Chapter Five
Discoveries
Two days passed at the museum with no word from Andre or Elsa. Jake thought it odd that the flight could take so long when it was only going to be a one day trip over there.
"Something's wrong." He told Tabitha on the third day, "They aren't answering their phones and they've checked out of the hotel they were staying at."
"Could they have been delayed somewhere?" she asked.
Jake shook his head, "I don't think so. They would have called if that had happened."
Sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, the pair now became very concerned.
"First mom and dad disappear, now this. I'm not being overly paranoid when I say I think there is definitely a coincidence here." Jake said running a hand through his hair.
Looking down at Blade, she asked, "You said that you know they mentioned that Abomination puppet?"
Blade nodded as she turned to Jake, "Perhaps we should go check on him again."
He frowned, "Tabitha, there's nothing to check on. He's dead."
"We should be sure." She said shrugging.
Maybe she had a point. Nodding, they got up from the table followed by the puppets and made their way down the hall and into the locked room.
Opening it, he pointed over to the puppet still standing on the table.
"See," he said, "Still there and…"
He stopped mid-sentence just as Tabitha was about to leave.
"What?" she asked, confused.
But he had already started walking over to the table.
Stopping next to it, he looked at the puppet and then turned to leave. Then, without warning, he spun around, grabbing the puppet by the neck and hoisting it up into the air.
"Nice try you son of a bitch!" he said, "But in my line of work, you pay close attention to detail!"
"Jake!" Tabitha said, freaking out and putting her hands on his shoulders, "What is it?"
"Look at his shoes!" he yelled back, not releasing his grasp.
Sure enough, there were traces of mud on the sides.
"Now start talking, since it's obvious you CAN move or I toss your ugly butt into the furnace!"
Suddenly, one of Abomination's hands shot out, hitting Jake in the nose as he inadvertently dropped him, clutching his nose.
As Abomination hit the ground, he stood up quickly as Blade came to attack from one side, Trickster from the other.
As the knife hand of Blade came down toward him, Abomination's right hand raised toward him as a bolt of what could only be described as lightning shot out, throwing the puppet through the air and into the wall, striking it and sliding down.
Turning to face Trickster, Abomination only saw a small needle fly from the tiny puppet's gun, striking him in the neck.
His neck tilted to the side as another burst of lightning threw Trickster into the wall on the other side of the room.
Six shots rang out as Six-Shooter began firing on Abomination, who raised his hand in front of his chest as the bullets impacted against some unseen barrier.
"What the hell is going on?" Jake yelled out, "He was never able to do any of this!"
Turning to face Jake and Tabitha, Abomination raised both hands toward them as Jake quickly pulled Tabitha out of the way and onto the ground roughly landing on top of her.
The air smelled of ozone as lightning whizzed past their heads. Abomination quickly raced past them and out the door, followed by Six-Shooter, Jester and Tunneler.
Looking down at Tabitha, Jake felt himself blush as he quickly got off of her and went to check on Blade who was now getting back to his feet.
"You okay buddy?" he asked.
Blade nodded before running after the others, quickly followed by Trickster who had also gotten up, no worse for the wear.
As Tabitha stood up, Jake ran past her, grabbing her hand as they went out into the hallway where the puppets were all standing, looking around, Abomination nowhere in sight.
Looking down, Jake said, "Ok, Dex. Do your stuff."
Nodding, the Trickster's x-ray specs slipped down over his eyes as he began to look around as he walked down the hallway.
Halfway down, he stopped, staring into Rick's workshop and pointed at the wall.
"Okay, he's in there." Jake said, turning to Tabitha and saying, "Trickster can change the intensity of the x ray goggles at will he can see through wooden walls, metal doors as well as clothes."
She shot him a curious look as he shrugged, "He only told me a little bit." Before moving to the side of the door.
Holding up three fingers, Jake put a hand on the handle of the door and counted down, lowering a finger for each syllable.
"One, two, three!" and swung open the door as the puppets, Jake and Tabitha all rushed inside…and panicked.
Before all of them was sight none of them had ever seen before, well, perhaps the puppets.
What seemed to be a fiery hole was in the back of the room, Abomination standing in front of it, clutching a roll of papers to his chest. To his left and right were two, well, the only thing Jake could call them were "things".
Each one was as large as a man, but they didn't walk. They appeared to roll as they had wheels on all four appendages. Spikes and jagged bone seemed to line their bodies which led to their sneering faces.
Abomination took one look at them and then hissed something toward them as he leapt through the fiery hole and disappeared.
The hole closed behind them, though the two things stayed.
"Who are you?" Jake asked, hesitantly.
"We serve Sutaketh. We are the Wheelers." Hissed the one to the left of him before letting out an unnatural laugh.
Tabitha stood there, jaw agape, unsure of what the hell was going on.
"We are here for you. For the Toulon blood." The one on the right added, looking to Tabitha, an evil smile spreading across its face, a little drool dripping down as if salivating.
The second looked at Jake with the same maniacal grin and salivations, "You will both make our master pleased."
"I'm not a Toulon." Jake stated, "So you're master won't be all that pleased."
The cackle between the pair of them sent shivers down Tabitha's spine.
"We already have one Toulon blood carrier now. Soon we shall have the five." Said the left Wheeler.
Now Jake was truly confused, but kept his poker face on, "Come get us then."
With a sudden whirr, the Wheelers attacked.
Moving to the side and pulling Tabitha behind him, Jake stood his ground, grabbing the chair and hurling it at the Wheeler in front. Colliding with its head, the chair splintered into pieces, but didn't seem to phase it. From out of nowhere, Blade leapt onto the back of the Wheeler, stabbing down at its neck with his knife repeatedly.
Gunshots rang out as Six Shooter kept firing on the second one, who seemed intent on running over the puppets.
A scream was heard as the same Wheeler suddenly spun out of control, slamming into the wall.
From behind it, Tunneler appeared, covered in black blood as the rear tire of the wheeler was seen by the puppets, having been popped by his spinning top.
Momentarily distracted by its partner's scream, the first Wheeler turned, allowing Jake enough time to shove Tabitha out the door as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to the stairs.
"Come on!" he yelled, nearly pulling her down the stairs in a run, the frightened look on her face seeming to give him more bravery.
As they ran out into the lobby, a roaring sound came from behind as the Wheeler sped out from the stairs behind them and squealed on the tile floor as it spun around to face them.
"You will come with us, now." It said goo dripping from its mouth.
Moving Tabitha behind him to shield her, Jake shook his head, whispering, "When I say go, you run for the door and get out of here."
Even though she was terrified at everything happening, she shook her head, "No. I'm staying with you."
His face grimaced, "Now isn't the time to be arguing." He whispered back, "I want you safe."
"I'm staying." She said, her face turning red.
Shutting his eyes in frustration, he growled, "Fine. On three, we move in different directions. Maybe we can confuse it."
"Okay." Came her voice from behind his shoulder.
"One, two…" he began to say.
But before he could say three, two things happened in unison.
The sound of shattering glass to their left caused Jake, Tabitha and the Wheeler to turn their heads in unison. From their stands, two puppets leapt from their perch and ran between the Wheeler and Jake and Tabitha.
Jake's eyes widened, unsure of how the hell this was happening, but was happy nonetheless.
In front of the pair of them, Decapitron had latched on his electrical head and was aiming the turrets toward the Wheeler while Mrs. Leech cautiously began to move to a position where she would be behind it.
The Wheeler, unsure of what was happening, seemed to be lost in a state of confusion, not sure what to do.
With a clenching of his fists, Decapitron's head unleashed a volley of lightning toward the Wheeler, striking it in the chest as it's wheeled hands extended out as it was electrified. Racing to the corner of the lobby, Leech woman leapt up onto a rope tied to a small metal section and removed a small dagger from her belt. Quickly, she began to saw away at the tied section.
Tabitha looked at what she was doing and up the rope, seeing it was tied to a chandelier above the Wheeler.
With a snap, the rope broke, sending the large crystal chandelier down on top of the Wheeler, crushing it as it let out a scream.
Stopping the lightning, Decapitron slowly moved over to the Wheeler and its head sticking out from under the wreckage.
Tilting his head to the side, Decapitron seemed to be trying to figure out if the thing were still alive.
One shot of energy from his head to the middle of the Wheeler's head seemed to convince him it was indeed finished.
Walking over to meet Mrs. Leech, he took her hand in his and walked over to Jake and Tabitha who were now holding each other's hands and shocked at what had just happened.
"How the…" Jake began to say, "How are you both…alive?"
The pair looked at one another then to Jake. Mrs. Leech pointed to her neck and then to Decapitron's neck.
"They can't talk." Tabitha said as if knowing what she was saying.
Jake looked back to her, "How do you know?"
She shrugged, "I just…know." Unable to explain how she understood what the small woman had meant.
"I don't understand," Jake said, getting to one knee, "The puppets….they can't move around unless there is a soul trapped inside. Who are you?"
An idea popped into his head as he asked, "Andre? Else?"
Tabitha looked over to him, "You think it's them?"
"Well," Jake explained shrugging, "Those were the puppets they inhabited before."
But the pair of puppets were shaking their head, but again, looking at each other as if wondering what had happened to Andre and his wife.
"Ok, if you're not Andre and Elsa then who are you?" asked Jake.
Mrs. Leech approached him, beckoning him closer as she extended a hand and stroked his cheek. Decapitron moved to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
Tears began to well up in his widened eyes as Jake stuttered, "M-mom? Dad?"
The puppet pair nodded as Jake bent his head down, shaking it.
Placing a hand on his back, Tabitha knelt beside him, "Oh Jake." She said, trying to console him, "I'm so sorry."
Slowly, he looked up at the pair of them and asked in a choked voice, "How? What happened?"
A crashing noise a few feet from them caused all of them to turn, Decapitron letting out a bolt of electricity toward the noise and hitting the corpse of the second Wheeler. The energy beam struck near the awestruck face etched forever on the Wheeler. Several bullet holes riddled the body and from behind his neck, three puppets emerged, soaked in blood. Blade, next to him, Jester, carrying his little scepter and Trickster, with two tiny knives of his own.
On the edge of the balcony, Six-Shooter and Tunneler looked down, each satisfied with their attacks.
Seeming not to care about the dead body, Jake looked back to his parents.
"What happened?" he asked again, pleadingly.
Decapitron looked at him and pointed up toward the upper level.
Taking Tabitha's hand, he stood up and moved to the elevator followed by the puppets who left the body's and moved behind them. The puppets were a little unsure of what was happening but would never leave the Puppet master and the last Toulon's side.
As the elevator stopped on the family floor, Decapitron and Mrs. Leech, holding hands, moved to Rick's private study and entered, each one crawling up to sit on a table, facing Jake and Tabitha who sat on the couch beside it.
Blade and Trickster moved to side beside Jake while Jester, Six-shooter and Tunneler sat beside Tabitha who allowed Jester to sit on her lap.
Standing, Decapitron pointed toward the kitchen as Jake asked, "The kitchen?"
Decapitron nodded and then pointed to Mrs. Leech and himself.
"They were in the kitchen." Tabitha stated, watching intensely.
Once more, Decapitron nodded.
Making a motion like revving up a motorcycle with his fists, Tabitha nodded, "Those things. Wheelers?"
Mrs. Leech nodded.
Moving his arms out wide, Decapitron made a furious action as Blade hissed something. To his surprise and everyone else's, including her own, Tabitha replied, "That fiery hole thing, right Blade?"
Jake looked over to her in bewilderment, "You understood him?"
She looked over at him and then realized that she had indeed understood what he had said as she smiled.
"Wow. I guess I'm getting in touch with my roots."
Looking back to where Decapitron was waving his hands, she said, "Sorry."
"So," Jake recapped, "You two were in the kitchen when that whatever it was opened and those Wheeler things came out."
Mrs. Leech nodded as Decapitron continued.
Putting his hands behind his back, he acted as though he were struggling against an unseen force.
"You were tied up?" asked Jake.
Decapitron shook his head.
"Bound by something?" Tabitha suggested as Decapitron nodded.
"But you couldn't see by what?" Jake added.
Mrs. Leech nodded once more.
Standing beside her husband, Mrs. Leech put two fingers on either side of her head to look like a Demon.
"That Sutaketh guy they referred to as their master?" said Tabitha.
Both nodded.
Extending his hand toward Mrs. Leech, he acted as though he were pulling something from her as her body shuddered and then collapsed onto the ground.
Trying to make sense of what had happened, Jake looked over to Tabitha to see if she knew what it meant only to see her shrug.
It was Jester who gave a possible answer as he stood up in her lap and pointed to his chest, then moved to point at Trickster's, Tunneler's, Blade's and Six-Shooter's chests in turn.
"Your souls." Jake muttered, "He was after your souls."
Decapitron and Mrs. Leech nodded.
"But you got away from him." Tabitha stated, "Managed to get inside those bodies before he could do anything."
Mrs. Leech seemed to smile at her and nodded.
"Where are your bodies then?" Asked Jake. "I can get Andre to transfer your souls back."
Both Decapitron and Mrs. Leech made motions as if to say they had no idea.
"The only one who knows is that damned Abomination I'm sure." Tabitha spat.
Jake looked at his father, "How is it that Abomination could even move? I thought they couldn't be alive without the serum."
Decapitron shook his head and held up a finger as if to say, "Let me show you."
He performed several actions as if strangling someone, killing someone, and intense hatred.
Nodding, Jake seemed to understand.
"He was filled with rage."
Mrs. Leech nodded.
"So, that's how you and mom can move around even though there was no serum in the puppet bodies? Your concern and love for me?"
Mrs. Leech and Decapitron both nodded.
"Well," Tabitha said, placing a hand on Jake's, "Learn something new every day. With enough raw emotion, anything is possible."
Jake nodded, "And that's exactly what I'm afraid of."