The Quest For Pandora's Box

An abrupt sound came from the room Elaine so gracefully vacated. Not necessarily abrupt for the situation, of course, but not what Elaine expected to here from the man. It sounded as though he sought to retreat from the situation. An odd end, but an end nonetheless.
He gave out a sign of return, but for now the room should possess less angry people than it did a few moments earlier.

From below her Elaine heard the cries of idiots expressing glee over finding something. Elaine forgot what they came here for quite a while ago, so she began to walk back towards the door. She placed her hand on the knob of the door. A burning of the metal from the extreme heat of the room caused her to yelp in pain. The pain brought back some clarity to her mind. "Did you find the box? I'm going to assume you found the box and act as though you did regardless of your answer." She yelled down into the hole where Clayton and Alice disappeared into.

Hearing the calamity within the room, Elaine kicked the door in and entered with one pistol held towards the occupants and the other in the form of a finger gun. "I need my gun. Also, we're kind of changing the deal. It sounds like we're taking the box in exchange for your friend, unless of course, you consider what we just did saving your bar. In which case we were merely pulling your friend out of harms way and will be returning him with little to no real damage." Elaine surveyed the room and saw scorch marks all around the bullet ridden room. She walked forward and retrieved both of her pistols. "Well." She looked around the room. "I'm sure this will be an interesting story someday. Right now, it probably isn't."

Elaine readjusted her hat and slid five round into her pistol, she spun the chamber put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger. A blank sounded and Elaine slid the chamber open before sliding a smoke bullet into the chamber. She reholstered the pistol and summoned the second pistol loading the five chambers and performing the same near suicidal trick. She reopened the chamber and slid a remote detonation round into the chamber, before placing the pistol back into her holster. "So we're done here, right?" She placed her 9mm back into her boot. "Oh, and get some real alcohol you bitch. What are you gay?"

Comus stared at the woman in awe, and wondered just what her problem was. She was talking to him but he didn’t really care what she was saying; he wasn’t even listening. He was too busy being furious over the hole she blew in his floor and the one Doctor Everyone blew through the ceiling. He was about to bitch the cowgirl out when she picked up her gun and aimed it square at her head. He gasped as she pulled the trigger, but felt relieved when her brains weren’t splattered across the floor; funny, since he was just planning on killing her himself. Her last comments got his attention though, “Yeah. I am actually.” Real alcohol? Is the alcohol here fake? Bitch doesn’t look like she could even handle a shot of Jack. Since Elaine looked like she was leaving, he kept that bit of venom to himself. “Just get on out of here, honey.” he advised Elaine. Comus stared down at the hole in the floor. He’d probably have t jump though and grab Narcissus, unless Narcissus had the situation handled already.

Clayton had enough of this place. He was so close to the prize that he could almost taste it, but he couldn’t get the stupid door to budge, “Damn it, kid, we’re not accomplishing anything here. You can like hit stuff with those gross shadow tentacles or whatever, can’t you?” He wasn’t sure if the tentacles would be strong enough, but it was worth a shot. Elaine’s voice came echoing down the hall way, asking if they’d found the box. Clayton elected not to answer her, hoping instead to have the box for himself and be out of there before she could come to investigate. If this worked, he’d almost feel bad about cheating her out of the box… almost.

Yeah. I am actually.

The words brought surprise to Elaine's face. "Really? Never would've guessed." With all her belongings accounted for she began to think out her next few actions. "Your friend is so gay he should be in a crappy Michael Bay movie though." Elaine let the air settle between her and the establishment owner before continuing her misplaced perspective. "Well time for this cowgirl to mozy on out."

Elaine walked out the doors of the Pandora's Box richer in experience and life lessons. For the life of her she could not remember why she went there in the first place or who accompanied her. Her ammunition belt seemed a little lighter than usual, and the masked man who ran away from her appeared familiar in many ways. Oh well, she thought to herself. Soliloquy is the spice of life, and this girl kept a whole rack of it on retainer.

She played out the battle she fought with Dr. Everyone in her head while exiting the bar for the busy streets of Los Angeles. Police swept the streets and fire and rescue roared to the scene of the burning bar. Elaine stood across the street and looked back; she wondered why that building bristled smoke from the middle, and pondered if she should help or not. Elaine decided her heroics for the day should come to an end. Whoever caused that fire probably left the area anyways; then she stopped and thought to herself Did I kidnap a little Asian girl and a janitor today?

(I'm done)

Alice paused for a moment, frowning, "Did you hear something?" she asked, looking back towards the stairs. She then heard Clayton ask about her powers and whether they were capable of force the door open. She glared at him slightly, "A.They ain't gross. B.... I'll try.... I'm not too sure." she frowned, looking at the door. "Yep... I'll try." With that, she brought her hands up, starting her attempt to form a ball of dense shadow. As it "charged", a thought came to her mind, "Why am I doing this again?" she mused, loud enough for Clayton to hear. "I mean... I don't really know you too well... and here I am helping you get an ancient relic that does who the hell knows what... besides having possibly introduced evil and strife into this world." As she finished this statement, she glanced at the giant black orb above her palms. "I think that's good." It looked like it was enough... but she had issues with sensing the sturdiness of her constructs. "Well... I hope I'm not causing armageddon by getting this box." With that, she pushed her hands towards the door. The orb turned into something akin to a wave, rushing towards the door. She hoped that the force would push it open...

That gross gooey shadow thing the girl did, whatever it was, worked. It might have worked a little too well, as the doors came crashing to the ground, and the marble they were made out of shattered all over the floor. An enormous, pitch black void of a room lay before the small time adventurers after the dust settled. The darkness of the room was only broken by a single beam of light which revealed a small, ornate golden box on a rather plain, rectangular, stone pedestal in the middle of the room. Clayton couldn’t make out the details of it from where he was standing, but it looked like it wasn’t decorated with anything specific, just simple patterns. He smirked at the Alice’s quip about unleashing Armageddon. “Relax, kid. You’re not causing anything by getting this box, except maybe making me, no… us, more money than you can imagine.” Even with everything that he’d seen and done in his life, and with all that happened today, Clayton still wanted to believe that the box was nothing more than an ancient jewelry box or something; so he talked about it like it was one.

The obnoxiously loud crash of the enormous doors shattering was enough to make Narcissus stir behind them, though Clayton didn’t notice at all. He was transfixed by the shimmering box in the next room. It was as if it were calling to him, just waiting to be taken. He wondered where the light was coming from, it seemed natural but he knew they were directly under the bar. Clayton decided not to think about it too much. “Wait here, don’t want you tripping anything.” He spoke without taking his eyes off the room and reached into his pocket and pulled out pair of black leather gloves and a small flashlight. He quickly pulled the gloves on, aimed the light’s beam into the darkness, and looked around the room. It was apparently bare aside from the box but he could never be too careful; just because it looked like there weren’t any traps didn’t mean that was the case. He looked turned his attention to the bottle of everclear sitting on the floor near Alice’s feet. He guessed that it was probably about the same weight as the box, which didn’t look very heavy. He scooped the bottle up on his way in, good thing I’d never drink this, he thought.

Gracefully stepping across the hollow room, Clayton successfully arrived at the box, Pandora’s Box. This better be what I think it is. He took a deep breath, and a bead of sweat formed on his brow. He’d have to swap the box for the bottle almost instantly. It was something he’d done many times in the past but never had it felt so crucial. He tried to slide the box gently but found, to his surprise, that it simply wouldn’t budge. Clayton was a bit surprised; this had never happened before. He tried again, but with more force. It still wouldn’t budge. Was the damn thing bolted to the pedestal? He decided to try and pull it off, but no matter how hard he tried, it just wouldn’t move. He could feel it beginning to heat up through his gloves. “What the hell?” he couldn’t help but ask outloud.

From the next room Narcissus began laughing at Clayton’s struggle.

“What’s so funny?” he questioned after removing his hand from the box.

“You really think you’ll get it. That’s hilarious.”

“Watch me, pal. What can you even do about it from down there?”

“I can inform you just how stupid you look. There was a failsafe put in by the gods themselves, you idiot. Your hands just aren’t clean enough to even be able to pick the damn thing up.”

“Are you saying I don’t wash my hands?” Clayton looked to Alice, “Is this guy saying I don’t wash my hands?”

Narcissus sighed at the would be thief’s apparent stupidity, “I’m saying you’re not a very good person. I probably couldn’t pick it up myself, but hey, that’s life.”

“Surprise! I steal things for a living. What’s that got to do with not being able to steal this?” Clayton wondered if the man was telling the truth or not.

“Not a damn thing. If that were your only sin, you might be able to walk out of here with it. You’ve killed someone… maybe even a couple people. Haven’t you?”

“What? No. Nonono. I’d never do that. You’re lying.” He felt a shock go down his spine at the accusation and looked to Alice again, “He’s lying.”

The only person who was lying about anything was Clayton. He’d hoped he’d never be confronted about it again. But somehow it always came back to bite him. He was definitely beginning to sweat now.

Alice flinched as the door was smashed off its hinges, causing the marble beneath it to shatter as well. She stared at the destruction. She couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement as she marveled at the amount of damage she could cause. With it, came a twinge of fear as well, another part of her recoiling in horror. That train was derailed when she spotted the box they had just about killed for. She stared at it curiously, nodding absentmindedly at Clayton's semi command. "Wait... money?" her mind finally processing the comment that was inserted right before the crash. She watched him move towards the box all... well... thief like. She wanted to facepalm at her stupidity. Well, as they said, hindsight is 20/20... and it's not like he was murdering someone. Though judging from how heavily protected the box was... it was probably pretty important... then again, some of the stupidest things are highly valued.

Then... the clincher. As he started to swipe the box, she shifted nervously, noticing that Narcissus was awake. Moving towards him, as she was about to ask if he was alright, she heard Clayton let out a cry of disbelief and frustration. She quickly turned around to see him pulling at the box, which was stubbornly refusing to budge even an inch. She then heard Narcissus laughing at Clayton's predicament behind her. She turned around and then turned back, trying to figure out exactly what was going on as the spoke.

She froze at Narcissus’ last words. Over that short period, she had gotten that neither of them were exactly saints, but… murder… She looked back from Narcissus to Clayton, trying to figure out what the hell SHE was supposed to do. “Why are you looking at me!? What am I gonna do!?” she nearly yelled, slightly frantic… she didn’t know the circumstances behind the “murder” and honestly, she didn’t want to know… vigilante justice… no…

Clayton had enough. Nothing was turning out well today, and what Narcissus brought up really struck a nerve with him. He tugged at the box one more time, frustrated. “What are you supposed to do, kid? Why don’t you come try your hand at this? Unless you’ve allegedly killed someone you should have better luck than I’m having here.” Clayton was fed up with trying to move the artifact. He hadn’t been prepared to run into it by chance like this; if he had been, he’d have his tools, and the box would be his now. He was going to leave now, but he’d be back later. Not right away, of course, but later. He knew where the box was now, and he had an idea on how to get it. It was as good as his as long as they were cocky enough not to move the thing. He walked away from the box as calmly as possible, despite the frustration of looking like an idiot to a middle school girl and some gay Greek guy. As he passed Alice he handed her a playing card, the Jack of Diamonds to be specific, “If you do get the box, find me, kid. I’m outta here.”
He made his exit up the spiraling staircase he fell down earlier, ignoring anything Alice might have to say. “Hey! What about me?!” Narcissus called out to Clayton. “What about you?” he shouted his answer down from the top of the stairs before disappearing from the bar.

Narcissus looked up to Alice, “Can you believe that guy? Treating the very object that unleashed all evil onto the world like it was nothing…” he shook his head.

((done!))

Alice stared as Clayton seemed to nearly have a mental breakdown, though he managed to calm himself slightly, handing her a... playing card. She put it in her pockets, watching as he went back up the stairs, though not before him and Narcissus exchanged words one more time. Even after he left, she continued to stare for a moment, wondering what in the world had just happend. Shrugging, she moved towards the box, studying it. She attempted to lift it, and succeeded, though she found it quite heavy. Frowning, she listened to Narcissus absentmindedly... the releaser of evil... "Pandora's box!!!" she stared at the small box in her hand before putting it down... it's not like she needed it, not counting the fact it was a powerful ancient artifact that could do who the hell knows what. And if he wanted the box so badly, he could bloody go get it himself. Serves him right for pulling such a dick move.

She moved back towards Narcissus, crouching down and starting to untie him. "Sorry about all that mess that pretty much amounted to nothing." she sighed slighty, untangling the thick rope, not expecting a response from the man. Finally, Narcissus was free. Alice bowed slightly, muttering another apology before running up the steps. She looked around the desolate bar, sending a prayer up to whatever power that was there, before heading home... why was her life always so... insane? Either way though, she had a feeling that she was gonna get used to it pretty soon.

(Done I think)