Pierce's eyes briefly flickered when I pinpointed the reason behind his uncomfortableness throughout the rest of the night in that café. Earlier when he was walking up to the officers with Beta's seal, the man behind Beta's mask had been walking with a subtle limp in his steps to cover up the insignificant fact that would slow the rest of us down.

His eyes didn't meet mine as he focused his eyes ahead and brought the keys to the ignition. "No one died, if that's what you're worried about."

Anxiety flushed across my mind as I found myself scrunching up my face in response to his statement. Instead of refuting, I grabbed his arm and yanked it back from the wheel. "It's your blood, then." I said, almost slipping out an incredulous laugh. He kept his eyes on the wheel that I had restricted him away from.

I bent the wool of his coat flap away from the injury. The man winced and his jaw clenched when I merely brushed past the cloth of his shirt. I snapped my attention back to his face and searched his eyes, finally releasing words. Words that held more anger than I even realized I had been holding back.

"You had help... what the hell happened?"

He challenged my sudden change in tone. "You think I was kidding when I said that actor only handled like two of those attackers? He came late, but it went well, nonetheless."

My lips curled into pure frustration at his last remark. "Went well, huh? You're telling me Beta couldn't handle twelve people?"

"I did." He eyed me with disbelief, as if he's not understanding what was causing the built-in layers of irritation coming out of me, "To get to the alley you have to cross the intersection. People cross there. It's real easy when it's just me, but put a city-side in the picture and a cut is possible when I'm trying to protect innocent passerby's from being hurt."

"It's a fucking stab wound and you're here calling it a cut. You're undermining a gash that wound knock people dead cold on the streets and you've been doing a hell of a good job keeping your mouth shut. We could've treated it earlier in a public building. Go on, keep that mouth of yours shut forever and see how much longer you can play with your life."

It seemed like he finally caught on as his eyes searched mine. "And so what?" he slightly cocked his eyebrows, "I get to choose what I do with my life. I don't ask to get hurt. It comes with the job. What can you say when you don't even fight? What do you know?"

Tense silence filled the car. "You know nothing about me. Don't go acting high and mighty. You may be T6's Commander, but you're not Risa's. You may be Beta, but you're first and foremost Pierce. I want to talk to Pierce." I looked him straight in the eyes, "Talk to me like Beta again and you'll see just exactly how much I know."

"So what do you want me to do?" He frowned, "This is why I don't share something like this with people."

"No," I shook my head lightly, "You don't share it because you're prideful. For now, hop off."

"Hop off?"

"Were you really thinking I'd let you drive for an hour back with that severe of a wound? You're sweating, your breathing's speeding up, and you're aggravating your injury by sitting at this angle." I couldn't put it any clearer until I said, "Listen, any other person would expect me to console them. Unfortunately, I'm not like that."

I set my lips firm as the man stayed silent. "I don't waste my time giving anyone attention and fake consolidation. This is as real as I get. Yes, I'm angry."

But it was more than just being angry. I wasn't angry at the fact that he could've gotten a stab wound, because I knew deep in my heart the severity of his position in our team. What I was angry about, was the fact that he never once touched on the topic of the aftermath of him dealing with a crime scene for our assignments.

This man made us forget the amount of pressure he had as a leader and the pain he endured as Beta. He didn't talk about it, so we didn't bring it up either. A team was a team. You have to deal with things together. But it seemed like he still couldn't trust us.

Or was it that he couldn't trust failing to uphold the position that he was held accountable for?

I finally started piecing something together. That night that I had found him with all those wounds, it couldn't have all been from the ambush. In truth, they were old wounds that easily opened up because he never had a rest from his assignments. But like any human, he had a limit.

And the scary thing was that he had reached it long ago. But all these years, he masked his pain so well, that he now believed he didn't deserve to mention what happened to him. And we believed him. We believed he was capable of everything. He was the perfect leader.

But today, I saw him as a human. And I was going to teach him, it was okay to breathe. All the more reason I was now set on not letting him find out I was Venus, at least not anytime soon. If he knew I was Venus, I wouldn't be able to reach him anymore.

Right now, the man felt alone... but he wasn't. I was right here guiding him. What he needed to learn was that, regardless of whether or not he knew Venus's identity, Venus and Risa were the same person. Just as Beta and Pierce were the same person. It was Pierce's life he should protect, not Beta's. Beta was a title. Pierce was a human. If we lost the latter, just how important then is the prior?

We ended up switching places. I settled myself into the driver's seat at last and he sat where I had been. I lowered the seat so that he was leaning further back out of my line of vision. The man applied pressure to his wound to clot the blood as he became quiet. Without wasting anymore time, I flicked on the engines more aggressively than I intended to, and we hit the road.

▂▂▂▂▂

I seemed to have calmed down as we neared home. My car was signaling I needed gas about 45 minutes more into the drive. Cursing under my breath, I cautiously took a peek at Pierce, and my eyes instantly softened.

He was sleeping. Quiet, tired, and with sweat running down the side of his face. The blood on his clothes had dried, but the wound was still fresh and lethal. As I observed him, I realized that he needed a dressing of some sort for his gash. Maybe they'd have some in the gas station.

Testing my luck, I immediately pulled over to the nearest gas station and parked the car at one of the gas pumps. It was 2 in the morning. There was barely any light. I had forgotten how cold it was outside just as I opened the car door. Turning on the heat, I left the keys in the ignition as I stepped out.

The closer I got to the door of the store, the clearer the image of a couple making out outside next to the door became. Trying not to make a face and judge, I shook my head of thoughts and quickly made my entrance into the gas store.

I bought a roll of dressing, ointment, scissors, and a water bottle for him to rehydrate again. He wasn't going to make it all the way back to my apartment, I thought grimly to myself as I paid for the items with my card and glanced outside the window.

My face darkened as soon as I awkwardly observed the couple suddenly traveling with their bodies while they were having their intense make-out session, away from the wall, and now against my car. There was no one else at the station besides them and Pierce and me. I had no problem with people being affectionate all they want since I'm not living their life, but when you try to have sex on the lid of my car, we're going to have a problem.

Thanking the cashier, I swung the plastic bag over my shoulders and made my way back out. The couple was oblivious to me walking up to them, just as they were oblivious to Pierce being in the car out of their line of vision. He was lucky he was asleep. He could forget the pain and never see this sight.

"Move." I waited.

"That's my car." Second try.

"Hel-lo." I waved one hand sarcastically in front of their smooching faces. "I'm literally standing a few inches away. Did you forget your hearing aids somewhere in her pants?"

The man seemed to have noticed, but he glanced up at me, scoffed, and bent back down to lock lips with his girl as his hands unbuckled her belt. She was in the middle of raising his shirt over his head just as a heavy bag of medical tools hit the two of them right smack in the face. Double-kill.

The woman gasped and let out a shriek as she glued her body flatter onto my car. The man backed away while thrusting aggressive motions blindly in the air. I was met with two wide, confused, and bitchy eyes as I silently cocked my eyebrows at them and mouthed, 'oops.'

"What the hell is your problem?" The woman asked hysterically, pushing herself off my car as she pointed a finger in my face. "Were we bothering you? I don't think so."

I didn't have time for this. I needed to get back in that car and treat Pierce's wound. Normally, I would've added in my two cents. But tonight wasn't the night.

I kept a straight face. "Leave me alone."

"Big mouth you have there, lady," the man suddenly started, advancing towards me.

"Yeah, well from my perspective you sucked everything left of her face so who actually has the bigger asshole?"

Just as I thought, he swung a fist to my jaw. Instead of blocking, I directly stopped his balled-up fist mid-way in the air in my palms and brought it back up to his face, where I released his hand and saw him giving himself a violent punch to the face. The woman also tried slapping me and just like her partner, her hand was redirected back to her face just before she ended up slapping herself.

"Y'all must be deaf." I shifted my weight with my arms calmly crossed across my chest as I observed the two letting out cries of pain, "I'm not in the mood. Thinking you can just walk up to anyone and throw a punch." I amusedly observed the man straightening up and giving me a disheveled growl. "A little bit confident earlier, weren't we?"

The girl finally straightened up and rubbed her flaring red cheeks. My eyes suddenly shifted as my face darkened dangerously in warning. "Why don't y'all stick around for a round two? It's been a bad night for me. I've been dying to let some steam out and your faces look mighty tempting."

Humiliated and defeated, the two tripped as they fled far away from the gas station. Their figures disappeared in the dark as I let out small breaths to regain myself.

Little did I know, Pierce had been silently watching me through the wing mirror in the car.

▂▂▂▂▂

I worked on tearing and bandaging the dressing around his wound. Of course, all of that was a bit difficult when one, it was freezing cold and my fingers were numb, two, Pierce was heavy, and three, it was dark. I wiped his sweat with the sleeve of my coat right after I finished up tying his dressing around his stab wound. I capped the lid on the ointment and place that, the scissors, and roll away in the plastic bag as I let out a tired breath.

Quickly, I took his wrist in my palm and checked his pulse. When I realized I couldn't read his pulse because my fingers were numb, I nudged the man slightly until he roused and began opening his eyes. I waited a few seconds until he was fully conscious before I handed him the water bottle I bought as I opened the car door again to refill the gas tank in the car.

Pierce managed to sit up while I stood outside with the gas pump nozzle in my hand, directing it into the car. I waited silently before I heard the man cough and I turned around.

"How are you feeling?" I asked, walking over to the door as I bent down to take a look at him inside. The man glanced at the plastic bag in the car and raised his eyebrows. "Don't tell me you bought this?"

"Unless Christmas came early," I smirked lightly, "yes, I bought it while you were asleep."

"How long left until we get back?"

I sighed as I glanced at the time. Almost 3am.

"Twenty..." His eyes widened and I immediately added, "or so more minutes."

Pierce threw his head back and exaggerated his wound. "I'm going to die in this car."

Seeing that he could manage to even joke in his state, I accidentally let slip a laugh before I caught myself and stared at him with wide eyes. He gazed at me with a hint of amusement in his eyes before he checked the dressing wrapped around his midsection.

"Wow," he smacked his lips as he gave me a smirk, "The devil works hard but you work harder. Thanks."

"Sorry for um, earlier," I suddenly brought up, awkwardly looking elsewhere, "I know how hard you worked. I was more angry at myself. It took me a while to realize why I was so worked up for."

"And why was that?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Because..." Shit. This crap again. Because you're my Commander. No. Because you're close to me. Funny since this was actually only the third time I saw him. "... blood and fighting is scary and just the thought it happened made me angry."

"Scary." He repeated curiously, glancing out the wing mirror for some reason. "What I saw earlier didn't seem like you were very afraid."

I froze. "... What did you see?"

"Two people making out." He smiled, mischievous intent tugging at the corner of his lips.

"And?"

"And a very cute Risa." He popped with a smirk.

I frowned and shot him a glare. This was it. This was the end. He saw.

My suspicions were confirmed when the man couldn't help hiding a smirk forming on his lips as he motioned a fist to his face and pretended to be hit by it.

My eyes widened.

"Ah shi—"

"I think I deserve a little explanation when we get home, twig-breaker."

▂▂▂▂▂

We ended up driving to his place instead. And while I emphasized that my place had a medical kit, he said he needed to go to his apartment in exchange for the long-ass car drive I put him through.

A normal person would have passed out long ago. Then you have Pierce, who not only slept, but then woke up and spied on innocent people.

His place, or should I say Mr. Johnson's place, was still as grim-looking and death-inviting as ever. Just one look and I immediately swerved the car around, to which Pierce called me out and I was forced to park right outside with a low groan.

"Come out." Pierce said, already heaving himself out the car surprisingly despite his stab wound.

"I'm not going in there." I shot back, "And your wound— are you sure you're human?"

Pierce glanced behind his shoulders with a smirk before reaching his front door. He was still in pain. One of his hand pressed against the dressing while the other found his keys and unlocked the door. I followed along with the plastic bag.

I stepped inside and my eyes widened. Nothing looked like what the old man would've had if he was still alive. It was a smaller apartment than mine, much smaller, so the place only had one floor and seemed crammed. But with only Pierce living here now, the amount of space was perfect.

The table in front had three books stacked, two journals, four pens laying all over, and a laptop with its lid open. A cup of now-cold coffee sat away from the mess.

I raised my eyebrows as I glanced at Pierce, who was taking his coat off. "You drank coffee before you came to my place?"

"Did I?" He looked dazed as he frowned at something while hanging his coat, but then he acted innocent as his eyes glossed over the cup he forgot, "I don't remember."

"Oh you lying pig," I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth as I picked up the cup and examined it, "This must be your second cup. You didn't finish."

"How are you so sure it wasn't my first?"

"I'm not, but now I'm sure you did drink coffee yet you dragged me out of my apartment for coffee downtown." I gave him a curious look as I took off my coat and placed it on the couch. I took a seat while Pierce went to the kitchen to grab his medical tools and began applying them to himself with more expertise.

"Be honest," I suddenly started as I leaned back in the couch, "you were awake the whole time, weren't you?"

"No."

"Lying."

"Speaking of lying, that punch earlier—"

"Oh, that's a very nice vase you have over here," I piped up with a grin, examining a broken flower pot that was a leftover from the dead man's possessions, "the patterns are exquisite."

Pierce looked up from re-tying his dressing as he arched his brows. "There are no patterns, it's a solid color."

"Ay you old fart. I see polka dots."

"Mold."

I stopped mid-way and turned my head away as my face shifted into disgust. I scotched closer to the arm of the couch just as I heard Pierce laughing genuinely from the kitchen. He finally finished after a while and came back to the living room. I silently eyed him settling on the floor next to the table and I remained on the couch because my ass didn't deserve a floor after all of my efforts to keep him alive.

"So," he started, turning on his laptop, "you can fight?"

I turned serious as my face hid from his view. He can't know. It wasn't something I just randomly wanted to keep from him. The truth was, I was trying to separate Venus and Risa as much as possible. If Venus was the ideal partner, Risa was going to become the opposite of that.

"I know how to defend." It was a stretch, but I had to do whatever it took. The more he didn't know about me, the safer he'll be. "I learned it from my pa. If you saw what happened, you'd remember that they hit themselves. I only redirected their hits."

"You're still holding back huh?" The man said under his breath so that I couldn't hear, "fine." He looked back up at me and I waited. "K2, I saw him in Osias' car."

Oh. So we moved on.

"That is strange. There is no way someone like him would stop by a café randomly for a cup of coffee. K2 must've told him to do it. But why?"

"Because I'm in there," Pierce let out with a frown. "What I don't understand is how that actor and I have any connection to each other."

"You might have," I began, bringing my hand up as I looked at it again, "That little boy too. He had to be Pooh."

Pierce and I stayed quiet as we racked our brains to piece everything together. Was the information dump very sudden? Absolutely. But we have to deal with it as quick as possible, just like an open wound.

"How are you so sure?" Pierce directed at me, "Any little boy could have drawn a face like that. He didn't speak English so he's probably just doing it to be friendly."

"He had Pooh's real name. Asao."

Pierce immediately frowned. "I heard that name somewhere. But our team doesn't know each other. How did you know?"

"Because you said it while you were asleep."

Pierce seemed to have quieted down as he tried to regain his memories. So he did actually sleep in that car. Thank god because my lie wouldn't have worked otherwise.

"Pierce, let me ask you something."

He looked up at me.

"Tell me what the dark side of underground work is like." I continued.

The man frowned at my words. "Why all of a sudden?"

"It won't hurt you more than your wound already did." I stated, "Just do it."

A little hesitant, the man finally complied. "You have the ones that work under the law," he started, running a hand through his hair in thought as he leaned against the couch from the floor, "like those Policemen. Bodyguards. Detectives. And FBI agents. Then... you have the ones that work for themselves. The ones with no law over them. The Secret Agents. Street fighters. Gamblers. Dealers. Gangs."

"Hackers go in-between." I said calmly as Pierce nodded, "Some work for the government, some don't."

"T6 works for the government," Pierce concluded.

"Which is odd, considering if it was up to me you guys should be free from the government. Hackers don't typically belong under the law. The ones with the country are well-off since they're selected."

Pierce stayed quiet for a moment before he spoke up again. "Is that where you're getting at? The question of why exactly is T6 working for the government?"

I nodded as a dark thought came to mind. "Maybe it has to do with your memory," I tried, "If you and your team can get back your memories, you'd be able to understand the purpose of T6. For now, everything will keep being blurry. Don't forget you have fake Beta after you now."

"You do have a point. The team's not the type to put their work out for fame. I always thought it was strange how the situation was set up right now. The fact that we're even known in the first place, like we're being advertised."

"There's a clue," I smirked, "You know T6 better than any law. If you have a feeling something's not right, then believe it. I knew something was up when you said K2 was missing from the recent assignment."

"So you're saying it is a possibility that Osias could be part of T6?" Pierce started carefully.

"Definitely. K2 is your government official, no? If he's looking after one of your teammate, then the story's suddenly starting to unfold. Think about it. He was missing. Now he's found. He's getting you guys together. What you have to look out for now is your assignments. Fake Beta follows the orders of the assignments, and the assignments are from the government. You can start getting suspicious now."

Pierce rubbed his face in exhaustion as he studied my face. "I think shit started happening when I was chased."

"And now we have to deal with another chase." I suddenly remembered, "Kenya's." A little further thinking and I instantly looked at Pierce, "Hey. You don't think... the weird coincidence that this may be... that Kenya is also..?"

"Why would you think that?" He cut in.

I shifted my body and leaned forward from the couch, the pieces fitting together.

"I think... someone's targeting T6." I said, a dark expression planted on my face, "They're sending people to chase each and every six of your teammates. It started with you. They failed, but then someone managed to hack your account. Now, if this all adds up, Kenya is the second person they're pursuing."

Pierce's eyes lit up. "Then the interrogation tomorrow is where I'll find my answers."

"Yes!" I laughed, finally glad that everything was coming together, "time for us to interrogate them."

Pierce saw my smile and he smirked lightly. "Us?" He repeated, tilting his head.

I awkwardly regained myself and looked at him. "I mean, yeah?"

"Did you forget that you have school tomorrow, miss college student?" the man suddenly dropped, a grin appearing on his lips.

My eyes widened before I let out a groan of frustration. My body went limp on the couch as all the excitement flew out of my body and I pouted out of his sight.

"Great." I muttered, "now you get to do all the cool stuff while I sit in that old fart's class. Mr. Buht."

"So?" Pierce teased as he raised his eyebrows, "The police station isn't exactly a vacation either."

I rolled my eyes. "Better use of my day than school. I don't belong in school."

"That's what the law requires."

"Can't you just excuse me with your fancy seal and let me come too?" I tried, sitting up as my chest filled with hope.

"I'm afraid not," he smirked as he folded his arms across his chest, "I don't use my seal for nonsense and especially not for you to skip class."

And then a thought occurred to me.

A mischievous smile made its way to my face as I looked back at Pierce and he eyed me cautiously. I began sitting properly again as I relaxed into the couch. Because all was fine. How could I forget?

He wasn't the only one with a government seal.

▂▂▂▂▂

Minna: Aha— guess who has exams tomorrow and badly needs BETA's seal as well? Time to dig a grave.