"Jinyoung, I've found Mark." Raymond says as he shook Jinyoung awake from the younger's sleep. At the sound of those words, Jinyoung's brain shot to attention, leaving behind all the fog and blurriness from his sleep. Have you ever woken up only to realize you overslept and you get this sudden burst of energy? Yeah... it was the same for Jinyoung. 

"Where is he?" Jinyoung utters as he sat upright, his body immediately ready to head out at a moment's notice. From the look Raymond's shooting at him, Jinyoung knows the answer wasn't something he'd like to hear at all. "Raymond, where is Mark?" Jinyoung reiterates, panic slowly rising the longer it took the older male to answer his question. He was afraid that the next sentence Raymond was going to speak was that Mark was already gone. 

"He's being held at The Spire." Raymond answers and Jinyoung almost sighed in relief. He was glad that at least Mark wasn't dead just yet but with his boyfriend being held at The Spire, there was no room for relief to set in. Of course, it was expected that President Park would keep Mark under his own care and what's more of a secured place on Selene than his very own tower. 

Overrun with security droids, a state-of-the-art surveillance system and force field-fenced perimeter that encased the entire building including underneath it, getting into the building without clearance was already a feat in its own. Not to mention that the pair had to infiltrate the building and somehow find Mark without raising any alarms. 

"What's the plan?" Jinyoung asks, throwing himself out of bed with the agility of a feline. Even in his sleep-deprived state, his pistons were firing on all cylinders. He was ready to go and save Mark from the clutches of that evil bigot.

"Follow me. I'll brief you as we go." Raymond replies, turning and heading out of the room. Judging from the bags under the elite's eyes, Jinyoung knew that the older elite hasn't gotten much sleep either. He would have asked Raymond about it, cajole him into getting some sleep first, but he knew that Raymond would have brushed it all aside for Mark. The amount of respect Jinyoung has for the older male just skyrocketed much more at that. "As I'm sure you know, getting into The Spire isn't going to be easy. It's impossible by normal standards but of course we're not normal people now are we?" Raymond smirks, shooting Jinyoung a small smile. That smile comforted Jinyoung. Knowing that even in the midst of all this, Raymond could remain calm enough to joke. Jinyoung knew for himself that he can't be the calm one out of the two of them so he's relieved at the older's iron grip on his emotions.

"I'm assuming you have an idea then?" Jinyoung asks, following Raymond into the living room. 

"Kind of but I've run into a little bit of a problem. You see, I've managed to hack into the city network so I have access to street cameras and stuff like that. The problem is that The Spire runs on a separate network that cannot be breached from the outside. In order to gain access to its network, I need to plug my tablet into a network port within the building itself."

"But we can't pass through the force field." Jinyoung states. 

"Exactly. So I've been combing around for possibly a weak point or perhaps a security flaw somewhere. Anything that could get us through that pesky force field." Raymond continues, sitting down to retrieve his tablet. Jinyoung looked at the screen and noticed something like a blueprint displayed on it. 

"Is that a blueprint for The Spire?" Jinyoung inquires, taking a seat beside Raymond. 

Raymond nodded at him, passing the tablet over to Jinyoung so he could peruse it. "I've spotted some blind zones in surveillance on these two spots." The older male says, pointing out two separate tunnels underneath the structure, leading directly to the core of The Spire. "If we can get in there, we should be able to go in undetected. That force field is the only thing in our way though." Raymond continues. Jinyoung thought about it for a while, trying to find a way to get pass that fence.

He knew that there had to be some way to get through it or else Park himself would not be able to enter or leave the place. Not to mention the hundreds of security droids that patrol the area. Then it hit Jinyoung. 

"You mentioned that you have access to the street cameras?" Jinyoung starts. Raymond nodded at the statement. "Can you bring up the cameras surrounding The Spire?" He asks, handing the tablet back to the elite. Raymond did as he was asked, typing away at the screen before handing it back to Jinyoung. This time, the screen showed live feed from four cameras that surrounded the building. In each of them, cars drove past it without care, unbeknownst to the people that it was the location of a kidnapped hostage. Beyond the cars were little droids that paced up and down the sides of the building, just behind the barely visible force field. The force field was clear but gave off a sort of mirage image that was a lot more visible up close. 

"What are you looking for?" Raymond asks, curiously glancing between the screen and Jinyoung's concentrated face. 

"I'm just waiting for... right there." Jinyoung replies, pointing to the screen, finger hovering over a droid. 

"Okay? That's a droid. What about it?" Raymond further questions the younger.

"It's a droid alright but that's not what I'm referring to. Look at it and tell me what you see." Jinyoung answers. Raymond turned his attention back to the screen, watching as the droid paced up the path before turning and pacing back in the opposite direction. It was a few seconds later that Raymond caught it, the droid walking through the mirage, essentially walking through the force field. 

"The droids can pass through it." Raymond exclaims, suddenly enlightened and slightly kicking himself for not thinking about it earlier. "But how does that help us?" Still confused, the elite asks Jinyoung.

"Well, I'm assuming that the force field is selective. Meaning that, should an individual with the correct source code approach it, they can pass through easily without harm."

"That's correct observation. It's programmed into the BIC. The same way people open their house door but the thing is, this one is encrypted so it can be duplicated without compromising the software to outsiders." 

"Okay but I'm pretty sure the droids don't have BICs. Meaning that the codes to pass through is hidden somewhere within their programming code. All we need to do then is to get that code from the Selene Programming Center, encode it into our BICs and we should be able to get through the force field." Jinyoung concludes.

"Probably. But like I said Jinyoung, the code is encrypted. We won't know which code is the correct one to get."

"We don't have to search for the exact code. We can just take the entire file and load it into our BICs. It should be enough to help us get through." Jinyoung explains. Raymond thought about it for a minute. The plan did have a few technicalities here and there but it was the only plan they could conjure up and every minute's crucial to saving Mark. 

"It's worth a shot. I can remotely download the file from here but it's gonna take some time. Probably an hour. After that, we can leave." Just as Raymond finished speaking, Taecyeon walked into the room. 

"You guys are leaving already?" Jinyoung's father asks, walking down the stairs. 

"Soon Dad. We need to get to Mark as soon as possible. Who knows what Park is doing to him." Jinyoung worryingly says, turning away from Raymond to look at his father. 

"Are you gonna be safe?" Taecyeon patted Jinyoung on his shoulder, looking worriedly at him. His father knew that Jinyoung needed to do this but Jinyoung knows that he can't prevent his father from worrying about him since this was probably very dangerous and he didn't want Jinyoung to get hurt. 

"I don't think I can be safe anywhere Dad. Not with President Park on my case." Jinyoung rubbed his face in frustration. "I wish we had some weapons or something, just so we aren't totally helpless." Selene has many laws and one of those laws was the prohibition of possessing any sort of firearms. There just weren't any guns on Selene, even with the security droids that act as protectors and overall guards of the city. The droids did however, have a mean taser which could knock you unconscious within seconds but droids were the only ones authorized to wield them. Sure, one can have knives and all that if you were really desperate. But knives aren't very effective against droids. "Is it possible for us to get our hands on some tasers?" Jinyoung turns to Raymond, directing the question to the elite. 

"Impossible. Tasers are manufactured within The Spire itself. Probably a precaution devised by Park himself." Raymond never took an eye off his tablet as he spoke, continuing with whatever he was doing. Jinyoung sighed at that, somehow knowing that it wasn't going to be possible getting their hands on one. 

It was just then that something clicked in Taecyeon's brain. No, he won't be able to help them get a taser but he had the next best thing. "Hold on." With that, he disappeared up the stairs, leaving Jinyoung confused by his father's abrupt departure. 

It was five minutes later when Taecyeon returned, holding what looked like a coil of wire in his right hand. Jinyoung looked at the object, unsure of what it was. As Jinyoung got closer though, he realized that one end of the coil tapered off, gradually getting thinner in diameter before ending at a dull point. The other end of the wire led to a metallic handle with a single button on its side. Taecyeon held out the object to Jinyoung, waiting for his son to take it. 

Jinyoung took the whip into his hands, unsure why his father even had the thing. He shot a confused look at his father, wordlessly asking for some form of explanation. "All animal handlers have a whip like this while we still worked within the forest domes. Once the animals were put in stasis, the whips were no longer needed."

Jinyoung looked down again at the coiled wire in his hand, wrapping his fingers around the handle. With one flick of his wrist, he uncoiled it, letting the wire fall to the ground with a metallic slap. Upon closer inspection, Jinyoung realized the whip wasn't actually made of a single thick wire but small segments of metal that joined together to form the body of the whip. Each piece interlocking with the next to give it flexibility. He ran his thumb over the handle, running circles around the single button there. 

"Be careful with that. Push the button and it electrifies the whip. Rotate it to adjust the voltage going through it. Give it a whirl." Taecyeon advises, stepping back slightly to maintain a safe distance from the whip. Jinyoung clicked the button and immediately, the whip crackled as electricity arced between the connected segments of the body. He rotated the button, seeing the intensity of the arcs decrease and increase depending on the direction in which he rotated the button. 

The light buzzing sound that emanated from the charged whip seemed to attract Raymond's attention. "Oh, you have an electric whip?" The elite walked over to Jinyoung, observing the contraption as the younger male lightly swung it left and right. "The body is made up of alternating cathode and anode segments, allowing the electricity to follow through the length of the whip." Raymond explains nonchalantly, out of habit more than anything. He has been teaching Jinyoung so much through his lessons that the need to explain how things worked came almost instantly. 

"I thought it would have been helpful seeing that you won't get ahold of some tasers." Taecyeon mutters, looking up at Jinyoung who turned the whip off and began coiling it back up.

"Thanks Dad. I'm sure it can be proven useful when we need it to. Hopefully though, we won't need to use it." Jinyoung strapped the device to his belt, letting it hang by his side. 

During the hour-long wait for the droid programming to be downloaded, every detail and precautions about the plan was thought about and deliberated. There were some details in the plan that were iffy but not for a lack of trying. Rather, it was just the fact that they didn't know if it would work or not. One of these details was their deactivated BICs. 

Raymond knew for certain that he could transfer the programming files into the dead BIC, simply needing to copy the files over to the memory storage within the device much like a flash drive. What he didn't know was how the force field would read that information. Normally, BICs used a sort of near-field-communication technology to unlock house doors and such but he didn't know if that was the case with the force field, seeing that droids weren't built with the same technology in them. The elite was hoping that the field would be able to read the programming codes from it simply being on the device. 

"So best case scenario, we go through the field without so much as a stutter. Worst case scenario, the field burns us to a crisp." Raymond mentions, connecting the electrode from his tablet onto his BIC. 

"That's not very reassuring Raymond." Jinyoung nervously states as he watched the older male transfer the downloaded files into his BIC. 

"I know it's not but I won't be able to tell until one of us goes through that field, or should I say, tries to get through that field." Jinyoung shook his head. Yes, their plan wasn't full-proof but when time was of the essence, you had to deal with the options that you have. 

Sometime during the downloading process, Suzy had entered the room. Her features plastered with a layer of worry. Taecyeon shared a similar look, although slightly better hidden beneath his tough exterior. Once everything was transferred and prepared, it was time for Jinyoung and Raymond to leave. Jinyoung turned to his parents, looking at them one last time. Knowing that if things didn't turn out right, it could very well be the last time they saw each other. Just the thought of it slightly breaks Jinyoung's heart as he doesn't want his parents to go through that kind of pain in their lives.

"So I guess this is it huh." Jinyoung lightly jokes as he looked both his parents in the eyes. "I just wanna say that whatever happens today, I truly and genuinely love you guys. I'm sorry if I ever did anything that disappointed you in the past. I'm also sorry if I didn't do better as your only son." Jinyoung softly mutters, trying his best not to break down in front of his parents.

At those words, Suzy immediately broke down, sobbing as she ran towards Jinyoung and wrapping her arms around her son. She wanted to ask him to stay, to let Raymond handle the situation but she knew Jinyoung's mind was already made up and nothing would be able to change it. "I love you so much Nyoung. And shush on the apologies. I'm so... so proud of you to be our son and nothing can ever change that." She croaks out, crying.

Jinyoung in turn, tightened his grip on his mother, feeling his own tears welling up in his eyes. "I'll be okay Mom. I'll come back. I promise." Jinyoung choked back the sobs that were threatening to come out as he didn't want his mother to be more worried than she already was. 

"I'll hold you to that promise Nyoung, just... please be careful." Suzy looked into her son's eyes, her tear-soaked eyes blurring her vision. At this point, Taecyeon walked over to the pair, placing his hand onto Jinyoung's shoulder and squeezing slightly in his show of support for his son. Nothing was said between the two of them and nothing was really needed to be said. Both understood the gravity of the situation and both knew the risks involved. 

"We'll be here waiting for you to get back. Okay?" Taecyeon mumbles, his voice tightening as he too held back his emotions. Jinyoung nodded his head, freeing one hand from his hug with his mother and placing it over his father's and returning the squeeze. 

Finally, they broke apart, taking deep breaths to steady themselves. It wasn't the time and place for tears. Tears were for goodbyes and Jinyoung was determined that this wasn't going to be his last goodbye. He was going to do everything in his power to keep his promise to his parents. 

"The car's here Jinyoung. I'll meet you outside." Raymond informs the family as he exited the house, heading for the vehicle parked out in front. Jinyoung nodded before taking one last look at his parents. 

"I'll be back. I promise. I love you guys." Jinyoung says with finality, turning and following Raymond out the door. Behind him, Taecyeon held Suzy as they watched their son leave. In their hearts praying that their son would safely return to them. 

Jinyoung stepped into the hovercar, taking one final deep breath to stow away any leftover emotions. He needed to focus on the task at hand so he won't jeopardize his and Raymond's life in the mission. "You don't need to come you know." Raymond speaks from beside him. 

"What?"

"I can do this Jinyoung. You can stay here with your parents and be safe. I promise I'll get back Mark safely." 

"What... no! I need to... I can't live with myself if anything... if anything happened to Mark and I sat behind, not doing anything." Jinyoung stutters out, bewildered at the elite's suggestion.

"Are you sure about this?" Raymond asked one more time. He really didn't want Jinyoung putting himself at unnecessary risk. Without a moment of hesitation, Jinyoung nodded his reply, making the older male sigh. Raymond turned to the driver, directing him to their destination. 

The Spire. 

Raymond fished out a couple of devices from his pocket, holding one out to Jinyoung. The devices were small and curved into a C-shape with one side covered in a gel material. "In-ear communicators. In case we get separated." Raymond informs to which Jinyoung nodded, grabbing the device and inserting it into his right ear. "Testing. Can you hear me?" Raymond softly speaks and Jinyoung heard him both in person and through the tiny ear speakers, nodding his response. 

"So, these tunnels that lead into the tower..." Jinyoung starts.

"Power and sewage tunnels, respectively. For obvious reasons, we're gonna use the power tunnel. There is an access hatch in the building to the north of The Spire. We'll enter through there."

"Any security we should be wary of?" 

"We'll have to steer clear of the street cameras but other than that, there should be no immediate danger within the tunnel." Jinyoung took that as Raymond trying to be as comforting as possible but this was President Park they were talking about. With him holding Mark hostage there, he must expect that they would eventually try to rescue him and as such, would take every precaution possible to ensure that they would not succeed. Jinyoung needed to be prepared for anything. 

                                       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The ride to the city center felt longer than it ever felt before, feeling paranoid that someone might be following them and at anytime catch them by surprise. Looking out the window ever so often, Jinyoung found out it was not the case. Elites went about their daily business, oblivious to the fact that someone was being held hostage in President Park's domain. 

As the tall structure got bigger and bigger as they approached it, so did the nerves Jinyoung was feeling. By the time they pulled into the building adjacent The Spire, Jinyoung was visibly shaking. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, preparing his body for anything that might be thrown his way but strangely, nothing happened. Making their way into the underground tu