Everyone needed a short while to process these words. Luhan looked as if someone had punched him in the stomach, while Yixing's face held pure betrayal.

"You never considered telling me about this, did you?" Yixing was smiling, but it was obvious that he was hurt. The man avoided his gaze.

"It wasn't important until now." His son tried to say something, but he raised his hand. "I know how you’re feeling right now. And I'm sorry. I really am. But with every person who knew, the danger of being caught would have risen. We separated because we didn’t want to catch the Red Force’s attention and promised to keep this a secret from everyone. Even our children." With his last words, his gaze turned towards Luhan.

"What power did my father have?" Luhan either didn't have the strength to look into his thoughts or somehow didn't manage to get in. Junmyeon knew he must have tried it already.

"Darkness," Yixing's father stated promptly. "He was- he is able to let the light fade away, to create complete darkness and even to see in it."

Luhan chuckled quietly. "Now I understand why he didn't tell me."

No one knew how to respond to this. It was kind of ironic for Luhan's father to have a purely visual ability, which must have been why Luhan hadn't noticed anything during the attack on the tree. Getting back to his usual self, Luhan frowned.

"Do you have an idea what they did to him? Where they hide him?"

Luhan didn't seem to be so reluctant about leaving anymore. Not that Junmyeon couldn't understand his change of mind. They didn't kill people with special powers. His father had to be alive. And what could be more likely than for him to be in the same place as Baekhyun's brother?

"I'm sure they took him to their research facilities." The man's resigned words confirmed Junmyeon's worries. He seemed to have a hunch of what Luhan was thinking as well, because he smiled bitterly and continued: "If you want to go, I won't stop you. I don't have the right to do so. But you can trust me to keep an eye on this place."

“No offence,” Minseok stated slowly, “but how will manipulating plants help you fight them?”

The older man smirked. “Oh, believe me… you can be very creative with a power like mine.”

Junmyeon could tell that Yixing and Luhan were burning with questions, but he also knew that if they wanted to save both Baekhyun's brother and Luhan's father, they would need to hurry. And they would need a really good plan.

"It seems like this day made some of us change our minds on this subject," Junmyeon concluded. "Is anyone still against leaving?"

He could see that some of them were not content with this. He bet that no one but Yifan was. But they couldn't split up and for getting into the city, and - most importantly - back out again, they would need everyone. They knew that, and they wouldn't let the two boys do this on their own.

 

"Let's sneak in, get the two of them back and teleport out of there in no time! We can do this!" Sehun jumped up. "I know we can!"

Luhan snorted. "We'll get caught immediately."

"Don't you want to get your father back?" Yifan asked, not noticing how everyone else winced at his careless words. "We have powers, they don't. And don't forget, even if someone reported the fight in the village, all of us have improved since then. They will underestimate us."

He ignored the doubtful looks everyone exchanged at his words.

"I don't want to force you to do something this dangerous," Baekhyun claimed, avoiding everyone's glances. "The chance of us getting caught is way higher-"

"They would come for us anyways, wouldn't they?" Jongin sighed. "They'll always be more powerful than us, it doesn't matter who approaches whom first. But there's one problem... We will have to walk there. I can't teleport into the city without having been there once. It would be way too risky. But I can teleport us out at any time. As soon as it gets too dangerous, we're outside again. And then, I will also be able to teleport inside."

Even the journey to the city would be risky enough for them with all the Patrols out there, let alone finding a way to enter the city. But Junmyeon's tensed body actually relaxed a bit upon hearing that they would be able to get out as soon as there was a problem. And with Baekhyun, they might actually be able to come close to the Red Force's quarters without being noticed.

"We'll have enough time to think about a concrete plan on the way, then," Junmyeon concluded. He himself didn't like what he had to say next, but nonetheless he turned his gaze towards Yifan for a second. "But please, all of you... I know most of us have already encountered the Patrol, and many of us have personal reasons to hate them... But we won't go there to attack people. Our goal is to sneak in, get Luhan's father and Baekhyun's brother and return as quickly as possible. We can't do anything that will make them notice us."

Nobody argued against his words. They all knew they weren't ready to fight the Red Force yet. Yes, they had managed to take on a few Patrol members, but if only half of Baekhyun's stories were true, the city was far better prepared.

"Let's pack a few things and then go," Minseok stated, ripping Junmyeon out of his thoughts. "We don't have any time to lose."

They were ready after about half an hour. Mr. Zhang had already said goodbye and Chanyeol, Baekhyun and Yixing led them out of the forest. They all came from places near or in the city, so it was their task to find a quick way back. Chanyeol was very eager to return, even though he was obviously as shaken by the new events as everyone else. Junmyeon knew they couldn't just forbid him to visit his parents and friends if his village was on their way, but he just didn't have a good feeling about it. He tried to shake off these bad thoughts as soon as they came to him. He was the leader, he had to stay focused. Drowning himself in negative thoughts would be of no use to anyone.

"Tell us what you know about their headquarters," Jongdae encouraged Baekhyun on the first evening. It was already dark and they had lit up a campfire with Chanyeol's help. It was way too cold and wet from the rain to worry about the Patrol and Luhan was keeping an ear on their surroundings.

"I can't tell you very detailed things," admitted Baekhyun, as he was staring into the fire with an empty expression. "Only the Red Force members have regular access to the inner city. There's a huge ring of buildings around it, where the 'normal' people live. But I’ve sneaked inside a few times. If I remember correctly, they have four science labs in there. One in the north, one in the east, and so on. I could imagine they are used for different kinds of research."

"What different kinds?" Yixing asked curiously. Baekhyun's gaze darkened.

"I don't know. I'm sure one of them is for the production of new weapons. And we all know they experiment on humans, so that might be a second one."

Only the cracking of the fire was heard while Baekhyun was collecting his thoughts.

"I heard there is a prison, too. Maybe that's where they put the people who don't have any special powers." He hesitated. "Oh, and there's a huge park."

Jongin frowned. "They don't seem like people who enjoy a nice Saturday evening on a bench under a tree."

"No, but... If you think about it, they seem to be after the tree even more than after us... We're supposed to protect it, after all," Junmyeon thought loudly. "Maybe there's a research facility attached to the park as well? What if they're trying to create something similar to our tree?"

"What actually is this tree, anyway?" Tao turned towards Luhan. "I know it gave us these powers, but how? And what is so special about it?"

Luhan lost his patience. "I already told you several times. I. Don't. Know. I told you everything the tree showed me. It was rather focused on gathering us and telling us what to do than telling its history."

"And we don't know for how long there have been people with powers," Yifan added.

It took Junmyeon a while to remember what he was talking about. He had once asked his mother how long the Red Force had already been in power, but she hadn't been able to answer. She had told him about the Red Force destroying every record of the past that dated back further than a few years. There were only few people who knew of the past and they had to hide so the Red Force couldn't find them.

At least, that was what his mother had told him back then. Now, he was pretty sure that everyone who could have known something had already been killed long ago.

During the next few days, they tried to think of a plan how to get into the city unnoticed. Baekhyun told them about the tunnels he had used, and no one was excited to hear about this being their only way in. Besides, the Red Force already knew how he had sneaked out, so at least the tunnel in Chanyeol's village would be observed.

When they made rest on the day before they would have to enter the City, Yixing very hesitantly proposed something else. “My village is not too far from Chanyeol’s and the City. Patients usually reach us through tunnels or other paths directly from the City. Most of them are very close to our village, so I wouldn’t suggest them, but there is one halfway between Chanyeol’s village and mine that we could use.”

Junmyeon guessed that it had cost him a lot of willpower to tell them about this. If the Red Force found out about the tunnels leading to his village, they might start attacking the already injured as well.

“It’s too risky,” Minseok said as well. “What if we get caught and they discover the other ones closer to your village?”

“It’s still quite far away.” Yixing was sounding more like he wanted to convince himself. He looked at them. “As I see it, we don’t have any other choices anyways, do we?”

No one answered. They really hadn’t found any other ways that weren’t even more dangerous.

“Doesn’t that mean we have to go around my village?” Chanyeol was uncharacteristically careful with his words, and it was no wonder seeing how risky he knew his proposal would be.

“That’s too dangerous,” said Baekhyun immediately. “They will at least be keeping watch near the tunnel which I used to flee from the City. You will get caught. And if you put up a fight and flee, they might let their anger out on your parents.”

Chanyeol bit his lip and nodded. He didn’t want to risk that, either.

“It’s not far away from here, right?” Jongin patted Chanyeol’s shoulder. “What if I go there and take a look? I can return anytime if something goes wrong.”

The tall guy looked up with hope in his eyes. He turned towards Junmyeon.

Junmyeon sighed. He didn’t have a good feeling about this. But he had seen Jongin train and he knew that the teleporter’s reflexes were fast. He looked at Minseok, who seemed as conflicted as he was.

“You should stay in touch with Luhan all the time,” he said finally. “And no matter what happens, you have to get out of there as soon as something seems fishy.”

Chanyeol beamed at him and Jongin nodded with a relieved expression. Minseok sighed but nodded as well. While Junmyeon knew that Luhan wasn’t enthusiastic about the decision, he didn’t argue against it.

“I will be able to hear your thoughts and talk to you at this distance, but my Telekinesis and the other powers won’t be able to help you. Don’t play the hero.”

Jongin nodded again and had a short conversation with Chanyeol about the village and the location of his house. He didn’t like teleporting to places he hadn’t been to before, and it was even riskier with potential Patrol members around. But he seemed quite confident when they were done.

After a few additional warnings, he teleported. Everyone turned to Luhan, who was now the only one who knew what was happening.

Luhan sighed. “He’s fine. The-” He paused.

Junmyeon wanted to ask what was wrong when Luhan collapsed.

“What happened?” He looked at Minseok, who was just as clueless as him.

Then there was a sudden, sharp pain in his neck. His surroundings went black.