Whee!!!
Hope you guys enjoy

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   The answer was violence.

    Jack stayed by your side, but Henry had taken a separate path, so that you all found the pieces sooner.

   Since the butcher gang members were relentless upon seeing an intruder, you took that as an advantage; a piper began to chase you and instead, you beat it over the head numerous times until it decided to leave you alone.

   Your swings were more damaging; the loss of Sammy filled you with indescribable anger that you let out on the doors which refused to open and the gang members who saw you.

   Eventually, you paused in a very familiar-looking office- anyone who'd even watched a single play-through of the game had seen it. Inky writing over the walls, a single voice recording on the desk, and random numbers everywhere. You were in Grant's office, though Jack opted to stay out. Not that you blamed the guy; the room gave you the creeps. Still, you were stuck here for who knows how long, so you might as well listen to some recordings.

   Setting your table leg on the desk, you told Jack to keep an eye out for any butcher gang members for you. 

     To be honest, you weren't sure what you were expecting. But eventually, you turned to find two of the butcher gang members, a Piper clone and a Striker clone, had entered the office with you.  Only they seemed to be turning their attention to the audio log. You didn't miss how Piper stepped protectively in front of Striker, how Striker became more agitated, more distressed at the tape. It was only natural that you turn it off.

   The silence that followed was deafening; neither you nor the characteristically violent toons made any move to do anything; you were finally exhausted of anger and they just stood there, watching you.

    "What?" You snapped, and while Piper seemed hesitant to approach you, his buddy lifted up an arm to show you how crooked it was. It was hard to tell in this place, but that movement seemed to get Piper's attention, who then put the Striker's arm down and shook his head, muttering in a language you couldn't understand.

   The message was clear enough. Something had hurt this Striker before you'd gotten here. You sighed and took a can of bacon soup out of your pocket. You offered it to the gang members as a peace offering.

   Piper didn't want to trust you; but how could you blame the creature? It had known violence...too much violence for one's lifetime.

  "I know you don't trust me," you said softly, holding the can at a distance where Piper could grab it if he wanted to, but not closer. At the very least, he seemed to tilt his head at your words. "I don't know what you're trying to guard or protect. But your friend is injured, and I want to help. Can I see what's wrong?"

   The Striker clone creeped closer; keeping a distance but you weren't swinging your table leg around anymore. As therapeutic as that had been, you realized that you couldn't take it out on these guys. Not anymore.

     Eventually Piper stepped back and let you check out Striker's arm, which, as usual, was one of three; two on one side and one extender-bar arm. The extender arm had something caught in it; so the clone couldn't extend his arm. You gently poked at the thing caught in his arm, and it immediately recoiled.

  "Oh dear...is that painful for you?" You asked apologetically. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure what I can do."

   The clones were silent; not even grunting, but you and Jack had to leave eventually, so you carefully stepped out of the room.

   "If you need some help, let me know. I'll do what I can."

   It wasn't until you and Jack had tracked down the pipes that Henry had missed that the two clones moved from Grant's old office. Just staring at the spot that you had vacated. Weird...

   "Henry!" You called, giving him a hug when you met up again. "We got all the pipes. You ready to finish this?"

    "It's a bit easier with you here, kiddo," he chuckled. "C'mon, let's go."

    Henry did the honors of opening the vault, and you chuckled as Jack held onto your leg. It reminded you of when the group was complete, and how he'd done the same thing back then. The ds still had battery, so he was once again fiddling with the game, except now he seemed to be more focused on what was ahead; you guessed that between everything, he had already beaten the game's story.

   Allison and Tom finally showed up after you searched the vault to find nothing in particular. "Looks like whatever was in here was taken a long time ago," Allison said, looking around.

  "How'd you get down here so fast?" Henry asked, and though both of you knew why, it was simply routine to ask.

   "It pays to carry a rope. You should try it sometime."

    Henry shrugged at Allison's answer that never changed, and then your new group had to plan out your next move.

   "Why is a swollen one with you?"

   That was a new question.

  "<i>Jack</i> is here because he wants to; he's been very helpful to Henry and I," you said, emphasizing his name.

  She was silent for a long time; long enough for it to be uncomfortable. Henry broke it by suggesting they go to the machine to confront Bendy.

  The very notion made you anxious, but if that's what it would take, then you'd get through one step at a time.

    Tom punched the doors to the next room open, and you watched in horrified fascination as the walls became coated in dark ink. On the other side, through some glass, was the Ink Demon, patrolling his territory. Allison didn't need to warn you to be quiet; even Tom froze as the demon went by, not even breathing in case that got his attention.

  When it finally did, it was only a short walk later before your group got to be at the machine and its inky moat. While Allison lamented on not seeing anything to make a boat with, you looked at Jack, who was shaking his head frantically at the sight of the ink.

  "Thank you for sticking with me Jack," you said, giving the swollen one as best of a hug as you could. "But you don't have to come with me."

    This meant goodbye, at least for a little while. Jack seemed to hate that even more; so while Henry had his uplifting heroic speech given to him courtesy of Allison, you tried to unwrap the clingy lost one from around your legs and at the same time, not stumble and fall.

    "We'll meet again soon, alright?" You sighed, trying one more time. "I won't leave you here."

   It was Henry, however, who managed to convince Jack to release you. He looked at the machine and sighed. "Alright kiddo, ready to end this loop?" he asked.

   "I was born ready, old man!" You exclaimed, and side by side you stepped into the moat. The ink was like sludge, and you hated how it felt like it was sucking you in.

     But you made it in; and you tried not to look too hard at the human-shaped bodies within the walls. Despite not having an obvious noise, the machine felt loud, unnatural. You wanted to have nothing to do with this place; but now you had connections. People you wanted to keep safe.
  "Oh, there's no miracle stations here, right?" You asked, groaning. "How're we going to do this exactly?"

   "If we split up, he can only chase one of us down. So I'll be bait, and you'll pull switches. Then we'll swap."

   It was a decent plan all right. Better than nothing. So you agreed, and so it was.

  Beast Bendy gave you nightmares; it took every single ounce of willpower to shout, to wave your arms around in order to keep its focus locked on you. But you trusted Henry, and Henry trusted you.

  There was more than one close call, but you managed to make it all the way through; and though you felt a silver of sadness for the creature who hadn't asked to be made in the way it had been, it was easily forgotten in the moment.

    Bright light flashed around you and Henry, revealing Joey Drew's living room.

   A young child called for Uncle Drew somewhere, and you would have sighed if you'd been able to use your voice at all.

  Instead, you and Henry walked to Joey's kitchen, where the greeting stayed the same.

  "Oh, and you, kiddo. I hope you enjoyed the present. Did it help you out?"

  Well...for the most part. Henry shared a look of surprise with you. How had Joey managed to change his monologue?

   "I..." nope this was not your day. "I can talk now?" You asked, trying not to react too much.

   Joey nodded. "Not too much, but enough to ask a few questions. I believe you have two questions left."

   Great, a limit.

  "Okay...um, how did you know about the gaming system?"

  Joey winked. "A magician never reveals his secrets. One left."

   "Why am I here?"

    Joey shook his head slowly. "You will have to see for yourself. Now...Henry, old friend...

  Come to the old studio. I've got something you'd want to see."
   With that, the next loop began. Your head was reeling from what you'd learned-it wasn't a lot, and there were more questions to ask, but it was something.

  "You could speak!" Henry exclaimed, swinging you around in a hug. "That...I don't know what that means but it's different than usual so its progress!"

   You cheered. "If there's a change, we did something good!" Henry put you down quickly, then led the way to start the machine and everything else all over again. You felt another weight in your hoodie's pocket, and reached in to see what it was.

  The gaming system was gone; you had a brief thought of whether or not it'd made its way into your hoodie again. Instead, what you saw was a small remote. The door behind you opened and shut briefly, enough for a drone to fly through.

   You laughed in spite of yourself, making the drone fly about and crashing it into walls.

  "I...so the gaming system helped Jack...what are we supposed to do with this?" Henry asked, watching you move the drone around.

   "Your guess is as good as mine," you shrugged. "I just hope this thing has a battery like the gaming system, since that thing lasted forever."

   From this point, everything else was mind-numbingly familiar; everything was in the same spot, so you and Henry got the machine turned on in no time.

    When you fell through the studio again, you merely sighed, shook off the impact, and turned off the ink. Only then could you move forward.

   "...hey, Henry?" you sighed, pausing before the pentagram room. "I'm...not sure I'm ready to see him again."

    Henry didn't need to read your mind to know who you meant. "We'll get him back, one way or another. You did it once after all."

   A reassuring promise, but you still felt bitter about it. Pushing those feelings away for the time being, you followed Henry into the room, and though a splitting headache forced you to your knees, Henry collapsed in the center.

   When the pain subsided, you slowly got up, skirting around the pentagram and waited for Henry.

   As usual, the two of you brushed yourselves off, Henry picked up an axe, and then you were off to the music studio...and Sammy.

   After trudging through a hall filled with ink, you saw him, carrying a bendy cutout. He'd gone back to being the prophet, but he was <i>alive</i> and he was back. You took what you could get with that. Henry called out to Sammy, but he was ignored.

  You didn't want him to leave, not yet. You had to talk to him.

  "Oi!" You exclaimed, taking your drone and flying it around his head to get his attention. "It's considered rude to ignore people!"

  This gave you the prophet's attention. But this was one who did not know you; he could care less if the ink contaminated you.

   "Well...what do we have here? Lost little sheep?" He said darkly. "Don't be so comfortable down here..."

    That didn't make any sense, yet it was all he would say. You and Henry finally got through the hall only to find him gone; surprise surprise.

   "Well...I guess he was friendlier than usual?" you asked.

   Henry snorted and shook his head. "Let's just get the batteries for the door, kid."