Kairos (Seventeen AU Fanfiction)

#006

Mingyu wondered if Alice felt the same when she fell down the rabbit hole as he found himself no longer floating in nothingness but deposited nicely onto the gravel below his feet.

Being teleported felt like he was sucked down a black hole and popped back out, which was a surprisingly smooth ride in the empty darkness. He also had to admit that it was a pretty nice ride, much more comfortable than he had expected.

"Now that my job is done, I shall get going," Seokmin appeared behind the younger male, resting his hand by his hip.

"Thank you, hyung," Seungkwan cast a grateful glance at the older male as Hansol and Mingyu threw in their 'thank you's.

"You all owe me one, good luck with the mission!" With a wave, Seokmin disappeared into the dark portal which closed up behind him.

Turning his gaze upon the building before him, his orbs took in the rundown state of the building. The once supposedly grand building has its glorious title stripped, and it was diminished to a dilapidated state before him. The fine paint coated over the surface had began show signs of wear and tear as paint chips began to peel off revealing the dull grey concrete beneath. "Uh... Are you sure we are at the right location?" Mingyu uttered as his eyes shifted to look at the two next to him. He didn't expect the area they were heading to, to be this rundown. In fact, it was a stark contrast to what he had in mind of a heavily secured area with armed guards everywhere.

"Definitely," Seungkwan who looked up to the building ahead, "We can't possibly forget this place."

The unrecognizable note in Seungkwan's tone heightened the tall male's curiosity.

"Home sweet home huh?" Hansol spoke up this time, his tone wistful.

"Yeah. Welcome home."

✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:* SVT ✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*

It came as a surprise for Mingyu to find two more test subjects who were subjected to vastly different treatment from himself. It puzzled Mingyu but the male kept quiet as he listened to Seungkwan chatter about his life as a test subject with Hansol occasionally throwing in his two cents worth. However, the more that was revealed to Mingyu, the more confused he got. There seemed to be many missing pieces to what information he knew.

"Wait- I don't understand, so this organization we are getting rid of is a governmental organization?" The confused male suddenly spoke up before continuing, "Isn't that an impossible-"

"No no no!" Seungkwan cut Mingyu off with a dramatic drawl to his words as he wagged his finger at the other before continuing, "Now, that's where you are wrong. Let me do the honours of explaining. The group we want to get rid of is an ex-government organization which was demolished a while back due to the cruelty and corruption going on. However some of the members took away some of the test subjects with the intention of overthrowing the current justice system. This place used to be the building for movement of mutants, the new organization is now called Necron and their functioning site is further off, near the edge of the city."

"Aah... I see..." Mingyu mumbled. It sort of made sense of how Mingyu didn't recall anything much about dull grey walls and metal shackled chains.

"Ack-"

"Pay attention to where we are going. Besides, we're here," Mingyu stopped abruptly at the announcement, eyes scanning his surroundings for an entrance to the building but only to find none. He watched the brunette stoop down, fingers wrapping around the metal grills before heaving the object up, revealing a narrow entrance with pitch black darkness ahead.

"Our one way ticket into hell," Seungkwan chuckled as he leaned forward as though inspecting the opening in the ground.

"Uh... I am pretty sure I won't fit," Mingyu grimaced as he looked at the tight space below him. The very thought of having himself confined in a small area was less than appealing.

"Now that you mention it, doesn't it look smaller than before?" Hansol mused.

"Whatever the case, this is the only route in so we should get going before anyone sees us," Seungkwan crouched down as he shuffled closer to the opening. With a swift push, the male disappeared and what sounded like the resounding reverberation of metal sounded from below.

Mingyu, who had shuffled closer to the edge, peered downwards in hope to get a gauge of how deep the opening was from the base of the metal tunnel. But all he could see was a bottomless pit of darkness. Hesitantly, Mingyu called out to the younger below, "Seungkwan, how deep is this exactly?"

"Enough to bruise but not deep enough to kill."

"How helpful," Mingyu deflated at the ambiguous answer given. Noticing a hovering presence from behind, Mingyu turned to notice the brunette directly behind him, the proximity between them close to an uncomfortable distance for mere acquaintances.

"Hansol, what are you-"

"Giving you a little help."

All Mingyu caught was a smile too wide before the blue haired male felt himself falling forward, arms flailing as he grabbed at the empty air.

The stunned male landed pancake style on the cold metal flooring could feel the surface beneath him vibrate at his weight. A groan escaped his lips as Mingyu shifted an arm to prop himself up. The impact was bone shaking, he could feel the pain gripping at his bones, making him instantly sore with no motivation to move from his face flat position.

"Incoming!"

With a grunt, Mingyu managed to roll his body aside, the landing feet missing his body by mere inches. A relieved sigh escaped his lips as the brunette shifted into a sitting position, not a least bit affected by how he could have possibly flattened Mingyu had the older not rolled away quickly.

The space below was surprisingly spacious with enough space by his side but the tunnel ahead lacked the height for Mingyu to even crawl on his fours, reducing the male to go onto his elbows and knees. With Seungkwan leading and Hansol bringing up the end, the three advanced forward into the darkness save for the hovering flickering flame in front of them, illuminating a distance as far as one metre from sight.

"Hey Hansol."

"Hm?"

"Are we going the right direction?"

"Huh? How would I know? Weren't you the one who oh so proudly claimed to know the way around?"

"O-Of course! I do know the way! I am just checking! Better safe than sorry, right?"

Barely five minutes in the building and the trio are possibly lost.

How lovely.

✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:* SVT ✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:*

It took the three a good thirty minutes of advancing and backtracking to figure their way to their destination. After all that crawling, Mingyu could feel the skin beneath his elbows burning from the friction due to the constant rubbing of his elbows with the metal. It was barely the start to the mission and Mingyu was undeniably drained. Now crouched by a vent in the ceiling, the three waited in the hushed silence, watching intensely for any passing staff or security member.

"I think it's safe." Hansol signalled to the others. Seungkwan took the cue and immediately unlatched the metal mesh, swinging himself downwards. With constricted vision, Mingyu could only see an empty hallway but he could hear a startled yelp, frenzied shuffling of feet, garbled warnings fading into echoed noises before silence settled over once again. Seeing the redhead appear once more in his vision of sight, another signal was given, and the two males hiding in the vent clambered out of their uncomfortable hiding spot.

Using the edge to lower himself down, Mingyu dropped lightly down to the white linoleum floor to find two security guards encased in blocks of ice with relatively uncomfortable facial expressions. Surveying his surroundings, Mingyu noted how the the interior was a stark contrast to the rundown and uncared state the exterior appeared to be. Walking over to where the duo crouched, he found them arguing over yet another matter.

"You are aware that we need the pass to get past the security here, do you?" Hansol gestured to the plastic card tucked safely in the shirt pocket of the security guard frozen in the ice.

"Of course, you can just use your fire to melt my ice and get the pass, can't you?" Seungkwan retorted indignantly.

Hansol who opened his mouth, lips forming the start of his words before they came out in a long string. He pressed a hand against the ice block beside him, warning his partner, "If I turn him into a burning potato, I will not hold myself accountable. And Mingyu-hyung, can you come here?"

Following the direction Hansol gave him, Mingyu found himself positioned in front the security guard. Watching the blue flames flicker to life and engulf the ice block, Mingyu was amazed. The ice melted rapidly upon contact with the blue flames, and at such a close proximity, he could feel and even see the heat against his skin.

"Mingyu!" Attention drawn away from the heat, he heard Hansol give out the next set of instructions.