Return To The Machine

Chapter 36

Staring at Audrey in amazement, they questioned how she even managed to get the book. "Believe it or not... I met Joey... only once..." she began. "But... it wasn't really him. It was just an image of what he wanted us to believe that he was trying to do. Yet even I knew he was a liar and I could see straight through him. I managed to find one of his many sanctuaries. This is his official first copy. I've held onto it for this long. We can still win this war. I'm with Parker." Audrey told them. Rosa joined his side. "I'm with you Park," she replied. Parker smiled, lightly blushing at her.

"No offense Allison and Tom, but even since the first time I met you, you two have hardly done anything to stop him. You've been down here longer than anyone. I've managed to survive him, even Henry's survived for so long and managed to escape Bendy! We've managed to weaken him every time! I'm sorry, but we're all tired of being here! No one can disagree with that! But... we need to work together! Otherwise, we'll never get where we wanna be!"

Hearing Audrey's words, they glanced at each other. As much as it stung to hear it out loud, they knew it was true. Allison glanced over at Tom. He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Ugh, if we help you with this little "revolt", will we prioritize everyone else's safety? And can you ensure that Bendy will not win the war?" he asked them. Parker slowly shrugged. "Bendy hasn't won ever. There's hardly a chance he'll win now. With the help of the Resistance, I'm sure we can win!" Parker declared. "We have things that Bendy doesn't! We have each other, we have four tokens that Bendy needs along with the others to make it work. All we have to do is find Henry, find the two last tokens, and make sure Bendy doesn't get to them first."

"Easier said than done, but I think we can make that work." Allison replied, looking over at her counterpart, Alice.

...

A minute later Alice woke up in the same chair Audrey had been tied to earlier, but she herself was now tied. She looked around confused until Tom looked at her with cold eyes, hitting a pipe into the palm of his hand. "What the..." she began. Allison grabbed her chin and pulled her to look at her. "So, we finally meet up? You know, if you tried hard enough, you might actually look decent for once in your eternity here." she told her. Alice hissed and tried lunging at her. Rosa rolled her eyes "Listen, I know you don't like us, which, is fair enough. But we need to end this endless curse. So do us a favor," she began, then shoved the Illusion of Living in Alice's face. "Tell us, what can we do? You clearly know something!"

Alice rolled her eyes, a small groan escaping her. "And why would I want to tell you anything? After all that we've been through? And the fact that you live with such a beautiful face yet you decided to walk around trying to get it ruined by the Demon himself. Honestly, you're lucky that he no longer needs you to cast his curse. You aren't worth the trouble."

Rosa remained unfazed by Alice's jabs and lowered the book. She reached back to pull out Alice's plushie. Immediately she reacted and began thrashing in her seat. "PUT IT DOWN! NOW! I WILL TEAR YOU APART! I'LL RIP YOUR INSIDES OUT! I'LL DO IT! YOU DON'T SCARE ME! PUT. IT. DOWN!"

The chair made a loud screech from Alice pulling so hard. Audrey and Tom used some force to put her back on the seat and waited for her anger to simmer down. Rosa put it back down on the table while Parker put a photo on the table. "Alice, we know he hurt you. We know Joey hurt a lot of people here. You lost your job because he didn't have a use for you anymore. He tossed you away and didn't appreciate you any longer. I... I don't know what that's like. But I do know what it feels like to be alone. It sucks. And I know you're tired of being alone. I mean look at this place! It's just darkness and ink everywhere you go! I know you don't want to be any longer! Alice, they have Sammy and tons of others! Do you really want Bendy to have a better chance of winning?"

Hearing Parker's words, Alice settled down slightly. She had no idea that Sammy had been captured. "You don't know anything about us. Face it. You're foolish came into this torn-down studio trying to find something different from your boring life and couldn't help yourself. That's what this place will do to you. It takes every drop of innocence you have and then you're left with nothing because there are scam artists like Joey Drew in the area. Hell, he did it to you and I doubt he even knows about your existence. Not to mention after he gets his hands on us this time, we don't come back to life, we just disappear and never come back the way we were... We just... fade away... in that thick black, pussing ink."

Her eyes had softened. She was clearly scared. "You'd be foolish to try to fight him. There's no hope for any of us. Unless... we gave in. But I refuse to be a pawn in some creature that was a part of my downfall."

Audrey slammed a Gent pipe next to Alice. "Don't blame Bendy for this. He's a monster but underneath... You'd be surprised..." Audrey clutched her hand to her chest. No one knew what she meant. "Audrey... what are you saying?" Allison questioned. Audrey took a deep breath. "Bendy... He's not... He's not exactly a full-on ink demon. The way Joey and Henry made him... Henry made the perfect model... Joey... Joey's the one who ruined everything. If we only had Henry we might just have a chance."

Allison and Tom hung their heads. Alice looked to the corner of the room before turning back. "I know where he is." she said. All of them gave her suspicious glances. "And why should we do anything you tell us to do? You've tried to kill everyone here so many times!" Tom shouted. Alice looked down at the drawing of Henry with Bendy. "The truth is, none of us want to be here any longer. I'm tired of running away from that stupid ink demon. Besides... I owe Sammy a favor..."