They brought in Namjoon first and I secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Outside, Suho was more worried about the result of this event rather than the torture itself, because having to deal with the Union and the higher-ups were more difficult and it came with a dire consequence. Still, he could not say that he was regretful for all that he did – he just had to prepare himself for all possible outcomes. When Lay came by and stood beside him, Suho merely gave him an acknowledging glance before he turned his attention to the one-sided glass.

The man in front of me did not resemble the Kim Namjoon that I knew. I could only imagine the kind of things he had to go through during these eight days. I glanced at Lieutenant Kim and noted his pleasant expression, masking that sadistic tendency underneath. He was even worse than Lieutenant Key. Doctor Lee’s eyes darted to me inquisitively and I diverted my eyes from her and placed my touch on Namjoon’s burnt hands. I needed eyes to read minds, but I needed my hands to talk telepathically, unless I established a solid mind-link that would not be broken until the day either of us died. But having mind-links were troublesome matter which I hated to do unless proven absolutely necessary. Besides, with my current skills, it was close to impossible to create a temporary one.

Kim Namjoon lost half of his weight and looked close to skeletons with skin. His eyes were sunken, his lips gaping open and close as if he tried to convey something but couldn’t. I glanced at everyone in the room again and noted their expressions one by one. None of them was aware of my previous relationship with these people from the Rebel, except for the fact that we used to work together. Sometimes, colleagues were as good as strangers, so they weren’t overly worried, but still cautious enough.

I bit my lips again. He flinched but didn’t voice out the pain in his mind. It was a very peaceful, almost barren surrounding. “You would let me in, won’t you?” I asked with a small, almost sad smile inside his mind. He nodded with a grimace. “I have no other option, anyway. And it’s better for you to reach out because then, you’d know that everything I tell you is the truth. We may not be close, but I would not lie to you.” I narrowed my eyes and told him I knew, that even if he wanted to, he would not be able to hide anything away from me.

On the outside, we appeared to be silent even as we were staring at each other closely. Luhan, who had been silent for a while, folded his hands in front of his chest, his smile so light it was almost non-existent. But the hint of pleasantness was very much present between the curve of his lips if one looked closely enough. Ah, if only Sehun was here to watch, that would have been infinitely better, but the man was solitary in his own confinement, so there was no way he would walk out of his room in this time of recuperation. His power, although the most dangerous of the Elites, came at a good price to pay.

None of them seemed to notice the change on Luhan’s face. Suho was lost in his own thoughts, Kris and Lay were talking animatedly to themselves, while Luhan stood in the midst of it all, unswayed, unwaveringly calm – like the sturdy mountain figures with all its magnificence. His oceanic blue eyes were gentle and expressive when his words could not be, almost as if they were alive and a completely different entity than its body host. He wasn’t usually interested in the affair of blood and violence, but nevertheless, Kris had invited him here and he had thought of the girl as one of his own in the circle of Elites, therefore it would be completely impolite to decline. at least that was what he convinced himself.

“You won’t lie,” I inhaled and grinned, “You, Kim Namjoon, have too much pride for it.” But that was what I liked about him – a man with pride and code of family, although it was regrettable that one such fine man had to end up pledging loyalty to a man who did not deserve it. He smiled a loop-sided smirk and shook his head, “You haven’t changed too much either, Captain – only a little more snarky and cold-hearted. But I guess it’s only understandable for you to be shaken after what happened.” He didn’t continue when he saw the glare I directed at him.

What I had done to Suga was nothing compared to what I would do in the future. My hands shook a little for the first time – something that everyone noticed even as I tried to mask it. I wanted to avenge my own matter with these hands – for humiliation must be paid by blood in full. “You know I won’t do anything to you. You didn’t hurt me in any way, so as long as we keep it that way in the future – that you bring me, or my friends no harm – there won’t be a day where we’ll have to stand and fight against each other. But for now, let’s not talk about such depressing thing,” My voice was light and unhurried, “Tell me more about what has happened lately. I’m guessing that bastard is up for something again, isn’t he?”

Namjoon’s eyes softened a little. “I guess things have changed since you left, too,” He stared at me with so much contemplation before adding on, “I told you, Captain. The Leader is still pining for you, and when you left…” He continued reluctantly. “You know the Ground Zero rules, don’t you?”

Ground Zero was something the Rebel implemented in their headquarter that forbade any of the Transcendentals to use their abilities at free-will, which meant that unless it was supervised and permitted, the Ground Zero remained a neutral area where everyone was humane in every sense possible. There were one Shield and one Nullifier who covered the entire ground with their abilities to make sure that no one disobeyed. I could taste the bitterness as I swallowed because this area was the place where I met my demise. Without my ability, I couldn’t put up much fight as they stripped me away from my dignity.

“You would probably love this: that Ground Zero is gone now,” Namjoon snickered. “Nothing much to complain about if it’s just that, but then the Leader formed a group of Watchmen to report back to him if there’s slight misconduct. So the situation has been tense for a while.” Though those Watchmen weren’t powerful, they were hard to deceive, and the Leader had eyes everywhere. People who stayed in the Rebel stayed because they either respected or feared him. There was never an in-between. He was good at grasping people’s heart and knew fully well how to play the game of tug of war. In that aspect, there was almost no one better than him.

The present host of the Rebel was, but a puppet leader for the youth who came to power long before I was there. The one we called ‘Leader’ was only two years older than me. At twenty-four, he was revered and looked up to as the ideal leader and a key figure in the Rebel. He wielded power with his bare hands, such that even the strongest Transcendental would be weak against him. Not only was he gifted with an extraordinarily dangerous ability, he was also an excellent user of his talent. The Rebel stuck to each other closely, and though they were considerably smaller in numbers when we compared them to the Union, each of their members possessed unique ability and violent nature. ‘Humanity’ wasn’t a word we heard often in the Death Camp.

“Why did he demolish Ground Zero? Wasn’t it a norm that everyone has to obey, even for the Leader himself?” I furrowed my eyebrows. Namjoon stopped speaking when he was forced to cough blood – some of which landed on my hand and clothes. I froze. This connection was taking its toll on him as his physique and mind weakened considerably after the torture. The conversation stopped when I pulled away from the man and stood up against Doctor Lee and Lieutenant Kim, “The captive is not in a good condition for interrogation. You should take him back to the prison and leave him alone until he recovers a little, then maybe, we can continue.”

“That is not your call, Subject-13,” Lieutenant Kim raised his eyebrow and stared me down. “You’re not in-charge here.”

“Then you want no more information?” I narrowed my eyes dangerously at the young man and refused to back down. He called me ‘Subject-13’ – the latest addition to the Elites, and the only one who had yet to be examined and experimented on by Doctor Lee. Given the timing and situation, I didn’t think they would pay much attention to me for quite a while. But I didn’t intend on staying low, either, given the right justification to start an argument with an important figure under the Old General. Perhaps I would even meet him if I caused enough trouble one of these days. But one should not count the egg before it hatched.

“Of course we do,” Doctor Lee intercepted, her face stern and covered in fine lines of age. She wasn’t particularly pleasant to look at because her features were very sharp and sometimes, almost hawk-like under certain light. Like now. Like she was staring at me with her observant, judgemental eyes that seemed to regard everything and nothing at the same time. In this facility, her words were second after the Old General that even the Lieutenant had to respect and listen to her. Still, Lieutenant Kim stared at her in disbelief and tried to interrupt, “Doctor Lee, why should we listen to the word of a Subject? We can obtain information even without her aid! And who knows what she might be plotting with these captives! Maybe she will even try to leak our information to the Rebel!”

Jane’s face cooled as she whipped around to face him with a professional smile. Youth, she cursed in her mind. It was particularly obvious from how he behaved since his promotion, that Lieutenant Kim was even more abrasive than Lieutenant Key. Perhaps their inexperience had much to do with this foolish bravery. Her eyes held traces of impatience as her fingers tightened around her wooden board with paper and pen. “Say, Lieutenant, how do you plan on extorting these information out of the captives? It’s very clear to me that someone has placed a mental barrier to all of them that even our best mind-reader could not pass through their defences. This girl – not Subject-13 to you – is our best bet.”

Her long, bony finger pointed at the bloodied Kim Namjoon with unconcealed revulsion written all over her face, “Look at the man. Are you still planning to torture the information out of his mouth when he won’t even flinch at your method of interrogation? Have you not learnt anything from the previous Lieutenant that you dare continue defying my word?”

Lieutenant Kim in a deep breath as he turned around to face me, apparently still very much suspicious about my motive. I grinned sarcastically and held him by the eyes. Even if they suspected me, they could not do much about it. “I’ll tell you something, Doctor Lee, since your Lieutenant here, does not hold me in high regards,” I raised my eyebrow and coldly continued, “These captives must be released soon. I don’t care how safe you think this place is – your security won’t hold a candle against the Rebel’s invasion. The Leader is planning something that I’ll try to find out. But unless their physical condition allows them to undergo my method of interrogation, this will continue to be a pointless attempt.”

“Our security doesn’t hold a candle against the Rebel?” Lieutenant Kim repeated like it was the biggest joke of the century – which to him, it probably was. “What kind of bulls is she speaking? Do you know that the reason this world does not know of our existence is because of our security system? We have the most advanced technology to back it up, so an ignorant little girl like you, who’s seen little of this world better shut your mouth instead of shooting empty words around about something you don’t even know about!”

I sighed, feeling anger bubbling up and trying to suppress it at the same time. “Doctor Lee, I hope you haven’t forgotten about my escapade two weeks ago, have you?” The doctor glared at the Lieutenant disdainfully. “My ability is only five-tenth of what the Leader of the Rebel can do. And he has the ability to establish mind-links with these captives, whenever and wherever he wants to. When he did, what would happen to this headquarter facility, then? If you’d like to try and take that risk, then go ahead and be my guest. But I do not want to fight a losing battle in this game you’re playing. So it’s your decision to make.”

She turned rigid instantly, “The Rebel’s Leader has an ability like yours?”

My knitted brows and narrowed eyes were indications that it wasn’t a topic I would want to talk about, but in order to preserve their lives, I had to reveal something to the Union. The image of that man’s mocking smile appeared at the back of my head when the anger surfaced, but I pushed it down forcefully and re-affirmed her statement with a revelation of my own, “Yes, but much stronger than what I have right now. He used to be my mentor during my time with the Rebel.”

Suho subconsciously clenched his fist when he heard the confession.

“They’re going to bring the last male captive this time,” Kris said when the door opened and a few paramedics brought out the man inside with a stretcher. His injuries seemed to have worsened during the interrogation, and understandably so, because Lay had purposefully left out some of the lighter internal injuries to avoid suspicion of their activities under the Union’s radar. Only the two of them knew what really happened during the seven days of captivity and what kind of brutal torture these prisoners had gone through. While Suho had his own reasons of doing so, Lay did it out of pity. As a Healer, he really disliked violence by any means.

“Ah, yes,” was Suho’s short, but courteous reply. Luhan had never seen Suho being so absent-minded, even during his free time. The younger man always seemed to have something to say to lighten up the day, but right now, he just stared blankly ahead, with his hands supporting his chin in a thoughtful manner. He had a hunch of what was about to happen, but felt very much conflicted about it. He wasn’t even sure if keeping it a secret was a good thing, especially from the Old General who had his eyes and ears everywhere. Suho might be the example of a perfect role model, but he could quickly fall off the ladder he was climbing with one simple mistake.

And Suho hated mistakes. He wasn’t quite used to anything short of excellence.

“Is everything okay?”

Kris cocked his eyebrow in rare-found curiosity. He didn’t want to seem too intrusive, but Suho’s behaviour was odd, and in his three years of knowing this man, he knew better than most people what his partner was like. Suho seemed a little more restless than his usual composed-self. But the thing about Suho was that he liked to be one step ahead of everyone else. While everyone was second-guessing the motives or trying to pinpoint out the outcome of this information-extortion, Suho was already planning on the counterattack for all kinds of possibility. He dug his sharp nails to the palm and let the pain calmed his nerves. Then with his usual radiant smile, he replied, “Yes, of course. Just thinking about Sera’s words of the Rebel’s Leader.”

Luhan wasn’t convinced, but he kept quiet. He wasn’t like Suho who upheld his responsibility as their leader all the time, or like Kris, who belonged in the Order of the Union. Or like Lay, who gave his pity and help easily. This was what bonded Sehun and Luhan in a harmonious partnership – because they both never meddled into other people’s businesses other than their owns. Of course, Luhan’s definition of his own was much broader than Sehun, but the principal behind it was almost the same.

Daniel was brought in soon after and he seemed to suffer fewer injuries than Namjoon. But Suho told me that his internal injuries were far worse than the others. My heart ached for him when he sat down on the chair, flinching every time he breathed. The ribs were definitely broken. He looked at me sadly, as if he was clouded by his own disappointment and judgement of me. After all, this was the man who protected and suffered silently to let me escaped from the Rebel’s headquarter two years ago.

“Does it hurt?” I hoped my voice didn’t shake. I hoped I didn’t look weak under the Union’s scrutiny. But damn me if it didn’t hurt seeing Daniel in such condition. He paled and winced as I grabbed onto both hands, squeezing them with my own for comfort. His world was silent, without any sound whatsoever. It was all dark until he lowered his defences and let me in. In there, I saw bleakness and so much blood and pain. In the end, feeling overwhelmed, an apology was all I could sound out to him, “I’m so sorry, Dan.”

“Don’t be,” He wasn’t steady like he was before. There was so much darkness inside that it choked me a little just to be there. “It’s the Leader’s plan anyway. You know what he wants, don’t you? By bringing us here, you have inevitably let him in through our eyes. I reckon he’ll have us out before long. Maybe then, you won’t be able to escape anymore.”

I closed my eyes and opened them again to see him curiously watching, waiting for my responses. Instead of telling him what he wanted to hear, I said to him, “An eye for an eye, that’s our motto. I couldn’t care less if he wants to infiltrate this place as long as I get my hands on him by the end of the day.” I viciously grinded my teeth together, “But you don’t belong here, Dan. None of you does, except for Suga, maybe. I don’t care whatever game he is trying to play, I won’t let you suffer anymore.”

“See those psychos behind me?” I pointed at Jane and Lieutenant Kim discreetly in our minds’ eyes. “They won’t rest until they experiment on every last inch of your body, even after you die and become corpses. Think they’ll let your souls rest in peace?” I snorted. “As if they have that kind of humanity left within.” Daniel was sharp and caught onto the meaning instantly. His eyes finally held hope as he lifted his head with expectation. “So you do have plans for us, don’t you?”

I sighed, “Well, sort of. It’s not a very good plan, but it’s better than nothing. At 7.30 PM tonight, there will be a meeting for the higher-ups and most soldiers will be stationed at the upper level, so the security in this floor will at least loosen a little. There is a mini-airport on the sixth floor that you can use to escape. You have to do all that between 7.45 to 8 PM, otherwise you’ll lose your chance. You can see the imprint of this building's layout from my head, can’t you?” He nodded. “Then you’ll know where to go. At 6 PM, I will disarm the prisoner guards and soldiers, and clear the path early, but the rest of it is up to you. That’s the extend of my help.”

“But what if the Union finds out that you’re helping us escape? Won’t you bear the brute of their anger? Why don’t you come with us?” Daniel asked, still half-convinced that this plan was a good idea. After all, they would get out of this place safely while I had to pay the price for it. I shook my head and masked off my sadness. “You know why I can’t. I need the Union’s power to go against him. As long as I’m careful, they won’t be able to do much to me. Worst comes to worst, I’ll put the plan on hold, run away by myself and become a fugitive again.”

We were both silent for a long while before I spoke up, “Ah, right. Namjoon mentioned that the bastard has demolished Ground Zero after I left. What happened? Isn’t that a tradition the Rebel upholds for centuries? How did he convince and reason with the President for his action?”

Daniel looked at me emotionally – as if he knew something he shouldn’t and if I knew it, I would probably hated it. Then he replied, “It’s for you, of course. He regretted what happened and demolished Ground Zero because… well, he’s still hoping for you to come back. As a matter of fact, he’s convinced you will. He’s been moving secretly for a while now, and not even Jin knows what he’s up to. It’s unnerving honestly. When you left, he locked himself in his room and started this strict regime for the rest of us. I don’t know what he’s planning for, but it doesn’t seem to be anything good.”

I sighed. When the Leader was serious about something, nothing good came out of it. I bet this time it was no different. He was an extremely wilful man with resources and knowledge to be exploited at his will. If he wanted things done, it must be done, and so far, his plans had always worked flawlessly. To say that I didn’t fear him even a little bit would be a complete and utter lie. Then without saying much, I glanced at my friend one last time and reminded him mentally, “Seven forty-five tonight, Dan. Don’t waste this chance.”

When I walked out of the room with an ashen face, it was Luhan who shot me this penetrating look which convinced me he could see right through me. Wordlessly, I walked out of the area without looking back. I pondered over myself whether this was worth it. My days of the future seemed bleak from here onwards.