[Some ultra-violence in this chapter. Not gratuitous, but it probably counts as gore.]

“What happened?” Ren was looking up from his spot on the floor.

Two…three…five…seven Conmotes of varying color and consistency stood around the dojo. Motionless except for the wobbling of the fog they were made from, the silent creatures had no particular order to themselves, distributed at random.

“Ren, did you make those?”

“Well, obviously. But I didn’t know that I… Wait, these could be the ones I made in the scape. That would explain why I can’t control them. They’re probably devoid of purpose. No matter what I do, I can’t give them orders. But that also means I can’t dismiss them. Do you think we’ll have to declare this building contaminated and burry them? That would be weird.”

“Maybe if you leave they’ll vanish when you get out of reach. We cou-“

The door opened. As the entering guard saw the two boys on the floor and the constructs around them, he froze for a moment. But Ren could tell he had something important to say. The guard shook his head in denial. “I’ve gotten a message from Junior. The future changed for the immediate area and it has something to do with those.”

He pointed at the Conmotes.

With superhuman speed a dark red one – made of Resentment – dashed at the man and slashed his disfigured claw-hand upward.

For a second there was no further movement. Then blood poured from a line reaching from the guard’s right leg up to his forehead. An ugly slurping sound accompanied the halves as the bisected man fell apart.

The other Conmotes moved with limbs and joints at impossible positions, horridly elongated and twisted appendices forcing them into hobbling positions as they made their way towards the exit. Resentment was the first to step out, walking over the two corpse halves. Envy and Defensiveness followed with their typical, comically unsubtle postures. Guilt was the only one looking back at all.

Footsteps echoed through the antechamber as armed operatives stormed the building. Ren wanted to call his boyfriend and realized he had sixteen unread message from Junior. Then he was surrounded by hell.

***

The rapid gunshots echoed in the empty chamber followed by the scattering of wood chippings where the bullets hit the walls after passing through the Conmotes. The first grenade set the dojo’s main room ablaze, the second one detonated in the corridor.

Ren couldn’t see past the fire but if the screams were any indication then the horrid ripping sound was one of human flesh being torn.

Cut off from the fighting soldiers and the fleeing Conmotes, the boys rushed to the back exit to escape the growing fire. Ren tried to assess the emotions of the operatives that were engaging the constructs, hoping to join them with new ones he could control. Though only seconds had past, the fighters were already dead. And there were not enough people around to form more Conmotes. The isolation that should have protected them kept him from building the defenses he needed.

Minhyun’s anxious distress was enough for one construction. The tall, shivering creature of dirty white mist lifted the boys and ran with legs that carried it faster than a regular human could hope to be.

In the Conmote’s arms, Ren found the breath to call Junior. The precog picked up before the first ring, knowing to expect the call.

“Ren? I sent them in with all the ammunition they could grab, but it changed nothing about the future. It’s too late.”

“I know,” the empath yelled into the receiver.

“Can you make it back?”

“Yes, but everyone else is dead. Weapons do nothing. But I think they only attack when provoked.”

“What happened?”

Right, Junior could see the bloodshed that might unfold, but he hadn’t been in contact with anyone who could tell him what the things he saw even were.

“I think,” Ren began, unsure how to explain himself, “I made Conmotes that aren’t connected to me. They might be free agents. My babies have gone rogue.”

Junior gasped lightly. “How do we- Do you have an idea what to do?”

“We’re trying to get back, first of all. You need to figure out where the rogue Conmotes are going. Then I need people so I can make some more. Ones that I can command this time. We’ll see if that’s enough.”

“Understood.”

As Minhyun’s distress began to fade, Ren had the Conmote put them down before it vanished. They were right at the entrance to the provisional head quarter.

***

Being only a side base where larger operations passed through but were never concocted, the recourses at their disposal were limited. All five boys had found their way into the multipurpose room at the center of the complex where the operative team had assembled a task force.

They were looking at a screen showing footage from a drone they had sent out to search for the escaped rogues.

It was most disturbing to see his own creations from above, standing eerily frozen in mid-walk, right next to the path, clearly not aware that there was any difference between flat ground and the declining, overgrown terrain. How alien emotions where, Ren through, without the mind to guide them.

Then Defensiveness saw the drone and ducked behind vegetation. Resentment picked up a stone. No person could have thrown with such accuracy. The drone went down.

A collective groan went through the room.

Junior in air sharply, his face grimacing. “We have to evacuate. They’re coming here. Let’s try blowing up the base once they’re inside. We can’t let them escape into the city. I’m not sure we can make it out without losses. Get everyone to the trucks. We’ll take the helicop- No!”

He looked up and everybody’s gaze followed his. As nothing happened it occurred to Ren that the boy was already seeing an event that was about to occur. Anticipating Junior’s wish, he flipped through the channels until he found the camera that was stationed on the roof. A construct had climbed the wall and was currently approaching the aircraft. Ren recognized it as Envy – the head motion jerky, the hands always half raised, the back hunched.

The faceless being slammed its fists into the helicopter’s motor over and over.

Junior mumbled “We’re not making it out without losses. I’ll try to see what gives us the best chances. But we should still self-destruct.”

Ren zapped through the channels again. The main force of rogues was at the front entrance. It was only a façade to make the building appear like an office for the phantom company as which the Japanese branch posed. There were two lone guards. One already headless, the other with Resentment’s arm reaching through his stomach.

They were coming. Three from the front, two from the back, one from above. Weapons were useless.

And Ren couldn’t possible engage all three forces at once.