Mission Status - Hit-and-Run
It has been about a week since Lay and Chanyeol made a visit to Himchan, and he has shared no more information as to why he and his comrades were here on Earth. But after the pair had returned back to Hong Kong after that visit, Lay pestered on Kris about how he hid important information, and ever since then, he was the one to talk to Kris every time the elder steps away from the monitors. Chanyeol noticed the way Kris seemed bugged the first couple of times-he understood that because he would be, too, if someone were going all up on his grill-but after that, everything flowed back to normal, and Lay’s routine became integrated within their daily lives.
There was one thing that kept on tugging on the corner of Chanyeol’s mind, though. Himchan had spoken in Chinese to him and Lay when they visited. While Chanyeol understood nothing about the Chinese language, Lay did, and based on the way the other reacted then, Chanyeol could assume that Himchan’s Chinese was impeccable for an alien on a first visit to Earth. Lay even voiced his opinion when they left, saying that his Chinese had a little funny accent that he couldn’t quite place but that it was almost flawless, and that did it for Chanyeol.
Chanyeol was 100% sure that they don’t teach Chinese in outer space, so his mind had come up with a couple of conclusions. One, the aliens have somehow stamped a system on Earth, a system that was unnoticeable and untraceable, even to the protector’s technology that’s far more advanced than Earth’s own. Two, the alien, maybe Himchan alone or with others, had came to Earth long ago, arriving without the detection of their systems. Or three, there was someone on Earth who is supplying information to them, possibly one of their own.
“Hello~ Chanyeol… Yah, don’t space out on me!”
Chanyeol blinked and returned his attention to the small monitor in front of him. Baekhyun had contacted him “pure out of boredom,” quote unquote, in which Chanyeol had laughed. “Sorry, Baek,” he said. “Just thinking.”
“Oh my, Chanyeol is thinking,” Baekhyun said. “But Chanyeol, you don’t think. You never think. You just do things out of instincts. Why are you thinking now? What are you thinking about? What wonder from this world had our beloved Chanyeol under its spell and made him think?”
Chanyeol laughed, feeling surprisingly a little more at ease. “Oh shut up, Baek. I do think, you know?” he replied. “Well, most of the time I do.”
“My point exactly,” Baekhyun commented. “So what has gotten our little hyperactive Happy Virus to think?”
Taking a small breath, Chanyeol recalled his visit to Baekhyun, and even though Baekhyun already got the information, he listened patiently because when Chanyeol notices something that’s important enough to make someone like him actually sit down and think, it had to be big. When Chanyeol told Baekhyun about his three hypotheses, the Australian end of the line went silent.
“Well?” Chanyeol asked after a while.
“That certainly is something to think about,” Baekhyun finally said. “I’ll tell Xiumin and the others about this. Does Suho know about Himchan’s Chinese speaking ability?”
“Probably, but Suho is Suho, Baek. He tells everyone everything, especially something as vital as this, and if he knows this, he would’ve told Kai or contacted Kris about it. So do I think he knows? I’m leaning towards no than yes. I’ll relay the information, though, just in case.”
Chanyeol heard Baekhyun hum in approval. “Wow this must’ve been bugging you out to make you this careful and observant.”
“Hey! What do you mean by that?”
Baekhyun could practically hear the pout in that sentence, and he laughed. The pair spent a little more time talking about nonsensical things-when Baekhyun will be visiting, what they think they’ll be having for dinner, whether Baekhyun has taken a shower or not-before they bade each other farewell.
Yongguk had practically camped out in front of his tracking monitors as the scanner worked to find the wavelength of the tracking chip in Himchan’s identifier. Zelo and the others had been cooperative, bringing the eldest what he needed when he needed them. They have also tried to coax Yongguk out of his cave, claiming that what he’s doing is not healthy-which technically isn’t, even if Yongguk was an alien with a superb physical and mental state. Sometimes he cooperates, sometimes he doesn’t; on the times that he does, it’s merely several minutes of fresh air before returning to what Youngjae and Jongup has called his “personal jail cell.”
But halfway through the seventh day-and just before Daehyun and Zelo proceeded to drag Yongguk out of his office again-the search finally ended as the scanner zoned in on Himchan’s tracker. The apartment soon turned into a ruckus as they tried to find an even more specific location of where Himchan is because at that point, even coordinates and altitude wasn’t enough. By the time the sun set, Yongguk, with the help of Youngjae and Jongup, had found out the exact location of where Himchan was being kept away.
“Well?” Zelo asked with impatience in his voice. He doesn’t even know why he’s impatient.
“United States,” Yongguk replied. “Remote forested area, somewhere a bit north. Himchan’s kept under some serious security complete with a signal deterring system and all, but the scanner’s able to track the small frequency that the deterring system couldn’t conceal. It’s going to be really hard to get him back.”
“Well,” Daehyun said, getting up from his position on the couch, “I guess that’s where I come in, right?”
A knowing look was shared between the five members, even Zelo, before a small chuckle could be heard from Yongguk as he remembered the wonderful catastrophe that their resident weapons and explosives expert had done during training years. “We leave in a couple of hours, boys. Let’s bring Himchan back.”
It was well into the night when Chanyeol took over Lay’s shift. Giving the shorter male a cup of tea, Chanyeol made his way into the monitoring room when the sound of ripping paper could be heard and Kai, Suho, D.O., and Lu Han crashed into their living room, clothes torn and somewhat burned, hair disarrayed and breathing labored. Lay was immediately on their side, and Chanyeol quickly woke Kris and Tao.
“What the hell happened to you guys?” Lay asked as he proceeded to check over each of the tattered members.
“Ambush,” Lu Han whispered out, leaning heavily against Tao who had approached and supported Lu Han’s almost-dead weight. “They had explosives.”
“We didn’t know they were coming,” D.O. continued. “Surveillance was disabled really quickly, we couldn’t figure out the problem…”
“It was a hit and run,” Kai finished. Out of the four, Kai seemed to be in the worst condition; he looked like he was about to collapse if someone even just barely touch him. “Himchan… they took Himchan…” After those words, he actually did collapse, but Chanyeol was fast to wrap his arm around the transporter’s waist, steadying him as he carefully sat down on the floor to let Kai rest against him.
“Suho?” Chanyeol called out.
Suho merely shook his head. “Our place is destroyed into bits. We were about to send a distress signal or at least a heads up to Hong Kong and Australia about how our security was having a malfunction, but we couldn’t. They barely gave us enough time to even realize what’s going on and…”
Lay shushed him. “You four need rest now. None of you are seriously injured, only extremely exhausted, especially Kai.”
“But Himchan…” Kai began in a hoarse whisper.
“We can all worry about him and his partners in crime after you four have an adequate amount of energy,” Kris said firmly with an undertone of concern. “Take my room. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Chanyeol, I’ll take your shift,” Tao quietly said, and when Chanyeol was about to protest, the Chinese only shook his head. “Lay needs all the help he can get.”
“Took you guys long enough,” Himchan said once they were back in the safety of the apartment in Seoul. Yongguk and the others merely shrugged and smiled.
It was all planned out very carefully; Yongguk had pulled a lot of strings so that he and the others were able to fly in near where Himchan was held. The location was strategic, and Yongguk had to admit, the carefully-concealed quarter was, as said, carefully concealed. Reflective paneling, signal-blocking equipment, top-grade surveillance… Yongguk can’t help but wonder how the household gets it supplies because of how alienated the house seemed.
It was mid-morning by the time he and the others arrived, and, not wanting to waste any more time than they already had, they started immediately. Jongup directly went to work, hacking into the quarter’s security systems, while Daehyun surveyed the area and planted enough explosives, being careful to avoid the surveillance cameras’ detection. Zelo and Youngjae worked on locating exactly where they had held Himchan, and after finding out that their missing commander was locked up underground, the plan went into motion.
Daehyun had set the explosion strong enough to bust a hole in the wall but not turn the entire quarter into rubble, and Jongup’s hacking had disabled not only the security but access to the generator and the backup generator-that was set up in case of a power outage for the quarter-that Jongup had found when he was working on bypassing the firewall. The residents of the quarter were caught off-guard, for there were merely seconds between the power outage and the explosion. Zelo, Youngjae, and Yongguk, who were patiently waiting for the perfect timing, ran in into the chaos, and soon, yells and sounds of fists whistling through the air could be heard. One of the residents shouted something about keeping the alien secure, but it was too late. Jongup had found the access to the underground halls and Himchan’s room. Since the power was out and the underground halls relied on the now-non-functioning generators in case something like this were to happen, breaking down Himchan’s holding room wasn’t all that hard. Himchan himself had broken free from the restraints that the residents had put him under.
Rushing back out, Jongup and Himchan could see the extent of the fight. Yongguk, Zelo, Youngjae, and Daehyun each had a resident to handle, and although the residents seemed smaller in stature, they make up with agility, evenly matching up to the four aliens. Jongup signed Himchan to keep silent and stay in the shadows, watching carefully as Zelo barely dodged a flying piece of the torn wall and a fist from who looked to be the youngest of the four residents.
Jongup, at that time, had thought that maybe he could bring Himchan to the safe zone without getting noticed, but that was a crushed dream when one of the residents quite literally popped out of thin air and rushed at him. Instinct told Jongup to feint left and grab the fist that was aimed at his face before twisting the hand behind his attacker’s back. But the hand that Jongup was holding disappeared from his grasp, and he realized a moment too late that his attacker was trying to take Himchan.
Of course, the tanned attacker didn’t know why Yongguk had personally picked Himchan to be a co-commander. It had nothing to do with them being childhood friends, actually.
Himchan was more than ready to anticipate the attack. Jongup knew that being cooped up in that underground room meant that Himchan needed some adrenaline release. He watched as Himchan easily took over the admittedly-lither attacker, pinning him to the ground. The attacker transported again, so Himchan momentarily wavered while the attacker appeared behind and above him, but he was not given a chance to actually attack because Himchan turned his body and kicked the attacker’s stomach hard. When the attacker fell to the side, Himchan rolled over, got up, and rejoined Jongup who immediately called for the others to regroup before sprinting for the safe zone some distance away.
Yongguk returned with his clothes and hair wet despite the fact that there are no water sources within the range of two and a half miles. Jongup noted how he seemed out of breath as well. Youngjae and Zelo were trailing behind the commander, face filled with scratches and dirt. Jongup also noted how Zelo’s left arm was hanging stiff on his side.
One would consider the actual location to the safe zone unsafe, for it was next to the generators behind the quarters. The residents had followed them around, and Himchan took hold of everyone and transported out to the image of the location in Yongguk’s mind the split second Daehyun blew up the generators.
The six crash-landed in the living room of Yongguk’s apartment, bodies piled on top of each other. For a moment, they were quiet, but then Himchan began to laugh softly, and soon enough, everyone pitched in. Getting off from each other, they proceeded to check the damage inflicted upon them. Yongguk declared that Zelo’s arm needed some re-wiring and a bit of inner-reconstruction to fully function again, but the humanoid should be as good as new within a couple of days. When asked how he got the damage, Zelo scratched the back of his neck with his other hand.
“Flying wall,” he said. “Or it might’ve been a tree, but I didn’t see it coming, really. Didn’t know walls, or trees, could fly these days…”
“They can’t,” Yongguk said. He had put Zelo’s arm in a sling until he was fully repaired. “The one with the pretty face was controlling it.”
“They all have pretty faces, though,” Youngjae muttered, earning looks from the other members. Youngjae merely shrugged. “I’m telling the truth; don’t look at me like that.”
“I was talking about the one with the golden blonde hair,” Yongguk continued. “Telekinesis.”
“Telecinesi,” Himchan said. “I overheard them talking some time ago. His name is Telecinesi.”
The room was silent for a moment before Jongup smirked. “What else have you found out, commander?”
“The burns weren’t serious, but they’re all exhausted. They need at least two days to recuperate, but knowing them-especially Jongin-they would be up and about by tomorrow,” Lay said through the video conference.
Xiumin sighed in relief when he heard the news. It was around 5 in the morning when he received the distress signal that disappeared as soon as it arrived. He didn’t want to jump into any conclusions; maybe it was accidentally pressed or something. But when Lay had called in from Hong Kong informing him of what happened, Xiumin had become more alert. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“For the moment, I don’t think so,” Lay replied. “Just tell the others to be ready. Kris wants to have a practice session within the week. When it will be, we don’t know yet. He said he’ll talk about it with Suho first.”
“Where would it be?”
Xiumin could hear Lay laugh in Hong Kong. “Knowing Kris, where do you think it will be?”
Oh, Xiumin thought. “That’s just fantastic. Why can’t I choose a place once in a while? I would’ve picked Hawaii or Greenland or something, maybe even Tibet.”
“Well we can’t all have things the way we want it to be. If we do, protectors won’t have a world to protect to begin with. Anyways, I hope you don’t mind the cold.”
“Honey, snow has been with me since as young as I can remember. Sehun’s the one who normally complains, remember?”
Lay laughed again. “Just tell him that Lu Han will be waiting for him in Russia. That’ll cheer him up like it always does.”
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A/N: I'm really sorry I haven't updated in such a long time (a month, if I'm not mistaken). School's catching up on me, and I'm surprised I haven't torn my hair out yet. If any of you are still here and reading this, I want to give you all cookies and hugs and a big thank you. Also, The only places that you can find this fic is here, my AFF account (same username), and a translated version (in Thai) on B.A.P EXO Thailand fanbase. So if by any chance you see this floating somewhere else or translated into another language other than mentioned above, please do notify me (preferably through tumblr). Thank you, and have a good day~