My Bendy BFF: Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Above all the action of the interrogation downstairs, Thomas Cardinal was diligently searching the house for any sign of the intruders.  He held his gun with both hands, pointed downwards, as he stalked across the dining room.  The intruder was closer than he thought, however; Jake was hiding under the dining room table.  A giant white tablecloth that draped over the table and almost touched the floor, apart from giving the room a spookier ambience, completely obscured him from the naked eye.

While lurking under the table, Jake suddenly felt a shaking feeling come over his hand.  One of his allies had set off the beacon in her suit, triggering a silent vibrator and a small colored light on the suit's glove.  The light shone red, corresponding with Clover's suit.  More than likely, this meant that Clover had found the hostages, and there was also a chance that she had gotten into trouble while doing so.  Whether or not the latter was true, Jake was set to take action.

Before heading down, Jake thought it was best to silence Thomas so he could not interfere with the rescue attempt.  First, he had to think of a way to catch him by surprise.  There were chairs lining the table that he was hiding under; this gave him an idea.

Planting his knees on the floor, he pushed one of the chairs into Thomas's path.  The patrolling mob boss tripped on the chair and nearly fell on his face, but grabbed a hold of the chair to brace himself up.  However, Jake gave the chair an extra push with his foot, causing Thomas to slip onto the floor.  As he got out from under the table, he pressed his foot down on Thomas's back and told him to keep quiet.  Then, noticing the gun, he pressed his other foot down on his hand, forcing him to drop the gun, and asked softly, "So... Thomas Cardinal, I presume?  Nod or shake gently."  Thomas nodded in response, and Jake answered, "Pleasure to meet you.  Now, I need you to take me to your guests.  Get up, slowly."

While Thomas obeyed the instructions given to him and stood up, Jake snatched the gun off the floor before his hostage had time to make a sudden move to get it.  Feeling his own gun pressed on the back of his neck, Thomas began to chicken out and chose to give Jake directions instead.  "You'll find them in the basement.  There's a door near the entrance--"

"I want to take you there in person," Jake interrupted.  Then, holding his hostage on the shoulder, they set off for the basement.  On the way they met Sam, who had just escaped from the clutches of Angus and Charlie.  She just barely caught Jake's eye as she flipped over the balcony railing with the greatest of ease.  As soon as she landed on the ground floor, touching down with the fluidity of a cat, she saw Jake holding Thomas hostage and was shocked.  "Jake, what are you doing!" she furiously whispered in his ear.  "I thought you didn't have a license to kill!"

All Jake said in response was, "Just bear with me.  And back me up."  With that, he ordered Thomas to open the basement door and led him down the stairs.

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The sights that greeted Jake when he came down into the basement shocked him to no end.  Between Clover facing imminent death, Alex under non-lethal yet painful torture, and Claude possibly awaiting some torture of his own, he feared greatly for his friends, yet as Morgana nervously began to taunt him, he developed a plan of action.  "Oh, Jake... you caught me by surprise, how nice of you to join...  You came at the right time.  See, I've been asking Alex here some questions, or at least I've been trying to; she's been very... uncooperative."

"Good for her."

"...Right.  Well, I was hoping you could help me here.  Answer my questions, without any fuss, and I'll let your friends go."

"I've got a better idea.  How about you let them go in exchange for mister Cardinal here?  Need I remind you, if you decline my offer, I'll have to take him back to my headquarters for questioning, and he could undermine whatever alliance you two have."

"Please, Jake.  You can't just trade one life for three.  You can give Cardinal back if you like, and I will let you choose one of your friends to set free.  That's my only offer."

Now Jake began to worry some more.  "...Well, if you do that, I want you to make a promise to me, that the ones I choose to leave behind will be unharmed."

"I'm afraid I can't afford that assurance, dear Jake.  If I have to press too hard for information, well, they brought it on themselves, really."

"Some fuzzy logic that is..." murmured Jake.

But Morgana heard what he said.  "Come now, make your choice; my patience is growing weak."

This was a critical choice for Jake.  Of all three of his friends, Claude seemed to be in the least danger.  He knew the least about Delta's operations, and perhaps Morgana even wanted him for herself.  Still, the bond he had with Claude was special...  But there was no time to dwell on that now.  He narrowed his choices down to Alex or Clover.  Clover was in more immediate danger of getting killed, at least at the moment, but Alex might squeal out more information, as she had already been broken in.  Either way, he could not stand to have the blood of a fellow agent on his hands.  He chose to stall for time by saying absolutely nothing.

But Jake didn't need to make a decision after all -- Sam cut the silence by walking down and interrupting, "Actually, we do have three people to trade."

Surprised, Jake shot her a look that said, We do?  Sam seemed to take no notice as she continued, "If you get a moment, take a look upstairs.  I left your two goons locked in one of the bedrooms."

Morgana pondered over this new development for the briefest of moments, then reached out with her mind to confirm the whereabouts of Angus and Charlie.  Satisfied with her search, she said to Sam, "It seems you are correct.  Certainly you are cleverer than you look, but I don't know; you look pretty clever to me!"  Morgana laughed at what she just said, but no one joined her.

Regaining her composure, she continued.  "I'm afraid I cannot accept your offer, however.  You see, I can get Angus and Charlie back any time, but you can't get your friends without first going through me.  Oh, wait... you know, it just wouldn't be as fun if I killed them with my own hands."

"I probably shouldn't ask," Jake commented, "but what do you mean?"

"First, I want you to give back mister Cardinal."  Jake released his grip around Thomas's neck without a fuss.  "Now, take his gun and shoot... let's say... Clover."  Jake gasped, along with all of his allies, at the command given to him.  "You heard me.  Do it or all your friends die.  Even the really hot one."  She subtly gestured toward Claude, whom Jake assumed she wanted to keep as her love-pet, therefore making her threat seem more real.  Still, he did nothing.

Morgana had had enough of being tested.  She growled to herself and muttered, "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself..."  With that, she raised and pointed her hand in Jake's direction as her eyes began to glow.  She was trying to hypnotize him!  Jake tried to struggle against the spell, but eventually he stopped, as if he had given in, and slowly pointed the gun in Clover's direction.  But instead of pulling the trigger, he ejected the clip, pulled off the slider from the top of the gun, and tossed the three pieces on the floor behind him.  The hypnosis spell had failed after all!

Jake had anticipated a hypnosis attempt; he was wearing the Anti-Hypnosis Contact Lenses provided to him by WOOHP.  While Morgana was left speechless, Sam took the liberty of pulling one of the flashbang beads off her charm bracelet and covertly dropping it on the floor behind her.  She covered her ears, pretending she was cradling her temples to help her think, and made a subtle nod at Jake to give him the hint.

At the last possible moment, too late for Morgana or anyone else to make a move, Sam and Jake dove forward at opposite angles.  Just as they jumped off the ground, the stun bomb detonated in a flash of blinding light and booming sound.  Although Jake had his eyes closed, shielding him from the flash of light, his ears were open to the loud bang, making him temporarily deaf.  Everyone else in the room fell dizzy from having two of their senses impaired at the same time.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Sam ordered to Jake, "Come on, help me free Claude and Alex!" but Jake cupped his hand over his ear as a reminder that he was temporarily deprived of hearing.  Sam smacked her face in frustration, then pulled out her Laser Lipstick and pointed in Alex's direction with it.  Jake took the hint, grabbed the lipstick from Sam's hand, and set to work freeing Alex.

Meanwhile, Sam rushed over to Clover, still standing in the iron maiden, and shouted, "Can I borrow your laser lipstick?"  Clover just barely heard her friend, and gave her the gadget.  Then Sam helped her get away from the spiked coffin and set to work freeing Claude.

By the time Clover's vision returned, Jake was over by Alex's head, having finished cutting the plastic rope that tied Alex down onto her bed of nails.  But there was still the problem of getting her off safely.  Thinking quickly, Clover rushed over to the opposite end of the bed and grabbed her friend's feet.  As soon as Jake realized what she was doing, he held Alex by the hands and helped lift her off the table.  Just as her feet once again touched the ground, Sam finished cutting Claude free from his chair, and was urging everyone to get going.

By now, however, Morgana and Thomas were beginning to regain their senses.  They scrambled onto their feet and made desperate dives at the escaping agents.  Morgana managed to grab onto Jake, but he turned themselves around in mid-air, so he landed on top, and smashed his elbow into her forehead.  She howled with pain, as psychics are very sensitive in the area of skin around their temples, and gave Jake a chance to break free of her.

Meanwhile, Thomas tried to grasp onto Alex's ankle, but just missed, as Alex flipped into a handspring to avoid his reach.  Once again, she positioned her legs in mid-air for a catlike landing.  But unlike her painful experience at the training center the week before, she landed firmly on the balls of her feet.  Just for fun, she twisted at the waist and struck a pose reminiscent of a kung-fu stance.  There was no time to threaten them with it, however, as she glanced at her allies leaving the room and rushed after them, shouting, "Wait for me!"

Try as they did, Morgana and Thomas were helpless to do anything as the escapees barged up and out the front door and into their getaway vehicle.  Alex was still in pain from the torture she had just undergone, so everyone arranged themselves accordingly.  Jake sat behind the wheel, with Sam taking the passenger seat beside him.  Clover and Claude sat in the middle row, and Alex rested face down on the rear bench seat.  Once everyone buckled up, Alex thanked everyone profusely.  "Oh... I've never been so scared in my life!  I never want to go back to that haunted house ever, ever again!"  

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Jake consoled as he peeled out onto the road, desperate to get away from the 'haunted house' as quickly as possible.

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Back at the 'haunted house', Thomas and Morgana stood in the foyer, fuming at their catch that got away, when they heard a thumping sound.  They followed that sound up the stairs and discovered the hutch that Sam wedged in front of the door.  Thomas struggled trying to move it away, but Morgana easily lifted it to its original spot against the wall using telekinesis.  The moment Thomas opened the newly unblocked door, his goons nearly tumbled out of the door.  They started spouting apologies immediately, but Morgana would have none of it.  She waved her hand to silence them and said, "Simmer down, boys, it wasn't your fault.  It appears we are dealing with a crafty bunch."

"I take it you had trouble with them too?" Angus rhetorically asked.

"You couldn't imagine.  Don't forget, they stole our catch right from under our noses."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better about us," Charlie explained as he took off his sunglasses, "we've got some tricks up our sleeves as well.  We were just trying to escape through the window when you rescued us."

"I see," responded Morgana.  She noticed that they had taken off the bed sheets and tied them to one of the posts.  Presumably, they were going to use the makeshift rope to safely shimmy out the window, and from there run around to the front door so they could help their bosses.  To Thomas, she said, "If Angus and Charlie are any indication, this alliance of ours was a very good idea.  But we're going to need to step up our game if we are to have any hope of keeping them out of our hair.  With your assistance, I believe that I finally have the resources to do so for good."