![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
part two hundred and sixteen
--
may the best ot4 win (ง •̀_•́)ง Please do not post pictures using table codes! Please use <img src=""> for phone anons! (and label links!) • ip logging is off • anon is on • stay anon • do not spam links post glossary/wiki mod alert post meme • sncj • fyexo • fyeahs world cup: exomeme edition: prelims | round one | round two congratulations team a and team b! quarter-finals: 07-13 00:00 UTC - 07-15 23:59 UTC team a - xiuchenlayeol team b - kaibaektaohan last page | flat view | themes |
wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 11:18 am (UTC)(link)+ team multiplier
to complete the hat trick!
previous parts here:
(lu han note toop)
(kai art)
Re: wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 11:19 am (UTC)(link)collapse~
Re: wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 11:19 am (UTC)(link)"Hello?" he calls tentatively, suddenly realizing for the first time that his wrists are bound behind his back with some really scratchy rope that keeps digging into his wrists. He twists them experimentally, hoping to find that there's some give, but whoever tied him up seems to have done a very good job, and there's nothing, just chafed skin that feels dangerously close to rubbing raw and bleeding.
He hears a deep metallic clanging from somewhere up above, then the ominous sound of footsteps—the click of fancy dress shoes on cement, drawing closer to where he is. He holds his breath, trying to stay very still.
Light floods in from somewhere and he sees a frighteningly tall silhouette in the shaft of golden light created by the open door. A moment later a light switch turns on—the room's illuminated with a single bare incandescent bulb that flickers dangerously with each step the gigantic stranger takes inside the room.
"Lu Han," slurs a familiar voice, and Lu Han tucks his chin to his chest, desperately trying to recall where he's heard that voice before, because he knows he knows it. His mind keeps drawing blank, fuzzy and unresponsive like the static on a television. "Lu Han," the voice slurs again. "Look at me."
Lu Han looks and immediately squints, his eyes still unaccustomed to the brightness of the room after sitting in the dark for so long. His vision's blurry, too—whatever happened to his head, someone must have hit him very hard, because he keeps seeing looming shapes that split in two, speckles of light, purple and white, skittering across his vision every time he blinks. He shakes his head and squints again and for a moment his vision clears.
He gasps. "It's you."
—
"Guys," Tao says, coming into headquarters with a stack of mail under his arm. "I told you guys I was waiting for a package. Why didn't anyone check the mail?"
"Is it here?" Jongin asks, eyes trained on the screen of his laptop. He's too engrossed in his game to look up. "No—fuck, die, die motherfucker," he hisses, clicking his space bar rapidly. "Why won't you fucking die—oh, SHIT. No. Come on! No!"
Baekhyun actually cackles over the sound of Jongin's pained wailing, sounding exactly like an old hen. "Told you. Should've stocked up on that manna when you could have, but now you're going to go down." There's a loud explosion in stereo from the two laptops. "Boom!" Baekhyun crows, thrusting both hands in the air. He pushes away from the counter and starts doing an approximation of a victory dance that would be truly embarrassing if he could see himself.
"Damn it," Jongin huffs, pushing his laptop away from him onto the adjacent couch cushion. "I almost had you that time."
"Almost doesn't count! How does it feel?" Baekhyun asks, pointing his fingers at Jongin and wagging them. Baekhyun is the sorest of winners, but even worse when he loses.
"No, it didn't come," Tao says, lifting his voice over Baekhyun's loud celebration. "But there's this weird unmarked envelope. You think it's for the office below, or—"
Baekhyun stops, suddenly serious. "Unmarked? What? Give it here."
"It could just be a bill, I guess," Tao says, flopping on the couch next to Jongin and narrowly avoiding crushing Jongin's open laptop. Jongin pulls it into his lap, scowling.
"Watch it," he grumbles. "I took care of the junk mail thing. We're not even a listed address—you shouldn't even be using this place for your personal deliveries, Tao, it defeats the purpose—"
"Oh, don't start this again," Tao says, putting his hands over his ears. "We're supposed to use this place as our base of operations for stings and you two are in here half the time playing Leagues Under The Sea or whatever the fuck—"
"It's League of Legends, and the wifi's better here, Taozi. Deal with it," Baekhyun says as he unfolds the piece of paper. "I'm sure it's nothing. Some neighbor bitching about the noise, leaving a passive aggressive note—that's what you get… in a…" He frowns. "Residential. Neighborhood."
"What is it?" Jongin asks, shutting his laptop with a decisive snap. "Somebody complaining about Monggu barking? Because that was one time, I really thought it wasn't going to take very long to hack into the bank security system, and then all of a sudden it was four hours later and I was still dealing with their stupid firewall."
"Uh-uh," Baekhyun says, and hands over the letter. "This is—I really don't know what to make of it. Tao? You're the authentication expert, you tell me. What the fuck is this?"
Tao squints at the note. It's short, made of letters cut out of magazines and assembled to spell out the words. Amateur way of doing things. He laughs.
"I don't know what this is. A joke, maybe."
Jongin grabs it from Tao and reads it out loud. "Give us all your money or the deer gets it. You have until 8PM tomorrow." He looks up, wrinkling his nose with confusion. "The deer? This doesn't even specify a drop location for all our money."
"And that's pretty vague," Tao chimes in. "All our money—like, all the money in my wallet? I never carry cash on me. All the money stashed in our hidden accounts? Well, okay then, now we're talking about a serious amount of coin."
"Speaking of, where is Lu Han?" Baekhyun asks, backtracking to the counter to pick up his phone. "Has anyone heard from him today?"
"No," Jongin says. "He said he was scouting a new location and would be out of service the most of the day, so I didn't even bother calling him for a status report."
Tao shakes his head slowly. "Now that you mention it, I haven't heard from Lu Han at all, either."
Baekhyun holds his phone up to his ear and bites his lip. "Pick up, damn it," he mutters. "Come on, Lu Han. If this is your idea of a joke, it really isn't all that funny."
—
The first slap sends Lu Han's jaw winging to his right, neck wrenching with the sudden force of a large hand connecting with his face. Kris is right there to catch his face and force it forward, pinching Lu Han's chin to keep him staring straight ahead.
"Look at me," he instructs, shaking Lu Han's head a little bit to emphasize his point. "I'm going to ask you one more time, and you're going to answer my question. Where. Is. The. Money."
Lu Han spits in Kris's face, enjoying the way the bloody saliva splatters across his ugly mug. "Fuck you," he says, "You're such a weak-ass criminal. You think kidnapping me's going to work? You think they're going to fall for this shit?"
Kris shrugs and pulls a handkerchief out of his inner pocket to mop off his face. "I'm going to make a prediction. They're going to track your phone. They're going to see your last location before your phone went dead. They're going to go to that place. And then I'll have all of you here, and it'll be easy to get the bank account numbers out of you." He puts the handkerchief back into his pocket. "Unless, of course, you want to save your team a lot of pain and suffering and probably death by spilling the beans now." He smiles dangerously. "I'll give you the choice of how you want to die, if that makes it any better for you."
"Fuck you," Lu Han says again. "You think you can overpower my team? Give it your best fucking shot, but I'm not going to say anything to help you. Beat me to death if that's what you want, I'll never give you what you want. You don't deserve the satisfaction."
Kris lunges and grabs Lu Han by the collar, yanking him so hard Lu Han feels his windpipe crushing under Kris's massive fists. "You little shit," Kris hisses. "Always think you're so smart, just because the boss promoted you over me—you've got no idea how to run an organization."
"I'm not part of the organization anymore. I retired," Lu Han grits out, vision spotting black as Kris continues to strangle him. Still, he keeps his stare frozen, eyes hard and dark, meeting Kris's glare defiantly, daring him to just kill him. He knows Kris won't—Kris'll never get what he wants if he doesn't let Lu Han live, at least for now.
"Yeah. Retired. So I've heard," Kris says, squeezing Lu Han's throat for a second longer before releasing him. Lu Han sags forward, relieved at the cool rush of oxygen in his nose and mouth, and then his head's cracking to the side again as Kris hits him again, with the back of his hand this time. Lu Han feels the cut on his cheek from Kris's ring and smiles despite the stinging, wicked pain.
"That all you got?" Lu Han asks. Kris winds up and Lu Han steels himself, waiting for another blow.
—
"This doesn't feel right," Jongin says, squinting down at the tiny display of his smart phone, then back up at the building in front of him, then back down at his phone. "This is miles across the city from where Lu Han was scouting, why would he come here?"
"Don't know," Baekhyun says, frowning at the lettering on the window front. "Tao? What do you think?"
Tao shrugs and pulls his jacket closer across his chest. "Don't really know, but I do know it's really creepy around here. Have you seen any customers going in here?"
Baekhyun looks down the street to his left, then his right. "Good point, it is pretty quiet," he says. "Let's take a stroll, okay? Casually, though, don't draw any attention to yourself. Jongin—you sure this is the last place Lu Han used his cell phone?"
"I'm positive," Jongin says, holding up the phone display to prove his point. "Look. That little green blip. If Lu Han were here, we'd be standing on top of him."
Baekhyun frowns and looks around. "You see any basements? Any sewer grates—just something, some sort of hidey hole underground lair?"
"I'm not going underground," Tao says. "This is genuine calfskin, I'd rather let Lu Han die."
"Those are your two choices," Baekhyun says, spotting a large cellar door mounted to the side of the abandoned building. "Last chance. I'm going in. Are you with me?"
Tao sighs. He wasn't serious about letting Lu Han die—he'd never let Lu Han die if he could possibly help it, but he really did just buy this jacket. Lu Han's going to owe him big time if he gets it dirty. He's going to owe him double if he gets it dirty and Lu Han's not even in trouble.
"Fine," he says, pulling his gun from its holster and flipping the safety off. "I'll go first."
"Thanks," Baekhyun says gratefully, tugging at Jongin's elbow. "Jongin, get your eyes off the screen. That's not going to tell you anything."
"If you give me a minute," Jongin says, wrenching his elbow free from Baekhyun's grasp to peer closely at the screen of his phone. "There. Done."
"Finished texting your mom?" Baekhyun cracks.
"Shut up, asshole," Jongin says, handing the phone over to Baekhyun. "Tao, don't go just yet. Baekhyun, look at this. Look who's here."
Baekhyun gasps and his eyes go wide. "Is this accurate?" he asks.
"Yes."
"In real time?"
"Yes," Jongin says impatiently. "This is what I've been trying to tell you, Baekhyun. Kris is here, too."
"Well," Baekhyun says grimly, reaching into his holster for his own gun. "Looks like we found where Lu Han's run off to."
—
Lu Han's face is so swollen now. He can feel it, the way his bruises throb in the shape of Kris's handprint.
Kris has since taken a break. He's sitting in a chair across from Lu Han, his legs crossed at the ankles, looking at Lu Han. Lu Han's looking right back, from the tip of his stupid pointy dress shoes to those ridiculous leather pants to the too-tight shirt, pulling slightly at the buttons.
"So, leather pants, huh," Lu Han begins, tipping his head to one side so he can peer at Kris through his good eye. "Didn't realize they made them in non-assless."
Kris chuckles. "Good one."
"No, but really, do you moonlight as a leather daddy in a dungeon?" Lu Han mock-gasps, mouth open wide. "Is this your dungeon? Are you going to punish me, Daddy? Because I've been a bad, bad boy."
"Keep going if you want," Kris says, leaning back in the chair. He folds his hands over his chest, tapping the tips of his index fingers together. "I'm just waiting for you to tire yourself out. You never shut up, do you? Is this what they've done to you, Lu Han? I remember when you were so silent—when you listened to what you were told. You used to be obedient."
"I used to be twelve," Lu Han says calmly. "Things change, Yifan."
Kris's eyes narrow at the use of his real name. He obviously isn't used to being called that much these days. "Shut up," he says, voice very quiet. "If you know what's good for you, you won't say that in front of me anymore."
"Why not, Yifan?" Lu Han asks, his voice growing bolder. He's found a nerve, so of course he's going to work at it. Get Kris to keep beating him, because soon he's going to knock Lu Han unconscious for longer than thirty seconds and then he's going to have to stop, because he needs to keep Lu Han alive. "Your father gave you that name. Don't you think he'd be hurt to know you're not using it?"
"Fuck you," Kris growls. "You don't know anything about my father."
"You mean Boss?" Lu Han asks innocently. "I know plenty. Second in command, remember?"
"Yeah, I fucking remember—right until he was killed," Kris says, eyes glinting crazily. "I'd blame you for it, except I know that wasn't how it was supposed to go down."
"Oh?" Lu Han asks airily. He's got Kris talking now. His rage will bubble over at any minute. "And how do you know that?"
"Who do you think has the balls to order a hit on the boss?" Kris asks, leaning forward quickly. Lu Han gasps before he can stop himself. He'd had a lot of theories about the boss's death, but never this—never a family betrayal, never though to blame the boss's kid.
It makes sense, though, now that he thinks about it. Bitter from being passed over for a promotion, jealous of his father's relationship with Lu Han.
"It was supposed to be you," Kris hisses through his teeth, and Lu Han's suspicions are confirmed. So that's what this is about. It's never been about the money at all.
Lu Han knows he's going to die.
Kris cocks his head suddenly, listening—and then Lu Han hears it too, the sound of three pairs of feet on the steps, heading closer. Tao's voice. Jongin's, and Baekhyun's.
Kris grins. "Time for the fun to begin."
Re: wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 11:49 am (UTC)(link)Re: wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 11:49 am (UTC)(link)Re: wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 11:57 am (UTC)(link)Re: wcau -- team tao -- lukaibaektao ransom fic -- 2596w (for hat trick)
(Anonymous) 2014-07-15 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)