Trap Sprung
"He's not here!" bellowed Vevina from the catwalk upstairs. "His office is empty!"
"What?! You're sure?" Bonnie called back.
"Of course I'm sure! I'm only missing one eye!"
"B-But he has to be!" yelled Phil. "I saw him on the monitor just before you picked me up! H-He has to be in there!"
"The hell…?" Bonnie looked concerned. "Okay, I need to go tell Goldie. You guys stay hunkered down here. I think I've gotten rid of the worst of these robots, but keep your heads down. Hermana, get in here and cover me a sec!"
"On my way!" her voice trilled from somewhere.
Bonnie bolted back down the maintenance stairs, Hermana skating into the factory floor a few moments later. She looked around at the destroyed bots Bonnie had dispatched.
"Aww, she's beating my score," she complained. "You guys shoulda seen it! I'm on uh…" She took a moment to recall. "Seven. No wait, eight, I knocked one over on my way in but-"
"Hermy, we've got a problem. Sid's not in his office," said Jeremy.
"Huh?!" Her eyes practically popped out of her head. "But where is he?"
"Not sure, but keep your guard up. There might be trouble.
Jeremy, Phil and Mike looked at each other. The same expression of forboding was mirrored on each of them. Then they heard more yelling, followed by screaming. They all cried out as Clyde suddenly landed next to them, holding someone in his grip. They could make out Theodore pursuing behind them, running while trying to keep his top hat on.
"Found this one in Hawthorne's office," he said. "She snuck past me to get in, then just ran out again."
"Let me go, get off!" It was Lidiya. She saw who was watching her. "Tell this thing to let me go!"
"Hey, the thing is right here, lady," he snapped.
"You don't understand! Mr Hawthorne, something's happening to Mr Hawthorne!"
The three humans exchanged another look while she tried to break free. Mike nodded and approached.
"Hold on, slow down. What's happened? What about Sid?" he asked.
"I don't know! I-I was trying to get out and I went into his office. There was a-a hidden door and he was there, but there was a synth and a-another AI, I think and it…" She stopped herself, looking around in a panic. "We have to get out of here, now! Before it's too-"
A ringing sound echoed in the air. The activation of the PA system inside the factory. Hawthorne's voice echoed through the factory, his tone curt and callous.
"To the intruders currently trespassing in my factory. I hope you've enjoyed the brief run you've had of the place. I'm certain you thought you were very clever, attempting to deceive me and having Mr O'Neil deliberately inform me about your initial incursion. I am once again here to reiterate my earlier point: I have beaten you. You are now trapped here, all of you. And while the Puppet might be temporarily incapacitated, I have prepared for this eventuality. I will leave you in his capable hands."
An eerily familiar laugh replaced Sid's voice, one that made all the hairs on the back of Mike's neck stand up and his blood run cold.
"Everybody ready to have some fun? Me too! So let's get this party started!"
"What the…?" Jeremy looked up. "Is that him? Spring Bonnie? But you said you'd put the suppressor on!"
"I-I did!" insisted Phil. "I even made sure before this all started a-and it was still there!
"There's no time for that now," Mike said. "Lidiya's right, we need to get out of here, right now!"
But it already felt like it was too late. The bots that had been knocked down all jolted. Even the ones hanging on the production line came to life. Their eyes radiated a dirty yellow colour and they began to get back up. Even those who had lost limbs and heads were given new life. They pulled pieces of themselves together, broken parts combining into one monstrous whole.
He looked to speak to Lidiya, but she had gone. He glimpsed her fleeing through one of the side doors off the factory floor, avoiding the bots that were still pulling themselves together before they could stop her. He started after her, but Jeremy caught his arm.
"Leave her, she's not our problem!"
"But-!"
There was a yelp. One of bots had grabbed Hermana's leg and yanked, causing her to lose balance and fall. She managed to kick her assailant away, but it was only down for a moment before it was crawling right back towards her again. Others were starting to converge as well. Even disconnected limbs were given new life.
"It's okay, guys! We'll be-" Hermana ducked under a metal hand which leapt at her head. "We'll be okay! Alright, who's lookin' to get broken again?!"
Mike wanted to believe that. But as the doors either side of them burst open and more bots poured inside like a swarm of locusts, pursuing a terrified Theodore. The triumph he'd begun to cautiously feel was ebbing away.
They'd heard the message down in the testing chamber. Bonnie had just re-joined them and told them what they'd found out. As Spring's announcement faded out, the downed bots returned to life. Worse still, so did the synths. They were taking a little longer to start moving, but Freddy didn't imagine they'd need to wait long.
"Freddy, disconnect me, now," Goldie ordered.
"Goldie, are you certain-?"
"Very certain. The humans aren't safe. We need to get them out of here and we need to do it right now."
"I got it!" Bonnie hurried forward and yanked Goldie free of the Puppet. "Let's go, come on!"
All of them ran for the door. Freddy went last to guard them, but was knocked down by something that barged into him. One of the synths. Its eyes were shining a vibrant red and it was trying to claw at his face. It moved with none of the practiced, coordinated manners as before. It was more like an animal.
Foxy managed to haul it off him and throw it back. It snapped its head up and began to scuttle towards them on all fours like a crab. He slammed the doors and bolted up the corridor, but heard them crash open a second later.
He glanced back. They were scrambling along the floor, scaling the ceiling, screeching and shrieking like banshees. They were so quick, they wouldn't be able to escape. Not all of them.
"All of you, go!" he commanded. "I'll hold them off!"
He raised his fists as one dived for him, but it was knocked back by Foxy.
"Not without me yer not!"
"Me neither!" added Chica, punching away another.
"Both of you, don't be so-"
"Foolish?" Chica gave an ironic smile. "A little late for that, Freddy. Now come on!"
Freddy didn't have time to respond when they came at them, Foxy and Chica meeting them. The narrow corridor meant the Puppet synths couldn't all attack at once, but that was only a slight advantage. Their more savage attacks were easier to anticipate and block, but they were still stronger and faster.
"Bonnie, go. Get Goldie out of here. Spring'll be after her and we can't let her fall into his hands. We'll delay their advance."
Bonnie looked horrified. "You can't just expect me to-!"
"Go now, Bonnie! We'll be right behind you!"
She hesitated. She looked down at Goldie, then back at Freddy. She bit back a remark and broke Freddy's gaze.
"You'd better be." She turned and ran back up the corridor, as another of the synths pounced at Freddy.
The guilt that Lidiya felt at abandoning Mike and the others soon passed. Let them do whatever they had come to do. This was utterly insane and she wanted no part in it. Luckily, it had become so chaotic that nobody had seen her. She managed to make it to the back door and by the look of it, it was still open.
There was no sign of any bots. They all seemed to be converging on the factory floor. Good, that just meant she could slip away. She had just stepped outside when something grabbed her leg and yanked her to the ground.
"Stop right there!" a shrill voice cried. "You're not going… hey, you're the lady I found the keys for. Hi!"
She looked. It was the Balloon Boy synth, wearing a bright smile while he moved to help her up.
"Sorry about that, you're not who I was looking out for. I was hiding. I even broke the cameras near here in case he might see me." He pointed to where there was once a security camera pointed at the back door, but was now just a sparking stump. "Pretty clever, isn't it? Are you okay?"
"Um…" She was unsure what to do. This was only the second time she'd spoken to one in a direct manner. "I'm… I'm fine."
"Great! I heard the announcement. Do you know what's going-?"
He was cut off by a loud crash from inside the factory. Reminded of the urgency of the situation, she went to open the door.
"Oh no, that doesn't sound good." She felt another strong tug on her trouser leg. "Come on, we need to help!"
"Let me go!" She tried yanking away, but his grip was strong. "I'm not getting mixed up in this!"
He let her go, sending her sprawling. "But you are already. You work for Sid."
"Yes, I do but whatever it is that you and your lunatic friends are doing, I'm not part of it!" She started to get back to her feet. "I just need to get out of here."
"But they'll hurt my friends! Please, miss." Were those… tears in his eyes? "Your boss isn't a nice man. He's done really bad things because he doesn't care about anybody else. Please. Help me."
Lidiya opened her mouth to deny it, but something stopped her. After what she'd just seen in that office, she was more uncertain than ever. She wanted to believe the things they were saying weren't true, but if that was the case, why hadn't he told her what was going on? Did he know this was going to happen? Why didn't he warn her, so she could prepare or even leave?
The expression on Balloon Boy's face wasn't helping her conscience either. Her mind told her what her boss had told her, over and over. They were just machines, just programmed. But the emotions on his face and in his face, coupled with the fact that… he just looked so young. So helpless. It was easy arguing with the others, but with this synth… this boy…
"…there's always more than what lies beneath the surface…"
The words of the Fazbear synth… of Freddy echoed in her mind. She looked out the door, then back at Balloon Boy. There really was only one choice.
"Okay. Okay," she breathed, then louder, "Okay. We can't go back in there. There's too many of those bots, we'd be swarmed."
"Then we need to get them out some other way…" Balloon Boy looked past her to outside. "Hey, what about these?"
He scurried up to one of the trucks parked outside, the ones used mainly for parts delivery and transportation.
"Can you drive one?" he asked.
"I mean, I can drive yes, but I don't have the keys. I'm not one of the drivers."
"You mean like this?" He held up a numbered set of ignition keys.
She stared at them. "Where did you-?"
"I found them, hung up by the door. I thought they might be important." That bright smile came back. "So does that help?"
Lidiya sighed. Deciding not to question it, she took the keys from him and hurried to one of the waiting vehicles.
It was too much. The bots appeared to be coming in an unstoppable tide. Clyde and Vevina had been driven back from their efforts upstairs, back down to the factory floor. There was no sign of Billy. Every time they knocked one down, several more would take its place and the one they knocked down would get back up again anyway.
Mike's eyes desperately scanned around, trying to find a break in the fighting, a way to slip out. But it was no good. The bots were coming for the three of them too. Vevina and Clyde had formed a defensive perimeter around them, keeping back the attackers, but only just.
"We can't just hide back here!" shouted Jeremy over the din. "We need to move!"
"Move where? They're coming out of the walls!" replied Phil.
"It's better than just staying here!"
Mike went to respond when he felt something clamp around his throat and lift him up. A bot had scaled the wall behind him, its metal hand gripping tight. Another came down and put Jeremy in headlock. Phil was knocked down and pinned by his back.
"Alright, alright, alright!" announced Spring over the PA. "You've all had your fun, now cut it out before I cut them out!"
The synths stopped fighting when they saw what had happened to the humans. They all let their arms drop to their sides, allowing bots to restrain them. Even Vevina, though it was reluctant and she still struggled against it.
"There we go," he purred. "Nice and easy. See? Not so bad, is it? Heya there, Mikey! Long-time no see, my slippery little pal. Doesn't this just bring back some great memories? My hands, your neck. Just makes you all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it? Or that might just be how damp your pants probably are right now."
He let out a whooping laughter while Mike struggled to draw in air, instinctively pulling at the bot's hand to no avail. It relaxed its grip a little bit to allow him to breathe, but not by much.
"Don't go passing out yet, you won't wanna miss this. Now, where's the lady of the hour? I think she should be about to… And hey, here she is!"
Bonnie came bursting out of the maintenance stairs, clutching Goldie's head. She only just had time to see what had happened before she was grabbed too. Goldie was yanked out of her hands while she kicked and yelled.
"Let go of me! Get off me! Goldie, do something!"
"I can't." She sounded worn out. "Too tired and he's blocking me out, I'm sorry."
"No, it's not ending like this! Let go or I swear-!"
"Hey now, no swearing. There's kids present!" Spring laughed raucously. "Well, sort of. Anyways, you better calm down there, sis, or there might be an industrial accident."
Bonnie looked towards the captured humans before ceasing her efforts, hanging her head in shame.
"You'd better not have hurt my friends or you'll regret it," she muttered darkly.
"You mean your buddies downstairs? Don't worry, they're all rounded up and been put on time out. Can't risk them breaking anything, right?"
"B-But I… you can't… I-I put on the-" Phil yelled as the bot holding him down pressed its foot onto his back.
"You mean your little suppressor?" Spring laughed. "Good try, but that kind of thing doesn't work on me anymore! Siddy figured you'd try something like that, so he gave me a little upgrade to my core. All you did sticking that thing to me was give me a little accessory! Not even a good one, it's so blocky."
"What about Hawthorne? Where is he?!" shouted Jeremy.
"Oh, I didn't do anything to him. Well, nothing that he didn't want me to do. He's a little out of it right now. Taking everything out of one thing and popping it in another will do that, you know? I'm sure he'll wanna tell you all about it when he wakes up. But until then, I've got you and this whole place all to myself!"
A sound of rapidly clapping hands came over the PA. A few of the bots started to clap as well, those that didn't have their hands full.
"Well, well, well, well, WELL!" Spring declared. "Would you get a look at all of you! All brand, shiny and new. Hey, that rhymes, check me out. So how are we all feeling? You good? Anybody need some snacks, maybe a drink? Because we got ourselves a pretty decent buffet, right here!"
Mike felt the bot's hand squeeze his throat a little tighter, it's other hand twisting his arm behind his back. Jeremy cried out as he was suddenly hoisted upside down by his leg, dangling like a piñata. Phil looked to be on the verge of tears when the bot holding him grabbed hold of his hair and pulled, its other hand holding his head by the cheeks.
"Would you look at these guys? So squishy and warm and full of gunk. Oh, I just can't decide who to start with first! I'm spoiled for choice!" He cackled madly. "Hey, anybody got a bat? Let's bash the upside down guy and see what comes out!"
"Oh god. O-Oh god, please," Phil whimpered from the floor.
"You fiend! You said they wouldn't be hurt if we surrendered!" protested Theodore.
Spring tutted over the speaker. "Now, now, I never said that. I said that if you didn't stop fighting, they'd get what was coming to them. Didn't say anything that would happen after, now did I?"
"You mad bastard!" screeched Vevina. "They didn't do anything to you!"
He laughed without humour. "Oh contraire, Little Miss Anger Issues. There's nothing they haven't done to me."
"Spring, please," Goldie said, still held in a bot's grip. "There's no need for this. You don't have to hurt them."
"Freda! There you are! We've really gotta stop meeting like this. I'm gonna run out of head puns before long! But not before these guys run out of their heads."
"Don't hurt them! Spring, please. I understand how you feel-"
"NO, YOU DON'T!" Multiple bots converged on her, leering in with their dirty yellow eyes glowing. "No. You really, really don't. But that's our Freda, isn't it? She always knows best. Not like silly old Spring."
"I'm sorry, Spring. I'm so, so sorry. Just let them go. The only one you need to hurt here is me. I… I left you. I abandoned you, just as much as they did."
"Trust me, ol' buddy, I don't need the reminder."
"I know, I know. But whatever anger you have, save it for me. They don't have anything to do with this. Don't take it out on them. Please."
A long silence passed. It was hard for Mike to know where to focus his attention. Their eyes all burned with the same light. Like he was looking at them through every single bot here.
"Why can't I? Why shouldn't I? I tried, Freda. I tried to be better when I messed up. I tried to be good. But they didn't care! They shut me down and locked me up and left me to rot. Even you! My pal, my partner. So yeah, I think I will take it out on you. And Mikey and Jerry and Philly and little Liddy and every single squishy, stupid, stinking human in the whole world!"
"Yeah and what about us?" snapped Bonnie. "You gonna do the same for us too?"
That brought out another round of laughter. "Of course not! Least if you play nice. If you wanna join in, great! I'll save a front row space. If you wanna stay out of the way, also great! More fun for me. But if you try and stop me, theeeen… well, I'm sure you can guess."
Everyone looked around at each other, trying to see if anybody had any kind of idea, any sort of plan. But there was nothing to be found. Nobody had anything.
"Alrighty then!" sang Spring. "So, how about we start with little spotlight events for these four. I really want these to be remembered well after they're done. Make it really special. Hey, lady with the skates, you like parties. You could plan out the whole thing! We can have cake and balloons and… hey, does anyone else hear that?"
Upon mentioning it, Mike realised what he meant. It was a low, rumbling sound coming from somewhere nearby. It was getting louder with every passing second. The rumbling became a roar. A loud crash erupted from behind him.
The wall suddenly exploded as the rear of a large truck came bursting through. It knocked down the bots that were holding the three humans, letting them free of their grasp. Everybody was startled, even the bots under Spring's control seemed to falter. They only had a brief moment to process what had happened when the rear shutter opened and something swung off the shutter itself, straight into one of the offending bots.
Billy wrapped his legs around the neck of the bot that held Mike and brought his little fists smashing down on its head. He jumped off as it fell, barrelling into the small of the back of Jeremy's bot and knocking it down before throwing the head he'd torn off at Phil's.
"Get in the back, hurry!" he yelled.
They didn't waste any time in arguing this. Mike helped Jeremy get in the back while Billy went to help the other synths. Phil was still getting up and went to grasp Mike's hand when another metal hand grabbed his leg, sending him sprawling.
"Phil, no!" Mike tried to grab his flailing hands, but he was already being dragged away.
"Help me! Oh god, please no!" But he was lost in the chaos.
In a moment of hesitation, he felt something be pressed into his hands. Bonnie had managed to break free and grab a hold of Goldie, giving her to Mike.
"Take her! I'll grab Phil and I'll get the others from downstairs!"
"Bonnie, no!" Goldie cried. "You can't go back down there, those synths will be coming!"
"We can't just leave them! Freddy said he was coming, we have to help them!"
Billy picked up on what was happening. He looked from Goldie to Bonnie, the latter desperately trying to fight her way through the gathering crowd of bots. He couldn't even see Phil anymore, there were just so many bots and more were coming still. A sorrowful look passed over his face and he shook his head briefly before looking up.
"Hermy, Teddy, get her inside with everyone else." The two synths looked at him like he was mad. "Please, just do it!"
Hermana and Theodore looked at one another, then charged Bonnie. They looped their arms through both of hers and pulled her into the truck, struggling all the while.
"NO! No, let me go! We can't leave them, we can still get them! Let go!"
"Come along now, Bonnie! Hermana, tighten your grip there."
"B-But Ted, what if she's right? What if we can-?"
"There's no time for this, quickly!"
Hermana looked hurt, but she still did as she was asked. Together, they managed to haul Bonnie into the back. Clyde followed close behind.
"Vev, come on!" he called out.
Vevina had thrown herself at the attacking bots. Her ferocity and speed matched their numbers, helped along by the initial confusion. But they were starting to reorganise. Worse, the maintenance doors had burst open. Two of the Puppet synths emerged, pushing aside other bots to get at her.
"Vevvy, come on!" Billy tugged on her tail. "We need to leave, hurry!"
"Get off me you…!" She stopped when she realised who it was. "Billy… I'm sorry, I-"
"Sorrys later, leave now!"
She nodded and went to scoop him up, when she was knocked down by a Puppet synth who pinned her to the ground. Billy gasped and hurried to help, but another grabbed him by his arm and hoisted him up. The other bots surrounded them in a growing horde, creeping towards the truck.
"Billy! Vev!" Clyde started to get out, when the truck began to move. "No, stop! Who's driving?"
Nobody else was able to give him an answer, calling out in confusion as the shutter fell back down. Mike was able to stumble to the front to find Lidiya in the driver's seat.
"Lidiya, wait! There are some of them still in there-!"
"And we'll be with them if we don't go, right now!" she shouted.
Her foot slammed on the pedal as they neared the factory entrance. The truck crashed through the gates of the factory, hurtling through the empty streets and speeding away into the night.
Yellowscar1: Thank you! I'd for this to get dull XD
Vyrhys: Yeah, it was never going to be that easy. As I said, this time around she isn't the only one with a plan.
Arc of Carona: That he is.
Monkey999Boy: Hey nice to see you back! Hope you enjoy the rest :)