He hates the fact that the elevator feels like it’s taking forever despite him only wanting to reach the 4^th floor. The elevator bell dings with a song that sounds a lot more horrid than usual. He feels himself letting go of the breath he was keeping in. Slowly, the doors open. The first thing that comes to sight is a body on the floor. He felt nothing and everything at the same time. Jaejoong steps out before kneeling in front of the closest body and turned it to face him. A sigh of relief comes when he realises it’s not Kyuhyun.

“Jaejoong ssi?” What are you doing here?” He hears a voice ask him and quickly stands up. His eyes immediately fall on Yoochun who’s looking at him, clearly confused to why he would be here instead of waiting in the van as planned.

They lock eyes for a bit and Yoochun can tell Jaejoong’s been through a rough time. His shirt is cut up, creased and dirtied along with the blood splatter on his face did nothing but make him look worse than he was. The long cut on his arm and clear wound on his lower right torso is enough to make Yoochun worried the man was going to pass out at any time. It was only slightly but there was a slight slump in Jaejoong’s posture as opposed to his normally straight body. Yoochun was curious but kept his mouth shut for now. He has a hunch to what had happened but it’s not enough to go by.

“I heard what happened through the radio but it was cut of almost right away. I was curious so I came to see if everything is alright. We have another person at the wheel so there’s no problem. Is everyone ok?” He asks, scanning the other as he spoke to find that the man was slightly injured but nothing that won’t heal within the next week.

“I’m fine but I’m not too sure about Kyuhyun ssi and Sunggyu ssi. I’ve just finished with the group over hear and was just about to jump inside.” Yoochun states, looking around to make sure that he had finished every single one of them. He wipes away the light sheet of sweat that sat on his forehead, surprised at the fact that he was already this tired.

It comes as a surprise when a door opens up behind Yoochun and out pops a young man who’s looking right at them. They exchange a few looks, not before both Yoochun and Jaejoong point their weapons at the man. The man does the same, backing into the now sealed door.

“Who are you?” The man is the first to speak. His voice is deep, rich like melted dark chocolate as he switches the aim of his gun between the other two. Before anyone can say anything, the man’s eyes widened to an unbelievable size. He looks at Yoochun and then at Jaejoong, keeping his eyes on the pale beauty.

“Hero Jaejoong, Micky Yoochun.” He says, almost not believing in his own eyes as he calls out the detective’s former name. The two are shocked when the man lowers his gun and puts his hand up as though he’s surrendering. He knows us, Jaejoong thinks. They exchange glances, Jaejoong opting to question the man in front of them first.

“State your name.”

“Nam Woohyun.” Woohyun doesn’t hesitate to reveal his name. In a twist, Jaejoong signals for Yoochun to put his gun down whereas his is still aimed between Woohyun’s eyes. The name sound familiar and he lets his lips repeat it again. His eyes widen, almost dropping his katana when he realises where, or who he had heard the name from.

“You’re-“

“Kim Sunggyu’s ex-fiancé.” The word ‘ex’ doesn’t feel right on his lips and the fact that he said it makes him feel as though he’s admitted that fact. Jaejoong notices but also notices the silver band on Woohyun’s middle finger that is a near exact replica of his cousin’s engagement ring that now sits in the Kim family home next to a picture of the former couple. It took him years to finally take it off but still, Sunggyu kept it somewhere safe.

“We have to hurry! He’s in trouble!” Woohyun adds, running towards the front door of the intelligence office. A harsh pull on his arm stops him from getting further. He turns to find Yoochun holding onto him. Woohyun lets out a scold but Jaejoong intervenes.

“We can’t run in without a plan.” The younger knows the detective is correct. Yoochun lets go as Woohyun’s body relaxes. From there, he walks over to the door, back pressed against the all to cover his figure from peering eyes.

“That’s Bang Yongguk. He’s the leader of B.A.P and the former leader of INFINTE when it was just Sunggyu and I in the team. He left to create his current group and is a highly skilled fighter. Rank 2, his team is made out of rank 5, 7, 9, 10 and two from group A. It seems that the rest of the assassins in the room right now are made up of the rest of the top 10 (excluding Kyuhyun who is rank 1 and Sunggyu who is rank 3) and rogue rank As.” Woohyun points out the leader, Bang Yongguk while moving onto the rest of his team and explaining every single one of them. His explanations are quick and to the point. Yoochun and Jaejoong followed closely.

“Do you see them?” Yoochun asks.

“No- Wait, I think I see them! , they’re badly injured.” They found the two on the floor, crouched together just barely keeping up with the best assassins in the HQ. Blood was everywhere on their body.

“Let’s go.” Jaejoong says and in a second, Yoochun busts open the door with a kick. Everyone turns to the noise including Kyuhyun and Sunggyu. Jaejoong enters next, feigning uninjured while Woohyun enters last. The past lover’s eyes meet Sunggyu in shock and Woohyun indifferent.

“Woohyun?” Sunggyu’s voice alarmed Yongguk, especially the name that came from his lips. He turned around to see the dead man walking; his eyes tell them that he’s not impressed but says nothing to state the claims.

“What are you doing here?” The man asked as he pointed his katana at the other in question. The latter didn’t answer, opting to not give any acknowledgement to his former leader. Instead, his eyes landed on his former lover again but quickly left. Sunggyu felt the lingering feeling when Woohyun’s gaze left him as quickly as it arrived. He was shocked that Woohyun even knew where they were, let alone right in the middle of a battle field.

“We’ve come to collect you.” Yoochun announced. It was right away when Jaejoong and Woohyun jumped at the chance of an attack. Using their presence as a distraction, they were able to momentarily able to create a sort of lag in the other assassin’s brains. The assassins didn’t know what came for them when Jaejoong and Woohyun managed to erase a couple of them before landing right in front of Kyuhyun and Sunggyu in a crouched position. Yoochun jumped in a moment later, hacking at the others that blocked their way. He would create an opening for them while Woohyun and Jaejoong stuck with the two.

“You are?” Yongguk growled as he watched the two assassins easily make their way to the now listed as rogues. They were crouched down, meeting the eye levels for those they were going to collect, backs facing their comrades. With Jaejoong in front of Kyuhyun and Woohyun in front of Sunggyu, they kept their gaze on their top dog, Yongguk.

“Kim Jaejoong.” The detective offered his own name. It made Yongguk raise a brow but his thoughts were cut off when he felt a deadly presence behind him. For a second it overwhelmed him, feeling that death was just lurking behind him. He turned to see Yoochun behind, ready to throw a punch his way to knock him out. Luckily, his body was quick enough to react, dodging the attack altogether. The ambush gave enough time for Jaejoong and Woohyun to act quickly as Jaejoong reached behind him to grab the younger’s hand. Kyuhyun looked done for a second, missing the ambush on Yongguk. Before he knew it, Jaejoong was pulling him forward to his feet and towards the exit of the intelligence office.

“Hyung?!” He called to Jaejoong. Turning his head around, only to find that Woohyun and Sunggyu were not following him Kyuhyun began to feel a panic inside of him. They weren’t leaving him, were they?

“HYUNG!” Kyuhyun called again, this time a little louder as the thought the elder didn’t hear him the first time but Jaejoong was too busy running forward, slicing down every enemy that came his way. The current number 1 was too shocked to do anything, letting his exhausted body follow in the elder’s actions. He thought he was going to pass out any time. Kyuhyun was about to let go of Jaejoong’s hand when he felt the elder grip harder against his.

“It’s not our battle to fight.” The younger heard the raven say and for a bit, he wondered what he meant but then he understood. True to those words, it wasn’t his battle to fight. It was a battle between a leader and his former members. Sunggyu and Woohyun needed to finish it, as a last offering to their former leader and mentor. If it wasn’t for the hate and betray Yongguk as feeling at the moment, he would have also felt it.

“Don’t worry about them, Yoochun will stay to help.” With that, Kyuhyun felt little guilt towards their leaving. They don’t leave completely though. Instead they camp outside in the hallway for any other intruders come. Kyuhyun notices the wounds on Jaejoong and does his best to help patch him up but there isn’t much he can do.

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

Woohyun presses his back on Sunggyu, feeling only the slightest bit of relief when he feels the elder’s warm against him.  He doesn’t turn to look at Jaejoong and Kyuhyun as they leave but he’s thankful that they did. Somehow the elder managed to read his mind and let Woohyun and Sunggyu land the final blow on their former leader. It’s scary thinking about it as the two had never won against the other in their whole career here as an assassin. Kyuhyun is probably the only person who can match and even beat him on a one to one but they were Kyuhyun and neither was it a one to one battle.

Yoochun helps out by erasing most of the assassins surrounding them. His body feels as though there are a thousand needles going through him but he battles on until every last assassin is down. It’s a horrible thing, what he’s doing but he’s thankful that he doesn’t know any of them as he left well before they became somebody with a name a rank in the HQ. He laughs at how easily the top 10 went down so easily. Jaejoong managed to sort some of them on his way out and Yoochun knows (or feels) that they won’t really leave even though with his injures, the detective should go to a hospital as soon as possible. He looks over to Woohyun and sends him a signal that he’s got the rest so it’s fine.

“Gyu, are you ready?” Woohyun asked after noticing Yoochun’s signal. He felt a tug at his finger from behind causing his body to freeze over. He had forgotten about the small habits of Sunggyu’s after so long. Out of all of them, this one was one that made him love the man more than he already did.

‘Always.’ It meant and it made Woohyun realised he missed the word more than he expected.

Yoochun managed to corner the remaining assassins to an opposite side of the room. By now, his body was full of cuts and bruises. Junsu’s going to be so mad at me, he thought.

Woohyun stands up first, reaching out for Sunggyu who took it without a second thought. They stood together side to side and they could feel confidence wash over them. Yongguk didn’t like the look in their eyes and pointed his katana over to them.

“I’ll end you two once and for all.” Sunggyu is the first to move (as he always did). He ran towards his former leader and took out a dagger from his back pocket. Throwing himself forward, he aimed for he chest but Yongguk was quick to defend himself. Woohyun was a few steps behind as he looked around for a sword of some kind for Sunggyu as the other was always better with a knife compared to a gun. It was a few steps back, just tucked away in the corner beside the corpse that once used it. Woohyun ran as fast as he could to get the the silver weapon before joining back with his former lover. The journey was quick but their enemy was quicker as Yongguk locked Sunggyu in with his arms and pushed the 3^rd ranking back with great force. Unable to do anything, Sunggyu let his body collide with the hard wall behind him. The force caused him to scream out in pain.

“GYU!” Woohyun shouted as he tried to make his way over. However, his path was blocked with Yongguk pushed him in front like a wall between the two. He proceeded with an ambush but Woohyun skill fully dodged the attack and slid underneath to the other side. Quickly, he threw the katana over in Sunggyu’s direction and threw in a punch once the action was complete. Sunggyu had noticed the flying object and caught it by the handle. The pain from the impact was overbearing but he stood with everything he had.

He ran over to his target, slicing down at the rogue assassins who had noticed him, killing them with a few attacks. Yoochun did a good job in making sure that the assassins were weather dead or not in the way of the two but some still managed to get loose. Once Sunggyu was within range, he grabbed onto Woohyun’s hand and pulled him back. The younger jumped back with the contact made and swapped places with the elder. Sunggyu let his sword move down, his katana feeling a lot heavier normal on his overused body. Yongguk managed to dodge the attack, countering it with slice of his dagger on Sunggyu’s left shoulder. They made contact and Yongguk lifted his gun with his other hand and aimed at Sunggyu, this time going in for a head shot. Using his elbow, he pushed Yongguk‘s away, the shot going off just above his head and through the locks of his hair. Woohyun quickly aimed his gun and pulled the trigger, missing the fatal heart and lodged into the left shoulder of his enemy.

“!” The low voice of Yongguk muttered, not allowing the pain to be heard by the two who betrayed him. He jumped back to cover but let an opening through. Allowing Sunggyu to attack, he aimed for a cut down the length of his left arm. The attack was painful and painted the former leaders arm in his own blood. The cut was so deep; he had lost the feeling of his fingers, causing him to drop his trusty dagger onto the ground. His arm fell on his side, limp. All that was left was the gun on his superior hand.

“We won’t let you off, hyung.” Woohyun said, moving next to Sunggyu.

“Don’t call me that. You betrayed the HQ, you betrayed us and you betrayed ME! You have no right to call me hyung after what you’ve done.” They all knew what was going to happen. As strong as Yongguk was, he was not going to win against a rank 3 and a former rank 4. With only one arm, death was truly on his side.

“Please hyung, don’t do this. You can still come with us!” Sunggyu pleaded. Woohyun could see the katana on Sunggyu’s hold go loose, signalling that the elder was willing to compromise but it wasn’t how Yongguk worked, it was never how he worked. It was his way or no way.

“Hmpf. I’ll rather die with honour than live a rat.” Woohyun couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed onto Sunggyu’s hand, curling his fingers on top of Sunggyu’s and around the handle of the katana. His action seemed to speak to Sunggyu and within seconds, the elder ran forward and ed his sword directly into Yongguk’s heart. The man knew what was coming and did nothing to protect himself from the final attack. Woohyun’s hand never left Sunggyu’s and the blood of their once loved mentor and leader, cover them.

“I’m so sorry.” Sunggyu apologised but his words of regret fell on deaf ears as the man they were meant for was no longer in this world. They could stay but time stilled for the leader of INFINITE as he didn’t even realise Woohyun removing his hand away from the katana. He doesn’t even remember the hearing Yongguk’s body drop to the floor. All he remembers is the sound of hurried footsteps before the voice of Kyuhyun calling him with worry.

The 5 of them manage to make it safety down the building, taking the elevator as opposed to the hidden stairs (because come on, at times like these, stairs are the preferred way of escape but not for this HQ whose only way of escape is a single elevator). After being forced by the man, Jaejoong was now leaning on Yoochun for support with his hand thrown over his shoulder for extra support. Kyuhyun was on the other side, making sure that Jaejoong was alright while Woohyun was still holding a dazed Sunggyu by the hand.

The elevator door opened and Woohyun was the first to leave, checking the place for no signs of life. Once the place was cleared, they left together. It was a short walk to the exit as there was no one stopping them.

“HYUNG!” They heard a voice shout as the entered the car park. It was Sungjong who was waving at them from the window of Sungyeol’s van. Upon seeing them, he had lowered the windows in excitement despite warning from the taller assassin earlier on.

“Kyuhyun?!” It was Changmin’s voice that came next followed by the sliding of the vans door and a shout from Sungyeol that went along the lines of ‘Hey! I told you not to open the door!’. Everything was ignored as Changmin jumped out of the van and towards the shorter assassin.

“You’re hurt!” He said as he looked the other up and down. Kyuhyun looked a mess and it was more evident as Yaoundé got closer.

“Oppa!” This time it was Victoria who called pout but Sungyeol wasn’t having any of it.

“We’re leaving!” He shouted when Yoochun got into the van to fill Changmin’s space.  The taller pressed a button which caused the van’s door to close by itself and started the engine.

“Wait! What about Changmin oppa!?” Victoria cried but it was already too late as the van began driving off. Changmin helped Kyuhyun to the back seat; taking the one next to him once he was sure the others was somewhat comfortable on the leader interior. Woohyun and Sunggyu sat on the seats in front while Dongwoo remained occupant on the driver’s seat with Jaejoong on the front passenger. There were no words exchanged as Woohyun pressed down a clean towel from the van on Sunggyu’s open wounds to help stop the bleeding. Changmin noticed that and took some from the same place, doing the same to Kyuhyun. The latter didn’t move which Changmin took it as a good sign to continue.

“So where are we off to?” Sunyeol’s voice comes through the van’s radio.

“Well go to the Cho’s family mansion to get patched up and for some rest. It will take some time until the paperwork for his case is done and for the media to die down once it’s gotten ahold of the story. I suggest everyone stay inside the mansion for the time being as there is a possibility of rogue assassins from the HQ coming to target us.”

“Roger that.”