What Doesn't Kill You: Chapter 12
Title: What Doesn't Kill You Chapter 12
Pairing: HanChul, KyuChul, KangTeuk, YeWook, EunKiHae
Genre: Superhero AU, action
Rating: PG-13
Chapter 11 < --- Side Story: Leeteuk--- > Chapter 13
Character Profiles
Siwon's Story
Hangeng's Story
Yesung's Story
Henry's Story
Sungmin's Story
---Five weeks at 1502 Yumyeong apartments almost made Henry feel at home. Almost. Everyone was friendlier to him as they’d gotten used to his presence. He still wasn’t left alone, but at least he had more freedom and he didn’t think anyone was plotting to kill him.
Even Heechul had stopped sending him cold glares. He’d actually told the others to stop teasing him when they found out Henry ate strawberries with his ramen. Heechul and Donghae had proceeded to try this new delicacy. Donghae had liked it. Heechul had not.
Donghae had later explained that Heechul didn’t have much in the way of taste anymore because of his power, so Henry felt less worried about being smothered in his sleep.
The only person who still seemed to dislike him was Kibum. Despite that, however, Henry was rather certain that he was a nice person. When Henry didn’t know a word in Korean (which was often) Kibum would explain it to him in English, even if he didn’t seem to enjoy it. To Henry, it looked like Kibum saw lots of things as a waste of time, and being Henry’s translator was one of them. It didn’t stop him from offering a helping hand, however, and Henry was grateful for it.
It didn’t help that because Henry couldn’t train or didn’t have a power he was relatively useless and that was something that Kibum looked down on. So Leeteuk had suggested that Henry help Ryeowook and Kibum in the medical room. They didn’t trust him enough with the computers.
Henry didn’t like blood.
He didn’t want to think of himself as faint-hearted, but the sight of the gaping hole in Heechul’s stomach had sent him running for the sink on more than one occasion. Heechul seemed to find that amusing.
Heechul’s wound had healed considerably over the five weeks since Henry had arrived, thanks to some kind of injection that Kibum had created that sped up the skin regeneration process. Or something like that. Henry really didn’t know the details, and he didn’t think that Kibum would enjoy explaining them to him.
Henry had been pulled away from video games with Donghae to head back to the medical room with Ryeowook. Kibum was already inside, checking Heechul’s heartbeat. The older man was sitting atop the table, bare-chested save for the bandage on his stomach.
Kibum pulled the stethoscope out of his ears and let it hang loosely around his neck as he walked over to the counter. He passed by Henry and Ryeowook without acknowledging them at all. Henry frowned, but Ryeowook didn’t seem fazed.
Ryeowook took over where Kibum left off, “How are you feeling hyung?”
“I’m just glad to be off the painkillers.”
Ryeowook frowned, “You know hyung, you should still be taking them. You’re going to be in a lot of pain for a while yet-”
“I can’t think straight on drugs,” Heechul waved him off. “And if I can’t think straight how is everyone else going to function-ow!” Heechul turned to glare at Kibum who was filling a syringe with his blood. “A little warning would have been nice.”
Kibum didn’t answer, pulling out the needle when he was finished before he headed toward the lab table and began pulling out beakers and other things that Henry didn’t remember from his freshmen year chemistry lab.
“Henry, could you get me those cotton balls and one of those rubber ties, please?” Ryeowook asked from where he stood at Heechul’s side, eyeing the droplet of blood welling up at the bend of Heechul’s elbow.
Henry rummaged through the shelves nearest him and grabbed the needed items, walking over. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Ryeowook smiled brightly as he began to bandage up Heechul’s arm.
“Move.” Kibum brushed past Henry to get to one of the cabinets, and Henry almost fell backwards onto Heechul. Ryeowook caught him before he could possibly reinjure the injured man and then turned to Kibum, “What was that for?”
Kibum paused, “…what?”
“Why do you hate me so much?” Henry had regained his balance by this point, and glared as much as he was able to at the other man. Glaring wasn’t something that bothered Kibum, and he was too intimidating to glare at usually. But Henry was angry, and embarrassed. He hated this place, he hated that he was stuck here, and he hated that the one person he actually wanted to be friends with was an asshole.
Kibum didn’t answer for a moment, and Henry wondered if he was going to ignore him again. Finally he spoke, adjusting the knobs on his microscope as he looked through it. “I don’t dislike you.”
“Then why are you such a jerk?”
“I’m always like this.” Kibum defended, raising an eyebrow. His expression hadn’t changed much, except that rather than blank he looked apathetic from behind his glasses.
“Not with Eunhyuk and Donghae.” Henry all but pouted.
“That’s because I like them.”
Ryeowook gave a soft sigh from where he continued removing Heechul’s bandages. Heechul, who had been listening to the exchange with interest, merely smirked. “What he means is that he has sex with them. I’m sure if he popped your little Canadian cherry he’d feel more inclined to like you too.”
“Hyung!” Ryeowook squealed, flushing a bright red. Heechul continued to grin while Kibum rolled his eyes and went back to the cultures he’d been studying.
Henry didn’t want anyone sticking anything up there, even if it was Kibum. Henry liked boobs and other lady parts. He liked Hyorin’s lady parts, to be specific. He wanted Kibum’s friendship without benefits.
“I still don’t understand how you managed to save every gay man within the training facility.” Kibum murmured, not looking up from the microscope. They all knew that the comment was directed at Heechul.
The man in question grinned, “Don’t you know? That’s the only reason I saved any of you. I’m in the process of building my own harem.”
“What about Siwon, Sungmin, and Shindong hyung?” Ryeowook asked curiously, smiling softly as he pulled the bandages away and began inspecting Heechul’s stomach.
“It won’t be long. No one can be entirely straight here. Isn’t that right, Wookie? How are you and Yesung doing?”
“Hyung!” Ryeowook cried out, mortified, dropping the bandages into Heechul’s lap.
Henry didn’t know if he could stomach the sight of Heechul’s wound. After five weeks it had healed considerably, but the sight of the ragged, puffy scar was disconcerting. The new skin seemed stretched taught, too thin, almost translucent. He could at least say that upon seeing it, he was no longer angry at Kibum, just slightly nauseated.
“Those injections really helped.” Heechul looked down at his stomach in approval at the newly grown skin. “How did you come up with it?”
“I’ve been messing with some things.” Kibum answered abstractly. Heechul shrugged it off, but not before eyeing him thoughtfully. Kibum scribbled something down on a notepad. “The skin grafts would have deteriorated, so it was the only thing to keep you from bleeding out.”
“And bleeding out would have been dreadful.” Heechul commented airily, “But I’m surprise the blood samples you took are holding out as long as they do.”
“It’s an oxygen depleted environment.” Kibum shrugged. “It keeps the blood from destroying itself for a day or so.”
Heechul nodded, as Ryeowook administered the aforementioned shot. He didn’t even flinch as the needle went in.
Henry swallowed. As Ryeowook injected the concoction and he watched the medicine turn black and spread through Heechul’s veins through his skin like a spider web and then Henry was stumbling toward the sink.
He could hear Heechul’s laughter over the sound of his own puking.
----
Five weeks. It had been five weeks and the tension seemed to have died down. There had been missions-simple missions involving both the useful and the useless-and Kyuhyun found himself juxtaposed between the two. If he wasn’t being asked to help the “usefuls” he was being questioned by the “useless”. Luckily most of them were too busy trying to figure out what to do with Henry to worry about Kyuhyun’s loyalties, even if Leeteuk did always seem to be watching him now.
It didn’t help that after he’d tried to kiss Heechul, Hangeng didn’t talk to him. Even though Heechul was no longer in a wheelchair he refused to leave his side until Heechul held a “useful” meeting. It was as if he were afraid Kyuhyun would try something else with Heechul in such a weakened state.
Heechul’s “weakened state” certainly hadn’t stopped him from coming up with a spartanesque training regimen for the entire apartment. The only one who didn’t have to train was Henry, who would sit with Heechul on the sidelines and watch with rapt interest.
Everyone assumed that Heechul’s revamped training was a result of their failed mission and his near death. Kyuhyun didn’t know if that were the case or not, but he did know that training with Hangeng was the worst possible outcome he could have hoped for.
After their first sparring session together, Kyuhyun realized why Sungmin had once told him that appearances were deceiving. Hangeng in battle was not soft-spoken and gentle. Kyuhyun had bruises to prove it. And while he couldn’t say that the injuries were life threatening, the blow to his pride felt like it. The fact that Heechul saw the whole thing and never said anything made it worse.
As if he didn’t care that Kyuhyun was getting beaten.
Kyuhyun had mulled over Heechul’s words the night of their almost-kiss, and he was more confused than ever. What had Heechul meant by them? Did it mean that he couldn’t kiss him because he didn’t love him? Or had he meant that he couldn’t kiss him because he would die if he did so but still wanted him to?
Kyuhyun swallowed.
“…hey…hey!”
Kyuhyun blinked, nearly jumping out of his chair at Sungmin’s shout. The older man was sitting in his chair a few feet away, eyeing him curiously, headphones dangling around his neck. “I’ve been calling you for the past three minutes. Are you ok?”
Kyuhyun nodded with a small smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.” He glanced back at his screen and sighed. Right. He needed to focus on cracking the stupid code on that flashdrive. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by Heechul’s cryptic words.
Or maybe they weren’t cryptic and he was just twisting them to fit his own desires.
“Kyuhyun!”
He tore his gaze away from the screen. “Yeah?”
Sungmin sighed. “It’s getting late. I’m going to get some coffee and see what Ryeowook has for dinner. Do you want me to get you some?”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
Sungmin gave him one last glance before standing and heading for the door. He paused as it opened and stepped back to let Heechul inside. “Going somewhere?”
Kyuhyun froze at the familiar voice and had to force himself not to turn to look. He could feel his face heating up.
“Coffee.” Sungmin supplied.
Heechul moved out of the doorway to let Sungmin through. “Ryeowook made jjajangmyun.”
Kyuhyun heard the door close and assumed that Sungmin had left. Heechul’s footsteps echoed as he made his way toward Kyuhyun’s desk. Kyuhyun tried not to look nervous-or desperate-as he kept his eyes trained on the computer screen.
“Are you avoiding me?”
Kyuhyun jumped, because Heechul’s voice came from right behind him. He turned, the chair squeaking at the jerky movement. Heechul had taken a step back and watched him in a mixture of surprise and amusement.
The fact that Heechul was amused by his frustration should have annoyed him. Heechul never took anything he did seriously. But Heechul was talking to him, focused on him, and that was all that currently mattered.
He didn’t answer Heechul’s question, but the older man brushed it off.
“Kyuhyun, I need you to use your gift.”
It was the first time that Heechul had spoken to him since Kyuhyun had tried to kiss him. Kyuhyun swallowed. It was good to see Heechul up and walking on his own. He still seemed to get tired out easily, and he never stood for long, but he wasn’t wheelchair bound at least.
Kyuhyun remembered what Sungmin had told him about the flashdrive’s suspected content, and how Heechul hadn’t wanted him to look at it before. What had changed? “But Sungmin said-”
Heechul waved him off, and his amused smile was gone. “We’ve been unable to crack the code and time is running out. I need you to do this for me.”
Time was running out? Time until what? Did Heechul know something he didn’t? That wasn’t a surprise. Heechul seemed to know everything-or at least more than everyone else. He’d think about that later though. Heechul needed him.
Him. Not Hangeng. He always seemed to be useful when no one else was. He inwardly gloated over that fact as he grabbed for the flashdrive and placed it down on the table and began pulling off a glove. He’d gotten rather decent with his gift and compartmentalizing all of the information he obtained from using it. Heechul hadn’t seen how good he’d gotten after practicing. It was time to show him just how useful he was indeed.
He brushed the flashdrive with bare fingertips and felt the familiar surge of information come flooding into him. And then he blinked. Something was wrong. “It’s…blank.”
Heechul raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“There’s nothing on it. I’m only getting information on the flashdrive itself.” Kyuhyun didn’t understand how this could happen. What was going on? Why couldn’t he see the information on the flashdrive? He wasn’t useless. He wasn’t. He could do this, what had gone wrong?
“That’s impossible.” Heechul leaned over him and stared down at it. “We already know there’s a code lock on it. It’s impossible for it to be blank.”
Kyuhyun was more than a little confused, and by the look on Heechul’s face, so was he. Could the flashdrive have been a decoy to keep them away from the real data source? It had to be that. Kyuhyun couldn’t have failed. He couldn’t be useless.
“Look again.” Heechul ordered softly.
“Hyung-”
“Look again!” Heechul snapped coldly, eyes trained on the computer screen in front of them.
Kyuhyun hurriedly did so, eyes closed as he tried to concentrate. But once again, the only information he received was about the flashdrive itself, not on whatever data it possessed, because it didn’t possess any data. It was blank. He opened his eyes and shook his head, trying to avoid eye contact with Heechul.
He had failed him.
“Could there be some kind of gift being used on it? Something that has canceled out your gift…” Heechul’s eyes narrowed and he leaned forward to begin typing on Kyuhyun’s keyboard. “It makes sense. He’d definitely use those precautions.”
“Who?”
Heechul didn’t answer. He bit the inside of his cheek and typed a few lines. “But now that I know who set it up, I know how to get around it…at least in theory. Get Donghae for me.”
Kyuhyun nodded, hurrying out of the room.
He could still feel the heat of Heechul’s chest against his back.
---
He was going to do it tonight. He’d planned everything out. Or at least, he liked to imagine that when he’d woken up twenty minutes ago to complete silence he’d thought of all of the possible ways to escape and came up with something flawless.
Really his only plan was to try and sneak out of the room without waking up Leeteuk or Kangin, something he’d failed to do for the past five weeks.
But he needed to get home. His family would be worried sick. The police were undoubtedly combing the streets for him. He was probably on the back of every milk carton and telephone pole in Seoul.
This wasn’t where he belonged. Even if the people here were nice to him, he knew he couldn’t trust them. Over the past few weeks he’d almost forgotten that they were dangerous psychos that wanted to destroy the government. He’d gotten used to them and he’d felt at home.
But he couldn’t let that happen.
This wasn’t his home. These people weren’t his family. They were dangerous and he needed to escape before they killed him and countless other innocent civilians.
It was quiet.
Henry listened to Kangin and Leeteuk’s shallow breathing and his own heart beating against his ribcage. As he slipped out of his blanket the sound seemed to echo. He winced at how loud it was.
He’d fallen asleep in his clothes, something he was thankful for. He didn’t want to run away in Kangin’s oversized hand-me-down pajamas. The floor was oddly cold under his sock clad feet. He made it to the door, and began turning the handle when Kangin grunted.
Henry froze, whirling around to see Kangin turn over and grumble something into Leeteuk’s collarbone. Henry swallowed. The door scraped against the carpet as he pulled it open enough to slip out and he shot one last anxious look at Leeteuk’s bed. Both Kangin and Leeteuk were sound asleep.
As he slipped out of the room and down the hallway, he failed to notice that the door to Siwon and Sungmin’s room was ajar. He didn’t pay attention to anything other than the fact that he’d gotten out of the room and he was halfway to the front door.
He felt confident now. He could escape. He’d always been stopped by Kangin and Leeteuk. No one else seemed to notice when he’d tried to escape before. Now that he was out of their room he was home free!
The only person that he suspected would know he was escaping once he left Kangin and Leeteuk’s bedroom was Donghae. The other man always seemed to know when he was going somewhere, and he liked to sleep as a dog and they had amazing hearing. But Heechul had sent him on a mission earlier that evening, and he wasn’t due back home until morning.
No one was going to capture him.
He slipped on his shoes. The front door opened quietly, and the moment he closed it behind him he bolted for the stairs.
---
Heechul walked into the apartment from the computer room the next morning to chaos. Sungmin followed behind him, looking around the living room briefly, “What’s wrong?”
“Henry’s missing!” Leeteuk groaned, head in his hands. “I should have watched him better. I don’t understand how I couldn’t have heard him. I’m such a light sleeper, I always hear when he wakes up at night.”
“So he escaped.” Heechul leaned against the wall beside the coat rack with a smug smirk. “I told you he was a nuisance.”
“This isn’t the time to gloat.” Leeteuk sighed, dragging a hand through his hair as he sat up. “You’ve been in the computer room all night. You didn’t hear anything?”
Heechul smiled.
“Hyung isn’t the only person in the apartment that’s a light sleeper.” Kibum spoke seriously, gazing around the group assembled in the living room. “I would have heard someone walking past my room, and Ryeowook hyung suffers from insomnia, doesn’t he?”
“Your point being?” Sungmin asked, almost as a challenge. The air seemed to get tense.
Kibum didn’t back down. He looked Sungmin square in the eye. “The only way he could have escaped without any of us knowing was if someone muted the sound.”
Kangin turned to Sungmin with a glare. “You helped Henry escape? Why the hell would you do that?”
Heechul sighed, “Why is everyone getting so worked up? I haven’t slept yet. I’d like to get some coffee before we all start going at each other’s throats. Is that alright with the rest of you?” He made his way to the kitchen but paused as Kibum stepped in front of him.
“Where are they?” Kibum ground out.
“Who?”
“Henry and Donghae!” It was the first time that Eunhyuk had ever heard Kibum raise his voice. Neither had the others, if their similarly shocked faces were any indication. He looked from Kibum to Heechul, terrified of what Heechul’s reaction would be. No one yelled at Heechul. No one.
Heechul didn’t seem angry, however. But his smile had disappeared as well. He certainly wasn’t amused. “Henry escaped. Donghae went to retrieve him. Simple.”
Kibum snorted. “Before he left for his mission?”
Heechul’s expression didn’t change. “It was obvious from the beginning that Henry couldn’t be trusted. I simply used that to our advantage.”
Leeteuk had stood, and his own expression was practically livid. “What are you talking about?” What are you keeping from us this time, Heechul? Why are you doing things on your own again?
“Henry’s father is a lead geneticist with the GAM project.” Siwon was the one to answer, looking uncomfortable with the silent stand-off between Leeteuk and Heechul.
Shindong gave an incredulous laugh. “And you didn’t think to tell us this sooner?”
Heechul eyed the rest of the group almost wearily, as if he had more important things to be dealing with than explaining himself to them. He refused to meet Hangeng’s eyes. “You wouldn’t have let me use him anyway.”
“What do you get out of sending him home?” Leeteuk asked in frustration. “If his father is a lead geneticist for GAM then he’s dangerous. He could kill Henry!”
“Henry betrayed us. He was never one of us. Why do you care if he dies or not?” Sungmin grumbled, arms crossed.
“I wonder just how many of us are “one of us” anyway.” Shindong muttered, glancing at the “usefuls” and giving Kyuhyun a particularly snide smile. Kyuhyun swallowed. He hadn’t known about this beforehand. After he’d gotten Donghae like Heechul had asked, Heechul had told him to go to bed.
Kyuhyun looked to Hangeng, who was eyeing Heechul with a sad resignation. Kyuhyun didn’t like the odd churning in the pit of his stomach at the sight. He focused again on Heechul.
“His father knows where the list is. He’s going to take us there.” Heechul paused as his phone beeped. “Donghae and Henry have stopped moving.” He clicked his phone shut. “Once we get the information, we’ll debrief everyone on what we’ve found up to this point.”
There he was, brushing them off again like none of them mattered. Kangin’s jaw clenched along with his fist as he made to step forward, but Leeteuk stopped him with a weary shake of his head.
Heechul had already walked to the door, and Sungmin, Yesung, and Siwon followed.
“I’m coming.” Kibum called out coldly, walking toward the group. Heechul shrugged, “Suit yourself.”
Kyuhyun opened his mouth to reply that he was coming as well. Eunhyuk grabbed his hand and pulled him back, “Don’t go, Leeteuk hyung needs to talk with you.” He whispered softly. Kyuhyun was going to refuse, but he saw that Hangeng wasn’t offering to go either. It was alright, he supposed, as long as Hangeng wasn’t going.
“Hyung is injured.” Ryeowook swallowed. “Hyung, you should stay.”
Heechul sent him a smile, “I’ll be fine. Besides, I’ve got Kibum with me if anything happens, right? This won’t take long.”
“Shindong, go with them.” Leeteuk ordered softly, and the huskier man nodded. Heechul sent Leeteuk one last, amused glance before the door closed.
Leeteuk let out a tired sigh and slumped back down onto the couch. “…I can’t do this anymore.”
---
[A/N: A little shorter, but the next chapter is going to be pretty long and action-packed! Plot, plot, plot!]