Detonate Me, Granulate Me | BTS

Chapter 25

"You boys are all idiots."

Lee Hyori, head of SPICA, is shaking her head at Namjoon, inspecting her immaculate fingernails. Namjoon had connected them in a call, explaining to Hyori the situation and the plan he'd come up with in the last hour or so, and now, all of them are in the dark projector room, staring up at a huge projection of Lee Hyori's disapproving face on the wall.

"Told you," Yoongi murmurs under his breath to Namjoon, who just hits him on the arm with a frown.

"Alright," Hyori continues, crossing her legs in the other direction and looking at the camera, fingers tapping on the handles of her armchair. "All of you listen to me. Namjoon, your idea's not bad, but there are too many variables. If they have a holosweep or droid drone out on patrol, it's game over. Simple is best, KISS, keep it simple, stupid. Get the blueprints and interior layouts first, familiarize yourself with it. You have contact with Seokjin, right?"

"Yes," Namjoon says, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, we do, but I don't know if he can get us the plans, he's got to lay low after the break-in so they don't suspect it's him on the inside."

"Keeping a cover doesn't matter anymore," Hyori says. "We've been trying to rescue the Morphus and other Hybrida from inside, but remember when you started Bulletproof? And Ikje, you with DNH too. What were your goals at that time?"

"To take down Paradisus," Ikje murmurs. "Fight against the corporations, let all the Hybrida know the truth about their existence."

The corner of Hyori's lips lift. "I think it's time. You said you were planning to get inside HQ. That's where all the communication devices are, the ones leading to all the Hybrida inside the compounds. It'll be a double mission, two birds, one stone."

"Do you think we can do that?" Yoongi asks, eyebrow raised. "We'll need two teams inside, one to locate the DNA codes and one to reroute the broadcasting switch. How are we going to get two groups of agents inside?"

Hyori raises an eyebrow right back at Yoongi. "Think."

"Can we crawl up the food chute?" Taehyung pipes up, and everyone turns to look at him. He shrugs. "That was how I got between the Felidae and Canidae compounds... The food chutes lead from the delivery areas to the Foodhalls, don't they?"

"That's too obvious," Namjoon says, rubbing his eyes. "A five year old could think of that. We've only ever done breaks into the underground ICUs, but I'm sure there'll be a shit ton of security around the food delivery areas."

"Sometimes," Hyori says with a shrug, "the best way in is the most obvious, so obvious that it sounds stupid. Paradisus is expecting top-of-the-line technology, spy gear, security hacks, the like. And after your botched attempt yesterday, they're not just going to sit back and invite you back in with open arms. They'll have more droid drones and hovercrafts and patrols out, and probably more internal security, too."

"What do you suggest?" Namjoon asks, running a hand through blond hair. "To orchestrate a system override or something while they crawl up the food chutes?"

"No, you dolt, I'm just saying it's a good idea to be one step ahead of them and use a method so antiquated that they won't know what hit them. And there's a way to get in without any kind of system overrides necessary. Who from the outside has open access to Paradisus every day?"

"The food hovercrafts," Ikje murmurs. "The workers from the foodfarms who deliver food to Paradisus every morning."

Hyori taps her nose with a smile. "That was how SPICA infiltrated the Leporidae compound. Bohyung posed as a delivery hovercraft driver, had Jiwon hide in one of the merch bags, then sent Jiwon up the chute while she was unpacking the real produce and keeping an eye out for guards. Brought three Morphus down with her, got them out by hiding them in the produce bags. Half an hour, tops, no one in Paradisus any the wiser."

"Damn," Yoongi says in appreciation. "Damn, you work efficiently."

"We'll help, if you need." Hyori uncrosses her legs again, reaching forward to take some papers from her desk. "The details of the food hovercraft we used, have backup and decoys ready just in case. I'll brief SPICA up on the mission once you've got details. I'll be waiting to hear from you again."

"Thanks, Hyori." Namjoon grins as Hyori gives a little salute. "Always appreciate it."

The screen goes blank, and they're plunged into darkness.

"Well," Yoongi says, rubbing the back of his neck. He closes his eyes, letting out a loud sigh. "Today has been a hell of a ride. I'm sure we'll come up with better ideas once we all get some rest. Let's call it a day."

"D-Day is still in a week's time, yeah?" Ikje asks, and both Namjoon and Yoongi nod. "Cool. Look, I'll take Hoseok back to the DNH base now, get him acquainted with all the equipment and explain the general gist of the plan to the others. Call me when you sort something out."

"Yeah," Namjoon says, giving Ikje a pat on the back. "Go take Hoseok back and patch the rest of the Morphus up. See ya, man."

"You three should get some rest, too," Yoongi says, eyeing Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung. "Sorry. We dropped a lot of bombshells today, didn't we?"

"Nothing we can't handle," Jimin says with a smile, but Jungkook's too aware of the way that Jimin's shoulders are quivering, his smile barely plastered on. "Thanks, Yoongi. See you tomorrow."

"I don't think you should come along on the mission," Jungkook says to Jimin when the three of them are back down in their bedroom, snuggled up in bed.

"What?" Jimin says, shuffling around so he's facing Jungkook, lying on his side. "What do you mean?"

"You're..." Jungkook turns around too, to face Jimin. Behind Jimin, Taehyung's biting his lower lip, resting his hand on Jimin's shoulder, patting Jimin, and Jungkook sighs. "We just found out today that your DNA is unravelling. I'm worried, Jimin. I don't want you to get hurt."

"No, no, if there's a mission and you two are going, I'm going too." Jimin frowns, taking Jungkook's hand and giving it a squeeze. "You need all the backup you can get. I'm not going to sit back here and send...send you two off on something like this without being next to you. You're all I have."

"But what if you get injured?" Jungkook says, gripping Jimin's hand in his. The cut is now barely healing over, whatever drug Namjoon gave Jimin evidently working, but it's still not enough to convince Jungkook. "You're vulnerable, Jimin. You're not regenerating."

"And I'll never be able to regenerate unless we get into HQ and get the keycodes," Jimin says back, a gentle smile on his lips. "But for it to work, you need all the help you can get. So let me come along."

"Jimin's right," Taehyung says, clambering over Jimin so that his chin is resting on Jimin's arm. Jimin reaches around, wrapping his arm over Taehyung's shoulders, pulling him in, and Jungkook presses his lips together. "It's not just him. Pretty soon, it'll be us too. All or nothing, no half-assing it, you know how I roll."

Jungkook lets out a gentle laugh. Yeah, yeah, he knows how Taehyung rolls. All in, no regrets. It's one of the reasons Jungkook loves Taehyung so much, the way he can convince Jungkook that anything is a good idea, suck Jungkook into the black hole of his personality.

"We can do it," Jimin says, stroking Jungkook's face, brushing a strand of hair aside. "I trust you, Jungkook, with all my life. So trust me a little, too."

"Okay," Jungkook says, sighing. "Okay. But promise me that when Yoongi and Namjoon come back with the finalized plans, you're taking the safest role. You won't go inside HQ with the rest of us. You're staying down out of the line of fire, on base guard. Can you promise me that?"

"Sounds good," Jimin says, pressing a kiss to Jungkook's cheek, then turning to let Taehyung slide off his shoulder and back on to the bed. "Now get some sleep."