"Okay, so Terri and Tiffany are stalling her right now." Joey was looking at her phone, mostly so she didn't have to make eye contact with the other two. "I don't know how long they can keep that up, but Tiffany said she has an endgame in mind. I can't imagine what it could possibly be."

"I think I have an idea," Kirsty said, and Joey looked up at her. Her sister was standing next to the Cenobite that technically was Elliot but also not, maybe, and their hands were loosely intertwined at their sides as they looked down the stairs. It was a decent way down, but everyone was still speaking quietly. Kirsty squeezed his hand, and he nodded.

"It's entirely possible," he said, before looking at Joey. She tried to control her frown, reminding herself that he was helping them, but that was hard to do when he'd offered her a thinly-veiled threat less than half an hour ago. She thought it was a threat, at least. The alternative that he'd intended it as a good thing was somehow worse. "Miss Summerskill?"

"Joey," she said automatically, snapping out of her half-cloud of thought to see him looking at her quizzically. He could read minds, couldn't he? "Just... Joey, please." She looked back at her phone. "She's getting impatient... what do we do, then? Tiffany stalls, we get down there, and... what?"

"Somebody needs to open the box," Kirsty said, "and she won't do it, because the Labyrinth will rip her apart. And if it's one of us, we'll get torn apart, and I don't know if I can bargain my way out of that a second time."

"It is a matter of making sure she does not decide who will open it." She did not look back up at him, but did glance at Kirsty, who looked deep in thought. "If we can get her restrained, it should buy us some time to make a decision. The trouble is that I do not know if I have the strength to do so."

"Maybe we can trick her into opening it anyway?" Kirsty didn't sound confident even as she suggested it. "If it's one of us..."

A horrible sound overtook the museum, more piercing than nails on glass. Joey and Kirsty both covered their ears in a grimace, and when Joey looked up, the Cenobite's expression had gone from stern to grim.

"We are out of time," he said, "she is not waiting anymore." He started for the stairs, descending into the shadows. Joey looked at Kirsty.

"Are you sure about him?" She asked, glancing towards him for a moment, and Kirsty nodded.

"I know it sounds strange, but I am." Joey nodded, but still frowned.

"If he hurts you or Tiffany..."

"I know." She smiled. "Nobody messes with your sisters if they want to live."

"Kirsty, Joey, we do not have time." He was already halfway down, and both followed. Joey took her sister's hand and squeezed it as they followed, the blue tints of the basement urging them into the dark.


Terri and Tiffany looked at each other. Terri was gripping the box - she had been trying, at Tiffany's suggestion, to open it the wrong way for several minutes. She had succeeded, and now it was contorted into something unrecognizable - still black and gold, but looking less like a box and more an assemblage of shapes.

Tiffany had hoped - because she didn't have any better ideas - that one of the arrangements would turn it into the Leviathan Configuration again. This was not it, however, and now Angelique stared at them with hatred in her eyes, blood staining her dress and pieces of her skin trailing at her waist like some horrid skirt-train dripping to the floor. Tiffany couldn't quite see all of her in the dark, but she was grateful for that - what she could see was horrifying, and if she had ever been a human woman, she certainly wasn't anymore.

"Fix it," she growled, "And open it properly."

"I am, I am!" Terri looked at Tiffany again with distress in her eyes, and Tiffany mouthed keep going at her, giving a small and urging gesture with her hands. Terri grimaced, but turned back to the box and started pushing things back into place.

"Now," Angelique said, stepping forward, "I think you've done enough with that." She plucked the box from Terri's hands, and Tiffany's heart dropped into her stomach. "You, girl," she said, and Tiffany shook her head. "Do not defy me. Come here."

Tiffany stared at the box. Her hands were shaking, and Angelique was advancing on her. She shook her head again and took a step back.

"I have had enough inconvenience today," Angelique snarled. Her hand fell on the wall of an incomplete structure, and that did not look like a human hand. "I said come here." Tiffany stumbled back, looking around, ready to grab something to throw or even just to hit her with. Angelique's fingers sank into the metal. "Do not make me ask agai-AUGH!"

Terri's arms had her in a chokehold. Tiffany watched as they struggled - Terri's feet off the ground and Angelique flailing - and the Lament Configuration went tumbling off to the side. Angelique shouted out in pain and Tiffany could see something driven into the exposed muscle of her shoulder.

"That's for breaking down the wall, you bitch!" Terri shouted, driving it in deeper. Angelique gave a guttural growl before flinging Terri off with a yank of her arm, and the metal she gripped ripped away and gave a horrible and overwhelming shriek.

"Enough!" The metal hit the ground, and Tiffany ran to Terri's side. Terri looked up at her - she had landed on her side - and offered a weak nod.

"It was worth trying," she said, rolling onto her back. She winced and grabbed her shoulder. Tiffany was about to reach for it when she felt a drop of warmth on her cheek, and looked up to see something black and gold before her eyes.

"You will open it," Angelique said in a whisper, and Tiffany could only watch as she felt her hands reach up and take the Lament Configuration within them.