Inspector Jang Wooyoung’s apartment was simple as the word simple went. Walls were painted white, floorboards were plain and wooden as they had been originally built, his furniture consisted of two drawers, a bed, a radio, and a low bookshelf next to the work desk where he now sat. He tapped his pen thoughtfully as the connections drew imaginary lines in his head. Everything made sense in this light, everything he knew and even the things he didn’t know were starting to come full circle.

He was right. Try as Wooyoung may have, to deny that fact, it was indisputable now. Wooyoung may have been wrong at one point, but it was only half the battle. Nichkhun was still mistaken about the other half of that whole, and a smirk played on the young inspector’s lips.

His phone rumbled on the wooden table and he picked it up without hurry. Only one other person would call him, and that was Amihan Cruz.

“Woodong, I found something interesting. I’m sure you’d want to hear this.”

Wooyoung hummed a reply. In the span of the days he had been calling Amihan, she had found it in her to refer to him using his old nickname. Wooyoung didn’t mind- so long as no one else knew of it. Amihan held a special place for him. A place only a very select few people were allowed in.

“Guess who LSM wants taken down.” A pregnant pause. “The Weather Station. Jihoon, me, and MBLAQ. I just received the wire a few minutes ago. I think he’s sending Schatten after us.”

“Very interesting.” Wooyoung tapped his pen absentmindedly on the sheet he had been writing on. “You’ll be fine. I doubt Jay, Taecyeon, and Seulong will be able to do anything to you, especially since Fuu is under your unit. Lee Sooman is a stupid man, but whoever is manipulating him is not. Be careful Ami.”

There was silence on the other end, and Wooyoung’s brows creased the slightest. “What is it?” he asked.

“You called me Ami.”

“That’s your name.”

She laughed. “It is. Anyway, I’m still trying to figure out that last thing you asked me to. Are you certain-”

“I’m positive.”

“Alright. I’ll send you an update as soon as I can. I’ll block the feed wherever you check into, but be careful.”

He closed the call and gently laid his phone back on his desk. He had one day to figure out the rest of the story. One day, and the rest that would follow he would no longer have the shield on his side. He allowed a surreptitious glance towards his bed. Mai lay unconscious on her side- she had been most uncooperative the night before and all his efforts to have her go home were left in vain the moment she had gone off into another one of those delusional moments wherein she challenged him into a one-on-one match.

He would have said yes had she been in a normal state of mind. Perhaps if she were, he would have made more comment on her bad form. She might have even pulled some kind of fight- as she was, Wooyoung needed one strike and she fell unconscious, hence her presence on his bed. He fully turned towards her when she finally stirred.

Her head was fuzzy. Mai was certain she was not inebriated, however, a sharp pain was digging at the base of her skull, and the last time she felt that way was when Junho finally managed to garner a point against her as they sparred. She never knew the extent of Junho’s strength as he was never one to show it, but that day earned him her respect.

Only right now that silent strength she attributed to the fact that he was a monster.

She felt betrayed, and used. Suddenly everything that they had been through seemed like such a lie. It felt like being literally stabbed in the back and Mai could not begin to think of the ways she wanted to hurt Junho for that. He was the one person she had thought she could depend on for all her losses and the defeat from Hell, but she found herself gravely mistaken.

She knew she should have realized it sooner when Junho recognized Rai as Ayame. Was that some kind of codename between them? Had this Ayame been the mole for the other organization? After all, Hell appeared to be after Fortuna as well. Was this all a ploy? Was this all some conspiracy against every major organization in the state?

She clutched at her nape as she forced her eyes open. She was thirsty, and when she laid her bare feet on the ground, the cold woodboards shot panic up her spine.

Her floor was warm and carpeted.

Frantic, she searched her surroundings, and when her eyes landed on one Jang Wooyoung, a scowl was the only thing her face could form. “What happened?”

Wooyoung smirked but made no move from his seat. “After trying to kill Junho and the assassin, who have escaped by the way, you tried to kill me. All attempts failed.”

She sailed across the room in a rage and her hands found the inspector’s white shirt. “What did you say?!”

“I said Junho and the assassin escaped, and that your form is bad,” he said, prying her hands off of him.

Mai raised an arm to strike, but Wooyoung was faster. His hand shot up from his sides and grabbed Mai’s wrist, twisting it behind her until she was immobilized against the table. “I told you, your form is bad.”

Mai struggled under Wooyoung, and she groaned out loud in frustration. “Inspector! This is assualt.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes and released her. “Junho’s apartment, you know where it is, right?”

Disoriented, Mai rubbed her wrists, more because of the feel of the inspector’s hand on her skin, than of what pain she had expected though there was none. “Yeah, I know where it is,” she muttered, refusing to meet his gaze.

“Take me there.”

Her head snapped up at the request. “What for? If he’s escaped, then he won’t be there.”

“That’s exactly what I’m hoping.”

She didn’t understand, and with all the thoughts swimming in her mind all she could do was nod dumbly in response. Mai had no idea what Wooyoung wanted, but better to move on than fixate on the last few minutes of her life. She would only try to compartmentalize and fail. What did the inspector expect to gain in Junho’s apartment? She had been there numerous times and nothing was out of order- of course she really hadn’t been looking. Still, why would Wooyoung be so interested in the first place?

It was a silent trip, and up until Junho’s front door, Wooyoung had not spoken a word to her. Mai slipped her hand underneath the cactus guarding Junho’s door and pulled out the spare key. It almost felt like time slowed down from the moment she held the key in her hands up to the point she turned the lock. She pushed the door open and was the first to enter. Everything had been as it were the last time she visited. Not a thing was out of place. Junho’s well-made bed, the carefully stacked papers, his neat work desk, and his alphabetically arranged bookshelf, everything was the same.

Wooyoung strode to the desk immediately. There should be something there that would help his research.

“What’s going on? What are you even looking for?” Mai asked.

“Something,” he muttered. Honestly, Wooyoung had no idea what he was searching for, but he knew enough to know that Junho had been looking into a part of Fortuna as well. His frequent visits to the archives and to Fuu’s lab was clue enough. Junho was looking for something, and that something was of utmost importance if they wanted to uncover Fortuna completely.

Wooyoung picked up an old and tattered folder. It was dated almost eighteen years ago, a cold case for a kidnapping ring. He shuffled through the photos, not the least surprised to see the Azure Dragon theme. He handed a list to Mai and asked her to read through the names of the missing children.

Mai frowned as she read through the three children unaccounted for, the children never found. “Yanagi Kotaro, Renzaki Ai, and...a Lee...” her face scrunched up, “the given name’s scribbled out.”

“Renzaki Ai.” The last name sparked recognition in Wooyoung’s mind. He knew that last name, it had been in the list. It was rather ironic. “What name did Junho use again? For that assassin.”

Mai’s brows furrowed. “Ayame. Why?”

“It’s rather quaint.”

“What is?”

“Ayame, Juno, they’re other names for Irises in other parts of the world.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Ayame and Junho, I think they may be the missing children from this experiment. During the night of this raid, there were two children missing from the pile of dead kids that couldn’t handle the transformations. They survived, made it to adulthood, having nothing to do with Fortuna. Every one of the people involved in that night had been found dead. Junho isn’t Fortuna, and neither is Ayame, they’re after them. And our Next target is Renzaki Mamoru, not Rain.”

With no further explanation, Wooyoung his heel and walked out into the streets of NeoSeoul. Mai couldn’t follow his train of thought, not when he had cleared Junho’s name just like that. She felt sick in her stomach. Nauseated as she remembered the blood stained on her hands. constricted tightly, and her knees gave way.

Not hearing Mai’s protests from behind him, Wooyoung turned back to see the other officer sitting on the pavement. He went back for her, and he stood in front of her as she tried hard not to throw up. “A man who knows the meaning of a flower is incapable of doing harm. Remember that. Junho is your partner, you should have trusted him, at least defended him from Jay, who’s always been an idiot.”

“Why,” she breathed quietly as she forced herself up. “Why do you care so much?”

“I don’t. This was for my own gain, my own questions that needed understanding. That, and you remind me of someone I know, and if you continued down that path you would have turned into that person. Someone like you who believes in the inherent good in everybody should stay that way. There is no need for your hands to be tainted with death.”

Mai met his eyes for the first time that day. His right eye was still obscured from her view by his hair, but staring into one eye was not enough. There was more to Jang Wooyoung than she had thought, but whether it was a good thing or a bad thing she couldn’t quite decide yet. At that moment, he was the only thing concrete in her life, the only thing she knew she could hold on to after she had lost so many people. Her hand had a mind of its own as it slowly made its way to his face, and gingerly her fingers brushed away the fringe on his face perpetually covering his eye.

A small gasp escaped her lips. What Wooyoung hid under his hair, was an ugly scar that ran tangent to his brow and grazed the side of his eye.

He didn’t flinch at all under her touch, but a slight tremor from Wooyoung’s pocket alerted another incoming message. One he had been waiting for the whole day. Ami’s message was clear as day and a renewed vigor coursed through him. He was another step closer to the end of the maze.

“A man who knows the meaning of a flower is incapable of doing harm. Doesn’t sound like something you would say.”

A faint smile found his lips as Wooyoung smirked. “I heard it from someone.” The expression on his face was dramatically different from just seconds before. He looked nostalgic, almost normal.

“Who?”

“Someone important. I have somewhere I need to be. Are you coming with me?”

Mai made the decision even before he asked it.

…

Fuu crossed her arms on her chest as what now remained of Schatten crowded her in the office Amihan lent had them. All three men were restless, anxious, none of them were making sense, but that was normal. “So what are you going to do about it?”

“That’s why we’re asking you,” Taecyeon replied. “You’re the one who works here. Maybe there’s something you’ve noticed?”

Fuu rolled her eyes. Her thoughts brought her back to what Amihan and Jihoon had revealed to her just moments before. What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to even say it? It was beyond her- beyond her understanding, beyond her comprehension, beyond her completely. This was not something she would have ever imagined being up against. “Who did you say gave the order?”

“LSM.”

She sighed. “That only reinforces everything.”

“Reinforces what?” Seulong asked. Something was happening, he knew as much. What he didn’t know was whether or not he wanted to be involved.

Fuu looked around her, suddenly aware of her surroundings. She didn’t know if she was at liberty to say, but doing so would be protecting so many people. She lowered her voice to just barely above a whisper. “LSM’s dirty. All our previous missions, he had evidence incriminating all those people who just happened to be his enemies.”

Jay didn’t want to believe it. “How do you know?”

“The Weather Station, they know things. Why do you think LSM wants the director killed?”

Jay didn’t want to buy it. “What if it’s the other way around? What if the Weather Station’s been extorting-”

“Would Rain do that?” Fuu challenged Jay’s statement with no hesitation. She believed in Amihan, and she believed in Jung Jihoon.

“You don’t know that he won’t. Besides, all your targets so far had been involved with the Fortuna project, that’s not something you can say is a bad thing. Even if the Fortuna generals are LSM’s enemies, technically speaking, Fortuna is the enemy. It’s a target for all of us. The only indication you have for saying LSM wants his enemies killed is because he’s issued a warrant for Rain.”

“I believe her,” Taecyeon stated. “If Fuu believes them, I will too.”

Seulong easily seconded Taecyeon’s statement leaving Jay at a standstill. “Fine, let’s say Rain’s clean, does that mean LSM knows he knows? And Schatten was never formed to chase after this Fortuna, we were after Hell all along, remember Jay, you brought Fortuna up. It could be a coincidence. You said so yourself, what we need to know is how Hell knows our activities, but that’s answered now. Junho and that assassin.”

“It’s likely that the chief knows that Rain knows,” Fuu concluded. “And yes, I don’t know about Hell and where they came from, but Nichkhun’s a part of them, and the only reason I can think of is that Nichkhun is after Fortuna too, but why? He’s not the type to be a hired assassin. Nichkhun’s not like that.”

“We need Wooyoung for this,” Seulong breathed. “Wooyoung and Changmin. Man I wish Nichkhun hadn’t gone crazy. What are we even going to do about him?”

“We need to find Wooyoung first.” Jay turned to Fuu, “Can you trace him?”

She shook her head. “Not Wooyoung, apparently he’s been in close contact with Ami and that has him off radar.”

Jay wouldn’t believe it. “What? Since when? And why?”

Fuu shook her head again. “It just is. She just told me a while ago. I haven’t even had proper time to digest all this yet. All I know is that Schatten’s been LSM’s pawns to get rid of his enemies, and that Changmin may have known that, or might have had an inkling. I don’t know.”

“Our only links both escaped,” Taecyeon added. “This is getting much more complicated. One, if LSM’s been using us, then he’s killing off Fortuna, that’s not a bad thing? Also, we can’t assume that Hell knows all our activities because of Junho and that assassin, even if they did escape together. What are we going to do? We can’t kill Rain, and when LSM finds out-”

Jay was pensive. “We’re dead, I know. There’s another thing I need you guys to know. I’ve been talking to Nara, and I asked her for a favor. I asked her to find someone for me.”

“Nichkhun?” Seulong asked.

“No,” Jay paused. “June. Apparently, she’s still alive. In a coma, but alive. People we thought were dead are actually alive. Nichkhun and June. I know they’re involved in this somehow. June and I were working on something before she was attacked. She told me there was something she wanted me to work on but we never got to talk about it. I have a feeling Nichkhun knows what it is and is working on it now. That means June had been working on Fortuna since two years ago.”

None of them knew what else to think. Fuu’s hand was glued to to shut off the gasp that was threatening to escape her lips. Taecyeon and Seulong wore similar shocked faces.

“We just need to know what happened to Wooyoung and Nichkhun that night Khun disappeared. If he took June with him, and she might have something to do with all this as well.”

“June’s killer- attacker was never found either,” Taecyeon added. “I don’t know how she lived, I was there when we called it in, but...”

Seulong massaged his temples with both his hands. “Someone needs to write this down. So Junho is Fortuna, Ami and Rain know a lot of things, people we thought were dead are actually still alive, we’ve been used these past few missions, and now we’re being used one last time to get rid of another one of the chief’s enemies. Anything else I’m missing?”

“Nichkhun. I have a feeling Nichkhun is doing something about it too, that could be the reason why Hell’s been everywhere we were, and there’s only one reason for him to do that. What would June have to do with all this? And what do we do about Fortuna?” Taecyeon asked, “We can’t just let it go. It’s out there, it’s going to wreak havoc, and we can’t just sit here. ”

“There’s JYP,” Jay said with finality in his voice. “We still have JYP.”