- fifty -

They were all eating breakfast when Johnny had rushed out of the room, nothing but the sound of his fork on his ceramic plate and his hurried steps in his departure.

Renjun had a slight feeling as to what could be happening, but his thoughts were cut off as he saw Johnny running back into the dining room.

No one dared to speak, looking at Johnny expectantly.

He was breathing heavier from the running as he looked at Taeyong, who had a straight face.

"She's looking for you," Taeyong said, facing the younger boys.

A chill seemed to make its way down each of their backs, and most of the Dream boys shivered.

"They've made it to the beginning of the Cliffs, so that should slow them down," Johnny said, getting his breath back.

"But we've made a plan for the instance, so everyone in the first rank, you know what to do," Taeyong said, cleaning up his now empty plate.

Everyone looked around, and at the people beside them, shock on their faces.

The time has come.

They were mostly antsy now, but Renjun couldn't complain. There was a total of four ranks, which were only specified groups that would take turns "ambushing", or guerilla attacking the men that were surely trekking over the perilous Cliffs.

In Rank One, there was Johnny, Jaehyun, Sicheng, Yuta and Lucas. Taeyong and Jaehyun had decided that the first attacks should be strong on the men, getting them to hunker down and weaken by the time that the other Ranks would take their turn. They especially didn't want the younger boys to get hurt.

Rank Two consisted of Hendery, Mark, Taeil, Doyoung and Jaemin. Renjun was a little scared since Jaemin was placed in a different group than his own, but he had faith in the older boy's capability to protect Jaemin for him.

Rank Three had the younger members out of all of Neo City. Including YangYang, Chenle, Jisung, Xiao Dejun and Ten. Renjun was happy that Ten was in that Rank, because he knew that he would take care of the youngest members.

Rank Four was his own group, including himself, Kun, Donghyuck and Jungwoo. They were to be the last group, and they were also the group that decided if Abigail was serious enough to start a war.

Which was bound to be a loss for the woman.

The only two people not in the Ranks were Taeyong and Jeno, who were both to stay back in the large building.

Taeyong was planned to keep tabs on the situations, and was to act like a human walkie talkie for the boys, using his full capacity telepathy. Jeno was going to stay with him for protection measures.

Renjun hated that he had to leave him behind, and he couldn't be in the same rank as Jaemin.

He felt isolated, trapped, in a future he had made for himself.

If he had just let the other boys to go with Taeyong, and dealt with Abigail's consequences himself, he knew that it would be a better outcome compared to the hunting she's doing now.

It was selfish of him to think that they'd all be happy, and he could join too. Someone had to be sad in order for there to be happiness, but since Renjun had made his decision, they al were to suffer from it.

Renjun couldn't keep his train of thought straight, sitting on one of the three couches in the living room, anxiously tapping his foot on the cold cement.

The first Rank was already heading out, which only meant that Jaemin was next to go.

He continued to sit on the could, sitting in his puddle of fear, self-hatred, and dread.

. . .

Jaehyun had already lead the Rank to their edge of the Cliffs when they all heard Taeyong's voice.

"They are only a couple meters from their side into the Cliffs. They aren't used to it, and they've got injured men, but that's all. You all know what you need to do."

Jaehyun looked at Johnny who had been standing beside him, before they made eye contact and gave each other a nod of acknowledgement.

They turned towards the wall of broken rock, before taking a hold of the material and started the climb.

Lucas had used the rock to emulate on his hands and surprisingly bare feet, to ensure that the rock wouldn't cut him.

Johnny could feel that everyone was confident in their actions, all determined to get this threat away from their home and new younger brothers.

It hadn't take long for them to successfully scale over the rough terrain of the rocks and the new wildlife that had taken a new life on the rocks.

They could see the men, and they weren't impressed at all.

They all had some type neon yellow vest, and some type navy blue hat.

They were all sweaty, cuts visible to the Defects, and were completely exhausted from the short trek they had to endure so far.

Johnny could feel their tiredness, keeping the fatigue away from himself.

Yuta immediately put a disguise over all of them when he noticed that one of the multiple men looked in their direction.

They had already had a plan, and they were ready to attack.

That was until one of the men shouting, pointing at them.

Johnny looked over to Yuta, whose eyes were large.

"Did you drop the illusion?" He asked, looking at the younger.

Yuta shook his head frantically.

"I looked into it and it's not Yuta's fault. I'm assuming that Abigail wanted a weapon that leveled the playing field between Defects and humans. They have a square-like device that blocks our frequency. So even if Yuta puts an illusion up, they can see right through it."

Taeyong's voice rang out once more.

They boys all looked at each other, surprised at the technology, before looking at the struggling men who were basically scrambling to get the boys.

Jaehyun looked at the men and couldn't help but laugh at them. They had these mighty devices that blocked the illusions Yuta could create, lessen the winds Sicheng may throw, and may lessen the intensity of my strength, but that doesn't mean we aren't trained.

Smiling wickedly, he was going to serve hell to the men that served the woman who hurt Taeyong.