Spark

                                    

                                          
Fourteen years later, deep in the heart of Chicago, something sparked. It wasn't something you could see. You couldn't even hear the spark ignite, but it had happened. Christopher Bang, now known as Bang Chan, could feel it deep inside of him. 
Back a wild dog into a corner, feeling threatened, it bites. This was no different. His ankles were crossed over each other and hooked over the edge of a wooden desk. A metallic taste filled his mouth as he continued nibbling on the inside of his lip. 
Sensing something was wrong, Lee Know stood in front of Chan's desk waiting for him to say something. He had felt the shift in the room. The two men had been joking briefly until Lee Know had mentioned something about the latest election news. 
Chan didn't give a shit about the presidential elections. It was the same political bullshit every four years. People would list all the reasons why they should be president of the United States. People would vote and a new president would get elected. No matter who it was, no matter the political party, it always seemed to cause chaos. 
Nobody could ever get along. There were political scandals. There were fights against family members. So much unrest in America, he had stopped caring about it years ago. However, this year was different. This had been the first year that his livelihood, the livelihood of eight men, had been threatened. This year it had become his problem. 
"What did you say this guy's name was again?" 
"Willie Campbell." Lee Know shifted his weight to his other foot. 
"And one of his major points is that he's going to take down our group because...?" 
"Because we go after rich people and make them look like fools. People lose their jobs and their publicity. We've split apart families and caused unrest. Nobody likes a modern day Robin Hood when you're taking their money." 
"Maybe we wouldn't have to take people's money if they were a little kinder. Do they ever think of that? Perhaps if they wouldn't cause problems, we wouldn't have to step in and ruin them. Why is this so-called Willie specifically pissed at us? I mean besides us taking money from his rich friends."  
"You got his best friend thrown in jail." 
"For?" Chan raised an eyebrow. 
"Tax evasion and fraud. Apparently, he was trying to work his way through the political ranks and you ripped that away from him. Willie is pissed about it and likes to hold grudges." 
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Chan rolled his eyes. "It's not my fault that the man got put in prison. We just simply exposed the truth. Maybe if he would have done a better job, he wouldn't have ruined his own career." 
"I don't know why he thinks we're such a big deal. It's a simple life we live. If you're not an asshole, we don't go after you. If we go after you, you're guilty of something." 
"And murder," Lee Know added quietly. "He killed someone in a drunk driving accident and had his driving record wiped clean. With Seungmin doing a little hacking into the local police department's database, he found the old police record before it was changed, and he exposed it. It ended up getting a deputy fired from his job." 
"I suppose that makes a bit of a difference. As for the deputy, that's called karma," Chan shrugged. 
"Due to public outrage, the town's anger stirred up an investigation. It uncovered a whole slew of reports that had been falsified. The sheriff got a bunch of backlash for it. The deputy was fired and was supposed to end up going to court because of it. Along the way, people sued. He ended up killing himself. He was an old college buddy of Willie Campbell." 
"That's not our fault. If he was man enough to falsify official police reports, he should have been man enough to attend his criminal trial. So I suppose, all of this has added up over the years, and now Willie wants his revenge." 
Lee Know nodded. 
"His poll numbers?" 
"They're actually pretty decent. He has a lot of backing from the people who have had friends and family members exposed for things. He's really fired up and in his latest conference, he's given our group a name." 
"A name?" 
Lee Know pulled his phone out of his back pocket, unlocked it, began pressing a few buttons, and handed the phone to Chan. On it, there was a short clip of a YouTube video. An older man with salt and pepper hair stood. His mouth was wide open as he stood in front of the microphone. Chan pressed the play button. 
"I have a lot of friends, you know. I think some of the most important things in life are your family and your friends. I've been blessed to have a lot of friends and an amazing family. However, some of my friends, their names have been muddled. Their careers have shattered before my own two eyes." 
His piercing blue eyes were narrowed. His voice raised and he continued to speak. "Their careers have disappeared due to a group." He shook his head. "They put out all this false information and the public believes it. They've gotta be a group of kids, they have no idea of the damage they're doing. They're these...these stray kids! We have to stop them!" 
"What if you're next? They're ruining innocent people! These people have families, goals, dreams, aspirations, and these kids are destroying that. We don't know who they are. What if they begin recruiting your children? I'm telling you, if we continue to let this go, nothing good is going to come from it. People have died!" 
Chan pressed the button to pause the video. Willie's mouth twisted with anger. A vein pulsed out at the top of his forehead. He couldn't help, but chuckle at the man. 
"Stray Kids?" 
Lee Know nodded. 
"I think I kind of like that. He's wrong about a lot, but he's not wrong about that. Don't worry about it. He might be for the people now, but we have more connections than he does." Chan handed him back his phone. 
His own phone began ringing beside him. He let out a sigh and picked it up to an unknown number. "Thanks for letting me know, but I've got to take this call. Duty continues to call." 
Lee Know nodded and started to walk out of Chan's office, but he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe all eight of them had gotten in over their heads. There were only two months until the presidential election. 
A lot could happen in sixty days.