Exception

XVIII. Escape

"Police. Drop your weapons and put your hands behind your head." Inseong aimed his gun in between Minhyuk and Jooheon, suppressing his urge to run to his injured colleague.

Jooheon slipped a glance at Minhyuk, waiting for some sort of approval or instruction, but got nothing in return. Instead, Minhyuk smiled and leaned against the car door. "I get you're trying to serve justice here , detective. But is it right to so easily accuse us of owning weapons?"

Inseong's grip on the gun tightened, now fully pointing the nozzle at Minhyuk. "You're found next to an unconscious man who is hurt by an unusual incident. I need you to come with me to the police station to aid the police in further investigation."

Now that the fog cleared, Jaeyoon was able to see the three figures standing across the road. Of course, he couldn't hear anything that Inseong had said, but he had a general picture of what was going on. The wailing of sirens approached—the back up that Inseong called for must had arrived. Jaeyoon let out a sigh of relief, and stepped out of the car.

When he saw that it was only an ambulance that came, he understood that Dawon must've been hurt. Officer Kang spotted him and ran over. "Mr. Lee! I think it'd be best if you stayed inside the car. I'll ask someone to take you somewhere safe—"

"No," Jaeyoon interrupted. He surprised himself with the calmness in his tone. "I need to know what's going on. What happened? I didn't hear gunshots or anything; did something happen to Dawon?"

"I'm sorry, but as you've also noticed, the whole area was covered in thick fog just now. No one saw anything, and Detective Kim didn't exactly fill me in on the details. He only sounded desperate, urgent, and slightly scared, too." Something cackled over his walkie-talkie. "I think I better respond. The police reinforcements must be coming in. Stay put, okay? Don't cross the road."

Jaeyoon crossed the road.

He knew this wasn't an ordinary case. If his speculations about Daehyun having superpowers were true, and he really was an accomplice of Storm Intruder, then there was a big chance that the two perpetrators that Inseong was currently confronting also had superpowers. And if they really do, then the petty gun in Inseong's hands wasn't going to help. Jaeyoon had to warn Inseong.

While Chani was busily shouting over his walkie-talkie, Jaeyoon saw his chance. Instead of going straight forward, however, he ran to the far right where there was an intersection and crossed the road there. That way, Storm Intruder and his driver wouldn't be able to see him coming. Once Jaeyoon was on the other side of the road, he hid within the trees and bushes that stood in between him and Inseong.

"I'll say this one more time. Put your hands in the air," commanded Inseong. Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see Jooheon, still as a statue.

"What if I don't want to?" Minhyuk straightened up and took a step backwards, his hands still hidden behind his body.

Inseong pulled the trigger. "If you move one more step, I'll shoot."

A gust of wind blew past, rustling the leaves and bringing a metallic smell with it. Jaeyoon peeked through the branches and saw Dawon lying on the floor next to the front wheel of the black car. He covered his mouth to hold in his gasp, but couldn't look away. The hair on the back of Dawon's head was sticky with blood, which was creating a stream on the concrete floor, slowly flowing towards Jaeyoon...

A sudden movement caught his eyes: Dawon's leg twitched. He was still alive! Further observation told Jaeyoon that Dawon was trying to move somewhere... towards the bushes, maybe? Jaeyoon shifted towards his right to get a better vantage point. Here, he realized what Dawon was trying to do. The detective had a pen in his hands—he was trying to puncture the tyre so the robbers wouldn't be able to escape!

With the speed of a turtle, Minhyuk took his hands out and lifted them to the air. "Whoa, let's calm down. I was just joking. See? No weapons."

Meanwhile, Jooheon's shoulders were getting sore from carrying the heavy loot on his back for a long period of time. Since he was heading towards the car when the detective stopped them, he was still facing Minhyuk, frozen in place and too scared to move. It was obvious that Minhyuk was playing a game with the detective. But certainly he should understand that it wasn't the time to play around now! Jooheon so badly wanted to say something, but Minhyuk never once turned to look at him.

So, his eyes wandered to the car instead. While I still have some energy left, Jooheon thought to himself, I should seize this opportunity to make use of my powers. By starting up the car now, he was sure it would baffle the detective and distract him. From there, he would think of an escape route and run away with Minhyuk, before the police backup can arrive.

Realizing that there was no time to hesitate, Jooheon took a deep breath and concentrated. A teal blue colour suffused his iris, and the headlights of the car suddenly switched on, blinding Inseong. Flustered, he aimed his gun towards the car and shouted, "Who's there?"

Minhyuk whipped his head to his right and locked eyes with Jooheon. Dawon dropped his pen, taken aback. Jaeyoon seemed to be the only one unfazed, for he witnessed the change in Jooheon's eyes and confirmed his suspicions that he possessed superpowers.

The engine started up with a roar. Everything that happened next looked like a slow motion film to Jooheon. The car surged forwards—much faster than what Jooheon had planned—and headed straight for Inseong. Jooheon shouted as a shadow jumped out from the bushes and pushed Inseong out of the car's path just in time. He almost fainted, horrified by the thought that he had almost ran someone over.

Inseong was surprised to find Jaeyoon on top of him, but he had no time to ask why. They both pushed themselves off the ground and stood up. Luckily, Inseong had a firm grip and his pistol was still in his hands.

But it wasn't over. The sound of tyres rubbing against concrete pulled Jooheon out of his shock. The car was turning towards the detective, preparing to run him over again. That was when Jooheon realized it wasn't his doing at all. He turned to look at Minhyuk. Although it was dark, and there was no way to see whether Minhyuk's eyes changed from brown to black, Jooheon knew it was him who controlled the car.

Desperate, Jooheon tried to think of a solution. His abilities would never be able to overcome Minhyuk's, so there was no way he could stop the car or change its direction. But, there was one thing he could do. He shrugged his heavy backpack off and let it drop to the ground. Without the burden, he was able to rush to the front of the car, shielding Inseong and Jaeyoon.

As he hoped for, the car halted. Minhyuk frowned. "Jooheon, get out of the way!"

Sweat trickled down his forehead and between his eyebrows. "No, hyung."

Minhyuk was about to protest when he sensed a change inside the car. The screen in the dashboard turned on, and a message showed up.

It's over, hyung. We're caught. If you kill someone now, we're only going to get charged with more crimes. Trust me, and get in the car when I tell you to.

When Minhyuk stopped the car, he lost control over it, and that was why Jooheon was able to infiltrate the systems of the car. He hoped Minhyuk was able to read the message clearly, and would listen to him. Then, he turned to the detective.

Inseong was still in a state of shock, for he had no idea what just happened. There was no driver in the car, yet it tried to run him over. He tried raising his gun once again, only to find out it was trembling too much. "Did... did you do that? I mean, the... the car."

"I'm sorry." Jooheon's sudden apology left Jaeyoon confused.

With the last bit of strength, Jooheon short wired the walkie-talkie that was clipped on Inseong's belt, causing a mini spark and fire that stunned both Jaeyoon and Inseong. At that moment, Jooheon gave Minhyuk a hand gesture that indicated for him to get in the car. He responded by scrambling into the driver's seat, while Jooheon quickly followed and dove inside the passenger's seat.

When the first group of police cars arrived, Minhyuk and Jooheon had already disappeared in the complicated streets of Seoul.