Park Jinyoung expected a riot and stunned silence, and true enough he got both. The only people who didn’t seem as perturbed were Nichkhun and Wooyoung, but that he expected as well. Mai was on her knees, hand clasped tightly on as if another betrayal had been revealed to her. Taecyeon had his fist against the wall and Seulong trying to stop him. Junsu was looking lost, and Chansung was trying to bring life into Jinwoon.

If Rai and Junho were there it would have been a pleasant reunion.

“Settle down,” JYP was tempted to add the world children but he knew that wouldn’t sit well with this group. “I’m sure you all have questions, and allow me to explain everything from the beginning.”

He eyed each of them steadily before starting. It wasn’t only Hell and Schatten that needed to calm down, he himself needed to steel his nerves. “I’m sure you’re all asking how I am affiliated to both groups, and to answer that, let me begin with the Main Office and Umbra.

“Umbra has been around for generations and across the world, and what it does, is what you’ve seen Hell do. What you may not know is its deep roots with the authorities and it’s long role in taking down corrupt officials and everyone else who tries to escape the law. Traditionally, it’s the Chief who has control over Umbra’s team, but as you see now, LSM was deemed unfit for the role, and as a former member of Umbra’s Lucis, the responsibility was given to me. LSM knew nothing about Hell, and when he formed Schatten all of a sudden, that was when things became complicated.”

“Schatten was formed to go after Hell, and Hell was never even supposed to be found out? SM used us to go after his targets- or at least-”

JYP cut Taecyeon’s statement with a flash of his hand. “Seems you’re aware of LSM’s intentions. True, Schatten was formed under the guise of targeting Hell, but because everything went through me- he meant for everything to go through me to shift the center of command, and in effect the blame to me, his personal enemies couldn’t be traced back to him. Personal enemies that turned out to be major players in Project Fortuna.”

“What exactly is Fortuna? And how is everyone dead involved?” Taecyeon asked.

JYP’s gaze extended across the room again. “Twenty years ago Dr. Hu, Dr. Renzaki, and Dr. Bulatov started on a new project centered on stem cell research and extending the human lifespan. I’m sure at this point you can see the many points where this went wrong. At this time the exosuit project was only in it’s earliest stages, and that was when General Yang and Lee Sooman first came into contact with each other. Fortuna was then established to link the two researches together to create an army. For the war or for personal gain, it didn’t matter to them. The targets, the ones you have seen Hell take out, are all involved one way or another. Most were patrons, others suppliers. People LSM needed out because they would be in the way of his rise to power. Wahrheit was caught in the crossfires, they were nothing more but test dummies for the latest exosuits for the latest batch of modified humans.”

“You don’t need a secret underground organization for that.” Taecyeon looked around the room and at the members of Hell. “You could have done the same thing if you just formed something like Schatten to go after Fortuna. Something legal.”

Jinwoon raised his hand. “I’m sure you’re very subtly trying to incorporate the difference between your group and mine. Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps what we are and what we stand for is necessary? As ideal as it would be to chase after these people under the law and safely behind a badge, these aren’t normal people.”

“Your ends won’t justify your means.” Mai muttered. “What you do is still wrong, even if you did target several other people we couldn’t pin down, it doesn’t justify what you do.”

Jinwoon nodded fully understanding what Mai said. “We’re not under the impression that what we do is right under your law. We know very well that hell will judge us. But what we are is a necessary evil. We take down people the law cannot, most of the time we cut them down.”

“It’s not as if we don’t believe that the good is running out,” Chansung added. “Evil is just never-ending.”

While Taecyeon saw the validity in the point Jinwoon and Chansung made, he couldn’t help but think about their personal motives. “Is that why you’re with them, Nichkhun? Because you didn’t think the law could help you?”

Nichkhun smirked in reply, but said nothing more.

“Is that why you’re all in Hell?” Taecyeon asked again, looking at each of the other group’s members in the eye.

“Let’s just say we all received an invitation.” Junsu answered. “So now we know about Fortuna, not that we haven’t figured out as much, why are we all here? Besides them being wanted and all.”

A slightly amused expression graced JYP’s face. “Because it’s about time you worked together. You are after the same goal now.”

A scoff rang behind the room, and everyone turned to Kass. “That’s saying we don’t kill each other first. Look, this is all good and everything, but so what? So what with Fortuna? What about the Weather Station? They could know something about us.”

“Of course they would, Jung Jihoon was our former Rook.”

“What’s a rook?” Seulong slapped his hand over his mouth when he realized it might not have been the proper question.

“Our mid-range scout.” Kwon answered, “A pawn, exactly as it says, a pawn, our gambit, someone to go undercover, that would be Kass. Junsu is our bishop, long range support and field intel. Rai is our rook, and Chansung is our knight, short-range scout. Nichkhun is our queen,” he glanced at the blonde before finishing his sentence, “quite possibly our most important member after our King, Dr. Aybarra.”

“They didn’t need to know that,” Suzy muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Bet you they’d ask anyway. Might as well have Kwon tell them everything they might need to know.” Min answered.

“How is June involved in all this?” Taecyeon was not nearly done with all his questions, he had so much more that needed answering.

“Dr. Aybarra was recruited into the Fortuna’s large scale project by Dr. Bulatov, by that time she was already under our radar as Jihoon recommended. That was our first concrete link to Fortuna, the more she knew, the more she got involved, the easier it became for us to infiltrate their center of control.”

Taecyeon looked incredulously at JYP, “She was killed because of that. SM found out about her, didn’t he, is that why she’s...she’s-”

JYP’s expression was somber, “Regrettably, it may have been the case, but Dr. Aybarra survived the attack.” He briefly glanced at Nichkhun before speaking again, “and she’s recovering swiftly. Her contributions have been invaluable to us.”

“And now we’re at the final step, just one more to go and Fortuna falls down.” Kwon stated. “Dr. Renzaki was the last on our list, and we know that LSM is Seiryuu’s center of command, we just need to find him and everything should be put to rest.”

JYP nodded slowly, “Seiryuu is the last in Dr. Aybarra’s notes, but tread carefully. Are there any more questions?” When he was greeted with silence, he nodded one last time and made his leave, Miss A and Kwon trailing behind him.

Jinwoon hurried after them as much as he could, leaving Junsu and Chansung to deal with settling Schatten into their would be quarters. While Jinwoon knew the task was better suited for him to do, if only for damage control there was something he was desperate to find out.

“Wait,” he called out, wheeling himself with difficulty in the narrow tunnel behind the backroom’s backdoor.

The group in front of him stopped and turned to him, and the analyst was suddenly uneasy. “I, I have a question, but if I may ask it in private?”

He was ushered further into the tunnel and into a clearing. Upon JYP’s instructions, Miss A and Kwon left them alone. Jinwoon was queasy, he didn’t know if he could even begin to ask all his questions. “I know about Rai, and...and me.” he stammered.

JYP sighed. “I’m not surprised. Are you disappointed?”

Jinwoon couldn’t dare look up and meet his own father’s eyes. “No, it explains why I’m here. Or at least, why you found me. Why you let me stay even though I’ve become useless.”

A gentle rumble of laughter emanated from the older man’s chest. “You were never useless. Your role may have changed since the accident, but you were never useless Jinwoon. I don’t expect for forgiveness-”

“It’s not what I’m going to talk about. I want to know about Rai. She’s your daughter, isn’t she?”

“Renzaki was a friend. Meeting his wife was a mistake.”

“And when he found out, he had her kidnapped? And...Lucis, you said you were part of Lucis.”

“Yes, we went to find them, it was the first of Fortuna’s attempts, and when Ai survived, I sent her and Junho to the orphanage. I didn’t now she would become shinobi. That happened beyond my control.”

“But you found her,”

“Only because Nichkhun found her first.”

“And you found Nichkhun because of June.”

“I found everyone the same way Jinwoon. When General Yang ran over your foster parents because they refused to cooperate with the exosuit research, I scouted you out. It was the same for Junsu when the other Kim Junsu framed him. It’s the same for Miss A, and for Kwon, and everyone you’ve come to know from the Main Office. Everyone has a grudge. Revenge has a catharsis factor of 10 out of 10. You would know.”

Jinwoon did know, he understood fully. Did he feel used? No, in fact he was certain he was speaking for the others as well when he said he felt empowered by it. “Is it the same for you? Because of what they did to Rai?”

JYP smiled, but it was more melancholic. “At first. But now it isn’t just me. At this point all I am is another chess piece being moved around by Mr. Henney, wherever he may be.”

“Sir.”

“Yes, Jinwoon?”

“We are a necessary evil, right?”

“Yes we are.”