She first applied the red tint onto her lips in a seemingly haphazard manner, but years of practice allowed her to end up with a flawless look anyway. She leaned forward so that she was only a foot away from the mirror. She watched as the grey of her irises were overcome by a silvery, purple hue.

“,” she cursed softly, blinking hard as though that would make it go away. “It’s acting up again...”

As if on cue, the surrounding premises darkened; her eyes darted to the window, and as expected, grey clouds were rolling through the sky like smoke.

She was losing control.

Hence why she decided to take precautions: contact lenses. Her companions had started to wear the lenses as well; however, the function of their lenses differed in relation to their abilities. These lenses were designed to regulate the amount of light that reached their corneas. They used to be able to function well without them, but with the impending eclipse, their abilities were sporadically going haywire.

And so, Kim Seori placed a contact lens into each of her eyes, having a bit of trouble with the first one, but seamlessly placing the second. Almost instantly, the clouds dissipated and everything was back to normal.

---

“Brought one in, duizhang!” Luhan proclaimed proudly. He maneuvered a handcuffed girl in front of him, his left hand gripping her shoulder and his right hand holding out a thumbs up. She glared at each of the room’s occupants in turn, but when her eyes met Yixing’s, they narrowed menacingly, which took him by surprise.

“Good job, Luhan,” Kris congratulated as he got up to stand opposite the captive girl. It was then that she decided to break her eye contact with Yixing and focus on the man before her.

“What is your name?” Kris asked in an intimidating manner, although the agents knew that that was him actually trying to sound approachable.

She didn’t respond and instead kept her lips pursed, looking up unamused at EXO Division M’s leader.

He sighed and rolled his eyes, turning his attention to Luhan who had stepped forward to the girl’s side, his hand now gripping her arm so she couldn’t escape. “Did you get her name?”

“Xingle,” Luhan replied obediently with his usual smile. Her head snapped toward her captor, her eyes seething. Xingle then turned to Kris again, making eye contact.

“You will let me go.”

Suddenly, Kris’s expression turned blank as he continued to stare at Xingle’s eyes. He started to reach for her cuffed hands behind her back. “Yes, I will let you--”

“Now, now, let’s not do that,” Luhan said sweetly, breaking Xingle’s concentration in the process. She cursed under her breath, pulling her arm in a final rebellious attempt to break free. “Oh, being feisty now, huh?”

“What... just happened?” Kris shook his head, trying to regain his senses.

“That would be why she’s so special,” Luhan responded, perfect smile still in place. “She’s the Girl of Allure; persuasion.”

“I see. Did you happen to get her surname, too? You’ve got to fill out the paperwork.”

“Ah, well that she refused to give out.” A small smile played on Xingle’s lips.

Kris ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Well, I guess you should just fill out all that you can for now--lock her up first, of course. We will try to find out more later.” Kris clapped a gratuitous hand on Luhan’s shoulder. “Good job, agent.”

“All right, you heard him! Let’s go,” Luhan sang, causing Xingle to scowl again. However, as he led her to the holding chambers, she shot Yixing another look, surprising him again, though this time with a small, melancholic smile.

---

They have ZX. the text message read. They all received it, and now they were gathered at the Kim residence. Jongin was the one to send out the text, having actually been with Xingle when it happened. However, he was fortunate enough to have teleported out of there in time.

“Why couldn’t you just teleport her with you?” Minjeong complained.

“Because it’s dangerous! I’m not strong enough yet; who knows what could have happened to the both of us?” Jongin countered.

“Well, now Xingle’s gone,” Minjeong retorted in a cross manner that appropriately mimicked her crossed arms.

“Can’t you teleport in and bring her back with you?” Kyungsoo asked.

“That’s the same thing! It’s dangerous,” Jongin repeated.

“We’ve flown under the radar for so long, but now they’ve actually captured one of us,” Jihye, Kyungsoo’s older sister, thought out loud. “Which obviously means they’re aware of us now.”

“No, that’s not good,” said Seori, Jongin’s older sister, as she shook her head. “That’s not good at all. I knew it was a bad idea for Xingle to stay in China by herself.”

“We didn’t know,” Minjeong said comfortingly. “She’s strong. She didn’t need us to protect her. I just wonder how she could get caught when she’s so... persuasive.”

“Yeah,” Seori reluctantly agreed.

“Hey, where are your brothers, anyway?” Kyungsoo asked.

“Jongdae-hyung and Minseok-hyung were at work. Jongdae-hyung responded to my text, though. He said they were on their way,” Jongin replied.

“Let me call Minseok-oppa,” Minjeong offered, already dialing his number. She received no answer. Seori then attempted to phone her twin brother, Jongdae, who did answer, though he sounded quite frantic.

“Chen Chen, where are you?” she asked, using her nickname for him.

“He... we... ah, jinjja!” Jongdae started off, panting with each word. He seemed to have been running, so Seori allowed him time to catch his breath first. Finally, he was able to speak again. “They got Minseok, too.”

---

Poof!

“Kai! Ni... Neo... I told you to let me know before you just pop up like that!” Xingle exclaimed, quickly switching from Mandarin to Korean once she realized who her visitor was. She had just brought out her contact lens case and was preparing to put them on before he suddenly appeared right outside her bedroom door. She held a hand up to her chest in shock.

“Heh, sorry, noona,” Jongin replied lightly. He purposefully didn’t warn her of his arrival because of how much he enjoyed this type of reaction. He plopped down on the foot of her bed as she hurriedly picked up random items off the floor and placed them on a nearby desk.

“So what brings you here?” Xingle asked, taking a seat on her desk chair.

“Nothing, really... everyone just misses you back home, that’s all. They wanted me to check up on you.”

Xingle smiled at the thought of her friends. “Thanks, I really miss everyone, too.”

“So when are you going to finally visit us? I’m always the one coming over here. I’m getting tired of you,” Jongin joked.

“Ha, ha,” Xingle laughed sarcastically. “I should visit soon, though. I’ll try to get some time off work.”

“Sounds good! Well--”

A knock on the door interrupted Jongin mid-sentence, so Xingle excused herself to see who it was. She peeked through the peephole first and found a curly haired man standing outside, dressed in an all-black suit.

“Who is it?” she asked as she opened the door, not even bothering to pretend that no one was home. She never had to, anyway; with one look into their eyes, she could easily manipulate their memories and send them away.

“Hi, my name is Luhan. I’d like to speak with you.”

“Luhan... hmm, I’m sorry, but that name doesn’t sound familiar,” Xingle mused, tapping a finger to her chin. She met his gaze and narrowed her eyes. “So, I think you should tell me who you really are.”

Jongin, who had stayed behind in Xingle’s room, could hear the conversation clearly, though he couldn’t understand a thing as it was conducted all in Mandarin. He was, however, able to pick up on Xingle’s change in tone. It was the same tone she used whenever she implemented her power of persuasion. Intrigued, he crept over and peeked from behind the door, being careful to see but not be seen. Jongin noticed the man’s face go blank as he prepared to answer.

“My name is Luhan. I am 24-years-old. Male. Single. I am an agent that works with the government as part of the Exoplanetary Extradition Unit -- EXO, for short -- in Division M.” He flashed her his badge and a smile.

“Hao, hao...” Xingle nodded, satisfied with what she heard. “Now tell me what you want from me.”

“I’ve been given orders under Project Harmony to capture the Girl of Allure and her companions, as they pose a threat to the safety of the earth.”

“Okay,” Xingle replied, nonplussed by his explanation. “Well, then. You will have to leave now and forget that you ever found me.”

“I will...” the agent called Luhan said, turning to leave. And then he stopped. “I will have to bring you in with me.”

Xingle was taken aback, as was Jongin who was still watching. Xingle cleared and narrowed her eyes in concentration as she tried again. “No, you have to leave.”

“Miss,” Luhan said, taking a step forward. “I must ask that you cooperate.”

“,” she groaned, thinking back to her contacts case still lying untouched in her room. “This is the worst time for it to act up.”

“Miss,” Luhan repeated.

“No,” Xingle said, shaking her head and taking a step back. “I won’t go with you.”

“I’m afraid I can’t take no for an answer,” Luhan replied before he jumped forward and forcefully grabbed her wrists. He swiftly turned her around and trapped her hands behind her, cuffing them quickly. Xingle attempted to pull away, but Luhan’s grip on her was too strong.

“Xingle!” Jongin called out on impulse, springing forward through the doorway. Luhan turned his head, slightly surprised at the sudden movement, and instinctively grabbed for the gun holstered at his waist and aimed it at Jongin. The sight of the gun in turn caught Jongin by surprise, whose face paled in a wave of fear.

“Stop right there,” Luhan called out; however, Jongin’s momentum kept him moving forward, and Luhan was forced to pull the trigger. In an instant, Jongin disappeared.

Luhan was surprised at first, but sighed in disappointment once he realized that the Master of Space got away. He was pulled back to his senses by the girl he captured, who kept tugging, trying to break free from his grasp. He adjusted himself so that he had a more solid hold on the Girl of Allure. He leaned his head forward, close to her ear, and he shushed her as she continued to fight. “So your name is Xingle, huh? Shh, just come with me. It’ll be okay.”

He then plunged a syringe into her neck, forcing its contents into her system. Soon after, her thrashing ceased and she fell limp into his arms. That was his cue to carry her back to his car.

A/N: Thank you, readers~ especially those who treated me to some comments & subscriptions~ ;3

Chapter 1 is up! Let me know what you think ^_^v