- Re-uploaded due to formatting/web crash issues - 

Sooo sorry my lovelies. I graduated, moved house, worked erry day to save up and now I’m on my grad trip… so basically…busy times T_T

At least this is a relatively long chappie to make up for the wait? Ehehehe…hehe

Time: February 2015
Location: Sector K Headquarters

“Left, right, left, left!”

Nara followed each shouted command with action, pummeling mercilessly into her coach’s focus pads.

“Slip, duck, left hook – too slow!”

Tiffany may not have been the most intimidating appearance wise, but damn did she make a tough Drill Instructor. Growl had paired Nara off with a female Instructor to begin with and she had been delighted to meet SNSD’s lead vocalist…until she realised that the real Tiffany never smiled, barely talked and packed a really, really mean punch.

She was at the combat training stage of her induction, where she trialed through different fighting styles in order to familiarise herself with each and find her forte. Surprisingly, she picked up Taekwondo extremely quickly, maybe due to vague muscle memory from her one year experience as a kid, or maybe it was just the large movements of the martial arts form were perfectly-suited to her long legs and flexibility.

Boxing, on the other hand, was turning out to be a challenge. She couldn’t deny that it did wonders in honing her reflexes, building upper body strength and teaching natural instinct to defend her face. But for some reason the constant ‘pow pow pow’ and the sweaty insides of the thick gloves just didn’t appeal to her like practicing a spinning back kick did.

It suddenly registered in her mind that she didn’t need to go to the shooting range later for her weapons training session today. Today marked the day she could advance from gun-handling and close-range weaponry to actually harnessing her ‘powers' for attack.

Which room did they want me to go to again…?

The little moment of distraction cost her painfully. Tiffany whacked her to the ground with a forceful hit that left Nara reeling from the impact.

“Concentrate,” her drill instructor reprimanded, standing above her and removing her focus pads. “Break for 10.”

Savouring the time she’d been granted, Nara clambered to the side of the room and fetched her water bottle, relishing the feel of ice cool water hitting .   

Her daily schedule these days was absolutely insane. If she had been her old self, she doubted she’d even be alive at this point. And to think she’d previously wanted to join the K-pop industry as a trainee…she wouldn’t have lasted an afternoon.

On that thought, since k-pop artists are known to have lived in hell during their trainee days, did they design k-pop trainee life based on secret agent trainee life or something? Nara smirked morosely. Sick bastards.

She clucked her tongue as her train of thought led her back to the start of her induction, where she had been a reckless and ignorant little who didn’t think through what she was getting herself into. “I’ll join, on the condition that you tell me everything that’s going on,” she had coolly (or so she thought) said to Agent F that day. 

The first stage she had been subjected to was cooperating with the scientists to figure out her enhancements. An overenthusiastic lab assistant showed her around the labyrinth that was Headquarters whilst babbling at 500 words a minute in what seemed to be English, only she failed to recognize half of the words that left his mouth.  The sheer size and scale of things blew her mind and from what she could pick out, they were apparently situated in some hidden base constructed within a hollow near Mount Hallasan, South Korea. How everything fit, she had no idea.

Although the futuristic space felt surreal to be in, like she’d accidently stepped into some high-budget sci-fi expo, the strangest sensation by far was the empty feeling on her nose bridge - she wasn’t wearing her glasses yet she could see everything in extensive detail. The assistant had then led her to the labs, explaining something about her genomes being a perfect fit with a planet core, different fusions and augmentations, how the results of her experiment had no concrete hypothesis to start with. All the holographic pictures and diagrams may as well have been children’s’ finger paintings to her, but she did manage to catch onto two things in particular: firstly, she now apparently had some naturally formed, self-generating metallic coating around her skeletal structure, which, hello, Wolverine. Secondly and more importantly, she apparently had the possibility of being the first person to develop not one, but two powers within her. Well… . No pressure at all.

The days following that fun newbie tour were the absolute worst in memory. There was something about being constantly bound and tested on like a helpless lab rat that drove the human mind to the brink. G.R.O-W.L. scientists were dead set on trying to work out what made her tick, which meant even in her down time she was constantly monitored – vitals, metaphysic movement, structural change, emotional fluctuation, third-party reaction – Nara had never felt more suffocated in her life. Her break from it all came when she finally revealed the answer they were probing for.

One day while tied on that torturous lab chair, the pain, stress and frustration, compiled with homesickness and her general loss of faith at humanity at the time, seemed to explode out of her like a deceptively dormant volcano. She missed her family, her friends, her dog, her phone. She missed when her biggest problem in life had been forgetting to buy a vanilla latte before a double lecture. She hated being stuck in a chair all day when what she really needed to be doing was hunting down those damn monsters to avenge Aaron. Like that, her thoughts barreled out of control and then the freakiest thing happened. The only way she could describe it was her physical body lay still while her mind pretty much spontaneously combusted. And in that one second she abruptly out, the scientists working around her flung out in all directions, screaming in anguish and clutching their heads – like she had literally imploded on them like a grenade. Their reactions shocked her enough to freeze her mid-mental breakdown. Immediately the scientists were back on their feet again, despite looking a bit shaken, staring at her in astonishment.

An Empath, they called her after that. She had gained ‘the Intuition’, they congratulated her. It was a unique scientific success after decades of theories on paper. She had the ability to interpret others’ emotions and force her own onto them, like she’d accidentally done to those scientists. With practice, as a seasoned Empath she would be able to manipulate others’ feelings, empower her allies and overwhelm her enemies across vast distances at will. She would be highly valuable to G.R.O-W.L.

So they finally worked out her first power, and for some reason Nara derailed directly into WTF mode. It wasn’t exactly the generic superpower you saw in every superhero movie, like laser-beam eyes or web shooting. Was it even…cool? Did she feel epic? She had no idea. All of a sudden, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be reading everyone’s emotions or facing the risk of over-sharing her own every time she failed to control her ‘power’. Thank the lord Empathy was different to mind reading at least, that would be a whole different (much more complicated and uncomfortable) weight on her shoulder.

But she wanted to be able to kick alien , Hulk-smash them to smithereens, not give them chronic depression. I guess my main concern is that it’s going to take soooo long before I can make it offensive.

So while G.R.O-W.L. heralded her as an unprecedented scientific success, Nara felt crushingly useless.

She had probably been accidentally lashing out that day too now that she thought about it. That day when she broke down outside the office after eavesdropping on Agent F’s conversation and regaining her memories. It made sense now that people had been backing away from her. The only person who had dared to come near was Lay, but he disappeared before she could thank him for his help. What a beautiful healing unicorn he truly was. That was the last time she saw any Exo member though. That had been over six months ago.

For the second stage of her initiation, she had been tasked to reach peak physical condition. She mostly spent time alone in the gym – a sleek, silvery plethora of advanced exercise equipment and robotic monitors – training her general health, fitness, strength, agility and reflexes up to par with her enhanced self in order to prepare her for ability control. A stronger body supported a stronger mind, and vice versa. From traumatizing weeks being evaluated in the labs to the isolation with only machines as company, she had been thrown from one extreme to the other and forced to adapt. In some inexplicable way, the experience had simultaneously broken her and strengthened her mindset, teaching her endurance, adaptability, and survivability. In a way, Nara had come to realise the endless potential of human strength, both mentally and physically.

She just needed to focus on getting better because the sooner she was strong enough, the sooner she was out of here and doing something real. So she counted her days away using the metallic announcement of “You have reached 20km, average speed 31 kph, average heart rate 120 bpm”, chirped to her by a Wall-e looking device. She slowed the treadmill and reached over to pat him on the head. At least he would never be an innocent victim of her emotional manipulation.  

She moved on out of the gym when they deemed her ready for the third stage: combat training. Melee left her breathless and with a colorful array of bruises streaking her body at the end of each day, that somehow always healed completely by the end of the week. Assorted weaponry was nothing short of badass and nothing short of painful. Her body became marred with cuts and slices of varying lengths and depths, which too faded with time, They left no visible scar, only ingrained in her memory the phantom pain of each as they ripped through her flesh. Weapons training might have been the most physically damaging, but damn was it super stress relieving and educational. From handling butterfly knives to a long-range rifle, the exhilaration thrummed through her veins. Now this, this is cool stuff. And piece by piece she felt the old her slide back into place.

The days flew by. Each session she got a little stronger.

Now, she was ready to experience what she was truly made for.

“P-072 reporting for ability training.”

The fourth stage was learning to control her power. She was brought before Fei in the most comfy-looking room she’d seen within headquarters yet. It was quaint and fresh, decorated with a lush baby blue carpet, mint green curtains and had a twinkling ceiling that Nara was suspicious would be glow-in-the-dark at night. Fei was dressed casually in white yoga gear and moved with a soft grace and athleticism that made Nara stare in awe. Being in this space made her heart swell. It all just looked so…normal.

“Hello 072. What seems to be puzzling you?”

“Instructor Fei, why is this room so…”

“Nice?” Fei finished for her. Nara nodded mutely. “Because here, we need every part of your spirit to feel at peace. Don’t underestimate it though; you may come across a few surprises along the way. Now please, do take a seat.”

Once they were crossed legged and facing each other, Fei continued,

“My name is Fei, metaphysics coach of Sector K. I received this position due to my ability to see auras, not just the one visible by eye during power manipulation, but your own personal aura that envelops you in every step, every mood.” Her voice was soothing and tinkling. “Yours, currently, is at severe unrest. Let us hope I can help you with that.” Fei reached over and gently caressed the air around Nara’s head, something she neither felt nor understood. It would’ve been kind of creepy had she not been subjected to all sorts of… well all sorts of weird already. Also, this room was too relaxing.

“Every living thing on earth is fueled by a core. Think like the engine of a machine.” With a wave of her hand Fei brought up a holographic diagram between them from a well hidden projector. “It’s been called metaphysics, ki or life force, but really it’s just an energy that revolves and transfers around to ensure the running of our earth as we know it." As she spoke, the delicate movements of her wrist and fingers brought  the diagrams to life. 

"What we have successfully discovered is how to heighten the production, transmission and internal cycle of this energy within a living being, followed by how to harness it in connection to the core energy produced by an Exo planet compatible with your individual one. It changes the way your brain waves perceive and react to the molecules around you, the interaction granting you the ability to perform what was once regarded as impossible feats. However, everything comes from you and your willpower, and this type of energy movement takes effort and toll just like any physical strain would."

Fei's voice was soft, steady and absolutely gripping. Dang, in the normal world, she would’ve been a badass project partner to do presentations with.

“Now, let’s try controlling this inner Empath of yours, shall we?”

Time: March 2015
Location: Sector K Headquarters

Nara stepped into the automatic pressure shower within her modest sized dorm after peeling off her white, skin-tight training uniform and throwing it aside. It was soft and breathable on the inside, and durable on the outside, with extreme flexibility and adaptability. Apparently it was also relatively fire and water proof. Why they made it such a conspicuous and easily dirtied colour she had no clue. As she palmed soapy suds over herself and allowed the hot spray to soothe her tense muscles, she once again marveled the physical differences she had begun to notice and learn to embrace. The enhancements gave her proportions for peak performance and seemed to have made her taller, standing at a solid 175cm in height, and with a denser and far more correctly aligned bone structure, she stood up straighter. The intense training regimes only added to her visibly more toned frame, and it didn’t take long before she was sporting the physique of a fitness athlete, the grace of a model, and the litheness of a lethal assassin. Her eye colour was also visibly lighter, hitting a dark amber on some angles.

She had worked hard no doubt, but dang she never thought she could ever come this close to her dream body one day. Really, the only things that left her with familiarisation were the tiny mole on the underside of her right jaw, and the unruly tuft of baby hair framing her left temple. Not putting on makeup was also weird, but at least her bare face was another familiar asset, and here it remained unjudged. Nara sighed as one spray hit a particular sore spot. The shower was much like a glass dome with powerful jets hitting pressure points from all directions. It was an awesome hi-tech water massage, and it was definitely the highlight of each day. He stomach rumbled loud enough to be heard over the water. Yep, food was definitely next. 

They were only a few days back and just recovered from their latest mission when his Arion beeped with the news. Luhan had been resting on his bed, but upon reading the message, he leapt up in a fury, knocking over his neat pile of Rubiks cubes in his haste.

Luhan was a man of principle. He did not appreciate the knowledge that a rookie agent, who had barely gone through her initiation process, might be tagging along for a Level 7 mission. He made his position clear in the way he strode into Agent F.’s office.

“Sir, the rogue agent case is not to be unde–”

“This is not a matter up for discussion, Agent Lu.” Agent F. cut him off as though he had been waiting for this. “The final decision was made after careful deliberation.  It would serve you well not to question orders.”

Luhan could only grit back his complaints. “Yes sir.”

“I’ve called in the others for a debrief, they should be here any minute.”

Nara picked out a steak sandwich and plopped onto the metal bench of the cafeteria, a place that was quietly unoccupied as usual. All the unconventional eating times or the busy schedules of personnel and agents at Growl made it difficult to have set meal times. Being despondently sick of cafeteria food, Nara flopped onto the table and sulked. Her fingers were itching to scroll through her beautiful Instagram feed that was sure to be packed with all the latest aesthetic food. I wonder what new brunch place they’ve found? Sadly, in her training stage she wasn’t allowed to touch her own technology at all. They said it was to wean her off regular, 21^st century, teenage girl activities. Social media was for the weak! Well, maybe not those words exactly. She had an inkling it was because they didn’t trust her to remain anonymous and refrain from contacting her loved ones (or posting a sneaky Snapchat of inside HQ). Geez, feelin the trust.

“Steak sandwich not to your liking?” A male voice came from above her. Nara was too tired to lift her head and merely grumbled, “After being stuck here for 7 months going through everything the cafeteria has to offer, all of it has started to taste like wet cardboard. I need real food.”  

There was a chuckle and a plonk of metal on metal, which indicated the owner of the voice had decided to set his tray down and take a seat beside her. 

“Is that all that’s troubling you?”

“Mmm,” Nara mumbled, “well, it’s the worst part of all this. The second worst would be deprivation from my beautiful, shiny Insty feed.”

“There’s nothing you like about here?” The person pressed on, mirth in his tone.

“My inner, repressed fangirl definitely enjoys the peeks of K-pop idols here and there,” Nara replied, deciding it was only polite to actually sit up and face the speaker since he’d apparently decided to join her for lunch. “Decked out in uniform and – ” her eyes bulged as she broke off.

“So you like K-pop huh?” Baekhyun grinned and waggled the fingers of his right hand at her in greeting. He then picked up his own sandwich and chomped on it with fervor.

Nara realised she was blatantly staring.

“Um…yes, I was a huge fan before all this. Especially of Exo. But don’t worry I wasn’t the crazy stalker kind. I didn’t steal your underwear and frame it on a wall or anything. I lived too far for that anyhow. And I know all about the cloning and everything. So I totally wanted to play it cool if I ever got to meet you guys for real. This definitely went more smoothly in my head.”

Baekhyun laughed around a particularly large bite of meat, “No need for the heart-eyes. Here we’re all equally agents of G.R.O-W.L. and our autographs are worthless.” He wiped his hand on a napkin and then held it out to her. “Nice to meet you, I’m Agent Byun, but please call me Baekhyun.”

Nara carefully took his hand in hers, heart fluttering with nerves. It was like she was finally living the dream of handshaking with an Exo member, but also not the same, because these guys were more ‘Exo’ than ‘Exo’ ever would be? Did that make sense?!

Suppresses internal squee-ing.

She looked into his warm brown eyes with their peculiar, faint golden glow. These guys didn’t have flattering stage lighting, a backstage styling crew, suave dance moves and spine-tingly vocals. But these guys walked around in bulletproof vests, with Glock 19s locked on their hips and real superpowers, trained diligently in military strategy to physical combat to computer engineering, and saved the world without credit. If that wasn’t epic then she didn’t know what was – ah crap, Baekhyun was still staring expectantly and she was still holding his hand.

“Nice to meet you Baekhyun, I’m P-072…”

Baekhyun wrinkled his nose. “They haven’t given you an Agent title yet?”

“Sadly still just a number to them.”

“Well then I’m sure you had a name before all this?”

“I do, my name’s Ryu Nara.”

“Nice to meet you, Ryu Nara.”

She flushed and decided she really liked this Baekhyun, just as much as she liked her King of Eyeliner Bacon who occasionally took space of her Tumblr profile pic.

“072.”

Their pleasant conversation had been interrupted by a uniformed soldier.  “Ah, and Agent Byun, how convenient you’re here. Agent F. would like both of you to report to office immediately.”

Nara hastily shoved a few bites of her otherwise untouched sandwich in before stepping out of her seat.

“Both of us? You know it’s serious when they skip the Arion call and actually send someone to get you. I wonder what this is about.” Baekhyun spoke her mind.

She could only reply with an equally puzzled shrug.

The were led to another one of the many, practically identical offices, with it’s gray slate walls and polished floors, all tinged blue from the high tech surfaces filling it. This one appeared to be slightly bigger though, with more furniture and equipment. She deduced this had to be Agent F.’s actual personal office. And then she turned and realised this was a much bigger office, because 11 other people were occupying the room alongside Agent F. 

Oh boy, to say this was one of the best but weirdest days of her life was the biggest understatement.

She had just walked into a room with all of Exo lined up on one side, living and breathing right in front of her. Baekhyun automatically bee-lined to join the formation and that left Nara to fidget on her own at the entrance, unsure of why she was there. It took every ounce of self-control to suppress her internal screaming. Agent F. seemed to be addressing some matters that only made sense to their ears, and they were giving him their undivided attention, so she took this opportunity to remain invisible and observe.

Being in such close proximity allowed her to survey their differences to their idol counterparts. Once the star-struck haze was lifted from her eyes, she slowly adjusted to really seeing them, and not just the Exo her brain was used to day-dreaming about. The most immediate difference was that they were taller, much much taller. Even adorable D.O. stood at least an inch and a half above her own new height. Their structures must have also been stretched and refined to reach peak human proficiency. She could practically see the rippling muscle and strength behind their tight uniforms. Some of them had broader shoulders, others had the taut and tapered physique of an Olympic swimmer. Perhaps they had trained in different disciplines for different qualifications? That would make sense. 

With startling realisation, it hit her that they all sported cropped, naturally dark brown or black hair framing their manlier faces. Compared to K-pop Exo, their jaws were more squared, eyes more hardened and they had much more tanned, glowing looking skin. No make-up, no crazy hair dye, no theatrics - they were breathtaking.  

Immediately, her Youtube commenty voice piped up ‘I like the one with the dark hair’. She mentally punched herself.

Her eyes were skimming over Kai in appreciation when he sent the quickest wink her way, it could almost pass as a blink. Except she knew it had been in her direction, and the smallest upward quirk of his lips as he faced Agent F. confirmed that. He had caught her pretty much checking each of them out in turn.  

How.

Embarrassing.

She quickly averted her gaze and felt her cheeks burning up. When she finally dared to lift her eyes again, she was immediately drawn to Luhan. This had nothing to do with him being her previous latest bias. Despite being the furthest away from her, he was staring at her with such intensity; she felt her breath caught in .  The self-defense drilled into her from these months of training sprung to the forefront, and she felt her hackles instinctively rise. What was with this sudden animosity?

Any comments on my writing style, please let me know!

I’m on here not just to share my ideas with everyone (which I have lots and lots of but sadly barely any time to write down *ugry sob), but also to continuously improve myself based on your feedback!

Thanks~~~