Four | BTS ✓

1

Jungkook follows the head guard down the long, sterile grey corridor as his new boots click on the floor with each step. Kim Seokjin stops at a glass and metal door where he places his hand on a scanner and bends over for it to record his iris.

After a series of beeps and clicks, Jin stands and places his hands behind his back as he waits. "We just upgraded all the outer locks. The hand scanner only works if the skin has blood flow, so you don't have to worry about someone cutting off your hand and using it to escape."

Jungkook tries to hide his sudden apprehension behind a passive stare. Jin turns halfway around and raises an eyebrow. "I'm kidding. About them cutting your hand off, at least. I mean, Park is pretty violent, but he's never tried to remove body parts before."

Jungkook stays silent. Jin stares at him, blank faced, for a few moments before letting out a high-pitched laugh.

"They're gonna eat you alive in here," he says between laughs. With a hiss, the door slides open and Jin walks inside with Jungkook trailing behind.

I can see why they were so desperate to hire someone, Jungkook thinks as they walk into a circular room with a center office surrounded in glass. Four heavy metal doors stand in each corner, each with a small window around head level and a rectangular slot at waist level. Shadows move behind the glass windows, but he can't make out anything distinct.

Is this really going to be better than living in my car?

"Namjoon and Hoseok will be back from their break shortly, so until they arrive, you're welcome to check out the prisoners. They're probably still asleep anyway. Not like there's anything else for them to do in here."

With a barely disguised gulp, Jungkook walks to the first door on his left. A small man-sized shape was curled up in the fetal position under the covers in a semi-dark room. Drawings cover every conceivable wall surface within reach, but Jungkook can't make out what they'd been drawn with as there is nothing in the room but the bunk the man sleeps on, a toilet and a sink.

"It's blood," Jin says, walking up behind Jungkook who just barely manages not to flinch. "The voices tell him to do that shit. We have to sedate him pretty regularly. Though that might be his goal. I've never seen anyone like to sleep as much as he does."

Jungkook casts another quick glance through the window before walking to the next one.

In the next room, a tall slim man sits on his cot with a book in his hands. Shaggy, light brown hair hung down in his eyes, forcing him to shake it away every few moments. Narrowing his eyes, Jungkook is just able to make out "The Silence of the Lambs" on the book's cover.

Am I sure they aren't going to be taking body parts here? Maybe a liver?

The man looks up and catches Jungkook staring. He cocks his head to the side before giving him an unnerving smirk and a wink before returning to his book. Jungkook moves to the next cell.

The man inside is shirtless, doing pushups on the floor. He goes at this for several minutes, never once dropping his rhythm. When he finishes what he's doing, he stands and wipes his sweaty chest with his discarded shirt. The second his eyes meet Jungkook's, he stomps up to the door and punches square in the center of the window. Jungkook could swear he hears bones crunch, but the man doesn't seem fazed at all. He makes a few feints at the door before spitting on the window and throwing up his middle finger.

"That's Park Jimin," Jin says, answering Jungkook's unasked question. "He's a sweetheart. Probably my favorite." More laughter. Jungkook tries not to look horrified as Jin unlocks the center office and steps inside. Instead of following him, he walks over to the final cell.

"Um, sir? Is this cell supposed to be occupied?"

"What? Of course it is. Don't tell me the little bi—"
Jin is cut off by shrill alarms blaring throughout the facility seconds before water begins pouring down from the fire suppression system.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jin yells, pulling out his radio and screaming for the other guards. "Of course it's Carter! Who the fuck else would it be? Quit dicking around on your phones and get down here!"

Jungkook's eyes widen as he draws his sidearm and looks around, trying to figure out what he is supposed to do. Sure, he'd had training but his gun only fired tranq rounds and from the looks of the other three, he isn't sure that is going to be enough for this Carter person. Jimin is beating on his door in excited rage, the sleepy guy is yelling obscenities at them for waking him up, and the Hannibal Lecter wannabe is casually looking through the glass like this is a normal, everyday occurrence.

What if it is, though?

"Look alive, probie! She couldn't get through the blast doors."

The area is small, so if she isn't somewhere on the way in, she has to be near. Jungkook spins in a circle before a sound draws his eyes upward. There, clinging to a crack in the concrete is a tiny wisp of a woman wearing nothing but a wet grey jumpsuit and an evil grin. Before Jungkook can raise his gun and shoot, she jumps down, landing with a thump on his back.

Suddenly she's all fists and nails as she climbs on him like an angry kitten with her first bag of catnip. The two roll in the puddles on the floor, each one trying to get purchase on the other. With a kick and a swift elbow to the jaw, Jungkook finally gets the upper hand. He kicks her legs out from under her, flips her over, and throws all his weight onto her back.

"Well, hello to you, too, big boy," she says with a giggle under him. He's laying on her hands, which are crossed over the small of her back, and he jerks when she wiggles her fingers, tickling his stomach that is now exposed from their fight.

When he jerks, it's just enough room for her to buck up and knock him off her back. But before she can right herself and come up for another attack, a shot rings out and a barb catches in her neck.

"No fair," she mumbles before collapsing onto the floor, asleep. Jungkook rolls over onto his back and looks up at two more men as he struggles to catch his breath. Smoke is still wafting up from the barrel of the taller one's tranq gun.

"So you're the newbie," the tall guy says as he holsters his sidearm. "Welcome to hell."