Nothing was readable on the man as his eyes closed off his emotions of the world. No matter how hard L looked, he couldn’t find an answer and it was only adding fuel to his dislike of the man.

“Where do you think you’re going?” L asked. Woohyun’s eyebrow twitched in frustration knowing that this confrontation would only lose him time.

“Your job was to get Lady Victoria am I correct? You have her, great, now leave me alone.” He spat, throwing L’s grip away from him. Woohyun turned to Hoya and exchanged a look that only those who had worked with the elder knew. In defeat, Hoya nodded, understanding their situation and what needed to be done. After all, they had a promise to fulfil to Kyuhyun. The last thing Hoya wanted to do was fail him.

“Dongwoo will the three of you out.” He added, walking deeper into the dungeon.

“I’m not leaving without Sunggyu hyung.” His figure was almost covered by the darkness when L shouted to him, walking over to his enemy not too long ago. A grunt from Hoya made the raven look back in dissatisfaction. He was not to move from his place, the order revealed. Woohyun stopped for nothing more than a second.

“Mind yourself… I’ll get him out of here.” He finished before running towards the opposite direction of the exit. L reached out, almost desperately for an answer but all he got was the fading of the footsteps made but the elder assassin. Now all who was left was Dongwoo, Hoya, L and Victoria. 

“I know you’re confused L ssi but please believe in him. I’ll explain everything once we arrive at your chosen getaway vehicle but for now, we must leave.” Dongwoo said, slowly letting go of Hoya as the man was able to hold himself up again after the blow he received. They all turned towards the exit with L looking back once more to catch a last look towards Woohyun’s direction before walking back to Victoria and helping her up again. Victoria was weak from the lack of her norm and the sudden break of her usual life had caused her body to weaken despite the better treatment she had being who she was (furthermore because Woohyun and Dongwoo had actually help her a lot without her knowing). Once Victoria was wrapped securely in L’s arms, he raven nodded.

“Let’s go.” With the help of Dongwoo, they managed to find a secret stairwell hidden in the middle of the hallway, making their time to get to the carpark cut short by half. Hoya was in front with Dongwoo at the back. Sandwiched between them were L and Victoria who made their way steadily down the long flight of stairs. Unlike normal stairwells in tall buildings, this stairwell was a single, long diagonal staircase which sonly had one stop, from the ground floor to the 13^th which was not expected by Hoya and L. It was a secret passageway that Woohyun and Dongwoo used to get out of the sight as they were logged as deceased since that day many years ago. Hoya now understood how not one, not even Sunggyu who could sniff out his (ex) lover, knew of their existence.

Once they made it down, they were met by a large door which separated them from the outside. Dongwoo and Hoya grabbed for their guns. Dongwoo moved up in front with Hoya, shielding their victim from any possible enemies. L moved back to give the other two some room before they reached over to the door’s handle and it pushed down. What they saw was something they had not expected.

“What happened here?” Dongwoo asked as he left their confinements with Hoya who was already rendered speechless. L walked out after them with Victoria and in an instant, his mouth dropped with shock. Quickly, he covered the innocent girl’s eyes but it was too late, she had already seen the horror of what had happened.

Hell, it was almost a mimic of it as the mangled bodies of people who the three assassins still had contact with were laying lifelessly on the cold, hard ground. Body parts were switched around making it impossible to find what belonged to who as each one of them was no longer a whole person. Dark red blood painted filled the floor in a thick layer. Hoya was the first to act from his shock as he leaned down to touch the blood of his former comrades.

“It’s still warm.” He spoke, feeling the liquid between his fingers. Almost disgusted, he took out a handkerchief from his pocket and cleaned of his dirtied hand. One last thought was on his mind as he hoped that Sungjong didn’t end up being in the middle of this attack. Hoya’s heartrate quickened at the thought but his expression remained stoned despite the panic.

“Sungjo-“ L on the other hand was not as level-headed about it as he began to panic. It was a complete 180 turn from his usual demeanour and Hoya was not experienced with it.

“He’s fine.” The current leader cut him off in hopes that it would disburse the negative thoughts in L’s mind as quickly as possible. Their eyes met of a bit and L could see confidence in Hoya’ eyes. It made him at peace but the thoughts were still there, only pushed back until they had evidence Sungjong was safe and back in the van, not laying somewhere amongst their fallen enemies.

“Who do you think did this?” Dongwoo asked but the question was answered with a shaking of the head.

“I don’t know but we need to move quickly in case they come back.” That would be the last thing anyone wanted. Hoya looked around to see if there were any signs of life or a possible ambush.

“Keep your eyes closed for me, Victoria ssi.” L whispered to Victoria to which the girl replied with a nod. They proceeded to make their way through the bodies with L carrying Victoria so she didn’t need to witness the sight in front of her when a loud bang was heard.  They all turned towards the sound with Victoria the only one ignoring it as the fear of the unknown started to get to her. In record time, Hoya and Dongwoo pointed the guns in the direction of the sound only to be me by someone somewhat familiar.

“What-“ The man spoke in shock as he moved back to where to came from. He covered his mouth, feeling something wanting to escape from his body. The sight was horrible, especially to him.

“Changmin ssi!” Hoya called out to the university student and quickly lowering his and Dongwoo’s gun in case one of them was to fire without knowing. He was surprised the other was still alive but then again, Kyuhyun was protecting him. Instant pity washed over as he watched the innocent man panic in the events that lid before him. He didn’t need to see this, he wasn’t meant to see this, Hoya thought.

“Changmin oppa?” Victoria questioned. At the name of her boyfriend, Victoria turned around, opening her eyes to see the man who gave her comfort about half a mile away from her.

“CHANGMIN OPPA!” It wasn’t until she was sure that she shouted the name of her lover, instantly moving away from L and running in the direction of the said man.

“Victoria…” Changmin had yet to overcome the initial shock but the sound of his girlfriend calling his name had come as another shock. It felt like forever since she had heard her voice and that he had called her name. Rather than feeling like it did before, her name made him feel guilty instead.

Changmin stood where he was, pal faced and all as Victoria made her way towards him with record time. She had stayed steady, not slipping on the thick blood once. As soon as she was close enough, she jumped towards the elder who just managed to gain enough strength to catch her without tumbling over.

“Changmin oppa, I missed you.” She smiled the brightest she had ever smiled. They stayed in that position in a bit with Victoria up in the air, Changmin holding her up by the waist as they stared into each other’s eyes.

It would be lying if Victoria wasn’t waiting for a kiss but Changmin put her down before she could even think about leaning in (though she had hoped he would initiate it first). It would be a lie f Victoria said she wasn’t disappointed but given the situation, she understood if the reunion kiss would wait a little longer. However, for Changmin, he knew that a reunion kiss would not be happening, at least not in the near future.

“I missed you too.” He managed to say with a weak smile. By then, the other three assassins had already caught cup to them, looking almost panicked with Hoya the only one able to control his emotions.

“I’m sorry for being so urgent but we must leave.” Hoya said in between catching his breath. Changmin nods, understanding the situation and moves towards the front door with Dongwoo, Hoya in front while L stood back. As he made his way, he felt Victoria grab onto his hand, intertwining their fingers together in a tight hold. He doesn’t push her away and part of him doesn’t want to so he lets her be as they make their way towards the getaway van.

As they make their way out, Hoya’s heart drops at the lack of Sungjong in Sungyeol’s van. He’s about to make a 180 turn back into the HQ when he hears the maknae’s voice. He looks around only to find Sungjong sitting in the driver’s seat of the second van. In fact, the only person who’s missing is Jaejoong.

“Jaejoong hyung went to help Sunggyu hyung.” Sungyeol states as though it’s a matter of fact. Hoya nods at the information, understanding as Sunggyu is Jaejoong’s cousin and Kyuhyun is someone who’s very dear to the private detective.

“Dongwoo hyung?!” Sungjong shouts in delight after finding out the man in front of him was really his beloved hyung. Jumping out of the van, Sungjong runs over to Dongwoo practically jumped on top of him. Dongwoo lets out a laugh as they both nearly tumble backwards if it wasn’t for Dongwoo’s quick reflexes to keep him standing.

“Hey Jongie.” He says with affectional as they both hug it out to show each other just how much they had missed one another. As L helps Victoria and Changmin into the van, not forgetting to remove their bloodied shoes and replace them with ones that Sungyeol had purchased from the day before as it was his private vehicle after all (he knew there was going to be blood but he didn’t expect that much).

Hoya can see from the corner of his eyes the stares L is giving to the elder as the new addition is catching away with their maknae. Feeling like L was going to say something harsh, Hoya steps in.

“Alright now, we need to get ready. Come on Sungjong.” He calls for the maknae to come over. As if reading Hoya’s mind, Dongwoo jumps into the driver’s seat, replacing Sungjong.

Everyone else makes their way into Sungyeol’s van which has a long seat in the back, fit for three and two separate seats in the middle section with a space in the middle of easy exit for the people at the back.

Victoria and Changmin sit in the back seats while L and Sungjong sit in the middle. Hoya takes his place next to Sungyeol, strapped in. They close the doors, locking the van shut from any intruders and Dongwoo does the same by rolling his windows up but only locking his door. The three assassins (excluding Sungyeol as he will be driving) starts cleaning out their guns, refilling it once they were done by pulling out the needed equipment and extra bullets from the roof compartments of the van. Sungyeol focuses on connecting his and Dongwoo’s car radios together and in less than 5 minutes, they are up and running perfectly.

“Can you hear me, hyung?” Sungyeol asks.

“Yup, loud and clear!” Dongwoo chirps back with a chuckle. There is a moment of silence before Hoya speaks up, knowing that everyone wants some answers by this point.

“Tell us, why are you and Woohyun still alive?” The questions comes up a little harsh than he intends and even he hisses at the cruelty of the question but he doesn’t apologise because Dongwoo knows what he means as well as knowing what position he’s in at the moment. He’s the betrayer.

“I’ll make things as short and detailed as possible.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things weren’t meant to be this way, at least for Dongwoo and Woohyun. They were meant to be dead but somehow they were still living. Yes, they were dead according to the records but here they are, breathing, eating and sleeping like the rest of them.

“What do we do? What if the other’s find out? I could never face Gyu like this! He’ll hate me; he’ll think I betrayed him.” Woohyun paces around the confinements of the room they were kept in.

From what they know, they had been in a coma for over a month, just barely living after a mission had gone array with their group. Sunggyu, Hoya, Sungyeol and Sungjong had managed to complete the mission with treatable wounds while Woohyun and Dongwoo were pronounced dead on the scene. It was true; they had been dead but after an hour, their hearts began beating again in some turn of events. Immediately, they were rushed to the HQ’s hidden ward to be treated. They were put on life support as ordered by the Master and after a month of battling with life and death, they had miraculously sprung back to life.

“He won’t hate you…” Dongwoo tried to reassure the younger despite knowing that it won’t help in any way. He was sat on his bed, watching his friend fall deeper into panic at the thought of his lover’s pain. It wasn’t quite the same of him as he was not in a relationship like Woohyun was but he could feel the pain that the members were feeling at the thought of their deaths. He too, was worried about the future events that one day, the others would find him alive and well but right now, all he could do was try to calm Woohyun down.

“He will. Oh god, he thinks I’m dead because of him! I’ve already hurt him once and the day he finds out I’m actually alive, I’ll hurt him again. How could I do this to him, how could Ii do this to us? I can’t do this Dongwoo, not to Gyu, anyone but him…” Woohyun threw his body onto the bed just opposite of Dongwoo’s. He looked up at the white ceiling, the same one they have bene looking at for the past week since they first woke up. It was boring here but their bodies were still healing.

Every day they would be tested, tried and medicated in hopes of a quick recovery. It worked, everything and the assassins could only feel their bodies were getting stronger as they days went passed. However, their minds were the complete opposite. While their bodies healed, their minds were being broken from the guilt and fear of their loved ones who were still healing from the mission. They would hear things occasionally from the doctor who came to treat them but after 3 days, Dongwoo asked the doctor keep the information to himself as it was only hurting them further.

“Relax Woohyun. Sunggyu hyung is stronger than that.”

“I know but…” His words were cut short as he was no longer able to talk about his lover any longer.  To him, Sunggyu was still his but to Sunggyu; Woohyun was now a sweet memory of the past that haunted him.

They were discharged after 3 weeks of confinement after being deemed fit to work by the underground doctor (who was killed shortly after this without their knowledge). They were casted in a mission where the two of them worked as partners to show their newly built bodies and needless to say, the mission went off without a hitch. The Master watched closely and in no time, they were doing the dirty work of customers who wanted nothing to do with the HQ but rather, have their killings done in absolute secrecy (despite the HQ already being one of the best in keeping killings secret, some higher ups still felt unsafe and wanted an exclusive contract with the unknown). Woohyun and Dongwoo were forced to commit to it as not only were their lives on the line, but also their former members who were used as a bargain for them to work even harder.

Somewhere along the way, the duo separated and Woohyun was forced to look after another assassin who was bought to him called Jung Daehyun. While Woohyun trained the other up, Dongwoo was forced to go solo. Woohyun began hating the organisation even more when he was forced to kill a girl who had witnessed the killing of her father during a hit on the man. Daehyun’s face had been in view and they were forced to eliminate her. To this day, Dongwoo still remembers Woohyun’s hopeless voice over the phone. It had been years since they last spoken, that being on the day Woohyun was forced to take on an apprentice.

“She was only 5 years old… I can’t believe this! I can’t do it anymore Dongwoo, not like this. I can’t continue living like this… If Gyu knew, he would hate me even more.” It was from that day that the two promised to one day overthrow the organisation all together.

It wasn’t until recently did Woohyun and Dongwoo managed to work together again. After the capture of Victoria, Woohyun was put to guard her. Dongwoo had already been working on the 13^th floor cells for some time before Woohyun as many of his missions involved capturing the inmates that now reside there (as well as taking them from the other assassins after they bring them in for a formal assassination, only to have them kept in the building without their captor’s knowledge). It was only natural that Dongwoo would end up guarding them.

They found this mission to be the escape they were looking for. With the help of Sungyeol (who was shocked by their appearance but listened to their story without a second judgement), they managed to plan their mission around Sunggyu’s. They were meant to help but only from the shadows. Unfortunately, they were found out when Kyuhyun wanted to see his sister and their cover was blown. With that, they were forced to act as their enemy.

“Woohyun never meant to act the way he did, neither did I nor did we have a choice to do what we had done after that last mission as a part of INFINITE. All I can say is that we want what you guys want and nothing more. If possible, I hope you would find us to be your friends again, even your family.”