Illuminated only by two phones’ flashlights, the elevator’s insides felt a whole lot narrower.

“Who do we call?” Junior though out loud. “Who’s not busy? Why did they have to strike just when Aron isn’t arou- They knew! They knew when Aron would be away. We have more moles.”

One person was enough for a single Conmote under the right circumstances. Junior having worked himself into a nervous frenzy was pretty good as far as circumstances went.

Ren materialized a jittery, smoky-gray figure with the proportions of a goblin who had fallen through a meat grinder. It would suffice.

The ugly creature dug its stubby claws into the slit between the door halves and pushed. Ren could only hope the leader's emotional state would last long enough or Nervousness would fade with a job half done.

Even the outside was without electricity. As the door opened for them, natural lighting fell into the cabin from a faraway window. They were stuck exactly at the half way point between floors

“After you,” Junior said, pointing down. The Conmote ran out of juice and vanished.

Ren did his best to fit through the opening between elevator floor and subceiling. The fall would be a little too much since the rooms in this part of the complex were fairly high. He quickly built another construct from Junior’s impatience. The long fingers of a hasty demon helped Ren down and did the same for Junior seconds later.

Impatience was dismissed just as Minhyun poked both boy’s consciousness.

“Status?” Junior sent.

“They broke through the wall in the north wing causing a lot of ruckus, but for now they’re just securing the perimeter very slowly and shooting at everyone they see. We evacuated like you said, but there are already casualties. And, Junior…”

“Yes.”

“I can’t access them. Their minds are, I don’t know who to express it better, too primitive.”

Junior groaned in frustration. “Not you too. Something’s blinding my future sight. We’ll be right there. Is Baekho with you?”

“Right here,” Baekho himself sent through the link. “Staying out of trouble, but I flew over their stuff in Twi and they have a tank. Not a big one, but it’s definitely a tank. Really futuristic looking. It's about to drive in through the hole they made.”

***

The operative that awaited them was incidentally the unhappy one with the scar on his cheek Ren had seen minutes before. He showed them the feed from the security cameras the soldiers had connected to the emergency generator.

On the other side of the wall was the enemy. Fireproof steel doors separated Nuest from the adversary. The invaders had entered the building through the area they had destroyed. The feed showed a lot of broken walls and still settling clouds of smoke.

Multiple burly man in armored full body suits kept watch over the rubble the initial attack had turned the building into. One wall was gone entirely and the roof had come down. Just outside was the tank Baekho had mentioned. It was a sleek design, more armored battle robot that traditional war machinery. A turret rotated on its top side, but it was no weapon, it was an antenna. Possibly autonomous.

“I’ll try to steal one, “Baekho said over the mental link.

“One what?” Ren asked.

“One guy. I can grab one and drag him into Twi and then pop out with him on our side.”

Junior grumbled. “Sounds like you’d expose yourself to them, though.”

“Don’t worry I know how to wait for a perfect moment. They’re wandering around a bit, so eventually one will be far enough from the herd.”

Minhyun joined the duo physically, arriving from where ever he had been. The three of them, plus present operatives watched the feed where Baekho popped out behind a wall. Over the next minute he occasionally vanished when about to be seen, always making his way towards the troop.

As he worked his way closer without being discovered Ren dared to breathe again. He hadn’t even known he had been holding his breath.

“No,” whispered Junior. Then he screamed into the link. “Get out of there!”

Without any visible changes the white tiger froze on the spot. Then he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

Minhyun reacted. “He’s still alive. I can still link with him but he won’t wake up.”

Sleeping gas. That explained the full body coverage. The suits had breathing masks built in.

The armored men assembled around the boy’s unconscious body and one of them threw him over his shoulder. Ren’s mind raced. If he attacked now with as many Conmotes as he could muster… but someone might be able to shoot Baekho in time. What to do?

He tested the waters to see what emotion he would use if the need was to arise. But there were none.

“Junior!”

“Yes?”

“They don’t have emotions.”

“What?”

“I can’t sense them. There’s nothing.”

The leader bit his lower lip almost until it bled. He was so stressed he had begun to sweat while just standing there with his shirt open.

On the screen they could see all the men converge around Baekho who had been dropped back onto the ground. The invaders took their weapons from their holsters and – laid them on the ground.

“W-what are they doing?” Minhyun mumbled without getting an answer.

After the guards had disarmed themselves they stepped back and the tank/robot vehicle moved closer to the broken wall. It entered the room, coming further towards Baekho.

An opening appeared on its outside, uncovering a small device. It wasn’t a weapon either, it was a speaker. A feedback sound echoed through the building as the speaker activated. From the other side of the wall, they could hear a deep voice speak. Loud, slow and clear. It was artificially distorted to obscure the voice of whoever was speaking.

“Junior of Nuest. I wish to speak to you. The other powers may accompany you, but nobody else. I assurance your slumbering friend's safety so long as you comply.”