Gregory felt so relieved to crawl into Freddy's chest cavity, despite the cramped space. He felt safe tucked away inside the big animatronic, safe from the other animatronics that had tried to kill him and hidden from the strange adults that Gregory didn't trust. He let the slight rocking as Freddy moved towards a recharge station calm him down.

Then the dancing white rabbit lady skipped by, carrying a large knife, that Freddy apparently couldn't see, and suddenly those other adults didn't seem so bad anymore.

Despite Dipper's assurances to Mike, he did not find the kid right away as the boy seemed to have just vanished into thin air. It didn't help that the commotion in the daycare had summoned all the Glamrock animatronics on top of the nearby patrolling staff bots to the area, forcing Dipper to slow down his search significantly as he had to duck and hide in the party rooms several times to remain out of sight. He was just getting to the daycare's main entryway when the more advanced functions in his glasses started to glitch out, making it hard to see clearly.

"Come on… not now…" Dipper grumbled, ducking out of sight as he took off his glasses to examine them. There wasn't any obvious reason for them to malfunction, no damaged or cracked areas, and everything seemed to be running fine. He couldn't figure out what the problem was and that wasn't a good thing, meaning he might have to turn off his custom features and let it just be a normal pair of glasses.

Dipper was distracted from his thoughts when he heard footsteps that were too light to be an animatronic's but too heavy to be the kid's. Looking up, Dipper saw some sort of white figure skipping by. He couldn't make out the details without his glasses other than that that it seemed to be some sort of female rabbit person. She soon skipped out of sight, heading towards the main daycare area.

"That can't be a good thing," Dipper mumbled as he stood back up, slipping glasses back on (which seemed to be working again). That figure was unknown and seemed completely confident that they wouldn't be hurt by all the animatronics on patrol, which meant she was likely a part of what was happening. Dipper tapped his Fazwatch, intending to send a message warning Mike when he noticed Freddy come out of a nearby recharge station. Remembering how the kid had mentioned being guided by Freddy, Dipper immediately walked over to him.

"Freddy!" Dipper called, getting the bear's attention as Dipper stopped a few feet away just as a precaution. "Mike said that you should still be safe from the virus that's affecting the others, is that true?"

"I was unaware there was a virus to be wary of," Freddy replied, looking startled and worried, much to Dipper's relief. "But that would help explain my friends' strange behavior. May I ask who you are? You are not an employee authorized to work here after hours."

"Right, I'm Mason Pines, my brother is Mike Pines," Dipper introduced. "Mike and I came here to try and find the source of the virus and stop it, but right now we're more worried about a kid that got trapped in here. Do you know where he is?"

"Don't tell him!" Gregory hissed into his Fazwatch before Freddy could respond. "I don't know if I can trust him yet."

"I trust Mike Pines, as he is the Chief Engineer and is responsible for keeping me and my friends safe and functioning," Freddy messaged back, Helpy nodding in agreement. "And I'm sure we can trust his brother as well, but I will honor your wishes."

"I have heard of you Mr. Pines," Freddy replied out loud. "Chief Pines has spoken of you often and congratulations on your recent engagement. Unfortunately, Gregory has asked that I not reveal his current location to you at this time."

Gregory couldn't help but facepalm at how easily Freddy gave his name away.

"Is he safe at least?" Dipper asked instead. "Are you sure that nothing else can get to him?"

"I assure you that he is quite safe in his current hiding spot," Freddy said confidently. "And I would know immediately if that were to change."

"Okay… okay…" Dipper sighed, running a hand over his face in frustration. "That's comforting at least, but still not ideal. This…Gregory seems to trust you, Freddy… is there any way you can convince him to at least talk to us? It'll be a lot easier to protect him if we could get some sort of truce between us."

"I can certainly attempt to fulfill your request," Freddy nodded.

"Ask him about the dancing rabbit lady," Gregory instructed. "I want to see his reaction."

"Gregory has asked if you know about the rabbit lady," Freddy repeated. "I'm unsure who exactly he is referring to, but I believe him when he says she's dangerous."

"I don't know anything about her but that does remind me…" Dipper said, tapping his Fazwatch. He decided to forgo the message and just called Mike directly.

"Hey Dipper," Mike's voice came through the Fazwatch for the whole group to hear. "Is something wrong? Did you find the kid?"

"Sort of," Dipper replied, glancing at Freddy. "I don't know his exact location yet, but I have a way to contact him and I know he's safe right now. But why I'm actually calling because I saw a strange figure that looked like a female rabbit. The last I saw her she was heading your way."

"Wait, a rabbit?" Mike asked, sounding a lot more alert and intense. "Rabbits are usually-"

"Are you having fun yet?"

The creepy female voice interrupted whatever Mike had been saying before there was the sound of metal striking metal.

"I'm going to have to call you back," Mike said before the connection cut off.

"Mike!" Dipper couldn't help but shout in worry, glancing between the watch and Freddy. "Just stay right there Freddy. I need to check on Mike. Try and convince Gregory to meet with us while we take care of this."

Dipper then ran towards the daycare balcony to get a view of the fight that was taking place below.

"What do you want to do Superstar?" Freddy asked. "This is probably the best time for us to leave without their notice, but I do hope you're willing to give Chief Pines and his brother a chance. I'll leave the choice to you though Gregory."

"I… I want you to follow him for now," Gregory decided after thinking about it. "Maybe we can reach some sort of truce."

"I'm glad you've decided to trust them," Freddy said in relief as he began heading toward Dipper's location. Gregory didn't bother to tell the bear that he hadn't decided to trust them and probably wouldn't. He just figured that if they were against the creepy rabbit lady, then they could at least work together until he could escape this place. Soon Freddy joined Dipper on the balcony, giving a clear view of the situation below.

Mike had been busy trying to isolate the virus when Dipper called and had only been paying half attention to the conversation until his brother had mentioned a strange rabbit figure. William's entire killing career had been linked to rabbit costumes, so someone else using the same theme in this place of all places pretty much guaranteed that they had a connection with Willam. When the voice came behind him, Mike reacted instantly, barely bringing up his animatronic arm in time to take the knife blow aimed at his back.

"Now who might you be…" Mike wondered out loud after he hung up on Dipper. The costume was obviously homemade and not very skillfully crafted either, but that didn't mean this person wasn't dangerous. Especially as Mike could see some sort of weird glitching aura around her as if someone superimposed another translucent image over the rabbit girl. He couldn't get a very good look at what the other image might be, as it kept fading in and out of Mike's sight for some reason, but something about it just triggered all sorts of alarm bells in his mind.

Mike shoved his arm forward to make the rabbit lady stumble back and used the opportunity to retreat a bit to get some distance between them. Sure she didn't look very tough, despite the weird aura, but Mike knew better than to underestimate someone working with William. Especially if that someone already seemed to be touched by the supernatural in some way.

"You can call me Vanny," the rabbit introduced with a sinister giggle. "I must say it's nice to meet you MICHAEL."

Vanny's voice gained a strange distortion as she said his name, almost like another person was using her voice at that moment. And the emphasis she had placed on Mike's name clearly implied that she knew exactly who Mike was and his connection to Willam. Vanny lunged at Mike again, knife held high, but Mike easily dodged the attack with minimal effort.

But then Vanny seemed to just vanish from Mike's sight. Mike blinked in surprise before whipping his head around to find her. She was suddenly right next to him and only his years of fighting experience allowed him to redirect her knife strike, making it go from a dangerous stab to his ribs to a only mildly deep cut across the chest. Mike used his wires to pull himself up onto a play structure to buy himself some time to process what just happened.

"Running away already?" Vanny taunted, twirling the bloody knife. "I heard you were a fighter, or are you scared?"

"Believe me, I've seen a lot scarier things than you," Mike snorted, placing a hand on his wound to help stop the bleeding. He wasn't too worried about it as he had had far worse, but the vanishing trick was a cause for concern. He tried to keep an eye on her only for her to vanish again. Quickly turning his head to get her back in sight Mike had the terrifying realization that his animatronic eye was not registering her at all. He had an unexpected blind spot now, one that Vanny somehow knew about and was taking full advantage of.

Despite Mike's best efforts, Vanny was able to use his blind spot to get in close and try and deliver a few more blows. Having his animatronic eye unable to see her also had the unfortunate side effect of throwing off his depth perception when it came to her, turning what should have been an easy one sided fight in Mike's favor into something now more tilted to Vanny's advantage. She managed to slip through his defenses and deliver a strong stab to one of his knees, somehow knowing how to slip the blade between the metal plates hidden by his jeans to the more delicate parts and wires underneath. Error messages flashed across Mike's vision as he lost function in that leg and he collapsed onto the top of the play structure.

"Now MICHAEL… there's someone that's very eager to see you again," Vanny informed, her eyes glowing brighter whenever her voice distorted and the aura grew bigger. "So you can come willingly… or I can make you."

"Repellere!" Dipper shouted from the balcony, holding out his hand towards Vanny. His eyes, birthmark, and the circle on the back of his glove all briefly glowed bright blue as magic flowed through him, the spell knocking Vanny away from Mike and off the play structure.

"We'll… that was interesting," Vanny commented as she rose back to her feet. "I guess our playtime is over for now. I'll be seeing you soon."

With that declaration, Vanny messed with something in her bow tie, causing a high-pitched wine to be heard. Mike and Dipper instantly covered their ears as the noise gave them a splitting headache and made them both feel nauseous. Gregory was shielded from the worst of the effects by being in Freddy's stomach, only getting a mild headache himself.

"Mr. Pines are you alright?" Freddy asked in concern as Dipper clutched his head in pain. The animatronic did a scan to see if he could find out what was wrong, but the results came up empty. It was only once Vanny left the area unseen by everyone that the others finally felt relief.

"I'm glad you seem to have recovered from whatever ailed you," Freddy said as Dipper straightened up. "Do you know what caused you to feel unwell?"

"Not exactly," Dipper replied, massaging the last of his headache away. "Can you make sure Gregory is still safe? I need to check on Mike. It looked like he got hurt."

"I am positive that Gregory is still safe," Freddy assured. "I can accompany you in helping Chief Pines."

"Okay," Dipper nodded, motioning the bear to follow him. "Let's get down there then."

The two (three) of them began walking down the stairs and entered the main daycare area.