A/N:

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Seventh Thread - Tao

Day One – Beta 13

Tao – Intermediate Level 1 Handler on temporary assignment for the exploration team – Hera Institute

Time of crossing: 04:35

Location: currently unknown

Notes:

1. Radiation levels are low to normal. Vegetation appears comparable to those found in U-0 and other Beta universes.
2. Urban density is still unknown but there are signs of Level 8 civilization (paved roads, traffic signs, noise pollution, artificial light pollution). Conditions indicate that the roads are still in use.
3. Language development still unknown. Geo-political boundaries unknown.

Tao closed his notebook and stowed it safely inside his pack. He checked his inventory of essentials:

Six bottles of water, three packages of rations, four pens of anti-radiation medication, one handgun with all necessary parts, one box of compatible ammunition, one box of matches, one medical supply kit, one regulation toothbrush and tube of paste, one stopwatch.

He managed to set up his tent near a moving stream which should cut down on using his own water. The relative silence of the forest meant that he was probably isolated enough not to worry about sudden guests. Still, he set up a system of strings and empty cans around his base as a precaution.  

‘Another day,’ he thought, laying back on his makeshift pillow, ‘another universe to explore.’

*

Tao can’t stop pacing and checking his watch. There’s eleven minutes until three a.m. which, if all goes according to schedule, is still enough time for something to go wrong. Every few seconds, he glances through the two-way mirror, into the former interrogation room, where their guest is hooded and zip-tied to a chair.

Xiumin watches him warily. “The floor is going to fall through if you keep that up,” he says.

But Tao simply glares at him and continues his repetitive march. His paranoia isn’t completely unjustified.

Five years previously, he had been a rookie handler with no real responsibilities but his supervisor was in charge of observing a target named Kevin Li – a Chinese-Canadian student attending a university in Shanghai. Li emerged on the Institute’s radar when he became involved in radical student protests and his position within the activist sphere seemed ideal for the Institute’s more political purposes.

It wasn’t until after they had acquired him that they realized their mistake. Kevin Li was merely the cover story for Wu Yifan, a Chinese intelligence officer on an undercover assignment.

In hindsight, it was obvious that “Kevin Li” was not who he claimed to be but the excitement of finding a matched agent in Kris blinded them to the truth. Tao knows the chances of finding an agent of the Institute to match a target of interest is rare, nearly impossible. China has the most with almost thirty agents successfully planted. Korea has ten.  

Tao remembers too well the chaos that followed Yifan’s escape: the near cancellation of the entire Operation before a few senior board members stepped in, the resignation of the chief handler, the demotion of his own supervisor, changes in procedure regarding management of the targets.

Less than a dozen people from the Institute know about Yifan’s existence. Of those people, only a handful have actually met the legend, Tao among them.

Before Yifan, they had examined and questioned the targets in their own universe before deciding whether they were worth taking back to the Institute or not. A structure - similar to the underground level that housed the portal - had been built for that purpose. Now, the formerly functioning facility is merely a location to secure targets before being taken back to the Institute as quickly as possible which means harsh time constraints and little room for error.

“ing Yifan,” he mutters.

“Who’s Yifan?” Xiumin asks.

Tao realizes he hadn’t spoken quietly enough. “Nobody. Don’t worry about it.” His pace picks up speed.

Realizing that the agitated handler has no plans to stand still, Xiumin retrieves a bottle of water from his bag and heads towards the door of the interrogation room.

“Woah, woah, woah,” says Tao, stopping him. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m just giving him a little water,” Xiumin says patiently. “If he’s too dehydrated, he might not make the crossing which means we’ve only done half our job. Besides, it helps me ease my conscience since we’re about to ruin this person’s life. You know it’s true,” he speaks over Tao’s weak denial. “It’s not as if when an agent completes his or her mission, the targets gets to return. Something happens to them. That’s why you killed Minseok instead of bringing him back to the institute, isn’t it?”

Tao doesn’t blink. The phrase is too well rehearsed. “The target tried to escape and per protocol, I eliminated him. That’s it.”

“Okay.” Xiumin gently shakes off Tao’s grip on his arm. “Maybe that was the case. But this guy – what’s his name again?”

“Kyungsoo,” Tao replies against his better judgment. It’s never wise to humanize the target.

“It will be nothing short of a miracle if Kyungsoo manages to untie himself from the chair, get through the door which can only be opened from the outside, fight off both me and you, sneak past the driver, and escape to the nearest semblance of civilization which is over forty miles in any direction.”

Tao doesn’t tell him that what he describes isn’t as miraculous as he thinks. “We’ve got five minutes until three. Make it quick,” he says and positions himself by the two-way mirror in order to watch.

After a year of observation, Tao concluded that Kyungsoo is not particularly strong and is fairly mild-mannered with a patience that can only be acquired by working with children. He had expected an easy acquisition but was confronted by a scrappy refusal to be taken without a fight. His initially worries that D.O is too temperamental to successfully infiltrate the target’s life had lessened somewhat after the encounter with Kyungsoo’s combative side.

Tao unconsciously touches a spot on his jaw where the target landed a good hit before being stabbed with a sedative, the effect of which has worn off by now.

Xiumin approaches slowly, obviously not wanting to startle Kyungsoo. He pinches a corner of the hood and pulls it up and over in a smooth motion.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times against the sudden light before his eyes adjust. His jaw clenches as his teeth grind down on the strip of white cloth pulled between his lips and knotted at the back of his head. He looks up at Xiumin with confusion, fidgeting against the thin strips of plastic holding him down.

Xiumin doesn’t smile but his voice comes out soft and mollifying. “I’m going to give you some water but you have to stay quiet, okay?”

Kyungsoo hesitates a second before nodding. His jaw relaxes enough for Xiumin to tug on the gag and let it slip around his neck. He runs a dry tongue over even drier lips.

Xiumin carefully lifts the bottle until a trickle pours into Kyungsoo’s open mouth. With an inflated look of concentration on Xiumin’s face, the entire operation comes across as oddly intimate and friendly. Kyungsoo gets through half the bottle before he lets out a small gargle and Xiumin quickly pulls back.

Kyungsoo turns his head and coughs twice into his shoulder. He looks back at Xiumin. “Where’s the other guy?” he asks, voice barely a whisper. “The scary looking one.”

Tao scoffs at the characterization. He checks his watch.

One minute.

He knocks on the two-way mirror.

Both Xiumin and Kyungsoo jerk at the noise and stare in his direction. He flinches and reminds himself that they definitely can’t see anything through the other side of the glass. Still, he’s a little unnerved. He knocks again.

“Guess it’s time,” Xiumin says as he crams the fabric back into Kyungsoo’s mouth. His fingers find the split seam of the hood and pull back the edges to create a dark opening.

Kyungsoo, obviously aware that being blind puts him at a disadvantage, shakes his head. The first sign of tears begin to show in the inner corner of his round eyes. A noise of protest, a low sob mixed with a quiet whimper, manages to pierce the gag. It’s the kind of sound that would elicit pity from the most hardened souls and here, Xiumin hesitates.

Tao bangs on the glass again, this third time out of impatience and frustration.

Perhaps if Kyungsoo had never been shown a little bit if kindness in the first place, he wouldn’t be so resistant. At least, that’s Tao’s theory. He’s been a part of these kind of operations more times than he likes to think about and finds people to be more compliant when their captors are anonymous, faceless beings with inscrutable intentions. The fear keeps them in line.

But Kyungsoo has seen Xiumin’s hamster face and heard his youthful voice, neither of which are terrifying in the least. If anything, it gives him hope which lends itself to defiance.

Tao opens the door. He feels Kyungsoo staring at him but keeps his own eyes focused on Xiumin. “Thirty seconds. Go. I’ll stay and watch him.”

Xiumin looks reluctant but doesn’t question the order. He pauses to give Tao the hood and takes the headset in return.

The door shuts behind Tao with a soft click.

Kyungsoo closes his eyes and tears stream prettily down his cheeks. His trembling grows more violent as Tao walks towards him.

Tao gently grips Kyungsoo’s chin, tilts his face to the side, and marvels at how such a thing is possible. How could it be that this person is not D.O but the author of his own story? One that, up until this point, had been entirely separate from the narrative of his own history. And here they are about to converge into an unnatural, almost blasphemous, plot.

But in a way, he knows it’s meant to happen.

The tips of his fingers grow wet with Kyungsoo’s tears and pity stirs in his chest. Tao sighs without meaning to and Kyungsoo opens his eyes. He sees his own reflection in the dark brown iris, the image that he projects to the world: cold, aloof, dangerous.

Tao plays his part. “Listen carefully,” he growls. “If you cause any trouble, I mean any at all, I will cut out those big eyes of yours and then we won’t need to bother with this hood. Do you understand?”

Kyungsoo stares back at him without any indication that he had heard.

Tao tightens his grip on Kyungsoo’s face, less out of anger than fear that he’ll have to make good on his threat. “Do you understand?”

Kyungsoo lifts his chin ever so slightly and lowers it again.

That’s good enough for Tao. He shakes open the hood and slides it down over Kyungsoo’s head. He’s now just another anonymous target. He steps back, relieved.

(Tao pulls the door handle which merely rattles without moving. He had forgotten that it can only open from the other side. He blushes at this amateur gaffe, grateful that Kyungsoo could not see him. )

He checks his watch. Two minutes past three.

D.O should have arrived by now.

Another minute passes and Tao begins to worry.

The door creaks loudly as it swings open. “He’s here,” announces Xiumin, still wearing the headset. He glances at Kyungsoo. His expression is neutral and he says nothing more.

Tao hurries out of the room. D.O looks a little pale but not any worse than the other agents who have crossed. “You okay?” he asks anyways.

D.O nods. “Yes, I’m fine,” he says, managing to muster a little enthusiasm.

Tao gives him a cellphone, set of keys, and a wallet. “These are yours now. Go upstairs, two flights, and your driver will be waiting for you. I’ll be in touch soon.”

“Yes, okay,” D.O says but doesn’t move. He stares down at the objects in his hands, silent.

“Do you have any questions?” Tao asks, trying to conceal his impatience as best as he can.

D.O looks up, past him, through the two-way mirror. His gaze is fixed upon the hooded figure. “Is that him?” He takes a step towards the glass. “Is that…what’s going to happen to him?”

Tension fills the observation room as neither Tao nor Xiumin answers. Not that Xiumin knows what happens to the targets but he understands the futility of trying to find out.

Tao settles for putting a hand on D.O’s shoulder in what he hopes is a comforting manner. “You don’t need to worry about that. Just go to Kyungsoo’s place and do your job.” He nods. “You’ll be fine.”

It’s not until after D.O leaves that Xiumin turns to him and says, “Do you mind if we finish this quickly? If my aunt wakes up and finds I’m not home, she’ll panic.”

Tao raises an eyebrow. “Your aunt?”

“Minseok’s aunt. It’s the same thing now, isn’t it?” Xiumin shrugs.

Tao hopes this is not the beginning of a bad habit. He pushes the concern to the back of his mind in favor of concentrating on the immediate task. “Let’s get the target back to the Institute.”

*

Kris managed to refrain from pouncing on Tao as soon as the handler stepped off the elevator. The entire office looked up and, for a moment, fell completely silent before resuming their work a little too loudly to be natural. “You okay?” Kris asked.

“I’m fine,” Tao replied, sitting down at his dusty desk. He picked up a Styrofoam cup that has been there for weeks and tossed it into the trash. If his desk had belonged to anybody else in the office, his pens and hi-lighters, paper clips and staples, and whatever else wasn’t glued down would have been pilfered and claimed by the other workers.

But as a trained handler who also lends his skills to the Exploration Unit, Tao inspired a certain fear, one that Kris can never quite obtain for himself no matter how hard he glared. Nobody dared to disturb anything lest Tao returned and noticed.

“If you insist,” Kris said, pulling away slowly in case Tao changes his mind. He was disappointed when instead, he his computer without another word.

Kris went back to his own desk and tried to focus on work but Tao’s cold behavior prevented him from concentrating. He was just about to take an undeserved break when he received a message notification on his phone.

[Tao – 9:15 AM]

Cigarette?

He looked over the grid of cubicles and saw Tao staring intently at his monitor. Too intently to be actually working. He stood up and headed toward the elevator. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tao follow. They boarded the lift and waited in silence as it brought them to the roof.

“I thought you were going to quit smoking,” Kris finally said as they pushed through the heavy metal door and stepped into the fresh air.

“Yeah, I will. Starting tomorrow.” Tao took out a fresh pack of cigarettes from his coat pocket. He offered one to Kris who refused as usual.

For a minute, they simply stood next to one another and looked out over the Institute. For a research center focused on cutting edge science and modern technology, he had been surprised to find so many red-brick, ivy-covered buildings. Only fourteen years old and newly accepted into Artemis, he had fallen in love with the old fashioned feel and tall trees.

“How come you didn’t contact me as soon as you came back from Beta-13?” Kris asked, feeling like a nagging wife but unable to hold back now that they were alone.

Tao looked down, smoke curling from his lips. “Sorry. I know you worry about me but I just needed time to think about something.”

The door to the roof opened and they both turned. An engineer, one that Kris recognizes but doesn’t know by name, spotted them both and froze, cigarette dangling from his lips. He sputtered an apology and attempted to bow, back out, and close the door at the same time.

“It’s okay,” said Tao. “You don’t have to – ”

But the engineer had already disappeared. Kris didn't blame him for not wanting to stick around but Tao looked genuinely distressed. He crushed the stub beneath his shoe and immediately pulled out another stick.

“I guess it is better that we have the roof to ourselves,” he said after taking a deep drag. “There’s something I want to show you.” He reached behind him and pulled out something tucked into the waistband of his pants, hidden beneath his coat. He handed Kris a large, rolled up piece of paper.

Kris carefully unfurled it and held the paper out at arm’s length. “What is this?” he asked, frowning. “Tao, is that...is that you at the end?”

Tao nodded and blew a stream of smoke from his nostrils. He looked amused. “Check out the guy at the other end.”

Kris brought the poster a few inches from his face. “What the am I wearing?” he shouted as he recognized the figure at the far left. “Why…where in the world did you get this?”

“Not in this world. I ripped it off the wall of a small village music store in Beta-13,” said Tao. He dropped the extinguished cigarette from his hand. “Don’t worry. We don’t look like that anymore. It’s a pretty old poster. We were a boy band but we’re broken up now.”

“Broken up?” Kris repeated. His head started to spin. “Wait, did you say boy band?”

“Yeah. According to the lady at the store, we were really popular for a while.” He stepped closer to Kris so they could examine the poster together. “See anybody else you recognize?” he asked casually, as if they were looking through an old yearbook, reminiscing about their youth.

“Um.” His legs felt weak but there was no place to sit down on the dirty roof. “The guy in the middle is my new roommate, you know him, Kai. What the hell is he doing in a boy band? And the guy next to him is his brother. I trained with him at Artemis. We were pretty close before he left for his assignment. And Xiumin. We trained with him too.”

“This guy,” said Tao, pointing at the figure fourth from Kris. “He’s the new Artemis graduate in the Psychiatric unit, isn’t he?” 

Kris squinted, wondering how he missed him. “Yeah, D.O or something. Quiet guy.” He looked away, feeling a little disoriented and sick.

Tao pulled out two more cigarettes and this time, Kris didn't refuse. He held the poster by one side, the wrinkled and faded edge of the other end curling in on itself. He used his other hand to hold his smoke. “This is so weird,” he murmured. “A ing boy band…”

“Could be worse,” said Tao.

Kris grudgingly agreed with this point. Although Tao’s reports were way above his clearance level, he had been privileged to pieces of the handler’s exploratory missions since Kris was his only friend. Tao had visited universes devastated by nuclear wars, universes governed by cannibalistic tribes, universes where the entire world dressed in white robes, didn't shave, and worshipped a two headed ostrich deity. So a boy band was not the worst situation for his alternate self.

And he realized that fame, fortune, and girls would not be the worst life for Tao either. Kris had never asked about the pink, jagged scars that ran down his back which he saw once by accident. He was certain the answer would break his heart.

“I have a theory,” said Tao.

Kris looked down to hide his exasperated expression. He had been an audience to plenty of Tao’s theories which run from barely plausible to wildly absurd.

“The people in our lives are in it for a reason,” Tao continued philosophically. “We’re bound together by fate. No, something stronger than fate. And if we’re lucky enough to both exist in a universe, we find each other.” He paused. “Maybe not in the same capacity across all universes. In another life, I could be your father. Or maybe just an acquaintance. Or maybe your worst enemy. Either way, we’re connected, you and me and these other guys.”

Although the poster obviously proved him wrong, Kris found it hard to believe someone as strange as Tao could exist anywhere else.

Kris dropped the cigarettes even though he was not finished and grinded it into the floor. He straightened the poster once again. “So I kind of get it. In this world, you, me, Suho, Kai, Xiumin and D.O are all connected via the Institute. But what about the rest of these clowns? I’ve never seen them before in my life.”

Tao shrugged. “Maybe they don’t exist here. But you’re still young and have the rest of your life to meet people. Maybe you’ll meet them tomorrow. Maybe one of them will be the one to kill you.”

Kris examined the faces of the six unidentified boys, all of whom are too pretty to be a legitimate threat to his life. “I sincerely doubt it.” He handed the poster back to Tao. “I can’t believe they let you keep this. It’s definitely against the rules.”

“Someone owed me a favor but now that I’ve shown it to you, I can’t risk it being found,” said Tao. He snapped the wheel of the lighter and held the flame to a loose corner of the poster.

The fire quickly consumed the aged paper and Tao dropped it before it could burn his hand. Kris watched his face, along with the others, turn black and then mottled gray. The wind blew the ashes over the edge of the roof.

It took a certain amount of faith and courage to believe that other worlds existed and even more humility to admit another self was possible– maybe not with the same occupation or upbringing or name even but the same soul, the very thing that made one unique in a world that doesn’t stop for anyone.

“Don’t think about it too much,” Tao said as they headed back down. “You’ll drive yourself crazy trying to figure out the answer.”

Kris closed his eyes and tried to forget the faces of the boys he did not recognize but they were seared into his brain. For the first time in his life, he thought that Tao might be onto something.

A/N:

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. The poster that Tao and Kris were looking at:

I'm sure you guys have seen it around. It's from their History era.

Anyways, comments, votes, subs always appreciated.