Ignis 20/?
Apr. 10th, 2011 02:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaybee38Author: kaybee38
Rating: PG-15
Pairings: friendship!Jonghyun/Onew, Minho/Onew, Taemin/Sulli, eventual!JongKey, broken!Minho/Yuri
Genre: fantasy, sci-fi
Disclaimer: SHINee, Super Junior, DBSK and f(x) are owned by SM Entertainment only
Summary: Teneo are humans that live among us that have a genetic mutation that gives them the ability to live on indefinitely. They each have unique abilities and they don't physically age past 25. They all lead double lives since their "gifts" are a secret, some not even realizing that there are others like them. But someone has found a way to kill them. Jonghyun, with the help of a covert society has been secretly trying to warn and protect as many of his kind as he can before it's too late. Onew, Minho, Taemin and Sulli all end up joining forces with him to try to track down the killer before they can strike again. The bonds that grow between them along with their powers might be enough to save them, but the killer is closer to them than they realize.
A/N: Minho is reeling from Changmin's news, which leads him to make a startling announcement, meanwhile Onew's makeover is freaking everyone out and Heechul is hiding something. Remember, telepathic thoughts are written in italics.
Chap. 20- Bait
“Hey Luna. Your hair looks really nice like that.” Onew said, gesturing to the RN’s new updo. Luna glanced up only briefly from her pile of paperwork at the nurse’s station before smiling broadly.
“Thanks Onew!”
Three seconds later, Luna did a doubletake, whirling back around in his direction, dropping her pen and knocking a folder along with it, sending patient’s charts fluttering to the floor.
“ONEW?!”
Onew swung the ambulance doors open and Jonghyun openly stared at his partner as he helped him pull the gurney back onto the bus. After Jonghyun slammed the doors shut, Onew grabbed the radio.
“Joon, we’re good. Let’s roll!”
They were halfway back to base when he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Will you PLEASE stop staring at me like that?” Onew threw his assymterical bangs out of his face, frustrated.
“It’s just a haircut!”
He then looked up at Jonghyun and his partner’s eyes widened to the size of saucers when he realized that even Onew’s eye color had changed.
“The hair. The hazel contacts, the t-shirt you had on this morning that was like 2 sizes too small…Shit ‘New, what the hell?” Jonghyun flailed, accidentally knocking the radio receiver right off it’s perch next to him. Onew leaned forward and caught the swinging mic, placing it back on it’s hook.
“I-I just wanted to update my look a little bit. What? You don’t like it?” Onew’s face dropped as he pouted a bit, suddenly insecure as he nervously ran a hand through his hair. Jonghyun recognized his old friend then, as he sighed and shook his head.
“No. No it’s fine. I guess even we’re entitled to a mid-life crisis.” Jonghyun chuckled as he busied his hands coiling up the heart monitor cable, securing it with a velcro strap.
“As long as you don’t show up to a meeting with a blonde 19 year old girl on your arm, we’ll be fine.”
Onew laughed a bit then.
“I can assure you, that, won’t happen.”
Minho’s sat at the back of the bookstore in a worn leather chair, staring at the clock on his desk whose hands had stopped moving years ago. His head was swimming with the information that Changmin had given him. Changmin had been his rescuer, father-figure, mentor, teacher, and most importantly, his friend. It was for those very reasons that he had agreed to help Shim find the “lost” teneo Kibum without question. He knew how it important the task was to him. But…
Why would he lie to me? Why?
Minho had been turning the question over and over in his head for hours. It had kept him up most of the night and he still hadn’t formulated a logical answer.
He was torn.
Part of him wanted to avenge Yuri’s death. To look her killer in the eyes before he ripped the man’s consciousness right out of his body. Then he could just leave. Just pack up his grandfather’s store and disappear. It would be nice to live in another part of the world…to start over. Another part of him wanted to stay, to play this thing out, to learn more about….
Wait.
What did Changmin mean when he said he knew Onew’s mother? Was she teneo as well? Onew definitely did not know, and Minho knew that if he revealed the information to Onew, that he would have to reveal his true purpose for being there.
He cringed at the thought.
Minho sat bolt upright suddenly, as another terrifying scenario played out in his mind. One that Minho didn’t believe even Shim had considered, and it shook him to his very core. He stared at the broken clock one more time before grabbing his jacket and keys, running out of the store.
“Alright. I’m not waiting anymore. Let’s get start-”
Jonghyun was interrupted by the large wooden doors to the university library sub-basement’s meeting room squeaking open and being held open with a boot. The smell of fried chicken wafted into the room before Onew did, and as he slid into the room, everyone stopped.
And stared.
Heechul practially fell out of his chair, Sulli gasped, Q smirked, Taemin grinned, Jonghyun rolled his eyes, and Minho momentarily forgot how to breathe altogether.
“Doesn’t he look great?” Taemin leaned over and whispered into Sulli’s ear.
Sulli inhaled sharply and opened her mouth about to respond, but then her eyes narrowed as she remembered who was speaking to her and she said nothing. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she ignored him. Taemin sighed, staring at the top of her head as she sat still in a chair in front of him.
Onew smiled broadly as he carefully placed the boxes of take out on the edge of Heechul’s desk, and casually crossed the room towards Minho.
“Sorry I’m late, just thought I’d pick up dinner for everyone.”
Minho never heard what Onew said. He was too busy observing the teneo’s makeover. His shoulder length black hair was now cut short, framing his face and dyed sandy brown. Asymmetrical fringe artfully obscuring one of his (now) light brown pupils. He wore a denim blue distressed leather biker jacket over a fitted v-neck white t-shirt, the front of which was tucked behind a large silver buckle on a black leather belt, wrapped around ink-blue skinny jeans, which hugged his muscular thighs, pooling at the ankles, right into a pair of black combat boots, only laced halfway so the large tongues could flop out over the front.
But it was more than that.
Onew felt different. His aura was overflowing with confidence, strength, and a palplable electricity that Minho could only describe as extremely sensual.
“Hey.” Onew said quietly as he passed in front of Minho with a sideways glance, sliding into the chair next to his.
Minho was speechless, too caught up in Onew’s transformation to even speak, he just swallowed thickly and stared. He was brought out of his trancelike state by Jonghyun clearing his throat.
“Thank you Onew.” Jonghyun glared at his partner and shook his head, taking in the reactions of everyone in the room.
“Alright, let’s get started. You people act like you’ve never seen a man get a haircut before.”
Onew’s grin and wink weren’t lost on Jonghyun as he rolled his eyes again and turned towards the screen in front of him.
Heechul kept stealing uneasy glances at Onew, looking at him as if he was worried about something other than the man’s reworked appearance. Minho noticed, but didn’t let on as he stood up to speak.
“Before we get started, may I say something?”
“Certainly, Minho. Go ahead.” Jonghyun said, his expression changing quizzically, as he turned towards the taller man.
“I think I’ve seen him.” Minho began. “The pyro I mean.”
Jonghyun’s eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open a little as he took a step towards Minho, crossing his arms.
“You have my undivided attention.”
“Well, actually, I didn’t see him so much as I think I felt him.”
“You felt him? Now you have my undivided attention.” Q said standing, raising a dark eyebrow. Jonghyun shot him an annoyed sideways glance.
“Please Minho, continue.”
“I was at the bookstore the other day, locking up and it was pouring down rain, when I felt this presence…”
Onew looked up at Minho then. Remembering the day he had visited him at his bookstore. It was raining heavily that afternoon, and the look on Minho’s face when he’d come from locking the door was pale, and full of worry.
“…The feeling I had, well, the only word I could use to describe it is dark. When I looked out the door I saw no one but I felt this foreboding presence nearby and it…it smelled like…death.”
“You can smell death?” Q quipped.
“Well kind of. I am an empath, therefore I sense things, and smell is one of the five senses is it not?” Minho said, glaring at Q.
“Ok. Minho were you able to sense his idenity? A name or a location?” Jonghyun said, trying to dissipate the impending argument.
Minho quickly looked back at Jonghyun, sensing what he was attempting to do, and shook his head a bit, as if to rid himself of the anger.
“Um…no…but I felt heat. All around me, but mostly in my hands.” Minho looked at his own hands as if reminiscing over the sensation.
“Your hands?” Heechul stood then, quickly walking around his desk in Jonghyun’s direction, who returned his worried gaze, his eyes narrowing a bit, as he bit the inside of his lip in thought.
“Yes. That’s why I think it’s him.” Minho said to Heechul.
“Buy why you?” Onew said quietly from the chair behind him. “And why didn’t he attack you?”
Minho whirled around to look at Onew again, this time feeling only worry and concern from his fellow teneo. Minho looked at him long and hard, his mind racing to calculate how to explain himself.
“The truth is, I have a feeling I may know him.” Minho said slowly.
Heechul looked like he’d been slapped.
“No! You don’t think…” Jonghyun was directly in front of Minho now, speaking in a stage whisper.
“You know him?” Onew’s eyes widened in disbelief as he interrupted Jonghyun, standing and staring up at the taller man.
“You really think he did it?” Jonghyun asked Minho again, who contemplated responding telepathically before he sighed, shoulders slumped, answering verbally as he looked at the floor.
“Yes. I think this pyrokinetic and the one who killed my fiancé all those years ago, are one in the same. And I’ve recently formulated two theories. One, that she may not have been the intended target. And two, he may be here to finish the job.”
Heechul shook his head in disbelief.
I can’t let you do this Minho.
I’m your best option Jonghyun.
It’s too dangerous. You can’t.
Do you have a better idea?
Minho looked directly into Jonghyun’s eyes for a full minute before their silence was broken by Sulli.
“Leader Jonghyun! Please explain what is going on.” Sulli pleaded.
“Yes Jonghyun. Do tell.” Q said, now enthralled by the events unfolding.
“Minho, if you’re correct, then you would be the best person for us to utilize to catch this killer.” Jonghyun turned away from Minho then and looked back towards Heechul.
Heechul stared at Jonghyun, instantly understanding what the Watcher was suggesting.
“What?” Taemin exclaimed.
“Are you sure about this?” Heechul whispered to Jonghyun. Jonghyun closed his eyes and sighed in response.
“No!” Onew was on his feet. “You actually want to use Minho as bait?”
“Leader Jonghyun! Please tell us that’s not what you mean!” Sulli was on her feet now as well.
I’ll do it Jonghyun. With or without you, you know I will. Minho communicated to Jonghyun telelpathically.
Jonghyun steeled his resolve before turning around to face the others.
“That is exactly what I mean. And before all of you protest in his stead, why don’t we ask Minho what he thinks of the idea.” Jonghyun said glaring Minho.
Minho looked around the room at his fellow Watchers, before he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder firmly and pull him slightly from behind. He felt Onew’s thoughts even before he turned around.
No. Don’t do this. It’s too dangerous! I’m sorry for what happened but..
Minho turned around to face Onew fully, smiling a little with the knowledge that he had something to do with the man’s newfound sense of strength and purpose. Moved by his care for him, Minho looked deeply into Onew’s eyes before speaking.
“Yes Jonghyun. I’ll do it. I don’t see any other way.”
“No! This is crazy!” Onew pleaded, eyes wide, gripping both of Minho’s shoudlers at this point, shaking him urgently.
“Are you sure there’s no other way?” Heechul turned Jonghyun around to face him again. Jonghyun glanced at Q, who simply shrugged in response.
“Right now, I think Minho is our best bet. But I have an idea, and if we plan this correctly, he will be unharmed.” Jonghyun turned to face the rest of the members then.
“It will take every single one of you to help pull this off though. If you’re not willing to take the risk, I completely under-”
“I’ll do it!” Onew exclaimed, a little louder than he’d planned.
“I’m in. This is probably the most interesting situation I’ve been involved in in more 50 years.” Q said, sitting down in Heechul’s chair and crossing his ankles up on the desk.
“I’ll help too.” Taemin said stepping forward.
“No!” Onew said crossing to him but turning his glare towards Jonghyun.
“I don’t want the them involved…” Onew declared, gesturing to Taemin and Sulli.
“I agree. But!” Jonghyun said with a hand towards Sulli before she could speak. “…They can help remotely, with preparations. Let’s meet back here in two days. I’ll have formulated a thorough plan by then.”
Jonghyun looked back at Minho with a sigh.
I hope you know what you're doing Minho.
Minho had been acutely aware of Heechul’s uneasiness the moment Onew had entered the room that night. It was as if Heechul was looking for answers to an unasked question on Onew’s face. As the other members left, Minho disappeared into the back of the large room, quietly observing Heechul from the shadows to see if he could feel anything tanglible from the Leader.
Unaware of Minho’s presence, Heechul moved to the large armoir at the far wall. The same one that housed the implements for the armilla ceremony weeks earlier. But instead of opening the piece of furniture, he stared at it a moment, running his fingers over the intricate carving on the door above the metal latch, closing his eyes almost in prayer.
Professor Lee, you told me that I would know when the time was right. But so many things have happened. I’m confused, how will I know? When am I supposed to tell Onew the truth?
“Leader Heechul! You look troubled. What seems to be the matter?”
Heechul jumped away from the armoire as if it had burned his fingertips upon hearing Minho’s deep voice echo from the back of the room.
“N-nothing I…just a little tired I guess…I-”
“Does it have something to do with Onew? Minho was close enough for Heechul to see the knowing smirk on his face.
“What…are you reading me?” Heechul said, straightening, incredulous.
“What is it that you’re hiding from him?”
Minho spoke quietly, turning his attention to the antique globe on the edge of Heechul’s desk. It was bad enough that he himself was lying to the man, but Minho knew it would wound Onew deeply if he knew that the Watchers were hiding something from him as well. He was sure that somehow what Changmin had said and what Heechul was hiding were connected. Minho spun the globe with one long finger, watching the continents blur before his eyes as he willed himself not to anger for a second time that evening.
“Minho don’t be ridiculous,” Heechul huffed, buttoning his sports jacket and starting towards the door. “…I don’t have to tell…”
Minho caught Heechul by the arm quickly and firmly as he tried to move past him. Heechul gasped and shuddered at the touch, feeling the blood drain from his face as well as his arm as Minho leaned down a bit to speak into the crescent of his ear softly.
“I was only asking as a courtesy, Leader Heechul.”
A/N: I dunno how I feel about this chapter, but there's a bunch of stuff about to happen, and I had to set things up a bit. I hope it all made sense. As always, comments are love!
