Ignis 13/?
Title: Ignis/Chapter 13 - "Alliance"
Author: kaybee38
Rating: PG
Pairings: friendship!Jonghyun/Onew, Minho/Onew, Taemin/Sulli, eventual!JongKey, broken!Minho/Yuri
Genre: fantasy, sci-fi, character death
Disclaimer: SHINee is owned by SM Entertainment only
Summary: Teneo are humans that live among us that have a genetic mutation that gives them the ability to live on indefinitely. They each have unique abilities and they don't physically age past 25. They all lead double lives since their "gifts" are a secret, some not even realizing that there are others like them. But someone has found a way to kill them. Jonghyun, with the help of a covert society has been secretly trying to warn and protect as many of his kind as he can before it's too late. Onew, Minho, Taemin and Sulli all end up joining forces with him to try to track down the killer before they can strike again. The bonds that grow between them along with their powers might be enough to save them, but the killer is closer to them than they realize.
A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter. It feels a little like a cop show to me, but if you're not bored to tears, you'll learn a few new things. I'm introducing a new character in this chap, see if you can figure out who it is. (I renamed him in honor of addicterated who wrote me a juicy Ontae fic. )
Prologue [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Chap 13 - "Alliance"
“Am I being held prisoner?”
“Of course not.”
Minho cocked his head and stared at Jonghyun for a moment, concentrating until he was satisfied that Jonghyun was telling the truth.
“Then why am I here?”
“I’m about to show you, come with me.”
Minho followed Jonghyun through a maze of corridors that was University’s Library’s sub-basement as the shorter man explained where they were. Minho almost lost the shorter man a couple of times as his camel cashmere turtleneck sweater kept blending him in with the walls. There weren’t many people around, but those that they saw Jonghyun greeted warmly. At one point Minho rounded a blind corner after Jonghyun quickly and ran smack into another man so hard it knocked the wind out of him a bit.
“Excuse me. I’m so sorry.” Minho apologized profusely.
“Oh its fine. It was my fault entirely.” The man said and put his hand on Minhos’ shoulder as if to reassure him that he indeed was fine and there was no harm done. Minho flinched a bit, clearly not used to uninitiated contact.
The man wore a long trench coat over dark slacks and a grey turtleneck sweater. He stared at Minho from behind equally dark aviator sunglasses for an extended moment, hand still attached to Minho’s shoulder, then smirked and quickly walked away. Minho felt strange suddenly, almost a little lightheaded, maybe he was still weak from the day’s events. He shook his head a bit to clear the fog as he paused and watched the man’s retreating frame move down the hall. Suddenly Minho braced himself against the wall with one hand and looked around as if trying to hear something.
I can’t feel him.
Minho had to jog to catch up to Jonghyun who had just rounded a corner at the end of the hall and entered a large meeting room lined with books and a couple of large wooden tables and chairs that Minho had guessed were used for research. Minho was so distracted by his encounter and entranced by the volumes lining the walls with their familiar smell of aged paper and leather that he almost didn’t notice the other people in the room. Jonghyun seemed pleased to see everyone else was there. Leader Heechul, who he’d met earlier was seated comfortably behind his desk, and Sulli was listening in on an animated conversation that a tall thin young man and Onew were having.
When Jonghyun and Minho entered the room, the conversation stilled and everyone eyed the tall lanky guest.
“Good evening everyone. Thanks for coming. Although some of you had a shorter distance to travel.” Jonghyun smirked at Onew, who wasn’t even listening to him.
Onew's eyes were fixed on Minho. He looked so different than when he was in the ambulance that night. He really was tall, and his legs seemed to go on forever in the dark blue skinny jeans and lace-up black leather boots he was wearing. He wore a simple white oxford under a v-neck dark blue sweater trimmed with a light blue stripe, and some type of silver chain around his neck. He very well could have been wearing the same outfit that afternoon, but Onew really didn’t get a good look at Minho when he had him in a headlock.
He had been too afraid for his life.
“This..” Jonghyun gestured to the tall man standing to his left. “..is Minho. “
“He’s the telepath and empath I was telling you about.” He continued
“Hello.” Minho greeted with a deep, quiet voice.
“You’ve met everyone here in one way or another I believe.”
Minho still wasn’t quite sure what to make of Jonghyun, but he was curious about what he meant back in the truck when he said that he was in danger. He took a minute to acclimate himself to the consciousness of those in the room: Leader Heechul was friendly, but obviously guarded. He was not quite sure what to make of Minho yet. One didn’t have to be telepathic to see that Onew was both curious and a little fearful of him. Sulli seemed grateful, but the look on her tall friend’s face that was hovering behind her was that he didn’t like or trust him and he was going to keep his distance. The only thing that Minho could sense from the teen, was his name.Taemin. Minho sensed his trepidation as well as a myriad questions from all of them, so he decided to explain himself a bit…
“I can definitely feel that some of you are a little uneasy by my presence. I promise you I won’t read anyone’s thoughts without permission.” Minho began.
“So you can hear our thoughts?” Onew asked, visibly alarmed.
“Yes, but only if you allow me to or if someone is having a very strong thought pattern. Otherwise, it’s kind of like leaving the TV or radio on in the background, I don’t really pay much attention to it.” They all chuckled at the metaphor, which seemed to lighten the mood a bit. Minho felt nervous, he’d never had to explain his gifts outright like this before.
“What’s the empath part then?” Onew asked.
“Well it kind of means I can feel what others around me are feeling, but again, only the strongest feelings or emotions really affect me. That’s why I have to be careful of who’s around me, because I will physically react to another person’s emotions or physical ailments, and inadvertently take on their traits.”
Onew was unapologetically staring at Minho at this point, who returned his gaze with such intensity, Onew felt an almost tangible electricity running through his veins.
“Which is why your injuries looked the same as mine in the ambulance.” Onew’s head whipped around to Sulli who was standing now. She too had been staring at the handsome stranger ever since he’d entered the room. Her face flushed and she shivered as she thought of what would have happened to her if he hadn’t saved her.
As if on cue Minho shivered involuntarily almost at the same time. Then a soft smile crossed his features. Sulli practically ran across the room and threw her arms around Minho, who at first looked stunned, as if he didn’t quite know what to do, his arms awkwardly sticking out from under Sulli’s squeezing ones. Jonghyun grinned widely, and even Onew and Heechul had to crack a smile at the cuteness of the scene before them. Taemin however, stood stoic observing Sulli from the corner.
“Thank you so MUCH! Thank you for saving me.” Sulli gushed, her cheek pressed to his chest. “I don’t know why you did what you did, but thank you!” Minho gently pulled away, andsensing anger from Taemin as he did so.
“You’re welcome Sulli.” His eyes watered a bit as a single tear rolled down her face and she brushed it away discreetly with the sleeve of her school uniform. Sulli stared at him for a moment longer and stepped away from Minho, but instead of returning to her seat across the room in front of Taemin she turned and took a seat to Minho’s left. Taemin glared at her but Sulli was too enraptured to even notice. Minho smiled a little to himself as if he knew something but was keeping it to himself.
“Now I think I get it. You stopped my heart in order to stop his as well.” Onew turned to Jonghyun, anger and realization simmering in his features.
“Correction. I stopped your heart. But his body only reacted as if I stopped his.” Jonghyun continued,
“Right. Of course..” Onew said tapping his temple mockingly angry as if he’d forgotten something. “…It was only me that you tried to kill.” Jonghyun rolled his eyes at Onew at this point.
“New. I already told you…”
Minho cleared his throat, interrupting the exchange before it escalated.
“Are all of you..?”
“Teneo?” Heechul finished Minho’s sentence for him. “No. Just those two there.” Heechul gestured to Onew and Jonghyun as Onew continued to glare at Jonghyun he turned away from him, crossing his arms in a huff.
“Really?” Minho seemed surprised by that as he looked around the room for moment before focusing his gaze on Onew.
“Well then Onew, What’s your gift?”
Onew didn’t know if Minho meant for his question to sound like a challenge but that’s exactly how he took it as he stood and crossed the room standing right in front of Minho. The two men looked like they were having a staring contest as Onew tried to control both his mounting curiosity and attraction for the newcomer and Minho tried to hide the fact that he could feel everything Onew was feeling.
“Come on New. This isn’t a pissing contest, get on with it.” Jonghyun was smirking at this point. He’d never seen his friend act like this before.
Onew responded by smiling, which shook Minho a bit. But when Onew closed his yes, Minho almost jumped out of his skin.
Onew had disappeared.
Jonghyun was the one smiling about a second later when Onew reappeared sitting across the room on the other table, legs crossed, arms folded, grinning.
“Be careful with that.” Onew cautioned Minho.
It had happened so fast, Minho didn’t even realize he was holding Heechul’s teacup and saucer, and Heechul didn’t even notice it was missing. Some of the tea from the cup splashed to the floor as Minho recovered from the shock and tried to steady the porcelain in in his hands. Heechul sat bolt upright. Sulli gasped and spun around to stare at Taemin, who was trying unsuccessfully to hide the shock on his face.
“Oh and Mr. Kim, you left your keys in the backdoor of your house last night. I wouldn’t make a habit of that if I were you.” Heechul facepalmed.
“Time travel.” Minhos’ eyes were blown wide. Taemin had a similiar expression on his face, and Sulli looked like she was smitten.
“Something like that.” Onew answered Minho’s question.
“Told ya.” Jonghyun said, crossing his arms.
“So you can go back in time and fix things, change things.” Minho was staring at Onew at this point.
Jonghyun could see the wheels in Minho’s head turning. Jonghyun knew that Minho would try to go back and save his long lost love if he could.
“Not a good idea. Minho.” Jonghyun warned.
“What? Why?”
“I know what you’re thinking, but if you try to go back and save her, you may fully alter this reality as we know it. You might cease to exist here, or worse there, if too great a change was made to your past.”
“I’m willing to take that chance.” Minho spun to look at Jonghyun.
“Well I’m not.” Onew said glaring at him. All traces of his friendly smile from earlier gone from his facade as he hopped down off of the table and strode towards Minho. Onew knew the limits and the danger that came with over manipulation of his gift and he himself had tried to “save” others in the past, only to create a rippling “butterfly effect” that did not have desirable consequences. Onew truly felt that time travel was meant for reconnaissance and observation only, so that we might better learn from our mistakes. Try to change things, and fate often had a funny way of teaching you a bitter lesson.
“What I can do, is manipulate time. Slow it down, speed it up, run it backwards and forwards.”
Minho continued to stare at Onew. Heechul stood and walked over to where the other men were, adjusting his cuffs and pushing his glasses further up on his nose on the way before clasping his hands behind his back and clearing his throat.
“So now that we’ve gotten the parlour tricks out of the way, mind telling us what this little meeting is all about?”
Jonghyun opened his mouth to speak, then looked at the floor for a moment, eyebrows furrowed as if contemplating something. Finally he spoke.
“Taemin, Sulli? Would you please excuse us?”
Taemin rolled his eyes, as he pushed off the wall annoyed and walked out of the room, not even waiting for Sulli as she whined about her life being unfair but followed Taemin quickly out into the hall. She looked both ways confused for a minute trying to figure out which direction her fellow trainee had gone before she turned to her right and made her way towards the stacks.
“Don’t go far!” Jonghyun called after them as he strode to the large carved oak doors and pulled them shut with some effort.
When Jonghyun made it back to the table Onew was leaning against, Jonghyun cleared his throat and motioned for Onew to move. Onew uncrossed his arms and pushed off the table just as Jonghyun reached under it and pressed two hidden buttons on the underside. There was a buzz, and the huge map of the world on the North wall of the office fluttered a bit before an unseen mechanism pulled it up into the ceiling revealing a large flat plasma screen. He then pulled a pair of black glasses from his pocket and carefully placed them on his nose.
Onew just shook his head amazed. “Who are you people?” Minho raised an eyebrow as well. Jonghyun smiled as he pulled an electronic tablet from a drawer and began tapping across it.
“I have reason to believe that someone or something out there is targeting us. And those like us.”
“Targeting us how?” Onew voiced what Minho was thinking.
“Someone has been targeting and murdering Teneo. And they’ve been doing so for quite some time.”
Onew’s eyes widened as his hands dropped from his waist to his sides in defeat. He couldn’t believe that after all this time of thinking he was alone, he finally meets others like him only to find out someone’s picking them off.
“Define ‘quite some time’.” Minho looked pale, but he needed to know.
“I mean they’ve been at it for at least 80 years.” Jonghyun continued.
“The Teneo killed have been all shapes, sizes, ages, genders and with various gifts.” Heechul added.
Jonghyun tapped the tablet and the screen filled with pictures of all kinds of people. All looking very normal, very human. There were men and women even some teenagers of every age group, race, gender and religion.
“It’s going to be impossible to find out how he targets them.” Heechul continued.
“Well there has been one consistent pattern.” Jonghyun offered as his fingers danced across the tablet and all of the victims' pictures flipped to their death certificates, news headlines or obituaries.
“They all died in fires. They were all burned to death.” Onew walked closer to the screen squinting. Jonghyun nodded. Now Onew looked pale.
“Exactly. And I believe we're dealing with another Teneo here.” Onew and Minho turned to look at Jonghyun in disbelief. Neither one wanted to believe that one of their own could do something like this. Heechul didn’t either.
“But what makes you think its not just a human arsonist?” Heechul crossed his arms, he’d been having this argument with Jonghyun for weeks now and was not convinced the unsub wasn’t your ordinary run-of-the-mill, obseessive, pathological, psychotic arsonist.
“Two reasons. One, we can only be killed one of two ways, spinal cord separation at the base of the neck, or by being burned to death. Only another Teneo or Watcher would know that. Two: it’’s been going on for over 80 years, and I doubt a human could go undetected for that long. Not without help. I've been tracking these fires for over 40 years and they all have a pattern.”
With another swipe to the tablet Jonghyun changed the image on the screen to reveal a pair of footprints in the ash at about 16 different arson scenes. He traced a square with his finger on the tablet and tapped it twice, instantly making one of the onscreen footprint images triple in size.
“These footprints were found at every scene.”
“What do you think they’re from? Boots?” Heechul had his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, a frown on his face, arms akimbo standing so close to the screen, half of the projection was on the back of his black sport jacket.
“Yes. The footprints were all at the epicenter of each of these fires and they measure approximately 12 inches long so I’d say we’re dealing with a male here.” Jonghyun said. He paused to scowl at his fellow Watcher Leader a moment.
“Heechul you’re not invisible.” The older man sucked his teeth before moving out of the way of the projection.
“The arson investigator from last week’s fire said that it looked like a someone blew themselves up in the same manner of a terrorist, but they couldn’t find a catalyst device.” Jonghyun was gesticaulating with the tablet in his hand now, waving it at the screen.
“No human being could withstand those temperatures even for a few seconds. Much less live to do it again and again. I think the catalyst of each of these fire is the unsub.”
Jonghyun caught Onew’s perplexed look and answered him before he could ask. “Unsub” means “unknown subject”. Onew’s mouth formed a small “o” as he nodded.
“So you think we’re dealing with someone who can manipulate fire?” Heechul spun around, eyes, wide praying that he was wrong. Minho was pacing at this point trying to remember anything from the fire that night that might help. Onew had one arm crossed over his waist leaning up against Heechul’s desk, as his other hand pushed through his hair.
“Not just manipulate it. Create it.” Jonghyun looked up at the screen at the footprints again, squinting a little.
“I believe we're dealing with a Teneo who’s pyrokinetic.”
“And you would be correct.”
Everyone whirled around to look at the man in dark sunglasses and trench coat that was standing in the doorway.
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A/N: Hi gaiz! thanks for being patient while I put an APB out on my muse. First chapter of Ignis side story Ortus coming up next. Followed by the next Ignis chapter.