Jeon Jungkook hurt like hell.
The young man glanced to the right of his pilot's seat. His jumpsuit and helmet lay on the floor of his cockpit in a wet heap. He sat slumped over the control panel of his cockpit, wearing nothing but a black t-shirt and boxer shorts while the dim cabin light flickered off of his toned, sweaty skin. Heat and hurt were rising up in his limbs from all the causes of inflamation: extensive bruises, deep cuts and more than a few broken bones.
He didn't want to think too hard about the pain. Just about getting home.
Unfortunately, the automatic operating system had been fried while his little fighter jet was stuck in that blazing inferno's path.
No more voice activated command systems.
He sighed. Then he regretted it, as a stabbing sensation rose up from his lungs and some broken ribs falling into each other. His scraped-over palms gripped the steering wheel hard to brace against the searing sensation.
His thoughts flickered to what he'd just endured.
____
He crawled his way out of that Mysterium cave, by some miracle he couldn't grasp (and honestly didn't want to think about). He managed his way hands-and-knees to the bottom of that cliffside, then propped himself up on his scraped gut and bloodied elbows to take a breather. The smell of salt rock and humility rose up to meet him, while three consecutive thoughts ran through his mind:
I feel like I'm on fire.
I should be dead.
If I have to climb this cliff right now, I will be.
Jungkook's right hand searched his breast pockets and utility belt, as he gritted his teeth against the pain with every movement.
There has to be something. Anything. ...Wait, what's this?
He yanked at a hook-shape that was attached to his utility belt. He felt a tugging sensation from his waste when he did so--and saw a thin wire attaching the hook to his belt. Thin, but firm. Jungkook then rolled onto his back.
He held the hook in his left hand, where his wrist was wrapped in that familiar thin black band.
"Fire."
Thin beams of light sparked out of the black wristband just as Jungkook opened his palm, blasting the tiny hook up, up, onto and into the very top of the cliffside.
The hook sank in, and the wire vibrated with tension like it was a fishing hook and Kookie was the catch. It held. Jungkook had tugged on it, hard, and it stayed taught.
Chiminie, you genius.
____
"I really can't believe any of this," Jungkook whispered to himself for the thirteenth time, shifting gingerly in his pilot's seat. "I should be dead. That whole thing. The cave. ...I really can't believe any of this."
He began to sense the tinglings of shock jittering into his hands and his lungs.
Jungkook yanked open a small drawer near his right foot and pulled out a tiny pen-shaped device. He shoved the cap in his mouth, yanked hand-and-teeth, and the top snapped off. Jungkook spat the cap and it flew into the windshield screen, before pinballing through dashboard buttons and falling somewhere at his feet.
Then Jeon Jungkook tipped the pen head and slammed it into his bare leg.
CLICK.
"Gha!"
The sudden stab of a needle only made him nauseous a moment, but it passed. He held the pen in place and watched the gauge until it showed that all the liquid had been released. Then he yanked the medi-pen out of his leg, tossed it aside, and fumbled around in the drawer again. He pulled out a tinny carrot-shaped bandaid, yanked back the peel with his teeth, and stuck the cartoonish bandage over the small puncture mark that was bubbling with a few drops of bright red.
He looked at his hands. No more shaking. His breathing was stabilizing again, his head getting clearer.
"Jin and his adrenaline shots," he muttered in thanks.
Both hands held the steering wheel with ease now.
Jungkook made a few distance-time-space calculations in his adrenaline-cleared mind, muttering the sequence out loud to himself.
After the third time drawing the same coordinates, he began adjusting a few knobs on the dash to accommodate the distance with precision, then he pressed a yellow button near the steering wheel. Jungkook leaned his steering wheel forward. The ship lurched and his body pressed back into itself in his chair as the ship charged ahead into warp speed.
As the stars sped past in a glorious light show display, Jungkook's brain ticked and calculated with that adrenaline-driven clarity through the memory of the dream he'd had in the Mysterium cave.
He'd seen his best friends in it, he knew that: Chimin, Hoseok, Yoongi, Seokjin, Taehyung and Namjoon. He couldn't remember anything about the other six people who'd been there.
Then there was the cherry blossom tree. Or was it some other kind of tree?
Then the fire.
Jungkook shuddered at the dream-memory of so much vivid death.
But that woman. He couldn't place her. Had he seen her before? Surely he must have, or how else would he have dreamt of her. Or...was it more than just a dream?
Did it mean something?
The cabin gave a sudden lurch. Kookie's body rocketed forward, getting caught in the X-shaped seat belt strapped across his chest, making him groan and wince.
"This is why driving manual sucks," he grumbled.
He began to circle his little fighter jet downwards over a bright, cloudy landscape, to where the skyscrapers of the city of Era glistened and gleamed amongst the clouds. Home sweet home.
Once he was in proximity of Noon Mool's flight hangars, he punched in the manual override for the security codes to help the gates open. Then Jungkook was able to coast into the main flight hangar with no problem. His beaten up fighter jet crunched against the hangar floor a few times and then coasted to a rickety stop.
Finally.
As he slumped his way out and down the ramp of the exit hatch, he was surprised to discover that no one was in the metallic chamber waiting to greet him.
"I bet all my ship's tracker gear got fried just like my comm units. They must not even know I'm here."
He spoke into his black wristband, "Show me team coordinates."
A flicker of light, and then an elongated hologram map stretched across Kookie's forearm. Four pixelated dots appeared, all clustered over each other in the same space on the tiny light-map that projected across his battered skin.
"Why are they all in Jin's bathroom?" He laughed at the thought, and went to investigate.