The conference room smelt faintly of coffee and paper. The overhead lights buzzed softly as the team of detectives surrounded the long table the next day. The air was thick with ultimate focus as heavy tension settled deep into the atmosphere. They watched with unwavering focus as they set their gaze on the first real lead on the Black Veil that was showed in the giant screen in front of them.
Projected onto the screen was an abandoned warehouse, tucked within the outskirts of the city's industrial sector. The image was grainy, taken from surveillance drones with which they lost contact as soon as it detected a man. The picture showed a structure half consumed by decay. It looked abandoned. But they have to go and check if it was really abandoned.
Taehyung's eyes scanned the aerial view, fingers tapping absently against the surface of the table. Hiding in plain sight. If Black Veil had operates from here , then still they'd have to go there. It was not a rocket science to understand why they lost contact with the drone.
Namjoon's voice broke through the silence. "Surveillance has recorded minimal movement around the site. At first, we dismissed it as a random passersby, nothing consistent. But then we cross-referenced those timestamps and then suddenly all black." He clicked forward on the screen, zooming where a man in all black could be seen. The picture was bad enough and it was zoomed plus the figure was in all black with a matching mask on. It was impossible to even put the picture on their search feed .
Jinyoung leaned forward, narrowing his gaze. "And the patterns match."
Wheein exhaled through his nose, sitting back in his chair. "Not perfect confirmation, but enough for suspicion."
Captain Kang Hyunwoo nodded, crossing his arms. "It's our only viable lead right now. We move in two hours. Get ready everyone."
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The warehouse looked fully abandoned from the outside. But to know what's in the inside fully they would have to check. The Black Veil wasn't idiot to still stay in the warehouse after seeing the service drone. They received the image 3 hours ago and were called in immediately. So though the members of the team could escape, they will not be able to take everything of the warehouse. And they were after those things and if lucky, a member or two of the organization.
Taehyung tightened the straps of his bulletproof vest, rolling his shoulders a bit as the team spread out in front of the gate. Four agents took separate positions, circling the building, while one remained on standby. The plan was simple:
1. Sweep the area.
2. Search for signs of activity.
3. Confirm whether it was Black Veil that was truly operating from here and gather as much information as they can.
They were pretty sure that there weren't any members of the Black Veil there. They abandoned the building the moment the spotted the drone. So they didn't need extra people.
Taehyung moved swiftly, pressing his back against the cold metal wall of the warehouse, his breath steady. Wheein's voice crackled through his earpiece. "No external defenses detected. No surveillance cameras. If anyone's inside, they're keeping a low profile."
Low profile was Black Veil's usual approach. Their steps were calculated, careful not to leave any trace behind.
Taehyung exhaled. They had spent months chasing shadows, following encrypted trails that led nowhere. This had to be different.
He pressed forward, slipping through a narrow side entrance into the building.
The air inside was stale, thick with dust and the sharp scent of old oil.
Taehyung stepped cautiously, scanning his surroundings as he made his way deeper into the structure. His footsteps echoed faintly against the concrete floor, swallowed quickly by the stillness of the space.
It was all silence.
And just then .... a shift.
Something moved in the shadows. Or maybe someone.
Taehyung's body reacted before his mind caught up. His muscles tightened instinctively as his stance lowered and hands steadied the riffle in the air.
A figure stepped forward, emerging from the dark corners of the warehouse.
Taehyung's breath slowed, his gaze locking onto the man before him.
The stranger stood with ease, his posture relaxed but held a stance. He had the kind of composure that spoke of experience and confidence in confrontation.
Taehyung squinted his eyes to have a better look at the man. It was dark and his night vision goggles weren't helping his eye sight. He then carefully took of the goggles, one hand never leaving the barrel of the riffle. Taking of the glasses, now he could make out the features of the man better. He could only see the upper part of the males face that was just his eyes. Surprisingly the eyes looked like a pair of cat's eyes. They were triangle in shape and resembled the eyes of a cat he once had when he was little. The cat only stayed for two days though. He then shifted his focus on the man's full face. But all he could see was the man's eyes, the way they held no trace of alarm in them. As though the man wasn't surprised by Taehyung's presence.
He was definitely not a trespasser.
Neither a clueless informant.
He was definitely someone who belonged to this world, the underground.
Taehyung doesn't know who the man before him is. But something tells him that the man was powerful, very powerful. He could sense it in his posture. Something tells him that this is Agust d. The man behind all of these, the reason he was here.
But it can't be Agust d. Why would he be here for? But still one side of the brain that refused all the logical thinking told him otherwise.
To him, Agust d was just a concept . A concept he wasn't fully sure of but still certain that it was there.
But he had never seen a face attached to it.
And standing before him now, he still didn't know if this was the same man.