x. Alliances and betrayal

  Honestly, being caught in the middle of an argument that he didn't know half of the details of was not Daehyun's idea of a good start to a morning. No; he'd much rather go back to the cozy lounge with a cup of Egyptian coffee in hand, just relaxing against a sofa.

   But work calls, and sometimes it was necessary to face the unpleasantries.

   Daehyun had been told the details of his mission; he was to search for a thing called an ankh, which was common enough to be sold in the marketplace. Those were, of course, all fake replicas, so they wouldn't be bothering themselves with that. However, one of the CARDS agents had a lead in the Cairo marketplace; and he was to go and chase that lead, to whatever end it may be. 

    So why was he still sitting in front of the Egyptian Branch Head's desk, watching the argument unfold with his head flitting between the two of them like a table tennis match? Well. 

   This all started with Minjung's insisting that she would be fine alone carrying out whatever secretive mission that was issued to her (with no mentions of its details because obviously, top secret), whilst Khiana (was that the Branch Head's name? He honestly forgot) was suggesting - okay, pressing - the fact that being accompanied would likely be a better choice. Into which he came into the equation. 

     And Minjung, being Minjung, naturally rejected the idea of help. Which Daehyun didn't exactly not understand; he had been in that situation before and there was honestly nothing more humiliating than a General being aided by someone else. But he had gotten over his pride since then, and from what he had deduced from Minjung, it was likely that she was suffering from similar problems. 

     "Helena," The Branch Head gave an exasperated, but not unkind sigh, clearly indicating that he wished the discussion to be over. "It's for security reasons. Please understand; I, along with the other authorities in the organisation, including that of Carroll - " 

      Here Minjung gave an uncharacteristic snort, through which Daehyun was reminded of the fact that she had expressed dislike for the organisation head. 

      " - have full confidence in your abilities, and we wouldn't have asked such a thing of you if not for the fact that we are worried. We know you are a fully capable warrior independent and certainly able to keep yourself safe under all circumstances. However, in this case," Here he leaned forward with his fingers laced underneath his goatee. "It is not just your safety in jeopardy. One of the objects are suspected to be exchanged at this summit meeting, and while you can undoubtedly blow up the building and kill everyone within it - " And Daehyun let out a chuckle. " - we need someone else to ensure that the object falls into our hands, instead of into the opponents'." 

      "So you need Daehyun to be the level-headed person here to stop me from blowing up the building?" Minjung demanded, apparently feeling insulted from the obvious jab at her hot-tempered nature.

       To which Khiana gave a shrug at. "I don't care who does what as long as you two cooperate and get the job done." 

       Minjung bit her lip at that, and Daehyun sensed her frustration and anger at this vague reply. He, however, realised the cleverness at such an answer; there was no proof of his agreeing or disagreeing with whatever she was saying. He was simply delivering the mission details, which was precisely what he was meant to do. 

       It then occurred to Daehyun that they might be dealing with a very shrewd character here indeed. 

       "Fine." At long last, their discussion came to an end. "As long as I am left in charge." Without another word, Minjung promptly stood up, and left the room without a word, making sure to slam the door behind her. 

     "My apologies." As soon as they were left alone in the room, Khiana then turned his attention back to the General, and pressed a button at the side of his desk. A young man then entered the office, with two cups of steaming Egyptian coffees and two dishes on a tray, and arranged the Branch Head's newly reconstructed desk with a table cloth, before serving them. "Please, have some breakfast. I hope these are to your taste." 

      Daehyun peered at the plate in front of him, on which sat a perfectly scrambled egg on top of some bread, and some what looked like beef next to it. It then occurred to him quite suddenly, that in fact, he was actually hungry. In the midst of bickering with Hyunwook with the importance of eating well and living a relatively healthy lifestyle, and ensuring Adrian did not follow him off the edge, he himself had completely forgot to be healthy as well. 

      "This is a traditional Egyptian breakfast dish called Beid Bel Basterma." Letters floated in the air, rearranging themselves with an absent-minded flick of the Branch Head's hand into the name. Daehyun was grateful for the introduction; he had spelt it pretty much entirely wrong in his head. "It is a beef with eggs breakfast dish, with the eggs cooked in ghee, a kind of watery butter." Then he frowned. "You're not allergic to paprika, are you?" 

        "Erm...no?" 

        "Good. The beef is seasoned with a copious amount of it. I once had a guest choke from it." Daehyun looked up in shock, and was surprised to see a strangely sinister smile reveal itself on the Branch Head's face. "Forgive my dark humour. Anyways, be ensured that the dish does not contain poison; I had personally seen to it myself." The smile revealed a glint of something; a gold tooth, perhaps? 

         "Right..." 

         Dubious, but nonetheless hungry, Daehyun then dug into the dish, and was surprised, but pleasantly so at the taste. Seeing him eating with renewed enthusiasm, Khiana smiled again, and continued the conversation. "It almost appears as if Headquarters do not feed you well enough." 

         "Oh...well, the long queue there always discourages one from eating in the cafeteria," He managed to swallow a mouthful before saying, not wishing to appear rude. "But yes, I do cook quite a lot." 

         "No doubt you do miss the cuisine of your homeland. South Korea, yes?" Khiana nodded approvingly. "It was a superb place of wonderful people and wonderful food. I should like to go there sometime again."

         "You should." Awkward silence then fell, broken only by the sounds of Daehyun chewing, before the Branch Head decided that it was time to change the topic.

          "The mission I would like you to partake in," As Daehyun was dabbing delicately at the corners of his mouth with a napkin, he looked up, meeting the Branch Head's somewhat solemn gaze that was matching his tone. "Along with Helena, is of utmost importance. Now, let me debrief you."

          As soon as he set the cloth back onto his plate, it was immediately whisked away, replaced by a holo-screen that was loading into existence. "In two days' time, there is to be a summit meeting here in Cairo. The diplomats and heads of nations of about, oh, fifty countries will gather, in the Royal Maxim Palace Kempinski in town." On the screen summoned, profiles flickered, flitting away to the next before Daehyun could look at them properly. "We have reason to suspect that one of the objects would be exchanged there, given to Gemini agents." 

          Khiana then paused, as if waiting for Daehyun to respond; he gave a slight nod of his head, indicating that he was indeed following. "And that's where Helena comes in. Being a diplomat from South Korea, she has reason to be there, a cover. Of course, she also has some government business to take care of, so she has to appear. However, we have also had another tip yesterday that Gemini is sending two agents to retrieve the item - a male and female. With two enemies to face, it is more ideal that we dispatch another one of our agents as well - " 

          " - which is where I come in," The young man finished, and the Branch Head nodded somewhat solemnly. "Indeed. You and Helena are the two members of the General-tier; hardly anyone could overpower the two of you. But we actually want to settle this in a more peaceful way." 

         "You want the both of us to impersonate the two agents," Daehyun realised. "So we could get it ahead of time from - from whoever it is that's passing it along."

         "Yes," Khiana looked pleased. "That is our plan. I'm glad you caught up quick." 

         "But..." He thought for a few moments about his own mission. "What about the ankh? I thought - "

         "That would take place after this retrieval. The summit meeting takes precedence." 

         Of course. That one cannot be delayed, Daehyun realised, and mentally chided himself, nodding his assent, before another thought occurred to him. "Is the information trustworthy though? I mean, we only have someone else's word to depend on. Surely it could be a trap or decoy - " 

          "Not to worry," For the second time that day, Khiana's strange smile spread across his face, reminding Daehyun of a serpent; dangerous, and untrustworthy. "My spies are very active, and they have hardly been wrong."  

CARDS headquarters
—  turkey; 25.7.2017

   Yongguk was pretty sure he didn't apply for a desk job when he first joined CARDS, but it didn't matter; he still ended up doing so now. Not that he liked it, no; in fact, he detested it with every fibre of his being.

    In fact, the moment he had sat down in front of the pile deposited neatly on his desk, he had began developing a migraine. He managed to tolerate the headache for three hours, but had started to feel a restless tingle on his fingertips, which usually indicated that he wanted to stab something. Or someone. Plus, the words were starting to float off the page.

    Yongguk felt that he had a pretty good idea of how dyslexia felt, even though he'd never had it.

    Peeling his eyes off the umpteenth document about the Seal of Solomon, he massaged his temples and instantly felt the headache roaring back. Abruptly, he then stood, and went to the kitchen to pour himself a mug of coffee to continue his work, before rethinking his decision, and dumped it into a thermos instead. Grabbing a flask of water on his kitchen table, Yongguk headed out his front door, and made sure he was walking quick enough to promptly escape his work before locking the door behind him.

   Yongguk wasn't sure about the reasoning behind HQ's decor, but he was pretty sure it had something to do with Carroll's obsession with chrome. Wherever he looked, the walls were lined with chrome, and as the lift dropped, all he could see was chrome everyhwere. Either that, or marble. 

   As the lift descended rapidly, Yongguk's mind also flashed back to his time in Espadas. Understandably, HQ was so much bigger, but he hadn't realised the size difference until he stepped into a lift; Headquarters have about thirty floors above ground, but most of the structure was hidden away underground; the buttons marked the hundredth floor, but he suspected that there was more.

    Coming back to the point of decor, he was also grateful that Carroll's obsession was with chrome, and not another absurb colour like pink or orange. Back in Espadas, someoneone thankfully managed to convince the Branch Head to confine her obsession with emerald in her own office; otherwise he would have transferred Branches more quickly than he had. 

   The lift stopped at the -30th floor, and as soon as Yongguk stepped out, he had to dodge cleanly to avoid death by boiling coffee as a frantic scientist dashed into it immediately. Another difference between Espadas and HQ; people were generally more relaxed in Espadas.

    Not that having a good work ethic was a bad thing. In fact, he considered that it was one of the most important things one should have, but of course everyone has their days. Even Yongguk had his days, and unfortunately, today was one of them. 

     More unfortunately, he had discovered that he left his dagger in his room just before stepping into the training room. Mumbling a curse under his breath, Yongguk pulled a katana out of the weapons rack instead, and turned to face the dummies lining the wall.

    For a formerly peace-loving organisation, CARDS had an astonishingly well-stocked armoury, as well as a highly developed training program. From what he had heard when he joined, the organisation was set up to be an agency of sorts, to ensure the balance between humans and the Underworld. As such, 'abnormal' events happening, for example, a kidnapping case with clear abuse of magic, would be investigated by the organisation, rather than the local police. The criminals, of course, were handed back to the Underworlder courts, and recieve whatever trial that awaits them. While there would be unavoidable use of violence sometimes, ultimately the line of work was peaceful; even if there was force needed, other personnel was called in, such as the generals, or players specialising in that kind of thing.

     But for a few years now, the organisation had been growing more violent. Yongguk wasn't sure of the reasons, but he had heard some of the higher-ups murmuring that Carroll wanted to start a war between the Underworld and the human world, and therefore upseting the balance that the organisation was created to protect. Which was irony at its finest, but Yongguk didn't give it that much thought.

      At any rate, his role didn't change much, given the fact that he had specialised in combat since he joined. The only problem now was leading a team, but that he could manage; compared to other changes, his was significantly smaller.

      ...That was what he originally thought, but now...

     Shaking the thoughts off his head, he turned his eyes onto the row of hologrammed dummies, and lunged at them with renewed ferocity, determined to take out his frustration onto them. The principle was simple; attack the vital points, and the dummy would reload. The use of holograms simplified things, because they didn't need to replace a stack of straw dummies every other week. By using technology that solidified holograms, and making them disappear once defeated, giving it time to reload and solidify them again, not only did it save much money, it also saved the effort needed to replace them and the straw needed to build another batch. All in all, a good decision.

     As Yongguk continued to slash at the dummies, cutting them down with the fluidity that was characteristic on the battlefield, he started to feel his worries and former annoyance melting away, and focus being placed entirely on the targets before him. Base of neck. Carotid artery. Axillary artery. Heart. Lungs. Liver. Femoral artery. Popliteal artery. Repeat. 

     The dummies were also designed to resemble human flesh, so the sharper the blade, the easier it was to slice through and cut into the vital organs. Unfortunately, the katana Yongguk had chosen was dull; clearly the previous user hadn't taken care to sharpen it after use, so the harder he practiced, the more annoyed he got, until the sword finally broke, a piece of blade falling onto the tatami mats with a dull thud. 

      Oh, .

      "You'll have to pay for that," An amused voice floated from behind, and Yongguk immediately whipped behind him at the source, only to see Alexander leaning casually against the doorway, his face clearly betraying the expression of someone being highly entertained. "Mr Kageshima wouldn't take kindly to another case of destruction of public property." A pause. "You'll definitely get scolded for this." 

       "Thank you for that kind reminder," Yongguk grumbled, bending down to pick up the piece of broken steel, and inspected it carefully. The blade was cleanly broken, which was good; those were easier to repair. Even if he had to endure the armoury master's reprimandings, at least it wouldn't be too bad. "Well? why are you here? Came to jab fun at my sword skills?" 

       "No, I thought it would be nice to take a walk in the armoury," Alexander threw back mockingly. Yongguk sighed, and sheathed his katana. Their relationship staple was banter; why he decided to put up with it, he wasn't sure, but at any rate, he had gotten used to Alexander's constant appearance out of nowhere, and frequently without warning to timing. He could appear in the morning, at the dead of the night, and Yongguk honestly wouldn't be surprised. 

       "I did need to find you for something, though," Alex straightened, and walked towards him. His slim fingers stretched over the katana, and there was a small flash. Bewildered, Yongguk then pulled the weapon out of its sheath, and found it whole again. "Consider that as advance payment for your time." 

       "I don't need - " Yongguk started, but was quickly cut off. 

       "Count that as me being nice once in a blue moon, would you?" Alex huffed, but quickly turned serious. "Anyways, brace yourself, because I have news." 

        "Alright." The other wondered what it was that made Alex so worked up and serious, and he waited, swallowing. "What is it?" 

        "I think..." He hesitated. "I think we might have a spy in Wonderland." 

Yote guys here's chapter ten!! Damn I can't believe we've gone so far already, it's kind of a miracle; counting the teasers and character profiles there are, what, 34 chapters? How cool is that?? I'm proud of myself haha 

Also I'm sorry this is so much shorter than the previous chapter; it's definitely halved and the reason was because I had to rewrite Yongguk's part; it was so much more structured and longer the first time round, but stuff happened and my update was delayed and all that

Anyways Gemini is next! I'm just going to leave y'all hanging because ;) 

Also don't worry guys, my exams are officially finished, meaning that I can do updates without jeopardising my grades :)

Hope it's still interesting enough for y'all to continue reading, ahahah