Chapter 11 : 5:45 am
Jeremy guided Roxanne down the dimly lit utility tunnels. He still had his flashlight, but it was getting dimmer every minute. He wished he would've taken some time to recharge his flashlight, but he was occupied with other tasks. Gregory did not like going through the tunnels. It made him feel like something was going to attack them.
"Jeremy, how much farther?" he said, trying not to sound scared.
Jeremy looked on his watch. "According to my watch, we should be getting close."
"But you said that five minutes ago."
Jeremy sighed, "Gregory, constantly looking at a small screen isn't the most efficient way to navigate. I'm sure we'll be there in a couple of minutes."
They continued to walk, but Jeremy's flashlight gave out. They now had to rely on the poor lighting to see. But that just made Gregory even more scared. He thought every shadow looked like one of the animatronics coming back to life. He tightly clutched his blaster in his hand, ready for anything. They finally made it to parts and service. Jeremy swiped his card and entered through the door.
Jeremy opened the protective cylinder, and helped Roxanne up on the chair. He then went outside the chamber to start the procedure. He pressed the keys on the computer and the machine did its thing. It took off her faceplate, then attached new eyes to her endo. It put back on the faceplate, then grabbed an arm and attached it to her. The machine tested Roxanne, then finished. Jeremy opened the door, and checked on Roxanne.
"Hey, can you see anything?"
It took a minute for her eyes to adjust, but she can see again. "Yes, I can see." She then looked at her arm, but the arm warmers needed to be painted. Roxanne kind of gave a disappointed look, Jeremy knew what she was thinking.
"Roxanne, I can paint your arm later. Right now we need to find Vanessa. We need her to tell us what she knows about what's going on."
Roxanne eventually let that feeling go and hopped out of the chair. Then they took the elevator to her green room. When they got out of the elevator, Roxanne spotted something with her eyes. It looked like a person was sitting on the couch in the green room.
"Someone's inside my green room," she whispered. She signaled for Jeremy and Gregory to get behind her.
Roxanne opened the door and jumped out, scaring the unwelcome guest. A second later, they saw it was Vanessa in her bunny outfit without the mask. She was breathing hard after that jumpscare.
"Are you Vanny or Vanessa?" Jeremy asked the blonde security guard.
She held up her index finger and finally spoke. "I'm Vanessa. Sorry you have to see me in this bunny suit. I'm not exactly dressed properly underneath."
Jeremy was still skeptical about her being her normal self.
"Ok, if you're really Vanessa, then tell us everything you know about what's happening." Jeremy had his ax across his chest.
Vanessa saw the ax and knew Jeremy wasn't playing around. So she remained calm.
"Alright, I'll tell you everything, but you have to lower your weapon."
Jeremy didn't want to lower his ax, but listened to Vanessa's request. He also told Roxanne to take Gregory and sit on her chair. So she grabbed Gregory, and sat him on her lap. Jeremy sat on the floor with his legs criss-crossed.
"Alright, tell us what you know," Jeremy said.
Vanessa took a deep breath and told her story.
"One night I was doing my rounds, when I found Princess Quest still running. I thought it was odd, so I investigated. That was the biggest mistake of my life. Next thing I knew I couldn't control myself.I could still see through my eyes, while "Vanny" was in control. I saw every sadistic act she did along with Freddy. I won't speak about them, they are too cruel to remember. Then the entity who's behind it all hacked the animatronics and gave them a virus. I saw Vanny stalk you guys throughout the building. Then I remember a wave of comfort and happiness washing over me. I was back in control of myself, and went to look for you guys. And here we are now."
Jeremy still had an important question: "Who's the Master and do you know where it is?"
Vanessa thought for a moment. Then she answered, "He is some kind of entity that lives under the sinkhole in Roxy Raceway. That's all I know."
Roxanne perked up when she heard her attraction. "Wait, he lives in the sinkhole under MY raceway?" Vanessa nodded. Roxanne was thinking about her raceway having a bad reputation, for housing an evil entity. She did not want that to happen.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Gregory shouted.
Jeremy got up and stopped Gregory. "Sorry Gregory, you're not coming."
"What? Why not?"
"Because it's too dangerous. The doors open in a few minutes, and you can get help."
Vanessa chimed in, "they're not going to believe a child, Jeremy."
Jeremy thought for a moment, then realized she was right. Even if Gregory got help, nobody would believe him because he's a child.
"Ok, then what do you suggest?"
Vanessa smiled, "I have an idea."
As the quartet left for Roxy Raceway, Jeremy was kind of scared of Vanessa's plan. He thought of many different ways it could backfire. He only hoped Vanessa knew what she was doing. Those thoughts left his head when they made it to Roxy Raceway. They went down the stairs, and went in the direction of the big Roxanne mural. Jeremy remembered this was the place he and Roxanne first met. Those thoughts were interrupted by Vanessa.
"It's just through this door," she said. The door opened, and they saw the way to the sinkhole.
Vanessa led the way and the others followed. The stairs looked somewhat unsafe, and the area was dank and had a bad smell. There was a point where a group of robots were at a dinner table, just sitting and staring with their blank faces. Gregory was scared, but Jeremy and Roxanne held both of his hands. He felt way better than he was before. They finally reached an elevator that looks like it has been there for ages. Vanessa opened the door, then Gregory and Roxanne followed. Jeremy was reluctant to go inside due to it not looking very safe. He took a deep breath and stepped inside. The ride was bumpy, but it didn't break down or anything catastrophic.
Once the elevator reached the bottom, Jeremy was glad he didn't die. Everyone looked at the dark hallway, then noticed the generators and lights. Jeremy turned on the generators while they were walking. They reached the end and saw a huge neon sign. It had an old looking Freddy animatronic. It read Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Jeremy opened the doors to the old restaurant and shined his new flashlight.
The inside looked like the restaurant from the arcade game inside Vanny's lair. It was filled with debris and decayed walls and floors. It clicked inside Jeremy's head they were in an old restaurant that must've been built by the original owners. It must've been swallowed by the earth, and the Pizzaplex built above it. Jeremy pointed his flashlight in a direction he wished he didn't point it in. It was a pile of children's clothes, never to be worn again. Everyone cringed, and quickly turned another direction.
Vanessa found the way to get down to the Master's hiding space. "This way!" she pointed her flashlight down to see the scaffolding going down. She stepped down, and the others followed. It felt like it took forever, but they made it.
Vanessa pulled out some rope. "If my plan is going to work, I need you to tie yourselves up."
"Vanessa, you better not be screwing with us," Jeremy said.
"If I wanted to, I would've done it awhile ago. Now tie up Gregory, but enough for him to get loose."
Jeremy didn't want to, but he tied up Gregory. Surprisingly, he didn't fight back. It was probably because it was Jeremy and not Vanessa. Gregory tried and successfully got loose. Then Vanessa tied up Jeremy loose enough to get himself free. Then Roxanne gave Vanessa a question.
"What about me?" she asked.
"You're going to pretend I convinced you to capture Jeremy and Gregory." Roxanne nodded, hoping her acting skills would work.
"Alright, let's end this!" Jeremy said.
Vanessa opened a door, then Jeremy and Gregory went inside. Vanessa put on her bunny mask, and fake shoved Gregory and Jeremy to move. Roxanne followed behind, doing the same motion. They ended up at an old recharge station, but it was decayed and had a purple glow from the window. Vanessa lined up Jeremy and Roxanne followed suit with Gregory. Then the door opened up.
What came out looked like a burned up bunny animatronic. It had some of its metal skeleton show, while flesh was wrapped around it. It had a green color to the metal plating, and ears at the top of its head. Then the animatronic-human hybrid woke up and slowly stepped outside. It was pleased to see Jeremy and Gregory tied up, while Vanny and Roxanne had smiles on their faces.
"Ah yes, Vanny. I see you have captured our target." He looked at Jeremy and Roxanne. "And brought a couple of guests." His voice sounded deep and metallic.
"Yes, Master, I have acquired the kid. This pesky security guard almost ruined my plan. But thanks to Roxanne Wolf, She helped me capture them both."
"Miss Wolf, what did Vanny say to you to capture the child? If I remember correctly, you were helping them, were you not?" He said that like he saw through the lie.
"I was at first, but Vanny told me if I join you, I get to have anything I want. So I made these two losers feel like they're being helped," she said in a slightly evil voice.
The Master smiled, "Excellent, I'm glad you've changed your ways. Now any last words before you two die?"
Jeremy said, "Who are you?"
The master chuckled, "Ah yes, the age old question. I guess I can tell you, but it won't matter anyways since you'll be dead. A long time ago, I was called William Afton. My partner Henry, and I built a spring lock suit that when worn, turns a person into an animatronic. It can also be functional as a normal animatronic.
"Then one day, my son was killed by one of them. I was devastated, then realized his spirit was inside the spring lock suit. I changed my perception and started to experiment for immortality. I killed several children for my experiments, and I was never charged for my crimes.
"Over the years, I have been killed in multiple ways. I was crushed by my spring suit, burned, and left to rot. But I always come back."
Afton ended his monologue, then a small army of endoskeletons surrounded the group. Jeremy thought he and everyone else were screwed.
"Vanny, will you be so kind as to order the endos to disassemble our guests?"
Vanessa pulled out a remote with a single red button. "With pleasure." Now Jeremy was scared, he was hoping it was still Vanessa and not Vanny in the suit. "Disassemble… Afton," and she pressed the button.
Afton was shocked, "What? You can't betray me, Vanny! I am the Master!" The endos creep closer to the scared Afton. He knew he couldn't take on an army of others watched as the endos grabbed Afton and began to disassemble him. The endos tore off his metal skeleton and wires while he screamed in pain. "I ALWAYS COME BA-" his sentence was interrupted by an endo taking off his head. After another few seconds, he was nothing more than a pile of metal and flesh.
Vanessa commanded the endos to go back to where they came from. Jeremy was so relieved that her plan worked. He freed himself from the rope, as well as Gregory. They inspected the scrap pile, and made sure he wasn't coming back. His eyes were still glowing its purple color, then went out after a moment. Finally, after many years of terror, Afton was no more.
"Try and come back from that," Jeremy said.
"What should we do with him?" Roxanne asked.
Jeremy looked at the scrap pile one more time, and made a decision. "We'll leave him. This hole is most likely going to be filled at some point." Jeremy looked at Vanessa, she had a sad look on her face. "Are you okay, Vanessa?"
"I'm just thinking about all those kids who had their lives taken from them. And I took part in it."
Jeremy gave a sympathetic look, "It's okay, Vanessa, it wasn't your fault. You had no control over your actions."
"Thank you, Jeremy, but I don't know what I should do to redeem myself."
Jeremy smiled, "You already have. You disassembled Afton, and now he can't hurt anyone. And I'm sure those kids are at peace because of you." Vanessa gave a little smile, but she still had the bad memories.
Gregory walked up to Jeremy, "Thank you for protecting me."
Jeremy smiled, "No problem, Gregory. We were just doing our jobs after all."
He hugged Jeremy, and Roxanne and Vanessa joined in. The nightmare was over. Once the group hug was over, they left the sinkhole and walked to the exit.
-Author's notes-
Only one more chapter to go before the first part of the series ends. Also, I did my best to recap the FNAF lore.