The light shun against his eyelids as he stirred from his slumber, prompting the pounding of his head to arise along with his consciousness. He fumbled blindly, leaning to grab the remote of the automatic curtains, but finding his struggle futile with the presence of another body stunting his reach.

He gave up rather quickly, opting instead to pull the blanket higher up to block the light, groaning in discomfort. God… How much had they drank yesterday?

His moping continued for another minute or so, headache persisting. He felt like absolute garbage, and his body was sore… As if he’d spend the night exercising in his sleep and knocking back vodka simultaneously.

When his own thoughts had reached the logical center of his brain, though, Seungcheol’s eyes shot open with realization.

He sat up, registering the person snuggled against his bicep to be Jihoon. And at first the question on his mind was ‘what the is he doing in my bed?’ until... he remembered the orders from that bastard, Doctor Yoon. It made sense that he was there.

What didn’t make sense was… That he was . Actually, both of them were .

Jihoon laid snoring, curled up beside him ignorantly while Seungcheol’s mind raced to remember, thinking back to yesterday to the best of his ability, but his memory of last night was a blotchy mess. He hadn’t had a drink in so long, was the amount he’d had yesterday really enough to make him blackout? And lose any sense of logic and morality?!

He remembered them talking… sat at that table and shooting back soju like dehydrated travelers in a dessert oasis. They ‘bonded’ over a few topics, argued over others, but then… ! Why couldn’t he remember?

Seungcheol gulped back a bout of denial, peeling back the blanket as he stared down. He traced over each and every red and purple mark littering pale skin. He looked like the victim of an overzealous sadist, which left him wide-eyed, wondering back despite the lack of clear memory. How the hell did they end up like this? Then, he looked at himself, gaze wandering up his own chest, examining the faint presence of scratch marks with a wince… Jesus Christ.

Either he and Jihoon had gotten into the fight of a lifetime yesterday, and lost their clothes in the process, or… He was ed. Both of them were.

Jihoon stirred, and Seungcheol found his heart jumping in his throat at the prospect of facing his drunken mistakes head-on, first thing in the morning. But before he could even try, and before Jihoon had even taken the chance to open his eyes, the door was ringing.

… Jisoo!

Seungcheol shook Jihoon with two hands, rattling him awake desperately.

He rolled to the side, squinting open reddened eyes with a glare. “God… what the do you want?”

After brief confusion and anger, Jihoon noticed the proximity, as well as the lack of clothing separating the two of them. He pulled away from hugging Seungcheol’s arm to look down at himself, then up at Seungcheol, and down again, and without giving him the chance to take control of his bumbling mouth and ask, Seungcheol was hoisting him out of bed under one arm, and blasting towards the closet in a flash.

He released Jihoon to the floor without much care, fumbling through his clothes and throwing a sweater and pair of pants over his shoulder. Jihoon caught them with a dazed expression, rubbing at the sore part of his where he’d been dropped.

“Get dressed. Quickly.” He spoke facing away, cheeks burning scarlet as he got himself decent.

“Geeze, what’s the hurry? It’s not like we have work or somethi-“

The doorbell rang again, and only then did Jihoon understand the cause of concern.

After finding casual clothes long and thick enough to cover up the scene of the crime littering their bodies, Jihoon and Seungcheol faced Jisoo at the door with guilty expressions, reminiscent of a man standing before his wife after getting caught with a mistress. In this case, though, Seungcheol felt like the mistress... He shouldn’t, but he did.

Jisoo looked around with a careful gaze. The room was trashed beyond belief. Bottles looked to have been knocked off the table completely, rolling in every which direction along the carpet floor and reeking of soju. There were dents in the walls and rips down the curtains as well… But the most obvious and blatant problem, was right in front of him.

“What happened to your mouth, Jihoon?”

The boy froze, a self-conscious hand reaching up to his lip, wincing in pain as he touched the flesh there. The skin was broken painfully… And his cheeks grew hot remembering why.

Seungcheol was sweating, standing beside him silently as he desperately thought up an excuse.

“Don’t tell me…” Jisoo started, holding his chin in consideration as he looked between the two of them, expression grim.

… He knows.

“You two fought, didn’t you?” He declared, crossing his arms over his chest.

Or not?

“…That’s right.” Jihoon explained in a rush. “We fought… Seungcheol punched me.”

“Wha-?”

“Seungcheol! Are you serious?”

Seungcheol gaped, eyeing Jihoon angrily. The boy gestured to Jisoo with his eyes, as if to urge him to play along. He supposed this was better than letting the cat out of the bag, but it still felt ty to be accused!

“That’s… Yes. I punched him. But Jisoo, as you can see, he isn’t dead.” Seungcheol made clear, although anyone would be able to see that without the clarification. “I didn’t use my powers or anything. It was just a friendly scuffle.”

“Seungcheol, the whole point of this arrangement was to help you two build a better working relationship.” He argued. “And how could you call this a friendly scuffle when Jihoon’s the only one beat up?”

If Jisoo saw the scratches on his chest, he wouldn’t be saying that… .

Jihoon waved his arms in denial with a stiff smile, trying to mediate. “No, no, I’m fine, really. It was just a friendly exchange of fists, you know? Just guys being bro’s throwing hands, or whatever that saying is. And actually, I think it really helped us…” He turned away from Jisoo’s gaze, embarrassed. “You know, with our relationship.”

“Really?” he raised an eyebrow.

“Really!” Jihoon wrapped an arm around Seungcheol’s waist, leaning into him with a grin. “Right, sergeant? We’re pretty much buddies now.” Bed buddies, that is.

He could practically feel the energy radiating from him. He knew he was pissed without even having to look. Yet, without missing a beat, he was playing along with the charade, returning the display of affection with a smile. Really, if not for the whole superpower thing, Sergeant Coups would have won an Oscar by now.

He slung an arm around Jihoon’s shoulder. “I completely agree. I think your idea really helped us out, Jisoo.”

Jisoo’s expression softened, examining their skin-ship top to bottom with sharp eyes. Jihoon and Seungcheol remained smiling, side-by-side without any signs of aggravation. Though it was still pretty unbelievable that they’d gotten to this point in a single night. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”

They shook their heads, outer-confidence un-shifting. Seungcheol anticipated Jisoo would see through their act any moment now, and he struggled to think up another way to explain this.

But after a moment, his skeptical expression had returned to the kind Jisoo they knew and loved. “That’s great! I’ll contact the doctor for a follow-up appointment today, then.” He turned to the door, peeking his head back before leaving. “I’ll wait at the car downstairs, Sergeant. Take your time getting ready.”

When the door had clicked shut, they exuded relief, separating from each other in a snap. Jihoon reached a hand up, touching the tender part of his lip with a pained expression. “Jesus… Do you have a band-aid or something?”

Seungcheol rubbed his face in his palms, far too stressed for comfort first thing in the morning. His eyes trailed to Jihoon, noting the red of his lips with a skip in his chest.

“Jihoon… last night, uh, we didn’t…” He fumbled over his words, unsure how to put it. “Did I… Inconvenience you in any way?”

“Do you not remember?” He asked, turning towards him in surprise.

“Uh... Do you?”

Jihoon’s mouth opened, speechless. This… wasn’t fair. Why was he the only one left to remember that humiliation?? Jihoon’s mind raced, flashes of the events prior staining his vision, of , angry, boinking under the blankets.

This bastard! He out?? Was he just running on autopilot for those 3 strenuous hours of hanky-panky? Ridiculous!

Seungcheol noticed his expression with a deep sigh. “, okay… let’s talk about this later. After work, okay? Just…”

“Yeah, yeah, okay…” Honestly, Jihoon wouldn’t complain about avoiding the topic altogether. He’d rather die than recite yesterday’s events to jog this motherer’s memory. Although… “Does this mean we have to shower together again?”

“God damnit...”

~

Doctor Yoon brightened up as they entered the room, side-by-side and suited up with fresh clothes and forced smiles. They settled into their chairs before him, making a point to stay quiet as he scanned over their appearance.

“Mr. Hong tells me that you two have made great progress.” He spoke in a soft tone, threading nimble fingers together at his desktop. “Tell me about it. How’s have things changed since our last meeting?”

Seungcheol cleared his throat. “Well, I think we’ve gotten closer… Close enough to be able to work together without any issue, definitely.”

Yoon clicked his pen, jotting down notes as he spoke. “Is that so…” His eyes flickered up to Jihoon. “And you, Mr. Park?”

Jihoon noticed the way Yoon’s eyes trailed to the small bandage covering up the break on his lip, shooting back to his eyes with a curious glimmer.

“We talked a lot yesterday, and… We’ve really moved passed our differences. I don’t think we’ll have any problems moving forward.” He spoke sharply, nerves unraveling before critical eyes.

The doctor chuckled, leaning back in his chair. “You two seem quite confident in yourselves…. That’s good. Can I count my suggestion as a success, then?”

“I think so.” Seungcheol answered, smiling with a soulless expression. Though somewhere deep within the brown depths of his iris’, they were whispering something along the lines of you, doctor Yoon.

Jihoon cursed him in a similar, internalized manner, smiling and nodding in agreeance on the outside.

“Great.” He exclaimed quietly, jotting down some final notes with a smile. “I’ll send notice to I.H. that you two will be getting back to work today, then.”

He sorted their files into a neat pile, looking up to suggest that their meeting was finished.

Seungcheol held back a sigh, feeling impatient. “Dr. Yoon, can I assume the distance sensor will be restored to its original radius?”

Doctor Yoon chuckled, hiding a mischievous smirk behind his hand. The two of them looked at him confused, because neither of them found the situation humorous in the slightest.

But after a moment, he picked up his papers, stacking them into a straight edge against his desktop, smiling towards them as he spoke. “The radius never changed, Mr. Choi. It was just an incentive to assure you two followed my instructions.” Jihoon mouth fell open, watching as the doctor stood to get the door, directing them out. “I hope your future missions go smoothly, Sergeant.”

When they left the room, Seungcheol felt the pent-up anger he’d been holding inside threatening to spill. He was absolutely fuming as he made his way down the halls. Although he held in the surge of powers knocking at the gates of his tolerance, staff and passersby sped out of his way as he came. Jihoon and Jisoo trailed behind the walking disaster in stride, making their way to his office to regroup, and hopefully calm down.

Seungcheol sat at his chair with a huff, taking care not to punch a hole through his desk as he did so.

“Did the meeting… not go well?” Jisoo asked, pouring coffee with a nervous expression.

“It went fine.” Jihoon answered for him, looking at Seungcheol with an expression that read ‘control your face! Do you want us being sent back to that bastard counselor??’

“He lied to us.” Seungcheol argued, ignoring the message. “Doesn’t something like this fall outside his jurisdiction? It doesn’t sit well with me…”

, if he get’s suspicious of the doctor, Jihoon’s ed too…. More than he already is and has been.

Jisoo stepped in before Jihoon even sought out the chance, placing a mug of black coffee on Seungcheol’s desk with a smile. “Well, I’m not sure what happened, but everything worked out in the end, right? We shouldn’t waste energy on the matter anymore.”

He chewed his nail, frustrated. “I guess… But I still don’t like that guy. It always feels like he’s trying to get in my head.”

“He is, Seungcheol.” Jisoo explained, placing coffee down in front of Jihoon as well. “He’s a therapist.”

He sipped at his coffee bitterly, too tired and hungover to press on further.

“Do you think we’ll get called in for a job today?” Jihoon spoke up, trying to move the conversation along.

Jisoo read through the documents on his clipboard, smiling. “Well, since the clap program took off, we’ve had a surplus of help at the company. Unless an emergency situation arises, you two should be able to get some rest today.”

“Fan-ing-tastic.” He took a hearty gulp of coffee. “I’m starving, should we order lunch?”

Seungcheol gave him the skink eye, warning him not to push it. No matter how much they’d pretend to be on good terms, this guy was getting way too comfortable mooching off of him. But Jihoon returned the expression with a pout. He pointed to his lip with an inconspicuous gesture, a simple reminder that Seungcheol didn’t have the right to refuse him today.

Seungcheol grit his teeth, giving in. “Fine. But I’m choosing the restaurant.”

~

By the time late afternoon had graced them, Jihoon felt much better. A proper lunch and an unhealthy amount of black coffee was just what he’d needed to kick his hangover in the . He’d ventured away from the sickening silence of Seungcheol’s office to work on fine-tuning the boots in the workshop. And now, they were really a beauty to behold.

In his previous state of rage, he’d thought up the most efficient and sure-proof way to travel job to job, without having to be carried by General jockstrap in the process.

The boots looked like normal military combat boots. But they were equipped with numerous eternal functions. The most important being their fall-resistant motion-activated spring heels, and launch jump. He couldn’t exactly fly, but he’d be able to keep up. He’d also made the logical decision to install a parachute into the back of his uniform. The boots were pretty sturdy, but he needed a backup in case they malfunctioned or broke.

His eyes glimmered as he flipped the boot over. It was a seamless design, all he had to do now was test them.

The room he’s been utilizing as a garage wasn’t nearly big enough to test their capabilities, though… Where could he go? He hadn’t exactly been given freedom to roam around Mansae headquarters by himself.

Jihoon sat cross-legged on the floor, humming in consideration. It was probably useless, but he wanted to avoid seeing Seungcheol for a while… Hopefully, by the time the clocked out, Seungcheol would have forgotten the problem regarding yesterday’s events. He couldn’t exactly page him for help, then. Who else?

Out of the corner of his vision, he spotted the top of yellow hair moving past in front of him. He whipped up to check, locking eyes with the same hero he’d met briefly before; Seungcheol’s friend.

“Horangi!”

The boy fumbled, looking between Jihoon and the way he’d been walking with an embarrassed expression, as if he’d been caught. “Oh! Jihoon, fancy seeing you here; Such a coincidence.”

Jihoon hopped up to greet him, ignoring his quirky mannerisms. “Are you busy?”

He smiled. “N-no! Why? What’s up?”

“Great.” He turned away to grab his suit from where he’d been tinkering. “I need to test my boots; can you bring me to the roof?”

Soonyoung turned away immediately, facing a far wall as he moved to change behind a curtain. “Sure, but… am I allowed to? Shouldn’t Seungcheol be escorting you around?”

After a moment of grunting and struggling with the many gadgets and gizmos adorning that spandex atrocity, Jihoon moved in front of Soonyoung’s line of vision with a smile. “He’s busy.”

Soonyoung was easy to convince, honestly, leading him to the roof without much protest. He was a bit too chatty for his liking, though.

“What happened to your mouth?”

Jihoon harumphed. “Don’t ask...”

“Oh, okay…”

They stepped onto the roof, looking around.

As long as he was in or around the building, he shouldn’t trigger the alarm, so he should be safe to jump. A hundred meters of freedom was pretty lenient, if he was being honest. He walked towards the edge of the building, peering down at concrete miles below. There were only guards at the back of the company, who were far enough away that Jihoon felt confident he wouldn’t smoosh them on his way down.

“What are you testing again?” Soonyoung asked from behind, eyeing the door they came through with an anxious quiver of his lips. Although he was on the same level as Seungcheol, it wasn't likely that he had the authority to do this. Not that Jihoon cared all that much about getting in trouble. If anything happens, he has the authority of Sergeant ing Coups to fall back on.

“My shoes.” He smirked back, inching towards the edge.

“That doesn’t really explain-wait, Jihoon?!”

Before he’d finished talking, Jihoon had stepped off the edge, bracing himself as he bounded towards the earth in record speed. About halfway down, he clicked his heels together as if he were making a wish, releasing the spring mechanism within the sole. The springs made contact with the sidewalk with a clang, compressing down slowly, until he was standing against the floor, feeling his hearth thump excitedly in his chest. Not the safest way to test them, but definitely the most exhilarating.

From here, he could deactivate them and walk about as normal… But he might as well test the spring jump while he’s at it.

Jihoon braced into a launching pose, clenching his jaw as the springs shot him back up in the air, level with the ledge he’d jumped from.

What he wasn’t anticipating, was that Soonyoung would be right where he was trying to land.

Soonyoung stumbled backwards when Jihoon launched into his arms, falling onto his with Jihoon crashing down on top. Jihoon stared down at him with wide eyes, arms braced on either side of his head, stunned. When he regained his senses, he sat up with an apologetic expression.

“, sorry. I guess I should have warned you to step back.” He hopped up to his feet, brushing away the dust on his pants before extending a hand to the boy below, who was still registering what exactly had just happened.

“Uh… that’s okay.” He took the offer, pulling himself to his feet. Once he shook away the daze in his expression, his eyes were gleaming with fascination. “That was crazy, though! Did you actually make these?”

Jihoon flipped like a switch, weak to compliments. “Yeah, I did... Although I guess the landing function still needs some tweaking.”

“Seriously? These things are on par with the inventions Mansae scientists make, if not better. I thought Jisoo said you don’t have any powers?”

Jihoon scratched at his head, looking away. “I don’t… I just have a knack for inventing.”

“, that’s so cool,” Soonyoung exclaimed with a smile, bright and unfiltered.

While Jihoon was definitely embarrassed to face such unbiased compliments… It was refreshing, to say the least. He was getting kind of sick of being surrounded by douchewads putting on facades all the time. Someone as transparent as Soonyoung felt like a breath of fresh air.

“Hey Jihoon, do y-“

“Private Hoon! Thank god..” A staff member called out from the entrance to the stairwell, wheezing. She spoke into a mic with a serious, breathless voice. “Private Hoon located on roof of B1, stand by.”

“What’s going on?” Soonyoung asked, anxious.

, had they really broken the rules?

The lady noticed Soonyoung with a strange expression. “What are you two..? Never mind, there’s an emergency. It’s good that you’re dressed already.”

She listened into her Bluetooth, ignoring the distress in Jihoon’s face.

“… This is just my luck.” He sighed.

“S.H. do you copy?” She listened for a moment, speaking into the device with a clear voice. “S.H., orders have come in to remove the security boundary for codename Private Hoon. Do it now.”

They’re removing the 100 meter zone? Just who the hell were they facing?

When Seungcheol burst through the door in a flash of cyan blue, Jihoon gulped away his nerves. He eyes him and Soonyoung standing together with a curious expression. “What are you…” He sighed, dismissing the question to focus on the matter at hand, and scooping Jihoon under his arm for easy transportation.

“What the hell are you-“

Seungcheol covered the boy’s mouth before he could blow their ‘friendship’ cover, speaking to the woman quickly. “Send me any additional info you get. Sergeant Coups and Private Hoon are going in.”

He blasted away from the roof without another word, holding Jihoon securely while they flew through the air, landing a good distance away from the scene of the disaster so that they could come up with a proper game-plan.

“Don’t just carry me without permission you -wad!”

He set Jihoon beside him, speaking quietly. “Hush. This isn’t our average gig, okay? We need to focus right now.”

Jihoon’s expression fell slightly. “What do you mean?”

Seungcheol looked to the side, listening to a far-off scream of help with a racing heart. “There’s no time to explain. But I.H. said to be on-guard… We just need to go in and confirm his identity, first. Then while I fight him, you need to stay behind and ensure the safety of the hostages. Got it?”

“But who is it? What’s his power?”

Seungcheol grit his teeth. “We aren’t sure… But, it’s a robot.”

When Jihoon’s eyes went wide, Seungcheol whipped to look back, listening to the sound of mayhem bounding out from the center of the action.

A robot?... They weren’t uncommon in the super-world, but if Seungcheol was being sent to handle it, they must be high-level and well known… Except, Jihoon could only think of one robotic villain to fit the description. That is, himself.

“Let’s greet him together, first.”

Seungcheol moved to pick Jihoon up again, but he held up a hand to stop him. “Fine, but... Don’t carry me. I didn’t spend a night and a half on these things not to use them.” He pointed to his boots, smirking.

Seungcheol agreed with a nod, albeit with little faith. “Meet me at the intersection.”

“Roger.”

He shot forward in a flash, turning back to check on Jihoon, who bounded through the air, launching off of spring-powered boots, and landing with a slight stumble at his side.

“Did anyone order takeout?” Seungcheol called with a brilliant smile, gaining the attention of the surrounding mob. “Because I’ve got an order of justice to serve.”

The citizens cheered upon his arrival, radiating immediate relief. Just the sight of him eased the hearts of the panicked crowd of shoppers.

Jihoon snickered, suppressing his laugh with a cough when Seungcheol gave him the side-eye. “Oh, what he said! Identify yourself, criminal! So that we can…uh, confirm your order!”

He looked to his partner for approval, but Seungcheol kept his eyes scanning around the perimeter. Dispatch had reported the criminal to be a large, robotic figure, claiming to be holding hostages at the richest shopping intersection in Gangnam.

He’d heard the screams, and centered in on the commotion, but the robot had yet to be seen.

A woman off to the side pointed forward with a trembling hand, towards a shop-front. Only then did Seungcheol spot it, tall in stature and bulky, but barely visible. It blended in with the building it stood against like a chameleon, visible only as it stepped forward into vision, outer shell shifting to a metallic grey. Its face buzzed, displaying a digital display which emoted spasmodically.

“Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me, Sergeant.” He spoke with a buzzing voice, low and grimy. “It hasn’t been that long, has it?”

Seungcheol stood straight to face him, expression darkening instantly. “Vulcan…”

“huh…?” Jihoon shut his mouth, thoughts scrambling into static as he stared forward at the robot. His heart beat against his eardrum, an almost prophetic sense of fear. It wasn’t an exact copy… But the design was so similar. Same method of voice scrambling, same height, same face display. All that had changed was the outer layer, which seemed to be a screen, able to shift colour and change expression.

Somebody was… pretending to be him?

The ‘Vulcan’ laughed, voice glitching as it did so. “Good. I was afraid your memory might be hazy, since I haven’t graced your presence in a while.”

“It’s unfortunate that you didn’t stay in hiding.” Seungcheol spoke sharply, cracking his knuckles. “Seems like you’re quite eager to die.”

Seungcheol didn’t look back to acknowledge Jihoon at all, leaving him to probe the situation before him with a racing mind. Seungcheol didn’t really believe that this was him, did he?...

“I’m actually very patient.” The robot quipped. Its face turned, centering on Jihoon with a digital question mark decorating its eyes. “How can you kill me when you have yet to introduce me to your new friend?”

Jihoon glared. “If you’re asking, I’m gonna assume you already know who I am.”

“And that is?”

“I’m the guy who’s gonna shove a wrench up your shiny metal ,” he spat.

The 'Vulcan' leaned against the wall with a clank of metal, expression glitching as stared him down. “Oh, I’m so~ scared.”

Seungcheol bit back his complaints on Jihoon's choice of words. He had to handle this now, end this futile war once and for all. Although… something about this sudden re-appearance felt strange. An anxious feeling pooled at the pit of his stomach, hindering his determination.

Seungcheol shook the feeling away, speaking with confidence. “Private Hoon, this criminal isn’t worth the time taken for introductions.” He smirked, eyes shifting around the robot’s stature. “What are you here for, Vulcan? Have you run out of funds from your last round of petty theft?”

The Vulcan fell silent besides the mechanical whirring of its innter-workings, straightening up. “No, Sergeant, no, no, no… You see, I’m done with petty theft. Where has that gotten me thus far?” He asked, voice buzzing.

Seungcheol listened to him as he eyed the space around them. If only he knew where he had the hostages, he’d be able to take care of this bastard without worry. “I don’t know, Vulcan. I could never understand what motivates a criminal like you to do what he does.”

“It doesn’t matter why I did what I did, Sergeant. It’s all been for naught, after all. Do you know what I’ve lost because of you?” He asked, anger apparent through the grit of his voice. “Do you even know what you’ve done?”

Seungcheol crossed his arms, rising up from the floor in a display of dominance. “What, breaking your last suit? You had it coming and you know it, Vulcan. If you weren’t such a sneaky coward, you’d be in jail already.”

The Vulcan matched his fierce gaze equally, not backing away. “Are you sure your incompetence to catch me isn’t to blame, deputy diaper?”

He took a breath, holding back a display of anger. “Where are the hostages, Vulcan? Release them, then you and I can finish this once and for all.” He raised his fists, ready to fight.

Jihoon eyed the Sergeant, who turned back for a brief moment to give him a nod. Once they started fighting, Jihoon would take care of the hostages… But, how could he do anything when his head was such a whirlpool of thoughts? Who the hell even was this guy?

The Vulcan laughed eerily, as if he’d heard that line coming from a mile away. He’d prepared for this moment. “Fine. I’ll tell you where they are.” He answered, humoring his suggestion. “But only if you let me fight your partner.... Just your partner.”

Sergeant Coups scoffed. “Are you scared of me, Vulcan?”

“Not in the slightest.” He spoke without missing a beat. “But I think the hostages have a better chance at survival if you go, Sergeant.”

“What do you mean?”

Jihoon nudged his side with an elbow, gesturing up to the jumbotron overhead. “Sergeant, I think… he’s referring to that.”

The screen had glitched, switching from a clothing ad, to that of the current news. A drone honed in on a plane in the far distance, roaring through the sky, engines smoking. The direction they were headed in, was… straight. Straight for a tight cluster of apartment buildings, that is.

Seungcheol threw his attention back to the robot with blazing eyes. “Where are they, Vulcan?!”

“Do you agree to my terms?” He questioned, unrushed.

Jihoon stepped forward, tugging on the fabric of the Sergeants costume to gain his attention. “Go, Sergeant. I can handle him…”

“But, Private-“ He stopped, hushed by the screams projecting from the jumbotron’s speakers. They were calling his name in desperation and fear.

“Just go,” he persisted.

Seungcheol’s mouth shut into a tight frown. He nodded to Jihoon as a sign of reassurance. “Fine, Vulcan! Just tell me where they are..”

The Vulcan pointed off to the distance, and Seungcheol was blasting off in the direction of the sun without another thought.

When the robot crouched to the floor, bounding off the earth to reach the roof of the mall, Jihoon sprung after him.

“Private Hoon, was it?” He asked as he stepped forward.

Jihoon noticed the news helicopter buzzing in the background, recording their stand-off as if homing in on todays entertainment. It felt invasive. He stepped back just a slight, reaching for the straps around his thighs where he kept his tools. Finally, he would get to test them. Though if felt a bit ironic to be doing so against his very own copycat.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.” He answered in spite.

The Vulcan was no longer laughing, though its face display remained smiling. It stepped forward, closing in, crashing metal feet against the grain of the rooftop. “How did someone like you end up partnering with Sergeant ing Coups?” He asked, with such unwarranted audacity that Jihoon felt stunned.

Jihoon reached the ledge of the building in a few strides, activating the springs in his boots, and launching himself over the robot a good distance behind him. He pulled out the tools from the gun-slings around his thighs, pointing them forward. They morphed from small, black sticks, into small, black guns, loaded and ready.

“None of your goddamn business!” He replied back, shooting forward without another thought. Bullets threw the dust around its figure, denting metal as the robot whipped around to retort. It bounded forward with inhuman resilience, forcing Jihoon to jump up, pointing the guns down and shooting through smoke as he hovered mid-descent.

He didn’t know how powerful this thing was... But assuming it was similar to the Vulcan of his creation, the best choice was to be nimble and avoid a face-on conflict.

The robot caught him by surprise as he thought up his next move, figure bursting from a cloud of debris, catching him by the leg with a spindling, fluid limb. It whipped him through the air with a snap, sending him blocks away, and leaving Jihoon springing off the side of a high-rise to cushion the impact.

… His fighting style was familiar. Obviously, this copy-cat had done its research.

Jihoon launched off from the building the moment he’d landed, pulling off the safety-pin of a Hoon bomb with his teeth. He dropped it right where the robot was standing, and aimed to land among the perimeter of the explosion.

The moment the bomb went off, thick smog filled the area, so that not even his own hand was visible. But in this case, Jihoon held the advantage. Metal on concrete was much louder than his own, agile feet. He stood still and listened.

“Stop playing hide-and-seek, Private. I don’t have all day.”

“You think I care?” His shots fired in the direction of the voice without mercy, dodging to the left when a fist came flying his way through the mist.

He tucked and rolled a safe distance. When he’d recovered, a waft of smoke had burst from the cloud, shooting up. Jihoon sprung up to meet the robot in the air, holding his weapons forward, but there was… nobody there.

“You’re too cocky, Private.” The voice sounded to his left, right beside his ear.

“-Gak!“

Before he could react, the robot drew a fist into his gut, slamming Jihoon down to the rooftop below. He choked out on impact, clutching his stomach. If not for the suit, that one measly punch would have ing killed him…

The robot’s visage shifted, glitching from the blue sky he’d camouflaged as, back to plain grey.

When he threw down a second punch, Jihoon rolled, missing metal by the skin of his teeth. The foundation of the building crumbled beneath his fist, concaving in.

“You’re really trying to kill me, huh?” He spat to the side, clearing the blood from his mouth. Not from internal bleeding, but from biting his own cheek carelessly.

“Oh, no.” he defended with an emotionless tone, walking forward with heavy, crashing steps. “I could never kill you, Private Hoon.”

Jihoon stepped back, noticing with a tsk that he’d dropped his guns. The Vulcan tromped over them without care, crushing the tools beneath his feet. Hours of hard work gone like the wind…

“Why?” He asked bitterly. “Are you a fan of me or something?”

The Vulcan stopped, expression unshifting. It smiled at him with digital, lifeless eyes. “I was.” He answered, against all of Jihoon’s expectations.

“, really?” Just how many of his identities was this guy obsessed with? Creepy…

The robot’s arms stretched out from their internal sheathes, long and winding as they hovered over him. Jihoon’s own hands hovered over his waist-belt as the robot homed in on him.

“I used to admire you a lot, Private Hoon.” He continued, swiping an arm towards him to strike from the side.

Jihoon had already pulled out a stick from his belt, which extended with a glowing red burst of colour. He swiped and jumped, cutting the limb clean off and avoiding the colision. Backup weapon number one, Extendable magma-sword; Hot enough to cut through metal.

Jihoon landed softly, giving the illusion of feather-light movement. “To be honest, I had no idea the Vulcan Thief even knew who I was.” He looked the robot up-and-down, frowning without a hint of sarcasm. “And I hate to break it to you, but I’ll ruin your expectations if you try to get to know the real me.”

The robot retracted the severed limb, halting at his words. Its movements were slowing, as if it had lost some will-power to continue this fight. Was it really a fan of him?

“You’ve already disappointed me plenty.”

Jihoon frowned, giving his sword a trial sweep through the empty air. “That's impressive, considering I don’t even know you.”

The robot's gaze took notice with a quirk of its head. In the distance, a figure bounded towards them.

Sergeant Coups… Geeze, took him long enough to get back.

The moment Jihoon had looked back to confirm, distracted and thrown off-guard by the Sergeant’s approach, the robot had swiped at his legs with an arm, kicking him off the ledge of the building with one firm bash of its foot.

In the midst of falling from the building with the wind knocked clean out of him, Jihoon stared forward at the robot, face contorted in pain. Time seemed to slow when he made eye-contact with the face-display, staring towards him tauntingly. The robot bounded forward, leaving him with one final remark as he wrapped a hand around his leg, quiet enough that only he would hear it.

“See you soon, boss.”

Jihoon’s heart dropped. He became lost in the dizziness of the velocity as the Vulcan launched him through the air like a rocket, before bolting off in the opposite direction. Jihoon searched for him among the cityscape as the distance between him and the earth grew feeling panicked.

Seungcheol caught him mid-air not a second later, turning and looking him over with concerned, flustered eyes. “Are you injured?”

Jihoon ignored the question and whipped to look behind again, searching for the robot desperately. Only, he was gone… With that camouflage trick, and such a lead ahead, there was no way they’d catch him.

“Why didn’t you go after him?” Jihoon vented back to the Sergeant, eyes shaking.

Seungcheol furrowed his brows in confusion. “What, and let you die?”

“I was fine! I have a parachute, you dunce!”

He blinked, looking around at the disappointing lack of robot in their vicinity. “…”

Before either of them could release their anger on each other, camera drones were homing in on them, and the celebratory cheers of another job well done called for them from below, as a crowd of people gathered…

For Seungcheol, this was merely another failure, a reminder of his inability to catch that dastardly Vulcan.

For Jihoon… It felt as though he’d stared into the eye of an incoming storm and saw his greatest fears. The pain in his gut was a passing memory in the face of his own, rampant unease. He shook his head to knock away the disbelief in his expression, but no matter how long he held a smile and pushed his instincts aside, the feeling persisted.

There’s… no way, right?

~

He stepped out of the machine, leaving the men behind him to handle its repairs, gaze held forward as they made off with Vulcan 2.0. They were like robots themselves, working precisely, without verbal orders or instructions to direct them. He stumbled forward when he walked, legs shaking as he came down from the high of battle… And the anxiety of meeting him again.

“Well?” A man called from around the corner, smiling as he entered.

He walked forward carefully, taking a seat on the couch to center himself.

“Have you confirmed what I’d told you?”

He clenched his fists, looking up at the man with eyes filled with resentment. “Yeah.” He answered, reluctant to confirm. “You were right…”

The man took a seat in front of him, smiling. “So, will you join me?”

Private Hoon… As much as he’d hoped with every ounce of his being that it wasn’t true.. He’d confirmed it with his own eyes and ears. Although his hair and appearance were nearly unrecognizable, his face was an obvious give-away. And his voice… it was so familiar that he felt sick to the stomach at every word.

And what was worse, was that he was completely and utterly ignorant to the anguish he’d caused… He had no clue how much it hurt to hear him speak as if they were strangers.

He extended a hand forward with firm resolve, biting back the voice in his mind which hadn't yet let go of those tender years of brotherhood.

“You have a deal.”

The man shook it firmly, smiling. “Welcome to the team, Chan.”