Stephanie, Jessica, and Sooyoung all arrived home after the successful fashion show. Jessica had gone home with countless names under her contacts for potential business partners and even Sooyoung was approached by a variety of designers asking her to be their new model for their own upcoming fashion line. Stephanie also had a few requests for her clear expertise in lighting design, but she rejected them all in favor of only working for Jessica. Jessica had suggested keeping a few numbers here and there in case she ever changed her mind, but Stephanie knew she wouldn’t. Stephanie wasn’t open to the idea of meeting new people, she preferred to just stay close to the people she already knew. It was just easier that way, no pretending to be human, no fake smiles and most certainly no fake enthusiasm. She couldn’t deal with putting up a façade, it was far too much effort for just a few extra projects here and there.

Once Jessica had entered the living room her attention immediately darted towards Hyori. It was finally time to see if her little bribe had managed to motivate the Darknet Fairy enough to work her magic. “So, how’s the progress on Joohyun?” Jessica asked.

“Well, at first I was going really slow. She’s been out of work since the robbery when you were abducted, she hasn’t paid anything with a card, and has withdrawn cash from scattered ATM locations.” Hyori began.

“Clearly she doesn’t want to be found,” Stephanie added.

“Yep, she must know that the Blazers could still be looking for her, but I thought about it more clearly and figured an alternative method to finding her other than tracking her money and work appearances.” Hyori smiled enthusiastically. “So, she’s twenty-five years old, very young and what is the one thing young people cannot resist?” Hyori smirked. Jessica and Stephanie were also in their twenties, but for some reason the had no clue what Hyori was suggesting. “Food?” Stephanie asked.

“Nope.” Hyori shook her head, still bearing her smile.

“Oh, oh, taking pictures!” Jessica answered.

“Bingo! Your generation just loves to take pictures and post them throughout social media. I managed to find her Instagram and trace her IP address from her posts that were uploaded while she was at home. She lives twenty minutes away from here and if her posts are correct, she’s probably reading a book right now before going off to bed.” Hyori explained.

“Should we go now?” Stephanie questioned.

“There’s no rush? If the Blazers have been looking for her even now and she’s still just safe at home, we can wait until the morning. We should all get some rest.” Jessica stated.

“The morning?? Um, Jess, you do realize I don’t go parading as Nova in broad daylight, right? And I don’t suffer from human exhaustion, if you need to go sleep I don’t mind, but don’t you think the best thing to do is to get her now while she’s still there?” Stephanie questioned.

“If you go now, in the middle of the night, you’re only going to startle her. Honestly, just wait until the morning so both of us can go. We need to convince her that she’s safer with us, if you show up right now she’s going to think you’re trying to harm her just as much as the Blazers are.” Jessica added. Stephanie had the urge to continue arguing. She didn’t know why, but she felt like going now was the best thing to do, but it was obvious that Jessica was serious when she was telling her to call it a night. Even though her gut was telling her to go out into the night, she had chosen to put her faith in Jessica. “Fine, I’ll wait ‘til tomorrow.” Stephanie sighed.

“Good, remember Steph, this isn’t the Blazers you’re dealing with. You’re not going over there to instill fear in her, you’re going over there to explain to her that she’s in danger and that we can protect her. Intruding in the middle of the night would send the opposite message as if we’re also out to abduct her.” Jessica clarified. What she had said definitely made sense to Stephanie, but something was still stirring within Stephanie’s gut. If the Blazers had been looking for her all this time, who knows if they had closed in on her destination already? If Hyori could find her in a day, was it really hard to believe that they hadn’t already found her after a month since the bank robbery? Stephanie shook her head, she decided to go along with Jessica even if it was against her better judgment. After all, they were a team and Stephanie needed to respect Jessica’s opinion just as much as her own.

The next morning, Stephanie arrived at Joohyun’s house alongside Jessica who insisted on joining her to the house. “Why are you here again?” Stephanie questioned.

“You’re not exactly the nicest person out here, Steph. She might feel intimidated by you.” Jessica said bluntly.

“Look who’s talking.” Stephanie scoffed. “How are you going to make the situation any better Ice Princess?” Stephanie mocked.

“I may be cold, but at least I’ve learned to be nice when needed. You learn that sort of thing dealing with clients. I’ve mastered the art of faking being nice, you haven’t.” Jessica smirked. Well, Stephanie couldn’t argue there, she was never someone who could fake being nice. She always had to intimidate the people around her to make sure only the purest of heart would dare talk to her, or in most cases people like Jessica who were just as intimidating. The duo finally reached her door, Stephanie was ready to suit up when Jessica glared at her from her side. “What now?” Stephanie asked.

“I told you, we’re here to make her feel safe. Just be normal for once and let me do all the talking.” Jessica requested. Jessica did three firm knocks on the white door and to their shock, the door was unlocked and creaked up upon her first knock. Something wasn’t right, from the information that Hyori had gathered about the girl, she was organized. She rarely made mistakes, so leaving the door unlocked like this was extremely suspicious. The duo walked in slowly, scanning the downstairs floor for Joohyun. According to Hyori, she would usually be found making her morning brew of coffee and inspiring her small follower base with wise words of wisdom in Instagram, Stephanie entered the kitchen and the fresh smell of coffee filled the air. She walked towards the wonderful aroma until she realized the scent was wafting from the shattered glass kettle that spilled the brown liquid all across the vinyl floor. Something was definitely wrong. Stephanie ran upstairs as quick as she could to see if Jessica was safe but as soon as she entered the first room on the second floor, she was punched by a metallic bowling-ball sized fist and launched straight through the wall landing out into the morning lit street. “JESSICA!!” Stephanie screamed from the street, hoping to hear some kind of response. To her relief, the clueless girl came running out of the front door wondering what the hell was going on. “What happened to…” before she had finished her question a robot-like form appeared from the hole that Stephanie had created when she was hurtled out of the house. The robotic form landed in front of the duo and simply stood there, not saying a word. Stephanie and Jessica had no clue what was happening here, but Stephanie wasn’t entirely focused on that. The only thought that raced through her mind was the fact that whoever this was had already taken Joohyun away from the property. If this was, in fact, the Blazers, maybe, just maybe, the van could still be seen traveling throughout the city. Stephanie focused her mind and attempted to use her photonic tracing ability to find the number plate of the van, but her focus was immediately broken when the robotic form punched her again, this time straight to the face. The impact itself wasn’t painful, clearly, Stephanie’s skin was still denser than the metallic fist, but she had never faced anything that could launch her away so easily. This was getting dangerous and with the sun rising in the distance, being in the middle of the road could reveal Nova’s existence to the entire city. Jessica had to leave, if she was seen in this situation, it was only a matter of time until someone had pinpointed her as an associate of Nova. “Jess, get the hell out of here now!” Stephanie placed herself in between Jessica and the strange robot-like figure. Jessica was reluctant to leave, she too had never seen Stephanie take such a power