Chapter 38:

It only took Henry a moment to catch up to the others who were debating which way to go at a fork in the vent.

"Which way to go…" Marinette muttered as she tried to look down both ways for a hint about which way to go.

"Wait.. Do hear that?" Alya spoke up looking towards the left where a strange thumping sound could be faintly heard. "We should check it out."

"I thought we were supposed to be avoiding any monsters and horror movie clichés at all costs," Nino teased slightly, nudging Alya. "And going after strange sounds is like… horror movie 101 of things that are bad ideas."

"But I rather know what it is rather than be surprised later," Marinette reasoned. "What do you think Henry?"

"I think we should check it out just to be safe," Henry decided after a moment of thought. "But be careful in case it's a monster of some sort."

The other agreed and they moved as quietly as possible through the vent. They came to a grate that overlooked a small room. Inside was one of the ink people, banging his head against the wall.

"Should we… do something..?" Alya asked quietly after they watched for a few moments. "Isn't he hurting himself doing that?"

"I… I don't think there is anything we can do…" Marinette replied sadly.

"He's trapped in his own misery right now…" Tikki agreed. "It's better to leave him and continue your search for the source."

"Then let's keep going," Henry concluded, backing up and leading them down the other path. The wandered around a little longer before they finally spilled out into a large room. Looking around, they saw a large Bendy statue to their right with a closed metal door to the left. In front of them was some stairs with a painted sign that said: "Come up and see me".

"I'm not the only one that thinks that's a trap am I?" Alya said sarcastically, gesturing to the sign.

"Oh, it definitely seems like a trap," Marinette agreed.

"But I don't see anywhere else we can go," Henry said as he looked at the door. "I don't see a way to open the door so the stairs are the only option. So just stick together and be prepared for anything."

The group stuck close together as they made their way up the stairs. When they got to the top of the first flight, the words "Almost There" were painted on the wall. It did little to comfort the group and Marinette mentally prepared herself to transform. Going up the last flight of stairs, they weren't greeted by a monster as they expected. Instead, they came to an office with what looked like blueprints spread across the table and all over the walls.

"A theme park..?" Henry said in surprise as he looked over the blueprints. "Joey was planning to make a Bendy theme park?"

"Maybe this tape will give us some answers," Alya suggested, pressing play for them to hear.

"For forty years, I've built attractions that stagger the imagination!" A proud male voice filled the room. "Colossal wonders such as the world has never 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, Mister 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, Mister Drew, know that this grand achievement will belong to me… and to me alone."

"I've heard of Bertrum Piedmont," Henry commented once the tape finished. "He used to be a big name back in the day, but he disappeared a long time ago. I guess he got caught up in Joey's madness."

"And it sounds like he had an ego to match Joey's" Marinette joked dryly. "And we'll save him like everyone else. Come on, I spotted a switch over there."

The group made their way around the table and flipped the switch. They heard a creak of a door opening and they went to the top of the stairs to see that the metal door had opened. They made their way down towards the door, but they couldn't really see anything with how dark it was. They stepped through and lights began to turn on. They showed a large room with looked like parts and decorations for various rides and games. Above it, all was a sign that said: "Bendy Land" only the word "Hell" was painted over the "land" part.

"Why in the world are they building the rides all the way down here?" Alya burst out in shock as they took everything in. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Nothing makes sense in here remember," Nino joked, referring to Alya saying something similar to Nino in the Heavenly Toys department.

"You're right," Alya chuckled at the irony.

"Let's keep going," Henry instructed, heading down the stairs. They passed by a closed door and found another tape recorder by some closed booths.

"These guys down in the warehouse get to play games all day while I'm stuck cleaning up after 'em!" Wally's voice came through once Henry pressed play. "They kept locking themselves out of their own back rooms. 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 the trip down here every day. They went for it like a dog to pot roast. I tell you! If these guys don't start realizing who the real genius is, I'm outta here!"

"So the games open the doors," Henry concluded, putting the tape down. "That will probably be useful to know later. Come on…"

They walked further in and come to what seemed to be the front of a haunted house.

"This haunted house seems like the way to go," Henry determined as he looked it over. "But it's going to need some power. Hang in there, Boris. I'm coming."

Almost as if to respond to Henry's observation, more lights turned on and the game booths opened up, making the group jump slightly.

"Now that was creepy…" Nino said.

"We do know Alice is watching us," Marinette replied quietly. "She's probably guiding us somewhere."

"Unfortunately we have no choice but to go along with it for now," Henry sighed in frustration. Come on, let's play those games and get the doors open. Boris is counting on us."

AN: And that brings us to the end of my week of Bendy. I'll be going back to my regular schedule of updating on Friday mornings. Now, I'm off to refresh steam every five minutes until Chapter 5 comes out.