They had entered the keep and found that it was deserted. The interior was plain, not what the boys had expected.

“I thought it would have more… protection, you know?” Xiumin said, scanning the area.

The main door opened to a large hall with three entryways on the far side of the wall. One on the left, one on the right and one in the middle.

“Maybe it does.” D.O stomped the floor, sending seismic waves outward. “There are traps. No one move.” D.O looked to his right and saw two cameras. He looked to his right and saw two more cameras. “We have to take those out. There’s also two more over there.” He pointed above the middle entryway.

“Gotcha.” Xiumin produced ice needles and pierced the two cameras on the left. Suho took care of the ones on the right. Chen fried the ones in the farther wall.

“I know there are trip wires near the passageways. There’s also some weird devices set up all over the room, but I don’t know what they do.”

The boys looked at the devices D.O was pointing at. They were all over the room, on the walls, low on the floor and high above the ceiling. They were everywhere.

“Maybe those are lasers. You know? Like the ones in spy movies!” Lay said. “We can’t see them until we use some sort of gas or something.”

“Gas.” Luhan thought out loud. “Suho, you can create a mist through water.”

“I don’t really know how…” Suho replied. Luhan transmitted a scene from an anime he watched before to Suho’s head. “Okay, let me try.”

Suho proceeded outside and got some snow. He could hear swords colliding in the distance, evidence that Tao was still holding up. Suho hurried back inside the room and melted the snow into water. He guided the liquid, slowly turning it into a gaseous state. Then he blew onto it.

The gas expanded, filling the room with mist. True enough, red laser beams crisscrossed in front of them. It looked nearly impossible to cross.

“How are we going to get through this?” Kris murmured.

“Ice mirrors?” Xiumin chimed in. “We can reflect the beams! I can make the mirrors easily.”

“That might not be a good idea.” Luhan replied. “If anything comes into contact with the beams, it might raise an alarm or worse.”

Xiumin sighed. No one spoke up for a while. D.O released another seismic wave, trying to look for a switch or anything of the sort to try and disarm the lasers. He found none.

It was Luhan who broke the silence.

“I think I can divert the beams.” He said.

“But you just said it’ll raise an alarm.” Lay said.

“If we used something solid, yes. But… with my psychic powers… I think I can divert them without the beams touching something solid.”

“Makes sense.” Suho said. “But the last time you strained too much, you got a headache.”

“Don’t worry. Lay’s going to be my reserve battery.” Luhan said, grabbing Lay’s hands and placing them on his head.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Lay asked.

“We have to try something! So, which one do you think should I make a pathway towards? Dee, left, right or middle?”

“Left. The other two are dead ends with more traps.” D.O instructed. “I couldn’t see through the door on the left, though. It’s like something absorbed the waves.”

“Okay. I’m going to try now. Lay, steadily supply me with energy.” Luhan instructed, closing his eyes. Lay nodded behind him.

The others eyed the beams in front of them, the mist still hanging in the air, being maintained by Suho.

A few seconds later, a single beam bent, then another, and another, and another. Luhan grunted. They could see a pathway forming, devoid of laser beams.

“Everyone… get through…!” Luhan said, sweating a little.

“No! Be careful! There are still trip wires by the entrance! Someone has to trip them before we pass!” D.O warned.

“Let me.” Xiumin walked ahead and created spheres of ice. He threw several of these towards the entryway, guiding them so as not to hit any laser beams. Three wires were activated. Hidden panels on the ceiling opened and revealed crossbows. The devices shot around ten quarrels towards the entryway.

“That could have been us.” Chen said.

“Okay, we’re clear!” D.O announced.

“Hurry!” Luhan said, grunting. Lay’s hands remained on his head, regenerating whatever energy he was using.

The others traversed the path quickly, Kris floating low to the ground to avoid the deadly lasers.

“Our turn, Luhan.” Lay said. He felt the boy nod. They walked through the path slowly. Xiumin had his hand on his mouth, biting on his nails.

They heard a huge explosion from outside. Disturbing Luhan’s concentration, three of the lasers he had bent returned to their original path. Two were in front of him and one was behind Lay, inches away from him.

“Luhan!” Kris shouted.

“I know!”

Lay froze, hands glued to Luhan’s head. The two lasers in front of them bent again, clearing the way. Lay shuffled the both of them forward hurriedly until they made it all the way to the entryway. The boys patted them in the back as they arrived.

“That was close! I could have died!” Lay said, breathing hard.

“But you can’t die. Not with your healing powers.” Xiumin pointed out, eliciting a scowl from Lay.

“I wonder what’s happening outside.” Kris said.

They heard another explosion.

“Don’t worry about it. If we only heard one explosion, that means something bad happened. If there’s a second explosion, that means Tao is safe and the virus is still trying to get at him.” Chen said, trying to sound happy.

“In that case, let’s hope we hear more explosions.” Xiumin said.

“Lu, how are you?” Lay asked, not removing his hands from Luhan’s head. Luhan gasped.

“I’m okay now. The constant healing made it easier for me to keep the beams bent. It felt like the pain was going to come but then something stops it from really hitting me.”

“I’m glad I was of help. Now, how do we open this door?” Lay beheld the iron door in front of them. The others did the same.

“I think that’s a keyhole. That big hollow thing in the middle.” Xiumin observed.

“I thought that was just some sort of design. So, I guess we need a key. I doubt they left it lying around here.” Chen said.

“We don’t need to look for one. Let me just get some water.” Suho backed up a bit and retrieved some of the mist that lingered in the room. He turned it into water and filled the keyhole with it. “Xiumin, super freeze it.”

“Genius!” Xiumin smiled and froze the water. Suho turned the frozen key and they all heard a click. The door creaked and it opened, pulling away upwards.

“Voila.” Suho said plainly.

“Wait. Let me check for traps. There might be more.” D.O carefully put a foot through the threshold, sending out waves. “We’re clear.”

The group came into the room. It was a long, corridor-like room. Like the previous one, it was plain. Metal surrounded them from floor, to wall, to ceiling. On the far end of the was an entryway and they could see light streaming out of it.

“That must be our destination.” Luhan said, running forward towards the light.

“Let’s go.” Kris flew forward while the others followed on foot. Luhan passed through the archway first and stopped. He urged the others to quicken their pace.

“You’ve got to see this!”

[A/N]

I swear, I could have uploaded this sooner if the site didn't crash on me all the time! TAT

Anyways, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to those who loved the Tao chapter. I know it was crappy writing but I'm glad you liked it. I hope to get better!

With this chapter, it's another cliffhanger. Can anyone guess what Luhan saw? :D :D :D

'Til the next chapter! Much love! :D