Chapter 9

"But…" Hamtaro stammered, staring up at the headless form of the HamWraith, atop which sat Cappy. He wasn't currently wearing his hat, but it was definitely him, although Hamtaro couldn't understand how it could be. "…but…Cappy…y-you're…"

"Dead?" Cappy said. He smiled, and the HamWraith he sat in made a fist with one of its claws…he said, "As you can see, I'm still very alive…"

"H-how…why…?" Hamtaro managed to say.

Bijou walked over, leaning onto the side of the HamWraith and said, "My, you are full of ze questions, non? Well, to answer ze first…we had to fake Cappy's death, so zere would always be someone to operate ze HamWraith…"

"Yeah," Cappy said, nodding. "It was simple to just take Stan's body up there and rip it to shreds…if it were ripped up enough, it could pass for anyone, even me. There's no way you'd be able to tell. Then I could come back with the HamWraith and take care of you guys at my own pace."

Hamtaro noticed the controls sticking out in front of Cappy, and it suddenly all made sense to him…he slowly asked, "That's…that's Panda's invention…isn't it?"

"Bingo!" Cappy said…with an evil grin, he added, "Don't worry, I don't think he'll be missing it…"

Bijou ran a paw through the fur on the outside and said, "It took a little bit to disguise ze device so zat it looked like ze HamWraith, but I ripped up a piece of ze carpeting at my home, and it was perfect!"

"But…you…" Hamtaro said, looking at Bijou, "I thought…you were dead…"

"I just wanted to put on a good show," Bijou told him. "It was mostly for Oxnard. All we had to do was use Pashmina's body, and we had all ze blood we needed for ze effect. It was flawless, non? You two didn't suspect anything…"

Hamtaro's head was in a whirl…he felt dizzy as all of these facts were given to him. Now I know how, he thought, but…why? Cappy must have seen the lost expression on his face, because he said, "You want to know why we did it, don't you? Why we decided that everyone had to die?"

"Y-yes…" Hamtaro answered. His eyes briefly crossed the room, settling on the sewing needle that had been knocked away from him, next to the wall, then looked back at them as they glanced at each other coldly.

"Go ahead, Bijou," Cappy said, nodding to her. "It was your idea, after all."

"I had been planning zis for some time," Bijou explained to Hamtaro. "It was ze whole reason I made friends with all of you in ze first place. You have no idea how good zis feels…" She wiped off some of the blood, Pashmina's blood, from her fur, and examined it on her paw, "…to take ze life of another…to watch it scream in pain, and suffering, and ze look of horror on its face…ze look of someone who knows zey are about to die…"

"No…" Hamtaro said, shaking his head, "…stop it…"

"Ze smell of blood," Bijou continued, "ze taste of fear, as zey plead and beg for you to let zem go…or to let zem die…"

"I said, stop it!" Hamtaro yelled, grabbing the sides of his head.

Cappy spoke up, "You don't want to know how good it feels? I didn't realize either, at the time…but she's right, it's the greatest thing in the world…"

Hamtaro lowered his paws away from the side of his head slowly, and his eyes filled with tears as Bijou said, "Oh yes, Cappy got his share of ze killings. He even had ze honor of killing ze first one, Stan…"

"That's right," Cappy nodded. "When I watched as he died, right in front of me, it was…it was incredible…I knew I had done the right thing. I had no regrets anymore, and I still don't. After faking my own death, Bijou had her own chance to use the HamWraith, with Maxwell and Sandy…"

Hamtaro could only listen in disbelief as they told all of this to him. "I knew about ze trap, of course," Bijou said proudly, "and it was so perfect…ze failure of ze trap only added to ze hopelessness felt by everyone else. And once zey were both dead, I was back inside before anyone knew it. Zis gave me plenty of time to prepare for Panda. How wonderfully ironic, to watch him die by his own creation. I took great pleasure in killing Boss after zat…his constant efforts to impress me irritated me to no end…"

"We switched again once Boss was through, before you guys found him," Cappy told him. He rubbed his paws together and said, "Bursting in the front door was easy. Penelope was no problem, of course, and you should have seen the way Pashmina was kicking and screaming when I tightened that scarf around her neck, hanging her from the ceiling. I enjoyed it…almost as much as I enjoyed watching Dexter kill Howdy by accident, just before I killed him…"

"He took Pashmina with him after zat," Bijou said, "to help in faking my death…zis gave me a chance to use ze HamWraith again, to finish off Oxnard, and Snoozer. After zis, I let Cappy take it again, so zat I could find you on foot…but I did not expect him to chase you around everywhere." She glared a little at Cappy, but then returned her gaze to Hamtaro, to watch his reaction to all this.

"I didn't…think you could do something like this…" Hamtaro exclaimed. "You especially, Bijou…"

"Oh please, zis is only an inkling of what I have done in ze past," Bijou claimed.

Despite all the surprises he had already encountered, Hamtaro hadn't been prepared to hear something like that… "In the past…?" he asked. "What do…you…?"

"You may not be aware of it," Bijou said, "but I have done zis many times before. Back in France, zere were many times we moved about, from ze countryside to ze city, and back again. Everywhere I went, I could find Ham-Hams to call my friends, to spend time with and grow close…and zey would suspect nothing each time." She sighed contentedly, "I enjoyed watching zem die…ze screams were like music to my ears…"

"I…" Hamtaro said, but couldn't even begin to think of what to say to this.

Bijou continued, "I've had a lot more experience zen you realize. Zey not only never suspected a thing, but I always covered my tracks too well. In ze rare chance of survivors, none of zem even knew it was me. It was nothing less zen pure genius!"

Hamtaro swallowed…he never imagined Bijou could be capable of doing this to anyone, let alone doing it in the past. How many innocent Ham-Hams has she killed? he wondered… "Why the HamWraith?"

"A story I heard when I got here," Bijou nodded. "Just a myth, of course, but zis gave me ze perfect chance…I planned zis for a while, but ze plans were hurried along when I found out what Panda was building. It made things so much simpler."

"But then…why are you doing it, Cappy?" Hamtaro said, looking back up at him.

"A couple of weeks ago, I accidentally stumbled onto her plans," Cappy said. "It interested me, so I wanted in." He frowned, glancing back over his shoulder at the front door, "I liked you guys, to be sure, but sometimes I felt like you guys never treated me seriously…all you ever did was follow Boss. Well, this was my chance to get even with him…to get even with all of you…"

"But not you, Hamtaro," Bijou said, taking a few steps towards him and resting a hand on his shoulder. "You see, zere was one thing different about zis clubhouse from ze other groups, and zis was you. Never before had I felt the way I did around you…I knew I loved you, from ze moment I saw you. Zat is why I decided, when zis was all over, to spare your life, so we may be together…"

"Wh-what?" Hamtaro said, shrinking back a little from her.

"Come with us," she said, staring directly into his eyes. "We can continue moving around from place to place, meeting new Ham-Hams, making friends…and slaughtering zem, slowly…and we can do it together, never leaving each other's side…"

Hamtaro continued to back up, "No…I-I couldn't…"

Cappy made the HamWraith suit take a step forward, "Better think about it some more…if you say no, then you must die."

"Please," Bijou said, "join me…don't you see? Ze feelings I have for you is why I let you live. I love you…and I only want you to love me back…it is ze only thing you can do, and you know it is…"

Hamtaro lowered his head, as though in defeat…he muttered, "Yes…I know what the only thing I can do is…" In a sudden, surprising move, he sprung into action, diving towards the wall where the sewing needle was…he landed on his stomach next to it and scooped it up in one smooth move. Rolling onto one side, he shouted, "…THIS!" as he hurled the needle as hard as he could. Bijou was too awestruck by the move to react…it struck her in the shoulder, and she cried out in pain. Cappy watched, stunned, as she staggered back a few steps, then collapsed onto her back, still gripping the needle tightly.

He looked back up and saw that Hamtaro had already fled into one of the adjacent rooms. Gritting his teeth in anger, he slammed the helmet-like head of the HamWraith back over the suit and charged after him. The door had closed behind him, but he didn't care…he just ripped through it like it wasn't there.

He looked around the room, and called, "Come on out, Hamtaro…you're not getting away from me! I'll tear this place to pieces to find you, if I have to…and that's only a start of what I'm gonna do to you!" He started to knock over pieces of furniture, adding, "You can't hide forever…" As he turned to face a table on one side of the room, Hamtaro shot out from behind a bookshelf and ran like mad into the next room. Cappy spotted him, and took pursuit.

Hamtaro was already down the next hall, glancing feverishly from side to side, looking for something he could do…there was no way he could hope to stand up against Cappy, not while he was driving Panda's invention around. His eyes fell on the door to one room, and he suddenly got an idea, dashing inside…

Cappy came down the hall and saw the open door. Hmm, what's he doing in my room? he thought. As he approached the door, he yelled, "Dead end, Hamtaro…and I mean 'dead'!" He briefly sharpened the HamWraith's claws against each other and burst in past the door.

Hamtaro was waiting for him, swinging one of the saucepans that Cappy often used as hats. It slammed down over his head, blocking everything off so he couldn't see. This gave Hamtaro just enough time to dart past him, and back out into the hall. Cappy struggled angrily with the pot, eventually managing to lift it off of him, but when he turned around, he had lost track of where Hamtaro had gone.

Charging back towards the main room, he yelled, "Go ahead and run! But I'll get you! You'll see! Do you hear me? I'll get you!" He stopped in the main room, next to the table, and glanced over at the door leading out of the clubhouse…it was still shut, so Cappy knew he must not have left. As he looked from side to side, he didn't notice that Hamtaro had quickly climbed up to a high corner of the ceiling, where he waited quietly as the form of the HamWraith walked slowly beneath him. He took a deep breath and thought, All right, this is it…I only get one shot at this, so I hope it works… With that, he gathered his strength and courage, and threw himself down from the ceiling, at the enemy below…

TO BE CONTINUED…