Luhan bid his goodbye to Agent Zero, digging his hands inside his jean pockets before exiting the man’s office.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he walked quietly along the cold steel hallway. He felt tired and drained from devising an escape for the following day, as well as deciding who should be coming along with Hyerin and who will be staying. This went on for two whole straight hours with Agent M, Zero, Chen, Baekhyun, Kris, Suho and himself.

Sighing, he turned a corner to the hallway where his shared room was located. He lifted his head up only to see someone, specifically a boy, disappearing at the corner at the end of the hallway.

Luhan’s eyebrows furrowed, glancing down at his wristwatch. It was 4 AM in the morning and aside from the other six he had a meeting with earlier, no one would be up at this hour. Unless, of course, some lower-ranked agents decided to wake up for an early morning workout.

Nonetheless, Luhan stomped his way to the end of the hallway where the man disappeared. It was better to be safe.

Once Luhan finally reached the corner, he was lead to another steel hallway, now having a clear view as to who it was.

“Sehun?” he whispered to himself in a questioning manner. What could the boy be doing up this early?

The boy must have heard Luhan’s loud footsteps behind him as he turned around abruptly to see who was following him. Seeing that it was Luhan, his wide and shocked eyes softened in a not exactly good way. With a dismissive shake of his head, he continued on his way.

Luhan continued to follow him.

Luhan began to feel more and more suspicious as Sehun’s steps became brisker. This was also the HQ’s exit route back outside to the city, and something told him that was where the boy was headed to.

Turns out he was right. He watched as Sehun took out his I.D. to enter the parking lot.

“Stop,” Luhan said, interrupting Sehun from swiping his card on the scanner. It was only for a brief second though, because he slid his I.D. anyway.

“I said stop,” Luhan repeated just when Sehun was about to push the glass doors open. “You know we’re not allowed to go outside.”

“It’s okay. I just need to do something and I’ll be back in two hours,” he said in a hurry, pushing the doors open.

“Sehun,” Luhan sighed, following the boy outside to the parking lot. “Sehun, wait!”

Sehun didn’t respond and continued to walk in the middle of the parking lot towards his car. With desperation, Luhan jogged towards him and clutched his arm to stop him.

Sehun impatiently shook Luhan’s hand off of him. “What do you want?” he hissed.

“For you to stop acting like an idiot,” he retorted. “You know full well that you’re going to get in trouble.”

“I won’t be if they don’t find out,” he said. “Just leave me alone, will you? I know what I’m doing so just go back inside.”

“Are you crazy?” Luhan scoffed. “It’s dangerous outside! What’s your business out there anyway?”

Sehun clicked his tongue and walked away, ignoring the older boy.

Luhan sighed out of frustration. “Goddammit, Sehun, listen to me,” he said through gritted teeth, pulling Sehun back once again.

This time, Sehun rashly pushed Luhan away. “What the is your problem!?”

“What the ’s your problem!?” Luhan spat back. “I’m not going to let you go outside! You’re a team member and you’re my responsibility!”

Sehun chuckled bitterly, rolling his eyes. “ off,” he said, getting inside one of the cars.

Not bothering to buckle his seatbelt on, he started the engine and rolled forward to get out of the parking stall. He abruptly pressed on the brakes when Luhan suddenly stepped in front of the car.

“Are you ing serious…” Sehun muttered under his breath. He opened his window. “Get out of the way!”

“No,” Luhan said, stubbornly folding his arms in front of him.

Sehun scoffed. “Get out of my way or I’ll run you over!” he shouted over the engine’s loud noise.

Luhan shook his head.

Sehun’s face began to redden from anger, punching the steering wheel and causing the horn to go off. It made Luhan jump.

Sehun stomped out of the car, leaving the engine on, and made his way towards Luhan. Once he was face to face with the older boy, he clutched his collar and stared him down.

“Will you ever learn to mind your own business!?” he exclaimed. “For the past couple of days I’ve been feeling like  and I know you know that so please just give me this one time to do what I want. Just leave me alone!”

Luhan looked at him sadly. “You know I can’t do that. You know I can’t do that! Okay? Because you’re my brother Sehun and I don’t want you to get hurt out there!”

“Jesus Christ, Luhan, at least give me this time to mourn!” he yelled. “All I want to do is go to my house, see if my mom is still there and give her at least a proper ing burial. If she’s not there anymore then fine, I’ll leave. But if her body’s still there at least give me the chance to be there for her!”

Something inside Luhan’s stomach churned. “I can’t.”

“Please! Just to be there for her for the last time! Please!”

“Sehun, I can’t let you,” Luhan pressed, eyes watering. “Please, just don’t go.”

“Goddammit, Luhan, why!?” Sehun shouted at the top of his lungs, now starting to cry out of frustration. “Why are you so–who are you? Who are you to do this to me!? Who are you to have the right to do this to me? To stop me from doing what I want, to stop me from fixing what you broke because of what you know you did!?” he exclaimed. “Who are you? Who the  are you!?”

“Sehun, I’m sorry,” Luhan sobbed. “I’m sorry and you know I’m sorry. But I can’t let you go.”

Sehun scoffed, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”

“You have to understand that I’m not doing this just for you, Sehun! Okay? I’m doing this for me, too!” Luhan yelled. “I’m not going to repeat the same mistake again! Your mother died because of me and if I let you go out there right now you might die and the guilt would be on me again! And dammit Sehun, there’s only so much a human being can take and you know that better than I do!”

Silence took over the dispute.

Sehun chewed on his bottom lip, shaking his head before heading towards the car. He went over to the driver’s seat, for a moment making Luhan think he was really going to run him over, when the engine suddenly stopped.

Sehun closed the door and locked the car. He buried the keys inside his pockets, walked away from the car and went back inside the headquarters.

---

It was 10:30 in the morning when Kyungsoo got called into Agent M’s lab, around the time he was in the middle of eating his breakfast after visiting the medical center for a check-up on his arm. The sudden request for his presence was random and left him questioning what the head agent wanted from him.

Kyungsoo swiped his I.D. on the third door to the laboratory, slightly annoyed with the tight security. He understood why though, because anything inside Agent M’s lab was either expensive or lethal. Or both.

The metal door opened automatically when it recognized Kyungsoo’s identity. That wasn’t the end of it though, because before he could go all the way in, two security guards had to inspect him from head to toe before letting him in.

Agent M was busy inspecting a weird metal machine on a steel medical table, disposable gloves on and some sort of tweezers in hand. He was wearing a funny-looking pair of goggles to protect his eyes from whatever green liquid the machine was excreting. Kyungsoo came up to the head agent, catching the other’s attention.

“Oh!” He lifting the goggles from his eyes. “You’re here!”

Kyungsoo chuckled slightly. “I am,” he said. “What is that?”

“What? This little thing right here?” Agent M asked as he took off his gloves, throwing them in the trashcan under the table. “Just a malfunctioning engine for this project I’ve been working on for a long time now. I’ve been really stressed out with this whole deal with escaping and I needed something to distract me from my nervousness, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah.” Kyungsoo nodded, leaning back on the table and absentmindedly staring down at the strange metal engine. “I understand why you’re nervous. It is your daughter that’s being sent away after all.”

“Mhm,” Agent M hummed, turning to Kyungsoo with his hands on his hips and a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “What about you? Are you nervous?”

“I-” Kyungsoo paused. Of course he was nervous. “Not really. I mean, this is for the best.”

“Is that so?” Agent M asked in a slightly playful tone as if he was fully aware that Kyungsoo was lying to him. “Anything to keep her safe, right?”

Kyungsoo nodded once. “Anything to keep her safe.”

Agent M grinned, pleased with the boy’s answer. “Kyungsoo, do you care about my daughter?”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened, lifting himself up from his leaning position to stand up straight. “W-What?”

“Do you care about my daughter?”

“O-Of course I do, sir…?” he stammered, his answer coming off as an unsure question. He didn’t know what to say. “I care about her because, you know, he…I mean she! She’s a teammate and it’s essential to care for each other because, you know, she’s my teammate so...”

“Right,” he said. “And would you go to certain extents to protect her? You know. As a teammate.”

“Yes, sir,” he answered, palms sweating. “It’s our responsibility to take care of each other.”

“I see,” Agent M mumbled, nodding his head as if impressed. He gestured for the boy to walk with him to the opposite side of the laboratory. “Follow me.”

They arrived at the opposite end of the laboratory where eccentric looking rifles were displayed on the wall. Agent M pressed one of the buttons at the side of the metal display cabinet, lifting the case up from the floor. Agent M pulled the handle, revealing a hidden storage.

A glass canister automatically lifted from the cabinet, inside of it a contraption that made Kyungsoo’s jaw drop.

“Well?” Agent M asked, pleased with the boy’s reaction. “What do you think?”

“Is that…” he trailed off. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Yes,” Agent M answered. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

Inside the glass canister was a bionic limb, absolutely stripped of skin that exposed its wires and cables from the shoulder down to its fingertips. It was pure steal. It was pure awesome.

“It doesn’t takes a genius to know what this is and who it is for, Kyungsoo,” Agent M said. “This is my latest creation for you.”

“Wow,” Kyungsoo whispered, his eyes not tearing away from the artificial arm.

“Kyungsoo,” Agent M started, placing a hand on the boy’s shoulder to get his attention. “I called you in here to show you this, as well as ask if you want it.”

“Of course I want it! This is going to give me back my normal strength and more!”

“I know, but it’s not going to be easy as it seems and there will definitely be some setbacks,” Agent M said. “Would you like to hear them before making a final decision?”

Kyungsoo’s head snapped up to meet Agent M’s eyes. “Setbacks?”

“First of all, let’s consider the fact that you lost a hand. Only a hand. If we’re going to attach this thing to you we’re going to have to take away your whole arm in order to replace it with the bionic one,” he started, looking at Kyungsoo with caution. “Secondly, there are many consequences with having this attached to you. Remember that the human body reacts to foreign components. This is made out of steel and electricity, and those things aren’t meant for the human body. There is a high chance that this bionic limb may exhibit independence if not properly calibrated or sometimes, even just randomly. That can cause a lot of accidents.

“Another thing is that if you’re under emotional stress or under some kind of medication it can also affect the limb’s performance. And lastly,” he sighed. “It’s going to take a couple of weeks for this operation to be completed. The overall process – the elimination of your human arm, attaching the bionic arm, attaching and connecting primary wires from the arm to your brain, and then the healing process…it’s going to take a while. Sadly, we don’t have the resources outside of the headquarters and even then we have limited equipment to go forth with this operation. So what I’m saying is,” he sighed, “you’re going to have to stay back if you want this arm.”

Agent M watched as Kyungsoo’s eyes trailed down on his bandaged arm. His eyes were soft and unsure but immediately turned cold and stern when he looked back up at Agent M.

Kyungsoo nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Agent M raised a brow. “You will?”

“Yes, sir,” he said. “It’s my duty to take back Seoul and kill Jiyong. Having that bionic arm will let me reach my full potential. It’ll be a great contribution.”

“Are you sure, agent?” the older one asked. “I know you never really said anything about it but I know you wanted to go with Hyerin outside of-”

“No. I’ll do it,” he interrupted. “I want it.”

There was a moment of silence before Agent M finally nodded. “I see,” he said quietly. “Anything to keep her safe, right?”

“Yes,” Kyungsoo looked down at his shoes remorsefully, “anything to keep her safe.”

---

In the room just right next to the laboratory, Baekhyun was busy outlining the escape plan on the white board, trying to figure out the best way to go forth with the following day’s mission. Papers full of his writing and ideas were scattered everywhere from the long table to the floor, some pinned to the wall in a poor attempt to organize them. There was no time to think about making everything orderly since they only had a few hours to come up with a plan.

He was in the middle of looking for something in the pile of papers on the desk when the door to the office opened. He looked up only to see Hyerin quietly closing the door behind her.

They made brief eye contact before Hyerin looked away and made her way towards the front of the room where Baekhyun was.

She walked slowly in front of the white board, eyes scanning what he wrote. “I thought you stopped wearing your glasses,” she commented, hands behind her back.

“Never did,” he sighed, crumpling pieces of paper and tossing them in the trash bin. “I don’t really need them during missions. I just have trouble when I’m reading and all that,” he added, adjusting his glasses. “What made you stop by?”

She leaned back against the board. “I just wanted to make something clear.”

Baekhyun turned around to look at Hyerin, only to find the girl already looking at him. She was staring at him with all seriousness, mouth set in a line and eyes a little hooded from fatigue, yet there was no hostility. It gave him the opportunity to actually see her properly. She looked calm, worn out, and beautiful.

“Your hair got longer,” he remarked out of the blue. “It’s nice.”

“I’m going to chop it off so it doesn’t matter,” she said in a neutral voice.

“Oh,” he muttered. “So what is it that you wanted to make clear?”

Hyerin let out a heavy sigh. “I know that you said the only option we have is to trust you, but I hope that you also know that we can’t just do that. At least, I can’t,” she started. “Honestly, I’m not even mad at you anymore. I’m really not, but do I trust you? That’s a completely different thing.”

She shrugged, looking down on her shoes. “I’m not exactly the forgiving type of person but I’m willing to be civil with you,” she said. “I just need to have this sense of sureness that this is not a trick. It might be easy for the other members to feel comfortable with you around again but for me it’s not.”

Her eyes flickered with uncertainty. “Don’t think that I don’t remember what you did to me.”

Baekhyun leaned back against the table right in front of her, taking off his glasses and folding his arms. “What do you want me to do?” he asked, tiredly pinching the bridge of his nose. “What do I have to do to prove to you that this is still me?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head remorsefully. “Because you’re not Baekhyun. Not anymore.”

His stomach churned and his heart sank, feeling like the world just shattered into pieces right in front of him. How long has it been? It’s only been a couple of weeks, days, hours, and seconds since the day he betrayed their trust. It felt like it’s been ages ago, but the wound was still fresh to Hyerin.

And obviously, it was for him, too.

“Hyerin, I-” He lifted himself up from the table, slowly walking towards the girl. “I honestly don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know how to explain to you how much I felt like for all the things that I’ve done because I know you’re not interested in all that anyway, but I-”

“It’s okay, Baekhyun. I just wanted you to hear me out-”

“No, listen to me,” he cut off, placing his hands on her shoulders. “All I want you to know is that I feel really regretful-”

She tried to shake his hands off. “I said it’s okay-”

“And I didn’t mean the things that I did and my feelings-”

“Baekhyun-”

“And my feelings for you are-”

“Please just stop!” she exclaimed, eyes wide from fear of what he was going to say. “Please, Baekhyun. Stop. I don’t want to hear it. Please.”

Baekhyun’s eyes lowered down to the ground, hands loosening its grip. “I’m sorry,” he said in mixed sorrow and disbelief. “I’m sorry.”

Behind them, someone cleared their throat.

Baekhyun and Hyerin turned around, finding Kyungsoo leaning against the doorway, eyes glued to the both of them with a hand on his waist.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, his injured arm casted and supported by an arm sling. “Can I borrow Hyerin for a while, Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun dropped his hands to his sides before putting his glasses back on. “Sure,” he cleared his throat, “I have a lot to do too, so…”

“Thanks, man. Hyerin?” He turned to the girl, gesturing for her to go. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, glancing back at Baekhyun before making her way towards Kyungsoo. “We’re pretty much done here.”

With that, Hyerin left the room. Kyungsoo reached out to grab the doorknob, nodding at Baekhyun first before closing it behind him.

“Looked pretty intense back there,” Kyungsoo remarked as he walked alongside Hyerin.

“Jealous?” she joked.

Kyungsoo scoffed defensively. “Yeah, right.”

“So where are we going?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Bringing you back to your room,” he replied. “You need rest. You know, for tomorrow.”

Hyerin chuckled. “Am I such an untrustworthy person to have someone me to my room?”

“Yes,” he immediately answered, half joking. “And also because I have to tell you something,” he added seriously right after, stopping her in her tracks once they turned a corner.

Hyerin’s brows furrowed, facing the boy. “What is it?” she asked uncertainly, afraid that they would end up parting ways in an awkward manner like the day before.

Kyungsoo sighed, running a hand through his hair. “First of all, I’m sorry about yesterday. That was just,” he shook his head, “stupid. And secondly…” he mumbled, looking off to the end of the hall.

“What?”

“I’m…ugh,” he grumbled, scratching the back of his head and looking like a little boy when he did it. “I don’t know why I find it necessary to tell you because I’m pretty sure it’s irrelevant but I don’t know. It’s weird.”

Hyerin rolled her eyes. “Just say it.”

“It’s not easy, okay.”

“Come on now. You’re acting like a-”

“I’m staying,” he finally said, making Hyerin’s smug expression falter. “I talked to your dad earlier and…he told me to stay behind.”

Hyerin’s mouth was agape the whole time, looking at him with a mix of confusion and bewilderment. “O-Oh,” she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, “good for you.”

“Oh,” he muttered, a little disappointed with her minimal reaction. “Yeah, well. I don’t know why but I just felt the need to tell you that. I guess it’s because, you know, we talked about it yesterday.”

She hummed, giving him a forced smile. “That’s good. Taking one for the team, I see.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, feeling like . He didn’t know why. “Taking one for the team,” he repeated quietly.

Hyerin nodded her head rapidly, blinking a couple of times before pointing at the hall behind her. “I need to go-”

“One last thing,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder just when she was turning around to leave. “I never really told you directly but I did want to leave with you. So just be reminded that this thing is pretty damn important for me to give up being with you.”

“Is that so?” she chuckled weakly. “Am I that important?” she added jokingly, yet it came out hushed and sad.

He gave her a small, almost shy smile before affectionately tapping her chin with his knuckles. “Yeah, you are.”

Just from that, all traces of humor left her face and she couldn’t take it anymore. With one swift motion, she enveloped the boy in a tight hug.

“I told you they’d let you stay back,” she mumbled into his shirt.

Kyungsoo frowned, slowly bringing his arm around the girl as well. “It’s not like we’ll never see each other again.”

“I’m just going to miss you,” she said, her embrace tightening. “That’s all.”

“You’re gonna miss me?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.”

“Good,” he rested his chin on top of her head and closed his eyes, “that’s all I wanted to hear.”