[IC] Ooky Spooky

[Beetlejuice96]

"Alright, I'll give him a call." She sniffled, drying her eyes from her hysteria. She took a deep breath before thanking him and saying she'd see him tomorrow when he arrived then hung up. She glanced over at the time, noticing how late it was but figured even if he didn't answer she'd leave a message.

Lars, it's Evie. Lucas is in trouble and needs your help. Call me back at this number or come to Lennox Hill Hospital and ask for my room.

[Metronome]

It was early morning before Lars returned her call and came to get her. The discharge process wasted more precious time, and Lars refused to talk about the situation until they were in the privacy on the church van he'd driven there.

"Where did they take him?" He finally asked as he started the car. He seemed calm, but there was a definite sense of dread in the undertone of his voice.

[Beetlejuice96]

"They probably have him locked up at the precinct." She replied struggling a little with her seatbelt because of the sling for her arm before finally getting it. "He's in there because he saved my life from Damien...no...the thing that was Damien. He was covered in these markings before the demon took over him. It was the demon that did this." She said, lifting her injured arm a little.

"I tried telling the police he was innocent but they didn't listen. Now he's locked up. They can't keep him in there, not without evidence."

[Metronome]

Lars put the precinct's address in his phone and began to drive. His eyes flickered to Evie's arm when she raised it, then back to the road.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he admitted. "The group behind all this have a lot of connections. I don't think the police station is safe for him."

Sure enough, when they arrived, the cops played dumb.

"We released him last night," One insisted. "His ride came and picked him up."

[Beetlejuice96]

"What?" Evie asked in disbelief. This couldn't be happening. Isaac was still in Florida and Lars didn't know anything about this until he got her message. "Who where they? What did they look like? Did they say where they were going?" She inquired, panic starting to sink in now. None of this was supposed to happen.

[Metronome]

"We aren't at liberty to share that information, ma'am," the officer said firmly. "Now, if you don't have any more business here, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

They knew. Lars was sure of it. But making a scene at the police station wasn't going to get them anywhere. He insisted they leave. On the way back to the car, he remembered something.

"You said Lucas trapped a demon in the chest. Where's the chest?"

[Beetlejuice96]

"Shit. The last I saw it was in the living room of my apartment. You don't think they..." She said, not wanting to finish her sentence. She didn't want to think of the chaos demon Damien would cause once released. "I hope it's still there."

[Metronome]

Lars could feel his stomach sinking. He already knew it wouldn't be there. This had gotten massively out of hand. He drove as fast as traffic would allow to Evie's apartment, and hauled ass up the stairs.

When they burst into the living room, sure enough, the chest was gone. "This is bad. This is really bad," Lars began to pace. They had no idea where the demon or Lucas had been taken. He wondered if Isaac would know...but he was being laid over in North Carolina, and they didn't have time to waste.

Then, an idea struck him. The tremors. "Evie, do you have a map I could use?"

[Beetlejuice96]

"Yeah, hang on." She said before heading off to find it. She came back a little while later with the map, trying her best to unfold it with one hand. "What are you looking for? A hideout? Places known for demon rituals?" She asked as she scanned the map.

[Metronome]

While she went to find a map, Lars flicked through his phone, reading old news reports. "Lucas was obsessed with these earthquakes," he said as he began marking X's on each location of a tremor. "He had to have thought they meant something."

The X's gradually formed a circle around an infamously unsafe neighborhood. Lars finally drew one last X directly in the middle. "It's got to be around there," he said, looking up a nearby address. "We just have to drive out there and look for something that screams 'hidden demon cult headquarters'."

[Beetlejuice96]

"Then what? Just walk inside, grab Lucas like it's nothing, then walk out? What if they're guarding the place? There could be demons surrounding it." She pointed out.

"Look, I know you're a priest, but don't you have any backup? Something to stop them?"

[Metronome]

"Lucas was the backup," Lars said. "It's not exactly like we have a demon hunting fan club following us around. It's always just been the three of us." He grabbed his keys and folded up the map.

"We'll come up with something."

[Beetlejuice96]

"What are they going to do to Lucas?" She asked, although she didn't fully want to know. She thought the worst, truth be told, and she hated it. Especially after they had started to build a friendship.

[Metronome]

"Probably some not very nice things, if I had to guess," Lars said as he headed down the stairs and back towards the van. He, too, didn't want to dwell on the idea. While him and Lucas weren't particularly close, he'd grown attached to the odd little person. The idea of him being tortured by some demon gang made his blood boil.

Lars drove them to the center X using the map. The whole neighborhood looked pretty sketchy, honestly. He was looking for something with human lookouts. Even demon cultists wouldn't be dumb enough to use demons in their own base. The beasts were untamable, and weren't particularly known to show self restraint in their murderous tendencies.

"They have to be underground...those tremors are coming from something, right?" After a driving around a couple blocks, they happened upon an old, abandoned subway station. This had to be it....or, least, it seemed to make sense. Underground, super spooky, it screamed demon cult hideout. Lars parked a couple blocks away and insisted they walk. It would draw less attention to themselves.

"There should be ventilation shafts around it," He said, "We can climb down through one. Surely they don't have every entranced guarded..."

[Beetlejuice96]

"Right." Evie nodded in agreement as she glanced around for any signs of cultists or demons. "Hopefully we can find Lucas quickly...and unharmed." She added as they reached the entrance to the subway station. Her thoughts wondered towards Lucas being hurt, especially with his small frame. He didn't deserve it.

[Metronome]

They eventually did come across one of the small concrete buildings that housed a shaft. Lars produced a paperclip from his pocket to pick the lock, which begged the question where a priest learned to pick locks. Inside was pitch, black darkness. The light of day only shone down so far, landing on a rusty ladder and cobwebs.

"This hasn't been used in a while," He said. That was quite the understatement. "I hope you don't mind spiders. I'll go first."

Luckily, most of the cobwebs stuck to Lars as he climbed onto the hell ladder that lead into the depths of the Earth. The further down they went, the more the daylight was strangled and choked by the dreadful, inky blackness. When they finally reached the bottom, they found themselves in a large, empty subway tunnel. Lars took his phone out and turned on the flashlight to begin picking the spiderwebs, hopefully free of spiders, off.

"Which way do you think?"

[Beetlejuice96]

Evie grimaced before following him through the shaft, being careful the best she could with her injured arm especially on the ladder. Once on solid ground she looked around at the foreboding darkness surrounding the duo. "Right. Something's telling me we go right." She replied, hoping he'd somehow understand what she was feeling. It was almost her subconsciousness speaking to her, guiding them the right way.

[Metronome]

Well, they had a 50/50 chance, may as well go with instinct. Lars followed her, shining his light over her shoulder. They walked in the darkness for what felt like miles before there was a light that dimly shone ahead of them. Lars turned his phone light off and put it away. He pressed against the wall to stay out of sight as they approached. They came upon a large, dug out portion of the tunnel, with bulldozers and other construction equipment sitting idle. They where digging into the side of the subway tunnels. Perhaps this was the cause of the tremors? But why?

"We can't kill him." A voice startled them, and Lars grabbed Evie to pull her behind a nearby backhoe. Two men were standing by the source of the light: a construction lamp with a very long extension cord. "If he dies, we're back at square one. But, with him contained, we can finally press on with the final step."

"You think it will work?" The other man asked.

"I'm sure of it." The first man took out a pair of keys and unlocked a door that lead into what looked like some sort of station. Once it closed, Lars darted after them. He took out his paperclip once more.

"They know where Lucas is," He said as he picked the lock and quietly opened the door. This section of the subway was much better lit. The linoleum tile and black, white walls gave it a weird, jarring feel compared to the tunnels. The two men were gone, but one of them, who was clearly a heavy smoker, left a distinct smell of old cigarettes behind him. They followed the stench down several halls until it faded, leaving them with a choice. There where two doors, both windowless.

50/50 chance.

Lars began toying with the lock on the door to the left until he got it open. He wasn't prepared for what they would find inside. Cages. It looked like an animal shelter, but these cages were far too big for any cat or dog. They lined the room, and in the middle, a metal table shined in the fluorescent light. The tile around it was stained suspiciously red. Lars felt sick; this was too much.

"This is where they must..." His voice trailed off. One of the cages had a lump laying in the bottom of it. "Lucas?"

[Beetlejuice96]

Evie covered her mouth to hide a gasp upon hearing the men, glancing at Lars when they mentioned someone she was sure was Lucas. Square one? Final step? What are they planning to do with him? She thought before following Lars after the men had left. Upon entering the left room, Evie tried not to gag at the sight of possible blood on the floor. Her eyes found the cage as well before running over to it.

"Lucas? Lucas, it's Lars and Evie. We're getting you out here." She said, turning to look at Lars to open the cage.

[Metronome]

Lars worked on the lock and threw the cage door open. Lucas wasn't moving. He grabbed the man and turned him over.

"Oh my God," Lars backed away, his face pale. A soft clatter of metal on concrete sounded as a jagged piece of shrapnel fell from Lucas's cold, lifeless hands. He was covered in blood, his own hands soaked in it, his throat messily slit. Lars couldn't process what he was seeing. "He...he...he killed himself," He choked. Lucas, knowing that the cult had something undoubtedly insidious planned for him, and not knowing that he would be rescued, clearly took the only way out he could find.