Six days had passed since Cato had taken over Seokjin's body. Jungkook was weary, grappling with the dilemma of having to deceive Seokjin into believing that he intended to kill off this creature. He could never; this innocent creature was simply just trying to survive, likely feeling isolated and frightened. Jungkook wasn't good at lying, not to Seokjin. It killed him for so long not to tell him about his real father, but he knew it had to be done, there was no other way around it... and now he had to lie once again. If there was ever a chance to rescue Seokjin from Cato's influence, it was Sebastian who could do it. Namjoon had told him that when Sebastian was sixteen, he went to work for the Preservation Squad, a fancy name for a band of witches that use their powers to address and resolve issues caused by wrongdoers wreaking havoc in their world. But over the last few years, Sebastian's team had been reduced to a glorified cleanup crew as external factors had altered the direction in which the supernatural world is managed. ( AKA the Gods, and their devious ways.)

     Not to mention Jungkook was still dealing with a myriad of emotions that spanned the whole length of the spectrum. Having to rescue Seokjin while he was still hurt and angry was contradicting his need to want to beat his . But saving the planet took priority as usual.

     Taehyung suddenly yelped a 'holy we've done it' kind of sound as he high-fived Hoseok.

     "Done?" Jungkook looked over at them as he slipped his favorite curmling back into its cage on the counter.

     "It is done, hold your applause." Taehyung took a fake bow to a nonexistent crowd.

     Jungkook walked over and bent down, resting his hands on the back of Hoseok's chair and leaning in to view the tablet, where the schematics of the device were displayed on the screen. Labels pointed to receivers and wires and things with strange little symbols that had the words ohms and watts written in Hoseok's handwriting next to them. Jungkook wasn't even going to attempt to decipher what this all was... "So... what is it?"

     "A really big invisible leash." Hoseok smiled, "It uses sound waves to mimic the beating heart of a mother dragon."

     "Why the hell would you need that?" Jungkook's lip was curled up, practically touching his nose, a classic 'what the ' expression etched on his forehead.

     "I've determined based on the logs from Cato's Iceland One facility, that the eggs used for this creature were extracted less than a year ago, so it makes this thing a baby."

     "And based on data from dragon breeders, a year-old dragon hybrid baby is still attracted to the sound of a mother's heartbeat," Taehyung added, excitement oozing from his pores. 

     "So how does this work exactly?"

     Hoseok smiled, "Well the sound waves are so that we can sort of control it, he will think whoever is wearing this device is his mother."

     "I thought this thing was raised in a lab?"

     "Technically it was, but according to one of the workers there, all their dragon's eggs are guarded and cared for by dummy mothers."

     "We just so happened to get the heart rhythm of thee dragon used when this one was being incubated," Taehyung added, ecstatic.

     "So what if it doesn't fall for this and one of us gets eaten?"

     "Yoongi already volunteered to wear the device." Taehyung seemed like he was extremely impressed by the notion, the glassy look in his eyes when he thought about Yoongi in the past had returned, "He's got vampire speed, so he'll be okay." 

     "Once we lure it out of the cave and into the containment area, he will be transported to a dragon handler to be trained and sent to a supernatural zoo-"

     "They really exist?" Jungkook had always thought that was a joke.

     "I am offended that my stories have gone right through your empty head," Taehyung smacked his arm.

     "You'll excuse me if I don't trust everything you say," Jungkook grimaced.

     "When have I ever lied?" Taehyung asked.

     "Need I remind you about the flesh-eating bugs incident?" Jungkook shuddered thinking about it. Taehyung had convinced him that fire ants could melt the flesh off your body if they managed to get on you, then proceeded to shower Jungkook with a cup full of them and laughed as the younger frantically slapped them off screaming about how his skin was melting. He was covered in welts for a good few days. 

     "Come on, you would have done the same thing," Taehyung insisted, smiling quite wickedly, it was a terrible thing to do, but he knew Jungkook would heal quick enough, "And you were 10, it's a right of passage."

     "Yeah, no," Jungkook protested, grabbing him in a headlock and giving him the biggest noogie of his life, "It itched for a week."

     "," Taehyung pulled free, rubbing his head. Jungkook laughed.

     "You and Jimin were mean to me, admit it," Jungkook frowned.

     "Yeah, it was a thing to do," Taehyung admitted, "But, I like you now, so it works out."

     "Sure." Jungkook shook his head, vowing one day he'd have his revenge.

     Yoongi strolled into the lab, he was dressed in an all-black ensemble that would give the best burglar a run for his money. A snapback held his bangs out of his eyes, showcasing that he was so deep in thought, that his forehead was creased with worry lines. Taehyung swooned a bit, then cursed himself for dismissing the deeds of what Yoongi did the week prior.

     "Sebastian's on his way, the thing done?" Yoongi inquired.

     "Just need to build it, will take an hour, tops." Hoseok stood, grabbing the tablet, "I'll be in the garage if anyone needs me."

     Yoongi watched Hoseok leave and then turned to Taehyung and Jungkook, "Sebastian seems to think whatever latent ability you have will come out when this whole ritual thing is happening."

     "So?" Jungkook didn't fancy a conversation with Yoongi about his abilities, or anything else for that matter.

     "So, no one knows what you could be harboring in that ed up little body of yours, if you lose control, you need to leave."

     Jungkook stood, sporting a -eating grin, "Oh, you clearly would know all about size limitations, wouldn't you?" Jungkook stepped closer, looming over him, "Just ing mind yourself and try not to get eaten. Or don't."

     Taehyung pulled Jungkook back, "Chill."

     "Everyone's problems would be solved actually... if you got eaten." Jungkook sat back down, smirking like he had just won a battle.

     Yoongi balled up his fists, drawing blood as his fingernails slit his palms open. He walked over and sat up on the lab table, closing his eyes, reminding himself not to kill Jungkook. Find your happy place, Yoongi, this kid is nothing. 

     Harley trudged in, carrying a pile of books. She thumped them down on the lab table next to Yoongi and looked up at him nervously, then turned to Jungkook. "I figured out why Cato wanted fairies in his army."

     "Why?" Jungkook and Taehyung asked in unison.

     She smiled and stood back, snapping her fingers. She cast her gaze down to her feet, nothing had happened. ". Sorry." She glanced up at their confused faces. She snapped her fingers again, but this time her body began to shrink, she constricted up into a glowy twelve-inch version of herself, complete with wings that flapped wildly, thrilled with the discovery.

     "What the ?" Jungkook stood and walked over to her examining her new smaller body as she twirled around in a circle and then stopped. He reached out and poked her stomach and she giggled.

     "I'm still me you know," She snapped her fingers again and fell to the ground with a thud as her body grew back to its normal size, her legs wobbled as if she had never been big before, like she was wearing a new pair of appendages she just somehow acquired.

     "That is a cool trick," Jungkook praised. 

     "Fairies are good for breaking into tight places," She stood and brushed off the seat of her pants, "Sebastian taught me how to change."

     "But how did your clothes shrink too?" Taehyung inquired.

     "Magic!" She grinned from ear to ear, "He's quite brilliant with spells."

     Yoongi grabbed one of the books from the pile that she had sat down, "Transfiguration tricks and shortcuts?"

     "I can only do it in human form so far. I don't have the onyx strength in this form, so it makes me weak," She huffed, "I am hoping to learn how to do it while changed too."

     "It's genius," Taehyung spoke up, "Really freakin' cool."

     "Hoseok owes me a steak dinner if I manage to do it in onyx form," She grinned as she climbed up onto the lab table to sit next to Yoongi, looking him up and down. "Why do you look like you're attending a secret agent's funeral?"

     "Black is soothing to this thing or some ," Yoongi adjusted his snapback, noticing Taehyung was staring at him as he did.

     "Are you scared?" Harley turned to Yoongi, who looked at her like she had three heads.

     "No," Yoongi answered then looked down, "Not for me."

     "We'll get Seokjin back, don't worry." Harley patted Yoongi's thigh and he glanced over at her, surprised she was being nice to him.

     Approximately forty-five minutes passed before Sebastian and Hoseok entered the lab, followed moments later by Namjoon. The three of them looked a new kind of serious, like the weight of everything was being balanced by their shoulders and if they e wrong way it would crash down and the world would fall into a void.

     "The device," Hoseok started as he lifted Yoongi's arm and fit the wrist apparatus onto him, adjusting it with the velcro straps, "It's kind of in beta mode, so I don't know how many bugs you might encounter."

     "I'm not going to end up like one of your frogs, am I?" Yoongi joked, then realized the horrified look on Hoseok's face meant he was doomed.

     "You should be fine," Hoseok's quick change to a half-smile was not comforting, "This button is the heartbeat. Use it sparingly, it drains the battery fast."

     "Do you have any good news?" Yoongi grimaced, "I'd rather not get eaten by a ing dragon."

     "I'm sure he'd spit you back up anyway." Hoseok backed up admiring the device, "You're very sour."

     Sebastian cleared his throat and they all peered over at him as he stepped in front of the door to make sure they could all see him, "The plan is to lure Seokjin to the tunnels with the premise of his dragon's untimely end. Jungkook, you just have to keep him distracted enough so that Yoongi can persuade the creature to leave the area. Taehyung and I will put Seokjin out and we'll bring him back here where I will perform the spell."

     "You make it sound too simple," Jungkook was very skeptical.

     "Put him out?" Yoongi complained, "Is this the term you're going with?"

     "What if we can't knock him out?" Taehyung questioned, thinking how vague the whole plan was and how many things could go wrong.

     "Well, plan B is always ready to go," Sebastian informed him.

     "Plan B?" Yoongi asked, "What is plan B?"

     "Need to know basis," Sebastian adjusted his gun holster and returned his jacket over it.

     "Well, I need to know," Yoongi insisted, "I'm not doing this if someone is at risk."

     "It's protection measurements, nothing that will harm anyone," Sebastian assured him.

     Yoongi didn't trust him, something about how he said it and then flashed his gun made Yoongi think that his plan B was to just kill Seokjin and be on his way. He glanced over at Jungkook whom he assumed was having the same thoughts, the expression on his face was straight suspicion. Priority 1: Make sure Sebastian doesn't off your best friend.

     The tunnel stairs were covered in a malodorous gooey slime, Yoongi knew right away that this creature had not stayed in its little hole like Seokjin had told it to, so that either meant the thing was not so obedient or Seokjin had been down here recently. It was challenging to descend the stairs without falling, twice Taehyung had slipped and Yoongi had caught his arm to keep him from tumbling off. 

     "Thanks." Taehyung grabbed onto the side of the wall and waited for Sebastian to join him.

     Jungkook jumped down and landed on the ground, spraying Yoongi with specks of dirty sand.

     "," Yoongi chastised him.

     "Oops," Jungkook flashed him a smug smile.

     Hoseok let out a pterodactyl-like screech that rang out through the tunnel as he slipped off the last stair and landed face-first at Yoongi's feet.

     Yoongi grimaced, "Why don't you just call it over here and end this suicide mission now."

     "Sorry," Hoseok rose and brushed the sand from his chin, spitting out the muck that managed to creep into his mouth, "Jungkook?"

     "I'm here," Jungkook stopped in the middle of the tunnel and Hoseok toddled over to him.

     Hoseok situated his hands on both sides of Jungkook's head with his thumbs placed just above Jungkook's eye sockets, "Close your eyes."

     "Okay," Jungkook obliged.

     "Keep all your focus on believing that you're here to kill the creature," Hoseok instructed, "Remove all doubt, not even a stray thought-"

     "I know," Jungkook assured him, glancing at Yoongi, then back to Hoseok, closing his eyes again. 

     "Envision the creature in your mind, picture how you will kill it," Hoseok continued, "Just keep running the scenario over and over."

      ...Jungkook pictured himself standing above the creature as it lay gasping in pain in the mucky sand, in his hands he wielded a large, silvery sword which he held above the creature's head, seconds away from decapitating it...

      Hoseok closed his own eyes, whispering a small verse to himself.

      Seokjin screeched to a halt, pulling his bike over to the side of the road as he removed his helmet, "Jungkook? What are you doing?"

     A vision of Jungkook standing above the creature with a sword ready to strike entered his mind.

     "No, No, No..." Seokjin threw his helmet down into the ravine and revved his bike, turning it around, imprinting deep tire marks into the gravel as he sped off and headed back the way he had come. The wind blew his hair back as he gunned it down the highway. His speedometer reached hyperspeed in seconds.

     Hell hath no fury like a hybrid about to lose his precious pet.

     Jungkook opened his eyes suddenly, he felt dizzy and had to lean against the wall to get his bearings, "He's on his way."

     "You okay?" Hoseok asked, looking at his pupils.

      "Yeah," Jungkook nodded.

      Hoseok ripped the sword from his belt, holding it out to the younger. "If you fear your life at all, use it."

     "Okay," Jungkook took the sword from Hoseok and unsheathed it. He glared at the shiny silver blade, spying his reflection as it glared back. He was scared that he could have a reason to hurt Seokjin.

     Sebastian and Taehyung headed off down the tunnel together, turning on their headlamps and disappearing around a corner.

     Hoseok turned to Yoongi, "Stay close to him, but out of sight."

     "I know, don't worry." Yoongi took a deep breath, "If I die here today, please don't let them throw my ashes in the garbage can."

     Hoseok smirked, "If anything goes wrong with the device, just get the hell out of there."

     "Will do," Yoongi called back as he trudged off down the tunnel corridor. 

     Jungkook inhaled and exhaled, feeling sick, giving a nod to Hoseok.

     "May the gods have mercy on our souls," Hoseok prayed, watching as Jungkook caught up to Yoongi and their silhouettes disappeared out of sight.

     Hoseok carefully climbed back up the stairs and headed towards the warehouse door. He heard a motorcycle pull up outside, screeching to a halt. Damn, that was quick. He jumped behind some crates in the corner to hide as Seokjin came rushing through the door and ran straight to the stairs and down them. Hoseok looked over towards the trapdoor, his heart thumping fast, he quickly sent a text to everyone to alert them that Seokjin was in the tunnels... and in a hurry.

     Jungkook and Yoongi both read the message at the same time, ", that was fast."

     Jungkook turned to Yoongi, "Find someplace to go, now."

     Yoongi ran ahead into the darkness. Jungkook could hear quickened footsteps coming down the tunnel towards him and just as he turned and drew the sword, Seokjin grabbed him by the neck and slammed him down to the ground, holding the younger's sword hand down with his knee. 

     "What are you doing?" Seokjin was furious, Jungkook squirmed below him, but was unable to break free of Seokjin's grasp, yelling out in pain as the elder squeezed his neck, drawing blood.

     "You're going to let him kill me, Seokjin?" Jungkook choked out.

     "Seokjin is not here anymore, dumb." Seokjin squeezed harder. 

      "Seo-Seokjin..." Jungkook gasped for air, trying to use his free hand to pry himself out of Seokjin's death grip. 

      Thump. The floor shook ever so slightly. Once. Twice. Something wicked this way toddles.

     Seokjin smiled as he raised his head up and focused his eyes down the tunnel. "Someone's here to see you."

      Jungkook tilted his head to look behind him, seeing the enormous silhouette approaching fast, the closer it got, the more the ground rumbled below him... Oh .

     The creature stopped when it reached Seokjin, standing teeth to face with him, cooing. As Seokjin reached up to pet it, Jungkook felt a strange pang in the pit of his stomach.

     "Get off of me," He squirmed.

     "Gladly," Seokjin yanked the sword from Jungkook's hand and stood, throwing the sword off down the tunnel. Jungkook scrambled back away from the two of them, the creature was too close for comfort.

     "Are you hungry my pet?" Seokjin the creature's snout and it closed its eyes, enjoying the soothing physical contact.

     Oh god, Yoongi where are you? 

     "This er here came to kill you," Seokjin seized the front of Jungkook's shirt and pulled him to stand, pushing him back so he hit the wall.

      "What are you doing?" Jungkook bellowed.

      "All I have to do is order the kill, just one simple word," Seokjin's eyes flashed black and Jungkook looked at the creature as it moved closer to his face, Jungkook shrunk into the rock, feeling the creature's heated breath on his cheek.

     Is this how I die? Eaten alive because Yoongi decided to leave me here alone to have Seokjin for himself...

     "Maybe not as effective as ing my hand through your chest and ripping out your heart, but that's much too quick for you," Seokjin's demeanor was oozing with vileness over his deep-seated need for revenge, "With every morsel he tears from your flesh, the agony of his teeth scraping your bones will have you begging for mercy."

     "Yoongi!" Jungkook called out and Seokjin stopped smiling, he turned around as Jungkook called out again,