Eleven boys stared at Seunghyun. Seunghyun stared back at them. Seunghyun took a bite of his jelly donut. Eleven pairs of eyes followed his movements, glinting with famished intent.

            “Here, I have a box of twelve donuts,” Seunghyun said between bites. “Right now there are eleven left.” He chewed thoughtfully, and then gestured vaguely around at the obstacle course the group was sitting in. “You’re objective for today is to get a donut. I’ll give them to you once you’ve finished the course. Meanwhile, I will continue to eat, so if you don’t go fast enough…” Seunghyun finished off the donut. He reached in the box and took a second one. Confectioner’s sugar puffed into the air as his teeth sank into the doughy pastry. “Chop, chop, kiddos.”

***

            Eleven boys stared at Seunghyun. Seunghyun stared back at them. Seunghyun took a bite of his chocolate glazed donut. Eleven pairs of eyes tracked the descent of the last donut down Seunghyun’s throat.

            “How the hell do you eat twelve donuts in ten minutes?” whined a short boy with sweaty bangs sticking to his forehead.

            “Well, Baekhyun,” Seunghyun said, his fingertips, “the question should be, why didn’t you complete the course in under ten minutes? Better yet, if you really wanted the donuts, why didn’t you just attack me and take them?” Seunghyun looked around pointedly. “There are eleven of you and one of me. Your bodies are all in top condition from intensive daily training regimens for the past four years, while I was languishing in a prison cell for the past ten.”

            Baekhyun and his compatriots blinked.

            “But you’re our new instructor. We have to listen to you or else we’ll get punished,” another short boy said indignantly. They’re all so short and irritated, Seunghyun thought idly.

            “Your objective was to get the donuts. I said I’d give them to you freely if you finished the course first. Just because I wouldn’t have given them to you on my own accord doesn’t mean that you couldn’t take them.”

            Seunghyun’s gaze suddenly sharpened, and he jumped to his feet.

            “When completing your objective, take the shortest, easiest route possible. In any mission you receive, time will be your greatest enemy. However, that’s under the assumption that you’re competent enough to not worry about losing against an attack, which-” Seunghyun cleared his throat, then spun violently, foot hooking under the knees of three of the teens. They collapsed on top of each other with surprised squeaks. “-apparently you are not.”

            Seunghyun heard footsteps behind him, then felt spindly fingers wrap around his throat. He dropped to his knees and pitched forward, and his attacker flipped on his back with a dull thump.

            “Nice try, Luhan,” Seunghyun chuckled, “but if you continue to thunder around like an elephant your enemy will laugh at you. Just like I am.”

            Luhan pouted at Seunghyun. The rest of the group pounced.

-

            The members of EXO lay on the ground, panting in sharp gasps and sweating profusely. Standing in the middle, of the heap of prostrate bodies was Seunghyun.

            “Not bad, kiddos,” he quipped. “Luhan and D.O., you’re attacks are well-planned but the execution’s an absolute mess. Xiumin and Chen, my dead grandmother moves faster than you. Chanyeol, Sehun, your punches are weaker than most girls I’ve encountered. Baekhyun and Tao, scratching the enemy only works if you don’t have a deathly fear of hangnails. Lay, Kai, Suho, your footwork is atrocious. Overall, your teamwork and your stamina is alarmingly low.”

            Seunghyun received a chorus of noncommittal grunts. He sighed. Insubordinate brats.

            “Now, who wants a donut?”

***

One year later

            Seunghyun lay on the floor, letting the coolness of the concrete seep into his sweaty back. His arms and legs were pinned, and Chen sat on his chest, arm pressed into his throat. Kai bent over him, glaring icily into Seunghyun’s eyes.

            “Do you surrender?” Kai asked.

            Seunghyun wheezed an affirmative.

            The Chen-shaped weight on his chest lifted as the group of boys erupted into raucous cheers.

            “FINALLYYYYY!!!!!!!” screamed Chanyeol, sprinting a victory lap around the training room. Luhan and Xiumin clung to each other, sobbing hysterically. Sehun, Baekhyun, and Tao bounced around the room, shrieking, “WE BEAT T.O.P! WE BEAT T.O.P!” Seunghyun once again found himself pinned to the ground as the rest of the boys piled on top of him for a massive group hug. He grinned proudly and lifted a hand to ruffle the hair on one of the heads buried in his chest.

            “Congratulations, boys,” he called over the sounds of celebration. “Dinner’s on me tonight.”

            Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea, Seunghyun thought as he surveyed the eleven boys crowded around his apartment’s small kitchen table, ravenously devouring a display of grilled meat, fried rice, and ramen.

            “Budge up, kiddos,” he said, squeezing between Kai and D.O, setting the last platter of sautéed spinach on the table.

            “You’re the best, T.O.P,” Chanyeol spluttered around a mouthful of food.

            “Well, duh,” Seunghyun replied, earning several appreciative snorts.

            Several minutes passed in silence, save for the clatter of chopsticks and enthusiastic chewing. Conversation slowly started up, and the table dissolved into chatter.

            Seunghyun leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting the strands banter wash over him. A soft, fuzzy feeling of fondness bubbled in his stomach, and he said, “You guys are like the sons I never wanted.”

            “Gee, thanks,” Kai said sarcastically, lightly kicking Seunghyun’s ankle.

            Seunghyun smirked and ruffled his hair. A pointed look passed between Luhan and D.O.

            “What is it?” he asked, leaning back and fixing the pair with a stare.               

            The table fell silent, and Luhan hesitantly said, “I-well, we were wondering what you were like-um, well not exactly what you were like because you probably haven’t changed that much-”

            “Stop babbling and spit it out,” Seunghyun said.

            “Why were you imprisoned? How do you know so much about strategy and fighting? What was your family like before?” Suho supplied.

            EXO watched warily as Seunghyun’s face smoothed into an impassive mask. “I used to be an agent in SM,” he said flatly. “My team was my family. I was arrested because I failed a mission.”

            “But you aren’t listed in any of the records of retired agents,” Baekhyun piped up.

            Who would want to remember a traitor? Seunghyun thought bitterly.

            “Use your brain, Baekhyun. I was arrested and dishonorably discharged. Not retired.”

            Seunghyun stood up. He grabbed the empty dishes and brought them to the sink. EXO sat silently at the table, staring at their teacher’s retreating back. When Seunghyun returned, Chen asked haltingly, “Which unit were you assigned to?”

            Seunghyun’s knuckles whitened.

            “The word just came in from up top. Your first operation will be in two days. Get some rest.”

            He shepherded the group through the threshold. Just before the door closed, Lay, the last one out, thought he heard a murmured, “Big Bang.”

***

            “Are you sure, Lay? There isn’t any record of a Big Bang ever existing in SME.”

            “I’m not deaf, Suho! He definitely said that.”

            “Well, he did say he was imprisoned because the mission he was on failed. What if Big Bang was just cut out of the records because of that?”

            “There are plenty of groups that fail missions, Tao, and they don’t get blotted out of history; SHINee, f(x), we all know about them, but why haven’t we ever heard of Big Bang? Something’s not right.”

            “Yeah, and T.O.P was acting really weird about it. Something really bad must have happened.”

            “Kai, T.O.P always acts weird.”

            “I know, Chanyeol, but he was being weirder than usual.”

            “What if he killed s on a mission? And that’s why he got thrown in jail.”

            “Luhan! Don’t say that!”

            “What? It’s a possibility.”

            “Still doesn’t explain the missing records though.”

            “Guys, you heard T.O.P earlier. We have an actual mission soon. Just go to sleep for now, and I’m sure we’ll be able to badger it out of him eventually.”

***

            Seunghyun sat in the back of a camouflaged truck, checking the connection of a flesh colored tracking device adhered to the back of his neck. He bent his knees, testing the flexibility of his skintight body armor. Around him, eleven black-clad operatives did the same.

            “Listen up, time for debrief,” he called. “Recently there was some movement detected along the YG border. The assignment is to go in and do a scope of the area. This is recon only, so any potential enemy tries to engage, your priority is to get the hell out as fast as possible. K will cover the eastern half and M the west.”

            “You’re coming with us?” Xiumin asked, voice crackling through the speaker nestled in Seunghyun’s left ear.

            “Just for this mission, since it’s your first. It’s relatively easy, but if something happens I’ll be able to get you out.”

            They jerked forward as the truck they were in slammed to a halt.

            “We’re two miles from the border. Maintain radio silence unless you get attacked. Reconvene here in two hours. Good luck.”

***

            Two hours was an incredibly short time for a mission, even a simple, straightforward reconnaissance based on speculation and ordered as a precaution. The chances of anything going wrong were so infinitesimally small, that Seunghyun almost suspected foul play when he heard Suho’s voice screech in his earpiece, “Attack, 5.7 miles northeast of Border Post 68! Three aggressors and counting!”

            “Retreat!” Seunghyun hissed, breaking into a sprint, “M, return to reconvention point immediately. K, try to avoid entanglement and return to reconvention point. I’m on my way.”

            “They’re pressing us further north into YG territory, T.O.P,” Kai’s voice hissed through the earpiece.           

            “How many?” Seunghyun asked, sliding down a moss-lined ravine.

            “Four,” came D.O’s voice.

            A tendril of unease crept into Seunghyun’s belly. He emerged from the ravine and saw them, EXO-K scrambling away from the advancement of what Seunghyun assumed were four masked YG agents.

            “Idiots,” Seunghyun hissed, ducking behind a tree, “Don’t run around bunched together like an easy target. Spread out and try to double back. I’ll provide a distraction.”

            On his word, the six split off in different direction. Simultaneously, Seunghyun hefted a rock and threw it at the largest YG agent. It struck him on the back of the neck, and he fell to the ground, unconscious. Before the others noticed their fallen compatriot, Seunghyun leapt and tackled another to the ground. He felt something whiz over his head and looked down to see a tranquilizer gun aimed at his neck. Several seconds of tussling passed, ending when Seunghyun wrestled the gun out of his grip and shot the man in the exposed neck between his mask and his uniform. His struggling weakened and Seunghyun sprang to his feet to pursue the others.

            He almost tripped over the fallen body of the third agent, left in the wake of a retreating Sehun. A warm bubble of pride lodged in Seunghyun’s chest as he turned around in search of the remaining agent.

            “Status report, K,” he ordered.

            “At reconvention point with M,” said Kai.

            “With Kai,” said D.O.

            “One mile from the border,” said Sehun.

            “Half mile from the border, carrying Chanyeol,” said Baekhyun, “He got shot.”

            There was a moment of silence.

            “Suho, status report.”

            The channel filled with static.

            Seunghyun cursed internally. He scanned the ground, trying to parse out from the mess of twigs and leaf litter which way they could have gone, before the speaker in his ear crackled to life.

            “I found Suho with one of the aggressors. Suho appears to be unconscious.”

            Seunghyun cursed externally.

            “Damnit, Luhan, I told you to go and stay at the reconvention point. What the hell do you think you’re doing looking for Suho alone?”

            “He’s not alone, I’m with him. Our location is .7 miles northeast of Border Post 68,” came Xiumin’s voice.

            Continuing to swear profusely, Seunghyun turned sharply and threaded his way through a copse of evergreens. He emerged on the other side just in time to see Luhan sink to the ground sluggishly. Suho’s body was strewn haphazardly a few meters away.

            “Xiumin, take Suho and get back to the reconvention point. I’ll bring Luhan when I’ve eliminated the threat,” Seunghyun commanded, firing two rounds of the tranquilizer gun into the last agent’s back. They bounced off his body armor, as Seunghyun had expected, but it directed the agent’s attention away from the escaping Xiumin.

            Seunghyun sized up his opponent as he dodged a tranquilizer dart. He was small and thin, and extremely fast. The snap of the wrist as the gun whipped toward him around was eerily familiar. He tried to quell the nauseous tide whirling in his stomach as he charged, tackling the YG agent to the ground. He jammed the gun into the man’s neck and pulled the trigger.

            Nothing happened.

            Well, that’s unfortunate, Seunghyun thought as he jerked the dartless gun back and slammed the into his opponent’s mask. It cracked on impact, and Seunghyun detected muffled cursing. The nausea rose up his throat as the man discarded the shattered mask, revealing a mop of curls, thin lips curled in a snarl, and dark, glittering eyes.

            Air rushed out of Seunghyun’s lungs as a bony knee sank into his diaphragm. Gloved hands scrabbled on the back of his neck until they found purchase on the tracking device glued to his skin, and then ripped it off. Seunghyun felt like laughing hysterically at the irony that he deigned to think of that detail. He was flipped onto his stomach, and assumed that the power source for the communications devices had also been crushed as he heard the line in his earpiece go dead.

            The cold muzzle the gun pressed into his neck.

            “Any last words?” breathed a honeyed tenor in his ear.

            Oh the possibilities, Seunghyun thought, the first words of a reunion after eleven years. As his vision began to black out, he vaguely regretted that his choice was:

            “That perm looks atrocious, Jiyong.”