“Okay. We’re on our way.” Max said to his p hone. His only guide was Amber’s flapping hospital gown, as she went further and further through the emergency stairs. His prosthetic leg began to betray him, as every steps started to felt like a bullet through his knee. They got two or three more floors to go before reaching the basement, where Jia had been waiting for them.

Not far above them, they could hear a wave of mad footsteps circling closer to where they were. Amber looked up and back at Max, who was still struggling to run properly. “What, you’re wearing some tin shoes or something?” she scoffed, still running and panting at the same time as they got closer to the exit door.

“They’re going to shoot us anytime soon! Come on.” he hissed, clearly ignoring her sarcasm.

Before she could even touch the doorknob, someone from the outside had opened it for them. Followed by a smile they’d grown familiar with. “Go!” Jia showed up, pulling Amber out to the humid basement. “You too, Robocop! Faster faster!” she said half laughing, a little too excited, as she took his elbow and dragged him into the van.

“NOW DRIVE!” she shouted to empty the driver’s seat, only to be stared at by her new passengers. “Ah, right.“ she chuckled as she threw herself to the driver’s seat and kicked the gas.

From the rear window, Max could see those henchmen behind them, shooting wildly to their tires and windows. Jia laughed when the bullets easily bounced off against their bulletproof windows, before drifting out of the hospital basement, shaking the passengers behind mercilessly.

When street lights hit their faces once again, an army of men stormed into the basement. Jia nodded to one of them, who seemed to be in command, and pointed to her back, giving them an “OK” sign. Amber watched as those men immediately went into a clash with Yunho’s men.

“Did JYP send them?” the tomboy asked, turning her head back on the road as their car entered the highway.

“Yep. The hospital is under our control now. The boys in Seoul are setting up a trap for the rest of them now..” she said, before pointing to the back seat, “..and by the way, I got something you’ll love, Amber!”

Amber hesitated at first, but shoved her good arm anyway, down to the back of her seat. A bag, she thought. Max helped her fishing it out and laid it on her lap. Before they could even say a word, Jia had smirked through the rear mirror, “Heheheheh..surprise?”

“I thought I gave it to Yunho earlier..” Amber said, pulling the zips open to see her father’s laptop inside. “How did you get it back?”

“Well, let’s just say I was fast and lucky..” she smiled, “So, now that you got it back, better start searching for the real Jaejoong while we got time, Raven.”

“Don’t call me that name again.” Amber said, flipping open the rusty laptop. Right then, there was no one she hated more than herself. That laptop no longer meant anything to her, except the fact that it was her father’s legacy. If Yunho wanted to find his dear brother, then go on. If even the whole world wanted to use this Profiler, then go on. What she needed now was someone who wouldn’t betray her. Someone who at least, would share the truth with her.

In the midst of her thoughts, their eyes met.

He apologized to her in silence. Through a pair or warm brown eyes that used to cheer on her when she fell off her bike for the first time, the ones that used to be drenched in tears when she had a fight at school. But she couldn’t see that boy anymore. Her little Shen had grown up into a stranger, named Max.

“Oh poop. One of them is tailing us.” Jia stated, as she made a few sharp turns, “Amber. Just focus on finding the Hero, okay? I’ll handle them.”

Amber turned, immediately spotting a motorcyclist following them swiftly, slicing through the ocean of cars behind. Jia had opened the sun roof, ready with her own glock on both hands.

“Hey, if I do find Hero, can you let me go home?”

Amber wasn’t even sure if her little apartment still belongs to her by then, but home could really mean anything if it was the last thing she could really have. It could be the boys’ club house, it could be Tori’s room, it could even be her campus. She just wanted her life back.

Jia’s loud chuckles competing against the wind, “You don’t have to worry about that. Just find- -“

“No. Promise me. Tell me why do I have to do this. Because so far, no one told me why is it so damn important to find this Jaejoong guy. My parents died because of him. I lost my life because of him. I mean, WHO IS HE for ruining everyone’s lives?”

The sound of the continous gunshot saved the agent from her question. Next to her, Max had been busy reloading his own glock. She knew that Max, of all these crazy people, would know the answer. He just chose to keep it a secret forever.

“If I’m really a part of this mess, then give me a reason to fix this. Whatever this is.” she said, holding her fingers from activating the Profiler.

Max shoved half of his body through the window, quickly assisting Jia on taking down the cyclist. Amber nearly crush the keyboard when Max came back in and said, “Hero is next for the throne.”

“What..?”

“He is the crown prince, the heir of our group..”

Amber nearly speak when Max added, “..means he is the answer for those who seek global domination.”

She remembered ‘The Gods of The East’, who ran behind every huge decisions made around countries in Asia.

“..that’s why we need to find him before Yunho hyeong, before they made him the king.” Max continued, pulling Amber under the shades when a bullet bounced off her side of window. “Without an heir, this family is going to crumble.”

“So what exactly do you want..? Ruining your own family?” Amber asked, staring to a pair of darkness in front of her.

“They were once my family,” he corrected, “The leader adopted us. Me, Jaejoong hyeong, Yunho hyeong, and another two from different orphanages. He raised us, trained us to be his loyal hands. At first I thought that the only way to live my life was by obeying the orders, thanking our father for taking us to his family. But after what happened to your parents- - it became harder for me to follow orders..”

Right then, Jia threw herself back into the driver’s seat, smokes dancing from the tip of her glocks. “Suzy is on her way here to back me up,” she said, half-panting, while clicking on a few buttons under the steering wheel. “..okay, all set. Safe trip guys! Max, you take over from here!”

When Amber lifted her head, the Chinese girl had climbed up through the sun roof like a cat.

“I.. think she just set a route for us.” Max said, quickly crawling to the empty driver’s seat. The GPS had been marked just as he suspected, and it showed that they were heading to the airport.

“Will she be alright?” she asked, watching as Jia jumping from car to car further away from them. If only this was an action movie, and she was a trained stuntwoman, maybe it would be less painful to watch. But then again, Jia is ten times stealthier than a stuntman and a stuntwoman combined.

“..nevermind.” she replied to herself when Max stayed silent, concentrating on the road. The bright screen on her lap was still blinking, waiting for her order. Amber couldn’t move a finger, her eyes fixed on Max’s back as he drove them away without a word.

“Was it all the truth?”

Max brought their van off the highway as instructed by the gps. “Yes.” that was all he said.

She let out a dry, tired laugh. “..let’s hope it’s true.”

***

Gunshots. Roars.

Boots stomping the ground outside that door.

The tech guy had pulled Key behind the turned table, covering themselves as best as he could. Key grabbed his walkie talkie, as he couldn’t find any better stuffs around to be a weapon.

“What are you doing?” the tech guy gritted his teeth, too scared to move.

“I don’t know, trying to keep us alive..?” he wasn’t even sure why he acted so tough. Both of them were not going to make it anyway, so maybe pretending to be brave was his only choice.

“The operation is going to be a success. Just stay still. The guys out there are the best.” he whispered to Key, trying to calm both of them but Key knew the man was just encouraging himself. Trying not to pee in his pants.

Another shout and a gunshot was heard. “Master Jaejoong!”

Key took a peek above the table, seeing that the door was still holding up, but maybe not for long if they kept going like this. It all felt almost surreal to him. Any minute now he could die when they found out he was not the ‘Master’ they had been looking for.

“Master Jaejoong!”

Another massive bang at the door finally shattered Key’s last defense as he sunk deeper behind the table. It definitely seemed like JYP’s men and the so-called-elite force couldn’t handle them, which means zero chance of survival for them.

“Don’t worry, they’re going to save us. They’re going to save us.” the skinny tech guy murmured under his breath, clutching the end of his parka jacket for dear life.

Key wanted to believe those words, but his hands were shaking. “Maybe this was all part of the plan. JYP’s sacrificing us to them..”

“NO!” the tech guy screamed out of the blue, “What are you saying?! We’re going to be alright. We should always trust JYP.” he sunk next to Key, still in a desperate series of weak motivational words. All Key could think about was a B plan. He couldn’t die here, not when the sniper was still out there somewhere, not when he still hadn’t heard Amber on the phone, saying she’s alive..

“Connect me to Amber.” he said, ignoring the fuss outside the door.

The tech guy turned and gave him an ‘i-can’t-believe-you-just-said-that’ look, before focusing back on his little prayer. Key grabbed his collar, hissing to his face, “Just do it, alright?”

“What, are you crazy? Are you going to ruin the mission- -“

Key took a quick breath, before pushing the antenna of his walkie talkie to the veins on his neck, “I might not be a killer, but I can do something about it if you’re not making that call the second I release your collar from my grip.”

“Yah- -“

“Please. I want to talk to her.”

***

Max led her out of the car when they finally arrived at the airport. They were moving straight to the domestic flights area, when swiftly, a man joined them to make a trio. Amber noticed him but Max didn’t even bother to look at the stranger as he kept walking toward the waiting lounge.

“Raven-san, we’ve been waiting for you.” the guy said in Japanese, and Amber needed at least ten seconds to translate it into her brain. Instead of wearing suit and tie like what everyone else had worn so far, the skinny guy wore a set of hoodie, jeans, and a thick windbreaker. Amber couldn’t tell who or what he was, but she was pretty sure that Max was not related to him by the way he’d been ignoring him since he joined their little march toward the lounge.

“Did Jia send you to us?” Max finally asked him, in a surprisingly fluent Japanese. Ah of course, Amber thought. As part of the Gods, having the skills in speaking more than just one language must be a necessity.

She sat in a nearby waiting seat, watching as both of them talked to each other in their own Japanese world. Meanwhile, people began to stare at her, noticing that she only wore a floral hospital gown underneath Max’s leather jacket. She chose to avoid eye contacts, just in case they got the wrong idea and contacted the airport security, reporting her as a ‘runaway patient’.

“Come on.” Max said, hinting her to follow their new japanese friend.

Walking behind them carefully, Amber noticed how Max was still limping. She nearly poked him on the back and asked ‘what’s wrong’, but their situation wasn’t exactly friendly at the moment. So she held herself, watching him from a few steps behind, as guilt began to creep all over her. Amber knew how much he fought until today, and that life hadn’t been kind to him each and everyday since her parent’s death. But everytime she looked at him, it felt like he knew something she didn’t know. Even when he had told her everything.

“Rave- -ah, Amber-san, we’re here.” the Japanese guy snapped her mind back to reality as they arrived at what looked like a private hangar. Max must have told him how she doesn’t like being called Raven.

“Where are we heading?” she asked, as the three of them hurried their steps into a small jet parked at the end of the hangar, next to helicopters and some bulky air planes there.

“Tokyo.” Max answered, waiting for her to enter the jet. “I’m told that you’ll be safe there. For now.”

Still holding her father’s laptop, she climbed into the jet and threw herself to a seat at the back. The jet pretty much felt like a taxi inside, cold and formal, only a bit more spacious, with weaponaries and communication gears hanging by the side of each seat. Afterwards, the Japanese guy was trying his best to make her comfortable as he handed her some sweaters and pants to change.

After the door was closed for them, Max sat across her seat, staring at the pile of clothes untouched next to her. He glanced at her left arm, still hanging motionlessly while her good one resting on her father’s laptop. “You should change. I’ll see if there’s someone who can help you.” he said, leaving his seat for the conference cabin behind them where the rest of the agents were.

“No, it’s alright. I can do it later myself.” she said, trying not to sound too offensive. It would be funny if Max was to see her struggling with one hand trying to put her head into the sweater. No, that would just make her look miserable.

Max only nodded, and Amber turned her gaze back to the dark sky outside the window. She waited for him to speak -she knew at times like this he would say something. But after what felt like long, icy minutes to her, she took a quick glance at him, only to find that he wasn’t even on his seat anymore. In fact, no one was around. She was alone in the cabin.

“Hello? Max? Anyone?” she called out, getting no answer.

Taking it as a hint from Max, she started to take her hospital gown off and changed into the sweater, swallowing the pain in her shoulder in silence. She didn’t know changing clothes could be this torturing just because one stupid bullet. Finally after zipping up the borrowed jeans, she looked around, but Max was still no where to find.

“Umm..I’m done changing. You can come out now.” again, she spoke to the empty air.

The divider at the back of the cabin was tightly shut, Amber couldn’t take a peek of what those Japanese men and Max were doing back there. Were they holding a meeting without her? Oh, come on.

Cradling her bad arm carefully, she shifted out of her seat and went straight to the back of the cabin.

“Do you realize that you just jeopardized the whole mission?”

She pulled the divider apart, finding Max with five Japanese agents circling around a phone receiver. They all turned at her, but soon be attracted back to Max who was still talking on the phone.

“What’s going on?” she asked. They all stayed still, sternly listening to Max’s conversation.

She took a seat next to them, not willing to move until she knew what was happening. The plan was to bring her to Tokyo and from then on it would be her job to track down the Hero. But if there was any change of plan, she should be the first person to know why and how. This was her fight to begin with, but everyone expected her to say yes to their hidden agenda so far.

“Amber..?”

Suddenly she felt something cold tugging her ear, and so she looked up to find Max shoving the phone receiver to her. Taking the phone from Max, she replied to the caller, “..yoboseyo?”

She heard scratchy sounds and murmurs from the other line, but no words coming out. “Mmm..moshi moshi?” she repeated herself in Japanese, just in case the dude didn’t understand Korean.

“You’re alive.. Oh heavens, you’re alive!”

“Key..hyeong?” she needed to make sure. She knew his voice right away, she knew it by heart. But she needed him to say yes.

“Yes.. it’s me..” he said, and she felt warmth bursting inside her. “Gwaenchana?”

It was like the start of a domino. So fast, everything inside her began to fall and crumble, pushing each tile one by one, until it finally hit the last one.. and it’s over. She lost to her tears. It was a hard rock barrier that she’d built for days, and just like that, a stupid ‘Gwaenchana’ from him shattered every bits and pieces of it.

“Are you crying..? I didn’t call you to hear you cry, you know.”

But all she could hear was his soothing voice between her thin sobs. She nodded to him, even though he couldn’t see her nod. She nodded, and nodded, until she had the energy to say, “G-Gwaenchanayo..”

“I’m glad you’re okay- I just want you to come back soon- Back to uni, back to our club house..” his voice was muffled by noises around him -she wasn’t sure what, but it didn’t distract her from all the words he spoke.

She nodded again, trying hard not to let him hear anymore of her sobs.

“I miss you.”

“Hyeong, listen- - ” she paused, when someone else spoke instead of Key.

The stranger’s voice filled in the gap, “..you’ve talked to her, okay? Enough- -”

“Who’s this? Where’s Key..?” she asked, wondering if Key was in a club or something, because everything was loud behind him.

The same awkward man continued, “..can you guys hear me? Please just forget this phone call, I’m han- -”

“Yoboseyo? Yoboseyo?! Yah!” Amber waited for another reply, but she heard nothing, not even a beep.

***

Hehe it feels like I can never stop apologizing for the super long delays of update, but life has just been as busy as always, even busier these days ;A;

Thanks for new subscribers, old readers, and all the ghost readers out there :D

It's been two years and I'm going to finish this story by the end of this year! Fighting!! #slappingmyself

Please leave your comments below n tell me how you feel, that is, if you did feel something reading it TvT~

Good day, guys!