"Yes," I said. "We probably could. But… later. We've work to do first, and we can't let ourselves be distracted."
But just down from the Armoury we stopped again, at a door labelled simply RED ROOM. The signs surrounding the door were just as ominous, just as self-important; but here the heavy bank vault door was hanging half open. And since I had never even heard of a Red Room in Area 52, I thought I had a duty to at least take a quick peek inside. So Molly and I squeezed through the gap, and went in. Into the Red Room.
At first, I couldn't figure out what the place was for. White-tiled walls, bright electric lights, clean as clean could be. And then I noticed the runnels in the floor, to carry away liquids to the drains at the side, and the sharp astringent smell of antiseptic. There were long steel tables, bolted to the floor, with trays bearing surgical instruments. Some of the tables had heavy restraining straps.
"It's a dissecting room," I said, and my voice came out cold and flat in the white-tiled room. "They cut things up here. And I don't think everything that came in here was dead to begin with."
"But… why, for God's sake?" said Molly. "What did Area 52 want with a dissecting room?"
"I don't know," I said. "But I can guess. Area 52 was all about getting at secrets. Whatever it took. I didn't know about this, Molly. I swear no one in my family knew; or we would have come here in force and put a stop to it. There wasn't supposed to be anything here like this."
"You're right," said Molly. "Look…"
She was looking around a corner at the end of the room. I went forward to join her, so I could see what she was seeing.
The long hall stretched away before us, lined with rows and rows of tall transparent tubes, lit from within. Display cases. Inside the tubes: aliens. A hundred different species of aliens, cut open and investigated in the Red Room, and then brought here as specimens to be studied. There were other, smaller containers, holding alien organs, limbs, other items of interest. I walked slowly down the hall, between the illuminated display cases, Molly moving quietly along beside me.
"I know most of these species," I said. "None of them are threats to the Earth! None of them were any danger! Some are our allies, with pacts and treaties going back generations. And those… they're just tourists! None of them did anything to deserve being cut up like this… Some of them, if their worlds ever find out what happened here… No. That can't be allowed to happen, for all our sakes. We're going to have to burn this whole place out, destroy the evidence, and then bury the ashes deep. Make the whole thing never happened."
"The people who did this must be punished," said Molly.
"I'm pretty sure that's already happened," I said. "Oh no… Oh Molly, look at this."
In a tall refrigerated tube, lit with a merciless light that allowed for no shadows, hung the gutted corpse of an elf.
"If the Fae Court ever hears about this," I said.
"They'd probably find it funny," said Molly.
"True. The Fae are seriously weird. But we don't want to start giving them ideas."
I made myself turn around and walk back through the rows of the dissected dead. Molly had to hurry to keep up with me.
"We've allowed ourselves to be distracted," I said. "We're here for the Door."
I called up the Merlin Glass, and ordered it to show me where Doctor Delirium, Tiger Tim and Methuselah were, right then. An image formed immediately in the hand mirror, showing all three standing together in the same room; all of them careful to main tain a respectful distance from each other. I opened a door with the Glass, and Molly and I stepped through into the room, to face the three men we'd come so far to stop. And, if need be, kill.
They were arguing heatedly when Molly and I arrived, but they all broke off instantly to stare at us with varying degrees of surprise. Doctor Delirium was so wide-eyed and startled he actually fell back a few steps, so he could stand protectively beside the Apocalypse Door. The Door stood still and upright and absolutely unsupported in one corner of the room. Tiger Tim nodded easily to me, one professional to another, but he did a definite double take as his gaze fell on Molly Metcalf. And Methuselah, the oldest of the Immortals, just folded his arms across his chest and looked at me with typical arrogance and disdain.
I took a moment to look around. We were all standing in a comfortable lounge, with easy furniture and a deep pile carpet, potted plants and relatively tasteful prints on the walls. It could have been anywhere. The only thing out of place was the Apocalypse Door. Even on the far side of the room, tucked away in one corner, I could still feel its presence. It was as though there was another person in the room with us, watching and waiting. The carpet at the base of the Door was blackened and charred, and there was a definite smell on the air, of blood and sour milk and sulphur. The stench of Hell. An unbroken chain of gold links circled the base of the Door, augmented here and there with delicate crystal technology. A teleport ring. No wonder Doctor Delirium was able to move the Door around so easily.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded hotly. "You shouldn't be here! You'll spoil everything! Get out! Get out!"
"What's up, doc?" Molly said easily. "Visiting hours over?"
"Don't tease the good Doctor," said Tiger Tim. "He's just crazy. So, Eddie… how goes it, cousin?"
"Your father sends his regards," I said.
Tiger Tim smiled broadly. "I very much doubt it. But then, he always was a better Armourer than a father."
"Hold everything," said Molly. "Your father is the Armourer? That sweet old man produced a turd like you?"
Tiger Tim looked at her coldly. "Why aren't you dead?"
"I got over it," said Molly.
I gave my full attention to the former Leader of the Immortals, Methuselah. He was looking far too calm and collected for my liking.
"I'm pretty sure I already know the answer," I said, "but how did you get here ahead of us?"
"A teleport circle, back in Castle Frankenstein," said Methuselah. "The moment I realised my home's integrity had been compromised, I went straight to the circle and came here. Nothing can be allowed to interfere with what I have planned for the Door, and myself."
"You ran out on your family?" said Molly.
"The strong will survive," said Methuselah. "The rest don't matter."
"You came here alone?" I said. "You didn't even wait for the rest of the Elders? The ones who believed in you?"
"They know where the teleport circle is. It's up to them to use it."
"So that's what immortality does," said Molly. "It makes you a selfish little prick."
"Let me fill you in on what happened, after you ran away," I said. "I brought my family into your Castle, and the Droods went head to head with the Immortals. Your family is dead and gone."
"All of them?" said Methuselah. "Not one of them got away?"
I shrugged. "Maybe half a dozen. They ran, like you. And I'm sure there are still a few out in the world, somewhere, pretending to be other people. It doesn't matter. We'll hunt them down and kill them."
"Don't," said Molly. "Don't smile like that, Eddie. Don't gloat. It doesn't become you."
"It doesn't matter," said Methuselah, and his voice and his face were as calm as ever. "I'm moving on. I would have left them behind anyway."
"I gave you that teleport ring," said Doctor Delirium. "I created it. I've always been a lot smarter than anyone ever gave me credit for. I put it together originally so I could get into the Magnificat. And then I gave it to Tiger Tim, so he could attack Drood Hall with his new Accelerated Men. It kept him quiet, so I could concentrate on the Door. It's given me so many good ideas…"