Chapter 2

As Mike was giving Jeremy and Odd their grand tour of the restaurant the next day, complete with a complimentary slice of pizza (much to Odd's gratification), Jeremy was dumbfounded as to how he had managed to end up in this situation. A X.A.N.A. attack at the academy was bad enough for him. But for a no-nonsense, logic-oriented guy like Jeremy, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was about as close to hell as he was willing to get. And now, after two incidents of erratic behavior surrounding the restaurant's animatronic robots- a sure sign that X.A.N.A. was at it again- Jeremy was left with no choice but to suck up his disgust for this place of silliness and immaturity, and confront it in an effort to put X.A.N.A. back in its place.

Odd, meanwhile, seemed to be having the time of his life. He paid little attention to what Mike had to say about the restaurant as he noshed on his free pizza. Jeremy, on the other hand, listened intently and took into account every detail of the incidents as Mike described them, if only to tune out the laughter of children that echoed throughout the building's halls. Funnily enough, he thought, this doesn't sound like the usual sign of a X.A.N.A. attack. But even if it's not, nobody should let a bunch of malfunctioning robots run around.

The tour eventually worked its way to the Show Stage, where the new-and-improved animatronics could be seen. They weren't running at the moment, as the place was nearing its closing hours.

"Well, here we have our old friends Freddy, Bonnie and Chica!" Mike said enthusiastically. "It's too bad they've been on the fritz lately. Jeremy, can you tell if there's anything wrong with them?"

Jeremy looked the robots up and down. To the restaurant's credit, they really did look more state-of-the-art compared to the junk heaps from the old location- the same ones that had attacked him and his friends. But even still, he knew that if X.A.N.A. was up to no good, even these new models were susceptible to being X.A.N.A.-fied.

"Well, I can't tell just by looking at them," Jeremy explained. "The only way to know is to take them apart and look at their individual components. That shouldn't take me very long, though."

"Hmmm… Well, I'll have to ask Mr. Ferdinand first," said Mike.

"Mr. Ferdinand?" asked Jeremy.

"Yeah, he's the head of our engineering department," explained Mike. "I've already told him about you, though. If you're willing to help us out, there's no way he'll mind at all! Come on, follow me."

Jeremy and Odd glanced at the new restaurant's décor as Mike led them through the Main Hall. "Pretty snazzy," Odd remarked. "You know, Einstein, maybe a job at a place like this would be just what you need to take your mind off things. And just think of all the free pizza!"

Jeremy glared at him. "Odd, why on Earth would I want to work at a place like this?! Besides, there's no taking my mind off things when X.A.N.A.'s afoot. The sooner we can find the cause of whatever is going on here, X.A.N.A. or not, and get out of here, the better."

"Okay, okay!" sighed Odd. "Sheesh, so this is what sitting in front of a computer screen for hours does to you, huh?"

The threesome came to a door labeled "Parts/Service", which Mike knocked. A moment later, a tall, balding man who must have been Mr. Ferdinand opened the door.

"Hello, Mike! I see you brought company with you. Come on in!" he instructed, holding the door open for Jeremy and Odd to enter.

Mr. Ferdinand's office was littered with papers, empty drink containers, and a few spare animatronic parts, including a spare set of empty animatronic heads. As Odd walked in, he glanced at the back room behind the office, and shuddered in fright. The old animatronics- the ones that had attempted to kill him- were sitting in the corner of the room. Even with its face missing, Odd could tell that Bonnie the bunny was looking right at him.

"Uh… Jeremy?" Odd asked uneasily.

"Everything okay, Odd?" asked Jeremy.

Odd glanced at the back room again. Bonnie's head, devoid of facial features, was now looking away from his direction.

Frantically, Odd shook his head. "Yep! I'm good. Just thought for a second I saw… Eh, never mind. I must be seeing things, I guess."

"So, Mike," said Mr. Ferdinand, as Mike, Jeremy and Odd took a seat. "This must be the friend you spoke of, Mr., eh… Campbell, is it?"

"Belpois," Jeremy corrected him. "Jeremy Belpois."

"Ah, yes… my mistake," he apologized. "Well, Jeremy, looking at your records from Kadic Academy, you've established yourself as quite the robotics expert. It's a shame that Freddy Fazbear's Pizza no longer requires your services, or I'd have hired you in a heartbeat!"

"You don't?" Jeremy asked hopefully.

"Not anymore!" Mr. Ferdinand said cheerfully. "We've got this situation all taken care of!"

"So does that mean you've fixed the animatronics?" Mike asked.

"Well, eh… no," Mr. Ferdinand admitted. "But we will have soon enough! I've sent a work request to our experts at our sister location. I expect to hear back from them later tonight. They'll be able to tell us what the problem is, I'm sure of it!"

"So there's nothing Jeremy can do to help?!" Mike protested.

"Not unless he wants to tinker around with those older models in the back room!" chuckled Mr. Ferdinand.

That gave Jeremy an idea. "Actually, Mr. Ferdinand, I'd be more than happy to do just that," he announced.

Mr. Ferdinand seemed taken aback. "You… you would?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Well, I was only joking, but… I suppose I don't see any harm in doing so. Go right ahead, son!"

A moment later, Jeremy and Odd were in the back room, the former peering over Bonnie's missing face.

"So what came over you, Einstein?" Odd asked. "First you say you hate this place, but then you volunteer to work here for free?"

"Oh, believe me, I still do," Jeremy chuckled, as he reached for a Philips-head screwdriver and began tinkering with Bonnie's head unit. "But I had to make sure that this wasn't X.A.N.A.'s doing. Remember how these robots from the old restaurant went haywire when you worked the night shift there? We were never sure if that was an actual X.A.N.A. attack or just a glitch in their programming. But we'll know just as soon as I can get this open…"

However, a few minutes before midnight, Jeremy's progress was interrupted as Mike flung the door open. But something was clearly wrong. Mike didn't look like his usual, cheery self- in fact, he looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"Mr. Ferdinand's on the phone with the tech support guy," said Mike. "But things are getting pretty weird…"

"How so?" asked Jeremy and Odd.

"Well, first he kept insisting that we retrofit these old models with the new technology," Mike explained. "…Come to think of it, we already did that last week. Then Mr. Ferdinand brought your name up, and now he, uh… he wants to speak with you."

"Me?" cried Jeremy in disbelief. "How could that be?"

Jeremy didn't bother to question Mike for more details. He hurridely put down his tools and rushed back to the office, where Mr. Ferdinand seemed to be on the verge of shouting at his client.

"…For the fifth time, YES, we HAVE already retrofitted the old models… Yes… Yes, ALL of them… I know, I know you want to speak to him, but please, the NEWER models!" he bellowed, before turning to face Jeremy. "Ah, there you are, Mr. Canterbury!" he exclaimed. "It seems as though you have yourself a fan in our sister location's tech support group. Maybe you can help us sort this mess out!"

In total disbelief, Jeremy held the receiver to his ear. "…Hello?"

To his horror, William Dunbar's X.A.N.A.-fied voice met his ears.

"Hello, Belpois. Remember me?!"

Jeremy dropped the receiver in shock, and he could hear the alarm on his laptop go off in the back room. "Uh, Mr. Ferdinand, Odd and I have to, uh, go finish our homework. Come on, Odd, let's go!"

"Uh, Jeremy…" whimpered Odd. "I think I'd rather stay in here…"

As the clock struck twelve, Jeremy and Odd peered into the darkness, and found a frighteningly familiar foe staring back at them…