Author's Note: Sorry this has taken so long to get posted. I had another thought running through my head and had to get it out. I'm still working on this one but it may take a little more time to get it up and going.

I'm actually really excited because one of my kids at work is actually looking into new songs by new Kpop artists. It's really fun to talk to her. We have so many things in common. The only thing is she's not a fan of Suga from BTS. But Jungkook is okay too.

(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(

No one in the command center in Wellington, New Zealand, had slept for a day and a half. Thirty-six hours had flow by and not one adult had slept. The children had slept in the corner under the ever watchful eye of their father, but no one else had.

The best scientists the Guardian Council had trained had worked effortlessly day and night for their machine to work. Unfortunately when it had finally done so, the vortex signature was gone completely. They had gone back to the literal drawing board.

That's where they had run into a huge wall. It was easy to tell the difference in a human and a wolf by flashing an infrared camera at them. Wolves ran higher body temperatures but Guardians and Magickal peoples were hard to differentiate between regular humans. The only way to know who was who was to ask and people lied. So they were back to square one.

Square one was so far away from Cloud 9 that it was disappointing. But Baye had taken that time to inhale as much knowledge as she could. She had learned so much in the waiting period than she had in school.

She glanced over to the corner where her family was. Donghyun and Jeongmin each had one of the boys in his lap and were sleeping with their backs to the wall. They had worked just as tirelessly as she had. Both had had issues with Leo, but he was still family and he was missing with others.

She thought about how gentle he had been ever since they had met. He had been her shadow, opting to travel with her even when Jeongmin and Donghyun were there. He was a gentle giant who had frightening powers over shadow and sound when riled. And she missed him.

She missed his steady presence. He had always been there even when she had fought with someone. She hated that he was stuck somewhere unknown without a way home. When it had happened before, it had nearly cost him his life.

The scars on her face throbbed with sadness. They had been through so much together and she was useless to him. She wondered if he hated her for it. Did he hate that she had gone away days before he was once again taken?

Baye was deep in thought when a white cup and bag were set in front of her. She looked up to see Jun Pyo lowering himself in the vacant chair. He had a matching cup in his hand.

"Don't think too much about it," he said. "It's just going to make you sick."

"I'm already sick," she replied as she opened the bag. "Who would do this? Who would take three perfectly innocent people?"

"Someone who hates you and know who they are."

She scowled at him. "Well, don't sugar it at all."

"There's no reason to. You know people hate and want to kill you. What better way to draw you out than by killing people you love?"

"Oppa!"

Jun Pyo waved her off. "I'm not saying they will, but it's a possibility." He cursed as his head went forward. "Aish! Really!"

Woo Bin wasn't the least bit sorry that he had cuffed him in the head. "Quit scaring her," he scolded.

"The truth is scary," Jun Pyo argued.

Ignoring the richer man, the oldest one switched his attention. "Someone's here to see you. Well, two someones. They say they know where our wayward people are."

"Do you trust them?" Baye asked.

"Absolutely."

"Send them in."

"Noona!"

Baye knew the voice before she ever saw the face. Hyunseong made a beeline for her and the two men. As he passed, he woke his brothers. Jeongmin and Donghyun placed the boys back on the pallet and wandered over. Donghyun was rubbing his eyes before he even realized what was going on. Then he went from shocked to displeased.

"Yah! Cho Dae Jin! What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oppa," the young woman with Hyunseong whined, "don't be mad."

"Don't be mad? What are you doing here?"

"She knows where the group is," Woo Bin said.

"Jeongmin-ah, grab him," Hyunseong advised.

Jeongmin didn't have to ask why. He grabbed his friend by one arm as Hyunseong took the other. It took a moment for the statement to sing in to the older man's head, but when it did, he started for his sister. All Jeongmin and Hyunseong had to do was tighten their arms.

"How do you know? You can't possibly know. They're Hunters!" he said as he pulled against his friends. His anger was peaking and the consoles were starting to crack and whine at the timber of his voice.

"Cho Donghyun!" Everyone stopped at the subtle command. Baye sat with her cheek pressed against her fist. "Enough. I don't care who she is as long as she had information. Now sit down and shut up. You can rant later."

Without a word, Donghyun sat in an empty seat and sulked. Baye rarely pulled rank on anyone. She was a more go with the flow type of person. But when she did, no one had a choice but to listen. As it was, her skin and hair were starting to band with green and silver, a clear sign she was getting angry.

When everyone was seated and quiet, Baye motioned for Dae Jin to sit in front of her. The other woman followed. Skillfully and with her New Zealand accent, she switched to English so she could converse with both women.

"How do you know Leo?" she asked.

"He was with Representative So Yi Jeong at the peace talks," the woman said.

"This is Creed Jones. She's part of our team," Dae Jin said.

Baye raised an eyebrow as she scratched her ear. "Our team? I thought you were going to school for computer science."

Dae Jin looked like a fish so Baye waved off the comment. "Forget it. That's not important right now and it's not my fight. What I want to know is where my boys are."

This time it was Creed who looked dumbstruck. "Your boys?"

Anger peaking, a blue band started to inch its way across Baye's face under her right eye. Quietly, Jeongmin walked from his spot behind Donghyun to stand behind his wife. He sat on the console, wrapped his arms around her neck and propped his chin on her head.

"Jagiya, now is not the time to show your temper," he advised.

Baye slid backwards slightly into his arms. Jeongmin tightened them until he was holding his elbows. Slowly the blue disappeared, but the green and silver remained. As long as the red wasn't prominent everyone was relatively safe. Unless Jeongmin used his electricity on people, which he was known to do on certain occasions.

Her attention was back on the two new women. "To answer your question, those three men are my friends and family. Not only that, but Leo is a part of me in no other way anyone is, not even my husband. Looking down is not something you should do because I the best bet if getting your friends back."

"Dasha's injured and Hyuk has a concussion," Dae Jin said. "Leo and Yi Jeong are in good hands with Benji but sometimes she can't control her wolf on the full moon."

"Do you know where they are?"

"They were on their way to Portugal."

It took Baye a moment to figure something out, and everyone one knew the look on her face. It was the one she took on when she was putting puzzle pieces together. It could be very disconcerting for people who didn't know the woman.

"She's a telepath isn't she?" Baye asked.

Dae Jin nodded. "And a telekinetic. She tried to stop the vortex but was unsuccessful. They landed in Morocco and had to get to Portugal via the Strait of Gibraltar. Last I heard they were on a boat."

"That was nearly six hours ago," Creed added. "It takes thirty-five minutes to sail across the strait. Altura, Portugal, is probably where they landed. If they're on foot, it would take twice as long as the nearly three hours to get to Lisbon."

"So you have no clue where they currently are," Woo Bin surmised.

Dae Jin shook her head. "No. All the tracking devices were disabled by the vortex. I have no way to find them."

Jun Pyo sighed and chunked his coffee cup in the garbage. "We'll have to wait until they contact us. That could take forever, especially if Dasha is a telepath. They can hear each other."

"That is true but Dasha has a glitch in her telepathy. Since she's both wolf and Guardian, her animal gives her extra protection when she uses telepathy. Unfortunately, she hasn't learned how to sync any of her wolf traits to her Guardian ones so it taps her out faster."

"What would happen if she could?" Baye asked.

"Her powers would rival yours."

Baye sat still for a good long moment, her mind racing with all sorts of thoughts. "Does anyone else know?"

"Benji does and she knows how to handle it since we've seen those powers sync up only once," Creed explained. "Much like you, Dasha doesn't remember doing it because she technically didn't. She was in danger and her wolf spirit synced with her human one to protect her."

"Are you scared about what she can do to our friends?" Woo Bin asked. He was starting to get defensive and little drops of water were condensing on the computer console.

"Dasha won't hurt them?"

"Can you promise?" Jun Pyo wondered.

"No. Friendly fire is common."

"Who will they be heading to?" Baye asked to cool everyone down.

"His name is Ronaldo and he's part of the Underground," Dae Jin said.

"Why would she go there?" Woo Bin asked.

"If she wasn't a Hunter, she would be part of the Underground, and everyone knows it. Once she gets to Ronaldo, we'll know more info then."

Baye sat still for a few moments biting her lip. Jeongmin knew his wife was thinking deeply. He nuzzled her hair and sighed lovingly.

"What do you think, Baye?" Woo Bin asked.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "We should wait and see what happens. If we're going into the Underground abruptly there may be more casualties. I'm not willing to risk anyone. If Leo doesn't make it through, it wasn't because I did something stupid. Oh, and one more thing. It wasn't that I didn't know what I was doing when I released my power. It was that I didn't know what I was so I couldn't understand what was going on. Your friend has known what she is since birth. Those are two completely different concepts."

With that, she stood and headed over to the corner to pick up her boys. The three left the room with Jeongmin following close behind.

Donghyun turned his gaze to his younger sister. "Why?"

That simple word had Dae Jin bursting out in tears. She left her seat and fell across her brother's knees.

Donghyun's heart dropped as he heard her crying. Without preamble, he uncrossed his arms and held her against him. He hadn't seen her in nearly six years, and he was nearly yelling at her.

"Dasha is really nice," she said. "She paid off the small debt I had accumulated, and she has given me a better house that what I was living in. I don't have any friends, Oppa, except these three."

"She's right. I'm from Africa and barely spoke any English when I came here. Dasha and Benji took me in and we became a team. They don't do things to hurt people if they don't have to. Dasha is actually shy. She doesn't go out of her way to do things like that," Creed said.

Donghyun didn't need to hear anything more. He gathered his sister and escorted her out of the console room. That left Hyunseong with Woo Bin and Jun Pyo.

"What are we going to do?" he asked.

"What can we do?" Jun Pyo sounded perturbed. "We have to wait."

"By doing that we have no clue what we will receive in the end," Woo Bin acknowledged. He crinkled his nose. "I don't like that thought."

"Me either, but Baye is right. We have to wait or else we incite a war we can't win."