Same Story, Something New

30 - Taken

Alice's POV

My baby is so damn cute. Her innocence is adorable. I smirked as she, Wally, Tom, and Allison came up to Susan and I.

"Had fun?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yep!" Helen replied happily.

Tom scoffed. "Of course you did. You weren't tricked by Butcher Gang clones that had brains."

I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Seriously." He then looked at Helen, then back at me. "Alice, can I talk to you in private?"

----

I brought the two of us to the safehouse on Level K. We entered, then sat down at the table.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"It concerns Helen. Actually, it's more accurate to say it concerns her other persona, the Little Ink Angel."

"What about her?"

"She came to use when we were cornered in Joey's office because of the Butcher Gang. She refused to help us unless I agreed to do something for her."

"What does she want you to do?"

He sighed. "She wants me to use the Ink Machine to bring Hailey back."

I frowned."But that isn't possible. When Hailey died, the ink inside transformed her body into Helen's. Not to mention Hailey faded away, and as a result, her soul is now Helen's as well."

"Exactly! I tried telling her that, but she wouldn't listen. I had no choice but to agree to it. So I told her I'd try. However, she didn't accept that. Her exact response was: 'Don't try, succeed. Or else.' To be honest, this terrifies me."

I sighed. "Don't worry Tom, I'll talk to her after the Ink Demon's taken care of. Before you ask, I planned on talking to her about Hailey anyways."

He nodded. "Thanks Alice."

"Your welcome."

***

Unknown entity's POV

"So you're telling me you've already lost control." I snarled at Joey Drew. "This better not be an excuse to try to back out of our deal."

"It's not!" He exclaimed. "I am telling you the truth. I have no control over anything anymore!"

I wanted it to be a lie, but I knew it wasn't. I knew he was being truthful, and that made me livid. "Goddamnit! What the heck happened?!

"I don't know! Perhaps the narrative has been so far off the rails for so long, that my influence over events ended up fading away."

I had to admit, that made a lot of sense. Of course, I'd never admit that to him. "Whatever. All that matters to me is the fact you're now useless to me."

"Is my niece still safe?"

I snarled at him. "I abhor the mere concept of harming a child. The fact you think I'd do that sickens me. I despise you Joey Drew, and I look forward to killing you."

I then left his dream, and decided to pay a visit to Wally. Time for plan B.

***

Wally's POV

As I used the Ink Maker to create new pipe sections to replace missing ones, I heard a familiar voice in my head.

"Hello Wally," hummed the entity I met while I was trapped in the Wolf's head. "It's been a while.