"What are these things?!"

Jooheon's rather distressed question echoes through the hall that the exploration team finds themselves fleeing through. He's holding up the rear, turning back to toss the occasional fireball at their pursuers. He'd quickly discovered that his gun was useless against them after they'd so rudely popped out of the walls themselves. Not that his pyromancy seems to be that much more effective.

"Intruder deterrents!" Minhyuk shouts breathlessly.

"No, " Changkyun retorts, just as winded, "I thought they were the kitchen staff!"

Funny how the telepath can barely breathe, and yet he still manages to find the energy to be snarky.

"With those knives for hands, I can maybe see how you might have thought that, " Minhyuk banters playfully.

Sarcasm is supposed to be his thing. He's not about to be one-upped by the brat.

"Less talking, more running!" Jooheon yells. "The two of you can compare dick sizes later! After we escape from the angry robots with swords for hands and damned laser cannons on their shoulders!"

Wonho rushes to the CNC, distressed by the captain's abrupt command for a status update. He'd specifically summoned the mechanic, with clear orders that he report in person. Combined with the fact that Tori has still yet to return, the sirens blaring just outside, and the nervous energy rolling around in his gut, Wonho is a mess. He doesn't know how he knows it, but something is definitely wrong.

When the elevator door opens, he is greeted by several worried faces. The dread he is already feeling intensifies, as the looks on their faces confirms his uneasy suspicions.

"Where's Tori?" He demands, panic rising as Kihyun replies.

"We don't know. Neither she, nor the exploration team have made it back yet. The facility's power is back online, but now not even the comm devices are working."

"We've been trying to raise the exploration crew for the last few minutes, but all we're getting is static." Shownu explains. "How's the ship? Is the Denali ready for flight?"

Wonho nods reluctantly. Surely the captain doesn't intend to leave the others behind?

"She'll make it to the next port, but no further."

"That's all we need, " Shownu replies.

His face is grim, and Wonho begins to fear the worst.

"You're not intending to leave them behind, are you?"

"Of course not!" Kihyun retorts, jumping in to assure Wonho despite the captain's lack of response.

"Let me go and find them, " the mechanic pleads, "I'll bring them back safely. I swear it."

Nodding, Shownu replies.

"Permission granted. Kihyun and I will go with you."

"And what about me?" Hyungwon questions.

"Stay in the ship." The captain commands, already striding towards the elevator with Kihyun and Wonho on his heels. "You're no good to us in a fight, but if we make it back, there's every possibility we'll need someone to patch us up."

Grudgingly, the xenobiologist turned medic nods in agreement.

More than ever, Wonho is grateful that Jooheon keeps the armory so well maintained. Because of it, it doesn't take long at all for he, Kihyun, and Shownu to find everything that they need and suit up. With a grim face, Wonho watches as Shownu and Kihyun rifle through the available weapons on board. 

"Which gun will you take?" 

Kihyun looks at him expectantly, but the mechanic shakes his head. He's never held a gun before, so it wouldn't do any good for him to carry one anyway.

"You can't step out there without a weapon Wonho, " Shownu persists. "There's no telling what we might encounter. Even Changkyun took a pistol with him."

At the mention of the telepath's name, Wonho struggles to tamp down his irritation. If Tori is in danger, Changkyun might actually kill him. And in all honesty, he can't say that he'd blame him in the slightest. If the roles were reversed, he'd probably rip the guy to shreds.

As things stand, he's currently ripping himself to shreds from the inside out.

"A gun won't do me any good, " Wonho reveals with a sigh, "I've never even held one before."

"Then how do you expect to come with us?" Kihyun demands harshly.

"Relax, " the mechanic insists. "Just because I can't handle a gun doesn't mean I can't fight. I have my ways."

He pats the leather pouch strapped to his belt, grateful when Shownu nods in understanding. The captain knows exactly what Wonho is talking about, even if Kihyun does not.

"How much farther to the ship?" Jooheon yells, clearly aiming his question at Minhyuk despite the fact that he is currently facing the other direction.

It feels as if they've been running for hours, and Jooheon is beginning to feel a little sluggish. He hasn't used his pyrokinesis to this extent in such a long time, not since he was last on the battlefield, and the toll on his body is beginning to make itself known. Also, he's starting to doubt Minhyuk's directions. Why is he so certain that they're going the right way? Their omni-cuff communications are down, so wouldn't it stand to reason that his holo map could be off too?

Glancing back at Chankyun, Jooheon's jaw tightens. He won't let anything happen to them, he absolutely refuses. It's odd, seeing the telepath so calm. It seems that he's grown up quite a bit during this journey, and Jooheon isn't sure whether he should be sad for it, or happy about it.

"It should be just up ahead!" Minhyuk shouts back. "Through the next hallway!"

Cursing fervently in his native tongue, Jooheon shoots off another fireball. It doesn't even but barely seem to slow these things down.

As they near the door, a shrill scream of terror rips through the air.

"That sounds like Tori!" Changkyun exclaims.

He is winded, and honestly terrified, but the adrenaline pumping in his veins only intensifies at his recognition of the voice beyond the door.

"Go, go, go!" Jooheon shouts, ushering the others through the door that opens at their approach.

But the sight that meets Changkyun's eyes is one that chills his bones to the core.

There, surrounded by at least five of the mechanical brutes, is his woman. Clearly terrified, Tori has huddled into a ball, hands shielding her face as if to protect herself from their rapid approach.

Without even thinking about it, Changkyun rushes forward, and with his telekinesis he shoves at least three of them to the side. It's not enough, for two of them are still approaching, and even the three he knocked down return to their metal feet quickly enough. With a speed he'd never have thought himself capable of, he pushes forward, managing to reach Tori just in time to grab her and roll just as one of the creatures' sickeningly sharp arms come down in a wide arc.

"Changkyun!" She cries, trembling. "Look out!"

Arms now wrapped firmly around Changkyun in return, this time, she rolls him out of the way. But, unlike Changkyun, she is not nearly fast enough to avoid the machine entirely. As a result, she catches the creatures blade against her back, blood spattering to the ground as it slashes her.

"Tori!" 

At this point, Changkyun is in a panic.

Two more of the creatures advance, and Changkyun tries his best to lift Tori, desperate to escape. But her legs are unsteady, and for a moment, it seems as if they are not going to make it. The light catches that gleaming blade, blinding him, though he does his best to shield Tori from the imminent deathblow.

However, it never comes.

Instead, the creature begins to spark and shake, malfunctioning before his very eyes.

"How'd you like that?!" Minhyuk shouts, breathless and bold.

Tori, looking around Changkyun's form, discovers that Minhyuk and Jooheon have gained the attention of the remaining death-bots. Jooheon is tossing fire at them like some kind of human-shaped flame thrower, and she watches nearly in awe as Minhyuk commands a small legion of what looks like miniature drones. All in all, Minhyuk's drones seem to be more effective against the creatures, the small holographic balls wielding spark and speed with brutal effenciency. Even so, it seems that they are in a rough spot, for even Minhyuk's drones fail to take out more than two more of the creatures before fizzling out, having taken a few too many hits in the process of guarding their master.

"Not good!" Minhyuk shouts. 

The technopath reaches for the utility pouches upon his waist, and pulls out a handful of small, metallic beads. He tosses them at the two remaining bots, and grabs Jooheon, urgently dragging him towards the other end of the hall where Changkyun and Tori are. Upon contact with ground those balls unleash an electrical storm, halting the creatures in their tracks.

"We've gotta go!" Minhyuk insists. "That will only stun them for a moment!"

"The door won't open though!" Tori reveals, wincing in discomfort.

The wound on her back doesn't seem to be terribly serious, after all, she's still conscious. But it does sting like a bitch when she moves.

Jooheon curses, at least, Tori's reasonably certain it's a curse. The look on his face, combined with the way he'd spit the word, leads Tori to assume that he'd just dropped the Dhee'li equivalent of the f-bomb. Though, it's hard to be certain.

Just as the electrical currents keeping the monstrous robots at bay begins to wane, a rather loud sound coming from the other side of the stubbornly stuck door catches the groups attention. It sounds something like a buzz saw, and as a faint line of molten red begins to appear, the group realizes that someone or something is trying to force their way through the door. Expecting yet more bots, the group huddles together, and Changkyun shoves Tori behind him in a protective gesture that does not escape her notice.

"Get ready!" Jooheon commands. "The second they're through the door we make a mad dash for the ship! I don't know about you guys, but I'm not dying here!"

Face filled with determination, Jooheon primes his hands with pyrokinetic energy. But in the split second where a chunk of the door falls away, the group is met with none other than Shownu, Kihyun, and Wonho.

"The cavalry's arrived!" Wonho shouts. "Come on!"

As they make a mad dash for the ship they are followed by scores of determined robots. Jooheon has long since given up trying to slow them down, and instead is focusing on running as fast as his legs can carry him. More and more of them continue to pop up and Wonho, who is now covering everyone's retreat, smashes them to bits with his telekinesis, groups at a time.

Unlike Changkyun's earlier display, his sends them flying, crashing into themselves and the walls around them. Tori has to admit that it is quite the sight to behold.

The door to the ship opens as they approach and Shownu makes a mad dash to the elevator, the rest of the group hot on his heels. The denali shakes under the assault of those creatures as they all but throw themselves upon the ship, causing Tori to stumble and wince.

As the doors to the elevator close, and they begin to ascend, Tori leans on Changkyun for support. No one else has taken any damage, it seems, for which she's extremely grateful. But everyone's faces are haggard, exhausted and drawn tight with determination. She allows this to comfort her. They're going to get out of this in one piece.

There are tiny white spots dancing before her eyes, and her limbs are on fire. Her heart is pounding in her ears, to the point that Tori can't even hear the gentle hum that elevator normally exudes. 

When the elevator stops, and the doors slide open, Shownu sprints to the cockpit. 

"Wait, " Changkyun frets suddenly, "how are we going to get out of here? Getting in damaged the ship, and we can't afford to crash again!"

"The jump station is located just above us, " Minhyuk reveals.

"We'll have to punch through the top of the storm, " Kihyun states calmly. "We don't have a whole lot of options."

"Readings do suggest that the storm is thinner at the top…" Minhyuk confirms.

"She should hold, " Wonho adds.

Changkyun wishes that the mechanic's words were reassuring.

"How will we even get up there?" The telepath argues.

"I guess no one else noticed, " Minhyuk asserts, "but there's a door just above us."

As the ship begins to rise, Tori grows increasingly dizzy. There is a fuzziness in her brain, and a sudden lethargy in her limbs that she simply can't shake. Changkyun, who's shoulders she is currently leaning against, notices as she becomes increasingly limp. Arm wrapped around her, he leads her towards the CNC's table, and settles her down in a chair.

But when his hand comes away, red and sticky with her blood, he nearly has a panic attack.

"Hyungwon!" He shouts.

But the xenobiologist is already a step ahead of him.

"Get her to the medbay!" He commands. "I'm right behind you!"

Just as the ship begins to slow down, reaching the end of the pillar of calm air, Changkyun attempts to help Tori stand. However, as he gets her onto her feet, turbulence begins to shake the Denali once more. She falls like a ragdoll within his embrace, scaring the life out of him for only the third time since they arrived on this blasted planet.

"Let me carry her, " Wonho demands, "I can get her there more quickly."

Changkyun fixes the mechanic with an angry glare, a look that places both blame and promises retribution. And then, with a grunt, the wiry telepath scoops her unconscious form into his arms. She is much lighter than he thought she'd be, and though he is not excessively muscular and struggles a bit, he manages just fine. The sway of the ship complicates matters, but though he zig-zags about, his determination sees him through.

And by the time the Denali stabilizes, and the tell-tale hum of energy from the jump gate buzzes about the ship, Tori is safely deposited upon the medbay's examination table.

For the first few days after their escape from the Jupiter facility, the Denali free floats.

After gathering in the CNC, the crew takes tally, and realizes that they have gathered quite a bit to sell. Between the sheer amount of schematics that Minhyuk managed to download from the facility's data banks, schematics for a wide range of ancient weapons that surmisably must be worth a fair amount on their own, and odds and ends that Kihyun managed to salvage from the wreckage of the facility itself, there seems to be no shortage of loot. But there is still a few things to do before they can head to Nasqui, the black market planet.

An artificially created dyson sphere built around a red dwarf, Nasqui was originally a prison world. Criminals from every galaxy were once shipped there, and forced to manufacture and package the red dwarf's energy. At least, that is, until it was overthrown by the very prisoners that the place sought to contain. Nowadays, it is a thriving black market world. A place where lawlessness rules supreme, and anything can be obtained if the right price is paid.

It is there that, as per Shownu's orders, they intend to restock.

Changkyun has been attempting to busy himself with deciphering the message he'd found on Jupiter. The message itself seems to be a cipher of sorts, and he remains optimistic that, once cracked, it will enable him to gain working knowledge of the language used within the treasure map. But it's hard to focus with the knowledge that Tori has yet to wake up looming on the forefront of his mind.

The gash she'd received from the robots on Jupiter had been far more serious than either she or Changkyun had realized, and though Hyungwon had quickly patched her up, she has yet to awaken. The xenobiologist claims that she is stable, that there is no threat of her dying, but Changkyun simply can't feel assured until she opens her eyes.

Sighing, he rises from his chair. There's no point in pouring over the cipher while his heart's not in it. He's scoured the thing at least fifty times by now, and yet all he has managed to read is what he assumes to be the name of the facility itself.

Genetic research facility one. That is literally all he has gleaned.

Rubbing his eyes as he walks, he makes his way towards the medbay. Tori still rests comatose upon the bed, having been moved to it once Hyungwon stitched her up. She'd required more stitches than Changkyun cared to count, and Hyungwon is convinced that there will be a scar.

"Still no changes?" Changkyun asks, speaking to Hyungwon who is busy pouring over one of the many books that Tori had brought on board for him.

"No, " Hyungwon replies tersely, "nothing yet."

Spinning his chair around, he regards the telepath with an irritated look upon his face.

"You know that when she wakes up I'll tell you, right? I know you're worried and all, but this is the fifth time today you've checked in on her."

"You can't blame me for being anxious, " Changkyun snaps.

Then, thoroughly embarrassed by his outburst, he sighs.

"I'm sorry, " he says, "I'm just really worried about her. Humans seem to be a lot more squishy than we are. What if she never wakes up?"

"I swear, " Hyungwon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose and dislodging his spectacles, "between you and Wonho, I can't get a moment's peace."

"Wonho's been here?"

The xenobiologist nods.

"Almost as frequently as you've been here. I'm surprised you haven't noticed him walk by, you've been sitting at the CNC's table haven't you?"

But Changkyun is already gone.

Thud!

"You have some serious guts, you know that?!"

Changkyun's voice is filled with the sort of rage that Wonho has never heard from him before. He stares down at the telepath, whose hands are currently fisting the collar of his shirt. He's shoved the mechanic against the shuttle, and is fixing him with a look that says he wants to strangle him.

Not that Wonho blames him.

Minhyuk hovers nearby, trying, and failing, to calm their enraged crew-mate. He'd been happily minding his own business, tinkering away at his V.I. On Jupiter, he'd found several diagrams that he's been itching to implement into the project. And when Changkyun had come storming into the hangar bay, fury in his gaze, Wonho had been just about to hand him an extremely delicate component.

"Come on Changkyun, " he speaks softly, voice devoid of his usual teasing tone, "calm down. It's not like he wanted Tori to get hurt any more than you did."

"So why'd he let her explore on her own?!" Changkyun shouts. "Knowing that she had no way to defend herself, why did he let her roam freely without an escort?!"

"We thought the place was abandoned!" Wonho exclaims in defense.

Minhyuk watches as Changkyun releases the Denali's mechanic, and turns away. For a moment, he thinks that it might be the end of their spat, that Changkyun might storm off to sort his emotions elsewhere. But instead, he turns around and punches Wonho full on in the face.

A sickening crunch fills the still air, followed by Wonho's exclamation of pain. Honestly, if he hadn't watched the exchange himself, Minhyuk would never have believed the telepath capable of such a feat. But as the mechanic's hands fall away from his face, he realizes with startling certainty that Changkyun just broke the muscular Dhee'li's nose.

"Stay away from her, " Changkyun warns lowly, vitriol in his voice and eyes.

"Or what," Wonho challenges angrily, "you'll kill me?"

"Oh no, " Changkyun replies bitterly, "I won't kill you. But next time, it won't be your nose that I break."

As Changkyun storms off, Minhyuk pulls up his omni-cuff's holo-phone. After sending a quick message to Hyungwon, asking him to report to the hangar for a broken nose, he attempts to approach Wonho in order to offer whatever comfort he can give.

The burly mechanic shoves him away, however, and Minhyuk is left feeling more frustrated than ever before.

By the time Changkyun makes it back to the medbay, he feels heavy. Not the kind of heavy that settles in your limbs and makes you feel lethargic, but a heaviness of the heart that he just can't seem to quash. In reality, he knows that what he did is out of line. He's not stupid. He knows that Wonho cares for Tori as much as he does. It really isn't like the guy wanted Tori to be injured, just like Minhyuk said.

But he can't seem to calm the helplessness and rage, and needed someone to blame it on. Maybe, if anything, he should be blaming himself. Out of all of them, he's the one that knows Tori best. He's seen inside her head, knows how she thinks. He should have known that she'd want to explore, and been more proactive about warning her just how dangerous that could be.

He also knows that if Tori were awake, she'd tell them that it was her fault. And maybe there's some truth in that too, but it isn't as if she could have known what to expect. With her limited experience, how could she ever have imagined just what could be waiting for them the moment the facility came back online?

Between her slumbering form, and Hyungwon's absence, the medbay feels empty. The sound of the engine's faint hum, accompanied by Tori's shallow breaths and the mechanical beeping of the medical equipment are all that there is to be heard. Changkyun wishes that Tori would wake up already. Maybe then the tight ball of emotion lodged in his throat would ease, and he could finally breathe.

As if by magic, or divine intervention, Tori begins to stir. Anticipation churns within him as her eyelids begin to flutter, and the sight of her irises once her eyes finally open fills him with more relief than he's ever felt in his life.

"Hey there, " she groans, "did we make it out safely, or is this supposed to be heaven?"

Though, in truth, she supposes she could have easily been sent to hell. At the very least she doesn't believe Changkyun would go there, however, so she's reasonably certain that isn't the case.

Changkyun opens his mouth to speak, wants to reassure her that they survived, that everyone is okay. But her thoughts stray, and as he sees himself through her eyes, all that comes out is an unintelligible cry of heart shattering relief.

"He's so handsome, " she thinks to herself, and immediately she recalls the kiss they'd shared upon her bed just before they'd arrived on Jupiter.

"You look worried, " she murmurs softly. "Was it that bad? How long was I-mmph!"

She's interrupted by the clash of his lips upon her own. He delves deeply into the kiss, feasting upon the warm cavern that is her mouth as if he were a man starved. Desperate, and needy, he claims her with tongue and teeth as if this were the last kiss they'd ever share. And, bedridden or not, her body is eager to respond.

It takes such little effort on her part to yank him down, and lost in the kiss as he is, he does not resist. Changkyun all but forgets about her injury as he hovers above her, distracted by the taste on her tongue, and the warmth of her body beneath his. In the back of his mind, he knows that he should pull away. But already, her hands have begun to ignite a fire within his veins, sneaking beneath his shirt to freely map the expanse of his torso with eager, greedy fingers.

But the images flashing through her mind are so carnal, so absolutely delicious, that reason has become the last thing on his mind. And in this moment, all he wants is to make those thoughts reality. So when she wraps her legs around his waist, and begins to push her core against his hardening length, he pushes back. And when her fingers abandon their exploration in favor of lifting the shirt off of his back, he allows it.

That passionate kiss is broken only for a moment, long enough for her to remove his shirt and discard it, tossing it somewhere off to the side before he renews it with even more vigor than before. The way that she moans into the kiss sends blood rushing to his cock, and he ruts shamelessly against her core. Her fingers against his bare skin feel divine, better than anything he could have imagined. And he has imagined this moment more times than be cares to admit.

There is a tiny voice of caution as her legs unhook from around his waist and her fingers set to work against the waistband of his pants, but he willfully ignores it, too caught up in the moment to care. Or maybe, it's because of the fear he'd felt, the overwhelming agony caused by the knowledge that she almost died that keeps him going.

Not that Tori seems to be complaining. If anything, she keens delightfully into the kiss as he lifts his hips, enabling her to push his pants down just far enough for his swollen length to burst free.

Encouraged by his actions, Tori frantically pulls at the hem of her own medical gown, growling in frustration when the weight of his body stops her from pulling it up. In response, Changkyun shifts, lifting his hips once more to allow her the leverage she needs. And Tori wastes no time in taking advantage of this to pull the fabric up, exposing her naked cunt to the cool air.

As she returns her legs to their original position around his waist, he moans. Thrusting against her, his dick slides against the warmth of her slit. Already, moisture has begun to seep out. And if it were not for just how desperate she is, Tori might feel ashamed. As it is, she is not. Nor does it cause her any embarrassment when she pushes against him, causing just the tip to penetrate her aching hole.

She gasps, even as he moans into her lips. How is it possible that anything could feel this good? Tori briefly wonders if it feels just as good for him. But the twitch of his hips, which only serves to drive him deeper inside, tells her that it surely does. And suddenly, she is overtaken by the desire to have all of him.

Unsatisfied by the shallow thrusts that he is giving her, she presses her heels into his back and lifts her hips, causing his cock to sink entirely inside. Tears prick at her eyes, the pain as he breaks her hymen more intense than she would have imagined. But the groan spilling from his lips, the frantic shake in his limbs, and the feeling of his balls against her ass are more than worth it.

And before long, she is coaxing him to move in earnest.

It is with slow, languid thrusts that he claims her. The drag of his cock against her vaginal walls is, at first, painful. But it isn't long before his tempo becomes exquisite torture, and the ache within her begins to call for more.

Changkyun can hear her fevered half-thoughts, can feel her desire in the strength of her legs' grip upon his waist and the sensation of her blunt nails upon the skin of his back. It drives him into a frenzy, and he can't get enough. No matter how deeply he thrusts, no matter how beautifully she moans, it's not enough.

He's spiralling, lost within a pleasurable haze, falling deeper and deeper into it as he begins to pound into her so roughly that the bed creaks and groans in protest. There are other places he wants to kiss, bite, and suckle, but he cannot seem to tear his lips away from hers. He is mesmerized by the intimacy of their kiss, drowning in the taste of her tongue. He could spend an eternity swallowing her every cry and it still wouldn't be enough.

As Tori's moans become more and more frantic, and her walls begin to clench tightly around his cock, Changkyun swears that he sees stars. She cums, and he swallows her muffled screams of ecstasy as he too is pushed over the brink. He fills her to the brim with his seed, hips jerking as her pulsing cunt drinks him dry.

Spent, he finally breaks the kiss, and collapses upon the bed beside her. Already, he can feel the bond between them, can feel her presence beneath his skin, and inside of his very soul. 

Changkyun cries in joy and relief.