บท 58: Chapter 14: The Dinner

[Earth - Night]

"So... Where are we going? I mean, it's pretty late now, are you sure that wherever we're going is still opened?" Damian asked as the whole group of them walked along the string of buildings on the surprisingly bustling night street, even though it was around nine-ish.

Undoubtedly, the whole group attracted many people because, well, they were incredibly attractive, which made Emily felt like she did not belong there, as if she was just out of place. She couldn't do anything but to just comfort herself by telling herself that she might be overthinking, but, seriously, who was she kidding? Herself? Definitely not, she's already know what she is like... A potato.

Not literally, but figuratively, compared to everyone she was with.

Just then, Patricia's words just penetrated her train of thought, "Well, who knows? And it's a surprise. You'll see once you reached."

"Wait, you're paying, right?" Hailey asked Patricia as she eyed at her suspiciously, "Because I don't have money. I mean, I'm literally freeloading off your house."

"Relax. Hailey, I got you." Patricia justified with a wink.

After a few roads and turns on the dimly lit street, they had finally reached an eerie alleyway, like the one where Bruce Wayne's parents died at. It was pretty wide and there was a flight of metal steps, at the side of one building, leading to... somewhere.

Under the creepy steps was a red metal door.

"Um... Patricia? Please don't tell me this is the place..." Damian hoped as he laughed nervously.

"This is the place." She replied cheerfully.

"Hahaha... What a great joke." He complimented as he continued laughing.

However, Patricia looked at him plainly with a plastered smile.

"Oh." Damian paused, "You're serious."

"Yup."

She then reached for the doorknob. She twisted it, in attempt to open it. Thankfully, the door did not budge a single inch. Just as she wanted to try for the single time, Hailey stopped her. "Look Patricia, maybe, you really got the wrong place. I mean, you know there are a couple killer clowns roaming around recently, right? Andddd this can just be their hideout."

"Well, maybe. But, I'm sure this is the right place. We should just test our luck. Hold on." Patricia said as she banged on the metal door a couple of times.

"Patricia--" Hailey wanted to called out, but it was too late.

"HEY! ARE YOU GUYS STILL OPEN?" Patricia yelled as she continued banging.

Emily whispered into Mary's ears, "... Do you sense any danger of some sort?"

Mary rubbed her chin, like a detective, "Hmm."

Yukiko overheard what the two girls were talking about and joined in, "No, but this place seems a little too sketchy."

Suddenly, the whole group felt a gust of air. The door was swung open, to reveal a grumpy looking man. He was tall yet he had a bulky body, he could easily dwarfed over Patricia. He opened he mouth to speak in his husky voice, "What do you want...?"

"Holy crap. Maybe we shouldn't disturb this guy..." Emily thought as she stood next to Patricia, just in case the man ended up attacking her.

Let's be real here, Emily probably could not do anything effective against that huge guy, but she could try.

"Yeah, hi. Are you guys still open? This is a 24/7 place, right?" Patricia asked with her signature smile.

Emily looked at her in disbelief, "Wow, she isn't afraid of death, huh."

"We are." The man replied with an unemotional face, "Come in..."

"Yay, thanks." She replied, before turning to the group, "See? I told you it was the right place."

The gang walked right in the door and through a narrow hallway. There was torn posters pasted on the walls, along with torn wallpaper, that had vertical turquoise strips over it. The floor was carpeted, but it was already begrimed with dirt. Also, there was a chilling gust of air, every now and then.

"This place is TOTALLY safe." Emily silently thought to herself, feeling unwillingly to move on.

After taking a few more steps, they came to a halt.

"...How many of you are there?" The man spoke monotonously.

"Eleven."

He wrote something in his notepad, which he pulled out form the back pocket of his pants, "Noted. Your tables are eleven and twelve. After you're done, just heading to the counter to make your payment." The man instructed, "Just go down this flight of stairs and... Enjoy your meal."

"Thank you very much." Patricia said as she led the whole group down, leaving him alone.

As they took more steps down the 'eatery', it became increasingly noisy. Sounds of laughters and chatters could be heard. That naturally sent chills down her spine, "Oh cool, this place is haunted as well. I couldn't wish for more."

Slowly, as they were nearing the end of the stairs, it got brighter and warmer. Finally, they reached the place where all the 'fun' was at. They walked into this brightly lit and huge room with a huge variety of food along the side. The fragrance of the array of food lingered in the air. The room was decorated beautifully with candles and stylish lightings. The place was also pretty packed, which was a complete surprise to Emily.

"Told you this was the right place." Patricia folded her arms with pride, "This is an all-you-can-eat buffet. We can spend four hours her--"

Before she could finish, Lavi had already disappeared.

He was spotted at one of the food booths, "Hmm, Can I have ten of these and five sets of those? Thanks."

Upon hearing his orders, the teenage girl, who was in charge, had her jaw dropped. "W-What?"

"Oh, you probably didn't heard me clearly. No worries, let me repeat my orders, I want ten of thes--" Mary immediately rushed over to him and gave him an elbow to his side, "Sorry, he meant to say that he wants one of each for these two."

"No, that's not what I meant." Lavi protested as he rubbed his sore side gingerly, "I said I want--" This time Ben had his hand over his mouth, "Just follow her orders. My friend here is a little weird, pay no attention to him." Ben followed up with a charming smile, "I guess we will need come back in a little while, right?"

"Y-yeah, um... I need the number tags that are on your table." She startled, being overwhelmed by how charming Ben was.

"Oh, Okay." Ben said as he walked to one of the tables allocated to them, table eleven, and grabbed a number tag to passed it to the teenager.

Emily and the others were already at the tables as Mary, Ben and the upset looking Lavi walked towards them. The three of them sat down and once they were sat down, Lavi started to speak with a hint of annoyance, "What was that for? I wanted more food."

"Relax, we can get more later." Ben said as laid back onto the comfy seat. "Besides, you can't ask someone to cook for you immediately, right? She needs to serve everyone as well. So, just be considerate."

Lavi stared at him for a few seconds before he spoke, "Fine." He then stood up again.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked, "You're not mad, right?"

"No. This place will be in rubble if I am. I'm just getting someone food."

"I'm following." Ben joined as he stood.

"Alright, control yourself though." Mary reminded as she was reluctant to let the two of them go. Who knows what monstrosity would be created if the two were together.

"Emily, should we go get some food?" Hailey, who sat next to her, asked.

"Sure."

Emily followed Hailey as she led the way. There was lots for different kind of food from all over the world, some that she could not recognise. "It is surprising how this place is kept in the dark. I mean think place is pretty awesome. Are the people here insane? Probably. But hey, we're insane too." Her best friend said as she grabbed two plates, one for herself and the other for Emily.

"Thanks." She said as she used the tongs to grab some fries that were conveniently placed there, because why not?

Hailey laughed and raised an eyebrow, "You're just going to eat that?"

"Um... Yeah, why?" Emily asked obliviously as she grabbed another serving of fries without breaking eye contact with her best friend. "Oh yeah, 'we're insane too'. Well, that just explained my behaviour perfectly."

Hailey smiled and shook her head, "Nothing, just asking. Actually, I'm going to get whatever you're getti--"

Just then, a tall and fierce looking thug bumped into her. He had tattoos covered all over his body and was dressed in black singlet and baggy pants. He had also two other 'buddies' behind him, which looked somewhat similar to him, only difference is that, they had less tattoos. He glared at Hailey as she snarled, "Hey, watch where you're going."

Upon hearing here, he broke into a fit of laughter, which freaked the two girls out.

Hailey then whipped her head to face Emily, "See? I told you people here are insane."

Unfortunately, the guy's (surprisingly) vigilant ears picked up whatever Hailey said...

And, he was not very happy.

With a swing of an arm, he grabbed Hailey by her cheeks just by using one of his huge hands.

That caught the two girls absolutely off guard. The man opened his mouth and spoke, "You have an attitude, don't you?"

Stunned, both their mouths were sealed shut by the sudden shock that hit them.

Noting that, he then gave her a sickening grin as he inspected her face like a creep, "You have a decent face you know that?"

Recovering a little, Hailey managed to scorn at his comment, "If I have a decent face, then It will be great if you get your filthy hands off me." Just as she ended her comeback, she stepped on the man's foot.

That prompted him to release his grip as he stumbled forward. His two other men behind him rushed towards Hailey, in an attempt to grab her for doing something to their 'leader'.

Emily pushed Hailey out of the way in the last second, so that the men would miss her. She then stuck out one of her legs, causing one of the men to fall.

Once the other man saw what Emily did his partner, he shifted his attention from Hailey to her.

"...Shit."

Emily looked around anxiously for something or someone who she can ask for help. However, the people around them just pulled out their smartphones to film whatever is happening. "Wow, the 21st century sure is great. I've officially lost faith in humanity."

The man grabbed her arm tightly and swung his other hand towards her face. She ducked down to dodge his attack, but she met up with a knee that was heading towards her face. Luckily, she had her reflexes, which were trained by Yukiko, so she immediately blocked it with her hand.

A sharp pain went through her arm just as her hand made contact with the man's knee.

However, he quickly made his other move.

He pulled her up slightly by her arm, sending more pain through her body. "Okay, this dude is going to break my arm. Should I attack now? But, he's human and I'm not. Is that fair?"

The other man, who previously fell, managed to get up and grab both of Hailey's arms, before tugging them to her back. The leader of the group went closer to her with an intention to hurt her.

"You know what? Screw it."

Emily swung one of her legs towards the man's arm to make him loosen his grip, but it did not work.

She did it for the second time, with more force.

Again, a failure.

"Okay, Yukiko told me once that I need to go for the weaker parts if I face someone stronger than me." Emily darted her eyes up and down at the man, in order to find his weaker spot, "Oh."

She spotted his weakness.

She mustered up her courage and landed on the man's... Well, reproductive part, "...Sorry."

Super effective.

This time the man's grip loosened greatly.

Emily grabbed a nearby plate and threw it towards the 'leader' of the group. He caught the sight of the plate from the corner of his eyes and smashed it, with his bare fist, just as it was about to reach his face. The ceramic pieces fell onto the ground as to shatter further to smaller pieces.

"...Damn. The dude have been working out."

The guy stomped towards Emily and grabbed her face. His grip was tighter than the other guy, who she just... Well, 'defeated'.

He lifted her up by solely grabbing onto her skull. Her head felt as if her head was about to explode. She could feel the blood rushing into her skull, slowly filling her head and that she could not do anything but to make ineffective struggles.

She could hear Hailey screaming for her name, but she could not respond.

Slowly, her vision started to blur. However, just as darkness began to filled her sight, she heard a voice...