Hey guys!!

I know I have not updated the story for soooo long! And I am soooooo sorry *90^o bow* Life hasn't been going smooth lately (if you follow my ig you would know) but I'm baaaack~ I still cant promise that I'd post frequently tho since I'm still sorting my schedule and... I'm just not a very desciplined person huekhuekhuek but please dont give up on me >.< the story will be good, I promise!! Also here's an extra long chapter to atone for my sins *90^o bow*

Chapter 2: The Escape Plan (Part 1)

For the sake of survival, Minjun had programmed his body to rise before the morning call. Instead that morning, he was forcefully awakened by a sharp stab to his stomach that quickly travelled throughout his body. He had missed not only the morning alarm but the footsteps making their way towards his sleeping form. It implied just how much the previous night had taken a toll on him. The electric current that he knew from experience came from a stun baton caused his muscles to contract reflexively, his back bowing as his jaws clenched tight and his fingers and toes curled.

“…7, 8, 9,” Minjun mentally counted.

He rapidly rolled away once he heard a click signaling the stun baton’s trigger popping back to its original position. It was the only good thing about the treacherous tool - a safety mechanism that he was eternally grateful for. The magnitude of the voltage that was released would have cleanly knocked out the average person within three seconds. However, Minjun had managed to maintain control over his body movements due to the years of enduring the same mistreatment which had ultimately honed his body to become accustomed to the pain. The momentum caused him to fall off his bed – a result he had aimed for as it would put the bed between him and his aggressors, thus acting as a temporary barrier. Upon landing onto the cold ground, he painstakingly but hastily pushed himself up into a crouching position. He then forced himself to rise above the pain and face the source of it - his cell guards. As usual, they were masked to hide their identity. He knew that these were not the same guards who had handled him the day before, or ever. The facility went to great lengths to hinder emotional attachment or psychic manipulation of their guards hence never putting the same guards on duty twice. He could tell that they were different each time from their voices and demeanors. Strangely today, there were two instead of the usual four guards.

“You got him good, eh, buddy,” one guard congratulated the other who was smiling smugly while leisurely twirling his baton.

“And they said he’s always quick and alert,” the second guard, who was also the one who had apparently electrocuted him, scoffed. “Quick, my ,” he added, mockingly.

The edges of his vision were still dark, and he could still see stars but that did not stop Minjun from glaring at the guard and releasing a low growl. He was more than capable of handling two guards, that was why the facility usually assigned four to handle him. However, he held himself back to ensure the success of the bigger plan he had for the day. It would cost a lot of lives were it to fail and he needed to make sure that they could not suspect anything.

“What are you staring at, freak?” the first guard barked, jabbing his baton towards Minjun.

Despite himself, Minjun flinched. That earned himself mocking laughs from both guards.

“That’d teach him,” the second guard declared in a satisfied tone.

“Five minutes!” the first guard barked again before they both turned around and walked off in the direction of the exit.

Minjun waited till the cell’s door slid shut with a soft whoosh before pushing himself upright. The tips of his fingers still tingled from the electric shock but he forced his body to move. One advantage of the shock though was that it numbed the pain in his brain that still lingered from the mental assault the previous night, making it easier for him to manage. He made his way towards the small square trapdoor beside the cell’s door, discarding his clothes along the way, to retrieve his uniform which had just been deposited into the cell. His did not bother him despite knowing his every movements were recorded by cameras stationed at every corner of the cell. After all, he had had years to get used to it. The types of clothing that was assigned to him would usually align with the type of “experiment” he was supposed to endure for the day.  So far, he had had an assortment of a straight-jacket, a surgical dress, and a tactical uniform that were similar to what the guards wore except for the body armor and gears. Today, it was the tactical uniform.

“How apt,” Minjun mentally smirked as he put them on.

Blinding white light bathed the cell just as he was tightening the knot to the laces of his boots indicating his time was up. The two guards came back and pulled him roughly through the door. He let himself be man-handled without a fuss. There was no point anyway, he had learned that the hard way. Besides, he needed to be wherever they were taking him in order to execute his plan.

They led him through a corridor, passing by multiple locked doors that led to either more cells or “experiment” rooms, with one guard at his front and the other at his back. A sudden stab of pain in his mind caught him off guard, causing his steps to falter. He quickly recovered, relieved that neither guard noticed his slip. He gritted his teeth against the pain and schooled his features, praying that he would not bleed this time. He had no choice but to let the psychic wound fester as pulling out the root of the connection required his full concentration, something he could not afford at the moment. The pain was manageable as it was infinitely smaller compared to the previous night’s.

“Only one then,” he concluded before adding, “for now.”

The guard to his front finally stopped in front of a door, causing Minjun to halt his steps too. He swiped his keycard, scanned his thumb and punched in a code to open the door before pushing Minjun into the room. Almost immediately, another guard in the room grabbed Minjun by the arm as the door slid softly shut behind him. He was pushed to stand against a wall on one side of the room before his wrists were raised and shackled to the wall by his head followed by his ankles that were brought together and shackled too. The shackles were thick metal bands that were secured to the wall and automated by buttons that were manually controlled from the control room. Hence, there was no way of breaking free except for breaking through the wall around them. The guard shackling him retreated and Minjun appraised the room he was in.

A few feet away to his left was the exit flanked by two guards on each side. To his right, three of his comrades were shackled a few feet above ground just like him - Doo-joon, Seungho and Yenny in the order of nearest to farthest. In front of each of them, including himself, was a guard holding a handgun. A few feet behind the guards was a bullet-proof glass window that overlooked the control room. “Scientists” in white lab coats milled around doing various tasks while a couple of guards stood on guard around the room. On the other side of the control room was another bullet-proof window overlooking a room similar to the one Minjun was in. The difference was that there were only four guards in the second room that were stationed by the door and the ones that were shackled were his and his comrades’ assigned partners. Directly across from him in the other room was Chansung, followed by Junhyung, G.O, and Jinwoon respectively. Even through the distance, Minjun could feel the weight of Chansung’s stare. An announcement was made through the intercom but neither him nor Chansung broke their eye-contact. It was how they always got through the endless experiments.

“Trial round 6 to commence in 5, 4, 3…”

As the countdown started, the “scientists” broke into two groups, one group stood behind the bullet-proof window facing the room Chansung was in and the other facing Minjun’s. One of the scientists, presumably the head of the research team, stepped forward to the intercom and read out the experiment details in a deadpanned tone.

“Experiment objective: reflex test. Testing tool: Tool 6, 45mm semi-automatic pistol. Receiver: Group A, Test subjects 771300…” he rambled on as the other scientists bent to check their individual checkboards for errors.

What Minjun caught from the announcement was that the psychic barriers for Group A’s room - the room he was in - would be enhanced to allow no psychic ability. After which, the guards in front of him and his comrades would shoot their handguns at any time and frequency they prefer. Group A’s survival would depend on how fast Group B, their partners, could react to stop the bullet from killing them. Minjun and his comrades had long before stopped questioning the validity and inhumanity of the experiments they were subjected to. Instead, their only focus was survival. This time was no different.

Minjun stared past the barrel of the gun pointed directly in between his eyes into Chansung’s eyes as he felt the barrier around the room strengthened in his mind like a physical weight dropping onto his head. A few soft pained groans could barely be heard coming from his comrades. The barrier affected each of them differently depending on the level of their abilities and to some, it was more painful than others.

As the guard cocked the hammer of the gun, Minjun placed his life in Chansung’s hands and prepared the first part of his plan which was to infect the minds of the guards with a mental virus. His progress was frustratingly hindered by the strengthened barrier. He had to use his ability while keeping it at a level below the barrier’s radar so as not to trigger any alarms. By the time he was done injecting the first virus into the guard assigned to kill him, said guard had pulled the trigger. Minjun watched as the bullet came straight towards his face as if in slow motion. A few inches from his face, the bullet disintegrated from tip to tail resulting in fine dusts landing on Minjun’s nose and cheeks. Chansung had came through, of course. Seconds after, two rapid successions of shots were heard coming from one of the other guards. Both bullets were targeted towards Seungho but the first stopped an inch from Seungho’s nose and dropped to the ground while the other went straight back to hit the guard square in the chest. Minjun could make out G.O’s smirk from across the room right before he was tazed by a guard. The smirk stayed on even after the guard stepped away. As the fallen guard, unconscious but unfortunately not dead due to his bullet-proof vest, was pulled away and replaced by one of the guards who were manning the exit, four more shots rang out. One was aimed at Doo-joon which was immediately deflected by Junhyung, causing it to miss Doo-joon’s head by a small margin and lodge into the wall. The other three bullets went straight towards Yenny but it was as if she had an invisible barrier in front of her that stopped all the bullets from reaching her. Before the bullets even touched the ground, more shots were fired.

Throughout the din, Minjun was working as fast as he could, inserting virus after virus into the minds of all those within sight that he considered enemy. He lost count of the shots that were fired or the amount of dust settling on his face. Just as he had injected the virus into the last guard manning Group B’s room, Yenny’s guard gave out a yelp that was cut short by a bullet in between his eyes. It seemed that he had shot twice in rapid succession but Jinwoon had stopped the first bullet from exiting the barrel. When he shot a second time, the second bullet propelled back towards him. Yenny’s laugh echoed throughout the room which was mirrored by Jinwoon in the other room right before both of them were tazed. Yenny’s laugh refused to die down even while being tazed but a shot rang out, simultaneously killing her laughter as well as sending two consecutive bouts of pain to pierce Minjun’s mind, momentarily blinding his vision.

“, they bonded,” the guard in front of Seungho cursed. The gun in his hand was still pointed towards where Yenny was now slumped, a bullet in her chest.

In the other room, Jinwoo had also drooped forward from where he was held against the wall.

Minjun did not allow himself time to recover. As the scientists all bent towards their checkboards to record their “results” and the head scientist spoke through the intercom to announce the two subjects’ failures as well as reprimand the guard for going against protocol, Minjun reached out mentally to all his comrades who were still alive.

“NOW!!” he ordered through the links.

Seconds later, chaos ensued.

I  know, I know, I deserved to be killed for ending with a cliffhanger AFTER stating I can't post frequently PLUS killing Jinwoon and Yenny

I accept the sentence and I sincerely apologise to I AMs (2AM's fans) and Wonderfuls (Wonder Girl's fans). This story is a tragic one and someone just had to die... apologies again :(

Also I'm sorry if I get the couples wrong or they weren't the ones you guys ship cos except for 2PM, i dont hv in depth knowledge of the other grps... heh

If there is anything you guys are dissatisfied with or think I should improve or any questions whatsoever, just drop a comment. I'll try and answer (pls keep it all civil tho ^^,)

I'm also posting this in my wattpad acc under the same acc name and title cos I find it's easier to share medias over there

Thanks for reading!!