2005

Kyuhyun and Mark were standing next to each other; however, their eyes were glued a the big poster on the cork board in front of them. It showed the plan of the upcoming big mission, which  required the participation of of top teams. The goal was to destroy Venom Group, which was one of the main suppliers of weapons in Europe. Of course, due to its affluent budget, it was able to stay undercover for decades. However, the newest discovery of their headquarters immediately pushed them to the position of  Rose Project’s priority. Moreover, there have been rumors that Master’s wife has been killed by one of their most praised guns.

“Hm… Finland, huh?” Joker muttered under his nose.

“That’s one of my native countries,” Batman said.                                                

“Oh really? I thought you were British,” Kyu raised his eyebrow in surprise.

“Yeah, I am half British and half Finnish, My mom was a Finn.

“Oh, I see. That’s something new,” Kyu nodded, impressed.

“Something new? You say it as if nothing was happening lately.”

“Well, because that’s true. We go on missions, but they are all boring. When you were around, they were at least entertaining,” Joker smirked

“However, the victories to failures ratio was much different, wasn’t it?”

“But then again, that’s just the price that has to be payed.”

“Agreed,” after a moment of silence, Batman said, “Wait, do you see what I see?”

“Yeah, I was waiting for you to realize that. I was already thinking that this plan is nothing to you,” Kyuhyun sighed and rested his forehead on the back of his hand.

“Holy , we are going to have a mission together!” Mark exclaimed happily. For the past few years, since that awful mission after which they were to be parted forever, Batman was never assigned to any team for any significant amount of time. Every mission meant changing the team, In truth, he did have some time with Alpha Team, but his interactions with their leader, Joker, were often monitored and inevitably cut short.

“Together-ish,” Kyuhyun winced as he explained his point, “We are going to intercept only at one point, where you are going to pass me one of their main laptops. Then I will have to stand behind the front lines for twenty minutes in order to break their security and explode the whole institution. During this time your group will be sent to the headquarters and you have to make sure that the CEO is dead.”

As Kyuhyun elaborated on the plan, he pointed out at many squares, which illustrated the buildings, and showed him the paths that each team was going to take during the mission.

“I guess that’s something?” Mark shrugged.

“Mhm. It’s going to be interesting. I was waiting for Master to finally destroy the Venom Group,” Kyuhyun smirked evilly.

“I will never get tired of that legendary mischievous grin of yours,” Batman shook his head, smiling.

They both chuckled and went to the training field in order to prepare for the big mission.

“Everything goes smoothly, according to the plan,” Supergirl reported to Kyuhyun.

“How much time do we have left until the Beta Team will be done with getting the laptop?” Kyuhyun asked, thrilled, as he felt adrenaline rushing through his veins.

“Five minutes,” she replied.

“Very well.”

“Thank you for the well-done job, Batman,” Kyuhyun said as he accepted the bag with the laptop from Mark.

“It was my pleasure,” the blue eyed boy replied and turned around on his heel.

“Ma-Batman,” Kyu asked, and his friend looked over one shoulder, “Be careful, okay?”

“I always am,” Mark replied.

Kyuhyun rolled his eyes, slightly irritated, ‘This guy never knows when it’s time for joking and when it’s time to be serious, right?’

“I saw that!” Batman said and they chuckled simultaneously.

“All right… I successfully set the bombs to explode in fifteen minutes. How’s the progress of the Beta Team?” Kyuhyun inquired as he closed the laptop.

“They are still penetrating the gate to the main room with the CEO,” Supergirl replied in a sad tone.

“What?! I thought it was said that the estimated time was abundant!” Kyu exclaimed. However, he frowned when he saw a shadow of guilt in the girl’s eye. Even though they weren’t close friends, they often collaborated during missions, because together they somehow were very efficient. “Am I correct?”

Supergirl remained silent. She hid her eyes underneath her light brown fringe.

“Do not make me repeat my question. Answer immediately or your lack of cooperation will be labeled as opposition to the Alpha Team’s leader, which means a threat to the execution of a mission,” Kyuhyun warned her.

Since the very morning he felt some kind of uneasiness in his guts. He could sense that all members of both teams were much more tense than usually. The bad feeling inside him grew as the girl refused to respond.

“Supergirl-” he raised his voice a little bit, losing control over his emotions.

“I will answer!” she finally replied, covering her ears with her hands. Her eyes were wide open and wild. Then she started to talk so quickly, that Kyuhyun barely understood her, “The whole Beta team is actually a sacrifice in order to achieve 100% surety that the mission will be successful. Therefore, Master sent out one of the best teams to make sure that the Venom Group’s CEO is going to be killed; and he reserved you as the brain of the mission, which would break all the barriers and lead to the explosion of the headquarters. He knew that you would oppose to the plan and told everybody to reveal nothing about the sacrifice to you,” the girl finally spit out, tears rolling down her face.

A tense silence filled the room. After a while, Supergirl looked up at Joker, who had a shocked expression on his face.

“No...” Kyuhyun murmured, “No, no, no!”

He grabbed his hair with his hand as he thought of Mark.

“I need to warn him!” Kyuhyun concluded and pushed the girl aside.

“No, you mustn't! Master will be extremely furious if this mission fails!” Supergirl grabbed his arm, but he freed himself from the grip effortlessly.

“Let me go,” Kyu said in an icy tone. Just before opening the doors he added, “Thank you for your hard work, Supergirl. I mean it. I hope we will be able to see each other in the future.”

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