CHAPTER 4: Part 1 - Add 1, Subtract 1

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The Voice Of Susie Campbell

They told me I was perfect for the role. Absolutely perfect.

Now Joey's going around saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell.

He wants to meet again tomorrow. Says he has an "opportunity" for me.

I'll hear him out, but if that smooth talker thinks he can double cross an angel and get away with it....well, oh, he's got another thing coming.

Angels....ooh, they don't like liars.

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Henry groggily opened his eyes to a white-hot pain coursing through his body as he laid on the rubble of the elevator.

"G.....God....I must be made of...steel or....or something.....how didn't I break anything...?"

He rotated any idea, any forming thought around in his brain, before he noticed that he was alone.

"B...Barley...! Where...huh...!?"

The pain soon grew number as Henry pushed himself up from what used to be the lift, looking around for his missing ally. "Buddy...buddy, are y-are you hiding somewhere..??"

It took a few minutes for Henry to finally remember the situation. "....Ed-Edgar!"

That...that damned angel...! He- He took him! He.....

He stumbled to his feet, trying to use the rubble as a support. Hang on tight, buddy. I'm comin'.

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NEW OBJECTIVE: RESCUE BARLEY

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After a long, grueling process of shuffling down the hallway before him, leaning on the walls as support, Henry soon steadily stood in a small area. To the right of him was a giant steel door. He went over to it, looking for some sort of handle.

A few seconds passed, and he noticed a hole in the door. Huh. Looks like some sort of...handle needs to go in there. He looked around the area beside the door, sighing a bit in frustration when finding nothing of use. "Not here. Maybe I should look somewhere else."

He went to the area across from his location, finding a smaller door at the end of the hall. Maybe there could be something in here? Let's see...

And so, Henry gently opened the door...

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...What the hell happened in here?

Taken aback, he quietly walked into the room to further examine it.

The only things in the room was an ink covered desk alongside a knocked over chair, but the thing that stood out most to Henry was the copious amount of writing on the floor and walls. It had layered and stacked upon itself to the point where he could barely read it, but he could make out a few numbers, equations, and phrases such as "TIME IS MONEY" and "TAXES".

Henry went to the tape player half submerged in the bubbling ink coating the desk, and he pressed play.

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The Voice Of Grant Cohen

Charley And The Swap Machine: Re-Ink'dWhere stories live. Discover now