Mina

To say I was terrified would be an understatement. The grip I had on my coffee cup tightened so much that the paper began to give way and the lid had popped off. Suho casts a distraught look my way before calmly standing up, not wanting to create a scene and attract unwanted attention. Minseok follows suit and gently grabs my arm to pull me off my chair.

“Let’s go,” Suho mumbles, abandoning our table with us hot on his heels.

Once we are outside, we make our way towards the facility in hurried steps. I take care in calming myself down, and keep the thoughts of Yixing being in trouble out of my mind. Sehun once told me if our emotions grow out of control, so will our ability. The last thing we all need right now is for me to send a lamp post flying across the street because I was having a panic attack.

The same incident had happened when I found out about Sehun being taken away. But instead of a lamp post, a door crashed into the hallway, inches away from bringing along Baekhyun with it.

“Maybe it isn’t for them.” Minseok comments aloud, peering over his shoulder to make sure I was still following them. “Someone could have just gotten robbed and they're only now going to the victim.”
 

I purse my lips at his words. I can still make out the flashing lights of the police cars that are speeding down the street, slowly becoming smaller and harder to see from how far away we are from them.

“Yixing isn’t stupid.” Minseok adds.

We managed to close the distance between us and W.O.M.A. by being one block away after a few minutes. Our steps have slowed, noticing how there are no cars parked in front of the building other than the ones Norm citizens use. My chest is rising rapidly as I try to catch my breath. My pants are quiet as I scan the sidewalk and street for any sign of our colleague.

“I don’t see him,” I announce, clutching the side of my shirt. “Do you guys?”
 

“He could still be inside.” Suho notes, turning to face Minseok and I. “Then again, it doesn’t take long just to grab an application.”

“That’s it,” I moan, my grip on my shirt tensing, “he’s been caught. He’s going to be tortured like everyone in there and it’s all our fault.”
 

“Hey, hey, calm down.” Minseok frowns, running a hand through my hand. It’s a brotherly gesture, something I desperately needed at the moment. “Everything’s going to be fine, alright? You’re just stressing yourself out over nothing.”
 

I wouldn’t call this nothing, I thought.

“Maybe we should go back home.” Suho offers, noticing the paleness of my skin. “Relax for a bit and wait it out there. At least we won’t have to worry about being found out while there.”
 

“We can’t just go home. What if Yixing is in trouble right this second? He’d be counting on us to help him and we won’t be able to. We’re terrible. Absolutely terrible and-”

“Okay, well, first and last time we ever bring you on missions.” Suho says, shaking his head. “You have to control your nerves, Mina. Continuously worrying over the ‘what if’s’ isn’t going to help anyone out. Please, understand that.”
 

I take a few seconds to process his words and blush once realizing how pathetic I must be acting. If I wasn’t looked at as a baby before, I sure do now with these twos.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
 

“There’s no need to be.” Suho continues, offering a reassuring smile. “I always thought you were the kind to hide your emotions, hide them away behind a wall so no one could see. And although that is true, it partly isn’t. You care for many people and that is something many people should learn to do.”
 

“Thank-oh!” I exclaim, pointing past the duo.

The two look behind, following my finger to see Yixing walking towards us. He has an aloof look on his face and is empty-handed. My gut drops as I look at his hands that are holding no papers.

“Yixing,” Minseok says, exasperatedly. “Are you alright? Did anything happen in there?”
 

With his eyebrows furrowed and looking confused, Yixing replies, “I got a job.”
 

“What?” I splutter. “That quickly?”
 

“Yeah, a bit of a shocker, really.” He says, scratching the nape of his neck. “I start next Monday.”

“Let’s head on back, we can discuss everything there.” Suho offers, taking care to look around us for any prying eyes or ears.

␛␛␛

We’re back in Suho’s office a half hour later with Jongdae, Baekhyun, and Chanyeol accompanying us. Yixing is sitting on top of Suho’s desk crossed-legged, despite Suho’s complaints about ‘not wanting your where I eat’.

“Okay, Yixing, what happened?” Minseok asks once everyone's settled down.

“Well, I walked in as normal as possible. Went straight to the front desk - it’s an ugly shade of red, by the way. All bright and . Like it hurt to look at, okay? Anyway, I went about in asking the receptionist if there were job openings there, and she said there was. She listed off two; Janitor and Nurse. I obviously went for the second because if not, I don’t think I’d be getting behind those doors.” Yixing pauses, looking around the room to take in our expressions.

“So you’ll definitely be working further inside?” Chanyeol questions and he nods in response. “What does the Nurse do, anyway?”
 

“Apparently I’ll be helping out with experiments.”

My heart clenches and I wince at how painful the information he’s sharing with us is. Chanyeol notices this and puts a hand on my knee.

“Back to the story. She started asking me all kinds of questions like if I had a dislike towards Holders and the such. I said yes, they shouldn’t belong on this Earth contaminating the very ground we live on.-”
 

“Harsh.” Baekhyun mumbles.

“She ends up giving me an application after a background check - thanks Minseok, by the way, for making an awesome fake backstory.” Minseok beams at the compliment. “I asked how soon should I turn it in and she said there and then. They’re low on staff so if I was qualified enough, I’d get in immediately with no interview, nothing.”

“Um, that sounds extremely fishy,” Jongdae comments.

“Doesn’t it?” Yixing agrees, eyebrows raised. “Once I turned my application in, she gave it a lookover, took me for blood work and boom, I got the job, I guess.”

“Not much of this adds up.” I pipe up, earning a few nods of agreement. “No interview? No boss or manager coming to hire you? How does a receptionist have the power to hire new workers?”
 

“I don’t know,” Yixing shrugs and lets out a sigh. “But I have the job, nonetheless. We have less than a week to figure out how you guys want to go about this.”
 

“I’d say a week or more, actually.” Suho says. “We have to let you grow accustomed there. Learn some of the Holders’ name. Try finding Sehun, that’s number one priority for you right now. Once we find him, we can start finalizing the original plan.”

“In the meantime?” Jongdae questions.

“In the meantime,” Minseok speaks up after Suho casts him a glance, “we prepare.”

“Like prepare to break in? Or prepare for the riot that’ll happen inside W.O.M.A.?” Baekhyun asks, head tilted slightly in question.

“We prepare for war.”