Chapter 2 - Failure

Roxanne led Jack to the utility tunnels even though guests were not allowed down there, but she had no choice, it was the fastest route she knew. The duo walked through the tunnels mostly in silence. Even though Roxanne didn't appear as threatening to Jack now, he still couldn't help feeling a bit scared of her. None of the Glamrock animatronics is particularly scary, but seeing one of them so close was a bit frightening, especially for Jack, who was a little shorter than the average kid. Also, he did witness how infuriated Roxy sounded when he first saw her, which caused him to hide, and her weird pep-talk earlier made him question the animatronic's mental stability. But even with all these thoughts wandering around his head, he tried his best to appear fine and keep a nice attitude towards her.

Meanwhile, Roxanne was just doing her job in getting the kid out of the establishment before midnight, once the nighttime protocols are activated, there will be no chance of him escaping before 6 AM.

As they were walking through the dark and dusty tunnels, Roxy noticed that the kid kept a certain distance from her, afraid of getting any closer than a few feet, even though his distress levels were lower now in comparison with earlier, they were still pretty high. The silence between the two was torturing for Roxanne, she was an extrovert and loved to talk (especially about herself). "So... Have you ever been to the Pizzaplex before?" She said, trying to start a conversation. Jack looked at her a bit surprised, he didn't expect her to try talking with him. "Oh, no, this is my first time here." "Jeez, how unlucky for you," Roxy said while chuckling. Jack chuckled as well, "Yeah, but I mean, it seems to be a pretty fun place from what I have seen... The morning performance was pretty cool." Roxy looked at the boy a bit surprised. "Oh, you watched the morning performance?" Jack nodded. "So... Did you like my performance?" Jack noticed a bit of uncertainty in her voice, which seemed odd for him... "Oh of course! Y'all did great up there." Jack said, smiling slightly. Roxy grinned, "Yeah, of course, it was great!" She said in a cocky tone.

Roxanne sighed in relief as she watched Jack's distress levels slowly going down, the conversation appeared to have calmed him down a little. Jack seemed to have a kind and reserved personality, which was a surprise for Roxanne, he was different from most of the spoiled and annoying brats she had to handle in her raceway. Jack's personality was also the complete opposite of hers, Roxy was self-centered and tough, often acting in a mean way. Even if she hated who she was, she was simply following her programming, she couldn't help being that way.

"So... Jack, what do you like to do to have fun? Any hobbies?" "Oh, let me think..." Jack placed a hand on his chin. "I know it sounds weird, but I'm fascinated by mechanics! My uncle is a mechanic, I go to his house every summer so he taught me a lot of stuff! Sometimes, I go around the house looking for broken electronics, I open them and I study how they work, and if I'm able to, I even try fixing them." Jack said in an enthusiastic tone."Oh, we got something in common then!" Jack's eyes widened a bit, "Really? Do you also like mechanics?" "I mean... It's not a hobby or anything, It's just part of my job, I work at a raceway you know? So sometimes the carts can show malfunctions, which often I'm responsible for fixing." "Oh, I understand, that's pretty cool." Said Jack. "Anything else you like to do?" Asked Roxy, "Hmm, oh! I also really like drawing and painting! My mom was an artist and taught a lot about drawing and painting portraits and stuff!" Jack answered happily. Roxy chuckled a bit, it was quite adorable for her how enthusiastic he sounded when talking about his interests. "Looks like we have an artist over here then, you are full of surprises aren't ya kid?" She said in a playful tone, causing Jack to giggle. "You know, I receive countless fanarts from fans every day, sometimes I wish they had programmed me with art skills, so I could also paint beautiful portraits of myself." She looked at the ceiling, imagining the scenario.

"Hmm... You know, I could teach you a thing or two about painting!" Jack said in the same enthusiastic tone. Roxanne sarcastically huffed, "Pft- Yeah, as if I would ever allow myself to be taught by a brat, sorry kid, I pass."

"Oh..." Jack's expression instantly dropped to a neutral one, he simply looked forward again and stayed quiet as both of them made their way to the end of the utility tunnels.


After reaching the end of the tunnel, the duo climbed up a set of stairs and went through a set of double doors that led them to another corridor. They kept walking until they got stopped by a table with a bunch of cans. Jack was about to enter the adjacent room (which seemed to be a bathroom) but stopped himself when he heard a strange sound coming from the other side of that same room. The boy backed away. "Roxy, there is something in there!" He whispered. Roxy heard it as well, "Stay here kid, I'll take a look." Jack nodded as Roxy slowly entered the room, ready to attack in case it was the intruder who was after Jack and his other friend. But she sighed in relief at the sight of her bandmate Chica kneeled on the other side of the room, "It's okay Jack, It's just Chica-"

'Wait a second...'

"CHICA!" She yelled, infuriated. "I knew it! You have been eating trash again, haven't you?! Ugh, you dumbass! You know that's bad for you! Didn't you hear the technicians? You are going to kill yourself if you keep doing this!-" The trash-eating animatronic, after hearing Roxanne's voice, turned her head to face her. Roxy gasped. "C-Chica? What's wrong with your eyes?" Chica's eyes, which had a blue tone to them, were now glowing in a strange magenta tone. Roxy wondered if that had anything to do with her strange "headache" earlier... "Roxy? Is everything okay?" Said Jack while he stepped inside the room. Chica's eyes shot open at the sight of Jack. "Staff only!" Chica shouted in a weird enthusiastic tone. Roxanne raised a brow. "Yeah, I know he isn't allowed to be here, but he got lost and there's someone after him, there's another kid lost in here too, a little girl, I'm escorting him to the main entrance and-" Suddenly, Chica started to quickly walk towards Jack, her walk was weird and unnatural, similar to a zombie "Let me take you to your parents!" She shouted. Jack yelped and instantly hid behind Roxy, he could tell that something was off about the chicken animatronic. "What's wrong with her?" He asked. Roxy placed both hands on Chica's shoulders, stopping her from reaching Jack. "Hey! What the hell is wrong with you?! Stop acting weird goddammit, you're scaring him!" Roxy yelled, clearly mad at her friend's odd behavior. Chica stared blankly at her with her head twitching, as if she was trying to fight against something, for a moment, Roxanne thought she was trying to say something. But then, Chica suddenly lunged towards Jack, "WHAT THE-" was the last thing Roxy yelled before being pushed aside by Chica. "Who wants candy?!~" the animatronic shouted, trying to grab Jack, who shouted in fear and covered his face with his arms, preparing himself for impact. "AW HELL NO!" Roxy jumped at Chica, pinning her to the ground. Jack stared in horror at the animatronic staring deeply at him while fighting against Roxy's grip. "Why is she acting like this?!" Shouted Jack. "I don't know! I think something has gotten into her system, we shouldn't be allowed to hurt guests!" Roxy shouted back, while almost losing Chica. "A-Alright, new plan kid! You'll have to make your way to the main entrance alone! Go! I can't hold her down much longer!"

"R-Roxy, I don't think I can-" "RUN GODDAMNIT! RUN!" She yelled again. Without thinking twice, Jack ran away, the fastest his legs would allow him, he ran through what seemed to be a supply room and strange green and pink hallways, only stopping a little to breathe before reaching another type of hallway. Jack walked into a much darker and menacing hallway, he made his way through it, shivering in fear as millions and millions of thoughts invaded his head. When suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice, coming from behind a gate. "There you are!" Jack instantly turned around only to face Montgomery Gator, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? YOU TOO?" the boy yelled before running even faster than before.

Jack saw a large arrow at the end of the hallway pointing to the right with the word "LOBBY" right above it, Jack made a turn to the right and slammed through the set of double doors he encountered. Jack was about to run into a set of stairs when Chica suddenly appeared from behind a pile of boxes. "Lost boy over here!" She yelled. 'What? How did she...' He didn't have time to question the situation, so he ran up the stairs. After reaching the top, he saw what seemed to be some sort of security office, judging by the symbol near the room. Jack jumped inside the room, the metallic door slamming shut right behind him. Jack nearly fainted, panting heavily while his lungs burned from so much adrenaline. But now wasn't the best time for resting. Monty was violently punching the doors, Jack placed both hands on his head. 'This is bad this is bad this is bad this is bad! What am I going to do now! It can't get worse than this...' That's when Jack noticed a battery sign next to the door, saying: 'Warning: 15% Of Door Power' Jack frowned. 'Oh screw this damn place!'

There was no way for Jack to contact Roxy right now, he was all by himself. 'Alright, this is not time to panic Jack! There's always a way out... I just need to think...' Jack thought to himself in an attempt to stay calm while he analyzed the place. 'If this is a security office, that means I can access the security cameras from here right? They are all over this place! I could use them to trace a route out of here!' Jack noticed the giant monitors in front of him, all displaying camera feeds of different areas of the Pizzaplex. The boy observed the monitors with attention, he didn't have much time, but a few seconds were more than enough for Jack to plan an escape route.

He ran away from the room, running through various corridors making his way to the main entrance. The boy's eyes widened with hope after going through a set of doors right into the main entrance, finally, this nightmare would be over, his freedom was right there, now the only person he should worry about was Sarah... But just as Jack sprinted towards the doors... "Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex is now closed. Initiating nighttime protocols." said the intercom voice. "WHAT?!" Jack shouted, running even faster towards the doors in an attempt to reach them before they closed, but he failed to do so, he watched as the doors slammed shut right in front of him. "No! It can't be! I'm still here!" He shouted in pure anger.

Jack fell to his knees in complete frustration at his failure... Failure... Jack despised the concept of him failing at something, of him disappointing himself and the others around him. That was one of the reasons that led Jack to isolate himself from others, he was incredibly afraid of disappointing others.


Roxy finally made her way to the main entrance, sighing at the sight of Jack kneeling in front of the metal doors, in both reliefs, seeing that the boy was fine, and in frustration, seeing that he didn't reach the main entrance in time. "Hey Jack!" she shouted while walking in Jack's direction. " Oh... Jack, you missed your chance... I'm not sure if there is another way out and the doors only reopen at 6 AM." Jack stayed silent, which concerned the animatronic a little. Roxy knelt by his side, "Jack? You good?" Jack had an apathetic and disappointed look on his face. "I'm sorry... I should have run faster, I should have thought quicker... I'm really sorry for disappointing you." He said with sorrowfulness filling his voice. Roxy was shocked by the boy's words, Jack's failed attempt to escape in time wasn't a big deal for her, she already knew that the chances of him escaping in time by himself were pretty slim. But the fact that he survived both Monty and Chica without her was surprising to her, the boy seemed a lot stronger than she thought. But even so, Jack seemed to have been deeply affected, the boy's exaggerated reaction to a simple failure awfully reminded her of herself. Roxy wasn't the best at comforting, but it sure didn't feel good to her seeing Jack have a breakdown, besides, from the few interactions she had with him, he only treated her with respect and kindness despite being clearly uncomfortable, so she decided to try to go easy with him.

Roxy placed one of her paws on Jack's shoulder. "Hey, who said I'm disappointed in you? Honestly, the fact that you made your way to the main entrance without me is already pretty surprising." Jack sighed. "You're just saying that to make me feel better... But I still failed nonetheless..." He said in the same sad tone, avoiding eye contact. "Oh come on kid, don't be stupid! Look at yourself, you managed to outrun both Monty and Chica without any help! You gotta cheer that mood up!" Roxy said in a cheerful tone in an attempt to cheer the boy up. Jack chuckled a little, "Yeah, I guess you're right... I'm sorry, It's just a lot to take in, you know? My best friend disappeared and I'm trapped in a place with murderous bots and a psycho..."Don't lose hope kiddo." She said while standing up, "Don't worry about your friend, I'll find her, after all, I have the best eyes around here!" Roxy pointed proudly at one of her yellow eyes. "And besides that... It's not that complicated, you know? We just need to find a safe place to stay until 6 AM, think of it as a very, very intense slumber party... or something." Jack chuckled again while standing up. "Yeah, very intense indeed."

"Let's get going rockstar, we have a long night ahead.' Roxy said while taking one of Jack's hands.