Extra long chapter for you guys this week because I love you all :)

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1000. 11/13/2012. Warehouse 13, Studio 9-B, Seoul.

“Somewhere here, the unsub must have fumbled.” Jonghyun mumbles to himself looking around the crime scene.

“Why is that?” Key asks, strapping on a pair of rubber gloves and picking up a photo on the desk of the victim. It was one of him and his friends at a party of some sort.

“Because,” Jonghyun says, crouching down to observe something on the man’s shirt, “We’ve been putting pressure on her since our appearance.”

Key frowns, “Why are you so sure it’s a her?” Key asks, observing Jonghyun’s odd behavior.

“Look at those tracks on the floor.” Jonghyun says and Key gasps. Clearly the unsub had stepped slightly into a pool of blood and distinct prints of a pair of heels had been made on the studio hardwood flooring.

“You see the gunshot wound here? There is very little stippling, which means the shot must’ve been from close range. You can also see how the hand wobbles slightly from lack of strength.” Key says, pointing to the various parts of the wound.

“There is a distinct scent of perfume in the air.” Jonghyun says, scrunching up his nose.

“Chanel No. 5. The unsub must have quite a bit of money… but they would’ve had to have worn a lot if the scent has stayed til now.” Key says, taking a whiff of the air.

“Your uncanny ability to distinguish perfumes really comes in handy sometimes.” Jonghyun remarks in amusement and Key shrugs.

“Look at the note, the writing is direct match to the sample.” Key says, unpinning the note from the man’s temple. “What did I warn you about editing my oppas out? They deserve to be on every second of the show.” Key reads and raises his eyebrows.

“The unsub is extremely attached to her ‘oppas’ as she calls them, so much so that it blinds her judgment.” Key says, “I bet this isn’t the only video editor that’s been receiving letters, I think we need to investigate into all the broadcasting and entertainment companies.”

“You know what I don’t understand?” Jonghyun asks, looking at the scene around him.

“What?” Key asks.

“You analyzed our unsub to be someone who is extremely meticulous, a perfectionist of sorts.” Jonghyun says and Key nods, beckoning him to continue, “Why then, would they leave these tracks behind?”

“They? What are you thinking?” Key asks, knitting his eyebrows together.

“I’m thinking the unsub has a partner, the one that’s the brains is the writer and the other that is the 'brawn' per se is the unsub.” Jonghyun says.

“A typical symbiotic relationship then, a psychopath and a sociopath.” Key says.

“Most likely the sociopath is in charge, get Onew on the phone.” Jonghyun says, grabbing the computer and going outside to find Taemin.

“I think you might want to look at this.” Taemin says walking towards Jonghyun who’d just emerged from the building. In his hand he carries a small yellow note accompanied by a picture.

“You’d stop investigating if you knew what was good for you.” Jonghyun says reading the note and almost faints when he looks at the face on the picture.

“Who is that?” Taemin asks, peeking over Jonghyun’s shoulder.

“My sister.” Jonghyun answers shortly, feeling a pounding in his head. “The unsub is targeting us now.” Jonghyun says and the colour drains completely from Taemin’s face. Suddenly, their attention is torn away from the note when they hear a scream. Jonghyun and Taemin run towards the direction of the disturbance and find Key on the ground, bleeding from his head.

“Someone call an ambulance.” Jonghyun says dropping to the ground, checking for signs of life. He breathes a sigh of relief when he catches the almost imperceptible rise and fall of Key’s chest through his shallow breaths. Taemin grabs his cellphone and quickly dials 119 reporting the incident, then runs off to find a bystander for help.

Jonghyun rips a piece of fabric from his shirt and bandages Key’s head applying pressure to stop the bleeding. He quickly observes the wound and takes a deep breath.

“He’ll be fine.” Jonghyun tells Taemin once he returns, “He was knocked out by blunt force trauma, and the blood is from a cut made on his head from falling.”

“We’ll need to take him to the hospital to see if there’s any internal injury. Minho and Onew will meet us there.” Taemin says.

“As much as I hate to say it, he might be the only clue in our investigation.” Jonghyun says, standing up once EMS arrives. The paramedics put Key onto a gurney and load him into the back of the ambulance and Jonghyun and Taemin get into their SUV following suit.

Taemin receives a call from the sasaeng-fan president and Jonghyun nods at him to take the call. Taemin quickly clears his throat and presses the green talk button, “Yoboseyo?” He asks in his falsetto.

“Drop the act Agent Lee.” The woman’s voice drawls from the other end of the line and Taemin gulps in anxiety.

“Sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Taemin replies to her brave accusation and the woman chuckles darkly in response.

“We want to strike a deal with you.” She says and Taemin puts the sasaeng fan president on speakerphone. Jonghyun’s eyebrows knit together and he clenches the steering wheel more tightly.

“Why?” Taemin asks, dropping his façade.

“These crazy killers are not what we want, we have rules and they’ve broken them.” The sasaeng-fan president growls in anger.

“They?” Taemin asks, raising an eyebrow. How did the president know there was more than one subject?

“Oh please, we can track TVXQ! across different continents, you think it’s so hard to track a few NIS agents?” The president says snorting. “How do you think we know when they disappeared and who you are?”

“Excuse me; did you just say they disappeared?” Taemin asks and the woman grunts in response. Taemin looks at Jonghyun with a panicked expression.

“Ask for a face-to-face.” Jonghyun mouths to Taemin.

“Let’s meet face-to-face.” Taemin says.

“The coffee shop where we first met, I’ll be there in 5 minutes.” She says and hangs up. Jonghyun takes a swift turn and drives over the lane divider to the other side of the road.

“Let Minho and Onew know where we’re going and tell them of the latest update in our search.” Jonghyun says to Taemin and Taemin nods. Jonghyun parks the car in front of the coffee shop and grabs something from the back seat, tossing it to Taemin.

“What’s this?” Taemin asks, holding the gun accompanied by a holster in his hands.

“A gun.” Jonghyun says stating the obvious as he puts in his in-ear and a pair of glasses.

“Yes, I can see it’s a gun.” Taemin says rolling his eyes in annoyance, “Why do I have a gun? I haven’t passed my arms exam.”

“Can you shoot straight?” Jonghyun asks as he grabs his leather jacket from his backseat and changes out of his blazer.

“Yeah?” Taemin says, weighing the gun in his hand.

“Then as far as I’m concerned, you’re qualified.” Jonghyun says, opening his door and getting out. He walks into the café first and Taemin secures his gun in place, making sure it wasn’t visible before walking into the café himself. He takes a deep breath and approaches the booth where the president of the sasaeng fanclub sits waiting for him.

“It’s about time.” She says impatiently and Taemin slides into the booth sitting across from her.

“What do you have?” Taemin asks, getting down to business but the woman shakes her head.

“We need to make a deal first.” She says, and Taemin frowns.

“What do you want?” Taemin asks.

“Simple.” She replies, “I want immunity, for both my fanclub and for me. We have nothing to do with these murders; we want to be separated from the suspects in question.”

 “Fair enough.” Taemin says nodding, granting her request.

“Quite frankly, even though we chase our oppas, we have no intentions of wanting to kill them, the closest we’ve gotten to even harming them was just touching.” The sasaeng-fan president says frowning and Taemin purses his lips but doesn’t venture into the subject of blame. Did the sasaengs really not know the type of psychological harm they were placing upon these celebrities? After all, idols are people too.

“What we’ll need is access to all your servers and a list of all your members.” Taemin says to the president.

“Alright, I’ll just need you to come with me to my home where I can access my computer.” The president says.

“No need, just give me the source codes and I can access it offsite, right here.” Taemin says and the president purses her lips.

“I also have a few things on memory sticks that you might want to look at; we may as well take the trip.” She says.

“If you insist.” Taemin says, furrowing his eyebrows. He stands up and motions to Jonghyun who follows him out of the café. Taemin gets into the car of the fan president and they head towards her house where Jonghyun follows closely behind.

Key cracks his eye open and sees the harsh lights of the hospital overhead. He turns his head and looks over to one side where Onew and Minho stand.

“He’s awake!” Minho exclaims, “Onew, you stay here with Key, I’ll get the nurse.” Minho says and walks out of the room quickly.

“Hey there sleeping beauty, glad you’ve joined us.” Onew says, sitting in the chair by Key’s bed.

“What happened?” Key asks, his voice croaking. “It sounds like I’ve been to hell and back.” Key jokes, his voice still hoarse. Onew gives him a smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Do remember anything?” Onew asks and Key closes his eyes. What did he remember? One minute he was investigating in the warehouse and the next minute he heard a shrill feminine voice and then it was lights out.

Where had he heard that voice before?

“Why are you guys here? Shouldn’t you be with TVXQ!?” Key asks, trying to sit up. Onew averts his eyes from Key’s gaze.

“They were kidnapped right after their schedule at the mall.” Onew says.

“How? What about security?” Key asks, panic rising in his throat.

“We couldn’t get to them; the fans swarmed and completely mobbed us. Someone must’ve grabbed them in the fray.” Onew says.

“Where are Jonghyun and Taemin?” Key asks.

“Jonghyun called me en route; they’re going to meet the fan president.” Onew says.

“They can’t! Tell them to cancel right now.” Key yells, and Onew furrows his eyebrows, dialing Jonghyun’s number rapidly. He exchanges a few words with him and Key anxiously anticipates his response.

“Taemin is in the fan president’s car, they’re going to her house right now.” Onew reports.

“Get him out of there right now, he’s in the car of a killer!” Key yells and Onew turns pale as he realizes the severity of the situation.

Onew grabs his phone and dials Jonghyun’s number again, this time holding a more panicked conversation.

“I’m sending over a grab team, just stay there with Taemin.” Onew says and dials Minho’s number, updating him with the situation.

“Where are they headed?” Key asks, sitting up.

“To an underground club.” Onew says, putting his blazer on and talking to a security guard outside.

“Wait, where are you going?” Key asks.

“To meet Jonghyun, Minho is on his way now.” Onew says, walking towards the exit.

“Wait, take me with you, I can help.” Key says, trying to get up.

“No, you stay here.” Onew says, “You need to recover, we’ll handle it. The security will watch you to make sure no attackers harm you.” Onew runs down the hospital corridor and Key falls back onto his bed.

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Next chapter will be the end of this case series, I'll be taking a short time off to plan the next case because it'll be released in two parts. Stay tuned for more!