It was another lovely summer morning. With the faint yellow sun falling into the windows of Fourth Avenue, its inhabitants glowed with a touch of transient peace. Warm air gently blew through the open door bringing in the odd silence of the morning. There was no humming of car engines or buzzing of early morning people, no longer did the bitter and sweet scent of coffee and pastries fill the air. Nichkhun lifted his eyes from the white camellias he was working on and towards the flower shop he had called home for the last two years. Somehow, it was as if a sense of foreboding hung in the atmosphere. Peace was not something he was used to. He was afraid of peace.

Usual morning demeanors greeted him as one by one the shop clerks filled in their positions. Junsu sat half-asleep on the counter, idly drawing circles on the countertop. Chansung was muttering to himself about registration for the next school semester and how patrons had no sense of delicacy when ordering flowers for their loved ones; how no one knew what a flower meant anymore. Jinwoon was humming to himself as he sprayed a mist of water on their fresh batch of peonies.

It was as if bloody murder had not occurred the night before.

With three of the Fortuna generals taken down, a sense of morbid excitement surged through Nichkhun’s veins. Just one more and his mission was over. Just one more and he would have accomplished the one goal that had brought him into this madness. Just one more and he could dedicate the rest of his existence to June. His hands made thorough work on the arrangement he had been preparing. It was for today’s visit, and he was feeling oddly calm about seeing her- more than the usual.

A light rumbling on the staircase behind him distracted him for a moment, and down came the Main Office medics Jea and Miryo. They were exhausted as they walked into the shop from the back entrance, and immediately they reported to Jinwoon. Even from Nichkhun’s corner he could hear them.

“Miss Song is stabilized at the moment. We found nothing just yet, but we’ll have the lab results out as quickly as we could. For now we’ve managed to create a serum that would at least negate what effects we’ve been able to study. Dr. Aybarra’s research was very extensive, most of the formulas we’ve recovered from the Fortuna labs she already had a preliminary anti-serum. You need to convince Nichkhun to let us see her, we can try some tests, see if we can wake her up.”

Jinwoon shook his head. “That won’t be necessary, I’m sure our labs are more than capable even without Dr. Aybarra. How’s Rai doing?”

“She lives another day. She’s been beat up badly, but something tells me she’s been through worse. The officer should be awake in a few hours. Make sure you get as much information on him as you can. Interesting thing, those two are. Blood irises are hard to find in these parts.”

Blood irises. If Nichkhun understood this correctly, then there was something larger at work and it may have been connected to Rai. Raijin. A sadistic smile crept up his face and he was admittedly curious as to what had went down at the station. All he knew was that Chansung had brought back a beaten up Rai and with excess baggage in the form of Lee Junho.

Both of them bearing the mark of Fortuna.

Yet something had Nichkhun doubting they had anything to do with the main project. At least not Raijin, not when he had always known about her mark. After all, he and Raijin, they were after the same thing, only the girl didn’t realize it yet.

“What do you know about the officer?” he heard Jea ask.

Jinwoon sighed audibly. “He’s just like Rai. I’m not surprised they have the same roots. Chansung says the last time he came across the officer he had a feeling he recognized her. This might get a little complicated when loyalties are demanded of him.”

Nichkhun watched Jea and Miryo nod as they bid their leave. Nothing more was said about Victoria, and the blonde felt the slightest tinge of worry. Three products of Fortuna now lay a floor above them, and only one of them was a threat to Hell and to each other.

He noticed the change in Jinwoon’s demeanor, and when Chansung sniffed out that shift, Nichkhun strained his ears to listen. Chansung appeared just as worried, and when he kneeled down next to their intel Nichkhun knew it was serious.

“Jinwoon, when’s the next order? We’re so close.”

Jinwoon looked straight into the other’s eye. “Just one more, I know. The Azure Dragon, Seiryuu. Min says Jia and Fei will have everything finalized by tonight. Be ready.”

Tonight. Nichkhun couldn’t wait.

…

If one were to judge by sounds alone, then the constant sound of static, clicking buttons, and tacking keyboards would have had Fuu thinking she was still at the Computer labs at the precinct, but her head would never forget the fact that she no longer was. There she was now at the Weather Station serving as an officer directly under the head Jung Jihoon, also known as Rain.

He was exactly as Fuu remembered him to be. Seemingly stoic, and serious, always business like as he conducted their classes back at the Academy. However, Fuu knew differently, especially since he was now married to one of her closest friends, Amihan.

The news of their marriage came as a surprise, especially since Jung Jihoon had been everything that was a school girl crush to Amihan- one Fuu and the rest of their group made a point of poking fun at at every given opportunity. Even Wooyoung would oftentimes be the first to mention it.

Fuu sighed at the memory of Wooyoung. She missed him, the little boy who used to follow her and Ami around as they worked inside their respective computer labs in school. Wooyoung who was wide-eyed and curious about all the new technology. He changed too quickly for any of them to follow, and Fuu desperately wished she could bring that back.

It was the only thing she could do. It wasn’t as if she could bring Changmin back from the dead. She bit back the tears that were welling in her eyes. She couldn’t forget him and she couldn’t get over it. He was more than just her captain, he was her friend too, and the one man solely responsible for keeping Taecyeon, Jay, Seulong, and Nichkhun from being kicked out of the Academy.

Nichkhun.

Taecyeon.

She buried her head into her arms. Her life was falling apart.

“Are you alright?” she heard someone ask.

She peeked through a space in between her arms to see Amihan worriedly looking at her. She sighed again and shook her head. “I just haven’t had a hold of things just yet. A lot has happened, and a lot more is happening still. Remember Junho? I heard he’s Fortuna. Conny just sent me the reports. That and he’s escaped. Plus Mai’s disappeared, the other’s can’t contact her. I just don’t know what’s going on anymore. The worst part is that I’m here, when I just know I should be back there.”

Amihan laid a sympathetic hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “Everything happens for a reason. You being here now, know that there’s a reason for it even though we might not be aware of it. JYP transferred you here, you should trust him.”

Fuu couldn’t place the tone of her voice. Amihan spoke to her as if she was aware of something she wasn’t, and Fuu knotted her brows together as complications entangled themselves together in her mind. What reason could there possibly be? What did Amihan know that she was not telling?

“Anyway,” Amihan begun again, “G.O has the reports from the last briefing, Seungho and Nara are trying to make sense of the Black Tortoise film rolls, and Joon and Thunder are monitoring the precinct videos. If you need anything, Mir might be able to help you.”

Fuu smiled, though it was more melancholic than nostalgic. “It’s almost as if nothing’s changed.”

“Almost.”

Fuu dropped her head into her arms again as Amihan left a folder of papers on her desk and turned to leave. It was as if nothing had changed, yet everything had. They may have been the same group of people, but two years had changed everything- everyone. Fuu couldn’t even begin to fathom how and why.

Her hands found the files, and she straightened up as she read over the headings. It was the reports from the previous encounters with Hell, reports she was dreading to go over. She stood up from her seat- she didn’t want to do this alone, and made her way to Amihan’s office down the corridor. There was the Wahrheit episode to make sense of, as well as General Yang’s murder. There was just too much to handle.

Fuu knocked twice before opening the door. She slipped her head in, but immediately regretted not waiting for an answer. Director Jung was inside the office, making himself comfortable divested of his overcoat, and Fuu fell into a salute and a slurry of formal greetings.

Amihan’s laughter, followed by several more men- that was, G.O., Seungho, and Joon flustered her more than she meant to be.

“Nice of you to join us. Take a seat,” the Director said, walking over to Amihan’s desk and taking her seat.

Amihan sat on top of the table, and she motioned for Fuu to come in quickly. Scurrying into the room, Fuu felt as if she was invading something important, but she tried to brush it off. “Am I interrupting anything?”

G.O laughed. “No, of course not. Come in, we were about to call you anyway. It’s not good to be alone at times like these. How are you holding up?”

Fuu forced a smile on her face. “I’m keeping it together, thanks.” She turned to Amihan, but she was sharing a look with her husband, and the analyst knew there was something they were hiding.

“Was there anything you wanted to talk about?” Amihan finally asked, noticing the way Fuu was looking at her.

“Yeah, I just wanted to go over the reports with you. About...about Nichkhun. We all thought he was dead, and then he shows up, and then...well, I’m just confused.”

The atmosphere turned sober, and Jihoon, though sitting, commanded attention in the room. “Fuumi, there’s something you need to know.”

…

Jay’s lopsided smile was always the counterpart of Conny’s arched brow. He shrugged lightly as nodded at his partner. “Have a safe trip?”

Conny laughed. “Yeah, yeah. Your girlfriend’s good. Tell her she’ll be a good addition to our team.”

Jay shook his head. “She’s not my girlfriend, and I don’t really want her involved in our mess. Keep me updated with whatever you get from Daniel Henney. He’s in NeoBerlin right now with a woman known as Narsha Park. They may be more dangerous than we think. Be careful.”

“Always,” Conny smirked. For a split second she let her guard down and smiled genuinely at her partner. “You be careful. I have a feeling it’s more dangerous here than it is over there. Hell isn’t a force you want to take lightly.”

With that, Conny made her exit, leaving Jay alone inside the Schatten office. A folder of papers lay in his hands- their next assignment. He was dreading to give the news out to Taecyeon and Seulong. He couldn’t even bring himself to believe what he had just read, but it was what it was, and no amount of blinking would changed the text written in Lee Sooman’s hand.

Lee Sooman. As far as Jay knew it was the first direct order from the Chief, every other Schatten mission had been called by JYP. Something was nagging at the back of the detective-inspector’s mind, but he couldn’t quite put his finger at it.

His mind was too occupied by thoughts of Changmin, Nichkhun, and Wooyoung. Add Junho and the assassin escaping the night before, he was about ready to bang his head against the desk. How Changmin dealt with all this only elevated the captain to legendary status in Jay Park’s eyes.

Taecyeon and Seulong entered the room, and Jay squared his shoulders as he met each of their eyes. “Where’s Wooyoung and Mai?”

“They didn’t come in today. I think Mai is upset about Junho, plus with the...thing last night. She’s pretty worked up. And I don’t know where Wooyoung is,” Seulong answered hesitantly. He didn’t see Jay as an authority figure just yet, not when he considered the things they did back in school, but the shorter man was his still superior.

“We have a new assignment,” Jay started, his eyes following a silent and belligerent Taecyeon. “We’re going after the head of the Weather Station. Lt. Jung Jihoon.”

Both heads snapped towards him, both completely shocked at his announcement. Jay knew exactly how they felt- he was feeling it too. First they lose Changmin, and now they were about to take down the only other authority figure they respected with all their being.

“Look, I just got the order, and I don’t know. Let’s just take a good look at all this and investigate and-” Jay’s words were lost on even himself as Taecyeon stormed out of the room followed by Seulong.

Jay ran after them, but even he knew he wouldn’t be able to get through to them. He already knew where Taecyeon was headed, there was only one person he could think of that Taecyeon would want to see.

That was Fuu.

…

Nichkhun’s hand trembled as he took the folder from Kwon’s hands. Their next target. His next target. Excitement rushed through him- he was so close to completely crushing down Fortuna. His eyes met Jinwoon’s from across the room. All he was waiting for was the go signal. He was ready.

Kwon cleared his throat again and the attention of the room turned back to him. “Your target has been in the project since its early stages almost twenty years ago. Whatever information you can gain from him will be invaluable to us.”

“I’ve heard of him before. Renzaki Mamoru. He’s Seiryuu? Isn’t he some business mogul?” Chansung asked as he turned the pages in his file.

Kwon nodded. “Looks like he’s been dealing with other businesses. The missing children all trace back to him,” his voice stumbled the slightest bit, and he knew Jinwoon caught it as they shared a look. “Staunton wants you to retrieve all the children you can. Chansung, will you take care of it?”

The expression on the former thief’s face was grave as he replied wordlessly to Kwon’s request. His eyes moved over to Junsu who looked attentive for a change.

“Who’s backing him up?” Junsu asked.

“That’s what we’re hoping to find out,” Jinwoon chirped, wanting badly to lighten the atmosphere in the room. “Well, that would actually be your job Junsu. Since Rai’s-”

The backdoor slammed open, and in came Rai. She didn’t stumble or appear the slightest bit unwell. She strode in as if she hadn’t been beaten unconscious just the night before. “Count me in.”

If Jinwoon could stand up, he would have. “No, you can’t yet. You have to fully recover!”

Rai sent him a look and glanced over to Nichkhun. “He says I can go. I’m not going to stay here.”

Jinwoon sighed in defeat, but one look at her badly beaten up form and he was quick to make a compromise. “Fine, but you do not leave Chansung’s side. Or...the other way around,” he muttered.

“Well,” Kass started, “Since we’re all here, maybe we should add some confetti to celebrate.” Her comment was ignored, and she spoke again, “Well. You know, I actually have a suggestion.” That caught everyone’s attention. “Who is this Renzaki person anyway? I mean, We should target the Weather Station people. After all, I think they know something about us. I volunteer to go find them.”

Kwon shook his head. “Those are not your orders Kass.”

“Screw orders,” she scoffed. “I mean, instead of some wild goose chase, let’s go target people that might have something on us, like-”

“Why are you so insistent? It’s a bit random,” Junsu quipped, turning towards the redhead sitting behind

him.

Kass rolled her eyes. “It was just a suggestion, but if you don’t think its good, then, I guess not?” she shrugged.

Before the awkward air could spread, Nichkhun pushed himself off the wall and towards the exit. He passed by Rai and met her eyes. She looked determined, and he sent her a near imperceptible nod as he walked by her.

He didn’t need to look behind him as he heard footsteps following his lead.

And now some shameless advertising

Polaris