The control room's main transparent screen flickered. There was a BLOOP and a small yellow light gave a single flash on one of the curved control panel desks.
Message sent.
Kim Taehyung leaned back in his chair and tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling. His arms fell limp and hands dragged low past his seat. His indigo suit ensemble with yellow trim made Taehyung look more like a military officer that day than a mere assistant and errand boy.
His still face and form were more perfect than a Grecian statue. He was ideal symmetry, soft yet angular--from his narrowed eyes to the point and curve of his jaw to the just-right arch of his nose.
Taehyung pushed himself forward with a sigh, his auburn hair sleek that day and falling in sheer folds around his darkened eyes. His arms leaned in, elbows propped against his knees. One hand folded over the other, which was balled into a fist, and he rested his chin upon it.
Taehyung of Noon Mool stared into the now-blank main screen that hung wide and long from the control room ceiling. His eyes were harsh and distant and thoughtful.
There was a knock on the opened doorway into the control room. The noise made Tae's hands fall forward and he turned to look towards the sound, though his serious expression didn't wane.
It was Jungkook.
"Where is everyone? I thought we had a meeting before Joon and Chim took the girls to Okie Port?"
"They were just in the lounge."
Jungkook sighed as recognition set in. "Jin. ...Man, Namjoon's gonna be so mad."
"They're gone?"
Jungkook nodded.
Taehyung couldn't help it. He let out a sudden, high squeal of laughter.
Jungkook chuckled awkwardly in the doorway. "It's not that funny."
This only made Tae laugh even harder. He had to reach up and wipe a tear from his eye to stem the flow. "I'm just...he's been such an ass today.... MAN, HE'S GONNA KILL JIN WHEN HE GETS BACK HAHAHA!"
Jungkook let his friend roll through his laughter, until Tae wiped at an eye for the last time, then leaned back in his seat and threw an arm over the back of his chair in a relaxed and open way.
Jungkook couldn't help himself. "Are you...are you doing alright, Tae? I know Joon's been putting a lot on you now that Yoongi and Hoseok aren't here, and he can give you a hard time sometimes. But it's not you. He's just, you know.... He doesn't always manage all the pressure well. Especially right now, when we're all just trying to adjust to the changes around here."
"Yes, I know. That doesn't mean that some days he doesn't cross the line. Today has been that kinda day, my friend."
A playful, childish grin played about Jungkook's lips. "You know what we should do then?"
"What?"
"We should steal his cologne and hide it."
Tae chuckled. "Wait, which cologne? The guy has, like, a reservoir of the stuff."
"You know the one--he always wears it when he knows he's gonna be around Shae and Ava. I think it smells like fancy dog butt, but he loves it."
"Oh, I know the exact one you're talking about. No, it's more like wet dog than dog's butt. He has more class than that."
"Does he?" Jungkook giggled, making Tae do the same. "I mean, I'd just like point out that the guy forgot to grease his shoes before the gala. Such a rookie mistake."
"Yeah, but he didn't forget to spray himself with essence of dog butt."
Jungkook laughed. "Yeah, and that night when Jin was going over his marks from his fight with Hobi..." Jungkook gave an airy laugh as he strugggled to get the words out, just as the figure of Kim Namjoon started to come up behind him, unbeknownst to him, "...and...when Jin stuck Joonie in the arm with one of those probes, there was this awful smell. Jin blamed it on the cologne! But Joon was like...no...I just farted. IT WAS SO FUNNY!" Jungkook was laughing so hard he clutched his side.
Joon cleared his throat.
Jungkook turned, saw the I-can't-believe-I-know-these-people look on Joon's face--and it made Jungkook burst with a spray of fresh laughter.
There they were:
Kim Taehyung fell forward out of his chair in a fresh giggle fit and began pounding a hand into the floor, breathless.
Jeon Jungkook was gripping the door frame for dear life, lest he fall over from airy laughs from which he couldn't breathe.
Joon sighed and folded his arms. "So I guess this is a bad time to come and tell you guys that the Noon Mool perimeter is being sized up by a military scouting drone."
Jungkook stopped laughing immediately.
Tae hadn't quite heard Joon, and his breaths heaved their way more slowly into normalcy. Once he saw seriousness sink into Jungkook's features, his senses hardened back up again.
Jungkook asked, "Who is it?"
"What idiot has the nerve...?" Tae started.
"It's Essem Fortress. It's one drone, an unarmed scout, but they were definitely trying to run diagnostics." Joon shook his head. He pinched the bridge of his nose in his fingers, as if he had a headache. "First Jin, and now this."
Tae rolled up off the floor and crawled back into his chair, though he sat in it backwards and curled his arms tightly around the back of it as he leaned towards where Joon and Jungkook stood. "But shouldn't our shields keep us safe from them getting anything on us? Like, deep blueprints or heat signatures or any of that kind of thing?"
"They should," Joon agreed, "so it could have just been they were mapping our perimeter or something really basic. But even so, it doesn't sit well with me."
Jungkook nodded. "Me neither."
"Same." Tae's fingers tapped against the back of that chair and he leaned into it even more.
Jungkook wondered out loud, "But what can we do about it?"
A trickster smile played across Kim Taehyung's lips. He looked from Jungkook to Joon, something wicked gleaming in his eyes as he said, "We can scare the hell out of them."