Of course this would happen.

That was the only thought going through Will's stupid brain as he stood in front of Nyx. He tightened his grip on Nico's trembling hand, trying to reassure him. And trying to reassure himself.

Will wanted to speak, to try to talk himself out of this situation, but his brain felt melted. No words formed, and he just stood there, staring at Nyx with his mouth dropped open. Nice first impression.

Nyx laughed. "Did you really think it would be THAT easy, Spider-Man?"

Cliche, Will thought. Seriously, why did ALL the people in the Mansion talk like this? Ugh, focus.

"I dunno," Will said, attempting nonchalance. "Didn't think you guys were the brightest. Figured escape wouldn't be too hard, right?"

Nyx laughed. "Please. You didn't even consider that we knew your next move?"

She moved closer to him. Too close. She reached up and cupped Will's face. Her hand was FREEZING. Will tried to jerk away, but she had a tight hold on him.

She spoke, her words like ice. "I ALWAYS know your next move."

"Really?" Will asked coolly. "Even this?"

He quickly dropped Nico's hand, and in an instant, raised his fingers to his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Nyx screamed and pulled her hand away from Will's face, covering her ears.

Will looked back at Nico, who also had his hands over his ears, flinching. He pulled his hands away and waved off Will's worried expression. "I'm fine. We gotta go."

Will nodded in agreement. All the security in the room seemed to have been knocked temporarily off guard from the sudden earsplitting noise, so Will and Nico took their chance. They ran out the door behind Nyx, which led into a long hallway that they immediately started sprinting down.

"Do you know where we're going?" Will panted out as they ran.

"Kinda." Nico replied. "Just- keep going."

After another minute of running, they made it to the end of the hall. There was nothing there except for a metal door on the left side. Will tried it, and fortunately, it swung open.

They went through the door tentatively, in case there was security waiting for them there. Which, now that Will was thinking about it, this place was probably now CRAWLING with guards looking for them.

Luckily for them, the door led into...another empty hallway. God, this building really sucked.

"What are we- what are we doing?" Nico gasped out as they ran down the new hallway.

Will faltered. "I don't...know."

"We could escape. I know we could find the exit, somewhere."

"If we don't get captured."

"Right."

"But..." Will hesitated. "We need to stop them, right? Stop their plan, save the prisoners, movie stuff."

"I know, Will." Nico replied, slowing his pace as they once again reached the end of a hallway. "But...how?"

"I don't know." Will repeated. He couldn't look Nico in the eye. "Just...I don't know. Maybe things will work out."

"Sure." Nico said doubtfully. He tried the new door, which was also unlocked. This one, at least, didn't lead into another empty hallway. It led into a hallway lined with cells.

The boys stepped into the hall. It was the same sort of atrium that Will had been in before, the massive room completely lined with cells. Except this time...the cells weren't all empty. Down the whole hallway and pretty much as far as Will could see, people were sitting gloomily in the cells.

He felt sick. How many people were here? And for what? To rot? Or for the Mansion to twist their minds, make them work for them like slaves...

Will's train of thought was disrupted by the sound of two VERY familiar voices.

"WILL! NICO! HEY!"

The call came from down the hallway, and Will immediately broke into a run, pulling Nico behind him. It only took a few seconds for him to find the cell the yelling was coming from. And there they were: Cecil and Lou Ellen, leaning against the bars of a prison cell. Which, when Will thought about it, was awfully in character for them.

"What are YOU doing here?" Will asked, eyes wide.

Lou Ellen shrugged, seeming annoyed. "I don't KNOW, Will! I didn't plan on this! What are YOU doing here?"

Will blinked. "...Good question. I think presently, we're trying to escape?"

"But also trying to save people?" Nico added.

"Are you sure you guys aren't just here to make out?" Cecil grumbled. He was sitting in the corner, leaning on the bars and looking more dejected than Will had ever seen him. His hands were in cuffs. That was weird.

Will glared at him. "Yeah, Cecil. We're here on a date. Heard it was a destination spot."

Cecil laughed slightly. "Really? Same for me and Lou. We definitely were not kidnapped or anything."

"And then what? They just threw you in a cell too? No explanation?" Will asked.

Cecil shrugged. "Well...a bit of explanation. They said they had too many people here to train them all at once. Or whatever, I wasn't listening. So they said we could wait here, and since we were so amazing, we could share a cell."

"They did NOT say that last bit." Nico said flatly.

"Cecil broke out of his first cell, so they cuffed him and threw him in with me because they thought I'd watch him better." Lou Ellen explained more accurately.

Cecil nodded. "Been trying to break these stupid things, but I swear they're like, invincible." He hit the cuffs against the cell bars several times to prove his point.

Nico grimaced in sympathy. "They just used rope on me."

"I'm a bigger threat." Cecil grinned.

"Anyways," Lou Ellen said. "Can you, like, get us out of here?"

"We'll try." Will promised, walking over to the keypad by the cell. His brain was buzzing with everything his friends had said, but he needed to focus on getting them out before he thought about that weird 'training' thing Cecil had mentioned. "There's a combo that unlocks the door...do any of you happen to know it?"

Lou Ellen and Cecil shrugged. "I just fucked with the bars till they opened when I broke out." Cecil said.

Nico fidgeted and walked over to the keypad. "I might have some ideas...but they've probably changed the locks since I was a kid."

"Since you were a kid-?" Cecil blurted out, confusion on his face. Will shot him a look that said I'll explain later.

Nico messed with the keypad for a minute, then sighed and stepped back. "Nothing. If I try one more time, it'll set the alarm off."

"Not the best idea." Will said. "So...what?"

Lou Ellen frowned. "You guys are wasting time here. We'll figure something out-"

"No." Will said sharply. "I'm not leaving you guys in this place. Plus, if we get you guys out..." he looked out at the expanse of cells. "Maybe we can get everyone out."

Cecil nodded. "Okay. So we just have to think. This is the part of the movie where the main character remembers some vital conversation from earlier that somehow has a code imbedded in it, right? So, Will...we're waiting on you!"

Everyone stared at Cecil. "What are you TALKING about?" Lou Ellen asked, exasperated.

"Thinking out loud. Trying to boost team morale. Jeez." Cecil grumbled.

Will shook his head. "No, Cecil's got a point."

"I assure you he doesn't." Lou Ellen muttered, dodging a badly aimed kick from Cecil.

"I gotta think. I got busted out of a cell earlier with the code, maybe if I think...what did she say...?" Will mumbled, mostly to himself.

"Someone busted you out? So not fair." Cecil whined.

"Do you have superpowers and the balls to save a whole city?" Nico snapped on Will's behalf.

"No."

"Then shut up."

Cecil pouted for a moment, but his mouth curled up in a smirk quickly and he exchanged a look with Lou Ellen, something that Will could loosely read as oooooh Will's boyfriend is protecting him... Boyfriend. Man, he still needed to ask Nico about their whole label thing. Now wasn't the best time. Focus, focus...

There were four digits in this code. Four possible letters, if it stood for something...What had Nemesis said earlier? Think...

And suddenly, it came to him. The perfect solution.

"Step back." Will ordered his friends. Lou Ellen and Cecil walked (or, in Cecil's case, scooted) away from the bars, and Nico took a step away from Will.

"What are we standing back for?" Nico asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"This." And instead of punching in a code, Will punched the keypad, hard. It basically shattered, and arcs of electricity shot out of it. The bars of the cage shuddered, lit up with electric sparks, and slid up creakily.

Will pulled his hand away and shook it out. "Ow!!"

Nico laughed. "You're so dumb." Then he walked up and kissed Will's cheek. "But efficient."

Will flushed. Was this PDA? Did he like PDA? Ew, he really hoped not. Maybe he was just happy because Nico was being cute and his friends were safe. Well...his friends were free.

In the cell, Cecil struggled to his feet with Lou's help, and they both tentatively exited the dark room. As soon as they were out, they rushed to Will, hugging him tightly. Well, Cecil wasn't exactly hugging him, with his lack of arm mobility, but he was there.

"So what now?" Lou Ellen asked, pulling out of the hug to look Will in the eyes.

Apparently, Will's brain was working now, because he had an answer right away. "You and Cecil unlock the rest of the cages, as many as you can manage."

"But my hands-" Cecil lifted his cuffed hands in the air.

"You can still punch, Markowitz. If you damage the control panel enough, it'll open. And I know you can do damage."

"It's my best skill." Cecil grinned crookedly.

"What about you two? Where are you going?" Lou Ellen asked nervously.

Will exhaled and took Nico's hand, giving it a light squeeze. Nico squeezed back, which made Will's stomach settle just a little bit. He glanced at Nico, almost as a confirmation for what he was about to say. Nico's lips tightened, but he nodded. Will sighed and spoke.

"We're going to take down Nyx."