❤︎ Day 16 - 12:06 PM ❤︎

POV: Yoosung Mode

As much as he loved Seven, watching him work had never been Yoosung's favorite pastime. The redhead sometimes got so absorbed in his job that he completely forgot about the outside world, his boyfriend included. Yoosung had stopped by the meeting room that had been dedicated to their work as the 'ZFA' several times within the past hour, and it hadn't looked like Seven had moved one inch at all. He was honestly getting a little worried. Earlier he had said that it would be easy to crack the security that was protecting the information for the network that Zai's phone had been connected to. Now it seemed like he was typing faster and harder than he was before. Almost as soon as he'd had the thought, Seven stood up sharply and slammed his fist against the table, barely missing the computers he'd set up to do his job while at Jumin's. Yoosung jumped back slightly before running over to Seven's side, even more concerned at the other boy's reaction.

"Luciel!? What's wrong? Did you get in?" He reached out to touch Seven's shoulder but pulled back when he saw the stressed look on his boyfriend's face. A tense Seven was dangerous to be around, and he knew that from experience.

"No! That's the problem!" Seven sat down almost as quickly as he had stood up and all but growled at his screen. "I don't get it! It looked so simple earlier, but it's like someone is trying to keep me out! Every time I get close to breaking in, the algorithm changes and I have to start from scratch!" Seven's hair was naturally messy, but now it looked more disheveled than usual, with strands sticking out everywhere as though an enraged red porcupine was sitting atop his head. Yoosung swallowed anxiously before burying his hands into the thick locks and gently untangling the strands with his fingers.

"Please calm down, Luciel. You look worse than I do after a failed LOLOL raid!" He heard Seven's snort and held back the urge to smack his shoulder. So video games were his main way of showing examples, it wasn't like he had anything better to use. "If you lose your head now, you won't be able to focus properly! I know you can do it, Defender of Justice Seven Zero Seven!" Yoosung almost grimaced but managed to reel it in upon seeing how it rejuvenated his boyfriend's spirit.

"You're right, cutie!" Seven pulled him down into his lap and spun them both around in the chair to Yoosung's horror. "Aaaah, what would I do without you!? My boy comes through for me again!" Now if only Seven could do the same for him and let him go.

"Yeah! You're welcome! Now let me go! Luciel!"

❤︎ Day 16 - 01:09 PM ❤︎

POV: Saeran Mode

Zai had fallen asleep in his arms a few minutes after her breakdown. Expending all of the emotional energy she'd been building up since day one in such a short amount of time must have exhausted her more than expected. Once he'd noticed the lack of tears and her steady breathing, he pulled off his jacket so he could wrap her in it before setting her down on the sofa. He had been working on shoring up the house network's defenses ever since. Now that he knew it was Saeyoung on the other side of his screen, it was easier to predict how the other would try to break into the system and subsequently, easier to counter his actions. Unless his brother did something unexpected, he might be able to hold him back for longer than he thought.

Glancing over at the girl sleeping across from him, Saeran felt his chest tighten. He could understand why Zai wanted to stay away. She was so full of guilt that she would rather isolate herself than risk harming the members of the RFA again. He knew that wasn't what she wanted, though. She knew it too, but would never admit it. If no one pushed her, Zai would most likely be content with staying far away from the RFA even if doing so caused her emotional pain. As someone who knew what it was like to isolate himself from the rest of humanity, Saeran couldn't say in good conscience that he'd let the same thing happen to her.

Double checking to make sure she was still asleep, he closed the window he was using to maintain the network defenses and pulled up a proxy instead. Zai had left her phone on the kitchen island where Jamming couldn't reach it, so he went to retrieve that too. Thankfully he'd never taken the mirror program he used to access the RFA messenger offline so it only took a few button presses to unlock the phone and a manual administrator code entry for the bootlegged app before he was in.

Unknown has joined the chat room.

/ Unknown: You'd think you would have patched this hole the second time around. /

/ 707: OMG! /

/ 707: How'd you get in here!? /

/ Unknown: Wouldn't you like to know. /

/ 707: My foolproof system;; breached! ;;;;; /

/ 707: Identify yourself, stranger! /

/ Unknown: I'm not that important. /

/ Unknown: But I heard that the RFA is missing a key member a few days ago. /

/ 707: ... /

Quickly switching to the camera app, he snapped a quick picture of a sleeping Zai before uploading it to the messenger. Silently he hoped she would forgive him for this somewhat-breach in privacy.

/ Unknown: Perhaps this is her? /

/ 707: That's... /

/ 707: You. /

/ 707: What did you do with Zai? /

/ Unknown: Who, me? Nothing. She's just a little tired out from our bonding time ^^ /

/ 707: You're sick. /

/ Unknown: Maybe I am, but she's been doing a pretty good job of helping me get better. /

/ 707: What? /

/ Unknown: I'm giving you a one hour window, genius. /

/ Unknown: If you want her back...I'd work quickly if I was you. /

Logging out of the messenger, he removed the app from the phone and re-opened the console window. Just as expected, he could see the lines of code sweeping by faster than before. Leaning back with a sigh, he noted the time and settled down to wait.

"It's all up to you now, brother..."

❤︎ Day 16 - 01:31 PM ❤︎

POV: 707 Mode

It was not in Seven's nature to panic blindly, but under the circumstances, he could say that he was a little freaked out. He was typing at speeds previously unknown to man while his eyes scanned the screen. The man he'd seen in the traffic camera photo of Zai...It had been the hacker. She'd looked so relaxed in his presence, laughing even, but it was possible that he was threatening her to look normal in public so no one suspected anything. And the photo he'd been sent. Zai was obviously staying with the hacker if he was able to take such a candid photo of her, and the photo wasn't old because none of the furniture or its surroundings matched the ones from Rika's apartment.

The more he thought about it the more nervous he got. Had the hacker forced her to fake her death in order to hurt the RFA? At this point, he was willing to believe anything. Unfortunately, he had less than an hour to crack through the security system and it seemed like the walls had been reinforced once more before he'd been given the all clear.

"No, no no no! Work, work! Come on, I know I got that right!" His throat felt rough and he could feel moisture gathering in his eyes. He couldn't fail Zai again, but at this rate, he wasn't going to make it. "Please, please... I can't let them down, not like this!" Slamming his hands into the keyboard, he dropped his head and noted the tears falling onto his glasses as he did his best to hold in a choked sob.

"Zai, I'm sorry...I didn't-" His words were interrupted by a noise, and he looked up at the screen to see, "Access...granted?"

Seven's cheer echoed through the whole building.