(Audrey's point of view)
It had felt like a few weeks, maybe a few months, since Audrey had been locked up with the Cyclebreakers. And so far, she hadn't been able to find any routes for escape.
Her legs had healed up by now, thanks to Henry bringing her food (she still had no clue how that worked, but she didn't question it).
About once a week, they were brought to a large cafeteria area and Audrey saw hundreds, maybe even thousands of ink people.
Henry said they were locked in the Pit for disobeying Wilson but not being an extreme threat like the Cyclebreakers.
In this area, there were four exits, each guarded by three Keepers, and a large balcony area above them where several Keepers watched from above.
Heading to and from this area, they were "escorted" by two Keepers each, "escort" meaning their arms being held against their back, so no running away.
The doors locking their cells were mechanical, automatically locking once they were inside.
The glass wall, however, was breakable. Sure, when Audrey tried ramming herself against it, there was no luck, but she had managed to get her hands on a tool from the cafeteria that, with great effort, might be able to break the glass.
...oh who was she kidding, this was a stupid idea and she knew it-
Henry asked, "What are you doing?"
Audrey said, embarrassed, "I had an idea that I could use a spoon like an awl and break the glass."
Then Henry began to chuckle.
'Well damn', she thought to herself, 'I know it's dumb but you don't have to laugh in my face about it.'
Then Sammy joined Henry in laughing at her.
'Was it that stupid?', She thought.
"Yeah, yeah, yak it up you jerks. Excuse me for trying to bust out of here." She said bitterly.
Then Norman yelled in her defense (she had found that the longer she spent in captivity with him, the easier it got to discern the meaning behind his shrieks)
"You're right, you're right, Norman. We shouldn't have laughed." Henry wheezed as he stopped laughing.
Audrey, we're not laughing because your idea is stupid; we're laughing because- do you want to tell her or should I do it?
"We laugh, little sheep, because that is exactly what we attempted ages ago!" Sammy cackled.
"Wait, what?" Audrey exclaimed in surprise.
"Well, did it work?" She asked. Maybe there was some merit to her idea after all.
"Shockingly, it did. Susie's cell is proof of that. Or as the Keepers decided to dub her, Subject 938." Henry explained.
Audrey remembered seeing the cell on the day she was captured. It, well, captured, her attention even with the pain in her legs.
The glass wall was cracked with a huge shattered hole in it and the lights were flickering.
Audrey said, "You've mentioned Susie before."
During one of Sammy and Norman's worst arguments, she groaned out, When will this end?
And to that Henry just said, you think it's bad now? You should have seen it when Susie was still here.
She asked, "Where did she go?"
"During our last escape attempt, she was the only one who didn't get caught. But who wants to dwell on the past?"
"I do. I wanna linger in the past." She said, eagerly.
"Huh?" He said, caught off guard.
Then she sat down in a crossed-legged position and said, "Tell me about your escape attempt!"
"Why?"
I don't know; I could use what went wrong as notes for the new escape plan. Audrey said.
Plus, she was curious. And kinda nosy. But she wasn't gonna tell Henry that-
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Now-"
"WAIT!"
Henry conceded but was then cut off by Sammy.
"I have a ballad that I have drafted for an occasion like this!" Sammy declared.
"You have an entire song ready to pull out of your ass just in case we'd be telling this story?" Henry asked.
"Of course! Don't you?"
"No??"
"...see, this is why we all tried to kill you, Henry. You lack presentation."
Norman screeched in a questioning tone.
"Of course that's why we tried to kill him! What other reason could there be?" Sammy asked.
"wait did you say you tried to kill Henry-"
"ANYWAYS!"
Audrey was about to ask a question but Henry cut her off.
Sammy started to play his song.
"It was a long time ago..."
(Henry's point of view)
Present!Henry's narration
The Pit and our prison was only recently established. We weren't let out of our cells. Ever*
Henry was drawing in his notebook, his back to the glass wall, trying to ignore the argument going on between Susie, Sammy, and Norman.
At the time, I saw it as something to drive us mad.*
Due to the yelling, he couldn't hear the sound of cracking glass.
Now that I look back, it's probably the reason we were able to break out in the first place.*
"Now fight me with your hands, you coward!"
Henry rolled his eyes and moved to look at Susie to tell her to be quiet.
"Susie, could you please keep it- WHAT THE-?!"
When he went to look at Susie, he saw that she had somehow broken out of the cage and was actively trying to break into Sammy's cage just to fistfight him.
Yes Audrey, I did in fact just say that out loud.*
"Susie?! How did you get out?!" Henry asked flabbergasted.
"I ice picked my way out! With the spoon." She said matter-of-factly.
"That actually worked?! I thought you were joking!" He yelled.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Honestly Henry, your lack of faith will be your undoing."
Then she returned to trying to release Sammy so she could kill him, but Henry wasn't done with her.
"Let me out too!"
"And why the hell would I do that?"
"It would be easier to get out of here with an extra pair of eyes and ears?"
She stared at him for a minute, until saying
"Fine. But if we're caught, whatever the Keepers do to you will be mercy compared to my wrath."
Henry gulped. "Duly noted."
Susie then walked towards Norman's case and simply lifted it up. Henry guessed since Norman was just a head, he didn't require much security.
Then she walked back over to Henry's cage, carrying Norman's head.
And then she chucked him at Henry's cage
Audrey. Audrey I understand that mental image is extremely distressing but please stop screaming...
...ok. Do you think you'll be ok? Ok good.*
Now, when Norman was thrown at the glass, it caused a lot of glass shards to fall on him, along with almost getting hit with a projector
But that was irrelevant! He had to make sure Norman was ok!
"NORMAN! Norman, are you ok?!" He scrambled over to the man's head.
Norman screeched indignantly. For obvious reasons, he didn't like being thrown at a glass wall.
Still, when Henry checked him, he didn't seem to have any damage.
Now that it was assured he was ok, Henry immediately whirled onto Susie.
"Why would you do that?!" He yelled.
"You wanted an escape, you got an escape."
Henry, while muttering curses under his breath, climbed out of the hole while carrying Norman.
"Now, how do I release Sammy?" She wondered aloud.
"Wait, why do YOU want to release Sammy?"
"BECAUSE, you fool, I want to kill him myself and I can't do that if he's stuck in this fish..torture dungeon!" Susie spat at him.
"Yeah that came out real nice didn't it."
"SHUT UP!...I've got it."
"What?" He asked.
"Hand me the Projectionist. I'm going to throw him again-" Susie declared
"NO! No no no, NO. No. I'll...find another way, just don't throw him again." Henry denied intensely.
"Fine. But know if you fail..."
"GOT IT! Got it, the message is clear."
And so, Norman's wires wrapped across his chest to keep him attached on his shoulder, he went on his journey to find another object to break the glass
*It took me a rather long while, especially since I had to avoid the HELL out of the Keepers, but I managed to make it to an exhibit called Contraband and reunite with some...old friends*
"Get out of the way!" Henry yelled, running at Sammy's cage holding a Tommy Gun.
Susie's face lit up with excitement.
"Yes Henry! This is even better than what I originally had in mind!"
"WAIT HENRY PLEASE NO DON'T SHOOT-" Sammy screeched
Henry used the butt of the gun to smash the glass and make a big enough hole that Sammy could climb out of.
"...Oh. Thank you." Sammy said quietly, crawling through the hole, carefully avoiding the broken glass.
"Boo, you're no fun Henry! Why didn't you shoot him?!" Susie complained.
"I simply thought you'd want him all to yourself."
'And I didn't WANT to shoot him, but you probably wouldn't care about that', he thought to himself.
"...a correct judgement." She said, before lunging on Sammy.
While the two fought, Norman gestured (well, sort of leaned, more like it) in the other direction, indicating he thought it was time they made their leave.
But Henry...he was hesitant.
Norman saw the hesitation in Henry's eyes and screeched indignantly.
"I know, I know. They've tried to kill us both, hell, they actually HAVE killed us multiple times! But..."
Henry paused for a second, looking at the brawling pair in front of him.
"...I still have hope our old friends are in there somewhere. "
"..."
"Don't give me that look! We've got to the point where they won't get murderous about being called their names!"
Henry sighed.
"Joey was able to do this to them because I wasn't there to stop him. Then he trapped us all in that damned loop because I didn't bother questioning anything."
"Now I've had time to think and realize the truth, and now we have a chance to escape-"
Henry took a second to breathe, before declaring his resolve.
"I'm not leaving anyone else behind. Not again."
Norman gave him a look that made Henry wonder if there was something Norman wanted to say that he couldn't.
But there was no time to consider that, they had to escape.
"Hey you two. We're getting out of here, so stop clawing each other up for five minutes." He told the two of them.
But as they typically did, neither of them listened.
So, Henry was forced to take drastic measures.
He was incredibly strong, so he grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their necks and kept them separate from each other.
"Now listen. We're going to get out of here alive, and once we're far away from this place, then we'll work it out from there. I want you two to keep it drama-free while we're escaping, got it?" Henry declared.
Both of them seemed less than respectful of Henry's wishes, due to the fact that Susie was still trying to claw Sammy's face off.
However, Henry wasn't gonna let that slide.
"I mean it Susie. Cut it out or I'm putting you in the timeout corner." Henry said, with a firm tone.
"Wha- I'm an adult! You can't put me in timeout!" She sputtered indignantly.
"Watch me."
She pouting and reluctantly spat out
"Fine."
The group carefully snuck out of the prison.
"Henry. I noticed you also grabbed an axe." Susie pointed out, pointing to an axe tied around Henry's waist.
"It would be of more use in my hands then around your waist, since you have the gun, would it not?" She said, a smirk on her face.
Henry just stared at her before saying in a deadpan tone
"I'd rather let Sammy put me in a blood ritual then trust you with a weapon."
Sammy then gasped excitedly.
"Do you mean it?!"
"Not literally bud!"
Sammy then frowned and pouted.
"I hate you Henry."
"Love you too."
*The actual escape process was rather quick and rushed. It was just us running, and avoiding the hell out of the Keepers.*
*Though at the end of it, we found something. Something none of us expected to see.*
The group had made its way to what appeared to be some kind of large chamber. The floor was tiled and had large puddles of ink. There were machines above them, each appeared to have some sort of purpose related to that of torture.
The room's mere atmosphere was enough to make Henry extremely wary.
He made sure the way they came in was locked.
Then he noticed that Susie was staring at the floor, hand on her chin like she was thinking.
"Whatcha pondering Susie?" He asked.
"I'm attempting to deduce what happened here." She said simply.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Don't play the fool Henry. You know as well as I do what the blood of the creatures of this world appears to be."
That silenced him for a moment.
"Now, the question is, what exactly was killed here? The blood's too shiny to be a Butcher's, but it's too thick to appear to be a Lost One's."
"Henry. Stick your gun in the puddle." She ordered him to do.
"And give me one good reason why I would do that?" He asked.
"The stickiness of a puddle can fathom a guess as to what it came from. Now stick the gun in the puddle."
Begrudgingly, he did as she said, because he wanted to know what this room was for as well.
The gun got stuck in the ink for a moment, but was relatively easy to pull out.
"Strange...it can't be a Boris, their ink is too watery to be sticky. And it can't be from a Searcher, otherwise you wouldn't get that gun back." She murmured to herself.
"Maybe this is where the Keepers were made?" He proposed.
"No...that can't be it, these puddles don't have the shine of new life. Yet, they don't have the inherent dullness of a death."
"Argh! The most I can gather is torture, and any simpleton could gather that!" She groaned.
"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. Yes, we don't know who was tortured here, but I doubt it will help us escape." He said in some attempt to ease her mind.
"It won't, but it still matters, because you may have led us into a chamber of death, you imbecile!" She snapped.
Norman turned to look at Henry, giving him a stare that clearly said "I told you we should have left her to die."
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" The two heard Sammy crying out from further in the room.
"Sammy!" Henry yelped out worriedly.
"I told you! I told you! You led us into a torture dungeon Henry!"
"Are you coming or what?!"
"Of course I am! No one gets to kill Lawrence except me!"
The three of them ran (well, two of them ran, Norman couldn't cause he didn't have legs) to the sound of Sammy's screams.
When they got there, they saw that Sammy was not in any mortal danger, but was kneeling at a cage built into a wall.
Apparently his screams were of excitement.
"My lord! My savior! I knew you would come for me!" Sammy declared.
"Sammy stop worshipping the wall, we're busy." Susie scolded the prophet.
But Sammy did not listen, instead he then focused his efforts on attempting to destroy the bars in the wall.
"Do not worry my lord! Your loyal prophet shall free you!" Sammy ranted.
"What in blazes are you talking about?" Henry asked.
"My lord! He is entombed in this cage!"
"...Sammy, I have gotten chased by Bendy multiple times, I have seen him, and there is no way he could fit in a cage that small."
"Just look, you fool!"
Begrudgingly, Henry bent down to see what was in the cage and was shocked to the core.
Inside, was a perfect Bendy.
Not an exact copy of the little devil he drew, he wore a vest, there were wrinkles around his eyes, but compared to the demon Henry knew, it was perfect.
It was what Bendy would look like if he was brought into this reality.
There was another thing that was different about this Bendy, something that struck Henry as concerning.
There was an expression of absolute terror on his face.
He was scared, of what?
'He's scared of us maybe? That seems the most likely', he thought to himself
"Let's kill him." Susie suggested bluntly, interrupting Henry's train of thought.
"What?! Why?! He's done nothing to us, HE'S the one in the cage." Henry yelped.
"Come on Henry, don't tell me you haven't read the writing on the wall. The instruments of torture? The countless puddles of shed ink? The presence of a 'perfect' Bendy? Our captor's insistence that he's slain the Ink Demon?"
"This is the Ink Demon, compressed into a harmless form, perfect to be slain."
Henry refused to believe it for a second, but as he thought it over, he realized that her logic made sense. How else could a 'perfect' Bendy exist? How else could this Wilson man convince everyone the Ink Demon was killed?
"Exactly. And that's why we must release him!" Sammy yelled.
"No, it's why we need to execute him." Susie countered.
"How dare you even suggest such an idea?!" Sammy spat with venom.
"The Ink Demon does nothing but cause misery. He has ruined my beauty, dragged me down from Heaven, and seeks only to drag me to the Dark Puddles!"
"He did nothing but make it so your true colors are forever visible, False Angel!"
"YOU SPEAK NOTHING BUT LIES, PROPHET!"
"Both of you, can it!"
Susie then turned her attention to Henry.
"Henry. You know as well as I do that what the Ink Demon is capable of. The proof is on your shoulder. He ripped off the Projectionist's head, you've witnessed it countless times."
Even Norman looked like he was considering her words, and he despised Susie.
"You can't deny how easy it would be to kill the Ink Demon in this form. You have the weapons. You would be doing the souls trapped here such a blessing. Think about it. Henry Stein, the man who killed the Ink Demon."
Susie put her hand on Henry's cheek.
"Doesn't that sound heavenly?"
Henry put his hand on hers...
...and then moved it to her wrist, to grab her hand and move it off his cheek.
"Don't touch me."
There was something in Henry's eyes that silenced her.
"Yes, he's done a lot of horrible things, to us and to the studio at large."
Henry looked at Bendy and thought of a certain audio log he found while in the depths of the studio.
He walked over to Bendy's cage.
"But that's all he's really seen. He doesn't know anything but cruelty 'cause that's all Joey showed him."
He raised the Tommy Gun...
...and broke the bars.
Henry then looked at Susie's enraged face and said
"Yes, he deserves some form of punishment, but he also deserves a chance to be better, not just blinding killing him off."
Bendy tentatively stepped out of the hole, careful to keep his distance from the people bigger in the room
Henry gave Susie a small, hopeful smile.
"Can't you find it in your heart to agree?"
Susie was silent, stepping close to Bendy.
Bendy had an expression of nervousness, yet a small pinch of hope on his face.
...which was immediately dashed once Susie sucker-punched him in the face.
"MY LORD!"
"BENDY!"
"AHHHHHHHH!!"
Sammy tried to pull Bendy away from her but Bendy just wrestled out of his arms and tried to make it out of the room.
Susie then grabbed his leg and used it to swing him against the wall, hitting himself face first.
Henry then lunged at Susie, pulling the arm that held Bendy back, causing her to drop him.
Susie screamed and clawed at Henry, scratching him severely.
Norman screeched at her, and somehow manipulated his wires to wrap around her clawing arm.
Sammy then followed suit and held other arm back, keeping her from pursuing the little demon.
Bendy in a panic booked it away from them, ran towards a wall, and as expected, bounced off it.
Bendy did not expect that, and kept trying to go in the wall.
Once it sank in that he could not go through the wall he looked around the room for a second and saw an air vent above him.
He attempted to jump up to it but he couldn't because he was too short.
Henry was witnessing this when an idea occurred to him.
"Sammy, Norman, do you think you two can hold her back while I go help him out?" He asked.
That really set the two off.
Norman started wailing at the thought of being anywhere near Sammy.
Sammy immediately went off on a rant.
"I refuse to work with a filthy blasphemer such as him! My lord does not require your assistance anyway! He is brilliant! He is strong! To go to him would only soil his essence with your-"
"CAN YOU JUST DO IT?!" Henry snapped.
"...yes sir." Sammy said quietly.
Norman wrapped himself around Susie's arm, tying it to her back.
Henry, now free, ran over to Bendy and offered him a hand up to the vent.
Bendy was wary of Henry, that much showed on his face, but he was also desperate to escape.
He stepped on the hand and climbed up into the vent. Henry put the vent cover over the hole once he was in.
Bendy looked at him for a second, before crawling away.
"T̴̡̧̡͚̙̝͚̦̤͔̺̳̝̞͚̹͕̙̩̲̰̫̲̠̖̭̼̺̟̮͇̗̝̤͈̬͇͙̗̼͖̺̮̙̳̽̉̒̚ḩ̵̙̗̻͗̍͒̑͋̍̽̒̊̍̄͐͆̿̏͐̿̽̿̊͝͝͠ä̵̢̪̹͇̜̝̭̪͍̤̩͈͓̭̗̤̹͎̱́̿̍̇̈́̑͊͒̽̅̉̈́̾̓̐̄́͋͂͌̈́̇́͋̿͗̄́͊͛͘͜͜͝n̵̡̢̡̪̯̤̦͈̳͔̭̭͓͚͍̝̦͂͐̒̔͊̏͗̔̊͝͝k̷̡̧̨̢̪̺̻̣̟̗̠̻̣̗͕̦̟̞̝̜̬͙̠̣̹̲̬̮͕̞̬̭̹̹͓̺͙̩̠̜͖̰̜̻͖͌͂͂͊̑͑͌͐͐͒̅́̀̐͋̆͒̓̓̎̈́̍͒̀̚̚͝͠͠ ̴̲͇̞͉̗͇̲͚͙̜̬̘̰͎͍̤͍̭̥͉͙̜͕̹̻̆̉̅͒͗͑͒̋̀́͛̓͂́̎̔̅̀̏ͅy̶̧̧̛̛͔͇͕̳̜͆̾̎͐͊͆͌͌͋͐̽̓̆́͒͑̒͐́̅̃̑̾̀̋̒̎̈́̈͛̒́̔̚͘͠͝͝͝ơ̸̧̨̡͚͕͔̝͖̙̱͓̲̹͓͖̝̝̯̒̉̆̋͛̈́͌̿͊̉́͒͆̀́̆͌͆̈͒̀̀̈̓̾͂̓̔̉͐́̐̏̋͌̇̉̐̓̓͐͆̿̈́͂͌̕͜͜͝͠ͅͅư̸̘͕̞̻̿̈̊̍͗̈́̉̇͆̒̎̅̈́̓̽̐̃͂̈́̌́̿̓̚͝͠͝"
Henry did a double take for a second upon hearing that voice in his head.
It was deep, dark, whispery and growly, and it sounded like there was something dripping in the back somehow.
And yet, it sounded thankful. Grateful.
'Was that...Bendy's voice? Does he even have a voice?''
Henry didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts however, because the Keepers broke in the room.
They swarmed the group, attempting to grab them individually.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Norman screeched, the Keepers pulling his wires.
"RELEASE ME!" Sammy screamed, the Keepers pinning his arms behind his back.
"NORMAN! SAMMY! " Henry screamed.
He ran over to his friends, attacking the Keepers, desperately trying to help them.
Susie took advantage of the chaos to grab Henry's gun and ran to the vent. She yanked the vent cover off and halfway crawled in before two Keepers grabbed her legs.
She fired at them with the Tommy Gun and didn't damage them per se, but they recoiled long enough for her to get fully into the vent and pull the cover over.
"Susie, you're not just gonna leave us here are you?!" Henry yelled.
"Yes, I am." Susie stated before making her escape.
*The Keepers took my axe and overwhelmed us. We were captured and brought into a glass cage all together, since we broke all our cages.*
Henry sat in the prison, watching the man called Wilson talk to the Keeper in front of him.
The cage was soundproofed, so Henry couldn't hear what they were saying, and he sucked at reading lips.
Eventually, Wilson departed and the Cyclebreakers were released.
"We have..been...given new...orders. Must commence...experimentation...to repress...rebellious tendencies."
(Audrey's point of view)
"And that's the end of that story!" Henry said.
"Wait, what was that last part?" Audrey asked.
It sounded...concerning.
"Oh, you know, just meaningless background details! Nothing important!" Henry said nervously.
"But-"
"Little sheep, this road leads to nothing but getting hit by a train!" Sammy said in a warning tone.
"That...analogy doesn't make any sense."
Still, Audrey heard the message loud and clear; this topic was not to be discussed.
So, she changed it.
"If you managed to escape that first time, what would you have done?:
"I would resume where I left off! Worshipping my lord as I was meant to!" Sammy declared vehemently.
"...I would find some old friends, make sure they're ok, and when I did, I would find Joey, and kick his ass." Henry bluntly stated.
Norman screeched in solidarity with Henry's statement.
"...Joey? Joey as in Joey Drew?" Audrey asked.
"Yes. He's the reason so many people are locked in this hellhole, why I haven't seen my wife and kids in years."
"He tricked us, lied to all of us just to imprison us here, corrupted so many people's minds, and use us all for his sick entertainment. He was once a good friend, but now..I despise him with every inch of my being." Henry monologued bitterly
"He has committed several atrocities, little sheep. It is safe to say that if anyone in this room, anyone in this STUDIO, saw him again, he would feel our wrath." Sammy vocalized.
"...good to know." Audrey shakily said.
'Oh god they're gonna kill me if they ever find out Joey's my father', Audrey thought to herself.
No, no, don't be absurd Audrey! Joey's a liar, Henry just said that. He probably lied about creating you to get you on his side and do...bad things for him!
You're a human, Audrey. Made of flesh and bone. Just temporarily inky and in jail. You're gonna break you and the Cyclebreakers out of prison, you're gonna get out of the studio, and you're gonna find a way to turn back to normal.
Besides, even on the very slim, very low chance that Joey was telling the truth, they're your friends! They wouldn't hurt you...
...right?