Noodle's hand flew to her mouth in shock. "H...how did he get out?" she uttered, her voice muffled by her shaking hand.

In the window, a smirking Murdoc made a cranking motion with his left hand and slowly raised his middle finger with his right. He then continued to make a series of lewd gestures in the window.

"Wot's that mean?" 2D whispered to Noodle, pointing to an especially obscene motion Murdoc was making.

Russel covered Noodle's eyes with his pinkie. "You two need to get outa here. Whatever's goin on here, I'm gonna deal with him. Noodle dosen't need to be exposed to this."

2D nodded and took Noodle's hand. "There's this carny place wif games n stuff on the pier. Cyborg took me one time. Wanna go Noods?"

"Let's just get out of here. He looks like trying to tell us that he's going to pelvic thrust us to death. I could not think of a worse way to go," said Noodle.

"Get," said Russel, shooing them away like tiny insects, "Murdoc an' I got some talkin to do."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2D and Noodle walked hand in hand on shore, following the sounds of drums and brass. The sun had finally slipped under the horizon, and darkness engulfed the island. The beam of light from the lighthouse illuminated the colorful jellyfish in the dark water below.

"I like this place better when it's dark out," said 2D, "You can almost forget this place is made of rubbish." Noodle had been quiet since they left Russel. "It's my fault," she said suddenly.

"Wot'r ya talkin about, love?" asked 2D. Noodle sighed heavily. "There was this lever I accidentally bumped into in the engine room. I think it opened the bookshelf and Murdoc got out."

"Well he's in Russel's big massive hands now, and I can't think ov a better person to set that old tosser straight," said 2D reassuringly. Noodle stood on her tiptoes and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek, which turned a bright pink. "Nevermind him, what's this place called that we're headed to?" chirped Noodle.

"Sweepstakes."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pay day, you're a winner
Keep cool form a line
Scared money broke money
Bow money more money

Hip hop music echoed through the pier, lit up with game stands and prize booths. Noodle laughed in delight. "It's like a summer festival in Japan!" She ran ahead of him playfully, her eyes lit up with amusement and the lights of the pier.

2D grinned and ran to join her. It was a relief to see her carefree spirit again that had been dampened with sorrow and suffering for so long.

"They've got shooting games!," she exclaimed, rushing over to a stand adorned with colorful stuffed animals. "You've had a lot'ta practice wif that already, eh? I saw wot you did to Cyborg's head," remarked 2D.

"No vendor?" asked Noodle as she cocked the gun. The target board was a small model of Plastic Beach. "I'll just pretend each target is a pirate," she said cooly. 2D laughed. "Those targets look more like..."

Suddenly a chilling realization hit 2D like a brick on the head. He finally realized where he'd seen Noodle's mask before. Each target was the cat mask with a tuft of Noodle's hair between the triangular ears. "...my mask..." murmured Noodle.

So sunny, cloud breaker

A thick black smoke began to pour from the barrel of the gun, swirling like the folds of a cloak. "No..." Noodle croaked, dropping the gun. 2D grabbed her arm. "RUN!"

The terrified couple broke into a sprint down the pier.

They say that they're winners
Ok well let's see
You play there you play
The rules of the trade

As the gun hit the floor it went off, propelling the smoke towards them as fast as a bullet.

Aim high man why not?

2D and Noodle hit the deck as when they heard the shot. The smoky specter flew above their heads, condensing into something horrible as it went.

The two lifted their heads to face what was ahead of them. The abysmal gas-masked monster from Noodle's tortured past stood unmoving at the end of the pier. Residual smoke smelling of rotting death still lingered in the air. The Boogeyman had found its long lost prey.

Sun Moon Starry y'alls
Each and every all of y'alls
There's math and there's dealers and players and me.