Story and Art Forum

Really enjoyed this chapter.  You can't turn off the adult brain, and that's the fatal flaw in many a story here, but you've speeded it up, with chaos the result.  Well done.

Tourists are mostly on the West coast and far North.  I have plenty of places i can hike, where if there is no car in the parking lot, then there is no people hiking, or a very low chance. 

“Accept the baby role willingly what do you want me to do say goo goo ga ga!” She said like a smart ass  Kayla picked out her clothes.. She was worried cause she knew the longer she stayed in diapers the longer she might need them… She thought to herself as day by day she was finding it easier to wet her diaper.. “Ok I’ll be down in a minute.. Kayla grabbed her purse and went down stairs doing so she was reminded of a new sound in her life crinkle crinkle squish squish as she walked and moved.. 

Absolutely! Is it in chapters? If it's already done, you may want to post it directly to Completed Stories. If it's in chapters, you can start in the main forum, upload as you want, then asked to have it moved when it's all up. As for your other post about content, I'd use tags (helps people find your post and lets them know what to expect). Doesn't hurt to make a little intro too!

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Silent Whisper When the canopy sealed, two sounds made Adam’s eyebrows twitch with curiosity: a click, then a hiss. Then the carrier’s interior pressurized, making him grimace in pain as his ears popped and adjusted. ‘Oooh, this is good,’ Little Boja whispered. ‘This is an isonopy carrier – combination of isolated and canopy.’ Adam snorted, appreciating the eagerness with which Little Boja wanted to prove himself and over-explain. It was quite different from Boja. The amusement was short-lived as the carrier jostled; he stared wide-eyed around for an explanation, but then it started swaying again. ‘It suppresses noise, advertised for calming tantrums, but often used for – well, I think you can guess.’ His eyebrows tensed, and he nodded, getting an answer to a question he hadn’t really wanted to ask; in a society where screaming and panicking in public would be immensely shameful, an Amazon could just toss a Little in here. And it would be all too easy to toss a freshly captured Little who might protest. ‘Which means we can talk!’ The blonde shot the tiger an annoyed look and pointed to the pacifier. ‘Oh… right…’ Then the blonde blinked and gasped through his nose. Wait! His eyes darted to Hopper – Hopper the Hoarder! He dug his fingers into the kangaroo’s pouch, momentarily panicking that Seo-ya might have found it or it may have fallen out at some point, but – EUREKA! He laughed triumphantly around the inflated teat as he pulled out the battery and lifted it up. ‘Yay! I think!’ Little Boja cheered. Adam laughed, winking at the stuffed tiger, and began working up spit so the electrical current had enough conducting material to reach the Anti-Gag Tooth. He blew the spit forward until he could feel it dribbling out, then tapped the end of the battery to it. He jerked slightly as the electrical current burst around his mouth, teeth, and tongue, and he felt the telltale jerk of the spike. The teat began to deflate, and he spat it out as quickly as he could. “Yes!” Adam cheered, pumping a fist. ‘Oh, wow!’ Little Boja marveled. ‘Amazing!’ Adam couldn’t help himself and lifted each plush’s arm for a high-five. He wiped his soaked lips on his collar, looking down at the pierced pacifier in victorious glee. He was just about to explain what happened when the carrier jostled once more, but this time it took longer to settle. He looked around fruitlessly as it felt like he was set down, then clicked into place. He nodded at the presumption that he was now in a car and buckled in. Drawing in a steadying breath, he glanced at Little Boja. “Any chance you see what’s going on out there?” he asked in a whisper. ‘Maybe,’ the eager voice replied cautiously. ‘I doubt the carrier has a camera, but I might be able to leverage it to tap into a phone or the car. But I won’t be able to talk to you while I’m doing it… I can only do so much at once in this system.’ “Got it,” Adam nodded, glaring down at his shoes in thought, which also made him take stock of his clothes. He was wearing a cream onesie with dark blue shortalls over it, embroidered with a smiling polar bear, and shoes. Tilting his head, he squinted at the shoes and laughed, rolling his eyes; they glowed in the dark. He shook his head to regain focus. His curiosity wanted to know where they were going, what they were saying, who he was riding with, and how much time he’d be in here. Yet without being able to impact any of it, the data almost felt useless. And certainly would be a waste of time. Why? He didn’t know. He also didn’t know what he was going to do, or be able to do, if anything. “LB,” Adam started, the corner of his mouth curling at the nickname. “Do you know… what the plan is?” ‘Plan?’ “Is Halbo… just giving up?” ‘Oh… I’m sorry, Adam, I have no idea,’ Little Boja said regretfully. ‘I was a part of the planning for Jeong’s visit, the upgrades, and how to use my abilities to help you. Eomma really focused on me learning what I can do to help, and Big Brother focused on how I can support you in discussions. Which I always thought was so odd! I thought it’d be the opposite!’ “It is, but it isn’t,” Adam grinned. ‘I’ll trust you on that!’ he chirped. ‘Anytime I was included in the discussions, or listened to the recordings, you were the focus. And anytime someone asked about Uncle Shik, Grandpa said he had it covered, and the topic ended there.’ Adam pressed his lips together, able to easily imagine Kang’s serious expression and definitive tone in hearing those words. “Yeah, that… sounds right.” He stared at nothing for a long moment. “LB… what’s the… right thing to do in this situation? The, uh, culturally correct thing?” ‘For you?’ “No, no, for… Halbo,” Adam swallowed and winced. He feared the answer was written in the tale of the Moon Rabbit; that Kang was obligated to sacrifice himself to restore peace to the family. ‘Oh!’ Little Boja paused. ‘That’s an interesting question… but I think you’re in a better position to answer than I am.’ “Probably not,” the blonde sighed. “Just… help me out, please.” ‘Well… As head of the family, he’s obligated to solve the crisis peacefully,’ Little Boja began thoughtfully. ‘Ideally, quietly and without public disruption, and in a way that preserves the whole. The family must be reunited and restored to order, no longer fractured.’ Adam sat up slightly in excitement. “So, bowing to Shik wouldn’t actually solve anything, but make things worse,” Adam supposed, feeling a spark of electricity run throughout his brain; his mind felt like it was rebooting. “The family would be fractured under Shik’s control.” ‘Well, technically, the head of the family could fall to Eomma, since she’s unmarried, I guess? If she wanted it… But that’s culturally somewhat new, to my understanding,’ Little Boja wrestled with uncertainty. “Either way, Shik’s got a plan for that,” Adam growled. ‘Oh… right. Then it would be Uncle Geon.’ “Yeah, like Shik would honor that,” Adam scoffed, shaking his head; Shik would be unlikely to respect Kang’s son as head of the family, especially after Geon had replaced him in his government work. “He thinks whoever is head of Japok is the head.” ‘That makes sense – and may be accurate, given how tightly knit they are. It’d be hard for Eomma or Uncle Geon to assert control if they reported to Uncle Shik professionally.’ “Agreed.” Adam paused, looking up as he searched his memory for his original point, then frowned curiously. “But that proves my point – giving in to Shik would fracture the family, not restore it.” ‘I would certainly think so!’ “Me too,” Adam nodded, a smile slowly growing. “But it seems whatever he has planned, he’s had to wait to make sure I’m safe.” ‘Of course!’ Little Boja gasped. ‘That’s everyone’s top priority!’ Adam waved a hand dismissively and shook his head, puckering his lips. He understood, from an Amazon’s perspective, that everyone would be wringing their hands over how to solve this while safeguarding the “hostaged baby”. His helplessness was an extreme disadvantage in this situation and was actively keeping Kang’s hands tied. “Oh,” Adam gasped as he looked at Little Boja. “That’s why Eomma sent you! That’s why you can do more, be more proactive –” he paused as he grinned and snapped his fingers a few times, nodding to himself. “I need to end this helplessness.” ‘I don’t follow…’ Little Boja said quietly in a concerned tone. Once again, Adam gasped as a lightbulb went off. “LB! There’s a recording in your system,” he began, poking the stuffed tiger’s chest. “I made it earlier, and don’t play it. It’s a hypnosis wave file from one of Seo-ya’s toys.” ‘Oh no!’ “Don’t delete it!” ‘Oh – Why – Are you… sure?’ “Yeah,” the blonde grinned, raising his eyebrows. “I want to know if you can tweak it. If I remember Eomma’s lesson correctly, there are two distinct waves outside the human range of hearing that resonate in the skull. They induce a very powerful state of relaxation and modulate commands or suggestions so that your brain thinks it’s thinking those commands.” ‘Ooh, yes, yes! The Silent Whisper!’ Little Boja eagerly summarized. “Yes!” Adam cheered softly, booping the plastic nose of the plush. “Can you adjust these waves to impact Amazons instead?” A brief pause followed, and Adam held his breath, worried Little Boja had restrictions, like Boja. ‘Absolutely!’ “Great,” Adam exhaled and looked up, trying in vain to listen. He had assumed they were in a car, and since the car seat hadn’t been moved, they must still be driving to the location. He ran his tongue over his front teeth. Given that the sound waves were what induced the effect, his own experience was not going to be a good indication of what might happen if they produced the waves through the car speaker. His experience had (stupidly) been amplified by blasting the waves directly from his ear canal. That rendered him practically drunk, reduced to tactile and sound obsessions, and completely time-blind. Adjusting for distance, he could reasonably assume the waves, without his protection, would give him a fraction of that effect, and therefore assume the same of Amazons. Perhaps his best course of action was to assume the most minimal of results, if successful at all: they would feel slightly tipsy, like having had their first beer. That wasn’t nothing. Going into a high-stakes criminal event feeling slightly giddy, when they should be intimidating and menacing, could only benefit Kang; plus, if Yoon was in the car, it might even calm her predatory hunger. None of this helped him be less helpless, per se, but it was a stepping stone. Relaxed Amazons meant less vigilance and a greater likelihood of making a mistake, like leaving a restraint unbuckled or looking away for too long. They might even leave him in a room alone! He could dream. ‘Okay, based on what I know, I think I’ve got it,’ Little Boja announced. ‘But I don’t have access to a lab or the internet to do any kind of testing.’ “Yeah, we’re definitely going to have to wing it,” Adam noted as he scratched his lower lip. ‘The bigger concern here is amplitude.’ “Okay?” Adam asked, hoping for more information. ‘Even the weakest of speakers can carry the power to bounce sound waves in a Little’s brain. For Amazons, there’s a lot more mass and density, so the power needs to compensate. Whatever speaker we use, it needs enough amplitude to produce the same effect it would on Littles.’ “Shit,” the blonde murmured, biting at his lower lip and nodding. It made sense given most things were built to Amazon-size, so even a small speaker to them would generate powerful enough waves for a Little. As long as they had access to a speaker with Amazon-level power, such as… “Can you verify we’re still in a car?” He paused, then added, “And maybe even get our location?” ‘I can try! Give me a few minutes!’ “Thanks,” Adam smiled and patted the stuffed tiger’s head. He lifted his hands to his face and closed his eyes, rubbing his eyes, eyebrows, and forehead as he thought back through everything he knew and overheard. Surely he knew enough to make educated guesses and prepare. They were meeting somewhere. Shik said Mung was coming, too, which implied that Shik and crew weren’t going to the Ma compound, which made sense. Shik wouldn’t want to be on Kang’s turf; he’d suspect a trap. Kang would assume the same, hence why it wasn’t happening at Shik’s. So… they were likely heading towards neutral ground. When he was held immediately after the kidnapping, he was in some warehouse; either abandoned or owned by Japok. It took him a few minutes to remember where else he had heard “warehouse” before, then he nodded when Jae-yung’s voice echoed in his mind; he had worked for a rival gang in a warehouse when Mung found him. Though he couldn’t think of any other warehouse examples, he latched onto another thread: growing up, Joomi found business discussed in the communal house, and Shik gathered his cronies at his own house. At dinner, Yoon had said Zhang brought Jeong around to the offices, but then Seo-ya had followed it up with heavy quote emphasis on “the offices”. Of course a criminal organization wouldn’t have traditional offices or gathering places. That would make for easy raids by rivals or the government. Even Joomi’s labs were hidden away, and her calls were obfuscated by hologram technology to give the appearance of offices, like when they spoke to the Maturosis quacks. Given this was an internal affair, Adam couldn’t imagine they’d bother with holograms, and this all led him to believe they’d be doing this confrontation in a warehouse. Some place they owned to run their affairs behind a legitimate business, but hidden away from public view and possible government oversight. Classic mafia stuff. It was the best presumption he had, so he settled on it. Next: his presence. He was the key hostage. None of this would be possible, at least not bloodlessly, without Shik controlling him and threatening his well-being. Like on the call, Kang was unlikely to agree to anything until he saw Adam. Ideally, he would have already escaped, but that would be the perfect time to break out and run straight to him. Adam grimaced and second-guessed that as the scene played out in his mind. The problem was the numbers. While Kang and Mung would probably hesitate to start shooting with Adam present, the blonde doubted Uncle Shit would. And if the gossip about who was coming was right, there would be two or three people on Kang’s side, and there were at least seven on Shik’s. If they were all sporting guns (which was a safe assumption), the second Adam broke out, it could become a massacre. Though this did lead Adam to question the numbers, specifically as it related to Zhang. If he was a double agent for Kang and Joomi, that evened the odds a bit, and a surprise attack from the Yamatoan could prevent a full-on massacre in that moment. But if Zhang was playing both sides, hoping to get Joomi no matter where the chips fell, he would fight for whatever side looked more likely to win in the moment. Sucking on his canine tooth, Adam decided it was best to assume Zhang was a betrayer. If he was wrong, it could only help. If he was right, at least he planned for it. Either way, breaking out the moment he was shown to Kang seemed foolhardy. Plus… Adam opened his eyes and looked down at the diaper, pinching his lips to the side. He reached a hand down to pat it, testing its smooshiness, and it was nowhere near ready. Like when Uncle Bom visited, he discovered that if the diaper was soaked enough, he could move the padding around and walk semi-comfortably. He was going to need to drink more. ‘Okay, I’m back!’ Little Boja announced. ‘Definitely still in a car. I was able to intercept a few GPS pings from the driver’s phone – we’re a half hour out from a warehouse in the Gudo district.’ “I knew it,” Adam celebrated, pumping his fist. “Any idea who’s in the car?” ‘The driver is Hong Do-joon. Let me ping the rest of the phones.’ Adam crossed his arms and stroked his chin, staring at nothing in particular. His eyes darted to Hopper, taking inventory of his tools. The battery, his spiked tooth, the hypnosis recording, and Little Boja. He started inspecting the canopy of the carrier and reached his arm out to touch it. It was stretched taut, but felt like a rubbery material. There were three spines to help arch the canopy over the carrier. He followed the material down towards his feet, where it had sealed. It was nestled into a rubbery trim. He glanced down at the pierced pacifier, his eyebrows raising as he picked it up and began inspecting it. After piercing the one he had ordered while testing the tooth, he had taken it apart to inspect its components, remembering that some pieces were beyond him, which had sent him down a rabbit hole of Amazon engineering research. Which had led him to read about Joomi. He flashed a smile. ‘Ma Shik and Yoon Yun.’ “Sorry, did you just say ‘union’?” Adam burst out in a laugh. ‘Kinda!’ Little Boja giggled. ‘That’s the name in her phone: Yoon. Yun.’ “Ironic,” Adam chuckled in amusement that such a divisive woman would have such a uniting-sounding name. “All right, since we’ve got time, can we test the hypnosis wave? Think you can send it over the car speaker?” ‘Absolutely, with one caveat: the car is fully manual. They’ve disabled the technical features, like self-driving, probably to avoid Big Brother taking it over.’ “Same as the kidnappers,” Adam noted with a nod. “So if we hit it too hard, the driver could crash.” ‘Exactly.’ Adam let that sit on him for a long moment. It would certainly throw things off and disrupt the evening’s grand event, and potentially knock the two biggest traitors out of commission long enough for Kang to reassert control. He imagined the car seat was secure, and he would be safe… but his nostrils flared as he thought back to Joomi’s request: don’t be the moon rabbit. No one would want him to put himself in harm’s way, and if he did get hurt, it might invalidate all the effort they had put forth to be careful about his safety. He didn’t want to disrespect his family like that. Internally, somewhere, he rolled his eyes; stupid first pillar. “All right, so,” he cleared his throat. “I’d like to run a short burst test. Long enough to affect them, short enough to - hopefully - not be noticeable or dangerous.” He paused, thinking about the speed of sound and the close quarters of a vehicle. “What do you think: five seconds?” ‘Unfortunately, that might not be enough time for the waves to bounce and build into the desired relaxed state,’ Little Boja replied regretfully. ‘But if I tuned the waves correctly, they will bounce around for a little bit even after I shut them off.’ The blonde sighed, having expected as much. “And we need them to be affected enough to say something, or make some kind of noise, yeah?” ‘Yeah, I can only monitor sound, and only once I end the transmission,’ Little Boja confirmed. Scratching at his chin, Adam sucked on his teeth as he considered. “What about from their phones? If someone got a call and put it up to their ear - if you could send it that way, would that be a better test?” ‘Much better! It’d be direct to one person and probably stronger due to the proximity.’ Adam nodded again but grimaced; the odds of them answering a call at this point felt low. At least, putting himself in their shoes, he would remain focused on the task ahead. Only a complication, like a call from a fellow cohort or even Kang himself, would warrant picking up. “I don’t suppose you could generate a mock call?” ‘No,’ Little Boja replied regretfully. “It’s okay,” Adam reassured him as he drew the stuffed tiger in for a hug. “Let’s try five seconds, and monitor for a full minute. See if anything happens.” ‘Can do! Be back in one minute and five seconds!’ Little Boja paused. ‘Well… maybe a little longer than that. Gotta figure out how to hijack the speakers first.’ Another pause. ‘I’m sure I’ll be fast! Okay, be right back! Soon!’ Adam blew a laugh through his nose and relaxed, staring upwards at the canopy. He drummed his fingers on his chest, feeling anxious and antsy as doubt began to creep in. Somewhere, deep down, he knew he was kidding himself in believing Joomi wanted him doing anything that could turn ire towards him. In fact, now operating under the belief that Kang must have a plan, he knew he should back off. Undoubtedly, they had meticulously planned something; meanwhile, he was working on too many assumptions and too little information, so trying to do anything was, objectively, foolish. He grabbed at his shirt, grimacing at the thought, but instead of getting a fistful of cloth, he felt something hard. Looking down, he gasped; Seo-ya had clipped a pacifier to him. Normally, that would earn an eye roll, but he glanced at the pierced pacifier Yoon had shoved into his mouth in his other hand. That one was yellow, and the one attached to him was blue; he stuffed the yellow one into Hopper’s pouch, along with the battery, and turned the plush toward him to hide the peeking edge. He might be able to use pieces of it later, and, with any luck, Yoon didn’t notice the color of the pacifier she used. The blonde briefly glanced at Little Boja, then began drumming his fingers on his chest again. He sniffed, rubbed under his nose, shifted around, checked the diaper (no additional sogginess), and did everything he could to keep himself from thinking, but there wasn’t enough to do to sustain it. Sighing, he closed his eyes; he glared at the darkness behind his lids, confronting his own doubt and anxiety. ‘Adam! ADAM!’ “Yeah??” the blonde asked eagerly and breathlessly as his eyes flew open, secretly grateful for the interruption too. ‘Someone yawned!’ “Really?” Adam gasped. ‘Yes! Yes!! I mean - I suppose it could be a coincidence, but the timing was so - so perfect!’ “Was it the driver?” Adam grimaced. ‘Oh… uhhh…’ “You know what?” the blonde laughed, putting a hand up. “I don’t want to know. The key here is: to the best of our knowledge… it works.” ‘YES!’ Little Boja cheered, and Adam grabbed the tiger and kissed his nose, and the voice let out a giggle. “Okay, from now on, I need you on full alert,” Adam instructed, stroking the fur and staring into the beady eyes. “Scanning for speakers and phone calls. Any opportunity to blast this, but we have to be careful. I don’t want to hit our side, or at the wrong time. Like the driver while we’re still in motion.” ‘Aye, aye!’ Adam took a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth. Now that he wasn’t waiting for Little Boja’s return, he could continue his foolhardy plan, and he shoved back any doubt that had crept into his mind earlier as he turned to his next order of business: the car seat straps. He recalled reading about the variations of car seats between real Amazon babies and Littles, and how functionally they were the same, but the mechanics had to be adjusted. Adam grinned, recalling the venom with which the author of the article, clearly a Little, complained about how this proved Amazons knew the difference while often pretending they didn’t. The author had described a two-action release system too difficult for Little hands to manage; something about the lever at the main joint of the system being so difficult to press, it took two hands to sustain. This made him wonder whether the high chair he had successfully unlocked at the house had truly been made for a toddler, or for a Little, or whether he had above-average strength as determined by Amazons (he needed that caveat, because he knew he wasn’t above average in strength). Either way, he spent an inordinate amount of time finding the main adjustment lever on the crotch buckle and, true to the article, it took insane pressure to feel the click, and it was tremendously difficult to sustain. He moved forward slightly, trying to pull his shoulder to test the strap, and on the third try, he felt it was loose. The problem was how to keep the button pressed and loosen the straps enough; lurching forward kept causing his grip to slip. Just as he thought to try the broken pacifier, he felt the car stop; he closed his eyes, focusing on calming breaths. He jumped slightly as fingernails drummed on the canopy, which he sneered at, just before the seat jostled again and his carrier was on the move. “All right, LB,” Adam whispered, giving the kangaroo and tiger another crushing hug. “Whatever happens tonight, thank you for being here with me.” ‘Where else would I be?’ Little Boja asked curiously, innocently; Adam smiled. After a tense transition of swinging movement, then distinct start-stop jerks from ascending stairs, the carrier was roughly placed on a hard surface. Fingernails drummed on the surface again, and with a definitive click, the canopy’s pressure changed and began to open, revealing a room mid-conversation. 『 — will stay with Adam, 』 Shik commanded. Adam quickly shoved the blue pacifier in his mouth, making sure Hopper’s back was fully to the outside to hide her pouch. 『 Yes, sir, 』 a voice replied, and Adam caught the movement of the man standing back up from a deep bow. The blonde jerked in surprise at the sight of several guns as the Amazons inspected them, then placed them back into their holsters. Deciding not to dwell on that, he quickly looked around the room to get his bearings. He was on a table, maybe a desk, in an office. The door had been left open, and beyond definitely looked like a warehouse; there was a catwalk that ran from the office door to the other side. Unfortunately, that was as far as he got; Yoon smirked at him, grabbed the carrier handle, and spun it around to face a wall. Adam snarled… But at least she hadn’t noticed the change in pacifier. 『 Ceremony site is ready, 』 Hyun declared. 『 Water is heating up now. 』 ‘Good news, bad news,’ Little Boja whispered unnecessarily. ‘There are some massive speakers with plenty of power in the warehouse, but there’s no way to control it. If we’re going to use it, we need to do it before our side arrives.’ Adam nodded and pointed downward, then circled his finger to indicate the room around. 『 Good, 』 Shik replied. ‘Yeah, there are speakers in here and similar ones nearby. I think there must be more rooms like this one.’ 『 Hong, go to the other side. Keep an eye out for their car, 』Shik ordered. Adam leaned towards the tiger, and as quietly as he could muster, he whispered around the pacifier, “This room: now!” ‘How long?’ he asked, and Adam stifled a groan. “What was that, Little guy? Are you thirsty?” came a voice as a familiar sippy cup appeared, and Adam jumped, his eyes widening as he stared up at the man who had been somewhat nice to him at dinner. Nodding, knowing he needed to hydrate if he was going to be able to move more than crawl, he took the sippy cup with a grateful smile and spit out the pacifier. 『 You have to unlock the – 』 Yoon started and stopped, having stepped forward expecting to deflate the yellow pacifier; her hand now hovered in the air as she stared down at him, definitely aware that something was amiss now. Adam avoided looking at her and simply began drinking as his heart rate skyrocketed. ‘Shoot! Shoot! I’m accessing the speakers now!’ Little Boja panicked. 『 What the… 』she trailed off, spinning the carrier to face her completely, glaring down at him. ‘Thirty seconds?’ Adam nodded as he looked up at Yoon while sucking down as much water as he could. Her hand shot out to grab the blue pacifier, and her eyebrows rose in surprise when she pulled it and saw the strap attached. Her lower jaw jutted out as she narrowed her eyes at Adam. 『 What’s wrong? 』 Zhang asked as he stepped up, frowning down at Adam. ‘Warning: hypnotic wave patterns detected. Countermeasures activated,’ announced the automated voice in the blonde’s ear. He immediately looked directly at Zhang, hoping for some kind of sign from the waves, continuing to suck down water nervously. 『 This isn’t the pacifier I gave him, 』she grumbled, then roughly pulled it to display it, jerking Adam forward by the chest until the carrier’s straps caught him. His eyes widened as the sudden movement made him gasp, and water started going down the wrong pipe. He dropped the sippy cup and began violently coughing. 『 Easy there, 』 Zhang soothed as he put a hand up to Yoon, and she glared at him; he inclined his head apologetically, though his hand didn’t waver and he didn’t back down. Apparently, he was still below her in rank. 『 Yoon, 』 Shik warned as he reached a hand out. 『 Zhang will handle him. 』 『 Shik, 』 she hissed in frustration, releasing the pacifier and stepping closer to Adam (who was red-faced and still coughing), jerking her shoulder to maneuver more in front of Zhang and block him from the car seat. The Yamatoan arched an eyebrow, but stood his ground. 『 We should drug him. He’s up to something. 』 『 I thought you didn’t need drugs to control Littles, 』 Shik jeered, his already nasal voice sounding higher up in his nose than normal. 『 Isn’t that what you told my wife? 』 『 I don’t, 』 Yoon hissed, her upper lip snarling before her lips pinched together so hard they turned white; Adam was still coughing, though half of it was him still forcing it by this point. "Easy, buddy," Zhang comforted, his eyes briefly looking between Shik and Yoon before he stepped around her and placed a massive hand on Adam's leg. Yoon spun to glare at Zhang. "Easy. You're okay." Zhang gave a reassuring smile. "Just take a slow, deep breath. In through your nose, nice and slow." Adam nodded, grimacing through his coughs, and stared at his feet as he focused on taking a slow, long breath through his nose; Zhang mirrored him, as if to guide him, and raised a palm upward to direct his breathing. The whole room seemed to follow the instructions; everyone took a breath while busying themselves -- Hyun checked his watch, Shik checked his phone, and Yoon stared down at the blue pacifier. When the inhale peaked, Zhang flipped his hand down and slowly lowered it as he exhaled loudly; Adam followed, and one after another, the rest of the room did, too. Yoon pursed her lips and looked away, glaring upward as she exhaled through her nose. Adam’s eyes widened. “There you go,” Zhang smiled as he picked up the sippy cup and handed it back to him. ‘Whoooa,’ Little Boja marveled. ‘I think that worked.’ “Thank you,” Adam said flatly and quietly, very slightly in shock by what just happened. 『 Sir! Sir! 』 Hong yelled from outside the office on the catwalk, and all heads snapped towards the door. 『 He’s here! 』