"So.. You're like a real-life 'Captain Electric'?" Baekhyun stated excitedly. His eyes lit up as if he'd just seen the real superhero pulled right from the old black and white show they watched as kids. 

 

"I'm sorry?" Jongdae frowned, creasing a line between his eyebrows. "Who is that?" He added. 

 

"C'mon. Don't tell me they don't have television in your.. On your.. Where you come from." Baekhyun scoffed as if it were the silliest thing he'd ever heard. 

 

"I don't watch much television. No one in our town had one. Well okay, the mayor did." He retracted. His family had never owned a television. Or a robot. It any of that other stuff that his dad had considered garbage. And only used by the feeble minded, rich city dwellers. 

 

"We're not here to talk about some dumb show anyway, guys." Jongin interrupted. "Chen here can travel with me between worlds. So it's possible, I can help you guys get to the two you see in the mirrors. That is, if we can get them to disable their blocking device."

 

"Blocking device? What is that?" Joonmyun frowned. 

 

"The kind of thing Chen's dad makes for a living. And you should know all about it. You have.. had a blocker on your place until just recently, I'm guessing." Jongin had explained how he could get closer and closer each time he jumped to the palace location. "Though why it worked like that, I couldn't tell you. Chen?"

 

Jongdae thought for a moment. Where had he seen a security device that encompassed the whole building? These days people in his world usually injected the personal blockers made famous by his father's early designs. Some rich old people still had their homes protected like that though. "Uh, it could be failing. Or maybe there's a control switch that increases or decreases the level of security. I've seen the plans for that but it's only on the fairly old models."

 

"That would explain how I could get closer." Jongin laughed. "And here I was thinking it was just my powers getting stronger." He settled quickly at his next thought. "But, that would mean that your parents wanted to coax me closer. What.. trap me?"

 

"Or maybe they were telling you that this was a safe place. The only place Arthur won't look for you or him is right under his nose." Joonmyun presented an alternate explanation. "Should we gather all of them here, then? Can you do it?"

 

"Suho.. I don't think that's a good option, yet. We get everyone together in the same place before the alignment and Arthur can get rid of all of us easily." Jongin protested. He remembered the threat Kyungsoo's father had given him only a couple weeks ago. It was said more like a suggestion. That Kyungsoo needed to concentrate on other things right now so if Jongin would kindly get the hell out of his life, it would be very much appreciated. That was another reason he had spent so much time with Jongdae lately. He couldn't risk he or Kyungsoo's life. He gripped his boyfriend's hand. 

 

"Kai is right. My dad, all our parents who are still alive, are afraid of Arthur. There's no reason we shouldn't be too." He stood up for Jongin and squeezed his fingers as he spoke. After Jongin's confession, they had a bumpy time but confronting his father had made it a lot better. "I think just one at a time would be better. The security devices leave no signature trail, so your friends won't get caught." He noticed the sigh of relief Suho let out. Perhaps he also had a relationship going on with his counterpart. It made Jongdae wish that they had gotten to Kyungsoo in time.