Chapter Text
The smoke alarm rings incessantly in Ten’s ears, reminding him of how little time they have left before his and WayV’s demise. Thoughts run through his brain like a bullet train, all condemning him for accepting such a high risk mission despite Kun’s warnings. “fuck”, he muttered under his breath as he sprinted towards the exit. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t let their track record get to the better of him, they wouldn’t be running for their lives right now. It’s his fault, it’s his fault, it’s his fault, it’s—
“Hey.” A soothing voice whispered beside him. Oh great, Ten’s already hearing sweet angels coming to collect his soul. Just kidding. Ten will never fail to recognise the man behind such a calming voice, even in a sea of sirens. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not your fault, you big dummy.” Kun says, giving Ten a light nudge on the shoulder with his fist. Before Ten could refute, the first explosion went off. Sounds of hurried footsteps could be heard as they caught up with the two assassins.
“That was quite a blast.” Sicheng said, unbothered, as he swiped off debris from his shirt. Beside him, YangYang and Xiaojun giggled. Specifically at Ten’s comedic shocked face at Sicheng’s indifference. No matter how many years they’ve been together, Ten could never get used to how his team members can be so calm in the face of death. “this is taking too long.” Sicheng mumbles, turning himself into a giant eagle and grabbing the members with his talons. They fly out of the burning building in the blink of an eye.
Sicheng drops them onto a grassy patch as the building exploded into nothing but debris a mere second later. Ten lays on the ground, frozen as he tried to recollect everything that happened within what seemed to be light speed. “That was so cool!” Yangyang chirped, hopping around the grass patch as if he hadn’t just escaped death’s cold and clammy grip. “You know, you could’ve saved us the trouble by doing-“ ten gestures dramatically at Sicheng, “- your shape shifting thingy sooner!”
“I was going to, but yangyang and dejun looked like they were having fun so I decided not to.” Sicheng shrugs, tilting his head pointedly to the two younger assassins giggling to themselves. “You decided-“ Ten runs his hands through his hair in frustration. “We could’ve died, genius!” he threw his hands up in the air for extra flair. Drastic times calls for drastic measures. “Relax, Ten, the most important thing is we didn’t die.” Kun says as he rubs a soothing hand on Ten’s back, attempting to calm him down. Sicheng nodded. Ten looked back at Kun.
“You’re agreeing with him.”
Kun shrugged. “I haven’t had that much fun in a while.”
“Kun, you’re supposed to be the brains of our group!”
“Yeah? And the brain is telling your frantic ass that we’re all fine.”
Ten almost pulls his hair out. “We were seconds from dying, Kun!”
“I know! I sent a telepathic message to Sicheng to warn him. That’s why he turned into that massive eagle and got us out of there on time.”
Ten froze again. “Then what was with that dramatic line Sicheng muttered? ‘This is taking too long.’ “ Ten says, doing air quotation marks as he mimicked Sicheng’s words. “That was for dramatic effect.” Dejun piped in upon eavesdropping on their conversation. Sicheng’s ears turned red as he gave the younger a small shove, causing another bout of laughter from everyone.
“They’re here!” Yangyang shouted excitedly, pointing at a white van pulling up in front of them. Two familiar faces appeared from the driver and passenger seat, signalling for them to ascend the vehicle. Yangyang opened the sliding door of the van, revealing a tied up person sat on one of the seats. Kun gasped and immediately untied the hostage. With both hands on his hips, Kun shot warning glares at both Lucas and Hendery, who both had the audacity to look sheepish. “Tell me, my loves, why in the world was he tied up?!”
“He was tied up when we got him anyways..” Lucas mumbled a little too loudly, causing hendery to nervously nudge him at the sight of Kun’s eyebrow furrowing. “He’s the leader of a dangerous Mafia gang, Kun ge! He could get us killed immediately!” Hendery explained, purposely avoiding Kun’s eye so as to not face his wrath. The other members have already climbed on at this point, the leader of the mafia gang, whom they were saving for a bounty price, stayed silent. Kun pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. “What makes you think he won’t kill us for treating him this badly.” Kun fired back as he sat down on his own seat. The two gulped and said nothing.
The mafia leader glanced at the scene unfolding before him. He chuckles, garnering the attention of everyone in the van. “do you speak Korean?” He asks Kun, who he assumed would be the leader of the group. He’s right. Kun nods, allowing him to proceed.“I won’t hurt my saviours, if you’re worried about that. In fact, I find you lot to be quite entertaining, judging from the way you saved me.” He paused, giving Kun a small smile.“My name is Taeyong. Leader of the mafia gang NCT. I’d like to make a deal with you.”