"H-Huh? Where am I... h-hello? Is anyone here?" Lily asked as she took a few paces around this dark environment.
"Of course someone is here, girl," Another deeper voice replied, as Lily turned towards it.
The figure glowed eerily as their outer frame was a little translucent, while their glaring hazel green orbs blazed with fury through her bangs. Her brown hair was long with a black bow on top of her head, and her nails were long and black. Lily's eyes quickly fell upon the lab coat this spirit wore, and the pieces fell into place.
"... You must be Baylee. I'm Lily. I do apologize for wearing the suit. I didn't realize you possessed it. I... Is it safe to assume you were killed and put into a suit? Without your friends out there knowing?" Lily asked as gently as she could to not anger her too much with her questions.
To Lily's surprise, Baylee's expression grew from fury to tears as she cried out,
"Those scoundrel higher ups shot me! They shot me and hid me in the cat suit just because I realized they were traitors to the boss! And my friends? Ha! They... they... they didn't even recognize me... they were too scared of me... I was always the bravest of the lot but... I was alone at the time and I didn't think they'd just shoot me right there once I found out... I'm just so ANGRY!"
Baylee wailed in pain and rage, as Lily watched her a while longer before carefully approaching her.
"... I'm very sorry for what happened to you, Baylee. That must have been really hard to go through," Lily said as she slowly placed her hand on the spirit's shoulder.
"It sucked! It was the worst thing ever... I'm freaking dead, not at peace, and still being shot in the heart... Ehem! Heck... I don't usually like getting emotional in front of people, but you seem pretty trustworthy, I can sense it more somehow..." Baylee rubbed her eyes the best she could.
"Being angry is one thing. You have the right to be. But to hurt others from it, especially your friends, isn't fair to them," Lily said.
"Yeah... and I didn't realize how little they knew. They probably didn't know I was dead or didn't believe it... sigh... I'm sorry, Lily. I was being very stubborn and put you in danger, and almost made you help me hurt my... friends, " Baylee said as she sniffled and smoothed out her clothes.
"Thank you, Baylee. I appreciate that. Though I would appreciate more not to be held captive in your suit too," Lily said.
"Ah, yeah, right. I'll uhh release you, but I think your friends might try to beat me up. They are your friends right? I'm sorry, I was asleep and woke up to find you walking around with my suit so I got all panicked," Baylee said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"I see, I see. Don't worry about it, Baylee. Let me talk to my friends before you let me go. Is there a way my head can at least be shown? So they can see me?" Lily asked.
"Yes of course. I can do that. I'm processing all the abilities, limitations, and functionality of the suit so I'll know everything about it," Baylee replied.
"That's good. It's best to know yourself, especially in these unfortunate circumstances... and may I ask, where are we?" Lily asked.
"Oh, you're in the soul room of the suit. I'm surprised you were able to come here so easy, but then again, you aren't necessarily normal. That kind of made me on edge too, but calming down a bit I can see that you are indeed trustworthy," Baylee replied.
"Soul room? Huh... Considering what this place is, maybe I was able to because I had an incident where I kind of... momentarily died...?" Lily said as she rubbed the back of her neck while Baylee's ghostly eyes widened.
"... Okay I'm sure we can talk about that later, but right now we should probably go back. Now that I know what I know, I'm going to find the higher ups and shoot them straight up the -" Baylee was cut off by Lily who said,
"An internal conflict may be advantageous to us... do you think we can work out an arrangement, Baylee?"
"Hmm. I suppose so. Better a team then a one. I learned that lesson too well... though I need time to adjust to this form a bit, and... I wouldn't mind some time to talk to my friends. There's a lot we'll need to discuss," Baylee replied.
"Fair enough. I hope we can be friends too," Lily stuck her hand towards her.
"I agree, Lily," Baylee said as she took her hand and shook it.
A light blinded them for moment, and then Lily blinked a few times to realize she was back in the suit and that Black Cat stopped screaming. The others weren't sure how to react or to react too quickly, so they watched for a moment longer.
'Alright Lily. Take over,' Baylee's voice spoke to Lily's mind, and she retracted her arms back in place from the walls.
Lily turned towards the others and the front face of the suit rose up to reveal hers,
"It's alright, everyone. Me and Black Cat talked things over, so we're at peace now."
The others blinked a few times and looked towards one another.
"That's it?" Mousie squeaked since she, Perry, Chica, Bonnie, and Andie came out of the vents to see what was going on.
"Yes. We talked a while, and she agreed to help us. She said she was shot by the higher ups for finding traitors among them and put in this suit before it was given over to her friends," Lily said, surprising the group, though Luka showed more anger towards it.
"That makes more sense now..." Luka commented.
"... friends?"
"... her?"
"... higher ups... shot?" The three scientists asked.
"Yes. Her name was... Baylee."
A few moments later, after Lily and Black Cat separate:
Watching the scene before them with sympathy and a few sighs, the Midnight Fighters stood by and only watched as Black Cat was being hugged by her crying friends.
"Bayleeeee!" Luannie cried out, as Black Cat gently petted her head.
"We're so sorry! We didn't knoooow!" Ralphis cried.
"Those jerks! We're so sorry, Baylee! We're idiots!" Zephin cried.
"Guys geez. If I had tears they'd be coming down," Black Cat said as her ears hung low, though her expression was muted so that her friends wouldn't feel worse.
"Let us die with you Baylee! We shouldn't be alive when you aren't!" Luannie cried, as Black Cat's ears shot up, startling Ralphis and Zephin.
"What?! Don't insult my death by not wanting to live! I wouldn't want you to freaking die! It's not great! So stop it and live! For yourself. For all of you. Live for me darn it!" Black Cat commanded with dark tears streaming down her eyes, though only her friends saw it since they were close enough.
The other animatronics were moved by her words, empathizing with them as they felt the same way about their human friends. Freddy looked towards Lily especially, as she looked towards him, and they exchanged small smiles.
"Sniff... okay, Baylee. I will live with all of my might!" Luannie shouted with a sudden strong voice that startled the others in the room.
Ralphis and Zephin shouted along with her, as Black Cat nodded in approval. She then turned towards Luka,
"Luka. I got some dirt on those bloody traitor punks I'd like you to help carve down to size. Lily there and me made a pact, and I'd like the same with you, huh."
"You got it, Baylee. We'll take them out for you... I wish I could have been there for you before," Luka said as he stretched his hand out to her.
"Hey. I appreciate that, but don't worry yourself about it. I'm just happy to see all of you and that we're all good," Black Cat said as she shook his hand.
Black Cat leaned closer to the two as she held their shoulders in a huddle, while the others watched curiously.
"Paula, Uzly, and Connor. They are the traitors," Black Cat whispered, as Luka and Lily's eyes simultaneously widened.
"... Damn. I suspected Paula and Connor from their behavior, but Uzly I didn't, and Paula was on the fence," Luka said, as Black Cat nodded.
"I don't necessarily know who those names are, but I'll be keeping a look out," Lily said.
"I'll be with you guys so I can point them out," Luka said.
"Speaking of names, the one on the phone you called earlier... her name was Megan, right?" Lily asked, and Luka nodded.
"An animatronic I met earlier was called the Se'er and he wanted me to give her a message... it was the last thing he wanted me to tell her," Lily said.
Black Cat and Luka were a little surprised to know that Lily had met the Se'er as their expressions showed.
"How could you guys have even reached him? He has eyes everywhere. Even outside and in the vents," Black Cat said.
"H-Huh? He did? That... didn't seem like the case since we did get in," Lily said.
"... He might have trusted you enough to let you guys in. He usually locks down the place if people he doesn't recognize come too close," Luka said.
"But shouldn't he have closed it anyway?" Black Cat asked him.
"He would... unless... I can only assume Angela or A.3 had something to do with that," Luka concluded.
"I wouldn't be surprised. Angela and A.3 has been helping us, though not as much recently since they don't want anyone to know yet," Lily said.
"Fair enough. I trust Miss Angela. Especially since she'll chop me in half if I didn't," Black Cat said.
"Angela is my friend so I definitely trust her. And I'm sure she is using her authority as a head to get what she needs," Luka said.
"A head? Angela is one of the higher ups?" Lily asked.
"She is the most independent of the supervisors and even her locations are the same way. Everyone knows to watch out for that mad lady... I'm not even sure if she's human half the time. More like a demon human hybrid of some sort," Black Cat said.
"Heh. Now Bay, let's not get dramatic about Angela," Luka chuckled.
"Well anyway. We are all in agreement. So watch your backs and I'll be seeing you guys later once my friends are safe and far away from this," Black Cat said, and the two nodded their heads towards her.
They broke from the huddle, as the Black Cat returned besides the scientists, while Lily and Luka stood besides the other Midnight Fighters.
"We'll see you later, Bay. And guys, take care of yourselves okay?" Luka said, and the scientists nodded with smiles towards him.
"Just one more thing, call me Black Cat from now on. It's better that way they don't know who filled you in," Black Cat said to all of them, and Luka and Lily nodded along with the others.
"It was nice to meet you all! Glad we're all on good terms and alive," Luannie said with a wave.
"Best wishes to you all on your mission! Take care!" Ralphis said with a nod.
"Be careful, and kick those jerks down their pedestals of betrayal!" Zephis said with a bow of his head.
"We will. You three take care as well. We'll be seeing you later, Black Cat," Lily said with a wave.
"Yeah. See you all later. Come on guys. Let's get you three somewhere safer and away from here," Black Cat said, and lead the scientists out as they quickly followed her out.
"Phew, okay. This got a bit more complicated now with traitors," Luka said as he rubbed his face to ease the bit of stress he felt.
"Seems like this organization is starting to divide on the inside. So the traitors are part of the higher ups, right?" Ethan asked.
"Yes. Uzly is strong and brash, and Connor is sly and manipulative. Paula is secretive but very abrupt so it was more obvious to me she was up to something. Though I'm sure she's upset with you guys since she owned one of the places you guys ended up getting closed down," Luka said, as the others looked towards one another.
"Ooof, so she's our problem too. Along with the other traitors apparently," Andie said.
"Looks like we'll just have to keep pressing on and growing our group to be ready for the traitors and the organization we're trying to stop," Ethan said.
"Well at least we have good allies already with double A batteries and Luka here," Mike said as the other nodded, though some of them raised a brow on his nickname for Angela and A.3.
"And at least we all got out of this place all in one piece. Better to reserve our resources as much as possible for the upcoming upheaval since we're getting closer to enemy territory and all," Sarah commented.
"Oh yeah. We should get you guys some training. I have a place more isolated near my home country we can practice and all. We can raise our offense, and I might be able to get some supplies I have there for all of you guys to use for upgrades," Luka said as he looked towards the humans and then the animatronics.
"That sounds promising! We need to be as prepared and as strong as possible," Andie said, and the others nodded towards her.
"Though first we need to help you attend that meeting. A deal's a deal. You helped us out with getting to this lab and even freeing the scientists along with Black Cat as an ally, so we'll return the favor by helping you," Lily said to Luka.
"That's right. You followed through, so we'll do the same," Freddy said with a nod towards Lily.
Luka smiled and bowed his head as he said, "Thank you, and I'm glad to help. I always keep my word and I'm glad it was for you guys."
"And we'll keep our word too. Welcome to the team, Luka," Ethan said as he offered his hand, and Luka shook it as the guys nodded towards one another.
"We should be on our way then. Who knows who may be comin' here since they are gone," Foxy said.
"He's right! We can't stay here after all that happened. Those upper heads might come here once they know what happened," Chica said.
"Let's go then! Come on!" Mousie said as she headed to the exit to hold open the door while everyone shuffled out.
"I don't think all of us would be welcomed to that meeting though," Bonnie said.
"Yes, only certain animatronics have access there, but I can bring at least two guests with me," Luka said.
"Guests huh? Is this really a meeting or a party?" Dog asked.
"It's kind of both. A customary thing to have a party to break the ice and then talk business afterward. I can go in because the host is my friend and he always allows me to. You guys we can have as back up, and a computer system for the files we need with the data of the other locations," Luka replied.
"That would set us up perfectly! Even places to avoid if we need to! Bwark!" Perry said.
"Exactly. Let's get to a safe place now and we can go over it later," Luka said, and the others agreed.
The Midnight Fighters left the underground location as they headed to their base to rest and prepare to go to the meeting. Meanwhile, in the underground lab, certain toy animatronics had made certain no trace of them would be found and that certain documents were copied and kept while others were erased. Their mission was a very secretive one given by Angela, as they did so in each location with the help of one from the Midnight Fighters who kept them updated on their whereabouts.
Within the main meeting room everyone else was gathered and talking, as they awaited Luka, Ethan, and Mike who were finalizing the plan in the other room. After a little while, the three guys walked in set their maps and laptop on the table in the center of the room.
"Alright everyone, we got everything in order so we can execute the plan on the day of the meeting," Ethan said.
"So what will we be doing then?" Freddy asked.
"I'll let Luka explain that part," Ethan said as he gestured towards him.
"Thank you. I will now explain how this is going to work, we're going to divide into teams and each of us will play our parts to extract the information from the party and avoid as much exposure as possible until we complete our mission," Luka said, and began to relay the plan as everyone listened carefully to him.
Woo! Okay, next chapter tomorrow.