Twisted Wonderland 2

Tower Two

Jamil and Leona peer over the edge of the stairs. Moans of the phantoms can be heard below. Jamil lets out a low whistle. "It goes down so far, I can't see the bottom. So they decided to call this place Tartarus? I wonder how manny stories deep it is."

"It goes twelve sectors down, but the map doesn't specify how many stories are in a sector." Leona holds out a hand. "Hey. Gimme one of your pointless jingly hair things."

"Oh, sure." Jamil takes off one of his golden hair bangles and hands it to the lion.

Leona holds his arm out and drops the bangle over the edge. It's falls into the abyss, quickly disappearing into the dark. Leona hums. "I can't hear it hitting the ground. It's gotta be more than fifty stories."

Jamil folds his arms. "Was it really necessary to use one of MY belongings for that?"

Leona rolls his eyes. "No one forced you to hand it over. It was just some tiny thing; no need to whine about it."

Jamil glowers but quickly covers it with a smile. "Me, whine? Oh, I wouldn't dream of doing that. It's an honor to be of service to you, Leona."

Leona scoffs. "I don't buy that shady smile for a second."

"Anyway," Jamil starts walking down the stairs. "I believe our first order of business is to retrieve the Thunder Spear."

"It's in the hangar in sector six, right?"

Jamil nods. "According to the map, there should be an elevator nearby... Ah, here it is."

"Normally I'd expect them to shut down the elevators to keep intruders out." Leona tilts his head.

The two boys come to a stop in front of the elevator. The doors open as they approach, beckoning them into the dark room.

"That door opened the moment we walked up to it. Like it was waiting for us." Leona growls. "Like we're being taunted."

Jamil tenses as he nods. "Most definitely. Ortho's got control of this whole facility. This is almost guaranteed to be a trap. Given the danger, you should stay behind me and-"

"Let's go." Leona steps into the elevator.

"Leona, wait!" Jamil chases after him. "Don't just take off like that!"

The elevator doors close as soon as they step in. The screen inside the elevator lights up and Ortho appears. "Hey guys! Welcome to Tower two of Tartarus, the cursed containment facility!"

"And here he is, right on cue." Jamil places a hand to his hip.

Ortho frowns. "Aww, what kind of reaction was that? I was hoping for a little more surprise."

Leona smirks. "Yeah, well, it's not hard for us humans to predict how a robot thinks."

Ortho chuckles. "A robot, eh? I guess that means I'll just have to do better next time. Of course, that's assuming there IS a next time."

"What?" Jamil questions.

"Do you two have what it takes to overcome my trial?"

Leona folds his arms. "A trial, huh?"

Jamil stands in front of Leona. "What's he going to do? Get back, Leona!"

"Dude, there's nowhere to 'get back' to in this cramped elevator." Leona shoves Jamil off. "You need to chill."

The screen lights up with a game. "TA-DA! The Hydra Strikes Back!"

Leona growls. "That's the stupid game you made me play earlier."