"Pretty risky, isn't it?" Sentenza asked as he glanced outside of the fleshy room. "I mean, we're missing six guys."

Narissa rolled her eyes. "What kind of amateur do you take me for? Securing their section was the first thing I did. At least the ones I could find."

Sentenza just shook his head as he stepped out. The lights were flickering and casting strange shadows along the walls. But this was no hallway.

The room was massive, with complex machines of various sizes all around. To one side the wall was lined with metal bars that looked into empty cells.

Sentenza knelt down and rubbed his finger through a partially coagulated, crimson puddle. He rubbed his finger against his thumb and grumbled under his breath. His eyes followed the pool to the side, where there were streaks of the liquid leading off around the corner of a machine.

Sentenza stayed crouched down as he silently pulled out his gun. Slowly, and calmly he followed the trail. He put his hand against the round machine to his side and started to peek around it.

"You find anything?" Og'drimun bellowed loudly.

Sentenza jumped back behind cover before he let out a long breath through his lips. He glared over at the small demon as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"I was thinking about being quiet, but seems that's useless with you around, isn't it?" He complained.

"Uh, sneaking around is dumb." he snorted.

"Yeah, can't believe you still think that even now." Narissa sighed.

"Of course, I do! So, what if servants saw me? What could they do?" the demon said proudly.

Narissa shook her head as she stepped out of the travelling room. "There's a reason I tended to keep you far away from me, you know."

"Well, I don't know. He tends to make a pretty good distraction, I'd say." Lulu said smugly while she stood around the corner Sentenza had been about to turn before he was interrupted.

The carnie held up a black glove attached to a severed arm as she added, "Seems like someone made a mess over here. Do you think it was the thing we're after?"

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The others moved in view of Lulu's feet, and she was indeed standing above a mutilated corpse. It was almost as if someone had torn it apart with their bare hands and raw strength. But it was unmistakenly an elderly man with bushy white hair in a lab coat with rubber gloves and rubber boots. All of them black.

"Awfully monotone outfit," Narissa sighed as she inspected the corpse from a distance.

"Yeah, it's basically just red and black!" Og'drimun mocked. "I mean, that's a classic combo, but there's such a thing as too much, you know."

Sentenza stared at the pile of flesh. In a flash, he raised his gun and shot the corpse.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

"What was that for? Do you want us all to go deaf you imbecile?" Narissa scolded as she held her hands up against her ears.

While his barrel was still smoking, he raised the gun. After one more look at the corpse, he shook his head as he reloaded his pistol. "That's not our target."

"Yeah, no duh," Og'drimun scoffed. "That's just some dead guy."

Sentenza looked up at Narissa. "Find it. Now. Something's off about this place. I don't like it."

The former baroness rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Of course, it will be done at once. Whatever your majesty desires."

She held up her palm and slowly waved it around the room. After a complete circle she lowered her arm and let out a puzzled, "Hmm."

"Let me guess," Sentenza said as he scratched his scarred neck. "Can't find it?"

"But it has to be here..." she grumbled as she tapped her chin with a single finger.

"Ooh, I bet I could find it!" Og'drimun declared proudly. "I'm fantastic at that kind of stuff."

"No, no, no," Lulu sighed while she shook her head. "You're playing right into their hand."

"Oh?" Sentenza asked. "How is that?"

"It's simple," she said as she stuck her thumbs under her suspenders and rocked back and forth from her heels to her toes. "If you want to hide a secret, make it so obvious they never see it, or make sure their attention is diverted from the real thing."

"Just think, where are we least likely to look? What part of this room is the least flashy? What just sorta drifts into the back of your thoughts without grabbing any attention?" She grabbed the severed arm from the ground and threw it towards one of the cells. It passed through the bars and bounced to a stop once it hit the far wall.

Lulu smiled. "There's really only one answer, and by making it so unobtrusive, it's unbearably obvious."

Senenza turned towards the cells and squinted. There were six of them, and they all looked completely barren and unassuming. With nothing but the bare necessities inside.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

One shot in each prison cell, and in the first one he fired in, on the far left, there was a large crack in what should've been the middle of the cell.

It was a complex painting of what the cell should look like with the back half obscured. But now there was a crack halfway through that made it obvious just how fake the wall was.

"That's it," Narissa grinned. "I...I can feel the energy even from way back here."

KAWOOOOM!

The ceiling above them split open and a strange red liquid flooded down from the ceiling.

WHOA! Death howled.

"Wha!" Ted cried.

Meanwhile, Sid remained stoic as the three of them burst through the ceiling on a tidal wave of the red liquid. Behind them was the swarm of bat-like creatures that had indeed been forced to separate to swim.

Sentenza, Narissa, and Lulu was washed away by the water as Og'drimun managed to float high enough to avoid the majority of the waves. Although, a stray splash did manage to fly up and soak him from head to tail.

Guys! It's you, you're back! We found you! Death cheered.

Narissa and Sentenza both looked absolutely furious, but their heads were currently underwater, and so they had no real way to voice their true feelings.

The machines were drenched, and several were now putting off black smoke. While the creatures seemed to take advantage of the new space and spread up towards the skies as the red liquid continued to pour in.

Oh yeah, we uh...brought some friends.

SCHWING!

And uh...they kinda have my scythe.