Fate of the Dreamers

Chapter Twenty - Her Standards

"Rawri, what does he mean?" Jimin demanded. "What does he mean, 'information?'"

Rawri's head pounded. The consequences of undying obedience had become too real for him, very quickly. What was he meant to do now?

The man with the gun held it in Jimin's face and spat, "Put yourself down on the floor like everyone else, NOW."

Jimin steeled himself, his glare cold. "You set us up, Rawri." He scoffed. "After everything we've been through, and now this." He slowly got to his knees, breaking eye contact and wrenching Rawri's heart out.

All his friends were kneeling, and Rawri felt so out of place standing above them. All their eyes were on him, expectant, pleading for him to do something or say something, anything to help them.

His mind was frozen, and the lump in his throat held down any words he could say. "I—"

"You will stay out of the way while we extract these people and take them to JYP for experimentation."

"Experimentation?!" Han from Stray Kids bellowed. "What kind of experimenta—" The man fired his gun and Han was knocked back into the wall, the sound of impact drowned out by the ringing gunshot, then nothing. After the tortuous moment of silence, he returned to his kneeling position with a blank expression and purple in his eyes. The rest of Stray Kids gawked, and Rawri could sense the blood boiling in their veins. With a shout, Chang Bin jumped up and dove for the man, his body transforming into his werewolf self. His arms were outstretched and his snarl sharp, but he was no match for the gun. He collapsed to the floor and echoed Han's condition.

The man jeered. "So this is how you're going to play it, huh?" He clicked his fingers, and the others beside him removed guns from their pockets, taking their aim on anyone who flinched. "Move again, and we shoot. You'll basically be dead people walking until we begin experimentation. Would you like tha—" He shot at Felix, who had started rising from his knees. "I guess you would."

Rawri blinked, and Dreamcatcher leapt to their feet, immediately running in a multitude of directions in an attempt to avoid the invisible bullets. One by one they were shot down, falling on their faces into the concrete. Pen yelled out and reached for them before his legs gave way beneath him. He joined the growing collection of the brainwashed, leaving Mel, Percy, and Jimin. They knelt with their arms behind their head, the whites of Mel's and Percy's eyes painfully clear to Rawri, and Jimin's eyes full of withheld fury. Rawri had never seen him like this before, so...unhappy.

Rawri tentatively turned to the men who kept their guns trained on the three. "Well?" They said nothing. Rawri coughed and ran his shaky hand through his hair. "What, are you waiting for them to move so that you can just shoot them?"

"Uh oh," Mel said. Her eyelids wavered and she raised her chin and sneezed. An awkward silence hung in the room, until the shot was fired, and Mel's head hit the floor, bringing forth a cut-off cry from Percy. Jimin clenched his jaw. He was the last one.

Rawri could feel what his friend was planning, and he didn't like it. He shook his head. "Please, Jimin."

Jimin lowered his arms. "You told them where we were, Rawri." He stated. "Then you went off without us, and now Lily, Lusi, and Lee Know have disappeared." He slowly got up from his knees. "I hope you find a way to fix this." Rawri jumped as the gun fired, and he watched his friend fall then return to his kneeling position with the eery purple in his eyes.

Rawri was too shocked to speak. "Thank you, again," The man said behind him. "But I'm afraid this is going to hurt." A searing pain hit the back of his head and his body seized. He toppled over, the footsteps of JYP's henchmen and his brainwashed friends fading into the grey of Rawri's vision. "Can't have you interfering with the boss's plan."