Chapter Text
Ch.1
Sometimes you look at the world around you and it’s hard to look at. You weren’t sure if others saw what you saw. Sure, the tall silver buildings that loomed over the citizens could be a mesmerizing sight. They gleamed underneath the sun but glowed an electrifying blue at night. The city was always active with the bullet trains racing through the buildings above the roads. Most people stared at their screens as they sat in their self-driving cars, oblivious to the world around them. Why would they question it to begin with? This was their reality. It was all they knew. The stimulation was too much for you as you entered a laid-back coffee shop for a breather.
It was one of the few places you genuinely liked going to. The workers were all still people, so you were happy to see them behind the register. Nowadays, most businesses try finding a way to have a machine stand in the place of a person. No one really batted an eye to it, though you were not a fan of it. Maybe because of the way you grew up, but you found yourself often going out of your way to do things more traditionally. Finding a person-run coffee shop in the city was no easy feat. A majority of people think person-run businesses are slow and more likely to make mistakes.
That was a whole other argument you weren’t going to get into. You just liked doing things your way, but in this day in age…doing so was nearly impossible. After all, you lived in the new millennium. It was no shock that technology was so advanced. Still, did it have to take away so many simple things? For some reason, everything past y3k was just torture for you. It really felt like you were born in the wrong era. It honestly would have been better if you were born a thousand years ago when technology was still relatively new. Better yet, you would have been living at the same time as Britney Spears!
Thinking about that put a smile on your face as you stood in line. There weren’t that many people here to begin with. The coffee shop was relatively small with other people who must have thought similarly. It was nice standing in a room that didn’t have large screens and bright lights flashing in your face. Customers were quietly reading a book or talking to a friend. This was the kind of stuff you liked to see! You already felt yourself relaxing as you realized you would be next in line. The person before you finished paying and turned around to walk away only to bump shoulders with you.
“Oh!” Your brows jumped. Neither of you expected that to happen. The man accidentally dropped his wallet from the impact.
“My bad. I didn’t mean to do that.” He quickly apologized as you crouched down to pick up his wallet for him. “Oh no, you don’t have to do that.”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,” you said as he went down to reach for his wallet too. You gave it to the man, finally looking him in the eyes. That’s when he smiled at you and stood up slowly with you.
There it was.
Something in you couldn’t help it. Your heart began to beat faster as the man apologized once more. He walked over to the corner of the shop to wait for his drink while you stood with a large dumb smile. Perhaps you were standing on a cloud. Was that real? Did he sense a connection? The cashier must have seen how giddy you were as you ordered your drink. Honestly, you weren’t even paying attention anymore. You were in your own different world after that moment. It didn’t matter that he left after getting his drink! It didn’t matter that you didn’t know his name or anything about him! There was something there and you know it!
After getting your coffee, you made your way to work as you always did and excited from the rush of feelings that had just hit you. They were so thrilling, enough to keep you in your small bright bubble as you walked through the buzzing city. The coffee shop wasn’t that far from where you worked thankfully. Making your way there was like second nature, you didn’t even have to think. The silver bullet trains breezing through on elevated platforms while multiple holographic advertisements shined in your face as you walked past a building. Some of them annoyingly pop out to be more eye catching—more like an eye sore. The cars on the road were mainly quiet, a slight whirring heard as they moved seamlessly in traffic. A lot of them are self-drive programmed by this point.
Waving your hand against a street cross scanner, it didn’t take long for the lights to turn red and for it to voice out that you could cross. Humming an old tune to yourself, you swayed your head as you walked across. A jogger walked past you with a holographic video playing five inches away from their face. You rolled your eyes, knowing they’ll bump into a pole at some point trying to watch a video and jog at the same time. It was also annoying since you knew those specific glasses that produced the holographic images were by a company you despised.
Products from that company were littered everywhere. Even before entering the coffee shop, you saw a couple of teens riding float skates. They’re like boots that levitate, and you move them around as if you’re roller skating without touching the ground. A bit pointless in your opinion, but perhaps you’re just a hater and you will gladly accept that. Still, your overjoyed feelings kept you humming all the way to work. Eventually, a wide concrete building with an intimidating aura surrounding it was in sight. Was it the government symbol on it that left people trembling?
Potentially. A little fear from this place was a good thing for those who want to go up against it. If they want to dabble in illegal activity, it won’t be long to track them down and have a long list of evidence against them. That put a pep in your step as you went through security as usual. Going up to the elevator, you used your badge and thumb print when pressing on the floor number. Before going to the training center, you wanted to take a quick detour to visit your friend and discuss the magical moment you experienced earlier!
“You’re delusional.” Jungkook broke you out of your dream state.
“Huh?” You blinked at him with a frown.
This is what you get for coming to your best friend. He always had to break your fun instead of running with it like you. There weren’t many other options in friends, so Jungkook would just have to do, and he tested your patience at times like you tested his. If you could get another best friend, maybe you would. Joking. Not that you could let just anyone know about the many things you do or think. A lot of what you did was kept a secret since it was for the government. You worked for the Federal Force of Technological Investigation. FFTI for short and even then, it was still a mouthful.
While Jungkook worked in the same branch as you, he worked in a different department. You’re often given tasks that involve going out into the world. Breaking into illegal hideouts, businesses, public crimes, and things of that matter. However, they all have to involve technology in some way. More often than not, you’re going out to stop the illegal profit of androids. It’s recently become a law that androids are now no longer allowed to be owned by the common person. There’s been a huge recall which has upset a ton of companies (not that you care).
It was for the best. Androids have become far too realistic with their mannerisms, speech, and even appearance. It greatly disturbed you, but that wasn’t the reason for the recall. Recently, those high-tech android companies have gone under fire for ignoring the blatant crimes their androids have been used for. Identity theft being a strong one along with pornographic material coming in close. It wasn’t necessarily that the government was against robot sex, but more so the fact that creeps were taking advantage of the fact that androids had no age. Meaning designing them to look like minors was a possibility and naturally, disgusting.
There were all kinds of crap like this happening. People illegally buying androids then rewiring them to perform a crime for them. Things like theft and assault were occurring thanks to these horrid creations on a new level. It’s not like arresting androids was a logical solution. People were getting hurt or worse, yet there were no fingerprints to go after. It made you absolutely furious. There needs to be control over technology otherwise horrible people find a way to do the most despicable things without getting caught. That’s why you do what you do.
These android companies had it coming in your opinion. Though the reason the government truly took a stand against them was when it was discovered that cybernetic organisms were being made. Humans with mechanical enhancements—cyborgs for short. The ethics of technology are complicated, yet you’re certain a majority of people would agree that this was an unethical act. It’s not like people were willingly signing themselves up for this.
No, people from hospitals have gone missing. Often brain dead patients who have been abandoned by family or any guardian. Missing reports aren’t filed by them, but occasionally reported by the medical staff. Somehow patients are stolen before their time of death is meant to be recorded. And you’re certain one of these high-tech companies is behind it. There’s a high chance they’re creating cyborgs to bring these people essentially back to life.
Except these people don’t remember their past lives at all and could be easily trafficked. They have no memories of who they were, their family, or where they’re from. Only two cyborg attempts have been found, both poorly failed at that. They could barely talk or function as a whole, dying within days of being found except for one.
The most ‘well done’ one being a man known as Luca, found nearly beaten to death. He could have been a human with all the blood and his heart still beating to everyone’s surprise, yet mechanical enhancements in his limbs and with machinery attached to his organs, pumping him as if he were a machine...he was different. There’s no telling how many more are out there or are being created. They’re too easy to take advantage of…it hurts knowing that this is what technology has led to. More ways for people to be rotten.
You got to witness it firsthand and arrest the scum of the earth. It’s what you lived to do. It’s what Jungkook had intended to do as well, but things didn’t work out that way. During a training mission, he experienced an accident. A bomb went off when he wasn’t supposed to be near it. That seemed to change Jungkook. Due to that, Jungkook ended up working in the Investigative Data and Records team. He was always on the computer, looking deeper into cases, finding new criminals, and giving you tasks to take on. He was your best friend and also one of the most annoying people you know.
“You heard me the first time. You’re delusional.” Jungkook swiveled in his chair to face multiple clear holo-screens. “You do this every time, (F/n). I don’t get how you don’t hear yourself.”
“What do you mean?” You scoffed. “You weren’t there, Jungkook! You should have seen the smile he gave to me. It was honestly so, so…magical! I couldn’t believe it!”
“That’s when your brain started making stuff up. He dropped his wallet and thanked you. That’s it.” Jungkook chuckled as he heard your annoyed growls. “What? You’re mad that I’m right?”
“You’re not—”
“(F/n), last week it was a guy when you were crossing the street. A few days before that, a guy at the grocery store.” Jungkook pointed out. Now it was getting embarrassing as he listed off all your romantic connections. “You know what you had in common with all of them? You made eye contact for three seconds!!”
“Okay, but what if this guy comes to the coffee shop again? You don’t know what’s gonna happen!” You placed your hand on the desk. Jungkook sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He was a mixture of amused and exhausted. He crossed his arms as he gave you that judgmental gaze of his.
“Are you gonna talk to him?” Jungkook asked.
“…no.” You pouted the minute he rolled his eyes.
“What’s new!?” Jungkook huffed. “(F/n), I think you’re just gonna have to try online dating because this is getting ridiculous. You can’t keep falling in love with strangers.”
“No way. I’m doing this the traditional way.” You jabbed his chest.
“And how’s that working out for you?” Jungkook was asking to get hit. You had your fist ready and his eyes were taunting you.
Truthfully, Jungkook had a point. You had the habit of falling in love with any man you shared a brief interaction with. Jungkook called it desperate, but you preferred calling yourself a hopeful romantic. It still was nothing to brag about. For some odd reason, you couldn’t help yourself from doing it. You’d hope for a connection and start daydreaming about all kinds of romantic moments. Of course, none of that would ever happen. You haven’t dated anyone in three years and it was killing you. Especially knowing that the last person you ‘dated’ was in fact Jungkook.
You were an idiot and had your ‘falling in love’ moment with him back in your training days. It wasn’t a miracle that you got him to date you. Back then, Jungkook was a lot cockier. He thought he was all that and took notice of your stares pretty quickly. However, it helped that you were the strongest female agent while he was the strongest male. You caught his eye and the two of you dated for about a week. Suddenly, all your daydreams were crumbling. He was not tucking your hair behind your ear, texting you goodnight, and he wasn’t even listening to your favorite Britney songs! The breakup was inevitable.
The friendship was a surprise though. It probably only happened because of his accident and his switch in departments. Jungkook wasn’t cocky anymore. He felt like a whole different person after it and it took him three years to get somewhat back to his old self. The both of you were twenty-four now. Since he was in charge of giving you tasks, the two of you got to talking again and became good friends. You weren’t too shocked that he had changed. Becoming a below the knee amputee was bound to be life changing.
“Fighting again? Why are you two acting like children in a government building?” Seokjin’s voice entered the conversation. Jungkook and you turned to look at him as he walked in with thick folders in his arms.
“Man, shut up. I don’t want to hear this from a guy obsessed with video games.” Jungkook glared.
“I’ve seen your pajamas, Seokjin. Don’t start ‘who’s the adult’ conversation because you won’t win,” you added. It was fair to say that Seokjin was offended, but you were right and so was Jungkook.
Seokjin was the lead in Jungkook’s department. He often distributed materials and tasks to his team to break down the workload. He was also Jungkook’s older cousin which made things really fun. The two of you could get away with goofing around just a tad more than other workers. It also meant that Seokjin was very familiar with the arguments you had with Jungkook. It was always the same bullsh*t every time. You would think that Seokjin being three years older would make him the slightest bit more mature, but nope. It genuinely felt like Seokjin and Jungkook were the same age at times.
The three of you have come to be the best of friends. Obviously, you were closer with Jungkook. You spent the most time with him, though you liked Seokjin more a good chunk of the time. He wasn’t rude! Seokjin was always caring and sweet to you. Plus, you had a huge crush on him when you first met him only for Jungkook to destroy that crush. You had imagined a mature strong loving boyfriend, yet Jungkook showed you images of Seokjin with his intense Super Mario obsession and suddenly your dreams crumbled. You would only be second in his life if you tried dating him.
But you still got along well with Seokjin seeing as the two of you had huge interests in things from the past. Seokjin enjoyed older games, particularly Mario games. Jungkook liked games too, but he was more interested in Batman comics from a long time ago. You on the other hand were interested in the music from the past millennium, but mainly Britney Spears. She is your idol and you’ve successfully made the two guys listen to her music. By force at times, but you’ve educated them and also shown them other songs from around that time. Way better than the music now where AI voices are singing. It’s hardly even real people now.
“That’s not fair.” Seokjin frowned.
“Whatever. You just came here to give me more work in the first place.” Jungkook sank in his seat.
“It’s almost as if you work here.” Seokjin proceeded to drop the folders on Jungkook’s lap. The younger looked up at the man in annoyance. “Hey, the others are actually in the meeting while you volunteered to stay back.”
“It’s because my leg hurts…” Jungkook mumbled. He picked up the folders to place them on his desk with a sigh. Your eyes glanced down to Jungkook’s right foot. He had pants on that hid a majority of his prosthetic leg. A person wouldn’t even realize it by just looking at him, but taking a closer look of where his ankle should be was the pylon of his prosthetic.
“Did you put your prosthetic on wrong?” You watched him sigh.
“Maybe. Or it’s just hurting because it wants to.” Jungkook shrugged. “I don’t really want to go to the bathroom to take off my pants and adjust it. I’ll suck it up.”
“Take it easy, Jungkook. If you need to leave and fix it then do so, we understand.” Seokjin patted Jungkook’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything back to that even though you knew he appreciated it. Jungkook would rather just throw himself back into his work. It’s not that he was uncomfortable talking about it. That was more when he first got his prosthetic and was learning to walk with it. Now Jungkook was fine with himself but didn’t want to give too much attention to his pain. If he did then it would hurt more as he said. Jungkook flipped through the files while you looked up at Seokjin. “So, what’s going on with you? New love life?”
“Same as usual,” you stated. “No luck in finding a guy who likes me. Much less, a guy who’s interested in entering a serious relationship.”
“You’ll meet your future husband soon enough,” Seokjin said as you squeaked with excitement.
“Thank you! I knew I could always depend on you, Seokjin!” You bounced on your toes. The bright smile on your face was immediately returned by him. Nothing made you more cheerful than hearing that. “You know Britney said, ‘I don’t want no more toy soldiers’ and she’s so right.”
“What does that even mean?” Jungkook looked over at you.
“I’ll make you listen to the song again since you’ve forgotten.” You would correct Jungkook’s mistake. He knew you would say that but didn’t protest. With all these years of being friends, he was used to you and your obsession.
Honestly, you were just grateful that Jungkook put up with you. He has tolerated listening to a bunch of songs because of you. He does like a good chunk of them! So Jungkook can’t hate you for that, but still you were aware that sometimes you could overdo it. Jungkook was a good sport about it. He let you rave on nowadays. In return, you listened to him go on about his comics or helped him with his ASMR videos. If it worked for the both of you then that’s all that matters!
“More cyborgs potentially being created?” Jungkook stared at the papers.
“People are going missing in such little numbers that it’s hard to notice. It’s not enough to raise huge alarm with the public, but we don’t want them knowing about this to begin with.” Seokjin looked over at Jungkook. “We have a feeling it may be linked to the creation of cyborgs based off the recent finding. It’s all listed there.”
“I’m sure they know already. They can’t be dumb. Androids were made to help clean or replace people in the workforce. Look what they’re being used for instead!” Jungkook threw his hand up in the air. “I’m sure they’ve wondered about cyborgs.”
“Is there anything I can do?” You questioned as Seokjin shook his head. He could see how ready you were to fight, but there was no need for that.
“It’s all just information we’ve gathered up. No actual leads or solid evidence to go investigating in person. Yet,” Seokjin told you. “The CEO of Sapphire sure is creating a lot of attention over this whole recall situation though.”
“That’s not surprising.” You dug your fingers into your forearms just thinking about that company. Hearing their name alone made your blood boil.
Sapphire.
“I need to return to the meeting. Read all the files from A-2 to A-35. A couple new laws have been placed to help us with detaining criminals linked to technological and cyber crimes. We’ll discuss where to go from there with the team soon.” Seokjin instructed as Jungkook nodded. He waved one last time, leaving Jungkook and you alone in the office.
“He could have just emailed me all these documents.” Jungkook glanced back at the large pile only to receive a glare from you for his laziness. He gave you a confused expression as you shook your head at him. For a best friend, you’d expect him to read you better.