When Jordan came to, she was in a car. Or so she thought. Through the leftover haze, she could feel slight padding underneath her thighs and firm but pliant resistance against the back of her head. She couldn’t be sure, because something had been pulled over her head. It was thick and dark, letting in absolutely no light.

Jordan couldn’t see, but she could hear. She could hear the light squeak of the driver hitting the breaks, the labored breathing of armored guards, and hum of tires against asphalt.

    It continued for hours. Due to exhaustion or leftover anaesthetic, Jordan couldn’t keep her eyelids open, and let herself drift. Fading in and out of consciousness, she heard the occasional snippet of conversation, a burst of static from a radio. Jordan vicariously tilted right and left as the car veered around turns.

    “Werewolf has arrived at base, over.” Despite the haze, Jordan’s ears perked at the radio transmission. Was ‘base’ YG research? Was he trapped in a van, going to who-knows-where?

    “Arrival in T minus 15 minutes.” A man voiced somewhere to her right. Jordan immediately straightened at the words, shook the sleep out of her system, and squared her shoulders. Whatever she was going to face next, she had to be ready. Jordan shifted her facial muscles around, carefully wiping it blank of all emotion. Her expressionless facade, one she hadn’t used in months, fell back onto her face despite the bag over her head.

    The car slowed and made more turns. One right, quickly followed by two lefts. Jordan guessed that they were in a parking lot of somewhere with small streets. They were the only plausible guesses for tight turns and low speed.

Jordan, for once, had no idea what was coming next. Even though she’d guessed at the experiment months ago, she had never thought this far forward. She lurched forward, seat belt digging into her chest, as the driver hit the brakes.

    Eyes flitting back in forth in the darkness, Jordan stayed alert as she heard the engine quiet and then stop completely. The hard sound of a slamming car door startled her in her seat. Hard fingers dug into her arm, yanking her from the car. A freezing breeze rifled against her skin, raising goosebumps. Jordan hissed as the worn toe of her shoe scuffed against something rough, as something prickly scratched at her ankle. Her pain went unnoticed by the guards, who dragged her further forwards.

    What she had hit was a stair, and Jordan tripped further as she attempted to walk up a small flight of steps. She heard the click of keys and the squeak of a hinge. A million thoughts flew through her mind. Was she back in prison? She wasn’t sure. The scent wasn’t the same. She was shoved forward, and tripped once again by what she assumed was a doorway.

    She tried to gather her bearings and was immediately lost. She wasn’t in the experiment room. There wasn’t the smell of sanitized floors, or the ever-present sting of acetone in the air. She wasn’t in prison. There was no echo of cell doors, no clinking of chains, no screams or grunts of disgruntled prisoners.

    Instead, she smelled the mild resin of new furniture, heard the quiet humming of appliances, and felt the stiff give of wood floors. The guards kept pushing her forwards, hands at her shoulders. Jordan was momentarily distracted by the smoothness of the floor beneath her feet, by the stillness of the air.

    With no warning, the bag was yanked off of her head, and Jordan’s vision was splattered with bright light. When her eyesight cleared, she was greeted with four faces she never wanted to see again.

    The research team sat around a kitchen table, legs crossed, faces relaxed.

    “Oh look,” Jordan deadpanned, “You lot haven’t changed.” She gestured to the scene in front of her. “Carrothead is still a carrot, Aquamarine’s roots are growing back in,”Jordan pointed at DaeSung and Youngbae, “You still aren’t wearing a shirt, and you still can’t see .”

    “As much as we appreciate your humor, Jordan, we don’t have much time this morning.” Carrothead said with a slight smile. “But I’m going to take a moment to congratulate you, Jordan. You have made it to Stage 3.”

    “Yay. Let’s crack open a bottle of champagne.” Jordan intoned. “I’m not legal, but I’m sure you guys will let it pass.” She refused to let her eyes wander from the men in front her. JiYong rolled his eyes, ignored her, and continued.

    “This,” he extended his arms out to both sides, “is where you will be for the rest of the experiment.” Jordan let her eyes flit around her surroundings. Her eyebrows raised as the sight soaked in.

    A house.

    She tried to not let that get to her.

    “And?” She droned, fighting to keep her voice from trembling.

    “Everything in this house is yours.” DaeSung added, rising to walk towards the kitchen counter. He picked up a smartphone from the smooth granite, pressing it into Jordan’s unresponsive fingers. “This is your phone. We’ll use this to contact you on occasion, and you will be able to contact us if you have questions. This world has changed, and assimilating back into society can be difficult after prison. Contacting us won’t change things; this point in the experiment is more flexible, especially considering no one has ever gotten this far.” Daesung picked up another item from the countertop. “And, this,” he grinned, “Is your credit card. There’s no limit, but take it easy, we aren’t billionaires. There’s a car in the garage, you’re going to need it. There’s a laptop in your bedroom.” Jordan quirked an eyebrow at the last statement.

    “Brave of you.” She sniped. The team leader rolled his eyes.

    “Jordan, the point of this part of the experiment is to see if Chen, with your help, will be able to adapt to human conditions.” He pointed at her. “And you need to see if you can reintegrate back into human society.” He stood, the others following the movement, and glanced around the house. “We’ve furnished it for you, I hope you like our interior decorating. The fridge is fully stocked for now, but you’re going to need to go out and buy things later. As for utilities and stuff, we’ll take care of that. You’ll find clothes and everything else that you need upstairs. Any questions?” He glanced at the girl standing frozen in front of them.

    “What’s the catch?” Her stone eyes glared at him. “You give me a car, a laptop, a house. Who’s to say I hack your system, drive off, and you never see me again?” JiYong smirked.

    “We see and hear your every move.” He pointed to corners of the ceiling. “Cameras in every room. No blind spots, and we’re prepared for a potential hack. If you drive anywhere, you’re followed. Every move you make is tracked. Next question.”

    “Where’s Chen?”

    “He’ll arrive tomorrow. We’re conducting some tests.” JiYong skated over the subject smoothly and began making his way towards the front door. The rest of the team followed him.

    “Quick heads up.” Jordan glanced up at the deep voice of the blue-haired researcher. “The full moon is coming up.” She looked away again.

    “Jordan!” Yet another voice dragged her attention back to the front door. It was the short one who never wore a shirt. “You’re doing great. You’re nearly at the end, okay?” Jordan was surprised by the warmth in his tone. She didn’t have time to question it, however, as the five scientists disappeared through the door. A minute later, the sound of tires receded into the distance.

    Once she knew that she was alone, Jordan felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She took in the house, heart in . Her vision flitted over the beige paint of the walls and the wooden furniture. She flexed her toes, her socks sliding easily along the hardwood floors. Her legs led her towards the kitchen counter. Jordan brushed her fingertips against the stainless steel appliances and the smooth granite countertops.

To the right of the kitchen was a living room, decorated in warm reds and golds, complete with a flat screen and a velvety couch. Jordan walked over and reverently brushed her fingers against the cloth. She wondered when was the last time she had touched something so soft. She lifted a pillow and pressed it gently to her chest. She released a shuddering breath into it, feeling tears swell behind her eyelids.

When was the last time she had been in a home?

The last time she’d been in a home, her parents had been alive. The last time she’d been in a home, she had been blissfully unaware of the consequences of her future actions.

    After wandering through the first floor, Jordan walked up the staircase. She pushed open doors as she meandered through the second floor. The first room was a bedroom, furnished in neutral shades. The closet was full of men’s clothes. She guessed that the room was to be Chen’s. She wasn’t sure if Chen was going to sleep in the bed, but that wasn’t her problem. A bathroom was attached, which led to a second bedroom. Hers. A couple of jackets hung on hooks on the back of the door, and the aforementioned laptop sat on a bedside table.

    She lost any curiosity regarding other rooms, and instead the shower. The prospect of hot water distracted her from anything else. Jordan gave a gratified sigh as the water turned hot to the touch, stripped, leaving her clothes a ragged pile on the floor, and stepped into the spray. She scrubbed away months of dust and dirt, letting the tension and stress flow with the water down the drain.

    After an hour, she stepped out, the cold air raising goosebumps on her skin. Jordan reached for a towel, wrapped it around herself, and tentatively stepped into her room. She opened the chest of drawers across from the bed and brushed her hands against the warm fabrics, pulling out whatever felt softest to her. Once she changed, she tossed the towel over a hook on the door and slipped between the covers of the bed. She smoothed out the covers on and around her, not daring to put a wrinkle on the flawless surface. She sank into the mattress, letting the tension in her shoulders fade away.

    She let herself sleep. Who knew what tomorrow would bring.

    At their lab, Big Bang regarded the werewolf currently strapped onto the lab table. An IV was hooked into Chen’s vein, various needles protruding from his wrists and inner arms, and a tube shoved down his throat, forcing his jaw agape.

    “YoungBae, are you recording?” JiYong questioned. YoungBae nodded in response, camera in hand. “Then let’s get started.

    “The date is: December 31, 2025. Location: Lab 11 at YG Research. Researchers: Kwon JiYong, T.O.P., Dong YoungBae, and Kang DaeSung. Subject: Werewolf 11 of the EXO pack. Beta. Name: Chen. At this point we have conducted a routine physical to inspect the werewolf’s health. We will now present our results.

    “Blood samples indicate regular werewolf red blood cell counts. Blood pressure, respiration rate, temperature, and weight are all normal. Muscle tone and reflexes are in perfect order. Only potential ailment is tachycardia. Reason is unknown. Heart rate is 100 beats per minute instead of the expected 40 beats per minute. Tests were conducted to check the integrity of the heart. There was no damage to heart tissue nor abnormal electrical pathways in the heart. There were no indicators of hypothyroidism. Blood tests eliminated potential for anemia. Therefore, we can only conclude that his abnormally fast heart rate is caused by an outside source of stress that has yet to be determined.” JiYong ended his spiel, waiting for YoungBae’s signal to end. After the signal was given, JiYong let his shoulder’s slump.

    “Why does he have such a fast heart rate?” He sighed. “We’ve ruled everything out. If it’s stress, it isn’t due to his capture, he’s been here before. The anaesthetic would cause his heart rate to decrease, not increase. What other sources of stress could there be?”

    “I may have something. It's nowhere near a fully fledged idea, that’s why I didn't say anything earlier.” DaeSung tentatively voiced. JiYong nodded at him to continue. Daesung cleared his throat. “Well, if you think about it, Chen has undergone many changes in this experiment. We’ve taken away Chen’s pack, changed his environment, basically everything. However, recently, one thing has remained constant. But right now, his one constant, his new attachment, is gone. For a werewolf, whose entire social foundation is based on emotional attachment, that would be a massive, possible decapitating problem. Don’t you think?”

    Jordan’s eyelids snapped open to the crashing of a door downstairs. Adrenaline pumping through her veins, she shot out of bed, barreling towards the stairs. The unwelcome visitors glanced up at the sound of her pounding footsteps, but did nothing.

Four armored guards stood in the foyer. The two in front lugged an unconscious Chen through the doorway while the other two stood guard. Once inside the house, they dumped Chen onto the floor. Jordan was the only one who flinched at the resounding crack his head made against the floorboards.

“Delivery made.” One guard muttered. He nodded to the others, and the four marched out the door. Jordan sprinted down the stairs, slamming the door shut behind them, before turning her attention to the werewolf.

“Chen?” She shook him gently. He didn’t respond. Jordan looked him over, checking for wounds. His skin held an unhealthy pallor, his breaths were rapid and shallow. There were marks of pin pricks along his wrists and the insides of his elbows. Jordan winced at the red and purple bruising she found around each mark.

Jordan wasn’t going to let the werewolf stay splayed out on her foyer. Carefully, she slipped her arms under his armpits and dragged him through the house into the living room. She wasn’t sure if Chen had gotten lighter or if she had gotten stronger. This seemed slightly easier than the last time she’d dragged him somewhere. She heaved him onto the couch with a grunt, panting with the effort. She only meant slightly easier. Jordan glanced again at Chen before heaving herself to her feet.

“First-aid kit...” She muttered. She glanced around the room, “you guys wouldn’t happen to have a first aid kit somewhere, would you?” She realized that they didn’t have a way to reply to her, so she stopped, feeling idiotic. She rifled through the kitchen cabinets before finally finding the kit later in the bathroom.

Jordan took alcohol wipes and gently disinfected Chen’s inner arms. Chen shifted at the sting. Jordan subconsciously rifled her fingers through his hair in hopes of soothing him a little. Once she finished, she wrapped up his arms in gauze and left him to rest, moving back upstairs.

It was odd, being “human” again. She went through a routine that was once familiar, and now seemed alien. She brushed her teeth with a toothbrush, had a sink to wash her face in, had clean clothes to wear. She moved through what was now her bedroom, picking up her laptop, and moving back downstairs into her living room.

Chen still hadn't woken up. Jordan sat back down next to his feet, opening up the laptop. It was minimal, only equipped with Internet. Jordan cracked her knuckles with a smirk. Internet and an IP address were all she needed.

Big Bang had begun settling into their new lab. In an effort to stay in close proximity to the house, they had found an apartment nearby, which had then been completely equipped with their video feeds and observational equipment. At YoungBae and DaeSung’s insistence, a large couch had been positioned in front of the screens fed by the video cameras in Jordan’s home. It was on this couch that JiYong lounged. The other researchers had retreated to their rooms to indulge in a well-deserved nap while JiYong monitored the screen.

He didn’t expect much to happen. Chen was still unconscious, and Jordan was fiddling on the laptop. He expected that she was catching up on what had happened since she had gone to prison. She had a lot to catch up with in the world. He leaned his head back, picturing in his mind what he wanted to do when his vacation week rolled around. Perhaps he’d go to the beach. It sounded nice, an entire week with nothing but the waves and the sea breeze-

“Hello?” A plaintive voice shattered his daydreams. He glanced up, to see Jordan looking straight into the living room camera. “Carrothead? Aquamarine? Bangs? I hope you’re listening.” She grinned at the camera. “Since you guys were generous enough to grant me the use of a laptop, I thought I would use it accordingly.” She lifted her laptop to the camera, and JiYong caught a glimpse of the video feeds, every single one. “So, I see here you have video cameras in every room, and that doesn’t sit well with me. So, the camera in my room, that’s going to go.” JiYong watched in horror as one of the video screens cut off. “And the ones in the two bathrooms. Those have got to go too.” Another two video feeds went black. Jordan tapped away at the keyboard. “To compensate for the inconvenience, please indulge in a never ending feed of,” there was more clacking of keys, “grumpy cat memes, girl groups, and puppies welcoming soldiers home.” The three screens flickered, and true to her words, a grumpy cat, the newest rookie girl group, and overjoyed puppies rolled out on the screens. “Good luck getting the video feeds back, good luck taking the videos down, good luck with the experiment.”

TOP, YoungBae, and DaeSung were startled awake moments later from an inexplicable roar emitting from the living room.

Jordan, mission of annoying the research team accomplished, sank back down onto the couch. She snapped the laptop shut and placed it gently on the coffee table with a sigh. She leaned her head back once again and let her eyelids slide closed. Her momentary high was gone again, and the uncomfortable reality of her situation sunk in again. They were still watching her even now, and no doubt cursing her name.

Her eyelids wrenched open with the sound of a harsh gasp. Jordan looked to the right, seeing that Chen, finally, had woken. He wrenched upright, eyes darting around his surroundings in panic. His arms collapsed beneath him, sending him into further hysteria.

“Chen,” Jordan murmured, “Chen, calm.” Palm outstretched, she gently laid it on his shoulder. His eyes flicked towards hers, flaring blue. He seemed to relax once he saw her, breaths slowing and shoulders slumping. His muscles relaxed as he looked around the house, curiosity quirking his eyebrows as he took in the human environment.

He was exhausted; Jordan read it in his eyes, the way his eyelids flickered open and closed with every shift of his eyes. Jordan grasped his arm and swung it over her shoulder. He groaned as she lifted him, slowly guiding him across the room and up the stairs. Chen’s feet dragged with every step, and he hissed in pain when she accidentally bumped him against the bathroom doorframe. Jordan put down the lid of the toilet and sat him down before running the shower, periodically checking the temperature. Once it warmed, Jordan eased him into the tub.

She heard an encouraging sigh of relief as he lay under the spray. Jordan removed the detachable shower head and directed it at his hair, carding her fingers through the tangles, loosening the occasional twig or clump of dirt. Once the water ran clear, she massaged shampoo into his hair and scalp, rubbing her fingertips against his scalp. Chen’s eyelids fell closed, and over the sound of the spray, Jordan was almost certain she could hear a rumbling purr.

It continued as Jordan scrubbed at his arms, back, and torso, clearing away months of dirt. She washed his grimy sweatpants to the best of her ability, before giving them up as a lost case. She turned off the water, snagging a towel off of a nearby rack. Chen whined at the lost of warmth, eyes opening again. Jordan shut him up by rubbing his hair with the towel, drying his hair into a fluffy pouf. She dried his torso and back, leaning him forward when she needed to. She wasn't sure what to do about the sweatpants, which were sopping wet. She opted to do nothing, slipping Chen’s arm over her shoulder to lift him from the tub.

He left a dripping trail from the bathroom to his room, dampening the duvet when Jordan tipped him onto the bed. She went to the chest of drawers, rummaged through it, and pulled out a pair of boxers. She turned to toss them to Chen, only to find that he had fallen asleep.

Well what should she do now? She could just leave him to sleep in the wet pants, but his immune system was probably already weak, and she didn't want to have to replace his sheets later.

Groaning, Jordan slapped the boxers down on the bed and grabbed the towel. Clenching her eyelids shut, Jordan tried to quickly yank the sweatpants down and roughly towel dry Chen’s legs. Then, cringing, Jordan tugged the boxers up his legs, mumbling incoherently when her skin brushed against his. She opened one eye a slit to make sure everything was covered, and sighed in relief when everything was. She left the room quickly, resolving to never do anything like that again.

Once out of the room, Jordan tossed the dropping sweats in the trash, before she walked into her own room, closed the door and collapsed down onto her bed. The chiming of her newly acquired cellphone dragged her from her bed again.

From: YG - Kang DaeSung

Did you enjoy the view? ;)

DaeSung could not help but laugh as Jordan stormed into the hallway and raised a middle finger to the camera.

***

This chapter was beta'd by shooka24. Thank you my lovely <3.

Special shoutouts to:cassiopeiaeuna, pk_bofgurl221, and missannthropii! Thank you guys so much for upvoting, it really means so much to me!

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