Chapter 13
The Great Escape“I’m going,” says Kyungsoo, and he attempts to push past them, but Chanyeol is taller, and his own father is taller, and they push him back easily, away from the door, and he frowns at them. “Let me go with them!”
“Kyungsoo, you can’t,” says his mother, close to tears, “what if something happens to you too? We don’t want to lose you too.”
“You haven’t lost either of us!” Kyungsoo grits his teeth. “I’m going to find a way to help no matter what.”
“We’re just concerned about your safety, Kyungsoo,” says Jongdae’s mother, but Kyungsoo is shaking his head, and finally getting past them to the doorway. “There’s already a team in place that can do the job.”
“But—“ Kyungsoo exhales, a ragged breath. “It’s my sister.”
“We know,” says Joonmyun softly, even as Kyungsoo’s parents walk over to envelop him in a hug. “They’ll find her, Kyungsoo. They know how to do this.”
“Fine,” whispers Kyungsoo, but Jongdae can tell that he’s still upset that he can’t go on the mission to retrive Kyungri, and he knows that Kyungsoo can be as stubborn as a mule when it comes to things like these, and he resigns himself to watching out for Kyungsoo in case anything happens.
The day is spent exploring the NSA headquarters, even though some parts are off-limits to the group of teenagers, but Jongdae can safely say he’s never seen anything as amazing as this. There are labs, weapons rooms, practice rooms, training facilities, and so much more. The technology is amazing, and Jongdae wonders how much of it was built by his mother, who was one of the prime designers of the newer structures of the building (though she never did let him look at any of the plans, especially after his six-year-old self clambered up on the dinner table and chewed on the blueprints).
The group decides to split into two and explore more thoroughly; Jongdae, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Soojung, and Kyungsoo head off to see the Research and Development side of things, whereas Joonmyun, Yixing, Lu Han, Jongin, and Sehun trail off to check out the facilities instead.
They peek into rooms and awe at the sight of weapons being developed and scientists at their jobs, and they even get chased away from a private laboratory after accidentally stepping into the wrong corridor.
In the end, they chance upon a group of researchers who are conducting power experiments, and they watch with interest as the researchers conduct test after test on energy flow.
“Woah,” says Chanyeol, watching the raw energy crackle, “reminds me a little of Jongdae’s power.”
“Yeah,” agrees Kyungsoo, eyes following the motions with interest. “Wonder if they’ve done QF experiments before.”
One of the researchers overhears them, and pulls away from the group, jogging up to where they’re standing. “Sorry, super hearing, couldn’t help but notice…” The researcher looks young, probably in his late twenties, with hair draped around his face. “Did you say that one of you has Quintessence Force?”
Jongdae stirs awkwardly. “Uh, me. I just came into the power a few days ago.”
“Late bloomer with QF!” The researcher looks delighted. “I’m sorry, forgive my manners. I’m Dr. Park. But everybody calls me Micky.”
“Nice to meet you, Micky,” goes the group, some of them reaching over to shake his hand, and Micky is visibly excited.
“Well, back to the topic. So, QF. Have you tested your powers fully, yet?”
“Ah, not really.” Jongdae shrugs. “I haven’t much clue as to what to do with it yet.”
“But he’s already done some very awesome things with it,” pipes up Baekhyun. “Power-boosting, mostly. And there was one energy-absorption, if I recall correctly.”
Micky claps his hands together, and says, “Well, if that isn’t one of the best things I’ve heard all day. Mind giving us a hand, then? We’ve got a tricky little bit of energy that refuses to go back to where it came from, and we’ve been attempting to siphon it off slowly, but to no avail. Absorption would do the trick, I believe.”
Jongdae is hesitant. He’s only just gotten here, and he barely even knows his power, but they want him to help with something like this? What if he screws up?
But of course, Baekhyun is like a mind-reader, and whispers from behind him, “You won’t mess up. I believe in you. Go on, we’re waiting.”
“Come on, Jongdae,” says Soojung, and she grins. “It’s not showing off if someone asks you for help.”
“Please?” adds Micky, looking hopeful.
Jongdae sighs, smiling in amusement. “Okay. But if I blow something up, I’m blaming all of you!”
“Oh, that’s fine, we’ve blown up the lab six times already this month,” says Micky, and he drags Jongdae over. Somehow, that statement doesn’t seem to help alleviate the coils of nervousness currently broiling in his gut.
“Okay, kid,” starts Micky, once he’s done introducing him to the rest of the researchers, and has him standing in front of the energy sample. “Just gently grab onto it with your power, and absorb it.”
“I’ve never tried doing that before,” murmurs Jongdae, eyeing the sample as it sparks and crackles threateningly, and his own fingers spark up in response. The looks on the researchers’ faces are like kids in a candy store. “Should I… just…”
“Just go for it,” says Micky cheerfully, “no worries.”
Jongdae glances back at his friends, who send him thumbs up signs and wide grins.
“Okay then.” Jongdae inhales, exhales, and inhales again, before holding out his hand, palm face-up. He wonders what to do next, but it seems that it comes naturally, like an instinct he has to follow, and he curls his fingers absently, watching the spirals of energy appear in rings around his hand, and he flicks it towards the sample, much like a Water Manipulator would flick a stream of water from their hand, and a stream of energy splats onto the sample, making it glow brighter. “Oops, sorry, let me try again.”
The researchers are scribbling away furiously in notebooks, observing him like he’s the experiment. Jongdae almost wants to laugh, but this is also quite interesting, and he himself wants to know how he’s going to control his power well enough.
He draws the energy back again, and this time, instead of flicking his fingers out in a forward motion, he pulls his hand back, as if drawing the energy away, and he can feel a different kind of wave approaching his fingers; it’s not the energy that he’s got already dancing on his skin, but a lighter energy. If Jongdae had a word for it, he’d say that it’s being floaty, but that sounds weird too, and he just shakes his head, concentrating harder.
The floaty energy dips at his fingertips, and he wills it to come here, come to him, come and settle, and he can feel it coo at him, skimming along the expanse of his arm, before fading into the already present energy. Oh. So that’s how he’s got to do this one. Be nice to it.
He calls it again, this time louder in his mind, and he tacks on a mental ‘please,’ and watches the sample lose its brightness, until it’s become a dim little thing, and the energy is swimming around him in swirls, and he’s feeling a little light-headed, but this is nice, this is fun.
Jongdae lets out a drunken giggle, and says, “It kind of tickles.”
Behind him, Chanyeol has his hand clamped over his mouth, trying valiantly not to laugh, but Kyungsoo is already snickering at him, and Baekhyun is sighing in amusement.
Micky nearly hugs Jongdae. “That was perfect! Thank you! Can you come back when we conduct our Stage Two experiments?”
“I guess so,” says Jongdae, the high wearing off quickly, and he shakes his head, brushing off the last bits of energy that stick to him, and he returns to his usual self. “That is, if my mum lets me.”
Micky pauses. “Your mum is here?”
“Yeah, she works here. Kim Junghwa, technopath, used to be an active hero.”
The researchers all squeak even before he’s finished with his sentence. “Oh my god,” says Micky, “she’s going to kill me.”
Jongdae blinks. “Why is she going to kill you?”
“Because,” comes a voice from behind, and Jongdae glances around to see his mother standing there, with a miffed expression on her face, “I’ve told him to not bug the kids for their powers, and he’s gone and done it again. With my kid.”
“Forgive me!” screeches Micky, and he hides behind Jongdae. “He’s just so interesting! I can’t help it!” He adds in a whisper to Jongdae and his friends, “She was my NSA mentor back in the day. Scared me then, still scares me now.”
“Off you go,” says his mother cheerfully, and Jongdae grins at her, as they all pass her on the way to the door. “And I saw all of that. Very impressive. You can come back and help if you want to.”
The researchers all cheer. Jongdae cheers. His friends cheer.
Micky cheers, but then curls up into a small ball when his old mentor gives him a stern look. “And make sure you don’t blow up the lab anymore!”
“Okay!” Micky waves them all goodbye. “Come back soon!”
As they walk back to their rooms, hoping to meet back up with the other group, the chatter is excitable, and amusement all rolled into one. “That was interesting,” says Chanyeol, bouncing as he walks along.
“Your mum is pretty cool,” says Soojung, and Jongdae smiles. “I’d like to be able to terrorise my juniors like that one day.”
“She doesn’t terrorise them!” Jongdae thinks about it for a while. “Okay. Maybe she does.”
Baekhyun laughs. “I’ve always wondered where you get that glare from.”
Jongdae glares at him, but then laughs anyway. And then he stops, because the laughter is missing one voice, and he spins around wildly, his mind already going into overdrive. Oh no. Oh god. He must have slipped away while they were distracted.
“Kyungsoo,” is all he says, and they start running.
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