BatIM AU: Henry's Path (OLD - rewrite in progress/consideration)

Act 1, Scene 6: Fighting Our Demons

Henry Stein

Henry followed Edgar into a dark room, only lit by small candles made of empty bacon soup cans. He had no idea where he was, so Edgar was his only hope of being able to map this area of the studio. Luckily, they hadn't crossed the path of anything dangerous so far, and he wanted to keep it that way. The only traces of anything living that the two found were inky footprints or handprints. Some strange sounds emitted from behind the walls, but not close enough to be something to worry about.

Suddenly Edgar froze, and Henry bumped into her. She was looking up, hardly breathing.

"Everything okay?" Henry asked. Edgar pressed a hand to his mouth to silence him.

"Shhh," she said, still eyeballing the ceiling. Henry followed her gaze to a particular spot on the ceiling, where thin veins of ink began to creep across. The was a faint heartbeat sound, and footsteps could be heard from above.

Taking a different approach, Henry tried sign language. What is that?

Joey.

The one name made Henry's skin crawl. What was he doing here? Did he know they were here? Henry's thoughts were interrupted with a muffled thump from above. The footsteps had stopped, and the heartbeat was right above their heads. Ink dripped down from between the wooden planks, landing on Henry's head. Then it went completely silent.

"I think he's gone," Henry whispered. Edgar exhaled in relief. She must have been holding her breath the whole time. Then the roof above them collapsed, Henry throwing Edgar out of the way. The broken planks scattered, and ink began pouring in massive amounts through the hole. From the ink puddle, a clawed hand popped up and gripped the floor. A massive shape heaved itself out, its head curving in the center to reveal two uneven horns. Ink dripped off of its face to reveal a maniacal smile, pointed with long, sharp fangs. Joey Drew reached out with his other hand, which was gloved like Henry's, and grasped Edgar's neck.

"Found you," he hissed. Joey tossed Edgar aside and stalked towards Henry. Fear washed over Henry like a drowning tide. He was frozen in place, unable to run away. Joey loomed over him, snarling viciously.

"Did you really think you could hide from me?" Joey growled. He was so skinny, his ribs and hips were showing through his inky skin. Large spikes ran down his spine. He was the true form of a demon.

Joey punched Henry, sending him across the room. The world went blurry for a moment, and ink blocked his vision, but as soon as it cleared, Joey ran his talons down Henry's arm. Ink began gushing out of the wound. Henry screamed in agony, praying that he would survive. As Joey went in for the final blow, Edgar howled in rage, jumping on Joey's back and wrapping her arms around his neck. He growled in annoyance and tugged at her arms, trying to loosen her grip.

"Filthy cockroach!" Joey screamed. He unhinged Edgar and threw her into the wall, pinning her there. "You've made a terrible mistake!" Edgar made a raspy whine as Joey tightened his grip around her neck.

"Let her go!" Henry had gotten up and help his arm to his chest. He hurt terribly, but the pain was muted by his burning rage.

Joey smirked. "In that case..." He used both hands to grip Edgar's neck. "...I'll let you watch her die!"

Edgar's eyes were slowly closing; she was losing breath. She was about to die, and Henry couldn't do anything about it.

Sammy Lawrence

Sammy and Wally sprinted in the direction where the scream came from, Sammy panting more heavily than Wally due to his aching wounds. Wally was ahead of him, stopping occasionally to listen. His ears twitched, locating the source of the scream. Then he bolted to the left, and Sammy did his best to keep up.