"It seems Lucifer is done."
Chris said as she stood up and headed for the door. Standing up from the sofa, everyone followed behind her as she pushed open the sturdy piece of metal to meet a familiar man face-to-face. It was the guy who guided us through Lucifer's mansion.
"Yo! Lucifer's calling the six of you back to his house."
The man gave a casual wave with one hand as he took one step back. Then, without looking back at us, he started walking off.
"Then, until the next time we meet, please stay safe."
The two women quickly hugged each other as everyone else filed out of the apartment.
"You too. "
Joel gave one last smile at Chris before she exited the door.
Following the man towards the stairs, I heard the door close behind us, and Joel's smile immediately hardened as she slipped her hands into both Frank and mine, holding onto us tightly as if she were afraid we would disappear.
Following her actions, I saw Jade do the same, and we followed the man back deeper into Bottom street and into the large mansion. Stepping inside the mansion a second time, we were greeted not by Lucifer but by the sight of a small child.
The child turned around as they heard our footsteps approach them. Wearing a pair of dirt-colored shorts and a blue shirt, they gave off a boyish feel.
"Angel!'
Exclaiming out his name, the man leading us hurried forward and squated down to his eye level.
"Max!"
Seeing the man, a pure smile blossomed on his face as he hugged something against his chest before pushing it to the man.
"This is for you!"
Placing the item into Max's hands, the boy then noticed that they were not alone.
"Ah, sorry. Were you bringing guests?"
He took a step back and gave us an apologetic nod, clearly intending to escape out of the way. However, before he could move any further, Max caught him by the arm, thereby stopping him in his tracks.
"It's alright, Miss Angel. This is your house. You don't have to run away from any guests here."
Smiling at her, Max then stood up, turned around, and led the girl dressed as a boy to us.
"This is Lucifer's daughter, Miss Angel. Miss Angel, these are our guests for today. Two of them are regular guests to Bottom street and you may see them occasionally. They are are Joel and Jade, our diplomats from the other streets. Beside them are some children they brought to the street."
Pointing at Joel, Jade, and then us, Max's smile was polite yet sincere as he observed the child named Angel nod her head nervously. However, as her eyes flickered to each of us, she seemed to subconsciously nod to each of us before hiding behind Max.
"Nice to meet you all, my name is Angel."
She then looked up at Max, who mercilessly took a step to the side to expose her to us.
"Nice to meet you too, Angel. I'm Joel. And this block of ice beside me is Jade."
Squating down, Joel smiled as she extended her hand for a handshake.
"Hello Joel."
Timidly glancing at Joel's outstretched hand, she slowly reached out her own hand to receive the gentle handshake. Then, once the greetings were done, she ducked her hand back into Max's hands. With a smile, we then continued walking towards the large meeting hall at the back.
Arriving at the doors, Max stopped. He lifted his hand to give three loud knocks on the door before announcing our arrival.
"Come in."
From the other side of the door, Lucifer's loud, booming voice echoed. However, as we opened the large doors and stepped into the hall, his voice suddenly turned sweet as he spotted Angel.
"My little Angel, come here."
He beckoned to her with his hand, and the girl immediately ran towards him with a bright smile on her face.
"Dad!"
With outstretched arms, Lucifer swept Angel off the floor the moment she came into arm's reach and held her close to him. Resting her legs near his hip, he slowly walked towards us with a gentler smile as he gestured for Max to leave.
"We'll cooperate with your faction."
Cutting straight to the point without even a greeting, Lucifer declared as he caressed Angel's cheek with a finger. Seeing this scene, Joel smiled and thanked him. However, the conversation didn't end there.
"Unfortunately, that's not the only reason we came here today."
With a sad shake of her head, Joel then glanced at Angel and then at us. It was clear that this part was probably the real reason they had to come to Bottom street so urgently. And so we couldn't hear it.
Seeing Joel's hints, Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he talked softly to Angel.
"Angel, darling, could you show the children around the place? Not too far, just slightly around the castle. I'll ask Max to go with you."
Pecking her on the cheek, Lucifer waited until Angel nodded her head before putting her down on the floor gently.
"Yes Dad."
Following Angel, the four of us exited the room and left the three adults to speak in private.
As we exited the meeting hall, Angel stopped in her tracks and turned around. She nervously looked at us, her gaze jumping all over the place as she tried to gather her courage to talk to us.
"Um."
Biting her lip, Angel's eyes finally landed on a picture hanging on the wall. It was a picture of a smiling young woman. She wore rough clothes that were obviously hand-sewn in several places. However, the state of her outfit couldn't cover the kind smile that radiated from her. And beside that woman was a small child that looked awfully similar to Angel.
Sucking in a breath as she stared at the picture, her chest rose as she encouraged herself and turned towards us with a slightly less timid smile.
"Where...would you like to go in Bottom street?'
Linel, Frank, and I looked at each other. As people who had never been here before, we didn't know anything about Bottom street. Much less where we wanted to go. We shifted our gaze to Oliver.
"Do you know of anyone who gives off the same aura as Lucifer?'
Slipping his hands into his pocket, Oliver gave a polite smile to Angel. On the other hand, when Angel heard that, she gave an obvious sigh of relief as she led us out of the mansion.
"People with the same aura as Lucifer aren't rare. However, none of their auras are stronger than his."
Humbly bragging about her father, Angel gave a more sincere smile towards us as she pushed open the huge doors of the mansion. Outside the mansion, back at his station, Max was talking with his partner before turning to look at us.
"Miss Angel?"
Tilting his head, Max glanced at the area behind us. Then, quickly figuring out that we children were sent away from the conversation, he smiled at Angel and gave her a smile.
"Dad says to bring them around the area."
She walked up to Max and slipped her hand into his. Then, with a wink to his partner, Max allowed himself to be dragged along by Angel as we walked away from the mansion.
"So where are we going?"
We walked left of the mansion, sticking close to the large path that led west.
"Bottom Market. It's not very far. And we might be able to meet some of them there."
Angel squeezed Max's hand as she talked, drawing courage from his presence as we finally reached the end of the large, well-lit road. At the end of the path, a large arch greeted us. Past the arch, many small shops were set up along and in the middle of the road. The shops were all made of concrete and were definitely not set up by the residents themselves.
Heading into the Market, Angel spoke as she led us between several stalls and to a less crowded area. As she walked, there were clearly many people who recognized her. A lot of them either smiled or waved at her as she walked past, to which she would respond by smiling or waving back. Finally, after weaving through several more shops, we arrived at a peaceful-looking building. In front of the building was a large sign that had a red plus symbol on it.
"George?"
Pushing open the door, Angel led us into what looked like a clinic's reception room. The walls were a soft peach color, easy on the eyes, and there was a line of chairs for waiting patients queued against the wall. In front of those chairs was the reception desk, which was just a simple metal desk with one friendly-looking nurse. Hearing the crisp bell that sounded when we opened the door, the nurse looked up from the book she was reading and smiled as she spotted Angel.
"Angel! What brings you here?"
After greeting Angel, the nurse's eyes shifted to us, and her smile turned unreadable.
"Um. Taylor? Is George in? There's something we want to ask. Oh! But if he's busy, we can just go. It's not that urgent."
Tearing her eyes from us, Tayler gave Angel a kind smile and nodded her head.
"He's in. Just give me a second."
Standing up from behind the desk, she opened a door and disappeared through it. Then, not even a minute later, she reappeared with what looked like an old man behind her. The old man, as he came out of the door, turned his head towards Angel and gave her a kind smile.
"I heard you called."
Under the gaze of the old man, Angel shyly nodded her head before she tilted them towards Oliver. Taking this as a cue, Oliver took a step forward and stretched out his hand for a handshake.
"Nice to meet you, doctor. My name is Oliver."
At Oliver's introduction, the old man turned his eyes towards him and stepped out from behind the reception desk to walk towards us. He was wearing a slightly yellowed lab coat, the thin string of fabric holding onto the buttons was noticeably frayed.
Reaching us, the doctor bent his knees as he extended his hand, giving Oliver a nice and firm handshake before inviting us to sit on the chairs lining the wall before talking. Once seated, he gave us a small nod before asking.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Oliver, and friends. I'm George, the owner of this small building. To what pleasure do I owe you for visiting me and my humble business?"
The doctor had a glint in his eye as he spoke, his attention fully on Oliver as he introduced himself. In response to this, Oliver didn't say a word. Instead, he reached into his pocket, taking out a folded piece of paper that looked exactly like the one he had given Ryan, and passed it to the doctor.
Raising an eyebrow, the doctor showed a look as he glanced at the piece of paper. However, he still reached out his hand and took it. Opening it up, as he read the first few lines, his eyebrows furrowed, and he placed the paper down onto his lap once he had finished reading it. Glancing at Oliver, his voice lowered to a near-threatening tone.
"Why are you giving this to me?"