Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a rule.

Nothing electric in this area. No phones, no lights, no cameras, nothing that has a charge running through it. It’s all strictly prohibited.

“Do you understand that, newbie?” The head guard—Captain Reid—says.

Why would they assign a rookie to one of the most unpredictable prisoners they have, he doesn’t know but the rookie is here now so he’s going to drill the rules into his head.

“How do you see in there then? How is he monitored?” The rookie—Smith, as the facility runs on a last name basis ONLY—asks.

Captain Reid pulls out his keys and unlocks the heavy steel door that separates the non-electricity area from the rest of the facility. 

Even the door itself isn’t electric, Smith notices. Whoever this guy is in there, he must be a real threat.

“The old fashioned way,” Reid responds.

They enter in the area and the first thing Smith notices is that it’s dark, as expected. The hall is lit by multiple torches but even so, it’s still much darker than the rest of the facility. It’s a long stretch to walk, the cell being purposely far away from the door so not even the slightest hint of electrical current could be detected.

They walk down the long hall, the sounds of their footsteps echoing throughout it.

A whole separate area for just one person. Whatever he did or—if he has a power—whatever his power is, it must be bad. Not many people are considered dangerous enough to be put in level eight maximum security—the lowest and most secure floor in the facility—so this is no light case.

Finally, they reach the cell area, four guards already there on duty. Smith’s eyes almost pop out of his head when he sees the prisoner inside.

“He’s a child?!” 

Sitting behind the tempered glass wall with bonds on his wrists is just a child, small in figure and not threatening in appearance at all. 

The boy actually seems smaller than what he probably really is when compared to the large cell he’s in. It’s as if his cell was made for four people instead of one child. It’s slightly jarring to see such a young child in a large cell. It’s almost like looking into an animal exhibit but only seeing one animal. He just stands out so much in the large box-like cell.

“Don’t let his age fool you, he’s here for a reason,” Reid says.

Smith looks back at the child, not being able to comprehend what a kid could do or how strong he could be to be placed in maximum security. Going based off of the normal data for the Enhanced population—what they call those with powers—the child hasn’t even lived long enough to learn his powers like that.

He can tell though that the boy has been here for a while now. Despite being clean and in a good enough body shape, the kid has wild dark brown hair, rough skin, and bruised feet, all signs that it’s been longer than a few months of captivity for him. This kid isn’t some new addition.

“Minhyung Lee, age eleven. Powers: electrokinesis and strong at that. He seems unthreatening but that’s far from it. He’s incredibly smart—a prodigy if you will—and deceptive. His parents, better known as the Storm heroes, are the ones who requested these measures be taken before they put him in here. We thought they were exaggerating at first as well but when we saw what he could do, we knew they were right. Every one of these measures is necessary,” Reid explains.

The child of the Storm heroes? Everyone knows about those heroes, a couple whose powers resemble a storm, one who controls water and the other who controls wind. Their child having electrokinesis isn’t much of a surprise. Their child being a big enough threat to be put in here, now that’s the surprise of the century.

“First and foremost, as stated earlier, nothing with a charge enters in this area. He works like a battery, he’ll weaken on his own as long as he has nothing to recharge him. You see those dull eyes of his? That’s good. If you see any color or spark in his eyes, you made a big mistake,” he says.

Smith takes a look over at the boy again, taking notice of the dull eyes that were mentioned. His eyes look lifeless and drained. It backs up his guess about the kid being here for a bit of time already.

“I hope you passed physics and chemistry newbie because every precaution in here after that is all science. That glass wall is used as an insulator; he’ll have a hell of a hard time trying to get currents through that. Those bonds on his wrists are made of diamond and quartz. His parents personally funded for those bonds since they weren’t going to take any chances by putting him in wood or rubber just because they’re cheap insulators. Anything given to him is plastic or wood. Any water given to him for drinking or bathing purposes is pure water. In other words, if it can conduct electricity, it’s not in here,” Reid explains.

That’s a lot of precautions for just one child. Whatever he did must have really been terrible. It’s really becoming a wonder as to why a rookie was assigned to this area. Talk about throwing him in and telling him to swim.

“Your job here is to make sure he doesn’t get out of here without a damn fight. You see that man right there? He’s the only one who has to make sure he doesn’t act out of line. Prisoner acts up, he’ll use his power to warm those bonds on the kid’s wrists a bit. I’m sure you know that diamonds are good heat conductors so we have our ways of keeping the kid in line. So all you have to worry about is if he ever gets past that wall, you do everything you can to make sure he doesn’t make it out that door. Is that clear?” Reid says.

“Yes sir,” Smith responds.

He looks back at the cell, wanting to catch one last good look at the prisoner he’ll be seeing more often now before he has to continue on with his run-through. He feels a chill run down his spine when he sees the young boy already looking at him. Those dull eyes almost look gray but they’re staring so intensely at him.

If he looks like that without a charge, what is he like with one?

“Get used to this newbie, you’ll be here awhile,” Reid says.

Still looking at the boy, Smith curses in his mind.

‘I really hope I’m not.’

~~~

“Crap, I’m late.”

It’s only been a month assigned to this area and he’s already late for his shift. If only that fight didn’t break out on level two, he wouldn’t have had trouble reaching down here in time.

Smith rushes to level eight, mind stuck on him trying to get there as soon as possible. His boss is going to have his neck for being late to relieving another guard.

‘I’ll never be called anything but rookie and newbie at this rate.’

He hurries over to the area, reaching the heavy door. Only ten minutes late, that’s not too bad. There’s a chance he’ll be pardoned just this one time. He heads inside, not wanting to keep the guard he is supposed to relieve waiting any longer.

He’ll soon realize that he made the biggest mistake of his entire future career in the midst of his rushing.

His taser—his specially-issued taser specifically designed with enough voltage to take down the strongest prisoner—is still on his person.

As he is walking down the hall, he hears what sounds like a pained shout through clenched teeth. He moves even faster to see what the situation is.

When he reaches the cell area, he sees that all of the guards there are fine, fortunately. The prisoner, on the other hand, seems to be breathing heavily as his head hangs low.

“He tried to break the glass for some reason, had to be put back in line. Seems like he got bored,” a guard says to fill him in.

That guard then leaves, finally being relieved of his shift.

Smith can’t help but stare at the boy in the cell. He’s seen him a few times now but he still can’t get over the fact that a child—of heroes at that—is locked away in level eight maximum security. He’s so dangerous that they even keep an Enhanced here at all times just to make sure he doesn’t act up. It’s just so mind-blowing that a child so young is capable of causing such danger.

It’s silent once again from then on.

The prisoner doesn’t make a sound—probably still in pain since his bonds hold heat for a while—and none of the guards speak. It’s completely silent, the only sound being the fire burning on the torches. It seems like it will be another easygoing shift.

Remember that mistake Smith made though?

The taser in the guard’s pocket shakes slightly, the only warning given before it all goes for the worst.

It happens as quickly as lightning moves.

Sparks of electricity burst from it, shocking every guard in the room. They all fall to the ground, body shaking violently as the currents move through them.

The prisoner stands up and finally lifts up his head, his eyes holding their natural brown color to them with a spark. They no longer look dead.

He swings his arms back and then rams his bonds into the glass. 

Thick glass breaks easier when there is a sudden temperature change and enough force. His bonds are diamonds and quartz—pretty hard crystals—and the heat is still there on them. So he rams his bonds into the wall again and again, over and over until he sees a spiderweb-like crack spread out from where he’s hitting.

With the glass now compromised, he takes the electricity remaining in the taser and aims it at the wall, completely shattering the glass. They think his bonds prevent him from using his powers but all they really do is dampen them so he had to compromise the wall first before using the electricity. The glass comes crashing down, tiny fragments falling to the ground like sharp rain.

Not caring about the glass at the bottom of his feet, he steps out of his cell for the first time in two years. He’s dealt with much worse than some glass.

He goes over to the burner who is still shaking on the ground. He looks to the man with cold, hard eyes. The burns on his wrists could still be felt and today wasn’t even a heavy burn. This man took too much pleasure hurting him.

“They say nothing that can conduct electricity is in here but they forget that humans can be conductors too. How does it feel to be the one burning now?” He says.

Just to be spiteful, he sends a few more shocks into the burner’s body, watching with uncaring eyes as the man shakes more.

He turns around to another guard, the new guard. He bends down and grabs his keys and ID.

“Thanks for the charge, really needed that. I’m going to leave now, I have to break these cuffs and then get out of here. Shouldn’t be too hard right?” He says to the convulsing man.

He steps over the man, leaving the guards to lie where they are.

As he walks up the hall, he can begin to feel like light pulses of electricity on the other end. He’s been dying to feel electric pulses again, to feel it flow through him. It’s been way too long.

“I’m back.”

~~~

He gently sets the flowers down on each of their graves.

He doesn’t know if it’s cliché or ironic that the day he goes to visit their graves is the day that is damp and dreary. He can feel the coming wind slip through his hoodie and he knows it’ll only get colder. The legendary Storm couple is gone yet the day their son goes to visit, it looks like a storm is coming. The world has its sense of humor it seems.

“Good ol’ mom and dad, beloved by everyone but yet the only one to leave them flowers is their wayward son. Don’t worry though, I brought you your favorites, lilies for mom and windflowers for dad. Maybe I’m not such a bad son after all. It did take me a bit to find the right flowers,” Minhyung says, still in his squatting position.

The cemetery is empty at this time of morning so he can talk freely without a mask covering his face and muffling his voice. Not that he would care if someone sees him since the only people who were really searching for him were his parents and look where they’re at now. No one else has the capability of putting him away again so why would he care if someone notices him?

“It’s been a while since I’ve talked to you both. Let’s see, I’m sixteen now and you locked me away at nine but you did come to visit me sometime before I broke out at eleven so that’s what, five years since then? My, how you’ve missed so many of my birthdays, I’d be offended if that wasn’t normal for you guys to do. Five years you’ve been looking for me to lock me up again, that’s quite some time. That’s okay though, I had five years to polish myself up and make myself even better at everything you hate but everything that makes me succeed,” he says.

Belatedly, he can hear his mother in his head telling him to take off his hood as a sign of respect so to humor the memory, he pulls down his hood. He can already begin to feel the dampness settle in his hair as he runs his fingers through it. It reminds him of how when he was like six, he thought his mother’s hair was always damp since every time he touched it, it wasn’t dry. He always wondered if she just liked having wet hair due to her powers.

He knows that since the time he broke out of that facility, his parents have been searching for him and only so they could put him back in his cell. They were the only ones who would be able to actually subdue him and send him back to that facility. There were many instances that they almost did run into each other but he was determined not to be locked away again. He guesses he doesn’t have to worry about that now.

“You know, despite the fact that you put me away in that facility, I didn’t want to get revenge on you like everyone assumed I would. I wouldn’t say that I forgive you but I understand that you were doing the ‘hero’ thing by doing that. There were other ways to get me to stop but maybe you weren’t smart enough to see those ways. Or maybe you just didn’t want to look for any other way than the one you wanted. Oh well, whatever your reason I can’t necessarily say that I hate you surprisingly.”

He remembers the times his parents would visit him in the facility. It wasn’t often but when they did come, they always had that look as if they were trying to figure out where they went wrong. Maybe if they weren’t so focused on being heroes and “good people” they would have known where they went wrong.

“I wonder if you realized where being a hero got you in the end. You saved those people but yet you lost your lives in the process. Is that the reward you wanted? It’s a shame you never learned that no good deed goes unpunished, maybe you would have still been living if you did. I tried to show you that it wasn’t worth it devoting your life to helping others but you didn’t want to pay attention. Oh well, too late now I suppose,” he chuckles sardonically to himself. 

He always did tell them that what he did was not only fun but self-benefiting. Apparently, you stay alive longer when you take life the way he does. They should have listened.

“Hmm, maybe you did breed a monster; I thought coming here would finally trigger that overwhelming grief people always have with these types of situations. I’m disappointed that you couldn’t have seen me one more time and attempted to accept me but I can’t say I’m missing you dearly. It seems that part of human emotion still doesn’t work in me. Guess I didn’t change as I got older as you were hoping for. Maybe you should have put me in public school so I could learn those ‘crucial social development skills’ you always talked about.”

When he found out his parents died while saving people, he didn’t feel torn or devastated or any of those types of emotions. A bit sad, yes. He even wished they could have had one last conversation together or at least they could have seen how he has grown since they last saw him. He’s no longer thin and scrawny as he was when they saw him in the facility; he’s changed a lot physically—even putting on a bit of muscle—so it would have been nice if they saw that growth. But he definitely isn’t crushed or in any way changing his ways. To him, it is what it is.

He stands up, knees feeling a bit weird from being in a crouching position for too long. He figures it’s about time he gets going, he does have a flight to catch later on.

“I’m going to leave now, I have to do some final things before my flight. I’m moving to South Korea you know. You always said that you wanted me to connect with my Korean heritage more—which is why you named me Minhyung—so I thought that I’d finally listen to you and give it a try. Speaking of names, I’m changing mine. I’m starting over completely. I’ll keep Lee since there are plenty of Lees in Korea but Minhyung has to go. I’m changing my name to Mark—isn’t that funny? A Korean name in Canada but an English name in Korea. Anyway, I’ll be starting new so I won’t be associated with anything here. I thought I’d go cause an issue in a different country and see how their Enhanced scene works. I just wanted to say goodbye before I left, that’s all. For your sake, I hope people come to visit you. Let that foolish hero title you treasured so much mean something for once,” he says.

He thought he’d do the right thing and give this part of his life a proper close by saying goodbye to his parents one last time. He may not be grieving over them but they still were his parents. He has enough of a heart to at least visit them before leaving. After this though, he’s walking away from this part of his life completely. Why cause trouble in this country that already knows measures against him—measures he can get around admittedly but that's not the point—when he can just start again? In a new place, he can raise the bar for himself. He’ll be free of these people always trying to hunt him down and he’ll get to see what he’s really capable of. It just all works out in his favor.

“Goodbye mom, goodbye dad. I doubt we’ll see each other in the next life but who knows. I’ll say hi to Korea for you.”

He turns around and begins to walk away from their graves, leaving the first part of his old life behind. 

As he walks away, a flash of lightning shoots across the sky, breaking the clouds that were barely holding up. As he feels the lightning mirroring its course in his veins, rain begins to fall, reminding him of his mother’s power. A stiff wind pushes past him and he looks up to the sky with a smug smile.

“Nice try, but I’m still not changing,” he says.

He continues to walk, almost feeling at home in the midst of the rainstorm.

Maybe it is cliché that there’s a storm the day he came to visit.

Chapter Text

Two years in Korea and counting.

Mark actually kinda likes it here. He thinks he made a good choice by moving here when he did. With a few falsified documents and some “minor” hacking into government systems, he was able to ensure that he could move here without any issues. He may raise some eyebrows in the street at times but nothing that would cause someone to do some research on him—not like it would help, he covered his tracks completely. Yes, Lee Mark is a citizen of Korea in all records—whether or not it was obtained legally—and he likes it here.

There is one major difference between here and Canada that he doesn’t know yet if he likes or dislikes. 

Their Enhanced scene.

Here in Korea, it’s almost as if it has its own culture. In Canada, if you were an Enhanced it wasn’t really looked at any particular way. You weren’t hated nor were you favored, generally speaking. There were heroes, yes, and the people loved them but heroes were like how you see firefighters. They were basically like civil servants. But here in Korea, heroes are actually heroes. They’re what you’d see in comic books, maybe on a slightly lower scale. Here, they actually use the terms “villain” and “hero” whereas, in Canada, only the term hero is used and what would be villains are just called threats. Korea is also very particular with how they label threats. It is clear that a delinquent is different than a criminal which is different than a villain. You can be robbing banks left and right but you’d only be considered a criminal and not a villain depending on your threat level. In simple words, if you need a hero to come on the scene, you are a villain.

Mark, at this point in time, is only considered a delinquent at most here. He almost feels offended about it, to be honest. He wasn’t locked away in level eight maximum security for two years by his parents only to be considered a delinquent by people. He’s too strong and too smart to be labeled as just a delinquent. But he’ll take it for now. He’s still technically settling in, he can’t go stealing government secrets again just yet. Besides, it’s not as if he is striving to be any particular title, he’s just here to cause some trouble and have fun with his powers and freedom. So he’ll be patient.

“You’d think though knocking out power for the entire business district would at least get you some recognition. Oh well, I just wanted to test my powers today anyway, so it’s whatever. I’ll ruin someone else’s day another time.”

Sitting on top of his building’s roof, he stretches his hand to the sky as if he could reach the stars. 

It’s become a habit for him to watch the night sky before going to bed. Though it’s already been seven years since he was last in that facility, he remembers clearly how he only saw whatever was in his cell—which wasn’t much—and the guards that rotated shifts. The outside world was completely out of reach for him for two long years. When he escaped and finally reached the outside, it was nighttime and the stars were high in the sky. He found more beauty in the night sky that night and since then, he has been watching the stars each night before bed. It brings him a sense of peace and freedom. He’s fortunate that he has the top apartment of this building because it makes it easier for him to come up to the roof without anyone seeing him.

As he looks up to the sky, he can feel the different sources of electricity all around him. From the power lines above head to the family watching TV apartments below his, he can faintly feel each of those sources. It’s another feeling he missed in the facility. There’s nothing like feeling the pulse of electricity all around him. It’s as if it’s all his own heartbeat. The feeling of electricity is as normal for him to feel as it is feeling his pulse. Imagine what it was like to not feel your own pulse anymore. They said he looked lifeless but they don’t know how accurate that was to how he felt.

“I wonder how far I can go before I have a hero after me. Heroes in Canada would have been alerted already but Korea isn’t like that. Maybe I can turn this into a game. See how far I can push the envelope before I cause a hero to jump in,” he murmurs to himself.

He did say that he wanted to see what his capabilities were so maybe he can turn this strange hero scene into something he can use. Climbing up their threat ladder seems like a fun challenge. He’s not sure if he wants to be a “villain”—the villains here are much too cliché for his liking so would he really want to be associated with that—but being known as a big enough threat to be a top tier criminal does sound entertaining. It seems like something he could achieve in a good amount of time and have a good time doing.

Besides, it would be pretty interesting to see if he could handle himself against a hero if need be. That would be a fun little test of power for him.

He thinks in a bit more time, he’ll be fully settled in and going about the actions that caused him to be viewed as such a big threat in Canada. If he’s not going to make his parents proud then he might as well give them a damn good reason to be disappointed in him. He’ll be the best little monster they ever created.

He chuckles to himself at that thought. No wonder why his parents always gave him that look each time they came to visit him, they always did say that his heart didn't seem to be functioning properly. He was disappointing them since the very first time he stole that toy from his neighbor’s child and made the boy climb to the top shelf like he did. Well, attempt to climb to the shelf, the little boy fell down trying to copy him and broke his leg. Apparently, Mark’s parents did not find it as funny as he did and that became the first official day that his parents started giving him that look.

Such a shame isn’t it? For his parents he means—he quite enjoys how he is.

His phone buzzes, letting him know that it’s time for him to go inside. He’s been up since early morning so he didn’t want to spend too much time outside tonight.

He stands up, stretching his limbs out after sitting cross-legged for some time. It’s time to say goodnight to the stars.

He doesn’t get the chance to.

An invisible force grabs him by the neck roughly from behind. He struggles against it, lightning jumping at his fingertips, ready to shock who or whatever it is. But he can neither see or feel whatever is behind him when he reaches out, his hand only touching the air each time.

His world begins to blur and his head feels heavy. A point on his neck is hurting so he’s taking the guess that he was injected with something. He tries to fight against it though, refusing to go down like this. He lets stray bolts fly, hoping that one of them will hit his attacker.

He feels his lightning fizzle out though and he drops to his knees, his body giving in to whatever was injected into him. He doesn’t hear any footsteps behind him or any movement in general; he’d think that his mind was playing tricks on him if he wasn’t struggling just to breathe normally right now.

His body finally loses its fight and the last thing he sees is his world turning upside down as he hits the concrete.

~~~

The world appears again through a glass wall.

Mark groans as his sight comes back to him slowly. His head is pounding and his body is heavy, it feels like there’s lead sitting in his bones. 

It’s when he tries to sit up and his hand lands on something cool and smooth does he try to figure out what’s going on.

Glass.

Glass here, glass there, he’s surrounded by glass. He’s in a glass box.

His mind starts to kick in, remembering the pain in his neck to him passing out. Flashbacks of the facility’s cell rush into his head but worse since this box is smaller significantly. He could probably stand up in here but he doesn’t think he wants to try it and end up finding out that the box is even smaller than he’s thinking. As his eyes scan the box, he sees no holes, slits, or anything else for air.

You’re going to die.

With the unhelpful contribution from his brain, his body kicks into gear, forgetting the lead in his bones.

He kicks at the glass, testing out the strength of it. When his foot comes in contact with it, however, he realizes that this isn’t just any glass. It’s plexiglass.

‘Alright, you’re in a plexiglass box with no opening for air. If you start panicking now, you’ll end up suffocating yourself faster and won’t even have the chance to find out what the hell is going on. Stay calm and you have a better chance at living. It’s not your first time trapped in a box.’

Some people used to say that his cold logic was the most disturbing thing about him but he finds it to be of use at times. Why let himself freak out and suffocate himself faster when he can force himself to stay as calm as possible? He isn’t going to break this plexiglass by hyperventilating.

“You aren’t going to be able to break that glass.”

If Mark wasn’t so curious about who was saying that he would have rolled his eyes for the wannabe dramatic entrance.

Five people come into his line of view—certainly not from Korea—and he doesn’t know if the cliché entrance irritates him or the smug look on one of the people’s faces does. He thinks it’s both if he’s being honest.

“You don’t say? I thought I could break plexiglass, silly me,” he responds sarcastically.

He’s slightly satisfied when he sees the guy with the smug look on his frown at his response. He’s taking it as that’s the person who spoke first.

This guy has a—clearly old—burn mark from his left eye down to the corner of his lip. So many smart comments come to Mark’s mind at the sight of it.

“A smart mouth aren’t you? Keep on talking if you want to lose air quicker. You only have-”

“About less than four hours of air in this box, yes I know, I did the math. So if you don’t mind, before I pass out from lack of air, may you tell me who the hell are you and why I shouldn’t fry you to a crisp when I get out of here? Oh wait, someone seemed to have already done that to you so maybe I should think of a different threat,” Mark says, cutting him off.

The guy’s frown turns into a scowl. 

Mark thinks he’s going to call this guy Red since that burn was probably really red when it happened and because every other part of him has color but that part of his face.

“You think you’re so bad? That’s a big attitude for someone who is locked in a box,” Red says.

This time, Mark does roll his eyes.

“I’m sorry, did you expect me to be cordial after waking up in here? Sorry to tell you but I don’t meet a lot of people’s expectations,” Mark replies.

Red glares at him but before he can say anything else, one of the others step forward. 

This one is a woman with ashen white eyes that remind him of how his eyes change when he’s drained. He’s going to call this one Phantom because that’s the vibe she gives off for some reason.

“We’re not here to go back and forth with a kid,” she says.

“I’m eighteen, lady. And if we’re being technical, I don’t know why you’re here. I don’t even know why I’m here so might as well fill in the time,” Mark says.

Unlike Red, her facial expression doesn’t change so he doesn’t know if he got under her skin with that comment. It’s alright though, he’s bound to eventually either piss someone off or find out why he’s here—maybe even both if he’s lucky—so he won’t stress it.

“As I said, we aren’t here to go back and forth with a kid. If it makes things easier, I have no problem injecting you again,” Phantom says.

Injecting him again? Is she the one that grabbed him on his roof? Maybe he was more accurate with the name he gave her than he realized because it really was like a phantom was holding him. He’s going to guess that she must have some type of invisibility power. If it wasn’t used to lock him up in this box, he would have said that that’s a pretty cool power.

Another one of them steps forward with a tablet in his hand and Mark can only describe him by his hideous goatee. He knows he called Korea’s villains cliché but he didn’t think that they were this bad.

“The boy’s all talk but he’s nothing without his lightning. That restraint injection is still in his veins so he won’t be accessing his power for a while,” Goatee says.

The comment reminds him of those doctors that would sometimes come and check on him while he was in his cell. They would read off reports about him as if he wasn’t even in the room and as if he was some subject and not a person. He doesn’t like those memories.

The last two—a boy and a girl—step forward in unison and Mark can already tell what their specialty is. Twins who share a power that’s no doubt telepathy.

“Then shouldn’t we get on with it then?” They both say at the same time.

Mark makes a face. Even he's going to admit that that is pretty unsettling.

“They’re right, let’s get on with this,” Phantom says.

“Yes, let’s. Now is any one of you going to tell me why you kidnapped me or am I going to have to play the guessing game?” Mark says.

Red gives him another glare but speaks up anyway.

“You have something we want brat,” he says.

“What? Power? Smarts? A normal face?” Mark responds.

Phantom holds out her hand to stop Red from either advancing or saying something else—Mark isn’t too sure—and chooses to speak instead.

“Nine years ago you broke into a science lab and stole classified files that they destroyed after your ‘visit’. While they don’t know the specifics of what you stole, we do. In one of those files was the partial work of a team that was trying to create the first power enhancer. We want it,” she says.

Mark’s entire demeanor changes at the words, going from snarky to serious in a matter of seconds.

“How do you know about that?” He asks.

“We followed you from Canada, Minhyung Lee. While you were in that facility, we couldn’t touch you. Even after you broke out, with the Storm heroes around, we couldn’t do much when it came to finding you. If they couldn’t find you, we definitely couldn’t. But then you moved here. We purposely waited some time so you could let your guard down. You thought no one would be after you here since you changed everything. Well, I guess you were wrong,” Phantom says.

Mark’s eyes widen in surprise before they narrow in anger.

They followed him here from Canada for something he stole when he was nine? He doesn’t know if he’s more upset at the fact that they actually followed him all this way after so many years or that he let his guard down and didn’t realize that he was being followed.

“First of all, you’re real desperate if you decided to follow me for nine years and move all the way across the world after me. Secondly, you said it yourself, the notes are partial. The experiment was shut down after it failed horribly and their test subject exploded . They destroyed those notes for a reason. I doubt five idiots like you can succeed when the top scientists failed,” he responds.

Admittedly, Mark knows success is possible—after all, he stole them for a reason. From the brief look at the notes he’s had, he knows that he could fix where they went wrong, already finding mistakes after a few glances. Maybe it’s just his irritation talking but he doesn’t see Red or Goatee over there finding and fixing those mistakes.

“And that’s where you’re wrong. You may be some little prodigy but I was on that team of scientists. I told them we didn’t have to shut down the project but no one listened to me. And then you came along and destroyed the entire lab, stealing every piece of confidential information you could find. What would a nine-year-old need with that information, I still don’t know, but the fact is you got your hands on those notes before I did so I would like my work back now,” Phantom says.

So she was one of the scientists working on the project? That doesn’t surprise Mark much but it does prove to him her lack of intelligence. She was on the project and couldn’t get the information for herself, what can she do now? She failed once and he’s sure she’d fail again if he was stupid enough to give it to her.

“Sorry hag but you’re not getting it. I stole those documents at nine but yet you were like, what, twenty-something and still couldn’t get your hands on them? As much as I’d love to see one of you explode from the failed experiment, I’m not giving you a thing. I got locked away for my actions you know, why should I give you my reward?” Mark says.

If he’s being honest, he hasn’t thought about those documents in years until now. He almost forgot the specifics of what he stole. It’s all just sitting on a special flash drive he has that he hasn’t touched in years. But he’s not going to hand it over after everything, even if he did forget about it. He didn’t rot away for two years just for someone else to have the benefits.

“It wasn’t a choice you little nuisance. Hand over the documents,” Red says.

“No. If you’re so smart, go figure it all out on our own,” Mark shoots back.

This time, Phantom’s expression does change and she glowers at him. It looks like she wants to say or do something to him in retaliation for his defiance. He glares back though with equal force, not going to back down to her.

“Ten more minutes,” Goatee says.

The comment snaps Phantom out of her glaring contest with him and she turns away with her head held high in the air.

“Fine, we gave you your choice. If you want to play that way then we can play. You’ll break eventually,” she says.

Though she isn’t looking at him, he still maintains his glare on her back.

“We’ll see about that,” Mark says.

~~~

The world is gray.

And it isn’t the plexiglass walls fogging up.

Everything around him has lost its color and all he can see is gray. Nothing has a color and everything seems dull. It’s not as if he’s looking at much though.

They’ve moved him to a new glass box and a new room. This box has holes in it so he can breathe and a little slot so they can give him food. He doesn’t trust the food though because five out of ten times, the food is drugged with something. Sometimes he has to take that fifty-fifty chance but other times, he completely avoids it. The slot where the food comes through isn’t big enough for him to do anything, though, so the new box isn’t of any use to him other than the fact that he can breathe now.

The room he’s in is dark, cold, and has no electricity whatsoever. He thinks it’s a basement of some sort but he can’t really tell. It’s darker down here than it ever was in his childhood cell since these people aren’t kind enough to leave torches in here for him. The only thing in here is a small little candle that burns out way before anyone comes to light it again or replace it. He didn’t realize it was possible for him to grow attached to a candle but each time the candle flickers out he feels something in him do so too. It’s his only source of light but even that is gray in his eyes.

These people are doing more than just draining him. They want to make sure every last drop of life is out of him until he’s broken and they can get what they want. Maybe it’s also because of whatever drugs they keep slipping him but he feels more drained now than he has ever felt locked away in that cell. It’s so bad that sometimes, he has to physically check to make sure that his heart is indeed beating because he feels as if the life in him is gone. Gray and slow, that’s how the world moves for him.

But that doesn’t mean he’s giving in.

There are a lot of things that his parents taught him that he threw out the window but if it’s one thing they taught him that he kept, it’s not to be a quitter. He doesn’t give in to anyone and he’s definitely not giving into these people. At this point, it’s not even about the fact that he doesn’t want them to have what he stole. He’s not giving in just so he can piss them off. He may have to sit here in this box for all this time but they’re not getting what they want either. That alone keeps him satisfied.

He hears the sound of the creaky wooden door opening and then footsteps going down the stairs that must be in the room.

He hopes it not the twins again, those two really disturb him especially when they try to get into his head.

The candle is unlit again so he just listens to the sounds around him until he hears the familiar swoosh sound of the fire coming into existence. He finally lifts up his head to see who brought his only peace back to life.

Red.

“Well well, that really is like your bell. Do you like the little candle?” He says.

Mark doesn’t respond though because he knows that this man hates him enough to permanently take away his only source of comfort in this room just to spite him. He will neither let him know if he likes the candle nor if he dislikes it because either answer can lead to a result he doesn’t want.

“Have you lost your voice? With those eyes of yours I’m pretty sure you lost your sight as well,” Red taunts.

“I have neither lost my voice or my sight. I can see you clearly,” Mark responds.

It’s in gray but he can still see the annoying man.

“You know, I have to give you credit kid, you have some endurance. Your stubbornness is annoying though. We already searched your house so we know you’re hiding it somewhere. Just start speaking and we don’t have to see each other ever again,” Red says.

Mark knows that the five completely ransacked his house, searching for what they want on their own after he refused the first few times. He’d be a fool though if he left his flash drive where anyone could find it. No matter how hard they search, they aren’t finding that flash drive so they need him to speak up about its location. Because of that, his stay here has been longer than expected by any one of them. He isn’t giving up before them though.

“Your persistence is equally as annoying. I already told you, I’m not telling you. Figure it out on your own if you’re so desperate,” Mark replies.

The life may be out of him but his snarkiness sure isn’t. He’ll hold on to it as long as he can, especially if he can use it to frustrate them.

“Make a smart choice for once in your life kid. You tell us what we want to know and we let you go after we succeed. Stop making this harder for all of us,” Red says.

“So what you’re saying is that I’ll never get out of here, great to know,” Mark replies snidely.

He sees Red’s jaw tighten a bit. Red is the easiest for him to get under his skin out of the five. In all honesty, outside of this situation, that would have been a really fun fact for him to know. He loves getting under people’s skin but right now he’s doing it out of spite not out of fun.

“You and your smart mouth need to be taught a lesson. What did a kid like you do that you think you can hold yourself so high up?” Red says.

“I don’t know, maybe steal from one of the most well respected and accredited labs and destroy half of their facility all at the age of nine. Break out of level eight maximum security at age eleven and stayed hidden for five years. Moved to a whole new country with a completely new identity on all government papers at the age of sixteen. I have a few accomplishments under my belt that give me reason to think that I’m pretty great,” Mark responds.

If his sight wasn’t gray he would have seen the warning red in Red’s eyes before it happened.

He shouts as the bottom of his box heats up considerably.

Red’s power is fire/heat—reminding Mark much too much of the burner guard that would always watch him—and he has no problem using it on Mark. Before Mark could tell when it was about to happen because Red’s eyes would turn red first before he used his powers. But now with his gray eyesight, Mark had no warning. The burning sensation just happened and he had no time to prepare himself.

“You think you’re so great? You’re just a little brat who had his ego fed too much,” Red says.

Mark uselessly tries to avoid the hot parts of his box but the entire floor feels like it’s on fire, leaving his feet burning.

“You say that but you had to keep my powers limited so I’m not a threat. You know what I’m capable of,” Mark spits back through gritted teeth.

The floor becomes even hotter and he bites his tongue to prevent a loud scream from coming out of his mouth.

“You don’t know what a threat is. All you are is a joke. A little child who got gifted with good powers. You think those things you did were big? News flash: they only treated you so seriously because your parents told them to. If they just took the time out to think they’d realize that you were and are nothing. You were big for a nine-year-old but out in the real world, you mean nothing. You can’t even call yourself a criminal. You’re just a wannabe bad boy,” Red says.

With each sentence said, the box gets hotter, all of the walls around him becoming engulfed in heat. His skin is burning and there’s not a single spot of cool relief.

Mark is unable to hold back his scream as the temperature rises.

“Look at you, you couldn’t free yourself after all of this time, you couldn’t prevent yourself from being taken, you couldn’t even realize that you were being followed all of this time. You are nothing. You are weak and you are meant to be weak. That power you have is something you don’t deserve,” Red says.

The pain is unbearable for Mark. All around him is just heat and his skin is burning beyond compare.

You’re going to die.

His mind again supplies the comment unhelpfully.

You’re going to die.

The bottom of his feet can no longer be felt and he’s sure they’re a color they shouldn’t be.

You’re going to die.

He doesn’t know if the temperature raised even more or if it’s all in his head now.

YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!

He snaps.

Adrenaline rushes through his veins—the most alive he has felt in some time—and he swings back his arm and punches the hot glass with a loud shout. Like a wild animal trying to break free from its prison, he attacks the wall relentlessly. He punches and kicks and scratches, he even rams his head into it. No pain is felt from either the force or the burns as he goes completely ballistic on his cage’s wall.

Red backs up, not knowing what he’s supposed to do. He didn’t expect the kid to flip out like this.

The color leaves his face when he hears the sound of cracking coming from the box.

Science calls it hysterical strength, something people receive only when their body is under extreme stress and thinks its in a life or death situation. The person receives what seems to be superhuman strength, even for an Enhanced, and can do feats that could have never been done normally.

Hysterical strength plus heated plexiglass equals a situation even Red knows is not good.

The cracking sound becomes even louder with each forceful hit that is given to the wall. Even as blood tints the glass itself, the hits don’t stop and the cracking keeps happening.

Finally, it all breaks.

The plexiglass wall breaks into chunks, falling to the ground in dull thumps.

Mark steps out, breathing heavy, shoulders and head hanging, and his knuckles bleeding. 

“Weak...I’m weak...I’m meant to be weak…” Mark says under his breath.

He looks up to Red with his gray, dull eyes and Red believes he has seen death in person at this very moment.

“I’m not a threat huh?” He asks.

He picks up one of the broken pieces on the ground and steps forward, body and eyes lifeless and a certain deathly feeling to him. He gives the aura of death.

Admittedly panicked, Red heats up the floor beneath Mark’s feet in an attempt to stop him from coming any further.

He’s completely startled—and frightened—when the younger keeps on advancing towards him.

“Well maybe I should fix that,” Mark says.

The scream that follows after is one everyone heard.

~~~

Mark looks up to the stars for the first time in days.

“She escaped. Damn invisibility,” he says to the sky.

He watches as the stars twinkle and he wants to believe that that is their way of responding to him.

“Every time I break free, I come out to be greeted by the stars. Maybe it’s fate,” he says.

The road he’s on is completely empty, not a person for as far as the eye can see. It’s just him and the stars and he’s perfectly fine with that. 

Where should he go?

Those people knew where he lived, who’s to say someone else hasn’t been following him as well? She’s still on the loose, she could come back for him and try something else. What should he do then? Move away? Find her?

“You were big for a nine-year-old but out in the real world, you mean nothing.”

Mark freezes as the words suddenly play in his head.

He does mean something. He is a threat. Look what he did; they’re all gone and he put her on the run this time. She ran away from him.

“You can’t even call yourself a criminal. You’re just a wannabe bad boy.”

“Shut up. I’m more than that,” he mumbles.

“Look at you, you couldn’t free yourself after all of this time, you couldn’t prevent yourself from being taken, you couldn’t even realize that you were being followed all of this time. You are nothing. ”

He did free himself though. He freed himself and paid them back for what they did. He is something and he did something.

“You are weak and you are meant to be weak. That power you have is something you don’t deserve.”

“I AM NOT WEAK!” He shouts, firing a bolt straight into the night sky.

His shoulders rise and fall roughly as his breathing becomes heavy, as if he was fighting all over again. Lightning dances on his hands wildly, lighting up the dried blood on them like a highlighter.

“I am not weak. I am not meant to be weak. I was made to have this power. I was made to be powerful,” he says, glaring at the ground as if it was the one that told him those words.

All his life people wanted him to be weak. His parents wanted him to have a weak personality so he could fit their hero mold. Those guards wanted him to be weak so their job didn’t have to be so hard. Civilians wanted him to be weak so they wouldn’t have to worry about a little child with powers. Those people wanted him to be weak so they could steal what he already took. They all want him weak.

A child. A delinquent. A wannabe bad boy. How dare people refer to him like that? How dare they not see him as someone with power who should be taken seriously?

He looks down to his hands. There’s electricity on them, there’s blood on them, and there’s burned skin. All of it is there because they wanted him weak and didn’t see him as a threat.

“They all want me weak? Fine. Then I’ll just make myself stronger.”

He clenches his fist as his resolves settles in his heart.

“I’ll show all of these cliché villains what a real villain looks like. And the first thing I’m going to do is succeed in the project those fives wanted to do,” he says.

He’ll use those notes he stole and complete the project himself. He’ll never allow himself to be weak in anyone’s eyes again.

“I’ll make them all fear me.”

Chapter Text

He’s figured it out.

After a year and some change, he’s finally figured it all out, down to the very last number. He spent days and nights trying to put it all together, making sure every step made sense, and now, he’s finally finished.

He completed creating the formula plan for the power enhancer.

Mark runs his hand through his black hair—he dyed it a few months after what happened last year—and looks over his completed notes with a smug grin. He’s worked endlessly to create this but at last, he completed it.

Since the day he forced his way out of that box, he has been working on this. Even while he was moving places, he put most of his time and energy into this. The records he stole ten years ago are only partial notes of the process and jottings of the end result so he didn’t have much to work with and a lot to figure out. Not to mention that it wasn’t only about completing the formula but also about correcting it since the one the scientists first made went terribly wrong. He had to figure out where things could have gone wrong and then fix them all himself, not a very easy task. He was determined though. He was going to figure out the proper formula for a power enhancer no matter what.

And he did.

He ran his work through every calculation possible and checked it against every theory relatable, this formula has the highest chance of success that one could make in this case. There’s a chance for failure, yes, but he’s willing to take that risk. What he has right now is going to be his best work ever.

“Now, I just have to start collecting all of the proper ingredients and find the proper equipment,” he says.

The ingredients will be relatively easy for him to acquire so that shouldn’t take him too long. The equipment though will be his problem. Not just any old lab equipment will work for this. There is a specific and precise process he’ll have to go through to make this so finding the right instruments will take more time. He’s prepared for that though. He waited this long to complete the planning, he can continue to wait to actually begin making his mixture.

He places his notes down and gets up to grab his laptop. It’s time for him to do some research to see where he can find the instruments that he needs.

When he gets up, he notices that the sun is pretty much gone already. He checks his phone and sees that it’s almost seven in the evening. He didn’t realize the day going by him; the last time he looked at the time it was only a bit after twelve and now it’s approaching seven. He was really that consumed in his work.

He continues to go get his laptop but also grabs a candle on his way back to his desk.

He won’t admit it to being anything psychological but since that day, he lights a candle every night. Some nights he sleeps with it—dangerous he knows but ask him if he cares—and other nights he just has it as a companion of sorts before he goes out to see the stars. He tells himself that he wasn’t in that box long enough for his sudden use of candles to be blamed on that but deep down inside he knows that that most likely isn’t true. Either way, he likes to see a candle lit every night and likes the feeling of knowing he can blow it out or light it whenever he wants.

When he gets back to his desk, candle and laptop in hand, he sets down his laptop first, moving his notes to the side of it. Then he sets the candle on the corner of the desk and lights it with the lighter he always keeps on his desk. Just the sound of it being lit is pleasing to him.

He opens his laptop and wastes no time getting to work. He at least wants to begin the researching process today.

“Let’s see what I can find,” he mumbles.

He starts to search up the different labs in Korea and different scientists. He gets the normal results he was pretty much expecting—where they went to college, what their discipline is, and the occasional “the lab was shut down” story.

From articles to journals to interviews to even videos, Mark searches everything he can think of to at least give him a start in this process. Nothing leads him anywhere though and he’s running out of ideas on what to search for. It doesn’t help that he’s limited to a regular search engine since what he’s looking for is a bit more complicated than what a google search would usually give. Maybe he has to hack into some scientists’ computers to find out more sensitive information about the labs. But where can he find the needed information on Korea’s scientists that go past the basic nonsense these sites are showing?

Just as he asks the question in his mind, he reaches the bottom of the current article he’s reading and sees a link title that catches his eye.

“NCT saves organic chemist from an experiment gone wrong,” he reads aloud.

He decides to click on it, intrigued by the title and curious about what the article is about.

A group of heroes—a popular group of heroes—saves a chemist from their failed experiment that was only seconds away from becoming a death cloud of smoke. It says that the heroes also handled the failed experiment so that no one else could be hurt in any way. The chemist tells reporters that they owe their life to those heroes and they’re so glad that there are people like that around to look out for them.

“A group of heroes huh?” He says.

He starts to search up more articles on this particular group to see what else they have done.

Scientists, doctors, lawyers, businesspeople, officials; this group has helped all of them at one point in time or another. They have interviews with these people and even help them out with certain jobs on some occasions. In other words, this group appears to have close contact with some important people.

“They’re well-liked, extremely favored, and highly trusted. Sounds like they really made a name for themselves,” he says.

More importantly, it sounds like they would have access to information the general public would not.

“Korea’s hero scene does give more importance and privileges to its heroes, it would make sense if such a popular group has access to important information. Not to mention that they meet important people from time to time,” he muses.

An idea starts to form in his head. Maybe he can work with this information. He could kill two birds with one stone if he plans this correctly.

After going over it a bit in his head, he picks up his phone and dials a number. He smirks when the call is answered.

“Good evening. There’s something I’d like to talk to you about. Why don’t we meet for coffee?”

~~~

Mark walks back to the table with two cups of coffee in his hands.

“Here’s your order with extra whipped cream as asked,” he says, setting down the cup in front of the sun-kissed male.

He takes his seat across from him.

“How kind of you. But you know my talk costs more than a cup of coffee and a smile,” the male says.

Mark chuckles as he takes a sip of his own drink, expecting no less from the younger.

He sets down the cup and grabs his bag. He goes in one of the pockets and takes out a box.

“Of course I know that. Here’s your payment; I expect that you’ll be more open after this,” he says, handing the box over.

The younger takes it, curiosity written on his face. He opens it and his eyes widen in surprise.

“Look at the sparkle of these diamonds. This has to cost a fortune,” he says, running his fingers over the beautiful diamond bracelet.

“It does. Jewelry deliverers are not very careful with packages, much too easy to steal. Do they meet your expensive taste?” Mark responds, a smug smirk on his face.

The younger looks up, trying to hide his satisfaction as always—he takes pride in being a brat—as he closes the box and puts it away in his bag.

“It’ll do,” he says.

Mark shakes his head amusedly.

“You truly are a character, Haechan,” he says.

Haechan—his real name is unknown by many—is a special informant he met sometime back when he first moved to Korea. Though one year younger than him, Haechan seems to know everything and if he doesn’t know something, he has his ways of finding out. He doesn’t just speak to anyone though and if he does talk, his price is high. Mark learned early on that Haechan likes stolen goods more than plain cash. He thinks it has something to do with the fact that someone had to take time and energy to steal it first and the excitement that comes along with holding something stolen. Mark doesn’t complain though since it’s easier for him to steal something than it is to make a stack of money appear.

He likes and trusts Haechan as an informant. The young male doesn’t care about laws or rules as long as he can get what he wants. Mark admires that. He’s not like Mark where most of his wants involve some form of chaos. Instead, he likes to do things off records, in the shadows, and lowkey. He’s a flamboyant person at times but his business is not.

“Thank you, I try. I wonder though, you can steal a beautiful diamond bracelet but you can’t afford to take me out for dinner? I thought you said you wanted to talk about something important,” Haechan says, taking a sip of his drink.

Mark raises his eyebrow in amusement.

“You and I both know I could have gone to your house and demanded that we speak. I was being kind offering to buy you coffee, Donghyuck—oops I mean Haechan,” he says.

He watches as Haechan narrows his eyes but he knows the look isn’t from anger.

“Yah, you’re too smart for your own good, even I can’t find information on you other than what you created. Who told you to go searching for my real name, Lee Mark?” Haechan says.

Mark shrugs his shoulders, drinking his coffee with a satisfied look on his face.

Haechan huffs in response.

“Fine, you were being kind. I didn’t know you knew what that word meant. This must be important,” he says.

Mark smiles in return. 

Despite only meeting Haechan a few times before, he can say that he’s used to his smart remarks and attitude. He even finds it entertaining sometimes. It’s also the younger’s attitude that makes it much easier to want to use him as an informant.

“I’m full of surprises, you know, but yes it is important. I’m sure you can help me though,” Mark says.

“That you are. Why don’t you tell me what’s so important and I’ll see what I can do,” Haechan replies.

Mark takes out his phone and opens it, pulling up a picture. He places it on the table and turns it toward Haechan.

“I want to infiltrate this hero group,” he says.

Haechan chokes on his drink at the words, turning his head away to cough. His face turns slightly red but he’s able to catch his breath in a matter of a few seconds.

“NCT? You want to infiltrate NCT, one of the most popular and successful hero groups around?” Haechan asks incredulously.

He keeps his voice low though as they have been doing. He’s surprised out of his mind but he knows better than to bring attention to them.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I want to do,” Mark says calmly.

Haechan would be more stupefied by Mark’s calm demeanor if he didn’t already know that the older is normally like that. He still can’t believe this idea though.

“Why?” Haechan asks.

The look in Mark’s eyes doesn’t change and Haechan wonders what he has to do to gain that level of freaky composure.

“I need access to some information and as popular heroes, they would have the means to get it. I could try to hack into their mainframe from the outside but it’d be more efficient to do it from within. So I decided to infiltrate their group and get the information that way,” Mark responds.

Part of Haechan really wants to ask what type of information Mark is trying to get but as a general business rule of his, he doesn’t ask for more details than he needs. What his clients do after he gives them the information is not his concern. As long as he gets paid and no one tries to rat him out, he could care less. In this case though, he’s going to refrain from asking mainly because he doesn’t know if he truly wants to know what Mark is planning. He’s no fool, since the moment he met Mark he knew the older isn’t like any of these criminals and villains here.

Quite simply, this boy could be the real deal if he wanted to be and Haechan is not ready to receive more evidence of that yet.

“Alright, alright, I can understand that I think. Where do I come in then?” He asks.

Mark offers him a smile in an attempt to keep a light mood between them.

“You know more about the heroes here than I do so I need your knowledge to help me figure out the best way to get in. I need you to tell me what you know about this group. How they run, what they’re like, things of that nature,” he responds.

He can’t just walk up to this group without any prior knowledge, he’d be asking for failure. The more he knows about them the better. It’ll also help make him seem more interested in the heroes when he goes to them.

“Information on them? Where should I begin? Do you want like a presentation or something ‘cause you can’t really expect me to just spit information from the top of my head right?” Haechan says, trying to wrap his head around everything.

Mark smirks. It’s not often that you get to see know-it-all Haechan confused.

“Since I’m so kind and I appreciate your work, I’ll take you up on that presentation offer. I need as much information on them that you can give me. I’ll even take you out for dinner like you want. You can hand me a flash drive then. Sounds fair?” He says.

Haechan makes as face as if he’s trying to figure something out.

“I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or serious but I’m not letting you take back that dinner offer. I don’t turn down free food and am not above forcing people to pay for my food. Give me three days and you’ll have the best compilation of information that you can have. I’ll be expecting a nice restaurant in return, I don’t let people just take me out anywhere you know,” he replies.

“Alright then, it’s a deal. In three days, we’ll meet again. I don’t think I have to tell you but this isn’t a small thing I’m planning so every step has to have as little error as possible. We’d hate if something went wrong if we can avoid it, now wouldn’t we,” Mark says, lifting up his cup to drink.

As he does so, small sparks jump from his fingertips slightly and Haechan catches the subtle threat.

Mark may be friendly to him but whatever he is planning is much more important to him than remaining cordial.

“Oh of course. We want everything to go great,” Haechan says with a nervous chuckle.

He does not want to know what Mark’s electricity feels like. If he can stay on the older’s good side then that’s exactly what he’s going to do.

Mark sets down the cup with a smile.

“Great! Glad we’re on the same page. Thank you for meeting up with me on such short notice. Your flexibility is appreciated,” he says.

“I usually don’t do last-minute meetups but you’re one of my better clients—I know you’ll pay well. Besides, you’re pretty interesting. Unpredictable but interesting. You don’t call me for just anything so I was willing to make the exception this time,” Haechan responds.

A bit too unpredictable at times, if he’s being honest—he doesn’t know what he’s signing himself up for sometimes when it comes to dealing with Mark—but it does keep him on his toes and things intriguing.

A silence fills the space between them. It’s neither uncomfortable nor comfortable, it’s just there. They just drink their coffee, not saying anything to each other.

As they do, Haechan’s eyes land on Mark’s hands again and this time he actually gets a good look at them.

The skin on them is burned. And from how they look, it looks like they’ve been burned for a while. Were they always like that? Is it only his hands that are burned or does he have more burns?

He makes a decision that he may or may not end up regretting later and sets down his cup. He goes into his wallet and takes out a card. He holds it out to Mark.

“Here, it’s the number to a close friend of mine; he’s a healer. I’m not trying to be nosy or assuming or anything but I noticed the burns on your hands. I don’t know if you have any more but if you want to have the least problems with this plan of yours, you should probably get the burns healed. Heroes like to pry and will ask about your old injuries. If you don’t give a good answer, they’ll go searching into your history and won’t trust you that much. If you heal your burns then that’s one less thing they can question you on,” he says.

Mark looks at the card, eyebrow raised at the sudden comment.

He knows that his scarred skin catches eyes but enough for Haechan to recommend a healer to him? He wasn’t expecting that.

“I had these burns for a year now, they aren’t going away. Your concern is surprising but thanks for it,” he replies.

Haechan shakes his head no.

“That’s nothing. I had a scar from when I was six that he healed when I was fourteen so I know he can heal your burns. Your skin will look as good as new so you don’t have to worry about that,” he says.

Mark is a bit caught aback by that. A healer that can even heal old scars? You have to be pretty good at your power and pretty strong with them for that. But can he really heal these burns? They are pretty bad.

He hates seeing them though. He hates looking at his feet and hands and being reminded of that death box. He damaged the hell out of his skin when he broke out of it. It took him a while but he eventually accepted—somewhat—that he would have to live with that physical reminder of what happened. If he can get rid of them though, why wouldn’t he take the chance to?

He takes the card.

“How much will this referral cost me?” He asks.

“Nothing, I’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart. I know you don’t have a functioning one as you put it but it’s something people do,” Haechan replies in a smart manner.

Mark chuckles at the response.

“I’ll give you that one. How much will the healing cost me? Does your friend have as expensive of taste as you do?” He says.

Haechan smiles, raising his head up slightly.

“His taste is more expensive than mine but since I’m so lovely and angelic, I’ll tell him to give it to you for free. I know, I know, I’m the greatest,” he responds.

“Oh really? What’s the catch? We both know you aren’t that nice,” Mark says, expression still amused.

Haechan makes an offended face.

“Excuse me? I’ll have you know that I am that nice. I’m just helping you out with whatever this big plan of yours is. Make sure you remember me when whatever you’re doing succeeds. Everyone always forgets the little people when they make it big,” he says.

Or in other words, he’s placing his chips where he thinks he’ll benefit from later.

“Alright then, thank you for your kindness. I’ll be sure to remember it,” Mark replies.

He has an idea of what Haechan is doing and if he’s being honest, it amuses him. Someone understands what he can do and wants to stay on his good side. It’s a good boost to the pride and his determination in his plan.

He will make sure this plan goes right.

~~~

“I have to give it to him, he did an extensive job on this.”

Mark lets out a low chuckle as he looks over the presentation that is on the flash drive that Haechan gave him tonight.

He’s still in his dinner clothes, the only thing undone being his tie. He just came home and went to his laptop immediately. He had to wait an entire dinner for this but at least the night was interesting. And despite how expensive Haechan usually acts, he actually didn’t run his wallet dry—this time—so it was an enjoyable experience.

“I’m still shocked that you plan on infiltrating but if anyone can do it’ll probably be you. It’ll be funny seeing you act like a hero though. Have fun trying to be good for once in your life,” Haechan said as he handed him the flash drive.

“Let’s just say I’ve had my fair share of being around heroes, you’re not the only one who knows how to act like an angel.”

Oh, his parents will probably turn over in their graves seeing him actually do something hero-like. It looks like their example will actually come in use for him for once.

And with this information that Haechan gave him, he’ll really have an easy time with this plan.

From their real identities to their powers, Haechan has an abundant amount of information on NCT. The younger really outdid himself this time.

“Lee Donghyuck, you have a talent,” Mark says to no one.

He’ll admit, he didn’t expect this level of detail but he sure is happy to see it.

He already read the slides about when they first came out as a group and how they progressed in popularity so now he’s on the slides about the members themselves. While he skimmed through them earlier, he wants to take closer notes on them now.

“First up, the leader: Lee Taeyong. He’s a water manipulator, nothing I’m unfamiliar with. He’ll be the one I really have to impress if I want to fool them. Leader has the last say, right?” He says.

If he gets on the leader’s good side then he has a better chance at this. As long as the leader trusts him then he has some sway in this game so that means this Taeyong guy will be the first person he’ll be focusing on.

“Now we come to Suh Johnny, who has photographic reflexes. He’ll remember perfectly any move you do against him in a physical, non-powered fight. If it’s a power fight, he’ll have less of a chance of remembering it but still most likely will,” he says.

He’ll keep that in mind if he does end up in a fight against them but if anything, that should be after he creates and takes his power enhancer. There are ways to beat that power though.

“Next up, Nakamoto Yuta, also known as the human lie detector. He can spot any lie told while he’s around. Now that may be a problem. I’ll have to be careful what I say around him or else he’ll call my bluff the second I walk up.”

A lie detector can really mess up his plans if he’s not careful. He has to choose his words carefully and stick to his lies properly if he wants to stay out of Nakamoto’s radar. He will not let all of this go to waste because of some walking polygraph.

“Next, Kim Doyoung, a portal creator and their means of travel. That must also mean that he uses portals in a fight. You can only create a portal so fast though.”

Portal travel may be of use to him but also a caution. That would mean that they or he, in particular, can appear at any time in a short amount of time. If he has reason to be suspicious then he can pop up easily. Mark would rather not be caught red-handed if he doesn’t have to be.

“Jung Jaehyun with the power to create illusions. Strong power. I never liked people in my head though so I’m going to watch him carefully. I’ll also need something that will help me differentiate between one of his illusions and reality.”

An illusion power is interesting but not his cup of tea for a lack of a better expression. He rather play mind games with his words, not with some fancy power. That is going to be one member he really won’t trust and will keep an eye on. He doesn’t need anyone trying to mess with his head.

“Dong Sicheng, a marksman. Always hits his target no matter what weapon he uses as long as he’s in a certain distance. He’s one hell of an opponent in a fight then. Distance will be key with him but I’d like to see what he can do first before anything else.”

He wonders if this Sicheng is weak in hand-to-hand combat if his powers really work more with weapons. If he is then that’s one weak spot he can exploit already.

“And last but not least Kim Jungwoo, who can control the clouds. How fascinating.”

What could someone do with clouds on the hero scene, Mark isn’t too sure but he does have a few ideas. He wonders if it’s more like a weather power or just the literal manipulation of clouds.

Seven members. Seven people he has to fool, seven people he has to watch. Sounds like a challenge but he already knew it was going to be. But if he succeeds and actually gains their trust then he’ll be one step closer to his goal. Not only that but he gets to ruin a well-liked hero team from the inside, something those villains out there wouldn’t even dare to try. This plan is worth it.

“What do you know, the team doesn’t have a techie, how terrible. How do they function?” Mark says to himself in fake pity.

There’s no person to stay behind and help them from the screens. No person to watch their back from outside the scene. How terrible for them and fortunate for him.

“Well, it’s a good thing I know a thing or two about computers. I’ll be so kind enough to give them a hand,” he says.

That’s how he’s going to get in. He’ll be their resident tech specialist which will give him access to what he needs. He’ll really have to build their trust in him first before they let him go unsupervised with their equipment. No matter to him, he’s willing to do the work. He’ll make them trust him as if he was always a member.

In a few days' time, he’ll be in front of NCT and he’ll start to break them down.

They won’t know what’s coming to them.

~~~

A young, bright-eyed nineteen-year-old stands in front of seven superheroes with a big bright smile.

He sticks out his hand to the leader in front of him, skin pure and soft as if there was never a scar there.

“Hi, my name is Lee Mark. It’s really nice to meet you all.”

Chapter Text

It’s five months into his probation period when he finally gets a chance to make a breakthrough.

“Hey Mark, can you come here for a moment?”

Mark gets up from his designated “tech spot” and goes over to Taeyong as asked.

“Yes, Sunbaenim?” He says.

Because he is on probation, he technically does not know their real names so, playing the respectful younger, Mark has been using formal honorifics when he is not calling them by their super name. It took him a while but he can finally say the titles without wanting to puke or roll his eyes. Yuta once asked why he seemed uncomfortable with honorifics but fortunately, he was able to honestly say that where he’s from doesn’t use them so he isn’t used to it. After that though, he tried harder to not show any more behaviors that could be questioned. He underestimated Yuta’s power on that occasion, he won’t do it again.

“I want to talk to you about something,” Taeyong says.

“Sure, what about? Did I do something wrong?” He replies, false worry crossing his face.

He almost surprised himself at how good he is becoming at acting innocent. He knew he could play a role but he’ll admit that he had some doubts that he’d be able to hide all of his interesting qualities. It didn’t take long him, though, to fall into his innocent, young teen, act. As far as he can see, he’s really selling it, no one having seriously questioned him in some time.

It works in his favor that majority of the members like to baby someone so all he has to do is smile a bunch and say a few corny things and they’re cooing over him. It takes some of the acting off of him. He hates the skinship but he’ll suffer it a bit for his cause. 

“No, no, you did nothing wrong don’t worry. Take a seat,” Taeyong says with a comforting smile.

Mark takes a seat a bit away from Taeyong, close enough to seem friendly but far enough to seem respectful. After all, they aren’t on those close of terms yet so he’ll act accordingly.

“You know it’s been five months already since you’ve asked to join us. How do you feel so far?” Taeyong says.

Mark straightens up with a bright, ecstatic look on his face.

“Excited really! I mean I haven’t done this type of thing before and you guys have really advanced technology, even if what I’m allowed to use is only like one-third of what you have. I can’t believe you guys haven’t had a permanent techie, all of your technology is really great,” he says.

When he found out that they have been taking turns staying back and being the tech, he laughed to himself. That means none of them really know how to use all of their technology to its fullest. It also made it easier for them to accept his “plead” to let him at least try to be their techie. It’s easier for them if they could all go on field and have someone else stay back. Of course, he hasn’t been left without supervision yet but he’s getting there.

Taeyong chuckles at his excitement.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your time so far. I’ll be honest, you do great work and are persistent in your work so it’s good that you’re enjoying it while you’re at it. But you know that there’s more to being a good hero than just doing good work, right?” He says.

Mark tilts his head.

“What do you mean?” He asks.

He wonders if he’s about to get some lecture or something.

“Well, you’re trying to be on a team and that’s important. You can be the best worker but if you can’t work well with your teammates then you can’t be a good hero. It’s been five months but I don’t think any of us has actually spent time with you outside of hero matters. If you’re trying to be a part of NCT then we should get to know each other better,” Taeyong responds.

Mark knows exactly what Taeyong is talking about. Since he’s started being around them, he hasn’t spent any time with them outside of working because he tends to disappear after. He doesn’t live with them—or even know where they live for that matter—so he has to go home when they finish. He was never one for being social—he was homeschooled, locked away for two years, and then in hiding for five, where would he have the chance to be social—and he doesn’t want them to know too much about him so he doesn’t talk much to them unless it’s for his “eager techie” act. So yes, the five past months have gone by and they haven’t spent any extra time together.

“Get to know each other better? What do you mean? What do you have in mind?” He asks, twiddling his thumbs.

“We were thinking about having dinner together tonight. There’s a kitchen and dining room here—for when we have late nights—so we thought about all of us staying and having dinner here. That way, we can sit and talk and get to know you better and you can get to know us,” Taeyong says.

Spending dinner with them? Mark barely remembers the last time he had a home meal with someone. Haechan was the last person he went to dinner with; before that, the last time was with his parents before he got locked away. That was years ago. And now, he’s being offered to join a group of heroes for dinner? He can almost laugh.

But this may be a good opportunity for him. He could use this as a chance to make them more comfortable with him. Who knows, he may even learn something about them that he could use later on. So he’ll have to spend more time today pretending; it seems like it’ll be worth it for him.

“Dinner? With you guys? Uh, are you sure? I’m not really that interesting. Wait are we cooking? I’m really bad at cooking. Like I can’t even crack an egg right. I live off of ramen and watermelon and on a good day, take out. I-”

“Mark, it’s okay, you won’t have to cook,” Taeyong says, cutting him off with a chuckle.

Mark chuckles too, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Oh uh, my bad. I ramble sometimes,” he replies.

Taeyong smiles.

“It’s okay, that’s the kind of stuff we want to learn about you. Don’t worry, we’ll handle the cooking, you just join us. Does that sound fair? Will you join us?” He says.

Mark smiles shyly and nods his head yes.

“Sure. Yes. Thank you, I mean. Thanks for inviting me to dinner,”  he says.

Taeyong claps him on his shoulder good-naturedly.

“Great. I’ll let the others know,” he says.

“Alright. Uh is it cool if I go run home real quick to get something and then come back? I won’t take long,” Mark says.

If he’s going to spend the evening here with them then he has an idea on how to make this go even more in his favor.

“Yeah, go ahead, it’s okay,” Taeyong responds.

Mark jumps up happily.

“Cool cool, thank you. I’ll be quick,” he says.

He turns around and hurries away, playing his excited role.

The sooner he can get home, the better. He has to make sure this dinner goes great for him.

‘Finally, a chance to push this along further.’

~~~

Mark sits down at the table.

He internally curses when Yuta and Jaehyun sit on both sides of him, the two he is the most cautious of. They’re really going to test him this dinner, huh?

“The food smells really great. You guys have talent,” Mark says.

Johnny gives him a teasing smile in response.

“I’m pretty sure that’s just your appetite speaking at this point. Let’s see what you say once you start eating,” Johnny says.

Mark chuckles.

“Everything is a gourmet meal compared to my cooking. Thank you again for inviting me to have dinner with you guys,” he replies.

The comment gets the heroes to chuckle as well—a point in Mark’s favor.

They start to serve themselves food like one big family. 

Mark finds it incredible how people can let down their guard so easily, even if they think they are still being cautious. He knows it’s been five months already but still, is that enough time for them to invite him to dinner—masks off—and be this relaxed? They’re too confident in themselves, Mark thinks, but that’s good for him. It makes his job easier.

When Mark takes the first bite of his food, though, for a second he forgets he’s even on a job.

“Oh my god this is so good,” he says very honestly.

He doesn’t think he’s ever tasted homecooked food this good—he doesn’t even remember how his mother’s cooking tasted—and to be very honest, he didn’t expect it to taste this good. Something about seven guys cooking—seven guys who he has seen do some dumb things—did not lead him to believe that the food would be good. He is genuinely surprised but he’ll take it this once.

He guesses it won’t hurt to also indulge while playing his role.

He starts to eat his food a bit faster than he normally would, keeping his face light and happy for the show but also enjoying each bite.

“Man, do all teenagers have an appetite like that? Slow down kid, you may choke,” Yuta says.

Mark looks up, chopsticks in mouth, and gives a sheepish smile.

His expression causes the others to laugh once again, making him smirk internally.

For a while, they just eat—Mark taking seconds while they’re still finishing their first plate. No one really talks, the time just being for them to enjoy their food a bit before they get into the whole “getting to know you” part.

When it’s time to begin, Doyoung is the one to start it off.

“So Mark, tell us about yourself. We don’t know anything besides the fact that you aren’t from Korea, you’re good with technology, and you’re apparently a bad cook,” Doyoung says.

Mark slows down his eating, chewing his food completely and swallowing before speaking. He turns to Yuta.

“If I make up some hobbies and facts about myself, would you be able to know?” Mark asks.

Yuta snorts at the question and nods his head yes with a small smile.

“I’d be able to tell every false word out of your mouth. Sorry kid,” Yuta says.

Mark internally grins, knowing there’s a way around that. 

“Darn it, alright fine. I’m pretty boring though so don’t expect anything interesting,” Mark replies.

“That’s a lie right there. You must not find yourself boring at all or we should be expecting something interesting,” Yuta says with a know-it-all smirk.

Mark really has to give it to Yuta’s power, it really is something. But he thinks he’s starting to understand it better. Yuta can pick up any lie that’s being said. That must mean if you take the truth and twist it then Yuta shouldn’t pick up on the lie. Also, Yuta seems to pick up when you personally believe something as a lie so that can be avoided by truly believing in whatever you say. In other words, all Mark has to do is not lie straight-out and play semantics. Semantics is a wonderful thing at times.

“Okay, your power is a bit unsettling to be honest but also pretty cool. Umm, it’s the first one I think. I personally don’t think I’m that boring but you know, to others and honestly speaking, I’m not a lot,” Mark says.

He steals, hacks, and causes chaos secretly whenever he can, of course he finds himself fun. But those aren’t the hobbies he’ll be mentioning obviously.

“Well, let’s hear it then,” Johnny says.

Mark taps his plate with his chopsticks as if he was thinking.

“Let’s see, I spend most of my time on the computer doing who knows what at any given time, I stargaze really often, I switch between English and Korean a lot unintentionally so I confuse people sometimes, I’ve been burned more times than I can count so I avoid situations that could lead to it happening again—i.e cooking—and the convenience store cashier knows me by name now and has asked me if I’m okay because of how often I buy microwavable food. So yeah,” he says.

Not a single lie told.

“We may have to start sending you home with some actual cooked food then. Your poor microwave needs a break,” Taeyong says.

Mark chuckles at that. 

His wallet needs a break if anything but that’s okay, he can always steal money outside of his already shady ways he gets money to pay for rent and stuff.

“It seems you’re a techie through and through though. How’d you get into that?” Jaehyun says.

‘I was on the run, hiding from my hero parents for five years and needed a way to make sure I can still do me without getting caught and still had to teach myself everything since I was locked away without schooling for two years. Technology just seemed to solve all of those problems. I wasn’t born smart for no reason.’

As if he would ever say that aloud.

“I’m an only child and homeschooled, I needed something to keep myself busy or else I would have died from boredom. So I ended up doing a lot of studying and a lot of computer work. You’d be surprised at what you can do with a computer,” Mark responds.

“We can only imagine. You’re really good at what you do though so it looks like all that time you had really paid off,” Doyoung says.

It paid off more than they can imagine.

“So, what made you come to us with your tech skills?” Jungwoo asks.

Mark smiles sheepishly once again, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Well, I was on my laptop as always and I was researching something sciencey and I came across an article about you guys saying this chemist from their own experiment. I was curious so I ended up reading it and searching more about you guys. I noticed though that though there were seven members, usually only six were found on the scene. You probably didn’t have a set techie or something so here I am, trying to be your guy in the chair,” he explains.

Not to mention that Haechan confirmed that assumption, helping him further this idea.

“Alright, but what made you want to work with us? What made you want to be a hero?” Taeyong asks.

Ah, Mark was waiting for this question. He knew they were bound to ask him about his motives sooner or later once they finished hawking him from the sidelines. And with Yuta directly next to him, they’ll be able to tell how genuine he is about what he says.

Or so they think.

He lowers his chopsticks slightly and stares at his food intently with a fragment of a somber smile.

“My parents were heroes. The hero scene there is nothing like how it is here but they were probably just as immersed in it. We didn’t see eye to eye though. I couldn’t understand the idea of dedicating your life to help and serve others and they couldn’t understand how I couldn’t see it. I honestly barely saw my parents but they were happy doing what they were doing and civilians were too so who I was to stop them? They died one day saving people, however. I knew they cared a lot about what they did but I didn’t think it would be to the degree where they would give their lives for it. We didn’t say goodbye to each other, we didn’t hug, we didn’t say I love you or anything; they were just here one day and gone the next. I was speaking to their graves as my last goodbye to them,” he starts.

As he speaks, he notices from the corner of his eyes as each of the members’ mood drops slightly, pity no doubt in their eyes. Oh everyone falls for a sob story.

“To be honest, I still don’t understand why anyone would give up their life like that; I think it’s foolish. But my parents didn’t. They died faithful to what they believe. So maybe this will shed some light for me. Maybe being around heroes will show me something about hero work that I didn’t know before. I’m using you all, to be brutally truthful. I want to know something so I’m using you to find out. My parents are probably turning over in their graves right about now but I want to know. I need to know. So, now I’m here, trying to be a hero. Weird reason, huh?” He says.

Oh, double meanings, how he loves them. Sure, he’s a bit interested to see what his parents saw in this hero mess but would he join a hero group for that reason? No, he has better things to do. But if he can use dear ol’ mom and dad to further his purpose well then maybe their foolish beliefs will finally do something for him. He’ll play the neglected, grieving kid if it pushes his agenda along.

Jaehyun puts a hand on his shoulder and Mark tells himself to not change his posture in any way. He doesn’t like the hero but he won’t show that.

“Mark, that isn’t a weird reason. Wanting to figure out your parents’ mind is very understandable. It’s actually commendable. Some kids in your position would just grow up hating heroes, blaming hero work for their parents’ absence and death. You’re going a high road here, that’s good,” Jaehyun says.

Mark does not have enough care about those things to hate all heroes for what happened with his parents. Heroes are heroes, he doesn’t care as long as they don’t get in his way.

“Thank you, sunbaenim,” Mark responds politely.

The seven look at each other with similar expressions. Mark takes it as they’re silently communicating with each other.

“You can call us hyungs, Mark,” Johnny finally says, breaking the silence.

Mark’s eyes light up at the comment. That’s definitely a good change in the right direction for him.

“Really? I can?” He asks.

“Yeah. We are a team, after all,” Sicheng says.

They’re including him in the team and all it took was a painted up version of his childhood for them to group him in with them? If he knew that he would have played that card before now.

“Does that mean I’m coming off of probation soon?” Mark asks excitedly.

“Yes, soon,” Taeyong responds.

Mark fist pumps causing the elders to have tender smiles.

“Thank you so much sunbae-I mean hyung! It really means a lot to me,” Mark says.

He’ll be off of probation soon which means he’ll have a bit more access and freedom. He’ll finally be able to start searching for the information that he needs. He can actually get somewhere in this process.

“It’s no problem, Mark. Just keep up the good work and determination,” Taeyong responds.

Oh, he has no idea. Mark’s determination is more than they will ever know.

They pick back up their conversation on getting to know one another as dessert is served. 

They even got him a watermelon since he mentioned earlier that he likes them a lot. If he was a sentimental person who valued relationships, he probably would have been touched by that.

Mark enjoys the sweet treats even more as he internally revels in his progress.

He’s not done for the night just yet though.

“Mark, no tech work at the table,” Taeyong says.

“I know, I know but I can’t help it. It’ll be quick I promise,” he responds.

In his hands is both Doyoung and Sicheng’s phones. He saw them from across the table and “excitedly had to try something”, gushing random details about their phones.

“These types of phones can be of so much more use to you in the field with some upgrades. Ooo they can even be used to block signals if you really want to get fancy. Why do you guys get all of the cool stuff?” He says, messing with their phones.

As he rambles on, however, his hands are doing more than just aimlessly “messing” around.

No one pays attention as he places bugs in their phones.

They watched him so now he gets to watch them.

“You know, I’m starting to want to take you to a tech store and see how you act in there. I feel like it would be like seeing a child on Christmas,” Yuta says amused.

Mark would probably end up stealing something from there—again—so they probably don’t really want to see him there.

“You can see the same thing by just letting me mess around with you tech here,” Mark says with a chuckle.

He’ll gladly play overly excited for access to their database.

He finishes what he’s doing and hands back the phones to Doyoung and Sicheng with an innocent smile.

“We may just end up killing you when the day comes for you to see all that we have. Who knows if your heart can take it,” Jaehyun says.

More like who knows if they’re prepared for what’s going to happen when that day comes.

“It’ll be a lovely death, calling it now,” Mark responds.

He continues to go on and ramble about tech nonsense and how he’s so excited to be able to do more. He makes sure to choose his words very carefully though so Yuta doesn’t call him out in the midst of his acting.

When it’s time to start cleaning up, he offers to help, carrying the dishes back to the kitchen and helping dry them after they’re washed.

Once they’re done, it’s time to leave.

“Thank you again for everything, I had a good time,” Mark says.

“It’s no problem. Do you want one of us to take you home?” Taeyong says.

And let them know where he lives? No thank you.

“No, it’s alright. Thank you though. I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Bye,” he responds.

He waves goodbye and starts to head home, purposely heading a different way as they watch him.

It’s not until he’s completely out of sight from them does he put in special headphones.

“-good kid. Seems like he had a rough childhood though.”

It worked!

“I wonder who he is living with or if he’s living alone. How do you think he made it over here all on his own?”

He can hear them perfectly clear. Now, he won’t have to guess as much about what they’re thinking. He can be one more step ahead of them.

He chuckles to himself. This evening has been a success for him. He’s made really good progress. Soon, he’ll be able to have access to their entire database and then he can use it to find the right lab for his project.

A bit more time and he will get what he wants.

Chapter Text

“What kind of trash organization system is this?” He mumbles under his breath.

Mark scrolls through the seemingly endless folders that have absolutely no clear organization to them. Why is a folder entitled “Prison Records” right next to the folder called “Recipes to try”? Why is a folder on recipes even in here? Don’t they know how to save things on their phone? How do they find anything in this chaotic mess?

“Why can’t I find anything useful?” He says, a bit frustrated.

Eleven months into this infiltration already and he’s still left without nothing of use to him. He let the five-month probation go because he can understand them being “cautious”. He was willing to wait until he got their trust and then he could steal what he needs afterward. But he was taken off of probation six months ago and he still is nowhere. They babied him his sixth and seventh month before finally giving him more privileges in his eighth month. When he received those privileges he thought that he’d be able to get what he needed then. But no, they could never let him have proper quiet time or alone time, always pulling him somewhere or trying to get him to do something. He can barely spend half an hour on this computer before something ends up pulling him away. He just wants to get his information already. Patience is a virtue but he’s losing it quick.

Today though, he finally got the chance to be alone and search through the database. It was a miracle and exactly what he needed. He thought that he would actually get somewhere today. But then, he was greeted with the mess that is their database and he cursed under his breath. It is finding a digital needle in a haystack with the way they have things set up.

He wonders if they purposely set up their stuff this way so anyone breaking in would have trouble finding whatever they're looking for. It would be a genius idea but he doesn’t think they would think that advanced with how sure they are of themselves.

“So you guys have drills for everything? What about if the base catches on fire? Or one of you gets stabbed? I’ve read about that in an article. Or worse, you get targeted or infiltrated? That happened before back home, it was crazy. Or what if a flood happens here? Can all of you swim? Or-”

“Mark, your imagination is taking you way far out. Maybe we shouldn’t say everything but most things. But that one about being targeted or infiltrated is one you don’t have to worry about. Here, in Korea, very few people would actually be brave enough to target a hero group, let alone a group like us. You don’t have to worry about that type of stuff. We’re safe.”

Mark wanted to laugh right then and there. Safe? They were far from safe. They are literally in that situation right now. They are being infiltrated but they’re too sure in their status as heroes to even suspect the possibility of it happening to them. It’s almost too easy to fool them.

If their data system wasn’t such a mess this would go by much quicker.

“I’m half tempted to fix all of this and give them some actual organization,” he mutters.

He continues his search through the countless random folders.

Maps. Best travel spots. Allies. Music. Doctor records. Schematics. Must have on deck. Counsel members. Shopping list. Saved. Restaurants--

“Wait a minute, what?” Mark says.

He moves back up and goes back to the folder that says “Saved”. Out of intuition, he clicks on it to see what it’s about.

“Detailed records on each and every person they saved,” he says to himself as he scrolls through it superficially.

He could work with this. If he finds any scientists in the records then he could do a general search of the lab they work in throughout the entire database to find additional information on it. Maybe that could also lead him to the proper folder that he is looking for.

“Let’s see what I can use you for,” he says.

He scans through it to see if he can find a scientist of any kind in these records, not caring about all the other people and organizations NCT so kindly helped out. Ugh, this hero stuff is so pointless. Pushing past his biases and personal beliefs though, he has a lot of people that could potentially lead him to what he wants.

Finally, his eyes land on a biologist and her record.

“Finally,” he whispers.

He opens her file and skims through it, wanting to find her lab. When he finds it, he quickly highlights it. He can finally get somewhere.

“MARK!”

Mark jumps up at the loud shout of his name. 

He barely has time to close the file before he feels an arm thrown around his shoulder.

“Holy crap hyung!” Mark exclaims when he sees Yuta appear by his side.

Yuta smiles in return.

“Did I startle you?” Yuta asks ‘innocently’.

Mark tries not to show any irritation in response.

“You scared the life out of me,” he says, forcing a chuckle.

Not to mention that he stopped him right as he was finally getting somewhere.

“Gotta be more alert kid. What were you doing that got you so immersed this time?” Yuta says, looking at the screen.

More alert his foot. Yuta popped out of nowhere and they both know it.

“Looking at the mess of folders here. Where’s the organization? How do you find anything? You know, I could create a program to organize all these folders however way you want them. It’ll make everything much easier to look at,” Mark replies, pretending his concern is only as a techie and not for ulterior reasons.

“It is organized, you just don’t know it. Okay actually, we’re just really used to where each folder is so it’s organized for us. You’ll learn it soon enough though,” Yuta says.

Organized chaos they call that but Mark doesn’t see anything organized about it. He’d have to be here way longer than a few months for him to ever figure this mess out and he does not want that.

“I don’t know about that but I guess I’ll have to take your word for it. Is there something you needed though?” Mark says.

In other words: what do you want so I can get back to what I was doing.

“I was told to grab you so we can play a game,” Yuta responds.

A game? He was bothered because they want to play a game.

“A game? I could play a game online though, I don’t get it,” Mark says, acting clueless.

“No Mark, a group game. It’s going to be fun. I was told to not let you say no so you’re coming either way. So get out of your little tech world for a bit and come spend some time with us the old fashion way. We’ll show you what it’s like to have siblings,” Yuta replies with a smile that wouldn’t comfort or ease anyone.

Mark tries not to frown at that. He doesn’t want to play a game; he wants to continue his search so he can make some good progress in his plan. It’s going to be a year already, he cannot spend any more time here if it’s only going to be wasted.

“But I never wanted siblings, I heard they’re the worst,” Mark says, trying to get himself out of this.

“They can be but you still have to experience it. I told you though, I was told not to let you say no so you’re coming one way or another. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to see what it’s like to have older brothers physically drag you somewhere so I suggest just coming along before someone tries to use other means,” Yuta responds with a devilish smile.

Mark almost groans in frustration. He just wants to do his work. He’s not here to play stupid games with them. But he knows for a fact that he does not want to be manhandled by any of them—especially since he can’t punch them in the face without causing an unnecessary issue—and he does not want to hear any more pestering.

“Fine, I’ll play the game,” he relents.

Yuta grins.

“Great, glad you see it our way. Now come on, they’re all waiting already,” he says.

He grabs Mark by the hand and practically pulls him from his seat, dragging him to wherever they’re going.

Mark wants to yank his hand out of Yuta’s grasp but that would be suspicious on his part. So, he suffers silently and lets himself be pulled.

Finally, they reach the common room where everyone else is seated.

“I got him,” Yuta says.

Mark forces himself to not look irritated as they all turn to him.

“Yeah, he got me. So what’s this about a game?” He says.

What he really means is ‘hurry up with this, I have things to do’. The sooner this starts, the sooner it finishes.

“We decided that we’re all going to play a game together. It’s been a really long time since we’ve done that and it will be your first time with us,” Taeyong says.

Mark rolls his eyes internally. Group bonding, yay *sarcasm to the highest degree*.

“I practically had to drag him away from the computer. You’re looking at a miracle right now,” Yuta says.

The others laugh in response.

“We can only imagine. Maybe we need to break him away from his computer more gradually,” Johnny responds jokingly.

Though Mark gives a bashful/embarrassed smile, in his head he’s threatening the older to dare try and do that. He is going to get his information one way or another.

“Uhh, I don’t know about that one. What game are we going to play?” Mark says.

“Mafia,” Sicheng responds.

Genuine confusion crosses Mark’s face at the name—though it’s more irritated confusion rather than innocent confusion.

“Mafia? What’s that?” He asks.

They all look at him as if he said the most shocking thing ever.

“You’ve never played mafia?” Jungwoo asks in surprise.

Mark shakes his head.

‘Would I be asking if I did?’ He thinks to himself.

“No, I don’t think so. How is it played?” He chooses to say instead.

They give each other looks, most likely still stupidly surprised that Mark had never played the game or seem to have even heard of it.

“Well, there is one narrator, one mafia—or more depending on the group size—one doctor, and one detective. The rest of the players are citizens. The mafia’s job is to kill off all of the people without getting caught. The citizens’ job is to find out who the mafia is. The doctor can save someone and the detective can point to a person to ask the narrator if they’re the mafia to which the narrator will answer yes or no. At the end of each round, we all get to vote on who we think is the mafia. The person with the most votes is killed whether or not they are the mafia. We continue until the mafia is found or until the mafia kills everyone. Makes sense?” Jaehyun explains.

Mark tries to take in all of the instructions to make sure he understands. He doesn’t see how this game can be fun.

“Can’t hyung tell who’s lying in the game though?” Mark asks, pointing to Yuta.

He’s guessing this game would involve a form of lying so that would give Yuta the unfair advantage.

“He can, that’s why he’s always narrator,” Doyoung says.

“My power is a blessing and a curse,” Yuta says dramatically.

If Yuta didn’t mean that in the context of playing a game, Mark would have actually considered that statement to be true and deep.

“Alright, so does that mean he picks our roles?” Mark asks next.

“Yeah. He’ll tap you so you know. I think it’s best if you start to play the game first so that way you can get the hang of it,” Taeyong says.

Mark nods. Yes, let’s do that so he can get this over with already.

“Alright, let’s go,” Mark says.

He takes a seat next to Sicheng—the one who annoys him the least—and waits for further instructions.

“Everyone close your eyes and let’s get this game started,” Yuta says.

They all do so, finally starting this game.

Mark isn’t chosen for anything, most likely so he can watch and get a general understanding of the game first, so he figures that he just has to sit and act like a good citizen for a bit and then he can get back to his work.

First round, Doyoung was almost killed but saved and Johnny dies. Five minutes have passed.

Second round, Taeyong and Jaehyun die. Thirteen minutes and two friendly arguments have passed since the last round.

Third round, Mark is at his wits’ end already.

‘I have to get back to my work. I am so close to finding something of use.’

While they’re arguing over who could be the mafia, Mark is thinking hard about how he can get back to what he was doing. He absent-mindedly looks around the room, hoping that something will spark an idea in him.

Spark. That’s it. He’s been around them so long he almost forgot that he actually has powers.

He looks for the nearest outlet. He finds one, it being the one the lamp is plugged into, and he turns to make sure that they’re all still occupied in their little game before doing anything. None of them can catch him doing this. When the coast is clear for him, he bends over as if he was stretching out his back—something he copied from Johnny who did that only a few moments ago—and sends a bolt at the outlet.

And into the darkness they go.

“Alright, who left something plugged in again?” Doyoung says.

They all take out their phones and turn on their flashlights as each of them denies leaving anything plugged.

“We should really get that short fixed or something,” Johnny says.

And this is where Mark comes in.

“I can fix it. I’ll go right now and get the power back on in no time,” he says.

He jumps up from his seat, not even wanting to wait for their response.

Considering that he only blew out the fuse for that single outlet, of course he can get the power back on soon. But he’ll take his time getting to it so he can get his information first and then go give them back their light in this room.

He isn’t fortunate enough to escape in time though.

“That’s great! We’ll go with you,” Taeyong says.

Mark forces a smile, hoping that he doesn’t look as annoyed as he feels on the inside.

“You don’t have to, I really won’t take long,” he says.

They’re not accepting that though.

“No no, it’ll be good if we do. We’ll get to see what we have to do the next time it blows out,” Jaehyun says.

“And we’ll get to see you do your tech stuff that you love so much,” Yuta adds.

Mark wants to bang his head into a wall as he has to close his eyes in a bashful smile to keep them from twitching.

If they tag along with him then he can’t do his work first. Not only that, but he’s going to have to blow out every other fuse in this place just to keep up the idea that it is a full blowout and not some outlet being suddenly fried.

“Are you guys sure? You really won’t be able to see much,” Mark tries.

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry. Let’s go fix this fuse,” Jungwoo says.

Oh joy.

“Alright let me see if the lights are off in the hall first. It may just be a fuse problem in here,” he says.

He’s relieved when they nod, allowing him to go out first by himself to check. He quickly leaves the room, pulling the door behind him.

First, he has to deal with the lights in the halls.

Easiest way? Blow out all of the lights. Aim at the right outlet and it all shuts down. Thank goodness he has always been quick and smart with power.

He shoots a bolt at the right spot, sending the entire hallway into darkness.

That’s one thing done.

He heads back into the room, shining his flashlight in their direction.

“Yeah, it’s a blowout out there as well. I should be able to fix it though,” Mark says.

They all stand up to follow—much to Mark’s disappointment—and Mark turns on his heels, working out a plan in his head on how to keep all of this as believable as possible.

They leave the room and walk down the dark hall—Mark flashing his light elsewhere as a distraction whenever he needs to shoot off a bolt to ensure the darkness. Somehow no one seems to notice so that’s one good thing at least. Now he just has to keep up the act, ‘fix’ the fuse and then find yet another way to get away from them and back to the computer. Hopefully, he can make this quick and easy.

Despite the darkness surrounding them, it doesn’t take them too long to get to the room where the electric panel is. Before anyone can turn on the light, Mark blows out that light too.

Mark goes over and notices with irritation that it is a fuse box, not an electrical panel, meaning he’ll have to do a bit more than just switching on a few switches. But it still won’t take long so he wonders what he should do. He can’t fix it too quickly or else they’ll think something is up but it’s so easy to fix, he doesn’t see how he’ll be able to drag it out. How do they not know how to fix this?

“Whatcha doing?”

Mark jumps up slightly, startled by the sudden voice by his ear. Electricity shoots out of Mark’s fingertips, frying the box due to his hand being directly on it. He pulls back his hand with a wince, the metal shocking him back.

“Woah, that just sparked.”

He tries his hardest not to glare at Johnny for startling him or Yuta for stating the obvious, both right next to him for no reason.

“Yes, it did,” he says through slightly gritted teeth.

He looks back to the box, seeing a bit of smoke coming from it.

Great, now he’s actually going to have to fix this which means even more time taken away from what he is supposed to be doing.

“That smoke doesn’t look good. What do you think happened to it?” Taeyong says.

‘I was startled yet again since personal space seems to be a rare concept here so I accidentally shocked it and fried it. Haha, don’t worry though.’

“Something blew,” Mark replies, grateful that no one here is a telepath.

“Can you fix it?” Jaehyun asks.

For the sake of his sanity, he better be able to so he can get out of here.

“I have to check it over first before I can answer that. Give me a few,” Mark responds.

He flashes his light to see which fuse, in particular, did he accidentally blow out or if multiple were blown. If only one is blown then he can deal with that easily—as long as they have the proper fuse to replace it with. If it’s multiple, well then he’ll have a few to replace.

Let’s just hope it’s only the fuses he blew.

“What are those that you’re looking at?” Jungwoo asks, looking over Mark’s shoulder.

Mark tries not to show any annoyance on his face as yet another person gets into his personal space.

“They’re fuses. It’s what is blown,” Mark answers plainly.

He tries to go back to what he’s doing but he’s suddenly blinded by a flashlight in his eye, Yuta moving even closer to him to get a better look.

“I thought there were supposed to be switches or something,” Yuta says.

Mark rubs his eyes, trying to clear his eyes from the millions of spots he sees in his vision. He can’t even glare if he wanted to.

“This is a fuse box, not a breaker panel,” Mark replies.

“What’s the difference?” Doyoung asks.

It’s one comment after another, isn’t it? They won’t give him a moment, will they?

“Fuse boxes have fuses, panels have switches,” Mark says.

He tries once again to go back to focusing on the fuses. So far, it looks like all he has to do is replace the blown fuses and call it a day. That’s not too bad.

“So what’s wrong with this one?” Jungwoo asks.

Mark takes a deep breath at receiving another question. He’s a few seconds away from losing his cool but he’s come too far in this plan to ruin it now all because they won’t shut up.

“The fuses blew. They blow, electricity goes out,” Mark responds.

“Why is it smoking then?” Sicheng asks.

‘This is for your plan, don’t lose your cool. It’s an honest question, not a stupid one. At least he’s not in your face like these three are. You’re fine, this is fine.’

“A lot of them blew,” Mark says.

“How do you fix it?” Johnny asks.

If he shows them how to fix it then he won’t have to do this again. If he looks at it that way, he won’t try to strangle anyone.

“You replace the fuses carefully,” Mark answers.

“Won’t you get shocked?” Jaehyun questions.

Mark actually snorts at this comment unintentionally. Getting shocked is the last thing he’d worry about right now.

He brushes the sound off as him clearing his throat though so as not to raise any eyebrows.

“As long as you take proper safety measures and don’t replace them with a higher voltage you’ll be fine,” Mark replies.

He turns his attention back to the fuses. He is pretty sure that only the fuses are messed up so he just needs to replace them now.

“Should you wear gloves or something? I don’t want you to get shocked,” Taeyong says.

How sweet, they worry about him. He could just vomit from the care.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. Where are your replacement fuses?” Mark responds.

For the first time when he’s actually expecting and needing them to talk, the room is silent. Completely silent, not a single word.

“You guys don’t know do you?” He asks.

“Nope,” they all say in unison.

He sighs, body tired from the amount of annoyance and irritation coursing through him. He’s really done with these people for today.

“We’ll search for them,” Taeyong says.

The seven of them move away from him—finally giving him some space—and go to find him the fuses he needs.

He hopes that they bring him the right ones.

He waits as patiently as he can, telling himself every reason why he cannot just say screw it and shock them all right now. It’ll all be worth it in the end, that’s all he has to remember.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes go past and he’s still waiting for them to return with the fuses. He is internally screaming his head off.

When they finally return—almost twenty-five minutes later—he just takes the fuses and gets to work. No one asks him any more questions and they all just crowd around and watch him do what he has to do.

With them over his shoulder, it takes him a bit longer than it normally would to replace all of the ones that he needs to. He finishes it though.

He flips on the light switch and he has never been so happy to see a lightbulb light up.

“I’m going to go throw all of these away and make sure everything is okay. I’ll meet you guys back in the common room,” Mark says.

He is completely relieved when they don’t argue with him.

“Alright, no problem,” Jaehyun says.

They leave and Mark lets out a breath. Finally, he’s alone for a bit and can actually do something.

He quickly discards the old fuses and rushes back to the original room he was in before all of this mess started. If he can quickly grab his information or at least some of it, he’ll be fine. Then he’ll go back to them and suffer.

The computer is still on when he gets back—thank goodness—so all he has to do is log back in.

‘Finally, I can get what I want after this stup-’

His thought stops short as he sees that his screen is back to the main page. When he catches sight of the countless random folders and sees that he’s at the very top again, his eye twitches.

‘Maybe I can just search for the folder I was looking at earlier.’

Search not found

He stares at the words for a few seconds before forcing a smile on his face. He turns off the computer and walks out of the room, back to the common room with no further words.

“You’re back! Is everything good?” Johnny asks.

Mark nods with a tight ‘mhm’.

“Yeah, it’s all good. Let’s get back to the game now,” he says.

He sits in forced silence and false happiness as they continue their pointless game.

He sits with that smile through the game, through the next three different games, through dinner, through cleaning, and through the goodbyes. He has that smile all the way until he gets home.

When he finally reaches his place, he closes the door behind him and stares at the wall with that smile for a few moments.

“AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!”

Moment’s up.

“I wasted an entire day because of their foolishness!” He shouts.

He kicks off his shoes angrily and storms through his house.

“An entire day, gone! All because they wanted to play some stupid game! I could have had my information now but instead I’m still stuck with nothing because they all have the combined IQ of 10 and don’t know how to leave me the hell alone!”

He can’t believe this. He can’t believe that he was so close and it went to waste because of them; because they don’t know what personal space or alone time is. Now he has to find time again and go searching through that mess of a system just to find one stupid folder that may or may not lead him to what he wants.

Electricity sparks on his hands in anger. He lost his only good lead! 

“AND A STUPID HOUR JUST TO FIX A DAMN FUSE BOX!” He roars.

The lights go out.

He stares into the darkness, hearing his neighbors’ doors open and them asking each other if their lights went out as well.

“Great, the power may be out until tomorrow,” he hears someone say outside his door.

No electricity for the rest of the day.

‘This day just keeps getting worse and worse.’

He lets out a frustrated sigh and decides to just throw himself on his bed.

“I give up for today,” he mumbles into his sheets.

Today is not his day so now he’s just going to stay here until the day ends.

He is done.

Chapter Text

It’s been one year, four months, and twenty-three days since he has infiltrated NCT.

And he still has nothing.

He’s gathered all of his ingredients, went over all of his notes again, and checked his equations and formula for the hundredth time but he still doesn’t have any information on a lab that will have the proper equipment that he needs. Every time he goes to search, something comes up.

He was able to get back to that first folder he found five months ago but it led him nowhere. He searched through other folders but they only gave him basic nonsense that he already knew. Whenever he tries to talk some information out of one of the members, the entire conversation somehow switches and he’s left with nothing. He’s tried to steal their phones but they pay attention to their phones more than anything else. Every attempt he does just goes to naught.

Information on scientists, sponsors, reporters, and the likes he was able to take easily and can work off of if he has to. Obviously, he would have a backup plan just in case things didn’t go his way but he would rather this happen the easier way and he just finds out exactly what he needs in one step. He doesn’t want to have to go deal with more people just to get the information he’s looking for.

There has to be some way he can get what he wants. Some folder that he didn’t check, some way to get them to talk, something. He refuses to believe that all of this time he spent won’t give him what he wants. He did not subject himself to spending this much time with overconfident heroes just to come up short-handed. He would be beyond mad if that happened. He can try to be patient a bit longer but if his search keeps coming up empty then he will have to find another way to get what he wants out of this.

“Hey guys, it seems that we received another anonymous tip.”

Mark lifts his head up and looks at his laptop.

He always listens in to NCT when he’s not around them because he likes to stay ahead of the game. He passively listens to it as if it was background noise but tunes in when he hears something of interest or of possible use. 

He hasn’t heard of them receiving anonymous tips before and it’s not like he’s doing anything else so he might as well tune in.

“A tip? But things have seemed pretty calm for the past few days. What’s it say?”

“It says ‘I have important information for the original seven members that will change the way things are going’. There’s an address and time so we can meet them. That’s all it says, no hint to what the information is about.”

The original seven members? If this person is only asking for the original seven members well then that means a few things. One, they know that there are nine members now which most do not know because Mark always stays inside on missions. Two, they either have information he shouldn’t know or they don’t trust him as a hero. Three, they know him if they can separate him from the rest of the group. He is not some mystery ninth member but instead someone they know to exclude.

“Now what could this little birdie have to tell them that I shouldn’t hear, hmm?” Mark says to himself.

“An address? It’s not often that they want us to meet them, that defeats the purpose of the tip being anonymous. What’s the address and time on it?”

“Triple X plaza, garage level at two pm today.”

Mark opens a tab and searches for the location said.

It isn’t too far away and apparently the garage level is closed during the hours of twelve to three so it should be empty. Whoever this person is, they’re trying to ensure privacy.

“Isn’t the garage usually closed during that time?”

“Yeah but there are ways to get in, especially if you’re a worker. I think they just needed an empty location to meet us.”

“So either this is a set-up or they have really important information for us. Should we go?”

“I think we should. Something tells me that this isn’t a fake note and the person means it. We should still be prepared just in case it is a set-up; we never know what may happen.”

Mark would be pleasantly surprised if it was a set-up. It would show him that at least some of these criminals and villains here have a backbone. Not very creative but still interesting if it is a trap. But now, if it isn’t and this is actually a meet up for information then he has to be there to see what the person is trying to hide. If it involves him then he has to take the proper steps to deal with the matter.

“Should we inform Mark? What if we need him to verify something for us?”

“The tipper says they want to meet just us seven which is admittedly a bit strange. But they may not talk if they find out that Mark knows or he tags along. I think we should just let him sit this one out today. We did give him the day off.”

“Ooo keeping secrets from me, and here I thought I made it off of probation period,” Marks tuts in fake sadness.

He expected no less though. No matter how you slice it, he’s still the newbie of the group so they don’t include him in the important things as much. They’re still on that ‘let’s bond’ stage of the process so they can leave him out of a few missions here and there.

No matter to him, this gives him a chance to do things his way.

“It’s one something now so let’s get ready so we can see what this person has to say.”

“Yes, let’s do that,” Mark says, pushing away his laptop.

He has to be there before them so they don’t catch him present. Let’s hope this isn’t a waste of his time.

He goes and gets ready as quickly as he can and heads out. He wears a face mask and a hoodie to bring less attention to himself as he travels over to the location.

It isn’t hard for him to get into the garage level of the building—he slips by people unnoticed and he has his ways of entering places he shouldn’t be. When he gets down there, he doesn’t see anyone around so he takes it as he’s the first one here.

Good, he has an advantage that way.

He finds a good hiding spot between a pillar and a large car, out of the general line of sight. Now he just has to wait for the others to come.

Five minutes before two, NCT arrives in full costumes and standing like the amazing heroes they are painted out to be.

“Do you see anyone yet?” Taeyong asks.

“Not yet but it isn’t two yet. They may come exactly then,” Johnny says.

Mark hopes the person does so the area doesn’t have to be searched. He wants to know what’s going on without getting caught or having to run away.

It’s exactly two o'clock on the dot when a figure whose face is covered by their hat walks up from the other side of the lot.

“Are you the one who sent us the anonymous tip?”  Taeyong says, using his leader voice as Mark calls it.

The person nods.

“Yes. Is it just you seven?” They—no, she—says.

The voice strikes a chord in Mark’s head. He’s heard that voice before. He knows he has but he can’t think of where. All his mind is supplying him with is the color red. All different shades of red show up in his mind at the sound of this woman’s voice. Why?

“It is. Why do you ask?” Taeyong responds.

The lady doesn’t make any moves to reveal her identity but she doesn’t seem hostile either. So far, this doesn’t seem like a trap.

“I have information very important for you all. It’s about your newest member,” she says.

So Mark’s guess was right, this is about him and apparently, something he shouldn’t know is being said. What should he do though? If he tries to stop her then that would make NCT extremely suspicious of him. But what does she know about him? Not even Haechan knows a lot about him and the younger knows everything. What is she planning on telling them that he shouldn’t know that they know?

“Information on him? What are you talking about?” Johnny says.

“Lee Mark is your newest member, is he not? The information I have about him is crucial. He is not what you think he is,” she responds.

So she knows his name. Just who is this woman? Why is his mind still only showing him images of the color red? What does that color have to do with her?

“How do you know his name?” Yuta asks.

“You can tell if I’m lying, yes? Then you know I am telling the truth when I say that I know of him personally and you are being fooled,” she says.

The heroes look at Yuta and he nods with a straight face, a signal that she is telling the honest truth.

Mark doesn’t like where this is going. She better be telling them something like he was a delinquent who stole from her when he first moved here. He can twist something like that. He’s different now from when he was sixteen, he can always just tell them that he was a troubled teen before he decided to switch his ways. But if she says something about him recently then he’s going to be in a mess he doesn’t want to be in.

He can see no way out of this where they won’t be suspicious of him from here on out but there are outcomes that he can manipulate in his favor. This woman better choose her words carefully.

“Continue. What do you have to tell us about him?” Taeyong says.

“He isn’t a hero. He is far from it. I don’t know why but he’s using you for some reason that is no doubt twisted. Don’t let him fool you,” she says.

Yuta nods again, another truth spoken.

“What do you mean by that? What proof do you have to back up your words?” Jaehyun questions.

“Other than the fact that your member is confirming that I am telling the truth? Here, I have a recording to back up my claim,” she says.

A recording? A recording of what? Just who is this lady and why does she have a recording of him?

She takes out her phone and goes to a recording she seemed to already have ready and waiting. She knew they were going to ask for proof.

“This is from two years ago but I can assure you that he did not change or if anything he has gotten worse,” she says.

Two years ago? Two years ago he was eighteen but he didn’t do anything that—

“You and your smart mouth need to be taught a lesson. What did a kid like you do that you think you can hold yourself so high up?” A male voice says.

Mark freezes at those words. He remembers those words. He remembers that voice.

Red.

“I don’t know, maybe steal from one of the most well respected and accredited labs and destroy half of their facility all at the age of nine. Break out of level eight maximum security at age eleven and stayed hidden for five years. Moved to a whole new country with a completely new identity on all government papers at the age of sixteen. I have a few accomplishments under my belt that give me reason to think that I’m pretty great,” Mark responds clearly on the recording.

He was being recorded. Red recorded him and he didn’t even know.

“You think you’re so great? You’re just a little brat who had his ego fed too much,” the male says.

“You say that but you had to keep my powers limited so I’m not a threat. You know what I’m capable of,” Mark spits back.

Mark remembers this exact moment. He remembers the burning, the darkness, the adrenaline. He remembers this night way too clearly for his liking. It was all moments before he finally took back control.

He and Red were the only ones in that room at that time though. Red is long gone and so are the others who were with him. There’s only one person who could even have the chance to get this recording.

“You don’t know what a threat is. All you are is a joke. A little child who got gifted with good powers. You think those things you did were big? News flash: they only treated you so seriously because your parents told them to. If they just took the time out to think they’d realize that you were and are nothing. You were big for a nine-year-old but out in the real world, you mean nothing. You can’t even call yourself a criminal. You’re just a wannabe bad boy,” the male says.

Phantom.

She was the only one to escape and had a strangely close relationship with Red. Only she would have the opportunity to get this recording. Only she would really know about him.

Mark clenches his fist as he now understands why the color red was associated with her voice. She makes him want to spill blood. She makes him red with anger. She was associated with the bastard who was burning him.

After two years she’s finally back in front of him and he’s seeing red.

But he won’t give her the power to set him off anymore. He won’t let himself be provoked by her right now.

“I’ll stop it right there because the recording after that becomes loud and violent. Is that enough proof for you now? If not, I urge you to go research the Storm heroes in Canada and their son Minhyung Lee. You’ll find some very interesting information,” she says.

The heroes look at Yuta. It takes him a moment, his jaw locked tighter than ever, but he nods, confirming that everything that was said was true.

“How do you know all of this?” Taeyong asks, the ever slightest waver found in his voice.

Mark pulls down his hood and his face mask. If she’s going to expose him then he might as well join the fun. None of NCT is going to believe him after all of that so he will adjust to the situation.

He steps out from his hiding place, head up and a sharp look in his eyes.

“Oh yes, how do you know all of this? Are you going to tell them about our history together? I just love storytime,” he says.

Phantom turns to him and he finally catches sight of her white eyes that remind him of nothing but weakness.

“You followed them?” She says, taking a step back.

Mark chuckles, looking over to the heroes. Their expressions are a wide range going from shock to anger. If he’s going to be outed then he’s going to do it his way.

“No, they gave me the day off. I had my own method of finding out about this little meetup. I know you tried hard to keep this from my knowledge but it looks like I was one step ahead of you,” he replies.

“A step ahead or not, your game is over now. Whatever you were planning is ruined. Next time, don’t be so careless with your powers, it makes you easier to track,” she says.

She still tries to hold this measure of authority as if he was still locked in a box and still drugged up. They both know though who is the more powerful one.

“You think I only had one idea? Unlike you, I acknowledge that things can go wrong so I make multiple plans. I’ll admit, this one ended sooner than I would have preferred but you didn’t stop me like you wanted to. Tell me this, why expose me? Why come back and deal with me again when you know very well what I’m going to do to you?” He says.

His threat is hidden in his words but it comes through clear for her. She knows extremely well what he wants to do to her.

“You ruined everything, you brat. Years of planning and working and it’s all gone because you had a temper tantrum. Well then, you want to play in the big leagues well then you got it. I’ll show you what it’s really like,” she hisses.

Mark can’t help the laugh that bubbles up his throat. He laughs at her ridiculous statement, wondering how she ever thought that that would be intimidating.

His laughter throws everyone back, no one knowing what he’s laughing about. They’re all on alert—Phantom and NCT—just in case he does something.

He takes deep breaths to try and reign in his laughter so he can speak.

“You think I’m intimidated by you? You, who ran away from me? You think so lowly of me it’s hilarious. I think you need some help though, you’ve been obsessed with me since I was nine. Your greatest enemy is someone who is about fifteen years younger than you, I think it’s time for you to reevaluate your life now. Oh, but do you feel good now? Are you happy that you inconvenienced me? Congratulations, I have to switch plans now because of you; should I open the champagne now?” He says with a cruelly mocking smirk.

Her pale skin flushes pink and he’s glad to see that he’s getting under her skin.

“Do not patronize me, boy! Your arrogance will be your downfall,” she says.

“Just like how it was for you and your group? It took me quite some time to wash all of that blood off, I wonder how long it took you. Did you feel fortunate to escape the consequences of your actions?” He says.

The words set her off even more.

“You sick, twisted, child! What you did was no light punishment. Their bodies were—”

“Mutilated? Yeah, I know. I walked home on bloody, burned, peeling feet, shall we continue saying facts about that night? Why focus on the past though? What matters is the present, here and now. And you know what I plan to do now?” He says nonchalantly.

He takes a step closer to her and fires a bolt as quick as one can blink.

She jumps out of the way, hat falling off as she does so.

He doesn’t give her a chance to recover because he fires again, laughing as he watches her scramble away from the bolt.

He’s about to fire another one but suddenly clouds form in between him and her. The second he takes to spot her again is the second she needed to turn invisible. He stays alert in case she is trying to attack him but after a few moments of stillness, he concludes that she ran away again.

“I won’t let her escape the next time,” he mutters under his breath.

He turns to the heroes—who got in his way but he’ll be kind enough to let them have a pass this time—and puts on a light smile.

“Well this isn’t how I wanted things to go,” he says.

They’re all in defensive stances, some staring at him in disbelief and others staring at him in anger.

“What game are you playing Lee?” Yuta demands.

Mark probably hurt his ego the most since he was able to get by that lie detector power of his.

“We’re on last name basis now? Hyung you hurt my feelings?” Mark says in false hurt.

He chuckles at how the words seem to make Yuta even angrier.

“Alright, alright, don’t get so upset. If it makes you feel any better, I’m not targeting you guys. I just needed you all for some information that’s all. I wasn’t out to get you if that’s what you’re worried about. Don’t feel bad, I never lied to you guys, I just twisted my words a lot. Your powers are still top-notch,” he says calmly.

His reassuring words, however, do not seem to reassure them. He thought he was being pretty nice just now.

“This isn’t a joking matter. We’re not letting you talk your way out of this,” Taeyong says sternly.

Mark runs a hand through his hair and shrugs.

“I don’t know what to tell you then because I wasn’t joking. That was my attempt at comforting you all but it seems it wasn’t appreciated. Oh well, I tried. I wasn’t in the mood to talk anyway, I have things to do now that this plan came to an unexpected close. This is a goodbye, it was tolerable working with you all. Some of you were more annoying than others—thank you Sicheng for rarely irritating me—but I didn’t want to kill you at every breathing moment so I’ll call that a success. Let’s try not to cross paths, yeah? I’m fine with the whole hero thing as long as you stay out of my way. Deal?” He says.

He doesn’t give them a chance to respond, turning around and starting to walk away from them. He has work to do, he doesn’t want to waste any more time.

That and he wants to find a nice place to let out his loudest scream and the highest voltage of electricity because he is absolutely enraged at what had just happened. He may be playing the chill, nonchalant, mocking antagonist right now but on the inside, he’s ready to tear everything apart.

He stops though when a wall suddenly appears in front of him. He takes a deep breath and mentally applauds the realism of the illusion to prevent himself from thinking different thoughts.

“Maybe I need to be clearer,” he says.

He turns around and fires a bolt at Jaehyun, centimeters away from his head and startling him, causing the illusion to fall. The older doesn’t even have time to react.

“Do not get in my way. My ties with you end here. Nothing I do from here forward will have anything to do with you. You are not my target, you are not who I am trying to spite or fight. This is your chance to move on with your lives and continue to be the heroes you so love being. For your own sake, do not chase after me, do not try to find out what I am doing, and do not try to stop me. I am not your enemy but I have no problems becoming one. Do not involve yourselves with me or else you will regret it,” he says clearly and plainly.

Once again, he turns on his heels and walks away, leaving them to their own devices.

He doesn’t care who it is, anyone who gets in his way will be dealt with. Let’s hope those heroes got that message loud and clear.

~~~

The seven of them enter their base silently. Not a word has been spoken the entire way here.

It’s Taeyong who breaks the silence.

“Everyone turn off their phones and leave them here. Search for bugs all around, we don’t know what he left here,” he says.

They all do as they’re told, leaving their phone there and going off to see if there are any bugs here. Clearly he was spying on them somehow if he was able to find about the tip today. They have to find out how.

They scour the entire area, making sure every corner of it is clear. They had a serious breach here, they have to take steps to fix it.

When they’re all done, they meet in a room they know for a fact he never had entry to so everything is safe in there.

“Go to the computer and pull up what you can on the Storm heroes,” Taeyong says.

Sicheng is the one to do so, taking the computer seat, logging in, and searching for the asked information.

This computer was never even shown to him so they know that any information they pull up on it will be true and untouched.

“The Storm heroes, a Canadian hero couple whose powers represented that of a storm. The wife had water powers and the husband had wind powers. They died four years ago on the call saving civilians. They were some of the best and well-liked heroes at the time,” Sicheng says, reading over the information he pulled up.

“And their son?” Johnny asks.

Sicheng scrolls through the data, trying to spot anything that says something about a son. His eyes catch sight of the name that woman said earlier and he clicks on the link attached to it.

“Minhyung Lee, status is unknown. Powers: electrokinesis. His powers were strong for his age but he had great control over them. At age nine, he raided a science lab, stole highly classified documents, and then proceeded to destroy half of the facility. It was his parents, the Storm heroes, who were the ones who stopped him and locked him away in level eight maximum security in an underground facility far away from people. Level eight was the highest level a prisoner could possibly be in. He was kept in a special wing that had no electricity in it and kept in special bonds to limit his powers. He was there for two years until a new guard accidentally came in the area with a high voltage taser which he was able to use the electricity to knock out his guards and break out. He went missing after that and was never seen again. There are pictures of him, his cell before he broke out, and the damage after he did,” Sicheng says.

They all lean closer to see the pictures attached.

“It really is him,” Jaehyun says in shock.

Though they’re old pictures, they can still tell that it really is the person they know as Mark. The teen they thought was sweet and good-hearted is actually this kid who was enough of a danger that his own parents locked him away in maximum security.

If that was him as a child how is he now? What level of danger is he now?

“He really tricked us. He lied to us and used us for whatever evil thing he’s planning. We really let our guard down to someone like him,” Yuta says.

They can’t believe this. They were actually infiltrated and who knows what he stole from them. Who knows what he’s going to do and it’s all because they fell for his tricks.

“What are we going to do? We’re not going to actually let this go right? We don’t know what he’s planning or what he took. He may become a danger for the public,” Doyoung says.

“The first thing we should do is figure out what he took. Maybe we can find a clue on what he’s doing that way,” Jaehyun suggests.

They don’t doubt that Mark probably covered his tracks pretty well but they have their ways of figuring out what he was doing while he was here. It may take them some time but they’ll figure it out.

“Do you think he will become more hostile when we get involved?” Jungwoo asks.

They can’t deny it, his parting statement was very clear, he does not want them getting in his way—that bolt aimed at Jaehyun confirmed that. There is a chance that they may add fuel to the fire by getting involved in whatever he’s doing. They do have to take that into consideration.

“It’s a good possibility but we can’t let that stop us. He says this doesn’t involve us anymore but he’s wrong. The second he came to us we were put in this situation. No matter what, we are heroes and as heroes, we stop anyone who is a threat to the safety of others, despite their threats. He clearly didn’t change from when he was younger so that means he has to be stopped on whatever he’s doing. We’re in this and we’re not backing out,” Taeyong says.

They have to fix their mistake of letting their guard down to him. No matter what he threatened, they’re going to make things right and do things for the safety of everyone. Someone like him shouldn’t be left to his own volition. 

“Lee Mark is a threat and we must watch him.”

Chapter Text

Donghyuck’s “work” phone goes off, alerting him that he just received a text.

He goes to his bed and picks up his phone to see who texted him this time. With the work he does, someone is always trying to contact him. Let’s see if it’s something worth his time.

“Holy-” the phone fumbles around in his hands at the sight of the name and it takes him a second to get a proper grip on it again.

Lee Mark

Text Message

Mark hasn’t contacted him in like a year and a half, why is he doing so all of a sudden? If he’s being texted then that must mean that something didn’t go right with the older’s plan because Lee Mark isn’t one to send a message just to see how you’re doing. If something went wrong is it because of some information that he gave? He knows for a fact that all of that information was the best he can give, there couldn’t have been anything wrong with it. But then why is Mark texting him? Why now?

“Please don’t let him be out to kill me. Please don’t let him be out to kill me,” Donghyuck mumbles as he goes to open the text.

He clicks on the message with crossed fingers.

‘Good evening Haechan. Meet me at 000 X Way as soon as possible. I’ll be on the roof. Do not have me waiting long, I rather not waste any more time.’

Short and to the point with little information; sounds like Mark alright. It doesn’t tell Donghyuck if Mark is out to kill him or not but it looks like the only way he’ll find out is by going to this location like he was told to.

Now Lee Donghyuck doesn’t take orders from anyone but he also plays smart. There are people who threaten to do things to him but are all talk no bite. Lee Mark is not one of those people. Mark will very much carry out his threat and Donghyuck knows this so he plays the game to stay alive. Not only that but Mark gives him the best payments—like when he made his work phone untraceable so no one can track and follow him once as a payment—so he would hate to lose such a valuable client. In other words, Donghyuck doesn’t take orders but he is more willing to listen to Mark for a few reasons.

“But isn’t that place abandoned? What is he doing wanting to meet somewhere like that?” Donghyuck asks himself.

If you ask him, it sounds like a setup for a murder but he’s going to try not to think that way. He’ll just go to this meet-up acting the way he always does and internally hope for the best.

He better get moving then. He doesn’t know what Mark will consider as waiting too long but he doesn’t want to find out.

In record time, Donghyuck gets ready and is out of his apartment. Maybe he’s not in Haechan’s usual full glory and beauty but he’s good enough for a spontaneous night meet-up/his potential murder. It’ll do.

It takes him thirty minutes to get to the location—an abandoned apartment building. It’s not a creepy abandoned building, it still looks nice on the outside. But because no one has bought this property in quite some time, everyone knows that it’s empty. Why would Mark choose an empty location like this, Donghyuck is about to find out.

He heads in and goes up, taking breaks in between. These stairs are his exercise for the week if not the month.

When he gets to the top floor—taking yet another break—before the roof, he looks around in shock.

“What the hell did he do here?” He says in disbelief.

The entire floor is a wreck. The walls have burn marks all over them, shattered glass is scattered through the halls, and the lights are destroyed.

“He’s not in a good mood, note taken,” he says.

With that, he goes up to the roof, much more cautious now that he knows that he may very well be walking into a minefield right now.

Immediately, he spots Mark sitting down, looking up to the stars.

“Uh, hi,” Donghyuck says.

Mark turns to him and Donghyuck is not surprised to see that calm composure that the older always has present. Even when angry, he gains his composure back quickly.

“Hello, come take a seat next to me,” Mark says.

Donghyuck walks over and gets down, putting a safe amount of distance between them as he sits.

It’s silent for a moment, neither of them saying anything—Mark still staring at the stars and Donghyuck watching him from the corner of his eye.

Donghyuck’s anxiety and curiosity eventually get the better of him and he has to break the silence.

“Soooo...what can I do for you?” He says.

Mark finally looks down from the stars and turns to Donghyuck.

“I need information. You did so well last time so I trust that you can give me what I want. This time, you tell me what you want as payment and I’ll give it to you the next time I see you,” Mark says.

Donghyuck tries to keep the surprise off of his face.

He’s pretty sure that Mark just complimented him so that must mean he isn’t going to die tonight. That’s good, really good.  Also, does that mean he can ask for anything and Mark will get it for him? If it does then that would be amazing.

“What do you want to know?” He asks.

Mark takes out his phone and opens it to what appears to be a list of sorts.

“I need to get in contact with at least one of these people and soon. I’d rather not go on a wild goose chase so do you have an idea where I can find them without running through too many rings?” He says.

Donghyuck takes the phone and looks over the list. He’s surprised when he sees the names of pretty well-known people—some who are outright famous—written on it. What would Mark need with any of these people? Why these people in particular?

“You just need one of them? Any one of them?” Donghyuck asks for clarification.

“Yes. If you know more than one then I’ll gladly take it but just one will work,” Mark replies.

Donghyuck nods and goes back to the list.

Mark must have some faith in his knowledge skills—his powers but no one knows that—if he came with a list of well-known to famous people and expect him to have information.

Well, they’re both in luck because he does have some information that could be useful.

“This one, I know where you’ll be able to find him,” Donghyuck says, pointing to the name.

Mark looks over to see who he’s referring to. He’s pleasantly amused when he sees that it’s one of the actual celebrities on the list.

“There’s this big fancy event coming up soon and I know for a fact that he’s on the guestlist because one of my last clients just asked about him—crazy fan if you ask me—and I had to do some research on him. Some of these other people will probably be there too but I’m positive about him being there,” Donghyuck says.

He gets weird requests sometimes but hey, it pays well. Who would have thought though that that last job would have helped him out with another one?

“What’s the event?” Mark asks.

“I can send you a detailed description of the event along with it’s time, date, location, and guest list so you can check for yourself, if you would like,” Donghyuck suggests.

He doesn’t know if Mark is actually thinking about trying to get into that event but he’s just the information dealer. He won’t get involved after that. If Mark wants to get into that type of upscaled event then who is he to try and stop that?

“I’d appreciate that. So, what do you want for payment?” Mark says.

Mark must see the question on Donghyuck’s face because he adds afterward, “Yes, you can ask for anything.”

Donghyuck’s eyes light up at the word anything.

He can ask for anything and he’ll get it because he knows that Mark always pulls through with his payments.

“I want the prettiest, most expensive thing you can steal—bonus points if it’s from one of those stuffy rich people. Jewelry, bags, phones, any of them. I’ll accept a nice wallet too, with the money in it of course. You think you can get that for me?” He says.

Mark chuckles amusedly.

“You sure like having people steal for you considering how easily you can get the same things yourself by other means. Are you sure you’re not into the crime scene?” He responds.

Donghyuck tilts his head up slightly with a humorously entitled expression.

“Of course I’m not, I just have gray morals. Don’t think because you know some facts about me now that you can analyze me or something, we both know I like pretty things. And so you know, you are the only person I accept stolen goods from now because no one knows how to take something of interest,” he says with no bite.

That and he just likes the thrill associated with the idea of having something stolen. He could sell it, wear it, repurpose it and it’s all his risk and profit. So much better than the stuffy way he got his pretty and expensive things before, that’s for sure.

“If you say so. Yes, I can get that for you,” Mark replies.

Donghyuck grins and sticks out his hand.

“Great, pleasure doing business with you as always. I’ll have that information to you by tomorrow,” he says.

Mark rolls his eyes with a smile but shakes Donghyuck’s hand either way.

“I look forward to it. Thank you in advance for your work,” Mark responds.

‘Thank you for not killing me tonight,’   Donghyuck thinks.

~~~

And there he is.

Mark smirks as he sees his target step out of his car by himself, mask not on yet as he hands his keys to the valet. 

A masked event. An event where he’s actually supposed to conceal his identity—it makes what he plans to do so much easier.

He waits for the valet to drive off before leaving his hiding spot and walking up to his target.

Mask on, well dressed, and a confident walk, no one bats an eye at him as he walks up and wraps an arm around his target’s shoulder in a friendly fashion.

The man turns with a surprised look, ready to go off on the stranger who dares to act so informal with him. He’s stopped in his tracks, however, by a light shock on his arm that was definitely more than just a little bit of friction.

Mark politely smiles down to the shorter man as if nothing was the matter.

“Park Jimin, I recommend you cooperate or else you’ll be feeling much worse than that,” he says.

Park Jimin, an up and rising singer who is catching quite the popularity pretty quickly and who is also involved with a few more things that the general public is not aware of. Also known as Mark’s target for tonight.

“You know if I scream, security will be after you in a minute and they are trained to deal with the Enhanced,” Jimin says, eyes narrowing from behind his mask.

Mark keeps his friendly composure though, looking as if he is talking to an old friend.

“You do that and I’ll put what you do off-hours on every platform possible. It would be a shame if your reputation was ruined because the public found out about your little...habit and side jobs. Not to mention that you’d be investigated by police and maybe even heroes. Are you sure you want to go down that road with me?” He says.

Jimin’s jaw tightens, knowing that he was put in a tough position just now. He doesn’t like or trust this person but he worked way too hard to let someone ruin him like that. And though it wasn’t said he has a guess that he will still get shocked on top of being ruined.

“Fine, you win. What do you want?” Jimin says.

Mark smiles at him again.

“We’ll talk inside but right now I want you to smile and look comfortable. I’m going to move my arm so you can put yours around mine. We’ll walk in together as if we were long-time friends and you’ll say that I am your plus one. Don’t try to come up with an excuse, I already know that your plus one spot is empty. You’ll cooperate, right? Make this easy for the both of us,” he says.

He slightly tightens his hold, making it clear that it was not an option that he was giving.

Jimin winces before nodding in agreement.

“Yes, I’ll cooperate just get off of me already,” he says.

Mark decides to be kind this once and moves his arm from the older’s shoulder, holding it out instead as an offer.

Jimin reluctantly acquiesces and takes the offered arm.

“Now smile, we’re reaching security,” Mark says.

He watches as Jimin frowns deeply at him before turning forward again and forcing a sweet smile on his face. The smile seems so natural, the singer should probably audition for an acting or modeling job on the side.

The two walk up to the security at the entrance and Jimin takes out his ID.

“Park Jimin,” he says, showing the guy his ID with the same smile on.

Mark smiles when the guard looks at him in question. A word isn’t said as the guard clicks something on his tablet and then the two of them are let in without any issues.

Music immediately reaches Mark’s ears and he is greeted by the sight of people, all in masks, standing around drinking and socializing. It’s easy to get lost in the crowd which means he’ll have a lot of cover but also a lot of listening ears.

“I got you in now can you tell me what you want and go already? My producer is bound to come searching for me soon, I already texted him that I arrived when I was getting out of my car,” Jimin says.

“I’m sure Producer Min can wait a bit longer. If you want this to go quicker then just follow along,” Mark replies.

Jimin opens his mouth to say something but decides to shut it and just silently go along. He wants this over with already.

Mark leads them further in and to the first spot he can find that isn’t crowded by people but enough to not make them look suspicious.

“Now we can talk; we didn’t want any prying ears listening in, especially since they may hear something about you that you wouldn’t want them to,” he says.

Jimin pulls his arm away and crosses them, frustrated with what is going on.

“I get it, now get on with it,” he says.

He yelps when he feels yet another shock, this one aimed at his hand.

“I can still do this the hard way so please tone down the visible attitude so you don’t attract attention to us,” Mark says.

He knows that the singer is older than him and he technically should be a bit more respectful but does it look like he’s worrying about norms right now? He had to go a year and a half pretending to be angelically respectful only to come out without what he wanted. He’s not going to waste any more time.

Jimin wordlessly uncrosses his arms but the hostile look in his eyes does not disappear. Mark doesn’t mind though.

“Thank you. Now I just wanted to get some information from you that’s all. I know you come in contact with quite a few people in all of your activities and I wanted to know if you know this man,” Mark says, showing the singer a picture.

Jimin takes a look at the picture, trying to keep his face neutral. Mark can tell though the older does know the man as he inferred.

“Don’t lie, Park, I’ll be able to know,” Mark says.

He watches as Jimin seems to internally debate whether he should speak up or not. He smirks to himself when he sees the older’s eyes show that he made a decision that he isn’t proud of.

“Yeah, I know him. What about him?” Jimin responds.

“Kim Young-min, a pretty successful man but almost all of his business dealings are kept very private. How do you know him?” Mark says.

Jimin sighs.

“A manager of mine is good friends with him so I met him off hours a few times,” he replies.

“That means you’ve talked to him and know some stuff about him, yes?” Mark says.

Jimin just nods in response.

“Good, so rumor has it he has some involvement in the science field. How true is that rumor?” Mark says.

Before the singer can respond, his phone goes off. He looks and sees it’s a message from his producer asking him where he is.

“If you want to get him involved as well, you can tell him. Or you can just tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you go,” Mark says, noticing the message as well.

Jimin bites his lip indecisively but when his phone goes off again, he quickly makes his decision.

“Yeah, it’s true. He’s like the owner of this lab that is really advance or something but I honestly don’t know much about it. He doesn’t talk about it often but if anyone would know about it, it would be his secretary. She practically takes care of everything for him so I know she’s here tonight. I don’t know any more after that,” he says.

Mark laughs to himself at how quickly Jimin gave up someone else for his own freedom. He’ll go with it though. Dealing with the secretary can give him more information.

“Alright, what’s her name?” Mark asks.

“Sung Yi-soo,” Jimin answers.

Sung Yi-soo, Mark thinks he did see that name on the list but he’ll double-check to make sure. If she is here then that will be a very good thing for him.

“Thank you. Enjoy your night, Park-ssi,” Mark says with a pleasant smile.

He walks away first, leaving the singer to wonder what really just happened before turning around and heading back into the crowd.

Mark heads toward the bathroom to get out of the public’s eye. While he is walking, he opens his phone and goes to the guest list that Haechan sent him.

He’s pleasantly surprised to see that he wasn’t sent just a copy of the list but instead was sent the actual spreadsheet, the one that is being directly edited as people enter. People who have already entered have their names checked off along with the time that they arrived. Not only that but there is a security camera shot of the person from different angles when you click on the name. How was Haechan able to send him this, he doesn’t know but now he’ll make sure to really get his little informant something he’ll love.

He scrolls through the list, looking for her name to see if she is indeed invited to this event. He finds her name and, to his joy, she has a check next to her name. The photo attached to her name has a clear shot of her face, mask, and dress. He must admit, this is pretty high-tech for security but it’s benefitting him so he won’t complain. He’ll make sure to get rid of any shots of him later.

Now that he knows that she’s here, he just has to find her and get her to speak. But first, it’s time to change his style up a bit.

He looks around and smirks. Tonight is his lucky night it seems.

A male, who looks pretty similar to him in size and build, walks into the bathroom. Mark follows in after him.

The guy is looking in the mirror, fixing his hair and uncaring of the fact that someone else just entered. Mark looks around to make sure that the bathroom is empty—he’s really getting fortunate because it is—and then casually locks the door before going over to the sinks as well.

He could play nice and try to strike up a conversation but that’s a lot of work when he can just do this.

He grabs the man by the neck and before the guy can even say anything, he shocks him unconscious.

“You won’t be waking up for a while, hope you don’t mind me borrowing your stuff,” Mark says.

He quickly gets to work taking off the guy’s jacket, shirt—pocketing the expensive-looking cufflinks—pants, and mask. Now isn’t a time to have shame in his opinion so it doesn’t bother him in the slightest. He goes into one of the stalls and takes off his own clothes, quickly changing into the ones he stole. They’re not as loose as his own suit was but it’s not inappropriately tight. It looks more fitted if anything. When he’s finished, he steps out and takes a look at himself in the mirror.

“Not bad. Good thing I wore black gloves, they still match with this outfit,” he says to himself.

He looks at the unconscious guy on the floor and decides to put some of his clothes on the man so as not to leave the scene looking suspicious.

He puts the shirt and mask on properly but leaves the pants at his ankles before dragging the man into a stall. He places the man’s phone and wallet in the pants’ pockets but takes off the man’s watch. He’ll use it for tonight before handing it off to Haechan.

“Passed out trying to use the bathroom, sounds convincing to me. The poor man couldn’t even get his clothes off properly, what a shame,” he says.

He locks the stall and then climbs over, leaving that part of the job behind.

“Just have to fix my hair and then I’m good,” he says.

It’s the little things that people end up remembering so he has to make sure he changes everything just in case Park Jimin decides he wants to open his mouth now that he’s free. They’ll have trouble pointing him out now.

When everything is done, he takes one last good look at himself. Despite it being spontaneous, the outfit looks good and he looks natural as if he came like this.

Time to go find Ms. Sung Yi-soo.

He unlocks the door and leaves the bathroom, happy that no one seemed to be waiting to enter it. He heads back to the main hall and to the edge of the crowd.

‘If I was a most likely overworked secretary sent to an event like this in heels that are no doubt uncomfortable to stand in for too long, where would I be?’ He asks himself.

The bar.

With that thought, he decides to head over to the bar area and see if he can find the secretary there. 

The bar is more away from where the main event is—mainly so people will have a harder time getting themselves stupid drunk and if they do, they can stay in one area away from everyone else—so that means it won’t be too hard to see if she is there or not.

When he gets there, he scans the area, checking the picture on his phone to make sure he doesn’t accidentally miss her. He silently cheers when he catches sight of the dark red dress and red, black, and gold mask he was looking for.

His mind goes back to a scene in his childhood where his mother came to visit him by herself because she was upset at his father and said, “Sometimes, women are just done with the men in their lives,” and then proceeded to take a drink before going on about how she wished he wasn’t like this. Maybe it’s a woman thing to drink and look one hundred percent done with everything.

He puts on his friendliest look and walks over to where she is sitting and takes a seat next to her.

“Excuse me miss, I don’t mean to bother you but you look like you could use a drink,” he says with a light chuckle.

She turns to him, slightly startled by his sudden arrival.

“Oh, uh do I know you?” She asks politely.

He shakes his head with a friendly smile.

“No and I don’t know you but we look like we’re in similar positions so I thought I’d come over and make conversation,” he responds.

He grabs the attention of the bartender and orders two glasses of wine. 

“What do you mean by that?” She asks.

The bartender hands him the two glasses and he holds one out for her. She hesitantly takes it, quietly thanking him.

“Well, let me guess your situation. Your boss, parent, or friend forced you to come here to make the company look good, make the family look good, or to find a potential date and now you’re here waiting for an appropriate time to get out of here without risking getting lectured to. Am I close?” He says.

She lightly chuckles, surprising her own self with her laughter.

“Actually you’re pretty spot on. My boss sent me here in place of him to represent the company well but really he’s just dumping work on me again. Are you here for any of those reasons?” She says.

He nods, taking a sip of his wine.

“Sounds tough. My friend ‘gave me the idea’ to come in hopes of finding the right person that I’m looking for. We all know what that means. If I go back too soon they’ll be suspicious,” he responds.

Being around Yuta for a year and a half has gotten him in the habit of not outright lying if he doesn’t have to. You never know when someone can call your lie so it’s best to just twist the truth.

“I guess we are in similar positions. How’d you know that?” She says, taking a sip of her own drink.

“There’s just that look and posture that makes it easy to tell. Not only that but you’re here hiding away like I am. The only people that stay around here are people who want to get drunk to the point of forgetting their name and people who want to avoid the general area filled with people. You seemed pretty sober so I took a chance with the second option,” he responds.

She smiles softly.

“Good deduction. You saw right through me,” she says.

He returns the smile to her.

“Guess I have my observant moments. So, do you mind me spending the time here with you until one of us has the chance to disappear? We can use each other to make it seem like we’re being social and that’s why we’re here and not because we’re hiding,” he says.

He watches as her smile grows slightly, her taking another sip of her drink to hide it.

“I guess that wouldn’t be so bad. I’m sure my boss will be happy to know that I talked to at least one person that I wasn’t obligated to speak with,” she responds.

He laughs lightly, internally very pleased with how this is going so far.

“Great, thank you. Why don’t you tell me about this boss of yours, he seems like a real character, for a lack of a better expression,” he says.

“Are you asking me to rant about work?” She asks with an amused expression.

“That is exactly what I am asking you to do. Everyone deserves a chance to let it all out without any stakes attached every once and a while,” he responds, equally as amused.

She laughs as well, feeling more relaxed now that she’s a bit sure it isn’t some creep talking to her but a nice person.

“Well then, I won’t turn down that opportunity. He’s a pretty well-known guy so he’s always invited to events or always has these important meetings. Unfortunately, half of those events and meetings he doesn’t even want to go to so he sends me instead because I can’t say no if he tells me to go. Most people don’t want to deal with me though so I only end up talking to them for like ten minutes and then sitting off to the side until I can leave without seeming rude. This is a very regular occurrence,” she says.

“Wow, that couldn’t be me, I’d probably pretend to be sick every time. What’s this boss' name? Maybe one day I’ll miraculously end up at another event he was supposed to attend but run into his overworked and probably underpaid secretary,” he responds, giving a teasing smile.

They’re both finished with their drinks so Mark orders another one for them both—he won’t be drinking much of his though, he’s just keeping the friendliness going.

“That may be a possibility. And yes, I am both overworked and underpaid. His name is Kim Young-min so if you see that name on any invite lists, there’s a good chance I’ll be the one going instead,” she says.

So Park Jimin wasn’t lying, this is his secretary. Well then, let’s hope she has information he can use.

“Kim Young-min? I’ve heard of that name before. What is he exactly? CEO? Doctor? Scientist? I hear his name associated with quite a few things, to say the least,” he says.

He watches as she continues to drink her wine, her not seeming to notice that he has barely taken a sip of his second glass.

“He is associated with a lot of things. He’s a CEO but he is the owner of this special lab so that’s where he gets the doctor and scientist titles from,” she responds.

Special lab? He’s heard from many different sources that the science he deals in is up there but now it’s confirmed that not only does he own an entire lab, but this lab is also different than most. Exactly what he was hoping for.

“A lab? That’s so amazing. I grew up as a science nerd, forgive me. Is it his personal lab or a lab with other scientists and workers that he just happens to own? Which science does he focus in? Does he actually practice science?” He asks, feigning excitement.

She lights up, though, at his excitement, finding it funny and refreshing.

“A science nerd huh? I guess I really caught your attention on that one,” she says with a chuckle, “well, to answer your enthusiastic questions, it’s a lab with other scientists that he just owns. He doesn’t practice science as often as you think he would considering that he owns a lab. And I don’t really know what the science is called, I just know they do a lot of things involving the Enhanced ,” she says, whispering the word ‘Enhanced’.

A lab dealing with the Enhanced in particular? That’s even better than what he was aiming for. If he can get into that lab then it is bound to have everything he needs. And a lab like that probably wouldn’t have a lot of workers in it because not many people focus in Enhanced studies. Generally speaking, only those who are Enhanced focus on that. The fewer the workers there, the better for him.

“Woah, that’s a hard topic to focus on. Is he Enhanced or something? Or is he just in it for the money and recognition?” He says.

“He’s not, that money idea is probably on the right track. I don’t truly understand it all to be completely honest. Like I have all of these files on my desktop and half of it I don’t even know what they’re saying. I’m really just supposed to be the one who looks over financials, organizes documents, reminds him about meetings, and pick up phone calls. I didn’t sign up to be a scientist,” she responds, finishing her second glass.

So she has information on her desktop, interesting to know.

He checks the time on the watch he stole and sees that it’s not that late. He could do it if he wants and get back home at a reasonable time. It’ll be out of the way but he’s come so far, is he really going to let this chance go by him? He’d be playing more of a risk than he expected to do this night. Oh but who is he kidding, when has he ever cared about that? He has a chance and he’s going to take it.

“Spoken like a true secretary. You know, it’s getting late. If we stay on the sides, by the time we make it to the exit, it’ll be socially appropriate to leave. And, if we leave together, it’ll make our leave look more understandable, if you know what I mean,” he says.

She checks the time herself on her phone and notices that he is correct.

“Wow, time really does fly when you’re talking to someone. I guess I’m fine with us trying to make our escape together, I think we both deserve to get out of here,” she replies.

They get up and Mark pays the bartender for the four drinks. Then, he leads her away, continuing their conversation.

Midway through the conversation, Mark shyly offers his arm to her like a gentleman.

“I hope you don’t mind, it’s just my mother taught me to escort a lady properly when entering and exiting,” he says.

She smiles and gently takes his arm.

“Your mother is a smart woman,” she responds.

They continue their conversation, walking on the outskirts of the area. 

Mark waits until they’re far enough from the bar but still out of the general crowd before shocking her suddenly, causing her to blackout. He catches her from falling to the ground and then takes her purse.

He goes in it and finds her phone, wallet, and her valet tag.

“These will be useful,” he says to himself.

He puts the phone and wallet back in her purse but keeps the tag out. He then lifts her up and puts her into a bridal style position, making sure he has a good grip on her so she doesn’t fall.

Straight to the exit he carries her, staying out of crowded areas so as to have as little attention on him as possible. When he gets outside, he walks up to the valet man.

“Hi, excuse me, uh she had a bit too much to drink so we’re going home now. Uh is this the tag I give to you?” He says, clumsily handing him the tag while trying not to shake her so much.

“Yeah it is, I’ll be right back with the car,” he says.

The guy walks away to get the car. Mark fixes the—probably a bit too light—woman in his arms. All he has to do is get her in the car and he’s good.

A car pulls up in front of them and the valet gets out.

“Have a good night,” he says, handing Mark the car keys.

“Thank you, you too,” Mark replies.

The valet is kind enough to open the passenger door for them so Mark can put her in the seat. Mark sets her down gently and straps her in. Then he closes the door and goes over to the driver's side.

He drives away, getting out of the immediate venue area before pulling over. He grabs her purse and takes out her wallet and phone.

“Let’s see where you live Ms. Sung,” Mark says, looking at her ID.

He uses her fingerprint to get into her phone and puts the address in to get directions there. When it comes up, he puts the phone on the phone mount on her car’s dashboard and then drives off.

He drives all the way to her home—she barely stirred, showing no signs of waking—without any issue. He parks her car and goes in her purse to grab her keys. He’ll have to drag her for a bit, just until he can get the door open. Hopefully, no one catches him and asks any questions.

He unstraps her seatbelt, grabs her phone and purse, and pulls her out of the car. He closes and locks the door behind him before walking to the front door, carrying her dead weight as her arm is around his neck and he tries to hold her up. He has to try a few keys before getting the door open. 

Into the dark house they go, Mark not caring to turn on the light.

He carries her to what appears to be her bedroom and puts her on the bed. He drops her purse and keys on her bedside.

“Time to go find her computer. She shouldn’t wake up while I’m busy,” he whispers to himself.

He leaves the room and goes to search for the computer. It’s not in the living room or the bedroom so that must mean that there’s an office room somewhere. He finds it next to the guest room and he hurries over to the computer.

Getting past the login screen is child’s play for him and soon, he’s searching through her files.

“Where would it be?” He asks aloud.

She has a lot of work files on the computer but at least it’s organized, unlike NCT’s computer. It shouldn’t take him too long to find what he’s looking for. 

He scrolls and scans through the folders until his eyes come across a particular one.

EXO LABS

“Seems like I found the folder I’m looking for,” he says.

He clicks on the folder and watches as a bunch of different documents pop up.

Which one should he choose?

He decides to start with the one entitled ‘Briefing’. He opens it and quickly skims through it. It’s a document that explains what the lab focuses on and their general work.

“A lab that studies the Enhanced population and all of the science behind powers. All of the scientists there are Enhanced, sounds interesting,” he says.

As much as he would love to read everything though, he needs to get going. If he knew he was going to find this much information, he would have brought a flash drive with him. He could connect his phone but that could leave a trace.

His best bet is to send the folder to one of his untraceable emails and then delete that message from her emails.

He works quickly, making sure everything is sent. For extra precaution, he also takes photos of the most important things, like the lab’s address, so it’s also in his photos.

After making sure he has everything, he closes all of the folders and logs out of the computer. He shuts it down, making sure there is no sign left that someone was on it.

To keep up the Good Samaritan act, he finds pen and paper and writes a note—not using his actual handwriting of course—saying that he took her home after she passed out from overdrinking. He writes that he took her keys to lock the door and left it under the welcome mat outside and then signs it as ‘the stranger whose night you made more bearable’—gagging internally at the cringiness of it—before heading back to her room. 

He’s glad to see that she’s still unconscious and puts the note on her desk. After that, he takes her keys and lets himself out of the house—taking a few more things so as to give Haechan a good payment.

When he’s out, he looks up to the night sky with a triumphant smirk. He finally got the information that he needs.

Now he can get to work.

Chapter Text

Two things were easy to hear in this cell: footsteps and torches.

He scowled as he heard footsteps coming down that hallway, much softer than any guard would walk, confirming for him that it was that woman who would be appearing at his cell soon.

The guards took a step back—their crappy way of giving him privacy—and the woman he expected to see came into his line of sight with her normal clipboard in hand and knife on her waist.

Doctor Stephanie Lane, a child psychologist who was called in to regularly check in on him.

He never liked her.

“Hello again Minhyung,” she said, setting down the chair she always brought with her and taking a seat.

He huffed, turning away from her.

“Go away already,” he replied.

He didn’t want some doctor trying to pry into his head, especially when he knows that it’ll just be used against him in someway later down the line. Pyschs don’t care about what you have to say and they definitely don’t care about what a prisoner has to say. He may be stuck here but he wasn’t going to subject himself to this.

“You know I won’t. I’m not going to stay for long anyway, I just want to have some semblance of a conversation with you. That won’t hurt now will it?” She said.

“What part of go away don’t you understand? The instruction or the meaning behind the words? Go away means for you to leave. I am saying it because I don’t like you. That’s as clear as I can make it so leave,” he responded.

He winced as the bonds on his wrists began to heat up, a warning that he stepped out of line somehow.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to. I’m quite used to people who do not want to talk, it’s normal,” she said, turning to the burner behind her.

The man nodded and stopped adding additional heat to the bonds.

Doctor Lane turned back to him.

“Your bonds will cool down soon. How about instead of us having a conversation, I talk and you just listen. If you want to respond you can but I won’t force you to; any question will be rhetorical. Then the next time we can switch roles,” she suggested.

He wanted to tell her that that’s how their “sessions” usually went—though he never actually talks when it’s “his turn”—and that she’s not doing him a favor of any kind but he didn’t want to test that stupid burner’s nonexistent kindness any more than he already has. His wrists hurt enough.

“Whatever,” he said.

As usual, she just took his answer and continued on with her own agenda.

“Alright then, I got to speak to your parents recently. They didn’t know that I was asked to have sessions with you so they were surprised to find out. I should check when was the last time they visited here just so I know for the next time how up to date they are,” she started.

He didn’t say it aloud but he was surprised at that comment. He thought his parents were the ones who called a psychologist in for him—you know another attempt to “see where they went wrong”—but if they didn’t even know about the visits then that meant someone in the facility called, not them. In other words, they weren’t involved.

He guessed he shouldn’t really have been surprised at that then.

“I asked them a few questions about you so I could just know you slightly better. I asked the basic things—what’s your favorite color, how do you do in school, what’s your favorite food, things of that nature. It was an interesting conversation in my opinion,” she continued.

How could that be any interesting? He’d be surprised if his parents knew his own birthday anymore. She probably just received wrong answers or no answer at all.

“I also asked them when you first did something bad, what was it, what’s the most heroic thing you have done, and what was the most terrible thing you have done—minus your lab raid—and things like that. The conversation did pick up if I must say. They seem to have a good memory for those types of things,” she said.

Of course they would, they never forget a single bad thing he does. How could they when he’s a monster of a child as people call him? His parents are heroes, they will always remember that stuff, it’s their job to.

“The entire discussion had my mind going and a few ideas came to my head. A lot of people, including yourself, say that you are just naturally ‘bad’. While it may be true that you seem to have a leaning toward doing what is wrong, I do not think that that is all there is to you. No one is that one dimensional, right? I think you have your reasons, even if they are more subconscious than anything,” she said.

Here she goes with the unwanted analysis.

“I believe that somewhere along the line you came to realize that your wrong actions get you more attention from your parents than anything else. Most children would wait for days like their birthday or Christmas to have a reassurance that their parents would be there but with yours as heroes, they missed a few of those occasions it seemed due to their heroic duty. But they always seemed to be there when you were causing trouble, right? From what I’ve heard from them, it seems like they were there each and every time you did something. You knew that so you went along with that,” she continued. 

He turned to her at that, scrunching up his face in contempt.

“What were you drinking for you to come up with a stupid idea like that? Attention? I did not need my parents' attention. All they ever did was stop me from having fun and lecture me about how I need to do more good things. Every time they had their eyes on me, I had to do something boring or pointless. My goodie-two-shoes parent’s attention was the last thing I wanted,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow in response, most likely surprised that he spoke up in response to what she said. He wasn’t being cooperative though, he just wants her to shut up with this nonsense.

“Really? If that is the case then why did you raid that lab—and so boldly at that? Surely you knew that that would easily and quickly gain their attention,” she said.

“I did it because I wanted to,” he responded plainly.

The look on her face was beginning to irritate him. She looked as if she thought she was finally getting somewhere and it was irritating to him. She had no idea what she was talking about, she shouldn’t look as if she was succeeding in something.

“Because you wanted to? That’s a pretty big thing to just want to do. I noticed from previous experiences of yours though that you usually would stick to something smaller, something that will only affect a handful of people. This was far from your normal but I would agree that that was on purpose. I think you were beginning to notice that if your parents had to choose between scolding you about something you did or saving civilians, they would choose the latter which meant your other method would soon cease to work. You snapped, didn’t you? Something came up and you snapped, deciding that you will kill two birds with one stone and force your parents to save civilians and deal with you. That lab was the last place your parents had a major hand in helping with so that was your target. It was effective in getting their attention,” she said.

He chose not to respond to that one, not wanting to speak on that matter. It was stupid, how could she even begin to believe that? If anything was one dimensional, it was these reasons she was throwing on him.

“You weren’t expecting them to put you here though, now were you? They’ve never taken such drastic measures before, you thought that they would just stop you and take you back home and speak with you once more. This must have felt like a betrayal of some sort, no?” She continued.

He rolled his eyes with a sneer.

“No. They’re heroes, what would anyone else expect them to do? I was a threat, they locked me away; that’s how the world works. Now, stop with all of your stupid assumptions. I’m not some book character for you to throw your inferences on,” he replied.

“That is true but you can’t tell me that you were honestly expecting them to take measures this far. Level eight? That’s a pretty high and extreme level. This was not the attention you wanted from them. Acknowledgment and attention are two different things. Just because they acknowledged your action does not mean they are giving you care and attention. That is something most children don’t fully understand until something big happens or until they do something they really can’t take back. Your parents acknowledged that you can cause problems but they did not give you what you were aiming for,” she said.

Her insistence on the matter was really getting under his skin by this point. Didn’t she get the message to just shut up and leave him alone now? All of those stupid assumptions she kept throwing at him as if she had him all figured out. It pissed him off.

“I wasn’t aiming for anything but that lab’s destruction and some fun,” he spits back.

His objection is brushed off though, making him even more upset.

“It’s alright, it’s actually quite common for children of heroes to do unconventional things to get their parents' attention. Some act overly heroic, even going as far as to do things that could potentially kill them, all so their parents could be proud of them or pay attention to them. Some, like you, go in the opposite direction because negative attention is better than no attention. It’s common yet hero parents still have yet to learn to give more attention to thei—”

“I DID NOT DO IT FOR THEIR ATTENTION!’

His outburst caught her off guard. It was the loudest she has ever heard him speak and the most passionate he has spoken. 

He glared as coldly as he could at her, wanting to get his message across very clear.

“I did it because I wanted to and that’s it. Not because I wanted their attention or because of some tantrum you think I was throwing; I only did it because I wanted to. I’m selfish, I do things for my enjoyment and my survival, nothing else. So take all that ‘attention issues’ trash you keep talking about somewhere else. I am a threat, not a troubled child with parent issues. Those guards know I’m a threat, this facility knows I’m a threat, my parents know I’m a threat. Everyone knows what I am so stop trying to label me as something so weak,” he hissed.

To blame all of his actions on the sole idea of wanting to get his parents’ attention, how pitiful of a reason. How weak of a reason. He was not placed here as some type of timeout. He was placed here because he’s dangerous, dangerous enough for his own parents to lock him away. He is the threat he wanted to be; everything he did was because he wanted to do it. There was nothing else to it.

It was silent for a moment after that. She stared at him even though he continued to glare at her.

Suddenly, she stood up.

“I do not believe you are as selfish as you want yourself to be.”

She grabs her things and walks away before another word can be said.

Her footsteps echo through the air.

Mark pops up in his bed.

Instinctively, he reaches out his hands—internally expecting to feel the heavy weight of bonds—and is relieved when he can move them freely.

“It was a memory, that’s all. I haven’t been in that cell in years now. It was a stupid memory,” he mutters to himself.

He doesn’t know why he suddenly had a memory—that memory at that—but that’s all it is, a memory. It happened years ago, it’s in the past and he will keep it in the past.

He throws his sheets off of him and gets out of the bed.

The first thing he does is go to light a candle. He doesn’t want or need a lot of light right now, he just wants enough for him to see a bit better. The candle’s light is more soothing and warm anyway.

He walks over to his mirror and takes a good look at himself.

Black hair, structured facial features, brown eyes with sparks dancing in them, longer body proportions. This is him now, he’s no longer that little boy in that cell. He’s not nine anymore. He’s not the kid they locked away and he hasn’t been that kid in a while.

He will never be that kid again.

“What’s your analysis now lady? My parents are dead and I’m in another country. Still think I’m not doing it for my own want and survival?” He says to his own reflection as if the person the comment is meant for could hear it.

Ever since that woman came out with those stupid analyses, he knows that people were quietly wondering if she was right. He knows that some of those guards fell for that stupidity and believed that his actions were just calls for attention directed at his parents. It gave him all the more reason to break out of there. He wasn’t going to stay there being looked at as some little kid with parent issues. He wasn’t going to let himself be invalidated like that.

He wasn’t some traumatized kid turned villain. He isn’t some traumatized kid turned villain. He has his reasons, his motives, and he always had. The only part his parents play in this is that they confirmed to him that giving your life to be good only gets you killed and forgotten. It makes you the public’s slave. It makes you weak. 

His parents always complained that their family was broken apart when it was actually all their fault. If they were stronger in mind, they would have known that he was right and that being heroes would be their downfall. If they were stronger in personality, they wouldn’t have listened to what everyone else said about the hero life being the best and safest life. Their family broke apart because they decided to stick with the hero gig and it made them weak. He was the only one strong-minded in that family and that’s why he’s the only one alive.

He learned from his parents to not be weak of mind or personality.

So for that stupid psychologist to think that he wanted the attention of his weak-minded parents, it makes him laugh now. It’s a shame how many people belittled him. His parents, the guards, the psychologist, Phantom and her group; so many people thought so lowly of him. He loves how he gets to prove each one of them wrong slowly but surely.

He broke out of the facility that was supposed to be top of the line. He hid from his parents, the ever diligent and perfect heroes, for five years, making their search futile. He established his own self, far away from his “home” and family, eventually proving that he does what he wants when he wants. He got rid of four out of five people who tried to keep him caged, making the last one fear what he can do. Slowly but surely he’s proving them all wrong and showing how much of a threat he really is.

But it’s not enough.

He won’t be satisfied until he’s more than just mentally strong. Yeah his sharp thinking got him out of most of his situations but that isn’t enough anymore. It won’t be enough when someone new and stronger than him comes and tries to knock him down. He won’t allow himself to be caged again, metaphorically or literally. He’ll make sure that he’s strong enough to never let another person have power over him. Then he’ll really be able to do what he wants. His survival is assured and his place on the top of the power chain is secured. Nothing to worry about, no one to submit to, no one to run from. The cards will all be in his hands.

But first, he has to make sure he doesn’t mess this up this time.

He slaps his cheeks lightly as he stares himself down in the mirror.

“Don’t get emotional this time, Minhyung. Rage is what got you caught and placed in that facility. You can’t afford to be stopped this time,” he tells himself.

He was young, yes, so maybe he was throwing a tantrum of sorts, biting off more than he could chew by raiding that lab without a proper plan. This time won’t be like that. He will stay in control of the situation and make sure he gets what he wants. This will be the lab break-in he’ll be known for. This will be his greatest accomplishment.

“You worked hard for this, don’t screw it up,” he says.

Phantom said his arrogance will be his downfall. Well, he’ll just make sure he takes the necessary steps to avoid that. The only way he will go down is if his formula is wrong and the enhancer kills him. He knows it’s a possibility but he’s willing to take that risk. Either way, that is the only way he’ll allow himself to go down so all other problematic chances must be eliminated. He won’t allow for anything else to mess this up for him—his pride included.

He backs away from the mirror, his own words running through his mind and replacing those of the memory he saw. Any childish reason he could have had or that could be assumed is gone. His reasons may be for him alone to know but they’re there. He won’t forget them.

Mark Minhyung Lee will not be weak to anyone ever again. He’ll make sure of it.

He walks back to his bed, feeling more grounded in the present. He can’t allow himself to go back to the past, not now, not ever.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he grabs the candle at his bedside and looks into the flame.

“I will succeed.”

The fire is blown out.

Chapter Text

It’s finally time.

He’s been waiting outside of the ever special EXO Labs for the sun to set and for most of the workers—mainly the security guards—to leave. Not everyone left nor will everyone leave this early but that’s fine with him. Scientists are known for pulling late nights so he planned this very carefully with that in mind. Enough people have left though so now it’s time for him to move.

Bag across his shoulder, lab coat and fake glasses on, and fake lab ID in place, he confidently walks out and heads toward the entrance of the lab. Keeping his head down so his face isn’t visible to any of the cameras, he walks straight to the doors. He scans his fake ID—it was almost too easy for him to copy the proper scan after using the information he stole—and the doors open to him.

“Like magic,” he says smugly under his breath.

He walks in and heads to his first destination: the security room. He studied this lab’s layout so much it’s practically ingrained in his mind. He can walk around this lab without looking suspicious because he knows exactly where he’s going. It saves him time and trouble.

Due to the time, the hallways are practically empty because any worker has already left already or is still sitting in their personal workspace working the time away. He doesn’t worry about running into anyone and even if he did, he’s inconspicuous enough to get by without any issues. He should be in the clear.

He gets to the security room, first passing it to catch a glimpse inside.

Only two guards left in there. He can work with that. He’ll do this the old fashioned way—his old fashioned way.

With a flick of the hand, two bolts travel through the air and land directly on their necks. 

He calmly leans back on the wall and watches as their bodies shake as the electricity continues to flow through them. He counts the seconds it takes for him to see their eyes roll back and their body goes limp.

“Pretty high tolerance,” he says to himself as he pushes himself off of the wall and walks over to the room.

He goes to the unconscious guards and pushes their chairs back to back. He takes some rope out of his bag—he brought a lot of rope with him for this reason—and ties the two guards and their chairs together.

“And just in case you wake up early,” he says, pulling out tape from his bag.

He puts tape over their mouths and tightly tapes their hands together. He doesn’t want them causing a commotion while he’s working just in case they come back to consciousness before he’s done with what he has to do.

When he’s sure they’re bound tightly he pushes their chairs into the corner far away from the door and then goes back to the control desk. He looks at all of the screens showing him different parts of the building.

“Now let’s see where you are,” he says, looking over each of the screens.

He chose a specific scientist whose room he wants to take over for his project. Though the files didn’t specify what ability each worker here has, he could just tell who would most likely have a more offensive power and whose power is most likely more defensive. After searching through the files carefully and reading about each scientist, he found the perfect scientist. Now he just has to make sure he’s still here.

“Found you,” he says as his eyes land on the screen on the man’s workspace.

The scientist is intensely focused on whatever work is on his screen just like he was expecting.

Now that he’s sure that his chosen scientist is still here he can get to work. First, he has to take out the cameras for that area. He doesn’t want anyone being able to replicate his experiment even if it does fail. His hard work is for him only.

“I’ll also take out the alarms while I’m at it. Don’t want to cause a scene,” he says.

It takes him only about two minutes to shut off the cameras and alarms, well acquainted with that type work—he guesses his time with NCT wasn’t completely a waste, it made for a good refresher for him. For extra security measures, he puts in an override code to lock all of the doors in the corridors that the room he’s going to isn’t in. It’s just in case some type of alarm is made and the other scientists try to come to the scene. For the corridor he’s going in, he’ll deal with those doors personally.

Once everything is finished, he leaves the security room. He has to keep moving.

He walks down the hallway to the room where he will finally put together all of his hard work and research. Each door he passes, he makes sure to fry the entry scanner, tripping the safety lock mechanism—using their own measures against them.

When he reaches the room he wants, he smiles smugly to himself. This is it.

He scans his ID and walks into the room.

“Something wrong Doctor?” He says as he walks in, noticing that the scientist staring off into a corner.

The man turns around quickly at the sound of the voice. He jumps out of his seat and springs over to a button near his computer.

Before he can press it though, Mark shoots out a bolt, shocking the scientist’s hand painfully.

“I wouldn’t do that Dr. Byun or else I’ll shock you much worse,” Mark says, wagging his finger no.

Dr. Byun Baekhyun, one of EXO Labs' best scientists, glares in response but doesn’t make another sudden movement.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Dr. Byun demands, holding his hurting hand.

Mark walks closer to him. The doctor tries to stand his ground but it’s visible that he’s tense.

“I just want to borrow your equipment for a bit, that’s all. Now, we can make this easy for both of us and you take your seat willingly or we ca—”

Dr. Byun charges at him, trying to catch him off guard. Mark’s reflexes are too quick though.

Mark grabs the doctor by the arm and twists and pins it behind the older’s back. He jams his thumb deeply into a sensitive point, watching the doctor’s body involuntarily become relaxed.

“I guess you wanted to be difficult,” he says, pinning back both of the other’s arms.

He walks the doctor over to his seat, keeping his arms pinned, and forces him into the chair. With the other’s body feeling too heavy to move on his own, he has no choice but to stay in the seat as rope is brought out and tied around him tightly.

“Is it too tight Doctor?” Mark says as he pulls the knot to make sure it’s set and secure.

“It’s not as if you would untie me so why ask?” Dr. Byun responds.

Mark chuckles, appreciating the fighting spirit. It’ll keep this entertaining.

“I just wanted to make sure you were sitting comfortably, that’s all,” he says.

He backs up a bit and gives the doctor a devilish smile.

“You know, after reading about you a bit, I think I became a bit of a fan of yours. You’ve accomplished some great things. It’s an honor to use your equipment today,” Mark says.

He goes in his bag and takes out the blindfold. He ties it around the doctor’s eyes, making sure the older can not see a thing.

“I’ll untie this when I finish so I can show you the final product. Can’t have you peeking before then,” he says.

“Is this a game to you?” Dr. Byun says.

Mark chuckles. Ask him that question at the ages of sixteen to eighteen and he would have told you yes. He’ll admit, a lot of what he did was like a game to him because he had more childish reasons. Now though, he’d say things are a bit...different.

“No, it’s not a game but that doesn’t mean I can’t have fun while I’m at it. Why, are you having fun?” Mark responds.

Dr. Byun scowls at the comment—much to Mark’s amusement. It looks like Mark is the only one enjoying himself.

“Well then, I guess that answers that question. It’s time for me to get started. You wait right here while I work,” Mark says.

He turns away from the elder and puts his bag on the tabletop. He takes out all of his ingredients and his handwritten notes—he didn’t want to take any chances with it being digital and someone could take it—and spreads them across the top.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a lab. Much different than back home,” Mark says amusedly, getting to work.

This lab really has everything he needs to make his mixture. He’ll really be able to lower the chances of the formula failing with this equipment.

“How did you find this lab?” Dr. Byun questions.

“I stole a few files about this place, of course. I had specific requirements as to what type of lab I would do my work in so when I found out about this one, I just couldn’t let it go. Are you worried about an information breach? I’m not here to steal anything and technically no one told me much about this lab so you don’t have to worry about any of that,” Mark replies.

He doesn’t stop working as he responds. He’s not going to rush his work at all but he’s also not going to unnecessarily drag out the time. He won’t give extra time for something to go wrong.

“If you’re not here to steal anything then what are you here for?” Dr. Byun says.

“Oh Doctor, don’t you listen to me? I said I am using your equipment. I’m making something and I needed your equipment for it. I’ll show you the final product once I’m done. We can talk about it in a bit, alright,” Mark responds.

He wants to focus on his work and then he can entertain the scientist’s questions. He waited much too long to prolong this any further.

He throws himself into his work, following his notes to a T. He measures everything carefully and double-checks it all before continuing on. Everything has to be perfect and he’ll make sure it is.

“And the final ingredient,” he says softly to himself.

He pricks his finger, watching a bubble of blood leak up.

His own DNA. 

From his calculations, one of the bigger mistakes the original team of scientists made with this enhancer is that they tried to make it a general enhancer that anyone can use. Powers are strongly written in a person’s genes and are written differently in each Enhanched’s genetic code. That means that the gene for a power is not something that can be covered in one general code. To enhance one’s power, there would have to be a change in the genetic structure of some type. Not everyone's power gene can be altered to begin with so without a sample of the subject’s DNA—where the code for their power lies—how can an enhancer have any chance of working? By putting his own DNA in the mixture, he is personalizing the enhancer to him and lessening the chance of something going terribly wrong in his genes.

Is there still a chance of failure and potential death? Yes. But it’s lower than the attempt back in Canada.

He lets a drop of his blood fall into the mixture, stirring it in completely. When he’s done, the mixture is a light blue color—a color reminding him of his lighting.

“Finally, it’s made,” he says.

He grabs a clean syringe from his bag and draws up the solution into the barrel. When he’s done, he places a needle into the syringe. He places a clean cloth down and sets the needle down. He goes over to Dr. Byun to untie the scientist’s blindfold.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long; I’m done now. It’s time for you to watch the results,” he says.

He watches as the doctor takes a moment to adjust to seeing again.

“What do you mean watch the results? What did you do?” Dr. Byun says.

Mark walks back over to his work and holds up the needle for the doctor to see it.

“I made a power enhancer,” he says.

A smirk finds a way to his face as he watches the doctor’s eyes widen in surprise at the response.

“A power enhancer? Do you have a death wish? No formula made can be stable enough for a person to survive taking that,” Dr. Byun says.

Mark finds his doubt entertaining. There are two types of thinking that lead to failed experiments: overconfidence and over-doubting. You have to have confidence in your work but acknowledge that you may fail. The scientists who attempted to make an enhancer before were either too cocky to believe that their work could fail—and they didn’t really think it all through—or had no faith that it would work at all. It all led to their failure along with their bad planning.

“A death wish? No, I don’t have one; I’m just willing to take the risk. It’s either I succeed or I fail, we all have to take that gamble at one point in our life or another so I’m taking it now. And what do you know, you have a front-row seat to watch either my death or my success. Exciting isn’t it?” Mark responds.

Dr. Byun seems anything but excited though.

“Look, you’re clearly not anyone good but even you don’t deserve to take a death like that. Kid, you’re young; don’t throw your life away for a chance at more power,” he says.

Mark laughs.

“How humane of you, even wanting to spare the life of someone who tied you up and took over your own lab. Sorry to tell you though, I’m more than willing to throw my life away for this. Don’t think of it as for power but more for having a feat that no one has accomplished. A test of my own intellect. Aren’t we all willing to give something up for the sake of science? Power is just a nice bonus for me,” he says.

Dr. Byun seems even more thrown back by that. Mark wonders if the doctor thought that him reminding him about the risk would actually work in getting him to reconsider. What a foolish thought to have.

“Well, let’s not waste any more time,” Mark says.

“Wait! NO—”

The doctor’s shout dies in his own throat as he watches Mark injects the solution into his arm in one swift movement.

Mark forces himself to push every last drop into his veins despite the burning feeling that comes with each bit that goes through. He doesn’t put down the needle until it’s completely empty.

Well, “put down” is not the accurate term to use.

The needle drops out of his hand as a numbness crawls up his right hand and a burning sensation races up his left.

His left arm starts to shake as the burning increases. It’s as if the electricity in his blood turned on him and it is electrifying every nerve in his arm. He tries to grab it but his entire right arm won’t even move in the slightest. It’s completely unresponsive.

The burning travels to his neck and he feels his throat constrict. Any bit of air that makes it past feels way too cold and somehow only amplifies the burning in his throat.

The numbness in his right arm travels down to his legs and they give out right from under him. His fake glasses fall off of his face as he hits the ground, body convulsing as the burning, electrifying feeling in his nerves send his body lurching upwards.

A violent cough makes its way up to his chest and his body is practically thrown forward from the force of it. Specks of blood fly out from his mouth and his chest tightens even more. His heart feels like it’s beating too hard, cracking his rib cage with each beat. The electricity settles in his chest, directly over his heart, making breathing even harder. The lights above him seem to grow brighter and blurrier with each passing burning second.

Then suddenly, the electricity doesn’t feel as if it’s attacking him.

The electrifying feeling envelops him and a secure feeling washes over him completely. The burning dulls down to a sparking feeling that feels close to adrenaline. It’s almost thrilling. It feels good. It all feels so good.

A low growl comes out of his mouth as he feels electricity start to jump between his fingertips. It travels from his fingers to his hand to his arm to his shoulder and soon it’s completely covering his body, but it doesn’t hurt him. It does the exact opposite actually; it makes him feel completely alive.

He’s never felt electricity so thrilling. So empowering.

He feels amazing.

The lights grow brighter and brighter as the energizing feeling becomes stronger and settles warmly in his chest.

Something in him snaps in place the very moments the lights shatter.

The backup emergency lamps come on, giving the room some illumination. Limbs feeling less heavy, Mark takes the chance to push himself off of the ground and to his knees. When his body doesn’t feel like it’s going to give out on him again, he pushes himself to his feet, leaning on the surface top and resting his weight on it.

Slowly raising his hand, he looks on with triumph as electricity sparks between his fingers brighter and wilder than ever before.

He looks around as he feels the electricity behind everything in this room, even the blown out lights. He can feel the electricity traveling through the wires, where it’s the strongest and where it dulls. He can feel it all clearer than ever as if it was in his own veins.

“It worked,” he breathes out.

A chuckle comes out of his mouth as he stares at his hand. Unexplainable euphoria engulfs him and he finds himself laughing.

“It worked. It actually worked,” he says through his laughter.

His power enhancer actually worked.

He looks up and turns to the captive doctor, laughing more when he sees the look of absolute horror on the man’s face.

“Impossible,” Dr. Byun whispers.

Mark grins.

“Impossible? Were you hoping that I failed and died, Doctor?” He says.

He walks over toward the scientist, watching in delight as he sees the doctor try to back up slightly.

“You know, I can feel the electricity in your heart. I can differentiate it from everything else in this room and feel it so clearly. It’s as if I can reach out and grab it,” he says, reaching out to the doctor’s chest.

“NO! Back away from me!” Dr. Byun shouts.

The older kicks Mark in the leg in an attempt to get him to back away. Mark just laughs at the hit.

“I can stop your heart right now; does that scare you? Tell me doc, what disturbs you more, what I can do or that I succeeded?” Mark says.

He places his hand over Dr. Byun’s heart, reveling in the fact that he can feel the essential currents in the man’s heart. He could completely take it away or increase it until it overwhelms the heart.

“I really did it,” he mumbles to himself.

He looks the doctor in the eyes and can see the fear in the man’s eyes. Someone truly fears him.

“What should I do now, Doctor? Shouldn’t I go ahead and—”

Mark stops himself and turns to the door. 

He can sense more hearts coming down the hallway, heading in this direction. People are coming this way.

“What did you do?” Mark says turning back toward Dr. Byun.

The doctor’s eyes widen even more, surprised by the question.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything, I couldn’t do anything,” he responds.

Mark looks over the older, searching for a clue. His eyes land on the doctor’s pocket, sensing something with a charge in the lab coat.

He goes in the pocket and pulls out a phone. He forces Dr. Byun to open it and once it’s open, he is greeted by messages. He scrolls up.

‘He tied me up, I can’t get out.’

‘He’s making a power enhancer! He’s crazy.’

‘We’re still stuck in the rooms. We’re trying to get out.’

‘He succeeded. He actually succeeded, oh my god.’

‘We’re out. We’re on our way to you.’

‘Baekhyun? Hyung, are you there?’

All messages are to and from one Jongin—most likely Doctor Kim Jongin, also a scientist in this lab.

“So you’re a technopath, huh? How clever of you, using your power to text them all of this time. I have to give it to you Doctor, you think quickly on your feet” Mark says.

He smiles as he places the phone back in the doctor’s pocket.

“It’s a shame that you always seem to want to do this the hard way,” he says.

He doesn’t turn his head to the left or to the right as Dr. Byun begins to scream at the top of his lungs in pain, electricity running wild through his bones. It doesn’t take him long to lose consciousness.

Mark finally turns away and goes over to his stuff. He needs to clean up before he leaves—he doesn’t want to leave anything for anyone else.

He packs everything—even the beaker he was working with—making sure nothing that can give a clue as to what he was doing or using is left behind. He picks up his glasses from the floor—which now have a crack in them—and he puts them in the pocket of his lab coat.

“Time to go,” he says.

He walks to the door, ready for the scene that is going to greet him the second the door opens.

“Thanks for letting me use your lab, doc. I really appreciate it,” Mark says to the unconscious doctor.

He walks out of the room and grins widely as he sees the people running down the hallway come to a short stop when they catch sight of him.

This is going to be fun.

He fires bolts of lighting at them, not caring if it hits them or not. He just relishes in the feeling of how strong his power is. He’s never felt this good. He feels incredible. He feels POWERFUL.

Doctor Kim Jongin puts a forcefield, protecting all of them from the bolts. But from the expression on his face, it looks like he wasn’t expecting that amount of force.

Mark sees Doctor Do Kyungsoo and Doctor Kim Minseok step forward—most likely to give an attack of their own. He probably could take them but he isn’t here for a fight. He got what he wanted so he doesn’t have to be here any longer.

His grin grows wider as he takes off down the other hallway.

He runs down the halls, enjoying the sound of footsteps a distance behind him. He hasn’t led someone on a chase since he was young. He feels so alive.

Lights blow out as he runs, his power either taking all of the electricity from them or putting too much in them. He laughs gleefully as darkness takes the hall gradually as he passes by.

He’s doing that. His power is causing this.

By the time he makes it out of the lab, majority of it is overtaken by darkness.

Greeted by stars—the first time he came out from something good—he raises his hands to the sky with a boisterous laugh. He lets a bolt fly to the sky as he spins around joyfully. 

“Finally!” He cheers.

He’s finally strong enough.

He’s finally free.

~~~

Taeyong picks up his phone.

“Hello,” he answers.

“Hello? Taeyong? It’s me Junmyeon.”

Taeyong is a bit surprised; it’s been a while since he heard from Junmyeon. Both him and the scientist are often very busy so it’s been a bit since they’ve last talked.

“Hi, it’s been a while. How’s everything?” Taeyong says.

“Right now, not so good. We just had a lab break-in and the guy did some damage. Baekhyun still isn’t awake from what he did. The big boss doesn’t want this to be everywhere so I decided to call for a few favors. Do you think you and your team can give us some help?” Junmyeon responds.

An unsettling feeling creeps up on Taeyong at the words. He doesn’t have a good feeling about this.

“Yeah, it would be no problem. But really quick, can you describe to me the person who broke in?” Taeyong says.

“Sure. I didn’t get that good of a look at him but from what I did see he seems young—maybe early twenties—had black hair, about your height or so, and had electrokinesis,” Junmyeon says.

Taeyong inhales sharply at the description. He knows very well who broke into that lab.

“Thanks, we’ll be there as soon as possible. Leave everything as is please, we need to check it all out,” Taeyong says.

“No problem. Thanks for the help, we really need it. See you guys soon,” Junmyeon replies.

Taeyong says goodbye and hangs up. He tugs at his hair with a sigh.

“Looks like we caught up to him too late,” Taeyong says to himself.

Who knows how big this situation will turn out to be. He better go now and inform the others of what’s going on.

Mark finally showed up again.

Chapter Text

Doctor Kim Junmyeon is standing at the entrance of the lab when they arrived early the next morning.

“You all made it. Thanks for coming and out of costume. Sorry about that, boss really doesn’t want any attention drawn to this but everyone inside you all already know so you should be okay,” Junmyeon says.

Taeyong steps forward, offering a reassuring look when he sees how stressed the older looks.

“It’s no problem, don’t worry. We are here to help,” he responds.

And here to make up for the results of their carelessness.

“And help we need. Come on, I’ll take you to the scene,” Junmyeon says.

They follow him into the lab. Immediately they can see that there are no ceiling lights working, small lights being laid down on the path of the floor to light the way. A very clear sign that this was indeed the work of their once false member.

“We’re still trying to get the lights back up. Honestly, we don’t know what he did to them,” Junmyeon says.

“Are the lights out everywhere?” Johnny asks.

Junmyeon shakes his head no.

“No. Only the places he passed by on his way out. Any hall he ran down leaving has no light—or electricity for that matter. It’s confusing and that’s saying something considering that we’re a science lab for Enhanced studies,” he says.

That is saying something. Who would have thought something as seemingly simple as a lack of light would be able to stump some of the top scientists?

Junmyeon leads them down the dimly lit hallways. Other than the light situation, things seem to be okay and intact in the area. They keep their eyes open though so they won’t accidentally overlook anything all the way to their destination.

They know they reached the scene just by the number of people there.

“Well well, they really called in the big guns.”

The heroes give small smiles at the sight of another familiar face.

“Captain Im Jaebeom, what a surprise to see you here,” Taeyong says.

Im Jaebeom, captain of one Seoul’s best police/detective squadron—nicknamed GOT7 due to the seven of them constantly saying “we got it” when receiving a case. They’re a special team because not only are they all Enhanced but they rarely fail a case. They’re some of the best. If they were called in as well then the EXO scientists really must see this as a serious matter.

It isn’t often that NCT runs into GOT7—the heroes are more familiar with EXO Lab workers than they are the detectives—but they’ve run into each other enough times to have a good working relationship, one that extends past the masks and costumes. 

“The same can be said for you guys. It’s been a while since we’ve been on a scene together. Glad you’re here though because from what we were told, this is a job for heroes,” Jaebeom says.

Another good thing about GOT7, they’re not afraid to say a case is out of their league. If they have to hand it over to heroes then they have no problem doing so.

“Really? What were you told, if you don’t mind me asking. So far all we know is that he blew out the lights and electricity,” Taeyong says.

Jaebeom grimaces slightly—not a very reassuring look in the heroes’ opinion—before gesturing for them to follow him.

“It’s probably better if you hear it from an eyewitness,” he says.

He turns around and walks over to another part of the room, the heroes following him. There, in practically the very corner of the room, sits Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongin. Baekhyun almost looks out of it, staring into his lap with a blanket around his shoulders and Jongin staring at him in worry. Standing up in front of them are detectives Park Jinyoung and Kim Yugyeom. 

Jinyoung is the one to notice the heroes approaching them first.

“It looks like NCT is on the case, just in time too. This definitely seems like we’ll need some hero help,” he says.

“So we’ve heard. Is it okay if we step in now?” Taeyong says, gesturing to the two scientists.

Jinyoung and Yugyeom nod, stepping back so the heroes can move forward.

Jaehyun and Doyoung step forward, NCT usually leaving those two to talk to victims—along with Johnny and Jungwoo at times.

Jongin looks up at them first, giving them his concerned look before looking back at Baekhyun. As if feeling more worried gazes on him, Baekhyun raises his head up and looks at the two heroes.

“Hi Hyung, we just need to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?” Jaehyun says.

Baekhyun nods in response.

“Okay, could you tell us please what happened here?” Doyoung asks.

Baekhyun sighs before finally speaking up.

“I was working on some documents when I felt the cameras in the room shut off. At first, I thought the guards were doing something or it was an accident but when it took more than a few seconds to come back on, I became suspicious. Before I knew it though, this kid was in the room. He probably wasn’t a kid, maybe like twenty-something, but I could tell he was young. I tried to sound the alarm but he zapped my hand and threatened me not to do that. When he came closer, I tried to catch him off guard but he was too fast; he subdued me easily and tied me to my chair. He blindfolded me next and said he was going to use my equipment but didn’t want me to see what he was doing until it was finished. Then he started working,” he recounts.

“What was he working on? What did he need your equipment for?” Jaehyun asks.

They notice Baekhyun tense up a bit at the question. They’re beginning to seriously wonder what Mark did that could cause the older scientist to seem so shaken up.

“They need to know hyung,” Jongin says, putting a comforting hand on Baehyun’s shoulder.

Baekhyun makes a face but nods anyway. He takes a deep breath before looking to the heroes with a frown.

“He was making a power enhancer. He made a power enhancer. He needed my equipment for whatever process he was doing,” he says.

The heroes feel the atmosphere become much heavier at that statement.

“A power enhancer? But there isn’t a stable formula for that at all. There’s no way he would actually—wait, he ran out of here and escaped so that must mean…” Doyoung meets Baehyun’s eyes, a sense of dread touching his heart, “Did he succeed?” He asks, almost afraid of hearing the answer.

Baekhyun nods gravely, making the heroes tense up themselves.

“He did. He made a power enhancer and it worked. At first, I thought he was going to die right after he injected himself. He was convulsing on the floor and coughing up blood. His face and arms were even changing colors; it looked really bad for him. But then, suddenly, he was calm; he no longer seemed in pain. I don’t know how to explain it but it wasn’t normal. He wasn’t normal. When he stood up, perfectly okay, I didn’t know what to do. He shouldn’t have been alive; it shouldn’t have worked. The look in his eyes isn’t something I could describe properly. All I know is that he looked high off of his own power. The person who left this lab was not the same person who entered, and I don’t think it was only his power level that changed,” he responds.

NCT understands now why they were called in. Something serious did happen and it definitely wasn’t good.

Mark made a power enhancer and it actually worked. They know for the scientists, they’re probably more focused on the fact that he made a theoretically—and tested—unstable formula work but for them, they’re more focused on the fact that Mark increased his power. They don’t know how strong he was to begin with but they know that any increase in his power is not good. They have to be honest, they know nothing about Mark. They don’t know if he’s actively a threat to the public or not. They don’t have a single clue as to how he thinks so they don’t know how bad this power increase is in the grand scheme of things. But they do know that no matter what it’s not good in the slightest. If they were still doubting it before then it’s clear now that Mark is far from being a hero.

“What did he do after he realized it worked?” Jaehyun asks.

“He came over to me. He told me how he could feel the electricity in my heart and could grab it. I tried to get away from him but he just laughed. He was taunting me, I’m sure of it. But before he could continue, he suddenly turned around to the door. I don’t know what he did or how he knew but when he looked back at me, he asked me what did I do. While he was working, I was using my power to tell Jongin what was going on but I know there is no way he could have sensed that. Somehow, he was able to tell that they were coming this way and he knew I had something to do with that. He took my phone and looked at my messages and found out that I’m a technopath. He put my phone back and then the next thing I knew I was feeling this excruciating pain in my body. It was as if the electricity passed everything else and went straight to my bones. I passed out from the pain,” Baekhyun explains.

And from what the heroes know, he didn’t wake up after that for quite some time.

“He left the room after that. He saw us and fired a bolt at us before running down the halls. I used a forcefield to protect us but even then I could feel that it was an abnormally strong strike. As he was running, that’s when the lights and electricity started going. We lost him in the darkness of the hallways,” Jongin says, stepping in to complete the story of yesterday’s events.

Just like that, Mark was gone.

They don’t know what they were expecting when they were told it was a serious situation but they know they weren’t thinking along this line. This is much different than anything they were expecting. And something tells them that there’s more to this situation, considering how shaken up Baekhyun is.

“Before anything else, are you okay? We heard it took quite some time for you to wake up after what he did,” Taeyong says to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun makes a so-so motion.

“It’s not as bad as when I first woke up but I still feel pain. My body is aching and to be honest, I feel jittery but it’ll go away eventually. I know for a fact he could have done much worse,” he responds.

“And how about mentally and emotionally?” Jaehyun questions.

They notice Jongin give the older a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. They have a good guess of his answer to that question but they want to hear it from him to make sure.

“I’ve seen better days,” Baekhyun responds, looking down to his lap.

They obviously weren’t there for what happened but they believe that watching the entire scene was definitely much more throat closing than hearing what happened. Yes, they feel worry and dread hearing what happened and thinking about what can happen but they know that Baekhyun has it much worse because he saw it. He saw that look in Mark’s eyes. He felt Mark’s increased power. This personally affected him probably more than they can understand at the moment.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did you mean by he wasn’t the same person when he left the lab?” Johnny steps forward and asks.

Baekhyun looks up, worry in his eyes.

“Well theoretically speaking, there’s no way that his formula was perfectly stable. Yes he survived and it did increase his power but something—by scientific law—had to change in him. The reason why scientists don’t even try to make enhancers anymore is that no matter what, the risks will outweigh the benefits and will most likely cause more issues. His enhancer didn’t kill him but it is possible that it may have messed with his mind. From the look in his eyes after he succeeded, something tells me that he was not in his normal frame of mind. Even if it didn’t mess with his head, there’s still the possible case that his body can’t handle the increased power and it will overtake him or kill him slowly. Either way, he can’t be completely fine. Something is different about him and one way or another, he will experience the drawback of his work,” Baekyun says.

NCT knows that Mark played them and he is far from being the person he was acting like but even so they don’t wish for what Baekhyun is describing to happen to him. They don’t know why he’s like this and they don’t know what he’s planning on doing but they can hope that there’s something good inside of him. He was telling the truth about his parents, maybe them being heroes really did affect him; they don’t know. But whether there is a reason similar to that or not, they aren’t wishing to see him go through those drawbacks.

But they can focus on that later. There are more important questions to focus on as of right now.

“In your honest opinion, how bad can this get for all of us? What will this mean for public safety?” Doyoung asks.

Baekhyun grimaces, clearly not thinking of anything good.

“If I’m being pessimistic, pretty bad. Let’s say his powers do overtake him, then you’ll have a power-driven monster on your hands. What if he makes the formula again? Who knows how far his mind and body can go before it either gives in to the power or gives up from it. He has the potential to be a very high threat now but that’s assuming his entire mindset changed. If he remains in control of his powers and his mind isn’t greatly affected, then it all depends on how he is. If he’s the type of person to cause havoc then you’ll have a formidable enemy on your hands. If he isn’t, then you should find out what he plans on doing with that increased power. He has to use his power or else it may backlash on him so it’s best to find out what he’ll use it for before anything,” Baekhyun says.

Mark has been steps ahead of them lately but they clearly can’t let that continue. Before when he wasn’t doing anything, there wasn’t really a sense of urgency in finding out what he was up to—that is if you take away the one they put on themselves. But now, now they can’t afford to let this much time pass again. Even if this was only a one-time thing, he made a move and, as they said, they’re involved. They have to find him and stop him before he can do anything else. They can no longer search from the sidelines.

“Don’t worry, we’ll handle him, we promise. Thanks for answering all of our questions. It’s best if you take the time to recover fully now. Call us if you need anything, please,” Taeyong says.

“I hope I was of some use. I’ll be sure to call if anything comes up,” Baekhyun replies.

Taeyong nods and then turns back to Jaebeom, gesturing for the two of them to speak elsewhere.

Jaebeom follows him out of the room. The two stand in the hallway alone so they can speak away from all of the commotion.

“I take it as you have a plan of some sort,” Jaebeom says.

“I do and it will require one of your detectives,” Taeyong responds.

Jaebeom raises his eyebrow in curiosity.

“One of my detectives? I have no problem with that but what are you planning?” He says.

Taeyong debates on how he can explain it all without getting into too many details and waste time. They have to keep the pace moving.

“I’m planning on sending one of your detectives and two of my members to his house. It’ll look suspicious to onlookers if they saw two heroes walk in their building but they can’t just enter as regular civilians. If they go with a detective then there’s a badge with them,” Taeyong explains.

Jaebeom’s eyes widen.

“Wait wait wait a minute. You’re telling me you know who did this and where he lives?” He asks in disbelief.

“Yes and no. I do know who did this but I’ll have to do some searching to find out where he lives. He covers his tracks well but we can still get him. If he’s home then we use it as a chance to subdue him. If he’s not, then we search his house to find clues as to what he’s doing and where he is,” Taeyong says.

Going to Mark’s home may be a risky move, especially considering that he’s stronger now, but if it can get them a step closer to stopping him then they should do it.

“How do you already know who it is? You didn’t even see the videos from the few cameras that did catch a glimpse of his face. Are you sure you’re thinking of the right person?” Jaebeom says.

Taeyong nods yes confidently.

“I’m sure but to be on the safe side, we’ll also look at the videos. Let’s just say we’ve had a run-in with him before so we have good reason to believe he’s behind this. So, you think you can lend me a detective?” Taeyong says.

Jaebeom lets out a low whistle and a chuckle of disbelief. Leave it to NCT to already know who their perp is. It’s a good thing they were called in to help.

“You guys never cease to amaze me. Yeah, I can lend you one. I know just the guy too. I hope they can find something, this situation isn’t like any of the others we’ve dealt with,” he says.

“Great, thank you very much. I’ll tell my team first and then I’ll tell you the two going in with your detective,” Taeyong says.

Hopefully, this can go well for them. They have to take a step forward in stopping him, now more than ever.

~~~

The landlord was not expecting to be approached by three men, to say the least.

“Hello sir, we’re from the KNP. Do you have a moment?”

Wang Jackson, GOT7 resident nullifier—his power allows him to negate other people’s abilities—shows his badge to the older man with a polite smile. Behind him stands Yuta and Sicheng, both dressed as detectives as well.

“How may I help you officers?” the landlord says.

“Can you show us to apartment 5A please?” Jackson says.

The older man seems confused for a moment but decides not to question it.

“Oh, sure. Follow me if you will,” he says.

They follow the man all the way up to the top floor and down to the apartment they asked for.

“Here you go, 5A. I do not know if he’s home though,” the landlord says.

“That’s fine. Do you have a key to this apartment?” Yuta says.

The landlord nods and takes out his keys. It’s a requirement that all tenants give him a copy of their key just in case anything happens. He’ll admit though, he didn’t think anything would happen with this tenant.

As he unlocks the door, Sicheng discreetly keeps his hand on his weapon. Just in case Mark actually is in there and decides to attack, he wants to be prepared. They never know when it comes to Mark apparently.

The door opens and when they see no bolts flying at that, they take it as a cue that it’s safe to go in.

“Thank you. We can take it from here,” Jackson says.

The landlord walks away—taking one last nosy glimpse at the three to see if he can figure out what’s going on before continuing—leaving the three to face Mark’s apartment alone.

They slowly walk into the apartment, keeping alert to everything. As far as they can see, the apartment is empty.

“Alright, the coast is clear,” Jackson says.

They loosen up a bit now that they’re sure he isn’t here. Now they just have to search for clues before he decides to come back.

“This apartment seems very minimal. Either he cleaned up after himself or he purposely doesn’t keep a lot,” Yuta says.

“Something tells me it’s a little of both,” Sicheng says.

As they scan the room with their eyes, they can honestly say they don’t see much. It being a studio apartment, there’s not much that can be hidden since most stuff is out in the open. Everything looks normal. A bit too normal to be honest.

“Should we get started searching?” Jackson says.

“Yeah, let’s see if we can find something that can tell us about what he’s planning or anything of use for that matter. The kid’s a mystery,” Yuta says.

A mystery that needs to be solved and soon.

They split up and search the small apartment for anything that can be of use to them. It isn’t easy though. 

First, they try not to make a mess. They don’t want to tip him off that someone was here while he wasn’t. So though they move things around, they put them back right how they found them once their done searching that area. 

Secondly, there seems to be nothing that could give them a clue. No book, no note, nothing. He really must have cleaned up here.

“Didn’t he say once that he spends a lot of time on the computer at home?” Sicheng asks suddenly.

Yuta looks up from what he’s searching through and over to Sicheng.

“Yeah, why?” He responds.

Sicheng gestures around them.

“Look around, there’s no computer or laptop anywhere here. He had to be telling some form of a truth or you would have known that he was lying but yet we can’t find any computer,” he explains.

“Which means he probably took it with him. If he was coming back anytime soon, he probably wouldn’t have taken it but it’s not here so either he’s not coming back for a while or he knew someone would search this place,” Jackson says.

Something like a laptop is something that Mark would probably use a lot if anything during his time with them was true. They can’t deny that he’s skilled with technology and they know that he’s not a technopath so he must use tech very often. If he took his computer with him then either there’s stuff on there he doesn’t want anyone to see or he’s using it for whatever he’s planning.

“We’ll be better off if it’s the first option. He already stays a step ahead of us, it’ll be much more disturbing to know that he somehow already knew his apartment would be searched. Not only that but we can’t afford to give him a reason to be hostile before we have measures to subdue him. Half of our team does not necessarily have offensive powers. If this was before that power increase, we wouldn’t really have to take that into account because our number would have outweighed his ability anyway. But now, we don’t know how strong he is so it’s safer to have measures against him in case a fight does happen,” Yuta says.

It’s true that half of NCT does not have offensive powers. Yuta is a human lie detector so he is great for interrogations and things of that nature but in a fight, he’s strictly stuck on hand to hand combat. Against someone who has electricity power, it would probably be in his best interest not to fight in close quarters. Doyoung’s portal power is useful for dodging attacks and redirecting them but he can’t really return with a hit on his own. Jaehyun’s illusions could be seen as offensive but if the person has a strong mind, the illusions won’t do much. Mark didn’t seem to fall for the illusion last time so illusions will probably only end up serving as a distraction.

That leaves Johnny, Taeyong, Sicheng, and Jungwoo. Though Johnny’s power is offensive, it usually requires close combat and again, fighting Mark in close quarters may not be the brightest of ideas. Taeyong, as a water manipulator, probably has the strongest offensive power against Mark. His power will allow him to maintain a safe distance and if he uses pure water, Mark can’t electrify it. Hit someone hard enough with water and they’ll go down but they can’t only rely on Taeyong’s ability. Sicheng’s marksman ability will also be pretty useful because he can stay farther away and still hit his target. As long as Mark isn’t quick enough to beat Sicheng's target ability then they could have leverage there. Jungwoo’s clouds can be offensive in the way that it can prevent an opponent from fighting. Blocking their sight or just surrounding them can really turn the tables. How well will that work with Mark? They’re not sure but it’s something at least.

All of this is to say that relying solely on their numbers and abilities in this case won’t do them any good. They didn’t know the extent of Mark’s power before so now they really don’t know what to expect if Mark becomes hostile. They need a plan before anything.

“Wait, I have an idea. The kid’s power is electricity right?” Jackson says, popping up.

Sicheng and Yuta nod yes in response.

“Well then, why don’t you turn his own power against him? When a battery receives too much electricity, it fries and it can’t be used anymore. Maybe if you use enough electricity on him, he won’t be able to fight back and you’ll have a chance to get him. It shouldn’t be any type of damage to him, minus some pain obviously, since he has electrokinesis but it should be enough to slow him down or completely stop him,” Jackson suggests.

That isn’t such a bad idea. Sicheng and Yuta remember reading something in his file back when he was in Canada that they kept him away from any electricity because he’ll eventually be drained without anything to recharge him. Maybe he is more like a battery than they realize. If that’s the case then using enough electricity against him should work in slowing him down.

“That may work. He wouldn’t be expecting his own power used against him so we’ll also have the element of surprise in that case. But how do we even get him in one place to do that? We can’t even find anything about him in his own home,” Sicheng says.

How do they get the chance to even act on a plan like that? If he sees them approaching him then most likely he’ll either run away or attack. A fight is too fast-paced to try something like that because they’ll have to worry about him dodging their attack and firing back with equal ferocity. Him running away won’t do them any good either, so they have to find a way to catch him off guard.

Yuta turns to Sicheng with wide eyes.

“That woman; the one who told us in the first place. He seemed like he had some type of history with her and didn’t like her. When she escaped, he said to himself that he won’t let her escape the next time which means he’s probably out to get her. Maybe, if we can find her, we can find him. He already has the power so maybe whatever issue he has with her is like a loose end of some sort that he’ll want to tie up. If he’s distracted trying to go after her then he won’t be expecting us,” Yuta says.

Mark did seem like he had more against the woman than just her exposing him. If they can remember his words correctly, he has it out for her just as much as she has it out for him. If Mark really is after her then they could use that knowledge to figure out where he’ll be next.

“That may work but are we really going to use a civilian to lure him out? He didn’t seem like he just wanted to talk to her,” Sicheng says.

“We won’t use her as bait. She seems a bit sketchy to be honest but that doesn’t mean she deserves to be held out on a string to lure him in; we would never risk someone’s safety like that. What I’m saying is that we watch her carefully. Something tells me the two of them are bound to cross paths eventually. If we can be there when they do then maybe we can stop him before anything is done,” Yuta responds.

If they can be on the scene before anything happens then they can stop Mark when he least expects it. Mark probably expects any intervention to be tied to the lab case so he shouldn’t be expecting them to be following her which will give them an advantage. They don’t know the situation involving her either so maybe watching her can kill two birds with one stone.

And, though they don’t have to mention it, they don’t really have any other idea right now and time isn’t on their side.

“I don’t know the person you’re talking about but from what I’m hearing, it may be worth a try. Having that element of surprise against him is something that could be a very big advantage for you guys. If it can give you that without risking someone else’s safety then give it a go,” Jackson says.

As with most things that come along in both the hero field and the police field, there’s a risk involved in the idea but they can’t knock it away just because of that. They have to consider everything carefully to see if it’s worth taking.

“It won’t hurt to bring it up to the others. It doesn’t seem like we’ll find anything here other than a bunch of candles so we might as well head back now and discuss it with them,” Sicheng says.

They may not have found anything they could use but at least they have two ideas now.

Let’s see what they can do with them.

~~~

Donghyuck looks over to the sleeping figure on his guest bed.

He can’t believe this is actually happening. How did he get dragged this far into things? What is he supposed to do?

When did he get so involved in Lee Mark’s plans?

Donghyuck walked over to his door, wondering who it could be at this time of night. Not many people know where he lives and those who do usually give him a heads up before coming over.

When he opened the door, it took everything in his willpower not to scream at the sight of who it was.

Mark.

But Mark didn’t look the same. His eyes were glowing a soft blue, his hair was fluffed up as if he was shocked, and there was a big grin on his face. Mark never looked like that.

“Mark, what are you doing here? W-what’s wrong with you?” Donghyuck said, looking over Mark in confusion and apprehension.

How did Mark even know where he lived?

Mark’s grin widened and Donghyuck didn’t know how to feel about that.

“I did it, Donghyuckie. I succeeded,” Mark responded.

Donghyuck was caught aback by the sudden nickname. Mark never ever came close to calling him a nickname. Mark barely came close to grinning at him. What is going on and why was it happening?

Donghyuck looked around to see if anyone was in the hallway. When he saw his—extremely nosy—neighbor “casually” looking through his mail as he was walking back to his apartment, Donghyuck knew that this conversation had to be continued in the privacy of his own home.

“Come in, let’s talk inside,” Donghyuck said.

He opened the door wider, allowing Mark to walk into his apartment. He closed the door behind him and then led Mark over to his living room, both of them taking a seat on the couch, Mark putting his duffle bag on the floor.

“So what’s this about? What did you succeed in?” Donghyuck asked.

The joy in Mark’s eyes made him look years younger but it also disturbed Donghyuck at the same time. What could make Mark THIS happy?

“I did what no one else could. I made a power enhancer and it worked!” Mark said.

If Donghyuck’s eyes grew any wider, they would have popped out.

“A power enhancer? You made a power enhancer…and it worked?” Donghyuck asked slowly.

At Mark’s nod, Donghyuck falls back in his seat.

“This is crazy. He made a power enhancer,” Donghyuck mumbled to himself in disbelief.

He wanted to call it a lie but with that look in Mark’s eyes, he doesn’t need much more proof that the older was telling the truth.

Donghyuck sat up and hesitantly looked Mark in his eyes.

“So you’re telling me that your powers are...stronger now?” Donghyuck questioned.

“Yes! So much stronger. It feels amazing; I feel amazing! I never felt so powerful,” Mark responded.

Donghyuck didn’t know how to take that answer. Mark was scary enough with his regular strength. Now the older is apparently even stronger? How is he supposed to take that? What is he supposed to do with that information?

“So that was your big plan. I can’t say that I saw that coming but then again you seem to be able to do the surprising and improbable quite often,” Donghyuck said, still in disbelief.

Mark once again flashes a grin at him so Donghyuck will take it as Mark took the comment as a compliment.

“What are you doing here then? Do you need something else from me?” Donghyuck said, hoping he didn’t come across as rude in any way.

He definitely DOES NOT want to test Mark now. Not when the older is stronger than ever.

“I need a place to stay for a bit. No doubt those scientists called the police or something which means they’ll most likely search my house. I rather not go through all of that hassle so I want somewhere to stay until they run themselves into a wall. I was hoping that I could crash here until then,” Mark replied, gesturing to his bag on the floor.

Donghyuck choked on air at the statement.

Mark wanted to stay here, at his house? Mark wanted him to house someone as dangerous as him here? Donghyuck can’t even find information about Mark—all he knows is that Mark isn’t even his real name—so he literally knows nothing about him. Yes, he has dealt with Mark a few times but that doesn’t mean they’re friends or anything. They’re practically strangers to each other and Mark is the epitome of unpredictable. Donghyuck didn’t think he was crazy for thinking the suggestion to be far out.

“You want to stay here? In my house? You want to hide from the police here?” Donghyuck asked incredulously.

“Yes, but don’t feel obligated to say yes. You’ve done a lot that got me to this success so I won’t hold it against you if you don’t feel comfortable having me here. Your house was just the first place that I thought of,” Mark responded.

Donghyuck really didn’t know how to take all of this.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t have the space to house another person, he has plenty of space. But again, Mark is so unpredictable. What comes along with housing him? Wouldn’t this drag him into a mess with the police too? He cannot afford to get involved with the police. His job is almost as illegal as illegal can get and he does not want to go down as an accomplice to MANY crimes. What if getting this far involved with Mark’s plans puts a big target on his back? He cannot afford that.

“Okay but why here? Why me first?” Donghyuck couldn’t help but ask.

Mark, for the first time in the conversation, gains a serious expression. He looks away in thought.

Donghyuck was dying on the inside waiting for the answer but he didn’t dare rush the other.

After a few seconds, Mark looked back up but not at Donghyuck’s eyes. Donghyuck could tell that Mark was deliberately avoiding eye contact. But it didn’t seem as if it was to hide something but more a shyness of some sort. Maybe a discomfort. 

“Because you’re the only one I trust.”

It was over from there.

Donghyuck ended up telling Mark he could stay and that was that. They didn’t bring back up the matter because the second Mark touched the guest bed, he was fast asleep. He’s never seen someone fall asleep so fast but he didn’t question it. He just turned out the light and went to his own room. For the rest of the night, Mark’s words were in his head.

He’s the only one Mark trusts. That’s a really big thing. It would be surprising if anyone said that but it’s even more surprising from Mark. Not because he’s the only one the older trusts but because Mark actually trusts someone. Mark trusts him enough to fall asleep deeply, not worried about anything happening. Mark doesn’t seem like the type to trust anyone at all. He does what he has to do to get what he wants and then leaves it at that. Donghyuck doesn’t even think that Mark had a friend in his life let alone someone to trust. Mark isn’t the trusting type and anyone could tell that.

So why and when did Mark begin to put his trust in him?

What did he do that made Mark trust him? Every time they met was for business reasons so it’s not like they hung out together or anything. The closest they’ve had to that was when they went out for dinner—the only business being handled there was handing over a flash drive—but that shouldn’t really count for much. So what in the world made Lee Mark trust him?

“Sometimes, people can just tell when you’re trustworthy. Other times, there isn’t a reason that anyone but them would understand but they just trust you. If they trust you then go with it and do everything you can to not break that trust. People with trust issues take the longest to trust someone but when they do trust you, it’s the strongest type of trust you can imagine. That’s big.”

Donghyuck silently chuckles in disbelief as his own words suddenly come back to his mind. He was just telling someone else about trust and people’s reasoning not even a day ago but yet here he is wondering why Mark trusts him. Ironic and a bit hypocritical of him if he must say. Mark definitely is one he would put under the category of trust issues so if the older trusts him then he should just accept it and keep it moving.

Besides, it’s good that someone as strong as him trusts him. It makes for a good security measure in Donghyuck’s mind.

Well then, he better stop standing here watching Mark sleep like some creep. He doesn’t want the food to get cold.

He walks to the bed and looks around. He wonders why Mark brought a candle and why it was clearly lit before but he’ll think about that later. For now, he just has to wake him up.

He saw Mark awake for like forty minutes when the older went and took a shower and then back to sleep Mark went. For the entire day, Mark has been sleeping. He didn’t even know someone could sleep for that long. But it’s time to wake him up because Mark has to eat at least once today.

After debating with himself for a bit, Donghyuck decides to gently shake Mark awake and pray that he’s not a violent waker.

“Mark, it’s time to wake up. Dinner is done,” Donghyuck says, gently shaking the sleeping male.

It takes a bit for Mark to stir but eventually the older awakens. He looks at Donghyuck through half open eyes and Donghyuck hopes Mark isn’t mad at being woken up.

“What time is it?” Mark grumbles out.

Donghyuck looks at his phone.

“6:55 in the evening. Come on, I made dinner for us. You need to eat, you’ve been asleep all day,” he replies.

Mark puts his face into the pillow and shakes his head with a groan. As he does so, the light in the room goes out, startling Donghyuck.

“My bad,” Mark mumbles.

He raises his hand—face still practically buried in the pillow—and drags it along in the air. As if he is directing the electricity back to the light—he probably is—the light slowly begins to get brighter until it’s back to its full power.

Donghyuck looks back and forth between the light and Mark, shocked by what just happened. Mark’s power really is strong.

Mark finally sits up, ruffling his hair as he stretches.

“I’m going to brush my teeth again and then I’ll go,” he says.

Donghyuck, still dashing his eyes between the light and Mark, nods mindlessly.

“Sure sure, okay. How’d you do that?” He responds, pointing to the light.

Mark tiredly chuckles at the response.

“I gave it back its electricity that’s all,” he says.

He stands up, finally ready to move.

“I won’t take long,” he says, referring to him going and brushing his teeth before dinner.

Donghyuck nods again and decides he should just wait at the table.

That’s exactly what he does, wait at the table for Mark to join him.

When Mark does join him, he feels a bit awkward. Somehow it didn’t register to him that having dinner with Mark meant...well, having dinner with Mark. It sounds strange but he didn’t think of what it meant to have dinner with Mark, no business involved. It is their first time being together not for business reasons.

“So, do you normally sleep that much? You were practically dead for the entire day,” Donghyuck says, taking his own serving of food.

Mark does the same, shaking his head no.

“No, I have never slept that much in my entire life. I think it’s just a side effect to the enhancer,” Mark responds.

Donghyuck raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

“A side effect? What do you mean exactly?” He asks.

“In the simplest terms I can put it, something like an enhancer changes your DNA a bit more than many realize. It’s actually very dangerous and even I know that it’s a scientific miracle that I’m alive. But it would be stupid to believe that I would get away without any issues; there were bound to be side effects to it. I think my tiredness is one of them. My body went through an extreme change, it needs to recharge itself. Hence my excessive sleeping,” Mark explains.

He’s still tired if he’s being honest. He doesn’t know how much sleep his body is going to need to recover properly but he won’t think about that right now.

“So you mean to tell me that you could have died from trying to increase your powers but yet you still did it anyway and now you’re experiencing a side effect from it?” Donghyuck says, waving his chopsticks around as he tries to understand this.

Mark casually nods, eating his food as if what was said was the most normal thing ever.

“Okay then. Will you experience any other effects?” Donghyuck decides to ask instead.

From Mark’s extreme cheerfulness to this tired casualness, Donghyuck thinks he’s going to break his neck from Mark’s drastic changes.

“I most likely will. Nothing too serious though; maybe just like slips in control of my power, light aching, headaches from being overwhelmed, and/or more varying moods. It’s nothing I can’t handle. For the amount of power I have now, those effects mean nothing,” Mark says.

A smirk finds its way to his face at his last sentence. A couple of side effects in exchange for this much power, he’ll take the effects any day.

Donghyuck is beginning to wonder how much power Mark is talking about. To him, no amount of power is worth risking his life but he doesn’t know how Mark thinks. What if Mark did it for a reason he doesn’t know about? Whatever the case is, Mark seems very satisfied with the results of his work.

A silence takes place and the two just eat without a word. Somehow the silence is more uncomfortable to Donghyuck than trying to maintain a conversation with Mark. Where does he go from here though?

After a few more moments of silence, Donghyuck decides to ask the first thing that comes to his mind.

“What are you going to do now? If you don’t mind me asking. It’s just, you have the power so now what?” He asks.

Unlike the other questions, Mark doesn’t answer this one right away. He just looks up to Donghyuck, not expecting that question, and stares for a few seconds. Donghyuck wonders if he finally asked the wrong question but it’s too late to take it back now.

To his great relief, Mark finally speaks.

“I have a few loose ends I want to tie and then I’m good. I have a person I need to find and repay them for a few things. Then I just have to do a few changes so I don’t have to worry about the police or heroes raiding my house and everything will be done,” Mark responds.

Donghyuck suddenly feels the strong urge to pray for whoever Mark is talking about repaying. Whatever that situation is, it is not a good one.

“Don’t worry though, I won’t be asking you for anything else unless absolutely necessary. You’ve helped out with the most important part so that’s good enough. Also, you have to tell me what you want,” Mark adds.

Donghyuck looks at him with confusion.

“What I want?” He says.

“Yes, what you want. As a thank you for letting me stay here. I didn’t explain it much before but not only do I need to keep the police off of my back for a bit but I needed a place where I could experience the side effects without having much else to worry about. I don’t think it would be good for anyone if I have a pounding headache and some stupid officer comes banging on my door, if you understand what I mean. You are doing me a very big favor so I will give you something in return; it’s only fair that I do. Whatever you like, consider it yours,” Mark says.

Part of Donghyuck wants to be surprised and touched at the comment. Who would have thought that Lee Mark would have a sense of genuine appreciation in him? It’s nice that he wants to give something in return, even if feels a bit obligatory for him.

Another part of him, however, is growing in excitement. For the first time since Mark showed up at his door, he is beginning to realize what Mark’s increased power could mean for him. Mark can get him whatever he wants easier now. He can see now all of the things Mark could get for him now that he wouldn’t have a chance of getting without the older. It’s a selfish, greedy excitement but Donghyuck already knew that about himself. Gray morality after all. If he can get what he wants and have a bit of fun with it then what’s really the harm.

“I really like the sound of that,” Donghyuck purrs with a smile.

Mark chuckles at the younger’s expression.

“Well, that’s good. Whenever you think of you want, just let me know,” he responds.

A silence pick backs up but this time it doesn’t bother Donghyuck as much. He suddenly has a slightly brighter look to this situation.

Maybe this could turn out to be something good.

Chapter Text

“There you are.”

He smirks to himself as he finally sees a familiar face on the employee record of a pharmaceutical corporate building.

White, Mara

Floor 5 - Research and Development Department

“So Phantom’s name is Mara, how fitting. She talks about me being easy to find yet she foolishly went into a science-based field as a means of work. Where else would a person look for a scientist?” Mark says as he looks over the information on her.

He’s been searching for her from the moment his tired spell went away after a few days. He spent more days sleeping than he thought was possible for him but that’s okay with him. His body needed the rest so when it was time to get to work, he’d be fine. And fine he is. The moment he woke up and didn’t feel like he wanted to go back to sleep for more hours, he got up and went to work, beginning his search for his bothersome stalker.

It didn’t take him long to find her. She’s in the exact type of place he expected her to be in. All that’s left now is when he’s going to finish this.

He’s quite tired of this being prolonged longer than it has to be. He needs to deal with her as soon as he can so that part of his history can be pushed away completely. Not only is she the last thing tying him back to what happened in Canada, but she is also the last thing tying him to memories of a cage, of being locked up and defenseless. He needs to cut that tie now and pay her back for everything that she has done to him.

He will pay her back, no matter what.

“Your time is almost up, Mara.”

~~~

Mark shakes his umbrella as he enters the building.

How nice of it to be storming the day he finally gets rid of the remaining reminder of his past weakness. It makes him feel at home.

Right past the guard he goes, walking in casually as if he belongs here.

He goes straight to the elevator and heads up to the fifth floor. As he’s in the elevator, the light flickers for a second and Mark chuckles.

“Look at me getting excited. I better reign in my excitement before I take the electricity out of this elevator,” he hums to himself.

He can be excited when she’s finally gone.

The elevator doors open and he walks out, looking around on the floor. The main room should be just a bit down the hall so he heads down and to the R&D room.

Before entering, he looks through the glass to see if he can spot her first. He’s happy when he can. Her desk is toward the back of the room right next to a window, facing in the opposite direction of the door which means she won’t be able to see him coming in.

Good, that’ll limit her time to try and run away.

He walks in, not making eye contact with the workers that are here—they’re all too busy to really care about him. He just walks over towards her desk, wanting to get as close as he can before she finally spots him.

Closer and closer and closer. She’s directly in his sight and she still hasn’t turned around. Only a bit more and he’ll be close enough to give a stinging blow without having anyone or anything in his way. He’ll be close enough to see that fear and helplessness in her eyes.

He’s almost there.

Then, suddenly, a person walks up to her.

Something is off about the guy, something about him messes with Mark’s eyes. That isn’t just any old regular coworker that walked up to her.

He doesn’t have time to think about it though because she suddenly snaps her head around to his direction with wide eyes. They make direct eye contact and before he knows it, she’s out of her seat.

An alarm suddenly starts to go off, getting everyone out of their seats in a panic and causing him to have trouble spotting her.

Mark grits his teeth in annoyance. Whoever tripped that alarm did this on purpose to cause this chaos.

‘I will not let her escape this time!’

He forces himself to look into the mess of racing hearts in order to find hers. There are so many people but he already felt her unique heart signature—one that’s faint and almost invisible like her powers—so he will find her no matter what. Despite it being soft, it makes it easier for him to find in the mess of pounding hearts. He finally spots her in the midst of the panic and he locks in on her heart. 

He wanted to do this in a way that would really be painful for her but if this is his only way to make sure she doesn’t escape this time, then he’ll do whatever.

She drops to her knees, clutching her chest, letting him finally visually spot her. She casts her gaze over to him, knowing that he is the cause of the pain in her chest.

That same strange person who went over to her and made her turn around runs up to her and bends down to her level.

Mark increases the electricity in her chest, watching her fall into the man’s arms. Now being able to get a good look at the man, Mark can tell what’s so strange with the person.

It’s an illusion.

Or more specifically, an illusion over a person.

Mark feels his jaw tighten in rising anger. He told those heroes to stay out of his way. He let them go unscratched after they intervened the first time, he will not be that kind this time.

He takes a step forward. He’s going to deal with her and Jaehyun right now.

Jaehyun must recognize that Mark realized what was going on because he drops his illusion at the sight of the younger coming closer and mumbles something.

Mark doesn’t get the chance to take another step forward.

He feels something hit him first, a pinch on the side of his arm. He looks around to see what hit him and from where but he can’t find anything.

That’s when the charge happens.

A massive amount of electricity surrounds him. It’s so much electricity that no matter how he tries to redirect it, it stays. He can actually begin to feel himself being shocked by it, the first physical electricity actually turned on him.

He notices Jaehyun stand, lifting Mara up. He’s trying to take her away.

Fighting through the electricity, he forcefully raises his hand in their direction.

“She’s not escaping ,” Mark says through clenched teeth.

He makes his hand into a fist, watching as electricity sparks from her chest. Her body shakes in Jaehyun’s arms and a small whimper comes out from her mouth.

“He’s still attacking!” Jaehyun shouts.

The electricity around Mark increases even more, causing him to let out a roar of pain.

He can’t move. No matter what he does, he can’t move to attack or to redirect the electricity. His head suddenly starts to pound and he feels his own internal electricity jump around violently in him. Pressure rises in him and he feels like his lungs are being pressed on. He feels like his body is locked in place.

He feels like he’s back in that burning box.

His own electricity forces its way from his body and the second it meets the electricity surrounding him, Mark remembers the hard way that like charges repel each other.

Like a strong explosion, the repulsion sends Mark flying back. And out of the window.

Shattered glass surrounding him as he falls is the only thing his mind registers before he lands in a tree. The branches slow his fall down and he hits the sidewalk significantly less hard than he would have without the tree breaking his fall.

Sounds are blurring, sight is hazy, and the only thing felt is rain. For a moment, the entire world fades away.

Lightning cracks like a whip in the sky, lighting up the world before sending it back into darkness.

Mark’s body lurches upward as the feeling of electricity courses through him. Similar to how he felt after taking his enhancer, an empowering feeling washes over him, making him feel alive. 

But this time he’s not happy.

His eyes snap open. Cold rain falls directly on to his face as he stares at the sky. A rage like he has never felt before runs throughout his whole body, burning him up.

At another strike of lightning, a blue spark starts to flare in his eyes.

He pushes himself up from the ground, ignoring the aching in his body and standing on his feet with clenched teeth. Compared to his boiling blood, the rain feels ice cold—a contrast he isn’t too happy about. He looks around to see people watching him from a distance and murmuring to each other about the scene. It angers him even more.

“What are you all LOOKING AT!” He shouts, electricity flying from his hands violently.

The crowd starts to scatter in fear, dodging the bolts of electricity. He turns away from them. He couldn’t care less about them. What matters right now is dealing with those pesky, irritating, infuriating heroes.

He doesn’t have to do much to find them—from where he stands, through the rain and its relentless downpour, he can see the very same seven people he expected to see.

NCT.

Now, Mark likes to believe that he has pretty good control over his emotions—learning from young that letting them control him can cause him serious issues—but at this moment, he can’t even try to lessen the amount of rage flowing through him.

He is livid.

“You all don’t listen, do you? I gave you your chance to walk away but yet you couldn’t accept it,” he says to them, anger dripping from his words.

The electricity dances ferociously on his hands as he glares at them. His blood copies its movement, running violently in his veins and burning him with each passing second. He can’t ever recall being this enraged.

Taeyong looks him in the eyes, seemingly not bothered by his rage.

“Don’t make this harder. Surrender and face the consequences of your actions,” he responds.

Mark lets out a humorless chuckle—one that sounds more like a derisive snort more than anything—sparks dancing fiercely on his skin.

“Surrender? Ha, you want me to surrender?” He says as if that was the funniest thing.

Lightning strikes again, illuminating him from behind, and the sky becomes even darker. The electricity jumping on his skin grows even wilder. He’s never felt his power this fiercely inside of him but it feels right. It makes him feel stronger. 

“I surrender to no one,” he says, sparks flying in the air.

His eyes burn brightly, brighter than they ever had before. The heroes look on in shocked silence as they stare at the bright blue glow blazing in his eyes with a never before seen energy. The water around Mark’s feet slowly disappears, letting his feet stand on dry ground. It is as if it was never there.

This is the power they were hearing about. This is the power they will be going against.

The heroes start to wince as the rain touches their skin, each drop suddenly feeling like a little shock.

“Impossible, he electrified the rainwater,” Taeyong says, looking at the rain in disbelief.

Yes, rainwater is a conductor of electricity but to electrify the rain, that’s unheard of. It doesn’t seem possible but yet here it is happening right now.

“You wanted to get involved, fine then. I’ll make sure it’s the biggest mistake you ever made,” Mark growls.

He goes to a parked car next to him and places his hands on it. With electricity surging from his hands, he sends unbelievably strong volts of electricity into the vehicle. From the force alone, the side of the car crushes inwards, doors melting to the frame of the car. With as much force as he can use, he sends the car forward, electricity propelling it as if it weighed nothing.

The heroes jump out of the way, having no time to do anything else. The car smashes into the building behind them, people taking off in all directions and trying to get away from the scene. They try not to show their surprise.

He can do that?

Mark does it again, sending the next car forward with even more force. He’s either going to hit them or he’s going to tear apart this area. Either way, they’ll learn how big of a mistake they made by trying to stop him.

The car comes hurtling at them once again, the door breaking away from its frame and missing their heads by mere centimeters.

Doyoung turns around sharply and—before the car can destroy another building—opens a grand portal. The car goes sailing through the portal—its door finally flying off and nearly slamming into Johnny. He dives out of the way, letting a screech out as he does so.

Doyoung then raises his hand to the sky. With gritted teeth, a portal pops into existence directly over Mark. The now-destroyed car falls from it and plunges to the earth at a deadly speed.

The heroes scream when it lands directly on top of the young villain.

The scene is still. The only sounds around are the rain falling and civilians’ murmurings, all looking out to see if the chaos is over. The heroes look at the fallen car in shock.

They expected Mark to dodge it, throwing him off balance or something equally as useful. Why did he just stand there? Why didn’t he do anything?

“That can’t be, can it?” Jungwoo says in disbelief.

They couldn’t have ended this that quickly. He couldn’t actually be...dead. Villain or not, they weren’t trying to kill him. They were just trying to stop him, not take his life.

“I don’t really kn-”

Taeyong’s sentence is cut off when he sees the crushed Kia rumble before being blown to pieces in a blinding blue flash.

Mark rises from the center of the ruins, without a scratch on him and overflowing with energy.

The heroes look on with a mixture of dread and astonishment.

He’s alive. He doesn’t have a single scratch from that. A car fell on him and he is perfectly fine.

“What the hell is he?” Yuta whispers.

Mark looks at them with a displeased frown. As he takes a step forward, the heroes finally snap out of their stupor.

“We have to clear the area now before he hurts a civilian,” Taeyong says, now having a better grasp of what type of fight this will be, urgency rising in him.

Doyoung nods and immediately starts to guide civilians away from the scene. They have no time to waste. He'll do crowd control and preventive measures with his portals; he hopes that the others will be able to handle the scene here, especially after that sight they just witnessed.

Mark watches as the hero runs away from the scene, going to help the surrounding civilians. He’ll let him go, he isn't much in a fight and he wants everything out of his way—including people. Better for them if they handle the crowd before he does.

He turns back to the remaining heroes. They’re in their fighting stances, ready and waiting for his attack.

He’ll see about that.

“Let’s see how good you heroes actually are,” he says.

Mark shoots bolts at them, not giving a moment to stand in one place. Not only will he make this a fight of power, but he will also make this one of speed.

The heroes realizing this, know that they have to go on the offensive no matter what if they plan on stopping him. It’s not as if he’ll wear himself out so they have to bring him down themselves.

Jungwoo sends clouds rushing forward, surrounding Mark and blocking his view. When Mark sends a bolt through some of the clouds, Jungwoo just creates more.

He is determined to keep Mark’s sight blocked as Yuta charges at him.

It’s no use, however, because Mark hears the sound of one of them running towards him and can tell exactly what they’re going to do.

Despite not being able to see, Mark is able to grab Yuta by the wrist in the middle of the older’s swing. He lets his electricity flare up, shocking away the clouds and bringing the hero to his knees.

As Yuta hits the ground, Mark kicks him with all his might, sending him back.

Yuta tumbles—one time, two times, three times—and rolls to a stop in a puddle of cold rainwater. Mark can see him struggling to catch his breath, chest heaving unevenly. The kick was strong enough to knock the wind out of him for sure—that is if it didn’t injure some bones while he was at it. He watches as Yuta blinks slowly. Whether he’s trying to clear his vision or remove the water from his eyes, Mark doesn’t know but he also doesn’t care.

He turns back to Jungwoo.

Jungwoo, startled at seeing Yuta go down so quickly, tries to trip Mark up. He wraps the clouds around Mark’s head, trapping the air in the water vapor and making harder to breathe. Maybe he can make Mark lightheaded enough for his guard to slip.

Mark breaks through the clouds before that can happen though and fires at Jungwoo, watching as the hero drops to the ground in a spasm as electricity runs through his body.

Watching two of his members go down like flies in a matter of minutes, Sicheng takes out his gun. He doesn’t use bullets often but with the way this fight is going, it seems like it’s necessary.

He aims, locking in on Mark in record time, and fires multiple times without hesitation.

But Mark is quicker than he expected.

He electrifies the bullets and stops them mid-air.

“Nice try,” he says.

He sends the bullets flying back at an even higher speed, one of them landing in Sicheng’s arm.

Sicheng bites back a scream as he feels the bullet stuck in his muscles. Through gritted teeth, he aims again with his other arm—this time aiming for a place that Mark would have trouble stopping—and fires. 

But once again, Mark is able to send the bullet flying back at him. It zips through the air faster than the eye can see—planting itself directly back in the barrel of the gun, shocking Sicheng and causing him to drop his gun with a shout.

Mark aims at the older, ready to knock him out with a bolt.

Suddenly the world changes right before his eyes.

Everything around him disappears and the street is suddenly empty. He looks around, knowing this is an illusion, but he can’t find the weak spot in it. It’s here somewhere but Jaehyun really made sure to hide it well this time.

Mark, however, doesn’t need to break the illusion to know that two people are coming at him. He can tell by the electric pulses in their chests approaching him.

Not knowing the exact direction they’re charging at him nor who is going to do what, he decides to kill two birds with one stone. 

He forces built up electricity out of his body, creating a large electrical repulsive force and sending everything around him flying back. 

Including the two heroes.

The illusion falls right as Jaehyun hits a building hard, Johnny right next to him. If it wasn’t for their reinforced suits, there really would be a high risk that their spines suffered from that impact. They tumble to the ground, not moving a centimeter afterward.

Mark turns to the only one standing. Taeyong.

“Still think I’m going to surrender?” Mark taunts.

Taeyong doesn’t back down or cower away despite Mark’s display of power. Mark may not surrender to anyone but Taeyong never gives up. 

“Don’t forget, you’re in my element right now,” Taeyong says.

Mark narrows his eyes as the rain around him ceases in midair. Looking around with a scoff, he sees that all of the raindrops seem to have froze in their place. As he turns back around, a splash of cold rainwater hits his face, startling him. He wipes his face and looks at the older with a glare. He growls in annoyance.

“Is that the way you want to do things? Childish tricks?” Mark says.

As if he was shooing the hero away, Mark waves his hand in dismissal. Electrified rainwater goes flying at the water manipulator, hitting him in the chest and causing a sting. Taeyong’s eyes widen slightly, not expecting the younger to be able to manipulate the electrified water.

“I may be in your element, hyung ,” he says the honorific mockingly, “But I’ll still beat you in it. You’re not the only one familiar with storms,” Mark says.

It’s now a showdown between Taeyong and Mark. Water versus electricity. Hero versus villain. Will versus power. 

With his members down for the count, Taeyong can’t afford to go easy. He has to stop Mark one way or another. For everyone’s safety, he has to beat Mark.

Mark, on the other hand, won’t even think of the idea of defeat. He won’t allow himself to be defeated. He didn’t gain this much power so he could be locked away again. He won’t allow anyone else to take away his freedom.

Taeyong attacks first, sending a steady and controlled rush of water at Mark.

He knows his best bet is to keep this as a long-range fight. If Mark gets close to him then it’s game over.

Mark moves out of the way, not very surprised when he realizes that he can’t send electricity through the water.

“Creating and using pure water, what do you know you did pass science class,” Mark says.

With the rise of an eyebrow, he sends a low branching bolt of lightning at Taeyong’s feet. Taeyong combats it though by creating a wall of pure water around his legs, blocking the electricity from passing through.

Taeyong clasps his hands together, water swirling in the air above him. Pulling his hand back, a bow made of coursing water forms perfectly in his hands. An arrow of water nocks itself into the bow, ready and waiting to be fired. In one swift movement, Taeyong aims and fires at Mark. He fires arrow after arrow, not wanting to give Mark a chance to dodge.

But Mark has his own way of combating water.

The sparks surround him, forming a force field of sorts. He raises the temperature of the jumping bright blue bolts around him, the feeling of blazing energy and power following after it. 

Then, he fires at each of the arrows.

The moment the lightning touches the arrows, the water starts to evaporate, steam rising from it. 

The cycle repeats, Taeyong firing arrow after arrow of water and Mark evaporating each of his attacks without a hitch. To Taeyong though, even if his attacks don’t hit, keeping Mark on the defensive is better than nothing. It means the younger can’t return with an attack of his own.

Mark knows this, however, and he won’t let the hero have it that easy.

As an arrow is whizzing through the air, aimed at him with an intense purpose, he aims at Taeyong at last second instead. The arrow hits his shoulder—hurting more than one would think water would—but his bolt also hits Taeyong in the shoulder. An eye for an eye as they say.

Pulling a sharp breath and clenching his teeth shut, Taeyong grabs his shoulder at the stinging burn, feeling his singed skin clearly through the freshly burned hole in his suit. It feels like his nerves fried with that hit, preventing him from maintaining and holding his water bow.

With no more projectiles flying at him, Mark moves forward to advance in this fight.

Only having one arm he can move without any searing pain, Taeyong takes his other hand and swings it back. Behind him, a long whip forms from the cold suspended raindrops around him. With a shout through clenched teeth, he swings his hand forward. The whip follows suit, cracking through the air with a loud sound, and slamming into Mark. Mark clenches his teeth as he feels a sting on his cheek. He touches it gently, clicking his tongue in irritation when he feels a gash there. He raises his eyes up, the intent to retaliate written clearly in them. Before he can even move, however, he sees Taeyong wave his hand down harshly, a massive wave of water following his motion and comes crashing down on top of him. He can only stand there and brace himself as well as he can as he is smashed by the wall of water. The impact of it all sends Mark flying back and into a tree with a hard thump.

Mark falls to his knees, coughing up water. From falling from a window to being slammed into a tree, he doesn’t know how many hard impacts his body will take. He won’t let this fight continue on long enough to find out.

“So that’s the type of fight you want huh?” He says, looking up with a deadly stare.

Taeyong can dodge something in front of him but let’s see him try to dodge something from the sky.

Mark’s eyes glow brighter as lightning flashes and strikes down.

Taeyong tries to block the hit but he can’t stop the amount of force. He tries to move out of the way but the lightning still hits him, burning his left leg.

He screams in pain, unable to feel his leg. He’s never felt a pain like this before. There’s no way he can describe the pain that his leg is experiencing. The burning, the pricks and tingles, the numbness, it’s just so many different feelings in his leg but it all just adds up to pain. And the worst part is that he knows the strike wasn’t meant to incapacitate him. He knows that though he’ll have the scars, he’ll be able to walk again in a matter of time. This strike wasn’t to take him out. It was only to show that Mark was more powerful than he is. That’s the worst part.

Mark stalks over to Taeyong, water around steaming from the electricity surrounding his body. His hair that was once plastered to his face from the water is now fluffed up and almost dry due to the intensity of his electricity.

Taeyong lifts his head up and forces himself to not show any fear of any kind. On the inside, however, he can’t help but shudder. His team has never been taken down—never been infiltrated—and have never seen someone of this power. What way was there for them to win this? If Mark is this strong, does that mean he was just dragging out this fight? Could he have really taken them all down quicker than this?

He stops in front of Taeyong and looks down at the older with a piercing gaze. He raises his hand, letting the jumping sparks increase in intensity, much to the hero’s internal fear.

“I warned you to stay out of my way,” he says, aiming at Taeyong.

Not giving Taeyong the chance to respond, Mark shoots electricity directly in the center of the wound in his shoulder, straight at all of the already fried nerves, not stopping until the older passes out from the pain.

As much as he wants to fry the hero to a crisp, he’ll be merciful today only because the heroes can still have their uses to him in some ways.

The next time they interfere, however, he will make sure that it is their last time being able to function as heroes. He will do more than just teach them a lesson; he will take them out of the hero scene for good.

He looks at the unconscious hero with no emotion in his eyes and not the slightest ounce of remorse.

“And you better hope she’s dead by now or else I’ll really be upset,” he says.

He turns around and walks away. 

The rain begins to fall harder as if the sky was weeping. The wind picks up as its heavy heaving and howling. It reminds him of two people he hasn’t thought about in a while. Two people who would also grieve what he had become just as the sky is doing.

“I told you I wasn’t going to change.”

Alternative Ending

Mark’s eyes glow brighter as lightning flashes and strikes down.

Taeyong tries to block the hit but he can’t stop the amount of force. He tries to move out of the way but the lightning still hits him, burning his left leg.

He screams in pain, unable to feel his leg. He’s never felt a pain like this before. There’s no way he can describe the pain that his leg is experiencing. The burning, the pricks and tingles, the numbness, it’s just so many different feelings in his leg but it all just adds up to pain. And the worst part is that he knows the strike wasn’t meant to incapacitate him. He knows that though he’ll have the scars, he’ll be able to walk again in a matter of time. This strike wasn’t to take him out. It was only to show that Mark was more powerful than he is. That’s the worst part.

Mark stalks over to Taeyong, water around steaming from the electricity surrounding his body. His hair that was once plastered to his face from the water is now fluffed up and almost dry due to the intensity of his electricity.

Taeyong lifts his head up and forces himself to not show any fear of any kind. On the inside, however, he can’t help but shudder. His team has never been taken down—never been infiltrated—and have never seen someone if this power. What way was there for them to win this? If Mark is this strong, does that mean he was just dragging out this fight? Could he have really taken them all down quicker than this?

He stops in front of Taeyong, so close that Taeyong can feel the younger’s power radiating from where he is. He looks down at the hero with lowered eyes, as if he was nothing but a mess under his shoes. He raises his hand, letting the jumping sparks increase in intensity, much to the hero’s internal fear.

“I warned you to stay out of my way,” he says, aiming at Taeyong.

A thin but searing beam suddenly shoots down from the clouds, lighting up the rain, and hits Mark directly on his already injured shoulder.

The attack sends him stumbling backward in surprise and pain.

Regaining his balance, he whips his head up, searching and scanning for the source of the attack, only to receive yet another beam—this one hitting his upper thigh with painful accuracy. A shower of rocks follow afterward, aimed directly at him.

Lasers and then rocks? What kind of game is being played here?

He swears under his breath, using his good arm to fire at the oncoming assault of rocks. Even has the rocks shatter to pieces, he has to dodge the falling rubble, making him hiss from the pain in his thigh.

He looks back to Taeyong with a glare, trying to ignore the sharp throbbing pain constantly stabbing at his wounds.

When he does, his attackers finally show themselves.

NCT closest allies, WayV.

Standing next to WayV’s leader is Doyoung who disappeared early on in the fight.

Mark has only read about WayV, the group often being busy elsewhere than NCT. He read enough though to know who they are under the masks.

Leader Qian Kun, who has the power of precognition.

Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul—more commonly referred to as Ten—with the power of intangibility.

Wong Yukhei, a terrakinetic and most likely the cause of the shower of rocks that targeted him.

Xiao Dejun, who is most likely his first attacker, with the power of burning laser beams that he can fire with the accuracy of a sniper.

Wong Kunhang, their resident teleporter whose power frustrates Mark the same way Doyoung’s own does. 

Liu YangYang, a speedster who never stops in a fight.

Kun levels his gaze at Mark, who is badly bruised now and sparking madly, “I think you’ve done enough here,” Kun says.

Mark clenches his teeth as he looks at the six new heroes on the scene. He wasn’t expecting this.

“Do you surrender now?” Doyoung says.

Mark knows he can go into this fight if he has to but with the pain in his body from the two hard impacts, his injured leg and shoulder, and how wild his power is raging inside of him right now, he would be foolish to. Next thing he knows one of those side effects kick in and he’s left as a sitting duck in the middle of a fight.

He can’t take that risk, not when his freedom is on the line.

Jaw clenched, power overflowing, and eyes blazing in consuming anger, Mark holds his head up high as he stares down the worthless bunch of heroes. He shouldn’t have let Doyoung leave earlier but it’s useless to think about that right now. Right now, he will show them that he will not cower to them.

“I already told you, I surrender to no one. We will continue this another day,” Mark says.

The same way he started this fight is the same way he decides to finish it: sending a car flying at them. This time though, as the car goes at them, he shoots a bolt at it, causing it to explode and temporarily blind the heroes. 

He turns around and runs away before any of them can notice him retreating, pushing through the pain in his leg. As infuriating as it is to have to run away from a fight, the last thing he wants is that teleporter or speedster going after him. He won’t face them until he’s in his best shape.

The next time they meet, he will not be running away. That is a promise.

Those heroes will regret this day. Every last one of them, he’ll make them regret ever getting in his way.

He’ll make them beg for mercy.

“You have no idea what you just started.”