Thunder and lighting continued to boom and illuminate the sky outside of the dim lair.

Suho let out a long breath and turned off his microphone before turning back to Luhan and Baekhyun.

“So, are you guys going to take care of those Demons or what?” he asked, pointing over Luhan’s shoulder.

Luhan looked at him in confusion before his eyes flickered to the two figures that he still had pressed up against the wall, “Oh, I forgot they were still here. They’ve been so quiet.”

“Probably because you’re nearly choking them to death,” Chanyeol snickered as he watched the two Demons claw at the invisible hands that seemed to be wrapped around their necks.

“Don’t worry, leader, we’ll take care of them soon,” Baekhyun threw at arm around Suho’s shoulders, “But I kind of want to play with this thing a little bit more.”

He waved the metal baton in the air with a devious smirk.

“Okay, don’t torture them for too long,” Suho laughed.

He clapped Luhan on the back and motioned for the remaining Guardians to follow him down the hallway.  

“Did Miyoung tell you where to go next?” Sehun asked when they reached another hallway that split off into two different directions.

Suho merely shook his head and looked around as he tried to decide on which direction to go in.

“How about this,” D.O spoke up, realizing the leader’s dilemma, “Sehun and I go this way,” he motioned to his right, “And the rest of you guys go that way. If we find the staircase, we’ll call you.”

Suho nodded before watching D.O and Sehun run down the hall. When they disappeared around the corner, the remaining five Guardians started heading the other direction. At the end of the hall, they lined the walls, backs pressed against cold concrete as they silently listened for anyone coming their way.

The hallway was darker than the rest that they’ve seen. The lights didn’t come back on in this one after the surge, Suho guessed.

Chanyeol, starting to get impatient, suddenly pushed himself off of the wall. He brushed Lay’s hand off his shoulder when the healer tried to stop him and walked into the new hallway.

“Yeol,” Suho hissed, motioning for him to get back.

Chanyeol snapped his fingers and a small flame hovered over his open palm. He slowly peered around, using the limited light from the tiny flame to check the hall.

“I don’t think there’s – AH!”

The flame went out and Chanyeol screamed as a metal baton struck his back, a bolt of electricity getting sent through his body on contact. He clutched his shoulder in pain, knees buckling as he crashed to the floor.

Before any of them could even get a word out, Chen swung his arm around the corner of the wall, blindly grabbing the Demon who was hiding in the darkness by the neck. He pushed the Demon up against the wall, his grip tightening as the electricity flowing through his free hand crackled.

“I don’t need a stupid metal stick to do this,” Chen growled before pressing his palm to the Demon’s forehead and sending a bolt of electricity through its body.

The Demon screeched for a split second before exploding into a cloud of dust.

Chen dusted off his hands with a smirk before rejoining the boys as they began to huddle over Chanyeol.

Lay kneeled down on the floor and quickly took off his backpack. He pulled out a small flashlight and started sifting through the contents of his bag.

“It hurts,” Chanyeol whined as he rolled around on the floor.

“It’s probably just a small burn,” Lay said as he pulled out a bottle of lotion and a package of gauze, “Stop being such a baby.”

Kai looked down to see an abandoned baton rolling at his feet.

“What are these things?” Kai muttered as he picked up the metal rod and flipped it around with one hand.

“New weapons?” Suho guessed, not taking his eyes off of Chanyeol as Lay tended to his burn.

Kai shrugged and continued to examine the baton.

“We better keep going,” Suho announced and turned to the lighting Guardian, “Chen, you stay here with Lay and Chanyeol. If anything happens, call us.”

Chen nodded in reply and stood next to Lay as rubbed cooling lotion on Chanyeol’s burn. Suho turned towards Kai and motioned down the hall with a jerk of his head.

At the end of the hallway, Kai pressed the button on the end of the baton before poking his head around the corner.

“There it is,” he pointed at the wooden bannister that was visible through an open doorway.

Suho let out a sigh in relief and reached up to press the button on his earpiece.

“D.O, Sehun, we found the staircase. Start making your way back to Luhan and Baekhyun.”

“Got it,” Sehun’s voice responded.

As the walked towards the staircase, Kai suddenly stopped in the middle of the walkway.

“What’s wrong?” Suho asked.

“This hallway,” Kai said softly as he stared down an intersecting corridor, “This was one of the hallways I walked down when I found Sungmi.”

“Are you sure? I mean, all the hallways look pretty similar in this place.”

“I’m sure,” Kai nodded once and turned down the hallway.

“Kai!” Suho called, “Get back here!”

Suho’s eyes flickered between the staircase that was mere feet away and the teleporter who was continuing down the hall. With a groan and a thought that he was surely going to regret this, Suho followed after the younger Guardian.

“This was not in Luhan’s timed plan,” he told Kai with a warning tone, “And we were supposed to meet Hyukjin.”

“It doesn’t matter, we’ll find her,” Kai replied as he tried to open one of the doors, only to find it locked, “We don’t need that Demon.”

Suho opened his mouth to reply when everything went pitch black.

“I can’t see!”

“Why is it dark?”

“What’s going on?”

 Suho grimaced when a chorus of voices blasted in his ear.

“Power’s out,” Suho noted as he took his earpiece off and tried to adjust his eyes to the sudden darkness.

“Where’s Baekhyun when you need him?” Kai grumbled under his breath.

But Kai stiffened when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He pressed the button on the handle of the baton and the metal rod hummed with energy.

“Did you see that?” he whispered to Suho.

“See what?”

“I saw something move,” Kai mumbled as he tightened his grip on the baton.

Suho furrowed his eyebrows as he looked around, a spike of water forming in his hand.

The sound of rain hitting against the roof echoed throughout the entire building and the two Guardians stood absolutely still in silence.

The floorboards creaked and both snapped their heads in the direction of the sound, only to be met with blood red eyes.

---

Well, that chapter took much longer to write than planned. So sorry for the wait guys, but I've been watching dramas all day and then Exo released Growl and I've just been getting so distracted! I know it's taking some time but the Guardians are getting closer to finding Sungmi! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

-Admin Kelc