Outbreak
Ragnarök
Cha Hakyeon stood, frozen in fear. Screaming. That was all he heard. Something had gone horribly wrong with the latest testing of the Ragnarök Virus, a government funded project to make super soldiers that had no need for rest and were harder than average to kill. Hakyeon knew what he had to do. His father had trained him well in the chance this exact situation would arise.
Running as fast as he could toward the back parking lot, he hit the emergency lock button on his way past the main control room within the experimentation building. There were mere minutes to make it out of the compound built around the research center before all exits slammed down, sealing the contents of their research, and anyone still within the protective walls, away from the world forever.
Pulling a pistol out of a hiding spot above the back door, Hakyeon fired at a figure that was shuffling down the hall after him. Despite the uncertainty on wether or not he had managed to kill the thing, he didn't have time to check. Slamming the lab door behind him, Hakyeon raced toward his motorcyle near the back gate.
Hitting the automatic gate button on his way past, he kept in constant motion, not having a moment to spare. Hakyeon was almost to his motorcycle. Freedom, safety, seemed like a tangible thing at the tips of his fingers. Yet there was someone between him and his destination. Something Hakyeon had desperately hoped he wouldn't come across.
"Byoungjun?" Hakyeon barely dared to breathe the name. His childhood best friend was covered in blood and bite marks. The glossy look in his usually warm eyes sent chills through Hakyeon. Byoungjun had already started to succumb to the virus.
Hakyeon hesitated for only a moment, unsure if he could destroy someone he cared so much about. That pause in action gave enough time for Byoungjun to slam Hakyeon to the ground with all the force of the exaggerated strength provided by the virus. Blood, Hakyeon felt it instantly form at the back of his head. His friend's nails scraped across his neck as he struggled to keep himself from getting bit. Time.was running out. If the gates closed before he could escape, then he had failed his mission and would die inside with the others.
He whispered an apology and shot Byoungjun in the stomach, managing to use his feet to flip him away. Hakyeon righted himself quickly and began running again, ignoring the burning in the back of his head and the severe dizziness brought on by his meeting with the concrete. There was no time to worry about his injuries. Not yet at least.
Hakyeon jumped on his motorcycle. The engine whined as tried to start it. Terror was gripping at his very soul. Hakyeon had no desire to die within the confines of that hell. Finally, with a sputter, the bike roared to life. There was no time to bother with a helmet so, fighting back tears, he turned toward the gate. Emergency shutters were already descending, doing their job to block all life inside. Taking a deep breath, Hakyeon drove as fast as he could, just barely managing to skid the bike sideways under the grate before it slammed down behind him.
Ignoring the crimson liquid dripping from his leg and arm where they had been badly damaged, having dragged across the ground on his way out of the gate, he righted his motorcycle and took one last look at the compound before speeding off. Hakyeon had to complete his mission before he lost consciousness from the severe reduction of blood in his sysem. Just over an hour. He had to hang on for just over an hour.
As he pushed the limits of the motorcycles speed capabilities, Hakyeon made his way to complete his mission. A large facility loomed closer, his destination, a military center dedicated to handling an outbreak of the virus if it ever occured. There was no reason to bother stopping his motorcycle, his body was already torn and broken. Diving off the beast of a machine, Hakyeon allowed it to crash into the wall beside a large gate, rolling to his feet by the intercom.
"Ragnarök has backfired..." Hakyeon managed to call into the microphone as he held the talk button down. No sooner had the words left his mouth, Hakyeon was collapsing to the concrete underneath him. Mission accomplished, his adrenaline fueled strength faded. The last thing he remembered seeing was a handsom man catching him before his body met the hard ground yet again.
~~~
Kim Wonshik had been playing video games with Jaehwan when the alarm sounded. Quickly standing, he dropped his controler on the floor. Ignoring his companion's cursing at a sudden game over screen, he ran to the hallway to see what was causing such a commotion.
First to catch his eye was the vivid scarlett substance, splattered and smeared along the walls and floor. It was everywhere. Wonshik couldn't find a single place to look that wasn't stained red. Glancing around for the cause of all that blood, he soon found it. A petite body was being cradled in the arms of a very hostile looking man, one of his army friends. Taekwoon was holding the injured man away from everyone, shielding him from further harm as he began a screaming match with their superior.
"You're not just killing him!" Taekwoon growled, giving their captain what was very possibly the most terrifying expression Wonshik had ever seen.
"He could be infected!" The older screamed back, lunging toward the mauled form. Taekwoon kicked at him, turning to further shield the man in his arms.
"I'm taking him to doctor. He can test his blood for any sign of the virus." Taekwoon was attempting to reason with their boss despite the dangerous edge in his voice. Wonshik watched as he continued his trek down the hallway despite the protests from their captain.
"Infected?" Wonshik almost jumped from shock when he heard Jaehwan's voice from slightly behind him. During the confrontation, he hadn't even noticed his friend come out of the game room.
"Everyone meet in the crisis room! Now!" Their captain yelled as he turned to walk, anger at Taekwoon's rebellion radiated off of him with every step. "And nobody touch the blood! We don't know if it's infected!"
~~~
Lee Hongbin had been in the hospital wing of the military base helping the doctor organize their stock of medical supplies when the alarm went off. In the process of leaving the room to go see what was happening, Taekwoon shoved past him. Urgency made the intruding man seem anxious as he held onto an unconscious person, looking frantically for the doctor as he cradled the body to his chest. Both Taekwoon and the stranger were covered in blood.
"Help him. Now." Taekwoon barked his demand at the doctor as he gently placed the man on the bed. The ragged form didn't stir at the change and Hongbin found himself concerned the man wouldn't make it through the next few minutes. There was no way he would mention it to the man pacing next the operation table though. Well. Not if he enjoyed life.
"Was he infected?" The doctor questioned and merely received a glare that could freeze fire in response. "I'll just analyse his blood while I work on him..." A sample of blood was taken and handed off to Hongbin whom quickly went to the lab to run the needed tests.
~~~~
Jung Taekwoon didn't exactly know what it was about the wounded man that made him feel this immense surge of protectiveness but he was certain that if anyone tried to hurt him, Taekwoon would rip them apart with his bare hands. He watched nervously as Hongbin and the doctor tried to assess the man's injuries, his own nerves on edge as he paced the room, pausing every few steps to gauge the progress. With so much blood coating the beautiful man, it was nearly impossible to find hope in the situation but Taekwoon refused to believe that the man would die. There was no way he could accept such a thing.
"We'll have to strip him and wash him." Hongbin sighed, and Taekwoon stopped as his friend slipped on gloves so he wouldn't come in contact with the blood, concerned about infection. Taekwoon didn't want Hongbin touching the stranger, especially not in a way that implied he was diseased or otherwise unsavory.
"I'll do it." He nudged Hongbin to the side, not bothering to be gentle about it, and carefully undressed the stranger. There was no reason to bother with gloves, having already been exposed to any potential discrepancies in the blood. Slowly, he washed the man with a damp cloth, taking extra care of his wounds, feeling his heart drop as he uncovered each new horror on the man's flesh. Taekwoon couldn't help but think, despite all the damage, the person he had rescued was truly breathtaking.
Taekwoon's mind calculated the freshest and worst injuries, hoping he could find some relief there. The man's left arm, leg, and side looked like they had been dragged across concrete, shredded and more in resemblance to ground beef than a part of the human anatomy. There were scratches across his neck and collarbone. A deep gash in the back of the unconscious man's head, the main source of blood loss, made Taekwoon the most concerned. Even if he made it, what kind of lasting effects would such a wound have on the beautiful man? The thought alone made Taekewoon incredibly sad.
"Well, we have some good news." The doctor looked over a lab report Hongbin had just been sent to retrieve, looking only mildly relieved as he and Hongbin began working on their unconscious patient. "If he actually manages to pull through this, at least his blood is clean. He isn't infected." Taekwoon felt his whole being relax ever so slightly at the news yet he still held the tension brought on by worry still plagued him. There was still a very real chance the gorgeous person he saved may not actually live.
~~~
Lee Jaehwan's head spun as he attempted to gather his thoughts Infection? INFECTION!? Sure, he was aware that he and the others had been recruited to form a special task force in case the experiments on the Ragnarök virus had gotten out of hand... The research compound was always so careful. The idea that it could actually allow an outbreak had never really crossed his mind...
Clinging to Wonshik, Jaehwan tried not to panic as they made their way to the meeting room. Deep appreciation for Wonshik's attempts to calm him down gave Jaehwan the will to keep walking despite his urge to curl into a ball and hide himself away. Wonshik was always the most comforting when Jaehwan needed it.
It didn't take long to make it to the crisis room, arriving before the other members of their task force. Jaehwan was leaning heavily on Wonshik, breathing slowly in an attempt to calm himself. Only moments after they arrived, the others began filing in, taking their seats.
~~~~
Han Sanghyuk looked around the crisis room, taking a mental roll call of everyone that had appeared. Wonshik and Jaehwan sat together, the latter looking abnormaly pale and while the former gave him worried glances. Jaehwan's best friend, Daehwan, was patting Jaehwan's shoulder gently in hopes to soothe the nervous man.
Two more team members, Yoonchul and Nakhun, looked confused at the whole situation. They, much like Sanghyuk, had probably missed most of what had happened leading to the meeting. Worry was most prominent in his mind as he noted the absence of his boyfriend, Hongbin, and their friend, Taekwoon.
"Sir." Hyuk stood up quickly, facing their comanding officer. "Are Hongbin and Taekwoon okay?"
"Sit back down, Sanghyuk." Their boss sighed, clearly exasperated with whatever had occured to bring them to this point. "Hongbin and Taekwoon are assisting the doctor at the moment. They will be debriefed on the situation there."
Hyuk sighed in relief and sat back down. Hongbin was safe. That was all that mattered to him. He could breathe easier now.
"Everyone pay attention." Their captain demanded, though, the atmosphere of anticipation circulating in the air made it clear nobody would be neglecting to listen. "The Ragnarök Virus has been unleashed. We're about to be very busy very soon." Well crap. That wasn't exactly something Hyuk had wanted to hear. Life was about to get very complicated...
~~~
The man Taekwoon had saved pulled through, large chunks of his memory ruined by the damage to his skull, the only thing he could remember to tell them about himself was simply that people had called him N. A solid year of training began. By the time all of them, N included, were ready to rage war on the virus it had already spread a great deal throughout Korean and other mainland Asian countries. Thus, they began their grim mission to rid the world of the infected.
Two years passed as Ragnarök spread world wide. Their only hope was to go back to where it all started, the laboratory compound N had come from, in hopes that a cure could be found.
Three years after the Ragnarök virus had escaped, the team of special agents stood in front of the gate to the compound. Fear tugged at them but they all held onto the hope of what they may find inside, the potential to save the world from a rapidly approaching apocalypse, from the festering hell it had already been reduced to. This is where our story truly begins.
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