xX. in air

  Jineul wished he was fighting outside rather than stuck in this goddamn stifling building. For one, he could summon lightning to blast the bastard in front of him off his feet. For two, he would be able to use Antiopa more freely. 

  Right now, despite the size of the room (which was already considered big by average hotel sizes), he was holding back as much as possible to stop accumulating money on property damage - which he had sadly already racked up a considerable bill by crashing his way through the window earlier. Holding back was also a bad decision, since his opponent right now had the upper hand in weapon size by his twin katanas - Minkyung's favourite. 

  Blocking another strike at his direction, Jineul grunted and swung the battleaxe at his opponent - a nimble East Asian man who was agile on his feet, and seemingly had endless energy as he jumped back quickly next to his ally, who was securing a tourniquet around her stump, having overcame her shock. Using that time window to secure the battleaxe onto his back, Jineul pulled his shotgun out from the small of his back, and knelt down to shoot. He was vaguely aware of Celeste shouting orders from his earpiece, but he pulled it out of his ear and let it hang around his neck. No point in having useless information fed to you when your eye was trained on your target through the scope. 

  Being a vampire had its advantages, he thought. For example, one's eardrums wouldn't be blown out by the sound, and despite the recoil of the weapon, one's feet would remain firmly implanted onto the ground. Which was precisely what happened as Jineul aimed and fired at the man in front of him. 

  At the last second, he leaped to the side and dodged, coming up relatively unscathed. The vampire cursed, and aimed again. Before he fired, Jineul cast a quick eye at his two opponents; the man running at him again, and the woman slowly standing on her feet, pale but determined. Changing his mind at the last second, he aimed at the roof and fired another shell, rolling away to avoid the ceiling collapsing onto himself, while reloading his shotgun at the same time.

  "Nymphalis!" Jineul turned his head to the side and saw Chess standing on the edge of the building. Immediately he understood; despite his instincts calling to continue the fight, logic and reasoning told him that it would be better to be postponed - the logic and reasoning likely being a result of Celeste's continued nagging. Fitting the shotgun onto his back again, he sprinted towards the large hole on the wall and grabbed Chess around the waist at the last second , before jumping as hard as he could onto Jaebin's chopper parked in reaching distance. As he flew through the air, Jineul could hear faintly a spell being muttered by the faerie, before the pair collapsed onto the floor of the helicopter as it took off again. 

  "That was a close call." Jaebin kept his eyes trained in front, though he could hear the sounds of scuffling in the back that indicated the pair were safely in tow. He tapped open a few holoscreens to check the helicopter's body for damage control, and made sure they weren't under pursuit, before relaxing a little. Pulling down his headset to hear the two more clearly, he continued. "Glad you two were safe though. Supplies are at the back." 

  "Thanks." He flipped a few switches to turn the chopper onto autopilot mode, and went to the back, making quick assessment of the two. Jineul was relatively unscathed, though the fury and hatred was still burning in his eyes. Chess, however, was slumped over on the ground, clearly unconscious. "What happened to her?" 

  "Over-extortion of energy," Celeste's voice replied through the intercom installed on the plane, and both of them jumped. "The manacles around her wrist is some kind of seal or barrier on her powers. The amount of magic she just used had exhausted her completely - when it would've been compltely easy for her in the first place." 

  "Okay uh, so, what do we do now?"  

  "Not letting her freeze would be a good idea," Jineul suggested. Jaebin was surprised at this proposal, but understood as he took a quick glance at his eyes. The mismatched colour of his eyes were quickly fading back to normal - a sign that dark side Jineul was back to white side Jineul, which was supremely good news because the last thing Jaebin needed on his plane was an irritated potential axe-murderer slash ticking bomb ready to explode at any second. 

   "There are blankets at the back," Jaebin motioned vaguely, and Jineul clambered over to reach for the box of stuff, but the weight on his back nearly forced him down again. "I'll help you." Distangling Antiopa and his shotgun from the harnesses, Jaebin strapped them carefully onto the weapons holder on the side of the chopper. "Those things weighed a ton. How the hell do you even jump around with those on your back, man?"

   "Magic" was the sarcastic reply as Jineul tossed a fleece blanket onto the seat, while Jaebin snorted at the reply. "Sure." The two laid Chess across the front row of seats and covered her with the blanket. "Hey, by the way, what about the mission?" 

   Jineul's eyes widened at that and Jaebin felt a sense of foreboding creeping onto him as the Queen started rummaging into his pockets. "Don't tell me you lost it..."

  "No, it's here." He produced a velvet-lined box the size of a fist.

  "Oh, thank god." Jaebin breathed a sigh of relief and accepted it, turning it over in his hands. "It's a bit small though?" 

   "That's the correct size, actually," Celeste's voice came again. "Some of us mistook the legend of the Glyph for a literal Glyph - which was wrong because there is no physical manifestation of the Glyph. Therefore, the Seelie's treasure wasn't the Glyph per its literal meaning, but rather, what could be used to make the Glyph." 

   A brief silence hung in the air as the two processed Celeste's words. "Make the Glyph? So what's in this box, some kind of faerie metal ore so we hammer the Glyph into shape and use it?" 

  "Of course not. Open the box and take a look." 

   Gingerly prying the box open, the two peered inside to discover...

   "Dust? You kidding me?" 

   "It's not just any dust." There was a hnt of exasperation in Celeste's tone. "It's faerie dust. Well, to be clear, ash from the tallest willow in the Sidhe, taken during the full moon - "

  "Point taken." Jaebin quickly cut in, wanting to be spared the brunt of Celeste's explanation. Nonetheless, he dipped his fingers into the dust and looked at it a little closer. In between the gray ashy stuff, there was some sparkling...stuff. Okay, faery dust it was then. "So should we stick it somewhere secure?" 

  "Unless you want to lose it over the sea somewhere," Celeste's sarcastic reply came. "But yes, no point in trying to find it again. The Seelie would have our heads at this rate." 

  As if in response to that, Jineul leaned over and pressed a button on the wall, which revealed a small hollow that would fit the box perfectly. Jaebin felt scandalized. "How did you - what - this is my plane??" 

  Jineul frowned. "What do you mean? I use this chopper too. Flies really quickly and gets me to my job on time everyday. It's natural I know what sorts of secrets this thing hides."

   "I never even see you using this baby, what the heck. And what do you mean you use it as your private taxi? Pay for your fuel then, you -

  "Keep arguing and you'll crash into the water next, boys." At the reminder, Jaebin's head whipped towards the cockpit. "Heads up!" 

  At the last second, he threw himself towards the controls and managed to wrestle the cyclic control up, just nearly avoiding the water. "Buckle up!" Jaebin shouted towards the back as he strapped himself back into the seat. "How the  did this happen?" He muttered to himself, and opened the tab for damage control. The stabilizer was damaged, and the helicopter was clearly dipping in altitude. "." A holoscreen popped up to reveal a singular figure flying across the water, in hot pursuit. 

   "What's wrong, Jaebin?" Jineul shouted from the back. 

   "Some bastard's following us! And he can mothering fly, Jesus Christ." It took all of Jaebin's training to keep the chopper still afloat, but it would be another problem to fly quick enough to lose the man. "Any ideas, Celeste?!" 

   There was a brief silence on the other end. "Jineul, is your dark form completely down?" 

   "Not that it would do anything, vampires can't fly," Jaebin supplied. "More like, can HQ pull closer so we can land? It's going to crash soon if we don't."

   "It'll expose our base." Jineul bit his lip. "I think there's a rifle or machine gun at the back. Maybe we can shoot the bastard down."

    "Exposing our base isn't a problem, since HQ can teleport anywhere. I'll tell Minwoo to open an entrance for you. Where are you lot?" 

   "Near Crete. Still fifty miles from the closest stretch of land."

   "Land in Heraklion," Celeste instructed. "Just land somewhere discreet - Minwoo would be there in an instant."

   "Where the is Heraklion?" 

   "I'll send you the coordinates. Jineul, you think you can hold off that guy with an M24?" 

   "I can do better." The helicopter's intelligent system alerted Jaebin that Jineul had taken the AWM out of the armoury at the back, fitted with a 10x scope. "Concentrate on flying the plane, Jaebin. I'm strapped in so feel free to do whatever you want."

   "Sure, but the moment this thing banks even a little on its side you're going to curse at me so what about that, huh." The coordinates Celeste sent over blinked on the screen in front of him, and Jaebin quickly inputted those in. Immediately, the map showed an island straight ahead, with the nearest dock being pin-pointed with a red dot. "Gotcha."

   "Jaebin?! How about those doors?"

   The vampire cursed, and pushed another button that eased open the doors, which immediately resulted in a blast of cold wind into the cabin. A quick glance into the back eased Jaebin's fears that Chess was going to fly into the wild unknown, since she was buckled into the seats, and he snapped his headset back into place. "Celeste? Some air traffic control here?" 

    "Yo, Celeste can't be everywhere at the same time, you know." Nam Minwoo. "Continue flying, you'll be there in about twenty." 

   "That's too slow."

   "It's either that or crash," Minwoo agreed grimly through the intercom. "Celeste is helping the Queen now, by the way, so it's only me."

   "Oh, great," Jaebin muttered. Minwoo had the flying experience of a sloth. "If I gun it, how much time would it take to get there and how fast would this thing blow apart?"

   "Well, mathematically speaking - "

   "I'm not asking you!" 

   "The chopper is currently flying at 150 mph, boss. If you push it to its limits, it'll probably make 20 miles more. Which means you'll be able to get there in...around ten, fiften minutes?" The intelligent system implanted on the chopper replied, and Jaebin felt himself being silently amazed at the AI that Gemini housed again.

   "And how long before this thing gives out if I go full throttle?" 

   "Give or take, fourteen minutes."

   "That's worth it, then," Jaebin decided. "Buckle up, Jineul!" 

 Gemini Headquarters - Emergency Command Room
— disclosed location; 27.7.2017

  Minwoo watched on the screens as the Gemini chopper put on speed, heading straight for Heraklion. Ten to fifteen minutes. The Gemini base was seven minutes from the Greek city, having inputed the coordinates two minutes prior. Despite being on the team for such a long time Minwoo had yet to discover everything that Gemini - especially its base - had to offer, but so far he wasn't complaining. 

  He quickly scanned the screens to make sure things are working out, but so far, nothing seemed out of place. Minwoo's eyes rested on the one that was tracking the instigator of the stabilizer incident, and zoomed in. The brown-haired dual katana wielding East Asian - likely Korean, but he didn't want to be sure - man, now with a war scythe in hand, flying across the Mediterranean Sea alone. He had to admit, that dude had guts. 

  Suddenly, an idea hit him. "Celeste," Minwoo began carefully. "That guy. Can we bring him in for interrogation?" 

  "No." The response came immediately. "Retrieval of our members come first. Everything else isn't a priority." 

   "But, what if the two can be done at the same time - "

   "Minwoo, you know that's not possible. Even if it was, once you shift focus, Jaebin, Jineul and Chess would be in more danger. No, my answer is no."

   "Such a shame," He mused, leaning against his chair. "The guy looks powerful. My guess is he's in a high position in Wonderland. Maybe even the leader." Minwoo changed tact discreetly, trying to shift directions to convince Celeste. He had half a mind to take off his bracelet, but Minwoo had a hunch his powers wouldn't work on Celeste. 

   "No leader would put themselves in danger for something as trivial as that." Without even looking over, Celeste replied immediately. "If this was indeed Wonderland's leader, I'm extremely disappointed. And besides, we already have a stash of information on him. That's valuable enough as it is."

   "On him, that is. What about the rest of the team? Wonderland's motives? We don't have that. If we get this critical piece - "

   "Minwoo." The weight of his name on her tongue made him shut up, and look her fully in the eye. "Would you trade three of our members for one Wonderland agent?" 

   "I - " The gravity of that statement hit him full in the chest. "Fine, fine," Minwoo muttered. "But if we have a chance, I will get that guy, danger or not."

   "I look forward to that," Celeste's response came, without sarcasm. The man turned back onto the screens, and he could see Jaebin's chopper nearing the port. "We're in Heraklion now." 

Emergency Gemini portal
— heraklion port, greece; 27.7.2017

  Jaebin barely managed to get the chopper to skid successfully onto solid ground before damage control reported, well, more damage.

  Ripping the headset off his ears and unbuckling his seatbelt, he vaulted over the pilot's seat and went to the back, where Jineul managed to untangle his harness and was struggling onto his feet with one hand occupied by the AWM. "You good?" 

   "Got hit by some kind of curse by the bastard," Jineul cursed, before spitting blood onto the ground. "Bit my tongue in the process, don't worry, my lungs are fine." He tossed the AWM to the side, and pulled another gun out of the box at the back. "Go. Take Chess with you. I'll hold him off."

    "Jineul, you're in your white form." Jaebin stared at his colleague, barely able to stand steadily on his feet, the wind having completely messed up his normally perfect hair. "You're crazy. I'll do it." 

   "But - " Without waiting for his reply, Jaebin wretched the AUG out of his hands. "The cockpit was stuffy anyways." Clearly unable to convince him to budge, Jineul nodded and quickly began to undo the straps holding Chess in place. Just as he knelt next to the plane, there was a groan. "What - where am I?"

   "You're awake, that's good." Jaebin kept his eyes trained on the water. "Can you walk?" Jineul asked, letting her use his arm to steady herself. "I - barely."

  "Barely is good enough. Minwoo, where are you?"

  "People keep asking where is Minwoo, or even what is Minwoo, but never how is Minwoo. I swear, the audacity of these people - " Before the annoying bastard could finish his sentence, Jaebin had tackled him onto the ground as something went flying above them. In retaliation, he grabbed the gun. ", I forgot I can't shoot." 

  "Well, neither can I, so figure something out!"

  "You useless lot." Jineul shoved Chess into Minwoo's arms, and grabbed the gun, switching the mag out. Aiming carefully, he shot at the general direction of the man, and out burst a net. "There, this gonna keep him busy for a bit. Come on!" 

   With Minwoo leading the way, Jaebin gathered Chess in a bridal hold before she could protest, and ran behind him towards the portal while Jineul, the only person who was good at long distance, brought up the rear guard. The bright summer sun overhead was draining his energy as his white side threatened to surface again, but he managed to push him down. Just for a few minutes...

    "Here!" Throwing open the door of some random cargo box, Minwoo ushered them in. On the other side of the entrance was the familiar boring bluish-gray carpet of Gemini HQ, which Jaebin had never been so glad to see before. He ran straight into it, before Minwoo followed closely behind. Jineul was the last, sticking some kind of device on the side of the box before diving in. Just as the door closed behind him, an explosion racked the corridor, and Minwoo covered his ears. 

   "Did you just...blow up something?" Jaebin panted, leaning against the wall as he let Chess back on her feet. 

   "Destroying the entrance meant that Wonderland wouldn't be able to follow us," Minwoo replied, checking his communication device. "Which is good, because we're still in Heraklion. We'll likely be here for a while, no one's going to suspect us being on some random Greek island. Alright, let's get all of you to Minkyung." 

Gemini Headquarters - Emergency Command Room
— heraklion port, greece; 28.7.2017

  Chess found Celeste slumped over in the Emergency Command Room, the lights being out due to inactivity. She cleared tentatively, before knocking on the door. The sound startled the memaid awake, causing the lights to flicker back on, and she glanced around herself before coming to her senses. "Hi." 

  "Oh..." Celeste rubbed her eyes. "You're here. Safe." 

  "Safe," Chess reaffirmed, depositing the mug of coffee in her hand next to Celeste. "Thanks to you."

  "I did nothing," She forced a laugh, and the faerie took a seat opposite of her. "It was thanks to the others. Jaebin, Jineul. Minwoo."

   "As if the others would've managed so well without you." The mild reply illicited a snort from the other as she sipped her coffee. "But sure, it was thanks to Minwoo."

   "Point taken." The two sat there in the extremely comfortable commander chairs, basking in the silence, before Celeste broke it. "Where's the others?" 

    "Asleep in medbay, in all likelihood. Jae - Invictus collapsed immediately after he made it onto one of the beds, likely of exhaustion. Diablos had no injuries, so he was ushered out immediately after a quick checkup. His Majesty the Queen had it the worst, but even then it was nothing Apollo couldn't heal." Chess paused as she tried to recall his injuries. "Minor concussion, flesh wounds here and there, and some kind of curse. Needless to say, I'm sure Wonderland had it worse."

   "And what about you?" Chess jumped as Celeste reached out a hand and cupped her cheek, though relaxed afterwards. "You were shaken pretty badly too."

   "I'm fine. Nothing bad," She tried to smile, but immediately winced, which did not go unnoticed under Celeste's sharp eye. At once, the tactician's eyes narrowed, and she pulled up a holoscreen, looking through her medical report. "Broken ribs. Flesh wounds. Concussion. General weakness because of the Wonderland seal. And you tell me you're fine?"

   "I'm fine as long as you're here," Chess tried for a nonchalant shrug, but that hurt as well. She paused a little. "You forgot the bruises from when I was manhandled."

  "I'm trying to be optimistic." Celeste retrieved her hand, which reached up to massage her temples. "Which isn't really working great, but hey, you know, work." 

   "Because of Greece?" 

   "Because of everything. People nearly died today, and yet - " Celeste swallowed her complaints as she remembered the possibility of people listening in. "You know what I mean. I don't think this - all of this - " She gestured vaguely in front of her. "Is worth it. It'll end up in carnage and catastrophe again. and then..."

   "It'll be just you and me again." The mermaid nodded her affirmation to Chess' statement. "I'm done seeing people die," Celeste exhaled. "But yeah, Greece. It might be because we're here that I'm overwhelmed. Maybe I'll forget about it when tomorrow comes." She stood up, prepared to leave, but Chess grabbed her hand before she could. 

   "I'll go with you." She hoped her eyes could send a silent message - not only of support, but something else. Chess knew Celeste knew her enough to read her eyes, that she wanted to tell her something important. "Alright." Loosening her hold, the faerie trailed behind Celeste as they exited the room, heading towards her personal quarters. "Where's the Glyph, by the way? I don't think you got it before you leave." 

   "Safe in the armory." A lie, but Chess didn't trust the people listening in enough to disclose the actual location. It's in the treasure vault, where no one except Chess and Celeste had the passkey to. Not even the King, because she doesn't trust him fully either, despite serving him. 

   "Alright, what do you want to tell me?" Safe in the privacy of her room, Celeste locked her door and collapsed onto her bed, staring up at Chess in front of her.

   The seelie paused, gathering her words and making sure that it wasn't a faulty decision. This was the time when she could take it all back, say it was nothing. Instead, she decided to continue ahead, and took a deep breath to stabilise herself. 

   "I think...we should tell them everything. The truth." 

OKAY CHINESE NEW YEAR IS OVER AND WE'RE BACK IN THE WORK BOYS I'm dying of overwork can someone save me and reset this whole entire year 

So...yeah. Some fighting and apparently Jaebin can pilot a goddamn chopper? Woaw amazing

Gemini side character page is also up but it's practically empty since Gemini practically relies on themselves

And yeah action packed!!! Otherwise I have nothing else to say and section two is coming soon

What else do I have to say? Idk just that Gemini is fricking chaos. But they love each other :3 

Oh yeah about the chopper, it blew up at the end. Sorry :/ 

(Alternatively, this chapter can be titled 'Fly, motherer, fly'! No I don't know where that came from)