“So what are we discussing?” He heard Kun ask their leader, Johnny nodding along from where he was leaning against the wall of the hotel room. Yuta, himself, was seated near the head of the bed next to Taeyong, opposite their strategist, negotiator and medic. “I heard something about a bomb when I walked in but…”

“Recently, we found out that slaves have a specific tracker in them - under their burns,” He started, eyes flicking over to Johnny whose eyes had narrowed. “The tracker has a bomb that is connected to a button that their owner receives when they purchase the slave.”

“Renjun has the plans,” Winwin spoke up, everyone’s eyes turning towards him rapidly as he shrugged. “We found some plans that Donghae-hyung must have given Jeno when we had to pick our youngest up. Renjun looked through them.”

“And that’s why we’re having this meeting. Renjun is a former slave which means that he has a bomb in him,” Taeyong stated, clenching his jaw as he glanced between Johnny and Taeil. “How can we save him?”

“Can the bombs be disabled?” Johnny asked, earning head shakes from himself and his leader. “.”

“Donghae-hyung gave me a step-by-step guide on how to remove them but I haven’t been able to have a look since Renjun still has it,” Winwin reported as Kun nodded and held his head in his hands, sighing deeply. “He said that it would cause heavy bleeding though.”

“I…I can’t believe that people have the guts to do something like this,” Kun mumbled, making him shuffle forward on the bed to wrap his arms around the younger male in an attempt at comfort. “He’s…And then the bomb can’t…”

“TY…it doesn’t seem like we can…” Johnny started, squaring his jaw as Taeyong glared at him. “You know we can’t unless we get Mark to-“

“Minhyung made them,” He interrupted, feeling Kun’s head drop on his shoulder when he heard the name. “He made them under SUJU and was transferred before he was able to even design a disabling system. Chenle told us.”

“Wait, Chenle knows?!” Kun exclaimed, ripping his head out from where it as buried in Yuta’s shoulder. “Chenle as in Zhong Chenle?!”

“How many other ‘Chenle’s do we know, ge?” He heard Winwin mumble before the youngest in the room rolled his eyes. 

“Either way, we have to save him,” Taeyong stated, although it turned out to resemble a plead. “We can’t leave him to die. I refuse to.”
“Strategist, what do we do?” Johnny asked the oldest in the room, Taeil staring down at the bed in deep thought as he heard his name being called.

“We talk to Jeno. If Donghae-hyung gave him plans of the bomb, he must know more. We also talk to Renjun. The amount of psychological damage could make him a bad shot,” Taeil reported as Yuta could practically hear the older’s brain whir while he contemplated numerous strategies. “We could lose more if Renjun becomes a bad shot.”

“How do we talk to Jeno? It would be weird to go ‘hey dude, your brother said something to you about your dying friend so share’, you know?” He pointed out as Taeil sighed and ran a hand through his hair as the door opened to reveal a dishevelled Jaehyun with a busted lip. 

“Jaehyun, now is not the time for me to attend to you busted lip,” Winwin said flatly before Jaehyung shook his head and held up a black box that Yuta had failed to notice earlier. 

“I was grabbing a package from an exchange with Sonamoo when Minhyung showed up and punched me in the face with this box,” Jaehyun reported, holding the box out to Taeyong. “He told me to give it to Jeno. Where is he?”

“In his room, resting,” Taeyong replied curtly before the younger male turned back around to deliver the package to its owner. “So we talk to our two youngest members. Then, what?”

“Then we see what we can do from there,” Johnny answered as Taeil nodded in agreement.
“I don’t know enough to think of a complete plan but I do know that I will be able to once we talk to Jeno. For now,” Taeil started, turning towards Kun who blinked back. “You and Winwin talk to Renjun. He’s more comfortable talking in Chinese and I don’t want you to say anything about Minhyung being the creator of the bomb. If he knows, comfort him but if he doesn’t…don’t tell him.”

“Why not?” Winwin asked as Taeil sighed and bit his lip.

“I don’t know. But I do know that it will cause psychological harm that we might not be able to fix.”

~ ~ ~

“Jeno?”

Slowly, he furrowed his eyebrows and squirmed sleepily to find a more comfortable position.

“Jeno? Are you asleep?”

Ignoring the obvious higher pitched male voice, he found himself trying to even out his breathing in an attempt to fall asleep. 

“You are, aren’t you?” 

He let out a long exhale as he began to feel his consciousness slipping away.

“I just…don’t hurt yourself again…Mark-hyung wouldn’t forgive me if I let something happen to you so…just…”

Barely stopping himself from flinching at the sound of the door banging open, his eyes flew open the minute he felt something relatively heavy fall on his stomach.

“Get up, Jeno. We have somewhere to be.” The voice of NCT’s main messenger sliced through his thoughts as he forced out a groan to make it seem as if he had just woken up. “Hurry up and change but be careful of the bandage.”

“What banda- ow…” He said, pain shooting up the left side of his waist as memories of feeling cold metal against his skin before the blinding pain of a bullet replaced it. “Where are we going, hyung?” He asked, purposefully avoiding Donghyuck’s worried eyes that shimmered with concern. He saw Jaehyun glance at him before leaving the room and shutting the door after, causing him to sigh when the door finally slipped shut. A faint whisper of ‘you’ll see’ lingered in the air.

“You okay?” He heard Donghyuck ask him, the smaller male coming closer to the bed as he unwillingly tensed. “Jeno?”

“I’m good,” He answered absentmindedly, eyes drifting from Donghyuck’s shoes to the box that had fallen on his lap. It was a simple black box, the type where the main body had a tab that would fit into a groove in the lid. Curiously, he brought it closer and saw a tiny note written in pencil in the corner of the lid. 

Jeno,

I’m sorry I shot you. B.A.P were watching from far away so I couldn’t NOT shoot you. In this box are some things that will help with your wound and the phone chargers of Donghyuck, Jaemin and Jisung. They haven’t really been able to recharge their phones and even though they’re borrowing clothes, I’m sure they miss going on their phones. I’m sorry and I love you and Donghyuck. Never forget that.

Mark.

“Open it!” He heard Donghyuck shout when he had ran his fingers over the pencil, smudging the words slightly before Donghyuck grabbed the box and hurriedly opened it. “My phone needs life and that Doyoung guy hid his charger again! Can you believe that?!”

“Calm down, Hyuck,” He mumbled as the other male identified his charger and immediately took out his phone for his pocket. 

“Where are the power points?!” The younger male screamed at him, causing him to tense up as he pointed hesitantly to one that was near the bedside table. “Thank god!” Chuckling at the other’s antics, he carefully picked up the box that had been thrown carelessly in his lap once more. Peering at its contents, Jeno noticed that beneath the medical tape, bandages and phone chargers lay something shiny and small - probably large enough to fit in his palm. Ignoring Donghyuck who was now happily humming as he answered all of his worried texts, Jeno reached inside to pull out a tiny trinket that was in the shape of an angel. The halo was attached to the head by a thin piece of metal, the grooves in the metal being extremely intricate as he observed the sharp points of the wings and how the dress of the silver angel seemed to move. Vag