Read the previous chapter titled 'cerebrum' first🤠

✪30✪

Dr. Malhotra’s POV

My eyes travelled over Joan’s silent form and I rolled my eyes when I glanced at the screen. Her vitals were still absolutely perfect and that meant that she was still hovering in that dirty state of alive and paralysed. I was kind of hoping that when I destroyed her cerebral hemispheres, she would have died but she didn’t.

Yippee.

My eyes widened as Joan opened her startling grey eyes, turned around and glared straight at me. “Care to explain why my brain feels like a dozen knives have been stuck into it?”

***

I winced as I watched a very-much-conscious and able-to move-Joan being half-dragged by Jungkook back to the room we had kept her in. On the plus side, I could keep experimenting on her if her brain healed itself, but it was still unsettling and kind of pointless.

“What was that supposed to prove?” Kibum breathed, rolling his eyes. I considered ignoring him for a moment but I had promised him and all the doctors that I’d let them know what was going on once I tried out my tools on Joan for the first time.

“I tore apart her cerebrum,” I relinquished.

Several outraged cries resounded around the room. “You WHAT?” Paul asked, looking at me warily.

“I tore her cerebrum,” I repeated.

“We heard that the first time. Why did you do it?”

“Her power is that she has an eidetic memory,” I explained. “The cerebrum is responsible for the memories of a person, remembering stuff, seat of intelligence.”

“We learnt that in first grade,” Vernon quipped. “Get on with it.”

“Hers is the only power which is so connected with science. For example, if you take the fire-throwing power, no part of the human body can do it. But since she can remember everything…” I trailed off meaningfully.

“That makes her really valuable if we want to know more about Ingenium,” Kibum muttered, closing his eyes.

“Exactly. Today when I damaged her cerebrum, I was hoping that she would die. Or there would be any long-lasting effect of what I did. Paralysis and such. I would have lost my only lead, yes, but it would prove that Potens isn’t connected with the body part that it controls. It would have meant that Ingenium can be destroyed by using their very power against them. But seeing as her brain clearly healed itself… there is magic at play,” I sighed heavily. “I was right. I was right and no one believed me. Joan proves that her entire brain is being protected by the gene, and it also proves that we can’t fight against something which is supernatural, and we can’t cure someone of their supernatural abilities.”

“So the ingenium must die, then.”

I raised my chin at my colleagues. “Yes, the Ingenium must die.”

***

Joan’s POV

“Hello.”

I slowly turned my pounding head to the doorway where a black-haired boy stood and watched me. “Who are you? Where’s Jungkook?” His long eyelashes fluttered as he opened his plump lips and shook his curly hair out of his eyes.

“May I please come in?”

I sighed. I always had a soft spot for polite boys with curly hair. “Yeah sure,” I muttered, straightening myself slightly on the comfortable bed. I tucked my open hair behind my ears nervously as he walked inside and sat beside me.

“I’m Daniel Kang.”

“Hi Daniel. I’m Joan Jackson.” He nodded knowingly. “Where’s Jungkook?” I asked finally.

“I don’t know.” I stared incredulously at him and he sighed, pushing back his hair that just didn’t seem to stay down. “I really don’t.”

Dang it. Curly hair that was nice and unruly and black. Screw you hormones, I pouted, annoyed. “Why are you here?”

“Dad asked me to keep an eye on you because Jungkook is out.”

Out? They would never send Jungkook out. Unless… “My friends,” I mumbled hoarsely. “My friends, Daniel! He went after them,” I cried out, placing my head in my hands, trying to supress my tears. They were all I had. Daniel was watching me quietly. He finally reached out and touched my shoulder and I winced. I had never been comfortable with people touching any part of me that was not the palm of my hands.

Obviously, Jin was an exception to the no-touching rule because he had seen me naked more times than I could count while bathing me when we were younger. The only other times that someone else had touched me was when Jungkook would kiss me and when Yoongi had gotten me out of the dingy pub by holding me in his arms. Then again, Taehyung had pretty much slept on my stomach while we were trying to escape, so I guess that counted as “touching” too. So basically, nearly everyone had touched me despite me not liking people touching me. Great.

Daniel withdrew his hand hurriedly when he felt me shrink.

“I’m sorry about your friends.”

“At least don’t lie, Kang.”

“I’m not lying!” he protested hotly. “I don’t care about someone being Ingenium any more that you do.”

“How is that? I recognise your family name. You are Kibum Kang’s son, aren’t you?”

“Your father tried to drown you,” Daniel accused and I stiffened. “Would you drown your own daughter too?”

“No,” I sighed.

“Then why is it necessary that I be like my father? I have absolutely no interest in experimenting on Ingenium, much less ridding the world of them.”

“Oh. You know a lot about me.”

He nodded. “I have read a three-hundred page file on you. It would be embarrassing if I didn’t know.”

“A file?”

He placed his chin on his hand as he smiled softly. “Did you know that all the doctors, scientists, everyone in each branch of this Agency had a file on you sent to them last month?”

“Wait, seriously? What does it contain?”

“Pretty much everything, I guess. Dr. Malhotra has been collecting data on you for a year now, ever since he found out what your power was.”

“Talk about creepy,” I murmured under my breath, just loud enough for Daniel to hear and he laughed. “Please tell me there are no naked pictures.”

“No naked pictures,” he grinned. I smiled shyly at him before laying back down and snuggling into my pillows.

“I’m sorry I called you a liar.”

Daniel shrugged. “No biggie.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes. “You wouldn’t be able to get me out of this place would you?”

He clicked his tongue as his eyes wandered over my face. “Not a chance. Too much security. Besides, even if I could, you would slow yourself down because of your injuries and then they’d incinerate the two of us.”

I sighed and stared at my fingers.
“How’s your head?”

“Why would anything be wrong with it?”

“Your brain…?”

“Oh that,” I scowled. “Hurts like hell.”

“Sorry about-”

“Daniel!” a voice snapped from the doorway. “What do you think you’re doing? She’s not restrained!” Dr. Malhotra jogged into the room.

“She’s not a rabid dog,” Daniel frowned.

“She’s dangerous and you are unarmed and uneducated in weapons! Who allowed you to come here, huh? Elyssa was supposed to be in charge of her today.”

“Dad told me to come here,” Daniel got to his feet and looked down angrily at the short man in front of him. “I’m not stupid and neither is she. We aren’t strong enough to attack each other!”

“Get out.”

Daniel raised his eyebrow slightly. “No.”

“Get out, Daniel.”

“Make me.”

“This is the last warning I will give you. Get out or I shoot. I don’t care if Kibum is my colleague, I will not hesitate to kill his only son.”

Daniel looked back at me and I gestured to him to get a move on. While he was good company, I certainly didn’t want it to cost his life. He turned and stormed out of the room. Dr. Malhotra stomped over to me and grabbed my face.

I hissed at him and he drew back, drawing out chains from his pocket. “Leave them alone. My friends. Leave them alone.”

He didn’t reply as he tied my hands behind my back. “What I do or want to do with your friends is none of your business.”

“Why do you want them?” I asked desperately. “There’s nothing you can experiment on them, so leave them alone! You have me, right? I’m here and I’m fricking immobile! Experiment on me!”

“I want them because I’m more than capable of getting them. I want to see the effect that a great loss of lives has on your brain.”

“Great-? No,” I growled.

“What would you prefer I use to kill them?” he smirked. “Guns? Or knives?” He chuckled as he stepped away from me and turned around. “Stay happy now Joan. You won’t be able to get much joy later on.”I silently raised my legs as rage bubbled inside me. Dr. Malhotra was still standing with his back to me, laughing foolishly at his own sick humour when I brough my right uninjured leg down hard on his skull. My anger fuelled my strength and the force of my kick knocked him straight down where he laid still and didn’t get up. I was breathing deeply, trying to calm my accelerated heart beat when a fuming Jungkook rushed into the room. His white shirt was sooty and charred and he was sporting several cuts on his body, including a blue-black bruise on his sharp jaw. He stared at the unconscious man on the floor before storming ahead and raising his hand in front of my face. I winced, waiting for the fiftieth swelling to come on my face, but it didn’t.

“She’s injured,” Daniel warned, wrestling with Jungkook and twisting his arm behind his back. “I don’t appreciate you using her as a punch bag because your mission failed terribly.”

Jungkook moved swiftly, trying to slam Daniel’s head on the wall, but he had underestimated him. Daniel didn’t know much about weapons but he was very good at fist fights. He ducked as Jungkook smashed his hand into the wall where Daniel’s head had been. Daniel would have probably won the scuffle, except he tripped over Jungkook’s overlarge foot and tumbled forwards, giving the other boy the slight edge that he needed desperately. Jungkook pinned his arms under his legs and sat on Daniel’s waist.

“I did not fail my mission, you big old boar!” he snapped, punching Daniel’s face with each blow.

“Get off my son or I’ll shoot you,” a cold voice declared and Kibum Kang entered. Jungkook stared obstinately at the man and Asher twitched his fingers slightly, drawing attention to the gun. Jungkook raised his hands above his head and got up slowly. He whipped around and ran out of the room.

“Can you get me out?” I asked the man hopefully and his scowl deepened.

“While I don’t want to experiment on you right now, that doesn’t mean I want you alive. You are staying here. Daniel, come on!” Daniel looked back at me regretfully before leaving the room after his father.

***

“You are an old goose.”

“Shut up,” Jungkook grumbled.

“Your abs aren’t even pretty.”

“People die to see my abs.”

“See, even your English is a disappointment. People die on seeing your abs because they’re so terrible.”

“Joan, last warning!”

“Do all of you have the same vocabulary or something? I heard this phrase at least thrice today.”

Jungkook ignored me and continued to play the highly annoying game on his phone.

“Jungcock is not even one centimetre long. It’s like an immobile noodle.”

He tossed his phone aside and grabbed the collar of my shirt. “Do. Not. Insult. That,” he gritted out. “I will kill Jin in front of your eyes!”

“I don’t think you managed to get any of them. They are too strong for you.”

“Oh you don’t know the wonders that a gun to the head of your deranged boyfriend can do. If it hadn’t been for his pitiful attempts to kill me, they would have gotten away. As it is, only Namjoon and Taehyung had managed to escape earlier so I still have the others. In fact, I was waiting for the Doctor to wake up to have some fun, but I need a punchbag right now desperately. Nina!”

A maid rushed into the room. “Have them assembled on the other side,” he grinned. “I want them to have a front row seat.”

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A/N_

Lolol thanku for reading my crap, I really appreciate it༼ つ ◕‿◕ ༽つ

This was a double update so read the previous chapter titled 'cerebrum' if you haven't already

Wait should this message have been on the top-

Anygays we're nearing the end of Ingenium and I was going to wait for a bit before making the announcement, but I got impatient so here it is- there will be a book 2 🤠

By that, I mean Ingenium book 2 lolol-

It is really difficult to write and I'm trying to improve my skills so um yeah-

Byebye🤠🗡️