(no subject)
Title: Apologia Pro Vita Sua (Chapter 26)
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 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24| Chapter 25
Banner by angelinaii
PV by murasaki_plum
Kangin checked his gun again, the seventh time in a row since they'd set off. Already, they were alone on the road, just the three of them in the car, rolling down into the lion's den. The others had fallen behind, just as they were supposed to, disappearing into side streets on foot or in stolen cars that wouldn't draw attention in Judoh. Wolf's skin for the sheep going to the slaughterhouse, he thought. He wasn't usually so morbid, but then again, he wasn't usually aware of how close he was to losing his family. Eeteuk's hand covered his own, stilling it before he could dissemble his gun one more time.
"You're turning into Heechul," he chided, gaze turned outward, into the night. Unreadable.
"I can see why he does it." Kangin turned his hand to press his palm against the other's, as well as to brush the hand aside to do one last inspection of the gun's chamber. It wouldn't do to have a misfire. Sungmin squared his shoulders as he made an abrupt turn at the street corner, the car en route to its destination.
Dark eyes briefly met in the reflection of the rear-view mirror, and a harsh chuckle came from the driver's seat. "I don't want a crown. I-it's not necessary."
Eeteuk's fingers tightened into a fist on the leather seat, shifting just as quickly as he leaned forward. "I know," he whispered, but Kangin heard it anyway. "I know. I remember." His hand closed around a slight shoulder, squeezing tightly. Tension lined his back, tight as a coil. "We'll... we'll dump the car here," he added, nodding to an alley between two rows of mansions. "We're close enough."
"Only stars fall tonight." Sungmin whispered as he pulled the car into the alleyway and turned off the lights. It took Kangin a moment to realize he was referring to Heaven and Earth's sigil. When Sungmin turned his head to glance out the window and Kangin could see the earpiece in his ear, he realized that the odd phrase wasn't meant for their ears. "Pawns in?"
Smiling, the blonde turned off the engine and turned to glance at the passengers in the backseat. "Henry says everything is in place. And have fun."
Neither pretended to understand the relationship between the two boys, ignoring the implications and taking Sungmin's statement at face value instead. Kangin holstered his gun. "We need to come up with better code names," he sighed, checking perimeter despite the assurance that it was already clear. Eeteuk spared him a nod, recognizing the quick glance for what it was.
"Henry didn't happen to give an estimate of how many stars there are in the sky tonight, did he?"
"Enough to fill the sky, so anywhere between 50, 250 max." Sungmin pulled out a case from beneath the passenger's seat and began to extract preloaded magazines, stuffing them into his vest before handing it over to Kangin.
The location paralleled the one they'd been given, the one Yesung certified the police were hinting toward--before he conveniently lost those files and slowed their progress--so Eeteuk figured this wouldn't be a trap, as such. The difficulty lay in anticipating where else they could hit and how.
"We're not staging a coup, guys," he sighed, aware that no matter how armed they were, bullets alone wouldn't be enough.
"Not taking any chances this go 'round." Kangin said, putting as much along his utility vest before passing the case over to Eeteuk. "You too, don't think you're walking out with one piece."
Sungmin smirked, locking the car and passing the safety in case someone got any ideas about rigging their ride. He took first position, hands tucked in his pockets with deceptive ease, not that there was anyone to impress. Aoki's murders had cleared the streets and what word of mouth hadn't managed to do, the H&E had taken care of. It was the same as in the Bottoms, just on a different scale, on a different level.
Eeteuk swallowed his protests, loathe to waste any more time arguing, especially when he knew Kangin was right.
"I'm confident about this," he stated, knowing it had to be said. "Trust me."
***
The van carrying his 'team' pulled to a stop far from where the others were. As much as they wanted to join the others in the action, their purpose was to stay on the sidelines. In any other situation, Eunhyuk's legs would have been useful, but like Kyuhyun his implants were a liability. Until they knew it was safe, he was offline and useless.
"This sucks." He muttered as he looked through the tinted window and tapped his knuckles against his prosthetic limbs.
Kibum merely shrugged. "Part of the plan. You'll get your turn."
They all had their roles to play in this, it was the waiting that was the hardest part. At least he hoped that it would be. The plan had to work, there was no margin for error.
Eunhyuk leaned over so that he was in Kyuhyun's range of sight. "How're you holding up? Ready to get the bi-that woman?"
Kibum cracked a half-smile. "That bitch?" He rolled his shoulders, the sound of bone pressing against bone audible and vaguely sickening. It relaxed him, or so he said, so Eunhyuk tried not to cringe too visibly. Dispassionate as he was saying it, he made no pretense to being the same man who went to work at a respectable Judoh bank every day of the week and sometimes on the weekends.
They were all changed.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes in acquiescence. Until they could activate the cybernetic part of his brain he could do little else.
Donghae was, as he had stated earlier, reading the fucking manual. The uncharacteristic silence from him just added to the tension among the occupants in the van. He wasn't as proficient in technology like Kibum or Kyuhyun, but since Kibum would be to busy attacking Aoki through his laptop it was up to Donghae to flip the on switch. He knew that the timing was crucial, and he wasn't going to screw it up.
It left Eunhyuk to sit and wait for the digits to shift on his watch, always too slow when he wanted time to move faster, when he was stuck without use of his legs.
"So... does anyone want to make any bets?" he inquired to the open air, leaning his head back against the seat.
"What are we betting on?" Kibum looked up from setting up his laptop.
"I don't know, anything." Eunhyuk answered with a shrug. "Just need something to pass the time."
"I bet I'll hit you over the head if you don't shut up," Donghae grumbled, kicking his seat dejectedly. Billions worth in technology in that brain and the man couldn't have written one comprehensible sentence. The alternative being that he wasn't smart enough to understand them didn't apply--if the average mind couldn't read Kyuhyun's instructions, the likelihood that a superior IQ would walk by unexpectedly left no hope for his survival. And wouldn't that be a loss, he thought dejectedly.
***
His body was warm. Resting her cheek against a chest that rose and fell, she listened to his heartbeat and wondered if this is what comforted unmodified people. There was an alluring effect to it, at least, the beats reminded her of a ticking clock. It took more than a few injections to get his heartbeat to slow to an acceptable rhythm, but she hated giving them to him. They slowed everything else as well, and Ryeowook had been fun to talk to. Fun, at least, until she started to remove the unnecessary limbs from his body. Despite her reassurance that she would give him even better replacements, the young man still screamed. Hugging his trembling form, she wondered how long it would take for Kyuhyun to join them. She had long decided that she would keep this one after everything was over, perhaps instead of taking Kyuhyun's circuitry for herself, she could install it in him. He would make better use of it anyway.
The flickering of lights brought Aoki's attention to the crowd gathering outside the building. Standing, she opened the window and rested her chin on the ledge. "Looks like they don't want me to play no more, Ryeowook." she sighed, glancing over to the bed and the imagined clock that hovered above it. "That's okay, I'll make sure they won't interrupt."
He didn't reply. He hadn't replied for so long now she was becoming restless. There was a brain in that head of his, still working, even if only to provide for basic functions, but it fascinated her. It was the one thing she didn't want to replace. At least not in its entirety. She was afraid cables and chips would extinguish that light in his eyes when he first woke up and saw her. Maybe when he would wake up again, he'd look at her like that. Maybe he would see her point.
Blood had dried on the floor under her feet, but it was still wet along the window pane. The heaters kept it from drying, the cold kept it from evaporating. She pressed a fingertip to coagulating crimson and brought it to her lips pensively. A mob gathered outside, clubs and guns and voices too loud. It was disappointing. It wasn't even a challenge.
She closed the window slowly, fingers caressing the wood like she'd seen Vivien Leigh do in a film once, and turned back on her heel like Judy Garland, minus the dress fluttering around her knees. "Don't worry," she grinned wide, crawling over the sheets. "I won't let them hurt us."
Returning her ear to his chest and the steady thump of his heart, she let her consciousness drift into that other realm, where others couldn't reach even if they knew how. She could see why Kyuhyun did this, the transition less jarring. The men below were connected, limbs and vital organs all pushing through the front door, surrounding all of the exits.
When would they ever learn?
***
It was surreal. Hundreds of men rushed into the darkness of a building only to stop before the exit like statues. All frozen, all static. How many of them had implants? It was enough for the circuitry to tie in with their limbs even remotely and they could be hacked. Being as they were the pride and joy of H&E recruitment in Judoh, it was likely the implants reached further than the peripheral, necessary areas. For some, it was their eyes. For others it was vital organs quitting unexpectedly, like faulty software.
Shindong watched those few unlucky bastards fall first, anticipating the distraction and taking a step back out of firing range. Eeteuk had been right about her: the first wave confused the H&E boys, the second would finish them.
Which is just why we're here, he thought, as backup.
Those without modifications broke rank, scrambling up to intercept their target, others taking out their closet comrade at the sign of them being hacked. Such loyalty, that. He leaned against the van, keys in hand as he waited for his cue, for the third wave. Kyuhyun once said it took fifteen minutes of high volume transfers for hallucinations to interfere with a BCI's work, hopefully those fools would last that long.
It wasn't until he saw a man in pajamas carrying a lead pipe walk in the direction of the building that he realized that Aoki wasn't afraid to outsource for extra help.
"Should we at least put on a front of cooperating with these idiots?" he mumbled to a tense Kangin at his side. "They're going down fast." Along with some of Judoh's upper crust, their implants dragging them out of bed and intro the streets screaming and crying like animals to the slaughter.
Before Kangin could answer, Eeteuk cut in. "No, we stick to the plan. Once the police get involved, we go in while everyone else is too preoccupied to notice."
The man with the lead pipe brought it down on another's head, bone crushing silently, the sound too slight and quiet in the scuffle. Shindong cringed, flipping his cell open. Yesung was supposed to send them a sign when the cops were ready to break up the party. Until then, they waited and people died. Pretty much the recipe for a normal day in Judoh.
Sirens made themselves heard before their inside man could alert them.
Police cars and vans swarmed the area, doors opening for officers in full riot gear to add to the chaos. Yesung jumped out of one of the transports, outfitted in all of the protective gear. He jogged out with his unit, shields up. Just as he reached for his sidearm, his cellphone rang in his vest pocket. "Shit, gotta take this." He set his shield down and sat on the loading bay of the van.
"The fuck, Yesung!" his partner yelled as the group held back, getting a middle finger in response.
"Mistress!" Yesung yelled back. Of course those calls took priority with this group, but that didn't stop their eyes from rolling. He wasn't even married. Not that they truly cared, he was giving them a chance of actually living for a few extra minutes. "Sorry babe, I was just about to call."
"You lie." Shindong chuckled, glancing over at the flashing lights up ahead. "Sounds like you're in the middle of something. Is it bad?"
"Nah, looks like a riot, I shouldn't be long. Do you still want to meet?"
"Sure, name the place and I'll be there."
"With bells on?" Yesung grinned and glanced over his shoulder. "Same place, as planned."
His partner threw him a look that spelled his annoyance. "Looks like a riot? Shouldn't be bad?" he snarled. "Do me a favor and keep your mind on the job when you're supposed to be watching my fucking back!"
Rapid gunfire echoed through the square, catching two officers in the leg.
"Got to go." Yesung pocketed his cell and started to rip off a few of the protective layers. The shit got in his way and did little by way of protection.
Shindong watched enviously as he spotted Yesung run around his unit into the crowd. Tossing his keys over to Kangin, he crossed over to the passenger's side of the van. "That's our cue. We'll be able to make the delivery as planned."
Eunhyuk barely managed to contain his grin as the other three slipped inside. "Time to roll?" he gushed, hands picking apart the leather seat. A book flew by his head, Donghae's unease making itself known.
"Have fun," Kibum smirked from the back, exiting as the engine stalled. His business involved a much more static, but no less dangerous approach to the attack.
It was consideration for the knot of worry he imagined in Donghae's stomach that kept Eunhyuk from retaliating in kind. Instead, he reached back a hand to pat his knee sympathetically. "He'll be fine. It's not like she can make his computer eat him or anything."
"Not her, ass." Donghae muttered, trying to take the comfort as intended and failed.
"Doubt you could either, idiot." Eunhyuk grinned and began to tighten the restraints on his legs. Rolling himself onto the van's lift, he lowered himself to the ground. "Just get back here before they have to let me loose, 'kay?"
The door slid into place abruptly, Donghae's half-smile the last thing Eunhyuk got to see before the van sped away. His chair creaked as he turned, only to find Kibum had already set up shop. To anyone else, he might've appeared unfeeling.
***
She was in the middle of an important task, one that involved carving his name into his leg with the tip of a needle--because in case she ever cut it off, she'd want to know where it ended up, since, after all, his legs were good and wouldn't need replacing--when the needle broke in her hands. She started forward, more annoyed than destabilized, ignoring the flags of alert that came to mind.
"It's not your turn!" she bellowed silently, lips moving but no sound coming out. Not by grace of her vocal chords, at least.
"Tag, you're it!" her voice echoed back, the dissonant sounds unfamiliar even to her own mind. Did he find her? After retreating off of the grid for three hours, had he finally decided to come play?
Not fair. He'd kept her waiting too long. There were markings on Ryeowook's body that she had to erase before he could make a fresh start. Clean slate, tabula rasa. She couldn't waste time on fickle, useless--
A sharp pain echoed through her head, easily disposed of, but distracting.
Kyuhyun didn't operate in this way. He'd always tried to understand her first. It had cost him time. Did he get one of his friends to do it instead? As if they could. Outdated software on hardware that could be made to overheat so easily, with an ancient connection and limited skill and understanding of what it meant... what it meant--
Her vision swam, the needle poking out of Ryeowook's leg fading in and out of sight, just like the blood.
It was a pathetic effort. She just needed a second to track him and his machine, before she could put him offline for good.
"Are you hiding from me now? Are you afraid?"
"Over here!" the voices echoed, loudly, the trail jumping and disappearing, reappearing with a new face and voice. "No, over here!" Rudimentary tricks, but it almost made her nostalgic as the yellow bunny jumped in front of her sight. She knew him. The one with the legs. "Can you catch me now?"
Die, she thought, stomping her foot in cyberspace until his own leg curved at the knee. Die, die and stop bothering me. Important work to be done, Ryeowook mumbling something in his sleep, something she had to hear, and this one was tempting her with changing patterns and algorithms that resembled a tree. Two could play that game and she had many more legs than they did.
"Hop, bunny rabbit. Hop."
***
"They're coming," Eunhyuk gritted through clenched teeth, feeling each and every artificial muscle twist and contort beneath their restraints. One more minute and he'd get a break, a chance to breathe before the connection returned and the pain returned.
"I know." Kibum muttered, his fingers running quickly across the keys. He had to sever and reconnect more often than he anticipated and beyond his worry about being discovered too soon, there was the increased risk of forcing the other man into shock or shorting his wires. "She's directing them across the street, still hasn't locked on to us yet. Be ready when she does, offline in three, two, you're off."
Once his legs were again dead, Eunhyuk picked up the rifle from its place on Kibum's station and rolled himself in range.
***
"Time to go, buddy."
The beeps and hisses of the machines ceased, replaced by the steady press of a plastic bag. Kyuhyun felt himself lifted from the gurney, Kangin and Donghae appearing on each side of his peripheral vision, felt the straps that would hold him upright in the chair.
"This is going to be uncomfortable, but we need to get this out of the way." he heard Eeteuk say as the sounds from the bag stopped. His lungs stilled and the tube was pulled from his mouth. "We'll get you online before you suffocate."
The doors opened and Eeteuk and Kangin's backs jumped out of view, the loud crack of gunfire sounding from either side. "Go!" Kangin yelled.
Kyuhyun's eyes dropped shut, the lurch of the chair jerking him forward and back abruptly. Heartbeat loud in his ears, he saw outside light wash and fade over him, the sound of gunfire alone in following him into the building beyond. Darkness that could have been natural and could just as easily have been an illusion of his failing body took him then, pulse rushing with the slam of a door and shouting behind him.
A pleasant weightlessness overtook him, one that he attributed to the sign of his body shutting down for lack of oxygen. It failed to impress or shock him as he strove to conserve every last breath. He'd never believed in the comfort of dying and he wasn't about to start. Not when he was the only one who could take Aoki offline.
"Stay with us, Kyu, come on," someone whispered in his ear, the voice distant and filled with static, as if over a bad telephone connection. "I can do this, I can do this! Just stay with me..."
Something pressed against the back of his head, a jolt of electricity running through him. Any stronger and it would've been enough to fry his circuits, but Donghae must have grasped the essentials. He was careful.
A light filtered into his vision, eyelids pried apart forcefully. Kyuhyun blinked.
"I have no idea what I'm looking for...but hi," he grinned. "You're awake."
"How..." he took a breath, his voice slurred as he regained control over his body. "...long...was I out?"
"Not more than a minute." Donghae removed the device from the back of Kyuhyun's neck and began to unstrap him from the chair. "No time for chitchat, we've got to move. Can you walk?"
"Still processing." Kyuhyun pushed meddling hands away. "Can't wait, need to find her now."
There was no challenge in that, not when she was online and directing her troops to blind attack. His eyes stared straight into Donghae's, but he saw beyond, up by the back stairs and over the first two floors, past doors that led nowhere but to the presence of rats and cockroaches and finally, to seeing Ryeowook laid out on a bed, eyes shining in the glare of lights from the street. Aoki yelled, her voice like nails on a chalkboard.
Donghae reached out a hand to steady him.
"Third floor, apartment 308." He looked over his shoulder. "She knows I'm here."
***
Kyuhyun had the element of surprise in his favor. The sight of the others rushing around him faded as his consciousness focused on Aoki. He wanted her to feel what she had put others through in this stupid game of hers. He became the faceless man with the scalpel, cutting and dissecting her artificial body. He became Aoki, cutting off limbs piece by piece. Finally, she became him, trapped in a body that couldn't move.
"Ryeowook, we're here and we're coming to get you. She can't hurt you anymore." He spoke through Aoki, grinning to himself as he thought that those were most likely the last words she would ever speak.
Eyes widened with bright hope.
It didn't last long.
Even down, she was still dangerous and she kicked back with all her might, desperately trying to jerk him out of her head and out of control. Her synapses bounced, circuits sparking with signals with neither beginning nor end.
"My game!" she shouted into his head, trying to sever the connection. "Mine, mine, mine!"
Kyuhyun was ready for her this time. Even if she matched him in software, she was still more machine than human and that was exploitable.
"You've lost," he laughed into her head, back protesting when she retaliated with a vicious attack to his motor functions. It was debilitating, but only for a moment.
Shindong stopped to help him up but he waved him away.
"Go! I'm fine!"
The brief diversion of speaking with Shindong gave Aoki an opening to regain some control of herself. Instead of attempting to block Kyuhyun, or to even hack into his brain she did something unexpected. She reached out for Ryeowook, only to discover he was no longer there.
"Give him back!" Her distressed plea to Kyuhyun only allowed him to immobilize her body again.
"He was never yours."
"I pretended that your legs were my legs and walked as you, she laughed in his head, hysterical. "I pretended that I was you and walked as you." Her attention faded from him to the sound of footsteps on the landing, rushing towards her. "I pretended that you..."
The impact of a blow to the stomach knocked Kyuhyun into the wall, pain sparking along every vein. It took him a moment to realize he hadn't been shot, that the pain was just an unfortunate by-product of their connection.
"Game over. Checkmate." The sound of his voice made him realize he had spoke the words out loud as well. Hesitant to break the connection until it was completely over, he somehow began his climb up the stairs. Devoting so much of his brain to keep her from retaliating, all he could do was crawl step by step. It took longer, but with each step he could feel his systems recharging, body beginning to obey his own command again.
The hallways echoed with the sounds of his boots on cold stone, nothing but eerie silence from the floors above.
"Ryeowook..." he breathed, trailing a hand along the wall for support.
He couldn't see what was going on through Aoki's eyes, her connection was fading and falling away to nothing. He could sense that she was dying, that she would most likely expire before he got there.
A door rattled in its frame, banging into the wall to the sound of gunfire from outside. Kyuyun marched on, dragging himself to a stop before apartment 308. It was the same door he'd seen in his head, the numbers no less rusty and tired, the wood no less in need for a coat of paint. He remembered Aoki's eyes when she sensed him and her voice in her head--still so vivid--and gripped the doorknob.
Swallowing thickly, he turned it.
Beyond the door he saw the others that had went upstairs before him, their guns drawn and silently observing the scene before them. Ryeowook, who they had come to rescue, on his knees atop something that appeared more like a mannequin than a living being. Despite lacking hands and most of his right arm, somehow Ryeowook had subdued her. As he got closer he could see that her head was twisted in an unnatural angle, her windpipe crushed by Ryeowook's knee.
Her eyes stared right at him. Glassy, lifeless.
Ryeowook's, by contrast, were wet with tears.
***
No one touched him except Kyuhyun. Eeteuk had stepped back after pulling him off Aoki's prone body, firing two shots into the woman's chest to make sure she stayed down and handing the boy to Kyuhyun. There was no protest from either.
"How are we on time?" he asked, knowing they'd only won half the battle so far. They still had to carve a way out for themselves.
"Yesung's called in for backup, the police are moving in." Kyuhyun answered after a few seconds. "If we take the side exit, we should make it to the van with little interference."
Eeteuk nodded, letting Kangin and Donghae take the lead. They all knew the plans, and Kyuhyun could pull them out at any minute. The chance of unwelcome guests stumbling along was their main concern, especially if their absence from the scuffle was detected. Confusion and adrenaline could only hide so much.
The group rushed through the hallway and down the many staircases that led to the ground level. Donghae made quick work with the ancient lock connected to chains that had been used to secure the exit. Once outside they could spot the van idling across the street, looking, to the best of their knowledge, untampered with.
It was a short moment of reprieve, fate throwing them another curve ball as they made their way through the alley and a few H&E goons accompanied by three uniformed police officers walked into their path. Whether by the presence of guns in their hands or the fact that they looked straight at him as if recognizing who he was, as if having been sent specifically for him, Eeteuk didn't have to think twice about their purpose.
And neither, it seemed, did Kangin.
A volley of gunfire cut the thugs down from behind, Kangin not even bothering to pull his gun from the holster, muttering a disgusted 'lightweights,' as they walked past the bodies on the ground. Shindong fired a bullet into each of the goons' heads as he passed, just to make sure.
Heechul was the first to speak as Kangin opened the door to help Kyuhyun into the back of the van. "Took you long enough."
"Shut up." he responded with a grin. "Is everyone clear?"
After a brief check of locations using cellphones and a satellite, Kyuhyun nodded.
Siwon didn't wait for confirmation, flooring the gas and running over two more 'concerned citizens' bearing H&E marks on their arms. It was just as well to hurry. Heechul's explosions detonating not a second too late.
In the back, Sungmin did what neither of them had thought to do in their rush to get out of there: he hugged Ryeowook.
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 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24| Chapter 25
Banner by angelinaii
PV by murasaki_plum
Kangin checked his gun again, the seventh time in a row since they'd set off. Already, they were alone on the road, just the three of them in the car, rolling down into the lion's den. The others had fallen behind, just as they were supposed to, disappearing into side streets on foot or in stolen cars that wouldn't draw attention in Judoh. Wolf's skin for the sheep going to the slaughterhouse, he thought. He wasn't usually so morbid, but then again, he wasn't usually aware of how close he was to losing his family. Eeteuk's hand covered his own, stilling it before he could dissemble his gun one more time.
"You're turning into Heechul," he chided, gaze turned outward, into the night. Unreadable.
"I can see why he does it." Kangin turned his hand to press his palm against the other's, as well as to brush the hand aside to do one last inspection of the gun's chamber. It wouldn't do to have a misfire. Sungmin squared his shoulders as he made an abrupt turn at the street corner, the car en route to its destination.
Dark eyes briefly met in the reflection of the rear-view mirror, and a harsh chuckle came from the driver's seat. "I don't want a crown. I-it's not necessary."
Eeteuk's fingers tightened into a fist on the leather seat, shifting just as quickly as he leaned forward. "I know," he whispered, but Kangin heard it anyway. "I know. I remember." His hand closed around a slight shoulder, squeezing tightly. Tension lined his back, tight as a coil. "We'll... we'll dump the car here," he added, nodding to an alley between two rows of mansions. "We're close enough."
"Only stars fall tonight." Sungmin whispered as he pulled the car into the alleyway and turned off the lights. It took Kangin a moment to realize he was referring to Heaven and Earth's sigil. When Sungmin turned his head to glance out the window and Kangin could see the earpiece in his ear, he realized that the odd phrase wasn't meant for their ears. "Pawns in?"
Smiling, the blonde turned off the engine and turned to glance at the passengers in the backseat. "Henry says everything is in place. And have fun."
Neither pretended to understand the relationship between the two boys, ignoring the implications and taking Sungmin's statement at face value instead. Kangin holstered his gun. "We need to come up with better code names," he sighed, checking perimeter despite the assurance that it was already clear. Eeteuk spared him a nod, recognizing the quick glance for what it was.
"Henry didn't happen to give an estimate of how many stars there are in the sky tonight, did he?"
"Enough to fill the sky, so anywhere between 50, 250 max." Sungmin pulled out a case from beneath the passenger's seat and began to extract preloaded magazines, stuffing them into his vest before handing it over to Kangin.
The location paralleled the one they'd been given, the one Yesung certified the police were hinting toward--before he conveniently lost those files and slowed their progress--so Eeteuk figured this wouldn't be a trap, as such. The difficulty lay in anticipating where else they could hit and how.
"We're not staging a coup, guys," he sighed, aware that no matter how armed they were, bullets alone wouldn't be enough.
"Not taking any chances this go 'round." Kangin said, putting as much along his utility vest before passing the case over to Eeteuk. "You too, don't think you're walking out with one piece."
Sungmin smirked, locking the car and passing the safety in case someone got any ideas about rigging their ride. He took first position, hands tucked in his pockets with deceptive ease, not that there was anyone to impress. Aoki's murders had cleared the streets and what word of mouth hadn't managed to do, the H&E had taken care of. It was the same as in the Bottoms, just on a different scale, on a different level.
Eeteuk swallowed his protests, loathe to waste any more time arguing, especially when he knew Kangin was right.
"I'm confident about this," he stated, knowing it had to be said. "Trust me."
***
The van carrying his 'team' pulled to a stop far from where the others were. As much as they wanted to join the others in the action, their purpose was to stay on the sidelines. In any other situation, Eunhyuk's legs would have been useful, but like Kyuhyun his implants were a liability. Until they knew it was safe, he was offline and useless.
"This sucks." He muttered as he looked through the tinted window and tapped his knuckles against his prosthetic limbs.
Kibum merely shrugged. "Part of the plan. You'll get your turn."
They all had their roles to play in this, it was the waiting that was the hardest part. At least he hoped that it would be. The plan had to work, there was no margin for error.
Eunhyuk leaned over so that he was in Kyuhyun's range of sight. "How're you holding up? Ready to get the bi-that woman?"
Kibum cracked a half-smile. "That bitch?" He rolled his shoulders, the sound of bone pressing against bone audible and vaguely sickening. It relaxed him, or so he said, so Eunhyuk tried not to cringe too visibly. Dispassionate as he was saying it, he made no pretense to being the same man who went to work at a respectable Judoh bank every day of the week and sometimes on the weekends.
They were all changed.
Kyuhyun closed his eyes in acquiescence. Until they could activate the cybernetic part of his brain he could do little else.
Donghae was, as he had stated earlier, reading the fucking manual. The uncharacteristic silence from him just added to the tension among the occupants in the van. He wasn't as proficient in technology like Kibum or Kyuhyun, but since Kibum would be to busy attacking Aoki through his laptop it was up to Donghae to flip the on switch. He knew that the timing was crucial, and he wasn't going to screw it up.
It left Eunhyuk to sit and wait for the digits to shift on his watch, always too slow when he wanted time to move faster, when he was stuck without use of his legs.
"So... does anyone want to make any bets?" he inquired to the open air, leaning his head back against the seat.
"What are we betting on?" Kibum looked up from setting up his laptop.
"I don't know, anything." Eunhyuk answered with a shrug. "Just need something to pass the time."
"I bet I'll hit you over the head if you don't shut up," Donghae grumbled, kicking his seat dejectedly. Billions worth in technology in that brain and the man couldn't have written one comprehensible sentence. The alternative being that he wasn't smart enough to understand them didn't apply--if the average mind couldn't read Kyuhyun's instructions, the likelihood that a superior IQ would walk by unexpectedly left no hope for his survival. And wouldn't that be a loss, he thought dejectedly.
***
His body was warm. Resting her cheek against a chest that rose and fell, she listened to his heartbeat and wondered if this is what comforted unmodified people. There was an alluring effect to it, at least, the beats reminded her of a ticking clock. It took more than a few injections to get his heartbeat to slow to an acceptable rhythm, but she hated giving them to him. They slowed everything else as well, and Ryeowook had been fun to talk to. Fun, at least, until she started to remove the unnecessary limbs from his body. Despite her reassurance that she would give him even better replacements, the young man still screamed. Hugging his trembling form, she wondered how long it would take for Kyuhyun to join them. She had long decided that she would keep this one after everything was over, perhaps instead of taking Kyuhyun's circuitry for herself, she could install it in him. He would make better use of it anyway.
The flickering of lights brought Aoki's attention to the crowd gathering outside the building. Standing, she opened the window and rested her chin on the ledge. "Looks like they don't want me to play no more, Ryeowook." she sighed, glancing over to the bed and the imagined clock that hovered above it. "That's okay, I'll make sure they won't interrupt."
He didn't reply. He hadn't replied for so long now she was becoming restless. There was a brain in that head of his, still working, even if only to provide for basic functions, but it fascinated her. It was the one thing she didn't want to replace. At least not in its entirety. She was afraid cables and chips would extinguish that light in his eyes when he first woke up and saw her. Maybe when he would wake up again, he'd look at her like that. Maybe he would see her point.
Blood had dried on the floor under her feet, but it was still wet along the window pane. The heaters kept it from drying, the cold kept it from evaporating. She pressed a fingertip to coagulating crimson and brought it to her lips pensively. A mob gathered outside, clubs and guns and voices too loud. It was disappointing. It wasn't even a challenge.
She closed the window slowly, fingers caressing the wood like she'd seen Vivien Leigh do in a film once, and turned back on her heel like Judy Garland, minus the dress fluttering around her knees. "Don't worry," she grinned wide, crawling over the sheets. "I won't let them hurt us."
Returning her ear to his chest and the steady thump of his heart, she let her consciousness drift into that other realm, where others couldn't reach even if they knew how. She could see why Kyuhyun did this, the transition less jarring. The men below were connected, limbs and vital organs all pushing through the front door, surrounding all of the exits.
When would they ever learn?
***
It was surreal. Hundreds of men rushed into the darkness of a building only to stop before the exit like statues. All frozen, all static. How many of them had implants? It was enough for the circuitry to tie in with their limbs even remotely and they could be hacked. Being as they were the pride and joy of H&E recruitment in Judoh, it was likely the implants reached further than the peripheral, necessary areas. For some, it was their eyes. For others it was vital organs quitting unexpectedly, like faulty software.
Shindong watched those few unlucky bastards fall first, anticipating the distraction and taking a step back out of firing range. Eeteuk had been right about her: the first wave confused the H&E boys, the second would finish them.
Which is just why we're here, he thought, as backup.
Those without modifications broke rank, scrambling up to intercept their target, others taking out their closet comrade at the sign of them being hacked. Such loyalty, that. He leaned against the van, keys in hand as he waited for his cue, for the third wave. Kyuhyun once said it took fifteen minutes of high volume transfers for hallucinations to interfere with a BCI's work, hopefully those fools would last that long.
It wasn't until he saw a man in pajamas carrying a lead pipe walk in the direction of the building that he realized that Aoki wasn't afraid to outsource for extra help.
"Should we at least put on a front of cooperating with these idiots?" he mumbled to a tense Kangin at his side. "They're going down fast." Along with some of Judoh's upper crust, their implants dragging them out of bed and intro the streets screaming and crying like animals to the slaughter.
Before Kangin could answer, Eeteuk cut in. "No, we stick to the plan. Once the police get involved, we go in while everyone else is too preoccupied to notice."
The man with the lead pipe brought it down on another's head, bone crushing silently, the sound too slight and quiet in the scuffle. Shindong cringed, flipping his cell open. Yesung was supposed to send them a sign when the cops were ready to break up the party. Until then, they waited and people died. Pretty much the recipe for a normal day in Judoh.
Sirens made themselves heard before their inside man could alert them.
Police cars and vans swarmed the area, doors opening for officers in full riot gear to add to the chaos. Yesung jumped out of one of the transports, outfitted in all of the protective gear. He jogged out with his unit, shields up. Just as he reached for his sidearm, his cellphone rang in his vest pocket. "Shit, gotta take this." He set his shield down and sat on the loading bay of the van.
"The fuck, Yesung!" his partner yelled as the group held back, getting a middle finger in response.
"Mistress!" Yesung yelled back. Of course those calls took priority with this group, but that didn't stop their eyes from rolling. He wasn't even married. Not that they truly cared, he was giving them a chance of actually living for a few extra minutes. "Sorry babe, I was just about to call."
"You lie." Shindong chuckled, glancing over at the flashing lights up ahead. "Sounds like you're in the middle of something. Is it bad?"
"Nah, looks like a riot, I shouldn't be long. Do you still want to meet?"
"Sure, name the place and I'll be there."
"With bells on?" Yesung grinned and glanced over his shoulder. "Same place, as planned."
His partner threw him a look that spelled his annoyance. "Looks like a riot? Shouldn't be bad?" he snarled. "Do me a favor and keep your mind on the job when you're supposed to be watching my fucking back!"
Rapid gunfire echoed through the square, catching two officers in the leg.
"Got to go." Yesung pocketed his cell and started to rip off a few of the protective layers. The shit got in his way and did little by way of protection.
Shindong watched enviously as he spotted Yesung run around his unit into the crowd. Tossing his keys over to Kangin, he crossed over to the passenger's side of the van. "That's our cue. We'll be able to make the delivery as planned."
Eunhyuk barely managed to contain his grin as the other three slipped inside. "Time to roll?" he gushed, hands picking apart the leather seat. A book flew by his head, Donghae's unease making itself known.
"Have fun," Kibum smirked from the back, exiting as the engine stalled. His business involved a much more static, but no less dangerous approach to the attack.
It was consideration for the knot of worry he imagined in Donghae's stomach that kept Eunhyuk from retaliating in kind. Instead, he reached back a hand to pat his knee sympathetically. "He'll be fine. It's not like she can make his computer eat him or anything."
"Not her, ass." Donghae muttered, trying to take the comfort as intended and failed.
"Doubt you could either, idiot." Eunhyuk grinned and began to tighten the restraints on his legs. Rolling himself onto the van's lift, he lowered himself to the ground. "Just get back here before they have to let me loose, 'kay?"
The door slid into place abruptly, Donghae's half-smile the last thing Eunhyuk got to see before the van sped away. His chair creaked as he turned, only to find Kibum had already set up shop. To anyone else, he might've appeared unfeeling.
***
She was in the middle of an important task, one that involved carving his name into his leg with the tip of a needle--because in case she ever cut it off, she'd want to know where it ended up, since, after all, his legs were good and wouldn't need replacing--when the needle broke in her hands. She started forward, more annoyed than destabilized, ignoring the flags of alert that came to mind.
"It's not your turn!" she bellowed silently, lips moving but no sound coming out. Not by grace of her vocal chords, at least.
"Tag, you're it!" her voice echoed back, the dissonant sounds unfamiliar even to her own mind. Did he find her? After retreating off of the grid for three hours, had he finally decided to come play?
Not fair. He'd kept her waiting too long. There were markings on Ryeowook's body that she had to erase before he could make a fresh start. Clean slate, tabula rasa. She couldn't waste time on fickle, useless--
A sharp pain echoed through her head, easily disposed of, but distracting.
Kyuhyun didn't operate in this way. He'd always tried to understand her first. It had cost him time. Did he get one of his friends to do it instead? As if they could. Outdated software on hardware that could be made to overheat so easily, with an ancient connection and limited skill and understanding of what it meant... what it meant--
Her vision swam, the needle poking out of Ryeowook's leg fading in and out of sight, just like the blood.
It was a pathetic effort. She just needed a second to track him and his machine, before she could put him offline for good.
"Are you hiding from me now? Are you afraid?"
"Over here!" the voices echoed, loudly, the trail jumping and disappearing, reappearing with a new face and voice. "No, over here!" Rudimentary tricks, but it almost made her nostalgic as the yellow bunny jumped in front of her sight. She knew him. The one with the legs. "Can you catch me now?"
Die, she thought, stomping her foot in cyberspace until his own leg curved at the knee. Die, die and stop bothering me. Important work to be done, Ryeowook mumbling something in his sleep, something she had to hear, and this one was tempting her with changing patterns and algorithms that resembled a tree. Two could play that game and she had many more legs than they did.
"Hop, bunny rabbit. Hop."
***
"They're coming," Eunhyuk gritted through clenched teeth, feeling each and every artificial muscle twist and contort beneath their restraints. One more minute and he'd get a break, a chance to breathe before the connection returned and the pain returned.
"I know." Kibum muttered, his fingers running quickly across the keys. He had to sever and reconnect more often than he anticipated and beyond his worry about being discovered too soon, there was the increased risk of forcing the other man into shock or shorting his wires. "She's directing them across the street, still hasn't locked on to us yet. Be ready when she does, offline in three, two, you're off."
Once his legs were again dead, Eunhyuk picked up the rifle from its place on Kibum's station and rolled himself in range.
***
"Time to go, buddy."
The beeps and hisses of the machines ceased, replaced by the steady press of a plastic bag. Kyuhyun felt himself lifted from the gurney, Kangin and Donghae appearing on each side of his peripheral vision, felt the straps that would hold him upright in the chair.
"This is going to be uncomfortable, but we need to get this out of the way." he heard Eeteuk say as the sounds from the bag stopped. His lungs stilled and the tube was pulled from his mouth. "We'll get you online before you suffocate."
The doors opened and Eeteuk and Kangin's backs jumped out of view, the loud crack of gunfire sounding from either side. "Go!" Kangin yelled.
Kyuhyun's eyes dropped shut, the lurch of the chair jerking him forward and back abruptly. Heartbeat loud in his ears, he saw outside light wash and fade over him, the sound of gunfire alone in following him into the building beyond. Darkness that could have been natural and could just as easily have been an illusion of his failing body took him then, pulse rushing with the slam of a door and shouting behind him.
A pleasant weightlessness overtook him, one that he attributed to the sign of his body shutting down for lack of oxygen. It failed to impress or shock him as he strove to conserve every last breath. He'd never believed in the comfort of dying and he wasn't about to start. Not when he was the only one who could take Aoki offline.
"Stay with us, Kyu, come on," someone whispered in his ear, the voice distant and filled with static, as if over a bad telephone connection. "I can do this, I can do this! Just stay with me..."
Something pressed against the back of his head, a jolt of electricity running through him. Any stronger and it would've been enough to fry his circuits, but Donghae must have grasped the essentials. He was careful.
A light filtered into his vision, eyelids pried apart forcefully. Kyuhyun blinked.
"I have no idea what I'm looking for...but hi," he grinned. "You're awake."
"How..." he took a breath, his voice slurred as he regained control over his body. "...long...was I out?"
"Not more than a minute." Donghae removed the device from the back of Kyuhyun's neck and began to unstrap him from the chair. "No time for chitchat, we've got to move. Can you walk?"
"Still processing." Kyuhyun pushed meddling hands away. "Can't wait, need to find her now."
There was no challenge in that, not when she was online and directing her troops to blind attack. His eyes stared straight into Donghae's, but he saw beyond, up by the back stairs and over the first two floors, past doors that led nowhere but to the presence of rats and cockroaches and finally, to seeing Ryeowook laid out on a bed, eyes shining in the glare of lights from the street. Aoki yelled, her voice like nails on a chalkboard.
Donghae reached out a hand to steady him.
"Third floor, apartment 308." He looked over his shoulder. "She knows I'm here."
***
Kyuhyun had the element of surprise in his favor. The sight of the others rushing around him faded as his consciousness focused on Aoki. He wanted her to feel what she had put others through in this stupid game of hers. He became the faceless man with the scalpel, cutting and dissecting her artificial body. He became Aoki, cutting off limbs piece by piece. Finally, she became him, trapped in a body that couldn't move.
"Ryeowook, we're here and we're coming to get you. She can't hurt you anymore." He spoke through Aoki, grinning to himself as he thought that those were most likely the last words she would ever speak.
Eyes widened with bright hope.
It didn't last long.
Even down, she was still dangerous and she kicked back with all her might, desperately trying to jerk him out of her head and out of control. Her synapses bounced, circuits sparking with signals with neither beginning nor end.
"My game!" she shouted into his head, trying to sever the connection. "Mine, mine, mine!"
Kyuhyun was ready for her this time. Even if she matched him in software, she was still more machine than human and that was exploitable.
"You've lost," he laughed into her head, back protesting when she retaliated with a vicious attack to his motor functions. It was debilitating, but only for a moment.
Shindong stopped to help him up but he waved him away.
"Go! I'm fine!"
The brief diversion of speaking with Shindong gave Aoki an opening to regain some control of herself. Instead of attempting to block Kyuhyun, or to even hack into his brain she did something unexpected. She reached out for Ryeowook, only to discover he was no longer there.
"Give him back!" Her distressed plea to Kyuhyun only allowed him to immobilize her body again.
"He was never yours."
"I pretended that your legs were my legs and walked as you, she laughed in his head, hysterical. "I pretended that I was you and walked as you." Her attention faded from him to the sound of footsteps on the landing, rushing towards her. "I pretended that you..."
The impact of a blow to the stomach knocked Kyuhyun into the wall, pain sparking along every vein. It took him a moment to realize he hadn't been shot, that the pain was just an unfortunate by-product of their connection.
"Game over. Checkmate." The sound of his voice made him realize he had spoke the words out loud as well. Hesitant to break the connection until it was completely over, he somehow began his climb up the stairs. Devoting so much of his brain to keep her from retaliating, all he could do was crawl step by step. It took longer, but with each step he could feel his systems recharging, body beginning to obey his own command again.
The hallways echoed with the sounds of his boots on cold stone, nothing but eerie silence from the floors above.
"Ryeowook..." he breathed, trailing a hand along the wall for support.
He couldn't see what was going on through Aoki's eyes, her connection was fading and falling away to nothing. He could sense that she was dying, that she would most likely expire before he got there.
A door rattled in its frame, banging into the wall to the sound of gunfire from outside. Kyuyun marched on, dragging himself to a stop before apartment 308. It was the same door he'd seen in his head, the numbers no less rusty and tired, the wood no less in need for a coat of paint. He remembered Aoki's eyes when she sensed him and her voice in her head--still so vivid--and gripped the doorknob.
Swallowing thickly, he turned it.
Beyond the door he saw the others that had went upstairs before him, their guns drawn and silently observing the scene before them. Ryeowook, who they had come to rescue, on his knees atop something that appeared more like a mannequin than a living being. Despite lacking hands and most of his right arm, somehow Ryeowook had subdued her. As he got closer he could see that her head was twisted in an unnatural angle, her windpipe crushed by Ryeowook's knee.
Her eyes stared right at him. Glassy, lifeless.
Ryeowook's, by contrast, were wet with tears.
***
No one touched him except Kyuhyun. Eeteuk had stepped back after pulling him off Aoki's prone body, firing two shots into the woman's chest to make sure she stayed down and handing the boy to Kyuhyun. There was no protest from either.
"How are we on time?" he asked, knowing they'd only won half the battle so far. They still had to carve a way out for themselves.
"Yesung's called in for backup, the police are moving in." Kyuhyun answered after a few seconds. "If we take the side exit, we should make it to the van with little interference."
Eeteuk nodded, letting Kangin and Donghae take the lead. They all knew the plans, and Kyuhyun could pull them out at any minute. The chance of unwelcome guests stumbling along was their main concern, especially if their absence from the scuffle was detected. Confusion and adrenaline could only hide so much.
The group rushed through the hallway and down the many staircases that led to the ground level. Donghae made quick work with the ancient lock connected to chains that had been used to secure the exit. Once outside they could spot the van idling across the street, looking, to the best of their knowledge, untampered with.
It was a short moment of reprieve, fate throwing them another curve ball as they made their way through the alley and a few H&E goons accompanied by three uniformed police officers walked into their path. Whether by the presence of guns in their hands or the fact that they looked straight at him as if recognizing who he was, as if having been sent specifically for him, Eeteuk didn't have to think twice about their purpose.
And neither, it seemed, did Kangin.
A volley of gunfire cut the thugs down from behind, Kangin not even bothering to pull his gun from the holster, muttering a disgusted 'lightweights,' as they walked past the bodies on the ground. Shindong fired a bullet into each of the goons' heads as he passed, just to make sure.
Heechul was the first to speak as Kangin opened the door to help Kyuhyun into the back of the van. "Took you long enough."
"Shut up." he responded with a grin. "Is everyone clear?"
After a brief check of locations using cellphones and a satellite, Kyuhyun nodded.
Siwon didn't wait for confirmation, flooring the gas and running over two more 'concerned citizens' bearing H&E marks on their arms. It was just as well to hurry. Heechul's explosions detonating not a second too late.
In the back, Sungmin did what neither of them had thought to do in their rush to get out of there: he hugged Ryeowook.