Hyunjin couldn't believe his eyes. Once the door swung open, Hyunjin's entire being was stiff in fear and anticipation. Although Olivia had told them that they would be meeting Felix, Hyunjin was still a little skeptical.
It shouldn't be this easy, right? The villains wouldn't just let them waltz in through the room and just take Felix away. There has to be a catch. It can't be this simple.
All those thoughts vanished upon seeing Felix stand behind the villains. There he was, standing among the others, gaze fixed on Hyunjin.
"Felix-" Hyunjin stepped forward but was stopped by Chan.
"Wait," Chan muttered, eyes scanning the room. He had to make sure this wasn't a trap. He, too, had his senses shut off momentarily upon seeing Felix, but he had to be focused for the sake of the safety of the team.
"Can we come in?" Olivia inquired. The villain standing by the door seemed to ponder over it a little but eventually let them in.
"Be on your guard, everyone," Chan whispered to the others, who walked in with wide eyes and open mouths. As much they tried to conceive their emotions, they couldn't help but be in awe.
"Can't believe you've kept this place clean," Olivia commented, comfortably taking a seat on the couch.
"Don't you have some explaining to do?" The leader of the villains asked. Olivia just rolled her eyes but began anyway.
"As you all can see," She addressed Chan and the others. "Felix is safe and secure. I didn't mislead you or betray you by bringing you here."
Chan nodded, urging Olivia to continue.
"This may come off as a shocker but," Olivia took a moment to think. "You know what, Chris, why don't you show them? It'll be much quicker."
The leader looked towards the others, who nodded in response. "Alright," Chris said, and on the counter of three, the masks of all the villains were off.
A round of gasps was heard across the room. Jeongin felt his legs giving away, Seungmin's jaw was dropped open, Jisung wanted to scream, and the rest of them refused to believe what they were seeing.
"This... This isn't real," Hyunjin said, staring at man beside Felix that was an exact replica of him.
Olivia smirked. "Oh, but it is, isn't that right, Chris?"
Chan, or rather, Chris nodded. "We are not your doppelgangers, nor is this our gift. We are you from the future. We... time traveled to this timeline."
"A- W- What?" Minho managed to say. "Time travel? Is this a joke?"
"It isn't," The 'other' Minho spoke. "We're from the year 2055. Technology has advanced to an extent where time travel is now possible."
"But why?" Changbin questioned. "Why come here? Why pretend to be villains? Why battle us?"
Olivia raised her hand. "I'll answer all your questions, but before that, I have something to confess."
She gets up and walks toward Felix, who is super puzzled. He looked around the room, and none of the others were as confused as him. Did they know what she was going to say? He noticed Hyunjin giving him a look of sympathy.
"Do you recognize me, Lix?" Olivia asked, in the softest voice. Felix's mind did multiple somersaults, trying to identify the woman in front of him. Soon enough, Felix's face lit up like a light bulb.
"Livie?" Felix's voice quivered. Olivia smiled wide. "Is that... you?"
"Yes!" Olivia launched forward and enveloped her brother in a warm hug. "It's me, I missed you."
"I- I..." Felix hugged her tighter. "I thought you were gone."
Olivia pulled away for a moment and smiled. "Well, I'm here now."
Felix smiles through the tears and nods. "I missed you too."
They embraced for a few minutes before letting go of each other. However, they stood beside each other, hand in hand.
Olivia looked towards the newcomers, glancing at each one of them. "You all might need to sit down for this."
They all do after a little hesitation. Olivia turns to Felix. "You too, Lixie."
Felix nodded, slowly walking towards Hyunjin and taking a seat beside him. Hyunjin's hands immediately wrap around the other protectively, holding Felix as close to him as possible.
"I know you're all itching to take Felix and leave this place," Olivia began. "But what I'm about to tell you in the next few minutes is extremely crucial."
Eight nods followed.
"The reason," Olivia continued. "You don't see a future version of Felix amongst us now is because... he's dead."
Felix shuts his eyes tight and lowers his head. Hyunjin's hold on him tightens, like he's frozen in place. There is utter silence in the room.
"That... that can't be," Chan muttered, voice trembling.
"It's true," Olivia answered. "The government... they tested on Felix. Constantly, all day, every day. One of those tests went horribly wrong and... you know the rest."
Felix buried his face in his hands. He'd told Hyunjin that death didn't affect him as much as it did others, but listening to Olivia speak of his death made him feel an immense pain.
"Why," Felix began with a shaky voice. "Why were they testing on me?"
Olivia sighed. "It's because during your battle with the villains, actual villains, your powers they... they evolved."
"What do you mean evolved?" Chan asked.
"The battle was intense," the other Chan spoke. "There was a mishap, and Hyunjin got injured badly, really badly. Felix gave his all to heal him and something... happened."
"When he healed me," Hyunjin continued. "My powers, they became enhanced. I didn't need to look into anyone's eyes to control them anymore, I could just... do it."
"You healed me next," Jisung continued. "And I could fucking teleport after that."
Olivia looked towards Felix and the other seven. "Like this, you healed each of them and all of their powers became enhanced. You guys won the battle eventually, but the government took great interest in Felix's new unique ability."
"They offered to expand our contracts with the promise of just being able to train the next set of trainees," Chan said, looking at Felix with sadness. "But we didn't know what they were doing to you behind our backs. You never told us anything either."
"Turns out," Olivia smiled sadly. "You let them do those things to you... because of me."
Felix looked up at Olivia, wide-eyed. "What... What do you mean?"
"I was a scientist working for the government," Olivia answered. "I was the one running those tests on you."
Hyunjin and the others were shocked, but no one was more surprised than Felix was. His own sister was the one that killed him?
Olivia began to sob now. "I... I didn't realize who you were, and they... they never told me either. They kept calling you Felix and I... I only knew you by Yongbok."
"Livie..." Felix mumbled.
"You recognized me though," Olivia said, wiping away a few tears that left her eyes. "You kept trying to speak with me... but I ignored you. When I finally gave in and listened to you, you told me everything, and I quit right after. I begged the others to stop those tests, but they didn't listen. I had no power to stop them."
"It was Captain Lee," Chan took over, noticing Olivia's faltering voice. "She was so insistent on testing on you. She began to keep you isolated. And then one day... it happened. Olivia came running to us in tears and told us everything."
"They... they didn't even let us see you," Hyunjin said, head hung low. "They told us you were... taken care of."
"Enough!" Felix shouted, quickly standing up and rushing back to his room. Hyunjin stood up to go after him but was stopped by Chan.
"I think we should leave him alone for a while," Chan muttered, looking at Hyunjin with sympathetic eyes.
"But-"
"I'll take care of it. You guys need to hear the rest of the story," the other Hyunjin spoke, nodding to Chan before going after Felix.
Once he was gone, Olivia cleared her throat and continued again. "After that, I had resolved to spending hours in the labs by myself, attempting to create something that could possibly reverse all of the events, and I just happened to create a time machine. My gift is merely high levels of intelligence, so I was easily able to create the machine. I approached the others and told them what I had been planning, and they all agreed to follow through with it. They decided to pretend to be villains, and so they traveled to this timeline."
"If-" Changbin began to ask. "If the villains we fought were just us from the future all along, then who did you guys fight in your timeline?"
Chan answered. "The government had created humanoid robots that were designed just to train us. Of course, we were completely oblivious to that."
Jisung leaned forward. "What were they training you for?"
"They wanted to make military weapons out of us," Chan replied. "They were planning to... colonise, basically."
"And we were just the first batch," the other Jisung interjected. "They were planning on doing to this more people once they were done with us."
"Done with you?" Minho asked.
"Basically, when we're dead or incapable of fighting anymore," Chan responded.
"That is messed up on so many levels," Seungmin mumbled, leaning back against the couch.
Soon after, Hyunjin and Felix walk out of the room, and everyone's eyes are fixed on them. Felix slowly moves and sits next to Jisung this time, leaning against the other's shoulder.
Anyone could tell that Hyunjin was itching to be beside Felix, but he was doing his best to control himself.
"I've told him the rest," the other Hyunjin said, and Chan nodded. There is a moment of silence.
"So what do we do now?" Changbin questioned.
"There's only thing left to do," It was Felix who spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention. Felix slowly sat upright and looked at the others.
"We have to take down the government."
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[A/N]
Okay, I know this chapter was a whole handful, I hope you guys understood everything. I will be updating another chapter in two days or so. Please look forward to it!!
This story will be ending in five more chapters, so I'll be putting up an announcement soon on what drafts I'm working on, so you guys will be getting to vote for which one you like the best. The one with the highest votes will be published next!