Return To The Machine

Chapter 37

The group started walking down a passageway that served what looked like a library. Alice was being guarded by Tom who kept pushing her with a Gent pipe. After another jab, Alice hissed at him. "You know, I can walk just fine! I'm getting us to the place you wanted to go!" she snapped at him. "And for all know, you could be leading me to my damn death!" Tom yelled. "Oh, I'll show you a death."

"You first you she-devil."

"Call me that one more time and we'll see my true wrath!"

"Hardly, you're hardly any trouble! You can't do anything without those damn slaves of yours can you?"

"Untie me and we'll find out!"

Allison got between them both and separated them. "Enough! We're trying to get through this together. If you two can't do this right, I'll get Parker and Rosa to do it for you." she warned them. Both of them glanced at the teens who smiled brightly. Tom and Alice shuddered and shook their heads and turned their backs to one another responding with an exasperated "fine". Allison smiled softly and gently touched Tom's face. "Thanks Tom."

Tom melted and watched her walk on. Parker snapped his fingers in his face and they kept moving. As they entered the new room, she saw they someone drawing on a table with a pen and paper in their hand. On closer inspection, Allison relaxed her shoulders. "See! I told you we'd find him." Alice whispered. "Shhh!" they all scolded her as they watched Henry continue to draw and whistle to himself. Every now and again he'd get up to refill the ink bottle that he got from a bucket in the room. As they watched him, they started to get impatient. "So... are we going to go talk to him or..?" Rosa questioned. Allison shrugged while Alice had practically zoned out by this point. Tom had fallen asleep on the ground after watching for so long. Parker grew impatient and tried to stand up.

In doing so, he bumped into a smaller shelf and knocked down some items. Henry's attention turned to the others. He grabbed an axe that sat next to his desk and held it up high. Panicked, Allison pulled Alice out of the way, Audrey stood up beside Tom and held up their Gent pipes, and Parker and Rosa dove for cover. "Way to go Park!" Rosa scolded. "I'm sorry! Gosh! Why is everything my fault?!"

Audrey and Tom fought with Henry over who could triumph and survive. Allison wanted to intervene but couldn't risk leaving Alice. "Henry, stop!" Audrey cried. "We're your friends!" Henry didn't stop fighting, however. He kept swinging that axe like it was a fishing rod. Tom couldn't keep up and tripped over his own feet. Henry used his foot and pinned the gruff dog on his back. Tom tried to push him off but was met with the ax's blade right at his throat. "Hey! When you were on the ground when we met again, I never did this!" Tom scolded. "Yeah, but you wanted to." Henry snarked. Audrey backed off, dropping her weapon. "Henry, don't! We're not here to fight you. All we want to do is talk."

"Talk? Talk huh? That's all this started! All because Joey wanted to talk! I met you because you just wanted to talk! I met these two who just wanted to talk! I'm tired! Every day... I'm struggling to keep my sanity. And for what? We're all losing. I used to be able to keep up with the turning events. I fought endless battles that somehow managed to bring back my hope. But those days are long gone... How do you plan to make it any different..?"

His aggression quickly died down and he released Tom before walking back to his desk. Parker walked over to Henry's side making the man look at the young teen. Parker then slid over the picture of both him and Bendy together, smiling alongside Joey. Henry's eyes widened and he gently picked it up, holding it. "Where... Where did you get this?" he asked them. "I found it at Level P. I assumed this was when you and Joey were on "good terms". Thankfully I got it in my backpack before Bendy tried to capture us. Henry, why do you keep running if you know you can change things?"

Not knowing what to say, Henry just settled down in his chair. "Bendy and everyone else knows I'm a Cyclebreaker. Even Audrey knows. I used to have hope. I really did. But those days are gone. Being stuck here forever is a sad truth. But I guess we all have to come to terms eventually..." Parker stared back at the paper and pulled out the other's tokens. "Henry, don't you remember?" he asked the older man. He pushed the tokens over. Henry reached over and looked at each one.

Sammy, Alice, Tom, and Joey. His good friends.

"Joey's been hiding within these walls for years. We know that now! Audrey even told us that any time we see him now it's merely an illusion! All of us can see through his lies! It's not a secret anymore! Don't you care about the others?! Alice, she's been used so badly that her face is literally torn! She's angry! Can you blame her? She's been ruined completely! And for what? All to prove an experiment to bring your art to life? She didn't deserve it, Henry. Everyone in the room can say that she's done bad things, after all, she tried to air-fry us! But she's only that way because she's jealous of Allison and she's angry at Joey. Tom got his work stolen from him! He created something that should've existed! Yeah, he regrets it! But he couldn't just let it go. It was too much to bear. I can understand not wanting to get rid of that. He worked hard on it! You even got robbed by Joey! Bendy was yours, not Joey's! He tainted him! Sammy was actually talented! Sure he's dark, a little weird, and a few other things, but he meant well! The ink is what corrupted him! It's... It's not his fault either. Allison built up her own life and managed to create a new life and even help Audrey. But none of them want to be here any longer than they have to! None of us do! We need help! We need you and your token! We have to save Sammy, Buddy, and the other Lost Ones that helped us! We owe it to them! We have to take down what Joey created!"

Parker's words really hit Henry's soul, making him think about everything that's been happening the endless years he's been trapped inside the studio. The others continued to watch the two talk, wondering what his decision would be. Henry stood up and went to the cabinets to pull out a small jar of ink that had a pen inside and a skull on the front. "I've had this for years. I'm not sure you want to use it all but, we need it to stop Bendy I presume. Before I forget anything more than I do, follow me," he told them.

Together they then followed Henry who led them down a hall. They panicked wondering where he was going. Leading them down a hall, he knocked on a door that quickly opened up for him. They ran all at once where Henry slowed down and paused when he reached a room where three others stood there working on something. "Wally," he announced, coming into the room. Another cartoon-like wolf lifted a mask off of his face that was used as a welder protection mask. "Relax, it's me. I finally have the solution to our problems."

Wally took the mask off completely and stared at the group of people that had just walked into the room. Tom and Allison looked at him in shock while Alice's eyes softened for the first time in forever. Wally stood there surprised before shaking his head. "Well... I'll be. I've gotta get out of here."