"Bendy?"
Both Porter and Heidi turned around and followed Sonic's gaze to the little Devil Darling hiding in the corner. Much like the Mobian toon when he first met him, they exchanged bewildered glances.
"Oh, would you look at that!" exclaimed Porter while all Heidi could do was gasp in amazement.
Bendy snuck back to the corner where only the tips of his horns could be seen. Knowing what to do, Sonic got down from the couch, told Porter and Heidi to stay where they are and slowly approach the small devil.
"It's okay, buddy," Sonic assured him. "No one's gonna hurt you. If you come on out, I can introduce you to everyone."
He was hesitant at first, but he slowly walked out of his hiding spot, his fingers playing with each other.
"All right," Sonic declared, happy to see Bendy coming out of his shell. "You already know me. These are my friends, Porter and Heidi."
The Lost Ones waved to the mascot, who waved back timidly. As they waved, Porter asked Sonic how he knew Bendy, which the black hedgehog explained that they met back at Animation Alley before the Ink Demon showed up. That caused the Dancing Demon to drop his head, his face full of guilt and sadness.
Seeing this, Sonic got down to his knees, put his right hand on the devil's shoulder and said, "It's okay, Bendy. I don't blame you for running away. In fact, I think that's quite normal in a place like this. But that's not gonna change anything."
Although he still felt guilty, Sonic's willingness to forgive gave Bendy enough courage to look up with his black cut eyes.
With a warm smile, Sonic extended his right hand and asked, "So what do you say, buddy? Wanna be friends?"
Bendy wasted no time in nodding his hand, his famous smile growing bigger by the second. It wasn't long until he shook hands with Porter and hugged Heidi, who was just as overjoyed to have another friend.
"I don't suppose you know your way around this city, do you?" Porter queried. When Bendy nodded, Porter then asked if he knew where the Gent workshop was.
The very mention of the workshop struck fear in the toon's eyes as he shook both his hands and head vigorously. He even buried his face in his gloved palms as he continued to shake his head.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong, buddy?" asked Sonic as he calmed the Devil Darling. "Is it a bad place?"
Bendy looked up, his hands covering half of his face and nodded.
"Did the Keepers capture you and bring you to the workshop?" Heidi queried. When Bendy again nodded, she asked if he had seen Big Steve. Unfortunately, Bendy shook his head as a response.
"He probably got out before Big Steve was brought to the workshop," guessed Porter.
Seeing how much Bendy was trembling, Sonic assured him that they won't let anything happen to him.
"We'll take it one step at a time," he added. "You don't even have to come into the workshop with us once we get there. You can be our lookout. How's that sound?"
Bendy crossed his arms and began to tap his foot as he pondered. It was just a matter of seconds that he gave the group a thumbs up with his famous grin.
"All right!" cried Sonic, with a small cheer from Heidi and Porter. Rising to his feet, he asked, "Ready to lead the way, Bendy?"
Bendy smiled as a response as he led the trio through an open doorway with a small flight of stairless slope heading down to the city. A little later they had to make a right to another slope going down. After passing through a small chamber with a couple of wooden benches and a large sign labeled, Train Information, the group found themselves at the entrance of the abandoned town.
With the various junk lying around the street, along with a beat up car from the 1930's, the calm yet creepy ambience and nobody around in sight made the city more like a ghost town. The buildings that stood before the gang was a grocery store and a king pin lanes on their left with a pharmacy on the right. There was even a covered bridge up ahead that apparently connected the buildings as a subway of some sort. Just as Sonic began to wonder how that worked, he heard Heidi cry out.
"Guys! Look at that!"
Everyone looked up and lord and behold, was a beautiful cartoon moon with thick fog looking more like a cloud dancing in the air.
Sonic was flabbergasted. "How the hell did they get their own moon!?"
"Is that what that thing is?" Porter asked. "I wonder what it's doing up there."
"It basically hangs out in the night sky until the sun comes up," Sonic explained. If this factory's version of Joey Drew's studios have a moon, he doesn't see why they can't have their own sun.
Heidi and Bendy, on the other hand, just stared at the moon with anime eyes. "I have never seen anything so beautiful before," she said. All Bendy could do was nod in agreement.
"I beg to differ," Porter muttered to himself as he took notice of how she glowed in the city lights. With the golden flower he gave her, which still hung in her hair, she looked amazing.
"Well," announced the Black Blur as he walked over to bring the dazed duo back to reality. "I hate to break up moon gazing time but we gotta get moving."
Once they were snapped out of it, Bendy led them through the empty street. The background music seemed to slightly grow louder as they went further into town. The road looked just as messy with knocked over mail boxes, scattered trash parchments, ink puddles and another broken down car, however this one had the 1900's model. Each building they passed had their own business, such as a washing place of some kind, a heavenly toys store, which Sonic found ironic, a meat store called the Grand Chops: Choice Meatly Products, and the Good Tower Cafe. Up ahead was a giant poster of Bendy promoting his cartoon, "Temptation." Sonic recalled watching that with his friends some time ago.
Hearing a whistle, Sonic turned to see Bendy pointing at a locked prison door with a sign above that read, Unsafe Area. Stay Out - Gent. With a title like that with a tightly secured door, it had to be the Gent workshop.
"Way to go, Bendy!" Sonic exclaimed, causing the small demon to smile.
Once everyone gathered round, Porter examined the lock. "Looks like we need a special kind of ID card to get in."
"Ours won't work?" asked Sonic. Porter shook his head, saying that their key card is too small to fit.
"Give me a couple of minutes and we should be good to go."
Suddenly, Bendy started looking around the street with wide eyes as if he heard something. When Heidi asked him what was wrong, he glared at her with his face full of fear and suddenly took off running.
"BENDY!"
Sonic and Porter turned to see Bendy running away with Heidi calling him to come back.
"Where's he going?" wondered Porter as he finished molding the new ID card.
Sonic was just about to ask that same question until he realized something; Bendy ran away just before the Ink Demon showed up.
"PORTER! HEIDI! FIND A PLACE TO HIDE! NOW!"
Before anyone could make a move, the Ink Demon emerged from his ink portal from one of the buildings close to where Heidi was. She screamed at the sight of him, which caused him to turn, roared in return and smacked her so hard that she went flying to the other building.
"HEIDI!" yelled Porter. He dropped the ID card and ran for her.
As he did, Sonic formed into a spin ball and dashed for Bendy's face. He hollered in pain as Sonic bounced back and ran to join Porter to check on Heidi.
"I'm okay," she muttered, struggling to stand thanks to the pain that enveloped her body.
Hearing another roar, the trio turned to see the Ink Demon crawling on all fours toward them.
"Let's go!" Sonic yelled as he was followed by Porter, who carried Heidi back to the door to the workshop.
Luckily, there was an opening above the door just big enough for them to jump over. Sonic told Porter to jump first as he'll buy him and Heidi some time from the Ink Demon. He turned around and made a few homing attacks on Bendy's weak spots. He bellowed as he stumbled to the ground.
"Looks like you're losing your touch, Bendy!" Sonic cried as he followed his friends to the top of the workshop entrance.
There was a small gap between the door to the entry of the workshop, forcing Sonic to run on the edges of the walls.
Once he made his landing, Sonic found himself in a small area where the city's biggest building stood. Aside from the obvious Gent sign, below it was printed words that read, We Are The Keepers. It didn't get any better when he saw three Lost Ones, all of their heads in bags, hanged by chains. He did, however, take note of two large pylons, one on each side of the building. Looking down, he saw a small gate where the entry to the building was, including his friends.
Before he could join them, something large crashed into the wall behind him, causing him to fall forward along with all the flying wood and debris. He heard his friends cry out his name as he was tossed like a doll to where the small gate stood. Raising his dirt-covered cartoon body, Sonic looked up to see that it was Bendy that tore down the wall. And he did not look happy.
"Lost my touch, have I?" he snarled as he crawled toward Sonic and reached out to grab him.
Suddenly, the two pylons lit up, giving off electricity with different, various colors. The Ink Demon gave out a moanful cry as he clenched his head. An abrupt, small sting stabbed Sonic's brain which caused him to cry out, too. Even Porter and Heidi grabbed their head to ease the sudden throb in their heads.
Fortunately for them, the pain lasted only for a few seconds. But Bendy seemed to suffer the worst as the signal towers continued their rainbow electricity. He began to melt into a small puddle of molten tar, groaning as he went. Then the puddle began to shrink until it vanished from sight. Once he was gone, the pylons turned off, leaving the trio in a disturbed silence.
"Sonic!" cried Heidi, breaking the silence as she, with Porter right behind her, ran toward Sonic to help him up. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," the Mobian Toon muttered as shook off the dust from his tar-like fur. Looking up at the signal towers, Sonic wondered, "What did those things do to Bendy?"
While Heidi was just as clueless as Sonic, Porter guessed that maybe the Keepers found a way to keep the Ink Demon out of the workshop. "Perhaps the pylons create some kind of signal that turns the Ink Demon into a pile of ink, therefore keeping him from entering the building as well as disrupting his powers for a moment."
"Or long enough for him to get away," Sonic added, acknowledging his teleporting ability. "But still, that's a good guess, Porter."
Porter's mouthless chin formed an invisible grin.
"If those pylons keep the Ink Demon from going into the workshop, why not create a whole bunch of them all over the studio?" asked Heidi.
"They're probably still under the impression that Wilson 'killed' the Ink Demon," Porter replied with an eye roll.
"Well, given what just happened, Wilson's gonna find out sooner or later," Sonic said.
After announcing that they need to get moving, Sonic took lead until he noticed Heidi looking behind her at the destroyed wall. Knowing what she was thinking, Sonic comforted her that toon Bendy will be alright.
"If that little guy can survive as long as you guys, he'll be just fine."
"I know," Heidi responded melancholy. "But he looked so scared before the Ink Demon showed up."
"You don't suppose they have some kind of connection, do you?" Porter queried.
"Aside from sensing his darker half's presence?" Sonic shrugged. "I don't know. But even if they did have a connection, I'm not gonna force Bendy to exploit it. The poor kid's gone through enough torment in this hellhole as it is."
After inhaling enough air to calm herself, Heidi followed Sonic and Porter up the small stairs toward the door, which opened once they were within proximity. Inside was a small hall with a barrel the only object in the way unless someone walked around it. Once they went to the other door at the end of the hall, the door opened automatically like the first one, taking the trio to another small hall, this time having a human corpse covered by a dirty sheet on an operating table with a small sign that read, Condemned: Effective Oct. 31, 2022. It didn't get any better that the light above kept switching on and off in a calm yet unsettling manner.
Taking a peak under the sheet, Sonic saw that it was a male Lost One with his rib cage exposed. That would explain the giant ink stain that centered on the body's chest.
"Why does this look so familiar?" Sonic uttered to himself, recalling how Two-Faced Angel did the same thing to her victims to regain her beauty.
"Guys," Heidi said, looking ahead to another room, pointing with her shaky finger. "There's more."
The boys looked and sure enough, another corpse laid on an operating table in a lobby room with yet another dead body lying on the floor. Both of the sheets had a huge inky smear in the center of the bodies, indicating that their hearts were taken as well. As the gang walked toward the archway, a sign above read, Unsafe Area Please Have Your Identification Ready - Gent. Once they were in, Heidi put her hands over her invisible mouth in horror to see three more bodies, one on an operating table and the rest on the floor.
"Sweet Chaos!" cried Sonic, feeling his stomach begin to twist and turn that made him want to throw up.
Kneeling down to the corpse near the door where they came in, Porter pulled back the sheet to find this one heartless like the rest. "What exactly are the Keepers doing?"
Suddenly, the sound of a garage door opening sent the group to dive behind the lobby desk to hide. Taking a small peak, Sonic's jaw dropped to see two human men, perfectly normal if it weren't for their ink-covered encapsulated suits, walk in the lobby.
"What kind of monsters are those?" Heidi whimpered with Porter gently shushing her.
The first man counted the bodies. "Looks like we got five for today."
"Thank God!" cheered the second one with a hint of a southern accent. "Once we're done gathering all these bodies, we're heading for that Mexican restaurant cause I'm starving!"
The first guy couldn't help but chuckle. "I knew you were hungry, but I didn't think you were hangry."
"It's all I could think about!" exclaimed the second man as he started to pull out the operating table. "And besides, I just want to get out of here before Wilson flips out again. With the return of the Ink Demon and that Mobian running loose, he's pissed off enough as it is."
"Yeah," concurred the first guy. "It's bad enough we got G.U.N. breathing down our necks."
They continued their talk as they went back to the door they came in, taking the dead Lost One with them. It wasn't long until the slam of the door with a minute long of silence confirmed to the trio they were alone again.
"I have to admit," Porter said as he and the others rose from their hiding place and jumped back to the lobby. "The Keepers weren't as threatening as I thought they were going to be."
"Those weren't Keepers, Porter," Sonic said. "Those are people."
Seeing their confused faces, Sonic explained that those two guys, humans as he described them since his friends are unfamiliar with the word, are basically like them except with pink skin. "The suits they were wearing protects them from the ink turning them into monsters."
"I didn't think there were other creatures that looked just like us," Heidi admitted with Porter nodding in agreement.
Sonic was just about to say that they were once human themselves but decided to put the matter aside for now. They have much bigger concerns to deal with as well as little time they have until the two men come back for the remaining corpses. Besides, he had a strong feeling they wouldn't believe him, not that he blamed them, of course.
As everyone headed to the door, Sonic couldn't help but wonder why there were actually humans in the studio. Could it be that they're here to perform their experiments along with the Keepers? Possibly. Wilson probably recruited his trusted workers to assess the ink before he made the Keepers. Once they came, Wilson's men probably stuck around for extra help or to speed up the process.
The door required a code to get through and fortunately for the group, Sonic still has Dale Little's Cheat Sheet in his invisible pocket. Seeing the door was labeled, 11, Sonic scanned the paper until he found the code to the door, which was 523. Once he typed it in, the garage door opened with a hard ding.
What lay before them was another small hallway to an open area with a circular floor right in the middle of the room. After going through the hall, the room turned out to be an experimental chamber of some kind. The circular design had an image of a pair of human feet where everyone guessed is where the person being tested stands. On the left and right walls were two black dormer windows each having three large sidewall vents above them. And, of course, there were ink pipes all over, these appearing to be much smaller than what the gang have grown accustomed to. Up ahead was another garage door with the same sign they saw when they came across the lobby filled with corpses. Above the sign was a huge screen with three little ones on the bottom; one on the left and two on the right.
Suddenly, the door behind them slammed shut, trapping the trio inside. Then all four screens turned on, revealing a figure that resembled a volcano due to the light flowing in patterned curves like lava. Whereas any typical volcano would have its crater at the very top, the figure had it as a face, glowing just as bright as the rest of its light veins. A distorted, robotized sound was heard through the speakers, making it seem like the creature was exhaling. It didn't help that the poor quality and glitching on the screen made the figure even more horrifying.
"Anomaly detected," the creature spoke in its creepy, mechanical voice. "Along with two more anomalies. New subject designation required."
Both Sonic and Porter looked at one another for they recognized the voice from the elevator who sent them down to King Widow's nest. Whether this was the same one who ejected the lift, they had no idea. But one thing was for sure; this thing had to be one of the Keepers.
Taking a deep breath, Sonic went up to the circular design and stood on the printed feet beneath him. Heidi, who was terribly frightened, held onto Porter, who in turn held her due to being a little scared himself.
"What are you?" asked the gauzy voiced figure. "What is your purpose?"
"My name's Sonic," cried the Black Blur. Pointing to his friends, he added, "These are my friends, Porter and Heidi. I take it you're a Keeper?"
It answered, "We are the Keepers. Order. Control. Eternal. We serve the many, by serving the one. The Machine must endure."
"Uh, cool," Sonic muttered, trying to light up the mood. "Well, me and my friends share the same purpose of finding the exit. Also, you took Heidi's friend, Big Steve and she wants him back safe and sound. But other than that, we want out of this place. Think you can help us?"
"Leave?" repeated the Keeper. "No one can leave unless Wilson permits it, especially you, the Disruptor of the peace."
"Disrupter of the peace?" repeated Sonic, aggravated at the very thought of disrupting what little peace this place had. "Buddy, I think everyone in this studio will say otherwise!"
"Feisty," observed the Keeper. "Erratic. Dangerous. We've not seen one like this before."
"What can I say?" Sonic said with a shrug. "It's part of my magnetic personality."
"Dangerous," the Keeper repeated in its creepy, monotone voice. "Much too dangerous. This subject is without limits."
"And I'm about at the end of my limit if you don't let us pass," Sonic declared, getting close to getting irritated.
"Subject has been deemed hazardous," announced the Keeper. "Hydrogen cyanide fumes activated."
The banging of machinery was heard before smoke-like gas emerged from the upper vents. Once the fumes were released, all tv screens were shut off, disabling the Keeper from the trio.
"Guys!" yelled Sonic as he ran toward Porter and Heidi, who started to cough.
From the mist of the gas, Porter saw an open vent not too far from where they stood.
"Look, a vent! We can escape through there!"
Everyone made a run for it with Heidi crawling in first with Porter and Sonic right behind her. After a couple of small turns, everyone took a moment to cough out the remaining gas in their lungs.
"Everyone okay?" Sonic asked, pounding his chest to clear his throat.
"We're all right," Porter replied, with a nod from Heidi who was finishing up her last cough. When she was done, she asked what to do now.
"Well," Sonic began, gathering his thoughts. "Wasn't expecting to be interrogated by a Keeper, but with them roaming around, I think it's best that we stay low once we're out of this vent."
Porter agreed. "I don't want to think about what the Keepers will do if they catch us."
Suddenly, a loud slithering sound was heard outside the vent. Not too far from the trio was a barred vent covering where something large was passing by. Everyone gathered around thanks to their slim and small bodies to see what it was.
It was a Keeper, who moved like a giant slug with its pipe-like tentacles dragging on the floor. Its long arms were out in the air as if it couldn't see despite its diver-like helmet expelling light. Aside from that and a large gear sticking out of its back, they couldn't see anything due to the Keeper moving.
"Subjects have broken containment," it said aloud, alerting the others. "Capture on sight. Lock down all access to the metahumans."
"Metahumans?" Sonic repeated, unfamiliar with anyone in the studio that went by that name.
"Never heard of anyone who called themselves metahumans," Porter said, just as confused as Sonic.
"Think that could be where they're holding Big Steve?" Heidi asked, given that he was different from most lurkers.
"Wouldn't hurt to check," Sonic said with a shrug from Porter.
With the plan set to find the metahumans, the gang continued their way through the vent until they found an opening. With Heidi in the lead, she peeked her head out and looked around.
"We're clear," she reported as she and the boys climbed out of the vent.
They couldn't tell where they were at the moment but they figured they were close to the heart of the workshop. On their right was a small, kitchen-like area where a corpse laid on a table. On their left was a locker and an office chair, which would explain the desk full of books and small jars not too far from where the objects were. Aside from the usual ink pipes, barrels and empty shelves, nothing else stood out.
Jogging up ahead, Sonic took a brief look around to see only one Keeper patrolling the area. Luckily, it had its back to Sonic so it didn't see him. Looking up the stairs on his left, there didn't appear to be any kind of door up there. However, out of the corner of Sonic's eye, there was an open archway which had to be where the Keeper came out. Thinking that might lead to where the Keepers held the metahumans, Sonic motioned his friends to come over. As they did, he looked back at the Keeper, who was still patrolling the far end of the chamber.
Turning back to his companions, Sonic whispered, "On the count of three, we're gonna run to that room. Got it?"
Porter and Heidi nodded as they got into a sprinting position and waited.
"One… two… three!"
In a split second, everyone became a black blur with their ink trails fading behind them. Just when they made it to the open entrance, the Keeper turned around only to find nothing. Seeing that it was just hearing things, it proceeded with its patrol.
"Good job, guys," Sonic said after taking a peek outside to see the Keeper back on duty.
The room turned out to be just a long hallway with a huge storage tank labeled nine at the very end in a new chamber. They made their way over, careful not to make any loud noises as well as being on high alert for any unwanted surprises. Once they reached the end of the hall, all six eyes peered around the area. However, there were no Keepers lurking around.
"Maybe they're in the Dishys Cantina," Heidi guessed, pointing at an open entry to a small room labeled with a sign.
"Might as well use that opportunity to find where they're keeping Big Steve and the metahumans," Sonic said. He looked around until he saw a balcony up on his left.
"Let's try this one."
He jumped up first and found himself alone aside from a linker pipe and the usual barrels, boxes and empty shelves. He leaned over the railing and motioned Porter and Heidi to join him.
"Oh!" Heidi gasped as she and Porter leapt onto the balcony. "I still need to get used to these new powers!"
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the room, sending the trio on edge.
"What the hell was that?" Sonic exclaimed while Porter frantically looked around the balcony only to find no one there.
Heidi, however, seemed overjoyed. "I know that wail!"
Running to the end of the platform, she found a small passage with a door at the very end that had the same sign when they first entered the workshop. She made a break for it, her face full of hope.
"Heidi, wait!" The boys cried as they went after her while fearing what waited for them on the other side of the door.
The door opened with ease which left the group in a large empty chamber. It resembled that of an experimentation room due to the platform that hung above it, each containing a cell. The vacant area was separated from where the trio stood by a fence with no gate to close the archway. A couple of chains rattled as they dangled from the ceiling.
"Big Steve!" cried Heidi as she glared around the room. "Big Steve! Can you hear me?"
A loud bang was heard not too far from where the group stood, causing them to lose their balance due to the banging. Then two large, ink covered hands popped out from an open archway where a giant, brute-like monster came trudging out with his ankle tied to leg cuff, growling as he went. He didn't have much of a face except for his hanging jaw which swung wherever his head went. His body was covered with various debris, such as metal scraps and wooden planks. There were more but Sonic and Porter couldn't tell since they kept merging in and out of Big Steve's body, almost as if they were floating. He grunted as he looked around and noticed the gang.
"BIG STEVE!"
Heidi ran toward the obese lurker, who gave out the stupidest grin as he picked her up like she was a doll and hugged her.
"Hee hee!" squealed Heidi, her arms wrapped around Big Steve's face. "I missed you, too!"
"Holy shit, he's huge!" cried Sonic, who wasn't expecting the lurker to be this big.
Porter, however, thought otherwise. "I don't know. He seems smaller than an average lurker."
"You call that small!?"
Hearing them, Big Steve turned his attention to them and gave them a confused glare.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Heidi exclaimed. "These are my new friends, Steve. This is Sonic and Porter."
His silly smile returned as he reached out his enormous hand out to grab them. Despite the boys' attempts to assure him that they're good, Big Steve carried them over for a group hug. While the guys felt their ribs getting ready to pop, Heidi giggled as she leaned over to hug all her friends. Even Big Steve joined in with his deep laughter.
For what seemed like forever, Big Steve brought the gang back to the ground, where Sonic and Porter took the time to breathe. Heidi, meanwhile, was perfectly fine as she finished the rest of her chuckles.
"Oh, I'm so happy we found you, Big Steve! I thought I would never see you again!"
The lurker expressed his joy through his dumb yet joyful smile like that of a dog.
"Oh! Here!" Heidi reached for her invisible pocket and pulled out the large ink heart she made. "I knew you would be hungry so I brought you this."
The lurker's grin grew bigger than before as he took the heart, sat down and started to eat.
"Good thing you brought the heart," Porter panted, still in the process of freeing his ribs. Heidi couldn't help but nod like a proud mother.
Sonic, who like Porter, started to feel his lungs again, noticed the leg cuff on Big Steve as he tried to adjust his foot so he would sit comfortably.
"Is that cuff bugging you, buddy?"
The lurker raised his head to Sonic and slowly nodded, showing that he was quite irritated despite his blank face.
"You want us to take it off?"
Not even thinking twice about it, Big Steve extended his leg for the trio to free him. Sonic warned his friends to stand back as he got to his attack position. Once they did, Sonic jumped into the air and homed in on the chain, breaking it in two.
Big Steve stared at it with his jaw dropped even more. He glared at Sonic and then back at the chain and back at him again. He started to chuckle as he rose to his feet with open arms toward the Mobian toon.
"Nah, I'm good, big guy," Sonic said, holding out his hand to stop him. "Your smile is all I need to see that you're grateful."
The fat monster grinned as he hummed in joy.
"This might be a problem."
Turning to Porter, Heidi queried, "How is this a problem?"
"How are we supposed to hide Big Steven when we try to find the metahumans and everyone else trapped in the workshop?"
"Porter's got a point," Sonic agreed. "He'll stick out like a sore thumb when trying to hide from the Keepers. You don't mind hanging out here until we come back, Steve?"
The lurker shook his head as he sat back down and continued to eat his heart. Heidi volunteered to stay with him so he wouldn't be alone. Now that they were back together, she wasn't letting him out of her sight.
"Okay, sounds like a plan," concurred Sonic with a nod from Porter. "We'll be back in a flash."
Both Big Steve and Heidi waved as Sonic and Porter went back out to find the metahumans.
Looking over the balcony, they found one Keeper roaming around the chamber. Seeing three open archways to possibly the same room on the platform's left, Porter suggests they go look in there.
Sonic agreed. "Let's wait until buckethead turns around."
For what seemed like forever, the Keeper reached to the end of the area and turned around to cover the back again. Sonic and Porter rushed to the entrance as their inky trails faded behind them.
What stood before them was a set of stairs leading up to a poorly boarded up entry with another condemned sign. It even had a couple of black signs signaling no one to go in.
"You would think that after all this effort to keep anyone out they would put up better security," Sonic said as he and Porter walked up the steps.
With a crouch from Porter and a simple walk through from the Black Blur, the duo found themselves in a hallway similar to the one where they found Big Steve. Like before, the door opened with ease which revealed a small room with a garage door in front of them with a sign above it that read, METAHUMANS. Seeing a switch next to the door, Porter went over and pulled it down.
The door revealed a small room with another garage door at the very end, except this one had a floor sign that read, Deep 6: Level Badge Required Beyond This Point. Not to mention both sides of the wall have two large vents with a huge fan spinning slowly up above.
Just as the boys went inside, the door behind them slammed shut as the lights began to go off and on due to the rhythm of the alarm.
"What the…?" muttered Sonic, thinking they've been caught.
"Decontamination activated," said an automated voice as steam emerged from the vents.
Hearing that made Sonic sigh in relief whereas Porter was both terrified and confused.
"We're basically getting cleaned," Sonic explained.
It was then that a ding was heard which silenced the alarm except for the voice as it said, "Have a nice day."
Once the door ahead of the guys opened, Porter took a good look at himself. "I don't look any different from before."
"Well, usually it's to clean out simple germs that might be floating around you," Sonic told him.
With that, the duo walked out and found themselves in some kind of prison area, with glass-like containments shielded with a metal cover aside from the glass, with one on their left with the rest on the second story. Aside from a couple dead Lost Ones covered in sheets, the place seemed empty and quiet.
"This must be the Pit," Porter declared.
"What tipped you off? The prison cells?" joked Sonic.
Suddenly, a banging noise was heard. With wide eyes, the duo looked around to find no one else in the room besides them. But that didn't stop the banging. There were also muffled yells but none of them could make out what it was. Having a good idea where it might be coming from, Sonic went over to the cell labeled, Subject: 418, and pulled down the switch next to it.
Like a mouth getting ready to open, the coverage revealed a male Lost One, who looked surprised as if he wasn't expecting anyone to hear him. There were five more, two females and four males. The light that was hung in the center of the cell seemed to keep its prisoners from being enveloped in darkness.
Everyone stared at the duo, who both waved to assure them that they mean no harm. When they all saw the Mobian hedgehog, they all went over for a closer look while muttering to themselves.
"Seems like you're famous here, Sonic," Porter observed.
"He's all everyone has been talking about," the first Lost One said.
"We didn't think you were real," muttered the short-haired female ink creature with some nods from the others.
"Well, me standing here proves otherwise," Sonic stated. "I take it you're all metahumans?"
They all nodded as their leader said, "The Keepers kept us to further learn of our powers."
"Powers?" Porter repeated, who by this point isn't really surprised to find more people aside from Heidi having abilities of their own.
When everyone nodded, Sonic asked why they hadn't used them to break out of the Pit.
It was a tall, muscular Lost One that replied in a deep voice, "The Keepers made the pylons to give out some kind of electrified signal that somehow shuts off our powers."
"Are you talking about the ones outside the workshop?" queried Porter. "Because we were outside several minutes ago and they're off now."
The leader answered, "No, they got more all over the workshop, safely hidden."
"If that's the case," Sonic muttered. Then turning to Porter, he asked, "Then how are we able to use our without any problems?"
"Wait!" cried one of the female Lost Ones. "You found a way to bypass the signal towers?"
"Okay, you know what?" Sonic announced, shaking his hands in a stop motion. "We'll worry about this later. But for now, everyone stand back!"
Everyone did as they were told, unsure of what the hedgehog was about to do. Once they were clear, Sonic spinned dashed into the glass, shattering it to pieces. All the metahumans stared at Sonic with shocked eyes as if they were expecting him to do something else.
Seeing them just standing there, Sonic asked, "Whatcha guys looking at? Let's go!"
Clearing the leftover glass, Sonic led everyone out of the cell, despite him having to jump to freedom whereas everybody else just climbed over.
Turning to Porter, Sonic told him to search the other cells while he helped the rest of the Lost Ones out. The Lost Explorer nodded and found another cell in a nearby room. With the throw of the switch, Porter found more metahumans, this one having more people inside than the last one.
"Don't be afraid," he told them as he took out a piece of his flesh to mold into a large sledgehammer. "You folks will be out in a minute."
With the swing of his new weapon, he broke the glass, freeing his fellow Lost Ones as they crawled out of the cell and followed him to the main room where Sonic and the other metahumans were.
"All right! Now we're cooking!" cried Sonic. "Porter, let's check the top!"
He nodded as they both leapt onto the second floor where three more cells stood. Porter threw down all the switches with all three of them occupied with metahumans. Sonic then homed attacked each one so they would be able to crawl out and join the others down below.
"Looks like that's all of them!" declared Sonic with a nod from Porter.
"There's still the doorway to the Pit, though."
"Porter, what are you talking about? We're already in the Pit."
He explained by pointing to the door with a sign that used to read, Research was painted over with the words, The Pit.
"Oh!" Sonic exclaimed. "Weird I didn't see that earlier."
"Think that could be where the ink machine is?"
Before Sonic could answer, the door to the Pit opened revealing a man in an encapsulated suit walking out. He looked up and saw the duo despite being a little far away from where they stood.
He let out a terrified yell as he reached for his com. "The Mobian's here in the Pit! I repeat, the Mobian's-"
Before he could finish, Sonic ran toward him and kicked him back into the chamber he came in and closed the door. "We gotta go! Now!"
Hearing him from above, the metahumans began to panic and wonder what to do. Sonic jumped off the railing with Porter close behind him and told everyone to follow them. They did as they were told as Sonic and Porter retraced their footsteps back to the entrance of the Pit.
By the time they got out, there was a Keeper waiting for them. The Lost Ones screamed as it made an unearthly roar as its face light glowed dark orange and charged at the group. But Sonic homed attacked it which sent it falling down the stairs. However, it didn't do much as the Keeper got back up and made another attempt to strike. Sonic then homed on its face, shattering it as it flew across the chamber and into the wall, electricity flying out of its body with ink spilling out of its head.
"Let's go everybody!" Sonic yelled. "There's gonna be more of these guys if we don't move it!"
With frightened yells, everyone made out into the open chamber where another Keeper who just found its fallen comrade against the wall. It made a cry of its own before a giant figure fell from the ceiling and smacked it like it was a fly. Like an egg slammed against the ground, the Keeper broke apart with ink oozing out at an uncontrollable speed.
The giant turned out to be Big Steve himself with Heidi riding behind while holding onto his various junk sticking out of his body.
"You found everyone!" she cheered. "Oh, goodie!"
"Don't celebrate yet, Heidi!" Sonic shouted. "Think you and Big Steve could take the lead?"
They both nodded as the lurker jogged toward the large hallway and tore through the entry, roaring as he went. With Sonic right behind him along with the metahumans and Porter guarding the rear, he looked around to find two more Keepers coming at them at full speed.
"Get to the exit! I'll handle these guys!"
Heidi nodded as Sonic homed attacked both of their lantern-like eyes, this time using more force to ensure they stay down before another one appeared.
Meanwhile, the group came to a sudden halt as both Porter and Heidi realized they went through the vents to get in the workshop.
"We're trapped!" screamed one of the Lost Ones.
"Not yet, we're not!" Porter cried as he told Big Steve to make a new door. The lurker made his stupid grin as he roared, lifted his fists and began to pound on the wall. Slowly, the walls began to crack until finally, it broke down to where the trio was interrogated by one of the Keepers.
As everyone made their way through the giant gap in the way, Porter turned to see Sonic almost surrounded by Keepers. They might have caught him if he didn't use his spin dash to take them out.
"Sonic!" yelled Porter. "Everyone's out! Let's go!"
Just before Sonic could say anything, more Keepers appeared, coming out from various garage doors that were closed earlier and were now open. Knowing the group won't have a chance with the Keepers on their tail, Sonic told Porter to go without him.
"I'll hold these guys off until you guys get somewhere safe!"
But Porter objected to the idea. "No! I won't leave you behind!"
"Don't worry about me!" Sonic yelled. "You just get everyone out of here. NOW!"
After a second of hesitation, Porter ran to join the others. A couple of the Keepers saw him leave and gave chase. But they were taken down thanks to Sonic's homing attacks.
Looking around, there appeared to be five Keepers coming his way, minus the few that he took out that laid on the floor. He got his battle stand and lunged at the Keeper closest to him. With the blow of its head, the Keeper fell to the ground as its own blood-like ink stained the floor. It wasn't long until the rest of them came crashing down to the strikes on their heads.
Panting, Sonic cried, "Ha! Let's see you lamp heads survive that!"
Suddenly, something grabbed him from behind with large, clawed fingers, wrapping around him. Sonic cried out in alarm and tried to break free but the hand only squeezed him harder. The creature who grabbed him turned out to be a Keeper who crawled over to a nearby table, switched Sonic to its other hand where he now could see the Keeper and slammed him down.
"Let go, you bulb-headed slug!" yelled the Black Blur as he tried to free himself to no avail.
But the Keeper paid no heed as it went through the drawers and pulled out a syringe and began to fill it with a dark yellow liquid. Not wanting that substance in his body, Sonic continued to break free only to find the same result as before. Once the syringe was full, the Keeper brought closer and closer to Sonic's neck.
"No! You keep that thing away from me!"
Ignoring his pleas, the Keeper struck the tip of the syringe's needle into Sonic's neck, making him cry out in pain. Once it was in, he could feel the substance take effect as he suddenly felt drowsy.
No! Stay awake, Sonic, his mind told him as he struggled to break loose of the Keeper's grasp. While he did, he began to feel his whole body shut down with his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier by the second.
"No… no…" Sonic mumbled, trying everything in his power to fight back. Before he fully blacked out, he heard the Keeper say, "Inform Wilson that we have the Mobian in custody."
…
Tails, Knuckles and Archie found themselves at what used to be Joey Drew Studios was now a large quarantine tent set by G.U.N. After they explained to Shadow and Rouge about the Gent Company, Archie's finding of a Lost One and Sonic's disappearance, Team Dark wasted no time in taking them straight to the facility. They promised to explain everything once they got to their destination.
"It's weird seeing this tent instead of the studio," Tails admitted as he and the others stared at the pavilion.
"I've only seen the studio in the paper," said Archie, adding that he had never been to this place as it gave him the creeps. Just looking at the canvas made his skin crawl.
"Did you guys find something in there?" asked Knuckles, pointing at the facility. "Is that why you brought us here?"
"It's best if you just see it for yourselves," Shadow replied.
With Shadow and Rouge in the lead, the trio followed them inside where they went through a decontamination area before they were given encapsulated suits. That only heightened their curiosity of what was going on.
Turning to Knuckles and Tails, Shadow asked them about the ink being alive during their time in the studio two years prior.
"Well, yeah," responded Knuckles with a nod from Tails. "The reason for that was because of all the souls trapped within the ink. If you spend enough time in it, you could actually hear them." He said this out of experience when the Ink Demon nearly touched him which caused him to hear all kinds of voices.
"Well, in that case," Rouge said. "We believe that the ink has somehow been brought back to life."
Tails queried, "What do you mean?"
Team Dark merely pointed down where the trio discovered the solid ground had turned into dark yellow, cartoon-like wooden floorboards.
That caught Archie by surprise. "What the…?"
Even Tails and Knuckles were at a loss. But they noticed that further down the hallway, it looked exactly like the sketchy halls they wandered in back when the studio was standing.
"What the hell did you guys do!?" yelled Knuckles.
"Relax, Hot Stuff, we didn't do anything," Rouge assured the echidna. "This is all the ink's doing."
"Why do you think we had to quarantine this place?" Shadow remarked.
When Tails asked how G.U.N. were able to keep the ink at bay, Shadow replied, "What else? With bleach."
"Won't that kill the souls?" queried Archie.
Rouge shrugged. "We have no idea. But the ink won't go anywhere near it, which keeps it from spreading."
As they went further along, it was like the ink was trying to rebuild the studio from the inside. Aside from a few G.U.N. agents in their own encapsulated suits, doing their research, everything was the same. They stopped when they came across an empty but very familiar room.
"This is the animation area where we first entered the studio!" Tails cried.
"Well, I'll be!" exclaimed Archie, looking just as flabbergasted as the rest of his friends.
After taking a look around while getting flashbacks of their adventure in this place, Knuckles turned to Team Dark and asked how they found out about the ink coming back to life.
"One of our teams that were assigned found out," Shadow explained. "At first, they found that not only the ink was moving by itself but everything it touched turned into this sketchy world you see now. When they decided to further down the studio to get some clues, they were attacked by, uh, searchers, you guys called them?"
"Did they had legs?" asked Tails.
When Shadow shook his head, Tails then confirmed that they were searchers.
Rouge continued, "Luckily, the guys made it out okay, but they weren't wearing any kind of protection suits. So you can guess what happened then."
She went on to say that they slowly turned into Lost Ones, losing their memories as well as their sanity to the ink. That is, all except one.
The Mobians stared at them confused. "What, you guys helped him get his memory back?"
"No, we didn't. Unlike the other guys, he still remembered his name, where he lived, everything," Shadow said.
"That's a first," Knuckles muttered, as he recalled how everyone who was one with the ink couldn't remember anything, let alone their names.
Tails asked what was the Lost One's name, Shadow answered saying it was Zachery Lane, who was G.U.N. 's lab research assistant.
"He was on a productive career path before he was taken over by the ink," Shadow included, recalling the files he looked at some time ago.
"But that's not all," Rouge added. "He also gained some kind of ink powers."
The jaws of Tails and Knuckles dropped to the floor when the bat mentioned that.
"Don't they already have powers?" Archie asked.
"No, they didn't!" exclaimed Knuckles. "How is that possible?"
"From what Zachery told us," Shadow elucidated. "He just puts his face in a bowl of ink and he can see whatever the ink sees, which is pretty much everything."
He added that it was Zachery who found out about Gent's involvement in the resurrection of the ink when he saw images of not just the factory itself but of the employees performing experiments on the ink creatures as well as the new ink machine. At first, everyone at the agency thought the ink found a way to evolve without the use of its creator before Zachary debunked that theory. Which made sense for the case of the original ink machine since it was destroyed beyond repair.
"After all, you can't grow a tree without planting a seed," Rouge said. She added that whatever Gent was doing probably helped Zachery with his memory as well as giving him his powers, whether they're aware of it with their own patients or not.
"Some of our agents went in and searched the place only to find nothing," Shadow explained. "But it's clear now that they're hiding their new device somewhere in the factory. As for their subjects, we haven't found any records from the police about anyone missing but we guess Gent's been taking the homeless and unemployed for their experiments."
"That's smart," muttered Archie with a nod from Tails. It would make sense to take people below an average citizen since they're most discarded by the public.
Shadow continued, "Given your experience with the ink in the past, we thought we could find a way inside and take a look around ourselves. But it seems that Sonic thought the same idea."
Knuckles couldn't help but let out a frustrated groan. "If only Sonic had come to us first!"
Tails couldn't help but look down at the floor, hiding his concern for his best friend.
"Wait," declared Archie. "What about Zachery? If he could see the ink, we could use that to find both Sonic and the ink machine!"
Rouge explained that a few days ago when Zachery was looking in the ink, something actually attacked him and took out his eyes.
"So as of now, he's back at the agency until his eyes heal, that is if Lost Ones can heal the same way normal people do," Shadow added. "After what happened we couldn't risk letting him be anywhere near the ink."
"Doesn't sound like a searcher," muttered Knuckles, his mind coming up with theories on who attacked Zachery. "Could it have been a Lost One?"
Tails shrugged. "They can be aggressive when push comes to shove."
"Well, whatever that thing was," Shadow announced. "It almost went out of the ink as it attacked Zachery. Whatever Gent is doing, it's only going to get worse and will probably wake more than just searchers here at the studio."
When Tails asked if they tried hacking into the Gent's security cameras, Rouge explained that they did only to have their computers fried like his laptop. They guessed Gent is using some kind of virus to keep anyone from finding out their secret. However, the first floor of the factory is still hackable with no virus but there wasn't much to go on.
Crossing his arms, Knuckles asked, "Then what do you suggest we do? Your boys couldn't find the ink machine and the Mobian that did is trapped in that ink-hole."
"That's where Mr. Carter comes into play," Shadow responded, pointing at Archie.
Confused, he asked, "Me?"
Rouge explained, "Considering you worked at Gent for a while now and know where they're hiding the possible location of the ink machine, your insider knowledge could be useful."
At first, Archie was unsure since he had no idea where the new ink machine was. But he did have a good idea on where it could be.
"I could be wrong, but Sonic saved me from becoming one of those ink monsters. I owe him my life."
"Sounds good," Shadow nodded. "We better get back to G.U.N. headquarters and report to Commander Towers. From there, we'll come up with a plan to save Sonic, his fellow prisoners and destroy the ink machine."
"Great!" agreed Knuckles. "Now can we get out of here? This place is giving me bad deja vu and I'm getting hot in this suit."
To Be Continued…