Chapter 9-The true mastermind
Everyone in the room once again let out an extremely loud, resounding gasp that echoed across the room, bouncing off the stone walls and leaving an eerie frightening sensation in the mist around them. Luke, Lisa, Clive and Brenda let out an exclamation of shock, looking at the culprit with wide eyes. No one in the room could believe that the culprit had hidden themselves so well for so long. After Layton had exposed the culprit, not one person had dared to breathe after gasping in shock, but simply stared into the dark, mad eyes of the culprit with a deep hatred and loathing in their pupils, with nothing but the sound of silence surrounding the large group-silence or the occasional whisper and unpleasant remark from some of the staff members. Luke had to double check in case he was dreaming and carefully followed the outline of the professor's long, pointed finger to his immediate left, swivelling his head slightly to his left to see who had deceived everyone and caused so much chaos, heartbreak and terror. The look of mingled fury on Layton's face shocked Luke and Clive to the core.
The figure that the Professor was angrily pointing at looked incredibly outraged, an evil expression etched deeply into the flesh of their face, so visible that it could have been carved with a sharp knife. The culprit gnashed his teeth together so hard that they looked in immense danger of cracking right down the middle, his cheeks were a shade of dark, blood red, having swollen almost to the size of a red giant star, his bloodshot eyes glared at Layton with a loathing and hatred so deep that not even the devil himself could've described it and his hair had suddenly stood perfectly upright as if Layton had just stunned him with a shock gun. The culprit looked so mad that Layton was extremely surprised that there wasn't smoke or steam pouring out of his ears, or that he hadn't yet morphed into a blood thirsty, vile, monstrous creature and taken a swipe at his head, or lunged forwards with a long clawed hand to rip his own heart from his chest. Nethertheless, the culprit did appear unnaturally ferocious and swelled to twice his normal size, his shirt buttons loosening as his chest puffed outwards in sheer, bitter anger.
"What the hell are you talking about, 'Professor'," he snarled as the two staff members standing directly next to him slowly edged away, looking immensely startled.
Layton didn't remove his current position as he glared at the man.
"You know clearly well what I'm talking about-Brundan," Layton replied in a much calmer tone.
Brundan growled menacingly and took a threatening step towards the group, but the two remaining security guards instantly gripped his arms and pinned them firmly to his sides, grunting at him and glaring with faces that were twisted with hate as the memory of the petrified security guard hadn't left their minds for a single second. Brundan roared and tried to wrench himself free from their strong powerful grip. Luke looked up at the Professor with puzzled eyes, after fixing Brundan with a gaze so fierce it made his own previous expression look like one that had been pulled by an angel, as Clive had to clench his fists to stop him spitting in anger at the scrawny man in front of him.
"Why, Professor?" he asked slowly, "How did you know he did it? Was it your famous intuition?"
Layton nodded at Luke, but this time refused to let a smile envelope his face as he turned to address the whole group. Lisa looked on the verge of tears as she just gazed simply at the struggling fiend, heartache and betrayal portrayed in her glistening silver eyes. She clutched her heart as her pigtails sunk and drooped weakly behind her back, her sore lips trying desperately to force a sentence out, or even a few words if she could, but an invisible sewing needle had prevented her from speaking. She just threw her head forwards and faced the ground beneath her feet as she folded her arms in an extremely hurt manner. Brenda tried her hardest to support Lisa, but soon found herself having to step behind the Professor to prevent her from springing at the man who had helped the creature claim her husband and friends. Her lips were pursed into an angry look as she glared at the man with frowned eyebrows.
Brundan eventually stopped struggling and glared at the Professor with a repulsive look as he threw back his head and laughed horribly.
"Yeah, Layton," he sniggered, pronouncing the word as if it was too terrible to be written in the dictionary, "what's your evidence that I did it? What's your evidence that I can control a bloody Gorgon for Christ's sake!?"
He wrenched his arm away from the guard nearest to him and a large device flew out from his lab coat sleeve, landing with a low clunk on the tiled floor. Brundan howled furiously as he lunged for the device, having wrenched free of the guards, but Clive had been waiting for his move and had already casually kicked the device out of his reach, scooping it up proudly and walking over to the Professor to give him the device. Luke had to jump up to catch a glimpse of the strange contraption: it consisted of a metal outer coating with an amber, green and red button, two traces of wires which were blue and red, a large cog that was just about visible underneath all the components and many more technical features as Luke let out a gasp.
"That's right, my boy," said Layton as he observed the device for a few seconds before turning to face him, "the Gorgon that has been going around and turning people into stone is nothing more than a robot, created to strike terror into the heart of this museum."
No one responded to the professor's statement-they were too shocked for words. Clive looked as if his brain cells had exploded and he'd just witnessed an indescribable miracle happen.
"Err…Professor? A robot? How is this possible!?" Clive asked, his voice growing louder and louder as more of his brain cells frazzled with the previous stunning statement.
"It's quite simple, my boy," Layton answered as he threw the remote into the air and caught it again single-handedly, "allow me to explain."
Everyone looked at the Professor as if he had just been diagnosed as an asylum patient, but the staff stayed silent and moved closer to listen to the Professor's speech. Layton cleared his throat and held up the remote for the whole crowd to see.
"Until very recently I, like everyone else standing before me, thought that the Gorgon truly was real. However, there was one action that occurred that got me suspicious and wondering whether there really was a real Gorgon lurking around- before the 'Gorgon' got Flora, Clive looked at the Gorgon directly in the eyes and everyone saw this, but he wasn't turned into stone, whereas if it was a real Gorgon then Clive wouldn't be here to tell the tale. Luke also got a glimpse of the Gorgon and yet he didn't turn into stone either. When Brenda was searching she discovered a trap door that led to a secret passageway underneath the museum. This led to a highly modernised scientific lab and there we found many, many clues and discoveries. Luke found a remote that was identical to this one here and when a few buttons were touched, a robot replica of the Gorgon performed actions identical to the real Gorgon-identical as in exactly the same and this was another thing that made me suspicious. If you possess a remote like that then it must mean that either you have been visiting the lab lately and are using it for a purpose, or you were planning on another Gorgon attack right here."
Layton paused for a moment before continuing.
"I know that the Gorgon lurking around is a robot because two people who looked it directly in the eye didn't turn into stone and if it was real, I wouldn't be able to do this!"
Upon saying this, the Professor immediately pressed the green button and the Gorgon sprang from the ceiling and landed in the centre of the room, hissing wildly and as Layton pressed the amber button, its eyelids started to open. Everyone got a single glimpse of those blazing lights before screaming like banshees and cowering frightfully, waiting to feel the hardening of their limbs, but nothing came. They looked at the Professor with terrified eyes as he advanced towards the gorgon and pulled out its eyes, just like he had with the robot in the lab.
"These are just flashlights to conceal what it was really doing and how it was really turning people into stone," Layton explained seriously as he ripped off its hands and peeled away the canvas coating to reveal a pair of hard gloves with a tough outer coating, which were exactly the same as the ones found in the lab.
"Using these. People who looked at the Gorgon's eyes would be frozen to the spot in horror and unable to turn away from its eyes, so no one would notice the Gorgon placing a hand on exposed flesh of a victim before they turned into stone."
"Aha!" yelled Luke triumphantly as the answer suddenly came to him, "At every scene of an attack there was a paper scrap, which was part of eleven scraps, to form an article explaining how to create a certain chemical by mixing two special liquids that could turn anything it comes in contact with into solid stone. This exists as we tried creating it in the lab and it worked. The gloves on this robot must have been smeared with that special chemical, so that the people who it touched turned into stone statues, which made everyone believe the myth of the Gorgon!"
Brenda resisted the urge to ruffle his hair lovingly. A realisation suddenly hit her and she gasped.
"The effect was only momentarily!" she exclaimed, "Does that mean that…everyone who was turned into stone is still alive? Where are they now?"
Layton let out a thoughtful sigh as he began slowly pacing up and down.
"Unfortunately, we can't precisely say for certain at the moment where they are, but it's incrdibly likely that they are still alive. I have a theory, which I shall explain later."
Brundan hissed furiously as the security guards pinned him to the side of the wall once again, a horrid expression on his face that made everyone tremble at the mere sight of it.
"So? I had a remote to control a robot Gorgon? It could've been planted on me or something! You can't just jump to conclusions! Fair enough, your little explanation on exposing the Gorgon as a robot proves that it's a fake, but where's your proof that I did it?!"
His act was working, as some of the staff members advanced towards Brundan, nodding and looking up at the Professor with accusing glares. Layton lifted his top hat and pulled out a red silver accessory from his pocket.
"There are many clues that point to you as the culprit," he said smoothly, holding up the accessory for everyone in the room to see, "You were careless at the first attack of the security guard, mother and child-you were in the same room as the attack, as you only had one ruby red cufflink on your shirt collar when you ran down here after hearing the scream and then shortly after all the staff members had left, we uncovered a silver cufflink with a red gemstone right at the scene of the attack, which was identical to the one that you were currently wearing. When you stormed out of Mr Hopkins's office, you had two cufflinks in your collar then and as your lost cufflink was found at the scene of a crime, it must mean that you'd been in that room at the time and had lied about your whereabouts when the scream and petrification had occurred. That was the first thing that made me suspicious of you. Also, Lisa commented on how much your behaviour had changed lately, from being a bubbly cheery employee of your boss, to a suddenly rude man. I do know that you lost your job, but being sacked even doesn't make you completely change your attitude and manner, does it, Clive?"
Clive instantly nodded, glaring at the Brundan as if he was a repulsive insect.
"I agree entirely, Professor!" he said coldly, not taking his eyes off of the man who had caused so much evil, "Furthermore, if I may, Professor, we were told by the librarian that you had seemed to have changed and if more than one person commented on it, that must mean that it had shocked them, which in itself is suspicious. When we were checking the library log-books, we saw that you had borrowed a book two weeks ago and signed with a neat signature and then yesterday, you had signed your signature in a completely different manner: a messy, extremely untidy scroll that was barely readable and I simply couldn't make out a single letter if I didn't squint to read it. Don't you think that that is suspicious, hmm?! How can your handwriting change in a few weeks? It's unnatural and not even I could do that. Plus, the article with the information on how to create the chemical that turned anything into stone was in your exact same handwriting. That is pretty obvious isn't it?"
Layton nodded politely at Clive, then slowly turned back to face the seething form of Brundan.
"After writing that article, you knew people were growing suspicious like your boss and so you ripped the paper into scraps so that no one could work out what it was. You had cleverly managed to set the lights so that they went out to hide you and the Gorgon robot slinking into each room to petrify another person who was growing suspicious, but as you left each room, you dropped a scrap carelessly and we soon figured it out. We also found a device in the lab that when held to the mouth, changes anything you say to a different sound-which was exactly the same as the Gorgon. You hid in the shadows in each room and used the device to make it seem like the Gorgon was speaking to us, when really it was you using a device to alter your voice. It is clear that you are the person using the lab, to build the robot Gorgons and to create the special chemical so you could keep using it to petrify people and as the scraps were written in the same handwriting, that clears things up nicely. You were too careless and all the evidence surrounding you points directly against you and proves as clear as crystal that you are the culprit, Brundan. Or, should I say, Descole."
Upon hearing Layton's words, Brundan instantly stopped his struggling against his two captors, his confused act and outraged expression and his lips spread into a wide, evil grin as he threw back his head and let out a loud, harsh laugh that once again filled the entire room with a frightening sensation and a sudden deathly chill. His dark beckoning eyes gazed at Layton admiringly and his hysterical and maniacal laughter. Brundan finally stopped laughing and smiled calmly at the Professor, grinning with immense pleasure.
"Oh, Layton," he purred softly, "Nothing ever, ever gets past you does it? I try so hard to penetrate your puzzling wits and power and yet I never, ever prevail. Once again, that was absolutely and utterly 'Laytonesque' and for a moment there I honestly thought that I had the wool pulled over your blind eyes, but it seems that I've failed…"
With a superhuman effort, 'Brundan' broke free of the two security guards and hit them both sharply on the back of the neck, sending them to the floor in an unconscious state. The staff backed away immediately, being horrified by the presence of such a dangerous man. 'Brundan' smiled coldly at the Professor, before taking his right hand and roughly pulling his dark strands from his scalp, whilst taking his left hand and pinching his cheek firmly before pulling at it with all of his strength, so that the flesh and skin on his face peeled off in the direction of his hand, although it put up quite a fight and kept a firm strong grip to his real face like glue. Some of the members took one look at his distorted face, that he was now ripping off in large amounts, then instantly fell the floor in a dead faint at the sickening sight, which was enough to give anyone a nightmare or two.
Eventually, the mask peeled off completely and 'Brundan' threw a large, woollen cloak over his body with a fur and feather boa to finish off his transformation, until a few seconds later, there stood Layton's arch rival in all of his true evil glory with his real colours exposed at last: standing in the middle of the floor as the staff hastily retreated into the corner of the room, shaking in terror. They just stood with their backs to the wall as far away from the man as possible, whilst the professor and his assistants glared at him. He whipped his cloak behind his back gracefully and replaced his white icy mask so that is covered his eyes. He stroked his hat gently as if it was a priceless antique and let out another cold chuckle as his hair blew vigorously behind his shoulders, the very presence of Descole making the room feel as if there was a terrible draught.
He gazed at Layton once again and Layton glared back, pushing Clive behind him in a protective manner. Brenda opened her mouth in shock and placed a hand to her upper leg to support herself from falling over in fear as Descole surveyed the group thoroughly, before grinning at Brenda with a smile of wickedness.
"Ah, Brenda, wasn't it?" he asked, sniggering slightly, "It's been far too long hasn't it, my dear?"
Luke growled like an animal in a cage and leapt in front of his mother protectively, with his hands firmly balled into sharp fists. He gnashed his teeth as he glared at Descole with disgust-it was certainly not surprising, as Descole had previously held Brenda hostage for half a year with their butler in the mystery of the spectre. Luke wouldn't let himself forget that in a hurry.
"Don't you dare approach my mum again, you…you—"
"Feisty, aren't you, Triton?" Descole announced, flexing his muscles, "Just like your precious father! Again, congratulations, Layton. Tell me, how did you know that I had been posing as that soft-hearted fool and for how long?"
Layton adjusted his top hat and gave Luke a reassuring nod before answering his enemy.
"After discovering the lab, it was clear that the person behind this had to be one with a love of science and a love of puzzles, otherwise you wouldn't have had a puzzle lock on that door and I do know that you love science beyond description. The sudden change of attitude also got me wondering as well, including the sudden change of handwriting. That really clicked into place-when you posed as Doland four years ago, your handwriting was bad then and I eventually recognised it, so I guess it's easy to say that your handwriting hasn't improved a bit since you last impersonated someone. There were several other clues too, but the most obvious was the one in the lab. You remember it don't you, Luke?"
Luke nodded, still not taking his eyes off the evil villain.
"That's right, Professor!" Luke replied as Brenda finally mustered up enough courage regain her normal posture, "Those gloves in the lab were carved with the initials 'J.J.D' for 'Jean Descole'! That was quite a giveaway, now you mention it, but I what does the middle 'J' stand for?"
Descole grinned admiringly at the boy and smiled proudly.
"That's right, Triton, it certainly looks like Layton here has been training his 'apprentices' good, doesn't it?" he asked, with the word 'apprentice' dripping sarcasm with every letter, "Jean. Jacques. Descole. I'm proud of such a name-it's better than 'Layton' any day!"
"That's the other thing that confirmed my suspicions about you, Descole," continued Layton, "only my enemies call me 'Layton',so it was clear that you were someone who despised me."
Clive stepped out from behind the professor, his teeth grinding together with hate as he resisted the strong temptation to yell every swear word he could think of at this French weirdo.
"So, Descol-dork, or whatever it was they call you, what did you do to the real Brundan?" he yelled angrily as Layton fixed him with a firm look.
"Clive! Don't say things like that to him! You do not and I repeat, NOT want to infuriate Descole! There is a side to him behind his mask that you couldn't imagine!"
Luke glared at Descole in agreement to Clive's words.
"If that's true and the Gorgon is fake then what have you done to the staff members? What have you done to Emmy and Flora and my father?" he shouted, unable to contain his anger any longer.
Descole slowly turned dangerously towards the boys, smirking at their reactions and whipping his cloak across the stone floor dramatically.
"Well, let's just say that that dim-witted softie broke my records as the easiest person to abduct in my entire life! Easier even than Brenda and Doland were and believe me, that butler was a pensioner for Christ's sake! I don't think I need to explain really, as Layton will have it all in his head already!"
Descole cackled loudly as Brenda clutched Luke tightly to stop him running at the dangerous man, whilst Layton stepped forward. Clive turned to face Lisa, who just stood there with her mouth gaping open in shock and sadness.
"You…you…you kidnapped Brundan? YOU FIEND!" she screeched as Clive jostled her roughly against the side of the wall to protect her.
Descole smiled unnervingly at her and waved his hat before replacing it in a surprisingly calm manner.
"Lisa," he purred softly in a voice that portrayed sadness and outrage, "Oh, how long has it been? Four years I'd say? Now we meet again!"
Luke and Clive stared at Lisa in shock as Layton placed a hand to his chin thoughtfully.
"Wait a moment!" yelled Clive, pushing his hands outwards in front of Lisa and Descole, "You two know each other?"
Descole smirked.
"You're very slow, Clive," answered Descole as Clive's mouth fell open to its full height, "Oh yes, I know perfectly well who you are, boy. I read the papers you see and I must say that you would make a perfect sidekick."
Layton grabbed Clive's wrist and pulled him behind him again, fixing Descole with an icy stare as he chuckled before continuing.
"Yes, she worked as my assistant long ago-before I fired her for betraying me! Yes, I did take that fool! As soon as news of the discovery reached the museum, I already knew about it as I was near to there at the time, in search for a relic I could sell for some lovely money. We had a nice little chat did we not, Luke?"
Luke gasped and pointed an accusing finger directly at Descole.
"You! You were posing as Mr Rowley!?" he exclaimed in surprise and disbelief.
How on earth could he have failed to see through his disguise for probably the fifth time now?!
Descole grinned broadly.
"Certainly, I was! When news came that the stone head was being transported to the museum I decided that if I could somehow pose as one of the staff, I could get an opportunity to steal the stone head of Medusa! That dim-witted fool was the first person to pass so a simple blow to the head, a quick change of clothes and voila! I'm ready to go! After kidnapping Brundan, I went to assist some of the other scientists in researching the artefact, but it seems that I appeared too suspicious and the boss started to grow wary of me and when he fired me, I knew hope wasn't lost because I still had a cunning little trick up my sleeve! I'd been creating some robot Gorgons in my spare time just in case-I discovered the lab on my first day and had been working there since, but you were very right, Layton, about the clues and evidence."
"Then when he fired you, you decided to try to terrify him into giving you the head of Medusa, so used the robot Gorgons to 'petrify' people in the hope that he would believe the legend of the Gorgons and hand over the head, but when that failed you had to attack some more people. Then when we started taking the head around with us, you began following us in the attempt to steal it and 'petrified' anyone who became suspicious or was close to uncovering you- Clark had passed a vital clue and was becoming suspicious so you took him, the librarian must have realised your handwriting problem and so you 'petrified' her as well to stop her from telling anyone," Layton explained, whilst pacing up and down in thought as he spoke, "Why, may I ask? Money. You wanted to steal the head in the hope of gaining useless money. Am I right, Descole?"
"Of course you are, Layton! You have no idea when it comes to money, do you? Oh sorry, I forgot: 'The love of money is the root of all evil' and VERY ungentle-manly, isn't it? That, right there, is the head of Medusa, for crying out loud! That artefact would be classed as priceless! Some people would pay over one hundred million pounds to have such an artefact! I'd be rich! Famous! What I've always wanted to be and as usual, Layton, you have ruined it all for me and spoilt my plans, which I had so perfectly created! No one could've come up with a plan greater than mine!"
At this point, Layton stopped pacing suddenly and whirled around to face Descole, with a frown creasing his face in all corners.
"On the contrary, Descole, you are incorrect."
There was a silence as the smile from Descole's face instantly vanished and was replaced with a bitter fury. The staff inhaled sharply and began shooting questioning glares at the professor.
"What did you just say, Layton?" he shouted, clenching his fists, "If this is some joke—"
"Most certainly not," he replied calmly, although he had a grave expression imprinted on him, "someone has managed to devise a plan much, much worse than yours, Descole. That someone is in this room right now, standing before us as we speak."
The group gasped in horror as Clive looked up in a confused manner at Layton.
"Well, if it isn't this French weirdo," he added, enjoying the look of anger on Descole's face as he spoke, "Then who could've come up with a worse plan?"
Layton began pacing seriously again. The staff fell silent, observing every move of the people around them.
"The true culprit hid themselves very well and had everyone fooled with their act to hide their plan," he said slowly, "The true mastermind is THERE!"
Everyone's head swivelled around instantly and what they saw made them react in a way that could not be described, as they were all so shocked beyond belief. Brenda glanced horrified at the accused person, her lips quivering as she tried to search for words as her knees were in danger of giving way, Descole almost roared with fury with an aghast look on his face, Luke looked like he was doing a perfect impression of a goldfish, Lisa stood still with her mouth hanging open and Clive instantly backed away with sheer disgust smothering his face: the Professor had pointed to the person who everyone hadn't expected in the slightest. The staff gasped loudly and shook their heads as if trying to wake up from a dream.
"Pro…Pro…Professor? I'm sure that the petrification of your daughter and your…assistant is finally taking its toll on you. How…on earth…how on earth could I have done this…this…madness?"
Layton glared at the figure.
"I think that you can stop the charade now-Lisa," he said seriously, refusing to take his current expression off of his face.
Lisa had rapidly turned from a fuming red to a ghastly pale shade, her lips now a blood red colour and despite the look of shock in her sapphire eyes, there was an unmistakable darkness in them that swirled vigorously in her pupils. Her hair drooped from the shock and her hands appeared to be shaking, but the trembling soon stopped and she curled her hands tightly into fists.
"WHAT?!" yelled Sarah as she tried to regain her balance.
"Lisa...," Marie faltered, tears forming in the corner of her eyes, "how could you..."
Lisa shot a furious glare at the staff before turned her attention back to the professor.
"I'm hurt, Layton! Hurt beyond belief! I've been with you since the start of the adventure! Helped you, accompanied you and now you accuse me of a terrible crime that I didn't commit! How can you?" she snarled, as a deep red immediately flooded her cheeks, making her appear heavily flushed.
"LISA?!" yelled Luke and Clive in unison, "But…but…why?"
Descole growled at Lisa furiously.
"You! You've been deceiving me the whole time?!"
Lisa didn't respond, but simply threw her hair behind her back and locked her eyes with the professor's as he didn't lower his finger.
"Do explain, Professor," she said coolly, regaining her posture with her hands on her hips.
"By all means, that I shall," he answered coldly, "You may have thought you had the wool over my eyes, but I saw through your disguise. That sweet, kind caring act of the Lisa we knew was all an act to get what you wanted. Like Descole, you wanted the head of Medusa for yourself. For someone who studies snakes, you seem very interested in that stone head-too interested in fact, Lisa. That was one of the things that gave you away-you were more interested than you should've been and you seemed determined to get the head yourself, such as when you asked Clive if he wanted you to carry it instead of him for a little while, but that didn't work. The snakes can't really be acting strangely because of the gorgon, as it wasn't real and snakes are highly intelligent and would be able to tell if the gorgon was fake or not. That book that you borrowed from the library would be the thing to explain that, Miss Adamson, as it tells you how to charm snakes. Only someone who can get very close to the snakes must be charming them and that person has got to be you, as the snakes' carer, but why you are charming them I do not know yet. Need I go on?"
Lisa looked up at the Professor in fury, her hands clenched so tightly together they looked as if they could break at any second with the force that she was squeezing them together.
"Grrr…," she growled, gnashing her teeth together in a painful way as Brenda looked at her warily.
"I'll take that as a 'yes'," Layton replied smoothly, still not removing his finger, "Plus, you tried to steal it last night when you began searching the room you were in with Luke and Brenda. However, you forgot that Clive had the head and Luke alerted us, mistaking you for the Gorgon. You wanted that head so badly."
Clive suddenly found his courage and thrust his finger at Lisa too, copying the Professor's example.
"You said when we met you that you had a very high salary that Mr Hopkins gave you weekly, so you don't want the head for money as you get plenty from your job like French-crazy-dude here," he added, as Descole stamped his foot in a blinding rage.
Layton nodded at Clive's statement.
"Clive is right, Lisa. If you don't want the head for money then you must be coming up with an even more terrible plan than Descole's. So tell us what you intend to do-now."
Mystery 3-Ssssstrange behaviour: COMPLETELY SOLVED
The cause for the snakes' behaviour was not the presence of the gorgon, but was in fact Lisa, who was charming the snakes for unknown reasons which resulted in the side effect of their dangerous attitude and strange behaviour. Why was Lisa charming them?
Mystery 4-Stone statues: SOLVED
Luckily, the victims who were turned into stone by the Gorgon were not petrified and are still alive. The Gorgon robot wore gloves smeared with a special chemical that turns anything it comes in contact with into stone for a short while, so the stone statues were all a trick to help in Descole's plan.
Mystery 5-The Gorgon: SOLVED
The Gorgon was just a robot created by Descole in the hope of bringing the legend to life to terrify Mr Hopkins enough into handing over the stone head of Medusa. It's a good job that it wasn't real after all!
Mystery 7-The science lab: SOLVED
The underground lab was recently discovered and Descole was using it as a secret hideout to create the Gorgon robots and make the special chemical that turned things into stone for a short while and to do other scientific experiments too. It was used very seriously and it was a good job Layton and his group stopped him before it got even more dangerous.
Lisa remained silent for a long time after the Professor had spoken. However, everyone was glaring at her as if expecting an explanation and she certainly wasn't stupid- she knew exactly when she was beaten.
"Ha…Ha…AHA HA HA HA HA HA! she laughed evilly, a hungry evil look now enveloping her whole eyes, turning her instantly from a shy caring lady into a ravenous evil monster in a mere matter of minutes.
She threw back her head and tore out the bands securing her pigtails and threw them viciously across the room, as her hair fell gracefully down her back, shaking in fear at its owner's own maniacal voice as she cackled even louder and smirked at the shocked, speechless responses from the inhabitants of the room. The staff had all fled in fear now so that only the group stood facing the dangerous girl. She gazed contentedly into the eyes of her prey and smiled once again. The security guards cautiously approached her as the rest of the staff retreated further against the wall.
"I'm SO surprised that you haven't figured that out for yourself, Layton!" she sneered, "Oh my goodness! This is a puzzle that Professor Hershel Layton HIMSELF can't solve! What will be next?! Flying pigs in Antarctica?! You're right. I knew precisely what was going on the moment that head came through the door and as I was one of Mr Hopkins's most trusted members of staff, he called me to come and look at it. Well I knew exactly what it was, but oh no! I wasn't going to tell him! For one week I devised my plan, but there was one final thing that was missing for my plan to work and yes, of COURSE I didn't do it for MONEY! Who needs money when you could have the fame and glory that I will very shortly have. I suppose I should thank you though, Professor."
The group stared at Layton as if he was an outraged tiger swallowing a little bunny alive in one great gulp.
"What do you mean, Lisa?" growled Layton as he backed away towards the wall, scared himself at Lisa's sudden change of personality.
Lisa laughed once again and looked dramatically at her watch.
"You don't know, do you?" she answered with a sneering laugh as she elbowed Clive roughly in the ribs and he was sent tumbling to the ground in pain.
He leapt to his feet, cursing the wretched woman, as she snatched the strap of the satchel single handily from the air-that contained the head of Medusa. Layton's eyes widened-she now had the thing she desperately wanted.
"There is one final thing in this room that I need to accomplish my ultimate mission- and I shall be taking it with me now!"
"WHY YOU EVIL, LITTLE—" bellowed Clive, charging forward towards Lisa with his fists raised.
She smiled for the last time and threw a smoke missile into the centre of the group with a mighty force, disappearing stealthily into the thick fog. Thick black smoke immediately gushed out of secret holes in the side, enveloping the group in a huge cloud of dust, smoke and slightly poisonous gases as they coughed and spluttered vigorously to avoid inhaling the substances. A choking scent of burnt debris and toxic fumes filled the entire room, making it suddenly seem like a battlefield in the Second World War in a poisonous gas attack that proved incredibly lethal and deadly. The smoke seemed endless, clouding off their vision forever, never for them to see the light of the sun again, but a loud bang instantly caused a blaring light to shine through the smoke, instantly clearing it so that everyone could see properly once again. The group looked around in wonder to see Descole wielding a fire cracker that had cleared the foggy smoke for them. Layton spluttered for the fourth time in a row and turned to observe the group, a look of sheer panic on his face. The rest of the staff were curled up against the walls, coughing and spluttering vigarously. Sarah shakily got to her feet and helped Marie up slowly. They ran over to the professor, their eyes wide and frightened.
"I...I...I think she escaped...," Marie stammered, "what...what do we do now, Professor? If we can be of assistance...please let us know."
Layton nodded as Sarah stepped foward, feeling a surge of confidence.
"If you do find the others...please rescue them...please...I can't live without Arnold...or Mr Hopkins and his nephew. We just-"
"Sarah, we will do everything in our power to find them. We shall also find Lisa. I promise that she will not get away with whatever she has planned whilst we still draw breath," the professor answered seriously, "For now, get yourselves to safety and await further instructions."
Sarah nodded and smiled weakly at him as she and Marie ran in the opposite direction to join the rest of the staff.
"EVERYONE TO THE RECEPTION!" called Vincent loudly as the staff quickly filed past one another, ignoring the 'orderly manner' they were used to when practising emergancy escape drills.
"Is everyone alright?" Clive asked shakily as he tried to avoid choking on some of the smoke that he had accidently inhaled.
"Clive, are you okay?" Layton asked as Clive nodded weakly, "That's good. Brenda? Brenda?"
Descole pointed into the sea of white lab coats with a scowl as the familiar tint of her hair shone in the light above them. The professor and Clive ran over to her as Descole reluctantly followed behind them. Brenda's face was contorted with concentration and worry as she fought her way past the cluster of people. The professor approached her carefully as she started talking quickly to the the staff member in front of her in a pleading voice.
"Brenda?" he asked cautiously, "Are you alright?"
Brenda spun on her heel to face the professor, a worried expression clothing her face.
"N...no...I'm okay...physically," she stammered as she turned her attention to back to a squirming Marie, who was fighting to keep her current position in the bustling queue, "Are you sure? You didn't-"
"I...I'm sorry, Brenda," she answered in a sad voice, "If that had been the case I would've-"
She was cut off sharply as the rest of the staff continued to push her from behind, forcing her feet towards the door. She shot Brenda a reassuring look before she joined Sarah and the others in the main reception area. Brenda watched her as she left, her heart hammering. She squealed slightly when she felt a hand slam down on her shoulder, but quickly sighed in relief when she saw it was only the professor. Clive and Descole stood quietly behind him, examining Brenda's frightened face.
"Brenda?" the professor asked as a horrible feeling gnawed at the back of his mind, "What's wrong?"
The woman looked up at him, terror and fear written clearly in her pupils. Her face appeared peaked and she was breathing irregularly. Layton gasped in shock- something was wrong.
"Um,...Professor?" Clive asked warily, "are we...missing someone?"
Layton placed a hand to his chin as he scanned the room. Descole frowned.
"It doesn't take a genius to work it out, Layton!" he snarled, "Doesn't the look on Mrs Triton's face give you the answer?!"
Descole's words instantly brought the professor back into reality and he was hit with the same force of worry that had hit Brenda. They were all right. Lisa had run off-but it wasn't her that they missing. Without wasting another second, Layton surveyed the room, his eyes widening as he counted the inhabitants.
Clive, Brenda, Descole, himself...
That was all...a wave of horror hit him. If it was just those three people, as well as himself, then that could only mean that they were missing...
"L…Luke?" Brenda called timidly into the fog, her throat raw from fear and shock, "LUKE!"
Layton immediately began seacrhing the room, pushing aside any obstacle that got in his way. How on earth could he have not acknowledged his apprentice's absence until that moment?!
Clive, having seen the look of terror on Layton's face, also began searching, his voice suddenly high pitched and unrecognisable with every word he spoke.
"LUKE!" he yelled panicking, "NUMBER ONE APPRENTICE! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Muffled yelps rang through the air as Clive froze to the spot, straining his ears to catch the delicate sound.
"LUKE!"
A harsh echoing laugh rang through the whole room, vibrating every visible object in sight with the wickedness and evil that was going on in the room, chilling the group to the bone. Brenda almost began sobbing with worry and terror. Loud footsteps and an echoing scuffle resounded across the entire room as the group turned to face the source of the noise-and what they saw was what Layton had feared the most.
Lisa stood near the back of the room, with her lips twisted into a jeer of hate and mockery. Her eyes were focused firmly on the group, as if she was trying to penetrate their very minds; her gaze seemed irresistible, as if she was as deadly as the Gorgon herself. She laughed evilly, grinning triumphantly from ear to ear. Her hands clutched two things-the first was the satchel containing the stone head of Medusa-that she had finally got her bloody hands on. She waved it playfully in front of their eyes as Clive growled in a threatening manner. Her hair whipped her back furiously, but not as much as the wriggling figure she held captive in her other hand, being imprisoned by her firm, painful grip. The professor gasped and stared into the terrified eyes of his apprentice, as he squirmed uncomfortably. Luke was fighting valiently to break free from her hold, but Lisa's grip oly tightened, causing him to cry out in pain.
Brenda threw her hands to her mouth in horror, speechless beyond words. Luke raised his head weakly, looking helplessly at the blank faces in front of him. His face became drained of colour as her hold tightened.
"Professor!" he whimpered in a hoarse wavering voice, before he continued to struggle even harder, "Let go of me, Lisa!"
Layton knees shook in fright as he gazed back at his young apprentice, unable to reassure the terrified look in Luke's eyes. He balled his fists and glared at Lisa, angered by the way she was treating a harmless child who had done nothing against her.
"Release him at once!" he demanded, his eyes narrowing to slits, "He has nothing to do with you!"
Lisa smirked, wrapping her arm around Luke's chest so tightly that he looked as though he might faint.
"Who said he has nothing to do with me?" Lisa taunted, scratching his shoulder with one of her long nails.
Clive let out a deafening roar of uttermost fury as he flew forward at her sniggering form, wishing he could rip her guts out there and then for all of the pain and misery she had caused. Luke looked up slowly, trying desperately not to cry as Lisa gave him another painful stab with her nails.
"YOU MONSTER!" he roared, advancing swiftly like a dragon through the air, "YOU VICIOUS, EVIL, WICKED, VILE, RAVENOUS, LOATHSOME-"
"CLIVE! STOP!" screamed the petrified voice of Brenda, who had finally managed to regain enough strength to speak.
Clive skidded to a halt, causing him to look up in shock as she extended a trembling arm and pointed at Lisa.
"One more move and the boy dies..." she said in an unaturally calm tone, "and I should ask: do you really want to finish your sentence, Dove?"
Lisa's eyes no longer showed humour, but rather an unmistakable blood thirsty, monstrous look, despite her calm voice, as she tightened her grip on Luke once again. Clive gagged at Lisa's repulsive posture: she had thrown down the bag quickly and now had both of her hands on Luke, one pinning his arms by his sides so that he couldn't move an inch and the other holding a glistening, blood stained knife directly at Luke's throat. Judging by the pressure she was forcing on the blade, it was clearly unmistakeable what she would do if they moved so much as a millimetre.
Luke winced in pain as a drop of blood oozed out from the cut that Lisa had made in his neck, as he gazed in sheer terror at the Professor. Clive backed away with a superhuman effort and Lisa nodded with satisfaction, refusing to remove the knife from its current position. Brenda completely blanked out from reality, looking as if she was about to faint at any moment. Her eyes grew wide and her whole body began shaking dramatically. She fell to the floor just as Clive managed to force her back onto her feet, glaring at Lisa with a look so vile, so evil and so blood thirsty, it would have frightened away Medusa herself. Descole coughed loudly from the corner of the room, also glaring daggers at Lisa.
"You won't kill him," he said, speaking for the first time since they had noticed Luke's absence, "You said that you needed him!"
Layton blinked rapidly, secretly feeling impressed at his enemy's logic and his attempt to put the tiniest ray of hope Brenda's soul. Lisa only sniggered.
"No, but I can when he's become...disposable..."
Luke tried to kick at her with all of the strength he could muster into his body, but it was hard to do so when your arms were pinned securely by your side by some crazed woman who was holding a knife to your throat with a murderous gaze.
"Now, we really should be going. Time is precious and I have no idea how much longer I can keep a hold on my hostage!"
"Why, Lisa?" shouted Layton as he attempted to reach out to Luke, "Why?! We trusted you! What do you want with Luke that is so important?!"
Clive gazed in shock at the professor as Lisa sniggered once again.
"That, Layton, is for me to know and you to find out! Yes, I have my own plan now ready to put into action and no one can stop me-not you and your meddling troupe of brats, or should I say BRAT-with a capital 'B'!"
She glanced at her watch and at last removed the blade from Luke's neck, causing him to cough lightly.
"Now, please forgive me, Layton, Brenda and the brat! We must leave here now, as I have some unfinished business to attend to! It's a shame that you'll miss the 'Grand Finale', Layton as it sure will be grand!"
Without another word, she grabbed Luke's arm and began dragging him roughly towards the door, forcing him forwards despite his attempts to run back to his mother, the professor and Clive. She dragged Luke roughly, curving in the middle of the floor, as if trying to avoid some unseen object. Luke felt as if his arm was literally going to tear at the force that Lisa was pulling him.
"PROFESSOR! MUM! CLIVE!" he screamed frightfully as Lisa grasped the neck of his shirt and tugged it, so that Luke found himself being dragged across the floor.
Brenda was off like a bullet shot from a gun after her son as Clive dived for Luke's hand in the hope that he could pull him back. The professor, however, stayed exactly where he was. It was no coinsidence that Lisa had avoided the centre of the room. His eyes widened as he caught sight of Brenda and Clive charging directly into the area that she had avoided. Lisa suddenly stopped, turning around, a wide grin on her face.
"Clive! Brenda! Stay where you are!" Layton ordered as he charged after them in the hopes that he could stop them.
Descole shoved past the professor and charged at Lisa in such a mad frenzy that it would've been comical if the matter wasn't so serious. Clive dived for Luke, just centimetres away from grabbing onto his flailing hand. Upon hearing Layton's warning, Brenda spun on her heel, eyes wide at the sight of the professor as he ran up to her.
"Stop! Don't move!"
Brenda instantly froze, not daring to move a muscle and as much as Descole despised it, he too stopped in his tracks.
"LUKE! I'VE GOT YOU! IT'S OKAY!"
The professor gasped as Clive grabbed Luke's hand, yelling several reassuring things in the hope to calm him down. Lisa sniggered and tugged the boy in the opposite direction, leaving Clive grasping onto nothing but thin air. The professor, Brenda and Descole ran from behind him as a loud whirring noise directly below their feet instantly caught their attention.
"Professor! What is it?!" Clive shouted as the noise grew increased in volume.
"RUN! NOW!" Layton yelled, trying to push Clive and Brenda away from him, "IT'S A-"
"WHAT?! WHAT IS IT?!"
As if in answer to Clive's previous statement, a dozen metal bars slammed shut over Brenda, Clive, Descole and Layton, trapping them in a complex cage from which was no visible escape. They were trapped. Clive tried to wrench the bars apart with his bare hands in his desperation to save Luke. He screwed up his eyes, knowing that it was his fault for setting off the trap. Luke looked as terrified as his mother, who now looked like something dug out of a graveyard. Lisa laughed maniacally at their weak efforts to free themselves.
"You're not the only one with tricks up your sleeve!" she hissed evilly to Descole, pulling out a large device from her belt and fastening it securley to the side of the cage, "It's a good job I know where the security traps are in the museum! The lock is my own design-good luck trying to crack it!"
Luke attempted to knock the device out of her hand but the woman only laughed cruelly.
"Feisty one, aren't you?!" she asked with a sneer, "Well, you have a good reason to be..."
Clive continued to hammer at the bars, whilst Layton and Brenda could only watch helplessly as she dragged Luke to the door. He began thrashing at her and screaming at the top of his voice.
"PROFESSOR!"
"LET HIM GO, LISA!"
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH IT!"
"Oh, I will...believe me that I will..." she said dangerously, pulling out her knife.
"Don't hurt them! Please!" Luke pleaded as tears ran down his cheeks.
"I'd be more worried about myself, if I were you..." Lisa answered menacingly, which succeeded in effectivly silencing the boy.
She gripped Luke even tighter and shoved him through the door, still screaming in terror, before following herself after taking one last glare at Layton.
"I told you-this is the final puzzle; of which you will never solve, Layton!"
She laughed one more time and charged through the door, with Luke's screams still ringing around the room. Layton looked fearfully at the door through the bars of their prison, fell to his knees and howled with grief and uncontrollable anger.
"LUKE!"