PERSONA ✓

20.

Namjoon landed on his feet, watching Seoul City Bank fall apart. He assessed the environment first. The roof was caving in. He had at least a minute to fly in and save anyone trapped inside.

He busted through one of the windows and flew inside, coughing dust away. He heard someone yelling for help from down the hall, deeper inside the bank. Namjoon flew over, finding the source of the yelling. It was a man trapped inside a room, a large piece of the ceiling blocking his way out.

"Help me!" He yelled. "The roof's gonna collapse!"

"Stand back!" Namjoon yelled. He waited a few seconds before thrusting his hands out and blasting the debris to pieces. The man climbed through - he was a security guard, judging by his outfit - and opened his mouth to thank Persona, but not before another part of the roof caved in.

Namjoon held his hands above him and the man's head, mentally thanking Atlas for giving him super strength. Grunting, he threw the piece of the roof away and grabbed the man, flying upwards and out of the large hole in the wall just before the roof caved in completely.

Namjoon dropped the man off a few blocks away before rushing back to the scene.

"Jungkook? We got any eyes on Hoseok?" he asked, pressing a hand to the comms on his ear.

"He's at the bank right now," said Jungkook. "I don't see the money with him though. He must've already gotten it to a safe place."

Namjoon arrived, landing swiftly and smoothly. In front of him stood Shadow, cape billowing in the wind. His mask and hood were up, but it was Hoseok under there. Namjoon clenched a gloved fist at his side.

"Shadow!" He yelled. "Why are you doing this?"

The area was deserted. Namjoon had made sure to get everyone away - and that included news reporters.

"Namjoon," Shadow greeted. "Come to get your ass kicked again?"

"On the contrary, I've come to beat you, Hoseok," Namjoon said. He watched Shadow's confidence waver. Clearly, the villain was struggling with what to say.

Namjoon was surprised when he pulled his mask down and threw it on the ground. His hood was still up, though, which must have been in caution, in case a civilian came by. Underneath the mask was Hoseok, Namjoon's chemistry partner, a sweet boy who was being controlled.

"So you've figured it out," Hoseok said. His voice was no longer distorted without his mask. His tone was so different from what Namjoon was used to hearing at school that it shocked him into taking a step back.

Namjoon heard a small mutter of "holy shit" from his comms.

"Jungkook, the Buzzer must have worked at least partially, right?" Namjoon murmured out of the side of his mouth.

"Probably, but it clearly didn't do the whole job," Jungkook grumbled, disappointed in his failure. "Why? What do you plan on doing?"

"Don't miss," Namjoon whispered. He heard Jungkook make a sound of confusion, but didn't elaborate, the dangerous idea forming in his head. He couldn't hurt Hoseok, not when he wasn't in control of himself, but perhaps there was another way...

"Hoseok..." Namjoon put his hands up and walked slowly towards the villain. "You're not doing this willingly."

Hoseok gave him a twisted smile, but made no attempt to move back or attack. "And what makes you say that, hero?"

"You're a nice guy, Hoseok... I need you to listen to me..."

-

"Don't miss?" Jimin asked. "What the hell does that mean? Was he talking to you?"