Aliʻi✅

Chapter 5

Doyoung pulled at his restraints with his body with his mouth gagged. He could see the others from the other clans chained up and unconscious. How long had he been gone? He couldn't tell. There were no windows and only one door leading in and out. He rolled his way over to one of the others and hoped to wake him.

"Ugh, leave me be." he groaned as Doyoung rolled a bit away.

"Jeongin, wake up. I don't know where we are, but we need to figure out how to get rid of these restraints." said Doyoung as he looked at a half awake Jeongin. "Can you burn your way through the chains?"

"I can try. I'm not as strong as Woojin though..." Jeongin said then started to burn away at the chains.

Junghak and Kai soon started to stir. Jeongin panted heavily as there was hardly a scratch on the chains.

"If you can't burn through then they must've taken our powers into account..." Doyoung muttered as he thought of other escape plans.

"Hey, aren't you from that recluse Colorless clan?" Gyehyeon said, looking at Junghak.

"What of it? Let's focus on our current situation and talk about other things later." Junghak replied as he worked his way over to Doyoung. "Jeongin, you couldn't burn through?"

Jeongin shook his head. Junghak sighed then looked at the other clansmen. None of them besides Jeongin had a power suited to breaking free.

"Try again. I'll help this time." said Junghak as he struggled to join hands with him.

"How are you going to help? What powers do you have?" Jeongin asked skeptically.

"Just trust me for now." Junghak responded. "Now burn it!"

Jeongin activated his power then felt a weird sensation throughout his body.

"It's... working." Doyoung said in disbelief. "Junghak's what's going on?"

Jeongin was soon free from his chains. He hurriedly joined hands with Junghak and melted his chains. They only got as far as freeing Doyoung before someone had come in. There weren't many places to hide, so they all huddled in one spot.

"Where did they go?" the person asked.

Kai pretended to be asleep. He received a few kicks before the person started to look around. It was only a matter of time before they were located.

"We're out of options. We need to make a break for the door." Doyoung whispered quietly. "Whoever makes it out, go get help."

They nodded then ran out just as the person reached their hiding spot.

"Hey!" they said then pulled out their intercom. "Code Blue. Three prisoners are on the run. Reporting from Under Earth Basement 3 room 001."

Alarms blared loudly as they ran down the halls, not knowing which way was the right way.

"Why don't we just make our own path out?" Junghak suggested.

"I caught a bit of what that person said. We're in Under Earth Basement three. We're not on Earth's surface level." said Doyoung as they spotted stairs. "We need to get back to the surface before we get reckless."

Henchmen started to descend the stairs and Jeongin easily blew them aside with his flames.

"What about your sword, Doyoung?" Jeongin asked as they reached basement 2.

"Our priority is one of us getting out of here to let everyone know." responded Doyoung as he flipped a henchman over.

They continued to fight henchmen as they moved up to basement 1 and eventually the basement.

"We're almost there! I can see the door leading to the stairs!" Junghak said as they continued to run.

"Something's wrong..." Doyoung muttered before realizing. "Jeongin, watch out!"

Jeongin was pushed to the side and both him and Junghak watched as Doyoung was electrified. Jeongin moved to help him up, but Junghak pulled him away and towards the stairs.

"We can't just leave him!" Jeongin exclaimed as he looked back.

"Do you not remember what he said? At least one of us needs to escape and tell the others." Junghak replied as they climb the stairs. "Don't let his sacrifice be in vain."

Jeongin nodded in understanding as they continued to climb. He couldn't let his emotions get the better of him. They had their clans to warn. They had finally reached the ground floor.

"Jeongin, let's burn through this wall. It's made of metal." Junghak said as he felt it.

They held hands and Jeongin's fire easily melted the metal in front of them. The sound of blaring alarms grew fainter the farther they traveled. Jeongin started to melt the wall and saw sunlight peeking through.

"There they are! Get'em!" a henchman said as they charged after them.

Jeongin used more firepower then pushed Junghak out.

"Go! Go get help!" Jeongin said as he was soon seized. "Run!"

Junghak scrambled to his feet and ran. He had no idea where they were, but anywhere was better than where they were being held.

✵ ✹ ✵ ✹

Junghak's chest heaved as he leaned against a wall to catch his breath. He didn't go out into the city often, so he didn't know which way was the right way. If anything, Doyoung should've been the one to escape.

"Sir, are you okay?" a concerned woman asked.

"Do you... do you know how to get to... the Blue Clan's headquarters? You know, NCity?" Junghak asked slowly.

"Yes. You can lean on me if you need to." she said with a smile.

Junghak stood up then backed away from her. She seemed strange. He ran past her then ducked into a nearby store.

"Excuse me, I know this is going to be weird and all but may I use your phone to call someone? It's really important." Junghak asked pleadingly.

"Uh, sure..." he said then handed his phone over.

Junghak quickly dialed Felix's number and waited for him to pick up. He ducked behind an aisle then felt relieved to hear him pick up.

"Who's this?" Felix asked.

"It's me, Junghak. Jeongin's friend. Doyoung and Jeongin helped me escape from some prison like place and now I think I'm being followed by them. The area was pretty desolate. Like a factory area. I'm hiding out in a store and I have no idea how to get to NCity from here. The store's name is Just D-" Junghak said then quickly moved at the sight of the woman who offered him help.

"Junghak? Junghak are you there? Mr. Seo sent people to go and get you. Junghak?" Felix called out as the cashier's phone was left on the floor while he and Junghak were dragged out unconscious.

✵ ✹ ✵ ✹

Minhyun tightly held onto Hyogi as they arrived with the Blues. They quickly located the phone Junghak was using and other important clues.

"There's blood over here too!" a Blue clansmen said.

Hyogi walked Minhyun out of the store as he could see how upset he was getting.

"It's okay. It may not be his. It could be the kidnapper or the cashier. I wish we could've been there for him though..." Hyogi said with regret written all over his face.

"Hey, are you sure you two are okay being at the site...?" Jaehyun asked as he watched them exit.

"Minhyun needs a breather. Please watch him for me." Hyogi said before heading back inside.