Baekhyun stood at the front of the table, nervously picking at his nails behind his back. Junmyeon, sweet kind Junmyeon, had stepped down from his spot as leader and asked Baekhyun to take over him after the disastrous incident at the lab. Yifan hadn’t objected, something which spoke loud and clear of their leadership skills.

Directly in front of him sat Yifan. He didn’t stand up nor did he attempt to assort what little dominance he had left in their team to stop all the madness unfolding at the moment. And, of course, Junmyeon was no help. He was still shut in his room. Baekhyun wondered how Yifan was still there; after all, it was his best friend that had died.

To his right was Yixing, hand clasped tightly with Lu Han. To his left, Chanyeol gave him a small, encouraging smile.

He cleared his throat loudly to get their attention; Minseok’s head snapped towards him, hands retreating from where they were clasped tightly around Kyungsoo’s throat in an attempt at strangling him. All around the room, discussions faded out, and then they were all looking at him, waiting for Baekhyun to talk.

“I know it’s been a rough couple of weeks,” he began, “But fighting each other isn’t the answer. Zitao…” Baekhyun faltered, thinking of the little kid that used to follow him around the base, tugging at his shirt sleeves to get his attention, “He died for a reason. He gave his life so he we could go home. Don’t make that be in vain.”

His little speech must have struck a nerve, because the ten boys around him all nodded and muttered their agreements. Yifan looked like he was about to pass out, but even he seemed to agree.

“Now,” Baekhyun continued, “I spoke to Yifan earlier; this is what we’re gonna do.”

-

Baekhyun was alone in the command room. The guards that had previously been seated in this room were lying on the ground, dead. Baekhyun hadn’t meant to kill them, but he freaked out when the bullets started wheezing past his head. He could see his team advancing slowly but surely through the lab, getting closer and closer to their ship; the humans seemed to have fixed it and it was now good as new. Baekhyun just wished they could get to it.

A flicker of movement to his right got his attention. In one of the monitors, the security cameras were transmitting the arrival of a human offense team; they had guns bigger than Baekhyun, and some nasty looking cages. They wouldn’t possibly expect to lock them up on those things… right?

A familiar cry snapped him out of his thoughts. Somewhere in the building, Chanyeol was being beaten to death by more guards. Baekhyun wished he could be there, the adrenaline pumping through his blood like a drug; he knew Chanyeol was more than strong enough to take care of himself, but he also knew he was practically incapable of hurting others, even in self defence. Baekhyun watched in anguish as more guards showed up in every screen and cornered his brothers. When he caught sight of Kyungsoo on the ground, face covered in blood, Baekhyun made a decision. He stood up, grabbed one of the guards and stripped him of his clothes.

-

The hallway outside the command room was empty. The emergency lights were on, much like back at the lab. Baekhyun tried not to think about that; this wouldn’t end like the lab, not as long as Baekhyun was around to prevent it.

The weapon in his hand was heavy; he didn’t know the name of this gun, because back home they didn’t use guns. Soldiers had powers, like them, and those few that didn’t mostly stayed in the command centres to plan and strategize. Baekhyun wasn’t even sure he’d be able to fire it if needed.

A soldier rounded the corner and started walking towards him, and Baekhyun nearly fainted before he remembered that he was disguised as a human soldier and he was safe. “Private,” the other man said; Baekhyun wondered what that meant, “We have one alien in custody. You are required in the holding cell to keep watch.”

“Yes, sir,” Baekhyun answered shakily. The soldier made to walk further down the hall and into the command room. “Wait! They’re all… dead. They’re dead.”

“What happened,” the soldier asked.

“A… an alien came in and killed them. I don’t know how. I was about to go in when I saw him so I hid. I didn’t have my gun with me.”

 The soldier scolded him for not having his weapon at all times, and when he asked Baekhyun where the alien had gone, Baekhyun simply pointed to the opposite direction. It was a dark hall, the reason why he didn’t go that way. Once the soldier was out of sight, Baekhyun heaved a sigh of relief. He remembered what he had said, an alien in custody. His mind immediately went to Chanyeol and his heart squeezed at the thought. When he looked at the monitors in the command room, he was relieved for a second when he spotted Chanyeol in one of the gardens, running like a madman with his hands on fire. Baekhyun even allowed himself to giggle at the sight, but it died in his throat when he saw Lu Han trapped in a cage. A ing cage; Baekhyun was immediately furious. Lu Han looked so tiny, crouched down to stop his head from hitting the roof. There were two guards keeping watch, both holding giant guns.

After tracing a mental map so he didn’t get lost, Baekhyun walked out and began looking for him.

-

The lights exploded around the guards and the room went pitch black. Then, balls of light began to swirl around Baekhyun. He didn’t give the guards’ time to react before he began to shoot them in their direction. First, he made sure they weren’t able to see him. Then, he blinded them. And finally, he melted their eyeballs. This time, it was on purpose.

“Baekhyun,” Lu Han sighed, eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw his outfit, “What are you wearing.”

“A disguise,” his voice came out muffled by his mask. He searched around the fallen guards’ clothes until he found the key to the cage and let his friend out. Lu Han stretched, groaned when the muscles in his back popped and locked.

“Come on,” Baekhyun urged, handing Lu Han a guard’s uniform, “Put this on and let’s go.”

-

Yifan had the same idea Baekhyun did. Baekhyun would have killed him if Yifan hadn’t flown down from where he was perched on top of a car a few feet away from them. Together, the three of them ran towards the sound of battle. The shouts were becoming clearer with every step they took, and when Baekhyun rounded the corner and arrived at the parking lot where his brothers were being thrown into a car, hand cuffed and beaten. They arrived just in time to see Jongin land in Yixing’s lap thanks to an overly aggressive guard; Lu Han radiated homicidal rage at the sight of Yixing’s multiple cuts and bruises, especially on his face and neck. Sehun, even from afar, looked like he was ready to grab that guard and make him apologize to his boyfriend.

As they neared, one of the leaders barked at them for being late and tossed the keys at Baekhyun. The three of them shared a look before getting on the car. It was a tight fit, but soon the doors were closed and they were driving away.

“Where are we supposed to take them?” Baekhyun muttered, checking the rear view mirrors with fear of being followed. Save for them, the road was empty.

“Just drive,” Yifan suggested, “We’ll figure something out.”

-

They drove for hours; the sun began to rise when Baekhyun pulled over at the entrance of an abandoned looking farmhouse.  Two hours earlier, Jongdae had obviously begun to get restless, because he complained loudly from the back about how sore his was getting from seating down for so long. He was lucky it was just them, because Baekhyun wasn’t sure the human guards wouldn’t have ignored the comments.

Baekhyun got out of the car and went to open the back door of the van. Jongin immediately launched himself on top of him, knocking him down to the ground as the others all piled out of the car and tried to immobilize the other boys.

“Jongin!” he exclaimed, hands raised to avoid Jongin’s fists, “, hold on! It’s me, Baekhyun!”

Jongin froze mid punch, cuffed hands poised above Baekhyun’s head to land a lethal blow. Baekhyun took off his mask and glared at Jongin. He could taste his own blood on his mouth.

“Crap, hyung, I’m so sorry, I…” Jongin stammered, “Guys! Guys, stop!”

Kyungsoo looked up from the headlock he had Lu Han in. He let go in an instant. How he had managed to get out of the handcuffs, Baekhyun didn’t know.

“Baek!” there were hands grasping at his clothes, twisting him around to check for injuries. Chanyeol was fussier than his own mother.

“I’m fine,” he assured his best friend.

“How did you get out?” Jongdae asked. The boy looked tired but still happy to see him alive and well.

“I, uh, killed some guards. Then took a uniform and pretended to be one of them. After getting Lu Han and Yifan hyungs we went outside where you were being loaded into the van. The boss tossed me the keys and that was it.”

“Really? That easy?” Sehun seemed sceptical. But really, what else could have happened?

“So what do we do now?” Yixing asked, kicking at the ground. Lu Han had stopped nursing his face but he still had an iron grip on his boyfriend. It was cute.

“We stay in this farmhouse. Did any of you succeed?” Baekhyun asked hopefully. Chanyeol gasped and dug around his pockets then pulled out an old radio from their pod. It looked a little worn but nothing they couldn’t fix.

“Is this good?” he asked shyly, waving it around for them to see. Minseok, their resident technician, nodded happily. Chanyeol beamed and his smile only widened when Baekhyun ruffled his hair (he had to stand on his tippy toes to reach his head) and told him he’d done a good job.

“Let’s go inside then,” Lu Han said, already making a bee line for the farmhouse, “I’m tired.”