Enchanted by what she saw, Alice gazed around the room, soaking in the scene before her. It was some kind of lounge, with a bar on one end of the space, and a stage with a full band playing towards the other end. Tables and booths full of patrons were scattered throughout the room, though it was far from crowded. The lights were soft and cool, with neon accents scattered around, especially behind the bar. The voice of the singer carried through the lounge; it was full and elegant, commanding Alice’s attention. The singer wore a long, pale gold metallic dress and a transparent black shawl covered in shiny colorful stars. She was tall, with thick, curled brown hair and droopy, sad eyelashes. A faint scar stretched across the bridge of her nose, and her dangly earrings reflected the light like a disco ball.

Snapping out of her hypnotic gaze, Alice walked over to the bar. She was unsure of who she was there to meet so she sat down to have a drink. The bartender was a man of medium stature; he had platinum blonde hair and one icy blue eye, wearing an eyepatch in place of the other. He wore a tuxedo, and the fabric looked like space itself. The suit glistened under the light and was hard to look at directly, and a large gold chain connected his lapel to his shoulder.

Alice glanced over at the singer again and remarked aloud about her talent.

“Her name’s Torie. She’s my wife,” said the bartender curtly. He clutched a cigarette with fingers adorned in gold rings.

“Well, your wife is remarkable.” Alice smiled slightly. He did not thank her.

“What...what’s the name of this place?” she inquired, but still, he smoked in silence. She waited a few moments before piping up again.

“Could I get some water?”

He put out his cigarette and began to make her the drink, and set it down on a star-shaped coaster in front of her; he nodded and glanced to a table near the back of the bar. Alice understood and grabbed her water, making her way over to the group seated and waiting.

A young nonbinary man stood up and smiled, shaking Alice’s free hand. He wore a neon windbreaker and shiny leggings.

“Alice, we’re so glad you could make it. My name is Lux, we spoke this morning. Welcome to Apollo’s Liar.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Hi,” she uttered, sitting down awkwardly. It was a relatively small, round table, with the three seats being of equal distant apart.

“I’m Manfred, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Alice shook his hand too. He was shorter and stockier than the other but spoke a bit louder. The scars on his chest were intentional, but those on his face were not; she wasn’t sure either way about the haircut.

“Likewise.”

“I understand our initial correspondence was incredibly cryptic, but you can never be certain of secrecy through the internet. I realize I asked you to take a leap of faith, and we’re both relieved to see you in here.” Lux paused, choosing his words carefully. “We will fully understand if you choose to turn down this offer, but we ask that you listen to it in full before deciding.”

“Are you guys state?” Alice spit out rather abruptly.

The gentlemen laughed.

“Hell no,” said Manfred. He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice. “We’re organizers for the local faction chapter.”

Though she was not affiliated with them prior to this meeting, Alice was familiar with their work. They were an underground group, loosely organized into local chapters across the nation. They taught citizens how to defend themselves, and they had connections in what was left of the legal system, the entertainment industry, and academia. Due to their “radical” stance against the fascist, capitalist system in power, being outed as a faction member to the public was a certain death sentence. Alice was sympathetic to the cause, relieved to hear that this was not a setup. That didn’t mean there wasn’t a catch.

“Winona, our friend, is in grave danger. We believe she has been captured,” added Lux.

“Do you have any idea where she may have been when this happened?” asked Alice.

Lux slid over a manila folder. Inside was a photo of the Renfield facility, clipped from yesterday’s newspaper, and a photo of the missing doctor.

“If you know where she is,” Alice began, “why do you need my help finding her?”

Lux chuckled and gestured for her to keep looking through the folder. She set the photographs aside and there was a printed email from one “W@★★★. ★★★”, detailing the horrors within the facility. Alice pursed her lips and looked at Lux, then Manfred, then she took a drink of water.

“This is way above my paygrade, I hope you realize this.”

“We do.” The two men looked at each other for a moment before Lux continued. “We need everyone we can get, and with your skills, you would be a major asset. You aren’t the only one we’ve reached out to, just the first to get back to us.”

“Listen, you are more than welcome to finish your drink, walk out of here, and pretend like this never happened. But Winona is a beloved community member, and it was because of her that I'm able to rock a flat chest.” Again, Manfred did have prominent, sweet pecs, but they looked nothing like they did years ago, and nobody was ever again going to stop him from showing them off with sexy little button-ups.

“I swore she would be safe as long as the faction had roots, and every second we’re not spending tearing that place to the ground is a second we are failing her.”

His words were compelling, but before Alice could properly think of a response, the bartender appeared and brought them all another round.

“Oh, Fritz, you’re too slick, sneaking up on us like that,” Manfred joked. Fritz did not react, simply placing the drinks down on the table in silence. He then crouched down between Lux and Manfred, whispering a brief message. The two of them burst out into laughter and Alice’s gaze met Fritz’s, expressionless and cold. He turned around and walked back to the bar and began to wipe down the counter with a rag.

“Something funny?” Alice inquired, eyebrow raised. The two men quickly stifled their laughter before Manfred spoke.

“We’re being watched.” He took a drink.

“Your one o’clock.” Lux said to her.

Alice’s eyes darted past Lux and towards the other end of the bar. There was an incredibly thick man sitting alone without a drink, who looked away the moment her gaze met his.

“Cool.” Alice tapped her nails on her glass, having reached the event horizon of whatever was to come.

Out of nowhere, the door Alice had come through earlier swung open and a group of armed goons burst in. The first one through the door drew his blaster and aimed right for Fritz, pulling the trigger with no hesitation. The electric blue laser must have hit something hard in his breast pocket, because it refracted and ended up hitting an overhead light, sparking a fire.

The impact sent Fritz flying back into the shelves of liquor behind him, breaking all sorts of glass and falling limp to the ground. Everyone was in shock, and for a moment, the whole bar was at a standstill. A giant throwing knife cut through the silence and lodged itself directly into the eye socket of the man who’d shot Fritz, and his blaster went off again as the knife pierced his brain. Shooting and killing one of his own goons, the two fell to the floor and all hell broke loose.

Torie jumped off the stage and ran into the crowd screaming, stabbing a goon in the jugular with one of her stilettos. The man who had been watching Alice and the others came running from the direction in which the throwing knife had come, with a blaster of his own. Manfred and Lux each drew their blasters as well, and Alice jumped onto the table, leaping from one to the next with catlike grace. She lunged for the nearest gunman and tackled him, knocking his weapon to the floor a few feet away.

The fire began to rage on around them, and even after all of the goons had been taken out, the danger was far from over. Torie had made her way behind the bar to make sure Fritz was okay. He began to regain consciousness and she rushed in to kiss him, the fear of losing him and the relief of having him back doing all sorts of ridiculous things to her emotions. She drew back and he grinned at her, pulling a brass lighter out of his breast pocket. It was dented from the laser blast, but still worked just fine.

“How lucky,” said Fritz, as Torie helped him to his feet.

Manfred and Lux hurried to evacuate everyone, and as the last of the civilians rushed out the exit, into the alleyway, and onto the street, the building began to collapse around them. The ceiling above the door to the exit was about to fall down, forcing the two men through the doorway and out onto the street while their friends remained stuck inside.

Fritz shoved some crates out of the way to reveal a trapdoor behind the bar. Torie turned and called out towards Alice and the mysterious stranger, the only other two people left in the lounge. They were closer to the bar than the exit, but flames blocked their pathways to both. Suddenly, the ceiling above the exit collapsed, leaving one option.

Without hesitation, the mysterious stranger swept Alice off her feet and over his shoulder. She yelped in surprise, and he did his best to cradle her away from the flames as he leapt over them with his massive, muscular legs. Bounding behind the bar and setting her down carefully, Alice immediately noticed his blood on her clothes.

“Come on! Get down here!” Torie shouted, following her husband through the doorway and down the ladder.

Alice hurried after her with the stranger in tow, and as he closed the trapdoor overhead, the building came down altogether and effectively sealed them underground. Descending the ladder in silence, an unknowable darkness was waiting for them in the belly of the beast.