Yukwon wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth as he struggled to stand.  He knew that his boss would be pissed about losing Jiwon, but he didn’t see this coming.

“I knew I shouldn’t have put you and Minhyuk in charge of securing the target! You two are useless!” he shouted, kicking Yukwon in the stomach again.  The air was forced out of his lungs and he dropped to his knees.

“I’m sorry Zico… we can’t really secure a Proxy, he can adapt to anything…”

“Then you should have tried harder!” Zico harshly replied, punching Yukwon in the face.  He was done with failure, it would no longer be tolerated.  Taeil walked in and stepped over Yukwon’s unconscious body.

“Zico, I’ve finished preparing the mutagen.  All that’s left to do is replicate it so we’ll have enough for global saturation.  It should be done around 5 AM,” he said.

“Good.  At least someone is doing their job properly,” Zico replied, taking the seat behind his large, oak desk.  Taeil nodded and quickly exited the room.  Zico looked down at the picture on his desk; twin boys, age four.  They each had his nose and eyes… he missed them more than anything.

Seven years ago

Zico had been rushing around town all day, trying to find the last bit of decorations for his twin sons’ birthday party.  His wife had been home watching them while he ran errands and now he was finally on his way back. 

They lived in the perfect neighborhood; white picket fences and freshly mowed lawns.  Elderly people would walk their dogs and girl scouts would force innocent people to buy cookies… it didn’t get any better.  His job as a genetic researcher paid the bills, although it didn’t allow him much time with his family… but today was different.  He’d taken the whole weekend off to celebrate the special occasion.

Zico parked the car in the garage and carried the bags of decorations and cake frosting into the house.

“Minji? I’m home… babe you here?” he called as he sat the bags down on the granite kitchen counter.  There was no answer.  He walked upstairs to the boys’ room… and he was completely horrified at what he saw.  The younger twin, Junsu, was standing over the burned bodies of his mother, and older brother.  When he saw Zico he began to cry loudly.

“Junsu what happened!?” Zico shouted, trying to fight back the violent sobs that were gathering in his chest.  Junsu just pointed at his throat, confusing Zico for a moment.  However, he understood the moment Junsu shot a stream of fire into the air.  Zico couldn’t believe what he was seeing… his son had developed some kind of terrifying mutation.

In the years that followed, Zico made it his personal responsibility to find out what Junsu was.  Eventually, with the help of Taeil, his former college classmate, he determined that Junsu was a different species entirely… although he wasn’t sure how exactly.  He soon decided that it was best to kill Junsu, so he couldn’t hurt anyone again… intentionally or not.

More research revealed two other supernatural races, and that soon another would be born from evolution.  Armed with this knowledge, Zico and Taeil formed Blockbuster; originally wanting to find the new species for research purposes only.  Unfortunately, as time went on, Zico was haunted by the memories of his family.  Maybe if they hadn’t been so fragile, they would have stood a chance against Junsu’s uncontrollable power…

With that realization, Blockbuster was transformed from a research group, into a militant force determined to give humanity the edge it needed to surpass its supernatural superiors… all so that no one would have to lose their family to a monster again.

--------------------

Jiwon was completely lost.  He managed to make it away from Blockbuster’s headquarters, but now he was wandering through the forest, trying to find his way back to the school.  He noticed a crow on the ground, pecking at some dead animal… it gave him an idea.

Jiwon concentrated on the bird, or more specifically, its wings.  He studied their shape and size relative to the rest of the bird’s body.  Soon his arms tingled and he started to feel lighter.  It seemed like his bones were becoming hollow.  He shrieked as the skin on his arms melted into a gooey, tar-like substance before reshaping into feathers.

He did it… he actually grew a pair of wings…

“Okay Jiwon, you can do this.  You managed to sprout wings, now all you have to do is make yourself fly,” he said to himself.  He closed his eyes and began to flap his arms, uh, wings up and down furiously.  He felt like an idiot, and he was sure he looked like one too… but it was working!  Seconds later we was steadily rising off the ground and soon he was above the treetops.

He could see everything from the new height!  It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

“Okay, so if the Top Class restaurant is over there, that means the school is just a few miles west of here!  Wait… so the Blockbuster headquarters is only a few miles from Arario? That’s discomforting,” he said, shaking the thought from his mind.

Although it was a bit awkward at first, soon Jiwon was soaring through the skies like a pro.  He would have to make this a habit.  Once the school was beneath him, he descended slowly, landing behind the activities hall.  He reluctantly turned his wings back into normal arms and walked out from behind the building.  He saw Joss, a boy he remembered from class last year.

“Hey Joss! Have you seen Sehyuk, or Hansol, or any of those guys?”

“I think they went to the hospital.  You didn’t hear? Apparently Mr. Ahn freaked out and shot Hansol in the face.  Last we heard, he was in critical condition,”

Jiwon couldn’t believe what he was hearing… he needed to get to the hospital immediately.