“Pathetic.”

TOP’s gaze lifted from the floor to look up at their leader. The mayor was standing in front of the window like usual, smoking his third cigar of the day as he poured himself a glass of whiskey. Sitting on top of his worktable was Blue, picking his nails obsessively, while TOP settled in the couch at the corner of the dimly lit room.

“Who is pathetic, my lord?” Blue asked, taking a pen beside him and balancing it on his nose.

Jiyong ignored him. “They were right there within an arms length, yet he still let them escape,” he took a swig of his whiskey, “pathetic.”

TOP folded his legs and leaned back on the couch. “Durus may be physically unrivaled but he doesn’t have the brain to think things through,” he said. “Brawny as he is, he’s simpleminded.”

“I had high expectations of him,” Jiyong scoffed. “But so did I with Baekhyun and the Noxius brothers.”

“They’re traitors,” Blue sneered.

“And they have yet to receive their punishment,” Jiyong hissed. “They’re messing with the wrong man.”

TOP stared at the mayor’s physique and would have burst out laughing if it weren’t for his exceptional ability to mask his emotions. The mayor wasn’t the same as before – his once healthy hair was now dry and gray, and his youthful appearance was slowly diminishing. Wrinkles lined his features and now, he needed a cane to keep his posture upright. His true age was finally showing, and if it weren’t for them and his hundreds of soldiers, Jiyong would probably be dead right now. He was an old man now and it was pathetic.

“Rest for now,” TOP said. “You can’t afford to strain yourself too much anymore. Your condition is unlike before.”

“I do not need a reminder,” Jiyong sneered, glaring at TOP. “I know full well what’s happening to me and my body.”

TOP nodded once and looked away. People give Jiyong too much credit, especially those M-LX agents. Durus may be a pathetic individual, but so was the mayor. TOP knew it just from hearing his takeover plans and recruiting all the wrong people to do his dirty work for him. TOP knew Baekhyun was going to leave them at one point and the Noxius brothers were too reluctant to be loyal. Jiyong was responsible for his own mistakes, but he was too proud to admit it or too naïve to even realize it.

Jiyong cleared his throat. “I’ve had enough of traitors,” he placed the cigar in between his lips, “my weak condition is not getting any better and having disloyal members in my army will just delay our plans.”

“You’re right, my lord,” Blue said distractedly, still picking his nails.

“Good. What do you think, TOP?” he asked, raising a brow at the boy.

TOP met his gaze, and he knew that the mayor wanted him to recall why he was on his side in the first place. It was all for his father, how M-LX denied him a place in the organization for being crazy and experimenting on his own son before jumping off a building. His father was the reason why TOP had this strange ability of manipulating other people’s emotions, turning him into a monster, yet here he was, avenging his death.

TOP nodded. “You’re right.”

“I know I am,” Jiyong said. “Now go and get me something to eat.” Which was Jiyong’s way of telling him to capture random citizens from the streets, bring them into his office, kill them, and hand them over to the mayor to eat.

TOP exhaled through his nose and stood up. “Of course, my lord.”

---

“Isn’t it weird,” Chanyeol started, propping his legs on top of Chen’s worktable, “that the mayor’s not showing his face lately?”

Chen shoved Chanyeol’s legs off the table with his elbow. “You inconsiderate fool with no manners. Can’t you see I’m working?”

Hyeji sat on the armchair of Chen’s seat. “Loosen up, will you?” she chuckled, placing a hand on his arm. He blushed and continued writing.

Kyungsoo walked inside the tent, balancing four cups of coffee in his hands. “It is strange,” he said, handing everyone their mugs, “but then again, why would he? The last thing he’d want is more trouble from us.”

Chanyeol took his cup. “You’re right. He probably knows how desperate we are to kill him. He wouldn’t take the risk of going out even with hundreds of his men.”

“But at the same time, we can’t just sit around and just wait for an opportunity to take him out,” Chen said, placing his pen on top of the notepad he was writing on. “We need to make the opportunity. I know we can’t afford to lose any more people but I honestly think we need to take our chances and just go for it. As more Xinths come to Seoul, more people are dying.”

“We need to make a plan,” Kyungsoo said. “Maybe not a full fledged attack but something that’ll give us an idea of how he Tao and Kai’s powers to bring Xinths here. Maybe then we’d be able to come up with something.”

“Guys!”

The four of them exchanged looks hearing the call from outside. All at the same time, they abandoned their morning coffee and rushed outside the tent.

It was Xiumin. He was running towards their camp with a troubled look on his face.

“What is it?” Suho asked. Everyone else abandoned whatever they were doing to see what was going on.

“A local reported to me,” he said as he was trying to catch his breath. “There seems to be some kind of ruckus at the inner city. He said that some Xinths were causing trouble.”

“Then go ahead and take care of that,” Agent M said. “Zero and I will stay behind to look after Kai. I don’t want him to be exposed to strenuous activities just yet.”

Kai frowned. “But-”

Zero gave him a pointed look.

The boy sighed. “Fine,” he mumbled, turning around to go back to his tent.

“No, you don’t get it,” Xiumin said, looking very worried. “The guy who told me…he said that the Xinths weren’t just trying to kidnap or kill locals or anything like that.”

Lay’s eyebrows knitted together. “Then what is it?”

“He said that the Xinths aren’t just messing with ordinary people. They’re different,” Xiumin gulped, “He said they’re like…us.”

---

Minho pressed his back against the concrete walls, constantly taking glimpses outside into the street to check on how the others were doing.

“How’s everything going?” Hyerin asked from behind him, mimicking his stance. “Do they need backup?”

Minho craned his neck to look. “They’re doing great with holding up the enemies so far. But there are more coming in and it’s starting to attract too much attention.”

Hyerin released a breath and peeked out behind Minho. As they hid in a dark alley, the others were fighting off the Xinths that recognized who they were.

“Should we go out to help?” Hyerin asked.

Minho turned his head around and gave her a pointed look. “We can’t let them see you. Once they find out you’re here with us, they’ll tell Jiyong for sure.”

Hyerin casted a worried glance on her fellow agents and sighed. Earlier that day, they left Gwangju before sunrise and traveled all the way back to Seoul. Once they arrived, they had no choice but to fight off the Xinths to break into the city, all the while hiding Hyerin from them. They eventually attracted more and more Xinths and it would only be a matter of time until someone reports them to Jiyong.

“,” Minho cursed. “All these Xinths are delaying our plans.”

“Instead of hiding useless here, why don’t we just leave and go straight to the second M-LX quarters to get the chemicals we need?”

Minho quieted for a little before nodding. “You’re right. We really need to go.”

“So what’s the plan?” Behind them, Jonghyun and Hyeseul stepped out of their hiding places.

“Hyerin and I will go ahead and go forth with the plan ourselves. We’re wasting too much time,” he said, glancing at his wristwatch. “You guys stay here. Just tell the others that we went ahead if they ask.”

Jonghyun nodded. “Got it. You two take care.”

“You, too. Stay close together and hold on to your guns,” Minho reminded.

“Okay.”

“Cool,” he turned to Hyerin, “you ready?”

Hyerin placed a hand on the gun holster attached to her belt. “Yeah.”

Minho nodded and took the lead, quietly sneaking out of the alley with Hyerin behind him before sprinting out of their hiding spot. In less than a minute, they were gone.

Right after they left, Kris walked into the alley.

“Where’s Minho and Hyerin?” he asked.

‘They left,” Hyeseul said. “They said fighting off the Xinths is taking too long. They’re going forth with the mission by themselves.”

Kris’ eyes rounded. “What? Just the two of them? With no backup at all?”

Jonghyun shrugged. “That seemed to be their plan.”

Kris shook his head and rolled his eyes, about to say something when five Xinths came running down the street and passing by the alley they were hiding. He whipped around and saw that they were charging towards the other agents who were busy fighting their own handful of Xinths.

His eyes darkened. “Never mind them. For now, we need to take care of-”

Just when he was about to chase after them, water materialized in the air and washed the Xinths away. Their soaking bodies flew, and as they were thrown midair, ice started building up from their feet and slowly up their heads, trapping their bodies in blocks of ice. By the time their bodies hit the ground, they exploded into millions of pieces.

Kris took a step forward in shock. “What the-”

Suho and Xiumin jumped down from an apartment building, landing perfectly on their feet.

Luhan stepped forward. “Suho? Xiumin?”

Suho’s eyes widened. “So it was you guys?” he asked. “You were the ones the locals were talking about?”

“What are you guys doing here?” Xiumin asked, looking as shocked as Suho. “Why did you come back? You’re supposed to be somewhere far. Where’s Hyerin?”

Behind Kris, Baekhyun appeared. “There’s been a change of plans,” he explained. “Hyerin. She has powers.”

Xiumin raised a brow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“She found a letter from her mother and found out she has powers,” Baekhyun continued. “But the only way to activate it is to get the right chemicals and they’re heading over to M-LX right now to get them.”

“M-LX!?” Suho demanded. “No, they absolutely cannot do that!”

Kris frowned. “Why not? She needs this, Suho, what are you-”

“No! There’s nothing there! We completely abandoned that place because-”

Multiple gunshots fired. They whipped around and saw a second wave of Xinths charging towards them from across the street.

“!” Baekhyun hissed, and with that, they dispersed to avoid the raining bullets coming their way.

Kris was just about to jump into an abandoned store but was too late. Before he could reach the entrance he got shot twice in the leg and fell to the sidewalk.

“Kris!” Luhan exclaimed, about to head out and help the boy.

Luhan wasn’t even halfway out of his hiding position when Kyungsoo appeared, jumping from the building’s rooftop above him. He landed perfectly on his feet right in front of Luhan, the ground beneath him cracking slightly from the intensity of his landing and his powers alike.

“Stay right here,” he told Luhan, his eyes glued to the Xinths. “I’ll take care of them.”

---

This time it was Hyerin’s turn to lead the way. M-LX’s second headquarters wasn’t necessarily easy to find and only official agents knew how to go through the streets to find the entrance to it. They passed several streets until they finally reached the door, hidden behind a dumpster and blending perfectly with the concrete walls. She preferred the bigger entrance – where the vehicles entered and exited – but it was a longer walk from the inner city.

She whispered something – a classified password – and it prompted a scanner to emerge from the wall. It scanned her from head to toe, recognizing her immediately as it showed her name and identification code on the screen. The door automatically unlocked and they let themselves in.

Hyerin stopped right after she took a step inside.

Minho ran into her back. “What’s wrong?”

Hyerin frowned. “No one’s here.”

“I know. I can see that,” Minho said. “It’s completely pitch black in here.”

“No, it’s not supposed to be like this,” she scratched the back of her head and felt up the walls for the light switch, “there are always people here at the entrance for security purposes. They couldn’t just abandon their jobs, could they?”

“Relax,” Minho said. “They’re probably inside.”

Hyerin found the light switch and flicked it on.

The lobby was completely empty like what they thought, but what she didn’t expect was to be met with destroyed cabinets, tables thrown across the room, shattered glass, and files scattered everywhere.

Minho took a reluctant step forward. “What in the world happened here?”

"I,” she stammered, blinking rapidly, “I don’t know.”

He turned to face her. “You didn’t know about any of this?”

Hyerin shook her head and remorsefully looked down on the floor. “No.”

Minho stared at her for a while before sighing and placing a hand on the top of her head. “That’s okay,” he reassured. “I’m sure not everything’s ruined. We’ll find what we’re looking for and after that, we’ll find the others.”

But once again, he was proven wrong. They entered the building and everything was completely destroyed.

Minho’s jaw tightened. “Jiyong found your headquarters,” he said, stepping over a toppled couch. “I’m certain he’s the one who did this.”

Hyerin dejectedly nodded in agreement, swallowing her anxiety. In some parts of the vicinity, there were corners and rooms completely covered in human blood, unsettling her even further. A bloodbath sparked within the quarters, and it made her insanely worried if one of the EXO members or her father or even Agent Zero managed to survive.

Nevertheless, she led the way to her father’s laboratory, dismissing her worried thoughts and focusing on the current mission.

Minho pointed the flashlight in front of Hyerin to make her see better. “Strange how there’s so much blood in here,” he started, “yet there are no bodies. What do you think happened to them?”

“Survivors probably came back and cleaned the place up?”

Minho scoffed. “I doubt they’d actually risk their lives coming back here to clean up for nothing.”

Hyerin glared at him. “People here actually care about other people.”

Minho rolled his eyes. “That’s what makes humans so easy to kill. How do you think this place got wiped out? Because-”

“Hold on.” Hyerin held up a hand to keep him from talking. She stopped walking in the middle of the hallway and listened.

Minho raised a brow. “I don’t hear any-”

“Shh!” Hyerin tucked a strand behind her ear. “Do you hear that?”

Minho gave her a blank look.

“Oh, ,” she breathed, “Minho.”

He sighed. “What is it?”

Hyerin met his gaze. “We’re not alone,” she whispered.

It was barely audible, but Hyerin managed to pick up the sound. It was very faint, meaning it was far away, but there was no denying that familiar, teeth-clenching, high pitched sound. It ran shivers down her spine.

The sound began to louden, prompting Hyerin to take out her pistol from her holster. Minho did the same.

“Wanna just go for it or you want to take it slowly?” Minho asked.

Hyerin glared at the dark hallway in front of her. “Just go for it.”

With that, they sprinted down the narrow corridor. Minho held the flashlight in front of them as they made their way to Agent M’s laboratory, all the while preparing for what was about to come for them.

The faster they ran to their destination, the louder the sounds were. It was only when they reached two intersecting hallways when the sounds stopped.

They were both trying to catch their breath when Minho spoke. “It stopped,” he whispered.

“It did,” Hyerin wheezed. “But that’s not the end of it.”

Minho pointed the flashlight down the ground. “Which way-”

Minho was cut off when two night crawlers tackled him to the ground, producing that screeching sound they’ve been terrified of since they first heard it a couple of minutes ago. One of the night crawlers bit him around the ribcage area, making him scream in pain.

“Minho!” Hyerin yelled, picking up the flashlight from the ground and heading over to him. She didn’t hesitate to shoot the night crawlers before picking him up from the ground.

“Ah,” he cried, clutching his bloody sides. “.”

 “We need to hurry,” she said, pulling him by the arm and running to the left hallway. “Come on!”

As they made their way through the corridor, they could hear more night crawlers heading their way.

“, , ,” she hissed, running as fast as she can while pulling Minho with her.

When they reached the end of the hallway and turned the corner, they were met with three more night crawlers that didn’t hesitate to attack them right away.

Hyerin pushed Minho to the edge of the room to get him out of the way. She took out a knife from her belt and stabbed one crawler in the forehead while shooting another with her gun. The last one jumped on her and scratched her face with its long nails, making them fall to the ground.

The flashlight fell somewhere on the ground, making her unable to see the crawler on top of her. Before she could even figure out how to get out of her unfortunate position, it already sank its teeth into her flesh.

She could feel its hundreds of sharp, miniature teeth seep into her shoulder, and she suddenly remembered their first ever mission. She was in this same position, lying underneath a night crawler and injured badly. The only difference was Kyungsoo wasn’t there to save her.

Suddenly, she felt a surge of panic and hopelessness, and then the tears came. She just wanted to go home. She just wanted to get out of here, see the others alive and well, and make everything normal again.

Yet here she was, unable to even push a night crawler away.

She blinked the tears out of her eyes and felt up the ground for a weapon. She managed to find her knife and stabbed the crawler up the chin and into its brain.

It fell limp on top of her and she shoved it off, quickly getting on her feet. She picked up the flashlight and found Minho shirtless in a corner. He was in the middle of tying his shirt around his stomach to stop the bleeding.

“Can you get up?” Hyerin asked him, sniffling. He nodded wordlessly and took her arm to get up.

They continued towards the laboratory, so far not bothered by night crawlers. When they finally arrived, Hyerin almost wanted to get on her knees and kiss the ground.

The lab’s entrance was unlocked and they wasted no time to run inside. Minho collapsed against the wall, weak from losing too much blood, while Hyerin practically threw herself towards the metal shelves full of bottled liquids and components.

She pulled out her mother’s letter, staining it with her own blood, and read the necessary chemicals. She scanned the shelves hurriedly and grabbed the ones she needed, toppling other bottles in the process.

“Ugh,” she moaned weakly, slightly stumbling forward against the shelves. She clutched her injured shoulder and noticed how deep the bite was, which explained why she was feeling so lightheaded. Nevertheless, she continued to take the vials.

As she was in the middle of this, she could hear running footsteps.

“Minho,” she called out, thought it came out like a breathless cry, as she whipped around. She saw Minho lying on the floor, completely unconscious.

“,” she breathed, staggering to the door while clutching her right shoulder. With all her strength, she pushed the heavy metal doors close and locked it. This made her a little dizzy again, but she ignored it and went back to the shelves to shove more stuff inside her pockets.

Just when she was starting again, loud banging on the door made her jump, followed by gunshots and scratching noises.

“Goddammit,” she hissed. She took the last of the stuff she needed and looked around the room for an escape. No windows, no other doors, no nothing. Panic took over her again, and she felt the faintest she had ever been that day.

Her hooded eyes turned to look at Minho, knowing he was useless. Cursing, she walked towards the door to block it with a table or anything, when she slipped on her own blood and fell to the floor.

“Hyerin, you ing idiot,” she whispered weakly, forcing herself to stand up despite the angry, frustrated tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “Come on, you can do this.”

She managed to sit up, taking out the vials inside her pockets. It all fell out into the bloody floor.

It was now or never. Despite her pathetic, useless state, she knew it was the only way she could put up a fight. Maybe her powers would activate quickly, and whoever came in that door could be the first one to have their powers stolen.

On the other hand, it could all go wrong. Maybe it wouldn’t work. Maybe it will take days until the powers come, and she’ll end up dying right then and there, alone.

Nevertheless she crawled on the floor towards her father’s desk. She pulled the drawer out and everything inside spilled to the floor. Outside, she could hear the night crawlers’ screeching and Blue’s laughter. The banging could only be no other than Durus, seeing how large the dents were on the thick metal door.

She tried to ignore it and picked up the syringe from the drawer on the floor. She crawled back to where she dropped the bottles, and took one of them. She plunged the needle into the vial, drawing the chemical with the syringe. She took in a deep breath and stabbed her arm with the needle, releasing the fluids into her body.

She couldn’t remember how many times she did this – taking vial after vial and stabbing, stabbing, stabbing herself with the needle – but she was so disoriented that she didn’t even realize she was already lying on the ground, empty little bottles scattered around her and the syringe left injected into her skin.

She could hear Blue’s hysterical laughter becoming louder and clearer, knowing full well that they were going to be breaking in any moment now yet she did nothing to escape. At the corner of her eye, she could see Minho still unconscious.

Her head was burning and she was so dizzy, and her body felt swollen as if her skin was producing more and more layers. She looked down on her arms and saw that nothing looked out of the ordinary. 

Despite the horrible condition she was in, she knew she had to do something. They weren’t going to stop now.

Just as she predicted, Durus managed to break in. The metal door collapsed to the floor, making a loud banging sound that left painful, ringing sounds in Hyerin’s already tortured brain.

“Why hello there, lovely,” Blue cooed with a smile, making his way towards her.

Hyerin couldn’t even manage a glare. With all the strength she could muster, she grabbed the empty vials from the floor and threw them at Blue. Seeing her poor attempt to save herself, he started laughing.

“Oh, honey,” Blue muttered, taking the girl’s wrists and locking them in place with his unwavering strength. “You look absolutely pitiful. What happened?”

“ you,” she drawled, having no more strength to even look him in the eye.

Blue chuckled. “Ah, Hyerin. Even in the worst of times, you’re still amusing as ever,” he said. “Come on, let’s go. Time for you to come with us!”

She tried to pull back her arm. “I’m not going…anywhere. I…w-won’t let you take me.”

“Oh, but I will anyway,” he said, grinning. “It’s no use, Hyerin! Your friends aren’t here! Remember what I told you before? They’ll eventually abandon you because they have their own people to protect! You should have listened to me. Now look what happened to you!”

Hyerin clenched her jaw. “I don’t need my friends to save me. I don’t need anyone to save me,” she slurred. “I’d kill myself right here, right now than to be used by Jiyong. You think you scare me? You think death scares me? It doesn’t,” she spat on his face, “so go yourself, er.”

Blue’s face reddened from anger. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and pushed her down the bloody floor, strangling her.

“You ! ! ! ! !”

Durus stepped forward. “What are you doing? That’s not our orders-”

“Die! Die! Die!” he screamed, his crazy eyes boring into Hyerin's. He was manipulating her using his powers as she couldn’t move at all.

It was a good thing Blue’s powers didn’t reach her brain enough to make her do things. Her mind was all over the place, but she was still thinking.

With all the strength that was left in her, she stared back at him. She stared at him hard, in fact, so hard she wasn’t even looking at him anymore; she was looking through him. She was looking in him.

Hyerin just went along with whatever her body was telling her to do. She started heating up again and her heart was thumping like crazy, as if her body was suddenly completely aware of itself.

All of a sudden, her eyes rolled back and her body twitched, feeling a warm, electrifying sensation from the pit of her stomach to her brain. She stayed like that for a second, and when her eyes finally went back to normal, her gaze found Blue's again. This time, it was his turn to look blank, the electric glow in his eyes long gone.

Only when he collapsed on top of her did she realize what she just did – she controlled him using his power.

She stole his power.

With her regained energy, she pushed Blue’s unconscious body off her. Just when she was about to stand on her feet, Durus got to her first and lifted her from the ground by her collar.

“What did you do to him!?” Durus demanded, looking as intimidating as ever.

Hyerin didn’t bother to answer and started using her power on him, too. She looked him in the eye and concentrated, feeling that familiar sensation from earlier. Only now, it was more difficult since Durus seemed to be fighting back.

The veins in his temples started to bulge out. “W-What are you d-doing!?” She could feel his hold on her loosen.

She groaned, head throbbing from concentrating too hard. She was trying, trying, trying, but he was, too.

His eyes started to water and so did hers, and she expected Durus to look away but he didn’t. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t.

Finally, he released her and he collapsed to the floor. All his strength transferred to her, which she used to her advantage.

Hyerin growled – literally growled – and picked the brawny guy from the floor. She threw him across the room with ease and tackled him, giving him punches after punches and kicks after kicks like there was no tomorrow.

Hyerin was good at beating people up, but not this good. She stopped only when she realized Durus wasn’t moving anymore; when he wasn’t breathing anymore.

Hyerin stood up and didn’t even hesitate to shoot him with her gun. She went over to Blue and shot him several times in the head, a mix of blood and little chunks of brain splattered messily on the floor. Some of the night crawlers came back and she killed those, too.

After that was done, she stood in the middle of the room and stared blankly at the bloodbath she made herself.

Her fists were numb and her toes were tingly when she walked over to Minho. She picked him up effortlessly and made her way to the door when all too soon, the strength and adrenaline left her as quickly as a snap.

She dropped Minho and her eyes rolled back before completely shutting down.

---

A/N: Short chapter, but I was so desperate to update since I haven't done so for 2+ weeks! I hope you guys like it and oh! The next chapter is probably one of my favorite chapters of all time. I don't know. I just felt like saying it! :) Anyway, I'm leaving for New York tomorrow morning! Super stoked!