Mission Time
Love? Hate? Death.
Yoochun POV
I watched as Jaejoong waved with one final burst of energy before he leaned his head against Yunho's shoulder, wrapping his arms around Yunho's neck.
"Sleepy already, Jae Jae?" I asked.
"Uh huh," he replied as he stifled a yawn, cuddling deeper into Yunho.
I smiled in response. "Don't worry. We'll be home soon, ne?"
Jaejoong only nodded as he closed his eyes.
Home. If that was what you wanted to call that Hell hole. Unfortunately there wasn't much I could call it. It was where we stayed and received food and shelter. Home.
I guess that was good enough.
We reached the car and since Jaejoong was asleep on Yunho's shoulder, I offered to drive. As usual Yunho turned the offer down but once again, I insisted. Yunho grudgingly accepted since I knew he wanted to be close to Jaejoong.
We rode in silence before I broke it.
"Hey Yunho, why didn't you call Kangta like I told you to? You know he gets livid when we get home after curfew and don't call."
Gosh I was making Kangta sound like an overprotective parent. Which he wasn't. Parents care and love you unconditionally without expecting anything in return. Kangta was in no way our parent. The only reason we called Kangta our 'dad' was to avoid confusing Jaejoong since he never had any and how else where we going to tell him where he came from?
The stork?
Yunho didn't answer, instead choosing to stay completely quiet. I was expecting that. When Yunho had what he deemed was a secret, he would completely shut off. That was one of his trained reactions drilled into his head by Nine, since he was the oldest Outpost and hence had the most number of secrets kept inside him.
I choose to travel to Nine Headquarters quickly. The more we made Kangta wait, the angrier he would get. And a very angry Kangta leads to very painful punishment.
Smoothly, I drove into the carpark and we got out, Jaejoong already awake as he held Yunho's hand. As we rode the lift to the forty third floor, Jaejoong started running his nails down the walls, producing a loud and shrill keening noise. I wasn't that bothered by the noise, but he was going to hurt himself should his nails break.
"Jae Jae, you should stop that. You might hurt yourself."
Jaejoong didn't turn to look at me, rather formed his hand into a fist and started violently punching the wall, his face serene compared to his actions.
Swiftly, Yunho caught his fist before it hit the wall again. Jaejoong looked up quizzically, as if his actions were completely normal compared to Yunho's. Yunho moved him so now Jaejoong was standing in front of him rather than beside him and rested his hands on Jaejoong's shoulder.
"Yunnie...?" Jae started as he tilted his head to look up at the taller man.
"Don't hurt yourself, Jaejoong."
I saw Jae's lips turn downcast into a frown.
"Oh. Why?"
"Because it's not good for you."
"Oh."
The lift doors dinged open, signifying that we had reached our floor.
"Yunnie? Chunnie?"
"Yeah?" I answered.
"Can Jae Jae get a cat?"
I didn't like that idea. I knew where this was going to go.
"Why, Jae Jae?" I asked, even though I knew.
"Because I want something to play with~" Jaejoong whined as the three of us stepped into Kangta's office. Yunho instinctively let go of Jaejoong's hand and I brought the youngest among us closer to me.
The three of us stood in a straight row in front of our Head, who was seemingly busy reading a report. I knew he knew we were here, he was just doing that for a dramatic effect, to make the tension in the room rise.
The three of us stood silently as Kangta closed the file and looked up at us, his eyes as usual dead set and cold to the core.
"Where did the three of you run off to?" he asked, voice cool.
"Umm," Jaejoong started, "Jae Jae had an accident and --"
He was interrupted before he could go any further.
"YOU WERE TOLD TO FETCH JAEJOONG FROM THE HOSPITAL. THAT WAS IT."
"Umm," Jaejoong faltered, "but it was Jae Jae's birthday and --"
Kangta stood up and immediately Jaejoong shut up, hiding behind me with a smile 'eep'.
"WAS ANY OTHER MISSION ASSIGNED?"
"No," Jae answered meekly.
Kangta walked towards us and I instinctively moved my body to protect Jaejoong. Kangta saw this, and I sensed his anger rise nearly tenfold.
Kangta moves pretty quickly. Before I could move to block it, I felt him back-hand my face hard enough to make me stumble a bit, my hold on Jae loosening momentarily, enough for Kangta to grab him from me. I was winded by the blow, his wrist had hit my temple and I was seeing stars for a while. I tried to resist the urge to produce a reaction stronger than the stumble, Kangta would be livid with any sign of weakness.
I was snapped to attention however, when I heard Jae squeal in fear, Kangta pulling him forward by the hair. Yunho started to step forward, but was too late when Kangta raised his hand to slap Jae with enough force that he fell to the ground. Kangta followed that with a kick to Jae's face that Jae was thankfully quick enough to block with his arms.
This time Yunho moved forward, as did I, but the two of us froze when Kangta looked up at us, authority in his eyes.
Time stopped.
All of that happened in a span of two seconds, our reactions and movements quick enough to be a blur, obviously too fast for a normal human to carry out.
I tried to move, but I knew I wouldn't be able to, neither would Yunho. Outposts were trained to obey the Head's every command. We were physically unable to go against him when he was in our presence. Kangta's presence commanded authority, discipline and obeying.
It wasn't that we would never stand a chance against him, it was that we COULDN'T fight him.
Kangta's eyes held us down. No one moved, not Jae, not me, not Yunho, not Kangta.
The office door suddenly swung open and Yoona entered, reading a folder that was in her hands.
"Kangta, we have --" she stopped when she saw the state the four of us were in, raising a quizzical eye brow as she assessed the situation quite quickly. "Huh. It seems I have quite good a timing."
Kangta growled at her in response. I knew he wouldn't raise his temper against her. The two of them were husband and wife. They had a weird relationship but it held together quite strongly.
Yoona stepped forward and stood in front of Yunho and I, effectively blocking our view of Kangta, breaking our frozen state. We rushed forward to Jaejoong, who was looking more dazed than anything else. Yunho and I helped him up, Jae blinking blankly as he stood up.
"It's good that the three of you are gathered here," said Yoona as she came to stand before us. Yunho, Jae and I were standing in a small circle, and with the position Yoona was in, she was standing on one side of our small circle while Kangta stood on the other side. We were effectively trapped and cornered.
"I just received news for a mission, and it's difficult enough that we only need the best of the best among our Outposts, and that would mean you three."
Yoona stepped forward and gently tilted Jaejoong's head up with the tip of her index finger, running her fingers of her other hand across Jae's developing bruise on his cheek.
"So I would NEED," she started as she looked up at Kangta, a certain look in her eyes as she raised her eyebrow at him, "the Outposts to be in the best of conditions, NOT sporting random bruises over something as small as missing curfew."
That was Yoona. She didn't believe in physical punishment. Because bruises would render us weaker. And to be weak would be unnecessary. A hassle. She didn't like seeing bruises inflicted for the sake of discipline. She found it redundant because I think she knew that the Outposts were pretty beaten up from training anyway.
Yoona gently ran a hand through Jae's hair as he clung on to her, wrapping his arms around her small waist. Yoona really struck as a maternal figure to Jae at times, I realized.
Kangta let out a loud puff of air, ridding anger off his system, though he still had a mighty scowl on his face.
"Alright. What was the mission given?" Kangta asked, ing his hands deep into his pockets.
"Uh-uh," Yoona countered as she wrapped her arms around Jae's head, leaning her head against it, giving her husband puppy eyes. "You have to apologise to Jaejoong first. It wasn't his fault he got sick you know. I'm not going to tell you of the mission until you apologise to Jae Jae. Right, Jae Jae?"
She gave a pout as she looked at Jaejoong, who broke out into a grin as he played along with her game.
Yoona may not smile much, but she did that pout a lot. Which was kinda a weird thing if you ask me.
Kangta tsked as he studied the both of then "Yoona. Now is not the time for games. The priority right now is the mission. Tell me what it is."
"No."
"Yoona."
"No."
"Yoona!"
"No!"
I thought I saw an artery burst on Kangta's forehead as he glared at the both of them, Yoona only countering with her pout.
"Fine," he practically spat, "I 'apologize' " (he did that hand movement thing one does when they're being sarcastic so I could tell he wasn't being sincere) "to Jaejoong for hitting him. Happy now?"
Jae giggled as he unwrapped himself from Yoona only to run the very short distance forward and hug Kangta around the waist in return.
"Awwwwww it's okay, Appa. Jae Jae knows Appa loves him."
Kangta didn't react to the hug as Yoona nonchalantly passed him the folder and began reading it. I saw Jae wiggle under his arm to read it too.
I saw Jae's eyes widen slightly as his eyes skimmed over the pages. There was a sparkle in his eyes as his lips formed a queer smile. He looked up at Kangta who didn't turn to look back at him.
"Seems difficult," Kangta commented.
Jaejoong practically jumped at the challenge.
"It won't be," Jae replied, his smile widening creepily.
I knew now that there was no turning back. Jae had been provoked. He was going to rise up to the challenge no matter what.
Kangta turned to meet Jae in the eye, his own creepy smile forming on his lips.
"That's my boy," he said, placing his hand on Jae's head in acknowledgment. Seemingly the whole scene from before had been completely forgotten.
Neither I nor Yunho liked being in the dark about this.
"Kangta," Yunho called.
Kangta threw the folder in our direction in response and Yunho caught it flawlessly, immediately opening up to read it. He skimmed through it for about three seconds before he looked up and passed the file to me.
I read through it more slowly, memorizing every detail before I looked up.
"Seems cool," I said.
Yunho crossed his arms as he looked at me.
"A paradox. The government ruining a government official. Seems complicated."
"Like a mother that kills her own child," I added.
"Are you up to it?" Yoona asked, an eyebrow raised in our direction.
Yunho tilted his head to the side in thought before he nodded.
"Yes. I believe we are."
Jaejoong started hopping on the spot, his arms raised high above his head in excitement.
"Woohoo! A mission, a mission!"
I smiled. It had been some time since we were given this large scale a mission.
*****
The five of us were in the conference room, gathered around the table as Kangta and Yoona were up front, giving details on the mission through the Interactive Screen. It was basically like a huge iPad we used for briefings. It was cool because it was touchscreen. And so was the conference table we used.
"The mission is straight forward enough, though the complicated part will come soon," began Yoona as her hands danced around the touchscreen, finding the appropriate file. She tapped on one labelled Renegade. The screen blew up to show a picture of Renegade's logo and some smaller texts below it.
"This is, as you all know, Renegade. Our nemesis, or enemy, or rival whichever you want to call it. They're a complicated organization with a complicated policy. For the past twenty years, they've been involved with as many shady things as we can number. You can call them the Mafia if you want, but basically what they do is similar to us, whereby they create what are similar to Outposts. Similar to you three. Except they use Outposts for bad reasons.
"Basically they're not the government. So they need to be shut down. The problem is Renegade has a very strong hold on it's organization because of powerful links with powerful people. If we want to end Renegade, we need to end the links with these people."
Jaejoong's hand shot up from across the table, undoubtedly a question at the tip of his tongue.
"Yes, Jaejoong?" Yoona asked.
"Our job is too destroy Renegade right?"
"Your job is to shut Renegade down so technically yes. Your job is too destroy Renegade."
"Can we just blow it up? I'll plant a bomb somewhere and then the whole building will go boom!!"
Yoona patiently shook her head.
"That's not possible because we have to do this silently. We can't attract public attention."
At the sound of that, Yunho started opening a window on the touchscreen table and started typing some stuff before he swiped it across the table. The window disappeared for a second before reappearing on the Interactive Screen.
A screenshot of some guy's Interpol ID showed up.
"That's the head of Renegade, supposedly," Yunho started.
I wouldn't have guessed. The guy looked way too friendly to be head of an organization as sick as Nine.
I started reading out loud.
"Shim Leetuek. CEO of JS Industries." Wow, that was impressive. JS Industries had branches of almost every form of business field in the world. There was no field that they hadn't branched into and failed in. I continued reading before asking my own question.
"His criminal record isn't existent. How come his Interpol file is so active?"
Yoona turned to me with a small frown.
"He's been in under a lot of suspicion but because of his power and status, he keeps getting away without investigation."
"So we just have to kill him?" Jaejoong asked.
"No. Renegade is huge. It has a worldwide network. Crossing him out would just make way for another replacement. And Leetuek is a very clever man. I don't killing him will help solve much of the problem. What you guys have to do is infiltrate Renegade slowly. Bring down its foundations that hold it upright."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" I asked.
This time Kangta answered, with a sadistic look in his eyes.
"We take it over."
Kangta got up and opened a file in the Interactive Screen. A mosaic of pictures appeared, each showing a different face shot of a different person. With his fingers, Kangta sifted through them.
"These are all the pictures of persons affiliated with Renegade."
My jaw dropped. That had to be a lot.
"Your job is to break the ties they have with Renegade --"
"By killing them?" Jae interrupted.
Kangta seemed to stop to think for a while.
"If necessary. I want Renegade shut down. Failure is not an option."
Yoona started browsing through the mosaic of pictures, until she came across the one she was looking for. She double tapped it and we watched as it blew up to show someone's ID.
"This is Shim Siwon." she started.
"Foreign Affairs Minister?" Jae inquired
Yoona nodded. "He's been spotted with Leetuek on a large number of occasions. We suspect him of having ties with Renegade."
Again, Jae's hand shot up.
"Do we kill him?"
"Not until his affiliation with Renegade is confirmed."
"Oh."
"What we need is blackmail. Strong enough that Siwon will be under our control."
"Anything Siwon holds dear to him?" I asked.
"Every person has something they hold dear to. Although it may actually depend on what it is."
I nodded in understanding.
"Because the mission is so large scale, we'll be adding a new member to your team."
Jae and I perked up.
"A new teammate?" I asked.
"Just for this mission." Yoona added. She moved to the intercom and pressed the button, bringing the mike closer to her lips.
"Bring him in." was all she said.
A few seconds later, there was a knock on the double doors.
"Come in," said Yoona.
The door opened to reveal one of the scientists bringing someone in from behind him.
Large, tear-shaped eyes, pouty lips and a broad neck, I recognized who it was instantly.
Junsu.
Junsu looked like he had only just finished bathing, his hair dripping wet and the slight smell of shampoo in the air. His eyes never once flickered to either me, Jaejoong or Yunho, rather staring dead ahead, and his face was the subject of extreme passivity, as a strictly disciplined Outpost should act.
"Jaejoong, Yunho, Yoochun, this is Junsu. He will be joining you for this mission," Yoona introduced us.
Junsu finally turned to look at us and nodded slightly in our direction. I guess Jae was excited at the idea of getting another teammate and couldn't control himself. He got up and ran forward to greet -- or probably hug -- Junsu.
Which wasn't really a smart thing to do, considering. We were Outposts. It would be your own suicide to come running to us when we least expected it.
"Hii ~ !" the excited boy yelled.
Just as Jae was about to wrap Junsu in a hug, Junsu took out a handgun and pointed it in the middle of Jae's forehead, effectively stopping him in his tracks.
Things happened much more quickly after that.
Yunho immediately got up and took out his hand gun, aiming it at Junsu's head, as did I.
Sensing the threat, Junsu took out another hand gun from his belt and pointed it at Yunho, who I knew he thought was the team leader. Yunho reacted quickly by taking a step forward and taking his own extra gun from the holster, pointing both at our new 'brother'. Tension was high as the three of us calculated each other's move. I wouldn't actually kill Junsu, but I would shoot him senseless if he even harmed a hair on Jae's head.
A gun shot sounded and all four of us jumped in shock, distracted momentarily by the loudness of the condensed sound in the conference room. Jae placed both his hands over his head and began crying. I knew he was scared of the loud sound than having being pointed a gun at his forehead. I quickly replaced my gun and ushered him to come to me, which he did so willingly, wrapping his arms along my waist and hid his face on the small of my back.
"Enough," was Kangta's one worded command. It was he who had fired the gunshot, aiming it at the ceiling.
The guns all dropped to the side, as we automatically heeded to his command.
"The four of you are going to have to work together in order for this mission to be a success and I shall not accept failure from either party. Is this understood?"
"Yes." we automatically answered.
"Good. Junsu have a seat and we shall continue."
Junsu nodded once as Yunho and I moved back to our seats, Jae now stuck to me at my hip. I sat him on my lap where he moved to wrap his arms around my neck, leaning his head against my shoulder as our meeting continued.
Junsu seemed to know what to do as he slid into the seat beside me, steadfastly ignoring everyone else as he concentrated on the screen before him.
I didn't mind. I was ignoring him too.
Jaejoong moved to cup my ear and whisper.
"Chunnie Hyung, I don't think he's very happy."
"I don't think he's very happy either," I answered equally softly.
Kangta's voice interrupted our conversation and we looked up to the screen.
"Although there are many other friends of Leetuek with power and status, by far the most powerful would be Shim Siwon."
The screen changed to show a blown up version of Shim Siwon's face. He was quite handsome, to say the least. Okay he was really handsome.
"As you all know, Shim Siwon is the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs. He has limitless power and connections, plus his last name is Shim, which automatically makes him a person of interest."
"Why would that be?" I asked.
"The name Shim is similar to the name Han. It is an extremely rare family and was made for the sole purpose of identifying Renegade spies. There will be no person that has the name Shim that is not of a Renegade party."
Jae Jae raised his hand. "But it could be possible that the name Shim could just be someone related to a Renegade party. It might just be a coincidence."
Kangta nodded his agreement. "I see your point, Jaejoong. But we can't afford to take any chances. With someone as powerful as him, letting him off would be a risk we cannot take."
We were briefed some more on Renegade, going through the files of each person affiliated with them, and discussing our battle plan. This was a huge mission. We were a government agency that was dealing with the government in itself. The utmost care had to be taken in order for it to be kept in secrecy. Plus this was big names we were dealing with. If we failed there was a chance that we could be found out. And destroyed.
The meeting lasted for seven straight hours, vast amounts of information being presented before us as we like sponges.
"Yoochun," Kangta turned to me, "What do you think would be the best strategy for this?"
I opened a window on the touch screen table and began typing, before I swiped the window across the table and it popped up on the screen.
"The best target for this would be Siwon. We know he's the suspect with the most power, so dealing with him would be difficult. However success in that would make an easy pathway in dealing with Renegade."
"Do we kill him?" Jae asked from across the table.
I shook my head. "No. Killing him would make too much noise. We need something that he'll be forced to keep under wraps, but with enough of a threat for him to need to call back up."
"Blackmail," Junsu and Yunho said at the same time.
I nodded. "Blackmail would be the best threat. Unfortunately, we don't know much about this guy. His record is spotless."
"So the next best option would be..." started Jaejoong. "Kidnap... Or sending him a warning."
I nodded once again. "Infiltrating his home. Kidnapping someone precious to him. Using that as a threat."
"Or killing that precious someone and using that as a warning." added Yunho.
"Clever," said Kangta. "It is to our knowledge that Siwon adopted several children in complete secrecy a few years back. It was in such secrecy that most of the public does not even know that they were adopted."
"So do we kill them... Or just kidnap?"
"Kill." Yoona and Kangta answered at the same time.
"Yes!" cheered Jaejoong. "Finally. It's been sometime since my last play date."
"Do we need to kill both? Or just one as a warning?" I asked.
Kangta shook his head.
"Doesn't matter."
We were discussing this with such normality that it didn't seem like we were discussing a murder. An assassination.
"Alright. Any drawbacks?" Kangta asked.
"None," Yunho answered. "But we do need an address and a schedule."
Kangta nodded. "Consider it done."
On the table, a window automatically appeared in front each and everyone of us seated around it. What was on it was a small picture of a huge mansion, a few texts under it that surely signified the address, and several rows and columns that was a schedule. All property of Siwon.
"Security is tight. Each of the members of the family has around six bodyguards constantly surrounding them. Each of the bodyguards in turn are highly skilled vast areas of martial arts and weaponry, so they might prove to be a challenge."
"We'll manage," Yunho answered.
I could swear I saw his eyes light up fractionally.
Excitement.
Yunho was excited at the prospect of success of another mission. I couldn't blame him though. I could feel my body start pumping itself with the same energy Yunho was feeling. It had been sometime since the three of us were given a mission of this large a scale.
This was going to be a mission to remember.
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Woowoo!!
I finally updated the fic! :D
Are you guys happy? I'm so happy you guys still stayed with me despite me not updating in months! Thanks so much for that :3 *hands you internet cookie*
Hais... I originally wanted to update this about two weeks earlier, but AFF kept having problems so I decided to wait :)
Things are gonna start picking up from this point on in the story so I hope you guys stay tuned!
Hopefully I can keep updating ASAP!
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