It was the 27^th of March and they had made no progress. The end was 5 hours away. Every further lead had turned out a dead end.

Minhyun hadn’t slept all night. There had to be something they could do.

Junior entered at breakfast with grim determination. “Listen up. We’re going to Japan. I’ll explain once we’re in the air. I’m not wasting another second.”

***

“We can assume,” Junior told everyone through Minhyun’s link since it was impossible to speak over the rotor noises, “they have a way to block Aron’s and Baekho’s powers. This is mostly a reconnaissance mission. If they don’t even notice were there we’ll just have more information for the next loop. If they do notice they would probably delay their experiment and we get more time to fight them. I give it three more loops max till we win.”

Minhyun wished he could have shared that confidence. This entire loop thing was difficult to wrap his head around. But he was glad that there was something to do at last.

***

Junior ordered the accompanying staff around. “The substructure is exactly under there. From the telephone pole all the way to the lone tree. Basically, it’s a long bunker, but a bit unevenly thick.”

Distributing small boxes throughout the area the operatives set up a grid of sensors. Meanwhile the boys walked around and shoved explosives into the ground through holes that Aron burned into the earth.

The hope was that they could locate an entrance via wave reflection. This technique was used to find oil reservoirs and other subterranean systems. If a tunnel led from the surface all the way into the bunker they should be able to find it.

All the tiny explosives went off at the same time, feeding sensor information into a hastily set up laptop on a crate in the middle of the deserted street.

It was eerie to see a completely empty suburban town. Way to quiet. Minhyun effortlessly linked them all into his mindscape network to keep the operatives from listening in on their conversation. Connecting all five boys at once had become easy for him by now.

“Junior?2 he asked, "What’s the plan exactly? If Aron and Baekho can’t do their thing how do we get in?”

“Well, for one thing we still have you. It could be enough if you look through a few heads to get a feeling for what’s going on. There’s also the possibility that a random piece of information pops into my head.”

“But shouldn’t we at least take more precautions? We’re on top of an enemy base after all. Think of what happened last time when we encountered the agents of the void. Why is it just us fighting again?”

“I told you it’s just for information gathering and so we-“

Ren interrupted their talk by speaking over them in the link. “He has doubts, Junior. The others are fine going along with whatever and I know for sure that you have all the knowledge from your ability working because you feel like you always feel when it works. But Minhyun can’t quite get himself to blindly accept that our actions might have no consequences in two hours.”

Junior shot a quick glance at the empath before turning back to the dream walker. “Oh, I see. Sorry Minhyun, but I can only reassure you that I know what I know.”

They were interrupted by the results of the geological survey. There were multiple entrances. Most of them through houses in the area which made sense as it kept them conveniently hidden. There was one way however that was much bigger and less well camouflaged.

Just a few dry bushes were laid across the gates in the ground and Aron waved them away.

“This has to be the biggest tunnel inside”, Junior mused aloud. “They needed a way to get equipment in, which was too big for the private entrances in the houses. It’s as likely to be guarded than any other entrance. Minhyun?”

“I can sense dozens of people, all very focused or very bored. I can't find out more without them noticing I'm in their heads.”

“Scientists and guards respectively,” Baekho said with a chuckle. He had been quiet but now that a fight was potentially immanent his attention was back on track. “I say we go in and see how much damage we can do. Did we bring any more explosives?”

“Reconnaissance,” reminded Junior.

“Screw that.”

It took a few moments of back and forth debate but eventually they decided to wait until the reset was only minutes away and then storm the place. In the meantime Minhyun kept a close eye on the people inside. He couldn’t get into their heads without establishing a link and even if they wouldn’t be able to tell what was happening, they’d certainly notice something was up. That was another drawback in comparison to dreamscape walking.

***

Aron made the gate in the ground so hot it evaporated. There was an empty, round hole, leading – at a steep slope – to a reinforced door protected by the force field that reflected his abilities.

Minhyun stepped back and let the boy find out if the force field also blocked other things. It was always a bit frightening to see the American use his powers. And apparently he had even destroyed the entire town in a previous loop if Junior was to be believed. Now he was pulling an enormous block of titanium from the ground, traned from dirt.

“How much kinetic energy do you think it’ll take to get through the door?”

No one answered Aron so Minhyun felt compelled to reply. “I suppose you should start lightly and go harder if it’s not enough.”

“Okay. Here goes nothing.”

The block as wide as the hole slammed into the earth, rushing through the tunnel at almost the speed of sound. If Aron thought that was ‘light’ Minhyun wasn’t going to trust him with estimations any time soon.

But the effect was perfectly in line with their intent. The force field stopped Aron’s power from affecting the block any further, but the material itself – and all its speed – went through unhindered. The door was open. The ground behind it was wrecked as well, turned into an even deeper hole, but that was secondary.

The agents certainly knew they were here, now.

“Alright boys,” Junior said. “We’re committed to this course of action. Let’s make this the last loop if we can.”