Slime-Cycle (Humble Beginnings)

35. The start of a very long storm

Charlie landed with the grace of a flightless bird, as he went tumbling off a building and into a dark alleyway.

After a moment of mumbling and grumbling, he stood up, brushed himself off and made his way to the end of the alley, where a door stood with a sign that read 'closed' on it.

After getting that call from Zephyrous, Charlie and Slime had made their way straight to the meeting place. The same place this whole job had started.

He didnt know exactly what was going on, but based off of his previous mission, he had an idea of what it might be about. Presumably a continuation of his search for Finder.

Charlie took a tense breath as he pushed through the alley door, stepping into that posh, fancy bar where his life had gone to shit. He hasnt been back here for a few days. What could they want with him here?

"Hello..?" Charlie called, gaining no response from the seemingly empty room.

After a moment, a back door opened behind the bar, and a man in a green frog bucket hat exited. He stared at Charlie for a second. "Oh." He hummed.

Charlie blinked awkwardly at him.

The man sighed. "Take a seat." He spoke, gesturing to the small lounge in the middle of the room. "Theyve been waiting." He nodded.

Charlie paused, awkwardly shuffling towards the lounge. "For me?" He asked, gaining another glare of a look from the man.

"No." He stated plainly. "But they still want you there. So sit down." He huffed.

"Ah.." Charlie hummed. "okay.." he agreed, awkwardly sitting down on one of the red couches. Shuffling about for a second, he got comfortable and waited for more instruction.

The man in the frog bucket hat sighed, reached over the bar and grabbed the only beer tap on the counter. "Enjoy the ride." He spoke plainly, before pulling the beer tap like a lever.

It made a click noise, and Charlie flinched as he felt the lounge area shift lower. For a moment, he had forgotten about the hidden elevator.

Oh, this is gonna be fun!

Slime spoke extatically as the lounge lowered into the ground.

"Fun is a bit of an overstatement.." Charlie grumbled under his breath, watching the light from the bar get fainter as they went down.

Shifting his posture on the couch a bit, Charlie tried to settle the uneasy feeling in his gut. He didnt like going down here on his own, but there hadnt been any Syndicate members at the lounge to guide him around. Well, except for the bar tender.

Actually, who was that guy? No one had ever told him who he was. Charlie wondered if he was really just some bar tender, or if he was some secret member of The Syndicate he hadnt been introduced to yet. Though, it was more likely he was just hired for the bar. He doubted everyone who worked with The Syndicate was a villian.

He sat there for a while longer, riding the elevator down as he was eventually engulfed in darkness. It was quiet. A little too quiet for Charlies comfort. Though, he was always overly jumpy whenever interacting with The Syndicate, so this was probably just a him problem.

The lounge continued decending, eventually reaching the lower level of the bar. Charlie had to squint as the light returned in almost full force, revealing the intricately carved black and white marble walls that made up the surounding room.

He shifted slightly, glancing around as the elevator finally clicked into place at the bottom, the glass encasing it quickly lowering out of the way allowing him to leave.