A Tip Off
"DAMMIT!" Daniel cried, slamming his fist against a wall. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! WE ALMOST HAD IT!"
They had managed to evade the police and had found solace in the basement of John, Gordon's brother, at his house. They knew this was just a temporary refuge. If the police went through the employment records of Freddy's to track them down, they'd obviously narrow down to investigate their houses and those of any close relatives.
They'd managed to evade them the night before, but they got lucky. Their original plan had the fall-back of scattering across town and meeting at a rendezvous point a day later. They'd all managed to find their way to it but the mood was far less than celebratory.
"We lost our proof and we're on the run from the cops," grumbled Stuart. "I can't believe this."
"And we all know why!" Daniel rounded on him. "If you'd kept your eye on that fox, he wouldn't have disarmed you!"
"Hey, don't go pinning this on me!" retorted Stuart. "Ernest was a complete wimp and Jenny was the one who got the camera broken!"
Ernest stammered and stuttered out fragments of an excuse, but nothing completely coherent actually came out. But then Jenny spoke up for them both.
"This isn't his fault and it's not mine either!" she argued. "What was I supposed to do? That thing took it out of my hand and crushed it like it was nothing! What do you think it might have done if it had gotten its hands on me or any of us?"
"You had your job!" snarled Daniel. "Now thanks to you, we don't even have anything to show for it!"
"Maybe it might have gone better if you'd kept our promise to not hurt anyone!" she retorted. "I can't believe you were actually going to shoot that man!"
"Shut up!" he snapped. "I wouldn't have actually done it! But if I had, who cares? He'd have deserved it!"
Her eyes widened. "Do you even hear yourself? You're talking about murder! If we do something like that, how does that make us any better than them?"
"DON'T YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO-" He was cut off when Gordon firmly placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a hard look. "Yes. You're right. Thanks, Gordon."
The man nodded silently and stood back, adjusting his glasses slightly.
"Alright. There's no point in tossing the blame around," said Daniel, finally calming down. "Even though we didn't manage to get any solid proof, we still learned a little more about the place."
"Yeah? Like what?" asked Stuart cynically. "That we'll get our asses handed to us if we go in there again?"
"No, the animatronics," said Jenny. "They didn't act much like ordinary machines."
"Um… can I s-say something?" Ernest asked.
"Of course, Ernie," she said kindly. "What did you want to say?"
"Th-Thanks," he muttered. "A-Anyway, I th-thought we always knew. Th-That they can interact b-better than normal animatronics. Th-They have advanced AI."
"Yeah. A little too advanced," noted Daniel. "We all saw what they could do back there. They could actually think for themselves and operate independently. They knew when to act and when it was safer to lie in wait. They were capable of deception and self-defence."
"Their movements were very fluid too," put in Jenny. "They weren't all stiff and jerky the way they usually are. The way they moved and acted, they were almost like real people rather than robots."
"And more importantly, that fox was the one who almost went too far, just like he did in 87." A dark look came over his face. "They all let us go, but only because they were told to. I'm sure that if they wanted to, they could have easily broken us in half like they did Ernest's bat."
"That was my favourite one too…" he murmured sadly.
"At least you won't have to pay two-hundred dollars for a new phone," pointed out Jenny.
"This only proves what we were thinking of even more," went on Daniel. "Freddy's is telling us less than we were led to believe. Not just when we signed up, but the rest of public too. It's something to do with those robots or whatever they are and we have to find out."
"Yeah but what about that Mike guy?" asked Stuart.
"He can't be relied upon," dismissed Daniel. "Whatever it is they've said to him, he's on their side now. If he wants to stay on their ship, he'll go down with the rest of them."
"But where do we go from here?" asked Jenny. "The police are still looking for us. We won't be able to act until at least the heat dies down. Until it does, it might be safer to get out of town for a while."
"Yeah, I like the sound of that," agreed Stuart. "I'm not going to jail for doing what was right."
"But we still need to think about our next course of action after that or during it." Daniel groaned in frustration. "We won't be able to get near the place anymore. There has to be another way we can expose them."
"I might be able to help with that," a new voice said.
They all whirled around to see someone standing in the door way. A man who hadn't been there before.
"Whoa hey!" Stuart yelled. "Are you a cop? How'd you get in here?!"
"Hey, hey, easy. I'm not a cop," he said quickly. "His brother let me in." He nodded to Gordon. "And I'm certainly not with the police. I mean, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you guys if I was, would I? And look at me. Do I really look like a cop?"
They took some time to look him over. He was a pretty non-descript guy. Jeans, a well-worn shirt, average physique. His black hair was neatly kept but still a little out of place in areas. His demeanour was fairly relaxed, like he'd just walked up to them to say hi and have a talk but he still had the unsureness of meeting people for the first time. His tone was friendly, but something about it still made it a little awkward. Apart from a cleft chin, his face wasn't anything remarkable either. A little pale maybe, clean shaven but with a patches of stubble growing back.
All in all, he was a fairly average guy. Nothing special or standout, just average. The sort of guy you could easily approach and have a decent conversation with at a bar or somewhere like that. Definitely not with the police, but he had still sought them out.
"Okay then," said Daniel slowly, "what do you want?"
"Phew, that was a relief." He gave an awkward laugh. "For a second there, I actually all thought you might attack me. Uh, not that I'm saying I think you're dangerous or anything. It's just, you are on the run from the law and all. I can imagine you must be pretty on edge."
"Yeah, you could say that," said Stuart.
"Of course, who wouldn't be?" he nodded with another laugh. "I know I sure wouldn't be. But it's fine, like I said, I'm not here to arrest you. I mean, one of me against five of you? Imagine those odds, am I right?"
"Look, did you want something?" Daniel asked again. "You said you'd be able to help us. Can you or can't you?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, I guess I was rambling again," he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, I go off on tangents sometimes. I-It happens to the best of us, right? Anyway, yeah, I am here to help you. Whether or not you want it, that's up to you."
"Then tell us what it is so we can decide," ordered Daniel.
"Okay, okay, sorry," he repeated. "Uh, let's see… yeah, I know who you are, of course. You're all former night guards at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Trying to uncover all the secrets of that place, expose the truth. Pretty cool stuff."
"How do you know that?" asked Stuart suspiciously. "If you're lying and you are a cop…"
"No, no, I'm really not!" he insisted. "I-I just found your website, that's all. I read all about it. Uh, whose was the theory about all the kids being murdered there and their spirits haunting the suits that they covered up?"
Ernest nervously raised his hand.
"Yeah, I liked that one," he praised. "Pretty chilling stuff. Wouldn't catch me going into that place after dark with something like that hanging over my head." He shuddered.
"You… think so?" asked Ernest.
"Yeah. I mean, I don't know if it's true or not but it's still a pretty cool story anyway," he said. "Did you uh, find out anything like that when you got in there tonight?"
"No. We didn't," said Daniel bluntly. "I'm losing my patience here, can you get to the point?"
"Right, right, sorry. Did it again," he laughed. "Um, anyway I do have something that could help you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. "On here is some information you may find useful. For revealing the truth about Freddy's, I mean."
"What kind of information?" asked Jenny.
"Ah, that's the question." He smiled a little now, like he had some big scandalous secret he wasn't meant to tell anyone. "Did you guys know that there's an offsite storage space that the restaurant uses?"
"Offsite storage?" Jenny frowned. "We never found anything about that."
"Uh, it's not public information, you see," he told them. "This is stuff you'd only know if you were working for the place. Or more specifically, the company that used to finance construction and design of the animatronics."
"Fazbear Entertainment? That place shut down a long time ago," recalled Daniel. "How did you get this?"
"Let's just say I know a guy. Anyway," he went on, "the storage site is actually not far from here. It's in a warehouse down on the docks. The envelope contains all the information you'll need and you should find something there to help you expose them."
"That does seem like it'd be pretty useful," agreed Jenny. "We don't really have many other options at the moment."
"Y-Yeah," nodded Ernest. "This s-seems good for us."
"Wait a minute, am I the only one who thinks this seems fishy?" asked Stuart. "I mean, this guy just comes out of the blue and says that he has information that may help us? A little convenient, isn't it?"
"Hey, I'm standing right here," the guy said though more as a joke than a protest.
"I do agree with Stuart on this," said Daniel. "Who are you anyway? How do we know we can trust you?"
"What about me says you can't?" he countered. "Look, I can't tell you who I am. Seriously, I'm really sticking my neck out just doing this. I can't be involved in this directly, I'm sorry. But maybe you guys can do what I can't. You find what they have hidden there and trust me, you'll be able to get what you need. Like she says, what other choice do you have?"
Daniel considered. While his trust in this man wasn't exactly high, he and Jenny were right when they said they had very few options. If there really was something hidden there, they might be able to get some leverage on Freddy's. They could finally be made to pay. It wasn't like they had much else to lose at this point.
"Alright then," Daniel conceded. "We'll make the best use of this information. Thanks for your help."
"It's my pleasure, really," said the guy, handing them the envelope. "You'll know what it is when you find it and trust me, there's nothing to worry about. You'll be fine."
There we go. A short and sweet little finish/hook for a sequel. I was going to do one more flashback scene, but I don't think it was needed. If I change my mind, I may add it in another time.
Edge: Because you all seem like perfectly reasonable and sane individuals XD
Kliff: And that just proves my point XD Seriously, what's so bad about the British? I'm British and I am frankly offended.
Balloon: That's an exaggeration. Remember, he was just one guy and we wouldn't even have Freddy's if it weren't for him. It's flawed, no doubt about it but that doesn't stop me enjoying the games and what surrounds them. Well, most aspects anyway.
Mojojoao: Hush now ;)
Ashwood's Flame: 2
Alexis: All will be revealed next time, my friend.
1OneHuman: I added it now, just so you know XD And you're right because this is the last chapter XD
PinkamenaEvil: Perhaps if I decide to do a custom night thing, like what DeltaV is currently doing with his work.
Golden: Added thanks.
Monkey999Boy: Season 3? I wish this was animated XD
Edge (2): I will add action when appropriate, contain yourself.
Dracoessa: Tis a shame.
Aaaand that's the end of another story. I'll be honest, I feel like this one is my weakest work so far. There were quite a few times I was stuck wondering about character motivations and dialogue and story progression in this one. Whatever way, I'm a little glad this one's done.
Next time, we're going to have some real fun. Because, as we all know, some bots get satisfaction breaking the mould. Some bots are just distractions.
And some bots… are just gold. See you next time…
Be strong, be swift, be just.