P.I.E – Limey Rivalry (Part six – A Partner Astray)

Toast and Sophia hadn't moved in ten minutes. The entire room had a silent and uncomforting atmosphere. Toast was getting tired of looking into the devoid emptiness. Though he was not scared of anything that might be down there, he was still nonetheless cheerless about having to guard it either.

Sophia, on the other hand, was fidgeting where she sat. She had gotten tired of standing and there was a table, along with three chairs, already in the room. So she decided to take advantage of that.

She was clearly frightened about the basement door being left open. Usually, whenever she went near it, she would panic and rush out of the room. She could hardly bare seeing the murky blackness behind those previously locked doors.

Ghost and Bryn returned to the room. They had decided to walk, so Ghost wouldn't get tired again and so whatever Bryn was carrying was secure within his hands.

Toast, upon noticing the relatively small box under Bryn's left arm, irritatingly said, "Is that it?"

The two men, looked at Toast confusingly. Bryn answered, "If you're referring to this," he lifted the box up, "then yes. Why?"

Toast looked at the two of them, bewildered, "If all you needed was that small box, then why did you need Ghost to go with you?" Toast had suspected them to do some heavy lifting, which would explain why Bryn would need a hand. If all he needed was something that small, why did he request Ghost to accompany him?

Bryn tittered toward Toast, "I can assure you, I did not need to get a box. You see, Toast – was it, there's actually something inside the box. That was what we need."

Bryn held the blank cardboard box in his hands. Suddenly, he turned his attention to Sophia, who was watching everything with an uneasy posture. "Sophia," he said, causing the woman in question to jump at the use of her name. "If you are feeling uneasy at all, don't feel that you have to be here. If you want to allow us to get on with everything, go ahead."

Sophia gulped, "T-thank you." She then arose and headed as quickly as she could out of the room.

As she passed the two men standing at the entrance of the room, Ghost turned his attention back to the previous issue. "Actually, Bryn, you never did tell me what was in the box," Ghost said.

Toast clenched his jaw at being ignored again. He still hadn't been told why Bryn had taken Ghost for no apparent reason.

"Oh, did I not," Bryn said innocently, "Well, good. Now, it can be a surprise."

Toast's mouth hung open at Bryn. This man was meant to be a professional, yet he had been wasting time constantly. Toast began to suspect something: why would he apparently need Ghost to help him if he only needed a small item?

Bryn placed the box down and began to open it. Once it had been opened, he began to take certain parts out and assemble them with brilliant expertise.

Ghost watched him intently. Toast pretended to cough, in order to get his partners attention. It didn't seem to be effective, so Toast began to give off a loud "psst". Ghost rose his head to look at his partner, who called him over.

Ghost stepped over to Toast, with a puzzled look. "Yeah, Toast. What is it?" he asked to his older partner.

"I see you've gotten to first name bases with him," Toast said, looking over to Bryn, "What were you doing with him outside?"

"Nothing, really. We got out, we talked, he got the box and we went back in," he listed. Suddenly, he looked at Toast excitedly, "Hey, get this, Toast. It turns out that Bryn already knew about us."

Toast cocked his head to the side, "What?"

"Yeah," Ghost continued, recounting the conversation that he and Bryn had as they were walking back through the house, "remember when he was shaking my hand when we first met? Well, it turns out he was saying how happy he was to finally meet us. He's been following our work for years, Toast."

Toast was surprised to know this. Usually, they stayed out of the public eye often. The fact that Bryn was British and – according to Sophia – lived abroad should've made it harder to find information about them. They had both tried researching themselves before, but not more than a few news articles and their commercial had been uncovered. Perhaps Bryn just knew where to look, but Toast found that unlikely.

Bryn whistled toward the duo, gaining their attention. "Voilà," he said, gesturing to whatever he had finished assembling.

I seemed to be a remote control car, as there was a controller adjacent to it. After a more thorough inspection, they saw that the wheels of the device were massive – the diameter of each wheel was longer than the actual height of the main body. The device's body seemed very slim. I had a light built into it and what everyone could also make out to be a camera. When Bryn picked up the remote and started to control the centre of everyone's attention, they could all see that the camera and the light could be manipulated and turned around.

Bryn happily stated, "I present to you: my spy car." He continued to parade it around, "As you can see, it is a remote controlled device with a wireless camera and light. It is also built with microphones to detect sound. The camera itself has night-vision, as well as using the light to see. The camera, much like ones on typical drones, send the information it receives and displays it on a small monitor." He then took the monitor he was talking about out of the box, leaving it empty. He continued talking, "Thanks to the tires and shock absorbers, it will not break due to moderate collisions or falling. Not to mention, since the camera can be manipulated, it can even be turned around completely. Basically, even if it gets flipped over, the tires will still turn and the camera can move to the side that is upwards. This should be a rather suitable scout, wouldn't you agree?"

Ghost looked at Bryn in awe, while Toast just hummed and looked away. Despite the fact that the device was rather impressive, Toast tried not to be too impressed. He didn't want to be impressed; it may cloud his thinking. Ghost seemed to be too dazzled to comprehend Bryn's confusing story.

"Yeah. It is great," Ghost answered. "I'd love to see it work."

"Well then," Bryn said as he drove the car to the entrance of the basement. He then allowed it to drive in. As soon as it got over the first step, it began to tumble down violently, creating unpromising clattering noises as it did. Eventually, it was lost from view and became part of the inky blackness.

Ghost peered over Bryn to see the monitor, while Toast remained where he was. On the monitor, there was nothing. Bryn had to activate the light, which revealed that the car was upside-down. As promised, Bryn turned the camera to the upward side and sent the car forward.

Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary; the room itself was pretty small compared to what they were inspecting. From what Bryn and Ghost could make out, the walls seemed to be made out of stone, as did the floor. It also appeared to be mostly empty, beside a few crates. "We need to check those, later," Bryn murmured to Ghost, who nodded at the advice.

The view was limited, so the car needed to be manoeuvred around to get a good view of its whereabouts. This took longer that they had expected.

Bryn, breaking the silence that had developed, turned a small amount of his attention toward Toast, "Hey. Did Sophia mention anything about claw marks to you?"

Toast was hesitant to answer, but found no reason to be secretive. "Yes, she did. She sent us an email," Toast answered.

"It might…," Bryn paused; he was distracted by the car, "be worth asking Sophia about them. You couldn't check those out with her while we're busy here, could you?"

Toast folded his arms and tilted his head to one side. "My partner doesn't look busy. Should I take him with me?" He tried to sound as formal as possible despite being absolutely furious at the man's intentions.

"Come now, Toast. You should know that it can easily be done with one person," Bryn started. Before Toast rose his voice to protest further, Bryn beat him to it, "And before you suggest that I go, I'll point out that I'm the only one that knows how to control the car." Bryn rose his hands, which were holding the large controller. "Not to mention, I assume you two have walkie-talkies or something," He looked at Ghost to clarify, which he did by nodding and retrieving one from his man-purse. "I, on the other hand, do not. If you go, we can still communicate to one another if we discover anything worth mentioning."

Ghost looked at Toast with an apologetic – yet somehow unsympathetic – look, "He has a point, Johnny."

"Fine," Toast snapped back and walked out of the room before yelling over his shoulder, "I'll let you two get on with it, sir."

Ghost was surprised at Toast's bitter tone. Regardless, he let Toast go. Although, he did stand up to peer at Toast's form becoming increasingly smaller before turning a corner. He was probably going to find Sophia. Ghost wished him luck; in a place like this, he may never find her.

"Oh, Ghost!" Bryn called Ghost over. Ghost was immediately at Bryn's side, "What? Did you find something?"

Ghost peered down intently at the monitor. There was nothing strange on it. It was filled with the same stone walls and occasional crates. Then Bryn directed Ghost's gaze with one of his fingers, "I didn't exactly find something." Ghost noticed that there was a crease that he had previously believed to be the corner of the room. On further inspection, they saw that there was a narrow corridor that led out of the small basement room. "It turns out that the basement was bigger than we originally thought," Bryn said. He looked up at Ghost, respecting his role as the leader of P.I.E, "Should we explore further with the car?"

"No, actually. I think it's time we explore the place for ourselves," Ghost said. Before, he only chose not to enter because he didn't have a flashlight and three people could use one light source efficiently. But with Toast gone, Ghost thought it may work.

"Excellent," Bryn said while clapping his hands together, "I was starting to get restless, anyway. Whenever you're ready, Ghost."

"Actually," Ghost muttered and rubbed the back of his neck, "Do you mind going ahead. My colleague sort of… forgot to pack our flashlights." Ghost looked down embarrassed.

Bryn laughed, "I've been there, Ghost, believe me. That is why I work as a single unit. It's like they say: too many cooks spoil the broth."

Ghost was uplifted to know that Bryn did not look down on him now. He took a deep sigh of relieve as Bryn made his way past him and took out his flashlight.

The two of them made their way down the steps, deliberately cautious of paranormal happenings as well as slipping off one of the cold stone steps.