One Week Later

Casablanca, Morocco

"Paik Chon-wa, Director of the Korean Branch of the League is dead." Said Mason's image, displayed on the flat screen mounted on Al-Sheikh's desk in his office.

"Officially, the cause of death was a heart attack in Paik's sleep. Paik was a heavy drinker with a history of heart problems."

"I suppose you believe there might be foul play?" asked Al-Sheikh, "In that case, I'm inclined to concur."

"The question is, if Paik's death was orchestrated, then by whom?"

"It wasn't us," Al-Sheikh said, "Of that alone we are sure. Paik was a ruthless criminal and captain of industry; I imagine he has a long list of enemies. Then of course, there is the League… To refer to the League as a pit of vipers would be a grave insult to vipers."

"Nemo contact me, he said he is heading to Seoul to investigate."

"I know," said Al-Sheikh as he searched his desk drawers for a pack of cigarettes, "Priest did not come into Morocco with his team mates, he accompanied Nemo to assist and translate. Hopefully that will give them a chance to reconcile."

"Or kill one another."

"There's that. Still, Priest is the only member of the opposition to speak Korean."

"Hmmm. Alright, what does Paik's death, orchestrated or natural, mean for us?"

"There's been talk about moving the League's East Asian command from Seoul to Tokyo. To tell you the truth, if that happened then it would be a boon to us, I have slightly more clout in Japan than I do in Korea, and we have so far not been able to find new operatives for the Korean cell, however we have two members of the opposition, Mister Hanzo and Mister O'Shaughnessy who could start right away."

"Right." Mason said, "I'll contact my Agent within the League and order the proper enquiries. Goodbye, Naif."

One Week Ago

The Volcano

Mona felt footsteps approaching from behind her as she stood in the infirmary by Lucy who lay unconscious on a gurney, her vitals getting checked by Dr. Robert. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that it was Barbossa.

"'Llo, love."

"Hey."

"Is she going to get better?"

"She'll be alright." Said Barbossa, "The last time she did this, she was out of it for a day and then it was like nothing had happened. "

"This happened before?" asked Mona, "What exactly did she do?"

"She did it once before, when she and the members of her cell were cornered. She said that she focuses psychic energy, bombarding enemies' minds with a painful effect; the psychic equivalent of tear gas. She doesn't do it very often, it drains her. Even when she's back it takes her some time to regain her abilities."

"Why did she attack us?"

"She didn't. The last time she did this, her cell was affected as well. From what I gathered, she is not terribly adept at this, and since she did it on the spot, she couldn't spare everyone some shrapnel. And this time, with the power of the Super-Man and his resilience, she might have had to go a little bit too far."

"If what we got was shrapnel, I'd hate to know what its like to get hit in full force."

"You and me both, pet. So tell me, how does it feel?"

"It's weird." Said Mona, "I'm alright, now. I know that it was horrible at the time, but once she passed out, we were all fine in less than a minute. I don't remember what it was like, it feels like it happened to someone else. Priest, on the other hand is a big girl. He's still puking buckets. Vampire quirk, I suppose."

Two Days from Now

Seoul, Korea

Priest rested his head against the window, looking out at the darkness descending on Seoul.

"I thought we were supposed to be here to see if the story of Paik's death was true or not." Said Priest tiredly, "That's over and done with, why aren't we under water by now?"

"I have to contact Gaum-ja."

"Didn't she quit?" Said Priest a she baked away from the window and rested his head back.

"That was when there was a Seoul branch, that soon may change. In that case the circumstances will be different. We'll need her to be our eyes and ears in Seoul."

A few minutes of cold, uncomfortable silence passed as the taxi driver made his way through the streets, before Nemo said,

"I hope you know that the only reason you're here is that you're the only one to speak the language."

"Yeah, I figured that one out on my own."

Another minutes passed, more uncomfortable and colder than before. It was interrupted by the driver making an illegal turn and coming close to a collision with a garbage truck.

"Tell the driver to slow down!"

"We want to live, drive like a sane person." translated Priest.

"Right. Sorry."

"There, satisfied?"

Nemo sighed.

"Priest… It has been brought to my attention that shooting you in the neck was in a morally gray area, perhaps in one of the darker shades of gray."

"If this is some kind of an apology, you've already failed."

"It's not. You deserve to be shot in the neck."

Priest rested his head against the window again, mumbling,

"Yeah, I suppose I did."

"Still, it wasn't my place to be judge, jury and executioner. My own past is far from laudable."

"So... Bygones?"

"More or less." Said Nemo.

"So, we're clearing out, huh?" Priest asked, "No more hiding in a volcano?"

"That's the idea. We're as of now back to our previous protocol. You will be delivered to Casablanca as soon as we're done here."

"That's good. Now let me ask you something, do you usually recruit all the low level informants yourself?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm just saying that it hardly seems fit for one of the captains to do something like this."

"We are already here, and Gaum-ja has served us loyally, it is the least I could do."

"Sure, maybe." Said Priest, "Or maybe not. I also find it interesting that after all this time Mona is still 'Miss Sax', but Gaum-ja is Gaum-ja."

"What do you know, anyway?"

Priest closed his eyes and looked up with a smile, folding his hands behind his head.

"I know you two slept together on New Year's."

A few more minutes of charged awkward silence followed, until Nemo said,

"How?"

"How did I know? I have an eye for these things, I also caught a whiff of you on the following morning and it hit me in the face like a wrecking ball."

"You will not speak of this to anyone."

"Why would you want to hide this? Gaum-ja is a pretty little thing, and to be frank, I'm gad you have the same urges as the rest of us."

The cab screeched to a halt, the driver mumbled something in Korean.

"He said that we're here." Same Priest with a wide, smug smirk. He opened his eyes and looked to the side as Nemo got out of the car.

"Want me to com with?"

"No. Stay here, keep the taxi waiting."

"Oh, you don't want me to cramp your style. Alright, go baldy forward, Dakkar. Have no fear, just lay back and think of England."

Gaum-ja placed the cup of tea on the saucer on the old wooden table, then pushed the saucer gently forward to within Nemo's reach. Nemo had just told her what they had found out in the past two months, of what Phoenix turned out to be. Oddly enough, Gaum-ja seemed to be taking it calmer than anyone else.

"Thank you." Said Nemo as he picked up the cup and took a sip from it.

"How is everyone?" asked Gaum-ja in an accented English, "How is Mona?"

"Mona is fine."

"And the opposition?"

"They're fine as well. We've resumed our operations, recruited new personnel. I trust you heard of what happened to Paik?"

"Of course."

"There is talk that the League will be moving their East Asian base of operations to Tokyo, the branch here will be dissolved, replaced by a station. If that happens, we will need someone here to act as a sort of surveyor."

"No."

"It would be a low risk assignment, all you would have to do is monitor, and you might not have to do that. We might never even need your-"

"No, Dakkar." Said Gaum-ja, looking away.

Nemo quietly set the cup back down, then slowly stood up, calmly saying,

"Alright. I guess I will be leaving, then."

Nemo walked to the door, feeling a slight measure of anger and embarrassment. He stopped as he heard the call.

"Wait."

"What is it?" asked Nemo as he turned around. Gaum-ja got up from where she sat and walked toward him, until she was within inches of him.

"Why did you come here?"

"There is a war coming. We'll need every man and woman we can get."

"Why did you come here?"

"I was in the country to investigate Paik's death. We have no contacts here as of yet, I thought I could persuade you to come back to work for us."

"Why did you come here, Dakkar?"

Nemo looked down, and to Gaum-ja, his calm, confident veneer seemed to rack and reveal how jaded and tired he really was.

"I missed you." Said Nemo.

"Thank you." Said Gaum-ja as she inched closer to him, their lips meeting for a kiss.

"We… We can't."

"Yes, we can." Said Gaum-ja running her hand through Nemo's raven locks of hair.

"Gaum-ja, when happened between us…"

"Do you really think it was a mistake?"

"…. No. I have made mistakes in my life, buy you were not one of them."

"Then don't go." Said Gaum-ja as she kissed Nemo again.

"I must."

"Don't, not now."

Nemo didn't want to leave; he couldn't remember any reason why he should.

"It gets so lonely, Dakkar…"

"Wow." Said Priest as he saw Nemo stepping out of the building as he leaned against the cab, "Almost a whole hour, must have had all kinds of talk. Probably cuddled, too."

"Shut up, Priest." Said Nemo as he got into the car, "I don't want to talk about it."

"We don't need to talk, I can smell. But sure thing. So, is she with us?" asked Priest as he got in himself.

"Yes, she's in."

"Good, 'cause you've just racked up a ridiculous cab fare. "

R&R.

Next Chapter: Harmony returns, the minutemen have a new assignment. Featuring Judas Priest's confession.