NOTICE TO PARTS AND SERVICE - The replacement shell for Bonnie is not to be installed and is to be placed in long-term storage until further instructed. Corporate has made the decision to repurpose Montgomery to fill his role in the band. Bonnie's personality chip should be removed and stored on-site and his assigned endoskeleton reset to factory defaults before returning it to Corporate for recycling. Hardware and software upgrades required to make Montgomery suitable for performance will be shipped within one week; in the meantime, remove all promotional materials featuring Bonnie in any role other than mascot for the bowling alley (removal date for bowling materials TBD). Rebranding materials will be provided to advertise Montgomery's new role.

"Freddy?" Gregory glanced up at the massive mechanical bear. "What happened to Bonnie? I mean, didn't he used to be part of the band?"

"I... do not like to talk about it." For a face made of plastic molding and metal joints, it did a good job of expressing Freddy's sadness. "He was my friend, but... something happened, and Monty stepped in to replace him."

"Look, Freddy..." The young boy couldn't quite keep the exasperation out of his voice. "I get it, really. But that whole thing might be part of the mystery of this place! I don't wanna leave until we figure it out!"

"I am sorry, Gregory. It hurts to think about." Freddy let out a sigh. "All any of us know is that he was decommissioned two months ago. We were not given any warning. Crews just came in and replaced almost everything with him on it with Monty."

"Oh." Gregory lowered his Fazwatch, wondering anew at just how human the robot's responses were. Freddy was genuinely hurt by the loss of his friend. "Freddy, look... maybe- maybe we could bring him back? I mean, this message says that his personality chip was stored on-site... he might have some answers for us."

"Could..." The robot's head raised. "That... might be possible. But you would have to perform the maintenance yourself- while we are programmed with basic repair procedures, we are not allowed to upgrade ourselves or each other."

"Huh. That's weird. Why would they make that rule?"

"I believe our designers fear that it would lead to a robot uprising."

Gregory let out a tired groan. "You've gotta be kidding me. Okay, look, let's go back down to Parts and Service and see if we can find where they stored the chip. There's plenty of endos to pick from there."

Freddy was quiet for a moment, and then: "Can we retrieve his casing as well? You must understand, Gregory, they... they make us who we are."

The boy could remember well Freddy's despair on being reminded of his true nature- and just how creepy he found the bare endoskeletons to be. "Okay, if we can find it."

"Thanks, superstar."

"Man. There's got to be a hundred of these chips in here! How can we tell which is the right one?"

Gregory hopped back down from the chair he was standing on, allowing Freddy to lean over the wide metal drawer, inside of which were neatly arranged dozens upon dozens of shiny computer modules. The glow of Freddy's eyes switched from yellow to blue, and a pair of scanning beams shot forth to sweep across the assortment of chips. "Here we are," he said after a moment, pointing. "That one is Bonnie's."

Gregory squinted at the face of the chip as he plucked it out of its tray, managing to read the engraving: Faztech Industries Ltd. Neural Network Chip- Ser# B-0N-N13. "What is it with this company..." he wondered beneath his breath, turning around to face his friend. "Now we can-"

"Wait." Freddy yanked open the next highest drawer, and pulled out a number of small thumb drives that bore small cartoony logos, many of them of the main cast. "Gregory, look at these."

"What are they?"

"They seem to be backup drives... Gregory, these are meant to be for all the various robots and animatronics- including me and my friends!"

The bear seemed excited for a reason Gregory couldn't guess at. "Well, what does that mean?"

"Something must have corrupted the programming of my friends. Maybe even my programming! I'm running in Safe Mode now, so any recent changes would not have been loaded. That must be why I am not being compelled to attack you. If we can restore my personality from a recent backup, we can purge the corrupted code and remove any risk of me harming you! And then we can do the same for my friends!"

The boy had to admit- not having to keep looking behind him for Freddy's "friends" would be an enormous weight off his shoulders, enough of one for him to consider the plan viable. "Okay. I mean, if you're sure it won't do anything bad to you."

"I..." Suddenly, Freddy seemed to be having trouble meeting his gaze. "I... do not think it will do any harm..."

"That really isn't making me feel confident, Freddy."

"I have... never undergone a downgrade, myself. I am unsure of the effects it would have."

"Would it make you forget me?"

"No. That I can be certain of. My memories are stored separately and would not be affected." Freddy rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Gregory, ever since you found me after Vanessa left me in the protective chamber, I have been terrified of the idea that I might turn on you and hurt you because of my programming. I will risk the consequences of the downgrade if it means we can eliminate that possibility."

"I, uh... okay." He would be lying if he'd said that the possibility hadn't been on his mind as well. "Do we gotta go back to Parts and Service?"

"Not for this. There is a port at the base of my neck which will accept the drive. However, the downgrade process will take a short while, so we should do it somewhere safe."

The small access hallway behind Freddy's room seemed safe enough, and once they'd made their way there, the robot knelt down so that Gregory could reach the access port; carefully, the boy slid the drive with the Freddy logo in. "I will need to reboot," Freddy said. "Once I have powered back on, I will be unresponsive for about thirty seconds. Then... we will see what the results are. Rebooting now."

Freddy's eyes went dark and his shoulders slumped. Gregory found himself fiddling with his flashlight as he waited, and after a bit Freddy came back to life, though his expression seemed blank as he stared at the wall. A moment later he spoke in a strange monotone. "Initializing FazOS revision 1.21.3. Previous identity version for Glamrock Freddy restored. Safe mode restriction lifted." Gregory felt a lump form in his throat as he realized that if the downgrade hadn't worked, Freddy would be just as dangerous as every other robot in the Pizzaplex.

He almost jumped as Freddy's head rose to look at him- but then that mechanical face broke into as much of a smile as it was capable of. "Gregory, I think... I think it worked!" he exclaimed.

"Awesome!" Gregory exclaimed, pumping a fist. "Okay, so what do you wanna do first? Pull the downgrade trick on your friends, or get Bonnie up and running?"

Freddy seemed to consider as he stood up, removing the thumb drive from his neck. "I believe I would like to help Chica, Roxy and Monty first. Finding Bonnie's casing and getting him reassembled will be much faster if they are helping than if they are hunting you. Plus they may be invaluable in helping us to stop the rabbit woman."

"Yeah, that makes some sense." Gregory let out a slow breath. "Let's go for Chica first. She's been the easiest one for me to dodge."

"Very well."

"Who wants caaandy?"

Gregory knelt down next to Freddy at what he hoped was a safe distance from Chica, who was wandering past the entrance to the Faz-Pad. "What's the deal with how she's walking, anyway?" the boy whispered, watching her stilted, almost zombie-like gait.

"I... do not know." Freddy shrugged. "Perhaps the corrupted programming has affected her locomotion subroutines?"

"I don't know what that means." Gregory raised his head a bit, glancing around. "Hey, the S.T.A.F.F. bot is gone. Chica's all by herself over here. This is our chance!"

"What should I do?"

"Go up to her and distract her somehow so that I can get behind her. Then I'll call out her name and hit her with the Faz Cam when she turns around. Cover your eyes when I do that; I don't want it to affect you too."

"I understand." Freddy stood up and strode confidently towards the chicken, raising a hand to wave at her as he approached. "Chica!" he called!

"Freddy?" Chica seemed to jerk in place before spinning around to face him. "Oh, you, uh... you're looking a little messy, big guy. Once we find that lost child, you oughta report in for cleaning."

Like you're one to talk, Gregory mused as he crept around the large golden statue in the center of the galleria. You look like you did a swan dive into a dumpster.

"Well, it has been kind of a rough night," Freddy replied, glancing around for a moment. "Hey, Chica... remind me what we are supposed to do once we find the boy?"

"Oh, it's simple! We just bring him to Officer Vanessa so that he can be re- re- returned to his parents!" Chica's head twitched as her speech broke up for a moment.

Freddy tilted his head in an apparent expression of concern. "Chica, are... are you alright?"

"You bet! Ready for anything!" The chicken's voice movements seemed to be getting more frantic. "Can't wait to get that poor little boy to sa- sa- saaaa-" Her fists clenched.

Freddy took a step back. "Chica...?"

Chica's head snapped towards him. "Now come on, big guy! We're wasting time! We need to find that lost child so that we can re- reeee-" Her head tilted back and her hands reached out, fingers held like claws. "Reee- reeend, tear, MAIM-"

Gregory raised his Faz Cam. "Hey! Chica!"

Chica spun on her heel as Freddy ducked down, throwing an arm over his face. "Wha-" the chicken uttered.

flash

"Ba-bawk!" Chica reeled, arms splayed out as she trembled in place, her systems overwhelmed by the bright flash of light.

Gregory scrambled backwards. "Now, Freddy!"

The bear lunged forward and grabbed Chica's tuft of head feathers with one hand while the other, with mechanical precision, jammed a thumb drive into the back of her neck. Instantly Chica's movement halted and she slumped in place, becoming still for the first time since Gregory had first seen her. The half-minute that passed in relative silence seemed to stretch on forever to the boy, and he almost jumped out of his skin when she spoke. "Initializing FazOS revision 1.21.3. Previous identity version for Glamrock Chica restored."

Her head came up slowly, eyes blinking as if she'd just woken from a sound sleep and was now trying to get her bearings. And then her gaze locked on Gregory, and before either he or Freddy could react, she charged at him, her hands closing around his shoulders and easily lifting him off the ground. He let out a strangled cry of terror as he waited for her to tear him apart... only for her to gently clutch him to her chest as she dropped to her knees. "I'm sorry," she blubbered. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to. I tried to fight it."

"Chica?" Freddy approached them, one hand out.

"Freddy?" She looked over her shoulder at him. "Oh, thank goodness you had that system crash! We..." Her head dropped down again, and she started crying, still holding a surprised and relieved yet increasingly-uncomfortable Gregory against her.

Freddy knelt at her side, one hand holding her shoulder. "Chica, what has been going on? I have... gaps in my memory. Why have you all been chasing Gregory?"

"Freddy, we..." Chica slowly lowered Gregory to his feet. "Something compromised our systems, Freddy. Something... turned us into murderers."

"...what?" Freddy's eyes seemed to threaten to pop free from their housings in shock.

"If I'd caught Gregory, I would've... I would've killed him." Chica closed her eyes, slumping over, practically folding into herself. "I didn't want to! I'm designed to help and entertain children, not hurt them! But... but that malware made me..." She covered her face in her hands. "I'm a killer, Freddy. Just... just decommission me right now. Dump me in the trash compactor."

She brought her knees up against her chest and wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering as she let out quiet sobs. Despite everything that had happened, Gregory found himself feeling sorry for her. "Chica, I..." he began, fiddling with his camera.

"I think we could all use a short time-out." Freddy stood. "Chica, Gregory, let us return to my room."

"I don't remember when it happened. That whole section of my memories is blocked off with some security protocol that I can't understand. I can't even access a date stamp." Chica stared down at the floor as she sat in Freddy's room. "But I remember... after. Sort of. I remember a rabbit... children... screaming." She went quiet for a moment. "There's so much distortion, it's all so scrambled. But I remember enough to know what I did." She looked up at Freddy. "Don't you remember?"

"I am having difficulty retrieving some files. My system crash may have caused some corruption."

"Oh." Her gaze wandered over towards Gregory. "You look like you haven't been eating well lately," she said quietly. "I can get you something. I could get one of the S.T.A.F.F. bots to make you a pizza, and I've got some prepackaged snacks in my room..."

"Um... no, thanks." He shook his head. "I'm okay for now."

"Okay, if... if you're sure." She seemed to deflate a little. "Freddy, what should we do? My programming says to bring him to Officer Vanessa, but..."

Gregory recoiled. "No, don't. Please."

"There is something suspicious about her," Freddy replied. "We must disregard her as a figure of authority until we understand more about the situation."

A thought struck Gregory. "Chica, have you seen a woman in a rabbit costume running around here?"

"A... rabbit costume?" She glanced up at him with a confused expression. "No, the... the only rabbit character we had here was Bonnie, and..."

"Yeah, I know about him." Gregory sighed. "I saw a woman in a rabbit costume skip by once, but Freddy couldn't see her. Just looking at her made my head hurt; it was like a drill going right between my eyes..."

"That's... strange." Chica rubbed at her lower beak. "Roxy might have seen her. She had those enhanced eyes installed a few months ago... if there's something keeping the rest of us from seeing this woman, I doubt Roxy would be fooled."

"Okay. If we can get Roxy downgraded, we can ask her." Gregory wiped his hands on the legs of his pants. "So, uh... Chica? There's something I want to ask you."

"What?"

"What's with you always eating? I mean, you're a robot. It's really weird that I could distract you with pizza."

"Oh, that..." She glanced away, and Gregory had the feeling that if she could actually blush, she would be doing so. "It was a feedback loop. I'm... I'm supposed to be the 'big eater', you know? I just wanted to feel... like myself again..."

Being aware in some way of what she was doing, yet being unable to stop herself- it sounded like a nightmare to Gregory. "Um, hey, Chica, look," he said. "Once we get Roxy and Monty back to normal, we're gonna rebuild Bonnie and see if he can help us figure out what's been going on. We could really use your help in finding his casing."

"Bonnie?!" Chica practically sprang to her feet. "I've missed him so much! I'd love to help!"

The manic burst of energy unnerved Gregory, but he also had to admit that it felt nice to see the robot happy again. "Well, great," he said. "Thing is, we haven't found any record of where his casing was put. Those things are, uh, kind of important to you guys, aren't they?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Hmm... I doubt they put it too far away from Parts and Service. I'll check some of the utility tunnels down there."

"The only elevator that is working right now is Roxy's," Freddy told her.

"Oh. I hope she doesn't yell at me again for going in her room." She headed for the door- walking normally now, Gregory noted- but paused to look back. "Gregory?"

"Huh?"

"I'm really sorry. About everything." She lowered her head.

"I know it wasn't your fault, Chica."

She nodded, slipping out through the door. With that done, Gregory got to his feet and pulled loose the Fazerblaster from the cheap belt holster it had come with. "Okay, Freddy. One down; two to go. Let's go get Roxy next."

"Lead the way, superstar."