Chapter 13:

The group head back to Sammy's office and they were happy to discover that the valves had seemed to have done the trick as the leak in front of Sammy's office had been stopped and the ink drained. They went inside and Henry went to the lever while the others looked around the room.

"I wonder if this still works," Nino said causally, pressing a button on the old radio and causing a tune to fill the air. "Hey what do you know, it still works."

"I'm surprised anything in this place still works," Alya murmured, running her hand over a dusty shelf. "But I guess that's how we got into this mess in the first place."

"Hey Ladybug, come check this out," Chat said, holding up a large piece of paper. "It's the blueprints for the ink machine, but what are they doing down here?"

"That is an interesting find," Ladybug agreed looking over the blueprints briefly. "But this isn't the time for trying to solve the mystery. Let's just get out of here before anything else happens. Once we're out, we can decide what we're going to do about what we've discovered in this place."

"Well the stairway should be clear now," Henry said, gesturing at the flipped lever. "So we should be able to get out easily enough now, at least, as long as there's no more of those ink monsters that."

"So let's not take any chances," Ladybug said, holding out her yo-yo at the ready. "There is a strong possibility that the monsters will still be out there trying to stop us from leaving, so we should be on guard."

"Good idea," Henry nodded as they headed to the door of the office. "I'll lead the way with Alya and Nino right behind me. You and Adrian take up the rear in case someone tries to come up from behind us."

"And our longer-range weapons will be able to help you if something does come from the front," Ladybug agreed, thinking over the plan. With that decided, the group carefully made their way toward the main hallway. They were just about there when the metal doorway slammed shut, cutting Ladybug and Chat Noir off from the others. Before they could really process what happened, the figure from before came up and hit Henry on the had the head, knocking him out. Alya started screaming as the figure turned to them.

"Rest your head, it's time for bed," The figure said as he hit both Nino and Alya, knocking them out as well. Once he was satisfied that they were out, he picked them up and began dragging them away.

"Alya! Alya!" Ladybug shouted, banging on the door as soon as she heard Alya screamed. "This isn't working. Chat! Take out this door!"

"Right," Chat nodded, taking a step back. "Cataclysm!"

Black energy swirled around his hand before he ran it over the door. Rust appeared everywhere he touched, spreading out until it covered the whole door before crumbling into a pile of dust.

"Uncle Henry!" Chat said as soon as he saw his unconscious uncle, crouching down to check on him. "He's breathing, but I can't wake him."

"Alya and Nino aren't here," Ladybug said, looking around frantically. "But it looks like whoever attacked them went down this way."

"You should go on ahead," Chat said, picking up Henry and putting his arm around his shoulder. "I'll take care of Uncle Henry. I'll catch up as soon as I can."

Ladybug looked towards where Alya and Nino disappeared to before looking back at her partner.

"I can't do that," Ladybug sighed shaking her head as Chat's ring beeped. "Your miraculous is going to run out of time soon and that will leave you completely defenseless."

"But Alya and Nino are in trouble now," Chat argued, getting a better grip on Henry and beginning to make their way down the hall. "Go help them. I can take care of myself. It isn't the first time I've faced monsters out of costume."

"It's not happening Chat," Ladybug replied firmly, putting Henry's other arm over her shoulder and helping to carry him. "It's too risky to separate and I'm not going to abandon you and Henry. We're in this together Chat, like always."

"As you wish my lady," Chat gave in with a grin. "Let's hurry, I don't like our friends being out there any more than you do."

The two moved as fast as they could, carrying Henry between them but their progress was slowed by more of those half-formed monsters would come out and attack them. And soon Adrian's transformation ended, leaving only Ladybug to fight the monsters off. As they were walking Henry began stirring, giving them hope that he would wake up soon, but then they heard the speakers overhead crackle to life.

"Sheep, sheep, sheep. It's time to sleep," The heard a voice chant over the speaker, the same one as the recording they had heard earlier. It was Sammy Lawrence. "Rest your head. It's time for bed. In the morning you may wake. Or in the morning you'll be dead."

"That's not good," Adrian said, looking up at the speaker with slight fear.

"We have to get there now!" Ladybug shouted as they began running, dragging Henry between them. They just hoped and prayed that they would get there in time.

"Here me Bendy! Arise from the darkness! Arise and claim my offering!"