Book Four

## Summary

The B-Bros have finally been proven innocent! But freedom comes with it's own obstacles as criminal forces continue to circle the brothers and the next part is revealed. Thankfully, the B-Bros find new allies in Felix the Cat, renowned adventurer, and the Cupbros of all people, who have suddenly decided to make amends and join the quest. With another part to obtain the B-Bros need all the help they can get but can they really trust these new allies? And even with their help will they be able to retrieve the next part?

### Warnings and Triggers

* Blood
* Guns
* Graphic Depiction of Violence
* Graphic Depiction of Serious Wounds
* Graphic Depiction of Illness
* Mentions and Discussions of Death
* Depression/Depressive Thoughts
* Attempted Suicide
* Insanity
* Grief
* Domestic Abuse/ Abusive Relationships
* Trauma
* Spiders
* Mentions of Homophobia

## Detailed Information

***Spoiler warning:** Full book plot summary in collapsable.*

The police quickly usher the B-Bros away from the weasel gunman's attack, which began in the end of Book Three. The boys are taken to the police station and, since they are mostly unharmed, are able to leave with all the items taken from them at the time of their arrest after turning down an offer of witness protection from Ringtail. The boys then head to a grocery store to pick up some food, where they run into Mickey, Donald, Oswald and Goofy. Mickey immediately begins fussing over Boris and eventually invited the B-Bros out to dinner. However, once they arrive at the restaurant Oswald suddenly lunges out to hug a random cat sitting at the bar, who is understandably surprised by this. Ozzy soon snaps out of it though at Mickey leads him away after apologizing to the cat. Bendy is shocked when he recognizes this cat as non-other than his idol Felix the Cat, who Bendy talks with a bit before Felix heads to the backroom to check on Ozzy. But only moments after Bendy finishes talking to Felix Cuphead bursts through the doors, still out for the B-Bros blood. The B-Bros quickly make a run for it and the ensuing chase ends up with them cornered in an alley by the grief mad Dish. Cuphead's crazed voice echoes around the alley, first swearing that's he'll kill them no matter what before dipping even further into madness by talking to his brother as if he is there with him as he laughs and sobs in equal measure. When Cup suddenly goes silent Bendy hesitantly comes out to check on him only to be horrified when he finds Cuphead crying on his knees in the alley, finger gun raised to his head with a bullet lit. Bendy wrenches Cup's hand away from his head, yelling at Cup, and Cuphead proceeds to sob into Bendy's chest as he finally unloads the intense guilt he feels over what happened to Mugman. Eventually, Cup passes out in Bendy's arms and after some debate between the brothers, they bring Cup to the hospital. The brothers then head back to the restaurant to pick up their stuff, say their goodbyes to Mickey's group and head back to Dr. Oddswell's house. At the doctor's house, the brothers reunite with Granny, the Warners and the Swingskirt sisters for a celebratory dinner.

The next day Cuphead wakes up in the hospital after a nightmare, confused at how he got there since his memories are fuzzy due to mostly blacking out in a rage for the last few days as he hunted the B-Bros. Only moments after he wakes up Nurse Dovil and Nurse Fanny enter the room and Fanny wastes no time in grabbing him and dragging him by his shirt to one of the other hospital rooms. Cuphead is shocked when the room he is shoved into turns out to be Mugman's room, who tearfully asks why Cup had just left him alone there. The Cupbros then have a happy and tear-filled reunion. Once the reunion is over the Cupbros are released from the hospital with strict orders from Fanny on how to continue both of their recoveries. The Cupbros grab Mug's pain meds before getting back to work, heading to one of the local bars to get some information from Mortimer. Mortimer asks if they're there for information on the B-Bros again but Cup is actually looking to find out who the weasel shooting at "his targets" is. Mortimer tells them that the weasel is working with the Sykes brothers, which surprises Cup seeing as the Sykes are also debtors who should know to stay out of his way. Upon learning this the Cupbros head down to the bar's basement to contact their boss, although it's once again King Dice who answers. Cup demands to know what's happening and Dice tells them about the job the Sykes brothers are working before giving the Cupbros a new mission- stop the activation of the Ink Machine by any means necessary and grab any Parts they can for the boss. King Dice also caches in the favour the Cupbros owe him by ordering them to "take care" of a member of the Sykes gang who is going to try to make a run for it. King Dice then takes his leave and the Cupbros head to the train station to wait for the runner.

Back with the B-Bros, the brothers spend some time talking with the Swingskirt sisters before Holly arrives at the house with a strange white rodent-like creature that she has named Snowball. Holly updates the group on her progress with The Map and the situation with Alice, giving the boys the letter Alice wrote to them explaining how she had to return to the casino. No one is particularly happy about the Alice situation but for the time being, they have no other option but to continue on. Holly is just about to add the new runes to the map but Snowball keeps knocking her hand away, prompting Holly to explain the origin of Snowball the Dandehog. This leads into a discussion of magic, demonology and Holly's time being homeless. During this time the Swingskirt sisters also take their leave. Once the group is done talking they head into the backyard where Holly finally adds the runes, causing an impressive show of magic and electricity to explode across the yard. Once everything settles down the brothers are excited to find that not only has Holly successfully updated the map but that there is also the location of a new part shown on the map.

Later that same night the Cupbros wait in the train station to see if the runner, Mayor Medusa, will actually show up. Mugman spends some of this time thinking about what he and his brother went through while separated before his thoughts turn to how much he hates jobs like this, After standing in silence for a while Mugman finally works up the courage to ask Cuphead what happened while he was in the hospital and is shocked to hear that Cuphead gave up instead of killing the B-Bros when he had them cornered. When Cuphead vaguely mentions that he now owes Bendy a favour Mugs is about to ask whether this means they could find a way to spare the B-bros before the arrival of their target cuts them off. The mayor has brought his confused family with him but, when he spots the Cupbros, he runs for it and leaves his family behind. Instead of chasing after the man right away, Cup takes the time to stop and talk with the Mayor's wife, telling her that her husband was involved in some very shady business and that she should take her daughter to someplace with people she can trust not to abandon her. Once he finishes talking with her the Cupbros quickly chase down and corner the Mayor, who begins pleading with them for mercy. Cup lifts a glowing finger to the man's face and states that the only thing he wants from the Mayor is for him to stay still.

Meanwhile, the B-Bros have gotten a room at a small hotel for the night in preparation for their adventure into the nearby mountains to obtain the latest part. But as they're settling in Bendy suddenly feels the beginnings of an Ink Attack and rushes out to a nearby alley to handle the attack himself so that Boris doesn't have to deal with seeing him suffer through yet another attack. Unfortunately, Bendy forgot to refill his pills at the doctor's house and ends up collapsing fully to the ground in pain. Somebody eventually picks him up, which he first assumes is Boris but is horrified to discover is actually Cuphead. Cuphead reassures Bendy that he isn't there to kill him and just wants to get him back to his brother but their conversation is suddenly cut off by a cry from Boris, who is getting mugged near the entrance of the alley after wandering in to find Bendy. Thankfully, through the efforts of both Cup and Mugs Boris is rescued and the B-Bros reunite. The B-Bros are shocked to see Mugman alive and well but Cuphead quickly becomes flustered once the B-Bros thank him and ushers his brother away. The B-Bros then head back to their hotel room for the night.

In the Cupbros hotel room, the brothers are discussing how it was nice to do something good for a change and Mugs asks if they can find some way to continue their job without killing the B-Bros. While Mugman is trying to brainstorm ways to complete the job without killing the B-Bros Cuphead heads out onto the balcony to smoke. When movement on the next-door balcony catches his eye he turns and is shocked to see Bendy, revealing that the two pairs of brothers had actually booked hotel rooms right next to each other without knowing it. After teasing Bendy a bit Cuphead offers him a genuine thank you for helping reunite him with Mugman, which Bendy hesitantly accepts before heading back into his room. After some internal debate, Cuphead decides on a plan of action, striding back into his room and announcing to Mugman that they are going to befriend the B-Bros. Mugman is surprised by this sudden change of opinion but Cuphead explains that he plans to follow the B-Bros on their quest, use them to find all the parts and then the Cupbros will steal all of the parts from the B-Bros before they can make the Ink Machine. That way the Cupbros complete their job without having to kill the B-Bros. While Mugman isn't happy about the idea of eventually betraying the B-Bros he eventually agrees to the plan since it's the best option they have at the moment.

Elsewhere, Mickey sits sadly on a bed talking to his brother and various nieces/nephews about his concern for Boris. Mickey's sadness quickly turns to shock when he actually hears his brother speak, telling Mickey how he's too good for this world. Mickey and the kids celebrate Ozzy speaking again after so long being mute until Ozzy noticing that one of his kids is wearing Felix's hat shifts the conversation to the cat. By the end of the conversation, Mickey is considerably more optimistic about the future. The next morning Oswald amuses himself by surprising Donald with his return to speech. Soon enough Mickey joins the two of them and the three of them begin teasing each other as they discuss their plans for the day.

Meanwhile, as Felix gets ready for the day he thinks about what happened the day before when the bunny kids brought him over to their house and he inadvertently learned of their mother's death. Unfortunately, the reminder of his dead wife upset's Ozzy and, although Ozzy eventually apologizes for getting upset, Felix still takes this as his cue to leave. Back in the present time, a paper slips out of one of the notebooks Felix picks up, revealing itself to be a letter from Wilson Wiseton. Felix's thoughts then turn to the mystery of Wilson, who is revealed to have been one of Felix's professors and a close friend. As Felix becomes more frustrated at not knowing what happened with Wilson a knock on the door cuts off his thoughts. It turns out to be his good friend Sheba, who has come to meet him for breakfast. As the two of them head out they talk about Felix's magic bag and Sheba, noticing something is up, begins pushing him to tell her what's really on his mind. Felix eventually admits to having met a "handsome bunny" and Sheba happily supports his new crush, even as they both commiserate the fact that having a known gay relationship could ruin his career. The two cats then make their way to a diner, eating and catching up with one another, before deciding to go get some errands done together.

That same morning Boris walks through the halls of the hotel when he is suddenly surprised by Mugman coming up to talk with him. Mugman happily asks if they can be friends and while Boris is at first rightfully suspicious and frustrated about the mixed signals Mugs has been giving him, even denying the offer of friendship when Mugs still refuses to answer his questions about why the Cupbros were after them in the first place. But when Mugman begins to tear up Boris's guilt wins out and, against his better judgement, he finally accepts Mug's friendship. Mugman happily hugs Boris and tells him that the Cupbros not only won't be coming after the B-Bros anymore but also want to help them on their quest. Boris says he'll ask Bendy but not to expect too much. Later on that day the B-Bros are arguing about the Cupbros offer while they walk back to Dr. Oddswell's house to refill Bendy's pills. After refilling the pills the boys head over to Betty's shop to talk with Holly and stock up on supplies. While Boris goes to grab the supplies Bendy stays at the front to talk with Holly, thanking her once more for all the help she's given and handing the page from Wilson's journal over so she can try translating it. Holly promises that she'll have it translated by the time the boys come back and Bendy takes the opportunity to pre-emptively ask her out on a date for when they return. While she is surprised by this Holly accepts the offer. The B-Bros then happily buy their supplies and leave the shop.

Back with Ozzy, he is relaxing with Donald and Mickey when suddenly one of his sons comes running towards him yelling for help as the child flees a cat woman running after him begging for cuddles. Ozzy quickly bundles his child into his arms, angrily asking what the woman wants with his son. Before she can reply Felix's voice comes from around the corner, yelling at the woman (Sheba) to stop because she's scaring the kid. Ozzy greets Felix and his smile flusters Felix so much that the cat promptly blushes and faints into Sheba's arms. Thankfully, Felix regains consciousness quickly and hastily explains the whole thing away by claiming to have a fever. After confirming with Felix that Ozzy is the handsome bunny he was talking about Sheba turns her attention to Mickey, flirting with him and causing the mouse to become very embarrassed. The whole group then sits down together for lunch and Felix's crush on Ozzy continues to cause him to embarrass himself. After lunch, and following a few more shenanigans between Felix and Ozzy, the two cats take their leave. Sheba teases him as they walk back to her bookstore, although when they finally arrive at the shop Sheba immediately becomes the victim of a prank by Felix's nephews Inky and Winky. Felix and Sheba spend some time talking with the kittens before they run off. Sheba and Felix then finally enter the store, Sheba continuing to rant to Felix about how it's stupid that other people's opinions should dictate his potential relationship with Ozzy. Felix points out that, with everything he's discovered lately, he can't afford to lose any of his support. The two then briefly talk about Wilson's case before they settle down and begin working together in the shop. As he works Felix's thoughts continue to swirl around Ozzy and Ink Illness. Felix asks Sheba if she thinks he acts weird around Ozzy and Sheba replies that he acts the same as anyone with a crush would. As Felix looks at a poster showcasing a younger Ozzy he has the dawning realization of just how big this crush is.

Later that same day Bendy decides to go out on the town to have some fun for the evening, leaving Boris alone at the hotel. Bendy heads to a club and is surprised to see Dovil and Fanny there. He heads over to flirt with the two women but is disappointed to discover they're both already taken- Fanny is married and Dovil has a boyfriend. Bendy talks with the women for a bit, growing annoyed when the majority of the topics relate to him, before heading back to the bar. As Bendy drinks at the bar, his thoughts become steadily more depressed as he thinks about everything from the fact that he'll never get a girlfriend to his worsening Ink Illness. Bendy continues to drink at the bar until he finally stumbles back to his hotel room drunk. Boris, used to his brother's drunk antics, just laughs at Bendy.

Meanwhile, Fanny isn't having a great night either. Thanks to a misunderstanding she spends the majority of the night third wheeling a date between Dovil and her boyfriend Puphead. Eventually, the three of them leave Puphead insists that he and Dovil walk her home. They eventually arrive at her house and Fanny walks inside only to find her husband, a large wolf named Brute, upset at having to make his own dinner. Fanny tries to placate him but it fails as he roughly grabs her by the ear, demanding she makes him dinner, before the wolf throws her back to the floor, causing her to hit her head on the coffee table on the way down. Fanny pulls herself into the bathroom and begins patching up her wounds, reminding herself that even with these constant "little fights" she shouldn't complain since at least she had a man with a decent job. She had known going into it that their marriage wasn't about love,

The next day Boris exits their room only to be immediately hugged by Mugman again. Cuphead is with his brother this time and happily greets Boris before sending the two younger brothers off to buy supplies while he talks with Bendy. Boris barely has time to register what just happened before Mugs pulls him away down the hall. Cuphead decides the best way to talk with Bendy is to just let himself into the B-Bros room and surprise the Demon. Bendy, sick of all the mixed messages from the Cupbros, sits Cup down on the bed so they can talk things out. Cup begins pleading with Bendy to understand the situation he and Mugs are in, even beginning to cry when the subject of Mugman getting shot is brought up. This sends Bendy into somewhat of a panic as he awkwardly tries to comfort Cup. His efforts manage to get a laugh from Cup and after the tears stop Cup invites him out to breakfast. After he finishes getting ready Bendy and Cuphead head out to a café for breakfast. Cup argues that the B-Bros need him and Mugs on the quest since he can't keep relying on dumb luck to save them and, after a reflection on the events of the past months, Bendy can't really argue with that point. While Bendy doesn't give Cuphead a solid acceptance on his offer the two older brothers do get much more comfortable with each other over the course of the breakfast and bendy promises to talk over the Cupbros offer with Boris. Cuphead is thrilled at the perceived acceptance of their offer, leaving Bendy to just hope that he won't regret the choice later. Back with the younger brothers, they're still grocery shopping when Mugman catches a young pickpocket trying to steal their food. Boris, sympathetic to the poor kid, ends up giving him the piece of fruit he was stealing and lets him run away with it. Mugman and Boris begin walking down the street again as Mugman begins telling Boris funny stories from his time in the hospital. The two meet up with their respective older brothers and the Cupbros take all of the supplies up to their room with the promise to meet up later, leaving the B-Bros alone to talk about the Cupbros offer. After a quick discussion, they decide to take the Cupbros up on their offer to join the quest. Bendy then heads to check out a nearby bookstore while Boris goes to buy some fruit to make up for the one he gave away earlier. In the bookstore Bendy runs into Felix again and the two of them talk for a bit before Boris comes back in to show Bendy a change on the map. Felix recognizes the map and begins talking about the Ink Machine, surprising the B-Bros by even knowing of it's existence. Felix offers to join their quest and Bendy eagerly accepts, even though Boris is a bit more hesitant about the offer. Felix happily grabs his stuff and the group heads back out of the bookstore, meeting up with the Cupbros once more and introducing them to Felix. While Mugs seemingly has no problem with the cat joining Cuphead isn't thrilled about the development. Regardless, Bendy declares it's time for the group to head out to get the part. As the others grab the rest of their supplies from their hotel rooms Boris explains a bit more about who the Cupbros are and reveals the fact that Bendy has Ink Illness to Felix. Felix is saddened to hear about Bendy's situation and steels himself to begin the long quest ahead of them.

The new group of questers begin hiking up the mountains where the latest part is located. Unfortunately, Bendy begins having an Ink Attack early into their travel so he and Boris break off to deal with it. While they do that Felix asks to see the Cupbros shots and this is when Cuphead realizes that he's scared to shoot after what happened with Mugs. Cup ends up convincing Mugman to show off their bullets instead, which Felix thinks are amazing. While this is happening Bendy's Ink Attack is finishing up but it's caused Bendy to start thinking about what would happen if he died from the illness. Bendy tries to get Boris to promise him that he'll keep looking for the Ink Machine parts even if Bendy dies but Boris refuses to think about the possibility of Bendy dying at all. The argument between them ends when Boris begins crying and Bendy can't help but pull his younger brother into a hug. After that matter is settled Felix comes to check on the boys and, though Bendy tries to insist he's fine, Felix notices he's still lightheaded. Felix then takes it upon himself to scoop Bendy onto his back, which ends up inadvertently starting a piggyback race when Mugs spots then and scoops Boris up onto his own back. The race ends with Cuphead outrunning both pairs and winning, technically counting in the piggyback race thanks to putting a kitten he found on his back. Cuphead renames the cat Jackpot and they decide to bring it with them since they're too far away from town to return it back to its owner. The group then sets up camp for the night, chatting and getting to know one another before settling down for the night. The next morning the group packs up camp and begins hiking again, although later on in the day Mugman starts lagging behind so the group once again settles down in a meadow for the night. During this time Bendy tries to talk with Cup about how he's doing but the conversation takes a turn to talk about Felix instead before they settle down to sleep.

The next day the group finally reaches the top of the mountain and comes across a large lake, which the map points straight at. After wading into the water the group comes across a symbol similar to the one the B-Bros encountered in New Orleans (Book Two) and when Felix accidentally presses it the floor falls out from under the group, scattering them around a complex underground cave system. Felix and Jackpot end up together, Bendy and a slightly injured Cuphead soon find each other as well but Boris finds himself wandering the caverns alone. The pup ends up attacked by a giant spider-like monster and it's only thanks to Mugman appearing in the nick of time that he is saved. Soon after Mugman and Boris find each other another collapse in the cave system drops both of their older brothers on top of them. The siblings happily reunite and the four of them begin looking for their last group member. They don't have to look long before they come across Felix, who had just defeated another one of the spider monsters himself. Cuphead is also especially happy to see Jackpot managed to survive the long fall. The group, now all back together again, begins making their way to where the map says the part is. They eventually reach a blocked passage, which Cuphead has Mugman clear out alone by once again making an excuse not to shoot. Once through the passageway, they come to a large cavern where a giant mermaid sits in a large pool of water, eating some of the spider monsters. The map indicates the part is somehow in the mermaid's head and the questers debate how they're going to get it. During this time the reason for Cup's lack of shooting get's revealed and he's embarrassed by the other's understanding reaction to it. This moment is broken when Felix points out that Jackpot has gotten too close to the mermaid for comfort and when they go to save the kitten they get pulled into a fight with the mermaid. Unfortunately, Bendy begins to have an Ink Attack during the fight but when he tries to fight off the attack with his magic he ends up transforming into a larger, more demonic form. Bendy jumps into the fight in his new form, surprising Cuphead out of his thoughts about how the mermaid looks exactly like the mermaid from his childhood Cala Maria. The fight continues but at one point Cala lunges for Cup and Mugman pushes him out of the way only to get eaten instead. The rage and horror at seeing his brother eaten finally pushes away any doubts Cuphead had about using his powers and he open's fire on Cala, demanding that she spits out his brother. Meanwhile, Mugman discovers that the inside of the giant "Cala" is actually more of a giant dark room where the real Cala Maria is trapped with the part, a Cog. After trying and failing to pull Cala out from where she is fused to the floor Mugman begins unscrewing the Cog from the wall since it's what's powering everything. Back outside the fight continues but Bendy suddenly collapses in the middle of the battle, transforming back to his normal form from a giant pool of ink. At first, Bendy is unconscious, dreaming about a memory from his past, but he soon wakes up with no memories of what he did while transformed. While Bendy struggles through his confusion the others have chipped away at the fake Cala's body until only a floating head remains. This causes the bottom of the "floor" inside the room Cala and Mugs are into collapse so Mugs has to jump to grab Cala before she falls. After saving Cala Mugman pokes his head out through the new hole, allowing the other questers to spot him. With some help from Felix Mugman and Cala return to ground level just as the giant head, along with the part, drop into the water below. Since the part is still in the head s few of the boys have to go swimming to find it but eventually, the group manages to haul it out of the pool of water. With the part finally retrieved the group can now take a moment to rest.

The questers restful moment is broken when blood begins to seep through Mugman's shirt thanks to some stitches he popped during the whole ordeal. While this alarms Cup and Cala it doesn't take long for Felix to help Mug's redress the wounds. Once that's taken care of Cala offers to get the group a ride back to Toon Town to thank them for rescuing her, jumping into the ocean and returning not long afterwards with a giant whale in tow. The group quickly recovers from their shock and goes to swim out to the whale when Bendy suddenly feels his side burning. Bendy throws himself into the water to cool off and when they lift his shirt there are indeed burns there, despite him being near no discernable source of heat at the time. Regardless, the burning has stopped so the group climbs up on the whale, hauling the Cog along with them. Once settled the whale begins swimming for the city and the group starts talking with each other about what happened during the fight and childhood stories. The group continues to tell stories until they arrive at the Toon Town docks. Only moments after arriving at the docks the group runs into Holly, Dovil and Fanny. Fanny, angry at seeing most of them injured, insists they go to the hospital so Felix offers to take the Cog back to the house since he somehow managed to get out of the whole thing uninjured. Before the group can leave for the hospital, Cala pulls Mugs aside to ask when she can see him again. When he says he isn't sure she gives him a magic pearl he can use to contact her and promises to work on a way to live on land full time before kissing him on the cheek and falling back into the sea. Fanny then ushers the rest of the group to the hospital as Felix and Holly begin to head back to the house, chatting as they go.

After the boys get patched up at the hospital, where Fanny takes Jackpot away from Cup to return him to his real owner, the Cupbros and B-Bros head back to Dr. Oddswell’s house. The group heads into the kitchen where Felix, Holly, Xedo, Dr. Oddswell and Red are waiting for them. Unfortunately, the exhaustion from their recent adventures causes the boys to forget that the last time the majority of the room's occupants saw the Cupbros the two Dishes were attacking them. After suffering through Red’s (understandable) anger and Holly’s suspicions the Cupbros try to leave only to be stopped by Bendy, who vouches for the Cupbros. Boris and Felix soon do the same and the rest of the group reluctantly accept the Cupbros fo the time being when they see that Bendy isn’t going to let this go. Red and Dr. Oddswell end up leaving but the rest of the group settles down to discuss the Cupbros, the recent quest for the part and what’s happened in town while the questers were gone. Turns out while the questers were gone the group at home was dealing with various attacks from the Sykes brothers, one of which involved the burning down of the Tiptail’s apartment. The Doll was also lost in the fire but since Bendy only got a few burns on his side that means that The Doll somehow made it out of the fire mostly unharmed. After talking for a bit about how to find The Doll Holly pulls out Snowball to see if she can help since she seems to be able to sense strong magic. Snowball immediately jumps on the Cupbros once she is out, showing a strong fondness for Cuphead in particular, but eventually they pull her off Cup and set her on The Map where she indicates that The Doll is somehow already in the house. Snowball then leads the group through the house and the B-bros are shocked to see that The Doll has reappeared in the hiding place that had hidden it last time it was at Dr. Oddswell’s house

That night the Cupbros sneak out of the house so they can go report to their boss. As they walk the streets looking for an acceptable alley to make contact in Snowball suddenly jumps out of the shadows at them. Cup quickly puts the pieces together and calls out for Holly to reveal herself, who eventually begrudgingly does so after he threatens to keep Snowball. Holly tries to question the Cupbros but eventually, Cuphead just picks her up and hooks her on a nearby tree branch, effectively trapping her until the Cupbros come back to free her. With that taken care of the Cupbros head off and finally find a place to make contact. Unfortunately for them, The Devil himself answers this time.  The Devil initially orders that they immediately bring him the Ink Machine part but Cup points out that if they betray the group now then they wouldn't be able to accompany them to get all the other parts, leaving The Devil with only one part for himself. The Devil realizes that Cup is trying to manipulate him but he does really want the parts so he lets it slide and agrees to let them stay with the group longer. With that settled The Devil orders the CUpbros to collect the Sykes Brothers contracts and deal with anyone else involved with the cover-up before sunrise. The Devil then leaves and the CUpbros head out to meet up with the Sykes group.

At the meeting is the Sykes Brothers, Mr. Winky and Ratigan; which is all that remains of the cover-up group. Cuphead talks with the group awhile, subtly questioning them to find out if there's anything already set up that will need to be dismantled. Once he's sure there's nothing currently in the works Cup stands up, telling the Sykes brothers to hand over their contracts before ordering the other two to leave the warehouse and never speak of the work they did for the cover-up. Mr. Winky and Ratigan do as their told as a fight breaks out between the two sets of brothers. Eventually, the Cupbros come out on top as they snatch the Sykes contracts from their hiding place in Bill Sykes’s tie. The Sykes brothers curse the Cups out for dooming their souls as the Cupbros walk out of the warehouse. As they walk back to the alley to contact the boss Cup notices that they seem to be being followed by a couple of black cars but doesn’t do anything about it for the time being. The Cupbros then head into the alley, hand off the contracts to The Devil and start heading back to the doctor's house.

With their work for the night complete the Cupbros start to head back to the house, still being trailed by black cars along the way. They eventually arrive back at the tree where Holly is stuck to find that she's fallen asleep while they were gone. She wakes up and Cup banters with her for a bit before Mugs pulls her down from the tree. With Holly's leg's effectively useless from hanging so long Mugs ends up picking her up and carrying her as they all begin to make their way back to the house. Mugs soon also realize they are being followed and the brothers make a plan to split up, take care of the guys following them and then meet back up on baker street. Once they split up one of the two cars follows each of them but it doesn’t take Cup long to take care of the car that followed him and double back around to help Mugs. Once Cup arrives on the scene it doesn’t take long for him to tell Mugs to bail with Holly while he takes care of the thugs, who were just upset that they messed with the Sykes Brothers. Once Cup is done with the men he meets back up with Mugs and Holly at the house. Mugs and Holly head inside but Cuphead stays outside to smoke for a bit. Mugs soon ends up coming back out and informs Cup that he told Holly they were trying to pull out of the mob world as well as relays his suspicions on how exactly Holly is connected to the mob/casino before heading to bed. Cup is then left alone with his thoughts about what to do in his current situation before he heads into the house himself.

The next morning Bendy heads downstairs to have breakfast with the other occupants of the house and, after a bit of discussion amongst the group, Xedo asks what Bendy was talking about the other day about people not giving them a chance since he's a Demon. The questers explain Bendy’s transformation during the fight and the group begins talking about what could have caused it, as well as the possible side effects of the Cog. The group agrees they need to do some more research on the Cog but Bendy, Finley and Wakko are pulled aside from these efforts to run some experiments for possible pain medication treatments for those with Ink Illness. The group then splits up to complete their various tasks such as visiting the hospital, researching the Cog and assisting the experiments.

The boys head up to one of the guest bedrooms and Holly explains how she's been running rune tests on ink from Wakko's previous Ink Attack to try to find magical treatments. Each of the three boys lies down on a bed (with Boris standing by Bendy's bedside) and when Dr. Oddswell explains that they're each at different stages of the illness it's revealed that Finley also has Ink Illness, although it's still fairly early on. After recovering from that surprising reveal the boys all agree to act as the test subjects despite the unpredictable nature of rune magic and the fact that the experiments could accidentally set off an Ink Attack. The group then begins running through a series of rune tests, a couple of which sends both Finley and Bendy into Ink Attacks, with only the Joy rune showing any signs of being a potential treatment.  With all the rune tests complete Dr. Oddswell has one last thing for them to test, a liquid compound of the doctor's own design using a special sample Holly had recently gotten for him. Wakko and Finley feel refreshed after drinking the concoction but Bendy gets a painful stomach ache and they have to induce vomiting to get the doctor's compound out of his system. It's revealed that his reaction is due to one of the ingredients the doctor used, the White Egret Flower, which is an angelic plant from the Upper that is not compatible with Demon physiology. Finely is upset that Bendy was almost poisoned and goes to walk off his anger, leaving the B-Bros, Holly and Dr. Oddswell to talk amongst themselves.

The B-Bros question where they even got White Egret Flower from and Holly explains that while the questers were gone she went to the casino to visit Alice, who isn't looking very good and seems to be hidden from the majority of the rest of the staff for some reason. Alice wouldn't explain what exactly she was doing at the casino despite Holly and the Warners pushing for answers but Holly admits that she started looking into it on her own, which is around when she got the flower sample. Holly informs the B-Bros that when she secretly followed Alice through the casino she found that Alice was being drained of her Angel magic in a lab there, only she was feeding too much of her magic into the machine and was at risk for causing serious harm to herself. Holly also mentions that Alice is doing this because Black Hat stole something important from her but Bendy is far more focused on the revelation that Alice is an Angel. Boris reminds Bendy that it was an Angel who gave him the map in the first place and Holly confirms it was Alice, which only serves to further confuse Bendy. Finally pushing his swirling confusion to the side Bendy asks what he can do to help and Holly says that since Demons and Angels can sense each other there's a chance Bendy could find Alice's halo for her. Bendy points out the fact that it's going to be hard to get the halo back with Black Hat around and Holly suggests they distract him so he won't notice them. The group decides to get the Warners to provide a distraction while a group of them head into the casino in two teams, one team to get the halo and one to get Alice. Bendy wants to immediately start working on the details of the plan but the others all insist that he rest for a few hours since he's still exhausted from the tests. Bendy reluctantly agrees and quickly falls asleep once his head hits the pillow.

Five hours later the last of the group members who had been out doing their various tasks all day return to the house, where the B-Bros then explain the rescue mission for Alice. The B-Bros fills in the group on the fact that Alice is an Angel and her magic is being taken. At the mention of Black Hat's Casino, the Cupbros start paying more attention and Cup notices some flaws in the B-Bros current plan. Cup corrects the plan and finishes deciding who will go with what group- him, Bendy and Felix will get the halo while Mugs and Boris head with Holly to get Alice. With that decided the group splits to get ready to leave and the Cupbros go off to the side to discuss what to do in this situation. Eventually, they head back to the group where Cup asks if he can speak to Bendy alone. Bendy agrees and they head up to Bendy's room to talk. Cuphead awkwardly explains that the Cupbros spent a decent amount of their childhood with Black Hat but he's quick to reassure Bendy that they're on his side and have no issues with going up against Black Hat even with their shared history. Despite Bendy clearly wanting to ask questions he accepts what Cup has told him without pushing and the two of them head back downstairs to the rest of the group.

The group then heads to the casino and splits up to complete their separate missions. Cup helps lead the halo group to where he believes is the most likely place Hat would have stored the halo and, when he mentions Hat would put it somewhere he thought was funny, Felix comes up with the idea that the halo may be being used as a lightbulb. Bendy suddenly remembers sensing strong magic near the stage last time he was at the casino which means that it's probably being used as a stage light. Once at the stage Bendy identifies a spotlight currently being used as the halo and Felix darts off to go get it. While Bendy and Cup are backstage they run into 5-0-5, who Cuphead deals with after getting trapped in a hug by the bear. Only moments after Felix obtains the halo Black Hat bursts into the room and lashes out at them. Hat demands that they give the halo back since he considers both it and Alice his and a fight breaks out when the boys refuse to give it up. Unfortunately, the boys are simply outclassed by Black Hat, eventually ending up injured and captured by the Demon. Just as Hat is about to strike at Bendy Mugman appears to ask Hat just what he's doing. Black Hat claims that he's just punishing Cuphead but Mugman reminds Hat what happened the last time he tried to punish Cup and tells the Demon just who he'll have to explain himself to if he goes through with it. Despite his obvious displeasure Black Hat relents at the threat and lets the trio go. Hat then explains some things about Demon development to Bendy before allowing the injured group to limp their way out of his casino, Hat’s mocking laughter following behind them.

In the car Bendy can still feel Hat's magic following them so they head to Dr. Oddswell's house to give Alice back her halo instead of going to a hospital. However, the moment the car stops the dark magic following them slams into the injured trio and their instincts have them all immediately up and running into the house. The trio is in bad shape and all begin dropping to the floor as they succumb to their injuries while Bendy calls for Alice. Holly grabs Alice for them and once Bendy hands over her halo she banishes away the dark magic. With the trio still severely injured and passed out on the ground the rest of the group argues about what to do with them. Just as Bendy finally passes out completely he hears the Blue Fairy, one of the other patients in the house, step up to use her magic to help them.

Elsewhere, Cala circles the bay and as she's swimming Cala notices a girl walking away from a warehouse who she recognizes as being one of the girls who was there when she dropped the questers off. Cala approaches the girl and, upon feeling the presence of dark magic from the warehouse, asks if she's ok. The girl claims she was just out for a walk and instead starts asking Cala about herself. The two talk for a while and after touching the girl’s hand she realizes that the Cog’s magic has attached itself to the girl. Cala tries to explain things to the girl but she doesn't seem to understand so Cala suggests they go somewhere else to talk more comfortably which the girl agrees to. As they head to a new location they continue to talk, with the girl seeming especially interested in the information Cala can provide about the Cupbros. When the girl starts getting too close to dangerous information Cala once again asks for the conversation to be taken elsewhere. After finding a wheelbarrow to cart Cala around in the girl takes Cala over to a locked building. It’s only when the girl is unlocking the door and wheeling Cala in that the mermaid begins to become scared of being alone with this girl, who locks the door to the building behind them.

Two days later the injured trio from the casino finally wakes up, now all healed up from their ordeal. Alice explains that the dark magic was a curse Hat had placed on them before she banished it. Mugs tells them that he, Alice and Boris already went back to the casino to deal with Hat. Cup is upset that Mugs went back but Mugs explains that Alice got Hat to back down, let the other two Angels at the casino go and agree to not bother them as long as they keep quiet about the incident for political reasons. Bendy is upset that Hat gets away mostly scot-free but accepts that there's nothing he can really do about it. The group continues to catch the trio up on what happened while they were passed out before the trio is allowed to go back to their normal activities, although they are all given strict orders to rest. The rest of the group leaves the room but the B-bros ask Alice to stay behind so they can talk. The B-Bros and Alice both thank each other for all the help they’ve given to each other recently. Alice also explains that she's on the Surface trying to earn her wings so she'll probably be sticking around for a while. Bendy and Alice make a deal so that if Alice ever leaves again she has to say goodbye in person and the B-Bros promise not to tell anyone else that she is an Angel. With the matter settled, they leave to go rejoin the others.

With a sudden day off the group talks about what they should do and eventually decide to all visit Mickey's circus. Before the group leaves however they say goodbye to the Warners, who have to head back out to go deal with some business, and answer a phone call from Xedo,  who informs them that the Sykes warehouse has burned down and the Sykes themselves have disappeared. The group then starts walking to the circus and Cup talks with Bendy about what happened at the casino, his own experience with Black Hat and how Snowball seems to be hiding out in his pocket for some reason. The group then arrives at the circus, enjoying their time there playing various games and watching the show. Once the show is over the group meets up with Mickey, who invites them to relax a while before coming to dinner with him and Ozzy. The group talks for a bit before Mickey brings up the mechanic work he mentioned to Boris before, which catches both of the B-Bros attention. Bendy asks Mickey to show them what work needs to get done since they have some free time before dinner but just before they are about to head out the bunny kids flood the room, immediately burying Felix in their excitement. The bunny kids decide to tag along with the group as the B-Bros jump from project to project, some of the group helping the B-Bros with repairs while the rest play with the kids. Bendy can't help but feel a little bitter about the amount of praise Boris is getting from Mickey and Cup catches his bad mood. With some prodding from Cup Bendy admits that he's a little worried that Boris might leave him to go work for Mickey but Cup points out that Boris would never leave Bendy. Bendy thanks Cup before getting back to the repairs, finishing up the rest of the work quickly. Work done, Bendy rejoins the rest of the group and talks with the kids for a bit before Ozzy shows up. Mickey introduces Ozzy to the rest of the group before declaring it's time for the group to go grab dinner.

## Characters

* **Appeared:** Alice, Bendy, Black Hat, Boris, Cala Maria, Cuphead, Donald, Dr. Oddswell, Felix, Finley, Granny, Holly, Mickey, Mugman, Oswald, Xedo
* **Appeared Briefly:** 5-0-5, Bertha the Blue Whale, Blue Fairy, Brute, Demencia, Dot, Dovil, Dr. Flug, Droopy, Fanny, Featherworth, Goofy, Inky, Jackpot, King Dice, Max Goof, Mayor Medusa, Mic, Mortimer, Mr. Winky, Puphead, Ratigan, Red, Ringtail, Sammy, Sheba, Snowball, The Devil, The Sykes Brothers, Wakko, Winky, Yakko
* **Mentioned:** Ariel, Ebi, Gideon, King Triton, Lady Tremaine, Ms. Sarah, Ortensia, Queen Bee, Ursula, Wilson. Candy Kitty

## Locations Visited

* Toon Town
* Pherusian Mountains

## Trivia and Notes

### Notes

* This Book introduces the second part- The Cog