Jessica doesn’t know where to land.

Strangely enough, that is her biggest problem right now. She has never been to Japan before. She has no friends, no acquaintances, no one that she knows. She hovers over the city, unable to decide where to go, slightly intimidated by the sheer scale and density of Tokyo.

Scanning the area around her, she sees a clear difference between downtown and the suburbs, and on a whim she heads towards the closest suburb she can see — coincidentally (or is it?) bringing her exactly where she is supposed to be.

—

Taeyeon feels an odd sense of deja vu as she stares out the train window at the scenery rushing by. Another train, another journey, another job. Yet this one is much different. Besides the obvious differences of the train not being armoured and not being for a military purpose, it is different in the sense that Taeyeon is not alone.

Seohyun sits beside her, her head tilted at a slight angle as she explores the far reaches of the dream world.

Taeyeon glances at her, giggling a bit as a tiny amount of drool dribbles out of Seohyun’s mouth. She watches her for a bit longer before turning around and resuming her watch of the outside world rushing by, faster than her eyes can even follow. She reaches out and touches the window. Time goes by too fast, just like the world outside right now. Taeyeon smiles and promises herself to enjoy this next job as much as possible.

—

Tiffany steps out of the jet slowly, cautiously. Taking a quick glance of the surroundings, she creeps aside to allow Hyoyeon space to leave. Hyoyeon steps out right after her. “It probably wasn’t a good idea to land in an unverified airstrip.”

Tiffany shrugs. “Whatever. C’mon, we have to go find this Chief dude now.”

“Right… is there an address?”

Tiffany frowns as she looks at the paper. “Not exactly. There are directions, of some sort.”

“Of some sort?” Hyoyeon looks at her strangely.

“Coded. Doesn’t seem too difficult though. C’mon, I think I know the way…”

—

Yuri knocks on the door to Chief’s house, the other three girls waiting just behind her. No response. She knocks again, to the same result. She turns around to face the other girls and shrugs. They shrug back.

She crouches down to the door knob, and studies the lock for a few seconds. Then she pulls out a lock pick and in a few seconds the door is open. She steps inside.

Darkness.

“Chief?”

Nothing.

“Chief…?”

Void.

“Chief, where are you?!” She yells it this time.

And this time, there is a faint response. “What?”

Yuri sighs. She opens the door to his office, Sooyoung, Sunny and Yoona right beside her. Chief is sprawled on his chair, snoring. Yuri snorts with laughter, and kicks his chair. He wakes with a start.

“Huh? Oh, hello. The others are on the way. I suggest you get ready.” And with that he closes his eyes and falls asleep again.

The four girls stare at him, bewildered.

Yoona speaks first. “What?”

Sunny shrugs. “They’re coming.”

Sooyoung shrugs. “Then all that’s left is to wait.”

They do not have to wait long.

A knock sounds. The girls freeze for a few seconds, before Yoona gets up and opens the door. Standing on the porch are two girls, one short with shoulder-length ash grey hair and the other tall with long, flowing black hair. The short one carries a large sports bag and the tall one carries nothing.

Yoona steps aside. The two girls walk in.

Taeyeon’s hand squeezes tighter on her bag. Her posture and walk radiate calmness yet her eyes are wide and dart around, revealing her nervousness. Seohyun doesn’t bother hiding anything, and she pulls out her knives.

Immediately everyone tenses. Taeyeon nudges Seohyun, who looks at her questionably.

”Put the knives away, dammit Seohyun!”

Seohyun blinks in confusion before slipping the knives back into her sleeves. Hands drop from gun holsters and sword hilts.

Taeyeon bows a little. “We’re sorry. Seohyun can be a bit on edge at times.” She quickly studies all four of the other girls. “Where is… “Chief”?”

Sooyoung her head towards Chief’s office. At that very moment, the door creaks open and Chief stumbles out.

“Are they…?” He rubs his eyes and looks up. “Ah…! Taeyeon and Seohyun! Now… only three remain.”

Seohyun squints her eyes at him. “Three more? What are you even trying to do?” She looks around her, at the people around her, some of most dangerous assassins in the world. “Why do you need nine of us…?” She has no need to specify what they are. Everyone knows.

Chief smiles, and the small stubble on his chin. “That will become clear soon. First, we wait. Only three remain.”

Sunny bites her lip and examines her nails. Suddenly her head perks up. “What is that noise?”

Chief glances at her. “Noise?”

“You don’t hear it? Sounds like… a helicopter.”

Chief narrows his eyes in suspicion. “I don’t hear it. Either I’m getting old or you have exceptional hearing. Either way, it might be one or more of who we are waiting for.”

—

Jessica has never flown this close to the ground before.

The helicopter hovers a few meters above the ground. She knows it is dangerous but she is getting desperate, and the cover of the night and the near silence of the Apache should keep her safe.

And here it is. She looks at the piece of paper in front of her and confirms the address. “This isn’t exactly the optimal place to land…” She lifts up higher into the air, and sees a park not too far away. She pushes the throttle further and the helicopter silently glides forward. She flies over a few treetops and bushes before coming across a decently sized plot of empty land. With a slight bump, she lands and quickly slides out after ensuring everything is securely locked.

Jessica shoves her hands in her pockets, holding her phone in her right pocket and the envelope in the left. She quietly sneaks down the street until she reaches the house. Light peeks out from the one window she can see.

She walks up the driveway, up to the door, and gingerly, knocks. She waits.

The door opens. Jessica looks up, squinting at the harsh light coming from the inside. She steps inside.

Two left.

A few minutes later, two hooded figures are seen knocking at the door. A moment later, they both step in.

9.

The sky darkens. The moon peeks out from the cloud cover one last time before the dark, foreboding clouds extinguish its bright light.

The end is nigh.

The nine have gathered.

What will result? A new beginning, or a new end?

 

A/N: This one's a bit of a short chapter - tbh this was actually going to be a much longer chapter, including their first mission together but I decided to split it into two. I'll post the next part soon :)