─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

SEASON 3 EPISODE 21

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Location:

System: Volii

Faction: Freestar Collective

Planet: Volii Alpha

Place: Neon

Vote for clear skin or if you want Jimin to solar flare you harder than he did to Isabelle.

☆☆☆

Jimin

"Hey. I brought your favorite."

The words didn't mean much, though. As Jimin stood in the doorway of Cora's bedroom, she kept her eyes on the cat on her chest rather than him. He swore he saw her hands shake ever-so-slightly as she pet Marbles.

"That's okay. I'm too tired for a story."

Jimin entered and closed the door behind him, kneeling by her bedside. Her new bedroom on the ship hadn't been decorated yet. That meant white walls, an ugly gray ceiling, and no life. No drawings, no unorganized books, and no Cora. It reminded him of rehab.

"Sure, but let me leave it here in case you change your mind, yeah?" Jimin placed it on the nightstand, which had nothing on it. It was barely large enough to fit the hard-covered book. It was some children's tale about a unicorn who could talk.

"Okay."

Cora snuggled with Marbles, and the cat meowed and wiggled her way out of Cora's grasp to hop over to Jimin. Jimin grinned and knelt, catching the hopping Marbles and chuckling once the cat pawed at his jacket. He kissed the top of her furry head and scratched behind her ears the way he knew she liked it. At least one thing still loved him unconditionally. If only Ma could.

"We have to talk about it eventually, kid," Jimin said, cradling little Marbles and peeking up at the mess of curls making up Cora's head. "Have you showered?"

"No."

"When's the last time you showered, honey?"

"Three days ago."

Jimin sighed and placed Marbles back on Cora, helping the kid sit up in bed. He glanced around and stood, going over to grab the various products from off her dresser, which was one of three pieces of furniture in the room (aside from the bed and nightstand). When Y/n had been his fiancée, he learned more about hair than he cared to admit, and what he knew was not to brush curly hair unless it was damp. He doubted Cora would go for a shower, but he could at least make sure her hair didn't get worse than it was.

Jimin placed the brush and comb on the nightstand, removed his glove, and applied oil to his finger to stroke through the locks and detangle them manually, and Cora didn't say a word throughout the process.

"Has your dad said anything about this?" Jimin asked while he worked.

Cora cracked a small smile at that. "Dad's scared of my hair."

Jimin snickered. "Sam's scared of everything, huh?"

"Ugh, don't get me started."

Jimin grinned and kept detangling the hair, applying oil when needed but also not wanting to overdo it. Then again, maybe she needed the excess. Somehow, it still smelled fine. Or maybe Jimin's olfactory senses were off due to withdrawal.

Five minutes later, he finished, and he wiped his hands down on his jacket before grabbing her leave-in shampoo bottle. He didn't recognize the brand. Started with an R but had too much cursive on it for him to read.

"I love you, Jimin," Cora suddenly said, and Jimin stiffened at that. Her eyes met his. "You know that, right?"

Jimin didn't want to cry in front of a teenager, but he found himself tearing up anyway. He managed to hold it back, though, and focused on applying the product to her scalp. After a moment, he paused to leave a gentle kiss on the side of her temple.

"I love you, too, kid. I'm so sorry you had to see that side of me." Jimin made sure his left hand was on her head before continuing. "I would never hurt you. Ever."

"Do you believe that?"

Jimin withdrew his hand and didn't take his eyes off her. "I would rather die than give you so much as a scratch, Cora. I know I hurt your trust, but please believe me when I say that."

Cora hugged Marbles before scooting forward and taking Jimin's hand. The right one. "I do."

Jimin let a tear fall, and she laughed at him, which had him laughing, too. He wiped it with his thumb and went back to making sure her hair wouldn't grow fungi or something.

As much as he had destroyed himself and his crew, not to mention the ship, Jimin realized something. Something he hadn't wanted to accept, since it would mean he had a reason to live. There was one thing more dangerous than fear: a purpose.

Cora and Constellation were his purpose, and for them, he had to push on.

☆☆☆

Jimin hated surgery.

Well, he wouldn't know, he had never had it despite his numerous "incidents" in his "childhood." Growing up on Neon meant he had had more injuries than entire fleets of UC officers. Credits were sparse, though. Surgery meant credits, and if Jimin didn't have them...

Jimin waited on the bed in the R&D department, short for Research and Development. It was basically Ryujin's basement. That meant it was sterilized in every corner with white everywhere. Oh, and the occasional red Ryujin was known for. The red was deeper than Jimin's eyes whenever he got angry.

The cramped room reminded him of rehab. At least that time it didn't make his hands shake and his eyes feel blurry. Withdrawal still nibbled at his veins and caused migraines, but his sense of control was stronger. Starborn Y/n aided him wherever needed, including that day. After getting the implant, he would test it out and then go to New Atlantis to perform his final task for Ryujin, other than attend stupid board meetings and finalize the mind control for retail sale.

"Alright, we're almost ready," Veena said, adjusting her lab coat and coming over with a mask. Oh, wonderful. They wanted to knock him unconscious. "Remember it goes inside your head. No marks on the outside."

"Aw, shucks, I'm flattered you're keeping my face as pretty as ever."

Veena rolled her eyes and slammed the mask down on him to shut him up, and he thrashed on instinct but remembered it was normal and breathed it in. The darkness embodied him, though it felt more like a blink. He was awake within mere seconds, and he felt no different than before, even though the digital clock read that four hours had passed.

"Hey, doc," Jimin said, rubbing his head and glancing at Veena, who stood by one of the two tables in the room. She wiped it down and turned to him with a smile that was brighter than Jimin's future.

"Oh, good, you're awake. Any side effects?"

"Bit too early to tell, don't you think?" Jimin hopped off the bed and wobbled, his vision going black for a beat. He couldn't tell if it was because of Aurora withdrawal or the mind control in his head. "That's the first drug I've had since Aurora."

"It's light. Masako insisted."

"Doesn't feel light." Jimin held onto the wall and groaned, but two minutes later, he returned to "normal." As normal as Park Jimin could be, anyway. "I'm fine. Hard to tell if it's withdrawal or your implant, though."

"That's what makes this so tough. Why did you have to do drugs?" Veena opened the door and guided him out into the main lab of the R&D department. It had a giant ceiling at least ten Jungkooks tall with lights as bright as Veena's teeth all around. Desks filled the vicinity, and paperwork in neat piles covered the white surfaces.

"I was an idiot," Jimin said as he followed Veena to the back corner and up the stairs. The stairs led to the second level of the research area, which was small and meant for testing more than anything.

The test chamber, which was on the first floor, had a glass ceiling Jimin stepped on after departing the stairs. A subject—some random dude—was inside the chamber.

There were a million jokes he could make about his addiction, though, for once, he didn't want to. That had him pausing and glancing back at Veena.

"I never want to do them again."

Veena squeezed his shoulder. "You won't have to. Now, let's do the test. The sooner you do the test-"

"The sooner I get the mech and find my wife. Got it." Jimin peeped down in the container and saw it was a gray room with a locked door and a table on the right side. A keycard waited there, and Jimin realized he likely had to mind control the man—or, in Ryujin's preferred terminology, the test subject/puppet—to unlock the door. "Say, how do I use this thing?"

"It's a feeling. Reach into their minds and tell them what to do."

A feeling. Great. It was a children's movie, huh? Whatever. At least Jimin had experience with those.

Jimin stared at the top of the man's head and tried prying it apart. He could feel layers upon layers of atoms crushing under his glare, and soon enough, Jimin whispered in his mind, Unlock the door, and the man moved to grab the keycard and do as he was told. All in a handful of seconds. All without failure or difficulty.

With one whisper, Jimin had taken over someone's mind and body.

It hit him harder than he expected, and his knees buckled and had him hunching over the floor and dry heaving. The man he had manipulated was not a man in his fifties with a receding hairline and lab coat; he was a little boy with a single dimple on his cheek whenever he smiled. A little boy with messy black hair and a chipped tooth. A little boy who had dreamed of touring the galaxy with his mother as his co-pilot.

"Veena..." Jimin gasped and felt tears without the tears ever being there. His eyes burned and felt like a million hands tore them from his skull. "I can't do this."

"You're quite literally the only one who can." Veena stepped down with him and touched his shoulder, and he grabbed her and lit up with a solar flare, whipping to his feet and almost melting off her face.

"Get this shit out of my fucking brain!"

Jimin spotted the crimson color bouncing off her face and knew it was because of his eyes. His mind played more tricks on him, and he couldn't tell if it was because of the withdrawal or the reminders flashing through him. Veena morphed into Isabelle, and Jimin staggered back at the pale, deceased woman before him, her chest burst open with blood dripping down.

His glowing hand was red, and Jimin closed his fist and prayed the sparkles would disappear. They did, and Isabelle did, too. Veena reappeared, and Jimin's cheeks ached until he realized moisture had spilled there, and he swatted it away with his gloved hand.

"Veena, I just controlled that man's mind."

"Do you want your wife or not?"

"Stop saying that!" Jimin almost fired out a solar flare, but he dialed it back at the last second. "I can't put other people through that."

"It's temporary," Veena said, her voice low and without a hitch. As if she had explained her disgusting technology a thousand times.

"It wasn't temporary for me!" Jimin's shaking finger jabbed against his chest, and his lower lip quivered. "I'm not taking away someone's autonomy. That's the most evil thing you can do to a person, so leave me out of this bullshit!"

Jimin shoved his way past her and stormed down the stairs, ignoring the enamored test subject and other researchers applauding Jimin for his "feat." When he reached the doorway, he paused and swiveled on his heel. That got them to shut up.

"You're monsters! All of you! What happens when this tech is used to make a kid do things they don't wanna do? What happens when this tech is used against one of your families?"

Silence.

Jimin laughed. No humor dared to enter it. "I've done some pretty fucked up things, but this? You make Benjamin Bayu look like a saint."

Granted, Bayu was the one pushing for the tech, but Ryujin had developed it. No matter what Bayu said, Ryujin had made a product Bayu wanted, and they were responsible. Never in his life did Jimin think he'd give Bayu a pass, but on that, he'd shift most of the blame to Ryujin.

"I see our poster boy is taking this well," Masako's voice said from behind him, and he turned and saw her approaching with her hands behind her back. "Come with me. We'll discuss the next part of the plan."

Jimin didn't want to go anywhere with Masako, but it was better than being with Veena. So, he followed her away from the scientists and all the way to the executive floor. He didn't bother kicking the elevator, just like how she didn't bother speaking the entire ride up.

When they entered her office, she shut the door behind him in a flash, and to his right was Ularu, who stood in front of a hologram screen on the wall. It showed the blueprint for Infinity's headquarters, and Jimin got to work memorizing it. He was no Hoseok, but his memory had improved since the Fleet days.

"We'll talk about your outburst later," Masako said, and Ularu chuckled at that.

"Causing trouble again?"

Jimin beamed. He liked Ularu. At least she wore evil on her sleeve instead of hiding it like the others.

"You know it," he said, halting by her side and getting a closer look at the map. It was divided by layer, and he spotted the vents leading down to the bottom layer, where the lab was.

"The plan isn't simple," Masako said, and Jimin nodded. He knew that was coming. "You're going to sneak into Infinity through the roof. We'll give you a keycard that will give you elevator access to it, and from there, you'll take the vents to Lucas Drexler's office. He's the CEO of Infinity. A bit on the younger side."

"Younger? Seriously?"

"That's right. He inherited the company early and has been running it into the ground ever since. Everyone thinks he's desperate, and when you're desperate..."

Jimin averted his gaze. "You do whatever it takes."

"Precisely. You'll go into his office and plant the overseer program Ularu designed to extract the information we need to make a full report on Infinity. From there, you'll go into the labs to upload the program onto Faye Sengsavahn's computer. She's the head researcher, so it'll be hard to miss. After the mission, you'll take that data to SSNN so they can report it and ruin Infinity's reputation. Remember to stay anonymous. All you have to do is hand over the overseer program, and they'll take it. SSNN will take any story they can get their hands on."

"What about when I'm in Infinity? Anything other than the computers?"

"Yes: the hard part."

Jimin's eyes bulged. "We weren't at the hard part yet?"

"No," Masako said, dismissing him with a hand wave and pointing to the screen to show him the path. "Take Faye's ID card and sneak through the lab until you get to the most secure point. That's why you need the head researcher's ID: to open the door. Take the prototype of our internal neuroamp back. Doing so will trigger an alarm, unless you manage to hack it."

Jimin took a digipick out of his pocket. "Never leave home without one."

"Good. You have more than one?"

"Nope."

Ularu took a few from out of her pocket and handed them over. "Here."

Jimin took them and almost moaned. "God, stop, I'll cream my pants."

"I'm ignoring that," Masako said, rolling her eyes. "You can make your life easier by taking out the guard hanging around the ventilation controls and sabotaging the heating system. It'll cause a gas leak and force non-essential personnel out. Only the guards will be left."

"Take out? You want me to kill him?"

"No." Masako scrunched up her face and picked up an EM pistol from the little table underneath the screen, handing the white pistol over to him. "Use this for anyone you encounter, though we'd prefer you use the device in your head."

"Fuck you. I'd rather die than use it, and the second this is over, I'm getting it removed."

"I can appreciate your passion, Mr. Park," Ularu said, stopping Masako from speaking, "but you'll want to keep it in. It protects you from other neuroamp users. You don't want to get mind controlled, do you?"

The only thing worse than doing mind control was being the victim of it, so he supposed she had a point. But Jimin hated himself. He hated that he had caused mind control to become what it was. It didn't matter anymore; he had secured Carinae and had Taehyung and Jungkook take the rothicite sample from the Clinic. That meant he couldn't change his choice and stop the mind control. It was better to see it through as fast as possible.

"Fair enough." Jimin raised the EM weapon to inspect it and feel how light it was, and Ularu snorted.

"Forget that. If you need to shoot to kill, shoot to kill."

Masako narrowed her eyes. "Ularu."

"What? If you're going to have him attack people, might as well be putting them down for good. Our company would be doing much better if you weren't too scared of pulling the trigger."

"Enough. We don't resort to murder."

"But you're fine with profiting off of mind control," Jimin threw in, and Ularu smirked while Masako's narrowed eyes shifted to Jimin. He held up both his hands. "Just saying. I don't want to kill anyone, but saying you don't want to kill anyone when this whole mission is for mind control seems a bit hypocritical, don't you think?"

"That's why I like you," Ularu said with a chortle, and Masako ignored her.

"That is a topic for another day. For now, prepare for the mission. Study the blueprint, overheat the headquarters, and wear the operative suit we got you so you can avoid breathing the gas in."

"Operative suit?"

"Since you two are best friends, Ularu will show you."

Jimin nodded and took another minute to memorize the map before following Ularu out and to her office, where she handed Jimin a case. Inside waited an all-black suit. It was skin tight and not a real spacesuit by any means, but it had a helmet that would filter any toxins out and help protect against EM damage.

"Sneak in, sneak out. If you manage to pull this off, even I'll be impressed."

"I've fucked up enough, Ularu," Jimin said with a sigh, closing the case and taking it into his possession. "I won't do it again."

"For your wife's sake, I hope not." Ularu gave him a data slate. The overseer program. "Remember you're uploading it to Lucas and Faye's computers."

"No problem. I'm guessing it has a surprise?"

"I'm sorry?" Ularu used her desk controls to shut the door, not that anyone cared enough to eavesdrop anyway. "What do you mean?"

"For plausible deniability purposes, don't say anything, but... y'know, I'm guessing there's something on here against Masako. And once SSNN reports on it, you're hoping the Ryujin execs will vote you in as CEO."

Ularu didn't answer. For plausible deniability purposes, no doubt.

"Great talk," Jimin said, backing away from the desk and heading to the door that Ularu opened for him. "I'll go study the map again and take some notes, and then I'll get going. Expect a mission report by the end of a New Atlantis day."

Ularu dipped her head. "Out of all our operatives, you're the only one who can pull this off."

Was that... belief? From Ularu? Shit, if he had her going all soft, he knew the mission was serious. And he had no plans of wasting that belief. Not with his wife on the line.

"Don't worry, Ularu. I'll get it done."

☆☆☆

New Atlantis sucked.

Jimin found himself saying that about every location in the galaxy, but New Atlantis got it the worst. It didn't help that he was there on business, with him standing on the roof of Infinity under the moonlight, entering through one of the various vents while wearing the all-black operative suit that smelled like a wet cat to the point where he could taste it. That gave him more incentive to finish the mission as soon as possible.

Hey, bitchface. Need your help on this one.

"Word of advice: don't call someone you need help from mean names," Starborn Y/n replied, and Jimin slid down the vent with a snort.

You really are a Universal, huh? Can't handle saying curses?

"I do not know if I consider myself Universal anymore, but it was once part of me. Maybe meeting you is bringing that side back."

Jimin slid down the access vent and landed with a thud on a catwalk. It was dark and loud with a thump thump from what Jimin assumed was a fan, so he took the extra second to speak to Y/n. Not his, but a Y/n. For the time being, that was enough.

You should be. It's a cool religion.

"Oh my, is Park Jimin turning Universal?"

Jimin smiled to himself. No. I'm not worthy of that, but you are.

"What makes you so sure?"

I know. Trust me, I know.

Jimin stopped the conversation there and trotted down the catwalk, spotting the ventilation control area Masako and Ularu had warned him about. It was a wide, circular space with a fan in the center. The thump thump did, in fact, originate from the giant fan. It spun around and around, and he needed to jump under it to get to the core of Infinity.

Jimin snuck by and got into the control room with one guard there, pulling out his EM weapon and shooting the guard unconscious. From there, he deactivated the fan and turned up the heating system to cause a gas leak. Clouds of gas sank past the fan and into the entrance of Infinity. Jimin used it to mask his jump, hopping down onto one of the stationary fan blades and then into the core of Infinity.

Alarms rang out to inform employees to depart. Coughs and yells came next. Jimin dropped down into another vent and heard all of it, shimmying his way through and remembering the map. He dropped into yet another series of vents and made it to the general vicinity Lucas Drexler's office was in.

He peeked his head out of the vent upside down and spotted a guard standing in front of Lucas Drexler's door with a tablet out, likely locking it down. All Jimin had to do was knock him out and unlock it. Or use the mind control to force the guard to unlock it, but that was too far. Jimin would rather lose an arm to a Terrormorph again than mind control another.

Jimin cloaked and dropped down, realizing the cameras had no impact on his mission due to the gas clouds being so thick that it wouldn't matter. Plus, the goal wasn't to not get seen, it was to extract data, and once the data was extracted, it didn't matter as long as no guards put an EM blast up his ass and kidnapped him.

The energy smashed against the guard and knocked him out, and Jimin scurried over to steal the tablet, noticing the EM had disabled it. Of course it did. Jimin grunted and solar flared the door to melt it, and he slipped inside and spotted no one there. Wow, okay. Props to Infinity: they evacuated fast. Sure, it took him a bit to get through the vents, but Infinity had their shit down either way. Unless it came to covering their tracks. They weren't fantastic at that.

Jimin noted how the office looked like a green puff cloud due to the toxic gas floating there, so it was difficult to make out much in the room other than it was wide and had a desk and a few shelves in the back. No windows.

Jimin made it to the desk and took out the data slate to upload the overseer program to the computer. Lucas had exited in a rush and left the computer on. That and Lucas was young and kind of stupid, but Jimin doubted Faye's computer would provide the same ease.

A minute passed, and the overseer program completed its scan of the files and collected whatever evidence it needed. The cloak expired, too, and Jimin didn't bother reactivating it as he slipped through the elegant halls. "Elegant" was putting it nicely, considering he couldn't see due to the gas. He relied on the white floors (he hoped they were white, anyway; the giant gas clouds made it hard to tell what color anything was) to guide him to the back of the long space that he imagined was Infinity's executive floor.

At the end of the corridor was a spiral staircase with two guards standing in front of it. Jimin EM blasted both of them and sprinted by, and when he did, the alarms went off. A different kind of alarm; not the gas one. He assumed it was the intruder one. Ularu would be so proud. Masako, meh, not as much, but Jimin didn't care. What mattered were results, and anything PR-related could be handled by Ryujin's PR department.

Jimin jumped off the stairs and down to the next floor about twenty feet below, using his grav dash to, y'know, not break his legs and die. More guards waited there and shot at him, but he cloaked and dove away, throwing off their aim until they shouted, "Switch to thermal!"

Shit. Cloak or not, his body heat would be visible. Damn technology.

Jimin's training entered his mind; all the countless hours of hoisting himself around the scaffolding of Neon, pushing his body to the extreme. That training paid off and allowed him to perform elaborate moves as if he were Starborn Y/n, ducking and diving all over the ground with grav dash. A laugh or two slipped out.

He slowed time and whistled as he side-stepped the energy bolts coming his way, waltzing over and shooting the guards one-by-one. When time resumed, they slumped to the ground. Jimin wanted to smirk and walk away, but he stiffened upon realizing his powers were no different than the mind control. They controlled him, and he used them to control others. To control time. What was worse than that?

Jimin staggered and pressed himself against the wall. More guards would come soon, and he had no time to stall, though he couldn't resist.

"What's wrong?"

The Starborn's voice was hardly a comfort in that moment, but it was enough to keep him grounded and focused on the mission at hand. Sulk later, perform duties now.

Nothing. Just been a while since I've done that. Doesn't help that I'm still going through withdrawal.

Y/n didn't need to speak for Jimin to know she didn't believe him, but he appreciated her silence nonetheless.

No guards entered his field of view, but he slowed time to progress anyway. It would drain his abilities fast, and he didn't particularly want to use his powers, but he knew it was better than risking the mission. Risking his mech.

Five minutes of traversing the mental map later, he found the lower layer. Yes, it meant more guards, seeing as it had less gas that far down and more valuable assets.

Any chance you can appear and help me with this?

A bundle of sparkles appeared at his side, revealing a figure in a weird ass spacesuit like that one that stranger back at the Viewport had worn. The cryptic asshole. The difference being her spacesuit was golden, and the mystery man's had been black. Stars glimmered in the visor of the helmet, a long cape ran down both her front and backsides, and her boots squeaked against the marble floor.

"You rang?" Starborn Y/n asked in a whisper, and Jimin sighed.

"Y'know, this whole 'ask and you shall receive' shit would have been useful a lot earlier. Like, when my fiancée fell into a hole earlier."

"Sorry. The Emissary does not approve of us meddling with potential Starborn."

"You ever gonna tell me more about who the Emissary is, or...?"

"My boss. I'm their right hand woman, you could say. They believe becoming Starborn is only for the worthy, and that by telling you about everything being a Starborn entails, you might become greedy. They believe you must walk the path organically, if you will."

Jimin tilted his head. "And what do you believe, Y/n?"

"I agree, though I think there's nothing wrong with help, right? There is no point pretending to be morally superior if we do not help those in need."

"I'm about to steal a mind control device. You consider that good?"

"No," she said, squeezing his shoulder. "But I consider you good, Park Jimin."

Again with the full name. She had a knack for that. Then again, he doubted she had said his first name in recent years, let alone Park Jimin.

"You're probably the only one who thinks that." Other than Jungkook, of course. "Thank you."

Starborn Y/n chuckled. "You can thank me by becoming Starborn. Now let's go."

Jimin agreed and led Y/n through the lab area. It was giant and had more corridors and doors than Jimin could count. Remembering which path to take was far from easy, and it resulted in Jimin getting lost and needing to go through the vents a few times. They downed many guards along the way, and Jimin was convinced they'd end up taking down the entire base, though he had overheard one of the guards call for backup from off-world, but that would take time. At least twenty minutes.

Well, speaking of twenty minutes, it took Jimin twenty minutes to find Faye's computer. Masako had been right: it was hard to miss (yet Jimin had missed it anyway). The office was up four stairs and oversaw the entire lab operation, which consisted of a million desks, a million unorganized papers, a million microscopes, and a million lab coats. Yes, Jimin exaggerated, but it wasn't by much.

Inside the office was metal floors and white walls, along with a light in the high ceiling that had been turned off. The computer was shut off, too, so Jimin took one of his digipicks and prepared to hack into it. Master lock. Pffft. Nothing.

It took a minute, but Jimin hacked his way in and uploaded the program, watching the time tick away until he received the data. Starborn Y/n kept watch, but no unwanted visitors came.

Jimin scoured the desk for Faye's ID card, and he realized it was locked in the bottom drawer. He hacked into it and stole it, and after, he followed Y/n out and to the back door that would loop around to the developmental part of the lab. That was where the neuroamp would be, and Jimin had a feeling it wouldn't be easy. The entire journey thus far had him woozy and sweaty, both from withdrawal and from the overuse of his powers, and he didn't want to know what the rest would bring.

The hallway twisted, and Jimin followed it until they reached the end, another door popping into view. Jimin opened it and almost got shot in the face if it weren't for Y/n protecting him with a light shield of some kind. Some Starborn power, he assumed.

Jimin glanced up and saw three guards there, firing away with their EM weapons, and Jimin returned fire in his same spot thanks to Y/n's shield. It took some back and forth, but Jimin and Y/n came out victorious. Two experienced combatants against guards? Yeah, it was a no brainer, and there was no point wasting time on them.

The new environment was wider and had a high ceiling. To the left was the lab area, and to the right was a dark red security door with an ID card reader next to it. Jimin went over and inserted Faye's ID, but the door didn't unlock. It had been manually overridden. Wonderful, the bastards had brains after all. The odds were they were evacuating the neuroamp.

Jimin was out of time.

"Let's solar flare it down together," Jimin said, and Y/n lit up with one.

"Good thinking."

They melted through the door, though it took a solid minute of constant flaring to create a pile of goop on the gray metal floors, but when that happened, an EM blast fired out and hit Jimin.

A groan left him, and he slumped to the ground with a wheeze, his ears ringing from the powerful blast. His body did a well enough job keeping him from passing out, but that didn't change how his legs felt numb and his tongue dry. His senses became one gigantic soup of mush. A tongue that only tasted saliva, fingers that didn't budge when he told him to, a nose that had more mucus dripping from it than usual, blurred vision, and unfocused ears that heard nothing yet everything at the same time.

Starborn Y/n cartwheeled in front of him and fired more blasts than he could imagine. She used particle beams to immobilize them, never killing them, and she swiped an EM pistol from one of the injured.

She dragged Jimin behind cover and slapped him. "Get off your ass, Park. I need you."

Tufts of his raven hair cluttered his eyesight, and he chuckled and broke out into a smirk. "Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that line."

Y/n slapped him again, and it succeeded in snapping him out of it. Normally, he'd rather not get slapped, but with the mech on the line, he appreciated it.

Jimin wobbled to his feet and used both Y/n and the wall to stand strong. Normal humans would have passed out from one EM hit. But Jimin was far from normal, and he hated it, though for the time being, he chose to love it. Only a few more power uses, and then he could stop. Maybe he could stop forever.

"Cloaks?" she asked, and he nodded.

Jimin went to use his powers but couldn't due to the EM remnants lingering in his system, and Y/n noticed and cloaked, diving head first into the chaos. Jimin took it as a sign to draw their fire, so he went back to work shooting at the enemy. With their attention on him, Y/n snuck up behind them and picked them off one by one. Her advanced skill matched with Jimin's cover caused the guards to crumble within a minute. No time powers needed, though if Y/n used them, Jimin wouldn't have noticed. He was too busy trying not to get shot.

Inside the room waited piles of bodies, with no one left standing. Desks scattered across the metal floors, and in the back were security windows with reinforced glass, blinds for privacy, and a case for the neuroamp. The alarms kept buzzing, and the neuroamp was gone. The glass case was open, and all that remained was a terminal on the left side with an advanced lock.

Jimin hacked it and watched the security camera footage to see where they had taken the product. One man with full black armor, like the rest of the Infinity guards, had taken it. He had a blue rectangle spray-painted on the back of his helmet, for whatever reason. Blue was Infinity's color, maybe that was why.

Since the footage was from a few minutes prior, Jimin concluded the man couldn't have gotten far, and Y/n went to search while Jimin scoured through the cameras to follow where the guard had gone. The odds were, he was going off-world with the prototype, that way Ryujin couldn't track it.

Cameras and cameras and cameras. More than Jimin could count, yet he managed to follow the man's movements, seeing as the process of elimination showed he had to be in the basement, away from the gas clouds in the higher layers.

Y/n, he's making his way to the back elevator. Jimin saw live footage of the guard rushing down an empty hall with markers painted on the metal walls for employees to identify where they were. Section A32. Take two lefts and a right.

"No need."

The footage showed an angelic being teleporting into the hall, and the guard tried shooting at her to no avail. She used grav dash to dodge his blasts and knocked him over, snatching the prototype and knocking him unconscious.

"Come to me. We'll take the elevator back up together."

Jimin agreed and logged out, sprinting to the door in the back and going through, traversing the unfamiliar layout and using Y/n's mental directions and his looksie at the cameras to get him to the right spot.

At the very back of Infinity was the service elevator Y/n leaned against to keep it open, and she beckoned him inside and rocketed them to the surface. Jimin kicked the metal box of doom and cursed it out.

"Not a fan?" she asked, and he rolled his eyes behind his helmet.

"I don't like being trapped."

"Me too." Starborn Y/n traced her hand down the side of the elevator's beige wall. "There's nothing worse than being trapped, whether it be trapped in a place or a mentality."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Y/n took off her helmet, and Jimin couldn't help but stare at her beauty. Lord, he knew she wasn't his, but it took every ounce of restraint not to kiss her and hug her. But she wasn't his Y/n. She wasn't. His Y/n was out there, and he had to find her.

"I've been trapped in the same cycle. Living through different universes and seeing the same thing occur in the same way: the Emissary and I watch Constellation and make a bet on which member will ascend to Starborn. But never once have we bet on you. We used to joke about you, actually."

"Gee, thanks."

"Jimin, listen to me." Starborn Y/n stepped closer, dropped her helmet, and grabbed onto his hand. "You are the first break in the cycle I've had in years. A sign of hope that I don't have to do this forever."

Jimin took off his helmet, too. He met her stare. "You have the chance to see a million lives, and maybe one day enter a universe without a Y/n and take her place. How is that a bad thing?"

Y/n tightened her hold on him. "No matter how many lives I see, none of them will ever be mine. None of them will ever take me back to when I was falling in love with my Jimin. None..." Y/n cleared her throat. "None of them will bring back my lover. No matter how many times I think I want more from the universe, I realize what I want most is one more minute with him."

Jimin stayed quiet for a long beat. "I don't know what you go through, and I won't pretend to, but I do know what it's like to lose a lover. I'm sorry, Y/n. You didn't deserve it."

Y/n backed off and averted her eyes. "It's okay. I am here now, helping another Jimin, and that is only possible because of his sacrifice. I'm sure he would've liked that." She laughed, though he could see the tears in her eyes. "He really would've liked that."

The elevator banged and thumped and made it to the surface, the doors parting to reveal New Atlantis, and Jimin placed his hand on the exit to prevent Y/n from leaving, their gazes locking once more.

"Are him and I..." Jimin trailed off and lost his words, but Y/n just smiled and placed her hand on his cheek, rubbing her thumb over the skin there.

"You're the same in every universe. I guess not even a different reality can take the sass out of you, huh?"

Jimin broke out into a wide grin. "If rehab couldn't do it, you think our creator can?"

Y/n sniffled and nodded, rubbing her lips together. "Yeah. Yeah, you got that right."

If she were his Y/n, he would be kissing her. Holding her. Taking her back to the Lodge to make love to her and never break eye contact. Whispering about how much he loved her. But she wasn't his, and he couldn't find the words to comfort her like he would with his fiancée.

"Let's go. I have to give SSNN this data," he said, and Y/n shook her head.

"This is where we part ways."

Jimin glanced at the night sky of New Atlantis. "Why don't you take a stroll with me? It's a beautiful night."

When he turned back, she was gone, and he couldn't stop the way his shoulders sagged and his lips twitched down. It had been ages since he had walked under the moonlight, and with Infinity taken care of, he had time to do so. It wasn't like they were gonna go to the police. What were they gonna say? 'Hey, we stole a device from Ryujin and experimented on and killed people, but someone broke into our lab to steal their stolen product back. Please don't arrest us'? Yeah, no. So, Jimin was confident he wouldn't get assassinated.

It's rude to leave without saying goodbye.

No answer, and Jimin decided against pressing further. He departed the service elevator and left his helmet behind, not caring about any evidence. Ryujin had a killer PR team; they could handle it. Y/n had taken hers, and that was what mattered.

The Commercial District of New Atlantis was what it sounded like: commercial. In the vicinity was Infinity, Enhance!, Terrabrew, and far more, particularly the food and beverage businesses, though his personal favorite was the UC Distribution Center. Yes, it was because they sold UC military-grade products.

That meant shotguns and things that went boom.

Jimin was still a man. In certain cases, he fit all the stereotypes, such as explosions. He was a simple man: he saw explosions, he got a boner. Not that hard to understand. Well, yeah, hard, but in a different way.

The concrete ground greeted him while he walked up to the ramp leading to the second "story" of the Commercial District. It was a wide open space far from the MAST skyscraper. Civilians roamed and chatted about politics and the Terrormorph attack all that time ago. No one had ever dropped it. Some trees had spray paint on them crossing out mock drawings of Logan's face. Jimin wished he could wipe it off. Not because he cared about Logan but because of the poor trees. They didn't deserve to become part of human conflict.

UC citizens took their blessings for granted. Jimin would have killed to grow up around trees instead of an ocean that never slept and often threw tsunamis their way to keep them on their toes. Jimin had lost count of the times he had heard the tsunami alarms beep, and he had to drag his high mother inside Neon Core to survive the waves.

Jimin approached SSNN, which was at the top left of the giant ramp. It had a bright green and white color scheme, and a security guard stood outside with no weapon drawn.

"Good evening," Jimin said, approaching and brushing his hair out of his face. "I would like to speak to-"

"Go ahead."

Welp, that was easy.

"Just like that?" he asked, and the guard nodded, making his wide chin look like a table to eat on more than a chin.

"You're Park Jimin, yes?"

"Damn, I need to change my face. How are people recognizing me through all..." Jimin motioned to his mop of hair. "This."

"David basically worships you, that's why."

"Ah. Good to know."

Jimin begrudgingly used manners and thanked the guard before entering the SSNN building. It was small and narrow with no real door but rather an open archway, and upon stepping inside, he saw the receptionist behind the desk on the right, and on the left was a long "hall" that was really the entirety of the SSNN building. Yeah, it was one room with two people inside. One room with two desks, and one of them was on the other end of the large walking space. Did David have a thing for pacing or something?

Speaking of, David Barron, the legendary host of SSNN, stood there stroking his chin, peering out the glass because, of course, the news station had all glass making up their exterior walls. The interior walls were solid and, you guessed it, green, matched with pale wooden floors and a high ceiling. That made for dim lighting, amplified by the lack of light in the sky.

"Mr. Barron," Jimin said, and David peeked at him.

"Mr. Park. I was wondering when you'd come see me."

"Better late than never." Jimin took the overseer program out from his pocket. "Try not to cream your pants over this." Jimin paused to motion to himself. "Or my presence."

"Ha." David had wide but clean hands, and he used them to take the slate from Jimin. "What's this?"

Jimin eyed David's suit. It was a gray vest with a bright yellow patch on the top right, and he wore a button-down, long-sleeved white shirt underneath, matched with gray trousers and dress shoes. Long story short: it was as if the Earth moon fucked a tennis ball and had a baby in the form of clothes.

"An anonymous citizen filing a complaint against Infinity LTD."

"Ah, anonymous." David smiled, but Jimin knew it was fake. Good lord, David had brighter teeth than the damn ugly ass yellow patch on his suit. At least they were straight, though. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Let's skip the bullshit. Infinity LTD conducted unauthorized human trials and stole from an anonymous rival company." Yeah, Ryujin wanted to keep their names out of it. Better for business, Jimin supposed. "That slate has all the evidence you need, so please copy it and report it to your millions of fans."

"Sounds like a big headline." David scanned over the data. "It would sink Infinity for good."

"All because the Settled Systems News Network had the scoop first. Pretty nice, right? And all you have to do is make sure my name isn't anywhere on it."

"Sure." David pulled out his personal slate and copied all the data before handing it back to Jimin. "I'll need to fact check and write the actual report, so expect a few days delay, but I'll report it as soon as I can."

"That's all I ask, Mr. Barron."

Jimin shook the man's hand, and Jimin noticed how calloused his were by comparison. Oh, and the hair. David had his buzzed while Jimin's was... Jimin's.

"Pleasure doing business with you, but I hope one day you'll tell me your story, not someone else's."

Jimin hummed and stepped away. "No promises, Barron. After all, I'm still writing mine."

Jimin departed the building and ignored the receptionist and guard on the way out. David never stopped him, not that Jimin would listen if he did. That gave him the freedom to stroll down the peaceful streets. New Atlantis had nature and quiet, he'd give it that.

The moon shined in the sky, followed by twinkling stars. The NAT station was in the distance, though Jimin went in the opposite direction. He trotted by the UC Distribution Center, Enhance!, and even Infinity, continuing to go until he reached a railing preventing him from moving into the water. New Atlantis was built around a massive river that he would've thought was an ocean, if he didn't know what a true ocean looked like.

Moonlight glimmered over the dark water. The liquid rolled around and splashed, but it never went further. It never became a tsunami. No alarms ever blared; it was just him and the wind and water.

"You should have taken the stroll with me," he whispered, holding the railing and peering up at the moon.

"I did."

He turned and saw Y/n next to him, her gaze on the water. Her hands had a faint glow, and he figured out she hadn't disappeared at all; she had cloaked, that was all. There but not. Visible but invisible.

Jimin rested his hand by hers. Not on hers, but by hers. "Y'know, I always think about my dad."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah. Good ole Papa Park, right? He used to call me Min Min and airplaned me my vegetables. Other than my carrots, of course. Those little buggers were my Aurora back then." Jimin paused to snicker. "Ah, that old bastard bought my Ma flowers every week, no matter how tight we were on creds, and he made time every night to read the book I used to write."

Jimin watched the white moon. It looked so similar to Luna, hence why humans had decided to make Alpha Centauri—and, by extension, Jemison—humanity's new home. It was close to Sol, too, making it the easiest to travel to back in the day. He wondered what else Sol and Alpha Centauri had in common.

"Sometimes I hated Sam and Y/n. Y/n for having a father, Sam for being one. Not a real hate, but jealousy. I used to ask the universe why my dad. Why did he have to bite the bullet so I could live? And, shit, maybe sometimes I think he's alive, out there and waiting for me, but I know that's bullshit. Maybe the same applies to Y/n, too, but I don't want to think about that just yet."

Jimin stopped to sigh.

"But you know what Y/n told me? She said Universals don't believe death is the end. They believe who they lost stick with them." Jimin traced his pinky by her hand, and she sucked in a breath before slipping her hand into his. He squeezed her delicate skin. Skin that never deserved to see all the terror it had. "I see her every time I close my eyes, Y/n. I see dad, too." Jimin tightened his jaw and became hyperaware of the scarf tied around his neck and tucked under his operative suit. "And Hoseok, if I look hard enough."

Jimin turned to Starborn Y/n, and she didn't take her eyes off the horizon. He couldn't blame her. Every time he peered out at it, he saw beauty, and maybe even hope.

"He's somewhere with you," Jimin whispered. A single tear rolled down her face. "Maybe he's here today. Look." He nudged her and pointed to the moon. "Do you see him?"

Y/n let out a soft cry, but she masked it a beat later. His or not, she was still Y/n, and he couldn't stand by and watch that. So, he tugged her by the arm and brought her against his chest, holding her close and feeling her warmth. Feeling her sorrow. Sorrow he was too familiar with.

"I don't know," she whispered back, and he stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"That's okay. One day you will. I promise."

"How do you know?"

Jimin smiled and chuckled, closing his eyes. "Have I given up on my Y/n?"

Y/n shook her head and cried against his chest, and he felt tears moistening his face, too. He didn't know where they came from.

"Then why would he give up on you, huh?"

That was how they spent the next five minutes: feeling. Feeling the environment and one another. They weren't each other's, and they never would be. Same faces, different universes.

Jimin feared becoming like her: a widow who had watched her lover die. But above all else, he feared her tears, so that was why he stayed. Why he held her while she cried. Jimin had seen Hoseok die, he had witnessed gangs on Neon destroy homes and innocent lives, and he had seen torture beyond human comprehension, but no sight hurt worse than Y/n's tears. No matter if Y/n was his or not.

"You're..." She paused to hiccup. "Different. Rehab helped?"

Jimin shook his head. "No. My crew did."

"Your crew?"

"I lost everything, and it took me thirty-two years to say that's not okay. It isn't normal, and it isn't something I should just accept, but that doesn't give me the excuse to hurt others. My crew showed me that. Isabelle died to get me here, and I'll make damn sure it wasn't in vain. She didn't deserve it. No one deserved what I did to them, except maybe that Ron bastard. But the point is, I spent this whole time looking for an excuse to kill myself."

"And now?"

Jimin pulled back by a hair, just so he could meet her eyes. "I'm scared, Y/n. I'm... scared to die."

She didn't reply, and he didn't continue for a long moment. He laughed. He couldn't tell if there was humor in it or not.

"And it's funny, isn't it? My whole life, I didn't care about living. It wasn't until I watched myself die all that time ago that I thought about it. Death, I mean. And it's made me realize I'm scared of a whole lot of things."

"Would it be messed up to ask your worst fear?"

Jimin kissed her forehead, unable to help himself, and chuckled again. "No. Problem is, I don't know if I have an answer. I don't know what's scarier, Y/n: actually dying, or the fact that me fearing death means I want to live."

Y/n didn't answer again, not that he expected her to. He wouldn't know how to answer that either.

The water continued to flow, and Jimin watched it, as did Y/n. The silence went on and on until Y/n broke it, but it wasn't with a response to his previous words. That conversation was long gone.

"Why don't we stay here for a little while? It's a nice night."

Jimin admired every glimmer of the moon's reflection. The wind was soft but not too cold, yet for a foreigner like Jimin, it had him shivering anyway. The heat of Neon had conditioned him to shiver at anything under the temperature of a sun going supernova. But Y/n was right: it was a gorgeous night. A night without intrusion. Without burdens.

So, he stayed.

☆☆☆

A/N: I honestly really love writing Starborn Y/n and Jimin together. It's unique for me to write. Two characters who love each other, just... not that version of each other. They have a kind of love for one another, but not necessarily in a romantic way. In a way where they're each other's homes, whether they realize it or not. No one understands their pain like they do.

It's also nice to, y'know, see Jimin actually acting like a captain again instead of snorting Aurora. So, yeah, that's a good bonus.

But, anyway, who's ready for the end of s3? Cause guess what, we're just about there. Two chapters after this one, and then it's over. I'll be finishing it hopefully by the 19th, maybe 20th at the latest, but I'd like to get s3 finished ASAP. Yes, I started work on s4 already.

You'll find out if Y/n is alive or dead next chapter, so no more mystery there. I think quite a few people have already figured out the direction I'm going with this, and I'm curious to see what you guys will think about it...

Anyway, thanks for reading. This chapter is already long enough, so let me get out of your hair with this long a/n. See you guys in the next one ASAP!