Time: Unknown

Location: Classified 

Safe to say, Nara had no clue what she was doing, sitting in this overbearingly white room, with it’s overbearingly minimalist furniture, the only other occupant being an overbearingly serious–looking dude seated across from her.

The way he held himself gave away no personality, his expression was unwavering and the uniform he wore (which she tried and failed to recognize) had been ironed to perfection, as stiff as his posture. Finally, after Nara’s eyes started burning from the immature staring-contest they seemed to have fallen into (or so she thought), he leaned forward and spoke in controlled tones, “I realise there are things we may need to apologise for, and what I am about to tell you will not be easy to digest in the slightest.”

Well, that’s never a good start.

“So I will start from the beginning, but I will be brief as to avoid overloading you with information. Are you prepared?”

Ok, but seriously, what the hell was she doing here again?

She was just an ordinary university student. She had a perfectly normal life: loving family, awesome friends, huge uni workload, y boss at her part time job. She spent half her life binge-watching Korean dramas, and the other half stalking the ‘Exo’ tag on social media. She was an avid K-pop fan with an impressive understanding of the Asian culture despite growing up in Australia. (Though, that didn’t mean she was a very good Asian. Case in point one: she’d learnt how to play three musical instruments over the course of her life, but she was so half-assed at each of them she could still barely move past the sight-reading stage of musician-ing. She loathed people who came up to her and expected her to comply with requests like, “Oh, you’ve learnt piano for 7 years now? Play the acoustic version of 2NE1’s Missing You for me!” Like no, dude. No.
Stereotypical Asian talent 1, Nara 0.
Case in point two: her parents once tried taking her to ballet classes when she was little, but somehow or rather she ended up persuading them to let her do Taekwondo instead. Which would’ve been a cool skill to have, except it only lasted about a year because then she went and got herself pathetically hopsitalised from a kick to face and her mother cancelled classes immediately.
Stereotypical Asian talent 2, Nara 0.)

Hmm…what else was there? She was also interested in cooking and food and travel and –
Wait… hadn’t she been in Cambodia recently? Distinct memories of planting vegetables and finger-painting fences flooded back to her mind. Was she correct in recalling that at some point she had wandered into the jungle? And climbed some really tall fence and then…hm.

Next thing she knew, she’d woken up in the most blindingly white room she had ever see, her ears assaulted by a screaming metal ball. By the time a bunch of doctors rushed onto the scene, checked everything and everywhere and then hurried away scribbling on their clipboards and mumbling excitedly to each other, the mysterious man who had poofed out from black smoke at the corner of her room had long gone.

Or not so mysterious, since she was about 98.8% certain that person had been Exo’s Kai. And she had definitely heard him mention Baekhyun’s name.

Something nigged at the back of her mind that it was the second time she'd seen Kai. Why was that?

Following the nice visit from the doctors came lab-coated scientists rushing in and out, measuring this and prodding that. No one answered a single question of hers. She had barely gotten over the disgust of being treated like some captured laboratory test subject when she was then manhandled onto a wheelchair and wheeled into this stupid room to face this man in this stupid uniform who made her feel stupid.

What kind of accident had she gotten in after climbing the fence that she didn’t remember? Physically, she felt fine. But then again, she had no idea how much time had passed. Maybe this was protocol for all Cambodian hospitals? Was she even still in Cambodia? Why did it feel like she was in trouble – oh God, what if she’d done something she didn’t remember to piss off some underground crime syndicate and now they were keeping her for future organ harvest and she was a million miles from home and the laws here probably didn’t cover… no that wasn’t right. Everything she’d seen since waking up was too clean, too polished, too hi-tech and futuristic. Unless this was some bad-guy HQ from the future, all Darth Vader and his Imperial Shuttle-esque, which would mean she’d time-travelled or maybe even dimension-travelled and –

Nara guessed her face wasn’t doing too well at hiding her inner thoughts because the man rose an eyebrow at her inquisitively. She quickly swallowed and willed her over-imaginative brain to shut up.

“Natasha Elliana Ryu. Korean name Ryu Nara. Chinese name Liu Na La. Preferred name Nara Ryu.” He addressed her, with no specific emphasis on any single word. He may as well have been reading a grocery list.

Well yes, good to know you know my names in their entirety. Not creeped out at all.

“Code GE(O)-P 072.”

Say what?

“I suppose I should have first started with this: My name is Agent F. and I welcome you to G.R.O-W.L. We are currently in the central headquarters of Sector K of our organisation; Global Response Operations – Warfare and Logistics, which means – ”

“– it means our big boss really wanted our initials to spell ‘growl’.” A new and vaguely familiar voice cut in.

“Agent Jongin, glad you could join us. Your presence is, as always, welcomed.” Agent F. deadpanned.

“Hey, you’re the one who called for quick delivery.” Agent Jongin replied with a noncommittal shrug as he sauntered into the room and flicked a deck of folders onto the desk.

And there he was, in all his glory. Agent Jongin. Who looked exactly like freaking KAI KIM JONGIN OF EXO WHAT IN THE WORLD OH MY GOD

“Agent Jongin, if you could refrain from further interruptions, I’d like to finish explaining the situation to Miss Ryu here.”

Jongin’s deliciously gorgeous molten chocolate eyes shifted to their attention to Nara and eye contact ensued.

Hyperventilating internally.

“Miss Ryu, do I still have your attention?”

She knew she was probably imitating a gaping goldfish at the moment but Nara couldn’t care less. She managed to eke out, “You’re… you’re Exo's Kai!"

“One and only. Hm… on second thought, that might not technically be correct.”

“…a-and the rest of Exo…?”

“The guys are currently chilling in our combined training arena.”

“How…?”

“Well you see, long story short, we kinda work for the secret organisation this guy just mentioned, and K-pop idols are just clones of us put out there so our families and friends believe we’re living large and stop worrying about us. It also minimises unnecessary contact with them. Heh.” To Nara’s shock he then disappeared and materialised a second later beside her. Leaning in close he whispered, “Personally, I think it was more so they could milk money out of our poor little clones to fund their experiments. Win-win for them.”

Nara ‘s eyes very nearly popped out as she blinked back and forth at where Jongin had been and where he was now.

“Did I somehow get myself into a really elaborately set up prank cam episode?” she blurted.

Jongin chuckled, then vanished and reappeared again in the corner of the room.

“Does this look fake to you?” Nara’s head whipped around to face the voice only to find he was now suddenly standing behind Agent F. If Agent F. was surprised by this, he did nothing to show it. On the contrary, his fingers were twitching like they trying extremely hard not to pinch between his eyes in frustration. The black smoky tendrils from Jongin’s teleportation curled around Agent F. in a rather dramatic fashion, making him look like an ominous anime character.

Experiments. Secret organisation. Man in black smoke. Nara blinked dumbly.

“If what you’re saying is all true…don’t tell me…all of Exo actually have their powers?”

“Yeah, they put that in their debut concept for kicks.” Jongin answered her with a small wink.

A rather long silence filled the room. Nara made a gurgling noise.

“This is so…so…FREAKING AWESOME!”

Agent F. finally snapped and sternly commanded Jongin to leave the room, but it was barely heard over the sound of Jongin's tinkling laughter.

“Catch you later Newbie!” he called as he disappeared from the room, leaving Nara’s eyes twinkling with excitement and heart practically thumping its way out of her chest.

This is unbelievable! Like every favourite sci-fi movie, anime and Exo fanfic come true! Should I pinch myself? This definitely doesn’t feel all hazy and completely dumb and chaotic like my dreams usually are, but should I make sure?

She surreptitiously pinched her thigh under the desk.

ow that hurt! So it is real. Oh lordy, superpowers exist and my beautiful Exo babies are actually secret agents…

 “That was certainly not the way I planned to explain things, but I can confirm what Agent Jongin has informed you is in fact true.”

Nara’s mind, which had drifted off into fangirl-ville, was snapped back into reality when she realised Agent F. had resumed speaking.

“As I was about to say, G.R.O-W.L. operates as a united, covert intelligence agency. We pride ourselves for our leading quality of elite agents and state of the art facilities.” Something about the way he spoke of the agents as though they were pieces of house décor irked Nara and she felt some of her euphoria dissipate. 

“You seem quite knowledgeable in the area of K-pop.” The way he somehow managed to say the word ‘K-pop’ like he’d made finger quotations and rolled his eyes, without physically doing so, irked her further. She replied, “I’m definitely a big fan of Exo.”

“Well, as Agent Jongin mentioned, the group Exo you may be familiar with are not the original. The original 12-agent unit is one of our finest here at G.R.O-W.L. After our new recruitments officially register in our agency, we take the utmost caution to produce a duplicate clone to replace the agent in carrying out their daily lives as a common citizen. The clone fosters the same memories, bar the knowledge of G.R.O-W.L., and adopts similar mannerisms and personalities as the original.”

Cloning humans is already a scientific success...Geezuz

“As you familiarise yourself with G.R.O-W.L.’s facilities you will discover that science and technology has evolved far further than you may have been led to believe. You must understand that the extent of development is top classified information, and kept secret for good reason. Now, before I continue any further, I must be sure of one thing.” He leaned forward ever so slightly. “What do you remember about yourself?”

Nara bit back the thousands of questions threatening to escape , because the manner in which Agent F. was staring expectantly compelled her to answer his question first. She proceeded to retell the self-intro she had conveniently just gone over in her head. His expression became increasingly troubled (as troubled as deadpan could get) with every new sentence she spoke. She reached the part about wandering into a forest when he curtly held up his hand, signaling her to a stop.

“Excuse me for a few moments.” Was all Agent F. said before sweeping the files off the desk and exiting the office through a door she hadn’t realised existed.

Minutes passed uneventfully.  Curiosity getting the better of her, Nara slowly removed herself from the wheelchair and crept up against the wall to inspect the hidden door. She practically felt her ears twitch as they picked up the faintest of sounds through the wall. She tuned in to realise it was muffled voices, and the harder she concentrated on hearing, the more words she began to distinguish.

“…we assure you… everything in procedure…nothing…fault…”

“…how does…explain…she was close to recalling…attack. If I hadn’t stopped her in time…”

Nara was completely unprepared for the disjointed convesation to trigger the rush. Memories slammed into her like an invisible tidal wave, knocking her backwards and stumbling on her feet. Everything from the soccer ball to the explosion flew before her eyes, and then there was blood, vines and Aaron… Aaron Aaron Aaron how could she have forgotten her best friend, oh god.

Nara scrambled to leave the room that had suddenly become suffocating, choking on tears and breaths coming out increasingly shorter. The pounding in her head made her vision go black so she felt her way around the door and out to the corridor, sliding down against the nearest wall to crouch with her side pressed against it. One hand barely held herself steady as the other clutched at her chest, heaving and gasping to fill her lungs again.

The scattering of people walking up and down the hallway recoiled from her looking physically pained, as though she wasn’t a hyperventilating girl in a hospital gown curled up in distress, but rather a monster breathing flames of death at them.

So when a hand came from behind and rubbed her back soothingly, it was completely unexpected. The touch grounded her again, dispelling the ringing in her ears with it. The strange but not unwelcome warmth slowly spread through her entire body and she hitched painful breaths as she sobbed distraughtly.

“It’s okay now, it’s okay.” A soft voice hushed her.

Once Nara had settled down to quiet weeping, she turned to face the person of comfort and was met with a dimpled smile and dark eyes laced with concern.

More tears overflowed as she took in the face that was a friend onscreen yet a stranger in person.

“L-Lay…” she hiccupped.

Once again, she was back in that stupid office with Agent F. on the opposite side of the desk.

This time her puffy, red eyes did not meet his. Hair that was sticky with tears framed her downcast face and she sat hunched in her seat.

“I see you’ve recalled the attack and what happened to your associate.” Agent F. spoke up.

It sounded more like a statement than a question and since Nara had no energy to correct his word choice, she stayed silent.

“Well, to continue on from earlier, our focuses at G.R.O-W.L. are global security, espionage, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism and alien contact.” He paused to let that last bit settle in. Nara finally slowly raised her head to look at him.

“Unfortunately, you and your associate had the chance of encountering what we’re quite certain classified as an alien in Cambodia that day.”

Her brow furrowed. “His name’s Aaron. And he is…was my best friend.”

Agent F. continued without indication he’d heard her. “You then attempted to escape by passing into one of our restricted laboratory grounds and activated an electromagnetic land mine part of our experiments. We’re sorry to inform Aaron showed no signs of life by the time we found him. You, on the other hand, were recovered through numerous operations Ms. Ryu. With the amount of radioactive matter absorbed into your system after the explosion paired with the extent of your injuries, we had no choice but to commence experiment series Overdose on you. And the fact that you are sitting here in front of me shows you have been a pleasing success.”

Nara was now looking at him like he’d grown an extra nose on his face.

“You may have already noticed your enhanced sight and hearing? Those are merely side effects, currently unsteady but with sufficient training they will be easy to maintain. Of course, there are plenty more tests we need to run – ”

“How long has it been since the accident?”

“Seven and a half months.”

closed up. “Then my parents…"

“That’s another aspect we’d like to apologise for. In the circumstances we also had no choice but to retrieve your DNA and construct a clone of you without your prior consent. It has already successfully integrated into your normal life and pacified your family and friends. It holds your personal memories up until your accident, however it was programmed to believe it stepped into a regular mine by accident.”

Nara merely stared with agape, so Agent F. continued, “Your contacts in Australia believe both you and Aaron were involved in an unfortunate accident due to an undiscovered minefield left from the war. That fact that you live away from home and barely see your parents allowed the situation to be a lot simpler to manage, as even if they may feel your clone is acting somewhat different on the rare occasion they meet, the changes can be dismissed as symptoms of PTSD.”

Agent F. pulled up a screen that had been embedded in his desk and a holographic image sprung up in front of her, setting a blue cast on their faces. Nara felt her eyes watering again as she recognised the faces of the people in the video – which judging from the angle looked to be some sort of security footage.  There her parents were.  Completely at ease they chatted amicably with someone who shared her features exactly. It was an otherworldly experience because that wasn’t her. And yet the family on screen looked so fitting and genuinely happy that…

“Now, the main reason for our meeting today is to present you with two choices. You still have immeasurable unleashed potential within you, and we need to discover and teach you to harness your newfound powers. Once they have calmed to a level that will no longer threaten regular society, we can send you back home and discreetly exchange you with the clone. You will sign a confidentiality agreement and continue on with life as though none of this ever happened.”

The image on screen shifted to a different day and location, this time showing a noticeably distressed looking Dani sitting with her clone, clearly grieving over the loss of their other friend.

“Or, you can choose to join G.R.O-W.L. Provided you pass all tests, we would like to recruit you as our first agent of the GE(O) series. This would give you an opportunity to utilize your powers for a greater cause, to make sure they can live in a safer world,” he gestured to the video, “and to prevent what you went through from happening to others.”

Nara quietly watched the projection with glassy eyes. The footage had now skipped to a time where Dani and her clone, evidently recovered from the loss, were walking through campus juggling coffees, textbooks and laptops in their arms and appearing as mundane as they possibly could. Why did that life feel so distant from her now?

How could I ever go back to that after seeing what I’ve seen?

Her hand slowly reached up to the display and she almost laughed at herself when it soundlessly passed through the hologram. The images of a normal life slipped through her fingers just as normality had already escaped her grasp.

Agent F. regarded her silence for a few moments before he stood up and made to leave the room. “Someone will be here shortly to lead you to your room where you can rest.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Excuse me?” He faltered with his hand paused on the door and abruptly turned to face her, “I have given you time to consider your choices, there is no need to – ”

“I’ll do it.” Nara repeated more firmly, turning her head and making direct eye contact.

For the first time that day, some distinct sort of emotion flickered briefly across Agent F.’s eyes.

“Very well, Ryu Nara. Very well.”

A/N: Next chap we start getting in on more of the action!

And just before I get comments on this, I live in Australia guys. We have university instead of college, we spell things recognise instead of recognize. Please don’t judge meeee  :D