I'm baaaaack! And this time with my latest idea as to how to best format this story. Again, I'm so sorry this has taken so long to get out, but I feel like this chapter recaptures some of the storytelling that I've done with previous versions. The fighting is gonna be the hard part, but I do have a few ideas for how to approach it better.

On another note, FNaF 3. I've seen it all through, seen all the secrets and little things and both endings and all the other stuff. And all I have to say is this: Scott Cawthon, you really make a writer's life hard... But I already have some ideas for how to work on it. Be warned, the 'bridge' story between 2 and 3 is gonna be pretty dark.

On a lighter note, spring break! Wooooo! I'm gonna try and go full throttle and get through the last three 'Nights' of this story over this week so I can start working on the remainder of the Freddy's series.

I want to thank you all once more for being so patient with me regarding this story. It was a lot tougher than I originally thought it would be, and the fact that y'all are sticking it out with me really is an encouragement.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. On with the show!

We got back home, and I immediately started heading for bed. The others were talking, trying to get our attention, but all I could make out was the faint noise of their voices. Foxy hung back, deciding to take it on herself to explain the situation as best she could while I collapsed into bed, falling asleep immediately.

It didn't help much as I entered into nightmares; I was in the old restaurant again during the Incident, except this time I was tied down to one of the many 'manufacturing' tables while the drones milled about me. They cut into me, stabbing, prodding, and forcing me into a suit. I felt Golden Freddy's influence falling over me, and screamed… Only to sit bolt upright in bed again, gasping and panting. Foxy wrapped her arms around me, whispering into my ear and helping me relax…

I sighed, hugging her back and slowly got out of bed. "Foxy, go tell the others I'll catch them up on the details in a bit. I need a shower." She nodded, heading off and leaving me to head for the bathroom. Slowly I peeled my uniform off, drenched in sweat from the nightmare. I stepped into the shower, beginning to get myself cleaned up.

After a while, I just stood there and let the hot water run down my body, sighing as I thought about last night. So Golden Freddy was somehow still alive… Even though I'd smashed his CPU in the final battle after the Incident. That was less than pleasant news… I had to wonder how he was still alive. Shaking my head, I finished up and dried off, getting dressed and heading out to the living room, where the others were eagerly waiting. I grabbed a mug of coffee, nodding in gratitude to Chica, and sat down to tell them the story.

Several cups of coffee later, the others were staring with wide eyes, Freddy's jaw dropping open. "He's… Alive?!"

I nodded, and he continued. "That's not possible. We were there; we saw you destroy him. He should be nothing but a bad memory now…"

"You've got that right, Freddy. He should be, but I saw him rip these Toy animatronics to shreds last night… Apparently, he and the new generation don't exactly see eye-to-eye on anything that's not killing night guards."

Freddy shook his head again. "We dealt with him. This should be over, all behind us now. And yet here he is again…" He growled, and I stood.

"I'm going to call Faz. I need some answers, and I need them now." With that, I headed over and picked up the phone, dialing him up immediately. He picked up after the third ring.

"Alex, my boy! I'm assuming you're calling about your new 'friends' at the pizzeria?"

I grimaced. "Yeah. Them, and apparently we have a few old friends there as well… Including a certain golden boy who I'm sure you remember."

The line went dead silent for a long moment.

"Are… Are you saying he's…"

"Yep. Saw him tear the Toy bots apart and nearly do the same to the Marionette before the 6 AM bell rang last night. I think he's a little upset with all of us for what happened to him."

Faz was silent for another long moment. "…Alex. Get over here, immediately. I'd hoped that wouldn't be the case, and that the golden devil had decided to stay down, but obviously our worries are not exactly behind us. I'll explain everything when you arrive." Click.

I stared at the phone for a moment. Faz had just hung up on me… and by the sound of it, he may be in trouble. I gathered my things, making sure to holster one of my revolvers and my baton, just in case. Freddy came up to me and stopped me, looking nervous.

"Alex… If my doppelganger is back, then he's probably getting ready to come after us. After all, we're the ones that stopped his plans before, so he'll want us out of the way before he tries again. We can hold our own, but…" He sighed, resting a paw on my shoulder. "Be careful, friend. You mean a lot to us, especially to Foxy."

I nodded, resting a hand on his shoulder as well, and we stood there for a moment before he sighed and released me. With that, I headed out to the truck and took off.

The entire way to Faz's house, my mind was racing. Too many questions, too many issues… And not quite enough answers for my liking. What happened at the old location? How did the Toy animatronics become reactivated? Who could be operating the Marionette? And most of all, how in the name of all that's holy is Golden Freddy alive?!

Still thinking these questions over, I pulled into Faz's driveway and headed in. He was at the door, and waved for me to follow him. His house was rather modest, with plenty of space away from the main road – a requirement that he'd found when the protests began against Fazbear Entertainment. We sat down in his library, and I immediately started talking.

"Right, Faz. Lemme see if I have this straight thus far; the new and improved animatronics are actually old models, the Marionette is a remote controlled murderbot, and somehow our old foe is back and he's just as ticked about the new models as I am, yet somehow I doubt that's helped his mental state too much. What gives?!"

He sighed, before slowly opening a folder and beginning to speak. "Starting from the easiest… The Marionette. Yes, he is a manually controlled machine; he was meant as little more than an addition to the Freddy Fazbear experience. It's better for the children if they get their prizes from a charming character than a person, after all. As for how…" He leaned forward. "Alex, the control mechanism for the Marionette is extremely short range. Most employees would sit in the back room of the prize area and operate him from there. Now, modern technology may have been able to extend the range, but the controller is still on the property somewhere. That much I'm sure."

I sat back, eyes wide. That was the easiest, and it was a massive bomb dropped on me; the ringleader of this mess was in the building? Faz continued. "Now, as for the new models… Let me explain. You'll have to understand the timeline surrounding Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria before today in order to understand their story."

"You see, the very first location was a place known as Fredbear's Family Diner. It was meant as a family dining location, and used the first model of Freddy – the animatronic you knew as Golden Freddy, though his name at the time was indeed Fredbear – as the main draw. It became a massive success, and they even added another character; a rabbit named Springy. Bit unoriginal, but I digress…" He took a breath.

"Fredbear's Family Diner was incredibly popular, however there were a few… Incidents. Mostly to do with children hurting themselves and each other around the animatronics, nothing that would trip any warning buzzers… But the real killer for that location was the murder."

My eyes widened. A murder?

"A child was killed outside of the diner, right in the middle of a birthday party. According to authorities, the animatronic had a clear view of the outside door, but didn't react to the murder. My best guess is that he wasn't able to do anything since it was outside of his operational area. Anyway… That caused a lot of parents to be reluctant to go there, worried about the murderer – who was never caught, I might add."

"To make matters worse, roughly a year after the incident, an accident occurred in the kitchen and the old place burned down. The only surviving items were Fredbear, Springy, and a few assorted parts from two other animatronics they were preparing to bring into the show. A few months later, the very first Freddy Fazbear's Pizza opened, complete with a new and improved cast of animatronic characters. The ones you know as the 'Toy' animatronics. They added Cheeks and the Mangle, as well as the Balloon Boy and Marionette."

I nodded, taking this all in.

"Now, these were state-of-the-art animatronics for the late 80s, and they were supposed to be much safer and more interactive with the children. And for a long while, they were perfectly fine; a few minor issues here and there, and the parents were still wary after the murder at Fredbear's, however the restaurant did quite well." He sighed, looking slightly pained.

"Then the murderer came back."

My eyes widened, and I leaned forward.

"The murderer returned, and used the spare suit – we had a purple Freddy suit for employees to wear – to hide from the Toy animatronics and lured four children into the back room, killing them by stuffing them into the old suits of Fredbear, Springy, and the two 'early' models. The fallout from that incident was absolutely nightmarish. It was actually around that time that I became owner of Freddy Fazbear's, after the last owner decided he wanted nothing more to do with it."

"It took a month for the authorities to finally come up with nothing; no leads, no names, not a thing. And the parents were so damaged and traumatized that we had to retire the Toy animatronics, replacing them with the ones you know. We expected it to be temporary… Until November of 1987 arrived."

I sighed, knowing what he was referring to. The Bite.

"After that, nobody trusted us anymore. None of the regular customers wanted to come back, and the location was forced to shut down, putting the bots you know into storage and supposedly destroying the Toy versions. A year or two later, the location of the Drone Incident opened, and… Well, you know the story from there. I'd thought the Toy versions destroyed, but obviously they were somehow preserved and used at this current location."

I nodded, thinking for a moment about all this. In an odd way, it made sense; the timeline fit, and it would explain why Golden Freddy doesn't like the Toy animatronics… Because he blames them, in a way, for starting the entire mess.

"As for how our mutual enemy still lives…" He sighed. "That you have to blame on the military programming that his endoskeleton had. You see, as a commander drone, Gold was valuable to the enemy for his knowledge and was a high priority target. So, Golden Mile came up with a system that would cause an emergency backup and purge of all data on his system, essentially allowing him to 'leave' the body he was in and be ready to download into a new robotic when needed again. It was meant to protect the data he had…"

I got the picture. "Except he used it when I killed him to come back from the dead, right?"

Faz nodded. "Precisely. Which means he must have located another active Golden Mile endoskeleton; possibly a spare, knowing how stingy this new Freddy's manager is supposed to be."

I thought about it for a moment before speaking up. "So is there any way to permanently kill him and make him stay down?"

Faz thought for a moment, before speaking. "Yes. A system purge of whatever his backup is stored on will wipe his data from the deadman system he had, and shut him down for good."

I nodded and stood. "So that's what I've got to do. Find some way of wrecking him bad enough to force him out, then wreck the system he's hiding in. Thanks, Faz."

He nodded, smiling and shaking my hand. "Think nothing of it, my friend. Just… Be careful. These new animatronics are far more dangerous than the old ones… And even if they are fighting amongst themselves, I have no doubts that they would rather kill you first, then each other."

With a nod, I thanked him again and headed out, driving back home. Well, at least now I have some kind of plan for how to deal with all this… Time to get to work and prepare for whatever may come tonight.

I got home and set to work repairing my gear and trying to come up with a good way of dispatching the animatronics for longer periods of time… Plus, I still needed to find some way of tracking down the Marionette's controller; if I could figure out who the puppetmaster was, then I'd be able to remove the Toys as a threat. It did seem to me like they were taking orders from the Marionette… And without a leader, it was likely they'd lose whatever programming was making them murderous.

The day passed without many other issues, except this time I told Foxy to stay home. Reluctantly, she agreed after much argument… Especially after I showed her the new 'toy' I had in store for the animatronics tonight.

I checked my watch; 11:30. Fifteen minutes for me to look around, make preparations, and see what I could find for clues… Then another all-out brawl.

I'd better be getting overtime for all this.

Seems like Alex has been putting together a few more of the pieces of the mystery that is Freddy Fazbear's, but there's still more to deal with ahead.

Next chapter, Night 4 and the brawl between Alex and the old models... Plus more.

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