Crash!
Jisung is aggressively thrown through one of the file cabinets along with Han, making sure the recently injured teammate doesn't take too much damage. They can't bear to let a member fall.
Why does he choose to fight even in this position?
He gently places the shorter down before taking out a gun. He immediately ducks down and shields the older from an incoming Lucas who crashed just behind them into more file cabinets.
Niki brushes a paper out of his sight, suddenly stopping to read it as something catches his eyes.
{What are you doing?!} Sunoo demanded. The maknae ignored the latter, reading briefly of whatever seemed important.
Name: Yang XXXXXX [Deceased]
Date Joined: XXXX/XX/XX
Age: 29
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 70 Kg
Relatives: Yang (Sam) XXXXXXX [Deceased], Yang Jungwon [Alive]
Occupation: Mafia Trade Marks & Interrogation Torture
Orders:
———
2/6
• Kill wife {Successful}
• Kill child {Failed}
8/10
• Torture Child {Successful}
• Import cameras & voice recorders {Successful}
———
The Japanese male's hands instantly crinkled the paper, rolling it into a ball and throwing it, brows and eyes narrowed at what he had read.
He's been working under them for twenty years?! Moreover, Jungwon Hyung's father was forced to do these?
{Riki Nishimura!} The swordsman turned around with wide eyes, slashing his sword at what he thought was the enemy, accidentally injuring Xiaojun who was thrown in his direction.
"F*ck!!" He caught the bleeding male, blood splattering all over them. Everyone hears a shriek behind their earpieces, presumably Seungkwan.
{I only warned you to snap out of your thoughts! Not slicing open Xiaojun's stomach!!}
"Shut... up," The Chinese male grunted. He breathed heavily, going limp in Niki's hold.
"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, sh*t- I'm so sorry-"
"It's alright." The older assured the maknae.
The Japanese boy looked up in front of him, gripping ahold of the older before leaping back. The Kage Arc had just finished taking down Donghyuck. The boy isn't dead, but slowly bleeding out on the red carpet. He had a great disadvantage with his sprained ankle; no one is sure why he wanted to come as well, surprised how far he's come with all these fights. Maybe he shared a couple of painkillers with Jisung. Everyone notices the bloody hand of the enemy, fully covered in the bleeding boy's blood. No weapon. Just his bare hands. The realization of what the enemy had done to the poor boy was undeniably torturous and disgusting. Now he's targeting the occupied person; a fantastic opportunity to take down three people in one go if everything goes smoothly.
Niki can't fight with Xiaojun occupying his other arm, only being able to avoid the enemy's attacks. It wasn't better when he was thinking about the two bleeding boys. One in his arm and probably opening up the cut even more with all his viscous movements, and the other who is barely moving on the floor.
An intrusion happens when both Lucas and Jisung punch the lanky man, eyes filled with rage and fury, you can see their veins popping out on their necks and arms from the torn-up sleeves. The enemy is sent flying a meter with such force.
"Han, look after them," Lucas said in a deeper voice if possible. Though it may seem so rare to see Lucas serious or mad, he does it frequently, but no matter when it happens, it always scares his friends or anyone around. He'll only show his calm and quirky side outside of missions or hanging around familiar people.
Jisung picked up Donghyuck and handed his friend over to the dizzied teammate. "Hang in there, Hyung.." He whispered, chest tightening at the thought of losing his friends.
Niki placed Xiaojun down next to the two but the shorter refused, getting up with a fight. The youngest watched with the guilt of what he had done to the other, but they can't waste any more time.
"Cover up his wound." The Japanese swordsman gestured towards Donghyuck who's breaths were so subtle. "Can you continue?" He asked the Chinese male, turning around and slicing a thrown chair in half, making sure none of the splinters or pieces hit the three.
There's a quivering breath heard from Xiaojun, voice solid. "Yes." With that, the swordsman wipes the older's blood off his cheeks.
{ The two instructors either buried their hands in their hair or buried their faces in their hands, internally panicking and worried. Two blinking red lights were highlighting the two attacked vans.
"Alright, maybe they're fine, they're fine, they're fine..." Seungkwan kept telling himself with a staggered tone. Sunoo's eyes swelled with tears, unable to create coherent thoughts.
First, Donghyuck is bleeding out to death, Han is so close to blacking out, Niki slashed Xiaojun's stomach open, and now van two and five are being attacked. What more can they worry about?
The younger slowly reached out to switch over to the other vans, a checkup on them. "This is van number seven, reporting in on the emergency attacks. Van number two, five, if you're available and hearing this, can you give us a message; word?"
Nothing.
{Dammit! They must be alive!} A familiar voice is heard through the earpiece. Sunoo is subtly glad to hear at least someone.
"Seokjin Hyung?" He calls.
{Sunoo? Sh*t. They're not responding.}
{What's going to happen to them?!} Yoongi yells frantically.
Everyone joins in, voices toppling over each other and maybe even heavy breaths heard through. Everything is jumbled up and pretty much, everyone is just ranting about the safety of the others, trying to reassure them.
{SHUT UP!!} Taehyun yells at the top of his lungs, tired of the rants and rambles. Silence. Sunoo and Seungkwan look at each other nervously, visibly gulping. {They're most likely outside of the van for God's sake- calm yourselves. You've all been instructors longer than I have- heck- haven't all of you experienced these events before?}}
Lucas is kicked under the jaw, falling back with a stumble from the unexpected action. Jisung shoots the enemy in the thigh. The man slips and gets kicked by the boy, his foot that's wedged between the Kage Arc's neck and shoulder is grabbed, throwing him against a nearby desk. Suddenly, there's surging and sharp pain rising in Jisung's legs, cursing and throwing his head back, eyes glazed with tears. The painkillers are wearing off, his whip lashes feeling incredibly sensitive.
The giant Chinese man wipes his chin, firing his gun at the elder man and puts him in a head lock, attempting to snap his neck. To everyone's surprise, he's struggling to twist the man's neck. It feels stiff and moves in a rusty way. "The hell?" Lucas curses when he's stabbed in his thigh. And it had to be his injured thigh, grip loosening enough for the enemy to flip them back, knocking to air out of the tall man.
The swordsman jumps in, swinging his sword. The man gets off Lucas, rounding off but the maknae is quick, slicing an arm off. There's a garbled scream and a crashing sound from the separated limb landing in the piles of paper and folders. The Japanese male had noticed the instructors disconnected, presuming an emergency. He's rushing to finish this fight, in need to know what happened to Sunoo and Seungkwan.
☘︎︎
"Look out!" Han yells to Xiaojun.
Clunk!
The Chinese male's head snaps up, staring above him. In the vents, red glowing eyes is staring at him. There's a low growl echoing throughout the air duct which intimidates Xiaojun, fear creeping its way up in his body, wondering what this monstrous aura is emitted in there. With one push, a heavy figure drops into the room, filling it with dust. Though the dust was thick, he could see the same red glowing eyes, lurching forward in his direction. Xiaojun's fast to whip out a knife, caught between metal and sharp razor teeth. The blade shatters instantly, nearly snapping off the Chinese man's fingers.
Once the dust gradually settles, Han sees the older on the ground with a robotic dog or wolf on top of him. Teeth are digging into the boy's arm, a painful scream erupting from him. It's even more painful when there's claws digging into his wounds, a puddle of blood pooling out of him by now.
Niki whips his head around to see what's happening, dumbfounded by the sudden intrusion but he's stabbed in the chest. A f*cking hand deep inside his own body. Jisung weakly cranes his head, eyes squeezing shut when attempting to shift his legs. There are tears evident now on his face. "I'm sorry..." He sobbed, fists turning white. "I can't continue-"
"Don't say shit like that!!" Niki glares at the older with fierce eyes, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth when he swings his sword again. The older watches with tearful eyes, taking a turn from the maknae's words. "Don't give up!"
Wham!
Lucas catches his breath, right fist slit up and covered in his blood. The robot gets off of Xiaojun before locking on its new target; Lucas. Han by now, is next to Xiaojun, dragging by the arm. "And that's why— you- should have rested." There's a scoff and grunt heard from the dragged one and the younger has to wonder, what is that distressed look? Xiaojun has his eyes glazed with tears, contorting into a depressing smile. It's definitely not about the pain, it looks and feels... different. He's desperate to exchange a penny for the latter's thoughts, but he's holding himself back.
Not now.
☘︎︎
Niki kicks the man off with the surging thoughts of Sunoo. Whatever's happening to the older, he can't think of the best possibilities and wonders. He rolls to his left when the man grabs his sword, stabbed into the ground right beside his head. Suddenly, a large chunk of metal was thrown at them.
"Get down!!!" Lucas yelled.
The Chinese male threw the large dog at the enemy, hearing a grunt and an unpleasant sound of breaking flesh and bones. Niki scrambles to get up but coughs up blood, falling back instantly. Lucas bends down to lift the bleeding boy's head to have him breathe easier. "Looks bad.."
"You don't— say?" Niki grips onto the taller's arms for resistance against the overwhelming pain before gritting out. "I can't... let anything happen to them..." He says between spluttering blood. The older knows what he's talking about. His worries for his members, so young and strong yet so vulnerable to the cruel world. And for the past six days of the alliance, he's been able to understand quickly that Sunoo means more than just a friend to the youngest. No one is oblivious that the two instructors had disconnected.
They'll be fine.
He wants to tell the younger that but they can only let fate decide their paths. "Hyung!" Jisung yells. The older falls back, letting go of the Japanese boy, jumped by the robot again. There's too much going on. Now that Lucas may be the only one left to fight, he can't contemplate enough to handle two at once. Not when it's a robot and a human.
{Han!}
The said male swung his right leg at the robot, knocking them off the giant man. "Are you alright?" The Chinese male asked the younger. He got up and punched the man who was ready to attack the squirrel.
"I should be asking you." The shorter hung onto a cubicle wall for support. In his eyes, all he can really see is the world spinning around him.
{Can you fight?} Seungkwan asked Niki.
"Where- Where is Sunoo Hyung?" Niki, rolled over onto his stomach to avoid a couple sharp paper ninja stars. He observed them, stabbed into the ground and carpet. What kind of paper is this?
{You don't need to worry. Focus on killing and destroying them.} Seungkwan assured the maknae.
The two maknaes trembled as they rose from their spots, sucking in sharp breaths and enduring the pain. They looked at each other for a moment, sharing presumable and knowing looks and hooded. They turned their direction to the man with fierce gazes, taking out their guns and knives.
Both maknaes charge at the man at the same time, breaths labored from all the aching they had induced. The Kage Arc himself was surprised to say the least. Such young and strong men, they could all agree, but the elder won't go down. He's meant to kill and kill only; done with his testing. He takes out a gun he's been saving for himself just in case he'd lose. It'd be extremely humiliating at the thought of being killed by such young men; he dejected those thoughts.
{Get the sword, Niki.} The present instructor ordered. {Use it to deflect everything. Jisung, I need you to shoot him down. No need to run, Niki has a higher chance of running. Can you two do this?} The older finally finished.
"Yes." They answered in sync. Confident and positive, just like the way they've been trained and taught.
{ Seungkwan took a deep breath. These instructions were simple, but would the task be simple for the boys who're severely injured? He turned to Sunoo who was listening in on the arguments between the instructors. The boy who had a restless gaze noticed the older and looked back as well.
"What is it?" Seungkwan thought for a moment. Will he tell the younger their case right now or wait?
He shook his head, muttering. "Young ones..." The instructor presses the button and leans down to the mic. "Go." The younger frowns.
Young ones?}
Han trips as he flips back, his body flat on the ground. His nerves are going haywire as he feels around the floor, searching for his dagger. The tips of his fingers tingle as if they've fallen asleep and he knows it's a bad sign. The squirrel was expecting something like this to happen, but not this severe. It gets worse when the background noises are replaced with buzzing, and his head aching- throbbing in pain. Han's head slowly cranes up when he feels something heavy land in front of him, the invention right before him with the same dangerous glowing red eyes. It's completely distracted when Donghyuck fires his gun, Xiaojun whipping out another dagger, aware that the dog will attack them. Han snaps his head around with wide eyes on instinct, buzzing and tingling disappearing at the exact moment the robot leaps towards the injured men.
"Xiaojun Hyung! Donhyuck!!" The Chinese male looks at Han. "It's alright, Han."
Jisung gets distracted by the call, turning to look at his friends. "Hyung-!" He's kicked in the face and falls back, screaming in pain due to the slash wounds on his legs.
"Jisung- Ngh!" A bullet grazes the swordman's forearm, left arm going limp. "F*ck!" Niki cursed. His dominant hand was out of use. He switches his sword quickly, using his strength to deflect the rest of the bullets. Once the man is left to reload his gun, Niki takes the opportunity to slice off the other arm, leaving the enemy armless. With his right foot, he pins them down, blood coated sword pointed at their neck.
The man looks up with fury. The expression almost falters from Niki's deathly eyes. Dark, sharp, all he can see is pure darkness. "I know..." His voice hoarse and strained. "I know that I lost my friends. I don't want to find out how many... but I know they'll disappear. All to protect this city from you guys."
"What- Niki.." Jisung sits up with his gun in hand. He's ready to shoot the enemy if he dares to move.
"I won't tolerate with all the bullsh*t you put us through!!" He drags his sword through the man's head, coming off clean.
☘︎
"No!!-" Han's head hangs low, banging against the floor.
F*ck. My body won't cooperate.
His own thoughts are becoming fuzzy but there's one thing he still holds on; keeps him moving and going no matter what. Minho.
Minho, all I ask is for you to come back. Let's hold hands together when we win.
Xiaojun puts the dagger in front of him, preparing for the most painful part of handling a situation. He slowly, yet swiftly, gets in front of Donghyuck with a fight of his wounds. He won't let this thing get to the younger first, it'll have to get past him before hurting the other.
As he watches the dog leap towards them, his hand grips tighter if possible, arm angling back. Donghyuck on the other hand is scared for the shorter, but he doesn't retort like usual. There's something off about the Chinese that makes him follow the older without a fight. He hates it. Suddenly, a large figure gets in the way, shielding the two. Both of their eyes widen, looking up. The shortest yells in fury, brows, and eyes narrowing. "Lucas!!! I didn't need your protection for crying's sake!"
The taller's brows knit in agony, teeth clamping as hot blood soaked his white sleeves. The dog's jaw never let go, sinking its teeth deeper into the older's forearm. "You're not," His eyes wandered all over the robot's body. "In any condition to fight this." Bingo. He finds the power-off button. He reaches down and presses the button right under the muzzle of the dog.
"And what if your arm-- arm doesn't go back to normal?" He shifts, stuttering between strangled gasps.
"Then so be it. If it means for your guys' safety, then I don't care. Jungwoo will understand." The oldest jacks open the jaws of the robot, letting it tumble on the floor with a loud thud of heavy metal. Blood continues to splatter everywhere but Lucas doesn't mind, crouching in front of the two.
"Alright," Niki huffed out, dragging Han's and Jisung's bodies over to the others. Plopping down in between the three, he nudges the shorter's limp body. "Han Hyung, are you there?" His eyes were opened, just dazed off somewhere. There's a low hum from the older, approval that he's somewhat conscious.
"It's probably his- head." Jisung sucks in another sharp breath. "I think I'll be fine for now.." He muttered, examining his leg. Niki silently nods, giving the older a back pat for reassurance. "And I'm sure..." The other maknae sighs depressingly. "... I have lost many again."
☘︎
"You giant dumbf*ck." Donghyuck says, exhausted. "Xiaojun Hyung already saw the button. He was going to turn it off himself." Lucas ruffles the younger's hair, smiling fondly.
"Xiaojun is indeed smart, but I won't let him be in charge of that for today." He removes his hand once it's swatted by the shorter. The giant turns to look at Xiaojun who's eyes are ready to close any minute. He looks down, seeing the large pool of blood combined with Xiaojun's and Donghyuck's; eyes growing big, he instantly goes to touch the younger's hands. They feel cold. Heart dropping and warmth draining from his face, he looks back up to the shorter. Why does he have a pitiful smile on his face? He looks back at the older with a peaceful look, eyes landing on everyone.
As time passes, his skin grows paler and colder, sending everyone into a panic.
{Why are you just sitting there panicking like the dipsh*ts you are?!} Seungkwan yells at the top of his lungs.
{F*ck! Put pressure on the largest wound. Even more!} Sunoo ordered. Lucas quickly puts pressure on the large wound, Donghyuck, Jisung, and Niki searching for something- anything to stop the bleeding.
"There must be-- a-a first aid kit on this floor. Every floor must have one!" Jisung says frantically, forgetting the pain of his legs.
{There is one! Search for the management room!} Sunoo notified them.
Han quickly regained full consciousness in a matter of time with some rest. The pain hasn't gone away, but he's able to take control of his body once again. He hears everything clearly, getting up along with the others.
"Xiaojun, stay with me." The oldest felt tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. "Don't you dare close them!" He squeezes his eyes shut, with desperation.
A hand reaches to touch the larger ones, a cold yet gentle and soft touch. Lucas looks up at Xiaojun. There's that smile again. "Why- Why are you smiling like that?!" The older demanded.
Donghyuck and Jisung wipe their tears away, feeling their throat and chest clench in fear and sadness. "Come on!"
"Lucas," Xiaojun spoke wearily. He looked so relaxed- peaceful and collected as always. He's not going to make it. "It's alright."
"No.. it isn't!" The taller sobbed.
"You know I'll always be by your guys' sides, right?"
"Stop! Don't say such things!" The older Chinese male decided to apply more pressure on the wound. The younger sucked in a sharp breath, eyes glazing from tears.
"Will you remember me? If I really do go?"
Yes, of course- always.
"Stop, please..."
{Stop talking! You'll die faster, Dejun!" Seungkwan ordered. Effective ways for others to follow strict orders were to use their real names instead of nicknames. The younger paid no attention to the instructor.
"I can't lose you. Not any of you again. Sicheng Hyung, Jeno, and Chenle- who knows who else has died. I'm not letting any of you go this easily!"
"I knew I'd never regret staying with you guys..." He smiled wistfully. "Happy, sad, angry, fear, disgust... all memories were fun, won't you say?"
{"Shit, I think he's losing it." Seungkwan and Sunoo could only watch now. Unable to instruct furthermore and wait for the others to fulfill these tasks to save the Chinese male.
"He's... very different," Sunoo observed the older Chinese boy and was quite confused with the latter's mindset.
"Xiaojun is a surprise, yes. Though everyone's different he's one of a kind to talk to." There was a moment of silence, only staring at the screens. "They don't know..." The oldest of the team eventually spoke, voice going dry.
"They don't know..." Sunoo repeated with a heavy chest, tears threatening to fall. With a fright, they hear a yell coming from the other line, turning their attention back at the screens.}
"DEJUN!!!"