Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Chan sat on the end of the bed in his barren room. He knew what was coming. The handlers would be here soon. There was no way they hadn’t noticed his mistake from the night before.

Chan was more than a little nervous. All things considered. Sure, this wasn't the first time he had managed to free his mind from whatever drugs they were forcing them to take every night, but this was the first time he'd managed to get a message to the other members of District 9. He had his friend, who he referred to as “the glitch,” to thank for this. The poor kid couldn't do it on his own. But Chan, Chan was the one who had been put in charge of these eight boys. So it was easy for him to get the others to listen. And the glitch was convinced Chan was the key to freedom for all of them.

He listened as the sound of boots walking on concrete floor got closer to the door of his room. The doors stayed locked until the supervisor decided it was time for the boys in the compound to go about their daily tasks. Chan had heard the others’ doors on his block unlock at least an hour ago. Or what felt like an hour anyways. Clocks weren’t allowed in their rooms. Just another layer of control this place had over its inhabitants. Chan had waited patiently for the sound of the lock slipping free on his own door, but it hadn’t happened. That’s when he suddenly realized what he’d forgotten to do last night. Throw out the contents of the nine vials he hadn’t administered to himself and the other boys. How had he been so careless? No matter. The glitch had said everything would be taken care of, right? But Chan was feeling rather uneasy about it now as the sound of footsteps stopped in front of his door.

Owing to the fact this wasn’t the first time Chan was experiencing a nice bout of mental clarity, he knew what was coming next. They’d open that door. A couple of handlers - people in white outfits with their faces obscured - would come in and restrain him “just to be on the safe side.” They would then escort him through the maze of the compound to the room that Chan had grown to hate: assigned Revision room 241. Chan was 241. It’s what he was referred to by everyone here. They had designated that room just for him (if that was any indication of how often he was able to find mental clarity). He had asked himself every time this happened why he couldn’t be like everyone else seemed to be? Complacent and committed to whatever role they were here to fulfill.

The lock on the door clicked out of place. Chan could suddenly only hear blood rushing in his ears. He’d never done something this stupid before. The last time he had been sent to that room had been nearly a month ago when he had simply forgotten to hang his clipboard back up after an afternoon in the garden observing the other boys. It had been a strong enough indication to the supervisors that he wasn’t completely out of it. But this was a different ball game altogether. There were currently eight young men (all incredibly smart and talented from what Chan could gather) wandering around the compound without their nightly cocktail of mind fuzzying drugs. He didn’t imagine this was an offense the supervisors were going to be happy about. A forgotten clipboard had resulted in a solid 6 hours of solitude followed by the strongest mind fogging drugs he’d been given so far in his nearly 7 years of captivity in this place. 'Wait,' Chan realized, 'seven years. I didn’t remember that until just now. Nice time to remember things, brain. I’m about to lose it all again.'

The door whooshed open with a pneumatic hiss and Chan was greeted by the familiar sight of three handlers standing in the entrance. They entered the room, followed by someone Chan had never seen before.

“Good morning, two four one,” this new person greeted Chan cheerily as he walked into the small space. He was tall and spindly and currently spotted a too wide smile with teeth that looked too big for his face.

Chan watched as the man took a quick survey of the room. There wasn't much to see. Just a bed. And a door leading into a very small bathroom. Enough room for a sink and toilet. Showers were communal and it didn't appear that Chan was going to be allowed one this morning. They liked to control the boys in the smallest of ways.

“Typically one returns a greeting when they are given one,” the man stated with a smile. His kindness didn't feel forced, but it unnerved Chan to the very core of his being. No one was kind here. There was some unspoken rule about showing too much emotion. Chan knew the boys were more than likely fun and interesting and full of life when they weren't under the control of a drug induced spell. The handlers never spoke. This man must be a supervisor. That definitely meant Chan was in more trouble than he cared to think about.

“No matter,” the man continued, realizing Chan had no plans of responding, “I think we should go somewhere a bit more... comfortable.”

Chan knew what that meant. “I'm pretty comfortable here.”

The man’s left eyebrow perked up just a little at that and he chuckled. “Oh, I’ve no doubt we’ll all be more comfortable somewhere else. Please cooperate, two four one. My friends are going to restrain you-”

“Just to be cautious, right?” God, where had this sudden ballsiness come from. Chan just couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut, though. For all he knew these might be his last words.

“That's quite right, dear boy,” the too wide smile was still there, “now if you don't mind to stand and put your hands behind your back, we can take this elsewhere.”

Chan debated strongly for a moment. What were the odds he could catch the four people standing around him off guard? Maybe he could make it out the still open door if he just-

A sharp prick on his upper arm suddenly pulled Chan out of his racing thoughts. He glanced down to find one of the handlers withdrawing a needle from his skin. Oh bloody hell.

“I hope you'll forgive me, two four one,” the wide smiled man said as Chan’s vision began to swim. “We have to take a few extra precautions in this sort of situation.Can never be too sure of the dangers one might possess.”

“I’mnot danger us,” Chan slurred, his body relaxing at an alarmingly fast rate. “I jus wnna save them.”

“I know you do, two four one, I know you do.”

Finally the rest of Chan’s muscles gave up the struggle of staying upright. He would've slumped right off the bed had one of the handlers not caught his falling body. The last thing he saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the supervisor pulling a still full vial from his pocket and twirling it between his fingers. Well, shit.

Chapter Text

“I promise everything will be okay, Chris,” the glitch assured him, “I know this is scary, but you can trust me. Our friends on the outside have prepared everything for us. We can’t fail. No matter what.”

Chan’s hands trembled just slightly as he finished rolling up the last piece of red paper. He carefully placed it in the test tray next to 7 other identical rolls of paper, trying his hardest to not let the other boy see the nervous shake in his hand.

Each slip of paper contained the same message “the lot. 12 am. 03/25. trust me. - CB97.”

“I just have a really bad feeling about this, *****,” Chan whispered to the other boy. “What happens if they catch me?”

***** grabbed his shoulder and peered into his eyes. “You have to trust me, Chris. I promise everything will be taken care of, okay?”

Chan suddenly became aware of a steady beeping sound. Like a heart monitor. As Chan gazed into his eyes, ***** started to grow fuzzy. Something was tugging at the edge of Chan’s consciousness.

“What’s happening?” He slurred.

“Time to wake up, number two four one. Let’s go now.” *****’s mouth was moving, but the voice spilling out of it wasn’t the deep honey that Chan was used to. No. Not yet. Chan wanted a few more minutes with his friend.