Chapter Fourteen

Race to the Edge

After quite a walk through the construction zone and the security-locked gate and another ramp, Gregory found a gate with golden chains wrapped around a lock. A sign of Monty with a crossed-out circle overlayed on it sat on the fence. On a ramp right next to it was another fence, this one with a green light at the top corner and a sign of Chica with a crossed-out circle over it in the center of the fence.

Yep. This called for Chica, alright.

Gregory looked at his Fazwatch. He considered calling Freddy but didn't. The little blue and yellow circle was still there between Freddy's orange one and Chica's pink one.

He pressed the pink button.

The ground shuddered at the uneven, quick thump-thump-thumping behind him.

Chica staggered to a stop next to him. "Hello!" she trilled. "Did you find something?"

Gregory nodded. "Mhm. I need to get into Roxy Raceway, but the place is blocked off. Could you help me?"

"Oh, sure!" Chica approached the gate with the green light and a sign telling her specifically to keep out. She made a shrill, static-y noise that caused Gregory to wince. The green light flickered out. The red one glowed. She gently pushed the gate open and looked back. "There! Actually, can I go with you? I want to check on Roxy."

"Sure!" Gregory flashed a smile and walked down the crowded hall.

"Do you think…" Chica's voice trailed off.

"That we'll fix Roxy?" Gregory prompted. "Yeah."

"Um… without breaking her?"

The boy didn't look back at her. "I don't know, Chica. I don't know how else to fix her. She has to be broken to be fixed, right? You and Freddy were broken."

"Freddy was broken?" Chica echoed. "O-oh. Right. He was. He was put through Parts and Services, though. So, he should be feeling better?"

"Mhm!"

The area after the gate was open, with a round and glowing pillar and racing items. Another duffle bag sat on the ground. They had to stop to allow the shutters on their right to open.

As soon as they passed the threshold into pale red and black checkerboard tile, Roxanne's voice said, "Hey. I'm Roxanne Wolf. If you're looking for high-speed motor mayhem, Roxy Raceway is the place to be. Sign up today and be a winner! No one likes a loser."

He stepped further out onto the floor, which dropped off suddenly with a guardrail around it. Various pop-up shops lined the floor. Further out, desert and tall rock pillars rose all across the place. A giant, winding go-kart track with an overpass consumed most of the area. Construction equipment speckled the far side of the place along with the edge of the giant room. A gift shop or information registry or something sat snugly at the corner, sharing a wall with the shutters. A couple of sets of stairs led down on their immediate right, though much farther on their left was another set of stairs.

Chica gasped and whispered, "Behind me, Gregory."

Gregory ran around behind her as she indicated with one arm. Despite desperately wanting to peek out behind her, he managed to keep himself under control. Instead, he looked at his Fazwatch.

Roxy walked up the stairs to the right.

"Roxy!" Chica called and waved. "Roxy, hi!"

Roxy stopped. "Chica? What happened to you?" She crossed the small space of carpet between them in seconds and took her hand.

"I… well, it was… I'm okay," Chica stammered out. She took Roxy's hand. "Really, I'm going to be okay. I just… need a little work done!" She giggled to herself. "Oh, um… speaking of… better… I wanted to talk about G… the kid."

Her ears flicked forward. "You found him?"

"Oh! Yes! But I lost him," Chica admitted. "Somewhere in the atrium–"

Roxy raced past her. "I will find him first!"

They watched her leave. Once the doors shut, Gregory laughed, "Thanks, Chica!"

Chica looked down at him. "Did I act like that?"

"Um… I don't know," Gregory said. "You were really obsessive over finding me if that's what you're talking about. But I never actually saw you talk to anyone. You guys did sort of fight over who would get to me first, though." His voice dipped rather dramatically.

"Oh, Gregory, I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's fine!" Gregory took a step back. "I'm okay! A-and you're, um, yourself, now!"

"I am! Yeah. Heh. Um, I'm going to check on Monty. Are you okay from here?"

The boy nodded. "I'm fine."

"Nice! Good luck!" With that, Chica ran off, veering off course just a little and waving her arm to bring back balance.

Gregory walked down the stairs and to the information registry.

He entered the unlocked red door at the end of the information registry building. On the ground before a wall separating the front from the back room was a duffle bag. It said something about Roxy not liking go-karts…? No, that she kept getting in front of them.

Huh.

Gregory walked around into the back of the small building. If she's so eager to get in front of a go-kart, maybe he could just… let her.

Shelving units and lockers filled the space in the back room.

Ugh.

Boring.

Well, Gregory needed a go-kart. Surely, there would be one next to the racetrack, right? With this information in mind, he walked to the end of the room, peered out into the open space to be sure Roxy wasn't around there, and darted off for the racetrack. Plenty of it was blocked by construction equipment and tires. He passed a cutout of Helpy in racer gear with his hand up saying "You must be at least this tall to ride." Gregory passed under it.

Whatever, there weren't any adults around. He didn't need to follow any rules without an adult around to stop him!

Around a bend in a clear area sat a go-kart with a headless S.T.A.F.F. bot on it. Another cart sat further back, empty of a driver assist. He ran up to it. Yes! Roxy would probably come back soon enough, so all he needed was to wait for her and then drive out. She'd see him, get mad there was a go-kart on the track or whatever, and then jump off right in front of him! Genius plan.

Well, that was until he tried to get into it.

Freddy stated, "I am so sorry. It appears you are not tall enough to ride the karts alone. You will need a working driver-assist bot in order to use this kart."

Seriously!? Stupid safety regulations! "Can't you go with me?" Gregory asked.

"Oh, I would love to drive with you, but I am too big."

Aw. Well, the next cart had a bot! He ran up to the cart closer to the track. "Oh, man! The robot's missing its head!" He glared at the driver-assist bot, hunched forward in the back seat, headless.

He looked around, but there wasn't another bot around there. He could try the other side. So, he left the go-kart and the construction equipment to walk along the gray path below the first story. Shutters showing garages of various things sat beneath them. He investigated them but found almost nothing. There was even a small garage full of go-karts with an animatronic recharge station, but none of them had driver assists. One was missing, and the one behind it was blue with yellow stars. Outside, two lines of bright squares lined up on the path outside of the garages, all empty. More garages of go-karts lined up until the very end where a set of stairs came down from the floor above. The room at the very end was circular. A duffle bag sat in the middle of a ring of shelves.

Princess Quest 2? The one in the arcade?

He walked past more construction equipment. A red door behind an open chain link fence at the end caught his attention. Barricades barred entry to another set of stairs up. The door led into a very dark part of the building. A cement block jutted out but cut off, so he had to jump onto a grate making up the floor leading to metal stairs winding below in a square. A duffle bag sat there on the grate before the stairs. So, an old elevator was below the racetrack? And something was drawing power.

Welp, as interesting as that was, it wasn't his problem.

Gregory climbed up a couple of boxes by the cement to get back up and left the spooky darkness in search of the driver-assist head. Luckily, nestled between boxes and equipment on the other side of the stairs, was a crate labeled "DRIVER ASSIST" with two crossed checkerboard flags. A duffle bag beside him let him know there was a repair receptacle… at the dance floor? In the Starcade? What? Why? Why was this place so big and confusing?!

When he got close to the crate, the top flew open, and a driver-assist popped out. Gregory yelped and jumped back. The driver assist bot's head fell off and rolled to the ground at his feet. Gregory picked up the old thing.

"Good job," Freddy congratulated. "You have found a driver assist head. Now I believe you can use the go-kart!"

Gregory nodded and walked past the garages. So distracted was he that he hadn't noticed Roxy on the carpeted floor above the racetrack until he heard her voice. "I found you!"

He looked up as she charged toward him.

She yelped and stopped as he shot her with a Fazer blaster and then went limp. Her glowing lander eyes dimmed and stared, unseeing, at her feet. Dumb wolf. She's lucky Freddy and Chica wanted her to be okay, or Gregory would just knock her out and take her eyes.

Gregory ran through the unfortunately open ground before weaving through construction equipment to the headless bot in a go-kart. He stuck the head on the bot. For good measure, he added a helmet nearby, both to himself and the bot. There weren't any headlights on the go-kart, so he wedged his flashlight into the steering wheel.

Gregory hopped into the front seat. He tried pushing the bot's hands away from the wheel, but they stayed. Frustratingly, he still was a little short. So, he took the wheels and pressed the gas pedal, or whatever it was called on a go-kart. The shiny gold cart with a blue lightning bolt zoomed off onto the track. He heard another set of wheels on the track and looked back. Roxy stayed perched on top of the go-kart itself, balancing with both feet on the seat, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other held out. Gregory bristled and looked ahead again. So, she wasn't going to jump in front of his go-kart. Big deal, Plan B–

Roxy yelled and swiped her hand inches above his head. Gregory's go-kart jolted and something hid the track with a harsh thud behind them. He looked back to see the Driver Assist leaning back, headless. Roxy's go-kart jerked under her at the awkward shift of weight, so she slowed a little to readjust, but was soon closing in.

The boy barely spotted something on the ground–a crack. The raceway itself bent in some places and cracked in others. Keen not to get too close to Roxy, he dove right. Roxy's much heavier go-kart sank just a bit over the hole and the crack deepened a little further. "Get back here!" Roxy yelled, slowing as she regained her balance again. "You are not better than me!"

Gregory glanced behind himself once at the dent made in the track. The track made a weird noise when his tires rushed over it, but nothing inherently dangerous. Maybe being made of metal and plastic and being gigantic made one heavier.

The boy dared to get close to Roxy again, bait her into coming forward. This time her go-kart took a slightly more noticeable dip in that one and cracked the track further.

Gregory spotted the finish line ahead. How many laps had they gone?

By the look in Roxy's lavender eyes, how her head suddenly snapped forward and ears perked, he knew they were on the last lap.

Completely ignoring Gregory, she urged her little go-kart to go faster, leaning forward with her head down and jaws slightly parted, her mane and tail waving in the wind.

The boy decided to slow down a little and go directly behind her.

The racetrack gave with a terrible crrraaAACK!

Roxy screamed as her go-kart dove nose-first into the ground and threw her. She tumbled but managed to hop back on her feet, digging her nails into the ground to stop her momentum as quickly as possible.

Gregory, however, was not a ten-foot-tall neigh indestructible hunk of metal and plastic and probably would not get out of a collision unscathed. He whipped his go-kart around to avoid hers. As he felt the wheels of his go-kart leave the ground, he abandoned ship and rolled hard across the pavement. He looked up just in time to see Roxy, standing firm before him as if ready to lunge, get hit hard.

Roxy tumbled back, nearly rolling over herself completely before gravity overtook momentum and she crashed through the far wall.

She didn't get back up.

The boy pulled himself to his feet, retrieved his flashlight from the ground, and went back to investigate Roxy. He climbed off the track and onto the hole in the ground. Rubble and stone jutted inward. At the bottom, yards below the drop-off as they had hit a cavern, Roxy struggled against the go-kart pinning her savaged body to the ground. However, her hands brushed uselessly against the hull, and finally, she went limp, her head resting on the rock and jaw pointing in an awkward direction. One foot broke through the bottom. The Driver's Assistant was nowhere to be found.

Gregory, as he got closer, discovered construction equipment and boxes. He hopped his way down onto a large crate like a goat and then the ground. So, it wasn't a cavern! …why was this down here, anyway? Was it this crap that made the raceway all weak? Unfortunately, construction equipment blocked him on one side, and the door to the other end was blocked off by wood.

So… hopefully, this was going to be like Chica. Though, Chica got crushed and then spat back out so she could eventually get back up again. Roxy now had an entire go-kart on her. Gregory bent down to examine her. Roxy's eyes were loose. He, with a little bit of careful maneuvering, took them out way too easily. These eyes were way more valuable than Chica's voice box… Besides, how was he going to get her back to Parts and Services? He would at least need to try, though. Freddy wouldn't be happy with such a half-hearted effort to help his friend. Like he helped with Moon, of course.

As Gregory went to inspect the blocked door again, he heard the crunching and scraping of metal and plastic. He turned around. The mangled wreck of an animatronic wolf pulled herself free and to her feet. He turned his flashlight on her. She stared in his direction, the metal on her snout twisted into a snarl, dark holes in her broken face in place of eyes. She stalked forward, her mostly furless tail waving limply behind her.

"Roxy?" Gregory asked.

Roxy snarled and charged at Gregory, waving her hands and opening her jaws.

He jumped out of the way as she crashed through the wooden door. "I can hear you!" she warned, ears pricked. When Gregory moved, one ear swiveled toward him, and then her whole head. He barely managed another dodge as she rushed him again. Gregory darted into the claustrophobic room, around a crate piled with empty paint cans. Unfortunately, his exit was blocked by a barred-off door. She yelled again and charged him, crashing straight through the wooden slats, and opening the doorway. Rather than risk her, he spotted a broken piece of wall and crawled under it.

Gregory hid, but she found him, anyway.

He ran into the small room and then pushed through an actually functioning door, only to come face-to-face with another barred-off one and needed yet another dodge to keep from getting torn to shreds. Another break in the wall allowed him an escape, this time into a larger room with a couple of kiddie rockets amongst a wall rack of go-karts and an open-topped metal laundry-looking box.

"Where are you?" Roxy growled.

"Roxy!" Gregory called.

Roxanne snarled and turned toward him. Rather than give him the time of day, she charged.

The boy ran out of her way, allowing her to rush past him and through a barred-off doorway. This one led into a room full of fire.

Gregory hid in the box and checked a barely functioning camera system. A few rows of pipes broke, allowing the fire to jet upwards. Not all of the ground was full of fire, thankfully. He could get to the other end of the room and escape through the vent in the lower wall. Then he could convince Freddy that Roxy lost her eyes in a car accident and Gregory would stay alive. However, he did give Chica a chance and Freddy did tell Gregory that was the best way of doing things.

But Freddy wasn't like Gregory. He was big and strong and well-loved and never had to struggle with anything. He wasn't puny and powerless. He just didn't understand. None of them understood. Even the one he thought understood turned around and betrayed him.

Roxy, patrolling the fire room, sobbed. "Everyone still loves me. Right?" she asked herself, her voice meek. "I just… need a little work done."

She was blind. She was angry. Gregory huffed to himself. She couldn't hurt him like this. She could try, but she was blind and wouldn't do any of that looking for him nonsense. He could shine a flashlight right in her face, and as long as he was quiet, she wouldn't even know.

"Where are you?" she demanded.

But, no. Gregory saw for himself how much Chica changed. Maybe Roxy would do the same.

Gregory climbed out of the box. "Roxy? Roxy, I-I… I want to talk." What was he supposed to say?! "I have your eyes!"

Roxy's attention snapped to him. But, rather than charge him, she crept up to Gregory, claws out but low. "What do you want?"

"Um… if we go to Parts and Services, we could get some work done," he suggested.

One of her ears flicked. Still, she growled, "What, you think you're something? Why don't I just take those eyes back?" She snapped her teeth at the last words.

"Because you couldn't catch me before," Gregory puffed with a roll of his eyes.

Strangely, this gave her pause. "Why?"

"I want to help you?"

She growled again, but it was softer.

"Uh… I don't know where to go from here. Why don't you meet me in–"

"No!" she barked, her teeth barely a foot from his face. "You're not leaving me."

"I don't know how to get out of here!"

She held out her arm and grasped at the air before her. Before Gregory could duck away, she grabbed him by the shoulder. "You're coming with me." She picked up Gregory and stalked back the way she'd come. "If you're lying, I'm not letting you go."

Gregory said nothing. She had to know where she was going, even blind. Right? She wasn't just going to walk off a cliff or something.

Roxy ran face-first into a wall.

She spat and backed away. "Where? Where was that?!" Gregory, held under her arm, winced as he nearly collided with the wall as well.

This… was going to be a long walk.

Eventually, they made it back to Roxy's green room and through her door to the elevator.

Roxy held onto the rail on the stairs with her free hand. She dropped Gregory unceremoniously and made her way to the protective cylinder.

Gregory, muttering under his breath, got up and went to the computer. "You're so lucky I'm not going to break your legs. See you chase me, then."

The computer bot declared, "Welcome to Parts and Service. Please select your desired procedure." A list of upgrades showed, but Gregory pressed the down arrow and it flipped to the next screen. The computer announced, "Preparing for repair procedure." A pause. "You may now enter the protective cylinder."

By now, Roxy lay on the red and white chair. She lay still and at his mercy, like Chica and Freddy.

Like Moon.

She needed her eyes back. He didn't see any actual damage to her endoskeleton. She'd demonstrated her ability to walk, run, and carry Gregory so he doubted anything else was broken. For now, it was just the eyes.

"It seems that Roxy is under the weather. We can fix that later. For right now, we can focus on her eyes. Let's begin by removing Roxy's face. Press Roxanne's snout to remove skull housing."

Gregory poked her snout, close to her nose, and withdrew his hand. Machine arms swooped down to take apart her face–her ears, top of her mane, faceplate, and snout to be exact.

"Great. Plug the replacement eyes into the open eye sockets."

The boy took the eyes out of his pocket and fitted them back on. One kept trying to roll over, but once he'd attached it, the eyes stayed facing forward. With her endoskeleton bared and her bottom jaw with sharp teeth left, her eyes were way out of place.

"Well done. Reattach the ocular connector wires. It is important that you make no mistakes."

The dark buttons and colorful wires that had been damaged and torn out flashed. Though a little more complex than reattaching a voice box–and more chilling as he had to reach over her toothy jaw–he managed to completely reattach her eyes.

"It is time to close the faceplate."

Gregory waited for more instructions, but none came. So, he poked the place where the bridge of her nose would be and retracted his hand. The machine put back on her broken faceplate, snout, ears, and hair. Although her shell was still warped and broken, and she stared at him with a permanent snarl, she could see again. Hopefully, she would act better.

The machine arms retracted. The chair pulled up so Roxy sat in a way that Gregory could see her eyes. An arm with the buttons swooped down. Wordlessly, the pad flashed in different colors. Her eyes darted from side to side and up and down with each button press.

"Testing phase complete. Scanning for irregularities."

…

"Scanning complete. It seems Roxy's basic security protocols have been tampered with. A report to the main office has been filed. For liability reasons, Roxy 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.

The protective cylinder opened again. Roxy waited for it to open before leaving. Her tail still bounced limply between her ankles and her head stayed down. Still, she looked around at her surroundings and then at Gregory. She eyed him. "It was you."

"Er… maybe?"

Roxy stood up straight and ran her fingers through her broken mane. She wrapped an arm around her cracked chest. "I'm broken, aren't I? I can't defeat a child. I couldn't find him. I'm ugly. I'm a mess. I'm just a loser." She put a hand to her snout, but a sob still raked her body.

"Er, no you're not," Gregory tried. "You're, uh… well, nothing stops you, right?"

"Right," she grumbled and hiccupped. She closed her eyes and put both hands on her snout. He was almost afraid she'd break it off if she put any more pressure on it.

"Uh, well, why did you chase me, anyway?"

"I had to," was her automatic response. "She told me to."

"Who's she?"

"I… don't know."

"Well, whoever she was made you get in front of that kart, right?" Gregory prompted. "If you weren't trying to get me, because she told you to get me, you'd be alright."

Roxy's ears perked and she let go of her snout. She let out a sound that Gregory's only heard in old horror movies. "That absolute–! It was her fault!" Her head whipped around. "Where did she go? You will find her. You will find her first," she told herself.

Gregory chipped in, "I'm trying to get away from Vanny. Maybe she was the one who told you to do that. Who activated your security protocols, I think? She's been trying to get me all night and she's not a robot."

Roxy turned to Gregory. "Then you know where she is?"

Roxy would kill her, wouldn't she? She'd be able to do it, too. Look at those teeth! And claws! She took a go-kart to the face and she can still function! After getting hit and turned into a mess, he wouldn't doubt she was angry enough to rip that stupid bunny to shreds.

"Gregory, you must never wish harm upon another person. It is a terrible, terrible thing to do."

"…not exactly," Gregory confessed reluctantly. "I'm just looking for a way out."

"You'll leave, you little coward." Roxy looked away from him. "You will find her," she told herself again.

"Um, yeah. You, uh, you look for her. Chica is probably in Fazerblast or maybe Monty Golf, I think. She doesn't like her, either."

She scoffed. "I knew she wouldn't."

Freddy joined them in Parts and Service, coming from deeper in the basement. "Roxy! Hello!"

"Hey, big guy. You know about this kid?"

"Yes, I did," Freddy admitted, a little sheepish.

"Eh. He's an okay kid. Guess I'm happy to still have my eyes. Look, I don't know if you're still going to be looking after that lady or not. But if you are, you can contact me. If you can't find or see something, chances are, I can."

Gregory chimed in, "Thanks, Roxy!"