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~~((National Do Something Nice Day Special -- Page 6 of 24))~~
Asad froze up, eyes stuck wide after seeing those words. Was he seeing that right? Him? Morgunov was after him? What sense did--?

"So are we doin' this or what?" came an unfamiliar voice in Asad's ear.

He didn't even think. He just reacted. Asad dove forward and spun around, launching a bladed disc of soul-strengthened quartz right where he had just been standing.

And indeed, the man was there. The Mad Demon. He caught the disc between gloved fingers as if it were no more dangerous than a frisbee.

The two scouts were scrambling back, trying to create distance while freeing and raising their weapons.

Morgunov just looked at them expectantly as their guns refused to fire, both seemingly jammed simultaneously.

There was no time to process it. Asad had to protect them, or they were dead. With all his concentration, he summoned a great prism of glass, blasting through the roof of the bunker with its explosive growth and carrying everyone with it.

He made the prism force the scouts away from him, propelling them both outward in the direction of Kuros. He couldn't be too forceful, of course, or else he would kill them before Morgunov could, but he could at least give them a head start on their journey back to headquarters.

Morgunov, in the meantime, disappeared. Asad was left searching frantically for where he had gone. Was this invisibility? It couldn't be with all the sensors around, could it?

"Peekaboo," came Morgunov's voice, again in Asad's ear.

Asad reacted the same way again, but this time, Morgunov caught him by the wrist and pulled him back toward him like he barely weighed anything.

He writhed within the Mad Demon's clutches, trying to summon his materialization again and failing almost entirely. Where should have appeared a flurry of glass spikes, only a miserable sputter of dust arrived instead.