(no subject)
Title: Apologia Pro Vita Sua (Chapter 4)
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
Banner by angelinaii
Unease planed over the room as the hollow sound of Kibum's ring tone - something classical and mechanical - yielded no answer on the other end of the line. Torn between calling again and pitching the cellular into the wall out of sheer frustration, Heechul finally settled on glaring at it and at the room at large.
"He's the man with the figures," he complained, leaning into the back of the couch with a hiss and whine. "If I talk, I'm wrong. If he talks, he's got an elephant's memory to back it up."
"Are you saying he's smarter than you, hyung?" Sungmin grinned, beating the heel of his boot against the wall as only sign of his impatience.
Heechul glanced up, narrowing his eyes. "If he were smarter than me, he'd answer his fucking phone." A smirk crossed his features as he settled back down, flipping the cell open once more and dialing. "I bet Donghae's keeping him busy. You should do something about that, you know..."
"You said yourself it wasn't urgent." Eeteuk smiled, as conciliatory as he could be.
"I'd still like to get to a decision today," the redhead complained, unshaken in his belief that Kibum should've been reachable. After all, Heechul had a busy schedule too and he always managed to be prompt. He smirked. "I know how Kangin hates not having a goal."
Sungmin snorted incredulously.
"Give them ten more minutes," Eeteuk sighed, not fooled for a moment by Heechul's bogus excuses or his insistence but knowing better than to argue with the man. "If he doesn't answer by then, we'll reschedule. The cops aren't driving us out just yet. We can afford to wait."
To Sungmin's sigh, Heechul responded by dialing again. And again.
The incessant dialing seemed to finally achieve the desired outcome, a click and the sound of someone's voice on the other end, but before Heechul could launch into his litany of complaints the line went dead. "He hung up on me. Son of a bitch hung up on me!"
There was another sigh from Sungmin's side of the room. While most people would get the impression that getting hung up on was a sign that maybe the other person didn't have time to be bothered, Heechul merely took that as a sign of challenge.
"I know you never actually pay your phone bills," Sungmin began, sliding down the wall until he was out of Heechul's sight. "But maybe you should just give up this time around."
Heechul didn't even dignify the suggestion with a glare. "I never give up."
Any response from Sungmin was drowned out by angry knocking against the door. "Open the door and stop calling my damn phone!"
"Sounds mad," Heechul had the audacity to smile victoriously. He had gotten his way, that's all that really mattered.
Sungmin was already back on his feet and opened the door. "What's going on? You're late."
Kibum greeted them with a stern expression. "We got a problem. Someone hacked Eunhyuk's legs." To Heechul in particular, he shot a glare. "Why hasn't Siwon bought you a gag yet?"
Heechul rolled his eyes and pointed at Kibum with his extended middle finger. "Someone's always hacking into Eunhyuk's legs, he's got cheap hardware. What's new about that?"
Eeteuk shot Heechul a warning glance. While it was true that most of the time when Eunhyuk's legs were hacked into or malfunctioned it didn't need mention, if Kibum said it was a problem, then it was a problem. Kibum wasn't the type to make an ordeal out of minor things unless necessary. "How big of a problem?"
"Whatever it was this time, it has Kyuhyun spooked. I've never seen him sweat before." Donghae took his usual place at Kibum's side, arms crossed defensively. "He told us not to talk about it on the phone and sent us over."
"That all he said?" Eeteuk verified, squaring his jaw in thought. Their little group, while constantly in motion, had its limits. Henry never talked, Heechul talked too much, Kibum was never late and Kyuhyun was never, ever scared. Speaking to him was usually like speaking to an all-knowing Oracle, or at least one whose spare time was spent roving the net.
"Yeah." Kibum met his gaze uneasily. "That it's fixable."
Fixable rather than fixed, Eeteuk surmised. Potentially problematic.
"He sent you all the way over here just to say that?" Heechul sneered petulantly, still quite put off from Kibum hanging up on him.
"Is Eunhyuk going to be okay?" Sungmin asked while he joined the others in the room in ignoring Heechul. The redhead would sulk, stomp and threaten to burn things but would eventually simmer down and move on to the next thing as long as they didn't indulge him. The alternative was a headache they didn't have time for.
"Kyuhyun said he should be, eventually." Far from sounding reassuring, Donghae succeeded only in tightening the knot of worry coiling in the pit of Eeteuk's stomach. Then again, Kyuhyun wouldn't lie. Partly because he probably didn't know how to.
Nodding, the eldest brought a hand to the bridge of his nose. "Did he say anything about the third party doing the hacking?"
"Only that the other guy's avatar didn't have a face, and I don't know what the fuck that means either." Donghae answered with an agitated sigh.
Kibum gave Eeteuk a look that easily transmitted that he knew what Kyuhyun meant but was neglecting to speak up to spare Donghae's feelings. "The avatar thing isn't that important, just that he'll know what to look for if the guy shows up again."
"Like a calling card." Eeteuk nodded slowly. The situation didn't seem to sound any better the more he heard about it, he didn't like the idea of knowing about a threat but not knowing where to find it. Or even know how they were supposed to deal with it.
Heechul slid back to his feet. "For fuck's sake, don't fuss. Kyuhyun'll deal with it."
Kibum bit back a reply, shaking his head vigorously. "Listen, someone put Eunhyuk completely offline. And Kyuhyun couldn't track him down and fix this in his usual fifty second delay. Something's up."
"And? What are we going to do about it?" Heechul argued, not being difficult just for the sake of it but pointing out the obvious. "Kyuhyun's the only one we've got who can handle it. If he can't, he can't. This high-tech shit isn't a priority."
Kibum's face turned red from restraining his temper, but Eeteuk was grateful that he managed to keep it in check. While Eeteuk appreciated Kibum's concern for Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun's welfare, Heechul had a point. While the majority of Judoh's population was cyberized in some way by adulthood, that sort of technology was almost impossible to come by in the Bottoms. They knew there was a malicious hacker out there, but they were ill-equipped to handle it.
"I'll pay him a visit," Eeteuk decided, walking a fine line between being dismissive and concerned. "As much as I hate to admit it, Heechul's right. We can't do anything besides wait." And find a plan B, in case fate decided to screw them over completely.
For a second, Kibum seemed about to protest. "So I'm just supposed to... go back to work?" Rules were rules and he knew to comply, even if he didn't like it, even if he disagreed.
A curt nod. "Yes and until further notice, you don't say anything about this to the others." Kept under wraps, they could contain the issue until they had a solution. There was no need to create senseless panic or distract the others from every operation they had going in Judoh and in the Bottoms.
"Alright, you're the boss." Kibum lifted a hand into a mock salute. He reached into his coat pocket and passed over a diskette. "The figures Heechul's been bitching for, cleaned up like you asked. And you're welcome."
Eeteuk gave Kibum a tight smile, the younger man's flippant attitude was understandable but didn't make things any easier.
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
Banner by angelinaii
Unease planed over the room as the hollow sound of Kibum's ring tone - something classical and mechanical - yielded no answer on the other end of the line. Torn between calling again and pitching the cellular into the wall out of sheer frustration, Heechul finally settled on glaring at it and at the room at large.
"He's the man with the figures," he complained, leaning into the back of the couch with a hiss and whine. "If I talk, I'm wrong. If he talks, he's got an elephant's memory to back it up."
"Are you saying he's smarter than you, hyung?" Sungmin grinned, beating the heel of his boot against the wall as only sign of his impatience.
Heechul glanced up, narrowing his eyes. "If he were smarter than me, he'd answer his fucking phone." A smirk crossed his features as he settled back down, flipping the cell open once more and dialing. "I bet Donghae's keeping him busy. You should do something about that, you know..."
"You said yourself it wasn't urgent." Eeteuk smiled, as conciliatory as he could be.
"I'd still like to get to a decision today," the redhead complained, unshaken in his belief that Kibum should've been reachable. After all, Heechul had a busy schedule too and he always managed to be prompt. He smirked. "I know how Kangin hates not having a goal."
Sungmin snorted incredulously.
"Give them ten more minutes," Eeteuk sighed, not fooled for a moment by Heechul's bogus excuses or his insistence but knowing better than to argue with the man. "If he doesn't answer by then, we'll reschedule. The cops aren't driving us out just yet. We can afford to wait."
To Sungmin's sigh, Heechul responded by dialing again. And again.
The incessant dialing seemed to finally achieve the desired outcome, a click and the sound of someone's voice on the other end, but before Heechul could launch into his litany of complaints the line went dead. "He hung up on me. Son of a bitch hung up on me!"
There was another sigh from Sungmin's side of the room. While most people would get the impression that getting hung up on was a sign that maybe the other person didn't have time to be bothered, Heechul merely took that as a sign of challenge.
"I know you never actually pay your phone bills," Sungmin began, sliding down the wall until he was out of Heechul's sight. "But maybe you should just give up this time around."
Heechul didn't even dignify the suggestion with a glare. "I never give up."
Any response from Sungmin was drowned out by angry knocking against the door. "Open the door and stop calling my damn phone!"
"Sounds mad," Heechul had the audacity to smile victoriously. He had gotten his way, that's all that really mattered.
Sungmin was already back on his feet and opened the door. "What's going on? You're late."
Kibum greeted them with a stern expression. "We got a problem. Someone hacked Eunhyuk's legs." To Heechul in particular, he shot a glare. "Why hasn't Siwon bought you a gag yet?"
Heechul rolled his eyes and pointed at Kibum with his extended middle finger. "Someone's always hacking into Eunhyuk's legs, he's got cheap hardware. What's new about that?"
Eeteuk shot Heechul a warning glance. While it was true that most of the time when Eunhyuk's legs were hacked into or malfunctioned it didn't need mention, if Kibum said it was a problem, then it was a problem. Kibum wasn't the type to make an ordeal out of minor things unless necessary. "How big of a problem?"
"Whatever it was this time, it has Kyuhyun spooked. I've never seen him sweat before." Donghae took his usual place at Kibum's side, arms crossed defensively. "He told us not to talk about it on the phone and sent us over."
"That all he said?" Eeteuk verified, squaring his jaw in thought. Their little group, while constantly in motion, had its limits. Henry never talked, Heechul talked too much, Kibum was never late and Kyuhyun was never, ever scared. Speaking to him was usually like speaking to an all-knowing Oracle, or at least one whose spare time was spent roving the net.
"Yeah." Kibum met his gaze uneasily. "That it's fixable."
Fixable rather than fixed, Eeteuk surmised. Potentially problematic.
"He sent you all the way over here just to say that?" Heechul sneered petulantly, still quite put off from Kibum hanging up on him.
"Is Eunhyuk going to be okay?" Sungmin asked while he joined the others in the room in ignoring Heechul. The redhead would sulk, stomp and threaten to burn things but would eventually simmer down and move on to the next thing as long as they didn't indulge him. The alternative was a headache they didn't have time for.
"Kyuhyun said he should be, eventually." Far from sounding reassuring, Donghae succeeded only in tightening the knot of worry coiling in the pit of Eeteuk's stomach. Then again, Kyuhyun wouldn't lie. Partly because he probably didn't know how to.
Nodding, the eldest brought a hand to the bridge of his nose. "Did he say anything about the third party doing the hacking?"
"Only that the other guy's avatar didn't have a face, and I don't know what the fuck that means either." Donghae answered with an agitated sigh.
Kibum gave Eeteuk a look that easily transmitted that he knew what Kyuhyun meant but was neglecting to speak up to spare Donghae's feelings. "The avatar thing isn't that important, just that he'll know what to look for if the guy shows up again."
"Like a calling card." Eeteuk nodded slowly. The situation didn't seem to sound any better the more he heard about it, he didn't like the idea of knowing about a threat but not knowing where to find it. Or even know how they were supposed to deal with it.
Heechul slid back to his feet. "For fuck's sake, don't fuss. Kyuhyun'll deal with it."
Kibum bit back a reply, shaking his head vigorously. "Listen, someone put Eunhyuk completely offline. And Kyuhyun couldn't track him down and fix this in his usual fifty second delay. Something's up."
"And? What are we going to do about it?" Heechul argued, not being difficult just for the sake of it but pointing out the obvious. "Kyuhyun's the only one we've got who can handle it. If he can't, he can't. This high-tech shit isn't a priority."
Kibum's face turned red from restraining his temper, but Eeteuk was grateful that he managed to keep it in check. While Eeteuk appreciated Kibum's concern for Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun's welfare, Heechul had a point. While the majority of Judoh's population was cyberized in some way by adulthood, that sort of technology was almost impossible to come by in the Bottoms. They knew there was a malicious hacker out there, but they were ill-equipped to handle it.
"I'll pay him a visit," Eeteuk decided, walking a fine line between being dismissive and concerned. "As much as I hate to admit it, Heechul's right. We can't do anything besides wait." And find a plan B, in case fate decided to screw them over completely.
For a second, Kibum seemed about to protest. "So I'm just supposed to... go back to work?" Rules were rules and he knew to comply, even if he didn't like it, even if he disagreed.
A curt nod. "Yes and until further notice, you don't say anything about this to the others." Kept under wraps, they could contain the issue until they had a solution. There was no need to create senseless panic or distract the others from every operation they had going in Judoh and in the Bottoms.
"Alright, you're the boss." Kibum lifted a hand into a mock salute. He reached into his coat pocket and passed over a diskette. "The figures Heechul's been bitching for, cleaned up like you asked. And you're welcome."
Eeteuk gave Kibum a tight smile, the younger man's flippant attitude was understandable but didn't make things any easier.