Chapter Two: Play With Fire

The drive to the northern research facility was occupied with a tension filled silence. Every so often Jiyong would look in the rearview mirror to check on Seungri, the young man was looking out of the window and taking in the sights. Every so often something seemed to catch his eye and he’d grin before going back to his default of tapping his fingers on his knee and biting his lip.

Nervous habits; Jiyong had seen it tons of times before, especially in cases with people who had been mistreated or abused in their lifetime. He knew that mutants hadn’t always been well treated since their discovery, mostly due to how much people feared them.

Back in 2001 it had been discovered that illegal experiments on mutants had been taking place within some of the facilities. One of the worst cases involved a doctor who believed that blasting the mutant gene with radiation, much like a cancer treatment, would kill the gene and therefore ‘cure’ the mutant and remove their abilities. It had backfired terribly and thirteen mutants had died because of it. They had been misled in their desperation for a cure, taken advantage of, and left to die in terrible agony as this ‘treatment’ killed it’s victims slowly; sometimes lasting up to a week.

Youngbae had talked non-stop about it for weeks. He had been absolutely enraged that such a thing had been allowed to take place. In his opinion mutants should be allowed to take care of themselves, without the interference of humans. Jiyong disagreed, how could these people learn to harness the very forces of nature? It seemed impossible. While the facilities seemed a cruel option he thought them to be a necessary evil. That being said he definitely didn’t like the idea of anyone being mistreated so terribly.

“So, how long did you live at the southern facility, Seungri?” Youngbae asked suddenly, breaking the steady silence. The younger man looked up at him and arched an eyebrow, “Isn’t that in the file?” he asked.

“I’d rather hear it from you.”

“Let me guess, this is the part where you try to get to know me as a person?”

Youngbae grinned, “Ah, you’ve seen right through me.”

A small smile played on Seungri’s lips. Jiyong couldn’t help but match the expression, Youngbae was doing what he did best; helping people feel at ease.

“I was brought there after I had my awakening in 2010.”

Awakening, it was a term that made a lot of people, both human and mutant cringe. In order for a mutant’s abilities to manifest a terrible and traumatic event had to take place. Scientists had worked out that the overdose of adrenaline produced by the fight or flight response triggered the mutant gene and fully activated it, giving the person access to their new gifts. Most mutants never talked about how they were awakened and most people knew to never ask. Jiyong could tell that the question was burning in Youngbae’s mind so he quickly changed the subject.

“What can you do?” he asked.

“It’s in the file,” Seungri repeated, “Or are you trying to get to know me now too?”

“You like making things difficult, don’t you?”

“I just don’t see why I have to discuss something you can clearly see in front of you.”

“Chief said that you know when someone is lying to you,” Youngbae mused, interrupting the harsh reply that Jiyong was no doubt working on, “That sounds really useful.”

Seungri sighed, defeated in his endeavor to keep his mouth shut for as long as possible. With any luck his uncle wouldn’t hear about his attitude later on, the last thing he needed was the old man getting on his case again. While he appreciated that Youngbae was trying to be polite and engage him in an actual conversation, he just had a difficult time discussing what he could do. Normal people didn’t really understand the work that went into trying to keep an ability under control. It was like pushing a rock up a steep hill; sometimes you’d feel like you were getting somewhere and then you would stumble and have to start all over again. Only in his case it wasn’t losing grip on a rock, people could get hurt.

“I pick up on a person’s energies, I can just…feel and perceive people,” he described, “It’s hard to explain. But I know how I feel when I lie, so when someone else feels similar then I know they are lying. It’s one of my secondary abilities so I had to work on it more.” “

What’s your primary ability?”

Seungri held his hands about five inches apart and Youngbae watched in fascination as ice particles began to form between them. They swirled and danced in various directions before forming larger solid pieces and then bursting back into small ones. Seungri focused on them until they became one solid cube and then clapped his hands together, making them disappear.

“Ice?” Youngbae asked.

“Yeah, I’m great at parties.”

Youngbae had to admit, he liked this kid.

“So, you’re like the male version of Elsa?” Jiyong asked with a slight smirk on his face. At this comment Seungri glared at him and muttered, “I swear to God if you start singing I will hurt you. I hate that stupid movie.”

***

When they finally made it to the facility, two guards at the front gate verified who each of them were by checking their fingerprints. Jiyong had asked if a retinal scan would be better, but according to the guards a mutant who could copy another person’s appearance could fool those scans, but one thing they couldn’t change was their own fingerprints.

‘Good to know,’ Jiyong thought to himself. They were then waved through and didn’t have any difficulty moving forward, since their arrival had already been announced. A representative dressed in a white lab coat met them at the front entrance and motioned for them to follow him.

Their guide was a small man, slightly jittery, and Jiyong wondered if it was due to too much caffeine or to the tense atmosphere of the facility. But he was polite enough and introduced himself as Shin Byung-chul.

“Welcome gentlemen, I hope you understand the reason for the delay,” he said, using a key card to gain them access to an elevator on the main floor. He hit the button to take them down three levels, wringing his fingers afterwards.

“Not really,” Youngbae replied.

“The man you are here to collect, he is dangerous,” Mr. Shin went on, “We had to make sure that you had someone who could handle him.”

Jiyong glanced at Seungri who merely nodded, he was ready. They exited the elevator and stood in a long hallway. It reminded Youngbae of a hospital corridor.

“To be honest, I’ll be glad when he’s gone,” Mr. Shin confessed, “I don’t like him very much.”

“Why’s that?” Youngbae asked.

“He’s crazy.”

“Mr. Choi suffers from PTSD, Mr. Shin, but he is not crazy,” a feminine voice sounded out from behind them. They turned to see a very severe, but attractive woman approaching them; her heels clicking on the tiled floor. Her raven black hair was tied up in a bun and her dark eyes stared at