Resolving Conflict | Ateez Superhero AU

Missing

"Where's Yunho-hyung?" Jongho asked, his voice rigid.

They were all standing outside the building now, far away from the  cluster of ambulances, firetrucks, and the few police cars parked  sporadically in the middle of the road. The few people they have managed  to save were either limping around in a daze or huddled in the back of  an ambulance with cups of water in their hands.

Wooyoung searched the crowd for his teammate, his slightly singed  bangs swiping left and right along with his swiveling head. "We parted  ways. He should be here soon."

Jongho heard the uncertainty hidden beneath the feigned assurance.  "I'm going back inside." He strode forward, shaking off the hand that  was holding him back by his shoulder.

Hongjoong grabbed Jongho again. "Wait! It's too dangerous. You'll-" He stopped abruptly, the words lost in a gasp.

Jongho felt the sudden slack in Hongjoong's grasp and turned around,  only to look behind him again as he followed the leader's gaze. "What?  What did you see?" Having a really bad feeling that his life was about  to fall apart, Jongho could no longer contain the urgency and  desperation in his voice.

His bad feeling was right.

"That's one of the government officials who visited us that day," Hongjoong said grimly.

"Why is she here?" Mingi asked, but it wasn't so hard to speculate at all.

As the terrifying realization settled in, the members reacted  differently. Hongjoong shouted obscenities and punched a nearby tree.  Wooyoung stared blankly at the building as he bit his lip. Seonghwa  prayed silently. Mingi placed his hands on his head and ruffled his hair  like a madman. Jongho, frozen from shock and devastation, broke away  from his trance and started to run blindly into the crowd, hoping to  catch the woman.

Mingi, the only person who could run faster than Jongho, ran after him and blocked his path with his body.

"Get out of the way." Jongho clawed at Mingi's shirt, trying to shove  the tall member aside. Mingi ignored the pain at his sides and tried to  get a good grip at Jongho's flailing arms so he could make him stay  still.

"Jongho." Mingi understood how Jongho felt. There was no point in  shouting, or getting angry. Nothing could get through when family was  involved. All Mingi had to do was wait for the fight in Jongho to wear  away, for Jongho to accept the truth.

Jongho's hits and shoves gradually became weaker, less painful, until  they ceased completely and his arms fell limply on his sides. His knees  went weak, but before he could collapse onto the floor, Mingi held him  tightly by his sides and pulled him into a hug.

"We don't even know if he really is taken away." Mingi felt slightly  weird when the consoling words left his mouth. Usually it was Seonghwa  who do these things. "But if he is, we'll find him."

Jongho nodded into Mingi's shirt.

After a few more minutes of dreadful waiting, Hongjoong decided it was time to return.

Back in their base, an emergency meeting commenced.

"Keep calling Yunho's number," Hongjoong said to San, who was already holding up his phone to his ear.

"What should we do now?" Jongho forced his eyes to look away from San  and his phone. He needed to focus on something else. It was the only  way to stop his mind from imagining all the possible (all of which are  bad) explanations for Yunho's disappearance.

"We stick to the original plan," Hongjoong replied tersely. "We're moving first thing tomorrow morning."

Everyone was too taken aback to reply. Only San continued moving,  redialing Yunho's number over and over again like a robot that only knew  how to carry out one simple task.