Angel ♡ Eyes

♡Chapter 52

It was a flash of a memory.

A small blink surrounded by a hazy white curtain.

But he'd been screaming.

He'd been thrashing.

They'd been trying to get information out of him.

A taser to the side, waterboarding, electric shock. But he'd been standing firm on the idea that his team would find him. Save him. Some guy flicked out a rusted pocket knife and Butch's memory quickly shifted back into reality.

Running down the stairwell. Checking over his shoulder only to nearly barrel into Buttercup infront of him.

Brick and his group split off a while back. As did Bubbles's. Now it was just him and Buttercup rushing to get to the lab.

"Watch it." She hissed after the fourth time of him stumbling into her.

"Sorry." Butch sighed.

"What's got you being so clumsy?" Buttercup questioned.

"I don't know. It's a weird sense of DejaVu." He admitted.

The girl merely nodded in understanding.

They continued their descent, until finally they arrived at the door for the lab. The door was made of steel with an iron bolt on the outside, as if to keep things locked in rather than to keep people out.

Buttercup gulps. "Okay... we've got this. In and out." She says to herself. "Easy peasy."

"Hey," Butch places a hand on her shoulder. "If you don't want to go inside, you can stand guard out here?"

It was a sweet offer. She knew he didn't mean it as a jab or in mockery. He genuinely wanted her to be OK. Buttercup gave him a small smile. "I'll manage."

"Suit yourself." Butch undid the latch.

The door swung open. Claw marks ran down the metal door, as if something was trying to escape. Like perhaps this door was used as a target of some kind. The room itself had unusual flag-stone tiles as well as a five-foot circle of white marble centered in the middle of the floor.

"That's creepy..." Butch muttered, flicking on a light.

Nobody was in here. An unnatural silence filled the room. Void of any and all noise, not even the silent hum of silence itself.

Buttercup was still staring at the circle that laid flush with the rest of the floor. "It looks ritualistic." She decided, crouching down to run her hands over it.

"Ritualistic?" Butch questioned, his voice echoing against the walls.

The girl hummed in agreement, rising back to her feet. "Sacrifice? Cult behavior? Something demonic. Him loves torture, he'll love satanic rituals and such as long as it provides a new form of torment."

"Let's just get the stuff and go. This room is giving me the heebeegeebees." Butch suppressed a shudder.

Buttercup gasped, eyes widening with horror. Butch followed her line of sight. His stomach clenched.

Up above, dangling from the celling as if they were chandeliers, were about a dozen filleted bodies. Eyes gouged out, mouths stitched shut.

Buttercup looked away, heart-rate quickening.

She'd never once been glad of the lab she came from. But if she'd been sent here? If her destination had been one of Him's bases? God, the thought made her want to hurl.

Buttercup brought a hand up to cover her mouth, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Woah, hey, hey." Butch pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her and tucking her head under his chin. "B-Fly, breathe. Breathe, love."