Axel swallowed as he leaned forwards, staring at his fingers as they flexed nervously against the table. Lost civilizations... a gigantic warship.... being intrusted with a mission like this... It was a lot to take in. He'd barely managed to get out of the last situation alive, and all he'd wanted to do was settle down with Lily and live a quiet life. But Axel had seen first hand what Kalis was capable of... and if Vergil was right, if Kalis was trying to find this warship, then there wouldn't be any life to settle down to.
He nodded slowly at what Marita and her girlfriends said, then looked across at Vergil. "So... no pressure then." He sighed. Given what was at stake... it wasn't like it was something he could refuse. "Alright then," Axel said eventually. "I, ah... I guess I'm in. I've got your back, Vergil." He paused. "But, ah, you know. Maybe try to keep it out of danger as much as you can?"
Her hands folded on the table in front of her, Triste looked between the lanky rat, the three women and the well-dressed ferret. Her expression remained blank for the time being. Turning her gaze to Tony, she waited to hear what he would say.
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Rio landed with a thump as Denny dropped him to the floor, his knee crying out in pain as he landed awkwardly. A shocked expression was plastered on his face as the adult walked away. He'd met his fair share of violent adults, of course... but the change in Denny's personality had been so sudden that for the moment, Rio was speechless. And the expression on his face...
After a moment of lying on the floor where he'd been dropped, the boy got to his feet and started to make his way along the corridor down which Lily had disappeared, and where Denny had followed. The man's voice kept replaying in Rio's mind. Of course he'd be wary about a stranger inside his house. Even Rio could understand that. But there was something else... something in Denny's voice... Rio's stomach tightened. Something was wrong in this house. He just didn't know what. Following behind Denny, Rio kept his arms close to his body, frightened of touching anything, of turning Denny's attention back on him. His eyes darted around, taking in the corridors they were walking down, the furniture, the doors that branched off from their path. They approached a large bookcase set into the left side of the corridor, and he looked it up and down as they passed. The bookcase was thick and heavy, the shelved filled with rows upon rows of old books. Rio's eyes flicked down, and he felt a small jolt run up his body. He slowed his pace, his already quiet footsteps fading to silence as he eventually stopped dead. Ahead of him, Denny continued on in Lily's direction, oblivious to the fact that he was no longer leading Rio.
By the bookcase, scratches had been gouged into the wooden floor, lining up with the legs of the heavy furniture. From the marks, Rio could tell that the bookcase had been pulled forwards, multiple times, the legs of the bookshelf betraying their constant use. Is... is something behind?
Biting his lip, Rio held back as Denny continued onwards, rounding the corner and moving out of sight. He waited a few seconds, then retraced his steps, shifting back silently to the bookcase. Rio turned, standing directly in front of it, and looked it up and down. From here, there was nothing immediately wrong with it. It just looked like a normal piece of furniture set back against the wall. So why did he have a sick feeling in his stomach? Glancing back to make sure he was still alone, Rio edged to the side of the bookcase and ran his hands along the back of it. It wasn't set flush against the wall. There was a gap. He pressed his face against the gap between the rear of the shelf and the wall. It was too dark, he couldn't see... Yes! Something... something was there... He squinted, but couldn't quite make out what was behind.
Gritting his teeth, Rio hesitantly pressed his fingers against the back shelf of the case and pulled it outwards, slowly, trying to make sure that it didn't make any noise. There was a small, tiny screech and Rio flinched... but luckily, it seemed Denny hadn't heard anything. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, the boy kept pulling, and eventually the bookcase had slid out far enough for Rio to get a good look at what lay behind. A metal, heavy-looking sliding door. Rio paused, trying to understand what was going on. What possible use could there be for this door? Why was it hidden? Hesitantly, Rio slowly pressed himself into the small gap he'd created and pushed the sliding door open, inch by inch, trying not to make a sound. The door was well oiled, and it slid open silently, revealing an inky blackness behind it. Rio could just about make out a set of wooden steps leading down, and a musty, damp smell wafted up. He wrinkled his nose. His mind was screaming at him to just leave this alone, to just close the door, push the case back and leave it alone. Biting his lip, Rio slowly stepped down into the darkness, feeling his way down, the steps creaking below him ever so slightly.
After about 15 steps, his trainers crunched on a stone floor. The air was cold, frigid. In the darkness, Rio strained his ears, but there was nothing. Even the sounds of Lily and Denny talking upstairs had faded to absolutely nothing. Taking another nervous step forwards, something tapped his face, and Rio almost cried out in shock, stopping himself just in time. After a second, he realised it was a light switch, attached to a string. Swallowing, his throat dry as sand, he reached up and pulled it. The light flicked on, bathing the room in a sickly yellow glow.
Rio felt his blood freeze at what he saw.
He was standing at the entrance to a decent sized basement, rectangular shaped. From the ceiling dangled a bare light bulb. Along the left side of the basement was placed a row of cramped wire cages, the doors firmly shut with padlocks holding them closed. At first, desperate thoughts that perhaps Denny North kept animals in these tiny cages flitted through his mind. Then he looked across the rest of the room. At the far end of the room was some sort of wooden table, metal manacles connected to the four corners by chains. A thick-looking bag had been left on the table's surface, and coiled on the floor next to it was a dirty garden hose, hooked up to a tap in the wall. Water was pooled on the table's surface, and the bag looked damp, as if it had recently been soaked.
Closer to Rio was a wooden chair, bolted to the floor. Leather straps were set into the arms of the chair. Placed neatly on the floor next to the chair was a set of industrial looking clamps, and draped across the back of the chair was a plastic bag, softly rustling from the breeze drifting down from the staircase, worn as if someone had been struggling inside it. Rio felt his stomach churn as he looked closer at the ends of the chair's armrests and noticed faint scratches in the wood.
Other objects in the basement lay hidden in the gloom, but Rio didn't stop to look at them. Feeling his heart starting to rise into his throat, his stomach roiling, he wheeled around and stumbled back up the wooden steps.
