Flower Shop ✿ park jimin

thirty eight

YOU

The wire pulls away from Jimin's USB hole once I had seen everything from his memory. As I looked up at him, he maintained eye contact. Jimin's heartbeat was audible, but I wasn't sure what I was feeling. The rhythm was rapid and strong, like several different drumming ensembles. They surrounded the two of us with uncertainty while they were encircling the rest. Jimin gently put his hand to my cheek and ran his touch over my skin.

"Do you now comprehend the reason?" He enquired, sounding hopeful that I did understand his justification. I didn't respond to his query with anything, though. In an effort to elicit an answer from my lips, he grasped my face on both sides with his hands. "Please, Y/N, say something."

I closed my eyes and laid my head on his palms, placing my hand on top of his. I continued, "I get it. But," I gently opened my eyes and turned to face him again. "I won't abandon you—not in this way. I wouldn't be safe if the two biggest megacorporations were seeking for me. I will be taken back either in a body bag or barely alive, even if I'm outside the city. No body. . . leaves the city alive, after all."

Jimin's jaw is clenched, as I can see. He inhales deeply and exhales as his heart begins to beat more slowly. I wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed, and for some reason, it worried me. He then gives me a nod, "Okay."

I called out, "Lieutenant Enzo." Now that everyone is looking at me, I continued. "I will be able to locate him and find out where he is. From recent news reports, he will fly towards a Wanderer Camp, the Hell Hounds, and strike a companionship with the members; increase their task force by recruiting homeless men and women. From then when we learn his exact location before hand, we can capture and start questioning him until we get the information we need—and what I deserve. But first, we need to track down a local familiar with the badlands. And from this man's appearance," I knelt down next to the corpse and accessed his data card. "What I had anticipated. He is an enigma. Of course, businesses like MWT would prey on the helpless and play around with their lives as if they meant nothing."

"Where in the city are we going to find a Wanderer?" Unsure and a little anxious, Jungkook questioned as he peered around the gathering.

"I am aware of one,"

We all turned to face Jin, who was squeezing his own lips shut.

"Nocona Nestor is her name. Born and raised a Wanderer her entire life," Jin declares, "Knows the outer skirts like she owns the land. Precisely literally. After all, her Native American relatives were the original owners of this entire state. It's not surprising that she remembers those details so well."

"Then let's leave!" Namjoon put his hand against his chest as Taehyung shouted.

"Not right now," Namjoon says as he looks at Taehyung. "Rushing in without a plan is risky and dangerous. Could get all of us killed, especially Y/N."

"It will take some time, but in a few hours I should be completed with downloading the data files," I spoke as I stood up from the ground. "And in order to do that, I will have to access into this man's network."

"The dead man?" Jungkook asked, cringing. "Isn't that also a risk of downloading viruses?"

"It is. However, I am lucky to have modifications that prevent such things from happening. After all," I turned around and grinned. "I made APEX."

~

I looked down at my arms as I sat down on the windows edge. Moving my fingers while feeling the movements of my muscle, I wasn't sure if I was entirely me. All of this is chrome. My real body is being held somewhere in an ice tub being kept by Corporations. Any person in this cursed, bright city would absolutely kill to have the modifications I have on right now. But the twist is—the modifications is killing me. I have no treatment to slow down the CyberVirus in my relics, and I'm losing control over APEX by the days.

At this point, I'm getting absolutely no where. All I'm receiving is small recollections of my memories when I was a human. Not a test subject. Perhaps even before I was born, I was the main source that they can experiment on with their new technologies they create every year. The only way for me to return normal is if my consciousness is back into my human body. It's a risk, a huge one. Jin and Taehyung both calculated the percentage of my survival rate.

And I can safely say that I have a greater chance of dying than surviving.

However, I can't stop my thoughts from trailing off to what I've seen. Jimin—he was in love with me. Almost got himself killed just to retrieve me. He was determined to keep me safe. Yet, he's the reason why I died in the first place. Orders given by Corporate will always be bloody, no matter what the mission is. Because here, nothing walks out alive. Not even me. But what is ticking me off is how they expect me to just be shipped away thinking that solution is any safer.

As I extracted information from the deceased man's brain, my eyes shone a brilliant orange-red. Being a hybrid of a digital processor and camera, I utilized Cyberoptics to analyze and download. As I stayed concentrated and understood the situation, my eyes regularly wandered from one side to the other. My vision is then filled with a red holographic map and a blinking red dot that shows Enzo's whereabouts.

I muttered, "Bingo," when the cable separated from the corpse's port. I then experience a severe headache and scream in agony. I held my head with my hand, shaking and grunting.

Deep breathing techniques were necessary for a short while to reduce the migraine. After a short while, I slid off the side of the window and up to where Luna was staring at me with her big eyes. I rubbed her head and grinned, saying, "Don't look at me like that; I'm okay."

While purring, Luna scans the door. I looked in the same direction as hers as a shadow emerged from the aperture from behind. There were three knocks, which caused Luna to flee and hide under the bed.

"May I enter?" Jimin spoke, using a gentle voice.

"Yeah," I said, bringing my legs to my chest.

He cautiously unlocks the door and enters the bedroom, taking in the monitors, wires, and numerous screens that were present. He then gazed down at my chrome arm that had multiple open compartments with wires scattered outside my wrists. He slowly sits down on my bed, keeping his attention attached to me.

"Looks like you've been busy," he says and chuckled. "How you holding up?"

"I already collected the data on Enzo," I said and threw the chip at Jimin, who then catches it without having any trouble. "All the information is in there."

"But that's not what I'm asking," Jimin erupted, causing a bit of confusion. I turned my attention towards his direction, giving him a clear sign that I didn't understand on what he was trying to say. He lets out a heavy sigh. "I'm talking about you. Not APEX,"

I paused for a moment. It was clear I was in a tight problem.

A very tight one.

"I've been learning about the modifications in my system and the way I was built to program in a body I created yet was never meant to be mine," I answered and curled my fingers, letting out a few light laughters to brighten up the atmosphere. "Jimin?" I asked out, receiving a hum.

"Am I. . . still considered human?"