NeoSeoul, Δ-VI, 2000.

The Black Tortoise was a vast dome shaped as its namesake located by the river Han. It was a large hotel building that catered to many gatherings of the rich and famous; tonight it served as the location for a Fundraiser that benefited the pediatric ward at the general hospital. Several top physicians walked around the vast ballroom rubbing elbows with high-ranking politicians and Police and Army ranks. Men and women in formal attire filled the room, the men in their sharp suits and the women in their long flowy dresses; Mai couldn’t help but feel just a tad bit under-dressed in her combat uniform. Jay Park had called on them for another mission, as he had called it. How it was a mission to baby-sit all these officials was lost on Mai. She may have wanted to question Jay and his authority, but Changmin sanctioned the assignment after a private meeting with Jay and Conny. Why though, what was really going on?

With the program started all Mai could see on stage were nine girls performing some song. The master of the ceremonies called them Girls Generation, one of the main host’s newest endeavors. The businessman Kim Jaejoong was looking into entering the music industry, though his wife did not seem too happy. Mai smirked. She knew exactly why. Girls Generation were coined as the perfect girls, long perfect hair, long perfect legs, the perfect s-lines, Mai considered them a fighting hazard. Being that skinny was a surefire way to get beat up and/or dragged away way too easily. Hair was something to grab onto before landing a good number of punches, and s-lines with no subcutaneous tissue before the bone meant no means to defend themselves. Even with the number of bodyguards they had, NeoSeoul was not a safe place.

Her eyes scanned the area once more, one could never be too complacent. Changmin, Seulong, and Junho were all scattered across the hall as well, while Fuu was with Conny and other personnel inside the head of security’s main office. It was Fuu who was watching them all, and somehow, Mai couldn’t help but think that Fuu would have been better off with a more glamorous career. One that would highlight her attractiveness more.

Jay and Taecyeon were stationed on the far side of the hall, near the emergency exit. Both men surveyed the area behind an equipment desk, though their minds were more focused on their conversation, a conversation Mai was desperate to hear.

Wooyoung was nowhere to be seen, and Mai was disappointed in the senior officer. It was all hands on deck for this assignment, no exceptions. Just as she was about to turn the other direction, a flash of gold hair caught her eyes. It was her, the girl in the inspector’s office, and on her arm, was none other that Jang Wooyoung himself.

Mai’s jaw dropped to the ground seeing Wooyoung in a crisp white suit. He looked very sharp, less angry definitely. Next to him Maksim wore a champagne colored gown with long sleeves made with lace. She looked like a princess even with her hair simply clipped back, and Mai tasted the tangy tinge of blood on her tongue.

“Mai,” Junho said from behind her, a hand lightly touching her elbow, “are you okay?”

She pressed her lips into a tight line. “Shouldn’t you be at the other side of the hall?”

Junho sent her one of those self-deprecating smiles. “You looked worried,”

“I’m not,” she quickly answered, regretting immediately that she opened too soon.

Junho searched her eyes behind the rims of his glasses, Mai may have been looking at him straight in the eye, but he knew she was shielding herself from him. Deciding to no longer pry into what Mai already decided was not his business, Junho nodded in resignation though the worry never left his mind. His thoughts fell back to what their captain had warned them about earlier that day. Chances were high that they would be there, she would be there. Should they meet again on the combat field, would he need to fight her? Would he need to stabilize her? Would Wooyoung have no qualms about killing her should the two of them meet instead? Would Mai?

Abject worry crossed his features, and now it was Mai’s turn to be concerned about him. In a way she already knew what troubled him despite her telling him that even if he did know who that other assassin was it shouldn’t have to deter him from his responsibility. “She chose to be on that side Junho. I didn’t mention it to the captain or to anyone else because you can’t be too certain that she’s who you think she is, but it’s our responsibility to take her down. If you see her, you have to shoot her.”

Mai’s firm disposition only conflicted him more. He knew she was right, but he couldn’t just ignore what his insides were telling him. Gut instincts, according to Mai, had a greater probability of being wrong, but Junho had never agreed with her on that. Ever. He was certain that the assassin was in fact Ayame, but was he willing to renounce his duty as Schatteinheit to protect her instead?

Watching live feeds was never Jay Park’s forte. He preferred being on an actual field rather than a simulation of it. “Don’t you miss being out there?” he asked. “Why are you in Analysis now?”

Taecyeon did not miss the nostalgia in his friend’s voice. “I promised Eunhee I wouldn’t make her worry.”

“That’s lame. You were the one saving my out there all the time back then, don’t you miss it?”

Taecyeon did. He missed the thrill of battle more than he liked to admit, and this time, seeing Jay again, the other man’s return brought back memories of their field assignments together. They were partners, or at least they used to be. “I like where I am right now,” he said, forcing the words through his teeth. “I don’t think I’d be placed in Schatten if I stayed on the field.”

“Schatten, huh,” Jay muttered, crossing his arms behind his head and leaning back. “Working under the radar, outside jurisdiction, who gives out the assignments?”

“LSM, we think. We talk to JYP a whole lot more. Sometimes we think JYP’s the real boss around these parts.”

“Nah, that would by General Yang and his army of crayon-exosuits.”

Taecyeon agreed. “Those things are sick. I’ve heard rumors about the military experiments, but never anything like that.”

“What do you mean?” Jay asked, shifting from his more relaxed position to a more attentive one.

“Those exosuits are not easy to put on, and think about the sheer weight of that thing. Plus control, and power sourcing, then the training just to be able to walk in it. The power sources come from this earth ore they dug up at some undisclosed location, they say it harnesses unbelievable amounts of energy- I’m thinking this could have something to do with the war before, but we never know. Thing is, those ores are unstable, even if they did manage to create a more manageable core for the suits, it poses a threat to its user and the immediate environment. Controlling the suits involve neural taps, that’s why each suit is custom-made for each soldier. I heard a more generic suit was being processed, but those are lighter and less dangerous as Wahrheit’s.”

“Hold up, earth ore cores and neural taps?”

“Yeah, pretty dangerous stuff,” Taecyeon murmured in response. “Oh hey look!” He pushed the monitor towards Jay, “It’s your ex.”

Jay squinted to catch a better glimpse at the figure Taecyeon was pointing at. The other man’s finger was obscuring his view, but the voice on their speakers was easily recognizable, and the detective frowned. “Nara.”

Taecyeon grinned at the string of expletives that followed. “I told you you should have told her you were leaving. You still owe me for the the bruises I got when she realized all the answers she needed she could get from me.”

“What bruises? Stop exaggerating.”

“She came at me with a boom mic, have you ever been hit by a boom mic?!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jay waved a hand to dismiss the issue, “she’s still dragging Chance, Peter, and Youngsky everywhere. How does anyone stand her?!”

Taecyeon rolled his eyes. “You dated her, you should know.”

Jay snorted. “Yeah right, that was never anything serious, she knew that. Why is she even here?”

“Probably covering the whole event. It’s still the same team, her and those three, though this time she managed to drag Ian with her and make it an official thing.”

“Her brother?”

“Ex-step-brother. Their parents divorced and since neither parent adopted the other, they’re no longer related.”

“How do you even know these things?”

“Fuu keeps track of everybody, I swear she’s worse than Ami, and Ami’s in the Weather Station. Speaking of Ami, she’s married, and guess who the unlucky guy is.”

Jay’s eyes widened as he digested the barrage of information Taecyeon was giving him. As promised, tonight, albeit mission night, was also a night to catch up to everything that Jay had missed out on since leaving. “So Fuu’s still a stalker, and Ami the bigger stalker, and then Nara the even bigger stalker, dude we’re surrounded by stalkers. Did G.O finally get the balls to confess?”

Taecyeon shook his head. “Guess whose dreams came true.”

The other man’s jaw dropped to the floor. “She did not marry Professor Jung, did she? Dude, that’s gross.”

The taller man merely shrugged as his eyes scanned the monitors again. “A lot of stuff happened while you were away.” His voice took a sober tone as Wooyoung walked past one of their security feeds.

Jay didn’t fail to notice the inspector either, and his earlier expression of glee and nostalgia faded into a humorless look. “I still don’t think Wooyoung’s capable of killing Khun, something else must have happened.”

The sudden turn of the conversation did not surprise Taecyeon, if anything, he had been anticipating it. “I was on call in the emergency room when they called it in. June’s death just before her graduation, Wooyoung arriving a few hours later, then you leaving, it wasn’t the best year for any of us. A few weeks later Khun and Wooyoung were both assigned to the same unit, at first we thought if Wooyoung’s with  Khun, he could somehow recover, but things only got worse, then one night Wooyoung comes back to ground zero alone. No one knows what happened, but Wooyoung reported Khun dead in the line of duty. His body was never found so an official statement was never released. There hasn’t been news on Khun, and Wooyoung’s never been the same since.”

“And people are saying Wooyoung somehow killed Khun? I don’t see that, or even if it did, why would Wooyoung kill him? What could Khun have done for Wooyoung to even want to do that?”

“I think the question is how exactly did Wooyoung manage to beat Khun. He’s never beaten him before, none of us have, not by sword or by fist.”

Jay found himself shaking his head not wanting to believe anything he had just heard. For the past two years he had been denying It ever happened, but right now everything seemed to point to the same thing. Nothing was the same anymore, and Jay couldn’t help but think that all the changes stemmed from one thing.

…

While stealth was one of his strong suits, Nichkhun believed that blending in in a crowd was an entirely different matter. Once or twice he heavily considered the option of dying his all too conspicuous hair into a more common, less noticeable shade, but a touch of sentimentality had always kept him from doing so. June never said it out loud, but he knew she loved his hair, as vain and superficial as it might sound. Oftentimes he would catch her staring at it, and every time he would ask she would strongly deny the accusations as if the mere thought of it revolted her so.

And then there was Kass, and a few more others of the general population who took to dying their hair instead into any shade imaginable, it the sea of multicolored hair, Nichkhun was nearly invisible. Which was too much to ask for from their new Bauer. Next to him, Kass sashayed down the ballroom in her revealing red dress. A few paces behind them, was Junsu.

All they needed to do tonight was to corner the businessmen, find the doctors, and take down anyone else that was involved. It was set out to be a long night, but this was their best opportunity to gather all their targets in one location. Park Yoochun, Kim Junsu, and Kim Jaejoong, plus the scientist Bulatov. Already, Nichkhun’s fist shook in anticipation, his excitement rivalling Rai’s.

“The program should end soon. Junsu, try to isolate Dr. Bulatov and get his files, Nichkhun and Kass can handle the backers, while Rai and Chansung take on what bodyguards they may have.”

“You don’t have to keep repeating yourself Jinwoon,” Rai’s voice came off the earpieces impatient as always. “You’ve already told us one thousand times.”

“Nice to see you’ve recovered nicely girly,” Kass said, looking out to the far ends of the hall where the shadows fell. She didn’t know where Rai was, but anywhere with a lack of light was always a good guess. The shinobi, though Kass would never admit, left her anxious. Not seeing where her enemy would come from was unnerving, and Kass was sure Rai was still thirsting to kill her just because.

With the program coming to a close, Hell had to move quickly to reach their targets on time. Nichkhun’s eyes roamed the large hall, his gaze landed squarely on the three men sitting together on one of the central tables: Park Yoochun, Kim Junsu, and Kim Jaejoong. According to Kwon, they all had several connections to high ranking officers and government officials. Not only were they involved in the black market underground, they also held control several syndicates- this was not what drove Nichkhun. Only one thing motivated him to kill, and that was Fortuna. He did not care for anything else but bringing the project down. He was convinced it had to do with June’s near death, she was telling him the same thing through the clues she had left though Nichkhun still had nothing concrete as of yet. It didn’t matter. Soon, he told himself. Soon everything would fall into order, but for now, blood needed to be shed.

Nichkhun moved to walk closer towards them, but he immediately stopped hearing his name being called. He turned around to see Kim Chae-eun, a daughter of one of their suppliers at Fourth Avenue.

“Nichkhun, I’m surprised to see you here,” Chae-eun turned to Kass who stood next to him, “I would have thought you’d take Victoria as a date.”

Nichkhun shook his head, but before he could respond, Kass spoke, “No, I’m not his date, I’m actually Junsu’s date.”

The other girl nodded thoughtfully. She smoothed down the fabric of her hanbok. “I see. Though I didn’t see you as the party type of person. You should have taken Victoria, I’m sure she would have looked lovely tonight.”

“Do you want me to kill her for you? She’s about to blow our cover anyway,” Rai said through the earbuds.

“We can’t just kill her, Rai. Just let her leave in peace,” Chansung answered, and Jinwoon immediately concurred.

Nichkhun sighed inwardly. Kass was smiling, almost as if she were agreeing to Rai’s suggestion. He didn’t care. All he knew was that Kim Chae-eun was an interference. One taken care of in time as her attendants soon arrived to state her leave. It had been short, but time wasted could never be regained.

Guests began to thin out, and as the guards ushered the others away, Nichkhun continued forward where his three targets sat. They were about to leave, their bodyguards and attendants already surrounding them as they left the hall. Nichkhun remained close as he furtively followed behind them.

Chansung and Rai moved to anticipate the three Fortuna heads at the basement parking lot. Their vehicles were easy to spot, as were several of their armed bodyguards. Rai took care of them easily, blending into the shadows and pouncing on them from behind. Now all she and Chansung had to do was wait for Nichkhun and Kass to arrive. Fortuna would soon crumble under their wrath.

Junsu was already in position. He had been since Dr. Bulatov made his early leave. What Junsu worried about was the presence of the doctor’s daughter. She was a pretty girl, Junsu didn’t want to have to deal with her while he killed her father. Perhaps afterwards, for sure the girl would need some comforting.

Wooyoung’s eyes scanned what remained of the benefit hall. Waiters and various other staff rushed around tidying the place up. Only the Asst. Chief Park Jinyoung remained to oversee the security unit from NeoSeoul PD. The Chief and the General had left an hour ago, together, deep in discussion. The female half of Wahrheit remained as a security measure for the high ranking guests, but the night had ended with no incident. At least not yet. It had been a large banquet, and Wooyoung had difficulty trying to find what he had been targeting all along. He was certain they would be here. That group. He had no doubt about it at all.

Bulatov was in the area. The inspector was sure that any link to Fortuna Nichkhun would grab at. The question was how and when.

A flash of platinum blonde hair caught Wooyoung’s attention, though it was not in the direction he had expected. Instead of towards the hotel rooms in the upper levels, Nichkhun had strode towards the basement parking.

Wooyoung followed immediately.

Taecyeon and Jay could not believe their eyes. Was it really Nichkhun they saw? With their equipment forgotten, both men bolted right after Wooyoung. Explanations, a good number of which were of great demand.