A/N: I hope you're all prepared for even more characters. I had fun with this (of course, it got longer than I thought, as per usual). Did leave a how/why the characters are around at the end of this chapter.
Much like the Projectionist, this will be a rare POV. The fic is mainly supposed to be Henry's POV, but I can't help myself sometimes by putting in other characters POVs.
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This place was mighty strange to Charley, and he didn't like it one bit. It was nothing like his home, and in a rare occurrence, he was all alone.
It had been days since the toon had seen either of his cohorts.
Charley scowled a little as he hid behind a corner to avoid an odd lurching inky creature. Once it was gone, the toon continued down a hall.
Where were Barley and Edgar? Had they ended up in this place?
Charley harrumphed as he retreated a distance away, and his again. The toon watched someone else limp along, and made a face as he smoothed out his vest. Charley did not like that those fellas resembled him and the rest of the Butcher Gang.
Once the odd, twisted version of himself left, Charley made a left and slipped into a room, closing it just in time to avoid another terrible-looking toon.
"What is goin' on here?" Charley muttered to himself, before twisting around at the sound of a soft gasp and a clatter further back in the room. "Who's there?"
"Shh! She'll hear you." An oddly familiar, sweet voice said in a hushed tone.
"They don't seem to notice unless they see you." Charley moved away from the door and peeked around a cabinet, coming into contact with a frightened toon Alice Angel. "Looks like you seen a ghost, miss Angel."
"It's not those terrible looking versions of you and the others I'm worried about." Toon Alice said, voice wavering only a little as she met Charley's pie-cut eyes. "There is a horrible, taller version of myself here. She chased me after...after..." Toon Alice shook her head. "I'd appreciate it if you just kept calling me 'Angel.' I don't want to associate myself right now with that twisted-looking Alice."
Charley frowned again, scratching at a cheek in thought. This wasn't like the Alice Angel he knew, and yet it was. What version of this Alice could be so horrible that it sucked the cheer out of the toon angel?
"I was already hurt, so I thought keeping hidden would be a good idea, for now." Angel carefully got to her feet, before she showed the other toon her bandaged left leg.
Charley stared at the injury, and then raised pie-cut eyes to what appeared to be a bruise mark on the toon angel's face, over her left cheek. Charely puffed up indignantly over the thought of someone daring to strike and harm a lady like that. Sure, him and the boys could get a little rough when dealing with Bendy, but Charely knew he and the rest of the Butcher Gang would never harm Alice Angel.
No one else would get the chance to cause more damage. Except for the Butcher Gang against the assailant, given the chance.
Charely would see to that, and so would Barely and Edgar, when the toon finally found them. And after that, the Butcher Gang would go track down that Bendy.
Where was he, anyhow? Why wasn't that little devil and that wolf around to watch one of their pals?
"Lookin' to find Edgar and Barely in this place." Charley said gruffly, shuffling his feet. "Don't think you want to stay in here. So come along with me and I'll make sure we steer clear of unsavory characters."
"Apart from you and your gang?" Angel asked with a smile.
"Apart from that." Charley said with a nod.
"It is lonesome in here all by myself." Angel walked over to join the other toon. "This whole place, from what I've seen...it is a sad one."
Charley let out some grunt of agreement as he went over to the door and peered out of it, checking to see that the cost was clear.
The hall was empty.
Charley exited the room, followed by a limping Angel, who seemed oddly content to travel along with a miscreant. Charley found it very odd to be in her presence, but couldn't deny that it was nice to be in better company than the monstrosities he had come across thus far.
It took two more hours of scouring empty rooms for Charley to find what he was looking for.
Angel brought a hand to her mouth and giggled over the sight of the remaining two Butcher Gang members.
Both were empathetically gesturing at a locked door, which the spider toon was trying to open with a strand of string, or webbing. The other toon was heckling him.
"Yar, s'not gonna open with that flimsy thing." Barely waved his hands at the stand Edgar held. "Waddaya think yer gonna pick with that?"
"I will get it open!" The spider toon insisted. "Just might take a bit longer."
"...Ya sure it'll work?"
"Yeah!"
"Makin' a ruckus where anyone can hear 'em..." Charley grumbled to himself as he stomped over to his two partners in crime. He lined himself up behind the two other toons and with practiced ease, thwacked Barely and Edgar affectionately over the heads to get their attention.
"Charley, yer codswallop, don't be smackin' me head like that." Barely whirled on his friend, narrowing his only eye as he bit down on his pipe.
"Where were you?" Edgar asked quietly, four feet swiftly helping him turn around. He fidgeted with the strand of string in his hands.
"Scurvy cur ain't answered me yet." Barely cut in, bringing his face in close to Charley's.
A bickering match ensued, all with raised voices.
"You're the scurvy cur who's lettin' Edgar try and open a door with string!"
"Ain't nothin' wrong with improvising."
"With string?" Charley waved a hand, exasperated. "You was sayin' it wouldn't work earlier."
"Changed me mind!"
"Ain't gonna work! How's a string to pick the tumblrs of a lock?"
Poor Edgar looked so disheartened as his pie-cut eyes stared down at the string in his , his little chest puffed up and he shuffled over to butt into the argument.
"I can open the door with string!"
"Gah, away with you, can't open nothin' with that."
"Yar, let 'im try."
"Ain't gonna open."
"Move it. Both of you!" Edgar pushed his way between the other two toons and over to the door. The spider toon had an intense look of concentration as his fangs protruded a little further as he focused.
Charley let out a long suffering sigh and joined Edgar, where he watched for a moment. Then, Charley reached out with a hand and tried the doorknob, while the spider toon continued to struggle to pick the lock.
The door swung open.
Angel, watching the proceedings, began to laugh in a very unladylike way, loud and long, at the sight.
"It was already open, you nitwits!" Charley exclaimed.
This led to another argument, which soon quieted as the Butcher Gang realized that there was a lady in their presence. This realization led to an attempt to fumble their way to being less crude.
"Don't worry, boys, I'm not some fair lady who is surprised or offended by coarse language." Angel took a step in the other toon's direction but slipped, falling over. "Shit." The toon angel swore sharply as she rubbed her bandaged leg.
The Butcher Gang exchanged glances with one another before they all dissolved into helpless laughter, even as Charley stepped forward and held out a hand in a silent offer to help Angel to her feet.
"You sure proved me and the fellas wrong." Charley said with a snicker. "So we ain't gonna hold back."
"I didn't know you were such a gentlemen." Angel said as she accepted Charley's help in standing back up.
"And a rouge." Charley said with a wink of one of his pie-cut eye.
Both of his friends groaned at this.
Charley rounded on Edgar and Barely as he mock-chased after them before all three were laughing again.
"What now?" Angel asked, looking between the three toons once they had quieted.
"Suppose we be lookin' fer Bendy and Boris?" Barely ventured.
Charley made a face, wrinkling his nose even as Edgar nodded as if this made perfect sense.
"If nothing else, he'll be in some trouble that needs fixing, right?" The toon spider asked.
"Sound of that twisted Alice is trouble all on her own. More than Bendy." Charley said, looking around before staring at the door he had opened. "But I guess we might as well find the lil' devil and give him a proper dressing-down for leavin' miss Angel here all on her own."
"You don't need to scold him for me." Angel said.
"Waddya do ter let him know ya ain't happy?" Barely asked, stroking his beard contemplatively.
"Give him a stare of disappointment." Alice said with a sweet smile. "And then let Boris pick something to eat from my picnic basket first."
The Butcher Gang all laughed uproariously over this idea.
"Yer carry a basket even in bleak place as this?" Barely asked, still chortling.
"No baskets, I'm afraid." Angel said with a shake of her head. "I will just have to stick with that disappointed stare, especially if Bendy and Boris got themselves into trouble."
"How will they know what you're upset about?" Edgar wondered.
"Why, I'll just have to tell them." Angel smiled mischievously. "While giving off an air of angelic disapproval, of course."
This set the Butcher Gang off into another fit of laughter.
Angel joined in before they all quieted down.
"Guess we better get goin'." Charley commented, not all that happy with the idea. He wasn't sure if Barely or Edgar had seen the twisted versions of themselves yet or not, so he decided to fix that, just in case. "Be on the lookout for ghastly versions of ourselves. One that kinda looked like me tried to beat me with a spanner earlier."
"Sounds mighty...unpleasant." Barely said with a brief pull of his pipe, letting smoke waft up. "Best be avoidin' 'em if we can. Ain't armed right now."
"That was the plan." Charley agreed.
"I really don't like this place." Edgar said quietly, winding the string around one hand.
"Don't think anyone here in this place would like it." Charley replied, before he sighed, scratching at his tufts of hair before walking through the doorway. "Be ready to run." To Angel, Charley added. "We'll make sure nothin' happens to you. No point in bein' our bad selves and causin' trouble for folks in a place like this. "
With a silent nod from the other two Butcher Gang toons in agreement, they all began to lead the way, with Angel limping close behind.
Charley really did not care for this place. The darkness seemed too close, and the twisted creatures that roamed the halls only added to the doom and gloom atmosphere.
They would all have to be careful.
Unfortunately, neither the Butcher Gang nor Angel were prepared to come across the Ink Demon roaming about the studio a day later.
Good thing there happened to be a run down, underground amusement park to hide in.
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A/N: I have had a mighty need for Butcher Gang shenanigans so here's a chapter with them as a focus (along with toon Alice Angel).
Explanation for why they are in the studio:
I don't know if it will be touched on right away or not, but Charley and co. got called there by toon Bendy after Henry calls for him (so after Bendy realizes that it is just him and Henry-which makes Bendy sad, wanting his other friends). For the purpose of this fic, toon Bendy and Alice get along with one another. And since toon Bendy counts the Butcher Gang as friends, even if they are at odds a lot of the time, they appear too. But Charley and the others don't know this, so they are very confused and in danger because they don't know why they're in the studio and not 'home.'