Chapter Eleven

Broken Repairs

Gregory lifted his head with a quiet groan. Red light seeped through their surroundings from a red bulb on a concrete pillar some distance away. The rancid smell of food and garbage assaulted him. He pulled himself to his feet, wincing at newly acquired bruises and probably a broken bone or something.

Gregory brushed off his hoodie, snatched his hat, and turned on his flashlight. Laying before him, broken and mangled, was Chica. Her beak lay a few feet away. The shell on her neck split open as well as the cracks and large hole in her chest. Her left arm had hardly any casing on it at all. Gregory barely needed to move to see her voice box.

Gregory pulled his hand back. Chica never insulted him and didn't threaten him in any way. Freddy seemed to like her, though he also seemed to like everyone. He grabbed and gently pulled out her once crooked voice box. The boy grabbed her beak for good measure. She would probably want that back to talk, after all. Did they even need their mouths to talk?

Whatever; he was holding it right now and that's what mattered.

Gregory huffed and checked on her. Some signals of "life" still crackled within her. He stepped back and raised his watch. "Hey, Freddy?"

"Hello, Gregory! Has something happened?"

"Yeah. Um, Chica got hurt. I need to take her back to get her fixed."

"Chica? Oh no! What happened?"

"She, uh, fell. In the garbage compactor." Technically not a lie, right?

"I will be there promptly. Do not move."

Freddy gasped and ran up to Chica as soon as he saw her. When she didn't immediately respond, he started to panic before stopping himself. Gregory reflected on how easy it would have been to just leave her and not say a thing to Freddy. It would have been way easier to take her voice box and leave her. But he doubted Freddy would have liked that, much less whatever lie Gregory would have told him. Ironically, it probably would have been "there was an accident" or "she fell" or something.

Freddy carried her back to Parts and Service and carefully pulled her into the protective cylinder. She croaked and the light returned to her eyes as she moved her head. A weird static-y noise came out rather than words.

"It is me, Freddy," Freddy replied. "You will be okay."

Chica coughed out static and her head twitched violently.

The computer made her fall still. Freddy backed out.

Gregory approached the computer terminal. "Welcome to Parts and Service. Please select your desired procedure," declared the bot. A list of upgrades showed, but Gregory wasn't quite sure he wanted to upgrade Chica as much as just fix her. Gregory tried pressing the down arrow and it flipped to the next screen. The computer announced, "Preparing for the repair procedure." A pause. "You may now enter the protective cylinder."

Chica lay still and silent. She needed her neck repaired. He brought in another chest plate, but most of her shell was dented or broken in some way. There was a good amount of damage to her neck and her beak was still incredibly messy. Wouldn't all that food and garbage be bad for her system or something? He wiped it off on a cloth by the box of spare parts before taking it in.

Computer bot stated, "It seems that Chica is under the weather. We can fix that later. For right now, we can focus on her throat. To access the voice box, we must open Chica's chest cavity. Please open Chica's chest cavity."

Gregory hooked his fingers under her side and pulled. He had to stop and unlatch a few things, but the second time he got it open.

"Well done. It seems that her voice box has been disconnected. Please insert the voice box and connect the throat wires to the voice box."

Gregory set the voice box inside her throat and then reared back as a mechanical arm came in and reset its position correctly. Once the robot arm retracted, the buttons by the wires–some bent fully, others pulled taut–glowed and flashed in a few short patterns. He mimicked both patterns to reconnect the voice box. The boy was quick to mimic them, lest he forget. That's terrifying. Why did the machine have to be so pushy?

"Well done. Return the chest plate."

Gregory pulled back and reattached Chica's broken bubblegum pink chest plate.

"Commence testing phase."

The machine arms retracted. An arm with the buttons swooped down. Wordlessly, the pad flashed in different colors. Weird mechanical noises came in answer every time he pressed a button until the pattern stop flashing.

"Testing phase complete. Scanning for irregularities."

…

"Scanning complete. It seems Chica's basic security protocols have been tampered with. A report to the main office has been filed. For liability reasons, Chica will now be disconnected from the main network until further notice. Activating safety protocols."

Gregory left the protective cylinder and to the computer to complete the procedure.

So, she was disconnected from the main network. If Chica functioned well right now, then Gregory could assume the same thing was happening to Sun and Moon. After all, Freddy wasn't connected to the main network. He was put into Safe Mode. Maybe Sun and Moon needed to do that, too.

The protective cylinder opened again. Chica waited for it to open before stumbling out on crooked feet. She looked around at her surroundings, immediately catching Freddy's eye. "Freddy! What… happened?"

"What do you remember?" Freddy pressed.

Chica blinked and lowered her head a little. "I… do not know. I remember there being a cupcake and then… I woke up here?"

Freddy nodded. "That is correct. Gregory told me you fell into the garbage compactor. That must have been what knocked your voice box loose and temporarily shut down your system."

"Gregory?" Chica turned away from Freddy and blinked as if this was the first time she had ever seen the boy. "Hello, Gregory! She told me to find you. Did I… hurt you?"

Gregory shook his head. "Nope. Just chased me around. A lot."

Chica raised a broken-shelled hand to touch the underside of her beak. "Oh, I am so sorry, Gregory!"

"Why?" Gregory asked. "Why did you chase me like that?"

"I wanted to return you to your parents," she stated simply. "She told me that was the best way."

"Who's she?"

Chica started to speak and then stopped. "I don't know, actually. Do you?" She directed this at Freddy.

Freddy answered, "We think she might be Vanny. She has been chasing Gregory and tampering with our friends' programming… with your programming."

"Why did she not tamper with your programming?"

"I do not know. All I know is that Gregory needs my help, and she is a very bad person."

Chica hummed and then looked back at Gregory. "Okay, Gregory. Freddy trusts you, and you helped me. I will help you look for this Vanny lady."

"She's dressed up like a rabbit."

"A rabbit." Chica's light mood fell. "Vanny is… a rabbit?"

"Yes." Freddy dipped his head, forlorn. "But she is not him. Gregory describes her as a white rabbit lady. She is evil and must be stopped."

Chica tipped her head a little. "Haven't you seen Vanny?"

"No. I could not see her."

"If you couldn't see her…" Chica put a finger to her beak. "That means I can't see her, either." She perked up. "But I know the Pizzaplex. If she has a hide-out, I will find it." She sniffed and rubbed her beak. "Especially if she might be hiding pizza there."

Gregory chuckled. "Uh, maybe."

The lights went out.

Chica jolted. "Hide, Gregory! I-I'll see you both later. Good luck, Freddy!" With that, she turned and ran off to the elevators. She stumbled and ran with a messy gait, but she got where she needed to go. Gregory climbed inside Freddy's stomach hatch, and they walked into a charging station just outside. Eventually, the scant lights flickered back on.

Freddy said, "I am glad you were able to find a recharge station, Gregory." Do you mean the one right in front of Parts and Service?

Gregory said, "If we bring the others here, we can fix them, right? Sun doesn't want to come here because it's dark. So, we'll need to turn the lights on. Do, um…. You know how to do that?"

Freddy hummed in thought and then said aloud, "Perhaps. There could be a way to activate the lights from a control room of some sort, but I do not know how. I have never been required to turn on the lights before."

"A control room, huh?" Gregory tapped his foot. "Like the one with the garbage compactor? That looked like it controlled a bunch of stuff."

"That is a good idea! That might be it," Freddy congratulated.

"Sweet! C'mon, let's go turn on the lights."

Gregory, giggling to himself, led Freddy into Roxy's elevator.

The path back to the basement through the Sides and Salads elevator did not take long. Gregory did have to hide inside of Freddy as they moved through the atrium, what with Roxy there shouting insults and searching for him.

The control room holding the garbage compactor generator stood beside the kitchen.

The garbage compactor generator's light glowed red.

After a slow and thorough search through technology he didn't have the faintest clue what function they served, he found a grid of buttons and labels. A plate labeling the grid's function as lights overshadowed the grid. A screen between the plate and grid stated "POWER USAGE: 01/33" and "TIME UNTIL NEXT RESET: 0:36"

"BASEMENT 2:" stamped before the first row of four buttons: "PARTS AND SERVICES", "EDUCATION MAZE", "UTILITY TUNNELS", and "PARKING GARAGE".

The others all had similar labels, the rows going from the second basement all the way up to the fourth floor. All of the buttons were red, save for "DAYCARE INNER" which glowed green.

Gregory hummed to himself and put a finger to his chin. He needed to turn on the lights at least between the Daycare and Parts and Services. He should really think about what route they would need to take and–

Gregory pressed all of the buttons.

The screen counted up after each button pressed until it read "33/33". Time until the next reset ticked down by one minute.

Gregory winced as the lights around him blazed on.

He blinked rapidly and ran out of the room to meet Freddy. "I did it! Let's go find Sun!"

"Good idea!" Freddy rumbled and followed Gregory back out of the basement.

Outside, Roxy stood in the atrium, looking around at the lights. She cocked her head. "Daytime already?" she mumbled to herself. "That's not right…"

Freddy, Gregory hiding inside, walked past her and up to the elevators.

Gregory hopped out and pressed the button down. He giggled and shuffled his feet. "Finally! It's almost six AM and we're gonna fix Sun and Moon! This is gonna be great!"

"See? You have survived further than five minutes," Freddy declared. "The system will reset ten minutes prior to six AM, meaning all of the lights will turn out and the power diverted back to the charging stations."

Gregory nodded. "Gotcha. So, we have to be quick."

Gregory's socks slipped a little on the tile, but by now it didn't bother him.

He ran through the hall with the bathrooms and then the little waiting area and passed up the slide to go downstairs. Gregory stopped in front of the doors and knocked.

Sun opened the door. "Hello, Friend! Did you turn on the lights?"

"Yep!" Gregory answered with a wide grin. "Now we can go to Parts and Services! And I fixed Chica. Something made her sick and so the computer bot disconnected her from the main network. I think. That made her better. I bet we could do the same to you!"

Sun laughed. "That's great to hear! I am so happy that Chica is feeling better." His grip on the door tightened. "I am very glad that you managed to fix her!"

Gregory's smile fell. "You really don't like being there, do you?"

"Wh-what? No, I never said that! I was just happy that Chica is doing better! She is a very good animatronic. She's nice and the kids love her. I'm happy you're okay, too!"

"Okay, cool. Then let's go! It'll be six AM soon! Then I'll have to leave or something."

Sun made a noise like he cleared his throat. "Gregory, I can't leave the Daycare. Not unless a staff member tells me to."

Gregory blinked. "What? So, even though I turned on the lights, you still can't go?"

Sun shook his head. "I'm really sorry, Gregory. But I can't leave without staff permission."

Gregory hummed and put a finger to his chin. "Well, I had a security hat and a level six permission. Does that count?"

Sun stared at him for a few seconds. "No. You're not in the system. The only staff member on duty is Officer Vanessa A."

Dread filled the pit of Gregory's stomach. "You mean I have to go find her? And talk to her? That she'll help us?"

Sun nodded. "Yes. O-or! Or, uh, if you don't trust her, you could just leave and come back when the mall re-opens and talk to someone then!"

Gregory stamped his foot. "For the hundredth time, I'm not leaving you! I need to fix you and that's that." He sighed. "I'll go find Vanessa. Do you know where she is?"

Sun shook his head.

"Well, maybe I'll run into her," Gregory suggested. "She's been trying to find me all night, right? So, I guess I'll just have to let her find me."

Sun said, "I'm sure she can help you!"

"Thanks, Sun. I'll be back! I promise!"

With that, Gregory ran back the way he came, Freddy quick to his side.

Gregory asked, "Where do you think she'll be? Can't you talk to her or something? Because she works here?"

Freddy stated, "I am sorry, but no. When the maintenance team put me on limited power and put me into Safe Mode, they must have done something to my ability to communicate with Officer Vanessa. Perhaps she did not wish to fill her channel with unnecessary participants, considering I am not functioning correctly and am unable to help her locate you."

Gregory waited for Freddy to enter before pressing the elevator button. He put a finger to his chin. "Hmm. Well, that just means that someone else does, right? Chica might know where she is!"

"That is a good point!" Freddy exclaimed. "Chica may still be connected to Officer Vanessa, or at least have a communication signal."

Gregory said, "Okay, so, we'll need to get Chica's help. But, uh… I haven't been to Roxy Raceway, yet."

"It seems that you have not, no."

"I've been everywhere else. Almost," Gregory said. "I can't get into the party rooms without tickets. Maybe I'll find a ticket there? We'll need all the help we can get, you know."

"That is true," Freddy admitted. "Perhaps you may find a Party Pass there. Though, I do believe that the raceway was evacuated. People tend to leave things behind in emergencies. The salon can be accessed at a low-security level. Currently, you have a security access level of six, which will allow you into most places in the Mega Pizzaplex."

Gregory looked at the lanyard. Although the security level wasn't present on the badge, it was in his Fazwatch. Security Level Six. So, one detour to Roxy Nail Salon and then find Officer Vanessa.

The elevator door opened.

He passed up a recharge station for Freddy and one for his flashlight.

Gregory stopped just inside of the construction maze and let the shutters shut. He looked at his Fazwatch. A little orange button on the button left of the screen allowed him to call Freddy. A pink one now settled beside it.

He pressed it.

…

Thump-thump, thump, thump, thump-thump-thump-thump!

The uneven footsteps ended as the shutters opened.

Chica stumbled in and stopped in front of Gregory. Her head twitched. "Hello, Gregory! Hello, Freddy!" She waved her right hand, the one still clinging to some shell.

Freddy greeted, "Hello!"

Gregory asked, "Hey, Chica? Er, hi! Uh, do you know where Officer Vanessa is?"

"Officer Vanessa?" Chica echoed. She stared at Gregory and made a quiet whir-click noise. "Not exactly! She recently sent out a signal asking for our locations. Monty is located in the Daycare Theater. Roxy is in Roxy Raceway. I was in the main atrium, Freddy is off the grid, Moon is unavailable, and Officer Vanessa was in the West Arcade! She's been sending location update signals every thirty minutes and at the end of the hour."

Gregory echoed, "West Arcade? Where's that?"

"The third floor! You'll need a Dance Pass, though. Do you have one?" Chica asked.

Gregory shook his head. "But I have a security badge. Doesn't that count?"

"No. You'll need the ticket."

Gregory looked at Freddy. "Didn't you say there might be a ticket in the Salon?"

Freddy nodded. "I did! There may be a ticket in the salon. If not, I am sure we will find one somewhere else. Chica, do you have any spare tickets?"

"I have a Party Pass in my room!" Chica offered. "It won't act as a Dance Pass, though."

Gregory chimed in before Freddy could say anything, "That's fine. Thanks, Chica! Er, if she's checking for your signal every thirty minutes, then she must have just asked, right?"

"Yep!"

"Okay, so, she could still be there. We'll need to hurry. Thanks, Chica!"

"No problem, Gregory!" Chica chirped back. "Good luck, you two!"

"Thanks!"

"Thank you, Chica!"

Gregory and Freddy wove through the hallways created by construction fences and then stopped. A pair of shutters stood before him. However, on a branching path to the right, another pair of shutters stood. Gregory went right through unlocked shutters.

This led to an actual hallway, with red walls on the right and a desert stone pillar breaking out of the ground. Wooden beams and spiky plants guided his way. "Glamrock Salon" was scrawled in curly red letters outlined in gold on the wall.

After passing through another set of shutters, he came to a desert landscape with a road between himself and a beauty salon. One S.T.A.F.F. bot patrolled the road, barring him entry. Gregory could wait until he passed and darted across the road. However, he noticed the bot stopped near the end of the road before the bend that led further in, turned around, and kept moving. He signaled for Freddy to wait.

Gregory passed by soda machines, rocket toys, and some places he could hide within until he skirted around to the front of the Beauty Salon. Through the massive glass windows and doors, he could see a salon that looked as if it fought against a tornado and lost terribly. Chairs, boxes, and other objects were scattered about in all kinds of positions. The center bar separating two halves of the room stood, but nothing but a cash register sitting on them stayed in place. Another bot patrolled this place, driving in a circle around the inside of the salon.

Gregory took out his Fazerblaster and shot it in the face.

It stopped in its tracks with a small shiver, its light pointed aimlessly ahead. "Warning: tampering with Fazbear Automated S.T.A.F.F. will result in the suspension of your membership."

He stuck his tongue out at the thing.

Gregory skirted around it and ran to the end of the room and through the only door not labeled as a bathroom or exit.

The background was cluttered, but interestingly enough a single arcade cabinet stood. "Princess Quest" was printed on the gray machine with red trim. A gold and yellow princess with a lantern walking painted on the side of the machine. Currently, numbers and letters flashed on the screen. Next to the arcade was a dance pass, which he didn't hesitate to grab.

Freddy's voice came from his Fazwatch, "You have found a Dance Pass! That will allow you to enter the West Arcade. You may find another security pass in the security office there."

A strange feeling came over him. This thing… did not belong here. But it needed to be here.

He approached it and pressed "play." The thing didn't even ask for a coin.

The princess on the arcade cabinet appeared in a very dimly lit castle room with a few doors around it. A chest with a heart in it sat in the top corner. Gregory navigated around the place, finding some doors locked and others open. A few braziers were lit, but others were dark. Her lantern lit them. Floating, round blobs with a set of white teeth and eyes and round goopy spikes erupting from their heads floated around one place. When he got near one, it immediately latched onto her head as if trying to suck out her brain. He decided not to get near any others, not with his health that low. Why did he just have four hearts? At one point he walked down a long, walled-off carpet with a golden chest at the end. Yeah, that's a trap. A small golden key sat within. The trap activated when he left and a swarm of the black blobs–this time with more pronounced rabbit ears and goopy bipedal bodies, swarmed. They all swarmed to one side so he could go around the other. The graveyard puzzle with a whole bunch of broken gravestones with braziers that needed to be lit in a certain order was a little difficult, especially as some gravestones showed no golden dots to indicate which number they were. A golden chest was at the top of this bit of the map, though. After the gravestone puzzle was a broken room with a burning, glitchy purple chest with an even stranger burning, purple glitchy key. The door with the purple lock opened into a long, unbroken corridor. Two paths blocked by stones led away to the door. But he couldn't go there. He could only go forward… until the hallway led up into a room with an unlit brazier, which he immediately lit, a gate now barring him from leaving. An amalgamation of the goops, only in a giant form with blazing purple eyes, rose up before him. The game glitched worse and worse. Tentacles spread over the room, and it went dark, leaving only the glowing purple eyes and dots.

The game ended.

Gregory… didn't know why, but the feeling was back. This didn't belong here. Now, it no longer needed to be here.

He backed away from it, shook his head, and made his way out. Yeah, no, bye. Creepy games be darned. He had better things to do.

He did check the bathroom connected to it first. A pair of yellow shoes with red tips sat there. Blue lightning bolts took up the sides. He squeaked in victory. Shoes! Ha! Now he just had to make sure Moon didn't steal these ones, too.

Moon stole his shoes.

Gregory tipped his head back and groaned. He could have asked Sun for his shoes this entire time?!

Well, that didn't matter. He had new shoes! Ones that weren't ratty and used! Unfortunately, these ones were laced and not Velcro, but that was fine. He untied them and slid them on. He tried them again and then hopped to his feet. He shifted his feet and walked in a small circle. Way better than his old shoes! Okay, he was done. New shoes acquired. Time to leave.