Solar’s POV

“So there are only two others, excluding Moonbyul and Wendy?”

“Right.” Irene confirmed.

“Then why do you say Subject 22 and 55 instead of just 2 and 5.” This whole time Solar thought this facility was holding at least 55 other people that have been struck and given powers. It was definitely a relief because it only increased their chances of helping out the others being held in the facility, but she had spent quite a bit of time thinking about all the possible powers these other people could have held. It made more sense this way though. No way could they have taken so many people and kept the secret underground. Never mind the fact that there probably would have been more buzz about people with powers in the first place.

“I don’t know really.” Irene shrugged. She was sitting at the desk in the office with a big paper laid out before her. “I think my dad just liked the double numbers better.” She was attempting to draw out a floor plan of the facility so everything would be a lot easier to understand when she explained it to us. Unfortunately, Irene wasn’t too good of an artist, so we’ll just have to see how that goes.

“So what’s up with the other ones? Like, what powers do they possess?” Hwasa asked from the couch, where she was toying around with the tech stuff she went out to get from her dad’s shop.

“Ooh, what’s this?” Wheein was also playing around with them, but more like a kid would play with things they shouldn’t.

“Um, I’ll explain everything after Irene leaves.”
 

Wheein pouted. “That’s fair...” The pout was soon replaced by a grin, like she had thought of something brilliant. “You have to show me how everything works later, then.”

Hwasa chuckled and smiled ducking her head to pretend like she was inspecting something closely. “Of course.”

Irene looked on them with a knowing gleam in her eyes, but the sight before her only seemed to dampen her mood further. I wouldn’t have thought it could have be possible. She shook her head lightly, looked back down, and responded to Hwasa’s question once everyone was ready to listen.

“Subject 33 is capable of some incredible camouflaging. He was just beginning to become capable of cloaking himself from thermal cameras even. You could say he has the power of invisibility if you wanted. It’s really incredible.” Irene murmured thoughtfully. “Um, all of the subjects are incredible, really.”

Irene cleared and moved on. “Subject 44 is intangible, meaning she can shift her atoms so that she’s able to pass through anything. She’d be able to walk right out of the facility if we didn’t manufacture incredibly dense metal to keep her in.” Irene rubbed her hand over her face and sighed. She was feeling a wave of guilt, and I think it’s the first time it’s hit her. At least as it was concerned to these subjects. I know she’s felt it on behalf of Wendy. She just hadn’t humanized the others yet as she was doing now.

Every moment she spent outside of the facility seemed to permit more realizations within her. I couldn’t have noticed it before, but it almost seemed like a fog in her mind was slowly dissolving.

“Subject 33, his name is Kibum and Subject 44, her name is Yeri. I don’t know if you plan on rescuing them, but I can’t talk about them like they’re just lab rats anymore.” Irene lowered her head even more and continued mapping out the facility.

“We can’t leave them behind.” Wheein said resolutely.

“Right.” Hwasa backed her.

“Right, we’ll have to find a way to get them all out safely as well.” It didn’t matter that it made things more complicated. After hearing their names, I knew we would all risk it for their sake.

“From what Solar has told me, the doors there are automated, and they work by a key card right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“It’s a good thing I started working with my dad again. I’m all caught up on all this stuff.” Hwasa pushed herself up from the couch and moved over to Irene so she could look at her blue print. Wheein wasn’t far behind. “How hard do you think it’ll be for us to get into the security room?”

“Well it’s a relatively small facility, so most people know each other, but it’s sort of a weird, uncomfortable environment. You might be able to get by just by keeping your heads down and wearing a lab coat. I don’t know what you can do once you get to the room, which is a bit out of the way from where I’ll let you in.” She pointed to both destinations on her layout. “The security team doesn’t leave the room unless there’s a new suspect or we have an emergency, and even then, two people remain there at all times. But I’d expect you to meet all six. We researchers never have emergencies we can’t handle because of my father’s weapon. We usually handle everything ourselves.”

“I can take care of them.” Every one turns to me with a questioning look on their face.

What I did to the principal that time, making him black out, wasn’t just some anomaly. It was another part to my powers that I’m going to have to learn to use. I figure then will be a good time.

“How are you going to manage that?” Wheein’s the only one to speak her mind. I can feel that all of them are reluctant to believe me. It hurts a bit. Have they not considered all the things I’ve managed to do this far?

1. think I can emulate what I did to Principal Lee that time,” I explain.

“What do you mean by that?” Irene asks, her scientist curiosity finally revealing itself. I already knew how fascinated she was by my gift. I’m sure she wanted to know the mechanics of it. I didn’t even understand it, so good luck to her.

“Once when Moonbyul was in danger, I managed to knock out a threat. I’m not exactly sure what I did, but it seemed like I gave him so much input that his brain couldn’t manage it. I remember how it felt, and recent developments give me confidence that I can do this.”

“How sure are you that you can do it again? If you aren’t one hundred percent, we’ll need a plan B.” It was a reasonable question from Hwasa, but I really couldn’t answer it with pure certainty.

But there was something telling me that I could do it. I mean the safety of Moonbyul and three other innocent people was on the line. If I bared all that in mind, I was sure I could put a few people down. It was nothing fatal anyway.

“I’m certain.”

“Alright then, we have that set. Then once we get in, I can get us access to the prisoners.” Hwasa said confidently. “Where are they kept?”

The feeling of uneasy anticipation in the car was palpable. I could practically hear the pounding of each of our hearts the way Moonbyul would have been able to. I think part of the reason was because we didn’t make much of a plan after all.

We just knew that things would change once we got in there, and once that happened we would have to wing it anyway. There was no way of knowing how every person was going to react, so each situation was impossible to anticipate, so we thought, why waste time planning? Instead, we just got as familiar with the place as we could so at least we’d know where to run when we got ourselves in a jam.

At least, Hwasa gave us a way to communicate with one another via headset just in case we got separated.

“You know Hwasa, the scientist costume looks amazing on you. Maybe you should think about becoming one so you could wear it all the time.” Wheein took her eyes off the bumpy road for a moment to look over at her passenger. She was trying to lighten the mood, but I knew she just how much she meant what she said.

“Pfft,” Hwasa waved away the thought. “I’d look amazing as a librarian too, but I sure as hell ain’t becoming one.” Then she chuckled more shyly. “It’s just the glasses.” She reached her hand up to adjust them self-consciously.

“Hmm.” Wheein hummed in approval. “I really like them.”

If Moonbyul were here, I know we would have shared a knowing look… But no worries, I’d be able to tell her about this soon. I could almost feel her getting closer.

Moonbyul knew that we were coming. I was there when Irene told her about what little we had planned. I was tempted to visit her now, but I knew I had to save my energy. I wouldn’t be able to get into peoples’ mind while I slept this time. It saved a lot of energy, but I had to stay conscious and ready for anything in there.

We reached the opening in the trees that led to the facility, and we all collectively took a deep breath then shakily released it. We were lucky that Hwasa’s dad drove a black car, otherwise we would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Every car there looked like a matching set, and the building was just as Irene described. A simple white squarish design that sparsely had any windows.

I don’t know if it was because I knew what was going on within it or what, but the place didn’t look right. It didn’t feel right either. The look of it and everything surrounding got me feeling even more apprehensive than I should be.

Wheein carefully drove around the back like Irene instructed her to, right next to the door that was supposedly the drop off zone.

“Alright guys, there’s no need to worry. We got this. For Moonbyul, for Wendy, and for those innocent people.” I said much more calmly than I felt.

“As long as we have each other’s backs, we’ll get through this.” Wheein reached back, grabbed my hand, Hwasa’s too, and gave each of us a squeeze.

“Alright.” I opened the door and jumped out. I knew I was feeling Moonbyul now, and the fact that I knew she could hear us from here pushed me to get moving. “We’re coming to get you, Love.”

My hand was on the handle now, ready to open. At least, Irene assured us it would be. I looked at the other two and gave them a nod. There was no going back now.

The familiar white environment was the first thing to greet me. It was like a regular observing room at the doctors, except that the bed had straps on it. A very important difference. I couldn’t help but swallow hard. I had already this, but seeing it in person was quite different.

“Just act like you belong, and very little people will question it. Trust me.” Hwasa was at the handle this time. One of her hands was on the handle ready to open the door, while her other one held her bag filled with her father’s devices. The confidence she exuded was infectious, so I took a moment to soak it in, and display it on myself.

I nodded when I was ready and out we went, into the white halls I’ve seen so many times already. They were empty for the moment.

“It’s so quiet.” Wheein softly commented. She had noticed it too. The only sound was our footsteps moving through the halls. I don’t know if it made it more comfortable or eerie. I’d say eerie; it felt like we were walking through a horror game. “Do you think this is normal? Where is everyone?”

Hwasa shook her head to say she didn’t know and continued to lead the way. “We shouldn’t worry about things we can’t get answers to. Let’s just get to the security room, and worry about things as they come.”

I suppose she was right. There wasn’t anything we could do, but I still felt uneasy. There was no way they could have known we were coming, right?

No. The feeling could have been from anything. Irene did mention that the atmosphere was uncomfortable in here, and I felt that. It just didn’t feel right. If there were canaries in here, I bet they would have been singing.

We walked through four halls before passing anyone. They kept their head down, and never once looked up from the files in their hands. We all shared an uneasy look and kept walking. We all seemed to agree that it was more than intense concentration that had them acting that way.

We knew we made it to the security room when we came upon a big, heavy grey door. It was my time to step up to the door first again. I shut my eyes and felt for the people in the room. I could feel five people in there. I opened my eyes and held up five fingers, I knew they would be interested to know even if it wouldn’t matter after I dealt with them. I took a deep breath. I was ready. I knew I was strong, and I knew I could do it.

Pushing myself into five people at once was quite a trial, but not one I couldn’t handle, even if it was the first time I pushed myself without Moonbyul’s instruction. She’s going to be proud. It was disorienting at first, feeling so many clashing emotions at once, but I didn’t need to filter through their feelings, I just needed to make them feel more. So much more their brain couldn’t handle the traffic. Doing that was no easy task, but it wasn’t complicated.

The moment I felt release, I knew I had done it. I couldn’t track any mind in there now. I confidently reached for the handle, but I was met with some resistance. There must have been someone right next to the door, because the door felt extremely heavy. Wheein had to step up to help push it open.

“Wow,” Wheein murmured in disbelief. “You dropped all of them without having to even walk into the room.”

“I know. Crazy isn’t it?” I tapped one of the other guys with my foot, and it was clear he was out cold.

I took a look around, and noticed that the room was actually really small. No wonder the guy was so close to the door.

My eyes were ultimately pulled to wall before us, where the monitors were. There was only one monitor with viewable people on it. It looked like there was a meeting going on in one of the other rooms. Irene must have forgotten about it because she gave no mention of it before.

“Look at that.” I pointed to the screen the meeting was being shown. “This is our best shot. Most of them are preoccupied.”

“Already on it.” Hwasa said from, what I could only assume to be the control box. “Just give me a moment, it isn’t going to be easy, working against the system.”

“We’ll keep our eyes on the screens in the meantime.” There wasn’t much to see, except empty halls and white walls. There was also a clear shot of the back where we came from. Our disguise must have been enough after all if they didn’t give us any resistance.

“Is this one of the baton’s they used torture the subjects?” I turned around to look at Wheein, who was apparently going through one of the knocked out guards things. It looked a lot bigger in Wheein’s small hands.

“Yeah, that’s one of ‘em alright.”

“There’s two settings: Sustain and Out.”

“What’s theirs set on?”

“Out.”

“Must be to-“ I was interrupted by the door opening up, revealing a guard that hadn’t been in the room. All three of our heads turned to the man that had just walked in, but Wheein was the only one to react. As soon as she did, there was a thud, and he was out just like the rest of them.

“Did you just use the baton?“

“Yes. Yes, I did.” She paused then spoke again, just as calm as before. “Help me pull him into the room.” The guy had fallen in front of the door, preventing it from fully closing.

I nodded and grabbed one the man’s arms and Wheein the other. With a heave, we managed to layer him above the other guy that was close to the door.

As soon as we settled him down, there was a chuckle from the other girl in the room. Her head was still down in her work, but I could see the proud grin on her face. “Nice reaction time there, Wheein.”

“I nearly had a ing heart attack.” She held her hand to her chest. She still clutched the baton in the other hand, and she looked at it now like she forgot she held it. “The ‘out’ setting on this is very effective… I don’t think I should keep it though… I mean, should I?”

I shrug. “It’s up to you. The guy ain’t dead so… It’s not any worse than what I just did.”

I looked back to the screens, realizing that I had taken my eyes off them for too long. Lucky for me, most of the staff was still in the meeting, but Hwasa worked faster than she anticipated.

“Done. All the doors should remain unlocked until someone comes in to fix it. We’re free to move anywhere, and the cameras are frozen.”

“Hwasa, you’re amazing.” I gushed.

“I know.”

“Good.” I cracked a smile at that. “Let’s get going.”

Moonbyul’s POV

I heard Hwasa confirm it, but I wouldn’t know if it was true until I actually tried. I knew there was no one around to see me leave, but I carefully tried the handle anyway. I knew better than to question Hwasa. I pushed the door open and stepped out, ready to run to Solar, but our reunion would be a lot sweeter if it actually led to getting out. So instead I went down the hall that led to Wendy. I followed the way I heard Irene go so many times before.

If I didn’t hear the soft sound of Wendy breathing, I would have thought Wendy was dead. She was so still on her bed staring up at the ceiling. She must have been so lost. She barely even spared a glance at me.

“Wendy, you may not know me anymore, but I knew you before they took your memories. I want to get you out of here.”

She finally turned her whole face towards me, her eyebrows quirked with interest. I saw her assess my wardrobe, and she finally realized what this was. Irene had told her about it, but I knew Wendy must have been skeptical. What would be worse than getting ones hopes up for an escape only to be let down?

“Irene wasn’t lying?”

“No. Come on, we don’t have much time.”

She nodded and got up. I could hear the girls getting close. We might actually pull this off without a problem.

I really shouldn’t have thought anything because the moment I did, I heard everyone in the meeting being dismissed. Damn.

“Stay close to me.”

I stepped back out and fought the urge to meet Solar halfway. I could hear her coming faster now. She must have felt the shift in the air the way I did. There was something more to those meetings.

Solar’s POV

The odd air felt stronger than before. It boosted my sense of urgency. Something must have happened. I have no idea what it was, but I could feel it.

“We’re close.” I assured the girls behind me. It was just a bit further, but I could hear them now. It wasn’t hard to miss the echoing of feet racing towards us in these halls. The tiles made sure of that. They knew we were here now. I was sure of it. There was only one way they could have known. Irene. I don’t know what changed her mind, but we had keep moving.

“Run!”

I wish I could put more time into this to make it better. Sorry y'all