The night before Renjun is set to be the bait Jeno is clinging to him like they are glued at the hip. Renjun is terrified but doesn't want to tell him because he's sure he will try to talk him out of it.
"I love you Jeno Lee." Renjun says softly as he plays with his hair. Jeno is curled into him as they sit on the couch.
"I love you prince." Jeno clears his throat and sits up.
"After this is over, I want them to stay here." Renjun looks shocked.
"Really?" Jeno nods with a soft smile.
"You guys will have a lot of catching up to do while they adjust to their freedom. Then when they are ready, we will help them find a place of their own really close." Renjun cries as he kisses his lips.
"You are perfect, you know that?" Jeno chuckles.
"I'm not perfect, I just love you and you get a chance to reconnect with your parents, this is a precious gift." Renjun smiles.
Renjun has a hard time sleeping, he's been tossing and turning all night and Jeno is very aware.
"Baby, you know they will probably work you to death tomorrow. You should get some rest." He sighs.
"I know, I'm just kind of nervous." Jeno scoffs.
"Kind of? You are terrified and that is perfectly normal. I am too." He whispers at the end.
"I'll be ok. You better be safe too. I didn't come this far to live without you." Jeno rolls over and places his head on Renjun's heart.
"I love this sound so much. It's beating just for me." He says sleepily.
"It really is." Renjun whispers.
At around five AM he is woken by his alarm. He has to be in place around six. There is a specific spot where they look for victims. Out of work immigrants that they feel won't be missed. Renjun dresses in his cheapest looking outfit and tries to prepare himself mentally.
Jeno makes him eat a big breakfast since he probably won't get to eat the rest of the day but he has a hard time. He really doesn't have an appetite. Jeno pushes on though and continues to feed him until the end.
"Ok baby, this is it. Are you sure you can do this?" He nods with a brave smile on his face.
"I know you will be there to help me if I need it. You always are." He says softly. They kiss and hug for a while as they ready themselves.
Jeno sits in a car with Jaemin, and Mark. Johnny is already on the grounds keeping watch. When Jeno sees a van pull up next to his love he gasps.
"Oh fuck, I can't let him." Mark holds him down. You can do this Jeno, trust him." He nods as he tears up.
"He better not get hurt, not one fucking hair on his head." Mark hugs him.
"To my knowledge they won't hurt them if they cooperate and work, so as long as he sticks to the plan he will be fine." Jaemin says.
As soon as Renjun enters the van a man holds a gun to his back. He stiffens.
"What? What's going on?" He asks with tears in his eyes, only partially acting. Another man places a leather cuff on his ankle and switches it on.
"You are ours now. If you even try to escape you will be shot on sight and when we are through with you, we will hunt down your family and kill them too." He swallows thickly and nods.
"Ok, I'll behave but can you take the gun out of my back? I swear I won't run." The man in the back pulls it back but keeps it cocked and ready to shoot.
They pull up to a factory and he is escorted out, again with the gun in his back. Johnny sees this and reports to everyone. Jeno looses his mind.
The factory is much like the one he worked in before, dark and unpleasant. He shivers at the thought of spending even one day here. He can't even imagine the torture his parents and many others have been through.
He gets placed by a conveyor belt where his job is to inspect the parts as they come down the line and pull off anything that is flawed.
He goes right to work. He wants to make it out of this alive so he is going to cooperate. He tries not to make it obvious that he is looking for anyone as he looks around every now and then. He sees a lot of people with these bracelets, in fact he's willing to bet the factory is run solely on slave labor now.
He's been working since six thirty in the morning and it's now noon. He's hungry and he has to pee. He raises his hand at one of the guards who comes over.
"I have to use the toilet, will this stop soon?" He shakes his head.
"When someone is available to take your place."
He continues working but his thoughts are plaguing him. He's trying to remain strong but this is so hard. How could his parents endure this day after day for so long? How could anyone? He makes eye contact with a person who looks slightly younger than him across the conveyor belt.
"My first day here, I pissed myself. Don't be ashamed if you can't hold it. We've all seen worse believe me." Renjun nods his eyes starting to water. He clears his throat and fights the urge as he tries to gather his strength to focus on his parents.
For Renjun, the physical toll is not too great, his body is coming into his super human strength every day so he at least has the endurance to make it through this.
It's his mental health that's in peril. He is bored out of his mind, he still has to pee and it's now 3PM, mostly he misses Jeno. The one thing keeping him grounded through this whole experience is knowing he's out there waiting for the time to come and collect him. He can't even imagine how hard it is for his parents and everyone else here as they were ripped away from their lives, their families. He glances around at security and takes a chance to whisper to the guy across the belt.
"How long have you been here?" The guy glances around as well, hoping to not get caught talking.
"Six months." Renjun's heart sinks. This boy is clearly younger than him and is facing a lifetime of hell. He tries not to think about the fact that his parents were not much older than he is now when they were taken.
He starts to tear up and this time there is no stopping it.
"Hey, stay quiet ok? You can cry but you can't make noise." He only nods. Finally at four he is relieved for a bathroom break, it isn't private at all since he is watched the whole time and he's pretty sure this guy gets off on this because he won't stop staring at his penis. He ignores it for the fact that he only has to make it six more hours, as hard as that sounds, he knows others have been living this life for years.
When the time comes to be escorted to the warehouse for sleeping he's relieved, finally this will be coming to an end. He's lined up with the same group he worked with. He has yet to see his parents but he knows there are a lot more workers. They trudge slowly out the door around ten, everyone is exhausted so some are having a hard time even standing.
He keeps his head down and with everything in him he's hoping Jeno can see him.
The walk into the dimly lit warehouse that looks pretty normal on the ground level but as they get upstairs he is horrified. It looks like jail cells but barely big enough for one person. It reeks of urine and feces as each cell only has a bucket that likely never gets cleaned.
His cell is on the end last row, there is a blanket and pillow on the floor. He stumbles when he's shoved in and is horrified when they lock it. How will he get the others in if he's locked up? He starts to panic, he's pacing back and forth, this wasn't in the plan.
"It's been two hours. Where the fuck is he?" Jeno asks somewhere between utter dispare and unhinged rage.
"I don't know, there is only one guard at the door. We can take him down and try to get close enough to see inside?" Mark suggests.
"Shh, just wait. Do you hear that? Someone is screaming."
Renjun had been sitting against the cage trying to figure out what to do. After the guards finally leave the room he stands to find the same person he talked to earlier.
"Hey, you." He whisper shouts. Everyone puts their heads down not wanting to be involved. The boy looks over and stands as well.
"How the fuck do I get out of here?" Renjun whispers.
"You don't. Don't you think we've all tried?" Renjun grunts in frustration.
"Momma? Papa?" He yells out, wanting to at least see their faces or hear their voices.
"Hey, shut the fuck up." The boy practically shouts at him.
"No, I want to see them. Momma Huang? Papa? I'm here, it's me Renjun." He says, hopefully loud enough for them to hear. He's quite surprised when he hears a woman sobbing.
"NO, NOT MY RENJUN." He cries.
"Mommy, I love you." He says through his tears.
She lets out a blood curdling scream and sobs hysterically. This gets the guards to come in, there are three of them. One stays by the exit while the other two go directly to her cell. He watches horrified as they open it and pull her out, throwing her to the ground.
"Fuck, fuck fuck." He says to himself. He goes to his door and starts pushing and pulling as hard as he can.
Soon the door flies off its hinges and slams into the next row of cages, startling everyone.
Renjun is filled with a rage like he's never known. He runs faster than he ever has and choke slams both the guards to the floor with force that goes way beyond him. They are both only semi conscious. He quickly takes their guns and throws them against the furthest wall before running to the third guard and throwing him into a metal cage.
He is panting for air as all of the prisoners look at him in disbelief. He runs to what looks like a boarded up window and starts ripping them off. When he sees Jeno and Mark running toward the door he almost cries.
"Jen, up here, second floor. Come in." He yells.
He makes eye contact with Jeno who is so happy to see him well. Just when he's about to turn he feels a sharp pain in his head as his vision goes black. He hears mumbling but can't make it out.
Jeno witnesses the attack and already knows who his target is. They burst through the first set of doors and Johnny and Jaemin come through the back. They only have two people to subdue which doesn't take long. Jeno is the first up the stairs and in the door.
He sees Renjun tied to a chair with a knife wound on his neck already. He only watches for a second to see that it's starting to heal before running over at lightening speed to take down his attacker. Mark runs in and observes the area. He's sick with the smell that overpowers the air. He sees Jeno relentlessly punching this man and runs over.
"Jeno, that's enough!" He shakes his head and looks up at him with a deadly expression.
"He's still breathing." He says before one more punch.
"Renjun is ok, look." He looks up to see him coming to and breathes a sigh of relief.
He quickly unties him and kisses his face multiple times.
"Jen? I'm so happy you're here." He says with a soft smile.
"Are you ok baby?" He nods.
"I feel better already, we need to help get everyone free." Jeno nods and kisses his lips once more.
They each go one by one, ripping doors off the metal cages. Renjun runs to where his mother is leaning against one and kneels down to her.
"Momma?" She looks up at him and weeps.
"My baby. Did they hurt you?" He shakes his head with a smile.
"I'm fine really. Let's get you out of here." She grabs a hold of the cage she's leaning on and gestures to it. There is his father, small, weak, very sick. He holds back his tears as he rips into the cage and scoops him up.
"Can you walk mom?" She nods and stands. Renjun walks slowly so she can keep up as they make their way through the crowds of confused yet over joyed people.
He's crying a mixture of scared and happy tears.
Jaemin spots him and he mouths thank you as he heads toward the exit. Taeyong is there directing people where to go. He smiles softly.
"Take them to the first van, it's almost loaded. Tell Doyoung you want him to look after your parents." Renjun nods, unable to speak as he knows the flood gates will open up if he does. He gets there and sees Haechan helping people in and almost goes weak in the knees.
"Haechanie." He calls out. He looks over and is immediately flooded with tears.
"Renjun, come on, you go with them." He says softly. He nods and sets his father in a seat then helps his mother in. Before he sits he gets out and gives Haechan a bone crushing hug.
"I love you Junie, I'm so happy for you." He kisses his cheek.
"Thank you." He whispers before getting in and heading to the triage area. He watches out the window wishing his Jeno was by his side in this moment but he knows he will see him soon. He watches as droves of police and ambulances head toward the warehouse and is thankful they were able to help to end this horrific nightmare.