• cards | nct 2018 •

four || first

mark, jaemin, donghyuk and jeno stay seated in Ace's quarters. as usual, mark's position oversees his members.

chenle and jisung were still at school, while renjun is probably still coming up with his inventions, so they are not present in the room.

"hyung, we heard of lee hyeji, and seo johnny." jaemin, who sits diagonally to mark's left says.

"yeah? that's good. taeil hyung told us to be careful for now." mark nods.

"what's going on, mark hyung?" jeno asks. "does hyeji have anything to do with johnny being present?"

"i don't know. for now, we have to just wait for upper ups to inform us." mark cooly replies.

as he says that, however, the speaker system activated.

"team ace's lee mark, lee jeno, please report to meeting room 1. i repeat, team ace's lee mark and lee jeno, please report to meeting room 1. thank you."

everyone in the room exchanged glances with one another, and soon, both jeno and mark stopped at each other's gazes. mark begins to stand, and he pushes the door open with his telekinesis.

jeno follows behind him.

finally, they come to a stop in front of meeting room 1. the door opens by itself.

it wasn't mark.

neither was it jeno.

thinking nothing much of it, the two walk into the room to see their leader, moon taeil.

"oh. yes, hello–" as he begins to get off his swivel chair, he accidentally trips over one of the legs of the chair.

he lands with a plop on the ground. he groans as he slowly gets up on his feet. both mark and jeno watch in silent amusement.

they knew the nature of their leader. he is clumsy, yes, but no one could deny that he is also a very competent leader, despite how he looks. from the bottom of the duo's hearts, they also somehow respect him.

even though his power is a mystery to many, and it is said that only he himself and doyoung knows. not even his other team members from suit of diamonds.

"um. haha, sorry. as i was saying, hello, mark and jeno. it's been awhile since i saw you. do take a seat." he gestures towards the other available seats.

the lees sit down side by side.

"about your report on this mysterious girl..." taeil begins as he clicks away on his laptop. "she's confirmed to not have any connection to joker."

"what...?" mark is visibly surprised.

"then how do you explain...her powers?" jeno, puzzled as well, asks taeil.

"well, it's possible that a close relative of hers has powers too. it is just like you, mark and donghyuk," taeil explains. "we still don't really know what her intentions are, so don't do anything rash, and exercise caution near her. of course, never let her hear about blackjack,"

"unless until we confirm that she is safe and cleared, there is a possibility that we will invite her into blackjack," taeil concludes as the two of us nod in unison.

"also...about her ability. we'll do a thorough research on it, using your explanations and the cctv footage in school." he adds.

in case you forgot, blackjack is a government organisation, so it is able to access any sort of government property, especially cctv footages.

"right, we got it." jeno nods at his words.

"good. then now, perfect timing. your other teammates have arrived just in time for a group meeting." taeil smiles, and when he does, the door immediately opens.

renjun comes walking in first, followed by the other members of Ace. with a proud smile, renjun hold out something in his hands. something like a pair of glasses.

he then takes his seat opposite of mark.

soon, all the other members are seated.

"good day, everyone. thanks for coming. as i said to jeno and mark earlier, the girl name lee hyeji has no relations to joker, so you do not need to worry. anyways, continuing on," he pauses to type something on his laptop.

"the local science centre has requested government help. it is the case doyoung has told you before, where they were spotted trying to steal something." taeil flashes the same image as what doyoung showed us days ago about new joker recruits.

"and so?" jisung lazily asks. "what's the main point? they wouldn't ask us to help them for an ordinary thief case."

"that's right. as i said, joker is involved, normal policemen cannot solve this. and most importantly, the item their trying to steal is still quite unknown. it is only suspected to be the infrared materials and the artefacts located in the Earth exhibition. we do not know why they are stealing it. that's why they need our help," taeil explains.

"and so, your mission is to protect anything it is their trying to steal. they have created enough damage to the science centre. you must stop them," taeil says with determination.

"lastly, mark will be the overall leader to oversee this mission. do you all understand?"

"wait, hyung. why am i the overall leader? isn't it always you? the suit of diamonds are working with us in this mission as always, right?" mark clarifies.

"sorry, mark. we won't be assisting you for this round of missions. so you have to do well on your first solo mission. do not let us down." taeil says firmly to all of them in the room.

"yes, sir." mark purses his lips and nods.

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A/N: action in the next chapter! :)