" 'Cause I'm heartless and I'm back to my ways 'cause I'm heartless ."
Heartless, The Weeknd, Heartless
A scream tore through Mark's lungs, though slightly muffled by the mask he wore, as he walked up the stairs from the basement. He pointed at the nearest Black Rose and signaled for them to go downstairs.
Jackson rounded the corner as he heard Mark scream, concerned.
"I want to kill him," Mark immediately said as Jackson got close, ripping off his mask, "He's infuriating!"
"He's playing a game with you, Mark, and you're letting him win," Jackson clarified.
Mark laughed, "He isn't in the position to play games with me of all people! I kidnapped him. I have him. He's mine and I'm better than him!"
Jackson nodded, not knowing what to say.
"How do I break him?" Mark mumbled, "How do I break him? How?" The man started pacing around and suddenly stopped, "I don't break him, I break Jaebeom. That's right, I forgot. Youngjae is the way to get Jaebeom around my finger."
"Do you want me to get in contact with him?" Jackson asked.
Mark turned his attention back to Jackson and narrowed his eyes, "I can contact Jaebeom but we're going back to Seoul. I want to play from the center of the board. We have enough Roses here, just in case they track Youngjae down."
Jackson sighed, "Are you sure this will be enough?"
"It's just one person," Mark smiled, he reached into his pocket and pulled out Youngjae's phone, "Let's go."
Jackson gave Mark an unsure smile yet nevertheless followed the man out of the house.
×××
"Youngjae disappeared, his phone is off and there's no surveillance of Youngjae ever leaving the office?" Hyunjin clarified as he watched the buildings of Seoul pass by.
Seungmin shook his head but kept his eyes on the road, "There's no surveillance at all. All of today's footage from the Lobby to Youngjae's floor has been cut," Seungmin corrected.
"This can't be happening, not again," Hyunjin whispered.
Seungmin didn't respond.
×××
"You got here rather quickly," Jinyoung stated as he heard the sound of footsteps, he looked up and smiled, "Well, all three of you."
"We weren't so far away."
Jinyoung nodded, "Let's cut to the chase then. Youngjae is gone and Black Rose took him. I know that for sure, it's payback for the docks. I need him found immediately and for that to happen, Stray Kids needs to come back together. It's an order, Chan."
Chan cleared his throat, "Of course."
"I know what happened to Woojin and I know this situation is putting salt into a wound but that's the nature of our lives. People we love and care about will die. This lifestyle will kill us, regardless of if we're still playing it or not. We were too late to find Woojin but we can't let history repeat itself."
"You're right," the second guest, Jeongin, spoke, "Jisung was mad at me because he thought I got over it too quickly but I didn't. I always think about Woo but I didn't want his death to be in vain."
Felix crossed his arms and spoke, "And it wasn't, because of Woojin we gained more territory from Black Rose. Not only that but we had learned about more about their gangs and that the top brass is masked when addressing the lower tier unless they know the lower is about to die."
A quick set of knocks came from the door before Hyunjin and Seungmin let themselves in.
Seungmin's eyes widened when he saw Chan but he quickly regained composure.
Jinyoung cleared his that, looked at the five boys, and stood up, "Your orders are to find Youngjae alive and to kill any Roses you come in contact with. Now is not the time for mercy on those who killed your own. Now is not the time for mercy on those who kidnap your own. May the divine bless you!"
All five boys bowed and said in unison, "May the divine bless you!"
×××
Jaebeom sat up from his bed as he heard his phone ring, he reached over to his nightstand and grabbed the device. Instantly, a smile lit up his face. Youngjae was calling.
"Hey babe," Jaebeom answered the phone, "Did you take a late lunch again?"
"Sorry Jaebeom, but it isn't your babe," Mark smiled from behind the phone, "How are you doing, old friend?"
"How did you get Youngjae's phone? Or did you just clone his number?" Jaebeom asked, "What do you want?"
"You didn't hear? I took your little friend."
Jaebeom bit his lip and his breathing became heavy, "Where is he? I swear to God if you have hurt him-"
"Why would I hurt him when I knew he was the way to get to you?" Mark interrupted, "Listen, Jaebeom, if you want to know more about your loverboy then you'll be at the exact place that we first met, okay? You will wait there for me and when I arrive, we will talk."
"I'm not playing this game with you," Jaebeom seethed.
"You will play this game with me if you want Youngjae alive," Mark laughed.
"Any other stupid fucking terms?"
"You aren't allowed to run and tell Jinyoung about our meeting. It's just you and me. If I suspect anyone in the building is with Divinity, Youngjae is dead. Wear the suit. Goodbye, Def."
Jaebeom cursed and threw his phone down on the bed. He looked towards his closet and started rummaging through the rack of clothes. At the back of the closet, he found what he was looking for, the blood-red suit he wore when he killed Issac Tuan. The suit gifted to him by Mark.
×××
The first mistake the Roses made was leaving Youngjae alone. The boy was restricted in numerous different ways. A rope was around his hands, which thankfully weren't behind his back. His torso was tightly wrapped to the chair with another rope. The only thing not tied was his legs, a fatal mistake.
Quickly, the boy made short work of the ropes around his hands. He lifted his left foot and tapped it twice on his right leg. A mechanism turned and a small utility knife popped out. He lifted his foot to pull out the knife then used it to cut the rope around his torso. He stood up and stretched, small yawn left his mouth.
Honestly, he was just bored.
He made his way out of the basement he was held in. He was greeted by the kitchen and voices not far from where he was. Youngjae ducked down and made his way towards the drawers behind the island, facing away from the voices that he assumed came from the living room. He opened one drawer and found a very sharp Chef's knife. He closed the drawer and instead focused on the conversation from the living room.
"Who were those two guys here earlier? And what's so important about the guy in the basement?" It was a woman's voice.
A male answered, "I don't know who the two guys were. The one in the mask, he was probably someone important though. HQ didn't say who the hostage was."
"Orders from HQ never tell anything."
"It's our job to just know."
"But you don't know!"
"The person in our basement is Choi Youngjae, he's a doctor and the son of a CEO."
"Did you say you didn't know?"
"No, I said HQ didn't say. I know who the hostage is because I was eavesdropping."
Youngjae held back a laugh. Were all Roses so clueless? Or were these two just a special case?
"Should we...feed him? Or at least check on him?"
Youngjae made his way back to the basement quietly, he hid under the stairs. Light poured in from the door opening and he heard someone make their way down the stairs. They didn't notice Youngjae.
As they walked forward more, Youngjae quickly crept behind them. It was a woman with a gun holster under her arm. He would have to be fast. Smoothy, he grabbed their mouth and held the knife to their throat. He slit it quickly and the body fell to the ground. Youngjae took the hostler off the woman's body and adjusted it to his own. He started to make his way back up until he heard a voice directly in the kitchen
"What's taking her so long?"
The door began to open and Youngjae shot whoever it was through the door. Their body thumped to the ground and a sign left Youngjae's lips. He pushed the door open and once again made his way back to the kitchen.
"What the fuck was that!?" Someone screamed from upstairs.
Youngjae mentally cursed and made his way to the living room and went into a room, it was an empty study. He stood to the side of the door ready to knock out whoever came through the door with his gun.
Rapid sets of footsteps came down the stairs. At least, three other people.
"Check the basement!" One authoritative voice boomed.
"Fuck, Chen's dead!" Another shouted.
"Where's Gianna?" Someone else asked.
"Didn't Jun say check the fucking basement?" Another snapped at the others, "And stay alert, we don't know where the hostage is."
"Maybe Gianna just snapped..."
Youngjae sighed and whispered, "Fuck."
He looked out of the window of the study and saw he was truly in the middle of nowhere. There was a car outside though and that could be his only ticket out of this house if he could find the keys.
He looked into the desk that was perpendicular to the window, no keys were in there.
Youngjae sighed knowing his time was running out and opened the window, which opened out instead of up. He jumped out of it and ducked down. He heard the study door open.
"Where the fuck is he? Why is the window open?"
The person went to close the window, Youngjae popped up and shocked the person. They didn't have a chance to react before Youngjae deposited a bullet in their skull. He grabbed them before they fell and pulled them outside, looking in their pockets for keys. There were none.
Youngjae cursed, pushed the man back inside and ran around to another side of the house. He ducked down when he hit a window.
"Fucking hell," Youngjae thought aloud.
Let the game of cat and mouse begin.
×××
Namjoon laughed as he looked down at the seven people in front of him.
They were beaten, bloody and half dead.
"Oh, how the tables turn," Namjoon smirked. He grabbed the hair of the man in front of him, "Keeping me alive was the worst mistake you ever made."
"F...Fuck off, Rose," Hyunwoo spat, "I'll kill you. All of you."
Namjoon kicked the man in the face then rolled his eyes and grabbed his gun out of his pocket.
"Don't you see the situation you're in...Hyunwoo," Namjoon smiled, "Don't you see your partners around you? They're barely clinging to life and yet you speak such a tough game."
"I'm not scared of you."
"Oh, but you should be. Lucky for us, there's seven of you and seven of my new team here. Everyone, grab a toy expect Hyunwoo. He's mine." Namjoon looked back, "Bambam, you're welcome to help me out."
"I think I'll just watch and listen," Bambam replied, "Divinity screams are always the best; desperate and pitiful."