Bendy and Friends

Chapter 7: Ink Thieves

"Alright boys," A tall, black-haired boy said as he threw himself into the worn-down leather couch in his bedroom. Before him in matching worn leather chairs were two other boys, who he'd each handed a crumpled sheet of paper with scribbles on it.

"Carlos, what is this?" The boy to the right said after opening it and reading the contents. He let the paper fall into his lap.

"It's the plan." The first boy—Carlos—grinned. He took out his own sheet of paper, which wasn't crumpled, and began to read off of it.

"Okay. So we were going to go to Joey Drew Studios, you know, that abandoned place. And we were going to take the old ink machine."

"Why are you talking in past tense?" The boy on the left said, staring at him with a confused expression.

"Because, Dylan," Carlos sneered at him, "Things have changed since we first wrote the plan. There was a . . . Misfortune there."

"Care to elaborate?" The boy on the right said, waving out his hand.

Carlos glanced between the two, visibly annoyed. "Fine. Whatever. You guys couldn't have let me just surprise you when we got there. There was a fire, blah blah. Happy?"

The boys before him exchanged concerned glances. Carlos could tell the concern wasn't about the building, it was about the fact that they were most definitely going to succeed in getting the ink machine now. Unless it burned in the fire, Carlos supposed.

The boy on the right, Axel, sighed as he gripped the paper loosely. "Listen, bro, are we actually going to do this? I kind of thought this was a joke—"

Carlos raised a hand, stopping Axel mid-sentence. "Of course it's not a joke. Do I need to remind you of how valuable that ink is?"

Dylan rolled his eyes. "It's just ink. Go to the dollar store and buy some pens. Boom. Ink." He said, using his hands to elaborate on the word boom.

Carlos glared, his expression fiery enough to melt metal.

"Whatever. My Grammy's driving us to the site anyway. We're gonna scavenge for a bit, and if we don't find it then we get out of there." He said, meeting Dylan and Axel's gaze.

"Fine." The boys said in unison. "JINX!!" Dylan yelled, leaping out of his chair onto the desk behind him in a crouch as he pointed his finger at Axel.

"Great. So tonight then. Got it." Axel said, completely ignoring Dylan as he stood and left Carlos's bedroom. "Splendid!" Carlos exclaimed, earning a weird look from Dylan since he never said words like that.

- Later That Night -

The boys filed out of Carlos's Grammy's truck, waving at his grandmother who was passed out in the front seat for a reason none of the boys knew. "Maybe she drank too much?" Carlos offered.

They started walking at a slow pace as they approached what used to be the dinky little workshop sitting on the edge of the town filled with large buildings that heavily contrasted from it.

"At least the door is still there," Dylan grinned. Carlos stared at him. "The door is kind of the least of our worries, Dylan." He said bitterly.

They strolled forward, flicking on their flashlights which they did not have a moment ago. None of them questioned it, they were just glad to have some light in the pitch-black forest they stood in. There would have been light from the light posts in the parking lot, but it appeared as if someone had smashed the bulbs quite recently.

"Guys, I wonder if we could see siren head!" Dylan exclaimed. Carlos sighed aggressively. "Do you ever shut up? Seriously, you talk way too much." He scowled as he began to wade through the debris. Dylan shut his mouth, his smile fading instantly. Axel merely patted him on the back and gave a weak smile, briefly stopping to stand next to him before following Carlos through the skeleton of the building.

They split up, and after a few minutes Dylan began laughing in relief and shouting. "Guys, I found something! Get over here!"

Axel and Carlos arrived, and weren't exactly pleased to see Dylan looking so happy. As soon as he noticed their arrival, he began digging through the rubble excitedly.

His smile faded as he pulled out a warped trash can that managed to survive the mighty flames. "You're joking, right?" Carlos said. "You literally attracted everything in the forest with your yelling just to find out that it was about a trash can!?" He yelled furiously. "What happened to the walkie-talkies?" He said, dangling his walkie-talkie in front of him. "Certainly would've saved us from whatever's out there." He mumbled.

They split up once again, until Carlos shouted at everyone to go to where he was. He didn't bother being quiet, since if anything was out there it would've been attracted already.

The three boys stood in a circle around a particularly large artifact. "The ink machine, I'm guessing?" Axel said, his voice tired.

"Yes, how did you know?" Carlos said, his tone completely serious.

"It was a wild guess." Axel exclaimed sarcastically, leaning forward to examine the hunk of rusting metal before them. It seemed to be unscathed by the fire, which was a good sign, he figured. At least for Carlos.

Dylan stood slightly further back from them, causing Axel to go join him. "What's so special about the ink from this machine anyway?" Dylan said, his arms tightly folded across his chest.

Axel sighed. "Carlos really didn't tell you, did he." He glanced at Carlos ahead of him, who seemed to be attempting to figure out a way to get it out of the rubble.

"The ink . . . well, it mutates you. Everything about you. Your bone structure, your skin, hair, your blood . . ."

Dylan stared at him, his face tired and unbelieving. "Oh, really." He said, his voice sounding unimpressed. "And so even if this is real, why would Carlos want this so badly?"

Axel clenched his teeth. "It can make you . . . very powerful, to say the least. It's not really something we should be messing with, since it messes you up pretty badly. Carlos wants it so he can, well, I don't actually know. He says he wants to 'dominate the world' or something, but that just sounds like another one of Carlos's overly ambitious goals."

Dylan's face went pale. They both turned to look at Carlos, and saw him directing several occupied forklifts over to the ink machine. "Right there, my dudes!" He shouted at them, waving around his hands. "Put it in the back of my Grammy's truck, will you?"

The forklifts lifted up the machine and launched it like a rocket into his Grammy's truck which was several meters away, blasting heavy metal and bouncing up and down dramatically.

The boys filed into the truck, their mission accomplished. "Great job!" Carlos exclaimed, giving a high five to Axel only. They then sped out of the parking lot, the truck skidding across the road and out of sight.

Hey! I know you're likely wondering on how this is relevant to the rest of the story, but trust me, it's very necessary. It affects the story massively. Anyways, thanks for reading so far! Make sure to leave feedback! :)