"We're not taking this job. We'll refund your deposit, too. Let's pretend none of this ever happened." The antenna man pressed down on the antenna atop his head, shortening it before pushing it into his hair until only a tiny tip remained exposed.
The telescope user and the listener both put away their equipment and huddled close to their boss, the antenna man.
"Boss, why are we calling it off?" The listener frowned. He thought he could still get somewhere, since he vaguely sensed that he might pick up some secret sounds. For some reason, though, they were masked by the hiss of electrical static.
The listener believed that, given an hour or more, he should be able to make something out.
The telescope user frowned as well, showing a little dissatisfaction, but offered no objection. He felt that their target really did have some tricks up their sleeve and was no ordinary force.
The antenna man held his comrades back, facing Professor Lu Fa as he said gravely, "Our target is a big fish, not someone we can turn around and spy on. We're out. Find someone else to do it, and leave us out of it."
Lu Fa of the Frog Society darkened, his face clouding over. His eyes bulged wide, his mouth parted slightly, and his enormous Adam's apple bobbed upward as he rasped, "What did you say?!"
In an instant, all the frogs in the lake outside puffed up their bellies and croaked loudly, playing an animal chorus in unison that made the mind shudder.
"I said we're not taking this job." The antenna man's expression remained grim as he reached into his clothes with his right hand and crushed a stone capable of group teleportation.
The listener and the telescope user each rested a hand