Scorched Earth [ONC 2024]

Chapter 7 - Reunion

Varen glared at the all too familiar building of the SOCIPISOC headquarters a block away. It was night, but the building shone, strategically lit up to look glorious and magnificent, standing out among its surroundings.

It disgusted him.

"You think they're coming?" Marek whispered to him. Varen's poor love had been anxious the entire day. Varen could tell because Marek tended to tap his foot when he was nervous.

"They must," Varen replied, squeezing Marek's shoulder. "It would be hopeless without them." Then he looked at Marek, his gaze softening. "You claim they are good people, correct?"

Marek nodded. "Yeah. Of course they are. The best."

"Then they will do what is right and help us stop this madness," Varen said, nodding back firmly. "They still have ten minutes."

Marek smiles, leaning in to kiss Varen's masked cheek. "Thanks, babe."

Indeed, after another ten minutes, footsteps were heard behind them. Varen turned to see Aira and Nerian, in their usual outfits. At first Varen thought this strange, but he supposed it made sense. If they were to be caught, it would be easier to make up an excuse as members of SOPISOC than random masked goons.

"Good, you are here," Varen said to them. "I did find a backdoor. Generally unguarded. But there is an alarm."

Aira hummed, her eyes narrowed. "We don't have a code for it if you're thinking that. We always get let inside by the guards at the front."

Varen hummed. "I didn't think so. I assume even if you knew the alarm code for the front door that the back door wouldn't match." He shook his head. "No, what I am proposing is you overload the system with your powers and open the door."

Aira looked down at her hands, frowning. "That...might work, actually."

"Of course it will. Now let's be off," Varen said, setting off toward the HQ, making the others follow.

"He's so bossy," Varen heard Aira mutter behind him, but he didn't react. At least not until he heard Marek reply.

"You'd be surprised how well he follows orders in private."

Varen's face went red, throwing a scandalized glare at Marek over his shoulder.

"Aw, babe, it's cool. Aira doesn't judge," Marek said, hugging Varen briefly from behind, completely making him forget whatever he was going to say next.

"W-well...it's private," Varen finally forced out, huffing as he kept going, not wanting to admit that he had gotten flustered. "Like you said."

Thankfully no one said anything else before they reached SOPISOC. There was a brick wall between them and the back door, but that was hardly a problem for Varen. Touching the wall, he pried the bricks apart slowly, working as noiselessly as possible, making an entrance for them, just wide and tall enough for one person to enter at a time.

He walked through and everyone followed, Varen reforming the wall once they were in, smoothing everything out to disguise the fact that they'd entered this way.

"Didn't realize you could do that, babe," Marek whispered to him, beaming. Varen smiled, his heart fluttering. He never got tired of making Marek impressed.

He cleared his throat to focus. "Right. The back entrance I located is here."

He led them a bit further, to the back of the massive building, looking around constantly. There was a reason he hadn't simply flown them over the wall. The guards were watching the skies for anyone trying to fly over who might not be welcome. It seemed safer to simply go through the wall, more subtle, though that didn't mean they should let their guards down.