Four | BTS ✓

5

Klaxons blare throughout the room. Jungkook falls off the bed when the sudden blaring fills his head, rattling around like steel balls. He didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep, but he is instantly awake, pulling on clothes and heading for the door. He is still pulling on his boots in the hallway as Namjoon and Hoseok meet up with him.

"Like I said, newbie. Welcome to Hell," Namjoon says with a quirk of his lips as he grabs Jungkook's shoulder and drags him forward. Seokjin is already several yards in front of them yelling into his walkie talkie.

"What's going on?" Jungkook asks as he follows the other three towards the prisoners' area.

"My guess is Kennedy. It's always Kennedy," Hoseok says.

"Then why is she here?"

Hoseok and Namjoon share a look that Jungkook can't quite figure out. Namjoon is the one to answer. "Well, we're really the only facility that can even come close to keeping her in. She's able to get out of her cell, but she can't get past that."

"Or maybe she wants to stay," Hoseok adds.

"Don't start with that shit, Hobi," Namjoon groans with a roll of his eyes.

"What? You have to admit, as sophisticated as this place is, she's gotten around everything we've thrown at her. There's no way she couldn't get out of the facility if she wanted to."

"Either way, we're the--"

Namjoon's words catch in his throat as they make it through the biometric scanner and into the holding room. The mess in front of them nearly has Jungkook throwing up his ramyeon from earlier. Blood is everywhere, flowing from a guard's bloody stump of a hand while foam pours from his open mouth as he stares vacantly at the ceiling.

"Is he..." Jungkook starts to ask, unable to finish his thought. There is no way he is still alive. Three other guards huddle around Kennedy's door, talking quietly and looking at Seokjin nervously.

"Someone turn these fucking alarms off," Seokjin barks to no one in particular. "Hoseok, get in there and strap Yoongi down. This is likely to trigger an episode."

Hoseok snaps to attention and slides in Yoongi's room as easily as a cat. Jungkook can just see through the window as Yoongi lifts his arms so Hoseok can start strapping him into a straight jacket. The look on Yoongi's face is resigned, like he understands the necessity of it. Jungkook feels a twinge of something in his heart seeing that look on Yoongi's face. Sadness? Empathy? He wonders how easily he could have ended up in a similar position after...

"Jungkook," Seokjin's harsh yell pulls Jungkook from his thoughts. "Get over here! You need to hear this, too."

Jungkook jogs over to the other side of the room, making sure to go the opposite way around the center office so he doesn't have to look at the remains of the night guard.

"Somebody better tell me what the fuck happened tonight," Jin glares at the other three guards who are all but shaking in their boots. They look from one to the other before the taller one finally speaks.

"We don't know. We were at lunch."

Jin's face turns so red he looks like a New Year's firework about to explode. "Why the fuck was he the only one here? Did one of you dumb shits forget that one goes to lunch at a time and three stay? Are you so dumb you can't remember how to do your fucking jobs?"

The guards look down at the floor and mumble a round of "no sir" but Jin isn't having that. He slaps the taller one over the head.

"It was Roy, Sir. You know how awful he is." He gulps. "Was. He kept running his mouth about how someone should teach Carter a lesson and 'show her who's boss' and it was just too much to take. So we went to lunch. We didn't think she'd--"

"Well, that's the first thing you've said that I believe," Jin says, cutting the guard off. "You didn't think. Now this man is dead and one of you is going to do the death notification to his family. So which one of you is it going to be?"

None of the men step forward, so Jin reaches out and grabs the first one he can, dragging him out of the room. "Namjoon, handle this mess."

Namjoon rubs his eyes before snapping his fingers at the remaining guards and motioning down to what is left of Roy. The taller one tries to hide his gag as he reaches under Roy's shoulders and lifts him over to the black body bag that has been laid out on the floor.

When he is zipped up and the two night guards are on their way out the door with him, Namjoon walks over to Jungkook. Hoseok slips out of Yoongi's room and meets them by the office. The three of them stare at Kennedy's cell for a long minute before speaking.

"So now what?" Jungkook looks anxiously between the senior guards.

"Now we take Kennedy to isolation," Hoseok answers, looking less than thrilled.

"Wait, what?"

"She killed a man. We can't let that go unpunished," Namjoon adds. His jaw ticks with apprehension. "Trial by fire, newbie."

Jungkook looks down at the zip ties in Namjoon's hands, realization slowly dawning on him what the older means. He looks back up in horror. "You want me to get her?"

"Use the tranq to knock her out, then tie her up. We'll have your back out here in case things go sideways but the door has to stay closed. It's protocol."

Hoseok can see how nervous Jungkook is, which is only made worse by the fact that Kennedy is watching them through her window. He puts his hand reassuringly on the younger's shoulder.

"We've got to see if you can handle the job, newbie. I'm sorry it has to be like this, but as you can see, we're not playing with babies here. We have to know we can trust you with our lives. And you have to learn to trust yourself."

Jungkook takes a deep breath and grabs the zip ties out of Namjoon's hands. He needs to prove himself. His place in this world and the only stability he's seen in months depends on how he handles this moment.

Kennedy backs up against the far corner of her cell as she sees Jungkook coming. He opens the door, slips inside and closes it back, fighting a shudder when he hears it lock behind him.

"Please, don't," Kennedy begs, her tears leaving streaks in the dried blood on her face. Her voice is soft. Almost scared. "Don't put me in the hole. Please. I can't go in the hole."

Jungkook holds his hands up in front of him, trying to calm her so she doesn't act out. "I have to. You killed someone. That can't go unpunished."

"You don't understand. You're new here. I get it. But he was a terrible person. He tried to touch me."

Jungkook does his best to hide his revulsion at that idea. "Then report it. You don't get to kill a man just because you feel like it." He inches his way forward like he's trying to catch a feral cat.

And just like a cornered cat, Kennedy's body language changes. "I'm not going to let you put me in the hole. I'm not going back in there."

She pushes off the wall and lunges for Jungkook, her fingers out like claws. He blocks her hands and spins around to miss her lunge, bringing his elbow up as she passes to knock her in the back of the head. She stumbles forward into the door as Jungkook spins around to face her. She runs at him full force and throws her fist out, but Jungkook grabs it and uses her own momentum to flip her onto the floor, rolling her over onto her back and trapping her arm before she even realizes she is falling. He quickly grabs her other hand and ties them with the plastic restraints as she struggles underneath him. Then, with speed and efficiency, he pulls his tranq gun and holds it to her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to do this, Kennedy, but you left us no choice."

As the medication enters her system, Kennedy realizes that is the first time a guard has ever told her he is sorry. But that is all she has time to think before her whole world goes black for the second time in 24 hours.