CHAPTER 23: BENEATH THE GROUND
Before anyone could comment on the noise, two Charon soldiers entered their area. They didn't have the large technomatic staffs that could knock any mage off their feet, but the two identical figures were still imposing.
"Oh no, they're here!" Apollo cried.
"Stand back!" Leona shoved the researcher aside and created a sandy gale that blinded the soldiers.
"Go, cauldron!" Deuce shouted, and a large cauldron appeared over the soldiers' heads and hit them both right on target. The two collapsed, their heads popping off to reveal empty helmets.
"AUGH—wait, what?" Jill ceased her panicking. "There weren't people inside?"
"Oh… that's good," Deuce said. "I was so into the moment, I didn't think of that part…"
"Well, that's one way to get around the 'anti-magic' armor," Ace said. "Though why is it always cauldrons with you? Haven't you ever summoned a piano or a big cartoony anvil?"
"Look, summoning magic is hard, alright?" Deuce said defensively.
Apollo got to his feet and stared at the Charon units just as the cauldron vanished into thin air. "Ortho had overridden their AI," he noted. "Just like he's taken over everything else… this is such a nightmare."
"What exactly is going on here?" Riddle demanded. "Why is Ortho acting so aggressively? And where is Idia?"
"Alright, alright! I-I'll explain everything, let's just get back with the others," Apollo said hastily. "That attack won't keep those Charon units down forever."
"If you're on Ortho's side and you're planning on double-crossing us…" Azul warned.
"I swear, I'm not! We all need your help! Come on!" Apollo urged. He led the group of mages back the way they'd come, and approached a large door that was identical to all the others. There were numerous scratches in the metallic surface, suggesting it was opened with a tool. Apollo knocked on the door. "Guys, let us in," he insisted.
There was a loud groaning sound of metal against metal, and a number of grunts, and finally the door was opened. A number of wary researchers glared at the group behind Apollo. The man in front was muscular, seeming tougher than the others, and he held a scratched-up crowbar to open the doors with.
"Now the subjects and intruders are waltzing around? Oh, this night can't get any worse!" Herald lamented.
"They're with me, and they're on our side," Apollo said. "Now let us in before those Charon units find us!"
"…Alright," said the man with the crowbar, and he stepped inside first. Jill and the others scuttled inside, and the door was forcefully closed behind them. The researchers all looked injured, but thankfully not in a fatal way.
"Ortho has gone haywire," Apollo announced. "We don't know exactly what caused this, but he's shut everything down and taken control of the Charon units. Charon is swarming up in the Isle of Woe—we've seen them come down the elevator and surround different parts of the facility."
"When did this happen?" Vil asked.
"A few hours ago," Herald muttered. "Someone—or something—knocked me out and took my ID to enter the Underworld. Ortho went to apprehend the thief, and that's when everything went wrong. He must've been corrupted by some Phantom in the Underworld… I feel like this is my fault somehow…"
"Idia went in after Ortho, and he hasn't come out," said a green-haired woman whose nameplate read as 'Demi'. "Either our director was defeated, or he's in on this."
"I'm guessing this wasn't part of our testing?" Jamil asked.
"Heavens, no! With all our security down like this, all kinds of catastrophes could happen!" said a gruff man with silvery-blue hair and 'Paul' on his nameplate. "Why two members of the Shroud family would do this… it's fishy, that's for certain."
"Right, the Phantoms could escape the Underworld," Jill noted worriedly.
"Not just the Phantoms, little lady! If everything is down, that means Tartarus can be broken down too! And that means the Titans could be loose!" Paul cried.
"I don't want to ask, but… what's the difference?" Leona wondered.
"The Titans are Phantoms from thousands and thousands of years ago," Demi said quietly. "They're abominations of nature—Phantoms with the power of gods. That's why they're kept at the bottom of the Underworld with the highest levels of security. If they broke out of the Isle of Woe… well, then the outside world will be destroyed."
Her words hung heavily in the air. Twisted Wonderland destroyed… the end of the world. Hadn't Ortho promised a new world, albeit in a dark and ominous way? Jill couldn't see how anyone would justify such a thing. If these were anything like the Titans from Hercules, then they wouldn't be able to create anything. Sage's Island and all the lands beyond… all the places that Jill had seen and the places that she wanted to see… all wiped out in the name of some vague 'progress'.
She wouldn't stand for it. And looking at her friends, none of them were going to stand for it either.
"There's gotta be some way to stop the Titans," Ace reasoned. "I mean, you put them in Tartarus all those years ago, right?"
"Yeah, with the Thunder Spear," said the muscular researcher with the crowbar. His nameplate identified him as 'Primus'. "It was forged by the Jupiters all the way back then. Has the power of a thousand thunderstorms. It can knock a Titan all the way back into that pit."
"So let's get the Thunder Spear and use it!" Epel cried encouragingly.
"Two problems with that," Primus went on. "One, it's so powerful that we had to split it into three pieces in order to contain it. Two, the pieces are in the Underworld—in the midway hangars to be precise. It won't be easy to get them, and if our technology is down… well, you'd have to ask Ortho to get into the Underworld at all."
"You don't have to ask," said a familiar voice from the intercom. Everyone flinched.
"Ortho! What's the meaning of all this?!" Riddle cried.
"Well, the others explained it pretty well," Ortho said nonchalantly. "But I knew you guys would try to rise up against us—Night Ravens are very tenacious, aren't they?"
"They?" Jill questioned. "Why are you talking like that? You're a Night Raven too…"
"Anyway, since you plan on coming down here, why not make a game out of it?" Ortho went on. "I can let in people if I want—I let Grim in earlier, after all."
"Grim's in the Underworld?!" Jill sputtered.
"Yeah, I don't think he's telling the truth," Deuce whispered to her.
"This isn't a videogame! You're risking everyone's lives!" Azul argued.
"Aw, but why not have fun with it?" Ortho asked. "I'll let you guys in… but that's it. No Styx researchers allowed! And then we'll see who wins!"
"So it would be a race against time…" Jamil mused.
"My heart races with excitement and terror! You have yourself a deal, Monsieur Wonder," Rook agreed.
"I suppose it's out of our hands, then," Apollo decided. "…Here."
He reached inside a large box and took out three keys with a lightning symbol on the ends. "The three keys to the three pieces of the Thunder Spear," he explained. "You'll need these. The Thunder Spear is our only hope if the Titans are released."
Riddle, Leona, and Vil each took one of the keys.
"Don't worry. None of us will let you down!" Epel promised, sporting a feral grin.
"Right. If the world is at stake, then this concerns all of us," Vil said. "And since we're not your test subjects anymore… I think it's time for a change, don't you?"
"What…?" Jill tried to say, but she was briefly blinded by a flash of light. When the light subsided, she was in her pumpkin-orange dorm uniform. All the other students were in their dorm uniforms as well, much to their relief.
"I wish we could be more helpful… but we have no choice but to leave this in your hands," Herald said. "Please, be our heroes."
"Heroes, huh… I like the sound of that," Ace said.
As the others briefly went over their plans and what they expected in the Underworld, Jill was lost in thought. Ortho was acting massively out-of-character, and Idia was missing in action… could this be an overblot? Did Minuet-Hand's influence touch the Shrouds too? Could a titanic overblot have happened here of all places, threatening to consume the world itself?
I must be a goddess of misfortune, Jill thought wearily. Eris, eat your heart out.