You're at the Party

Ulrich and Amber stood in front of the Brasshead. A giant cube coyishly hiding behind a fence with all sorts of security signs littered on it. Ulrich understood ones like 'Sharp Objects' and 'Electric Fence' but there was at least a dozen more he couldn't begin to comprehend. Next to the white marble cube were two watchtowers, and true to its name, the sign and the roof were made of incredibly polished metal, presumably brass.

"Kay, seems like Aurora got in fine. I think we can go in." Amber said coolly.

The two went in, and inside the building was a nice wooden desk, with nobody manning it.

"Amber, dear. Hello."

To their left was Aurora casually sat across a metal chair, stretched out while looking as if she was modelling for a painter. She got up, kissing Amber on each cheek, before just nodding at Ulrich, who nodded back.

"You have milk on your upper lip." Aurora pointed at Ulrich. He silently wiped it off, giving Aurora a thumbs up.

"So, where's Lloyd?" Amber asked, an air of desperation running through her teeth.

"He went ahead, told me to contact you when you show your faces." Aurora replied, rapidly typing something into her watch.

"Any idea on why he wanted to go here?" Amber asked, trying to mask her anxiety.

"I think someone wanted to meet him here, so he wanted backup."

"That checks out." Amber responded calmly. "Where would he be?"

"Upstairs on floor two. Room 1F."

The three of them went to the location he mentioned, through a white hallway with several doors showing rooms with long tables within, each door having an ATM next to it. Before they knew it, the silence around all three was ended with "Good to see you."

And there was Lloyd. Confident smirk plastered on his face, as always. "Amber, as lovely as ever."

"And you too." Amber replied. "So who's in there?"

"Gemma and Andrei. The big muscle guy. Anyway, the discussions are about to begin, I'm glad you could make it."

The four of them went into the room, where Gemma was sitting at the end of the table, with Andrei standing behind her like some kind of bodyguard. Once she saw everyone involved, her face shown a flash of discomfort, but her face returned to a stern expression quickly. The four of them sat at the seats closest to her. Lloyd to Gemma's right, with Amber sitting next to him. Aurora sat to her left, and Ulrich sat down next to her.

"So, Gemma. Any reason why you invited us here?" Lloyd started the conversation, as calm as ever.

"Excuse me?" Gemma asked.

"Well, an invitation to one of the world's most secure buildings is somewhat suspicious, don't you think? Especially one from a murderer, lest we forget. Especially an invite to a secure building with plenty of locks from a murderer in a challenge that revolves around killing another player."

"Well, the fact we're in here is why I invited you. This place having no security is practically begging to be looked into, right?" Gemma asked.

"Interesting. So what's with the stud behind you?" Aurora asked, winking at Andrei, who didn't respond.

"None of us are exactly the strongest. So I figured having him help us would work."

"I see." Amber said, nodding with approval. "So, should we split up? See if anything's going on?" She glanced at Ulrich for a brief moment as she finished the sentence, disguised as her working something out of her neck.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Ulrich replied, getting up. Amber and Aurora followed him out of the room, and another awkward silence made it's way to the hallway.

"So, what now?" Aurora asked.

"Beats me." Ulrich sighed. "We checking out these ATMs, then?"

Ulrich casually kicked the nearest machine, hearing a small rattling noise from within.

"Your power is fire, right?" Aurora asked.

"Yep." Ulrich replied.

"So your pancake limbs couldn't destroy an ATM with one kick, right?"

"Probably not?" Ulrich responded, wondering just how scrawny his limbs were.

Aurora kicked the machine, and the rattling continued. She kicked it one more time, and a syringe popped out of the bottom.

"What the hell?" Ulrich whispered to himself.

"Don't touch it." Amber sighed, standing in front of them and gathering it with her shadows. There was a cover on the syringe, and it contained some kind of vaguely green liquid. She inspected it for a few seconds, shaking the liquid a couple times.

"Ulrich, I'm trusting you with this." She affirmed to the other two. "Just keep this between us, right?"

"Sure thing, darling." Aurora nodded.

"Great. Now, if you don't mind, I'm checking this place out."

"Nothing yet, huh?"

"Valentina and the others haven't left the movies left." Silvia yawned. "I saw cult guy like, a few hours ago, but jack shit since."

"So, nothing's happening?" Seeta asked.

"Doesn't seem like it." Silvia sighed, lighting up a cigarette. "Wanna move somewhere else?"

"Why would we do that?" Seeta asked.

"Look, the entire point of the stakeout location was to find the others, and nothing is happening right now. Maybe we need a change of scenery."

"You think?" Seeta yawned, half-asleep, then tried to get out of her chair, face-planting as she did so.

"Okay, you might have a point." She sighed. "Any plans?"

"Maybe the Brasshead?" Silvia suggested calmly.

"The what now?" Seeta sighed.

"Apparently there's something important there, meaning everyone's going to end up in that place. Just let me get the message up."

She stood in place for a few seconds fiddling at her watch, before finally displaying the message to Seeta.

"Right, sounds like a decent plan." Seeta said, nodding. "Actually, before we go there, you want to get some more Dingles?"

"Sounds good." Silvia nodded.

Within the cinema, Odebode's sleeping body hit the edge of the armrest, waking him up from his dreams about having his sword replaced with snakes. He checked his watch. 9PM. He checked the other seats in the cinema, and Valentina was still there, sleeping peacefully.

Cyrus, on the other hand, was not.

Odebode went into the lobby, and the door handles were blocked from the other side with what looked to be an elongated slab of bone. He silently ran into the main screen, where the fire exit wasn't opening either. Beginning to panic, he checked behind the screen, and yes! Another fire exit! He opened the door, and it did indeed open. He looked back at Valentina, who was still asleep, and thought about whether or not he should wake her up. He decided not to. This was a group now, and not letting her know the plan would help it stay in place.

He ran out into the streets, seeing a foot go behind a wall through the corner of his eye. He began running behind him, hiding behind a wall when he turned his back. He managed to stay in hiding until Cyrus was in front of the Brasshead. Cyrus stood at the front of the gates, looking down, presumably at his watch. He made a few steps into the front gate, until he heard the whispering noise behind him.

"What are you doing?"

Cyrus sighed and turned around, seeing Odebode behind the gates made with slightly yellow bricks.

"According to the watch, there's equipment here. I thought it best to get all of it for ourselves."

"Wait, what?" Odebode whispered to him. "Then why did you try to lock us in?"

"Figured that wouldn't work." Cyrus rolled his eyes. "Well, from one killer to another, figure it out."

Cyrus turned around, hoping the conversation would end there. However, Odebode grabbed his arm.

"Let go of me." Cyrus said without a single shred of emotion in his voice.

"No!" Odebode yelled out. "Did Valentina order this?"

"Valentina has nothing to do with this." Cyrus replied.

"Aren't you her servant, or something?"

"My job is to eliminate threats to her safety, which are more than likely in there."

And without warning, Cyrus pointed his elbows, shooting fragments of bone around Odebode, without even looking. Odebode wasn't hit at all, but he couldn't move, trapped within a small forest. Cyrus silently walked ahead, attempting to whistle a merry tune, which was more of a raspy melody.

After a few minutes in silence, desperately trying to find any way out of the mass of bones, Odebode felt a few branches wither away, and he was able to summon his sword and hack away at the rest of them. With all that done, he inspected his grey hoodie for anything odd, and nothing was there. And with uncertainness filling his head, he went into the Brasshead, silently praying that Amber Monet wasn't there.