There's a loud bang probably from hitting something on the ground.
"Yeah... this is definitely a storage room, it's so dusty," said Ares, looking around. "I'm honestly stuck considering the possibility that we would phase into anywhere that wasn't here; I mean, what are the odds?" He thought out loud, marvelling at their great luck.
For a moment, it seemed as though Ares was speaking to himself. He got no reply from Ben.
" Ben, are you here?"
"Ben?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm here. I'm just trying to find the light switch" he said, almost breathless.
"Oh, you never really liked the dark, did you?"
"No, I did not," he replied, rubbing his palm around the wall, hopelessly.
Ares laughs.
"I know you can see Ares, so just quit tormenting me and please turn on the lights"
Ares, smiling at the quiet pleasure of having the upper hand, walks up to the wall and flips the light switch.
"Can we proceed?" He said, barely holding back a laugh as Ben adjusted his outfit, dignity slipping by the second, his face twisted like a child cheated out of their snacks.
"The door is probably locked," Ben said as Ares reached for the door. "A storage room this dusty hasn't been visited in ages"
Ares tried the knob and it was indeed locked.
"Right… this comes down to if any of us knows how to pick locks, do you?" Ares asks.
"I did learn a little in the force, I guess it's time to test it" he said looking through the key hole.
"Hair pin?" raising his hand and silently clasping his palm together as if trying to receive something.
"No Ben, I do not carry a hair pin with me" he replies with a serious but sarcastic tone.
"Can't you construct something?"
"Well, I can construct a knife or sharp blades if you're down for that"
Ben looks away, his expression shuttered and unimpressed. He gets up and begins to look around, checking in boxes and drawers.
"Ughh, empty!" kicking the boxes on the floor.
"you know, we can always break the door down or phase through it"
"yeah, and attract the attention of every single person in the bar"
"but it's fast"
"don't worry, I'm not in a hurry"
"Whatever you say"
Ben walks over to the other drawers. "there has got to be something I can use in here"
"In light of every single thing I've said since you received the inspiration or should i say 'calling' to break into a restricted bar just because…, I would like to express my deepest condolences by saying I told you so"
Ben, unaffected by Ares's words, lifts his head suddenly in realization. He walks to the door, squats once more and looks through the key hole.
"Ares, can you come here please?"
"What? You've finally decided to break the door down? About time because I was actually getting…."
"Put your hand through here please" pointing beside the knob.
"What?"
"Yeah stick your hand through there"
"Okay…" Ares says, Phasing his hand through the door.
"Alright! Look for a key on the keyhole"
"A key? There's no way they'll have a key on the door of this… wait! There is one"
Brow raised, smirk in place, Ben soaked in his fleeting glory like royalty.
He didn't gloat. He didn't need to, Ares was already amazed.
"How did you know a key would be there?"
"While checking for something to pick the locks with, I found a crate of drinks; The only thing in this room that wasn't covered in dust which means it was brought in recently…"
"Okayyy" Ares says impatiently.
"The drinks were brought in recently but there are only 2 packets in here. Why would a hotel as big as this only restock two packets of drinks?"
"umm…"
"There are 2 possible reasons for that. One, the truck which brought the drinks is still outside and they're more drinks inside yet to be brought in or there's another storage room, the one they use more often and they are moving the items from there to this storage room that isn't used much"
"So basically what you've said right now is that we are currently on a deadline because at any moment in time, someone could just walk in here, right?"
"Right"
"We need to get out of here"
"Yes we do" Both hurrying out.
The door opens to a large room with bright multicoloured lights. On their right is the rectangular shaped bar counter, barricaded by a wall on the right and lined with tall black long stools, wine glasses hanging above it, different wines and drinks stacked in shelves and glass chandeliers beaming with red and orange lights.
The lounge area was fully decorated with the floor covered with black lustrous tiling, black long tuxedo sofas arranged with dark blue tables beside them and at the centre. Blue lights scattered within the lounge.
There were 2 doors in the lounge, one on the left to the bar counter at the extreme and one across the room.
"Woah! I know it changed but I definitely wasn't expecting this" said Ben looking around until his gaze caught that of a man staring at them with a stern look on his face.
Ben, noticing that the scary looking man was coming towards them, started hitting Ares profusely on the leg.
"Umm…Ares, we need to go… like right now"
"What do you mean, didn't we just get here? Look Ben I was really trying to tolerate all this but now you're starting to piss me off" Said Ares, who was distracted looking at something else.
"I apologize, but there's a man approaching us and I think he knows we aren't meant to be here"
"The Shades are too busy guarding the doors to be popping about in here"
"He's not a Shade"
"What?"
"Look!" Turning Ares around.
"Oh shoot! Who.. is that? and why the hell is he coming toward us?"
"I don't know"
"Do we fight?"
"No we can't. It's too crowded, people might get hurt. Also, I don't think he knows who we are yet"
"He will if he gets close"
"We need to leave"
"uhh… Ben"
"What?!"
"I don't think that'll be possible"
"Why?"
"We've got another man blocking the storage room"
"Umm… look! over there, we can lose them by that door. Let's go!"
They dash through the lounge, slipping between chairs and tables until they arrive at the door.
On the other side of the door, to the left is a staircase leading down to an underground floor. At the far right was another door, which was the entrance to the kitchen. In the heat of the moment without any hesitation, they rush down the stairs eager to escape their pursuers.
"Wait… I think they've stopped chasing us," Ares announced, casually flicking a stray hair from his eyes.
"Yeah" Ben replied, still catiching his breath. "They actually stopped a while ago, let's hope they don't come back."
"Whatever, let's find an exit"
"What even is this place" Ben said in confusion looking around
The stair had led them to an underground passage lined with 4 doors parallel to each other with two on each side, it almost looked like a prison. They walked slowly along the passage scanning each door for a hint of what may lay behind it.
"Looks like we are going to have to pick one"
"Wait, someone's coming," Ares said, pausing abruptly "we don't have time to pick, quick through here." Ares quickly pulls Ben as they phase through the shadow on the wall.