"You are in so much trouble, Mira!" The blonde guard snapped at the startled girl currently sharing the elevator with her. She opened her mouth in an attempt to protest, but was cut off. "That's right, I know your name. I'll bet you think you're real clever, don't you? Sneaking all over the complex after hours, and wasting my time giving me the run around! What do you have to say for yourself?" she lectured.
"Me? It's your fault I got stuck in here in the first place! You're the psycho who jumped me in the bathroom wearing that freaky bunny mask! What, were you planning on hacking me up and selling my parts on the black market?"
"A bunny mask? What the hell are you talking about? I would never do such a thing, and I don't appreciate the accusations, young lady! Making up stories isn't going to get you off the hook! Now, where is Freddy?" she suddenly demanded.
"W-why would I know where Freddy is?" Mirabelle tried acting confused at the idea.
"Because, he's been missing since I tried telling him to go back to his room. Also, I know you were in there earlier tonight, and to top it all off, I found this!" the blonde guard exclaimed, shoving an empty vodka bottle in the girl's face. "Did you and your little friends think it would be fun partying it up with Freddy in his green room, or something?" she pressed.
"What?! That isn't mine!" Mirabelle argued indignantly, having no problem sounding sincere this time in her legitimate surprise.
"Do you really expect me to believe that considering where and how I just caught you?" she scoffed back, as the doors to the lift opened behind her, indicating that they'd reached the lower floor. "If I were you, I'd think very carefully about what I'd do next. Things are not looking good for you," she threatened, snatching up Mirabelle's arm before roughly escorting her out of the elevator.
"Hey! Where do you think you're taking me?!" Mirabelle demanded, pulling her arm out of the grip.
What she didn't expect was for the guard to instantly retaliate, knocking her to the ground and slapping a pair of hand cuffs onto her wrists behind her back. She'd apparently had some decent training as an officer, even if it was just for a mall job.
"Wha–! What are you – you can't do this!" she protested.
"I absolutely can! I have plenty of probable cause," she reasoned, hoisting the girl to her feet. "Now, you'd better stop resisting or things are going to get a whole lot worse!" she added to the previous threat. "I'm going to take you to the Lost and Found where you can wait until your parents or the police arrive. Then they can sort it out from there," she told her, yanking her along.
Mirabelle realized at this point that she might have been onto something about not resisting. After all, if she did, this psycho lady was just going to keep pursuing her. Also, if there was any chance she was telling the truth, she wanted to find out for sure! That didn't mean she had to make it easy, though. And if things really did start to turn ugly, it would be a very simple matter for her to get out of the cuffs and make a break for it.
"Great! Awesome! Can't wait for the cops to arrive. I'll tell them everything! Then my dad is gonna sue the pants off this place, and you! He's got a really good lawyer! It'll be years before they can reopen and you'll be in jail! You hear me!" she lobbed expletives at the guard, who surprisingly remained unphased.
"We'll see about that," was all the response she offered, scanning a badge at a door labeled: Lost and Found, before pushing her inside. "Now, be a good girl and give me your parents number so I can call them," she ordered.
"I can't!" Mirabelle barked out a skeptical laugh.
"What do you mean?" she wondered, just as dubiously.
"I don't have them memorized, and I seem to no longer be in possession of my phone, because – oh, that's right – you stole it!" she hollered at her. "So, you could just get the numbers yourself if you manage to hack it!" she reasoned.
"I'm getting really sick of your lies! I'm not sure what your problem is, but I'm just going to let the police handle it as soon as I call and tell them to come pick you up," the blonde glowered at her before turning to leave.
"My problem?! You're the one going around kidnapping people! And why aren't you asking the real questions, huh? Like, why are all the animatronics freaking out and trying to kill me? Hey! Are you listening?!" Mirabelle was attempting to holler after her retreating form, but it was clear she was done giving her any more attention. She slammed the door shut, leaving the girl alone in the locked room.
"Jeeze, what a bitch!" Mirabelle mumbled, but then her scowl shifted into a smirk.
With very little effort, she pulled at the cuffs until she snapped the chain apart like it was made of cheap plastic, before tearing the bands off and dropping them to the floor. That had been easy enough. Now it was just a matter of finding a way out of here.
Just for kicks and giggles, she decided to try her newest badge on the door scanner. It just flashed red and made the now, all too familiar, error sound. Because, of course it did! So instead, she decided to scan the room for a – yep, there it was in the corner. Yet another conveniently placed vent.
Mirabelle was just about to duck down to pull off the grate, when movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She glanced up at the window and immediately froze! Standing there, staring in at her with that same unsettling grin, was the bunny mask!
For a moment, she could only watch in dread as it slowly lifted one of it's costumed arms and waved at her. It then slid to the side in front of the door and out of view.
Oh, this was all the nope! Did this security guard chick just get some kind of sick pleasure in stalking her victims in that creepy suit before she hacked them to pieces? Well, not today!
Grabbing the metal folding chair in front of the desk, she quickly extended it to it's full length and proceeded to jam it between the door handle and the floor as hard as she could. The frame bent a bit in the process, guaranteeing that door would not open without excessive force! However, that didn't stop them from trying, then pounding when they realized the door wouldn't budge.
Even so, Mirabelle wasn't planning on sticking around to find out what happened next! She rapidly yanked off the grate and dove into the vent, again. Man! She was seriously starting to feel like Amanda Ripley, which gave her the distinct impression that she probably shouldn't try hiding in any lockers. . .
After popping out the other side, she glanced around before blowing out a weary sigh. She was right back where she started! Well, it couldn't be helped. All she could think to do now was regroup and try and come up with a new plan. Not seeing any hostels in the immediate vicinity, Mirabelle made a mad dash for the lift to the main atrium. First order of business was to figure out where Freddy had gone off to. Once secure in the elevator, she attempted to reach out to him.
"Hey, Freddy? You there? I managed to lose the –" She was interrupted by the sound of his very garbled voice just barely coming through the watch.
"M-M-Mira? MM-Mira?" he seemed to be calling her name.
"Uh, is everything alright? It sounds like there's a lot of interference," she mentioned.
"If you g-get this m-m-message, come to the Roxy Raceway-way on the s-second floor. Someth-thing is j-jamming my communica-cations signal. I-I think it m-m-might be co-coming from h-here. C-come to the R-Roxy Raceway–" the message then abruptly cut off.
What on earth? Something jamming his signal? Wasn't he supposed to be at a recharging station by now? Guess if she wanted to know for sure, there was only one way to find out.
. . .
Mirabelle searched high and low throughout the entire go-kart area, but couldn't find so much as a missing screw from the animatronic bear. She frowned as she stood next to one of the spectator benches, wondering where she should go from here.
Had she heard wrong? No, she was absolutely positive he'd said Roxy Raceway. In fact, he'd even said it twice. He had to be here, somewhere.
She considered trying the watch again, despite what he'd said about the jammed signal, but then she noticed it. One of the doors that appeared to lead into a back area was suspiciously propped open about an inch or two. She pushed her way through it, only to find said bear sprawled out on the floor, looking a bit worn and twitching distressingly.
Mirabelle let out a gasp at the condition she found him in, immediately rushing over to kneel by his side!
"Freddy! Ohmygosh! What happened? A-are, are you going to be okay?!" she frantically asked him.
Only, instead of seeming particularly troubled by his current state, he simply flashed a soft smile up at her.
"Well, this is a s-surprise. You are s-sounding strangely c-concerned over a big p-pile of lights and wires," he managed to say in a teasing tone, despite the wear and obvious lack of power.
"I – I just –" Mirabelle found herself struggling to respond, wracking her brain for a plausible explanation for her previous reaction.
"I just – wanted to make sure you were repairable. You know, so I don't get blamed for causing any more issues," she waved a hand over him, but didn't sound as convicted as she hoped.
"If you s-say so," the glitching bear answered placatingly, still giving her that infuriating smile.
She growled and looked away in embarrassment, absolutely not wanting to admit that he was right, but it was already too late. That knowing look in his eyes told her that no matter what she said, he wasn't going to believe her.
"Alright, fine! I was concerned, okay?" She finally just snapped out. "But since you're able to make jokes, I'm guessing that means you're not that badly damaged," she added in a mutter.
His grin widened as his gaze softened even more, if that was possible.
"I'm h-happy to hear that. I was so-o w-worried about you t-t-too, when I h-heard Vanessa-sa had c-caught you. I w-w-wanted to make s-sure y-y-you were o-okay, s-so I d-didn't make it to the r-r-recharge station," he admitted, looking a little sheepish. "But, I'm v-very glad to s-s-see that you are s-safe," he told her, reaching out and taking one of her hands in his.
Surprisingly, she didn't resist, but instead tightened her grip. Although she found she couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she told him flatly. "But, what about you?" she stressed. "I told you, you could trust me! Why didn't you recharge yourself?!" she lectured.
He didn't answer, just continued to gaze up at her with a lazy smile. Part of her was glad he didn't, because she felt pretty certain that she was going to be further embarrassed by the answer!
"Well, there's no point in worrying about it now," she continued quickly. "Tell me what you need. What can I do to help?" she offered.
"I think something is w-w-wrong. I need to get down to parts and service-s-s-s," he managed to tell her.
"Clearly! So, how do we get there?" she asked.
"It is down under the main s-stage. Normally, the stage lift-t takes me d-d-down there after every c-concert. That is really the only way I know h-h-h-how," he explained.
"Oh, right. I remember you guys coming up from there during the concert. But, let me guess, I'm gonna need some kinda pass in order to access it," she commented dubiously.
"Y-you are c-c-correct. Use that-t-t door b-behind me-me-me. It will take you to the rehe-hearsal room on the other side of the building-ng-ng-ng. Look f-f-for a Backstage Pass. T-then you're going to h-h-have to f-find a way to t-turn on the lift-t," he elaborated for her.
"Okay, assuming I can manage to do all that, but then, how are we gonna get you to the lift?" she wondered.
"I w-will shut down-n-n to try and conserve p-power. Good luck, princess-s. Entering rest mode. . ." the word dragging out as he powered down.
"Wait! Freddy! What about you? Is it okay to just leave you –? Freddy!" she tried calling after him, but it was already too late. The lights in his eyes went out as he lay limp on the floor.
"Well, that's just perfect," she muttered, getting to her feet.
On the very small, bright side, after poking around the room for several minutes, she managed to find a tarp that she could use to at least cover him up. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances. At least it made her feel better that he wasn't so exposed.
She headed through the door to find what appeared to be some kind of warehouse/construction area. It was crazy how huge this place was, and seemed to be getting bigger all the time. What did they need all this additional equipment for, anyway? The place was finished, wasn't it? Or were they still planning to expand? Either way, the amount of rooms she ended up finding felt, excessive.
Eventually, the narrow hall opened up into a larger area that reminded her of the gym at her high school. Complete with stacks of folding chairs and a small stage at one end. This must be the rehearsal room Freddy had mentioned.
Again, why robots needed to rehearse was still a mystery to her, but she supposed it could be useful for stage testing during open hours. It could also be possible that they planned to have actual human participation in part, or even whole, human-only shows. But going back to the question at hand, where would they keep the Backstage Passes?
There was an unlabeled, locked case at the back of the room that just seemed to require a combination code. It didn't appear to be hooked up to any kind of alarms this time, which was a relief. So, making quick work of the lock, Mirabelle managed to pop it open and add one of the passes to her growing collection. No problem. According to Freddy, this should give her access to the stage lift controls.
Another conveniently located sign in the hall of Rockstar Row told her exactly where she needed to go. TO STAGE CONTROLS – AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
It felt nice to actually be authorized for once, as the door slid open for her. Climbing the stairs put her in a room filled to the brim with screens and fancy office chairs. Along one wall was an entire section of control panels with more knobs and buttons than Mirabelle had ever seen in her life! She couldn't believe it took this much to run the stage shows.
"This is so cool! It's like command central up here," she commented to herself.
Looking over the panels, she realized she couldn't make heads or tails of anything she was seeing. Which was a shame, because if anything up here could control the rest of the animatronics, then that could have been really useful. As it stood, however, the best she could do was collect an important looking CD sitting in the middle of the massive set up that had, Showtime Performance Disk, printed across it.
It seemed kind of old school, but she supposed a lot of large machines like this operated that way. The truly unfortunate fact was that, no matter how hard she hunted, she couldn't find anything along the massive console that hinted at controlling the lift. She thought she remembered seeing a sound booth while they had been walking through the main atrium earlier. Perhaps they'd have better luck finding elevator controls from there?
Either way, there really wasn't much more she'd be able to do from here. Guess it was time to head back to Freddy. She was about to step out the door and back the way she came, when the largest monitors on either side of the room suddenly flickered to life. What she saw were the other animatronics outside of the doors, stalking around and attempting to open them. Which meant the cameras connected to those screens were probably motion activated.
Something she'd done must have brought them here. However, Mirabelle was seriously not in the mood for a round two. If they wanted in this room so badly, then they were welcome to it! In the meantime, she decided that it was time to pull a ninja vanish, and the handily located grate in the floor was going to help her do it. After all, if it ain't broke. . .
Pulling it off, she jumped down the newly created hole, still holding the metal cover above her so that it would replace itself as she did so. She let go and landed on the ground below just in time to hear the other robots break into the room above. Mirabelle made sure to move out of sight in case one of them stepped over the grate. After a lot of tromping around, she heard Roxy growl in frustration at finding nothing.
"Keep searching. She can't hide forever," she ordered.
Who said anything about hiding? Mirabelle thought to herself with a new level of assurance before casually sauntering off.
. . .
Returning to the back room in Roxy Raceway, Mirabelle pulled the tarp off the unconscious bear. She stared down at his large frame puzzling on what she was supposed to do with him. He hadn't exactly given her any information on how to wake him back up, or how to fix him for that matter. She shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, weighing her options. Lacking any better alternatives, she finally realized that she was going to have to just, well, experiment.
Kneeling down, she began analyzing his – parts, starting with the head. She ran her hands over his, uh, casing, looking for anything that could be considered a control mechanism. Despite him being essentially turned off, and just a robot, Mirabelle still found herself visibly cringing as she searched.
This felt wildly wrong, like she should have gotten consent or something first! She realized it was because she needed to stop thinking of him as a person. However, that seemed to be getting increasingly harder to do the more time she spent with him. Too bad she didn't have access to some kind of manual. That could have been significantly useful.
She eventually discovered that the separate metal plates on his chest actually opened up into some kind of internal cavity. Finding the large, hollow space somewhat puzzling, she could only hope that its intended purpose was for transportation of party favors and the like. Considering any other alternatives, ended up leading down a much more disturbing path.
Pushing the dark train of thought out of her head, Mirabelle refocused on the task at hand. She felt around inside of him, until eventually she bumped into something that offered resistance on the upper wall of the chest. She ducked her head in and shined her light onto it, to find a switch that seemed to resemble a type of circuit breaker. Thinking this could definitely do the trick, she flipped it down and then back up to what she assumed was the 'on' position.
A second later, and Freddy magically began to power back on, his internal mechanisms smoothly whirring to life. Mirabelle scooted herself back as his chest compartment automatically reclosed itself, and Freddy blinked back into consciousness.
"Mira? What did you do?" he wondered at her, slowly managing to push himself up to a sitting position. "Something happened. I can communicate again. I think you fixed my signal! Thank you," he told her pleasantly.
"I – I think I rebooted you," she admitted. "I'm, glad to hear it helped," she added awkwardly.
"Oh, did you manage to make it backstage? What did you find?" he wondered anxiously. She nodded in confirmation.
"But, I didn't find any lift controls. This was the only useful thing I could grab from that room," she pulled out and flashed him the CD.
"That is a program disk for the stage show. If you use it in the sound booth, you should be able to run a showtime program which will activate the lift," he told her, sounding rather pleased.
"Good! I was hoping that might be the case," she confessed.
"Would you mind, helping me get there? I am not sure if I can make it on my own," he admitted, staring off to the side and looking a bit shamefaced.
"O-of course! That won't be a problem," she quickly assured him, rising to her feet. She offered him a hand, which he took, before she helped pull him upright. Placing an arm around her shoulder, he braced himself against her to make sure he would stay that way.
"I was honestly a little worried on how we were going to get you to the lift," she mentioned, as they began to slowly make their way down the corridor, Freddy hobbling along. "I thought you didn't have enough power to stand?" she questioned, sounding a bit skeptical.
"Consider it a, 'second wind'," he told her smartly.
"Didn't know robots could get those," she commented offhand.
"Perhaps they simply never had a reason to," he shot back almost as quickly, giving her a knowing smile.
Despite the awkward feelings the declaration stirred, Mirabelle couldn't help but be impressed at his insightfulness. He was starting to get rather adept at picking up on her nuance. She realized she would probably need to be more careful about what she said to him from now on.
Until the next time, Bye Bye!