Kyungsoo woke up to a thick ringing in her head and red warning lights flashing above. The floor underneath her was very uncomfortable, not to mention the pool of her own blood was now cold. There was shattered glass everywhere, including her hair and clothes and she could feel some of it stuck in her legs and arms. 

"I said no!"

The voice was wet with anguish, fear and violence, but it was clearly Baekhyun. To Kyungsoo's surprise, it was Chanyeol who hit the wall, hand on his face. He let go and looked off past Kyungsoo's line of sight. He was silent and eerily impassive, just watching her before he slowly sat down. His hands came to rest on his lap and he sat perfectly straight and still. The crunch of rubber over glass brought Baekhyun into Kyungsoo's line of sight. 

"Thank God, you're awake." The other woman breathed, petting down Kyungsoo's hair. Her gaze flickered to Chanyeol, like she didn't expect him to stay still, but he only continued to regard her and observe her movements. 

"Why are his eyes glowing amber?" Kyungsoo wheezed out. 

"I don't know." Baekhyun said. "They're all like that. Each of their eyes changed."

"Tell me. The colours."

"Well, Chanyeol's are yellow-amber, Luhan's are a baby pink, Lay's are highlighter green, Tao's are purple, Kris' are blue and Kai's are a grey-white."

"Wait, where did you hear about their code names?"

"The files. After they broke open the cells and broke down the doors, we found your room and went through the files. Chanyeol's the only one who still responds to his name properly." Baekhyun gave him a stern look. "But that's besides the point right now. We've been trying to get to you for hours and I can freely admit I don't know about medical science, but there is a ton of blood and I'm pretty sure that we have to stop it for you to live. I don't know what I'm looking at, so you'll have to help me."

"Okay." Kyungsoo tried to sit up, but her body was stiff, cold and unresponsive. She'd lost more blood than she'd realized. "Okay. I need you to take off my clothing where there's blood and use the cloth that isn't soiled to wipe as much blood away as you can."

Baekhyun produced a knife from somewhere and cut open Kyungsoo's jacket and shirt. She then pulled her shirt over her head. Chanyeol flinched and growled, but Baekhyun was on her feet, arms raised in a defensive position. 

"I swear, you come after me one more time-! I'm a black belt in hapkido and you know it, Chanyeol, so stay the away from me. Junmyeon and Sehun might be willing to lay down for you, but I sure as hell won't."

Chanyeol sat back down, reverting to his statue form. Baekhyun dropped back to her knees, working at getting rid of the mess.

"What do you mean, 'lay down for you'?"

Baekhyun's eyes flickered up to meet hers and there was a humourless smile there. "Once they got finished killing everybody, they wanted shots at us."

"Speak clearly, Baekhyun."

The pretense of conversation fell away and Baekhyun looked back to where Kyungsoo was riddled with bulletholes. "They tried to us. Kai and Tao succeeded and now Sehun and Junmyeon just let them whenever they feel like staking a claim, I guess."

"What happened to the rest of you?"

"They put Jongdae in a medically induced coma and Lay's just wrapped himself around her, sleeping there presumably until she wakes up. Minseok beat the out of Luhan when he tried to get . . . friendly with her and he obeys her every command now like a puppy. Kris has been stalking out anything that smells medicinal and clean and piling it at your little stool."

"And you?"

Baekhyun looked very uncomfortable. "I didn't know what Chanyeol was doing, initially, so I let him. It was brutal, so the next time he came back, I kicked his . I'm not stronger than him, though, like Minseok is over Luhan. I could only fend him off. He caught up with me just now, since I'm the only one who's been trying to get back here to treat you."

"if Minseok's free and okay, where's she?"

"Right now? Either rifiling through files or keeping Kris at bay. Sehun escaped for long enough to get over here with you once, managed to hook up an O blood bag before Kris almost attacked her and Kai took her away."

God, what a mess. She had a lot of work cut out for her. 

"Looks like you were shot six times." Baekhyun said. "One in your shoulder, one in your collarbone (which is broken, by the way), two in your upper thighs, and three in the midsection. What now?"

"Stick your little finger inside each hole and see if you can feel a bullet."

"What?! Are you serious?"

"Yes. If there's a bullet casing still in there, I could get an infection. If there's bullets, that makes this more complicated."

"Okay. Ew. Okay - here goes."

To her credit, Baekhyun didn't squirm of make noises - not so much as a gag - as she thoroughly felt each of the holes. She may be a big mouth and never shut up, but she was very good at follwing instructions.

"Okay, there doesn't seem to be anything there. and I didn't feel any metal at all."

"That's a good sign. Go to Yifan's-"

"Kris."

"-Kris' supply of medical equipment and see if you can find anything that is liquid or foam labelled antiseptic."

Baekhyun moved out of Kyungsoo's vision, some shuffling noise likely meaning she was going through the supplies, before she returned. 

"He's surprisingly organized, for a man who stuck his arm through three people's chests."

"Id on't see what that has to do with organizational skill."

Baekhyun gawked at her for a moment before she broke out laughing, loud enough in the dim, quiet space to make Chanyeol flinch. "You're amazing, Soo. Genuinely amazing."

"I try."

"So, what do I do with the antiseptic? It's a foam spray, by the looks of it."

"Spray it into and around the wounds." She looked over at Chanyeol, who's eyes were glued to Baekhyun's careful and nimble hands. "Chanyeol?"

His gaze snapped to hers, but he said nothing. 

"I need you to come and hold me down. Help Baekhyun by keeping me still."

Obediently, Chanyeol stood and came over to them, laying his large hands down on both her thighs, but far away from the aggravated wounds. Baekhyun, body stiff, ignored him completely and did as Kyungsoo asked, keeping a firm hand down on her when she started to writhe under the painful onslaught of the antiseptic.

", I hate this stuff." Kyungsoo panted. 

"Then whyd id you tell me to use it?"

"Because it works." She screwed up her eyes, trying her hardest to keep from crying out. Suddenly, there was a gentle hand brushing over her brows, another in her hair.

"." Baekhyun wheezed. "Hey Kris. When-When did you get here, buddy?"

With the burning easing away, Kyungsoo managed to open her eyes. Looming above her was Yifan. Just as Baekhyun had said, they were a vivid blue that glowed unnaturally, like someone put an LED behind a gemstone. His face was completely void, but his hands - one alone now large enouogh to encompass her entire face close- - bespoke a caring concern for her pain.

"It's okay. This has to happen for me to get better, Yifan." Kyungsoo explained. He didn't respond at all. "Okay, Kris?"

The giant man nodded, leaning down to tap his nose against hers. He sat back on his heels, still combing through Kyungsoo's tangled hair, but made no move to interrupt Baekhyun or Chanyeol. Nervously, the female subject finished the task. 

"What now, Soo?"

 "It doesn't feel like any of the bullets went through. Kris, are you strong enough to carry me?"

He nodded. 

"Good. Pick me up - be mindful of my wounds - and follow Baekhyun, okay? Chanyeol, you can come, but you stay behind Kris."

He nodded too. 

"Where am I going, Soo?"

"Don't worry. I'll lead you. There's a cafeteria not far from here where I used to have dinner. They'll have butter knives and a gas stovetop."

"That's what you want to use to cauterize your wounds?"

"A Bunsen burner would get hotter, but the flame is very small and may damage the metal. There are also no tools they would use to seal a wound like this more adequate than a butter knife."

"If you say so, you're the doctor here."

Kyungsoo quickly discovered that the facility had been evacuated and sealed. The files and paperwork and secrets had been abandoned here and so had they - left to rot hundreds of storeys from the surface. 

"Are you okay, unnie?"

The yells from her cauterization had brought the rest of her scattered group to the kitchen and there were now all huddled together in her bedroom - save Lay and Jongdae, who couldn't be moved. 

"The bullet holes feel like really brittle paper that's itchy and sensitive." She paused, reflective. "All things considered, I'm doing pretty well, actually."

Minseok barked out a laugh from the other side of the room, Luhan diligently sitting at her feet and looking up at her, not moving. Junmyeon, who was trying her best to be gentle as she applied the aloe vera skin regen gel and fresh bandages, snorted like a single mom working two jobs in a Guess store - feeling patheticially underequipped to be here and finding no humour in the situation. Tao was sitting with the supplies, handing them to Junmyeon as she asked for them without a sound. Sehun had a firm grasp on her left hand, resting on Kai's knees with his arms around her waist. 

"It's pretty likely you should have passed out, so yes, you are doing pretty good." Minseok chirped, flashing a gummy smile. Kyungsoo offered a dry one back, which made the other woman laugh a little. 

Kyungsoo was quite confortable here, actually. She had self-medicated well and not over-thought her situation. She didn't hurt any more than she thought she would and she was very good at staying still, so she was okay. The others had foudn the food and were more than willing to help her, like children when their teacher falls down on the playground. All the while, it gave her the chance to observe the men trailing her female companions. She got to understand their ticks and patterns, what would trigger them and what they would allow, what signals they looked for in their partner to register distress. She was high-functioning right now and doing physically adequate, as prepared as she could have ever been for this situation.

Kyungsoo was not prepared for Kris.

She had obviously passed out during the cauterization, the pain stimulus and her blood and sugar levels too low to deal. She had woken up in Kris' arms, bound in them and restricted tightly but comfortably. When she requested to be put down, he had complied. But after meeting with and being cared for by the women, he had pulled her head onto his lap, gingerky petting her hair and rumbling softly in a pathetic mimicry of speech. It was very disconcerting and it was giving her concentration trouble. It was Kris and Kris alone that she didn't understand.

"Have the boys been ually aggressive again since the first day?" Kyungsoo asked abruptly. Baekhyun froze out of the corner of her vision. 

Minseok snorted. "Tame as a puppy. Look, he even likes pets. Isn't that right, Luhan?" 

The man in question nuzzled into her palm as she extended it to him, a smile lighting up his features. 

Junmyeon coloured. "Um . . . He's been . . . wanting?"

"Explain."

Long chestnut locks fell in front of her face to hide the red creeping from her cheeks to her neck, but Junmyeon forced herself to continue. "He, uh- He gets grabby when he wants to- to- Yeah. But he isn't rough with me like he was the first time. Actually, he calmed right down when I started to cry the first time."

"Thank you, Jun. Next." There was a stretch of silence, but if she looked left or right, she was met only with the lengthy, folded expanse of Kris' legs. "You are all going to talk to me eventualy, so I suggest you do it before I'm fully mobile again."

"Kai didn't force me." Sehun blurted out. "Well, he came onto me really hard and he kissed and touched me a lot without asking, but when I pushed him away, he let me go."

"He did?!" Baekhyun shrieked. Kyungsoo felt the maknae's hand flinch at the volume. Chanyeol whined softly from his corner - for Baekhyun or for his hearing, Kyungsoo didn't know. 

Sehun's grip tightened. "Yeah. I mean, he kept pestering me for it, but he didn't, didn't  me or anything. Just pushy, kinda. And when Kris came in - when I was helping Soo - he pulled me away to protect me. Kris was going to kill me for sticking the needle in her arm."

"Why didn't you tell me?! You just let me assume-" Baekhyun stopped herself there, breathing deeply to calm herself. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get upset. I thought he and Tao had- Nevermind. It's none of my business."

"And you, Baekhyun?" Minseok prompted softly. "What did Chanyeol do to you?"

"He bit me and rubbed himself off on me." Baekhyun said, voice dry and blank. Kyungsoo really wished she could move - Baekhyun was a pain in the , but she needed a hug.

"Baekhyunnie . . . "

Junmyeon (who was the only one she could see) snapped around, eyes wide.

"What?" Kyungsoo whispered. "What's happening?"

"That was Chanyeol. He spoke."

Kyungsoo frowned. "Have they not been speaking?"

"Absolutely not. Tao has only growled and purred at me."

"Baekhyunnie . . . " Chanyeol tried again.

"Kris, lift me a little bit." Kyungsoo was actually surprised when Kris listened, pulling her up enough to see over his legs. 

Chanyeol had approached her slowly, cautiously, like he was afraid to upset her again. He stood there now with his arms awkwardly swinging open. Baekhyun was in their circle, but he didn't close them in on her. She swayed back and forth, indecisive, for a long moment before throwing herself into his embrace. 

"God ing dammit, Channie, you piece of ." She broke, starting to sob into his shirt. Chanyeol took her in his arms and pulled her back onto his lap and into his corner. 

"You can put me back, Kris." Kyungsoo said softly. Junmyeon, without a word, went back to wrapping the wounds.