Tonight Schatten came in Taecyeon’s van, and even Mai was surprised to see Wooyoung with them. She had thought that the inspector would take his own car, yet there he sat right across her. She couldn’t decide if it was a good surprise or not. Changmin was giving out the mission brief, and as much as Mai wanted to listen, she was rather distracted by the fact that Wooyoung was hardly ever in uniform. Proper uniform, that is. Like the rest of them, Wooyoung came in in their standard black tactical dress pants and boots, but unlike them, Wooyoung simply wore a plain black tee with his leather jacket draped across his knee.

At some point, Mai envied Wooyoung’s lack of regard for the rules, and she tugged uncomfortably at her black button-down dress shirt and folded sleeves. She eyed the armor laying by her feet, and already she was dreading putting it on.

“Assault is from the back, then we split up. Mai you go with Wooyoung, Junho can go with me.”

Nodding at Changmin, Mai couldn’t help but notice the slight narrowing of Wooyoung’s eyes- well, eye.

“I’m not baby-sitting a rookie.”

“We can’t have both rookies together. You’re the senior officer, you’re responsible.”

Mai grit her teeth and openly glared at Wooyoung. Had she any less respect for Changmin she would have spoken back and demanded not to be partnered with Wooyoung. Ever. She spied Junho’s worried gaze from the corner and she inhaled a sharp breath of air. She couldn’t wait for the day that she was no longer called a rookie.

The van slowed to a stop, and Seulong’s head popped out from the passenger seat. “You guys sure you don’t need Explosive-”

“No, Seulong. No Explosive X tonight,” Changmin said firmly. “Just wait for us here and make sure we’re well covered.”

Reluctantly, Mai strapped on her stab vest, subtly inching away from Junho who was sure to adjust them tight again. He didn’t seem to notice and Mai let out a soft sigh of relief. Changmin was already leading the way towards the back of the building, and with Taecyeon in her ear, she was tempted to rid of the ear piece along with the armor at the nearest opportunity she had. Wooyoung stood still in front of her and she followed his line of sight to the main entrance.

“What are you looking at?” Mai asked, walking a few paces past him.

Wooyoung didn’t answer, instead he strode straight towards the building entrance. Mai rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. Did Inspector Jang Wooyoung ever follow orders?

She ran after him, stopping at the main entrance. The doors had been smashed open, and the front guard slain. Could Wooyoung have done this? She flashed her torchlight on the security officer. The blood on his clothes was still fresh, but the lacklustre color indicated time.

“Fuu, I think we have company. Someone was here before us.”

It was Taecyeon that replied, “Do you want me to call for back-up now?”

“No,” Changmin answered. “That would alert them to our presence. Mai, tread carefully. Where are you?”

“Following the inspector,” she sighed. “I think he’s on to something.”

Mai stepped through the broken glass and into the main lobby. It was empty with at least three paths to take. Where did Wooyoung go?! Directly in front of her, she saw the elevators lighting up the number 4.

“Mai! 4th floor. Now! We need back-up.”

…

Junho ducked under the large concrete slab in front of him. A meter or so before him, their unit captain was throwing fists against a scrawny boy who was exponentially stronger than he appeared to be. Jang Hyunseung, one of the missing university boys, was another one of perpetrators of the beast killings in the last few weeks. At first Junho couldn’t put together how the boys were related to the murders, but seeing them right now, Junho had no more doubts. He aimed a tranq bolt at Hyunseung’s arm, waiting for the perfect opportunity when Changmin was clear.

It came at a cost. Hyungseung threw Changmin in the air and into the wall, looking very pleased with himself. Junho shot three at a time, but Hyunseung only stared at the arrows on his shoulder and pulled them all out at the same time.

“That hurts!” he said, stomping over to Junho. “Why are you hiding over there? Come out and play too!”

Junho froze for a moment. Hearing Hyunseung speak was not one of his expectations for the night. He leaped to the left, rolling on his shoulder and firing more bolts. If three tranquilizers wouldn’t put him under, then maybe six would. The bolts hit Hyunseung on the chest, and again he stared at them before plucking them away.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

Junho stepped back. It was a narrow corridor, and he could only do so much fighting close range- mainly, he could only dodge. Changmin was still on the ground behind Hyunseung, and there was no way for Junho to get to him.

The pain was spread all over, and Changmin could barely stand up. He was vaguely aware of how Junho was holding up against Hyunseung. Admittedly, Changmin was at fault too. He had underestimated his enemy, hoped that he didn’t have to resort to brute force. Hyunseung had seemed innocent enough with his nonstop questions, but it was different once the punches were thrown.

Struggling to stand up, Changmin tried to regain his strength, breathing sharp intakes of breath through his mouth. Hyunseung had his back turned to him, and he took this opportunity to jump on his back, hoping to take him down.

Changmin clenched his arms tightly against Hyunseung’s neck, locking him in a chokehold. Hyunseung flailed violently under him, throwing his body to dislodge Changmin off his back. A rain of bolts landed on Hyunseung’s body and he screamed in frustration. Changmin clasped his hand tighter on his choking arm. Just a little more time and the blood would be restricted from flowing into the brain, and if it didn’t leave Hyunseung unconscious, then it would at least weaken him.

With one powerful heave from Hyunseung, Changmin was propelled forwards, landing on his shoulders. The sharp twinge of pain created a path from the point of impact and outwards to his neck and upper body, and Changmin’s vision blurred for a few seconds.

Junho ran towards the captain and hurriedly pulled him out of Hyunseung’s path. “Sir, are you okay?”

Changmin coughed out a reply and strained to get back up, “Had better days for sure. What are these boys?”

Hyunseung stalked forwards, and Junho hurdled through broken concrete, keeping his vision wide, looking for anything that could be of help. Use the environment to your advantage, he reminded himself. With Changmin standing up again, Junho fired several bolts to at least distract Hyunseung. The number of doses he had shot was more than enough to kill ten fully grown men, but Hyunseung was still as strong as ever.

Looking up, Junho finally spied several loose planks of wood. Aiming for the thick fibers of rope that held them together, Junho launched as much bolts as he could. The fibers frayed little by little, and with one last shot, it snapped and the heavy planks toppled on top of Hyunseung, trapping him inside. The loss of the planks also caused some of the unstable concrete slabs to fall over, and with a cloud of dust, Hyunseung’s screams died out.

Panting, Changmin dragged himself towards Junho, “You do realize, that if I decided to jump back at him, you would have killed me too.”

Junho cast his eyes down, expecting reprimand.  “I’m sorry captain, it won’t happen again.”

Changmin let out a laugh coupled with a cough, “Just warn me next time, okay?”

…

Mai raced up the stairs, divesting herself completely of her armor as soon as she reached the fourth floor. Half of the floor was being reconstructed, and she shone her torchlight across the dark area. Junho and Changmin should be around here- finding them was now her priority. She swept the beam of light across the floor, stopping short when she spotted another person inside.

“Stop right there!” she said, keeping her voice stable.

The other female just looked at her as if sizing her up. Mai did the same. She didn’t appear to be armed, though blood was spattered all over her face and clothes, especially her hands.

“Hey you,” she said, and Mai looked up at her, “survive this and I’ll make sure there’s a next time.”

A next time? Mai was confused for a moment, and she moved to follow this person out the hole next to her, but another voice stopped her in her tracks.

“Yoseob? You’re here right?- Oh, hi there? What are you doing here?”

Startled, Mai could only stare at the young man in front of her. She recognized him immediately, one of the missing students. He was still alive. “Yoon Doojoon.”

“Yes, that’s me, and you are?”

Mai blinked for a few moments. She was not expecting to make small talk. “I-I’m a police officer, there’s a van out front, you should get out of here.”

Doojoon’s brows furrowed for a moment. “Oh snap. That means we have to fight now.”

Mai staggered back as Doojoon lunged at her. She dodged his first wave of punches, slipping under him and walking back.

“See, if you just told me your name instead, things could have been different.” Doojoon attacked again, this time with a running kick.

Mai dived sideways, evading. She held her jutte in front of her, the other hand closed in a fist. She kept her elbows clinched tightly protecting her vital areas.

Doojoon attacked her again with his fist, and Mai attempted to catch his wrist with the hook of her weapon, but blocked his arm with the long shaft instead. She stumbled backwards, the force of his strike pulsed through her arm, and she rolled her shoulders to ease the pain.

Doojoon suddenly froze, hands on his head. Mai took a cautionary step forward, and she was stunned to see his eyes clenched tight. Black eyes met hers when Doojoon came to, and he threw another fist in her direction, Mai sidestepped to the left, avoiding the fist, and she drove the stick hard against the back of his neck. Nothing happened, except for Doojoon flinging an arm behind him, hitting Mai on the stomach and casting her off to the side.

Using her weapon to hold her up, Mai stared helplessly at Doojoon. The only way she could stop him, was to mortally injure him, and that choice did not settle well at the pit of her stomach. Doojoon turned towards her again, and Mai braced herself for another round of fighting. She was certain there was a way for her to immobilize him without having to kill him, though it was looking bleak at the moment.

Mai dodged the punches that came her way, landing a kick or a strike every time Doojoon would pause. Her attacks had no effect on him, or if they did, Doojoon did not seem to perceive them at all. He swung his arm towards her, and Mai ducked, jabbing his chin with the bottom end of her jutte. Doojoon tottered for a moment before running back towards her, his kick coming in sideways and landing in her gut. Mai flew back into a wall. Her vision out, and she could only faintly hear his footsteps coming towards her. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw Doojoon in front of her, a large block of concrete overhead. Mai shrunk back into the wall, she willed herself to close her eyes, but they locked into Doojoon’s in morbid fascination. Was this the last thing she would ever see?

“Please...” Doojoon begged, “save me.”

…

Responsibility was one thing, but responsibility over another person was not something Wooyoung was willing to take. Especially not a rookie with a tendency to reprimand him. Mai was not something he needed right now. He was at least glad to know that the feeling was mutual between them. Filtering out her voice, Wooyoung scanned the building’s facade. As soon as they had arrived he knew that something had already gone about. He found his answer in the broken front doors and he immediately made his way to the entrance.

The guard had already been dead a few minutes, possible an hour, but Wooyoung had no way to confirm that now. Promptly, he stepped inside and his eyes swept the area- there were two staircases on either side of him, and the right one was open.

The head office was on the third floor, and Wooyoung went straight for the hallway that led to it. He turned the corner, and stopped. At the other end of the hallway, was someone Wooyoung never expected to see.

Nichkhun paused in front of him, and Wooyoung knew it was because he was just as surprised as he was. His legs refused to follow his commands to walk, and he stood there frozen. Countless thoughts filled his head as he stared into Nichkhun’s eyes. It was almost as if nothing had changed, though everything had. In his mind, Wooyoung wanted to run to him, grab him by the collar and shake Nichkhun until he was sure he wasn’t just imagining him. On the other hand, another part of him wanted to drive his sword right through Nichkhun’s heart to finally finish off what they had started almost two years ago.

Nichkhun took a slow steady step towards Wooyoung, and the latter slid a foot back, a hand twitching next to his belt.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise. How have you been Wooyoung? Or should I call you Inspector now?”

“It was you, wasn’t it. Killing all those people.”

Nichkhun’s brow quirked up as he spoke again. “Funny thing for you to say.” His eyes fell down to the katana on Wooyoung’s belt. “You’re not any better than I am.”

Wooyoung pushed off the ground and ran as fast as he could towards Nichkhun, drawing his sword as soon as he was within attacking distance. Nichkhun blocked him easily, stepping even closer so they were face to face.

“This isn’t practice Wooyoung, you could really hurt yourself.”

Wooyoung pushed back, the loud clanging of metal ringing solidly in his ears. Nichkhun wasn’t going to beat him with his psychological plays. He wasn’t the same Wooyoung as before. He sheathed his sword again and watched Nichkhun closely.

“Still with Iaido? I thought it bored you.”

Wooyoung ignored him, focusing instead on his breathing. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Nichkhun had his sword drawn and at his side; Wooyoung counted to three and attacked. Every strike, every block, every grating sound of metal on metal, Wooyoung poured his strength into his sword. Nichkhun was not going to win this time.

With a grunt from the back of his throat, Wooyoung raised his sword over his head and struck down. Nichkhun blocked him again, and the more he pressed down, the more Nichkhun pushed up. It was a standstill from there. Neither one of them was willing to back down. No one wanted to be the one to back out first. Wooyoung clenched his jaw tight and his grip on his sword tightened. Nichkhun showed nothing more but a mere smirk on his face.

Suddenly, everything was turned around when Nichkhun pulled back and sped past him and into the dark corridor behind him. Feeling betrayed, Wooyoung let out an angry growl as he followed after him.

“Hey mister!”

Nichkhun was nowhere to be found, however, Wooyoung did find something else, and that was in the form of Lee Kikwang, one of the missing students. Kikwang’s crescent eyes smiled at him, and Wooyoung rolled his eyes. He did not have time for this.

With his sword drawn and at his side, Wooyoung took sure and steady steps towards Kikwang and his sword right through him. Kikwang staggered for moment and Wooyoung stepped back, whipping his sword the the side to get rid of the blood.

“H-hey! That’s not fair!”

Wooyoung’s head snapped back up in disbelief towards Kikwang. Even after cutting right through him, he still had fight in him and Wooyoung didn’t even stop to consider how that was possible. Kikwang charged towards him and Wooyoung stepped back, his opponent’s fist mere centimeters away from his face. Now wasting any more time, Wooyoung sidestepped as Kikwang threw another punch, and sliced right through his neck, decapitating him.

Wooyoung hurried towards the direction Nichkhun left, there was only one more room left and that was the head office by the end of the hallway. He slowed his pace knowing there was no other exit, until he spied an armor vest on the floor. He picked it up and cursed under his breath, realizing who it belonged to. The last he remembered was that they were all meeting up at the fourth floor before he got rid of his own earpiece somewhere along the way. Weighing the options, he was more inclined to chase after Nichkhun instead, but even as obstinate as he was, responsibility came first.

He rushed up the stairs and into the construction site, where he found Mai in close combat with another one of those things. He walked over to her, just in time to see her thrown against the wall. Her enemy marched right towards her, picking up a slab of concrete along the way. He held the slab overhead, and Wooyoung thought he was already taking too much time. Mai could have killed him right then, as open as he was. A straight stab to the heart and it would all be over with. Yet Mai sat there frozen, and another curse left Wooyoung’s lips as he strode forward slashing the thing across the back and letting the concrete slab fall on top of its head.

Mai stared up at him, and he hurled the stab vest right at her face. “Next time you want to get killed, don’t do it when you’re supposed to be under my watch.”

~ ♕ ~

While Nichkhun knew that Wooyoung was now involved, he didn’t expect to see him so soon. He appeared different from when they last saw each other, but change was inevitable. He had to admit though, the younger one was getting better and stronger, and Nichkhun slightly struggled under Wooyoung’s hold. He would have loved to keep up with the standstill, but Nichkhun’s ears were perking up at the sound of voices in the room ahead of him- the main office where Park Yoochun was staying.

With a silent promise to continue their fight another day, Nichkhun pulled back and sprinted towards the main office. He kicked the door open and found Park Yoochun just about to leave.

“W-who are you!” Yoochun spluttered,  “Junhyung!” he yelled to his side, his arm flinging towards Nichkhun.

This Junhyung instantly came up front, and Nichkhun’s blade easily found his neck. Yoochun sunk down onto the floor, and crawled backwards, eyes glazed in fear. The murderous look on Nichkhun’s face could paralyze anyone, and he drew his sword high up in the air.