There's nowhere to see where we are rowing... well, sorry to have left you on the boat so long ! We are now entering the Inventing Room, where some nasty little secrets will be revealed, some romance will be in the air, and Wonka will continue his sinister plan ! And this is the last chapter to follow the movie. After, everything will go wrong ! I'd like to thank Belle07 for bringing back to me the memory of the Mad Hatter, that great freak among the freaks ! Now, let's rock'n roll !

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Outside the Factory

Mr Teavee had nothing to do. Nothing but waiting for his son to come back. If he ever came back. Come on, why was he worrying so much ? Mike was intelligent and responsible, after all. Yes, but he was still a child. Only a child, in that giant factory, without parents to care for him. His only company was five other children as defenceless as he was, and a guy who looked like Alice Cooper's hidden brother. So, yes, he had reasons to worry. Behind him, the other parents were gathered around a table, playing poker. But not him. He wasn't in the mood to play. He was sitting at the bar, drinking Red Bull cans over cans. Feeling concerned, the barman approached him:

"Sir, you shouldn't drink too much of this. It's not pretty good for the health."

The man looked at him, and the barman realized it was maybe too late: behind his oversized glasses, Mr Teavee's eyes were already turning red, and his hands were trembling. He opened his trembling mouth and said in a maniach voice:

"My son's in there, alone, with the other children and the Mad Hatter. Seriously, young man, I don't care much about my health right now."

"I understand, you're a concerned parent. You know, I'm only nineteen, and when I left Cherbourg to come working here in England, nothing could comfort my mother. She was sure I'd become a punk, dye my hair green, wear a nailed jacket and scream Anarchy in the UK ! But, nothing happened this way, and today, I'm just a normal guy doing a normal job. It's normal to worry about your kid, sir, but don't let this fear get you. I'm sure he's doing just fine, right now."

"Maybe, but suppositions never did me any good. I need to be sure."

"Just try to relax yourself. Do you want to watch TV ?"

"Have you got an American channel ?"

"Sure."

The young man went to the large TV and turned it on an American channel.

"Okay, boy," said Mr Teavee, "this is my favorite program."

The program was a weekly documentary dealing with secret investigations, sects or other taboo topics in a very serious and instructive way. Mr Teavee never missed it, being the hardcore teacher he was:

"Today, our guest will be Captain Hartigan Smith, a Californian Police Officer, who will guide our investigation: The Snake, urban legend or reality ? Captain Smith, welcome."

"Thanks."

"So, you've been a Police Officer in Cooper Riverside, a town situated roughly two hours away from Los Angeles, since 1992."

"Yes, and I have to confess that the work was slightly boring. I mean, the town was not that large, and the only criminality we had was school bullying and a few gangs, here and there.You'll tell me, there were stillthe gangs, but the thing isthat they all lived in a district called Old Town, the former town center, which was more or less abandoned to them, so criminality was concentrated in a very small area, making our job very easy."

"Until..."

"Two years ago, in May, we discovered a strange place that looked like the headquarter of some kind of sect, but we never knew what it really was, because all the people in there were dead. And it was only the beginning of a serie of murders that made over fifty victims in only three months. The killer has never been arrested, and his real identity remains a complete mystery."

"The famous Snake."

"Exactly, the Snake, that's how he called himself. According to our witnesses, he defined himself as a Serpentiform Human, which means a human who has the instinct and the survival abilities of a snake, all while keeping his human body and intelligence."

"Sounds hard to believe."

"I don't believe it myself. It is also interesting to notice that the victims weren't all innocent. The vast majority of his victims were reported as having violent, sadistic, or rapist tendencies. He is classified by our experts as a psychotic vigilante with personality disorder. A crazy and dangerous bastard, in common words. The ordeal went on for three months, and then, nothing. He disappeared by himself. One week later, a murder occured in New York, and the killer was reported as having the same look as the Snake, but we never caught him. Since then, we never heard about him anymore."

"So, you think he would still be dangerous today, even with an innocent person ?"

"I do. People like him are impredictible. I'd especially recommand not to let children around him."

"Why ?"

"Throughout his... career, the Snake was reported as having a certain closeness with children. His indics, his friends, were mostly children. There is even the serious possibility that he is a child himself. Or at least, a young teenager."

"Did he kill children ?"

"His youngest victims were sixteen years old: Nathaniel Finnerty, a violent boy suspected of a rape attempt. His body has never been found, but according to our experts, he's been melted down with a powerful acid, in a bathtub. The other one was a popular student, Steven Delcourt, who was seemingly innocent. He's been poisoned and buried in a forest. The Snake has always shown a certain intelligence in his crimes, always destroying as many proofs as he could, even if it was a noisy spree killing. He acts with cold blood and method, so we can conclude in a total lack of compassion. That's why leaving him beside children is potentially dangerous."

At this moment, Mrs Beauregard arrived and sat beside Mr Teavee. She looked as worried as he was.

"What are you watching ?" she asked.

"A documentary about a famous serial-killer."

"Sounds quite appropriate when we all imagine the worst about our children."

"You said we should take care of him," asked the reporter, "but is there a way to detect him ?"

Captain Smith took a piece of paper out of his pocket and said:

"He often left a symbol behind him, as some kind of signature. I've copied it for you."

The symbol on the paper was a red triangle into a red circle. And in the middle of that triangle, a black figure representing a snake.

"That's strange," said Mrs Beauregard, "I've already seen that symbol. Do you remember the dirty joke that made us awake in the same bed, this morning ?"

"Yes, I remember, although I'd rather forget it."

"Me too, but it's not the question. During breakfast, we received a card from the joker. The card was signed with that symbol."

"You mean that the Snake could be here among us ? I don't think we should get so paranoid, we're already worrying enough about the Factory."

"I guess so, but still..."

"But," asked the reporter on TV, "does he have a particular outfit that makes him recognizable ?"

"Well, one of our witnesses is a nine-years old girl who claims to have met the Snake several times. She made a drawing, it's not very accurate but it gives an idea about his look. I'll show you..."

Hartigan took another piece of paper and unfolded it in front of the camera. The character was rather well drawn for a child.

Mr Teavee and Mrs Beauregard's face turned pale white, and their eyes widened in horror. Could it be ?

The Snake was drawn on the picture as a tall and slim man, with hair pulled backwards and wearing a black coat, black gloves, and black boots with spurs.

Just like Aleksey.

Inside the Factory

"This is the most important room of all the facility !" declared Wonka when he entered the Inventing Room.

The children followed him and looked in awe at the huge laboratory: the circular room was almost as large as the Chocolate Room, the ceiling and the walls were black while the floor was blue. There were some huge colorful and noisy machines that seemed to mix the ingredients in oversized bowls connected to each others by pipes that were large enough to be used as swimming pool chutes. Between those machines there were blue boards full of chemicals, candy prototypes and laboratory equipments.

"This room is where I create, test, and elaborate all of my most secret recipes. Some of the prototypes you will see in this room are working and ready for mass produce, others are still in making and therefor might have some unstable reactions. That's why no touching or tasting is allowed without my permission."

That's it, thought Mike, let's drug ourselves with your permission ! He and Aleksey knew about the secret, the two girls didn't and therefor, thought they could keep eating candy while staying on their guards. And Charlie seemed to have a blind trust in the chocolatier. The fan's syndrom. Poor boy...

"And, don't forget that everything you'll see in this room is my exclusive property, so don't tell anyone about it."

"I don't think you'll have the occasion, anyway."

Wonka was confident in the success of this operation. It had all been planned to get the children one by one in a way that made the chocolatier innocent. Augustus had an accident ? It's his fault, I told him not to touch my river ! His first plan was to use force and get them all in a row, but he quickly concluded that it was a bad idea. Because children were full of resources, and with enough adrenaline in their brain, their strong survival instinct would take over them and make them very hard to catch. Even harder than adults ! Children are smarter and stronger than the adults tend to think, and although he'd never admit it, Wonka was a bit worried by them. That's why he'd use the smartest methods he could to get them: one by one, and never directly. He had already noticed that they were all extremely cautious since Augustus' accident, except Charlie who was pretty naive (despite the fact that he knew too many things), and they were trying to form some kind of group to watch over each others. Fine ! He had foreseen that and he knew how to handle the situation. He would attack the cement of their group: the girls. At their age, it was all about girls. Children could reveal themselves exceptionally tough when their own survival was at stake, but boys had something more: they were told everywhere, through TV, comic-books, kids' novels and all, that boys were supposed to rescue the damzel in distress to become heroes. As a result of this brain conditioning, their hormones would take over them and they could become ten times more courageous and vigilant when there were girls around they felt the need to protect. That's the way boys thought, and it could make them dangerous. That was Wonka's plan: first, get rid of the girls, slowly, smoothly, by letting them have an "accident", and the boys will be completely disoriented, helpless, and therefor easy to catch. Okay, time to see if all of this will work. Let's boogie !

"Now, children, walk around and have a look at all the wonders of this room, but remember: don't touch anything unless you're invited to !"

The children immediately spread up to explore the giant lab and its magnificient inventions. Wonka watched Violet and Mike running to the GobStoppers pool, while Veruca was observing a rack of various musical instruments. The candymaker approached her and asked:

"Do you like those ?"

"What are they ?" she asked.

"Toy instruments. To teach music to kids in a cheap and secure way. I'll show you."

He picked up a bright red electrical guitar and explained:

"This has the size of a real guitar, but it's made of fruit-flavored cristallized sugar, the same I use for the GobStoppers. It's colorful, lickable, and unbreakable. And the best is that you don't even need wires and loudspeakers to play it."

"You mean, it can be played ?"

"Sure. Listen."

Willy Wonka put his gloved hands on the ropes of the candy guitar and, slowly, began to play a sinister melody Veruca didn't know, which was Marilyn Manson's Sweet Dreams. He was interrupted by a sound of broken glass coming from another part of the room.

"What's going on ?" he asked. He put the guitar back on the rack and told Veruca:

"Try them if you want, they're all working. I have to watch over your little friends."

Then, he walked away, searching for the broken glass. He soon found Charlie standing near a board full of test tubes, with one of the tubes broken on the floor. The clear liquid it contained was attacking the floor, producing a discreet frying sound.

"Charlie ! I told you not to touch anything !"

"I'm sorry, Mr Wonka, it wasn't my fault."

"What do you mean ?"

"I was watching, and I saw a snake crawling on the board. I was surprised, so I stepped backwards and accidently hit this tube."

"A snake ? Nonsense, there's no snake here !"

"At least, not at this level, and he couldn't do all the way up by himself."

"Anyway, it's not that important. Just be careful from now, okay little boy ?"

Charlie thanked him and went to explore another part of the lab. He found Veruca holding a blue violin and licking it with a certain pleasure. He decided he'd better follow Alex's advices and try again:

"What are you doing ?" he asked.

She stopped licking and smiled at him. She smiled ? Yes, that's what she did. After all, her money or family pride would be useless if she got in trouble in that factory, so she'd better stop snubbing the others. Until the Tour's over, of course.

"It tastes like ice mint," she said. "You want to try ?"

"Sure..."

He gingerly took the blue violin and took a long lick. It tasted really good. The boy suddenly blushed red bright when he told himself he had maybe licked the same part as she did... embarrassed, he gave her back the violin. She smiled again, put the instrument on her shoulder, and rested her chin on it. She had a bow in the other hand.

"The bow is made of frozen chocolate," she said. "That's crazy what he can do with candy."

"You're gonna play it ?"

"I'll try."

Charlie stayed beside her, and listened to her. The music began slow and creepy, then became faster and louder, to reach a great, sad and beautiful finale. She played divinely well.

"That's... magic," whispered Charlie. He was almost speechless.

"Thanks. It's my favorite play, it's called The Cat Woman."

They stopped speaking. Both of them. They just stayed here, awkwardly staring at each others. It was as if they had both lost their ability to think. None of them had the idea to qualify this a "crush", but they knew, that the moment this poor street boy and this scorning rich girl were sharing was intense...

Meanwhile, Violet, Mike and Aleksey were looking into a pool of fizzy water, where two Oompa Loompas were swimming and manipulating some small red orbs. Violet turned her head towards Willy Wonka to call him, and Mike took profit of this moment to sneak away.

"Mr Wonka," she said, "what is that ?"

"Oh, excellent," he said while arriving, "let me show you."

As he approached, an Oompa Loompa jumped out of the pool and gave him one of the red orbs. The chocolatier held it in front of the children and said:

"This is an Everlasting GobStopper. Made for children with little pocket money. You can suck it and suck it, it will never get smaller. And it tastes just great."

"It's like chewing gum ?"

Wonka took a deep breath to ease the rage. This little blond rat was so annoying with her horribly gross chewing gums ! He would have a great moment punishing her, he would take all his time...

"No," he just said, "chewing gum is meant to be chewed. If you tried to chew one of those, you would break all of your little teeth. Okay, let's see something else."

And while he was explaining the use of a candy called Hair Toffee, Mike arrived behind Aleksey and discreetly tapped on his shoulder.

"What ?" whispered the biker very lowly.

"I think you should come. I found something interesting."

Alex made sure that no-one was paying attention to him and followed the genius to a machine located quite far from the rest of the group.

"You detect problems with your senses," said Mike. "I don't know how you do that, but you do. I tried to do the same by using my own gift: my overwhelming sense of logic. And look at what I found."

They stopped in front of the machine and Mike let Alex read what was written on it: Nevermelting Chocolate Ice Cream.

"Another of his miracles," he commented.

Mike smiled at him:

"I'll show you the miracle."

And on these words, the TV-boy opened a protective cover on the side of the machine, revealing a large metallic bottle bearing the inscription: Liquid Nitrogen. Chemical Hazard. Do Not Manipulate Without Protection !

"I see..."

"It's not all. Look at this one."

Mike brought the Hell's to another machine with the inscription: Explosive Candy.

"Let me guess..." Alex said.

The little genius opened the protective cover. There were several grey bricks of what looked like modelling clay, with the word SemTex printed on.

"I thought so..."

"So it's not only drugs," said Mike, "he also uses some deadly materials in his candy."

The young boy suddenly felt his super-heroism coming back like a tidal wave. It was no more about protecting (Violet) his comrades against a killer, nor against a mad candyman, it was about saving the whole world from a conspiracy !

"Alex, those candies will get to mass produce soon ! We've got to prevent it from happening !"

"Wow, chill out, Superman. You won't make anything against such a huge thing on your own, no matter how intelligent you are. You're just a kid, and Wonka is very powerful."

"But I won't be alone. You're with me, right ?"

"Are you kidding ? I'm not here to play the super-hero."

"It's not your job, right ? It's not why Mr Salt paid you, right ?"

Alex froze, and his eyes grew just a little bit wider. Mike knew he had touched a sensitive spot.

"You know about that ?"

"I know he paid you and gave you a fake ticket. Why did he do that ? What are you supposed to do here ?"

"Listen, I can't tell anything unless..."

They were interrupted by the strong whistling of a steam shoot, followed by the loud purring of an engine. They looked at the other side of the room to see the other children and the chocolatier gathered around a circular machine that seemed to mix different sorts of liquids. Wonka was talking to the kids while showing them a stick of chewing gum. With horror, they saw Violet pick up the gum and put it in her mouth. Both Alex and Mike remembered Augustus' fate. They didn't think twice: they ran towards her.

Mike arrived first. He grabbed the little girl by the arm and spoke in a very fast panicked tone:

"Violet, what are you doing ? This gum may be dangerous !"

The girl broke free from his grip and said:

"Leave me alone, Mike. I'm not a baby, I know what I'm doing."

Alex arrived and stood beside Violet, seeming as worried as Mike was. The genius gave the Hell's a dark glance. Don't even think about it, he thought. I'll take care of her, she doesn't need some mafious like you !

The truth was that Mike wasn't mad at Alex for those fake ticket and mysterious job stories. He was just jealous. Horribly jealous. He had seen what happened in the boat, and he couldn't bear it. He would do everything to prove that he was better than this Kazakh boy, so that Violet would be his girlfriend. Girlfriend ? Yes, girlfriend. Mike didn't need to hide it to himself any longer: he was in love with Violet, and he didn't know how to handle this powerful feeling.

"Boys," said Violet, seemingly amused, "it's okay ! You worry too much, that gum is not dangerous. And it's damn excellent !"

"Thanks," said Wonka.

"Wait a minute," said Veruca, "what's happening to her nose ?"

"What ?"

"It's turning blue !" screamed Mike.

Violet let out a nervous, scared giggle and said: "You must be joking... if it's a joke, it's not funny !"

"Violet," said Charlie, "you're turning violet !"

"But... but how could it..." the poor girl was getting panicked.

Aleksey put a hand on her shoulder and the other on her stomach, and Mike could swear he had seen something small sliding from the boy's sleeve to the girl's stomach pocket.

"Violet," the Kazakh said, "you must spit out that thing ! Now !"

"What ? Why ? What's happening ? Guys, it's not funny !"

She was so panicked that she didn't spit out the gum. It was as if panick had made her lose the ability to react. She was just working by reflexes. And her reflexes of gum chewer made her keep the cursed gum in her mouth and chew it faster and faster. She was now all violet, and she started swelling up like a balloon. In a matter of seconds, she had become a big blue ball with two feet, two hands and a head poking out of it. She screamed:

"Help ! What's going on ?"

"I am really sorry," said Wonka, "I tried to warn you, but this gum has a big default. I tried it on a dozen of Oompa Loompas, and they all turned to giant blueberries, like you."

"Oh no... what are we gonna do ?"

"I don't know... let's bring you to the juice room !"

"The juice room ?" shouted Mike. "What are they gonna do to her ?"

"They will press her. Like a pimple. We need to take all the juice out before she explodes. Where are my Oompa Loompas ?"

In response, a music started coming out of nowhere, a hip-hop play. Then a group of Oompa Loompas arrived in a choregraphic manner, and started dancing around the poor girl, bouncing on her ignoring her shrieks, and singing:

Listen close and listen hard,
To the tale of Violet Beauregarde.
This dreadful girl, she sees no wrong,
In chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, all day long.
Chewing, chewing all day long!
Chewing, chewing all day long!
Chewing, chewing all day long!

And, under the other children's fascinated (not to say hypnotized) look, the blueberry girl was rolled out of the room.

"Well," said Wonka when they disappeared, "this is quite sad. But don't worry, she will be just fine ! Shall we go on with the Tour ?"

The children followed, although they were not exactly in the mood to see other candies. Their worriness about the disappearance of their two comrades, their fear towards this quirky factory, were added with a feeling of defeat. They had failed to look upon each others, and Violet had disappeared by their fault. Even Charlie, although he didn't have a clue on what was going on, began to have a creepy feeling running up his spine, and wished Grandpa Joe were here with him.

As Wonka turned to the children to see if they were following him, his eyes met Aleksey's eyes. For a second, they stared intensely at each other, so intensely that they seemed to be communicating via telepathy.

Two down, four to go. Thought Wonka. No-one will escape me. I have you all in my web, you scorny greedy arrogant brats, and you can't do anything against that. Scream for your parents, because you'll never see them again...

It won't happen, thought Aleksey. I won't let you accomplish your dark project. This is my job, and I can do it, because you don't know who I really am. You really, really don't know...

Meanwhile, outside the Factory...

"We have a problem !" screamed Mr Teavee as he and Mrs Beauregard joined the rest of the group. Another man had joined them, a skinny dark-haired man who claimed to be Charlie's father.

"What's going on ?" asked this guy.

"Well," began Stella, "it seems that... ttttherrrrres a..."

Her jaw was trembling too much to speak. Finally, Mr Teavee decided to speak for her:

"We were watching a documentary on TV, and we recognized him. Aleksey. He's a serial killer who escaped the police two years ago, in California."

"What ?" shrieked Mrs Gloop. "Are you sure about that ? If it's a joke, it's not..."

"I am sure, M'dam. I don't know if Wonka and his factory are really dangerous, but there's one thing sure, now: we left our children alone with a murderer."

At this new, all the parents had their face grow white and their eyes poke out of their skull. They were all on the edge of a heart attack at the idea of their children so close to the greatest of dangers: a maniac.

All but Mr Salt, who was as calm as still water.

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Are the children safe with a murderer among them ? What is Aleksey doing in the Factory ? What did he put in Violet's pocket ? ALL the answers in the next chapter !

Trivia: the piece of violin Veruca plays is Catwoman's theme, performed by Danny Elfman for the movie Batman Returns.