Jessica giggles as she earnestly watches Smith stumble around his office through a hidden camera. She knows he is confused and unable to comprehend what just happened to him. He finally stops and scratches his head. “Might as well get that cup of coffee…” And he leaves the office.

Jessica glances first at the bundle of papers in her lap, then beside her to the now dead deliveryboy. She frowns, knowing the important document he was carrying - and yet with no bodyguards, no security. She shrugs, knowing that it made her job easier. She picks up the papers and scans them with a small device and the words automatically appear onto her laptop’s screen. She quickly reads it over, frowning at the fact that she is third on the list and not first.

Quickly she raises the values of the money in damages, then puts herself up to the second position on the list.

She prints the new documents, using a special printer attached to her laptop, then replaces the documents in the envelopes with the new ones. She strips the dead delivery boy of his uniform and throws it on, pulling the cap down as far as possible to obscure her face.

She knows that what she is doing is incredibly arrogant and she might come to regret it - but for now, she is enjoying herself. And to her, that is all that matters.

Jessica conceals the body in the bushes behind her, covering it with dead leaves and soil, hoping to put off its discovery for as long as possible. She stands up and observes her work. Satisfied, she picks up her laptop and stuffs it into the large delivery bag that the boy was carrying. Then she steps out of the greenery and back onto the path that leads to the military delivery office.

Upon reaching the door she sees that, as expected, it is locked. Beside the door is a scanner of some sort. She approaches it and holds the boy’s ID card in front of it, and with a barely audible beep the doors slide open.

Jessica steps in and confidently strides towards the front desk and drops the envelope in front of the officer standing behind the desk. He picks it up, and seeing the stamp identifying it as top secret, drops it into a compartment beside him. “It will be delivered immediately. Thank you.”

Jessica nods in response, unwilling to speak for fear of uncovering her disguise. Hastily she turns around and exits the building, her muscles relaxing with every step she takes away from the building.

“Hey! What’s this?”

Jessica swears and breaks into a sprint, heading straight for the wall surrounding the compound. Upon reaching it, she feels around with her hands, looking for the miniscule hole that she crawled through previously to enter. After what seemed like hours of fruitless searching, her hands finally feel a gap and without wasting any time she shoves her body in and through. She falls out the other side with a quiet thump. Hastily righting herself she runs, fast but discreet, to the clearing in the trees where she landed her helicopter.

It had been a tricky landing, with the thick undergrowth covering nearly every inch of the forest she had scoured from up above. Finally she had stumbled across a clearing wide enough to fit the helicopter - but just barely.

She pushes a wide branch to the side, and there it is. The sleek black stealth helicopter that had made this all possible. Already famous for being extremely quiet, it is small, agile, nimble and — most importantly — completely invisible under cover of darkness and nearly invisible to radar.

She runs an affectionate hand across the side before opening the side door and climbing in. She starts the engines and the helicopter silently lifts up into the air, heading off into the darkness as its pilot giggles quietly.

—

Yuri collapses onto the couch and gazes at the white ceiling, her body and clothes drenched in sweat. She winces as a particularly large bruise on her back rubs against the cushions.

Yoona staggers into the room and falls onto the sofa beside Yuri, in no better shape than her. “Well. That was tiring.” She glances over. “I swear you could’ve broken my skull when you kicked me in the head.”

Yuri chuckles. “You’re the one who nearly snapped my neck with your foot.”

Yoona smiles back sheepishly.

Yuri is about to make another point of how Yoona had injured or bruised her when her phone rings from her pocket. At first she makes a conscious effort to ignore it. But when it doesn’t stop ringing she sighs and slips it out of her pocket, quickly glancing only at the caller.

“Who is it?” Yoona strains her neck to see.

Yuri squints at her phone one last time before abruptly standing up. “Chief. He wants us to go back again.”

Yoona frowns, still undecided. “I don’t trust him.”

Yuri shrugs back. “I don’t either. But I know a good deal and a way to make some money when I see it.” She stands up and walks halfway to the door before stopping and turning around again. “I’m going. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. Just keep in mind -” She grins - “If you change your mind later, I’m not coming back to pick you up.”

Yoona smiles and jumps up from the sofa. “...I’ll come right now.”

“That’s a good girl.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Yuri smirks and walks out. Yoona laughs and follows behind her, and the two climb into the Porsche Carrera GT.

-

Sooyoung yawns and stretches her legs as she lounges on the sofa. “Where are they? You said they were coming soon.”

The Chief looks at his watch, a little troubled. “They should have come half an hour ago. ...Maybe they ran into trou—” As if on cue, at that exact moment the doorbell rings. Sunny slowly stands up. “I’ll get it.”

She opens the door and waiting outside are two girls, both tall and both covered in sweat and bruises. Sunny raises a skeptical eyebrow at their condition, but steps aside to let them in.

“About time! I was beginning to get worried—” The Chief gives them a quick up-down. “...What have you been doing?”

Yuri shrugs. “Oh, this and that. Don’t worry too much about it. Now, what were you gonna tell us? I had some trouble convincing Yoona to come, and if this isn’t worth it she isn’t coming again.”

“Haven’t you seen them already?”

Yuri turns to the pair of girls, one standing and the other slouching on the couch. “These two?”

Sooyoung yawns and stretches. “Yes, us two. Who are you?”

Yuri narrows her eyes. “Who are you?”

Sooyoung shrugs. “Never heard of me? The mad bomber, the crazy explosives gal, the blood-ridden bomb, aka Sooyoung. Don’t ask me where I got all those nicknames, people just give ‘em to me.”

The girl standing speaks up next. “I’m Sunny. The Incinerator. Master of all things incendiary.”

Yuri nods. “Heard of you both. I’m Pearl, a ninja assassin from Kamikatsu-Cho. ...Don’t worry about where that is, you’ll never have heard of it.”

Yoona bows. “Im Yoona, martial artist. Sensei of the Harukaze-Hana Dojo.”

The Chief steps forward and throws his hands into the air as if praising something. “This is the beginning. You four are the start of something great, something majestic, something wonderful - both the salvation of mankind and the obtainers of glory!”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes. “Right, yadda yadda yadda. What are we supposed to do? And where’s the money?”

Chief shrugs. “Don’t worry about the money, it’ll come. And right now, you’re not doing anything. There are still five more that need to be gathered.”

Sunny raises an eyebrow. “Nine of us? Isn’t that a bit much?”

Chief shakes his head. “Not for what I have in mind.” He walks away from them, to a small door on the side. “Well, you girls do what you want, I need to bring the other five here.” And with that he closes the door to his office.

An uneasy silence prevails over the four assassins as they suspiciously study each other, unwilling to move or spark any sort of conversation. They stay like that for a long 15 minutes, before the Chief opens his door and stares at them. “What the hell are you guys doing? Get out of here and do something!”

Slowly the four girls shuffle out of the house, the two groups still regarding each other with suspicion.

Sooyoung breaks the awkward silence at last. “Wanna go to like a bar or something?”

Sunny stares at her weirdly. “It’s morning right now.”

Sooyoung shrugs.

Yuri shakes her head. “I don’t drink. I’d rather a coffee shop or something.”

Yoona nods. “I know a good place.” She takes them to a place not far from headquarters. A small cafe squished in between a clothes shop and a pizza restaurant. From the outside it seems dinky and unorganized. That changes when they walk in.

From the inside it seems rather big, with at least 10 setups of tables, each with four comfy looking chairs around them. Candles flicker in holders on the walls and on the tables, creating an ethereal atmosphere. Behind the counter stands a man, casually lounging on a chair. Yoona walks up to him. “Hey James. I’ll have the regular.” She looks to the rest of the girls.

Yuri timidly speaks up. “I’ll just have a coffee. One milk, one sugar.”

Sooyoung orders next. “I’ll take… an iced cappuccino, and a chocolate chip muffin.”

Finally, Sunny orders last. “I’ll have cranberry juice, and chocolate chip cookies.”

James, the server, finishes writing the orders. “I’ll have them done and sent to you soon. Go ahead and sit down.” He then disappears behind into the kitchens.

Again, Yoona takes the lead. She brings them to the table farthest away from the door and any windows. They all sit down on the chairs. Yoona stares at all the others in turn. Yuri looks at something on her phone. Sunny inspects a strand of her hair and Sooyoung stares into empty space, contemplating something.

A waiter breaks the silence. “Your orders.” He places three plates, one in front of each girl except Yuri. He then returns to the kitchens before returning with four drinks.

As soon as the waiter leaves Yoona addresses the other girls in a serious manner. “I didn’t bring all of you here for just tea and biscuits. We have serious matters to discuss - and this place is perfect. The walls are soundproof, the windows bulletproof, the location strategically hidden, and we can trust James and his staff to keep quiet about anything they hear.

“So let’s get right into it. I have no idea what the hell is going on, and who the hell “Chief” is. But I don’t care either. I can sense a good job here, with good money and good rep waiting for us.

The thing is, and you all know it, at this rate we’re never going to be able to trust each other. All I ask is that neither of you two -” She indicates Sooyoung and Sunny - “stab me in the back while we’re employed by this guy. Her I already trust.” She glances at Yuri.

Sooyoung shrugs and speaks through a mouthful of muffin. “Sure, sure.” She waves her hand in dismissal. “I’ll only blow your head off after we go our separate ways.”

Yoona grins. “We’ll see about that.”

—

Tiffany watches Hyoyeon carry out some repairs on the jet. “Now what?”

Hyoyeon speaks from underneath the jet. “Why are you asking me? I’m not keeping you here. This is my home so I’m gonna stay here.”

Tiffany shrugs. She is about to respond when she sees a middle aged man approaching them.

“Hyoyeon?” He speaks.

“Yes Michael?” She doesn’t look up from her work.

“I’ve got a message for you…”

“From who?” Now she’s does look, leaving her tools behind and crawling out from her workspace.

“That’s the weird thing. No sender, no return address.”

“Must be a job, then.” She takes the envelope from Michael, and ripping it open removes the letter from inside. She looks it over once, twice, then thrice. At this point Tiffany can’t hold back her curiosity.

“What is it?”

Hyoyeon bites her lip. “A job… and a rather interesting one.”

“Why?

“It mentions both of us.”

Tiffany pales. “But who would know that I’m here? Besides the Americans… and I doubt they would send us a job after what we just did.”

“It’s from Japan.”

“Japan?!”

Hyoyeon grins. “Yup. Looks like we’ve got a journey ahead of us.”

—

Taeyeon opens and unlocks the entrance to her hideout once more, this time with a bag full of food.

“Ah… finally, some good stuff to snack on.” She throws herself onto her bed and pulls out a book, biting into a muffin at the same time.

“Can I have one? I’m hungry.”

Taeyeon freezes for only a split second before her reflexes take over and she flips over, a gun pointed at where the voice came from.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

Taeyeon lowers her arm, sighing in exasperation. “What are you doing here?”

Sitting against the wall, previously hidden from Taeyeon’s sight by her dresser, is Seohyun. “I blew up my apartment and my backup home has been taken over by the police. It shames me to say this but… I have nowhere to stay.”

Taeyeon stands up and tosses her a muffin, which Seohyun catches and immediately starts eating.

Watching her, Taeyeon sees a white envelope on her desk that definitely wasn’t there before she left. Cautiously she opens the envelope and pulls out a small piece of paper. “Japan…?”

Her eyes widen as she reads in the last line of the letter. “Seohyun.”

“Yeah?”

“Come.”

“What? Where?”

“Just come. Something interesting is happening…”

—

Jessica stares at the envelope sitting on her desk in front of her computer setup.

It isn’t that she is suspicious of it. She is wary because the only way it could’ve come here is if someone snuck into her hideout and deposited it there. Which means all of her security systems had failed…

She shakes her head in frustration and cautiously approaches the envelope. She opens it slowly, making sure no explosives or other dangerous devices are hidden inside. Seeing nothing of suspicion, she removes the letter from inside and examines it.

A few minutes later she is in her helicopter, flying off to Tokyo, a grin on her face. “No way I’m missing something as… interesting as this.”