EPISODE 54 – The Gambit & The Guardian
The heavy thud of the SUV doors slamming echoed through the urban chaos as Minjae, Kevin, and Dohee burst out. Their eyes immediately scanned for Micha and Guen, pinpointing them, surrounded by the desperate cries of the injured and the strained efforts of the overwhelmed emergency personnel. The thermal signatures Alex reported were now visible, dark figures moving with ruthless efficiency through the dwindling crowds, converging on their two exposed teammates.
"Micha! Guen! Fall back! Now!" Minjae roared into his comms, already moving, a blur of controlled aggression. His tactical knife was now gripped firmly in his hand, a grim extension of his fury.
"We can't, Minjae!" Micha's voice was tight with stress. "Too many criticals here! This one needs immediate antidote!" She pointed to an elderly woman gasping for air, a lone, exhausted field medic hovering uselessly beside her. "And the spray is empty! I need more!"
Minjae swore under his breath. He saw the grim reality: Micha, for all her frustrating quirks, was holding the line. He hated relying on her, hated her bizarre methods, but she was the only one with the key. "Alex! Status report on the hostiles!"
"Three closing in on Micha's left flank, two more on her right, Minjae!" Alex's voice crackled, laced with urgency. "They're North Korean special ops, highly trained. ZEROFACE's personal clean-up crew."
The Guardian
Just as the first cloaked figure rounded a corner, weapon raised, a flash of movement erupted from Minjae. He moved with a brutal, efficient grace, intercepting the operative before they could even register his presence. A swift, bone-jarring blow, followed by a silent takedown. He was a whirlwind, fueled by a terrifying blend of rage at ZEROFACE and a primal need to protect his team, even the one he found most irritating.
Kevin and Dohee were right behind him, forming a tight defensive perimeter. Kevin, with his precise combat maneuvers, disarmed another operative, while Dohee, utilizing her environmental awareness, redirected a collapsing debris pile to block an advancing pair. They were buying time, but ZEROFACE's forces were relentless, pouring in from various angles, seemingly unaffected by the plaza's toxic air.
"Micha! Guen! Get to the SUV! I'll cover your retreat!" Minjae yelled, fending off two more attackers simultaneously. One of the operatives, a woman with unnervingly cold eyes, managed to slice his arm with a blade before he disarmed her. The pain barely registered.
"No! Wait!" Micha suddenly shouted, her eyes fixed on something on the giant LED screen that had just flickered back to life, now displaying ZEROFACE's chilling, masked face again. "ZEROFACE just uploaded another manifest! He's not done! He's targeting Seoul's central water purification plant! It's a bio-bomb, designed to contaminate the entire city's water supply within the hour!"
A collective chill ran through the team. This wasn't just a terror attack; it was an act of mass extermination.
A Desperate Gambit
"He's trying to draw us away from the plaza!" Kevin realized, his voice grim. "He's forcing us to choose between two catastrophes!"
Minjae, still battling, felt his blood run cold. The water plant. That was the real show. Everything else was a diversion. "Alex! Can you confirm that manifest? Any details on the bomb's signature?"
"Confirmed, Minjae! The signature is... an evolved version of Pandora's Breath! Even more potent if ingested! And the location is pinpointed! He's playing us, just like Kevin said!" Alex's voice was tight with frustration. "He wants to see us squirm!"
Micha, however, wasn't squirming. Her lollipop forgotten, she pulled out her tablet and furiously began inputting data, her brow furrowed in intense concentration. "The molecular structure... if it's an evolved Pandora's Breath, then my lollipop catalyst should still work, but it needs a much higher concentration and a different delivery system! Something airborne, but highly localized at the source!"
"Localized?" Minjae grunted, sidestepping a punch. "What are you even talking about, Micha? We have to go to the water plant!"
"No! That's what he wants!" Micha retorted, not looking up. "We can't be in two places at once! We need to distract him here, make him think we're still focused on the plaza, while a smaller team hits the water plant!" She pointed to a massive, disused commercial drone advertising a defunct electronics store, hanging precariously from wires above the plaza. "Minjae, Guen, Alex – you take out that drone!"
Minjae looked at the dilapidated drone, then back at Micha as she began scribbling complex equations on her tablet. "You want to weaponize a flying billboard? Are you insane?"
"It's our only option for aerial dispersal in the short timeframe! We rig it with a concentrated form of the antidote. It buys us time here in the plaza, and then we hit the plant!" Micha explained, her scientific logic overriding the absurdity of the plan. "He thinks he's got us cornered, but he hasn't accounted for... chaos."
Guen, ever practical, stepped forward. "She's right, Minjae. A localized, aerial dispersal from that drone could saturate this area, stabilize the victims, and make ZEROFACE think we're dedicating all our resources here. It's a feint. While he's watching the plaza, we hit the water plant."
Minjae stared at the drone, then at Micha, a vein throbbing in his temple. He despised her wild, sugar-fueled ideas, but he couldn't deny her scientific brilliance. It was a desperate gambit, relying on a woman he considered a walking disaster, but it was a gambit nonetheless.
"Alright," Minjae bit out, fighting off another operative. "Micha, Guen, rig that drone. Alex, you're the remote pilot. Get that thing airborne and deploy the antidote. Kevin, Dohee, with me. We're going to that water plant. And ZEROFACE... he's going to regret showing his true face."
As the sounds of combat intensified, and the distant wail of emergency sirens continued its mournful chorus, the CHIPER team split. One improbable mission to save the plaza, another desperate race to save the entire city. ZEROFACE's game had truly begun, and he was reveling in the chaos he created. But he had just severely underestimated the resilience of his opponents, and the chaotic genius of a lollipop-loving scientist.
What do you think will happen when the team splits? Will ZEROFACE fall for the gambit, or does he have another twist planned?