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Name:  Kim Seokjin

Alias:  Paradox

Age:  28

Abilities:  Paradox manipulation – ability to surpass and ignore the laws of reality, logic, and common sense.

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of robbery, assault, and attempted murder.

Other:  Works with Jinx to commit crimes.

Name:  Min Yoongi

Alias:  Suga

Age:  27

Abilities:  Emotional power link – powers are connected to emotions, each emotion evokes a different superpower. (Anger – super strength and indestructibility, Sadness – elemental manipulation, Fear – mental manipulation, Disgust – force field, Joy – healing abilities)

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of murder, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, and assault.

Other:  Emotions are kept in check so powers are in control at all times. Mental instability can be threatening to others.

Name:  Jung Hoseok

Alias:  J-hope

Age:  26

Abilities:  Healing abilities. Astral projection – radioactive “soul self” is capable of flight, intangibility, can generate explosions upon contact, and possession.

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Other:  Astral projection soul self is radioactive and can be lethal if touched. Possession by soul self can kill the host. Soul self cannot speak. Prefers to stay in solitude.

Name:  Kim Namjoon

Alias:  RM

Age:  26

Abilities:  Telepathy. Telekinesis. Psychometry – extrasensory perception where he can make relevant associations from an object/person by making physical contact.

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter.

Other:  Has leadership qualities. IQ 148.

Name:  Park Jimin

Alias:  Jinx

Age:  24

Abilities:  Probability manipulation – ability to manipulate probability, can cause or prevent good and bad luck.

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of robbery, assault, and attempted murder.

Other:  Works with Paradox to commit crimes.

Name:  Kim Taehyung

Alias:  V

Age:  23

Abilities:  Black hole manipulation – can create, shape, and remove black holes. Black holes can suck in anything and prevent it from escaping. Black holes can also allow time travel to the future.

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of murder, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, and assault.

Other:  Time travel is not controlled. Has anger management issues.

Name:  Jeon Jungkook

Alias:  Copycat

Age:  22

Abilities:  Energy absorption – through physical contact he can absorb a superpower and use it for himself.

Reason for incarceration:  Multiple counts of murder, voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, and assault.

Other:  He used to drain people of their abilities completely but he now he has control of his ability. He can only use the power absorbed for a limited time. Mental instability.

“Come along. It’s time to meet the team.”

Namjoon was not meant to be here. He was meant to be working a full time job producing music. He was meant to settle down with someone special and adopt children with them. He was meant to grow old with his lover and watch their children take on their legacy. Namjoon knew that he was meant for greater things than this, than being told he would lead a group of villains on a mission they would surely die on.

He was only here because he lost control of his superpowers and accidentally killed multiple people. He knew the profile written on him in prison would say that he had multiple counts of murder or manslaughter, but he knew the profile wouldn’t include how it was accidental. He knew the profile would purposely miss that aspect of the crime he committed.

Everyone could only see that he had taken the lives of others, not that he was a good person who made a horrible mistake. People remember you by your worst mistake, and in Namjoon’s case they would remember him for killing the innocent.

He saw his cell door open. He should’ve heard the sound of the unforgiving iron clanking when it stopped, but all he could hear was screaming. All he could hear was all the people around him screaming at the damage he had caused and the lives he had taken. He could hear family members of the victims screaming that he deserved to rot in prison for the rest of his life, that he deserved to die, not their child. Namjoon sighed. How he wished that he could right the wrongs he had done, and how he wished he could give back the lives he had taken.

Namjoon was forced out of his cell, the collar around his neck shocking him until he moved. He hated that damn shock collar. It made him feel like he wasn’t even human, like he was an animal. He was starting to realize that he lost his human rights the moment he stepped into this prison. He would have to get used to this, to being treated like he was nothing.

“Uh, what’s the point of this team, again?”

“You’re a group of bad people trying to do a bit of good,” Namjoon walked beside the woman who was leading him to his future teammates, “you’re going to lead this team on a mission that you could all die on just to get some time taken off of your sentences.”

“So, we’re some sort of suicide squad?”

“No, you’re the BTS Squad. Baddies turned savior.”

“Baddies turned savior?”

“BTS.”

Namjoon shrugged, deciding to humor the woman. He opened his mouth to speak but he quickly closed it when he heard something. He knew this. It was a sound he hadn’t heard in a long time. It was the soothing sound of a piano. It had been quite some time since he had heard that beautiful sound. It was odd to be able to listen to the music created by the piano, but Namjoon decided to welcome it. There weren’t many good things in this damn prison so he would take anything good that he could get.

As the woman and Namjoon continued to walk, the sound of the piano only grew louder. Namjoon found himself smiling as he neared the cell that the music was coming from. The woman turned to face a clear cell.

Namjoon’s eyes widened as he saw a platinum blonde with a black collar around his neck humming as he played a piano. Namjoon had heard about how if someone had been in prison long enough and they had good behavior then they could be rewarded with a self-care item of their choice. It appeared this man chose a piano.

“Meet Min Yoongi. Calls himself Suga.”

“Because he’s sweet?”

“You think murder is sweet?”

“No, not really.”

Namjoon’s eyes followed the pale fingers that were trailing along the piano keys. He couldn’t take his eyes off those large hands as he asked, “Why does he have a collar on like me? Is he that dangerous?”

“You don’t know how dangerous he is,” the woman’s voice was monotone as she continued, “he’s murdered and hurt more people than I can count. His superpowers are linked to his emotions, which have made him mentally unstable over time as he struggled to control his… gifts.”

“Did he mean to kill all those people?”

“He has no remorse for the living.”

Well, that wasn’t sweet. Namjoon shook his head in disbelief, unable to understand how someone who could play the piano like that could also be a deranged murderer. He didn’t understand how gentle hands like Yoongi’s could be the same hands that were wrapped around an innocent person’s neck. Namjoon could not understand how someone who looked so at peace could be the same person who enjoyed the suffering of others. An uneasy feeling swirled around in Namjoon’s stomach as it sunk in that he would have to lead Min Yoongi.

Namjoon flinched when he felt electricity course through his body. He figured that he was being told that he needed to keep moving to meet the rest of the team, but he wished that the woman would’ve just told him to move. Just because he was a prisoner that didn’t mean it was okay to treat him like this.

Regardless, Namjoon followed the woman to his next teammate. Namjoon wished he could’ve stayed by Yoongi, listening to all the songs he knew by heart. He furrowed his brow when he heard the sound of someone talking down the hall. He narrowed his eyes and that’s when he saw someone’s face pressed against the clear wall of the cell. Upon closer examination, Namjoon came to the conclusion that the man in the cell was drop dead gorgeous.

“This is Kim Seokjin, but he calls himself Paradox.”

Namjoon couldn't hear the woman talking about how Jin was capable of paradox manipulation and that he could make anything logical become illogical. All Namjoon could concentrate on was the beautiful raven-haired male who was grinning at him.

There was a mischievous look in his eyes, one that made Namjoon tempted to release him from the cell. Namjoon wondered if Jin was hypnotizing him somehow with his superpower, but then his eyes caught the same black collar he and Yoongi were wearing. Jin wasn’t using his superpowers to enchant him, he was just naturally captivating.

It took being shocked by the collar to realize that the woman was done talking and that he hadn’t learned much about Jin, other than the fact that he was the most attractive person he had ever met. He could’ve sworn he heard the woman mention how she was going to be taking him to Jin’s partner, which made him wonder if the raven-haired male was working with a twin brother or someone as equally as attractive as him.

“Jin’s accomplice, Park Jimin, or Jinx.”

Jimin looked just as devious as Jin did. He had blonde hair that almost threatened to cover his eyes, but he would brush it out of the way every now and then so Namjoon could look into those playful brown eyes. Namjoon had to admit that Jimin was adorable, but he wasn’t Jin. There was something about Jin that was special. He had the ability to lure him in without needing to use his superpowers on him.

“Jinx here works alongside Paradox to commit crimes,” the woman rolled her eyes at Jimin feigning like he was hurt by her words, “with Paradox’s superpower and Jinx’s probability manipulation, the two of them are almost impossible to capture. They got away with so many crimes until we finally got them.”

“How’d you do that?”

“We captured Jinx and Paradox surrendered.”

This information caught Namjoon by surprise. He had this misconceived thought that the prisoners in this supervillain facility were full of terrible people who had no sense of moral code. In a sense, Namjoon thought of the people in this prison as heartless people who didn’t care about anyone but themselves, but it appeared that he was wrong because Jin cared about Jimin.

Namjoon had heard stories about villain teams working together and selling each other out in order to save themselves, but Jin was not selfish. It seemed that the connection between Jin and Jimin exceeded the villain duo relationship and excelled into friendship, and even brotherhood.

Namjoon wanted to ask more about Jimin and his relationship with Jin, but the zap to his neck told him that he would have to save his questions for another time. He walked beside the woman as they approached another clear cell with a young man with fluffy raven locks inside. He was sitting on the floor making origami cranes. He would admire the crane for a moment and then he would growl at it, shredding the crane into tiny pieces.

“Meet Kim Taehyung. Calls himself V.”

“V is for void, you asshole,” Taehyung was folding a crane, not bothering to look at the people watching him like a fish in an aquarium, “when I get out of here I’m going to stick you in a black hole so you never see the light of day, you stupid bitch!”

“You’re as charming as always.”

“Fuck off, bitch.”

Namjoon rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, it seemed that Taehyung wasn’t fond of this woman.

Yet, she was unbothered as she stated, “V has the ability to manipulate black holes, which is why we’ve got that collar around his neck, just like you.”

Taehyung’s mouth was moving, as if he was mocking the woman. She rolled her eyes and motioned for Namjoon to follow, “You can tell that he’s not the most mentally stable person in the prison, either. He’s got a bit of a temper on him. He’s got multiple counts of murder, just like Suga.”

The taller male gulped. She didn’t mention if Jin and Jimin had murdered anyone, which worried him. Sure, he had killed people, but he did it on accident. These people seemed to be out here killing people for sport, like they were poaching animals. Namjoon was thinking that he could die on this mission, but now he was starting to wonder if it would be the mission that would kill him or the people he was meant to lead.

“Here’s Jeon Jungkook. He calls himself Copycat.”

“But he’s… he looks so young.”

Namjoon’s eyes softened as he looked at the young blue haired male painting on a canvas. He had a precious bunny smile on his face as he dipped into the red paint, moving his arm and hand with such poise, as if he was always meant to be an artist. Namjoon guessed that Jungkook was in prison because he was caught robbing a bank or maybe attempted assault. There was no way he was in for-

“He has multiple counts of murder.”

“But he’s so young and-“

“Anyone can be a murderer. Look at you.”

He winced at those words. He reached a hand to his chest and clutched where his heart was. It still stung to have someone refer to him as a murderer because he knew in his heart that he was a good person. He knew that he wasn’t a murderer, or… he wasn’t supposed to be a murderer.

“His superpower is energy absorption,” Namjoon resisted the urge to throw up when Jungkook showed his painting of a mutilated body, “if he touches anyone, he can absorb their superpower and use it for his own discretion. It’ll wear off over time though.”

Jungkook was smiling as he held his painting up higher. Namjoon cringed. It was like the younger male was desperately trying to get someone to say that he had done a good job. It was like he was searching for praise, and when he didn’t get it he frowned.

Namjoon didn’t know Jungkook, but he knew he didn’t like to see that little murderer frown. Namjoon gave an small smile and nodded to Jungkook. This seemed to be the right thing to do because Jungkook flashed him a bright smile in return.

Namjoon was praying that Jungkook would be the last member of the team he was going to be placed on. His prayers were not answered because he was forced to keep walking. It appeared that there would be someone else he would be introduced to. Namjoon hoped that this person wouldn’t be mentally unstable and waiting for the day that they could break free of this prison to terrorize the innocent people of Seoul.

“Lastly is Jung Hoseok. We call him J-hope.”

That name was surprising, but it’s not just the alias that caught him off guard. It was the boy in the cell. It was peculiar to have a villain have a name as cheerful sounding as J-hope, but nothing was stranger than Hoseok. He was sitting with his back against the wall, his knees brought to his chest while his arms wrapped around them, as if he was embracing himself. He looked small because of the way he was sitting, but Namjoon had a feeling he would still look that way even if he was standing beside him.

Hoseok was different from the other inmates that Namjoon had observed. All the other villains looked like they were doing their own thing or they were plotting their escape and revenge, but Hoseok was doing none of that.

There was a deep and heavy sadness lingering in those chocolate brown orbs, one that Namjoon had only seen in his own eyes. Not only was there sadness, but there was also guilt. By the way Hoseok was sitting, Namjoon could only suspect that whatever guilt he was harboring within had slowly eaten him alive until he was turned into this. Namjoon’s eyes widened when he noticed another difference with Hoseok.

“How come he isn’t wearing a shock collar?”

“Because he knows he belongs in here.”

“What… what do you mean? What did he do?”

“Just like you, it was an accident.”

There were tears in Hoseok’s eyes as he heard the woman speaking outside his cell, “Hoseok has a unique ability called astral projection. This is where a radioactive entity from within his body emerges. He calls this entity his “soul self,” when in reality it’s more like his consciousness being expelled from his body in the form of radioactive energy.”

All Namjoon could think about was how dangerous and unhealthy it must be to have a radioactive entity inside of a person. He wondered if Hoseok was experiencing negative affects of the radiation, thus causing a meltdown that may have injured people and destroyed infrastructure. While Namjoon wanted to know about why Hoseok was in prison, he also wanted to know if he was okay, and if he was safe to be around.

“Radioactive energy? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Extremely, so don’t touch it if you see it.”

The woman shook her head as she carried on, “His parents were working in a nuclear plant and didn't realize Hoseok snuck in. After being exposed to that much radiation without a protective suit, he mutated. He soaked up the radiation and created a being for his consciousness out of negative energy.”

Namjoon watched as Hoseok shook his head, as if he was disagreeing with the woman. The tall brunette was expecting Hoseok to correct the woman if she had told his origin story wrong, but he said nothing. Hoseok merely turned his head to the side so he wouldn’t see either of them.

To Hoseok, if he couldn’t see them then maybe they’ll go away, or maybe he could pretend that they weren’t there just like how he wanted to pretend he couldn’t hear all the haunting screams from the past.

“What happened?”

“His soul self was released and he killed everyone.”

Namjoon’s eyes nearly burst out of his skull when he discovered Hoseok was a mass murderer. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Hoseok, “This soul self is capable of flight, intangibility, and it can even make things explode upon touching them, especially if it comes into contact with positive energy. It’s also capable of possession, but being in contact with that much radiation can kill you. Every person that soul self touched died because he didn’t have control of the radiation.”

Namjoon couldn’t imagine what that must have felt like for Hoseok, to kill everyone you touch. He wanted to call Hoseok a mass murderer for what he had done, but he didn’t think that was fair.

Hoseok was just like him.

He had killed people on accident and he felt remorse for it. Namjoon’s heart broke at the thought of Hoseok’s soul self flying towards people, trying to ask them what was happening, only to accidentally slay them upon touching them. Namjoon closed his eyes when he realized it.

Hoseok killed his own parents.

A feeling of horror and dread washed over Namjoon as he thought about the pain and emotional agony Hoseok must have felt that day, and how he must be feeling now. Not only had he accidentally taken the lives of the innocent, but he took the lives of his own flesh and blood. He had snuffed the lives of the very people who brought him into the world. He injected so much radiation into his parents’ bodies that they died. Namjoon thought he was living a life of pain knowing he had killed people he didn’t know, but it was nothing compared to the life Hoseok was living.

“His radiation is controlled, so don’t worry.”

“How is that possible?”

“You should’ve seen him when he first came here,” the woman chuckled, as if Hoseok’s story was something to find comical, “his skin was burned beyond recognition from the radiation he was expelling. We had to cover him in chemically treated bandages like he was a damn mummy to keep the radiation contained.”

“He doesn’t look burned at all, or even scarred.”

“That’s because he healed himself.”

Namjoon turned to the woman, a look of confusion on his face. She didn’t look at him as she stated, “We found that his radiation mutated his DNA in another way, granting him healing abilities. The radiation no longer seeps through to the outside of his body. All the radiation pools within him now.”

The brunette felt the familiar, but still unwelcomed, feeling of electricity coursing through his neck and down his spine signaling for him to move. He released a sigh of relief when he realized that she stayed true to her word and Hoseok was the last person he would see. He didn’t know where she was taking him, but he hoped that she wasn’t going to kill him. He knew that she said that she wanted him to lead the team, but she was someone he knew he couldn’t trust.

Namjoon wished he could touch her skin to try to get a feel on who she is and what she’s done in the past. Someone like her must have a lot of red in her ledger, especially if she works with villains. Namjoon didn’t think a person could work with villains and not become one themselves in some way.

The woman shoved Namjoon into a classroom with seven empty chairs. The room was rather sterile looking with only white walls and a white board at the front of the class to go along with the barren theme going on. The woman stood at the front of the class and stared at the door, as if she was a teacher waiting for students to walk in.

Namjoon could hear the faint sound of people cursing, screaming, and laughing like maniacs. These sounds grew louder, informing Namjoon that these people were coming closer, that they were coming to his exact location. He wasn’t all too surprised to find that the people who entered the room were none other than the prisoners he had learned about. These were the people he would have to lead.

Taehyung came into the room with a man holding his hands behind his back. As soon as his arms were released, he turned around and punched the man. Taehyung was about to land another blow but he froze, hissing in pain as he was electrocuted for his poor behavior. Taehyung was gasping for air by the time the pain was alleviated.

He was grumbling under his breath as he walked over to a chair and kicked it across the room, opting to sit on the floor with his legs and arms crossed. Namjoon would’ve said that he looked like a cute pouting child, but pouting children don’t murder people.

Jin came into the room with an arm slung around Jimin’s shoulder. The two of them were giggling amongst themselves, but Namjoon could’ve sworn that they were talking about how they were going to get their first murder charge for killing the woman in the front of the room.

It seemed that prison didn’t succeed in decreasing their desire to commit crimes. Instead, it seemed that it only made their rage grow, making Namjoon start to wonder if he could control these people and keep them in line.

Yoongi was snickering when he entered. There was a groan of pain that came from outside the room, indicating that he had beaten someone up before he joined everyone. Yoongi took a seat next to Namjoon, instantly throwing his head back in laughter as he saw the brunette stiffen. It was like Yoongi got a thrill off of knowing that he made someone uncomfortable, or that he made someone scared. Namjoon’s stomach was doing flips, and not in a good way.

Jungkook came summersaulting into the room with a bright bunny smile on his face. Namjoon was about to coo for the younger male’s behavior until the raven-haired male turned to the woman and flipped her off. Just as the woman was about to shock him, Jungkook blew her a kiss, leaving her confused but ultimately irked. Jungkook skipped over to a chair next to Yoongi and grinned to him. The older male returned the smile, pleased to find someone fucked up like him.

Hoseok was the last one to enter.

Namjoon was right. He looked tiny even when he was standing. The way Hoseok continued to wrap his arms around his body made him look small and timid. Hoseok’s eyes wandered around the room, locking onto a person before moving onto the next one. His eyes were void of any positive emotion. All Namjoon could find in those chocolate orbs was fear, sadness, and guilt.

Namjoon realized something. He had seen almost everyone in this room smile, aside from Taehyung and Hoseok. Although, Namjoon would argue that Taehyung typically only felt anger so he probably wouldn’t see him smile unless someone got hurt. But Hoseok hadn’t smiled, either. Namjoon wondered if his smile would appear to be broken, or if it could be the light he desperately needed in this dark world.

Hoseok closed his eyes, his shoulders shaking as he whimpered, “Please… don’t make me do this again. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Namjoon could tell that those terrified words weren’t meant for him, but for the woman. She rolled her eyes at the little brunette, “You’ve made a lot of people dead. You’ll continue to do this until you’re dead.”

“Then kill me, please.”

“You’re more useful alive than dead.”

“I don’t want to watch more people die.”

“You don’t get a choice in the matter,” the woman walked over to Hoseok and grabbed him by the arm, their eyes meeting as she hissed lowly, “not after all the pain and suffering you caused from all the lives you’ve stolen.”

“It was an accident!”

“Accidents still have consequences.”

There were tears streaming down Hoseok’s face at this point, and that’s when another person in the room snapped. Namjoon heard the sound of someone abruptly standing up, followed by the unsettling sound of a chair screeching against the floor. Namjoon turned his head and saw that Yoongi was on his feet and storming towards the woman.

Yoongi grabbed the woman’s arm and ripped her off of Hoseok. The platinum blonde snaked an arm around Hoseok’s waist, pressing him against his side. Namjoon couldn’t see their faces clearly, but he assumed that Yoongi was burning holes into the woman’s head with his glare. He suspected Hoseok was burying his face into the platinum blonde’s strong chest. Namjoon didn’t know how right he was.

The platinum blonde pointed a long finger at the woman as he growled, “I won’t have you speaking to him like that anymore, you fucking bitch! I don’t care what he’s done but you won’t treat him the same way you treat the rest of us!”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

All eyes were glaring at the woman as she held up her remote that controlled all of their shock collars.

She waved it around like one would with a treat and a hungry dog, “I’m the one who holds your lives in my hand. I’ll zap you sons of bitches until there’s no air left in your lungs so you listen to me. Is that clear?”

There was no answer, thus prompting her to press the button that would electrocute all of them, “Did I fucking stutter?! I said, is that clear?!”

Hoseok watched in horror as all the other prisoners in the room fell to the ground, holding their necks to try to claw off the collar. Hoseok got down on his hands and knees, bowing to the woman and begging her to leave them alone.

Namjoon was too focused on the pain to hear the exact words he was saying, but he could make out that he was offering a deal. He must have told the woman that he would do this mission, that he would join their little BTS Squad and assist them in completing the mission if she stopped hurting them.

As soon as the woman released her finger from the button, Taehyung shot up like a rocket and made a bee line path towards the front of the room. There was a dangerous look in his eyes, one that made chills run down Hoseok’s spine. He wondered if the raven-haired male was going to come after him because he was the reason why he was electrocuted. Hoseok closed his eyes and waited for pain to come, but it never did.

Instead, he opened his eyes to find Taehyung towering over the woman, snarling at her like an animal, “If I didn’t have this damn collar wrapped around my neck then I would send your ass into a fucking black hole! If you ever try to be a dick to him again, I’ll fucking end you.”

Hoseok’s breath hitched when he realized that Taehyung was referring to him. Taehyung was going to kill the woman if she did anything to him that he didn’t like. Hoseok wondered how that happened, how he had become someone worth protecting to Taehyung.

Hoseok stared at the raven-haired male. He seemed so menacing on the outside, but Hoseok was beginning to wonder what was going on within. He felt like he was looking at the tip of the iceberg when he gazed upon Taehyung, but he wanted to know what lurked beneath the surface.

“You’re hardly in a place to make threats, V.”

“At least I’m not a fucking coward,” Taehyung leaned down, his face violating her personal space as he spat at her, “you’re nothing without that remote, and you know that, don’t you?”

Taehyung grabbed her by the front of her shirt, but everyone was more surprised that the woman didn’t trigger the button on the remote. Hoseok tilted his head in confusion. He had a feeling the woman was trying to get a feel on what Taehyung’s next move was, but he also suspected that the woman was curious as to what would happen. It was like she got a thrill off of the work that she did. It was like being surrounded by criminals and being threatened by them was something that excited her.

The raven-haired male’s eyes were as cold as ice, just like his tone of voice, “One of these days you’re going to slip up with that remote and when you do… you can bet your ass that I’ll be the one to send you to hell.”

“Let go of me, V.”

There was a tense silence that wafted throughout the area, making almost everyone fearful to make a move. It felt like hours had passed, but in reality it was a few minutes.

Finally, Taehyung released the woman and stepped towards Hoseok. The taller male walked behind him and placed his hands on his shoulders. Hoseok was surprised to find that Taehyung’s grip wasn’t hard, rather it was soft. Hoseok allowed himself to melt into Taehyung’s grasp, to be comforted by his future teammate.

“I’ll keep you safe, J-hope.”

“Why… why me?”

“Because you don’t deserve to die.”

It pained Hoseok’s heart when the weight of those words sunk in. Taehyung didn’t say it, but it was there. Taehyung’s words had a double meaning, that he was someone who deserved to die while Hoseok was not. Taehyung was letting him know that he wasn’t supposed to be here, that he was innocent and therefore had no reason to be forced onto a suicide squad. Taehyung didn’t have to say it but Hoseok knew that the other male would give his life for him, all because he represented hope and innocence, two things the raven-haired male believed he lacked.

It was a powerful statement, one that would only speak volumes to Hoseok. The little brunette felt anxious as those words echoed through his mind, muffling the screams of the past for a moment. Those words kept telling Hoseok that he held another man’s life in his hands.

Hoseok didn’t want that kind of responsibility, especially because he believed that all he was capable of was pain and suffering. Yet, Taehyung believed him to be good, so Hoseok would try to be that for him.

Hoseok nodded and reached his right hand across his body, placing his smaller one atop of Taehyung’s larger one.

Hoseok looked over his shoulder with a small smile, “I’m going to get you out of here alive.”

Finally, Taehyung smiled.

The raven-haired male had one of the prettiest smiles Hoseok had ever seen. It was a boxy smile, one that made Taehyung look pure and harmless, two words that were not well associated with him. This smile could fool anyone into thinking that Taehyung hadn’t snuffed the lives of many people. This smile could make Hoseok forget about all the crimes he committed, if only for a short while.

“I think I like you too much.”

Hoseok was beaming, showing off a heart shaped smile that had not graced his face for a long time. He could hardly hear the other people in the room gasping at his smile. If he was paying more attention to the others then he would’ve seen how Yoongi was clutching his heart, Jin and Jimin were elbowing each other to try to rouse one another from their day dreams about the brunette, Namjoon’s jaw had dropped and would’ve hit the floor if he was a cartoon character, and Jungkook was holding his face with his hands, as if he couldn’t believe that someone who looked like an angel was a villain like him.

“Cut the bullshit. We’ve got a mission.”

The moment was ruined as soon as the woman opened her mouth. The seven males were so caught up in the world they had created because of Hoseok that they forgot that the chief of their team’s operations was still with them, killing the mood faster than they’ve killed people.

Taehyung kept his hands on Hoseok’s shoulders as the woman began, “You’re all the newest members of the BTS Squad. You’re going to go on a mission that will protect the people of Korea, and potentially… the world.”

“Why the fuck would we save the world?”

“Because if you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes but remained calm when he felt Hoseok squeeze his hand on his shoulder.

Taehyung sighed as the woman continued, “Your mission is to infiltrate a genetics lab where illegal human experiments are being conducted. Innocent people are being taken off the streets and subjected to cruel and inhuman experiments to mutate their genes to give them superpowers.”

Jimin raised his hand, causing the woman to shoot him a look of pure irritation. Jimin only raised his hand higher, waving it around as if to get her attention. The woman shook her head in annoyance. It seemed that Jimin wanted her to call on him like he was a student and she was the teacher.

“Yes, Jinx?”

“Why are you sending us to do this?” Jimin slowly lowered his hand, “this sounds like a job for one of your superheroes so why would you send in a team of supervillains who have never worked together before?”

The woman nodded, acknowledging that Jimin had a fair question. Her voice was void of emotion as she answered, “Because there’s a high chance that not all of you will survive this mission. I’d rather risk your lives than the people who actually do something good for this country.”

“So, it’s okay if we die?”

“Now you’re catching on.”

Hoseok could feel Taehyung’s hands squeezing his shoulders, letting the brunette know that he was starting to feel angry. Hoseok sighed as he leaned back into Taehyung, prompting the raven-haired male to move so that his arms were wrapped around his middle instead. Taehyung tilted down and place his chin on Hoseok’s shoulders, unknowingly making Yoongi’s eyes flash red in anger.

The woman’s eyes flickered from one member to the other as she continued, “This won’t be an easy mission. I want the seven of you to infiltrate the lab and collect all the data that has been conducted before you destroy the facility. If you can save those who haven’t been corrupted then do that.”

“Kill anyone who gets in your way, but bring the lead scientist to me alive,” there was anger in her eyes as she snarled, “I want to deal with that bastard myself for what they’ve been doing.”

Namjoon stepped forward, catching everyone’s attention. He sighed before recapping everything, “So, let me get this straight. You want the seven of us to break into a lab, kill almost everyone in sight, save everyone we can, collect data that the scientist found, and then bring the scientist to you?”

“Correct.”

Namjoon nodded and was about to speak until Jin cut him off, “Is there anything else you want us to do? You want us to pick you up a fucking Happy Meal while we’re at it?”

Everyone could tell that Jin was being sarcastic, causing a few of the prisoners to laugh. Namjoon was surprised that the sarcasm came from Jin, instead of Taehyung or Yoongi. He assumed those two would be the most likely to revolt or clapback, but he was surprised that it was Jin. The raven-haired male had a smug smile on his face as he locked eyes with the woman, daring her to shock him for his behavior.

“I hope none of you survive.”

“Same.”

Everyone’s attention shifted to Jungkook, who was sitting on the ground making something on the floor with his own blood. It seemed that he had clawed his own skin and was using his blood to paint on the white floor.

From what Namjoon could see, Jungkook was painting the woman being hung from the ceiling as the rest of the team appeared to lay dead on the ground. Namjoon wanted to groan as he heard Taehyung telling Hoseok that it was nice of Jungkook to paint all of them taking a celebratory nap after hanging that bitch. If only Taehyung knew that Jungkook painted them all dying, as if he was painting a prophecy.

“Get acquainted with each other now,” the woman started to make her way to the door, “your mission starts tonight. Your collars will allow for you to use your powers to an extent, meaning you can use them but we’ve made sure none of you can remove them using your abilities.”

Namjoon wanted to beg for the woman to stay and brief them more on the mission, but there was a cold look in her eyes that told him that she wouldn’t be doing that. She was withholding more detailed information about the mission on purpose because she wanted as many of them to die as possible. She was strategic with the information she told them. She made sure she told them enough to develop a battle plan, but not enough to feel confident in it. If Namjoon was more fond of murder, he was sure he would’ve tried to kill her.

As the door closed and locked behind the woman, Namjoon wondered how he was going to control all of these people. He was dealing with people with mental instability, anger management issues, and mischievous tendencies. These were unruly people. These were people who had never been told what to do, aside from Jin and Jimin who worked together.

Aside from those two, these were people who were not meant to be ordered around. These were individuals who followed rules that they had created for themselves.

These were people who made a living off of terrorizing the innocent. These were people who felt nothing as they watched the light fade from people’s eyes. These were people who didn’t have light in their eyes anymore, as if they were dead men walking. Namjoon would dare to say that these weren’t even people anymore.

These were monsters, demons… villains.

Yet, these villains had to work together if they were going to try to get out of this mission alive. Namjoon might not support the lives these people had made for themselves, but they were still human beings that deserved to live. He was going to do everything he could to make sure all of them survived.

Sure, they would be brought back to their cells and they would live in solitude until they were needed again, but they would still be alive.

Namjoon was about to announce to the team that he was their leader, but Yoongi had other plans. The platinum blonde swiped Hoseok from Taehyung and pressed him up against the wall, caging him as his hands were placed on the wall on both sides of his head.

Hoseok gulped as Yoongi leaned in close, his warm breath ghosting his face. Despite the current situation he was in, Hoseok was pleasantly surprised that Yoongi’s breath smelt of peppermint, instead of blood or decomposing bodies.

“How many exes do you have?”

“E-Excuse me?”

“You heard me, how many exes do you have?”

“What are you talking about?”

Yoongi shook his head with a crooked smile on his face, “I want to know how many people I have to kill. I want to kill every single person who’s had you before me. I’d bring you all of their hearts so you could see that they’re all gone.”

“Why… why would you do that?”

“I want to live in a world where all your exes are dead.”

In another world where saying sick and demented things like that was acceptable, Hoseok would’ve swooned at those words. He would’ve cooed at how Yoongi wanted to be the only man to have him and that he would go to great lengths to ensure that. He would’ve jumped into Yoongi’s arms and told him of all the people he had taken as lovers and cheered for him as he terminated each of them, bringing him their hearts to show the deed had been done. He would’ve done all of those things if they were in that other world, but they weren’t.

“Yah, leave him alone!”

“Fuck off, V!”

“You’re making him uncomfortable!”

Yoongi ignored Taehyung, focusing on the wide eyed brunette he had trapped. He leaned in, his lips mere inches from his neck, “You’re not uncomfortable, are you, darling? Tell me what you want.”

Taehyung was furious as he saw Yoongi lick a stripe up Hoseok’s neck, causing the little brunette to shiver. Taehyung was about to walk over to Yoongi to forcefully remove him from Hoseok when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whipped around to see Jungkook shaking his head at him.

The raven-haired male wanted to protest, but he decided against it. Jungkook’s bloody hands wiped the bodily substance on his clothes, and that pissed him off. His anger for Yoongi was now redirected at Jungkook, who didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.

With Taehyung focused on Jungkook, Yoongi was free to embrace his moment with Hoseok. Yoongi smirked against Hoseok’s skin. He would have to thank Jungkook for buying him some time later. He wondered if the other three men would try to interfere, but it seemed that Namjoon was too far in his head trying to figure out how he was going to keep everyone in line. Jin and Jimin appeared to be making bets on who was going to die first on the mission, snickering to one another when they were in agreement.

Hoseok wouldn’t say that he was uncomfortable with Yoongi’s advances, but he wasn’t exactly used to them, either. Hoseok had been imprisoned at a young age so there was never time to settle down and find someone because the only settling he had done was settling into his cell.

Hoseok had come to find that prison wasn’t the best place to look for love. He had come to find that everyone had ulterior motives. No one was ever who they said they were. Everyone always wanted something for their own personal benefit.

“What do you want from me, Yoongi?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, although Hoseok couldn’t see it. The platinum blonde was surprised that Hoseok knew his name. They had all heard of each other at some point, but they didn’t know each other beyond their aliases. It seemed that Hoseok must have caught word about him from guards in passing, or maybe he had been briefed on him another time. Hoseok had been here for a long time so Yoongi knew he shouldn’t be surprised if the brunette learned more about him over the years.

“I want you.”

“For how long?”

There was something strange about these questions Hoseok was asking. It made Yoongi feel like Hoseok was trying to get a time frame. It made Yoongi think about how Hoseok must see himself as a toy, and he must be the child. If Yoongi was the child, then Hoseok was trying to see for how long he would be useful to him, for how long he could entertain him.

The brunette was trying to see how long he would be wanted for before Yoongi outgrew him. Hoseok was unknowingly telling Yoongi that he was insecure, and that he didn’t want to start something if he would only be kept around for a short while.

Yoongi might be sick in the head, but he wasn’t sick in the heart. He might cut someone open and use their kidneys as hacky sacks, but if there was one organ he knew not to play with, it was the heart. He might have said he would pull out other people’s hearts for Hoseok, but he wouldn’t dare to touch the brunette’s heart. He wouldn’t dare to touch it with the intent to cause harm.

Shit, he wouldn’t dare to touch that heart at all, not with the amount of blood on his hands.

As far as Yoongi knew, Hoseok was pure. Hoseok was someone who didn’t have blood on his hands. Hoseok was someone who must have been wrongly imprisoned. Hell, he didn’t even have a shock collar on so that must have meant that he didn’t have any superpowers. It bothered Yoongi to believe that Hoseok was being kept in prison.

Yet, he was also thankful that Hoseok was in prison because it meant that they had this golden opportunity to meet. Yoongi felt selfish for being happy that Hoseok was in prison, but being selfish stopped bothering him a long time ago.

“I told you that I would kill for you,” Yoongi removed himself from Hoseok’s neck, dark brown eyes looking into warm chocolate orbs, “I know I’m not… like you, but just know that means I want you forever.”

“How can I know you aren’t just saying that?”

“I might be a sociopath, but I’m not a liar.”

Gradually, Yoongi took his hands off the wall and moved them so that his hands were placed on Hoseok’s delicate hips. There was a light pink blush dusting across Hoseok’s face at the contact.

It had been a while since someone had touched him without the intention of hurting him. He found comfort in the way Taehyung had touched him, but this was different. This was more like safety and home, two things that Hoseok had not experienced since he was a child.

Hoseok was not known to be brave, but today he decided he would try to have courage. He stepped closer, resting his head on Yoongi’s broad chest. He brought a hand up and placed it on the platinum blonde’s chest, humming to show that he was content. Hoseok would’ve never done this before.

Any other time someone would try to come onto him, he would turn the other cheek. Yet, Hoseok had a good feeling about Yoongi. He didn’t care about his criminal record, he didn’t care about the blood on his hands, and he didn’t care about-

“I’m not right in the head. Doesn’t that scare you?”

“The only thing that scares me is myself.”

Yoongi was surprised by those words. Hoseok looked like the kind of person who was afraid of everything, including his own shadow. It was shocking, and a bit concerning, to know that Hoseok was more afraid of himself than a fucking mass murderer who had thoughts constantly running through his mind telling him to bathe the streets with the blood of his victims. Hoseok would trust himself with a man who would drench himself in a victim’s blood like it was holy water, and that spoke volumes to Yoongi. It told him that Hoseok was someone he needed to protect, even if that meant he had to protect him from himself.

“Alright, guys, we need to figure this out.”

Yoongi and Hoseok were brought out of their moment when they heard Namjoon’s voice. Yoongi was reluctant to let the brunette go, but he found a happy medium when Hoseok held his hand. Yoongi had a small smile on his face as Hoseok led him towards Namjoon.

They had just met, but Yoongi knew that he would follow Hoseok anywhere. He would gladly follow that boy into the jaws of death, if that’s what he wanted.

“We need to know everything about each other,” Namjoon felt a little worried as everyone surrounded him like he was their prey, “so, everyone give a brief run down of your powers, weaknesses, and any other important information we should know about you. Who wants to go first?”

“Oh! Me! Me! Pick me!”

Jimin was back at it, raising his hand as high as he could. Namjoon could understand why the woman was annoyed with him. Jimin was now jumping up and down, desperately trying to get his attention. He had even moved his other arm to help him keep his hand in the air. While Namjoon appreciated his enthusiasm to participate, all the other shit wasn’t necessary. Well, beggars can’t be choosers so Namjoon would just have to deal with it.

“Okay, yeah, you can go first.”

“Yah, I’m Jimin but I go by Jinx,” the blonde was waving at everyone, but only Jungkook waved back, “I’m called Jinx on account of my superpower. I have probability manipulation so if I want a piano to fall on you, I’ll make it happen. If I want to rob a bank without a problem, I’ll make it happen.”

“So… you’re lucky?”

“Are you trying to get lucky?”

Jimin winked as he said those words to Namjoon. Jimin was quick to continue, “I’m just kidding! You’re not my type, but you are my Jin hyung’s type!”

If Namjoon wasn’t choking on air before, he was now. Jin placed a hand over Jimin’s mouth as he laughed nervously, “Oh, Jiminie, you don’t know when to keep that big mouth of yours shut! You say the silliest things, don’t you?”

The older male’s eyes narrowed at Jimin as he hissed quietly, “Now keep your fucking mouth shut or I’ll make sure you find a rat shoved up your ass when I can use my powers!”

Jimin rolled his eyes into the back of his head, as if he was trying to show that having a rat shoved up his ass was a major turn on. Jimin even went the extra mile to moan into Jin’s hand. The sound was muffled, but they could hear how he was moaning that it had been a long time since anything was shoved up his ass so he would take what he could get.

Jin rolled his eyes at his friend and removed his hand when the blonde licked it. Jin wiped his hand on his shirt as he stated, “Yeah, so, I’m Jin but my codename is Paradox because I have paradox manipulation. For any idiots in the room, paradox manipulation is when I can make anything logical become illogical. One second you can be standing on the ground and the next I can make you stand on the ceiling.”

“Or if you’re Jimin,” Jin’s eyes shifted dangerously towards his partner in crime, “one second you can have your ass empty and the next I can make sure there’s a damn rat up there.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, hyung!”

“God, you need help.”

“Don’t we all?”

Jin nodded, he couldn’t argue with that logic. Jungkook raised his hand, but didn’t wait to be called on to speak, “How did you two get caught? Did one of you fuck up?”

The two males looked to each other, the previous playful atmosphere turning into a solemn one. It seemed that their capture was something that hurt both of them. It seemed that the mere mention of their arrest brought back painful memories and left a sour taste in their mouths.

“They laid a trap for us and ambushed us,” Jin moved to wrap an arm around Jimin’s shoulders, “they managed to capture Jimin before he could manipulate their luck. They knocked him out and held a gun to his head. They could kill him before I had a chance to alter reality, so I had no choice but to surrender.”

“You didn’t have to surrender.”

“I couldn’t risk them hurting you.”

“A good villain would’ve left me behind, you know.”

Jin placed both of his hands on Jimin’s face, cupping those pouting cheeks. Jin had a soft smile on his face, “I’d rather be a shitty villain than a shitty older brother.”

Hoseok and Jungkook were the only ones who cooed at Jin’s words and at the way Jimin grabbed one of his partner’s hands to place a kiss upon his skin. Namjoon’s eyes widened as he watched the scene play out.

The more he watched the two partners interact, the more Namjoon’s thoughts regarding them started to change. He previously thought that these people were monsters, but maybe that wasn’t right. There were holes in the picture that the woman was trying to portray of Jin and Jimin, making Namjoon wonder what else wasn’t true about these people.

“Me next! Me next!”

Namjoon shook his head with a smile, but that didn’t bother Jungkook in the slightest.

The blue haired male smiled as he introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Jungkook but I like to be called Copycat when I’m absorbing people’s powers! It’s under control so don’t worry, you can touch me! Especially you! You can touch me!”

No one was ready for Jungkook to shamelessly flirt with Taehyung like that. The raven-haired male shot a wicked grin back as he returned, “You shouldn’t have said that. I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you now!”

“If I touch you, what will you give me, V?”

“Black holes and this dick.”

“Perfect.”

Yoongi was the only one who gave a wolf whistle to the two males, while everyone else was shocked at how forward they were with each other. Taehyung made his way over to Jungkook and grabbed his hand.

Part of Taehyung wished that Jungkook could use his powers so he could know what it felt like to have some of his ability absorbed. Taehyung might have been a bit of a masochist, but he hoped it would hurt when he was being absorbed.

“Call me Taehyung.”

“Can I call you mine?”

“Only if I can say the same about you.”

Namjoon had no idea what the fuck was going on. One second Yoongi’s coming onto Hoseok, then Jin’s having a heart to heart with Jimin, and now Taehyung and Jungkook were getting together.

Everything was moving fast and Namjoon didn’t know if that was normal. He took a deep breath, trying to rationalize everything. It was while he was trying to make sense of everything that he realized something.

These people weren’t supposed to be rational.

These people weren’t supposed to make sense. These people didn’t care about how long they had known each other before making a move. These people didn’t have all the time in the world to get to know each other so when something felt right, they acted on that feeling. Time together wasn’t something that they had so they were making the most of this, of being with each other.

“Fuck it, I’ll go next.”

All eyes were on Yoongi as he stated, “They call me Suga, but I’m not sweet. I’ll fucking stab you and your family if you try to say I’m sweet.”

“If you’re not sweet, why are you Suga?”

“I wasn’t always fucked up,” Yoongi shook his head, earning a comforting squeeze from Hoseok, “Suga comes from the first syllables for shooting guard… you know, for basketball. I loved playing basketball so when my life was taken from me because of these powers I wanted to hold onto one thing that I loved.”

“What… what are your powers?”

“My powers are linked to my emotions.”

“Huh?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes to Jimin’s questions. His eyes flashed each color as he elaborated, “My emotions bring out my powers. Anger gives me super strength and indestructibility. Sadness gives me elemental manipulation. Fear gives me mental manipulation. Disgust gives me force fields. Joy gives me healing abilities.”

Hoseok was amazed at Yoongi as his eyes changed colors. When Yoongi mentioned anger, his eyes changed to red. When he mentioned sadness his eyes turned blue. Fear changed his eyes to the color purple while disgust turned his eyes green. Joy brought a flash of yellow into his eyes, and Hoseok found that he enjoyed those yellow eyes the most. Not only did he enjoy the color yellow, but he liked how that color indicated that Yoongi was happy.

“What about you, fearless leader?”

Namjoon didn’t appreciate the mocking tone Yoongi used, but he had a point. It was his turn to introduce himself, “I’m Namjoon but I’ve been given the codename RM. I have telepathy and telekinesis. I also have psychometry.”

“What the fuck is that?”

“It means I have extrasensory abilities,” Namjoon reached out and touched Hoseok, which earned him a possessive growl from Yoongi, “if I touch an object or a person I can understand everything in a minute. I can learn your past like I was there or I can understand what an object is used for.”

Hoseok slipped out of Namjoon’s grasp as soon as he said that he could understand his past. That caught Namjoon’s attention. It silently told him that Hoseok was hiding something from him, and from the rest of them. Namjoon had to repress the smile that was attempting to crawl onto his face. He was pleased to know that it was Hoseok’s turn to talk now. They had saved him for last, the most mysterious one out of all the villains.

“It’s your turn, Hoseok.”

“If we’re going to work together, call me Hobi.”

Nearly everyone cooed at the cute nickname he wanted to be addressed by. Hoseok gulped before starting, “I have an ability called astral projection. I have a radioactive entity within me that I call my soul self. It’s essentially my consciousness in radioactive form. In this form, I’m capable of flight, intangibility, possession, and creating explosions.”

“Hold on a second.”

All eyes were on Jin now. He narrowed his eyes at the little brunette as he questioned skeptically, “You have a superpower but you don’t have a shock collar, why is that? How come you’re not bound like we are?”

Hoseok didn’t appreciate how everyone’s eyes flickered back to him. Jin had valid questions, but that didn’t mean he wanted to answer them. Yet, he knew he owed them an explanation as to why he was different from the rest of them. They deserved to know why he was given more freedom than them.

“Because they know I won’t use my powers.”

“So... what? You actually like being here?”

“I know I belong here. I’ve accepted that.”

“What… what are you in for?”

Hoseok shook his head, tears forming in his eyes as the screams came flooding back into his mind. He didn’t want to relive that day. He didn’t want to remember what he had done. He didn’t want to bring himself back to the time he had taken so much from the world, unable to give something of value back or return what he had stolen. He hated how he knew he wanted to explain everything to these people. He hated how he knew he would give in and tell them everything. They deserved to know.

“I’m in here for manslaughter.”

“Yeah? So are most of us.”

“You ever kill your own parents?”

Jin’s eyes widened, taking a fearful step back. The air grew tense between the seven of them. Each of them were unable to look Hoseok in the eyes.

Most of them were coldhearted criminals, but never would they think of killing their own family. They didn’t have much of a moral code anymore, but they would’ve never bitten the hand that fed them. They would’ve never killed their parents.

“You’re not the only monster in here,” Hoseok’s voice was bitter, which contrasted with his sunshine smile he showed them earlier, “I killed my parents and everyone in the nuclear power plant when I was a child all because I couldn’t control my soul self.”

Namjoon found another hole in the picture the woman painted for him. She had said that the radiation in the power plant was what caused Hoseok to form his soul self, but Hoseok’s words made it sound like the soul self had always been a part of him. Hoseok’s words made Namjoon believe that he was always capable of astral projection and it was truly just a lack of self-control.

Hoseok felt tears pour down his cheeks as he chuckled darkly, “They tell everyone that it was the radiation that created my soul self, but they’re wrong. I carried my soul self within me since I was young. I had it under control until I snuck into that damn power plant.”

“I’d never been around that much radiation before,” he took his hand back from Yoongi so he could wipe his tears away, “it was overwhelming and I lost control. My soul self left my body and accidentally caused a meltdown. The place was coming down and I couldn’t find my body to return to. I needed help to find my body but I didn’t realize how much radiation my soul self was absorbing in the meltdown.”

“Hobi…”

“I killed everyone I touched.”

Now it all made sense when Hoseok argued with the woman that it was an accident. He never meant to hurt anyone, let alone kill people. He was young and didn’t understand that the meltdown made his soul self so radioactive that a simple touch could kill.

Namjoon couldn’t imagine reaching out to people for help, only to kill them the moment he touched them. Jungkook might absorb abilities when he touched them, but he didn’t have a toxic touch like Hoseok’s soul self.

Namjoon understood why the woman said that Hoseok was covered in bandages when they locked him up. His body had been exposed to an excessive amount of radiation, internally and externally. That woman was making fun of Hoseok for looking like a mummy when he must have been in an excruciating amount of pain. People made fun of Hoseok for being in pain and Namjoon found that unforgivable.

“There’s one thing I don’t understand, Hobi.”

“What is it, Namu?”

The leader gave a small smile at the newfound nickname before stating, “Earlier you said that you didn’t want to do this again. Does this mean this isn’t your first BTS Squad mission?”

Hoseok’s shoulders sagged, clearly this was another sensitive topic for him. Yoongi wrapped his arms around Hoseok, bringing the smaller male to his chest as a means of protecting him.

But this was not something that Yoongi could protect him from. There was nothing Yoongi could do to protect Hoseok from the past. The screams he had heard and the things he had seen would never leave him alone.

“There was a team before this one,” Hoseok shook his head against Yoongi’s chest, “we were sent on an impossible mission. We succeeded… but I was the only one that made it out alive. God, there was so much blood… I lost all my friends in one night… I don’t want to see that happen again.”

Suddenly, Hoseok broke out of Yoongi’s arms. He walked over to a chair and kicked it over as he hissed, “I’m so fucking sick of this BTS Squad bullshit! I don’t want to get close to all of you just to watch all of you die! I can’t do that again! I can’t-“

Almost everyone screamed as they saw a blue spirit pull itself out of Hoseok’s body. Jungkook dove forward to catch Hoseok’s body as it crumpled to the floor like it was lifeless.

Once everyone could breathe easy knowing that Hoseok was safe, they shifted their attention to the blue spirit that was floating in the middle of them.

The blue spirit looked like it was made of electricity with the way volts would constantly travel all around its body to create the form. It was strange how the spirit took the same form of Hoseok, and that’s when it hit them.

This was Hoseok’s soul self.

This was his radioactive spirit that lived within his body. This was his consciousness floating in front of them. The spirit’s glowing white eyes looked at each of them and then down at itself, like it couldn’t believe that it had been released.

As soon as Yoongi reached out to try to touch the spirit, it jerked away. The spirit made no noise as it shook its head and flew back into Hoseok’s body.

The little brunette’s eyes shot open and air returned to his lungs, making him gasp loudly. His chest was heaving up and down as he looked around the room. Jungkook held the other male close to his chest and nuzzled his face into his brunette locks, trying to provide some sense of comfort.

“Are you okay, Hobi?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose control.”

“Was that… was that your soul self?”

“Yeah… yeah, that was my soul self.”

Hoseok gave a small smile as he nuzzled back at Jungkook. He looked up at the blue haired male with gentle eyes, “Thanks for catching my body. I’m pretty defenseless when I release my soul self. I can't talk when I'm in that form, either, so I couldn't tell all of you not to touch me.”

“Weaknesses!”

Slowly, everyone turned to face Namjoon, who was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly after his outburst. They all hadn’t known each other for very long, but they already knew it was out of character for Namjoon to erupt like that.

He muttered an apology to everyone, but Hoseok's words reminded him that each of them had ignored something he asked of them when they said their little introductions.

“We need to know each other’s weaknesses,” everyone’s eyes widened, Namjoon had a point, “we need to be able to cover each other’s weak spots. We know that Hobi’s weaknesses are that his body is defenseless when he’s projecting and his soul self can't talk. Oh! Jin and Jimin, you’re each other’s weaknesses!”

“Kindly fuck yourself.”

“It’s true!”

“Jimin doesn’t make me weak.”

Namjoon walked over to Jin and grabbed his hands. He squeezed them as he explained, “You’re right, Jimin doesn’t make you weak but you’re always looking out for him, and vice versa. You two look out for each other and that’s awesome, but that could leave you two open to an attack.”

“What do you suppose we do then?”

The taller brunette slipped his hands from Jin’s, much to both of their dismay. Namjoon would’ve stayed there holding Jin’s hands longer but he was on a roll right now. He was starting to piece everything together, but he needed more.

He needed to know if the rest of the team had any weaknesses or anything else worth sharing, just like he asked before and they all ignored, but that’s besides the point. He could forgive them for ignoring his requests if they could cooperate with him now.

He whipped around and looked to Jungkook, who was now assisting Hoseok to his feet.

He pointed at the blue haired male, “What would you say your weaknesses are? Anything we should know about you?”

“I guess it sucks that I have to touch someone to absorb their ability,” Jungkook’s thoughtful expression turned into a devious one, “but I like how stealing their ability is my reward after I kill someone.”

Namjoon cringed at the last part but he had to admit that Jungkook did give him valuable information. Jungkook’s ability was much like his psychometry. Both of them had to be able to touch someone for their abilities to work.

Namjoon nodded, more so to himself as he pieced everything together like he was working on a puzzle only he could see.

His eyes moved from Jungkook and over to Taehyung. The raven-haired male rolled his eyes and stated, “I can use the black holes to travel into the future, but I need to really concentrate if you want me to be accurate with the time.”

“Can you control the suction of your black holes?”

Taehyung deadpanned, but if one looked into his eyes they would see he was insulted by such a question.

His words were dripping with sarcasm as he replied, “No, I can create black holes but I can’t control the suction so I end up getting sucked into them, too… dumbass.”

“The sarcasm wasn’t needed, but okay…”

Yoongi knew that he was next so he figured he would just get it over with, “I have control over my emotions so that’s not an issue. My eyes can flash all the different colors but that doesn’t mean I’m using my powers.”

Then it seemed like Yoongi’s only weakness would be Hoseok. Overall, all of this information was very useful. Namjoon smiled. He could see the puzzle coming together and forming a picture that he liked better than the one the woman created. This picture not only symbolized the truth, but it showed the seven of them as being more than villains.

It portrayed them as victims, as people who had been tormented by the criminal justice system. They were being painted as monsters, but the more time Namjoon spent with them the more he was starting to realize who the real monsters were.

Some of them might not be stable mentally, but that didn’t make someone bad. It just showed them as someone who needed help and society turned their back on them, pushing them into someone they didn’t want to be, or someone they didn’t have to be.

“Okay, I think I know what we have to do.”

The six males huddled together as they listened to Namjoon, “We need to stay close to one another and we need to have each other’s backs. I might be the leader of this squad, but I need you all behind me to watch my blind spots. I want the rest of you behind me on both sides waiting for my commands.”

Hoseok’s hand found Jungkook’s, squeezing it to try to find solace as Namjoon carried on, “Yoongi, on my left I want you sticking by Hobi’s side. If he has to use his astral projection then you need to use your force field to keep his body safe. On my right will be Jin and Jimin. Since you two already work well together we’ll keep that the same.”

“Jungkook, you’ll stay with Yoongi and Hobi,” Jungkook looked to Hoseok, smiling at the brunette, “Yoongi’s got multiple superpowers so find which one you need at the moment and absorb some of it.”

The leader turned to look at Taehyung, “And you’ll stay with Jin and Jimin to provide backup for them. The three of you could make a lethal combination with all your bad luck, illogical realities, and black holes.”

Namjoon waited for one of them to object, or for Jimin to ask a question. He was shocked to find that none of them had anything to say about his team formation. He had never led a team before so he wasn’t sure if they were quiet because they were questioning his skills or if he had said something brilliant and they couldn't find any faults in it. Namjoon would have to see them fight in that formation in order to see if it would actually work, but for the moment it sounded relatively solid.

“I have a question.”

“Yes, Taehyung?”

“Why the fuck are we doing this?”

“Because we have to.”

“I say we overpower these bitches when we can use our powers,” Taehyung crossed his arms, “the world’s done nothing good for us so why the hell should we save it?”

Namjoon felt fear coursing through his veins when he saw some of the team members starting to nod in agreement. Even Namjoon could not deny that Taehyung had a point. They were all thrown in prison, some deserving of their confinement while others were undeserving.

Regardless if they deserved it or not, they were still here. The world did not care if they committed crimes on accident or if they were not mentally stable. The world did not care for them and it saw them as nothing more than a thorn in its side. The world didn’t care about these seven males.

“Don’t be the villain they all want you to be.”

All eyes were on Hoseok, who had dared to pipe up. The little brunette stepped forward, “You’re all so much more than villains. You’ve all showed me that there’s good in each of you in such a short amount of time.”

Hoseok had a small smile on his face as he turned to each person he called out, “Tae, you stood up for me and protected me. Jungkook, you caught my body when I lost control. Yoongi, you kept me grounded when I was trying to run from what’s growing between us. Jin and Jimin, you showed me that your hearts are the prettiest things about you two.”

“And Namu,” the little brunette turned around to face the taller male, “you showed me that we’re more than what we’ve been told we are. We’re more than murderers and thieves. You showed us that we decide who we are.”

Hoseok stood firm by Namjoon’s side. There was a fire in his eyes as he stated, “We’ve been given a chance to show the world that it was wrong about us. We’ve been given the chance to give a shit today… the only question is, what are you going to do with that chance?”

At first, no one said anything.

Everyone looked around the room, trying to determine what they should do based on what the person next to them was planning on doing. Yoongi looked like he was barely paying attention to the words Hoseok was saying because he was so focused on appreciating his beauty. It wasn’t until Taehyung crossed his arms and stepped forward that Yoongi was brought out of his trance.

“Hobi, I would slit someone’s throat for you,” he unfolded his arms and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes down casted as he sighed, “but let’s face it. This mission is an impossible one. You’re asking us to be willing to die.”

“Yeah… I guess I am.”

Hoseok’s eyes followed Taehyung’s to the floor, finally realizing that he was asking his friends to willingly accept the mission, participate wholeheartedly, and ultimately die in the end if the mission proved to be too great for them to handle. They were all forced to go on the mission either way, but Hoseok was asking for their cooperation. He was asking them to see this as an opportunity to be something more than a villain.

Hoseok didn’t want these people to die as villains. He wanted to give them a chance to do something good, to show the whole world that they weren’t monsters. They could die as the villains that society had portrayed them as and told them who they were, or they could die as themselves. They could redefine their legacies so that when they did die, they died being remembered the way they would’ve wanted.

“Hobi hyung.”

Those words caused Hoseok’s breath to hitch. Never had Hoseok been someone’s hyung before. He slowly looked up and that’s when he was met with Jungkook’s bunny smile.

The blue haired male stepped past Taehyung, but not before he placed a gentle hand to the other male’s back. Taehyung’s eyes widened at the touch and stayed as big as saucers as he watched Jungkook stand before the little brunette.

“All my life I’ve been surrounded by people who hate me,” Jungkook reached out and placed a large hand on Hoseok’s face, his bunny smile never faltering for a second, “I would be grateful to die amongst my friends.”

A stray tear fell down Hoseok’s face, but Jungkook was quick to swipe his thumb to remove the tear. Hoseok leaned into the blue haired male’s touch. Normally, murderers and mentally ill people are depicted as heartless and erratic beings, but that wasn’t Jungkook.

His hand was large but it was warm and inviting. His smile was bright and infectious. His entire being defied the labels that had been thrown at him the day he committed his first crime. Jungkook was called a villain, but Hoseok called him a friend.

“What do you say, Jin hyung?”

“I say I love proving people wrong.”

Jimin grinned as he grabbed Jin’s hand and raced forward, joining the other three males. Jin stuck close to Namjoon’s side while Jimin raced to Hoseok. He latched himself onto the brunette from behind, cheering that they were going to have so much fun before they died tonight. He was giggling, saying that he couldn’t wait to go out with a bang. He was smiling, despite knowing that he could potentially die in a few hours.

Yoongi shrugged and walked by Taehyung, making sure to bump into him along the way. Yoongi’s eyes flashed red as he locked onto Jimin, silently telling the blonde that he better get off of his Hoseok. Jimin stuck his tongue out at the platinum blonde but released Hoseok from his grasp.

As Yoongi wrapped an arm around Hoseok’s waist, Jimin bounced towards the blue haired male. Jungkook had a devilish smirk on his face as he copied Yoongi, holding Jimin the same way he was holding Hoseok.

Jungkook knew what he was doing. He knew he was making Taehyung jealous with the way that he had an arm around Jimin’s waist. He was baiting Taehyung. He was daring the raven-haired male to do something about it. He could see a glint of anger in Taehyung’s eyes. Jungkook knew he had succeeded when the other male growled and stormed towards him.

“Fine! I’ll willingly die with you assholes!”

“Aww, Tae likes us!”

Taehyung grumbled under his breath that Jungkook was annoying, but that didn’t stop him from slinging his arm around the blue haired male’s shoulders. Jungkook was surprised that Taehyung didn’t make him stop holding Jimin.

Yet, the more Jungkook looked into Taehyung’s eyes, the more he could see that all his anger had vanished. His eyes were focused on Jimin, who was rambling about how they could make an iconic trio. He wasn’t listening to the blonde, rather it seemed like he was admiring him.

Jungkook started giggling, which concerned everyone because no one had any idea what he was laughing at. None of them knew that Jungkook found it amusing how Taehyung was undoubtedly enchanted by Jimin.

It was like Jimin was the angel on Taehyung’s shoulder and Jungkook was the devil on the other side. Jungkook felt like he and Taehyung clicked before, but this was different. When they clicked, Jungkook wasn’t satisfied but now that Jimin was added into the mix, everything felt like it was sinking into place.

Namjoon was brought out of his thoughts when he felt Hoseok lean his head against his arm.

Namjoon looked down just in time to be met with Hoseok’s heart shaped smile, “Yah, you’ve got your team, Namu. What’s next?”

“We go to war.”

Chapter Text

“You’ve got pretty hands, Yoon.”

After they had all agreed to form the BTS Squad because of their own free will, they split up to take care of each other before the woman returned to send them off.

Yoongi was sitting on the ground by the front of the room, his back pressed against the wall while Hoseok’s back was resting against his chest. Yoongi smiled as he snaked his arms around Hoseok’s middle, causing the little brunette to reach for the large pale hands.

Hoseok was smiling as he felt Yoongi’s chin rest against his shoulder. He could tell the platinum blonde was eyeing his movements as he caressed those large hands. Yoongi’s hands were much bigger than Hoseok’s, and his veins were far more visible due to his light skin tone.

These were the same hands that had taken the lives of so many people, but these were also the same hands that made Hoseok feel safe. These weren’t the hands of a murderer, but these were the hands of a pianist.

“They’re perfect for playing the piano, right?”

“Yeah, you’ve got long fingers.”

Hoseok leaned back against Yoongi, giggling when he felt a pair of lips pressing against his neck. Between his giggles, Hoseok managed to squeak out, “Tell me about how you played the piano! Who taught you how to play?”

Yoongi stopped his kiss attack on Hoseok, smiling as the brunette’s breathing started to even out. He hummed against Hoseok’s skin, “My mother taught me when I was a child, before I lost my head. She used to put her hands on mine while I was learning.”

“I used to change the melody every time,” Yoongi had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was reliving his childhood memories, “she would be playing something on the other end of the piano and I… I would always change the line.”

The little brunette didn’t have to be looking at Yoongi to know that there were tears in his eyes as he saw his memories flash across his very eyes.

Hoseok knew that Yoongi could picture that grand old piano that he once sat in front of with his mother at his side. He knew that if Yoongi reached out to touch the ghost of his mother his mind created then he would surely pass right through her, as if even his memories would cease to exist one day, too.

“It sounds like the piano means a lot to you.”

“No one knows me like the piano.”

“What does the piano know?”

“It knows everything,” the platinum blonde brought Hoseok closer, hugging him as if he was a body pillow, “it was there for me through everything until I was taken away from it. That piano was the only friend I had.”

Yoongi removed his face from Hoseok’s neck, opting to lean back against the wall. He stared at the ceiling as he continued, “I remember how the piano was the only one that was there for me when my powers came through. I couldn’t control my powers when my emotions would flare so I hurt everyone and destroyed everything… everything but the piano.”

Hoseok couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like for Yoongi to be in the midst of his powers coming to life and no one was able to help him. He could just picture Yoongi’s red eyes blazing as he broke everything he touched. He could hear the sound of young Yoongi crying out for help while everyone stood a safe distance away from him, watching as the platinum blonde struggled alone. When the only thing that’s there to support you when you’re losing yourself is a piano then that means the world has started to fail you.

“The piano helped me when no one else would,” the platinum blonde smiled as Hoseok’s hands rested atop of his, reminding him of the way his mother’s hands felt, “I learned to control my emotions by playing the piano. I would hate myself if I hurt that piano so I knew I had to be better… I had to control myself.”

“How’d you control your emotions?”

“I played songs that matched my emotions.”

Yoongi nuzzled his face into Hoseok’s hair, whispering into those brunette locks, “When I was feeling angry, I played songs that sounded mad. I would find songs to match my emotions. My eyes would be flashing different colors but I wasn’t using my powers. I let the emotions out my way.”

“When did you…”

“Lose my mind?”

“Yeah…”

“When my genes mutated I started to lose myself,” he inhaled deeply, smiling at the faint scent of vanilla and honey, “my brain couldn’t handle it so something had to give… so I lost my sanity. I know I might seem okay right now but when you see me on the mission… you’ll see how twisted my mind is.”

It made Hoseok sad to hear Yoongi talk about himself the same way others did. It felt like Yoongi had started to believe all the things the people beyond his cell would say about him, how he was a sick and manic individual with no remorse for the living.

It wasn’t fair to say that Yoongi had no remorse for the living when Hoseok could tell by the guilt dripping in his voice that he regretted the damage he caused. It wasn’t fair to place all the blame on Yoongi for the terror he caused, seeing as how his powers effected his mental stability.

Hoseok started to wonder what would have happened to Yoongi if his family had taken him somewhere to get help. Yoongi could’ve been seen by a professional to help improve his mental health. Yoongi could’ve been trained by someone to control his abilities.

Yoongi didn’t have to face everything on his own, but because he was going through this alone, he suffered. Hoseok knew that Yoongi never had to be here if the people in his life saw beyond his uncontrollable destruction, and saw a child who was desperately begging for a hand to hold.

Hoseok felt selfish for not wanting anyone to help Yoongi, because that confirmed that the platinum blonde would be here now with him. If Yoongi had received help then there’s a strong chance that he wouldn’t be in prison for committing heinous crimes. If Yoongi had gotten the help he needed, then they wouldn’t be sitting on the ground in a sterile looking room holding each other like it was their last day together.

“My life wasn’t all bad, Hobi.”

“You’re talking like your life’s already over.”

“It feels like it is,” Hoseok turned his head to the side to look at Yoongi as he spoke, “I’ve missed out on a lot because of my fucked up mind. I’ve been walking in circles all my life… it feels like I’ve wasted it.”

“I don’t think you’ve been walking in circles.”

“What would you call it then?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened when he heard Hoseok’s small voice murmuring, “I think you’ve been walking in the dark for quite some time, looking for a light to follow to guide you home. Maybe… maybe I could be that light.”

“No, you’re not the light,” Hoseok’s eyes widened, tears filling to the brim until he heard Yoongi chuckle, “you’re so much more than the light. You’re my destination… you’re home to me.”

At first, Hoseok’s tears were flooding his eyes because he was saddened by Yoongi’s words, and now these tears replaced the sadness with happiness. He closed his eyes and laughed as the tears streamed down his face.

Yoongi had seen plenty of pretty sights before in his life. He had seen blood splattered all over walls like a painting from hell, and that was truly a sight to behold, but he realized that nothing would ever be as beautiful as Hoseok right now.

Yoongi had seen bodies splayed out on the ground, some of them missing limbs while others had their organs out on display. He had wrapped intestines around people’s throats and hung them from lamp posts, as if he was doing a public execution for the city to see. He had smeared blood along glass windows, making hand prints and drawing smiley faces with the bodily fluid. He would look upon his works and smile, taking pride in this sickening form of art. He took pride in the carnage he created, or at least he thought he did.

Suddenly, Hoseok entered his life and all the bloodshed he was responsible for didn’t feel like art anymore. As soon as Hoseok came into his view, it was like everything he had done before was nothing, like it wasn’t good enough to be called art. The massacres he made weren’t art anymore, but Hoseok was.

Hoseok showed him that what he was doing before wasn’t art. Now, art was seeing that heart shaped smile plastered across Hoseok’s face.

Art was seeing how Hoseok’s honey toned skin seemed to glow under the lights in the room. Art was the way Hoseok’s laugh sounded like the sweet melody of the piano from his childhood. Art was those warm chocolate orbs that sparkled like the stars in the night sky. Art was Hoseok in every way, shape, and form.

“You’re home to me, too.”

“I’ll keep you safe, don’t worry.”

Yoongi didn’t know that he already made Hoseok feel safe. Yoongi didn’t know that his arms wrapped around his lithe form made him feel safe. Yoongi didn’t know that his soft lips pressed against his neck made him feel safe. Yoongi didn’t know that his cat-like eyes trained on him made him feel safe. Yoongi didn’t know that hearing stories of his childhood and how he came to be the man he is today made Hoseok feel safe. Yoongi didn’t know that everything about him screamed safety to Hoseok.

For once, it wasn’t the screams of the past that overwhelmed Hoseok. Enter Yoongi and the screams sounded like crickets in the night now. They sounded like background noises to him because all he could focus on was Yoongi. Hoseok wasn’t feeling pain and guilt anymore.

All he could feel was the overwhelming love and adoration that Yoongi was more than willing to give him. All he could feel was Yoongi, and that was all he wanted to feel for the rest of his life, however long that was.

“I’ll keep you safe, Yoon.”

“Why are you two looking at me like that?”

Normally, Jimin appreciated wandering eyes finding him, but these eyes weren’t innocent. These eyes were staring at him as if he was a piece of meat, and the two boys ogling him were wolves that hadn’t eaten in days.

While Jimin admired being the center of attention, he wanted to know what they were thinking while they were devouring him with their eyes.

These were killers, after all.

He was hoping that they weren’t plotting his demise on the mission. He was hoping that they weren’t planning on ripping him open to see if his heart was as pretty as his face. He was hoping that when they looked at him, they saw something more as a person to torture. He hoped they saw him as more than a teammate, and more than a friend.

Truth be told, Jimin was attracted to the two men as soon as he saw them, but Taehyung and Jungkook seemed to be perfect for each other. Taehyung had a temper on him that could easily provoke him to become violent while Jungkook’s mind was distorted, like he was one second away from tearing out someone’s spine and using it as a xylophone. They weren’t okay mentally, and that’s what made them perfect for each other.

Jimin sighed.

He would never be like them. He could threaten to make someone’s luck so bad that something would kill them, but he wouldn’t actually do it. He could fool anyone into thinking that he would go that far, but he knew he could never pull the trigger.

He could never kill someone, nor could he ever find pleasure in the act. Jimin could handle assaulting someone and stealing from them, but he drew the line at murder. He knew if he crossed that line, he might not come back.

The blonde couldn’t be like Taehyung and Jungkook so he figured he might as well try to get over them now. Secretly, he hoped that he would die on the mission tonight because it would make getting over the two males so much easier.

Yet, he started to take that thought back when he realized that he would leave Jin behind. He knew his death would devastate Jin, and he couldn’t do that to him.

Jimin groaned loudly. Now he knew he couldn’t die tonight. He would have to find another way to get over them, one that didn’t involve dying.

Maybe he could manipulate his own luck on the mission. He had never inflicted bad luck upon himself because who the fuck wants to be unlucky?

Yet, if he made himself unlucky then he could make something fall on his head and he could develop amnesia, potentially forgetting who Taehyung and Jungkook were.

Wait a second… fuck, what if the amnesia was great enough to make him forget Jin? Damn it. Another failed plan.

Jimin was starting to realize that his plans were all failing because he cared too much about Jin. He knew any damage he did upon himself would result in pain for Jin, and he could never will himself to hurt the man who had taken him in, protected him, and loved him. Jin was all Jimin had in this world so he would never be able to bring himself to hurt the older male.

Jimin didn’t even bother to consider manipulating Taehyung and Jungkook’s luck because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do anything to them, either. He couldn’t bring himself to ever use his ability on them, unless it was to make them lucky. Jimin knew he could adjust his own luck and give himself a better chance at being with them, but he realized it wouldn’t be natural. He wanted them to like him for him, not because he made them like him.

“Because you’re pretty.”

“Huh? What did you just say?”

“I said, you’re pretty, dumbass.”

Leave it to Taehyung to compliment him and then insult him in the same sentence. Jimin’s eyes went wide when he finally let those simple words sink in.

Taehyung had called him pretty.

Taehyung found him attractive. Better yet, Jimin had asked a question that was directed at both males and Taehyung responded for both himself and Jungkook. That meant that Jungkook also found him attractive.

“Like I’m pretty enough to kill,” a thought quickly popped into Jimin’s mind, “or, like, I’m pretty enough to be a model? Because those are two very different kinds of pretty. I’d prefer the latter, if you two don’t mind.”

Taehyung folded his arms in front of his chest and rolled his eyes. Jungkook closed his eyes and giggled, “Silly, Jiminie! You’re so pretty I could just eat you up!”

Jimin was about to coo, until he remembered that Jungkook was mentally unstable. He had literally seen Jungkook playing with his own blood, using it as paint.

Jungkook was the kind of person who might fuck around and actually eat some of his victims. Jimin felt a shiver run down his spine at the thought of Jungkook finding him pretty enough to eat. Jungkook had somehow found a way to make something cute sound so horrifying.

“Judgmental prick.”

“Wh-What? Me?”

“Yeah, you. I can practically hear you thinking.”

“What am I thinking, Tae?”

“You really can’t see past our criminal profiles,” Taehyung’s eyes were glaring daggers into Jimin’s soul, “you’re overthinking the fuck out of what Jungkook just said. He meant that you’re hella fucking pretty and you took it as he would eat you. We might be murderers, but we aren’t cannibals!”

Jimin’s eyes avoided Taehyung’s harsh gaze. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Jungkook to apologize to him. He was far too embarrassed to have stooped as low as to view them as nothing more than villains.

He would even dare to say that he was acting like the woman who had locked them up in this room. She looked at them and saw criminals, nothing more. Jimin didn’t want to look at Taehyung and Jungkook through the eyes of that woman.

“Yah, don’t be so hard on him, Tae.”

“I won’t let him think badly of you.”

“Look at him. He’s beating himself up inside.”

“You’re too soft.”

“And you’re too angry.”

Taehyung rolled his eyes at the blue haired male, but he didn’t disagree. Jungkook playfully nudged his lover before shifted his attention to Jimin, “Yah, do me a favor. Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see?”

Jimin furrowed his brow in confusion. What the hell was Jungkook talking about? There was no mirror around and there was certainly nothing he could use as one. Jimin looked around the room, hoping that doing so would humor Jungkook. He faced the blue haired male and ran a frustrated hand through his blonde locks.

“There’s no mirror, Jungkook.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to be your mirror then.”

The blonde felt like Jungkook had placed a hand in his head and was squishing his brain like he was giving it a terrible massage. He had absolutely no idea what was going on. He knew that Jungkook was mentally unstable but this was starting to feel like something else. Jimin was confused, but he had a feeling that Jungkook had a reason behind all of this talk of mirrors and becoming a mirror.

“As your mirror, this is what I see,” Jungkook leaned into Jimin’s personal space, “I see two mischievous brown eyes, ones that belong to a thief. Beyond the eyes of a thief, I can see the sad chocolate brown eyes of a scared child.”

Jimin’s breath hitched. He attempted to move away, but Jungkook reached out and grabbed his wrists to keep him still. Jimin didn’t know how Jungkook knew. He didn’t know how the blue haired male could see that he was terrified on the inside. He didn’t want to hear what else Jungkook had to say, but part of him knew that he had to.

Jungkook’s large hands gave a reassuring squeeze to Jimin’s wrists as he smiled, “I see a little boy who was burned one too many times. I see a boy who learned that he could only depend on himself and one other.”

“I see little Jimin,” the tears in Jimin’s eyes were blurring Jungkook’s smiling face, “a lost boy who ingrained it into his mind that he could only be a thief, that he could only trust Jin, and that a person can only be what society says they are.”

“Jungkook, please…”

“You know what else I see?”

“Wh-What?”

“I see hope.”

The blonde’s shoulders were shaking as he closed his eyes, allowing the hot tears to break free from his eyes. Jungkook was hitting him right on the nail. Jimin had difficulty trusting anyone who wasn’t Jin after his family and friends sold him out and left him for dead when he was young. Jimin never saw himself or others as anything more than the labels thrown their way.

Jungkook moved forward, placing his forehead against Jimin’s. He murmured to the blonde, “I see a little boy who’s hoping that we can see past his defensive exterior. I see a lost boy who is hoping that we will find him. You don’t have to hope for these things anymore.”

“Yeah, because we can see you.”

Jimin’s head snapped towards Taehyung when he heard the sound of his voice. A boxy smile was creeping onto Taehyung’s face, “We don’t see you or judge you based on your past or your worst mistakes. When we look at you, we just see Jimin.”

Taehyung moved closer to Jimin, swatting Jungkook’s right hand off of the blonde so he could replace him. Jungkook giggled at Taehyung before releasing his grip on Jimin’s right wrist.

Jimin gasped as he felt Taehyung place his soft hand on his wrist. Without saying a word, Taehyung and Jungkook moved their hands down until they were holding both of Jimin’s hands, connecting the three of them to one another.

“Can we make a deal?”

“Okay, as long as it’s not with the devil.”

The three males erupted into laughter at Jimin’s words. Taehyung had joked that it was too late for that and Jungkook was cackling that he likes to play with the devil. Before, their words would’ve concerned Jimin, but now they didn’t bother him in the slightest.

“Let’s agree on this together,” Taehyung leaned in so he could push Jungkook’s head over, making room for both of their foreheads to connect with Jimin’s, “we won’t see murderers, sociopaths, or thieves when we look at each other… we’ll only see each other as Jimin, Taehyung, and Jungkook.”

In a way, it sounded like Taehyung was wiping the slate clean, like he was insisting that they give each other a fresh start with one another. This deal would allow them to drop their aliases, and to drop their guard around one another. This deal would not only solidify their relationship, but it would promise that they would be each other’s mirrors.

Jimin didn’t think people like them got to start over, but Taehyung and Jungkook were changing the way he saw everything. They were changing the way he saw life, and the way he saw everyone in the room. They had given him a fresh pair of eyes, ones that could see beyond the reflection in the mirror, ones that could see everyone as more than their profiles.

This clean slate and these new eyes allowed Jimin to see Taehyung and Jungkook as just that.

Taehyung and Jungkook.

He could see that beneath Taehyung’s anger was so much passion. Under all of his rage was a boy who loved a little too much, and a little too hard. He could see that beneath Jungkook’s insanity was so much purity. Under all of his wild thoughts was a boy who just wanted to love, and be loved in return. Beyond the surface, the three of them were the same.

“It’s a deal.”

“Looks like everyone’s falling in love.”

“You looking to fall in love, Joon?”

There was a cheeky smile on Jin’s face as he wiggled his eyebrows at Namjoon. He was expected to see a blush spreading across Namjoon’s face, but the exact opposite happened.

Namjoon turned his head in the other direction to avoid Jin altogether. Jin blinked a few times, wondering if he had come on too strong and had made Namjoon uncomfortable. The last thing he wanted was to make Namjoon uncomfortable, and to ruin his shot at being with the brunette.

“Yah, I didn’t mean to-“

“Someone like me doesn’t deserve love anymore.”

Anymore? Jin was confused to hear that word because it indicated that Namjoon once believed that he deserved to have love. The raven-haired male wondered what had happened to the other male to believe that he didn’t deserve to feel such a strong and passionate emotion. Jin raised a hand to his head and scratched it, physically showing Namjoon that he was confused.

Jin started to wonder why Namjoon didn’t think that he deserved love anymore. Anymore. That damn word was bothering the hell out of him. Jin didn’t understand why Namjoon had used that word.

It was tormenting him at this point, making him think about all the possible events that transpired to make Namjoon believe he didn’t deserve love. Everyone deserved to be loved, even criminals like them.

Jin had committed many crimes in his life but never once did he believe that someone like him was undeserving of love. He stole from the rich and he stole from the poor, but that didn’t make him feel like he didn’t deserve love. He didn’t give a fuck about who he hurt along the way, but he still felt like he should have love.

He was a criminal, but he was still human. It’s human nature to want to love and be loved, but Namjoon was trying to resist human nature.

That’s when it hit Jin.

Namjoon must have done something in his life to feel like love was no longer acceptable for him. Jin could commit crimes like it was nothing and still feel like he deserved love because he was used to what he did. He had feeling that Namjoon had committed a crime that he wasn’t used to.

Namjoon had done something that cut deep enough that his heart took damage. Jin only hoped that the damage wasn’t irreversible, and that he could fix everything.

“Joon… why are you in prison?”

There it is. Jin’s eyes widened as he saw Namjoon wince, as if his words had burned him. Namjoon moved away from the raven-haired male, sitting down in a chair but making no signs of wanting Jin to stay away.

Jin moved slowly as he grabbed a chair and pulled it over so that he could sit down in front of the tall brunette. He stayed silent as he watched Namjoon place his elbows on his thighs, resting them there as his hands held his face like he was Atlas, holding the weight of the world in those hands.

Jin could tell that his question had struck a nerve that sent waves down to his very soul. Namjoon didn’t have to say it. Jin knew that he was right.

He had found the reason why Namjoon didn’t believe he deserved love. Namjoon had committed a crime that changed everything, even how he looked at himself. Jin just hoped that he wasn’t too late, that it wasn’t too late to save him from the weight that was crushing him, punishing him.

“I did something bad.”

“Namjoon…”

“I didn’t mean to do it…”

“What did you do?”

Namjoon shook his head in his hands, afraid that if he said the words out loud then they would take him back to that dreadful day. He wished that he could forget everything that happened. He wished that he could repress all the screams, all the blood, all the tears, and all the pain he had caused. He wished for these things, but he knew they would not be fulfilled.

It pained Jin to see Namjoon like this. The raven-haired male started to realize that Namjoon only had one enemy in his life, and it was himself. Namjoon was the only enemy he seemed to lose to.

Jin had a feeling that whatever he endured in prison was nothing compared to the torture he was subjecting himself to in his mind. Prison looked like a fight at recess compared to the war that was going on in Namjoon’s mind.

“I… I killed people… innocent people.”

For the first time in a long time for Jin, the world seemed to move in slow motion. He had only felt this way when he met Jimin, and now it was happening with Namjoon. He had always thought that someone as gentle as Namjoon couldn’t have done something terrible to wind up in prison. He thought that the worst Namjoon could do in his life is return a library book a day late, but this… this was unexpected. Never in Jin’s wildest dreams did he think that Namjoon could be capable of killing people.

Jin remembered the first time he felt this way. He had found Jimin getting the shit kicked out of him in an alley. Jimin continues to say that he had the situation under control, but the raven-haired male didn’t believe that bullshit for a second. Jimin didn’t have control over his superpower and accidentally inflicted some bad luck upon himself, thus ending up with him in this predicament.

The world had moved in slow motion for Jin that night. He could see a fist slowly making contact with Jimin’s face, repeating the act until blood came out of the blonde’s nose. Jin would’ve gazed upon the sight and continued on his way any other night, but there was something about Jimin that made him pause.

There was something about the sight of the helpless blonde getting destroyed in that alley that made Jin feel something strange. There was something about the sight of Jimin pleading for his life that made Jin want to protect him at all costs.

Jin only got that feeling like the world was moving in slow motion for people who would end up meaning a great deal to him. If Jin was getting the same feeling now then he had no choice but to believe that Namjoon was supposed to mean a lot to him.

Namjoon was meant to become someone of significance in his life, just like Jimin was to him. Namjoon was meant to be someone that would be taken care of and loved by Jin.

“You… you want to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?”

Namjoon gave a sad chuckle to the older male, “There’s nothing more to talk about. I lost my temper and I lost control… I’m the reason why there’s one less dinner plate at the table for all those families.”

“It was an accident, Joon.”

“You heard what that woman said,” the tall brunette finally looked up to lock eyes with Jin, “accidents have consequences. I deserve to be in here. Better yet, I deserve to die tonight-“

Namjoon was appalled when he felt Jin slap him across the face. He gradually reached a hand to the cheek that was now sporting a red hand print. He rubbed at his cheek, trying to numb the slight sting of pain. He could hardly feel the pain because all he could focus on was the fiery eyed male glaring down at him. He could tell that Jin wasn’t necessarily angry at him, rather he was upset with the words he had spoken so carelessly.

“Shut the fuck up, Namjoon!”

“Jin, I-“

“No one deserves to die tonight!”

The tall brunette lowered his gaze to the floor, only to have Jin grab his chin and lift him up so they could look at each other, “Everyone in this room has done some fucked up shit but not one of us deserves to die tonight, especially not you!”

Jin could tell that Namjoon was not expecting to hear those words. It was as if Namjoon was expecting Jin to tell him that he was right, that he was someone who deserved to die on their mission tonight.

Jin had done terrible things in his life, but he didn’t he didn’t think that he deserved to die. Jin wanted to test Namjoon’s logic, to make him see how clouded he was right now.

“Look at Yoongi and Hobi,” Jin gently turned Namjoon’s face so he was looking at the two giggling males, “they’ve killed a lot of people. Do you think that they deserve to die tonight?”

“Well, no, of course not-“

“And what about Tae and Jungkook?”

“No, Jin, but-“

“But nothing, Joon!”

Jin dropped to his knees, his hands cupping Namjoon’s face like he was made of glass. Honestly, Namjoon might have been made of glass with the way he looked like he was close to breaking. Jin made sure his thumbs were resting against Namjoon’s pudgy cheeks, waiting for the opportunity to wipe those salty tears away if they dared to leave those chocolate orbs.

Jin prayed that those tears wouldn’t leave his eyes because he knew the moment they did, his heart would break. If anything was going to break Jin’s heart, he knew it was Namjoon.

The raven-haired male leaned in, his voice just barely above a whisper, “You did something bad, but that doesn’t make you a bad person. We’ve all done bad things… but we aren’t bad people.”

“I don’t care that you’ve killed people,” Namjoon’s eyes widened at Jin’s words, “I don’t care about the things you’ve done. I care about the things you’re going to do. You can’t change the past so stop trying to live there.”

“It’s not that easy, Jin.”

“You’re right, it’s not easy.”

Namjoon blinked away his tears, causing Jin to release a relieved sigh. He rubbed his thumbs along Namjoon’s cheeks as he continued, “I can’t imagine the torture your mind is putting you through, but that’s why I’m here… that’s why you have me now.”

“What are you-“

“I’m here to be your anchor,” Jin moved in, their lips mere inches apart, “I’m here to ground you when you’re losing yourself in the past. I’m going to hold you down, okay?”

Namjoon didn’t have to say anything for Jin to know what he was thinking. Jin could see it in his eyes. Jin could see that the younger male was pleading with him, asking why he would want to do that.

He was begging Jin to tell him why he thought he was someone worth supporting like that. He wanted to know why Jin would want to be his anchor when he was already a lost cause, when he was already too far gone.

“Don’t give me that look, Joon,” Jin showed off his precious chipmunk smile, “I’m doing this because I want to. I see something in you… something bright. I met RM today, but I’d really like to meet Namjoon.”

“Namjoon’s not worth meeting.”

“That’s up to me to decide, isn’t it?”

“What if you meet me and you-“

“I’m already falling for you. Let me fall, please.”

Jin kept his smile on his face as he erased the distance between them, placing his soft lips to Namjoon’s unsuspecting lips. Namjoon’s eyes shot open, shocked that Jin would ever want to be this close to him.

The tall brunette would’ve said that Jin was kissing the lips of a murderer, but the raven-haired male would’ve disagreed and argued that he was kissing the lips of Namjoon.

For once, Namjoon wasn’t thinking about all the lives he had taken from the world the day he lost control. Namjoon wasn’t thinking about the voices of those dying and of those crying out for someone to save their loved one. Namjoon wasn’t reliving the memories that haunted him far worse than any nightmare. Namjoon wasn’t tearing himself apart on the inside to try to feel the same pain as those removed from the earth.

For once, Namjoon was living in the moment. He was thinking about how soft Jin’s lips felt against his own, and how there was the faint taste of cherry invading his mouth from whatever was on the older male’s lips. He was thinking about how warm Jin’s hands felt on his cheeks, keeping not only his skin warm, but his heart, as well. He was thinking about how the world finally looked bright now that he had Jin in his life, and as his newfound anchor.

Neither of the males wanted to pull away, but Jin had one more thing that he wanted to say to Namjoon. There was one final message that Jin wanted to get across to the tall brunette. There was one thing Jin desperately needed Namjoon to know now, and to hold onto for the rest of his life.

Jin’s lips moved against Namjoon’s, as if he was kissing him as he was speaking softly.

“Everyone deserves to be loved, especially you.”

“Suit up and get moving, BTS.”

The woman ignored the growls she received from Yoongi and Taehyung. She lifted her finger, as if she was threatening to shock them if the two males tried to resist. To her surprise, Yoongi and Taehyung didn’t make a move.

Instead, they followed Namjoon’s lead as he walked out of the room. The woman waited until all seven of the villains were out of the room to allow her jaw to drop, surprised that they would all go willingly.

The seven males were shoved down a series of hallways until they were led onto an all-black plane. Hoseok reached for Yoongi’s hand, squeezing it to let the platinum blonde know that he was starting to feel scared.

It was starting to become real to Hoseok that he was going on another mission for the BTS Squad. He would have to enter the same plane that took him on a mission that killed all of his friends.

Hoseok froze, causing Yoongi to gasp as he felt himself get yanked back from the brunette’s stillness. Yoongi turned to coax Hoseok into moving, until he saw the look on his face. Yoongi’s eyes softened as he saw Hoseok staring at the plane. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his shoulders were shaking. It was like Hoseok was ignoring everything in the room that wasn’t the plane.

Hoseok couldn’t feel Yoongi placing his hands on his shoulders, gently shaking him to rouse him from his thoughts. Hoseok couldn’t hear the soothing words the platinum blonde was saying to try to lure him out of his mind. Hoseok could barely feel Yoongi’s presence before him, or any of the other boys.

All Hoseok could see, hear, and feel was the memory of that fateful day when he and his former BTS Squad entered that plane, and only one villain returned.

The little brunette could see his memories coming to life before his very eyes. He could see the shadows of his former teammates jogging to enter the plane, some of them jostling each other back and forth when they entered. They were smiling, cheering at the thought of completing the mission to get some time shaved off of their sentences.

Hoseok remembered feeling one of his friends wrap an arm around his shoulders as he guided him into the plane. He could still see the twisted smile on his friend’s face as he promised that he would get the brunette out of there alive.

Hoseok could see himself on the mission.

He watched as his teammates were taken down one by one until only he and his friend were left standing. Hoseok remembered how his friend had saved him, using his own body as a shield to protect him from the onslaught of bullets.

Hoseok had tears pouring down his face as he remembered pleading with his friend to stay alive for just a moment longer. He remembered holding his friend’s body in his arms, his tears falling on the other male’s face.

Hoseok could hear the sound of guns being drawn and pointed at him as he held the corpse. Hoseok remembered feeling an intense rage burning within his body and after that, everything went black. When he came to, everyone was dead. He stood before the body of his friend and silently cried. He was upset that his friend was right.

His friend got him out of there alive.

Hoseok was forced out of his thoughts when a guard shoved him from behind, pushing him into Yoongi’s arms. The platinum blonde’s eyes flashed red as he glared at the guard. Yoongi was impatiently waiting for the moment that the collars restrictions on their powers were lifted so he could tear that man in half for daring to touch his Hoseok.

“Push him again, and I’ll destroy you.”

The little brunette could barely hear Yoongi threatening the guard. He slipped through his lover’s grasp, walking aimlessly towards the plane.

There was a blank look in his eyes as he retraced his steps, returning to the plane that had brought his friends to their deaths years ago. He could feel someone’s hands on him, bringing him close to their chest. These weren’t Yoongi’s arms. This must have been Taehyung.

“Yah, you’re okay. I’ve got you.”

“Tae… they’re all gone.”

“Who’s gone? Who-“

“All my friends are dead.”

It finally started to hit everyone that this wasn’t Hoseok’s first time entering the plane for a suicide mission. He had told them that he was a part of the previous BTS Squad, and that he was the only survivor. Hoseok had to watch as all of his teammates became his friends, and then he had to watch as they became corpses.

Hoseok had the unfortunate opportunity to kill people he had known, and then to watch as people he knew were slaughtered in front of him. He knew how painful it was to kill, and he also knew how painful it was to watch as someone you cared about was killed in front of you.

As Taehyung tried to walk Hoseok towards the bench to take a seat, the brunette clutched the front of his shirt and cried, “No! You can’t sit there! Don’t sit there, please! I can’t go back to that spot!”

“Hobi, what are you-“

“My best friend sat there… and he died.”

Everyone’s hearts were aching in their chests as they felt the weight of those words. Hoseok didn’t want Taehyung to sit where his best friend sat because he associated that seat with death. He had convinced himself that Taehyung would die if he sat in the same spot his best friend did.

Hoseok was assuring himself that if he avoided the steps he had taken last time then this time would be different, this time his friends would make it out alive.

“Okay, Hobi. I won’t sit there.”

Taehyung surprised everyone by sitting on the floor of the airplane. He pulled Hoseok into his lap and snaked his arms around his middle. If Hoseok didn’t want him to sit on the bench in that spot then he would just avoid the bench altogether.

He knew there weren’t seatbelts on the ground so he and Hoseok would be tossed around when the plane took off and hit turbulence, but to Taehyung that was better than sitting where the brunette’s best friend died. He would rather take the pain than watch Hoseok suffer at the hands of his past.

Hoseok placed his small hands over Taehyung’s larger ones, just as he had done to Yoongi hours ago. His breath hitched when he saw his new teammates copy Taehyung, sitting on the ground with them.

They had a feeling that Hoseok would have the same kind of reaction with the rest of them if they sat in the same spots as the brunette’s previous teammates. To save Hoseok’s mental and emotional health, they would sit on the floor of the plane.

Hoseok couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He turned to his left and saw Yoongi sitting beside him and Taehyung. He looked to his right and saw Jungkook. He shifted his attention to the three males sitting across from him. Jin was in the middle with Namjoon on the left and Jimin on the right. They were all huddled against one another, not doubt trying to be human buffers so when they hit turbulence, they would have each other to lean on.

“You’re all going to die before the plane lands.”

“Fuck off, bitch!”

Everyone scowled at the woman as she stood at the back entrance of the plane. She fiddled with the remote in her hand as she stated, “You all know the mission. Get in, save who you can and any evidence, kill anyone who stands in your way, destroy the building, and bring me the lead scientist when it’s over.”

“Don’t even think about straying away from the mission,” her finger hovered over the button that would shock the six males, “or you’ll finally be sent to hell where you belong. Are we at an understanding?”

Taehyung rolled his eyes at the woman and groaned, “Oh my fucking God, for the hundredth time, we fucking understand! Leave us the fuck alone already!”

“I hope you die first.”

“Now I’m going to make sure I live.”

“Prick.”

“Cunt.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed at Taehyung. Everyone could tell that she was thinking hard, trying to determine if it would be worth it to kill Taehyung before the mission even began. She grit her teeth and growled in frustration.

It seemed that she had deemed Taehyung necessary for the mission’s success. Nothing must have bothered her more than knowing she couldn’t kill the man who had no filter and talked to her the same way she talked to them.

With one final growl of annoyance, she clicked a different button on the remote. Hoseok immediately noticed how the black collars the others wore had changed color.

Now, they were wearing white collars, to which Jimin snickered that it blended in with Yoongi’s skin tone because he was so pale. Yoongi’s eyes flashed red as he slammed his fist on the ground, shocking everyone when his fist dented the metal of the plane.

The boys were looking down at their hands as the woman explained, “I’ve adjusted the collars so that you can use your powers, but there are limitations. Try all you might, but you’ll never be able to remove the collars, even with the help of your powers.”

Jin rolled his eyes, not believing the woman’s words. He smirked as he snapped his fingers, expecting the collar to be off his neck when he felt it. His eyes widened when he felt that the collar was still there.

He furrowed his brow and started snapping his fingers over and over, but no avail. It seemed that the woman’s words were true. Even someone who could manipulate reality couldn’t remove the collar.

“I told you so.”

Jin crossed his arms and mocked the woman’s words. He glowered at the woman as he hissed, “What? You don’t want me performing at my best? You want me to fight with one hand tied behind my back? If this mission fails, it’ll because of you.”

The woman simply shrugged her shoulders and turned to make her exit. She looked over her shoulder and smirked, “If all of you come back to me in body bags then I’ll consider the mission a success.”

The woman could hear Taehyung calling after her, but most of his words were swears. She ignored every word he had to say as she walked away from the plane. She watched as the plane’s engine turned on, signaling that the BTS Squad was about to take off to fulfill their mission.

She didn’t bother to make sure the plane took off successfully. She stood by the words she said to Jin. She would qualify the mission as a success if none of them came back.

On the plane, the boys were being tossed around carelessly like one of their victims. The only person on the plane who was having a moderately decent experience was Hoseok, but that was only because Taehyung acted as his seat and his seatbelt.

Taehyung was sure to have bruises littering his body from all the hits he was taking, but the brunette knew that he wanted it this way. Taehyung would take all the pain if it meant that Hoseok wouldn’t feel any of it.

“Jiminie, should we turn off the turbulence?”

“Watching everyone bounce like popcorn is fun, though!”

“Come on. You’ve had your fun.”

“Ugh, fine.”

No one understood what Jin and Jimin were talking about until the two of them held hands and used their free hands to snap their fingers in unison.

Everyone nearly fell forward from the shock of not feeling the turbulence anymore. Everyone looked around, trying to understand how the two males were able to turn their bumpy flight into a smooth one.

Jin gave a confident grin as he stated, “Our powers work best together when we’re touching each other. Jimin manipulated the plane’s luck so that it won’t hit any rough patches and I merely helped to ensure that there’s no turbulence for us in here.”

With the plane ride now adjusted to be quiet and smooth, Namjoon could go over the game plan with the team. Namjoon explained their plan, telling them that they needed to get into the building so that he could touch the walls to get a feel for what to expect.

Truthfully, they had no idea what to expect because that bitch of a woman in charge made sure she didn’t spare too many details on their mission. It was obvious that she wanted them to have enough knowledge on the mission to complete it, but not enough that they would all make it out alive.

They had no idea if the building they were meant to infiltrate would have booby traps or how many guards were in the building. They wouldn’t know most of this information until they were inside and Namjoon had the opportunity to use his psychometry ability.

After Namjoon had a feel for the place, then he could give them a better plan to follow. Right now, his plan consisted of them getting inside and they would make adjustments as they moved.

Yoongi was trying his best to pay attention to Namjoon as he spoke, but he could hear Hoseok and Taehyung whispering to one another beside him. He was trying to listen to Namjoon so he was only catching every other word Hoseok and Taehyung were saying to each other.

This was a conversation meant for the two of them. This was a conversation that Yoongi was not meant to hear so he decided he would respect his lover and his friend’s wishes.

Namjoon was in the middle of talking when a red light started flickering above them. Suddenly, an alarm started ringing throughout the air lock.

Hoseok wasn’t surprised to hear that dreadful sound again, but he was surprised when Taehyung moved so he could place his large hands over the brunette’s small ears. Taehyung would rather suffer through hearing the screeching sound than have Hoseok hear it.

“Oh my God, I love this song!”

Hoseok couldn’t help but giggle when Jungkook sprang to his feet and started dancing to the alarm. Jungkook was the kind of person, the kind of insane, that would think the sound of an alarm was just like going to a club and hearing loud music blasting through the speakers. To Jungkook, the alarm was one of the best songs he had ever heard. To him, this alarm and the sound of police sirens were like the sweetest music.

Everyone’s eyes shot to the back of the plane where it was starting to open. They winced as they heard the sound of the pilot’s voice yelling at them, “You’ve got to jump now! The facility is below us! Look for Hybe written on the outside!”

“But I don’t see any parachutes-“

“Skydiving! Let’s go!”

Jungkook pushed past everyone and jumped out of the plane, his laughter starting to drift off as he made his descent. Namjoon cursed under his breath as he followed suit, knowing that he would have to save the youngest male.

Taehyung groaned as he stood up, maneuvering Hoseok so he was holding him against his chest. Without another word, Taehyung jumped out of the plane with Hoseok.

Taehyung had a smirk plastered on his face as he heard Yoongi screaming after him, telling him that he couldn’t just throw Hoseok out of a plane without him. Jin and Jimin shrugged and threw themselves out of the plane, their hands still intertwined. None of them were thinking about how they didn’t have a parachute.

Jungkook was laughing as he saw the ground coming towards him fast. He was giving a bunny smile when he felt something hold his body. He froze in place and that’s when he knew that Namjoon had grabbed onto him with his telekinesis. He looked over his shoulder and saw Namjoon floating towards him, shaking his head in disapproval. Jungkook should’ve felt ashamed of his behavior, but he didn’t. He had always wanted to go skydiving and he knew that his friends wouldn’t let him die. He wasn’t afraid to jump out of a moving plane without a parachute because he knew his friends would have his back.

Taehyung knew Namjoon was too focused on securing Jungkook to save him and Hoseok. Taehyung’s pupils stretched out across his eyes, making him look like he had two pools of black instead of two normal eyes. The raven-haired male stretched out one of his hands and that’s when a black hole appeared, sucking himself and his hyung into it. He grinned as he saw Yoongi trying to follow them inside, only to close it on his face so he couldn’t come after them.

Yoongi growled as his eyes flashed blue. He wanted to be angry with Taehyung for sucking his lover into a fucking black hole, but he had to be sad if he was going to make it to the ground alive. With his elemental manipulation, he was able to use the wind to gently lower him to the pavement. He crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath when he saw a black hole appear. Taehyung hopped out with Hoseok clinging to his chest for dear life. It seemed that Taehyung used the black hole the same way one would travel to another dimension.

Namjoon lowered himself and Jungkook to the ground just in time to see Jimin pressed against Jin’s side. In Jin’s free hand was an umbrella that was being used to carefully lower them to the ground. Namjoon rubbed his face with his hands because there was no way an umbrella could be used to guide them to the ground. The umbrella should’ve given out on them and they should’ve fallen to their deaths. Yet, Namjoon remembered that manipulating reality and luck was sort of Jin and Jimin’s specialty.

“Wow! Jin hyung’s like Mary Poppins!”

Once Jin and Jimin were on the ground, the raven-haired male snapped his fingers and in the blink of an eye the umbrella was gone, as if it was never there to begin with. With everyone safe on the ground, they could make their way to the Hybe building and begin their mission. Namjoon led the team towards the building with giant red neon lights spelling out “HYBE.” The leader turned to his friends and smiled.

“So, who wants to knock on the front door?”

“Oh! Pick me, hyung, pick me!”

“Before you knock, Jungkook,” Namjoon smiled at everyone, “I want all of you to do one thing for me. Don’t hold back. You got demons inside? Let them out tonight. Let’s give them hell!”

Everyone cheered at their leader’s words. It was comforting for most of them to know that they didn’t have to bottle their emotions or their bloodthirsty desires anymore. They didn’t have to be an obedient little prisoner or a model citizen. They didn’t have to become the label that had been plastered on each of them. Tonight, they could be who they wanted to be. They could be themselves, and that was something they couldn’t be in a prison cell.

Yoongi held out his hand, an open invitation for Jungkook to absorb some of his power. Jungkook practically jumped at the opportunity. He grabbed Yoongi’s hand and watched as the platinum blonde’s eyes flickered red. Jungkook grinned as the veins in his and Yoongi’s hands started to turn black, indicating that he was absorbing Yoongi’s super strength and indestructability.

Once Jungkook had enough, he let go. Yoongi stumbled back, smiling when Hoseok was there to catch him. For a moment, Yoongi’s eyes flashed yellow. Hoseok always believed that Yoongi’s yellow eyes would be the prettiest ones, and he was right. The yellow was bright and warm, like it was full of light and life. Hoseok knew when this was all over he wanted to do whatever it took to keep Yoongi’s eyes yellow.

Jungkook cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, as if he was warming himself up for what he was about to do. The blue haired male screamed as he bolted forward, jumping, and punching his way through the front of the building. Everyone covered their faces from the dust that was blown at them from Jungkook’s “knock.”

“Everyone! Get in formation!”

Namjoon led the charge as his friends filed into position. Jin, Jimin, and Taehyung were behind him to the right while Yoongi and Hoseok were to his left a little ways behind. It wasn’t until they entered the building that they could see the wreckage of Jungkook’s entrance. They could hear his maniacal laughter as he took care of the few guards who were terrible at keeping watch.

Hoseok covered his mouth with his hand as he saw Jungkook punch a hole into a guard’s stomach. His hand went through the man’s stomach, his intestines twisting around his hand from behind. There was the sound of a guard running towards Jungkook, causing the blue haired male to pull out the man’s small intestine to use it as a weapon. Jungkook quickly made a lasso with the small intestine, flinging it so that it looped around the other guard’s neck. The team watched in horror as Jungkook used a small intestine from another man to strangle someone.

Jungkook wasn’t done yet. Once he killed the last guard, he untied the small intestine. He giggled as he started to play around with the long organ. It wasn’t until Jungkook came back to his team that they saw he had made an animal with the small intestine like he was trying to create a balloon animal. Jungkook walked over to Hoseok and held the intestine animal for him, like he was a child who had requested a balloon animal from a clown.

“I made it for you, Hobi hyung!”

“Oh, wow, uh, thank you, Jungkookie.”

Everyone but Jungkook could tell that Hoseok was beyond uncomfortable with the bloody gift. Taehyung rolled his eyes at the blue haired male, “Read the room, Jungkook! He doesn’t fucking want an intestine animal!”

Jungkook blinked a few times, as if he was clearing the fog from his eyes. He could finally see that Hoseok was one second away from throwing up. Jungkook gave an apologetic smile as he tossed the intestine animal to the side, throwing a rock on top of it for added measure. While Hoseok appreciated Jungkook thinking of him, he did not appreciate being gifted with another person’s small intestines.

While Jungkook was fumbling over his words trying to formulate an apology to Hoseok, Namjoon made his way over to the wall and placed his hand on it. He gasped as his eyes glowed white, attempting to learn about the building before more guards decided to show up. Namjoon cursed under his breath when shots started firing at him. It seemed that the cavalry was here sooner than expected to prevent them from going any further.

Namjoon was surprised when he found that all the bullets aimed at him missed. He turned his head to the side to see that Jimin was holding his hands out, one eye glowing white and the other glowing black. It seemed that Jimin was manipulating Namjoon’s luck so that he wouldn’t get hit while also manipulating the guards’ luck so that it would be almost impossible for them to hit the brunette.

“I’ll take care of their guns, Jinx!”

Jin fearlessly ran towards Namjoon, not worrying about getting hit by a bullet. He smirked as he snapped his fingers. In a second, the guards’ guns were replaced with toy guns that shot out a flag with the word “BANG” on it when they tried to fire. But that wouldn’t be enough to stop the guards. There were ten men racing towards them, and that was when Taehyung stepped up to the plate.

Taehyung’s eyes turned black as he held both hands out. On the right side of the men, a black hole appeared and sucked them in. He had a sadistic grin on his face as he closed the black hole. Taehyung wasn’t done. He opened the same black hole but the suction was reversed so that the men would be violently thrown out at the wall. There was the sickening sound of bones cracking, but that was like music to Taehyung’s ears.

“I’ve got them now, V!”

“J-hope, wait for-“

No one was ready to see Hoseok running towards the men staggering to their feet, only to engage them in hand to hand combat. Everyone was shocked to see Hoseok landing blow for blow on the men. They were all expecting him to use his astral projection to take care of the men, but it seemed that the little brunette was more dangerous than they thought. They all thought that they would have to protect him, but it seemed that they had forgotten that this wasn’t Hoseok’s first BTS Squad mission.

Hoseok must have been trained for his first mission so he would be an asset, rather than a liability. They could feel the rage packed behind each punch he landed. They could see the emotions swirling around in his eyes from anger to sadness. They knew he was pissed because he thought that the last time he went on a mission for the BTS Squad it would be just that.

The last time.

He was angry that he was forced into this, but he was also sad. He was upset that he had to relive the trauma he was subjected to on his last mission. He was fighting the urge to sob as he thought that the fate that happened to his previous friends could happen to his current friends. He knew that if he had to relive watching his friends die then he would never recover. He wouldn’t be able to take another hit like that.

Hoseok cried out in pain when he was hit from behind. He pushed himself to his feet just in time to have a bloody hand grab his throat, shoving him into the wall to try to strangle him to death. Hoseok’s eyes were flickering blue like a light switch, as if he was debating on whether or not he wanted to possess the man to take him down. Hoseok gasped as he felt the air starting to leave his lungs.

“I have to warn you,” Hoseok was smirking as he started to claw at the man’s hand, “my boyfriend’s pretty possessive of me.”

Hoseok’s smirk stayed on his face as he watched Yoongi come barreling forward, his eyes a blazing red as he grabbed the man’s head and ripped it clean off his body. Hoseok knew he had blood splattered on his face, but he didn’t care. He slapped the limp hand off of his neck and kicked the body to the ground. Hoseok shifted his attention to Yoongi and immediately regretted doing so.

Yoongi was currently clawing off the top of the guard’s head, searching for the man’s brain. Once he opened the man’s head, he grabbed the brain. He detached the brain from the cerebrum and started to use the organ as a hacky sack. He bounced the brain around on his thighs and then kicked it as hard as he could into the wall, savoring the sound of the brain smashing into the wall and flattening like a pancake.

It was in that moment that Hoseok could see the difference between the Yoongi he was cuddled up with before and the Yoongi that was in the battlefield right now. He had always known that Yoongi was mentally unstable, but now he could see how unstable he really was. Yoongi and Jungkook were much alike in the sense that they liked to take internal organs and play with them like they were children. Jungkook made an intestine animal while Yoongi made a brain hacky sack. They had no remorse for the people they had killed. They found enjoyment in killing people, and they found pleasure in using their victims’ organs for their own purposes.

“BTS Squad, let’s regroup!”

The team hustled to their leader and waited for his orders, “There’s twenty floors here. We’re going to keep running into guards until we reach the nineteenth floor. That’s where the experimentations are being conducted.”

“What’s on the top floor?”

“The lead scientist’s lab.”

“So, is this going to be like a video game?”

“Jinx, what the hell are you talking about?”

“Sounds like a video game to me,” Jimin shrugged his shoulders at the tall brunette, “you know, like all the levels are harder than the last one. That’s sort of how a video game works until you get to the big boss on the last level. This is basically like one big-“

No one was ready for a large fist to punch through the wall, and through Jimin’s stomach. Jin was screaming as Jimin slowly looked down and saw a fist exiting his stomach. He looked to Jin, tears flowing from his eyes as he coughed out blood. Hoseok felt his memories flying through his mind, reminding him of the friends he had lost. He refused to lose another friend. He refused to lose Jimin.

The fist was forcefully removed from Jimin’s body, causing the blonde to cry out in agony. Hoseok dashed forward and caught Jimin’s body as he started to fall to the ground. Jin and Hoseok quickly carried Jimin away as the rest of the team took on the experiment that must have been sent to take them down. A large man busted through the wall, growling at the four men left to take him on.

“Jinx, hang on! J-hope will fix you!”

“Paradox, I can’t fix this kind of damage!”

There was a gaping hole in Jimin’s stomach, showing off his organs and how some of them had been ripped apart in the process. Jin felt his heart shatter in his chest as he looked at the blood dampening the blonde’s clothes. Jin had never seen a wound like that before, and he never would’ve thought that he would see it on Jimin. The blonde was wheezing as he tried to breathe, as he tried to stay alive.

“You have to save him, J-hope!”

“I can’t do it alone! I need you!”

Hoseok’s eyes were glowing blue as he moved his hands to hover over the wound. A blue light that sparked like electricity enveloped Hoseok’s hands as he attempted to stabilize Jimin. Jin’s eyes widened as he saw the organs moving on their own to try to repair themselves. There was no way Hoseok could restore the organs in time to save Jimin’s life.

“I need you to manipulate his body,” Hoseok’s breathing was labored as he continued to piece Jimin back together, “it’s logical that he’s going to die, so make it illogical. Help me make him whole!”

“I’ve never used my ability like that before!”

“Fucking try or Jinx is going to die!”

Jin felt like he and Hoseok changed roles. Jin had become the scared one who needed someone to guide him through the stressful times while Hoseok had turned into the confident one who needed a helping hand. Jin could see the beads of sweat starting to trickle down Hoseok’s face. He couldn’t save Jimin, at least not alone.

Jin had never used his ability to heal someone, let alone Jimin. He had only ever used his ability to rob banks, avoid capture by the police, and to amuse himself if he was bored. Never had he tried to reattach organs or give someone more blood. He didn’t even know if he could do something like that, but Hoseok seemed to believe he could. If Jin could make anything logical become illogical, then there was a chance he could make it illogical for Jimin to die. There was a chance he could save his partner in crime.

There was no time to waste. Jin got down on his knees across from Hoseok and placed his hands atop of the younger male’s. His shoulders were shaking as he tried to manipulate Jimin’s body so that he could help Hoseok repair the organs and restore the amount of blood that had been lost.

“J-Jin hyung, I’m sorry…”

“Shut up, Jimin. Save your strength.”

“I… I’m sorry I always gave you… a hard time,” Jin made the mistake of looking into the eyes of his partner, noticing how the light was fading from his eyes, “I… I never made your life easy… I’m lucky you found me.”

“Stop talking! Don’t say anything else!”

Jin didn’t want Jimin to talk like that because it sounded like he was saying his last words. They were breaking character, referring to one another by their real names instead of their codenames. It sounded like the blonde was giving up and accepting his fate. It sounded like Jimin was accepting that he was going to die before he got the chance to-

“I thought… I could be… a hero for once.”

There were fresh tears streaming down Jimin’s face as he gave a pained smile, “We haven’t… we haven’t been good people but I thought… that maybe this time… we could be good… that we could be more than this… than villains.”

The raven-haired male clutched Hoseok’s hands like a lifeline. Jin flinched when he heard the sound of Jimin choking on his own blood. The blonde coughed out more blood, but he was still smiling. His teeth were covered in blood but his smile was still there. It was still the same smile that Jin had seen all those years ago when he saved him in that damn alley. It was still the same smile he wanted to see for years to come.

“I promise, I’ll get you all out of here alive,” Hoseok’s eyes were fierce as he started to close the wound, “I’ll do whatever it takes… I won’t lose another team… I won’t.”

Hoseok’s hands were shaking wildly as he worked to completely close the wound. Hoseok’s eyes rolled into the back of his head as he collapsed. Jin was quick to grab Hoseok to hold him up as Jimin managed to squirm his way to a sitting position to take the brunette into his arms. Jimin pulled Hoseok to his chest and kissed the top of his head over and over, a silent way of thanking him for saving his life.

Jin, still in disbelief that Jimin was alive, reached for his partner’s shirt touched the hole that was made from the man’s fist. The skin there was completely healed, as if Jimin had never been harmed. Jin’s eyes widened as he realized that there wasn’t even a scar. There was no indication that Jimin almost died from a fist jabbed through his body. Hoseok left no trace of the past on Jimin’s body.

The older male used the sleeve of his own shirt to wipe the blood from Jimin’s face, “I can’t believe it… I can’t believe you’re alive.”

“I thought I was going to lose you, hyung.”

“I thought I’d lost you, too.”

Jin reached forward and held the back of Jimin’s head, making the younger male lean in so their foreheads could touch. Jin gave a watery laugh, “There’s no one else I’d rather have lick the icing off the Pop Tarts than you, Jiminie.”

“I’ll always be there to ruin your breakfast, hyung.”

These things seemed minuscule to anyone else, but to Jin and Jimin they meant a lot, especially after what almost happened. Jin always hated it when Jimin would take the Pop Tarts out of the box just to lick the icing off of them. Jimin used to be the bane of his existence in the morning when he was trying to eat a simple breakfast, but after the blonde almost died Jin realized there was truly no one else he’d rather have ruining his meal. Jimin licking the icing off of the Pop Tarts seemed like nothing now. Jin knew now that he would never complain about Jimin doing that again because it would mean he would still have the blonde in his life.

“J-hope!”

Jin and Jimin looked up in time to see the rest of their friends covered in blood and rushing towards them. Yoongi was leading the charge, shoving Jin out of the way, and snatching Hoseok from Jimin when he reached them. Yoongi was running one of his hands through the brunette locks, desperately begging Hoseok to wake up. Jimin smiled as his eyes flashed white, manipulating Hoseok’s luck so that he would wake up sooner rather than later.

Jimin continued to smile as Hoseok began to stir. His eyes fluttered open, his vision blurry at first. He smiled when Yoongi’s face came into view, his eyes changing from purple to blue, to fear to sadness. Hoseok tangled his fingers in those platinum blonde locks and gave a small smile, whispering to Yoongi that he was alright. Yoongi nuzzled his face into the crook of Hoseok’s neck, not realizing that he had blood on his face and he was smearing it all over that honey toned skin.

“Yeah, I’m okay, too, Suga.”

“I don’t give a damn, Jinx.”

The blonde rolled his eyes. He should’ve known that Yoongi would only be concerned with Hoseok’s well-being, seeing as how he was the only person who could make one of the most insane people sane. Jimin felt a wave of warmth wash over him as Taehyung and Jungkook swarmed him, peppering his face with kisses until he was laughing so hard his stomach started to hurt, but this time it was a good hurt.

“God damn it, Jinx! You scared us!”

“Yeah, who do you think you are almost dying on us?!”

Jimin felt overwhelmed by the amount of love he was receiving, but he welcomed it, regardless. Taehyung narrowed his eyes at the blonde, “I swear, I’m so mad at you for almost dying I could kill you myself!”

“So could anyone,” everyone rolled their eyes, instantly knowing Jungkook was about to spew some bullshit, “so could a very dedicated duck. You’re not special, V.”

“God, if I wasn’t attracted to you, I’d kill you, too.”

“But, yay, you are!”

The changes in Jungkook’s personality were incredible. One second he could be ready to maul someone to death with his bare hands and the next he could be ready to crack a joke. There were two very noticeable extremes to Jungkook’s personality, but he was still loved unconditionally regardless of this information about him being known. These two different sides of Jungkook made him all the more loveable, and all the more threatening if crossed.

Namjoon shook his head, breaking everyone out of their little moments as he exclaimed, “Not to ruin the mood, but we’ve still got a mission to complete and we’re still on the first floor.”

“I feel like we’ve been on the first floor for years.”

“Then let’s move!”

Everyone was up on their feet after hearing those words. Everyone returned to their formation as they followed Namjoon down the building. They were sure that they were going to run into more guards and experiments running ramped. They were sure that they were going to have more near death experiences like Jimin, but that was all a part of the job and they would have to be ready for everything that was thrown at them.

The boys were thankful that Namjoon had an ability like psychometry because it meant that he knew where to go to lead them to the top floor. They could’ve been running around in circles, facing pointless enemies in battle if they didn’t have Namjoon to show them the correct way to go. Yet, Namjoon also seemed to be a fan of using the stairs rather than using the elevator.

As the boys sprinted up flights of stairs, it eventually got to some of the members. Taehyung called to their leader, “Yah, why the fuck aren’t we taking the elevator?!”

“Then they’ll know our location.”

“Okay, then use your damn telekinesis, jackass!”

“Come on, V, it’s not that bad-“

“Fuck you!”

Namjoon shook his head with a smile. He had to admit, Taehyung had a point. He could easily have flown all seven of them up the stairs so they wouldn’t get tired out, but he figured they’d be able to handle some stairs. They had just killed a bunch of people on the first floor, they should be able to win a battle against stairs. Yet, being tired from running up the stairs was about to be the least of their problems because they could hear footsteps rushing towards them from above and below.

Taehyung let out an exaggerated groan before snapping at Namjoon, “And now we’re fucking trapped! This is all your fault, hyung!”

The tall brunette ignored Taehyung’s furious words. Instead, he called out orders, “Yah, I want Paradox, Jinx, and V to focus on the people coming from above with me! Suga, J-hope, and Copycat take care of the ones coming from below!”

Everyone nodded in agreement. Namjoon had to admit that leading the team was a lot more enjoyable than he thought. His initial thoughts were those of fear, wondering if he had what it took to be a leader and if he was someone who could organize and lead a group of people who had never worked together, and were never ones to take orders. Yet, these seven men fell down like dominos and made the most wonderful design. The best part about falling with these seven boys was that when they fell, they fell together.

“Yah, what power do you want, Copycat?”

“Mental manipulation, please!”

“Fear, coming right up!”

Yoongi’s eyes changed from their usual chocolate brown to a beautiful shade of lilac. Jungkook was nearly bouncing with excitement as he clutched Yoongi’s hand, both of their veins turning black as the blue haired male started to absorb the other male’s ability. Once Jungkook had enough to last him for the battle, he grinned at the men who were running up the stairs towards them.

Taking his index and middle fingers from both hands, Jungkook pressed them against his temples and concentrated on entering the men’s minds. Jungkook’s eyes shifted to Yoongi and Hoseok as he rendered the men motionless. It was like he was silently telling the older males to take them down while they couldn’t move. Yoongi didn’t have to be told twice. He didn’t need permission to bathe the stairwell in blood.

Hoseok slid down the railing and jumped onto one of the men. While he was busy delivering an onslaught of punches to the man, Yoongi was attacking the other frozen men. Honestly, attacking would be an understatement. It was more like Yoongi was digging his hands into each man and pulling out their bones or organs. What Hoseok was doing could be qualified as attacking, but what Yoongi was doing was more like a forced dissection.

Yoongi felt blood painting across his face, making him look like a demented dalmatian. He dug his hand into a man’s back and ripped out his spine, holding up the most important part of a skeleton like he was holding up a trophy after a win. Hoseok felt his stomach twisting and turning as he watched Yoongi shake the spine. The spine was covered in blood so while it was moving like a wave, there was blood transferring from the bone.

The platinum haired male didn’t stop at the spine. He tossed the spine to Jungkook and turned his attention to the man that Hoseok had beaten to a pulp. Hoseok took a shaky step back to give Yoongi room for whatever he was about to do. In no way was Hoseok afraid of Yoongi, rather he was more concerned that he was in the platinum blonde’s way. He stumbled back until he fell against the stairs.

He looked up in time to see Yoongi jabbing his hand into the man’s body, fishing around inside until he found what he was looking for. There was the sickening sound of a bone being cracked, which sounded similar to the noise Hoseok would’ve heard around Thanksgiving when he would yank on the wish bone. Hoseok could tell that Yoongi had forcefully removed one of the man’s ribs.

Hoseok thought that Yoongi had gotten what he was looking for, but the older male wasn’t done. The brunette watched in horror as Yoongi snapped off another rib. When Yoongi was done playing with the innards of the man, he pulled out the two ribs that he had removed from the man. Hoseok didn’t understand why Yoongi had done this senseless violence until he saw his lover throw the ribs to Jungkook.

“Thanks, hyung!”

“Play me some music, Copycat!”

Hoseok placed a hand over his mouth to prevent himself from throwing up as he saw Jungkook sit down in front of the spine, using the ribs to tap on the backbone like it was a xylophone. If Hoseok hadn’t watched Yoongi pull bones out of men to create a makeshift xylophone for Jungkook then he might have been more inclined to listen to the music it was creating. Hoseok would’ve considered the music to be beautiful, if the instrument wasn’t made of human bones.

The little brunette was used to seeing blood and gore, but he had never seen someone create an instrument out of the flesh and bones of another human. Never in Hoseok’s wildest dreams did he think he would be standing here right now listening to Jungkook play the xylophone on another man’s spine while Yoongi nodded approvingly, as if he was proud of the music that the blue haired male was producing.

Namjoon looked over the railing to see how Yoongi, Hoseok, and Jungkook were doing. He was surprised and disturbed by the sight of Jungkook playing a man’s spine but he had to admit that he was proud of them for taking care of all those guards. He also had to admit that he was proud of everyone for sticking to their word to not only willingly participate on the mission, but to have each other’s backs in the heat of battle.

These were people who were used to being on their own or only having each other. These people weren’t used to supporting one another. Aside from Jin and Jimin, working with others was never something they considered in the cards for them. They weren’t known to work well with others and Namjoon could see that, but he could also see everyone’s potential. He could see that these people had the potential accomplish any task and to do good things, if they worked together.

Namjoon was broken out of his thoughts when he heard the sound of Jin snapping his fingers. He looked over his shoulder in time to see that Jin had altered the stairs so that they turned into a slide, forcing the guards to fall onto their backsides, and glide into the wall. There was another sickening sound of bones cracking and that’s when Namjoon realized that the impact with the wall from fast speeds caused a few of them to break their noses.

Taehyung’s eyes faded to black as he summoned a black hole above the men. Just as the men were about to be sucked into the black hole, Taehyung moved his hand like he was swiping left on a Tinder date. The black hole disappeared and the men came crashing into the ground. Taehyung smirked as he heard more cracking sounds coming from the men. Taehyung’s eyes followed Jimin like a hawk as the blonde approached the men.

“Today just isn’t your lucky day, is it?”

Jimin took a step back, smirking as his eyes began glowing black. The blonde tapped the ground with his right foot a few times. The men were attempting to get up and that’s when the ground started to crack around them. Their fearful eyes looked at the floor and then back to Jimin, who was now feigning a pout. Jimin cocked his head back and laughed as the floor broke from underneath the men, sending them falling through multiple flights of stairs. Jimin poked his head over the hole and giggled as he waved at the dead men.

Namjoon was thankful that he hadn’t had to use his abilities to kill anyone yet. It was in this moment that he was especially grateful to his teammates because they were used to killing people, or attempting to murder others. Either way, they all knew how to use their abilities to kill their enemies and that was something Namjoon didn’t know if he would be able to do. He had killed people on accident so he was unsure of how he was going to will himself to kill people on purpose.

“Yah! We’ve got to keep moving!”

“For the love of God, use your fucking telekinesis!”

“You seem like the kind of person to skip leg day.”

Taehyung’s eyes shifted to give a dangerous look to Namjoon, “You seem like the kind of person to find themselves in a fucking black hole.”

The leader rolled his eyes at Taehyung, ignoring his half-serious threat. Yet, Namjoon decided to give into the raven-haired male for the moment. As soon as the team was reunited, he lifted each of them up and carefully floated them up the stairs. Taehyung proceeded to grumble under his breath that it took Namjoon long enough to do this.

The flight up the stairs to the nineteenth floor seemed easy… too easy. All of the boys could tell that this moment of peace was just that. A moment. They knew as soon as they opened the door to the nineteenth floor they would have to kill more people, not that most of them were mad about that. In fact, Jungkook was whining that he didn’t get the chance to create a harp out of someone’s ribs and intestines. He seemed to be the only one looking forward to the violence while everyone else was mentally preparing themselves for another round.

None of them knew what to expect as they approached the door leading them to the experimentation lab. Some of them were thinking that they were going to find tables with people laying on top with their organs on display. Others thought that they were going to find people submerged in test tubes for more controlled experimentation. And one thought that there would be something to eat on the other side.

It was Jin.

Jin had started to get hungry.

Alas, there was no food on the other side. Namjoon and Hoseok’s blood ran cold as everyone stared upon the horror beyond the door. There were people in cages on the left and right sides of the massive room, leaving room in the middle for a runway. As the seven males cautiously stepped through the runway, their eyes found tables set up with papers on them, as if someone had sat down to evaluate the people in cages.

Namjoon walked over to the papers and put his hand on them, his eyes glowing as his psychometry gave him the answers to all their questions. As Namjoon was learning about the research that had been conducted, Hoseok and Taehyung walked towards the cages on the right. Hoseok ignored Yoongi telling him not to go near them, knowing that the brunette wouldn’t like what he saw.

Taehyung wrapped an arm around Hoseok’s shoulders as they moved towards a cage. Hoseok felt tears stinging at his eyes as he realized that inside the cage was a child. It was a little boy. He was sitting in the cage with his back towards Hoseok and Taehyung. Hoseok’s eyes narrowed and then widened when he noticed the little boy hadn’t moved once. He should’ve been aware of their presence by now.

Hoseok broke out of Taehyung’s grip so he could move around the cage, trying to get a better look at the child. Hoseok wasn’t known to be brave, but he didn’t think twice about reaching his hand into the cage and tapping the child on the shoulder. Hoseok nearly screamed when he saw the little boy fall over. The little boy was dead with a hole in his head.

The little brunette rushed back to Taehyung, feeling much safer in the warm embrace of his trusted friend. Hoseok pulled away and looked up at the raven-haired male, his eyes wide with fear and tears.

“Who could do such a thing to a child?”

“I think I have an answer to that question.”

Hoseok and Taehyung turned around to see Namjoon holding the papers in his shaking hands. Namjoon choked back a sob before stating, “Every single person here is already dead. Whoever was looking for a way to forcefully mutate someone found it. They killed countless people during experiments until they found what they were looking for.”

“They mutated their own genes when they knew it was successful,” Namjoon shook his head with a frown, “they took out everything that made his experiments special and put it into themselves. These people all have holes in their bodies from where their superpower originates from.”

Namjoon’s words weighed heavily on all the boys. Some of them wandered over to the other cages in the room, noticing holes in people’s chests, faces, and hands. This time, none of the males took pride in what they had seen. For starters, they weren’t the ones who did it. But they also drew the line at killing children. They didn’t have much when it came to morals, but they would never cross the line where they would kill a child.

They were villains, not monsters.

The leader walked around the room, taking note of where all the holes were in people’s bodies. He nodded to himself as he thought aloud, “A hole to the head… holes to the hands… we’re dealing with someone with a lot of different abilities… a lot of powerful abilities.”

“What abilities are we talking about here?”

“You sure you want the answer to that, Paradox?”

“Hit me with it. Let’s hear what we’re up against.”

“Now, this is just an educated guess so bear with me,” Namjoon ran a frustrated hand through his brunette locks, “a hole to the head must mean that they have some sort of ability with the mind. There's a bunch of different abilities stemming from the mind so we need to be careful.”

“And the hands?”

“Now, that could truly be anything.”

No one spoke a word. They could tell that they were going to be up to their necks with trouble with this scientist. Anyone who had a power that involved the mind was instantly a serious threat. What they couldn’t bear with was the unknowns that came with the holes to the hands. That could mean anything. It could mean that someone can project fire or ice from their hands. It could mean that they’ve become skilled in hand to hand combat. It could mean that with the snap of their fingers they could make the whole building come crashing down. If there was one thing all seven boys could agree on, it was that they didn’t like not knowing what they were up against.

That witch of a woman had already sent them in on a mission with barely any helpful details, so they weren’t exactly jumping for joy to know they would have to face an enemy without knowing specific details about their abilities. While the boys were irritated with venturing into the unknown, they had to admit there was a bit of a thrill to this. There was a twisted feeling of excitement not knowing what their outcome was going to be when they confronted the scientist.

“There’s nothing more we can do here.”

Everyone knew what Namjoon was really saying. He was telling them that there was only one place left for them to go, and that was up. Normally, people love to hear that they’re going up, but in this case there was nothing positive associated with going up. What was lurking above them could prove to be a new future in a different light or their demise.

Hoseok hooked his arm with Taehyung’s as they walked up the stairs to the top floor, or as Jimin would refer to it as the big boss level. If Namjoon wasn’t stressing about what lied beyond the door, he would’ve had a good chuckle at how right Jimin was. This really was like a video game with each level getting harder until they made it to the last level with the big boss. But there was nothing funny about potentially dying after they opened the door.

They could all hear Namjoon’s voice in their heads, telling them to be brave and to have each other’s backs. Each of them nodded, knowing that what they were up against was bigger than all of them. If they wanted to make it out alive then they would have to watch each other’s blind spots and cover them. They were entering the lion’s den and for once, they weren’t the lions. They were the prey.

“Ah, I was wondering when you’d all arrive.”

Their eyes widened when they saw a scientist in a tattered long white coat standing at a lab table, his back facing the seven males. They slowly entered the room, being cautious of their surroundings. The room was set up with lab tables everywhere, some with papers on them and others with jars of human body parts. The scientist was currently pouring a chemical into a test tube, bottling it up with a cork after.

Taehyung grit his teeth, irritated that the scientist hadn’t even bothered to turn around to look at them. The only reason the raven-haired male was able to calm down was because Hoseok was tightening his grip on his arm, signaling to him that he was starting to feel scared. Taehyung took a deep breath. He had to stay calm to show Hoseok that there was nothing to be afraid of. But truth be told, Taehyung was feeling a little fearful.

“The infamous BTS Squad came for me,” the scientist shook his head, chuckling as he turned around to face them, “I must have done something bad to make them dust the seven of you off.”

“Wait a second… I know you.”

“Oh? Who am I, Namjoon?”

All eyes were on Namjoon, who was equally as surprised as everyone else that the scientist knew his name. Namjoon ignored that and continued, “You were the lead scientist at BigHit. You’re Yi Sanghoon. You were fired for suggesting illegal and inhumane experimentation to understand the origin of a person’s superpower.”

“Is that all the media says about me?”

“It says you went underground after you were fired.”

“And yet I was hiding in plain sight!”

Sanghoon was the only one who was laughing. Everyone grit their teeth as Sanghoon began his expected villain monologue, “They called me a fool. They called me a monster. They ridiculed me for wanting to experiment on mutated humans to find the source of their power. Apparently, cutting people open is considered inhumane…”

The boys stared back at Sanghoon with blank looks in their eyes as he continued, “If BigHit wasn’t going to help me in my endeavors then I would have to take matters into my own hands. I invested everything I have into creating Hybe… which stands for Human Youth Becomes Experiments. Pretty clever, right?”

“Pretty lame, if you ask me.”

“Kim Taehyung, the-“

“Is it over?”

“What?”

“Your weak ass monologue,” Taehyung had an annoyed look on his face as he groaned, “is it over? I don’t give a fuck about where you come from or how you got here today. Just let us kick your ass so we can get some time taken off our sentences.”

“Bold of you to assume you’re getting out of here alive.”

Hoseok huddled against Taehyung’s side, as if he was trying to become one with the raven-haired male. The brunette’s eyes wandered upon Sanghoon’s body, noticing stitching on his head and hands. As Hoseok’s eyes narrowed on the stitching done, he noticed how the skin on his head and hands didn’t match the rest of his skin tone. It was like he had stitched another person’s skin into him. Hoseok’s breath hitched as he realized-

“Have you figured it out, J-hope?”

“That’s… that’s their skin!”

“How else could I control their powers?”

“You really became Dr. Frankenstein.”

Sanghoon gave a disgusting smirk as he eyed Hoseok, “You say that like I’m supposed to be insulted. I’m flattered that you would compare me to such a genius!”

Hoseok cowered against Taehyung as the mad scientist cackled, “I’ve combined my DNA with my experiments and now look at me! I’m on my way to becoming the most powerful mutant that the world has ever seen! No one will be able to stop me!”

As Sanghoon was celebrating an extremely early victory, the BTS Squad stiffened. Their composure changed in an instant. One second they were ready for war and the next they looked like they were stuck in a trance. Sanghoon was going off on a tirade and the seven males were in another world. Yet, Sanghoon didn’t seem to appreciate how no one was paying attention to him.

Sanghoon glared at the seven males and whipped his left hand across his face, as if he was swiping left on Tinder. In the blink of an eye, the boys felt a wave of invisible darkness wash over them. They couldn’t see the darkness, but they knew that it had enveloped their entire beings, rendering them motionless.

Darkness was something that most of the males didn’t fear, seeing as how their minds were twisted, but this wasn’t your normal darkness. This was different. This darkness washed over them and seeped into their very skin. It felt like they were drowning, coughing up water that was not flowing into their lungs. It felt like they were about to succumb to the darkness, and they were helpless to stop it.

Just when the boys thought it was all over, they saw something. They could see a bright light, as if it was the light at the end of the tunnel. The boys reached out their hands, desperate to hold onto the little bit of peace that they had found in this moment. The light was snuffed in an instant, replacing the moment of peace with fear.

Namjoon was the first one to drop to their knees, pulling at his hair and successfully ripping some strands out. He was screaming as the darkness became all that he knew, as the darkness made him relive the most painful memory harbored within the deepest and most secure part of his mind. Namjoon could do nothing as he watched how he lost control, killing innocent people. The screams returned to him and this time there would be no Jin to become his anchor, to pull him back to reality.

Jin was unable to be Namjoon’s anchor because he was suffering just as much as him. Jin covered his face with his hands and screamed into them. It was all coming back to him, all the lives he changed, all the lives he ruined for his own entertainment. He altered so many people’s reality without thinking who else he could be affecting. He could see how he had made people suffer, how he had pulled them apart and didn’t put them back together just to amuse himself.

Yoongi fell to his hands and knees. He was shouting at the top of his lungs as he smashed his head against the floor over and over, trying to force the darkness from his mind. He wasn’t successful in chasing away the nightmares that he called memories. All he was able to do was injure himself, and even then the wound he wore was nothing compared to the wounds he had inflicted upon others.

Jimin was stumbling backwards until he made contact with the wall behind them. He was gasping for air and slapping at the air in front of him, as if he was trying to pry someone off of him. He could feel hands wrapped around his neck and he could hear voices whispering in his ear, telling him that he was worthless. He was back in that damn alley fighting for his life, but this time there was no one to save him.

“Get out of my fucking head!”

“Tae! We… we have to do something!”

“I know… I know what to do…”

Hoseok was battling his own demons, just as he knew Taehyung was. The only difference was that Taehyung had the strength to summon a black hole. Hoseok was losing himself in his own mind so he couldn’t register that Taehyung had picked him up. The raven-haired male cursed under his breath as he chucked Hoseok into the black hole. He gave one last sorrowful glance towards Hoseok as he closed the black hole.

“I know I have to save you.”

Sanghoon swiped his hand across his body once more, grinning as Taehyung finally fell victim to his power. Taehyung dropped to his knees and made no effort to try to stop the darkness from consuming him. It was as if he had accepted his fate, or maybe it was because he knew there was one person among them who was immune to this kind of power.

Sanghoon’s eyes widened as he realized that Jungkook was still standing, seemingly unaffected by the darkness that was eating his friends alive. Jungkook’s expressionless face changed the moment his demented bunny smile started to appear. He cracked his neck, his eyes rolling into the back of his head in satisfaction of the sound his neck made.

“Y-You… you’re not afraid of the nightmares?”

“You call that a nightmare? This is nothing,” Jungkook started to approach the other male, “your fear inducement ability won’t work on me. These nightmares are my sweet dreams.”

The scientist’s eyes were wide with fear as he saw Jungkook raise his hand to try to touch him. He was horrified to know that there was someone who could resist his fear inducement. His ability was supposed to bring people’s fears to life, which mostly came in the form of their most painful memories. Sanghoon was sure that Jungkook would have painful memories, ones that he wouldn’t want to relive. Never could Sanghoon imagine that Jungkook welcomed that pain, and saw his fear as a form of ecstasy.

Jungkook being immune to his fear inducement was terrifying. It told Sanghoon that he truly embodied what it meant to be a deranged criminal, one who only found pleasure in the suffering of others. Jungkook was someone who didn’t get scared. Jungkook was someone who instilled fear in others, whether he was aware of that or not.

“No! Don’t touch me!”

Jungkook cried out as Sanghoon pushed his hands out, shooting knives from his hands. The knives didn’t sink into Jungkook, but some were successful in cutting his skin. Jungkook fell backwards, placing a hand on his cheek. He was bleeding. One of the knives that was shot out of his hands sliced across his cheek. Jungkook knew he should’ve been dead. He should’ve bene impaled several times, but all he had were small cuts.

The blue haired male looked over his shoulder, surprised to see Jimin’s eyes glowing white. His chest was heaving up and down, a clear sign that he was distressed. He was battling his own fears but he could sense that Jungkook was in danger. He pushed through his fear to manipulate Jungkook’s luck just enough that none of the knives would pierce through his body. Jimin was the reason why he was alive right now.

Jungkook could see how much effort it took Jimin to use his ability. It wasn’t as good as it could’ve been since he was clouded by his fear, but it was good enough to save Jungkook’s life. If Jimin would push himself that far to save him, then he could push through and save his friends.

Sanghoon was about to use his weapon manifestation ability to pin Jungkook to the ground, but he found himself unable to move. No matter what signals he tried to send down his spine to the rest of the body, they were never acted upon. It wasn’t until Jungkook forced himself back to his feet that he understood what was going on.

“It looks like I still have some mental manipulation from Suga,” Jungkook’s devilish smile etched across his face, “I don’t have much of that power left, but it’s more than enough to take away all of your fear inducement ability.”

Sanghoon was helpless to stop Jungkook from touching his hand. The black veins returned, letting both males know that Jungkook was absorbing  his fear inducement ability. Jungkook knew he could try to absorb his weapon manifestation ability, too, but by then his mental manipulation would surely fade away. He only had enough time to absorb all of his fear inducement so that he could save his teammates from the monsters in their minds.

Once Jungkook had enough of Sanghoon’s fear inducement, he removed his hand. Jungkook screamed in pain as he felt a spear pierce through his left shoulder, sending him flying into a wall. Jungkook was stuck to the wall from the metal spear, unable to move. He looked up and gave a pained smile to Yoongi.

“Thanks for saving us, Copycat.”

“Yah, it was… it was nothing.”

“You’ve done enough,” Yoongi’s eyes flashed yellow as he began working on pulling the spear out to heal Jungkook, “let your hyungs take it from here. Sit back and let me take care of you.”

“Thank you, hyung.”

Jungkook’s eyes drooped as he succumbed to the pain from the spear lodged in his shoulder. While Yoongi worked on removing the spear and patching up their youngest member, the remaining males stood tall. It would be four against one now, but the BTS Squad knew better than to underestimate their enemy. This man could manifest weapons from his hands and use them like projectiles. That meant that this was going to be a long range battle until someone could get close enough to him to restrain him.

Sanghoon growled in frustration as he tried to use his fear inducement, only to find that Jungkook truly did absorb all of it. It would take a while for him to regain his ability. Sanghoon wasn’t expecting Jungkook to be the most troublesome one of the males. His eyes locked onto Jungkook. He would be sure to make that blue haired male pay for stealing what was his.

“Die!”

Weapons big and small were fired at Jungkook, only to be turned into bunny plushies. Sanghoon looked down at his hands in disbelief. He was sure that he had shot a wide arrange of knives at Jungkook. He shook his head and tried again, only for his weapons to be turned into sunflowers. Finally, Sanghoon understood what was happening. There was a snapping sound happening each time, a snapping sound coming from Jin.

“What are you doing?!”

“Warping reality’s sort of my specialty.”

It all made sense now. Jin was able to turn his weapons into illogical things. If he purposely aimed for Jin or any of the other members then the raven-haired male was sure to stop his attacks each time. He thought for a moment before he was able to formulate a new course of action.

The four males gasped as they saw Sanghoon fire weapons off in every direction, spinning around to make sure that his attacks were randomized and unpredictable. Jin was able to turn some of the weapons into something harmless but there were some weapons that he wasn’t able to stop in time, causing Jimin to manipulate the weapon’s luck so they would crash down in front of their feet instead of in their bodies.

Namjoon was able to redirect some of the weapons with his telekinesis while Taehyung would open black holes to capture anything that came his way. There were a few knives that managed to slip past the four boys, but Yoongi was able to keep them from hitting Jungkook. Yoongi’s eyes changed colors. One eye was yellow while the other was green. He was healing Jungkook and keeping him safe within his force field when he needed to.

The rainstorm of weapons wasn’t over. While the BTS Squad was busy trying to redirect or block the weapons, they weren’t paying attention to the knife on the ground that shot out at Jin. The raven-haired male was focused on stopping what was coming right at him that he didn’t know that the weapons they had already stopped were still dangerous. They believed that all Sanghoon could do was manifest weapons. Never did they think that he could still control the ones he had thrown.

Sanghoon had a sadistic grin on his face as one of the knives on the ground shot at Jin, penetrating his stomach, and thus bringing him to his knees. Jin held his stomach where the knife was, screaming in agony as Sanghoon drove the knife deeper into him. Jimin was by Jin’s side in a heartbeat, manipulating his luck so that he would be able to stop the knife from further injuring his partner.

That was just what Sanghoon wanted. He licked his lips as he fired knives at Jin, cheering as the knives lodged into Jimin's back when he shielded the older male. The blonde slumped against Jin, red starting to seep through his clothes. With the last of Jin’s strength, he snapped his fingers and turned the knives in Jimin's back into bandages to try to save him. The partners in crime fell into each other, laying in a pool of their own blood.

Namjoon and Taehyung couldn’t believe what was happening. They had gone from having four people to just the two of them. Their advantage was starting to disappear, all because they had underestimated their enemy. They told themselves that they wouldn’t underestimate Sanghoon, but it seemed that they got a little over confident in themselves and their abilities. They thought they could just keep him at bay and attack when the time was right, but they didn’t understand the full extent to Sanghoon’s abilities. They were starting to fight a losing battle.

Yoongi had managed to stabilize Jungkook but he knew his work wasn’t done. He dragged Jin and Jimin towards him and quickly went to work to try to save them. Yoongi was sweating at this point. He was having a difficult time healing everyone, seeing as how it’s hard to find joy when your friends are dying. The only reason Yoongi’s eyes were able to stay yellow was because he knew Hoseok was safe. Taehyung had trapped him in a black hole to keep him safe, but Hoseok would only come out of the black hole if the raven-haired male survived. If Taehyung died, then Hoseok would stay in the black hole forever.

“It’s you and me, V.”

“We can take him.”

Taehyung’s eyes faded to black as he summoned a black hole in front of them. Sanghoon gasped as he was starting to be sucked into it. Just as he was about to enter the black hole, Taehyung removed it. Sanghoon was surprised to be met with Namjoon’s fist instead of the black hole. He was sent crashing into the ground, rolling a few times before stopping when he collided with his desk.

Sanghoon looked up in time to see Taehyung’s boot coming for him. Taehyung had a shit eating smirk on his face when he saw that he opened up the man’s stitching on his head when he stomped on him. As soon as Taehyung saw blood trickling down Sanghoon’s face, he took that as a sign to continue his assault. The raven-haired male straddled Sanghoon and landed blow after blow to his face, never giving him the time to recuperate to fire off a weapon.

Taehyung knew that if he just kept hitting Sanghoon then eventually he would lose consciousness, but life is never that easy. As Taehyung was carrying on with his assault, Namjoon came up from behind him to see the damage that had been done. Sanghoon’s face looked like it was one more punch away from being sunken in. There was blood gushing from his nose and from his newfound split lip. His eyes were rolled into the back of his head, as if he had been unconscious for quite some time.

“Yah, you got him, V,” Namjoon grabbed Taehyung’s hand when he cranked back for another blow, “if you hit him anymore then you might actually kill him. If you want time taken off your sentence then stop. You know she’ll be pissed if you kill him before she can.”

The raven-haired male was reluctant, but eventually he allowed Namjoon to pull him off the blood covered male. Taehyung looked over his shoulder at Namjoon and gave a boxy smile. They had done it. They had beaten the bad guy. He couldn’t believe that this rag tag team of villains came together to bring someone to justice. He couldn’t believe they won. He couldn’t believe-

“I’m not done, yet!”

Taehyung’s jaw dropped as he looked down at the sword that had been plunged into his stomach. Taehyung’s eyes widened as he heard someone coughing behind him, and that’s when he realized the sword went through him and right into Namjoon. Taehyung coughed out blood as he managed to shift enough to see that their fearless leader had been stabbed as well. Sanghoon laid in waiting. He waited for them to drop their guard and when they did he turned them into a human kabob.

The two males were hurled backwards into the wall, forcing them to stand as the sword dove deeper into them. Namjoon looked over Taehyung’s shoulder at the wreckage of his team. Jungkook was unconscious with a newly healed shoulder. Yoongi was going to overexert himself as he struggled to heal Jin and Jimin at the same time. He was dividing his power between the two males. He couldn’t give his all to one of them in fear that the other would die. He didn’t know how much longer he could do this for, especially now that Namjoon and Taehyung were severely injured.

Not to mention that Sanghoon was still very much alive. Yoongi had an array of superpowers, but he was growing tired from trying to heal everyone. Yoongi couldn’t help but wonder if this was Sanghoon’s plan all along. To take them out one by one so the healer of the team would be the last one standing, knowing well enough that they would be at the point of exhaustion by then.

Yoongi grit his teeth as he tried his best to heal his friends. He couldn’t believe that they had rushed into battle without a solid plan. Jungkook risked his life to spare them of the torture of the enemy’s fear inducement. Jin was taken out because he was distracted and because they didn’t know enough about the enemy’s ability. Jimin was fighting for his life after selflessly throwing himself in front of Jin to protect him. Namjoon and Taehyung overpowered Sanghoon, but they fell right into his trap and now they were slowly dying from their wounds.

Yoongi was starting to feel like they were in over their heads. They were all caught up in wanting to be more than villains that they didn’t realize that was easier said than done. Yoongi shook his head, a sad smile present on his face. You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain. Yoongi had been a villain all his life, but now he felt like he was going to die as a hero, and it was all because of Hoseok. It was all because Hoseok believed that they could be more than villains, that they could be good.

If Yoongi was going to die, he was going to die trying to save his friends. Any other time, he would’ve wanted to go down fighting, but this wasn’t like any other time. Right now, he had people to look out for. He wasn’t just looking out for himself. Now, he had friends who he would rather heal than leave behind to die. He would rather die healing them then die fighting, knowing that they wouldn’t survive without him.

“Not going to put up a fight, Suga?”

“I’ll fight you in hell, bastard!”

“You’ve accepted you’re going to die?”

“At least I’ll die a hero.”

Yoongi could tell that Sanghoon was right behind him. He could tell that the scientist was holding a large sword in his hand. He could tell that there was a dastardly smile on Sanghoon’s face as he raised the sword to take out the healer of the group. He could tell that he had finally run out of time. He felt a smile spread across his face. At least he would go out knowing he finally knew what it felt like to love someone, and to be loved by another.

“This is the end, Suga! You’re dead now!”

“NO!”

Yoongi closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to come but it never did. Instead, he heard the sickening sound of flesh being impaled. Yoongi’s eyes were as wide as saucers as he whipped around, gasping as he saw Hoseok had been shot out of a black hole and he was now hunched over as he was impaled on Sanghoon’s sword.

Hoseok twitched on the sword, coughing up blood. He was shaking violently as he lifted his head and sent a bloody heart shaped smile to Sanghoon. Hoseok grabbed the sword that was lodged into his body and used it as leverage so he could stare into the eyes of his enemy.

“What a surprise it is to see you on my sword, J-hope!”

“It’s not the end for Suga… but it is… for you.”

“I think you’re forgetting one thing,” Sanghoon leaned in so he and Hoseok were mere inches apart, “I think you’re forgetting that all your friends are dying and I’ve got you sitting pretty on my sword! You should’ve stayed in that black hole!”

Hoseok broke out into pained laughter at Sanghoon’s words. The little brunette’s voice was wavering as he retorted, “You… you don’t get it, do you? This… this was all… all a part of our plan…”

“What plan?”

“While you were giving your monologue,” Hoseok coughed out blood on Sanghoon’s face, “RM was using telepathy to communicate with us… he told V to send me to the future… to right now… they would keep you busy and get you into the perfect position for me…”

“Oh? And what are you going to do to stop me?”

“This.”

Sanghoon shrieked as soon as Hoseok’s soul self exited his body and entered his. Sanghoon dropped the sword, causing Hoseok’s limp body to fall to the ground. Hoseok’s body was oozing blood like a fountain from his wound. He would die if his soul self didn’t return to his body, or if Yoongi couldn’t stabilize him.

Yoongi stumbled over to Namjoon and Taehyung, knowing he had to get the sword out of them and heal them before he could worry about Hoseok. Namjoon and Taehyung had lost too much blood at this point. Hoseok could heal himself as soon as his soul self returned to his body, but Namjoon and Taehyung couldn’t do that.

The platinum blonde’s eyes flashed red as he gently pulled the sword from his friends. Both males fell to the ground, unable to hold themselves up any longer. Yoongi quickly went to work on them. He could feel himself growing weaker by the moment. At this rate, he didn’t know if he would be able to save them on his own.

He had given so much of himself to keep everyone alive, which was something that surprised him. He had gone almost all of his life believing that the only person he should look out for is himself, but enter Hoseok and everything changed. Hoseok believed in him. Hoseok believed that he could be more than what he thought he was. Hoseok would give his life to protect his friends, and Yoongi found that he wanted to do the same. He wanted to be more like Hoseok.

Yoongi looked up when he heard the sound of a body falling to the floor. There was a dead look in Sanghoon’s eyes as he grabbed the sword that was stuck inside Hoseok. Slowly and carefully, he pulled the sword out of the brunette, causing blood to gush out of the hole in his body. Yoongi couldn’t bear to see the sight. He couldn’t bear to see the love of his life bleeding out like that, but he knew that Hoseok knew what he was doing.

Hoseok had successfully possessed Sanghoon and was doing what was necessary to ensure that he could return to his body and save his own life. Hoseok’s soul self emerged from Sanghoon’s body and flew into his own, causing the scientist to collapse onto the floor. Hoseok’s eyes shot open and he cried bloody murder as he felt pain racking through his body.

“Mother fucker, this hurts like a bitch!”

“I’d rather you be in pain than be dead.”

“You know I would swoon at your words,” Hoseok groaned as his body started to glow blue, “but I had a fucking sword rammed into my body so flirt with me when I’m not fucking gushing blood!”

“Is Sanghoon dead?”

“No, he’s unconscious. I drained his energy.”

“Good shit, Hobi.”

“J-hope.”

Yoongi’s gummy smile was on full display as he heard Hoseok correct him. Hoseok wasn’t the biggest fan of his alias because he wasn’t the one who came up with it, and it associated him with being a villain. But now, Hoseok believed that his codename made him who he was today. His codename was J-hope and he had given hope to his teammates, and unknowingly, to the world now that the experimentations at Hybe had been stopped.

The platinum blonde was about to fall backwards when he felt something hold onto him. He looked up to see a blood covered Hoseok. Yoongi could’ve sworn that Hoseok was glowing when he saw that dazzling heart shaped smile. The two males looked around when they heard the sound of their friends groaning.

“Fuck, I feel like I got stabbed in the stomach.”

“That’s because you did, Tae.”

“Fuck that prick.”

“It's good to have you back.”

Taehyung was clutching his freshly healed stomach as he playfully punched Namjoon’s arm. Jin walked over with Jungkook assisting Jimin. Hoseok looked around at all of his friends. Tears found their way back to his eyes as he gazed upon the faces that he was scared to lose. He couldn’t believe that this was real. He couldn’t believe that he didn’t lose a single one of his friends on another BTS Squad mission.

“You’re all okay… I’m so happy.”

“You can thank Yoongi for that.”

Hoseok nuzzled his face into the crook of Yoongi’s neck. He whimpered into the pale neck, “Thank you for keeping them alive. Thank you for staying alive. I never want to be without you, Yoon.”

Hoseok was sobbing as all of his friends circled around him, draping their arms around him like they were morphing together to create a human security blanket. Hoseok welcomed these people with open arms. Hoseok welcomed the six men who had came crashing into his life and refused to leave without a fight. Hoseok welcomed the six villains who proved that they don’t have to be what society labels them as. Hoseok welcomed the six men who had become heroes.

Hoseok couldn’t have been more proud of his friends. They all came from different backgrounds. They all had different superpowers. They all had different mental health disorders. They all came into his life thinking that they could only be villains, but they came out of the mission believing that they were so much more than villains. They came out of the mission believing that they didn’t have to live by the rules and labels given by society. They came out of the mission believing that they were the ones who wrote their narratives. They were the ones who choose who they are, and who they’re going to be.

“We’ll always be together, all seven of us.”

It was in the early morning hours when the woman heard a thump sound coming from outside her home. The sun was just beginning to rise, illuminating the sky that had once been overcome with darkness. She shook her head and groaned. It was too damn early in the morning to be dealing with bullshit like this. She grabbed her gun out of her nightstand and made her way to the front door.

She had no idea who could be rummaging around her home at this hour, but they would surely regret it when she got her hands on them. She grew more alert as she stalked towards the front door. She reached a hand out and grabbed the handle, taking a deep breath before whipping the door open. She jumped out and pointed her gun at her enemy… which was the body of the unconscious Yi Sanghoon.

The woman sensed that she wasn’t alone, and that’s when she looked up to see the BTS Squad floating above her. Her eyes widened when six collars were thrown at her, landing in front of her feet. She let out an amused huff. It seemed that Hoseok’s soul self was able to use its radiation for good, to free his friends from their bindings, from the chains that controlled them for so long.

The woman’s hands tightened on the gun to the point where her knuckles turned white. She glared at Namjoon, “You’ve completed the mission so as promised, you’ll get time taken off of your sentences.”

“That’s not good enough anymore,” the leader folded his arms in front of his chest, “we aren’t going back to prison. We did our part. We destroyed Hybe and sucked it into a black hole. We brought you the scientist. You do what you want with his life and we'll do what we want with ours.”

The woman looked like she wanted to argue with Namjoon, but he shot her a look that dared her to disagree. She could hear Jin cheering for Namjoon, but she chose to ignore him. There was nothing she could do to stop them now that they didn’t have their collars on. Without those collars, these seven men could not be contained, they could not be controlled.

She sighed as she bent down to snatch one of the collars. She made her way to Sanghoon and placed the collar around his neck. Now, Sanghoon would learn how it felt to not only have one’s powers taken away, but also one’s freedom. Sanghoon would replace the seven males in prison, living through hell for them while they ventured off into the world with nothing to hold them back anymore.

“What will you do now?”

“Whatever we want. We get to decide now.”

“Will you go back to being villains?”

“We were never villains to begin with,” Namjoon looked down at the woman with pity, “we’re just seven men who society let down and tried to forget about. Society called us villains, but now we get to decide who we are.”

“And who are you now?”

“BTS. Bulletproof Boy Scouts.”

She could do nothing more than nod and watch as the seven males flew off into the morning sun, chasing the light as one would chase their dreams. The woman stared in awe as the seven men who had lived in the darkness disappeared into the light.

She grabbed the scientist by the coat and turned around to find that her front door had closed. She grabbed the handle and tried to open it. She furrowed her brow as she yanked on it again, only to find that her front door had been locked. She threw her head back and groaned, realizing there was only one person who could cause this sort of inconvenience. There was only one person who got a thrill from causing bad luck. It seemed that BTS would get the last laugh this time around.

“God fucking damn it, Jinx!”