With the packs both gathered in the large living room of the mansion, Minseok and Luhan announced the good news.

“That is adorable!” Tao let out a loud pitched squeal at the news that they his pack leader was expecting two pups- a boy and a girl.

Sehun rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s outburst but still managed to mutter a congratulations.

With another round of positive comments it was time to get down to business.

“I don’t have to tell you guys how dangerous it is becoming right now, “ Luhan looked around the room, making eye contact with each and every one gathered, “Last night’s attack is likely not the last. We have very good information, thanks to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, information that will likely lead us to one of the hybrid labs. We need to do everything we can to find out more about the lab – any evidence we collect about the way the government is treating our kind will help our cause in the end.”

“I can scope it out.” Chanyeol, still feeling horrible guilt over his missteps, volunteered.

“Thanks Chanyeol” Minseok flashed a smile, “Tao – if you are up for it we need you too. Suho, you too – you are used to being in dangerous situations. Kyungsoo, your security system expertise will be needed as well.”

At the mention of Kyungsoo, Jongin put slung an arm protectively around his mate’s shoulder “I can go too.”

“Jongin – you don’t have any experience with these sorts of things.” Luhan pointed out. It was true. While he would trust Jongin in a fight he knew the boy wasn’t used to sneaking around with an end goal of planning a very dangerous break in.

Jongin frowned, “But you would send Kyungsoo?”

“Hey! I will have you know I have broken into dozens of buildings. Maybe even hundreds.” Kyungsoo gave Jongin a glare.

“Sorry hyung, I just worry about you.” Jongin looked apologetic, causing Kyungsoo to smile at him and give him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Ewwww, get a room you two.” Sehun shot them a disgusted look.

“Like you should talk- you and Tao are practically humping in the streets anymore.” Kyungsoo, ever the ball of fury, shot back.

“Enough with the teasing. The Cloud Mountain Pack will be in charge of scoping out the lab, but we need to pay a visit to Professor Jung first – for some more details. You guys,” Luhan motioned around to his own pack members, “I need you to do some investigation into the latest attack – find out who did it, where they lived, and who they knew. And be discreet about it or so help me-“

“Lu, calm down.” Minseok, who could be very harsh at times, still knew that the best way to get people to do what you wanted was not always to threaten them. “Luhan will be at Club M this evening for a Mahjong game. We are hoping he will meet with more than a few of the people that Assemblyman Ahn has joined hands with. And I am going to be with my Father, unfortunately.”

Minseok listed everything off, making sure it was transparent they were all doing their part. Now that it was more dangerous than ever they needed to all pitch in. His role was fairly simple but not something he wanted to really partake in. He had to keep his Dad occupied, so on the off chance he had any reason at all to be at Club M that reason would no longer exist. If Sung Woo caught Luhan at the Club everything would be over for them – Sung Woo would know they were carrying out surveillance on Assemblyman Ahn and by association they would know Minseok and Luhan did not trust Sung Woo’s intentions.

The problem would be having to sit with a man who, just that morning, made it loud and clear he would use his own son – and do so by tormenting his emotional state. Trying to play nice with his Father would be even harder now. But he had to or Luhan would be in danger. He would be in danger. They would all be in danger.

“I feel like we need code names or something.” Jongdae’s eyes were alight.

“You watch too much anime.” Yixing mumbled, “Now where do we start with the investigation?”

“Tao- I trust you can give them good direction.” Minseok answered, noticing Tao smiling proudly at the suggestion. The youngest member of his pack was a good kid, he loved praise and was a ray of sunshine when complimented.

“Sure thing.” Tao’s said with just a hint of pride in his voice.

“All right guys, let’s get this done. Everyone stay safe. If anything happens call Minseok and myself – and remember that So Ra will be here if anything comes up and you need assistance.” Luhan couldn’t hide the worry in his tone. He loved his pack – hell, he even thought he was starting to love Minseok’s pack too. He couldn’t bear to see any of them hurt.

A loud ring sounded as the group dispersed. It was Luhan’s phone. Checking the number he saw that it was Sohee. His groan told Minseok exactly who was calling.

“Hello?”

Minseok listened in, a sour expression on his face. He would be happy when Sohee wasn’t needed any more.

“Really? Oh, um that is really flattering, really it is, but…”

Minseok guessed this was the big invitation to be a spokes model for Assemblyman Ahn’s campaign. It would never happen -even if for some whacked out reason Luhan wanted it. If Luhan was linked to Assemblyman Ahn Sung Woo would know about it – and this would be yet another way their true intentions would be discovered.

“Yeah, sorry darling I really can’t. I just can’t. I am too shy.”

Minseok groaned in disgust at Luhan calling Sohee darling.

“What? No, I am alone. It must have been the phone” Luhan gave Minseok an annoyed look, which set Minseok off more.

“Yeah, I just can’t. That’s final, okay.”

Minseok mouthed the word darling at Luhan, who stepped forward to push his shoulder lightly.

“Yeah, I am meeting your father for a game of mahjong this evening.”

“Really, oh, that is great. I will call you later, okay?”

“Bye.”

Luhan hung up the phone, “Do you want her to find out?”

“I want her to walk into a brick wall.” Minseok retorted, “Darling”

“Minseokkie! You know I didn’t mean it.” Luhan whined. It never failed to surprise Minseok how much his mate could go from being all serious and strong and confident to a whiny baby in a few seconds.

“Prove it.” Minseok challenged.

Luhan was happy to accept the challenge. Now that they had the room to themselves it was easy for him to step a few feet forward and pull Minseok into an embrace.

“Gladly” Luhan captured Minseok’s mouth in his own in one swift movement, letting his mate know who he loved more than anything else in the world.

***

Pundits shouting about the hybrid attacks filled the news channels. Even the more central leaning news stations were in full panic mode, buying into a hybrid terror that would eat Seoul alive. Professor Jung and Changmin had long ago stopped listening to the lies being spouted on the television, but they kept it on. If something changed – if something developed – they wanted to know right away, even if that meant having to kind of listen to the din.

When Luhan, Tao, Chanyeol, Suho, Kyungsoo, and Minseok walked into the large basement office at the university they found the two men hunched over their computers. The television caught the newcomer’s attention due to the loud volume hyping up the messages of hate.

Luhan was used to this place – it was their so called “bat cave”. Professor Jung had been at the university for a long time, long enough to finagle the use of this previously discounted room. It was a dirty, dusty place when he decided to take it over – and it was perfect. It was in one of the lesser used buildings, it was in the basement – essentially it was somewhere no one else ever visited unless they were coming to see him.

“Can we turn that off?” Kyungsoo asked, disgusted at what he was hearing.

“My favorite student!” Professor Jung brightened, “And his merry band. I was expecting you.”

“Professor Jung, Changmin “Luhan nodded at the men in greeting, “I want you to meet Tao, he is in Minseok’s pack. I think you already met Chanyeol, Suho, and Kyungsoo at school.”

Tao did a small bow. He had been taken aback at knowing there were humans that were willing to help the hybrid rights cause, but this bit of knowledge made him happy. For one he felt like he was finally being let in on the full picture of what was going on. Two he was still riding the high of having been the one to direct the Eastern Dawn pack in their fact finding mission.

“Nice to meet you, Tao.” Professor Jung smiled, “Please, sit.”

The group sat in the simple wooden chairs that were scattered about the place. While the office was effective as a place for Professor Jung to carry out his activities as a hybrids right activist it was far from comfortable or modern regarding furnishings.

“We did some investigation into the location that you gave us.” Changmin began talking without looking up from his computer screen. Luhan was used to this too, but the rest of the group looked a little lost as to why he was babbling on without stopping his current task, “And the Professor and I agree – it is a likely place for an experimentation lab.”

“The government acquired the land in the 1970s and have kept it hush hush since then. Rumors have pegged it as everything from a secret base for extraterrestrial visitors to the location of the President’s nuclear bomb shelter.” Professor Jung explained, “We have satellite images from a United States government satellite and I can tell you the place is not a base. There are four buildings in total on the site and by all indication they are not used for defensive purposes.”

Professor Jung turned his computer around to show the group, who inched closer to take in the image. Four large buildings stood out as white rectangles on the screen. Surrounding the buildings was what appeared to be several iterations of fencing.

“That is electric fencing you see, and there are likely landmines planted here too.” Professor Jung pointed at one of the spaces between the fencing, “There is only one way in and one way out of the place – and that is a heavily guarded fortification”

Minseok shivered as he took in the sight of two concrete towers emerging from the fencing, indicating the entrance to the facility. He had once been in a place like this and it was all too familiar, even if it was a grainy satellite image.

Luhan noticed his mate’s reaction. He reached out and took Minseok’s hand in his, squeezing it. Minseok had yet to tell him, really tell him what it was like being in the lab. He knew his mate was mentally scarred from it and because of that he would never question him about it – he knew Minseok would tell him when the time was right.

“If you want to get in here you are going to need to do it quickly and you are only going to have one chance” Changmin, still typing away, explained “Your best bet is to go through the security fencing – and to do so after you disable the security cameras. Once you are inside you have five minutes at best, maybe ten if you are lucky.”

“Changmin is correct. Even if you cut the cameras and manage to hack the security system controlling the doors the guards in the place make regular rotations on a five minute basis – meaning you are not likely to get past them on the outside for long. The inside…we don’t know the guard rotations.”

“Are there hybrids in all of the buildings?” Minseok asked, his voice far quieter than he would have liked, betraying his unease at the subject matter.

“We can’t tell. Your other danger is that the hybrids that are on site will sense you and react, letting the guards know of your arrival. There is also the very real possibility that some of the hybrids that are now working with the government have been trained as guards and are working at the facility.”

“This sounds like a suicide mission.” Suho said under his breath, vocalizing what the rest of them were thinking.

“Not exactly, “Changmin finally stopped typing, pushing his computer away he stood up, “Victoria managed to meet one of the scientists at the facility. If she is correct, and she usually is-“

“Get on with it lover boy.” Professor Jung teased.

Changmin sighed. He was as close to the Professor as he had ever been to anyone excluding his family in his twenty some years, but sometimes the man could get on his nerves – especially given the fact he about his love life at every opportunity.

“As I was saying, if Victoria is correct this person is a very viable allie, if we are able to convince them they have little choice but to help us.”

“How will we do that?” Luhan asked.

“I would love to say the man is all gung ho about helping but in all honesty – blackmail.” Changmin smiled, “He has a pretty bad gambling addiction and a vice for room salons. He is married to the daughter of a moderately successful factory owner and has two little angels to boot. Vic is working on catching him in the act, but we need to make the final kill. And by we I mean you guys.”

“So we need to blackmail him into helping us?” Suho asked. He didn’t like the sound of this, but then again he never liked the sound of dangerous things. How he had survived so long in the criminally adventurous Cloud Mountain Pack was kind of a mystery, until his sheer loyalty was taken into account.

“Bingo. Make contact with Vic and figure out your next move. I wouldn’t dare get near the place until you have his support. If he can help get you in, direct you into the right building, this task may end up with some of you surviving.”

“We have a plan.” Luhan looked around the room, seeing a mixture of fear and excitement on the other hybrid’s faces. He hoped that their plan, still in its infancy, would turn out well for the lot of them.

***

Minseok had called his Father a few hours ago, right after his pack had arrived back at the mansion. Luhan had talked to Victoria and was told to hurry up and wait, she was working on getting the scientist right where they needed him. With nothing left to do Minseok had made the phone call.

It was a brief conversation but it had the intended result. Sung Woo happily accepted Minseok’s suggestion that they have a late dinner together at Sung Woo’s place. Minseok tried to sound as apologetic as possible about the events of that morning – even if it made him sick to his stomach to do so.

At a quarter to nine Minseok took a taxi to his Father’s rooftop apartment, a bundle of food that So Ra prepared sitting on the seat next to him. His mind was filled with the things he could talk to his father about, all things that he really didn’t want to talk to his father about. Small talk – discussing his short time as a university student, comments on how Seoul was witnessing spring in full bloom, remarks on how happy he was that he finally found a decent café in the city (the Angel Café, of course).

When the taxi stopped in front of the apartment Minseok had thoughts of running away. But they were just that – thoughts. There was no way that he would abandon his dinner date because that would mean leaving Luhan to walk into a potential lion’s den. Or human plus one wolf den to be exact.

Grabbing the carefully packed food he paid the taxi drive and exited the vehicle. Staring up the stairs he sighed heavily. He took a careful step, one, two, three. And then his phone range. Setting down the food he pulled out his phone, seeing that the number was Sung Woo. He answered it quickly, wondering what his father could be calling about.

“Misneok-ah, I am sorry but something came up. I won’t be home to have dinner.”

Minseok’s blood ran cold. If something came up, was Luhan in danger?
***
Club M was every part the high class club on the outside. A white federal style building, complete with a doorman, acted as a convincing façade for any kind of wrongdoings that took place behind closed doors. Of course they were the wrong doings of the upper class, all shady negotiations, cutthroat power struggles and money talks.

Luhan’s name had been added to the guest list, all thanks to his new “in” with Sohee’s Father and his friends. Luhan had taken extra care with his appearance, making sure he was dressed smartly in a designer suit. He hoped that this game of Mahjong was worth it – specifically he hoped the game would give him more certainty, more information, regarding who else Assemblyman Ahn was working with.

The doorman let Luhan into the building without a question, once he reached the large mahogany doors to the club’s main room his name was checked against the list. As a guest he was let in via all of the practiced courtesy of a well trained staff.

The game was played in one of the private rooms at the back of the club, or so the person at the door had directed him. It was nine o’clock sharp as Luhan stepped into the main area of the club. The room was huge, all dark woodwork, secluded booths, even more secluded alcoves, and a spacious bar. A dozen or so men and women lounged about the place – Luhan guessed that if you added the cost of their outfits and jewelry together it would equal well over five hundred grand.

Other than a few side glances no one paid him any mind, which he was grateful for. He had a role to play – the only son of a Sun Capital dating the only daughter of the Ahn Political Family. He didn’t have time to meet people who were not associated with that role, who were not part of the objective.

When Luhan reached the door to the private room he was greeted by another staff member, a short older man who was dressed almost as well as the patrons of the club.

“May I help you sir?”

“Um, yes. My name is Luhan. I am a guest of Assemblyman Ahn.”

“Oh, of course!” The man answered, acting as though he had been expecting Luhan all along, “Please go in sir.”

Luhan smiled slightly, nodding his head in acknowledgement. He took a deep breath. Minseok, the ultrasound pictures, the Eastern Dawn pack, So Ra, the Cloud Mountain Pack – all of these things flashed briefly in his mind as he opened the door. The reasons, his motivation.

The sounds of men talking, laughing, glasses clinking, game pieces skidding on tables greeted Luhan as he stepped into the room. The private area was almost as large as the main room of the club and was decorated in much the same way. Tables were scattered about, with about twenty or so individuals playing mahjong with varying degrees of drunkenness, cheer, and competitive fury. Luhan looked around until he spotted Sohee’s father. He was sitting at a table with two other men, one of whom he recognized as Mr. Lee from his previous golf outing.

Luhan approached the table with confidence, he had to be confident – it was his role after all.

“Luhan!” Assemblyman Ahn spotted the younger man as he neared the table, “I was wondering if you would come. We like to get here a little early” The assemblyman chuckled “As you can tell we have a passion for the game.”

“Sir” Luhan bowed in greeting, smiling warmly.

“Have a seat – if you are going to play mahjong it best be with me.”Ahn motioned to the empty seat to his left.

As Luhan walked around the table to the seat Assemblyman Ahn offered him, the other two men sitting at the table watched him. Luhan had been unable to make out one of their identities as the man had his backs to him as Luhan approached; Luhan stole a glance as he took his seat. And that is when he felt like running. Or shifting and attacking. Or screaming out. He thought he was going to be sick.

Sung Woo was sitting opposite of him, his staid expression not betraying a hint of recognition. Luhan’s mind was flooded with panicked thoughts. If Sung Woo was here, where was Minseok? And if Sung Woo was here…everything, all of their planning, had just been destroyed. They would be hunted down within the day, the government would be on them as soon as Sung Woo relayed the information that the Eastern Dawn Pack and the Cloud Mountain Pack were not about to play nice.

“Ahn, is this the future son in law you were telling me about?” Sung Woo asked.

“Ahh, I don’t know about that. But Luhan is from a good family-the only son of Sun Capital.” Ahn smiled warmly at Luhan, emphasizing Luhan’s background as if to relay his potential candidacy as Sohee’s husband.

“It is nice to meet you Luhan. My name is Kim Ji Hong – of Kim Finance.” Sung Woo greeted him.

Luhan was not sure what was going on, instinctually he stood and bowed in greeting – but inside…..inside, he felt a turmoil that had not overtaken him since the fight so many weeks ago, the fight that Sung Woo had started through kidnapping Tao and Sehun, the fight that had resulted in Sung Woo revealing himself as Minseok’s Father, the fight where Luhan thought he might lose Minseok, lose the love of his life, lose his mate.

Time seemed to stop as Luhan raised his head, purposely looking Sung Woo straight in the eyes.

“It is nice to meet you too, sir.” Luhan greeted Sung Woo in return, matching a lie for a lie.

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A/N- Sung Woo, Sung Woo. What is his game? Keke – okay, you guys can punch me. I ended on a cliffhanger and there wasn’t much fluff this chapter. The next few chapters will probably be a good mixture of action and fluff- and yes, I am planning a Taohun special half chapter (Miki123 thanks for the suggestion!)

I hope all of my fellow Xiuhan shippers are holding up okay out there. Just remember- Luhan and Xiumin are probably skyping as we speak – not to mention all of the sappy email chatter J As a Xiuhan shipper PSA  - check out Xiuhan.net for some recently released fan accounts (seriously, in the last week this blog has been a freaking blessing for Xiuhan feels).

Hit me up on tumblr if you want to chat. As always thanks for reading! Xiuhan for life!