She taps on the blunt end of the pointed tool with a small hammer. A crack is embedded into the glass. The boy on the examination table hoarsely shouts in pain.

"This is just a precaution," she tells him as if he's actually being attentive to anything she says. "Can't have you disappearing on us, now can we?" Another crack. Another yell.

He convulses as a result of her actions and the binds attached to him stretch dangerously. A deeper part of chest burns and aches, forcing him to writhe uncomfortably on the surface he's on. Somehow he manages to make a plea, his charismatic persona buried under agony and exhaustion. "P-Please stop...I w-won't use it."

The woman doesn't acknowledge him and repeats the process. His throat has gone raw from the exertion and his next scream easily turns into nothing. It's not a pleasant job contrary to her ease when carrying it out; even after dealing with the subjects for years, it hasn't stopped being a troublesome feat. Necessary is all it is. Nothing positive, nothing negative. Strictly neutral.

Someone bursts into the room before she can continue, an urgency in their step as they approach her. 

"Yeonhee, we have the girl," the out of breath newcomer announces.

"Excuse me?" The scientist can't help but drop her tools on the table and face her colleague incredulously. "That wasn't part of the plan. Where did they put her?"

"It wasn't. She was suspected to be involved with one of them," he jerks his chin at the barely responsive male on the other end of the room. Yeonhee's jaw clenches. "They couldn't let her go. She's in the holding facility."

A string of expletives precede her command, "Bring Kai back to his room and contain the orb. I need to speak with Jinki."

--

"I'd get up if I were you. Unless you want to starve."

It takes a moment to register the words through the fog of her disoriented state but when she does, Asami weakly sits up in the chair her figure had begun to slouch in as she tried to find sleep. The guard unshackles her hands and leaves her ankles restrained before putting a tray on her lap. On it is a piece of bread and a small cup of water, the same thing she's been given for however long she's been detained. She guesses it's been days.

Days of being trapped. Of being fed the same measly portions and limited rest. Her interaction with others is scarce. Aside from the guards who periodically come to bring her meals and  her to the lavatory when necessary, she's been alone with only her thoughts and worries to accompany her. She wants to see Baekhyun. It doesn't matter if they don't talk - seeing him would be enough. She just needs to know he's okay because if he is, they have a chance.

"Chance of what?" she mumbles to nobody in particular, solely to herself. Hope has her imagination running wild. With each passing day, though, it's been dying out. If they have some master plan they wish to enact, she almost wishes they'd do it already. Solitary confinement has weakened her to the point of desperation.

Asami places the final bit of bread in , its bland taste now familiar to her tongue. Initially, she'd rejected the food. It was the smartest choice since it was likely her captors were trying to poison or drug her. That, and she refused to act in a manner that would suggest submission. This boycott didn't last long as the pain of hunger soon became too overpowering to ignore. She hasn't died nor felt strange in any way as a result of the food so far. At least for now. 

When she's done, the guard returns to take her empty tray as he always does. He buckles the leather straps on her wrist prior to doing so, then leaves once again. The click of the door closing disheartens her and it's a distinct sinking within the depth of her chest. She spaces out blankly and stares at a random area of the wall, a buzz taking the place of coherent ideas in her brain. 

Hopelessness is going to kill her.

There's a hand on Asami's shoulder and she immediately jerks away in defense, unaware that anyone had even entered. The scowl that displayed itself on her face melts into disbelief as she's faced with the last person she expected to see in this forsaken place. She wonders for a long second why the hell he's here, then it clicks. His previous mentions of aspiring to work in science, his tight schedules due to work, why they were so easily found at his house. All she can see is red.

"Don't ever touch me again," she means to warn him angrily, but it comes out much softer due to the shock.

Jaehwan has the audacity to look hurt by her words, though he's quick to cover it up. "Asami, I can explain."

" you," she spits without filtering the notion of it first. Perhaps she's being irrational due to the stress of being quite literally held down, still she doesn't care. Not after everything he's done. "You got us captured! How could you do that to Baekhyun? To me?" Both wrists pull up against the restraints, itching to slap sense into the male in front of her.

"He's dangerous and you know it. This is where he belongs," he says slowly in an attempt to calm her.

"That's not true," Asami repeatedly shakes her head in denial. "Whatever they told you about him and the others, they're wrong. Those boys are human beings like you and me, Jaehwan."

"What do you even know about them?" Jaehwan ponders aloud, all traces of his previous benevolence having disappeared at the mention of the test subjects.

She scoffs, "The truth."

"How are you so sure he's not lying to you?"

"Oh, please. Don't play all high and mighty like you haven't." Her glare has become dark and unforgiving and he knows by now that there's no getting his friend back.

"There's so much more to this than you think," he crouches in front of her chair as a sign of resignation. It's not reassuring because she can't move either way. "Haven't you wondered why you're still here? Why we haven't let you go?"

Asami shrinks back subtly. Of all the inquiries she's filtered through in her time captured, neither of those things were one of them. It's safe to assume they kept her as a precaution since she's in contact with a so-called dangerous experiment, though the look on his face tells her there's more to it. There was no interrogation, no anything that was typical of a - for lack of a better word - hostage situation such as this. Her nerves come alive for the first time in a while.

Another man donned in a messy lab coat steps in before Jaehwan can speak more, an easy grin etched on his face. "That's quite enough now, Lee. It's a pleasure to see you Miss Yoon," he greets much too pleasantly for the setting they're in. Her former schoolmate steps aside and bows his head in what she assumes is respect, allowing the other to stand in front of her.

"Who are you?" Asami eyes the stranger and his bright expression. It's unnatural and unnerving and doesn't appear to falter even under her distrustful scrutiny.

"They call me Jinki," he holds out a hand for her to shake before retracting it with a laugh upon recognizing her disabled state. The action could be taken as mockery. Strangely enough, she thinks he genuinely means no harm by it. "I work under the Red Force as head scientist in charge of research."

The mere name of the organization flares hatred in the pit of her stomach that she doe