Everything had happened so quickly that Liana didn't realise yet that the situation had changed completely. Andira was lying on the ground now, hit by several weapons at once. Along with her more than half of the Drotnira and a good portion of the STC agents were also taken down. The remaining Americans were now in control of the room, and new ones were still pouring into the room. John occupied Andira's chair now like an ancient king. Like their captives had done, Marah and Frest were now hiding in the side dimension and kept as quiet as possible. It was clear that it was the STC now that had everything under control now. The remaining Drotnira had fallen fairly quickly without much resistance, in part because an axe couldn't hold up against a forcefield or energy ray weapon, and they seemed to be extremely hesitant to actually use the alien weapons.
A new group of Drotnira that had barged in shortly after the first attack had already been mowed down without much struggle by the STC agents too, and they too had barely done any damage to the American dominance in the situation. They had probably just been alarmed by Andira herself to protect her before she fell, but it was all to no avail. The battle was over already, and the Americans began to clear out the captured headquarters. Two officers took Andira with them, who turned out to be not completely dead but seemed at least severely paralyzed. The other fallen fighters from both sides were also carried away, Liana didn’t know where to.
She had been forced to put her escape plans on hold for a while, anxiously awaiting how the situation would develop after this unexpected power shift in her invisible position, and it wasn’t getting better at all. The events they had just witnessed also turned out to be a major shock to all of the Nuanderrans present. Both her two companions and her two former captors were completely taken by surprise, and seemed almost frozen. Inaya stared into nothingness, and Lun still had his mouth open in surprise. The rapid revolution of the supposedly inferior Earthlings and the fall of the arrogant but still clueless Andira had been a total shock. Marah and Frest themselves didn't look much better either, and seemed to be awaiting something now, although it wasn’t really clear what, but unfortunately they still had their guns pointed at Inja, Lun, and herself. Three against two shouldn't really have to be a problem, but Frest had two guns in two hands, one aimed at Lun and one at Inaya, and Liana didn't know how ambidextrous a gun-toting Nummerfil could be. If they tried something and Frest missed with one hand, his other hand would still hit the other, so that still wasn't a good idea!
At the same moment, there were not only large movements of people and material going on outside, but there also was a new movement in the room, with the Americans taking all kinds of stuff out. Some of the men had already left, and the rest were ready to leave and take everything that was in the room with them. Liana still couldn't do anything but wait with two different enemies so close, and little room to move. In the meantime, her hand was sweating in Inaya's but she certainly couldn't let go now! No matter how uneasy it felt for her to be in the side dimension, they couldn’t afford being seen now.
Her thoughts were abruptly cut short by an arrogant voice that belonged to a huge man who didn’t only wear a gold earring, but also a pair of strange glasses, and had a weapon in his hand. “I can see you guys, game over!” She cursed loudly and let go of Inaya's hand, while Lun did the same, making them visible again to everyone in the room.
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Everything had changed since the last time they'd been visible, yet they were still in the same predicament. The all-powerful Andira, who had been threatening to exterminate all of humanity no longer played a role in the story but despite that weapons from different worlds were still pointed at them -and at their former guards too now- by grim-faced people who wouldn't hesitate to shoot when they felt like it. The only difference was that they were now "real" humans from her own world, and not Nuanderrans. Whether that was an improvement she strongly doubted.
And then there was the gray-haired businessman, addressed as "John", who was still sitting on his throne in the middle of the room. He was loudly giving orders now with his smartphone to invisible workers who were out of sight. All traces of the former Rule of Nummerfa in this room had been erased by the new rulers now, and they were apparently busy with their own important plans themselves already too.
Even though they were visible again Liana and her companions tried not to get to much attention directed towards them. Their former captors had become visible too at the threat of the giant man, and they stood there as if petrified. That the people of the old world, whom they had always seen as inferior, should have an instrument to see through their invisibility in the side dimension seemed to have deeply shaken them after all that had happened, and seemed to have completely broken the morale of all Nuanderrans around Liana too. She on the other had half-expected things to turn out horribly and sometimes she had the tendency to calm down when everyone seemed lost, which was perhaps one of her most useful superpowers, even if it wasn’t the most spectacular one.
It seemed that it might all depend on her now. She watched John yell at his phone. She couldn't quite follow what he was saying, for he spoke English with a heavy accent, fast and poorly articulated. However, it was clearly about "phase two", and "transfer of the stuff complete" and then a whole explanation about obstacles that had been cleared out of the way now. Apparently they were already on the second phase of whatever ominous plan, which Liana suspected had something to do with the move she had seen. And Andira and her guards in this room had probably been some of the obstacles that had now been cleared, allowing the plan to move forward and go on with the next phase, whatever that was. Certainly no good news...
She and her friends obviously didn't matter much, as they were barely looked after except by the few soldiers who each held one of them at gunpoint with the strange alien weapons. The idea that you don't know what a gun is for makes it all the more terrifying to be held at gunpoint, but the very fact that the tables were turned so easily by the Americans had given Liana a strangely paradoxical hope. She knew it was very important now to not lose her mind now, and was a little annoyed by the reaction of her companions.
She had to admit that these Americans were quite thorough and had been very effective in their operation. The takeover had happened ridiculously fast, just after the end of Andira's pompous speech. The STC itself must have been preparing for this moment for some time too, and must have started the operation before they even got here, and yet none of the Onnobolda had noticed anything. Had Andira really been so naive that she barely considered the Hmana-orr she worked with as fully sentient beings? After all the technological feats they had achieved? Apparently, it had been her blind prejudice and disda/in that had kept her from seeing which enemy had brought into her own base herself, and had ultimately caused her to fall. A major error of judgement that she had paid for heavily. Liana hadn't been able to follow what had finally happened to her, but her part of the story was clearly over now.