Chapter 8
Rebirth and Revelations
Jake and Tabitha had been enjoying a nice dinner with Andre and Elsa when a voice echoed through the hallway from the lobby. It was a voice Jake had not heard in over two months as he stood up, knocking his chair back onto the floor as he raced from the room, closely followed by the others.
Looking over the railing down to the lobby, a broad grin spread across his face at the sight he saw.
"Mom! Dad!" he yelled before running for the elevator.
As Tabitha looked over, she saw both of Jake's parents standing there in the center of the room, smiling up at everyone. They appeared to have been in some type of scuffle, their clothes torn and tattered.
Andre and Elsa had also arrived, peering over as Andre arched a brow, "Rick!" he yelled down.
"Andre! Elsa! Tabitha!" Rick shouted up at them, waving.
Tabitha, grinning as well at the return of Jake's parents also headed downstairs as Andre and Elsa looked at one another before going down.
Running out onto the floor, Jake ran into the open arms of his mother, hugging her tightly for a moment before hugging his father in a tight bear hug.
"My God, how did you get back? What happened?" he asked, finally releasing his father.
Rick laughed, "Okay okay. It's alright. We're back."
Suzie smiled over at Tabitha who had finally arrived and ran up to hug her.
"Tabitha, darling." She said, holding her face in her hands, "It's so good to finally be able to talk with you."
"So what happened?" Jake nearly demanded.
"It's hard to explain." Rick said, placing a hand on Jake's shoulder as the puppets began emerging in pairs, curious as to what the commotion was.
"It started when we left the kitchen this morning," Rick began to explain, "We left and headed downstairs when Suzie motioned to something small heading down into the basement. We followed, not sure if it was a Totem or not. When we got down there, we found Abomination."
Tabitha let out a slight gasp as Rick continued, "I tried to tackle him, but missed. Suzie managed to tip a lamp over on top of him. That's when he actually talked to us. I'm not sure how, but I'm guessing it was the same way he managed to channel his hatred for us into a life force instead of the serum."
"What did he say?" Asked Andre who was slowly walking out toward them, followed by Blade and Trickster.
Rick smiled down at Andre, "Good to see you again old friend."
Andre nodded with a grin of his own, "So you said he spoke to you. What did he say?"
Suzie nodded, "Oddly enough, he said that Sutaketh was indeed after Tabitha and Jake and that he would stop at nothing to get them."
"I told him I'd rather die than let him get his hands on you two so I started punching him." Stated Rick, motioning as if he were punching someone.
"Unfortunately Rick didn't see the fists coming from his other side and got hit in the head, which allowed Abomination to get away." Suzie added.
"Where did you get your bodies back from?" Asked Jake, still not believing the good luck.
"While we were down there, we discovered a crate and when Abomination disappeared beside it, we saw what appeared to be a hand inside. When we pried it open, we found our bodies. When we touched them, there was a bright light and then we were looking down on the puppet bodies." Rick finished and then smiled at Jake.
There was a slight commotion behind Andre which caught his attention. Turning to his right, he saw Trickster poking Blade's hat off with a small dagger. Bending down, Blade held the hat back up using his hook hand and patted it back on before turning and smacking the back of Trickster's head, knocking the x-ray specs down over his eyes before hissing at him as if a warning not to do it again.
Looking back from the bickering puppets, Andre asked, "So have there been any ill effects since your re-transferrence?"
Rick shook his head, "Not yet, no."
Suddenly, a loud hissing filled the room as everyone turned and saw Trickster pointing toward Rick and Suzie and holding his guns out at them.
"Dex!" Jake yelled down with an angry look on his face, "What are you doing?"
Even Blade made a quick movement to him, grabbing Trickster right hand, but to everyone's surprise, Trickster spun and threw the gothic puppet several feet away before turning his guns back onto Rick and Suzie and hissing loudly once more.
Tabitha looked at Jake, confused and scared, "What is he saying?"
Shaking his own head, Jake replied, "He's not talking! He's just hissing like a cat would when it senses something…"
Turning back to his parents, he backed a few feet back, taking Tabitha's hand and pulling her back next to him.
"Jake? Tabitha?" Suzie asked, a look on her face that showed she was hurt.
Another click and Jake turned to see Andre holding his own gun toward Jake's parents.
"Well, it seems Trickster and his unique vision have seen something we haven't. Is that right Trickster?"
Dex nodded twice, keeping his guns trained on the pair before hissing something.
"They aren't who they say they are?" Tabitha repeated, unsure if she had heard him right.
Rick looked down at the puppet before his hand shot out, unleashing a burst of flame toward it.
Moving quickly, Trickster did a series of backflips to avoid the burst.
A series of shots rang out as Andre fired into Rick's chest, knocking him back a few feet, but not killing him. Regaining his balance, Rick stared down at him, but Andre was looking at the chest where there was no blood or any signs he had been shot.
"So, Sutaketh has decided to use illusions to get them has he?" Asked Andre.
Rick sneered down as he spoke, this time his voice was quite different than the one he had been using. A more demonic growl.
"You will be claimed, Puppet Master. You and the other three." He spat.
His facial features began to alter as his hands began to enlarge, forming into a pair of wheels. At the same time, his feet had began to swell and alter as well, bony protrusions extending out his back and shoulders as his face took on a more demonic look.
Suzie had also began her own transformations, but not into a Wheeler, but rather a demon. A long scaly tail emerged from below her waist, wrapping around the bony legs that had broken through her pants. Her hair was burned away as four horns began to protrude through the sides of her skull, her eyes sinking into the back of her head as a red light began to shine from her sockets.
From behind the Wheeler, a tiny figure approached, the drill on top of his head spinning as he connected with the Wheeler's left knee, burrowing into it.
The Wheeler tilted to the side as he lost his balance as the battle began.
Andre began firing on the Demon's head as he ran to take cover behind a wall as Blade and Trickster both ran to help Tunneler.
Six-Shooter had already unholstered his guns as his bandanna went up and emitted his familiar, "Heh Heh Heh." And began firing on the demon along with Andre.
Jake had moved Tabitha to the back of the couch as he said, "Stay here!" and grabbed the poker from the fireplace and moving toward the Wheeler.
In front of him, Jester had leapt onto the back of the Wheeler, avoiding the sharp spikes and began to slice away at the back of its neck with his tiny scepter, his angry face now swiveling on.
A wheel came up, knocking Jester off of its shoulder, sending him to the floor as he turned to see the sharp end of the poker strike him in the eye.
Emitting a loud scream, it raised its wheels up to his head as Jake used the metal rod as a bat and struick the Wheeler on the left side of the head repeatedly, a look of pure rage on his face as he yelled out at it.
"You son of a bitch! Where...are…my…parents?" striking down each time he spoke.
The loss of its eye and the loss of its leg from the knee down, thanks to Tunneler cause the creature to fall sideways onto the ground. But Jake didn't let up, turning, he began to strike down on the creature's arms, trying to break them, to rip them off. At this time, he only knew one thing. Only had one goal in mind, to destroy this thing and to make it suffer on behalf of everyone in the room.
Images of the creature in pain only seemed to fuel his anger as he unleashed another wave of strikes with the poker.
As the creature's right hand became lost to the sharp slices on it, it began to slow its movements as Jake saw Blade from the corner of his eye hacking away at the Wheeler's other hand.
Glancing to his left, Jake saw the Demon overwhelmed by the attack by the number of gunshots being unloaded by Andre and Six Shooter as it emitted a loud hiss and was consumed in a burst of flame.
Turning back, he saw the Wheeler raise a hand toward him as he kicked out with his right foot, kicking the Wheeler in the side of the head before stabbing down with the poker in the back of the creature's head repreatedly.
"Jake!" came a voice from behind him, but he didn't hear it. He didn't want to. This thing needed to suffer for its actions as he continued to stab it.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face a pair of blue eyes, widened and scared.
For a moment, he tried to turn back to the body of the Wheeler but Tabitha kept a strong hold on his shoulders and shook her head.
His breathing was quick and ragged as he continued to stare at her, but as he saw the fear in her eyes, his anger began to ebb away, the protector in him emerging. He couldn't be angry when she was frightened.
The poker slipped out of his hands as she pulled him close to her chest.
Andre walked up behind him, tugging on his left pant leg.
"Jake, we need to find where your parents really are. I realize this was quite the emotional crisis you just went through, but you need to know we are all with you."
Jake pulled away from her chest and nodded down, "I understand Andre."
A search of the basement from Blade, Trickster, Jake and Tabitha revealed his parents whereabouts and after freeing them from their bonds, they explained to Andre what had happened.
"It seems that Sutaketh is going to use everything at his disposal to trick and frighten us, but using our emotional fears against us." Andre explained as everyone in the museum gathered in the lobby.
"I still don't understand why he's after dad and myself." Jake said, as he sat on the couch with his arm holding tight to Tabitha.
"She is the last Toulon, with the exception of you, so I can understand that. But I don't know what he would want from dad and me."
Andre looked over to Decapitron who was currently wearing the Rick head. The two exchanged looks as Tabitha asked, "What aren't you telling us? That's the second time this was brought up and the pair of you just look at one another. We deserve to know."
Sighing, Andre nodded his head, "It is time you knew everything, Jake. Your father and I weren't sure where or when to tell you this."
"Tell me what?" Jake asked, now rather confused and hurt that he wasn't trusted with some information he could have perhaps used.
Sitting back beside Elsa on the small recliner, Andre began to tell his tale.
"You see, my younger brother Robert prided himself on being a ladies man. Always one to wine and dine them, he was very popular. In Paris, he even got himself into trouble with several women for being a gigolo and was even arrested a few times. He took pleasure in comparing me to him, saying that I would never enjoy the kind of free life that he had. I had married Elsa and would be with the same woman the rest of my life, never knowing what it would feel like to be with a different woman every night like he did. I will admit, it angered me the way he taunted me. Though, I should have never let it."
Looking to Elsa, she nodded her head to continue.
"I let it get to my head one evening. I went out with him while Elsa was with her friend. We went to a club, had too much to drink and I let myself go out of control. I do not remember much of that evening, but woke up in a hotel room next to a woman I didn't even recall meeting. We were both naked and it was obvious we had been intimate with one another. She woke up, thanked me for a wonderful night and gave me her name and phone number in case I ever wanted to get together again. I betrayed Elsa's trust and felt miserable. If that is what is was to be Robert, I wanted no part of it. I blamed him for putting ideas in my head. This is what truly led up to my brother's and my relationship dissolving."
He squeezed Elsa's hand as she smiled, saying, "I forgave him for it as I had also had a one time infidelity and I believe it brought us closer together."
"What does this have to do with…?" Jake began to ask as Rick's head turned and shook his head.
Andre nodded, "Please allow me to finish."
Looking down at the floor, he continued, "After that night, I had tried to put it all behind me. I had work to do and continued it for nearly a year before I was invited to a party of a local Aristocrat I had been performing for. Elsa and I were enjoying a fine dinner when something or rather, someone, caught my eye. It was her, the woman I had cheated on Elsa with. She saw me from across the room and motioned for me to come over. I excused myself and went to see her, wanting to apologize once more for what I had done. However, she told me no apology was necessary and that we had both had too much to drink. It was then that she told me she had met someone that next morning and they were now engaged to be married and return to the United States where he worked with the military. I congratulated her and again, we exchanged addresses. I told her as I was touring it would be hard to get in touch with me, but that I would try to keep up with her."
"So she was special to you?" Asked Tabitha
"In a way, yes. You cannot do something like that and not have any connection to them." Andre explained.
Continuing, Andre sat back against the chair and rubbed Elsa's hand for several moments before saying, "It was when we were performing in Cairo again that I received a letter from her. In it she told me that although she was now married to a wonderful man, she needed to tell me something. That night in the hotel room, we had conceived a child, a daughter. I was shocked that she had not told me this when we had met again at that party, but she went on to say how she saw how happy I was with Elsa and didn't want to ruin my relationship with her. Her husband had accepted the girl as his own and there were no complications. She didn't expect me to do anything for her, but she only wanted me to know she still thought of me from time to time."
Tabitha sat there in shock, matching Jake's expression.
"So you have a daughter?" asked Jake.
"No." Andre replied solemnly, "Her mother died while giving birth to her second child due to complications. I kept up with her father to check on my daughter's progress and after she graduated from school in 1940, she planned on going into the medical field as a nurse."
"Did she make it?" Asked Tabitha.
"I killed myself to escape the Nazi's in my room upstairs in 1941. However, upon my return to the living, I did some research and found that she had indeed become a military nurse for several years before retiring and marrying a soldier who had been wounded in the line of duty. Together, they had a son…named Rick Myers."
Jake's jaw hung open as his wide eyes shifted from his father to Andre and back again.
"You knew?" he yelled at his father, "You knew all of this and you never told me?"
Standing, he stormed over to Decapitron and picked him up, yelling into his face, "How could you not tell me something as important as this?"
Getting to his feet, Andre rushed over and yelled up, "It was not by his own decision! I am the one who told him not to tell you! I feared what would happen if you knew the truth, especially now with recent events!"
Dropping his father, the doll landed on the floor in a crouched position, his face grimaced and sad.
Turning his anger on Andre, he yelled out, "So you've been my Great Grandfather for as long as I've known you and you never thought that I might want to know?"
Tears began to well up in Andre's eyes as Jake seemed incensed at this.
"No!," He yelled down, "Don't you dare think you have the right to shed any tears on me! I should have been told long before this. No wonder Sutaketh wants me, I'm in the bloodline like Tabitha is!"
Andre simply nodded as Jake looked between Rick and Andre before storming out of the room.
"Jake!" Tabitha yelled after him, but he didn't turn, as took the elevator upstairs.
Looking back, Tabitha saw Elsa crying into her hands as Mrs. Leech simply sat there, her own head between her legs, her hands clasped over her face.
She didn't know what to do or think. Yet, she stood and walked over to kneel beside the pair of grieving women and said, "He simply needs time to let it soak in. I can understand why he wasn't told, but perhaps he should have been told before this."
Elsa looked up and nodded, "How do you a tell a child something like this? To let them know their life is condemned to be haunted by demons and evil?"
"I don't know, I suppose the same way I was told by Jake. With compassion and kindness. It took me a while to understand what was truly going on, but now I've accepted it and although there are times I'm scared beyond belief, I am proud to be a Toulon."
"Go to him." Said Andre from her side, "He needs the one person he truly feels he can trust and who loves him unconditionally."
Nodding, she stood up and went to the elevators. Turning at the doors, she looked back and saw the puppets all gathered together in a circle around the grieving parents, Andre and Elsa. Their own family.