Dusty reached over to his glove box and fished around blindly. Within seconds, he pulled back his hand to reveal a small action camera. Sticking it to the dash board, he then spoke.
"They didn't do any animal experiments here, did they?"
Dmitri adjusted his hat and sunglasses to cover more of his face.
"Is there a need for the camera?"
"Of course! Juniper would kill us if she found out you said a bunch of juicy exposition that we didn't capture."
Even the cat monster appeared to shiver at the lady's name.
"Fine, but can I get a face mask or something? And don't show my ID, I am here incognito."
He fished in the glove box again, withdrawing one with just tacky enough of a print to match the John's current wardrobe.
"Truly a mythical item," he marveled while adding this layer to his disguise. After thinking a moment, he finally answered the question.
"I don't think so. This place was designed to house strong and bad people. We have slaughter houses for animals, so there isn't a need to cage them... unless... No, never mind."
The two teenagers, guitarist and mascot, stared nervously at each other.
"We can't afford another pet," mister Whiskers said.
"Where'd we even put it?"
"Take us to this never mind place, hero! We must get there before Sandra!"
"I wouldn't worry too much about that. This place also isn't on the map."
the two gulped.
"Hurry! Point the way now!"
Confused, the John nonetheless guided them. The bus trudged along for a quarter mile, its path completely littered with bodies.
"Jeez, I've never seen a place with so many ghost bodies," Dusty absentmindedly said.
"What?"
"You know, these ghost bodies in the way."
The John wanted to explain the error in his thinking, but was interrupted by a mental message from mister Whiskers.
"Don't do it! He's sensitive!"
"Oh yeah, the ghost bodies; totally! If I had to guess, there was some kind of riot here. Most of the corpses are inmates, after all."
"Wow, true crime! Whiskers, work the camera. Hero, point out some notable people in the piles out there. The girls will love this," Dusty exclaimed, already imagining the surprise their faces will be painted in.
"Well, over there is Jimmy "The eel" Vaspucci. He used his electric power to shut down alarm systems in the jewelry stores he'd rob. When he was finally arrested, they realized he could also use this ability to shut down prison security systems. Since the additional costs needed to house just him alone exceed most prison's annual budgets, he was sent here."
"Cool, do another. I found the ramp you mentioned, by the way."
"Good, take it down and you'll arrive in the staff residential area. The experimental wing is hidden behind a security door disguised as a wall panel."
"Which wall panel? this place is full of them."
They arrived in what looked like a large common area. In place of shops were gyms, spas, hair stylists, a movie theater, and other similar amenities. Around this ring of shops was an even larger ring of hotel style apartment rooms.
"My source wasn't paid to stay here, so most of what I know about this wing is rumor and hearsay."
"Maybe I can help," mister Whiskers said while rolling down a nearby window with his mind. He stuck his head out the window, and issued a lower frequency meow.
The two humans stood in silence, not wanting to disturb his psi-scan. A full minute later, the cat monster relaxed.
"Go to the alley next to the arcade. I could see through a wall there for an additional 3 inches before everything got cut off."
They quickly drove to the area. Dusty put the vehicle in park, and removed the key. The bus, as if in response, disintegrated into particles of golden light. They spun towards Dusty, entering his body.
The two teenagers and one senior hero plopped softly on the floor once it had completely disappeared.
"Okay, if you all give me about 10 minutes, I should be able to open this..."
CLANK! SMASH!
Dusty, a large monkey wrench in hand, smacked the wall in question. He left a dent with every hit, steadily deforming the entire surface.
"Don't worry, I also learned how to locksmith at the junkyard," he claimed, it sounding very much like a lie.
CA-CHUNK!
The wall finally gave way, sliding open partially. With mister Whisker's help, they opened it the rest of the way and stepped inside.
With the action camera now strapped atop his head, mister Whisker took over the asking of questions while Dusty focused on illuminating the area with his flashlight.
"So, what rumors did you hear about this place?"
"To the inmates, this was probably the second worse place you could wind up at. Nobody who was sent here ever came back, which would suggest the experiments performed either had a high fatality rate or were simply too secret to leave loose ends."
"There's a place here scarier than that?"
"To the inmates, at least. After all, none of them could confirm this place existed; but they all knew the infamy of Block 6."
As the short hallway terminated into the first of many conjoined laboratories, the conversation on everyone's tongues froze. They could see close to two dozen scientists, still at their posts. The problem is, every single one of them was frozen solid in a block of ice.
"This isn't good, let's hurry!"
The John led them, rushing into the second conjoined laboratory. The scientists were gone. In their place was a pile of ash, with two dozen such piles scattered in various areas throughout the lab.
In the third lab, the scientists were in pieces. Even more bizarre, though, were that their injuries appeared to be caused by the simultaneous explosion of nearly all electronic devices in the room.
Everything in the fourth lab, meanwhile, was soaked in rain water. There was even a puddle covering the entire floor.
But what disturbed them more than anything, thus far, was an elongated guinea pig currently sleeping on a table. Its body length was ridiculous, making it look closer to a shaggy dragon than a rodent. Its coat didn't help matters, as the various different colored clumps had the appearance of autumn leaves when looked at from a distance.
"Calendar Creature!" "Too Cute!"
Then, as if finished warming up, the three's words synchronized.
"We must get rid of it!"