South America, 1954

Deep in the jungles of South America, a small traveling party made its way through the jungle. Leading the party was a native of a small tribe, followed closely by a young woman dressed in the local attire and paintings on her face obstructed by glasses, excitedly taking in everything around her. Behind her were three men, one dressed in all black with a brimmed felt hat with two sharpened triangles protruding from the band, the other two dressed more like explorers in beige, continuously shifting glances between each other and the others ahead.

Their guide paused ahead to move some of the jungle brush aside to continue their journey, only to be halted by the face of an angry idol. He began quickly chattering to the woman in his language, crossing his arms across his chest like an X.

"He says he doesn't want to go any further, his father was cursed beyond this point," the woman called out to her companions. The man in black nodded, the woman turning to the native, extending a hand to shake, before both bowed, their guide quickly retreating back into the forest.

"We're on the right trail though, one more statue until we reach the temple," the woman cautioned before proceeding to lead the group.

"How does she even know what he was saying," challenge one of the other explorers to his companion.

"Rena Rouge is the best at her job, it's best not to question her," warned the man in black, his menacing green eyes daring the other men to challenge him. The one who spoke shamefully nodded, the man in black following after Rena Rouge.

"Es un mal presagio traer mujeres aquĆ­, Barranca," the man spoke to his companion, keeping a distance from the other two.

"Cuando lleguemos al templo, los mataremos y tomaremos el tesoro, Satipo," Barranca assured.

Rena Rouge stopped at the second statue overlooking a lake, eyeing the jungle with suspicion.

"What is it," asked the man in black, approaching Rena.

"Dark Hearts approach the temple," Rena whispered, before pulling out an old document, handing over to the man in black. He took out a piece of his own before gesturing to Barranca to do the same. The man did so, grimacing as he did.

"With the two statues, her, and here, the temple should be thirty meters ahead," informed the man in black, handing the map fragments to Rena Rouge.

Behind them, Barranca slightly pulled out a gun, Satipo looking at him in panic. The moment the barrel clicked into place, the man in black spun around, a whip in hand, the end quickly wrapping around the gun, pulling into the lake. In terror, Barranca ran back into the jungle, leaving his companion behind.

"Anything to declare," challenged Rena to Satipo as the man in black coiled his whip, Satipo shaking his head in denial.

"Chat Noir is the best at his job, best not to question him," she warned before leading the remaining group further into the jungle. They stopped at a ziggurat covered in vines, with two more statues guarding the door, an ancient script over the doorway. Rena quickly jotted down the script in a notebook while Chat took the lead into the temple.

Vines spilled into the cave, puddles on the floor from where an earlier rain shower leaked in. Faces inscribed into the wall followed them with menacing gazes as they proceeding into the passageway.

They enter a tunnel littered with dark coverings, Chat quickly plucking a torch form the wall, Rena lighting it with a lighter. They proceed forward, each person momentarily covered by shadows. Chat first emerges into the light briefly, earning gasps from Rena and Satipo. Chat turns to the others with a questioning glance, briefly noticing the tarantula that looked ready to make a home in Rena's hair. Chat gestured to towards the spider in her hair, which she cooed in admiration as she took out a flute, disembarking the spider from her hair. Satipo gestured towards Chat's back, Chat using his coiled whip to shake off any tarantulas. He gestured for his teammates to turn, Rena having on more tarantula in her hair, Satipo, covered in nearly twenty. Chat and Rena made quick work removing the remaining spiders while Satipo stood perfectly still.

They proceed through the shadows, evening common to a place that was brightly lit with patches in the ceiling. Chat gestured to his companions to remain in place, while he walked over to the side of where the light patch shown on the ground. Quickly waving his hand in the light, Chat snapped it back as spikes emerged from the walls, revealing a recently impaled skeleton.

"Peito's brother," whispered Rena.

Chat nodded, noticing a small golden statue between the rows of spikes. He reached his arm in and pulled out the idol.

"Must have been trying to return this on his father's behalf," Chat lamented as he pocketed the item. Rena and Satipo nodded before the three cautiously resumed their journey, careful to avoid any light spots.

Their next stop was at the edge of a chasm, the depth unknown. Chat lassoed his rope onto a sturdy over hanging beam. Chat swung across, landing safely on the other side before swinging it back to the other two. Satipo allowed Rena to swing next, Chat sure to catch as she made it across, earning a teasing glare before swinging it back to Satipo. Satipo swung across, barely able to touch the edge, Chat and Rena grabbing a hold of him by the belt to pull him to safety.

The next passage lead to a chamber room filled with treasure along the sides of the walls, a complex pattern of flooring leading to a pedestal in the center. Chat kneeled down to inspect the pattern, noticing the stone tiles alternating between a light grey and dark grey. Using the torch, he tapped on the light grey up until it became a dark grey tile, a dart immediately shooting out of the wall and into the torch, extinguishing the flame. Satipo pointed to the holes replacing the eyes in the wall, the dart's point of entry.

"You sure you can do this," asked Chat to Rena as he pulled out the idol from his pocket, setting it down before them.

"Absolutely," she nodded pulling out her flute and the map, setting it down on the ground before her.

Chat nodded as Rena brought the flute to her lips as Chat prepared to step on a light grey tile, doing so as the first note rung out. A melodious song filled the room as chat stepped on the light grey tiles. The shine in the treasure around the room began to dull with age as an enhancement was lost by her song. By the time Chat had arrived at the pedestal, the room had time, the idol being placed in the pedestal turning to stone. Rena stopped playing, a slight crack resounding against the walls when she did. Immediate panic overtook Chat as the room began to collapse, quickly grabbing the stone idol before running out of the room. Satipo had already began to run away, Rena staying to try planning the song again, only for Chat to pull her after him just before a boulder would have crushed her.

Satipo hastily swung to the other side, just as Rena and Chat appeared, the lasso losing its grip with Satipo once he was on the other side.

"Toss me the idol, I'll toss you the lasso," Satipo insisted. Seeing the idol as worthless due to its loss of gold shine, Chat did so. Satipo smiled when the idol came into his hands, dropping the whip before taking off.

"Adios," he called out as he turned the corner.

"Satipo!" Chat called out, though honestly expecting something like this to happen.

"A heart of darkness sees what he sees, and heart of hope sees what is known," Rena quoted from the map. Chat grimaced, realizing Satipo never saw the disenchantment.

"Is it still cursed then?"

"For those with dark intentions," reassured Rena.

Chat nodded before looking around the room. The chasm was wide enough for him to jump.

"I'm going to jump across, I'll swing the lasso back to you," he instructed. Rena nodded. Chat backed up a little, running until he was able to jump across. He barely made the jump, grabbing onto the ledge for dear life.

"Chat!" Rena called out

"Yelling doesn't help," yelled back Chat as he scrambled over. And not a moment too soon as more of the temple began to collapse, forcing Rena to jump across, barely making into Chat's arms. Chat grabbed the rope and pulled her along, stopping only momentarily at the hall of spikes, where Satipo's corpse was recently added. Chat picked up the idol that had fallen.

"Adios," he murmured before leading Rena out of the passage.

Just as they were about to enter the shadowy hall, they heard a rumble. Turning to see where the noise was coming from, a giant boulder was rolling down out of separate inclined passageway, heading towards them.

"Run," Chat yelled, pulled Rena after him and down the hall.

Chat pushed vines out of their way, smacking Rena in the face, as they ran, eventually colliding with a thick mess of spider's webs. They managed to jump out of the temple's exit, the door frame stopping the boulder.

They tumbled down a hillside, coming to a stop at the bottom of a gorge, only to find themselves surrounded by natives with weapons.

A young voice broke through the tension, the warriors relaxing as the familiar face of their guide Pepito came into view. Rena made an x across her crest with her arms before gesturing throwing up and hot to touch. The boy responded with a circle over his head, Chat and Rena sighing in relief.

Lifting the curse of the Temple de Muertes was done.


All that driving on Easter got my gears turning. Chapters will be shorter than this one.
Please R&R