Third Shot.

"Rise and shine, baby~" Hyoyeon's lulling voice roughly jerked Jessica out of her dream-like state. Taeyeon's dark room was instantaneously lit up with the sun's intense rays. The sleepy girl slid deeper under the covers and tightly shut her eyes, wishing the light would all go away in a heart-beat. This tactic almost always worked with her parents, they would urge her for a few more minutes then give up. But not Hyoyeon. Suddenly, the warm sheets were being ripped away from her. Jessica clung onto them for dear-life, but Hyoyeon, who had gone through vigorous mercenary training, was too strong. After a few seconds of protest, of push and pull, Jessica gave in and let her warmth be stolen away from her. This was too much of a routine this early in the morning. Instead, she curled up into a ball and hugged her knees, keeping all the stored warmth for as long as possible. She still had to save enough energy to pick herself out of bed, brush her teeth, wash her face and comb her hair- and fighting with Hercules Hyoyeon had already been enough mischief for one day. 

"C'mon princess, too much sleep is not good for you either." Hyoyeon said, lightly tapping Jessica on her cheek, earning the blonde mercenary a weary sigh. Hyoyeon cleared .  Jessica blinked, a little bit dizzy and still groggy from sleep. Her body parts were dead and refused to listen to the commands she was making but she managed to half-prop herself up. Hyoyeon smiled in her usual friendly way as she coughed and announced too loudly for Jessica's comfort, "Breakfast is served."

In her unwillingness to be waken, she had not even smelled the delicious scent of pancakes with maple syrup, a side of banana and strawberry, finished off  with a perfectly brewed cup of English tea. Hyoyeon carefully danced over toward her, laying on her lap a wooden tray of a freshly cooked breakfast. She inspected the tea, being the fussy-eater she was. She was surprised that these mercenaries knew her taste so well. Roughly one quarter filled with milk, exactly two teaspoons of sugar and stirred attentively until the colour, smell and taste was just right. It even took two years for some of her butlers to know just exactly what she expected from a cup of English tea. 

"Did you make this?" Jessica asked the blonde mercenary, who too seemed amazed by the sight of this appetizing breakfast. 

"Hah, are you kidding? She can barely turn on the stove." 

"Shut it Hyomin, you can't cook either." Hyoyeon snapped, her head immediately whipped around back toward Hyomin, who leaned against the doorway casually and smiled at her angry response. Just as Hyoyeon was about to say something else, the girl rolled her eyes and retreated, clearly not in the mood for an early morning fight. Jessica saw Sunny pushing her luggage elsewhere. 

"What's happening?"

"We're going to Shanghai." Hyoyeon said, oddly calm with a wry grin on her face. 

"What?"

"You heard me! Shanghai!" the genial mercenary repeated, beaming.  "On another note, how did you sleep?"

Jessica made a distorted facial expression to the memory of last night's sleep. "Awful."

"Wow, a pea under you mattress?" the blonde joked, immediately wincing when Jessica shot her a nasty look. 

"No. The truck kept shuddering."

"Blame the road. So many pot-holes nowadays, especially on country roads. They could care less to fix 'em. And you wonder what they do with our tax." 

Jessica just nodded absently as she dug into her hot food. It did not take long for the petite girl to finish wolfing down the small portions. She looked up to Hyoyeon, who rose a brow in amusement. Jessica could not believe the mercenaries could survive on such small portions, considering the amount of physical activity they do. 
 

Taeyeon was on the couch, nestled cosily between two puffy cushions and reading a complicated looking novel. Sunny was busily rearranging the books on the shelf when Hyomin cursed loudly. Hyoyeon poked her head through the door and called out.  "What's up?" 

A loud thud could be heard, and heavy footsteps as Hyomin bursted into the 'livingroom'. Her eyes were dark and furious, when she spotted Hyoyeon, the girl in the lab-coat marched right up to her and snarled. "You ing idiot!" 

Sunny's ears pricked to the quickly-heating-conversation. With haste, the shortest girl stepped between the two. Hyomin was definitely pissed, Taeyeon knew this and quickly pulled Sunny away from the brewing fight. Jessica, who had heard the noise from the bed hurriedly went to the scene to see what was going on. 

"Watch your mouth, dip."  Hyoyeon, who could not stand to be spoken to in a bad manner, growled flatly. The two girls sized each other up before Hyomin made the first move. She advanced and grabbed the tired mercenary by the collar, shaking her roughly despite her petite frame. "Do you know what you ing did? We're screwed now, because you, you little -"  before Hyomin could finish her venomous sentence, Hyoyeon had fiercely pushed the girl aside. 

"Get to the goddamn point already."

"Your bike had a detector on it." Hyomin hissed, in a deep breath and rubbing her temples in agitation. "You were meant to stay awake and alert so no mishaps would happen! And what do you do? You go ahead and fall asleep. For all we know, they could have been tailing us and planning an ambush! They know our exact location, and judging by their good skills they probably know we're planning on smuggling her across some borders, somewhere else. Good job, assassin."  Her quick explaination took time to sink in, after Hyoyeon had finally processed what was said, the shorter girl was seething with anger. 

Hyoyeon was evidently shocked as she muttered softly. "You mean...?"

"Mongoose of course, you !" 

"What do we do?" 

Hyomin huffed, "they've tracked us. The system knows that. We need to get to the airport." Hyomin glanced at Jessica, her eyes still shooting daggers. She pulled out some kind of passport from her labcoat pocket and tossed it to her. Jessica managed to catch it somehow and Hyomin rose a brow. "Fake passport. Your name is Ming Fei, born in Taiwan, currently 23 years old. Birthday's in March the third. Remember that." Jessica frowned to her flat command but watched as Hyomin glared once more at the blonde mercenary.

"Where are you going?" Hyoyeon managed to croak out softly. 

"Telling our glorious Manager." Hyomin grunted, leaving within a heart beat. Jessica flipped open her passport and began repeating what Hyomin said earlier to herself. Ming Fei, 23, born in Taiwan, March the third... Then something popped into her mind. She couldn't speak any Chinese. Jessica shook her head and decided not to focus on the language aspect. She could say she grew up in America or Canada. Her thoughts were interrupted by Taeyeon. 

"You're doing your best, it was a long night for everyone. We all should've been more careful. Plus, it's rare for anything to make it pass our detectors. Truck maintainence isn't your job, Hyo." The seemingly empty mercenary managed some comforting words. Hyoyeon simply looked up and smiled sheepishly. Sunny eventually edged toward Hyoyeon and gave her a soothing hug. 

"And please tell me who ate my gummy bears." Taeyeon added seriously. 

Hyoyeon watched her in disbelief. "I didn't do it! I told you!" 

"It's okay, one day you will admit it." 

The mercenary who seemed to know everything chuckled. Sunny took Hyoyeon by the hand and vanished behind closed doors, leaving Jessica with Taeyeon again. The older woman seemed tired but she managed a smile. "Hyoyeon never sleeps for long, she's a light-sleeper. The detector was probably hidden in a bullet." 

Through common judgement it is obvious that it could not have been Yuri and Yoona, considering they were still in the train-cabins. Jessica saw Taeyeon's narrowed eyes and she understood instantly. The taboo person, a name she knew she should not ever mention without fully knowing the consequences. Tiffany. Jessica wasn't sure of whether this Tiffany person was bad, or whether Taeyeon and her crew just did not click with her. Whatever the reasons, Taeyeon could feel her prying into her thoughts and immediately shut Jessica off from them. The harder she focused on Taeyeon, the more the dark thundercloud hanging above her head became. Jessica always had trouble settling her mind and focusing on one thing, so it did not take long for her to give up.

Tiffany, just who exactly are you and what kind of grip do you have on her?

 

"Aren't you hot?" Jessica asked, already feeling like she was melting out in Shanghai's humid temperature. All she wore was a white tank top and some shorts, yet when she looked at Sooyoung she felt like she was dressed for a business meeting instead. The Manager wore black jeans that hugged her slender legs and a formal blouse, accompanied with a tie and finished with her signature blazer. 

"Ahah, me? You worried about me? Damn, that's so cute." Sooyoung smiled to Jessica's response then added,  "wish you would care for me too, Taeng."

"Go die."

"Our manager loves her blazers." Hyoyeon chipped in, a little too quickly, earning her a fierce scowl from Hyomin. The group soon made it whilst dragging their suitcases to the hotel. The group fell onto the couches and waited as Sooyoung went to check in. Fortunately the hotel was fully air-conditioned. It still made Jessica wonder how Sooyoung did not break a sweat at all. 

"We have no reservations?" 

Jessica's ears perked to Sooyoung's frustrated voice. All eyes went to Hyomin, who was usually, apparently, in charge of reservations. The mechanic returned the disappointed look with her own. "Look, I was busy with repairs." 

Sooyoung, after failing to persuade the receptionist for a room, returned. 

"What now?" Hyoyeon groaned as she dropped the two heavy shoulder bags, one containing Hyomin's most prized-possession, her laptop. The mechanic shot a  fiery glare Hyoyeon's way, but the carefree mercenary didn't seem to sense anything. Just as the two were about to break into a fight, Sunny touched Hyomin's wrist, instantly jerking Hyomin's mind away from the bothersome mercenary. Sooyoung could tell Sunny's touch would only be temporary, so she spoke up. 

"You forgot, didn't cha? We have a star-player on our hands."  She beamed happily and winked at Jessica. Jessica could only look at the manager in disbelief. Jessica followed everyone's gaze as all eyes fell on Taeyeon, who was still fiddling with the bullet Hyomin presented to her as soon as they got out of immigration. 

"Wh-What?" She grunted and eyed her companions bitterly, transitioning her attention to her comrades. 

Sooyoung coughed and gestured toward the desk receptionist. "Go, seduce her."

"What the hell!" Taeyeon snapped. "Just because I know how to sense emotions doesn't make me a womanizer!" 

"Shh. Go!" Hyoyeon joined in and made the signal of ordering a dog to fetch a tossed ball. Taeyeon was about to protest more but she probably felt it was a waste of energy to argue with these people. She sighed audibly and strolled toward the counter. As casually as possible she rested her elbow on the counter and started talking to the desk receptionist. Judging by the young girl's expression, Jessica could tell she was not amused and probably used to having people try to pull these sorts of tricks on her. Hyomin frowned. 

"You think it's gonna work?" Hyoyeon asked tiredly, watching Taeyeon from afar.

"Just watch." Sooyoung said with a sly smirk. This gave Jessica the impression that they have managed to skip out on many bills with the assistance of Taeyeon's special power, which seemed wrong. But hey, she was in no place to decide what was wrong and what was right, especially since she was what most would consider a newcomer. She was reborn and she had to know their rules for survival, their instincts and their nature if she wished to find the truth. Jessica saw Hyomin mess with some programs, a quiet crackling sound then the voice of Taeyeon could be heard. The group all leaned in to catch the conversation.
 

"Hey, I'm... You can call me Taeyeon." The mercenary began hesitantly, feeling the uncomfortable stares of her comrades. The receptionist watched her carefully and responded.  "Have you made reservations m'aam?" 

Taeyeon blinked and continued, already rehearsing a script in her head. "No but I was wondering if you had any spare rooms." 

"Terribly sorry but we are booked full tonight." The receptionist responded, almost automatically. Taeyeon paused and stared into her eyes briefly, reading her aura, her vibes and her current state of mind. At first this process of deciphering people took time but now Taeyeon could get a general feel of a person within a few seconds. 

"Here comes the killer!" Hyoyeon whispered excitedly, "just watch!" 

"I don't like it when you lie," Taeyeon purposely let her voice rumble in . It was a resonating, husky voice and her eyes were locked with the young woman's the whole time. Taeyeon saw her aura had shifted to a different colour, stating she was ready to be persuaded. "There are two spare rooms and no guests, why can't you give it me?"

"You will not pay for it." The receptionist murmured, dazed by the intensity of her stare. "I will get in trouble." 

"Come on," Taeyeon leaned close to the woman and whispered, "Won't you do me a favor?" 

"No..." 

The mercenary smirked, "Why not? I had come so far...To this country." 

Jessica could tell that the receptionist's resolution was failing miserably. With two more husky purrs she handed Taeyeon the room keys.  As Taeyeon slowly made her way back to her group, Sooyoung winked at Jessica. Giving her a, told you look. Jessica simply shot one back. 

So you guys don't pay for anything either.

Sooyoung seemed to receive the message and simply grinned back.

It's more fun this way. 

"The real reason why we have you here, is because you have something very valuable that we need." Sooyoung began once they finally made their way into the luxurious hotel. Sunny was setting down the luggage with the help of Hyoyeon, and Hyomin had already her laptop and was soundlessly typing away, glad that no damage was done to her precious laptop. Taeyeon on the other-hand, was sitting cross-legged on the floor flicking through some Shanghai maps to familiarize herself with the new bustling, metropolis. 

"Money?" Jessica suggested bluntly. 

"We're not that low." Hyomin scoffed, momentarily meeting eyes with Jessica. 

Can't see that. Jessica remarked silently, earning her an irritated look from Taeyeon. Oh, sorry, forgot you could read minds. 

Hyoyeon just laughed harmlessly, managing to ease away the rapidly expanding tension in the room.

"A disc. It should be something in your possession, something valuable handed down the family, do you have anything of the sort?"

"No." She answered honestly. She saw Hyomin's suspicion, her hostile gaze pierced into her skin, Hyoyeon looked troubled and Sooyoung just nudged Taeyeon- who had been studying her body language intently for the last couple of minutes. Jessica met her eyes and kept a serious face, knowing that she could read her mind very well. I'm not lying. She tried to communicate to her telepathitically by scrunching her brows and focusing on Taeyeon. The charming mercenary blinked and finally laid her verdict.

"She's telling the truth."

Sooyoung let out an irritated sigh as she fell back into her leather chair.  "We need it, we need it Taeyeon. You said this would work."

"It was a hypothesis." Taeyeon corrected the manager coolly. 

"What does this disc contain? I might actually remember something." Jessica explained carefully, watching the facial expressions of Sooyoung. To her disbelief, the manager had no input and was massaging her head with her fingers. Jessica felt Taeyeon's harsh stare. The girl nodded slowly, as if giving permission for Hyoyeon to speak about it. 

"Go ahead." 

Hyoyeon dipped her head lightly and began cautiously. "This disc has very important information, if Taeyeon's hypothesis is right - in which mose cases, it is... We're dealing with some dangerous info." she cleared and continued.  "It was originally a proto-type immunisation, though it backfired completely." 

Jessica listened intently.

"The virus altered the human DNA, in other words, strengthened it or made it better. Most people could not stand such large amounts of energy forcefully being placed into them, so their bodies reacted dramatically, causing many deaths. The virus still exists in that disc, even though it had disappeared from our sight years ago."

"And?"

"And, this disease had subsided, but it is still here, all the info needed to re-create it at least." 

"Bring anything back?" Taeyeon asked calmly. 

"No, sorry." Jessica responded. 

Sooyoung seemed disappointed with her answer but returned to manager mode. "Okay then, we'll split up. Taeyeon has a private job to do." Sooyoung motioned for the mercenary to take her leave. Taeyeon slung on a shoulder bag and nodded before leaving the room. Jessica could only shiver to what kind of private job it was. Judging by the shoulder bag, it probably contained some kind of firearms. Yet, she had no idea how they managed to smuggle something like that across borders. 

But again, they are mercenaries. They had connections, special ways and well, persuasive skills. 

"Hyomin, analysis of Hyoyeon's bike. Sunny, secure the area."

The two partnered off into another room. 

"Hyoyeon..." Sooyoung continued, "You're out with Jessica, groccery shopping." 

Jessica sensed the mercenary's disappointment. This could be Sooyoung's way of reprimanding her for her carelessness. She would have to work her way up again to get the real jobs. Hyoyeon frowned but nodded, "Can I use a bike or something?"

"No." Sooyoung spun in the leather chair and turned to her laptop. "Walking won't kill you."

"But it's not cool." Hyoyeon whined.

"Not all things are cool." 

Sooyoung passed her the other shoulder bag. 

"IS this ALL I get?" Hyoyeon muttered in disbelief. 

"Hyomin is fixing everything you broke. Taeyeon took the good ones. This should be enough to keep you out of trouble. Keep in touch and be careful." 

"Is Sooyoung really unafraid of the heat?"

"Yeah, you could say that." 

Jessica frowned. Hyoyeon was the black hole, in other words, the weakest link. But it was hard to tell whether she was telling the truth, or all the information she was giving Jessica was limited or scripted before-hand. Why would they go to the trouble of potentially risking their lives to find her, who probably would not know the existence of such a disc, then proceed to reveal such secretive information? Something wasn't adding up, and the name "Tiffany" was still a mystery. Yuri and Yoona too, Snake and Mongoose, she could not grasp the logic of these mercenaries. There was no way she could talk to Hyomin, the girl was very cautious. Sunny does not seem to be heavily participating in the activities of "Snake" either. Taeyeon is unreadable, Sooyoung is so cheerful that at times it appears to be an overly convincing, deceptive front.

"That disc, what do they make with it?"

"Well, it's dangerous either way." Hyoyeon started slowly, "There was another experiment once, in the attempt to create superhuman secret agents. One agent however, fell to the mercy of greed and shared this information with the underground society. This news spread rapidly, and the information was on high-demand. Some terrorists bought this information, some gangs too, even the mafia." "I'd be terrified if my opponent was still walking after two shots to the head." 

"So they're superhuman?"

Hyoyeon shook her head as the two continued to pass by street-stalls. "In a way. Not completely. Those who survive aren't completely healed."  "In the form that they must work for those who know the temporary life-extender." Jessica nodded to signal she was still listening. Hyoyeon examined some oranges but decided against them the last minute. The mercenary cleared and continued, seeing she had piqued Jessica's interest.  "Basically, they need certain things to survive. They work for a big company who offers them these 'pills', which extends their life for a week. So, if one of the survivors do not work for an offer in a week, they die. Of course there is a cure somewhere but this is just a way of controlling them." 

"Sort of like an action movie, then?" Jessica summed up. 

The girl just chuckled at her question. "Yeah, an overused cliche one." 

"So they all have the same abilities?"

"No, they're all different depending on the combinations made."  Hyoyeon passed the street-stall owner a note in exchange for some soy milk and rice. The owner thanked them in Chinese and Hyoyeon answered. 

"Are any of you one of them?" Jessica spoke again once they stopped at another stall. 

"No way." Hyoyeon laughed, still examining the potatoes. 

"What about Taeyeon?"

The mercenary stopped and glanced up to Jessica, "Taeyeon's different. She was always born with that high sensitivity." 

"........................................." 

Jessica listened as the owner began enthusastically speaking to Hyoyeon. 

"What did they say?" 

"I know this boss, he said the watermelon's on him-" Hyoyeon stopped abruptly and glanced around. Jessica watched fearfully as Hyoyeon spoke something to the owner. The buff man turned serious and nodded. Hyoyeon gave him all the food they bought and took Jessica by the hand. She dragged her somewhere further than before. But it was following them. Jessica knew and she felt it. And it scared her because it reeked of death. 

"Who is this...?"

"One of them." The blonde murmured coolly.

"The disc has the correct information, the information to create the perfect alternations without the need of such a thing as a cure. An evolution-proccess sped up within the matter of seconds." 

"This thing... Isn't human..." She barely managed to utter out. 

"What to do..." Hyoyeon muttered. Jessica felt Hyoyeon's body press against her as the two of them were slowly forced into a dead alley-way.  All the stray cats had scrambled on top of trashcans or clawed at the walls, they too could sense the abnormality of this being before them.  It lurched forward with unsteady, hefty steps, the distance between the trio rapidly diminishing.

She watched fearfully as Hyoyeon slung the shoulder bag aside and hoisted up an old-fashioned shotgun. Hyoyeon easily balanced the heavy weapon with just one hand, as she reached into her cargo jeans the mercenary laughed nervously. Jessica violently prodded the prankster as she was in no mood for jokes. The thing did not waste time. Within the blink of an eye, they were already dangerously close to it.  "We're ed, Hyomin gave me the wrong bullets." 

At this second, Jessica wished she could just dissolve. How could you not check the bullets beforehand?! She gripped onto her shoulder and hid behind the mercenary. "Maybe you should treat her better..." She hissed. Hyoyeon just chuckled calmly as she slowly edged away from the advancing beast. Predictably, the alley was a dead-end, and within a few steps, Jessica felt her back pressed against the chain-link fencing. She could only hold her breath as the thing breathed out a mouthful of musty air. Jessica caught a glimpse of the distorted thing's mouth, chipped yellow teeth and ripped tongue. 

Without warning, the mercenary swung the shotgun and hit the creature in the eye. Jessica flinched as it let out another shrieking cry, whether it be pain or fury, she could not tell, nor did she want to find out. The ground shook violently when the creature, temporarily blinded, rammed its head against the alleyway walls, charging forward. An unknown feeling erupted in her stomach the moment the monster lashed out, thankfully, Hyoyeon was faster. Again, the shotgun was used as melee weapon, laid another devastating blow in the other eye. Taking this chance, Hyoyeon urged Jessica onto one of the large bins. 

Hyoyeon, still facing the hunter, ordered Jessica urgently. "Climb over it and open the door for me."

"There's no key!" 

The mercenary simply pointed to one of Jessica's accessory bobby pins. 

"What?! That never works!" 

"I'm trusting you." Hyoyeon murmured softly, gripping the weapon tightly once she felt the thing stumble toward her.  

A nasty thought ran through Jessica's head. You're an idiot, you know. She thought silently as she scrambled over the fence with the many years of experience from skipping school. I can run away now, and all of you would have trouble locating me again.  But something about Hyoyeon, her childish innocence, her unwavering trust, made Jessica unable to even give a second thought to the possibility. It was like crushing a child's trust. Something even Jessica, who did not find children lovely, could not do. 

Jessica pulled out a bobby pin and pried with the gate's locks whilst the beast staggered dangerously close, angrier than ever. 

"You could be infected too, you know." the mercenary said softly as she re-adjusted her grip on the weapon. 

With that?