Chapter Eight: The Ka-Knowledge/Bonding with Torch

Chug was sitting at his desk that he had hidden away in the trunk of his car, looking over the information he had found out.

The new occupants in his cabin were puppets. They had been hand carved by a retired doctor from WW II named Andre Toulon who, after retirement, took his studies of anatomy into the artistic field and became a puppeteer. Andre had learned how to bring life to his puppets from an ancient Egyptian Sorcerer who admitted that he had stolen the magic from someone else.

Andre had loved all his puppets, calling them his friends and looked after them as a father would to his child. The friendly terms weren't mere affectation for them either, they really were his friends. He knew each one personally before they died.

The neural energies he found was explained when he learned that Andre Toulon had used the brain matter from his former friends and put them inside his puppets, recited some kind of incantation and gave them the Elixir of Life.

Chug found some of the puppets former history as well.

Pinhead was formally known as Herman Strauss who was a truck driver and was executed by the Nazis for smuggling food to the Jewish Ghetto. Jester was a Book Keeper named Hans Seidelman who loved to play tricks and practical jokes and was shot down by the Nazis. Why he was shot down he couldn't find out. But Blade was quite interesting. He was a former doctor who worked for the Nazis, trying to reanimate life with dead soldiers. His former name was Hess, Dr. Hess.

He sent the information to his brother in California, along with the negative readings that, at the moment, were remaining stable.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed, rubbing his face. 'I seriously need to get some sleep.' he thought. 'Or eat another Tootsie Roll.' He got up, climbed out of his trunk, closed it and headed back to the cabin, spotting Torch and Pinhead through the window and waved at them.

"The kid's coming back!" Pinhead called and jumped down, Torch following at a slower pace.

All the puppets had emerged from the trunk by then. Jester had chosen an outfit that closely resembled his original but was still without a hat.

"Alright folks, I'm back. Did you get yourselves some new clothes?" Chug asked, getting a good look at them.

"Nice cashmere sweater, Pin, handmade, that was. (looks at Tunneler) Navy Colonel outfit, nice. (looks at Blade) Love the coat. Made the same one for my brother. In fact, that one's the model. (looks at Six Shooter) Uh, I guess I have to make yours custom. (looks at Torch) Yours looks machine washable, so if you want a quick change, head inside and take your pick."

Torch shook his head and headed down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Ok, I'll be in in a moment."

Boss! Boss!

Chug looked up to see one of the twin spiders coming down from the ceiling, causing Jester to faint. "What's up?"

Here's scary-man's hat. We tried to clean it without damaging it too much. it said, handing over a nearly white fedora and then climbed back up and disappeared.

"Well, looks like I'll be busy for a spell. You guys can watch TV if you want. Keep yourselves busy in the living room. Movies are on the bookshelf over by the wall next to the window." Chug said, bringing down the remote controls and headed to the bathroom.

"I got the remote!" shouted Six Shooter and clambered up the couch. He quickly snatched the one labeled TV and pressed the on button.

Pinhead looked over to a bookshelf that held the DVDs and started to climb it to select a movie for them to watch. Tunneler moved Jester to under the coffee table and Blade tried to revive him.

"What does he have?" Tunneler called out.

"Uh, let's see . . . 'Edward Scissorhands'?" Pinhead called back.

"No." Blade replied.

"'Corpse Bride'?"

"No." replied Six.

"'Sleepy Hollow'?"

"Which one?" Tunneler asked.

"Johnny Depp."

"No." Tunneler replied.

"Batman? Batman Returns? Coneheads?"

"Shut up Six."

"(chuckles)"

"Tombstone?"

"Yes!" shouted Six.

Pinhead grabbed the case and set it aside.

.

.

In the bathroom. . .

"Alright Torch, let's get you on the sink so we can clean that jacket of yours." Chug said and hoisted Torch up like a small toddler. He even placed a dry towel down on the counter before placing Torch down.

"So, how are you folks doing so far?" he asked, grabbing a washrag and wetting it.

"meh."

"Need more time to form an opinion, eh?" Chug smiled and started to clean Torch's helmet first. "But I think that Blade bloke isn't exactly happy here. I mean, first he gets his leg and ankle broken, then gets snatched and wrapped in spider webs and hung from the ceiling like some kind of weird decoration, then strapped into a chair while some guy he doesn't know starts performing experimentations on him and then surgery, then has to live with limited mobility. I mean, would you be happy if you went through that?"

"Guess not." Torch replied and watched as Chug filled a small container with blue liquid and dabbed some torn pieces of tissue in it.

"Glass cleaner, for your eyes."

The two remained silent for a moment while Chug cleaned up Torch's helmet. "So, any idea on why I can understand you and not the others?" he asked.

"I don't know." Torch answered.

"Well, I suppose I could take a wild guess and say you have animal brains. Do you think that could be a possibility?" Chug dried the helmet then grabbed a bristled hair brush from the mirror and started brushing Torch's coat.

"I don't know what your talking about."

"Aha, so you do require brains for the elixir." Chug smirked.

"Fine."

"(chuckles)"

". . . How did you find out?"

"I have my ways." Chug answered and grabbed the damp washrag and started rubbing the coat. "When your flames run out, how do you reload?"

"Huh?"

"Well, a flame doesn't burn forever, just a really long time. Depending on how much fuel you have and what kind."

"Fuel?"

"Yeah, you know, like gasoline, petroleum, concentrated alcohol, coal, fossil fuel, hydrogen and methane, fine powdered flour, kerosene. All flammable substances."

"That's a lot of fuel."

"Yeah, hairspray is flammable as well. Maybe we can play around with it when we head to Bodega Bay tomorrow, what say you?"

"Uh, I don't know. We used to live at Bodega Bay Inn."

"Really? I did not know that. Why'd you guys leave?" Chug finished with the coat and started working on his hand then his boots.

"Didn't really have a choice. We're puppets."

"Now don't say that about yourself. You guys have free will do you not?"

"Until we find a master."

"A Puppet Master? What exactly is the job of a Puppet Master?"

"I don't know. But I have heard stories about one named Andre Toulon. He was a good one."

"Andre Toulon. Sounds French. Toulon. Toul-lo-on. Tou- A-Anyway, continue."

"Don't really know much about him. I was created after he died."

"Oh really? And the others?"

"They were all made by Andre."

"So, does that make you, what? Their half . . . brother?"

"(shrugs)"

"So, if the others were made by Andre Toulon and he brought them to life, . . . made by the same hand .. . . They're brothers."

"Yeah."

"Why so down about it?"

"They knew him when he was alive, and were created by him when he was alive."

"Oh, . . . but you weren't."

"(shakes head)"

". . . Oh, Torch," Chug gathered him up in a hug which surprised him. "I know that lost feeling as well."

Torch didn't know what to do. He'd never been hugged before, and he wasn't sure if he liked it nor what to do so he remained still. Chug put him back down and brought out some black shoe polish and polished his shoes. "So, after Toulon, who were the other 'Masters'?"

"Uh, I think there were two before I was created. They don't really talk about them. But . . . I do remember one named Rick Myers. He was alright. He was into uh, um, bio . . . biom . . ."

"Bio-mechanics?"

"Yeah, he made these laser guns and played around with Pin and Tunneler for a while before Sutekh's Totems went after him."

"Su-who?"

"Sutekh. I don't know what his deal was, but he was after the formula as well, claiming it was his first and that Andre stole it from him."

"Sounds like a sore loser with a grudge stick. Sutekh. Sutekh. . . . That sounds Egyptian."

"Egyptian Lord or something."

"Sorcerer? Magic person."

"I guess. But those totems were a nasty piece of work. There was one I remember that had magic and paralyzed me once."

"Ouch. Paralyzation from Dark Magic is quite painful. I should know."

"How?"

"Oh, me and my brother once fought someone who was obsessed with immortality. He went so far as so break his soul in pieces and storing them in objects to tether himself to this plane of existence."

"Yech."

"Yeah, Humans, go figure."

"You don't like humans?"

"No-o-o! They're nasty, sneaky, selfish, greedy, cowardly little shit-bags that will do anything, and I mean, anything to save or prolong their life. There was this one dude who sold his mother's entire heritage to save his company from bankruptcy. And there was this one woman who surrendered her infant child for drugs! And don't get me started on pedophilia! Ugh, people make me sick sometimes!"

Torch remained quiet as Chug ranted on and on about the horrors of animal cruelty and child abuse and overall humans as a race. He suddenly felt understood by this kid and so he decided.

"Master."

"Wha-?"

"Master."

"What do you mean 'Master'?"

". . . Master."

"Uhhhh, your master? Me? Your master?"

Torch nodded.

"What about your brothers?"

"My master. . . MY Master!"

"Don't call me master."

"Mas-ter!"

Both just look at each other.

"So, do you want a whole new body? One that you feel comfortable in?"

"Please?"

"I'll start drawing up some plans after we reach Bodega Bay, that sound good?"

Torch nodded.