★ We've come for the great unknown ★

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- Markers -

Taehyung's POV

"Here's the plan, or more so, then beginning of it," Namjoon says as he shifts his attention from the coffee table that displays the hologram of the city. His eyes find mine and he smiles.

"Taehyung and Jungkook, I need you to scout out the libraries." My eyes drift over to Jungkook. He sits on the couch. His fire magic emits from his fingertips as a flame on a candlewick would. Nevertheless, he smiles and nods alongside me.

"Yoongi and Hoseok. You two are in charge of researching the libraries nearby. Set markers as to where they are, then notify both Taehyung and Jungkook about it." Yoongi and Hoseok nod obediently. They leave the room together, their magics following behind them.

Namjoon shifts his attention to Jin and Jimin who stand there patiently. "You two will help me research the gang and find out their members. We need rankings, skills, and just general facts about them. That way when Taehyung and Jungkook leave to scout out the sources, we have some knowledge."

Jin smiles and Jimin nods as they take a seat on the couch and open up their phones to begin their research. Jungkook and I walk into the kitchen and lean against the island as we wait.

The headquarters is nicely decorated and designed. It resembles an apartment building. There are several floors, some of which contain a few bedrooms and living rooms while the others contain offices. There's one kitchen in the entire headquarters building.

The floor below this one holds two different offices with two computers in each room.

According to the gods, this is nothing special. However, according to us, it is. This whole building was ours and we're proud to call it ours.

Time passes as Jungkook and I wait patiently. We end up flying up to the rooftop and sitting on the ledge as we admire the city. Our legs swing off the edge and move freely as we wait.

Jungkook sighs and leans back, eyes fluttering shut as the sun's rays reflect off his pale skin. "Taehyung?" He asks. A hum flees my lips as I stare at the skyline. The sound of construction from the streets below fills my ears and so does the sound of traffic from the highway.

"Do you really think all traces of evil magic are gone?" My eyes flicker over to Jungkook. His eyes are opened now and are lit aflame with that familiar orange glow. I study him for a second as I think of a response. What did I think?

"No," I say finally. His eyebrow quirks as he turns his body to face mine. His clothes burn with a flame as the Phoenix charm on his neck lights up. It glows a fiery red color that has a mixture of orange and yellow within it. I can even feel the warmth it emits.

"As the gods said earlier, there's always a balance." Jungkook nods as he listens. "Evil exists everywhere. If we're talking about regular lives- human lives- then theft, murders, abuse, rape, and much more will always exist," I say.

"However, if we're talking about magic, then I don't believe that it's entirely gone." Jungkook stares at me. His eyes flicker over my own, which changes from light blue to gray every now and then. With a tilt of his head, he asks, "Why?"

I smile. "Because if our magic can exist, so can evil magic. It's a balancing act. Magic relating to light and goodness exists, so that must mean that magic relating to darkness and evil exists too." He nods.

"Then, what do you believe Demolition did for us? Rid of every trace of evil for a time period?" I nod. That seemed logical. That's probably what it did.

"I think," I say as I turn to look at the light blue sky that's littered with fluffy, white clouds, "that evil magic will make a reappearance in the world. I don't think it'll be right away, maybe a few months from now, but I think it'll reappear."

I catch the flicker of Jungkook's lips as they turn upwards. He sighs contently and nudges me with his knee. "I just wanted to know your opinion on the matter." I smile as I turn my head to look into his eyes. They're mesmerizing, as always, and my world feels as though it slows when I gaze into them.

"How are you doing?" He asks. My eyebrows furrow in response as I tilt my own head in sheer confusion. What?

He laughs. "Wasn't it a few days ago when you claimed you felt as though you'd end up losing control? Do you still feel that nagging feeling or is it gone? You also claimed you felt like you were being watched, right?"

My mouth forms an o shape and I mentally curse myself out. Idiot.

"I'm better now, Cupcake. I think I felt that way because of the nightmare I had and the lingering presence of Ozagi in the city. Now that he's gone, I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders." Jungkook smiles beautifully and nods.

"And what about the elements? It's not too much of a strain for you?" I shake my head at his questions. Truthfully, it should be unbearable. It should be more than just a strain, but I don't feel anything.

I should.

Yet I don't.

"I'm perfectly fine, Cupcake. I should feel terrible. Actually, I shouldn't even be alive with all the elements I possess, but I am and I'm fine. It's surprising but it's real, I guess." Jungkook and I laugh wholeheartedly as we sit there and stare at one another.

Another hour has to pass before Yoongi flies up through the opening of the rooftop and plants himself on the brick. We shift our attention onto our friend who stands there half invisible and half glowing.

"Here," he says as he squats down beside us, "this is a list of the libraries nearby. It even includes university libraries. I thought it wouldn't be a bad thing to check there." We nod as we listen to him talk.

"Right now, Hoseok's and I's guess is this library." Beside the address is a star. "The reason being is because a news article appeared about a murder happening outside of the library. We're not certain if they're there, but that's our guess as of now."

I take the paper from Yoongi and study the addresses. He takes a step back and unfurls his wings majestically. A thin silver line emits and spreads across the city. "See it?" He asks me.

"The silver beacon?" I ask. Jungkook flashes a confused face as his gaze shifts from both Yoongi to myself. Yoongi hums. "Yeah. That's your markers." My eyes widen as I look all over the city.

"Namjoon wanted me to tell you that you can either be secretive about this and act like normal human beings or make a scene and gather a crowd. The choice is yours." I look at Jungkook as he groans and shuts his eyes.

"Tell him we'll keep that in mind." Yoongi smiles and walks back towards the opening in the rooftop. "Be safe out there. We're not immortal after all." With that, he disappears into the building.

Jungkook and I are left on the rooftop staring at one another as silence falls between us. With a sigh, I push myself up and gaze out at the city from the rooftop of the headquarters building.

"Ready to go?" I ask Jungkook. He stands too and meets my gaze with his glowing eyes. "How are we doing this? Are we blending in with the crowd?" A part of me says yes to it and a part of me says no.

"Leave that up to me. For now, let's fly down to the streets and blend in with the civilians. When we draw closer to the first location, I'll disguise us." He nods. Together, hand in hand, our wings form on our backs and we descend to the ground.

Then, they disappear. We walk hand in hand down the streets that begin to fill with civilians. Lunchtime is nearby, which explains the cluster of citizens as we walk along the sidewalk.

Jungkook squeezes my hand as we weave through the clusters and head for the first location. As we near it, we stray away from the crowd and I let my eyes darken. Jungkook stares at me with interest as I allow both of us to turn invisible.

"How did you do that?" He whispers quietly. I smile. He can see and I can see him, but the citizens can't see either of us. "Yoongi's magic." Jungkook's eyes widen but he nods.

We walk through the front doors of the library and weave through the bookshelves. We search for anything that can indicate a trace of illegal drugs.

With a firm pull, I manage to open a door at the back of the library that's apparently for employees only. When it opens, there's a staircase that leads down to a basement.

Jungkook follows me, using his flame to light up the dark staircase. I go down first, the two of us staying close together with our magic swirling around us.

It's deadly silent. The only sounds that fill the rundown basement are the sound of the creaking steps and our footsteps as we reach the cement basement.

Instead of finding a large basement room filled with old books or boxes, we're led into a tunnel. From there, it splits into more tunnels of darkness. There's lanterns along the cement walls that have been burned out.

Jungkook stands beside me, squinting his eyes as he attempts to peer into the darkness of the tunnels. From what I can see, they stretch far and they show no signs of ending.

I curse under my breath. "What happens now? Do we explore the tunnels or do we retreat?" I look at Jungkook who stands beside me with a finger that's lit aflame.

"Let's search the tunnels. We aren't certain that there's drug movement down here until we search them." Instead of smiling, he smirks. Fire lights up the lanterns that hang on the cement walls. It's almost like something out of a movie.

In an instant, the tunnels are lit up with a whoosh sound. My eyes light up in response and I smirk in return. "Want to lead the way?" I ask him. He nods as his palm opens up. The Phoenix flies off of it and soars down the tunnel.

Jungkook follows his magic and I follow him. We weave through the tunnels, taking turns every now and then until we either reach a dead-end or find something.

We discover a room soon enough. There are cots with thrown aside blankets and torn pillows. It's a mess and honestly it kind of smells but we explore what we can.

"Don't move and don't say anything," I say quickly. Jungkook's fire extinguished and we're left in darkness. Footsteps are heard from down the tunnel. They're calm but heavy.

I can see his eyes flicker onto me. They don't hold fear. After what we've fought and been through, why would we fear a gang member? The footsteps speed up and curses flee the man's lips as he rushes past us.

I get a good look at him before he walks into the other tunnel. He has messy dark hair and torn clothes. In the waistband on his jeans, I could spot the gun. He isn't entirely muscular but he's not weak either.

He continues to curse then pulls out what seems to be his phone. We're able to make out the conversation as he walks down the tunnel. "Yeah. I'm not fucking joking. The lanterns are lit- all of them. No- no I'm not fucking lying!"

"Someone's down here, boss!" He shouts. Jungkook smirks as well as myself. In an instant, we're invisible again and walking down the tunnels once more. It isn't until we reach another staircase that we let the invisibility fall and open the door.

This time, it leads us into an alleyway. When we round the building beside the alleyway, I discover it's yet another library.

"Seems the tunnels connect to different libraries." As I study the markers Yoongi set up, I can't help but let my eyes widen and my jaw drop. Jungkook notices.

"What is it?" I point up at the sky. "There are five markers. They all form a square and in the middle of the square is another marker." His eyes widen too.

"So, what you're saying is that the tunnels probably connect with the outer four?" I nod and point to the marker in the middle.

"This means that the library in the middle has to be where they're housing everything." Together, we fly up and land on the rooftop of a skyscraper as we study the library from afar.

"Wait. Isn't that a university?" Jungkook asks as he sits on the rooftop with his Phoenix wings unfurled. I narrow my eyes onto the building. He's right. That was the University I used to attend.

"We need to tell Namjoon."

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And so they begin their newest mission. They'll be ridding of the gang members and their illegal drug supply.

Will Taehyung run into old enemies?

I purple you 💜

~Pisanthrophobia.