Tonight is the night.

Durus laced his hands together and placed his elbows on top of a lone wooden table in the vast emptiness of his chambers a couple of feet under the busy streets of Seoul.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled the odor of sewage; a smell that he had been accustomed to ever since his childhood when his father became a lunatic. Ever since their life began to fall apart.

“Tonight is the night,” he whispered roughly to himself, but he knew he wasn’t alone.

A few feet away from where he was sitting, the monsters that his father had created listened, their abnormally long, flexible limbs crawling on the ceiling and their razor sharp teeth oozing with drivel, hiding behind masks to disguise their true appearances.

They crept closer towards the muscular man only to be shunned away when he abruptly stood up, lifted the table, split it in half with his knees and threw it towards their way. The slender creatures crawled back as Durus stared hotly into the darkness where they hid.

“Tonight is the night,” he repeated, listening to his own heavy breathing afterwards.

---

Hyerin raised the paper napkin to her face, closely observing the two words scribbled messily on its surface.

‘Stay Away’.

Her brows knitted together as she tried recalling the events earlier that morning; she opened her locker like she normally did every day to get her things for first period but instead, a paper napkin greeted her instead of her textbooks. Nobody was around to see who it was that put the paper in her locker, nor was there any name to indicate whom it was from.

Not only was the message strange, her books were gone as well.

“Kim Hyerin!”

Hyerin looked up, only to be met with four pairs of eyes staring at her.

“Huh?” she mumbled.

“What is with you? It’s like we’re not even here.” Sehun pouted. “What is that anyway? You’ve been staring at that napkin since we got here in the cafeteria!”

Sehun grabbed for it but Hyerin put it away in her pocket just in time. “Nothing. Just a number,” she dismissed. “What were you guys talking about?”

“You and your lack of attention,” Lay deadpanned.

“That," Chen said, taking a spoonful of macaroni and cheese, "and also your fight with Kyungsoo."

Hyerin shook her head dismissively. “It was nothing. Just a little argum-”

“Little, she says.”

“-about something stupid! Can we just drop it? Where even is Chanyeol?”

“You banned him along with the others from this table a five minutes ago because they were too noisy, remember?” Suho reminded, giving her a worried look. “Are you okay, Hyerin? It seems like you’ve been in a daze today. Are you sure you're alright after what happened with Kyungsoo?”

Hyerin shook her head. “Nonsense, we were both just having a bad day at the time. I just have a lot on my mind that you guys shouldn’t be worrying about.” Like this anonymous person and their eagerness for me to stay away from something to the point of stealing my books.

“Well, you know we’re here for you in case you want to talk about it.” Suho ruffled the top of her head while Sehun reached out to do the same, accidentally toppling over a plastic cup and spilling its contents on the table and all over Chen’s slacks.

“Ah, crap!” Chen backed away from the table in an attempt to save his pants that were already drenched with water. He glared at Sehun who helplessly gave him an apologetic grin.

“I’ll dry it off?” he offered, shrugging.

Lay shook his head as they watched Sehun do small hand motions to summon the air around him. With a flick of his wrist, the air progressed towards Chen, catching him by surprise.

“Sehun!” Hyerin whispered angrily. “Don't be reckless! Don’t use your power in such a public place!”

He shrugged innocently. “I don’t want to be electrocuted.”

Suho gave him a stern look before he himself did circular motions with his finger, taking control of the water on the table and putting it back neatly into the cup. He looked around if anyone saw, smiling in satisfaction when nobody did.

“Hey!” she scolded, but before she could say anymore, all their phones beeped at the same time.

Puzzled, they looked at each other before proceeding to take out their exclusive devices.

“Transportation is waiting for you at the back. You are needed in the premises immediately,” Lay read aloud. “All of a sudden? This must be something urgent.”

“We should go then,” Suho said, standing up from his seat. The others followed suit.

“What about class?” Sehun asked, throwing his lunch away.

“It doesn’t matter but this better be good,” Hyerin said as they left the cafeteria.

---

The HQ was buzzing with people when they arrived. Employees were rushing in and out and a number of agents were in complete gear from head to toe. Outside, several black vans were parked and weapons were being loaded into trucks. It was the first time they've seen the building this busy.

They went to the top floor where Zero’s office was and, as usual, they were greeted by the two head agents.

Myungjae was leaning against the long table, tapping his foot anxiously and biting his fingernails. As soon as the teenagers arrived, he breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards them. Agent Zero stood up from his seat in front of his computer and stood beside Agent M. Judging by the look on their faces, bad news were in for them.

“There you are! We’ve been waiting for you,” Agent M said.

“Some of us took a long time to get out. We’re in different departments,” Suho explained.

“Well, we better do something about that but now is not the time,” he said. “To get right to the point, I’m afraid you will be receiving your first mission earlier than expected.”

The gang looked around at each other.

“When?” Tao asked.

“Tonight.”

Everybody’s breath hitched as Agent M and Zero looked at them with the same worry. Receiving training for one month and a few of weeks somehow improved their physical skills, but mentally, they were not ready yet.

“I know this is too sudden, but we need more people for this mission,” Agent M started as he went over to the long table and placed his hand on the surface. It glowed into a blue-green color before the hologram images popped up.

“Since roughly around noon, robberies started to break in several banks all over the city. It has been confirmed that the robbers are the same ones hopping from one bank to another in several locations.  We sent our people to every bank site to see if the thieves will come, but the timing was off so there have been difficulties

“If our calculations are correct, by around 11:30 PM they will be hitting Woori International Bank…and that’s where you will be,” Agent M said, pointedly looking at each and every one of them. “This mission needs you, especially since your supernatural abilities have tremendously increased in power. I know this is unexpected, and you may all be shocked and unprepared, but I know you can do this.” He looked expectantly at them, with Agent Zero silently agreeing. “Are you willing take it on?”

Fear was evident on their faces as they turned to one another, wordlessly consulting each other about what to do.

Hyerin stepped forward and nodded grimly, despite her shaking fingers. “We’ll do it."

She looked back at the boys who, even though afraid, knew they had to take it. If not now, then when?

Myungjae nodded once and let Agent Zero take over.

Zero walked towards the hologram, typing rapidly on the on-screen keyboard. “First, you must know your match. According to the agents already present in several bank locations, the robbers were clad in what seems to be all-black spandex suits and white masks. After further investigation, this is what we got.” He pressed something on the keyboard and the hologram formed into a new figure.

It was an image of an abnormally tall skinny male body crouched down on the ground dressed in an all-black one piece up to its head. It was wearing a white mask with two holes for the eyes, and a wide unsettling grin painted on it that sent shivers down their spines.

“They are called night crawlers. I’m not certain why but I’m guessing that it is a reference to how they move. They are incredibly fast and abnormally flexible. They can crawl anywhere and are very vicious fighters and because of that,” he paused, folding his arms, “I am positive that they are far from being human.”

Chen gulped. This is really happening. He closed his eyes as he tried to compose himself, when he felt someone patting his back comfortingly. He opened his eyes only to see that it was Suho, smiling at him reluctantly despite being nervous himself.

“It is your mission to stop and seize them, and also to find out what they are and where they are from. Seeing that this is your first mission, we will try to assist you, and if possible, we will send some agents from other bank sites to accompany your unit as soon as we can,” he said. “Agent M will supply you with necessary gear and weapons in the weaponry department.”

“You are ready,” Agent M reminded in a stern manner. “Even if you think you aren’t. You have to be ready. You understand?”

They nodded.

“Great. Now we shouldn’t waste time–let’s get you the good stuff,” he said, leading them out of the office.