e p i s o d e   i i i

“Come on, come on,” Minseok murmurs to himself as he carefully removes the buccal swab from the evidence bag with a pair of tweezers, carefully transferring the contents into a vial and preparing the fluid necessary to extract the DNA. After capping and labelling the vial he lets out a sigh of relief.

“Whatcha doing?”

Minseok lets out a rather embarrassing shriek, almost dropping the glass vial and all his hard work on the tile floor. He quickly sets it down on a rack, before spinning around angrily to scold the perpetrator. “Lu Han, what have I told you about- oh, it’s you.”

Jongdae throws his hands up into the air in dramatic flair. “What’s with that welcome?! I get no love around here! What am I, the chopped liver of the team?”

“Sorry Dae,” Minseok smiles apologetically, “Usually the only one that bothers me when I’m working is Lu Han.”

“Yeah, yeah, loverboy is all you think about nowadays.” Jongdae waves his hand around, ignoring how Minseok’s face turns the color of a tomato. If he mentions any more he’ll definitely get punched. “I just wanted to check in on you and make sure you weren’t going crazy or anything.”

“Why would I be going crazy?”

“Are you kidding me?! You hang out with dead bodies and chemicals or something all day!”

Minseok laughs. “And you hang out with computers all day, what’s your point?”

“Dead bodies and computers are two completely different-” Jongdae lets out a sigh. “You know what? Nevermind. What sort of sciencey corpse whispering are you doing today?”

Minseok rolls his eyes at his coworker and points at the vial he nearly dropped. “See that? That’s a sample of saliva obtained from the victim’s mouth.”

“So what? You’re collecting her spit as a souvenir?”

“It’s not her DNA.”

“Wait,” Jongdae’s eyes widen at Minseok’s excited nod. “You mean-”

“Considering her occupation, there must have been some sort of intimacy. Kissing swaps more DNA between people than you’d think. And whoever’s face she was last should have had their saliva preserved for at least an hour even post-mortem. I‘ll probably only be able to manage to get partial DNA since the body was discovered a few hours later, but-.”

Jongdae grins. “We’ll have the partial DNA of one of our killers.”

“The windows are tinted, but there’s definitely someone in the driver seat.” Lu Han squints at the vehicle across the parking lot, as Yifan releases the safety trigger on his Glock as a precaution. In situations like these, you never know if there will be a quick draw. Being prepared for anything can very well save a life, has saved lives on the field with their work. “How should we proceed?”

“Standby for now, but don’t turn the engine off, they may try to run,” Yifan cautiously lowers his car door window, opening his mouth to speak into the megaphone. “Excuse me! Would the driver in the black Bentley over there please turn off their car and step outside of the vehicle with their hands up!”

There isn’t any movement and just before Yifan can repeat himself, Yixing sits up straight in his seat. “Lu Han, put the car back in drive!”

“What-” is all Lu Han can manage before the sound of tires screeching against pavement is heard as the Bentley pulls out of the parking lot with lightning speed.

Yifan swears under his breath as Lu Han slams his foot down on the gas pedal, the car jerking forward violently as it turns to chase after the Bentley. “Why does it always end in a ing car chase?”

Yixing gently pats him on the shoulder. “It’s alright, at least you gave them a chance to peacefully surrender.”

Yifan’s only reply is a groan of frustration as he turns on the sirens.

He hates car chases.

“The bait is on the move,” Kyungsoo’s voice says through the phone speaker. “Targets are currently in pursuit.”

“This is so boring!” Baekhyun whines, “We’ve been here for hours doing absolutely nothing but waiting!”

“You’re the one who volunteered to go with Chanyeol,” Baekhyun can practically see the eye roll Kyungsoo is giving him back in his room. “So quit your complaining. Besides, you’ll be able to be there for backup in case Chanyeol gets in trouble or messes up.”

“Chanyeol doesn’t mess up,” Baekhyun huffs, leaning against the wall and staring at his partner who’s doing his final round of scoping the area before he gets into position. “And he won’t keep me company because he claims I’m a distraction.”

“Imagine that, you as a distraction,” comes the sarcastic reply.

“Hey!”

“Take it easy Chanyeol,” Kyungsoo continues, ignoring Baekhyun’s protesting, “We’re just seeing what they’re capable of for now.”

“Got it,” Chanyeol murmurs, eyes trained out the window as he looks through the eyepiece of his long range rifle.

Baekhyun sighs into the phone. “Isn’t he so dreamy when he goes into work mode?”

“You are actually the most disgusting human being I have had the displeasure of meeting.” Kyungsoo deadpans over the phone.

“Okay, now you’re just trying to be mean.”

“Baek, hang up I need to focus.”

“Bye, er,” Baekhyun sings, before ending the call and scooting over to where Chanyeol is kneeling by the open window. His partner pays him no mind, focused on his task at hand. Baekhyun reaches up and begins to fiddle around with the waistband of Chanyeol’s trousers.

“Baek,” comes the sharp warning as Baekhyun’s slender fingers begin ing. “I’m working.”

“Mmm,” Baekhyun hums as his mouth moves dangerously close to the hem of Chanyeol’s boxers. “What are you going to do? It’s just a little distraction. If you’re a well-trained military man, then you can just ignore me, right?”

Chanyeol’s eyes flash dangerously. “I’m warning you Baek, if you don’t stop…”

“What are you doing to do?” the tip of Baekhyun’s nose skims across the smooth plane of skin over Chanyeol’s hipbone, his voice low as he looks up at Chanyeol with hooded eyes. Chanyeol’s non-dominant hand reaches down to roughly cup the side of Baekhyun’s face.

“I’ll punish you.”

“No wonder you hate car chases,” Yixing remarks as Yifan tightly clings onto the car’s roof handle like it’s his own life line, looking very close to puking. “Are you sure you don’t have motion sickness?”

“I don’t-” Yifan barely manages to choke out, “- have motion sickness. I just- I get a little nauseous during car chases.”

“That… sounds a lot like motion sickness.”

Luhan swerves to avoid ongoing traffic to keep up with the Bentley’s reckless evasive driving up ahead and Yifan’s face starts to turn a pale shade of green.

“I don’t have motion sickness!” he insists a bit too defensively.

Yixing shrugs. “Whatever you say.”

The car launches upward as Lu Han drives over a rotting tree trunk and Yifan looks all sorts of miserable. There’s a bright flash of light from the sun as they drive into an open field from the previous forestry. After almost half an hour of nonstop chasing, Yifan could care less where they were, taking a few shuddering breathes to recollect his peace of mind. The Bentley is stopped several hundred in front of them, mud splattered across the sleek black polished frame. Yifan and Yixing carefully step outside of the car and Yifan holds up a quick hand to Lu Han to tell him to stay in the car for now.

Yifan slowly brings the Glock up with two steady hands and calls out, “There’s nowhere left to run, please come out of the vehicle with both of your hands up.”

There’s a pause too long that has Yixing squinting and quickly surveying the area in suspicion before the driver’s side door swings open with a slow creak. An old man dressed in a thick winter coat steps out to the side of the car, wrinkled hands trembling as he raises them up in the air.

“Sir, we’d like to ask you a few questions,” Yifan keeps his gun trained on the man, ignoring the unsettling feeling in his stomach. Something about the situation rubs him the wrong way but he can’t quite put his finger on it. “Please walk towards us and keep your hands above your head where we can see them.”

“You’ve got to help me,” the man’s eyes are wide with fear, his tone desperate as he looks around frantically, the glare from a piece of metal flashing off of his ear. An earpiece. “I’m not the one you’re looking for. I- I was only hired to drive the car, you’ve got to believe me. I didn’t know they would kill the girl, a- and then they told me to drive out here. I was only doing all of it to stay alive!”

“Yifan,” Yixing’s tone is urgent, but still kept hushed, “His coat is too thick for this weather. There’s something under there. Most likely what you ordered on Amazon before.”

Yifan’s eyes widen in realization just as he sees the dot of red flash across the side of the man’s forehead.

A sniper’s laser sight.

Yixing reacts faster than he can, aiming his gun at the man’s foot and pulling the trigger. The man crumples down to the floor with a cry of pain just as a rifle bullet whizzes past where he used to be standing, embedding itself into the frame of the black Bentley with a sharp ping. The man’s winter coat has billowed opened from his fall, revealing what seems to be an improvised explosive device strapped to his chest.

“Please!” the man screams, fingers clawing at the now flashing bomb attached to his front as he looks up in panic. “Get this off of me! I’m begging you!”

“Lu Han, get behind the car!” Yifan roars, grabbing Yixing’s wrist and dragging the other to the back of the car. Amidst the man’s screaming, there’s a soft click, before his cries are drowned out by the loud resounding boom of the explosion. The blast isn’t strong enough to knock them off their feet, but the entire field echoes with the sound of the car glass shattering, followed by a second explosion from the Bentley’s gas tank. A wave of heat blows past them from the second explosion, and Yifan coughs at the sudden and powerful smell of gasoline filling the air. He pulls a silent Yixing further away from the wreckage and towards the forest they originally drove out of, where Lu Han is already waiting with his phone against his ear.

“I’ve already called for backup and a firetruck,” he tells them, “I used one of Jongdae’s programs to try and see if anyone was within a two mile radius of this location, but they’ve either hidden their own signal or-”

“That shot made was from more than two miles away.” Yifan grits his teeth in frustration.

Exactly what kind of monsters are they dealing with in K?

Baekhyun whistles. “Man, I didn’t think we’d actually need to use the little gift I planted on him.”

“It’s good you came,” Chanyeol glances over at him out of the corner of his eye as they drive back onto the highway. “I could’ve been in trouble if you weren’t there. They were able to save him from my first shot.”

“Psh, you would’ve gotten him the second time around,” Baekhyun props his feet up on the dashboard and leans back into his seat. “But you know I’ve got your back, Yeol. I always have.”

“You always have,” Chanyeol echoes softly, dulled out memories from their past flickering through his mind like an old black and white movie.

Baekhyun cradles Chanyeol’s head in his lap amidst the smoke and gunfire, blood rolling down his jawline and dripping onto Chanyeol’s forehead.

“Stay with me, Yeol,” Baekhyun’s stern tone contrasts the trembling in his voice. “The medics will be here soon, you just have to hold out a little longer for me.”

“There’s no point,” Chanyeol whispers, reaching up to remove Baekhyun’s hand from his face. “You’ve got to get out of here, Baek. They might’ve gotten me, but you can still make it out and create a new life for yourself.”

Baekhyun cups Chanyeol’s cheeks once again and looks him straight in the eyes. “I’m not leaving you, do you hear me? We’re going to get out of here together or not at all, Chanyeol. I’ll stay with you even if it kills me.”

“Silly,” Chanyeol mutters.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Chanyeol chuckles, forcing himself to look back onto the road. “Just thinking.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun pauses for a moment himself, before speaking again. “But you know what? I think Junmyeon might really be onto something.”

“About what?”

The corners of Baekhyun’s lips slowly curl into a smile. “That EXO-M unit. Perhaps we’ve been underestimating just how fun it can be to play around with the authorities after all.”

Hullo friends!

Hope you all have had a good weekend! I was at a tournament and my team won!!

I also have tournaments the next two weekends as well so updates may be a bit slower but I'm hoping the story flow will keep coming and I can get back ahead on schedule.

I know this episode raises lots of questions but hopefully, all will be answered in due time.

Thank you all for reading and if you enjoyed please subscribe, upvote, and comment!

P.S. Baekyeol's relationship is a lot more ed up than it seems so far. Maybe I'll write a side story in the future to explain.

Less than three,

PalmerPie