New year’s countdown was the busiest time of the year. People gathered in the city center under the cloudy dark sky to celebrate the change from old to new, hoping to shed off the skins that was covered in dusts and dirts of their sins. The church’s bell rang once, signalling the countdown from ten to one. The noises died down a little when expectations rushed in. Giddiness was high in the air. I watched them from the top of a tower, close to where the bridge was, with the same anticipation for something different.

Chaos in my blood. Chaos was my life.

The chant had become obligatory since I started doing underground mission. I was taught by the people who took me in that the reason I existed was because I was chosen to bring chaos into this world. Where everyone else was pretentiously showing their good deeds to the discerning eyes of public, we were the Judgement that would bring peace after the storm – much like the card in the Tarot deck. Although I no longer worked with them, their teachings stayed with me all the same.

The heels in my stilettos were at least eleven inches, the edges sharp as needles. One stab and it would kill as effectively as a small dagger. Admiring the delicate handcraft, I smiled at the crowd beneath and started counting with them to midnight. Ten seconds, more and more people joined. They looked like big, black insects from this height. Five seconds, the bell rang once more. Three seconds, the clouds cleared and the crowds cheered. Two, my heart shook, not knowing exactly what this feeling was. Was it excitement, guilt or perhaps… regret? One second, it was too late now.

Bang!

The explosion started as the fireworks bloomed beautifully in the air. The noise was deafening. The initial joyful moment had turned to horror and screams of terror resounded throughout the area. Once the west corner engulfed in fire, another explosion started about three seconds later in the southern part, followed rapidly by the other two sides, resulting in a tragic trap that caged them in a circle of no escape. The bridge collapsed at once. The church was torn down by the explosion and the fire. The only building that survived was the tower on which I stood at the top of.

Screams. Fear. Despair. The hopelessness of the situation was devastating. Three thousands… At least half of them were injured and about hundreds were dead. Those who survived were clouded with light wounds and burns, but the horridness was already imprinted on their minds. Some of them would live to tell the tales. I sighed and jumped off the platform, landing safely on the concrete ceramic floor before my phone rang, perfectly timed. Without looking at the caller, I picked up the phone and put it on speaker, feeling stupidly fearless and careless at that moment.

“Is it done?” The other side sounded breathless, and I could picture a skeleton-like old man with his bones protruding to be watching the news calmly, waiting for results. He ought to be smoking cigarettes and drinking liquor in celebration, so his voice was raspy and his words a little slurred. His consciousness was enough to hold him awake long enough to finish the deal before he drank himself to sleep – a common occurrence that happened almost daily.

“Of course,” I smiled and stumped my heels on the ground. Despite its smooth, sharp edge, the heels were strong enough to withstand any falls or hard material, never breaking once in a year. The stairs of this building was spiralling down, decorated plainly and made from the best woods found. There were at least eighteen stories towards the ground level, and I made sure I took my time, “I assume that you are ready to transfer the rest of the money to my account?”

“The Interpol won’t trace it back to me, will they?” My client was very much doubtful, although I couldn’t really blame him. I had only been working for two-and-a-half year and went free-lancing in the last one year. The reputation that I built was tied to the organisation that raised me to be who I was today, and now that I worked independently, I had lost some of the more profitable clients. Gradually, words got around that I was still in the business and albeit there were only few of them who managed to find my contact, they were willing to pay ten times the amount I had before.

Money was the roots of all evil. Indeed, it was. I wasn’t exactly sure whether I was doing this job for the money or for the validation of self. Right now, I was as lost as I was before, but rich. At least I no longer lived in the two-rooms mediocre apartment in suburban Seoul and worked part-time with my mother in a cat café while studying. My dreams were more realistic now, and it wasn’t bound by a country or one identity. There were sacrifices made for this exchange, and right now, I wouldn’t regret any of the choices I made.

“Rest assured that no one can trace it back to you so long as you ensure the full payment is transferred soon. You know how reckless I can get sometimes, don’t you?” I said lightly, but the client took a deep breath of horror as I paused. The sounds of siren arrived at the area and I rushed to run downstairs before I was implicated in a more complicated situation. “Even if the Interpol won’t find you, I will, and I’m sure you know which one to fear more… them… or me?”

The man I was talking to was the son of a General from a fallen country in World War II. His act of revenge was triggered by the unjust investigation of his father’s murder during wartime. Now a tycoon with enough power and wealth, he wanted to kill those people responsible for the murder and the investigation, including their descendants. The rest of the victims were just accidental murders to him. Their lives mattered very little. “Fine. Check your account now,” He grunted, sounding a little more sober than he actually was.

Sure enough, my account displayed a ten-digits number in foreign currency. I lit up the fire from a lighter and threw the phone on the ground, stumping on it before burning it to ashes. Sweats formed on my forehead as I used the hoodie to cover up half of my face. The winter in Europe was unusually warm this year, probably due to global warming. Carefully checking the entrance that was starting to be swamped by those black uniforms and guns, I ran towards the secret underground passage and escaped from there.

Life was hard when you constantly lived on the edge, but with power, everything was bearable. I returned and checked into a three-stars resort near the theme park and casino. The snow from yesterday had melted to water so everything else was wet outside. There were people swimming in the indoor pool and partying in the ballroom ‘till dawn. The new year celebration had only begun but I already felt tired from all the intensity throughout the night. The only things worth thinking about were warm bathtub and candle-lit nap.

Slowly sliding off my leather jacket and outer coat, I entered the bathroom without any coverage at all. The tub was only starting to fill as I poured out the flowers petal and the soap. There was a large mirror near the shower, next to the hangers. During these years, I had changed beyond recognition. The malnourished body now had a little muscles and curves – in-between fit with an hourglass figure. My skin was on the fairer side because of the lack of exposure to sunlight, and it was no longer yellow and sickly.

There was always something about this skin-depth warmth that sent tingles to my heart whenever I came close to water. I sank deeper and drowned my entire head in, letting the numbness took over for a good twenty seconds before resurfacing with difficulties breathing. I coughed out loud and let that fear settled deep into my heart, so that I would forget all the tragic memories I had from the organisation: the unbearable loss, the countless deaths every week, the continuous torture and fighting, and the parting with my mother.

All this while, I dared not inquire anything about her. How she had been in five years since the day I left, whether she was still well and alive, if her boss treated her better. I knew nothing. I could still hear her voice and her fatigue, how she used to call out to me with that childish nickname. I smiled. I could hear… I rose up in alarm. There were clicking sounds twice outside the bathroom, and I suspected that it came from the window and not the door. It couldn’t possibly be robbery, could it?

I tried to make as little noise as possible and got out of the tub, drenched in water and smelling very much like roses and jasmine. I grabbed the tower that covered my private parts before advancing to the door carefully. Steady now. I had faced life-threatening situations many times before and this was just another one. There were footsteps outside and I calmly took a deep breath, taking one step back to prepare myself should anything extraordinary happen.

They kicked the door open. Two men, one followed by the other, stood straight facing me with ice-cold expressions. One of them wore gloves on both his hands, with a silver necklace dangling on his upper body. He was much taller, with dark eye bags and very oriental appearance, clenching and unclenching his fists. The other wore masks, and it was hard to tell how old he actually was. One of his eyes were ocean blue, so blue they could have sank anyone inside. The other features were well-hidden underneath that grey-black mask. There was something different about them. Something dangerous, because their minds were blocked by a barrier that would not allow me to enter.

“What…” I wanted to say something, but suddenly, I felt a heavy weight on me, disabling my ability to move or speak. I was literally frozen. I couldn’t grunt, scream, nor widen my eyes and simply stared foolishly at the two without blinking. I felt suffocated. This was not possible. Could they be another transcendentals?

The taller one smirked and lowered down his hand, turning to the other guy full of delight, “Doctor Lee never told me she would be this… pretty.” He eyed me up and down like an object. His gaze stopped at my face after lingering on my chests for a little while. There was a mix of curiosity and unmistakable lust, but then again, I wasn’t exactly dressed for this occasion. Neither did I have the power to rain curses at them both for staring at me inappropriately. “She’s lucky we discovered her first. If it were Baekhyun or Kai, heaven knows what they might have done to this pretty little thing.”

Instead of replying directly to his colleague, the other one rummaged through my wardrobe and found a simple bathrobe to drape over my wet body. Well, at least, he was much more of a gentleman than his friend. He didn’t bother looking for too long after putting it on me and spoke to his friend in a pleasant voice, neither too low or too high, “Let’s get this done with and bring her to Jane, Tao. I’m sure we’d have other things to do at the base.”

Tao – the younger guy with tattoo on both arms – nodded quickly and raised both hands. I could feel my body moving again, and due to the sudden impact, I fell flat on the ground. The other man took a step forward and touched me on my forehead, whispering a sweet gentle word as darkness consumed me almost instantly. The last word that haunted me before I completely lost myself was ‘’ because , indeed, things were about to go ugly.

* * *

The young lieutenant walked beside the Doctor anxiously. There were traces of fear between the curve of his lips, but he hid it so well no one would have noticed. “We have captured the girl as was requested, Doctor. Now could you please explain to me why you have been persistently trying to track her down for the last five years? Surely, we have many more recruits that could have been of better disposition than her? After all, she went with the Rebels and worked with them for a while. Who knows what truly happened in-between?”

Jane was contemplating. She had a stack of paper that she read over and over again. NR-13, the last addition to her perfect team. The girl was supposed to complete the arrangement until she was kidnapped by the other party, along with ten other new recruits. The one she wanted most was the one who slipped away from her grasp so easily. Jane felt unresolved and regretful, although it wasn’t supposed to be in her nature to feel so. “Do not create a mess during investigation, Lieutenant. We simply want to examine her.”

“No blood involved, Doctor Lee, that, I can promise you. Although I still don’t understand the kind of values she could bring to us as a whole. She looks ordinary, whatever ‘ordinary’ means,” was the only promise Key could give her. He stared at the screen on the metal door and furrowed his eyebrows, “Why are you putting a blindfold over her eyes? And why is she dressed… like that?” With a towel wrapping around her private parts and bathrobe draping over her shoulder, barely covering much.

“They obviously did it in a rush,” Jane noted. The girl’s hair was half-dried, and she couldn’t really tell if this was still the same girl that she wanted before because her looks had changed beyond recognition. She didn’t even resemble anything like the photo on her profile. “NR-02, thank you for bringing her here,” Jane turned to the man who just took off his mask, revealing a young-looking face that couldn’t possibly be older than twenty. But he was, in fact, the second oldest in the team she assembled. The way he spoke betrayed his baby face, “She doesn’t look that special to me, Doctor Lee. Why do we have to take extra precaution against her?”

NR-02, Luhan, watched from the screen how the girl struggled to break free, feeling completely powerless as her body was tied and her eyes shielded. Beside him, NR-10, Tao, chuckled lightly, his hands folded in front of his chest. As the younger of the two, Tao was a little more impulsive in his speech, sometimes boldly speaking everything that came to him at the moment, “Not that special, and yet, half of the team were dispatched to catch this girl. There’s bound to be something different with her ability, especially if it’s one that even you can’t identify, Lu.”

All of them turned to Jane for explanation, only to find her passing the papers calmly to her subordinates. “Five years ago, she was supposed to be a powerful new seed and a very strong candidate for NR-13. However, she was kidnapped by the Rebels during the transfer and disappeared for quite some time before she made a reputation for herself in the span of one year. The reason? She specialised in terrorist attack, prison escapes, drug and weapon’s dealings. Almost all of the recent suicide bombing have to do with her, although no one can pinpoint out how and what. Now, tell me, what kind of ability does she possess to become a worldwide criminal in such a short time?”

Tao and Luhan looked at each other, not quite sure of the answer themselves. Key furrowed his eyebrows, the frown seemed to have found a permanent place on his fair face. “Is she perhaps, a fire-bender?” Luhan shot the younger man a look, indicating his disagreement at the argument. It simply made no sense at all. Tao snorted and refuted his suggestion almost immediately, “If she truly is one, Doctor Lee would have asked the four elementals from the team to capture her, instead of all six of us. Suho alone, would be enough in dealing with her, no matter how powerful she could be.”

Key wanted to argue, but found some truth in Tao’s words. Besides, why would they need two fire-users in one team? All three turned to Jane for answer, and she patiently replied, her words were soft, but her tone was strong and firm. “She controls people’s mind.” And when she saw the question mark on the Lieutenant’s face, she continued, “No, not like hypnosis. Hers is far more special. She could reach to the depth of your consciousness and control you like a puppet attached to a string. Or at least, that was supposed to be her potential when we discovered her years ago. Just like you, Lieutenant, I’m not sure how she had fared with the Rebels, so a further examination is needed. I want to go in myself and see what she is truly capable of.”

Mind-control? Luhan thought incredulously. That kind of power would have been too dangerous for them to handle. The extent of one’s power was very much connected to the strength of the mind and if she could control it well, then she would be able to grasp onto one’s deepest fear and darkest secret, compelled obligation and absolute submission. It was no wonder that Jane would grow so invested with her. She could be a powerful opponent or an useful ally. Tao couldn’t quite believe it himself. This girl certainly didn’t look like the part. He swallowed his saliva down and thanked God they had caught her when she was most vulnerable.

“Would the blindfold actually help?” Key was now a little doubtful. He folded his hands and paced around slowly. Jane herself, wasn’t too sure about the extent of usefulness a blindfold could possess to this type of ability, but everyone had their own weakness, even the most powerful ones. “Hopefully so. That should be the bane of her ability. I’ve called NR-03 and NR-04 here. NR-02, you shall come with me if you would like to. Your ability is quite similar to hers, maybe you’ll find yourself useful during the examination.”

Luhan smiled, but there was something eerie behind it. Although they had never been regular partner, Tao had accompanied Luhan once or twice during team’s mission and discovered just how dangerous this man could be. Beneath that calm façade was a twisted mind with a dark past. No one should get too close for fear of getting burnt. Very few of them were able to withstand him for long. One of such was Suho, NR-04, the water-bender of the group and the unofficial leader of the Twelve.

Suho was a fair one, perhaps the fairest of them all. No one knew his real name or where he came from, they only knew that he was the first to arrive in this laboratory and the first to be scouted into the team. His personality was often likened to water – calm and soothing when needed, overwhelming and brutal unexpectedly. The grey cardigan clung onto his tee-shirt, paired with a casual long pants, looking more like a young master of a rich family than a man on the world’s most-wanted list. He walked slowly beside Kris, NR-03, and the contrast between their height was apparent.

While Suho carried a hint of a friendly, calculative smile on his face, Kris was almost frosty, as if he had bitten a huge chunk of ice and was numbed in the process of getting it melted. His hair was dark as ebony, and his eyes sharp as a bird. Kris naturally possessed an otherworldly aura which created this barrier that instantly separated him and the rest – as if his expression alone wasn’t frightening enough. “Doctor Lee,” The two greeted respectfully and paid very little attention to Key. The Lieutenant wasn’t even angry at their lack of enthusiasm.

“I assume that we are here for babysitting duty, Doctor –?” Suho’s words were sharp as a knife. Clearly, he didn’t appreciate being called over for this new recruit whom he was reluctant to be associated with. Kris groaned and Tao almost burst out laughing from the leader’s choice of word. Suho looked around and narrowed his eyes a little at the sight of Luhan, clearly quite surprised that he chose to appear here of all the places to be. But then again, Suho had heard of the news and was quite interested to find him with a transfixed expression on the blindfolded girl in the interrogation room. “I heard you two found her first. Is that true?”

“We did,” Luhan answered coolly. He was distracted by the girl, more so than anyone else in this space. At least, she brought interesting value to the odd mixture of the Twelve. Not to mention, there was something he saw in her that didn’t quite feel right. Was it those fascination that he saw when she looked at his eye, or the lack of fear when she faced them both? Without waiting for Suho’s reply, Luhan turned to the doctor and told her with a shallow smile, “I want to go in with you, Doctor.”

Kris raised his head upon hearing his response. He stood close to Tao and asked him in a disgruntled low whisper, “What’s the whole ordeal with this new recruit? The entire team is restless because of her. Is there anything… peculiar about her ability? Except for the fact that she’s a girl, of course. That is certainly a breathe of fresh air.” Tao snorted in-between and explained, “She’s supposed to be the last member of our team. Controls mind and went missing five years ago during the transfer. Doctor Lee’s been trying to find her for a long time, and recently, she’s gotten news of her whereabouts, so she sent the two of us, along with Xiumin, Chen, Baekhyun and D.O to track her down. Quite shocking, isn’t it?”

“I guess,” was Kris’ way of closing the conversation. Tao merely glanced at him and stepped forward closer to the screen, where everyone was watching the struggle of a young girl against her ties and blindfold. She knew very well that she was at a disadvantaged situation, and yet, she still did everything she could to break free. It was either extreme stubbornness or anger that motivated her to do so. Suho stood near Luhan and nodded to Jane as well, “I shall accompany you as well, Doctor Lee.”

The doctor was quite surprised that Suho agreed on his own account, without much persuasion needed. Although she was sure that he would eventually come in at the end, she would rather have this wilful volunteering act than his usual stubborn self. Suho was dutiful to the organisation and the mission, but he wasn’t the leader for nothing. He had his own pride and belief when it came to things. Jane gave a rare, thin smile and keyed in the PIN code and scanned her face for recognition, “Very well. Let’s do this.”