Marcus slipped between the shadows, though it seemed he needn't have bothered. The skeletal guard patrols he had been so keen to avoid before were nowhere to be seen. That was almost worse for him. It put him on edge, constantly waiting for an ambush he wasn't sure would even happen. Hunter's words kept running through his mind.

"We can hide whatever we like down here."

"We walk in shadow, Marcus. And this land is nothing but."

They could be anywhere…

"Earth to Marcus? Geez, one second you're all over me, the next you're practically ignoring me. Talk about the King of Mixed Signals…"

Marcus turned and raised an eyebrow at Chastity. "Marcus to Earth. What do you want?"

Chastity sighed. "I asked you if you even knew where you were going?"

Marcus stopped. Before he had followed Chastity's aura to find the Artifact Room but now that she was next to him… "I'm winging it."

"Well how about instead of winging it, we let the person who can sense her new instrument lead, hm?"

Marcus sighed and sarcastically gestured for Chastity to lead the way. He knew she was right, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Have to at least pretend I've come to my senses…

"Oh don't act like you won't enjoy the view." Chastity teased as she walked past him. It was close enough to their usual interactions that Marcus would normally let it go, but he still felt the undercurrent between them. Neither truly knew where they stood anymore. Whether the joke was just that.

"I don't know, Chastity. These walls all kinda look the same to me." Marcus kept his ears open, waiting for the tell tale sound of footsteps to warn him of an ambush. He had learned to his chagrin on his first attempt at sneaking through the palace that the air was dead here. He repressed a flinch at the pun he had created in his mind. Where he was so used to the air being able to aid him, with even the smallest shift in air currents or pressure could warn and inform him of his surroundings, down here there was nothing. The air didn't move, the only pressure was a constant pulling in one direction, and Marcus shuddered to think what it would be leading to. Tartarus… It had to be. And he was more than happy to stay as far from there as possible.

"If you're spending your time admiring the walls, I feel like we'll have to have a serious talk about your priorities." Chastity muttered, gazing around the corner in front of her. Marcus would never admit it, but he was almost positive she was trying to get him to look at…

"Weren't you just saying this wasn't the time or place?" Marcus swung his watch on its chain, keeping it at the ready. The silence was putting him on edge.

"What I said was that now wasn't the time." Chastity tossed back without even turning, hurrying around the corner. "But you seemed so damn determined before."

"Well now I'm determined to get you the hell out of here."

"You may never get another opportunity like this, Marcus." Chastity stopped and turned to Marcus, leaning against a door they had been about to pass. The look in her eyes could melt through steel. "All alone. Plenty of hidden places. You know what they say, what happens in the Underworld…"

Marcus saw exactly what Chastity was doing and sighed. "Really? You're testing me now? Not really the best time."

A small smile came to Chastity's face. "Now doesn't that sound familiar."

Marcus rolled his eyes, but even he had to admit, in their verbal sparring matches, this was a point to her. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. Dumb decision. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Chastity's face became serious. "What I want to hear is where that came from. Why did you-"

"I don't know!"Marcus flinched at the sound of his own voice echoing off the walls around him. He waited a moment, listening for the stomping steps he was sure was coming their way, but there was nothing but deafening silence. Don't know if that's a good sign or a bad one…

"I don't know." He said again softly. "I just… did. Though I don't think I regret it…"

Chastity watched him for a moment before turning on her heels and continuing down the hall as she was before, like a hound dog with a scent in their nose. Once or twice she slipped around the corner ahead of him, so the only thing Marcus saw of her for a moment was her aura shining brightly.

Great. Make that 0-2 for Marcus that round…

"It was an honest answer." He heard Chastity mumble as he caught up to her in front of a familiar gilded door. Their eyes met for a moment, and though their faces were serious, there was that playful hint back behind her eyes. "That's all I asked for."

Chastity turned and pushed open the door, with Marcus following her into the Artifact Room. Without another word Chastity went straight to Orpheus' Lyre, careful this time of any traps that may still remain. For his part, Marcus was about to turn to keep watch when another display caught his eye. Tucked behind a corner, nearly hidden from the rest of the room, the display itself was in shadow. He got closer, wary all the time for any traps that might put him right back where he started, or worse. On the pedestal lay a simple wooden stick, at least at first glance, but after a closer inspection Marcus saw that it was tipped with a simple bronze point. A spear… Marcus brushed his hand across the plague next to the spear, nearly in awe of what it said.

Leonidas… This is the spear of Leonidas!

Marcus was about to reach out for it when he paused. This whole time he had been cautious and nothing had happened. This spear was so out of the way to avoid notice, and yet this was possibly one of the most valuable artifacts here. Why isn't it trapped…?

Marcus took a step back, flicking his watch into whip form. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he launched it at the pedestal, wrapping it around the base of the spear head and pulling it to him. Deftly, he caught it with his free hand. It's smaller than I thought… Marcus marveled at the spear in his hand. Though, perhaps "spear" was being generous. The shaft was no longer than his forearm, with the point rising perhaps a foot beyond that. He shrugged, placing it into the bag that had somehow survived his so far misadventure into the Underworld. Turning, he saw that Chastity had succeeded in acquiring Orpheus' Lyre, though how she had done so without springing any traps was still a mystery to him.

"Ready to go?" he asked, almost as if they had simply been at the Camp Store.

"Yes please." Chastity replied, tearing her eyes off her new instrument. "Underworld crawling with and that Angelos bitch? No Hades? Zero outta Ten."

Without warning, loud clanging sounds came from all around them. While it wasn't the sort of sound Marcus had ever heard before, his smuggler instincts knew exactly what it was. An alarm.

Marcus shot Chastity an exasperated look. "You just had to say their names."

Without another word the pair tore off through the Palace, Marcus trusting his sense of direction to lead them back to Nico di Angelos' secret tunnel. And hope they don't beat us to it…