"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Edgar asked from his spot on the wall.
"We are looking for the focus for the spell," Henry replied from where he was searching a dresser. "So keep your eyes open for anything suspicious."
The two of them were searching the office of Joey Drew, while the two superheroes and Charley and Barley searched the rest of the offices. Bendy and Joey were also in the office, with Joey searching his desk while Bendy was knocking on the walls listening for hidden spaces.
Carley floated through the ceiling and joined the quartet. "Nothing up there," she reported. "Unless it's a cobweb or somthin'."
Joey shook his head. "I don't think I was that desperate," he said.
Carley floated down to look at the items on the desk. "You got a collection there, old-timer."
Bendy let out a snort while Henry hid a smile at Joey's indignant look. "I'm not that old!… Am I?"
"Joey, in the real world you would be around hundred and eleven... or something like that."
That got a bit of chuckles from the three toons while Joey let out a squawk. Then Henry's face turned serious. "Carley, Edgar," he said. "Why don't you two go find Ladybug so that she can take a look at the things we found?"
"Sure thing!" Edgar chirped and he skittered out the door. Carley hesitated, but eventually followed the spider.
Henry turned to Bendy. "I don't suppose I can get you to leave as well."
Bendy huffed. "Not if you're going to talk about what I'm thinking you're talking about."
"Henry..." Joey said.
"Joey," Henry replied. "What did you lie about?"
"Henry, is this really important?"
"Joey, the whole reason we're in this mess is that you lied. The only way we can get out of it is if we have all the information."
"I don't know, Henry," Bendy said, eyes narrowing. "He's being really suspicious."
"I... I..."
"Joey," Henry pleaded. "Please tell-"
"I'M NOT JOEY!" the other man exploded. He stood there breathing heavily, before crumpling into himself. "I'm not. I'm just his cast-off memories, stolen when Wilson trapped Audrey in here. Wilson then manipulated the Joey on the outside to do his bidding, to make sure that the Machine was kept running. I can see through his eyes, but he sees through mine in his dreams. That is until the connection was cut." Not-Joey sighed. "There you have it," he said. "That is the fate of Joey Drew, not able to save anyone, not able to even keep his daughter safe. I'm no hero. I'm not even a man."
Henry didn't even hesitate. Stepping forward, he asked, "Does Audrey know?"
"She doesn't," Not-Joey answered. "I never could bring myself to tell her."
"I do know."
The three beings in the office turned around to see Audrey standing in the opening. "How-?" Joey asked.
"You still talk in your sleep." Audrey stepped forward and put her hands on her father's face. "The Joey outside didn't raise me," she said. "You did. He didn't get me cupcakes for my birthday, didn't bandage my knee when I scraped it, didn't risk it all to free his friends and workers. You did. You are Joey Drew, my father, and my hero."
Joey laid a hand over Audrey's. "My little girl."
A honk sounded and Henry looked down. Bendy had pulled out a tissue from somewhere and was blowing into it. "Don't mind me, I had something in my eyes."
"What was it?" Henry asked.
"Tears!"
Ladybug chose that moment to come through the door. "So, Edgar said you guys had something for me to look at..." She looked over the scene with confusion. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Nah, nothing now," Henry said. "If you came in five minutes earlier, that would be different."
"Oh-kay. So, where are these objects?"
"Don't bother," Libré said, flying out. "I can tell that none of these are a focus."
"Drat," Henry said. "Well, I guess there's only one more place to check. The film vault."
"Well, I guess it's a good thing Chat got bored and started fixing the pipes," Ladybug said. "Oh, and Allison and Tom are down here as well."
-MToLaCNBatIM-
"And that's the last one," Tom said, tightening the joints connecting the pipes.
"Awesome!" Chat said. "I'll go put these tools away."
The feline superhero carried the tools over to the tool box they had come from. After he dropped them, he saw another tape recording. On a whim, he pressed play and Tom's voice came out of it.
"Progress report to the Gent home office.
"Client: Joey Drew Studios.
"Although we're making progress, the client's expectation's keep changing. What started as a machine to simply mold life-sized figures now seems to teetering on the edge of magic more than engineering.
"Although Mister Drew remains convinced that they are the same thing.
"The process of running the cartoon film through the machine for the figures to imprint on themselves is going well. We've had several near successes.
"One weird note, the first figure ever created was a foiled attempt in the likeness of Bendy. Since that time, no other attempts of this particular figure have emerged. And the one that did, I dunno, there's just something unworldly about him."
Chat looked up to see Tom standing in the entrance, looking a little guilty. "I was a different man then," he said.
Chat decided to let the matter drop. It helped that the rest of the group joined them just then.
The group walked through the emptied room and into the film vault, the large circular door lying discarded. Inside the vault, Henry made a beeline to one particular box. He flipped the flaps open to reveal...
Nothing.
"Looks like whatever was here was taken long ago," Allison pointed out.
"The Ink Demon has taken it," Henry said. "It always does."
"Uh, as the former Ink Demon, I have no idea what you're talking about," Bendy spoke up.
"Wait, then what be that monster that attacked us?" Barley asked.
"That was the Ink Machine," Edgar piped up. "Or it's avatar."
"Shut up, Edgar, no one asked you," Charley grumbled.
"What are we looking for?" Ladybug asked.
"We're looking for a particular film reel," Henry answered. "The only way I can beat the Ink Demon is to play... it..." He trailed off. Now that he thought about it...
"So where is it, if not here?" Chat Noir asked.
"It always ends up in the Ink Demon's lair, inside the Ink Machine. The physical thing, that is."
Bendy snapped his fingers. "So that's what that is!" he said.
"The passage goes through that locked door," Henry said, pointing to it. "Any ideas on how to open it?"
"It won't be easy to open," Allison said. "I'll need three gears, a crowbar, some kind of counterbalance..."
"Great," Chat groaned. "More fetch quests?"
"Don't worry," Tom said, stepping forward. "I know an advanced lock-picking technique that is guaranteed to open any door."
"What is it?" Ladybug asked before Tom punched the door out of its frame.
"Well, that works too... I guess ," Allison said, sounding a little disappointed that they wouldn't be following her plan.
-MToLaCNBatIM-
Ladybug was on guard as they moved down the hallway. They walked past old posters, as well as a running projector, until they came upon a familiar sight.
"Hey, here's my old desk," Henry said. "I've wasted so much time in this chair."
They kept moving, walking past large windows looking into another hallway to a wall with the word 'DEATH' inscribed on it. "We're almost there," Henry said. "Just around the corner, we'll be there."
"Wait."
Everyone turned to Ladybug as she turned to face Chat Noir. "Do you remember the power-up I said never to use?"
"The purple one?" Chat replied.
"Yes. That one will remove our timers, and will allow us to use our powers infinitely. However, after an hour has passed, the transformation will draw upon our life force."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"It is time to use it. "
"Oh. That bad."
"We cannot afford to fail here," she said, pulling the purple macaron out of her yo-yo while Chat pulled a piece of cheese of the same color out of his staff. With a synchronized nod, they ate the snacks.
Twin flashes of light shone in the hallway, before it died down to reveal the transformed heroes. Ladybug's costume was a soft pink with gold accents and spots that seemed to swallow the light. Chat Noir's costume was a dark purple, almost black, with tiny specks of white visible, resembling stars. His bell had also turned silver.
Cosmic Noir and Genesis Bug turned to face the others. "Let's do this," Ladybug said, stepping forward.
They stepped out of the hallway, and saw the Machine. It was enormous, built into the stone. Pipes stuck out of it and connected to a large funnel, from which ink dripped every few seconds. On top of it, the original Ink Machine lowered down upon.
"Wow," Allison said. "I've never... wait, I have seen this before. Why would I say otherwise?"
"Just a little bit of the script stuck in your brain," Joey said. "Sorry about that, by the way."
"So we got to get across," Tom said. "And I don't see a barge or anything."
"Uh, superheroes here?" Chat said. "Me and Ladybug can just carry anyone across who doesn't want to wade through ink."
Before anything else could be said, a dark chuckle echoed through the cavern, causing everyone to look up.
Standing on top of the Machine was its avatar, newly reformed. "So, you finally made it. Rejoice, for your quest shall soon be over."
"Give it up, Machine!" Ladybug cried. "You had trouble with us before! I don't think this time will go better for you!"
"But you see, there's the rub," the Ink Machine said. "You want to leave my world. But to do so, I must be shut down. And I must endure! And this time, I won't be fighting alone."
With that, he pulled the top off the container by his side and threw the lid away. Tipping it down, he poured the chromatic ink inside into the Machine.
The Machine seemed to stutter for a moment, before it let out a stream of colored ink into the pool surrounding the Machine. Then creatures began emerging from the pool, Keepers, twisted parodies of cartoon characters, Lost Ones that had lost all sense of self and only knew colored madness.
The Ink Machine Avatar began laughing again as the ink dried up. "And now the heroes will fall, and the Cycle shall continue!"
A figure that looked like Sammy from the first floor stood up, colored tears going down his mask. "Rejoice, for the Ink Demon rises!" he proclaimed. "Surrender yourselves to the Lord of the Dark Puddles! It's time to be-"
KA-POW!
The Prophet seemed to stare cross-eyed at the hole in the center of his mask before he burst into a bunch of ink.
Everyone turned to where the shot had come from and saw Susie standing holding her gun. Alice waved from her side. "Did we miss the party?" she asked.
"Uh, no, you're just in time," Bendy answered.
"That's good," Susie said. "We wouldn't want to disappoint everyone."
As if on cue, figures began flooding the room. Lost Ones, fully formed cartoons, crawling Searchers, anyone who could be reasoned with ran into the room, forming an army almost as big as the one of the Ink Machine.
And Sammy Lawrence stepped forward, ax held in hand. "It is time to strike, my followers!" he cried, ax held high. "Time for us to fight! Time to be set free! It's time to believe!"
With a roar, the two armies charged at each other, and everything descended into chaos.