Nathan Price and The Hidden City

Lyon's Pride? Where had I heard that before? That was when it hit me. Those crack heads from earlier! I nodded my head and tried to speak but was again shushed. The bodies seemed excited, when the leader lent in.

"We like Lyon's Pride. You have safe passage."

My vision then faded to grey. Blinking furiously, I awoke to see Sarah, Vanessa and Ashley hovering around me. Each with a look of worry in their faces.

"I go some where?" I asked, pulling myself up to my feet.

"Almost. You blacked out on us Nate." Vanessa said, putting a reassuring arm around my shoulder.

"It's weird, but if anyone asks...We're with Lyon's Pride. Got it?" Seeing that they thought I'd finally snapped, I had to reassure them. "Just... Just do it OK?"

We then continued up the path, that lead us up onto a hill. As we reached the top, the sight that befell us, simply blew us away. There were several broken down statues, each which seemed to have possibly stood at well over thirty feet. They were snapped at their stomachs and the top halves were nowhere to be seen. Looking at where our path would lead us, I could see a small opening in a stone wall. "That must be the entrance." I said to myself as we snapped out of our awe and carried on.

After several moments, Sarah spoke up. "Nate, what do you think did that?"

"Did what? To those statues? Could've been anything. Out here the storm's are particularly fierce. Could've been a lightning storm?" Fat chance, but it felt good to lie to myself. I honestly had no idea what caused that but I was intent on finding out.

As we walked down the path, we were several feet from the doorway when I felt a huge sting in my head. Stopping on the spot, I turned around and looked for a cause, suspecting a native booby trap. Seeing nothing, I carried on, ignoring the glances from my female companions.

We reached the stone door way with relative ease and inside the door frame was a large statue of what myths depict as Poseidon. The God of the sea. The statue was roughly the same size of me, head to feet and it was carved out of stone, except for a large trident which was made of gold. According to folklore, Poseidon carried a large trident which this one did in fact have. Only the very tip was missing. Looking at the empty head, I peered into the nothingness, expecting to find the answer.

"Do we take the trident out Nate?" Ashley asked, joining me, into peering at the statue's emptiness.

"No, according to Nathan's Law... My law... That would mean the whole place would come down... Wait a minute! Sarah, do you have that fork head?"

Sarah threw her bag over her shoulder, landing it on the floor. She opened up the top of the bag and reached in, after several seconds of fumbling around, she came up triumphant with the head. Passing it to me, I thanked her and looked at the staff. The head wasn't made out of gold, but stranger things have happened. I took a deep breath and placed the fork on top of the incomplete trident.

It stuck there, within seconds the fork began to whir and as if by magic, the hand that was extended fell backwards and then rotated. The trident was now at an angle across Poseidon's chest, when the door whirred to life. Pulling itself backwards, a massive cavern was opened up to us. Stepping into an ancient cavern, you get hit by a smell that's kind of hard to explain. Imagine changing your baby nephew for the first time and you don't know what to expect, then multiply that by ten.

Sarah recoiled at the smell, but I simply ignored it. Both of my students were putting on a brave nose too as they made their way in. Looking around, there was no plausible way in or out except for the door we came in. Was this a burial chamber? No. There were no bodies, there were however, several discarded helmets and backpacks. Walking over to the neat pile in the corner, I rummaged through the top back pack. Finding a large journal, I flipped open the page and saw it was in Spanish.

Reading aloud, translating it for the group, every one stopped to listen. "We were not expecting this. The head is the key to the Gate. Imagine our surprise when we entered in through... Uh... Sun... Land? and came out in... Snow Land... I think."

"What does that mean?"

Putting the journal down, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out the tatty note. Considering I believed it to be bullshit, it's strange that I kept it for all these years. I then read aloud the letter to the group.

"I think we may've found a Travelgate. Sarah, can you grab the fork head please?" Sarah complied and picked up the head. As she did, the door began to close trapping us in here.

"Nate..." Ashley said, fear in her voice.

"Just relax Ashley." I said, calming her down, or at least... Attempting to any way. As the door fully shut, the wall opposite the door that let us in, began to tremble and quake. Surprisingly, it also opened up, letting us in like the earlier door did. Peering in, I saw a massive circular object that was easily thirty foot high. Looking up at it, we all made our way closer towards it. It seemed to be made of stone, yet had metallic parts attached to the top. Looked like it was locked in place.

Everyone was quiet for a few moments before Sarah spoke up. "Nate... Did you know that would happen?" I knew better than to answer that, luckily Ashley did it for me.

"Nate tends to fly his own way. Best not to get involved really." Sarah made an 'Ah' sound as I looked up at the large circle. Running my hands over the stone, it had a warm feel to the touch. That was especially weird. The cogs in my head turning, I looked back at Sarah who was holding the fork's head.

"Sarah, can I grab the head again please?"

Sarah nodded and tossed the fork's head to me. Catching it, I self high-fived and started to look for an opening. The ring was attached to the wall, so there was no way out of the back. Looking at either side, I saw a small slat in the wall, which seemed to be able to fit the head in. Walking along to it, I let my free hand drag along the wall, feeling the very weird touch of the warm stone. Reaching the slat, I silently prayed it would work before slotting it in.

By a sheer miracle, the trident clicked into place. It seemed to be some sort of lever, tugging on it slightly, we all waited for something to happen. Stepping back and joining the girls who were talking amongst themselves, the chatting soon stopped as the gate started to almost cough and splutter.

Then, something that will stay with me for the rest of my life happened. The stones in the middle of the ring started to separate. All of our jaws dropped at that exact moment.

"Nate...What's going on?" Vanessa asked, the fear obvious in her voice.

"Nate, should that really be happening?!" Sarah shouted, as the noise grew bigger and louder.

"Fuck me running." Was the only thing Ashley could offer as the bricks disappeared from view. Behind the bricks was a clear, water like substance that behaved like water but couldn't be. It was three dimensional so it wasn't trapped behind a wall of glass and how the hell would it stay vertical like that?

"I... I... I honestly have no idea what that is." I said, bluffing wasn't exactly the best option facing that. Me and Vanessa each took a step forward and looked at the circle. Behind the 'water' was what appeared to be a laboratory, both me and Vanessa looked at each other and then at the wall. I looked back at her with a mischievous grin. "Want to go in?"

Vanessa looked back at me with that same smile that drew me to her back when she first left college. "Abso-fucking-lutley."

"Why don't you two stay here in case we can't make it back. There must be another exit on the other side, so...Lock the door behind us. If we're not back in say...Half an hour. Re-open the door and come and find us. OK?" I asked, looking at the two remaining members of the party. Sarah nodded her agreement while Ashley was a bit more vocal.

"Look after her OK Nathan?" Her concern was obvious, Vanessa smiled and jogged down to see her lover. Lightly pecking her on the lips, Vanessa gave Ashley a nice big hug.

"I'll be fine, we'll be sipping margarita's in no time at all." Vanessa said with a grin, before coming back up after me. We turned back to face the gate, Vanessa's hand came out searching for mine. I lightly squeezed her hand as we walked through the gate together.

Passing through the gate was weird, it felt like we'd gone on a long journey but had gone no where. There was a sense of exhaustion to us, but we persevered. Setting the time on my watch to go off after thirty minutes, we took a few steps in. Looking at Vanessa, I could see the sleep in her eyes.

"Do you want to rest Vanessa?" I asked as the gate shut on us. She shook her head defiantly.

"No, let's go." We made our way into this frozen lab, when suddenly another flash of searing pain hit me. Rubbing my temples, we carried on into it, when I saw something that brought this place back to me. Running over to a torn to pieces cubicle, I saw scorch marks on either side of the cubicle, there was a pool of blood in the middle and an empty bullet shell near the pool.

"Nate, what's wrong?" Vanessa asked, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"This is where it happened..." I said, falling to my knees. "This is where I was drafted into Lyon's Pride." Rubbing at my face, trying to make sense of things, I looked up at Vanessa who had a strange look on her face.

"Nate, can you smell that? Smells like... Roast chicken?"

I sniffed the air, she was right there was a tint of roast chicken in the air. Looking around, I saw a pale green light blinking against the cool wall. Walking over to the light, I pressed at it lightly but didn't get a response. I shrugged my shoulders lightly and walked around. This was definitely the second level of where I was double crossed. Peering up through the broken glass tubing, I could see that the laboratory roof had caved in and snow was falling.

"Vanessa, can you see that?" I asked, pointing up to the ceiling. She looked up and had a look of wonder in her eyes. She mouthed the word 'wow' as she looked up. I smiled and leant back in to the building. Looking around, I couldn't spot any stairwells to let us up another level or down another level.

Taking a chance, I shouted. "Lyon's Pride!" Nothing. Of course, because nothing opens up to the crazy shouting man. There was something about that flashing green light that ticked me off. Looking at the light it seemed to be frozen in something, Vanessa joined me in looking at the light.

"Looks like a computer screen." Vanessa said, as she placed her hand on the cool ice wall.

"Yeah, but how do we get to it? I said, thinking to myself.

"Could always burn our way to it." Vanessa added helpfully.

"Genius! We've got some of those firelighters on board the ship. Just make a couple of trips here and back and we can get there!" Just as I said that, the beeping of my watch indicated that we were needed back at the gate. Walking back, the two of us could barely contain our glee. As the gate opened up, I could see Sarah standing in the middle of the hall. We walked out with big grins on our faces when Sarah simply apologised.

"Sorry for wha-uh!" I was hit from behind, and fell to the floor. I could hear Vanessa scream from behind me. God, they can't be here! Turning around, surely enough Clive Owen, Hilary Duff and several other mercenaries were standing next to the gate. Clive had his typical shit eating grin on while Hilary was holding onto Vanessa by the arms.

"Well, that is amazing Nathan. You managed to teleport! Clive, imagine what Fox would pay us for this!"

"No!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, lunging towards Hilary, she coldly tossed Vanessa in front of me. Sending us both crashing to the floor.

"Clive, get the grunts to set up the tent. I'm want to find out what he knows. You two, tie them up." Hilary motioned to two masked guards who nodded in silent agreement.

Looking around, Vanessa couldn't spot her love Ashley. "Sarah, where's Ashley?" She asked, panic in her voice. Sarah simply sighed a heavy sigh and started to explain.

=================== Fifteen Minutes Ago ===================

Ashley held onto the head near the gate, waiting patiently as Sarah chatted to her incessantly. Ashley was waiting for the call to tell her what to do. Suddenly, her pocket vibrated, fishing it out of her pocket. She opened her cell and read the instructions. Ignoring Sarah, she ran over to the door they had entered and opened the door. As Sarah ran over to her, Ashley slipped through the door and quickly shut it locking Sarah in by herself. Then, the door whirred to life again.

"Ashley, where'd you go?" Sarah called out, and as she did Clive Owen charged through the door. Pushing Sarah to the floor, Hilary and the grunts poured in after him.

"Hello Miss Gellar." Hilary said coldly, as she walked in. She stopped to admire the gate for a few moments before turning to look at Sarah. "When are they coming back?"

"Fuck you bitch!" Sarah spat out at Hilary, who simply laughed it off.

"Ashley, when are they coming back?"

Ashley reappeared from behind the door with a new jacket on. "About fifteen minutes Ma'am."

"Ma'am!? What the hell is this?" Sarah asked as Hilary whispered in Clive's ear.

"Never you mind, just stay there and act like we're not here."

=================== Present Time ===================

"Fantastic..." I said to myself as we were tied together. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a large Medieval looking chair being dragged into a large tent tucked away at the corner of the room. Shaking my head, I had heard about what Hilary did to people with that and I'd bet my bottom dollar it was going to happen to me. Hilary looked over at me and nodded her head. Both of the mercs walked over to me and untied me from the group, but kept me tied up.

As I was being dragged to the tent I could feel the gun tucked away in my belt. God, these guys were dumb. They pushed me into the tent and spun me around, strapping me into the chair. They tied two leather straps across each of my wrist and one around my waist, they then tied two around both of my ankles keeping me secure. They then attached some form of head to the top of me, I could feel a steel bar inches away from my larynx. I could feel my gun was still secure, as long as no one had the bright idea of taking my pants off I'd be fine.

The mercs left and walked out into the room, just as they had left, Hilary walked in. She eyed me up and down before smiling. "You know Nate... I really thought you'd be smarter than to team with another set of partners. After I fooled you earlier."

"You didn't fool me Hilary. You did what you do best. You screwed me." I spat back at her, she seemed unaffected by it and moved further in the tent. Closing the door behind her.

"Oh Nate... Remember when I gave you a blowjob back in College? You weren't so nasty then."

"Maybe I should of." I said, uninterested in her actions. Hilary then took on another sultry look. She slowly snaked her way towards me before stopping just in front of me.

"Oh Nathan... I wish we could just put this behind us... You know what I like to do? Give lap dances... Clive loves them."

"I'm sure he does. I bet he loves meeting someone as man-ish as he is." Hilary laughed a fake hearty laugh before she sat on my lap. Her back facing me, she lightly pressed her ass onto my cock. Fighting all my intentions, my cock started to harden. Hilary made a light 'Oh' noise as she felt my dick harden.

"Well, well Nathan. You like me, you really like me." Hilary said, with a tint of glee in her voice. "How about I take off your pants and my pants, and we crank this up?"

Taking a few moments to decide I told her where to take her lap dance. "How about you go fuck yourself."

"Oh no Nate. You'll be the one doing that. Only if you tell me what's behind that wall."

"What wall?" May as well play dumb, its what I do best.

"Oh Nate... Don't make me do this." Hilary warned, in her sexual husk of a voice.

"Go... Screw yourself." Defiant to the end, I wouldn't let her win.

"Fine, you want to play it like that? Fine!" Hilary then reached behind me and found something. Turning a wheel, the steel bar started to advance, pressing against my throat. Gasping for air, a strand of spit shot out from my throat, sailing past Hilary.

"Ha." Hilary laughed coldly, as my shortness of breath seemed to help her get off. Hilary climbed off of my lap and mercifully let go of the wheel. She then turned around and sat on my lap again, opening her legs and sitting on either arm bar. Her legs resting on top of my arms. Hilary leant in, inches away from my face, she coldly kissed me on the lips. Taking a chance, I knew I had to be rid of her and get to go toe to toe with Clive. I opened my mouth, insisting Hilary did the same. Hilary smiled in the kiss and opened her mouth, taking my chance I then bit down as hard as I possibly could on Hilary's bottom lip chewing at it like I was Mike Tyson and she was Evander Holyfield.

Letting go, Hilary jumped up from the lap dance, Hilary turned and looked at me. Shaking her head, she slapped me as hard as she could in my face.

"Clive! It's your turn!" Hilary then stormed out of the tent. I could see Sarah and Vanessa briefly who seemed to be afraid for me as Clive's frame filled the entrance.

"'ello Nathan."

"Hello Clive." I said coolly. I wasn't afraid of what he was going to do. I knew how to push his buttons and could have him getting me out of here in an instant. Clive grinned and moved around to the back of my chair, he then slowly released the bar pressing against my throat.

Clive then pulled back and threw a hard right hook at me, I could feel a tooth come loose as my head rocked backwards. Clicking his fist, Clive then hit me again with a left hook, cleaning my tooth out of my jaw. Spitting the tooth out, Clive let out a sadistic smile as he watched it fall to the floor.

"That all you got?" Time to get out of this chair then.

"What?" Clive said, genuine disbelief in his voice.

"I've been hit harder by crack addicts!"

Clive was fuming at that, he looked at me and spluttered out another answer.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! No one's said that!"

"Well, it's easy to tie me up and beat the crap out of me. But both me and you know if I was out of this chair, I'd kick your ass all the way back to Britain." That's got to do it! Clive looked at me with disbelief and shook his head. Clive reached into his pocket and pulled out a large blade that was roughly three inches long with a serrated edge.

Clive then coldly slit away at all the straps keeping me tied down. Pressing the blade against my throat, he then flipped away the head of the twisted torture device. Clive then threw away the knife and tipped the chair over. Falling through the air, I hit the floor with a thud. I pushed myself up to my feet, keeping the gun hidden from his view. Clive then delivered a bull rush and slammed me up against the closest wall. Pressing his right arm up against my throat, I struggled to breathe as Clive got in close to my face.

"You know why you didn't fuck Hilary? 'Coz you got not balls!" Clive taunted me, spitting his words like they were venom.

"I've got something you don't..." I said coldly, between gasps of much needed air.

"And what's that?" Clive said, his eyes locked with mine.

Taking a moment to answer, I fumbled with my shirt, flipping it over my pants. Reaching in, I hooked my fingers around the base. Slipping it out, I aimed at Clive's chest. "A gun..."

BANG! BANG! BANG! Three shots tore into Clive's chest, making the Brit drop to the floor cold and dead. I could hear the girls screaming outside and heard Hilary order the grunts in after me. Running to the entrance, I scooped up the knife and tore open the sheet that had closed the tent off from the chamber. Placing the knife next to my gun's handle, I aimed two shots and dropped both of the grunts in quick merciless moves.