Prologue:
Tony opened the left door while Edmond opened the right. Both men glued their eyes to the three figures that entered. Tony had been with the mob for years and he had never seen anyone dressed in the get ups of these three females. It made him very suspicious of them. He did not scare easy yet something made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The look on Edmond's face gave the same impression.
The two women & the young girl stopped in the center of the room as directed. Behind them the doors were shut by their guards. Meanwhile the Don poked his head up over the top of his laptop.
Their leader wore a poncho with a hood. It draped down past her hips, covering her arms and hands completely as well. The cloth looking brown hood came up covering most of her face. She titled her head forward a bit, projecting a shadow over the rest of her face. It only proved to make her all the creepier.
Her two body guards consisted of a tall read haired woman & a girl that had to be no more than twelve or thirteen. Neither looked like trained assassins.
The red head had long shiny, well taken care of hair. She was thin & very well curved. Her figure was one most men only dreamed of ever seeing. The tight red suit only made her that much more appealing. Around her neck were several long braided leather necklaces. She told all the guards on her way in that they were made of human flesh just for fun.
The little girl however appeared no more innocent than a new born baby. An aura around her made her seem no more threatening than a flower. Tony knew though that even some flowers could kill though.
She didn't have the look of a high price killer. Though perhaps that was what made her so lethal. She had green hair. It was pulled back into what looked like a bun that had popped open, as if like a budding flower. This was all held in by a silver metal disc. There were cuts in the disc so that it too looked like a flower.
Tony knew they were unarmed. They had been searched several times on the way up. Any hit man or mercenary the Don hired had to go through hundreds of different searches. Most of the men figured it was over kill. Often the hired person would be frisked multiple times. Full body searches were common as well. Throughout the building were several if not hundreds of hidden metal detectors, infrared scanners, heat sensors, X-ray machines, and just about any other device that may alert the sentries to anything that could be used as a weapon.
These girls had their guns taken before they even got in the building. It was not long until they relinquished a variety of knives and blades as well. By the time they had reached the Don's room the only metal at all was the girl's silver flower hair piece. Even with that knowledge, Tony still felt uneasy about the trio. Around the room the other fourteen sentinels expressed their own uneasiness.
Finally after looking them up and down the Don closed the laptop and leaned back in his chair.
"So you're the lady trio I've heard of?" He started, "I trust you were respected on the way in?"
"Sir," the guard closest stepped up to the Don's ear, "We had to give them a full body strip search. Perhaps it would be best to move along."
"What? So? They didn't find anything right? So where is the problem?" the Don chuckled.
"Well sir…their leader has a bit of a fear of showing her face." The man informed, "She actually beat the crap out of the guy that searched her. He's okay, but we had to have another guard search her. We gave her a pillow to hold over her face."
The Don raised an eye brow. Then his eyes drifted over to the red head. Many if not all the men in the room were thinking the same thing. They were all wishing they had been the one to conduct the search on her. Some of the suited guards even mumbled a curse under their breathe. The mood returned once the Don spoke again.
"Alright," he agreed, leaning forward on the desk, "straight to business then. Well you've done a few 'jobs' for a friend of mine. Unfortunately you've also done business with my competition for a certain market. I'm going to trust you though. I hope letting you see me in person is trust enough. There aren't too many people that get to meet me so easily. Especially in the business we are here to discuss. My friend however tells me you are quite good at what you do though. So let's find out just how good you are. Sound good? So-"
"Your competitor." The hooded leader stated, "We'll start there."
"Oh?" He responded, "I don't know. That's a big hit. Rather risky I must say. If I did agree to it I assume you'd charge a fairly large amount. Correct?"
She walked up to the edge of the desk. Several of the men reached into their jackets ready to react to whatever might happen. Tony reached into his pocket and found the tiny panic button. Everyone in the room had one. When pressed two automated mini guns would drop from panels in the ceiling.
"May I use that phone?" She inquired. "Bear in mind I'll have to destroy the phone. Security and all. Are you alright with this?"
He nodded and gestured for her to go right ahead. At the same time he leaned back in the chair again.
She pulled the phone over to the edge. She hit the speaker button for them all to hear but then draped the poncho over it to hide the number. No one moved as she dialed the number. The beeping phone was the only noise in the room for that time. There was a buzz on the other line followed by a click.
"Your target. Go." She didn't say anything else. There was another beep as she hung up.
"Please," the Don chuckled, "you expect me to believe you already had this worked out? Besides that, how do you know something won't go wrong? And even if it does succeed, how am I supposed to know it was real? I need some kind of confirmation. Ya know like a ring or something."
The poncho woman did not reply. In fact she didn't even respond in any way. She stood like a statue. The silence made the mobsters very uncomfortable. The women were the only calm ones in the room. These women freaked them out, and they could not figure out why.
About ten minutes passed. The whole time no one said anything or moved. The red head yawned but nothing more. To Tony it seemed like an hour. Finally the phone rang again. Several of the guards jumped when it did. The woman reached down with a clothed hand and hit the speaker again.
On the other line some was breathing heavily.
"Hello?" the Don asked, leaning forward again.
"H-hello?" Came the voice of a clearly frightened Hispanic voice, "Who is dis?"
Tony had heard the voice once before. He didn't know the man's name, but he knew it belonged to the 'competition' the Don mentioned earlier. Its owner was a Cuban man who made a living as an arms dealer. Somehow Tony figured he was not going to be a problem for that much longer.
"This is a very powerful man," the Don gloated, "one of which has the power to decide whether you live or die. Now you will answer my questions. Who are you?"
"A powerful- wait is dat you Don Meano?" The Cuban's voice barked, "So den dis is your monkey?"
"Shut up," Meano returned barks, "I said I'm asking the questions here."
"You dumb shit!" He snapped, "You know damn well who dis is. It's Mendez you dumb shmuck. Now call off your psycho ese."
Don Meano thought for a moment then looked up at the shadowy woman.
"Alright," he started, "clever. He could easily be an actor though. Paid off to make it seem like him. Maybe even one of your people."
The Hispanic began screaming a series of obscenities, not realizing the Don was not addressing him.
"How do I know you aren't an actor?" the female responded, "Because you know I did say I wanted to meet Don Meano. Not an imposter. So if you are truly him than we don't have a problem. If you are a stand in…"
Tony started to sweat. The man in front of them, the man that claimed to be Don Meano was a stand in. They all knew it. Apparently so did the women. If their cover had been blown he was sure the women would be very upset and may even try to attack. Tony was aware that the real Don was not even in the country. If they started attacking looking for the real Meano, they'd never find him. Tony did not hit his panic button however the fact that they were unarmed held him back. He knew if they did attack they would surely lose. What worried him was how many would they take with them.
"That's fair," the fraud continued, "I will still that confirmation though."
"Fine." She replied.
Over the speaker they could all hear the voice start pleading for his life. There was some rustling that sounded like someone moving, rubbing against the phone speaker in the process. Mendez begged his attacker to reconsider. He even began spewing out bribes. All of his attempts would end in vain however.
Pleads for life changed into full fledged screams. The screams were not pretend. They were real and they were painful. After a moment the screams started to gargle a bit. Eventually the gargled screams dimmed and faded. The audience of frightened men could do nothing but listen as they could hear the sounds of flesh tearing and ripping and bones breaking, snapping and popping. There was one last loud crunch as the line went dead.
The female picked up the phone. She brought the whole thing up under her poncho. Disconnecting it she let the wire drop to the desktop. Keeping the rest of the phone with her.
Everyone in the room had heard and even seen things worse than that. Yet three of the guards began to vomit anyway. The Don was sweating. After a moment he too pulled a trash bucket over and began to spew stomach contents into it. Tony stumbled back a bit, only to be held up by the wall behind him.
"Interesting," the red head spoke, "A mob boss that can't hold his cookies. How unlikely."
The chubby fraud wiped his mouth then sat up. He flopped back in his chair.
"Alright," he finally uttered. It was all he could muster in his queasy state.
"Now payment." The poncho figure stated, "For this task we might have only charged perhaps half a million. Maybe even a million. However I did ask to meet THE Don Meano. Not this fake." Clearly the girl agreed with the statement the red head made moments ago.
Suddenly large chunks of plastic and smaller bits of metal fell out from under her poncho. Had they not seen her pick it up, they might not have known that it was a telephone at all.
The parts clattered to the floor. She never moved once. No one had even heard her break it. The chatter of plastic on the floor made some men jump. Others just pulled their guns out. Someone had even hit the panic button in their pocket. The two machines dropped from their hiding places in the ceiling. Instantly they targeted the poncho hood and started the gun barrels spinning. No bullets came however.
The Don put his hands up in an attempt to calm everyone.
"Alright," he cleared, "alright. We're sorry. We did not mean to deceive you. It was simply a security issue. You must understand. We meant no offense by this gesture."
"Fortunately for all of you," she continued, "I feel oddly merciful today. So I think we will just settle for a much higher price."
"H-higher?" the sweaty Don stammered.
"Five million should do." She finished.
"What?!" He stood up now, "I can't give you that much. I'm not authorized to. Hell he wasn't even worth that much. I can't- I mean the real Don isn't even in the country. Just give me a day. That's all I'd need to get the money then I can wire it all over to you."
"No," She snapped, "Cash only. We don't need a paper trail."
"I understand," he flopped back in his chair, "but I just can't do that then."
"Oh, you shouldn't have said that." The little girl winked at him. She then reached up and pulled the metal disc from her hair. Holding it parallel to the floor it, she held it poised to be thrown at any moment. Some how this disc had blades on it now. Each leaf of the metallic flower was a blade.
The sexy tall woman yanked at the braided leather necklaces. They came off and seemed to tumble to the floor in a heap. One of them however was still in her hand. Once the leather mess had fallen to the floor it was clear they were not necklaces at all. It was all just one big long whip. She too held it ready to slash at a moment's notice.
Leader woman remained still.
Now all the men had their weapons drawn as well. Tony trembled. How had they snuck those weapons in? Other than Tony trembling, no one moved. Everyone waited to see who would make the first move.
"Now wait a minute," the Don stood up again, "A-are you crazy? You're out numbered and far out gunned. Just what do you think you can accomplish with those? You don't seriously think you can beat us with them? You can't hope to win."
The leader's head tilted back a bit. Enough to see her mouth at least.
"That's never stopped us before," the shadowy woman remarked, "and I guarantee you. It never will."
Chapter I – At the end of the Day
Ben bashed his head against his locker door. Finally the school day was over. It was just like every other day. He was just slightly more tired today. It gave him all the more reason to be glad the day was over. Now he could go home and sleep.
He stood up and rubbed his head. If he had leaned on the locker too long he feared he would pass out right there. Gazing at the locker handle he thought about what about what little homework he had.
His thoughts were interrupted by a hard cover book bouncing off the back of his head. It was a text book. The hard cover belonged to his best friend, Brendan.
Ben and Brendan had been friends for as long as he could remember. Brendan was slightly taller than him. It was only by a few inches but he always picked on him because of it. They had always treated one another like brothers. They looked enough alike that many times they were believed to be brothers. Both had brown hair and average complexions. Ben had blue eyes while Brendan had brown. Ben was also stronger which he used as leverage over Brendan. Other than that they were nothing special.
"Yo, man," Brendan greeted as he planted himself against the wall of lockers, "I wouldn't let coach see ya dozing off like that. He'll work your ass off tomorrow at practice."
"Yea I know." He replied. They both had joined the football team freshman year of high school. They both had made the team every year since. Brendan's father had pushed him to join, so his heart was never really in it. That was probably why Brendan did not play all that often either. Ben had joined to give Brendan some moral support and someone to talk with. They were both receivers but Brendan was viewed as being better on the bench than the field.
Ben however had been named team MVP three years running. His skill had also gotten the attention of many of the school's female populace. All the girls wanted him while all the guys either wanted to be him or wanted him dead. In the mean time he wanted to be someone else. Popularity was not really his thing. He was more than content with the simple life he had.
"Oh yea, speaking of which," Brendan continued, "word has it coach wants the team to work on being able to take a hit. Especially the receivers."
"Wha? Crap," Ben complained, "That son of a – wait. Where did you hear this?"
"Where do you think?"
Ben rolled his eyes and opened the locker into Brendan's face. He did not understand why the cheerleaders got the football players' practice schedules before the football players themselves. Of course he had decided that he probably did not want to know.
Brendan poked his head around the locker door. He went to say something but say something on the other side of Ben. So instead he gave Ben a warning heads up.
"Speak of the devil." Brendan dropped back behind the locker door. Now hidden he opened the text book and stuck his nose in it to hide himself further.
Ben knew who it was that was approaching. He could hear her clicking female shoe-wear. So he didn't even bother to look up.
"Hey Ben," came the high pitched screech of the lead cheerleader, Annette.
By the standard of any self-serving male, this five and a half foot tall walking bag of lust was referred to as the Cleopatra of their day. She sported shoulder length blond hair which she worn in a pony tail. It was something she rarely did. According to her it damaged her hair. She had what most would call the perfect figure. It was rumored that she even turned some homosexual guys straight. In a single word men often described her as 'hot' or 'sexy' while most women would call her a 'skank' or the growing favorite 'slut.' She and Ben were viewed as the best looking in the school.
"So I was thinking," she continued as mumbled something under his breathe, "Want to hang out tonight?"
"And you had to think about that?" he responded, "That's the most direct approach you've tried yet."
"Well I did have a lot of time to think and all," she chirped. Holding a book against her chest she leaned in and started rubbing herself on Ben's shoulder. Ben just rolled his eyes and tossed a book into the locker.
"Yea, cause seventh period was all that long ago." He remarked.
"Hey now," she said, taking a step back, "I heard your dad was out of town for the weekend. So I thought you might want some company. Ya know someone o cuddle with in the cold of night. It isn't like we have to go any where or anything. We could just stay at your house. Unless you wanted to come to mine but my mom is home all month so I don't know how much fun that would be. Actually I do know of this great –"
"Sorry," he cut her off, "I've got a test on Monday. And I've got a lot of chores. So with studying, chores and homework, I'll be pretty busy."
Ben admitted that she was very attractive. So the offer was temping. She was the fantasy of every twelve year old boy since she had developed physically after all. However she had always been a pest to him. He never really had any intention of liking her. The reality of it though was that he had alterative motives. These reasons applied not only to Annette but anyone that ever tried to get close to him. Ben's father and Brendan were the only two that he had ever told what those reasons were. No one else ever found out simply because he did not believe anyone else would understand. He wasn't even sure Brendan understood but he trusted him. Unfortunately this only made him appear more mysterious which made him more appealing to the opposite gender.
"Oh come on," she was not about to walk away so easily, "How can you continue to refuse me? Am I attractive to you? I don't see how that could be though. I was elected home coming queen twice. Junior and senior year. Juniors aren't even aloud to home coming queen. Don't you see Ben? I'm the most attractive woman in the school and you're the most attractive man in the school. It's practically destiny that we are to be together. You and I –"
Annette had been interrupted by another prissy cheerleader down the hall a bit. Ben could see the girl waving to her friend who was clearly frustrated at the second interruption.
"Alright coming," she called back, "Okay well I have to go. If you happen to change my mind you have my number. If not you can always talk to me online sometime. Kay? Bye."
With that she waved and trotted off down the crowded hall. Ben watched and waited till she was out of sight before doing anything. Once she was he let out a sigh of relief and shut the locker door.
"Dude," Brendan had reappeared from behind his book, "I still cannot believe you. I mean, I remember what you said about all that stuff with your mom, but dude seriously. This is Annette Rose Manning we are talking about here. Any lesser man would kill to have her attention that badly. The only other guy that has even come close is Chad. And he's not half the man you are. I'm not saying you have to love her or anything. I tend to doubt she loves you. She's just looking for some fun if ya know what I mean? You should at least consider that as well. I know even I'd hit that in a heart beat."
"What would you be hitting pray-tell?" It was Brendan's girl friend's voice. She kicked him in the butt as she came up behind him.
"Ah!" Brendan turned white, "th-the books of course. Heh heh. Yea that's it. I'd hit the books."
She raised an eyebrow, "In a heart beat huh?" her eyebrow twitched, "You? Yea right. Okay and uhhh what book would that be? Human anatomy?"
He turned away from her to face Ben again and crossed his arms, "I haven't the slightest clue what you're implying."
"Tee hee. You're such a dumb ass," she giggled, "but I guess that's why I love ya." She tucked her right arm under his left and leaned against him.
Angela was about as tall as Annette was. Angela however was no cheerleader. She enjoyed the simpler things in life. Being brown haired and gray eyed with glasses she was not the hottest girl in school. Brendan found her sexy in his own way though.
"Yea whatever" he unfolded his arms and put one over her shoulder, "but seriously Ben. You've got to get out and do something at some point. That girl is going to hound you to death. Literally."
"Oh please," Angela laughed, "he is right though Ben. You've been alone for as long as I've known you. Probably longer. It's senior year. And as much as I despise the girl she is the most interested in you and is trying harder than any one else. Oh and I'll be damned if you don't go to prom this year. Even if you don't sit with us at least you'd be there. You are going to find a date and go. You aren't going to sit on your ass by yourself all night like last year."
"Thanks mom." He remarked. Rolling his eyes again he turned and left down the hall.
"Hey, ass hole I'm serious!" She screamed. He simply waved and disappeared into the crowd. "I just don't get it. Why won't either of you tell me why he doesn't want a girl friend?"
Brendan lowered his gaze, "It isn't just a girl friend he doesn't want. It's more complicated than that. Most people probably would never understand. To hear it is one thing, but to actually feel it is something completely different."
The old pick-up truck sputtered for a bit then rolled to a stop. The engine rumbled for another second but hissed to silence. Cleveland could see steam coming from under the hood.
"Ah crap jusht what I need." The drunk cursed as he kicked open the door. He stepped out of the rust bucket as the small dog followed in step. Toby sniffed around a bit then found a nice spot to relieve him self. "Toby you stay put okay? Hic. Oh god."
The hic-up brought the alcohol taste back to his mouth. It caught him off guard and caused him to tumble back against the vehicle simultaneously shutting the door. Alcohol seemed to taste a lot better the first time. This second time around it was not as enjoyable.
Cleveland stumbled to the front of the trunk and popped the hood up. Smoke and steam overwhelmed the tired man in its escape of the run down car. He coughed and stumbled back a bit waving his arms to clear it.
"Ah shit," he coughed again, "I can't even see the pieshe a shit. Course I prolly couldn't even see it anyway. Hic. Maybe I can find some help or shomethin."
He looked around the dirt path. In his drunken state he was lucky to determine one tree from another. Yet he still managed to realize that he had no idea where he was. Both directions he could see nothing but trees. If there was a house out there he was not going to find it by him self.
Fortunately he was not going to have to look very long. A short way down the road the fuzzy dog began yelping at something obscured by the trees. He was eager to move forward but wasn't sure and ended up just rocking back and forth.
"Find something boy?" Cleveland asked as he made his way over. Toby just whined a bit in response.
Once next to the canine Cleveland could make out another road. It appeared to be more of a drive way than a road however. This new path brought him up to a large mansion. It was dirty and run down. Clearly no one had lived there for quite some time. At one time it may have been a manor or ranch. There were other smaller buildings scattered around the area. Some of them appeared to be no more than storage sheds or shacks. The building itself had fallen into such disrepair that it made it very creepy.
After Cleveland took a few steps towards the facility Toby chickened out and took off down the dirt road they had come down. The drunk however never noticed the frightened animal leave his side.
"Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll have a phone." He murmured to himself.
The front door consisted of a pair of double doors. Both doors' hinges had rusted in place. The left door was already open a slight bit though. It was enough for Cleveland to get his arm in and push it open enough for him to get in.
The inside was no better than the outside. Everything was pitch black. After his eyes adjusted he could tell that the only light in the room was coming through various holes in the building structure. It was a very cloudy day as well making the lighting all the worse.
He could at least see that there were two staircases. One to his left and one to his right, both ran along the wall and lead up to a balcony on the second floor that ran the wall in front of him. Anything past the railing of the stairs or balcony was hidden by the darkness however.
"Hello?" Cleveland called.
To no surprise there was no answer. He honestly had preferred it that way after seeing the condition of the house.
Still wary of anything he proceeded into the room. He made it about half way in when a long leather cord fired out from under the staircase on his right. It wrapped itself around his neck making it difficult for him to breathe. From the other staircase launched a sickle weapon attached to a chain. This wrapped around his left leg. The sickle then latched into one of the chain links and with a yank brought Cleveland to the floor. The leather cord pulled at the same time causing him to spin as he fell planting him on his back. The impact threw his head back into the dirty marble floor. He rumbled a bit then shut his eyes, unconscious.
Ben dropped his bag on the couch.
"Dad. I'm home." He called. Waiting a moment he listened for a response. Nothing responded, "Good, then at least he did manage to get up this morning."
Ben's father was an electrician of some kind. Ben did not know the details of the job. He just knew his father wasn't the average electrician. His father worked on bigger systems, more elaborate and potentially dangerous systems. It was not with a big company or anything so it demanded he travel often.
The answering machine had some messages on it so Ben went over to check them. There were two messages. Caller ID let Ben know who they were from. The first and most recent call turned out to be from Annette. He deleted it with out even bothering to listen to it. Doing so was rude and he was aware but he knew what she was going to say.
The second message was a number he did not recognize. He hit the play button. It was his father's voice.
"Hey Ben. Listen it turns out the morons here managed to really botch up the system I put in. Unfortunately I'm gonna have to fix it for them. But the problem is the things I need to do so are still there at the house. Ya know some program discs and special wires I've got in the basement. So just go ahead and get yourself some dinner. I know I wasn't going to be home anyway. I'll get something on the way home. Alright then? Well I've got to get going then. I'll see ya when I see ya. Don't wait up for me. Bye."
A beep indicated the end of the message. Ben deleted it and made his way back to the couch. He grabbed the bag off the couch, dropped it to the floor then sprawled out on the sofa. He stretched his arms and legs.
Just as he was about to kick off his shoes something started scratching at the front door. It sounded like the nails of a small animal of some sort.
His dog Toby darted in as soon as Ben got the door open enough. The dog usually went with his father. So Ben assumed his father must have been home. The animal did not run to his food and water as he usually did after a trip though. Instead he began chasing his tail and barking frantically.
Curious Ben stepped out onto the porch. Off to his right was the drive way and it was empty. There was no reason for his father to park the old pick up any where else. Ben began to worry. Toby shot back outside and hopped off the porch. Once in the front yard again he turned back to Ben and continued his panicked routine. Clearly something was wrong.
"Okay Toby," Ben said and turned to shut the door behind him. He then jumped down the four steps that lead to the porch and grabbed his bike leaning against it. "Take me to Dad boy." He asked the little dog but it was already in the process of retracing its steps.
After sniffing for a moment Toby took off full sprint down the road. Ben didn't hesitate to follow. They made a series of turns making their way through the rush hour of the small town. All the while Ben thought about what he was going to have to do once he located the old man.
Ben's father often had a bad habit of drinking too much. It was an unfortunate habit he picked up shortly after his wife Ben's mother had died. All too often since then it got the elderly man into trouble that Ben was the one to bail him out of. It was a job Ben had not volunteered for but knew he had to continue to do.
Eventually they followed the roads north to one specific one that went around the mountain. It was a small road that squeezed between the mountains that dotted the area.
Eventually Toby darted off the right side of the road and into a thicket. Once through Ben could see a small dirt path not that far ahead of him. His bike got him through the thicket but that was it. He had to dismount and carry it through the rest of the brush.
Once he made it to the road he looked for Toby who was already on his way up the path to Ben's left. He had never known the path was there but Ben could tell the direction they were headed took them further up the mountain. Most of the mountains in the area were still heavily forested. There were never any reports of any one living out this way however.
Shrugging it off for the moment Ben got back on his bicycle and continued to follow the fuzzy canine up the mountain path. It was big enough for a car to drive on but the terrain was treacherous. As they continued on it began to smooth out a bit though.
After a little while longer they rounded a bend and spotted the front end of the pick Ben's father usually drove. The hood was up for some reason so Ben figured there must have been some car problems that caused him to stop. Other than that there was still nothing on the path. Ben hopped off and dropped the bike next to the truck. He knew if his father had left the truck he could not have gotten far. If he was drunk he would be even closer.
Toby did not bother with the truck however. He continued down the path. Ben decided it was probably best to continue to follow the creature. Toby had stopped though. He took up a seat in the middle of the road starring at something on the left side of the road.
Ben thought for a moment that Cleveland must have fallen into a ditch there and was hurt. When he got closer to the dog though he saw it was not at all. In front of him stood an enormous mansion that looked like something he had seen in a history book or a horror film. He prayed it was not like one from a horror film though.
There would be time to explore it later however. He shot for the double door entrance. Ben knew that if his father had gone in it was likely that he was either passed out from drunkenness or passed out from getting hurt. For the first time Ben found himself actually hoping it was because he was drunk.
Already open a bit he easily slipped between the two rusted doors. He got in and began to move in before his eyes had even adjusted to the dark environment. It was a bad move on his part.
From the shadows on the right side a pole of some kind shot out and lodged itself between his still moving legs. Naturally he could not stop in time and toppled to the floor on his hands and knees. He glanced back to see what had tripped him but it had already receded into the darkness. The only glance of it he had gotten was a blur of it being yanked out of sight.
Looking ahead of him into the room again he could now see his father lying in the center of the room.
"Dad!" Ben called out to him but he did not respond. Instead leather braided cord leading from Cleveland's neck to the shadows under the staircase on the right hand side of the room appeared. The cord tightened a bit. With the sudden increase in tension Cleveland sprung back to life grabbing the leather around his neck in an attempt to release him self. His face turned red under the stress.
"No! Stop please." Ben cried. Tears began to well up in his eyes. Quickly he blinked them away. Once the tears were out of the way Ben could see the shadows under the balcony in front of him begin to move. A figure stepped out.
It was a tall man with long dark blue hair. In the light it looked almost black. Over his shoulders he wore something that was half tunic half cape. Underneath that his clothes resembled that of an age long past. They had an old fashion feel to them yet looked very new age at the same time. He was extremely muscular. Most muscle heads that Ben knew of seemed disproportionate. This man did not have that dilemma.
The almost black haired man stopped & folded his arms. He stood like a statue. He was not the one to speak however. Another voice came from the shadows he had emerged from.
"And why would we do that?" the female voice asked.
"Why?" Ben pondered, "Well for starters it would be murder. But if you really must know he's my father. H-he's-he's the only family I have left."
It was silent for a few minutes. The long haired man turned a bit to watch something in the shadows he came from. Suddenly a silhouette materialized. There was no detail visible just the jet black figure of someone wearing a hooded cloak of some kind. In the shade Ben could not tell but he thought the cloak did not go all the way to the floor but he was not concerned about it.
"I have lived my whole life without a family," the figure snapped, "Even if I do decide to let him leave here alive what do I receive in return for the favor?"
"I-I don't know," he answered, "What do you want?"
The shadow's head lifted a bit in interest. Even the blue haired man looked back and forth curious to hear the answer. As they waited Ben got to his feet. He made sure to keep his emotions in check.
"What I want you can't give to me," the shadow finally replied, "You can't even know what that is because it doesn't exist in a miserable world like this. And even suggesting you did manage to come up with something remotely close you would have to remain here for the rest of your pathetic life."
"Done!" Ben shot back, "But you have to promise me you'll let my father go unharmed."
"No Ben," Cleveland managed to choke out. Doing so only tightened the cord around his neck. It was a signal to him to stay silent.
The figure thought for a moment. She did not seem to have expected Ben to reply that way. Her posture even seemed to hint at some confusion. Finally she spoke but only one word, "Fine."
With that the leather leash restraining Cleveland dropped to the floor limp. He let out a cough as air made its way back into his lungs. Ben was about to apologize when everything suddenly went dark. All he knew was that something had just slammed into his right temple putting him unconscious on the floor.