*First of all, I decided to put this note at the start of this chapter as I want to thank you for 3k votes ;-; and this is my present to all of you, but I don't think you'll like this present because... I'll leave you to read until the end of this chapter. What I want to say is; don't panic because this is not the end 😌 Happy reading (or not...)!*

"Give me her estimated location."

"She's suspected to be locked in the room on the second floor, possibly tied up, gagged and blindfolded. Nothing to be sure of unless we see for ourselves, and considering that we take the words of our lovely enemy."

"If you give me the cue, I'll gladly shoot the frontliners now. Frankly, my finger is feeling a bit eager to pull the trigger." Seonghwa closes one eye as he trains the telescopic sight on one of the targets lined up around the warehouse. They seem to be making a fort with their bodies, circling the warehouse and making sure no entrance nor exit will be left unattended.

"Toothless, on hold. We're still planning our way around the warehouse, looks like this Ravn guy is still expecting Lee Minhyuk to show up with the promised money," Hongjoong instructs through the earpiece as he sits beside Mingi and observes the faces of the guards one by one. He turns to Minhyuk who is standing behind them, looking anxious as he looks over their shoulders. "Do you recognize any of them? Are they really Ravn's gang?"

The mob boss looks at the screen and scans them one by one, taking a while before he slowly nods and points to a few of them. "I know them; they went against my boys some time back."

"Estimation of strength?" Hongjoong enquires as Minhyuk gives it a thought.

"Would say they're a bit tough to take down, although my boys conquered them in the end. Wasn't easy opponents."

"So Ravn has a strong gang."

"He does, and they are loyal ones. Stuck to him like glue, obey him like he's the king. The only person he can't make to bow at his feet was me."

"I was made to understand that both of you were friends," Mingi includes as his hands hover over the onscreen keyboard. "But something made it crack and now you're on opposing sides."

"That's correct." He doesn't look surprised at how they managed to find out about that, but he shouldn't be when he knows how ATEEZ deals with their clients. They know everything. "We used to be on the same line but we had our differences in views. Started going our separate ways right then, where most, if not all, of those under us decided to follow him instead. I was left to start again on my own."

"Ever since then, you and him became arch-enemies, and now he's taking a step ahead by kidnapping your sister. Is the motive really money?"

"I wouldn't say it's the only motive; there's power, gratification in knowing that my weakness is Mikyung. He's trying to use that against me to make me bow at his feet. Not to mention that he must have felt challenged because I stole the tender from him. Ravn is the guy to keep grudges for a very long time."

"Do you think he has possibly revealed to your sister what your identity is? To scrape the faith she has in you while keeping her hostage."

"I can't tell, but maybe not. He finds joy when he knows that he holds something that others don't, so maybe he's still keeping it from her."

"A complex enemy," Mingi concludes. "And a smart one. It's no wonder that both of you stand on the same ground."

"Our plan? Outsmarting him, or overpowering him? Outnumbering him is not an option it seems," Minhyuk asks as he paces back and forth. "I really do hope that all of you have a good plan, because Ravn is not an easy one to take down." He mentions the last word as his phone rings and a hidden number comes on, but the situation they're in allows him to know who it is even before he picks the call up. Glancing at the two in the same room as him, he nods once before sliding the green button, immediately placing the call on speaker.

"How are you doing, brother?" Ravn's smug voice comes through the line as he continues, "I hope you're doing great because it seems like your poor little sister is not."

"You son of a bitch!" Minhyuk shouts as Ravn clucks his tongue in disapproval.

"Don't call me that, brother. You know how I get offended easily, and that's not such a wise thing to do when you know that your sister is right her with me..." His voice gets fainter as he brings his phone away from his own mouth and shoves it to Mikyung. "Why don't you say hello to your big brother, pretty one?"

A muffled scream comes from Mikyung and they don't even have to guess that he has her mouth gagged.

"I swear if you ever lay a hand on her, I will kill every single one of you," Minhyuk threatens as the grip around his phone gets tighter.

There is a mocking laugh from Ravn as he utters, "You can do that? Aren't you just an ordinary businessman who only knows how to make business deals?" He fake-gasps, "Don't tell me that you can kill people, Lee Minhyuk? Can you believe this, Lee Mikyung? That your brother is capable of-"

"Shut your filthy mouth! I'll get to you, just you wait."

There is a click of a gun and another distressed scream from Mikyung. "Oh don't worry, I'll wait right here for you to appear. Show yourself, get the money and then I'll decide whether I would kill her or not."

"You fu-" Minhyuk manages before the line goes dead, and he throws up his hands in frustration, the beeping sound of the cut line tormenting him as he ends the call. "I don't care, do whatever it takes to save her." He grips Hongjoong's arms, sounding like he's pleading. "I'll pay you double, triple, whatever you want, as long as my sister can get out of there alive."

"Of course you shouldn't even have to ask, Mr. Lee," Hongjoong replies as he fixes the position of his earpiece. "Toothless, Silver, Corgi and Apple, report your positions."

"Toothless in room #398 of Serene Inn, ready behind the rifle as long as I get my cue, reporting. I can see the view of the front warehouse clearly from here."

"Silver with Apple at the street across, waiting behind the low bushes, out of sight. Can confirm the positions of the enemies outside the warehouse."

There is no report from Wooyoung that Hongjoong pauses, still waiting as he figured the sniper might have needed more time to compose himself. When a minute passes and there is still no answer, he gestures towards Mingi to locate him. The hacker obeys, immediately pointing out Wooyoung's location and Hongjoong slaps a hand to his forehead as he brings out the nearest camera he could find.

The image through the camera is blurry, but it is no doubt Wooyoung, sitting cross-legged, looking strangely calm as he ruffles his hair and ties it up again and again, as if trying to pass time.

"Am I seeing things?" Minhyuk suddenly says as he points towards the screen. "That's your member, W- Corgi. My sister's boyfriend."

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Should I be worried?" Minhyuk approaches Mingi who is sitting, resting his elbows on the back of his chair as he observes Wooyoung's movements. "He's sitting cross-legged on the freaking roof of the warehouse- is that him fanning himself with a newspaper that who knows where he got it from? What is he trying to do?"

"Corgi," Hongjoong tries again as he puts Minhyuk's questions on hold. "When did you even get on the roof?"

"Huh? Oh Minion," he takes a moment to answer and through the camera, they see that he's leaning forward, seemingly trying to take a peek to the situation on the ground. "Been jumping on the roofs trying to get here; sorry I couldn't answer straight away."

"Why do you have a newspaper?"

"To... use as a weapon?"

It doesn't sound like he's joking so Mingi and Hongjoong turn to look at each other while shrugging.

"Should I be worried?" Minhyuk asks again as Mingi shakes his head and Hongjoong puts up a hand.

"No." The leader tries to make it sound that it's not him trying to convince himself too in the process. "My team members are capable of making smart decisions." In a smaller voice he adds, "I hope."

Mingi taps his knuckles on the table, slightly out of rhythm because he can never keep them, before halting the sequence as Hongjoong looks like he's about to give some instructions. Minhyuk looks on while crossing his arms, eyes darting nervously as he looks at the two team members, one finger up as he visibly hopes that they really do have a good plan in hand.

"Toothless," Hongjoong tries again, "how many can you take down from where you are with what you have?"

"All that I can see," he replies, already loading the first bullet to be fired. "And for those I can't see, if we take the chance that they will attend to those being shot, all of them outside of the warehouse. Got a lot more bullets to spare."

"Lovely. Corgi, Silver and Apple; get ready to bring the warehouse down. Remember, safety first, both ours and Lee Mikyung's."

They chant simultaneous agreements with the plan, fully focusing on the said targeted building. Wooyoung finally stops playing with his own hair, smoothing the front part down and nodding.

Hongjoong pauses, waiting as he sees through the camera that Wooyoung has stood up, the guns strapped to his body like medals on a crisp suit. He nods, "Excellent. Toothless," he pauses, "commence."

The answer from Seonghwa is his finger curling with pressure onto the trigger, the target he first picks out being the one nearest to the main rolling doors of the warehouse. He snarls as his body recoils back from the shot, pulling the knob and pushing the next bullet in, already angling the snout of the rifle to the next person, to the next, and to the next until all of them are lying down on the dirt road with red blooms on their chests. His hands work fast as he loads the next set of bullets, smiling in satisfaction as he sees that he meets all of his targets and he hears the click, click, click of his rifle in action. He snaps out of his game as he hears Hongjoong instructing, "Continue," to the rest of his team members.

Wooyoung tugs onto the rope that he planted on the roof before basically jumping on top of the window, plunging through the broken glass as his padded body narrowly misses the jagged pieces. With his gloved hands he slides down the rope, applying enough pressure just to stay suspended a few metres off the ground, taking those idling inside by surprise as he lets the pages of the newspaper spread out, momentarily distracting them.

He bares his teeth in an awkward smile as the door to the warehouse is pried apart ever-so-slowly, the rusty rollers doing little help to ease the process. With an annoying screech, the door opens with Jongho pushing it to one side, and Yunho waiting like an obedient child to board the bus behind him.

As the youngest is done pushing the door to one side, just enough space for the two of them to fit in, he dusts his hands and exclaims, "Phew, this door really needs some grease." He looks around and as he spots Wooyoung, he waves. "Oh, you're already here! It's nice to see you again."

For a moment, everything stops.

"Nice to see you again, bud. You too, tall guy," Wooyoung jokingly replies.

The first person wearing brass knuckles, charge at him from the corner of his eyes and aims to punch the side of his jaw. He ducks before plucking off a gun from the holster and aims at the offender, winking before he unlocks the safety and pulls the trigger. He doesn't intend to give a lethal shot as he jumps back, sliding on the cemented floor as another bullet flies from his gun yet again, and his left hand unlocks the safety of another one, his hands now fully occupied with the weapons.

The warehouse is the perfect place for a deadly hide and seek game as there are boxes stacked everywhere, limiting their views and giving perfect covers for them to hide their bodies behind. Gunshots ring and bullets fly through the huge building, echoing relentlessly that they think it must have been battering their eardrums without mercy.

Jongho and Yunho proceed to heave themselves up onto the boxes, jumping and ducking, intending to have the upper hand by expanding their field of sight but risking themselves as they are now in full view, making them easy targets. The hanging lamps provide ample light for them to survey the whole ground, but picking out their enemies from behind the boxes and shelves is not a piece of cake.

"Toothless is heading into the warehouse, just a heads up," Mingi supplements through their earpieces. "Toothless," he directs to Seonghwa, who replies with an audible grunt, "please refrain from turning the warehouse into a bloodied graveyard."

"No promises," Seonghwa replies, and they know that he definitely isn't going to keep his promise. "I'll try to not make too much of a mess. Minimal blood," he pauses, "but maximum fatality."

Yunho chuckles into his microphone. "Show-off."

"No printers, just fax," Seonghwa passes a comment just in time as he sees a movement in front of him, almost laughing in disbelief because they look like kids playing hide and seek at their father's workplace. "This should be fun."

There is a deafening silence following suit as he treads the pathway, emerging in and out of the lanes as his hand slips inside his black jacket.

"We can't see what's going on inside the warehouse," Hongjoong says. "Can we trust all four of you with this?"

"Of course," Yunho replies, already squinting through the maze, finding any anomaly. "They're hiding when they know their guard outside has been taken down."

"You want to play this game of hide and seek?" Seonghwa says to himself. "Then let the games begin."

Wooyoung takes the chance to fire a shot up through the roof as a sign of warning, and it takes only a moment for the play to resume as a knife brought down narrowly misses his shoulder and he cocks his gun towards his attacker, finishing him off with a shot towards his shoulder, then to his legs before the latter buckles to the ground.

Jongho grips the knives he possesses, revelling in the way his weapons glint under the light and the swishing sound it makes as he swings it around to bring it down upon his opponents. Minhyuk sure did not lie; their strength is something to look upon but he's not letting it dampen him down as he strikes a man across the neck with the tip, drawing blood while plunging in one into the side of his torso.

There is a shout of frustration from somewhere above and they look up to see the boss; Ravn is flanked by two of his closest aides as his shoes click on the metal pathway and his hands reach out to shut down the light in the warehouse, cloaking them in immediate darkness.

"Where the fuck is Lee Minhyuk?" his voice booms through the warehouse and it becomes still again. "Where are you hiding, you coward? Show yourself so I can finally see you bow at my feet!"

"With all due respect, Mr. Ravn," Yunho replies back, looking straight to him even though there is no source of light. "Mr. Lee has sent us here to save her sister, so it would be a waste for him to be here. We don't want him to get blood on his expensive clothes."

"That arrogant man," he spits. "You want to play this fucking game, Lee Minhyuk?" he shouts again, not talking to any specific direction but knowing that his nemesis must be listening on. "We'll see how good your boys are and whether they can take down mine in the dark. I'll give you 10 minutes to go and when the timer hits 0," they can hear the chilling tone vibrating in his voice, "the trigger will be automatically pulled back and the bullets will be fired. Take down all my boys in that time frame, get up here and save that pathetic girl. We'll see who gets to win this time."

He leans against the railing as a sinister smile creeps up on his face.

"Toothless and Silver," they hear Hongjoong addressing them. "Time for both of you to shine."

"Copy that."

Seonghwa takes no time to find Yunho in the dark, not held back in any way even without the presence of artificial or natural lights. Doing combat in the dark is not anything strange to them; at KTC they have been trained for all kinds of situations, and fighting while the surrounding is pitch black, dubbed the 'Nightmare module' is one they had to go through.

Relying on only their hearing and touch senses, Seonghwa and Yunho have always been the top two trainees to finish the course, where most of the others can't even get close to reaching the target. They were given nicknames as the 'midnight runners', who would probably see you first before you get to notice their presence in the dark.

If they were to fight blindfolded, 95% of the time they won't miss.

"Corgi and Apple, stay back and only attack when it's necessary. Get prepared to get to Lee Mikyung."

They even their breathing, eyes flicking to the left, then to the right. Calculating. Analysing. Targeting. Finding one.

Yunho never likes to use weapons because he finds it to only slow him down so he usually forgoes it, and only uses it to a minimum if there is a need to. Right now, he's sitting on the probability that their enemies won't want to use long-range weapons in the dark in fear of shooting the ones on the same side.

With a muted thump, he crouches on the boxes, moving around like he was a spider meticulously weaving his web. As he sees the back of a person's head hiding behind one box away, he uses his hands to launch himself off the box he's on, his legs in the air and he spins to land a kick against the man's head.

The game is set in motion and once they located Yunho with four people come running to him at once. They bear weapons that would otherwise bring a shout of foul as the agent has nothing but his hands and feet. Whatever- it's fine by him anyway.

Gaining quick reflexes, he ducks and goes the other way round, locating the rope Wooyoung had used to intrude. He uses the momentum he has to jump off the ground, grabbing the rope and letting himself swing in the air, legs out as he delivers subsequent kicks to the unsuspecting enemies. He thought he could hear Wooyoung cheering him on from somewhere in the dark, and he can't help but smile.

Seonghwa weaves in and out of the rows of shelves, hands gripping the knives with the blade pointed outwards. Without the other party noticing, he sneaks up to them from behind, plunging the blades deep into their torso, giving them one chance of crying out in pain before slashing it across their necks. He tries to keep the killing clean, even though sometimes it would disturb his plan. Blood splatters to his face and he wipes them off with the back of his palm. He sure would look like a maniac, and he suddenly remembers about what Akira would think of him right at this moment.

Seonghwa relies on stealth while Yunho relies on speed, and by the 8th-minute mark the lights are switched on and they see the situation around the warehouse - the opposite teams members' bodies lying everywhere. But Seonghwa was right; there's minimal blood.

With the continued source of light they look up to the second floor to see Wooyoung having his arm in a chokehold around Ravn's neck, while Jongho is finishing off his closest two aides.

The last showdown should be with Ravn, but they know that's not the case as he has this idiotic smile on his face, which then contorts in his attempt of a manic laughter. He looks to be in control even as Wooyoung has his grip around his neck, the way to cut off his supply of air needing just a little bit of pressure.

"If you think that your boys are all great, you're an idiot, Lee Minhyuk!" He still refuses to address ATEEZ directly, making himself talk to Minhyuk although he doesn't know whether he would actually hear or not. "The game is not over yet, brother. The time is still ticking, and this time it's not the brawn that would win. It's the brains."

"You scumba-" Wooyoung releases the grip around his neck as Ravn falls to the floor, coughing and gasping for air.

The sniper runs to the door at the end of the metallic pathway, his footsteps barely reflecting the urgency that he's currently experiencing. He's about to grab the doorknob but as the rest of his team members run after him, his hand stops mid-air as his brain goes in overdrive.

Ravn had mentioned about how the trigger will be pulled back once the timer hits 0, but which timer is he really referring to?

"You have less than a minute to go and save her inside and disable the automatic trigger," Ravn announces as he approaches with a smug look on his face. He looks too calm. "I'm not stupid; I know that Lee Minhyuk wouldn't come here on his own. What are you waiting for? Come on, go inside the room and untie her."

Hongjoong hears the lilt of Ravn's voice and he paces uneasily in the control room. Something's not right; he's too relaxed. Like he knows we won't win no matter what.

"Corgi wait a minute-" Hongjoong doesn't get to finish his sentence as four consecutive loud bangs fill their earpieces and he crouches, stripping the device away from his ear as the impact was too loud. "No, no, no!" He puts it back on, shouting into the microphone. "Any of you, say something!"

"Corgi, Corgi!" he can hear Yunho's voice calling out Wooyoung's codename.

"I said say something, what the fuck is going on there?!" Hongjoong shrieks as Minhyuk approaches him, all three having no idea what the loud bangs were and what just happened.

A mocking laughter arises from Ravn. As he stops laughing he utters, "I never told you which timer I'm referring to; it's the 5-second timer that counts down once you swing open the door. And," he keeps continuing despite Seonghwa lunging at him and putting a hand around his throat, leaving him with barely any air left and he chokes out the words, "I never said- the gun- was aimed- at Lee- Mikyung. Lee Minhyuk- if you're- hearing this- looks like your boys are not- smart- I told you- not to- play-"

"You fucker!" Seonghwa shouts as he curls his fingers around Ravn's throat, submitting pressure. He gets mad, but his eyes produce tears as he hears Yunho calling out Wooyoung's codename. He rears the knife and plunges it into Ravn's chest once, twice, thrice and the final one, shouting in frustration as he takes himself away, already shaking.

Murderer.

This is too much. This is not what they're prepared for.

Wooyoung lies in Yunho's hold, the four bullets fired finding solid ground, and his brain is a muddled mess. He feels the sticky texture of blood on his face, on his body, everywhere, but the one thing he's worried about is whether Lee Mikyung is safe. The bullets, the damn bullets... where are they?

He wants to move but he feels immobilized, and he finally sees that Mikyung has been untied by Jongho and she runs over to him, pressing a shaky palm over the wound on his body. "Jung Wooyoung," she utters. "Jung Wooyoung, please don't die on me. Please don't die on me!"

Wooyoung hears Yunho reporting over to Hongjoong, and their warbled voices asking him to hold on as medical help is coming on the way. Ah, it must be Dr. Kei with his lame jokes.

"Wooyoung," she tries again, as if this is her way of keeping him conscious. "Listen to me, you're going to be okay. You can't die, you idiot!"

I'm an idiot... of course.

"You still have to go on the promised date with me," she cries. "You can't die, you can't die."

You're right, I can't. But how many times did I cheat death because I was lucky? Living as a courier, death isn't supposed to come as a surprise.

"Wooyoung, please," she sobs harder, bringing a shaky hand to his face and proceeds to hug him.

Even though he wishes he could wrap his arms around her body, he can't move a muscle. He tries to give a smile to let her know that he's fine, although he obviously isn't. Blood is losing fast, his senses are walking away from him.

Idiot. That's why you should have said you like her before it's too late. Look at where trying to follow the rules brought you to.

Her face has become a bloodied mess because she's been using her hands that are holding Wooyoung to wipe away her tears.

Still beautiful.

Just like the darkness.

Because that is all I see.