The day of tribute comes, and the Masquerade drive up to a secluded and abandoned area where no citizens would dare to lurk. They park their two vans, all of them exiting and surrounding Joshua while Jihoon holds the case of serums. They're all on the lookout, scanning the area to see if they're trying to fool their security and policies to this arrangement.

"If they don't show us Seungkwan, I'm going to kill them." Hansol lowly speaks, eyeing every corner and space of the area.

"Don't do anything rash until I give the permission." Soonyoung reminds the younger.

   Mingyu looks at Chan and taps his shoulder. "How's your wound?" The maknae rolls his eyes.

"For the fifth time, I'm fine. It won't be if I end up dead though."

"When was the last time you ever crossed a near death situation?" Wonwoo eyes the younger.

"Since three days ago."

"You definitely could have made it out alive even if Soonyoung and Jihoon didn't make it there in time." Hansol remarks. Seungcheol hushes the team, signaling that the Ennéa Astéria (εννέα αστέρια) are here; two vans pulling up.

   Joshua stands there, trying to keep his composure. Jeonghan, who's next to him, grabs his hand and squeezes it tightly. He sees the bandaged wrap on the older, gently rubbing it in return.

"Don't worry about me. Trust the process and hopefully- hopefully we'll come back together."

   Seokmin rubs his shoulder and whispers, "Don't breathe in the scent of roses when they begin to grow strong. Jangmi's scent can harm anyone's lungs and drives them into a frenzied state. But make sure not to overstrain your powers. Just enough that your scent and pheromones overpowers his." He gives the latter a shocked look, unsure about the new information and tip given. "It's the only protection you have." The omega nods and Seokmin let's go. The comforting touch loss and Joshua doesn't know if he'll ever feel safe without him, but he knows he can manage on his own. It's the encouragement he'll really need however. The time has come.

༒

   The floors of the mansion rumbles, bringing the couple's attention. Minghao dashes to the window to see what's going on. Just as Soonyoung suspected, the henchmen of the Ennéa Astéria are attempting to infiltrate the base. The alpha turns to his omega, the latter returns a serious look.

"You need to help and lead our men," Junhui tells him. The thought of leaving the latter alone is terrifying, such in a vulnerable state, he won't be able to use his strengths. "I'll be okay." He promises.

   Minghao swallows thickly, nodding, but not leaving until he scent marks the older, the omega giving him a kiss before he exits. He grabs his katana, unsheathing and looking into his reflection.

How long has it been since I've seen you, old friend?

He exits the threshold and sees a battleground between the Masquerade's men and the Ennéa Astéria's men. Someone comes up to him and tackles, Minghao tumbles and is quick to get back up, swinging his sword.

BANG!

༒

   The Ennéa Astéria now stand before them. The leader walks up closer. He looks quite young and placid, features of confidence yet solemn when he sees Seokmin. This man has to be around either Mingyu's or Hansol's age.

"Greetings, Choi of the Masquerade." He finally speaks. Seungcheol nods, gestures for everyone to move away from Joshua. The omega walks forward and the look on the leader's face is satisfied. Behind his calm composure, he can barely hold in the bloodlust seeping out of his pheromones, sending a shiver down everyone's spines. Joshua on the other hand, is undisturbed. Then Jihoon walks up with the briefcase of serums. He remains calm, and opens it, revealing the glass vials.

"Insu," The young alpha snaps his fingers, calling for the instructor. Jihoon and the beta make eye contact and something makes Jihoon's eyes grow wide and flash green for a moment. Soonyoung notices the tensed posture of the latter, his best to try and control his pheromones and scent. It doesn't go unnoticed by everyone. The beta smirks and pulls out a device, grabbing the first vial. He injects it into the device and the screen flashes green. The leader nods and Jihoon closes the case, handing it over to the beta. Just a brush of contact if skin makes the omega flinch, and the Masquerades are disturbed whatever Jihoon is feeling at the moment; what Insu could do to their friend.

"Show us Seungkwan first." Jeonghan speaks up, pulling Joshua back when the alpha gestures for the American male.

"Ah, I almost forgot. Youngho." He smiles. The look is so innocent and radiates full of emotion. Deep down, everyone knows it's all fake. He snaps his fingers again, an alpha leaving and heading to the trunk of the van.

   Youngho pulls Seungkwan out of the van and the sight of the omega makes the Masquerades' blood go cold. The omega is fully in one piece, but he's in a frenzy state, covered in blood and bruises. It's obvious he's been starved and dehydrated as well. The terrified boy looks at Hansol and the alpha's instinct is to run to the man, but behind him, Mingyu grips onto his bicep. The grip is slightly painful, the sight affecting everyone, Mingyu is trying to ground himself as well.

"Let's do the exchange." Seungkwan is brought over and when he's closer up to view, they see small puncture wounds on his skin.

"Wonwoo, Hansol." Seungcheol speaks and the two men walk up to Youngho while two more men; a beta and omega walk up to Jeonghan who has Joshua.

"3, 2..." Seungkwan's breath gets erratic, looking at Hansol desperately with warning eyes. The younger alpha hasn't noticed it until now, but the older was wearing a thick vest and Seungkwan looks to the side where there's another beta standing. The male has his hand in his pocket unlike everyone else. Realization strikes Hansol like a thunderbolt. He secretly taps Wonwoo's hand three times and the latter tenses the slightest bit. Wonwoo clear his throat, hand going up, fingers slowly curling two at a time and the Masquerades see the signal.

"What's wrong? Something stuck in your throat?" The alpha looks at Wonwoo. The beta shakes his head, and Seungcheol steps in.

"Apologies, but I believe that there has been an ill action taken place." Seungcheol smiles at the leader.

BANG!

   Hansol shoots the beta with his hand in his pocket, the instructor falling back, just in the exact moment, Mingyu tackles Youngho while Wonwoo grabs Seungkwan, slicing the shoulders on the vest before tossing it at the alphas.

"Mingyu!" The called man jumps back, running along with the others, and Hansol who carries Seungkwan. The bomb explodes, killing Youngho.

"Fire!" The leader of Ennéa Astéria commands, gunshots echoing in the area.

   The thick smoke covers their locations, but someone is right behind Joshua. The omega feels their presence and turns around, punching the man. Pain surges through his body when he takes in the scent of powerful roses. The American male stumbles, gripping tightly onto his chest before he gets kicked. Soonyoung tackles Jangmi, drawing a knife into their arm as they shield themselves. When Soonyoung takes in the slightest breath to breathe, he choked, toppling over in pain. The omega kicks him off, stabbing him in the hip before going over to Joshua. The man who's crumbling under the pain looks up, recalling Seokmin's tip. He regains some composure before his eyes turn purple, growling at the enemy. Jangmi stutters back with wide eyes.

"Joshua!" Jeonghan reaches to the male only to be yanked, a gun pressed against his head. Joshua looks at his best friend who's held by the leader of Ennéa Astéria.

"Don't move." The man demands.

   The smoke fades and Joshua looks around seeing Jihoon pinned onto the ground by Insu, hand stabbed into the ground. The omega struggles and growls but stops when the beta grabs his head and directs his focus on Jeonghan.

   Mingyu is on top of a beta who's been beaten badly by the taller man. He stops when Wonwoo yells at him, the beta covering Hansol who has Seungkwan in his arms. Chan has an omega on the floor, the man groaning in pain as a knife is snug deep into their back; their arm dislocated, held in the beta's hand. Chan looks at the ruckus, eyes narrowing at the threat of his Hyung's life. Seungcheol on the other hand is holding himself back from twisting the beta's neck in his choke hold. The threatening sight has everyone's attention.

"Release my men and surrender Joshua." He lowly demands. Joshua looks at Jeonghan whose eyes are focused on him. It looks like he's thinking of something, planning something risky.

"D-Don't, Jeonghan—" Soonyoung's strained voice is heard, the alpha breathing heavily after going through a wave of pain. "Sacrificing yourself won't do any good— don't do whatever scheme you're planning!" His eyes narrow when he sees the frightful look on Jihoon's face. The beta on top of him takes in the delight, there's a secret Jihoon has kept hidden if Insu inflicts this much fear and power onto the instructor.

"You can't do anything to me, Seokmin." The alpha looks at the beta with his red eyes. The said man his his gun pointed at the leader. Seokmin looks at the leader then to Joshua. The pleads in the omega's eyes tell him to let go.

   Seokmin grits his teeth and drops his arm, discarding the gun.

It'll be okay, I'm strong and we both know that.

   Jangmi is right behind Joshua, grabbing his arms and tying his wrists. The omega instinctively growls.

   The Masquerades release their enemies, the enemy leader never letting go of Jeonghan until Joshua is escorted away, but suddenly, Insu takes out a scalpel and smoothly removes the bandages and where the tracker was injected into Joshua's arm. He takes out the tracker and tosses it away, giving Jihoon one last look before turning back.

"Hangyeol..." Seokmin calls for the leader who stops in his tracks once he realesses Jeonghan. He turns around with those blood red eyes.

"Never say my name from the one who took my comrade's identity... you are too much like him." He turns his back to Seokmin who glares with his piercing yellow eyes.

   The leader of Masquerade reaches to his lover's side, checking for any injuries. The omega however is frustrated, eyes brimming with tears of anger as he watches his friend be taken away.

   Soonyoung crawls over to Jihoon who lies on the floor, breaths heard are uneven. "Hoonie..." The omega isn't put together, waves of negative emotions washing upon the shorter.

BANG!

   Everyone looks at where the origins of the gunshot comes from and directs to Wonwoo. The beta has a cold look on his face and on the other side of the area, Joshua shouts in pain, when he's shot in the shoulder, falling limp into the betas that hold him down. The sign takes everyone to run back into their vans, driving away to their bases before they could get shot.

   In the car ride, Jeonghan and Mingyu are bombarding the instructor with questions.

"Why did you shoot Joshua?!" The man's boyfriend yells at him. Wonwoo leans away, trying to protect his poor ears.

"Well if you don't remember, Jihoon mentioned an alternative tracker if it doesn't go to plan." He sees the cogs turning in their heads, silence letting him continue. "Hence, we shoot him with a tracker."

"You instructors are crazy." Jeonghan was going to become hysterical if the beta shot Joshua out of anger.

"But we get things done." The younger responds smoothly.

"Let's return back to the base... we need to gather more information and plan a new mission." Seungcheol's grip on the wheel tightens, everyone pausing their conversation. "We need to come back to the base and make sure no one dares to harm Junhui and Minghao along with trapping the area. We need to get Seungkwan into the infirmary asap. Prepare the medics and check up on the couple. Lastly, try to get a hold of Joshua s location before they suspect the tracker." They have to hope nothing goes wrong while Joshua is taken away.

༒

"What the hell did I just go through?" Soonyoung dands an answer from Seokmin. He knows the younger is aware what Jangmi did to him and Joshua.

"All he did was intensify his scent. Think of it like tear gas. I guess the concept when he got an injection was the rose thorns spreading within your lungs. It's really painful once you get caught, but the pain should subside within a few hours." The leader groans, thinking how long he'll have to wait. Don't even get started with the stab wound on his hip.

He takes a quick glance at Jihoon whose eyes are wide, mind full of questions. "What about Joshua then?"

"He knows what to do. I trust him." Seokmin sighs trying not think of the worst yet as he focuses on the road. "Jangmi likes to take his time, Joshua wouldn't be dead in one day, it'll probably be a week until then." Soonyoung nods and turns his attention to Jihoon who's shaking, staring at his bloody hand.

"Hoonie, who is Insu to you? Do you know him?" The alpha recalls the encounter between Jihoon and it looks as if he recognized the other. The younger looks up with tear brimmed eyes, tears out of fear as the scent of caramel gets too salty.

"H-He... no— I..." The older hushes his lover, hugging him.

"Okay, take a deep breath, you can tell us later when you're ready, but you have to remember that time is precious on our hands. Stay strong, okay?" The older feels Jihoon relax in his hold, nodding weakly.

   The alpha turns to Hansol who's holding an unconscious Seungkwan. The younger looks at Soonyoung with so much concern.

"His regeneration isn't healing like it would... and he's been starved." The alpha looks so broken as he analyzes the omega. "They did something to him..." Tears are threatening to fall, but he holds them to be strong for his boyfriend. But the monsters that tortured him and inflicted damage to the omega leaves them all heartbroken.

"Keep watching him, we have a while until we return to the base." Soonyoung watches as Chan holds tightly onto Seungkwan's hands. They feel so heavy yet light for the maknae, devastation washes upon the beta and the scent of patchouli dampens.

"Just be okay, Hyung... don't do anything but just be yourself, please." The begging of the maknae breaks everyone's hearts, understanding how close the two were.

༒

Joshua wakes up and sees his surrounding is white. He adjusts his vision and notices he's chained to the wall, any movements causing him great pain. He sees one window and a door but everything else is just a plain white wall.

The door opens, revealing Hangyeol. Joshua looks at the man with a glare which only prompts him to chuckle at the endearing sight.

"You can't do anything other than take in the price of what you did to our comrade."

Joshua's screams in pain when Hangyeol stabs him in the thigh, music to the leader of the Ennéa Astérias ears.