“We’re not going to turn out fine, are we?” Winwin asked him the minute Jeno had left down the hall in search for the civilian’s room. “We’re already breaking as it is.”

“Yeah, none of us are going to come out of this unscathed, Winwin,” He replied flatly, shifting the weight of his body from one foot to the other. “I’m worried about Taeyong-hyung the most though.”

“Do those attacks happen often?” Sighing, Doyoung took out his gun from his holster and loaded it just in case. 

“They must do since Yuta-hyung knows what to do,” He settled for, deciding to omit the fact that he himself had heard Taeyong crying on the numerous occasions that he had walked past his leader’s room. Up until that point, he had written those incidents off as the older missing his older sister and leader but now…now he knew the true reason why.
“You know, Renjun might be able to walk again,” Winwin suddenly informed him, causing him to nearly drop his gun and almost break his neck turning to look at him. “If the gun is only able to paralyse, it probably aimed for the nerves. There is a possibility that the nerves are untouched, even if its slim.”

“Even if it’s slim, you say…” Doyoung scoffed, shaking his head. “You can just say that he will have a paralysed lower half.”

“No, you don’t get my point,” Winwin enforced, grabbing his arm and shaking it in frustration. “I did some research before, when Minhyung came back and well, the bomb isn’t as strong as we thought it was.”

“Bull,” He fired back, seeing distress make itself known on the younger’s face. “Okay fine, what?”

“It doesn’t strike anything. It’s not even buried that deep into slaves. The worst is chronic pain that’s treatable,” Winwin explained, laughter of disbelief erupting from both males at the realisation. 

“So Renjun will be able to walk?” He asked, hope shining in his irises as Winwin sighed.

“From that range, it would be a miracle if his nerves were untouched but I feel like Lady Luck is on our side tonight,” Winwin replied and Doyoung found himself praying to the heavens that their youngest negotiator would be okay. 

Doyoung couldn’t help but feel that someone or something would have to be exchanged for Renjun’s ability to walk since Lady Luck was never fair.

His suspicions seemed to be right when two young figures who he knew turned right into their hallway, bickering and rolling eyes at each other before they stopped and looked at both himself and Winwin in shock.

~ ~ ~

“Hyung, what the actual are you doing?!” He heard his companion hiss out as he rolled his eyes and continued to eavesdrop, legs starting to hurt from crouching in front of the door for so long. From what he gathered, Yongguk - a B.A.P member that he thought had quit the gang life for good - was trying to make a deal with the rest of Stray Kids to get his hands on Renjun. 

“Hyuck, just shut up and tell me if anyone’s coming,” He muttered, alarm bells going off in his head when he heard chairs scraping the floor. “Nevermind, scram!” Hurriedly standing and grabbing Donghyuck’s arm, Mark ran down the hallway, twisting and turning through the corridors until he didn’t know the way back.

“Mark-hyung, they’re not following us!” Donghyuck shouted, voice annoyingly loud that Mark took an extra precaution and led them around the corner, the younger still frustrated with him. “Hyung, they’re coming! We can’t stay hidden, they’ll find us!”
“They won’t,” He reassured, not wanting to find out what would happen if his leader were to know that he was in the vicinity. “Trust me, they won’t find out-“

“Hyung,” Donghyuck interrupted him, grabbing his arm and nodding past him at something or someone. “I think they found out.” Slowly, he turned, bracing himself for the worst and was met with the confused stare of both Doyoung and Winwin. 

“Ah ,” He cursed, sighing before taking Donghyuck’s hand in comfort - the other’s hand wouldn’t stop trembling - and walked slowly towards his fellow gang members. “Hi hyungs!”

“What are you doing here, Lee Minhyung?” Doyoung asked him, eyeing him warily before his eyes slid over to Donghyuck. “It’s one thing to put yourself in danger but its another thing to put a civilian in danger.”

“He can hold his own!” He insisted, glaring at the older who glared right back. “Why does everyone think he can’t?!”

“Minhyung, Taeyong-hyung won’t like this,” Winwin stated, pointing at their joined hands. “You’re already breaking one of the policies, you don’t need to break any more.”

“ those policies!” He screamed, not caring whether the guests in the base would hear him or not. “They’re anyway!”

“Why the are you all-“ Mark could only stare at their technician who had poked his head out the door. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh,” Winwin mocked as Yuta glared at him, turning back calmly t