Silverline (4/?)
Title: Silverline
Pairing: N/Minah
Rating: PG-13, eventual NC-17 (violence, porn)
Genre: AU, scifi, crossover, romance, angst
Summary: One of the USF’s best-kept secrets is The Six: an elite force of cybernetic supersoldiers who carry out the USF’s most dangerous covert missions. But it won’t stay secret for long.
Notes: This is the first in a series of VIXX/Girl’s Day crossover cyborg AU stories (with appearances of idols from various other groups I like). These stories are inspired by medieval legends adapted to a space western setting. This installment is loosely based upon Robin Hood. And yes, I was totally on this before “Error."
Chapter 4: Two Days
Darnantes was the least developed of all the terraformed moons around Logres. It never really became a destination for anyone, since it was so remote, and most colonists preferred the larger and more temperate moons like Tesseline and Calistra. Since Darnantes was located on the outer edge of the habitable zone around Logres, it tended to be cooler than the other moons, even with the terraforming.
The remoteness of Darnantes made it an ideal spot for individuals on the run from the law-or who just really liked their privacy-to hide out. It would take a couple of days to make the journey to the moon from Tesseline. While the Archer was capable of faster-than-light travel, it was seldom used within star systems, since it required finding hyperspace “jump points” and was generally rough on smaller vessels, particularly older ones like the Archer.
After the meeting in the mess hall, Minah had sent Hakyeon to Raina to be repaired. When he awoke, Minah showed him to his quarters, one of the unoccupied rooms on the ship-the Archer had initially been designed for the larger crew than the one it currently held. It was the nearest one to the rooms where the rest of the crew stayed, and it seemed Lizzy had used it to store a bunch of random knickknacks and novelty objects she’d collected during their travels.
“Sorry about that,” Minah said awkwardly. “I hadn’t realized she’d been using the room for her junk.”
“It’s fine,” he assured her. “I’d always wanted a twentieth-century lamp shaped like a hula girl.”
“Really?” Minah asked, then felt foolish upon realizing he was clearly joking. She’d been feeling more awkward than ever around him since the encounter in the mess hall. She wished there was some way she could’ve eased the blow of finding out his family’s fate, even though she knew there really was none. If anything, it was better he find it out from someone familiar, even if he didn’t remember her.
“It’s kind of nice,” he said. “It feels kind of homey. Like someone lives here.”
She realized he hadn’t had any personal effects with him, nothing that couldn’t be contained in a small shoulder bag. She supposed that whoever he worked for didn’t want any identifying details on him. She hadn’t seen the interior of his ship, but it must have been terribly stark and sterile.
“Well… I guess I’ll let you get some rest.”
“Minah, I’ve been shut down for two hours. I’ve rested. You want to show me where the bathroom is? I could use a shower.”
“Oh. Right. Of course.” She led him out of the room and into the nearest bathroom, across the hall. It was equipped with three shower stalls and three toilets. It was also strewn with the personal effects of the ship’s female crew members, and always seemed to smell vaguely of flowers.
“It’s the only bathroom in this section,” she said, apologetically. “There’s one down the other hall, if you don’t want to share with us.”
“As long as you don’t mind sharing with me.” He regarded her archly. “Isn’t someone supposed to baby-sit me at all times, anyway?”
Minah sighed. “Don’t even worry about it. I trust you.”
“But do the others?”
It was a good point. The magnitude of the words Minah had uttered-that she implicitly trusted Hakyeon after only a day, when she had no real reason to, even after he’d attacked her not knowing who she was (although to be fair, she did have a phase pistol pointed at him). But there were moments-such clear, vivid moments-when the young man she’d known all those years ago emerged. Despite everything he’d been through, cyborg!Hakyeon had still retained that quick wit and irreverent sense of humor, even if there was now a darkness in him that hadn’t been there before, one she was not quite sure she could ever reach.
“No,” she admitted. “Should I get Hyeri and her laser pulse rifle?”
“Well, as much as I enjoy being held at gunpoint, why not you? You’re already here.” He flashed a crooked smile. “I’ve already disrobed in front of one woman on this ship… might as well make it two.”
Oh, my God. Minah felt an odd hot sensation slide through her, and hoped her face didn’t betray her thoughts.
Completely oblivious to her discomfort (or so it seemed), Hakyeon casually stripped off his black t-shirt and hung it on the hook outside the nearest stall. Minah sucked in a breath, completely not expecting to see what she did. She’d seen him shirtless before, in their youth, on hot summer days when he and Taekwoon had gone swimming in the river. But it was different now. His back was broader, stronger, rippling with muscle that hadn’t been there before. Jagged burn scars slashed across the otherwise smooth skin, ending where his mechanical shoulder joined his body. She hadn’t been expecting that. She reasoned that he must have been through something horrible in the war, to make it necessary to be turned into a cyborg to save his life. But seeing it was another matter altogether.
He turned to face her. Like his back, his chest and abdomen were riddled with burn scars. Yet even so, his body was so lean and graceful, muscular and athletic. He was truly the perfect machine.
“You have a towel I could use?”
She swallowed, hoping he hadn’t seen her staring. “Yeah… just a minute.”
Hoping to hide her flushed face, Minah quickly turned and grabbed a clean towel from the shelves next to the shower stalls. She passed it to him.
“I don’t know what happened to me,” he said. “Why I have these scars. The doc just told me I’m probably only alive because I’m half machine.”
“Well, I’m glad you are. Alive,” she blurted out. “I hope you don’t think I was like… grossed out or anything. I’m not. I guess I just… I was surprised is all.”
“I didn’t think you were,” he assured her. “Grossed out, I mean. Though I wouldn’t blame you if you were.”
“I’m not,” Minah said firmly.
“Good to know.” He reached for the button on the waistband of his pants, and Minah quickly whirled around. Was he seriously going to just drop his pants in front of her?
Fortunately, he didn’t say anything to her, no irreverent jokes, for which she was grateful. Mostly because her mind was racing along too quickly to concentrate on trying to play it cool. Trying not to make him feel weird or awkward, but who was she kidding? She was baby-sitting a grown man who happened to be half-machine whom she hadn’t seen in years, whom she had thought dead, who remembered nothing of her or anyone else in his life. Who was most likely on the run from some very scary and powerful people.
Yet here she was blushing like a teenager because in the midst of all this, her teenage crush decided to resurface and rear its ugly head.
She heard him step into the shower stall and turn on the water, and her shoulders sagged with relief. Just get through the next few days, she reminded herself. Hopefully, he’d get his memories back, and they would know who he worked for, if he knew whether her father and brother were alive and where to find them. They could figure out where to go from there.
Two days never felt like such a long time.
--
For the remainder of the trip to Darnantes, Minah managed to foist off Hakyeon-sitting onto other crew members, unless there were multiple people present. She wasn’t sure why she was studiously avoiding being alone with Hakyeon, if he noticed, or if anyone else did (they probably did. Few things got by her crew). Minah told herself it was for her to get her head straight. She had to be more objective. She had to remind herself that this man was not the same one she’d known in her youth, and there were things about him that she didn’t know-and he didn’t even know (or at least, couldn’t remember).
She wasn’t the only one who was frustrated. The next day, she swung by the ship’s training room, where the sound of repeated blows to the punching bag distracted her. Nobody ever used the punching bag except Hyeri sometimes, when the mechanic had a surplus of energy or aggression she needed to release, but she was so tiny that she didn’t make nearly the amount of noise this person was making. Against her better judgment, Minah peered through the door into the room.
Lizzy was seated on the pommel horse, chin in her hands, gazing upon the spectacle with a beatific expression. Hakyeon, clad in drawstring pants and a black singlet that clung to every curve and contour of his torso, was letting the punching bag have it. Sweat had soaked the the singlet and gleamed upon his exposed skin, sliding in rivulets from sweaty tendrils of hair at the nape of his neck.
Oh, God.
“Minah!” Lizzy called gaily, noticing her captain hovering in the doorway. “You come to work out?”
“Uhhhh… who’s flying the ship?”
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “It’s practically autopilot from here to Darnantes. Nana’s holding down the fort.” Usually, on long journeys when Lizzy needed a break from piloting, that was the case.
Hakyeon paused in his punishment of the punching bag to swivel in Minah’s direction. He grabbed the water bottle sitting on the pommel horse next to Lizzy and took a long swig, tilting his head back to allow a full view of his long neck and Adam’s apple. Droplets of sweat slid down his neck to his collarbones, then disappeared at the neckline of the singlet. Lizzy watched with open appreciation, while Minah was trying very hard not to.
“Are you OK to be training that hard?” she asked him. “You know… after the repairs and whatnot?”
He set down the water bottle and picked up the towel lying next to it. “You can relax, captain. The doc gave me the go-ahead.”
Captain. It felt strange to hear him call her that. “You don’t have to call me captain. I’m not your superior officer.”
He shrugged. “I think it suits you.”
“So you working out or taking over cyborg-sitting detail?” Lizzy wanted to know. “Because if you want to work out, I’m fine here.”
“I’m sure you are,” said Minah, somewhat dryly, “but I think it’s time for you to get back to the pilot seat. I can take it from here.”
Lizzy, looking somewhat disappointed, hopped down from the pommel horse. “Aye aye, captain. Wouldn’t want to interfere with an intense workout between you two.”
“Lizzy!”
With an insouciant smile, the pilot departed the training room.
Minah turned to Hakyeon with an apologetic impression. “Sorry about that. She’s very… her.”
“She’s quite the character,” Hakyeon agreed. “But at least she’s not pointing a weapon at me all the time.”
“I’m sorry for that, too.”
“Don’t worry about,” he assured her. “I understand why your crew doesn’t trust me. I’m not sure I trust me, either.”
“You’ve given us no reason not to trust you.”
“So far,” he said. “But what happens if I lose control again like I did with the androids? I attacked you. I could have hurt you.”
“But you didn’t,” she reminded him. “And you stopped as soon as I recognized you.”
“But what if you hadn’t?”
“I attacked you first,” she pointed out. “You were defending yourself. Besides, Hyeri was giving as good as she got with that wrench.”
That brought a hint of a smile to his face, but it quickly faded. “One thing I haven’t forgotten is how to fight. It’s like an instinct. Before I lost my memories, I was a soldier. I was trained to fight. To kill.”
“So what?” she countered. “You’re not a soldier now. I’m not afraid of you.”
“Maybe you should be.”
“Well, I’m not,” she said stubbornly. “I don’t know what we’ll find at Darnantes, but I’m glad you’re with us.”
“That makes one of you,” he joked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think Lizzy enjoys your presence. In her own way. And Raina is fascinated by your tech.”
That brought a wry, genuine smile to his face. “You women only want me for my body.”
To Minah’s horror, she felt warmth creep into her cheeks. She quickly ducked her head in hopes of concealing it from him. “I don’t.”
“I’m not sure if I should be flattered by that or not.”
“Stop, it was a compliment.” This conversation was taking a dangerous turn and she had to put a stop to it immediately. “I just meant… I care about you. Even if you don’t remember me, I know there’s good in you. I see it.”
The silence stretched out for a beat, as they surveyed each other, and there was a heat in his gaze that left her feeling equal parts excited and unsettled. It was definitely time to end this conversation.
“I… I’ll be… yeah.” She hastily departed for the rack of weights in the corner.
“Let me know if you need a spot!” he called after her.
“I will.”
There was no way she was going to call on him for a spot.
---
Chapter 5
Pairing: N/Minah
Rating: PG-13, eventual NC-17 (violence, porn)
Genre: AU, scifi, crossover, romance, angst
Summary: One of the USF’s best-kept secrets is The Six: an elite force of cybernetic supersoldiers who carry out the USF’s most dangerous covert missions. But it won’t stay secret for long.
Notes: This is the first in a series of VIXX/Girl’s Day crossover cyborg AU stories (with appearances of idols from various other groups I like). These stories are inspired by medieval legends adapted to a space western setting. This installment is loosely based upon Robin Hood. And yes, I was totally on this before “Error."
Chapter 4: Two Days
Darnantes was the least developed of all the terraformed moons around Logres. It never really became a destination for anyone, since it was so remote, and most colonists preferred the larger and more temperate moons like Tesseline and Calistra. Since Darnantes was located on the outer edge of the habitable zone around Logres, it tended to be cooler than the other moons, even with the terraforming.
The remoteness of Darnantes made it an ideal spot for individuals on the run from the law-or who just really liked their privacy-to hide out. It would take a couple of days to make the journey to the moon from Tesseline. While the Archer was capable of faster-than-light travel, it was seldom used within star systems, since it required finding hyperspace “jump points” and was generally rough on smaller vessels, particularly older ones like the Archer.
After the meeting in the mess hall, Minah had sent Hakyeon to Raina to be repaired. When he awoke, Minah showed him to his quarters, one of the unoccupied rooms on the ship-the Archer had initially been designed for the larger crew than the one it currently held. It was the nearest one to the rooms where the rest of the crew stayed, and it seemed Lizzy had used it to store a bunch of random knickknacks and novelty objects she’d collected during their travels.
“Sorry about that,” Minah said awkwardly. “I hadn’t realized she’d been using the room for her junk.”
“It’s fine,” he assured her. “I’d always wanted a twentieth-century lamp shaped like a hula girl.”
“Really?” Minah asked, then felt foolish upon realizing he was clearly joking. She’d been feeling more awkward than ever around him since the encounter in the mess hall. She wished there was some way she could’ve eased the blow of finding out his family’s fate, even though she knew there really was none. If anything, it was better he find it out from someone familiar, even if he didn’t remember her.
“It’s kind of nice,” he said. “It feels kind of homey. Like someone lives here.”
She realized he hadn’t had any personal effects with him, nothing that couldn’t be contained in a small shoulder bag. She supposed that whoever he worked for didn’t want any identifying details on him. She hadn’t seen the interior of his ship, but it must have been terribly stark and sterile.
“Well… I guess I’ll let you get some rest.”
“Minah, I’ve been shut down for two hours. I’ve rested. You want to show me where the bathroom is? I could use a shower.”
“Oh. Right. Of course.” She led him out of the room and into the nearest bathroom, across the hall. It was equipped with three shower stalls and three toilets. It was also strewn with the personal effects of the ship’s female crew members, and always seemed to smell vaguely of flowers.
“It’s the only bathroom in this section,” she said, apologetically. “There’s one down the other hall, if you don’t want to share with us.”
“As long as you don’t mind sharing with me.” He regarded her archly. “Isn’t someone supposed to baby-sit me at all times, anyway?”
Minah sighed. “Don’t even worry about it. I trust you.”
“But do the others?”
It was a good point. The magnitude of the words Minah had uttered-that she implicitly trusted Hakyeon after only a day, when she had no real reason to, even after he’d attacked her not knowing who she was (although to be fair, she did have a phase pistol pointed at him). But there were moments-such clear, vivid moments-when the young man she’d known all those years ago emerged. Despite everything he’d been through, cyborg!Hakyeon had still retained that quick wit and irreverent sense of humor, even if there was now a darkness in him that hadn’t been there before, one she was not quite sure she could ever reach.
“No,” she admitted. “Should I get Hyeri and her laser pulse rifle?”
“Well, as much as I enjoy being held at gunpoint, why not you? You’re already here.” He flashed a crooked smile. “I’ve already disrobed in front of one woman on this ship… might as well make it two.”
Oh, my God. Minah felt an odd hot sensation slide through her, and hoped her face didn’t betray her thoughts.
Completely oblivious to her discomfort (or so it seemed), Hakyeon casually stripped off his black t-shirt and hung it on the hook outside the nearest stall. Minah sucked in a breath, completely not expecting to see what she did. She’d seen him shirtless before, in their youth, on hot summer days when he and Taekwoon had gone swimming in the river. But it was different now. His back was broader, stronger, rippling with muscle that hadn’t been there before. Jagged burn scars slashed across the otherwise smooth skin, ending where his mechanical shoulder joined his body. She hadn’t been expecting that. She reasoned that he must have been through something horrible in the war, to make it necessary to be turned into a cyborg to save his life. But seeing it was another matter altogether.
He turned to face her. Like his back, his chest and abdomen were riddled with burn scars. Yet even so, his body was so lean and graceful, muscular and athletic. He was truly the perfect machine.
“You have a towel I could use?”
She swallowed, hoping he hadn’t seen her staring. “Yeah… just a minute.”
Hoping to hide her flushed face, Minah quickly turned and grabbed a clean towel from the shelves next to the shower stalls. She passed it to him.
“I don’t know what happened to me,” he said. “Why I have these scars. The doc just told me I’m probably only alive because I’m half machine.”
“Well, I’m glad you are. Alive,” she blurted out. “I hope you don’t think I was like… grossed out or anything. I’m not. I guess I just… I was surprised is all.”
“I didn’t think you were,” he assured her. “Grossed out, I mean. Though I wouldn’t blame you if you were.”
“I’m not,” Minah said firmly.
“Good to know.” He reached for the button on the waistband of his pants, and Minah quickly whirled around. Was he seriously going to just drop his pants in front of her?
Fortunately, he didn’t say anything to her, no irreverent jokes, for which she was grateful. Mostly because her mind was racing along too quickly to concentrate on trying to play it cool. Trying not to make him feel weird or awkward, but who was she kidding? She was baby-sitting a grown man who happened to be half-machine whom she hadn’t seen in years, whom she had thought dead, who remembered nothing of her or anyone else in his life. Who was most likely on the run from some very scary and powerful people.
Yet here she was blushing like a teenager because in the midst of all this, her teenage crush decided to resurface and rear its ugly head.
She heard him step into the shower stall and turn on the water, and her shoulders sagged with relief. Just get through the next few days, she reminded herself. Hopefully, he’d get his memories back, and they would know who he worked for, if he knew whether her father and brother were alive and where to find them. They could figure out where to go from there.
Two days never felt like such a long time.
--
For the remainder of the trip to Darnantes, Minah managed to foist off Hakyeon-sitting onto other crew members, unless there were multiple people present. She wasn’t sure why she was studiously avoiding being alone with Hakyeon, if he noticed, or if anyone else did (they probably did. Few things got by her crew). Minah told herself it was for her to get her head straight. She had to be more objective. She had to remind herself that this man was not the same one she’d known in her youth, and there were things about him that she didn’t know-and he didn’t even know (or at least, couldn’t remember).
She wasn’t the only one who was frustrated. The next day, she swung by the ship’s training room, where the sound of repeated blows to the punching bag distracted her. Nobody ever used the punching bag except Hyeri sometimes, when the mechanic had a surplus of energy or aggression she needed to release, but she was so tiny that she didn’t make nearly the amount of noise this person was making. Against her better judgment, Minah peered through the door into the room.
Lizzy was seated on the pommel horse, chin in her hands, gazing upon the spectacle with a beatific expression. Hakyeon, clad in drawstring pants and a black singlet that clung to every curve and contour of his torso, was letting the punching bag have it. Sweat had soaked the the singlet and gleamed upon his exposed skin, sliding in rivulets from sweaty tendrils of hair at the nape of his neck.
Oh, God.
“Minah!” Lizzy called gaily, noticing her captain hovering in the doorway. “You come to work out?”
“Uhhhh… who’s flying the ship?”
Lizzy rolled her eyes. “It’s practically autopilot from here to Darnantes. Nana’s holding down the fort.” Usually, on long journeys when Lizzy needed a break from piloting, that was the case.
Hakyeon paused in his punishment of the punching bag to swivel in Minah’s direction. He grabbed the water bottle sitting on the pommel horse next to Lizzy and took a long swig, tilting his head back to allow a full view of his long neck and Adam’s apple. Droplets of sweat slid down his neck to his collarbones, then disappeared at the neckline of the singlet. Lizzy watched with open appreciation, while Minah was trying very hard not to.
“Are you OK to be training that hard?” she asked him. “You know… after the repairs and whatnot?”
He set down the water bottle and picked up the towel lying next to it. “You can relax, captain. The doc gave me the go-ahead.”
Captain. It felt strange to hear him call her that. “You don’t have to call me captain. I’m not your superior officer.”
He shrugged. “I think it suits you.”
“So you working out or taking over cyborg-sitting detail?” Lizzy wanted to know. “Because if you want to work out, I’m fine here.”
“I’m sure you are,” said Minah, somewhat dryly, “but I think it’s time for you to get back to the pilot seat. I can take it from here.”
Lizzy, looking somewhat disappointed, hopped down from the pommel horse. “Aye aye, captain. Wouldn’t want to interfere with an intense workout between you two.”
“Lizzy!”
With an insouciant smile, the pilot departed the training room.
Minah turned to Hakyeon with an apologetic impression. “Sorry about that. She’s very… her.”
“She’s quite the character,” Hakyeon agreed. “But at least she’s not pointing a weapon at me all the time.”
“I’m sorry for that, too.”
“Don’t worry about,” he assured her. “I understand why your crew doesn’t trust me. I’m not sure I trust me, either.”
“You’ve given us no reason not to trust you.”
“So far,” he said. “But what happens if I lose control again like I did with the androids? I attacked you. I could have hurt you.”
“But you didn’t,” she reminded him. “And you stopped as soon as I recognized you.”
“But what if you hadn’t?”
“I attacked you first,” she pointed out. “You were defending yourself. Besides, Hyeri was giving as good as she got with that wrench.”
That brought a hint of a smile to his face, but it quickly faded. “One thing I haven’t forgotten is how to fight. It’s like an instinct. Before I lost my memories, I was a soldier. I was trained to fight. To kill.”
“So what?” she countered. “You’re not a soldier now. I’m not afraid of you.”
“Maybe you should be.”
“Well, I’m not,” she said stubbornly. “I don’t know what we’ll find at Darnantes, but I’m glad you’re with us.”
“That makes one of you,” he joked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think Lizzy enjoys your presence. In her own way. And Raina is fascinated by your tech.”
That brought a wry, genuine smile to his face. “You women only want me for my body.”
To Minah’s horror, she felt warmth creep into her cheeks. She quickly ducked her head in hopes of concealing it from him. “I don’t.”
“I’m not sure if I should be flattered by that or not.”
“Stop, it was a compliment.” This conversation was taking a dangerous turn and she had to put a stop to it immediately. “I just meant… I care about you. Even if you don’t remember me, I know there’s good in you. I see it.”
The silence stretched out for a beat, as they surveyed each other, and there was a heat in his gaze that left her feeling equal parts excited and unsettled. It was definitely time to end this conversation.
“I… I’ll be… yeah.” She hastily departed for the rack of weights in the corner.
“Let me know if you need a spot!” he called after her.
“I will.”
There was no way she was going to call on him for a spot.
---
Chapter 5