Chapter Seventeen
Purple Eyes
Gregory stepped into bright silence.
A singular S.T.A.F.F. bot patrolled the tiny area between the giant fountain and the ticket area. Otherwise, not a soul or thing moved around the brightly lit entrance area.
Gregory sent a look to his left, to the double doors under the sign welcoming him to the Superstar Daycare. He wanted so much to run there and hide and pretend that everything was okay. But he knew if he went back, he would not be given the opportunity to draw with crayons or listen to stories.
He would be taken straight to her.
Gregory looked to the front entrance. The doors should be open, now. He could leave. He should leave. Roxy was right. It was simply too dangerous for him here. There was nothing he could do. Vanny took Sun and Moon, and now she had Freddy. Chica was in really bad shape, and Roxy was no better. He hadn't even heard from Monty.
Gregory wrapped his arms around himself and took a deep, shaky breath.
No matter what he did, it all went wrong. He scrambled for six hours simultaneously finding a way to save himself and his friend. Instead, he doomed everyone else. He broke them. He trusted the one person he shouldn't have trusted and instead of fixing Sun and Moon, she broke them further.
Gregory shut his eyes. That was it, wasn't it? He would try and he would fail and just make things worse for everyone. He broke them. He couldn't fix them, and Vanny couldn't either. The first red flag should have been when Vanessa said only a few people knew how to fix them in the first place.
Gregory sucked in his breath. That was it! He had to call for help. If anyone could help Sun and Moon, it was the person who built them, right?
One call, and then Gregory would leave. He owed them that much.
Gregory made his way down the stairs. Instead of going directly into the right room, he snuck past the S.T.A.F.F. bot and into the right door. From here, he could see through the windows to the ticket stands, but also the computers and phones behind the desk. Gregory turned on one of the computers but was immediately confronted with a password. So, he shuffled around the drawers. A small, torn note with a few passwords on it stuck out of a folder thick with documents.
He didn't know exactly where he was supposed to go, sure. But he did know the guy's name and position. Maybe he should just search up "Head Engineer of Freddy Fazbear's"?
A quick Google search later told him that William Afton and Henry Emily created the first bots. William Afton created all of the older models, laying the framework for the newer ones, blah, blah, blah. Who was in charge now?
Mr. John Remington, that's who! Hah!
Gregory picked up one of the landline phones and typed in a number.
Brrrring, brrrrring, brrrring.
Gregory frowned. This… was taking a little while…
Click.
Huh. Must be asleep.
Gregory dialed the number again. This was more important than sleep! Gregory should know considering he had been awake all night. Moon constantly tried to tell him otherwise, but what would he know? He wasn't the one being hunted down by a murderer.
Finally, the phone clicked before the three hundredth ring.
"Hello?" a feminine voice, heavy in sleep and sharp with irritation, answered.
John wasn't a girl, right? "Hey! Uh, is this Mr. John Remington? Head Engineer at Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex?"
"Is this a… are you a kid? It's six-thirty in the morning. Give your parents their phone back and go to bed."
"Wait!" Gregory sucked in his breath. "Don't shut off the phone! It's serious! I need to talk to him. It's an emergency. With the bots."
A heavy sigh came in answer. "My husband just worked a double shift. Don't those vampires respect that?"
"I dunno, lady, I'm just a kid. I don't work here."
Something shuffled on the other end of the phone. He could hear another voice, but just barely. Then, a new voice answered. "Hello, this is John."
"Hey! I'm Gregory! Um, you're the head engineer. Sun said that you made him. Well, technically not him, he didn't say that. He just said he knew you."
"You talked to Sun…? What happened?" Worry crept into the man's voice.
"Sun and Moon are broken," Gregory stated plainly. "Some murderer lady in a rabbit suit is trying to kill me! Sun tried to help, but Moon's sick and he tried to hurt me. Then when I asked for help, the lady who was supposed to help me turned them against me!"
"Moon's sick? That doesn't make any sense. I would know if he was 'sick'."
Gregory snarled in frustration. "Yeah, well, you guys are idiots! Something's wrong with them! They said so and they said no one listened. Well, now you have to listen! They almost killed me." His voice broke. Gregory swallowed hard.
"Hey, hey, kid! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Look, Moon shouldn't even be able to hurt children. Are you sure that's who you saw?"
Gregory heard the jingle of keys in the background. He bit back a sigh of relief.
The boy went on, "I'm positive. And I talked to Sun, and he said that was Moon. I saw Sun turn into Moon. I was there. Sun's acting crazy, too. Even before she did something to them a little while ago. She also mind-controlled or put a virus in or something all the other animatronics."
"Who is there with you, kid?"
"Just me."
"Just you? Alone? In the mall?"
"Yeah. Well, not that I want to be. It's a long story."
"I'm sure I'll be able to hear it, later. I'll be there in thirty minutes. Forty, tops. You just stay safe, okay? Sun and Moon are programmed to know where children are. Hiding places can't fool them. You probably know this by now. If something is wrong and you feel scared, you can hide at the security desk in the Superstar Daycare. They absolutely cannot go behind it. Where are you calling me?"
"The front desk ticket area."
"Oh, good. The doors should be open. You can leave through there."
"I'm not–" Gregory broke himself off with a sigh. "I guess I should. I'll see you here. I just want Sun and Moon to be okay. You can help everyone else, right?"
"Of course! I created them! Sit tight, okay? It would be safer for you to stay out in the parking lot. But if you're afraid of going outside, stay behind the security desk in the Superstar Daycare. None of the other robots need to go there, and Sun and Moon can't get to you behind the desk. Do you have a phone?"
"No. Just a Fazwatch."
A short moment of silence followed.
"…okay, here's the deal. You go hunker down. Once I get here, I'll send a message to you and look for them myself. What's the MAC address on your Fazwatch?"
"What's a MAC address?"
Mr. Remington explained what exactly a MAC address was–his best explanation was a fingerprint–and how to find it on his watch. With that, Mr. Remington could find exactly which one was Gregory's and send a message to it.
As a test, Mr. Remington messed with something in his car at a red light.
A message simply stating "test" popped up on Gregory's Fazwatch.
Gregory had to go. The longer he spent here, the more he risked being found. Though, as he hung up the phone, he couldn't shake off the awful feeling of wrongness clutching him. He was just going to abandon everyone, was he? After reassuring Sun for six hours that Gregory would fix him, Gregory was just going to let him get broken further and leave?
No. No, Gregory was not a quitter. He was not a coward or a cry baby. He was going to find Vanny, and he was going to stop her. One way or the other.
Well, they hadn't checked Roxy Raceway for another hide-out, yet.
Gregory hesitated for half a second at the split path in the construction zone but went on to Roxy Raceway.
Hidden past where he found the head was a creepy-looking door leading into a creepy-looking set of stairs. Murderers liked creepy lairs. If Freddy came from this direction, perhaps she hid in that hole.
Two chain link fence sections, one opened inward and one not, both with yellow signs screaming at them not to enter, stood beneath the closer barricaded staircase.
They found the red door.
Gregory pushed it open and hopped lightly onto the grate. He descended the stairs into the darkness.
Finally, he arrived at the cement floor. Immediately, a gate barred them entry… a gate with golden chains and a sign declaring Monty should not come near. Gregory couldn't see through the cloud of dust. Gregory pressed the green button on his watch.
Gregory expected to hear Monty come down the stairs, walking or running he wasn't quite sure. What he wasn't expecting was for the gator to crash through the fence above and land on the ground before him hard enough to shake Gregory. Monty laughed upon seeing Gregory's shock. "Stairs take too long, little guy. You gotta learn to think with your claws. Or, puny fists, I guess."
Gregory stammered and then cleared his throat. "I-I mean, thanks! Hey, Monty! Could you help me break that fence? I think we're getting close to Vanny."
Monty looked at the gate. "Close to Vanny, eh? Sure thing." He walked up to the gate and smashed the lock and chains. When he turned around, his tail smacked it open. "I'll come with."
Gregory smiled a little at that. "Okay!"
"Nice. Might need to punch something else later. Or someone."
He couldn't argue with that!
The two continued into the darkness, lit by Gregory's flashlight. Cement pillars, damaged by time and strain, peppered the space. Piles of dirt, rock, and cement scattered about. Wires dangled freely and a metal beam fell over so it leaned on the wall and the animatronic had to duck under it. Gregory was going to get Tetanus just looking at the place!
Eventually, as they wound through the darkness, they got to one last gate. This one had a light on it rather than chains.
"Sorry, little guy," Monty said with a shake of his head. "I can't open these. They're electric. Have you tried, uh…"
Gregory chipped in, "Chica? She broke one of these before."
"Yeah, her! Have you asked her for help?"
Gregory nodded. "I have, but… Roxy said something bad happened to her."
"All the better reason to call her," Monty said. "That way we can make sure she's okay, right?"
"Good point!" Gregory pressed the pink button.
Moments later, Chica came jogging in.
Gregory sucked in his breath. "Chica!"
She shook her head. "Gre-egory! You're-re okay." The words spat out of her slack, loose beak, and exposed throat as static more than actual words.
"Yeah. But you're not!"
"Roxy helped me-e. I-I'm fi-i-ine."
Urgh! He could hardly tell what she was saying! Gregory looked at the gate. "I think we know where Vanny's real lair is. Could you help?"
Chica put a finger to her beak. Just touching it moved the beak further out of place. "Gre-e-egory…"
"Please. I need to end this. She got Freddy!"
Chica jolted. "Really?"
"Yeah. Roxy and I found him. Or, he found us. I managed to get away."
Chica shook her head. "Okay, I'll op-op-open this ga-a-ate. Be sa-sa-safe." She walked up to it and made a high-pitched screeching noise. The green light flickered out. She gently pushed the door open.
Gregory passed through the now open fence. Chica and Monty didn't follow, instead watching the rickety elevator in which Gregory approached warily.
Gregory climbed into the scrap metal elevator. As he stood by the elevator button, apprehension crept up inside of him. Apprehension, curiosity, determination…
Isn't that what anyone would feel when tracking down their would-be murderer?
Gregory pressed the button.
The doors whined closed, and the elevator shuddered. Distorted elevator music mumbled to him as he descended.
A rather short eventually later, the elevator stopped moving and dinged. The doors opened to reveal a tunnel. Gregory stepped outside, looking over the dark earth-and-cement cavern partially lit by lights on tripods, some standing, and some knocked over. Generators, their lights red just like the ones that had been in the Daycare, sat across the tunnel. A string of golden Christmas lights strung up a good half of the length of the tunnel. Gas cans, empty and full, scattered across the edges.
Gregory took out his Fazerblaster as he moved. He inspected the rebar and pipes and supports and slabs of cement. Some walls were bare entirely of human interference, showing a wall of stone interlaced with natural metal. He pulled the lever down on the first generator. It growled to life, the red light becoming green. Dust and steam trickled into the tunnel, condensing into fog at the thinnest places where Gregory couldn't believe construction equipment could comfortably traverse. He bristled upon coming face-to-elbow with an endoskeleton. He jumped back; gun raised.
The endoskeleton, hanging limp from one of those hangers attached to the wall, did nothing. The one beside it did nothing either.
The boy took a deep breath, looked ahead, squared his shoulders, and marched forward. The yellow string of lights directly above him was impossible to see here!
The cavern widened again, and the fog dispersed, making it slightly easier to see. At the end of the cavern was a wall, technically. A wall with a set of decorated red metal doors. Above that, the lights emblazoned around its sharp edges was a giant sign proudly declaring "Freddy Fazbear's" in intricate cursive and "Pizza Place" in plainer text just below. The show-time bulbs flickered, some alive, some dead, some struggling to stay consistently lit.
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza Place? How old was this place? What was this place? Surely, they didn't have an entire separate diner from the nineties or whatever just sitting under the Mega Pizzaplex. That was just…
…weird.
The doors opened frighteningly easily, as did the second pair inside. Gregory had to duck through that short hall as a rectangular ceiling light broke at one end and now hung, live wires sparking dangerously above his head.
Within was a small, dirty, burnt front desk area, the checkerboard floor housing all sorts of cables slumped over like wet spaghetti noodles connecting from the outside and the generator in the small room through a set of double glass doors.
One door, translucent from time and negligence, stood open enough for at most Freddy to get through. The second, its windowpane shattered, stayed shut.
Gregory arrived at a dining room.
He didn't want to call it a hall, considering it could handle a large party but was nowhere near the size of the food court or dining hall in the mall. The checkerboard tile cracked, and tiles popped up or sunk in places. A few doors, one stainless steel, interrupted the red and checkerboard walls blooming with harsh burns as well as some withered arcade cabinets. Melted party hats and supplies littered the floors and a few old melted or charred tables with pools of tablecloth remnants. The ruins of a small half-moon stage with red curtains and more lights around the rim sagged to one wall, the curtains completely burned and revealed nothing, and the stage lights pointed up at what was once a child's best friend. Giant speakers, still glowing, sat and lay between that and the memory of the main stage, lit up and open and big enough for all of Freddy's friends if they so desired. That and if the stage was more than a pile of wood consumed by fire. Unfortunately, none of the doors opened nor was there any hole in the wall or ceiling, anything that would justify a place for her to go.
A final generator and a recharge station sat way out of place in the opposite corner. Near it, cement barriers were positioned in a wide circle. One barrier had fallen over, revealing a giant, gaping hole.
Gregory peered inside but didn't make it far. A collage of garbage twirled down like some weird version of a ramp or set of stairs or a hybrid of the two. He was going to have to go down there, wasn't he? As if knowing the elevator could break on him at any moment going back up wasn't bad enough, right?
"We will go together," he could imagine Freddy saying. As long as they were together, he would be safe. Nothing could get Freddy down… as long as he had ample power. Well, nothing but her.
Bolstered by indignation and hate, he descended into the killer's lair.
He walked and hopped down the hodge-podge trash staircase until finally getting to the bottom.
The wood beneath him splintered and then broke.
Gregory yelped and plummeted. He managed to grab the wood with both hands to stop his fall and keep him upright. Unfortunately, that bit of wood broke, too, and he fell to the scorched checkerboard floor.
He was in a relatively small, indented section of a cement room, now standing beside a cot with a navy-blue blanket with yellow stars and the Princess Quest III arcade machine, each on opposite walls. A spray-painted, smiling bunny face watched him. Three computer terminals sat on three desks ahead of him, flanked by security doors and a vent from above.
Gregory looked back. Princess Quest III. Something… drew him in. Letters tied to scores flashed on the otherwise dark screen.
Find the glitches. Save her.
Gregory approached the arcade cabinet and took the joystick in his hand.
Beep!
Monty's voice growled, "Hey, Gregory! We know you're down there!"
Gregory bristled and released the game. He pulled up his Fazwatch. "Hey, Monty!"
Roxy chipped in, "And we know she's there, too."
Chica said, "You're tra-tra-trapped right no-ow-ow-ow, so be-be careful. But we're go-o-o-oing to he-help."
Roxy declared, "We're on our way! The elevator's busted, so we gotta take the long way. Just hang tight for a while."
Monty warned, "And keep the lights on. That clown guy's gone crazy! Er–more than usual."
Chica sighed and said, "Freddy di-di-did, too. Be ca-a-a-areful. He isn't hi-hi-himself, Gre-e-e-egory."
Roxy said, "Basically, we know where she lives, now, and we're coming in to kick her–"
"Ro-o-oxy!" Chica hissed.
Roxy laughed. "See you in a while, little guy. Stay safe 'til we get there."
Chica called, "Bye! We ne-e-eed to cut co-communi-i-i-ications fo-or a whi-i-ile."
Gregory burst out, "Wait, why? What?"
…
Gregory sighed. "Of course. I just hope they get here soon."
He looked around as he stepped further in, walking under some drooping cables nowhere near close enough to touch him as he went. A recharge station sat at either side of the room, both in corners across from the security doors.
Gregory approached the middle of the three computer terminals. All three showed a separate camera feed. Although the two flanking terminals showed empty rooms, the one in the middle showed Vanny at a computer. A large white and yellow animatronic costume hung on the wall behind her. He pressed a button by the terminal. Fire hissed from the grates on the floor. The rabbit jumped and bolted to the back of the room, next to the bulky costume. Her big red eyes turned to the camera.
Gregory scoffed. "That easy, huh? So, I just have to keep you away from the computer."
A whine rang out from the ceiling. Above them, every light conceivably close had shut down. The lights within the room still worked and were at ninety-nine percent power if the gauge by the first computer was working. Bells jingled in the distance and two red pinpricks of light glittered in the void above. Then, in the blink of an eye, and with a quiet cackle, they were gone.
Oh for the love of–
Something scuffled in the vents.
"The vents?" Gregory looked up at the vent opening and then his Fazwatch. Were there–yeah! Cameras were set up in the halls and vent. Vanny, her ears flat to her back due to the vent size limit, crawled through the vent straight toward them. Gregory ran to a Freddy-head-shaped button near the vent and closed it.
Vanny bumped into it and scooted back. Unable to properly turn around without breaking something, she gave up and crawled backward.
Gregory glanced at the HUD.
Eighty-nine percent?!
He opened the vent immediately. Geez, how much power did this place take? How were they going to take down Vanny? Or, the more pressing question was, how was he going to survive?
Gregory threw a nervous glance up at the dark, empty void above and then at the computer terminal. Vanny was gone. Gregory jolted and looked through the camera on his Fazwatch. Nope, all three cameras were empty. He ran to the other computers. The left terminal had an image similar to the center, with just a room with a computer and a wall of writing and pictures and diagrams tied together on strings he couldn't make out. A little stuffed bunny with green fur and a purple bow and buttons sat merrily beside the computer terminal.
On the rightmost camera, Vanny fiddled with a computer. Gregory pressed the green button set before him. Flames burst into the room. She hopped back out of range. Vanny's head jerked up and she stared at the camera. She ran out of sight.
He heard thumping.
"The halls!" Gregory ran to the left door and looked down the rusted corridor.
Empty.
He ran to the right one. Gregory peeked around the corner. Freddy perked up upon seeing him. His walk turned into a run.
Gregory slammed shut the door. Freddy knocked on the window of the door and then lumbered off.
Gregory waited until the noise died before he reopened the door. He took a deep, calming breath. They could do this. Vanny would get tired or frustrated eventually, right? That had to be it. Or maybe the power would go out on her side and Moon would attack her? That… was not likely, but it would still be cool. Or Moon would attack him. Knowing his luck, that's what would happen.
Gregory immediately searched the terminals and found Vanny hashing away at a keyboard on the third computer, with all the wall diagrams. She hopped out of the way of the flames again and darted off. He didn't have much time to think before he heard something in the vent.
As time wore on, Vanny slipped into the vent and made Freddy run through the halls on the left and right doors. She spent most of her time darting through the rooms, though. She would try to use the computer, run away from the fire, attack Gregory, fail, and then go back and work on something. It almost felt… random. Like she was trying to attack Gregory as a chore she was offhandedly marking off. Something in there had her attention.
He squinted through the monitors, but it didn't help much. On the left terminal was a room with a brainstorming board full of writing, pictures, diagrams, and threads connecting them. In the middle were metal and cloth scraps. A yellow and white, fuzzy rabbit animatronic hung from the wall. Cords connected it to the computer terminal. On the right was a room full of torn apart S.T.A.F.F. bots of all professions, some other junk he didn't know, and even a full endoskeleton reduced to scraps–carefully unscrewed and laser-cut scraps.
Then, after he cut off an attack from Vanny in the vents, he looked at the power meter.
1%
Gregory gasped. "It's the power! I'm almost out!"
0%
The lights went out. The vent door opened. The recharge stations stopped buzzing. All sounds save for his breathing died.
A cackle sang from above.
Gregory backed up, struggling hard to adjust his eyes after staring at the glaring screens for so long.
Moon dripped from the ceiling like dew trailing down a window. His red eyes gleamed, drenching his half-white face in blood.
"Naughty boy~!" Moon trilled, upside down so the tips of his feet hooked on broken rebar, a few fingertips stabilized him on the ground, and his head rotated so he could still match Gregory's gaze. His head twitched and a spark flickered from one of his awkwardly bent neck joints, which squeaked shrilly as he moved his head. The frilly, dark jester held up his other hand and wiggled his fingers in a wave hello. "It's time for sleep~!"
Gregory shut his eyes and puffed. "No. I refuse! She's trying to control you! And I'm not scared of her and I'm not scared of you."
He ran up to Moon and wrapped his arms around the animatronic's neck. Moon, at an awkward angle being completely vertical as he still hung from the ceiling, let go of the ceiling with his foot and set a hand on the ground to stabilize himself as he flipped over.
"I'm not scared of her," Gregory stated forcefully, a headache forming from how hard he pressed his head against Moon's warm shell. "I'm not. I'm not scared of you, either." Moon's hand freed so he grabbed Gregory in two hands.
The lights blazed on.
Gregory yelped and covered his eyes with his arm, releasing Moon in the process. Conversely, Moon's hands left Gregory. When Gregory lowered his arm and blinked the stars out of his eyes, Moon was gone–literally. He couldn't see the Daycare Attendant before him. But, when he looked up upon hearing the Daycare Attendant's now more robust bells, he saw the tips of two orange shoes vanish into the hole in the ceiling.
He looked back at the monitors, which spat white noise with a static-filled screen. Behind him, the Princess Quest III arcade lit up. That weird feeling of not belonging but needing to be here overtook him. Something was going to happen if he played that game. But at the same time, if he didn't hurry, he could miss Vanny. He could miss his opportunity to destroy her.
She hurt him. She hunted him down. She took Freddy from him and hurt Sun and Moon. Everyone else tried to get him, too. And it was all her fault!
Gregory balled his fists. It was all her fault. All his misery and fear tonight, all on her. But… the way her eyes were practically glowing purple, just like the other animatronics…
It was time for him to engage. Now or never.