Here we go, the culmination of their trip (or maybe I'll add an epilogue, maybe if you guys are nice). First of all, I'd like to say Port Arthur is totally haunted, I went in skeptic but came out a total believer, it was flippin crazy. Anyways, enjoy!
The past two weeks had been filled with many laughs, shouts, and photos, and it was all culminating in this last night. Steve found that Australia was, historically, a penal colony, and there were many famous prisons and asylums around the country. The worst one, he discovered, was Port Arthur, at the most southern part of Tasmania. What better way to end the trip than with a ghost tour and dinner in the haunted asylum?
Upon arrival, the Avengers made their way to the most logical place to begin their adventure, the gift shop. Tony noticed replica fetters and immediately took a selfie in them. Steve made his way over to the bookshelf and started perusing the shelves for anything that caught his interest. On a table to his left was a pile of books and some playing cards. The cover advertised for a 'Port Arthur Scavenger Hunt' involving the cards, and Steve was immediately interested.
Flipping through the book, he learned that each card represented a famous inmate, and if they were to go to the exhibit downstairs, they could follow their lives during their tenure at Port Arthur. Checking his watch, he discovered they had plenty of time to complete the hunt, and he purchased the book and a deck of cards.
"Ok, everyone needs to take a card." Steve instructed and fanned out the cards.
"Is that a trick deck?" Clint asked. "Those things are pretty sick."
"No, it's a scavenger hunt, take a card." One by one, all the Avengers pulled a card. "Now we need to go downstairs and follow the instructions in the book."
"Wait, what is this?" Bruce asked. "Don't we need to be somewhere soon?"
"We have an hour, it shouldn't take long. Each card represents an inmate, we can tour the exhibit downstairs and figure out the fate of each of our cards."
"Sounds fun." Natasha shrugged and headed for the stairs.
On the walls of the exhibit there were pictures of the cards. First, four corridors split up each of the suits.
"I have the 3 of diamonds." Tony said.
"6 of clubs." Bruce replied.
"Ace of spades." Natasha stated.
"I have the 2 of spades, what a pathetic card." Clint whined.
"I have what appears to be a man in a funny hat." Thor said, squinting at his card."
"That's a joker." Tony explained. "It's a wild card, you have to look for the one that looks like yours on the wall over there." Thor nodded.
"I have the jack of hearts." Loki said.
"And I have the king of clubs." Steve finished. "Alright, we can meet back here when we're all done."
Steve and Bruce both had the same suit, so they both went down the far left corridor. They entered a room with many hatches and were instructed to find their card. Steve flipped open the flap with the king on it.
His inmate had apparently been tried for murder.
Wonderful, Steve thought.
He continued reading, then was instructed to head down the yellow hallway.
Bruce had already left, he went down the blue hallway. I guess I'm alone now. Steve thought and forged onward.
The next room was full of cutouts of logs and saws. As punishment, he was assigned to the lumber gang, forced to saw down trees and cut them up for lumber.
Travelling through the rooms, he found out his inmate was trained to be a surgeon, and was let loose after 35 years.
This was very interesting, I'm glad we did this.
Suddenly, he heard Tony shout, "What the hell do you mean my guy died? He was the best of all of your guys'!"
Steve entered the next room over to find Tony waving his hands in his hair.
"So he gets dysentery and dies, what the hell kind of end is that?" Tony cried.
"At least your guy didn't murder five other inmates." Natasha deadpanned. "They looked the other way when the guards executed him."
"I do not understand, the wall writing claimed my man was crushed on the gang of chains, and I don't see how some rope of metal can come alive and maim prisoners...unless that is a thing here I don't know about." Thor mused.
Bruce shook his head. "The chain gang is a group of people all attached to one long fetter and made to do menial grunt work as punishment. It is likely he was moving a heavy material and was crushed by it, not by the chain itself."
"They should have you writing the words on the wall, for your explanation made much more sense."
Tony was still pissed. "Ok, how many of your guys' died in prison?"
Everyone's hand except Steve's and Loki's shot up.
"Well?" Tony inquired.
"My card was sent to Port Arthur for stealing a handkerchief and was let out 10 years later." Loki explained, then paused. "Quite a sentence for a petty thief."
"And captain spangles?"
Steve pursed his lips, he hated when Tony called him that. "My card was tried for murder and sent here, but his medical knowledge allowed him to be trained as a surgeon while incarcerated, and 35 years later they let him out for good service. Never heard from again."
"La-ame." Clint said. "My guy was a badass assassin who broke out 5 times, the 5th one for good. Went on a killing spree back in England and was sent here, did some more killings while here, then vanished." He said dramatically.
The alarm on Steve's watch beeped, signaling the start of the ghost tour.
"Alright, everyone outside, it's time for the tour." Steve said.
"Will it be long?" Thor asked. "I'm feeling near famished." Bruce tossed him a protein bar, which he quickly devoured.
"Ok, before we start, I think this needs to be said, no destruction of property, no crying ghost, and please, please don't turn another teammate invisible so they can scare the life out of the tour guide." Steve directed the last phrase at Tony and Loki, who were trying not to smile.
When they walked outside it was pitch black. Being winter in the southern hemisphere and being so far south, the sun set rather early. A large man in a dark coat carrying a lantern was standing by the "ghost tours" sign. A nametag said his name was Trevor. As they waited for the last of the tour to start, a cloudbank rolled in, setting the mood perfectly, and, although he would never admit it, caused Steve to shudder.
Alright, it's just an hour and a half, how bad can it be? Steve scolded himself.
On the tour three people ran screaming from a haunted house claiming someone had grabbed their hair. One of them was Steve.
Ah, what an ending to this trip, I hope they had fun, and I hope you enjoyed reading!
