What Doesn't Kill You: Chapter 4
Title: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
Pairing: HanChul, KyuChul, EunKiHae, KangTeuk, YeWook, other may appear in the future
Rating: R
Genre: AU, Action, Superhero (is that a genre?)
Summary: When Cho Kyuhyun was infected with the GAM Virus, he’d thought he was going to die. Everyone who got it did. If you contracted the virus, you were as good as gone. There was no treatment, no cure, and nothing to aid you toward a quick death. It was slow, painful, and most people committed suicide-or had loved one’s aid them in doing so-before the disease took them willingly.
Or that’s what he’d thought, anyway.
Chapter 3 < --- Side Story: Hangeng --- > Chapter 5
Character Profiles
---
When Leeteuk and Yesung got back to the apartment, everything was in chaos. All of the members were sitting in the living room, sans Kyuhyun (who was sleeping) and Heechul.
“Hyung!”
“Heechul hyung is waiting in the debriefing room. He said to talk to him first.” Donghae murmured softly, staring down at the floor. “…will Kyuhyun be ok?”
“He’ll be fine.” Leeteuk found himself saying, even as he bit back a sigh. For Heechul to be this worried-he had to have been worried, because Donghae called him near to tears-then something had to be wrong with Kyuhyun’s power. “I’ll go and talk with Heechul. Everyone else…go to bed.”
They all seemed reluctant to follow his orders, until Kangin glared and barked out, “Bed, kiddies!” Leeteuk didn’t wait to see if they actually listened. He was already heading across the hall to the debriefing room.
He opened the door quietly. Heechul hadn’t noticed him yet. He was sitting at one end of the table, biting his lip as he hurriedly typed something in to his laptop. As Leeteuk closed the door behind him Heechul looked up.
Leeteuk hadn’t seen him look so…un-Heechul like before. Leeteuk didn’t even know what un-Heechul like was, except that it was a little less confident than usual, more scared and unsure and pale. Heechul blinked again, before swallowing, “sit down.”
“What is Kyuhyun’s power?” Leeteuk murmured, sitting down beside Heechul.
“I’m not certain about the details yet, but it’s transferred through touch. It has something to do with information gathering.” Heechul drummed his fingers along the table and that was another odd thing, Leeteuk noticed. Heechul rarely fidgeted. “He touched the book I was reading and he seemed to have absorbed all of the information. And…” He paused, looking uncomfortable.
“And?”
“He grazed my arm.” Heechul continued. “…and he knew things.”
Leeteuk stared at him. “He…what?”
“My birth date. My blood type. He just started naming things off.” Heechul looked flustered, snapping his laptop shut. “Something is wrong, Jungsu.”
“Why?” Leeteuk asked, uncomfortable because Heechul looked so uncomfortable. It just didn’t fit.
“I think it was a mistake.” Heechul whispered. “I don’t think Kyuhyun was supposed to be in the gas chambers that night.”
Leeteuk blinked, letting Heechul’s words sink in. So that was it, the reason that Heechul was so shaken. If it was true that something was wrong, that the government had made a mistake, that they couldn’t accurately know everyone’s powers, then it would change everything.
But they couldn’t…they couldn’t have been wrong. The government knew everything about GAM. Everything. “I…are you sure?”
“It isn’t supposed to work that way.” Heechul hissed. “How could they have made a mistake?”
“Maybe it wasn’t a mistake.” Leeteuk shrugged. “Maybe they really thought it was a useless power.”
“How could that be a useless power?” Heechul snapped. “How?” He knew that he was worrying excessively. He was shaken up because in that short amount of time, through one touch, Kyuhyun had probably learned more about him than anyone else here knew since they’d met him. And what else had Kyuhyun learned about him? What else had he absorbed that he hadn't had a chance to say aloud?
Heechul didn’t like not knowing.
“We don’t know the limitations yet.” Leeteuk swallowed. He was pale, and he looked as distressed as Heechul felt. He was simply holding together a bit more. Heechul would give him credit for that, he was good at keeping cool when he knew he had to play the leader role.
“…what if it was a mistake, Jungsu?” Heechul ran a hand through his hair.
“…for now, we’ll just have to test his limitations.” Leeteuk swallowed. “Tomorrow I’ll start working with him.”
Heechul nodded stiffly. “Yesung, Sungmin and I have a mission tomorrow. We won’t be back until the evening, possibly the day after.”
“Information retrieval?”
“Something like that.”
Something like that meant that there was more to the mission. Things that Leeteuk wouldn’t approve of. “Training Facility” Group things. “Take Eunhyuk with you.”
“If I need a handicap I’ll take Ryeowook. At least he can shoot a gun.”
“Take him with you.” Leeteuk reiterated. “I thought you two got over your awkwardness, but he still thinks you hate him.”
“I don’t. He’s just useless.” Heechul drawled, ignoring Leeteuk’s glare.
“Take him.”
“Are you sending out your spy to make sure we all play nice outside of the house, mother?” Heechul sneered, and there was a warning tone to his voice. His earlier shock had been replaced by sharp anger, and Leeteuk knew he shouldn’t press further.
Leeteuk swallowed, but held his ground. He didn’t like to admit it, didn’t like to bring it up, but there was a divide between “the useful” and the “useless”. Leeteuk wanted them all just to be a happy family. They'd been through enough to consider themselves family, right? And the truth was…sometimes he was scared that Heechul and his group would betray them. He knew they wouldn’t, it was stupid to believe so but…
…the only reason they were there was because of Heechul. If Heechul told them to leave, told them to kill, they would do it. Leeteuk couldn’t stop them because whatever kind of hell they’d gone through at the center was the kind of thing that bonded you in a way normal people couldn’t comprehend.
And he still didn’t know why Heechul had brought the others here in the first place, why he’d saved them. Because Heechul still viewed some of them as useless. Heechul had retained the GAM Project mentality.
Leeteuk didn’t understand his decisions and because of that, Leeteuk was afraid to put his definite trust in him. He was ashamed of himself for it, of course. Heechul had saved him, he and the others had gotten all of them out of the gas chambers but sometimes Leeteuk wondered…why them? Why hadn’t he saved others? There had to be more behind it than just coincidence and luck. If he’d saved them, surely others would have been able to be saved as well.
“…just…please…?”
Heechul’s face was guarded before he let out a slow sigh. “…yah, you’re my only hyung you know, but don’t think seniority is going to sway me any longer.” He scrunched up his face in annoyance. “The only reason I’m going along with this is because if I don’t, then no one is going to listen when I tell them to respect their elders. I gotta lead by example.”
He headed for the door, not looking back.
It was moments like these that always caught Leeteuk off guard…because once again he was confused. Heechul always seemed to keep him guessing.
---
Kyuhyun woke up to the feeling of his head caving in on itself. His ears were ringing and his head throbbed. He could feel every pulsing heartbeat through his entire body, and with it came an aching pain. He groaned, too tired and out of it to cry, even though he felt like screaming. He clenched his eyes shut and rolled over, reaching up a hand to brush his bangs out of the way.
Leather touched skin.
Kyuhyun blinked, because that was odd. The last time he’d checked, his fingers didn’t feel like leather. His eyes weren’t as sensitive to the light as he’d expected, and he managed to keep them open long enough to see that he was wearing gloves.
Gloves…what…was going on? He stared down at them, even as his head continued to ache. Through the haze of sleep and pain he began to remember small snippets of what happened the night before. That’s right, he’d almost figured out what book Heechul was reading and then…had he fainted? Had Heechul knocked him out in anger? He couldn’t remember anything after that.
“They’re one size fits all. Don’t ruin them.”
Kyuhyun’s head snapped up from looking at his hands to the doorway. Heechul stood there, hair tied back in a messy ponytail, arms crossed over his chest as he stared coolly.
“…what-”
“Just keep them on.” Heechul snapped, before leaving the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Now Kyuhyun was even more confused than he’d been before. What was going on? What had he done to make Heechul angry…and why did he have to wear these gloves? He began to pull the first one off but paused.
Despite the fact that Heechul was a bitch he never did anything without a reason so…it would be stupid to disobey his order, right? There had to be some point to him wearing the gloves. He’d have to ask later-someone else, because he didn’t want to talk to Heechul right now, not when the older man looked like he wanted to stab him full of needles.
Dammit…and Heechul hyung had just started to like him, too! What the hell had happened the night before that made him hate him again?
Kyuhyun sighed, stumbling out of bed. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before-Sungmin’s old clothes, Kyuhyun was pretty certain that it had a unicorn on it somewhere, hidden under all the flowers-and it looked like he hadn’t washed his hair or face.
Great…because his face wasn’t already oily enough with the added help of facial cleansers.
When Kyuhyun walked out of the room, the apartment seemed eerily quiet. All of the rooms were empty. No one was in the kitchen eating and ordering Ryeowook to cook. No one was in the living room watching morning melodramas or variety shows.
Kyuhyun glanced at a clock on the wall. 1:15pm. He’d slept that long? And where had Heechul gone? He vaguely remembered hearing the front door slam shut while he’d been sitting in the bedroom. Even if Heechul had left, where was everyone else?
The front door opened and Ryeowook walked inside. “Oh, you’re awake!” He smiled brightly, that usual Ryeowook smile, but he stopped a few feet away from Kyuhyun and fidgeted nervously.
As if he were afraid to get too close.
“Everyone’s waiting in the meeting room.” Ryeowook continued, “Let’s go.”
---
Sweat poured down his face, sliding down his forehead to the tip of his nose before it fell, hitting the tiled floor with a soft “plunk”. He closed his eyes, taking in a few breaths before he sat up, pushing his hands off of his knees.
He grabbed the handle on the machine and continued his lower back workout.
“It’s rare to see you in here.”
Heechul didn’t turn to look at the person who’d just entered. His thick Chinese accent gave him away, and it was a voice that Heechul could have recognized immediately. He stared straight ahead, at the mirror on the other side of the room. “Despite what everyone seems to believe, I do take care of my body. Just because no one can see my muscles and I don’t flaunt a six pack doesn’t mean I’m not fit…and gyms smell like sweat, and not the good “just had hot, mad sex” kind of sweat.”
Hangeng snorted, before he straddled the other end of Heechul’s workout machine, their knees brushing. “They’re talking with Kyuhyun in the debriefing room.”
“Mm.” Heechul grunted, eyes trained on Hangeng’s jaw as he continued his exercise.
Hangeng took the time to look Heechul up and down. It really was rare to see him working out, mainly because Heechul did it at odd hours when he was stressed and because he usually didn’t work out on the gym machines, preferring to exercise in their bedroom.
He also teased that sex was enough of a cardio session for him to be fit as a fiddle.
Hangeng let his eyes roam appreciatively over the lean arm muscles covered in sweat and Heechul’s hair plastered to the side of his neck. Like he said earlier, Heechul’s muscles weren’t large but they were there.
And they were hot.
Hangeng swallowed, gaze transfixed on a drop of sweat that slid down Heechul’s cheek. He followed its path down his neck until it settled in the hollow of his collarbone. Hangeng reached out, grabbing Heechul’s arm. The other man stilled, just as Hangeng leaned forward and swiped his tongue along his clavicle, tasting the sweat.
Heechul stiffened, before letting out a soft exhalation that could have been a shudder. “…stop distracting me…”
Hangeng nipped at the skin and Heechul dropped the handle, gloved hands pressing against Hangeng’s side as the Chinese man pushed Heechul against the back of the machine, lifting his legs up to straddle him.
“….aren’t you going to go to the meeting?” Heechul asked, his voice low and rough.
Hangeng moaned softly against Heechul’s skin at the sound, continuing his attack on Heechul’s chest. He brought his hands up to his shirt, lifting the edge, fingers skimming the ridges of Heechul’s ribs. He closed his eyes, feeling the wave of fatigue wash over him, the familiar feeling of lethargy that he’d become accustomed to-addicted to, obsessed with.
Hangeng could feel Heechul’s nails through his gloves, digging into his hips, scratching upward. Hangeng shivered at the sensation.
He trailed his tongue up Heechul’s throat, nose brushing the underside of his jaw. As he nipped at Heechul’s Adam’s apple he heart the soft groan from between closed lips, felt it vibrating against his tongue.
The pounding in his ears didn’t stop, his blood pumping with adrenaline and something else-poison, death, the very essence that was Heechul that he could not resist. It clung to him and he reveled in the feeling of helplessness because Heechul’s death-like touch made him feel alive.
He nibbled at Heechul’s jaw, hearing another small, suppressed groan from the feminine man in his lap. His breath was hot on his cheek, and Hangeng’s tongue darted out along his chin.
Heechul stiffened, before shoving Hangeng away roughly. “Don’t.” He said tightly, “…don’t ever do that again.”
Just like that, the heated air became cold, cool, like Heechul’s icy glare. He was pale, and Hangeng saw that his hands were shaking. Hangeng reached for one, entwining his fingers with Heechul’s own leather covered digits. He felt Heechul stiffen and try and pull away, but he held on.
Hangeng looked at him seriously. “…I’m going to kiss you on the lips one day.”
“Over my dead body.” Heechul hissed. “You’ll die and don’t forget it. Don’t ever get that close again. Idiot.” He pulled his hand out of Hangeng’s grasp and climbed off of him, grabbing blindly for the towel under the workout machine before stomping off, not looking back once.
Hangeng watched his retreating form and let out a soft sigh, before he closed his eyes and leaned back on the machine, weaker and more tired than he cared to admit.
---
Kyuhyun didn’t know why, but when he walked into the debriefing room he felt like an unruly office worker that was being brought before the executive board for an evaluation. Everyone looked rather serious, although Leeteuk gave him a reassuring smile and nodded at the spot beside him for Kyuhyun to sit.
That was usually Heechul’s spot, right?
Kyuhyun glanced around the room and noticed that Heechul and Hangeng were the only ones missing.
He sat down slowly, gloved hands placed in his lap, and stared at the lacquer designs of the table in front of him. He didn’t know what he expected to see on the others’ faces but if Ryeowook’s sudden fear of him was any indication, they were probably just as confused/terrified/disgusted.
He really wished he knew what had happened.
“How are you feeling?” Leeteuk finally asked, still smiling.
“Like someone dropped a brick on my head.” Kyuhyun answered back flatly. “Did someone ruffie me last night?” It was meant as a joke, but from the looks everyone was giving him-confused or serious, depending on the person-he assumed that it wasn’t a laughing matter.
“Do you…remember anything?” Leeteuk continued slowly, as if speaking quieter and slower would make it all come back to him.
Kyuhyun frowned, “We were trying to get Heechul hyung’s book.” He looked over at Donghae and Eunhyuk for affirmation and they nodded slowly. “Um…I don’t remember after that. Did I make Heechul hyung angry? Is that why he isn’t here?”
The silence in the room became, if at all possible, even more tense and uncomfortable. Finally, Kibum cleared his throat, “Kyuhyun-ah, you really don’t remember anything?”
Kyuhyun shook his head, then winced as it began to ache at the movement. “Ack, no. And why am I wearing gloves?”
“Your power appeared.” Sungmin finally murmured. “And it’s activated by touch.”
Kyuhyun blinked, staring at everyone at the table. “…huh?”
“It activated. Your gift.” Leeteuk reiterated. “I don’t know the exact details because I wasn’t present. Perhaps someone else should explain?” he looked to Kangin who grunted before leaning forward in his own seat.
“You grabbed for Heechul hyung’s book and you managed to touch it. Then you went batshit crazy and started quoting page numbers. Heechul knocked you out.”
That…wasn’t really as helpful as Leeteuk would have liked, but he supposed he had asked Kangin of all people to clear things up…
Kyuhyun was still looking confused, and now a little annoyed. “What do you mean my gift appeared? Don’t you think I would know if that happened? And why don’t I remember any of this?”
“You’ve been asleep for…18 hours? So there must be a time limit, maybe?” Yesung said the last part aloud, but it was more to the other members than to Kyuhyun.
“That’s possible.” Leeteuk nodded, looking back at Kyuhyun. “You really…don’t remember anything that happened?”
“No!” Kyuhyun snapped back angrily. “Will you at least tell me what my power IS?”
“Well, we aren’t positive but…we’re pretty certain that you have the ability to absorb information through touch.”
---
Kyuhyun didn’t remember what else happened in the debriefing room that day, or really anything else after that. Leeteuk had told him to go and get some rest and eventually he’d collapsed on his bed and tried to sleep his headache off. He hadn’t seen Heechul the entire day.
He’d woken up the next morning to Ryeowook knocking on the door with a bright smile. “Good morning Kyuhyun!”
“Mmmphf.” Kyuhyun grabbed his blanket and pulled it back against himself, trying to get back to bed. His headache had disappeared completely by this point, but he still felt uncharacteristically tired.
“I know that when your power first appears it takes a lot of energy out of you but…you’ve been sleeping for a whole day!” Ryeowook announced, too cheerfully for Kyuhyun’s liking. It was a very “Sungmin-like” tone. “And Leeteuk hyung asked Hankyung hyung and I to begin testing your abilities.”
“Huh?” Kyuhyun blinked up at him groggily, slowly sitting up, still wrapped in his comforter.
“In order to use your powers to their fullest extent on missions, we need to know its limitations.”
Kyuhyun groaned, not wanting to get out of bed, but found himself dragged out of the bedroom by an oddly strong grip. They passed the kitchen, and the living room where Kibum, Kangin, Shindong, and Donghae were playing video games. Rather, Kangin, Shindong, and Donghae played video games while Kibum sat nearby and tried to concentrate on a book.
They looked up when Ryeowook and Kyuhyun entered. Kangin grinned and waved, “Have fun!”
“Where are the others?” Ryeowook looked around the empty apartment.
“Siwon and Leeteuk are at the shooting range. Hankyung is waiting in the debriefing room for you, and the others are out on their mission.” Donghae announced, eyes glued to the TV screen.
“Ah, thanks.” Ryeowook nodded, before pulling Kyuhyun to the door. “Come on.”
Kyuhyun didn’t want to. He wanted to go back to sleep, mull over the fact that Heechul hyung was avoiding him-it shouldn’t bother him and it didn’t, it really didn’t, why would HE care about that girly bastard?-and eat something besides the bag of popcorn that Shindong had given him last night before he’d gone to bed.
Hangeng was sitting at the table in the debriefing room, looking over a laptop. He looked up when they entered and gave a soft smile. “Good morning.”
Kyuhyun nodded back, while Ryeowook smiled and greeted Hangeng in turn.
“Leeteuk hyung wants us to test your limitations, but before we can begin that we need to see exactly what your powers can do.” Ryeowook grabbed a piece of paper from a stack sitting in the middle of the table and placed it face down in front of Kyuhyun. “There’s writing on the back of this. We’re going to see how well you can process the information. It isn’t a lot, because that book seemed to overload you last time. We’ll start you out small.”
Kyuhyun stared at the blank piece of paper before he reached for his glove and pulled it off. He swallowed, and then he placed a finger on the paper. Immediately he jerked back as information flooded his mind.
It wasn’t just the writing-a list of twentieth century Korean poets that seemed burned to the inside of his eyelids-but the compilation of the paper as well. 0.07 millimeters thickness, 8.5 X 11 inches, deinked pulp, silica pigment and PVOH coating.
He let out a hiss as pain began digging into the back of his head again, an annoying throb as he tried to push the information out. It was too much, too much!
“Calm down, Kyuhyun.” Ryeowook’s hand was on his shoulder, warm, stable, comforting. “Don’t try and fight it. Relax.”
Kyuhyun let out a few deep breaths. He didn’t know HOW he could relax. If he relaxed the information would go everywhere. It would seem into every pore of his being and then he’d go insane, he knew it.
“Just focus on the information. Try and categorize it.” Hangeng offered, his tone soft and calm. “Kibum suggested that you file it away. Can you do that?”
Kyuhyun didn’t answer. He tried to focus on the sheet of paper, on the information that ran repeatedly through his head.
“Write it down. What did the paper say, Kyuhyun-ah?” Ryeowook finally asked. “Write it down.”
Kyuhyun grabbed his glove, sliding it on before he reached for the pen with trembling hands. Right, if he wrong it down, maybe it would disappear. Maybe it would get out of his head. He began scribbling frantically.
Kyuhyun stared down at the paper in front of him, but in his mind, the names still remained. He let out a frustrated groan before he began writing again, He had to get it out!
“Kyuhyun-ah-” Ryeowook began worriedly, but Hangeng shook his head.
“There’s a time limit, remember? We need to see what it is before we can help him focus his power. Heechul hyung will do that later. Right now…we need to learn his limits.”
Ryeowook stared back at Kyuhyun, who was frantically scribbling the information over and over again, eyes welling up with tears because no matter how many times he wrote, the information wouldn’t leave.
It was at times like these…that Ryeowook was truly grateful for such a useless power as he had.
---
“How does the situation look?”
Yesung leaned against the roof, brushing his bangs out of his face. A harsh wind blew and he squinted, frowning. “It’s not bad.” Yesung paused, fiddling with his earpiece. “But I don’t think it’s safe for you to go alone.”
“I’m not alone.” Heechul announced cheerfully. “I’ve got Hyukkie here with me.” For some reason, that wasn’t very comforting. “And we’re just backup. It’ll be fine-a venti toffee nut latte please.”
Yesung leaned back against the air conditioning unit and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course Heechul had chosen the Starbucks across the street for his base of operations.
“I’m on the other side.” Sungmin’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Target sighted.”
“Careful.” Heechul warned. “He’s a telepath. At the facility his range was thirty feet for surface thoughts, ten feet for everything else. It never showed any signs of expanding before, but we don’t know about the change in training techniques and technology since we left.”
“Anything else you remember about him?”
“He was extremely paranoid, but I guess that’s understandable. He always had it going at least 10 feet. Since he’s in a public place it probably won’t expand farther than that.”
Yesung pulled out his scope and lazily leaned over the railing again. “…I see you Sungmin. I’ve spotted the target as well. We need to get him somewhere less noticeable. It’ll be hard to get a clean shot otherwise.”
He saw Sungmin nod to himself, smiling brightly at a female store employee who was staring at him in a daze. She giggled, hiding her face behind her hands. Yesung let out a slow breath. It wasn’t too cold, but the temperature was cooler than he would have liked. Mostly because he’d forgotten to bring a jacket and so was on the roof in his t-shirt and jeans.
“Are we certain he doesn’t have any accomplices at the moment?” Yesung questioned, watching as the telepath browsed the jewelry counter. “What is he doing in there anyway?”
“Probably buying something for his daughter.” Heechul grunted, and the tone was scathing in Yesung’s ear. “Her sixteenth birthday is today.”
“Sixteen? How old was he when he arrived at the center?” Yesung asked in surprise. He hadn’t remembered seeing the man when he’d gotten there, which hadn’t been more than a month after Donghae’s arrival.
“He’s an undercover agent. He went back to his family after his gift awakened. They didn’t know he’d contracted GAM.” Heechul murmured softly, and the resentment there didn’t go unnoticed by Yesung. If the frown on Sungmin’s face was any indication he’d heard it as well.
“Anyway, he’s not here on government business, so it’s doubtful he has a partner. Still, Hyuk and I will keep on the lookout.” Heechul responded.
“I’m closing in.” Sungmin replied curtly.
Yesung nodded to himself, getting into position.
---
Sungmin didn’t remember when they’d first began doing this: taking out known GAM users. Leeteuk didn’t agree with it, and he suspected that the others wouldn’t completely approve if they told them about it. Well, some of them would. They would see the need for it.
Sungmin didn’t know how Eunhyuk would feel, but he figured that Heechul wasn’t going to tell him anyway. Sungmin remembered Heechul’s comment the night before when it was just Yesung, Heechul, and himself. “Che, Jungsu can be a sneaky bastard when he puts his mind to it, I’ll give him that much. I wouldn’t put him past it to send Eunhyuk so that he can see something. If Eunhyuk tells the others, they’ll disapprove and Jungsu will try and use that to get us to stop.”
Siwon still had problems accepting it sometimes. It was why he didn’t come unless they absolutely needed him. Donghae would do anything that Heechul asked him to, and despite his cheerful, innocent persona, he was perfectly capable of killing someone without batting an eyelash.
They all were, even Siwon.
It had been bred into them for years.
But Heechul wasn’t heartless, despite what a lot of people seemed to believe. So he’d taken on that burden so that Siwon didn’t have to. He never brought Siwon unless it was absolutely necessary.
Sungmin didn’t understand why Jungsu was adverse to it. People like this man had killed hundreds. They were part of an army that was being used for political corruption and one day, he knew that they would be used for a full-scale war as well.
It was a well known fact that one of the GAM project’s main reasons for existence was to create an army to reunite Korea as a whole. He knew Siwon’s argument “Hyung, some of them have families. They have wives and children. And some of them…they have to hate it too. What if they want to escape too but can’t?”
If they wanted to escape they should have had the balls to do so.
Sungmin bit the inside of his cheek in frustration and looked over the earring display. Maybe buying something would make him feel better…
Out of the corner of his eye he continued to watch his target browsing the shelves. He’d kept a reasonable distance from him, further than ten feet to be safe for the time being. He didn’t know how the man could have survived married life with that kind of power. It must have been difficult to live with someone being able to read all of their innermost thoughts. There were just some things you weren’t ever supposed to hear.
“Do you see him clearly?” Sungmin asked, seeing that the man was heading toward the back of the store.
“Yeah.” Yesung’s voice rumbled through his headphones. “Locked on.”
Sungmin nodded, “I’m going in.” He started forward, pretending to browse a few shelves of bracelets. As soon as he reached the ten foot distance he muffled the sound of the area. The back of the store was rather deserted, so Sungmin rushed forward the last few steps, just as the man turned around in shock, finally registering his thoughts.
“You-” The man cried out, but that was all he got out as his eyes bulged and rolled back. One of the windows in the back of the store shattered, the glass crashing to the ground, but Sungmin had silenced the sound of the shot completely long before that, so no one turned in the relative silence.
Sungmin grabbed the man as he fell, hand immediately going up to the wound to staunch the bleeding and cover the gaping hole. He pressed the man’s face against his chest, ignoring the startled looks of other customers that had turned to see the man collapse into Sungmin’s arms.
“My friend gets dizzy spells. Don’t worry. He’s fine.” Sungmin smiled brightly, dragging him toward the restroom. “He just needs some water.”
The other customers looked worried, hesitant, but not enough to get involved. They went back to their browsing. Sungmin was certain that they’d forget about the entire incident by the end of the day. The cashier was too busy checking someone out to spare them more than a passing glance.
Sungmin threw the man’s body into an empty stall. He glanced around the restroom to make sure it was empty before he frowned. He pulled off his jacket-he’d kept it open for this reason, so that blood wouldn’t get on it but the shirt underneath. He looked at his gloves, already covered in blood, before he crouched over the man’s body and turned his head over to reveal the wound.
His expression didn’t change as he reached down and dug into the side of his skull, searching for the “bullet” that Yesung had shot.
Even though Sungmin would be amused by the baffled police report explaining that the man had been shot with a blue lego brick, it would also draw unwanted attention. Yesung was known as a defector of the government and his power was registered so all “gifted” would know it.
He’d also been the only that Sungmin knew with that kind of power, so unless someone had appeared later on after they'd left, it was pretty rare.
And they couldn’t afford to be caught.
---
“He…he can’t read our minds, can he?” Eunhyuk asked hesitantly, nudging his Tazoberry Frappuccino around on the table. It had begun to melt, and the condensation on the outside of the cup had soaked through the napkin it was sitting on.
Heechul rolled his eyes. “Idiot. Didn’t you hear me talking about his range? Sometimes I wonder why I keep you around.” There was a fondness in his tone and a twitch of his lips that made the insult more of an endearment.
Eunhyuk caught it and grinned back. “Because you love me, hyung!”
“I must.” Heechul sighed dramatically. “That’s the only explanation I can think of.” The song on the coffee shop’s intercom system changed from a soft ballad to something with a strong dance beat, and the words were Chinese. Heechul nearly laughed when he realized it was My Logo. He’d have to tell Hangeng about that later.
Eunhyuk looked around the shop before he leaned forward. “…hyung…is there a reason you don’t like Kyuhyun?”
“Who said I didn’t like him?” Heechul sipped his coffee, typing away on one hand on his laptop. He redirected the security footage of the jewelry store and looked back up at Eunhyuk for an explanation.
“You’re even meaner to him than you were to me at first.”
“What can I say? I have a weakness for gums. That dorkish, anorexic monkey look gets me every time.” Heechul answered back, avoiding Eunhyuk’s question completely. Eunhyuk noticed this, but he figured that because Heechul had so blatantly ignored him it was a warning not to ask again.
Eunhyuk had a very high survival instinct, so he went back to his drink. “Why don’t you want Teukie hyung to know about these missions?” Even though Heechul hadn’t wanted to tell him, he’d been forced to give Eunhyuk the basic rundown of what they were planning. Eunhyuk knew they were killing a GAM user.
He’d been surprisingly accepting of the fact. He said that it wasn’t any different than when they killed while on missions. Heechul had been thankful for it, because he didn’t feel like having another person look at him like he was some kind of monster.
“Because he’ll nag and lecture.” Heechul muttered, gaze going back to his computer screen. “He doesn’t agree with these kinds of things.” Heechul remembered the first time that he and Sungmin had gone into the home of an undercover Gifted and killed him in his sleep.
Leeteuk had been pissed, mostly because they’d left the man in his bed and his wife had woken up in the morning to find a corpse lying next to her and her daughter screaming. Leeteuk said it was different than killing someone on a mission. That it was cold blood and that the people didn’t even know what was going on.
Heechul didn’t care. They were murderers anyway. Whether he killed them now or later when they were in an actual fight didn’t matter. They’d be dead either way, and the less he had to fight later the better.
If Leeteuk wasn’t going to be ruthless, he wouldn’t survive and they’d all end up dead. If Heechul had to take on that level of inhumanity to keep them all breathing then he would. It wasn’t that difficult to forget he was human sometimes.
“Target has been eliminated.” Yesung’s voice echoed in Eunhyuk’s eardrums. “We’re heading to the car. See you in five.”
Eunhyuk saw Heechul nod, closing his laptop and slipping it into the bag he’d brought with him. He gave Eunhyuk a wry smile, “Hey Hyuk, how about we pick up a magazine before we head home?”
Eunhyuk grinned brightly, “Really? I’ve been needing some new clothes…and a new bedsheet.”
“If you didn’t read porn and jack off on it all the time you wouldn’t need to wash it so often and it wouldn’t be so thin.” Heechul taunted. “We’ll get two then. Mmm, what clothing magazine, do you think?”
They’d left the Starbucks by this point, heading down the street. Heechul paused in front of a magazine stand. “Pick one.”
Eunhyuk nodded vigorously, before skimming the titles. Heechul had already grabbed a Home Design magazine and was flipping through pages. He put it down and grabbed a second. He held it out to the vendor, “This one.” He looked back to Eunhyuk. “Hurry up and grab one.”
Eunhyuk picked up the one he’d been eyeing and handed it over. “Here.”
Heechul grabbed it and handed it to the vendor. “Is there a medical magazine in here, do you think? Kibum said he was looking for some things…” He paused, stiffening, and Eunhyuk saw his eyes flash in the way that told him something was wrong, even as he smiled at the vendor and waited for him to ring up the two magazines.
Heechul handed the man the cash and then shoved the paper bag they’d been placed in into Eunhyuk’s hands. “Hold this.” He began walking in the opposite direction as the car where Yesung and Sungmin were waiting.
Eunhyuk followed behind in confusion, nearly paling as he saw Heechul tug on the edge of his glove. “Hyung?”
“Don’t say anything. We’re being followed.” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth. “He’s been watching us since we left the coffee shop. I wasn’t certain if he was really following or not. We can’t lead him to the others. I don’t recognize him so I don’t know his power.” He sighed softly, “…I would tell you to run and get help but he’ll probably go for you first.”
Eunhyuk swallowed.
“Just stay out of the way and let me deal with him, alright?” Heechul turned the corner with Eunhyuk at his heels. Eunhyuk blinked, because the further they got onto the side street he realized that it was a dead end. Heechul pushed him into a corner, between two dumpsters. “Stay there.” He ordered, before turning back to the mouth of the alley where a man now stood.
Eunhyuk peered around the side of the dumpster at him, reaching up to activate his headset. “Yesung hyung, trouble!” He whispered fearfully, “There was someone else here. Heechul hyung is-” Heechul slammed into the dumpster beside him, leaving a dent in the metal.
He rolled away and stumbled to his feet, but as he did so, his un-gloved fingers skimmed the dumpster. Eunhyuk watched as the place that Heechul had touched began to rust, a hole appearing at the point of contact before the entire thing began to disintegrate.
Eunhyuk leapt back from it, pressing himself against the wall at the same moment that Heechul lunged forward, launching himself off of another dumpster toward their attacker. Yesung’s voice crackled to life on his headset, “Eunhyuk! Where are you?”
“Alley! We’re in an alley a few blocks from the Starbucks!” He managed to gasp out.
“Hyukjae! MOVE!” Heechul yelled, and Eunhyuk bolted as the second dumpster was slammed against the wall. He tripped, and he didn’t right himself in time to dodge the smaller trashcan that crashed into him full force. He flipped with a yelp.
Pain exploded in his leg and he cried out loudly. He managed to glance down through the pain to see that he’d landed on his leg and it was sticking out at an odd angle. Or rather, the bone was sticking out from his skin through a tear in his pants leg. He took in a few shaky breaths and tried to focus through the pain and shock of seeing his bone jutting out of his own flesh. He had the oddest urge to push it back in.
He heard a shout and looked up to see that Heechul had caught up to their attacker…and placed his hand over the man’s face.
Eunhyuk had never actually seen Heechul’s power on a person before.
The screaming was terrible. At first, all he saw was skin decaying under Heechul’s fingertips. The man was seizing, body jerking-but he couldn’t move away, couldn’t function properly through the pain-and as his lips turned to ash Eunhyuk glimpsed white teeth and muscle before they too began to turn to dust.
His cries became a gurgle before it faded into silence as his vocal chords disintegrated. Heechul dropped him and took a step back.
He turned back to look at Eunhyuk, at those eyes wide in disgust and shock. He tugged his gloves out of his coat pocket and slipped them on casually, before he crouched down next to the other boy. “It looks like your leg is broken. Aish. Idiot. I tell you to get out of the way and you jump in front of a moving trashcan.”
Eunhyuk swallowed, not trusting his voice. He looked back to the body that was now a pile of ash in the alley entranceway. “…hyung…” he croaked out, before wincing as he tried to move his leg. He let out a whimper.
“There you guys are-what happened?” Sungmin and Yesung had found them.
Heechul stood, stepping back. “Hyukjae broke his leg. We’ll have to carry him to the car.”
Sungmin nodded curtly, grabbing under Eunhyuk’s legs, trying not to jostle his broken one, as he pulled him up and held him bridal style against his chest. He gave a small grunt at the effort, “Alright, let’s go.”
---
They’d sent Kyuhyun to bed that night with the knowledge that his time limit was twelve hours and guilty consciences. Hangeng had gone to bed as well, leaving the others to wait for the mission group’s return.
“He’ll have to wear those gloves forever, just like Heechul hyung, right?” Donghae finally asked into the uneasy silence.
Kibum flipped another page in his book. “I’m sure that Heechul hyung will help him to control it, if it can be controlled.”
“What if it can’t? What if he never learns how to process the information that he receives?” Ryeowook asked worriedly. “Twelve hours is a long time to have something like that on constant repeat.”
“Then I guess he’ll go crazy.” Kangin announced blandly.
“Youngwoon!” Leeteuk snapped back, and Kangin looked guilty for a total of two seconds before he went back to the kimchee and rice he’d been eating. Leeteuk looked at the others, “He’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure he’ll learn to control it. Heechul hyung is here. If not, we’ll just have to keep him in the house and make sure he wears his gloves all the time.” Shindong announced, “Just think, Kangin, you’ll have someone as useless as you here to keep you company.”
“YA!” Kangin lunged, but tripped over Kibum’s conveniently placed leg and landed in Siwon’s lap. “Hyung!”
The argument would have continued if the door hadn’t opened to reveal Heechul and the others. Heechul walked in, yawning, “I’m hungry. What are we having for dinner?”
Following him, Sungmin helped Eunhyuk hobble into the room on one foot, while Yesung closed the door behind them.
“What happened?” Donghae had leapt up from the couch, and Kibum was only a second behind him. “Hyukkie, what's wrong?”
“He broke his leg.” Yesung answered, “He and Heechul hyung were attacked by a second assailant after our mission.”
Eunhyuk winced, and looked apologetically at everyone as he grinned. “Sorry…”
“…you broke your leg? Dammit, we need you for our next big mission!” Kangin growled. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I told you.” Heechul turned to Leeteuk coldly, suddenly no longer teasing. “…that he shouldn’t have come.”
There was a long moment of tense, strained silence as Leeteuk and Heechul locked eyes and stared at each other. It was broken only by Kibum, who had walked up behind Donghae and now stood in front of Eunhyuk. “Let me.” he whispered.
“No.” Eunhyuk snapped through gritted teeth. “Don’t touch me.”
“You’re needed. I’m not.” Kibum answered back tersely, and grabbed Eunhyuk before he could stop him.
Kibum’s face twisted in pain and he fell. Kangin and Ryeowook managed to grab him before he hit the ground. Eunhyuk stood straight, stretching out his leg and glaring at Kibum, “Don’t ever do that again!” Then he stomped off to their shared bedroom.
Donghae looked torn between going to placate Eunhyuk and comforting Kibum in his newly acquired pain. He finally knelt next to the couch where Kangin had placed Kibum. “Hyukkie will get over it. Don’t worry.”
“I know.” Kibum whispered, leaning against a couch cushion.
Yesung appeared with a glass of water and some pain killers. “Here. We’ll set your leg after the meds take effect.”
Kibum nodded, tilting his head back and downing the pills and the water in a matter of seconds.
Heechul sighed from where he’d watched the entire scene, Leeteuk beside him. “…do you get it now? This is the reason that he shouldn’t have come.”
“Because he got injured? You’re favoring your left arm. You’re injured too, aren’t you?”
“Just a bump.” Heechul answered back, watching as the others scurried around, grabbing pillows to prop Kibum up and keep him comfortable, Ryeowook fretting, Donghae pale, and Siwon asking if Kibum wanted the TV on or his favorite book.
“I know you think that we can’t handle it, because we’re different.” Leeteuk whispered. “But if you let us help you, I think you’d realize we’re quite dependable.”
“I never said you weren’t.” Heechul didn’t turn to look at him. “Where’s the kid?”
“Sleeping.” Leeteuk replied tiredly. He knew that pestering Heechul more on the other subject was just going to end in a fight and everyone was already on edge. “His time limit is twelve hours. Right now his power is uncontrollable but it’s only been one day so that’s understandable.”
Heechul nodded. “…I’ll look into it.”
“Thank you.”
Heechul grunted, before running a hand through his hair. “I’m going to take a shower. Make sure Kibum is alright.”
---
Kibum woke up at midnight with pain jarring his leg and a warm, purring kitten on his chest. At first he didn’t register the kitten, because even though he was on medication his leg still ached. It was propped up on the arm of the couch, already in a cast. He vaguely remembered Ryeowook setting it for him.
The kitten shifted, the soft vibration of its purr vibrating against his throat, cool nose pressed against his jaw. He smiled softly to himself and reached out a hand to pet him. “Donghae hyung, sleeping like that can’t be good for you.”
“He was worried about you.” Came the gruff reply from behind him.
Kibum blinked, feeling arms tighten around his waist and the soft, rise and fall of a chest at his back. “…hey.” He whispered.
“Don’t “hey” me.” Eunhyuk replied angrily. “Don’t ever do that again. I mean it. That scared the shit out of me. You know that if I was hurt worse or something…don’t, ok? Just don’t.”
“Stop worrying about it.” Kibum replied softly. “What’s done is done. You’re needed for the mission next week. You can’t go in a cast.”
“Still…” Eunhyuk knew that he couldn’t argue with Kibum, but that only frustrated him more. “Donghae came into our bedroom crying after you fell asleep. The idiot is worried that he’d going to get leukemia or something and then you’ll touch him and die.”
Kibum laughed softly, the sound swallowed up by the darkness. “…idiot.” He scratched the sleeping kitten behind the ears. They drifted into a comfortable silence, and Kibum concentrated on Eunhyuk’s heartbeat. He could feel it, slow and steady against his back and he wondered if this was because the pain medication he was on was making him hypersensitive to things like that.
Eunhyuk’s breathing was becoming shallower and steadier and Kibum knew he was drifting off to sleep. He figured that if Eunhyuk fell asleep on the couch in this position than he would wake up feeling cramped and achy and complain about the next day. At least one of them deserved a decent night's sleep.
“…are you sure your power isn’t being the world’s most uncomfortable pillow?”
“Are you sure your power isn’t completely ruining the mood?”
Kibum laughed softly, “…sorry hyung.”
“Don’t do it again.” Eunhyuk’s grip tightened around his waist.
“Ok, ok.” Kibum agreed sleepily. “I won’t insult your bony, uncomfortable physique anymore.”
“That isn’t what I meant,” Eunhyuk sputtered, but Kibum was already asleep, snoring softly. Eunhyuk sighed, resting his chin on Kibum’s head. He looked down at kitten Donghae who was looking up at him in the darkness, eyes a bright yellow.
“Next time you have to keep me from letting him do something that stupid.”
Donghae gave a small meow in agreement, before closing his eyes and going back to sleep. It didn’t take long for Eunhyuk to follow suit.