Chapter 13

“Don’t leave just yet Hwasa. I can get them out.” No one knew how Solar had the audacity to rasp this out as she could barely get herself to the car.

“Solar, you can barely stand, how’re you gonna-” Hwasa couldn’t even finish her sentence before Solar cut in.

“If I get to the car- When I sit down-”

“Solar…” Moonbyul muttered sounding concerned.

“Moonbyul.” Solar was able to shut Moonbyul up with that one word. She didn’t need to hear the pity.

I don’t have a choice I have to.

It was true that Solar had never felt like this before. Like she was tired and could barely stand, and that wasn’t even the whole of it. She felt something else deep in her chest. It wasn’t pain, but her heart seemed to be pumping strangely. It was hard and fast. She could almost feel the blood rushing to her brain.

It can’t just be blood.

She thought this because for a brief moment, right before Moonbyul helped her into the car and she crashed into the seat, Solar swore she could feel everyone’s, within a 10 mile radius, fears and desires. It was for just a split second, but once the moment passed she no longer felt so tired and weak. She shot up straight in her seat, leaving Moonbyul’s side, and gasped for a breath.

“Solar…” Moonbyul called out hesitantly. She must have heard the whole thing. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know.” Solar admitted honestly. “But I have to get Irene’s dad to come with us as soon as possible. Irene doesn’t have much time left.

“We can’t leave without her,” Wendy could barely get the words out as she breathed out in pain. She was probably barely aware of what was going on around her. The only attention she could manage to give was to Irene.

“I know, Wendy. Don’t worry I got this.” Solar touched her arm gently. Kibum had dropped her off in the seat beside her. Solar then turned back to Moonbyul, remembering the plan they had come up with earlier. “Moonbyul, take the wheel. Kibum, you get in the car with Hwasa, Wheein, and Yeri.”

“Are you sure? I can drive.” Kibum made eye contact with her in the rear view mirror, looking confident at the wheel.

“Thank you, but Moonbyul and Hwasa know the route.”                                                                                                       

“The route to where?” Moonbyul asked still by her side. Solar knew she was hesitant to leave her, but Solar felt fine. Better than fine actually.

“Hwasa’s. Minji doesn’t know where she lives, and her dad should be out of the house.” She knew this because she had been the one to urge him to stay over at his girlfriend’s for the night. It felt a little weird, but it had to be done. “Alright, everyone get situated. I’m going in.”

Solar had expected her usual leave her body limp while she jumps into someone else’s conscious, but that isn’t what happened. What happened was similar to the time she had gone to get Krystal with Moonbyul. When she had used Moonbyul’s senses to get around, but stayed present in her body.

This time was more remarkable than then because she wasn’t near her physical body like she had been at that time. Right now, it almost felt like she had two minds. And she knew, this is something no other human had felt before. This experience was truly something superhuman.

“Woah.” Solar breathed.

“What?” Moonbyul asked. Moonbyul had gotten into the driver seat, but she had twisted around in the seat to look at her girlfriend. Solar knew that Moonbyul must have figured out that something changed that moment before.

“I’m here and there…” Solar knew that probably sounded lame, but that was the best way she could explain it in the moment.

“Dad, we don’t have time! Come with me now! Take the chance and I promise you everything will become clear to you once I explain!” Irene begged her father looking desperate. She looked like she was close to running away even if it meant leaving her dad, but her love for her father kept her there. She had to keep fighting for him. “You have to trust me more than your feelings right now. That’s all I ask this one time.”

There was a war going on inside Dr. Bae’s mind. His sense told him that he should trust her. Of course, he should trust his daughter, but there was a rage for the people with powers that was almost just as strong. And the love he had for his wife, which was true and deep, was being tricked to fight for that rage.

“I ca-can’t.” He said through gritted teeth.

There was no time to unlock his memories. Solar had to get him out now. She just needed to… Be him.

“I’ll come.” Solar spoke in his voice. Solar immediately lowered the gun, and moved towards Irene.

“I’m… doing mind control.” She told Moonbyul in stunned voice. It felt wrong, but it was necessary, right? It was different than the suggestions she gave people. It may not have seemed that way because they usually end up doing what she wanted, but unlike those pushes this was a total takeover. She was basically the pilot of Dr. Bae’s body. Solar was the puppeteer and he was her puppet.  

Moonbyul, knowing just what she must have been feeling replied. “Well… It’s not exactly a big leap from what you’ve done before. There’s no reason to feel bad about it.” Solar heard Moonbyul’s response just as Dr. Bae jogged past Irene. It would have been impossible to miss the shock on Irene’s face. After the struggle he had been putting up, it would have been weird for such a quick turnaround.

 “Quickly! I can hear them coming.” Solar spoke again in the deep voice of Irene’s father.

Solar heard the light gasp from Irene, and then her footsteps soon catching up to hers/his. Irene wasn’t about to question it right now.

Soon enough, Solar’s worlds were colliding. From her view she could see Irene and Dr. Bae run out from the compound, and from his view she saw the cars­. It seemed like it would be too much to manage, but somehow she could handle it all without trouble. Like this is just how things are. How things have always been.

They were in the car soon enough, and Hwasa took off before them leading the way to freedom.

“Are you-” Irene hesitated for a moment. “Are you responsible for my father’s compliance?”

“Yes,” Solar answered honestly. “But don’t fret. I’m working on bringing his real self out now.”

Hwasa’s POV

Solar, even in her half-awake state, assured us that Dr. Bae and Irene would be there. Don’t leave, she said and Hwasa had to listen because at this point she knew that Solar would follow through. Even when you thought it would be impossible, she came through.

She wasn’t surprised when she saw Dr. Bae come out with Irene, but she couldn’t begin to figure how Solar had done it. Either way she didn’t hesitate to shift Wheein’s car into drive. Against the odds, they all made it out and now they were heading towards her place for safety. Hwasa never thought her house would be used as a safe base. Although it was lived in by the very man who made peoples’ homes safe, so maybe it made sense after all.

“What’s with the doom and gloom, people?” Yeri shouted out with complete glee. “We made it out! Play some music! Put on the radio. I don’t care. I just want to hear some music.”

“I second that.” Kibum agreed with a wide uncontrollable grin. “Let’s play some music! I can’t believe I survived so long without hearing music.”

“I know, right? They didn’t even know it, but that was a part of the torture itself.” Yeri said, talking like she hadn’t just gone through some traumatizing stuff.

Maybe it takes some time to digest. Hwasa thought.

“Yeah-yeah.” Hwasa feigned annoyance, but in all honesty she was feeling the rush too. “I’ll put some music on. Just make sure you’re wearing your seatbelts.”

“I got it!” Wheein said with a laugh, happily turning up whatever was on the radio.

Hwasa glanced over at her, and saw that clearly Wheein was feeling the glee too. She had on the biggest smile; it was so bright she swore it rivaled the sun.

Wow… I’m so whipped. Hwasa thought, almost irked to be so caught up in her feelings for Wheein that she had mushy thoughts like that. Still, she had to smile to herself after seeing that.

Everyone in the car was singing along to the music, and by the time they reached Hwasa’s house, theirs fears of being caught once again have dissipated. It was a naïve thought considering who they were dealing with, but maybe they needed that right then.

Moonbyul’s POV

The drive to Hwasa’s was pretty interesting. The main reason being that, this was Moonbyul’s hypothesis, Solar went through some sort of power metamorphosis. Watching Solar figuring out what she was capable of was sort of amusing. She would be talking from her body one minute then accidently slip a few words into Dr. Bae’s mouth.

“So you’re controlling my dad right now?” Irene asked soon after Moonbyul took off. It didn’t take Irene long to piece things together.

“Yes. Just while I’m trying to probe out some deep powerful memories that will-”

“-force him to be his self once again.”

Wendy chuckled from Irene’s lap, sounding a bit out of it.  “That was weird.”

“It was.” Moonbyul looked up into the rearview mirror to see Irene smiling down at Wendy, brushing her fingers through her hair. “You sound like you’re doing better.” She sounded relieved.

“The pain is slowly going away, but I can still tell that my powers are gone. How could he even…?” Wendy wondered. “Did you help your dad with that? You guys must be smart.”

“A little. But I stopped awhile back. I didn’t even know he finished it.”

“How are things going for you, Solar?” Moonbyul asked. She had been glancing up every now and then to see the cute furrow of Solar’s brows as she searched for a good memory.

“Good.”

“Mostly.”

“Sungjae just really must have buried his-”

            “-stuff deep do-”

“-wn.”

It was kind of an eerie thing to see because while Solar was working on him, Solar had Dr. Bae sitting pretty still in his seat up front. So when she accidently spoke through him, it looked way out of place.

“Ope!” She suddenly exclaimed. “Did it!” She announced proudly as Dr. Bae relaxed out of his trance.

“I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, Irene. I knew somewhere in me, but in the end the lies won.” Dr. Bae spoke his first words as him true self in what must have been a while. His voice almost sounded unfamiliar. It was softer. More like his daughter’s.

“Dad, I know. I’ve been there. We both did some horrible, unforgivable things. You don’t need to explain a thing to me.” His daughter assured him.

The car sat in an awkward silence for a moment. No one really knew what to say.

Finally, Dr. Bae was the one to break the silence.

“Um… Sorry for shooting you… Wendy, was it?”

“Yes, Wendy, and I mean I did just throw more than a couple dozen people at walls and stuff. I guess I can’t just do all that without some sort of karmic payback.”

Moonbyul heard the light smack that Irene gave Wendy.

“Don’t say that. How could you think Karma would be working against you after all that?”

Solar chuckled. “That’s Good ol’ Wendy for you.”

“Wendy’s famous for being altruistic, huh?” Moonbyul could hear the smile in Irene’s voice.

“Oh yeah.” Moonbyul smiled to herself after hearing the enthusiastic nodding coming from Solar. “I didn’t think she had mean bone in her body. Honestly, I’m glad to see that she can throw down when necessary. Kudos to you, Wendy.”

Wendy laughed out loud but stopped to groan. Clearly she wasn’t all better yet.  “Yeah, thanks. Guess I’m just full of surprises.” She paused. “Although, can’t see that sort of thing happening again anytime soon.”

“Dad, how long do you think the effects will last?” Irene asked her father clearly worried about Wendy.

“Oh um,” Dr. Bae coughed. “I never actually tested it before. It can’t be more than a day… It think. She might be stiff for a while, as for the powers, well, I can’t really say.”  

Wheein’s POV

Kibum whistles lowly when he walks into Hwasa’s house, impressed by what he sees when he walks in. Honestly Wheein, herself had been impressed. Hwasa never mentioned before just how well her dad’s company was doing. They weren’t living extremely lavishly or anything, but it was still really nice.

“Sweet pad, Bro.” He says.

“Thanks. Make yourself comfortable but not too comfortable. And of course, your shoes.” Hwasa joked while throwing her dad’s keys in the little tray by the door.

“Well yeah, I’m not an animal.” Yeri quickly toes her shoes off, and walks in as her eyes wander the place. “And don’t worry about that. I plan on getting home as soon as I can. I just don’t know how that’s gonna work out. I’m pretty sure that that abducted me took everyone that was close to me memories away. And,” Yeri gestured to herself. “I’m not about to show up looking like this.”

Wheein took in the plain white clothes the girl was wearing. She looked like she just walked out of some futuristic lab scene in a movie, as the subject of course. She definitely needed to change before going out. “Hwasa and I can probably go out and get you guys something, but we’ll have to talk about what’s gonna happen next when the other’s walk in.”

Just then the door opened, and first in was Wendy was being led in by Irene. “Hey,” Irene greeted everyone. “Thanks again for letting us come here.”

“Yeah, I really appreciate it,” Wendy agreed.

Hwasa waved her hand to dismiss the comment. “Ain’t a problem.”

Wheein perked up when she saw Solar walking in. She was looking a lot better than the last time she’d seen her.

Did she just have the most amazing powernap or what? There was a clear change in her appearance.

“Solar!” Wheein shouted while running over to her. Moonbyul retracted her arm to let Wheein go in for the hug. “You look so much better! You were like half dead the last time I saw you.”

“Something inexplicable happened,” Solar shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “And it seems I’m good now. Honestly, couldn’t really explain it if I wanted.” Solar said hugging Wheein back.
“Let’s order pizza or something.” Moonbyul suggested while walking towards one of the chairs and plopping down in it. “I’m starving.”

“Yes!” Kibum and Yeri say simultaneously.

“Someone who still has their phone order something. I’ll pay.” Moonbyul said looking happy at the sight of their guests looking excited.

Wheein let go of Solar to reach for her back pocket only to find that her phone wasn’t there.
“I forgot I left my phone in Hwasa’s room. I’ll go up to get it and be right back.”

“Oh! Can you get mine too?” Solar asked her from Moonbyul’s lap, where she had promptly settled in right after Wheein had let go of her.

“Smart of you guys to leave them behind. I’ll have to get a new one.” Moonbyul pouted.

“I know, right? We thought of everything.” Hwasa bragged as she followed Wheein up the stairs. “Saved all of y’alls asses with only one set back!”

“It was a pretty big setback.” She heard Moonbyul reply from the floor below.

“I’m more than willing to send you back!”

Wheein laughed at their banter as she reached Hwasa’s desk to get the phones. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

“So after we eat, you want to go out and get them some clothes.” Wheein asked feeling high from their success.

“You want to do that now? We can probably do that in the morning.”

At that point, night had already fallen. Wheein was really beginning to feel the fatigue in her bones, but she didn’t want any of the ex-subjects to feel uncomfortable. They just got out. They deserved some clothes. At least that much. Especially when they still didn’t know when they would be able to go home yet.

“We can manage a quick run, yeah?”

Hwasa stood there for a moment quietly regarding Wheein with a soft smile.

“What?” Wheein couldn’t help but blush under her heavy gaze.

“Nothing. You’re just a nice girl. And yes, I think we can manage. After we eat.” Hwasa grabbed Wheein’s hand and led her out of her room. “Let’s go ask everyone what they want. I’m starving too.”

Wheein blissfully let Hwasa lead her out, not letting go until just before they entered the view of their peers and Irene’s dad.

“Alright! What do y’all want?” Wheein asked with a bright smile.

Solar’s POV

“This isn’t done yet,” Solar said after taking a bite of her pizza so she was speaking through a full mouth. She paused to chew and swallow before adding, “She’s not going to quit that easily. She’s obsessed with gaining more powers, I could feel that.”

“That’s… a lot to lay on us,” Kibum replied as the pizza he was about to bite was halfway to his mouth. “What do you think we should do? I mean is this going to stop us from getting home?”

“She knows where you live, right? It won’t be safe.” Moonbyul stated sounding apologetic even though she was in the same situation herself.

“Wow…” Yeri drawled out annoyed. “I say we just kill her.”

“Um…” Wheein chuckled nervously. “Kill?”

“Yeh. I mean… If anyone deserves it, it’s her. Right?” She looked around Hwasa’s dining room table, expecting to see at least one person agree with her. When no one did, she huffed and sat back in her chair. “Fine! What do you guys suggest?”

“Just do what she did to your parents and Wendy, wipe her memories. You can do that right, Solar?” Wheein turned to her best friend with an expectant look.

“Uh,” Solar wiped with a napkin feeling unprepared for center stage again. “I usually give memories back not take them, but it wouldn’t hurt to try, I guess. I’d to try it on someone though.”

“Alright, but if not, I say we put blunt force trauma on the table.” Yeri said right before taking a bite with an almost too eager look.

“You know what?” Kibum asked. “The idea is growing on me.”

“Okay, but if we end up doing that, I’m not gonna be the one doing it.” Wendy chirped in finally with an amused smile. Her muscles were still stiff, so Irene had to help Wendy bring the pizza to because otherwise Wendy shook too much. But just as Dr. Bae assured, the effects were slowly wearing off.

“No problem, I volunteer myself. You guys just have to get me the opportunity.”

Everyone around the table chuckles, including Dr. Bae who hadn’t said anything the whole time.

“Right, well, in all seriousness, we have to consider our options if Solar isn’t able to do it. I’m sure my father and I could make something that could induce amnesia, but that might take time and I know we don’t have a lot of that. Not to mention, it might be hard to control what exactly she forgets.” Irene said trying to put them back on track.

“Let’s sleep on this.” Hwasa suggested. “We’ll have time to regroup in the morning. Maybe then we’ll have new ideas, if not then we can polish what we have. You guys need a good sleep though, I know that.”

“Yes. I agree with Hwasa.” Solar noted the obvious adoring smile Wheein gave Hwasa as she backed her up. Solar almost wanted to roll her eyes at the sight. It was hard to watch them like each other so obviously and not be together. Then again, who was she to talk?

It is torture to watch after all…

Everyone else murmured in agreement after that.

Tomorrow it is. At least, tonight- Solar looked over at her girlfriend and smiled. I have Moonbyul.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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have a good one