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Jan 25, 2008 11:06

Title: Apologia Pro Vita Sua (Chapter 18)
Authors: Scorpions angelinaii, murasaki_plum, nemesis_cry
Characters/Pairings: All (kangteuk, shichul, kihae; potential kyuwook, eunkihae, shihanchul, yeshdong, yewook, minry)
Rating: PG-13 to R
Genre: AU, organized crime, postcyberpunk
Summary: In a world where money and crime go hand and hand, survival is not determined by the fittest, but the ones who will fight to live.
Warnings: violence, swearing, sexual situations

Introduction and Chapter 1 | Chapters 2 & 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17




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"Quit shaking your leg under the table, that's annoying." Donghae grumbled as he pressed redial on his cellphone, the rapid tap of Eunhyuk's knee rattling the table enough to threaten overturning their drinks.

Eunhyuk looked up from the magazine he was leafing through. "Sorry." The shaking stopped.

"You did that," Donghae pointed out and broke into a wide smile, briefly forgetting he was in a foul mood. "Did he fix it? Try standing."

It seemed the situation had been resolved, Eunhyuk stood from his chair without even having to put much thought into it. The gesture so easy, it felt like he had not been hacked in the first place. He reached over and snatched the cell from Donghae's grasp, too happy to be moving on his own again to pay heed to Donghae's whining. "I want to thank Kyuhyun, he got me online."

"But Kibum..." Donghae was too old to pout, but he still managed to do so on a regular basis.

"Can live without one more message on his voice mail, don't worry so much, it's Kibum. I have more reason to worry about you, and you're here with me."

"Shut up."

"Seriously, what are you even worried about?" Eunhyuk sighed, juggling the cell from one hand to the other. "Don't you trust Eeteuk to tell us if something were wrong? Come on, you're acting like a jealous girlfriend."

Donghae flipped him off half-heartedly. "I just want to hear from him, is all."

"Yeah, right... Stalker."

"It's not like that!" Donghae scrunched up his face like a petulant child before he suddenly launched at Eunhyuk, trying to get the phone while he had the element of surprise. Unfortunately for him, with Eunhyuk's legs back online the other moved far from his grasp in less than a second. "Damn it."

"Good to be back." Eunhyuk smiled and dialed Kyuhyun's number. Instead of the usual artificial voice greeting him, all Eunhyuk got was white noise and then nothing at all. "Looks like he's not taking calls either. Maybe they're off doing secret things together."

"That. That's. Oh, that is so not funny."

Eunhyuk grinned, undaunted, and dodged again. "Lighten up. They're fine--"

"No, we're not," a voice interrupted from the doorway, the banging of the door as it hit the wall nearly drowning out the 'not'. Kibum leaned against the doorframe with the look of a man possessed. His typically immaculate suit rumpled and his tie askew. "We're really not fine."

"Where the hell have you been? You can't pick up your phone, can't stop by, what the fuck-" Donghae's tirade was cut short when Kibum held up one finger and shook his head. He read the expression clearly, now was not the time to be angry at him.

"We're being set up." Kibum grasped the tie and after giving up trying to fix it, yanked it off. "It's a set up. From the start."

"What's a set up, what are you talking about?" Eunhyuk asked as he helped usher Kibum into the room and to a chair.

"The hacking, the murders, it's all connected. Yesung couldn't find anything, Kyuhyun was stuck, so I did what I can do." Kibum gave a short curt laugh. "They were tracking computers and phones, but they left a wide paper trail. All I had to do was follow the money to the source."

"Still lost. It's about money?"

"H&E money. Who they've been paying and for what reasons." Kibum explained as he tugged off his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves. "They've been pouring a lot of cash into the Bottoms recently. I found files about projects that have gone back at least a decade, if what I found is right, H&E has someone with a brain like Kyuhyun's...for now anyway."

Donghae looked from him to Eunhyuk and shrugged as if to say 'I don't get it'. But comprehending or not, it didn't stop him from kneeling at Kibum's feet and making an effort.

"Eunhyuk's walking again," he mentioned with a frown. "And Sungmin called to say they caught the murderer guy. It's all fixed..."

Kibum stilled under his hands, thigh muscles clenching. "When?"

"What?"

"When did they catch him?" he repeated, harsh tones belying his fatigue.

"In the past hour," Donghae answered. "Sungmin said it was the guy. He had all of the proof with him."

"Didn't I just say it was a set up?" Kibum sighed heavily and squared his jaw. "That's what they want us to think. While they were busy with that murderer, another murder happened in Judoh twenty minutes ago. At my bank. I think I got too close and they took out the wrong guy."

"We did?" Eunhyuk asked.

"They did." Donghae corrected him.

"Both sides did. Where's Eeteuk now?"

Eunhyuk blanched. "He went home for the night... but I don't... H&E tried to kill you?" Questions rushed and stuck in his throat. Where was Henry? Where was Donghae? He knew the answer to the latter: he'd been claiming the other man's attention for hours, as if he needed a babysitter. He should've told him to go look for Kibum instead of offering empty reassurance, instead of--

A hand on his wrist stilled the flood accusations so obviously written on his face, Kibum shaking his head. "Someone tried to kill me. Could've been H&E, could've been someone else. There's bigger fish to fry than the mob right now." Again, his eyes slid to Donghae's, gazes locking. "Listen, the transactions stop after the third. That's after the second murder happened in the Bottoms. Two advance payments were made, one payoff. Then it stops. There was no delivery for the second murder, nor for the third, in Judoh."

"So you're saying, H&E started it, but whoever they got is working on his own?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. I hope I'm wrong, but it's not over."

Eunhyuk leaned his back against the wall, not quite grasping the magnitude of what he'd heard but understanding enough to know all the exhilaration he felt was cold comfort now. A thought came to mind, initially dismissed and then reconsidered, growing in importance with every second he spent not uttering it out loud.

"Do you think... do you think this has anything to do with Kyuhyun not answering his phone?"

Kibum nodded once, the new information not surprising him. "For now, we should stay off phones. Talk in person. Only use phones if it is something you don't mind them knowing. We need to find Kyuhyun, until this is settled, he's in danger."

"I'll go!" Eunhyuk stuttered out in a rush. "I can get to him quickest. You need to tell Eeteuk what you know."

Donghae pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. He didn't want to believe the things he heard, afraid to, but unable to dismiss them out of hand. Kibum knew better.

"I'll drive."

***

Eeteuk sat on the lid of the toilet, his brow furrowed as he listened to the water running from the shower beside him. Ever since they returned from dealing with the faceless man, things felt even more off than before. Though the man gave little to go by in his confession, the materials in his possession spoke for him. It also led credence that the killer had a BCI like Kyuhyun suspected he would. Yet, it all felt too clean, even Yesung was dissatisfied.

"We should follow up with his confession." he said to the shower curtain. "I don't think this one told us everything."

Silence followed, brief under the hiss of hot water. "You're probably right," Kangin agreed after a pause. "You know what bugs me the most?" The shower curtain was pulled halfway aside. "The guy had a face. Surveillance cameras didn't show that. Not even the one from the Judoh murder."

"Full BCIs can manipulate digital images," Eeteuk reminded, biting his bottom lip in thought. "What bothers me was the man was inexperienced. He's involved in some way, but not alone."

"He has to be part of some bigger racket," Kangin nodded, directing the spray so it didn't beat into his face as he spoke. "You don't preserve organs for the fun of it. He'd have to get paid. Maybe he's doing legwork for one of the clinics and just got knife-happy on healthy folks?"

"We still don't know why he hacked others, from my knowledge none of the victims were modified." Eeteuk stood from his seat.

A sigh, the shower switching off as the other men stepped out and reached for a towel. "Let it go. He's dead and he can't hurt anyone anymore. Hackings aren't our territory anyway. Kyuhyun deals with that." He laid a heavy palm on Eeteuk's shoulder, passing him by.

Eeteuk followed Kangin out of the bathroom, reaching for his cellphone on the dresser. "I'm going to check on our runner." he announced as he sat on the edge of their bed. But no sooner were the words out that the sound of breaks screeching outside their window carried into the room.

Unencumbered by his nudity, Kangin reached for his gun, plastering his back to the wall as he shot a look outside.

"Looks like Donghae... and our favorite banker."

"You should put some clothes on," Eeteuk advised, taking his place. "No need to shock the children."

Eeteuk's cellphone sounded, its lively ringtone interrupting Kangin's reply.

"Is Mr. Park available?"

Eeteuk was used to getting 'courtesy calls' from Judoh's police office, but Yesung's detached tone stopped him cold. "What's wrong?"

"Something has come up, I was wondering if we could meet tonight instead. New developments in the case point to certain transactions we can't seem to account for." A deep breath, voices in the background. "It's urgent."

"Want me to come to the morgue?"

Kangin's head shot up, his pants on but still lacking a shirt.

"As soon as it's convenient for you... of course, I encourage you to bring your lawyers, if you think that's necessary." The call ended abruptly, leaving Eeteuk to stare at his phone, instantly trying to decipher what he'd been told.

"What the fuck is going on ?" Kangin asked as he went to answer the pounding at the front door, grabbing a shirt as he moved.

Kibum spilled in, a tangle of words and looking a milion times worse than Kangin had ever seen him look. "We've got a problem."

Eeteuk frowned, glancing up sharply. A picture began forming before his eyes, puzzle pieces completing it bit by bit. Transactions, accounts... "Yes, we do," he nodded. "Yesung called me from the bank, where have you been?" There was no secret Kibum had been hard to reach lately, they'd simply had no time to worry about him.

"Yesung's at the bank." Kibum repeated instead, looking more agitated as he paced in the foyer. "Like chess pieces. Everything..."

"It was a set-up." Donghae said, splitting his attention on getting the message across and Kibum. "Kyuhyun's in trouble but I don't know what."

Kangin put out an arm to still Kibum's progress, eyes darting to Eeteuk instead. "What do you want to do?" he asked.

"If Kyuhyun's been hacked, you need to take him offline," the older man reasoned. "I need to see Yesung and see what he has to say."

"It's another murder," Kibum interrupted, face hot. "That's what I was going to tell you--the guy you caught wasn't the real killer!"

Kangin sighed. "And there's your accomplices."

"Kibum, Donghae, take care of Kyuhyun. Call the others if you need it." Eeteuk said, pulling on his jacket. "Yesung wants you to come with me, Kangin."

There was no argument, but on the tip of Kangin's tongue hung a question: why in hell's name would Yesung force them into Judoh in the middle of the night just to deliver news about another murder?

***

Yesung lit his second cigarette as he waited by the entrance of the morgue. He volunteered to stay with the remains, not because he didn't want to process the crime scene with the others. In fact, that was usually the first thing he stuck around for, to catch evidence before it conveniently disappeared in the archives. This, however, took precedent.

And for good reason. The markings, yes, but more importantly the tattoo. He could be wrong, it wouldn't be the first time, but Eeteuk had the final word. It was a responsibility he was happy to pass on.

Headlights shone brightly up ahead for a long moment before the driver shut them off. There was announcing their presence and then there was attracting undue attention. While the morgue was neutral territory, the streets were not.

"We're here." Eeteuk walked over to him, Kangin followed close behind. "Is it about the banker? It's not Kibum."

"I'm aware of that, the vic was a different build. There were other remains left at the scene." Yesung flicked his cigarette out into the street and grabbed Eeteuk's hand once they were underneath a street lamp. He took a close look at the man's ring finger and the intricate crown that was inked there in place of jewelry.

Damn it. Damn it to hell.

Before Kangin could join them, he dropped Eeteuk's hand, took to walking ahead where they couldn't see his eyes. "Someone is bound to figure out whose they are... I have a lead, but I'm hoping you can help me with that."

"Yesung, what lead?" Everything from Yesung's manner to the grey tinge in his skin made Eeteuk hang back until Kangin was at his heels. "What are you not telling me?"

"There were..." He began, stopped and tried again, still lingering outside the morgue, wasting time. "There were hands at the scene. Didn't belong to the body we found." He looked away, fists clenched, staring out into the night. "They were sawed off...there's a crown tattooed around the right wrist."

"That's not possible." A crown tattoo was an insignificant detail to anyone who didn't belong to the streets. They marked your history, told those who could see them where you stood in the organization. How dangerous you were. In the triad, only three kings where crowned. Two were staring at Yesung.

"Can't be." Kangin shook his head and pushed his way inside the morgue.

subject: super junior, pairing: various

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