Rome, Italy, 1941

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"This seems like the place." Marcus looked down at the slip of paper LaPara gave to them, and the two adventurers were currently standing just outside a typical small Italian house, which stood just a street from the University of Rome, where Dennis attended.

Indiana looked up at the house, swallowing. He had not seen his son in two years. They had connected right before he left to study in Rome, and was now probably a too-good-for-adventures type of Italian, with neat slackers and ties and...

Marcus opened the door. "It's unlocked?" He questioned to nobody in particular.

As Indiana and his friend walked inside, it took every ounce of willpower not to shout "SPARKY?", due to the fact that he'd probably look like an idiot.

But the house calmed him down. A lot of flora. Fauna. Books, books, books, a clattered kitchen counter which housed the minimal plates and dishes, and it was a generally nice home. Cluttered yet tidy. Still the same Sparky he once was, Indy decided.

"Dennis?" Marcus raised his voice, looking around, "It's me, Marcus Brody from Barnett! I'm here with your father, and-"

Indiana punched Marcus in the shoulder lightly. Something else caught his attention.

There, sitting in a cage on the small table next to the window, was a corn snake.

Indiana tensed. "Oh god."

"Hello?" A shaky voice called from the next room over, "Hello- OH SWEET JESUS!" The boy at the end of the room jumped at the sight of Indiana and Marcus. The two immediately recognized him.

"Dennis!" Marcus smiled.

"Sparky..." Indiana mouthed.

"Sir! Uh- sirs! I, uh... Sorry..." Sparky nodded, walking over to the table and placing the corn snake cage on the kitchen counter, as if to clean up the place. "Sorry... If I had known you two were coming... I..."

"You've grown!" Marcus smiled, nudging Indiana to probably comment about that too, "You look just like your father."

Indiana rolled his eyes, "He looks nothing like me."

"Oh, you think so? Thanks, uh..."

Sparky sure had some sort of stubble along his chin and upper lip, and his glasses were of thinner frames. He had developed a more "working" style of clothing, rolled up sleeves for a white top, a more unruly collar, suspenders connected to blue pants and wearing black shoes to go a long with them... And an attempted red tie.

Indiana held his hands out, "Let me fix that." He mouthed, fastening the tie so it fit just right, "There."

Silence.

"It's been a minute." Sparky rubbed the back of his neck, "I've been getting good grades..."

Indiana nodded, his arms crossing.

"I've been studying well..."

A nod.

"I got a pet snake. Like I've always wanted."

A more sharper nod. "I saw."

"His name is Teeths." Sparky moved out of the way for his father to see the corn snake, "He's harmless, really."

"You keep your fear in your way and I'll keep it in mine." Indiana mouthed, knowing well that Sparky couldn't see him.

"What?"

"I said-"

"You've been awfully quiet, sir, I-"

"That's what we've been meaning to discuss, Dennis-" Marcus cut in between the two Joneses, "Your father is mute."

"Mute?" Sparky's face fell. He then approached Indiana, "Is this true, sir?"

Indiana rolled his eyes and nodded, pointing to his throat.

Silence.

Sparky then held up his fist, awkwardly. Indiana tilted his head a bit, as if questioning-

POW!

Indiana recoiled from the sudden punch to the face, pressing a hand to the back of his cheek and his mouth forming an attempted groan of pain. Of course- no sound erupted.

"Oh. OH!" Sparky helped his father up, "Sorry, sorry, I had to make sure- you actually can't speak?"

Indiana's head whipped in Sparky's direction, "No shit!" He mouthed.

Marcus made a loud "ahem!" Sound.

"Yes... Have you ever heard of the Instruments of Doom?"

Sparky's face turned from concern to recognition. He pointed at Marcus mid-walk to the cluttered kitchen counter, moved Teeths, moved some encyclopedias, and pulled out his Freshman year journal- Indiana recognized it, he was the one who gave it to him as a parting gift. Sparky flipped to a bookmarked, scrapbooky section of the journal. These Instruments seemed to be half of his year.

Sitting down, Indiana and Marcus each pulled out their own evidence pieces of the Door of Reflection- Indiana's journal and a few scraps of books that Marcus had apparently searched through Marshall College's library for.

Sparky opened the journal and slid it over to his father's hands.

The Door of Reflection- Assignment 3

"I think you've just got me one step closer to finding the Door." He said.

* * * *

"So the Door of Reflection is the doorway to... Hades?" Marcus asked.

"The gates of hell." Sparky shrugged, "It requires three essences to open-"

"Voice, body, wit, yeah, I've heard." Indiana mouthed looking off to get a view of the snake- it was far out of reach. Good.

"Voice, strength, and intelligence." Sparky explained, "These are the aspects of man that have to be sacrificed in order to appeal to Hades as a worthy one of his powers and obedience." He flipped through his journal, "An old myth, really, so it never really got off the hooks... But the artifacts, it seems, are very much real."

"I've had an experience with the flute." Indiana mouthed to nobody in particular- if only they could hear him.

"The flute Instrument drains sound from the sacrifice in order to have a voice at the feet of Hades..." Sparky began, "The Pipe drains the intellect from the sacrifice in order to form a common-sense leadership over the underworld... And the gong drains the physical strength from the sacrifice in order to, uh, open the door." He looked up, "Confusing stuff, I know, but thanks to you-"

Indiana snapped his fingers.

"What?"

"The gong." Indiana mouthed, his lips open in over exaggerated words. He did not want to repeat himself when he was thinking.

"What about the gong?" Sparky asked after a moment.

"Why would the Greeks have a gong?"

"Uh... I dunno..." Sparky tilted his head as he looked at the pictures of the Gong- in both his book and Indy's. "Actually, you're right, sir... Why do they have a gong? Ancient Greeks never had Gongs, why would... Hmmm."

"Who wrote this legend?" Indiana questioned.

Silence.

"Sorry, say that again, I wasn't looking." Sparky squinted.

Marcus, who had apparently been keeping track of Indiana's pleads, looked at Sparky, "Where did this legend come from?"

"Uh... That's, haha, another thing I haven't worked out yet..."

"We can probably find clues from where it originated!" Indiana stood up, mouthing.

"All I know is that the first pieces of evidence came, so far, from Rome." Sparky looked down at his journal, reading aloud. "'The Door will open to journey's end/To the Lands of Hades one must send/The Sound, the Strength, the Wit of Men/To gain the power of Gods, again and again.'" He looked up, "Those who give the sacrifices lose that essence forever. Which means, if you lost your voice to the flute, sir..."

"It's just a matter of time before they destroy it forever." Indiana's eyes widened, his hand shooting up to his silent throat.

"So we've gotta go to the Lands of Hades before they do." Sparky nodded after a moment.

"Lands of Hades..." Marcus echoed, his eyebrows going up, his head turning to the frustrated Indiana, "Where would that be?"

Indiana shrugged, looking at his friend, "Somewhere in Greece."

"Then to Greece we go." He smiled.

"Gotcha." Sparky nodded, picking up his journal and stuffing it into his own satchel, whilst additionally grabbing a lot of books since he had room. Before he could walk out the door, he turned to Indiana, "Uh, if you're gonna be running your mouth, I've got someone to help us out with that and the door."