Kyungsoo had known the Sistar girls just shy of a week, but they had become very close. They were friendly women who were always looking for someone else as sassy and intelligent as they were to keep up with the conversation. Plus, they hung off every word when she told them about the subjects. 

"They don't have pictures." Dasom epxlained. "They're classified a level higher than I have access to."

All told, it was a pretty natural relationship development. Even Amber had become closer to her, less afraid to ask questions and despite Kyungsoo's now-volatile reputation, the new woman, Victoria, had spent her training shift with Kyungsoo instead of Amber, not beating around the bush and asking intelligent and sharp questions not only to Kyungsoo herself, but the subjects as well. Kyungsoo's social circle was expanding well and properly in such a way that no one really noticed the change.

Except Taemin.

"So what's the game, Soo?'

She just closed the door behind her, starling for a moment before turning to look at him. "Game?"

"Yes, the game. For ten years, I'm the only person you've wasted time talking to outside the professional setting and now all of a sudden you have six new buddies?"

Kyungsoo looked around the room and she dropped her voice. "You know exactly why, Taemin."

"I'm afraid you'll have to enlighten me, Soo, because this is all really new and confusing."

"The Director wanted me notto be as close to the subjects as I am. Well, I can't withdraw from them without making them suspicious and possible compromising my results. That said, my new relationships should provide the Director with a suitable distraction. It also gives me a reasonable excuse - I don't spend all my time with the subjects and have formed well-meaning relationships with other staff."

His eyebrows shot up incredulously. "You made friends to cover your tracks and get the Director off my back? That's the only reason?"

She looked away. "That's the reason i made friends, but I do like the people I'm not friends with. I will remain companionable to them long after this issue is resolved and I can work unhindered again."

Taemin sat forward and took her hand. "Kyungsoo, I want to move you to another facility."

She recoiled, but he didn't let her hand go. "What? Why? Amber isn't as good as I am and I'm finally making progress getting past their ailments."

"I'm offering you an out, Soo, for your sake and mine. It'll be in the Caribbean, studying marine biology and marine mammal biology comparable to human subjects. I'll even send the other women you like so much with you."

"I'm not leaving my work."

"Kyungsoo, I'm offering you an out." Taemin squeezed her hand, almost painfully. "I am begging you to take this right now. Leave tomorrow, on your day off, and there won't be anything you'll ever want or need for again. Just, please, take the out and leave here."

She froze up in his grip and he could see the information cycling around in her head. Suddenly, she ripped her hand out of his grip and stood. There was something like fire and anger in her eyes, a lingering thread of protectiveness in her stance. "I'm not leaving my work."

"It's my work, Soo. You've got no ties to it - you shouldn't."

She a stiff professionalism fell into place to hide her emotions. "This is as much my experiment as it is yours and I am just as invested in . . . the results as you are, I assure you." She opened the door and vanished past it. 

Taemin ran his hands through his hair. ", Kyungsoo, why can't you just listen to me? I'm trying to save your life here."

Kyungsoo didn't sleep that night. She paced her room on her day off, completely ignoring the pages and messages from the Sistar women and Amber and Victoria. She locked the door from the inside and didn't respond to the knocks or calls from her friends. Her pass wouldn't let her into Ward Epsilon on Sundays.

She didn't sleep.

Monday morning, as prompt and punctual as always, she didn't even apologize to Hyolyn, who tried to get her to talk. 

"Careful, Kyungsoo." Was all she got out before Kyungsoo was gone. Dasom, Bora and Soyou watched her go, equally worried expressions on their faces. 

She didn't stop to check the reports or change the room shape, just rushing in and looking into the cells. 

Sehun was the first to notice her, jumping up and pressing herself against the glass. "Unnie, they did something to them. They were screaming all day long and since they dragged them back here last night, they haven't moved."

She rushed back to open the cells, Jongin's first, but her passcode got denied, no matter how many times she entered it. She ran back to the glass, moving around it to try and get a better look at his face, trying to understand what happened to them. 

Jongin was laying on his side, completely impassive. His face was slack and his body was limp. His hair had turned from a light brown to a parched blonde, laying over his cheek. Beside him, Chanyeol was propped up against his bed, clearly tossed in without caer for his person. The red of his hair was more vibrant than normal, almost glowing, and he had blood dried around his mouth and some still dripping from his ears. Zitao's skin had faded from its wonderful bronze to a sickly pale and he had thick bags under his eyes. Yixing was on his bed, but only haphazardly. He was bleeding out his one nostril and a small cut on his arm dripped liquid consistently. Luhan's bags from his insomnia were gone, but he looked like he hadn't eaten in weeks. Yifan, at the end of the row, had split skin around his joints and knuckles, which were larger now than their already abnormal size. His hair, too, had gone a ruddy dirty blonde, hanging limply around his face.

She covered in horror, stepping back.

"Did you think there would be more time, Researcher Do?"

She spun around, wide eyes taking in an older man in a proper black suit. Standing behind him was Taemin and several other officers of the Experiment Board. They all stared at her impassively expect for Taemin, who had his head down and eyes averted. 

"What did you do to them?" Even Kyungsoo was surprised by the vehemence of her voice, the I dare you hidden in the scathing notes of her question.

His brows furrowed and he was very clearly unimpressed with her. "You would do well to remember who you're talking to, girl."

Kyungsoo snarled. "I don't give a that you're Kim Youngmin, you tell me what happened to these men right ing now."

Taemin stepped in between them. "Kyungsoo, calm down-"

"Then you tell me." She snapped. "It's my job to know."

"Not anymore." Youngmin replied, making a small motion and several armed men rushed into the room, assault rifles raised on her.

"No, don't!" Junmyeon shouted. Minseok started hitting the glass. Baekhyun's soft weeping got stronger and Sehun started yelling profanities as fast and as violently as she could. Kyungsoo risked a glance over at Jongdae to find the woman deathly still on her cot, as if she had been flash-frozen in her sleep. She met Taemin's eyes, which were pleading. 

"What have you done?" She whispered. 

"I told you to take the out." He whimpered back. "You should have."

She shook her head and straightened her posture, staring at Youngmin with a darkness that should have dragged him to Hell early. "Don't waste my time, then. If you're going to shoot me, shoot me."

"I've no problemw ith that." The older man sneered, turning away. "She's all yours when the door closes."

"I'm so sorry, Soo." Taemin whispered. 

" off, Taemin." She hissed back, cold glare him, making his scurry out of the room quickly after his master. The door sealed itself shut and the noise of the outside vanished, leaving her with four panting women in cages and seven unconscious people she needed to protect.

"ing shoot me then!" She challenged. "The door's closed, what are you waiting for?"

Minseok screamed, punching the glass hard enough to tear open her skin as the squad opened fire and that was the shattering of glass was the last thing Kyungsoo heard before shock took over and she passed out.