453 Phone Call ? (1/2)

Pebble and the guardsmen were down.

Zhao Yao peered into the pet carriers that they had brought. In them were six unconscious supercats. Red Packet was among them. He decided that the best thing to do for now was to hide them all in the extradimensional belly.

When he stepped foot into the belly, his own supercats started calling for him desperately. They had been watching the warehouse keenly through the dimension doorway.

”Zhao Yao, Zhao Yao! Lightning has been taken away!” Matcha exclaimed.

”I know. Don't worry, I got this,” he replied coolly.

He studied the collar that sat on the base of Red Packet's neck. He used the deflective field to give it a gentle squeeze, shattering it into pieces.

Next, he turned his attention to the rest of the sleeping supercats.

A red glow illuminated his eyes, ”Time to compel them to take back whatever powers they've loaned to the Mao Gang.”

Once that was taken care of, he headed for the doorway by the warehouse, phone in hand. There was no signal in that basement store, but his other doorway opened into Faceless's mansion, which kept him connected to his cellular network.

He considered what he was about to do next and felt that it was only right to give Ye Mei a heads-up first. He tapped on her contact, sending her a request for a video call.

Ye Mei accepted it within the first few rings. She sounded groggy and not at all pleased.

”Hello? What's going on? What're you calling me up for?”

Zhao Yao adjusted his phone such that the camera was trained squarely on the scene outside the dimension doorway.

”This,” he started, ”Is where the Mao Gang is holding an auction -,”

His sentence was cut short by a loud gasp from Mei Ye.

”Goddammit!” she hissed, ”How did you end up there? What the hell do you think you're doing? If they found out that you somehow snuck in, you could be in a lot of trouble.”

She had been disoriented just seconds before, but she was now fully awake and nursing a terrible headache. This idiot was a real pain.

”Didn't I tell you to wait? The Mao Gang will find your cat for you. Why'd you go behind my back and pull this stunt?” she demanded, exasperation seeping from every pore.

Zhao Yao could not help but roll his eyes.

Bright lights began to pour from the doorway, completely obstructing Ye Mei's view of the warehouse. When the lights were gone, she had a perfect view of the auction hall.

”The Mao Gang has gone rogue. This isn't just any auction. Look around. These are apostles from dissentient factions all around the world. I'm pretty sure the authorities would never sanction something like this.”

Ye Mei was quick to defend the people that she trusted, ”What the heck are you talking about? The Mao Gang would never do that. This must be some kind of misunderstanding…”

Her words, which had tumbled out of her mouth so quickly and confidently, began to slow as she watched the video stream. She could only recognize five or six of the apostles in the auction hall, but that was enough to prove that Zhao Yao was telling the truth.

”Storm Organization...Ivory…Talon...even Star Cats. And Faceless!”

There was a sharp intake of air when she spotted her ally on the screen. When she spoke next, it was through gritted teeth, ”Where are you? Hang in there. I'll send backup right away.”