Generation Y
The attack happened during the night. After their self defence training and their chores, the children were so tired they didn’t bother having Natalie tell them a story to help them fall asleep. The older girls were sleeping in Jessica’s room, as a kind of sleep over. Junsu was in his dark room looking up information on Plutotec, his dream still echoing painfully in his mind. Changmin was in his room, going to bed early because he was too tired and worried about Junsu that he wanted a break. Jaejoong and Yunho slept, curled close to each other for comfort and security. They held hands loosely, their breathing in a smooth, slow rhythm.
Only Natalie was the last one awake and sitting downstairs. She couldn’t sleep even if she wanted too. Silently she stared at a picture that stood on top of the fireplace, a family portrait of her and her children. Not just the two she had with her now, but all three. They were all smiling, even her oldest son, who tended to be quieter and shier than his younger siblings. Sighing Natalie picked up the picture and brushed the frame gently, tears welling up in her eyes. It had been two years since she had lost Yoochun, and little Taemin barely got to know him before he was killed. Every time Natalie thought of Yoochun, she felt her heart tighten and her throat close. Just saying his name was a painful reminder that she had lost one of her own children and would never see him again.
Sniffling, Natalie placed the picture back on the mantle and shuffled over to the light switch ready to shut down for the night. Suddenly, however, above her was a light thud that was so soft that it was hardly noticeable. If it hadn’t been for her training in being alert of her surroundings-regardless of where it was-she would have missed it herself. Freezing where she was, with one hand stretched outwards, she listened intently for any other sounds. Normally once the children were asleep they rarely woke up for any reason. And even if they did they made more noise than a gentle thud. Even little Taemin, who the most lithe and precise out all of them, was still a young boy who didn’t know the proper way to sneak about when he was supposed to be sleeping. The older ones wouldn’t be so cautious either in being quiet. There was no reason to go creeping about the house after hours, and if they wanted something no one was really aware of the others sleeping. So it couldn’t possibly be anyone in the house. That meant….
Natalie’s eyes widened in horror and her hand dropped limply. How could it be? They were safely hidden, no one was ever supposed to find them. That’s why they chose this location. It was well secluded, completely under the radar.
“Mommy!”
Natalie’s eyes flashed up to the ceiling above her and immediately dove into action. At the top of her lungs as she raced towards the stairs, she screamed. “They’re here! Wake up, hurry! We have to get out of here!”
Doors were opening curiously just as on the first floor a window smashed and the front door was kicked in. Natalie flew by all the rooms, hearing her little boy struggling and then saw him fly out of the room, clutching his teddy bear for dear life. His eyes were wide and terrified and right behind him were two men in camouflage uniforms and they carried some kind of gun with them.
“Cover your ears Taemin!” Natalie cried out, her voice rising in pitch. “Don’t you dare touch my child!”
Her voice went higher and higher, her vocals straining as much as they could. Her pitch was so high that it shattered the windows nearby, targeting the men chasing Taemin. They collapsed with their ears bleeding. Taemin was so close he could just reach his mother’s hands, when he was yanked away, and pulled out of the house. She was just able to see his eyes roll into the back of his head, and he went limp and then he was gone.
“TAEMIN!”
All around was chaos. The mutants were fighting with all they could. Changmin had grabbed the other three kids and held them close, camouflaging with the walls so they could sneak out. Yunho was throwing objects and people around mentally, sending the soldiers flying into walls and out windows. Jaejoong shape shifted into a tiger and mulled any camouflaged man that came within swinging distance of him. Jessica went invisible and she and Changmin herded the kids out to safety, while Yoona and Tiffany became multiples of themselves and attacked. It was surprising how many men came pouring into the house. It was as though they were expecting more people than just twelve. Well those twelve were mutants.
“Get to the safe house!” Yunho called out, over the fight. “Rendezvous there!”
Natalie was racing towards the window where Taemin had been taken. Frantically her head swivelled and she cried out, shattering the men’s helmet visors and anything else that was glass. Taemin was nowhere to be seen.
Someone grabbed her and dragged her back inside. Struggling, she kicked and fought to get free, fearing the worse, but then she heard Junsu’s gentle voice and she relaxed slightly.
“It’s okay,” he said in a smooth, hypnotic voice. “Go to the safe house, I’ll find Taemin. Protect the other children before they’re taken too.” She knew what he was doing, but she found herself unable to fight against it. Instead her hands dropped to her sides and her eyes went blank. Then slowly she turned and made her way through the destruction, amazingly without being stopped or snatched away. She made it to where Changmin and Jessica were waiting and they all hurried away under the cover of the night, thanks to Jessica’s invisibility.
Once they were gone, it was just Yunho, Jaejoong, Tiffany, Yoona, and Junsu. Junsu turned back to the window where he had seen Taemin captured and leapt up to crouch on the broken frame. He felt someone come up behind him and sighed, turning his head ever so slightly.
“You don’t want to do that,” he said calmly, his voice a little distorted. Almost deadly. “Go through yourself out that window right there.” He didn’t watch the man jump but did hear the crunch his body made when he hit the ground.
Suddenly he saw something. A little boy, limply being carried towards a truck. Behind him he heard Yoona scream and then fall silent and winced. When he turned he saw that most of the fight had been quelled, and that now Yunho and Jaejoong were following after Yoona’s captor. Like Natalie, they weren’t fast enough to save her. Turning back to the scene outside, Junsu inhaled the cool air that was now surprisingly filled with smoke. Without warning he leapt out and his wings stretched out their full span. When he was high enough, he tucked them in and dropped, heading for the ground like a missile.
From that distance he saw that the house was ablaze, and that Jaejoong and Yunho had taken the fight outside. Gun shots resounded through the air and Jaejoong grunted and stumbled a bit. Tiffany was running off, and Junsu plunged into the fight as well. He had spotted Yoona and Taemin in a truck not too far from their driveway, so he decided to take down a few men as he went. Elegantly and like a great bird of prey, he attacked every man in his way, flinging them this way and that. It was definitely a good relief from all that stress and pent up frustration he’d been feeling since he had that dream. These men deserved what they were getting, plus he needed to rescue Taemin and Yoona. For Natalie and for Yoochun.
Running in the woods Junsu spotted Jaejoong and Yunho, who had also noted the truck. They still weren’t safe but their priority was the two who had been captured.
Junsu made it to the spot first. And was surprised to find that the truck was gone and the road was completely empty. Touching down gently and with his guard still up, Junsu glanced around curiously, wondering where it could have gone. He had just seen it not a minute ago so where….
“They got away?” Jaejoong panted, now back in his human form. He was a little pale and shaking. Junsu nodded silently, staring at the seemingly endless, dark road. It was gone, as were all the men. And so were Taemin and Yoona.
Sinking to the ground, Junsu felt limp and empty. Behind him, Jaejoong kept muttering “no” as if he couldn’t comprehend what happened. Yunho was silent and even though Junsu couldn’t see him, he pictured their leader was rigid and tense, the way he usually was when he was shocked. His hands would curl into white-knuckled fists and he would stare straight ahead with a dead gaze. But this time he wasn’t going to relax right away.
They had trained for this, constantly prepared for a fight. Despite all the reassurances that they were safe and well hidden, there was always that little voice in the back of their heads saying “they always find what they’re looking for. There’s no safe place for a mutant.” They cheated themselves, made themselves believe that they were different, that they didn’t have to live in fear. And yet they did. They would practice self defence; they would scan their land before allowing the children to play. There were alarm systems-that seemed to have malfunctioned that night-and despite their outward look on their lives, on the inside they all knew it was inevitable.
Someone had rested their hands on his shoulders, making him tense slightly. Yunho. “Junsu we have to go. We can’t stay here. We need to go to the safe house and figure out what we’re going to do next.”
“They took Taemin,” Junsu muttered, ignoring the leader, “and Yoona. We have to go after them!” His wings flew out, making Yunho jump back briefly before his instincts kicked in and he grabbed Junsu’s arms.
“No! We can’t do it blindly! I don’t want those two to go through any of what we went through but to just go in there with blind rage and no plan, that’d be practically handing yourself over to them on a silver platter. We need to plan what to do and then go after them.”
“Yoochun.” Junsu had said it so softly he was sure Yunho hadn’t heard him. But he was wrong.
“Yoochun? What does he have to do with this? He’s dead-”
“No, he’s not dead Yunho,” Junsu interrupted, his voice suddenly very calm. Jaejoong came up silently, wiping away the ashes, dust and blood from his face. “They’ll take them to where Yoochun is. If we find where he is we can save all of them.”
Yunho looked at him in disbelief. “How can you know that? We all watched Yoochun die Junsu, and suddenly you’re saying that he’s alive. That’s impossible.”
“I just know.” He jerked away from Yunho and stood up, collecting himself. In the distance he could see their house blazing the heat from the flames just licking his skin. They lost their home, their loved ones, their safety and their life. All of it just created a void in Junsu, something saying that he’ll never have a normal life, not as long as he was a mutant. A freak of nature. Shutting away all his bitter thoughts he turned to the older two, and flapped his wings once. The gust ruffled Jaejoong’s and Yunho’s clothing and hair.
“I’ll meet you at the safe house,” Junsu sighed, “don’t worry I’ll actually go. Yoochun is alive and I’m going to prove it though. And finding the other two means finding him.”
With that he took off at a running start, leaping into the air and his wings snapped fiercely, lifting him higher and higher into the sky. Yunho and Jaejoong watched him until they couldn’t see him anymore and then started walking down the street. Thankfully the safe house wasn’t very far from their real house, and it was even more underground and hidden. It was more like a bunker, something Yunho had designed for situations such as the one they faced at that moment.
“Do you think Junsu’s right?” Jaejoong asked suddenly, “about Yoochun being alive?”
“I don’t know,” Yunho admitted, shrugging, “I mean, it was an explosion and we never did find the body, but it seems highly unlikely that he managed to get out with the time he had. But…let’s just keep this quiet from Natalie for now. She’s probably beside herself and if she finds out Junsu’s theory…. I don’t want her doing anything rash.”
Jaejoong nodded understandably. “I know Yun, I won’t say anything.” And he kissed Yunho’s cheek gently. “The only other question is how did they find us? I thought we were pretty much off the map.”
Again, Yunho had no answer for that, but something felt wrong about everything. He just didn’t know what it could be.
Suddenly Jaejoong wasn’t walking next to him and Yunho paused and turned to see Jaejoong sinking to his knees and then the ground. Yunho rushed over to him and crouched down. Something dark, and sticky soaked the ground under Jaejoong’s side, and Yunho hissed when he noticed a gunshot wound. When he felt around he found that it had missed the lungs but probably hit a rib or at least grazed one. It didn’t look serious but he was losing a lot of blood and quickly.
“Jae, can you hear me?” he whispered, “come on, we need to get you fixed up.”
Jaejoong’s eyes fluttered and looked up at Yunho weakly. “Yeah, it’s just a little scratch.”
Slowly Yunho picked Jaejoong up and-as always-was surprised to find it wasn’t that difficult to carry him. He took off at a jog at first but then picked up speed, finding it still quite easy to carry the wounded man. Jaejoong’s arm hung limply around his neck and Yunho could see the landmarks they had to tell where the safe house was.
~*~*~
Yoona stared across at Taemin, who was still unconscious on the floor of the van. He was pale but his breathing was even and slow almost as if he was sleeping. The poor boy had only ever known a sheltered life. She didn’t want to think what this would do to him. Hurriedly she looked away from the boy and thought about something else. Their hands and feet hand been bound tightly with some anti-mutant material, but thankfully no bags had been placed over their heads or tape over their mouths. The reason for that was because the windows were tinted so darkly Yoona couldn’t even tell where they were from their surroundings. Three guards were crowded into the back with her and Taemin, all of them very big, very intimidating and serious. When Yoona had fought back, kicking and screaming, one had sent her sprawling to the ground with the back of his hand. Then they stuck something on Taemin’s neck and then on Yoona’s. She knew that device and knew that there was now no hope of them escaping.
Every bump they went over hurt her bottom and back but she forced herself to keep a composed face. She was furious that the house had been compromised and she was even angrier that she had gotten herself caught. If only she hadn’t slipped up while she was in her duplicate forms….
The van jutted to a stop suddenly, and Yoona toppled onto her side. Using her elbows to prop herself back up she heard the van doors open and the men jumped out. They walked around to the back doors and unlocked them and the three guards in the back stood up, their backs bent as they crowded to the front. Once the doors were open Yoona turned her head away from the glaring flashlight that hit her face.
“You only managed to grab two? And how many did you say there was?” A woman’s voice. It was very harsh and cold, one that sent shivers down Yoona’s spine. She didn’t want to see the woman’s face.
“They were more…prepared than we thought. They refused to stop fighting, and we were lucky to get these two because they screwed up. The others managed to escape but we have no idea where they could have gone. There are no tracks or any signs of movement from the house in any direction. At any rate we burned down the house so there’s nowhere for them to go.”
“I’m sure you’re mistaken about that,” the woman snapped, “I know exactly who’s little boy that is, and I’m surprised that a genetic mistake is starting to spread through the genes. It’s infesting new life. Bring them inside and get to work on finding the others.” She shoved the flashlight into that man’s hands and stormed off, her heels clicking noisily on the ground. Yoona rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be dragged out of the van and onto her feet. Taemin was just starting to stir and he moaned slightly and he was thrown over the shoulder of a burly guard.
As she looked, Yoona saw a huge white building surrounded by barbed wire fences and guards patrolling with guard dogs. They all carried guns and looked ready for a fight. It looked like there was tight security all around the building, something Yoona should have been expecting. Because of Plutotec she hated the hospitals and anything related to doctors or scientists. She didn’t want to go back, but by the looks of things leaving wasn’t an option.
Taemin had awoken and he stared helplessly at her, his golden eyes widened in fear. Yoona wished she could say something to him, to make it a little better for him, but there was really nothing to say to make it better. She couldn’t tell him that either because then she would lose him and she needed him to be strong. Yoona needed to be strong for him too.
Instead she settled for a small, reassuring smile, something a little subtle. Taemin was able to return a smile back, but his lip quivered and she surprised to find that he still had a tight grip on his teddy bear. She was more surprised that no one had taken it away from him, but she was glad. It would make a good comfort in a place like Plutotec. Especially if you had no idea of what you were up against.