Blinding whiteness greets the metal clank of operating instruments as slender hands arrange them as they would cutlery at a fancy dinner soirée.

First there is the Richardson's retractor. Then bladder and army retractors. Forceps of different sizes come into place: long tissue forcep, ovum

forcep, tenaculum and mosquito forcep. Different sized scissors follow, tissue clips and scalpels. Aspirators and clamps. Anaestesia machines sit

at the top of rows of operating tables. Nothing is heard apart from the muffled beeps of the electronic monitors, the clanking of sterile

instruments and soft footsteps. In an adjacent room, flasks, test tubes and microscopes await their probes.

Baekhyun decides that he must be dreaming that he is in a hospital. His eyes feel sown shut and too heavy to open, he pictures two anvils crushing

his lids. A few minutes (maybe hours, who knows?) prior, he was in a smaller room and felt something tight around his right finger and plastic

circles suctioned to his chest. Was it a dream that he had a needle in his arm and a tube leading to an IV drip? He must be dreaming. Why would he

be in a hospital? As he convinces his mind he is dreaming, he suddenly feels a sharp pain and registers a loud buzzing sound, feeling as if he is

inside a giant scanner. His brain becomes more alert, images flooding his mind. He tries to move his body but finds that he is restrained. His

muscles still work, he can move his fingers and his toes. He suddenly realizes this is not a dream. Panic makes his heart beat faster, he can hear

it drumming in his ears, like an alert waltz it beats in threes.

"Breathe....breathe...control your heartbeat" he tells himself, feeling in danger. The electronic monitor at the head of his table registers his

accelerated pulse. He hears footsteps down the hall. He closes his eyes back up, trying to slow his heart rate and pretend he is asleep so he can

assess the situation.

"The patient had an unusual heart rate just now. Could it be he is awake? We must deliver a sedative and prep him for surgery. His heart rate has

gone back down. Check the others! Make sure they are still unconscious!"

Baekhyun's hearing heightens as he focuses on every single word and breath, making sure the women speaking move away from him before he gently

squints his eyes shyly. He sees the profile of what he assumes is a nurse, wearing a white robe and a futuristic red visor. The women are slender

with robotic, rigid movements. He sees they are checking on the other patients. He can't lift his head to see who the others are.

"Where am I? How did I get here? I can't remember... My head feels like it's burning... Taeyeon..." Baekhyun tries to keep it together and to

remember what he feels is a gaping chasm replacing essential memories that would explain how he ended up in an operating room. A labyrinth. A giant

descent. Gothic churches and lights. An angel. Earthquakes, fires and storms. A night at a Victorian mansion. Sehun's secret. Luhan and Yifan...

Shattered glass. Lots of fighting. Oh yes, he temporarily blinded Yifan. That was fun. But then Yifan jumped out the window with Tao. Just like the

colorful beads inside a kaleidoscope, the memories in Baekhyun's mind begin arranging themselves and becoming more coherent. He tries to

differentiate between the fake reflections and the original image. What happened after Yifan escaped?

A few tables away, Kyungsoo has already remembered everything. He senses Baekhyun's alertness, him being the only one who seems conscious in the

room. He accounts for everyone apart from Tao, Yifan and Luhan. Taeyeon is missing as well. He feels too weak, although his superpower is strength

and being able to control the earth while also tracking everyone upon it.  When he is sure the nurses have left the room, he tries to whisper to

Baekhyun but his voice fails him on the first couple of tries.

"Baek...." he starts coughing, desperately trying to muffle each cough, lifting his arm and pulling a needle out.

"Kyungsoo?...is...is that you? Where are we? What happened? Baekhyun tries to speak as softly as he can.

"Minseok...remember...remember what he told us the night Yifan took Tao? I think they did things to us...they might have analyzed our brains and

scanned us...fried some circuits...because...it's hard to think straight...Just...try to remember...It hurts to talk..." Kyungsoo starts choking,

coughing up blood, staining the pure white sheet covering his weakened body.

"Are these the enemies from our planet? Baekhyun asks, seeming to give up on remembering.

"No...Baek...these are Earthlings...Humans..." Kyungsoo's voice gets drowned out as his body starts convulsing, receiving electric shocks. Nurses

rush in to his bed and inject something into his arm. Baekhyun once again tries to pretend he is sleeping though all he wants to do is cry and jump

down from the operating table to rescue his friend. All he can do now is try to remember.

Simon-Dach-Straße. Friedrichschain, Berlin. October, 13th, 2013.

11:54 P.M. The computer lab of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University, located near Minseok's apartment.

A single computer is alive and buzzing in the midst of dormant mother boards and dark screens with greasy finger prints, evidence of wired students

rushing last-minute programming projects.

Kim Minseok has hacked his way into the CIA database and bypassed all their firewalls, while maintaining invisibility and erasing his virtual

footprints. He finds hundreds of thousands of folders but keeps looking. He searches the year "2011" and anything that has to do with reports of

meteors crashing simultaneously across the world. Ten to be precise. He has to dig deep because there are so many hidden folders with passwords

upon passwords. He rubs his eyes, feeling his temples ache and his vision become foggy. He can't stop now. He has finally made it this far. There

it is. There are a few newspaper articles mentioning said meteors and interviews. There are eye-witnesses who said they saw something completely

different from a meteor. There is mention made of large metal capsules with thick fiber glass windows with unfamiliar technological elements. There

seem to be two different versions of articles, whenever a scanned article page is attached to the documents. The stories change, the witnesses

dissappear or say they were mistaken and they did, in fact, see nothing but a plain, nothing out of the ordinary, meteor. Minseok ignores the

revised articles and searches for the CIA reports themselves because he knows that is where the truth lies. He finds out the exact locations of the

capsules and that they were brought to one of the CIA labs for analysis. He finds out the current locations. Researchers found that they are

more than capsules resembling what one would picture a cryogenic sleep chamber but that they can also be made to fly. They are perfectly

navigational and functioning rockets. They have been retained for study in an attempt to duplicate them and learn more about the place from whence

they came. Minseok becomes shocked the more he reads. He was hoping humans were completely oblivious to their existence. But a select number of

secret agents seem to know about their existence and are in a permanent search for their whereabouts. The hairs upon Minseok's arms stand up. He

tries to convince himself that all ten of them are safe. That as long as the agents don't track them down, they will be okay. Since he doesn't

remember being teleported to Earth in those machines, he is surprised to find out that they could potentially be used to return to their home

planet. Or whoever exiled them there could bring them back. Only Minseok enjoys his normal Berliner student life. His leg starts shaking under the

table as he takes a sip of coffee and takes a deep puff. He decides to do something crazy and risky. He starts deleting all the files relating to

them, not before he saves them on an external hard drive. He throws a wrench in their works, hoping this would delay them enough from looking. And

he will do it over and over again if he has to.

As months go by, Minseok continues to find other reports. Something about "alien objects" and "elemental residue". He also sees reports about the

deleted folders and finds that there is quite the search party for him specifically now. He doesn't mind as long as his actions keep him and the

others safe. He thinks he can out-smart them. Sleepless nights go by and in the mornings he summons enough strength to go to his classes and hang

out with Mika and share a smoke with her in the evenings. He just wants to be normal. But he has to be a hero of sorts and to operate in secrecy.

He knows the day will come when he will have to tell the others about all the things he has done and he hopes he won't be judged too hard for it.

Mika sees his dark circles and wonders what's wrong and why he isn't getting enough sleep. In the meantime, agents are losing sleep over the

mysterious hacker who continues to outsmart them. They continuously put pressure on NASA too to further their research in an attempt to discover a

trail that would connect the capsules to whatever host planet they descended from.

One day, Minseok passes out after a night of drinking and smoking, staying up late at the university's computer lab. Mika is there with him too and

can't sleep as she stares at his gentle, soft features while he sleeps. She brushes the fringes from his eyes and plants a kiss on his nose.

"I'd kiss you on the lips, but you would probably instantly wake up and kill me! But you can't stop me from snooping around your computer!" Mika

smiles devilishly. "Now where is that program you're always working on?"

Unbeknownst to her, Mika is being watched as she surfs the net on Minseok's computer, the webcam's light remaining deceivingly unlit.

"We finally found a trail and it leads to this computer but it is inside a university computer lab in Berlin, Germany, so it could be any of the

students there since these are shared computers", a CIA computer programmer an ocean away exclaims, after finally being able to get a trace of the

IP address they had been looking for. Oh, look at that, a pretty girl navigating at this late hour on campus! I doubt it's her though. Keep

tracking and observing this location!"

As time passes, Minseok wonders why the CIA has not uploaded anything else about them in months. Maybe they got smart enough to stop giving

everything away to someone who is always ten steps ahead. Or they have gone back to pen and paper, what Minseok considers their only safe bet at

this point. He grows weary but then he calms himself, convincing himself the CIA did not have enough of a lead so they found bigger fish to fry. He

slips into a peaceful forgetfulness. That is until March 20th of 2015, when Sehun's ignorance and naivite forces him to tell the others everything.

Sehun's mansion. Edinburgh, Scotland. March 20th, 2015.

"Wait...you mean to say humans have known about us this whole time? And you think they are after us? Sehun asks panicking, his house of cards

falling down, shattering his illusion.

"Yes...I think we may be facing danger from two sides and I don't know if we have enough power to face them both. The CIA shouldn't have much to go

on though but it is hard to say since I haven't been able to retrieve any new information. Taeyeon did you know about this?", Minseok asks.

"I knew about the capsules and I knew their original locations and saw them being taken away. My purpose was to keep an eye on you and help if you

were in danger but since you weren't directly threatened before our own people came into play, I didn't focus on the humans as much so I had no

visions or trail on them because there was no need. But now I see that might have been a huge mistake".

During Minseok's long story, the second secret of the evening, Luhan never stopped growing, as unperceivable and slow as a bucket of water

eventually filling with each drop and ultimately overflowing.

"It's insane what that old man did to the two of you! You were the same for four years and now that we are reunited, you look the same as when I

last saw you!" Minseok exclaims.

And those are the last words uttered before the walls explode and everyone falls to the floor, bits of ceiling collapsing on everyone in the room

and fine wooden dust bursting through the windows. CIA militia all dressed in black and wearing helmets descend on wires connected to helicopters,

now visible through the crumbling roof.

Baekhyun remembers now. They were taken. And not by their own alien kin but by humans. And these humans apparently wanted to treat them like test

subjects and see what they were made of and what gave them their powers. He remembers Minseok's story and thinks the timing of it all was strange.

Wasn't it a bit too odd that right as he was telling them the truth about how he meddled with the CIA documents, the militia just attacked them and

captured them? Finally lifting his head from his pillow painfully, Baekhyun looks around the room at all the neighboring operating tables, he needs

to account for everyone. Chanyeol, Yixing, Kyungsoo, Jongin, Sehun, Junmyeon, Jongdae, Minseok and himself are in the room. He was expecting Yifan

and Tao to be missing since they were gone before the militia got there but he is surprised Taeyeon and Luhan are not there and starts to worry,

trying to keep it together. He would go insane if anything happened to his friends and to his love Taeyeon. He needs to focus on his breathing. He

needs to remember what was done to them since they were brought here, he needs to figure out where they are and how to escape. And then he has to

find the rest.

In the laboratory nextdoor, men dressed in white lab coats are scattered among soldiers dressed in black, guarding the entrance but also keeping an

eye on everything the scientists are doing. Surveillance monitors are located nearby so that any movement from the captive aliens is registered, as

well as any dramatic change in vital signs.

"Have you succesfully analyzed the blood and the X-rays, doctors? a man with black shades and a perfectly ironed suit inquires impatiently.

"Yes, we have. Their bodies are very human-like, the X-rays did not show anything out of the ordinary on a purely anatomical level. However, if you

look here" -one of the young lab analysts points at a high-tech microscope- "you can see that their DNA strand looks different from anything we

have seen in both male and female human DNA as well as any animal DNA. Also, some of them have interesting brain activity. As we have gathered,

each of these aliens has a different type of ability they control, so their DNA strands, while similar, even have minor differences that showcase

this. It's really fascinating!"

"Yes, yes, fascinating...", the fresh-pressed secret agent remarks sarcastically. "But we have bigger concerns. First, how strong are these aliens?

Will they go against us and try to destroy us? And most importantly, can we extract enough DNA to perhaps implant such genes in humans? Think about

the possibilities! We could create an army of humans with supernatural elemental powers and win any war!" A sadistic glimmer lights up in the

agent's eyes, as the doctors gaze at him somewhat horrified at the prospect. This always happens. Advances in medicine and research are used for

sadistic, conquering military plans. They should be used to it by now. They became doctors and lab researchers to help humans and they somehow

ended up working for the CIA and being sworn to secrecy and often operating against the majority of mankind.

"I think we need to learn more about them before we do something like that" a shaky female voice whispers, coming from a frail lab assistant.

"Your opinion is not needed. Do your job and provide feedback, that is all we need from you. As you recall, we know everything about you and your

family. We woudn't want any sudden tragedy to befall them, would we? the suited man speaks with authority and a harsh tone, removing his shades and

gazing at the monitors. "One of these aliens must have been the one who hacked into our system, if only I knew which one so we could give him the

proper punishment. Although, I must say, I am impressed with their intelligence."

"Precisely, sir, that is why we are using these androids while they are not completely under, to look over their vitals. We are about to provide

intense general anasthaesia, we will deliver a heavier dosage of anestetics than we would for humans because I believe they can take it. Then we

will open them up so we can study them even further. It should be a standard procedure, we just want to make sure we did not miss anything. And

then we will focus on their brains", the head doctor in charge of the facility reports eagerly. He seems like the only one of his crew to be

excited about getting to work on such fascinating test subjects. He clasps his rubber-gloved hands together and grins, his lenses reflecting the

image of the occupied tables shown on the surveillance video.

"Agent Nikolai, I need a report of the two who escaped, as well as the two who were not found at the scene", the suited man demands.

"Sir, yes, sir! As you know, we have had prior negotiations with two of them who led us to the others in Edinburgh. We suspected it was a trap, as

we failed to understand why the two would turn on the others. However, they were not given a choice in their weakened condition. Now we have lost

their trace, one of them having fled the scene with one of our ten initial targets before we arrived and the other rescuing the girl we were not

expecting to find at the scene and fleeing. So we believe these two had a change of heart, more so than setting a trap from the start. We have

employed a large number of agents and are monitoring all cameras in the area as well as listening in on any calls. It should only be a matter of

time before we track them down, although we do not yet know what the girl's power is.

"This is not good, agent Nikolai. This is not good. It's not mere humans who we are dealing with and the world must not know of these aliens. NASA

is not giving us anything to work with either. Are the capsules still secured and guarded? The worst mistake we can make now is to allow these

aliens to find their location and to flee Earth since we cannot afford to disable them before we replicate them. We need all the man power. If your

soldiers fail to retrieve the missing four and if anything else goes wrong then I am afraid there will be dire consequences for both you and your

family. I have placed a lot of trust in you. Please, do not let me down!"

"Yes, Mr. White."

"Don't utter my name. Sir is enough."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Nikolai replies in standard military fashion, straigtening up and looking the man in front of him in the eye. A sweat bead

trickles down from under his army cap and down his neck as he nervously swallows, worrying about the future of his family, determined to not mess

this important mission up.
 

Above the giant hexagon-shaped building, Luhan and Taeyeon are crouching down, Luhan quietly sobbing, filled with guilt, and Taeyeon struggling to

forgive, while, at the same time, remaining furious about the situation and trying to tune her mind to Baekhyun's and not focus at all the anger she

feels.

"I am really sorry... Luhan whispers, through the tears. "We were just trying to protect ourselves... And Yifan's anger and desire for revenge

fueled him. I could have stopped him maybe if I tried harder. They found us and what could we have done? We were children. Our powers had not come

to full fruition at that time and even if they had, I would not want to kill them and get us into even more trouble. When Yifan was presented with

an opportunity to protect the two of us while also putting the others in danger out of revenge, he went for it. We struck a deal with the agents

who guaranteed our safety if we led them to the other ten. When Sehun found us, we let him go only so that he could lead us to the rest of you. It

was sooner than we thought. Yifan placed a small tracking device on him when he tackled him and then we followed him to the mansion and Yifan

reported to the agents that all of you were there. I wasn't expecting Yifan to run away and grab Tao though, I still don't know why he did that.

Maybe you guys got through to him and he actually changed his mind and regrets what he did and wants to help you? That is what I am hoping. I still

have hope in him...I know he can relinquish his anger. He has been going back to normal too, just like I.... which leads me to believe that what

the old man said about us having to not only meet you to grow but also to relinquish our anger must have had a double meaning"

"Luhan, there is a prophecy about the twelve of you coming together. It has to be all of you. So I pray that you are right and that Yifan is no

longer against us. We need Tao too, not only because he is our friend but we could really use his time control power. Things might get tragic

otherwise. I carry the burden of seeing all the horrific things that could happen to everyone. It hurts..." Taeyeon is trying to whisper and keep

herself together, her knees now hurting from kneeling for such a long time on the roof. Here she is getting her knees dirty again and Baekhyun has

something to do with it again, like he did when she was ten and she saved him from a tragic end she had the luck of foreseeing. The day she started

falling in love with him. Yes, she could finally admit to herself that it had started blooming since the first day. That boy changed her life in

more than one way. She loved him with all her heart. And it was time to save his life again.

She focuses and does what she has now learned to master. She can gaze inside the hexagon structure and see everyone within it. The guards, the

doctors, the agents and the nine men laying on top of the operating tables.  

"Luhan, I am going to need your help to facilitate them escaping"

"Anything I can do to help, Taeyeon. This is my fault as well as Yifan's". Luhan's feminine features contrast the manliness and determination in

his tone.

"It's okay, you just wanted to protect yourselves and you were afraid, I understand. I know deep down both of you knew they would manage to survive

this. Oh and by the way, those "nurses" are not human. They are using robots because they are too afraid to be around them. That might work to our

advantage".

Inside the building, the doctors have scrubbed their hands and wrapped them in gloves, heading towards the operating room.

"If any of them resist the anasthaesia and harm any humans, I have no problem lobotomizing them so they are easier to work on", the doctor tells

the human nurses.

The android nurses sporting the strange red visors suddenly syncronize their movements, heading towards the nine tables, preparing to put the

patients under.

Kyungsoo suddenly opens his eyes, hearing a voice in his head. Baekhyun opens his as well, hearing the same voice. The rest follow suit, as they

stand up on the operating tables, stopping the nurses in their tracks.

"Sir, the patients are awake! The androids are waiting for our command! This is strange, they had a powerful sedative!" an agent reports.

"Make the androids deliver a blow to their heads. Quickly!"

 
As the androids raise their arms prepared to strike, all the windows in the operating ward break at the exact same time, the nine men covering

their faces to avoid the shards. They were all prepared for this after hearing Taeyeon's voice in their minds.

"Don't be alarmed. I am doing this to bring you to consciousness and to prepare you for what's about to happen!" Taeyeon's voice resonates in all

their minds.

"Taeyeon!" Baekhyun shouts, tears in his eyes and ready to escape and fight whatever armies he must to get back to her.

"I am saving you again, you nuissance!" They can all hear Taeyeon's voice but know who these words are directed towards. "Your nurses are androids,

have no hesitation in destroying them! Now run! There are others who are about to chase you down! Luhan and I are above the building. Make your way

to the upper levels!"

They all have so many questions but there is no time to ask them. The biggest question is why they can all hear Taeyeon. Oracles must be truly

amazing and they are all happy to have one on their side.

All nine break lose from their restraints and brush against the androids who are slow to react, as they sprint down dark corridors, the lights

flickering and cameras turning towards them with a watchful eye.

"What is happening, agent Nikolai?" Mr. White shouts, foaming at the mouth from anger, while the others remain shocked around him.

"I don't know, sir! Tell the doctors to come back! Code red! Our patients are escaping! Do not allow them to leave the building. Set the androids

to harm them on sight. Do not kill them! Go, go go! The structure is becoming unstable!"

Taeyeon is watching everything from above. It all looks like a giant bee hive, her nine friends standing out all dressed in white, with red and

black dots chasing them, the androids and the secret agents.

"Minseok, come!" Junmyeon shouts as they run, seeing Minseok hesitate in front of a door.

"I think this is the main control room, I see computers. I can work my magic a little, give me a second. I don't see anyone inside!"

"We should make our way to the top though, like Taeyeon said! Luhan is with her, he must have caused the windows to break and he is using his

telekinesis to damage the structure and close the path behind us. we need to hurry!"

"I will be right back!" Minseok shouts, and Junmyeon sees him sit down in front of a computer and typing so fast the click of the keyboard keys

sounds like machine gun fire.

"Minseok, hurry! I see some of those androids coming towards us, I don't know how much of my power I can use without making this building

collapse! You guys are all so stubborn and never listen to me, I swear!"

"It's okay, buddy, I got it done! I hacked into the program these guys use to control those robots. They are going to start self-destructing. It

will be a controlled explosion. I also caused all the electronically controlled doors to open so we won't have any restricted access anywhere. And

I saw where all the agents are coming from!"

Junmyeon is amazed by how much Minseok was able to accomplish in about one minute. They hear the sound of high heels sprinting towards them and the

sound of mechanical joints clicking as the android nurses run towards them and face them.

The rest of them each face the robots and right as they are about to attack, the mechanical women fall to the floor and explode with the sound of circuits

fizzing and a burning smell in the air.

"What in the...?" Jongin exclaims as he and Kyungsoo are running, looking back at the exploding nurses.

"Why do I feel like Minseok had something to do with that?" Kyungsoo starts laughing.

Chanyeol, Jongdae and Sehun use a bit of their powers and destroy some more of their female pursuers as they get on an elevator that is roof-bound.

Yixing, Jongin and Kyungsoo follow, with Minseok and Junmyeon closely behind them. Baekhyun gets lost trying to keep up, having a tough time as the

ceiling starts to crumble and the lights go off behind his steps, reminding him of that not-so-distant time he was chased on the streets of Lyon.

Everyone apart from Baekhyun reaches the rooftop, only to be frozen in their tracks at the sight of the ambush awaiting them.

Taeyeon and Luhan have about a dozen guns pointed at their heads, surrounded by agents wearing black, helmets on their heads and shields in their

hands, creating a fort around them. There seem to be at least one hundred agents on the now very crowded rooftop, some of them pointing machine

guns and rifles towards the eight aliens they fear. Helicopters flying above send down light beams, bathing them in an unwanted and exposing

spotlight, red laser dots on their foreheads.

"The show is over, monsters! You thought you could so easily escape? No! Not after all the effort we have made in tracking you down! Don't do

anything stupid or we will not hesitate to kill your two friends!" Agent White removes his shades, getting a better look at his prized subjects.

Baekhyun watches the scene in horror, still hidden from the rest, sitting in the shadows atop the staircase leading to the roof, finding himself

lucky now for getting lost earlier, trying to not get drowned in emotions and fear and to, instead, come up with a plan to save his friends and the

love of his life. It's his turn now to save her, she has done it so many times. This time he has to be the hero.

Planet Kepler 438b.

A lonely telescope resides in a silent dark room, gazing at the universe, filtering out billions of galaxies and focusing on the Milky Way galaxy,

a barred spiral galaxy housing 400 billion stars. The telescope focuses on Planet Earth's solar system and then zooms in on the blue planet, its

advanced technology allowing it to penetrate all its layers, piercing the mesosphere, stratosphere and troposhere, going past the clouds, lightning

and rain, its giant gaze descending upon seven continents, then one, selecting a country, a city, a street, a hexagon anthill maze with white, red

and black dots, clumping together. A wise eye, made giant by the lense, watches everything unfold, like an ancient Greek drama spectator in a

colosseum. Only this spectator can choose to influence the play at any time. Unaware they are at the middle of a gigantic panopticon, the test

subjects are following the plan. The eye beholds its exiled children, preparing itself to be reunited with them. The large greenhouse cities are

ready to temporarily open their transparent gates, space crafts heading out towards the lonely blue dot. The cloaked shadows sent on Earth receive

their command, ready to start a war. The skies grow dark and everything becomes still. Deadly silence follows, ambassador of storms to come.