1^stNovember, 0130 hours

“Bring them in.”

Luna sighed at his command and brought Sehun and Sulli into the room before someone could see them. To be in sight at all times was a dangerous risk and if one of them was caught, the others would surely be exposed as well.

“Names?” Luhan asked as soon as the two was brought into the circle.

“I’m Sehun and this is Sulli.”

Luhan turned to Chanyeol and Luna, clearly irritated.

“I specifically told you to not bring these two along,” he said sternly.

“We didn’t-“

“They didn’t bring us. We followed them.”

“Excuse us,” Luhan said, ignoring his words and dragged Luna and Chanyeol to the corner of the room.

 “How could you be so stupid?! And to think with advanced hearing you can actually pay attention to the footsteps behind you. What if there was a guard? What if everything was ruined because you-“

“You will not speak to my cousin that way!”

“With all due respect Luhan, I only learned how to use this ability a few days ago and there’s still so much I have to learn.”

“Yeah? Well control it better next time!” Luhan let out a frustrated sigh and turned his back away from them in an attempt to gather his thoughts. Chanyeol comforted Luna who was on the verge of tears.

“Do you know anyone that can wipe someone’s memory?” Luhan said suddenly.

“You’re not thinking-“

“Yes I am. It’s either that or we’d have to kill them.”

“I don't think you’re thinking this through, Luhan. If we find someone that has that ability, we’d have to take him or her in and that would complicate everything. Plus, we don’t even know if anyone within the facility has that kind of ability and to search for them would take months and we’ve only got weeks,” Chanyeol reasoned.

Luhan sighed. “I still don’t see why we should take them in. Having low potential and not knowing what it is at all is very dangerous to our mission.”

“It’s either they join us or you have no crew at all,” Luna stated firmly.

“Alright, fine! They come with us.”

Luhan came back to the sight of Sehun comforting Sulli, Soojung and Jongin in the middle of a glaring contest and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Luna and Chanyeol dancing with glee and he wondered what kind of mess he just got himself into.

Xiumin…

~*~

It took awhile for everyone to calm down and get back to the circle. By then, Luhan was already irritated beyond belief and all he could think about was how he can execute this plan without either one of them getting caught or dead.

“Let’s get down to business. My name is Luhan and I have a plan to escape this hellhole and every one of you is going to help me, no matter how useless you might be,” his eyes glanced briefly towards Sehun and Sulli, “before I go on and elaborate this plan, I need the two of you,” he gestured at Sehun and Sulli, “to tell me your abilities since I know what the other four is capable of.”

Sehun stood up first and looked at Luhan daringly in his eyes, even though the latter was glaring at him and his companion.

“My name is Sehun and this is Su-“

“Your friend can introduce herself,” Luhan interrupted, rather rudely. Sehun was instantly aggravated.

“You shouldn’t be rude to them, Luhan. What if they went on a rampage and ratted out on us,” Chanyeol defended them and sent a comforting glance towards Sulli, who responded with a small smile. Sehun didn’t miss it one bit and silently cursed himself for not jumping at the opportunity to backlash on the control freak in front of him.

Luhan grunted but gestured Sehun to continue.

“I can manipulate the wind.”

“That’s it? No details on what you can do?”

Sehun paused for awhile and side glanced at Jongin who was lost in his own world. He wondered if Jongin was still holding a grudge against him after what happened a couple of years ago.

“I was able to fly. I’m not so sure now… I mean with the drugs and all…”

“That,” Luhan stood up and began circling the group, “is what they want you to think. They want you guys to think that they’re draining your powers until all that is left of you becomes a rotting corpse. The drugs they gave you makes you think that it has the ability to decrease your capabilities and ultimately destroy you.”

Luna raised a hand. “Isn’t that what it is?”

“You couldn’t be more wrong,” he said smugly. “The truth is, these drugs are designed to weaken you, to make you so tired and vulnerable, you can’t even lift a finger let alone try and use your abilities to defend yourself. 

"Simply put, they are afraid of us as much as we are of them. They play these mind games on us and make us believe that we are sick and disgusting and none of us deserve to live just because we are different. They do this so that we fear them and they are in control of us.

“My plan is to use this to our advantage, stand up strong and fight back because we can. We just have to harness our abilities, develop it and take control of the unknown and then make our escape. Any questions?”

“How do we do that when even the slightest use of our powers would make the guards come like mad dogs?” Jongin asked.

“I’m glad you asked. They plant this device in our wrist that tells them whenever you use your powers, right? Well, I happen to know how to decrease its sensitivity according to your brain activity so the first thing you have to do is to know how to calm yourself.”

“Brain activity?” asked Soojung who looked a bit lost and surprisingly alert.

“We have a special area located in our brain that controls the anomaly that we are. When we use this part of the brain, the signals are higher than normal which makes it easier for them to detect when someone is using their powers. The same goes to your heart rate. It increases as you use it and the ‘doctors’ can easily pick up abnormal heart rate, which is why you have to be calm when we use our abilities.”

“How do you know all of this?” Luna asked, completely amazed.

Luhan gave a tight smile. “I have my sources.”

“Excuse me, but you didn’t let Sulli introduce herself,” Sehun rose from his seat.

Sulli tugged at his sleeve. “Sehun, it’s fine-“

“No, it is not fine, Sulli! You deserve some respect from this bastard.”

Luhan turned to them, smirking. “Oh, I didn’t, did I? And what can you do Miss Sulli?” He asked, sarcasm heavy in his tone.

“I- I don’t-“

“Yup, that’s what I thought."

Sehun strode towards Luhan before he could finish his words and took the collars of his white shirt. “What is your problem with us, Luhan? We hardly know you and already you treat us like !”

“You want to know what’s my problem?” Luhan pushed his hand away without lifting a finger. “My problem is that you barge in with that of yours and triy to destroy my plans and get us all caught!”

 “DON’T YOU DARE CALL HER THAT!”

Sehun charged towards Luhan but he was faster as Sehun flew across the room. He moaned in pain and Sulli rushed over to check on him.  

“Cool it, Luhan! We could get caught if you two don’t keep your together,” Chanyeol shook his shoulder. Luhan simply shook his hands off, threw a glare at Sehun and turned back to the group, his face completely composed once again.

“The 3 am patrol is about to start so we’ll stop here. Our training begins tomorrow at 0100 hours sharp. Be prepared and don’t be late.”

With a simple nod and an invisible trail of pride, Luhan left the room without so much of a sound or a greeting good night.