CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: First blood

The plan was this. Each Firefly would go to a Marshal's base and attempt an assassination. Attempt being a euphemism for Try But Don’t Fail. After killing all the Marshals, they would go to the Palace together to kill the Supreme Leader and the Great Successor. If any of them failed to kill a Marshal, during their regroup they would know which Marshal was still alive, and finish up the job. Nobody who failed would emerge alive, and nobody who stayed alive would leave the job unfinished no matter what.

They trained three days, rested a day, and then trained two more days before taking a last rest day. The team was operating well. In her mind, after all, Hyoyeon hadn’t been away from the field for that long. The only thing holding her back was her stamina. At the Palace, work distribution would be weighted to Sooyoung, Yoona and Taeyeon. Meanwhile, Seunggi would never enter a building as he was just tactical. Jessica would stay close to where there were the most Fireflies.

Taeyeon was glad to get her hands back on a gleaming M4 with a furious supply of bullets, smoke bombs and grenades. She also packed the Colt Modular that had worked so well for her during the Kaesong takeover. She was so happy she polished the guns even though they were already shiny. She picked up the M4 again and dismantled and assembled it again.

“Are you having eye with a gun?”

Taeyeon looked up at Jessica. “Jealous?”

“You wish. I like to think that I get more than an inanimate object does.” Jessica snapped on the safety lock on her Glock, holstered it, and left the armory. They had decided that everyone on the team would carry a gun since the Fireflies wouldn’t have time to watch out for Seunggi and Jessica around the clock.

Taeyeon watched her sashay her way out.

“There are other people in this room, you know,” Hyoyeon said.

“Whoops,” Taeyeon said, a soft smile playing on her lips. She fit the equipment into her assault pack, and was ready. “You done?”

“Ten minutes ago. Was being a voyeur. I’m glad I’ve never seen my sisters go on dates, because damn that would be disgusting.”

Taeyeon feigned a cry. “I thought I was your dongsaeng.”

“Who are you? I don’t know you.”

They carried their assault packs out of the armory, keeping pace with each other. They passed by soldiers on the way. Taeyeon looked straight ahead. They weren't going to say anything, because of General Choi, but she didn’t want to see the judgment in their eyes.

“So,” Hyoyeon said. “Why’re you so insistent on Jessica coming along? Having a field medic is good, but we could have had our pick of anyone. And didn’t you break up with your hometown girlfriend because of the war? You don’t strike me as someone who would endanger another person unless it was necessary.”

“It is necessary,” Taeyeon said. “Really. Jessica proved herself to us over a few months. She’s careful. She acts fast.”

“That’s it?”

“Well, I promised to personally bring her back home. I hope to keep that promise, and I don’t know if I can do that if she’s somewhere else in the war. What if she gets injured at an aid station? I can’t have that.”

“Are... you in love with her?”

“I like her very much,” Taeyeon said, “but as you said, that wouldn’t be why I want her to come with us. It’s complicated.”

“I doubt you could hold anything too complex in your airhead.”

Taeyeon looked at Hyoyeon for a long moment. She trusted Hyoyeon with her life. Hyoyeon was the one who took care of her and disciplined her when she was just a rookie. Hyoyeon hadn’t been judgmental about her being homoual or not having a college degree. Hadn’t rejected her in Daejeon Hospital.

And Taeyeon wanted to tell someone. If she couldn’t tell Jessica, she had to confess to someone or she would explode.

“It’s just.” Taeyeon glanced back and forth down the corridor. They went into a shower room. Taeyeon checked all the stalls, then locked the door. They sat on one of the benches. “It’s just that I owe her, but I can’t pay her back until this is all over, and she can't die before that happens.”

“What do you mean?”

Taeyeon told her. Every single detail. 

“Why don’t you just tell her the truth?”

“I want to make sure that Jessica reunites with her family and tell them personally. If I told Jessica how her sister really died now, she’d hate me. She’d leave and I wouldn’t be able to ensure her safety.”

“Taeng, how is this your fault? She’s not going to be mad at you for that, but this, she sure as hell will be. This is not something you keep from the next of kin.”

“I could have saved Soojung. I escaped from the military to save my own skin, but when it was for her sister, I couldn’t do it. This is the least I can do right now.”

Hyoyeon sighed. “Whatever you think is right.”

She nodded. “I’m trying.”

They made it to Yangdok before passing through an underground tunnel hastily dug by an Army squad. They emerged from the end of the tunnel to a marsh, and trudged through mud and tall reeds to get to the edge of Pyongyang. There was a rice farm, and they slaughtered the family- two grandparents, three adults and five children, sleeping inside.

Sooyoung found the dead family’s identification papers, which would be used to pass the guards. The papers didn’t have photographs, just the names, birth dates and genders, so it would be easy. 

They changed into the clothes they found in their house. Taeyeon wore a long-sleeved shirt and pants that smelt strongly of lemon barley. The soles of her canvas shoes were peeling off. She mussed up her hair. She was passing off as a fifteen year old.

The farmer owned a pickup truck. They hid their equipment at the base of the cargo area, and piled bags of rice on top. Seunggi knew the way into Pyongyang, so he drove. The guards at the gate of Pyongyang poked at the rice bags until Seunggi skimmed off a plastic bag full of grains as a courtesy.

“Damn idiots,” Yoona said.

They parked at a secluded area as close to the center of the city as possible.

Taeyeon and Hyoyeon’s Marshals were based within ten kilometers of each other, where as the other Marshals were further away, so Jessica went with them so that she would be able to cover two people at once. Meanwhile, Seunggi followed Yoona since it didn’t matter where he was once they started, and he wanted to be with Yoona, understandably.

Hyoyeon split off first, and then it was Taeyeon’s turn to go. She changed into her uniform, with a bulletproof vest under her buttoned shirt, and thick-soled boots. She slung her fifty kilogram assault pack and held her M4.

“Hey,” Jessica said.

Taeyeon turned around and gave Jessica a kiss.

“You better come back here.”

“I’mma come back before Hyo does and let you touch my .”

Jessica grabbed her . Taeyeon slapped Jessica’s hand away. “After, not before.”

“Go, then. Right now. Make it quick.”

Taeyeon went off. She infiltrated Vice Marshal Pak Sunho’s base. Pak Sunho was the brother of Premier Pak Pongju’s, who represented the North government cabinet. Taeyeon fought both of Marshal Pak’s Chimera bodyguards and won, and broke the Marshal’s neck. She made it quick. Jessica’s face lit up when she came running back. High on post-fight adrenaline, Taeyeon made out with Jessica until Hyoyeon arrived, also successful.

They trekked back to where they parked the farmer’s truck. Sooyoung was already there. They waited for Yoona and Seunggi, who had gone to Nation Marshal Mun Junghyuk’s base. They waited, and waited. And waited.

An hour passed, then Seunggi emerged in the distance, dragging a bad leg behind him. Taeyeon’s stomach plummeted. She ran to him. “Where’s Yoong?”

Seunggi’s eyes were full of fear and tears. “She got ambushed. I tried to go and help, but she was already captured by the time I got there. I managed to escape.”

“... do you know where they took her?”

“I’m sure she’s in their holding cells. There’s no reason for them to move her elsewhere. If we go now we can still get her out.”

Taeyeon slung Seunggi over her shoulder and ran back to the group. He explained the situation to them.

"We have to save her," Taeyeon said, hoping that Sooyoung would agree. It wasn't part of the plan. It was going to slow them down. But if Yoona was still alive, and they let that go... There were tactical reasons too. Getting Yoona meant they would have four people up against the twelve Chimeras. Twelve.

“We will,” Sooyoung said. “All three of us will go. That way, we’ll succeed for sure. Jessica, patch Seunggi up and come with us.”

There was a soft-nosed bullet lodged in his thigh. It had crumpled upon impact and ground to a halt against his femur. Jessica used tweezers to ply it out before bandaging his leg. They rested him in the driver's seat of the pickup, made sure that the his Glock cartridge was full, before running off.

Immediately, the speed disparity between the Fireflies and Jessica was glaringly obvious. Taeyeon didn’t want to be separated from Jessica, but there wasn’t any time to around.

“Hyo, wait,” Taeyeon said. “You don’t have any stamina to spare, so stay with Jessica.”

Hyoyeon and fell back to jog at Jessica’s pace, while Taeyeon sprinted ahead with all her might. She caught up with Sooyoung, and they surged ahead to Nation Martial Mun’s base, the Mansudae Assembly Hall, which housed the Supreme People’s Assembly. Nation Marshal Mun was also the leader of the Assembly, where nearly seven hundred members held legislative power over the North.

After Yoona’s attempt, the security in Mansudae Hall cranked up and there were sentries on full alert lining the hall. Sooyoung and Taeyeon went around, over Mansudae Hill, and entered the hall through the power generator room. Yoona’s assault pack was hidden here, untouched. It looked like the North Koreans hadn’t found out how Yoona entered the Hall. Sooyoung and Taeyeon placed their bags next to Yoona’s.

Sooyoung turned to Taeyeon. They remembered every detail about the Hall that Seunggi briefed them on. It had been a failsafe, in case hiccups like this happened, and it did happen. On a piece of paper, Sooyoung wrote instructions in South Korean military code for Hyoyeon and Jessica.

“Taeyeon, we’ll clear each level, from this floor up. The priority now is Yoong, but that is superseded by our mission. When I say go, we go, no matter what, got it?”

“Yes.”

“As for the Nation Marshal, if the opportunity is right, we’ll kill him right now, if not, we will come back laster.”

“As per the original plan.”

“Right, let’s go,” Sooyoung said.

A/N: And so it begins. Promise that this will be the last significant A/N until the end. Finally. Lol getting excited by myself... Sometimes I feel like people who read this story must be sick of it already, especially compared to the other fics on AFF, so thank you for the comments/upvotes last chapterT.T I like finding out what was good/bad/meh. How was this one?