(1) Ink Distortion (BATIM/EPICMICKEY)

24- Butchered

Mickey, Boris, and the other toons stood frozen in place, staring at what could only be described as a surgical disaster.

The three disfigured toons made no move to approach the group, but Mickey still poised his pipe, ready to strike.

"Who are you?" Mickey demanded, stepping forward, hoping to intimidate the three, though Mickey Mouse himself isn't very menacing.

The spider and sailor coward behind the toon who held a pipe, similar to Mickey's.

"W-W-W-We're th-the B-Butcher-er G-Gang." The sailor toon had a terrible stutter, so much so that Mickey didn't understand.

"Excuse me, what?" The Mouse asked for clarification.

"B-b-butch, butcher G-g-g-"

"The Butcher Gang." The leading toon finished.

"I'm Charley, that's Fisher,"Charley jerked his head to the right at Fisher, appropriately named. Mickey grimaced at the sight of Fisher's head, which dangled from the string of a fishing pole, lodged in his neck.

"And this is Striker."

Striker, a toon, if you could even call it that, let out an indecipherable gaggle of sounds, as if he was trying to form words. All of the toons looked awful, except for Charley.

"How did you find us?"

"You're not hard to find. We just wanna help you! Please!" The taller toon in the front raised his hands in a truce.

"Why should we trust you?" Mickey lowered his pipe in the slightest, demonstrating that he was open to negotiate peace.

"W-W-We're n-not l-l-like th-them!" Fisher cried.

"What do you mean?" Jiminy argued, "You're exactly like them! Look at you!"

Now, Jiminy did not intend to do any harm, he was just pointing out Fisher and Striker's poor condition, but Charley did not like the cricket's comment.

"Hey! Watch it, insect!" Charley snapped. "They may look shabby but they ain't nothing like them searchers!"

The comment didn't faze Jiminy in the slightest, but considering his kind nature, he blubbered out:

"O-oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend, I just. Well, we don't know who, or what to trust around here!"

Charley sighed, before saying, "Yeah, I know, it's just, well, my buddies an' I have been through a lot. Clearly."

Fisher and Striker nodded in unison.

"Why are you here? I-I mean, with us?" Mickey gestured to the group, consisting of Boris, Jiminy, and Gus.

"You're clearly not from around here. In fact, we don't get any outsiders, except for however long ago..."

"What does that have to do with us?"

"We thought, maybe Bendy sent you to help.."

Bendy's name caught everyone's attention.

"Bendy?" Gus reiterated.

"Yeah, after...Alice, Bendy decided he'd had enough, and he wanted to leave, then he..."

"The he what?" Mickey pressed.

"He turned on a projector screen in the music department. It's been broken since Drew knows how long, and that lil' devil managed to fix it and, well... it's... crazy."

"What is?" Jiminy chimed in.

"Bendy, from what I saw, jumped through the projector screen. I know it sounds stupid. I was halfway convinced it was the Ink Machine, and I think he was too. Bendy didn't look like he knew what he was doing... And after that, some pipes burst, and the music department flooded."