CHAPTER 52:

Nichkhun never imagined being at that place again. June’s laboratory was the last place he wanted to revisit, but the knowing that she was in there waiting for him dispelled all his fears. They stood at the foot of the four storey building, just behind the wall Nichkhun used to scale to visit her in secret. The grass underneath his feet felt the same as it had that last night he came to see her. It was moist as it crunched under his feet and he dug the toecap of his boots into the ground. He heard everything from the sound of insects around him, the sound of the wind, and down to the sound of the heartbeats of the people around him.

They were all on edge, all on their toes, ready for what lay ahead. Nichkhun was ready too. He could hear June’s voice inside his head, beckoning him, calling out his name, calling out for him. He pulled out the loose brick as if not a day has passed since he last did. Taecyeon and Seulong shuffled restlessly behind him, and he turned to them. “It’s not too late to back out.”

“We’re seeing this through,” Taecyeon replied, pushing Seulong towards the wall.

Nichkhun rolled his eyes and scaled the wall. Next to him, he saw Chansung vaulting Rai up, and the shinobi jumped over the wall. Wooyoung followed, and within a minute, they all stood in front of one of the building’s side entrances.

“I wonder how long it’s going to take until someone says hello,” Jay said, walking forwards and inspecting the double doors.

“We can split up here,” Chansung suggested, drawing lines with his finger, creating different groupings among them.

“I agree,” said Wooyoung, “We’ll head on to Dr. Aybarra’s lab, Jay will you cover for us?”

“Alright, I’ll take Chansung, Suzy and Jia-”

“That won’t do,” Junsu cut in. “Taec and Seulong need Suzy and Jia with them. Me and Junho will go with you and Chansung,” he heard a soft grunt behind him, “and Mai,” he quickly added.

“If I may?” they heard Jinwoon’s voice through their receivers, and they waited in silence. “Rain and Ami confirmed their team’s arrival. They’ll be manning the ground floors, so all you need to worry about is getting to the lab. Taecyeon and Seulong, I’m sending in a line from Fuu, she’ll be in charge of the two of you and your big finish, Suzy and Jia will back you up. The rest of you are on my line. The first shut down will be in three minutes, hurry.”

Taecyeon and Seulong separated from the group immediately, followed by Jia and Suzy. No more words were required as the group continued down the familiar path. It wasn’t long until they reached an intersection, and what more waited for them but the first wave of enemies. They were faceless creatures, screaming gibberish, attacking mindlessly and without care. It was easy taking them down, going through them, slicing swords into their bodies, cutting of limbs and breaking skulls. Nichkhun knew exactly what Changmin was trying to do.

It wasn’t until they reached the second floor that the real fighting began. In front of the sole elevator that lead directly to June’s lab, stood something Nichkhun had expected all along. The girls they knew from Aff(x)tion stood in a line together with the other woman from the Main Office security videos. Amber, Luna, Sulli, Krystal, and Lee Yoojin together with five other men stood behind them.

“Meet Max’s most perfect creations. None of you even suspected it, did you? That shop across the street, finding Victoria here, none of you connected the dots. Tsk tsk,” Yoojin spoke, spreading her hands to present said creations. “f(x) and SHINee, fitting names, don’t you think?”

“Nichkhun,” Jay said, low enough for only the blonde to hear, “we’ll take care of this, take Wooyoung and Rai and go find June. We’ll see you later.”

Nichkhun’s movements were near imperceptible as he turned towards Jay who stood behind him. A part of him trusted the others enough to survive this ordeal, but another part of him wanted to stay. He saw Rai and Wooyoung, both focused on the enemy and ready to attack. Time was of the essence, and they were nearing their limit.

Junho stepped closer to Rai, but Wooyoung turned towards him meeting his gaze. The inspector’s eyes darted towards Mai, and no more words were needed between them. Junho nodded in understanding, his own eyes moving towards the shinobi. Wooyoung, too, nodded in understanding.

Yoojin stepped forward, whip in hand. She raised it high into the air, and everyone’s eyes were drawn to it immediately. Nichkhun could hear breaths being held and almost in slow motion, the whip snapped towards the floor, creating a loud crackle of leather on tile.

Jay fired instantly, but his shots were easily evaded by Jonghyun who rammed into him, knocking the guns from his hand and tackling him to the floor. Jonghyun’s hands were on the other’s neck, and Jay struggled to pry the hands off. He vision was blurring, and the veins on his neck throbbed painfully. Jonghyun’s maniacal laughter was ringing in his ears, and Jay gasped in air, unable to breath. Another body sailed across the room and straight into Jonghyun, freeing Jay.

Chansung pulled the agent up, shrugging off his thanks and turning towards Key and Jonghyun. Both attacked at the same time, and this time, the other two were prepared. Jay jumped to the sides, his eyes quickly searching for his railguns, and Chansung drew his katana. Jonghyun was empty handed, but Key brought with him a long spear with a neon pink and green tassel on the very tip.

Key the spear into Chansung who rolled to the sides, his sword barely blocking the following attack. Next to him, Jay and Jonghyun wrestled each other, engaging in unarmed combat, throwing punches and kicks, and locking each other in painful holds.

Key’s attacks came one after the other in rapid succession, and Chansung could only dodge each attack as it came by. The spear was long enough to keep Chansung outside his attack range, enough to pierce through his skin. He could ignore the cuts on his arms and on his legs, but what he was afraid of was Key’s attacks coming in sadistic injuries, cutting his down little by little, draining him of energy and blood in the slowest way possible. In one bold move, Chansung caught the body of the spear, but not without the blade grazing his palm. He ignored the pain, and lifted his sword high enough, and sliced through Key’s head.

Jay tasted blood inside his mouth and as he was thrown to the ground again, his eyes lit up as he saw his guns within reach. He saw Jonghyun run towards his again, and before the SHINee member got too close, Jay fired repeatedly at close range, throwing Jonghyun back, and Jay watched as his enemy convulsed on the floor until it finally stopped moving.

Mai jumped back as Sulli’s meteor hammer crashed into the floor beneath her. They had been playing a game of cat and mouse, and Mai had unwillingly taken the role of chasee. Sulli swung the heavy spiked ball over her head again and released it. Frustrated with being unable to attack, Mai bit the inside of her cheeks as she continued jumping out of range. The metal sai were heavy in Mai’s hands, but she handled them deftly as she timed her attacks.

Sulli swung the long chain above her head again, and this time, Mai threw one sai as hard as she could towards her opponent. The three-pronged weapon flew across the space between them, cutting through the chain and dismantling the meteor hammer. Mai jumped out of the way as Sulli picked up the spiked ball and threw it at her direction. Mai picked up her other sai from the ground as soon as she saw Sulli running towards her, chain in hand.

A strong blow landed on Mai’s right shoulder, and she lost her grip on her weapon. She watched, eyes wide as the chain rose again, and she rolled to the left. She screamed in pain as the chain caught her foot, and she pulled hard to release herself. Sulli tugged at the chain, bringing Mai closer.

Desperate, Mai aimed her sai with her left, and less dominant hand, and threw it towards Sulli’s hand. It missed, and Sulli laughed evilly as she stomped on Mai’s leg. Tears sprung from Mai’s eyes as she felt her lower leg bones fracture.

Junho quickly loaded his pistol with Seulong’s grenades, but he couldn’t fire given the narrow hallway. He dodged Onew’s clumsy attacks with a flail- his focus was somewhere else, and when he saw Mai screaming out in pain, he hurried towards her.

He rammed into Sulli, hitting her hard with his good shoulder sending her into Amber’s arms, and firing his pistol at her seeing the two were far enough from everyone else. The blast shattered their body into pieces, and Junho froze momentarily at the extent of the damage. He regained his senses as Onew attacked again. As before, Junho’s attention was on the immobile Mai. It was only when Rai dropped in that he was able to carefully carry Mai away from the fight.

Luna joined Onew, and the two circled Rai. The shinobi’s focus was elsewhere, too. Rai could feel Kazuki’s aura in the building, and her hands itched to fight him. With a smirk on her face, Rai raised her kodachi, and in a blitzkrieg of attacks, both Luna and Onew fell into pieces and blood on the ground.

Taemin reminded Wooyoung of Rai. Both double wielded short swords and attacked with no apparent technique or style. Taemin, however, moved more than the girl, and Wooyoung was getting a headache from following his opponent’s movements. He had been wounded enough, and Wooyoung knew that facing Taemin head on would only result to more injury.

Taemin jumped over him, and with no more patience, Wooyoung slashed his sword upwards, cutting off Taemin’s legs. Blood spattered on his face and clothes, and Wooyoung grimaced as he wiped it off the blood on his face with his sleeve. He looked down at Taemin, and stabbed him hard in the chest.

Nichkhun knew he didn’t have much time, and he heard Jinwoon’s warnings as he struggled between Minho and Krystal. Both sword fighters attacked in sync, and Nichkhun jumped out of the way, rolling towards the sides as he evaded. The cut on his left arm was nothing at first, but now it bothered him as he used his left hand to parry attacks with the scabbard of his sword.

He stood on guard facing his two enemies when Wooyoung joined him. “Hyung, you have to find noona, we’ll take care of this.”

Nodding, Nichkhun took one look at the group before fleeing.

~ ♗: Schonheit ~

Junsu stared at her, unable to believe that the woman in front of him was the same woman that he had known years ago. Everything appeared to be the same, even the mole by her nose was still there. They may have looked the same, they could have even the same person, but this Lee Yoojin was nothing like the Yoojin Junsu knew. Instead of the bright and bubbly girl he had known, in front of him stood someone cold and ruthless.

Junsu clutched at the open cracks of skin on right arm. His crossbow lay unmounted on the floor, and he didn’t know if he was fast enough to grab it and fire.

Yoojin smirked. “What’s the matter handsome? Can’t fight anymore?”

“What happened to you?” he asked. “You died.”

“I did,” she laughed, but her expression changed almost instantaneously. “You killed me.”

Junsu shook his head. “I didn’t do anything! I couldn’t even come near you!”

“Liar! I saw you! You were there when I died! You pulled the plug!”

Junsu shook his head harder. “Yoojin I would never do that to you!”

He fell to the floor as the whip flogged at his legs. He knew it was pointless to convince her otherwise. He didn’t think it was past the Fortuna leader to blur memories and turn it against a person. He reached out for his crossbow, but a kick to his midsection doubled him over and he coughed out blood.

“Now you die.” Yoojin dropped down to the floor and pulled Junsu up by the hair. She pulled her whip tight against his neck and pressed her lips against his ear. “Sweet dreams.”

Junsu’s hand d the floor for anything he could use. His fingers brushed against one of his bolts, and he closed his eyes as he stabbed the heavy bolt into Yoojin’s neck. Warm blood trickled down his hand, and Junsu remained still as Yoojin’s body lay limp against him. Slowly, he turned and cradled the dead body of the woman he had loved- the woman he still loved even as he took her life.