Hotel Selten

New Discoveries

“What was that?” Hibi asked as the last bunch of enemies fall on the ground. “If I am not wrong, that is how Asante screams.” Blaise nods his head while smirking as he throws off the g*n that he stole. “Why he is screaming anyway, he almost got us, he must be laughing like the crazy doctor he is,” Thilda commented as she approaches them. “Screaming might be his prop, I dunno. He is crazy enough to be creating noises that he shouldn’t be creating. Who knows, he might cluck like a chicken later.” Blaise chuckles as Thilda rolls her eyes.

“Are you okay, my children?” A familiar sweet voice emerged from their back. “Miss Eve!” Melvin exclaimed as she carried the lady, the others approached her with surprise, “I almost forgot Miss Eve.” Adam scratched his head in embarrassment as the lady giggles. “Wait… Where did you come from, Miss Eve?” Ophelia asked as she looks at the lady, she giggled, “I think you got me. If you are thinking that I caused that horrifying shriek from Asante, I did. He is turning to a stone right now.” She was put down by Melvin as they all were shocked as the others laugh. “Way to go, Miss Eve!”

“I am glad you were able to escape his more brilliant plan by pinning us in chairs with metal,” Hibi said as she returned her fascinator to her as the lady accepted it with a smile. “Just a little bit of adrenaline and some energy I got in my body after some rest for three days did the trick. I was surprised that I am still that strong, just like before.” She puts her fancy veil fascinator back on her hair as she smiles sassily at them that made them giggle. “So, let’s go?” Hugo asked them. “Yep, I already missed the surface, it’s been three days,” Ernest said as they take the trail to the exit lead by Thilda.

“How did you even know we are here, Thilda?” Ophelia asked as she giggles, “It was funny. You know Hibi and Peony drop seeds right? Particularly their vine thingy seed. So, conveniently, I saw some of it lying everywhere in the mess of city buildings all destructed. I trailed off it even though I was hopeless since the city was like a battlefield and kept hiding from the authorities that we're searching for people that are still alive in this mess. I even was like, ‘This wouldn’t work because some of it might be unused seeds in the battle.’ After going through a lot of dead ends, climbing and jumping every fallen building, one of the staff failed to hide themselves and the jackpot, I found an interesting lead. And it was just near the museum so I got something. It took two days to plan everything out and I managed to steal one of the staff’s uniforms and hid among the staff.”

“I am surprised that Asante let his staff go in and out. I have seen some housing rooms along the way here. I guess Asante was careless enough to let you in.” Blaise said as Thilda slaps his shoulder, “You should be thanking that he is careless.” He holds his aching shoulder, “I am! Don’t hurt me like that.” The lady giggles, “I am glad that you were able to get us. Asante almost won this round, but I guess it’s a forever defeat for him. We were mistaken to let him out that last time, but this time, I made sure he is gone for good.” Ophelia looks at the lady, “Didn’t you take care of him?” The lady sighs, “I did, but I will carry the burden of what he is now, because I didn’t do that. I might be the blame for his a*******n though, I am still thinking of it. Even the recent ones, which speaking of, I haven’t seen any familiar faces in any of these monsters. I might have a clue that they placed them somewhere. Their intentions were unclear anyway, so we don’t have anything that points out where could have the others been. Anywhere they are, I hope they are safe.”

“They might be in Ireland, they have things going in there too. We don’t know, they might be in France too. I have no idea how many facilities they have in the world, they might have some in the Americas or even Asia.” Hibi said as they climbed up to the door that leads to outside. Melvin took the honor to pull the door out of its place and sets it aside. They all went out cautiously as they saw all of the mess inside the museum. One part of it was torn to pieces. “Wow, even where the laboratory is was crushed by Asante’s own creation,” Alice commented as they look in amusement at how much damage was dealt in this place. “Welp, it’s just a matter of time before the authorities discover this laboratory lying underground,” Blaise said as they traverse the messy way out of the museum. Thilda heads out and peeks as she looks for any authorities that came by the area for any tourists that were still alive. “Judging by the emptiness of the surrounding and finding no people alive in here, they must have come already in here. We’re good.”

“Finally! Fresh air with mutilated parts of buildings on it.” Ernest said as he spreads his arms wide as they went and head to the streets. “Gladly the building you were in didn’t get destroyed.” Peony said as Thilda giggles, “It did, before it was destroyed I was already on a stretcher because one of the staff knew my problem on my back. He carried me all the way down the building. I woke up when I was being carried and was forced to rest and evacuated along with others. Well, I guess I had to rest before I try to find you guys. How about you guys, how did you manage to be caught by Asante?”

“Tripped and fell, my head and back banged on the ground. I was trying saving to save a child, laugh at me all you want.” Ophelia said as she crosses her arm, “That’s a brave act, Ophelia. It’s not a funny story.” Miss Eve said as she caresses her shoulder. “Well, I banged my head too, probably most of us banged our heads onto something, whether it’s by accident or those monsters defeated us,” Blaise said as he draws his gadget and started to tap and swipe its screen. “Well, I was slammed on a wall, not really bang,” Arabella said as Blaise pokes Hugo as he was looking at his tablet. “What?” He said with a hint of annoyance as he looks at Blaise. “Look, guys.”

They approached him as he presses the screen of his tablet. A voice of a seemingly old man emerges from it, “I see you have defeated one of my aces, good job. I never knew you could even pass him. I saw him as an undefeatable rival, thank you, Miss Eve, for raising such a child. He was a blessing to my organization, you know. If it wasn’t that he tried to be a hero, he wouldn’t be the villain this day. But, I guess things end. Asante isn’t a god, anyway. He is a mortal, just a mere young adult who has big dreams. When I first met him in my containment facility, he was screaming that he will get revenge for you, but the tables have turned, he now will get revenge for me.” “You monster!” Miss Eve exclaimed as Blaise puts his arms in front of the lady. “I think this isn’t a call, it’s pre-recorded. So, answering it will be useless.”

 “Well, I guess before, when he was still alive. Anyway…” The man takes a breath, “That’s all I can say. And oh! Miss Eve, how does it feel to kill one of the people that you raise up in your own little orphanage?” The man chuckles, “I assure you, you’ll do that a lot in the next few weeks when you still try and pursue us. Tschuss!” A hint of annoyance and anger can be seen on Miss Eve’s face. “Whoever that monster must burn in Tartarus!” She exclaimed as Hibi caresses her back. “He speaks German and sounds German, I may say.” Peony said as she looks at them, “Do you think that’s General Trepagnier?” Thilda shrugs her shoulder, “I am not sure, we didn’t meet him yet or heard his voice. But, it’s the most likely thing.” Blaise looks at them as he clicks one last time, “He might be, the location where that came from was in… What do ya know? It’s Rennes!”

“I guess we have a lead and confirmation that the evil lair is there. We need to some them from multiplying in their own little sanctuary of mischief and troubles. To Rennes we go!” Thilda said as she was about to move forward as Miss Eve stopped her, “We should prepare first. This is not just a simple battle to be on. They have an army and they could be reckless like Asante just to have one less problem for them. We should stay and rest, train for a bit. Upgrade everything we have. If we started stealing, why not just scavenge everything that was in this place? Blaise has the minds to create things from small things and random ones also.” Thilda agrees with her, “This place is on lockdown anyway, we just need to be careful to not be seen by authorities.”

“I think this will be populated a week later with some hobos or people that are trying to find a livelihood here. Those days the authorities will be lazy enough just to let us wander around and scavenge everything we can see.” Ophelia looks at the messy and the sky on the horizon can be seen a little since most of the tall buildings that blocked it before and the cramped situation of them was already wiped out by the monster Asante has spawned for his ‘ace’ for the battle between them. “That’s great news! We can wander around without being considered weird!” Peony clapped happily and was cut by Blaise. “Still not, some of our looks weird like you and Hibi, you guys look like came from some sort of animated show, you know.”

Peony sighs, “Right… Why do our species look like some sort of cartoons?” Hibi giggles, “Maybe it’s more on your hair Peony. It’s unusual to have a girl with a green-pink gradient hair that is long enough to make it as two big ponytails.” She said as she carries one of them gently with her hand. “They are not even hair, I can’t comb them. Well, the upper part is like hair, but they are really stems, ya know?” She said as she lifts one of the strands of the green stem that was too thick to even be considered to be a hair strand. “Your hair is unusual too because it’s like impossible to have hair that looks like a blooming flower.”

“Let’s end this hair topic, we should get going and find a shelter, it’s already 5:30 pm, we don’t want to be out here at night in this cold climate.” They nod as they started to travel and try to find a shelter. They found a conveniently not mutilated grocery store. “This is a nice place to be in! This is heaven for us travelers!” Ernest exclaimed as they all laugh at his antics. “Just in time, we can get some ready-to-eat canned foods,” Hugo said as he browses some shelves to get some of it. “Coke, I miss you!” Ophelia exclaimed as she gets a coke from a non-working fridge. “It’s quite dark here though and this coke is not cold anymore… I am glad too this hasn’t got hoard yet.” She was about to drink her coke as she heard an unfamiliar voice emerge from the dark.

“Because it’s our place.”