Hotel Selten

Holy Laboratory Imprisonment

Before they could even react, the floor moves as they fall onto the hole. They all screamed as they hit a soft landing. But the others became unconscious since they hit their head hard. Thilda and Melvin are still awake, but they were a little dizzy. Their surroundings were dark, before they can even speak, the lights turned on. 

They saw Peony and Ophelia asleep in the same cell. They saw other people in their cells too. They look around and they are in one too. Thilda slaps the glass wherein they can see the others. “Ophelia! Peony! Wake up!” She keeps slapping the glass wall.

“They can’t hear you, you dummy.” She looks at where the sound is coming from. It was Doctor Asante, speaking on a part of the prison. His voice was coming from the speaker. “This is a soundproof prison cell, dear, and this is the only way I can talk to you. In any way, they can’t hear you, even you shout from the top of your lungs.” He taps the mic as he snickers. 

“What are you gonna do with us, huh!?” Thilda said as the doctor smirks. “Huh? I can’t hear you.” It filled Thilda’s anger as she slaps and hit the glass wall repetitively in anger. Melvin calms her, “Thilda… Don’t, you are just feeding him with your anger. Look at that sinister smile, calm…” He pats her back. “I will get you soon!” She said as she points at the doctor as he laughs. He left while laughing. 

She looked at their unconscious friends. She shakes Arabella’s arm, “Arabella, Arabella? Bella!” She keeps waking her up. The girl groans as she slowly opens her eyes. “Did I… Fell asleep? Is it… Just a dream?” Arabella looks around, “Where are we? This seems not the truck…”

“We are locked up…” She rises as her eyes widen, “It’s not a dream. N-none of it is a dream…” Thilda sighs, “Yes, and we are imprisoned.” Melvin joins them in, “Can I try knocking this glass?” Thilda shooks her head, “No. He might restrain you.”

“We need to plan…” Bella looks around, “Why are they asleep?” She looks at Thilda, “I need you to recover them.” Arabella nods as she levitates her trusty book of healing. She approached Ernest as she flips her book, she made gestures as some magic happens. Arabella closes her eyes and focuses to make Ernest conscious and make his headache away. As soon as she was gonna finish, her head suddenly aches as her book fell on the floor and all of the magic aurae vanishes. 

“Arabella, are you okay?” Thilda tends to her. Her head was aching so much, “My head hurts, I don’t know why…” She lets her rest on the wall. “Maybe you can rest for a while…” Arabella closes her eyes and took a nap. 

“That’s why you must not dare to use any magic here.” She turns her head as she saw the doctor again, smiling which makes her annoyed. “Why? Just saying? I am kind enough to warn you before you someone dies from your friends.” He keeps his sinister smile. “What are you doing to us?” 

“Why? I am not just gonna play around and let you guys use your powers. In my lab, no one can. I will not just let you stump me down with your magic. I have something here that cancels every ability or even weaken them, at least. Again, don’t ever try it.” His face became scary, threatening him. All of them didn’t respond even Thilda wants to stab him repeatedly.

“Good… I like obedient prisoners. I am lazy to pull and click some buttons just to teach you a lesson. I am a busy person, you know?” He puts his hands on his lab coat’s pocket. “Anyway, I’m going back later for lunch. See you later~” After his singsong tone speaking, he left them. 

“Supposed Thilda and the g**g are here already?” Blaise asked Hugo who is just looking around. “I guess… Maybe we can find them?” The blonde boy looks around, “How about the others?” 

“Maybe let’s find the cathedral, maybe they are there now.” Blaise nods as they went to the truck and start finding the cathedral. He looks around and asked some people who walk past by as they ride to the streets of Strasbourg. “Hey, mister. Is there any cathedral nearby?” He asked a man who is walking, he nods. “Just go right and go straight and go left.” 

“Thank you.” He smiles as he continues to travel, following the man’s order. He reached the cathedral as Hugo looks at it. “Is this it?” Blaise opens the driver’s door. “I think so… It’s fancy enough to be a cathedral…” They both exited the vehicle and invited Hibi. 

They went to the cathedral, “Do you know where are they?” Hibi nods. She started walking as both of the boys followed her. Hibi pulled something down in the corner as the wall opens behind it. They went down it as the door shuts behind them. There is no going back.

“Just keep getting angry… It feeds my soul.” The doctor laugh as another of Thilda’s comrade got weakened. Alice, in her impulse decision, draws her weapon earlier. Now her accessories, also her weapons, became rusty, which weakens her ability.  “I told you not to use any power and magic here. You won’t stand against me.” Thilda takes a breath as she calms herself. She doesn’t want to even show her blade hand because she is afraid of what might happen to it. “Good. Just be obedient and no one will get harmed.”

Asante looks at his wristwatch and he smirks. Thilda knows something bad is gonna happen. “I guess we have new visitors.” The black-haired girl was nervous, who could have fallen to the doctor’s trap again? She hopes it’s not another set of her friends. She looks to the glass and looks around the hallways. She was pretty inpatient who could have been captured.

Minutes later, some staff of Doctor Asante was pushing a cart is covered with cloths. They all looked at it as Thilda hopes it’s not anyone they know. They stopped in a cell just next to Peony and Ophelia’s. Speaking of them, they aren’t still awake. They might have received a high dose of tranquilizer. Thilda is still looking at them as they dumped them on the cell. 

Thilda gasps as she can see the blonde hair-looking boy and black hair as well. “Blaise… Hugo…” She sighs as she confirms the two looking figures facing their backs at them. The staff left them and close the cell. “How could we go out here now?” Arabella asked as she tends on Alice. “I don’t know, let’s just hope for a miracle.”

Ophelia woke up from her slumber. She saw herself laying on Peony’s lap. “Hey! You’re awake!” She looks up as she saw Peony smiling. “Where are we?” The green-haired girl is still smiling, but she can see in her eyes that she is worrying. “Well, we are imprisoned.”

She realized that it was not a dream. She suddenly rises as she saw Thilda and others on the other side. She suddenly ran and bump her head on the glass wall. She falls as she holds her forehead. “Hey! Careful!” Peony shouts as she approached her, “Does it hurt bad!?”  Ophelia shook her head. She caresses the glass wall as she realizes what she has done wrong. Thilda notices her as she opens and moves her mouth, but she can’t understand anything. “Is it me or I can’t really hear them?” 

Peony sighs, “These prisons are soundproof. That doctor only talked to us through that system.” She points at the corner. She can saw a speaker and another circle thing that seems like a microphone. Ophelia looks around, it was those prison cells that you can only see in science fiction movies. “We were asleep for like hours, I don’t really know the time, but we were asleep.”

“They injected us some tranquilizers.” Ophelia hits the glass wall, but it only hurt her hand from the impact. She muttered some cries of pain under her breath. “We can’t escape, this is maybe the last of us.” Peony sighs, “I never thought I would die in a fancy laboratory.” She giggles awkwardly as she tries to lighten up the mood. 

“Are we the only ones here? I can’t see Hugo and Blaise on the other side? We still have hope.” Ophelia looks around like a curious child. “I don’t know… Seems Thilda is already hopeless, she might know something. Since we are out for like the heavens knows how many hours or minutes, we might miss something.”

“How did they got here anyway? I mean, we are the only ones who went here. Did they follow us?” Peony shrugs, “I guess they were searching for us… And that doctor trapped them.” Ophelia sighs. Minutes later, her face lightens up. “I know, maybe we can use our magic.”

Ophelia tries to find water as she focuses. Just seconds later she collapses. Her head hurts as Peony tends to her. “What happened to you?” She groans, “I-I don’t know… My head suddenly starts aching.” Peony can see Thilda was worried at the other side and was saying something, but they can’t hear her. Ophelia squints as the pain still makes her suffer.

A laugh can be heard, it made the two of them look at the origin of the sound. “Another one. You guys are so stubborn.” Ophelia was pissed at his laugh but she can’t charge him. “You monster. What do you need from us!?” The doctor snickers, “Of course, you. I need your bodies…. Your abilities… Your powers…” 

“Is this why you are capturing us and attacking us in our home!?” Ophelia shouts again as she endured the pain and rises from Peony’s lap. “Well, it wasn’t my idea in the first place… I was a victim, you know. But, actually, the ones who abducted me, they have a reason that I want to live for.”

“I know some of you here… But you are new, aren’t you?” Ophelia didn’t answer him, the doctor snickers again, “Silence means yes for me. I guess I get to know you before you die.” He laughs maniacally, “Anyways, I have been researching and experimenting with what we could do in the world. Us, who have these extraordinary powers and abilities. They were right, we can do more than just hiding from humans. We have powers! We have magic! We can do things they practically can’t do! Are you getting my point? We can dominate the world!”

“Humans haven’t done this yet. They can’t even cure some cancers and diseases. We can, we have healers whose minds are far beyond understanding for doctors. Some of us can control whatever is on earth. I know you can control water, don’t you like it when humans praise you because you are like the daughter of Poseidon which every fantasy fans dream of?” 

Ophelia kept in silence, she can’t do any rebuttals to him. “But, you chose to hide your abilities when you can even wipe the whole planet out of existence! I was hiding too before, now I despise it. And the only thing that can make you guys go out from your sad lairs is to shake you off.” He snickers. 

“How did you know we are going in here!?” Ophelia said as she had the courage to speak. “Well, a new friend of yours brought you here. I thought she will fail this, but she made me proud. I knew I can trust her.” Ophelia gasps, “Hibi… No…” 

“You monster! You manipulate her!” The doctor shook his head, “No… She did this all by herself to prove she’s loyal to me. You know, I’m not interested in love but it seems to benefit me now… Now I have your friends and even extra ones right here…” He went to the cell next to them. His eyebrows raised as he scrutinized them. “Wait a minute… These are not them! Where are they!?”

“Finding us, Asante?”