Scorpio, Pisces and Cancer did not pay much attention to the macaw for they were used to bizaare incidents happening. This journey, in itself was one. Who would have thought that a tennis player, a waitress and an interior designer would land up as agents, and be doing such kinds of world-threatening missions. Missions where success meant that the world was safe and failure meant doom. Some might wonder why the Wheel would choose such people for these kinds of stressful operations. The answer wasn't simple, rather, it was very convoluted and a series of mental, physical and most importantly physical tests were used to evaluate this. Or so it appeared, anyways. The workings of the Zodiac was secret, to which, not even its own agents were privy to. Some might say, "Where is the trust, then? They are taking orders from God knows who and following them for no particular reason."

The thing is, even the agents weren't aware of why they did what they did, but they couldn't deny that they felt a thrill in doing so, breaking away from normal life, that's one of the primary reasons they had been chosen. Some of them had the sense of duty towards the world, some found it fun and so on. However, at this stage, they couldn't back out, much to the resentment of some, namely Sagittarius and in occasion, Pisces.

She had been gazing straight ahead for quite sometime, keeping an eye on the road and mind wondering what they were doing exactly, for the millionth time. Scorpio was too caught up in her paranoia to pay her heed. Her mind was on constant alert for ambushes, a talent which had saved their lives in the past before.

Cancer had noticed the both of them. He knew it was futile to tell Scorpio to loosen up. She would most likely castrate him if her looks said anything. All her muscles were tensed up for a fight and there was no reversing the situation without damage to himself. A course he wasn't keen on. Besides her behavior wasn't detrimental to their mission. It would keep them safe.

On the other hand, Pisces's melancholy made her ill-suited to carry out their job. She was dissociating, a trait which wasn't going to help the mission, rather she was an obvious target for an ambush.

"Pisces," he began, trying to snap her out of it. Scorpio's lips thinned at his interruption of the soltitude. But she didn't comment anything. All good.

Pisces's head snapped up.

"Did something happen?" She asked, looking worried.

"Nothing. What's wrong?" Cancer asked, regretting his decision to play a therapist from the moment she opened her mouth.

"Wrong? Well, I guess that's a way to put it, this aimless journey is making me go insane, I don't know you guys in real life either. I don't know, everything is just so confusing."

"So it is," he said, "But we all understand what you feel, we are going through it too."

"Doesn't negate my feelings, Cancer."

Scorpio was listening to them with one year. She had switched on her hyper hearing, which made every movement painful, every small sound felt magnified, it felt like the forest was screaming. She was trying to adjust it to a suitable level, so that it wouldn't make her ears bleed.

A crunch three trees away from them made her look up and stop. Pisces nearly walked into her but avoided it at the last moment. Cancer frowned, opening his mouth to say something, only for Scorpio to ram a hand over his lips. He gave her a death glare.

"Something is there," she mumbled.

"Or rather, someone," Pisces said, craning her neck.

A muffled sound was all that escaped Cancer.

Three shadowy men stepped out. They were dressed in pure black which was unstained, an incredibly strange thing for those who were in a rainforest. The only stains they gained were recent, from trekking over to them.

Scorpio took a position in front of the group with Pisces and Cancer behind her in a V-shape. The men, however, looked relaxed.

"We shall offer to make a bargain," the middle one proclaimed, "You will have your lives if you agree to it."

"Sorry, but we don't bargain with strangers," Cancer snapped from his position. The other two nodded.

The man at the right laughed.

"And you guys are childhood friends, I assume?"

Scorpio's temper flared at his obvious attempt to break them up. Pisces paused for a second.

Idiot.

The one in the middle spoke again, before the Agents had a chance to say anything.

"You don't know each other at all. There is mutiny amongst your ranks. If you agree to our demands, we can offer to free you from this control.

Scorpio's eyes widened and she cut in before they tempted either of them over.

"It's easier to trust those who we aren't supposed to trust, than those who pretend to earn our trust to only shove it back in our faces," she snapped, "We aren't friends, we are business associates, a better bond than that of two sets of enemies."

The one in the middle smiled.

"Who said that we are enemies?"

"Perhaps if leftie wasn't so bad at hiding the fact that he wants to fight us, we might have believed you," Cancer spoke up, diverting the man's attention.

In reality, the left one hadn't done a thing. He used diversion to gain an opening.

Which he succeeded at, as the men turned back towards them with their eyes smouldering at the bullet lodged in the middle's shoulder which was bleeding. The bullet contained a chemical present in leech saliva, which stopped the wound from healing normally.

The fight was about to begin.