Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Despite being the employee dining hall, the room barely held all of the employees who had come. They were nearly packed in like sardines, and some of them had even brought in chairs from the ones stacked out in the hallway. Some even brought in snacks and scattered them on the tables, since apparently the ‘party’ didn’t have food and nobody knew if they were supposed to provide and didn’t get the memo.

It was all very shoddy for what was supposed to be some sort of big employee meeting. But nobody was really asking since word had already spread about an incident the night before.

Details were sparse. Someone broke in, police were called, Vanessa was injured and was in the hospital- both Vanessas, and Wight looked like he hadn’t slept. He was forcing a smile, but he looked terrible.

And he too was being pretty tight-lipped. That made everyone nervous.

Everyone being Abe.

He wasn’t sure why but something felt off. Maybe it was a funny smell or the amount of people cramped in this room, but something felt wrong about all of this.

Tommy didn’t seem to notice it at all, too busy struggling with a pack of allergy-free nuts. Eventually tearing it open with his teeth.

“Some party. Here I thought we were getting cake, got all excited, and I’m sittin’ around eating nuts. Or whateva these things are,” Tommy muttered, squinting in the bag. He shrugged it off, tossed his head back, and dumped some into his mouth.

“…I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Abe admitted.

“Hmm?” Tommy hummed through a mouthful of nuts.

“Just something about… Y’know, all this.” He gestured around. “Something’s up.”

Tommy nodded, chewed, swallowed, and then gave a rather blunt, “We’re all about to get laid off.”

“What?!” Abe whipped his head at him.

“Call it a hunch, but my hunches ain’t usually wrong.”

That wasn’t exactly the feel Abe had, but thinking about it… yes, that seemed like a very likely possibility. All of them being laid off to be replaced by Staff Bots under the guise of a party.

Panic began to creep up inside of him. It couldn’t happen this suddenly, could it? They’d give them two weeks, right? Severance pay? Anything?

“I can’t lose my job right now…” he said.

Tommy looked back at him and noticed the look on his face. Immediately he sprung into action.

“Hey, hey. Abe, look at me. It’s gonna be fine. I’ve already got jobs lined up at Fry Me Taco, Foxy’s, Flo’s, you name it,” he assured him.

“Really?” Abe asked hopefully.

“No, but how hard’s it gonna be to get a cheap job?” He put an arm around his shoulders and shook him. “We’ll make it work,” he promised. Then tilted his head back for another much-needed swig of nuts.

He didn’t sound as ready as Abe had hoped, but his confidence assured him a little bit. But still, something seemed odd.

But little did they know, but James Wight himself was noticing that very same thing.

When he had seen the mass-email sent to him and everyone else, he was assuming that he would be walking into a presentation by Dr. Talbert to basically explain the situation and smooth things over. Though James, while usually quite in awe of Talbert’s mere presence, had a cynical air about him. Just daring anyone to try to explain what had happened and ready to pounce if they said one thing out of line.

And yet, no Talbert. Not even Taggart. There wasn’t even the much promised cake and he, the current CEO, had to bum coffee off some random employee. At least that was keeping him awake.

If that didn’t, the sudden power surge and light flickering would’ve. The doors closed automatically as the pulse rode through the lights before evening out again. The screens on the wall, which had been left on default blue screensavers rebooted into angry static. A shocking occurrence and transformation that surprised absolutely nobody.

James took another gulp of coffee. Another day, another random electrical failure. Glad to see that the nightly recharges were working, he thought bitterly.

It wouldn’t have been his problem at all until someone called out.

“Hey, the doors are stuck!”

That caught his attention. He looked back towards the door they meant and then waded his way through the people with ‘excuse me’s and ‘pardon’s.

“Did you use your keycard? It might be on security lockdown.”

“I don’t have one.”

“Let me try… Hmm, no go.”

“So, what, we’re stuck in here?”

“Wait just a moment,” James said as he arrived at the door. “Now what seems to be the problem?”

“The door’s glitching,” the woman, who he didn’t know the name of, explained. “We can’t get it open.”

“This one’s stuck too!” someone called from the other side.

There was some murmuring from the crowd.

“Now let’s not panic, everyone! Obviously, the power failure activated some sort of emergency lockdown. It will probably go off on its own- but! So we don’t have to stand here waiting around, I will send a call up to security and they will have us out in a jiffy!”

Abe and Tommy exchanged a look.

“Would you mind calling up to security?” James asked the woman closest to the phone. “Just type in one-one-two, it should route up there.”

She agreed and called but soon began to frown. “They’re not answering.”

“Well, try it again. Let’s see.”

She did, again. And then again. And by then James was getting impatient. He gave a dramatic huff and dropped his arm by his side.

“The one time we need those two and we can’t reach them. If I find out those security guard are loafing around up there-!”

“Mr. Wight, before you keep swallowing your foot there…” Chaz interrupted.

Wight looked to him in offense. Chaz directed his attention to Abe and Tommy who were still at a table. Tommy with his head tipped back finishing off his peanuts, Abe wide-eyed, and both waving when they were finally acknowledged.

James’ eyes went wide as saucers as it clicked.

“So, time for plan B,” Chaz said.

“What is plan B?” James asked.

“Well, if we can’t get to anyone, I’m going to have to bust the panel open and try to override the door.”

He didn’t have to say it for James to know that it would lead to a broken door whether it worked or not, and that would be another unnecessary expense. But if they couldn’t find anyone else to open it…

“AH! Wait one moment!” James said, snapped his fingers. “We’ll call one of the Glamrocks! The bots can override the door, yes? After all, they are supposed to automatically unlock them to get in. We will just summon one here to let us out. Let’s say… Freddy. Freddy’s the most even tempered. We’ll call him.”

“That’s not exactly how that works, but we can take a shot at it,” Chaz agreed, though he seemed pretty unimpressed with this suggestion. “Anybody have a Handitool or Fazwatch?”

.

Freddy wasn’t having a good day. He had been stuck in his green room for hours- not by anyone else’s choice but his own. For how could he face anyone except himself in the mirror?

No son. No daughter. No companion. No band. He felt like the loneliest person in the world.

And worse, he wasn’t quite a person anymore. Just another thing to literally haunt him.

When all of a sudden he received an alert. He straightened up with a gasp, recognizing it as a summons from a Fazwatch.

“Gregory?!”

Had he come back? Snuck back to the Pizzaplex? He checked the alert and immediately his heart fell. No, it wasn’t him. The Fazwatch’s code didn’t match, and it was located downstairs in the employee cafeteria, where he was aware that there was a meeting going on.

How strange, what would they need him for? Perhaps to ask about last night. Chica and Roxy were still holed up in Parts and Service as far as he was aware, stubbornly refusing to budge until someone rebuild Monty. Chica had sent him a message earlier saying as much and offering for him to come join them. They were worried about him, clearly, but he preferred to be alone.

How strange that was too. He felt so lonely and yet he didn’t want to see anyone at all. Maybe it would make him feel better, but he doubted concocting a story for the Pizzaplex staff would scratch that itch.

What would he even say?... He would tell them the truth. A woman in a rabbit suit came into the Pizzaplex. She and the security guard got in a tussle. The security guard was stabbed, the bunny woman fell, and that was all. No mention of the secret labs in the basement. Not a word about Glamrock Bonnie, or Foxy, or anyone else who had been there.

With this decided on, he gave a firm nod and stood up. He left his green room through his door and started the long walk through the atrium. It was eerily quiet, and he couldn’t bare to look at the posters.

Maybe… Maybe he would go see Sun after this. Everything was so strained with him, knowing what he did about him, but he missed him so much. He missed everyone so much.

He heard a whisper.

Freddy spun around and looked around. “Hello?”

He couldn’t identify the voice, so he wasn’t sure who it was, but it had crept up behind him. Within only five to ten feet of him. Yet the only thing behind him was empty space.

How strange… Something didn’t feel right. Now uneasy, Freddy turned ahead and continued through the atrium and behind the food court to reach the elevator down.

He sighed as he passed right over the spot where he told Sun that they had to let Gregory go. It still hurt, a raw wound in his chest were-

A pop up appeared in his vision. The words on it were jumbled but it seemed to be an error message. Confused, he blinked forcefully, and it closed. Then he entered the elevator and pressed the button.

Maybe he was breaking down. From a broken heart, perhaps, he considered. Or more realistically, from his drained battery and the transfer it required. Maybe it had gotten into his systems.

He could run an assessment, but he didn’t want to. He just wanted to get this over with. Then he could head over to Parts and Service and see his friends, like he should’ve hours ago.

But as he stepped out of the elevator he felt a strange tremor in the floor. It was enough to shake even his weighted body, and the light above him flickered with an obnoxious buzz.

“An-An earthquake?” he asked in surprise.

Suddenly he was snapped out of his despair and began to jog towards the employee cafeteria. It wasn’t safe for anyone to be in the basement now; he had to warn them!

He almost broke into a run, only holding back because he knew the risk of running during such an event and risk shaking the floor further. He hurried though, heading down the hallway towards the door leading into the employee cafeteria.

When a familiar voice suddenly screamed out.

“FREDDY!”

He snapped his head to the side, looking down the hallway. He knew that voice but it couldn’t be- and why did it sound like-?

“FREDDY, HEEEE̷̡̅LLLLP! He̷̛̻HEHLLLȩ̸̯̑ELLP!”

He dared to step down the hall, but something held him back. It was a deep-set instinctual fear that told him that there was no way, no possible way it could be-

He heard movement and watched as it came around the corner at the end of the hall and saw-

And saw too much.

.

The lights were surging again.

“What IS that?” James asked.

“Could be anything,” Chaz said vaguely.

“That’s very helpful.”

“Doing my best, Sir,” Chaz said with a little salute.

James gave him an unamused look.

Everyone was just as tense as ever, waiting for the lights to return to normal. Which they did. A few might’ve breathed sighs of relief, others returned to talking.

Suddenly, the whole room began to shake. The floor trembled and a rumble passed through somewhere nearby, sounding like it was on the far side of the wall. Some stuff fell over and there were frantic murmurs from a couple of people and swears from others. Including James.

“What the hell was that?!” he cried. “Was that an earthquake?!”

“I don’t know. It sounded like it was coming from- y’know over in the- For crying out- GRADY, what’s over that way again?”

“I think it’s just utilidors until you reach the daycare!” Grady called from the far side of the room. “And that was no earthquake!”

“How do you figure?”

“Because it didn’t come from the ground, it came from that way! So it was something inside of the building! If it was an earthquake, we’d feel it more in our feet!”

“Dear God, so something in the Pizzaplex made that noise?!... Oh God, do you think it could be the boiler?” James whispered.

“Not the boiler. The boiler’s…”

Chaz had started to point off towards the enormous boiler room only to stop and hang his arm in place when he realized it was very close to where that rumbling would’ve come from. He stayed frozen with his finger pointed and his mouth clamped shut.

“The boiler’s there?!” James translated. He pointed towards the wall. “There, there?!”

“I don’t think that was the boiler,” Abe spoke up. Causing James to jump as he hadn’t noticed the security guard sneak up on them. “If it was the boiler we’d know it.”

“And what does that mean?” James asked impatiently.

“It means if that boiler popped, we’d be dead,” Tommy chimed in.

“NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT IT MEANS!” Abe rushed out. He waved his arms wildly, trying to stop the panic that was about to transpire. “A boiler would be a BOOM not a shake! Trust me, I know.”

“Why should I trust you and how do you know?” James asked, still visibly disturbed.

“To make a long story short, I’m… I’m very paranoid,” Abe admitted. “And we’ve got a HUGE boiler room, so I wanted to know if we…”

“He wanted to know what it sounded like if a boiler blew so he could run,” Tommy clarified.

“So, I could warn everyone else! Not run!” Abe defended.

“You can warn ‘em while running.”

“You two are by far the most unhelpful people I have ever met, and that includes the shoplifters,” James stated. He then turned back towards Chaz. “I feel like I’m trapped in Wonderland. Does ANYONE have any good idea on what that was?!”

“At this point it could’ve been Freddy,” Chaz said with a shrug.

“Doing what?! Falling down a flight of stairs?!”

“Y’know, not a bad guess!” Tommy cracked with a smirk. A smirk that went slack as James shot daggers at him, him turning away to look at Abe who was also not looking too happy.

“Does ANYONE have ANY idea what that was?!” James yelled across the room, at his wits end.

He was answered, but not by anyone standing there. By the return of the rumbling. The room shaking harder and a strange noise, a noise that sounded concerningly like things bending in the walls, squeaked and groaned through the room.

The lights went out, but the screens were still on, and the room was still largely illuminated by their static. But by now panic was starting to fill the room.

“GRADY, GET OVER HERE! WE’RE POPPING OPEN THE DOOR!” Chaz yelled. Grady, who was already on his way, barged past Abe and Tommy. “Come on, help me here.”

“Alright, that’s it,” Tommy muttered. He stormed off.

“Wait-,” Abe tried reaching for him but ended up grabbing someone else. “Sorry!”

“You’re fine, Hun,” Kayla assured. She seemed tense.

Tense was an understatement. Everyone was tense, but they were also terrified and growing increasingly close to an all-out panic. The only thing holding it back being the fact that they all knew once the panic began it would spiral out of control. Nobody wanted that even though it was rapidly approaching.

Tommy returned with some sort of flat metal bar that looked like it had come off something.

“Where’d you get that?”

“I don’t know.”

He promptly, and with little warning, jammed it in the barely opened crack of the door, almost catching Grady’s fingers as he did. Then he began to pry at the door. Grady caught on and tried to help, trying to force the automated locks to give.

But while they were working on the door, there was a growing disturbance in the room. Something that was heard before it was fully noticed.

There was a growing static noise coming through the speakers. It rose until it was dominant above the murmurs, a crackling and dialing hum that made teeth itch and ears pulse.

Chaz couldn’t even hear himself think. He tried to flip on his radio to contact Stanley on the other side of the room to see if he would check the other doors only to have it spill out of his radio as well. He yanked it away from his head like it burned him and stared at it in disturbance.

James looked between him and the radio uneasily. “What is that…?”

“Interference of some kind?” Chaz guessed. He too had no idea.

And right as they were beginning to become increasingly worried, a voice came through. Edging through the static. Coming from both radio and speakers.

“Momma…”

It was a child’s voice. A little boy, it sounded like, one who was very young. His voice slurring together.

“Momma… Momma… Maaa…Nnn…No… No! I don’t WAnt to GO!”

Another child’s voice edged in. One that was older, yelling alongside until both were blending and shouting together.

“LeT me GO! LETTT GO! MOmmA MomMAA!”

They didn’t sound like children anymore. They didn’t sound much like voices either after that, swallowed by static and churning noises. Clattering and writhing slick metal squeals melting into the drone of choppy feedback. It hurt the ears more than even the screaming did.

This was a prank; it had to be. It had to be and yet James couldn’t imagine who would be doing this.

“If any of you- If any of you are in on this…” he choked out. His voice was rising, trying to call past the noise. “Stop it. You stop this right now!”

“Who’d be doin’ this? We’re all down here,” Tommy grunted as he pulled at the door. “Jeez-us, this thing’s stuck tight!”

“Those’d be the locks,” Grady grunted. “Just a little more…”

There was a loud pop.

But it wasn’t from the door, it was from somewhere else in the walls. A crack of electricity as some connection was made in the wiring.

The screens started to flicker and through the static rolling images fought to make a clear picture. Too dark to see anything clearly, but with them there was a break in the static, and with that a voice.

“He’s not really dead…”

James lifted his head with a start and slowly looked towards the nearest screen. Everyone else did too. Every single person in the room, save Tommy and Grady, looked towards the screens.

“He is over here. Follow me…”

“Who is that…?” Abe asked.

Chaz swore under his breath.

“I know where your puppy is, Susie.”

The picture suddenly came in. Clearly.

And violently.

Distorted and flickering and flashing, moving, hard to make out but very clear in what it was and what it was was the blurry form of someone in a rabbit suit murdering a little girl with a kitchen knife.

A woman screamed somewhere in the room, but the others held out moments longer, because for a moment it seemed almost fake. It seemed like some sort of sick trick until-

It flashed to him killing another one.

And another one.

And another one.

A child’s body strewn on the tiled floor.

A child’s body lying in the back of the trunk.

Flicker, flicker flash of impossible camera angles up close and personal to the most horrifying pictures imaginable. So graphic, so believable, so…

They were real.

That realization must’ve hit like a wave because the second James realized it the screaming really went into effect. Screaming and swearing, and a sweeping panic as everyone in the room was forced to stare at the images of numerous dead children.

“Oh my God…” James choked. “Oh m-my GOD!”

“Get the door open, get the door open, get the door open-!” Abe hastily whispered to Tommy. His hand now shielding out the images but his eyes wild.

“I’m tryin’, I’m tryin’!” Tommy said. He didn’t look- given Abe’s reaction he knew not to- and instead pulled with all his might.

Grady stole a glance, went as pale as a sheet, and suddenly threw his weight forward into opening the door and finally, finally they began to force it open.

Few noticed though as panic spread through the room. Not the kind of panic that led to charging the doors and treading over their fallen employees, but the kind that led to frantic words and yells, screams, laments and remorse as they put together the horrors that were still flickering around on the screen.

It was unclear whether there were that many kids or whether they were jumping around between the murders, because there were so many and so many of them looked the same.

Occasionally, too, an adult was thrown in the mix. A slumped bear suit with blood oozing out of the joints, a man being bitten by a deformed white and pink Foxy- horrendous, grotesque, there were so many incidents. So much blood.

“She was right… She was right!” a voice cried.

James heard him before he saw him shove through the crowd and grab for him. It was Luis seizing him by the shoulders, his eyes wild and dark with rings from being awake all night with worry. Now filled with anger and betrayal.

“You said they were RUMORS!” he shouted. He shook the older man. “How many kids died here?!”

“Hey, hey, stop it!” Chaz pried them apart. “Freaking out isn’t going to help!”

“All those kids died at Freddy’s!”

“Well, where’ve you been, Luis?! Everyone knows those kids died at Freddy’s! What, did you think they went missing off to a farm or something?!”

James’ eyes snapped to Chaz, shocked at how quickly he jumped on board. Almost like he had known. Had everyone known? Had everyone been- the rumors… The rumors. They were all true. Every last one of them.

And it only got worse when Chaz looked across the room and past the heads towards the screens, saw something on them, and then pointed Luis over towards it.

“And there’s William Afton right there! I KNEW he was behind it! I KNEW IT!” he shouted.

Luis and James both looked over but only one of them recognized the split second of the man before it jumped to another scene. A brief glimpse of him in that rabbit suit, standing in a backroom before sharply cutting to a scene of the same suit standing beside a small carousel covered in blood and dripping it onto checkerboard flooring.

They couldn’t see the victim; the camera was strung up above some box and no matter how much it shook it seemed unable to break itself free.

There was no denying that he looked exactly the same as he did with his head opened and William Afton’s face set inside.

James wanted to scream but he just kept gasping in air and choking on it. His heart started to pound and he grabbed his chest, for a second thinking he was having a heart attack. He couldn’t remember if he had taken his Aspirin today. Maybe this was going to kill him; it felt like his heart could’ve stopped on the spot, mouth open in abject horror as he kept staring at more and more.

There was so much of a commotion that practically nobody noticed when Grady and Tommy finally popped the door open. Graby squeezed his upper half through the gap.

There was a bundle of slimy wires blocking the door on the other side. His hand landed on them, and they were scalding hot to the touch. He recoiled but the grimy black substance stayed stuck to his hand. He wiped it off on his shirt and down the hallway.

There was Freddy standing there in the hall. He was looking off in another direction, just turned enough that his face couldn’t be seen.

“Freddy!” Gredy called. Freddy would have the strength to move this junk out from out of the door.

Freddy lifted his head, still standing there strangely.

“Freddy?”

Freddy turned his head slowly in his direction and revealed his face.

Grady’s stomach dropped.

Something was wrong with Freddy. There was a strange glint in his eyes, glowing through his pupils, and he was smeared in the same black oil soaking the wiring. Though instead of being all over his body, it was just on his face. Down his cheeks. Like it had oozed out of his eyes.

He took a clumsy step to readjust himself in Grady’s direction before the technician yanked back and shut the door.

“Hey, what the hell?! We just got that open!” Tommy snapped.

“Freddy’s out there,” Grady choked.

“And?!”

“Oh no, what’s wrong with Freddy…?” Abe mumbled, catching on quicker.

Grady shook his head and shuddered. “It was like he-.”

There was another vibration that cut him off. Something that rolled through the walls and shook the floor yet again. The screens finally cut off, ceasing their relentless recreations of death and returning to a droning static.

But the screaming had not stopped. If anything, it became more apparent that it hadn’t stopped when the other distraction cut out. Shrieking in the static, so close that it wasn’t clear where those began and the noise ended.

But the movement was continuing. It was moving through the walls and wrapping around the room like those wires outside the door.

James, overwhelmed with all of it, backed into the kitchenette area where a couple of women huddled as well. One of them comforting the shaken other. No one was comforting him, but he would’ve shaken them off anyways in his state of horror and stupor.

Something bent and groaned above him. He and the women looked up at a grate in the upper wall and followed it down to the wall of the kitchenette. There was cracking and deforming pushing out of the plaster. Like something was moving around underneath.

The ceiling groaned under the weight of it. James knew he needed to move but he couldn’t help but stare.

A voice flickered through Chaz’s radio.

“Wh…Wherrrre…iss-sis he? He-He’ss he’s herehe’sherehe’sHERE!”

“Who…? Oh-!” He swung his head. “Oh sh-!”

With an almighty groan the deforming wall collapsed and crumpled, and the vent fell in from above. Through the trench created between both dropped a tangled mess of those same, matted, oil soaked wires that fell in a heap. The women had already ran, James backed into the counter and took an extra second.

And they collapsed over him. Bundles of wires landing on him so hard that he dropped to the floor under their weight, gasping in a breath as his chest was compressed underneath it.

He started pulling himself out, reaching an arm blindly out and then in Chaz’s direction as the man reached over the counter. Their fingers brushed before he caught his grip.

And the wires moved.

James only had a moment to rationalize the writing coils around his body before they suddenly cinched around him and began to pull.

Everyone was screaming. James could barely hear his own as he was dragged to the wall and up it on a torrent of wires. Staring back upside-down at the horrified faces of Chaz, Luis, Abe, Tommy, and Grady as he was dragged into the broken wall. Soon he was surrounded in a suffocating cocoon of wires, holding him too tight to get much breath.

He could hear the crying. It was so close.

So loud.

Suffocating.

And then… nothing.

…

Scott’s van and Jeremy’s car whizzed up to the Pizzaplex in record time. Though Scott almost instantly slowed down when he saw the packed parking lot.

Mike looked over and saw his eyes wide, processing the scene, as though it had only just become real that the hostage numbers went up from three to dozens more.

Mike had already come to terms with it. Though he would be lying if he didn’t say that the three were the ones worrying him the most. As soon as they parked around the side he hopped out, carrying Bonnet under his arm. Her arms limp but her head raised and watching.

“There’s Carlton’s car…” Scott mumbled as he got out of the driver’s side. Before Mike could even unbuckle the older man was out of the car and running towards Carlton’s.

He found it to be, as expected, completely empty. Save for Ennard’s jacket left in the open trunk. He pulled it out, hugging it to him as he headed back to the van.

“He’ll need it,” he told himself. When Ennard came out, when this was all over, he would need it. He put it on as he watched Jeremy park his car beside the van.

“It looks like the shutters are closed,” Jeremy had pointed out as they drove in. When he parked, he got out and called, “Guys, I think the shutters are closed!”

“I’ll go check,” Mike said. Then he jogged for the entranceway, going around the corner to see that yes, the shutters were closed. Just like they did at night. Sealed up tightly.

“Yup, they’re closed!” Bonnet said.

That’s fine, Mike thought. It wasn’t like they’d be safe going in the front anyways. He turned to head back, noticing the lines of empty cars once more, and then jogged back.

“Alright, heading around back,” he said. He prepared to stride past when Michael grabbed his shoulder.

“What’s the chances of someone being down there to open the door?” he asked.

“We don’t-… Right. Got any other ideas?” Mike asked, remembering abruptly and disappointedly that Marionette wasn’t there to open the door.

He relied on him so much, it was hard to have him just be gone. Or maybe it was just because he knew he was in danger that it made his absence seem much larger.

“I wouldn’t have stopped you if I didn’t,” Michael said. He turned to the others and explained. “On the other side of the building is the fire escape. It leads right onto the roof and to the exit door that leads into the Prize Counter, where Jake and Sun are staying. Our best chance is to get up there and try to use the radio to signal them.”

“A’ight, everyone back in the cars!” Foxy announced.

A few minutes later they were parked on the opposite side of the building.

“Good thing the whole place is deserted,” Charlie mused as she got out.

Michael climbed out the back of the van. “Depending on why, perhaps. Come on, I need you.”

“Me?”

“You’ll see.”

They walked to the front of the vehicles and looked up at the fire escape, and the last section of stairs and ladder that had been pulled up. Likely so that nobody would try to sneak in.

“I do see,” Charlie agreed.

“I’ll give you a boost,” Michael said. He cupped his hands. “Step up onto my shoulder to reach.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Unless it goes directly into my eye, I highly doubt it will.”

Charlie gave a small, serviceable laugh and did as agreed. She stepped up onto his hands, put a pointed leg up on his shoulder, and then in one smooth motion pushed herself up with a little spring and grabbed ahold of the fire escape. She took a second to get her grip before swinging up her legs to get a better grip and climbed up.

The others watched from below, including a worried Scott and a very attentive Baby.

“Do we have radios in the van? I believe we do,” Baby asked.

“Ah… Yeah. A couple of them,” Scott agreed.

“We may need them. Mike, you will have the easiest time retrieving them.”

“Gives me something to do,” Mike agreed. He walked around to the back of the van. He sat Bonnet down. “Do you know where they are?”

“I think so!”

“Point me there?”

“I’ll do you one better!”

Bonnet suddenly scuttled into the back of the van and over to where Ennard kept a lot of his tools and stuff piled up. After digging around with her arms for a while, she managed to find a small box with a peeled lid that barely stayed closed and pushed it back across the van to Mike.

Sure enough, the radios were inside- along with some loose extra batteries. Mike pulled them out and looked them over, trying to check if they needed those batteries.

“You look sad,” Bonnet said. Mike looked down in faint surprise and the bunny stared back up at him.

“I’m worried about Mari,” he admitted.

“I’m worried about Ennie,” she agreed.

“I’m worried about him too. I just…” Mike exhaled tiredly. “I’ve seen Ennard pull himself back together a few times. I’ve only seen Mari do it once, and that was really a lucky break…”

Bonnet rubbed her hands together almost worriedly, the plastic clacking as she patted them against one another. Maybe not the best assurance for Ennard’s little buddy.

Mike reached out and patted her on the head. “They’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? I’m not so sure…” she admitted. Her ears staying cocked in a sort of droop. “I have a bad feeling something really bad’s going to happen…”

“Something might, but we’ll pull through. They’ll pull through. We’ve got this,” Mike assured her.

It wasn’t a lie; it was the honest truth. Things were probably about to get really sketchy, but they’d pull through. No matter what happened, they would make it through.

Then they could piece everything back together.

Mike picked Bonnet up with one arm and the radios with his free hand and walked back around the van as Charlie finished getting the fire escape down. He passed the radios to Scott who dragged his eyes down to start working on said radios and getting them on, tailing at the back as they made their way up the fire escape.

After a significantly long climb, the group arrived at the top of the building. Looking out showed miles of unused desert land past the few planted trees outside of the front of the Pizzaplex. Atop the Pizzaplex itself, looking around showed a plethora of air conditioners, fans, and a few other entry points far across the rooftop.

The closest one was not only the easiest to get to but also almost guaranteed to lead into the Prize Counter. They headed over and Michael gave a few firm thumps on the door.

“Maybe we’re close enough that I can get a signal,” Charlie said. She leaned on the door and got out her own radio, trying to hold it close enough to breach the Pizzaplex’s barrier. It didn’t seem to be working.

Though she only had a second to try before the door started to open against her. She stepped aside and it opened to reveal none other than Jake, who came face to face with Charlie and jumped in surprise. Then he looked around at the others congregated outside.

“…Let me guess, you’re here because of the craziness going on downstairs,” he said nonchalantly.

Both statement and tone were a red flag.

“What craziness?” Michael asked.

“There was some sort of meeting going on downstairs and, I don’t know what happened, but the electrical system is acting up or there’s a glitch in the system? The lights are going crazy, the screens are all glitched out- look at this!”

Holding the door open with his foot- for only a second until Michael took over in holding it for him- he lifted up his panel and turned it around. His screen has an unusual amount of static crackling over it and there was a ‘No Signal’ message flickering in and out in the corner.

“Has that ever happened before?” Charlie asked.

“No, and that’s not all. I think some sort of lockdown happened too, because all the shutters closed. I heard over the radio that the employees were stuck down in the dining room. Well, before I lost signal.”

“Can you hear them now?” Michael asked.

Jake answered by turning on the radio attachment. There was nothing but static.

“I see…”

“I’m shocked you guys know about this though. It only started a while ago,” Jake said.

“That’s because we’re not here about that!” Gregory chimed up. “…Maybe. It might be him?”

He looked up at Foxy questioningly and the foxy nodded. “Ya smell smoke an’ ya know it’s that dumpster fire.”

“Oh, hey Gregory! Sun’s going to be really happy to… see you. Wait, why are you here then?” Jake asked.

“Because Bonnie went insane AGAIN and he kidnapped Mari!” Gregory cried.

“Wh- Wait, wait. What?”

“Bunny, he means,” Michael clarified. “He possessed Charlie’s friend Carlton and then came and possessed and took Ben as well.”

“What?!”

“And then he came to Foxy’s and took Mari,” Charlie added. “He said he had some plan that he needed Mari for and Mari went with him to keep Carlton and Ennard safe.”

“And that plan involved this meeting,” Michael completed.

“A meeting which, if I may say, shouldn’t be happening. There’s no way that there would just be a random meeting at this time of the day, and I’ve seen the email- no. I’m pretty sure this was all Bunny’s doing,” Scott hastily tacked on. “Unless they’re having like a company-wide layoff this has got to be Bunny’s doing.”

Jake was thoroughly startled. His posture showed it even if his mask didn’t. He stood there silently for a long moment.

“We need to get inside,” Mike said impatiently.

“Right! Sorry, here. Right this way. Mind the stairs,” Jake said, shuffling inside.

“Ugh, the stairs,” Baby grumbled. “Everyone stay behind me. I would rather not crush anyone on the way down.”

“I’ll go first. I’ll catch you,” Michael said.

“You will catch me?”

“And then fall in a crumpled heap in a springlock failure, yes, but it will soften the landing.”

Baby rolled her eyes and began to carefully step down behind him, keeping her feet sideways. Scott behind her, monitoring her, while Michael followed behind Jake down the steps.

Mike was feeling even more antsy. This wasn’t fast enough. They needed to already be in there searching for them. The place was huge and there was a laundry list of locations where Bunny could’ve taken them. The security office, the basement, the secret lab- by time they found him, Bunny would’ve done whatever he was planning on doing.

It would be over by time they got there.

He noticed a hand patting his back and looked to see Jeremy.

“Hey. We’ve got this,” he assured.

“Right…” Mike said stiffly.

“We’ve gotten through worse… Bunny’s not William.”

“Right.” This time Mike exhaled with it, the slightest edge of relief creeping in to comfort him. This wasn’t William Afton, this was Bunny. This was a desperate guy with a plan on the fly. They could work with that. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Jeremy smiled. Mike half-heartedly returned it.

After the longer than expected walk down the stairs, Mike weaved through everyone to get to the front and Jake, Jeremy following behind him.

“First thing’s first, we need to find Bunny. We find him, we find them, we get this whole thing shut down. You know him better than anyone, he had a hideout downstairs, right? Or do you think he headed over to Vanny’s old place?” Mike asked, getting straight to the point.

“I… I don’t know… Wait. Wait, I do know. If Bunny set off a lockdown, then he probably headed through the main security office, and lucky for us that’s also where the security lockdown can be shut off from,” Jake explained.

“Then that is where we go,” Baby said. “And with the employees locked up, we can all go.”

“Aye, an’ we can jump Bunny with his back turned!” Foxy agreed.

“Unless he’s in Carlton! Then we should probably not do that,” Jeremy interjected, his hands raised. Baby and Foxy regarded him, Foxy lowering his hook while Baby still seemed tempted.

“He’s not going to stay in Carlton if he’s got Ennard,” Jake added.

Bonnet squeaked. Michael covered his face with his hand, shuddering without the uneasy breath that would’ve accompanied it. Jake apologetically patted him on the arm, whispering a soft apology.

“That’s even worse,” Baby remarked bluntly.

“But he’s right,” Mike muttered. “Double or nothing he jumps inside Mari.”

“We can only hope not.”

“HE better bloody hope not,” Foxy hissed.

Gregory was starting to get the same antsy feeling Mike was. Though despite him being worried about Marionette and Ennard, he found himself getting increasingly worried about Freddy. He just had a feeling that if there was anyone else Bunny would pick up, it would be him. Freddy was too trusting, he might believe Bunny’s ruse.

He tried his Fazwatch but nothing happened. There was no connection, like he hadn’t even entered the Pizzaplex at all.

“Where’s Freddy?” he spoke up.

“Probably down in his green room. He’s been, uh… moping,” Jake admitted.

Gregory sighed. “I sorta figured he would be…”

Well, at least he hadn’t totally went on like nothing happened, but Gregory didn’t exactly feel good about him being down in the dumps.

Foxy ruffled his hair. “We’ll go find him in a bit, Lad. Let’s get this Bunny dealt with first so Freddy don’t gotta deal with him.”

“But what if Bunny finds him first? What if he makes a deal with him like he did with Mari? Freddy will fall for it too!”

“If he’s planning on that then he has already had plenty of time to get to him,” Baby mused.

“I don’t think Bunny’s planning on a second round with Freddy,” Charlie disagreed.

Baby looked at her quizzically. “I thought you said he took control of him before?”

“I think he did, but I don’t know. From all that went down downstairs and how he was acting with Freddy… I don’t know. Call it a hunch, I don’t think he wants to tango with him,” Charlie said vaguely.

Baby was even more confused at why Charlie was avoiding eye contact while explaining this. It was almost like she was hiding something, but what could she know that they didn’t?

“Oh no…” Jake mumbled.

“What?” Michael asked.

“…Nothing.”

“No, what?”

“Nothing! I just, uh… Here, okay, let’s get the radios working so if we get separated we can stay in contact, yeah?”

“I’ve got two here,” Scott volunteered. He offered them up. “You’ll be quicker than me. You know what you’re doing.”

“Heh, kind of! Alright, let me just get these all on the same frequency. Or close enough…”

He made short work of it but by the end Mike was pacing around the piles of plushies with Bonnet under his arm like a sack of potatoes. She let her arms hang and had her eyes lidded like she too was becoming tired of the waiting.

Though somehow, the moment Mike came around the bend and started striding over to volunteer to head out on his own, Jake started handing out the radios again.

“Okay, these are all on. Those two link up, Charlie’s links up with me. We should have some communication maybe. I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get split up.”

“When?” Michael asked.

“You know where the security office is, right? The main one?” Jake asked, looking around. Eventually getting a nod from Mike, Gregory, and even Charlie. “Good! You guys start heading that way. I’m guessing the coast is mostly clear but try to keep a low profile.”

“And you’ll go up the fire escape and head out to the van,” Michael finished.

Jake gave an exhausted little sigh. “I can’t do that-.”

“You can and will. This is it. You have to leave, now, before something else happens,” Michael said firmly. “How many times must this place collapse in on itself before you realize that it’s only weighing you down. This hulking husk. This… godawful place. I know you feel obligated to stay, but you can’t. You can’t.”

It was an amount of passion that surprised both of his siblings, who had seen him be so lethargic in many situations. No, this one was the matter of the upmost importance.

And Jake agreed.

“Without Sun.”

Michael blinked, expecting an argument that didn’t come, and settled.

“He’s still down in the daycare. He can’t be alone out there if Bunny’s pulling something. He’ll go after him, the two will fight, and I’m sure you know how well that went last time! He can vouch for it,” he pointed at Foxy.

“Aye, it be bad.”

“It be super bad, and all it’ll do is stir Bunny up more,” Jake explained. “I’ll go get Sun and get him back up here. It’ll be easy. Once he knows Gregory’s here he’ll come running.”

“Alright. You’re going alone?” Michael asked unsurely.

“Bunny won’t come after me,” Jake assured. “It’s just a matter of who gets to Sun first and I know where he is.”

“I’ll go with you. Just in case,” Charlie volunteered. Jake looked at her in surprise, and she looked towards the others. “There’s enough of us heading to security office, someone should go with him.”

“You sure, Lass?” Foxy asked.

“I’m sure. I’ve been to the daycare plenty.”

“Plus, if we have to drag Sun out of there for whatever reason he’ll probably not get too angry if it’s you. Okay, you’re in,” Jake agreed.

“What?” Baby asked in quiet confusion. She was noticing something but she couldn’t entirely place what it was, except that Charlie’s sudden volunteering seemed odd.

Scott heard her little rebuttal and assumed she was worried. Maybe she would want to go with them, but he knew she wouldn’t offer. She would feel obligated to stay with him and while he didn’t exactly want her going off on her own, he understood her desire to worry about them after what already had happened- or that’s what he thought.

“Baby, maybe you should go with them.”

“What?” Baby repeated. She looked at him. “What about going to look for Ennard?”

“We still are, but, y’know,” he said. He gestured his eyes in Charlie’s direction.

He certainly thought he knew, that was for sure. Ennard was rubbing off on him, a musing that immediately caused Baby to hurt a little in her chest. But she stayed firm.

When it came to where her loyalties lie, Ennard stood leagues above both Jake and Sun combined. Charlie was what balanced the equation, but even then she might’ve been less willing if not for Foxy and Michael both being there to keep an eye on Scott. Michael especially; he proved himself against that horrid doll creature at the dump.

She glanced over at him and at Foxy momentarily before looking back to Scott. “Perhaps I should.”

“You can. I’ll call you if- here, take this.” He handed her one of his radios. “I’ll tell you what we find at the security office. Odds are he’s… probably not going to be there, but maybe we can at least get more eyes around the building, y’know? Splitting up isn’t exactly the smartest move but it covers a lot more ground.”

“Unfortunately, that ground happens to be a daycare flooded with tacky bibbity-bobbity-boo music,” Baby remarked.

She poked a finger in between the plates of her side to catch a wire. This got a chuckle out of Scott- one that sounded overwhelmingly stressed- but she was still assured in hearing it. She used the malleable wire to wrap around and hold the radio tight to her side.

“Are you sure you want to come? I can handle it!” Charlie said.

She had to ask? That made it a definite now. Something was going on here, and she had a suspicion it involved Charlie trying to sneak away and confront Bunny herself for some ridiculous reason. Which didn’t make much sense, but sometimes Charlie did things that didn’t have much logic to them.  

And as for Charlie, well, there went her idea of catching Jake alone, but the more the merrier she supposed.

“Absolutely. Besides, Scott is right. We don’t know where Ennard is. I have just as much chance finding him in the daycare as anywhere else. Perhaps he migrated over there somehow.”

“I hope not. That’ll mean Bunny’s down there and we really don’t want to run into him,” Jake remarked. He was looking down at his panel so he totally missed the looks of befuddlement and unamusement that Charlie and Baby gave him. He offered his panel to Michael. “Do you want to take this?”

“Wait, we might need that. Here, take mine,” Charlie said, reaching out a hand to stop him. She started to hold out her radio before passing it into Mike’s waiting hand. “Don’t lose it.”

“I’m trying my best not to,” Mike remarked with a wink and a very tight smile.

The groups didn’t split up just yet though. They left the Prize Counter in one group, with Foxy and Baby overpowering and lifting the shutters over the entrance. Then they headed downstairs and there they split up, with Charlie, Jake, and Baby heading off towards the daycare- them managing the shutter to the hallway on their own- while the rest headed through the atrium.

As ominous as everything felt, there was still sunlight making it through the skylight. So, for the moment things almost didn’t feel so dire. They did feel overwhelmingly off though.

Rockstar Row was eerily quiet. There was a strange feel to the air but nobody noticed what it was, except for Foxy.

“Music’s off,” he muttered. “Didn’t notice it but it was off upstairs too, yeah?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it… Weird,” Jeremy said. “It doesn’t sound right.”

“Guess Baby’s gonna miss the tacky daycare music,” Foxy half-joked, giving the blond a little nudge. Though then his head snapped forward as Gregory started to run ahead, watching as the boy ran towards Freddy’s green room window. “Don’t go too far, Lad!”

“I’m not!” Gregory called back. He then peered through the slender crack of the curtains, seeing only a slither into the green room. “Freddy?” He knocked on the glass.

There was no answer.

He tried the Fazwatch again. “Freddy? Freddy, come in!”

He was answered with the faintest prickle of static. He gave a frustrated groan and threw his arm down. Then he stormed around to the green room door. Thankfully, it opened automatically.

The green room looked the same as it always did, save no Freddy. Gregory scoured the room like a sleuth, trying to see if there was any hint to where he might’ve gone.

There wasn’t, but he had an idea. Parts and Service! He must’ve gone down there to see his friends.

Gregory headed into the back room and right up to the elevator which he pressed the button for. There was an error noise. He pressed it again, and again.

“Come on. Come on!”

But there was nothing. Gregory gave the doors a frustrated little kick and spun around, falling back onto them and staring across the room. Seeing the glow of the recharge station.

Gregory dragged himself up and wandered over to the station and found his hiding space just as he left it. Freddy hadn’t packed up the rest of his stuff yet. In a way, Gregory was relieved that he didn’t. It was less like Freddy didn’t remember and more that he wasn’t ready to pack him up and ship him out.

He nudged one of his blankets with his foot. It felt so empty though. Maybe because he wasn’t really back. Even if Freddy had been here Gregory wouldn’t really be back.

It was just a matter of switching houses and families once again. Though this time it really had felt like home.

He lifted his watch to his mouth again. “Freddy?”

Nothing.

He turned to head out.

“Freddy, please… I really need your help…”

Nothing.

He slowly wandered past the recharge station.

“Something bad’s going on and we really need you. Dad, please. If you can hear me, say something.”

…

“…….…ry.”

Gregory stopped on a dime. “Freddy…?”

“…Gre…ory…”

“Freddy!”

It was him. His voice was weak, hidden behind layers of static, but he could hear him there. Gregory’s face broke into a relieved smile.

“Where are you?!”

“Dow…n…..ere…..”

“Down where? In the basement?”

“…Y..s… Nnn…Fa..zer…last.”

Under Fazer Blast? Right, there was a way to get down into the basement from all of the attractions, wasn’t there? Freddy must’ve went down there since his elevator wasn’t working. That made sense, though- and Gregory’s smile slipped as he realized it- something sounded off about Freddy.

“It’s really you, right?” he asked.

“It’s… me…”

“Prove it. That you’re not some… Some fake voice or something. Tell me something only you would know.”

He expected Freddy to say something about like his favorite ice cream, or the first time they met. Something only they would know.

Instead, Freddy said something very alarming.

“…nny’s here... Scr…ing.”

Bunny’s here?

“In the Pizzaplex?”

“He..re…screa…ming.”

In the Pizzaplex, screaming. Probably screaming about how everyone betrayed him or something, like down in the basement.

Well, if it WAS Bunny he surely wouldn’t be outing himself to Gregory. That was something, a warning like that. Though Freddy did sound a little-

Injured, Gregory clicked together. Delayed, confused, slowed down. Just like when his battery was drained. Freddy was injured. He wasn’t faking, he was hurt!

“Can you move? Can you get back up here?” Gregory asked.

“I… don..’t…ow…”

Freddy sounded very confused, and Gregory snapped to attention.

“Then stay right there! I’m coming to get you! Don’t move!” he said.

Then he hurried out of the back room and back to the others to warn them about what he had heard.

Meanwhile, Mike had all but bolted to the door leading up to the security office and tried it and almost walked right into it when it was locked tight. He swore under his breath and tried it only once more before progressing to ram his shoulder into it, to no avail.

Michael waved him out of the way and then gave it a firm ram, only for it to not budge. He realized why it didn’t a moment later.

“Oh, wait…”

“Move!”

Mike and Michael both looked back in time to see Foxy racing over. With little warning to be given, Michael could only duck out of the way and watch as his younger brother slammed right into the door and promptly slid to the floor.

“Gabe, the door comes out this way,” Michael said apologetically.

“Ya bloody ‘ell could’a told me that,” Foxy grumbled.

Mike grabbed his arm and helped pull him up, with Foxy mumbling an embarrassed thanks.

As soon as he was cleared, Michael swung in on the door with one last desperate thump of his fist. Trying to see if there was any chance that the hinges were wavering even the slightest bit, but no. The thick metal door was unlike the others scattered around the Pizzaplex. This one was truly built to keep things out.

He shoved himself back and turned, spotting Mike unhooking Charlie’s radio to call in and reaching out his hand.

Mike noticed and handed it off, hating that he was going to continue standing there doing nothing but not wanting that to be the hill he was going to die on. Instead, he started walking down the length of Rockstar Row to see if there was another door he had happened to have forgotten.

All while Michael called in. “Jake, can you hear me?”

There was a surge of static as he turned on the radio, but surely enough a clear voice could be heard through it.

“Hey! Guess where we are right now.”

“The Daycare?”

“Close! Daycare shutters are on the fritz, so we’re heading to take a longcut through the utilidors and come up through the theater basement. You’ll probably be back before we are.”

“Guess again. The security office is locked tight and we can’t break it in,” Michael muttered, leaning against the wall. Already feeling exhausted.

“The security doors?”

“No, the door leading to the stairs.”

“Oooh!... Oh. Yeah, it’s reinforced. You won’t be able to. Okay, okay, uh… I know how you can get the key to get in, but you’re not going to like it.”

“Basement or ventilation?”

“Maybe both. The backup key’s probably on one of the security guards, and they’re down in the dining room.”

Michael threw his head back to clunk against the wall, the radio pressed to his chest to muffle the sound.

“But, hey, good news! You’ve got humans with you- I mean, you know. Still human humans. You can at least get the key from them.”

Michael lazily looked over at Scott who had taken his turn trying to wring the doorknob off before stepping back with his hands up and then pinching the bridge of his nose. All the stages of grief laid out in only a matter of seconds, and him, Jeremy, and Foxy there to witness it.

Michael also took a moment to quickly seek out Gregory and spotted him coming out of Freddy’s greenroom with his Fazwatch at his mouth, seemingly trying to contact Freddy. Which meant Freddy wasn’t here either, unfortunately. He could’ve possibly gotten them through- save that of all doors this one required a physical key.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if what happened with Vanny didn’t really scare them… But that’s not important now. What’s important is… Maybe they didn’t lock it at all. Maybe Bunny’s still up there.”

Jake’s realization made Michael straighten up. Because yes, everything had been closed up in the Pizzaplex, but someone painstakingly going out of their way to lock this door? It could’ve been the security guards, but it was probably where their rabbit ringleader was hiding away, watching the destruction unfold through the security cameras.

They had to get in.

“We can get the key. You find Sun and escape onto the roof once you do.”

“That’s the plan!... Though, uh. Baby’s shaking her head at me. I don’t think she’s planning on leaving.”

Michael gave an amused hum. “Tell her we can talk once we have the key. Be careful.”

“We will! You too.”

While this conversation wrapped up, Gregory ran up to Foxy.

“Foxy! I got ahold of Freddy!”

“Ya did?!” Foxy crouched down. “Where’s he, Lad?”

“He said he was under Fazer Blast, but something’s wrong. He sounds like he’s been hurt, or like his battery’s dead again or something. I think he ran into Bunny and they got in a fight or something.”

“Blast it, Freddy…” Foxy mumbled. He ran his hand down his jaw, fingers tapping on his chin as he looked at the floor in thought, worry. He shook his head and looked up again. “Is he gonna make it up here on his own?”

“I don’t know. He sounded sort of… confused,” Gregory admitted.

Foxy only took a second to think about it before looking back at Michael.

“Ya’ll go look fer the key. I’ll take Gregory over to find Freddy,” he said.

“I’ll go with you!” Jeremy volunteered.

“Wait, wait. Just… wait a second,” Michael interjected. “I know you are worried about Freddy, but we can’t keep splitting up. We need to track down Bunny and his hostages first and foremost.”

“Wha? Ya let Lizzie go!”

“Reluctantly. To the daycare. And I’m not stopping you, I’m just saying that perhaps we should get this situation figured out before you run off after Freddy.”

“Uh huh.” Foxy put a hand on his hip, still crouched. Cocking his head challengingly. “And ya wouldn’t go runnin’ off if we found out Ennard be sittin’ downstairs?”

“Ennard is literally somewhere in this building, right now, possessed by a psychotic rabbit spirit, as is our younger brother. We need to get into this door NOW,” Michael firmly laid out.

“Ey, I tried breaking it down!”

“And I let Lizzie go only because I knew Jake and Charlie would be at risk alone.”

“An’ this ain’t no different! It ain’t like I’ll be dragging me feet neither, an’ you better believe if I don’t go this one’ll be sneakin’ off on his own,” Foxy said, pointing at Gregory.

“Yeah, you got me,” Gregory appeared.

“If we’re that spread out he’s going to target one of us, and that one of us will absolutely be you,” Michael warned.

“An’ why’s that?”

“I don’t know, Gabe. Why would Freddy’s ex target his current best friend and the boy he was always chasing around the Pizzaplex?” Michael asked sarcastically.

“Do we even know if it’s actually Freddy?” Scott asked.

“Bah, of course ye’d take his side.”

“I’m not taking sides!” Scott said, his hands going up in defense. “I just, I think it’s a pretty reasonable question knowing what we do about Bunny. I mean, he has Ennard. If he’s- If he’s using his body then he can mimic voices. It doesn’t take much for Ennard to sound like the real thing…”

“I know, I thought that too. But I think it’s really him!” Gregory reaffirmed. “I’ve been tricked before but this time is different. I know it was his voice.”

All throughout this argument Mike and Bonnet had been watching the back and forth. Bonnet raising her hands to her mouth and Mike finding himself a little torn.

There was a part of him, a small bitter part, that was frustrated with how everyone’s top priority wasn’t getting to Marionette. He knew whatever Bunny was planning with him was going to be awful and their time was ticking away, precious time that they couldn’t get back. Bunny was a liar, he couldn’t be trusted, and he was about to break everything.

But Mike knew that it had nothing to do with not caring about Marionette. Charlie and Baby didn’t leave because they weren’t concerned, it was because they knew Bunny might target the former friends he held a grudge against. And Gregory wasn’t worried about his friend, he was worried about his surrogate father.

He knew that nobody would be more worried than Foxy for Marionette’s sake- well, except he himself. The only reason Foxy would consider it was because Freddy was his friend. Because Freddy was in danger, and because Bunny likely left him in a state worse for wear too.

There was more than Marionette at risk here but standing around deciding on what to do wasn’t helping anyone. That’s how he made up his mind.

“Hey,” Mike called to attention, striding up. He nodded at Foxy. “Go get Freddy.”

Foxy’s ears perked, surprised at how quickly he took his side.

Michael gave a frustrated grunt. “I don’t like the idea of us splitting up any more than we already have,” he remarked.

“Well, I do. We know if Bunny gets us alone in a room, he’s going to lock us up in it. That’s what this is, keeping us out while he finishes up his plan,” Mike remarked, pointing a thumb towards the door. “Besides, it’s not like he’d be helping us get the key. He’d be stuck hiding while Scott sweettalks it out of the security guard.”

“I’m going to do that?” Scott arched a brow.

“Sure you are. Put on the old Fazbear charm. The managerial rigmarole.”

“…Y’know, I might actually be able to. My mole’s down there and he’s been feeding me info about how things are running here. I could probably play off being a silent higher up and nobody’d know the difference,” Scott considered. “And if I can’t do that we could just… I guess, ask for it.”

“There we go. Now let’s go. We can’t keep screwing around,” Mike said.

“I hardly consider this screwing around,” Michael remarked.

“That was borderline,” Mike said, gesturing a hand between him and Foxy. “C’mon, we’ll go get the key and come right back.”

“Right.”

“Do you want this?” Scott asked, offering his radio to Jeremy. “We’ve already got a connection to Jake. This’ll keep you in the loop.”

“Thanks. Better safe than sorry,” Jeremy agreed, taking it. “Worst case scenario, Jake can have a radio in one hand and one in the other and translate for us.”

That got a weak chuckle out of Scott.

Michael gave the faintest noise of humor, but they were already starting down the hallways so the only one who heard it was Mike. He got a dry smile for a second.

All the while he was running laps in his head about what he was going to do next, what he would say to the employees, what he would say to Bunny, what if he had to fight for the key, what if he had to grab Marionette and run, what if Marionette was damaged, what if his mask didn’t have its tear marks-

“I shouldn’t have let him get into that trunk…” Mike muttered. He had to say something and that’s what fell out.

“I shouldn’t have let Bunny walk out of that house. I should’ve had him take me instead,” Michael agreed.

“Then you’d be up there with him and Ennard would be slamming himself into that door trying to get to you,” Mike pointed out while reaching out to pat him on the back, just like Jeremy did to him.

“Oh no. No, no. Bunny wouldn’t have made it down here if he had me…” Michael muttered darkly.

With a tone like that, Mike could’ve believed him. Though he could’ve also believed that it was no different than his own ‘what if’s for if he had done something more. If he would’ve been quicker to grab Mari, if he clocked Carlton, if he had offered himself instead-

It was pointless though. Pointless to look back with it being so important that they moved forward. They needed to know what they were going to do next.

“Once he’s out of Carlton we wring his spongey little neck,” Mike offered.

“Agreed.”

…

It was a relief to leave the discomfort of the utilidors and get back into normal hallways. The deep basement had been unusually humid and there were ominous echoes coming from deep in the pipe work. While the temperature could’ve been due to it still being daytime, the noises were strange. Like the pained groans of the Pizzaplex itself.

The daycare basement was a vast change. Air-conditioned and cool, with functioning lights that were only turned off because nobody was currently downstairs. It smelled like carpet deodorizer instead of muggy mildew. It was almost welcoming, if a little too much so.

Unfortunately, with it came a lot more stairs. Charlie offered for Jake to go ahead, but he insisted to stay with them. That was, until Baby firmly told Jake and Charlie both to go ahead after painstakingly getting up the first flight. She told them to wait for her at the top.

Funny enough, but without them there Baby was somehow able to climb the rest of the stairs on her own in record time. Charlie had a suspicion that Baby had just given up and crawled up them instead of fighting with her skates but didn’t ask. She could ask later when this was all over.

As they made it to the upstairs portion of the theater and Jake opened the poster door, letting them into the short hallway leading to the Daycare Attendant’s room. They could make out faint mumbling and frantic footsteps.

“Sounds like Sun,” Jake said, breaking into a speedwalk.

“What gave it away? The frantic muttering or the incessant jingling?” Baby asked dryly.

Jake gave a half-chuckle and turned back, “Just give me a second before you come in,” and continued the turn before heading inside. Leaving Charlie and Baby to wait as he broke the news.

It wasn’t more than a few seconds before Baby huffed unhappily and shifted on her feet.

“I should be looking for Ennard right now,” she confessed guiltily.

“We are,” Charlie assured. She reached for her arm and hooked hers around it. “Now that we’ve found Sun, we’ll head straight over to the security office and see if we can find a way in, and if we can’t, then we’ll wait for the others to grab the key and then we’ll get in and see what we can find.”

“…I’m more concerned with what we won’t find,” Baby admitted. She wrapped her other arm around herself, holding herself, and raised her eyes to look at Charlie. “What could he have wanted with him?”

“Muscle it sounds like. He wanted Mari.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t comfort me much.”

“Me neither,” Charlie admitted with a sigh.

“I KNOW! I HEARD HIM!”

Sun’s frantic scream caused both women to look towards the door suddenly. Well, bad news delivered it seemed.

“Let’s get in there.”

“Mm-hm,” Baby hummed in agreement.

They walked and rolled down the hall and into the room to find Sun mid panicked ramble.

“-heard him screaming through the Staff Bots! They all ran off, gone, off SOMEwhere and Freddy’s not answering and I-I-I don’t know if he’s AVOIDING me or if he’s HURT or-!”

“Hey, it’s okay! Relax!” Charlie tried.

“How can I RELAX?!” Sun cried, turning on her with his hands on his hips. “Also, hi.”

“Hi. Because Jake said all of the signals in here are screwy and everything’s glitching out. Odds are Freddy isn’t avoiding you or hurt. He’s probably stuck in his green room or down in parts and service.”

“But… Y-Yeah… Yeah, that- that makes sense.” His shoulders slouched. “And I don’t have to worry about Gregory anymore because he’s not here…”

“…Actually, he is here.”

“He’s what?! What’s he doing back here?!”

“He wanted to come, but it’s okay! He’s with Mike, Michael, Foxy, and everyone else.”

“Oh, and that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Sun challenged.

“Yes, because he could’ve been roaming the Pizzaplex alone,” Baby interjected. “Now stop that. You going to pieces won’t help anything. That’s what he wants.”

“Gregory?”

“No, Dummy. Bunny. I think it’s pretty obvious that all of this glitching and mismanagement is part of his devious plan, is it not?”

“Yes…” Sun slouched, his arms falling to his sides. “This is all one big… accident waiting to happen. He’s going to ruin everything…”

“Everything’s already ruined. You’re on the lam, I’m scrap metal, and there’s no way the Pizzaplex can survive any more bodies popping up. I think this is it…” Jake admitted.

“It is… Eugh, I knew it was coming! But I-I didn’t think it’d be so soon?” Sun wrung his hands together. “Where do we go, back to the dump?”

“You are not going back to the dump,” Charlie said with a little exasperation. “You’ll just come home with us and we’ll work out the long term later.”

“It’s just happening so fast…” Sun mumbled.

“I know, and I’m sorry,” Charlie sympathized. “I know how it feels to suddenly get everything ripped away from you.

Jake rubbed his shoulder and Sun’s posture slouched in defeat.

“The others are going down to find the employees and acquire a key that they can use to get into the main security office, where we are certain bunny and his puppeteered cohorts are hiding. Can you get us in any easier?”

“Uh… Maybe? I don’t know if Moon’s got that clearance. Sun certainly doesn’t,” Sun muttered.

“It’s worth a shot since we’re heading in that direction anyways,” Jake said with a shrug. “Where’s the stuff?”

“Uh… Forget the stuff! Let’s just get out of here…” he answered with a dismissive wave and a grab at his points. “Let’s go find Gregory. A-And your friends, and our friends.”

With that, the small quartet left the dusty backroom and started to head back out. Apparently, Sun was aware of the issues with the shutters as he naturally followed Jake down towards the basement. That or, from his slumped posture, he was just so defeated that he was going with the motions and being led anywhere.

Baby managed to make it back downstairs, grumbling all the while, and they headed back into the damp utilidor tunnels far below.

Except something had changed. There was a weird feeling that hung in the air. Like static, like a looming oppressive heaviness.

Charlie had a bad feeling. Something felt wrong, like a sinking, sucking feeling of despair was settled in her stomach and pulling at her heart. She could only consider it something like premonition. A warning of what was to come.

“I wish I could have told him. Them,” Baby said out of the blue.

Her words sounded like a warning too.

“Told them what?” Charlie asked.

“That I loved them,” Baby confessed. “I don’t say it enough. I don’t want to sound weak, so I say nothing. But if there are no more chances…”

“There will be. We’re going to find them and when we do… No matter what happens, we’ll put them back together. Alright?” Charlie assured her.

Baby gave a solemn nod. Moon gave something between a groan and a whine, slumping his head into his hands. He too must’ve been regretting not contacting Freddy before now.

Charlie could only assume that this unprompted confession was for her feeling that strange sensation too. That creeping dread that clung to her skin like tar.

And for a second, a strange sort of second, Charlie wondered if she should tell Baby how much she cared about her. In case this was the last chance.

But she quickly shrugged it off. No, she wasn’t going to do that in a panic in a dark basement underneath the Pizzaplex. They needed to keep their heads clear.

So, they pressed on. Moon leading the way now, his slippers sticking to the floor as he stalked ahead but him paying them little mind. His jingles, the creak of Jake’s leg, the low whirr of Baby’s wheels, it became the ambience of the tunnel, backed only by those distant groans of metal.

Until they passed a cross where two halls met. There wasn’t much to see except an abandoned forklift and some boxes, and Moon was quick to lead them through.

But as they started into the next tunnel, Charlie heard it. Or no, she couldn’t tell if she heard it or she felt it.

Something wrong. Something familiar and wrong rising up beside her and yet when she turned all she could see was an empty, dark passage. She was drawn to it. As the others continued on, she stepped inside. She paused, hit by that strange pressure, and then took a few cautious steps inside.

Baby noticed her detour first. “Charlie?” she asked quietly. Jake and Moon stopped and turned back as well.

Charlie continued staring down the dark tunnel. She could hear something moving in the distance. The faint echoes of something being dragged along. Metal rubbing wet metal.

“What?” Moon asked briskly.

“I… I don’t know…” Charlie admitted. “I think there’s something down there…?”

“I don’t see anything,” Baby said. She rolled back just to look, but she felt that ominous tug regardless. A familiar heat prickling at her fingertips. “Charlie, come back. It’s not safe.”

“What is it?” Jake asked, walking back over. Moon caught his arm, trying to hold him in place.

All three stood there at the cross while Charlie stared down the tunnel. She had stopped then, no longer approaching and now able to distinctly hear the noise of something coming.

Something pulling itself towards her.

“Sammy…?” she called back to it.

And then she saw it.

Saw so much of it.