It was a quiet night in downtown Seoul, and Kim Junmyeon was just settling in to catch up on the recent news.

“Drug cartel honcho, Augustus Prime, has finally been put behind bars just recently through the valiant efforts of Seoul’s guardian team known as K-Factor,” the female studio anchor’s voice echoed throughout the living room. “Even now, not much has been known about K-Factor other than the fact that the team is led by master water manipulator, Riptide, along with five other members.”

Junmyeon sighed as he saw his face flash on the screen in their regulation uniform. It was one of the network’s stock photos captured just as his eyes flashed in cerulean whenever he would begin to use his powers. Junmyeon thought to himself, ‘When will the media just stop prying into our lives?’

“Other than water,” the news anchor continued as photos of the other team members flashed on screen. “Wind and fire manipulation have been exhibited by team members Kazenoru and Vermillion respectively. There are also the dazzling light shows by team member Sparks, along with the rampaging beast that is Rage. Most peculiar of all is team member, Night Spectre, who is…”

Junmyeon raised an eyebrow when the news anchor suddenly stopped mid-broadcast.

“Are you sure?” the anchor whispered to someone behind the camera. Suddenly, she straightened up and cleared. “Sorry for that, dear viewers, but we have exclusive breaking news on what is currently happening in downtown Seoul. In the area, we have Lee Seojae reporting. Come in, Seojae. Is it true that a member of Royale has been apprehended?”

The screen suddenly changed to a young, female reporter with the commotion of someone being placed in handcuffs in her background. Junmyeon’s eyes narrowed when he saw familiar faces in the crowd.

“That’s right, Sunny,” answered the reporter, a bit too bubbly in her tone. “A member of international super-terrorist group, Royale, named Cypher, also known as the Jack of Clubs, has been apprehended by the authorities with the help of guardian team, M-Corps.”

“Did you just say M-Corps, Seojae?” asked the anchor, the same statement that Junmyeon said out loud.

“Yes, Sunny,” answered the field reporter. “We do not have any idea why this guardian team has been sighted in the city lately but… Wait, there’s one of their team members. Let’s get a statement.”

The reporter hurriedly rushed to a tall man in dark fatigues and a kevlar vest. He had striking features and one could not decide whether the notable eye bags marred his face or added to his appeal. “Excuse me, sir,” said the reporter. “What’s your name? Are you a member of M-Corps? Can you tell us what happened here?

The man suddenly stopped and talked into the mic that was held out in front of him. He cleared his throat before saying, “Please call me Staccato and yes, I am a member of M-Corps.” The man proudly showed off the badge on his right chest.

‘The man looks familiar...’ Junmyeon thought to himself when the camera finally focused on the man in the TV.

Suddenly the living room grew noisy as a couple of guys came in, one very tall with deep red hair and wide ears, the other one shorter with silvery-blond hair.

“Hyung!!!” the shorter one screamed as he landed on the couch and snuggled himself into Junmyeon’s shoulder. “Chanyeol ate all the cookies. Can we go out and buy more?”

“Ya, Baekhyun!!” said the other one, standing in front of the TV and blocking Junmyeon’s view. “He’s lying, hyung! He’s the one who ate a lot of cookies and blames me for eating the last piece! I only had one cookie! One!!”

Junmyeon looked pointedly at the tall man in front of him and hissed, “Sit down, Chanyeol. I am watching the news.”

“Oops,” Chanyeol whispered before he quickly squeezed himself into the tiny space left on the couch, swatting Baekhyun’s feet away. Watching the news meant not to disturb Junmyeon.

“When you deal with an international organization such as Royale, we really don’t think it matters who caught whom and where,” the man on the television continued to speak to the reporter. “Oh, wait. This is live, right? Let me say hi to Kazenoru. Just landed in Seoul, babe! Text you later!”

“Who’s that thug with a screechy voice?” Baekhyun suddenly whispered out loud. “And did he just say… ?”

Baekhyun was flung away when Junmyeon suddenly stood up and shouted. “Sehun!!”

Wu Yifan took a deep breath as he got out of the Hummer. It had been years since he had stepped foot in the Sooman Academy of Exceptional Talents, one of the top schools in the Far East for those born with the mutant gene which gave them superpowers. Yifan couldn’t wait to see the school headmaster and his former mentor, Professor Sooman, a powerful telepath. Looking around, the young leader of the Beijing guardian team, M-Corps, noticed that not much has changed since he left.

“It still smells the same, right?” said Luhan, one of the M-Corps members with power of telekinesis and second sight, going by the name Twilight. The man was also a student here. In fact, three out of the six members of M-Corps were graduates of the Academy, before they went back to Beijing to become part of their guardian team.

“Han, you think the tree is still there?” remarked Xiumin, the third who studied here. His mutant ability was the control of ice, with the codename of Frostbite.

“Maybe?” Luhan wiggled his eyebrows. “You wanna go check it out?”

Before the other man could reply, Yifan cleared his throat loudly and glared at the two. Even though Luhan and Xiumin were older than him, he was still the leader and commanded a good amount of respect. “We’re not here to fool around, you two. Meeting now, explore later.”

“Take a chill pill, gege,” a younger man clapped Yifan’s back as he wrapped a shoulder around the latter.

Almost as tall as the leader, Zitao, or Tao in short, was lackadaisical when it came to propriety with his elders, even with his own blood brother. His mutant ability manifested differently from his brother who was an adept with flight. Both were masters of different weapons, but Tao’s mutant ability allowed him to move in bullet-time, creating an undue advantage when it came to fighting. While Yifan studied in Korea, Tao chose to be learned of the ways of the ancient martial arts and entered the monastery in the Wu Dang Mountains. Thus, both had differing disciplines with their fighting styles.

“So this is the Academy, huh? Doesn’t seem to look like anything much,” another member named Chen commented, as he stepped out from the vehicle. “I’ve seen bigger castles in Japan.”

“Don’t be such a downer, Chen,” said the last one out of the Hummer and the team’s designated driver.

Chen and Yixing, the sixth member of the team, were best friends since childhood. Both worked in the medical field, Chen was a paramedic while Yixing was a doctor. They had mutant abilities, but both went to study in the usual schools together with non-mutants which prevented them from exploring their abilities to the fullest until they were grown up. It wasn’t a hindrance for them though when they were recruited into the M-Corps. Proud of his Japanese heritage on his mother’s side, Chen took the name Raijin which reflected his ability to control electric force from sparks to lightning bolts. Yixing’s ability though was a healing touch, which was a big asset for the team. It took him some time though to agree to leave his job, and he was grateful that his best friend was with him all the time or he wouldn’t have made it through the boot camp and the crash course on battle and combat.

“Let’s move, people,” Yifan raised his voice in command.

Effortlessly, all six moved into their usual positions while walking towards the large Academy doors. Little did they know that they were being watched from inside. Curious eyes peered through thick curtains, intrigued at the newcomers.

“Hey, Sehun!” Baekhyun screeched, echoing throughout the hallway. “Your boyfriend’s here! Are you vibrating with excitement?”

“Shut up, !” Sehun, who was walking past the other one, snapped back.

“That’s -hyung, !” Baekhyun flicked his hand and sent a spark of light floating towards Sehun, which hit the latter squarely in the middle of his forehead.

In reply, Sehun also whisked his hand and sent a small gust to the shorter man, ruffling his hair.

“Didn’t I tell you not to mess with my hair?” said the other one, his lips thinning in annoyance. “You…”

Before Baekhyun could say anything more, Suho appeared out of the corner and said, “You two stop that right now. Everyone should be in the grand hall by now. Go!”

“Are you crazy, Professor?” Junmyeon’s voice went up an octave higher. “W-why? We’ve dealt with the Royale group before. We don’t need anyone’s help. Especially not from…”

“From me, Junmyeon?” Yifan finished the other’s sentence. He saw the other man wince at how casually he was calling him.

Yifan stared at the K-Factor leader who also stared back at him. One could see that the animosity between the two leaders were so thick that it could be cut by a knife.

Almost half an hour earlier, the six men of M-Corps entered the grand hall of the Academy, invited there by the headmaster, Professor Sooman, himself for a very important meeting. Standing in attention in a row, the members of M-Corps were in their dress uniforms as what was customary whenever they were in formal settings, a product of their strict disciplinary training. Opposite them stood the six men of K-Factor who, on the other hand, were dressed as casually as they could be as they were housed inside the Academy itself.

Unlike the leaders, the other members of both teams felt better towards each other, enjoying the chance of meeting new friends. Even though half of M-Corps were graduates of the Academy, only Junmyeon and Kyungsoo were their batchmates. The rest of K-Factor started in the Academy after Yifan, Luhan and Xiumin left.

While the two guardian teams did greet each other, it was Junmyeon who kept formality and distance. Being the leader, the rest of K-Factor reluctantly followed suit. Yifan and the rest of M-Corps did not really care but did not do anything otherwise.

As their meeting progressed, the rest of the members could feel that there really was some bad blood between the leaders. Sehun tried to get close to Tao, who by then everyone in his team knew was his boyfriend, but one glare from Junmyeon and the K-Factor maknae had to stand his ground.

Before anything else was said, Yifan quietly stood up and went around the table to where Junmyeon was. Everyone watched as the tall man loomed silently behind the K-Factor leader’s seat. Junmyeon tried not to notice the other man behind him, his lips kept stiffly in a line. A few more moments and Yifan coughed loudly. Junmyeon suddenly pushed his seat back, but the other man was quick enough to slide out of the way as if the whole thing was rehearsed. Both went off to the antechamber with Yifan entering first and Junmyeon slamming the door behind him.

“What was all that about?” Jongin suddenly piped up, causing Kyungsoo, his boyfriend, to sigh out loud and roll his eyes at him.

“Jongin, I already told you about it,” answered the latter.

“Told him what?” Chanyeol suddenly perked up. While the members of K-Factor could consider themselves to be close friends, he noticed that their leader maintained some form of distance from them.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agreed, the man not wanting to be left behind when it came to gossip. “You told Jongin but you haven’t told the rest of us. That is so unfair, just because you two sleep together.”

Jongin’s eyes suddenly went wide. While the team knew that he and Kyungsoo were definitely more than friends, he tried his best to be discreet when he would visit his boyfriend in the dead of night, which apparently is not true at all. “W-what?”

“Alright! That’s enough,” said Kyungsoo out loud, diffusing what would be another of Baekhyun’s and Jongin’s war of words. He looked to their mentor as if asking for permission.

Professor Sooman had rested his forehead on his clasped hands and just silently nodded.

“To make the long story short,” Kyungsoo began again. “Yifan and Junmyeon are ex-lovers.”

“Pfft~ lovers,” Tao snickered to the side. “You make that sound so romantic. When there’s smoke, there’s fire. My gege thinks he’s such a cold city guy but I knew he had a little something-something going on when he was here. Didn’t realize it was with that short guy though.”

“Hey, who’re you calling short?” Sehun, who used the absence of Junmyeon to sneak off and sit at Tao’s side, suddenly slapped the latter’s thigh very hard. “That’s our umma you’re talking about.”

“Just kidding, babe,” Tao softened his eyes in response to the other man’s pout and everything else was once more forgotten between the two.

“I wonder what they could be doing in there,” Yixing spoke from out of nowhere.

“Well,” answered Luhan. “One thing’s for sure; this is not the first time that those two have stormed off to that room.”

“Yeah,” Xiumin seconded. “We used to call that the JunFan argument room when we were still here, but until now we still don’t know what happens inside there.”

Moments later and the door swung open causing everyone to be silent once more.

"Alright, moving on,” Junmyeon suddenly announced even before he reached his seat. “Planning starts now.”

Less than forty-eight hours later and the members of M-Corps were in one of the highrise buildings in uptown Seoul. They received intel that their target resided in its penthouse. Luhan and the other members were outside the room’s opulent door ready to barge in on signal. The M-Corps member sent out a wave of telepathy trying to feel out their surroundings.

“I feel a lot of mental presence inside,” said Luhan. “I think I can count at least thirty different minds.”

“Do you think she’s inside?” asked Yixing. “It would be rude for us to force our way in and she’s not even there. What would she think if her home got trashed while she was away?”

“Dude…” Tao’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?”

“Hold on,” said Luhan once more. “I think I can pick up on the thoughts of one of the people nearby. Wait. Yep, the Queen of Clubs is inside. There are a lot of goons though.”

“Meh,” answered Chen. “It figures that she’s going to need some protection. I think it’s nothing that a bit of brute force can’t handle though.”

“Stick to the plan, everybody,” Yifan reminded. “What we need now is information.”

In their meeting at the Academy’s grand hall, the members of M-Corps and K-Factor were shown a video of the Royale group’s latest threat. Morrick, the King of Clubs and leader of Royale’s faction in the Far East and Northern Pacific, had issued an ultimatum and extorting five billion dollars from the government as well as the freedom of some of the most notorious criminals that were in the hands of the law enforcers.

What was more alarming that and why the two guardian teams were assembled was that the same threat was also issued to Beijing and its autonomous states and even Tokyo. If the demands were not met, nuclear warheads were already in place with their trajectories towards the eastern seaboard cities of Asia. Not knowing what else to do, the government leaders of those countries turned to Professor Sooman for guidance knowing that the man had his own trump card in his hand.

While operating in different countries, K-Factor and M-Corps were in fact members of one bigger guardian team known as EXO-Force. It was at the meeting that the Professor was forced to reveal it to them due to the looming threat of possibly the biggest criminal group plaguing the whole world at the moment. In their usual operations, K-Factor and M-Corps responded to missions from their respective governments concerning high profile criminals especially those with mutant powers that the usual law enforcement agencies could not handle. Now, though, that an international crisis was at hand, Professor Sooman had to call back his twelve chosen guardians to face it head on.

“Everyone, ready?” asked Yifan, looking at his team who nodded at him. “Let’s do this, M-Corps”

Xiumin immediately went up to the door. With his power over ice, it became frozen and brittle, allowing Tao to easily kick it to pieces. Before the goons inside could react, Chen was already in wait to send out a shockwave that knocked out the four people nearest the door as the rest of M-Corps piled in. They needed to be able to quickly stand their ground inside to keep from being bottlenecked at the entrance.

Yifan, Tao and Luhan were up front and fought with the other goons as they came into the wide living space. Even though they were outnumbered, the enemies were mere pawns and slowly succumbed to their adversaries.Yixing stood behind, flanked by both Xiumin and Chen who fought from a distance with bolts of ice and lightning. A particularly heavy-set goon though proved to be a bit too strong for Tao at the moment and the wushu prodigy was thrown back. Yixing immediately got to work and healed younger man’’s wounds.

His pride bruised a bit, Tao gathered his energy and went into bullet-time. He brandished a tonfa on each hand to make his attacks count. Moving five times as fast, he landed blow after blow after blow on his target until the large goon was knocked out. He kept up his bullet-time for a couple more seconds to watch the others move in slow motion. It was something he enjoyed the most out of his power but Tao knew that he had to stop it very soon or risk passing out from exhaustion himself.

A few more moments later and Luhan knocked out the last goon with the ball made out of titanium that he manipulates with his telekinetic power whenever he was fighting. While fighting lowly goons were easy, it was the sheer number they had to fight at the same time that caused the M-Corps members to break a sweat.

“I guess all that’s left is the Queen of Clubs,” said Yixing as he looked around at the unconscious bodies around the place. “In the bedroom perhaps?”

“Want me to freeze that up too?” asked Xiumin, pointing at another opulent door with golden filigree designs.

“You don’t have to do that.”

From behind the door, a tall, beautiful woman came out dressed in a long, flowing gown of midnight blue. The color of her clothes were a striking opposite to the paleness of her skin. She walked towards a point opposite where the M-Corps  were.

“And here I was thinking that a small group would be enough to stall you men for me to escape,” said the woman, who looked around at the goons on the floor. “You did such a thorough job though. Huh? What’s this?”

The woman suddenly a pair of metal shackles on her feet, made from the ball that Luhan reshaped. While it was technically floating on air, Luhan’s powers secured it in place so their target could not escape.

“Selene,” Yifan spoke up, staring hard at the woman before them.

“Must you be so formal, Yifan?” said Selene, a teasing look in her eye. “Oh, that’s right. You go by the codename of Drake now. How’s life on the other side of the law?”

“It would be better if you would tell us where Morrick keeps those nukes, Selene,” Yifan growled.

“Well, I could tell you that,” answered the other. “But then your question is wrong.”

“What the hell?” Chen suddenly spoke. “Just give us the answers, woman.”

“You don’t have to be so pushy,” Selene continued to taunt them. “Fine, but I want political immunity. I’m bailing out of this sinking ship that is Royale. I don’t want to go down with it.”

“Oka-” Chen began but Yifan suddenly cut him off.

“We will think about it after you’ve given us your information,” said the leader.

“Sheesh, Drake!” said the younger. “What’s wrong with giving her some lousy immunity?”

“Calm down, Raijin,” Yixing answered for the leader. “If she’s able to betray her group this easily, what’s stopping her from feeding us wrong information?”

“Well, for one, you have a human polygraph machine,” said Selene. “And two, I’m sick of being such a lowly Queen beside that ugly- Morrick. Either I become the Queen of Hearts or I leave, and since that position will not likely become mine any time soon, then what else can I do?”

“Talk,” said Tao, easily the most intimidating out of the six with his striking features. “But it doesn’t mean we’ll believe you.”

“Morrick doesn’t have the nukes,” answered the other. “The King of Hearts has them. In fact, this whole operation isn’t even led by the Suit of Clubs. We’re just mere pawns, and I for one do not like to be simple fodder for another’s ambitions.”

“Unless of course you’d also be benefitting from it,” Chen commented derisively.

Yifan’s communicator suddenly came to life. “Drake,” Chanyeol’s voice crackled through the earpiece. “Come in, Drake.”

Yifan signaled to Chen and Luhan to keep watch on Selene. The former nodded in reply, before Yifan walked some distance away.

“What is it, Vermillion?” Yifan answered, keeping an eye on their prisoner as the rest of the team were rounding up the unconscious henchmen.

“It’s bad,” said the one on the other end, his voice shaking. “This is really bad. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know-“

“Spit it out, Vermillion!” Yifan snapped.

“I-it’s Riptide,” Chanyeol answered.

“What’s wrong with Riptide?” Yifan suddenly felt dread wash over him. Chanyeol wasn’t usually the one to be really nervous. In fact, Yifan has never heard the other man this nervous before.

“He… t-the King of Clubs…” Chanyeol was stuttering so badly that even Yifan thought that his connection had too much static. “Morrick took Riptide.”

“What?!” Yifan suddenly shouted, causing the other M-Corps members to turn their heads towards him. “How did that happen? Where are you guys, right now?”

“I-it was a trap,” Chanyeol’s voice was still very shaky. “W-we managed to infiltrate Morrick’s club at the marina. Riptide f-followed him to another room a-and the next thing we knew, the guards started firing at us. We got out, but it was too late. They were already in a boat. Riptide was knocked out.”

Yifan took a deep breath, trying his best to calm down. “Okay, let’s meet back at the headquarters. We need to finish things up here.”

The M-Corps leader made his way slowly back to where the Queen of Clubs was bound. He was seething in anger.

“You planned this,” Yifan growled, seeing the look of elation on Selene’s face.

“I take it you already know then,” the woman’s lilting laugh echoed throughout the room they were in, unmindful that she was bound tightly.

“Take her away,” said the M-Corps leader to the three youngest members. “And make sure you see her locked up with your own eyes.”

“Those blasted nukes are somewhere in the South Pacific,” Selene continued. “Find out where the Royale Ball will be held and you’ll see why I can easily betray those fools when you get there.”

Just as the Queen of Clubs had relayed to them, Royale’s party was underway two days later. It was barely enough time for the eleven combined members of K-Factor and M-Corps as EXO-Force to plan out how to stop the criminal group’s nuclear threat and rescue Riptide at the same time. Throughout this time, Yifan was beside himself with worry, but tried his best not to show it to the others. Even though they weren’t together now, Yifan had to admit to himself that he was worried for Junmyeon’s safety above anyone else. None of them had more than the usual information on the King of Hearts, who is said to be the most powerful of the four Kings of Royale. He was an elusive man and why he wanted Junmyeon, no one knows.

Able to easily infiltrate the venue, Yifan and the rest of EXO-Force dispersed throughout the guests. He was glad that it was a masquerade ball and most of the guests wore their elaborate masks. There were only a few who refused to do so, and they were high up in the hierarchy of the criminal world.

In his thoughts, Yifan couldn’t help but facepalm at how they got in. It was Chen, himself, who volunteered to get them in.

”But we still haven’t answered the biggest question?” said Kyungsoo as the eleven members and Professor Sooman brainstormed their plans a couple of days ago. “How are we getting into that frickin’ party? It’s not like we can just waltz in uninvited. They’ve got nukes and our leader.”

“I can get us in,” said Chen out of nowhere.

Everyone’s eyes were on him immediately. The man could barely care though as he continued to juggle two balls of lightning in one hand.

“Would you care to elaborate on that, Chen?” asked the Professor.

“He has connections,” Yixing answered for him.

“You gotta be prepared to become service crew, though,” Chen said with finality.

Chen’s statement spelled a crash course on hospitality service among the members of EXO-Force. While those who studied in the Academy had some inkling on how it would be like to act as waiters and other odd jobs, Tao, however, was a fish out of water. In the end, they just decided that Tao just needed to look the part anyway.

Barely 10 hours ago and they were already on their way. They had to fly out to a Micronesian island, and from there, they were transferred to a private boat with the rest of the party needs. Being as they were part of the service crew, they had to do their jobs. Yifan was impressed at how Chen was able to quickly get them in, yet he wondered what was really in Chen’s past to make it this easy.

When one of the guests called him, Yifan had to bring his mindset back into the job. As he served, he saw Morrick, the King of Clubs, laughing boisterously with some guests, a couple of stick-thin models on each hand. He wanted badly to strangle the life out of the man for putting Junmyeon in danger, but they still had to stick with the plan. Evan Hart, the King of Hearts, still had control over those nuclear warheads aimed at the eastern seaboard cities. They had to prevent this war from happening, and rescue Junmyeon in the process. The others had already dispersed to find where the nukes are while Yifan checked on things at the party.

The banquet hall, where the party was in full swing, had a set of large stairs on one end. At the top, a man suddenly appeared. Payaso always kept true to his role as the Jack of Hearts, wearing a weird costume of monochromatic red and silver with a matching pompous headdress. The criminal, known for his obsession with exploding piñatas, tapped the large cane he was carrying on the floor. The sound echoed throughout the banquet hall and a veil of silence fell over everyone.

“Ladies, gentlemen and otherwise!” the Jack of Hearts began in a sonorous voice. “We thank you for gracing the Annual Ball of Hearts. Mind you, of course, we are no charity, but all of your donations this night shall go into our orphanages in the Balkans. They badly need those assault rifles and grenades.”

The eccentric man’s cackle filled the room, together with a buzz of agreement among the gathering of criminals. Clearing his throat to signal for silence again, the Jack said, “And now, I present to you our esteemed leader, the King of Hearts!”

A short fanfare greeted the tall, muscular blond man as he stepped out from behind the opulent doors leading to the top of the stairs. He was dressed in a crisp, tailored suit of black silk with red accents. The man rarely was seen in public and Yifan could feel the aura of power that Evan Hart exuded, which really earned him the right to be called the most powerful of the four Kings of Royale.

With piercing, icy blue eyes, Evan looked at the people gathered below him in the hall, his presence commanding. Moments later and barely a hitch of breath could be heard from everyone.

“As what my comrade has already said just moments before, I welcome everyone to this annual ball,” the King began to speak, his voice just as commanding. “But before anything else, I have an important announcement to make. I would like to thank my colleague, the King of Clubs, for the wonderful gift he has given me a couple of days ago.”

“Hey!!” shouted the man mentioned, as he raised his glass. The people around him chuckled at the display.

“As everyone would know, someone very dear to me passed away a few years ago and no one has replaced her since,” Evan spoke.

Yifan recalled the intel they had on the international terrorist group. Evangeline Hart, also known as the Grey Widow, Evan’s mother, and the late Queen of Hearts, died a three years back due to a rare cancer. She outlived her husband, Abraham Hart, the previous King of Hearts and notorious crime lord, by almost a decade. Not even her mutant gene and the team of elite scientists and doctors could find a cure for her condition.

“A kingdom is lonely without its Queen, especially its King,” continued Evan. “But despair no more, my subjects and friends, for I have found the person who shall once more fill this kingdom with happiness. I present to you, my new Queen.”

More fanfare and a loud applause boomed throughout the banquet hall, as everyone anticipated the appearance of this new Queen of Hearts. In the cutthroat world of the Royale group, being a part of the top titles was the most prestigious one can get in the criminal world. Being one of top titles in the suit of Hearts was even more prestigious.

The Queen of Hearts was revered to the point that she was considered half a rank higher than the three other Kings when it comes to power within the criminal group. While a lot of the ladies in the crowd were sort of happy that there was a new Queen, even more were disgruntled knowing that they have lost the chance to capture the eye of Evan Hart. It was a known fact that the surge of crime led by women all over the world was because every lady villain was trying to get noticed by the King of Hearts.

The doors opened and everyone was dumbfounded at the sight. Escorted by two armed guards on each side and one from behind, they saw the new Queen of Hearts. Most were aghast that it was a man. Nonetheless, he was a beautiful man and also had regal air about him.

Yifan’s jaws dropped to the floor when he saw who had come out to stand on top of the stairs. He did not know what to think seeing that it was Junmyeon there. He couldn’t believe his eyes as he saw the man in red. The pants were tailored, tight in obvious place, showing off his dainty legs. The short-length coat was just as tailored, showing Junmyeon’s shoulders tapering down to his slim waist. What struck the most was the mesh shirt which did not hide anything from imagination, showing the man’s mid-chest and abdomen, even though it had a feathered collar.

Evan reached out a hand to the man beside him. Junmyeon took it and the couple made their way down the stairs. The crowd parted to let the couple through as they made their way to the raised area on the opposite end of the hallway where the more prominent members of the criminal world were.

When the couple was near him, Yifan saw tried to catch Junmyeon’s eyes but the latter just looked ahead. He noticed they were a bit glassy and Yifan surmised that Evan Hart did not just inherit his father’s tongue figuratively, but also his mother’s literally.

‘Damn it,’ said Yifan to himself. ‘We’re swimming in sea full of criminal sharks and the head honcho has poison to boot.’

Yifan stood back to watch what was going on with the couple up in the front. Evan was greeting other very prominent criminal lords, with Junmyeon meekly beside him. He gritted his teeth when he saw how the Royale group leader could so easily wrap his hands around Junmyeon’s waist.

“Drake, come in,” Yifan heard Kyungsoo’s voice coming from his earpiece, and he suddenly went behind a pillar.

“What is it, Rage?” the man answered when he was relatively out of sight from the rest of the party going on.

“We’ve found the entrance to their control room,” said Kyungsoo. “Sparks is trying to work his our way in.”

A couple of loud taps came from the platform. Yifan saw that it was from the Jack of Hearts, who he didn’t notice how the latter got there so fast.

“Everyone,” Payaso said out loud. “To celebrate those momentous occasion, I have a gift for our new Queen.”

With a snap of the fingers, a large screen rolled down beside the platform and a scene of nighttime Hong Kong flashed before everyone. There was also an image of an active missile silo with a large countdown timer below that had less than three minutes on it.

“It is time for a new world order and Asia shall be the first to fall,” Payaso began again. “The Royale group has sent an ultimatum to the countries of the East to submit themselves to our rule, but it seems they are adamant about their so-called freedom. They even dare to laugh at the power that is Royale. Well, we shall see them laugh when a nuke is planted on their faces.”

“Rage,” Yifan spoke into his communicator. “You guys better hurry up. Less than two minutes and Hong Kong will be fried.”

“Yeah,” Kyungsoo grunted. “We’re just- ugh.. finishing up these blasted goons here.”

“My Queen,” the Jack of Hearts continued. “I present to you Hong Kong on its knees.”

Yifan felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple as the countdown read ten seconds. His breath hitched as the timer flashed four… three… two… one. The lights on the missile silo suddenly turned off and the camera feed on it disappeared. Yifan let out the deep breath he was holding in.

“The hell!” Payaso suddenly exclaimed as a henchman ran up to him and said something. “They what? Damn it! Find those EXO-Force brats and kill them.”

“Don’t fret too much, Payaso,” said Evan. “We’ll just have to advance our timeline a bit then. Make your way to the main control room. The Queen and I will follow. We’ll let those birds fly.”

Yifan saw the three go out and immediately followed them. He switched his communicator to speak to everyone. “Everyone, be alert. The Hearts are making their way to the main control room. Watch your back, guys!”

As luck would have had it, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun were only able to disable the control room for the currently active missile. The eleven members had to make their way to the main control room on a different part of the island. It was easier to track down though as the place was now heavily guarded with henchmen.

EXO-Force arrived at the main control building and moments later, chaos ensued. Baekhyun struck first and released a bedazzling display of blinding light. They fought henchman after henchman in seemingly unending waves. There were sheets of ice, bolts of lightning, balls of flame and walls of wind going out everywhere. True to his name, Kyungsoo rampaged through a group of henchmen like a freight train, knocking everyone away.

Tao was taking one three goons at one time when he heard a ticking sound. He looked to the side and saw a time-bomb piñata with only two seconds left. He immediately went into bullet-time and swept the goons away. Just as the timer struck one, Tao tried to jump as far away as possible. Lucky enough, he was able to dodge most of the blast, only having the nearer half of his body smeared with soot.

More blasts came out and the rest of EXO-Force tried their best to dodge them. Some of the henchmen though were not as lucky. Jongin looked for the origin of the bomb and saw Payaso just atop the stairs leading into the entrance of the control building. Using his powers, he disappeared in a wisp of smoke only to reappear beside the Jack of Hearts. He did it once more, this time holding on to his target, and both reappeared some distance away from the rest of the fight. Payaso was forced to deal with the Night Spectre one on one.

Yifan looked around and saw an open balcony. He called out to Chen who was nearest and pointed it out. The lightning mutant finished off the two henchmen he was taking on and whistled to Kyungsoo. Chen ran towards Kyungsoo who crouched down. Using the other one as a platform, he jumped off and landed onto the ledge. Yifan, on the other hand, stepped off from the ground and half-jumped, half-floated to the balcony. Both members made their way inside but were surprised at what was waiting there for them.

“R-riptide…” Chen stopped in his tracks. “What the- ? I-is he okay?”

Junmyeon was before them with the same glassy eyes that Yifan had seen inside the banquet hall. His eyes seemed blank but the expression on his face was intense. He didn’t recognize his teammates.

“Go, Raijin!” Yifan ordered. “I’ll deal with him.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” said Junmyeon and released a column of water hurtling towards the two.

Chen was already running towards the door and slid past Junmyeon’s attack as Yifan had to float up to dodge it. Junmyeon began the rest of his onslaught as balls of water flew towards the Yifan still in mid-air. Yifan wrapped his arms around himself and was thrown back with the force of the water, landing with a thud on the hard floor.

The M-Corps leader dusted himself off as he stood up. Junmyeon’s attack was already hard enough to knock anyone out but Yifan proved himself to be tenacious. It caused him though to tap deeper into his mutant power. His eyes had turned reptilian and the exposed skin on his arms were almost scale-like.

“Don’t make me do this, Riptide,” Yifan pleaded, hoping to get through to what was controlling the other man. “I c-can’t lose control against you.”

Yifan and Tao’s family held the blood of dragons, a near perfect mutant gene handed down from generation to generation of Wus. When a Wu child showed himself with mutant powers of flight, it was most likely that he or she would be able to modify their body into the likeness of a dragon, gaining its strengths. While Tao did not have the dragon gene, he still had a fragment of it to have comparable strength aside from his bullet-time. The younger Wu was thankful for it as having the dragon gene needed extreme discipline and control. Some of the Wus who had the gene succumbed to the manic high that came with the transformation. Losing their humanity, they had to be put down to stop their rampage.

Yifan rarely used this mutant power, keeping the dragon powers to mere flight as an adjunct to his abilities. But he knew Junmyeon’s strength. This was not going to be an easy flight.

“There is no more Riptide,” said Junmyeon as he launched another onslaught of water balls at Yifan. As the other man dodged them, they punched holes through the wall.

“There is no more Junmyeon.”  With the wave of his hands, the K-Factor leader released a wide expanse of water sweeping throughout the room. Yifan had to once more take flight.

“I am the Queen of Hearts!” Junmyeon was surrounded with water and also floated in mid-air. He suddenly surged forward with the water around him, his arm ready for a punch.

To Yifan, the other man looked like a water dragon striking towards him. It was too beautiful in his eyes, but he knew it shouldn’t distract him. Completing his transformation, he also surged forward. In contrast to Junmyeon, Yifan was covered in fire.

From outside, the nine other EXO-Force members saw a flash of light.

Meanwhile in the main control room, Chen was busily trying to disable the nukes that had suddenly become armed to fly in ten minutes. They had been controlled remotely but Chen was also a techno-whiz. Hacking through the controls, he was about to tap on the last key when he felt himself being pulled and thrown away.

“Damn it,” said the EXO-Force member as he stood up. “Evan Hart.”

“Don’t think I’d make it this easy for you, brat,” the King of Hearts stood there cutting Chen off from the control panel.

Like what he did earlier, Chen charged forward to try and slip past Evan. He only needed to tap that last key to disable everything permanently but his adversary proved to be just as as fast. Evan caught Chen but this time instead of just merely throwing him away, he gave the younger man an onslaught of punches. Chen had to keep himself from screaming out in pain as every punch landed squarely on his body. When Evan had enough, he simply threw the other man away and Chen landed in a crumpled heap.

Yifan burst through the door, but he too was already limping. He saw the last few moments of Chen being pummelled but he could not reach him in time.

“Oh, this is rich!” Evan laughed out haughtily. He pressed a button on his remote and screens appeared throughout the island showing a camera feed of the main control room and the countdown timer at less than five minutes. “Isn’t it just perfect? Now, everyone can watch as their beloved cities burn. The whole world shall feel the power of Royale.”

From another door, Junmyeon waltzed in. Evan noticed him and held a hand to beckon the other man to him. “My Queen.”

“You’re full of ,” Chen spat out as he tried to get himself up with the help of Yifan, who held his head close to younger one’s ear.

“Ahh, you still have the fight in you then?” Evan taunted back. “Try your best to get past us, brat. You and your leader there are all banged up.”

“Damn you, Hart!” Chen screamed. “One chance and I’ll get to that blue button and all your dreams will be the ones to burn.”

“Come, my Queen,” said Evan, ignoring the other one. “Let’s watch our victory.”

“Yes,” Junmyeon replied, reaching out to the control panel beside him and pressed the blue button. “Our victory.”

“What the hell?” Evan’s face was in horror as the countdown timer stopped and the camera feed on the missiles suddenly became a flash of light. He took Junmyeon’s face in his hand and saw that the glassy eyes were no more.

Junmyeon looked out to the dark waters, feeling the wind in his hair as the boat made its way back to the big island where they were to transport the captured Royale members. He suddenly felt someone beside him. Looking to his side, he saw Yifan there.

“Hi,” the K-Factor leader whispered.

“Hey,” Yifan replied with a smile, wincing a bit with his bruised face.

“I-I’m sorry about that,” Junmyeon looked away, knowing he caused those bruises.

“It’s fine, Junmyeon. I know you weren’t yourself.”

“I-I don’t know, Yifan. Being in Evan’s control, there was just all this anger. I didn’t if I was the one really being controlled or if- I don’t know, Yifan. You know nothing has been the same since you left.”

“It hasn’t been the same for me too. I have to admit that.”

“You came back though.” Junmyeon turned to look up at the taller man.

“Huh?” Yifan had a confused look on his face.

“The Professor. He told me that you were coming back. I-I didn’t think you would after everything in our past.”

“I’ll always come back for you, Junmyeon.” Yifan wrapped the other man in his arms. “I’ll always come back.”