Important Note: This chapter contains violence and gore. No seriously.
Didn't I tell you that #### was going to hit the fan? Well, here it is.
TU4QU0I53T4IAN6L3: Being locked up with a murderer is bad enough. But... what if..?
Tread carefully around the rabbit hole
Go near it too far, it can open up into a sinkhole.
So give a sigh of relief and be glad
That you're not like them who have died or gone mad.
"Uncle Skeeter, where are we?" Evelyn asked him, as the kids were in an unfamiliar area of the Pizza Plex. It was a dim grey hallway with LED lighting, where Skeeter was in front of a door. Opening it, he peeked inside, flickering on a light switch. "Here. This is where they take anything lost during the day and put it here." Skeeter said, as the kids looked in.
It was a modest-sized room that had metal shelves of what appeared to be discarded items, such as souvenirs, spare glasses, inexpensive jewelry, and even some plushies. "Alright, find that plushie of yours." Skeeter said, as Evelyn and Harper went inside over to the shelf with the plushies. "Ehhh, guys..." Gregory said, as he was beginning to notice something odd with the situation in hand. Surely it was an coincidence, but..
"What time is it?" Gregory continued, as Skeeter checked his watch. "It's around 10, almost to 11. It's not like you kids have school or anything tomorrow." Skeeter said naively. However, Jack saw what Gregory was trying to ask. "Isn't that late?" Jack said, as he was checking his phone. He did send a text to his parents that he was going to be late, but now he was getting a text from his father, demanding to know why neither Regina nor his brother Khalid reported him being home yet.
"Uncle Skeeter? My plushie isn't here." Evelyn said, as Skeeter got annoyed. "What do you know your plushie isn't here? It's the large one with Chica, isn't it?" The problem for Skeeter was that the plushies in the lost and found were mostly of Glamrock Freddy. The ones that did have Chica were too small than the size that Evelyn had. "They're all too small!" Harper said, as Skeeter was growing even more annoyed.
"I think we should leave.." Gregory said, but Skeeter wasn't having it now. "Listen, kid- What's your name, again?"
"Gregory?"
"Listen, Gregory. I don't care what your parents say! It's not like you have soccer practice!"
"I heard this thing a robot told me-"
"What robot? What did it say?"
"I don't know how to explain it. It was this fairy tale."
"A fairy tale? Gregory, what are you even talking about-"
Suddenly, the lights went out, due to Vanny getting the power shut off. Both Harper and Evelyn screamed in the lost and found, as Skeeter immediately yelled at them to stay calm.
"What's going on!?"
"Kids! Stay calm!" Skeeter said, getting out his cellphone to turn on the flashlight built in. "You can see me?" Skeeter said, as Jack and Gregory were near him. Skeeter waited until Harper turned on her own phone with her own flashlight. "What's going on?" Jack said, as Skeeter looked around. "Kids, keep cool. I'm sure this is normal. They might be testing the power." Skeeter said, as he shined his flashlight down both sides of the hallways. "Is it always this dark?" Evelyn said to him, as Harper helped guide her to Skeeter. "No. It's usually dim, but I think it might be a blackout."
The group waited until the power went on, until a different set of lights were on. The hallway was suddenly engulfed in a blood-red light, as Skeeter immediately looked around, as an ominous low alarm blared in the staff hallways.
"W-w-what's going on?!" Jack said, as Skeeter made sure the kids were with him. "Alarm is going off!"
"Alarm?" Gregory said, as Skeeter tried to explain. "You kids have fire drills or the like! We need to get out of here! Something's bad is probably happening!" Skeeter demanded, as he led the kids down the hallway. His worst suspicions were correct, as he saw a large security shutter start to cover a door, however there were still more doors down the hallway. "KIDS NOW! WE GETTING TRAPPED IN!" Skeeter yelled, as the kids picked up the pace.
As they were running towards a door that was about to have a security shutter be lowered, Skeeter was caught off-guard, as a nearby set of double doors that led underground nearly busted open, as something from the other side was trying to get out. Gregory was the first to the door that was about to be covered, as he helped Jack, along with Evelyn and Harper get through the shutter, before it went shut. However...
"Skeeter!" Evelyn yelled, as he was the last to reach the door, but he would have been crushed if he attempted to go under the moving shutter. "KIDS! GET TO THE PARKING LOT! EVELYN, GET TO YOUR PARENTS!" Skeeter could only give a last warning, until the shutter was completely shut, as the kids were isolated from him from the other side. "We can't leave Skeeter behind!" Evelyn said, as Jack looked around. "Guys? Where do we go?" Jack said, as the kids turned around to see that they were in a hallway with multiple unblocked doors and separate corridors.
There was one door that had a sign next to it that read "Stairs", which the kids checked. The door was unlocked, where they saw the set of stairs that went upstairs. "Maybe we can try to find someone who works here? Or maybe we can try to get back to your uncle, Evelyn?" Harper said, as Gregory was trying to recount the story that the Candy Cadet told him. "Evelyn, what about your mom and dad? Aren't they here?" Gregory remembered about Evelyn's parents, since they were supposed to be here in the Pizza Plex. The problem was trying to figure out where. "My mom didn't tell me where her and dad are going to be.." Evelyn said, as the kids were going up the stairs. Exiting through the door, they ended up in another hallway with red lighting, but they saw how the hallway had a different layout than the one below.
"This place is really like a maze.." Jack commented, until Gregory saw a set of double doors. "This looks like a way out?" Gregory said, as the kids followed him to the doors, where they were unlocked. The kids found themselves in the atrium on the 2nd floor, as they look over the railing, as they saw the main stage. It was empty, but they now know where they were. "Where are the Glamrocks? Aren't they usually on the stage?" Jack said, as Gregory didn't see any. He remembered how they were performing earlier, but they were gone.
"I think I know where the exit is. It took us a minute to get from down there back to the main entrance. We just need to go...left!" Gregory said, as he was forced to act as the leader of the group. His memory was rusty, since he was mostly following the other kids during the day, but he knew where to go, since the atrium and main entrance were close to one another. However, as the kids were heading towards the stairs that would lead them to the entrance, they heard something they never expected to hear.
Somewhere underground, the workers who were trying to work on the nightmarish hybrid endoskeleton were caught off-guard, when the lights went off. The worker with the circular saw had to step back, as another was trying to adapt to the situation. The hybrid endoskeleton was being hooked up to a socket in the wall, which was being powered by a generator. However, due to the blackout, no power was being used by the hybrid.
"Aw, damn it!"
"The #### is happening?"
"Get that saw off now!" the worker ordered, as the other worker with the saw had it shut off with a simple switch.
"What's going on upstairs?"
From the skull of the hybrid endoskeleton, something stirred from within. A set of purple eyes glowed, as some of the lights undergrounds were flickering on. As one of the men was getting rid of the circular saw, the other who was near the hybrid was unaware of the movement near him. A scrapping sound can be heard, as the endoskeleton moved it's arm. It's fingers moving around, testing it's motor skills. "It works?" the worker said, as he leaned close to the endoskeleton.
Then, in a sudden swift move, the endoskeleton swiped at the worker. A streak of blood emerged, where it splattered on the black uniform of the worker with the circular saw. His co-worker didn't appear to be doing well, as a long jagged claw mark of five lines was on them in a diagonal angle. The injured worker stumbled back, until the endoskeleton grabbed him, crushing his wrist with it's claw, where it moved it's other arm and send it's other claw forward towards his chest. That other claw entered his chest and emerged from his back, leaving a hole the size of a large piston, as it yanked it's claw out, letting large amount of blood to leave the wound, as the worker fell to the catwalk floor dead.
"WHAT THE ####!" the worker with the circular saw immediately stepped back, turning on the saw for self-defense, watching as the hybrid endoskeleton got off from the metal table to stand up. A sense of overwhelming strength, as the endoskeleton stood on two metallic feet without the need for support. "GET THE #### BACK! YOU HEAR ME!? GET THE #### BACK!" the worker was yelling in hysterics, as the hybrid endoskeleton done another swipe. This time at the saw, as it went flying to the stone wall nearby. The motions of it's arms were fast, as it lunged towards the worker. Even as the worker screamed his lungs out, the metal nails piercing into his abdomen only added to pain, another motion of the metallic arms sent pieces of flesh off the sides of the worker's waist and stomach, giving him a literal hourglass figure. One that showed the ribs poking out with blood pouring out of him like a fountain.
The two workers, now mangled and died, were just the stepping stones of the rampage of this metallic beast, as it's footsteps started to thunder away from the bodies, off to escape or find more.
"Pass me that wrench. We don't have all night." Back upstairs at the Melodies store, the two maintenance men were trying to fix up Music Man, as the spider-like animatronic was deactivated near the counter of the store. "What a shame that Music Man here isn't so kid-friendly." the other maintenance worker said, as the name tag on his shirt read "Ed". "Reminds me of that time there was that corn maze that happened in my old hometown." the maintenance man named Martin said, starting a conversation to lighten the mood to Ed, while Martin was adjusting some mechanisms that were exposed in Music Man.
"Corn maze?"
"Yeah. You know how in autumn they get a corn field up and make a maze, right? My town had to cut some budgets, since they had this drunk ass farmer run the maze. Drank liquor like a whale. So what happens is that he brings this scarecrow up. As a joke, since it was around October, he had his nephew dress up as the scarecrow, so he can start scaring the kids."
"Scarecrow gets punched?"
"Worst. So the farmer has this pitchfork and he just drank a solid round of gin. He ends up near where his nephew is, where the farmer gets scared by him. So while he was drunk, he took the pitchfork.. and killed him." Martin cracked a smile, as Ed was unnerved at the story. "Is that supposed to be a ripoff story of those urban legends our company forbid us from telling?"
"No, man! It actually happened. Same year at that same corn field. They shredded it down and made a Christmas village. Santa got killed in a zipline accident, also."
"So the story is about.. bad luck?"
"Definitely. You remember on the news about that Altieri guy? Claimed to have had bad luck, before he carved his own face open like a jack o' lantern."
"That was back in the 90s. You were there?"
"No, but my uncle was. He confirmed everything." Martin wanted to delve into another story, until the lights suddenly went out. The store and the mall outside of it was cloaked in darkness. Ed turned towards the glass doors, as Martin got up from near Music Man, having closed a small hatch-like door at the bottom of Music Man's base that led to the mechanisms of the animatronic. "Martin?" Ed said, as he got out his phone for some light. "The power's out?" Martin said, as they waited for something to happen.
"Doesn't feel like a rolling blackout.."
A while later, the lights started come back on in the mall and the store, albeit dim. "What even was that?" Martin asked Ed, as his attention was focused from Music Man. It was hard to know when the animatronic was on, since it had black eyes, like coals or like empty darkness. It's cymbals moving slightly, raising them away from each other. "I think the building has some power issues. Isn't security here to radio in maintenance men? Unless we're the only ones?" Ed said, as he turned around to see a sight.
"Martin?" Ed said, as the cymbals that Music Man had were at the sides of Martin's head and shoulders, though Martin didn't seem to notice. "Ed?" Martin said, as the cymbals clashed together-
SPLACK
"Martin?" the maintenance worker could only mutter, as the sound of Music Man's cymbals crushing Martin's head and the top of his shoulders made an interesting sound. The best way that it could be described was the sound of bone crunching and a squishing sound. Music Man started to pull his cymbals back, as what was left of Martin's head was shown. A good comparison without the harsh details would be akin of a watermelon mixed with what was left of Martin's skull. There was a squirt of red blood that went up like a fountain from the neck, as Martin collapsed onto the floor of the music store. His legs sticking out from near the counter, where the upper body and lack of a head were concealed from behind the counter. A puddle of blood forming, as the horrified maintenance worker immediately tried to go out from the doors of the store, as the Music Man animatronic crawled towards him with his legs.
The maintenance worker gave a scream, as he was trying to pull on the doors, forgetting that he needed to push. It took a few seconds for him to realize this mistake, as he rushed out of the store with the Music Man in pursuit. The moment he got out of the store, the maintenance worker screamed out for someone to help him, as the sounds of cymbals coming together was behind him.
"HELP ME!"
It sounded like it echoed throughout the atrium, but it felt close. "Was that Skeeter?" Evelyn got nervous, as she stuck with Harper. Gregory looked over the railing, as he tried to see where the scream came from. However, there was another sound that was becoming more closer and closer, yet it was hard to know the source. It was like loud footsteps, as someone or rather something was heading towards them. "Come on! We need to get out of here!" Gregory said, as the kids started to run to the stairs. Despite there being stairs, there were a set of escalators, however they were without power.
Suddenly, there was a large shake, as whatever was coming towards the kids was actually coming from near the stairs that Gregory was about to do down. Gregory heard that whatever was making the sound was close, but Jack, Evelyn, and Harper panicked. "Wait, where are you going?!" Gregory said, as he suddenly heard something emerge from the corner upstairs.
It was Music Man, as his legs stomped on the floor, blood-stained cymbals crashing together again, as Gregory ended up running down the stairs. The Music Man passing by him, due to a lack of notice. "What do we do?!" Harper said, as they were terrified of this animatronic spider coming towards them. Jack ended up trying to run away from Music Man by going right of the atrium instead of left, while Harper and Evelyn immediately ran down through the double doors, trying to keep the doors closed, hoping that Music Man didn't attack them. Instead, Music Man went to chase after Jack, where both girls ended up hearing the alarm go off, as another security shutter went down to cover the doors, keeping them into the maintenance hallway.
As a result, the kids ended up becoming separated.
At the RetroRama, the power outage sent the nightclub in a state of darkness, as there was heavy commotion. Foster had to rush onto the stage, trying not to bump into anyone as a tense situation was unfolding. "Attention! Please remain calm! We appear to having a... uhhh.. power outage. We already have technicians on stand-by! They should get the lights on any second!"
It was a couple of minutes, as the crowd waited for the lights. Until, the lights returned to the RetroRama, albeit dimmer than usual. "Sorry for the inconvenience, there. I'm sure that some staff are currently running maintenance tests with the building. Everything is going to be ok." Foster continued, where those words would end up biting him back in a second.
An alarm went off, as the commotion came back again. This time, someone shouted, "We're being blocked in!" Foster and Gilmore were quick to notice that the source of the yelling came from the entrance of the club. "Foster, what's going on?" Gilmore said, as both Foster and Gilmore went outside of the club, as several partygoers followed them. In the place of the elevator that brought everyone up to the third floor, there was a large metal security shutter blocking it. Several other shutters would end up blocking the emergency stairs and even the door to the balcony outside. "I'm not doing that! Gilmore, are we have a lockdown drill?"
"We're not having a lockdown drill! There's no reason to be having a lockdown! Get the admin controls from your phone!" Gilmore demanded, as Foster pulled out his phone, attempting to access the commands. However, when he accessed the app on his phone, he was confused as the screen was pixelated and even freezing on him. He pressed a button on the screen, but he would get an "ACCESS DENIED" prompt on his screen. He pressed another button. ACCESS DENIED.
"I'm-" Foster wanted to speak again, but some people were near him. "Gilmore! Bathroom meeting! Now!" Foster gave a whisper to him, as Ethan Kalpack nearby was checking his phone. He had no bars. "Ahem! Everyone, please stay in the club, before we can assess the situation!" Foster gave an announcement in the hallway outside of the RetroRama, as Gilmore dragged Foster into the restroom. Both of them were in a far off stall, as they were trying to make sense of it.
"What is going on, Foster!?"
"The admin controls! They don't work on my phone! Look!" Foster showed Gilmore what happened to the admin controls on his phone, as they were starting to learn that the situation was turning ugly for them. "A cyberattack?!"
"I don't know how someone was able to remotely attack the security system! We're locked in, until we can contact the company to send an unit!" Foster said, as Gilmore checked his own phone. "There's no signal, Foster! I can't contact anyone outside of the Pizza Plex without bars!"
"What?!" Foster checked his phone again. Gilmore was right. There was no signal. No ability to contact the outside world. Kalpack stormed into the restroom, where he banged on the restroom stall that the two men were in. "Get the hell out of there, you two lovebirds! My phone is obsolete! I can't call or text my lawyer!" Kalpack said to them, as Foster tried to explain what was happening. "You better not mention any of this, Kalpack! We're trying to work out how we can get the shutters open! I'm sure there are some people we can get to help contact the company." Foster said, as Kalpack shook his head. "I'm not the only one with an useless phone! Everyone at the party is complaining that they can't contact anyone. This whole building got turned into a ####ing dead zone!"
"Wait... I remembered something! If the building is undergoing a lockdown drill, there's the chance that this information is still going to reach Bundy and the others!" Foster said, as Gilmore and Kalpack looked at him, puzzled. "We still have contact with the company?" Gilmore pressed him. "Remotely.. In the case of an 'incident' happening, there should still be a notification directed to an unit to send for assistance."
"So a cover-up unit?"
"Are we going to be forced to get rid of any rumors? The ones that I think are h-" Kalpack got cut off.
"Gilmore! Get everyone under control! I can try to address what's happening!" Foster said, as he rushed out of the restroom to try to quell the crowd. "When I get in touch with my father and lawyer, your asses are going to grass." Kalpack said to Gilmore, as the latter gave a cold glare at him. "I make sure to relay that threat to Bundy, Kalpack."
"Ahem! Everyone! Everyone settle down!" Foster was back up at the stage with the microphone, as people wanted an answer. "Ladies and gentlemen, we appear to have a major.. malfunction with our systems. I'm aware that we can't get a hold of contact, however, officials from outside of the Pizza Plex should be here to help do a temporary shutdown. When, we're not sure. But there is nothing to fear! Everything is going to be ok." Foster said, as Mrs. Cox was wondering about her daughter. "Honey, did Skeeter take the kids out of the Pizza Plex?" she asked her husband, as a sense of paranoia crept in.
Vanessa immediately flipped on her flashlight, as she looked around the lobby to the Laser Tag Maze, where she waited until Peterson switched the power back on. However, the moment that the regular dim lighting was put on, she got the strangest sensation that something was wrong. "Peterson? Are we good?" Vanessa radioed for her boss, but she got no response. "Peterson?"
"Vanessa, are you still in the Galactic Zone?" Alexander immediately radioed Vanessa, as there was the sound of distress in his voice. "I'm about to leave. What's going on?"
"Price, all the monitors are broke! There's nothing but static here and we can't reach Peterson!" Alexander explained, as Vanessa checked the nearby cameras with her wristwatch. "My wristwatch still works. Is Peterson still in the server room?"
"Bruno went to look for him, but he hasn't come back."
"You said you saw some kids?"
"Yeah, but I'm unable to establish a location. They should still be there, unless they went somewhere else."
"I'm going to head to the staff hallways and see if I can find them." Vanessa said, as she ended up leaving the lobby, as she ended up in one of the large hallways in the Pizza Plex. However, as she was in a midst of a fast walk, she got a radio call from Logan from the wristwatch. The sound of fear in his voice was one to take seriously. "GUYS! HOLY ####!" Logan's Scottish accent was evident. "Bailey, what's wrong?" Vanessa radioed him back, but he sounded out of breath. "It's ####ing chasing me! It can crawl on the ceiling!"
Vanessa wanted to radio him for more information, but she got no response. "Reed! Something is happening to Bailey! I need you to get the monitors back up!" Vanessa radioed for him, but she got no reply. "Morgan, come in!" Vanessa kept trying to contact him, but there was another problem, as Morgan...
...was happily getting his head violently bashed against a keyboard, as Vanny was making sure he was unconscious. She had dealt with Bruno, as he was trying to find Peterson in the server room. Vanny was kind enough to use a fire extinguisher that she found to slam it into the side of his head. Taking all of the time she needed, she made sure to tie up both of them, as she dragged Morgan into a nearby supply closet. It took a while for Bruno, since he was a macho man type, but she had the strength she needed with the help of Glitchtrap.
"Are we even going to need to use more zipties?"
"I don't need zipties for killing any children. With the security spazzing out, they should all still be trapped inside."
"If necessary, we can take advantage on what's infected with my code to capture them."
"Should be easy to dismember them and put them in the Glamrocks. For Vanessa, I can put her body parts in that Sunrise animatronic that me and Luis saw." Vanny said, as she started to skip down the hallway towards one of the doors that led back to the main Pizza Plex. "Don't bother to scare the kids. My recommendation that you give them a false sense of security and trust. Don't grow attached to them, or you will miss up." Glitchtrap warned her, as she ended up back into the Pizza Plex.
Gregory ran down the stairs, as he found himself at the main entrance with the golden Fazbear statue that was part of the fountain. The Faz-Cafe was still open and unlocked, as Gregory immediately hid inside, as he waited until Music Man wasn't chasing him. It was until he noticed something. "G-guys?!" Gregory said, as he realized that none of the other kids had followed him. "No no no!" Gregory was all alone, but he peeked out of the small cafe, as he didn't hear the loud footsteps of Music Man anymore. Did they end up back through the double doors? Gregory was too nervous to go back upstairs, though he did see the front entrance.
Gregory left the Faz-Cafe, as he went towards the front doors, where he saw a problem. The doors were covered with security shutters, just like the ones that separated Skeeter from the kids. A thought was beginning to dawn on Gregory, as he went up to the shutter.
"We're trapped.." Gregory became worried, as the only way out of the Pizza Plex was now blocked. How was he even going to get out of here? He was trapped in the Pizza Plex with his friends! With that creepy spider robot that was chasing after them, were his friends even ok? He crept up the stairs back to the upper level, as he looked through to see where his friends were. They were nowhere at his sight. He saw the large metal shutter in the place of the doors that he came through. "Guys?" He called out to see if anyone heard him through the shutter, but he got no response. That sense of being alone crept onto him.
He ran back down to the entrance, as the shutters were still blocking the exits. He got out his phone. Maybe he can call his mom? Maybe she can help him? He checked his phone, as he saw the internet connection. No bars. Nevertheless, he tried to call her regardless. He waited for her to pick up, but he ended up getting this message played through his phone.
"Your call is unable to go through. Please check your connection or find a router."
"What?" Gregory looked at his phone. He was unable to make a call?! He remembered another number. His mother told him about 911. He tried that. Same thing happened. He tried Jack. Again nothing.
What to do? What to do? What to do?!
The anxiety filled his body. He needed to look for someone. He was afraid of going where that spider-like robot went to. Did it get Jack? He didn't know. He noticed near the fountain that there was a hallway that led to the mall section of the Pizza Plex. Maybe he can find someone? Like a janitor or a worker? He couldn't be the only one, besides his friends who were still in the Pizza Plex, right?
Cautiously, Gregory started to walk forward, as he was making sure that there wasn't goosebumps that he was feeling.
The mall section of the Pizza Plex was dim, as Gregory walked past the shadowy glass storefront windows. Some of them contained mannequins that unnerved him. It was almost like they were watching him. There were an empty Glamrock Freddy plastic mug-like toy on top of a trash can, as Gregory looked around. He knew that he was not supposed to be here, but wasn't there janitors? He never been lonely before, but the whole building felt desolated. A surreal feeling only lingered the more Gregory was starting to reminiscence. A liminal space, if someone older was placed in his situation.
What didn't help was that Gregory was already lost. Things looked different at night, as his surroundings felt unknown to him. He did see what appeared to be a small set of stairs that led to the upper level of the mall. He didn't know if his friends were still upstairs, but maybe there was someone upstairs as well. He went up the stairs, not using the escalator, since it was without any power, as he looked around for a door that could lead him back to the staff areas.
It wasn't until he heard something. A voice. A voice that was behind him that sent a shiver down his spine. "Hello?" Cautiously, he turned around. There was a rabbit there. Not an actual rabbit, but a humanoid one. It rested a paw on a support pillar near the ledge, as it was looking at Gregory. There was a creepy smile from the face of the rabbit, as Gregory didn't know where it came from.
"Hello? Who..? Who are you?" Gregory took a step back from the strange bunny that was front of him. He thought it was some statue, but it...talked? "I didn't mean to scare you. I only wanted to come out and play, but I noticed you were alone." the rabbit spoke in a robotic voice that sounded almost human. "W..Who are you?" Gregory quivered, as Vanny tried to introduce herself, giving a small bow. "Pleased to introduce myself. My name is Vanny."
"Vanny? Why are you a bunny? You look a little scary to be here." Gregory was unnerved by Vanny. The moment he encountered her, things suddenly felt dreamlike. Surreal to the point that Gregory couldn't describe it. But Vanny was acting friendly to him. "They wouldn't let me go up to the surface to be with the others. They said I wasn't very nice. But I'm nice.. They just don't think I'm nice, because of what I look like. It's rude to be honest. What about you? You didn't tell me your name." Vanny bended down to the boy, almost towering over him.
"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers.." Gregory told Vanny, as he took a step back. "I'm no stranger." Vanny let out a playful giggle, as she tried to gain Gregory's trust. "I reside here with my other friends. They are all on stage, but the others wouldn't let me have all the attention. They want to put them in the spotlight, but I know I'm special. I'm just as important as them. I already told my name, so why not you tell me yours."
"I'm.. Gregory." Gregory didn't want to talk to Vanny, but he was alone by himself. Things had taken a turn of the unexpected and the only other person that he found was this woman. This strange bunny woman. Gregory felt like this person wasn't even an animatronic. She acted robotic, but she felt too human. She even looked like a demented cartoon character brought to life. "That's a nice name, Gregory. Listen, I know a good place we can get you some help. Did you came here with your parents? Or how about your friends?"
"My friends are lost.. Something's wrong. There was this... monster."
"I understand. There's a place we can go to where they can help you find your friends. I was there. I can show you." Vanny extended her hand to Gregory, which he wanted to recoil from it. But he was alone here. He felt like his friends were in danger. He slowly raised his hand to have Vanny hold it. Vanny didn't flinch. Gregory thought the moment he stuck out his hand, Vanny would immediately grab it tight. However, Vanny softly held it, as she gave a small handshake. "It's good to meet you, Gregory. Come on. We can have some fun, along the way." Vanny said, though her expression on her mask didn't change.
It wasn't until he noticed something that was near her, as they walked down the hallway. Holstered almost as if there was an invisible pocket at her side. It was a large knife. He was told not to play with knives, but he didn't know why Vanny would have it with her. "Vanny? Why do you have a knife?" Gregory asked her, as she held his hand. "Oh? This? They thought I was too scary for kids, because I was made to juggle blades."
"Juggle?"
"Like the circus. It's easy when you have some practice. If I had some more knives, I can show you."
"I think I'm good."
"You don't seem so happy?"
"Well.. it's scary being here.. So much has happened.."
"Don't say that now. There is lots of fun things to do, if you feel scared. How about we start to skip? I am a bunny after all." Vanny said, as she demonstrated to Gregory, where she skipped with hopping on one foot, then with the next. "See. It's fun! Now, you try."
Gregory tried to skip with Vanny, though he thought it was awkward. "There we go. Nothing bad is going to happen. No one is going to hurt you, as long as you're with me. I promise." Vanny said, as Gregory was still on his edge, but Vanny was making sure that Gregory wasn't going to let go. What Gregory probably didn't realize was that Vanny was leading him away from the Main Security Hub and the server room.
Eventually, Gregory and Vanny ended up near the Melodies and Magic store, as they saw how the doors were forced open. A small puddle of blood was on the floor, as Vanny got her knife out. "Don't make a sound.." Vanny peeked through the opened doors, as she looked around from a distance. She briefly stopped, as Gregory felt her grip with his hand go tight for a brief moment. "Is something wrong?" Gregory asked her, as she answered in a calm tone. "It's nothing. You saw you were attacked by a monster?" Vanny said, as she was stirring the conversation away from what she saw in the store, as she had Gregory continue to walk with her. "It was this spider.. It had cymbals, like.. like..." Gregory was struggling to describe it, but Vanny helped him. "Like a wind-up monkey?"
"Yeah, that.."
"You don't think I'm that scary, right?" Vanny suddenly said to Gregory, though he saw it as an accusation. "What? N-no. You're not scary." Gregory said, though it was hard to interpret Vanny's emotions, since she didn't sound angry or conflicted. "You know how people are.. Not like people like you and me. But the others.. How much I want to tell you about the others.." Vanny said, where Gregory felt the grip of Vanny's hand tighten a bit, while her other hand was sliding the blade back into her holster. "People don't want to admit that they hate difference. They can't trust people, because of it. So they start judging you. Judging you for not just what you did, but what someone else has done, so now they judge you! Because isn't th-"
Vanny suddenly stopped speaking, as she tilted her head towards a blank wall next to her. Gregory saw her act unresponsive, until her tone was more calm. "I'm sorry. It's just my programming is making me say some things that.. I don't need to speak." Vanny explained, as Gregory felt some awkwardness between them. "Are you really a robot?" Gregory asked her. "I could try to prove that, but I don't want to rip my fabric skin off. I don't like that bad underneath, but I could end up malfunctioning as a result." Vanny gave a soft giggle, as she was trying to make Gregory smile. "Let's not worry about that now. What's more important is that we get you somewhere safe, where nothing bad can happen. Maybe we can find the Glamrocks. They can recognize me." Gregory felt some hope when Vanny mentioned that she can get him somewhere where he can be safe.
It was somewhat convincing, as he nearly forgotten about what could have became of his friends. Maybe there were still people (or rather animatronics?) around to help take care of his friends. Gregory did understand what Vanny was speaking. About how people judged others. Vanny looked scary, but she appeared to be showing some kindness.
But there were some things that a boy like Gregory couldn't see or understand. He wasn't aware that Vanny was actually leading him away from the Main Security Hub, where he could have ended up finding the unconscious security guards. He wasn't aware that it was the music store that where the Music Man spider animatronic came from. He wasn't aware that Vanny saw a dead body, due to how tall she was, where she saw the legs of Martin sticking out from behind a counter, within a good spot where a kid like Gregory wouldn't have noticed from the position he was standing.
And he wasn't aware that there was someone else with both him and Vanny. Standing close to Vanny, Glitchtrap was making sure everything was falling into place. He had to get Vanny to shut up and not act unconvincing, but it was necessary so he can have Vanny lure Gregory somewhere in the Pizza Plex, where any signs of his murder would never be found. For Glitchtrap, Gregory would be a simple picture on the side of a milk carton or on a website.
Somewhere in the darkness, deep underground, there was a staggering man. Drenched in his own blood, as he limped with several bones, on death's door in a sealed fate. He left a trail of blood, as his legs gave out from under him. Something slid out from him. A kidney, perhaps. Or probably a piece of his stomach. His vocal cords were still intact. What was left of them. His black uniform being a canvas with how much he bled out.
That thing was still out there underground. The hybrid endoskeleton was still down there. It has stolen pounds of flesh and now he will perish.
He crawled, as he didn't know what direction he was even going. Or what dark hallway he was in. He was crawling under a light that shined above. He didn't want to die alone. Alone and cold. It was then that he felt a presence. A cold presence. With the energy that was still left in him, he tilted his head up and stared with eyes that would lack life.
With its legs floating from the steel floor, it stared down at the man with black eyes with white pupils. Stretching to the size of a lanky human with the appearance of a puppet. It's body of black fabric with white stripes and buttons. The expression it gave was that of eternal happiness from a mask-like face with stains of soot, purple stripes of paint to resemble tears going down from the eyes, and red rosy cheeks. Despite that, it's eyes looked at the man with a sense of pity and yet disappointment.
The man slowly reached out towards the puppet with a hand, missing several fingers, as he wanted help. Someone to comfort them. The Marionette didn't move, as the man reached out for them, before their arm dropped to the floor. His eyes still open, as his soul moves on. His body turning from warm to cold.
The Marionette could only know that the danger here has already became out of control. She needed to escape. She needed to stop this unstoppable foe that had been awakened. But she needed help..
And possibly a way to get up..
Author's Notes: Gregory! The hell are you doing?! Get out of there! She wants to kill you! Aw crap, he can't hear us! He's wearing airpods! (Dated meme, yes.)
The hype is intoxicating. I can tell you all want more in a next chapter, but...
I need to finish up school. Like really focus. Please?
What I'm saying that while my posts are usually bi-monthly, I want to finish up my autumn semester of school. I need to get my grades up, since finals are half a month away. Another thing that I want to do is that I want to get the next chapter up AFTER Security Breach has been released. Also, there is a chance that I might do a grammar check on all chapters to freshen things up a bit.
In the next chapter, we get to see what happened to Gregory's friends, how the Glamrocks are doing and seeing the chaos happening, a possible chance of some "special friends" who may or may not have killed someone, where the hell Emma Ross has been hiding and what she was trying to do, and Vanny and Gregory's friendship goes south when Gregory discovers her true colors...
...and someone becomes a dick and kicks over the cleaner bot!
All of this and more! Soon after school ends and after Security Breach comes out.
Also, I remembered that time that Giancarlo Esposito called out Cory Kenshin for a challenge in playing Far Cry 6. So I figured I make an ultimatum for a challenge of my own. Whoever is the first Youtuber that manages to beat Security Breach without Gregory dying or beating an extreme difficulty will get a reference in this fic. Lame reward, yes. But I want to really know who is the "king".