“How long are we going to stay in the ing sewer?” He heard his companion complain, groaning internally at the rewording of the question for the umpteenth time. “Is this what gang members do for a living?”

“No, it’s what I do to make sure Jeno doesn’t die for a living,” He replied, sighing and turning back to the younger who had a pout and was glaring at a stray rat. “We’re nearly there.”

“Better be, Mark Lee,” Donghyuck hissed out, pushing past him and turning left when they were meant to turn right. Amused, Mark watched as Donghyuck went down the designated path, chuckling to himself when the other came back due to the dead end that the map he had stolen from Yuta showed. 

“Yeah, you might want to follow me,” He stated, trying his best not to laugh as they turned right and went further into to infiltrate Stray Kids’ base.

“What the hell is going on anyway?” Donghyuck asked, fiddling with his gun holster before Mark grabbed his hand in comfort. “I know that Renjun has a bomb, he likes Jaemin and now Jaemin has a bomb too?”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it,” He answered, earning a groan from the other. 

“Then why the hell would you go to this extent to get someone back if they don’t want to go back?!” Donghyuck let out, sighing heavily after. “It just doesn’t make sense!”

“I’m afraid the underworld doesn’t make sense,” He replied easily, smiling to himself when they had come across the ladder that he was looking for. “We need to go up here.”

“That ladder looks unstable as ,” Donghyuck stated, voice unsteady as Mark rolled his eyes and started to climb up the ladder, easily pushing aside the cover of the manhole and hoisting himself onto grass. He saw a wooden cross in a corner where the sun didn’t reach with a dishevelled something behind it. 

“I kinda need help here!” He heard Donghyuck call, eyes rolling automatically before he leaned down to offer his hand to the other. 

“We really need to train you more if you’re going to be this stubborn in the future,” He commented, hearing the younger scoff in disapproval. 

“I can take care of myself! After I got the hang of it, I never missed a shot!” Donghyuck bragged, puffing his chest out in such a ridiculous manner that Mark laughed. “What?! It’s true! You said so, yourself!”

“Well, yeah but it isn’t something to be proud of, Hyuck,” He said once his laughter subsided and he looked at Donghyuck with a wry smile. “Those shots can kill if you aim right.”

“I’m not aiming for the head anyway.” He heard Donghyuck mumble and smiled to himself, knowing that at least Donghyuck wouldn’t become as tainted as he was despite the gun in the holster at the younger’s hip. “How much further?”

“Through there,” He answered, pointing to something that looked like a garbage dump but was, in reality, stairs leading further underground. 

“Underground again?” Donghyuck complained, huffing as he hauled the door to the dump open and causing Mark to smile fondly at him. 

“Yes, underground again,” He repeated, slightly amused at how Donghyuck was coping with the situation. “They were driven underground after a raid that TRCNG carried out for B.A.P.”

“B.A.P seem like s,” Donghyuck stated, trailing behind him as he walked calmly down the stairs, faint murmurs slowly morphing into words. 

“Finally someone said it,” He mumbled to himself, cringing when Donghyuck noisily closed the dump and signalled at him to be quiet. The dim lights only served to illuminate the younger’s annoyed face as they tiptoed down a seemingly empty corridor.

“I’m going to ing kill him, Felix!” 

“, go back!” He hissed out quietly, haphazardly pushing Donghyuck back behind the corner of where they came from, his arm draped across Donghyuck’s chest to prevent the younger from sticking his head around the corner in curiosity as they waited.

“Hyung, Chan-hyung did warn us.” Another voice - a deeper one that was more calm and less angry - replied, a few sheepish chuckles coming after.

“So? Hyunjin was your friend! He was one of us!” The first voice fumed, the sound of a foot stamping on the ground soon following. “You and I both ing know that all he cared about were those TRCNG s and Renjun! The least we could do is let them know that he was ing killed by our own leader!”

“Jisung-hyung!” The deeper voice called, a slap being heard right after the dialogue. “It’s not our fault that Hyunjin decided to betray us by telling B.A.P where we were. He was threatened to and honestly, what would you rather?! Hyunjin and Seungmin dying?!.”

“Seungmin was tortured! And even then, Chan-hyung shouldn’t have-“

“O-Oh…Jeongin…” The deeper voice called, causing Mark to assume that another member of Stray Kids had entered the scene. “Behind that corner?”

“Hyung, I think they know,” Donghyuck whispered, voice terrified as Mark did the most logical thing and drew his gun, slowly coming into the hallway as Donghyuck hid behind him - the plan they had