ShoutOuts: antoniodjones123 (maybe), adn MagicMakerRose (how would pairing Zoe with Raina be ruining the story? If it's because they're two OCs, then I definitely understand where you're coming from, and tbh, I might not even put them together at all. But if you don't mind, I just kind of want to know the reason you think their relationship would ruin the story.)

Chapter 38

Fritz stared at Zoe, a shocked look on his face. "That's unbelievable. And they told you all of this willingly?"

Zoe nodded. After work, she had rushed right over to Fritz's house to tell him everything Vincent and Charlie had said. It was around dinnertime, so she brought a couple boxes of pizza with her, figuring they could just eat together. His house was very neat and orderly, much unlike her own home, which was constantly littered with grease rags, chips bags, and dirty clothes. Fritz had just woken up from a nap when she arrived and had to make himself a cup of coffee to stay awake while she talked. But as she explained, he'd gotten more excited and surprised, and now his coffee sat forgotten and cold on the table.

"I mean, they didn't tell me directly," Zoe said, taking a piece of pizza from one of the boxes. "They kind of made it so it looked like they were having a conversation, but they definitely meant for me to hear it and tell you. They made that really obvious."

Fritz nodded. "Okay. But why didn't they just tell you outright?"

Zoe shrugged and took a bite of her pizza. "I don't know. Probably for the same reason Vincent couldn't tell me anything a few days ago. He said something about 'someone else'. Apparently, these people won't let him tell us anything. Why they didn't stop him from talking to Charlie, and why Charlie can't tell me anything, I don't know."

"But if we can talk to Mike, then maybe these people don't have anything over him," Fritz said. "We'll have to wait for him and Scott to get back."

Zoe nodded. "Yeah." She finished off the last of her pizza and wiped her hands on her shirt. "So, who else was on the night shift with you last night?"

"Vincent." Fritz shuddered. "I was terrified the whole time. I don't even know how he stayed awake for the entire shift, because he didn't sleep at all during the day. Another thing to add to my list of weird stuff about him."

"Yeah. Well, he said he'd get somebody to take over Scott's shift, if that makes you feel any better."

Fritz nodded and sipped at his cold coffee. "Yeah, it does. So, who'd he get?"

Zoe shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe he got Jeremy to do it, or maybe Charlie volunteered. Whoever it is, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"I sure hope so."

Zoe glanced at the clock and stood up. "Well, I should go. I want to see if Raina's okay. She hasn't spoken to me since this morning, and I kind of want to check on her."

Fritz nodded. "Alright. Well, thanks for coming over."

Zoe shrugged on her coat and knelt down to tie up her boots. "Thanks for having me." She walked out the door and pulled out her phone. She'd texted Raina multiple times throughout the day, hoping for an answer, but the only response she got was cant talk busy rn, which was unusual for Raina. She always used proper grammar, capitalization, and punctuation, and never abbreviations. There was definitely something wrong.

Zoe got in her truck and drove away.

xXx

*3 1/2 hours later*

Fritz arrived at the pizzeria, still a little tired. He hadn't gotten much more sleep after Zoe visited. He kept thinking about what she told him about Vincent and Scott and Mike. He was still lost in his thoughts, and didn't even notice the table he was about to walk into. Fortunately, someone pulled him away before he could crash into it. Fritz wasn't expecting this, so he instinctively yelped, pulled his arm out of the person's grasp, and elbowed them in the jaw. Luckily, the person couldn't even feel it, as they were animatronic, not a real person.

Springtrap rotated her jaw and it clicked back into place. "Gee, thanks for that, Dad," she said sarcastically. "You know, just because I can't feel doesn't mean you should go around hitting me in the face."

Fritz sighed in relief. "Oh, it's just you. Sorry about that, Spring. What are you doing here, anyway?"

Springtrap gestured to the purple uniform she was wearing. "I'm the fill-in security guard. Vincent needed someone to do it, so I volunteered."

"But you have work tomorrow," Fritz said. "You need to recharge!"

She shrugged. "I can sleep a bit before work, a bit after work, and during our 3 o'clock break. I'll be fine. Don't worry."

Fritz sighed. He thought of the animatronics as his kids, and he was tempted to be a good "dad" and tell her to go home and rest. But there was no one else there who could take her place aside from Vincent, and he needed his sleep too, so there were really no other options. "Alright. Whatever. So, do you know what to do?"

Spring nodded. "Yep. Vincent already explained everything."

Fritz nodded. "Well, okay. Good luck." He turned and walked down the hallway to the security guard room.

xXx

Minutes passed. Then hours. Fritz absently flipped through the cameras, taking extra care not to shine the flashlight directly at Springtrap. The few times he slipped up, though, she wasn't effected at all. For the first hour or so, Fritz was on edge, constantly glancing up at Vincent's door, keeping the camera on Spring at all times. Eventually, he calmed down, and it fell into the same boring routine he went through every night. he checked on Spring a couple of times on the cameras, and she seemed to be doing pretty well.

He heard a noise from the hall and glanced up, thinking it was just Springtrap coming down the hallway. But there was no one in the hallway. Fritz stared at Vincent's door. It had to be him again. There was no other explanation.

Fritz set the tablet down on the desk and turned off his flashlight. He was scared. If Vincent was sleepwalking again, Springtrap might not be able to control him, and Fritz definitely wouldn't be able to. They might be able to overpower him if they worked together, but it was still terrifying.

The door slowly swung open, and Fritz held his breath in fear. However, Vincent didn't come out of his room like he had last time. Instead, Fritz heard a familiar high-pitched feminine giggle. He couldn't see much down the hallway, but he could hear something scraping against the floor. A voice sang out from down the corridor. "Hello out there~"

Fritz furrowed his eyebrows. That definitely didn't sound like Vincent, nor did it sound like Springtrap, but it did bear a remarkable resemblance to the voice he heard from Vincent's closet a week or so ago.

He didn't know what to do. Was he supposed to stay still and quiet, like what he would do with Vincent, or was he supposed to try and get it back into the room?

The thing stepped into the dim light of the security office, and Fritz almost laughed. It was just a little baby-looking thing, chubby and pink. It had big, round, blue eyes that stared at him as it waddled into the room. It looked ridiculous.

Then he heard the whir of machinery, and realized that it was animatronic. Okay, that was slightly more concerning.

Then another one stumbled into the office. Now he was getting nervous.

"Is it the same person?" one of them asked.

"It can't be," the other one replied with the same voice. "Their hair is orange, not brown."

"And they're wearing glasses," the first one observed. "You're right."

It took Fritz a moment to realize thet they were talking about him. Now he was scared again. What were they doing?

Suddenly, something rushed out of Vincent's room and almost crashed into the opposite wall. Fritz yelped and nearly fell out of his chair (again; he'd been doing that a lot lately). He looked up and saw that it was Vincent.

A wave of fear washed over Fritz for a moment, but then he saw that Vincent's eyes weren't closed, so he obviously wasn't sleepwalking. Vincent blinked, disoriented, then focused on Fritz. "Hi, Fritz,"he said, his voice shaking. "Um, just out of curiosity, have you seen any baby-looking robots around here? Maybe about a foot tall? Covered in dust?"

Fritz gulped. "Uh, yeah. They're right there." He pointed over the desk at the little animatronics.

Vincent looked down and jumped back in surprise. "Okay. That's not good. That's really not good. Okay. Oh, shit. Alright, Fritz, just stay there. Whatever you do, don't move. Just don't."

Fritz nodded slightly. "Okay. Not moving."

Vincent took a step towrds the office. When he spoke again, his voice didn't souond like his. It sounded like a little girl's. "Go back to your room, girls. Everything is fine."

The two babies looked at each other. "He's doing it again," one of them said, sounding rather exasperated.

"He may sound like her, but it's not her," the other said.

Vincent sighed. "That never works," he whispered in his normal voice. "It was pointless to even try."

"If I can't move, and you can't do whatever you were trying to do, then what do we do?" Fritz asked. "Let them attack me?"

Vincent shook his head. "I- I don't know. I have no idea. These two never get out. This has never happened before."

The two babies reached the desk and began tapping at it with their metal fingers. "This isn't the same desk," one of them observed.

The other robot's smile seemed to grow wider. "They have no where to hide now."

Fritz almost felt like crying. He wished he could hide.

Suddenly, one of them gasped. "She's watching us!"

The other one looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Vincent furrowed his eyebrows. "She? No. No, she can't be back. She can't be." His eyes widened. "My eyes." He stepped into the light of the office, a frantic, scared look on his face. "Fritz! What colour are my eyes?"

Fritz raised an eyebrow. Now he was more confused than terrified. "Um, blue, like they've always been. Vincent, what's going on?"

One of the babies grabbed the other one's arm. "We have to leave now! She's coming!" They ran past Vincent and back into the room. "We'll see you again soon~!" they sang as they disappeared through the door.

"What's going on back here?" a voice asked. Vincent and Fritz looked down the hallway to see Springtrap walking towards them, a flashlight in her hand.

Fritz looked back at the door to Vincent's room. It was closed now. He thought about what those two animatronics had said: "She's watching us." "She's coming."

"Vincent? What are you doing up?" Spring rushed forward. "You're supposed to be asleep."

Vincent glanced at Fritz, then back at Spring. "Ah, I was just- using the bathroom." He walked past her and back to his room. When he got inside, Fritz heard the click of a lock.

Spring walked into the office and put her flashlight back on her belt. "I heard a noise so I came down here. Is everything alright?"

Fritz looked back at Vincent's door. "Um, yeah. Everything's just great."