All the vehicles of the mission, even the excavator were formed in a single fine line. Moving at a constant speed through the ruins of the cave... At least that would have been the case if Milo wasn't the one at the front of the line. You could only hear the aggressive pumping on the break that he had done multiple times, moving a really short distance. And everyone behind him was starting to get desperate for his incompetence.

[Horn Beeps]

Driver: "Come on!"

As that was happening our dear Captain Griffin was at the very last chopper of the line with Commander Rourke and Helga. And like everybody else started with all the noise of their horns. His six sense or whatever you want to call it, made him realize the possibility that it was his brother Milo the one messing things up...

Griffin: "Please tell me that isn't Milo..." He signed in desperation covering his face with his hand because of the embarrassment. He just prayed that it wasn't Milo.

Rourke: "Do I tell you the truth or are we still friends?" He told him in a sarcastic remark as he took the toothpick out of his teeth.

Milo: "Sorry about... Sorry about that." The yell from Milo at the front only seemed to confirm his suspicion.

Griffin only exhaled a last sign of desperation as he got out of the car, while Helga just gave him a smile of sympathy for cleaning the broken glasses of his brother. As he started walking, passing all the other drivers that were clearly pissed about the situation.

A expedition of such importance and not all the members knew basic knowledge like driving? Crazy right.

Milo almost jumped off his seat when he noticed Griffin right at his side. He could only laugh as a form of liberating the tension, while Flint only looked at him with severity...

Milo: "Hehe... I thought it was the same as driving a bumper car... Hehe..." His brother definitely didn't find it funny as his face didn't move from his pissed mood.

Griffin: "M-O-V-E... N-O-W..." He spoke through his teeth.

That was everything that Milo needed to move to the passenger seat, letting Flint do the driving. Poor Milo simply sat there with the thick atmosphere, bored out of his mind as his brother drove with ease and elegance in comparison.

As all the vehicles made their way through the cave, one could appreciate its magnitude much better. There were different writings and columns with special designs of many civilizations.

...

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the next scene we are able to see that the whole expedition came to a corner that had two possible ways. It was Milo's time to shine, as the description of the place was written in the diary. As Milo tried to decipher the clues, he pointed to the left side as the safe passway. But that decision came to bite them on the butt, because when they were about to enter, a massive bug-looking creature that at the same time looked like a machine appeared. And simply started to move in a way that yells for them to not continue down this road. When Milo stopped to actually analyze the diary we see that he was holding it upside down all this time.

Something that didn't seemed to sit well with all the other members of the expedition, all of them; Audrey, Mole, Vinny, Sweet, every single soul seemed to be disaproving of Milo's incompetence. When you see the end of angry faces, the last one was Griffin, who was the only one that didn't seem to be in the same mood as his fellow partners, but he was covering his hand with one hand while negotiating with his head.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this next scene we see Milo drinking what seemed to be water from a canteen. Drinking basically the whole thing. Shortly after, Vinny makes an appearance, and his usual calm or uninterested demeanor was changed to one of worry.

Vinny: "You just didn't drink that, did you?" He sounded on alert.

Milo: "Mh-hmm." He nodded with satisfaction.

Vinny: "That's not good. That's nitroglycerin." He pointed to the canteen that Milo just used.

Milo: [Gasp] He jumped surprise of the news as he hold his throat in terror and didn't even wanted to move a muscle.

Vinny: "Don't move. Eh, don't breathe. Don't do anything, except pray maybe."

After that comment, Mole appears behind Milo, scaring him for dear life. As the duo left the scene walking and laughing because of the linguist's innocence. Leaving a pissed off Milo, who didn't believe they would pull such a bad joke, or maybe mad at himself for falling for it.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the expedition continued, they came to a stop in front of what appeared to be a fosse. That and a column of colossal proportions that was on their way.

Milo: "Good night! Will you look at the size of this! I gotta be half a mile high at least. It... It must have taken a hundred... No, pfft, thousands of years to carve this thing." Milo continued babbling about the design of the structure as Vinny was placing his explosives in a strategic form for it's detonation.

When Vinny was done with the explosives, he grabbed Milo's jacket, forcing him out of the way. He was still so focused on the amazingness of the ancient structure that he didn't grasp the idea that it was going to be destroyed in a couple of seconds. Vinny finally let the lever down, activating the dynamite, resulting in the giant column falling over so perfectly that it formed a bridge big enough for them to pass.

Vinny: "I made a bridge. It only took me like, what?" As Vinny was really pleased with himself for solving that problem, Milo was really taken back as he thought it was a great waste for a structure so impressive as it was that column.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The expedition seemed to be involved in another sudden stop, but this time it was not a fosse on the way. This time there was a giant wall of rock blocking their way. Vinny, Rourke, and Griffin were the firsts ones at the front trying to analyze how they were going to proceed.

Rourke: "Looks like we have a little roadblock. Vinny, what do you think?" He asked the pyromaniac about how much fire power they would need to take this out of their way.

Vinny: "I could unroadblock that if I had about 200 of these. Problem is I only got about... 10. Plus, you know, five of my own... and a couple of cherry bombs... a road flare." He started naming all the things he had on him for the task. And considering the colossal size of that thing, it was obivous a road flare and cherry bombs aren't going to cut it.

"Hey, too bad we don't haves some nitroglycerin, eh, Milo?" He reminded the younger Thatch about their little bad joke with the canteen just a few hours ago. But it was enough for Mole to start laughing his dirt off.

Griffin: "We have a giant excavator, let's use it..." Without the fire power the excavator was their only option as of now.

Rourke: "Yeah, I agree...Looks like we're gonna have to dig." He directed himself to Mole on the excavator. It was time for the weird Moleman to have his 5 minutes of fame.

Mole: "It will be my pleasure." He gave a thumbs up for the opportunity of finally doing what he came on this expedition for. As he turned the drill on, a few moments after he started the process the drill seemed to be stuck on the rock, leaving a smoky and broken machine. "...Oh! Stupid! You are stupid!"

Audrey: "I don't understand it. I just tuned this thing up this morning..." The young mechanic went through all the machinery on the back of the excavator, having a hard time coming up with a reasonable explanation for this failure. "It looks like the rotor's shot! I'm gonna have to pull a spare... from one of the trucks."

Milo: "Can I..." Milo was intending to tell her something

Audrey: "No toques nada! I'll be right back." The Spanish came out of nowhere, Audrey seemed to really mean business. It was a warning for him to not mess things up even more than what they are now.

But Milo knew that the problem did not originate from the rotor of the excavator. It was related to something that he knew full well, it was a malfunctioning of the heating core of the boiler. After all, he spended a great part of his life being the one in charge of the boiler room in the Museum of his previous job.

Mole: "She lives!"

Audrey: "Hey, what'd you do?"

Milo: "Well, you know, the boiler in this baby is a humac model P54/813. Now we got the 814 back at the museum. The heating cores on the whole Humac line have always been a little bit, you know, temperamental... So sometimes you gotta... Boom! persuade 'em a little." He started to act in a really cocky manner, which was not for less because he solved a problem easily. A problem of machinery that not even the chief of mechanics of the expedition couldn't...

More of the knowledge of our linguist that doesn't resume on his ability to decipher the diary was put to good use. He was having a pleasing time with himself. At least his partners weren't going to think so less of him now.

Audrey: "Yeah, yeah, thank you very much. Shut up..." After Milo's display of little justified arrogance, she wasn't pleased with the humiliation. So she went in to punch him on the shoulder, but Milo prepared beforehand for the impact. "Two for flinching." She came through with her word.

Milo: "Ohh!" For a little girl in comparison, she could definitely punch. Although that is debatable considering that Milo isn't exactly the most athletic individual.

The search continued through all the different passways and many chambers. Even some that had their own climate, for example one filled with ice and snow. Considering that this was an underground cave as well as an isolated space, it's an ambient which is hard to explain. Moving through these different sites, I finally encounter a promising place to rest. The intersection of a bridge that told our adventures that they were on the right path to finding Atlantis.

The curious part about this chamber is that there was rock formation on the ceiling of the cave. One that formed some sort of crown that was illuminated by a strange yet hipnotic green light.

Milo: "... This is it... It's gotta be." He was looking through the diary once again to confirm that it was the right place. There were no other formations that even began to compare the one described in the diary, so it was affirmative that they were on the right path.

Rourke: "All right, we'll make camp here." The place was big enough to have all the vehicles and equipment at hand. Besides, according to the book, Atlantis wasn't far away from this point. They had already worked what they needed for the day.

Audrey: "Why is it glowing?" She asked. Refering to the green brilliant rock formation on top of them.

Mole: "Pah! It is a natural phosphorescence." He explained. So, they didn't have to worry about it being poisonous or dangerous for them.

Vinny: "That thing is going to keep me up all night, I know it." Pointing to the crown at the ceiling. It almost felt like something out of this world. But according to Mole it is normal. It must be one of those natural things that is so uncommon, that it simply looks like the world is going crazy.

Cookie: "Come and get it! For the appetizer, Caesar Salad, Escargot, and your Oriental Spring Rolls." Most people don't know what Cookie was talking about, all the food came from the same place and all looked the same.

Audrey: "Yuck." She said in disgust, as it was something that didn't even look edible.

Author: I feel you audrey...

Mole: "I wanted Escargot." Mole seemed to be the only one excited about Cookie's food. Although, every single plate looked the same.

Audrey: "Knock yourself out." Still emphasizing... Looks all the same.

Cookie: "There you go, Milo. Put some meat on their bones." Cookie put some of that weird brown looking thing on Milo's plate. Milo was sitting in a secluded area from his partners. Probably it was to work better or simply that he didn't want to

Milo: "Thanks, Cookie. That looks greasier than usual." He was obviously disgusted with the sorry excuse of food that was placed in between his hands.

Cookie: "You like it?... Well, have some more." He wasn't able to read Milo's emotions and misunderstood the comment. Now, Milo had probably more than half of the cooking pot on him. "You're so skinny, if you turned sideways and stuck out your tongue, you'd look like a zipper."

Sweet: "You know, we've been pretty tough on the kid. What do you say we cut him some slack?" He was the first one to cut some slack to the new one.

Audrey: "Yeah, you're right... Hey, Milo! Why don't you come sit with us?" They welcomed him, as he had won his place on the crew. Proving that although he lacked some experience on the open field, he had certain capabilities that could come in handy.

Milo: "Really? You don't mind?" He asked surprised, he must be the boy that was chosen last at school.

Audrey: "Nah. Park it here." She said relaxed, pointing right next to them.

Milo: "Gee, this is great. I mean, you know. It's an honor to be included in your..." He sat on one of the spots that was free. Although, his sentence was cut short as he sat on a gaseous cushion that was put there instants before by Mole.

When the cushion made his characteristic fart sound, Mole laughed so hard that he went to the floor on his back as he moved his legs like a little kid.

Everyone: "Mole!" All the others call his attention because of this. It was enough of bordering his partner.

Mole: "Ah, forgive me. I could not resist." He was definitely a little kid in the body of an adult.

Audrey: "Hey, Milo, don't you ever close that book?"

Sweet: "Yeah, you must've read it a dozen times by now."

Milo: "I know, but this... this doesn't make any sense. See, in this passage here, the shepherd seems to be leading up to something. He calls it the heart of Atlantis. It would be the power source the legends refer to. But then it just... it cuts off. It's almost like there's a missing page." He manifested his thoughts about the book, things that didn't make sense.

Vinny: "Kid, relax. We don't get paid overtime." He was already bored of his comments, although it is weird to find something that doesn't bore Vinny almost immediately.

Milo: "I know, I know. Sometimes I get a little carried away. But, hey, you know, that's what this is all about, right? I mean, discovery, teamwork, adventure. Unless, maybe... you're just in it for the money." He asked the crew, although he felt that he already knew the answer to the question.

Mole: "Money."

Audrey: "Money."

Packard: "Money."

Sweet: "Money."

Vinny: "I'm gonna say... Money."

Milo: "Well, I guess I set myself up for that one." Yes, it was obvious. Compared to the free spirit of Milo. His crew members had a more practical approach about life.

Sweet: "What, is something wrong with your neck?" Sweet asked as he got behind Milo.

Milo: "Oh, yeah, I must've hurt it when..." He responded as he rubbed his neck in pain. Just before Sweet got a hold of his head with both hands, and proceed to move it from one side to another in a fast movement, that earn a few crack from Milo's neck.

Sweet: "Better?" He asked as he saw Milo revise his work as a medic.

Milo: "Yeah! Hey, how'd you learn how to do that?" It was surprising that he knew how to do that. It was not something that would normally teach you a conventional school of medicine.

Sweet: "An Arapaho Medicine Man." He said it was the most normal thing in the world.

Milo: "Get outta here."

Sweet: "Born and raised with 'em. My father was an army medic. He settled down in the Kansas Territory after he met my mother."

Milo: "No kidding."

Sweet: "Nope. I got a sheepskin from Howard U. And a bearskin from old Tron Cloud. Halfway through medical school, I was drafted. One day I'm studying gross anatomy in the classroom and the next I'm sewing up Rough Riders on San Juan Hill." He took a moment to show him a necklace that confirmed his story of the bearskin. AS he rapidly put it back inside his uniform.

Cookie: "Main course." He asked out of nowhere.

Audrey: "I'm watching my weight." Everyone said some sort of excuse, in order not to eat Cookie's dishes.

Cookie: "Ha ha ha, don't you worry. It'll keep and keep and keep." Again, I don't think that is something a human should eat.

Packard: "Thank god I lost my sense of taste years ago." She said as everyone got their part of the food into the fire, causing a little explosion that turned the fire off.

Vinny: "Aren't you going to pitch up your tent?" He saw that Milo was having difficulties with his tent as the thing was not even up for that matter.

Milo: "Uh, I did..." He got shoved out of the way by Vinny who started to help him to put up his tent. "I guess I'm still a little rusty at this. I haven't gone camping since... Well. the last time my grandpa took me." He started talking about his grandpa, his father figure and the whole reason they are here.

Audrey: "I never got to meet your grandfather. What was he like?" She asked while placing her sleeping bag on the floor and unrolling it.

Milo: "Where do I start? He was like a father to me, really. My parents died when I was a little kid and he took me in." He looked to the side, as he was laying on his stomach and started to give a few giggles out of nowhere.

Audrey: "What?" She was curious about the sudden giggles.

Milo: "Well, I was just thinkin'. One time, when I was eight, we were hiking along this stream and I saw something shining in the water. It was a genuine arrowhead. well, you'd think I found a lost civilization, the way Grandpa carried on about it. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that the arrowhead was just some compressed shale mixed with zinc pyrite that had fractured into an isosceles triangulate."

Mole: "That is so cute!" He was passing by in his pajamas while carrying a teddy bear in his hands.

Milo: "Say, Audrey, uh, no... no offense... but how does a teenager become the chief mechanic of a multimillion dollar expedition?" He asked the young Mechanic.

Audrey: "Well, I took this job when my dad retired. But the funny thing was he always wanted sons, right? One to run his machine shop and the other to be middleweight boxing champion. But he got my sister and me instead." She mimicked what she said in her story as she punched another one of the sleeping bags that she had on her tent.

Milo: "So, what... What happened to your sister?" He asked, confused.

Audrey: "She's 24 and 0, with a shot at the title next month. Anyway, I'm saving up so my Papi and I can open another shop." Well, Audrey's sister was really a boxer, just like his father wanted.

Milo: "Forget your jammies, Mrs. Packard?"

Packard: "I sleep in the nude." She passed by wearing a green mascara and tubes on her head.

Sweet: "You're gonna want a pair of these. She sleepwalks." He passes him a pair of garments to cover his eyes, while he sleeps. It was safer that way, the expeditions didn't cover that sort of trauma.

Vinny: "Well, As far as I'm concerned, I just like to blow things up. He got one of those things to cover his eyes, resting on his sleeping bag as he slid one of his matches on his ear.

Sweet: "Come on, Vinny. Tell the kid the truth." He pulled the garments from his eyes and then let them fall on his face again.

Vinny: "My family owned a flower ship. We would sell roses, carnations, baby breath, you name it. One day, I'm making about three dozen corsages for this prom. You know, the one they put on their wrists. And everybody, they come. "Where is it?" "When is it?" "Does it match my dress?" It's a nightmare. Anyway, I guess there was this leak next door of gas or what. Boom! No more Chinese Laundry. Blew me right through the front window. It was like a sign from God. I found myself in that Boom."

Milo: "What's Mole's story?" He asked as Mole was next to the tent, digging himself a hole big enough for him as he prepared to sleep.

Sweet: "Trust me on this one. You don't wanna know. Audrey, don't tell him. You shouldn't have told me, but you did. And now I'm telling you, you don't wanna know." He was alarmed, almost scared if you will. It seemed that Mole's history was not something for the light hearted or for the easily disgusted.

Audrey: "Now, no offense to you, but I need to ask you about your brother."

Milo: "What about him?"

Audrey: "I don't know, I only wanted to know, how did you two became so different?"

Milo: "Well, I... eh..."

Griffin: "Sounds like a party in here, Hehe... It's rude to ask about someone without them being present, you know?" Flint finally got into the picture. The sleepwear of the captain consisted of his usual uniform, leaving the jacket out of the equation, with a simple white tank shirt on his torso.

Sweet: "We are sorry, Captain. We were just a little curious."

Griffin: "I'm just joking, Little man. I figure that it would have been a matter of time for that topic." He sat with his legs crossed next to Milo's tent, it was clear that he wanted a well-deserved rest. One that he will get after his little tale.

Audrey: "Yeah, what made you decide to become a soldier?" She rested her head with the palms of her hands while having a big smile on those red plump lips, paying him her undivided attention.

Vinny: "And the head of the Special Forces?" He had lazily turned his head to the side, turning over to hear the tale.

Griffin: "Well, if I confessed everything to you, I would have to kill you later... But I suppose there are things I can share." Don't mess with the secrecy of the military otherwise you want to be put six feet underground.

Sweet: "Ha ha ha, good one." The medic tried to play off as a joke, to get rid of the tension that had built up from that comment. He could even feel a bullet of sweat running down the side of his face.

Griffin: " Wasn't a joke." He communicates with a smile to everyone.

Everybody gulped at the same time, some of them having mixed feelings about continuing. Mole was about to raise his hand to stop him from proceeding.. But...

Audrey: "Well, tell us." She was the only one unaffected by the previous events, and had the same enthusiastic energy to listen to the story.

Griffin: "Where do I start?" He started to wonder, his vision long lost in the sky. Breathing trying to recall everything. A story like this has a full lot of details, how to arrange them to make sense?

Before he started to share his history, a certain blonde was finishing her dinner, eating a delectable red apple. She was definitely interested, after all, there was a certain chemistry between the two of them. Although, it is still rather soon to tell if it's something positive or negative.

Griffin: "Although, I ask you to bear with me, laughs and kisses weren't a great part of our tale..." His face showed a new found seriousness, but above all there was certain grief in his eyes.

"Everything started when I was barely 8 years old, Milo had just turned 4 back at the time. Hot days of June, we were in the old house of our grandfather. A big house made almost entirely of wood... well at least for me it was big at the time, hehe..." He took a few seconds to smile and laugh at his own innocence of the past, all the other members... except for Vinny... were smiling at seeing the captain like this.

"It was at the limits of the city, so there weren't many houses around with the only company of the forest near the mountains. The best place for two little kids like us." He took Milo's shoulder in a friendly manner as he continued. "Our parents were out of the city on some sort of trip for work. And our grandfather was working on his studio, studying runes that he had found in one of his expeditions, while I was trying to teach Milo how to hold a bat correctly..."

Milo: "I was never one for sports..." He was definitely embarrassed by his lack of talent for anything that demanded physical strength, speed, or anything physical for that matter.

Audrey: "What. A. Shocker!" The girl said from her tent, mocking the linguist.

Griffin: "He always hold the bat upside down..." He also made fun of his brother, whose face had become red from receiving such comments. "Well, back to the story, if you asked me I would have said that nothing out of the ordinary was going to happen one of those days... but I was very wrong..." That's when the face of the captain started to fall, as his happiness was taken away.

"I remember that I started to hear something peculiar at the distance... approaching. When it got close enough to be seen, the sound was no other than the gallop of a horse. A horse... black as coal, and riding it there was a man in a distinguished blue uniform with a cap and a bag full of papers and letters. As he passed by the side of the house and crossed gaze, a feeling of cold uncertainty invaded my whole body, a horrible sensation that I couldn't explain at the time. The one sunny and hot day of summer for me, it had turned almost into the coldest day of winter."

"The man knocked on the door, I ran as fast as I could to the inside of the house, to see what was happening. My grandpa opened the door, while I watched from afar at the side of the stairs, the mailman took one single letter from the big bag that he carried, gave both the letter and a look of sympathy to my grandfather, and as quickly as he came, he had left. My grandfather hadn't read the atmosphere, and he lively approached the usual chair at the front of the fireplace. When he opened the letter, I witnessed how his characteristic smile turned into one of confusion as he read it, and finally into one of despair. The letter long lost on the floor, just like his gaze that lost itself on the fire. And when I tried to call his attention, and finally notice me, all he could do was bring me on his lap, hugging me as if his life depended on it. I was at a loss for words and that horrible feeling of uncertainty had only grown as a result. Now, you could only think of a couple of things that would make a grown man cry, but at that moment I didn't know what it would mean for him, for me, or Milo."

"My question was answered a few days later... at the front of a church, dressed in the most elegant suit my grandfather could arrange, contemplating two wooden coffins. Although they were closed, the pictures of my parents were displayed on top of their respective coffins. When I understood what had happened, what must have been written on that letter, I felt a wound in my heart that I knew would never heal... I cried like a baby. With Milo beside me, crying as well, but not because of what occurred, he was still too young to realize what death meant, he cried because he saw me suffering..."

"Since that day, our grandfather was our only family and he raised us the way our parents would have. He gave us everything, from a decent childhood to all the knowledge he could give us. And for a moment, I was once again truly happy. But it wouldn't have lasted very long...

"As the years passed, Milo and I grew older everytime, but so was our grandfather. When he wasn't able to place us on his knee, I asked myself... What would happen when the time of our grandpa came?"

"A thought that tormented my grandpa, trying his best to keep it in silence... As I saw Milo grow and his fascination for the world and what it holds. I understood my responsibility, that if my grandfather and I were to fall, Milo's whole world would have gone down with us. So, I needed to mature faster than any other, leave a great part of my childhood behind in order to become a beacon for them, I needed to figure out everything, years ahead if I could.

"And when I turned 18, the first thing I did was to join the military under the training of a medic. I knew the benefits and the security that my participation in the army would bring to my family. I had to become both, a soldier, ready for combat as well as a healer ready to mend those that were left behind."

"And... well... the rest is history..." Griffin said as he had a tiny smile remembering that maybe his story was not the happiest, but with time, he had to accept that that was the role he had to play. And although many would think that is a reason for it to be upset or angry for your situation. He had found a purpose.

Sweet: "That-that's tough..." Hewas surprise, although that he didn't admitted out loud. Griffin was someone that he admired, and what he expected from his origins was accurate to reality.

Audrey: "Was it worth it?" She broke the silence, between all the perplexed expressions between her partners.

Griffin: "What do you mean?"

Audrey: "Was it worth it in the end? War..." She said out of curiosity, but she got a few looks of disapproval from his other partners, that sort of question felt out of place in this sort of situation.

Sweet: "Audrey, please..." He tried to call her attention, and that was a rude thing to ask.

Griffin: "Sometimes, I wonder the same..." He responded to Audrey, he didn't look even remotely offended for being asked that. Those sorts of questions were asked normally for someone that was not strictly exposed to conflict. And Audrey, may look mature for her age, being in this expedition was proof of that, but in the end she was still a teenager. "But then I have a reason to realize it was worth it..."

Audrey: "How?" She continued to beg the question.

Griffin: "He is right here, when I see him excited over the world, that innocence in his eyes. I know I did the right thing..." He finally responded, taking Milo from his shoulders and bringing him to a forced hug. One that ended with Griffin rubbing Milo's hair with a little too much force.

The other looked at the interaction of the Captain with his little brother, the captain for them was someone really imposing and serious. But it tender their hearts understanding him a little bit better. Understanding that all those years in the war didn't really turn him into a cold warrior. And that he still was a man that would do anything to make sure that his family is safe.

Griffin: "Well, that's enough fairy tales for one night, everyone get their goodnight kisses, don't let the boogeyman eat you, blah...blah...blah..." He pushed Milo back into his place. As he got up and went to turn off the light.

As the members of the crew follow the direction of the captain. Griffin was making his way to his tent to do the same. His tent was next to the certain blonde, Helga was standing as she lay her body on her tent a little bit. Waiting for him to come by, it was obvious that she had heard his story from there.

Helga: "A moving story..." She said with a sarcastic smile as Griffin didn't really stop, and continued going to his bed.

Griffin: "It is what it is..." He said as he rubbed his neck, he was tired and he wanted to get some shut eyes.

Helga: "A surprising story for an equally surprising record..." She said as there was a little malice intent on her voice, as she wanted to know how long until she got under his skin. Griffin only smiled at her comment, as he knew that she only wanted to bother him a little bit. "Almost no casualties, that is amazing for a War Medic. It must have been hard in the case of the little nammarik?"

At that moment, his smile disappeared...

Griffin: "Rourke can't keep his mouth shut..." He responded with a rather aggressive tone, as he was untiding his boots.

Helga: "No, more like an old habit of mine..." She wanted to see how far she could go with this little attempt. She watched him how his expression was going from mad to pissed off. "It seems like Mr. Cool has more than one soft spot after all..." That was the drop that spilled the glass.

Griffin: "Yes, I suppose that Lieutenant Jenkins would know more about it?..." When those words left his mouth, Helga gave a few steps back out of surprised.That name was something that has been hunting her for a long time now. It was the name of someone special, someone special that she couldn't save. "Surprised? You are not the only bastard with knowledge?" He got up getting his camping bag as he made his way to Helga, that still had a look of shock. Getting into her personal space with the infuriated look on his face. "Keep your mouth shut about her and I will keep mine shut about him, okay?" With those words he gave her a last look that left it clear that she was going to get hell if she slipped her tongue like that again.

Griffin left to find a better place to sleep, one that was far away from the blonde Lieutenant. Helga watched him go, being left there alone, her conscience started to remorse her about what she just did. Because she tried to cross a line with him, that shouldn't be crossed.

...

While everyone was asleep on the expedition camp. Lurking on the shadows, many figures dress in a native clothing, and wearing a sort of giant kabuki mask with both eyes and mouth that glowed on the dark of the cave. As they approached the camp, one of them seemed to start looking around the things of some of the crew, until they seemed to grasp what appeared to be one of the bags of the Thatch. Pausing to contemplate the picture that was taken when the Thatch were little, next to their grandfather.

Suddenly, they were alerted by a noise that came from one of the tents, trying to hide once again in the dark and shadows of the cave.. It was Milo, who was getting out of his tent, equipped with a tiny shovel and paper, determined to answer the call of nature. Although, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary as he was still half-sleep.

He turned on his flash light as he passed as quietly as he could, in order to not wake up the other members of the crew. When he finally found an appropriate place for him to do his necessities. He got a hold of the flash light with his chin in order to use his hands to take off his pants. But what he didn't notice was that the light from the flash light hit the crown with phosphorescent green light. The responsible for such light on the ceiling of the cave were fireflies. That seemed to be bothered by the light, and started to fly down to the camp.

As Milo tried to scare them away, he accidently killed one of them. But the strange thing is that when the firefly was crushed, it ignited the paper on fire. Noticing that all the thousands of fireflies that were coming from the ceiling were starting to burn all the tents from the camp, starting a massive fire.

Milo: "Holy... Whoa! Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!" He got his pants on and started to scream in an attempt to alert everyone, saving them from being burned alive. Although, he was kind of the causes of the fire on first place.

Rourke: "I'm gonna kill him. Thatch, go back to bed." Rourke said in irritation, as he wakes up from his bed. Noticing in his clock that they hadn't had not even a few hours of sleep, before the younger Thatch started to make a ruckus.

But once he went out of his tent, he was received by the inferno that the camp had just turned into.

Helga: "Get some water on that fire!" Helga motioned a few soldiers with buckets filled with water to try and control the fire.

Rourke: "No time! Get us into those caves! Move it! Move it! Move it!" He understood that it was too late and too massive to try to control it. So, he started to make everyone order everyone to get out of here, before the fire consumed them.

All the members of the crew tried to cross the bridge however they could. Some at foot or using the cars and excavator.

Cookie: "Ya-ha! Gertie, pull!" Except Cookie that was trying to cross the bridge with his food cart with the help of his mule.

As the fire started to expand faster than before, some of the carts that had containers with what appeared to be gasoline, ignited into combustion because of the fireflies.

Griffin, who was right behind his brother, started to run for his life. When he got a hold of his brother, he started to carry him like a sack of potatoes. As they were reaching the car where Audrey was. And tried to help them get on.

Audrey: "Milo, jump! Right now!" She said, but in contrast to her words, Milo didn't exactly jump. It was more like his brother threw him into the cart. As he himself jumped and landed on the cart next to his brother. Stopping a few seconds to make sure that he was alright.

But the explosion of the car was a little too big, as the combustion seemed to have weakened the structure of the bridge, resulting in one of the sides collapsing. As the side of the bridge started to fall down. The excavator could no longer continue and started to slide backwards, taking all the other cars with him. All the units crashed into the floor, for a few seconds everything was consumed into a silence and darkness, until...

Rourke: "All right, who's not dead? Sound off." Rourke said calmly as he ignited one of his matches, to give some light. That was until he turned on one of the lights from the unit he was on, although from the crash it seemed to be the only thing to still work on that machine.

Cookie: "Danged, Lighnin' bugs done bit me on y sit-upon. Somebody's gonna have to suck outthat poison. Now don't everybody jump up at once."

Rourke: "Audrey, give me a damage report."

Audrey: "Not bad as it could have been. We totaled rigs two and seven but the digger still looks like it'll still run. Lucky for us we landed in something soft."

While that was happening, Griffin was recuperating from the impact, as he was on his knee cleaning a little bit of his military pants. Helga made her way to him and helped him get up by pulling one of his arms.

Helga: "Are you okay?" She sounded a little bit concerned as she had a soft expression on her face.

Griffin: "Yeah.." He sounded a little serious about the situation. As he pulled his arm from the grasp of Helga. Walking to where Rourke was, leaving Helga with a surprised expression. It was clear that he was still mad at her for everything that occurred at the camp.

Mole: "Pumice ash. We are standing at the base of a dormant volcano." He gave the floor a little examination. As his goggles extended to be really closed to Helga. She was a little upset about what happened with Griffin, so she shove him off of her with certain anger on her movements. Taking out her bengala and shooting at the sky.

Helga: "It just keeps going." The bengals keep going for a few more seconds. The volcanic tunnel didn't seem to have an end.

Rourke: "Maybe that's our ticket outta here." He said with hope as he watched the begala go further until the tunnel. At least before it finally exploded, meaning that it reached the end of the path.

Helga: "Maybe not."

Mole: "The magma has solidified in the bowels of the volcano effectively blocking the exit."

Packard: "I have the same problem with sauerkraut."

Sweet: "Hold up. Back up. Are you sayin' this whole volcano can blow at any time?" He said a little bit scared that they could be involved in a volcanic eruption.

Mole: "No, no, no, no. That would take an explosive force of great magnitude." After he made this comment everyone present trun to look at Vinny that was working in what appears to be a time-bomb.

Vinny: "Maybe I should do this later, huh?" He noticed the states that he was receiving, and reflected otherwise on his course of action.

Rourke: "If we can blow the top off of that thing, we'd have a straight shot to the surface. Mr. Thatch, what do you think? Mr. Thatch? Thatch?" He started to verbalize his thoughts about his escape route, but when he didn't receive any sort of confirmation from the youngest Thatch.

As this happened Griffin started to look around, each second that he didn't see his brother, his desperation started to grow. As he started to motion everyone to help him look around for any clues of where he was. He didn't want to think about the worst, Milo was the only family he had left, he couldn't afford to lose him.

Milo seemed to be unconscious by the crash at the bottom of the cave. For some reason he was far away from the team of his expedition. The natives started to surround him, looking at him with interest. When Milo started to wake up he was perplexed at who was in front of him. The leader of the figure, took her mask off, showing a beautiful woman of dark skin with blue paintings on his body. Looking at him with an expression that calls out sympathy and curiosity.

When Milo tried to move, he expressed some pain coming from his chest. As there was a little wound at the side of his chest. The leader of the natives took the crystal from her neck, and put over the wound. Milo was weirded out by such actions, but he didn't make any sudden movements out of confusion. The woman then pushed her palm into the wound, Milo moved in pain, but when the woman took her hand back, with a little blue glow, the wound was no longer there. Like it didn't happen at all.

As they turned to look at one another with a prolonged staring, the moment was interrupted by the sound of the excavator making its way through the cave. This scared the natives and started to run in the opposite direction.

Milo: "Hey, wait! Who... who are you? Where are you going?... Hey, wait a minute! Who are you?" Milo tried to follow the group of natives as they made their way agilely through the cave, while Milo tried to catch up however he could. Jumping from rock to rock. As the Excavator follows close behind him. Milo finally seemed to get out of the cave, and run into a cliff filled with vegetation

Close behind him, the excavator went through the wall of the cave, when the wall finally broke. The whole team was seen coming down from the machine. All of them watched with their mouths open to what was just in front of them.

Griffin: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Atlantis...the Lost Empire..." That was everything that he could say, as he was shocked beyond belief.

Cookie: "Sweet Mother of Jefferson Davis!"

Audrey: "It's beautiful."

Sweet: "Milo, I gotta hand it to you. You really came through." He patted Milo on the back as they understood that they had finally reached the destiny they had worked so hard to reach.