𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐒

46;𝙟𝙞𝙣𝙭

"i'm pretty sure they did not just make all of us unconscious for an hour and a half just to have time to lock us all in." seungcheol says, thinking. he had received a text from bang chan that said 'we're coming' but they're still not in the base.

"is anyone missing? this could be because like, someone kidnapped anyone from us and they locked us in to prevent us from saving them. look! we're literally 9 ri—oh." junhui's voice lowered in volume, realizing that four members left earlier.

"stupid ass, uh, anyways," seungkwan rolled his eyes, momentarily making everyone smile. "what if they hid a bomb in here or something?"

"feasible, but what if while we're try'na find it, it explodes and we die? and why is it still not like.. you know, exploding or something?" jeonghan suggests. "i can't heal eight people at once."

"seungkwan, you're the stupid one." junhui retorted, shrugging at seungkwan while the other members cheered 'fight' repeatedly. "how about you change that suggestion of yours to a statement while your ability is turned on?"

"well how about i turn on my ability while i spread rumours about you?" seungkwan shot back, shaking his head. the fellow members laughed, even if seungkwan's sassiness was untimely. "but, that is a good idea. are ya'll ready to search for a bomb?"

"why can't you just make it appear somewhere near?!"

"that's because he's mean." minghao muttered, leaning against the bar while still hazy. the man wanted a little wine to survive through this stupid bullshit, and it was saddening to find out that he can't.

minghao is slowly becoming a wine mom. (you say that like it's a bad thing.)

"no... no. you're all wrong. see..." seokmin intervened, showing his empty hands to seventeen in horror. the others were confused. they might need to ask seokmin if he's okay. maybe he watched another horror movie again.

"what's that?" soonyoung asked. "sweaty palms or something?"

"al fucking right, did you watch meghan is missing with junhui?! i thought i told you two scaredy cats not to!"

"no. my ability," seokmin shook his hands a few times. "it's not working. i think it might have something to do with the gas."

suspicious glances are shared and fear arises. no way. that made sense.

"they're advanced in terms of tech and science? i refuse to believe. joshua-hyung graduated top of the class, and he's ranked like way up in terms of science stuff—"

knock knock knock! agressive knocking cuts vernon off, and then: "hello? seungcheol hyung?!" it was definitely minho.

jihoon looks down and saw some vines. oh, the plant boy probably popped off. thankfully, they had these vigilantes(+seokmin's relative) to bust them out of the huge infastracture infested with this special gas that turns you ability-less. also, by the way, that 'ability-less' gas that was still a mystery to all of them. they've never been introduced to such substance and neko mafia? that so-called mafia who relies on their physical strength instead of their non-existent brains creating a substance that even joshua didn't know about?

"oh, you brought the squirrel!" jeonghan gushed, pointing at the boy who had clairvoyance. jisung waved, full of vigor--before jeonghan gripped his wrist tightly, all of a sudden. "hey now, what's your name again?"

minghao sneered. "here comes yumeko jabami."

"yuck! jeonghan doesn't fit--"

"you're going to be next." jeonghan eyes soonyoung, cutting him off. the members laughed at the latter's reaction, since he looked so stupefied.

"han jisung's the name!" jisung continued, daring to look straight into jeonghan's eyes. "why, hyung? do you find me hot? sorry but i think i'm a little too young for you." if only jisung was around when jeonghan was just a simp for joshua and they weren't married yet.

"i think there are more bombs or exlosives hidden in here. can you locate them?" jeonghan asked, completely ignoring jisung's cocky attempt at 'rejecting' the married man(who was, still, apparently a simp). "sorry. i just grabbed you wrist to see if you truly had that ability."

"what?! how will you know that?! did your ability improve?!" jihoon asked, taken aback by jeonghan's sudden improvement. when jeonghan nods, jihoon is even more suprised since, jeonghan just got even scarier.

"anyway, we came to retrieve you because we found out that noir, the cat that wonwoo had and now is in kaesun's hands, is a neko mafia member. remember? neko means cat, and they probably chose a mafia name connected to them or their leader. but then, we got a distress call from you, so we hurried." bang chan explained, playing with a metal ring and making it float. "and, we got a new friend here."

"h-hi, i'm a huge admirer of you guys. i'm felix lee, i can play with thunder and lightning." the aussie waved at the incomplete ensemble of seventeen, who, in return, had mixed reactions toward him. he received weird stares, smiles, mean sighs and one eye roll from that member who-shall-not-be-named.

"what now, that we're all here?" junhui asked.

"neko mafia's probably heading here. i know it," seungkwan says, immediately jinxing everything. the other members groaned at him. "why?! wasn't i cool a few seconds ago? and my ability isn't working!"

his ability may not be turned on, but it's considered a jinx. pending commands that seungkwan made will immediately be processed once his ability is turned on, or returned to him.

"nobody ever said that. anyway, now that our precious seungkwannie jinxed it while we have no ability whatsoever because of the fucking gas and we have no chance against them without our abilities," jihoon deadpanned, making the atmosphere seem more comical. "everything is up to you, leader-nim." jihoon half-teased.

"we're going to use one of the jet planes. get ready. get all your equipments, if you want to bring any weapon." seungcheol says, and then immediately calling for HEUSC after. "HEUSC, get j-302 ready for flight, immediately."

"oh, you're going to join the fight in los angeles?" inquired bang chan, which caused a few mutters and protests. "isn't that too dangerous?"

bang chan was right. if some big casualty happens there, all of them will be wiped out(except jeonghan, maybe) and who will replace them in the society? what if they get captured and they all experience the same thing that happened to wonwoo? that's a disaster. why did seungcheol even think of that tremendous idea? isn't seungcheol made up of all that 'genius leader' stuff?

"look. in this situation, we have no ability. joshua is the one with all the knowledge when it comes to these things, and if, this 'ability erasure' effect is caused by an ability similar to chan's, but modified, we could ask him to touch all of us and the effects would cancel out, giving us back our abilities. plus, i know that they need a helping hand in there. joshua still hasn't sent a success or distress signal in an hour and a half." seungcheol replies, yet again impressing seventeen and reminding them why they even picked this man as the leader.

"but neko mafia's coming and the--"

"figure it out." minghao scoffed at kaesun, who stuck out her tongue. "you're going to be the ones who'll fight neko mafia when they arrive, right, seungcheol?" minghao looked behind his shoulder for seungcheol's confirmation. the man mentioned nodded at minghao's statement.

"but like....we're fresh outta jail." hyunjin scratched his scalp. "and we're gonna be you all of a sudden?!"

"probationary." seungcheol adds.

"so, it's final? we're going to los angeles?" seokmin says, accessing his storage through HEUSC right after. "HEUSC, open storage room 98. unlock section 15."

"oh, so those weird and deadly ass weapons you keep in the storage room and in joshua hyung's lab has a purpose after all?" vernon asked. "did you guys forsee this or are you really just fond of weapons, seokmin hyung?"

"maybe joshuji did forsee it, jeonghan states, sighing. the room became silent after that, not knowing what to say after what jeonghan said--until the man himself spoke again. "what are you doing?! we've got work to do!"