The spots where the wire mesh of the fence had pressed into his skin hurt and Jisoo rubbed them absent-mindedly while he focused on following Mingyu through the bushes, who - as the most knowledgable - was leading the way. He jumped and spun around when a hand wrapped around his arm but the familiar feeling of Seokmin's ability calmed his wildly beating heart. Squinting through the dim light of the overcast night, he let himself fall back to walk next to the taller male.

"You should save your energy," Jisoo chided, his voice barely a whisper, and Seokmin grinned.

He leaned over and warm breath hit the Wielder's ear, causing goosebumps to emerge at the contrast to the cold rain. "Sorry, can't help it." The goosebumps turned into pleasant shivers when the Healer left a small kiss on his earlobe before he straightened up and followed the tall Warrior as if nothing had happened.

The darkness concealed Jisoo's blush well but Mingyu still raised a questioning eyebrow at the Wielder's somewhat dazed smile after he had stopped walking, well hidden behind old oak trees just a few meters away from the mansion, and had turned around for a last briefing. "Everything okay?"

"Y-yeah. Just a bit nervous."

Zelo, the designated rear guard, stopped next to them and flashed his usual excited grin, no signs of nervousness visible in his young face. "No worries, everything will go just fine - and if it doesn't, we still have backup."

Shaking his head at the younger's positivity, Mingyu positioned himself in front of the small group, hands buried in his pockets. "Okay. You all know the plan. We-" His voice got drowned out by roaring thunder and he scowled at the sky.

"Yes, yes, we know. It mostly consists of following you anyway; no need to repeat that," Zelo dismissed, earning himself a glare as well. "A much more interesting question is: How do we get into the house?"

"Well, we'll probably have to scout a little...,“ Mingyu replied hesitantly and rubbed his neck at the disbelieving stares directed at him.

"You don't know how we'll get in?" Seokmin asked and Zelo crossed his arms in front of his chest, for the first time looking somewhat unsettled.

The flush that painted Mingyu's face was visible even in the darkness and Jisoo could feel his Bonded's defensiveness and annoyance bubbling in his chest. "The plan was only to get into the basement. We never talked about how to get in there."

"Okay, okay, quiet everyone; we're close to the house," the Wielder finally interfered when Zelo tried to launch into an argument with the other Warrior. "We're already here, so let's just try. Maybe we can find an open window or a door or something."

Zelo looked like he was trying hard not to scoff at his words. "There's security all over the place; do you really think they'll leave the door open?"

"We'll never know until we try," the Wielder said with all the determination he could muster and started sneaking towards the dark building, the Forcebearers hurriedly following after him.

After about ten minutes of crouching behind bushes and crawling through mud, they had finally gotten close enough to touch the towering stonewalls when their earpieces beeped and Daehyun's voice rang in their ears. "Don't move!"

"Could you please stop?! You're driving me crazy," Minghao hissed and Chan glared at him before he ceased wiggling his leg. Instead he tapped his earpiece, waiting for the quiet sound that confirmed the connection.

"Anything new?" he whispered and the very annoyed voice of Seungkwan answered.

"If you would stop bothering me every three minutes, I'd probably already have seen something. But no, Chan, nothing new still. As I've told Jisoo before, I'll call you if I see anything."

"Jisoo talked to you?" the Guardian asked eagerly and Minghao perked up at the mention of the Wielder.

"That was almost half an hour ago, after they managed to climb the fence without killing themselves. But not hearing anything is a good sign, right?" Seungkwan didn't sound all that convinced and Chan shared his sentiment.

"I guess..." he mumbled anyway and ended the call, meeting Minghao's curious gaze. "They haven't heard from the other group for half an hour."

"But if they got caught, we would've noticed; it wouldn't be this quiet then."

"I sure hope so," Chan uttered and fiddled with the black plastic tarp they were hiding under - from the rain and from any curious eyes. "I should've gone with them."

Minghao wrapped an arm around the younger and petted his head. "We both wanted to, but Jisoo is right: more people are easier to spot and backup is also importa-"

They both froze when an almost inaudible sound cut through the quiet night, so high, they could feel it in their teeth. "Oh , was that Zelo?"

Chan frantically tapped his earpiece and the redhead connected as well. "What happened?! Zelo attacked, do we need to attack as well?!"

"Calm down, Chan. There were some dogs they needed to get rid off." The calmness in Daehyun's voice helped lessen their anxiety slightly but it immediately returned at his next sentence. "Seungkwan is having a vision right now, I'll call you back."

"Dang, I hope it's something good," Minghao whispered, warily peering through the leaves at the two Forcebearers hidden not too far off. He took out his phone and typed a short message into their groupchat.

[02:36] MH: heard anything from yongguk?
[02:36] Youngjae: Everything's fine
[02:37] Youngjae: Himchan's still tracing their steps and Yongguk's worried that he'll catch a cold if he keeps lying on the ground
[02:37] MH: did he catch anything interesting?
[02:38] Youngjae: He was the one who noticed the dogs

The sound of a connection being established in combination with Chan's nervous tugging on his arm almost made him drop his phone into a puddle.

"Good news, guys." Daehyun sounded upbeat and both Forcebearers relaxed simultaneously, leaning against each other. "Seungkwan saw Jun. Time to get to work."

Jisoo's heart was still beating fast after the scare with the dogs. He hadn't seen them, but the urgency in Daehyun's voice had once again made it clear how dangerous their current situation was. "Are they gone?" he whispered shakily and Zelo frowned while staring into the night.

"I think I've scared them off... or at least I can't make anything out that sounds like dogs. But I'm not one-hundred percent sure. Can someone call Himchan? He should know where they are."

Jisoo pulled out his phone and dialled, a smile blooming on his lips when Yongguk's soothingly deep voice answered after a few seconds. "Jisoo. Are you guys okay? I heard Zelo just now."

"Yes, we're alright. Good thing Himchan noticed them so early; they hadn't even scented us yet. He's really amazing. But that's also why I'm calling: we're not sure if they're gone?"

"Wait, I'll ask."

The Wielder heard voices and rustling, but he still flinched when Himchan abruptly started speaking. "It's me. They're at the other end of the property, near the fence, probably trying to get away from Zelo." His laugh sounded forced. "As soon as you're inside I can't sense you anymore, but if you need to distract the guards just give us a call and we'll aggravate the dogs."

"Thank you, take care."

"You too."

They hung up and Jisoo turned towards the rest of his group. "The dogs are gone."

With a nod, Mingyu took the lead again. "Let's check the windows first. But be careful, don't get seen." The Warrior sounded quite unsure, which didn't necessarily contribute to the courage of the rest of the group, but they followed him nonetheless, slowly and crouched down as far as possible. The windows of the mansion were simple yet elegant, with white wooden frames reminiscent of older times. On this side of the house all of them were filled with inky darkness, apart from two rooms on the upper floors where candle light was flickering through closed curtains.

They carefully passed three windows until they reached one that Mingyu had identified as belonging to a hallway. Jisoo touched the glass, wondering if they could break it without getting noticed, but the tall Warrior seemed to have read his thoughts. "They look normal but those are bulletproof. If they're not already open, we can't get through," he whispered. "And as far as I can see, the ones here are all closed."

"Now what? Check the other wings? The longer we run around, the more likely it is to get caught," Zelo hissed.

"Maybe we should split up? It would be faster," Jisoo proposed but was immediately met with three shaking heads.

"That's a horrible idea; what if something happens?" Seokmin dismissed. "I'm not letting you go alone." The Warriors nodded and the Wielder reluctantly agreed.

"We could try the front door," Mingyu suggested and everyone looked at him as if he had lost his mind. "It's guarded but if I use an illusion we might be able to sneak past. They wouldn't expect that."

"That's an even worse idea," Seokmin once again said and Zelo grinned while the Warrior shot him a disdainful look. "It's way too risky. Isn't there another option? Otherwise let's just check the other windows together."

After a moment of hesitation, Mingyu made another proposal. "Well, there's an entry Forcebearers use when they get sent out for illegal tasks. It's usually pretty heavily guarded with cameras and whatever but since there's no electricity, it shouldn't be much of a problem. The door only opens from the inside though but you have to actively pull it shut for the lock to work. Most people are either too lazy or too busy to care, so if we're really lucky, it's unlocked."

It was obvious that Seokmin and Zelo weren't convinced, but after Jisoo had nodded enthusiastically, they followed the Warrior without complaints.

Jisoo kept to himself during their way around