Mansion of Terror

The evening.

Pretty late in the evening as well... the night sky slowly started to linger more and more above the inhabitants of this specific part of the planet. The stars lit up the sky beautifully, but as one was to look towards the nearby forest, there would be a small patch of clouds slowly moving in towards the rest of the area, to block out the wonderful display in the sky.

...

The Mansion. A place people would be familiar with in that area. A place which was rumored to be dangerous beyond belief... mainly because of the history. Not a single soul has ever ventured in there, and came back out alive with any answers or story to tell.

Many people avoid it. Many people just pretend it doesn't exist.

The ironic thing is, sometimes it doesn't either. The exact forest area it's in can change, though it usually remains north of the town...

The town, in which, had many posters, flyers, the lot scattered around, by some unknown source. Someone looking for answers. Someone looking for people that would be brave enough to venture into the mansion themselves.

The meeting spot was to be the church. A fitting spot for such a task.

Those interested were to show up at 10 o'clock on the dot. No later, if they wanted to be in on the actually job at hand. Time was slowly ticking on, and it was nearing very close to that exact mark.

Standing quietly at the main doors of the church, was a relatively short, black furred female vixen. She didn't seem to be like a figure of very much importance, but she was the only one there, and she was standing on some kind of pedstal of sorts.

...

Slowly from around the corner came a rather small mink. Brown in colour. He had the most overly confident look on his face despite looking so young. He looked like 8. His hair was long and relatively scraggy, much like the rest of his appearance. ...He wasn't even wearing shoes.

"Er, excuse me miss, have you seen the weird guy asking for people to investigate the so-called Mansion?" He asked, putting on a very quiet and polite voice.

The female simply turned, gazing down. Her gaze was very unimpressed for a moment, before it suddenly changed to a bit more happy. "Well, I'm the one behind the posters and flyers, if that's what you're asking." She explained. "Aren't you a bit young for this kind of job?" She asked.

"Oh-oh er, I..." He paused a bit, until that question hit. He immediately put on his normal voice. Which was still high. But a lot less... posh. "Ah don'think so~ I'm one of the braaaaavest o'the brave, miss!" He announced, as if to an audience.

She shook her head a bit. Typical children. But who was she to care? If he died it wouldn't matter to her. It was about finding out about inside of the mansion. The vixen glanced to her watch. "...The others had better show up." She muttered to herself. "I'm not taking just a kid in there."

...Time was ticking.

The Self-Proclaimed "James Bond" of Mercenaries, Travis "Raven" McGable, rode into town on his custom street bike that had vibrant colors on it. Wrapping her arms around his waist so as to not fall off of the powerful machine was a young, yet feisty wolf named Sammie Lapp. It had been a couple of months since Travis found her on the streets, stealing from anyone who was distracted or just plain stupid. Sammie had a helmet on, thankfully, so that if she were to fall off then her helmet would provide partial protection. "Doing okay back there," Travis asked his young sidekick. "This helmet makes it hard to breathe," Sammie shot back. Travis merely chuckled to his sidekick's comment. Today, Sammie was dressed in a black racer's uniform thanks to Travis since he figured that whoever posted the flyers would not want children to tag along. The uniform was tight, itchy, and very uncomfortable. Fortunately, once inside the mansion, Sammie would be able to change out of the racer's uniform since she had her clothes underneath it and become more comfortable.
"Don't worry, Samus," Travis reassured the young girl. "After this meeting, you should be able to change out of that thing. Just keep that helmet on so I can pass you off as a silent, strong Mobian." Sammie just nodded before replying, "I hope this meeting gets over soon." Travis was dressed in his winter mercenary outfit which consisted of a heavy, hooded, fur coat, thermal pants, winter hiking boots, gloves, and a mask with goggles built-in to provide a more strategic outlook on things. Once they were closer to the meeting spot, Travis reminded the girl, "No talking." Travis stopped the street bike in front of the church and turned the vehicle off. Travis got off first so he could help Sammie off.
Both of them walked up to the main doors of the church. It was now time for Travis to use his professional attitude. "Didn't know other people would be here," he stated. "Who's the one behind the posters and how much are you willing to pay me and my associate?" This side of Travis was a bit more professional but menacing. Sammie only ever saw Travis act this way on several occasions. Maybe the fact that it was cold made him act this way this time. Who knows? "Also, our names do not matter as long as we get the job done," Travis added, attempting to become known as the anonymous members of the group in case he failed this mission and retaliation occurred. For some odd reason, retaliation always happened even if he did complete the job. He wasn't concerned about his safety. He was much more concerned about his sidekick's safety seeing as she was a young, bright girl with a future ahead of her. As Travis moved his left arm, a low hissing like that from a machine was produced. If one paid close attention, one could deduce that he had a prosthetic limb of some sort.
Whether he did or not didn't really matter.

"I am." The female suddenly said, the black fox simply folding her arms. "I'm willing to pay everyone here two thousand each. A very large price for such a quick mission, wouldn't you agree?" She questioned, her deep, blue eyes lingering on the mercenary.

She didn't seem very impressed by his act, however. "Do yourself a favor and drop the 'badass mercenary' act, love, because it's not intimidating. It's more cute than anything." She rolled her eyes a little bit. "Up to you if you want to tell us your names, but honestly I don't care. I care about finding out what's inside of that mansion, and nothing else. You'll get your money, aaand that'll be the end of it. I'm Sora, either way, if you even want to know." She stated, simply observing the area closely for anyone else that would approach.

...

The young mink glanced up. He put his eyes on the other two that had appeared. They looked pretty intimidating actually, but like hell was he going to show that he was even slightly skeptical. "Oi, you two coming t'find ou'what's inside tha' mansion or whatever?" He chimed in, breaking whatever tension was in the air with his childish voice.

His deep hazel eyes lingered on the mercenary, trying to see just what kind of gear he had, in case the whole thing was a lie. He had his tazer on hand, and would easily be able to take out a lot of these people to escape, and maybe be able to swipe some belongings.

Money was important, but goods could make up for a loss.

...

The vixen didn't seem to care in the slightest a kid was coming along, that she knew FINE WELL about as well. That... was a thing.

It had been a while since the last exploration of a haunted house. It had also been a while since the siblings had been together. Alexis and Oblivion were protectors of a specific task. They were also guardians of a specific element; Alexis guarded the skies, and Oblivion watched over the shadows. It was hard, to be honest, but they did well in their assignment.

Tonight, the two siblings were assigned to explore a haunted house. This house was said to be more haunted than the others, but they were both willing to take the risk. Alexis wore her usual outfit, which consisted of a sky blue shirt, ripped up blue jeans, and white sneakers, while Oblivion sported his monochromatic outfit that was given to him by the overworld. They were standing not far from the church doors, observing the area around them. Of course, nothing good came from the horror that would soon come...

(Since there seems to be no posting order in effect, I'm gonna go ahead and post).

Travis seemed irked by Sora's comments. Unfortunately, he had to keep his professional manner up for a bit longer during this meeting. He eased up, not tensing up as much as he was. "Better, ma'am," he askes, referring to his employer with respect and dignity. "Normally, I would retaliate against such... degradation. However, you are the employer and I the worker." Travis' gear consisted of advanced weaponry made by humans. Today his gear was an automatic rifle, a knife on his left calf, a handgun, and a rather shiny, alluring sword that seemed as if it were made by masters of craftsmanship. Humans, oddly enough, always seemed to be ahead of Mobians in terms of technology. Keyword being "seemed." Around his waist was an ammunition belt that held very little ammo. Travis liked being able to move around with little to no difficulty and without the worry of weight holding him down. His clothes, however, seemed to provide no protection against damage and only protected the human against the harsh climate.
Sammie simply stood in the background, keeping quiet as she was told. Sammie had no weapons of war compared to Travis. She only had a backpack with a teddy bear that was missing an eye protruding from the backpack. The clue was enough to deduce that Travis' sidekick was in fact a child. Why Travis would bring a child with him was anyone's guess. What was so special about Sammie for Travis to bring her into harm's way? What skills did she possess for Travis to utilize?
Travis' focus was broken by the mink's squeaky, childish voice. Travis turned his attention towards the mink. "Competition, huh," he observed. "This'll be interesting." Travis scanned the mink's appearance, examining the quality of his clothes to his hygiene all the way to his bare feet. "You poor," Travis asked the minx, finishing up his examination of his appearance. Travis didn't really have much experience with the poor so he was pretty much open to having his valuables taken. "Eh, doesn't matter. I guess I can handle working with someone as long as we reasonably split the reward," Travis offered, seeming indifferent to the young minx taking part in this contract.

A small eyebrow raise. "..." She shook her head slightly, before catching the teddy bear in the corner of her eye. She narrowed her eyes slightly, but didn't ask. She herself deducted it was either a kid... or some very creepy person with a love of teddy bears. Either was no worse than the other in her eyes, and she simply glanced at her watch.

Catching her attention however was the duo. "You two." She called out, pointing right at them. The black vixen stepped off the pedstal, her red boots clacking hard against the floor. She grinded the soles against the ground for a splitsecond, "You looking for the job? Get over here if you are, and be snappy about it, I haven't got all day!" She had a pretty irritated expression. The more time that ticked by, the worse she seemed to just... ...get.

...

The mink meanwhile pouted. "I'm not poor, what gives y'that impression, eh?!" He didn't want to admit it really, less people take pity on him. He didn't like that one bit. He could look after himself. He however slipped a bit closer to Travis, observing just what he was wearing. The tech he was carrying.

...Aaanything that just might be dangling from a pocket unsecured, or something small he could potentially swipe later without him noticing.

However, he put it off as him trying to be intimidating. And he was 'lying' incredibly well. "Y'think I dress like this 'cause ah've got no choice? Nah, I'd do it this way no matter what." He folded his arms. Wow, kid had surprising guts to get up close to such a menacing guy.

...Though deep down he was definitely having second thoughts.

"Well, they weren't kidding," Oblivion started. "Even if we did manage to go in together, we'd end up separated anyhow." Before Alexis could respond, they heard a voice call out to them.
"We'd better go see what she wants," Alexis advised. Oblivion nodded, and the two siblings walked over towards the group. As they did, however, she asked, "What job could she be referring to?"
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it sounds dangerous," Oblivion replied. Alexis nodded in agreement.
"Agreed," Alexis commented. They approached the group and looked about the group, seeing a mink, two humans (I think?), and of course, the vixen, who had called them over. "Is this all that's coming?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I think there's another person coming, so I don't think we're the only ones that are going," Oblivion replied.
Alexis nodded. "You're right," she remarked. "We should wait."

Travis didn't really have any gadgets with him this time. To be quiet honest, he didn't think that he would need them. The only thing that Travis ever really had of value were his weapons and his rather unique sword. There was, however, a bulge in his left pocket. In his left pocket was a medallion that Travis believed to be lucky. The medallion depicted the image of a kitsune watching over a male samurai and was small and made of silver. How Travis came to be in possession of such an ancient artifact was an unknown matter. Travis seemed to be very fond of the Asian culture since he showed interest enough to keep the medallion.
When the young boy tried his best to intimidate the experienced mercenary, Travis simply stood there with a mystified look on his face. Playing out in his mind like a movie was the memory of meeting Sammie for the first time. Oh how Travis hated the little brat! To actually have the nerve to steal and trick somebody like Travis meant death. Sammie, however, was far too young to actually punish. When he caught Sammie, he remembered how resistive she was at first.
His memory was soon broken by Sora's screeching. Travis blinked twice, finally coming back from his journey down Memory Lane. He looked back at the two new arrivals making their way toward the meeting spot. "So much for splitting the reward," Travis mutteres as a sighed out of frustration due to having more competition. Sammie, feeling Sora's eyes peer into her very soul, became uncomfortable and tried to hide behind Travis' street bike as if it were some sort of shield that would protect her from everything. Travis didn't seem to notice this since his attention was more focused upon who to watch for and what his competition was like. It was becoming more and more evident that Travis' sidekick was merely a kid. Sammie was rather quiet, shy, and socially awkward, but when Sammie was around Travis with no one else hanging about, she was feisty, witty, innovative, and a bit of an asshole. Maybe a little bit of Travis was rubbing off On her. Who knows?

As the group spoke among themselves, they may've come to notice a slight... bassy noise. It was... music maybe? Quite heavy music, moving closer - as evidenced by the increased feeling of reverberations running through the ground below. It almost sounded as if someone was rolling some sort of... amplifier of sorts closer.
However, when the source of the sound came into view, there was no boom-box across their shoulders as one might expect. Indeed it, seemed there was no speaker on the individual at all. Though to be clear... the music definitely seemed to be coming from this person. No, no, it definitely was coming from this person, at this distance you could tell.

The individual in question seemed to be some form of shark woman, athletically built - with that athleticism certainly being put to work as she jogged her way over, hopping a bench as she went. A slight jangling accompanied the hop - probably originating from the tool-belt she'd strapped around her waist, filled with hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, the works. The belt, combined with a set of overalls (the top of which currently folded over the belt and dangling clumsily behind the shark) seemed to make it pretty clear in her day-to-day life this woman worked as a mechanic.
The dyed red hair (partially hidden beneath a wooly cap), enormous boots and vest meanwhile seemed to suggest her day-to-day life was more spent in the realm of punkhood. The vest in particular looked to've gone through the works, appearing to've been torn apart and sewed back together multiple times - the words 'beast mode' emblazoned on the chest being barely visible through the shoddy job that had been done of restitching that top over and over.
To finish the look, the shark had a series of facial piercings - and that's where things got interesting. The two rings in her ear seemed to have tiger clips connected to them - tiger clips which had been used to seemingly replace the earplugs on what was once a pair of headphones. Those headphones seemed to connect to some form of MP3 player which she'd tucked into the fold of her hat. The music seemed to be coming from the device... and playing THROUGH the shark.
Literally, as she moved, the music seemed to emenate from her. The reverberations were visible across her body as that bassy noise played out from her, the odd swing of an arm or leg causing peculiar fluctuations and distortions in the sound. Artists often talk about trying to add a sense of 'movement' to their sound... well, it seemed this stranger had found a very literal way of doing that.
As she approached the group, slowing the pace of her movement, the volume seemed to lower slightly - til the music sounded more like a backing track to the ongoings, rather than anything else. Well, that was certainly an entrance.

"Hey-hey, boys and girls!" she grinned broadly, showing off a set of razor sharp teeth. Thaaat grin faded slowly as she glanced between some of the assembled people here. In particular, looking at the two children seemed to give her pause for thought.
"Oh, uh, did I come on the wrong day? This isn't some... church-run, feed-the-orphans type deal thing is it?" she stuttered slightly, "Not that I have a problem with that! Like, it's great to see you helping out some of these poor kids!" It seemed she'd gotten the impression from the one young boy's dishevelled state, as well as the unkempt state of the girl's teddy bear, that perhaps this was a different kind of event entirely.
"Only, I, er, thought there was some ghost-hunting thingy going on tonight?"

The entrance indeed was very.. unique. The vixen actually looked genuinely surprised for a moment, almost as if she was impressed by the physical appearance and the fact the sharp was a literal music player that walked on two legs. She was definitely glad it turned down, but it transitioned so well she couldn't complain in the slightest. ...Uh... clever...?

She instead folded her arms, glancing between the three recent-appearances. "If you two'd quit playing narrate-your-life, you'd realize that THIS is the mission advertised around town. Y'know, the - posters...? Damnit, I paid good money for those, don't tell me you didn't see 'em..." The fox groaned a little bit, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Never... nevermind. Just come along, if you're interested. I wasn't expecting this many people, but I can still fork out a thousand each if you come with for this." She stated, a little unsurely almost.

"You'd be right though, girl, this is the mansion explorer party. See - at least SOME people read posters." More grumbling, before she glanced between the two kids. A small pause, before, "Eeeeeeh, they can come along if they want. They could be useful to get through cramped spaces or something, who knows what's inside that place? Besides... I need as many people as I can get for this, kids or not." A shrug. "They'll learn a life lesson anyhow. What, you gonna turn down a burst of quick cash 'cause of morals or something? I'm not just gonna let them get killed or use them as bait."

A very subtle look of almost... sympathy in her eyes appeared, though. She spoke a bit more quietly to the shark specifically; "Judging by the state of them... they could use the cash, but I really can't give handouts. I'm not rich. But investigating this place is hella important, so, fair's fair, right?" She questioned, before stepping back.

"Anyway, time's almost up for more people to show up. We'll be moving in about a minute, so why don't you idiots make friends or something while we wait, eh? Don't want to go in a place like this on bad terms after all." She had a valid point. But she wasn't very polite in getting... well, anything across.

"YO WHAT DON'T GET STARTED WITHOUT ME YOU BUNCH OF LAME-OES!"
Unlike the shark, another entrance of a newcomer wasn't even slightly impressive. Running forward, a pitter-patter of feet, was a bear. Her hair, cut short, was pitch black just like the eye-liner under her eyes. A relatively flat chest, but it was hidden anyway by the black clothing with the occasional hint of blue. It was certainly very gothic and over-the-top, and fit the theme of spooky scary for the night.

She skidded forward to a stop, the earplugs in her ears sliding out and tumbling forward, which she fumbled about with her hands in reaction. "Shit shit one sec shit..." she muttered, trying to untangle the wires that'd been suddenly wrapped around her in a mess. After fixing them (with one or two knots), she slipped them back into her ears, and widely grinned towards the small-ish group. "HEY! I'm not some dumb stupid scaredy dumb cat scared thing! I'm a BEAR and a BEAR that's COOL AS ALL HELL! And I'm gonna WIN and you're all gonna know my name!"
...
"MY NAME'S WICKED! ...As in that's my name BUT I'M ALSO PRETTY WICKED! I came up with it myself ISN'T IT GREAT?!"

"Just-" And Sora was immediately cut off by a random... extra person. Alright, alright, sure. That's a thing. A bear, huh.

She sweatdropped. A bit unsure what to say. How to respond to such a... character.

Yeah, let's go with that.

Sora adjusted the gloves on her hands, closing both tightly into fists afterwards and loosening the grasp. Just giving a few checks, it seemed. They were stable enough, for certain.

She simply nodded to Wicked. "Suuuuure. ...Well, I guess you're the last person to show, then. Right on time." A glance between the other people present. How was she going to pull the cash out for ALL of these people? ...Nevermind that, they were all here and ready. "Let's get moving right away, then! Waited long enough." She ushered, signalling the people to follow her as she walked backwards a little bit, heading to the large forest area.

She twisted a bunch of the bolts on the gloves she had, slipping a carry pack of sorts on shortly afterwards. "The mansion is just ahead - past a few layers of these trees. You read - most of you read the posters. All we're doing is going in, seeing what's happening, and then leaving. Nothing more than that." She explained. She wasn't very motivational with the way she spoke.

The closer the group - well, I imagine they were following her somewhat and not just standing at the church like 'welp' - got to the forest, the worse the weather got progressively. It went from being calm and quiet, to a light drizzle, to rain starting to get heavier. Wind picked up, and it was definitely not a pleasant thing to go through.

The trees provided quite a lot of shelter at least, but the cold could definitely be felt.

While walking, the vixen just took a small glance back, juuuust to make sure she was being followed.

The two watched more people appear until the time dragged onward to 10 p.m. They looked around, seeing a shark, a bear, and another fox. "That seems to be everyone," Oblivion reported.
Alexis nodded. "I don't think anyone else is showing up," she replied. "I think we should follow them," she added, seeing everyone starting to leave.
"I agree," Oblivion responded, soon catching up with Alexis, who was already following behind the group.

Travis watched the new arrival's rather unspectacular entrance. While Travis entrance wasn't anything special, this foolish, at least that was what he thought of him, bear's enthusiasm garnered the annoyed groan of Travis. "Oh for the love of- I need a drink," Travis announced, pinching the bridge of his nose. Hopefully, this bear won't be as annoying as Travis' rival, the revolutionist, Malware. "Listen, kid," Travis called, trying to get the attention of the bear. "I don't mind you or anyone else tagging along on this contract, but what I do mind is you and your mouth. Just... just don't talk every five seconds and don't make long, boring speeches about things. I have to deal with someone like that more times than I would like to. Speaking chatterboxes, where's Sammie?"
Sammie was still hiding behind Travis' bike and was carefully observing the individuals in the group. Knowing that it was pretty obvious that Sammie was a kid, Travis removed her helmet without hesitation. "H-hey," whined Sammie As she jumped up in the air for an unsuccessful attempt to grab the helmet back. "Hey, stop complaining," ordered Travis. Sammie folded her arms and stuck her tongue out at her mentor. "How come you don't have to take your mask off, Travis," Sammie asked. "Sammie!"
"What?!"
"I thought I told you to refer to me as Raven."
"But you're not a bird, you're a human. Why do I have to name you after a bird?"
"Because I don't want people that I don't know learning my name."
"Then why did you call me by my name? Now everyone here knows my name."
Travis shook his head and placed the palm of his hand on his forehead out of frustration. "You can really, REALLY push my buttons sometimes, you damn girl," Travis confessed. "Come on. The others are going." Travis and Sammie followed Sora closely so as not to get lost or left behind. When Sora laid out the mission objectives verbally, Travis and Sammie remained quiet. "Hopefully we can get this done in no time," Travis muttered under his breath so as to not let anyone else hear his complaints and think of him as a whiny mercenary.

The shark had rather decided quite immediately that she didn't like this vixen, who was apparently meant to be hosting this little expedition. It wasn't so much one thing, as a collection of small... little details. The off-handed reference to JC as simply 'girl' was enough for early alarm-bells. JC was aware that she'd garnered quite the... reputation, for having a short temper back home, and thus decided perhaps it was best to at least bite her tongue for now.
This biting of the tongue became significantly harder when it came to talking about the kids. The implication that the shark would casually place money above morals was an... uncomfortable one for her. She'd admit that in the past she may've been a touch more... unscrupulous in the past - but she was meant to be on the up-and-up these days. She didn't like the implication that perhaps the idea still hung over her that she'd just do any old thing for money. She wasn't even HERE for the money. She just wanted to punch a ghost, because let's be honest, that'd be rad as fuck.
Speaking of punching things, it became increasingly hard not to immediately punch the vixen as she leaned in for a rather unsubtle aside. Talking about 'not being able to give the kids hand-outs' and how she 'wasn't rich' whilst splashing around money left right and centre, claiming this was a supposedly 'important mission'. They were going to poke around a spooky house, not disarm a nuclear bomb. Uuunless there was a nuclear bomb under the house, and the ghosts were like... radiation ghosts?
Either way, it was the next line that was the real last straw; the vixen so calmly referring to the group as idiots. Well she knew she wasn't an idiot, and she wasn't gonna take this anymore! The shark opened her mouth to speak...

Aaand shut it again as a loud bear made it's way onto the scene. An abrasive kid by the self-proclaimed name of 'Wicked'. Heh, it was kinda funny... It kinda reminded the shark of herself when she was a kid!
...
Oh god, she was like that as a kid?

Before she could truly let the horror sink in, that goddamn vixen was speaking up again - saying that they should get moving immediately. Wait, wasn't she saying like, just a second ago that they were meant to be taking the time to get to know each other? That was a sudden change of-
Oh wait, shit, they were moving now, no time to think.

Making the journey out, with such a small group - and noone within it herself that she really knew to talk to - it became rather easy to listen in on the conversations of others. In particular, the conversation of one 'Travis' came to her attention, as he berated the last arrival to the team. Okay, she could stand for the infuriating vixen annoying her personally, but to see some 40-something year old man poking away at the kid like that? That REALLY built up her ire. Pausing for a second to turn to him, she full-on prodded him in the chest;
"Oi, you listen yourself," she growled, baring a number of sharp teeth, "You can call other people 'chatterboxes' all you want, but you're the only one I see going around babbling away at people, right? So you just back off a second, yeah?" she lowered her gaze slightly, "You can claim this as your 'contract' all you want and claim we're tagging along, but it was an open invitation, and YOU'RE tagging along just as much, your big special kit and your big fancy codenames don't put you above anyone here."
Taking the time to pause and calm down, she lugged a wrench from her toolbelt, resting it on her shoulder. Tapping it there a couple of times, she paused, before smiling and speaking up again.
"Now I don't want to be making any enemies here, so let's just let this be water under the bridge, aye?" she extended her free hand to shake, "Just note, if I see you bullying any of these kids again - even if it's your little companion there - if I see you bullying any of these kids again, you're getting this wrench upside the head, kay? Kay." She grinned, hand still offered out to shake.

(It's like half 3 in the morning please excuse any errors cause there'll be lots)

If looks could produce sound, her glare would be deafening. She stuck up her nose at Travis, storming over to jab him on the chest. She wasn't afraid! If anything, there was an absolute lack of fear in her eyes - it was just replaced with offence, "Now listen here, you hairless dumb idiot stuck-up wannabe hero loser," she started, "You don't like me? Fine. But if you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best." Ah, the cringe of that line. Beautiful. She stood away, and then her ear twitched. Wait, what did the vixen say?

...What? She'd only just arrived and they were already going? "Aww what? I don't even get a chance to slouch? I just RAN here for this stupid baby spooky thing and you're ordering me about trying to be the boss of me? Well I'M THE BOSS OF ME!" she yelled, crossing her arms and tapping her little black earphones into her ears with a grumpy expression. If one were observant and paying attention, they may notice no actual sound from the earphones she was reclining to. Rather, she slipped her hands into her pockets, and kicked at the dirt as those around her made their way onwards.

She stood at the back of the group, not really saying much else, which was odd considering the entrance was loud and brash. Instead, she observed the mannerisms of those around her with careful blue eyes. In particular, she watched the actions of the shark, and her brash but rather overprotective nature. She made some mental notes to herself regarding that one. The rain was at a steady pace, and what droplets slipped through the cracks of the leaves caused her ebony hair to dampen. She shivered a little - she wasn't prepared for this kind of weather. The most she wore was a second shirt and that didn't even have any sleeves!

And of course, the moment Sora looked back, Wicked found it in herself to pull her tongue at her. How mature.

Travis could handle the sting of the bear's line. Having kids rebuke him was something that he had to deal with for a while, especially when dealing with brash, teenage revolutionists. This Wicked's words seemed as though they had bounced off of Travis as if they were nothing. Travis cleared his throat, stared at the bear, and replied in a calm, controlled tone, "Kid, I may be hairless, and I may seem stupid, but if there's one thing that you've got wrong is that I am anything but a hero. I'm here for a paycheck and if that means getting rid of you. It'll just add to the list of bad things that I've done. Also, no. I don't deserve you at your best. I'd like someone who can give me a run for my money that isn't you."
The response wasn't very good and it wasn't very clever. It was, however, Travis' counter to being attacked by someone so weak. At least that was how he viewed Wicked. Then again, choosing to argue back was a sign that Travis was at least a little bit tweaked by the statement. As they traveled, Travis was finally confronted by the shark, JC, about his offensive, haughty behavior. Travis could deal with the words full of air from kids, but to be confronted by a young adult about his self-proclaimed superiority actually shocked him. Travis' face, if you could see it, was priceless.
He had his mouth open and his face was frozen in a position that many would find hilarious. Once the attack upon Travis' character had ceased, Travis had no response to the shark's choice of words. In fact, he was pretty much in dismay over what took place. Seeing no other alternative to working his way around not having to shake the shark's hand and standing his ground, Travis nodded and, with his left robotic limb, shook the shark's hand. The amount of pressure he applied was enough to nearly break bones. "Sorry for my behavior," he sneered, finally feeling the sting of the shark's words.
He released his grip from the shark's hand, but the amount of pressure he applied was an obvious sign of aversion to being talked down to. He wasn't degraded like that for nearly ten years. For the rest of the journey until they had reached the mansion, Travis would refuse to open his mouth for concerns that he would just be knocked down a peg or two. Sammie, who had watched the whole thing in interest was actually surprised. She had never seen someone talk down to Travis like that and him not counter it even if his responses weren't witty.
Sammie snickered at the expense of Travis' ego being bruised by the verbal assault. "Guess she told you," Sammie chortled as she walked alongside her partner. Sammie's response garnered a growl of frustration from the now quiet Travis who still remained silent.

Sora rolled her eyes. ("Even bigger idiots than I thought.") At least she had the decency to keep that to herself.

...

A while of walking was all it really took before they were standing before the gigantic mansion...

...Stuck in the pouring rain.

"Well, this is just great. Let's get inside, quickly...!"

Rather than take any tactical approach, however, the vixen immediately went right up to the main door, only to be greeted by some... sign.

'CLOSED - DO NOT DISTURB - OPENS AT 7'

"...Hmmmh....!" The vixen glanced back to the group, "Oi! I dunno about you guys, but I want to get out of the freaking rain!" There was a brief pause, before she immediately kicked the door to open it.

...And it didn't budge. Not one bit.

If anything it hurt her foot more than anything ever had before. She visibly hunched slightly, and bit her tongue a bit, ("OWWWWWW THAT FUCKING HURTS JESUS CHRIST!!") She was screaming mentally, but she didn't let the pain show as much as she wanted. Had to keep that whole, status up, yo. She merely turned around.

"G-gueeeess ahah we ha-have to find another way in." She said, quickly slipping on past the others. "Just... just follow me, there has to be a way in." The vixen said. She sounded very unsure... and almost... desperate...?

Leading the group around the side of the large mansion itself, there was a weird... stone circle. On top of the circle, around the edges, were differently shaped pillars.

The vixen leaned gently against one of the pillars, a lightning strike flashing across the sky for a splitsecond, wind picking up quite heavily.

She glanced down to the stones. There were random symbols scattered around across the floor. All kinds of lines, and scribbles, and... just, general things that were almost impossible to make out.

"Anyone got any bright ideas on how to get in? I didn't think this far ahead, I always thought that it was as simple as walking through the front door." She scratched the back of her head, looking away from the group in a bit of embarrassment.

Upon close inspection, it was clear that the random symbols were actually not just random; they were letters that had been scribbled out a bit.

I.
II.
III.
V.
X.
Y.
Z.

In the middle of the structure was some kind of large cross.

"...Damnit..."

It took some walking, but the duo, still following the group, finally managed to get to the mansion despite the rainy weather. Upon closer inspection of the sign, Alexis managed to report, "L-Looks like it's closed..."
"We need to find another way in," Oblivion replied, and noticing the look on his sister's face, she was starting to feel a bit off. "Are you going to be all right?" he asked.
"As long as the weather doesn't get any worse, I should be fine," Alexis answered.
"Good. Let's keep moving," Oblivion suggested. Alexis nodded, and the duo followed the group until they reached a group of pillars, which surrounded a stone circle. Alexis noticed lightning strike the sky, which caused her to start feeling a bit worried about the current situation. There was no time to be scared...she needed to stay strong. I never would've imagined we'd go this far out just to find an entrance, Oblivion thought, starting to feel both a bit disappointed and worried.

For most of the journey there, JC had been rather quiet. Not due to any sort of lack of wanting to socialise, but rather, due to spending half the trip biting her lip.
Whilst she'd held a stern gaze throughout the handshake with Travis, dear god did that hurt. She'd been trying desperately not let it show, trying to keep her 'tough gal' persona by ramming the pained hand into her pocket, and biting that lip at an attempt to distract from the pain. Of course, being a shark, she had rather sharp teeth, meaning this too had provided a wee bit more pain than one might hope. She'd somehow created her own inner-hemisphere of pain balancing, trying to bite hard enough on her lip to distract from her hand, whilst trying to avoid biting so hard it gave her another wound to worry about.
Still, she looked as tough as all nails and was sure Travis wasn't gonna be able to get the satisfaction out of this she was so sure he'd get if he got to see her more openly suffer. Job well done JC!

She was finally snapped out of her quiet inner-focus by the sudden loud 'THUD!' of their apparent team-leader assaulting the mansion's door with her foot. Ooor perhaps she was instead assaulting her own foot, using the mansion door as a weapon, it was quite hard to tell at this point.
Either way, the vixen had seemingly immediately given up on the matter as she began near-hopping her way away. Speaking up, the shark tried to stop the party for a brief second;
"Hey, y'know, I've got a bunch of tools on me. Maybe we could use some on the door or windows to-" Oh. Nope. They'd gone. Well. Nevermind then.

Taking her hand out to flex it a little, she slowly meandered around the corner, getting there just in time to see the ominous lightning strike as the vixen draped against that one pillar. Huh, funny coincidence. JC preferred to think the Sky Gods had just chosen to dramatise her re-entry from around the corner, rather than particularly associating it with the current ongoing action.
"Huh, kinda looks like a big clock," she glanced around the stone structures, "Well, like, an old one. Y'know, sundial-type thing..." She paused to look at the etchings on the floor. They looked kinda like Roman Numerals at a glance. Though if they were, Y and Z certainly had no place here.
"Though I... don't think the numbers are right for that to be the case. Weird."

When Travis made that death threat earlier, Wicked's face seemed... awfully odd. Of course, behind behind the crowd had their advantages and no-one actually saw it, but she almost seemed... amused by it. Like it was a half-hearted joke that had touched on the funny bone but not actually struck it. A witty remark. And with a single "heh" she simply slipped her hands into her pockets and continued.

*

With the arrival of the mansion, honestly, Wicked expected more. She pouted, glancing up at the huge building, but it wasn't very spooky. Only the atmosphere was cool, but nothing beyond that. Finally, she walked forward for once, and made her presence known again. "What the hell is this dumb crap? What kind of stupid door doesn't have a handle? It's like... an ANTI-DOOR! I wanna go inside not play some stupid puzzle game for BABIES!" She kicked at it lightly with her foot, not long after Sora has tried it herself. The others had wandered off to investigate, but all she did is pout and glare. "C-cmooonnn! I'm SOAKED! I don't want none of you PERVING on me cause my top's WET YOU BUNCH OF SICKOS!"

Lightning flashed. She jumped. Then grinned. "YOOO THAT'S METAL AS ALL HELL, THIS IS SO COOL!" Sneeze. Sniff. "Blergh... shut up it's cool ok you're all dumb." Though what was concerning was that she wasn't really... bothering with the door. The bear was just watching others try to find a way through, and she didn't seem to be putting any sort of thought into it, maybe it was because: "This is STUPID I dunno what even this alphabet means I ALREADY KNOW HOW TO SPELL AND COUNT! I ALREADY DID SOME SCHOOL and I'm not gonna do some stupid learning again, like HELL I want that down my throat again."
Good. Perfect. Brilliant teammate.

Seeing how the bear reacted to the death threat made, Travis simply shook his head in disappointment. Not because that the threat wasn't taken fully seriously, but because Travis had failed at intimidating the competition early so that they would either leave or become scared and hesitant about things. "Must be losing my touch," Travis grumbled. His attempt on scaring JC had failed as well. He was extremely disappointed that JC suppressed the signs of discomfort. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. Perhaps it would be best for Travis to leave the participants unharmed. He let out a huff of frustration due to his recent failures. As the rain continued to pour down upon both Travis and Sammie, Travis took off his coat and gave it to Sammie. "I know it's pretty big, but you need it more than I do," Travis stated as Sammie quickly draped the coat over herself without hesitation. "Thanks," Sammie said, showing her appreciation for the coat. Travis was only wearing a workout shirt underneath his coat instead of a long-sleeved one so his robotic arm was now visible. "Guess I don't need this anymore," Travis mumbled to himself as he removed his left glove, fully exposing his arm to the heavy rain that could possibly damage it.
His arm, despite there being little or no lighting, was gleaming once the lightning struck. His robotic arm was... unnatural. How did he come to obtain such an advanced piece of technology? Who did he get it from? Those answers were best saved for another time. "This thing is annoying as well," Travis complained as he took off his mask. Travis' face was rough and bearded. His dreadlock ponytail flowed freely in the air once it was free from being crammed up in the mask. He definitely didn't look like the guys in the movies. He wasn't all too handsome to look at, but he wasn't too terribly unattractive as well. Sammie started to snicker uncontrollably for some reason. "Decided to show your beautiful mug for the girls, huh," Sammie mocked her partner. Travis shook his head as if he seemed uninterested in engaging in a conversation with Sammie. "Oh come on," Sammie prodded further. "What about your girlfriend? Bet she always likes waking up to your ugly mug."
That comment actually made Travis blush. He was madly in love with Bliss, a robotic wolf that he helped, for a long time now. He never could quite seem to find the moment to tell Bliss how he felt. "Let's go! I'm taking lead, Grumpy McGrumpster," Sammie announced, sensing that Travis would have his mind on other matters for a while. When they reached the strange puzzle, Sammie seemed perplexed by the concept of having to get in by completing a puzzle. "Hey, lover boy," Sammie teased her partner. "Got any ideas? No? Anyone else?" It was actually quite surprising to see Sammie warm up so quickly to the small group now. She usually remained quiet. Sammie, however, seemed to stay as far away from Sora as possible since she had a bad feeling about her.

Ironically enough, the mink that was slowly trailing behind had caught up and got to the others very fast, and upon noticing the puzzle at hand, his eyes slightly widened. ...He seemed clueless, just like everyone else, though.

...

Sora put up with Wicked. Mostly.
MOSTLY.


The pain in her foot was still there, nevermind the pain in her brain at listening to the random outbursts.

She grit her teeth in a bit of irritation for certain. Sickos? I mean, it's not like she wouldn't swing that way, but what kind of person would immediately want to do that kind of thing? Also shut up kid lightning wasn't such a big deal, for the love of- "A clock?" The vixen blinked, thankfully having a reason to think of something else.

Though, Sora seemed to snap to some kind of realisation. "Numbers, you say...? ...Roman numbers." She glanced to JC, giving a small smile of almost... appreciation for somewhat solving that much, before she focused back onto the actual thing at hand.

"Good spotti-" ...Only to be cut off entirely by the obnoxious yelling of Wicked.

She took a moment. Regained a little composure. "Yeah, the school you totally went to, blah blah, now if you'd kindly let me THINK for a second..." She spoke with quite a bit of... irritation behind her voice. There was another lightning flash and thunder clap, the rain still being very much heavy. At that point Sora was pretty freaking cold and soaking wet, but she pushed on, stepping onto the cross thing, and observing it.

She then took note of the other 'numerals' present. "So if we're to go by roman crap, uh... that should make it... one, two, three, five, ten... and two random letters?" The vixen scratched her head.

"...Maybe the door had a clue or something."

...

The mink suddenly spoke up a bit "Well, erm, if y'go wi'the note, it said the mansion opens a'seven, aight?" He pointed out. There was a long pause, he was visibly shaking a bit but he tried his best not to let it show. Poor thing.

...

"Wow, this is stupid. I mean, what the fuck kind of a house locks it's door with some stupid ass PUZZLE of all things?" The vixen grimaced, pacing about a little bit, before her foot suddenly landed on one of the symbols. The II. The slab suddenly shifted downwards, and the vixen literally tripped and faceplanted in the mud.

Wow, talk about bad luck today.

Suddenly, there was a loud rumble and a louder, but low 'CA-CHING' sound, as the slab stayed completely fixed down, glowing gently. The cross in the middle had also started to glow slightly. Upon closer inspection, it could be seen as more of an X than anything.

Turn it on it's side, and what do you have?

However, the vixen was more focused on how she just tripped than anything else. "AAAARGH you MOTHER FUCK...ing." She got back to her feet immediately, looking at herself. At least it wasn't too bad, could've gotten a lot more mud considering the weather.

After another moments pause, she noticed. ... She'd triggered something.

"...Well, that looks... I mean, that's a freaking thing." She said angrily, grumbling. "Anyone got any ideas on what to do now? I mean I wasn't expecting getting inside to be such a hard challenge! Any bright ideas? Any at all? No-one got a brain better than me?"

If one were to check...

...The door would still be very firmly closed.

...However if attention was paid, it would seem that a nearby, square of land seemed to shifted ever so slightly. Not enough for even the kids to fit through... but it moved.

...

The mink remained quiet. Shy. Almost scared even. He didn't want to speak out anymore, it seemed.

Upon close examination of the stone circle, the duo could see that it looked like it resembled some clock. Roman numerals surrounded it, but it looked as if it were somewhat confusing. "I think it's giving us a clue...but the sign said the mansion didn't open until seven," Alexis hinted. "What do you think it means?"
Before Oblivion could respond, the two turned to hear Wicked yelling. After it calmed somewhat, he replied, "I'm assuming it's a clock of some sort. Though, I'm unsure of what it is..." Suddenly, he could sense something that moved.
"What is it?" Alexis questioned.
"I sense that something's shifted...land, perhaps," Oblivion replied.
"I think it means something, but we can't seem to fit through it," Alexis commented.
"Let's wait; it'll have to shift enough so that we have enough room to go through it," Oblivion suggested, and Alexis nodded.

Oh dear god. Oh dear god this kid. Whilst at first, Wicked had rather reminded the shark of herself when she was younger, after that outburst even JC had to think at least she wasn't that bad. At least, she reeeaaally hoped she wasn't.
"I'm not sure if you'd noticed kid, but we're ALL soaked to the brim," she gritted her teeth with a slight shudder. It was odd - you'd think, being a shark and all, JC probably would have some affinity with the water. Yet out here in the rain, she seemed just about as miserable as everyone else.
Regardless, with the panda babbling on about school or whatever, the red-haired woman was almost beginning to regret standing up for her.

This regret soon vanished as Travis revealed the mechanical nature of his arm. Two thoughts immediately ran through her head;
The first, was just how awesome it was. She'd love to take it apart, have a play around with it. Admittedly, by nature she was a car mechanic, and there was probably a good chance that once taken apart, she wouldn't really know how to put it back together. Still, that arm was pretty frikkin' sweet.
The second, was the realisation that he'd been cheating during that handshake! Now, must would perhaps argue that it's rather impossible to cheat at shaking hands - either way, JC was rather determined that that's what he'd done. Pah! She'd like to see how he'd fair in an arm-wrestling contest using his actual arm!

Her attention was soon snapped away by the vixen stumbling her way over the II. Oh, well that seemed to do something? There seemed to be a short pause of confusion as Oblivion and Alexis questioned their course of action moving forward, whilst Sora... just seemed to be questioning everything at this point. So much for their leader. Ah well, at least it all seemed pretty obvious now!

...

...

...

"Wait, seriously guys? None of you are getting this?" shaking her head with a heavy sigh, she stomped her way over to the 'V' on the floor, and planted a big heavy boot on it.
Boy was this gonna be embarassing if she was wrong. Maybe it would've been better to've explained what she was doing first, to possibly save any confusion?