The Ink Trials (A Bendy & The Ink Machine AU)

Chapter 8: Trial Three

Bendy had been growing anxious with the time as it ticked loudly in his ears. Joey had told him he would enact Trial Three soon, and it was making him nervous. This would either succeed or kill him, and there was more of a risk of him dying, than of him living.

What exactly did Trial three do to oneself?  

Joey had told him it would strengthen him, make him faster, powerful and more agile. He'd be a weapon of mass destruction, and no one would be able to stop him. Ben hoped that was true. Then he could fight off Joey and Sammy and get the others out of here. They could all go home and live their lives, rather than waste away in cages. 

Joey's whistling made him gasp, the high-pitched tune coming closer as its owner made for his office. Ben grabbed Alice's hand and let out a frustrated sob as the girl tried her best to comfort him. This was it, this was his end... 

... Or his beginning. 

~ 

"Axe?" 

"Check!" 

"Can of Pepper spray from that riot last year?" 

"Check!" 

"Marbles?" 

"Check!" 

"Protective gear?" 

"On!" 

Susie grinned at them, "Lets go get them!" 

"Wait!" Wally cried, making the other two stop in their tracks, "You never really told us why you're helping us" 

"What do you mean?" the girl asked, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders as Norman re-tied his shoes more tightly. Wally gulped nervously, "I mean, you're helping us, but why? What do you get out of this? Heroes credit?" 

Susie sat back down at the table, her arms folded across the grainy surface as she picked at the peeling paint, "Right, well, you know Alice, the girl who was taken?... She's my sister." she answered, "When she went missing I was devastated, and while our parents gave her a funeral, and buried the empty casket, I knew she was still out there, still alive and waiting for me to come and save her. So no, I'm not in this for heroes credit, Wally, I'm in this to save my sister!"  

"Whoa, I had no idea you even had a sister" Norman spoke, his tone of voice quiet and shocked. Susie nodded and pulled out a small mismatched looking doll from her pocket, "I miss her so much, so lets do this! For Alice! Boris! The Butcher's Triplets! And Bendy! Lets bring them home!" 

Wally grinned, "For Bendy!" he cried, raising a fist into the air. The three gave a nod and left the hideout, locking it shut behind them as they trailed back to the main road. Wally took Susie's hand and gave her a smile as she looked down at it in shock, "Don't worry, Susie, we'll get your sister back, don't you worry." the boy reassured, squeezing her hand and hurrying to catch up with Norman. Susie smiled and followed soon after, feeling courage course through her as she fell into place beside the red-haired boy. 

"Thanks, Wally." 

~ 

Henry sighed as he sat at the kitchen table, he had been sitting there for hours now, the dripping tap and ticking clock his only company as he poked at what little food he had grabbed from the fridge. Linda was in their room, reading as a means to distract herself and wait for their son to come home, she too unable to eat. It had been a day and a half already, and the poor woman had been distraught when she had come to close Ben's bedroom curtains and not find him tucked away and reading comics. Henry had barely slept that night, every creak and groan of their house growing louder and louder as if taunting him.

Then he realized something, Ben had said a man had been in the house, a man from the old Studio, and he hadn't listened. Had it been true? Had this man snuck into their house, waiting for him to leave his son's bedroom, and then stolen him away?

Henry banged his head against the tablecloth, tears running down his face. How could he have been so stupid!? Of course Joey wouldn't have batted an eyelid at taking kids. The man had been a nightmare when it came to test subjects, back when the Studio had been a bustling facility, rather than an ink-filled mess. If this was the case, then Joey was still alive, still doing his experiments, and that man, the one Ben had seen in the window... It had to be Sammy Lawrence himself.

Henry stood up sharply and rushed over to the window, the sun warming his hands as he peered through the glass. The Studio on the other side of the street covered in weeds as it always was. "Henry?" came a worried voice. He looked up just as his wife padded into the kitchen, her robe tied up neatly and her hair a mess, "Linda? Are you okay, dear?"

Linda smiled, "I'm fine, I know that look on your face, you've figured it out, haven't you?"

"I have"

"Then go get him."