26th November. 0110 hours.

 

“Alright,” Luhan began, taking his stance in front of his team, “tell me what you would do if you were left on your own to escape, given your training of course.”

Luna was the first to raise her hands.

“I’d cancel all the sound the alarms would make,” she said proudly. Luna has been practicing with that skill more often than not.

Luhan rubbed his chin, pretending to give her reply some consideration. “Cancelling the sound is a great idea but I’m sure you can’t handle that much pressure while being electrocuted. Plus, the guards would notice why there was no sound coming out of their mouth.”

Luna pouted. She forgot to take the electric fence into consideration, which was stupid as the place is surrounded by it, in addition to the tall walls. Luna waved her hand again and again to have another try, but Luhan dismissed her.

“Jongin?”

“I’d teleport I guess,” he said, half-heartedly.

“There’s a reason why teleporters and other spatial manipulators cannot get out from here no matter how hard they try. Soojung?”

“I’d make the guards confused then sneak my way out?” she tried. But Luhan shook his head and she wondered why she even bothered trying.

“That would work for a few hours but you still can’t pass the walls without being electrocuted. And I doubt you can make inanimate objects bend at your will too. Anyone else?”

Sehun was quiet and so was Chanyeol, neither speaking to each other. Luhan sighed as Luna’s continuous pestering for another try began to irritate him but he relented nonetheless. “Luna?”

“I’d use sound waves that could vibrate at higher speed than the walls’ molecules to break them. Then, I’ll use the same thing to crash all systems and make a run for it.”

This time, Luhan smiled and Luna really thought she got it right this time. She was rather proud of herself for making use of all the scientific crap Luhan has been shoving down about vibration and waves. God knows she hates physics and yet was stuck with an ability that urgently needed the knowledge for her to use it.

“So close,” and Luna’s face fell, “but how are you certain that the guards won’t outrun you? And even if you did manage to escape, there’s no doubt they will come to catch you again with the tracker inside you.”

“You make this seem impossible!” Luna exclaimed, evidently frustrated by how Luhan always managed to disprove her theories.

Luhan smiled. “That’s because it is impossible.”

All eyes turned at him, livid with anger and shock, and yet he was still smiling. He finally got everyone’s attention and not just Luna’s. He bit his lip, trying to stifle a chuckle.

“Then what’s the point of all this?!”

Luhan couldn’t hold it in anymore and he laughed, shocking everyone in sight. Luhan had never laughed in front of them. The most he would do was smile and even that was uncommon. His laughter began to fade as everyone looked at him expectantly. Now that’s more like it. He pulled himself together and returned to his usual, leader stance.

“It is impossible. Think about it, the guards are never complacent, the walls are taller than the building itself, the fence is always cracking with power. There’s no way you can escape without being noticed. If you do it alone, that is.”

“So that’s why you need us…”

“Exactly. I’ve planned everything according to your abilities and how much you’ve developed it over the time we’ve spent training. Of course, I’d like to spend some more time with the tra-“

“But we’re running out of time!” Sehun stood up and out of his silence. “Sulli’s down there in the isolation chamber and we all know how much time she has.”

“She would’ve had a lot more time if you weren’t such a coward,” Chanyeol mumbled but Sehun heard it all the same.

Fists clenched and jaw locked, Sehun was preparing for another attack when Jongin pulled him down before anything could happen. He grumbled in dissatisfaction but didn’t miss sending a murderous glare towards Chanyeol.

Luhan cleared his throat. “As I was saying, yes, I’d like to spend more time with training but clearly we can’t just leave a teammate behind. I won’t let it happen… again,” he said, careful to hide the pain in his tone as the last word came out in a soft whisper. No, it wasn’t the time to reminisce.  

It was hard for Sehun to believe this person standing in front of him was the same person who insisted that Sulli and he should not join his team. He thought rescuing Sulli wouldn’t even be part of his plan but he was clearly mistaken. Sehun’s full attention was now on Luhan and his escapade details.

“…so we’ll make do with what we have now.”

They leaned forward, eager to know what Luhan has meticulously planned. He told them about the forbidden areas they’d have to pass through and the obstacle for them to overcome. He explained the guards’ patrol schedules and the microwave sensors near the electric fence but none of the specific details on their tasks.

“…avoid because the sensors cou-“

Jongin groaned loudly, stopping Luhan’s words. “Why can’t I just teleport all of us out of here? Wouldn’t that be easier than all this crap?”

 “I told you we can’t.”

“But why not?” Soojung whined, exasperated by the constant flow of facts coming out of his mouth. It was obvious Jongin felt the same way too.

Luhan sighed. “Because the whole area is controlled by the Fluxometric Spatiometer.”

“The what?”

“Fluxometric Spatiometer,” he reiterated every word carefully before continuing in rapid fire, “or for your sake, we can call it the Spat. It’s the reason why teleportation can’t happen while you’re in the vicinity. See, it detects the teleporter’s mutation point and the corresponding magnetic field of the area and-“

“Luhan, I know you’re smart but we don’t understand any of it,” said Luna, on behalf of the others. Luhan looked around the room and was met with blank faces and gaping mouth. He sighed again.

“Alright, let me put this in a way you can understand. Jongin, do you still remember what I told you about nulls and voids?”

“Yeah, they’re where most of our powers wouldn’t work.”

“Correct. The tall walls surrounding this facility are covered by void barriers. These things are the cause of the spatial vacuum that inhibits many abilities from working like air, sound and teleportation. And the Fluxometric-“

“The Spat,” Chanyeol corrected.

“Right, the Spat, is a device that could stop teleportation along with other spatial-based abilities.”

“So you want to take it with us?” Sehun queried.

“I see no other way if we want to get out of here.”

They considered this briefly before deciding Luhan was right. “So where is this thing located?”

“Near the isolation chamber.”

All was quiet when they began to understand his plan.

“My plan is simple and it involves us splitting into three groups; two teams to disable the alarms and the guards and another to steal the Spat along with rescuing Sulli.”

Luna raised her hand. “Why so discreet? Why can’t we just go with a bang? You know, make them remember us and stuff.”

Luhan clicked his tongue. “Do you want us to be remembered? Our faces on every hologram in town? People hunting us to the ends of the world?”

“Geez, it was just a question,” she mumbled, frowning at his constant pessimism.

“At any rate,” Chanyeol said, trying to defend his cousin, “wouldn’t they know who’s missing when they check who’s not here? And what about the tracker in our wrists? You don’t expect us to cut it out ourselves?!”

Gasps of horror filled the room but Luhan was quick to dismiss Chanyeol’s assumption.

“There will be no wrists slashed to get the tracker out so stop worrying. Jongin will take it out from all of us before we start the mission.”

“Me?” Jongin asked, incredulously. “But I don’t know how the thing looks like! How do you expect me to get it out?”

“I’ll show you a very accurate sketch later. Now, I need all of you to listen carefully because here’s what we’re going to do…”

 

 

26th November. 0915 hours.

 

Sulli really thought the girl was gone when she woke up a few hours later but she was clearly wrong. The girl with the red eyes and a sinister smile was staring right into her eyes. She rubbed them multiple times to make sure she was not in a dream. But the girl in front of her was neither an illusion nor a trick of the eye.

Somehow she got out of her head while she was still sleeping. The question is, how did she do it?

“Hello Jinri!” The girl said, red eyes twinkling with menace. She laughed when she saw the terror in Sulli’s eyes.

“Silly girl, you act like no one’s ever called you that,” she patronized, ruffling her hair.

Sulli was frozen at the very sight of her. No one has called her that in a very long time. Not since…

“Since the night of the town’s destruction?”

“How did y-“

“Know what you’re going to say? Read your mind?” She chuckled. “Silly girl, are you that ignorant that you do not see that I am you?”

At that moment, Sulli’s eyes finally adjusted to the image of her. Apart from the red eyes and malicious features, the girl was practically her reflection.

“You’re me…,” she breathed as the fact finally sank in.

“You can say that,” the girl began, “but technically I am not you.”

“What do you mean?” Sulli was utterly confused. Who was she exactly?

The girl smirked when she heard her words. She began to spin until a cloud of smoke covered her. Seconds later, she reappeared but her face was no longer Sulli’s.

“Recognize me? My name is Eris, Goddess of Chaos.”

Her eyes widened. “B-but that’s not possible! You’re just a myth…”

Eris scoffed. “Myth? Then how do you explain your existence?”

Sulli was terrified by what she was hearing. Was this true? Was she really a descendant of Eris?

“No… you’re lying!” she yelled, clutching her head desperately. Eris smirked and approached her.

“Open your eyes, Jinri. Chaos is in your blood. I can feel it coursing through your body as we speak. You are an incarnation of me and I can only exist through my descendants.”

Lies… lies… lies… lies…

“Think about it, Jin. Your parents were happy until you came along, Sohyun would still live if it wasn’t for you, Jiyoung wouldn’t have been the way she was if Sohyun was still alive and the town would still be full of life if you didn’t explode that night.” Sulli covered her ears tighter as Eris leaned closer.

“You bring chaos wherever you go, Jinri. It’s in your blood. Don’t fight it,” she whispered, her voice low and dark and menacing.

“NO! YOU”RE LYING!” Sulli screamed.

The windows shattered and the only light bulb in the room broke.

“That’s my girl,” Eris smirked, disappearing into thin air as Sulli screamed and screamed.

The guards burst in and she was restrained against the bed. A syringe was plunged mercilessly and all was silent.

But not for long.

 

 

 

27th November. 1212 hours.

 

Sehun felt the slight tremor earlier that morning and it didn’t help the gut-wrenching feeling inside him. There was something wrong with Sulli, he could feel it.

Sehun looked around the room. The others were warming up for the execution of Luhan’s plan and here he was, idling around with his mind stuck on Sulli when he was supposed to be preparing with the others to rescue.

He forced himself up and joined the others as Luhan ran the plans by them for one last time. By that point, Sehun was already familiar with what he had to do he could repeat it in his sleep. But of course, Luhan will not accept petty mistakes. This was their final moment after all. Everything had come down to this.  

The group huddled together and said a silent prayer. Sehun glanced at the tracker chips Jongin had gotten out from each of them earlier, gathered at one side and the bands they constantly wore to reduce the tracker chips activity laid side by side. It was really happening.

The group dispersed but Sehun was too caught up with nostalgia to realize that everyone around him was gone. He resurfaced when Luhan touched him and turned him around.

“I need you to hold on to something for me,” said Luhan. Sehun furrowed his eyebrows.

“What is it?”

Luhan reached for a small notebook inside his pocket and handed them to Sehun. He hesitated but took it anyway.

“This is for Sulli. It’s what I found regarding her powers. Let her read this if she gets confused about her abilities.”

“But why do I have to hold it? Why can’t you just explain it to her yourself?” Sehun asked, sensing a bad feeling.

“I was not the only one who felt the brief shake this morning and if anything happens to me, I need someone I can trust to hold it for me and I could think of no one else but you.”

“What’s going to happen to you? I thought we’re all escaping together…”

“We never know what could happen.”

Despite his disheartening words, the smile he gave Sehun was genuine. Sehun wondered what Luhan was thinking as he stored the notebook somewhere safe and joined the others.

Sulli, we’re coming. Just wait a little longer.