March 24, 2264
Shanghai, China
9:27 AM

Rain pounded on the window as she stirred the soup, occasionally adding pepper or salt to it. Lifting the wooden spoon, Kim Mei Hua took a sip before allowing a rare ghost of a smile to cross her face.

"Good enough."

Taking the pot off the stove, she went through the cupboard to find a container to put the soup in so she could freeze it right away-that way, if her aunt ever needed it, she'd only have to defrost it to enjoy it.

As she pulled out a pink container with little cupcakes on it, she smirked slightly and decided to use it.

"Maybe I should make cake right after I'm done cleaning up the soup mess," She wondered out loud, while taking the still hot liquid and pouring it into the container. Leaving it out to cool, she dumped the spoon and pot into the sink, next to the cutting board and knives she had used to chop up the ingredients.

Turning on the water to start filling the sink, she noticed the soap had been used up. Because the house she and her aunt lived in was so small, they ended up storing different things in the few rooms that were available. The cleaning supplies were in her aunts room, so with a sigh, Mei headed for the stairs.

Making her way gingerly through the room as to not knock anything over from the various dusty piles her aunt had stacked around, she managed to make it over to the left wall, where a new box of dish soaps stood waiting to be opened.

Riffling through it, she grabbed the blue colored one, one of her favorite colours, before standing up again. As she headed for the door, she thought she heard a squeak from the far side of the room, making her pause in the doorway.

"Freakin' mice." She mumbled, before walking over to the bed and crouching to look under it. A hole in the wall confirmed her suspicions, so with a growl, she turned back to face the entire room. "Now where is that rodent poison?"

She found it several minutes later, a cheap box filled with a scentless white block. She looked at it in disbelief before resisting the urge to smack her forehead, "Seriously? They didn't even do anything to it!"

Sighing, she went down stairs and grabbed a bowl. Cracking an egg white into it, she added various herbs before stirring quickly with a fork. Grabbing a basting brush from the kitchen drawer, she used it to cover the block of poison with the egg-herb mixture. Finishing, she grabbed it, as well as some paper towel, and trudged upstairs.

Placing the block onto the paper towel so that no egg yolk got on the floor, she slid it under the bed, making sure to place it close to the hole, but not too close.

"Heh. Chew on that, morons."

She wiggled her way out from under the bed, knocking her elbow into a stalk of papers right next to the bed, causing everything to fall. Mei cursed, before going to pick everything up.

Muttering curses under her breath she began to stack everything back up, until she noticed a piece of paper from the pile had slipped ever so slightly further away then the rest.

"Stupid paper..." She grabbed it and flipped it around to see what it was.

Her jaw clenched and her back stiffed as she recognized the symbol on the other side. To someone else, it would appear to be a fancy figure 8 on its side, with a neat little message written on the side. However, to Kim Mei Hua, it meant to much more.

It was the Infinite symbol, a symbol that had been used to represent the mutant race and their secret supporters for the past 22 years.  

The message, written in Chinese with neat little characters, said:

Dear Kim Chun Tao and Mei Hua,

I hope you two have been in good health. I wish I could be sending this letter in regards to just your wellbeing, but the truth of the matter is that we are in need of Mei's skills again. I'll send the boys by at 9: 30 AM on the 24, and the check on the 26.

Sincerely,

Lee Seon Woong

Mei swallowed hard before laying the letter face down on the pile.

The truth was that Lee Seon Woong was close friends with her aunt, and as a supporter of the Infinite race, as an Inspirit, she had vowed to do all she could to protect the innocent mutants. However, she never knew how much her sister’s forgotten daughter become involved with them.

-v-v-v-

Chun Tao’s sister had made the mistake of falling for a man from one of the strongest, oldest traditional Chinese families. Even though it wasn't long after they started seeing one another that the man became promised to another woman by family law, she still believed he loved her, still believed the promise he made to her that they would run away together and get married. It wasn't until she was 8 months pregnant and on the man's wedding day to the other girl that she realized he was lied to her, and used her simply as a plaything and an object to get rid of his ual frustrations and other needs.

Heart broken, the sister gave up on life and began to live in the shadows, believing everything was a lie. When she gave birth to Mei, she decided to give her up, as the girl brought back to many memories of happier times with the ex-lover. She gave her a name and left her on the doorstep of an orphanage, fleeing to God knows where.

Years later, Chun Tao was going through her sisters things and found a letter she had sent to her ex-lover about Mei, before she had been born. Aware that they were poor and that they lived in one of the more rural areas of China at the time and that the proper technology to extract or kill an 8 month or older baby wasn't available, the woman continued to go through the letters until she found an old diary. In one of the last entries, her sister confessed to leaving the girl at an orphanage and that she was going to leave China forever.

Horrified she had found out so late, as her sister had moved away once she had started seeing the Chinese man, Chun Tao went to the orphanage as soon as she could afford to adopt the now 13-year old girl and move to Shanghai.

They hadn't been living together long before Mei realized she had a talent for weapons-her aunt had an old gun hidden away for self defence, and she found she could easily shoot it and hit the bulls eye every time. When she found a knife in the gutter on the side of the road once, she taught herself how to use it on a dummy she made in the backyard. Over the 3 years she had been with her aunt, Mei learned a wide variety of weapons and was becoming more and more skilled with them.

One night, an 'uncle' Woong came to visit and have a cup of tea with her aunt. As they spoke, Mei started fiddling with the table knife, getting bored of their conversation fast. Suddenly Woong threw an orange at her, causing her to duck down and successfully dodge it. He had appeared mildly amused before asking her to show him how skilled she was with the knife. She gladly did.

After taking a few swipes at him with her knife, he asked her how good she was with a sword. She told him she had never used one, but she went on to explain the number of weapons she was good with.

When Woong left that night, his eyes were glinting with interest and he appeared to be thinking hard. A few weeks later, 16-year-old Mei and her mother received a letter with an Infinity symbol on it that asked her aunt if she wanted Mei to train further with the weapons. Seeing how excited the girl was, her aunt allowed her, and the next day she went on a speed shuttle that actually crossed over the sea and entered South Korea.

She trained with Woong and a lazy yet extremely skilled with weapons man named Choi Jin. She learned how to use a wide variety of guns, blades, throwing weapons, explosives, crossbows-you name it she learned. When she wasn’t learning how to attack or defend herself with just about anything, she was learning how to think up plans and act in emergencies with Woong and a quieter man named Kim Jung Sik.

Despite how strenuous her work became, and how different the three men who trained her were, she became as close to them as they were to each other. They became a family, a home away from home.

A year and a half late, Mei returned to Shanghai as a woman, her head high and her confidence blooming. However, the home she was waiting for when she returned was barely even there. Her aunt had worked to the bone to support both her and Mei, and the day the girl had left for South Korea, Chun Tao lost several of her jobs as the Power War in China became worse, leaving her with nothing.

She forgot all her confidence and skills she had gained with the male trio back in Korea, and she slaved away to try and regain the home she had once had with her aunt. Chun Tao had also become very ill from a Sickness Power that had swept over half of Shanghai while Mei had been away, making her internal organs weak and it nearly impossible for her to have more then two terrible paying jobs.

When Woong set her a letter asking if she wanted to go back to help with training some new weak Infinite’s he had found, as Jin had gone to Singapore to help Infinites there and Jung Sik had gone to Japan, she told him about her aunt and how she couldn’t leave. He offered her to give her money to use, but she refused, knowing neither her nor her aunt would want to use handouts.

So instead, he offered to pay her to come train the recruits. She was hesitant to agree, but as her aunt’s condition worsened and they were close to being evicted from the house, she finally consented.

She returned for several months and trained a boy named Howon on how to use knives and to become as familiar with them as if they were an extension to his limbs. In return, he paid her the exact amount of money she requested, enough for her Aunt’s medication and enough to pay the pills.

Months had passed, and just as she had suspected, Woong calculated the exact time she would need more money, sending her a request via letter.

Today she would leave Shanghai and her loving aunt for South Korea so they could afford to continue living with one another with a roof over their heads. Perhaps when she returned she would be able to convince her aunt to move to another country, one without a Power War in the middle of it. Perhaps Korea…

-v-v-v-

There was a knock at the door, breaking Mei from her thoughts as she finished drying the rest of the dishes. She glanced at the clock: 9:35. Putting the last one away, she wiped off her hands, turned off the lights in the kitchen and grabbed her oversized black-with-purple-stars, zip up hoodie. As the person continued knocking, she slipped on her black flats with the tiny pink flowers on the ends. She opened the door, stopping the man mid knock.

“Mei? Hua Mei?”

She couldn’t see him from how dark it was outside form the pouring rain, but she assumed from his voice he was 20 something. As she glanced around him, she saw two other forms.

“Yes?” She asked testily.

He coughed into his hand and most likely gave her a smile. Not that she could tell since it was dark. “We’re from Tab-I mean, Seon Woong?”

When she didn’t say anything and just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, he must have panicked slightly, as he continued, “I’m Sunggyu, and that’s-“

“I don’t care. You’re late.” She pulled her hood up over her head while she spoke, her voice cross.

“Sorry, we had troubles with the crazy directions Hyung gave us,” Another, taller boy spoke.

She decided it was too soon to get annoyed at the poor boys, so instead she made a ‘Hm’ sound and grabbed her large weapons bag by the door before shutting it behind her.

“Want me to carry that for you?” The first boy, Sunggyu or something, asked softly.

He was probably trying to make up for the fact that he was late by 5 minutes. She fought the urge to be hostile and instead dumped the heavy bag on him, making him stagger slightly.

“Okay, so you’re here. I don’t see a car or anything? Are we walking to the shuttle?”

The tall boy who had spoken before smirked, and his expression illuminated by the dull streetlights.

“Hah, who needs cars or shuttles? Especially when they’ve got me?”

“Wha-?” His friends grabbed his shoulders at the exact moment his hand flashed out and grasped her forearm.

The world spun before everything shifted to black.

A_A_A_A_A_A_A

 

A/N

I saw the opportunity to introduce a new character and I snatched it~ Whew-3 more to go ;)

That kid should stop grabbing people without asking and using his Power-it’s ruuude tsk tsk

Consider this the Intro Chapter before I start laying out everything with Tablo and the Gang haha

This is happening while Hoya, Dongwoo, Sungjong and Woohyun are chasing Ji Ae, Jinri and Sanghee around the Labyrinth, just FYI in case anyone is confused.

Comment Replies :D~

IHeartHelloKitty: Yeah, I was going to call it a maze or something, but Labyrinth is fun to same and spell, plus I randomly thought of Pan’s Labyrinth while I was trying to come up with a title. *shrug*
Thank you for the suggestion! I really like the one you have for Sungjong! It’s perfect hehe

I’m glad that all the girls seem different and not too similar and all likable in their own ways :) Do you like how I’m portraying Ji Ae? Would you like me to change anything about her?
 

Yeah, I have to include Epik High in here somehow-thosse guys need more love in the Infinite Fanfiction world-they are so amazing-heck they’re the guys who got me into Korean music XD

Yeah, well you could consider the Infinite a little similar to the bogeyman or Jason or the Grudge Girl or Jack Nicholson from the Shining or whatever you find scary-they’re the monsters that everyone fears, so if you came face to face with one for the first time and you’re in an unfamiliar environment, you won’t exactly like them any better haha

fatieynmanmanhani: Weeeelll I suppose he is. Sometimes. Hahaha XD

Really? My favorite are Border Collies or those little fluff ball ones that I can’t remember the name of right now~So cute and fluffy <3

Of course, Tablo is a genius :3

wynthe: I’m glad you like it so much haha It was lots of fun to write XD Yeah, just a hint of their Powers~ Though there is going to be a lot more in the future-hopefully you won’t get bored of them then >>

Urge, yeah, I love most dogs, I’m fascinated by wolves, but I wouldn’t want either of them chasing me with bloodlust in their eyes *shiver*Yeah, Jinri may have a short temper, be a little immature and rude, and Ji Ae might get frustrated easily, and ask too many questions and find Jinri annoying, but they both have their good points haha As does the distracted Sanghee XD I’m glad you’re liking them-I didn’t want to make them perfect little angels, but I didn’t want them to be evil little spawns of satan-so they’re kinda in between with good and bad points.

Still haven’t been super obvious with the condition yet-perhaps I should reveal it soon…hmmm :P

Waaah you should draw me something XD Hahaha I wanna see!

Yeah, Tablo and Epik High-they’re really awesome-I love how their songs sound and what they mean, I love how derpy they are, and I love how they basically created Infinite. They need to be in here XD

Woah, you’re really good at guessing their abilities! Not saying anything though~

zenlovers: Waah I’m glad you think their abilities fit-I didn’t want to have anything that would seem too farfetched with their personalities :/
Yeah, Sungjong is a little troll-acting happy and nice and girl yet causing fights between his hyungs XD He’s just full of mischief haha
Yeah, Hoya should be careful or he’ll end up doing something he’ll regret >>

Jaimee:  Haha Just think of this as a reward you get when you’re done with school~I’m not going to be deleting it so you can read any chapters I put up at any time at any pace :)
Yes, they are all very attractive mehehe Naah labs are adorable-though your comment about your lab chasing you with the weird expression made me burst out laughing XD

Haha Leeet’s just say Woohyun can be anything you image-for the most part ;)
The word Infinite kinda took on a dirty meaning after they appeared and started using it-it’d be kinda like if I called someone a ‘’ or a ‘bastard’ or ’he-who-must-not-be-named’ ;)
Good luck with school! Try not to study too hard or you’ll get a headache, and everyone hates those >:(
Haha aww I love you too~such an awesome commenter XD

francesca: Mehehe I dunno, is the idea all wrong? ;)
FINE I WILL. XD
Hahaha You’re right for the most part XD but what if Infinite had more then just one Power? What then? Want me to tell you their names? They’re all very good looking and awesome, trust me haha Close about the hyung though ;)
Also: I almost posted this chapter and comment replies when I accidently refreshed my page and found your comment XD Whee that was a close one haha

~~~

Again, this is an Intro kinda thing-I hope you guys like Mei as much as I like her (she’s like the perfect mixture of cute and badass haha) :3

Thank You for commenting-I’ll put up a good chapter with lots of Infinite and Tablo in it soon :D

-WhosThere13                 

P.S. My computer deleted the beginning of this chapter too -_-“  I think she wants a facelift, freakin’ ancient laptop…I think I’m going to call her Gladys. Perfect old name for an old laptop >>