Chapter 4:

Dead End

The Forbidden and the Gifted


[4:13 a.m. August 8th, 2048, Seoul, Korea. The shot pans to the driving Sienna, along a lowly lit three-laned highway. As before, Drift is driving the van, with Naomi in the passenger seat. Shin and Electra sit in the middle while Yuki and Ashe sit in the back; Yuki and Shin on the right, Electra and Ashe on the left]

Drift: That took quite a while. We’ve only got 2 hours, more-or-less.

Naomi: I mean, we’re basically there.

Drift: True, I just didn’t think they had even more stuff there.

Naomi: We didn’t even need all the guns though, ha. We can’t even fit them all in this little van.

Drift: Yeah, and I’m not renting some delivery truck to haul that shit. Whenever the cops get a hold of that, they can have their fun.

Naomi: For real, haha. Although, there aren’t any leads to anyone who could’ve been manufacturing this stuff.

Drift: True, but these don’t look like these are the same material as the guys who make our stuff back home. [Pauses] By the way, are the guys in the back knocked out?

Naomi: [Turns back] Uh, yeah. [Pauses] Yuke’s, Ashe and Elec are sleeping, Shin’s doing… I don’t even know what he’s doing.

[Shin notices Naomi looking at him and looks up, taking off his airpods]

Shin: Yo! You need something Mi?

Naomi: Naw, don’t worry. We were just wondering what you were doing.

Shin: Oh, I’ve just got some music on, and I’m looking at some reports out of Warsaw.

Naomi: Warsaw? Where’s that?

Shin: Polish capital. They’ve said there’s been some suspicious goings on in their neighboring countries like Latvia and Estonia, but I can’t reach any proper sites for direct information. Russia has some ties too, but everything’s in goddamn Russian, and for some reason I can’t translate on this phone. Friggin hell.

Drift: Even if it’s secondary, you found anything juicy?

Shin: Eh, somewhat.

Naomi: Ooo, spill, spill!

Shin: Elec’s original guess was right, at least I’m 80% sure of it. Dreadknight’s been making some noise in East Europe.

Drift: Friggin hell, them again?

Shin: You’ve got some unfinished business with them, right?

Drift: Well, I don’t talk about it. But you can call it that.

Shin: This got something to do with that name we finally learned after all this time?

Drift: Yeah. I don’t wanna talk though, and I think most of the shit’s been burned in the history books. One day I’ll tell you though.

Shin: All good man, whenever you feel comfortable. Don’t worry too much. But yeah, back to them, they’ve been making moves into Slovenia and Croatia as well, and their numbers are much larger than we could’ve ever imagined.

Naomi: What figures we talking about?

Shin: They’ve got thousands of supporters.

Naomi: Thousands!?

Shin: That’s what early estimates and rumors say, although they are on the high side.

Naomi: How do they get that much support?

Shin: Quality of life. Ever since the Great Baltic War, which was started by that traitorous bastard Dyachstovsky, life hasn’t been easy. Working in these shitty conditions led to easy money and a way to put a roof over a lot of their extended families heads.

Drift: But even at the expense of freedom? I mean, weren’t their families gonna be killed?

Shin: Thing is, they’re trained well enough, so they can do much of the jobs that they’re assigned. Coming into our territory, I guess, is a different story, but tell me, who’s really competing with them in Europe?

Drift: Sybil, no?

Shin: Sybil’s a good one, but they only have the Kingdom, France, what’s been carved out of Belgium-Holland, and a partial control of both Germany and Switzerland. Everything to the east is basically anyone’s game, and Sybil isn’t gonna start a territory dispute, even though getting the Austrian Republic and Italy would be quite the get.

Drift: True, but why not just go to England or France or wherever?

Shin: You think the actual English or French or Belg-Dutch Governments want to deal with those people? There’s been too much going on in those parts, especially with the development of those supposed ‘gifts’ or whatever.

Naomi: Gifts?

Drift: Oh, you haven’t heard. Should we tell her?

Shin: We? I barely know about them myself. You’re the one whos seen them, right?

Drift: Seen it once, yeah. I haven’t fought them, or I’d probably be dead, haha.

Shin: Haha, I can imagine. Those things are no joke.

Naomi: Aw, tell me!

Drift: Alright, fine. Although, I don’t really know the logistics or any of that garbage, I just have a brief idea of what they are from what I saw.

Naomi: That’s fine, tell me, tell me!

Drift: Well, from when me, Elec and Higuchi spent time in Greece, way before meeting you lot, we used to hear rumors about this, and mind you, this was during the  ending of that huge Baltic war or whatever. To us, it screamed of stupidity, cause how is someone gonna have some just inherited ability or whatnot, y’know?

Naomi: Mhmmmm.

Drift: But what Higuchi apparently heard from someone he worked with for a bit at his day-job – mind you, this was before we were the rugged lot that we are now – was that it’s not a common thing to have these gifts. Sure they appear, but they don’t appear for everyone, and even if they do, they’re not the easiest to control and certainly not the easiest to use. [Pauses] Even then, the shit screamed of some conspiracy or a farce or whatever, right?

Naomi: Yeah, definitely.

Drift: But the issue happened on – shit, I can’t even remember the day, but it was sometime during the summer – we had seen a guy who was, and no lie, this is going to sound extremely stupid and fabricated on my behalf, but it was a guy who was choke holding someone with some vines or something.

Naomi: You’re kidding.

Drift: Hell, I wish I was, you know. But that wasn’t the first person he’d killed apparently. When us three saw that, we didn’t waste time trying to intervene or whatever, we just made a dash for it. Sooner than later, we had seen on the local television that a man was killed in a shootout with police, and his face was identical to the guy we had seen. They never reported anything about his abilities or whatever, but in that shootout, they reported that he had killed at least seven officers, but the information that we found online says otherwise.

Naomi: There’s information online?

Drift: Not easy to access, but I have some files that I can show you. Some with pictures, some with information, but most people on these underground forums deduced that he likely had a murder count of at least 25 that day, and his ‘gift’, or whatever, was  controlling those friggin vines as he pleased.

Naomi: Okay, I’ll look into this then, yeah. But why has this stuff started springing up suddenly?

Drift: It hasn’t sprung up across the world. It’s sprung up there because people are desperate and they were in such a war-torn state, people who may have not even realized that they had these gifts either discovered them on a whim. [Pauses] Now, this is just a rumor, but the main theory behind a lot of this is that there’s in fact a real catalyst behind this madness, someone existing as a puppet-master and a savior for these people, who holds the actual true ‘gift’, y’know?

Naomi: Whad’ya mean by that?

Drift: Well, these gifts may be random, right, but they can’t have been random forever. Someone ought to have started this bullshit, and they’ve worked damn hard to keep it under wraps. Even then, this lineage likely sealed away whatever gift they had in order to not cause global chaos – which, in my eyes is stupid, since they’re blessed with power and just willingly chose not to use it.

Naomi: Well, maybe they did what they did for the greater good, and are only starting to change things because they've seen the state that the world's in now?

Drift: Well, for the most part I'd like to think it was done for a form of the 'greater good', especially cause up until like 2045, these things didn’t exist, not in the shadows, not in the light, nowhere. They just started popping up, especially during that war. Here’s my own little prediction, either the guy behind this has broken his seal, and chosen for hell to rage over – or, what’s more likely, considering that nothing too too bad has happened as yet, someone found out about it, and used it against whoever it is.

Naomi: But how?

Drift: How should I know, haha, it’s just a theory. But I can assure you, gifts do exist. They just aren’t like you see in manga or anime though, not everyone is blessed – or cursed – to have them, it seems like something that very very few people have, and something even fewer can master.

Shin: Hm, intriguing, intriguing. Throughout my digging, there hasn’t been an overwhelming amount of rumors for that stuff, but it has come up once in a while.

Naomi: Would you be surprised if we came across people like that though?

Shin: Frankly, yeah. I’m with Drift in the sense that, there probably aren’t many people who actually have these kinds of things. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if the ringleaders of the cartel out there had some sort of connections.

Naomi: So, we may come across them?

Shin: Who knows. I don’t really think we’re gonna come across the ringleaders, although I'd like to. Gonna get a lot of the higher ups, but the top ranks are probably too chicken to show their faces.

Drift: Shouldn’t we try and get them to try and come out though? Like, I’m not saying we win against them, but I’m saying shouldn’t we try and do something about them before their influence gets too big?

Shin: Eh? So then why exactly are we going out of our way to fly to Shanghai? Hell, why did we even come here in the first place? We’re obviously trying to cut ‘em down… but cutting ‘em down doesn’t start at the source, as much as I’d like to try so.

Drift: It doesn’t? I mean, isn’t the saying that you cut ‘em at the neck and the rest of the body can’t survive? What’s the point of not going for the neck?

Shin: What’s the point of going for the neck if it’s reinforced with steel and iron? If we can’t cut through it, we’re wasting time, resources and manpower. We’ve got to chip away at it, and once we deplete enough, then we go back for the final blow.

Drift: So, you’re going long-con, if I may presume?

Shin: Precisely. We don’t have the manpower to counteract what they have, no matter how we skilled we are. So we took down whatever shitty trade is going on here, get some more information from someone a bit higher on the feeding chart in Shanghai, and infiltrate as well as possible in Europe before we fall back, and eventually go back.

Drift: If we get Sybil’s help though –

Shin: That’s a big if, but yeah, I know where you’re going with that. If we do get substantial help from Sybil, we’re essentially home free. Simply put, cause they’ve got manpower.

Naomi: But you aren’t banking on it?

Shin: Not really. Sure they’re a great bunch, and they’ll be able to help the two idiots who we sent out with planning and all, but I don’t know how ready they’d be to throw their own men into a line of fire.

Naomi: Why so?

Shin: They’ve got manpower, yeah. But they’ve kept a relatively peaceful front against Dreadknight this whole time, especially considering they’re both European powers in that sense. There’s no war to be fought, especially considering Sybil can pretty much hold their Belgium-Holland stronghold – sure, Dreadknight may get some leverage, but I don’t think they push into Western Europe, which is all Sybil needs to stay afloat.

Drift: Shit, never thought of it, I guess you’re right. Well, we can always hope that they’ll help, considering we're likely diving right into the midst of the chaos.

Shin: It certainly isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Hell, I’ve never met the man in command there, so I wouldn’t know what was going through his mind. It’s just that all of his moves till now have been so passive, I wouldn’t expect him to suddenly go on the offensive. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong though.

Naomi: Wait, you’ve never actually met him? Do you even know his name?

Shin: Nope, and he probably doesn’t know mine either - actually, he might, who knows, I just don't pay enough attention. Weird how shit works in this world, eh?

Naomi: Not the most ideal, I’ll tell you that.

Shin: Gets the job done though.

Naomi: Fair, fair.

Drift [Interjects]: Yo, yo, yo, I think we’re here. [Yells at the group in the back] Yo idiots, wake up, we’re here! [Punches Electra] Dumbass!

Electra: [Waking up] Okay, okay, shut up you stupid driver. [Yawns] Friggin can’t have anything when you’re around, damn.

Drift: Shut up grouch… look at Yuki and Ashe, they aren’t complaining.

Ashe [Thinking]: I’d be complaining if I wasn’t new here though…

Yuki: [Shakes her head] Huh, what’s going on?

Drift: We’re here.

Yuki: What, in Shanghai?

Shin: Yes, dipshit. We’re in friggin Shanghai. We carried you into the airport, and boarded the plane, and landed in Shang…

Yuki [Punches Shin]: Oh screw off, you sadist.

Shin: Didn’t need to punch that hard.

Yuki: Didn’t need to be sarcastic.

Shin: Didn’t need to think this was Shanghai.

Yuki: Didn’t need to know if it was.

Shin: Didn’t ask.

[Yuki slaps him again, to Shin’s visible frustration]

Drift: As much as I enjoy hearing you two bicker with each other, we should save it. [Pauses] Anyway, can someone tell me where the hell I’m supposed to go from here?

Shin: Aren’t we here?

Drift: Well, there’s a dead end.

Shin: Any side roads?

Drift: Not that they appear on the map.

Shin: Well, shit.

Yuki: Swing me the GPS.

Shin: Huh? What are you gonna do with it if we’ve already established that it’s a dead…?

Yuki: Zip it and pass it.

Shin: [Sighs, and gestures to Drift to hand it to him] Whatever, here ya go. [Drift hands him the GPS, which he hands to Yuki]

Yuki: [Looks at the GPS and grimaces, before getting an idea] Ah, I see!

Shin: Whad'ya see?

Yuki: The area to our direct left is shown as empty grassland.

Shin: So? What am I supposed to do with this information?

Yuki: Both past the dead end and to our right are grasslands, but we got the Toll Highway on our right in the next 500 meters, and we got some slums up front, maybe like… [Pauses] 700 or so meters away?

Shin: So, your suggestion is?

Yuki: The airports to the left. Unsurprisingly, there’s no noises, cause it’s nearly five in the morning, but it’s definitely there.

Shin: Yeah, alright, it’s there. I can get behind that. But what’s your suggestion? How are we supposed to get there? Wreck the car?

Yuki: I mean, if all else fails, yeah. But I think we’ll be alright. Let me hop out for a sec, move yourself.

[Shin squishes against the seat, and Yuki hops out the left door]

Yuki: Well, shit. This road’s pretty low-lit, I can’t make anything out.

Shin [Thinking]: Well, no shit. If you weren’t sleeping, you might’ve been able to see that.

Yuki [Yells]: Naomi! Could you come out here for a sec?

Shin [Thinking]: She’s so damn loud, holy shit, it’s 5 a.m.

[Naomi hops out the passenger side door and walks towards Yuki]

Yuki: Mi, your sense of smells still as good as it used to be, right?

Naomi: No reason for it to be any worse, I’d presume?

Yuki: Okay, nice, nice. You smell anything that smells like its rotten, but also like paint?

Naomi: Uh, yeah, although it’s pretty faint. It’s coming from just in front of the car.

Yuki: That’s probably just the dead-end sign. Could you walk a bit?

Naomi: Sure. [She walks away from the car, and after about twenty seconds, stops] Here, I’m getting it again, although it’s faint again.

[Yuki runs to where she is]

Yuki: Yup, looks about right. [Pauses] Thanks Mi, could you go back and tell Drift to reverse to where I’m standing?

Naomi: Sure thing. [She runs back to the car and enters, and gestures to Drift to reverse]

Shin [To Naomi]: So, the entrance is there?

Naomi: I’d think so? I’m not sure.

Ashe: Why is this so complicated?

Electra [To Ashe]: If it was daylight, we’d probably be able to see well. They just didn’t add the inroads on the GPS because this isn’t supposed to be a well-known place, since flights in and out of here are undertaken by private corps, y'know?

Ashe: Ah, I see. But I mean, aren’t planes kinda loud? Wouldn’t eliminating the inroads on google maps be kinda useless?

Electra: That’s fair, but in order for an airport to run at all, they likely need to have some form of permit, however old, because you can’t just be sending planes into aerospace without that. Likely, there’s a permit for this place, so it’s not ‘illegal’, even though the people using it would be designated under that broad term of ‘illegal’.

Ashe: Ah, so something like a loophole?

Electra: More or less. It’s pretty savvy, and international travel is also allowed, so technically it isn’t breaking international laws there either. The issue is that places like this have underhanded security and whatnot, which isn’t known to the other country.

Ashe: And unless they’re caught, the goods and people can be moved however they like?

Electra: Precisely. And in terms of taking the place off of maps, sure, they could’ve left it on, but it’s always better to have an extra layer of protection. You don’t need the rats on your ass every day because they know where the place is.

Ashe: Yeah, that’s fair.

[Drift meanwhile reverses the car to the spot where Yuki is standing]

Shin: So, Mi, what’d you tell her?

Naomi: Oh, she just asked if I could smell something rotting that also smelt like paint at the same time. Kinda weird.

Shin: Could you find it?

Naomi: Yeah, it was faint, but it was definitely there.

Shin: Hm.

Drift: [Rolls down his window, and yells to Yuki] What do you want me to do now?

[Yuki walks towards the window]

Yuki: Reverse to a little bit past where I was, then turn to the left.

Drift: Into the ditch?!

Yuki: You don’t trust me? Fine. [She runs back to where she was standing, and kicks at something, to which a loud thud is heard]

Drift: [Yells out his window] The hell was that?

Yuki: [Yells back] The stupid sign they use to cordon off roads, for construction or whatever. I kicked it down. That’s what they use in the nights as like a barrier – it's pretty useless if you ask me, all things considered.

Drift: Okay, I’m skeptical, but whatever, it’s our best shot. Hop back in.

[Yuki runs back to the car, and Drift reverses to where she was]

Shin: I hope this works, I’m not trying to wreck another car.

Yuki: If it doesn’t, we should probably brace, right?

Shin: So you aren’t confident??

Yuki: I am, but if something goes wrong, blame Mi’s sense of smell, not me.

Shin: Screw off, I’m blaming you.

Drift [Interjects]: Okay y’all, I’m going for it.

Ashe [Thinking]: Oh please God, I signed up for my death with these guys, but not like this, please, I beg... I didn't even get to do anything.

Shin [Thinking]: I’m suing the shit out of Yuki if this car gets wrecked.

Naomi [Thinking]: I’m pretty sure I was right, wasn’t I? I’m never wrong, right?

[The entire group grimaces as Drift floors the pedal, and turns left. The car turns, and after two seconds, the car is still moving forward, without a scratch]

Yuki: See! I told you!

Shin: You weren’t even confident.

Yuki: But I was right, so who cares?

Shin: Oh damn you.

Drift: So, I’d assume we just keep on going then, right?

Shin: That’s what it looks like. And I’d think there’d probably be signs if we’d really need to turn anyway, but who are we kidding, there aren’t gonna be any terminals or any of that shit. This place is small, so I’d assume it’s just one place for everyone.

Drift: That’s fair. I’ll floor it then, if any of you see any signs, just tell me.

Shin: Floor it? What we talking about?

Drift: I’d think 150?

Electra: You call that flooring? I’ll drive if that’s the best your pathetic ass can do.

Drift: I can hit 170 if you really want me to.

Electra: Rookie numbers, but better nothing. Let’s see you actually do it.

Drift: Fine, I think you’re gonna regret challenging me.

Electra: We’ll see, bigshot.

[Drift floors the pedal, and speeds down the empty road for some time, before Naomi yells]

Naomi: There was a sign!

Drift: What’d it say?

Naomi: I can’t possibly know, with you going so fast, slow it down please! Mi’s dizzy!

Drift: Alright. [He lets up, slowing down to 80 km/h]

Electra: What are we, snails?

Drift: Oh shut up. [Pauses] Mi, see if you can see anything else, if possible? Thanks.

[They drive ahead for another minute, before Naomi points to the right]

Naomi: That sign, right in front of us! It says… [Pauses and squints] reduce speed, security ahead?

Drift: So, there’s not even one damn terminal, they just screen us in our car and let us fly?

Naomi: I’d guess so. I mean, look at the map… [Pauses and shows the GPS map] we’re pretty far in, I don’t think they could build a whole terminal in this limited space.

Drift: Well, let me slow it down even more. We should basically be there.

[A light flickers ahead]

Shin: That’s probably the security right there.

[Drift drives towards the dim light, which illuminates a small checkpoint. The car comes to a stop, as Drift rolls down the driver-side window and Shin rolls down his window]

Guard: Papers?

Drift: Elec, you got em?

Electra: Yup, right here. [He pulls out the stash of tickets and hands them through the window] This is for all six of us.

Guard: What’s your purpose of travel?

Electra: Business sir, nothing more.

Guard: [Looks at the papers] Japanese citizens, eh? Oh, one – oh, make that two Koreans, ah. Why to Shanghai through here?

Electra: We got some shit to transport.

Guard: Weapons or drugs?

Electra: [Pauses, before Drift nods] Both.

Guard: Good, good, you aren’t gonna try and bullshit me.

Electra: Why would I?

Guard: Don’t know, but everything’s written here in ink, including everything that you’re transporting. Try and bullshit me and I’ll blow your head off, ha.

Electra: Not the nicest way of keeping customers though, is it?

Guard: Couldn’t care less. My job’s to make sure no bullshit’s getting through into this airspace. Especially from some shitter at like 5 in the morning. [Pauses] Carrying any cash that isn’t yours?

Electra: Yeah.

Guard: How much?

Electra: I didn’t friggin count mate, honest. If you want, here, take a friggin stack of it and be happy, alright? [Drift hands over a stack of cash to the guard]

Guard: Alright, that’s fine.

Electra [Thinking]: Of course that’s fine, it’s like a whole grand. Probably more than his biweekly earnings, ha.

Guard: You said you have six in the car, right?

Electra: Yessir.

Guard: Let me just check that. [He steps out of his post, and walks around the car, looking inside. He opens the back to see the groups haul, and closes it, before returning to his post]

Electra: Everything good sir?

Guard: Yup. Oh yeah, one more thing.

Electra: What’s it?

Guard: Who sold you these?

Electra: Higuchi’s the main guy, but there was a duo who actually processed them… shit, what were their names… damn, what the hell? They were…

Naomi [Interjects]: Viktor and Reina, sir.

Guard: [Looks down at the papers and hands them back] Yeah, alright. [Pauses] Keep driving straight, and at the second round-a-bout, take the left turn, and drive onto the tarmac towards ‘International’. Your flights only at 6:35, so you guys can probably just go inside the terminal and get something to eat before you gotta get on.

Yuki [Thinking]: 100 to 0 real quick for that guy eh? Jesus.

Electra [To Guard]: Yo! Do you know if the flight’s private or not?

Guard: I can’t guarantee, but the aircraft being used is a small one, and most of the time we don’t put groups together cause we don’t need the damn plane falling out of the sky cause of some dumbass bad blood, so you guys should be alone.

Electra: Alright, thanks man. Alright Drift let’s go.

Drift: Gotcha mate. [To Guard] Thanks mate.

Guard: Yeah no worries. Pleasure doing business.

[Drift steps on the accelerator and floors it]

Yuki [To Ashe]: Scary, ain’t it?

Ashe: You’re telling me! Holy, that guy looked so ready to start blasting, I thought he’d actually just go for it. Jesus, people in these lines have no mercy I’d guess?

Yuki: That’s just how it goes.

Drift [To Electra]: Why’d you just take that from him though?

Electra: To be fair, you did nod.

Drift: Still, I thought you’d lose your cool even with that?

Ashe [To Yuki]: What're they talking about?

Yuki: Oh, it’s just Drift wondering why Electra was so compliant, that’s all.

Ashe: Huh? Why wouldn’t you be compliant though? He threatened…

Yuki: Ashe, Ashe, you gotta remember. We may not act it, and we definitely don’t look it – I mean, look at Shin’s slob ass – but we’d probably be able to take most of em, even if there were like fifty.

Ashe: Fifty?!

Yuki: Yeah. I mean, maybe with protecting you, maybe not. But regularly, yeah. I’d think so. [To Electra] So that begs the question Elec, why’d you bend the knee?

Electra: Huh? I mean,

Shin: You want Higuchi to do well, ain’t it?

Electra: Huh? What’s that?

Shin: It’s the truth. You’re never that level-headed.

Electra: Coming from you.

Shin: Yeah, that’s fair, but still, you’d only not get pissed off because you believe in this little shitty startup that Higuchi’s a part of.

Naomi: Is it really a startup though?

Shin: Well, no. But the whole lot of people they’ve hired are a bunch of idiots. I mean this guard didn’t know head or tail about how to properly do his job and if this was anyone else, he’d probably be begging for his life right now. And they’re hiring friggin kids to be part of this, even if it’s only in the information department.

Naomi: True.

Yuki: Yeah, it’s a bad time if Higuchi’s your most experienced and best fighter.

All: [Collectively grimace] Yeah.

[The car continues on, with shots of the group talking as sunlight begins to illuminate the car, ever so slightly. Drift turns at the round-a-bout, and drives toward the terminal, at which Drifts parks and the group gets down from the car]

Drift: What’re we gonna do with the car?

Ashe: Aren’t you driving? Didn’t you have a plan?

Drift: Not entirely, no.

Ashe: [Drops head] Oh, man.

Shin: I’ll just text Higuchi tonight, he can come with someone and pick it up and return it.

Ashe: You guys managed to rent this thing?

Shin: Of course.

Ashe: Without being caught?

Shin: Come on Ashe, Yuke’s just told you. We’re not some slouches, haha.

Electra [Interjects]: Alright, enough chitchat, I’m starving. Lemme get something to eat from inside before we get on this flight.

Naomi: Oooo, I wanna see where else they travel to from here, hopefully they have a travel board!

Ashe: I mean, this is an airport, however illegal, so I think they’d still have a board.

Naomi: Oooo, I hope so!

Ashe: Alright, let’s go inside then!

[The groups walks inside the small terminal, which has two small restaurants, a flight board, and five gates on the opposite end]

Naomi: Oh, look Ashe! [She points at the flight board]

Ashe: Oh, they got our flight to Shanghai as well as the other one, and they also got one to Tokyo, one to Nanjing, one to Vladivostok, one to Hong Kong and two to Beijing.

Naomi: That’s all for today though. Pretty quiet.

Electra [Yells]: Yo, anyone want any food? Me and Drift are buying.

Ashe: We’ll pass, thanks for asking!

[Electra and Drift eat their meals, as Yuki and Shin play games on their phones against one another, while Ashe and Naomi wander around until their call for boarding at Gate 2 is made over their intercom. The group gets together, and walks towards their gate, where they’re greeted by their pilot]

Pilot: Must be the group that I was told about. Under sir Drift, right?

Drift: [Steps forward] Yup, that’s me.

Pilot: Welcome aboard. Since you’re all here, we’re gonna depart ten minutes ahead of schedule.

Drift: Perfect, let’s get a move on then.

[The group walks out the gate towards an older private jet, which they board behind the pilot]

Shin [Whispers to himself]: We’re gonna fucking end this shit.