Dan's POV

"The Underworld?" Phil echoed.

"The Underworld isn't real!" Percy yelled. "Besides, how would you get a living person to the Underworld in the first place?"

Alex smirked. "There are several ways to get someone to the Underworld. Many of them include murder–"

"You're not telling us you killed one of our friends, are you?" Nate asked.

"Of course not," Alex answered. "The master doesn't kill unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Then how did you send someone to the Underworld?" I demanded.

"We made a deal with a demon."

There was a short pause before Percy yelled, "Were you psychopaths summoning demons just to–"

"We didn't summon demons. The master summoned only one," Alex interrupted.

"Does it matter how many you summoned?! It isn't still here, is it?!" Jason shouted.

"They didn't tell me the whole plan, but from what I heard, the demon is tormenting someone named Mark–"

"That demon's doing what now?! I swear if I ever come face to face–"

"Dan, would you please calm down? Getting angry won't help," Phil advised.

I took a deep breath. "Alright–"

"Screw that advice!" Nate yelled. "Where's Mark and everyone else?!" He stood over Alex.

Alex rolled her eyes. "I'd rather not say." I pressed Kyle against her throat a bit harder. "That isn't threatening. I told you already, I'm not actually Alex. I'm just a brain chip, as far as I or anyone else is concerned."

"I could think of several ways to make it concerning to the voice and everyone else who works for her," Percy claimed.

Alex scoffed. "And how's that?"

"I see where Percy's going." Nate grinned. I sent him a confused glance and he explained, "If we're willing to kill someone who looks just like a friend of ours, at the very least it would make everyone working for the voice slightly afraid."

Percy nodded. "It'd make them even more afraid if we pulled some cruel and unusual punishment–"

"Promise me you guys won't get too gory," Phil interrupted.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything over the top," Nate assured.

"We wouldn't do anything too bad. Just remember that Alex isn't human. She's basically a robot, and what bad could come from killing a robot?" Percy declared.

"I guess it would prove a point," I murmured.

I looked down at Alex to find her seemingly unfazed. "No one's going to care if I die," she stated.

"No, but the fact that we're the ones who did it will be concerning," Nate replied.

Alex gulped and her eyes frantically roamed the room before falling on the sword against her throat. She smirked. "You won't find your friends. They're all long gone by now."

"We found Percy, and you just told us that someone was in the Underworld. I'm pretty sure we'll figure it out," Jason commented.

"We'll see." Before anyone realized what was happening, Alex pressed herself against Kyle and began bleeding out from her throat.

"Is she trying to kill herself?!" Phil yelled.

"She doesn't want us to do it because she knew our plan would work!" Nate pouted.

"Enabling self-destruct sequence in sixty seconds," a robotic voice came from Alex.

"What are we supposed to do now?!" Jason's panicked voice asked.

"Everyone start going back through the tunnel that brought us here," I directed.

"What are you gonna do? We aren't just leaving you here!" Phil argued.

"I'll be right behind you–"

"Thirty seconds until self-destruction."

"Look, I'll be right behind you! Just start going through the tunnel!" I demanded.

Nate and Jason exchanged glances before running toward the tunnel. Percy followed them closely behind, and the three of them lowered the landing that led to the tunnel.

Phil sighed, but slowly began moving toward the others.

"Fifteen seconds until self-destruction."

I grabbed Alex's motionless body and sprinted out the door. I peered around, searching for somewhere to put the body.

"Ten."

I knew better than to try and make it back to the room Percy was in.

"Nine."

If I put her too close to the other children, they might die.

"Eight."

I inhaled sharply. If I thought too much about this, I would risk not making it back.

"Seven."

Screw it. I threw Alex as far as I could in the direction of the stairs.

I heard a faint "Six" once it was out of sight and bolted toward the tunnel.

As I ran into the room, I saw that Phil was still waiting for me. "I don't know how much of an explosion that thing's gonna cause, but I suggest you start moving to the tunnel!" I yelled as I approached him.

Phil nodded before jumping into the hole. I slid into it just as Nate pounded the red button on the wall and the ceiling folded over us. Just before the ceiling locked into place, I heard a loud explosion come from the laboratory.

I looked at Phil with widened eyes. He faked a laugh, "They're probably fine!"

"Or dead!" Nate yelled. "That was the loudest explosion I've ever heard!"

"And how many explosions have you heard before?" Percy asked.

"Hmm, good point," Nate grumbled. "How about that was louder than Dan when he loses a Dan vs Phil?"

"Hey! I'm not that much of a sore loser!" I defended.

Nate rolled his eyes while Phil nudged my arm and whispered, "Yeah, right."

"You get upset when you lose, too!"

"At least I don't break the sound barrier!" Phil chuckled.

I huffed, "Whatever. Are we going to crawl back to the orphanage or stay here and fight about me being loud?"

"Orphanage," everyone replied in unison.

"I'll lead!" Nate declared as he began crawling ahead of the rest of us. Jason followed behind, then Percy, Phil, and me.

Everyone was quiet until we turned the first corner and lost the light. "How are we supposed to tell where we're going?" Percy asked.

"Just feel the walls," Nate answered.

I heard a small tap, then Percy screaming, "Why are the walls so sticky?! What did I just touch?!"

"I bet the voice coated the walls with zombie guts or something," Nate replied.

"Maybe it's the insides of horses," Phil commented. I saw his outline shudder in front of me, and I couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

"Or, you know, it could just be goo," Jason stated.

"But where'd the goo come from?" Percy asked.

"Maybe the walls were painted with clumps of monster blood or guts?" I suggested.

"You know what? Forget I asked," Percy mumbled.

"Why? You don't want to think about touching mysterious goo?" Nate asked.

"Not particularly, no."

"I've got a better conversation topic!" Phil cheered as we turned another corner.

"Oh geez, what?" Jason questioned.

"Alex said that the voice made a deal with a demon so that someone would go to the Underworld. What do you think the deal was?"

"Wouldn't it have been something along the lines of them switching places?" I suggested.

"I actually don't think that had anything to do with it," Percy stated over his shoulder.

"Then what do you think it was?" Jason asked.

"I'm not sure, but why would a demon just switch places with a human? If any of you guys made a deal with a demon, would you simply say that you wanted to switch places?" Percy questioned.

"No, I'd go a lot further if I were to make a deal with a demon," Nate answered.

"Exactly. We know that the voice wanted to send someone to the Underworld, but I'm pretty sure the demon would've asked for something insane in return. I don't know much about demons, but don't you think they'd be witty and cunning enough to get what they want?" Percy explained.

"What do you think it asked for?" Phil questioned.

"If I had to guess, I'd say something along the lines of world domination," Percy answered.

The light from the end of the tunnel shone through after we turned the last corner. "I think that that's a problem for another day," I stated.

Once all of us were out of the tunnel, we took off our lab coats and name tags. Percy, upon seeing that my name tag read 'Jennifer,' chuckled, "How'd you explain that to the guards?"

"I said my name was Jeremy."

"They bought that? If everyone here is that ignorant, we might just stand a chance!"

We were all laughing and talking as we walked back into the hallway. I froze once I heard the sound of a girl crying again.

Then panicked as I heard it turn to screams.

A/N

AND PERCY HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN SAVED!

Also, I picked my eighth grade quote thing

...

It's from Avatar: The Last Airbender and I REGRET NOTHING

Hehe Uncle Iroh ;)

Anyways, BUH-BYE BROTATOES!