A few days later- possibly the longest days in Tim's life up to that point- it was time at last. Mike had thankfully left him alone for the most part, working off and on at creating a plan of action. While he feared no murderous robot, he did fear his father's wrath should they be found out.

Two days earlier Mike had taken note of when Dad left the house in the evening and when he came back, taking that as an estimate for their time limit. The evening after that he did the same, but he had also found out where one of the technicians who worked the night shift at Dad's place lived. (Apparently whatever went on down there required nightly maintenance work.) He took note of when that man left his home as well and carefully tailed him through town, only narrowly avoiding being spotted by the paranoid employee on a couple occasions. Thus, he had managed to locate the entrance of the facility.

He had spent most of today going over the plan with Tim and gathering the necessary supplies. Flashlights for them both plus spare batteries, walkie-talkies in case they would find themselves split up (they were unsure if those would work, but they figured it was worth trying), a water bottle for each in case they got dehydrated, and Mike took one of Dad's knives with him, "For self-defense". (Tim didn't know whether he should protest that last one or not.)

Finally, the time to leave had come. Tim had pretended to go to bed as they had agreed, then when Dad left to do whatever he did at night, Mike went to fetch him. For a brief moment, Tim considered staying home after all and letting Mike go by himself, but he decided it was too late for that now. And deep down, he did not want to let his blissfully ignorant brother walk headlong into danger alone.

When they arrived at the place, Tim was surprised to find just a tiny building with only what appeared to be an elevator inside, and little else. Mike explained that the actual facility was underground. Unfortunately, they could not get the elevator to move, no matter what button they pressed- presumably, only employees knew how it worked. Luckily, Mike had planned for this.

He went out and retrieved two large cardboard boxes from where he had hidden them earlier, big enough to conceal them if they curled up enough. He placed each in an unassuming spot in the poorly-lit elevator, carefully positioning them so they would catch as little attention as possible. Then, he instructed Tim to hide under the smaller box while he took the bigger one. And then they waited.

A few minutes later- just as Mike had expected- nervous footsteps sounded and a man quietly stepped in. There was a tense moment as Tim and Mike both silently prayed the man would not take notice of the cardboard boxes at his feet.

And the moment lingered on...

And on...

...And eventually, the elevator doors shut with a loud clang. The technician must have either chosen to ignore the unusual presence in the elevator, or he was simply too focused on starting his shift to notice. In hindsight, Mike was amazed that his plan had actually worked without a hitch.

The elevator began moving with the sound of groaning metal, shuddering and rattling as it did. Mike had not accounted for this, and lying still on the shaking metal surface under the box quickly became uncomfortable. He thought to himself that this was his due punishment for celebrating his success too early. Hopefully, the elevator ride would be a short one.

Tim, meanwhile, had only just dared to breathe again after what felt like minutes of anxiously holding it. This was still a bad idea. But there really was no turning back now.

"Welcome back to another exciting night of maintenance work," a neutral-sounding male voice suddenly announced from somewhere. It had a bit of a canned quality to it. "Your main task for tonight is to head over to the Parts & Service room. Funtime Foxy has suffered a malfunction earlier today, and the daytime technicians did not have enough time available to repair him. You will receive more specific instructions upon arrival there." The boys could not see what went on, but it sounded like someone was talking to the technician. Did the elevator have an intercom system?

The technician in the elevator with them only groaned in response. It seemed he was not looking forward to whatever task he was just assigned.

It took longer than Mike and Tim would have liked, but eventually the elevator stopped. The doors hissed open not long after that, and the boys could hear the technician (somewhat reluctantly) stepping out. His footsteps stopped shortly after that and were replaced by a dull, low, metallic, rhythmic thumping noise that slowly grew more distant.

Very slowly, the boys emerged from their boxes. "Motion trigger: Entryway vent," a static female voice announced while they got to their feet, causing them to freeze briefly to listen for any other sounds. None came. They were not spotted yet.

They agreed to wait a minute or two longer, to ensure the technician was well and truly gone.

"Odd that the employee entrance is just this vent here," Mike remarked. Tim just "Hmm-hmm"-ed in response.

A little while later, they heard the same female voice from before announce "Funtime auditorium maintenance vent opened," and not long after that, a similar message for a place called "Parts & Service"- that must have been the place that the male voice spoke of earlier. The boys took that as signal that the coast was clear. Mike went first, clicking on his flashlight and ducking into the vent.

Tim went in only seconds later, suddenly very afraid of being separated from his brother in the dark facility. He clicked on his flashlight too, but soon realized there was not much point to that, as all he could see were the soles of Mike's shoes ahead of him.

"Motion trigger: Entryway vent," the voice announced again. Mike froze immediately, stopping so suddenly that Tim nearly knocked into him. They waited for a few tense seconds, but nothing else happened. If anyone heard that, they did not care.

Mike let out a relieved breath and continued. He neared the end of the tunnel ahead and clicked off his flashlight, which they had agreed to do beforehand to minimize the chance of being spotted.

When Tim emerged from the vent, his brother had already found a set of drawers and was rifling through them. Tim looked around anxiously. The room they were in was a bit cramped and had creepy masks and heads everywhere. Tim then looked up, and gasped.

Mike turned around at that. "What?"

Tim pointed up with a shaky finger, towards the camera that faced them. Mike took in a hissing breath through his teeth and inspected the camera closely.

"...We're in luck," Mike whispered to his brother. "I don't think anyone's watching this right now. There's usually a red light to show that it's recording, but this one's is off. Still, just to be sure..."

He checked his pockets and fished out a handkerchief. Then he stood on top of the drawers to reach the camera lens, which he carefully draped the handkerchief over.

"That should do it," he quietly said. Tim could only hope he was right.

"Anyway, look what I found in the drawer." Mike proudly presented a clipboard. He pointed to a line on the page, which said "Elevator access code:" followed by a string of numbers.

"What's that?" Tim could not help but ask. Mike suppressed a groan.

"It's for the elevator we rode down here, dum-dum. With this, we should be able to come and go as we please." Tim couldn't help but feel a little relieved at that. The way back was secure.

Mike took another look around the room. From where they came in, there were large windows to the left and right, but beyond them was only inky darkness. There were three vents apart from the one they emerged from, one in each cardinal direction, but only two were open: The one in front and the one to the right.

"Looks like we gotta choose which way to go," Tim commented. If he was honest, he would prefer not to go any further at all, but he knew Mike would never agree to turning back until they saw what they came here to see.

Mike did not ponder his choice for long. "Obviously we're going forward," he declared. "I'm not going in there." He pointed at the dark window to their right, through which absolutely nothing could be seen. Indeed, if Tim had the choice, he would rather not go into that room either. But then, how could they know if the other vent would be any better?

Either way, Mike had already begun clambering into the vent, so Tim hurried in after him.

"Motion trigger: Circus gallery vent," the female voice announced once more. This time, the boys were a little more prepared for it, but it was still startling. They could only hope they had not alerted anybody as they proceeded.

The room they emerged in appeared to be a dead end. There were no exits besides the one they emerged from. The rather small space only featured a desk with all manner of buttons and switches on it. The boys thought better of touching any of that. Behind the desk were three large windows through which a room covered in pitch-black darkness could be seen- or rather, could not be seen.

Mike looked around and spotted a nearby panel with two buttons on it. One of them had a sun symbol, which he guessed was a light switch. He considered pressing it, but... Although he would never admit it to Tim, the anticipation was getting to him too. He almost did not dare to press the button for fear of what he might see ahead.

Almost. But with a quick breath, he pressed it anyway.

There was a sputtering, buzzing noise and some weak light did appear for a moment, but it was not strong enough to illuminate anything. Then it went out again. Were the lights broken?

"I can't see," Tim whined. Mike looked at his brother and sighed. The boy was not quite tall enough to properly look through the window. Maybe he could, if he stood on his tiptoes right next to the window, but Mike knew he was not brave enough for that.

"Well, you're not missing much. The lights seem to be out," Mike explained. He sighed, and peered through the window a little more closely, hoping to see something in that inky darkness, but his eyes could not make out anything. His only option now was to use his flashlight, but that thought made him nervous somehow. What if-

Mike's train of thought was rudely interrupted by the sound of his brother gasping. He looked at Tim again and frowned, his short patience wearing thin. "What is it this time?"

Tim just pointed a finger up, behind Mike's shoulder, to something close to the ceiling. "Look!" Mike turned around with some apprehension, but soon calmed when he saw that Tim was getting upset over absolutely nothing. Just some old poster that somebody had pasted on the window. It featured what looked like a robot girl with a somewhat clownish design, the word "Celebrate!" cheerfully printed above the image.

With another heavy sigh, Mike turned back to his brother. "Well?" he asked expectantly. This had better be good.

"That's... That's the one," Tim said simply, eyes still uniformly fixed on the poster far above him.

"The one?"

"It's what killed Lizzy."

"Fantastic," Mike replied, almost bored. If Tim hoped he was any closer to buying his story, now that they were down here, he was sorely mistaken. Mike prided himself on his ability to see through bull, and Tim's story reeked of it. Some spooky atmosphere was not going to throw him off.

"Do you..." Tim began, pausing to take a gulp of breath. "Do you think this is its room?" He gestured at the windows.

"Well, I don't know. You want me to ask?" Mike joked.

"Please don't do that," came Tim's begging response. Apparently he was too nervous to spot Mike's obvious sarcasm. And that, in turn, set off Mike's 'tease little brother' mode.

"Welp, only one way to find out!" He turned to the window, cupping a hand around his mouth as he began half-yelling, half-whispering. "Hey, robot girl! You in there?! My little brother wants to talk to you!"

Tim was in a panic at his brother's apparent stupidity, pulling at Mike's arm madly to get him to stop. Of all the ideas Mike had had that night (thus far), this one was definitely the worst. Did he not know about letting sleeping dogs lie?

Mike just let out a weak, scornful laugh. There really was nothing to see here. The only thing that could make this trip worth it now was messing with Tim a bit more.

Both boys froze in an instant when they heard a startling noise. The sound of something metal falling to the ground with a sharp clanging sound reverberated throughout the facility. While Mike could not be sure, it sounded quite a ways away, and somewhere off to their right. It was probably the technician dropping something as he performed his job. Nothing to worry about.

When no further noises sounded out, the boys relaxed again- well, Mike relaxed and Tim still shook like a leaf. Mike checked his watch. Yeah, this had gone on long enough. It was disappointing that they came all this way for squat, but oh well. Hopefully Tim would be convinced that if there were robots that preyed on children down here, it would have come after them by now. Wishful thinking.

Slowly spinning on his heels, Mike turned back towards the vent from whence they had emerged earlier. "Come on, let's go home. We're done here."

"Wait, but...!" Tim began, and Mike stopped. "Aren't you gonna...?" the smaller boy gestured between Mike's flashlight and the dark window.

"Hmm? Now all of a sudden you want to see what's in there? I thought you were scared," Mike taunted.

Tim gulped. It was true, after all. But still... "We came down here to find out if I'm right," Tim declared, raising his shaking voice slightly. "S-So... we should... We should have a look," he managed.

"Pfuh." Mike let out a mocking sound. "It's already getting late. I'm not afraid of your dumb robots, but I am afraid of what'll happen if we're not back when Dad comes home. So let's go."

"But-!" Tim tried to retort, but he realized it was useless. His brother was older and he was much more headstrong than him, so Mike made the calls. There was no point in arguing, and Tim knew it.

It was then, when Mike was getting on his knees to crawl through the vent again, that another voice finally rang out.

"Children should not be here," it said. It was female, and it had a bit of a haunting quality to it, speaking with a deliberate cadence and even tone. "It is not safe."

Mike stopped mid-motion, then slowly got back on his feet and turned around. "What?" He looked at Tim, "You heard that too, right?" But Tim did not respond.

"You are children, aren't you? Why did you come here? How did you come here?" the voice asked.

That snapped Mike out of it. He quickly collected himself and put on his tough-big-brother voice. "Who's there? Show yourself," he called out.

"I am in front of the window before you. Can you not see me?" came the reply.

Now that he looked again, Mike realized that there was, indeed, something in front of the window. It was only shapes- a vague silhouette- but it had definitely not been there when he looked earlier. Mike could not make out much, but something about the figure unsettled him. Perhaps precisely because he could just barely see it.

Mike took another glance at Tim, but he was still frozen in place, in exactly the same position as a few seconds ago. It seemed fear had fully paralyzed him. Fantastic, now he had to talk to this whoever-it-was by himself.

"Uh, do you work here, miss...?" He cautiously asked.

There was a pause. "In a sense, I do work here, yes."

So she was an employee? Mike was so confused. Why was this lady moving around in the darkness then? "Uh, look, I'm gonna use my flashlight so I can see you," he announced, brandishing the tool in question. "So don't flinch, okay?"

"Very well. Try not to yell, though. You might alert the technician," the voice said in a hushed tone.

Well, that was a weird comment. Why would Mike yell-

The flashlight went click.

Mike's eyes widened as an enormous, robotic face stared back at him through the window.

He probably would have let out a yell, had his voice not died in his throat. The only sound that could be heard was Tim quietly whimpering as he recognized the being of his nightmares.


A/N: Ooh, that's quite the cliffhanger I'm leaving you on there. Sorry about that. Don't worry, though, the next chapter will be along soon enough. In the meantime, reviews are very much appreciated. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all think! Until next time!