Hyomin slung her bag over her shoulder, glancing back at the other members. “You guys ready to go? Didn’t leave anything behind, right?”

The other members gave the room a cursory glance, then shook their heads. Jiyeon picked up her bag. “We’re good to go.” They filed out of the room in a line, six of them heading for the elevator. Hyomin hung back; she pulled a lighter from her pocket, then looked back at the house they had occupied for the past six years.

She’d moved, many times, in the past. Her parents had moved frequently; they were Assassins, after all, and they moved wherever their job required them to, so Hyomin moved with them. Six years – that was the longest Hyomin had spent in one place. She’d created a life here for herself…and yet she had to destroy it now. Her gaze ran over the house; it no longer looked like the comfortable home she’d come back to for the past six years, what with its bare interior, and the gasoline poured all over it.

She opened the lighter and tossed it into the room.

The other members were waiting by the elevator; Jiyeon moved to make space for Hyomin. “How will we get to headquarters?”

“We’ll have to get to the airport first, there’ll be a helicopter waiting for us there.” Hyomin responded tersely. She glanced to the back of the elevator, where Hwayoung and Qri were carrying a semi-conscious Chansung, and cursed, “This bloody lump…if anybody sees us carrying this we’re going to be so screwed.”

The elevator opened, and the assassins filed out, glancing about surreptitiously to make sure no one saw them as they hurried to their car. Boram quickly fished out her car keys, opening the car doors. As they lay Chansung on the back seat, arranging him so that Soyeon could sit next to him, Hyomin quickly got into the driver’s seat.

Within moments, they were zooming off to the airport.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JB bowed at once, his tone formal and polite, “Father, what are you doing here?”

Yunho’s hands were behind his back, his tone just as impersonal as he spoke, “I have heard about Hwang Chansung’s betrayal.”

JB’s hands shifted behind his back, but his expression did not change. Yunho studied him for a moment before continuing, “Two things. Firstly, the Council would like Jun.K to be at headquarters tomorrow, 6am, to receive his punishment for failing to take out Hwang Chansung. Secondly, we have managed to track down Hwang Chansung’s location. He is currently with the assassins known as T-ara, and our current intel reports that they are on their way to the airport, where, presumably, there will be transport bringing them to their headquarters. This could be our last chance to take them out. The Warriors are to assemble in half an hour, all of you, and we will move out to destroy these assassins once and for all.”

JB’s body was stiff, his hands clenched by his side. “Today? Now?”

Yunho looked at him sharply, his voice stern, “You have your orders, Jaebum. A Warrior does not question instructions given by his superiors. Carry them out.” Without waiting for a response, he spun around and strode down the stairs.

JB stood stock-still as Yunho vanished down the steps. He glanced out, over the city, at the reddening sky of Seoul. Biting back a sigh, he made his way down to the apartment.

Taecyeon took one look at his face and asked quietly, “What happened?”

JB cleared his throat, “Summon all Warriors back at once. This is a red-light call, everyone of them must be back within fifteen minutes. Send out word.”

Jun.K and Junho exchanged alarmed looks. As one, they turned to grab their phones, dialing frantically as they tried to reach the other members.

Taecyeon slid over to stand next to JB, his voice quiet, “What’s going on, JB? When did you get these orders?”

“The Head Consul was here just moments ago to deliver the order.” JB replied emotionlessly.

“Which is?” Taecyeon raised an eyebrow.

“We are to assemble in half an hour and leave for the airport to take out the assassins known as T-ara.”

Junho and Jun.K both stopped in mid-speech, turning around to stare at JB. Jun.K’s expression was gleeful, as he continued to talk to Jr on the phone with even more vigor than before. Junho shot them a sympathetic look before continuing to converse with Siwoo, telling him the situation.

Taecyeon and JB looked at each other. Even unspoken, they knew what the other was thinking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Qri shouted, trying to stand up. Hyomin braked abruptly; all of them were thrown forward, and Chansung groaned as he hit the seats in front. Hyomin turned to glare at Qri. “What the hell…?”

But Qri had already unbuckled her seatbelt and was out of the car, running towards the dark alleyway she had just passed. Jiyeon peered closely, and her eyes widened in shock. “Oh my god, there’s a girl getting .”

Those were the magic words that got the assassins moving. As one, they ran after Qri.

It was a group of five boys, all of them with large, muscular builds and towering heights. All of them had tattoos all over their bodies; several had ear and mouth piercings. A typical bunch of degenerates, Jiyeon thought coldly as she lowered herself into a fighting stance.

The girl was not the wimpy, crying type, though. She was dressed in a familiar-looking uniform, her hair in disarray, her blouse nearly torn in half, but she held a sharp, dangerous stone in one hand and was holding it up, quite ready to defend herself.

Without any spoken agreement, the assassins launched into action. Hyomin swung towards the largest boy, her fist cocked, so fast that the boy only had time to take one step forward before her fist landed squarely at his temple, knocking him back several steps. She followed it with a powerful uppercut that literally hurled the boy into the wall; the boy slid to the ground, dazed.

Jiyeon launched herself at the boy on the far left. The boy lunged at her, arms outstretched like a giant grizzly bear, but Jiyeon was expecting it. Easily, she slid under his arms, swinging her leg up to kick him squarely in the chest. The boy fell back, choking, and Jiyeon followed it up by kicking him in the head, knocking him out easily.

Boram and Qri threw themselves at the two boys on the right; Qri swung her fist from the left while Boram kicked from the right; both boys tried to dodge, crashing heavily into each other. Without giving them time to recover, they quickly knocked them out.

Hwayoung kicked at the feet of the last boy, tripping him; she swooped forward, her fist cocked, but before she could do more than take a step, the girl whom they had been bullying suddenly charged forward. Blindly, she swung at the fallen boy before Hwayoung, striking out wildly with the stone. The boy screamed in pain as the stone made contact with his arm; there was a sharp, distinct crack, and Hyomin shouted over the ruckus, “Restrain her before she kills him!”

The stone landed on the boy’s ankle and wrist before Jiyeon and Hwayoung managed to grab hold of the girl, pulling her back.

Eunjung hung back, supporting Soyeon with her hand.

Jiyeon took a good look at the girl, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Hey…you’re from my school!”

The girl looked up, and Hyomin gasped, “You…You’re Jang Wooyoung’s sister!”

The mention of her brother made Dani look up, her eyes suddenly cold and her voice even icier, “You know my brother?”

Hyomin shifted awkwardly as the other members looked at her curiously. “Not really. We’ve met, but we’re not close. Today was your first day of school, wasn’t it? …I was there.”

Dani looked around at them, then paused, suddenly aware of her torn blouse. She coughed awkwardly, trying to hide her partial , when Jiyeon removed her jacket, handing it to Dani. “Here, take this.” She studied Dani for a moment as she pulled the jacket on, before asking, “What are you doing so far from school?”

Dani’s expression became rebellious. “I hate school. I’m going to run away from that stupid brother of mine, and no one’s going to stop me.”

The T-ara members exchanged looks. Jiyeon raised an eyebrow at Hyomin and mouthed silently, “She has potential.”

“But she has family.” Hyomin mouthed back.

Boram leaned over to Hyomin, whispering quietly, “It’s obvious she doesn’t want to follow her family. Why don’t we bring her to the airport with us? There’s nowhere else she can go, especially not like this. Once we’re there we can show her to the police, or let her follow us. Her choice.”

Hyomin hesitated, her eyes running over Jang Dani. She looked nothing like her brother, Hyomin thought. Wooyoung. Her brother. They had no right to take her away from her brother. But then Hyomin remembered his anger when he spoke of Dani, and for a moment, she wondered whether he abused her. She’d seen him hitting her, after all. And that was all it took. She stepped forward, holding her hand out. “Dani, right? How would you like to come with us?”

Dani’s expression was suspicious. “Where to?”

“We’re going to the airport, we can talk on the way. And if you don’t want to follow us,” Hyomin shrugged. “You can just take a taxi back from there.”

Dani hesitated for the briefest of moments. Then she took Hyomin’s hand. “Done.”

---------------------------------------------------

And Dani finally joins the other T-ara members! 

This chapter was more of a setting up for the showdown - T-ara vs Warriors! Who will win? Who will lose? Will JB and Taecyeon obey orders or disobey them? And does this mean all the secrets are out of the bag? So far all the Warriors know of the T-ara members' identity, but T-ara is still in the dark about some members (Wooyoung, JB, Siwoo - those they haven't seen before). Does this give the Warriors an advantage? Wait for the next chapter to find out!

P.S: I know I've been gone for a while, but i was in the hospital for food poisoning over Christmas and I've been recuperating. Updates will come more frequently now, so please don't unsubscribe!

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