House of Cards | BTS+

Rebel Without a Cause

The transport shuttle was quiet, save for the hum of a refrigerator and the distant buzzing of an old-fashioned desk lamp on one of the counters.

And for the soft, even breathing of a peacefully sleeping Lilith who was resting inside of one of the sleep pods.

The door to the shuttle slid open and a set of heavy black combat boots thudded casually into that small metallic space. These heavy boots didn't belong to Jin--or to any of the Noon Moolites. But they strolled comfortably in, no alarms triggered from forced entry.

They belonged to a lightly muscled man in a white t-shirt, black jeans and black leather jacket who had a hooked earring hanging from each earlobe and black feathery ink of a twig and floral pattern tattoed up the left side of his pale neck. Short blaster holsters were strapped to his hips, and one of them was propped up in his strong hands--which were covered in black fingerless gloves.

He had the smokey eyes and smooth jaw of an East-meets-West James Dean, and his slightly shaggy black hair was trimmed around his ears in a jagged fade. His eyebrows were thick and black, with a scar tracing through the left brow and leaving an edgy gap.

The young man shuffled around the room. He plucked a small USB-like chip from his pocket and snuck it into a small slot next to the pilot's seat. As information crackled into a neat little copy for him to take, he aimed his body towards the antiseptic-clean back area of the small shuttle, where the short table and two chairs rested like a Space Age living room.

He inhaled deeply through his nose. Then exhaled slowly.

His drive pinged. The download was complete. The young man quickly plucked up the drive and shoved it into his pocket. Then he went about digging through the drawers of the shuttle, rummaging for anything that might be mildly useful.

And that's when he cracked open the first sleep pod.

"Well, I'll be damned."

There lay an unconscious Lilith in perfectly clean black leggings and a cowl neck black sweatshirt. Her breaths were peacefully slow and even, and her hands were clutching to her chest a small yellow pillow shaped like a crescent moon.

"Suga didn't say there was a hot dame." The young, smooth-talking man gave a sweet-as-cigarettes smile at Lilith's sleeping face. "He knows me too well."

Lilith's eyes shifted beneath the closed lids. The delicate skin there wrinkled and tightened, and the edgy intruder shifted out of sight just as Lilith gave a groggy yawn and opened her eyes. She stretched inside of the sleep pod, looking up with slight confusion at the open door to her tiny sleeping abode.

"Jin? You still here?"

There was no answer to her sleepy call. She stifled a yawn and, through her tired squint, pushed herself out of the pod and down the short ladder, her bare feet landing with a gentle thud onto the cold, hard floor.

She put her hands on her hips and looked about the shuttle.

"Where did those boys get off to?"

She sighed.

Then suddenly, there was a hand clamped down over her mouth, and thick masculine arm pinning her from behind into a strong chest. Her body stiffened, but she didn't cry out.

Hot breath spread against her cheek as a voice purred into her ear, "Hey there, sweetheart."

Unbeknownst to her attacker... Lilith was good at thinking on her toes.

She pushed up from the tips of her feet and, in a flurry, twisted up from her core so that her legs were suddely flipped up and wrapped around her attacker's neck. Her whole body shifted upside down against his, as his arms slackened in confusion. Her core gave a twist. Her elbow made a strategic dig as her legs twisted and pulled--and in a flash, her assailant was on the floor, his shoulders pinned down beneath her knees and his face getting a pretty close view of her backside.