"Well, well! At long last, here you are." The harsh voice said. He leant forward and got up out of the blue armchair, standing with perfect posture. "So, how do you like this Nest of ours?" He said, walking over to one of the large windows.
"Bronev, tell us, where is she?" He asked, stepping up onto the royal blue carpet. He thought that if he cut to the chase it would make things quicker and easier, but Bronev had other ideas.
The other man folded his arms. "Oh, I can assure you, she's somewhere safe." he said with a grin.
Emmy frowned and swallowed uncomfortably. Her uncle's definition of 'safe' probably meant locked out of the way somewhere. It was bad enough witnessing Aurora being kidnapped and allowing it - now she felt the guilt of getting the girl locked away.
"Give over!" Luke shouted, pointing a finger at him. The boy scowled. "Tell us where you've taken Aurora!"
The bearded man just laughed. "Oh please, I'm sure you've realised by now that I have no intentions of returning the girl to you." He said, stroking his beard deviously. "You are very observant, after all."
Nobody made any remarks. Instead, they let him continue his little speech.
"Although, you are also here to retrieve the aura stone, are you not?" Bronev continued. He strolled over to his desk and picked up the egg that sat on it. "How about a little game?"
As he walked off, Descole didn't look back to see what the Targent officer did afterwards. He didn't exactly lie (although if he did, it wouldn't have been too much of a problem) - he was going to see Bronev. The only difference was that Bronev wasn't expecting him.
Walking past a window, he saw that the Bostonius was still there - that was generally a good sign. He stopped for a moment, putting his one hand on the window ledge to look out. He hoped that Raymond, whatever the man was doing, wasn't going to be troubled by anyone from Targent. Descole wasn't sure that he would be able to cope at losing Raymond to them too.
He walked on up some stairs which brought him to a corridor lined with grey doors. Some of the rooms had windows looking in, others didn't - it must have been where they put people after kidnapping them. Once upon a time Bronev himself was probably locked up in one of them - perhaps that was why they were disused.
Descole shook his head. There was probably a completely different reason why they weren't used - he knew from experience that Bronev had no issues with punishing people in whichever way he saw fit. If that meant subjecting them to whatever he was subjected to on that day that he got kidnapped by the organisation then he would do it.
When the silence prevailed, Bronev went on talking.
"This game is a favourite of mine - just a simple coin game." He said, pulling a key from his pocket and opening one of his desk drawers. "The winner," He took out the egg and held it in his fingertips. "Takes the Azran egg. Are you in, Layton?"
The professor brought his hand to his chin and closed his eyes for a second. "Very well." He nodded after having the time to consider the offer. Bronev wouldn't have suggested it if it would be a problem for him later on. He thought. But having the egg now would mean that they could buy themselves some time in order to figure out what to do.
"I will play along."
Descole continued to walk - it wasn't much further now until he reached Bronev's office. He felt a strange kind of inner strength and determination - there was something about this place that accentuated how he felt about everything.
Bronev wouldn't have that final egg for long.
Nearing the end of the corridor, Descole noticed something in one of the rooms. It was odd. Not one room that he had passed had anyone in it, but this one looked like-
He stopped walking, and turned to look again through the window.
At first it didn't register. He looked again and released the breath that he didn't realise he was holding.
What was she doing here? Shouldn't Layton have been keeping her safe?
The girl looked up, appearing to sense the man's presence. Her eyes dilated but were unreadable, he couldn't tell whether they were showing relief or fear.
Layton was supposed to be keeping her safe.
He couldn't let Targent treat her in such a way. Besides, he would need her to activate the eggs.
"Well then Bronev, I appear to have won." Layton paused, but when the man didn't hand over the egg he continued. "I believe the Azran egg is the prize we agreed on."
"I suppose I have no choice, do I?" Bronev said, and let out a laugh, handing the professor the stone.
None of this gave them a reason as to why they were lured here. "Why did you want us here?" Said Layton firmly. He could tell that Bronev was playing mind games with them.
"Curious are we?" The Targent boss taunted. "Professor Layton, it is you that I have been waiting for..."
Emmy gasped. She had hoped that the purpose of bringing Layton to the Nest wasn't this. Convinced herself that Leon only wanted to see him to warn him to not interfere in Targent's business.
"Hm?" The professor grunted in confusion.
"I'd like to extend an invitation to you to join Targent."
