Post #5.
After a slow third week, post four yielded a lot of prompts -- and, more importantly, a lot of fills! I was afraid that we were slowing down, but you guys really put a lot of effort into making post four a good one, and I have faith in you to continue leaving prompts and writing (or drawing, as one anon did!) fills. ♥
Fics ( #4)
Suho as a Composer ( ( Read more... )
Fics ( #4)
Suho as a Composer ( ( Read more... )
"You didn't say he'd been trained!" Myungsoo shouts in Sungyeol's ear accusingly as they duck in unison.
"I didn't know!" Sungyeol yells back, and Sungjong just shoves both of them.
"Get in the damn van!" he snaps, words punctuated by a bullet that whirrs by, shattering half of the back window. They pile in and Sungyeol yanks the doors shut as Dongwoo floors it and the van squeals its way across a basketball court in a shortcut to a bridge. The rest of the city is across it, with more people and more threats, but they'll need to be higher up than they are now for Dongwoo to properly jolt them back to this level.
Kibum starts to struggle again, and Sungyeol unceremoniously chloroforms him. "Should've done that before," he says, watching with some satisfaction as Kibum slumps in his seat.
"What happened?" Dongwoo asks as the others peel off the ski masks now that their target's unconscious.
Myungsoo's glaring at Sungyeol. "He's had training. And no one fucking knew."
Sungyeol's about to retort with equal bite, Sungjong can tell, but before he can intervene because seriously they need to focus, Dongwoo derails their bickering.
"Oh," their current driver and resident scientist says, and drums his fingers on the wheel as though they're not being chased by a taxi of gunmen (they are). "Well, we'll deal with it." He meets Myungsoo's incredulous stare in the rearview mirror, and laughs. "Don't worry, you can rely on me! I'm the best driver, remember?"
"You're the only driver," Sungjong mutters, barely audible. He's not pleased about this development either, but Sungyeol is already preparing the next round.
"We don't have a choice now. We're going too far in," he says, passing around handfuls of tubes. "Ready?"
Despite Sungjong's grumbling, and Myungsoo's irritation, they both are. Dongwoo throws them a salute in the rearview mirror again, before reaching back and sending them on their way.
-
The second dream is Sungyeol's. It's a replica of one of Kibum's workplaces, recreated down to the smallest detail. Sungyeol's particularly proud of it, because creating made-up places is its own challenge, but tricking someone in a place they're familiar with is a greater reward.
Kibum is wary because this is the store that Woohyun said is getting into some pretty illegal stuff behind the scenes. For them to have prepared Kibum for having his mind invaded means ‘pretty illegal' is probably an understatement.
He's shaken back to reality by his co-worker nudging him. "Hey, man, what's wrong? You completely zoned out."
He apologizes, but his attention flits away again. He's tired, though he's not sure why, and something doesn't seem quite right. It's probably because he's tired. That makes sense. Too many shifts in a week (in a day, even) often end up leaving him feeling like he's not really in the world as completely as everyone else.
"Seriously. What's up with you?" His co-worker looks a little annoyed now, but they're interrupted by a man in a suit Kibum hasn't seen before. He's young, and handsome in a clean-cut, movie star sort of way, and Kibum's about to ask him if he needs any help when he speaks.
"Would you excuse us?" This is directed towards Kibum's co-worker, who opens his mouth and shuts it again, then shrugs and sidles away.
Kibum is easy to manipulate, Myungsoo finds. Perhaps it's the suit - Kibum's jobs are all pretty much entry-level, from the sound of it - or perhaps Myungsoo's just a better actor than he thinks he is. Well, perhaps it's also the tiny rolling earthquakes that jolt them every time Dongwoo swerves too wildly, or goes over a pothole too quickly. Whatever the case, it doesn't take long to convince Kibum that he's in danger in his own head from a rival company trying to take down his employer. They've targeted him because they know he has information they need, now that he's been brought into the fold, but he's still new enough that they didn't think he'd be able to ward them off.
Reply
"Yes, but," and he glances around at the passersby eyeing him, all tense and on edge. Kibum's subconscious is preparing to defend itself, but Kibum doesn't know that. According to Myungsoo, after all, Myungsoo's in charge of those defenses, so when he says, "we need to get moving now," Kibum just nods.
"We need to find out what they want to know," Myungsoo explains when they're tucked away in the tiny break room with his fellow dream security associates (as he described Sungyeol, Hoya and Sungjong when they arrived).
Kibum nods. Sungyeol glances at his watch, and presses the button as Kibum's subconscious starts to hunt for the threat to his safety.
-
The third dream is Hoya's. It's an outlandish action movie setting, because Kibum knows he's dreaming now. The stakes are higher, their time shorter, but they're near the end of it all. They're on an island, in a fortress in a volcano, and Sungjong's buried a vault deep inside it. It can't be too easy to get to, so they're approaching through a side door partway up the mountain.
The idea, a mere suggestion, is locked away. It has to seem like it comes from Kibum's own mind, Sungyeol had explained, when Woohyun had wondered why it was suddenly so complicated. It can't be something obviously implanted. Duh.
If all goes according to plan, Kibum will realize he's in over his head, that what he knows - a lie, carefully crafted by Sungjong - will end up costing him too much. If things don't go as planned, well, Myungsoo refused to talk about that.
"We die, basically," Sungyeol had said bluntly.
That's not entirely true, but Myungsoo's not thinking about Limbo (not thinking about who he knew there once) as he wrenches open the side door and hurries inside, Kibum half a step behind.
"Where are - ?" Kibum asks, and Myungsoo doesn't have to answer because he's cut off by an explosion somewhere on the other side of the fortress. Sungjong has a scary fondness for booby traps (something about stress relief, he's said), and Hoya indulges him probably more than he should, but they're certainly an effective distraction for Kibum's mind-grown security.
"Come on," Myungsoo says, and grabs Kibum by the wrist, half-dragging him down the corridor. Their footsteps are loud, but so are the gunshots they can hear echoing off the walls.
They haven't got much time to get inside.
And then the volcano will erupt, and they'll fall.
The dingy linoleum floor will crumble, and they'll fall.
Dongwoo's crazy driving will finally pay off, and they'll fall.
And, then.
"Welcome back."
---
[In the extended edition, that would've been mind!Sunggyu. In the un-complicated version, it's not.]
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment