Book Three

## Summary

The B-Bros are back in Toon Town but it's not long before they find themselves in trouble once again. With both the police and the Cupbros after them the B-Bros must partner with both old and new allies in order to accomplish their goals. But no sooner do they finally make Ink Illness known to the public do the detectives Ringtail and Featherworth finally track them down and arrest the boys. Now it's time for the trial of the century as the B-Bros allies work to secure the brothers freedom when a corrupt system seems committed to proving their guilt. Will the B-Bros be proved innocent or will their enemies succeed in locking them away?

### Warnings and Triggers

* Mentions and Discussions of Death
* Graphic Depiction of Illness
* Graphic Depiction of Violence
* Graphic Depiction of Serious Wounds
* Blood
* Mention of Abusive Relationships
* Reference to Racist Ideals
* Guns
* Depictions of Grieving
* Verbal Harassment/Abuse

## Detailed Information

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

Book Three begins with the B-Bros completing the train ride from the end of Book Two and making their way back to the Black Hat Casino. At the casino, the boys head over to congratulate Alice on her new singing act but instead come across two shady men at the bar looking to pick her up. After talking to the brothers for a while the men recognize them as the B-Bros and start pushing for them to come to meet their mysterious boss. Bendy refuses their offer and it’s not long afterwards that Alice shows up with one of the casino security guards to kick the men out, a process which Bendy happily assists with. Once the men are gone the B-Bros finally get the chance to speak with Alice, who is shocked to discover that Boris and Bendy are brothers. After Alice recovers from her surprise the group only has a short while to chat with one another before Alice is dragged away to get ready for her next performance. During Alice’s performance, Dot and Yakko also appear at the casino and they introduce themselves to her when she meets up with the B-Bros after her act is done.

But It’s not long after Alice’s act is finished that the two men from before reappear with a small group of thugs in tow looking to forcibly take the B-Bros to meet their boss. Alice attempts to get the men to leave but when that fails Dot steps up to “handle” the men while Yakko ushers the B-Bros and Alice up to the second floor of the building. Just as the B-Bros meet up with Alice Bendy falls to his knees in pain due to someone roughly grabbing The Doll. Boris and Alice race to the B-Bros room to find it trashed and The Doll stolen. While Alice’s attempt to use her magic to find The Doll fails Boris is able to pick up the thief’s scent and takes off after them through the hotel. Boris tracks the scent all the way back down to where Dot is still fighting the men and accidentally get’s both himself and her captured by the men. Thankfully, the men aren’t able to hold them long before Dot breaks free once more. Between Dot, Boris and Alice, who shows up near the end of the fight after following Boris, they successfully take out all of the men. Boris and Alice then get back to tracking the thief, following the scent into the backstage area of the theatre. They corner the thief, who is revealed to be an imp, and Alice banishes it back to Hell. It’s not long after the banishing that Bendy and the Warners also appear to help find The Doll. Dot ends up being the one to come across it and, after a couple of shenanigans, it is soon back in the B-Bros hands. Before the group has time to enjoy their victory Black Hat bursts into the room, furious at Alice for using her magic in his casino to banish someone. Bendy steps up to take responsibility for the whole incident and Black Hat decides to kick the B-Bros off the property as punishment. He also fires Alice from her job, which she isn’t that upset about. With the consequences doled out Black Hat leaves, entrusting his underlings to make sure his orders are followed. The group pack up their things and leave the casino as ordered. The Warners then convince the B-Bros and Alice to come with them and use Dot’s Talent to transport the whole group to an apartment.

The apartment ends up belonging to the Tiptail brothers Xedo and Wiston. Xedo is happy that the subjects of his current story, the B-Bros, are in his apartment and starts to talk with them a bit before he is reminded how late it is. Once the group has figured out the sleeping arrangements for the night, established some trust among all of them and promised to have a longer discussion in the morning they all go to bed.

Meanwhile, back in New Orleans, the Cupbros sit and catch up with the frog brothers after having beaten them in a skirmish. Their conversation is cut off first by the arrival of King Dice, who is upset that they don’t have the Part, and then by The Devil himself, who is angry at Dice for trying to use the Cupbros to go behind his back and get The Doll. The Devil transports King Dice and the Cupbros away from the frog brothers’ boat to one of the rooms in Black Hat’s Casino. The group begins walking through the casino as The Devil explains the Cupbro’s new mission of preventing the completion of the Ink Machine by any means necessary. After mentioning that people are “ruining his plans” The Devil sears a message to Black Hat on the casino’s walls, grabs Dice and takes his leave. With a new job to complete the Cupbros reluctantly resume their hunt for the B-Bros.

Back with the B-Bros, they spent the next morning in Xedo’s apartment explaining an edited version of their story to the rest of the group. The group then heads over to Dr. Oddswell’s house where they meet up with Granny and Avery, Red’s ex who has come to help out any way he can now that Red and the doctor are in prison. Granny and Avery catch the rest of the group up on what has happened since the B-Bros separated from the members of the clinic, such as the fact that Jerry had been paid off to keep quiet about Ink Illness. They also relay the sad news that the final patient, Steven, had died of the illness while the B-Bros were gone. The B-Bros are incredibly upset by this news and head off to one of the other rooms in the house to have some time to themselves to process. While the B-Bros are gone the rest of the group continues to talk about the Ink Machine and The Doll until Alice is sent to go bring the brothers back to the group. Alice locates the brothers and, after waiting for them to finish soothing one another, brings them back to the group. The group then pitches the idea to Bendy about someone else bonding with The Doll instead of him but he refuses the idea as he doesn't want to endanger anyone else. This sentiment is then swiftly ignored by Avery, who baits The Doll into bonding with him instead. Although he is upset by this Bendy eventually reluctantly accepts the change and the B-Bros take Avery into the house to find a secret hiding place for The Doll.

Later on the group heads to the hospital to pick up Wakko and the B-Bros take the chance to separate from the others so they can visit Steven's grave. The B-Bros go to lay flowers on the grave and mourn the loss but as they're leaving the cemetery they are ambushed by the Cupbros. While Cuphead and Bendy immediately take off after one another in a mad chase Boris and Mugman instead sit down to chat with one another and play cards. Cuphead and Bendy's chase takes them through the alleyways of Toon Town until Bendy collapses from an Ink Attack. Greatly disturbed by the sight of the attack Cuphead eventually gives into Bendy's pleas and retrieves the Demon's bag for him so he can take his medication. When the attack ends Bendy falls unconscious due to exhaustion and Cuphead carries him back to where their younger brothers are playing cards, dumping Bendy in Boris's arms and dragging Mugman away. Boris is surprised that Cup actually helped Bendy and sneaks his unconscious brother back to Xedo's apartment to continue hiding from the police.

Thanks to the run in with the Cupbros the whole city now knows the B-Bros are back in town, forcing them to stay hidden in the apartment. While hiding out there they have a front row seat to Xedo's plan to get his Ink Illness story in the paper, which becomes increasingly complicated after he is fired for trying to run the story through official channels, as well as Alice getting a job at Betty's shop. With some help from the Warners and a former colleague at the paper Xedo does manage to get his Ink Illness story on the front page, throwing the city into chaos as the truth is brought to light. In the aftermath of this the Warners leave town, Xedo goes into hiding for a couple of days and various city officials try to deny the truth about the illness's existence. On the night that Xedo finally returns back to the apartment Holly May, the university student the B-Bros had met earlier on, comes knocking on the door. Holly reveals that she knows the B-Bros are hiding out in the apartment and that she has no interest in turning them in but instead wants to know if what Xedo published is actually true. The group sits down with Holly and explain to her the situation regarding the B-Bros, Ink Illness, the Ink Machine and the quest for it's parts. They even show Holly the Map and Wilson's journal page. Holly recognizes the writing on the journal page as Micco and explains briefly who the Micco are. She offers to translate the page for them and, when Boris explains that there are Micco runes on the Map, also offers to try to update the Map to make it easier for the brothers to read. After a bit more conversation Holly leaves the apartment and the group is left to wonder whether they made the right decision trusting her with all this information. It turns out they had no reason to worry as Holly keeps to her word and doesn't sell them out to the cops.

After spending days stuck in the apartment Bendy decides to take Boris out into the city to go see Mickey's circus, which has just arrived in town. The brothers go watch the circus's performance and then, with the help of one of the security guards at the circus, head backstage to go meet Mickey himself. Mickey happily greets them and gives Boris an autograph but the joyful atmosphere takes a steep dive when Bendy has another Ink Attack. Mickey and Boris help Bendy through the attack and when it is done Mickey pulls Boris aside to talk with him. Mickey begins asking about Boris's life and, upon hearing he is a mechanic, offers Boris a job at the circus. While Boris is very happy about the offer he declines since they still need to complete the quest. Any further conversation is thwarted by Bendy's reappearance and the B-Bros take their leave from the circus. Mickey watches them leave and then angrily hits the wall as he thinks about how he can't do anything to help Boris, who will be left on his own when Bendy dies from the illness. Mickey also worries about his brother Oswald, who has fallen into a long depression and gone mute as a result.

As the B-Bros head back to Xedo's apartment they stop at a bakery to buy some rolls. It's here that the brothers are once again jumped by the Cupbros, who are still looking to finish their job. Another chase begins and, in the chaos, Cuphead accidentally shoots Mugman. Mugman collapses in a pool of blood and falls unconscious, causing a horrified Cuphead to go mad with grief and lash out at the B-Bros. The B-Bros manage to escape Cup but Boris also begins crying over what has happened to Mugman. Bendy reassures his brother that the Cupbros will be fine and they make their way back to Xedo's apartment. Unfortunately, their bad luck continues as the detectives Featherworth and Ringtail are waiting for them in the apartment. While the detectives are there to place the B-Bros under arrest they announce that they should have enough evidence to get the brothers and Dr. Oddswell cleared of all charges. Once the detectives reveal the scope of those who have been trying to interfere in their investigation Bendy get's freaked out and tries to grab Boris and run but is caught by the detectives. The Tiptails, Alice and Holly are all upset by the detectives attempts to bring the boys in and try to argue against them. Holly, in particular, reveals the fact that the police commissioner and mayor are some of the individuals getting bribed by the mob to pin the crimes on the B-Bros and hide the existence of Ink Illness, which could make the jails unsafe for the brothers. Regardless of these facts the group eventually comes to the unhappy decision that the best option in the moment is to let the B-Bros get arrested. The detectives bring the brothers into the station and they are separated into two different prison's for holding until their trial.

News of the B-Bros being imprisoned spreads quickly around the city. Alice is upset by the development but still continue her job at Betty's shop. While out on an errand for Betty, grabbing bottled water from the basement of a bar, Alice overhears a conversation between Avery and Mortimer. Avery is planning to exchange The Doll for Red and Dr. Oddswell's freedom since he doesn't actually have any faith in the Ink Machine. Alice panics at this news and hurries out of the bar back to Betty's shop. Alice then calls Granny at the house and asks her to keep an eye on Avery for her, which the old woman agrees to do even though she doesn't have the full story. Alice then takes a cab from the shop to the police station in order to ask detective Featherworth where she can go to visit the B-Bros, since they are the only other people who know where The Doll is hidden. After determinedly insisting she has to see them Featherworth agrees to take her to see Bendy since his prison is closer by. As they drive Alice explains, in vague terms, the situation happening with Avery and Featherworth explains why the brothers were separated into different facilities in the first place. The fact that the B-Bros court day has been moved up so it now begins in just a couple days is also mentioned. Once at the prison, Alice panic's about not having a close enough relationship to Bendy to visit so she lies and claims to be his girlfriend. The guard believes her lie so she and the detective are taken back to see Bendy. Bendy is initially confused as to what Alice is doing there but this quickly switches to anger when he hears what Avery is planning to do. Alice promises to take care of the issue and, after a bit more arguing, Bendy relents and tells her where they hid The Doll. Alice then promises to visit the next day to update him on what happens and leaves the jail with Featherworth. Once back in the city Alice heads to Dr. Oddswell's house and grabs The Doll while Granny distracts Avery. Alice then re-hides The Doll somewhere else in the house so Granny can sneak it out to Xedo's later. After re-hiding The Doll, Alice heads back downstairs and writes a note to Granny explaining the situation. Just as she gives the note to Granny Avery discovers The Doll is missing from it's original hiding place and assumes Alice stole it, chasing her out of the house. The two race through town until a girl passing by sprays something in Avery's face, causing him to stop and cry out in pain. Alice uses this chance to run back to Betty's shop, where she then spends the night in Betty's apartment right above the store.

The next day Alice calls Granny, who confirms that she was able to get The Doll over to Xedo's apartment. Alice thanks Granny and then calls Xedo's apartment. Wiston picks up and explains that not only was Holly the girl who sprayed Avery during the chase but she also helped Granny sneak The Doll over to Xedo's place. Xedo and Holly have since been out looking for Alice and Alice promises to head right over. Alice takes a cab over to Xedo's apartment, shaking some pursuers on the way, and is greeted by a worried Wiston. Holly has fallen asleep on the couch and it takes a little while for Xedo to arrive back at the apartment from where he was out searching but soon the group is all gathered together. Alice explains what happened with Avery and Holly starts to go into detail about what she knows about the mob corruption among the city officials. The girls then decide to go visit the deceives and take their leave from the apartment. The girls arrive at the precinct and are eventually able to work their way through the chaos to the detectives, who offer to talk with them as they drive to Bendy's prison once the hear why the girls are there. However, on their way out they are caught by the police commissioner and are forced to create a new plan of action due to his interference. The group then begins to argue about what to do about a meeting Holly has discovered between the corrupt city officials that night. Holly decides that she'll spy on the meeting herself and, while the detectives aren't happy about it, they realize they can't stop her and lend the girls Featherworth's car to complete their tasks with.

The girls then leave the precinct in Featherworth's car and head to the warehouse where the meeting is supposed to take place. The girls break into the warehouse thanks to some impressive feats of athleticism from Alice and hide up on the second level to watch the meeting. Just as the girls reach their hiding place nine people arrive for the meeting- the commissioner, the Sykes brothers (the two men from the casino), King Dice, the mayor, Fairfax, Mr. Winky, Ratagan, and a weasel. As the meeting begins the men complain about how much trouble they've had with their various jobs related to the B-Bros and covering up Ink Illness. Eventually, King Dice calls for attention and, after threatening them all with death should they fail, assigns new jobs to each of the group members. King Dice then leaves the warehouse and the members of the meeting scatter to begin their new assignments. With the meeting complete the girls head back to the car to discuss what they've just learned from the meeting. Eventually, the girls put the issue of the information from the meeting aside and go to visit Bendy at the prison. After Alice tells a frantic Bendy that everything with Avery turned out ok the three of them begin talking about what the girls learned at the meeting, specifically about the dirty lawyer Mr. Winky who will be trying to get the B-Bros sentenced in the upcoming trial. Holly also mentions that she believes she found the right combination of runes to update The Map, which Bendy tells her is being held by the detectives. The girls then leave the prison and head back to the precinct to meet up with detective once again. Once they meet up with the detectives all four of the women head over to Ringtail's apartment to talk with each other. Ringtail also hands The Map off to Holly at the apartment but Holly can't actually update it at the moment since she can't see the runes on The Map. After talking a bit more about what happened at the warehouse Holly and Alice head over to Alice's apartment. Alice lets Holly spend the night on her couch since Holly has nowhere else to go. While at her apartment, Alice get's a phone call from the casino ordering her to come back and she has no choice but to agree since they still have her halo. The next morning she leaves three letters behind before heading to the casino- one to Holly gifting the girl her job and apartment, one to Betty giving a vague explanation of what's happened and one to the B-Bros.

Elsewhere, the B-Bros are being moved from their cells to the courthouse as the day for their trial has finally arrived. The brothers happily reunite in one of the backrooms of the courthouse after fighting their way through the massive amounts of press outside and manage to go over their case with their lawyer White Rabbit one more time before being brought into the courtroom for trial. The courtroom is also filled with people interested to see the outcome of the case and there are even TV camera's set up to broadcast the whole thing. Mr. Winky and Judge Hearts take their place and the trial begins, although Bendy notes neither of the lawyers opening statements actually tell the full truth of the situation. The first couple witnesses called to the stand, Officer Snoutfer and Sasha, both do their best to give a truthful version of events but things get twisted by Mr. Winky to make them appear like untrustworthy sources. Bendy get's especially upset when Mr. Winky brings up some painful details of Sasha's past having to do with her ex-husband but the others manage to talk him down and she is eventually dismissed from the stand by the Judge before Mr. Winky can finish his questioning of her. After the detectives have their turn on the stand Holly is called, which surprises everyone since, on the list of possible witnesses, she has the least connection with the B-Bros. Mr. Winky starts questioning her about her work with rune magic and whether runes mixed with Bendy's natural Demon magic could create the appearance of Ink Illness but Holly explains why this wouldn't be possible. After Mr. Winky says one too many dismissive remarks about the victims of Ink Illness Boris finally snaps and begins to tearfully shout about how Mr. Winky can't just talk about people who are suffering like that until Bendy finally manages to calm the pup down. Holly then brings the attention of the courtroom back to her by restating that Ink Illness is a very real disease before she is dismissed from the witness stand. Next it's the Warners turn on the witness stand, which is a difficult process for everyone involved in the case thanks to the number of gags they bring with them. The Warners give their accounts of the events in Warnerburg but when they find a crown that Wakko had stolen for the thieves warehouse back in Book One under his hat Mr. Winky tries to get the Warners arrested. The courtroom falls into chaos as the Warners evade arrest but things take a serious turn when Wakko begins having an Ink Attack. As the other two Warners begin helping their sibling through the attack the B-Bros take the chance to show the world the undeniable proof of the existence of Ink Illness that the attack provides and plead for people to help them fight against it. Wakko's attack eventually comes to a stop and Judge Hearts calls for a court recess so everyone can recover from that rather extreme situation.

After the brief recess the trial resumes and the next witness called is none other than Lady Facilier's son. As the boy begins telling the story of what happened in New Orleans he uses his magic to send a shadow to the B-Bros that makes them feel incredibly guilty. Bendy realizes something is happening when the guilt continues to increase even when the boy is only talking about mundane details. A small fire in the back of the courtroom gives Bendy the opportunity he needs as the shadow the boy sent out retreats in surprise. Bendy then uses his own shadows to create a barrier around their table to protect them from the boy's shadow, which ends up working. When Mr. Winky is finished questioning the boy White Rabbit steps up and points out that there is no actual evidence that the boy can provide that proves the B-Bros killed his mother, the boy just assumed they're guilty since she died in an odd way and Bendy is a Demon. When White Rabbit is done the boy leaves the courtroom and Bendy finally drops his shadow defenses. Next, Boris is called to the stand and, while he does his best to defend himself and his brother, Mr. Winky twists the story so it seemed like Bendy was the one making Boris do everything. Thankfully, White Rabbit's following questioning allows Boris to show that he had a choice in all the events that the B-Bros had been through up until that point. Finally, Bendy himself is called to the stand. Bendy tells his, edited, side of the story, talks a bit about his Demonic abilities and explains that he doesn't know anything about other Demons so he wishes people would stop judging him solely based on his race. When it's Mr. Winky's turn to question Bendy he spends an abnormally short amount of time interrogating him before he dismisses Bendy from the stand. With Bendy's testimony complete the jury is released to go make their decision.

After an unknown amount of time the jury returns and declares the B-Bros not guilty! The B-Bros and many of the spectators celebrate the verdict, with multiple people coming up to give their congratulation to the brothers. The detectives begin escorting the B-Bros out of the courthouse but they only make it halfway down the stairs when a weasel with a handgun starts trying to shoot them.

## Characters

* **Appeared:** Alice, Avery, Bendy, Betty, Boris, Cuphead, Dot, Featherworth, Granny, Holly, King of Hearts, Mr. Winky, Mugman, Ringtail, Wakko, White Rabbit, Wiston, Xedo, Yakko
* **Appeared Briefly:** Black Hat, Bunny Kids, Cheshire Cat, Demencia, Donald, Dr. Facilier, Dr. Flug, Droopy, Goofy, Jenkins, Jeremy Fairfax, King Dice, Mic, Mickey, Officer Snoutfer, Oswald, Ratigan, Ribby and Croaks, Richard, Robert Sykes, Sasha, The Devil, Tom Sykes
* **Mentioned:** Chad Skirt, Dr. Oddswell, Felix, Lady Facilier, Mad Hatter, Mama Odie, March Hare, Queen of Hearts, Red, Sally Swingskirt

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* According to Holly's Journal, the events of this Book take place over the month of October

### Notes

* One of the chapters in this book, Chapter 55, has an alternate POV of one of it's scenes located in Inky Extra's Chapter 38

## Links and References

* TBA

none yet