Just Passing Through

"It’s goin’ down, I’m yellin’ timbeeeer…" he whispers, eyes wide and empty as dinner plates as they stare after destruction illuminated in the beam of the flashlight. His fingers twitch against the cheap plastic coating of the throw-away cards in his palm, fumbling a one-handed cut. In his back pockets he’s carrying two more decks, for all the use they’ll probably be — he can literally feel every last lesson from Close Combat and Target Practice flying out of his head.

He spares a nervous glance at the other “student,” wondering if the professor is aware of how completely disconcerting it is for him to be turning into random people. It’s bad enough that Jaehyo’s just now realizing that he has no idea what Taeyeon-seongsaenim’s ability is, but not knowing how much or in what form Rain can help them is enough to make Jaehyo trip right into the nearest wall, which he does, nearly dropping his cards with the gentlest of shrieks.

She sees a pack of playing cards in his hand.  Kinetic charge?  Card manipulation?  Or was it just a nervous habit and he  could do something completely different?  She was usually pretty up to date about learning other mutant's abilities in the school, but her recent promotion, and the wreck of her personal life, had kind of made her mind fuddled recently.  "So...what can you do?" she whispered to him.  If he was going to keep talking, it might as well be something beneficial to the group.

Rain is standing stiff at the front of the danger room when both of them approach. He stays silent for the most part, and hands each a small bag containing: a manila folder with a single page inside, a headset, and a flashlight.

"Before you open those," he says, "I will brief you on how the mission will proceed. Once you enter the danger room, it will, as always, recreate a time and space for your mission. I will accompany you on the mission, not as myself but as a fellow student, but you may not expect any help from me beyond a physical power.

You may first, read the file, and then enter the room.”

He nods to them, and opens the door to the danger room to wait for their first move.

The following is taken from the computerized journal of one Hong Yoojae, lead scientist at the institute.

Date: March 20, 2014

Location: The Institute Laboratory

Notes:

This is not Professor Hong.

We are under atack. I have wipd the entire system of our work. It wll not fall into the worng hands. They have infiltated lower levels. I hear th e alarms. tHis is not a test. I wish this was a test.

I am abotu to drink the serum Prof Hong was working on. It is designd to enhaced my mutation. There will be side effects. I will try to hold off invders as long as possible. There is a chance I will n ot survive.

As soon as they enter the room, they are greeted with the sight of a desolate hallway. The scaffolding is revealed on one side and a large gaping hole gives them a view of the peaceful mountains outside. The building is lit mainly by sunshine, peeking through the rubble of the walls.

A young student is standing with them. He turns on his flashlight first and whistles low when more of the destruction is revealed through the narrow beam.

"Whatever passed through here must have been huge," he says and turns to them.

"Yeah.  It looks that way.  We're probably looking at something with enhanced strength, at the very least. Considering that the person that typed up the note drank a formula, it very well might be them. And they might be scared.  So we need to approach everything cautiously, and if we find any survivors, bring them to safety."

"i heard today’s lunch is beef noodle soup or pizza," she says when they pull far enough away for her to talk. "which is kind of stupid, because what fool is not gonna pick pizza." she rolls her eyes and threads their fingers together, swinging their hands lightly between them. every time she looks at taeyeon, she can’t help but think how much she just really really likes her.

"are you gonna get cleaned up before we eat?" she asks.

"i think i have to go pick up an extra assignment from the professor’s office," hyoyeon bites her lip already knowing what the reaction is going to be, "since i never handed the last essay he asked us to write. you should come with me." she giggles nervously, and steps back a little bit, but not letting go of taeyeon’s hand.

When they broke, she had to laugh at the comment, and nod in agreement.  "Seriously.  Pizza is almost the perfect food.  I say almost because ice cream is the perfect food." she grinned, unashamed of her love for the dairy product.  She looked down briefly at their hands before bringing her gaze back up to her girlfriend.  She loved how playful and carefree she was most of the time and she was quite honestly thankful to whatever brought them together. 

"Yeah.  I'll just hop in the little bathroom over there and wash up, get changed out of my overalls." she smiled, pecking Hyoyeon's lips again.  When the other girl spoke, she sighed softly shaking her head, smiling sympathetically.  "What am I going to do with you?  We have our study sessions for that reason, Hyoyeon.  You're smart, too smart, I know, but you need to do the work." this wasn't the first time they'd had that conversation.  "He does this because he cares, you know?  But yes, I suppose I'll go with you.  Since it's because you're making out with me that you get distracted."  she chuckles, giving Hyoyeon's hand a little squeeze before letting it go so she could go get ready. 

"taengie," she calls out as she turns the corner into the garage. it’s pretty cramped for such a huge castle, they share their space with all the shop kids—all the different projects students can possibly think of are crowded into one hangar with a new electric iron door. there’s no class today, but that doesn’t mean she can’t come looking for her girl.

she’s right where hyoyeon expected her to be, on tiptoes and frowning at the electrical wiring on the nose of the plane. she’s got a smudge of oil across her forehead, and it’s terribly cute the way her arms are practically wrapped around the hull, trying to reach inside.

hyoyeon picks up a step stool on her way over and holds it up against her hip. “babe, your life will be ten times easier if you admit you’re short.”

she places the stool to the side and comes up behind taeyeon to snuggle into her neck. her girlfriend smells like sweat and grease—it’s a not really a great scent, but she just really likes feeling the smooth, warm skin against her face.

"i missed you this morning, why’d you leave before i woke up?" she asks, even though morning means one o’clock in the afternoon. still. she likes cuddling when she wakes up and the body pillow that rolls around on her bed stopped being enough when she was twelve.

Taeyeon wasn't much of a mechanic, but she was a quick learner, even in her teens.  And her girlfriend had taught her well.  She always whined about how it would be so much easier if she could use her ability to get inside the plane, but of course her phasing would short out electrical components, which is a bad thing for a plane, especially.  She is so busy working on this that she didn't even hear the arrival of the other girl as she entered the garage, not until she spoke up.

She smiled warmly hearing Hyoyeon's voice and even more so when she feels her embrace from the back.   She was still amazed at just how easily she could make her smile.  "I'll admit that I'm short when you admit that you're just barely taller than me."  she chuckled softly, the task at hand forgotten for  the moment as she felt Hyoyeon's face in her neck. 

"Sorry...but some of us have classes to attend." she laughed, reaching for a rag to wipe her dirty hands on, so she could touch her girlfriend.  That was much better than that plane, anyway.  Once her hands were somewhat clean and wouldn't stain Hyoyeon's beautiful skin, she rubbed the other's arm lovingly. 

"if you like people so much," he murmurs, tiny smirk sneaking onto his features, "why’d you pick being a librarian? i’m sure the pool or the coffee shop have way more action." 

he finds that he likes teasing her. 

the cigarette isn’t handled as expertly as his own, or even the countless others he’s smoked with in the past, and he wonders if it’s her first, wonders how long it’s been since she’s sucked nicotine all the way down to her lungs and let go. 

too long, he thinks. 

The pool.  That made her sigh.  Her ex was a former swimming instructor.  She never did get to teach her how to swim.  "I sink like a rock, and I can't make a decent cup of coffee to save my life."  she chuckled a bit.  "It suited me, I guess.  I do love people, but the thought of being a librarian was just comforting.  It felt right."

Nothing of that was enough to influence him when it came to be more or less caring when it came to the first impression that he had on people. If he was asked to guess, he would say that the girl looking at him expected him to act a little bit differently. Maybe he could have smiled or maybe he could have toned down on the harshness that laced his voice, but none of that would have sounded the least true or sincere, so he refrained from doing so. 

Brow raised and arms quickly folding in front of his chest as he listened to the girl, he was now more certain than ever that he knew her and saw her before despite the fact that her answers did little to allow his mind to work in order to properly remember her. “No, you really were invisible.” He spat, maybe without thinking. He was sure that her words would apply to demonstrate on a very abstract way the fact that maybe she was not noticed by many, but rather than focusing on that, he was a little more interesting on giving a shot on something he might remember other than on what he didn’t know about. 

She watched the male crossing his arms in front of him, while she talked, it was certainly a defensive measure.  A lot of people from Heukyang had them.  Taeyeon's was making herself seem smaller than she was, stuffing her hands in her pockets, and slouching a little bit.  Doing this, she guessed was what he meant by being really invisible, he wasn't exactly wrong in his wording that way.  Taeyeon was invisible to those whom she wanted to see her, at least back in high school.  If those people had seen her, maybe she wouldn't have been constantly picked on.  Maybe she would have not had to eat a lot of lunches alone in the courtyard.  Maybe she could have spent her time figuring a way to get out of the city before it chewed her up and spit her back out.  If only she was invisible instead of intangible.

She shook her head.  Her education at the Institute was all the post-secondary education she had received.  She had wanted to go to college, just things didn't work out that way.  Maybe someday she would, but for now, she was content with being a librarian at "Mutant High" as some called it.  "No, I didn't go to college here."  she hesitated when he stuck out his hand.  She really didn't trust people that seemed this comfortable in Heukyang, if she were to be honest, and after everything she'd been through there, she certainly had good reason.  She finally took it, giving it a shake.  "Kim Taeyeon." she replied quietly, almost hoping he wouldn't hear. 

it’s kind of cute, though, and yukwon has no problems with women who are stronger than him. 

so he nods, smiles, and lets his head fall back against the building. his cigarette is burning away under his fingertips and he almost frowns except frowning gives way to wrinkles and yukwon is too pretty to fuck up his face with some trivial emotion like sadness. 

"even hotter," he says, looking at her from the corner of his eyes, face still tilted towards the sun. 

She had never really seen this guy around that much, then again, barely anyone came to the library unless they needed to do some research on a term paper and most of those had already been done for the semester.  She laughs as she flicks some ash off again.  "Well, thank you.  I guess I'm just not used to people calling me hot.  My ex didn't even do that."  she chuckled a little bitterly  "Though they said I was warm.  They were an ice manipulator."  she gave a sigh before taking another drag.  

 For Sooyeon to be freely walking into the grounds of the enemy was something unusual. Years now she hid and sneaked into places, banks and houses with one goal in mind, theft. It was who the woman had grown up to be, a thief always lurking in the shadows. That is why Sooyeon had grown to be suspicious of everyone and everything, taught to be cautious.

 It came to no surprise how now that she should be most alarmed of everything, nothing seemed to go wrong. In fact all was too well and ideal. Rain’s Institution was a place unknown and unheard of to Sooyeon until only a few weeks back. It was when she was welcomed into the Brotherhood that she first heard of it and its cause. All she had to keep in mind was that they were the enemies.

 Had it not been for that one debt from years ago, Sooyeon would have not even bothered searching for the place. She was a criminal yes, but she knew well enough not to go looking for trouble when it is not needed. It felt so foolish to her now, to simply walk into the building as if she was welcomed there. She had observed from afar, as she hid on top of trees, how everyone got in and out and apparently there were no security checks, nothing. Sneaking in, as she had first planned to do, seemed troublesome and riskier. Now she was on the second floor and everything still remained safe which kept her even more on guard.

 Stupid Kim Taeyeon. How long had it been since Sooyeon last thought of the girl? Years, so many she had forgotten but she also didn’t. She was in her debt. The other girl had saved her life and Sooyeon was somewhat grateful, or so she had once said, not admitting her full thankfulness. Knowing she was morally obliged to someone for anything was a thought Sooyeon long hated which was why she wanted to repay the debt and be done with it.

 As she quietly entered the library, it didn’t take much time for her to spot who she was looking for. Sooyeon had a good memory and Taeyeon had a distinctive, youthful face that surprisingly remained the same. With light, silent steps Sooyeon approached the other stealthily out of habit. Her voice was also quiet as she spoke to get the other’s attention.

She tried a lot of things, going to the cities to shop on her days off, extra Danger Room sessions to get her blood pumping, but nothing seemed to be working.  All she was doing was making herself more tired, which in turn made her miss out on more o her free time, where she could get to the root of the problem.  She was pretty depressed.  She normally wasn't one to let things bother her this badly.  She was normally someone that could find the silver lining in most anything.  But not this time.  She felt that she was slowly falling apart. 

So, she decided to throw herself back into her work.  Putting in some extra time at the library was something she could do to pass the time, at the very least until she could pick herself up by the bootstraps again. It was a slow day for her, as there weren't too many returns and most research papers were on hold as exams were over for the current time. 

Not really paying attention to the door, with her back to it, in fact,  Taeyeon hadn't heard the other girl come in, not until she heard the voice behind her, causing her to jump a bit, dropping the book she was holding onto the back counter with a thud.  She turned around, ready to scold some student, when she came face to face with a ghost from her past.  She had never expected Sooyeon to be there.  Not after all these years. 

"yukwon," he says, shoving his pack back into his pocket once she’s taken what she needs, "lighter?" 

he doesn’t give her a chance to answer, just holds it out wordlessly, eyes roaming across the grounds. it’s cold as shit out here, and he wishes he had more than his button up to keep him warm. he’d offer his body heat to the librarian, but he’s pretty sure it won’t go over to well.

still. can’t stop a guy from dreaming. 

She stared at the stick for a moment, snapping out of it when he offered her the lighter.  She took it, placing the cigarette between her lips, and lit it.  She made the beginner's mistake of taking too big of a drag on her first inhale, and ended up coughing. 

There goes looking cool. 

She hands him back the lighter once she recovered, taking a much smaller haul off of it this time.  She pulled her jacket a little more around her, noticing the chill in the air.  It had been an odd season.  Warm some days, cold others.  It was nice to get out of the library though, even if she did enjoy her time in there.