The basement wasn’t dark as Taecyeon and Seulong had expected. It was a far cry from a wet and damp prison- in fact, it was more comfortable than their own apartments and while neither men could grasp their heads around the reception they had been receiving, they made no complaints. In the two days they had been with Hell, there had been no effort from their side to make peace. They didn’t trust Hell, plain and simple. Taecyeon and Seulong both refused to acknowledge them and their cause, and nothing would change their minds. Not the way Wooyoung had so easily switched alliances, or the way Chansung and Jinwoon had so eloquently defended their case. Mai remained the force to be reckoned as she was relentless in her pursuit of the truth and answers. Regardless of JYP’s support, Schatten, or at least what remained of them, stayed where they were.

“What are you working on?” Taecyeon asked, peering over his newspaper and to Seulong hunched on his corner of the room.

Seulong stood over a small black box on the worktable provided and didn’t even look up to his friend as he answered. “What does it look like? X.3.2. After this maybe I’ll design a smaller attachable explosive and have it detonate on impact.”

“Like a...a...those ninja grenade things you were telling me about?”

“Yep, maybe we can get Mai to attack someone to give it a test-run.”

“You wish. You know she has a strict no-kill policy.”

“Her and Junho, yeah, but see where Junho’s gone now. You really think he’ll be back? I doubt that.”

Taecyeon shrugged. “Who knows. Bet he’s halfway across the borders now.”

“But damn, all this happening. It’s still unreal. What are we gonna do?”

“Hope Jay does something? He should be talking to Fuu now- and you know I think JYP moved Fuu just in time. See, she’s suddenly out of Schatten just before we got thrown under the bus like that. Jay wasn’t in the announcement either.”

Seulong sighed. “And then what? You think because we’re under JYP we don’t get arrested the moment we get out of here?”

“Who knows. He didn’t give us an order to do anything, and I’ll still refuse. I’d rather get locked up than go with those people.”

“But they have a point though, if SM is really behind this all, then we can’t do anything about it. That’s kinda why we’re in this hole right now.”

Taecyeon couldn’t help but agree. Although being stuck where they were had its advantages, little as they may have been. To Taecyeon, there was only one source of worry for him, and that was his fiancee Eunhee. He hoped to every omnipotent being out there that she was kept safe through all this.

Seulong slammed down a screwdriver in frustration, and Taecyeon shook his head slowly as he approached his friend. “Take a break.”

“Can you believe even Rain’s a part of them?”

Taecyeon was confused. “It was mentioned-”

“Rain, the one guy we looked up to back in school. Ami’s husband, does she even know? It makes sense now that Ami told Fuu about everything, do you think Fuu switched sides too?”

Taecyeon shook his head. “Fuu wouldn’t do that. Even if she did know about Ami and Rain, I don’t think she would switch sides. I know her, and you do too.”

Seulong didn’t seem relieved at all. “Even June was a part of them. I knew there was a reason why I never liked her.”

Taecyeon laughed lightly. “You liked her for Nichkhun too, we all did. She was weird, especially with her stalker lab-mate and all, but she was alright.”

“I wonder what else we believe in is a lie too.”

…

Mai was waiting. For what, she wasn’t sure, but she knew that whatever it was would come soon. After Chansung’s speech she had been more reluctant to come down to the shop. A part of her wanted to extend assistance, but the other part was adamant. She wouldn’t help them, not at the shop, not with Fortuna. Never.

She sat impatiently on one of the chairs inside the backroom. Like Taecyeon and Seulong she too had difficulty grasping the fact that the flower shop was not merely a cover- it was a legitimate job for all members of Hell. It almost made her laugh.

Almost.

The door slowly swung open, and Mai stood up immediately, ready to finally demand a proper explanation, but she was rendered speechless as Wooyoung walked in. The inspector seemed to have time to get a haircut, and with the hair finally away from his face, Mai choked up the slightest bit.

“Inspector,” she began, trying hard not to stare at both Wooyoung’s eyes and the scar grazing the right one.

Nichkhun came in after Wooyoung, and the thought of him giving Wooyoung the haircut had Mai in a coughing fit. Her face was red as she recovered, but neither men had paid attention to her. Kwon, Min and Suzy had joined them, and Mai felt annoyed that she was being ignored.

“If we’re attacking Lee Sooman tonight, then have no doubts that he is prepared,” Kwon began. “It’s going to be a full onslaught, Suzy and Jia will accompany you in the absence of Raijin.”

Mai’s brows knotted on her forehead, did Kwon just say that Suzy and Jia combined was equivalent to Raijin in terms of use on the field? It was either the other two were comparably weaker or that Rai was just that strong- Mai preferred to believe the former choice. She had no belief in Rai’s capabilities, most especially not in relation to her own.

Jinwoon, Chansung, and Junsu all came in one after the other, and Mai was left staring at them as each of the men took a folder from the table. Each one of them had a pertinent question, but what alarmed Mai the most was the fact that Wooyoung had a folder of his own.

Jia approached her and handed her a sheaf of papers. Mai took it slowly and slowly read over the file. It was a schematic of the building with key points regarding blind spots and exact locations for every room and every other detail she would ask about in an operation. It was very thorough, much more thorough than the schematics she and Junho drafted for Schatten.

It looked very familiar. “What is this?” she asked before Jia could turn away from her.

“What does it look like? You’re here, aren’t you? Unless you’re gonna lock yourself up with the others downstairs, make yourself useful.”

Chansung and Junsu chuckled lightly at Jia’s reply. Jinwoon was staring both men down but said nothing more. Nichkhun was busy with the map on the table, as was Wooyoung.

“What exactly is this place?” Junsu asked.

“Exactly as it looks,” Kwon answered.

“We’re not going into the Chief’s office at the main station.”

Everyone turned to Mai, and Wooyoung spoke up. “Are you going to stop us?”

Mai was unnerved by his question and his accusing gaze. Was she? Was that what she was going to do? Was that what she was going to say? She kept shut and Wooyoung moved back to the map and continued his discussion with Nichkhun. She didn’t understand what she was doing there now. How it was so that she was in the middle of a plan to infiltrate the main station and cut down the chief.

Mai couldn’t believe any of it was real.

Suddenly, the doors barged open. “Can’t believe you didn’t invite me to this party.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes at Jay Park’s entrance. Mai’s jaw dropped in shock, and again she was rendered speechless. Jay sauntered into the room and laid both hands on the table where Wooyoung and Nichkhun were discussing the next mission. “I’m in,” he stated. “You’re not getting rid of me. Fortuna’s my target too, and if this is JYP sanctioned, then I got nothing to lose.”

…

Rai looked up at the dark sky. It was a moonless night much to her advantage. Behind her were her shinobi brothers and Junho. Under her feet she felt the anxiety and the excitement in her companions’ heartbeats. It was time. Whether or not they were to face Kazuki didn’t matter, though Rai dreaded the honor-bound code she had to adhere to. She had to kill him. Not Koujin, not Fuujin, not even Nichkhun. Her.

Her hand lingered on her scar, on where she knew her mark was. Jinwoon should know where she was, but where the others were she had no way of finding out. At least not yet. She looked at Junho, and as if he understood her, he nodded.

“Just say the word,” Koujin said.

Fuujin echoed his statements and looked up at the daunting building before them. “Well, this is it,” he sighed. “The endpoint of our focus.”

“How are you going to find them?” Junho asked.

Rai kept her gaze at the sky. “I will. Koujin will, and Fuujin will. Just stay close to me.”