December 3rd, 2016 - Drone Outpost

The last Drone falls by Heechul’s hand, hitting the floor with a thud. His other two team members inspect the lower half of the compound, but there’s nothing to be found. Their mission is coming to a close, assuming any Drones in the command room had already joined the fight.

“I’ll take point,” Hyukjae says. “One last room and we’re done. Good work.”

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you, rookie?” Heechul asks. He means it as a joke, but as usual, Hyukjae has no reaction other than readjusting his trigger finger.

“Let’s move,” is all the latter says.

Sungmin brushes past Heechul, whispering a quick “at least you tried” in his ear, and the Strategist follows behind the other two with a sigh. A ‘you tried’ isn’t going to help Hyukjae climb up from the pit of revenge he’s been digging for himself. He’ll just have to keep doing his best.

Hyukjae swings open the command room door, and the three Resistance members find out that they are most certainly not alone: there’s a policeman, not a Drone, standing in the middle of the space.

“On your knees!” Hyukjae demands. “Hands behind your head!”

The officer just crosses his arms, not moving from his position. “Listen, kid,” he says, “We all know about the Resistance. And we know that you have a no-kill policy. I’ve got nothing to worry about.”

The hard way it is, then. Heechul pushes past his teammates who are pointing their weapons at the officer, and adds his own to the mix.

“Tell us the locations of all your nearby outposts. You’ve got ten seconds to start talking.”

“Or what? You’re not going to do anything to me.”

“I’m just not allowed to kill you. I’m sure I can get creative. Locations, now.”

The officer ignores his demands entirely. “Speaking of what I know about the Resistance…” His mouth twists into a cruel smirk. “I don’t know your faces, but I can probably guess who you are. The skinny one in the front ━ were you the one whose parents protected you as you tried to escape? Or the one whose whole family was gunned down in a Cluster-wide raid while you hid in the back like━”

A single shot rings out, and the officer curses, crumpling to the ground. For a moment, Heechul thinks he’s going to die, but then he sees the man has only been shot in the leg. Still, the blood flowing from his wound doesn’t make it look any better. And the culprit…?

Hyukjae still stands at the front of their trio, holding a smoking gun.

“Hyukjae, what the hell were you thinking!?” Heechul yells, but he’s ignored. The other man only has eyes for the target of his rage, eyes that are looking darker by the second.

The officer still manages to grin from where he’s bleeding on the floor. “Hit the nail on the head, did I? It must hurt to know they all died while you were too busy being a coward.”

“Shut up.”

“I wasn’t there, but I’ve heard stories from the ones controlling the Drones during that raid. They described it to me in great detail.”

“I said shut up!” Hyukjae’s hands shake as he holds his gun.

“They say your mother squealed like a pig, and your sister━”

The gun is abruptly gone from Hyukjae’s grasp, and a knife drawn from a hidden pocket. He scream out his fury as he charges, aiming directly for the man’s heart.

He would have succeeded, too, had Sungmin not darted forward to hold him back. Hyukjae’s anger makes him strong, but not strong enough to break out of the arms locked around his struggling form.

“What are you protecting him for!?” Hyukjae yells at the two members. “Let go of me!”

Heechul steps in front of him, blocking his view of the officer. “Hyukjae, use your head for a minute. Remember our rule.”

“What’s the point!?” The anguish behind Hyukjae’s anger is hard to listen to. “What’s the point when they won’t think twice about pulling the trigger on us?”

The officer laughs, and Heechul has quite frankly had enough of his commentary. He brings down the of his gun against the back of the man’s head with a sharp crack!, and the laughter disappears. Out cold, but still alive. As it should be.

“The point,” Heechul says, turning back to a still-struggling Hyukjae, “is so we don’t become like them! What would people think of us then, if we became the same monsters as the Capital’s goons?” He drops his voice. “What would Donghae think if he saw you shoot a man in cold blood? Would he think you were a hero then?”

It’s a low blow, but it works. Hyukjae slumps in Sungmin’s hold, and after Heechul gives a nod, the stronger of the two releases his captive.

“Let’s go back,” Hyukjae spits out. “Do whatever you’re planning to do with him, but I’m waiting outside.”

He walks out before Heechul can stop him.

~*~

When they get back to the Bunker, after leaving the officer in the middle of nowhere with only water and a warning note, Hyukjae still refuses to speak to them ━ or anyone, for that matter. He stalks off to his room and slams the door shut behind him.

Donghae is in the main room, continuing to help Donghee review leads on the radiation-resistant man. He looks up when the others return, but is left speechless at Hyukjae’s rage.

He doesn’t say anything, but when Donghae looks to Heechul, the Strategist knows exactly what question he’s asking.

“Go talk to him,” Heechul simply says, and Donghae is gone in a flash, heading toward the same door Hyukjae had just disappeared behind.

Hopefully he hasn’t just made things worse.

~*~

“I’m not proud of it,” Hyukjae says, twisting his fingers together, “but I still think it was worth everyone hearing. The rule we have...even though that was the closest I came to breaking it, looking back on it made me realize why it’s there in the first place: I could have never forgiven myself if I’d gone through with killing him, no matter how much I hated him.”

“But...it didn’t sound like that’s what you thought at the time,” Zhou Mi says carefully. “What changed?”

“It was actually because━”

“Hyukjae, we’re telling this story chronologically. No spoilers.” Heechul once again addresses the rest of the group, “Now, I think it’s someone else’s turn to be recruited. Anyone else want to give my voice a rest? Jungsoo?”

To the group’s surprise, Donghae raises his hand.

“I’ll tell this part,” he says. “Some of you seem to think I’m too preoccupied being attached to Hyukjae’s hip to pay attention, but I notice more than you think. Like how Youngwoon has been gradually moving toward the kitchen for the past thirty minutes, only the cake he thinks is there was hidden by Heechul before any of us even showed up.”

Youngwoon sheepishly inches back to his original seat, and Heechul seems to reconsider his open offer.

“On second thought, maybe this wasn’t the greatest idea. You remember how much I’ve done for you, don’t you, Hae?”

Donghae gives him an angel’s smile. “I remember everything.”

~*~

December 7th, 2016 - Capital Outskirts

The moment their wagon is half a mile out from the Capital’s walls, Donghae rejoices. At this distance they won’t be spotted by sentries as long as they stay in the wagon, so he and his companions can finally get out from under all the supplies. While it’s an effective hiding place, it isn’t winning any awards for comfort.

Today was a test run: a chance for the Resistance members to see if it was possible for Zhou Mi to transport them in and out of the Capital without detection. Now that they’ve safely made it out, he thinks the mission can be considered a success.

It’s the most packed mission they’ve had in a while, actually. Other than Sungmin and Donghee, who are still following leads on the radiation-resistant man they’ve learned goes by Yesung, everyone is here.

Jungsoo and Youngwoon are on his left, sitting as far apart as they can in the small space and probably thinking they’ve got everyone fooled. But Donghae notices things; he’s seen the way they share secret glances, the way Jungsoo has started staying behind on missions which is definitely not related to Youngwoon’s insistence that their leader should always be safe from harm.

(“I don’t need to be locked up and protected,” Jungsoo had protested, but Donghae didn’t even need to take a second look to see that the Resistance leader was flattered.)

On Donghae’s right are Heechul and Han Geng, who are somehow both the polar opposite and mirror image of the other pair. They’re not shy about their mutual attraction ━ Donghae actually moves away from where they’re invading each other’s personal space ━ but beyond that...nothing. Donghae thinks it’s sort of ridiculous, actually, how Heechul is either that thick-headed or that much of a coward to admit their fling is anything more.

Still, it’s not his business to interfere in either of those building storms. He’ll sit here and watch, as always, and hope that they’ll sort themselves out.

Then there’s Hyukjae.

Hyukjae is sitting across from him, staring down at the floor with an unreadable expression on his face. After they joined the Resistance together, they still used to make eye contact, even if the smile Hyukjae gave him never quite reached his eyes. Now the other man rarely even looks at him, and Donghae...Donghae is worried about him.

He himself will still never really move on from his parents’ passing, but at least he’s coming to terms with it. Hyukjae, on the other hand, is drifting further away from him, consumed with thoughts of retribution and revenge.

Three days ago, Donghae had managed to talk him down from what had turned into a frightening confrontation, filled with yelling and angry tears from Hyukjae’s end. It wasn’t Hyukjae’s anger that Donghae had been frightened of, however. He’d known the other man long enough to recognize when he was hurting. Instead, he was scared for Hyukjae ━ of what he might do, and how he’d come to regret it. If he only knew what had happened on that mission━

“Hey, you all might want to check this out!” Zhou Mi calls from the front of the wagon.

Jungsoo is immediately on alert. He climbs over the pile of supplies to end up next to Zhou Mi, and the others file out the back to join him. Donghae wonders what could be important enough to stop the wagon when they’re only a few miles from the Capital, but that question is answered when he sees a man lying motionless on the ground.

Hyukjae has his gun out of its holster in an instant. “Drone?” he asks. “Or policeman?”

Ignoring Jungsoo’s protests, Donghae goes right up to the man, crouching down next to his face. Two fingers at the pulse point on his neck confirm that he’s passed out and not dead, and if Donghae checks the back of his head...no evidence of injections.

“He’s not a Drone,” he tells the others. “And he doesn’t have a gun, so my guess is he’s not a policeman, either. I think we need to help him.”

He watches as Jungsoo’s expression twists into one of indecision.

“We can’t...I don’t what we can do for him,” the Resistance leader says. “He needs medical attention, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to bring him back to the Bunker.”

There’s a few beats of silence before Zhou Mi asks, “Do you want to bring him back to the shop? Henry and I can fix him up, and you can either stay out of sight or just not tell him who you are.”

Jungsoo shares a glance with Heechul, and they come to a silent agreement the way Donghae’s seen them do so many times before.

Zhou Mi’s sharp eyes may have just saved a man’s life.

~*~

Zhou Mi clears all the merchandise off of a table in the back room, which is where Youngwoon places the still-unconscious man who’s draped over his shoulders. It’s Henry who starts the treatment, a survivalist air about him that tells Donghae everything he knows is self-taught. It will have to be enough.

Ten minutes later, Henry is done patching up the man’s wounds and is trying to think of how to create some sort of makeshift feeding tube ━ and the man’s eyes fly open.

He sits up faster than he probably should, almost falling off the table, but his eyes still manage to zero in on Henry.

“Are you working for the Capital?” the man asks. He looks like he’s bracing for the worst.

“No, I’m actually━”

“Oh, thank God.” The previous tension leaves the man’s body entirely. “My name is Choi Siwon, and I’m on the run from a Capital prison.”

When Henry starts to back away, Siwon must realize he’s given the wrong impression.

“Don’t misunderstand!” he says quickly. “It wasn’t my fault that I was there. I was an Outsider before I was kidnapped on my way to another Cluster and thrown into one of their prisons. I escaped before they could turn me into one of those...things. The Drones.”

“They’re keeping people in prisons?”

Heechul is the first one to step forward, and Siwon finally notices Henry isn’t the only other one in the room.

“Yes, there are huge numbers of Outsiders being kidnapped and brainwashed. But...who are you?”

“That’s not important right now. How long have you been in prison? What did you see?”

Siwon seems to almost shrink back against the onslaught of questions. “A few weeks, I think? And I’m not sure ━ I was too busy doing my best to survive most of the time to see more than the other prisoners.”

“But you escaped.”

“I’d been working on an escape plan with a friend for a while now. She...didn't make it. I ran as far as I could before I collapsed.”

“But how━”

“Heechul,” Han Geng and Jungsoo both say the Strategist’s name in warning, and it would almost make Donghae smile under other circumstances.

“Let’s give him some food and water first,” Jungsoo continues, “and then maybe you can ask him more questions without turning it into a full-blown interrogation.”

Heechul protests, but Han Geng leads him into the other room with Henry to get some sort of meal put together, leaving the others with Siwon.

“So…” the latter says after a moment of hesitation. “Can I ask who you all are now? I tried to ask politely before, but I got snapped at…”

Donghae gives him a comforting smile. “Don’t take anything Heechul says personally,” he tells Siwon. “That’s just the way he is. It takes some getting used to.” He leaves the real question for the Resistance leader to answer.

“We’re the Resistance,” Jungsoo says right on schedule. “I don’t know if you’ve heard of━”

“Of course I have!” Siwon’s eyes are even bigger than they were when he first regained consciousness. “I wasn’t sure who to take my information to, but this is perfect; there’s no one who fights back against the Capital better than all of you do.”

“There’s not much we can do with just your word for it,” Hyukjae mutters, finally speaking up.

“I realize that, but maybe there’s some way I can help? I know the one prison fairly well, and I know their methods for kidnappings. Maybe I could help you stop them.”

“Well…” Jungsoo starts.

Heechul’s voice calls loudly from the other room, “If you’re going to ask him to join, you big baby, just get it over with!”

Siwon looks thrilled at the prospect. “Really? You’re accepting new recruits?”

“We’re always open to help from those who want to give it,” Jungsoo clarifies. “As long as you understand that being a Resistance member isn’t a casual association; it’s a full-time commitment to saving people and bringing down the Capital.”

Siwon gives him a solemn nod. “That’s good, then. Because helping those in need is all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

Jackpot, Donghae thinks, and he’s unsurprised when an invitation is formally extended only seconds later. The Resistance could definitely use someone like Siwon; Donghae likes him already.

(He’s also incredibly amused by the way Heechul is too distracted by Han Geng on their trip back to the Bunker to even spare a thought for the admittedly impressive visual that is Choi Siwon. Those two are as much of a ‘casual fling’ as Donghae is a fan of suffocating under heaps of cargo.)

~*~

“I’m impressed, Lee Donghae, but those last two lines were just uncalled for.”

“I call it as I see it, Hyung. But wait, there’s one more thing I have to talk about…”