“One of our bases have been destroyed.”

“It is amazing what these boys can do.”

“Not to mention, the destruction was wrought by only one of them. And another managed to stop a whole army of our best machines.”

“Do not fret. We will be harnessing their powers soon enough. In time, they will fall and the age of machines shall rise. EXO Planet will be under our full control.”

“What do we do about the mind master and his friends?”

“They are destroying our base as we speak.”

“Fear not. All of our structures are repairable. We can build a greater empire than the ones they have destroyed. Our aim is to capture all of them and out every last bit of power they have. Once we fulfill this goal, anything is possible.”

“That’s 12 down! D.O, how far ‘til the right warehouse?” Xiumin asked as the 12^th warehouse fell from D.O’s earth attack.

“Not too far. We keep going this way and then we turn right after the fifth structure.”

“Let’s hurry.” Luhan started ahead of them, running towards the direction D.O had instructed.

A few ways ahead, Eye Pods started pouring into the alley they were in.

“Luhan, watch out!” Lay called out. The pods attacked, stretching out their arms towards Luhan. Around 20 arms were heading for the boy. Luhan, his face full of determination and anger, closed his eyes.

The arms stopped, meters away from Luhan. Lay caught up with the boy.

“Nice work.” Lay commented, watching as the arms tried hopelessly to get past the mental barrier Luhan had created.

“It’s not… easy.” Luhan said, grunting.

Lay motioned for D.O and Xiumin to come and dispatch of the pods before Luhan’s barrier broke.

D.O created a dome of earth around the pods and compressed it, crushing all of the machines inside. Some of the arms went limp as their main bodies were destroyed. Luhan released the barrier.

“Are you okay?” Lay asked, propping Luhan up.

“Yeah. My head… just hurts… a little.” Luhan said in between heavy breaths.

“Let me see if I can cure that.” Lay put a hand on Luhan’s head and concentrated. Immediately, Luhan could feel the effects of whatever Lay was doing. His mind seemed to clear, as if the throbbing pain he had felt a while ago never even happened.

“Wow.” Luhan said breathless. “That was the best feeling I’ve ever felt.”

“Maybe we can sell Lay pills once we get back on Earth! We’d be rich!” Xiumin added.

“Enough with the jokes, we still have friends we need to reclaim.” Lay said, letting Luhan stand on his own.

The boys raced towards the warehouse they had last seen Sehun, neglecting to destroy the few warehouses they passed under Luhan’s command. They found the entrance unguarded and destroyed from the battle they had earlier. D.O performed his seismic search one more time outside the warehouse to check if there were robots inside waiting to ambush them.

“No robots. Unlike when I tried a while back. Something else is wrong, though.” D.O said, his face showing signs of worry. “Sehun and Kai aren’t inside anymore.”

Kris and company traversed the vast snowfield, thankful there was no snowstorm that greeted them. Although, the walk towards the base was still difficult due to the thick snow. Suho made it a little bit easier for them by controlling the water in the snow and clearing paths for the group.

“Almost there. I think I can ferry you guys one by one now. I can’t see any robots in the distance and it also looks like Luhan and the others did a pretty nice job destroying this base.” Kris said, picking King up and putting an arm around Tao.

“We’ll wait here.” Chen said, Suho beside him creating a clearing by pushing snow outwards from them.

“I’ll be back quickly.” Kris said and he hoisted Tao off the ground and zoomed towards the base entrance.

Once they reached the base, he dropped King onto the ground and gave him instructions.

“Use your sense of smell to find Luhan and the others. Tao, run away if you sense any dangers. King will help sense any incoming dangers as well.”

King replied with three barks, Tao nodded. Kris flew back to Chen and Suho. Suho volunteered Chen to be ferried across first. Kris did and in a minute, he was back for Suho. The last trip was uneventful and once they were all at the base, King already found Luhan and the others’ trail.

“They went this way?” Kris said, looking down an alley full of destroyed buildings. “I guess we just follow the trail of broken buildings.”

“Let’s go.” Tao said and they all raced down the path, Kris and King as lookouts for possible ambushes. Kris was floating above them, flying instead of running. Tao’s sword was out and on the ready.

After a few minutes of running, they’d passed 12 destroyed buildings and the trail of destruction stopped. King released a series of loud barks.

“We’re near!” Kris translated. King dashed forward, leaving the others behind to run after him. The dog turned right and entered a building. The entrance, the boys noticed, was destroyed and there were walls of rocks jutting out from the earth. A battle clearly happened here.

“King, wait!” Suho shouted as they ran after the dog. They entered the warehouse and found the dog sitting down beside a boy whose doe eyes were wider than usual.

“Luhan!” Kris called out upon seeing the other boy.

“Suho!” D.O shouted, seeing his friend emerge from the doorway.

Tao and Chen were happy their friends were okay. Both groups combined and exchanged hugs. D.O looked at the new arrivals.

“Why is King with you?” he asked.

“About that. We have bad news.” Kris said.

“So do we.” Lay said, looking at Kris’ eyes.

They all decided they’d share stories before they were to move out and make the next move. Lay volunteered to state their story first. From Sehun’s abduction, the ambush, the failed rescue and then ending with Kai’s sudden disappearance.

Kris and the others could not believe what they heard. Sehun was captured. Kai was missing. Kai, the key to their very own mission, was missing.

Kris relayed their story, from their plan to wait out the night and strike in the morning, to King’s arrival, to King’s news about Majesty and then their escape of the base and Chanyeol and Baekhyun volunteering to be left behind.

“We need Kai.” Kris said.

“We need to save both of them.” Suho added, clearly troubled that two of his friends were missing, possibly dead.

“They were supposed to be here. We came back as soon as we could but…” Lay cut his sentence, letting it hang in the air.

 “We’ll get them back.” Kris said, breaking the silence. Everyone looked at him, except Suho. “One way or another, we will.”

Suho looked up, determination written all over his face.

“I’m not losing my dongsaengs.” He said, then he looked at D.O, who nodded.

“We’ll get them back.” D.O held out his hand and Suho took it in his.

“And we’ll be there to help. We’re not leaving them behind.” Lay said, taking D.O’s other free hand. Chen, smiling, took Lay’s hand and Lay offered his hand to Xiumin. Kris took Suho’s other hand and offered his other to Tao, who took it in his.

Xiumin and Tao looked at Luhan, who was in between them, and offered their hands. Luhan smiled. He took both hands at the same time.

“Let’s go.”

King, in the middle of the now formed circle, barked his approval.