Treasures of The Damned

41. Empty Art Galleries

Briar slowly moved her hand away from her father's head just as Logan grabbed her arm gently. "Come on! I got it open! Let's get out of here, Thornbush."

Briar paused before shaking her head softly. "No-...we can't just leave now. Hongjoong just killed Papa. He's been killing my Uncles all night. I can't let him get away with this."

"Baby. I know you're angry. He just took your papa away from you again. But if we don't get you out now, we don't get you out at all. Hongjoong will kill us."

When Logan finished speaking, Briar looked over to Hongjoong, who was still standing over Mingi's headless body, smirking and watching the father and daughter with a teasing smirk.

"I don't care, Dad...he killed Papa. And he's probably going to escape to kill us too. If we don't kill him now, then we'll just be prolonging our life. If we kill him. Then we're free from his horrors."

Logan looked as if he was contemplating what Briar had said, glancing from his husband's dead body to his pure daughter sitting beside him. He paused before nodding his head. "What do you have in mind, Briar?"

"Well...what time is it...?" She waited silently, looking up at Logan while she kept a close eye on Hongjoong, waiting for her father to answer her.

"It's 5:30. We have half an hour before we need to get out of here," Logan whispered. "There's no way you and I can defeat him in half an hour. There's not enough time..."

"We have to try, though. For Papa, and for all the Uncles that he's killed tonight. He shouldn't get away with this. We need to stop him..." Briar hummed thoughtfully.

"Is there any way that we could trap him? Trick him? Anything-."

"There are a few ways but-...it's going to be hard...we need to break his body apart...but how?" Briar whispered, thinking to herself before she nodded her head and smirked. "Dad...I know this is gonna sound like a lot, but we need to get to the other side of the park, where he killed Uncle Sannie. Can you carry me there?"

Logan paused, looking at his daughter before nodding his head and very gently picking her up and holding her to his chest. "Is that okay? I'm not hurting you, right?"

Briar slowly shook her head, leaning against Logan and resting her head on her father's shoulder. "No, I'm okay. It'll be okay." She said in a reassuring voice, Logan nodding his head and just holding her closer as he ran them to where she'd asked.

As they made it to where San's body was, Logan paused for a few steps, staring down at the body. "He did this?"

Briar simply nodded her head, letting herself be set down beside San's body. She examined the back of his neck, where there was a little compartment open. As she looked more into the compartment, she could see it was where all the wires were housed. And a few of them were cut.

"So he cut the wires powering San up, and then threw him down here."

"How can you tell that, Thornbush?" Logan asked softly from where he stood above Briar, keeping her protected and safe.

"Well for one this hatch on the back of his neck is opened- which shows that someone had opened it shortly before his death. And the wires that seem to hold his power source were cut."

"So-...if we do this humanely, then we can just cut his main wires?"

"That's what I'm thinking. We're not monsters. Like him. If we were, that wouldn't make us any better than him, would it Dad?" Briar glanced over at Logan, who just shook his head before she went back to examining the open hatch. "So that's the one you would need to cut to turn off all power sources..."

"What's your plan, Briar?" Logan asked as he crouched beside Briar and looked at the wire she was pointing out, nodding his head softly as he thought about it. That should be an easy wire to hit, even on Hongjoong.

"The thing is, I know that I'm too weak to walk right now. So I could be the bait? But then the trouble is that he can control you-..."

"What if we use that to our advantage, though?" Logan hummed after a few moments of silence, smiling gently at his daughter. "We let him take control of me, and he won't expect you to attack and shut him down."

"But can we even get him close enough for me to cut the wires?"

"I can get close enough to open the hatch before he notices. That's how. He'll turn to you to gain control over me. From there, you should be able to reach up and cut his wires..."

Briar listened to her father speak, and she paused for a few moments, pressing her lips together and looking around them silently. "I think that should work...but we can't mess this plan up...or else he'll destroy you and kill me." She reminded Logan softly.

Logan nodded his head and took a deep breath. "I understand. It'll be okay, Briar. I promise." He helped Briar to stand up, holding her in a hug for a few moments before he set her down on the bench that he'd held her still on earlier that night. He then grabbed a sharp shard of glass and handed it to his daughter. "For cutting the wires."

Briar opened her mouth, about to say something to Logan, but before she could, she heard footsteps. She looked around them and heard Hongjoong's grumbling voice. She took a deep breath and nodded to her father, who went to go hide. Briar took a deep breath, trying to relax. This had to work. If not-...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Hongjoong smirking and chuckling. "Daddy leave you alone, little girl?"

Briar opened her eyes and looked up at Hongjoong, shrugging her shoulders. "He went to go find a way to get out of here. Thought I would be safe here-..."

"He probably just told you that and went running away. At least your dad is smart and knows that you won't make it through the night."

Briar wrinkled her nose at Hongjoong. "Wow, you like to play with your food, don't you?"

Hongjoong snarled at her and reached forward before pausing and smirking as if he didn't want to hurt her yet. "Yes. I do." He purred and took a step away from her, looking her up and down. "Wow, I did a lot of damage. Imagine I rip open all the scars, let all that blood flow."

He kneels in front of Briar, and she moved her legs away quickly when one of his claws got too close to her wounds for comfort.

"If you're gonna fuck with me can you please just kill me? I don't want to live in a world that hates me anymore."

"Oh, darling. Even when I do kill you, your soul is connected to your father's. You'll be reborn as an animatronic as well!" Hongjoong said gleefully as if realizing that meant that he could mess with Briar forever.

Briar didn't say anything else, but she glanced up sparingly when she saw Logan. Her dad was quiet, agile on his small legs to the point where he easily snuck behind Hongjoong, who was still trying to claw at Briar's legs.

With barely more than a sound, Logan undid the hatch on Hongjoong's neck, but it must have sent a warning signal to his systems, because Hongjoong suddenly turned around and stood, glaring at Logan. "Trying to decommission me, Princess? Why would that be? Do you want to join your husband?"

Hongjoong never took a step forward, just watching Logan with narrow eyes distracted by the new prey. Logan took a few steps forward, smirking. "Go ahead. Attack me. I wish to be with Mingi again."

Before Hongjoong could even remark, Briar rushed forward, trying not to cry out in pain as she stood on her destroyed leg, and sliced through all the wires. She didn't care what they did. It was the easiest way, instead of cutting just one.

Hongjoong barely had time to turn back to her before he fell to the ground, his red eyes flickering in and out of power before they stopped glowing, and the animatronic went dead.