Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s been four months since Seoul’s youngest hero was found again.

But it wasn’t what anyone expected.

Instead of being the hero he disappeared as, he was a villain driven by anger and betrayal. Not a protector but a threat. A threat to the city and the viewpoint people had.

He disappeared on his own but returned with six others. Six others who, like him, were threats. Threats to safety. Threats to peace.

Threats to the definition of a hero.

After all, if you paid close enough attention you’d know it was heroes that made them like that.

But most people didn’t pay attention and most don’t care to. It’s simple, they’re threats so that means they’re bad. Heroes do no wrong or harm in society’s eyes; it would never be their fault.

But what of the seven boys? The ones everyone has been talking about since they appeared and even more so after it was publicly revealed that the once hero was now a part of that group. The ones everyone has been watching and throwing their own opinion in about. Where do they come in at in all of this?

“This is really becoming annoying.”

Donghyuck mumbles to his teammates and they nod in agreement, giving glares to the heroes standing in front of them.

Since the entire revelation situation, the heroes have been refusing to fight back each and every time they go against them. All they ever do is protect civilians, defend themselves from attacks, and uselessly ask them to stop what they’re doing. They never go on the offensive, never fight back. It’s just a one-sided fight.

And it’s becoming a very frustrating thing.

“What do we have to do for them to just fight back already?” Jaemin says.

“Push them past their limit,” Renjun says.

They all charge at the eight again, determined to get them to fight back.

Chenle swings his leg, aiming for Yuta’s head only for the older to duck away in time.

“Why duck if you can teleport away? Am I not a threat enough for you to use your powers?” Chenle says angrily, swinging his fist this time.

Yuta blocks it but never swings back.

“That’s not the case and you know it. This is unnecessary, we don’t have to do this,” Yuta responds.

His casual response angers Chenle more though. It feels like he doesn’t even care enough to defend himself properly. He can at least act like if a hit lands on him it’ll hurt. Blocking his hit so easily with his arm as if it doesn’t even hurt, it’s so irritating. If he doesn’t want to go on the offensive at least fight to protect himself. Isn’t that necessary?

“Yes we do. Now, fight me properly,” Chenle says through gritted teeth.

Nearby, Jeno charges at Jungwoo, trying to grab the older. His knuckles are getting cold from the ice walls he is punching to pieces but he won’t stop.

“Stop running away and use that ice for something else,” he growls.

“I’m not attacking you,” Jungwoo replies.

It makes Jeno even more upset. He didn’t sign up for a chase. What’s the point of coming to stop them if they’re not going to fight back? Why are they wasting time like this?

“Let’s see if you still say that when I get my hands on you.”

Renjun slashes his blade, centimeters away from Jaehyun’s face, the older not even putting up a barrier to protect himself.

“You do realize that there is poison on this knife right? You can die if I cut you,” Renjun says.

“Are you worrying about me now? I know what’s on your knife,” Jaehyun responds calmly.

Renjun aims for his neck this time, a bit wildly due to rising frustration. Jaehyun just dodges it again.

“Then act like you do. Use a barrier already or else,” he says, repeatedly slashing the knife back and forth to make a point.

Jaemin shoots a bolt at Johnny at dangerously close proximity.

“I know you know hand-to-hand fighting. Don’t act like your only strength is looking into people’s memories,” he says.

Johnny won’t even try to get close to him to fight. Even if he wasn’t firing bolts, the older would still stay to a defensive distance.

“I don’t want to fight you and you know that,” Johnny says.

Jaemin makes a face in distaste, lightning crackling on his hands.

“Yeah because all you care about is talking to Riot. You don’t care in other fights because we’re not him. Get over it already! He’s not going back to you guys. Now fight me or I’m going to fry you where you stand,” he spits out, anger hanging on his words.

He fires another bolt.

Jisung stomps his foot, the groundbreaking beneath it violently. Taeyong jumps out of the way before the ground underneath him collapses.

“There, you have debris you can use, now fight back. Make this interesting for both of us. Show me what those anti-gravity powers can actually do,” Jisung sneers.

But Taeyong shakes his head no in response.

“I’m not going to,” he says.

Jisung clenches his jaw. There’s no good reason to not fight back. They’re a threat, treat them like one. Those heroes want to protect the city so much then at least give a fight when someone is threatening it. They’d do it to any other villain so why not do it for the seven of them? They’re the worst threats this city has seen in a while. Treat them like it dammit!

Instead of responding back, Jisung just stomps again, this time breaking the ground worse than before. 

If he won’t fight back then he’ll have to fight to stay safe.

Donghyuck swings a whip made of pure light at Ten, cursing the older for his inhuman agility and balance.

“I thought you were one for excitement. Isn’t it boring just avoiding hits? Come on, I hear you’re an exceptional fighter, prove it to me,” he taunts.

He’s tired of this little dodging game. He’s seen Ten fight before, he knows that the elder can do more than just run around and dodge hits. Just fight back already.

“This isn’t an elementary schoolyard, I’m not going to attack you because you’re taunting me,” Ten replies.

Donghyuck’s grip tightens significantly around his whip at the response. Is he being related to an elementary school child? Is that how he’s seen as? A little child?

“Fine. Then let’s see how agile you really are,” he says, voice tight in ire.

Loose rubble from the damage being caused around them rises in the air as Mark stares down the two in front of him. They always have two people facing him because they always believe one of these days they’ll be able to “talk him out” of what he’s doing. They’re relying on emotions and memories that will never move him again in their favor.

“Are you going to fight back now?” He asks, holding the rubble in the air.

Neither Doyoung nor Sicheng look worried at the sight of his power, however, though they know very well that he is a threat. There were definitely a few times they could have gotten seriously injured because of him so they know not to sleep on his power. But fighting back is not something they will do.

“We won’t fight you,” Sicheng says.

“You’ve done it before. You’ve fought me before. Stop talking and just fight back!” Mark says, tone rising in annoyance. 

How long are they going to continue this stupid false talk of peace? He’s not going back to them and the seven of them are not going to stop. Even if they were stupid enough to want to, they couldn’t. The city would never let the seven of them go without any consequences and those damn heroes always do what’s “best for the public”. They’re not getting locked away. They rather run away like cowards than be put away.

“We’re not going to. We don’t want to fight and you know that. We just want to talk with you,” Doyoung says.

Mark’s eyes darken and, underneath his mask, his mouth sets in a straight line.

“No.”

He closes his hand and the rubble floating in the air falls, gravity pulling them down fast and hard.

In a flawless movement, Doyoung responds to the falling items by making a large metal shield to protect both of them.

As the debris falls and bounce off the strong metal shield, Mark looks over to his teammates. 

Each of them looks extremely frustrated. Chenle is relentlessly fighting his hardest, Jeno’s fist are turning red from either the coldness of the ice or the hardness of it (maybe both), Renjun’s movement have strayed from their natural grace and become a bit more chaotic, Jaemin is firing bolt after bolt without stopping, Jisung is tearing up the ground, and Donghyuck has a fire in his eyes that is different than his normal spunk.

Their irritation and anger are bleeding into their very postures. Just by looking at them he can tell what they’re thinking and what they’re feeling.

He has to take them away before they end up harming their own selves.

He turns his back to the two he was facing—it’s not like they’ll attack him from behind—and forces a light post to fall in front of Jisung, snapping the younger out of his narrow focus. Then he pulls Jaehyun, Yuta, and Ten away from their fights and over next to the three behind him, stopping Chenle, Renjun, and Donghyuck. He then decides to pull Jaemin and Jeno away, knowing that in that mindset, the two would continue to attack even if their opponent moved.

By now, all of his teammates are looking at him, especially Jeno and Jaemin who are caught in his power.

“We’re leaving. No need to waste our time here,” he says.

Donghyuck is about to speak up in objection but the look in Mark’s eyes stops the words in his mouth. It’s clearly not a matter up for discussion.

Mark turns back to the heroes with the same look in his eyes.

“The next time we meet will not be like this. Believe me on that,” he says.

Before any of the olders can respond, the boys disappear thanks to Donghyuck’s light flare once again.

As always, the boys swiftly leave, staying out of view and avoiding people as they go. They’re deathly silent as they move, no one saying a thing to each other. It’s not until they reach the safety and privacy of their own home does the tense silence break.

Mark sighs and looks at his friends, his expression much softer than how it was outside.

“Jeno, go run your hands under warm water so you can get rid of the cold. Renjun, go relax in a bath, you look as coiled as a snake. Jaemin, sit down and I’ll get your blanket. Hyuck, you sit with him. Chenle and Jisung, you can hang in my room again if you want,” he says, knowing them very well.

They all stay still though so he decides to take the lead. He takes Jeno by the hand and brings him into the kitchen. He runs some warm water and then puts the younger’s hands under it.

“Stay like that until I come back to you, okay,” he says.

Jeno nods, clearly appreciating the warmth on his hands.

Mark walks away and grabs Donghyuck and Jaemin—ignoring the shock touching Jaemin sent through his body—and pulls them along with him. He sits Jaemin down on the couch and puts Donghyuck next to him.

“Don’t touch him yet, he’s still sparking,” he says to Donghyuck.

He goes back and grabs Renjun this time, pulling him along and leading him to the bathroom. When they get to the bathroom, he lets go of Renjun and goes over to the tub. He gets the water running, making sure it’s the right temperature for the younger.

“Don’t rush yourself; enjoy your time and relax,” he says to Renjun, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder before leaving.

On his way back to the living room, he stops in Jaemin’s room and grabs his special blanket. It keeps him from shocking anyone who touches him while he’s sparking. They found out much earlier on in their time together that when Jaemin uses his powers too much, the electricity just stays on his skin for a while. The blanket is not only comforting for Jaemin but it allows others to cuddle with him without getting shocked.

Once he grabs the blanket and heads back to the living room, he wraps it around Jaemin carefully but snuggly so the younger can feel safe.

Without having to be prompted, Donghyuck immediately moves and cuddles up next to Jaemin, both of them always loving affection.

Mark looks back to Jeno in the kitchen.

“Do your knuckles feel better or do you want to stay longer under the water?” He says.

“I’ll stay a bit longer. You can take Chenle and Jisung,” Jeno responds.

Mark takes the response and turns to their two youngest.

“Come on, let’s go,” he says.

They follow him to his room. Mark gets on his bed first and then motions for them to come. The bed isn’t really big enough for three people—two people max—but somehow they always find a way to make it work. The two curl up into his sides and he lets it happen.

Now Mark isn’t really a fan of skinship but he knows that sometimes it makes people feel better. Jisung isn’t a fan of it either but he does like to be held and comforted at times. So Mark does his best at moments like these to make sure he can do whatever to comfort them.

“Why did we leave, hyung?” Chenle asks, softer than normal.

Mark runs a comforting hand through his hair.

“Because you guys were going to end up hurting yourselves by the way you were pushing yourselves,” he responds.

“But won’t more people make fun of us now and say that NCT was stronger than us?” Jisung asks.

It’s been a thing everywhere lately since NCT stopped fighting back. Some say that NCT is so strong, they don’t even need to use their powers to go against them. Others say that the boys are clearly only children if they keep using violence as their answer rather than talking it out like NCT is suggesting. And there are some who even say that they are just going through a rebellious phase against NCT and will calm down in a matter of time. It’s all very insulting to them and it belittles them as villains and as people. They’re threats that should be taken seriously but by NCT not fighting back and treating them as such, no one else is either. 

“We’ll just make sure to cause more damage the next time to make up for it, that’s all. For now, don’t worry about it. Just relax,” Mark replies.

He wants them all to calm down and become rational again before they even try to deal with the whole situation. NCT is just making things harder and harder for them but they’ll find a way to deal with that later. Mark’s main focus right now is to make sure everyone is back in a calm and relaxed state. And as the oldest, he’ll do what he can to make sure that happens.

Because—since NCT didn’t show it—that’s what a good hyung does.

“Well that didn’t go well.”

The eight of them crash down at the same time like it was a routine. Living together for so many years really gets you used to things, they’ll tell you that.

“You think? Johnny and Jaehyun we’re facing death for a good moment there,” Yuta replies.

“Is it just me or are they becoming more aggressive?” Jungwoo says.

He can practically still see Jeno charging at him. Aggressive is putting that lightly.

“They are but I don’t really understand why. I don’t get why they’re so determined to fight when they don’t have to. What are they trying to accomplish?” Taeyong says.

“I think the better question is what are they angry about? If we can figure that out then maybe we can find a way to get them talking so we can help them,” Jaehyun says.

Maybe the reason none of them are talking is because they think that they aren’t going to talk about something they’re going to care about. Clearly they have a lot of anger in them so maybe if they know why they can better reach out to them.

“Well we kinda know why Minhyung is mad but that’s the exact reason why he doesn’t want to talk to us. He’s mad at us,” Yuta says with a frown.

Minhyung made that fact very clear the moment they found out that Riot was, in fact, him and he showed them how strong his powers really were. It really was an act of teamwork and a miracle that they got out of that one with as few injuries as they could manage. It’s clear, he does NOT want to talk to them. 

It still hurts them when they think about it.

“Okay but we also know that their reasons have to be different than his so that’s one thing in our favor. And maybe if we can get them to talk with us then he’ll follow. They all seem to be close now,” Doyoung says.

“I don’t know, they kinda seemed like they really wanted to hurt us there. They may not have years of personal history with us that seems to be driving them to hate us but they aren’t very happy with us either,” Ten says.

And they have to remember, there was a reason that Minhyung decided to specifically break the six of them out only. They doubt that he would have chosen people that were fans of them to be on a team of villains with him.

“True but so far it’s safe to assume that they don’t...hate...us as much as Minhyung does,” Johnny says, hesitating on the word ‘hate’.

He still can’t believe that the same boy that they took under their wing actually seems to hate them. Did they really mess up that badly that he can genuinely say that he hates them? When he saw his memories, he could clearly feel the feelings that were flowing through the younger. There was just so much bitterness and anger. Were they that blind that they couldn’t see him slowly growing to dislike them? Did they really miss the signs showing his change in view toward them?

“Okay then, let’s just see what reasons they could be angry in general? More likely than not, something that happened in their life is involved in the reason if they have no reservations about taking it out on the city. Why don’t we go through each of their cases and see what we can find. Go in the order we met them,” Taeyong says.

“Alright, Renjun would be first then. We know he came from China alone for unknown reasons. He seemed fine for a good amount of time until the situation came up where he was about to poison half the Seoul population. It seemed to come up out of the blue but it happened and right after it he was placed into a facility,” Sicheng says.

Renjun was actually nowhere near a public threat when he arrived in South Korea or for the time after it. It was all of a sudden that he became a threat and became very hostile when they were trying to stop him.

“Okay so something happened to make him become hostile since after that incident, he was away in the facility for his and everyone else’s safety,” Doyoung says.

“Well he did say that something about officials mistreating him. When we went against him he said he wasn’t safe and that’s also part of the reason that we decided it was safer for him in a facility,” Ten says.

“What if that’s it? Maybe we should look more into that whole situation with the officials. Part of his anger could stem from an injustice he believes was done against him by some law officials. That would explain his lack of hesitation to attack the city,” Jungwoo suggests.

It’s a good start. They didn’t find anything when they first were on the case and the younger did seem to say whatever if it got them off of his trail but maybe something he said has some truth.

“Alright, we’ll dig up some stuff on his case and see what we can find. Now what about Jeno?” Taeyong says.

Lee Jeno is the type of person who just seems naturally angry but there has to be something else to him.

“Not much is known about him before he went wild on the city. When he did go wild, we couldn’t get much out of him. Loose words such as ‘doctor’ and ‘tests’ came from his mouth but they were barely understandable. He just attacked everything in sight. There were rumors though that he was experimented on by his parents and some scientists but it came from a rival lab. No evidence was given to support it so it was assumed that the story was made up to damage the company,” Doyoung says.

“Well then, that’s a good place to start for him. If in some way he was actually experimented on—by his parents at that—then that would give him a reason to be angry. The facility he was in though did report that he had more animal to him than human though so it could also just be animalistic rage fueling him,” Johnny responds.

Though they don’t wish anything bad on the younger, they hope there is a reason why he’s angry. Any reason would be much easier to deal with than plain animalistic rage.

“We’ll see what we can find on his history. He’s going to be a hard one though. When we first looked through his information, everything seemed to be hidden or incomplete. Let’s move on to Jaemin,” Sicheng says.

“Well there isn’t much with him. He was a regular kid, going to school, rarely caused a problem. He didn’t have the greatest relationship with his parents—they gave him up without any issue—but that doesn’t seem like anything too major. One day he’s fine and then the next he’s firing lighting everywhere in the city. Caused a hell of a blackout. The most I can say about that day though that we can probably work on is that he seemed distressed. His body was shaking and he seemed upset but also in pain. Maybe something with his powers or his home life,” Jaehyun says.

Jaemin was another random case like Renjun. One minute he’s no one’s business and the next, he’s a threat to the general population. And also like Renjun, he was very hostile in general to any and everyone. It’s going to be hard to pinpoint a cause of anger for him.

“So maybe we should look up things about electrokinesis and maybe research a bit more into his family situation. Surely his parents know by now that their son is part of the villain group that’s been tearing Seoul up for the past ten months. If they aren’t even trying to reach out to find out what the heck is going on then maybe we should look into that,” Yuta says.

“Alright, so another thing to look up. No problem. Donghyuck is next,” Johnny says.

“Donghyuck was also a regular kid. A bit of a prankster but wouldn’t be considered a problem child. Unlike Jaemin, he seemed to be fine with his family so we don’t have to look too much into that. It wasn’t aggressiveness that put him on our radar, unlike the other three. He was still calm and peaceful but his powers were out of control. Too many incidents involving them happened and we had to do something about it. He was placed in a facility to help him learn control. Not much to be angry about other than his lack of control,” Taeyong says.

Donghyuck was probably the least problematic out of the six really. Yes, he became hostile when they went after him but he wasn’t intentionally causing any problems it looks like. It’s kinda hard to see what he could be angry about.

“That could be a big thing though. He was the only one in his family with powers and all his friends were nowhere near as strong as him. No one was there to help him learn how to control his powers so maybe he’s upset that he had to go through it alone. It can be rough for such strong powers to bloom that young without anyone to guide you,” Ten says.

It’s a possibility. Frustration can turn into anger. Maybe he was upset that he couldn’t control his powers and no one could help him so now—now that he’s in control of them—he’s taking it out and proving to himself that he is better.

“We should check to see if there were any other issues involved with that. Kids are mean you know; maybe he was teased by his friends for not being in control of his powers. Maybe someone ridiculed him,” Jungwoo adds.

If someone did make him feel worse about it all then that can definitely contribute to the anger he has now.

“It’s added onto the list. Chenle’s next,” Sicheng says.

“His initial cause of anger is pretty obvious, that is what he was sent away for. He was denied access to apply for citizenship and he took it out on one of the officials in the building. He became hostile once we approached and led us on a chase. He’s probably mad at the government in general since he came to Korea for safety and he was denied help in a way,” Jungwoo says.

Chenle’s case is definitely more clearcut than the others. He was angry when they found him so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he still held anger for what happened to him.

“Maybe we should find out why he was denied the right to apply. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something else going on with that. Politics is a shady scene at times,” Doyoung says.

“Alright then, it’s a good place to start. Finally, Jisung,” Johnny says.

The very last one they encountered.

“He may be another hard one. He was a normal kid, never seemed to have run-ins with his powers in any negative way. He was shy, few friends, but nothing to raise flags. He had an anxiety attack and his powers acted on their own. He was another one placed in the facility to help him learn how to control his powers,” Yuta says.

Like Donghyuck—and unlike the other four—his situation was unintentional. He wasn’t aiming to harm the city in any way. There was no anger there when they were dealing with him, just fear. Why he could be angry now is going to be hard to link to his case.

“The best place to start then is to see why he had the attack in the first place, what triggered him. It could be a hint. Maybe we should also research a bit more about his powers as well just in case,” Jaehyun says.

“Seems like we’ll have a lot to look up and research,” Ten says.

And for cases that happened up to almost six years ago at that. They hope there’s still information they can use.

“It’ll be worth it if we can get them to see that we’re not trying to go against them. We kinda put ourselves in the hole originally going against them so we have to try and make up for that for their sake. It’s going to be hard to fix whatever we did to Minhyung but maybe we can fix what happened to those boys first and then try to tackle the issue with Minhyung. If we can show just one of them that we’re trying to make a difference then we’re taking a step in the right direction to correct things,” Johnny says.

If they can get at least one of them to talk to them then hopefully they can get a better grasp on the situation. There are just so many things they aren’t sure about involving what’s going on and they’d like to fix that. For instance, did Minhyung break them out because they were around his age, because they were strong, because they were angry? Why did he choose those six in particular, other than the fact that they all encountered them? Maybe it’s because he wanted to spite them since he wasn’t really allowed to do much on those cases. Also, what’s keeping all seven of them going? What’s their goal? When does Minhyung feel his revenge is complete? What are the other six after or is it just anger? Things like these they have to find a way to figure out.

As protectors of the city, their goal is to remove all serious harm to civilians, one way or another. Those boys are a threat and they have to deal with them for the sake of others. But as human beings and a former friend of one of them, they just want to fix whatever went wrong. They want the best for those boys, especially Minhyung whose heart they know is pure. As heroes and as people, all they want is the best for everyone, including those boys.

Five more months have passed but yet nothing seems to change in their favor.

NCT still isn’t fighting them back, people are still having mixed opinions about them, and the media highlights the heroes no matter what they do. It’s becoming disheartening but also adding on to the anger they already had.

How dare those heroes do this to them? The slightest threat in the city and they move with the utmost urgency and do whatever they have to do but when the seven of them come, all the heroes do is try to talk to them as if they were kids, as if they’re trying to talk down a child from doing something. The city is viewing them as children because they can’t get the heroes to fight them. If NCT doesn’t view them as a threat then neither do the civilians. It’s getting so bad that civilians actually stay in the area more because they don’t fear that they can be hurt. It’s demeaning.

And what makes matters worse, the heroes are acting as if they really care about all seven of them. They had no problem fighting them when they didn’t know Riot’s identity but they did know the other six. Why is it suddenly different now that they know the last member’s identity? It especially burns Mark up because why is he suddenly so important? Why didn’t they view his friends as important before? Before the six of them were just unruly villains who needed to be subdued but now all of a sudden they’re six young people who deserve to be listened to. It’s disrespectful to the six of them and it makes Mark remember how fake NCT actually is.

As the days go on, they just seem to find more and more to be angry about. What started off as just wanting revenge for being treated so wrong and judged unfairly turned into something more. Before, they were mistreated by a handful of people. Their lives were ruined thanks to eight people. But now, they’re being treated wrongly by multiple people. They’re being taken less seriously now more than ever before. At least in the facilities, they were viewed as a threat; their power was acknowledged. When they all came out as villains, people recognized how dangerous they would be. But now, no one seems to even view them as a danger. Everyone suddenly has complete faith in their heroes and never fear anything that the heroes don’t fear. It’s almost as if now they have to prove their own power to regular people. It’s insane and degrading. It’s preposterous. 

And things only seem to get worse.

“Quickly, turn on the news!”

Donghyuck runs in the living room, gathering everyone’s attention and drawing them to the living room as well as he tells Renjun to turn on the TV repeatedly.

“Alright, alright, here,” Renjun says, turning on the TV and putting on the news.

Donghyuck sits down hastily, biting his lip as he stares at the screen, waiting for whatever he wanted to see.

“You alright there Hyuck?” Mark asks, sitting next to him.

“I don’t know,” he replies a bit grimily.

The answer is vague but it really catches their attention. Clearly, this is not about to be favorable news.

No one responds and they all focus on the television like Donghyuck does. The news section currently going on ends and the cameras go back to the anchors.

“Thank you Ha-Yoon for this week’s weather report. Now we’re heading over to Kida Daichi who is live, interviewing two out of eight of Seoul’s top heroes, NCT. Daichi,” the anchor says.

An interview with NCT? What for and more importantly, why does it matter to them?

“Yes, Ae-cha, I’m here with none other than NCT’s Zero and Searcher who, along with their other members, have been protecting our city for years now. As some may have seen and heard already, NCT have been doing a few things that have been catching people’s attention from things as helping create programs for youths with powers to putting on trial some of the top scientists Seoul has to offer. If you don’t mind me asking, what is the situation with the scientists? Many are wondering about that,” Kida Daichi says, turning to the two heroes.

Zero, Taeyong, and Searcher, Johnny, stand there friendly as always with a smile that just screams hero. It makes the boys want to roll their eyes but there are more important things to focus on at this moment.

“Ah yes, the scientists that will now be going on trial were a part of an unethical group who were doing experiments and labs that were completely inhumane. Though the research they gathered were major breakthroughs in science today, their way of gathering it was completely horrible and had to be stopped,” Searcher says .

At that very moment, Jeno feels his blood go cold at the familiarity of the description.

“How did you guys find out about this? From what I heard, they were well hidden and must have been doing this for years now. Surely they were covering their tracks,” Daichi says.

“We were given a hint about it five years ago. As many may remember, five years ago, the one who now goes by Savage first appeared and attacked Seoul. While handling the case, we were tipped off that he was a part of terrible experiments. Back then we didn’t have any evidence to prove the experiments though. After going over it all again and looking up as much as we could, we were finally able to find the scientists and gain evidence that they were doing inhumane experiments for years now,” Zero responds.

A whimper slips past Jeno’s mouth as he abruptly remembers everything about the painful experiments he went through. He can still see all of the needles that were used on him and the small cages he was put into. He remembers the day he went wild, it was so painful for him. It was a mix of strong emotions, conflicting instincts, and overwhelming animalistic urges. It was a nightmare. He was a human lab rat and no one believed him. They blamed his wildness on him. They called him a beast but no one understood that he was made into one.

Jaemin pulls him into a hug, carding his hand through the older’s hair in an attempt to comfort him.

“So it’s safe to say that they’re part of the reason why we have that villain today. It’s almost like something you’d see in a book. Now I’m told that there are some other people who you guys sent on trial, this time people such as businessmen and police officers. What’s the story on that?” Daichi continues.

“Six years ago this time, it was first hinted at corruption within the system. Officials and businessmen were targeting foreigners and using them for their practices. Some foreigners were harassed into working for little wages, becoming the runner during their illegal deals, and or causing problems for rival companies. Foreigners with powers were treated even worse and were used for horrible things such as destroying property or making others sick so they could make money off of rebuilding and medicines. After careful research and getting a few of the victims to come forward and speak up, we were able to get a case against them,” Zero explains this time.

“I’m told that the villain Viper was also one of the foreigners that were mistreated, yes?”

“Yes, he was but he fought back which led to the entire situation as we all know it. In light of what has been going on, we’ve also been trying to help adjust the process that foreigners have to go through to limit the injustices that could possibly be done to them. We’re hoping that we could limit and eventually get rid of situations where one is preyed upon to be used and situations where one is denied rightful access to government help and privileges such as becoming a resident or a citizen. By doing this we can hopefully make things more just for everyone,” Searcher says.

Renjun shrinks back slightly as he recalls that time. He didn’t fight back. He was scared, he was trying to save himself. He wasn’t harming anyone or trying to get revenge on them. It wasn’t his idea to poison anyone. They still have the story wrong. They’re WRONG!

“The villain Syren was also another one who was in that situation before if I recall correctly. These are much-needed changes that many will be glad to know about. I know as a foreigner myself, such things are exactly what I hope for, remembering my process moving here. Now, other than cracking down on the injustices that were being hidden, you all have also been doing some stuff to personally help the public. Tell us about that if you will,” Daichi says.

An expression that achingly resembles hurt crosses Chenle’s face at the mention of him. Now they want to fix the issues? But when he was going through it, no one cared, he was just an enemy. 

He turns away from the TV and starts searching through his phone.

“Yes, we’ve been trying to help create programs to help youths with powers to learn about them and learn how to control and use them. It can be hard when no one is there to guide you along and we’ve seen cases where it can lead to disaster if they are not helped or if they don’t even know the basics of their powers. Instances like Seismic, Solar Flare, and Shockwave are examples of what may happen when a young one doesn’t understand their power or doesn’t know how to control their powers. We remember that their original cases were caused because they didn’t have a good grasp of their powers. We’d like to help young ones now so no one has to go through the discomfort of dealing with the powers on their own,” Searcher explains.

Jaemin keeps running his hand through Jeno’s hair, trying to ignore the charge running through his veins. Why do they care now that powers are hard to control at young ages? Didn’t they know that when they faced him, Donghyuck, and Jisung? Why do the youth now get resources like that when his parents used to try to beat control into him? He had to control his powers or else he’d face a pain worse than his abilities. Where was that support or even concern when he was getting beaten black and blue because of his lack of control?

Donghyuck reaches out and grabs Mark’s hand subconsciously, seeking comfort. When he wasn’t in control of his powers, they put in him a facility. Why are they trying to create programs now? Why didn’t they do that when he needed it? Is it because his powers were stronger than most? Is it because they encountered three strong people his age before him and they wrongly grouped him in with their situations? Why is he being used as a warning example now?

Jisung keeps his eyes trained on the television, trying not to show his thoughts. It hurts actually. He was afraid, he didn’t even know the extent of his power but yet they locked him away “for his own safety”. Why didn’t he get that type of help? Yeah, the facility taught him how to control his power but he had to suffer in there for two years. Is it because his power is dangerous? Is that how they choose between who gets to have help and support and who has to rot away in a facility?

He looks down at his tattoo. 9B205. It’s the tag that marked him as a danger to everyone who saw it. Was he considered just too dangerous to receive help?

“I’ve noticed a trend here and that’s each of the things you have been doing somehow relate to one of the young villains that Seoul has been seeing a lot of. Any reason or is that a frightening coincidence?” Daichi says.

“In light of their appearance and actions, we wanted to find out what went wrong and where could we help fix it at. Seoul has become familiar with them so many will understand why we are doing what we are doing. These are problems that affect actual people, young and old. Now we’re not saying they create villains but they can have a negative impact on people. It’s best that we start fixing what we can now and then-”

Mark turns off the TV, midway through Taeyong’s explanation. They don’t need to hear any more of what either of them has to say.

The room is silent now that the television is off. It’s tense but it’s a dour tense instead of an anger or awkward filled one. 

“Wow, weak backstory bro.”

Everyone turns to Chenle who is still staring at his phone, hand lightly trembling.

“So basically they’re throwing a tantrum and taking it out on us?”

They realize that he’s reading whatever he’s looking at on his phone and from the sound of it, it’s about them.

“Everyone leave them alone, they’re young and went through bad stuff. It’s a fact that children tend to see situations worse than how an adult would see them.”

He doesn’t even glance at them after he reads it. He just continues on.

“Leave it to NCT to always look for ways to make things more just. Change the system, don’t attack it (@ our seven villains).”

“Chenle,” Mark calls out.

“NCT basically just said ‘villains who? We fix backstories in this house’.”

“Chenle,” Mark says more firmly.

“Fixing our government and our villains at the same time. NCT is a legend.”

“Chenle!”

Chenle finally looks up from his phone, hurt and distress written all over his face.

“They’re commenting about that interview. They’re commenting about us . Everyone is putting in their own little opinion about OUR stories, what we went through, and they’re tearing us down. They’re invalidating any and every feeling we’ve had. They’re calling us children and saying that we’re having a tantrum. They’re telling us to stop being overdramatic. They’re putting NCT on a goddamn pedestal for helping make things fairer when those heroes are the most unjust out of them all. They let us suffer in those facilities like we were criminals but now, now our situations are such pitiful stories that people need help for. We get shunned and ridiculed so we can be an example for others and we’re supposed to be okay with that?!” He says.

His body is shaking and tears fall from his eyes as the frustration and emotional pain builds up within him more and more.

“Oh, Chenle,” Mark says sympathetically, reaching out toward him.

“NO! Why does everyone else suddenly get their situation taken into consideration but we don’t! Why do those scientists who experimented on a HUMAN get to go to trial first when we were put away immediately! Why do those damn officials who abused their powers get to be heard by a judge but a scared seventeen years old couldn’t even be heard out by this city’s ‘merciful’ protectors! Why did we get treated like the bad guys before we even tried to be? And now, now that we’re actually being the villains they called us when we were locked away, no one accepts us as such. All of a sudden, we’re seen as children again. We weren’t children when they chased us and sent us to rot but now we’re children because NCT won’t give us the time of day. What kind of justice is that?!” Chenle exclaims.

He throws his phone down and runs away, sliding on his shoes with ease and running out of the house without a second thought.

“Lele, wait!” Jisung calls out to him.

He runs out after him immediately, not caring about anything else other than catching up with Chenle.

Donghyuck turns to the others who are practically on their way out after them as well, especially Mark who feels terrible about this.

“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to them. You guys stay here and figure out something we can do when we come back,” he says.

No one argues against it. Donghyuck is probably the best at comforting out of all of them so he’s the best to go searching for them. 

Donghyuck picks up Chenle’s thrown phone and makes sure he has his before leaving to go search for their two youngest.

Mark sighs before dropping back down in his seat, putting his head in his hands.

“This is all my fault,” he says.

“Hey now, don’t say that. It’s not your fault,” Renjun says.

He puts a hand on Mark’s shoulder in an attempt to give some reassurance to him.

“But it is. It’s because of me that NCT is even acting like this. They would have never gone this far if they didn’t know who I was. If I was more careful and paid attention that stupid fight then none of this would have happened. Better yet, if I didn’t try to come back as if I could do something in the first place then they wouldn’t have any reason to ruin more people’s lives,” Mark says.

Renjun bends down so as to look Mark in the eyes.

“If you didn’t come back then all six of us would still be locked away in those facilities. Even if we did get out, it would follow us everywhere that we were dangers. Being in one of those facilities is worse than being in prison; at least once you get out of prison, you may be accepted back into society. We would never have that. Our lives were ruined the moment they put us in there. You tried to help us and you did so don’t ever regret that. They can’t see where they themselves went wrong so they’re doing everything as if the problem still lies with us. That’s not your fault,” he says.

“Okay but I can’t even begin to understand what you guys went through in those facilities or just being put there against your will in the first place. Everything NCT is doing is affecting you guys, making you all look bad. They still try to treat me as some misguided and lost hero but treat you all as troublemakers. If anyone really has reason to be angry at them and the world, it’s you six. I’m just having what everyone rightly is calling jealousy and a rebellious attitude. All I’m doing is making matters worse and help making your reasons look small,” Mark replies.

Just listening to Chenle talk about the injustice of everything made him realize that even he couldn’t fully understand what they’re going through. He got them out so they can be a part of some revenge plan but really who needed revenge more, him or them? They were misunderstood, mistreated, and scared but yet no one did anything for them. He knows what the facilities are like but he didn’t have to experience it. They’re being treated like children after all that they went through and being made to feel like every motive and feeling they have is invalid. It’s an injustice for him to even think he can relate to what they’re going through.

“Mark, you were left alone to die . You were forgotten about and abandoned. You were ignored by people who were supposed to show you attention and care after you spent years of being neglected by your own parents. That’s not jealousy nor just a rebellious phase. Those are actual issues. Serious issues. Don’t compare what any of us went through because in the end, we all went through some rough stuff. No one is to blame but them and the rest of the crappy people who have done us wrong and are treating us like this. So don’t ever say it’s your fault again or else I’ll slap some sense into you next time,” Renjun says straightforwardly.

Renjun is a firm believer that sometimes a little tough love and bluntness is the only way to get something through someone’s head and he had to get that through Mark’s head.

Mark looks up and sees the serious look on Renjun’s face. He looks over to Jeno and Jaemin behind Renjun and the two nod in agreement. He huffs in defeat but gives Renjun an appreciative half smile.

“Thanks,” he says.

Renjun returns the small smile in response.

“Anytime,” he replies.

Renjun’s tough love is hard to swallow but it does get the job done at times. Yeah, Mark still isn’t feeling that confident that he’s not partially to blame but he can put that aside for now. For now, he should worry about the issue they’re going to be dealing with and the emotions involved, especially since Chenle seemed so hurt by it. No, that’s exactly what he’s going to worry about, nothing else at this time.

The four remaining sit around, waiting for the three who left to come back. They know they’ll have to talk about everything but depending on how everyone is feeling will determine whether it’s today or tomorrow they have that discussion. If everyone needs a night to get their feelings somewhat together then that’s okay.

Ten minutes of waiting turns into twenty minutes. Twenty turns into forty and forty becomes an hour. 

“They’re taking quite a bit of time to come back. You think he found them?” Jaemin says, checking the time again.

“He should have. Jisung followed Chenle immediately after and Hyuck wasn’t that far behind. Even if Chenle was running, he should have caught up with the two in a matter of minutes,” Renjun says.

“Maybe they’re still just talking or they went somewhere to cheer Chenle up?” Jeno suggests.

It does seem like something Donghyuck would do to make Chenle feel better before taking them back home.

“Yeah but an hour? Wouldn’t they have called us by now to tell us that?” Mark says.

“Let’s give them another thirty minutes. If they’re not here or no one calls, we’ll call them,” Renjun says.

They all nod in agreement and wait.

But as the time goes on and the front door doesn’t open, nor do their phones ring, worry start to creep up on them.

“Okay now I know they’re taking too long. I’m calling Hyuck,” Jaemin says.

He dials Donghyuck’s number, listening to each ring. It rings and rings and rings. It goes to voicemail.

“He...didn’t answer,” Jaemin says, looking at his phone curiously.

“I’ll try Jisung,” Jeno says.

But again, the phone rings and rings and rings but no answer.

“He didn’t answer either,” he says.

At this point, anxiety is crawling up all of their spines. It’s not like them to not answer their phones.

Renjun doesn’t even stop to think about it. He just immediately dials Chenle’s number, knowing the younger always picks up for him.

With each ring, Renjun grows more uneasy. Chenle always picks up by the third ring. He never takes this long.

The phone goes to voicemail.

“No one answered their phone,” Renjun says very concerned now.

“Okay, it’s been close to two hours since they left and no one is answering their phone. I don’t know about you guys but that doesn’t make me feel good. Come on, let’s go see if we can try to find them,” Mark says.

They all get up and grab what they need before heading out to go find the three.

They go to each of their favorite spots—from Chenle’s favorite arcade to Donghyuck’s favorite noraebang place to Jisung’s favorite ramen place—but they don’t find them at any of the locations. They go to the parks to see if the three are spending a quiet evening there and when they don’t see them they head to the cafes to see if they’re having a drink together. They search all the places the can think of until the sun finally sets, cruelly reminding them of Donghyuck walking out of the house only for them to not find him after.

They finally decide to go back home and wait there, hoping the three will eventually come. While they’re home though, they keep calling their phones and leaving text messages, praying someone will respond.

Midnight comes and it’s now been eight hours since they’ve last seen or heard from Chenle, Jisung, or Donghyuck. A terrifying thought that has been in their minds since they first started searching sets in and they’re finally forced to acknowledge it after all of these hours.

The three are missing.

Chapter Text

Three days, twenty-one hours, forty-seven minutes, and fifty-six seconds since they’ve last seen Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jisung.

Yes, they are counting.

Hundreds of phone calls and hundreds of messages, all sent out but none of them returned. After the second day, fourth hour, twenty-sixth minute, and eighteenth second their calls started going to automatic voicemail; either the three's phones were turned off or they died. Either option makes them feel extremely unsettled.

They’ve searched every place they could think of and then some. Even places they don’t think the three of them know exist they’ve searched. None of them have gone to any of those places without the other three. They can’t afford for anyone else to go missing. Every place they’ve checked they went together, keeping an eye on each other and hoping one of them will spot something. They’ve gone everywhere they could but yet they still haven’t found them or the slightest clue of where they could be at.

“What do we do now? We’ve searched everywhere,” Jaemin says distraught.

There are bags under his eyes and the skin on his lip is torn from how much he has been anxiously biting it. His mind won’t let him have a moment’s rest away from the countless anxious thoughts.

“There has to be a place we haven’t checked that they could be. There has to be,” Jeno responds.

He’s currently in one of Jisung’s hoodies, desperately trying to keep the scent of the younger with him. He’s been going through each of their stuff just so he can have their scent to calm his mind down even slightly. He curses his animal mentality. He feels like a left puppy or a parent who lost their pup. It’s just driving him insane.

“But where? We’ve checked so many places, I’m losing count of all of them. Where else can we check?” Renjun says.

He sits, sharpening yet another one of his blades in an attempt to keep his anxiety down. His hands just won’t stop. When he would finish one blade he’d immediately move on to the next one. It’s gotten to the point where he ended up buying more just for him to sharpen. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if he stops.

Mark sits, tapping his fingers, lost in his thoughts. 

He’s been lost in his head since after the first day the three were gone. Once it finally registered in his mind that they were in fact missing, it was as if he couldn’t do anything else but think and search. He’s so caught up in his own world that he even forgets to do things like speak, get up and eat, or drink something at times. All he can do is think about where they could be, how they could go missing, what can he do to find them, and the likes. Nothing else could register in his mind.

Today he finally speaks.

“There’s one more place.”

They all turn to Mark. It’s the first time he’s spoken since the day they disappeared. It must be important if he finally got out of his head to speak.

“What was that?” Renjun says, hoping Mark will continue to speak.

“There’s one more place to check. Well, people to search really,” Mark replies.

Who could he possibly be thinking of searching? 

“Who? Your friend Lucas? Xiaojun? Those other two, Hendery and YangYang? You think they’d know something?” Jaemin asks.

Mark shakes his head no at all of those names though.

“Who else then? It’s not like we can go to strangers and see if they know anything of use,” Jeno says.

Mark frowns deeply. He doesn’t like the idea he has but he’ll do it if it means they can find out even one thing about their missing friends.

“Get dressed, masks and everything. We’re going to the people who started this mess,” he says.

He gets out of his seat.

“Wait, we’re asking the heroes if they know anything? Why should we go to them?” Renjun says indignantly.

“We’re not asking them anything. We’re demanding. A message has already been sent to them and we’ll be making sure they don’t leave that place until we find out what we want. They have to know something,” Mark replies.

He walks away to go get ready.

No one else decides to question it. At this point, they’ll do whatever if it means they can find the others. And really, they owe the heroes a special something for causing this.

They all go to get ready, moving as quickly as they can. They don’t want to waste any more time.

When they’re ready, they leave, moving with a purpose. 

The location Mark had sent out to NCT is in a secluded parking lot across the city. No matter how shady the situation is, those heroes will come if not to satisfy their own curiosity then to “ensure the public’s safety” by making sure it’s nothing dangerous. They’ll be there for sure.

As expected they reach there before the heroes—Mark really knows them well—and they wait as patiently as they can for them to come.

It takes five minutes after their arrival for the heroes to finally show.

“We know someone’s here, come out,” Johnny says.

Mark doesn’t even give him a chance to continue scanning the area. He grabs him with his power and lifts him up, walking out of their hiding spot with an intense glare on his face.

The other heroes get into defensive positions, startled to see them here.

Johnny starts to gag as Mark’s power slowly wraps around his throat.

“What’s going on? Let him go,” Taeyong says.

“No. Let me tell you how things are going to go right now. You’re not going to ask any questions and you’re going to answer what we ask. Refuse and I’ll show you how serious I am,” Mark replies, tightening his hold on Johnny.

Johnny coughs, reaching for the invisible force around his neck.

“Alright alright, we understand,” Yuta says.

Somewhat satisfied, Mark loosens the hold on Johnny's neck slightly, allowing the older to breathe.

“Three of our members went missing three days ago, right after your damn interview on the news. What do you know about that? What happened to them?” Mark says, words pointed and straightforward.

“What? What are you talking a-”

Lightning flashes past Jaehyun, close enough to make his hair stand on its ends and for the heat to singe his cheek.

“Answer the question. We’re not in the mood for a back and forth,” Jaemin says through clenched teeth.

The heroes see very clearly that all four boys are deathly serious. Muscles tense, eyes hardened, and jaws locked. This is definitely more than their normal hostility.

“We don’t know anything about your missing members. The last time we saw any of you was days before that interview,” Sicheng responds.

“That’s impossible. You watch this stupid city every other time through those damn cameras, you’ve had to see or hear something. Don’t lie to us,” Jeno snarls.

Ten holds his hands up in a sign of peace.

“We aren’t lying. We haven’t seen them nor do we have an idea of where they could have gone. We mean it,” he says.

Renjun’s eye twitches and in a subconscious reaction, he throws a dart at Ten, the older dodging it smoothly though he was caught off guard by it for a second.

“You have to know something! There’s no way they could have gone missing like this. They wouldn’t go without a fight. They had to leave a sign; you had to see something! What did you do? Did you put them back in the facilities? Are you just waiting for us to slip up so you can do the same to us? Tell us!” Renjun exclaims.

Doyoung moves slowly, opening his arms to show a sign of openness and vulnerability. They aren’t against them, they have to see that.

“I promise you that we do not know anything about their disappearance. We didn’t put them back in the facilities and we didn’t see anything hinting to what happened to them. I’m sorry but we really don’t know anything about what happened,” he says.

It’s a tense moment, the elders watching to see if the youngers are going to do anything. They can practically see the frayed nerves of the boys. They have to tread very carefully. 

It’s Mark who snaps first, throwing Johnny down hard with a frustrated sound. Johnny hits the ground with a painful grunt.

“THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” He shouts.

Doyoung and Jungwoo run over to help Johnny up.

“It was because of your stupid interview that he left! It’s because of your goddamn ‘heroism’ that they’re missing! Three days. Three days they’ve been missing and it’s all because of you!” Mark yells.

Johnny, leaning on Jungwoo, winces as he turns to the boys.

“What do you mean? What about the interview?” He asks.

Mark walks toward them, presence so intimidating that the heroes actually take a step back.

“None of you think, do you? What, you thought you were all being so helpful by doing all of that stuff? Were you so far in your own asses again that you didn’t realize your own hypocrisy? You want to make all of these changes but yet you still viewed teens as too far gone to be helped. All you wanted to do was send them back to the facilities to be ‘fixed’. You didn’t care about what happened to them as long as the city was safe. But then you find out who I am and suddenly you want to help people like them. And how did you decide to do that? By sharing their history as if it was some kind of warning example to people so they can support your actions. Bad enough you treated us as if we weren’t even a threat or a challenge to you but now you had to make them seem as if they were being overdramatic and pathetic. But let me guess, you were just trying to help people,” he hisses out, hostility dripping from each and every word.

“We weren’t-”

“You weren’t what? Aiming to do that? Trying to degrade us even more? Trying to make our lives even more miserable? Well guess what you guys did? We were civilians and you ruined that life. We became villains and you still found a way to ruin that, making the public think so lowly of us as if our anger doesn’t even matter. Screw you all,” Mark says, cutting Taeyong off.

Mark turns around, no longer wanting to waste his time here. Going off on them won’t work unless they beat it through their skulls but they don’t have time for that right now. They have more important things to do.

“Let’s go guys. We have friends to find,” he says.

“Wait!” Sicheng says.

Mark looks over his shoulder coldly.

“What the hell do you want?” He says.

“We can help you search for them. We may not know where they could be but that doesn’t mean we can’t be of use,” he says.

Renjun glares in response.

“What use could you be to us? We don’t need your help,” he spits back.

The four of them start to walk away but Sicheng tries once again.

“Think about it, I’m a technopath. Any and every piece of technology I can get into to try to find any information that could help. We have a teleporter who can search locations much quicker than doing it normally. As heroes, we have access to more things than you do as of right now. There are more people we can look at and more places we can get into. There are a lot of things we can help with,” he says.

The four stop and turn back around, hostile looks not lightening up in the slightest.

“Why are you offering your help? What do you want?” Jaemin says.

“We’ve done something wrong and it doesn’t look good in our favor but the least we can do is help you find them. We know what it feels like when a member goes missing, believe it or not,” Sicheng responds, looking at Mark.

Mark clenches his jaw but doesn’t say anything in response to that comment.

“And what makes you think we’ll accept your help of all people?” Jeno throws back.

“Because your want to find them is more than your hatred for us. You’ve shown that by showing up here,” Jaehyun says this time.

The comment ticks them off but they can’t deny it. They desperately want to find their missing three more than anything. 

“Let us help you find them. We’re not asking you to join us or anything, just let us help. It’ll take you guys much longer on your own,” Ten says.

This gets Mark to respond this time.

“There were eight of you and you couldn’t find the first hint to finding me. What makes you think you’ll be more use this time?” Mark says.

“You didn’t want to be found Minhyung. Nothing we could have done would have led us to you and you know it,” Johnny says.

Mark throws him a glare.

“I told you to stop calling me that. Minhyung doesn’t exist anymore,” he says.

“Then tell us who does exist. We’re not calling you Riot. We know you don’t call us by our super names and no matter what you do, Riot is not you and you are not him all the time,” Yuta responds.

Mark refuses to tell them his name now. He doesn’t want them in that part of his life. The only time they get to deal with him is as Riot and that’s it. Mark Lee has no association with NCT in any kind of way.

He hates hearing the name Minhyung though. He doesn’t like what’s it’s associated with. Minhyung was weak. Minhyung was unwanted. Minhyung was abandoned. Minhyung was everything Mark hates. He HATES that name.

But if it means he can find his friends, then he’ll suffer through hearing it for a bit longer.

“For this situation and this situation only, I won’t kill you for calling me that name. But get this straight, I’m only taking it for the sake of finding my friends. After they’re found, find a way to erase that name from your memory because that is not me,” he says.

“So you’re accepting our help?” Taeyong asks.

The four of them look at each other, all feeling the same thing. They hate this. They hate this situation so much. Everything about this tears them up inside. But for their members, they’ll put aside their feelings.

It was three days, twenty-three hours, thirty-two minutes, and twenty-nine seconds since Chenle, Donghyuck, and Jisung went missing when the remaining four decided to accept help from their biggest enemies.

“Yeah.”

A separate place was chosen for the thirteen of them to be at while they work together.

It would be completely stupid for the heroes to take them to where they stay and work—though one of them obviously already knows where that is—and the boys would NEVER give a hint as to even what area they stay in, for obvious important reasons. So since neither side could bring the other into their location, a separate place was gotten so they can work together without any side’s privacy or safety feeling endangered.

It’s a good thing they had connections that could help them out in that regard.

Though having a separate place got rid of one reason for tension, there were a lot more that made things uncomfortable, especially for the heroes. It was extremely clear that the boys hated them and could throw them farther than they would trust them. Civilities were not something any of them partook in and hostility was a norm for them. But aside from their animosity, there was a great deal of anxiety floating around the boys which made things even tenser. The boys were losing their minds in worry over their missing members. They were a few seconds away from having a breakdown. It would start to eat at you if you watched them for too long.

So they didn’t. They tried their best to keep on moving and continue on with their search.

“Is there any other device other than their phones that they could have bought with them when they left?” Sicheng asks.

Mark scoffs at the question.

“No but even if there was, you wouldn’t be able to track it, I made sure of that,” he responds.

Sicheng raises an eyebrow at him in question.

“We’d be stupid if we left ourselves open for you to track us down so I had to make sure you couldn’t. You’re not the only one who can do tech stuff, you know. Honestly, did you think all those times you guys made me stay back that I sat there and did nothing? I had to keep myself busy somehow,” Mark says with a roll of his eyes.

The last thing they needed was for those no-good heroes tracking them home and ruining that too. 

“How are we supposed to see if we can find their location then?” Sicheng asks.

“I said I made sure you couldn’t track them, not anyone . I tried already but wherever they are or whoever they’re with must have something preventing me from getting a location. It was one of the first things we’ve tried. We’re desperate, not stupid,” Mark responds.

Sicheng decides not to respond on that part, not wanting to accidentally anger him more. Hatred and anxiety make for a risky combination. He rather not be the one getting choked by the younger this time.

“Alright then, we’ll stick to the cameras,” Sicheng says.

“JENO!”

Mark and Sicheng turn at the sound of the shout to see Renjun and Jaemin holding Jeno back while he tries to threateningly advance at Yuta and Doyoung.

Mark rushes over to his friends, using his powers to pull Jeno back so Renjun and Jaemin don’t have to struggle anymore.

“What’s going on here?” He says.

Jaemin throws the two heroes a glare before turning to Mark.

“The two geniuses over there thought it was smart to suggest for Jeno to just track them down as if he was some kind of hunting dog,” he says.

“That’s not how we meant it. In his files it mentions the depth of his enhanced senses and we were saying there are probably things he can pick up that a device could not,” Doyoung says.

“ DON’T talk about my files,” Jeno snaps.

He tries to fight against Mark’s power but even he knows he’s not going anywhere.

“Hey hey, remember what we talked about earlier?” Mark says.

Jeno stops struggling for a moment. He still glares at the two heroes but nods in response anyway.

“Then ignore them. It isn’t worth it. Don’t waste energy on them unnecessarily,” Mark says.

Jeno huffs in irritation but accepts the words. He takes a deep breath to calm himself down before forcing himself to look away from the heroes.

“Fine, I’ll leave it alone this time but if any of them ever mention anything in my files again I won’t hesitate to show them what those scientists really did to me,” Jeno says.

Mark nods in understanding. He knows how sensitive the topic is to the younger—understandably so—so he can see how much of a trigger it can be when anyone, the heroes in particular, bring it up. “Good intentions” or not, it’s rehashing old wounds that never healed. 

He lets go of Jeno before turning to Yuta and Doyoung.

“Do us a favor and avoid bringing up traumatic events. Bad enough you shared it with the entire country, try not to do it to our faces. It may not end well for you if you do,” he says.

He doesn’t give them a chance to respond. He just turns around and gestures for his friends to follow him back over to where he was with Sicheng.

“We really can’t win with them, can we?” Yuta mumbles to Doyoung.

From then on, it’s silent, each person working on whatever they chose. The heroes decide to leave the youngers alone for a bit. They’re honestly not trying to cause any problems, they just want to help. They want to show the boys that they don’t have to be on opposing sides; no one is out to get them. They’re doing a pretty bad job at that right now but that won’t stop them from trying.

It’s silent for about thirty minutes before it breaks.

“I think I found something,” Sicheng says.

The boys rush over to him—almost surprising all of the heroes at their eagerness—and crowd around him.

“What is it?” Renjun asks.

Sicheng unplugs his headphones and turns up the volume on his laptop.

“The video was damaged beyond repair and the location stamp was taken away but the sound remained intact for a good part. It seems like someone was trying to get rid of evidence but didn’t do a complete job. Listen,” he explains.

He presses play and at first, all they hear is static. But after a few more seconds, a voice comes through.

“Let’s go back now, they’re probably all worried about us.”

Donghyuck! It’s Donghyuck’s voice.

It almost makes them want to cry, hearing his voice after so long. 

More static comes through but they can hear muffled sounds of Chenle’s and Jisung’s voices. Suddenly, a loud sound is heard through the static.

“Jisung!”

They listen closely to see if the youngest responds but he doesn’t seem to. There is a thump after Chenle’s shout though.

“Come out coward. Where are you?” Donghyuck’s angry voice says.

No one responds but the silence is immediately disturbed by Donghyuck’s grunt of pain before another thump, this one sounding a bit splash-like, happens. A loud sound that seems similar to the static happens right before the audio cuts out.

That was them. That was their members. Oh god, that was them and something happened. Something happened to their friends.

“That’s all I could salvage so far. I can keep working on it so we can get a better picture of what was happening,” Sicheng says.

Mark leans forward.

“Rewind it a bit, right before the sound cuts off,” he says.

Sicheng does what he asks and rewinds the audio.

It picks up right where Donghyuck makes a pained noise followed by the thump. Mark listens closely as the weird sound happens again before the audio cuts off.

“Again, from the same spot,” he says.

Sicheng and the others look at him curiously but he rewinds it nonetheless.

It plays for the third time and no one but Mark knows what they’re listening for.

“There. That sound right before the audio cuts off,” Mark says.

“You mean that static?” Renjun asks.

Mark shakes his head.

“That isn’t static. Rewind back to before Chenle calls out for Jisung and then come back to this part,” he says.

Sicheng listens, going back to before Chenle’s shout. Like before, all they hear is static and muffled voices. Then Sicheng fast forwards to where Donghyuck grunts in pain along with the thump followed by the not-static static.

“Did you hear the difference? One was static, one wasn’t,” Mark says.

“I heard that difference the first time but what’s special about it?” Jeno asks.

Mark looks around the room before getting an idea.

“Jaemin, strike that piece of fabric over there,” he says.

“Uh, won’t it catch on fire?” Jaemin asks.

“Don’t worry, they can handle a small fire. Just do it, I want to check something,” Mark replies.

Jaemin shrugs and decides not to question it further. He shoots out a bolt and as expected, the fabric catches on fire.

Mark and Jeno turn to each other at the same time.

“That was it! That was the sound!” Jeno says.

The heroes look at each other, not really understanding what’s going on so instead they decide to put out the fire.

“What sound?” Jaemin asks.

“That sound that I said wasn’t static. It was the sound of something catching on fire! Donghyuck must have set something on fire with one of his weapons which is what made that sound,” Mark says.

Jaemin’s and Renjun’s eyes light up in realization, understanding where Mark is going with this.

“Um, sorry, but could we get an explanation as well? We’re not quite following you guys,” Taeyong says.

If this wasn’t a breakthrough after so many days, the youngers would have rolled their eyes. How are these eight heroes the best the city has to offer and they can’t even piece things together? But they’ll leave that alone for now.

“If Donghyuck set something on fire then that means whatever it was was very susceptible to fire considering the time in the audio that we hear it at. That helps give us a clue as to what they could have been around. Also, by the sound in that audio, that wasn’t a small fire either. No doubt, we can find where that happened. We find a location, we have a starting point,” Mark explains.

Whatever caught on fire, went in flames fast. Donghyuck’s weapons are pure light which means they generate extreme heat. For his weapon to set something ablaze that quickly, whatever it was was very prone to catching on fire.

“Ah, we put out a fire a few days ago! It was on one of the side streets, some construction workers kept dumping some liquids there or something and it caught on fire. By the time we got there, it was burning for a while but it didn’t spread far since they were also dumping bricks and concrete stones there too. It kept the fire pretty controlled for the most part,” Jungwoo says.

“A side street makes a lot of sense, fewer people for both them and whoever did this. We should go check it out to see if that’s really where they were and if there are any other clues,” Renjun says.

Knowing their friends, they had to leave something else that can give them some sort of a clue. Apparently, Donghyuck didn’t go down without trying to put up a fight so something other than that fire had to be left behind.

“What if that person is still lurking around there though? Clearly they were able to take three of you guys and that is not an easy thing to do. What if they’re waiting to catch the rest of you?” Ten says.

“Well then they’ll have four pissed off people they’ll have to take down,” Jaemin responds cooly.

Four people who are ready to tear the city apart to find their friends. Four people who were already upset that they have to deal with these heroes and now they found out someone took their friends. Yeah, that person won’t be catching them easily if they have anything to say about it.

“Okay, valid point. At least let two or three of us go with you though,” Doyoung says.

There’s safety in numbers, even if you don’t like some of the people included in those numbers.

“Fine, but we pick who comes along,” Mark says.

He turns to the other three and they huddle for a bit, choosing which of the eight will irritate them the least and who would be the most useful. A difficult choice to say the least. When they finish deciding, Jeno turns around.

“The icebox, the shield, and the agile cat,” Jeno says, pointing to Jungwoo, Jaehyun, and Ten.

The three look at each other at the names. They don’t know if that’s them trying to be nice and act like they don’t know their real names or if that’s just them being them,

“If he’s the agile cat, does that mean another one of us is a cat?” Yuta whispers to Taeyong.

Jeno hears it though thanks to his good hearing.

“Yeah, you. The disappearing cat. We’re still debating if gravity over there is a cat too, but why would that matter to you. Now, let’s get going, we’ve lost enough time,” he says.

None of the heroes choose to comment on that. That’s probably the least hostile comment they’ve received from one of the boys so they won’t complain.

“Uh sure, let’s go,” Jaehyun says.

The boys get moving and they tell Jungwoo to lead the way to where the fire was. The sooner they get going, the sooner they can find their friends and everything will be okay. This is the start they were waiting for, they’re not going to let it slip past them if they have any say in the matter.

They get to where the fire was pretty easily—though the boys did have to cover up completely so no one saw them with the heroes—and immediately begin to search around.

“This definitely looks like a Donghyuck-caused fire but how did it start? His weapons fade away out of his hand so they don’t technically fall. Was he using a long weapon like a whip?” Mark says, looking over the burn marks that didn’t fade.

“Well the street is narrow so unless the person was far ahead of him, I doubt he’d use something like that,” Renjun responds.

“He told the person to come out so that means he didn’t see them. I don’t see where a person could hide here though. In any case, he probably used a sword if he was on the defense against someone he couldn’t see, knowing him,” Jaemin adds.

Jeno continues to stare at where the fire started and the area around it. Renjun’s right when he said the street is narrow. Three people cannot walk side by side on this street. That means two were together and one was nearby. Chenle called out to Jisung so the younger must have not been next to him which would place Chenle and Donghyuck next to each other and Jisung most likely in front of them. There wasn’t any response after the thumps that were heard from the two youngers but Donghyuck spoke back angrily until he made a pained sound.

Maybe they passed out? That would explain the thump sounds and why no one responded after it. But if Donghyuck passed out then his weapon would have faded away immediately. Something started the fire so how did his weapon stay?

“Remember that thump we heard before the fire started? It sounded like something hit the ground and water at the same time. My guess is that each thump was one of them passing out, Jisung being the first, Chenle next, and then Donghyuck. But if Donghyuck passed out immediately, his weapon would have disappeared immediately. A fire happened clearly so that means his weapon stayed for a bit. I’m thinking maybe he hit the ground but his hand with the weapon hit the liquid there. He didn’t go unconscious until after the fire started,” Jeno says, trying to put the pieces together.

But how did the other go unconscious immediately but Donghyuck didn’t?

“If his weapon was directly in the liquid then that would explain the loud sound the fire made. Maybe all of them stayed conscious for a bit but couldn’t speak. Like a tranquilizer. That would mean his body went heavy but he was awake long enough to light the fire,” Jaemin suggests.

“Or maybe it didn’t hit the right place,” Renjun says, picking up something from the ground.

He shows it to them. It looks like a dart that’s burned on its side.

“He and I have been practicing his swordsmanship just 'cause and I taught him how to focus and spot small things quickly. It looks like the first try he saw it and blocked it, burning the side of the dart. The next dart that hit him probably was in a place that was easier to hit but wouldn’t knock him out immediately, hence the fire. By his sound of pain, it hit somewhere unpleasant like his shoulder blade or anywhere on his back,” Renjun explains.

Darts are Renjun’s specialty—he says it’s a good way to administer poison—so if anyone would have a good idea how this situation could have gone, it’d be him. 

“Darts would explain how they couldn’t see the person and how they went don’t without much of a fight. Let’s see if we can find out what was in the dart and where it came from. Renjun, since you’re the only one with gloves on, you continue to carry it. Hopefully, we can find something on it we can use,” Mark says.

They’re getting somewhere with this. At least now they’re having an idea of what happened here and more importantly, they know that their friends were taken by someone. It seems simple but that just clears a lot of other stuff out of the way. They’re dealing with a person. It makes the situation a bit easier to handle. It means they have someone’s ass to whip for all of this when it’s all said and done.

Now all they have to do is keep on searching.

Since they found their first clue to what happened to their friends, the four have yet to stop.

Night and day, they kept trying to find more to the puzzle to see what else they were missing. They're working with so little given to them—whoever did this is really covering after themselves—so what they do have they can’t let go to waste. It’s already been a week and a half since Chenle, Donghyuck, and Jisung went missing, they can’t let any more time go by unnecessarily.

There are just so many things they have to figure out. Why would someone take them? Was it those three in particular they wanted or was it any of the seven? How did they know where to find them? And the most important, where did they take them? So many questions they have are unanswered and it’s just unacceptable. 

They know that the person used darts to knock them out. After careful examination and reasoning, it was discovered that the person used a drone of some sort to fire the darts; no one could hide completely on that narrow street and how else could the darts fire so quickly? So a drone was used but the person had to be nearby in order to take the three of them away before anyone became alert of the fire. That means that they were waiting and ready for this, they were planning this.

Another thing they are starting to think is that this person does not want or need all of seven of them. No attempt to take them as well has been made nor has the person made a ransom of any sort. Whoever they seem satisfied with the three they took and want to keep those three.

Just what does this person want?

“Do you want to take them home now? We could continue later on.”

Mark looks above his screen to see Johnny standing in the doorway of the room. He points to the sleeping figures of Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun.

The three fell asleep after being up for about thirty-seven hours, working nonstop. Mark is kinda glad they fell asleep actually, himself having been up for going on forty-two hours now. He knows they want to keep searching but if anyone is going to look out for their health, it’s going to be him. He doesn’t want anything else to happen to any more of his friends.

“They’re fine here. Moving them will wake them up,” Mark says, going back to what he was working on.

“And what about you? When are you going to sleep?” Johnny asks.

The question unwantedly reminds Mark of the times he would stay up doing work so he could be a better member and Johnny would convince him to go home. He would argue that neither of his parents were expecting him at either of their houses so he didn’t have to go. Johnny wouldn’t have that though. He’d say that working too much isn’t good, especially for someone his age, and that he had to sleep if he wants to be in his best shape. Then he’d drive him to whichever parent’s house he chose for that night. It was days like that really made Johnny one of his favorites.

He hates those memories.

“Later. I have to finish this first,” he responds.

“You’ve been saying that for the past forty-two hours. The first twenty-four I left you alone. I can’t let you go another twenty-four without even trying to get you to get some rest. You know working so much isn’t good for you; you have to sleep if-”

“If I want to be in my best shape, yes I know. Thank you for the reminder, you can leave now,” Mark says, cutting him off.

Some things just don’t change, do they?

“If you know that then why are you still keeping yourself up? Your body needs sleep. If you don’t want to go home then at least sleep here like they are,” Johnny tries.

“And let us all be vulnerable around you guys? No thanks. If you haven’t realized, we’re villains, three of us who were already locked away. We’d be fools to think that Seoul’s ever good heroes won’t take the first chance they have to lock us up so the city can be happy once again. Just because we’re accepting your help to find our members doesn’t mean we trust you guys. You’re still our enemies and we won’t let our guard down around you,” Mark replies, throwing him a dirty look.

Johnny sighs. He should have expected that. Of course they would still be cautious around them. It’s not like they’ve done much to give them evidence to believe otherwise. The only thing that could even slightly get them some favorable points is the fact they’re helping search for the missing three. Other than that, it’s not looking good for them.

“Though I doubt you’ll believe me, we really aren’t trying to do anything to you guys. Clearly we don’t understand everything going on with you guys or how you all feel but we really don’t mean to cause you any harm. We agreed to help you all and that’s what we planned to do. I’m saying this to help you, you can’t do your best if you deprive your body of what it needs. You boys need to be reminded to eat and completely forget about sleeping, it’s not healthy. Your bodies can give out on you like that,” he says.

Mark stands up abruptly and stalks toward him. Part of him wants to back away at the action. So far, he has been thrown like a ragdoll about twice now by that telekinesis power and he doesn’t want to make a third time. But he decides to stay where he’s at. 

Mark stops directly in front of him and stares him directly in the eyes. With his eye mask still faithfully on, it makes his stare feel even more intense, his clenching jaw not helping to make him less intimidating.

“Maybe you don’t understand this so let me help you. Three of my members have been missing for a week and a half now. Some bastard somewhere has three of my friends, my new family, and barely left a trace so as to find them. Do you realize how young Jisung and Chenle are? Our two youngest are missing. Donghyuck tried to protect them, got hurt trying, and was still taken away. I may have been the youngest with you all but with these guys, I’m the oldest. As the oldest, I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they all stay safe and to make sure they always come back home where they belong. I don’t care what you’re trying to prove or what message you want us to believe. I don’t care about you. All that matters is finding my missing friends and protecting the ones here so unless you’re here to help with the first thing I suggest you leave me the hell alone. I don’t need your damn reminders about health, I know what I’m doing to my body,” Mark says, words pointed and force behind each one.

There’s a certain fire behind his eyes much different than the normal angry blaze that lies in them when he’s talking to any of them. This fire is a strong resolve. Yes, there’s anger mixed with it but it’s a resolve to do what he said, find his friends and protect the ones he has with him.

For the first time, Johnny sees that the person in front of him is different than the Minhyung he used to know. This person is an elder, one who looks out and cares for his youngers. This person found people to personally protect and he’s going to do that with all he has. This isn’t the little Minhyung that they would baby and do everything for. Minhyung grew up. The only thing is though that some situation in life forced him to and in the wrong way. Minhyung’s hero heart is still there, it’s just covered in anger, bitterness, and hurt. He’s being someone’s hero while being everyone else’s villain. 

He wants to respond. He’s trying to find something to say to the younger that won’t seem like he wasn’t listening to he was saying, something that’s going to show that he is trying to help. He doesn’t want to seem repetitive or nagging; he just wants to show that he understands what it’s like to want to look out for your youngers, that to do so, he has to look out for himself as well. He wants to respond.

“CHENLE!”

Jeno shouts the younger’s name as he suddenly pops up from his sleep, turning Mark’s and Johnny’s attention to him instantly. Jeno’s shout startles Jaemin and Renjun awake but he doesn’t seem to notice though. He just jumps out of his seat, eyes wide.

“Woah woah, Jeno what’s wrong?” Mark asks, rushing over to him.

“Chenle, I heard him. I heard one of his screams. It was loud, high pitched. It’s the loudest he’s ever done,” he says.

His comment makes Renjun and Jaemin snap to attention, no longer sleepy.

“You heard him? Are you sure?” Jaemin says.

“Yes! I know I heard him. I know that was his scream,” Jeno says.

Right as he says that, Yuta appears in the room.

“A building just suddenly collapsed,” he says.

The four boys look at each other, all thinking the same thing, before rushing out of the room. They run to where they know the heroes are, pushing past them when they get there to see Sicheng’s screen.

“What happened?” Mark demands.

Sicheng pulls up a video of a building collapsing on itself as if it was never sturdy to begin with.

“We don’t really know. The glass on this building shattered first and then next thing everyone knows, it’s coming down. The building has been empty for months now so no one was in it but there were definitely people around it. The cameras nearby falter and some even crack as the building goes down.

Mark looks back at Jeno. Jeno was right. He heard Chenle. 

“Chenle was there! We have to get there now! ” Renjun says.

The four turn and are ready to run to the scene but Taeyong stops them.

“Wait, you guys can’t go there. The scene is filled with civilians and soon a bunch of emergency responders. If you go, it’s either going to look like you caused that or as if you’ve lost your minds trying to look through the rubble. No doubt whoever has your friends is watching that area and if he sees you searching through it then he’ll make things harder for you,” he says.

“Then what do you expect us to do, not check to see if they’re there? Let this pass by us?” Jaemin says.

This is big. Chenle caused that. Chenle was somewhere in that area and he used his powers to its max ability. They have to go and check it out. What if he’s still in the area? What if that was a call for help? They have to go see.

“We’ll go and check the scene for you. As heroes, people will expect us to be there and we can freely search without any issues. While we do that, you guys can either scout the surrounding areas for hints and anything suspicious or stay here and help look over the cameras. We’re just saying you going to the immediate area of that building will not help you very much,” Jaehyun says.

“Are you telling us to take a back seat in our own search?” Mark asks incredulously.

If those heroes think they’ll just sit to the side and play the good little kids then they have another thing coming. This is their search, these are their friends. They are not going to just sit around.

“No, we’re not saying that. You said to me either help you find your friends or leave you alone, well this is us helping you find your friends. If you guys go there, everyone will get in your way and you won’t be able to do a complete search. This isn’t us trying to push you guys to the back seat, we’re just trying to make sure this can be as thorough as possible. Think of this as you using us to get one part of the job done,” Johnny says.

It burns Mark up on the inside. He wants them to be out there, searching high and low at that scene themselves but he can’t deny that having all of those people around would make things much more frustrating and complicated. Not to mention he wouldn’t want to put his remaining friends in another difficult situation. He doesn’t like them being told what to do by these heroes but they don’t have time to argue. They have to get all they can, however they can, right now and then they can’t fight later.

“Fine. Go. Stop wasting time and go already. I swear to god though if you don’t find even the slightest clue, you’re going to wish that you were in that damn collapse when we’re done with you,” Mark forces out.

Johnny gives him a reassuring nod and his chest tightens. It feels like he’s putting his faith in them for them to do something for him again and it feels goddamn awful. It feels like when he used to have to bid them goodbye when they left him behind on a mission. It makes him feel like his throat is closing and he’s trapped as a small teen all over again. He has to ignore it though. This is for his friends and only for his friends.

Seven out of the eight heroes leave while Sicheng and the four boys stay back.

Mark turns around and signals to Sicheng to continue going through the cameras to see if he can find anything. The cameras were bound to catch something this time and their mystery person couldn’t have erased the video already. They’re on a race against time, they have to keep moving.

“Why are we trusting them to do anything? Who cares if people think we did it or if they want to be nosy? They won’t search as well as we can. I can hear, see, and smell things way before they can. I should be out there before any of them,” Jeno protests.

Mark tries to keep the tremor running through him from showing as he thinks of a response. He’s mentally begging for Jeno to leave it alone. He already had a hard time letting the heroes go without them. He knows it sounded like a stupid idea but he doesn’t want anything to happen. He had to make a quick decision.

“We didn’t have time to waste arguing. If they want to be useful for once then let them do the hard work and deal with the public. You’re not a dog to search through rubble,” Mark replies.

It already tore him up deciding to stay and look over the cameras, he doesn’t want Jeno adding salt to that wound. Please, he doesn’t want to hear that tone in Jeno’s voice anymore. Please Jeno, leave it alone.

“I’ll be one if it means we can find them sooner! I’ll be whatever beast there is if it means we can bring them back home! Don’t you understand that? They don’t give a damn about us. They don’t care about them. They aren’t losing their minds over them being missing like we are. We should be out there searching no matter what the situation is. We shouldn’t be here sitting on the sidelines like little-”

“I know that!” Mark shouts, cutting him off.

He turns back to Jeno and looks at the younger, pain and anxiety in both of their eyes.

“I know that, Jeno. I know that we should be out there. I know that they don’t care for them like we do. I know all of that. But us going out there right now won’t do us as much good as we want. You three barely slept or ate or drank. You’ve been in a more animal mindset since all this started because your stress is only rising. Jaemin has been shocking everything around him thanks to his anxiety. Renjun literally can’t even touch his toes anymore because of how tense he is. You guys are making yourselves sick. I’m not letting you guys go out there and something happens because I wasn’t paying close enough attention to you. We already lost three, I can’t let anything else happen to any more of us,” he says, grabbing Jeno’s hand.

He squeezes his hand, trying to show him how torn he feels already. He wants to go out there and search but he also needs the other three to give their bodies some rest. God knows he doesn’t give a damn about what happens to his body but he will watch the health of his friends.

“I absolutely hate having to trust in them for any reason. I hate it more than I can explain. It makes me feel like that pitiful little hero all over again and I feel like I’m choking. I can practically feel that building on top of me again right now thinking about how I have to trust them enough to genuinely look for something to help find my family. God Jeno, I hate it so much so I know you do too. I know you hate it but please, just work with me for a bit longer. Let me make sure I can keep you guys safe and healthy first and then we can go out and tear this city apart searching for them. Please, I promise you that soon we won’t have to do this anymore but until then please just go with this so I can make sure you’re all okay. Please?” He says, ignoring the tremble in his own hands.

Jeno wraps his fingers around Mark’s trembling hand, giving it his own squeeze. He sees the slight shaking of Mark’s shoulders and it’s then that he realizes that Mark has been trying to keep himself together for a while now. 

He once said that he didn’t have as good of a reason as they did to be mad at the world. If that’s how they’re viewing things then none of them have a better reason to hate this situation more than he does. He’s practically reliving his history, the very one he hates so much he changed his entire identity. It’s so bad, he has to listen and respond to the name of a person he casted away from himself well over two years ago. He has to put his trust back in the people who betrayed it over and over, the people who left him to die. If anyone is hating this, it’s him.

But he’s pushing through it, trying to deal with it all for the sake of the rest of them. He’s trying but lord knows he’s going insane on the inside.

“I’m sorry. I trust you, you made a good call. I can wait, don’t worry. Let’s do what we can here right now and we can focus on other stuff later,” Jeno says, squeezing Mark’s hand again.

Mark lets out a shuddering breath in relief.

“Thank you,” he says.

He looks over to Renjun and Jaemin to see if the two can do the same just for now but sees the two already looking at another one of Sicheng’s screens, looking up to give him a reassuring smile and a thumbs up. It takes a weight off of his shoulders.

“Come on, let’s join them,” Jeno says.

They go over and join the two and begin to look over videos while Sicheng continues his work on the cameras that messed up during the collapse.

“I got something,” Sicheng says twenty minutes later.

They go over to him to see what he found. At the sight of his one green, one blue eyes, they know that this wasn’t something found using regular tech skills. He was using his powers. It’s always strange to see his multicolored eyes—much different than his normal brown eyes—whenever he’s using his powers. It looks like he’s reading codes like they do on TV but also looking into the very power behind the screens.

“One of the damaged cameras towards the back of the building had more than just a crack in it. Someone tried to interrupt its signal completely but they were in a rush. I got through it and I got a visual I think you’d want to see,” Sicheng says.

The video is clear and nothing seems wrong with it. Everything in the area seems pretty calm and normal so this must be starting before the building fell. It takes a few seconds for things to change. The picture starts to shake and you can see when the camera cracks but the picture is still relatively clear. Dust fills the air and it’s evident that the building is falling at this point. For a good while, all they see is dust really.

“There,” Sicheng says.

“What? All I see is dust,” Renjun says.

Sicheng green eye turns closer to blue and the video zooms in a bit before he rewinds it.

“Watch the corner of the screen closely,” he says.

He starts the video again and they do as he says and watch the corner of the screen. 

This time they catch something.

“Is that a person?” Jaemin asks, looking at the outline through the dust.

“Not just one person, four of them,” Sicheng responds.

He pauses the video and zooms in more until it’s clear for all of them to see the outlines of the figures much easier.

“One figure in the front, one over their shoulder, and two behind him being pulled by something. It looks like all males. I’m pretty sure it’s your friends and whoever took them. My guess is that those are chains he’s pulling them with or else they would have run away already. What I’m thinking is that that’s where they were being held and Chenle brought down that building on purpose. Their captor knocked him out and took all three of them out of there before the building crushed them. That would explain why one is on his shoulder and why this camera was more messed up than the others,” Sicheng explains.

He rewinds the video again and now clearer than ever they can make out the figures and what’s going on now that it was pointed out to them. They can even make out which figure is most likely Donghyuck, which one is Jisung, and can almost confirm that that it is Chenle slung over the stranger’s shoulder.

“Didn’t you say that building was empty though?” Mark asks.

“Yeah, it’s been private property for a while now. The owner never sold it but never seemed to use it either. How this person got in there and stayed hidden there for this long is beyond me. Why would they hide in the heart of the city anyway?” Sicheng says.

Talk about hiding in plain sight though. He was literally under their noses all of this time.

“Isn’t it strange though? Close to two weeks they’ve been with this guy and this seems to be the first time any of them used their powers. Why now? Why not before?” Jeno says.

And if they can use their powers, how are they still with that person? It’s three against one, an easy match in their favor so how is this guy keeping them?

“While that’s a good question, we should be trying to figure out where he went this time before anything. Did any cameras catch how he got away or where he went?” Renjun says.

This person relocated which means there’s a new location they have to go try and find. If they couldn’t find this place in the city, how much harder is it going to be now that he moved? 

“So far, not any that I went through. Something had to catch more of the scene though and I don’t think he could have destroyed it all already so I’ll keep looking. But it looks like your friend decided to help out a bit because it seems like he dropped something for us on his way out. I already told them to get it for us,” Sicheng responds, pointing to the video.

As they watch the video again, something drops from the figure that they’re pretty sure is Donghyuck. Though his hands are kept together by his binds, his hands are freely able to drop something on the ground in the midst of all of the destruction.

“Jaemin to your left,” Mark says.

Jaemin doesn’t have time to question it because Yuta suddenly appears to his left, nearly giving the younger a heart attack.

“Okay we seriously have to find out how you do that, Sicheng says.

Mark shrugs.

“You won’t but continue,” he says.

“The item you asked us to receive. It looks like a cuff of some sort and has minimum damage to it,” Yuta says, holding out the object.

Renjun, Jaemin, and Jeno pop up at the sight of it.

“That’s a power restraint,” Jeno says.

Mark, who was already wearing gloves due to handling something earlier, take the restraint and looks over it.

“It’s an old one though. This one requires the person’s blood periodically to keep functioning. Facilities stopped using them about a year after Jaemin was put in because it was pretty easy for the person to get their powers back if you were being careless. All you needed was one time with no blood and in a matter of five minutes, the person can have their powers back,” Mark says.

“I thought they got rid of all of those. I remember hearing the guards say that they would rather deal with an upheaval than have to deal with drawing our blood or constantly checking to see if the automatic needle was still working again,” Jaemin says.

No one was fond of those types of restraints. They were painful for the wearers and too much of a hassle for the ones who were using them.

“They stop using them, that doesn’t mean they got rid of them. This answers the question though on why none of them have used their powers until now. Their captor has been using these to keep their powers restrained. By the look of this, the needle on this restraint is broken. It must have been Chenle’s. He didn’t feel his blood being drawn so he knew he would get his powers back. He took his chance the moment he got it,” Mark says.

“That makes sense but if I could ask, why would he bring down the entire building? Why not wait for their captor to return and aim it at them? That would have given them time to get away and not risk all of their lives,” Yuta says.

Bringing the entire building could have killed them all, especially if the other two were still under restraint. It was a dangerously risky move.

Renjun’s eyes widen before they settle down into a sad, worried expression.

“Because he was scared. He was scared, had his powers, and didn’t know what to do. He just knew he had to do something so he screamed. His powers got the better of him,” he says sadly.

The thought makes the mood of the other three drop as well. 

Chenle has to be pretty distraught for him to lose control of his powers like that. He would never do anything intentionally that would put one of them at risk. If he brought the entire building down while they were still in there then he must have been an emotional mess. He had to be terrified.

Just what is that man doing to them?

“That would explain why Chenle seemed to be knocked out on that video. There was nothing else to control him without the restraint so he was knocked out. Chenle became a serious threat,” Jaemin says.

“But how was he able to knock Chenle out and get all three of them out quick enough before they were trapped under the rubble?” Mark asks.

Considering how that building seemed to fall in a pretty quick amount of time, it would definitely be hard to do all of that so quickly. No doubt Chenle tried to put up a fight and the falling building would be a hard danger to get out of. Mark should know.

“I may have an idea on part of that. While we were there we saw a few broken things that, from what we can tell, were most likely drones like the one used to fire the darts and other robotic things. More likely than not, he didn’t knock Chenle out himself but used a robot instead. Now, I’m not too sure on how he got all of them out in time but maybe we should also blame that on robotic help,” Yuta says.

“Did you guys get any sample of the tech?” Sicheng asks.

“I don’t have any but they are gathering some so you all can look it over once they get back,” Yuta replies.

Hopefully, they can find more information about either who they’re dealing with or what he’s doing. Anything they can get at this moment can be of help. Who knows what it can lead to them learning. 

“I’m going to look over this restraint a bit more until they come back,” Mark says.

He decides to go back to the room they were originally working in while Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin choose to stay and continue to try and find more on the cameras. The room is quiet and empty, so there’s nothing to distract him as he examines it. There has to be something on this restraint that can give them information and he’s going to find that something.

He works without stop, time passing by him as it always does when he’s working on something. All his mind focuses on is what he’s doing and nothing else. His focus doesn’t move from his work until he hears a knock on the door frame. He looks up at the sudden noise.

It’s Johnny again.

“I know you’re busy so I’ll be quick. I’m just letting you know that we gave the things we found to your friends and Sicheng. We also went and scouted the area to see if we can find them now that they relocated or at least find a hint as to where he went. We didn’t find anything yet but we’ll keep looking,” Johnny says.

Mark rubs his eyes that are a bit blurry from not giving them a rest. He feels a bit satisfied though. They got somewhere and if nothing else they confirmed that their friends are still alive and moving. That gets rid of one dark fear that none of them wanted to really acknowledge so that’s something.

“Alright. What time is it?” He asks.

Johnny checks his phone.

“7:49,” he replies.

Time really does fly when he’s busy, Mark realizes. 

He stands up and stretches, listening to the sound of his joints popping from not moving for so long. When he’s done stretching, he starts to gather everything they were working on in that room.

“You’re packing up?” Johnny asks in surprise.

Mark looks up, stuff in hand.

“Yeah. It’s time those boys get to sleep in their own house. I can continue working after we all get some sleep,” he replies.

Johnny tries to keep the small smile on his face at the response. This is the first time he has ever seen the younger stop working and go home without having being convinced to. He’s glad that he’s taking the right steps to take care of himself.

“Alright, I hope you guys have a good night. You four deserve a good sleep after all of the hard work you’ve been doing for the past two days,” Johnny says.

Mark just nods in reply though and goes back to packing up their stuff.

Johnny doesn’t mind the lack of response. He’s satisfied with the fact the younger is even going home to rest.

He turns around to go rejoin the others. He’ll go see what he can do to help out before they all decide to call it a night.

“Johnny.” 

Johnny turns back around at the call. 

“Yeah?”

Mark is not looking at him, still gathering their things with a clear expression on his face.

“Thanks,” he says.

This time, Johnny can’t keep the light smile off of his face. He wasn’t expecting the gratitude in the slightest so it makes him happy to hear. Maybe things can be fixed slowly but surely. They just have to do the right actions.

“Anytime.”

~~~

“I didn’t think those boys would ever stop working,” Doyoung says.

The four boys went home about thirty minutes ago, much to all of their surprises. They didn’t think the boys would stop working, especially after today where they got a glimpse of their missing members. They thought they were going to go home and come back to see the four still here, working nonstop. When Minhyung came out and told the others that it was time to go home, they were really surprised—minus Johnny and Sicheng—and even more so when the three went without any issues.

“I knew they were going to eventually. You should have heard the conversation they were having here earlier. I felt bad for being there,” Sicheng says.

“Private?” Yuta asks.

“No, emotional. Jeno didn’t get why Minhyung agreed to let you guys search for them. He said he didn’t trust us, that we don’t really care like they do, and that they should be the ones out there no matter what. Minhyung told him that he didn’t trust us either but he had to make sure of their health and safety first and going out wouldn’t be good. Apparently, they’ve been making themselves sick with all that’s going on. Minhyung begged him to just be patient with him until he can make sure that they’re all fine. Jeno agreed pretty easily after that,” Sicheng explains.

He made sure to keep looking at his screen while the conversation was going on so he doesn’t know how the scene looked but if he’s going based on how it sounded , it was even more emotional watching it.

“Minhyung really cares for them. He wants to make sure they’ll be okay no matter what,” Johnny says.

“I can believe that. You should have heard the sound of his voice when speaking to Jeno. He sounded as if he was barely keeping himself together. He said how much he hates that he has to trust us, how it physically affects him thinking about trusting us because of his trauma with the building and his voice just sounded so hurt and so emotionally frustrated. He said that he hates that he has to trust us to help find clues to find his missing family. He’s honestly struggling but he’s trying to push through it for them. If that’s not care then I don’t know what is,” Sicheng says.

Those boys are going through a hard time right now, all four of them, but Minhyung is trying his best to stay together so they can get through it. He’s being a strong eldest and looking out for the others.

“He calls them family? They must really mean a lot to each other then,” Ten says.

“Three of them their families gave them up, two of them ran away from their families, and two of them became distant from their families. They don’t seem to have the best history with the concept of family but yet they found a family in each other. That’s a big thing for them,” Doyoung says.

These boys who don’t seem to have any good experience with the concept of family made their own together like brothers. They can see why what’s happening right now is such a big thing for them. Three of their brothers are so close but so far away from them. They were taken away and so now the four will do anything to have them back.

“Today really was a bittersweet thing for them. They found out that the three are alive and here but they lost them by just that much. I don’t doubt that they’ll be working much harder now,” Jaehyun says.

No doubt they’re upset that their missing members were so close to them, relatively speaking, and they lost them again by a few minutes. They’ll really be working overtime now to make up for what happened today.

A phone rings, catching all of their attention. It’s Taeyong’s phone.

“It looks like he’s finally calling back,” Taeyong says, looking at the caller ID.

He answers the call and puts it on speaker.

“Hello, Mr. Lee,” Taeyong says.

“Hello, Taeyong. I’m just returning your call. Is everything alright?”  

On the other end of the line is none other than Lee Soo-man also known as the man who put NCT together in the first place. 

Many people don’t really understand the hero thing but there’s a lot to it. It’s not like how anyone can go out and call themselves a villain. To be a hero, a recognized hero, there are steps. You need someone with power and credibility to vouch for you and your group, you need government documents with your super-name and power listed on them, and believe it or not you need money. Lee Soo-man was the person who vouched for them, helped them with their documents, and assisted with the needed money. He got NCT started and from time to time checks in with them. Without him, they’d be considered vigilantes at most. They would have never been able to become Seoul’s heroes. They owe a lot to him, figuratively speaking.

“That’s what we were calling to ask. A building in the city fell today and it was one of your private properties. We wanted to make sure you weren’t harmed or anything,” Taeyong says.

“Oh no, I’m fine. I haven’t been in the city for a while now, I’m away for business. Which building was it exactly? What happened, was anyone hurt?”

That’s good that he wasn’t there. They were worried that something had happened to the man, especially when he wasn’t answering his phone earlier.

“There were only minor injuries it seems. It was the building that was empty for a while now and you’ve been meaning to sell it. It appears that a mysterious stranger has been taking refuge in the building. He kidnapped three boys, superpowered boys, and was hiding there. One of the boys brought the building down with his powers,” Taeyong explains.

 “God, sounds like a lot went on since I left. I take it as you all went to the scene to help? Did you all find the boys and the perpetrator?”

“We did go to the scene. We helped civilians and searched the area. Unfortunately, we did not get the guy or find the boys. We’re still conducting that search now.”

“How’d you find out about the kidnapping? Did someone report it? It’s quite shocking that someone used one of my properties as a hiding place. It’s a shame too, I was about to close a deal on that property.”

It’s quite normal for Mr. Lee to ask them questions about the jobs they’re doing or how things have been going. As the person who got them started, he’s also interested in seeing them grow as heroes. He did invest a lot into after all. If they turned out to be terrible heroes, he could have lost his credibility. He risks a lot having his name tied to them. That’s why if or when they add members, they choose wisely so NCT won’t ever look bad. 

Minhyung’s case seems to be a different situation but it seems like nothing bad happened really with it—other than their hurt and confused feelings—so they don’t have to worry too much about that. The point is, Mr. Lee helped them out a lot and still helps them out so they do their best to return the favor to him. They’re never surprised when he wants to know how things are going with them.

“We’re sorry to hear that, we hope you can make another deal in the near future. As for how we found out about the kidnapping, it’s a strange story. I’m sure you’re aware of Seoul’s seven young villains now. Well, this stranger somehow kidnapped three of them for whatever reason. The other four were searching for them and we offered our help,” Taeyong says.

“Ah yes, I’ve heard of those boys. Minhyung is one of them now, right? The poor boy, he had so much potential. Hopefully working alongside you all again will help him remember why he was a hero to begin with. Who knows, maybe after you help find the other three, all of them will decide to not be villains anymore. It does seem that you have been doing a lot in their behalfs.”

“We can hope. Until then, we plan on helping them to see that not everyone is against them. Maybe that way they’ll be a bit more open to what other options there are for them.”

In the background of the phone, a loud noise is heard. It sounds like something dropped or something hit something else.

“Please excuse me, I have to go now. I’m just backed up on work and it seems the world likes to remind me of that. And now I’ll also have to do the paperwork for that damaged property.”

“We understand. We hope everything goes well with all of your work. Please don’t hesitate to call us if you need anything,” Taeyong says.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll speak to you boys again another time. Keep up the good work; no one protects Seoul like you all do. Who knows, maybe soon you’ll receive some help on that. Have a good night.”

The loud noise happens again and the phone cuts off before Taeyong can return the farewell. They guess he really must be busy but then again he always is. He’s not just anybody after all.

“You think what he said could happen? You think Minhyung can think about being a hero again after all of this?” Jungwoo asks.

It would be nice to have their youngest member back again or just to see him on the same side as them.

“We never know. Today he told me thanks and I know that’s not a small thing for him at this point. We’re making some progress. Even if we can’t get them to be heroes, maybe we can get them to just stop being villains. I think that would be enough,” Johnny responds.

As long as the boys are not on the wrong side then they can work with that. They can deal with if Minhyung never wants to be a hero again. They just hate to see him call himself a villain. His heart is too kind to be a villain. He’s too loving and caring to cause all of this chaos. And if he can be that close with those boys then their hearts must be like that too. They just need some guidance in their lives, that’s all.

“Let’s hope this all turns out for the best.”

Chapter Text

“Why are we at a doctor’s office?” 

The three look at Mark curiously as they all stand in front of a small clinic that seems like it’s about to close its office hours any moment now.

“We’re here to see someone. Come on, I’ll explain inside,” Mark says, answering Renjun’s question.

They decide to go with the flow and follow him inside. It’s a nice looking clinic, warm looking and bright. It’s empty though minus the front desk lady so maybe they weren’t wrong about it being near closing time.

Mark approaches the front desk and the lady looks up at him.

“I’m sorry, but office hours are closed now and most of the doctors have already left. Is there something you want to leave?” She says even before he can open his mouth.

Clearly, she wants to go home already.

Her comment doesn’t phase him though.

“No, we’re not here to leave anything. We’re here to see Dr. Qian,” he says, showing her a card.

Her entire attitude changes and she looks at him with wide eyes.

“Is it really you?” She whispers.

He pulls down his mouth mask and smiles at her, making her light up.

“It really is! He’s going to be so excited to see you. He’s been worrying since you reappeared. Go ahead, you know where to go,” she says.

Mark chuckles and thanks her before heading in, friends behind him. They’re a bit caught off guard when she waves excitedly to them but they’re polite and wave back.

“What was that about?” Jaemin asks.

“She’s excitable and is into supers way too much for her own good. She also hasn’t seen me in a while so that’s also contributing to that. Don’t worry, she’s honestly that friendly for everything but her actual job which requires her to be,” Mark responds.

He leads them to the very last room in the back, passing all of the empty rooms. When they get to the room, he knocks on the door before entering. In the room is a male doctor staring at a computer screen with papers all around him.

“Wow doc, still working overtime I see,” Mark says.

The doctor turns around and a happy look overtakes his entire face.

“Minhyung!”

He goes over to Mark and envelops the younger in a hug. Mark smiles and hugs back.

“It’s nice to see you again too Kun hyung. It’s been a while. And the name is Mark now, just don’t let anyone else know okay,” Mark says.

Kun lets go of him and hits him in the arm.

“Mark, got it. And it’s been about three years. I was worried about you. The last time I saw you, you were near death and then I didn’t hear about you for two years. Then that whole reveal thing happened and I just didn’t know what to do. Everyone come in and take a seat, close the door behind you,” Kun says.

They all walk completely in the room, closing the door behind them. Jeno and Jaemin sit in the two chairs, Renjun sits on the examination table, and Mark stands, facing Kun.

“Guys, this is Qian Kun. He’s a good friend of mine. Hyung, this is Renjun, Jeno, and Jaemin. You probably seen them referred to as Viper, Savage, and Shockwave,” Mark introduces.

The three greet Kun though they’re pretty confused about what’s going on. That’s a norm when dealing with Mark though. Kun gives them a friendly smile.

“Yes, I’ve heard of them. But it seems like they haven’t heard of me. Did you just bring them along without telling them anything?” Kun says.

The three nod strongly before Mark even has the chance to respond. He rubs the back of his neck.

“I wanted to explain it while they were here so they’d understand better,” Mark says.

Kun gives him a look.

“Mhm, alright, go ahead. Explain it to them,” he responds.

Mark turns to his friends.

“Kun hyung has healing powers. He was the one I went to after that whole building situation. It’s actually more than healing, it’s a bunch of medical stuff that I never paid enough attention to to understand. I came here to ask for his help with something involving the restraint that was left behind,” he says.

“So he’s a hero?” Jeno asks.

Kun steps in to answer.

“No, I’m not. I’m a neutral party though some people call me morally gray. I help whoever pays the right price, hero or villain. I don’t get involved with sides. It’s a bit different for NCT and Min-Mark here though. I don’t charge them when I help them since we’re old friends—even before they became heroes—and I became friends with Mark when he became a hero. I wasn’t fond of being forced to be on a side and they weren’t fond of my moral grayness. We eventually agreed to disagree, peacefully doing our own things,” Kun explains.

“So this is a clinic for supers or you just do that on the side?” Renjun asks.

“I do that on the side. I’d be in trouble if it was ever discovered that I help heal villains since some people expect everyone to take a side on matters and want you to choose their side. My main practice is medicine and I help the general public. After all, that’s all I’m really about, making people feel better,” Kun responds.

He’s never been into the whole hero versus villain thing. He understands that everyone has their own reason for doing things so he doesn’t see why he needs to put his own opinion in and defend a side. He does what he has to do to make sure his life isn’t harder than it needs to be. If being in the middle can assure that then what’s the issue? Of course, he does have his standards. Certain people he refuses to help, hero or villain. To him, it matters about what you’ve done and who you are as a person, not what side you’re on.

“If there’s anyone I trust outside of you guys, it’s Kun hyung, so you guys don’t have to worry. He’ll actually help us, without any other motives,” Mark says.

Well, even though they don’t know Kun like that, he already seems better than majority of the people they have dealt with in their lives. And if Mark really trusts him, enough to bring them here and tell him his new name, then they’ll give him a chance.

“How sweet. He says that but doesn’t even come to visit me after he reappears. But that’s okay, I’m not hurt,” Kun says.

Mark gives him an apologetic smile.

“I’m really sorry about that, I should have visited you earlier. Between wrecking the city, going against NCT, and trying to have our own home life, I guess I didn’t think about coming over to check on you. I’ll make up for that,” he replies.

Kun ruffles his hair affectionately.

“I know you will. So what’s this about you wanting my help with something?” He says.

Mark goes in his bag and takes out the power restraint that he was safekeeping in it. He shows it to Kun.

“A long story short, someone kidnapped our other three members and we’re trying to find them. That ‘faulty’ building that collapsed two days ago, that was where he was originally keeping them. It seems like he was using these power restraints on them but this one stopped working. Chenle got his power back and brought down that building. I’ve been examining the restraint to see if I can find any fingerprints or anything that could link it to someone but it all comes up empty. So I decided to try and figure out how the needle broke and what the medical effects are to the restraint,” Mark explains.

“Wouldn’t a technopath be of better use than me for that first part?” Kun asks, giving Mark a look.

“We already had to swallow our pride when we accepted their help, there’s only so much we can handle. Besides, I want to know the medical aspect of it, not the technical. Do you think you can help?” Mark responds.

Kun gives him that “We need to talk more” look but goes and puts on gloves anyway. He turns back and takes the restraint from Mark.

“Alright, let’s see what I can tell you,” he says.

Mark smiles in appreciation.

“Thank you hyung,” he replies.

Mark goes and sits next to Renjun as Kun sits down at his desk with the restraint.

“I remember these types of restraints. They’re terrible for the wearer. I was once called into a facility so I could heal a prisoner—off the record of course—and his sickness was coming from this type of restraint. They ask doctors for their opinions but never accept it when it’s not what they want to hear. I’m surprised anyone still has one of these,” Kun says, looking over the restraint.

“What makes them so bad? Only Jaemin had to wear one of those out of us so we don’t really know what it’s like,” Jeno says.

Jaemin makes a face just thinking about that restraint. God, he hated them. He was so happy when they started using the new ones.

“Well one, they’re completely unsanitary. If you’re relying on the automatic needle, then that means a dirty used needle is being stuck into your body over and over again. The wearer is bound to get an infection that way. Not only that, the blood is never properly stopped. You just bleed and the pressure from the restraint itself is expected to stop the bleeding. Secondly, it’ll hurt like hell each time the needle is injected because of how close it is to your skin. Sticking a needle in the same spot repeatedly is also no good,” Kun responds.

“Ah, no wonder why my wrist was swollen for so long. That thing hurt like crazy, even after they took it off. They had to knock me out just to switch the restraints,” Jaemin says.

“You were no doubt experiencing an infection or the beginning of one. The person who made these clearly wasn’t in the medical field because everything about it is impractical, healthwise. And even if the blood was drawn manually, constantly drawing blood from a person can make them sick. Not to mention that those idiot guards probably didn’t even know how to draw blood properly and I highly doubt that the scientists would do the blood draw themselves. There are just so many things wrong with this type of restraint,” Kun says.

The person who created it was neither a doctor nor a genius, he’ll tell you that.

“So how bad can it get for the wearer?” Mark asks.

“It depends on a lot of different factors really. One, how long it’s on. The longer it’s on, the worse it can be. Also, where is the blood being drawn from? This restraint looks like it belongs on a wrist which is the least problematic place to put it. But some go around the neck which is the worst place possible. There’s also how much blood it’s programmed to take and the amount of time between each draw, if you’re relying on the automated needle. Too much blood each time will be no good and too frequent will make the person sick. That’s why I said there are so many things wrong with this restraint. There are too many factors to take into consideration,” Kun responds.

Places stopped using these restraints because they were too much work and a risk for them but the reason should have gone deeper than that. They were awful things to use, especially since the people using it never thought of the effects it could have. It shouldn’t have been taken away because it was inconvenient. It should have been taken away because it was dangerous to people’s health.

“By the looks of this, it doesn’t look good for your friend, sorry to say,” Kun says.

“Why do you say that?” Renjun asks worriedly.

Kun lifts up the restraint and turns around to show them.

“You can’t see it from where you’re at but the needle isn’t just broken, it’s gone completely. From what I know about this type, how it works is the needle rests inside this little slot here. When on its timer, at the specified time the needle will come out, prick the wearer, and then return to its place with the blood. From how this looks, the needle didn’t return one time, instead, it stayed in his skin. Since he was still bleeding, it worked for a bit but when it was time to get fresh blood, the blood was already dried and there was no needle to break the skin again. Having that needle stuck in his skin is not a good thing, especially thinking about how long it probably lasted in his skin until this restraint came off. Just think about having a dirty, bloody needle stuck in your skin; not the most pleasant idea is it. Trust me, it doesn’t feel pleasant either,” he says.

The four of them cringe thinking about the needle stuck in Chenle’s skin. That has to be painful and they don’t think that the person who took them would be so kind as to help Chenle out with that situation. They hope the needle wasn’t in his skin for long. That would be horrible.

“Do these types of needles often break easily?” Jaemin asks.

“It’s less the needle and more the build of the restraint. To put it nicely, some people shouldn’t be making things, especially if said thing involves anything medical. When you find your friends, make sure you bring them to me for a check-up,” Kun replies.

“Let’s hope a check-up is all they need,” Mark mumbles.

He winces right after he says it, seeing the slight tensing that ran through his friends at the comment.

“My bad, that was a bit dark. My mind is just running overtime again,” he says apologetically.

Kun looks at him knowingly.

“Do you guys mind if I talk to Mark privately for a minute?” Kun asks.

“No problem, we’ll wait in the hall,” Renjun says.

He grabs Jeno and Jaemin and starts pulling them out of the room.

“先感谢您 (Thank you in advance), ” Renjun says to Kun, giving him a telling look.

“我会尽力的 (I’ll do my best) ,” Kun responds with a nod.

Renjun closes the door behind him, leaving Mark and Kun together in the room.

“You know, I’m gonna have to start learning Chinese so I can understand every time Renjun talks about me,” Mark says jokingly.

Kun chuckles.

“He probably talks about you a lot but I can already tell that he cares about you,” he replies.

A small fond smile makes its way to Mark’s face. 

“Yeah, we’ve all become close. It feels like I have six brothers now and it’s pretty fun. We get on each other’s nerves at times of course. I think Donghyuck was ready to kill me at one point and I was ready to throw him out a window. We got over it though. We just all get along really well at the end of the day. It’s nice having them around, you know,” he says.

The fondness in his voice is mixed with a bit of sadness and Kun does not miss that tone. He hears it loud and clear and he gives him a sympathetic look.

“You’re blaming yourself for those missing three aren’t you?” Kun asks.

Mark sighs.

“Yes and no. Like I blame NCT for this because it was their actions that caused Chenle to run away and that’s how they got caught. But I can’t help but find where I went wrong as well. Why didn’t I notice that someone was after them? Why didn’t I go searching for them sooner when they first didn’t come back? Why didn’t I find them sooner when they were still in that building? There are things I could have done and maybe if I did them, they would be with us right now,” he responds.

He knows it’s not his fault that they are missing. He’s not the one who caused them to run out of the house. He’s not the one who took them. But it is his fault that they are still missing. What if he’s not doing everything he can to find them? They should have found them and brought them back by now so why can’t he do that? 

“Mark, you can’t blame yourself for that stuff. Looking back on what ifs get you nowhere and only causes you more stress. I know this is a tough situation for you but you can’t poison your mind like that or else you’ll lose hope and motivation to find them. You have to stay positive for you and the three you still have next to you,” Kun says gently.

“I know, I know, and I’m trying to but it’s so hard. I just think about how terrified Chenle had to be to bring down an entire building and I get scared about what’s happening to them. I think about how they’re locked up somewhere, unable to use their powers, probably waiting for us to come and help them any minute now but we just can’t find them. I don’t want them to think we’ve abandoned them. There’s no worse feeling than wishing for help but being abandoned instead. I don’t want them to feel that,” Mark replies.

He can only imagine how it feels like for them to be stuck there with that man and they can’t do anything. How long will they continue to wait for help before they start to think they were left to fend for themselves? Have they started thinking that already? How long do they have to be there until they can finally be saved?

“You said you all are close to each other, yes?” Kun asks.

“Yeah, we are,” Mark says, a bit unsure about the sudden question.

“When you’re with them, does your bond feel anything like how it did when you were with NCT?” Kun asks.

Mark shakes his head no.

“Nothing like that in the slightest. I know we care about each other and I know we have each other’s backs. We’re really a team and a family,” he replies.

“Then have faith in your bond with them. If you, who cried to me that you’ll never be able to have a family who cares for you, was able to find a family in them and you trust them, then they can have those same emotions too. They do have those same emotions. Just look at the three who came with you today and didn’t even know why they were here. They trust you enough to know that you wouldn’t lead them into anything bad. They trust you and know you are there for them and the three that are missing know that too. They know you guys didn’t abandon them so don’t worry about that. Just focus on finding your brothers, the ones you’ve finally gained, and then everything else can be worried about later,” Kun says, giving Mark a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

Mark never thought of it like that before. Yeah, he knew that they all had a good bond and that they were there for each other but he never really thought about what it meant to rely on that bond. He knows in a fight they’d protect each other. He knows that every argument they have will eventually be resolved. He knows that they will never let one of them suffer alone. He knows how close they are but he never thought to apply it to even when they’re not together. Their bond isn’t only there when they’re together and going through something. It’s there when they’re separated and trying to get through the worst. They know that they’re there for each other. He just has to have faith in that bond.

“I guess you’re right. I should have a bit more faith in our relationship. We’re going to find them and I know they know that too. Thank you hyung, you gave me something to think about,” Mark says.

“I’m glad I can be of some help. I know you guys will find them. You’re a determined kid when you put your mind to it. Besides, I’ve seen what you boys can do to the city, I feel bad for whatever idiot decided to target you seven because he is going to need the best doctors when you guys are done with him,” Kun replies.

Mark chuckles. It’s funny but Kun has no idea how on the head he is with that comment. They’re going to make this man regret even being born.

“I don’t know if he’ll have the money for your services, you charge pretty high,” he says.

“Hey, off-the-books stuff is dangerous for me too, I deserve the money I charge. I wouldn’t heal him anyway. He deserves whatever is going to happen to him,” Kun replies.

Mark smiles before it lessens again. He looks to the elder with a hesitant expression, smile still on his face but just smaller than before.

“Hyung, are you okay with the fact that I’m a villain now?” He asks.

Kun gives him his own small smile in return, his own being soft and caring.

“Of course I am. Why would you ask that?” He says.

Mark plays with his hands, admittedly a bit nervous. He meant it when he said that Kun is one of the few outside of his team that he trusts. Kun was the only one who was always there for him. The older would even let him spend days with him at the clinic when NCT didn’t allow him to go on a mission with them. Kun saved his life when his own team forgot about him and then swore he wouldn’t tell the heroes, which he kept considering how shocked the heroes were to learn about that event. Kun was the one elder who treated him right and didn’t make him feel forgotten. He’d feel terrible if he hurt Kun’s feelings in any way or made the elder disappointed in him.

“Because I know you met me as a hero and that’s all you’ve known me as. And now I’m out there causing damage to the city and fighting the very people you’re good friends with, the people that took me in at one point in my life. Aren’t you a bit...upset with me?” Mark says.

Kun gives him a look that strangely reminds Mark of an understanding mother. It’s a touching look though.

“No, I’m not upset with you at all. Even if I was a hero or I did choose sides, I wouldn’t be mad at you in the slightest. I know you and I know how you are. You wouldn’t just become a villain for no reason. I know that during your disappearance you thought deeply about whether or not you would become a villain and that this was a decision you made carefully. You have your reasons for this and for that I respect you. And if I’m being very honest with you, I don’t agree with what NCT did to you. I know them and I know how they think so they most likely think they didn’t really do much wrong but they didn’t treat you right as a team member. They didn’t treat you like you should have been and even I know that. I can’t blame you for your anger toward them or the actions you do toward them. They may be my friends but they’re in the wrong here. When you look at it like that, who’s really the villain?” Kun says.

Warm feelings Mark has only felt with his team members swell up within him and before he knows it, he throws himself at Kun, wrapping his arms tightly around the elder in a hug.

“Thank you hyung. I don’t know what I would have done if you were upset with my decision. NCT always tries to tell me that I made the wrong choice or that I belong as a hero and it’s just so nice to hear someone say that they respect my decision. Thank you,” he says, holding Kun tightly.

Kun hugs him back with an equal amount of affection.

“You don’t have to thank me for that. I was just telling the truth. And remember, you carefully made your choice so don’t doubt it unless you have good reason to. Do what you can live with. It’s your life, you’re the one who has to live with your choices,” he responds.

Mark pulls away with a smile, feeling much better now. He’s glad he finally got to talk to Kun again. It was a good reminder that there are still some who he can trust.

“I’ll keep that in mind. I guess I should get back to them now; I didn’t tell them yet but I’m going to treat them to some of their favorite foods after this. They’ve been really stress and practically making themselves sick so I want to at least give them a few moments of peace. I just wanted to stop by you first so they wouldn’t feel like we were pushing off any work and so I could finally see you again,” Mark says.

“That’s so nice of you. I think you all need a moment of peace. There’s nothing wrong with taking a few moments to rest even during a serious issue. Being sick won’t help you any so it’s about being balanced. Just make sure you come to visit me more often okay. And bring your friends, I’d like to get to know them better,” Kun responds.

“Will do. Thanks again hyung, you were a big help,” Mark says.

They hug one more time as a goodbye and Mark turns to leave. When his hand is on the handle of the door, Kun stops him.

“Hey Mark,” he says.

Mark turns back toward him.

“Yeah?” 

Kun’s expression became much more somber in the few seconds Mark wasn’t looking.

“Be careful who you listen to. Some people just don’t seem to realize that not everything is as it seems and that some people deserved to be questioned. Question people, even those you don’t think of immediately. I don’t have a good feeling about this,” he says.

Mark doesn’t like how ominous that warning sounds but he knows Kun is not one to give warnings in general unless it’s serious. Whatever Kun is thinking or feeling is important and Mark should take it as such.

“Understood. Thanks,” Mark replies.

Kun nods and Mark takes it as his cue to leave. His mind is going though, thinking about what Kun could mean by that comment. What could make him feel so weary about a situation he just found out about? Is he seeing something that they aren’t? He’s not sure about it but there is one thing he got from that warning.

Something more is happening than they know.

Since they had spoken to Kun, the four made it their mission to be more alert to everything and everyone involved in this case. Whatever they’re missing in this, they’re going to figure it out.

To cover all of their bases, they relooked at everything they already went over. From the first dart they found to the restraint they got at the scene. Any and everything they were using in this case, they went over again to make sure they didn’t miss anything. They also looked at anything the heroes themselves checked. After Kun’s warning, they can’t be too sure about anything so they looked over the heroes’ work to make sure nothing was overlooked or missed.

When with the heroes, they work closely with them so they can make sure everything is looked at thoroughly. If Kun can notice that something is off after only hearing about it for a few minutes then they have to look closer at everything. Kun’s intuition is rarely wrong and being neutral, he thinks without the blinders of a side’s mentality. It’s worth it to give it some serious thought and effort about what he said. The heroes don’t seem to mind them working closely with them though. If anything, it probably feels like the boys are being more willing and open-minded with them. 

They’ve also toned down the hostility slightly because now more than ever they’re going to use those heroes to their benefit. If they can’t go searching scenes because of nosy people and obstacles in their way then fine, they’ll make the heroes do their footwork. While the heroes are out trying to find more clues, they stay in and go through cameras, data, tech, and anything else they can get their hands on. Jeno was right when he said that the heroes don’t care for the missing three like they do, if anyone should be searching through this stuff, it should be them. Heroes like to do things the clean way, never want to break through any rules. They won’t hack into certain things or break certain tech because it’s “illegal” or an “invasion”. The boys, on the other hand, they’re more than willing to break a few laws if it means finding their friends, hence why it’s better for them to be doing the searching.

It’s like when you let a little kid stir while you're baking. They feel as if they’re doing a lot but in actuality, you’re doing most of the work. The heroes can feel like they’re really being of help to them while they’re really doing the important work. It’s a win-win.

A needed win-win at that. Believe them when they say that they have been really looking into things as much as they can.

Once again, their perpetrator seemed to disappear off the map with the three and no working camera caught where he went or how he even left. Every camera feed they searched through was either tampered with, partially destroyed, or just nonexistent. Nothing showed past him and the three leaving the chaos of that building and it seemed like Donghyuck or Jisung didn’t leave them anymore clues. Some way, somehow, he’s able to mess with the videos so their guess is either he has access to them or the tech he uses are a part of the reason.

The metal parts they found in the wreckage confirmed the use of robotic items to do whatever this man is doing but that’s as far as that went. Either this person wears gloves for everything or he never touches his own machines because no fingerprints were left on anything they could acquire. Not even the slightest DNA was left on any of the pieces. The types of tech he was using don’t give them a clue about him other than the fact that he doesn’t make it himself. Every piece of tech used was created by different companies and none of the companies have records on who they sold it to because each piece is a rare find or an illegal find. Whoever they’re dealing with must have money to get all of this stuff because all of it is bound to be expensive.

They tried to see how he was keeping the three in that building that was in the middle of the city without anyone noticing. The layout of the building is unknown to them but if the three didn’t run away at any point then he had to keep them locked away somewhere. They’re thinking the building had an underground level for bomb threats like some structures have. That would be a place where no one would go just because—though yes they do know that the building was not in use—and you can find a way to chain someone down there. Besides, if Chenle brought that whole building down like that, then more likely than not, he was near the bottom of the foundation to do that.

That also means that the person knew the building well if he could get them out of there before they could be trapped under the rubble. Whoever it is chose that building deliberately.

But sadly, all of this only gave them little clues that don’t seem to lead to the big picture. Nothing led them past speculations and 90% conclusions. They know the little things matter as well and every piece of the puzzle is needed to see the grand picture but they’re not seeing how these pieces are going to help them. They’re trying to figure out who they’re dealing with but the things that they’re being given are only leading them to small discoveries that still leave a broad picture in their head about the person. They’re trying to figure out where their friends could have been taken to this time but nothing is leading them to that path. Hell, nothing is leading them to where they were. Things just keep coming to a wall.

The person who took their members must know that they’re doing more than just regular searching otherwise they wouldn’t have taken these precautions to make sure nothing can lead them to him. He’s either giving the boys their rightful credit and treating them as intelligent people or he knows something he shouldn’t. For everyone’s sake, they’ll assume it’s the former and not the latter. They try not to think about matters such as how he knew where to find them, why he decided to take them, how he knew how to restrain them and the likes. All of that just leads to more questions, suspicions, and doubt and doesn’t actually help them get closer to finding their members. They’ll worry about all of that when everyone is back home and safe. 

That’s when they’ll make sure all loose ends are tied, all questions are answered, and no one ever tries this again.

But like they said, for now, they’ll just focus on the stuff that will hopefully lead them to their friends. It’s already been two weeks since the three have been missing. Time is flying by but yet moving so slow. It feels like it’s been a month already since Chenle, Jisung, and Donghyuck have been taken but at the same time, it only feels like it’s been one day since they’ve started searching. The absence in their lives is great but there are not enough hours in the day for them to search as much as they want. They can only imagine how it feels for the three. It must feel like months and months since they’ve been gone. Who knows what he’s doing to them. How much longer will all of them have to go through this? Can’t they just get the slightest help in all of this?

For once in their lives, the world decided to be their friend.

Jaemin’s phone rings loudly, snapping everyone’s attention to it. 

It’s a day where all of them—the four of them plus all eight heroes—decided to stay and work on things inside. Go out in public too much and people start asking questions not to mention whoever they’re dealing with probably has eyes on the city too if he can mess with the city’s cameras. They thought to give the footwork a break so no one becomes suspicious or tries to mess with anything else and focus on things they can look at inside. They were all so immersed in their work that Jaemin’s phone ringing startled them completely.

“It says unknown,” Jaemin says, looking at his phone.

There’s no caller ID whatsoever and it’s not very often he gets a call from an unknown number.

“Answer it and put it on speaker. At this point who knows what’ll happen,” Mark says.

Jaemin listens and answers the call, immediately putting it on speakerphone for everyone to hear.

“Hello?”

Jeno, Mark, and Renjun scramble out of their seats and crowd around Jaemin who almost dropped his phone at the voice.

“Jisung?” Jaemin asks in shock.

“Jaemin! Oh thank god you picked up hyung,” Jisung says.

They can’t believe this. Jisung called them. He’s on the phone with them right now.

“Jisung, it’s really you! Oh my god. Where are you? Are you alright? How’s Chenle and Donghyuck? Why are you calling from an unknown number?” Jaemin asks in rapid fire.

“Is everyone there? Are the heroes with you? Have them trace this call, please. I don’t have a lot of time, he’s going to come back soon. I stole a phone when he came to draw my blood and he’s bound to notice soon so I want to tell you guys before he comes back,” Jisung says, voice sounding a bit panicked.

Mark signals to Sicheng to get working on tracing this call. This is the biggest thing they’ve gotten.

“We’re all here and we’re with the heroes. What do you want to tell us?” Jeno says.

“You guys have to find us. It’s getting worse. He blindfolded us in the car so I d on’t know where we are but I know we’re not in the city anymore. He said that he was trying to be nice by keeping us in the city but after Chenle used his powers, he moved us away. T rust me when I say that this place is much worse. We’re in a cell again but it looks like we’re in some sort of basement. Like an old lab or something, I don’t know. I hear t he people above us but no one but him comes down here to us. I’m scared, he’s using more force each day. I think Donghyuck is sick now and Chenle is in pain. He’s going to hurt me once he watches the video feed and sees me on the phone. It’s getting so bad, I wouldn’t even care if the h eroes found us,” Jisung says.

They don’t like that sound of fear in his voice. They’ve never heard him sound so afraid. Whatever is being done to them really must be terrible.

But they also pick up on something else while he speaks.

“Jisung, I need you to tell me anything you can that will either help us find you guys or tell us what’s going on. Is Donghyuck or Chenle near you?” Mark says slowly, hoping Jisung would get the message.

“They’re both with me but Donghyuck is asleep and Chenle is in pain, neither of them can respond right now. We all have power restraints on and there are these drones that watch us all the time. The cell isn’t like the facility ones. I d on’t t rust what he says about t he strength of the glass, I think the h eroes could break it. Some of the drones disappear at times and I wish I could f ollow t hem to know where they’re going and what they’re doing. There are no windows so we d on’t know the time of day and have to t rust him when he tells us it’s night or day. Have t he h eroes traced the call yet? I heard him saying that they were looking at the wreckage and that you guys will probably f ollow after t hem when things clear so you guys are probably with them. Does any of this make sense?” Jisung replies.

The four of them look at each other, sharing the same thought. He said it three times now. 

“We understand you, don’t worry. We’re going to find you no matter what, just hold on for a bit longer,” Renjun says.

“We’ll try. I wish I could tell you more but he leaves us in the dark so much. It’s just so--crap he’s coming back already. Hyungs, please find us,” Jisung says, begging tone coming into his voice.

The sound suddenly gets muffled and they hear another person’s voice but it’s distorted a lot. They hear Jisung scream loudly in what sounds like pain before the line goes dead. 

Jaemin stares at his phone, heart clenching as his hand does the same around his phone. Why did the last sound they heard have to be Jisung’s scream of pain? Why?

“Did you get any location from that phone call?” Mark asks, turning to Sicheng.

He feels like his heart is pounding in his ears as his mind races about what could have just happened to Jisung. Kun was right, there is something going on.

“I wasn’t able to get an exact location but a general area. I can keep working on it to see if I can narrow it down,” Sicheng responds.

Jeno nudges Jaemin.

“Your heart rate is picking up, I can hear it. Come on, let’s go somewhere else,” he says.

“I think we’ll join you,” Renjun says, grabbing Mark by the hand.

They need to get out of there and get out of there now.

“We’ll go home then. We’ll be back later to see if you found anything. We need to wrap our heads around this,” Mark says to the olders in the room.

When did his acting skills become more believable, he doesn’t know but by that look of pity they’re all giving them, he must have really sold this ‘shocked and scared’ look.

“We understand, you guys go do what you have to; go calm yourselves down. We’ll keep trying to find something,” Jaehyun says.

The boys don’t hesitate. They nod and immediately get going.

It’s their fastest time coming home ever.

When they get back to their home—they watched over their shoulder the entire way back of course—the chaotic energy they had inside of them finally releases.

“Did you hear how scared Sungie sounded? Are they being tortured over there? How much did he risk by calling us? What did that man do to him?” Jaemin says, anxiety coming at him full force.

Jeno and Renjun sit next to him, trying to keep him calm.

“We don’t know yet but we have to think it all through first. I swear if they have anything to do with this, there’s going to be so much hell to pay,” Renjun says, giving Jaemin’s hand a comforting squeeze despite the threat.

Jaemin grabs Renjun’s hand in return and holds it tightly, hoping to release his anxious energy through the pressure.

“At least we have something to go off of now. I’m with Renjun though. This isn’t looking very good for their safety,” Jeno says, running his fingers on the back of Jaemin’s neck to also help calm the younger.

His words carry a rough sound to it though as he thinks about the possibilities of what’s going on. Whatever is happening, he doesn’t like it one bit.

“Yeah we definitely have a lot more to think about now after that call,” Mark says.

Jisung wasn’t just calling to tell them his surroundings and how scared he was. His real message was hidden in his words and they confirmed what he was saying.

It’s a thing they established in case they couldn’t talk freely for whatever reason. On the word they really mean, they would say it with a different emphasis. Renjun and Chenle would say it with a more Chinese accent than the other words. Jeno would say the word as a Seoulite would whereas Jaemin and Jisung would say if different than a Seoulite. Donghyuck would say it how someone from Jeju would speak and Mark would sound like an English-speaking foreigner trying to pronounce the word. It all just seems normal in a regular conversation, especially for the foreigners in the group, but to them, they know the difference. What sounds like an accent coming through to someone else, is an emphasis for them.

Jisung did that during his phone call three times and repeated the same message. Despite being afraid and knowing that he would get hurt for doing so, he made that phone call to make sure he got that message across. He knows something that they don’t and he’s trying to help them out.

Well, now they have a clue so they’re going to listen to it. This is going to lead them to their missing three. It just has to, one way or another.

Jisung just changed the game for them. They hope this can lead them somewhere quicker this time. They have family to save and people to get back at for this.

Jisung’s effort won’t go wasted. They heard him loud and clear.

Don’t trust the heroes. Follow them.

The boys have been strange since Jisung called, the heroes note.

They no longer demand a million answers or watch over them relentlessly. They don’t throw as many insults or threats. They’re always whispering something to each other and they leave abruptly throughout the day sometimes. It’s odd if they’re being honest.

No one can blame the four though, it was a frightening call. If they’re going based off of Jisung’s scream alone, whatever is happening really isn’t good. Now throw in the fact that the younger sounded so afraid and you have a really good reason to be messed up. The last thing they were left with was their youngest in pain. There are so many questions and worries that can come from that. It’s panic-inducing.

During one of the rare instances where they were actually told before the boys suddenly left, Minhyung told them that Jaemin’s anxiety was going through the roof again and he had to be taken home. That was when they could tell just by looking at the four they can tell that those types of situations are becoming a regular thing for them all. Those four are going through a lot and it seems like it’s hitting them harder than before. That phone call really shook them up.

They genuinely wish they could do more for the four. They can only imagine what type of thoughts and emotions are going through them. This is different than just thinking someone close to you is missing. This is even different from them being just kidnapped. This is they’re being held against their will and harmed, tortured even. Thinking about that and not being able to do anything must feel absolutely horrible. Those boys shouldn’t have to go through that, no one should. As heroes, they’re main want is to help people and make things better for them. They became heroes to help those who need it but yet there are seven suffering boys that they just can’t seem to help properly. Now that doesn’t make them feel good.

The only thing they can do is continue to try and help to find the missing three as soon as possible. Three weeks have gone by already and the three are still gone. They’ll be damned if they let another week go by. If they’re being honest, they don’t know if the four can go another week of this. Mentally, physically, and emotionally, those boys are going through it. If it becomes a month that they are missing their three other members then they don’t know what the four will do. They went two years of guilt over Minhyung being missing but at least they could fool themselves into believing that he was safe somewhere. These four can’t even do that. They know that their members are in trouble and in pain. They can’t deceive themselves to believe otherwise. Any more time of this and they may seriously lose it.

But how do they help move this along? They hate to admit it but the person who took the three is seriously on his game. He left practically no evidence behind and seems to know that the boys have extra help. Why else would he tamper with all of the camera feeds if he thought only the four were working on this case? And either he’s talented or he knows someone who is because the fact alone that he can mess with the city’s cameras is major. He really is covering his tracks well. What can they do to help get around that? There’s a way to find those boys but the question now is what is it? How do they find those boys and find them soon?

They can’t help but wonder about the person doing this. Why would he take three of Seoul’s villains? Is it something against the seven personally? Is he some crazy vigilante who thinks he’s doing the city a favor by doing this? How long has he been planning this? Did he really only want three of them or was he aiming for all seven? Honestly, what is he trying to gain from this? 

More importantly, what are they going to do about this? When they find the boys and get the person who did this, what’s going to happen from then? Surely the person will be punished but how? They don’t disagree with the fact that the person belongs behind bars but there’s not much punishment already established for kidnapping villains. Is this person powered? If so, can they put him in a facility? The tricky thing is with all of this, he didn’t harm the city. Honestly, if this was just a regular kidnapping case, they wouldn’t even be on the job; the police would be. He’d be sentenced to jail and that’s the end of that story. But he took three superpowered villains. Kidnapping is kidnapping no matter how you slice it but there’s, unfortunately, a bit more involved in this case. How do you convince the court to sentence a person away for doing something to a group of villains? It doesn’t help that said villains involved attacked the city quite a few times.

That’s another thing they have to think about. What happens to the boys after all of this done? Will they all go back to being villains? Will they give it a break? If they do give it a break, how much leniency can they give them? No matter what, the boys do have to face the consequences of their actions. They can’t let them off the hook just because they stopped doing what they were doing. It wouldn’t work that way for any other villain so it can’t go that way for them. There has to be a punishment of sorts but what will that punishment be? They seem to really hate the facilities so maybe they can avoid having to put them back in there but that doesn’t keep them free from something like going to jail. As much as their hearts go out for the seven, they have to face the repercussions somehow and that alone is going to be one hell of a process.

All in all, they don’t see how this situation will get better anytime soon for anyone.

Ring ring ring ring

Taeyong looks to his ringing phone.

Once again it’s just the eight of them, the four boys having left a bit earlier once again spontaneously. Like they’ve been doing each time the four randomly decide to leave, they just kept on working. The boys will be back eventually. 

Taeyong wasn’t expecting a phone call while working though.

“Hello?” He answers.

“Taeyong, so glad you answered. Are you with the others right now?”

Taeyong pulls the phone away to check the caller ID, confirming that it is indeed Lee Soo-man on the line.

“Yes sir, I am. Would you like me to put the phone on speaker for you?” Taeyong says.

The others around stop what they’re doing and move closer to Taeyong so they can hear better in case he does put the phone on speaker.

“Is it just you eight there?” Soo-man asks.

“Yes, it is,” Taeyong replies.

“Alright, go ahead and put me on speaker. The others need to hear as well,” Soo-man says.

Taeyong goes and puts his phone on speaker so everyone can hear. He’s wondering though why all of a sudden he’s being called. Did something happen?

“You’re on speaker now,” Taeyong says.

“Great. Hello everyone, I hope all is going well for you. I’m sorry to call so unexpectedly but something came up and it appears I’ll need your help, if you don’t mind.”

So something did happen. It must be serious if he’s calling them to help. He may be their legal supporter but it’s not often that he asks them for help. Check in with them? Yes. Ask them for help? No. That being said, when he does ask, they’re always willing to lend a hand. Again, they owe him a lot so helping out isn’t really anything big to them.

“Okay, what do you need our help with? Are you alright?” Taeyong asks.

“I’m safe and nothing seems to be in too much risk so so far everything is okay. It’s quite a difficult situation to explain over the phone though. Are you all able to come to a location that I send you? Time is of the essence at this moment so the sooner the better.”

Taeyong looks to his team, silently asking if that’s okay with everyone. They all nod. They don’t see why not. By the sound of it, it seems pretty important.

“You can go ahead and send the address then. We’ll be there as soon as possible,” Taeyong says.

“Thank you, I knew I can count on you boys. I’ll send you the address now. Make sure it’s just you eight though. I know you’ve been helping Minhyung and his group as of late but this a rather personal matter for a lack of a better expression. I’d like as few interferences as possible.”

It’s a bit strange that he would even say that—they weren’t even thinking about bringing the boys along—but they guess he’s just worried about whatever he’s going through at the moment. Besides, they can understand if not everyone is comfortable with having four threatening villains around them.

“Alright, that’s not a problem,” Taeyong replies.

“Great, thank you boys once again. See you soon.”

And with that, he hangs up the phone, leaving Taeyong to wonder to himself what was that about. He doesn’t think about it for long though because almost immediately, he receives a text message with the address they’re supposed to go to. 

“It looks like we’re taking a trip going out of the city,” Taeyong says to the others.

“I wonder what could be going on for him to ask us to come so suddenly. Didn’t he say he was out of the city doing some work? What could have happened while he was working?” Jaehyun says.

“The better question is what could have happened that would require us to come?” Ten says.

Whatever it is is obviously serious in some way though so they won’t question it too much. They’ll see when they get there.

“What if the boys come back while we’re gone? We don’t know how long we’ll be gone,” Sicheng says.

It’s not like the boys run on a schedule you know.

“I’m sure they’ll just continue from wherever they left off at. They don’t really need us to be here with them so it should be all alright,” Johnny replies.

“And it isn’t like they’ll go looking for us so that’s another thing,” Yuta adds.

It’s also better that they leave before the boys come back so they won’t have to worry about raising any suspicions. If they can get going now then they can get back sooner with little to no issues.

“Let’s get going then. The sooner we go, the sooner we find out what’s going on,” Doyoung says.

They get up and head out, wasting no time. They were already suited up so it’s not like they had to do much. It’s been a while since they’ve spontaneously left the city but they are always prepared to do so. It’s nothing they aren’t too unfamiliar with.

They get into two separate cars, Johnny driving one and Jaehyun driving the other. Taeyong rides with Jaehyun and the plan is for Johnny to follow behind them but Taeyong also gives him the address just in case anything happens.

It’s a long drive to the location that they were sent. When it was said that they were going out of the city, it really meant out of the city. The location almost seems in the middle of nowhere. What business could anyone possibly have all the way out here, they aren’t too sure but they never really understood the business scene anyway so they won’t focus on it too much.

It takes them about an hour to reach the sent location, which may they say seems more appropriate for a business setting. It seems like one of those remote office buildings that does lab testing or something. They know that R.O. locations are a common thing—not everything can happen in the middle of the city—so they feel a bit more comfortable about all of this. They can understand the type of work someone would have to do out here after dealing with Lee Soo-man for all of these years.

From the outside, everything seems okay so whatever problem that is going on must be happening on the inside.

They decide not to waste any more time outside and head inside to see what’s going on. 

The first thing they notice when they enter is that the place seems empty for as far as they can see; a strange thing for an office building in the middle of the workweek. Where is everyone?

“Oh good, you all are here.”

They turn to see Mr. Lee approaching them in the empty lobby. From the first looks, he doesn’t look injured or anything, so he must have been right about him being physically alright.

They all bow respectfully to him.

“Hello. We hope we didn’t take too long,” Taeyong says.

“No, you’re just in time. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I know you all have been busy lately so I’m grateful that you could spare me some of your time,” Mr. Lee responds.

“It’s no problem at all, we’re glad to be of assistance,” Johnny says.

Mr. Lee gratefully nods and then starts to walk. They follow behind him, taking in everything around them and remaining alert. The further they walk into the building, the more the lack of people starts to disturb them.

“Mr. Lee, if you don’t mind me asking, where is everyone?” Jungwoo asks.

Mr. Lee doesn’t turn around to look at him but he does make a sound in acknowledgment of the question.

“Oh, I sent everyone home in light of the situation. It was so no one else gets involved,” he replies.

The heroes all look at each other. It must be serious then if he sent everyone home. Now they’re really getting mixed signals here. One minute the situation doesn’t seem that bad and the next it seems really serious.

“Are you sure everything is okay? How bad is this situation really?” Yuta asks, unsure of how they are supposed to take this.

“None of us are in any harm, you do not have to worry about that. Just continue to follow me and I’ll show you, then I’ll explain everything,” Mr. Lee responds.

The answer doesn’t do much to ease their worry but they decide to keep following along. Clearly they just have to see whatever it is and then ask questions. Whatever is going on is bound to be explained soon they just have to wait a bit longer until they can get their answers.

So they all continue to follow behind Mr. Lee, choosing not to ask any more of their questions but staying wide alert to everything.

They take the elevator down—which only adds to their curiosity—to what seems to be the basement. It looks like an abandoned old lab, a first model compared to the ones that are most likely upstairs in this building.

What could possibly be down here?

As they walk further into the dreary area, they pass tables with different mechanical parts and tools.

“A few of my workers love to work down here. They say they can create better with fewer people around,” Mr. Lee says in passing as he notices them staring at the items.

They nod in acknowledgment but don’t say anything in response. They’ll just take his word for it since they don’t really understand how anyone would like to work in this dungeon-like place.

Mr. Lee leads them to a big door that has a keypad lock. He types in the code and the door opens silently. The heroes peek in the room and are not comforted by the feeling that room gives. It’s dark and from here it feels cold.

“Come on, this way,” Mr. Lee says.

They all walk into the silent room, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling they have. They’re heroes, they’ve been in more uncomfortable situations. They’re here to help so that’s what they should focus on.

“Alright, we’re here. Look straight ahead,” Mr. Lee says.

They look straight but they don’t see anything. They notice him putting in another code so they figure they have to wait a minute.

They’re correct because the wall in front of them starts to move once he finishes entering the code.

Each and every one of them stop breathing the second the wall completely moves and shows what is behind it.

It’s terrible. Horrible. Nauseating. Horrifying. Distressing. Appalling.

It’s Park Jisung, Zhong Chenle, and Lee Donghyuck looking absolutely dreadful locked in a cell that has blood everywhere.

Donghyuck is completely unconscious and as pale as a ghost, something so different than his normal sun-kissed complexion. They can’t even see his chest rising up and down, making it very easy to fear the worst. His right hand is the only part of him with some color, skin burned horribly down to his wrist.

Chenle is on his side, blood dripping from his mouth as his body shakes here and there. There’s blood pooling on the side of his face, staining his hair and pale skin. He’s conscious but unalert of what’s going on around him. His skin is red and black under the collar on his neck, the veins there looking a deathly color.

And Jisung. Poor poor Jisung. He’s the only one fully alert. Panic and fear are in his eyes as he sits protectively in front of the other two the best he can. His skin is marred with multiple bruises of all sizes that are extreme colors. His left cheek is swollen while his right eye is blackened. His body shakes in what they assume is fear. His hair is everywhere, blood and dirt coloring it.

The three look absolutely awful.

“What the hell?!” Jaehyun exclaims.

None of them can take their eyes off of the three boys locked away in front of them. They’re going to be sick from this sight.

“Mr. Lee, what in the world is going on right now? Why are they here and what happened to them?” Taeyong says, attempting to stay calm, forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the three and to look at the older man.

To his disturbance, Mr. Lee doesn’t even seem troubled in the slightest.

“Ah, such a hassle these boys are. They cause a lot of trouble even when you try to help them; they’re very stubborn. I called you because I was hoping you all could do something to convince them to be more cooperative. That one unconscious will probably die soon from whatever is wrong with him if they don’t start cooperating soon,” Mr. Lee replies.

As if to prove his point, he walks closer to the cell, causing Jisung to become tenser instantly.

“S-s-stay away. Stay away from us,” he stutters out, holding his arms out to block Chenle and Donghyuck behind him.

Mr. Lee gestures to him so as to say ‘see what I mean’ to the heroes.

“Mr. Lee, you have to explain all of this now. What is going on? Why are they here?” Doyoung says slowly, trying to wrap his mind around the questions alone.

The older man looks at them casually as if all of this was nothing to be alarmed about.

“They’re here to be reformed. It’s very simple, anyone can change their ways if you condition them enough. These boys are extremely difficult though. All they do is fight and talk back and then that one there destroyed my building after I was so kind as to keep them in the city. I’m not too surprised really that force is taking a while to reach them; they’ve been in the facilities for over a year and that couldn’t beat it out of them so I knew their pain tolerance was high. I just thought that this program would help condition them faster,” he says as if he’s explaining something at a business meeting.

“Wait wait wait, what do you mean by reform? Are you trying to force them into being heroes? Are you the one who kidnapped them?” Johnny says incredulously.

This is getting more and more out of hand the longer they stand here. What the absolute hell is going on? This can’t actually be happening right now, can it? Did Lee Soo-man, a man they’ve known for many years, actually kidnap three boys just to force them to change their ways?

“I had interns do that part for me. It took a few of them to make sure they could bring the three where I needed them to be before they woke up. You’d be interested in the things my workers can create. The drones are very useful in watching them and keeping them unconscious. I just administer the actual regimen,” he replies.

“That doesn’t answer the question. Are you trying to force these boys into being heroes?” Yuta says.

Mr. Lee gives him a slightly interested look at the almost pointed tone in his voice but never loses his professionalism.

“Well, if that’s how you want to see it as, then yes I am,” he responds.

God, this just gets worse and worse by the second.

“ Why ?” Sicheng asks, disturbed expression written very clearly on his face.

“Because it’ll bring me more money,” Mr. Lee says plainly.

And now they’re completely lost and thoroughly distressed. Did he just give a reason that involves money ? Money of all things? Please tell them that he’s joking.

Mr. Lee, noticing their expressions, decide to continue explaining.

“Come now, you all are smart, you can understand. Think about it, those seven boys have been the biggest threat NCT has faced in a long time. The fact that you have yet to defeat them and that Minhyung of all people is leading them makes you look very bad. As the person whose name is on your records, I lose money every time you all look bad. Now, if NCT was somehow able to get their biggest threats to stop attacking the city and or become heroes, well the public will love you forever,” he explains as if it was simple math.

“You’re telling us that you kidnapped three boys so you can attempt to make them into heroes so you can get more money off of our publicity?” Ten says disbelievingly, as if he heard the most outrageous thing ever.

Maybe he just did.

“Oh, don’t seem so surprised. Did you not understand that this is how the hero system works? The person who vouches for you is tied to you. Think of it like an idol and their company. The more popular the idol is, the money the company makes. The more liked you are by the public, the more money I make and the better my name looks. Minhyung going missing put a dent in my reputation but you all worked hard and ended up making up for that. But him becoming a villain really started to ruin things. I couldn’t let seven little boys ruin everything I worked hard for so I decided I’ll lend a helping hand to you all. And it’s been working. The public loves you more and more since you are the kind heroes who took into consideration villains’ backstories and used it to fix the system. Not to mention right after that interview explaining all of that, the seven suddenly stop attacking the city. Coincidence? The public doesn’t think so. Now imagine how it would be if those very villains became heroes, especially Minhyung. No one would ever doubt NCT again,” Mr. Lee says.

The realization of how everything has been falling into a certain place hits them. By them trying to fix the system, they seemed more merciful and thoughtful to everyone. That very day where the were interviewed, the seven boys stopped attacking the city. With three missing and four looking relentlessly for them, no villain attacks have been made on the city. The timing makes it line up perfectly so as to seem that their actions have something to do with that.

“We didn’t sign up to be heroes so you could make money,” Jungwoo says.

“Oh but everything in this world is tied to money, my dear boy. You all can still fulfill your dreams and be great heroes but no matter what, money goes on in the background. Just think of me as a manager of sorts. Besides, I’m helping you out; taking away one more villain for you and helping you stay on the public’s good side,” Mr. Lee responds.

This is sickening. Those boys had to suffer for three weeks just so this man could make some money. And they unknowingly helped further this man’s agenda all of this time.

“This isn’t about good publicity. You kidnapped and... tortured three young people. And for what? Money?” Ten says.

Mr. Lee still doesn’t seem bothered though. In fact, he seems completely unphased by the entire situation and looks at them as if they were overreacting.

“I’m doing everyone a favor by reforming these boys. Minhyung almost killed you all when it was first revealed about who he was. These boys cost the city thousands of won in damage. It’s great that NCT is so merciful and never fights back—that sells very well to the people too—but more can be done to make sure that you all are seen as even better heroes. Why only be the best in Seoul when people everywhere in Korea can love and trust you? You all are just not understanding that because you’ve been with those four for too long. Their sentimentality for these three just rubbed off on you. Once these boys are no longer villains and everyone feels safer then you’ll see that this was the right thing,” he says.

It almost sounds like a parent brushing off their child’s concern, saying that they’ll understand when they get older.

But that’s not the case. Yes those boys have caused a lot of issues but this is not the right way and it will never be the right way. Torture is no way to turn someone into a hero. If anything, that just gives them more reason to hate heroes.

“No, this isn’t right. You can’t force someone to be a hero. That will only cause more damage," Jaehyun says.

“But isn’t that what you all have been doing trying to ‘convince’ Minhyung that he isn’t a villain? Forcing someone with your words and forcing someone with your actions are both still forcing someone. This way is just ensuring that they’re conditioned right this time. Every time they do something bad, they get punished. They won’t do an evil act again. You helping the other four helped give them a reason to trust you and after you find their newly reformed members, they’ll come around to see that if they want to get something, this is the side to get it. Everyone is happy. The boys keep each other, you all would have done your hero duties and keep them from being villains, my reputation and profit are saved, and the city is protected. How could this not be right?” Mr. Lee responds.

How could this not be right? He TORTURED three people! That’s how this isn’t right. Them trying to talk to the boys and convince them to not be villains does not match up to physically torturing them. 

“We’re trying to help them, not hurt them!” Doyoung exclaims.

“Yes, and that’s why you put them in maximum security for two-plus years where they were conditioned there as well. It’s a fact of life boys, the only way to handle dangerous people is by using force. You emotionally conditioning them is similar to a physical conditioning. We’re on the same side here, you don’t have to be so tense. I promise you that they will be okay and everything will work out. When have I ever steered you all wrong? Haven’t I been there for you since the literal formation of your group? I always do what’s best for NCT,” Mr. Lee replies.

It’s true, he has always been there for them and always gave them the best advice when they needed it. Without Lee Soo-man there would be no NCT. He started them off and helped keep them going. He seemed to always have their best interest in mind. They know all of that.

But no matter what, he is wrong now.

“The facilities are different. Those are legal places to help detain and reform people just like prisons do. We’re sorry but this is not right. What you are doing is inhumane and illegal. We will be arresting you for this and you will have to face the punishment for your actions. If you cooperate now, maybe the judge will find reason to be a bit more lenient with you,” Taeyong says.

Mr. Lee looks surprised for a moment. He clearly was not expecting that. But then, to the heroes' surprise, he starts to chuckle.

“You boys are so heroic, I knew it was a good investment to back you all. Have you considered though that if money runs the hero system then money also runs the court system, hmm? But if it eases everyone’s conscience, I can do the whole trial thing. Think carefully now though, who’s really going to give me a punishment without bail for hurting a few villains? They’ll sentence a few years and I’ll just post bail, and that’s if they even find me guilty. And don’t forget, if the person who vouched for you is ever viewed as corrupted, how does that make you all look? You could be risking your reputation here for a couple of boys who would kill you anyway if they could. You all do realize this whole process really would be pointless, right? I’ll go along with whatever you decide though if it makes you feel better,” he says as if he’s doing them a favor.

They don’t like it but they do have to acknowledge what he’s saying. Would a judge really sentence him for hurting villains? If he says he was trying to fix them then that would help his case and not theirs. If he is sentenced, he obviously has enough money to post bail of any amount. And let’s say by some good fortune, he does go to jail, how would that affect the system? If the public finds out about how the hero system runs, will they trust heroes anymore? Will the government trust them anymore if it’s revealed that Lee Soo-man was up to no good? Would the government even see it as he was in the wrong? If this is really how the hero system works then that means officials are most likely used to this stuff. Are they really fighting a pointless battle?

There’s way too much to consider here and there doesn’t seem to be a clear path to justice.

“Even if the process does turn out to be pointless, we still have to take the right steps to correct what you’ve done. You deserve a punishment—whether it’s publicly or privately—no matter who you are or how much money you have. We’ve known you for many years and we know where some of your intentions lie which is why we are willing to take the time and find ways to make sure justice is served but either way, you will face the consequences,” Taeyong responds.

They will find a way to deal with this even though they were nowhere near prepared for this. If not because that is the right thing to do then because those boys deserve to have justice for what has been done to them. They have to do at least one thing to help these boys.

Mr. Lee raises his hands in willing acceptance.

“Alright, if you say so. I hope you boys come to your senses soon and realize that this really would have benefited everyone,” he says.

At least he’s being cooperative. They can figure out what to do easier if he doesn’t try to go against them with this. There has to be a solution to all of this, they just have to take the time and find it.

Right as they’re about to speak though, a wheezing sound fills the air followed by a panicked shout.

They turn to see Chenle shaking and spitting up more blood. The area around his neck is changing colors and the veins look even more stressed. Jisung is hovering over him, calling his name repeatedly so as to keep the older conscious and somewhat alert.

“The restraint is just drawing blood again, that’s normal. We had to modify it so it wouldn’t break this time,” Mr. Lee says casually.

It’s no casual thing though. The sight is horrifying to see. It almost looks like Chenle was being possessed by something or dying right there. Jisung’s panicked shouts are heartbreaking, his voice trembling with each time he speaks. There is nothing normal about this situation.

Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, the world proves them wrong.

The few lights that are actually in this room begin to flicker, growing bright before going soft only to repeat again and again. Small things around them such as loose parts, dust, and the likes begin to rise in the air, barely visible when the lights flicker off. 

The signs aren’t good. Even Mr. Lee can pick up what this could mean and that amused professionalism falls completely off of his face. 

A loud, rough, animalistic growl cuts through the air followed by a deadly hiss, confirming what they were praying not to be the case.

They all turn and at that very moment, it’s as if the whole world stopped.

Standing there behind them is none other than the remaining four boys, staring at their locked up members and they do not look happy.

“How dare you.”

Chapter Text

“They’re leaving,” Jaemin says, watching the two cars drive away.

The four of them have been watching, waiting as always to see if the heroes ever do anything while they are “gone”. Jisung told them to follow the heroes so all they had to do was give the eight a chance to be free to go and then they can see where it leads them. Cameras and bugs are all over inside so they can always hear what the heroes talk about when they’re not there and they keep strict watch just in case the eight ever leave.

“Lucas, you think we can follow them without being noticed?” Renjun asks over the phone.

The four of them are currently in a car with Xiaojun and his friend YangYang while Lucas is nearby in another car with Hendery. 

What they have been doing as of late is every time they “go home”, they meet up with Lucas and his friends and monitor things from there. Lucas and Xiaojun offered a long time ago to help find the others and have been doing their own side work while everything has been going on. After that warning from Kun, they got YangYang and Hendery to join in so they can have more hands on the job with people they’re willing to trust. 

They all have been working in the cars up until Jaemin spotted the heroes leaving.

“If YangYang is driving then you guys are in the clear. We’ll follow behind you,” Lucas replies.

“You may not have to. I got the address of where they’re going. I’ll send it to you and you guys can take a different way so we can cover all grounds,” Mark says, looking up from his laptop.

It wasn’t hard to get into Taeyong’s phone fortunately so it was easy to get the location that was mentioned on that call. He sends the location to Lucas’ phone before closing up his laptop. 

“Let’s get going then. We don’t want them getting too far ahead. We’ll meet you guys there,” YangYang says.

They buckle up and YangYang drives off, not wasting any more time.

Maybe this was what they were waiting for. Maybe this is the day they finally find their three friends and bring them back home. God, they hope it is.

The drive to the location is long and anxious. It looks like they’re going to the middle of nowhere which would make sense if this is where their friends are. Jisung did say they weren’t in the city anymore.

“Hey Mark, do you know who that person they were talking to was?” Jeno asks.

“Not really. When I was with them, I remember hearing that name a lot but I was never told who it was. They said something about how the baby of the group shouldn’t have to worry about the politics in the world unnecessarily so I never found out who was calling. He apparently knows my old name so I think it’s the same guy that I never knew. He must be important though if he still calls them,” Mark replies.

Whoever this Mr. Lee is, he has something to do with this situation some way, somehow. They’re going to figure out something today, they just have to.

They reach the location in an hour and some change. 

“We’ll go in and see what’s going on. We’ll contact you if anything,” Mark says, tapping the earpiece he put in his ear.

“No problem. We’ll be here waiting and ready,” Xiaojun says.

With that, Mark and the others go in the building, watching everything in their surroundings.

“An empty building in the middle of the week? Yeah, something is definitely going on here,” Renjun says, noticing how empty the place is.

Since it’s so empty, they have to be extra careful so as not to get caught. Something is up here and they have to find out what.

“Where do you think they went?” Jaemin asks.

“My guess is somewhere below. That’s where most of the stuff ends up happening,” Jeno says.

“Well then, let’s take the elevator down and see what we can find out,” Mark says.

And that’s what they do. They take the elevator down to the basement, taking notice of everything around them. 

When they get to the dark basement, the gears in their minds start turning.

“Didn’t Jisung say they were in some old lab of sorts?” Jaemin whispers.

The mechanical pieces on the tables also look pretty familiar if they’re being honest. A dark basement lab with strange pieces lying around in a completely empty building? Things are adding up and the answer doesn’t seem positive.

“I hear voices ahead,” Jeno whispers in return.

He points forward and they silently agree to go ahead and see what’s up there.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Mark whispers, mainly to himself.

But the others heard him and they agree completely with him. They’re not getting a good vibe from all of this in the slightest.

The closer they get, the louder the voices become.

“-the more liked you are by the public, the more money I make and the better my name looks. Minhyung going missing put a dent in my reputation but you all worked hard and ended up making up for that. But him becoming a villain really started to ruin things. I couldn’t let seven little boys ruin everything I worked hard for so I decided I’ll lend a helping hand to you all. And it’s been working. The public loves you more and more since you are the kind heroes who took into consideration villains’ backstories and used it to fix the system. Not to mention right after that interview explaining all of that, the seven suddenly stop attacking the city. Coincidence? The public doesn’t think so. Now imagine how it would be if those very villains became heroes, especially Minhyung. No one would ever doubt NCT again.”

They perk up at the sound of Mark’s old name. 

That voice sounds like the person that was on the phone. What are they talking about in there? And them becoming heroes? That’s extremely unlikely. What’s this about making money and a better reputation?

Mark signals for them all to wait right here so they can try to find out more since they came in the middle of a conversation. They can’t see anything but they can hear clearly without getting caught so this is a good place to stay for right now.

“We didn’t sign up to be heroes so you could make money,” Jungwoo says.

“Oh but everything in this world is tied to money, my dear boy. You all can still fulfill your dreams and be great heroes but no matter what, money goes on in the background. Just think of me as a manager of sorts. Besides, I’m helping you out; taking away one more villain for you and helping you stay on the public’s good side,” the man, Lee, responds.

A manager? Is that’s what all of that meant? Is he saying that he gets paid for NCT being liked heroes? And what does he mean by taking away one more villain? Is that what he was referring to when he said they stopped right after the interview? Does it look like they aren’t villains anymore because they have been inactive?

“This isn’t about good publicity. You kidnapped and... tortured three young people. And for what? Money?” Ten says.

At that they all freeze.

Kidnapped and tortured three young people. Three people. Oh god, does he mean…

Mark shakes his head no strongly when the other three try to move from their spots and go in that room. 

“Not yet,” he whispers shakily.

They have to hear this entire conversation or else they’ll never know anything. They need the pieces to come together properly.

Surprisingly, the three listen and stay in their spots. They also know that it’s probably for the best to listen to everything so they fully understand.

But just because all four of them are waiting doesn’t mean they’re calm. A storm is brewing inside of them and it’s not only anxiety now. A lot more emotions, a lot more energy is swirling inside of them and they don't know how much longer they’ll last.

“I’m doing everyone a favor by reforming these boys. Minhyung almost killed you all when it was first revealed about who he was. These boys cost the city thousands of won in damage. It’s great that NCT is so merciful and never fights back—that sells very well to the people too—but more can be done to make sure that you all are seen as even better heroes. Why only be the best in Seoul when people everywhere in Korea can love and trust you? You all are just not understanding that because you’ve been with those four for too long. Their sentimentality for these three just rubbed off on you. Once these boys are no longer villains and everyone feels safer then you’ll see that this was the right thing,” he says .

It’s extremely clear now that this man does indeed have their three friends. After all of this time, they finally found the person who has their other members. He’s in the next room. He’s right there, they finally got him.

The familiar feeling of betrayal courses through Mark’s veins. Those heroes knew of this man for so long. Why didn’t they question him? Why did they immediately go to his call for help without even interrogating him? Why aren’t they doing anything! They just said he kidnapped and TORTURED three people but yet all they’re doing is talking to him?! They said they wanted to help them no matter what so do something!

“No, this isn’t right. You can’t force someone to be a hero. That will only cause more damage,"   Jaehyun says .

“But isn’t that what you all have been doing trying to ‘convince’ Minhyung that he isn’t a villain? Forcing someone with your words and forcing someone with your actions are both still forcing someone. This way is just ensuring that they’re conditioned right this time. Every time they do something bad, they get punished. They won’t do an evil act again. You helping the other four helped give them a reason to trust you and after you find their newly reformed members, they’ll come around to see that if they want to get something, this is the side to get it. Everyone is happy. The boys keep each other, you all would have done your hero duties and keep them from being villains, my reputation and profit are saved, and the city is protected. How could this not be right?” Lee replies.

Punished? Is that man saying that he’s been physically harming them every time he felt they did something bad? He’s trying to beat them into being good and for what? To make NCT look better so he can get some money. And they’ve been foolishly a part of his plan. While their friends get tortured in an attempt to be made good, they’ve been stupidly following a bunch of heroes around and letting them help. 

“We’re trying to help them, not hurt them!” Doyoung exclaims.

Help them? They’re trying to help them?! They hid something so crucial from them all this time! They didn’t even think to mention this person who apparently is tied to them. And now, now that they’ve found the person who did this to them, all those heroes want to do is TALK about the situation?! All they did was hurt them! Each and every time they tried to “help” them, all they’ve done is cause more pain and trouble! They aren’t helping!

“Yes, and that’s why you put them in maximum security for two-plus years where they were conditioned there as well. It’s a fact of life boys, the only way to handle dangerous people is by using force. You emotionally conditioning them is similar to a physical conditioning. We’re on the same side here, you don’t have to be so tense. I promise you that they will be okay and everything will work out. When have I ever steered you all wrong? Haven’t I been there for you since the literal formation of your group? I always do what’s best for NCT,” Lee replies.

“The facilities are different. Those are legal places to help detain and reform people just like prisons do. We’re sorry but this is not right. What you are doing is inhumane and illegal. We will be arresting you for this and you will have to face the punishment for your actions. If you cooperate now, maybe the judge will find reason to be a bit more lenient with you,” Taeyong says.

A judge?! They’re going to put this man on trial after all of this?! First, they defend those facilities still even though they’ve been told that those places harm people. Someone please explain what’s the difference between legal torture and illegal torture? It’s okay to beat someone into being good as long as it’s in a legal building? But if they force themselves to push that aside, you mean to tell them that these no good heroes are going to send this man who kidnapped and tortured their friends to trial and tell him he may get leniency?!

They’re so caught up in listening that they don’t realize themselves slipping into their rage like they probably should have. None of them notice the lights in the room they’re in progressively getting brighter before slowly dying out again and Jaemin doesn’t realize the sparks starting to dance on his skin. They don’t realize the change in posture Jeno starts to have, becoming more predatory, and he doesn’t realize that his thoughts are becoming made up of fewer words and more growls and sounds. They don’t realize the items on the tables starting to shake and slide and Mark doesn’t realize that his fists are tightly clenched. They don’t realize the narrowing of Renjun’s pupils and he doesn’t realize that his fangs are slowly beginning to poke him.

The signs of them losing themselves to their rage goes completely unnoticed as they continue to listen on.

“You boys are so heroic, I knew it was a good investment to back you all. Have you considered though that if money runs the hero system then money also runs the court system, hmm? But if it eases everyone’s conscience, I can do the whole trial thing. Think carefully now though, who’s really going to give me a punishment without bail for hurting a few villains? They’ll sentence a few years and I’ll just post bail, and that’s if they even find me guilty. And don’t forget, if the person who vouched for you is ever viewed as corrupted, how does that make you all look? You could be risking your reputation here for a couple of boys who would kill you anyway if they could. You all do realize this whole process really would be pointless, right? I’ll go along with whatever you decide though if it makes you feel better,” he says as if he’s doing them a favor.

“Even if the process does turn out to be pointless, we still have to take the right steps to correct what you’ve done. You deserve a punishment—whether it’s publicly or privately—no matter who you are or how much money you have. We’ve known you for many years and we know where some of your intentions lie which is why we are willing to take the time and find ways to make sure justice is served but either way, you will face the consequences,” Taeyong responds.

So they’re acknowledging that the justice system has its flaws but they’re still going to send that bastard to court when he deserves nothing but pain for what he’s done? He deserves to feel the pain he caused their friends. He deserves to suffer but yet they’re giving him the easy way out.

“Alright, if you say so. I hope you boys come to your senses soon and realize that this really would have benefited everyone,” he says.

Before anyone responds to that, a wheezing sound fills the air followed by a panicked shout, catching the four boys' attention completely.

“The restraint is just drawing blood again, that’s normal. We had to modify it so it wouldn’t break this time,” Lee says casually.

They can’t stop themselves from looking in the room at that. They’ve heard enough. They know Jisung’s shouting from anywhere.

The sight ruins them.

Chenle is shaking on the floor and spitting up blood. There’s a restraint around his neck, the area around it is changing colors and the veins look stressed. He’s literally laying in a pool of blood, tainting his hair and skin as he convulses.

Jisung is hovering over him, calling his name repeatedly for the older to remain conscious and somewhat alert. There are bruises all over his body and he looks utterly terrified. He’s dirty, covered in dried blood and dirt. The bruises are the only thing on him that look bright.

Donghyuck is behind Chenle on the ground, unconscious and deathly pale. Dark bags are under his eyes, his cheeks look sunken in, and his hair looks frail and stringy. His right hand is burned terribly, the only part of him that has some color.

It’s an absolutely horrifying sight.

It makes them snap.

The lights everywhere flicker on and off more aggressively. Things in both rooms start to rise slowly.

Jeno growls loudly at the same time Renjun hisses, causing everyone in that room to turn toward them with shocked expressions.

“How dare you.”

Mark makes direct eye contact with Taeyong as he speaks. His voice is tight in anger and his body is shaking in rage.

He’s the one, though, who is probably the closest to not being swallowed in rage, allowing him the ability to speak.

Jeno has completely lost it, once again in a feral state. His mind tells him to protect his pack and destroy the ones who hurt them. All human instincts he has are pushed back and locked away, the animal in him taking full control. The only thing holding him back from attacking everyone he views as a threat to him and his family is Renjun’s hand wrapped tightly around his wrist. He knows his family. The last remaining human thought in his mind is Mark’s last statement to them: not yet. Those words along with Renjun’s grip is the one thing keeping him down. For now.

Renjun—though knowing to hold a wild Jeno back at the moment—stares at the person responsible for all of this, pupils slit and fangs practically dripping poison. He wants to wrap his hands around the man’s throat and squeeze until with all his strength before injecting his poison directly into the bastard’s veins. He wants that man to change colors just as how Chenle did with that damn restraint on his neck.

Jaemin is electrified. Electricity literally jumps around on his skin and the air around him crackles. He can feel the electrical pulse of everything in the room, including the ones in everyone’s chests. His rage deepens as he feels how weak Donghyuck’s own is. He’s never felt his electricity jump around like this and he wants to do nothing but fry every person in this room that is not part of his family.

“Minhyung. How did you get here?” Taeyong asks, trying to not show the worry he has at the sight of the four.

They look completely and utterly dangerous. They’ve lost it.

“Don’t speak to me as if we are on good terms,” Mark hisses, “Do you see those three boys over there? Do you see them? We’ve been looking for those three for weeks—losing sleep, not eating, not drinking, losing our minds—and they’re here, beaten, battered, and tortured, with some man you all knew previously. You hid this from us. You let this happen.”

“That’s not true, we didn’t know he was behind this either. We were genuinely trying to find them. This is going to be fixed. We’ll get them to a hospital and we’ll put him in jail. Everything will get better,” Yuta says.

Jeno tries to snap forward, baring his much sharper teeth at the man in front of them, only to be pulled back by Renjun who is still holding on to him. Despite the younger still being held back, Lee jumps back in fear, not liking the way he’s being stared at so animalistically.

“You can’t fix anything. The system is flawed. There is no justice and there is no heroism. The very concept of a hero is rooted in injustice. You’re just someone else’s puppets to make money. The only way to fix this problem, for us to get justice, is for him to suffer and die,” Mark says.

No emotion crosses his face as he says those words. His voice doesn’t raise and the normal glare he gives them is not there. His face is expressionless and that makes everything scarier. His entire demeanor is just so cold.

“Minhyung, you can’t say things like that,” Johnny starts worriedly, “I know this situation is bad and I can only imagine what you’re feeling seeing them like this but you don’t want to do something that you’ll regret later on.”

“The only thing we’ll regret is leaving him alive . Once again I was an idiot and fooled myself into thinking you guys could be of some help to us. I thought that your naïvety in thinking you could talk us into being less hostile would at least make you want to do everything you could to help but clearly no matter what you all are useless. Fine then, if you can’t do anything then we’ll do it ourselves,” Mark says.

One of Jaemin’s sparks fly out and it gets a centimeter away from striking Lee before a barrier surrounds the older man in protection. Said older man falls back on his butt, a scared shout slipping from his mouth. 

Mark raises an eyebrow at Jaehyun, seeing that he protected the man.

“So a young teen who has a panic attack and didn’t know his powers can get sent to a facility without any questions being asked but a grown man who kidnaps and torture three people gets protected by the city’s heroes? And this is the justice we’re supposed to have faith in?” Mark says.

“We’ve done wrong, yes we’re beginning to realize that, but even then, there are better ways to handle this. Two wrongs won’t make a right. We have to go about this the proper way. We can’t let you guys do this,” Jaehyun responds.

Mark’s expression is still empty but cold as Jaehyun speaks. No anger shows. No fear or panic shows. Nothing that he could possibly be feeling shows. He’s completely unreadable as he opens his mouth to respond.

“You don’t have the power to stop us.”

At those words, Renjun lets go of Jeno and the younger lunges forward, ready to attack Lee and tear him to shreds. 

Yuta acts immediately, teleporting over to the screaming man and getting him out of the way, seconds before Jeno lands at the spot that they were once at. Yuta goes out the door with Mr. Lee and the other eight heroes block the doorway.

“We’re not letting you do this Minhyung. You boys can hate us all you want but we know you don’t want to do this,” Taeyong says.

Mark looks to the ceiling as he puts a hand to his ear.

“The target and the teleporting hero is heading up. If they step outside, fire immediately. That man will not leave this area alive,” Mark says.

“Copy that, we’re armed and ready for them,” Lucas responds.

Sicheng, being a technopath, heard the reply and rushes to speak on his own earpiece.

“Do not leave this building! I repeat do not leave this building. They came with others and they have weapons. We’ll try to keep them here for as long as possible but until you have the clear, do not leave,” he says.

“Understood. I’ll try to find somewhere safe with him for now,” Yuta responds.

Mark doesn’t look amused or put off though. His eyes are still expressionless which is such a difference compared to the electrifying glare of Jaemin, the deadly stare from Renjun, and the beastly aggressive expression of Jeno. All of these boys are livid and serious.

“You two get them out of here and to the cars. They need help immediately. Jaemin, you’re with me. We have a pest to catch,” Mark says.

They all nod and Renjun and Jeno turn to the glass cell the three are in while Mark and Jaemin continue to face the heroes.

“This is your last chance to do something right for us for once and move out of our way,” Mark says.

The statement sounds so final and it makes them worry that they’ll really lose these boys this time like this. But no matter what, they can’t let any of them become a murder. That’s not who they are and their rage is controlling them. They’re not doing this to protect Lee Soo-man. They’re doing this to save these boys.

“We’re sorry but we can’t do that. What you’re trying to do is wrong. Don’t let your rage control you this way. Get your friends and take them to get help. You don’t have to carry out revenge,” Doyoung says.

The boys aren’t having that though.

“Alright then, you’re against us still,” Mark replies.

Jaemin grabs him by the hand and before and of the heroes realize it, the two of them are out of the room. Jaemin literally zipped past them at lightning speed. They didn’t even know he could do that.

Taeyong looks back and forth between the two that disappeared and the two still in the room. Jeno seems to notice and goes in a very protective stance like an alpha guarding his pack. He’s not letting anyone else come near these three.

Taeyong decides to take the loss there and pray they don’t get attacked from behind.

“Find those two and protect Lee Soo-man at all costs. We have to stop this before it goes too far,” he says to his team.

They all rush out of the room, leaving Renjun and Jeno alone with the other three.

“H-hyung?” Jisung finally whimpers out once everyone is gone.

Renjun bends down to his level and puts a hand on the glass separating them.

“I told you we were going to find you guys no matter what. Just a bit more time and you’ll be home,” he says, hoping the rage in his voice was quiet enough not to scare the younger more.

Jisung puts his hand on the glass right where Renjun’s is, almost as if he could hold the elder’s hand.

“A-are they going to do it? W-will they really kill him?” Jisung asks, eyes wide.

“Do you want them to?” Renjun asks.

Jisung turns and looks over to Chenle who is still lying in his own blood, coughing here and there, and Donghyuck who hasn’t moved in who knows how long. Scared tears finally fall from his eyes and his body shakes as he starts to sob heavily.

“Y-yes. I I I want h-h-him gone,” Jisung cries.

Renjun nods at the crying youngest. 

“Then that’s what’s going to happen. Now move back so Jeno can break the glass,” he says.

Jisung does so, tears still falling, and Renjun gives Jeno the okay.

It’s said that humans when in extreme situations can use 100% of their strength because their bodies shut down the pain receptors and adrenaline and survival instincts kick in.

Well, animal-hybrid humans, aka Jeno, on a regular day can use a normal human’s 100%. So when it’s an emergency and his animal instincts kick in completely, his 100% is unthinkable and no thought of pain will ever stop him from using it.

He rams his body into the glass over and over until it finally shatters. 

Immediately, he goes over to Jisung, not caring about any pain his body could be feeling since his instincts are only telling him to soothe their youngest. He tries to wipe away the never-ending tears coming from Jisung’s eyes, making soft whimpers in an attempt to comfort.

“Come on, let’s go. You all need some medical attention. Jeno, help me put Lele on my back and then you can carry Hyuck,” Renjun says.

Jeno parts from Jisung and goes over to Chenle. He carefully lifts the younger up and sets him on Renjun’s back, wrapping Chenle’s arms around Renjun’s neck as Renjun wrap Chenle’s legs around his waist. 

When Chenle is secured, Jeno goes over to Donghyuck and gently lifts him up. The coldness from the younger’s body worries him greatly so he shifts Donghyuck around until he’s in the bridal style position and then pulls him closer to his chest to share his heat.

Jisung stands up on weak legs and almost falls if it wasn’t for Renjun grabbing his hand with one of his.

“You can hold my hand as we walk. Don’t worry, I can carry him with one arm,” Renjun says.

Jisung silently nods, still crying, and holds on to Renjun’s hand for dear life.

They’re finally getting out of here.

~~~

Jaemin and Mark go down the hallways, scanning and searching for any sign of Yuta and that twisted man. 

“There’s only so many times Yuta can teleport with a person. He’s bound to stop soon,” Mark says.

As they walk down the hallways, lights flicker uncontrollably, Jaemin’s power in full force.

“I’m going to fry that hero for getting in our way,” Jaemin says.

Mark looks down to his hand where he can still slightly feel the zap that Jaemin holding his hand gave. The amount of voltage running through the younger right now is no joke. He can and will incapacitate someone with a single strike.

“This time, we get what we want,” Mark replies.

This time, they will succeed no matter what.

They continue running down the hallway, ready and waiting to attack. It’s Jaemin who catches sight of two figures first. He points ahead and Mark turns to see Yuta pulling that man along as quickly as he can. By the way Yuta is running, he’s reached his limits of teleports.

Jaemin fires a bolt at Yuta, shocking the older and sending him down with a loud shout.

Lee turns around to see the two approaching and tries to run away, leaving Yuta on his own. 

Mark isn’t letting him get away that easily though.

He pulls Lee back using his powers, watching as he tries to break free from the invisible hold.

“Abandoning the person trying to save you. You know nothing of decency do you?” Mark says, bringing the man to him.

“No, no please. Minhyung please don’t hurt me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” Lee begs.

The plea falls on deaf ears though. No amount of begging will save this man.

Luck is on Lee’s side though because something hits Mark back hard, causing him to lose focus and drop the man. Mr. Lee scurries up and starts to run away again. 

Mark tries to catch him again, ignoring the blast of ice that hit his back, but he’s stopped by a barrier surrounding him. He turns around and sees Jaemin floating in the air by Taeyong’s zero gravity power. Johnny, Doyoung, and Ten run past him to catch up with Mr. Lee while Jungwoo and Sicheng go over to Yuta to help him up.

“Let me out of here,” Mark says, glaring at Jaehyun.

“No, we told you we can’t let you do this. We’re doing this for your own good,” Jaehyun responds.

Mark continues to glare at him before looking up to Jaemin. The two make eye contact and Mark gives Jaemin an approving look. Jaemin gladly gets the message.

He shoots out electricity from all of his fingertips and shocks the heroes to the ground, causing Jaehyun’s barrier to fall and Taeyong’s zero gravity to release. Mark catches Jaemin from falling to his death and the two run off again, determined to catch up with their target.

Which they do.

They get in the general proximity of Lee and the three heroes and this time they’re done playing games. No more will they allow the heroes to stop them in any way.

Mark grabs ahold of Johnny and Ten with his power, pulling them back harshly and slamming them into the ground. Jaemin shocks Doyoung—since his power can go on the offensive—bringing the elder down.

“And to make sure no one else tries to interfere…” Jaemin says.

He takes out the cool new invention Xiaojun made for him and sticks one end on one wall and the other on the other side. Instantly, it expands and becomes a large wire wall, blocking the pathway. And for extra measures, he shoots lightning at it, electrifying it completely.

“Allow me to do it?” Mark says to him.

Jaemin nods.

“He’s all yours. I think your way would be better than just electrocuting him,” he says.

Mark stops the scared running man once again and pulls him back.

“Minhyung, you don’t want to do this. Please just let him go,” Johnny begs from behind the electrified wire wall.

Mark turns to him with an empty look in his eyes, still not letting go of the man trapped in his powers.

“You know, you beg me a lot. You almost sound like you really care about me,” he says.

“I do care about you. I know I say it a lot and nothing seems to be proving it but I really care about you and only want the best for you. Please, what you’re about to do you can never take back. Don’t let your anger make you do something you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life,” Johnny replies.

Underneath his mask, Mark gives a mocking smile to the older.

“The person you care about is gone, Johnny. He’s never coming back, I told you this. I tried to give the world a second chance. I gave heroes a second chance. Justice just doesn’t happen in this world, only privilege and revenge. Some of us aren’t lucky enough to have the first one,” he says.

He turns back around and faces the trembling man captured in his power.

“Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll go to jail, I’ll do the full sentence, I promise. Please spare me,” Lee begs.

Mark stares him in his eyes, not looking to the left or right.

“You’ll do whatever I want? You sound pretty desperate there and I haven’t even touched you yet. Now imagine how those three felt as you tortured them for three weeks. Did they beg you? Did they ask you to spare them? Tell me what they said when you looked them in their eyes and hurt them repeatedly,” he says, once again no emotions crossing his voice.

He doesn’t receive a response though, the older man choosing to tremble in silence.

“No response? Don’t tell me your conscience is bothering you now after all of this time. Surely you knew the risk you were playing when you decided to kidnap three out of a group of seven villains. Or did you just think that those heroes would protect you no matter what? Don’t you know that it’s foolish to put your trust in heroes? They’ll disappoint you when you need them the most,” Mark says.

He sets Lee down on the ground and on to his knees but doesn’t let go of him. He wants to see this man fear before he does anything.

“You know, you have a lot of nerves begging me to spare you. Because of you, I lost three of my brothers for almost a month and had to watch my other three suffer in worry and anxiety. Because of you, I had to risk it all and put my trust back in those heroes only to be disappointed once again when it came down to the most important time. You caused me a lot of problems and heartache but yet you want to look me in my eyes and beg me to spare you. How bold can you be?” He says.

Lee’s body begins to shake more in fear but it isn’t enough. Jisung was terrified and desperate. That’s what this man has to experience.

“Give me one good reason why I should spare you. Let me hear it from you and not some heroes who think they can still have a say in my life. You apparently know me so let’s see what you can come up with. Better hurry up though, I’m getting tired of waiting for everything,” he continues.

Lee seems to try and weigh his options as if he should even speak. But the longer Mark stares at him, the more disturbed he becomes. Those emotionless eyes seem as if they’re staring directly into his soul and it is not a good feeling.

“If you do this, you can never have a clean slate. You can’t be redeemed and you will always be known as a villain. Don’t you want to try to start over one day? Don’t you want a peaceful life for once? Surely you want a life where no one bothers you, right?” He tries, desperation seeping through his words as Mark’s stare never falters.

Mark snorts humorlessly at the comment. That’s such a hero reason to say but he’s not surprised. That is the prevailing side in the world and that’s the one everyone looks through. It’s so faulty though. Who decides who’s good and who’s not? Who gives someone a clean slate? This entire world is unfair but yet no one mentions that as long as their life is going good.

“Redemption. Let me tell you something about redemption,” Mark starts.

He watches as Lee instinctively tries to shrink back but can’t due to the power holding him.

“Not everyone is offered the chance to be redeemed and honestly even redemption is faulty. Who offers redemption? Who gives who the authority to say this person is redeemed, hmm? You see those six I’m always with? No one will ever give them the chance to be completely redeemed. The word villain will always be tied to their names. Villain-turned-hero, villain-turned-civilian, ex-villain, all of it just says that they were once a villain. Even when they didn’t really do anything, they were labeled as dangers and that will follow them around forever even if they are ‘redeemed’. Their chance of starting over and having a clean slate will never happen. For the rest of their lives, they will be known as people who went against the unjust norms we have. Dangerous people. Villains .”

He grabs Lee’s jaw, staring deep into the older’s trembling panic-filled eyes. Fear is such a human emotion. Even those who do inhumane things such as torturing people can and will feel fear. It reminds him that in the end, they’re all just people so he wants to know why do some get to have the good in life while others are never allowed to experience it.

“For me though, the option to start over was immediately given to me. My title of hero came before all else. I’m a hero-turned-villain. A hero on the wrong side. A hero who lost his way. Everyone will always see me as a hero first before a villain. They give me the option to be redeemed, truly redeemed. If I ever decided to be a hero again or just to be a civilian, no one will ever bring up the fact that I was a villain. Why is that the case? Why do I—who came up with the idea to attack the city—immediately get the chance to start over when they—who originally unintentionally became threats and then were convinced to be actual villains—will never get that chance without strings attached, no matter what they do? That is our justice and our society. And I’m supposed to want to fit back into that society?”

He scoffs.

How could that ever be wanted? The only people who want that type of justice are the people who never experience the bad side of said justice. That system benefits them so of course they wouldn’t want to leave it. That’s why the seven of them are viewed so dangerously. They threaten that system and are clear examples of where everything goes wrong.

“I don’t want to be redeemed. I’m tired of being viewed differently than the six I got together. I’ve gone through a lot of stuff in my life and it’s clear that I’m not one of the ones allowed to experience the good in life naturally. I have to force my way to get that. I had to run through hoops to become a hero just to try to experience friendship and attention. I had to run away and disappear just to try and heal myself. I had to break every unfair norm and idea this society thrusted upon me but I finally gained something I can experience happiness with. I finally got my family and I’m going to do everything I can to keep them, even if it means throwing away all chances of being ‘redeemed’. So no, I don’t want to start over one day. There’s no such thing as starting over for villains.”

He pulls the man who has done so much harm to his family closer to him. Lee is trembling so much that he’d be able to feel it even if he wasn’t touching the older. 

Behind him, he can hear the heroes mumbling, pleading with him not to do this. Over and over they ask him to let go of this rage. They don’t want him to lose his last bit of innocence that they think this world didn’t taint. He hears their pleas.

But also behind him, he hears the sound of Jaemin’s electricity buzzing. He hears the crackling in the air and knows that the younger is too over-charged. How much electricity can his skin handle? When will he stop sparking, if he ever? He hasn’t been this out of control since the day he was put in the facility. He knows that Jaemin’s emotions are a mess.

He knows that Jeno and Renjun are a mess. He knows that they practically reverted to a state that’s dangerous to even them. After driving themselves sick for weeks, now they’re deep into their powers and their emotions are all over the place, making it easier for their bodies to respond negatively. Will they be able to get Jeno to come back from his animal mindset? Will they be able to avoid Renjun’s overflowing poison? Can he help them come back to their normal selves?

Worst of it all, he knows that Chenle, Jisung, and Donghyuck need serious medical help. Who knows how many things are wrong with them and who knows if they can even be healed. And even if all of those physical issues can be healed, what about the mental ones? What did they have to go through all this time to look like that? Their psyche is bound to be thoroughly damaged. Will they ever be able to recover from this?

He hears the heroes plead to him and try to appeal to his good side but their words will never reach him. Civilians and heroes alike think that all villains aren’t using their minds or hearts. They think that villains are being irrational, unemotional, and selfish. Because of that, they act trying to bring out the human emotion and compassion they think villains lack. 

But that’s exactly where they go wrong when dealing with him. 

What he’s doing is for other people. Yes, this villain thing started off as a revenge plan. He wanted revenge for the injustices that have been done to him. He wanted to prove to himself that the problem didn’t lie with him and that he wasn’t useless. But God did that change so quickly. It went from wanting revenge for himself to wanting revenge on behalf of the others. He wanted to protect them and show them that they can be something in this world, even if that something is being a threat. He wanted to be there for them because he never had someone there for him. He wanted to give those boys a home and a family like none of them has ever experienced and because of that, he does what he does.

No amount of words and pleads from the heroes will ever reach him because he’s fighting for the people he actually cares about and he will do anything to protect them, help them, and avenge them.

Even lose his last tie to societal goodness.

“Society can forgive you for what you have done to us. You would receive favor, we would not. Since that is the case, as a villain and a former hero, I’ll bring justice—proper justice—to this situation. It’s only fair,” he says, tone even and almost dead-like.

Lee Soo-man’s eyes widen greatly as he gasps suddenly.

Pointing out of his back is a bloody hand holding a small sharp knife. Mark’s bloody hand.

“I hope you don’t mind me intruding in here, I’ll be out in a second. It’s not like you were using it anyway,” Mark says emotionlessly.

He pulls out his hand, phasing through the man’s chest with ease. He’ll admit, phasing through bones and tissue is a weird feeling not to mention that he has to time the entire thing right so the knife phases right when he wants and becomes tangible when he needs it to be but it’s nothing for him to complain about.

Mark releases his hold and watches as the man falls back, eyes still wide and mouth open.

“I hope you stay in our own blood like Chenle did,” Mark says.

He gets up and turns around back toward Jaemin. The younger looks surprised but relieved. Maybe he was thinking that Mark would back out instead of continuing on. Maybe he was prepared to jump in and do it himself but was relieved when Mark continued. Either way, he seems relieved to watch the terrible man bleed out.

“Are you ready to go?” Mark asks Jaemin.

“Yeah. One of the cars is still there waiting for us. They took the three already to go receive help,” Jaemin responds.

Mark nods in return. He’s glad that they left already. They can’t waste any more time, especially not with the condition those three are in.

Mark turns to the heroes who stare at him in shock and sadness.

“Minhyung...you…”

Johnny’s voice fades away as he can’t even think about completing his sentence.

Out of any remaining compassion for the older that Mark could possibly have left in him, he walks toward the wall and bends down so he’s at Johnny’s level on the floor. To the elder’s surprise, Mark pulls out something from his pocket. A bracelet.

“Before I started hating you, I made you this to say that you were my favorite person in the world. You were the very last one out of them that I lost my faith in. To the day that building fell, I had some hope in you that you would see what you were doing to me and change. If you would have, maybe I wouldn’t have decided to become a villain. After that day though, it was all gone. I don’t know why I kept this. Maybe part of me wanted to remember the time when Minhyung still had an elder to care about. Every time I went out to fight you, I brought it along with me even though I genuinely hated you with a passion. It was just a part of me I couldn’t let go of,” he says.

He looks down at the bracelet, hundreds of thoughts running through his head. God, Minhyung was so childish. He was so innocent and naïve, holding on to something though all he was doing was hurting himself. The world didn’t want him to keep that innocence though.

“I’m going to let go now but I want to do it the right way. Stick out your hand through the opening,” he says.

Johnny looks torn to pieces but he doesn’t fight back, for once. He sticks out his hand through the biggest opening in the wires and opens his hand.

Mark puts the bracelet into his hand and closes the elder’s fist around it.

“Johnny hyung, I made you this bracelet. I know it’s not much and it seems really childish but I really worked hard on it so I hope you like it,” he says, still without any strong emotion entering his tone.

Johnny curses under his breath, eyes watering up. He clenches his fist around the bracelet.

“Thank you Minhyung, I’ll keep it forever,” he replies, voice cracking.

Mark nods and lets go of the older’s hand.

“You did me wrong and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for that. Because of you and your friends’ blind trust and stupid ideas of heroism, my friends suffered so much. But you always told me to look on the bright side so if it wasn’t for you all royally messing up, I would have never found six people I sincerely care for. I would have never gotten the family I always wanted so thank you. Thank you for giving me that chance to make my own happiness. I truly don’t need you anymore,” he says.

The words seem harsh but with the way he’s saying them, it’s clear that he’s just speaking from his heart, no intent to either harm or comfort. He’s just speaking.

And that’s what breaks Johnny even more.

Tears finally fall down his face and he cries silently over the younger he has lost. And finally he understands that there is no else to blame for that other than themselves. They’re the cause of this.

Mark stands up, turning his back to the crying elder that he once cared so much about. He doesn’t feel sad, angry, remorseful, or even relieved. He’s just there and right now, he can handle that.

“Let this be the last time we go through this. We are on different sides and it’s going to be that way for the foreseeable future. Treat us like the label you have given us. You chose to be heroes then act that way. If you want to do something for me, for us, after all that we have been through, respect our decision by treating us seriously. See you on the field.”

Mark walks away with Jaemin, putting his hand in the air slightly as a wave goodbye.

Finally, he can leave Minhyung behind where he belongs.

With the heroes.

The drive to Kun’s house was silent.

Xiaojun, YangYang, and Hendery waited for them in the car while Lucas drove the others to Kun which they were extremely grateful for. All of this would have been more of a hassle if those four didn’t come with them. Though YangYang and Hendery aren’t their personal friends, they appreciate that the two came along to help anyway.

When Mark and Jaemin came down and got in the car, no one said anything, instantly noticing the sparks on Jaemin and the blood on Mark. YangYang just drove off immediately, taking them to meet their other friends.

Only once did Mark speak, quietly saying ‘here’ as he wraps Jaemin in a blanket they kept in the car for when they were working late. It’s not his special blanket but it should keep enough of the electricity contained closer to him so no one accidentally gets shocked. After that though, no other sound was made and they continued on in silence all the way to Kun’s house.

When they finally reached their destination, Xiaojun speaks up.

“We’ll wait out here for you guys so it doesn’t get too crowded in there. Take your time, make sure they’re all okay and make sure you two are as well,” he says.

Mark nods and says a quiet thank you before turning around and going to knock on the door.

Lucas is the one who opens the door.

“Come on, they’re in the back,” Lucas says.

Mark and Jaemin follow behind him, mentally trying to prepare themselves for whatever sight they’re going to see. They don’t think they’ll ever be able to erase from their minds the sight they saw of the three in that cell. It is scarred in their minds forever. Hopefully, whatever they’re about to see is a bit better than that.

They walk all the way back to Kun’s medical room. He has always had a room that resembles a hospital to them just in case of emergencies for close friends and family. It’s where Mark went after he freed himself from that building’s rubble. He was hoping he would never have to be back at this part of the house again.

Lucas gives a warning knock on the door before walking into the room, gesturing for the two to follow.

When they enter, the first thing they see is an unconscious Donghyuck and an asleep Chenle—well, they’re assuming Chenle is only asleep—laying down on individuals beds. Nearby, on the last bed Kun has in the room, Jisung is sitting up and holding on to Renjun next to him tightly. His eyes are roaming everywhere in a frantic manner as he squeezes the life out of Renjun’s arm, the older not minding a bit about the pressure. Standing up is Jeno and he looks back and forth between all three of their sick friends, tapping his foot in anxious energy.

Kun, who is standing near Renjun and Jisung with a needle in hand, turns when he notices them enter.

“You both made it, good. Stay near, I want to check on you two as well. Let me finish this first,” he says.

He turns back to Jisung with a soft expression on his face.

“Jisung, I know you’re really scared right now but I promise you that you’re safe. None of your hyungs will let anything else happen to you. Now, I have to give you this injection, it’ll make the pain lessen and you’ll be able to sleep,” Kun says, keeping his voice gentle so as not to scare the younger more.

But Jisung shakes his head no vehemently, holding Renjun tighter and leaning into the elder more.

“Kun hyung isn’t going to hurt you Sungie. You need this medicine if you want to feel better. You saw Jeno and I took some medicine as well. Let him do what he can to help you and I promise you’ll feel better soon,” Renjun says.

Jisung looks at Renjun with wide, fearful eyes. It makes him look so young, like a child afraid of monsters looking to their parent for help. Maybe he is afraid of monsters; after what he’s been through, he has the right to be.

“I-I don’t want the n-needle,” Jisung stutters out.

Kun lowers the needle slightly.

“It won’t hurt you, I’ll make sure of it. It’ll be really quick and you can look away if you don’t want to see it,” Kun says.

“Please Sungie, do it for me?” Renjun adds.

Jisung looks back and forth between the needle and Renjun. He lets out a shuddering breath before slowly nodding his head yes.

Kun lets out a breath of relief at the action.

“Thank you. Now just look wherever you want and it’ll be done before you know it,” he says.

Jisung chooses to look at Renjun as he removes one arm from around the older so Kun can put the injection in. Renjun starts to count, letting Jisung follow the shapes of his mouth so as to distract his mind.

As quickly but carefully as he can, Kun sticks the needle in Jisung’s arm, pushing the medicine in completely before taking it out and discarding the needle.

“There, all done. You’ll feel sleepy in a matter of minutes. Go ahead and lay down now,” Kun says.

Jisung nods and puts his head down in Renjun’s lap. Despite being so tall and long, he finds a way to curl his body up that makes him look so small as he brings himself as close to Renjun as he possibly can.

Kun turns away and faces Mark and Jaemin who were watching the entire scene in emotionally pained silence.

“Come here Jaemin, I have the proper blanket for you. I’ll also give you medicine to help lessen your sparking,” Kun says, picking up a blanket he had near for when they finally came.

Jaemin sheds the blanket around his shoulders, giving Mark a quiet apology for accidentally shocking the older while doing so. He heads over to Kun and gratefully takes the blanket, wrapping it around him. 

“Do me a favor and go over near Jeno. He needs someone to watch and protect right now,” Kun whispers to him as he hands him a cup with two pills and a bottle of water.

Jaemin nods, accepting the items, and goes over to where Jeno is standing. The older immediately fixates on Jaemin and instantly starts guiding him to a seat. When Jaemin doesn’t take the pills right away as soon as he sits down, Jeno makes a half whining noise and nudges him gently to take the medicine. Jaemin gets the message and takes the two pills, showing Jeno the empty cup. At the visible confirmation that the pills are gone, Jeno sits down at his feet, putting his head into Jaemin’s lap.

Mark gives a somber smile at the scene before turning back to Kun.

“Let’s do your check-up in the living room,” Kun says, grabbing his supplies.

Mark doesn’t argue. He just follows the older, giving one last look to his friends before leaving the room. The two of them walk back to the living room in silence. When they get there, Kun gestures for Mark to sit on the couch.

“How are they doing?” Mark asks as soon as he sits.

Kun sets down his stuff and pulls a chair so he can sit in front of Mark.

“Would you like a complete explanation of each of them?” Kun asks in response.

Mark nods yes. He wants to know how each and every one of his friends are doing.

“Alright, starting with your friend Donghyuck. He’ll be unconscious for a while. Due to the nature of his powers, he requires sunlight more so than other people or else he will get sick. I was informed that the room they were in had no windows so that means he went quite a while without seeing the light of the sun. Their captor kept drawing blood from him despite his weakening condition and it seems he either didn’t feed them or Donghyuck stopped eating. I used my powers to help bring him to a more stable state and then normally cleaned his wounds and bruises along with his burned hand. He’ll recover slowly but surely just make sure that he stays in a room with windows or near a sun lamp like the one I have in the room. When he wakes up, make sure he eats and drinks, even if he doesn’t want to. I’ll give you medicine for him as well to help,” Kun starts.

Mark’s breath gets caught in his throat as he thinks about how Donghyuck must have progressively gotten worse in that cell. All he can think of is a flower wilting from the lack of sunlight and water. Didn’t that man see that Donghyuck was seriously ill? Why did he continue to torture him even after he posed no threat to anyone? God, he’s glad that he got rid of the bastard.

He tries not to think about that too much though. Kun said that Donghyuck will recover so that’s great news. Kun also makes the best medicines thanks to his powers so Mark has full confidence that whatever he gives them will work wonders.

“Moving on to Chenle, he won’t be able to speak for a while. I told you that having that type of restraint on your neck is very bad but it’s even worse for someone like Chenle’s whose power is in his throat. Because the first place where the power is restrained would be his neck each and every time and because his power lies in his throat, the restraint really messed with his vocal cords. He’ll also have trouble swallowing so I’ll give you injections to be placed in his veins to give him so he can receive the proper nutrients. If he coughs up blood, it’s not really ideal but don’t worry too much. His body will try to heal itself and part of that is cleaning out the bad stuff inside of him. I’ll also be giving him a treatment for infections. He’ll be the one you’ll have to give the most medicine to,” Kun continues.

Mark can’t imagine not being able to hear Chenle’s voice for even longer. Though they always joked about how loud he is and how he doesn’t know how to lower his voice, they still love talking to him and hearing him talk. He loves to hear Chenle and Jisung talk animatedly with each other, he loves to hear Chenle sing along with Renjun, and he loves to hear when he tries to act cute with Jaemin. He missed Chenle’s voice so much and now he won’t be hearing it for a bit longer.

He hopes Chenle can recover soon. He knows it’s going to be really hard for Chenle going through all of this so he’ll try to help him through it as much as he can.

“Jisung is probably the most mentally traumatized. My guess is that Donghyuck fell ill first and Chenle followed after so Jisung was the one who stayed alert through it all. He saw everything, tried to take the majority of the punishments, and had to watch them get worse and worse right next to him. His injuries were relatively easy to heal but he’s seriously mentally scarred. It also appears that he hasn’t slept in a very long time, even afraid to sleep actually. I’ll give you pills to help him sleep but I can already tell you, you’ll have some trouble getting him to take them. I’m not trained in mental studies and my powers do not go too far past the physical aspect of things so I can’t help you much with his trauma but I do suggest that you find a way and a proper time to get him to tell you what happened. We’ll never know the full extent of his trauma or even close to it if he doesn’t tell us what happened. He’s the only one who seems to have been awake throughout it all, only he knows what happened,” Kun explains.

Mark’s heart goes out to their youngest. Who knows what he had to see, what he had to experience. What was it like watching his two elders slowly get sick next to him? What was it like watching them still get punished though their bodies were starting to give out on them? How many punishments did he take that weren’t his? How many beatings did he have to go through?

Physical wounds can be healed with medicine and powers. Mental ones, emotional ones, those are the ones that are tricky to heal. They take a long time to get better, if they ever get better.

“Renjun seems unaffected by his overproduction of poison but I did drain some of it like one does a snake. I’d be careful around the things that get near his mouth though, it’ll be easy for a while for you to get accidentally poisoned that way. His body will keep making poison until it feels there is no longer a threat around, basically when his stress and anxiety lessens significantly. Until then, be careful around him,” Kun says.

Mark’s glad to hear that Renjun isn’t personally affected by the mass production of poison that his body is making. He always thought Renjun’s power was so dangerous and was quietly worried for the younger. He’s glad that things aren’t too bad for him.

“Jeno is going to be another tricky one for you. What you guys may consider as him going wild really isn’t what is happening right now. When he first broke free from those experiments, that was him going wild. Right now though, he’s just stuck in an animal mindset. His brain is half human half animal and usually, one side overpowers the other for the most part as you already know. Right now, he’s practically completely animal. He’ll be acting on animal instincts. For example, it was his instinct to be with one of his members who were ill. All he had was the strong urge to protect and it was driving him crazy not doing so. That’s why he immediately went to Jaemin once he had the opportunity to. He’ll be like that until all viewed danger is gone and his mind can relax. It seems a bit insulting but you may have to talk to him as one would do a pet at times if he doesn’t seem to be listening. I had to tell him that you all would be upset if he didn’t sit still and let me give him pain medicine and he kept still immediately. Hopefully, he’ll be able to break free soon. Those experiments really messed with his brain so I’m not surprised by how strong his instincts are,” Kun continues.

Jeno being in a more animal mindset may be a bit difficult but it’s nothing they can’t handle. Mark knows though how much Jeno dislikes being more animal than human. He doesn’t like to be reminded that those scientists succeeded in taking away so much of his humanity. Being half-animal isn’t what he wanted to be so he hates thinking more like one or being treated like one—minus specific circumstances involving friends of course—so this will also be hard for him. Whenever he does come back to his human thinking, he’s not going to like that he spent so much time out of it.

“Now Jaemin I only checked quickly using my powers as I was handing him the blanket. I’ll check him more thoroughly when we go back but he seems to be alright. His sparking will go away eventually, though it may take a bit longer than normal. Even after it’s gone though, he may do things like shock something, blow out a light, or fry whatever is in his hands. It won’t happen for long but he hasn’t been taking too good care of his body lately and I assume he used his powers a lot today,” Kun finishes up.

They can handle some shocks and light shatters. Mark is just glad that so far nothing serious seems to be wrong with Jaemin. With the way that electricity was dancing on his skin, Jaemin looked like he was going to fry himself at any moment.

“So they’ll all be okay? We just have to make sure the three take their medicine, get proper nutrition, and give them some time and everything will be okay?” Mark asks.

“I guess if you want to simplify it to that way, then yes. I can assure you that by how everything looks now, they will recover. If anything though, I’m always here if you need help and I’ll check in from time to time,” Kun replies.

That’s all Mark wanted to hear though, that they’ll be okay. It’s the best news he could receive today so that’s a load off of his shoulders.

“Now the question I have is will you be okay?” Kun says.

He points to Mark’s bloody hand and Mark looks down at it without any emotion toward it.

“They say you and Jaemin went off to kill the man who had them. I can see that this isn’t your blood so tell me if it’s safe to assume what you did,” Kun says.

Mark nods, staring at his hand.

“I phased right through his chest with a knife. I wanted him to bleed out and lay there like Chenle had to do,” he responds.

Kun sighs. It’s not a disappointed sigh or anything but more like one to show that his suspicion was correct.

“It’s not like you to make such a serious decision so simply. Do you understand what you did?” He asks.

“I do and I didn’t make it simply. At first, yeah I was full of rage and wanted to make him suffer for what he did. But as Jaemin and I were looking for him, my mind started thinking a bunch of thoughts. It hit me that I really could have lost them. They could have died in that cell if we didn’t find them today but their lives wouldn’t have been avenged. This system we have would have celebrated their deaths instead of fighting to put their torturer away. What made it worse was that if I would have died, someone would have tried to fight for justice in my name all because I was a hero. It sickened me and people like him were some of the main contributors to this system. I didn’t want to be separate from my friends anymore. If they’re beyond saving then I will be too. If no one else will avenge them then I will,” Mark responds, firm in what he was thinking and what he believes.

Yes, that was such a big decision and a major action but he didn’t do it because he was angry. They told him he’d regret it but that’s because they thought he was doing it out of rage. Anything done out of rage will more often than not be regretted. But he knew what he was doing. He wasn’t so far gone where he wasn’t thinking. It was a big action but he did that knowingly.

“Does NCT know what you did?” Kun asks.

“They watched. Begged me not to do it and then watch me do it anyway. This may sound weird but it finally feels like I gave Minhyung up by all of this. I didn’t not listen to them because I wanted to spite them. I did so for my friends. It took me a while to realize through all of this mess but I do have other reasons to do what I do other than getting back at NCT. So much of my reasoning was centered around those heroes, how did that make it any different from Minhyung doing everything he could to get their attention? Today, I finally gave away my last part of my old self. I got the closure I wanted by properly leaving NCT and telling them what I wanted. Mark doesn’t have to be centered around getting back at NCT anymore and I think I feel pretty good about that,” Mark replies.

It was an unexpected sense of closure in one of the worse situations he could have imagined but he’s glad he got it. Him being stuck in the past, hating everything involving those heroes, it was no different than said heroes holding on to the idea that he was part of them. Things change and they have to move with it.

“So now what? Did you forgive them? Are you going to stop being a villain?” Kun questions.

He’s proud that Mark was able to get a form of closure and that something okay came out of this. But he does want to know where everything is going to go from here. He may be a neutral party but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have cares and ties to some on sides.

“I didn’t forgive them in the way you’re thinking. What they did to me will forever stay with me. I just let go of the overpowering hatred I had for them. Why should I give them that much importance in my life by hating them so much that they’re all I focus on? Granted, I still dislike them but that is no longer my main focus. And I won’t stop being a villain. Today really showed me that there are so many things wrong with this society and people support it because it benefits them. No one cares about who gets hurt because of it. If my friends and I became civilians, this system would win and no one would really do anything to fix it. They would never get the justice they deserve for everything that has been done to them. Sometimes you have to make some noise for people to look so that’s what I plan on doing,” Mark responds.

“That sounds more like vigilantism to me. Having a noble cause but taking the law into your own hands. Much different than just randomly attacking the city,” Kun says.

Mark smiles softly at the comment.

“I guess by definition it is but how the public will view it, we’ll still be villains. Besides, destroying a few buildings also gets a message across. It’s so cliché but I guess we’re anti-villains, like in the books? I don’t know. What I do know is that something has to be done to fix this flawed society we live in. And even if we can’t fix it, we should at least bring it to light. Whether we fix the system or completely destroy it, something is being done. To me, that’s more heroic than anything NCT has ever done,” he says.

Kun returns the soft smile and pulls Mark into a gentle hug. Mark hugs back using his non-bloody hand and rests his chin on Kun’s shoulder. No matter what, there’s something about an elder’s embrace that makes you feel like maybe, just maybe, you didn’t go completely wrong in life.

“I’m proud of you. It’s so nice to see you grow and mature despite all that has gone on in your life,” Kun says softly.

If there is a high that Mark will never get over, it’s feeling accepted and wanted. It’s what he has wanted since he was a child living in Canada. He’ll never get tired of this feeling no matter what.

“Thank you hyung,” he mumbles contently.

They let go of each other and Kun’s smile becomes teasing.

“Welcome to the gray side. No one really remembers that we exist or that some grays are closer to white, some are closer to black, and still some are directly in the middle. I hope you enjoy your stay,” Kun jokes.

“Glad to be here,” Mark responds in kind.

The two laugh, making this the first lighthearted moment of the day for Mark.

And to him, that’s a sign.

Things will get better, one way or another.

“Are you guys sure?” Mark asks hesitantly.

He knew his friends were resilient but he’s pretty sure half of that resiliency is really just stubbornness in disguise.

“It’s kinda soon, don’t you think? You three aren’t fully healed. We don’t want you to risk anything if a fight breaks out,” Jaemin says, agreeing with Mark’s hesitancy.

The matter on the table: Donghyuck, Chenle, and Jisung said they wanted to join the four on the mission they’re about to go on. The issue: none of the three are healed fully.

Chenle still can’t speak, let alone use his powers, Donghyuck is still weak and can’t use his powers for long, and Jisung still flinches at the idea of using his powers because he instinctively believes that he will be punished for doing so. Yes, they are slowly getting better but they still have a long way to go.

Chenle punches the air repeatedly before pointing to himself and making a face.

“Yes, we know you can fight hand-to-hand well, you don’t have to whine. We’re still worried though that it may be too much for you guys. I’m sure Mark could use some help on his end too,” Renjun says.

They’ve gotten well adjusted to understanding Chenle’s gestures, it’s almost as he’s verbally speaking to them. Even silent, Chenle still knows how to whine and complain.

“We’ll be fine, we’ll partner with each of you. We don’t understand the techy stuff Mark does so we won’t be much help to him. We want to go outside, I want to feel the sun. It’s not like we’re doing anything big, we can get out before any heroes come. If anything, we can continue doing the work stuff while you guys deal with the fighting,” Donghyuck says.

He’s smart. He knows any time he mentions about wanting to go outside, they won’t really continue to argue with him. They see how he practically thrives when he’s outside in the sun’s light. He’s always at his best outside so they can’t deny him that even if they worry about him a lot.

“We promise we’ll be careful and we’ll follow along. Please, we just want to get back into the swing of things,” Jisung says.

That’s another thing they have trouble denying them, especially Jisung. Normalcy is something they all need and for someone like Jisung who is going through a lot mentally, working him back into things is the best course of action. It took them a while to even get him to want to come out of his blankets when he first came back home but after some time they got him to agree to come out of his room. Then they slowly got him to go outside—he clung to them tightly though as they walked but that was no big deal to them. Slowly they’ve been trying to work him back into the swing of things and it’s been difficult but overall successful. So if he’s trying to take that first step himself, then that’s a really big thing.

Mark sighs.

“God, I’m going to hate myself for this. Fine, you three can join them on the field. Donghyuck, you’ll go with Renjun to the target’s house for the ‘interrogation’. Chenle, you’ll go with Jaemin to the main office to get the files. Jisung, you’ll go with Jeno to the production site to destroy it. Please do not go off by yourselves and don’t push yourselves either. One thing goes wrong and we’re keeping you home next time,” he relents, giving the three serious looks.

The three silently cheer in triumph.

“We’ll be on our best behavior, Markie,” Donghyuck says, making a kissy face in response.

Mark rolls his eyes but smiles nonetheless. He just can’t explain how happy he is to have the nuisance that is Lee Donghyuck back.

“Someone tell Jeno that he can’t baby me though. I’m not a pup,” Jisung says, pointing to Jeno who’s already packing first aid items into three bags for each of the teams.

Though he’s still mainly in an animal’s mindset, his protectiveness has become a bit more human. Instead of warning growls and pleading whimpers when he wants them to take it easy or he thinks something is dangerous, he is able to mutter out a word or two to them. While he still sleeps as if he’s guarding them, he is able now to cuddle when they want, wrapping his arms around them protectively. And instead of dragging one of the others over when he thinks first aid is needed, he can do it himself, not afraid anymore of his own strength accidentally hurting anyone. Slowly but surely they’re getting their Jeno back.

They have to admit though, a protective Jeno is a cute one. 

“Yeah right, and deal with an upset Jeno because we wouldn’t let him watch over you? Not happening. You’re on your own Sungie. Just be happy that you know he’ll tear someone to shreds if they get too close to you,” Jaemin responds.

Jisung pouts but when Jeno comes over and ruffles his hair affectionately, it disappears immediately and a smile replaces it. He acts like he doesn’t but he really loves his hyungs attention and care.

“Everyone go get ready then. I guess it’s time for Seoul to remeet its seven villains,” Mark says.

He watches with a smile as everyone gets moving and goes to get ready for the mission.

They’ve been through a lot, things they didn’t expect to ever go through. The time that three of them went missing will always be one of the worst times of their lives, if not the worst. For as long as they can see, they’ll have bad dreams and thoughts about that. But as most tragic events do, it did bring them closer to each other. It’s something they all went through together and it showed them how bad it was for them to be separated. It was a terrible thing but it did teach them some lessons and helped them get over some things. 

They aren’t healed nor do they feel like they’re in a safe place right now in life. There’s a lot of stuff they’ll have to keep working through and a lot of issues they’ll have to overcome. That’s okay though. As cliché as it sounds, they’ll get through it all together. By each other’s side, they’ll find a way to do whatever they have to do.

Life may have screwed them over but don’t worry. They’re coming back new and ready to take on the world.

Mark chuckles to himself, moving to go get ready himself. This is going to be a good day.

“Ready or not, here we come.”