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Force 127's Secret
Underground Lab

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The group returned to Ethora and Haeju City, immediately taking Renjun inside the lab upon arrival.

Once they made it to the special room inside, they gently placed Renjun into one of the cryostasis capsules to preserve his body and monitor his condition further.

Additionally, they laid Xinrei down in one of the beds in the lab's infirmary room for him to rest.

Once both of them were secure and resting, the rest of the team stayed put in the lab's main area.

"How are Renjun and Xinrei doing?"

Jungwoo asked Donghyuck and Taeyong.

"Hyung is stable, but I'm a bit worried. I'm sure that Yuta-hyung knows this too, but as time goes on, the condition of his body will only get worse and it'll start to decompose. However, returning his disks at the same time should speed up his recovery and quickly reverse those effects. But as for right now, his energy readings are exceptionally low, but at least they're not completely gone.."

"Xinrei is stable as well. But I know that these events have only traumatized him even more than he likely already was. This is the second time the kids have lost Renjun, but this time, it feels like he's actually gone. But I know that Xinrei will want to help out as much as he can to help bring Renjun back, if he can.."

The two explained.

"Knowing how Rei is, he might not want to leave this lab until dad is revived. I don't blame him though. Despite how he's acted towards him in the past, he really loves dad and absolutely hates it when they can't be together"

"And now that dad is in a coma, I'm afraid that he's probably going to shut down worse than he has before in the past..."

Xinya and Nitro explained.

"How bad has he shut down before??"

"Back before you guys attacked us at the party, Uncle Renjun was always busy with hero work since he's number one. He didn't get to spend a lot of time with Xinrei, Xinya, Nitro-hyung, or Suko-noona because of his incredibly busy schedule. At first, Rei shut down and wouldn't say a word to anyone until he got to be with hyung again. But eventually, things changed. He started talking again, but he began to resent hyung instead because he felt like he didn't want to be with his own family"

"Then when you guys attacked us and hyung chose to save us first instead of everyone that was possessed, Rei became even more furious with him because he felt that he was leaving them behind. He even called him a coward, but I know he didn't mean it in the end. He was just really upset. But then when he realized that we were actually getting sent away, he started to panic because he knew that they would be separated from hyung for a while. Before we were teleported to District 9, Xinrei begged him not to send us away. That day, he even referred him as his father for the first time in two whole years"

Jeongho and Minkyu explained to Jonah, reminiscing on past events.

"There was even a time when Rei seemed to hate me too, even if he'd never admit it. He was always hard on me and tried to avoid me in any way he could, even if we used to be close when we were younger. I guess as we got older he saw me more as a nuisance than a brother, especially since I was adopted, but our relationship seemed to get better just before this whole mess started. Back then, he asked me to protect dad and fight for him when he couldn't. I met TXT one night and we worked together to save dad, and with help from you guys, it was even easier. And when the four of us were reunited, he actually saw me as his brother like he did years ago... When we were younger, it was always the three of us. Rei, Xinya, and I were inseparable, until our trio became a duo once Rei started avoiding me. But when we reunited after I saved dad, our trio was finally restored again. Things were finally back to the way they were between us, better even. But now...I don't know how bad Rei will shut down this time around, and it scares me..."

Nitro suddenly added.

"I get it.. There's a chance that he'll keep to himself, but there's also the chance that some of his relationships will suffer as well. He might just try his best to avoid me too. Since I'm Renjun's double, he might not be able to handle being around me or even laying eyes on me"

Robin sighed.

He was especially disappointed because he knew that Xinrei had taken a liking to him before the events if their recent battle. But now that Renjun was currently out of the picture, he knew that the progress they had made would most likely suffer greatly.

"..We should keep a close eye on Ray-hyung"

Junsung suddenly advised.

"I get why we should relationship-wise, but I feel as though that's not what you're referring to"

Tayden predicted, and Jeongho confirmed that the younger meant something else.

"Xinrei is a natural born leader, just like Uncle Renjun. But even though he's arguably the most mature out of the ten of us, he's also the most unstable in certain situations. This is the most traumatic experience that Xinrei's ever had, and we all saw how he reacted right after it happened. With something this traumatic, that was likely only the beginning of what's to come. There's no telling what he's thinking or what he'll do. He could get himself into a situation he'll have a hard time getting out of, so we have to monitor him for as long as it takes to get hyung back"

"I see. That makes sense"

None of them heard when he walked in, but Xinrei was already in the room, listening to the little bit of their conversation that he had heard.

"Reirei! You're awake! Are you doing alright??"

Xinya asked as she and Nitro approached him.

He didn't respond with words, but he did nod just a little bit. They all immediately knew then that Xinrei had shut down from their father's temporary passing.

When they looked into his eyes, they both noticed that his eyes looked incredibly dull and had almost completely lost their sparkle. His expression was completely blank, as if his happiness had completely faded away.

"Rei, you should really be resting. You're still not completely recovered yet... Let us take you back to bed, ok?"

Nitro expressed his concern for his brother, offering to take him back to bed.

Xinrei didn't respond at all, causing a few tears to fall from Nitro's eyes. He gently held his hand, feeling even more heartbroken when Xinrei just silently looked down at his hand.

"Nitro, this isn't as bad as you think right now. Rei hasn't pushed either of us away yet, even if he's not responding like he normally would. I know you see that look in his eyes too, but their not completely dull because he still has all of us with him. There's a chance that he might not stay like this either. Rei might just still be in shock from what happened. But if he does stay like this until later on, then we just have to protect him, just like he's always protected us"

Xinya encouraged her brother the best way she could, trying to make him feel better like she always does.

Xinrei finally looked up at the two again, but this time, he smiled a bit when he looked into their eyes. This alone caused Nitro to breakdown immediately, and he embraced Xinrei in a gentle, warm hug. Xinya joined in the hug as well, trying her best to comfort both of her brothers in their tender moment. Feeling the love that he needed from his siblings once again, Xinrei's body seemingly moved on its own and he hugged both of them back. They couldn't see it, but everyone that was in the room saw when tears started flooding out of Xinrei's eyes.

It completely broke their hearts seeing how broken the three of them were, despite them trying their best to be strong for everyone. However, seeing them like this immediately filled one of them with anger, as well determination. Robin got up from where he was seated next to Sicheng, and immediately comforted the three kids.

"...I swear to you three, were going to find a way to get through this and bring your father back as soon as possible, no matter what it takes or costs us"