Chapter 24:
The elevator came to a stop on level nine, letting Henry make his way back to Alice's door with Marrinette and Chat following behind.
"Just drop the gears along with the wrench in the chute next to the door," Alice instructed.
"Susie… is that you? What happened to you?" Henry asked as he dropped the gears down the chute. "Happened here?"
"The Liar happened!" Alice shouted in anger, surprising everyone with the venom in her voice. "Coming with his poisonous sweet words and nothing but false promises. Well… I'll show him why he should never lie to an angel!"
"Susie… Please tell me what you mean," Henry pleaded, trying to make sense of what she was saying. "Is Joey the liar you're talking about? How did he do this to all of you?"
"I'm afraid Susie isn't here anymore… I am Alice Angel," Alice replied softly before focusing back on the task at hand. "Have you seen them? The swollen ones! They're just stuffed full of extra thick. 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. You can find them on level Eleven. Come back to my door. I have something that you'll need."
The panel flipped again, this time to reveal a syringe. Henry sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anything more out of Susie right now, and picked up the syringe. The three headed back to the elevator and they went up to level Eleven. Henry was about to step out when he paused as a thought occurred to him.
"You were a worker here too weren't you," Henry said, looking back at the toon wolf. Boris looked a little startled at Henry's statement before hesitantly nodding.
"You're Wally," Henry realized, as all the pieces fell into place. All the little mannerisms that Henry had subconsciously regonized and responded to, even though Boris was never supposed to have them. "You're Wally Franks."
Boris looked away sadly, giving a shrug and making a kind of gesture with his hand.
"You were Wally, but you're not anymore," Henry interpreted, getting a nod in confirmation. "Would you prefer it if I still called you Boris?"
Boris gave another nod, unable to look Henry in the eye. Alya and Nino gathered around Boris, offering him silent comfort. Henry sighed and headed back out of the elevator. When he stepped out of the elevator, he spotted a large searcher by an old time clock.
"I think that's a swollen one like Alice was talking about," Henry whispered to Chat and Marinette, keeping an eye on it. "If it's anything like… like Jack… then we can't just charge it. We have to find a way to sneak up on it."
"Don't worry, I've got this," Chat said confidently, crouching down and taking the syringe from Henry. "Cats are notoriously good at sneaking at unsuspecting prey."
Chat stalked forward on all fours, easily blending into the shadows nearby. He managed to sneak around behind the swollen searcher. Chat lunged forward, jabbing the syringe into the back of searcher. But before he could pull the plunger, the swollen searcher let out a moan and fell apart.
"Did you get the ink?" Marrinette asked as she and Henry went up to Chat.
"I fell apart before I could," Chat replied in disappointment. "I didn't think it would fall apart so easily. I'll be careful next time."
"Maybe you don't have to," Henry replied, noticing a thick blob of ink where the searchers' remains had drained away. "This must be what we're after."
Henry took the syringe back and inserted it into the blob, sucking it in through the needle. Once he was done, he checked the container to see that it was about a third of the way full.
"We'll need to get at least two more blobs like that before we can take it back to Alice," Henry noted as he stood back up.
"How many tasks do you think she's going to make us do?" Marinette wondered out loud.
"Probably until she considers herself purrfect," Chat joked, taking out his baton. "Let's get this over with."
They walked down the hallway but they didn't get very far before they were attacked by a twisted toon. This one had its head dangling from a fishing pole, Henry regonized it as a deformed version of Barley. It flailed it's body wildly, trying to hit them with its wildly swinging head. Chat extended his baton longer and used it to tangle the fishing wire and jerk the head out of the way. Taking advantage of the opening, Henry and Marrinette took advantage of the opening provided by Chat to rush in with their own weapons. After a few strikes, the twisted toon soon dissolved into a puddle, leaving behind another thick blob.
"Come on," Henry said once he had gathered the ink. "We need one more and then we'll be done."
The three of them kept going and, taking out searchers and wadding through a flooded hallway. Just as they reached the end, the noticed an ink monster lumbering past a large window. They froze in place, hoping it didn't notice them as it kept walking. They didn't get the most clear view of it, but it seemed like it was a humanoid creatures with a projector for its head.
"What was that?" Marinette said in shock once it was out of sight.
"I don't know," Henry replied, going up to the window and making sure it was gone. "It doesn't seem to like its coming back. With luck, we won't have to face it."
They returned to their task and managed to sneak up on the last swollen searcher.
"How sickening! Makes my skin crawl!" Alice said once they had collected the ink. "But the task is done. Bring me back my equipment, please."
They didn't reply to Alice, but still made their way back towards the elevator. Once they stepped out of the flooded hallway, they noticed inky shadows had begun to spread across the wall and Chat's shoulder began to burn. Standing right there between them and the elevator stood the Ink Demon himself.