Rush

file seven: hvc

Halfer.

Something felt off-balance in his chest.

Maybe it was because of the fact that he was leaning over the city, placed high on the edge of a building's roof, feet dangling over the side and the wind caressing his already tousled hair, but that wasn't it. There was something else, something fundamentally wrong with the way his heart felt, like someone had cut away a piece from it and left his lungs hugging it the same way. Something was missing.

Of course, he had a very obvious idea of what exactly that was. Vernon hadn't been able to breathe the same way since a particular flight had left the ground, and though he tried multiple times to convince himself that he was going to keep a certain passenger safe, being somewhere he couldn't take a bullet for the person physically was something he could barely bear.

He felt jittery, mind constantly wandering, fingers always tapping against something, waking up with clenched teeth and a pool cold sweat. It had happened to him before, but it had been so long ago, it wasn't an ache any longer. It was fresh, raw pain.

Halfer.

He swallowed, tipping back his head and tasting the remains of the damp, chilly air on his lips before letting out a shuddering breath. It was happening all over again.

"Vernon? You still there?" A voice crackled in his ear.

At the sound of the phone, he snapped to attention, remembering he was supposed to be on a call. Vernon waited a few seconds to compose himself before assuming his usual businesslike tone and speaking, "Yeah. Taehyung updated you on the contract killers?"

"Yes." He noted that Jennie sounded tired, maybe more so than usual. Even if he didn't say it, he suspected it had something to do with Seulgi again, but he let the two handle their matters on their own, knowing that they were better off thinking that he didn't know. Few criminals found people to care about, and he had enough emotion left in his shell-like body to let them be. "They said she was ready to help, but they haven't found a long-range hitman yet."

Hearing this, he pursed his lips. "Range is important. We can't let her know we've sent someone after her unless it's a matter of life and death."

"It's always a matter of life and death with her," Jennie said, and he could almost see her press her hand against her forehead. It had become a recurring habit after the informed disappearance.

Vernon allowed a small, exhausted smile to curl he lips before dropping it, unable to keep his tired muscles to keep up any expression of emotion. "You found someone?"

There was a pause, but he caught on quickly. Observation was a trait he was supposed to have, a trait that had developed into a subconscious power that always tilted the balance heavily in his favor whenever information was concerned. It was a wonder Lee Taeyong had escaped his surveillance, at least in some sense of the word.

"Rookie, took him from an ex-gang that mostly dealt with trafficking," she said reluctantly, almost as if she didn't want him to know. "There's not much training in him, or experience, but he had a...knack for taking out from a distance."

"Enough for the Lees?"

She hesitated only for a split second, but that was enough. "Enough for the Lees."

Vernon leaed forward, looking down at the street below him, laid out like a gray strip weaving between the clusters of buildings. His Converse-clad feet looked like a giants' next to the miniscule cars, like he could step on them and crush them to dust. "What's his name?"

Jennie didn't reply for a moment, and he watched the gears turn in her head, knowing what she was thinking without her realizing that he did. Good for him. Better for her, if she didn't realize that the 'partnership' they had leaned more towards him. "He's a kid."

"So were we." His voice was gravelly, filled with a special sort of reserved bitterness that he was almost surprised to hear so clearly. Till this day, he wasn't completely sure if he had chosen this life or if it had been thrust on to him. "So will be the ones who come later."

Vernon wasn't sure why Jennie's compassionate instinct was acting up now, when she had emotionlessly picked up such kids before, for jobs that kids weren't supposed to do.

Maybe it had something to do with the leader of the bikers, but he doubted that there was any love lost between them. Probably something she had picked up from Seulgi again. Maybe the latter's sister instincts were acting up again.

He would have to look into that.

"Eighteen," she said. "Untrained, fresh. Doesn't know the Lee clan."

"Go on."

"He has a sister, Vernon."

The air seemed to freeze as he sucked in a sharp breath, dropping his hand to his side. For a second, his vision teetered, but he closed his eyes, letting the waves settle around him before he lifted his lifeless self into consciousness and pressed the phone to his ear again.

"Go on," he said thickly.

Jennie didn't try to catch him off guard again, instead rattling off the rest of the details as if reading them off a page. He didn't say anything, letting the guilt and regret pull him under before gasping for air every couple of minutes, drowning, dying, living.

Halfer.

Did he lose the choice to live, or did he let this life pull him in without a fight?

Where he belonged fully, he didn't know. Maybe he didn't belong.

"Send him in later," he said. "No changes required, his sister should be a good enough cover. Place him somewhere he can monitor her at all times, maybe a neighbor or classmate or something." He faltered, feeling a stab of irrational jealousy momentarily choke him, before he forcefully turned it away. "Or his sister. It doesn't matter."

She scoffed over the line, but he ignored her. "His name?" he repeated.

"Junhee," she said, half-sighing the word, and he heard a void of hope in the name. All that could be. "Park Junhee."

Vernon leaned forward again, tilting at a precarious angle—what if I fall?—and breathed. "Has he killed before?"

"No."

They never last. "Bring him in," he finished, before ending the call and letting his hand fall limply to his side.