A/N: Heads up, this'll be the longest chapter yet and for big reasons. One is that I'm gonna have all chapters of the game here, none of that wait to ready bullshit like when we waited 2 years for the full game. Also, with that confusing as Hell ending, I'll edit a bit to actually help fans who were expecting more.
Finally, to help clear some questions about who's who when we start, I'll list who is the characters here.
Henry-Izuku
Linda-Ochako
Joey-All For One
Wally-Kirishima
Thomas-Sato
Susie-Nejire
Sammy-Momona
Jack-Aizawa
Lacie-Mei
Norman-Present Mic
Bertram-Cementos
Shawn-Kaminari
"So it was just another one of those weird world's with those guys in red", Kamirai asked, after he and the others had been brought back. "Yes", Momo said simply, "Why did the God not want us to see it?", Inko asked. Those who saw it looked uneasy, not wanting to disgust, or worse, anger the already irritated Katsuki. "Just believe us when we say that it would make you all uncomfortable and just move on", Nedzu explained.
While they were confused, they decided to go with it, "Well said", Z said as he suddenly appeared. "Why do you do that?", Mina asked, "It's a comfort thing", Z said, further confusion everyone about this weird being. "Now then, heads up, this next world will be the longest one yet, so expect a lot of stuff happening", Z said as he looked at his clipboard. "Why is it so long?", Midnight asked, "The way this world was set up was in the set of chapters.
Each chapter told a new part of the story, but the downside is that it was told over the span of 2 years. Seeing how it explained it all in all 5 chapters, I figured it wouldn't matter if I showed you them at once", Z explained. This shocked everyone that the waiting time was so long, and that they'd be watching 5 whole chapters all at once.
"Will any of us have to turn away for this?", Kota asked, having caught on with the world's that he and others didn't see. "No, it is staged in a way that I don't believe it's considered that violent or to obscene to show. Though if you do get scared, you may look away", Z said, the audience nodding, glad they can all enjoy this world. "What's this world like?", All Might asked, "Very mysterious and old", Z said as he left and the world started.
What opened was a small, worn out letter held in a rough hand, the camera hovering over it.
Dear Henry,
It seems like a lifetime since we worked on cartoons together.
30 years really slips by doesn't it?
If you're back in town, come visit the old workshop.
There's something I need to show you.
Your best pal, Joey Drew.
"Whoa, that's some old paper", Sero said, you think that hand belongs to Henry?", Sato asked. "Maybe, but who's Henry?", Ochako asked.
Chapter 1: Moving Pictures
The then put the paper in his pocket and grabbed the door handle in front of him. Opening it and walking inside, he noticed that the entire structure had a very toonish design. Now inside, the person closed the door behind him, the camera showing a full body view.
Standing at an average height, a man with a red vest, white undershirt, black tie, black pants, and black boots. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, exposing a toned and tan arm. The man has short green and black hair, 5 o clock shadow, and a firm jaw with pointed chin. His eyes were a deep emerald green that scanned the old building around him.
"Alright Joey, I'm here, let's see if I can find what you wanted me to see."
"Holy crap, it's Midoriya!", Kaminari shouted out, "My, what old clothes he has on", Yuga pointed out. What's with the pace, looks like one of those old cartoons in a 3D rend", Present Mic said. "He's somewhat toned, yet not overly buff", All Might said, seeing that his successor was somewhat different. What really caught his eye was that his hands and arms had no scars, meaning that he didn't have OFA.
Walking further inside, Henry took notice how crowded the place was and how it didn't have any windows. He soon found himself walking beside a few sketching desks, one in the far corner catching his eye. "Hey, my old work desk, man I waisted so much time working here", he said to himself. On and the next to desk was a drawing of a small, toon demon with a wide grin, white gloves, horns, and a bow tie.
That's Bendy the Dancing Demon, the mascot of the studio.
"Wait, he was a cartoonist?", Ectoplasm asked, seeing a similar set up at an animation studio. "What so he's an animator?", Katsuki asked, "AWESOME!", Kota and Eri said in joy. "I'll say this, that's a cute toon", Tsuyu said with a croak, "Kinda weird for a demon to be a cartoon mascot", Midnight said.
Walking away, Henry came across some other rooms, even a new drawing room that wasn't there when he was. "Huh, they took down a few walls, guess it took a few people to replace me", he said with a hum. Moving from there, a found a new break room, with a dart board on the far side of the wall. He played a quick game, getting a bullseye each time, making him grin as he left.
"He's good", Kirishima said with a grin, "Kinda prideful if he thinks that", Shouto said. "Maybe he was a hard animator and that him leaving made it harder to do work", Inko guessed. This made sense to everyone, Deku was a hardworking person, even if it was in another universe.
It does warm Henry's heart to see his old creation once again, but what with all the eeriness floating around the deserted workshop and this sinking feeling in his stomach, Bendy's happy-go-lucky expression wasn't helping much.
As he passed down a nearby corridor, he found a tiny Bendy plush doll sitting by itself in a chair. He ignored it and moved on. Henry noticed where some messes of ink all around, to no surprise. That Ink Machine Joey built certainly did provide a little too much ink to be needed. As a matter of fact, Joey even installed pipes all around the place to provide an ink flow for the machine.
All of the sudden, he stopped when he found a jotting on the wall, written in fresh ink.
DREAMS COME TRUE.
"Red flags are flying", Present Mic said in a sing song voice, "Yeah that's a little concerning", Aizawa said. The rest all silently agreed, this made things tense.
Now Henry was getting confused and a little bit skeptical about what has been going on around here. He continued down the long corridor right towards an entrance labeled "Ink Machine" and walked passed a door with a light under it. Henry could hear ragtime music from inside. Was there somebody else here with him? It's not possible since the place was abandoned for years. Henry arrived at the hallway leading to the Ink Machine.
He was met with a dry-erase board that was the Ink Output Schedule, presenting the amount of ink each day of the week. The total amount of ink at the end of the week was precisely 423!
"That's a lot of ink for one studio!", the audience screamed.
So Henry took a left down the hallway, stepping over a pipe cutting across the floor with a warning sign saying, "Watch your step" and made to the balcony overlooking a massive room that looked like the inside of a warehouse with chains hanging inside a dark pit below them.
Where was this so-called Ink Machine? Where did they put in here? Perhaps it was hanging on those chains and there had to be a way to lift up into the open. But the power box was lacking the cells to power it up.
"How big is this thing?", Shouto asked, wondering what would require a lift to move.
"This lift could use a few dry cells", he expressed before grabbing one power cell on the shelf and finding one inside of a chest next to another Bendy cutout. Placing the duo cells in the power box, Henry flipped the switch, which got the chains to work.
"Wonder how big it is", Jiro asked out loud.
"Let's see what you're hiding down there, old friend", Henry rhetorically said as the chains rattled while they worked their magic in lifting up a large, heavy contraption and there it was in all it's glory. The large, enigmatic Ink Machine itself, untouched after all these years. Henry never did got a close look at it in person. But come to think of it, nobody did. Joey didn't trust anybody near it, as he was afraid they might make a mess with it. But the machine was already a messy contraction on it's own. There was a black tubes connected to the bottom of it, especially one beneath the part where the ink spills out.
"Holy crap, the things the size of a small house!", Kaminari shouted in shock.
"So this is the Ink Machine, huh? Wonder how you turn it on." Henry said.
"Wow, not the reaction I was expecting", Aizawa said.
He left down another hallway, hoping to find a switch somewhere that activates it. Taking a left turn, there was yet another Bendy cutout a few inches away from another animator's desk. Henry went down the hall, but jumped with a yelp when a wooden board fell from the ceiling and onto the floor. He was shaken for a brief moment, but he shrugged it off, now feeling silly for being scared by that so he pressed on and took another left, leading himself into the power room where the main power switch was, which was on low pressure.
"Alright, how do I get this to work?" He asked to himself, rubbing his head in confusion.
"Yeah where's the instructions to weird machine?", Kirishima asked jokingly.
When he turned around, he took a glance at the six pedestals around the room, three on each side. Each one had a picture frame behind it which shows what needs to be placed on them.
There was a Gear, a Wrench, a Book, a Bendy doll, a Music Note, and a Jar of ink.
"Ah, I get it, one from each department", Momo theorized.
Having know idea what this could be, he decided to just play along as he needed answers as to why he was here. Once he left the room, he turned the corner and suddenly found the Bendy cutout standing right there in the middle of the hallway out of nowhere! He froze and gasped, startled before sighing. That wasn't there before!
"Who put this here?!", he said as he looked around to see if anyone else was there and was just messing with him.
A few were shaken by the jump scare, except Katsuki who growled. 'Takes more than that to surprise me', he thought in anger.
Surely, it couldn't have placed itself there on it's own. Suddenly, from behind the cutout, he noticed another room with a strange figure.
Curious, he walked past the cutout and entered, before feeling a wave of dread along with nausea settle in when he saw what looked to be the dead body of Boris the Wolf. He was strapped to some sort of surgical table with a large, open, Y-shaped incision in his chest revealing his rib-cage and no guts left. His eyes were in the shape of X's, the cartoon sign of death.
"Oh, my God. Joey, what were you doing?" Henry asked, both disgusted and appalled at the thought that his old friend would commit something as heinous as this.
Eri and Kota were shielded by the frightening sight, while others cringed.
Henry, at that moment, had a theory that Joey was vivisecting and dissecting his cartoon characters. But alas, how can one kill a cartoon character? They're just drawings that you make on a piece of paper and are merely figments of your imagination. Candles were placed in front of the body, which reminded Henry of a ritual.
Looking to his right, where was another message on the wall in ink.
WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?
"That's a bit messed up to put that there", Ochako said with a green face.
Henry wasn't going to let a thing like this get to his head so he left and took a different direction passed a three-boarded shelf and happened upon a tape cassette.
He pressed the play button and he heard the voice of Wally Franks, a co-worker of his.
"At this point, I don't get what Joey's plan is for this company. The animations sure aren't being finished on time anymore. And I certainly don't see why we need this machine. It's noisy, it's messy and who needs that much ink anyway?
Also, get this.
Joey had each one of us donate something from our workstation. We put them on these little pedestals in the break room to "Help appease the gods", Joey says. Keeps things going. I think he's lost his mind. But, hey, he writes the checks. But I tell you what.
If one more of these pipes bursts, I'm outta here."
Everyone was surprised by Kirishima's voice, and with strange accent. He laughed at it, finding it numerous.
'This would probably explain those pedestals back in the power room', Henry thought. So he went to work in finding the desired pieces. His little quest brought him to the break room which was next door to the room with the Ink Machine. That target on the wall reminded him to the dart games he and his co-workers used to play during their lunch break.
Passing the door with the light under it, it suddenly went out, catching him off guard. He went inside and there was no one in there. If the room was empty, who turned that light out? This was weird enough already.
He scavenged the entire workshop picking up the Bendy Doll he saw earlier, a Gramophone Record sitting next to the desk in the room that had the light on previously, a Jar of Ink in the room where the animation was, a Gear in the box with the power cell, a Wrench that was inside of Boris' open chest was and finally, and a book that said "The Illusion of Living written by Joey Drew."
"Okay, that's all of them", said Henry. "Now I just got to get the ink flowing somehow. There must be a main switch around here somewhere. Then I can start up the main power", he said to himself.
"Weird how he stays calm despite all that's going on", Tokoyami said.
There was one room he hasn't checked yet.
Walking past the shelf and the tape recorder he stumbled upon, he took a right went down a hallway towards the projection room. However, along the way, he saw what he could've sworn was the Bendy cutout peeking it's head around the corner ahead, seemingly looking at him before moving back behind the corner. This made Henry gasp and stop in his tracks immediately after he saw this. He couldn't believe he actually saw that cutout move on it's own.
There's definitely something weird going on here.
Everyone agreed.
The nervous Henry cautiously made it down there and turned to find the cutout just standing there against the wall. Henry was confused at first on how it actually moved. So with his index finger forward, he gently tapped the cutout and it just wiggled a bit from his touch. He sighed in relief, believing it was just his imagination. It certainly has been forever since he's been here. There can't possibly be anything paranormal happening here.
But just after he cleared his mind, the projector in the room turned itself on and played an episode from the Bendy show on the screen.
"Ooh, will we see a cartoon?", asked an excited Kota.
Although taken aback, he watched as the little devil character danced. But all this didn't matter right now. So he walked around the chairs and behind the projector to find a switch that said "Ink Pressure". Henry pushed it and he heard the ink running about the pipes in the walls. He nodded and made his way back to the power room. Along the way, a strange sound fell upon Henry's ears.
A sound of banging coming from the walls ahead, as if there were something moving around in the ink pipes. Henry made to the power room and pulled the lever, which activated the main power. A few lights were turned on, but not enough. With that now done, he marched his way over the Ink Machine room, while hearing the machine whirring to life. For some odd reason, he found the room appearing to be boarded up.
This was most confusing of all. How did it get boarded off? Who could've done this? He approached the blocked entrance to peer through the small opening, peaking inside.
But when he did, someone or something sudden popped up out of nowhere, lunging at Henry and trying to grab him.
The creature was completely covered from head to toe in ink, undoubtably from the ink the machine was making. It looked humanoid in stature and shape and it's appearance looked, without a doubt, a lot like Bendy, but in a more ink-splattered and sinister way. The horns look melted and distorted to look more like realistic demon horns, ink was running down it's face, covering it's eyes, but still kept that same smile that Bendy has. It wore the same opera gloves which were formed into sharp, knife-like claws and the bowtie was the same, but stained from the ink.
Everyone reeled back in fear at the lanky beast of ink.
Words could not describe the fear in Henry's eyes, the beating of his heart and the sinking feeling of dread in his belly that dropped further. Never has been more frightened in his entire life. He just couldn't believe it. Lights flickered inside the room and ink patterns appeared all over the walls as the creature swiped it's claws at Henry, trying to grab him, he took off running the down the hallway, full-on sprinting away from the ink-covered monster, back towards the exit.
"RUN DEKU!", Ochako shouted in fear, everyone else shouting their own cheers.
"I'm getting the hell out of here!" He yelled in utter terror as the floor beneath his feet began to flood with ink. He looked behind him to see the creature had disappeared. But all that Henry could think about right now was getting the fuck out of the workshop immediately, going back to his apartment with Linda and pretending all of this never happened. He ran down the hallway as the place around him was starting to collapse and spill ink all over the floor and back towards the door he came in as the ink was filling up past his ankles.
But when he was just a couple inches from it, the floor beneath his feet gave in and Henry found himself falling down a deep hole and finally landing in a room below that was flooded with more ink that it went up below his shoulders.
SPLASH!
Getting up was hard since there was enough ink that could drown him, until he approached a valve on an ink pipe and turned it, allowing the ink to drain. Before he left, he noticed there was another cassette on the shelf. He played it and there was a tough-sounding gentleman talking.
Henry could remember his name being Thomas Connor.
"It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees. Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this are them noises the system makes.
Like a dying dog on it's last legs.
Make no mistake, this place, this machine, heck, this whole darn thing, it just isn't natural.
You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mr. Joey Drew",
Sato was surprised to hear himself, though wondered who else will be heard.
As Henry descended down the stairwell, draining more of the ocean of ink flooding it, his mind replayed the event that just occurred. It was just impossible to believe that Bendy, the famous happy devil character that they all knew and love, the greatest creation Henry had ever made, has transformed into a carnivorous, deformed, ink-covered, monstrous abomination!
A real-life demon, born of pure evil...
"What's happened to him?", Henry asked himself in a low tone. He began to wonder what Joey was really trying to show him and why he asked him to come here to begin with. But right now, he didn't care anymore about what he needed to see, because he needed to get out here, ASAP. So he left the room he had fallen in and followed the hallway to a stairwell which went downstairs to another area with an entrance that was also boarded up.
There was another jotting on the wall, saying "The Creator Lied to Us". What could that mean? What did they lie about?
But then Henry found an axe just sitting on a table, so he grabbed it, "This will definitely come in handy", he said to himself, now branching his new weapon to use.
So he got to work, chopping up the boards to clear himself a path. As he chopped his way through the hallway of wooden boards, he found himself in another room. And what he saw was deeply unsettling. There was a huge pentagram symbol on the floor with lit candles all around it and two coffins placed on the wall. For some reason, his eyes made him think there was hidden writing on the front of them.
"What was that?", Endeavor asked.
It took a second for it to clink in Henry's mind that there has been Satanic rituals going on in the old workshop orchestrated by an Antichrist cult and whatnot. As the room began to quake, haunting visions visions plagues his mind. The Ink Machine, the demonic Bendy creature he encountered. Joey was probably doing rituals of some sort to bring cartoon characters to life. But that was only a theory.
But then Henry suddenly felt weak and his vision became blurry as he collapsed onto the floor and passed out until he was out like a light.
"IZUKU!", Inko shouted in fear, "Don't worry, there's still more to see", Z said softly. Everyone calmed down and waited for the video to continue.
Chapter 2: The Old Song
"Ugh. Oh, my head, what happened?", Henry groaned as he started to come around. His vision was all blurry and he heard ringing in his ears. As he opened his eyelids, he found himself laying on the floor in the pentagram room.
His mind began to replay the occurrences he endured; turning on the Ink Machine, running into the ink-splattered monster form of Bendy and falling unconscious after happening across the room he now lies in. He scrambled to his feet.
"Well, I guess there's only one thing to do", he said to himself. "Press on. See if I can find a way out", he spoke with confidence.
"Good luck Midoriya", Lida sent a silent prayer to his friend.
Henry recovered his axe placed against one of the coffins and went to chop down the boards blocking the door next to the them. He went through the door and came down some stairs, entering a section called the Utility Shaft 9. On the wall in front of him was another jotting that said "He Will Set Us Free" with a small painting of Bendy with some lit candles and some bowls with something in them, looking like some sort of peace offering that one would give during a ritual. Henry began to feel on edge about this whole situation he was brought into.
Has Joey really gone insane over these past few years in the studio? Has he really been dawdling with the occult? When Henry finds Joey, if ever, he's going have a lot of explaining to do. Henry looked around the room to find two more coffins against the wall.
"How did this place get so big?", he asked no one particular.
"Yeah, a bit much for one place", Mina said with eye roll.
Henry certainly doesn't remember this part of the studio. But, then again, he hasn't seen very much of the place while working here. He found another cassette and decided to listen. This recording came from Sammy Lawrence, the studio's music director.
"He appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you, my savior. I pray you hear me. Those old songs, yes. I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept into your final loving embrace. But loves requires a sacrifice.
Can I get an amen?",
"I said, 'Can I get an amen?'" Henry turned around after he heard what he could've sworn was a voice from behind him once the recorder was done playing, but there was no one there.
"Oh crap that's creepy", Kaminari said with a shiver.
Sammy Lawrence, the head of the studio's music department and lead composer. He helped compose the songs for the shows. Henry passed a poster on the wall saying "Train Trouble" and went down the hallway leading to a Bendy cutout placed against another pentagram on the wall. As disturbing as it was creepy, he kept going until he found a corridor flooded ankle-high in ink. Ignoring the wet, moist feeling of the liquidy substance staining his feet.
Henry walked through the flooded corridor, when suddenly, he saw a black figure walk by up ahead, carrying another Bendy cutout. He appeared to be wearing white overalls and some kind of mask. This lifted Henry's confidence a little, hoping that he could help him out.
"Hello! Excuse me! Can you help me? Hello?", he called, but got no answer. He could almost hear him murmuring a hymn of some kind under his breath quietly. Henry rushed through the inked hallway and into the room where he saw the man, only to see him nowhere in sight. He seemed to have disappeared somehow, but that can't be right. "Where the hell did he go?", he asked the wall.
This confused everyone, wondering how he was able to quickly disappear.
He saw the cutout placed on yet another pentagram, like the one he saw earlier. On the shelf next to it was filled with cans of Bacon Soup. Leaning closer to the wall, he checked to see if there was a secret to how he vanished, but found nothing. Turning around, there was a set of buttons that were flickering, which seemed to power a gate.
"Need to get power to this gate somehow", Henry stated, "Should be a couple switches nearby then maybe I can open it", he said, looking around.
He went back over to the shelf to find the first switch. He moved the cans aside until he actually found one. He pressed it and went back to the first room he came in to find some more. Back across the ink-flooded corridor, he re-entered the room he found the recorder in and began his search.
Interestingly enough, there was one switch on the wall next to the coffins so he pressed it. It didn't take long for him to find the third and final switch underneath the level the recorder was placed on. With all three switched found and activated, he can finally raise the gate. Back past the Bendy in front of the first pentagram, back across the ink-flooded corridor, he returned to the power box and pulled the lever which made the gate slowly raise.
There was another boarded off doorway entrance. A light was turned on from inside and Henry thought he heard the sound of low groaning.
Many shivered at the sound themselves.
With his trusty axe, he chopped down the planks and entered the music department as explained on the wall with Sammy's name on the bottom. Henry scanned the room for anyone or anything that could've made that sound. There was nobody. But he didn't care about that right now.
"It's really dark in here", Henry said softly before he remembered there being a stairwell to an exit near here. So he went through the door to the stairwell, but stopped when he saw that it was also flooded with ink, meaning he couldn't get out at this rate. "Looks like the stairwell's flooded", he said, "If I'm going to get out of here, I'll need to find a way to drain it", he said.
There was a sideways lever to his right that said "Power", which indicated that he needed to activate this. So, by instinct, he pulled it and the lights lit up the department sign.
When he approached, there were some blobby messes of ink around the room, which, to his shock, morphed into humanoid ink creatures that crawled over to him since they had no legs.
Everyone froze at the sight of the strange, inky being, similar to Bendy from before.
Henry used his axe to keep them at bay, causing them all to melt away, his heart pounding the inside of his chest as his breath came in short pants.
Then there was another recorder sitting on next to the sign. He pressed play and the voice of Sammy came again.
"So first, Joey installs this Ink Machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month, we couldn't even get out of the department because the ink flooded the stairwell. Joey's solution? An ink pump to drain it periodically. Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office. People in and out all day.
Thanks, Joey. Just what I needed. More distractions.
These stupid cartoon songs don't write themselves, you know",
Sammy sounded more normal than his last recording. In the last one, Sammy sounded like he was worshipping a deity as part of a cult, though never really was the religious type. Anyway, Henry marched down the hallway where a gate had opened. He went inside one room where a pipe organ-like piano was. After played a few keys, he could hear the muffled sound of anguished screaming behind the wall.
Proceeding further down the corridor, he found another room where a work desk was. There he found a picture, representing Bendy's facial expressions. However, in each different emotion like angry or sad or disgusted, Bendy is always smiling. Then Henry got back on track and made it to the end of the hallway towards Sammy's old office.
There stood another Bendy cutout outside his door where it was flooded with ink as well. Another recording was found and Wally's voice was heard again.
"So I go to get my dust pan from the hall closet the other day and guess what? I can't find my stupid keys. It's like they disappeared into thin air or something. All I can think of is that they must've fallen into one of the garbage cans as I was making my rounds last week. I just hope nobody tells Sammy.
Because if he finds out I lost my keys again, I'm outta here",
"Cool, another one from Wally!", Mina said in a happy tone for her friend.
Wally was the janitor of the studio and had a bad habit of misplacing his keys, and if he really didn't want Sammy to know he lost his keys, he wouldn't have recorded his words into a cassette and then leave the damn thing out in the hallway for someone to find. Henry peeked through the window into Sammy's office and found the big pump switch control. From inside, there was another jotting on the wall that read "It's Time to Believe".
"Well, there's the big pump switch, alright", Henry said, but remembered the leak, "But that's one Hell of a leak blocking the door, though. If I could just stop that ink from flowing, maybe I can get in", he told himself.
Henry made his way back toward the front lobby of the department and remembered seeing some keys in a garbage can like Wally said. So he retraced his steps and found them inside of said garbage can and on the wall was a poster with another character, Alice Angel.
"She's hot", Mineta said in a pervy tone, "She's a cartoon cardboard cutout", Jiro said, disgusted.
He smiled as it made him think of his old friend, Susie Campbell, the cartoon's voice actor. It made him forget his fear for a moment as he had flashbacks of Susie voicing Alice. She had an amazing voice and sung very well too. Henry put the keys in his pocket to use them momentarily.
He walked up the steps that lead to the projection booth and from there, he looked into the recording studio full of seats and conductor stands and instruments where the songs were sung by chorus of singers. There sat the film projector and another recorder.
It played the voice of Norman Polk, who operated the projector.
"Every day, the same strange thing happens. I'll be up here in my booth, the band will be swinging and suddenly, Sammy Lawrence just comes marching in and shuts the whole thing down. Tells us all to wait in the hall. Then I hear him. He starts up my projector and he dashes from the projector booth and down to the recording studio like the little devil himself was chasing behind. Few seconds later, the projector turns off.
But Sammy, oh, no, he don't come out for a long time.
This man is weird. Crazy weird. I've got half a mind to talk to Mr. Drew about all this. I really do.
But then again, I have to admit. Mr. Drew has his own peculiarities",
"Weirdly cryipted", Miro said.
Henry exited the booth and entered the recording studio below and there was the empty recording booth nearby. There was another tape recorder sitting beside the piano and he played it, hearing Susie's voice.
"It may only be my second month working for Joey Drew, but I can already tell I'm going to love it here! People really seem to enjoy my Alice Angel voice. Sammy says she may be as popular as Bendy some day. These past few weeks I have voiced everything from talking chairs to dancing chickens.
But this is the first character I have really felt a connection with. Like she's a part of me.
Alice and I, we are going places",
Nejire jumped with joy hearing her voice, glad to finally being included.
Henry smiled, feeling comforted at hearing his old friend's voice. She was always very perky about her character from her first day on the job. Susie wanted to be a big name actor one day and he poll could remember when she mention she and Alice "were going places". The girl had always had dreams of being a Hollywood sensation from the start.
At one point, she and Joey fell in love and began seeing each other for some time. Henry left the room to get back to Wally's unfinished business. So he returned to Sammy's office and unlocked the supply closet next door and found another tape recorder.
"Every artistic person needs a sanctuary. Joey Drew has his and I have mine. To enter, you need to only know my favorite song: The bass fiddle sings with deep articulation. The piano delicately calls. The piano returns in graceful harmony. The bass fiddle returns and sings aloud.
Sing my song and my sanctuary will open to you", instructed Sammy's voice.
Aizawa hummed, also enjoying the song himself.
That's when Henry remembered Norman's words after hearing Sammy's favorite song, which gave him an idea. Returning to the projection booth, he turned on the projector, which put on a snippet from a Bendy cartoon called "Tombstone Picnic" and then he rushed back down to the recording studio as quick as a flash and began to strum a note on the bass, ran over to play the piano twice and back over to play the bass again. The projector shut off and a gate opened up, leading into the so-called sanctuary that Sammy used.
Inside was the ink flow valve, but also a desk, a messy toilet next to it for some reason and another pentagram on the floor. Sammy must've written that rhyme on the wall saying;
"Sing a Happy Song, Whistle a Merry Tune. Wait for His Arrival, He's Coming Very Soon", What the Hell could that mean?
"Gross, who would want to see what when going to the bathroom?", asked a grossed out Midnight.
Henry didn't have the time to ponder this right now as he turned the valve.
"One down." Henry said, turning the valve.
He turned to exit, not before he noticed a Bendy cutout peeking around the corner of the entrance for a brief moment. He gasped, but stayed strong. Once he was out of the so-called sanctuary, he came face-to-face with more ink creatures. He panicked and hacked them all with his axe, killing them all before he ran out of the studio and panted.
Once he got a hold of himself, he went towards the hallway and took a left to enter the infirmary downstairs. On the sign it said:
INFIRMARY:
Notice: Anyone found faking illness
will be docked a full week's wages.
Not sick, not paid!
"That's criminal!", Recovery Girl shouted in anger.
Well, isn't that disappointing. Once Henry finally entered the empty infirmary where another Bendy cutout was sitting next to a hospital bed, another ink creature spawned near him, making him axe it just in time. However, as he approached the ink pipe next to a switch to the Utility Access, there was no valve handle.
"Oh, no, there's no valve. Where did it go?", Henry wondered out loud as he looked around to see if it just fell off.
What did it do? Just sprouted legs and walk away? It must be around here somewhere. Then he noticed the stairs leading to the lower level. Perhaps someone left it down there by mistake. It wouldn't hurt to at least check.
When Henry got down there, he stumbled upon what looked to be the sewer system and he ran into another ink-written jotting on the wall saying "Down Here, We're All Sinners".
But then a low moan made him looked to his left to see another ink creature sitting behind two boards. This one differed from the rest. It wore a light-colored derby hat and it was just standing there as it noticed Henry, not bothering to attack. Either it was because of the boards before it (but there were only two of them there, barely enough to get him from trying to reach Henry) or it was just afraid. And it was holding the pipe valve.
Although hesitant at first, Henry got closer to the creature, but in doing so, it dove into the ink out of sight with the valve.
"Was that thing holding my valve?", asked Henry to no one in particular.
"Nice hat", Nejire said with a smile.
Henry chopped through the two boards and maneuvered down the passageway of the sewer to get that valve back from that thing, all the while, ignoring the slight odor in the air. Along the way, there was yet another messages that read "The Sheep Will Come To Slaughter" and not only that, by he found himself stumbling upon a small workstation to the side. That was strangely peculiar. Who the hell would be working down here in a place like this?
Wouldn't the smell bother them?
Henry played the cassette sitting on the desk before listening to the voice of Sammy's lyricist, Jack Fain.
"I love the quiet and that's hard to come by these busy times. And yeah, sure. It may stink to high heaven down here, but it's just perfect for an old lyricist like me. Sammy's songs always got some bounce, but if I didn't get away once in a while, they'd never have any words to go with them.
So I'll keep my mind a-singin' and my nose closed",
Aizawa hummed hearing himself, agreeing full heartily.
Henry struggled to remember, but he could finally tell that Jack always wore a derby hat, which easily indicated that the ink creature holding the valve was Jack himself. Henry rushed further down the hall to come along a section of the sewer with two power engines and the creature, know recognized as a transformed Jack Fain, standing next to a wooden box on a platform on chains in front of the jotting "Sing With Me".
"Hey, there, uh, Jack", said Henry as he gently approached the ink Jack, "Could I please have that?", he hoped this would work.
But, again, when he reached his hand out for the valve, Jack disappeared into the ink again and reemerged in another section of the room. Henry tried a few more times to catch up to the evasive Jack, but was unsuccessful. Shaking his head in aggravation, he tried the switch on one of the ink valves to see what it could to. Sure enough, it lifted the box on the platform up and when Henry pulled the switch on the second one, the box dropped sharply to the ink-flooded floor just like that.
Aizawa turned cold, praying Izuku won't kill him over a valve.
It got Henry thinking curiously. If he could just lure Jack over that stop, 'No', he suddenly thought, walking away from it. "I can't just hurt him", he told himself as Jack has stopped in one corner, looking at Henry with a shaky hunch. "Jack, if you can understand me, please understand I need that valve to get out of here", Henry said with soft tone. Jack just backed away in total fear, 'It's ok, he's a ink creature and stuck here, he need help', Henry thought with a frown.
Everyone sighed in relief, glad he won't just kill him.
"Look, I remember your name, your Jack Fain, a lyricist, my name, is Henry", Henry said, thinking the introduction would help. Jack stopped shaking as he lifted his hunched face, mostly an inky mess with red eyes, to Henry.
"Hen... ry...?",
A few jumped at the sudden voice, but were confused how he knew his name.
"Yeah, that's it, Henry", the man said softly, but was surprised to see Jack appear right in front of him. What was more surprising was that the inky being stretched his arms up, shoving the valve into Henry's chest. He was confused, but took it, "Thanks, but why?", Henry asked, wanting to know why he suddenly wanted to help him. He didn't know if it was possible, but Henry could've worn he saw a smile on the strange creature.
"Friend... Set us... free...",
"Didn't that Sammy guy say that?", Mountain Lady asked.
With that, Jack disappeared in the ink, "Well that was strange, nice hat, though", Henry said as he then left the room, not noticing a figure in the darkness watching him. Returning to the infirmary above, Henry put the valve back in place of the ink pipe and turned it to stop the ink flow.
"Okay that should do it", said the former animator before arriving at Sammy's office to see the ink had stopped flowing, so he was clear to enter. Inside the office, Henry found some blueprints to the Ink Machine on Sammy's desk along with an old radio. He turned it on and it played the instrumental tune to the song "Build Our Machine", which was made popular in the modern days. Henry pulled the big switch.
Now that the stairwell was finally drained, Henry can exit and leave this haunted workshop and forget this whole nightmare.
So he made his way over to the stairwell, but before he can seize his chance at freedom, he felt someone club him over the head from behind.
BAM!
He starting feeling woozy from the blow and fell to the floor. As his vision blurred, he could see the same black figure he saw before standing over him and holding a dust pan, which he used to strike him with. He had a black body, was wearing white overalls and a smudged Bendy mask.
"Rest your head. It's time for bed", the figure soothed in a soft, mysterious, yet sinister voice before Henry lost consciousness.
"Oh shit", Kendo said in worry.
Later:
Henry groaned as he finally awoke to see that he was tied to a pole with a gag and the mysterious man was standing before him, clutching his axe. His voice sounded just like Sammy's. In fact, the dark figure pretty much was Sammy himself. Henry wasn't sure how this happened to him. Henry looked around to see that they were in a new room with intercom speakers.
"Huh, he's like, weirdly fit", Mina said, a few girls agreeing.
"There we go now, nice and tight. We wouldn't want our sheep roaming away now, would we?", Sammy said in his dark tone. "No, we wouldn't. I must admit I am... honored you came all the way down here to visit me. It almost makes what I'm about to do seem... cruel. But the believers must honor their savior. I must have him notice me", he said with a happy tone. He walked to the side, placing the axe on a nearby board.
Walking back over to Henry, he suddenly jumped up, "Wait, you look familiar to me. That face", he said, closing his mask to Henry's face. 'That's because we knew each other you psycho!', Henry thought in anger as he struggled against the ropes. "Not now. For our lord is calling to us, my little sheep. The time of sacrifice is at hand!
And then, I will finally be freed from this...prison. This inky, dark...abyss I call a body!", he said in anger as he looked at his inky palms. Henry grunted as he tried to removed the gag or wiggle out the ropes, but stopped when Sammy began talking agin.
"Shhhhhh! Quiet! Listen!",
There came thuds coming from above the ceiling and they both listened very closely. Without a doubt, that inky monster from before was moving around through the pipes.
Many shivered while the rest prepared for the worst.
"I can hear him", continued Sammy, "Crawling above. Crawling! Let us begin. The ritual must be completed! Soon he will hear me. He will set us free", he said softly.
"He's crazy", Toru said as a fact.
Sammy then abandoned Henry and left out the door to his right, leaving Henry struggling in his restraints, trying to get free. Then he remembered Wally's keys, which he found in the garbage can. With his hands that Sammy didn't even think to tie up, he reached in his pocket and took the keys out, then got to work in using the serrated end of the keys to cut the ropes. Sammy's chilling voice was heard over the speakers.
"Sheep, sheep, sheep. It's time for sleep. Rest your head. It's time for bed. In the morning, you may wake. Or in the morning, you'll be dead",
"Worst. Lullaby. Ever", Jiro said.
Then the ground shook while Henry was trying harder to cut himself free while the gate in front of him began to rise open while Sammy called to his "god" with desperate encouragement. "Hear me, Bendy! Arise from the darkness! Arise and claim my offering! Free me! I beg you. I summon you, ink demon! Show your face and take this tender sheep!",
In his moment of terror and fearing for his life, Henry cut faster until he heard demonic noises and Sammy yelling in complete horror.
"No! My lord! Stay back! I am your prophet! I am your-AAAAHHHHHH!",
From what Henry could tell, instead of coming at him and claiming his life directly, Bendy appeared to be killing Sammy, dispatching him brutally, even thought he was worshipping him and offering him a human sacrifice. Cutting through the last rope, Henry was free from his binds and hastily grabbed his axe before he was attacked by a few more ink creatures. But he swiped his axe at them and charged down the darkness into the corridor full of lumber to escape "Bendy". Henry sliced the planks to clear the path until his axe suddenly broke in half, rendering it useless.
Henry sighed, knowing that he now had no weapon to defend himself and suddenly saw the exit door dead ahead. There was ink flooding the floor, but Henry didn't care. He just wanted to leave. But then all of the sudden, the inked "Bendy" monster appeared from out of the sea of ink in front of the exit and chased after Henry in a slow, but quickened pace, which gave him enough time to escape with his life.
Many hearts stopped seeing Bendy again, but hoped for the best for Deku.
Henry bolted down the maze-like hallway to the right as the floor began to flood with more ink and "Bendy" following close behind with faster speed. Henry ran for another door and slammed it shut, putting a board over it and sighed, believing it was over and that he was finally out of danger. Pressing an ear on the door, he could hear his pursuer let out an inhuman moan before his departing footsteps faded down the other direction. He must've given up. For now, anyway. He was now standing in a room with a shelf full of Bendy dolls.
He got out of the room and entered down a hallway and suddenly froze stiff when he heard someone kick a can. Henry saw the can rolling across the floor from out behind the corner.
"Hello? Someone there? I know you're there. Come out and show yourself", Henry ordered as if ready to attack whoever it was that was going to try and maul him, even though he didn't have his axe anymore. The person causally walked out from behind the corner and stared at Henry, whose eyes widened in absolute disbelief and his jaw hit the floor wide open. He stood stiff as a statue in shock as he got a good look at the person before him.
He recognized that black body, those white overalls, those white opera gloves, that white face and snout and that familiar smile on his face. Henry couldn't believe it. It was impossible.
"Boris?",
Gaps were heard seeing a alive Boris walking, lost to how he was alive.
Chapter 3: Rise and Fall
Joey Drew Studios Presents
"TOMBSTONE PICNIC"
A Bendy Cartoon
Written and Directed by Joey Drew:
"Sweet, we'll actually see a cartoon!", Kota shouted, clearly excited.
Ah, it was a beautiful grey day to be having a picnic.
Our favorite demon, Bendy, was just happily waltzing through the beautifully-grass covered cemetery grounds when all of the sudden, he felt something grab his leg, causing him to fall to the ground and drop his picnic basket in the process. He sat up to see a boney hand gripping his ankle. He pulled, he yanked, trying to get it to let go, when the entire skeleton popped out of the ground. Bendy looked shocked for a moment.
The skeleton finally let go, wagged it's finger at him teasingly and gives him a wink before it sinks back into it's grave, pulling the ground over itself like a blanket. After all that, Bendy shot a confused stare at the audience. A sound of chewing disrupted his thoughts. Bendy saw something that lit his fuse.
"Ooh, someone's steamed!", Toru joked.
Boris was sitting on the ground, eating Bendy's food from his basket. This vexed the little devil greatly as the ditzy wolf should've just asked for Bendy's permission or if this was his basket or not. And yet, Boris wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, so he ousted casually munched away on a sandwich, completely unaware of Bendy.
But he was not gonna let this go.
He rolled up his sleeves, ready to give that dumb wolf a piece of his mind. He tapped his shoulder, but Boris was too busy eating to even notice. Then he grabbed the cloth that Bendy was standing on and lifted it up to wipe his lips, unknowingly causing the little devil to be rolled away onto the ground. Enraged and impatient, Bendy marched over and tapped his shoulder again, but he did could get the unaware wolf's attention.
But then an idea struck his head. Sending a wink to the audience, he snuck behind Boris and grabbed his soda out of the basket. He shook it up and aimed it at Boris. Upon popping off the cap, the shook-up soda bursted out of the bottle and into Boris's face, knocking him to the ground. All of the food was thrown into the air as a result.
A few laughs went out, enjoying the break from the serious world.
Bendy laughed at Boris's misfortune. But the wolf was less than pleased at being disrupted from his meal. He stood up and growled at Bendy, to which the devil ran away to escape his wrath. Just then, all the food fell from the sky and the basket fell on Boris's head before he could give chase. Suddenly forgetting his rage, he reached down to pick up the sandwich he was eating and continued his lunch.
Bendy was still running until he hid behind a tombstone. He peeked out to make sure he wasn't followed. When he peeked out again, the skeleton appeared doing the same as Bendy. After peeking out again at the same time, the two noticed each other. Although, Bendy jumped and ran away in fright, but the skeleton just watched him go. Bendy stumbled upon a boulder and rested his hand on it to catch his breath after all that running.
Then suddenly, he saw a large, human-shaped shadow cast over him on the boulder.
He looked to see who it was and smiled.
*FZZZT!*
"What the?", everyone asked as the screen shortly fizzed out.
Henry awoke with a start when he heard music playing, as well as the sound of ticking. He stretched and sat up to see that he was now in the room he and Boris were sharing. There was the "Sheep Songs" poster near his makeshift bed along with the hammock that Boris was using. There was a Bendy-themed clock on the wall. It was 12:02 AM in the morning, so he must've slept for an hour.
But then he remembered that he needed to get out of the studio as fast as possible. He left the master quarters and entered the bathroom. After taking a leak in the only toilet that worked and slashing his face in the sink, he looked at his reflection in the dirty mirror. There was a few wounds that he received during his encounters with those crawling ink creatures, or "Searchers" as Henry had found out, which were still healing.
He breathed a sigh and entered the living room of the safe house, past the clothes on the clothesline, and found Boris sitting at a table in the kitchen, just tapping his foot and nodding his head to the music on the radio. Boris waved at him while giving him his trademark smile, making Henry wave back with a smile. After he had found him, he led him to this Safe House, built into the studio, where they had stayed for a good while. He didn't know how long he's been here, but having met Boris, it made the entire experience more tolerable.
"Dogs are man's best friend", All Might said with a grin.
He walked over to the metal entrance door of the safe house and saw that the handle to the lever of the door is missing for some reason. Boris did mention the handle was removable. "I'm not getting out of here that easy", he muttered to himself, "I need to open the door, but the lever is missing. Boris probably has it", he said. He walked over to Boris, hoping to get some answers.
"Hey, buddy. Have you seen that lever handle around?", he asked the cartoon wolf, "Or are you holding it hostage until I make you something to eat?", he asked. The wolf just grinned a mischievous smile, making Henry sigh, not out of anger, but out of relief.
"I thought so", Henry nodded, expecting his kind of answer, "Let's see what we got", he said, walking away.
Remembering from the early cartoons that Boris is a "feed-me-now-and-I'll-help-later" type of person who is rather gluttonous, Henry knew that he'll only give him the handle, unless he made him some food to satisfy his insatiable hunger. Henry looked around the safe house to find three cans of bacon soup. Boris really loved bacon soup above anything else. For a very skinny guy, Boris sure ate a lot, probably why he was always hungry.
"That should be enough",
Returning to the kitchen, Henry turned the stove on and turned it up to high. He opened up all three cans with the help of the tab on them and poured each one into the pot. The concoction boiled and brewed as it steamed from the heat. Henry smelled the bacon-flavored aroma it produced as it cooked. It actually made his mouth water. Maybe a small bowl of this stuff wouldn't hurt. After all, it's been a while since he's eating and it will probably be a while before he can eat again.
So he grabbed two bowls - one for him, one for Boris - and poured some soup into them. He handed Boris his bowl of soup.
"Here you go", he told him.
"I wonder if that's good", Sero asked.
Henry sat down to eat his bowl of bacon soup while Boris pulled out the toolbox sitting on the floor and placed it on the table. After they were both finished and finally fed, Henry opened the toolbox and pulled out the handle to the lever and placed it back on the panel. Once he pulled it, the metal door opened. Looking over, he saw that Boris has finished eating and walked over to him, his big noes flopping around. "Let's see what's out there. Don't wander off", Henry told the wolf with a stern face.
"Best to stick together", Aizawa said.
Boris gave a thumbs up with his usual positively, making Henry shake his head with a smile at his goofiness. Then the two continued on into the building, ready to face what else was waiting for them out there. Hopefully not "Bendy" again. Henry has already seen enough of that godless ink creature. As they walked down the hallway, Henry caught sight of an outhouse-like object that said "Little Miracle Station" at the top.
"What's that for?", he asked Boris, who shrugged.
"Is that a Halo on it?", Ochako asked.
They continued until they stopped to see a dark hallway. It was too pitch black to see what was up ahead and there was no way Henry was gonna carry on without light.
"Looks like it's really dark up ahead. Let's find some light", Henry said as he looked at the desk. Boris picked up a flashlight he found on a desk and handed it to Henry, which he took and switched on. The duo slowly walked through the dark hallway with the flashlight, which revealed some functioning gears and machinery all around, producing steam as all those pipes and tech still worked, even after so long.
When they had gone about a few feet ahead, there was the sound of running footsteps from above.
This made them stop in their tracks and Boris jump in fright and grab onto Henry in a tight, protective embrace, making him almost lose his balance. But Henry didn't care that much.
"Did you hear that?", he asked his toonish friend.
Boris was shivering with fright and he only responded with a nod of his head yes.
"Hard to not hear it", Jiro said.
"Yeah, me either", agreed Henry as he pressed on with Boris still clinging to his back. He was lucky he was wasn't very heavy, otherwise if an ink monster were to appear out of nowhere at any given time, this would make their getaway a lot difficult. After the next few seconds of walking through the pitch black darkness, they happened upon a large metal door which two halves sealed shut. Boris finally gained the courage to hop off of Henry.
"Another dead end", Henry shook his head, "I don't see any other way through. You got any ideas, Boris?", Henry asked. Boris gestured to a vent beside the door, then to the flashlight in Henry's hand, who nodded.
Henry handed him the flashlight and Boris removed the cover and crawled inside of the vent, bringing the flashlight with him to provide him with light in order to see. Henry stood there before the door, waiting for Boris to do his work. It took a while, but the doors finally operated and slowly slid open. Henry silently thanked Boris and trotted down the long hallway where there was a large Bendy head on the wall up ahead. Upon coming closer, there were two entrances on either side.
Henry took the one on the left and stepped into a large room that took him off guard. It was a large merchandise room full of toys and plushies of different characters in various sizes. There was a large sign that read "Heavenly Toys" with a waterfall of ink spilling behind it at the front desk. On the wall behind the sign said "Dreams Come True", similar to the message from before. Henry was confused. He never knew the studio had this before. Since when does a cartoon studio make and sell toys?
"Aww, those are so cute!", Momo gushed.
"Wow. I don't remember any of this." Henry expressed while looking all around.
A toy factory below an abandoned animation studio? That just doesn't make any sense. Henry came upon a large Bendy doll which wasn't as big as the Boris doll which was as big a car. Henry gave the oversized Bendy a poke and it promptly flopped on it's side.
Shaking his head, Henry went up the steps to the catwalk behind the front desk and entered a room full of toys and more machinery. Possibly the place where the toys are made, Henry guessed mentally. There was a door, but like the previously doors he came upon, it was blocked, courtesy of the shelves of toys carried by an overhead track.
"Why is there always something blocking the door?", Henry sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Gotta be a way through", he reasoned.
On a table through a gap in the shelves, there was a small bowl with an ink blot in the shape of Bendy and another cassette. Henry pressed play and heard the Irish-accented voice of the toymaker, Shawn Flynn.
"I don't be seein' what the big deal is. So what if I went and painted some of those Bendy dolls with a crooked smile? That's sure no reason for Mr. Drew to be flyin' off the handle at me. And if he really wants to be so helpful, he could be tellin' me what I'm to be doin' with this warehouse I got full of that angel whatchamacallit.
Not a scrap of that mess be a-sellin'!
Probably have to melt it all down to be rid of it all",
Many laughed at the new voice, reminding them of the Demoman.
Henry remembered meeting Shawn during the old days. He claimed that he began making Bendy merchandise under Joey's supervision. But he never really mentioned anything about building a toy factory of some sort in the studio. Or maybe he did.
Anyway, Henry needed to get this toy machine working again if he needs to get through. Following the cables back out from where he came, one stopped at a punch-card stand, while the other lead to a lever. He pulled that lever and entered the room again, but there were toys jammed in the belt wheels. He groaned and pulled each one out, getting the wheels spinning.
He pulled the switch, causing the wall of toys to move to the right.
Throwing the switch again and again, he stopped when he finally had a clear path towards the door.
The next room he stepped into had a room ahead with a glass window with "She's Quite a Gal!" sign above it, surrounded by small television sets. Not only that, but there was an Alice Angel cutout to his left and a shelf of Alice Angel dolls. This is quite strange. Before Henry could think of anything, the lights in the room shut off, leaving only a flickering light illuminating the sign. The TVs turned on to show Alice heads on the screens before music started to play. Then an advertisement song sung by Alice Angel herself played over the speakers.
"~ I'm the cutest little angel, sent from above,
and I know just how to swing.
I got a bright little halo, and I'm filled with love...
I'm Alice Angel!
I'm the hit of the party, I'm the belle of the ball,
I'm the toast of every town.
Just one little dance, and I'll warm your heart...
I'm Alice Angel!
I ain't nobody, I'm a happy dish,
and boy, can this girl sing.
This gal can grant your every wish...~",
A few swayed to the tone of the music, liking the sweet singing voice.
Henry almost bobbed his head to the sound of Susie's singing. He listened to the song playing for a few seconds before the light inside the window was turned on as if there was a show going on. He walked forward with a hunched position, trying to get a better look inside. Then all of the sudden, a feminine ink figure bursted out of nowhere and pressed against the glass, making Henry jump back and fall on his but.
"AHHH!", many screamed in fear at the sight.
"I'M ALICE ANGEL! NOOOOOO!", she screamed with frustration and banged on the glass as she roared with fury. All the lights and TV screens in the room shutting off abruptly, leaving the room dark completely. Glass can be heard shattering. Her enraged screams became chuckles until there was absolute silence, scaring the man to no end. It was so dark that Henry couldn't even see his hand in front of his face, and this new creature didn't help.
"I see you there", he heard the woman's voice in the dark in a now calm, though eerie air in her voice. "A new fly in my endless web. Come along now, let's see if you're worthy to walk with angels", she teased.
"I think a long distance relationship would work better", Ms. Joke joked, a few laughing.
The lights came back on and there was a hole broken into the window, but the ink woman was gone, which indicated that she must've escaped and could be anywhere. Henry barely had time to make out her features before he was met with pitch black darkness once again, but he got a good look of her face. Her hideous, half-deformed face. Unable to tell if she was an angel or a demon. Luckily, there was a new path to his left and he took it.
Eventually, he was met with a sign in a crossroad.
A type of sign that you would usually find in a bike trail or something like that. The two signs pointed in both directions. The sign pointing to the right said "Angel", while the sign pointing to the left read "Demon". Henry thought hard about his options. If he took the demon path, he may or may not run into "Bendy" again. But if he took the angel path, there could be a slight chance that he might be safe...ish.
The demon path had a mess of ink everywhere, so that would be a no-go. Although, it wouldn't hurt to at least give it a shot. As he entered the demon path, his theory was correct. Ink everywhere. Spilling from the walls and celling, forming an ink pool. Henry found another cassette and played it.
He actually heard Joey's voice for the first time.
"There's nothing wrong with dreaming. Wishing for the impossible is just human nature. That's how I got started. Just a pencil and a dream. We all want everything without even having to lift a finger.
They say you just have to believe. Belief can make you succeed. Belief can make you rich. Belief can make you powerful. Why, with enough belief, you can even cheat death itself.
Now that is a beautiful and positively silly thought",
All Might paled. No matter what universe, he'd never forget that voice. The voice of All For One.
Henry rolled his eyes and face-palmed himself. Typical Joey Drew. Always trying to act and sound like his rival, Walt Disney. Acting like he can perform the impossible.
Eccentric, albeit lacking common sense, Joey always had a belief that he could "change the world" or "cheat death". Not that he actually said that, but it just gave you that vibe. If only someone were to tell his stupid ass to stop living a fantasy. Starting back out of the path, leaving a trail of ink footprints in his wake, he took the angel path to his right.
It wasn't as messy as the demon path. He passed another "Dreams Come True" jotting on the wall and came upon another cassette sitting on a couch next to an Alice Angel voice.
Pressing play, Susie's voice was heard again, but sounding heartbroken.
"Everything feels like it's coming apart. When I walked into the recording booth today, Sammy was there with that...Allison. Apparently, I didn't get the memo. Alice Angel will now be voiced by Miss Allison Pendle.
A part of me died when he said that...
There's gotta be a way to fix this",
Nejire was now worried for herself, hoping her fate wasn't bad.
Oh, how Henry remembered that day when Susie broke down after hearing that she had been replaced by someone else. He came to her to comfort her and things been between them turned...well, romantic. But this was long before he and Linda got together. She and Joey used to date during her time at the studio, but he eventually cheated on her for reasons unknown.
Henry continued through the hallways. The corridor had more ink pipes with a few skinnier ones that spat out steam. Going through the next door, there came yet another unexpected game of peekaboo from a Bendy cutout that peeked it's head around the corner, making him gasp. Turning the corner, he saw Boris there, giggling.
That must've been him, playing a joke on Henry.
"Boris!", Henry nearly yelled, "You scared me to death!", Henry said as he placed a hand over his rapid beating heart. Boris had the decency to looked embarrassed about his little prank, which made Henry sigh. He couldn't be mad at his friend, it was all in good fun, he probably did it to help relieve some stress. He and countless others were trapped in the nightmarish Hell that is the old studio, so finding some good stuff was a luxury.
"Like best buds", Mina said.
"Don't suppose you found anything we can use to protect ourselves with?", asked Henry, shaking the startled feeling. Boris handed him a Gent pipe, a weirdly made pipe that had two hands, somehow made to be held like a club. "This will do", Henry said, gripping the weapon in his hands and pressing on through the first door with Boris following behind.
The room they were currently in had a mess of ink on the floor and shelves full of toys. Beyond that was another metal door which seemed to be operated by control panel system. The door release panel had two blinking lights for both A and B. One of the switches was close by, next to a Bendy statue.
"Looks like to open this, we're going to need to throw two levers at once", Henry theorized. "You get this one. I'll find the other", Henry said as Boris nodded and stood by the switch.
"Again with these puzzle solving", Katsuki grunted.
Like before, Henry followed the one cable leading down the hallway to the left and right down another hall on the left. The lever was next a poster depicting three characters called the Butcher Gang.
Henry remembered these guys.
There was Charley, the character who resembled a chimpanzee, Barley, a human sailor and Edgar, who was a spider.
Upon nearing the lever, a mutilated ink creature ripped through the poster! The monster looked like Charley and it climbed out, landing on his stomach, until it got back up.
SNARLL!
It pounced on him and tried to smack him with a wrench. Afraid, but determined, Henry struck the hideous thing with the pipe multiple times before the Charley monster collapsed and exploded in a puddle of ink.
"What the Hell was that thing?!", Endeavor yelled.
"Okay, I found the other one. On three. One...", began Henry.
"...two..."
"Three!", Henry shouted in and they both simultaneously pulled both levers at once. The door was opened and the dynamic duo walked through the crossing corridors until they entered a two-story room with stairs leading to an elevator. The kind with gate-like doors. Henry pushed the button and the elevator doors opened, allowing him and Boris entrance.
Before Henry could decide which button to push, the deformed 'Alice's' voice was heard speaking over the intercom while the elevator closed and descended seemingly on it's own.
"You're so interesting. So different", she explained with a somewhat sultry, beckoning tone of voice. "I have to say I'm an instant fan. Looks like you've got a date with an angel. Come to me now. Level 9. Just follow the screams", she spoke with a giggle.
"No thanks, I prefer life", Kaminari joked.
Henry looked at Boris confused, though he looked back at him with a worrisome look, like he was about to get on a large roller coaster for the first time. Henry could understand why he seemed so skittish at this point. And there they were on Level 9.
"Come on, step out of your cage. There's a whole twisted world out here", 'Alice' sounded almost begging for them come down and join her. Henry found another cassette on a shelf and there was the deep, tough-sounding voice of a worker named Thomas Connor.
"These blasted elevators. Sometimes they open, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they come, sometimes they keep on going to hell and back. I keep telling these people, if Mr. Joey Drew keeps cutting corners like this, someone's sure to end up falling to their deaths.
And it sure ain't gonna be me.
I'm taking the stairs",
"Smart choice", Ectoplasm said.
Henry could recognize that voice belonging to the studio repairman. He didn't really know him personally, they just usually say a simple "Hi" to each other and went about their own business. Henry got back on track with Boris and they both stood by a door with the same "She's Quite a Gal!" sign with Alice Angel's head above it.
This must be where said 'Angel' must be.
The second the door was opened, Boris darted inside, running down the corridor while Henry followed suit, confused as to why he was in such a hurry. "Hey Boris, wait up!", Henry shouted as he sprinted down the hall, passing another full body cutout of Alice Angle.
What he saw next was far beyond anything he's seen before, "What?", Henry asked, honestly breathless. His confusion and shock out as he gazed upon the room he was now in.
The entire room was filled with deceased Boris clones. Each one strapped to an examination table with their chests cut open, organs removed and replaced with mechanical strain, just like the Boris corpse Henry found when he first came into the studio. But this can't be. There were actually more than one Boris? While the live Boris was staring at the dead body of his clone, eyes widened with horror, Henry carefully crossed the sea of ink on a small bridge of planks.
"I'm gonna be sick", Miro said as he covered Eri's eyes.
"Look around. It took so many of them to make me so beautiful", breathed 'Alice's' seductive, silky voice over the speakers. "Anything less than perfect was left behind. I had to do it. She made me", she ended, sounding scared.
Henry finally crossed the ink sea to the other side and waved towards Boris; a silent signal telling him that he'll be right back. The doors were opened for Henry as he was followed the machinery and mechanism-filled hallway towards a room where he could see through a large window that the 'Alice Angel' woman was electrocuting a Piper clone, who was strapped to an examination table of his own. 'Alice' cut off the torture to speak with Henry. Now he could see her closely. She looked like a humanoid version of the sinning angel herself, except her half-deformed face differed from it all.
She still had those demon horns, the halo, which was nearly melted into her head, and the majority of her body was black, including her hands and feet.
"She looks like a zombie", Kota said.
"Hmm. Now we come to the question", she began in that sickening, though smooth as honey voice of hers. It sounded almost demonic. "Do I kill you? Do I tear you apart to my heart's delight? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How's a girl to choose?",
She giggled, then jabbed an angry finger at the Charlie clone, now called Piper.
"Take this little freak for instance! He crawled in here...trailing his tainted ink to my door! It could've touched me! It could have pulled me back! Do you know what it's like? Living in the dark puddles?
It's a buzzing, screaming well of voices! Bits of your mind, swimming like...like fish in a bowl! The first time I was born from it's inky womb, I was a wiggling, pussing, shapeless slug! The second time...well...it made me an Angel!", she said with raised arms. Her voice constantly changing, from frightened, to calm, to happy, to demonic, to even like two people talking at once.
"I will not let the demon touch me again. I'm so close now. So...almost perfect", she exhaled with relief and pure happiness before speaking again.
"Yes, I will spare you. For now. Better yet, I'll let you ascend and leave this place. If you will do a few eensey weensey little favors for me first. Return to the lift, my little errand boy. We have work to do", she said with a 'grin'.
That being said, 'Alice' pushed a button, covering the window with steel walls, continuing her electrical torture on the Piper clone. Henry gulped as he made his way back to the elevator. It almost sound like Susie's voice in there. But no! NO! That couldn't be Susie in that body.
But then it hit him.
He remembered her stating that 'Alice' is like a part of her. As he crossed the sea of ink to rejoin Boris, his mind put the pieces together. Multiple Borises, each with it's insides cut out. 'Alice' must've committed all of this to give herself the perfect, beautiful appearance. Once Henry saw another cassette, he crossed over to play it
Another recording by Susie.
"Who would've thought? Me having lunch with Joey Drew! Apparently times are tougher than I thought. For a moment there, I thought I'd be stuck with the check. But I gotta say, he wasn't at all what I expected. Quite the charmer.
He even called me Alice.
I liked it",
"Alright, now I'm scared", Nejire said in fear.
This must be before they started dating. Henry shook his head, remembering when Joey cheated on her and she started dating him. If only Joey wasn't so barbaric. Finally exiting though the front door, 'Alice' gave him his first task.
"My machines are hungry! Gather me some spare parts", she ordered.
Then a mechanism near the door opened up to reveal a wrench. Attaching the pipe to his belt with a rope for later use, he grabbed the wrench and left to perform his first mission while Boris chose to take shelter in the elevator. "She wants me to perform some tasks for her", explained Henry. "You should probably stay in this elevator where it's safe. I don't think "Bendy" and any of those Searchers can get through metal", Henry said as he lightly tapped the metal bars.
Boris nodded with frightful agreement as he would prefer to be safe than help Henry. But he prayed for the best and hoped that the Ink Demon didn't find Henry and kill him during his little missions. Then 'Alice's' voice broke the ominous silence via the intercom.
"There are so few rules to our world now. So little truths. But there is one rule we all know and respect down here. Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you. For if you see him, you better hide. If you don't, well, I enjoyed our date. Now, let us begin our work", she explained, almost teasingly.
"Have you met him? The Ink Demon? They say he hears everything. Every creak of the floor. Every rustle of paper. I wouldn't run so fast if I were you, you never know what will draw him in", 'Alice' said in a mischievous/scared tone.
"Sure, take advice from the known murderer", Kirishima sarcastically said.
Henry scattered across the building to Level K and found each wall gear boxes for those four required gears. Most were empty, but Henry wasn't going to give up. More of those Searchers formed out different places to try and kill him, but they were no match for Henry and his weapons. Henry gathered all four gears, keeping his steps as quiet as he could, hoping not to arouse attention from the "Bendy" monster.
From then on, Henry continued finding the gears until his first task was done. "Ah, that should be plenty. Return them to me. And try not to die on the way back", 'Alice' ordered over the intercom. "You make it sound so easy to do", Henry sarcastically said as he left. He returned to the elevator with Boris and made it back to Level 9 to deliver the gears through the slot near the door.
"Have you seen them? The swollen ones! They're just stuffed full of extra thick ink! It makes me sick! And yet, it's the perfect thing for keeping myself together. If you're going to catch them, you're going to have to learn to move quietly. Come back to my door. I'll have something that you'll need", 'Alice' explained.
Next, Henry was given a large syringe for his next task in retrieving extra thick ink from the swollen Searchers. Then he went on to Level 11, find one swollen Searcher after another. Remembering that he needed to approach them quietly, he used the syringe to collect their ink one by one. Once he had enough, he returned to Alice's door with the ink-filled syringe. He crossed an ink pool to find a window.
From there, he caught a glimpse of an inky figure with a functional projector as head just walking creepily across the floor, while flashing a bright projection where ever it went. "What the Hell was that?", Henry asked himself, until he noticed another cassette by Wally Franks on the barrel next to him.
"I don't get it. Everyone's walking around here like grandma just died. Nothing, but angry faces everywhere. These people gotta lighten up. I mean, hello! You make cartoons. Your job is to make people laugh. I'm telling you.
If these people don't start cracking a smile every now and then, I'm outta here!",
"Am I gonna say that every time?", Kirishima asked.
Henry shook his head in aggravation. He was starting to think that he always ends his recordings with "I'm outta here!" every time. It's starting to get a little irritating. He collected the last bit of thick ink from a Butcher member called a Fisher, who looked like Barley.
"Once upon a time, there was an angel. And she was beautiful. And loved by all. She was perfect. No matter what Joey says", 'Alice' said over the intercom. Was she referring to herself or Susie, unless... they were the same? Back down the elevator he went and Henry put the syringe filled with the extra thick ink through the slot and was given the next task by 'Alice'.
"I'll make this simple. Look for the valve panels. Turn the little wheels. Then bring me their power cores. Please don't make me regret sparing you. I can always change my mind", 'Alice' angrily said.
"He's done this before, no need to be so pushy", Ochako said.
The next weapon she gave him was...a plunger
Although confused, Henry was more focused on this task at hand. Hopping onto the elevator with Boris once more, he searched for various valve panels in Level P. There was another "He Will Set Us Free" jotting on the wall along with one that said "I Don't Want to Work Here Anymore". He had to turn the small wheels until they had the same amount of ink and then collected the power cores.
It seemed like he made too much noise as he noticed web-like patterns ink spreading around on the walls, signaling the Ink Demon's approach. In direct response to that, Henry instinctively panicked and ran into a Little Miracle Station to hide until he was sure he was gone. Though it was slow, after "Bendy" went into the walls, his ink webbing fading, letting Henry leave. Afterwards, he returned to 'Alice's' door with the power cores.
"You see those grinning demons? Let's remove them, shall we? I've got just the tool to make this even more enjoyable", 'Alice' said with unfiltered glee.
Henry was given a new axe as his weapon which he used to chop down the planks blocking the door to another room just to see what was in there. A Searcher seemed to be waiting for him in there, but he immediately chopped it into bits with his axe.
Another cassette as he expected and it hit play to hear Grant Cohen's voice.
"They say the real problem with Mr. Drew is that he never actually tells us little people anything. Oh, sure. According to him, there's always big stuff coming. Adventure and fame and the like. But I'm the guy, see, who has to make sure our budgets don't go all out of whack just because genius upstairs went out and got himself another idea.
Speaking of which, and this is top secret, apparently Mr. Drew has another large project in mind now...and it ain't gonna be cheap",
No one could argue with that, considering what they're seeing.
After that, Henry got to work, doing the same procedure.
Searching the building upstairs on Level K, axing each Bendy cutout he passed into pieces out by one. The trail lead him back to the Heavenly Toys section where there were many cutouts strewn about the room. "Oh, I forgot to mention, he hates that, I would hide if I were you", 'Alice' said with a chuckle on the intercom. Suddenly, "Bendy" made his presence known by coming out of the wall with his ink.
"Yipe!", Koda said in fear of the beast appearing again.
Taking shelter inside a Little Miracle Station, Henry waited and witness the towering form of the Ink Demon stagger across the wooden floors with unsteady legs like a zombie. "Bendy" was letting out hissing gasps that sounded like faint snarling. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he was gone. By the time he was done with the final cutout, Alice over the speakers replied, "Ah, now that was fun!", she said.
Henry hurried his way down to 'Alice's' door, when he heard "Bendy" appear a few feet behind him and terrified, Henry ran for his life as the Ink Demon chased after him, having a bone to pick with him after chopping his cutouts to pieces. Henry quickly hid inside a Little Miracle Station and stayed quiet, until the Figure of Ink lost interest and disappeared, which he did. Relieved that he finally lost him, Henry made it back to 'Alice' and her door.
"The disgusting wretched have wandered my halls, have been left unchecked! They're trying to drag me back to the darkness! Don't let them take your Angel! Purge them one by one! Smash them into puddles! Kill them!", she screamed in fear/anger.
Henry was ambushed by the Butcher Gang and Searchers all at once and the brave Henry fought them off single-handedly with his pipe. They all exploded and dissolved into ink puddles.
Now all was quiet.
All was silent.
Everyone was tense at the sudden fight and the silence that followed.
"So quiet. Like a welcoming grave. I like the silence, don't you? I hate leaving work unfinished! Fortunately, I have you to pick up the pieces. But you'll have to go even deeper. Down, down, down into the abyss. Take the lift down. Say hello to an old friend. Sending you a little present. A little firepower. Take good care of it. It belonged to someone very special", 'Alice' said in a happy sounding voice.
She sent him what looked to be a tommy gun. Henry was confused, given the fact that he never operated a gun before. When he reached out to grab it, he felt like he was holding a piece of cardboard, so he tested it.
BANG, BANG, BANG!
Ok, so it wasn't a fake gun, though there was a question Henry had to ask, "If you don't mind me asking, who did this use to belong to?", he asked the door.
"Kinda of a weird question to ask after all that", Present Mic said with a head tilt.
There was silence, making Henry think that she wasn't gonna answer, so he went to the elevator. "It was...", 'Alice' started, making Henry stop and look back at the speakers. "It was something an old flame had and I kept it with me, so don't loose it, or else, also, it's rude to asked about previous loves on the first date", 'Alice' explained. This just gave more questions than answers, like if him thinking it was Susie and that the gun be,on he'd to Joey.
Henry shook his head at being played like that, but he pressed on to do what he was told. Entering the elevator with Boris, they both descended down to Level 14. The bottom level. Henry stepped out and saw that the structure he was standing on was surrounded by another sea of ink. Finding a dead cartoon body, he picked up it's heart and put it in his pocket. It was squishy, soggy, and had ink all over, but the job had to be done.
He stopped when he saw a familiar flickering bright light from one of the entrances.
"Shhhh...there he is. The Projectionist. Skulking in the darkness", 'Alice' warned over the intercom. "You be sure to stay out of his light, if you don't want any trouble. Just bring me back the pieces I need",
The hulking figure was tall and intimidating, scaring many.
As Henry quietly tip-toed towards the steps, he saw the same projector-headed ink figure from before, pacing eerily from entrance to entrance, flashing his projections everywhere within his viewpoint. Henry had to be smart about this if he wanted to get out of here alive. Seeing another cassette, he quickly grabbed it and walked away with it and hid behind the corner.
Pressing play, he heard Norman's voice again.
"Now I'm not lookin' for trouble. It's just the nature of us projectionists to seek out the dark places. You see, I've learned the ins and outs of this here studio. I know how to avoid being bothered by the likes of this...company. That projectionist, they always say, creeping around, he's just lookin' for trouble.
Well, trouble or not, I sees everything.
They don't even know when I'm watching.
Even when I'm right behind 'em",
"Does that mean he's right behind him?", Best Jeanist asked.
Henry's eyes widened with realization. Could that monster really be Norman Polk? It has to be. Who else knows how to work the camera?
Carefully going through the maze of ink-flooded hallways and minding his surroundings, he collected four more of the ink hearts and snuck behind the Projectionist and shot him a few times in the back. It then collapsed on the ground, presumably dead. It was almost too easy. But then, he found an idea.
Turning a corner through the ink, he bashed some boards with his pipe until he found a pipe valve, which he turned. Exhaling from all that pressure, he climbed back up the steps and returned to the elevator to return to 'Alice'.
"Tell me, were they still writhing in your hands? Bring them to me now! I don't like to wait!", she ordered in anger.
Henry was back at 'Alice's' door in no time and placed the hearts into the slot and wiped his hands on his jacket. The fact that he had to carry still fresh hearts disgusted him, but he'll have to bear with it in order to really leave.
"It seems we've reached the end of my to-do list, my little errand boy. I hope you enjoyed our time together. I'll always treasure it. Return to the lift. It's time to go home", Alice said.
"Finally", Ochako and Inko said in relief.
But Henry wanted to see something first before he could leave. Reminding Boris that he'll be just a moment, Henry climbed the staircases until he found the secret room which was flooded to the brim with ink earlier, but it wasn't anymore since Henry turned the valve on Level 14. Descending down those stairs, he found another cassette
What was this one doing down here? He wondered if this still worked, even after being drowned in ink. Thankfully, it did. He pressed play and heard his own voice.
"Only two weeks into this company and already it's gotten interesting. Joey is a man of ideas and only ideas. When I agreed to start this whole thing with him, I thought there would be a little more give and take. Instead, I give and he takes. I haven't seen Linda for days now. Still, someone has to make this happen.
When in doubt, just keep drawing, Henry.
On the plus side, I've got a new character I think people are going to love",
Many were shocked to hear a younger version of Deku on the recording.
Henry was quite surprised as he remembered making this recording in the past. He was recently hired to sketch cartoons for the studio that day and he started seeing the tyrant part in Joey.
The working hours at Joey Drew Studios have been painfully long, that Henry never had any time to spend with Linda. Soon, Henry was back in the elevator with Boris. They both shared a hug as the elevator began it's ascend. Henry breathed a sigh of relief. Glad that he'll finally be out of here and away from this damned studio. Maybe he could bring Boris along with him.
But what will he tell Linda? It'll take some getting used to. But at least he'll be away from this haunted place and never see it again.
"Have you ever wondered what Heaven is like?", asked 'Alice' over the speakers, making the two look up. "I like to dream that it's quite beautiful. A soft valley of green grass, blanketed by a warm sun. I don't think I'll ever get to see it. Are you ready to ascend, my little errand boy? The heavens are waiting", she said, until she began slightly sobbing, Boris and Henry looking at each other.
The sound of her giggles was heard next, which then turned into maniacal laughter, putting both Henry and Boris on edge. And then, all of the sudden, before the elevator could go any further to allow Henry to reach his way out, the elevator began to plummet in rapid speed, with the outside creating sparks as it fell fast. Henry and Boris started to float as the rapid descend was effecting their gravity. Boris was shielding his eyes with fear and shivered while Henry held him close with comfort.
SCREEEEECH!
A few reeled back in shock at the elevator going down at a rapid speed.
Alice then roared over the intercom with her voice laced with venom and fury, "Did you really think I'd let you steal from me?! Did you really think I'd just let you go?! No, Henry! I know who you are!
And I know why you're here!
And you will not stop what needs to be done! Now come down and bring me back my Boris! It's the most perfect Boris I've ever seen and I want it! I need it! I need it's insides so I can be beautiful again! Don't you understand?! Don't you get it?! Give him to me!", she yelled in the speakers. Henry was angered as he went over to hold Boris protectively, "Not a chance you deformed bitch!", he yelled.
"You tell her Izuku!", Kirishima shouted with a fist bump.
'Alice' scoffed indignantly, "Fine then, I'll take him! Once...you're...DEAD!",
The elevator came to an abrupt halt, bringing it's current riders smack down to it's floor, knocking them unconscious.
CRASH!
Everything was dark now.
Dark and cold.
The next thing Henry knew, he was in a hallway somewhere in the studio. His vision was blurry at first and he slowly opened his eyes to see Boris trying to jostle him awake. But Henry could see a few inches behind Boris, the silhouetted form of 'Alice' slowly approaching in a seductive, hip-swinging waltz, just inching nearer and nearer. Henry wanted to say or scream something to warn Boris, but he didn't have the strength.
He shut his eyes again, but when he opened them again, the last thing he saw was Boris being yanked away from him into the darkness.
"Bor...is...",
"Oh dear God, please tell us he's ok!", Mountain Lady shouted at the screen, worried for the wolf like everyone.
Chapter 4: Colossal Wonders
"Alright, Joey. I'm here. Let's see if we can find what you wanted me to see",
Once Henry was brought back to consciousness, the last thing he could remember was the elevator crashing, Boris trying to bring him around and then that inky bitch, "Alice" kidnapping the poor floppy snoot. Henry noticed the sparkling, destroyed remains of the elevator after it had crash-landed on Level S, the level that he was currently standing on. Looks like he won't be using that again any time soon. But then he remembered Boris and that he was in terrible danger.
Boris stood by his side and even helped him out.
If he's gonna escape this wretched Hellhole of what was once a most promising animation studio, he was not gonna leave without him.
"Hell yeah, never leave a man behind!", Kirishima yelled.
Henry maneuvered down the long corridor ahead of him and didn't stop until he was met with a sign on the wall that read, "Level S - Accounting & Finance", which meant that he was undoubtably at the section of the studio where its finances are overlooked. He could also take notice of the walls of dark brown earthy mass in the foundations.
Dirt, he speculated in his head.
He must be deep below the earth's surface.
"How far down is that place?", Cementos asked.
What kind of studio has this many floors so deep underground? Henry took the direction on the right to see if he can find anything in Grant's office. Once he found the management office, he opened it up, only to silently gasp in shock.
There was a huge amount of frantic writing all over the walls and the floor in ink, the words written over each other in various sizes. Small words like "taxes" or "time is money" or a small code of numeral characters.
Either Grant was schizophrenic or the notion that Joey's negligence of the studio's financial struggle was so overwhelming to him, that he just got crazy and stressed out in such a way that he just wrote all this down everywhere to remind himself of the main goal. Henry found a cassette on the desk. Maybe that could give him a clue as to what happened. But when he pressed the button, all he could hear was a series of loud, frightening yelling and indiscernible sentences, followed by a shattering noise.
Lifting an eyebrow as he listened more closely, he couldn't make out who this person was and it sounded as if they were being attacked by someone or something. But as the tape's timeframe progressed and neared the end, the person's anguished cries were replaced by the familiar low groaning before the tape finally turned off.
"What happened to you Grant?", Henry softly whispered to himself in disbelief as this tape baffled him greatly. Could this be someone getting possessed by ink and turning into a Searcher? Henry wasn't sure, but wasn't going to listen to that again. Everything was already giving him goosebumps. Exiting the office, he turned to where the sign was and took the other direction towards Archives J - L and the R&D Access that brought him towards a metal door that strongly resembled those doors from a submarine.
But there was no handle to open it with.
"Oh come on, again?", Sero asked, tired of all the blocks that were in place.
"Definitely something missing here", Henry muttered before going back to search Grant's office again to find a small valve handle and brought straight back to put it back in place. With a small hope that nothing creepy would be behind this new door, he was proven deadly wrong the minute he opened it.
Lights turned on to reveal that there appeared to be a small circular stage of some sort with a group of humanoid ink statues crowded in front of a Bendy statue in poses that made it look like they were worshipping it. The banner above them said the same jotting from before, "He Will Set Us Free".
This brought a chill up Henry's spine. If that wasn't creepy enough, he prayed that those ink mannequins wouldn't turn their heads at any point to look him in the eye. That would be worse.
"Defiantly", everyone agreed.
But remembering that Boris's life was at stake, he had to get back on track. Circling around the unnerving scene before him, he entered a small library section of the room that went in a circle as well, but he found his way into the middle that had a desk and a table in the center with another cassette sitting there. Henry played it, hoping there would be some decent information in this one.
It was another one from Susie Campbell.
"They told me I was perfect for the role. Absolutely perfect. Now Joey's going around, saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell. Now he wants to meet again tomorrow, says he has an "opportunity" for me. I'll hear him out. But if that smooth-talker thinks he can double-cross an angel and get away with it, well, oh, he's got another thing coming.
Alice, ooh, she doesn't like liars",
"I'm loosing my mind!", Nejire shouted in fear.
Now in this one, she sounded rather suspicious that Joey hasn't been faithful to her about her role as Alice Angel. This could have something to do with Susie being replaced with Allison. But that doesn't matter at the moment. He circled around the archives until he found a door that said "Private" with five unlit light bulbs above it.
Henry pushed onto the door to enter the next room, but it wouldn't budge. Maybe it was bolted shut on the other side or maybe there was a secret way to open it.
It was a door to somewhere private. Surely they weren't going to just leave a switch or something out for someone to just randomly push. There had to be some secret code hiding somewhere in the archives. He just had to search for it. After some scrounging, there was a random book sticking out from the shelf.
Now this may sound far-fetched, but Henry saw this in a movie once where a person had to take out a book out in order to open up a secret passageway. Perhaps this would be the other way around. Henry tried the opposite and pushed the book in place. Sure enough, one of the light bulbs lit up.
"So that's how it works", he mentioned with an understood nod, movie knowledge that wasn't phony.
"Like those horror movies", Kaminari said.
Henry searched the joint for more books to push in. However, after he pushed two more books in, without warning, everything seemed to start shaking.
Henry's vision was distorted and he could swear he could hear a high-pitched bloodcurdling scream of mortal terror, bombarding against his eardrums. The vault doors opened and closed on their own accord and the chandelier swung around. Just as suddenly as this began, it ended finally and everything was back to normal. Henry had fallen to the floor when this uncanny disruption happened out of nowhere and he returned to his feet, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"The Hell was that?!", Katsuki shouted.
What the Hell just happened? Was he just hallucinating? He sure has spent too much time in this studio and he was starting to suffer from hallucinatory visions. Henry recollected his thoughts and returned to the stage to find only the Bendy statue there, which left him stunned.
Where did the ink statues go?
How could they just disappear like that so fast and not make noise? He shrugged this off and pushed the last two books in and he was finally able to open the "Private" door. He walked in to find himself standing in some kind of underground mine, much to his bewilderment. There was a seemingly-bottomless dark pit down below, which looked like a long way down, and some cages hanging on chains.
"There is no way that's natural", Aizawa said.
Everything about this raised some questions in Henry's mind. How does an animation studio have a mine built below it or was the studio built above it? Was this where they got all the ink from? Was the ink actually oil?
Either way, he didn't have time to ponder this unexplainable discovery so he pressed on, walking across the wooden walkway toward a mechanism that operated a cart on a cable to move from one side to the other. But Henry noticed that it had a gear missing.
"I can get across here if I could find a way to fix this", he said, wanting to get to Boris as soon as possible.
Behind him, there was a strange-looking machine with the word "Gent" on it.
Although curious, he ignored it and skedaddled down a hallway that ended at a large, wide pipe as it looked like. Pulling the lever on the wall next to him, the giant cylinder slowly raised to reveal a mess of bubbling ink inside. Henry turned the ink valve, wondering what would happen next. Henry yelped when a swollen Searcher emerged from the ink with it's back turned to him.
As Henry stepped forward, the swollen Searcher turned to him with it's inky face, stopping Henry in his tracks. For what seemed like hours, man and ink stared at one another with an unmoving gaze, one of fear, the other confusion. "Um", Henry started as he took a cautionary step forward, "I need that swollen ink on your back. I can get if you want to attack me, but please, I mean no harm", Henry said with calming hand motions.
The Searcher did nothing, until it reached behind itself, pulling the chunk off, then handed it to Henry.
"Good... luck...", with that, it went back into the ink.
"They're really warming up to him aren't they?", All Might said.
Henry thought maybe he could put this thick ink somewhere. He returned to the Gent machine and placed it inside, then turned the handle before watching it whir and vibrate. Then it suddenly spit out a gear on the floor.
It amazed Henry greatly.
Did they actually figure out a way to make objects out of ink? How was this even possible? The law of science and physics were breaking, though he was sure the entire studio already broke them when they made the Ink Machine.
"WHAT, HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!", Mei shouted in shock.
Now with the mechanism repaired, he activated it and the cart slowly strolled over to Henry's side and he cautiously stepped inside of it before it started to carry him over to the other side. But suddenly, the cart immediately halted and violently shook mid-way, catching Henry off-guard and making him think the mechanism was jammed and the cables could snap at any moment, sending him plummeting into the deep, dark chasm to his death. But Henry held on tight and hoped desperately that he would get across safely. Finally, the cart reached the other side and Henry hopped out to exhale a sigh out of relief.
Approaching the door before him, he entered a long and narrow hallway and while he made his way through it about a few steps forward, he began to have another surreal hallucination in which he could see himself surrounded by thousands of inky hands coming out of the walls, reaching out to grab him and he could hear the backwards whispers like they were attempting to persuade him into their grasps.
The hallway itself was beginning to contort eerily as if it were coming alive while Henry himself clamped his hands over his ears to block out the haunting voices around him, but, thankfully, it was gone now and the vision was over.
He finally made it to the other end of the hallway to find a flight of stairs only went upward. As Henry ascended up the steps, he could hear "Alice's" voice calling out to him.
"I see you there, my little errand boy", she announced tauntingly, emitting her evil cackle, which succeeded in making Henry loath that ink-covered bitch for betraying him and stealing his friend. "Your angel is always watching. What is it that keeps you going? Is it the thrill of the hunt? The thirst for your freedom? Or perhaps you're just looking for a little, friendly wolf. Better hurry, errand boy. Boris is having trouble staying in one piece",
Everyone growled in anger at the crazy woman hurting Boris.
"Hey, Miss 'Angle', if you can hear me, get this! If there is so much a scratch on Boris' head, I'm gonna rip that Halo right out of you skull, AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT!", Henry yelled in anger. He was given no response, knowing that he effectively scared the psychotic woman to silence.
Everyone was surprised to see their mostly shy classmate get angry, but agreed with his threat fully.
That was just the motivation Henry needed to keep going. He wasn't going to rest, he wasn't going to slow down, he wasn't going to leave unless he saved Boris from that lying bitch of an 'Angel'. He made it to the top to enter a room with a catwalk above the next doorway. As soon as he entered, an inky humanoid trudged across the catwalk.
It must be one of those ink mannequins, but perhaps they weren't mannequins at all.
The inky person sounded like he was whimpering with fear or sobbing as he looked around. "He's gonna find me", the ink humanoid whimpered, looking around as if he was being followed. "He always finds me. Oh, no! I just wanna go home! When do we go home? When do we go home?", he asked in fear.
After the ink person disappeared down the catwalk out of sight, Henry could feel great sympathy for him as he sounded like he was a lost victim who needed help or guidance. But when he entered through the doorway, there were many more of those ink people, all staring directly at Henry with saddened, glowing eyes. There were even some in dark cells to the sides of the room. The eyes reminded him of when he saw Jack's entire face from the upper levels.
Everyone shook in fear at the people suffer ending.
"W-W-Who are you people?", Henry hesitantly asked, stuttering his words out like a record player. One of them walked forward, "We used to work here in this very studio", they answered with a choked-up voice. "Drawing cartoons, until we had to set up that damn machine! It has cursed us ever since that nightmarish device was brought here!", it practically shouted.
"The ink transformed us, trapped us here inside these walls, never once letting us leave", another one in a cell mentioned. This one had their face on their knees, there were small sobbing coming from his mouth, he was incredibly sad.
"The Ink Demon has already found the majority of us. We could barely find our way out of this place", another ink person finished. This one was beside the first who talked, all of their eyes and body poster showing sorrow and grief.
"You have to help us", one begged pleadingly as he came face-to-face with Henry, who was speechless seeing them all.
"Of course he'll help", Ochako said happily.
"I...I'm sorry. I wish I could help you, but I don't know how", Henry told them honestly.
"Please. We just want to be free as much as you do!", cried another ink victim, throwing herself onto her knees. "You're our only hope", she added.
Henry looked at all of them who had stopped what they were doing and stared right at him. Good God, how many have been put into the horrible plan Joey has? What was he hoping to accomplish with turning innocent people into random beasts and making them suffer for decades? He couldn't think about that now, he had a new mission, one he hopes to do after saving Boris.
"Okay", Henry finally said, "I will try. I just need to find my friend first, because that angel bitch has him. After I free him and end her, I will try to see if there's a way to turn you all back to normal. It won't be easy, but I'll try my best. I promise", Henry said while crossing his heart and raising his hand.
"Thank you", most of them thanked him gratefully, the rest coming over to hug or pat him in the back for reassurance.
"Try to go through there", an ink person pointed to an uncovered air vent opening in the far wall ahead where a jotting above it read "No Angels" and yet another "He Will Set Us Free". The latter of which indicated that there must be thousands of those around. But if there was a way to set them all free from this dastardly disposition, he will find it if it kills him.
"Will the rest of you be ok?", Henry asked, having seen one of them run away, "We should for a while longer, so please hurry", an ink woman said. Henry nodded, and went over to the vent.
"Good work Midoriya", All Might encouraged.
Armed with a flashlight, he crawled inside and looked back to see the Lost Ones waving goodbye and sending him their silent fair-wells. Henry crawled a bee-line through the vent until he could see through the open slats up in front a Bendy cutout sitting ever so innocently by an animator's desk. But once he got close enough to see through it, "Bendy" suddenly popped out of nowhere and abruptly slammed his head against the cover, making Henry jump back slightly with a startled yell. However, the Ink Demon seemed to put a finger to his mouth and let out a whistling sound like he was shushing him before walking away to the left.
The confused everyone, thinking that he was out for blood, not scaring him.
Henry was left speechless and unsure of what to make of this strange behavior.
First this demonic abomination chased after him to kill him, hunted him down and now it seemed like he was trying to help him out. Despite his better judgement, Henry crawled in the direction of the vents to follow "Bendy", mentally praying that this wouldn't evidently lure him into the monster's clutches. Henry followed the sound of footsteps above, which could be the Figure of Ink directing him in the intended path he needed to go.
But he soon found that it was the sound of banging and looking through one of the open vents, he could see a Lost One inside a small room, banging it's head on the wall repeatedly. From his perspective, it appears this Lost One is at the edge of his limits and it possibly starting to crack from being in this hellhole for so damn long. Henry swallowed his spit and crawled through the vents until he could hear the banging fade away and he stumbled upon a larger room with an even bigger Bendy statue, but "Bendy" was nowhere to be found.
Maybe he was trying to help him out. Maybe he wasn't so dangerous after all, but that's just Henry overthinking things. Ahead where he stood, the message on the wall now said "Come Up And See Me" with an arrow pointing up the stairs.
Henry disregarded the Bendy cutout next the Little Miracle Station to climb the flight of steps, past the "Almost There" phrase halfway up and finally reached the top where there was a massive Bendy head with an open mouth that acted as an entrance to a room full of boards covered with papers and concept sketches of Bendy-themed amusement park locations and attractions.
This must've been where they were designing the blueprints for the Bendy-Land amusement park. Henry could remember that the park was announced and ready to begin construction. Though, do to numerous unknown reasons, the park was never built, what with financial issues. The biggest struggle was how the lead designer of it had gone missing halfway in production.
On the table in the center was the scale model of the amusement park along with a cassette, which Henry played.
"For forty years, I've built attractions that stagger the imagination. Colossal wonders such as the world has ever seen! I have earned my legacy with sweat. But right in front of everyone, high level investors, Wall Street tycoons, the ever-tactless Joey Drew introduces me, the great Bertrum Piedmont, as Bertie! Like I was his child! You may be paying me, Mr. Drew, but you don't own me! I'll build you a park bigger than anything YOU could ever possibly conceive!
But before you go taking any bows, Mr. Drew, know that this grand achievement will belong to me and to me alone",
"Is it wrong to say I'd wish to see that?", Mina asked.
That had been the voice of Bertrum Piedmont, the world-renowned amusement park designer who helped build Bendy-Land. Henry never met him in person, but back in the day, his skill and imagination made him a big name in amusement parks. In fact, he was the one in charge of Bendy-Land, until he just vanished, probably because of Joey. Anyway, Henry flipped the switch inside of the room and descended back down the steps to see the closed metal door to Storage 9 was now opened.
He stepped in and lights flickered on to reveal the actual Bendy-Land welcoming sign. But the word "hell" was written over "Land" so that it now read "Bendy-Hell". There was a lone Lost One perched on a cage below the sign who gave him a downtrodden stare.
"Don't worry. You'll be free soon", Henry assured him before entering the indoor prototype of the actual amusement park where there were carnival mini-games like Bull's Eye Bonanza and Bottle Wallop. There was also a strength-testing mini-game where you slam down a huge mallet to ring the bell. Then he appeared before the Haunted House ride.
"This Haunted House seems like the way to go, but it's going to need some power", Henry said to himself, scratching his head. "Hang in there, Boris. I'm coming", he said in a determined voice.
Everyone smiled, getting excited for his determination.
He wasn't going to give up on him now and not ever.
So there was the control panel on the right of the Haunted House which was the power station sitting below an Alice Angel head. There were four switches along with a lever. But they needed power in order to operate. Henry followed cable to Lever 1 over to the closed door next to the mini-games, which were now open and running.
There was a cassette in the middle of the main two with another audio log from Wally.
"These guys down in the warehouse get to play games all day while I'm stuck cleaning up after them! They kept locking themselves out of their own back room. So I says to 'em, "Look, guys!", I says. "You're smart, right? Here's an idea! Why not rig these games up to knock open the door if ya' win? It'll be fun for you guys and it saves me a trip down here every day". They went for it like a dog to pot roast.
I tell ya', if these guys don't start realizing who the real genius is, I'm outta here!",
This got a good laugh out of a few, the tough teen not that smart.
"How many recordings have you made Wally?", Henry asked out loud as the tape ended. In every level, he always seems to find a recording from the goofy janitor, making Henry wonder about his fate.
Henry decided to give the mini-games a whirl just for the heck of it as a wave of nostalgia came over him again. He remembered playing these kind of games as a kid when his parents took him to the carnival. He started with the Bull's Eye Bonanza first and the idea of the game was to shoot the targets that don't have X's on them. It didn't take long, but he won.
Bottle Wallop was next and all he had to do was knock the three stacks of milk bottles with the balls. He had only three, so he had three tries to knock all three stacks down with each ball. Henry was like a pro at it as he easily won this game as well. Then he went to try the strength-testing game. Mustering up enough strength despite being a bit too old for these kind of mini-games, he lifted the mallet up and smacked it down with enough blunt force to make the bell let out a "ding!".
"Funny how that was to show who's strongest decades ago", Present Mic said, a few agreeing.
"Tell me, are you having fun? I'm sure Boris doesn't mind waiting for his little rescue party", teased "Alice" over the intercom, which snapped Henry out of his fun-induced revery to get him focused. He entered the first room full of creepy Bendy costumes and flipped the lever.
"That's one", he proclaimed and went to turn the Lever 1. Next up was the Lever 2 which lead Henry to the Research and Design room that had a huge Bendy arm hanging from the ceiling as well as an ink waterfall. Below the balcony, Henry quietly gasped when he saw the Butcher Gang formed around a metal barrel with fire like they were trying to keep warm. They were easy to kill last time, but Henry realized he had nothing on him to fight back with.
"Looks like I got some company up ahead. Without some kind of weapon, I don't stand a change", theorized Henry with a whisper. "There's gotta be a way around them", he said, hoping to find a way.
"How'd they start a fire so deep underground?", Endeavor asked.
That's when he pointed his attention to an empty Bacon Soup can and gently pushed it off the balcony, causing it to fall and land nosily on the bottom level. The Butcher Gang all headed in the direction where they heard the loud clatter breaking the silence and stopped to look around for a brief moment before heading back to the warmth of their fire.
This gives Henry an idea.
Collecting some more empty cans, he silently tip-toed down to the lower level and snuck around the ugly threesome before tossing a can into a far corner before seizing the moment once the Butcher Gang was distracted.
Henry entered a new room with cartoon duck heads and animatronic Bendys. After he pulled the switch, he played the cassette and listened to the voice of a middle-aged woman with a thick Southern drawl named Lacie Benton.
"The only thing that works around here is my ulcer. Half these people don't know a wrench from a dang steamroller. Buncha' morons is what they are. Spend their day in the warehouse arguin' over who's supposed to be doin' what or playing them silly games. Still, I'm not complainin'. I get the most of my time to myself. Suits me just fine. Only thing that bothers me is that mechanical demon in the corner.
Bertrum's been working on it for a month now. Says it will walk someday and maybe dance.
All it does now is give me the creeps.
I swear, when my back's turned, that thing's movin'",
Mei was giddy hearing herself with a different voice, but was more curious about the machine she was making.
Henry cautiously stepped past the crying Lost One in the cell and back out into the open to distract the Butcher Gang again before going to flip the next switch and returning to flip Lever 2. Now he followed the third cable over to the Attractions Storage. Inside, there were roller coaster carts and a dead Striker clone. Then Henry was inside what looked to be the inside of a circus tent with a huge Octopus ride that was unactivated. In front of the ride was a cassette conveniently placed on a desk.
Henry played it to hear Bertrum's voice again.
"The biggest park ever built. A centerfold of attractions. Each one more grand than the one before it. It makes my eyes come to tears at the thought. But then, oh, Mr. Drew. For all your talk of dreams, you are the true architect behind so many nightmares. I built this park. It was to be a masterpiece. My masterpiece! And now you think you can just throw me out? Trample me to the dust and forget me? No! This is my park! My glory!
You may think I've gone, but I'm still here!",
Suddenly, all the lights turned on and the Octopus ride sprang to life. The rotating carts lifting up and the doors on the ride opening up to reveal a giant humanoid head inside leaned to the right with a mustache, mouth agape with ink drooling out of it and staring, blank eyes as it he were in a trance.
"He's fighting a carnival ride?!", Inko screamed in fear.
Henry gasped to see that the self-running amusement park ride that was spinning it's carts around and around rapidly was actually Bertrum Piedmont. Henry jumped back when Bertrum slammed the one of his "arms" onto the desk, breaking it apart and revealing an axe inside.
Henry quickly grabbed it before he was suddenly caught by the spinning carts and was thrown across the room and landing onto the floor painfully.
SLAM!
With a grunt, Henry got up, though a bit sore and in pain, but that didn't stop him from thinking of a plan.
When he saw Bertrum slam his arms down to the floor, giving Henry enough to slice the bolts off with his axe. As a result, the arm broke off, spurting ink and steam. Off went the other three arms with the assistance of his trusty axe and the Bertrum monster struggled to breath the shutter slowly closed that revealed his face. Henry gave a sympathetic wave to the man, who stared at Henry in shock as the doors were now closed.
It was to think that Bertrum had to become the one thing he loved building so much, but in hindsight, Henry wondered how this even happened to him. Henry succeed in the throwing the third switch and it was onto the fourth and final switch.
"That makes three, one to go", he mentioned out loud.
The last cable brought him to the Maintenance room. On the walls inside read "Choo Choo", so that when Henry made his way in further, there was the Ride the Buddy Boris Railway poster, so there had to be a train. Henry was met with a flight of steps leading to a sea of ink, but before he could take a step down, he caught a glimpse of a familiar flickering light.
"Uh oh", Kota said in fear.
Oh, no. It can't be. Henry's face grew pale and chill ran up his spine when he saw the Projectionist march through the ink and out of view. Henry was certain that he killed him on Level 14 during "Alice"'s errands. But then again, he only shot him in the back with an ink gun and he only collapsed on the ground. So perhaps he was just knocked unconscious or maybe the ink revived him somehow.
Remembering that he could see and not hear, Henry waded through the ink pool and hid behind one of the two trains to activate a lever on the wall.
Unfortunately, this seemed to get the Protectionist's attention, making him aware of Henry's presence, forcing him to retreat back up the steps and into a Little Miracle Station and wait until the ugly creature returned to ink pool below. Henry planned to walk slowly behind him this time with caution, just so to not arouse his suspicion in any way. Then he went upstairs to locate the final switch. But when he flipped it, the lights turned off briefly before turning back on.
Henry looked around for the Projectionist, but he wasn't there. Henry shrugged and thought maybe he disappeared and went down to return to the power station. But once he reached the steps, his thoughts were disrupted by the sound of a screech-like roar along with the flickering film reel light flashing on him, causing Henry to run.
Maybe the Projectionist was just hiding and waiting for the moment to give chase and strike. Henry returned to the Little Miracle Station and peeked out to see the Projectionist peering it's projector head inside and reaching a hand out with the intent to kill Henry.
The former animator gulped and awaited the inevitable before a web-like ink pattern appeared on the wall and Henry's vision distorted once again. The Projectionist jumped and stared to the left, roaring in anger and that's when "Bendy" appeared before him and delivered a knuckle-sandwich to his face. The Projectionist was brave enough the punch the Ink Demon in the face back, only for "Bendy" to punch back. Henry watched gobsmacked as the two monsters delivered blows before "Bendy" got more angry and lifted the Projectionist up by his neck.
"Bendy" then ripped his projector head off, cutting off his roaring scream of agony and tossing it away at the Little Miracle Station.
Eri and Kota were shielded from the haunting sight, but everyone was disgusted by the sight.
"Bendy" peered at Henry inside of the station and the latter waited for the monster to attack, but for some reason, he didn't. "Bendy" grabbed the Projectionist's decapitated corpse and dragged his trophy away before disappearing. When it was safe to come out now, Henry saw the Projectionist's bleeding head on the floor and the huge ink mark leading to the wall where "Bendy" disappeared through next to the busted-open door. Well, it was undoubtedly apparent that those two were not on the same side. Henry figured that "Bendy" must've saved his life.
Henry saw that there was a cassette down there and went to play it to hear Joey's voice.
"I believe there's something special in all of us. With true inner strength, you can conquer even your biggest challenges. You just have to believe in yourself and remain honest, motivated and, above all, who you really are. Okay, let's stop it right there. I can only do so many takes of this trash a day. And tell the guys in writing I want more use of the word 'dreaming' in every message!
Keep railing on that, get it? Dreaming! Dreaming! Dreaming! People just eat up that kind of slop!
Hmm, what? It's still on? Well, turn it off, damn it!",
All Might glared again at the voice, his true colors showing.
Henry glared with anger, filled with so much rage that he knocked that cassette into the ink in frustration. Joey forced him to record that stupid cassette for him while he, in all his prideful arrogance, went on his little spiel about dreaming to manipulate his employees into thinking he was a cheerful and good-natured guy when in actuality, he was a cold-hearted asshole who only cared about fame, fortune and, if anything, the need to even cheat death itself to say alive and powerful.
Why did that jackass even write that stupid letter to bring him to this damn studio and make him go through this hell? Breathing a sigh, Henry got back on track.
With all four switched flipped, Henry threw the lever and on the Haunted House ride came. Disregarding the "Turn Back" jotting, he hopped in the cart while an evil laugh played on the speaker. "Alice" spoke over the intercom as Henry rode the scary ride, unfazed by the animatronic ghosts and skeletons designed to jumpscare the ride's passengers.
"Weak", a few said.
"And now, the ride truly begins, Henry", she said, giggling. "Come in and pretend it's all just a bad dream. It's a funny thing how so much can fall apart so fast. We never really had control at the studio.
Either you were in someone's pocket or you were putting someone into yours. I just wanted what was promised to me. I just wanted to be beautiful! Surely you can understand that.
Henry, why are you here? We're all dying to find out. Did you just enjoy the terror of the drop into hell? Because if that's the case, hang on tight. I've got a surprise", "Alice said with a excited tone.
The ride brought Henry into the interior of a classical haunted house setting complete with boarded up windows, wallpaper aging from their walls, portraits of scary-looking people, a pipe organ and everything to set up a real vintage Victorian Era haunted house. The cart went into a circle before entering a dark tunnel, but suddenly it stopped and was then grabbed by giant hands.
Henry gasped with pure horror at seeing a twisted, muscular, malformed Boris with mechanical parts stuck on him, a gaping incision on his chest and X's for eyes.
Everyone gasped at seeing what happened to the friendly wolf, all sad for him.
"BORIS! No, no! What has she done to you?!", screamed Henry helplessly before the "Boris" monster picked up the cart Henry was with superhuman strength and tossing both him and the cart meters away from him and knocking Henry to the floor in the process. He couldn't believe it. All his efforts, all he went through to come save his best pal and he was too late. "Alice" already had her way with him and now all Boris could do was attack him.
"Alice" cackled her evil laugh in triumph over the speakers to taunt Henry again.
"Meet the new and improved Boris!", she hollered, "I took what I wanted and in return, I gave him so much more! And this time, there's no Ink Demon, no escape. Boris, tear him apart! Leave nothing! KILL HIM!", she shouted.
Henry had no choice but to battle his best friend who was now a monstrous shell of his former self. "Boris" charged Henry, performed a Hulk-style slam attack, threw carts at him, anything to try and kill Henry. But Henry, acting fast, picked up some thick ink that "Boris" left behind and used it to make a pipe from the Gent machine. It was tough, but Henry reluctantly fought back against the "Boris" monster until it finally collapsed onto the ground, much to "Alice"'s despair and anger.
"NO! NO! NO! NO!", she roared with fury, "WHY CAN'T YOU EVER JUST DIE?!", she shouted.
Henry heard nothing as he stood over the dead "Boris" with tears threatening to leak from his face at seeing the work "Alice" did to him. He was too late to save the poor wolf and here was, mutilated, transformed and now dead before turning into a puddle of ink.
A scream of rage interrupted the silence, making Henry jerk around to see "Alice" charging at him, ready to finish him off herself. Henry stood his ground and raised his fists to beat the living shit out of that slimy bitch for doing this to poor Boris. When she was in range, Henry punched her hard with a strong right hook, knocking her to the ground. "YOU SLIMY BITCH!", Henry shouted in anger as tears streamed from his eyes.
"YEAH, BEAT HER ASS!", Katsuki yelled.
Bending down, Henry grabbed her by her throat, "L-let me go!", "Alice" wheezed out as she clawed at his arm. "I told you what would happen, and now I'm gonna make you pay!", Henry yelled as he used his other hand to grab the Halo in her head. With a grunt and her screaming, ripped the Halo right out, ink spraying everywhere.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!", "Alice" screamed in pain as Henry let go and then whacked her with the Halo, which broke further. "That was for Boris you psycho!", Henry yelled as "Alice" got up with a darker, more angered face. But before "Alice" could attack, someone impaled her from behind with a blade-like sword, stopping her just before Henry. "Alice" gasped rigidly as her life suddenly faded from her eyes and she fell dead on the floor.
A few jumped seeing the sudden death, but also what Izuku did to that psycho.
Henry looked to see who killed the angel and his eyes widened to see another version of Alice holding the sword and standing next to Boris who now had a mechanical arm and was holding a pipe weapon of his own and sporting a determined expression on his face. This version of Alice Angel was different from the evil, half-deformed one.
This one's face was perfectly normal and basically more beautiful than the last one. Henry finally broke the silence between the three of them.
"They kinda look like Fortnight characters", Kaminari said.
Chapter 5: The Last Reel
Long story short, after Henry was found by those two new characters when they killed that psychotic angel imposter that took his friend, Boris, away, they took one look at him and decided that he couldn't be trusted.
So here he was now, locked up in some kind of makeshift cell in their secret hideout away from the Ink Bendy. That Boris clone with the metal arm was known as "Tom" for some reason and he didn't trust Henry one bit and will always throw angry glares and hateful gestures in his direction, but that didn't matter to Henry at all. And that pretty Alice Angel girl is obviously known as "Alice", to no surprise at all. Henry speculated that she must be Allison Pendle, the second voice actress for Alice Angel.
But that was just a theory of his anyway.
"Fairly solid for now", Shouto said.
Henry has been spending his moments of confinement doodling and recording some messages in a cassette, but eventually, Tom had to confiscate it. So now Henry spends his days doodling, thinking back to Linda, wondering if she was starting to miss him and hoping she hadn't given birth yet without him. He's been doodling on paper lately, trying to pass the time as best he could.
Henry was suddenly awakened from his doze when he overheard Allison humming a familiar tune to herself. Getting up from the army bed, he stepped over to the opening in the boarded-up entrance to his cell, eyeing Alice as she wrote on the wall in, you guessed it, ink.
"I know that song", he wondered out loud.
"Everyone knows that song", Alice replied, turning her head, "Who are you? Why are you here?", she asked in a frustrated tone. She was not in the mood for more troubles from the Searchers, Sammy, Lost Ones, that "Alice" clone, and Ink Bendy. Henry could get that, from what he's seen, they've been here longer than he has, somewhat unaffected by the troubles here, yet.
"I was invited by an old friend and now I can't leave", answered Henry in his usually collective demeanor. Even if he was incredibly pissed, he had to keep calm if he was gonna leave this nightmare in one piece. He needed help, he realized that, but it was hard since his other help, Boris, died.
The pros nodded, it was good to keep a cool head no matter what situation.
"Then you know more than we do", he remarked, "One minute, we don't even exist. Just...thoughts. And then the next minute, this place", she said, gesturing to the world around them both.
"Are you gonna let me out of here?", Henry asked her, while knowing in hindsight that she probably wasn't going to. "Down here, strangers aren't good things", Alice explained firmly. "How can we trust you? We don't even know what you are", she said with a authoritative tone. Henry could understand, him being the only one in the entire studio not made of or covered in ink.
"My name is Henry, I used to work here", Henry said with a calm tone, "What's your name?", he asked. Even if she did look like Alice Angel, he didn't know if she had a different name or a nickname.
"I...I honesty don't know my real name, so they call me Alice. But I'm no angel", Alice said with self-doubt about herself. "You got back and rest. We'll talk again later", she said as she went back to work.
Breathing a bored sigh, Henry took her word for it and returned to the comfort of his bed and laid down to rest, shutting his eyes. Moments later, Henry could overhear Alice speaking with Tom. He turned around to see that Alice was preparing to leave and put Tom in charge, of course.
"It's only for a few hours. No need to worry. I won't go far", she reminded her comrade, "Only up to Level Six. Just stay here. Keep an eye on Henry, okay? I'll be back as soon as I can. I promise", she said with a reassuring tone.
And then, she was out the door after that, leaving Henry alone with that overly-cautious Boris clone with the mechanical limb. For that last few minutes, Tom has just been sitting there, facing Henry with that distrusting glare of his, smacking his axe against his hand as if daring him to try anything funny. Henry was growing tried of this display. It was understandable that he didn't trust him, but he had a life to get back to with Linda, he missed her with all his heart.
The girls cooed at his need to see his wife again, similar to a romance novel.
That afternoon or so it seems, Alice approached Henry's cell as he was doodling.
"Henry?", she asked, making the man stand up and face her, "Here, you must be hungry", she had placed a bowl of bacon soup before him. Henry wasn't interested in that stuff. Who knows how long it's been here. "Sorry, it's all that we have", she apologized and walked away, leaving Henry and the bowl.
But then Tom came over and placed his hand by the bowl, watching and waiting for Alice to disappear behind the wall to their beds back there before he shoves the bowl of soup to the floor, breaking it. He then signals his dislike of Henry toward him, but Henry could care less about it and just waves this off before going back to bed, ignoring the angered look on that dog's face.
And the next day...
"I know you're watching me." Alice reminded him as she wrote more words on the walls. "It's just a little creepy", she said with a shiver. "You're the one that writes on the walls", Henry replied, his tone showing his boredom for what was going on.
"Great comeback", Mina said.
"We all do", she mentioned, "For some poor souls down here, it's the only way they can be heard. But you don't want to touch the ink for too long. It can claim you, pull you back. That's how I met Tom. I was messing with things I shouldn't have been and he...he was there", she said with what Henry could guess was a smile.
"Why do you call him "Tom"?", Henry asked, "He just seems to respond to it", she replied. This brought another theory about her being another employee, as well as Tom, thinking it over. This new theory could make due with the other one about the Angel clone being Susie since she was her voice actor. So maybe this new Alice was the new voice actress, Allison Pendle, and maybe Tom being Thomas Conner.
"I don't think he's very fond of me", Henry said with a down look. Even if he wasn't the same person, he looked exactly like Boris. The memory of his friend brought tears and a silent sob to the man, who honestly didn't know how much more he could take. Alice heard this and felt bad, he was just brought here for a random reason, and he was suffering for it, she had to help him somehow.
They all sighed sadly remembering what happened to Boris.
"Let me show you something", she said, halting her wall painting to face him fully and slowly walking up to him. "A while back, I was mapping out one of the upper levels when I noticed something reflecting off of a piece of glass. I held up the glass, looked through, and on the wall behind me was a hidden message! Right there in plain sight!
So I kept looking and found more and more message everywhere in the studio! But you can't see them with your eyes. Only through this. Take a look!", Alice handed him what seemed to be a square-shaped piece of glass with a handle, combined with wires and small lights.
Curious, Henry held it up to his face and looked through and, strangely enough, there was hidden message revealed on the wall right next to Alice's painting saying "She Will Leave You For Dead". This made his heart sank, knowing that he was probably going to die in that cell. Not only that, but there was a golden halo atop Alice's head, meaning she might be an angel after all.
"I don't know who's been leaving them, but I think they know how to get out of here", Alice explained in an excited tone. "Where does it all lead to?", Henry asked her, lowering the glass, her face dropping. "Nowhere", she replied with a hopeless frown. "I followed them for a long time. Just leads me in circles. I don't think I'm meant to leave this place, Henry. But maybe you are", she said hopefully.
"The mystery thickens", Tokoyami said.
"Alice, please let me out of here", Henry pleaded one last time, "Tom thinks you're dangerous", she told him. Henry sighed, he knew she'd trust her long time friend rather than some guy she just met. "What do you think?", Henry asked, "I...I think...you're the hope I've been waiting for", she answered in a lighter voice. "Go to sleep. Maybe tomorrow will be better", she said.
Why was he having trouble believing that? "Do you want this back?", Henry asked, holding up the "Seeing Tool". "Why not keep it, it hasn't done me much good, but maybe it'll help you better", Alice said with a thoughtful smile. Henry smiled back as he went to lay down on his bed.
The next day, Henry discovered Alice repairing Tom's mechanical arm after having an altercation with Ink Bendy out there.
"That was really stupid, Tom!", she scolded him angrily while fixing him up, "You shouldn't have gone out there! Now that he's seen you, it's only a matter of time before he finds us here", she grunted as she messed with the arm. Henry watched in a mild fascination, until they both noticed him watched them with a surprised look. Alice sent Henry a friendly wave, but he didn't bother waving back.
Tom continued his axe-smacking in Henry's direction as usual, so he just ignored them and went back to sleep.
After a while, however, Henry was awakened by a loud noise and the voices of his captors outside his cell, so he rushed over to the boarded exit.
"We can't just leave him!", Alice argued with her comrade, shaking him by the shoulders. "Not with the Ink Demon right outside the door!", she yelled as she pointed at Henry and the door out of there.
"What's going on?", Henry asked in fear, "He's coming", she warned him, "We have to move on!", she said in a panic. When they heard the dead-giveaway noises getting closer and closer, they knew it wasn't long before "Bendy" catches up to them.
Many shivered hearing about the monster getting him.
"Tom! We have to let him out!", Alice screamed as she pulled on the boards to try and free Henry, but it was no use. Tom placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and shook his head, silently reminding her that it will only be a waste of time and that's for the best anyway if he stays behind. Alice looked at Henry with a saddened look, tears threatening to leak from her eyes, knowing she has no choice, but to leave Henry.
"I'm sorry", he whimpered, hoping he'll forgive her for this and ran out the door with Tom, leaving Henry all by himself inside the cell.
But he figured there had to be a secret way out of here. So pulling out the Seeing-Tool, he saw more hidden messages inside his cell, such as "It's Inside the Vault", "There's Always Hope" and some arrows pointing to a spoon on the wall and saying "Use The Spoon". He grabbed it and it opened up the secret room where the toilet was. The secret message inside there read "Look Inside. You'll Need This". Henry wasn't going to stick his hand inside the toilet bowl, so he checked the tank and inside, a Gent pipe.
He used it to break down the boards to his cell and was finally out. He exited the hideout and into the earthy, inky tunnel. Avoiding a couple Searchers that popped out in front of him along the way, Henry ventured through the tunnels and makes his way over to a dock of some sort where a barge sat. Henry witnessed the two riding their own barge away down the inky river into the tunnel. So Henry had to use the remaining barge.
But first, he checked to see if there was a secret message here and there was...on the floor saying "There's Something In The River".
Nonetheless, Henry needed to find away across. He had to pull the lever twice in order to get the barge into the river. And once he was in, he switched the engine on and held down the throttle, making the barge row through the dark tunnel. Henry hoped that he would make it wherever he was going to get to safety. Then a light illuminated an area of the inky river, revealing the barge that Alice and Tom where just on, floating just outside a metal door.
Suddenly, the barge came to an abrupt stop, meaning there was some ink clogging the paddlewheel. "Sounds like something's stuck in the paddlewheel", he murmured before going to fix the problem.
He used his Gent pipe and knock some of the access ink off the paddlewheel. But when he turned back toward the front, he saw something arise from underneath the inky river ahead of him.
A massive Bendy hand emerges from the ink in front of Tom and Alice's barge, grabbed a hold of it and dragged it below. Panicked, Henry reclaimed the throttle and steered the boat into the tunnel on the left to get away.
"Oh, my God, what is that?",
"A reason to run the Hell away!", Ojiro said.
He had no time to think of explanation.
Henry get hold on the throttle, riding the barge down the tunnel away from the Giant Hand as it got closer and closer to him and Henry prayed in his head that whatever abomination that was wouldn't sink him into the river and drown him. But finally, after a few minutes, he finally came upon a shantytown as it appears to be.
Like a small fishing village for the Lost Ones as there was a Lost One sitting at a watchtower, fishing in the ink with a fishing rod. But what was he expecting to fish for down there in the ink? He had to be mindful of that Giant Hand lurking underneath.
But anyway, Henry docked the barge and hopped out, making his way into the village.
Walking over to the boarded up passageway was was surrounded by lit candles and papers everywhere with ink handprints varying in numbers of digits than just the average five. On the top, there was a jotting saying "Not Monsters", but Henry used the Seeing-Tool, it now read "Once People, Now Fallen Into Despair". That would make sense. But the man approached to board, but before he could do anything, the boards broke outward as a crazed, ghostly voice cried out from inside the darkness.
A voice that sounded familiar.
"BETRAYED! ABANDONED!", It was the voice of Sammy, who was still very much alive and was now pissed off, wielding an axe crazily. "I trusted you! I gave you everything and you left me to rot! Why?! WHY?!", he shouted in anger.
"How the fuck is he still alive?!", Katsuki screamed.
It was apparent to Henry that Sammy was now delusional. Being attacked and possibly killed by Ink Bendy has taken a serious toll on his sanity. As Sammy attacked Henry with his axe, he started fighting back with his Gent pipe at the ready. After the two sides traded one blow after another, Henry managed to knock Sammy's mask off, causing the deranged prophet to shield his face in shame.
"No! Don't look at me! Stay away!", he cried in fear as he ran away, leaving Henry slightly bewildered. Henry felt bad, hoping that a small piece of the old Sammy was still there in the mess of a body. But when Henry carefully approached him, Sammy suddenly grabbed him by the throat, giving Henry a view of his face. But he doesn't even have one. Nothing but blackness underneath.
"Ah! You lied to me! You said I'd be free! Well, I'm going to free you now! Free your head right off your shoulders!", Sammy throws Henry to the ground, brandishing his axe and ready to end his life with decapitation. But then he noticed Tom slowly approaching him from behind, but kept quiet as Sammy focused on him.
"Sheep, sheep, sheep, it's time for...sleep!", before Sammy could deliver the finishing blow, Tom landed his own axe deep into Sammy's head, knocking him into the ground, dead as a doornail.
A few flinched at the scene, though it can be considered self defense.
Henry watched Sammy's corpse fall to the ground and vanish into ink. He turned his focus toward Tom and waited for him to knock him out or something. But instead, he handed Henry his axe to use. This left him confused, thinking that this guy hated his guts, having expressed that clearly during his captivity.
Henry retrieved the axe and returned to his feet, standing eye to eye with Tom with a stern glare. Henry stuck out his left hand for a handshake, and kept it there for a bit, before Tom grabbed it with his robotic one. Tom gave a threatening squeeze, telling Henry that he better be careful, getting a nod in return.
"Are you okay, Henry?", Alice asked, hoping he wasn't hurt, "You're lucky we were in the neighborhood", she said as Tom grabbed the axe that was where Sammy's body used to lay.
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, the ground began to quake slightly as Henry stared at the floor where Sammy's body just was.
"Was that him?", Henry asked, referring to the dreaded ink demon himself possibly getting closer. "I don't think so, the Searchers and the Lost Ones built this place", Alice replied. "Sammy must have been keeping them at bay. Now that he's gone... Looks like we're in for a fight", Alice said as she readied her blade and Tom his axe.
"Who are the 'Lost Ones'?", Eri asked.
"Wait, 'Lost Ones'? You mean those ink people with orange eyes?", Henry asked, "Yeah, those are the ones, why?", Alice asked, honestly confused. But, before he could say anything, an entire swarm of Searchers and Lost Ones appeared out of the ink puddles and attacked the trio. The appeared in different directions, attacking them by the element of surprise. Everyone fought back with their weapons to keep them at bay. But Henry knew the Lost Ones had to be confused and misunderstood at this point.
They were the ones to begged Henry to help them.
This needed to stop.
"EVERYBODY! SSSSTTTOOOOOOPPP!", Henry screamed at the top of his lungs and just like that, there was silence in the room. No more fighting, no more attacking, everyone from the Searchers to the Lost Ones had all froze in place upon Henry's loud bellowing roar before placing their attention. Henry sighed before speaking again.
"Look, I know you all are scared and confused and I'm sorry that all of this horrific nonsense happened to you, but I'm here to help all of you. And I'm afraid attacking me and trying to kill me isn't going to get this done faster. I made you a promise to help free you of this awful curse and I need you to trust me to save you all. So please...help me help you", Henry said with a pleading tone.
All of the ink-born abominations gave each other looks before they backed away and gave Henry knowing nods, which confused Alice and Tom. Bot mostly Alice was surprised to see Henry able to talk some sense into the monsters around them. They were no longer hostile, but now desperate, all walking around the older man with a brighter posture. "Will you help us?", one asked the man, with Henry placing a calming hand on it's shoulder.
"Stupid question to ask", Katsuki grumbled.
"I said I would and I don't intend to break my promise. We'll find the answer soon, so for now, just stay in your games where it's safe", Henry told them. They all nodded, one being brave enough to hug Henry, "Thank you", it said before it and the rest disappeared in the ink.
"Nicely done, Henry", Alice smiled at him as she walked over, "It's probably best if we all stay together from now on", she said, making him nod. Alice went over to a gate that was chained up until she used her sword to slice the chains.
"Henry? Think you can lead the way?", she asked him, gesturing to the opened gate.
He nodded and marched down the new pathway before them with the other three following behind. Henry sliced the boards down before they came upon a corridor with no floor, only a dark pit below. There were only planks placed above the pit used to get across, but it didn't look safe. One slip and you fall to your death.
Henry went first, but went he was at least a few feet ahead, the weak planks gave in and broke, causing them both to plummet into the chasm.
"HENRY!" Alice's scared voice shouted as they fell.
SPLASH!
"Aside from jump scares, he seems to fall a lot", Shouji said.
Thankfully, he had landed right in a pool of ink that broke his fall.
Henry saw was were in a new location. Checking his Seeing-Tool, it said on the wall, "It's Inside The Vault", so he must be getting close. He walked in to see it looked like some kind of waiting room with a receptionist booth or something like that. With the music playing over the speakers, the sign above the metal garage door told them that they were in an administration area.
He entered the Film Vault, knowing it had to be in there. There was a large assortment of pipes with three of them missing.
"Now that's interesting", Henry spoke, having found the newest door block in his way.
Henry entered an office to the side where there was another cassette on the chair behind the desk. Henry decided to give this a listen.
It was from Thomas Connor.
"Progress Report to Gent Home Office. Client: Joey Drew Studios. Although we're making progress, the client's expectations keep changing. What started as a machine to simply mold life-size figures, now seems to be teetering on the edge of magic more than engineering. Although, Mr. Drew remains convinced they are the same thing.
The process of running the cartoon film through the machine for the figures to imprint upon is going well. We've had several near successes.
One weird note, the first figure ever created was a failed attempt in the likeness of the character called Bendy. Since that time, no other attempts of this particular figure have emerged.
And the one that did...I dunno, there's something unworldly about him",
"Oh, so it was first out", Shouto said.
It took a second for Henry to realize that the Ink Demon was in fact created by Joey in an attempt to bring their characters into the physical world. And, of course, as he had seen for himself, this did not go down the path he was planning. He returned to the waiting room and found an Ink Maker with pipe symbols on the dial, giving him an idea. Then there was a level behind the receptionist booth that he pulled, activating the garage door.
But when it did, Henry groaned when he saw the Charley freak of the Butcher Gang pass by up ahead. "Not these guys again, I'd better stay out of sight", Henry told himself in worry.
He stealthily avoided the Butcher Gang in the maze-like corridors until there was another cassette on a desk, which he pressed.
It was Joey Drew again, recording another audio log.
"A small memo to all administration offices. Rumors have begun to fly that we simply can't tolerate any longer. The idea that the company is in some form of financial difficulty is untrue and a slanderous lie against us. It's also been known to me that some backroom incompetents are not trusting in my leadership.
As a leader, I'm always steering the boat, guiding our destiny. Looking at the big pictures. No need for you people to worry about such complicated things.
Just do whatever it is you do and trust your leader, which is me",
"I'd sooner fallow Stain", Iida said.
This made Henry roll his eyes and shake his head at his old friend's ego trip. He went out of the room and began looking for any swollen ink for the machine. If any Butcher Gang member comes after him, they'd slash them with their axes. Henry snuck around the Edgar-looking freak and found another cassette from Wally.
"So turns out it's my lucky day! I got to cleaning some of the office around 2:00 AM last night and what do ya think I find on one of the chairs? A big freaking chocolate cake. Just sitting there! Practically yelling my name! You know, I work hard. I warn my pay. Ear every dollar. But you know what this company's missing? Little, benefiting perks. And this here cake? It's a perk! Hopefully know one finds out what I done.
Cause if they did, I can tell what would happen, I'm outta here!",
"My catchphrase again", Kirishima said with joy.
Henry shook his head at the man's silliness and playful nature, as well as he catchphrase he used. Soon, he had discovered another cassette just sitting there on a small table between two doors.
Yet another one of Joey's audio logs.
"Listen, Tommy, I know you boys over at Gent are doing your best, but I'm paying for living attractions, not weird abominations! Whatever that grinning thing was I saw wandering around your office, you better keep it locked up tight! I realize it was a first attempt, but imagine if the press caught sight of it!
Might scare off investors!
And in response to your previous memo: If you claim your failures are because these things are souls then, dammit, we'll get them a soul!
After all, I own thousands of 'em!",
"That damn monster", All Might growled.
So this could mean that Joey has being conducting human experimentations on his own employees, trying to turn them all into living cartoon characters. But we all know how that ended up. Sneaking through the Butcher Gang, Henry found himself in front of Joey Drew's office.
This further confused Henry. Why would his office be all the down below the studio? He didn't recall his office being this far beneath the place. But then again, Sammy mentioned in his cassette that Joey had his own sanctuary. Entering the office, there was the functioning Joey Drew Studios logo above the desk with another cassette.
"I know how much this part means to you, Susie. Alice means a lot to me too. All my characters do. In fact, I'll let you in on a little secret. I too really believe my characters are more than just drawings. They're alive.
They're part of us.
And I want people to know them as well as I do. I want people to be able to shake their hands, spend an afternoon with 'em. Love them. Susie, I'll be straight with you. I'm putting together a small project, a little ceremony. If it works, a lot of dreams will come true.
And I want you to be a part of it. I want you to bring Alice to life once again.
What do ya say?",
"He killed me", Nejire said in shock.
So Susie was that evil Alice from before that was killed. Could she have been the first test subject to be submitted to that insane Ink Machine? None of that matters now. He grabbed a bucket of ink and snuck back to the Ink Maker and used it to create new pipes for the system.
Putting them in place caused the ink in the Film Vault to be flooded, along them entry. But when he entered the open vault, Henry stopped and found a secret jotting that read "The Devil Has Taken It", meaning that Ink Bendy has been here. Henry checked one of the boxes to see that there was an ink stain where a film reel had previously been.
"Looks like whatever was here was taken long ago", Henry turned around, surprised to see Alice and Tom enter the vault with him. "How did you get down here?", Henry asked, "It pays to carry a rope. You should try it", Alice simply answered. This made Henry roll his eyes as he looked at the box, then the wall, the the toon people.
"That's smart", Aizawa said.
"Look, I know where we have to go, but it's not going to be pleasant", Henry explained to them as he stood up. "The Ink Demon has something that we need. I'm going after him", Henry said with determination burning in his eyes.
"WHAT?!", everyone shouted.
Alice and Tom stood in surprise that Henry would go right to the main monster of the entire studio. He surely suffered a heavy blow when he landed in the ink from the other room.
"You want to go his lair?! Are you crazy?! That's death!", cried Alice with disbelief, looking at him as if he were insane. She couldn't believe he was actually risking his own life. "That's where the trail seems to lead. What other choice do I have?", shrugged Henry calmly. He knew this was a dangerous idea, but it was probably the only way to stop all of this and save everyone.
"Well, it's probably close by", sighed Alice in defeat before pointing to a metal door next to them. "Probably through that door, but it won't be easy to open. I'll need three gears, a crowbar, hmm, some kind of counterbalance...", she began listing off. Henry sighed, looks like another collection quest, at least it was from a nice Angel and with a team. However, Tom was going to fool around to get any tools so he just went over and punched the metal door open with his metal arm.
BAM!
"Huh. Well, that works too. I guess", Alice replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Thank God", they all said, glad to no longer see another quest.
"Come on", Henry commanded and they headed down the hallway that looked similar to the area that he can into when he first arrived at the studio, with a projector playing a blank film reel and even a desk that resembled his own. Then they went down over to a hallway with a glass window before the ink-web patterns appeared on the walls, signaling Ink Bendy's approach, making them all freeze. Ink Bendy was lumbering through the corridor on the other side of the glass.
"Quiet. Don't make any noise", Alice whispered and they tip-toed down the hallway into another jotting saying "Death" with an arrow, leading them all right into a dark lair that was lit up by a gigantic machine with a pipe.
Henry saw the Ink Machine being lowered into it on top. So this must be where all the creatures, including Bendy, have been born from. There was also a pool of ink surrounding it, maybe the main source of all the creatures here. "Wow! I've never seen this before!" Alice gasped upon seeing the contraption, making Henry think. This may have been where Bendy was made, the others in different parts of the studio.
"I don't see any way across. Nothing to build a raft with", Alice said as she looked around the area they were in. "We'll have to wade across", suggested Henry as he looked closer to the edge with a thoughtful stare.
"We can't. We're not like you, Henry", she told him, walking over "If we go in there, well, a drop of water in the ocean is rarely seen again", she said seriously.
"They're unstable in the ink", Ectoplasm said.
Henry sighed, with the final destination in sight, he'll have to go alone once again, and with the biggest guy here. "Then I guess it's all up to me", replied Henry. "And I don't even know what I'm doing here. I don't even know why this is all happening to me", he said, truly angered that he, as well as the rest, had to suffer like this.
"You're here for a reason, Henry. There's always a reason", Alice told him reassuringly, giving him some motivation. "Even when you can't understand it. It's time. Set us free!", she said, using the same line from everyone else in this Hellhole. Henry gave a weak smile as he gave her a quick hug, her returning it fully as he let go and Tom walked over. The gave each other a nod as Henry stepped near the edge.
And so, he stepped into the ink pool as it wasn't that deep over to the giant ink machine and into the Ink Demon's lair.
"May God help him", Inko said in a quick prayer.
Henry found himself going through a metal corridor with figures of the Lost Ones in different displays along the way until he happened upon a massive throne room by the looks of it. There was a huge chair sitting on a mess of ink in the center surrounded by projectors playing different Bendy cartoons like Sheep Songs, The Butcher Gang, Demonic Tonic, Siren Serenade, Hell in a Handbasket, etc.
There was also a cassette sitting here which he played, hearing Joey's voice again.
"It's simply awe-inspiring what one can accomplish with their own hands. A lumpy of clay can turn to meaning, if you strangle it with enough enthusiasm. Look what we've built! We created life itself, Henry! Not just on the silver screen, but in the hearts of those we entertained with our fancy moving pictures.
But when the tickets stopped selling, when the next big thing came along, only the monsters remained. Shadows of the past.
But you can save them, Henry!
You can peel it all away! You see, there's only one thing Bendy has never known. He was there for his beginning, but he has never seen..."The End"."
"The end." Henry repeated along with Joey's voice at the end of the audio log as he picked up the film reel stating just that on the back.
"The solution to everything", Momo said in relief.
Suddenly, a growling noise made Henry look up to see Bendy standing behind the chair looking at him. Henry's heart stopped when he backed away in fear, but then realized something very important. If he was in the Demon's lair, there really wasn't anywhere to run too he couldn't fallow. So, Henry shielded his face with one arm, preparing for the worst that may com.
...
"Uh, isn't something suppose to happen about now?", Mineta asked, having not heard a thing from the screen. "Hey yeah, isn't that thing gonna attack him?", Mina asked, "You're complaining that Deku isn't getting killed?", Ochako asked, her tone dark. "No no no, not like that, we're just confused why that thing isn't doing anything", Kaminari said nervously.
Henry looked up, confused why the demon had not moved from where it was while he was still on the ground. For some reason, the demon just stared at him, not moving from behind the thrown without showing any emotion. You'd think being known as the demon in an entire building of monsters would be the first one to attack. But he just stood still, 'What the Hell is he doing, shouldn't he be attacking me?', he thought.
"Uh..", Henry started, making Bendy flinch, "Aren't you gonna, I don't know, attack me?", he asked as he sat up. While he wasn't expecting much, he was not prepared for Bendy to shake his head at him in a rapid pace. "Wait a second, can you... understand what I'm saying?", Henry asked, the demon nodding again, further surprising him.
"Whoa, that's freaky to see", Toru said with a shiver, "Does that mean he heard everything he said when he was there?", Kendo asked.
"Were you ever planing to hurt me?", Henry asked, the demon rapidly shaking his head no. "Huh, if you weren't, why were you chasing me through the whole studio?", Henry asked as he stood up. Bendy let go of the chair and limped over to Henry, who was still frozen at seeing the demon get so close to him. Bendy then reached in himself and pulled out a folded paper, which he then gave to Henry.
He himself was surprised to see that, but cautiously took it from his inky fingers, where he unfolded it. On it was a rough skew of the Little Devil Darling in his regular design, all with the name on it. What caught the eye was the small writing on the bottom under Bendy's form.
By Henry Stein.
They all gasped, "He knew the entire time he made him!", All Might said in surprise. "What about all that other stuff he did, like with the projection guy!", Miro asked in fear, others scared of what he did.
Henry was in shock, "You... you knew the entire time?", Henry asked in a shaky breath, the taller beast nodding. Henry looked at the paper, then at Bendy, lost as to what he's suppose to do now that he was looking at Bendy with a straight face. "Did you remember what happened here, at the studio?", Henry asked, Bendy now shaking in fear. "Whoa, whoa, easy, I didn't mean to upset you, I just wanted some answers", Henry said in a calming tone, which somewhat worked.
Bendy was still scared, but he still knew that Henry had questions, seeing as how he and many others were forced with a ungodly fate. "Ok, did you know about the people here and what they're going through?", Henry asked, Bendy hunching over. From what he could see, there were small drops of ink coming from his face, a strange version of crying. Henry then had a confirmed answer, the little devil wasn't evil, just misjudged because of what he looked like when he came into existence.
"It's crying?", Katsuki asked, "Well, it was weird for him to be seen as evil despite his cartoony counterpart", Shouji said. "Yeah, his appearance made people scared of him, probably assumed he was just out for blood", Ojiro added.
"You didn't hurt anyone here did you?", Henry asked, the demon nodding, though still kept his head down. "Sorry Bendy, but everyone here thinks you want to hurt them, can you explain that?", Henry asked as the demon nodded. Bendy lead him behind the thrown where a small blueprint laid that showed a further explanation of the Ink Machine. It showed a person going in, becoming a selected ink creature, and a downside of it, being a faceless ink person.
"So, your plan was to put them through the Ink Machine in hopes to turn them back?", Henry asked, getting a nod. Henry could see a flaw here, they could only turn into a selected design, just going back was impossible. Though he couldn't blame him, the being was young and didn't really understand much about machinery. "Um, Bendy, this actually makes them think you want to kill or make them suffer, it can't turn them back unless they're selected to", Henry explained.
"Yeesh, how many times you think he's been doing that?", Mei asked, "Probably enough to earn him that reputation he has as a demon", Best Jeanist. "Pretty smart for Midoriya to read that to him", Cementos said, concerned for the best and the man.
Bendy had lowed further, "You knew that it wouldn't work?", Henry asked, Bendy nodding. "Was it just to see if it'll actually work without that flaw?", Henry asked, Bendy nodding again. Henry cringed, considering how everyone fears him, it didn't work out well, like a child trying to do something they don't know about. "Bendy, what happened to Joey?", Henry asked, the demon going stiff.
HISSSSSSSS!
Henry flinched at Bendy's angered hiss, but understood since Joey was a truly evil man to do all of this. "Easy buddy, he's not here, and I won't let him hurt you", Henry said in a soft voice, Bendy looking at him was a still fuzzy smile. Henry wanted to help him, but then remembered what was under his arm, the possible solution. There was just one thing, Bendy heard more about what was going on than anyone and knew what's up.
"Wait, if that film plays, what'll happen to him?", Momo asked, the rest looking at her in surprise. "Will he be ok?", Eri asked in worry, "Maybe he'll be fine?", Ochako said in a positive voice. "But Joey said it's The End", Lida said in worry, everyone agreeing that it will not end well.
"Hey Bendy", Henry asked, the demon looking at him, "If I play this film, what will happen to you?", he asked, holding up the film case. Bendy did nothing but hold up his inky hand where a small version of himself was, then smashed it with the other. Henry paled, if the film was played, Bendy will die, he couldn't do that to him, "Wait, there has to be another option! Maybe another film, or work on the Ink Machine, something that won't kill you", Henry shouted in desperation.
"Yeah, he can't die!", Kota shouted, "Common, there must be something we missed, something that can help him!", Shouto said as he held his head. All Might looked down, he knew that there might never be another option, not everyone can be saved.
Bendy placed a gentle hand on Henry's shoulder, he had checked every other option there could be. There may have been, but everyone would still be trapped there while he gets to walk free. It couldn't do that, not be selfish for the rest of the studio, and Henry could understand. He sighed, "Ok, well, let's do this", Henry said as he went over to the slot for the film reel.
When it was in, Bendy and Henry looked at each other, the demon hunching down, "Would you like a hug?", Henry offered. Bendy immediately hugged him, his face pressing up against the inky form, which briefly surprised him. But, he soon hugged back, the taller one shaking as the film started.
Everyone held their breath, all hoping for the best for both Bendy and their green haired friend. "It's a brave thing he's doing, sacrificing himself for everyone else", Ectoplasm said with a hum.
The screen from before all ended where a new film played, all showing the same two words.
The End.
Bendy shook, the entire place glowing the same red hue Henry saw from before in the Archives and that hallway. Bendy's form shook violently as his body started to bubble, but Henry held on tight as it continued. With his remaining strength, Bendy hugged Henry with all his might as the whole room filled up with a bright flash.
FLASH!
Everyone covered their eyes from the brightness of the white screen, all waiting to see what happens to their friend and the inky creature.
After the light ended, only Henry remained in the same place when the light went out, but something stuck out. Gone was the 7 foot, limping creature of Ink Bendy, now in his arms was the original, lovable, Bendy the Dancing Demon. Henry didn't noticed, nor cared as he held on tight of the small creature who's head was against his shoulder. Bendy himself was crying heavily, not wanting to ever let go from his father again.
"Awww", every girl cooed at the scene of what could best be described as father and son. "I hope they make it out there ok", Inko said in worry, "Don't worry, he survived the rest of that place, it should be a cake walk from there on", Ms Joke said.
Henry then pulled his arms out, getting a better look of Bendy in his original form, "You look great Bendy", he said with a smile. Bendy looked at his shorter arms and legs, and gave his signature grin as he went back to hugging Henry. He smiled, "Let's get out of here", he said as he and the demon walked out the room.
Though the journey was long and hard, the pay off was great to see his creation safe and sound. And, now that he was back, he had saved everyone at the studio from a horrid fate of constant death and rebirth. Bendy, Boris, Alice, the Butcher Gang, and everyone else were now back to their original forms. When they all met up, they all left to go back to their regular lives, far away from all the Hell they went through,
When they met up with Joey, let's just say he got what was coming to him.
And that my friends, was the end of the story of Bendy and The Ink Machine.
The End.
With the video over, everyone gave a round of applause at the great story, though we're metaphorically exhausted. "Man, he wasn't kidding about that being long", Mina said with a groan. "It was a great video though, even if the end seemed rushed", Sero said while he critiqued the video. "Eh, what you gonna do?", Z said as he suddenly appeared, looking a bit winded, "You alright?", Tsuyu asked.
"I will be, it just takes a lot of my power to keep a world running for that long, so I may need a break before the next world", Z explained. Everyone looked at each other, confused on the concept of a God being exhausted, but rolled with it.
A/N: Christ do my fingers hurt, I'll say this much, this chapter wasn't easy when I had to write all chapters in one big one. I just wrote the story first and reactions second, that's why they don't look as good as previous chapters, or as long. But yeah, hope you all enjoyed this, because I'm not gonna do a chapter this big for a long while.
