Ravi scowled as the bus drove away from the ISBIP base. It wasn’t fair that he had to leave and Sori had to stay. So what if Dark Lake was open again? So what if she’d be following along in a few days? He missed her and he wanted her with him now.

“Smile,” N said, trying his best to sound cheerful as he moved to sit beside Ravi, “we’ll see everyone again soon.”

“I miss Hyukkie,” Ken whined, “and Hongbin. And Leo. And I miss everyone else, too. N, why couldn’t we join the ISBIP like everyone else?”

“We just can’t,” N snapped, honestly a little sick of hearing the two complaining.

“We can,” Ravi muttered, “it’s you who can’t join.”

“What was that?” N growled. “What did you just say?”

“I said,” Ravi snapped, “is that you’re the only one who can’t join. Not us. You’re the reason we aren’t with everyone else right now.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” N growled, sparks of lightning starting to form and run along his arms and neck, “I didn’t realize I stood in front of you and kept you away from the sign-up sheet. Oh wait, that’s because I didn’t. If you didn’t join like Leo, Hyuk, and Hongbin, that’s your fault.”

“Both of you stop it before I turn you into lamps,” Ken shouted, “and don’t think I’m not going to do it.”

N and Ravi glared at each other one last time before looking away. N moved out of Ravi’s seat to the back of the bus. He got that Ravi was mad, but to blame him? That was uncalled for. Maybe later N would scold himself for snapping at Ravi, but at that moment he was too pissed off. Not like he insulted Ravi either. N just spoke the truth; if Ravi really wanted to join and became an agent then he would have found a way.

“I suddenly can’t wait to be back home,” Ken muttered, finding that he suddenly missed Chen and the others a great deal.

“Stupid N,” Ravi muttered under his breath.

He knew that he was being a brat, but he just……he wanted to be with everyone else. Yeah, being with Sori would be awesome, but he missed Hyuk and Hongbin and Leo as well. He was just so……so pissed off that N had asked them not to join, but those three did it anyway. They hadn’t even asked him if he wanted to join as well. So there he was on a bus back to Dark Lake and they were still at the base, probably getting some information about a cool mission or something.

“So not fair,” Ravi sighed.

--

“I’ve got some missions for some of you,” Jihu said, frowning slightly, “Leo, Baekhyun, Hyuk, and Sori are all being assigned to a mission with Suho as your supervising agent.”

“Seriously?” Suho asked, “Me? Why me?”

“Why not?” Jihu questioned right on back, “you’re an excellent agent, Suho. It’s natural that you’d end up being a supervising agent on a mission.”

“But so soon?” Suho frowned, “don’t they still consider me an in-training agent?”

“Not now,” Haruhi spoke up, “you and Kris are considered fully trained now.”

“Hmm,” Kris scowled, “something about that feels…….”

“Wrong?” Suho supplied.

“Exactly,” the fire dragon nodded, “I don’t know what it is, but something about this promotion feels weird. And why would they only have Suho as the supervising agent when there are four new agents who are so new they aren’t even in-training? Isn’t it standard practice to have two agents in cases like this?”

“Yes,” Jihu said, looking and sounding very concerned, “but these are the orders and we have to work with them.”

“Who’s orders?” Sori asked.

“The head of my department,” Jihu told her, “he thinks that Suho is ready for this.”

“If it makes you feel better,” Haruhi said, trying to make her smile as convincing as possible, “it’s a super short mission. And it sounds really easy. Just go in, get the item requested, and come right on back.”

“Sounds a lot like our first mission,” Kris muttered.

“Yeah,” Suho nodded, “that came right from Jihu’s boss, too.”

“Sori is, well, Sori,” Kris said, trying to make his friend feel better, “and Leo, Baekhyun, and Hyuk aren’t exactly weak links either.”

“I know,” Suho nodded, “but…….I’m worried.”

“I know,” Kris sighed, “it feels like we’re going to get set up.”

“Again,” Suho sighed as well.

“Be careful,” Kris warned the other, “if anything, anything at all, seems out of place or too perfect or whatever, you get yourself and everyone else out of there. mission complete or mission incomplete.”

“I know,” Suho nodded, “if this is a set up……..well it doesn’t matter if it is or not. I’m not going to let anything hurt those four or myself.”

“You didn’t say it,” Kris said, slightly playful.

“Huh?” Suho blinked, not catching on to Kris’ little joke.

“You didn’t say ‘I promise to be careful,” Kris told him, laughing when Suho lightly smacked his shoulder.

“Fine,” the water dragon said, “I promise that I’ll be careful.”

“Cross your heart?”

“Cross my heart,” Suho nodded, “and hope to die. Stick a needle in my eye and all that other crap.”

“It’s not crap,” Kris said mockingly, “it’s very serious promise ritual stuff. Without it, your promise of being careful wouldn’t hold any weight.”

“You’re a kid sometimes,” Suho laughed.

“Get your stuff together,” Jihu said, calling everyone’s attention back to him, “Suho, you and your team will be heading out tomorrow.”

“You should be back in……..three days,” Haruhi said, “after that, you’re all going back to Dark Lake.”

“Um,” Lina asked, “what will happen if a mission comes in for one of us? Between now and then? Or when we’re back at school? I know back in the early days after they joined, Kris and Suho and Hyoyeon were always leaving.”

“We’re going to try to keep you at school as much as we can,” Jihu explained, “especially those of you in your final year.”

“But if a mission comes in and you’re needed,” Haruhi warned, “I’ll drive to the school myself to pick you up.”

“I know you guys didn’t sign up for this mission stuff,” Jihu said, “but the facts are that you’re agents and you need to do missions like any other agent. Sometimes those mission will be long, other times you could leave in the morning and be back by noon. You just have to go with it.”

“Go get some rest,” Haruhi told Suho, Leo, Baekhyun, Hyuk, and Sori, “you’ve all got to pack. Plus you’re heading out really early in the morning.”

“I’ll get Suho,” Jihu added before the five could leave, “and he can get the rest of you. Good luck.”

“Be careful,” Hongbin said, catching Hyuk’s arm before the younger could go very far, “you better come back alive, alright?” he turned to Leo then, “don’t get hurt doing something stupid, alright?”

“I’ll be fine, hyung,” Hyuk assured the fae, “and so will Leo hyung. We’ve got each other and we have Suho, Sori, and Baekhyun.”

“Everything will be fine,” Leo nodded before heading out with Hyuk.

Hongbin watched as similar exchanges occurred between Suho and Kris, Sori and the girls, and Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Those heading out on the mission assured those staying that everything would be fine. Hongbin was almost ready to believe it. Almost. His gut told him to be worried, so he was going to listen to that.

“Be safe,” Hongbin whispered as he watched the last member of the five supernatural team leave the room, “please come back.”

A/N: will this mission be a set up? or is everyone just paranoid?  Next week, we shall find out!!