.

Grace "Dokkaebi" Nam

…

"…Bridge secure."

"Check that. Bravo, continue your sweep portside – we'll rendezvous on the second deck. Alpha-Two, cover our rear. Three, Four, on me to the stairwell."

"Affirmative."

"Jawohl (You got it)."

Grace listened closely to the radio chatter, trying to make sense of what the monitors were showing her tonight. There she stood, fixing her glasses and joining a few other Operators in their distinctive black uniforms. All of them were watching the action unfold, like they were spectators of a ball game, broadcast live. The group had an overhead view of a four-man squad, marked as green blips on a grayscale blueprint, navigating a labyrinth of halls and doors while a digital timer ticked on. Leading them was a brawny guy with a shielded rifle, navigating tight corridors in search of an exit. The ship had a claustrophobic layout so they had to move at a brisk pace, carefully checking their flanks along the way. The bad guys could literally be waiting behind every corner, waiting for a chance to pounce them.

If only Jenson and his men knew how many hostiles had hijacked the ship. If only they had more time to prepare and to reconnoiter. If only Grace was there to lend them a hand… it would only take one swipe of the screen and a few button presses to work her magic, after all.

Seconds went by and the radio chatter continued, listened closely by keen pairs of ears inside the Fortress's command center. One of them belonged to Mike Baker, the senior-most person present in both rank and age. Another was Masaru Enatsu, being so uncharacteristically industrious tonight, who was keeping a watchful eye on the overhead feeds, perhaps more than most. The former heard Jenson's report, prompting him to grab a headset and lower the microphone close to his lips. The latter, on the other hand, motioned something to the old man, like he found something of interest on his own screen. Curious as a cat, Grace tipped her toes a bit to see what they were up to. She saw that they were reviewing the ship's blueprints, and it seemed like they had a sudden epiphany to share with the troops on the ground.

"Blackbeard, this is Thatcher. Do you read?"

"Wilco. Send it."

"The records room is on the second deck, left-side at the end of the main corridor.", he relayed Masa's message. "Retrieve the cargo manifest from there if you can. We need to know what these bastards are after."

"Well, ain't that rich.", Jenson complained. "Let me guess, the shipping company's keeping their mouths shut?"

"Their lawyers are stonewalling, said we don't have the bloody right to know what their ship was carrying tonight."

A riddle for the ages. The Australian vessel was hijacked by a rather diligent band of pirates, out prowling the seas at this hour. They came in droves, not just one or two tug boats' worth of people. That was the first red flag: the baddies had brought in too much manpower to wrest control of a single unarmed, unprotected cargo vessel. They bargained for far too much trouble, risked far too many lives, just for one big score. Nobody in their right mind would be this ballsy, unless they were looking for something specific inside of that ship. And judging by the shipping company's obstructive behavior, all signs pointed to the word 'contraband'.

"Check that. Snatch the manifest in the records room."

"Flag it as a secondary; main objective remains neutralizing all hostiles aboard. Over and out."

Grace's curiosity was definitely piqued this time. The green blips continued to move, mirroring their conversation. For now, she could do nothing but to observe in silence, be a spectator. Arms crossed with a thumb resting under her chin, the skunk-haired woman also tapped her right foot incessantly, anxious and frustrated. Her mind pointed out one crucial detail: this thing she was watching... it was happening right now a few miles west, off the coast. Team Rainbow was conducting a combat mission. A real mission, not like the crude mock-fights and crappy virtual simulations she had been immersing herself since she joined. A newbie by rights, but she still hated being left behind. She hated it even more that this whole 30-day field trip had happened, depriving her of a chance to prove herself to her betters. The more she watched the action, the more she wanted to step up to the plate. Just then, she finally found the courage to speak.

"I could help them, Baker.", she went on. "Tell them to reactivate the wi-fi so I can patch into the ship's camera network."

Of course, the old man scoffed and replied with a typical drawl. He did not even bother to look at her in the eye. "No funny ideas, lass. Six ordered us to hang back."

"What are you saying? They do not have eyes inside the ship! They could be walking into a trap!"

"And you should be using your head.", he sternly replied. "You do realize the ship's too far for your fancy hacks to work, yeah? We're gonna need a signal booster to keep you connected."

"I agree. Jenson's team is nowhere near the server room anyway…", Masaru offered another counterpoint. "…And besides, they still have their drones with them for recon, yes? Valkyrie is also keeping a close eye with the UAV..."

Grace frowned in reply. First the old man, now this guy too? They brushed off her idea as quickly as it formed in her head, like they didn't even bother weighing the pros and cons. She glared at them, disappointed that they were content to be bystanders for their friends. A few seconds later, more gunshots resounded in the speakers, accentuated by even more blips of light on the screen. There was nary a gasp or whimper from the audience. To Grace, their demeanor was teetering close to indifference, at least on the outside. It was so similar to the reason why she left home in the first place. She clenched her hands into fists, away from their gaze, with frustration bubbling. Like she left the Tigers to find a better use of her talents, only to end up someplace just as bad.

They didn't understand her, even after what she and her team did at Seoul, all those months ago. Any self-respecting genius would easily connect the dots, especially for someone who had been through her fair share of anti-piracy work. Grace could definitely do some good, if only her colleagues had more faith in her. After this exchange, she would relish the chance to prove them wrong even more.

*beep*

And speak of the devil. The PDA tucked into Grace's back pocket suddenly vibrated with a faint chime. She took the device and swiped its screen, immediately encountering a wall of Hangeul text. Reading through it slowly brought a wry smile on her face. Her plea of help from her fellow whizz kids in Yongsan had just been granted. 'Plan B'. If Rainbow wouldn't let her do her thing, then she would do it without their permission. She only needed to get her laptop to begin in earnest.

"Excuse me…", she mumbled to her colleagues, squeezing herself past their shoulders.

She made haste to leave the room, away from the men who had just shot her down, to grab the portable computer in the dormitory next to the command center. A few eyes glanced at her along the way, curious about her strange behavior. Grace ignored them. She mumbled self-motivations as she took the laptop bag from the shelf beside her bunk, then made her way downstairs to find a quiet place to work in. For every step she made, her mind repeated the discouraging words said to her by Baker and Masaru. She brushed them off, reciprocating their earlier sentiment. They should've known better; this hellion would never volunteer to anything if she knew she couldn't pull it off in the first place.

To think that Team Rainbow would give her the same treatment she experienced in the Tigers. And before that, there was her school. Then her peers. It was like the whole world was hellbent on telling her she couldn't live up to her own hype. Her résumé and the missions on her belt would say otherwise. At this point, she was better off accepting the fact that no matter where she went, there would always be detractors who would pull her down, even if it wasn't their earnest intention to do. And with detractors come opportunities to put them to shame.

This 'Plan B' would do just the trick. She had done it before in Seoul, Inchon, and other places where her sleuthing skills were called upon. Tonight would be just another opportunity. Her train of thought halted when she returned to reality. So immersed with self-praise and pride in her mind, she suddenly found herself at the cafeteria, located some ways on the first floor of the Fortress. Grace could work in peace. Taking a deep breath, she cracked her knuckles and found the best spot she could lay her eyeglasses on.

There was nobody here at this hour, save for a random guy manning the bar counter - or at least what could pass off as one in a military installation.

"Alright…"

She pulled up a stool and plopped her bag on a table, taking out the laptop from its pouch. Alongside it was a wireless connector and a portable modem, both of which would allow her to use the Korean Army's Cybershield Network in Yongsan for her own purposes. Soon after, she filled her mind with a long, mental list of steps that would guide her next actions. Subroutines, bypass methods, code sequences, the works. Baker was right in saying that they needed a signal booster. The codger thought he was soooo smart; if the Fortress lacked a signal booster, naturally the next best thing would be to borrow one.

And just her luck: there was one in Tangier as her PDA indicated, just a few dozen miles from where the ship-boarding action was currently taking place. The tower belonged to a telecommunications company, whose name and net worth didn't mean squat to the four-eyed goblin. She could wrest control of their signal booster using the Cybershield's digital infrastructure. Her time to shine again was nigh. A hacking subroutine was in order, one that would certainly be branded as theft if she got caught. She was too smart for that. Her defence this 'theft' would help her friends retake the hijacked cargo ship.

"Excuse me?", she called to the bartender. "Can I have a soda please?"

The tan-skinned man, with his back turned, simply gave her a quick thumbs-up.

Grace began to work, opening dialogue boxes, firing up a few programs - only stopping to adjust her glasses or to sip her soda. Her eyes scanned left to right in rapid succession, digesting every bit of code as fast as her fingers could type. Thanks to her friends back home, she had the right tools to obtain admin-level access to the signal booster's processes. And with that access, she planted a backdoor to the device, allowing her to momentarily seize from its owners and give her free reign to do with as she willed. A progress bar started to appear alongside of wall of fast-scrolling code. A few seconds later, an icon on her computer popped up, indicating a successful breach. It caused another smile to form on her lips. Her "fancy hack" was done in less than ten minutes, outdoing herself yet again. She didn't even break a sweat; the silence in the cafeteria had done wonders for her concentration.

She threw her hands up and exclaimed in victory. She couldn't wait to head back to the command center, with her laptop on hand, and rub it to their face just how wrong they were to doubt her. Especially to a certain couple of men who thought her idea would never work. Relishing the win, she didn't notice that another man had entered the cafeteria. A supposed kindred spirit, with his messy hair and narrow eyes, much like hers.

"I thought I would see you here, Grace.", Masaru called to her.

His hands were on his pockets, laidback as ever. It was also the gesture of a man who wanted to humble himself for an apology, which she could clearly see on his face. The woman was unimpressed however, vividly recalling his dismissive words from a few minutes ago.

"Oh. Here to "back me up" again are you?", she jeered. "By all means! That'll be soooo courteous of you."

"I did not intend to talk you down."

"But you still did it. And here I am, thinking we were buddies."

He walked towards her to pull up a chair, but her look of thinly-veiled disdain made it clear that she didn't want his company. She wanted an apology, something that this fellow nerd would be too proud to give. The look on his face made it clear that he was a bit ashamed of what he said earlier. As he should. Instead of acquiescing, he glanced at her laptop and hacking gear, connecting the dots by himself.

"Baker had a point, my friend. We needed a signal booster, and that would mean asking for permission from Six. But you still went on with it anyway. Stealing."

"Borrowing.", she corrected him. "I'm not stealing data or bandwidth, or anything..."

"*sigh* We would have more lawyers to deal with thanks to you. Nice work."

Grace chortled to his face. So what? It's not as if she would be overloading the circuits with her hack. She only needed the signal booster as an intermediary; everything else was done through her laptop and the server that her friends let her borrow for a while. And she made sure not to leave behind crumbs for anyone to follow. She wasn't stupid. More to the point, she did this to make sure that Jenson's team would get all the help they needed. Another look on her laptop screen proved that she did a good job: a series of CCTV feeds from the cargo ship.

Thanks to her, Jenson and his men would now know the number of hostiles who hijacked the ship. They no longer needed to search for that cargo manifest; the ship's cameras would do it for them. No more need for extra caution in lieu of lackluster prepping; one girl's "fancy hacks" had already done their magic. The list of benefits went on and on in her head, metaphorically patting her back.

"But as you can see, you're too late to stop me. Looks like I've won.", she quipped with a smirk.

"Yeah yeah. That's why Baker told me to give you this."

Masaru brought out something from his pocket. A wi-fi device, so that her laptop can synchronize with the monitors on the command center upstairs, to give everyone the camera footage she boasted she could provide. The thought caused Grace to smile even more sheepishly, which was contrasted by the wearied look on the other man. What she just accomplished would certainly be of great help tonight, but would also land them in hot, legal waters in the future. It didn't matter that Baker would give her a mouthful of harsh words later. She would be more than happy to point out that she used her head.

"Don't you change. Ever.", he sighed.

"Pfft. What's that supposed to mean?"

Rather than answer her question, Masaru shook his head and walked away. The typical reaction of a critic who was resoundingly humbled. Or perhaps that of a frustrated colleague who realized that his advise had been for naught. Either way, it was a win for the woman who was out to prove herself to her peers. She took another sip on her soda, relishing every second of her success. The repercussions, whatever they were, could come later; she would be waiting for them. That's just who she was. That's just what Team Rainbow had to contend with, moving forward.

...

"It means you be yourself...", another male voice spoke out. "...You just be ready for the consequences."

Her eyes darted to her side. It was the bartender, with his back turned.

"Eavesdropping much?", Grace replied.

She didn't appreciate anyone trying to pull her down, even if it wasn't their intention. Especially if the one talking was a random stranger who butted in from out of the blue. Grace, rather childishly, started to size the man up for a tirade of her own making. She had just proved one detractor wrong, she was more than ready to dish out the same words to another. But then she paused. There was something about this man's accent that... unnerved her, despite her high spirits.

"Sorry, but... you remind me of a young woman.", the man went on. "Smart, self-confident... She acted exactly like you did."

He turned around, showing his face to her. His appearance was nondescript, yet vaguely familiar. A grey polo shirt, a pair of drab trousers, and an apron that befitted his trade. He had a stubble on his lips, a youthful expression in his copper-like complexion. And his glasses were quite simple too.

"Wait. Do I know you…?", her words trailed on.

"I believe so. You hacked into our system a few months ago, remember?"

She searched her mind for an answer. Then, it dawned on her. The smugness on her face soon disappeared, replaced by a gasp of surprise and a wide pair of eyes.

"…Harry?"

…

Author's Comments/Notes: After watching "The Hammer and The Scalpel" short film, Dokkaebi really struck me as someone eager to prove herself by doing things her way. She's creative and confident, but easily frustrated when people doubt her skills. I like that she's a free spirit, though I nonetheless gave a slight devil-may-care attitude here to be in line with my portrayal of her in Freedom Day. I didn't delve much into the hacking segment this time, but I still hope it worked out alright.

And so, we're about to go to the last chapter. If you've read Part One of this story, it's quite obvious who's the next character is gonna be. ;)