"He's still breathing."

The whisper rolls slowly across the room. It's so quiet that I think I've misheard and both Harry and I look up to where Ashna's hair makes a veil over Louis' body. "He... He's still breathing." She whispers again.

"The tablets..." Harry murmers suddenly.

"Huh?"

"At the last few Dream Factory reviews they gave us tablets to prepare for the end, they said it would make it easier! You insisted me and Lou didn't swallow them. Maybe that's why the injection hasn't had a full effect." He whispers slowly.

"Of course!" I breathe, trying to think my way out of this. "Ashna?"

"Yeah?" She lifts her tear stained face to look at me.

"Don't move or anything... If anyone comes in, don't give any sign that there's anything different about Louis, ok?"

"Dude... I'm not sure but I think I took those pills." Niall whispers, looking worried. "Like, I might have mixed them up with some other ones, but I'm fairly sure I took them. I mean... Free drugs, right?"

I roll my eyes before I speak. "Right, everybody needs to stay calm-"

"But what will we do when they come for Robert?" Susan gasps. "He took the pills, like they told him, so the injection will just kill him outright."

"Let me think!" I hiss.

Harry holds my hand gently in his and the whole time he's gnawing at his lip, his forehead creased with concern as he stares at Louis. Susan is beginning to freak out, her breathing getting heavier and heavier until it's just a series of whimpering sobs.

Minutes roll by and my mind chases itself down well trodden corridors. The thing that I keep coming back to is taking them by surprise and attacking as they enter the room. I can see literally no other option, but the problem is that a) they're armed and b) we've lost Louis, who is the only one who could probably put up a half decent fight.

For the first time ever, I wish Juan was in the room with us.

I scan the room, looking for a vent or handily crumbling brick, but it's just smooth white walls. There isn't even a window. I'm just trying to think how far into the building we are when things get slightly worse.

There's a heavy groaning from the floor, followed by muttered phrases like 'scurvy cur' and 'boil faced youth'.  Ashna immediately begins to shush him and pin him down.

"You need to keep him quiet!" I whisper. I don't have a plan, I just know that everything will be a hundred times worse if they know that the injection didn't work on Louis.

"I'm trying!" Ashna hisses. "Come on baby, you have to stay quiet! Play dead!"

"Fight me like a fair lady!" Louis slurs, swinging his arm feebly from the ground.

"Hendrix?" Harry says suddenly. "I have an idea!"

"What is it?" I ask warily.

"Maybe we can hypnotise them!" He says eagerly.

"Great idea man!" Niall nods, "I heard about this plant that can turn you into a living zombie. Maybe if we can get hold of some of that-"

I lean forwards and groan into my hands. Unfortunately, my groan doesn't mask Louis' one which is getting louder by the second. He seems to have realised what has happened and is enjoying himself enormously. He's just issuing a loud, dramatic moan when Ashna clamps her hand over his mouth and lowers her face to his so that their noses are touching.

"Listen-" she hisses, "if you don't start playing dead, I'll make sure you are for real! Capeesh?"

Eyes bulging, he nods at the scary look on her face. With a final, loud, flourishing death groan, that earns him a low growl from Ashna, he slumps back completely still.

A sigh of relief escapes my lips as I lean back on the bench, frantically going over a plan that involves Louis leaping up when one of the guards has his back to him and grabbing his gun. It doesn't seem particularly workable, given that none of us know how to shoot and Louis would probably end up killing one of us by accident. I'm just mulling over the finer points, when the door begins to slide slowly open.

Susan shrieks and throws herself over Robert's chest as Dr P steps into the room, his armed guards flanking him and scowling round at us. He glances to where Ashna is making a convincing show of sobbing over Louis and with a satisfied smile, he gestures for them to grab Robert. As they move forwards, I leap from my seat with my hands in the air.

The guard nearest me moves immediately. I've never looked down the barrel of a gun before and it's so terrifying that I think I might faint, but with lightening speed, Harry pushes himself in front of me, holding me behind him.

"D-dont m-make me lick your arse, mate!" He shouts to the bewildered guard. Harry is so scared that his legs are shaking and I have to support him to stop him collapsing.

"Please, there has to be another way!" I say desperately, appealing to the doctor. "Liam offered to pay for everyone if you just give him a couple of months-"

"You know, Miss Davis, you and your product have been a source of irritation to me since the day he was hatched from the pod. Constantly questioning and niggling at me. I think, for the sake of order, I shall relieve you of Hz3976 first."

"What?!" I grasp Harry tightly. I feel dizzy, as though I'm falling from a great height and the tremors from Harry's body seem to reverberate through my own.

"I have informed you that I wish this to be a peaceful process. You are disrupting that." He gives me a thin smile. "Once we've seen to you, the rest should be easy."

"Whoa, dude, you can't kill Harry-" Niall stands up and at the same time I notice Ashna struggling to clamp Louis' mouth with one hand and pin him down with the other.

The guards move to grab Harry and I grasp at him tightly, unable to believe that this is really happening.

"I love you, Hendrix." Harry says desperately. I hold on to him so tight that one of the guards moves behind me to prise me off. Abby is trying to hold Niall back and Ashna is now laid fully on top of Louis to stop him standing up. Harry's eyes catch mine as we're prised apart. "It's not your fault Hendrix. I'm so sorry."

"Harry-"

"It's going to be ok. It really is." The soft words leave him in a grunt at the guards finally pull us apart. I rush forwards again, but this time a gun is jabbed squarely in my chest.

And it's just then that we hear voices in the hall.

A loud, demanding voice that I know very well. We all freeze, turning as one to the door, which the loud voice is now approaching very rapidly.

The door slides open and there, peering into the room is... Dad. Unbelievably, he's dragging Charlie by the ear. Behind him are Liam, Grace and a small, thin man with a neat little mustache that I don't recognise.

"What on earth is going on here?" Dad yells, rushing into the room, yanking Charlie painfully along with him. "Get that bloody gun away from my daughter!" He shouts, rather unwisely shoving the guard in the chest with his free hand.

"Who are you?!" Dr P demands. He's so angry that his face has turned an odd plum colour. "How the hell did you get in here?!"

"I want a word with you!" Dad says menacingly. He stumbles forwards, still clutching Charlie by a very red, sore looking ear. Dad steps across the tiny room towards Dr P and I notice that he's wearing his slippers. His pot belly and bald head look so strange next to the polished and manicured doctor that in any other situation it would be laughable.

Grace slips between all of the bodies in the tiny room and rushes to me and Harry, throwing her arms around our necks and hugging us so tightly that we're almost garroted.

"I don't believe I have anything to say to you." Dr P says tightly. "You are trespassing. I suggest that you grab your daughter and leave."

"I want to know-" Dad heaves, "why you have made a living sex doll of my daughter."

"What on earth are you talking about?" The doctor sneers.

"You made him-" Dad yanks Charlie's ear forward so hard that I wince, "one of these bloody sex robots that looks exactly like my daughter-"

"Dad, they're not sex robots-"

"Speak for yourself." Niall snickers, unhelpfully.

"Perhaps your daughter should choose her friends more carefully in future. If you'll excuse me, I haven't broken any laws. You may collect your daughter and leave."

"Actually-" The small, thin man steps forwards. "That's where you are wrong."

"And you are?" Dr P glances at the little man, then round to where we are all stood in groups.

"Herbert Tripp, of Tripp, Tripper and Tripley law firm."

"Too many trips ain't good, man." Niall drawls, causally re-braiding one of his plaits. "Take it from me."

"Hey, if it's all the same to you, I'll just get going-" Charlie butts in meekly and is rewarded with a sharp twist of his ear from Dad.

"Look, I'm offering you the chance to take your daughter and get out-" Dr P snaps.

"Bert," Dad says with grim satisfaction, "Why don't you tell the doctor here what you told me this morning?"

"The right of publicity... Often called personality rights, is the right of an individual to control the commercial use of his or her name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal aspects of one's identity. No likeness may be made without the express permission and consent of the principal holder of aforementioned rights."

A muscle in Dr P's face has begun to twitch. To my surprise, he turns to the guards and mutters an order for them to leave the room.

"So, in English?" Niall sniffs, picking at his nose. Abby slaps his hand away.

"Basically," Liam buts in for the first time, "He didn't have permission to use Hendrix's likeness. Which means that she can definitely sue."

"Who's Sue?" Harry whispers in confusion.

"It could also possibly- in a case such as this which is unprecedented- mean prison time." The little lawyer says gravely. "In essence, it is not a likeness that has been created, but a clone. Very messy business to sort out." He sniffs.

"It's not an exact clone." The doctor says quickly. A bead of sweat traces his forehead.

"That will be for the court to decide." The lawyer says archly.

"Great, so is somebody going to call the police?" I butt in, still trying to process that our saviour has come in the form of Charlie's creepiness.

"The police?" The lawyer frowns and gives a polite little cough. "The police don't deal with civil matters. Your father and I have agreed that you will accompany us to our office this afternoon and we will begin proceedings."

"With this idiot helping." Dad mutters grimly, yanking Charlie by the ear and earning a high pitched scream.

"This afternoon?" I gawp. "But that will be too late... He's going to kill them!" I sweep my hand across the room and with a surge of pure shock, I suddenly realise that there's no sign of Louis and Ashna, or Robert and Susan. I gasp, my eyes flicking between the empty spot where they were and the door. Liam catches my eye suddenly and shakes his head. He gives me a quick wink before his face is completely impassive again.

"Who's going to kill who?" Dad frowns.

"Right." Dr P snaps, obviously out of patience. He pulls his clipboards from the nearest bench and yanks a bunch of papers from one so harshly that it tears across the top. With a glare at me and Harry, he thrusts it towards the lawyer who takes it with interest and sits slowly down on one of the benches to examine it.

"Dad, please!" I can feel tears building in my eyes as I turn to look at him. This wasn't what I expected from a last minute rescue. "You have to help!"

"I..." He looks between me and Harry in concern, then turns back to the lawyer. No one moves as the small man slowly reads several pages of minute writing, occasionally whistling to himself and muttering things like, 'Excellent work' or 'phew, covered himself there!'

Finally, after what seems like decades, he stands, shaking his head.

"Well?" Dad demands, re-tightening his grip on Charlie, who had been gently trying to ease his ear from the painful looking grip.

"Remarkable contract." The lawyer mutters. "It's not every day that one sees such a wonderful, well-crafted document." He looks at the pages of terms and conditions with a reverence bordering on true love.

"Well, come on!" Dad snaps. "What's all this rubbish about killing people?"

"Hm?" The lawyer looks.up from the pages to Dad. "Oh! He's covered I'm afraid. Anything produced in this factory is artificial matter and he has final say over what happens to it."

"That's bloody ridiculous!" Dad roars.

"Quite." The little man sniffs. Harry gives an awful, heartfelt sign of resignation from next to me. Niall swears loudly and the lawyer gives him a disapproving look before speaking again; "The best course of action is for us to return to my office and launch a civil lawsuit."

"I hardly think-" Dr P begins to protest but I cut in. My eyes dart around the room as I try to measure my next move. I'll only get once chance. Just one.

"There is another way." My voice sounds far less steady than I'd like and take a shaking breath, aware that this is it. Harry's last chance. I lace my fingers with his before turning to look the doctor straight in the eye. "Give us the boys and I won't take any legal action against you. I'll even sign a contract right now to swear it."

"Hang on a minute, Hendrix-" Dad says warningly. Dr P gives me a long hard look, obviously trying to think through his options quickly.
The room is utterly silent. You could hear a pin drop and after a moment I release a shallow breath that I hadn't even realised I was holding.

"I agree." Doctor P says slowly, finally. A trace of defeat echoes in his tone. "You may take Hz3967."

"And Niall." I add firmly.

"Thanks, my dude." Niall drawls as Abby clutches his arm and stares urgently at the doctor.

"Nl4573?" Dr P gives a dry little laugh
"Certainly not! The product matter is expensive. The offer I am willing to concede is that you to take Hz3967... Or, you can leave him here and go and launch your lawsuit." He fixes his cold eyes on me. "Your choice, Miss Davis."

"I'll buy Niall out." Liam says quietly. We all turn to look at him, but he's focused solely on the doctor. His tone is businesslike. "I'll pay full value for Niall."

"Yes!" Grace shouts suddenly. "We'll buy him with the extra money we had!"

The doctor stares round at us all, chewing at his lip. For once, his cool demeanor has slipped and he looks stressed. He's obviously torn between his preserving his dignity or the idea of avoiding a lawsuit and the bonus of selling a 'product' at full price.
As he deliberates, my eyes slip behind him to the empty spot that held Louis and Robert, wondering if they've made it out of the building.

"Fine." He spits the word through tense lips and it takes a second for the meaning of it to hit everyone in the room.

In fact it's so shocking, so unbelievable that no one moves for several long seconds, until Grace releases a piercing scream and flings her arms around us again.

"It's over!" She shrieks, bouncing on the spot. Suddenly Niall begins to whoop and cheer, even Liam is laughing. Harry turns to me, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"I'm free." He says quietly as those lovely green eyes fill up with tears and his puts his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he cries.

And all of the tension that I've been holding for weeks releases. Suddenly I'm crying too, really crying, as Niall, Abby, Liam and Grace swarm around me and Harry. 

"Nice to see that your other friends matter so little to you." The doctor shouts nastily over the din as he spins round to where Robert and Louis were.

"They slipped out ages ago, mate, before you sent your bodyguards out!" Liam calls cheerfully over my head.

The doctors scream of frustration and rage is cut off when Dad finally releases Charlies poor ear. As Charlie falls to the ground clutching his ear, dad's fist swings through the air, straight down to the doctors nose with a horrible crunch.

"That's for my daughter, you bastard." He grunts, as the doctor falls at his feet.

†††

The contract signing took over two hours. As well as a host of signatures, the new contracts are dotted with blood that trickled from Dr Ps nose and almost made Harry faint.

Stepping back out into the car park, still holding Harry's hand is the most incredible feeling in the world. The events of the last few hours seem surreal and I'm about to say this to Grace when my mobile finally pulls a signal and begins to ring deep in my pocket.

"Hello?" I can't keep a giggle of happiness from my voice.

"Hendrix?" Zayn's sounds strained. I can hear shouting in the background. Louis is screaming for vengeance and Robert is whining loudly.

"It's ok, Zayn! Everything is ok."

"SHUT IT YOU TWO!" Zayn yells, "she said it's all ok!"

"Tell me, tell me the plight of my brothers in arms!" Louis shouts. "I shall avenge their deaths!"

"They're ok." I laugh giddily, still unable to believe how everything has turned out. "Everyone is safe."

"Thank God." Zayn exhales heavily with relief flooding his tone.

"Did they think I had abandoned them?" Louis cries in anguish.

"Look, apparently Farquaad and Ashna slipped out, and they told Robert to follow them and pass on the message to you to do the same-"

"Which I did, telepathically. Because I'm a vampire. Duh." Robert mutters.

I roll my eyes, thanking my lucky stars that we didn't have to rely on Robert's dubious powers.

"Tis' mere chance that they did not perish, you rapscallion!" Louis shrieks.

"I did pass the message on." Robert mutters sulkily.

I look across the car park to where Dad is trying to make awkward conversation with Harry. Harry is eagerly pulling his t-shirt up to show dad his lucky Hufflepuff vest underneath and my heart twinges with happiness at the sight of him.

Niall is smoking what looks and smells very much like a joint while Abby is clutching at Liam and Grace, thanking them over and over and promising to pay them back when her harem pant business gets off the ground. Grace catches my eyes and rolls hers, obviously agreeing that they won't be seeing that money again.

The lawyer is standing apart from everyone else, still looking at the document and muttering to himself at how is a masterpiece of terms and conditions.

And Charlie is sat apart from everyone else, massaging his ear and scowling round. Dad must have burst into his house and dragged him round to the lawyer and I can't help a snort of laughter at the thought. Charlie glares over at me and I pull away to the edge of the car park before speaking quietly into the phone.

"Zayn?"

"Um?" He sounds breathless, having just pulled Louis off Robert.

"Where will you go now?"

"We're going to Mexico, Lisette has family there. We'll lay low for a while, maybe make our way to South America or somewhere like Barbados. My baby only gets the best." He chuckles.

"What about Louis and Robert?"

"I don't know. Louis was talking about going to Germany, some shit about a medieval palace, Robert is going to have to stick to cold, cloudy places, for obvious reasons. Maybe Norway."

"Right... But how will you manage?"

"With money and stuff?" He sighs. "I don't know. I've got a feeling our old doctor friend isn't going to give up on looking for us and it's going to be hard not to leave a trail that he can follow... How will we rent somewhere or get a job without giving our names? He will at least be able to track the last country we headed too. It's just a case of leaving as little trace there as possible." He says, sounding worried.

"That's an awful life, just constantly on the run." I say sadly.

"It's a life, Hendrix. That's the important thing."

"Zayn?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll see you all again?" I raise my hand to brush the tears that have suddenly gathered in my eyes. I've gained what I wanted more than anything else, but I realise suddenly that I've lost something too.

Zayn gives a sad little chuckle.

"Someday, baby girl. Someday."

†††

An- longest chapter yet, but there was a lot to pack in. Sorry I know there has been gaps between updates and the last few chapters have relied on you remembering small details from other chapters... I had this plotted out for ages, just not time to update. Hope you've followed it ok ♥️

There is just one more chapter left to go! It's been a wild ride. I'm not ready to let go of my dream factory babies yet 😭😭 it'll be in the next couple of days...

I have to dedicate this to @mynameislexi20  because Louis is her favourite character and I made her think he was dead... I even agreed with comments she made about awful it was... I'm sorry, that was evil. I felt guilty! 😬

I hope you've enjoyed this story. If you have and would like another comedy, check out my other comedy, When Lennon Met Harry, which will finally be finished after this one.

I'll see you one last time for the final curtain very soon ♥️💜