[An Icy Reception][Mission]

He noticed that she was having a hard time seeing, so he dropped his arms down a little so the shorter girl could see. Sometimes he forgot about the height difference between the two of them. "There's a cave about a mile north of town that was circled a bunch." he said, pointing out the cave. "I don't know about you, but that seems like the place to check out."

Sophia was glad she could finally see the map. It was a nice map, but Matt was right about the cave being circled a bunch. "I certainly think we should check it out, but we have to be careful cause who knows what could be lurking there.." She didn't know if she could deal with people attacking them if there were any, but there was no way to be sure unless they went there. Granted they had gifts, but it was still going to be dangerous if there were people waiting on them. It would just be best to proceed with caution. "So are we walking or are we getting a cab?"

"I think we can handle ourselves. But yeah, we'll definitely be careful." he said, folding up the map and tucking in into his pocket. He thought for a moment before answering her question. "You know, I was actually thinking we could rent some mopeds or something. I've always wanted to drive one of those." It was a silly dream of his. The movies had given him the idea that Europe was the best place to drive a moped and the made it seem that they were the coolest vehicle to have.

"Maybe we could do something like that when we weren't pressed for time on trying to find someone. Cause we would have to find a place, and then go through the renting process. And you never know what we could find at that cave, if it's dangerous then we could end up with damaged rental property, and I'm pretty sure we need insurance or something to cover something like that. I don't think it's worth it at this point in my mind. Maybe before we leave." She didn't really want to deal with being on a moped, she also didn't want to accidentally disintegrate something that they might have to pay for, which they certainly wouldn't have the money for. "Let's just walk. It's not that far."

He sighed. "I guess you're right." he said. It was true, it would be more trouble than they were worth. "Walking's alright with me then. Let's get going." He took off at a steady pace. It didn't take long before they reached the north edge of Athens, and they continued on, following the map as best they could. They eventually reached the entrance to the cave. There was nothing special about the opening. "That's it?" he asked. "I can't even fit through there standing straight up." The opening was only a few inches taller than Sophia.

Sophia followed after him. Used to a steady pace since she used to walk all over Savannah, so this wasn't that big of a deal. Though she was glad when they finally reached the destination. Well at least that is what they thought. "Yeah it doesn't look quite like it does on the map, but there is only one way to find out.. and that is by going inside." She approached the entrance and listened in for a moment trying to check for any noises. She was being cautious, but they had to find out what was inside. She stepped into the entrance, and tried to peer around inside. It was kind of hard to see anything. She stepped back out. "Seems pretty safe. You want to go first or shall I?"

It was a shame he didn't bring anything bioluminescent to absorb to light their way. "You better let me go. You're the faster runner so you could probably make it away in case things get nasty." he said. He grabbed his trusty metal balls and used his gift to surround his arms with the metal. Placing the balls back into the bag, he stooped to enter the cave. It was dark, but thankfully he packed a flashlight in his trusty pull string bag. He clicked it on and shined it around him. It widened up a few feet deeper into the opening. So far there was nothing of note. "It seems safe. It's alright to come in." he called back to Sophia.

Sophia watched as Matthew pushed his way into the cave with flashlight. She hoped her assumptions were correct in assuming it was safe, she couldn't exactly see when she looked. She glanced around for a moment waiting for Matthew to tell her it was safe or to tell her to call for help or something. She breathed a sigh of relief when the winter boy said it was safe. "Alright I'm coming in." It didn't really take any effort for the small girl to slip inside. She looked around for a moment. "I guess we head further in." She said, clearly stating the obvious. She flexed her left hand instinctively as she was ready to take action any second. She just hoped that she would never have to use her gift.

Matthew nodded, smiling. He continued walking forward as the cave floor sloped downward as the continued to widen. So far it was nothing interesting, but as the slope of the floor increased the wall also widened faster. Eventually, the Winter began to hear running water and farther down the wall he found some portable lights hanging. "Hm. I wonder what those are doing on the wall?" he said quietly, looking back at Sophia.

Sophia followed along, her amber eyes scanning the cave where the light was shown. What was this cave used for? It got bigger as they went along, and then they eventually reached some lights? If there were lights then someone needed to use those to see... there had to be someone who came down here. Sophia spoke up, with her voice low and quiet. "If there are lights then that means there is someone who comes down here, and probably pretty regularly too."

He nodded solemnly. "My thoughts exactly. Which means that the intel that the school had wasn't wrong. Dimitris is here." he said in a whisper. He turned off his flashlight and quietly put it back into his bag. He crept along the wall, careful not to make a noise. the wall began to narrow again as the lights continued on down the wall. They reached a corner and the duo slowed to a stop. He peeked around the corner and saw a boy tied to a chair with a couple men guarding them. He stepped back after thinking he saw one of the guards look in his direction. "This seems a whole lot easier than it should be." he said. "You'd think it'd be farther down the cave. That or there'd be more guards than that." It could possibly be a trap, but it was hard to tell.

Well it was good they were in the right place. Sophia followed Matthew further down the cave, trying her best to remain as silent as possible. She slowed to a halt when Matthew did when they reached a corner. Her amber eyes peaked around just enough so she wouldn't be noticed. She studied the guards for a moment, and the boy tied to a chair. She stepped back, and looked up at Matthew. "Just because it seems easy doesn't mean it is." She spoke softly. "You have to remember that we both have to get close to actually do something to them, and I would rather not do anything." She didn't want to kill anyone. She glanced back to where the guards were, what were they supposed to do?

Matthew nodded. He knew that she was right. "So what do you suggest we do then?" he asked her. He had no idea what they should do. He had no idea how many guards were around since the couldn't see the whole room. And it wasn't like they could just walk up to the guards either.

There wasn't much they could do... well except she could create a distraction then Matthew could sneak in, and take care of it, yeah that would work. She is a pretty good actor. "I will create a distraction, and when you see an opportunity, you sneak in an knock them out." She didn't really give him a chance to agree with this plan. Due to her small stature she could easily be mistaken for an young teen or younger. She walked away from Matthew a little bit back towards the caves.

She took a small moment and thought her plan through. If she sent them in Matthew's direction he would have the advantage of surprise, and he could knock them out, while she freed the kid. She placed a mask of fear on her face, and managed to pull tears to the edges of her eyes. She ran out in front of the guards with the fear on her face, and turned back towards the entrance of the cave,like she didn't notice them,her chest heaving. She wanted to appear like she was running from something. She looked down the cave to see if there was somewhere to hide, and 'noticed' the guards. She ran up to one of them grabbing his jacket slightly. She didn't know if they spoke english or not but they would understand someone in a panic. "Please! Please you have to help me! There was someone chasing after me, and it was scary! I swear he was going to kill me! Please help!" She shouted in a labored voice.

Matthew was about to object when Sophia got up and enacted her plan anyway. How was he supposed to knock the guards out? Even if she was distracting them, it's not like he's easy to overlook. Since coming to Beata, he'd put on some muscle, plus he was already tall. His resolve was to sit there and wait for some sort of cue.

The guards smirked at the girl. She was small, and an unsuspecting and easy target for a boy. "How'd you get in here, Love? Who's chasing you?" the closest guard said in perfect English. It was obvious he lived in the UK. The second guard looked at the first. "You sure you should be talking to her, mate? We have our orders." he said in the same British accent. Matthew was astonished. Her plan was actually working so far.