Cobra thought he couldn't possibly feel sillier than pretending to be a Love Doctor to morons. Now, he was inching towards a creepy house, holding a stick in front of him like a ward against evil. If sticks could feel, he was pretty sure this one would be quite indignant.

He waved the long thing in front of himself, tracing slow, wide circles as he moved forward. The others formed a single file line behind him, making sure not to deviate from his path. They made their way up to the front door, going at a pace that would have driven Sawyer mad. But it was necessary to make sure nobody was sliced to ribbons on accident.

Cobra gulped. He'd volunteered for the position, but that didn't mean he'd been eager to do it. The only thing that made him more anxious was the fact that Lucy was directly behind him. He didn't want her to be hit if he went down. At the same time, there was a strangely pleasant feeling of the idea that she had his back…in that she was staring right at it. He stopped himself from shaking his head over the anticlimactic; another thing they agreed upon was to keep their bodies as still as possible while moving. Mirajane even offered more cloths to tie around their necks and the lower half of their faces to minimize any potential damage.

He kept his single eye ahead, watching as they advanced on the door at a steady pace. He continued waving the stick, and to his relief, it stayed whole the entire way. Finally, they reached the front door, and everyone gave a collected sigh of relief.

"Well that was…a little anticlimactic," Lucy admitted.

"Which means the inside is probably hell," Macbeth said. Mirajane gave him a weary look and he promptly shut his mouth.

"He's right though, there might be a trap right away inside…I'll stay in front for now," Cobra said. The others had dispersed from the straight line, taking off their masks and crowding around the front door. He motioned them to back up and reached for the doorknob, hand now wrapped in cloth just in case. Touching it provided no pain, no feeling of anything other than a normal doorknob.

Before he could overthink it, he tried to open it, and without any resistance, the door swung open.

The fact that it was unlocked felt like another point in favor of the theory that Percy was expecting them. Or someone at least. Being in front, Cobra took the next step and put a foot inside. Nothing. So he took another step. Still nothing. The others filed in after him, scanning up and down. Eyes and ears on full alert.

Cobra hesitantly checked on the minds in the house. He hadn't tried to listen again in order to sustain his sanity against Percy. Sure enough, the second he opened his ears more fully, Percy's presence threatened to crush him. Before he shut it out again, he gathered that Percy wasn't on the first floor, but higher up. He could feel a ringing in his ears like an explosion had gone off. That was just how numerous and overbearing Percy's thoughts were.

Which he was going to let be his excuse for why he didn't notice the beast woman's presence until she was right in front of them.