Mable: Sorry this chapter took so long, but I hope it's worth the wait! Enjoy!
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Forty-Four
Where the upper floors of the Pizzaplex were styled in a sleek modern design soaked in neon, the basement was like an endless garage soaked in grease and steam. The difference was like night and day. Ironically, it looked more like a spaceship down at the bottom of those steps than it did anywhere else in the similarly themed building. It was a huge tunnel of pipes and pathways, made simply to haul other machines through it.
It reminded both Mike and Marionette heavily of Afton Robotics. Neither said it out loud, but they knew each other and knew what they were seeing enough to come to the conclusion that they already knew. It made them both uneasy.
Gregory was oblivious to this context, but that didn't make him any less wary. He might've led the way- a step in front of the two but with them still positioned on either side- but he looked around like someone who expected something to come jumping out from around a corner at any minute.
They followed the tunnel for a while before getting through a large security door. Considering that it responded to the maintenance pass when he swiped it, Mike had a feeling they were on the right path.
On the other side of that door the tunnel was cluttered. Freddy colored forklifts and similar machinery, some covered in tarps and some not, lines and lines of Glamrock character themed garbage cans, and a large shelf on the right side of the tunnel topped in spray paint cans and jugs of likely toxic chemicals. It was unsurprising that the continuing tunnel was blocked off by a fence and more clutter, with the path ahead leading to another security door.
Yet Mike still hesitated and started down that tunnel before looking between it and the door.
"Jake said something about taking a right, right?" he asked.
"He did. As soon as we can, he said… Would this count as a 'can'?" Marionette asked pensively.
Mike hummed and walked further down towards the gate to get a better look. Getting past the crates and shining his light along it revealed that it was a solid fence without any gates to let them through. A light to the right revealed a sizable vent on the wall on the other side of the gate, a possible way for them to get through. However, Mike was still uncertain, and walked back to Marionette and Gregory waiting a little ways back.
"So, here's the thing: Jake clearly said to go to the right and that's the way the tunnel's going, but there's no way through the fence. There's a vent that we could probably find a way through or, you know, we could just jump the fence, but Jake didn't mention making any detours. So, now I'm wondering if this fence is new or if we were supposed to keep going past it, because I feel like he would've mentioned a right at the fence."
"Hmm… That's a tricky one," Marionette murmured. He looked back towards the security door, then pointed at it. "Maybe we could go through the door and see what it looks like on the other side? We should know rather quickly if we're going the right way if it leads to a dead end, or to the kitchen or a stairwell."
"Good point. Let's take a look," Mike agreed.
Gregory had the distinct feeling that neither had any idea where they were going. He didn't have a map either since the Faz-Watch's only covered the attractions and how to get to them, fitting for a trinket designed with guests in mind. He went along with them though since he too hadn't the foggiest idea where he was going.
The security door rolled open and revealed a long and narrow passageway. Though this didn't immediately suggest this was the wrong way either. It looked to be a hallway in what could've been a warehouse, considering that the light revealed the end of a conveyor. Though it also revealed that the passageway went on for a while down, and it did at least somewhat resemble a maintenance area with tires stacked directly to the left.
"…I think this might be the way to go," Marionette offered.
"I think you're right. At least it's going somewhere," Mike agreed. He shined his light around before it landed on what looked like a mural to the right. "Take a look at that."
The picture was of an endoskeleton of some variety knelt down in front of a boy sitting on a chair. The endoskeleton had a first aid kit and was holding its thumb up while the boy had a Band-Aid on his knee.
Marionette admired the mural with a hum before coming to his own conclusion. "This is the right way. Endoskeletons were always a fixture of Freddy's Parts and Service, and Jake warned us about them," he said. He began to lead the way down the passage. "Follow me and keep close."
"I always do," Mike agreed. The mural wasn't off-putting, but the idea that they were walking into endo territory was. He waved for Gregory to come up beside him, which he did.
"Are you sure this is the right way?" Gregory asked.
"No, but if I'm wrong, we can always hike back."
Gregory frowned at that. "That's just going to be a big waste of time! Freddy could be in danger," he reminded.
"I know, and we're going to find him. We just can't let ourselves get lost down here. One trip down the wrong tunnel and we could end up on the other side of this place," Mike said coolly. The last few years of working with children had made him more patient with them. Especially when he had dealt with children much louder and angrier than Gregory was.
While he still frowned, Gregory didn't continue arguing. He knew that he did have a point. This place was huge; if they got lost they would never find Freddy.
"Cold?" Mike asked. He had been so busy looking out for danger that he hadn't noticed how tightly Gregory kept his arms at his sides.
"A little. I'm okay," Gregory quickly said.
Mike unzipped and shrugged off his jacket before handing it over. "Take this. I don't want you getting sick on my watch," he offered with a smile.
Gregory stared at his shirt for a long minute- and the picture of an iguana stretched on a beach chair with a Hawaiian backdrop the words 'Lounge Lizard' underneath- before reminding him, "I'm still pretty wet."
"More reason to put this on," Mike said. He shook the jacket temptingly.
"…Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you if it gets all funky," Gregory said. He took the jacket, slipped off his backpack, and then put on both together. It was too big for him, but it was warm, and kind of covered up the cholerine smell.
They then shined their lights ahead and followed the puppet illuminated by them. Steam puffed up along the sides of the hallway and there was a crackling and sparking sound coming from somewhere. That mixed with the heavy darkness gave the area a remarkably rundown look even though this place was just as new as the rest of the Pizzaplex.
Marionette suddenly dipped into a doorway to the right. By time Mike caught up and shined his light in, the Puppet was on his way back out. Nothing, a dead end, and it looked like they were closing in on another one as they came up on another mural that blocked the way. This one showing a man and a little girl standing beside an endo with a balloon.
There was a glowing, green, Freddy head-shaped button mounted beside the mural. Marionette gave a curious hum and pressed the button, and all three watched as the mural before them lifted up and revealed a further passage.
"Oh, it's a door! How quaint," Marionette remarked. A little playfulness on his voice as he continued on. "I do like these ones much more than the ones at the old Freddy's."
"They really would've brightened up the office. Or at least gave me something to look at when I wasn't staring unblinking at a computer screen," Mike remarked. Marionette chimed in amusement.
But then he suddenly stopped. It was so abrupt that Mike stopped as well and made sure to catch Gregory to keep him from going past.
"What?" Gregory asked quietly.
"…There's an endoskeleton standing in passageway up ahead," Marionette warned. "Standing there slumped in on itself. Blocking our way."
He was a little way ahead of them so Mike couldn't immediately see what he was talking about. He walked up to him and by the edge of a conveyor belt, shining his light over it and having his brows shoot up when the light landed directly on the endo in question. It didn't look quite like the endoskeletons Mike or Marionette were familiar with. It was taller, thicker, especially on the broad-shouldered chest and the lower legs. It fit the shape of Freddy rather well though.
The endo was hunched over like Marionette had foretold. Its head was down with its arms hanging, yet it stayed rigidly upright on its feet. The fact that it was blocking their way was concerning and suspicious.
Marionette slowly hovered forward and stood before the bot. He waited a long moment for any response, and when he received none, he reached forward and laid a hand atop its head. The bot was cold and still, like a statue. There was still no response and Marionette dropped his hand to his side before brushing past and circling to the other side. There was still no response, and he looked up to Mike and Gregory.
"I think it may be deactivated, but be careful just in case," he warned. He looked back down at the endo and watched it carefully for any signs of movement.
Mike went first, getting up close and personal with the endoskeleton while getting a good look at it. It was a far cry from the scrawny things occasionally spotted on the cameras late night at the old Freddy's. While still standing beside it, he gestured for Gregory to go past and only squeezed by himself once the boy was safely on the other side of Marionette. He brushed the side of the endo while passing it, it thankfully remained dormant.
Mike stepped past and stood alongside Marionette momentarily as they studied the suspicious endoskeleton. While they did, Gregory continued to the little room at the end of the passage and looked around.
"That looks like another moving wall and there's a button here," he said.
Finally deeming the endo as deactivated and not wanting Gregory to get too far away, Marionette turned away and headed after him. Mike continued watching the endo as he took a few steps back, then turned and followed after them.
He barely got in two steps before he heard a noise akin to something activating behind him, along with a clumsy clatter and thumping footsteps right at his heels.
Marionette spun around startled. "Mike?!"
But Mike was already moving, stepping forward out of the way at the same time of spinning around and coming face to face with a hand reaching for him, having just barely dodged its grasp.
It was the hand of the endoskeleton. It had sprung to life the moment he turned his back and lunged at him. Even though it had frozen in place, he noticed the red glow deep in its eyes signaling that it was still active.
"Oh shhhheeze," Mike caught his balance, barely, and backed up from the hand. "Jeez, do you see how close he got?"
"You're taking this awfully well!" Marionette half-sputtered.
"I've got a kid right here. I have to hold it in," Mike said through his teeth. He reached for his taser and unhooked it just in case. "Well, now we know how these things tick. They wait until you turn your back and then jump you."
"It's more than that. I… I can't be sure, but I think it only stopped moving once I made eye contact," Marionette said. After a moment he moved in, leaned in, and reached for its head, trying to turn it towards him- perhaps testing it. When the neck didn't move, he leaned in further to peer into its eyes, even when Mike was giving a warning "hey, hey, careful" and trying to pull him back. "…It's still on but it's totally unresponsive now. It stopped the moment we looked at it."
"Don't break eye contact- got it," Mike said. He finally succeeded in hooking an arm around Marionette's waist and pulling him back away, if only because the puppet finally cooperated. "Think it's anything like how you used to freeze up when someone looked at you?"
"I didn't even think about that... Maybe. Though I'm not even sure if that was a programmed feature or a defense mechanism," Marionette admitted. Narrowing his eyes, he suddenly swung up his arm and telekinetically shoved it back, causing it to fall backwards and to the ground, still rigidly stuck in the same position. "Maybe that will make it less of a problem."
"How did you do that?!" Gregory asked in surprise.
"Magic," Marionette said with a wave of his fingers.
"Sheer willpower," Mike answered as well.
"No, really," the boy insisted.
"He can explain as soon as we get a little distance between us and this guy," Mike assured. He reached back for the button, but Gregory beat him to it and pressed the button. The next wall raised to reveal another hallway.
There was another activation noise from the corner and Gregory snapped his head and flashlight over towards a figure draped in a tarp. Movement stilled underneath it the moment he did.
"There's another one right there!"
"Keep your eyes on it," Mike instructed. "Mari, check the hall?"
Marionette did and then spun around to face the corner endo. "It's clear. Gregory, head through. I can watch it." The boy took a few careful steps before turning around and heading into the next hall. "Now you."
"Alright." Mike backed towards the door, Marionette joining him and them both backing through. He shined his light around the inside of the door. "And there's no button on this side…" he muttered.
"Keep watch. I'll press the button and hop through," the Puppet said. He did a quick spin to get a feel for the area and then went back through, keeping his eyes on the corner endo as he pressed the button again. There was no response. He pressed it again to no avail and then, still with no response, he hovered back into the doorway. "Here's the new plan: you lead the way and I'll follow behind and keep an eye on them."
Mike nodded and led the way further down the passage. The smell of stagnant water becoming stronger as the room became more humid from steam leaking through the pipes. The hall seemed to close in as well, with more boxes of stuff piling up on either side- where they weren't already cramped in by conveyor belts.
Gregory noticed a box overflowing with Moon plush toys. "There's a lot of daycare stuff down here," he said.
"Maybe this is where they store all the stuff they don't use." Mike shined his light around. "Huh. I guess the Moon stuff doesn't sell that well."
"I'm not surprised," Gregory grumbled. "Who would want a toy of him? He's nuts."
"He cares about you. He may be a little… much but he does," Marionette gently assured, still floating backwards behind him. He could tell as much just from how quiet Moon got once it became clear that Gregory was going into the basement.
"He has a funny way of showing it…" Gregory mumbled. "…So how did you do that thing?"
"I can move things with my mind. It's called telekinesis and it's also what I use to keep myself up. Just in case you didn't notice, I'm floating," he said with a playful edge, trying to relieve the tension.
"It's kind of hard not to," Gregory said. "But how can you do that? Is it like some sort of… magnet thing? It can't be a robot thing."
"It's a haunted robot thing," Marionette said with a light chuckle.
Gregory slowed down and looked back as Mike continued ahead to the corner. The boy's brows were furrowed in a mix of confusion and unease. "Haunted?" he asked under his breath.
Which was drowned out by Mike looking around the corner and giving an exasperated, "Aww, come on."
"Let me guess: there's more of them," Marionette guessed.
"Yes. Of course there is."
There were a couple more endoskeletons positioned against the wall. Both were slumped over in the same dormant state as the first one had been, but there was no doubt it wouldn't last long.
Mike sighed and once the two caught up he started slowly down the hallway. "Let's just stay close together. They probably won't kick on until we walk past them, just like those other ones did," he suggested.
Honestly, this might've been a good time to turn back if they weren't being followed by the same endoskeletons- and he knew they were being followed by the clanking footsteps down the hallway back where they had come from, only halting when getting into Marionette's line of sight.
The group made it past the next endos and, just like before, the activated once they were only a few feet away from them. They continued on into the hallway, passing through yet another mural and more endos.
They did come up on a weird spot not too much further in. There was a mural to the left depicting an endoskeleton knocking over a cake and table in front of a child, but there was no button for it. The hallway also continued down to the right. A sharp right, a right that mixed with the last few corners made it seem like it was spiraling in on itself. He could believe the button could be on the other side of the mural, but about this hallway…
"I think we're coming up on a dead end," Mike forewarned. "We've turned enough times that through that wall should be the hallway we first came in."
"I think you're right…" Gregory admitted. "What do we do? We can't turn back."
"We're going to have to turn back. It'll be okay. We'll just keep an eye on the endoskeletons and squeeze by. I brushed past that one earlier and it couldn't do anything about it," Mike reminded reassuringly.
"Agreed, but I think we should see what's at the end," Marionette suggested.
"There's not going to be much. Judging on these walls, I doubt it's Parts and Service."
"But there might be a staff elevator."
That made Mike pause. He remembered being told about the secondary staff elevator in Afton Robotics, about how narrow it was. From the length of the corners, the internal room was probably large enough to fit one of those.
"Or stairs," Marionette added. "Which isn't exactly the direction where we want to go but could spare us from having to pass through the endos."
"…You know what? Sure. We've come this far anyway. Why not see what's in there?" Mike agreed. He continued down the hallway, stepping over a deactivated Staff Bot slumped on the wall.
"So, this was a big waste of time," Gregory sourly muttered.
"Not yet. Let's see what's at the end of all this and if it's not Freddy… then yeah, it'll be a big waste of time," Mike agreed, his voice deflating at the end.
They continue to the end of the next passage, which ended in a painted portrait of the Moon on the wall and a door to the left, while continuing on into the center room to the right. He considered both paths for a moment.
"Mari, there's a door here that I'm going to check in. You sit tight," he forewarned. The Puppet gave a 'mm-hmm' of agreement. Mike looked to the right and noticed more endos in the corner of the next room. He pointed at them with his flashlight. "Think you can keep your eye on them?" he asked Gregory.
"Sure but make it quick."
"Sure thing, Boss," Mike remarked. He then carefully turned away and tried the door, which opened right up into a small room. One small enough to still fit in the space that he imagined.
Right across from him were three endoskeleton suspended within cages of fencing. It was a bizarre sight, but it was even more bizarre that Freddy's apparently had the means to keep the endos from wandering and still decided to only do it for some of them. They must've been unfinished models as they didn't activate when he passed by them.
There was an open doorway in the back of the room. One large enough that there could've been a security door that had already been lifted. Mike approached it cautiously and shined his light inside, and what he found was bizarre, and more unsettling the longer he looked at it.
It was a small, secluded, padded room. There was a TV tipped over in the corner and some little furniture, a line of plush toys by the wall, and even a stack of those circular barrels he had seen in the daycare. In fact, this room was styled very much like the daycare, with the floors matching those in the playground and the cushioned walls depicting pictures of cartoonish landscapes.
Something had been kept in here, that much was clear. While Mike was looking around, he eventually glanced up at the roof and noticed the two sizable hooks hanging from the ceiling. They almost looked like wench hooks.
His eyes eventually lowered back to the floor and the small furniture and toys.
"God, I hope no kids wound up down here…" he thought. It was at that moment that his light fell on a partially tipped stack of VHS tapes beside the little table and tipped television.
He knelt down and picked them up one by one to read the label.
"Daycare training tape one… two… four… Huh." The last one was labelled differently. Instead of a printed sticker, someone wrote on a black label with black marker. "Sun-Moon Test… These might be worth watching."
He stacked them back up and picked them all up at once, carrying them back out as he shined his light around to make sure there wasn't anything he missed. There wasn't, but he had an unsettling feeling about the room. Maybe it was those lone hooks dangling from the ceiling but something just seemed off about it all.
He shut the door behind him as he came out, then looked down and at Gregory's small backpack. "…Hey, Gregory. Think you can squeeze these in your backpack for me?"
Gregory turned back, assuming Mike could keep an eye out while he did and saw the tapes. He quirked a brow. "What're those?"
"They're some kind of daycare training tapes. It might be nothing, but I thought they might be worth checking out," Mike said. Gregory considered this and then turned around to let him put them in. It took a minute to squeeze them in around the lunchbox, but he fit them in a way where they wouldn't clatter around.
Then he took lead again and started to go around the next corner and into the center room. At first glance it looked to be a dead-end, and that this had been a waste of time and likely they had gone the wrong way, but a step closer and he noticed a button near the wall. Its soft green glow being the only way he noticed it through more hung up and fenced in endoskeletons.
He hadn't even gotten past the endos in the corner when they both suddenly activated with a dull chime. Just as suddenly there was a whooshing noise before something suddenly thumped him in the back. Mike jumped but had familiar long fingers grab his hand at his free hand, in an instant telegraphing that it was Marionette's back against his. They laced their fingers together and Mike took a calming breath before starting to walk forward.
He could feel the other's weight continuing to press against his back as he did. Upon pressing the button, he could hear something moving through the wall.
"That might be that other door," Marionette suggested, and Mike nodded. "…We should probably stay like this."
"Works for me. I gave my jacket to the kid," Mike agreed, playfully pulling the puppet's arm like he was wrapping it around his. Said puppet chiming lightly and turning with him as he turned around.
They got past the two recently activated endos easily, but they walked around the corner into the hall and their lights fell on an even bigger problem. A cluster of endoskeletons were crowding the hallway directly in front of them. Every endo they had passed clogging up their one way out, and with two more biting at the bit to follow.
"…Can you do that shove thing again?" Gregory dared to ask.
Marionette gave a hum like he was considering it.
"Switch?" Mike offered.
In a smooth motion, Marionette spun them around. Mike managing to catch his footing but almost thrown off-balance by the spin. Now Marionette was able to see what was blocking them and, after brief surprise, he looked for the weakest target. Eventually he focused and harshly shoved down the middle. Some of the endos shifted from the push, their limp pose forcibly changed, but one was hit hard enough to be toppled onto its back.
The problem was that they were so heavy. Each shove sapped a bit of energy and while he felt okay now, shoving them all down one at a time would noticeably tire him. Something that could be dangerous in this scenario.
Knocking down the middle endo had made a sort of a passage through the center of the cluster. They would still be bumping elbows with them, but they could maybe get by if they took care to look everywhere.
"I think we can squeeze by," Marionette decided. Gregory looked up at him surprised.
"You can't just knock them all down?"
"I can, but I am afraid to use up that much energy… Maybe one more though." He swung up his arm and hit a second, this one falling back against the wall and partially crumpling over large industrial sink. "There we go. That's better."
Gregory tightened his grip on his flashlight and looked at the cold, emaciated faces of the endos. They looked nothing like Freddy and his band even though these were supposed to be what was inside him- at least, that's what Gregory assumed these things were. He didn't want to get this close to the group, especially not when there was that many of them, yet he didn't want the puppet to run low on power either and- he assumed- get them stuck at a recharge station.
"Okay. I'll… I'll go first," he volunteered.
Marionette's head turned to Gregory while his eyes remained on the endos. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I don't want to get stuck back here with those guys," he said motioning back. Something that Marionette hadn't even considered and halted even the thought of arguing.
"Don't worry. They're not going anywhere," Mike assured, keeping his eyes trained onto the two. He swore that he saw them shiver whenever he blinked. "But boy, do they want to."
"That's a shame. Go ahead, Gregory. We'll stand watch," Marionette said.
Gregory started to walk towards the endos. His eyes darting between them as he stepped over the ones that had fallen and passed through the middle of the remaining ones. He nearly held his breath with ever step, exhaling all at once when he got to the end and spun around to see that they were still locked in place. He shined his light up on them.
"Okay! Come on!" he called.
"Right." Marionette leaned his head back on Mike's shoulder. "Switch?"
"Okay. On-." Before he could say 'three', he found himself already being pulled about and back into the front.
"I'm sorry, what?" Marionette innocently asked.
"Don't worry about it. Let's move." At least it wasn't as jarring the second time.
He took careful steps towards the endoskeletons. They were humming now, he realized, or making some sort of low buzz deep in their heads. It could've been coming from their glowing eyes. Mike had to get uncomfortably close to one while stepping over the fallen one and could hear that buzz in his ear. He quickly took another step to move forward, briefly losing the contact with Marionette on his back before he caught up an instant later.
He was waiting for one of them to reach out. Waiting for one of the endos to suddenly decided that it didn't care that they were looking and grab for him.
…But it didn't. He stepped past the last endoskeletons without any of them moving- save the two at the end of the hall that had gotten to the doorway but couldn't step out into the line of sight. Mike and Marionette finally separated, hands still linked but no longer back to back so that Mike could check down the hallway they had gone down initially to make sure there weren't any stragglers.
Feeling more secure with the two on this side of the endos, Gregory turned his attention to the open doorway and stepped inside. There was a short passageway leading up to a corner and he cautiously inched towards it, wondering if there were any more animatronics on the other side.
But he didn't even have a chance to look.
There was a dull squeak from somewhere in the roof that was followed by the rush of metal and a resonating bang.
Mike and Marionette were so taken off guard by the noise, so close that they could feel it through their bodies, that they both looked back fearing the worst. The decorated security door had slammed shut, cutting the two off from Gregory.
Though they couldn't even begin to deal with that when the rapid footsteps raced in. Mike spun around with his light out just in time to stop them, but they managed to get a couple of feet in only a matter of moments. Now all those glowing eyes were locked directly onto him, just biting at the bit waiting for him to blink long enough for them to move again.
"Gregory?!" Marionette called through the door. "Gregory, can you hear me?!"
"I'm here!" Gregory called back. "I didn't do it! The door just shut on its own!"
"I know! Are you okay?!" he called again.
"I'm fine, but there's no button in here!"
"Just stay there! We'll get the door open!" Marionette assured. He turned to Mike. "I'm going to press the button," he said before just as quickly vanishing away.
"I-I think those things are in here! I hear footsteps!" Gregory called.
"Just try to stay calm! Remember, they can't move if you're looking at them! Just put your back in the corner and we're on our way!" Mike called back to reassure him. Soon enough he could hear the footsteps as well. It was harder to hear them through the thick wall, but there were definitely a few of them.
Gregory shouted as the footsteps suddenly ran into the area where he was standing. Mike could hear a fearful, "Get away from me!" and the constant squeak and thump of the endos on the other side. One made a short tone, the noise they made when they froze up, but the rest continued circling around inside the door.
Mike stomach twisted sharply, and his heartrate started to quicken. A flare of adrenaline-fueled heat spreading across his skin. The panic was sinking in, and Marionette's return didn't alleviate it in the slightest.
"It didn't open?!" Marionette asked in dismay.
Mike reached aside and grabbed his shoulder, still looking ahead at the endos. "You have to get in there. Now. There's endos on the other side and they might've grabbed him," he rushed out.
Just hearing the distress in Mike's voice set Marionette off instantly.
The Puppet made a startled noise that very suddenly jolted into a frenzied rendition of 'Pop Goes the Weasel'. Wordlessly, he turned towards the door and laid his hands on it and focused. He hadn't paid attention to the inside of the passageway, so he was having to work with that brief glimpse to target where to teleport and did so as fast as he could. Once he thought he had a good enough idea, he took the plunge and popped through.
And found himself surrounded by metal, in the midst of a cluster of active endos. Within an instant he was being grabbed and tugged. Thick metal hands tight around his limbs and yanking at them, wrenching them back, with the only still one being the one he had come face to face with. Though even without that one's strength they could've easily torn him apart. Their fingers digging into his fabric so deep that they could've sliced through.
He lashed back immediately. A full force push shoved them back before rolling himself over in the arms of the only one that still held him, trapped in the corner, and went for the neck. Clever fingers reaching through wires and twisting at the metal until he found one that ran hot and prickled his finger, wrapping it around it and yanking, and watching the lights in its eyes click off as the power flow was cut short.
Marionette twisted himself around at the sound of footsteps and his illuminated pupils landed on the endo coming for him. He sprung and pounced onto it, taking it to the floor, deftly taking it apart.
Somewhere in the process of this one the back of his wrist was sliced. He felt the sting of it but made sure the endo was deactivated before he recoiled. He pushed back off of it and floated back quickly until the endos were in his sight and frozen under his gaze. His forcibly hushed his music until it was just a low rumble of dialing noises and looked for Gregory in his peripherals, fearing he scared him off. There was no sign of the boy.
He also felt over the cut on the back of his wrist. It wasn't sliced through to the metal so it would close quickly.
"…Mari?!" Mike yelled through the wall. No doubt the sudden silence was more alarming than the preceding scuffle.
"I'm alright! I took care of them!" Marionette called back, his music briefly spiking back to life on his voice. "But Gregory's not here!"
"He might've bolted! Can you get the door open?"
"…No! There's no button on this side!" As concerning as that was, Gregory's disappearance was more so. "I'm going after him! Will you be okay?"
"Don't worry about me! I can handle it; you find the kid!"
"Alright! Love you!"
Marionette darted towards the corner into the hallway, shoving back one endo in his way before skirting into the hallway. He could hear their footsteps clattering around behind him.
…But they weren't following him.
Confused, Marionette stopped and looked back, and to his confusion the endos seemed to be walking around in the area inside of the door. Well, they did until they walked into his line of sight, then they froze once more.
It was as though they were looking for something, or perhaps they had gotten confused by the door and instead of coming this way kept circling around, trying to follow whatever designated path they were on. Which would imply that they had a path to follow when all of the others had followed them so doggedly. As odd as it was, he couldn't investigate until after he found Gregory and reconnected with Mike.
Speaking of Mike, he started to back his way down the hallway and away from the encroaching group of endos. He was torn on whether to leave the door but at this point it seemed like finding another way in was his only option.
He hoped this was the correct choice of the evening.
…
Gregory stopped running once he realized that the endos were no longer following him. He was now around two corners and heard that their footsteps not getting any closer. It was weird, but he wouldn't put it beyond the things being air-headed enough to lose him, like the Security Bots tended to be. That didn't mean he wanted to hang around. He kept moving on with the hope that there was another way to meet back up with Mike and Marionette.
It was just a shame that the warehouse had suddenly gotten so creepy.
The hallway around the corner was bathed in a red glow. Illuminated by three staticky screens on the wall that had the same rosy tint to them. Between the color and the flickering, it hurt his eyes to look at. As he crept down the hall, he began to feel a dull pressure in his forehead. A budding headache to match the uncomfortable feeling this hallway gave him. He consider running straight through it but didn't want to risk running up on something.
A hallway like this gave him a bad feeling that something was waiting up ahead for him. Something just as bad, if not worse, than the endoskeletons.
But that was before he saw movement out the corner of his eye and looked suddenly to the right. It was nothing, just his own prominent shadow from the bright red lighting, stretching over the wall and the benches lining it. He nearly scolded himself for being so jumpy when it happened again. A brief movement out the corner of his eye and he turned his head further to see what it was.
There was a tall shadow stretching on the wall behind his.
Gregory slowly continued to turn to look over his shoulder and his heart dropped.
It wasn't Mike. It wasn't Marionette. It wasn't even an endoskeleton.
It was the dancing rabbit lady. It was Vanny.
She wasn't dancing now though. She just stood there rigidly like she was waiting for him to notice, and once he did, she sprung to life. Her hands popping up in a double wave. Her eyes glowing so bright that they cut through the matching glow.
"Hello, Gregory," she greeted. Her calm voice not matching her excited movements. "Oh dear. You seem lost. Where are your friends?"
"They're- They're right over there," Gregory answered vaguely. He then gave a much more challenging, "What's it to you?"
"Little mice shouldn't be wandering around on their own… I know!" She raised a gloved finger. Gregory could see the pink pattern on the fingertips and palm. "How about we play a game until your friends get here?"
"I don't think so…" he said unsurely. Anyone else and he would've been much more outspoken against this. Something about her made him too uncomfortable to speak up. Like one wrong word would flip the switch on the fake personality.
"There's need to be shy. I would love to play with you! I know you've very good at running, so let's play Bunny Foo Foo!" Vanny suggested with that fake cheeriness. She then stood there silently, staring at Gregory, waiting for her cue.
"…Uh… What's that?" Gregory eventually asked.
"It's a very fun game that I play with only my most special friends," Vanny explained. Folding one arm behind her, she poked her chest with her other hand. "I'll be Bunny Foo Foo and you'll be a field mouse, and you run, run, run away."
Vanny started to do an excited little hopping dance in place. Teetering her arms up and down as though in an airplane fashion. She stopped with a hop, popping her heels together.
"And if I catch you, I'll bop you."
"Bop me?"
"Bop you." Vanny balled her fist and made a little swing in a bopping motion. "Bop you on the head."
It sounded so innocently childish, but Gregory had a feeling that it wasn't. That something else was going to happen if he got caught. He got a sick feeling and wasn't sure if it was from the lighting or her.
"Greeegoryyyy…" the rabbit said playfully. She leaned forwards on the balls of her feet and stared deeply into him with those burning eyes. "Ŕ̴̖ú̷̱ñ̶̹."
Gregory turned and ran as fast as he could away from her. He could hear her softened footsteps hot on his heels and stole a glance back to find her closing in on him. Her arms stretched out after him and her fingers waggling, eager to grab him.
His heart pounded, his head pounded, but he ran as fast as he possibly could. Even as the hallways blended together and even with the threat of endoskeletons he couldn't stop. He couldn't let her get him.
Two open doorways appeared ahead and he kept through the one that went straight instead of the one to the right, and quickly realized it let him out at the entrance to the warehouse. He had just come through an open doorway that had been blocked by the first mural they saw. With that in mind, he threw caution to the wind and took a sharp right, running right back into the warehouse. Desperate to find anyone to protect him.
He weaved around the conveyors and felt fingers graze his backpack, then took a sharp right and smacked right into something. He gave a startled cry, only realizing a second later that he had run into Mike's legs.
Mike was startled for a second until he realized it was Gregory who had just ran into him. The relief was short lived, because before he could get further than a hand on his shoulder, let alone ask what happened, what happened came running around the corner behind him and Mike looked up in time to come face to face with the thing he had been looking for and never expected to see. An adult woman in a full-body rabbit costume.
Vanny must've been just as surprised as Mike was at the way she stopped and straightened up. She stopped just as fast as any of the endos, which would've been comical if not for the extremely heavy tension falling over the room.
"You!" Mike shouted, lifting his light, and pointing it accusingly at the rabbit.
She clenched her hands and fumbled them a moment before tilting them both to her chest. Almost like she was silently saying, "Me?"
"Yeah, you! Don't get cute with me!"
Mike wasn't feeling like playing games. Just the sight of her- and the sight of her chasing Gregory nonetheless- was enough to set him off just as quickly as Marionette had. He pulled out his badge and brandished it threateningly.
He knew exactly what he was going to say in this rare opportunity to confront the rabbit face-to-face: "Fazbear Entertainment Security. Hands up and drop your weapons or I'm going to drop you like a bag of dirt." He had thought about it sometime after the Chica and Monty confrontation while walking around. It sounded like a nice balance of direct and threatening.
But then his words got ahead of him and instead it came out as a much more direct: "Fazbear Security! I'm going to drop you like a bag of dirt!"
No wonder the rabbit lady's reaction was to promptly turn heel and run away. Mike almost took off after her, only stopping himself a few steps in to turn back to Gregory, who was watching the cluster of endos in the hallway with gritted teeth.
Mike crouched down. "Get on!" he said, waving for Gregory to get on his back. The boy didn't even hesitate and climbed on, with Mike hooking one arm back to hold him while running after the costumed woman.
Unfortunately, he was a little too late to catch up with the retreating rabbit, but he was just quick enough to figure out where she escaped to- the lowering mural door gave it away. That didn't make it any less frustrating. He gave it a little kick.
"Ugh, come on!" he muttered. He took a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart before looking over his shoulder. "Are you okay? She didn't do anything did she?"
"I'm okay… but she would've! I know it. There's something weird about her," Gregory insisted.
"Other than her running around in a bunny suit?" Mike remarked. Not wanting Gregory to take it the wrong way, he quickly said, "I believe you. I don't know what her deal is, but you should stay away from her. She's trouble. You did the right thing running away from her."
"Do you know her?" Gregory asked with confusion.
Mike took a minute to consider exactly how much a child should be told about the situation and eventually decided that safety came first. "…I don't know her, but there was a situation a long time ago where a man in a rabbit suit lured away a bunch of kids. It was at a Freddy's too. She's not him, but I don't know what she's playing at. Best keep our distance, you and me both."
"Don't worry. I'm not one of those kids that walks up when you offer them candy. You can ask Chica," he said. A little bitterly too.
That comment didn't exactly assure Mike. Neither did Marionette's continued absence. From his guess of the layout of this place it wasn't too big, so he should've either caught up to Gregory or returned by now.
"Her name is Vanny," Gregory suddenly said.
"Vanny?" Mike asked, turning his head back. Vanny; that had to be short for Vanessa. "What a coincidence, she has the same name as our prime suspect," he thought. He didn't say it out loud. He just gave a little, "Huh."
He wondered if what was keeping Marionette was that he was pursuing the rabbit on his own. In which case, Mike almost felt bad for Vanny. Almost, he thought as he readjusted the small, damp child on his back, but not quite.
…
There was a second room in the center of the circling hallways. Located within the hallways that Gregory had ran through and on the other side of the open doorway that he had sprinted past. The room was a large storage room filled with strung up endoskeleton and unused props. The floor was colorful, and the walls were padded- at least halfway up until the padding stopped and revealed the dull cement underneath.
A single light hung down in the center of the room over a desk topped with a monitor and control panel, a security module. While this room was clearly initially planned to hold animatronics while still in their testing phase, it had been reformatted into a sort of security office. Or a control center to keep and eye on the tight corridors without having to walk through them.
The costume clad woman sprinted into this room and was on the monitor in seconds. All it took was a few clicks and the door she had just come through slammed shut, sealing out the unexpected intruder.
Though it wasn't quite right to say he was unexpected. She knew he was there, walking along with Gregory in what looked like a cloud of distorted static on the feed. That said, he was supposed to still be cornered on the other side of the door. Not standing in the hallway where they would just run up on him. What a pity that the fun had to end so soon.
Ruby eyes were fixated on the screen as the cameras were clicked through one by one. She was trying to pin down the location of the static now, and whatever was causing it, but it was no longer in the hallways outside of the security office.
It had to be around there somewhere. Not back in the outside halls, not in the other halls, not out with the two standing outside the recently shut door. Click, click, click. Clear, clear, clear.
Static. Static on a single lone camera, distorting it to the point where the contents could barely be seen. Though from location and process of elimination she knew exactly what room it was. It was the room she was currently in.
The rabbit stood quickly from the desk and stared ahead silently at the dark room. It was in here with her, she must've realized, though whatever was going through her head was unclear. Maybe the realization that there was nowhere to run now that it was inside. She could feel it watching her. She took a sidestep towards the door.
A soft twinkling chime came from the back corner of the room. That chiming slowly turned into a gentle melody, like one from a steadily wound music box. It was a recognizable tune of a familiar nursery rhyme, Pop Goes the Weasel.
She turned her head towards the corner. The lighting in the room left the corner nearly pitch black, but through her night vision she could see a long, slender figure standing in the corner. Unmoving. Watching her.
Until she looked at it. Then it started to move forth from the corner. Moving so slowly that at first it could've seemed like a trick of the light. The closer it got, the more it towered over her.
It seemed like she was standing her ground, but her heartrate said elsewise. Something the Puppet could all but hear thundering in his hyperaware audio receptors. Everything was in overdrive, barely held back as he stopped under the light.
"Why, hello," the Puppet said. His voice forebodingly calm. "…What's wrong? I thought you liked animatronics. Dressing like one like that."
She did not answer. He was certain that he couldn't.
"I'm not fond of rabbits," he continued. A prickling of static starting to raise in his voice as he did so. "But you must be so lonely looking for children to play with. Then very well." His eyes illuminated with trembling points of light that stared down at her. "I will play with you myself."
He suddenly leaned in. His arms dropping from his sides to dangle dangerously close as he stared down at her. She flinched back, her hands lifting defensively. His lifting as though preparing to grab her.
"Don't worry. After we're done... I'll put you back together."
Vanny inhaled sharply and staggered back. An awkward stumble as she tripped over her own booted feet before turned and running for the door. The Puppet was on her in seconds. His long fingers caging in around her before she threw herself into a sharp left and raced down the hallway. Halfway down tripping on the lip of a doorway and flat on her face and having to scrape at the floor to get herself up.
It was quite a pitiful display. So much so that it told Marionette everything it needed to. A silly little copycat indeed. Hardly a threat to anyone except herself.
He couldn't leave her though, not yet. Not until he was sure that he had taught her the errors of her ways. He wasn't going to hurt her, but he would make her believe he was going to. He was going to show her real fear and then maybe she would know what it really felt like to run for one's life.
The woman got to her feet and bolted down the same red hued hallway she had pursued Gregory through. Just before she reached the other doorway he appeared in it, blocking her way. She barely stopped herself from running into him and started to back away, her hands up in defense once again.
"No, no, no…" she said under her breath as she backed away. Now she was as afraid of him as children would've been of her. Now she knew who was watching her.
Marionette let his music burst to life into a crescendo and sprung forward at her. She raised her hands to block her face as he grabbed her by the shoulders.
PAIN
PAIN BURNING PAIN HOT
MUSIC VOICES SCREAMING SCREAMING
SINKING IN RED BURNING IN RED FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER AND
Marionette crumpled to the floor at Vanny's feet and promptly fell over. He gave a wail of terror and agony as he writhed there at her feet. Tears poured freely from his eyes and sobs freely from his chest.
Vanny stared down for him for a second. Then she suddenly pulled herself back, fumbling over her own feet before turning and running. She ran back into the office and frantically clicked to open the mural door, then ran as fast as she could.
Even through the metal walls, Mike had heard the scream from further down the hall and immediately turned and ran back towards the closed door. Gregory managing to hold back the endoskeletons while looking back while Mike ran.
He got there just in time to see Vanny escaping the door. The way she ran out of there and into the tunnel wasn't how she did it earlier. It was the run of someone who had got caught doing something bad and was trying to jaunt away from authorities. It was the panicked arm-flailing run of someone who believed the devil himself was on her heels. He would've taken off after her in a heartbeat if not for that scream.
"Mari?!" Mike yelled as he ran through the door. He raced into the office and looked around before running back out and down the hallway.
It wasn't long before he was met by the heart-stopping sight of Marionette laying out on the floor. Tears pouring down his mask and pooling on the floor as he writhed in agony.
"Marionette!" Mike choked. He was at his side in an instant and reached for him. It looked like he had been hit by a particularly strong taser.
But that was not the case, which he figured out as soon as he touched the Puppet and a jolt shot up his arm. He swore despite himself and yanked back his hand. Though it didn't go far, and soon he was hunched over Marionette with his hands poised over him, unsure what to do or even what happened.
"It's okay. It's okay. I've got you. I've got you…" Mike repeated. He slowly reached down and touched him again. That intangible heat burned his palms. It was like his fabric was only mildly heated by scalded to the touch, but since his skin wasn't actually burning, he continued trying to do so. "Christ, what did she do to you?"
Marionette's voice was a garbled mess as he tried to explain to no avail. At some point Mike managed to decipher a single cry of, "Help!" in the middle of the broken noises.
There came that feeling of nausea rearing its ugly head. The burning and sour sensation along his throat as his heart pounded so hard that it hurt. That mixed with the dull throbbing invading his temples made him feel like he had been hit by a truck. The least of his problems considering that Marionette was laying here completely incapacitated.
"What's wrong with him?!" Gregory cried. He had climbed down from Mike back once he crouched down and was now watching the scene.
"I don't know- I have an idea but I don't know how she could've done this unless he just…" Mike trailed off. It couldn't have been a taser and it couldn't have just been him getting worked up. "It's like how he got with that Scarecrow Baby just a whole lot worse. It's the same thing, the pain, the tears…" he thought.
It didn't make sense though. He thought they had figured out the deal with the other Baby, and the way they worked it out it had to do with animatronics and imprinting emotions on them…. Unless they had been wrong. That was a possibility.
Or unless this was something different. Something worse. That was also a possibility.
Mike slowly worked Marionette further into his arms until he was holding him. The Puppet was still limp but had stopped wailing, now just making distorted dialing noises, surging in and out, almost like heavy breathing. The tears still oozed out and had smeared on his fabric and Mike's skin a clothes. He hadn't ever seen this amount of tears before. Even when the heat eased up the tears continued to flow.
He hadn't realized that Marionette had gotten his senses back until his limp arm suddenly bent upwards and his fingers brushed his cheek.
"Hey there. Glad to have you back," Mike said quietly. A smile broke across his face; at least this was a step in the right direction. The arm lifted again and weakly brushed his cheek, lightly pushing it and aiming his face towards him. "Mari?"
Marionette's hand dropped weakly before he beckoned him down with his fingers. He was too worn out to do much else, left drained even as the turmoil faded. Mike caught the drift and leaned in while lifting him, unsure if he was about to kiss him or whisper something to him. It turned out to be the latter as Marionette dropped his head onto his shoulder.
"Th-rrrr's…ometh-ng eevil in heerr," the Puppet said through the static.
"You saw something?" Mike asked. "What happened? Did she attack you?"
"I-I donnn't know… Grrrabbed heerr annnd sudd-d-dennlyy…" A discordant choke cut him off.
"Hey, it's okay. It's over. I've got you," Mike tried to assure. He held him tightly and rubbed over his back.
"I hhhear-rd music and scr-screeamms. Awful. Awful." Marionette shivered at the thought. "…Scaar-d of me…"
"Him? Nah. He's seen a lot worse," Mike assured, assuming he meant Gregory.
"No. Her."
"Oh…" he took a deep breath. "…Good."
"Yeah, good. Maybe she won't keep coming around now," Gregory agreed. He had taken up the roles of watching the hallway. Doing so gladly to not wind up getting ambushed. "What now? What about Freddy?"
"We're still going. Just… give us a few minutes. I promise we'll still find Freddy," Mike said. Trusting his more solemn tone, the boy nodded and left it at that. For now.
Mike felt patting on his shirt and looked down to see Marionette trying to brush off the purple splotches. "Sorry," he managed.
"It couldn't have happened to a better shirt, honestly," Mike lightly joked. The Puppet chimed a little, his voice cracking halfway through, and it ending in a sigh. No doubt he would've been distraught if he wasn't too tired to be so.
Mike continued to sit there holding him as long as he needed. Keeping his mouth closed as his mind raced with thoughts and theories about what could've just happened. Though it was clear now that his suspicions hadn't been as unfounded as he initially thought. He wasn't imagining connections; he just couldn't tell what they were.
There was a rabbit woman at Freddy's, and there was something very wrong with her.