It had been a busy week for all of them. Aron wasn’t used to people telling him what to do anymore, but Junior had no trouble giving orders. All the boys took part in a medical survey, then a test to define the extent of their abilities and a few training sessions to teach them the basics of self-defense.

Not that Aron needed to know how to dodge roll. He was too powerful for that. But he indulged them regardless. Junior, who had been at the facility for a few years, was a pretty skilled fighter. Ren and Minhyun who could potentially get into a situation without a way out profited the most from the lessons.

Ren however was much more interested in refining his Conmotes. Which gave all the others ample targets for defense training. The harder they fought, the more their emotions got riled up, the more Conmotes Ren could construct. His record was five constructs made from the fight power of four boys.

Aron tried to get along with everybody. But it was harder than expected. After such a long time as an all-powerful boy in custody of the government he hadn’t developed his social skills much.

The most helpful was Minhyun, who did his best to make the boy’s meetings frictionless with amusing stories and general nicety.

They all grew a little closer over the days. But still, Aron thought the whole affair was a bit strange. No one had told him yet what the purpose of Nuest was.

***

In the common room, Junior waited for everyone to sit down before he did. Aron hadn’t seen the boy this nervous all week. What was he going to say?

“The reason you’re here, in the organization, is simple and complicated at the same time. My ability allows me to see arbitrarily far into the future, but things get more and more foggy further on. The motion of the stars is basically the only thing I can foresee for hundreds of years, everything else is subject to change as people make decisions.”

He took a deep breath. “A month or so ago, I stopped seeing anything past the 27^th of March. That’s only three weeks away now. I panicked and my other ability – that lets me see the present – shot into overdrive. That’s how I knew you all exist.”

Ren leaned forward. “You’re saying the world has no future?”

“Worse. I can’t even see the movement of the stars past that date anymore. Somebody has found a way to destroy the world, maybe even the universe. And they firmly decided to use it. We need to stop them. And we’re on the clock.”

Nuest had a mission.

***

It was quite unreal. Aron couldn’t imagine what it had to be like for the others. He was used to being driven to a place knowing he’d have to storm it. But the rest of the boys were new to the idea.

Not that they were going in guns – and telekinesis – blazing. This was a stealth mission.

The suspicious company CourtesySolutions, which inhabited their destination, was a likely candidate for causing the end of the world. CS had no clear purpose other than offering some vague consulting service that nobody actually used. For a small company they were amazingly secretive. Personnel was so carefully vetted that it hadn’t been possible to get a mole in. What little communication had been intercepted and decrypted was telling. The company served as a covert operation that was active across the globe and occasionally reported back to their head quarter.

The most precious resource was knowledge. Baekho was supposed to get in, grab a few hard-drives and get out. The rest of the boys came along just in case things turned sour.

Their armored limousine pulled into the parking garage next to CS’s facilities and the driver found a spot on the ground floor.

It was way past office hours. The only problems were alarms and possible guards.

“Okay,” Junior said, “We will have constant contact to you via Minhyun whenever you’re in reality. If anything goes wrong, don’t stick around. Shift and bail. Got it?”

“Yes. You keep repeating yourself.” Baekho peeled himself off the leather seat and put his ski mask on before leaving the car.

“Just making sure. Anyway, you wait for the signal, then you go.”

“I know.”

“You’re supposed to say, ‘yes, sir’.”

“Sir?” Baekho said. “Like you’re better than me? I could beat you in a fair fight any day.”

Junior sighed, but didn’t press the point further.

The tiger left and made his way up to the edge of the parking garage’s roof. Previous surveillance had revealed that the main data storage place was on the ninth floor. That would be Baekho’s target.

Back in the car Minhyun built the mindscape encompassing the CS’s tower and established a connection with the boy on the roof.

“Baekho, there are no guards on level nine or ten. There’s one doing rounds on eight. I think he’s leaving for seven, so you’re good. Go as soon as Aron does his thing.”

Aron did ‘his thing’ which was cause a total blackout in the company’s facility by overloading the electric lines.

The building went dark. Baekho went in. While he was shifted, Minhyun couldn’t reach him. They had determined that the simplest way in was to carry a crowbar, fly up to the balcony on level ten, break the door open and walk in before popping back. The door would remain intact in reality, leaving no trace.

No one was surprised to hear Minhyun announce that the boy had made it inside.

Baekho reported what he saw and Junior told him what to shove in his backpack. The tiger stole a dozen hard-drives in only a few minutes. Everything was going well. The group heard Baekho’s intent to get out of the building.

Then the light turned back on.

“Aron?” Junior said.

But Aron had no explanation. He tried to damage the structure again, but it was impossible.

“Something happened. I can’t do anything to the building. It’s like my powers are being directed around it.”

Junior’s eyes widened. “They must have an internal power source and some way to block your powers. That should be impossible. And I didn’t foresee it. That should be extra impossible. Minhyun?”

The telepathic boy answered “I can still talk to him. But someone’s coming. They’re shooting.”

“Tell him to get out.”

“He says… He can’t shift! Somethings blocking him.”

Aron could see the fear in Junior’s eyes. This was not a contingency they had planned for. Precognition had failed. They were going to lose Baekho.