[title song: trap]

Chapter 12;

“You know how I put trackers on all of our more important clients?” Minhee asks, with a little sigh. She looks completely exhausted and a little frazzled. You nod and Minhee looks a little hesitant when she continues. “Yeah, well they’re gone.”

Jessica frowns, “What do you mean gone?” Even Mina looks up from her computer, where she’s probably online shopping or something.

Minhee just places her laptop on the coffee table and tilts the screen back. There’s a blown up map of SM Town on the screen and maybe a hundred blinking yellow lights throughout town accompanied by faint beeping “This was what the town looked like five minutes before Mina texted you. Each dot is a client of ours. And this is real time.” Then Minhee clicks a few keys and suddenly, one by one, each blinking yellow light disappears, until the map is completely empty. There’s a moment of silence where you can’t help but gape.

“Holy .” Mina exclaims, stepping closer to Minhee’s laptop, online shopping completely forgotten. “Are they. Are they dead?”

You shake your head, “I doubt it. EXO can’t be that powerful.” You eye Minhee’s solemn expression and frown, “Can they?”

Jessica shrugs from where she’s sitting, cross-legged on the ground. She tilts her head, thoughtfully, “They have a ton of allies. And everyone’s terrified of them, just look at that Hanji guy.”

“But they couldn’t have killed that many people all at once. It has to be a hack.” You say. You really, really, really hope it was just a hack. If all those clients are dead then LILAC is so, so, so ing screwed.

Minhee groans as she leans back on the couch and throws her hands up in frustration. “We can’t deal with this right now. We’re due at Hana Street in one goddamn hour.”

“We need to—” You’re cutoff by loud beeps coming from Minhee’s laptop. All four of you stare at Minhee’s laptop and you can’t believe your eyes. The blinking, yellow dots from earlier are returning, one by one, the sounds of beeping intensifying. Minhee reaches for her laptop and starts typing, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Suddenly the beeping just stops and the accompanying silence makes you incredibly anxious. “Minhee?” You question, worriedly.

Minhee places the laptop on the coffee table, her eyes wider then you’ve ever seen them before. She just leans back and stares at the screen, seemingly in shock, and it takes you a moment to tear your gaze away from her and back to the laptop screen. Oh my God. The yellow dots are back, yeah, but they all seem to slowly snake across the screen until they’re clumped in one single place. The dots are layered on top of each other so that it looks like a giant blob of yellow on the far right side of town, in one specific spot.

Mina sounds eerily calm, “Where is that?”

Jessica is the one who responds first and her voice is so, so quiet. “It’s our warehouse.”

You blink and you know they can’t take over yet another one of your warehouses, especially your new headquarters. You guys have so many goods in there, not to mention the damn security cameras. You are so not in the mood to go through that again. “Someone needs to stop them.” You say, quickly.

Minhee blinks, rapidly, “They’re trying to make us choose, aren’t they.” She doesn’t pose it as a question and you think it’s a slightly frightening thought. “We meet EXO or we try to save our warehouse. Either way we’re ed.” Minhee sounds so dejected that you end up glaring at her.

“We are not going down without a fight.” You say in a hard tone because like hell you’re going to give up now. “And we don’t need to choose one or the other. We can choose both.”

“No, we can’t.” Jessica says, blankly.

“Yes. We. Can.” You say, a little forcefully. “We can’t afford to have our warehouse destroyed. Because once that happens, EXO’s not going to be the only ones out to get us. And we need to meet them. I might be new at mafia politics, but I know this is important.”

Mina looks a little resigned when she meets your eyes, “Then what are we going to do?”

“We’re going to split up.” You say trying to sound confident, even though something in your gut tells you this isn’t a good idea.

Jessica immediately sits up straight, shaking her head, her dark hair falling out of her ponytail. “No, unnie. That’s stupid. There are only four of us and there are a lot of them.”

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall, right?” You reply, quietly, frowning at Jessica’s worried expression. “So we’re going to split up. You and Mina are going to go back to our warehouse. Stop them but don’t actually engage them in a fight, unless you’re three hundred percent sure you can win. Then you need to come back, okay? You need to come back to Hana Street and provide backup. You need to come back.”

Mina actually glares. “You’re going to go alone? No ing way. Minhee’s not going to be enough if they decide to attack. No, Sooyong. No.”

Minhee throws Mina a slightly offended look and you sigh, looking at Minhee. “Unnie, you set up those automated snipers, right?” Minhee nods, slowly, eyeing you with a weird look, her brows knit with anxiety. You glance over at Mina, trying to sound nonchalant, even though you’re actually a tiny bit scared. “I’m not going in alone, Mina. Minhee’s set up twenty one snipers up and down Hana Street that she can aim and shoot with a single click. I’ll be fine.” For half a second you wonder if you’re trying to convince yourself or them.

“It’s still not the same as having twenty one real people. If they find Minhee, everything’s done. You’re done.” Jessica says, softly.

“I know.” You reply and you think you sound tired. You rub your eyes and take a deep breath. “But this is the best we’ve got. Hurry up and take care of the warehouse, so you can help me, if you’re so worried.”

There’s a tense silence between the four of you until Minhee crosses her arms, glaring. “Yah! Have a little faith in me, you brats.” Minhee hisses.

You can’t help but smile and Minhee gives you her own reassuring smile. Mina makes a face, “If either of you die, I’m going to bring you back from the dead just so I can kill you myself. I swear I will.”

“Right back at you.” You reply and the four of you stare at each other for a moment. Jessica, Minhee, Mina, and you are going to get out of this alive, you decide, because you refuse to think of any other possibilities.

~.~.~.~.~

“There are two people approaching you right now. I think there are others but I can’t detect them. You have the switchblade in your sleeve, right? Just scratch the back of your head if you do.” Minhee’s voice whispers through your earpiece, her voice crackly and full of faint static. You follow her instructions and she sighs in relief. Minhee’s hiding somewhere in the rooftops and you really hope she’s hidden well because you don’t know what will happen if their lookouts find her (because you doubt EXO’s leader actually came here with one other person like he instructed).

You look down at yourself a little nervously. You’re dressed to the nines (because, if you learned one thing from your umma, it’s that the way you dress can do wonders for first impressions). You’re dressed in a short, long sleeved red dress (with just enough hidden pockets to hide whatever you want). You picked it out because it’s daring, intimidating, and a little bit mocking, making it obvious you’re not trying to hide because you are not afraid of them, and heels that are high, comfortable, and very, very sharp. It looks like EXO’s leader has the same idea, you realize, as he approaches you from the shadows. He’s tall and something about his presence intimidates you (in a vaguely familiar way). He’s dressed in an expensive looking suit and tie ensemble, and you’re pretty sure he’s wearing silk. He doesn’t have any visible weapons on him, but, like you, he most likely has a few hidden within the folds of his delicate attire. The man next to him is tall and lithe and you think he seems familiar to you, too.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” The Leader says, his voice crackly (voice-changer probably) yet still so smooth. You feel uncomfortable at the fact that you can’t see his eyes. You know he’s smirking at you, though, you can feel it. He sticks out a huge, gloved hand, “Call me Duizhang.”

You eye his outstretched hand in disdain, “I’d rather not.”

Duizhang just laughs as he withdraws his hand and you can’t help but notice how familiar it sounds. Why? “Hmmm, feisty, aren’t you? Were you the one who shot Zi, here?” He gestures towards the tall man next to him, who tenses immediately. You notice the way his tone goes from slightly friendly to incredibly cold and menacing about halfway through the sentence.

You shake your head, “No. But I ordered her to.” You say, matching his cold and menacing tone.

Duizhang looks around, but you don’t miss the way he tenses, his fist clenching ever so slightly, gloves stretching taut. “Where is she, then? Where’s your plus one?”

Then you smirk at him, knowing you probably look incredibly condescending and shrug, “I didn’t think I needed a plus one. Since you’re the one that thought we should meet. I didn’t want to have any kind of advantage over you. Especially when we’re meeting on neutral turf, right?” The way his jaw clenches and Zi’s hand hovers near his hip (where a weapon is hidden, no doubt) tells you that you’ve hit a nerve. Good.

“Of course.” Duizhang bites out.

“We have things to discuss, don’t we?” You question.

“Stop making him angry.” Minhee whispers through your earpiece, admonishingly. “Wait for Mina and Jess before you taunt him.”

Then Duizhang suddenly straightens up and tilts his head to the side a little bit. “We did have things to discuss.”

You nod, crossing your arms, and tap your foot, the sound of your heels clicking against the concrete filling the empty street. “All right, then. What do you want?”

Then Duizhang’s voice takes on an eerie tone and you feel incredibly uneasy all of a sudden. You can feel both Duizhang and Zi’s eyes on you. “Or rather, I have things to discuss while you listen.” Duizhang says.

You narrow your eyes at him. “What does that mean?”

Duizhang takes a step forward and you unconsciously take a step back. That’s when you can see the faint outline of a smirk through his mask and know that you’ve just ed up. You showed fear. It doesn’t matter how unintentional it had been. You showed submission. And EXO thrives on fear and submission. . Duizhang speaks oh-so-casually and you can barely suppress the chills running up and down your spine. “It means that no one messes with my family.”

“And no one messes with mine.” You reply, standing your ground, and thanking the Gods that your voice sounds steady and calm.

Duizhang just sighs and you swear he’s mocking you, playing with you. “I guess we can compromise then.”

You cross your arms, “What does that mean?”

“It means that I’m going to need you to give EXO everything LILAC owns.” Duizhang says, casually. He lifts his gloved hand and examines his fingers for a second before he continues. “Then I want you to gather every single one of your members so we can kill them all one by one. Do you understand me?”

“Why do you think I’d ing agree to that?” You ask, incredulously.

“If you know what’s good for you, you will. And don’t worry. We’ll make it painless.” Duizhang says, with a light chuckle. “You’ll even be able to make sure. Since we’ll kill you last.”

Then you laugh (despite your anxiety) and match his condescending tone. You notice his fingers tense and you grin. “That’s so cute. But your repetitive threats are getting kind of old, don’t you think?”

Duizhang doesn’t answer. He just stares at you for the longest time, but you refuse to back down. You already let your guard down once and you’re not doing it again. Then he smiles. “You’re right.” He says. “Let’s do this a little differently, then, shall we?”

“What—” You’re cut off by a high pitched keening in your right ear and you flinch, unconsciously, when the sound of static fills your ear.

Duizhang isn’t even looking at you, he’s examining his fingers. Then he speaks and his words makes your blood run cold, “I guess we found your plus one.”

You try to play it cool because he could be bluffing. You really hope he’s bluffing. “What are you talking—”

“Don’t touch me.” Minhee’s voice cuts you off and you whip your head to the side to find Minhee struggling in someone’s grip. , , .

Then the static in your ear disappears and a voice speaks quietly through the earpiece, “I’m really loving the automatic snipers, ladies.” You see Minhee stiffen from where she’s currently trying to stomp on the toes of the boy who’s holding her.

Oh God, no. It was a trap. You knew it but you were naïve enough to believe that you could somehow outwit EXO. Instead you were probably going to watch your best friends die before they killed you. You need to. You need to escape. This is completely your fault and you need to fix it. You need—

You feel something cold and hard pressed up against your temple and you freeze, your thoughts completely scattering. Then you hear the click of the safety of a gun and you put two and two together. Duizhang has a gun pressed to your forehead. He is one click away from blowing your brains out.

Duizhang’s voice is soft, but it still manages to send shivers up and down your spine. “Rule number one: Don’t ever turn your back on me.” Then you feel a gloved hand caress your face before it suddenly tightens along your jaw, tight enough to leave bruises. “Make one wrong move and you’re dead. I’ll have your rooftop snipers shoot you down in the blink of an eye.”

You have to close your eyes so you can steady your breathing. God, you’re terrified. But you have to pretend you’re not. You have to.

Duizhang shoves you forwards and you take care not to stumble. His gun is still fixed against your temple, and his tone is harsh when he speaks. “Now walk.”

a/n: This is only half of what i meant to update but I felt so bad for not updating in so long so i'm going to divide this into slightly shorter sections. I've been experiencing some weird writer's block so pls send me songs and inspiring things so i can feel more inspired. there's going to be a lot of action but don't worry baek is coming he will be involved very soon. god duizhang is so fun to write fiesty sass is soooooo fun to write.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO SUBSCRIBED AND UPVOTED AND COMMENTED like soo many ppl came out of nowhere and it makes me a lil nervous but really happy. Please leave me your thoughts/predictions, motivate me, give me lifeeeeee~~ (warm me up bc it's rlly rlly cold here like cold enough to freeze scalding hot water in a couple minutes)

or ya know talk to me about the new growl dubstep intro because oh my god

Thank you everyone! HAPPY NEW YEARS!

xoxo