“Chansung!” Soyeon and JB burst out at the same time. Soyeon let go off Wooyoung instantly, taking a step towards Chansung and Jun.K. At the same time, JB released Hyomin, running towards Chansung.

But they were a beat too late; the gun fired and the bullet shot forward, right into Chansung’s heart.

Chansung let out a gasp of pain; Soyeon froze, her eyes wide in horror.

Taecyeon stared, his fists clenching so hard he could feel the skin breaking under his nails. As he watched, Chansung slumped over, his body limp.

Dani’s eyes widened in stunned shock, disbelieving, Until this moment, she realised, she’d never quite believed what the assassins were telling her – all that stuff about killing the scum of society and all that – until that moment she’d thought they’d been joking with her. But now, seeing someone lying there with blood streaming from the wound at his heart, someone she knew, someone she’d joked with, laughed with, been friends with…

Taecyeon’s voice was a roar, “What have you done?!”

Jun.K’s gaze was scathing and defiant. “I followed my orders. Eliminate the traitor. I did as I had been told.”

Both sides were frozen – the Warriors from seeing one of their own killed, and by another comrade no less, and the assassins from the shock of seeing how brutally, how easily Jun.K had just turned against someone supposed to be his friend.

Even Wooyoung and Junho had been stunned into silence. They were supposed to be killing assassins, not each other, Junho wanted to scream at Jun.K, but the words wouldn’t come.

It was Soyeon who regained herself first, and she regained herself with a fury. Launching herself at Jun.K, she lifted the arm with the knife, screaming in rage.

Jun.K ducked with an arrogant laugh. “Please! Like a cripple could take me-” He broke off abruptly as Soyeon’s foot caught him in the stomach; he doubled over in pain at the sudden assault, and Soyeon tried to yank her hand down to stab him in the head.

Jun.K grabbed Soyeon’s hand and swung her around like a judo champion, slamming her into the ground. Soyeon gasped as her back met the ground with a heavy thud; Jun.K loomed over her, his expression furious. “You little -”

Dani launched herself at him; out of her brother’s friends, this was the one she’d never liked much. She detested his smirking ways, his arrogance, the way he’d always treated her like an immature little girl. It didn’t surprise her that this one was the cruelest – it even made her glad, in a way, that it wasn’t any of the others that she kind of liked. Her fist swung out and hit Jun.K right in the neck; he fell back, choking, shocked that the “immature little girl” could pack such power in a punch.

JB had grabbed Chansung, lifting him up. His hands pressed desperately against his wound that, already, had begun to stop bleeding. His lips moved silently; Jiyeon’s eyes were on him, and for a moment, she thought that he was praying. It wasn’t until she’d stepped closer to him, close enough to hear his fervent whispers, that she realised he wasn’t just praying. He was begging. Begging for Chansung to be all right.

Hyomin was still rooted to the ground, eyes wide. In a moment they’d gone from mortal enemies about to engage in a fatal fight to a group of confused, horrified people – all except Jun.K, the perpetrator of the horror, of course.

Soyeon had joined Dani in the assault; they were hitting Jun.K brutally, not giving the Warrior time to recover, just kicking him, punching him in every place they could reach.  The Warrior was cowering now; he tried desperately to dodge the blows but they came too fast – if he dodged one he would only be subject to another, and another, inflicting him more pain than he’d felt in a long time. He looked desperately to his fellow Warriors; JB was leaning over Chansung, still trying desperately to revive what everyone already knew was a corpse, but the others just stood motionless, watching coldly, angrily, not helping at all. He even thought he saw a glimmer of satisfaction in some of their eyes; anger surged in him suddenly, giving him strength. He lashed back wildly, kicking and punching all of a sudden. Dani and Soyeon were startled by his sudden offence; out of the blue, they were on the defence, trying to avoid his flurry of attacks.

And then Jr lunged, his fist meeting the side of Jun.K’s head. “That’s for Chansung!”

Dani and Soyeon leaped back in surprise, startled by Jr’s sudden attack. Jun.K was even more shocked, suddenly unable to respond – standing aside and watching was one thing, actually attacking him alongside the assassins was quite another.

Jiyeon was just about to leap into the battlefield herself when a hand grabbed hers; she recognised the touch almost at once and jerked away, eyes wary.

JB stood beside her; his face was expressionless, revealing nothing.

“What do you want?” Jiyeon was unable to keep the hurt out of her voice – hurt at his lies, at his betrayal.

JB was composed. “Leave. Now. Before Wooyoung and Junho gather their wits and decide whether they’d rather take down a bunch of mortal enemies or a comrade who’s just killed their friend. Or both.”

Jiyeon’s gaze turned disbelieving. “Are you trying to help us?”

There was a flicker of emotion in JB’s eyes. “I was only ever trying to help you.”

Hyomin had noticed them; her eyes were cold as she pulled Jiyeon away from JB, holding her knife out in defence. “Why should we believe you, Warrior?”

“You don’t have to believe me, you just have to leave.”

“How?” Qri challenged, “Our helicopter’s not here – you Warriors did something to it, didn’t you?”

JB’s eyebrows raised. In response, he pointed towards the helicopter the Warriors had arrived in.

Hyomin’s eyes widened in surprise. “You…”

It was Boram who took the initiative. She grabbed Qri’s hand, running towards the helicopter, shouting, “Come on! Dani, Soyeon, let’s go!”

Heads jerked around; Dani began to run at once, but Soyeon was focused on Jun.K. Wooyoung and Junho’s eyes widened at once. Junho hesitated, his eyes darting between Taecyeon, JB and the assassins, but Wooyoung began to run towards the helicopter. “Jang Dani, don’t you dare-”

Taecyeon launched himself at Wooyoung, dragging him to the ground. The younger man began to buck ferociously, but his slight physique was no match for Taecyeon’s strength.

The assassins were all in the helicopter, except Soyeon. Hyomin called out to the older woman, panicked, “Soyeon, we have to go!”

Soyeon ignored her.

Dani hesitated for the briefest of moments, before she got out of the helicopter, prepared to drag the vengeful assassin back to the helicopter. Jr’s eyes darted to them – before Dani could take another step, Jr launched himself in front of Soyeon, shoving her backwards with his shoulder as he shouted, “Just get the hell out of here!”

Jun.K, bruised and hurting all over, growled viciously, “I should have guessed you were a traitor like your weakling of a brother!” His hand flicked – a vicious looking knife appeared in his hand, almost magically, and he lunged at Jr.

Dani grabbed hold of Soyeon, and, along with Hyomin, dragged her back into the helicopter. The blades began to whir as Qri navigated the controls.

Jiyeon and Eunjung both peered out of the helicopter, their gazes worried. Taecyeon was handling his own, easily squashing the squirming Wooyoung.

But it was JB that caught Jiyeon’s attention – JB, running as fast as he could towards his brother.

Jr tried to dodge the blow, but he was a beat too slow. The knife was mere centimeters from him; he closed his eyes, preparing for the end.

And then he was yanked roughly to the side, losing his balance as he fell to the ground; he looked up, startled, only to see his brother standing above him, a knife in his gut, blood seeping from his wound.

JB’s body convulsed as Jun.K drew the knife back; the younger man fell back, his fingers reaching up above for the helicopter. Vaguely he made out Jiyeon’s face, open in a silent scream.

I’m sorry, Jiyeon.

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

Hey guys, I'm back! First of all, I know I've not updated anything in ages - it's cos I lost my thumbdrive where all my work was saved (and, stupid me, of course forgot to save a backup copy) I was really frustrated and I kinda lost steam cos everytime I sat down to write nothing would come out and I'd just feel upset. I don't want writing to feel like a chore to me, because it should be a pleasure, so I'm going to be taking things pretty slowly, and I hope you all won't mind. 

People just keep dying or getting hurt in these last few chapters...First Chansung, now JB. I probably upset a couple of people by killing Chansung, but that's just to make the story more realistic. They ARE Warriors, and they spend their lives fighting - it isn't unreasonable or illogical for them to die in the line of duty, especially when you're a traitor who's supposed to be hunted down. Jun.K has officially established himself as the biggest jerk - but what's going to happen to JB?!?!?! Wait for the next chapter to find out!

P.S: A new cpl is developing, can any of you see it?