Namjoon focus

They had been picked up from the hangar by an armored six-men-squat and now were led down confusingly similar, dark hallways with silver pipes littering the walls. Namjoon thought about Jin and how the physician was doing right now with the two men that had stayed behind to watch him. The doc had looked pale all day and had been uncommonly quiet. Normally the hazel-haired talked off his nervousness by brabbling nonsense or telling old-man-jokes, but today he apparently had been terrified. Namjoon hoped they would leave the gentle beauty alone.

He looked at the captain to his right. The brunette had gone through many emotions as well today, and he was not sure if the man could stay objective when they would meet his sister. Even Namjoon could not stay objective when it came to his family, and he doubted anyone could. But maybe this was exactly what would make them succeed. Because it did not work just into one direction; Jiwoo was also affected by her love for her brother.

"Do you think you can keep your cool?" he asked Hoseok in a hushed tone.

"Yes," the brunette said firmly and gave him a single hard nod.

"You might have to take her down," Namjoon noted.

"I know," the captain growled, and he could see the muscles on the soldier's jaw clenching.

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Yoongi focus

"Almost, almost, almost," Taehyung whispered next to him while the V accelerated his tapping once more. "In!" came the relieved shout.

Yoongi grinned widely and wiggled his hands to stop them from cramping. He was not used to the hardware's keyboard, yet. "We made it," he said relieved, but then he saw something that made his smile falter. "Tae," he mumbled.

"It's a decentral system," his lover stated with a hollow voice, having realized the same thing at the same time.

Yoongi groaned and let himself fall against the wall in his back to look at Taehyung. No wonder they had been so fast. "And now?" he asked. They had captured one out of ten decentral knots. The AI Grief was not one central processing cluster like Bang but split in ten small parts that could work independently. A computer with multiple personality disorder, Yoongi thought. Ridiculous. But to his surprise, Taehyung's face lit up.

"This is brilliant," the V said and pulled out a small flash from one of the many pockets on his gear.

"What do you mean?" Yoongi asked confused. Had there still been a part of the plan his alien had kept a secret from him?

"This," his colleague said and held up the flash drive with a boxy smile, "is Bang."

Yoongi's eyes widened.

*flashback Taehyung*

"Bang?" Taehyung asked into his private room. Four days ago, Yoongi and him had ended their fight over him doing a one-man-stunt and had brainstormed together what to do if Bang was no option at the end of the week. And to his surprise, his lover had come up with the brilliant plan called Stuxnet. The question why he had not thought of it himself still bothered him, but suddenly the AI was no longer of use and he had lost sight of the AI-idea. Instead, they had devoted their days to programming a worm similar to its great ancestor of the early days of computing. But two days ago, Jimin had told him he had had the final talk with the board AI, so the idea of using Bang to help them had come back to his mind. It never was bad to have a backup plan in case project Stuxnet would not work as planned. So, here he was, secretly creating plan B.

"Yes, Taehyung," the uncle voice answered instantly.

"I might need you for my plan," he revealed to the AI.

"How can I be of use for you?" the computer asked.

"You listened to me and Yoongi hacking, right?" he asked, hoping the AI had memorized everything.

"Yes, I did."

"I might need you to hack the enemy system for us, in case we'll find a system that's different from your hardware structure," he said, "so we can plant you into the ship and spread our malware as fast as possible. I'd like to attach my worm to a copy of your code."

Bang was silent for a moment. "Does your code harm humans?" it asked cautiously.

"No, it does not. You may have a look at it." He transferred the files from his laptop onto his smart panel and then into the ships database. "It only slows down any engine connected to generating power."

"I see," Bang said and sounded like he was reading his code. Taehyung imagined a small middle-aged man with glasses balancing on the tip of his nose and reading some small lines on a piece of paper. It was a weird image but seemed to fit the voice. "There seems to be no problem with that."

Taehyung nodded satisfied. "I'd like you to copy yourself onto this flash drive." It was amazing how much data fitted onto those small devices. In history of computer science, they had learned that in the early days only some gigabytes fitted onto one of those, today it were several petabytes. Funny how everything related to computers had become smaller and thinner. The only reason to not become much smaller and thinner was the clumsiness of thick human fingers.

"What if the system already has an AI?" Bang asked him while he copied himself onto the flash drive.

"Then I guess you can't help us," Taehyung said and sighed. "Unless we can hack the system and split it up to copy you onto a partition. But I don't know if two AIs can interact when placed on different partitions. Moreover, that method would mean to shut down the whole system and re-boot it again. I don't think that's a very clever nor easy idea."

Silence followed his words.

"I'm just a program," Bang said after some minutes, sounding sad. "Put me into a running system and I melt together with the rest. I'm not human. Not even the laws make me human. I'm just like a reflection in a mirror. I might look like I'm solid and real, but in reality, I'm only a bodiless picture. A good one though, if I might say so."

Taehyung gulped. This sounded damn human for a computer brain. It was intimidating what Jimin had done to the machine.

*end flashback*

Yoongi stared at the small device in awe. But of course, they only needed the OS and Bang's memories and knowledge. What they called his brain was just hardware and could be found here as well. And the decentral system made sure that the two AIs did not get mashed up. Bang would work himself through several knots and push back the other AI. Brilliant. But he was still pissed that Tae had kept it a secret from him that he had a copy of Bang.

"My genius little alien," he cheered nevertheless and pressed a small kiss on his boyfriend's cheek. Then he watched fascinated how the loading bar ran over the screen. This was damn fast.

"Hello, Taehyung," the uncle voice greeted them. "This system has awfully little camera input." He sounded displeased.

"Hello Bang," the V said with a wide smile. "I'm sorry for the shitty equipment. But listen carefully."

><

Namjoon focus

"Hoseokie!" the small woman called out for their captain when they finally entered the bridge. The room was not very high but extremely wide and with a giant window in the ceiling that allowed looking down in a strange ankle to the tip of the monster. All the surfaces were in anthracite what made it look aggressive and dark. Even in this room, pipes were running along the walls bare and everything looked unfinished. Rushed. But building such a monster must have taken some time and they most likely wanted to finish as fast as possible to start their personal revenge.

With flying chestnut hair and a billowing white smock, Jiwoo ran over to them but stopped some steps in front of her brother, looking unsure of what to do. She was way too cute to destroy a planet, Namjoon thought. Was she really the evil mind, or was she just talented at engineering like her parents? Hoseok had told them about his mother and father once. They had been engineers for the government, developing new technologies. Maybe Jiwoo had followed the tracks of her parents to get her revenge. A smart head in the wrong hands.

"Why are you all geared up, little brother?" she asked with a tilted head, mustering them from head to toe.

"Because I won't board an enemy ship without being prepared to fight," Hoseok said, face hard.

"I see," her soft voice said quietly. She appeared strangely dominant though they were both in full-gear and at least one head taller than her. Maybe the obvious vulnerability she carried with so much confidence made her seem in control. Whatever it was, Namjoon disliked it very much. "I worked on this all my life. I can't stop here," she said calmly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So, you will kill a whole planet, and might I add that Hyungwon and Wonho are down there, too, and then what?" Hoseok asked. The confidence in her eye faltered for a moment, but then she was back to normal. "Will you go on destroying USS planets like you're an almighty god? Will this satisfy your grieving heart? Or was Ancient just your test object? Helpless and poor."

Namjoon could see the veins on the woman's neck and began to wonder if Hoseok chose the right method. An angry enemy was nothing they wanted.

"Hoseok," he said calmingly and placed a hand on the man's underarm. Then he turned his attention back to Jiwoo. "Whatever your motive or your plan is, we can't let you destroy our home and kill our families. It is as simple as that."

"Woo," the brunette caught his sister's attention again, "Earth is my home. You'll kill me too when you kill my people."

"Yo...your people?" she asked with shock-widened eyes. "I am your people, Hoseok. Jooheon is your people." She gestured at the man who stood next to the flight control. "But not those murderers down there," she exclaimed agitated.

"They're not murderers, Woo," Hoseok said, louder as well, "They're ordinary people with an ordinary life. They're Hyungwon and Wonho!"

Again, the shadow washed over the small face. Those two names seemed to have an impact on her, and Namjoon hoped it was big enough to buy them more time.

"Are you done?" the man called Jooheon asked and turned around to the control station. "Grief, prep-"

"NO!" Jiwoo screamed in horror and made a step towards them, and only when Namjoon looked to his left, he understood why.

Hoseok pressed his gun against his own head, unlocking it with a sharp metallic click.

Panic shot through his chest. "Hoseok, what are you doing?" he asked quietly, turning towards the brunette. Had their captain gone crazy? And his colleague was not the only one having lifted his gun. Their pick-up-squat pointed their weapons at them as well.

When Hoseok spoke, it was barely above a whisper. "Killing Earth equals killing me. I can't endure losing everyone again."

Brutal silence filled the bridge.

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Jimin focus

They still followed the signal, Jungkook's little tool detected, both already out of breath. He could see the pain in his lover's face, but the soldier did not slow down one bit. And Jimin did not want him to. They needed to reach the bridge to make sure, everything was fine.

"Jimin?" a familiar uncle voice asked from the off.

"Bang?" he asked, his voice breaking.

"Yes, it's me. Taehyung got me into the system." Jimin smiled happily. This was good, but how could Bang share one brain with Grief? "I wanted to tell you that there is something heading into your direction. Armed."

"Thanks, Bang," he said and shared a knowing look with Jungkook. Now their training was put to use. Apparently, they would have to fight their way through.

Jimin's hands were shaking when he pulled out the guns and unlocked them. He was scared to death.

Then something terrifyingly fast and metallic surrounded the corner in front of them.

>><<