Feathers and Carnations

Chapter Twenty-one

*This song is a great mood setter for this chapter cause of the tense, sneaky mission that takes place. Highly recommend listening to it while reading. Enjoy!*

(if not showing, it's One by One- detroit become human) 

Someone was singing. A melancholic melody echoed down the quiet corridor, wordless but carrying and array of emotions.

Jisung smiled as his escort left him in the gray room. "Why are you singing?"

Minho shrugged, like someone asked him a silly question about what he was doing and he was about to say 'nothing'. "Why are you not singing?"

"You answer first."

Minho hummed another few notes before going quiet again. "Today was a bad day. I've got new scars thanks to my tests. I heard that singing can help when you're feeling... trapped and hurt."

Jisung couldn't respond for a long moment, wishing he could really comfort his friend. "So sing when the pain becomes too much?'

Minho nodded. "It's a comforting distraction. Your voice is free while you aren't."

A few minutes of quiet as Minho returned to humming. Then Jisung joined him, and their harmonizing voices rang down the cold halls of their personal hell, escaping into the wilderness while their bodies remained chained.

⧫⧫⧫

"What is that infernal noise?"

"He's singing."

"Who?" 

"ML-32."

⧫⧫⧫

Jisung motioned to Hyunjin, who nodded in return, and they bolted across the grass, weapons and heads lowered as they crept closer to the sprawling mansion Solswor was operating from. Thanks to Jeongin and Chan, they had a clear path to the main building, but from there, they were mostly on their own. This was only a reconnaissance mission, they couldn't go in guns ablaze.

Thankfully, this was Jisung's area of expertise, and they made their way to the mansion quite easily. From there, the pair split up, Hyunjin moving to study the perimeter around the buildings while Jisung entered the main building.

The room he'd entered appeared to be a study, and Jisung slipped a pair of black gloves on- careful of the healing wounds on his hands- before searching every drawer and cabinet he could see. He found Solswor's financial records, and he photographed the pages that dated from the Assembly to the present. Other than than, there was nothing more of use, and he put everything back neatly.

Jisung adjusted his black mask, making sure it was secure before peeking through the door of the study. The hall was dimly lit by a few table lamps, and it appeared to be empty. He scanned the ceiling and spotted a camera nestled in the corner above the window at the end of the hall.

There's always a camera. And it's a cheap one at that.

Jisung took one of his most trusted tools from the pocket of his black jacket: a laser. Felix had specifically designed this laser to briefly rob cameras of their sight for a few seconds, so if anyone were to look back on it, it would seem like nothing more than a glitch happened. He flashed the laser across the camera's lens, and then crept out into the hall, closing the door behind him silently.