158 Trapped in a Jail Cell

Lucifer, who had just stepped into the base, hadn't realized that his companions had been captured. He chatted idly with the men who were escorting him while attempting to acquire more information about the situation. These men seemed to look up to him as if he were a legend.

After a short walk, they reached a room that was formerly the prayer room of the temple. It was the largest indoor structure of the entire temple. It was a grand scene with big pillars, high ceilings, and a buddha that oversaw everything that was discussed. The people from the cult had brought in a large table to place at the center to conduct their business.

Lucifer took in the scene as he walked towards the table. At the table were a group of 11 people who were all tense and had been engaging in a serious conversation. The man at the head of the table wore a silk embroidered robe and seemed calm despite the agitation of the other members. He smiled graciously and said, "Welcome to Orange Base, Randy. My name is Zero, I am the base leader here."

His voice was warm, comfortable and slightly elusive that made people want to like him. Lucifer nodded and sat down at the other end of the table. As Zero gestured, a person who looked like an attendant came in and provided him with some tea. He continued in a gentle and warm tone, "Please, have some tea."

Lucifer nodded politely and took a sip of the tea. He found it difficult to refuse Zero's requests. The tea was a nice chai tea blend, extremely aromatic and relaxing. His original intention was to get straight to the point and ally with them so they could move onto the next base, but he somehow no longer felt the urge to do so.

Instead, Lucifer took another sip of the tea and savored the flavor. He seemed to have forgotten about the purpose of his visit as he began to relax. Everyone at the table seemed to have relaxed after his first sip of the tea but Lucifer didn't seem to notice.

An attendant dressed in white entered the large room and made a gesture to the base leader, but Lucifer was again too enraptured by the tea to notice. Zero subtly waved him off and asked Lucifer, "So, to what do we owe this honor?"

Taking another sip of the nice chai tea, Lucifer explained, "I've come to ally with your base. My group intends to break into City M and would like your assistance. We are also reaching to the other bases for assistance as well."

Zero nodded accommodatingly, "Orange base has always been anti-government. We are happy to ally ourselves with others with the same agenda. However, before that, we would need to get to know our partners. Afterall, we couldn't possibly trust our backs to someone unreliable, could we?"

Lucifer nodded in agreement. He would do the same thing as this leader if he were in the same position.

As the discussions began, the others at the table began to join in on the conversation. Each of them was assigned a number based on their seniority. Together, they began to discuss the details of the raid and the different people who would be a part of the operations.

***

In a dark room underground, Light woke up with a splitting headache. He blinked multiple times before finally recalling what had happened. They were ambushed outside of the Orange based and knocked unconscious. Looking around, he found himself trapped in a jail cell. He could see the twins and Ace in separate jails, still unconscious. There were no guards in sight.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in deeply, trying to clear his mind. Unfortunately, that huge breath led to him sucking in a large amount of humidity, making him cough. Coughing his lungs out, he finally got rid of the humidity that he choked on. Sitting in the cell, he tried to focus again. This time, he didn't inhale deeply but just tried to gather his abilities.

To his surprise, his illusion skills were somehow suppressed. Thinking for a while, he then realized that it was likely that the gas they inhaled was still in his system which inhibited Variant skills. Fortunately, his empathic abilities remained intact. Focusing on that, he reached out in his mindscape towards the other three, attempting to awaken them.

As he nudged the threads connecting him to the other three, they slowly started to wake up from their sleep. The twins woke up at the same time and immediately went into fighting position. Aida had taught them well and they rarely allowed themselves to get caught off guard even during their sleep. Surveying the area, they realized they were in a jail cell.

"Darn!" Rin rebuked himself, "I should have been faster and escaped the ambush with my abilities. So stupid!"

Yukio rolled his eyes at his brother, "Save that for next time. Let's focus on getting out first."

"Yeah, yeah," grumbled Rin before sitting down and meditating. They had to recover their powers in order to escape.

Light kept his eyes closed as he focused on nudging Ace's consciousness to wake up. He didn't have any abilities so it was harder to reach his mind. Light also noticed that there seemed to be a thin layer of repulsion on Ace's consciousness that didn't allow Light to affect his emotions as easily as other people. Brushing this aside, he patiently nudged Ace's consciousness until he finally woke up.

Opening his eyes, he saw that both the twins had finished meditating and were watching him. They understood that he was preoccupied, so they obediently waited instead of interrupting despite their extenuating circumstances.

Exhaling, he asked in a hushed voice, "Can you two use your powers?"

Both of them nodded. Yukio's body lit up with white and green lights while Rin's eyes turned pitch black. Rin whispered back, "I can use my powers, but they seem to be kind of blocked so it's a bit weaker than usual."

"Same," Yukio answered in a concerned tone.

Light thought for a moment and realized the cause. Both of them were level 2 so they were able to overcome whatever was suppressing their powers while he was only level 1 so his entire power was inhibited.