“I thought I saw Yuta, but I guess it wasn’t him.”

Ten rolled his eyes and shook his head disapprovingly. “If you’re seeing that Yuta guy when he’s not there, then you truly have fallen.”

Sicheng frowned, finally looking back at Ten. “Shut up. Don’t you have to get back to work?”

Ten grunted. “Yes. I wish I didn’t, but I guess I should go before I get fired or something. And I think I’ve been holding up the line.”

“You have,” Yangyang, who had been standing behind Ten the entire time with Kun at his side, spoke out after waiting an entire five minutes for the older to shut up.

“I didn’t ask you,” Ten said, only 90% serious. But he moved to the side anyway, allowing the younger to finally order his drink.

When Yangyang was sitting happily at one of the tables drinking his ice caramel macchiato by himself, Kun took advantage of the empty coffee shop to talk to Sicheng. “Have you thought about Ten’s idea yet?”

Sicheng almost groaned at the single mention of Ten’s idea to use him as a spy. Truth was, as much as he hated thinking about it, it was the only thing that filled his thoughts lately. He pondered the idea day and night and went back and forth with all the pros and cons. And the results always amounted to one conclusion: He needed a deciding factor. It was all so even, he needed some sort of sign to point him in a certain direction.

“I don’t know, Kun. It’s all I think about and-” Sicheng took in a deep breath and released in exasperation. “I wish my visions would come back to tell me what I should do.”

“Did they really stop?” Kun asked. He remembered Sicheng briefly ranting about it before, but they hadn’t had a full discussion about it. 

Sicheng nodded. “I don’t know why. It might be because I don’t use my powers, like ever. Perhaps they’re fading?”

Kun hummed, thinking back to all the studies he had ever done. Back home, he was a well-educated teacher after all. He had one of the highest degrees of knowledge that could be acquired by their kind, and his responsibility and education had earned him a spot on the mission to find that crystal, after all. He shook his head, recalling all of the rules of powers.

“No. Powers only fade for those who aren’t of our kind. Like Ten and Taeyong, which is why they need constant use of the crystal. Our kind is set for life. But-” Kun paused, trying to recall reasons as to why someone could experience fading in their powers. “I don’t know why your visions would stop. Unless you finally learned to use them only voluntarily.”

Sicheng pursed his lips, wondering if that was what happened to his powers. It was reasonable, but for as long as he’d had his visions, he could never control them to that extent. Sometimes he could force himself to have one, but it would wear him out immensely. And they just came when they wanted to. He had learned how to control the pain he got with them - or more so, he built up a tolerance - and how to conceal himself when he got them, but he still couldn’t stop them or use them on command. But maybe if he tried... 

“I’ll try to figure out why they stopped, but if they really did bother you that much before, maybe you should consider it a blessing. Don’t worry about it too much.”

Sicheng nodded at the piece of advice.

“And Winwin, about Ten’s plan-” Kun sighed. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Ten will get over it even if he whines at first - you know how he is - and we have other ways to find the crystal.”

Sicheng nodded once more and smiled. “Thanks Kun.”

But that still would not stop his mind from rolling.

“Where are you going?” Doyoung asked Taeil while sipping from his peach colored mug that afternoon when the older headed towards the entrance of their shared apartment.

“Johnny and I set up a meeting so that I could expand my 'toolbelt' or whatever he said, I wasn’t really listening. So I trust you’ll take good care of the place while I’m gone. Also, don’t forget to water the plant.” Taeil said as he slipped on his shoes before he was opening the door to head out.

“Taeil,” Doyoung took the time to set his mug down and walk to the front door where Taeil was standing. “That plant is plastic.” Doyoung said with an exasperated tone.

Taeil dropped his satchel in shock. “You’re joking, right?”

Doyoung silently shook his head.

“I’ve been watering that plant for months!” Taeil squeaked, but continued to pick up his bag. “You know what? I am going to go meet Johnny and when I get back home I better see a new plant!” Taeil said with a slight huff and stormed out. Not even a few seconds later the door unlocked only for a few more words to be said. “And a real one!”

The door was slammed shut.

Doyoung snickered as he picked up his mug and carried on with his business. 

Taeil stood by the door, ringing the doorbell rather aggressively; most likely from finding out Terry, the plant he’d been watering, was not real. It was fairly obvious the plant was not real, the leaves never wilted, nor felt or looked real, and Doyoung never once watered it. Taeil felt like Boo Boo the Fool. He felt stupid, and idiotic for-

“Sorry I kept you waiting, I had to arrange some things. Please, come in.” Johnny said, his hair looked a bit disheveled as if he had ran a bit, but nonetheless he stepped aside to make room for Taeil to walk in.

“So, what exactly are we doing?” Taeil asked as he waited for Johnny to close the door and then followed behind when he walked forward.

“As I said when we arranged this meeting, we are going to exercise your powers and see what and where you can improve.” Johnny explained, leading Taeil down what seemed like a million corridors.

“I’m sorry, but did you say e-exercise?” Taeil asked with a slight stutter.

“Yes, is there a problem?” Johnny asked, only turning his head a bit to glance at the shorter guy.

“Well, yes. The last time I worked out was in high school and even then I .”

Taeil talking about his past reminded Johnny of how they first met; Taeil was using his (weak) telekinesis to deliver mail but ended up falling out of his truck and scraped his knee on the pavement and Johnny, being the gentleman he was, handed him a handkerchief. It was an odd meeting.

Johnny opened the door which led downstairs, the path down was dim but the room itself was brightly illuminated. “We’re here! Welcome to the official practice room for 127!” Johnny announced with a hint of pride, his voice booming rather loudly through the large and empty room.

“It’s very-” There was a pause as Taeil turned to take it all in. “-large.” That was the only positive thing Taeil was able to come up with. The room had a lingering odor of sweat, it was filled with workout equipment, and in the corner was an odd room that had a translucent window, so he couldn’t see what was inside there.

Johnny was already walking ahead of him when he stopped looking around.

“Hey, what are you doing here, I told you-” Johnny started when he saw who was lifting weights was, but was interrupted by the elder shoving him to the side and while letting out a loud screech.

“Oh my god! Are you Captain J?!” Taeil asked, jumping up and down as he stared at the other man in the room. The other only released a stiff chuckle. Stunned was one of the many words to describe what he felt.

Jaehyun glanced over at Johnny who shook his head with wide eyes.

“Uhm. I can neither deny nor confirm the allegations being made about me - are you Taeil, perhaps?” Jaehyun asked, suddenly feeling his ego boost up, completely ignoring the fact that his boss was shoved to the ground just a few seconds ago. They both shook hands as a greeting and for a second almost forgot Johnny.

Johnny slightly huffed as he got up by himself while the other two chatted over small things like the weather, training, and interests.

“Wow, I’ve never seen someone so buff before. Can I touch?” Jaehyun’s eyes widened at the suggestion and Johnny lightly pushed Jaehyun aside before he could be harassed. 

“Okay! That’s enough, let’s continue our tour, shall we?” Johnny gently pressed his hand on Taeil’s back and guided him away from the nearly harassed Jaehyun.

“Why is this room so large? Is it perhaps because there are more superheroes? Are they training too? Where are we go-?”

It was at the tip of Jisung’s tongue. He knew he had it. The Hacker inside of him was yelling at him, telling him the answer - the solution to Dream’s problems - was right there. But what? What could it possibly be? What was it-

“Mark and Haechan, I got! Get ready to go under - cover.” Jisung looked around the room, slowly realizing there was a huge missing presence that day. His smile fell as his eyes scanned the room before they landed on Jaemin and Jeno. “Where are Mark and Haechan?”

Jaemin, who had been sitting on the couch playing a game on his phone with Jeno, answered the question. “They said they had training with Johnny.”

Jisung frowned, slowly sitting back down.

Right. 

There was that important factor to the equation which he had not taken into consideration.

“What’s up, Sung?” Chenle spoke up from his official seat next to Jisung at his desk.

“I was just thinking about how we could hack into SM again. But without Mark and Haechan the plan is useless.”

Jaemin and Jeno both looked at each other, and then they looked over at Chenle who looked back. The three of them then looked over at Renjun who had busied himself with some paperwork on the other side of the room. Feeling the watching eyes, he slowly looked up and slowly began to shake his head when he realized what they were all thinking.

“Oh no. No no no no no, I will not become a pawn in your game.” Renjun was now shaking his head even harder in strong refusal.

Jisung’s head perked up, a new idea coming up to his head when he remembered Renjun worked at the company they were trying to break into. He gasped loudly and clasped his hands. “Why didn’t I think about it before?! This is genius! We don’t even have to hack into the company, we have Renjun!”

“I did not agree to this.” Renjun was shaking his head once again. “I don’t even know the company that well like other workers.”

“No, but you don’t have to do much,” Jisung said, turning around in his seat before typing up a bunch of things and opening up a few files, “all you have to do is get me in. I will take over from there. Do you have access to the database files?”

“I just have my computer at the cubicle and-”

“That will do. I just need you to get in and click on a file that I will send you. From there I can check for a vulnerable point to breach the-”

“We get it, you’re a coding nerd.” Jaemin called out.

Jisung ignored the comment and concentrated on whatever he was doing. Until Renjun spoke up once again.

“But, if you want to hack into the many branches of SM, a lot of that isn’t digitized. Especially a lot of the files transferred over from the laboratory, the scientific developing team, and most of the science branch. Their database is different, so we only get access to the paper copies in the basement floor: The archives. SM is cautious with all of their files because they fear hacking, so they maintain them all within their own branches. I guess I know why now.”

Jisung froze. His fingers began to clench and his head fell down on his keyboard in exasperation. This could not be happening. This entire time, they had tried hacking the system, only for the files which they needed from all those specific branches… to not be digitized. What were they supposed to do now? Hack each individual branch? Renjun didn’t know the password to all of them. Jisung supposed it made sense that the different branches would not contain all the same databases, seeing how they all focused on completely different things.

But this was the main building. The center of everything. What were they supposed to do now?

“We could collect the files you need ourselves.” Jeno said, having read every single one of the younger’s thoughts.

Jisung’s head perked up and he turned to look at Jeno with a questioning look. “Really? You would sneak in there to collect the files?”

Jeno looked hesitant but nodded anyway. “I mean, I’m no Mark who can climb walls and crawl through vents like a spider, and I’m not Haechan who can teleport from one room to another, but I guess I’m agile and stealthy enough.”

“It’s true, he’s been taking some classes,” Jaemin said with a nod.

Jisung hummed, giving the idea some thought. And it didn’t seem bad. Sure, Jeno was no Mark or Haechan, but that wasn’t bad. He was Jeno. He had his own advantages.

Jeno didn’t even have to sneak inside, he worked there. He was pretty agile, he’d be able to run if he was caught. And with Jisung’s guidance, he would be able to find the files quick. And Renjun could even keep guard. But the place would be big and he would need someone else to help.

“Okay, Jeno and Renjun, you are both on the list. Who else wants to join?”

“Oh, I will! I will!”

“Alright, Chenle, it is settled then. You three are the new spy team.”

When Taeil had left after his training, it was time for Mark and Haechan to get their first power tests, conducted by none other than the power expert: Taeyong.

“So, have you two ever run tests of your own?” Taeyong asked, looking up from his tablet.

Mark and Haechan glanced over at each other and slowly nodded, both remembering the exact same moment.

“Okay, let’s start off simple” Jaemin said, holding up a clipboard in one hand, and a pen in another. “Can you travel to our old high school? Classroom 205 on the second floor?”

Haechan flashed out of the room and flashed back in seconds later. He nodded.

Jaemin checked off a box and pushed up his glasses. He looked back up. “Okay, now a little more extreme. Jisung, click next.”

Jisung did as told, and a picture of the river came up. “Can you travel there?”

Haechan disappeared once again before reappearing seconds later. “Yup!”

“Uh huh.” Jaemin checked off another box. “Now this one, you have never been to.”

“Is that Hawaii?” Mark asked, frowning when he saw the picture of the beach.

Haechan flashed out once again. This time, he didn’t appear right away, and when a minute had passed, everyone in the room turned to look at each other. Jeno made a face and Chenle shook his head. Jaemin was about to cross out the box, when Haechan flashed back in with a smoothie in hand and wide grin on his face. He nodded. “Hell yeah I can travel to Hawaii.”

Jaemin nodded, impressed, and checked off the box, while Chenle and Mark began to laugh loudly in amusement.

“Can he travel to the moon?” Chenle suddenly asked.

“Whoa, can you?” Mark asked, astonished by the idea, completely forgetting the science that would disallow that.

Jisung also began to think about it momentarily, amazed by the idea.

“First of all,” Jaemin said, ready to become the common sense of the group for the day, “he would not have oxygen.”

“Okay, but what if he just held his breath in? It wouldn’t take long.” Jisung asked.

“Do you know how cold the moon is? He would freeze.”

“He could wear a very thick coat.”

“There is so much wrong with this conversation.”

“I guess you could say we’ve done some minor tests before…” Haechan said, sending Mark another glance.

“Yeah, very minor,” Mark agree with a firm nod.

“Alright, Johnny and I have some simulations set out for you two inside that room. We just want you to go through the simulations, and don’t worry if you can’t do some things. We will adjust them correctly to your powers later on.”

Taeyong looked over at Johnny who nodded. “Okay, Mark is first.”

Mark nodded and walked into the room. The lights dimmed instantly and everything around him transformed. Haechan and the others were replaced with the images of the city.

“Okay, for this first test, we need you two swing around, climb buildings, just do your thing.” It was Taeyong’s voice coming through.

Mark looked around, startled by the voice. But he couldn’t find the source. It was just the entire city surrounding him. The street was free of people besides himself. There were parked cars, empty shops, and the only thing he could hear was the whistling wind.

“So, I just swing? How does that work in here?”

“It’s like virtual reality, just do what you usually do and you’ll get the hang of the simulation.”

Mark nodded and raised a hand up. A web shot out and stuck to the side of the building, pulling him up from the ground. Or, at least that was what it felt like. He didn’t think he was actually off the ground? Was he? Or was the floor of the room transforming to fit him?

It was weird at first, but Mark was able to get the hang of it, swinging from one building to another with a breeze. Until Taeyong told him to speed it up, and Mark eventually found himself swinging as fast as he could. His webs attached to sides of buildings, pulling him forward with more and more acceleration each time. A building would get in his way and he would have to act quick and run up it before jumping off and falling at a great speed, before shooting out a web that pulled him up once again it. It was pretty cool. Mark couldn’t remember a time where he had swung around like that, freely on his own.

“Just a little faster.” Taeyong spoke up after Mark had already been going at it for a while at a decently fast speed, wanting to test the full extent of Mark’s powers.

But Mark’s hand slipped and his body had built up so much momentum - or the simulation had - and he went tumbling down, shutting his eyes tight, waiting for the impact of the cold, hard cement ground. But he forgot this was only a simulation, and the floor of the room felt much softer than he expected.

“That was great, but you need to work on your breaks.”

This time it was Johnny’s voice.

Mark sighed, resting his forehead against the floor, lying flat on the ground. He begrudgingly pushed himself back up, and stood at the center of the room once again, waiting for his next test.

“Next, we’re going to test your enhanced senses.” It was Taeyong again. “Grab the blindfold over there and wrap it around your head.”

Mark looked over to the center of the room where a little door opened, revealing a black blindfold. He looked over to the side where the window was visible once again, and looked at the two older guys questioningly. They nodded. Mark looked down at the piece of fabric in his hand and, deciding to not question any further, he wrapped it around his head, covering his eyes, and secured it.

He walked to the center of the room - or what he thought was the center. He couldn’t see.

“So what now-”

Mark shivered, feeling his senses tickling the back of his neck and traveling down his spine. He crouched down to the floor in quick reflex. He heard something swoosh right above his head, breezing by the few single strands of his hair that stood up. Now he was scared.

“Uh, guys? What was that-”

Another tingly sense came by and he jumped up and clung to what he assumed was the wall in a matter of seconds. And then there was another one and he threw himself off the wall. And another and he rolled to the other side of the room. And so on, and so on, and so on, until everything started speeding up and he was breathless, dodging everything as fast as he could. He felt like he was playing dodgeball in fifth grade and everyone in the gym was targeting him at once.

With the increasing speed, and his growing vulnerability, Mark was no longer dodging every target successfully. First, one of those swoosh balls hit his arm. Then his leg. Then his chest. And Mark was just running around at that point with his senses going off in every direction, hoping it would stop.

And it finally did and everything seemed to finally slow back down and -- he fell to the floor to catch his breath.

Mark ripped the blindfold off his face and he could see multi-colored spots all over the room, his vision was adjusting to the light once again. He glanced around the room and saw many little balls lying around. He looked up at the glass window and Taeyong was scribbling something down with Johnny looking over, while Haechan just laughed at the side.

Taeyong stopped writing and looked up from the clipboard. He nodded and gave Mark a thumbs up - which Mark thought he really could have gone without - and signaled him to come out.

Mark wiped the sweat of his brow before he pushed himself off the ground to go walk up to the door. That was quite the workout.

“You did pretty good for someone who has only done self-training.” Taeyong said, continuing to check some boxes off. “There are a few more tests, but I think I have worn you down enough for now, so let’s go over the results.”

Mark nodded and held his hands together tightly in front of him.

“Okay, the speed of your swinging and wall climbing/running is decent, you can reach almost any place in the city at an adequate time. There’s not much to say there, except you should be more confident with your webs, because your lack of confidence and overthinking will make you fall.”

Haechan snorted and Mark elbowed him in response.

“As for your senses, your initial responses are good, but there is a lot to work with. Of course, we only tested your reflex sense this time, but next round your other enhanced senses will be tested as well. But what I can tell you right now is that your senses have potential, only if you are willing to work with them. Don’t try to run away from them. Your powers know best.”

It was true, that Mark didn’t always work well with his powers. Sometimes he even went against them, resulting in nothing but utter failure. But letting them take control was so hard and he found it such a burden sometimes. But he nodded, feeling Taeyong would know best.

“Anyway, next time we will also try some target practice to see how fast you can web things up and see if your senses help with that. Now, Haechan.”

Haechan’s head perked up and he ran into the room as fast as he could - bow in hand - ready to show them all what he could do.

“Okay, Haechan, since you already have your bow and arrows ready, we’re going to start off with your archery level with some target practice.”

Haechan nodded and pulled out his bow and arrows, ready to shoot every target that came his way. His vision went into focus and he was prepared.

“3… 2… 1…”

A target appeared. Haechan released. Another one came up behind him with that small ring and he spun around as he pulled another arrow, set it into place, and then he hit the target as soon as it was in sight.

Continuously, more targets began to appear and he hit every single one of them without fail. His vision was sharp, catching sight of every single target, and Haechan moved fast, making sure not to miss one. But, just like Mark and the balls that were shot at him, the speed of the appearance of the targets began to increase and soon Haechan found himself turning as fast as he could, trying to miss not a single one. But his muscles were starting to sore, and no matter how fast his vision worked, his reflexes weren’t up to par. He was missing targets left and right and he had already stopped trying to move around so much.

And then the simulation ended and Haechan was groaning, dreading what Mark’s reaction would be when he walked out of the room.

“Okay, Haechan, you can set down the bow.”

Haechan did as told and stood at the center of the room, waiting for his next orders.

“Now, your teleportation skills will be tested.”

Haechan nodded, his fingers wiggling as he took in a deep breath. He was ready.

And once again, the room transformed, a new image of the city in front of him.

“Now, you are going to search for the different areas of destination, and you’re going to get around using your teleportation skills.”

Haechan nodded, and the countdown began once again. “3...2...1…”

There was a ring, and Haechan’s vision quickly searched for the target. At the very top of one the buildings, he was able to see it, the flag. Without even thinking about it, Haechan used his skills to teleport up there and took hold of the flag. But as soon as it was in his grasp, it pixelated away and Haechan was left with nothing in his hand. He looked up, and in the far distance, way far down the street where everything was just barely a blur, Haechan could see it, waving around in the rays of the sunset.

As soon as it was in sight, Haechan teleported over. Yet again, the flag disappeared and his eyes scanned quickly, and not so far from where he was, hidden underneath a car, was the flag. Haechan made his way over and the process repeated. Over and over, each time the flag becoming less visible than the last. And Haechan was starting to speed up, hearing that quick ding every time that flag was in reach before it instantly pixelated away. The setting would also change every few rounds. A beach, a dessert, a mansion -- it was endless. And soon Haechan could feel his pulse in his veins and his heart was pounding loudly in his ears when he couldn’t find the flag after many rounds. He turned and turned and it wasn’t in sight and then -- everything pixelated away and he was left in the blue room by himself and he could only fall down to his knees to catch his breath.

“That was excruciating,” Haechan said as he swung the door open and walked out. “I don’t ever want to do that again and -- Mark, don’t say anything.”

Mark bit his lip, keeping himself from laughing at the hypocrisy that was Lee Donghyuck.

“Okay Haechan, let’s go over the rundown,” Taeyong said, flipping back a page of scribbled notes and filled in charts. “Starting with your archery skills, they are definitely above the average person.”

Haechan snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“But there is a problem with how fast you wear out. You can keep up continuously until you hit a wall, and from there your skills take a big hit and fall at an increasing rate.”

It was Mark’s turn to snort, earning himself a shove from the younger boy.

“But your vision is something that really helps you in archery, and we should also focus on training that aspect of yours, because it might just be your greatest aspect. Not only does it help you with targets, it helps you in battle with spotting your opponents moves before they can even complete them, I noticed this before when you fought against Doctor Death. Your enhanced vision even helped you in the teleportation test and allowed you to respond faster.”

Haechan smiled proudly to himself, being well aware of how great his vision was. It was a blessing, truly.

“By the way, your teleportation skills were great. It looks like you have been able to train them to an almost perfection -- except we need to work on the move you do where you teleport through the air continuously, because, once again, you get inconsistent with it and when you fought against Doctor Death you lost control and you fell, which was very dangerous.”

Haechan shrugged and nodded, knowing it was a skill he needed to work on. At least his vision was perfect.

“I think it’s also important to point out Haechan’s greatest strength is also his greatest weakness, being his enhanced vision.” Johnny jumped in from behind and Taeyong rolled his eyes.

“I was just about to get to that,” Taeyong responded before turning back to the kid whose face had completely dropped. “Haechan, you have great vision and it gives you an upper hand. In some way, it makes things look as if they are slowed down, and it can concentrate highly on things like targets and your opponents moves. But the problem is, this only extends to your vision, and time does not actually slow down for you - that is something that comes with superspeed - and your body is not as quick as your vision.”

Haechan was frowning - pouting? They couldn’t tell.

“Your vision may be able to tell you things quickly, but your reflexes - your body - can’t keep up with those signals, which can really make you fail.”

“Don’t worry kid,” Johnny jumped in once again, wanting to lift Haechan’s spirits up. “We will train you so that your reflexes can move cohesively with your vision.”

Haechan nodded, but didn’t say much after. Taking notice of that, Mark decided to change the topic.

“So what now?”

“Well,” Taeyong said, flipping over some pages in his clipboard, before Johnny placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

“You kids take a rest. You two have done enough for the day. But, be ready for your next training session, because we will be testing your teamwork.”

Mark and Haechan instantly turned to look at each other, both grimacing at the mention of their teamwork. Yeah, that was going to be a difficult session.

Jeno and Jaemin had been sitting on the couch, just like any other day that summer that the two were free - which was any day that Jeno didn’t have to go to his internship - and as always, they were playing on their phones. It was a nice way to spend summer, really, in an air conditioned room - not like the air condition was all that great in Jisung’s dad’s shop though - playing games on an old raggedy couch with a friend. It was rather calming and therapeutic for the mind.

Then, there was also the fact that they were undercover, somewhat, spies or superheroes, which just added that extra spice to their lives. Though, they didn’t exactly know what to call themselves. Superheroes? Vigilantes? Spies? It wasn’t like they did any of the heavy lifting in the group, no, that was Jisung. And Mark and Haechan.

Jisung was the brain of the group, no one could deny that. Even with Haechan and Mark around, if there was no Jisung, it was all useless.

There was one time, earlier in the summer before Renjun had joined the team, when Chenle and Jisung had flown out to China to stay at the older’s home for a few days. It hadn’t even been that long, maybe four days or five, but the time spent waiting was excruciating. Mark stared at the monitors all day, as if waiting for something to pop up, but nothing ever happened - probably because they were turned off. Haechan had spent the time practicing his teleportation out of pure boredom. He would flash out of the room for seconds or minutes, and then flash back in. Each time he reappeared, Haechan would look around the room for any signs up life - more so, any signs of Jisung or Chenle - before ultimately deciding to flash out once again. Where he disappeared off to during those times, they would never know. And then Jaemin and Jeno had spent their time taking turns throwing a ball at the wall before it bounced back and one of them caught it. They didn’t even play games on their phones, it just didn’t feel right without Jisung’s typing in the background, and Chenle’s loud talking beside him. Thankfully, the two boys returned eventually.

Everything went back to normal when Jisung and Chenle returned, and though no one ever actually mentioned how painful the silence had been those sickening days, they all knew; Jisung truly was the mastermind of the group that kept it all going. Mark and Haechan did a lot of the work on the outside, being the arms and legs or so, but at the end of the day, Jisung was the brain.

Perhaps that was why the group didn’t completely fall apart after Mark and Haechan got busy with 127. Because Jisung was there to keep it going. But Jeno and Jaemin - what were they?

Chenle was obviously the energy of the group, the one that kept them motivated - especially Jisung, which made him very valuable because their brain was important, and Chenle motivating their brain was even more important. And from time to time, when he wasn't trying to crack a joke to make someone laugh or smile, Chenle could get very serious. He could be a genius. Whether he would say those things thoughtlessly or not, Chenle could sometimes say very valuable key things.

Then, there was Renjun. He was important. They hadn’t figured out how yet, he had only joined them that summer, but they knew he was valuable to the group. He had something that none of them had, and maybe it was the way he thought. It was still hard to point out, but the way he saw things, the way his mind worked, it was different from the rest. And one day, when they came to use him for some super secret mission in the near future, that could come in handy.

But Jaemin and Jeno, they were founding members and they still didn’t know what their job was exactly. Sure, they did things here and there, like when Jaemin helped test all of their powers and convinced the group to not make Haechan teleport to the moon - that would have been disastrous - or when Jeno helped get Mark and Haechan into the building. But really, they both thought those jobs were simple tasks that anyone else in the group could have done. So what were they truly there for?

Well, Jeno had a job now. And no, not his internship, but a job relating to the team. He was the new Mark - and yes, he was quite aware that he couldn’t replace Mark, but it was only in a sense - and that meant Jeno had to learn to be their new secret agent. He had to learn to crawl through vents and fight off the bad guys. Truthfully, Jeno was pretty excited. He had been practicing flips and tricks and some mixed martial arts for a couple of months already, especially since classes had ended, but he didn’t know if he could trust himself.

Many times they had seen and heard Mark fight bad guys and run away from them - thanks to Jisung’s shady technology - and Jeno admired what he did. Truly, no one could do it like Mark. But how was he supposed to live up to that? He couldn’t.

And then there was the identity crisis that Jaemin was going through. Who was he? What was his purpose? He may have been exaggerating, sometimes he like to dramatize for the sake of his boredom, but he also had to wonder; In what way did Jaemin help the team? Besides stopping the guys from killing themselves every now and then, what did he truly do?

Chenle and Jeno were going to be the new Mark and Haechan - taking over their roles, he meant - and Renjun was going to be the new additional help, creating a new role specifically for himself. But Jaemin? All he did was sit there besides Jisung while everyone else was out, bothering him more than he should.

And while the boys had their own worries, they still sat there, in that raggedy old couch that Jisung’s dad had brought in for them before, playing games on their phone as if they had no care in the world when they really had many insecurities. The best friends didn’t even talk about it out loud. Jeno could hear Jaemin’s insecurities, and Jaemin could feel Jeno’s worries. They both knew, and they both understood.

And it wasn’t until Renjun walked into the room through the back door, giving the two an unreadable expression before speaking up when he stood in front of them, that their day was ready to change for the better. “Would you two like to join me today in an exploration?”

Jaemin and Jeno’s eyes had widened and the two were quick in exchanging a look and a thought, before they turned back to Renjun and nodded a little too enthusiastically.

“What is it?” Jaemin had asked first. “Are we going to go undercover? Are we going to hack SM?”

“Are we going to steal money from the poor to give to the rich - wait, backwards.”

Renjun frowned and gave the two a very concerned look before he shook his head. “No, not at all. I was just trying to invite you guys to the illusion art museum.”

Jeno and Jaemin exchanged another look. They both shrugged and turned to Renjun and nodded.

“Sure.”

“Nothing better to do.”

Just like that, both Jaemin and Jeno stood up, ready to get rid of their boredom for the day.

“I would go by myself, but I think that’s quite sad, and I don’t have any other friends to invite,” Renjun said when they all began to walk out of the building and start to head down the street.

“It’s okay Renjun, we know we’re growing on you,” Jaemin said, too cocky grin on his face, as he bumped the shorter’s shoulder.

Renjun rolled his eyes, but said nothing else and continued his walk. Jaemin and Jeno began to talk besides him, giggling about this and that. That was, until, Jeno’s phone rang and he instantly stopped to answer when he saw who it was. Renjun turned around, a frown etched on his face, and Jaemin looked over Jeno’s shoulder to see who it was.

“Hey!” Jeno answered quite enthusiastically and Jaemin sighed, knowing the call was going to take a while. “No, I’m not busy.”

Jaemin and Renjun exchanged a look.

“Oh yeah, I can totally meet up right now.”

Jaemin and Renjun exchanged another look.

“Alright, cool, see you there.”

Jeno hung up and when he turned to look at the other two, it was evident on his face that he had just realized what he’d done. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.” Jaemin shook his head in disapproval. “Are you going to meet up with Doyoung?”

Jeno nodded, stuffing his phone into his pocket. “Yeah, I haven’t seen him face to face since… summer started? Maybe before that. We both had finals, he had summer classes, I got my internship, and so on and so on. We haven’t had time to meet up in a while.”

Jaemin hummed. “Alright, go, I’m sure he’ll be waiting.”

Jeno apologized to both before running down to the other side of the street and disappearing into a corner, leaving behind Jaemin and Renjun.

“Well,” Jaemin started when the last trace of Jeno was gone, turning to face Renjun, “I suppose it’s just you and I.”

Renjun opened his mouth to say something, before he was cut off by Jaemin who spoke up once again.

“You know, anyone else seeing us could think we were going on a date.” And it was sealed with a wink.

Renjun rolled his eyes and turned around to continue the walk, but not without a grinning Jaemin following behind.

Jaemin was different from what Renjun had thought he was at first. Yeah, he had those spurring moments where he got overly spontaneous and weird - thought that could easily be blamed on caffeine - and sometimes he was cocky and flirty and clingy - which Renjun had noticed he did to everyone - but there was more than that.

Renjun watched Jaemin carefully, studying every last bit of him, trying to take his energy in as much as he could. And there was something oddly satisfying about observing Jaemin that he couldn’t exactly pinpoint.

Jaemin stood in front of one of the illusion works, trying to make it seem like he was part of the art, and Renjun’s eyes trailed over him closely; The crinkle in his eyes as he looked around the room, a small smile appearing on his face, the wide grin when he turned to look at Renjun, fascinated by the illusion art, and the shouts at Renjun to go join him followed by laughter. And then there were the moments of silence, where they stop to look at something and Jaemin would stare intensely - not at the work itself, but at Renjun. And then, when Renjun would talk here and there, Jaemin would be still and quiet, only humming and nodding to let him know he was listening and paying attention.

Jaemin was an interesting person, Renjun concluded.

“So, I didn’t take you as the type to go to an illusion art museum,” Jaemin began to talk after he had ordered his coffee from the museum’s cafeteria, and the two were sitting by the windows, “so what made you want to come here?”

Renjun pursed his lips. He glanced out the window as he began to think about it. Why did he want to go there? Sure, he liked art, but this wasn’t necessarily his type. And a museum like this was very much for taking pictures with friends to upload on social media, and to have a few laughs with friends and-

“I don’t have many friends.”

The answer came as a surprise and Jaemin was visibly having a hard time gulping down his latest sip.

“What?”

Renjun nodded, finalizing his answer in his head before voicing it out.

“I don’t have many friends - any, really. Haechan was the first friend I made in a long time - and he’s busy, obviously - and after that, I suppose I’m closest to you and Jeno, so I guess, in a moment of weakness, I decided maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.”

Jaemin still seemed taken back, and with every second that passed with him staring, Renjun was beginning to grow bashful. And it was embarrassing, because Renjun knew Jaemin could sense that. But Renjun didn’t want to use his powers to conceal, not this time.

“That’s nice.”

Renjun raised an eyebrow, waiting for Jaemin to elaborate.

“I mean, that you’ve decided to reach out, that’s nice.” Jaemin explained, looking reluctant before he continued. “I was starting to think I would have to chase after you forever.”

It was Renjun’s turn to question. “What?”

“I mean, I don’t know if you noticed, but I’ve been reaching out to you ever since you joined the team, like, trying to become friends.”

“Oh.” Renjun nodded. “Well, I guess you got lucky.”

Jaemin smiled and Renjun hated when he did that, because Jaemin went all out with his smiles; Shiny, pearly white teeth, a glimmer in his eyes - it was awful.

“Anyway, moving on, why have you been acting all sad lately?”

Jaemin was taken back by the sudden question and the change of the mood. But the question itself, it really wasn’t such a surprise. It was just shocking, coming from Renjun.

“Stop staring at me like that, I’m pretty sure everyone in the team has noticed by now. Is it because everyone has a job now besides you?”

Wow, for someone who didn’t have the cheating powers of empathy or telepathy, Renjun could sure catch on to things quickly.

“Is it that obvious?” Jaemin asked, and there was something about his tone that made Renjun pity him. “I thought I was hiding it pretty well.”

“Yeah, well, I’m quick-witted.” Renjun observed Jaemin and his expressions. Yeah, he was damn obvious.

Or maybe Renjun just payed attention. Whatever it was, Renjun didn’t want to look into it to much, there was something more important at hand: Jaemin’s insecurities.

Renjun didn’t understand why someone with powers as brilliant and magnificent as Jaemin’s could feel so insecure about their position. Then again, Renjun couldn’t recall a single time Jaemin had used his powers in a mission - and, then again, Renjun hadn’t been on any missions with them besides one, if it counted.

Still, Renjun thought Jaemin was more confident than that, but maybe it was just on the outside. Once again, Renjun had underestimated Jaemin.

And what was he supposed to do then? Jaemin told him about his insecurity - or more so he admitted when Renjun asked. Was Renjun supposed to give him reassurance? Help him feel better? How to do that? Renjun was new to this.

“You know, Jaemin, you can do so much more with your powers than what you’re doing right now.”

That was not reassurance in any sort of way, and Jaemin’s look of confusion was proof of that. Renjun realized, he would have to elaborate.

“Your powers are, in my opinion, some of the greatest powers one could have. Empathy is powerful enough as a human emotion, but as a superpower? I don’t think you realize how great your powers are.”

Jaemin still looked confused. “But you can’t fight off the bad guys with Empathy like Mark’s agility, and you can’t hack into evil buildings with Empathy like Jisung’s coding skills.” 

“No. You can’t, but you can do more.”

Jaemin’s expression did not change and Renjun sighed in exasperation. He turned around, scanning the room for a target. His eyes landed on a couple at the other side of the cafeteria.

“There, practice your skills on them.”

Renjun turned to Jaemin who was only frowning, glancing back and forth between the couple and him. “What am I supposed to do? Feel their emotions? They’re both happy and in love, it’s pretty much-”

“No,” Renjun shook his head, “make them feel.”

“F-feel? As in, manipulate their emotions?” Jaemin asked, wide eyed. He glanced back at the couple, and then turned back to Renjun. He began to shake his head. “I’ve never gone that far with my powers, the most I’ve done outside of my comfort zone is see the colors of emotions-”

Renjun rolled his eyes and waved a hand in front of Jaemin to shut him up. “That’s why your powers , you’ve never ventured with them.”

“But what if I can’t do it?”

“Trust me, you will.”

“Okay, what do I do?”

“Make them mad at each other.”

“That’s cruel.”

“Boring, okay, make them sad.”

“I don’t want to ruin their happy atmosphere.”

“Okay fine, you decide.”

Jaemin hummed as he thought to himself. A look then appeared on his face and he nodded to himself. Renjun’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion and when Jaemin turned to look at the couple, Renjun did the same.

Jaemin closed his eyes and exhaled. His eyes opened and there was a new look of determination on his face. Renjun watched with interest as Jaemin’s hand clenched and a small, peachy-pink color, shone from his fist.

And then the couple from across the room grew - Renjun frowned once again - giddy?

Renjun watched as the couple began to laugh silently among themselves, looking like they had no care in the world, as if there was no one else in the room, snickering, giggling, about probably nothing. Because it wasn’t natural, it was Jaemin.

“Giddy?” Renjun asked, turning to look at Jaemin who was now facing him with a satisfied grin on his face. Renjun snorted. “I’m impressed. But you know, you can still do so much more than that.”

“Indulge me.”

“Guess what guys, I can actually manipulate people’s emotions, so you all better watch out from now on when you tease me about me crying over Daenerys.”

Jisung stared blankly at Jaemin before he turned back around and went back to typing. “Okay, anyway, Jeno, did you go over the list of instructions I sent you?”

There was no answer and they all turned to look at Jeno who was sitting on the couch, staring off, looking dazed.

“Jeno.”

“Huh? Oh, yes, I did.”

“Good,” Jisung said and turned to ask Chenle the same thing.

Jaemin’s eyes didn’t leave his best friend and he walked over to sit beside him, but Jeno seemed to not notice his presence.

“How was it with Doyoung?”

Jeno finally realized Jaemin was sitting beside him, and Jaemin could feel it, his surprise. Followed by a nervous feeling.

“Oh, it was good. I mean, you know, we haven’t seen each other face to face in probably months and so we missed a lot. A lot. Yeah. A lot to talk about. Big things.”

Jaemin frowned. That was weird. Not just how Jeno was speaking, but how he was feeling.

“What happened? Did he say something-”

“Please don’t ask,” Jeno said, knowing Jaemin would push until he found out the answer, knowing his powers would tell him a lot, “you know I’m not good at lying.”

Jaemin was taken back by the pleading tone, but he understood. If it was something Jeno couldn’t tell him, he understood. Still, he was very curious.

“Alright,” Jaemin nodded, “then let’s change the subject.”

So you and Renjun, huh? What went down?

The look on Jeno’s face was enough to let Jaemin know it was more than just an innocent question with no teasing behind. He rolled his eyes. He brought it upon himself.

We have decided to become friends. I think.

Jeno raised an eyebrow.

Friends? Just friends?

Jaemin shook his head.

Not like that, you stupid. I think he’s trying to reach out, you know, like trying to be less lonely.

Aw, that’s cute. Kinda offended he didn’t reach out to me too, though.

He did, you doofus, he invited us both. You just decided to ditch us.

Oh, right.

“So you told your cousin?” Taeil asked, clinging on to Doyoung as he glanced around the street.

“Yeah.”

“And how did he take it?”

“Good - can you stop clinging on to me so much?” Doyoung grumbled, lightly pushing his roommate off.

“Sorry, but that’s good that Jeno- Oh! I think that’s him!” Taeil how cut himself off when he saw a familiar figure.

Doyoung stopped walking momentarily, turning to look in the direction which Taeil pointed at to see some random guy walking down the street. He frowned.

“Taeil-”

“Wait, I’m not sure, maybe if he took his shirt off.”

“Taeil-”

“No, wait, I think that guy might be him!” Taeil once again interrupted his friend when his eyes caught sight of, yet again, another guy.

Doyoung rolled his eyes and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. Taeil turned to face him, and Doyoung shook his head.

“Taeil, ever since yesterday, you’ve been saying that about every single guy you see who looks somewhat attractive and/or buff.”

“I swear, if I was able to see him again for real, I would recognize him right away on the spot, seriously.”

Doyoung ignored his friend and continued his walk, Taeil following along, stopping every few steps to point at a new guy. And each time, Doyoung would ignore him. Or he tried to at least, because even though he knew Taeil was most probably wrong, he still glanced in curiosity.

But then, when they were turning the corner to another street, Taeil gasped loudly and pointed dramatically far ahead. “Him. I swear it, this time for sure, that is him, no doubt about it.”

Doyoung turned to look at his friend and the quite serious look on his face. Taeil only stared ahead, and Doyoung rolled his eyes, turning to face forward, when he saw him.

“Jaehyun? Captain J?”

--

To be fair, when I said we might be gone for a month or so, I really thought we'd be gone for, like, three weeks tops. But then I had finals, and then I was very mentally not okay for a while, and then I was physically even worse, and then it went back and forth between the two, and at some point I began to work on this excruciatingly long oneshot that was really meant to be a drabble but turned out to be 20k+. Maybe I'll release it soon so you guys can read it. And the point is, this chapter is really all over the place, but we didn't really know where to end it? And we didn't really know how to sort it so that it wouldn't be jumping back and forth between characters? And we also wanted it to be long as a sorry for being gone for so long?

Yeah, we're pretty sorry. We feel pretty guilty too. But I'm better now, and I've been writing up a lot of things, and we're almost done with this arc. One or two chapters left, I promise. And then the second arc begins - and idk if yall noticed, but the center characters of the first arc or Dr D and Cap J - and then some new characters will become the villains, can yall guess who? Unlike the first arc where the main villain is Dr D, the second arc is a group of villains. Anyway, I'm ranting and I'm tired.

-J

(This is our longest chapter yet..... and I think the next few are only going to be longer. Oh wait, also, Nae and I are in LOVE with Boom and the entire album, please support the dreamies.)

I'm sorry I haven't been putting in as much effort as I can, I know I can do better and I'm sorry for that. Also somebody please tell J to rest, she's been in a weird writing flurry and its kind of scary and concerning. These days I've been anxious and a bit under the weather while trying to manage my social life and I'm sorry I couldn't work on this story more. I feel bad for the way this chapter kind of jumps around and I hope you guys can understand. Please send my sister love, she got the short end of the stick.

Thank you

~Nae

Extra:

"Don't you think you were being harsh on the kids earlier?" Johnny asked when he walked into the living room and spotted Taeyong sitting on the couch, going through tests results of the day.

Taeyong hummed and shook his head. "Back in my planet, that's the training level that all children go through to practice for whatever powers they might have in the future."

"Except, this isn't your planet."

Taeyong pushed his glasses up and looked up. Johnny raised an eyebrow.

"Oh right," Taeyong hummed to himself, "I forgot how weak humans are."