“Change into comfortable clothes – something that you don’t mind getting ruined or dirty – anything that isn’t super valuable and without sentimental value, or whatever you girls – I mean, some girls freak out over,” Luhan told her as soon as they arrived at the base and their shoes were off. He took off his jacket and looked at her directly when she didn’t move. “Now.”

         Jinah frowned at his superior tone. “Why?”

         “Just do it.”

         Jinah frowned deeper at the order. She was known for not being submissive. Complying to commands weren’t really her thing. She crossed her arms and shifted her weight, unmoving. “No. Tell me why first.”

         He exhaled in slight frustration and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re so stubborn.”

         “That’s not the answer I was asking for.”

         Luhan looked at her right in the eye and she didn’t yield. She looked right back at him with the same intensity. “Yesterday,” he started, giving into her stubbornness, “you asked me about capabilities of gang members.”

         Jinah mustered up her memory-brainpower. She had suddenly remembered Luhan’s mysterious question about how much she knows about the gangs, and whether or not the dwellings had taught her about certain ‘capabilities’. “I… yeah, sort of. Why?”

         “I owe you an answer.”

         “Wha – I mean, yes, you do. What does that have to do with – wait a minute. Stop.” She made an ‘X’ in front of her with her arms. She was processing. He gave her a look of amusement. Capabilities of gangs. She had just witnessed a gang fight with absurd-seeming fire, water, immense speed and strength. After a few more seconds, Jinah said, “You’re about to show me?” Luhan closed his eyes, nodded once dramatically, and opened his eyes again. Jinah’s mouth opened. “Right now? What? What are your capabilities exactly? How are you going to show me? Physically? What does that have to do with what I’m wearing? Whoa, hold up.” Jinah remembered Soyu’s enormous scar. “Oh my god – are you going to friggin’ cut me or something? Holy –”

         “You’ll find out soon, Baekhyun’s female counterpart.”

         She scowled at both the nickname and her actions. She had carelessly blurted out the questions on her mind without thinking. Jinah was a curious person but she wasn’t someone to just randomly blurt things out. She wasn’t exactly “talkative” around the gang, either. But from how Luhan didn’t give her a Xiumin-glare, she thought that maybe he didn’t mind this new side of her. In fact, judging from the slight smirk playing on his face before his face turned void of expression again, she figured that he actually preferred this side of her.

         She consented as she changed into loose shorts and the t-shirt Baekhyun had got her sometime last week. Washed and fresh. But she didn’t leave her room yet. When her hand was around the doorknob, her body stopped moving and her mind began working crazily. Everything came as a tape of a rolling film, bits of flashbacks of the fight: knives, blood, and fantasy-like unexplainable… happenings. The things Liha said – about females, DE, and… Minjung. Jinah let go of the doorknob and turned around to lean against the door with a deep sigh. Minjung, judging by how she responded to lectures, Jaein, and Yooni at Callidum, she would act reasonably and well. That relieved Jinah, but she could never be sure. Being unsure of her best friend’s safety really killed her. She missed her best friend and everything about her. The way Liha talked about the past made Jinah reminisce her dwelling years, too. And from what Liha said about what it would’ve been like if they weren’t chosen, it made her wonder… would she have been happier if she had been dismissed as a dwelling maiden?

         Jinah buried her face in her hands and sighed again. Was she really as lucky as Liha described her to be? But this isn’t what you asked for, the voice that makes everything complicated said. Jinah knew that she was living in better conditions compared to other girls. But if the Prix cooks and cleans for the gang, the gang offers the Prix protection and shelf. Proper protection and shelter. That was the deal. Then again… wasn’t that exactly what Cougar gave Liha? A roof over her head, and they didn’t force her to fight their fights. But it wasn’t enough… and what were those surreal things? Water, fire, immense strength and speed… and Minjung…! Damn it all, Jinah thought poisonously. She let out a shaky breath. She wouldn’t cry over something that didn’t happen yet, and she hopes that it won’t ever, but damn, the load on her chest felt so heavy, it was almost unbearable.

         “Jinah?” Chanyeol called, banging his fist against the door to the point the door rattled against Jinah’s head, making her feel lightheaded. “Jinah? Are you done changing yet?”

         “Yeah.” Jinah sniffled and wiped her nose. “Just a sec.”

         “A-Are you crying?” Chanyeol stammered loudly.

         Jinah snorted noisily. “Are you an idiot? Of course not. Who do you take me for?” she swallowed and flung the door open and shot Chanyeol a dirty look.

         “Ha, sorry. I knew you wouldn’t cry.” He grinned at her, showing about twenty teeth. The sudden appearance of his pearls always managed to startle Jinah. “Ready?” he asked.

         “I need an explanation first,” she said.

         “Yeah, yeah, they’ll explain it at the Headquarters. Come on.”

         Jinah followed Chanyeol out, away from her room, but where she expected to see the coffee table with bags of chips, the rug, and couches with the gang on top of it, was replaced with a large hole and a staircase going down in a spiral, similar to the one at the Rave only this one was longer, wider, and bigger. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped – a hole. A large hole with a staircase in the middle. “You have got to be kidding me,” Jinah breathed.

         Chanyeol chuckled. “This is the Headquarters. Remember when Suho mentioned it when you were gawking at the infirmary? First day, I think it was. And Kris, Kai, and Xiumin glared at him? We thought that this might be overwhelming for you at that time, so we didn’t show you or tell you about this.”

         “Right, because now is just the most perfect time,” she said sarcastically.

         “Heh, well. I guess it’s easier to tell you everything now that it’s unavoidable.”

          “Wait, how do you open the Headquarters?”

          “Oh, you just move the couch that was here,” Chanyeol wildly gesticulated to where the couch near the wall was at, “and there should be a different part of the ground. Open that up and bam – a button. Click it and voila.”

         They descended down the stairs and everything below was simply magnificent and enchanting. Not a fantasy type of enchanting, or a palace type of enchanting, but a spectacular type of enchanting. With blue lights, big screens, security cameras, and more – this place showed every nook and cranny of the base. Their every step made a sound against the glass floor. What was below the glass floor, Jinah couldn’t tell. It was quite dark down here, but quiet. Once in awhile, she would see the blue lights flicker, making the present shadows wiggle, but all would become still again. Jinah, who craved to know and learn, was utterly fascinated by this room. “This is amazing,” she whispered, looking at the screens that showed the kitchen and the dining area, her eyes shifting to the side, observing the living area and rooms. It showed above ground, too. On the other side was a large-scale map with dots with a wide keyboard – a super computer. Beside the keyboard were clipboards, files, and photos. Even further to the side was a regular laptop. The whole room seemed to dimly glow in a somber way. She marveled at the spectacle. It was a glorious haven for information-loving people like Jinah. “How – wow. This is so unreal. This is so fetch, wow…”

         “Yeah. That’s exactly that I thought when the sixth generation showed us. Pretty sick, hey?”

         “Yeah…”

         “Come on. The rest of the gang are over…” Chanyeol ran up to the end of the aisle. “Here!” he landed in front of a door with a two-foot stomp. He opened it and a warm, bright light shone on his face, casting a shadow on his cheekbones in the pattern of his hair and eyelashes. “Let’s go, let’s go…”

         Jinah’s eyes were glued to the screens of this dark room, but she eventually followed Chanyeol down another staircase. This one was straight, not a spiral. She kept her hand on the railings because it was pretty steep. It was a tall one, too. Below was Wolf, and they were all in comfortable clothing – from sweats and knee-length loose shorts, to t-shirts and wife beaters. They were all over the place, some sparring, but they stopped when they heard the door open.

         “So…” Jinah said when she reached the foot of the stairs. Most were all sweating, and the air was humid from the heat. “What are we doing here?” She highly doubted that all they were going to do here was give her an explanation, and then go back upstairs and then have dinner.

         “We owe you answers,” Luhan replied, wiping his forehead with the hem of his wife beater, revealing defined abs. Jinah wasn’t looking at them though – she didn’t even notice them, for her eyes were elsewhere. They wandered around the place, scrutinizing the empty, vast room. Luhan regained his normal posture. “Ask away.”

         Jinah had so many questions, but now that Luhan confronted her like that, most of the questions disappeared from her mind with a poof. She still remembered some though, although they weren’t as important as others. “I saw fire and water floating. Minhyuk’s strength was not normal, neither was Jongup’s and Kai’s speed. Himchan collapsed due to blue shock. What are these – things? Do the ‘capabilities’ you talked about have to do with – these capabilities?”

         “Yes.”

         “Himchan and Chanyeol called them abilities,” Jinah recalled.

         “That’s what we call them, yeah.”

         Jinah thought about what to ask next. “How do you – um, does everyone – err… is it just males that have them? Abilities, I mean.”

         “Not all males have them. It’s a privilege to have an ability, but yeah, it’s only possible for males to have an ability.”

         “Kind of,” Chanyeol said, contradicting Luhan. “There was one Prix who had an ability – her gang’s now dead, but… she was the only one, ever. She died after using her ability for the first time, too. Sad, huh?”

         “That’s a myth, Chanyeol,” Kai scoffed. “Females can’t get abilities. The Legendary Prix didn’t have one, either. She just detonated a bomb that killed two whole gangs – one being her own, the other the enemy gang – and herself. That wasn’t an ability, it was a bomb.”

         “Where did she get the bomb, huh?”

         “Do you honestly think there’s a bomb-creating ability? Come on, Chanyeol.”

         “There’s me who can create fire. Why do you think that there won’t be an ability to create bombs?”

         “Jack, you idiot – females can’t get abilities!” Kai exclaimed.

         “Guys, that’s not the point,” remarked D.O sternly.

         “Do all of you have abilities?” Jinah inquired, interrupting their argument.

         Xiumin snorted. “We’re not a Top Gang for no reason, you know. Jack, even Aheun knows that and she’s not our Prix… yet, at least.”

         “I’m getting real tired of your bull, you know,” Chanyeol said, rolling his eyes. His voice was becoming feral again. In spite of his big puppy-dog eyes and elflike ears, when his voice changed to that and he wore a frown on his face, Chanyeol looked intimidating.

         “I’m just saying the truth,” Xiumin said honestly.

         “Guys, shut up,” D.O snapped, a tad harshly. He was getting tired, too, but not just of Xiumin. He was becoming tired of everyone and everything. “We came here to teach and train Jinah, not argue in front of her. Grow up.”

         “It’s her fault,” Xiumin retorted, crossing his arms and shifting his weight to the other side. He talked as if Jinah wasn’t there at all. “If she wasn’t here, we wouldn’t even be arguing, right?”

         Well. That hit a nerve.