At three in the morning, the twelve members of Wolf (excluding Xiumin, Jinah, and Aheun) descended down to the Headquarters. They closed the hole up and instead of staying there, when all twelve accumulated together, they went into a room which was lit by regular light instead of the blue ones in the aisle. There was a large table and exactly twelve chairs around it, one for each gang member. The furniture was comfortable, but because the room wasn’t used that much and the maids didn’t know about this part of the base, it was dusty, and Chen pointed it out.

          “Damn it, all this dust,” Chen rubbed his nose. “I’m going to sneeze soon.”

          “It can’t be helped, the last time this room was used was two years—” Chanyeol stopped dead short and frantically glanced at Luhan.

          Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen, and Suho coughed at the same time, as if to cover up Chanyeol’s slip-up.

          Kris sighed. “You guys seriously can’t make things more obvious. You guys are lucky Jinah isn’t here. If she was, Luhan would’ve ripped your throats out.”

          “Why are there only eleven chairs occupied?” Kai asked. “There are twelve chairs for a reason. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Xiumin and his y attitude ever since Jinah came, but it’s the rules. If we make a decision without all twelve, or we fake the agreement of a member, that member can sue us, and we’re giving Xiumin a lot of reasons to sue us lately.”

          Suho raised an eyebrow. “It’s not like you to follow rules, Kai.”

          “Besides, we’ve broken a whole ton already, haven’t we?” Chen added with a little smile. Then he his dry lips and fumbled with his fingers. Then, as if mustering up the courage to say so, he spoke. “Don’t you think we should tell Jinah about—”

          “No,” Luhan cut him off firmly and coldly. His voice sliced through the air and the atmosphere became almost unbearably tense. The gang stiffened half-consciously, and a few members fidgeted uncomfortably. Luhan was not in a pleasant mood. No one spoke after that. They were silent to the point one would have wondered if the members were even breathing.

          Luhan took out a plastic bag that had a crumpled piece of paper, and tossed it up. Kris, being their physically strongest and tallest, snatched it first. His eyes widened a bit before he passed it to Suho, their representative. Rank-wise, Suho should have had the right to read it first, but they all knew that Kris was their sub-leader. Suho handed it to Chen, who passed it on after reading it. Luhan read it out aloud while it was being passed around: “‘Jinah would make a perfect addition to our collection.’ That’s what it says. A direct threat to Wolf. What came with it was—”

          “—the PREV-1174 arrow,” Lay continued in realization. When Luhan said nothing, Lay assumed that his guess was right. Lay knew better than to interrupt Luhan during a meeting like this, but he couldn’t help his anxiousness. He exhaled deeply.

          “Oh right, I brought the thing you asked me to bring,” Chen said, fishing out the fingerprint identifier from his pocket. It was a strange gadget that had laser-light shooting out of one device. It was connected to another device that had a screen and buttons like a mini keyboard.

          Luhan said nothing.

          Kris cleared his throat, taking the leader role. “Baekhyun, use your ability to see if there are any invisible ink. Gently,” he warned. “Last time you burned it from the intensity.”

          “I’m sorry!” Baekhyun exclaimed, remembering the last incident. “I practiced. It should work…” he easily shone light from his fingertips and angled it specifically on the paper so that if there were anything written in invisible ink, it would reflect smoothly. His light ability came with a pair of eyes that could endure extreme brightness. While the others covered their eyes or looked away from the bright light, Baekhyun could handle it. “I can see it…” Baekhyun said. “It says… ‘Treat her well before she’s gone’… then a dash with YJR written on it… I think…” Baekhyun relaxed and the light died away. Maintaining and controlling a specific intensity was difficult—far more than just exploding everything at an enemy gang.

          “Treat her well before she’s gone?” Suho repeated. “Are they assuming they’re going to take Jinah? From us? Wolf?”

          “Why would they have made this invisible though?” D.O observed. “I mean, they already implied that they were going to try and take Jinah.”

          “Wait, what does ‘YJR’ mean?” Kris frowned.

          “This is ridiculous” Kai said. “These jackheads think they can kidnap our Prix with ease. From us. Aren’t they ing retarded? This is bull.” He chuckled in the type of way people do when they find something absurd. “Idiots. We’re a Top Gang, don’t they know?”

          Chen, who was the best with things like the supercomputer and jade statue fingerprint recognition program, was unsurprisingly skilled with using other gadgets like the fingerprint identifier. He quickly got to work. Virtual codes appeared. He deciphered them all to use the identifier. He opened the plastic bag, and just before he touched the piece of paper, Chen put on his translucent gloves. He took out the note and then used the fingerprint identifier to scan the note all over. It beeped twice and Chen frowned. He did it again, but the same two beeps of the same tone rang in the room. A third time didn’t change anything. He shook his head, “No leads. It seems more people than just us knows to use gloves.”

          “Nothing?” questioned Suho.

          “Nothing,” Chen repeated.

          “Weird how this happened on the day Aheun gets confirmed to be Wolf’s Prix,” Suho noted.

          “This wouldn’t have even happened if Jinah wasn’t chosen in the first place,” Tao countered.

          “Jinah’s name might’ve been replaced with Aheun’s if she wasn’t here,” Baekhyun snapped.

          “The main point is,” Kris cut in, not wanting to extend the ongoing Jinah-versus-Aheun argument, “that we’ve been threatened. A Prix threat. What are we going to do about that? Lock her up at the base?”

          “What, you thinking of grounding her?” Baekhyun said. “I’m pretty sure we all know that’s not going to work. If she wants air, she’ll get it. Repressing her is never going to work.” Truth be told, because Baekhyun was worried, he did want to keep her in the base, but he knew that forcing her would be the most ineffective method. Scaring her into doing it wouldn’t work either. In fact, it might have the exact opposite effect. Guilt-tripping and sneaky coercion are futile efforts, too. They had nothing to bargain for, so the only thing they could do was hope she doesn’t leave the base, it seemed.

          Kai sighed. “So what are we supposed to do? Jack, this is so ing complicated!” he shouted all the sudden. “Why are we thinking so much in the first place? Just let them ing be, let them come at us. We’ll slaughter them anyway!”

          “Holy , shut up Kai!” D.O whisper-yelled. It was one of the scariest voices D.O used. Kai shut up immediately. “Aheun, Jinah, and Xiumin are sleeping upstairs! They could wake up! Damn it, why are you so freaking senseless sometimes?!”

          “Okay, fine! I get it!” Kai exclaimed, and said nothing after. Even Kai knew not to mess with D.O when he showed signs of frustration.

          Once again, silence fell upon them all. The tension was nearly tangible.

          “I suggest getting her a cell phone,” Baekhyun said, breaking the ice.

          “And download a tracking app,” added Chen.

          “Hey I just realized something,” Chanyeol said as he leaned back with his arms crossed. With an eyebrow raised, he broke the momentary silence. “Isn’t this similar to what happened two years ago with Haneu—”

          “Haneul, yes.” Baekhyun spoke with clenched teeth, “The sky. Aurora borealis occurred two years ago. That has nothing to do with Jinah though, why are you bringing it up now?” Baekhyun chuckled awkwardly. It wasn’t lighthearted, but heavy with dread. It was the best he could do in this situation. “Silly Chanyeol, you make no sense.”

          Chanyeol cleared his throat. “Right…”

          Every single member knew that aurora borealis was not the only thing that happened two years ago, but none of them dared to correct Baekhyun. Luhan’s eye twitched in irritation, but said nothing either. The silence was held for awhile, until Kris took the leadership. “Let’s take a vote. Getting a cell phone for Jinah, any objections?”

          “On the condition she downloads the tracking app,” Suho added.

          Not even Tao raised his hand.

          “Seeing none, it’s decided. That’s the first step we’ll take,” Kris said. “Let’s also hit the training grounds more often. That way we can strengthen not only ourselves, but Jinah too. She’ll be more aware. In addition,” Kris swallowed hard. “The idea of getting Aheun one too came into my mind. What do you guys say?”

          Some frowned, others nodded in understanding. It made sense, but at the same time it didn’t. Only Jinah’s name was mentioned, but Aheun could be targeted for the same reasons by other gangs. She was one of the most ideal Prixes, after all. “On the condition that she downloads the tracking app, too, of course. Any objections?” Kris asked.

          “Luhan ordered a leather wallet for Jinah already, and for cell phones, Jinah’s the priority. We still have to pay for all of our bills. Do you think we can afford all that?” Chanyeol asked.

          “Financial excuses are not valid,” Tao said sharply. “We’re a Top Gang. If we are low with our money right now, then that means we should cut down on our Raves”—Kai and Chanyeol scowled here—“luxury of video games of several hours straight, wasting electricity”—Suho and Chen frowned—“and cancel the order of the leather wallet for Jinah,” Tao said, to which Luhan’s eye twitched. “If we can support all of this, then we can support a phone for both Jinah and Aheun.”

          “Speaking of spending money, we have an interview scheduled for Aheun next week,” Lay said. “Suho, have you forgotten?”

          “Oh—right, yeah, seems like I have,” Suho said. “Lay’s right. We should probably think about that. What do we tell Nation News? A second Prix in one year after the apparent absence of a Prix for twenty-two years, and one through a sibling contract. Hey, how did Xiumin even find out about his sibling?”

          All eyes turned to one particular person. Tao swallowed hard and sighed. “It was during the Birther’s Revolution. You know, when all the Birthers wanted rights for themselves?” The gang members nodded. They all knew awareness of your siblings was nearly impossible because of the way the Birther and Dividing systems functioned, and yet they had never wondered about how Xiumin knew about the existence of his sister. “Well, one of their ways of rebelling was bribing the dwelling maidens and Army instructors to connect siblings together. They gave all sorts of information—names, hair colour, eye colour, even some tendencies. Xiumin’s mother had Xiumin’s Army instructor and Aheun’s Miss tell them about their relationship. They also had a younger sister, but she was an unnamed child, so the news didn’t reach her.”

          The Birther system was foul. Women who failed to be chosen by gangs also lacked the education to become a Miss or representative and were incapable of cleaning and doing errands at dwellings, they were sent away to be Birthers. Birthers had to give birth to a child once every year for three years, and after those three years, they worked the rest of their lives as Factory workers, which were usually made up of men who failed to complete the Journey or be successful with Army training. Or, if they were especially fertile, they could continue for a couple more years. The Birthers usually did not have actual husbands, meaning they had to raise the children on their own, fatherless. Although everyone in DE usually would have at least two siblings, there was no guarantee they all had the same father. Also, some Birthers could keep their child if it was a son. The Birther system was a system that objectified women for their reproductive organs and completely separated them from the person themselves. It was horrifying, immoral, and terrible—but it was DE.

          “Birther system…” mumbled Chanyeol. “I wonder if my sisters or brothers will be as good-looking as I am.” Then a thought occurred to Chanyeol. “Wait a minute—that means Jinah could be any of our sisters?!”

          Luhan shook his head. “She talked with her parents awhile ago, and I saw them. It was a digital-screening. None of us looked like her parents. Besides, her surname is Shin. None of us has had a ‘Shin’ in our heritage.”

          Though they weren’t granted knowledge of their siblings or direct family relations, the boys back at the Hood were given an opportunity to look at their ancient bloodline during a history class.

          Chanyeol exhaled deeply. “Thank the skies. Hey, didn’t Xiumin have a Shin?”

          Baekhyun hit the side of Chanyeol’s head. “He had a Shi.”

          Kris started laughing, and everyone turned to look at him weirdly. “What?” Kris asked them. “Isn’t it funny?” he said before any of them answered him. “What if Jinah was actually related to Xiumin? Xiumin hates her because she ‘stole’ his sister’s spot, but what if she was actually his sister too?”

          Chen shivered. “That’d be so twisted.”

          “Yeah, whose side would he take then?” Suho said.

          “Dude, that’s just crazy,” said Chanyeol, followed by chuckles. “They’d be mind-blown out of their wits. I wonder who’d hate it more—Xiumin or Jinah?”

          Luhan scoffed at their childishness. “Meeting adjourned, to whenever it may be needed. Do not mention the note to anyone else and avoid talking about the discussed matters overall. Do I make myself clear?”

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A/N:

   I reread the outline for this story..... I still have a loooooooot to go.................................... it's gonna be a hella long story guys.................................................. but !!!!! more action!!!!! i promise!!!!!!!! ^^

-deardeerhan