The moment Luhan turns off the video call Chen launches the alarm. Jade bursts in.

"Adrienne! What are you doing! You're gonna---" she stops short in front of Chen.

"Apparently there's a secret entrance," I sigh. "And we were a few minutes too late."

"What happened?"

"Kris is blind and Tao lost his powers," I tell her shortly. "Come on. We need to prepare ourselves for the invasion."

"Here, take this," Chen says. I look at him. He hands me a small, circular thing with a hook.

"It's a communicator," he explains. "So I can tell you what's happening. I've got security cameras all over the place, remember?" Should I trust him? His cameras practically give him--- and therefore us--- omnipresence, but he can so easily mislead and destroy us.

"Take it," Jade murmurs in my ear. "Better safe than sorry." She's right.

"Okay." Chen helps me hook it onto my ear and teaches me to operate it.

"Can you hear me?" His voice comes into my ear crystal clear.

"Yeah."

"Alright then. Go get Xiumin, he's one of the best fighters here," he advises. "Good luck." We sprint out of the room and up the stairs, where I almost collide with Xiumin.

"Why's the alarm ringing?" he asks urgently.

"EXO-K's gonna invade us," I pant. He stares at me for a full second before reacting.

"Right, we'll need to strengthen the defenses, and prepare the novices--- where's Chen?"

"In his lair. He launched the alarm. I've got a communicator," I tap the little thing on my ear.

"Good, good. They're all in the living room. You can tell us the details there. Come on." We follow him obediently. Xiumin has changed from this funny, carefree guy into practically a military captain. Elise and her minions are waiting in the living room, and seeing the six of us here, five of us only mere novices, the cold reality suddenly hits me. It's gonna take a miracle for us to win.

"Alright people, listen up. There's gonna be an invasion by EXO-K. Adrienne, care for an elaboration?" I nod crisply. His professional, calm attitude is helping me calm down.

"EXO-K's gonna invade us any second now, and they've got a secret weapon--- mamanium. The moment it comes in contact with your blood, it'll absorb all your powers permanently. They've already taken Tao's and Kris, somehow, has gone blind. So whatever you do, don't let them spill your blood. Not even a drop."

"Which means kill on sight," Xiumin interrupts grimly. Wait--- kill on sight? That means if they spot Sehun--- Jade and I exchange looks and I know we're thinking the same thing. But we can't say anything without making ourselves look like traitors.

"Alright, so we'll split into three teams," Xiumin commands. "Elise with Nicole, Rachel with Jade and I'll go with Adrienne. Oh and Adrienne, can you ask Chen if he's got enough communicators for all of us?"

"Yo, Chen, Xiumin asked---"

"I heard," Chen interrupts. "And no, you've got my only one."

"He's only got this one," I tell Xiumin. He swears.

"Alright, then Elise and Nicole will take the roof, Jade and Rachel will take the living room here. These big windows can be an entrance for them. Me and Adrienne will be at the front door. Any questions?" We all shake our heads. "Then grab your weapons and let's go go go!" We jump into action, running down the stairs to the basement where the weapons are kept.

It's my first time to be actually in the weaponry room itself and I gape at the assortment of weapons. Swords, daggers of every size and shape, spears, bows and arrows, handguns and even body armour, they are propped upright in racks, shelves, and endless boxes of ammo.

"This--- this is enough for a whole army!" I splutter in surprise. Xiumin grins.

"I chose most of it," he boasts. "Here, put this on," he holds out some body armour. I stretch out my arms and he helps me put it on. "It's a bit tight, but the bigger ones are way too big," he apologises.

"It's ok," I smile. He points to the rack full of gloves and boots.

"Those you put on by yourself, find your own shoe size. And here," he tosses me a belt, "put this on." I strap it on, marvelling at the pouches and little straps.

"What are these for?" I ask curiously.

"Swords, daggers, guns--- anything you need. Those straps are adjustable so you can put anything in it. Pouch is for ammo and first aid kit," he replies crisply before helping Elise put on her armour. I take my favourite sword, a cutlass---notorious as a typical pirate sword, but there you are--- as well as a few daggers and I strap them onto my belt. After a moment's hesitation I grab two guns and a few packs of ammo as well as the first aid kit and I shove them into my belt as well, but I may not use the guns. After all, I have terrible aim. Maybe I can use it as a sort of boomerang.

As I'm putting on the boots and gloves--- made of some sort of tough leather that doesn't break easily, but is easy to move about in--- I hear Elise whining like a little kid.

"I am not wearing that, I'm not! It's so passe and fugly!" I roll my eyes. Trust her to complain about the armour as a fashion statement.

I stride past them to help Jade, saying, "oh leave it Xiumin, it's her fault if she loses her power." I can practically feel her laser glare on my back. Xiumin insists she wears it but she refuses. In the end Xiumin gives up on her and we head to our designated places.

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