Chapter 4 (1/1)

Tiffany's POV Seohyun and Sooyoung had been analyzing the cores we had brought back two weeks ago. We knew they needed time and not to bother them, but this could be the key! I was nervously pacing around."Tiff, you're making me nervous by your pacing" Jessi groaned.I sighed and slouched down onto the couch in front of her."Just antsy, Jessi. Those cores could be our way to fight, or at least understand""I know...and Yuri is more tense than ever. It's irritating me" She sighed.We had been celebrated upon our return, glorifying the NightHawks name even more as we brought back the Blazers who had been ambushed there safely. We didn't report about Yoona or Taeyeon, for obvious reasons. I glanced around before talking in a low voice."Jessi...what about Taetae?""I'm going to my room" She abruptly said before doing just that.I sighed. Both Yuri and her refused to talk about either of them. Sunny was helping with the injured Blazers while researching more about ways to heal in the field. Hyoyeon was training and I should be something progressive, but I was too impatient.Finally, a few days later, we were all called into the lab by Sooyoung. We found Seohyun and her hunched over the cores."What is it?" Yuri immediately asked."We've analyzed it...the core is about 30% lighter than your normal one. Yet it's more lethal as you all obviously experienced in person. The combination of light and dark matter did the trick. It's one of the more effective ways to deal with this. They...were correct" Sooyoung said."One of the ways. So there's more than one?" Jessi asked."Well...that's still what we're figuring out. But that combination seems to be the most effective. Of course...they aren't here so we can't count on them every time...Seohyun is working on other ways. And it seems fire is useless against them..." Sooyoung said and Hyo and I groaned.Great....we were useless then. "But fire can be used in different ways...we're working on some theories. It would be better if Yoona and Taeyeon were here" Sooyoung sighed."These Novas will keep appearing and who knows how long it will take to come up with the other ways? We need them. Isn't there a way to plead to the government that we need them? In exchange for freedom" Sunny said."It's no use. They won't help us anymore. They said it was a one-time thing" Sica bitterly said."Well, maybe you two should fix something about it then""What? Us?" Yuri and Sica frowned."Oh come on. I bet they only came that time because of you two. They clearly have some attachment to you still. They don't want to appear because if they do, they know you two will arrest them. They can easily avoid the government obviously" Hyoyeon said."We can't even contact them""I can send some encrypted messages into the underground area. I'm sure they are still listening for news. Information is key to survival. I can arrange to set up a meeting, unnies" Seohyun offered."Will they even trust us? They'll think it's a trap" Yuri said."We'll just have to try, unnies. We need them. And Hyoyeon unnie is right. They still have some attachments to us"The door opened and a fellow Blazer came in."Am I interrupting something?"My mind went through the files and recognized her to be Cathy Reynolds from the American team. "Did you need something?" Sica asked."The headmistress wanted us to form a joint task force. There'll be groups mixed together and she wanted you all to lead it"Sooyoung and Seohyun said they would give us any new information when they could and we left to go to the battle training area where we trained. Everyone was already assembled. Taeyeon's POV Our place was isolated enough and the lab was great. I kept researching new ways to heal from the textbooks I had found and Yoona was busy working her own theories. I explored some of the place here and found a greenhouse where there were signs that something had been growing here. After carefully analyzing, I was surprised to see that they were of some herbs and plants needed for some of the recipes in the textbooks. So I began following what to do and spent my time taking notes, reading and still training. Yoona had drawn up a new training regime for me and I followed it exactly. I had also found a storage area with some dusty equipment that seemed to have been abandoned. Yoona tweaked some of it for me and soon, it was running smoothly again."Any luck?" Yoona leaned against the wall, arms crossed."Slow progress" I admitted and stretched."Same here. But I think they're created by man""What? Someone's making Novas? Is that even possible?" I was surprised."If someone had the cores, they could essentially do it. But it's very dangerous. Examining the core we brought back more closely, I found some elements that could only have been made by man. Someone's synthetically creating Novas""For what purpose? Destroy the world? Kill people?""I don't know. But if someone IS creating Novas, then unless we can find whoever is responsible, the world won't be safe"We ate in silence, both of us just thinking about the new problems. If Yoona was right, then we were seriously in trouble. I received an alert on my laptop. Yoona had made sure it was untraceable so I wasn't concerned about anyone tracking us."What is it? Another team gone down?""No...it's an encrypted message...from Seohyun" I was surprised.I quickly decoded it."She wants us to meet them again""Could be a trap to get us""I don't know...Seohyun only ever uses this code if it's important. Nobody else knows it. She said they'll let us pick the time and place but it's urgent that we meet soon. She seems kind of desperate. What should we do? Risk it?"Yoona was silent for awhile."Let's agree, but have a few conditions to meet..."She told me what to write back and I used the encrypted code to send it to Seohyun. Hopefully, this wasn't a trap. We had some things to prepare. Seohyun's POV I was waiting impatiently for their reply and nearly jumped when I got a fast reply. I read their reply and frowned."Oh boy...Yuri unnie and Sica unnie aren't going to like this..." "What do you mean, we can't go?!" Sica unnie burst out in anger."That's what they said, unnie...they only want Sunny unnie, me and Fany unnie to go...""That's absurd! And are they insane?! They want to meet in the restricted zone?!" Yuri unnie growled in frustration.The restricted zone was a dangerous area to be. Enemies could appear without notice and the government had placed specific instructions not to go there."They know the government won't dare to step inside there. It's smart on their part" Sooyoung shrugged."Come on! We should go anyways!" Sica unnie huffed."Unnies...we asked them to meet us. It's a miracle for them to even meet with us. We can't lose this chance" I said."If anything happens, they are more than capable to handle anything. We'll be safe" Fany unnie said."I still don't like this" Yuri unnie grumbled."Are you just mad because you'll miss the chance of seeing Yoona again?" Hyoyeon slyly smiled.Yuri stormed off and we chuckled, knowing her answer. We set off three days later, with our friends warning us to be careful. "Man, this are just gives me the chills" Sunny unnie shivered.It was a deserted area yet buildings were collapsed and you could hear a pin drop on the floor. There were remnants of fire having been here as well. We waited around for awhile."Maybe they aren't coming" Fany unnie sighed."Would you be disappointed?"We all nearly jumped out of our skins as they suddenly appeared in front of us."Taetae!" Fany unnie hugged her in happiness and Taeyeon unnie just smiled weakly."Thanks for meeting with us, unnies...""Let's go somewhere else that's a bit more safe"We followed them to a nearby city, where it seemed like regular people were just living normal lives not knowing the danger that could happen. They led us to a small inn and to a room."We can speak safely here. We've already patrolled the perimeters and taken necessary precautions" Yoona unnie said."We need you to help us, unnies...you're the only ones that can" I blurted out."Why didn't you want Sica or Yuri here?" Sunny unnie asked."Sica can be hotheaded and Yuri stubborn. Nothing will get done. They'll most likely give us away, accident or not" Taeyeon unnie said.Yoona unnie pushed some notebooks across the table towards us."These are just some notes I've been researching on. Theories. You can look them over and apply them. We know that the allies are here and you can work with them""But unnies...""We're sorry Seohyun. We truly are. But we have no more incentive to help out anymore""Do you hate us, unnies? I...there are some people that believe you two wouldn't run away for nothing. Maybe we can plead to the government on your behalf" I insisted."It's best that we just keep in the shadows. Maybe it was meant to be this way""Sica and Yuri...they can be mad but we know deep down inside, they miss you. If you have the chance...would you come back? Seohyun is right. Only you two were able to defeat them with Sica and Yuri. We're working on other ways but who knows what could happen next?" Sunny unnie asked."You guys will adapt...you always do. We're sorry...we don't want it like this either. But unfortunately, it has to be""Taetae...Yoong...please...don't abandon us" Fany unnie had tears in her eyes."You're strong Fany-ah...you'll win. Tell Yuri and Sica...that we hope they are safe and happy. Be careful guys"With that said, they disappeared, leaving us alone in the room. Eventually, we took the notebooks and headed back to the academy. Yoona's POV "It was hard to reject them" Taeng said. "We're on opposite sides now. Let's hope they can apply my theories. They're strong" I said."Yeah...but I'm still going to miss them..." Taeng mumbled.I put an arm around her shoulder."Me too...but they will never understand why we left"Especially Yuri and Sica...I hope, one day, that you two will forgive us.