"That definitely counts for the appearance and the wail," Suho explains from his position in front of the board. "but a banshee is strictly an omen of death, they don't cause it."

"Well it wouldn't exactly be the first time that we dealt with one of the supernatural operating outside their expected framework." Sehun responded from his seat at his desk, he was wearing a small smirk when Chanyeol's gaze found him across the room. "I personally think that Baekhyun's right."

"Me too." Jongin piped up, eyes narrowed as they canvased the board. "A banshee does cover everything else and like Sehun said, this isn't the first one we've come across who decided to defer from its path."

"It's our best lead so far!" Minseok agreed, though his attention was solely on his monitor.

"Then we should look into it a little further," Chanyeol decided, watching as Suho circled Baekhyun's suggestion as their primary focus. "See if we can figure out why she's going off script. Sehun, you and Jongin try to find out what would prompt her to do this?" At the mention of their names, the youngest members of the team saluted their leader and jumped up from their seats to gaze at the wall of books behind their desks. "Minseok, can you corroborate any suspicious activity within the three major zones our victims were found in?"

"How far back would you like me to consider?" Minseok wonders, the curve of his eyes being the only thing to slip over his computer monitor.

"Remember that this case passed through a lot of hands before we received it!" Suho lingered by the whiteboard, marker in hand as he spoke between Chanyeol and Minseok. "A lot of time has passed between us and a lot of information may have been washed through the cracks."

"Let's expand the search to encompass two years to be sure," Chanyeol nodded, receiving an affirmative grunt in response from the tech whiz. "Suho, why don't you run some of those leads down, start by tracing the origins of the case and all corresponding personnel. You might be right, maybe some information managed to slip through the chain of custody and if we're lucky we might be able to get someone talking."

"It's a lot of personnel files that I'll have to look through, I might not be able to get through everything-"

"Once Sehun and Jongin have finished their initial research, get them to help you." Chanyeol watched as Suho's shoulders were immediately released from the tension, keeping them square. He sighed contently on his way back to his desk, drumming the closed marker against his thigh on his way.

"And pray tell us, what exactly will you and Baekhyun be doing when we're working our asses off here?" Jongin wonders, glancing over his shoulder at Chanyeol with a wicked smirk on his face. His partner in crime wasn't far behind, throwing a coy grin in his boss' direction before snapping back to the book in his hand.

"I was going to offer to be the boots on the ground," Chanyeol explained, turning his eyes away from Baekhyun in the hope that the latter wouldn't see the blush creeping up his cheeks. "But Suho, if you need another set of hands-"

"Oh no I'm fine!" The elder hollered from his spot between Sehun and Jongin's desk. His lips were pulled back to reveal his neat rows of white teeth, his eyes sparkling in quiet mischief like his colleagues behind him.

"Maybe I can help Minseok out with the suspicious activity?" Baekhyun wondered, smiling politely to the man who sat closest to Chanyeol's table.

At the mention of his name, Minseok snapped upward, allowing his full face to appear over the edge of his monitor. He seemed initially surprised to be included, but then glanced down at Chanyeol's current headaches and turned back with a knowing smirk. "Thank you so much for offering your help Baekhyun, but the programme I created for this is really complex and while I'm sure you would love for me to teach you all about it.. I think it's better that I offer a raincheck!"

Chanyeol sent a glare to his four team mates, his jaw clenched and his fingers curled into tight fists by his sides. He knew exactly what they were doing and he honestly found it unprofessional. Why they had decided to give him alone time with Baekhyun was beyond him. Chanyeol only offered to keep Baekhyun company because while the citizen had been covered to operate with the taskforce for this ongoing investigation, there were important files archived in the space that corresponded to previous cases that Baekhyun had not got permission to see. Chanyeol figured he was doing his job by taking Baekhyun away from headquarters. Clearly, his teammates had another idea.

"You don't mind me tagging along for this, do you?" Baekhyun wondered, smiling shyly down at Chanyeol whose breath hitched at the sweet tone and the innocent eyes.

He could faintly hear Jongin groan in the background but Sehun's obnoxious cough prevented his partner from being found out. Chanyeol still felt it necessary to send them a glare, but he allowed his face to materialize back into a gentlemanly grin while shaking his head. "Absolutely not," he declared, rising from his seat. "I'd enjoy the company."

Various puffs of air were released around the room as the teammates tried to conceal their joint laughter. Baekhyun was nice enough to ignore their sounds but Chanyeol found himself squinting his eyes at them again as he led Baekhyun from the room. They all offered him excited waves from their stations, their lips all sharing a devilish smirk. When he gets back later he should double check the protection spells in their office, one can never be too careful about demonic possessions.

The air was quiet as they walked back through the compound, their shoulders delicately brushing against each other as they walked. Baekhyun smiled shyly down at the concrete beneath their feet and Chanyeol spent a majority of the walk trying not to trip over his own feet as his attention was split between the pavement in front of them and Baekhyun's beautiful features.

"Sorry that I'm dragging you out into the field." He mutters when he couldn't stand to wallow in the quiet any longer.

Baekhyun's head snaps to attention, his eyes wide and jaw hanging open in protest. "No!" he shrieked, making Chanyeol stop in his steps. A beautiful blush poured into the apple of the citizen's cheeks, he cleared his throat before beginning again. "No, you don't have to apologise. I'm actually quite grateful for the break away from the compound. After viewing Professor Song's office this morning, I really needed a moment to just breathe. If anything I should be thanking you for the excuse to get some fresh air."

"Well in that case, I'm glad. I've been wanting an opportunity to speak with you for a while." Chanyeol finds himself admitting, trying desperately to cool his own heating face.

"Really?" Baekhyun sounds surprised, though his lips are curled up into a grin and his eyes are sparkling in the glow of the early afternoon sunshine. "I suppose our conversations have been mostly about business lately huh?"

"I haven't been able to go to the café in a while," Chanyeol explains, leading Baekhyun through the carpark and over to his personal vehicle. He allows himself the opportunity to play with the keys as he continues. "As you can now see I've been pretty up to my eyes with work. We just finished up with a case last week and we were supposed to be given a break to recuperate, but as you can see that got pushed back. This case has been causing the department quite a bit of trouble, so it makes sense that it took so long to come to us."

"I knew you were an active soldier on the compound," Baekhyun giggles quietly as they finally arrive in front of the car. "But I never would have thought that this was your caseload. I mean..." he pauses to look around, only feeling safe to go on when he notes no-one else there. "Supernatural cases weren't even in my top ten!"

Chanyeol can't help but laugh at that. Initially, he had thought the same. Supernatural existence was at the very least of his concerns when he joined the military, he never would have known of their existence had it not been for an early case in the beginning of his career. Back then the department didn't even have a supernatural case department so Chanyeol's achievements had only been a recent addition to the force and even then, it was still a widely kept secret.

"Trust me," Chanyeol whispers as he holds open the passenger's door for Baekhyun. "I never thought I would be mixed up with it either."

Once Baekhyun's safely tucked in, Chanyeol closes the door and scans the parking lot one more time before walking around the front of his car to the driver's side. He slides in without delay and turns on the engine, listening as it roars to life.

"So, is there anywhere in particular that we're heading to?" Baekhyun wonders as Chanyeol drives out of his parking spot and follows the advisory arrows leading him out of the car park.

"Nope, we're just wheels on the ground in case Minseok or Suho text us to let us know that there is something else we need to check out. I mostly just drive around without any clear destination in mind."

"Can I suggest somewhere?" Baekhyun wonders, leaning his head on the window but his body and eyes are facing Chanyeol.

The Captain allows himself a moment to turn his gaze and watch the citizen smile back at him. He returns his focus back onto the road ahead of them and lets out a small chuckle. "Where to?"

"I think you owe me a coffee." Baekhyun giggles, gently resting his fingers against the back of Chanyeol's palm on the centre console.

The Captain tries to keep his entire attention on the road, but the tingling sensation that sprouts at the moment of contact makes it very hard for him to concentrate. So, he finds himself dipping his head and keeping an eye out for the nearest rest stop.

They find one a few minutes later, Baekhyun having filled the silence with endless rambles about his college degree and some of the classes that he was taking that semester. Chanyeol enjoyed listening to him talk, laughing along whenever Baekhyun made a joke or said something humorous. As they pulled up to the coffee place's drive through, Chanyeol allowed his palm to turn around completely. Baekhyun's fingers slipped right through his and Chanyeol couldn't help the smile that sat on his lips when he greeted the waitress.

Their orders were done fairly quickly and Chanyeol easily passed them over to Baekhyun who unfortunately had to take his hand away from Chanyeol's long enough to settle the cups into their relevant cup-holders in the centre console. Chanyeol continued on through the drive through, bypassing the parking lot and back out onto the open road. He snatched his cup from Baekhyun's grip and even allowed himself to point his tongue at him when he squealed in surprise. The taste of his coffee was a welcomed one on Chanyeol's tongue, the delicious heated beverage was exactly what he needed to get him through the next few hours of his shift.

From the corner of his eye he watched as Baekhyun made a similar expression on his face, a delicate moan of delight escaping his lips as he fell back against his seat with a quiet thump. They sat in silence for a few more moments, before Chanyeol felt the heat return to his wrist and Baekhyun's fingers pressing delicate swirls and patterns into his skin.

Just as he was about to speak out about potentially taking Baekhyun out for a late dinner, the car's system notified them both of a notification from Minseok. Chanyeol pressed a button on the steering wheel and Baekhyun marveled at the video chat that opened up on the car's innermost console.

"Woah, this car is pretty fucking lit!" He admitted, slamming his hand into his mouth when he realized that he had just cursed in front of the elder men. He rushed to apologize but Suho and Minseok simply laughed at his actions and cooed through the car at his apologies.

"What did you find?"

"Correlating data, I'm sending it to your phone now."