Chapter 6

Gregory nearly gets caught by Vanessa but luckily, Astre becomes his ally. Not only that, but they also end up running away from the rest of the Glamrocks. Now, Gregory and Heather are trapped inside the Pizzaplex for a whole week.

The doors revealed a long staircase going down. Freddy held the railing as he walked down the stairs. On his way to the utility tunnels, Freddy passed a S.T.A.F.F bot cleaning the floor behind a chained off-gate and noticed an unusual sight. An Endo was climbing down the walls like a spider and disappeared into the darkness when it reached the bottom.

'How odd.' Freddy thought as he continued down the stairs.

Suddenly, the animatronic bear and Gregory heard a very familiar voice.

"Hello? Little boy? Little girl? If one of you are down here, say something!"

They knew whose voice that was. Hearing Vanessa's voice caused Gregory to tense up immediately.

"She's down here! We have to go back, Freddy."

However, that did not stop Freddy from walking down the stairs. He gently placed a hand on his stomach hatch like an expecting mother would.

"Do not worry, Gregory. Even if we are spotted, you are safe with me. She would never suspect we are travelling together."

That made Gregory feel a little better.

After all, he did not make a sound when he was inside Freddy during the bear's system check or on the way to the singer's green room, even with someone like Dave close to him.

"However, we should still do our best to avoid her. If I am sent back to my room, we will never get you to the Lobby before midnight," the bear continued.

'Right... That voice said this place would be closed until next week after what happened to Freddy. I hope Heather's still okay...' Gregory thought.

Freddy let go of the railing when he reached the bottom of the stairs. However, his footsteps caused the band-aid on Gregory's right cheek to come loose. The band-aid fell off after Freddy walked through the shutter door in front of him. He stopped between a gate with a yellow voice recognition box and an open passageway.

"Freddy? What's wrong?" Gregory asked as he held the band-aid in his right hand.

"I sense another animatronic... It is Astre," Freddy replied.

'Astre? She's an animatronic too? I thought she was another worker here. How many robots are in this place?' Gregory thought as he asked, "What does Astre even do?"

"She is a Daycare Assistant and recently became a Security Guard... Perhaps she can help us," Freddy answered.

"We don't need anyone else! Let's just keep going!" Gregory protested.

But that was not enough to stop Freddy from walking through the passageway and stopped at the entrance to the First Aid Station. He then saw Astre herself looking through a box.

"Hello, Astre! How are you tonight?" Freddy asked.

Astre was noticeably startled and looked up from the box.

"Geez, Freddy. Keep your voice a little low while you're down here," Astre said as she pulled out a pack of Glamrock-themed band-aids.

"What are you doing?" Freddy asked as he lowered his voice a bit.

"Restocking," Astre said. "What about you? I'm surprised to see you down here."

"W-well..." Freddy began.

While Gregory knew that Astre was also cut off from the main network, he was still a little scared. What if she was just like Vanessa or Dave?

"Well, what? It's not like you to be this tongue-tied," Astre remarked. "And why do you keep touching your stomach hatch like that? Is something in there?"

'Oh no! She's going to find out!' Gregory thought as he began to panic.

"Alright... But try not to be alarmed..." Freddy said as he opened his stomach hatch.

Once Gregory's eyes adjusted to the light, he could see Astre with shock in her eyes.

'Wow... She does look like a normal person...' Gregory thought.

"You... You have a child in your stomach hatch? An injured child?" Astre asked.

"Injured? I do not think he-" Freddy said until he noticed the scratch on Gregory's right cheek and the now dirty band-aid in Gregory's hand.

"I'm fine... really," Gregory said while staring at Astre as she pulled back the curtain in front of the First Aid Station.

"Come here, kid. I'm not going to hurt you," Astre said in a comforting tone as she walked back to Freddy and held out her arms.

Slowly, Gregory slid forward from the hatch. He then held out his arms as Freddy helped him get out and into Astre's arms. As she held the boy, she noticed he was a bit lighter than she was expecting.

"See? That wasn't as scary as you thought, right?" she said with a smile.

Gregory nodded as Astre walked inside the First Aid Station. She gently placed him on the bench.

"So, what's your name, little guy?" Astre asked.

"Gregory..." he responded.

"Gregory, huh? I'm Astre," she said as she closed the curtain and got out a bottle of disinfectant.

"I know..." he said.

"How do you know? I've never seen you in the Pizzaplex before," she said while getting a cloth and dabbing some disinfectant in it.

Gregory knew he could not tell her that he heard her when he was in the Parts and Services, so he said, "Freddy sensed you were here."

"Oh... That makes sense," she said with a nod. "Hold still. This might sting a little bit."

Gregory flinched a little bit but managed to stay still. Once she finished disinfecting, she took a Glamrock Freddy band-aid and placed it on the scratch.

"There we go," Astre said with a nod as she threw the old band-aid away. "So, how'd you get it? The scratch I mean."

The young boy looked at Freddy who was keeping watch before responding, "A cat scratched me."

A few days before, when Gregory and Heather were dumpster diving for food, they crossed paths with a black kitten that had a missing right eye and received a scratch on his right cheek as he and Heather grabbed a few donation boxes of food.

"A cat? Was it a stray or-"

Before Astre could finish that question, she, Freddy, and Gregory heard footsteps coming closer to the First Aid Station. A beep was heard, and Gregory looked at his Faz-Watch.

'Stay still.'

Gregory nodded as he hid beneath the bench. Astre pulled the curtain back and walked out of the Station. She then drew the curtain again and walked over to where Freddy was. Suddenly, a bright light shone on them. Standing at the exit to the passageway was Vanessa.

"Freddy! Astre! What are you two doing down here?"

"Officer Vanessa, I-I do not know how I got here," Freddy said in a confused tone.

"Yeah. The guy gave me a scare too. And for your information, I came down here to get some band-aids because unlike some people I actually am around," Astre said as she smirked.

Gregory cupped his hands over his mouth as he held his breath. He wanted to look behind the curtain to see what was happening, but he feared Vanessa would spot him if he did. He sat perfectly still, silently hoping Vanessa wouldn't find him.

"Well, Freddy here totally blew it tonight. His system crashed, and the show had to be stopped. Now, Parts and Services have him on reduced power. Dave told me it was a safety precaution. Just another thing for me to deal with," Vanessa said as she held her free hand to her forehead.

"I am terribly sorry," Freddy said in a sad tone.

"Me too. Didn't mean to snap at you like that. Just... with everything that's happened..." Astre said as she scratched her cheek.

The animatronics' guilty expressions caused Vanessa to soften up a little. Maybe she was a little harsh on them.

"Well, there's no point in worrying about that now. We have a bigger problem on our hands."

Freddy knew what Vanessa meant while Astre did not.

"A bigger problem? What, did somebody get locked out of one of the offices again?" Astre asked.

"No, but thanks for asking. We're like twenty minutes from closing, and a couple of kids are sneaking around backstage."

"Children? At this hour?" Freddy asked as he tilted his head and his eyes widened.

"What do they look like?" Astre asked.

"One of them is a small boy with brown hair and wearing a blue shirt with tan shorts and the other's a girl with black hair and wearing a purple sweater, black jeans, and a red ribbon," Vanessa answered. "Astre, if you see anything at all, notify me immediately."

"What about Dave? He could help as well," Freddy said.

"I tried contacting him already, but he didn't answer. His Faz-Watch might be dead or something," Vanessa said.

"I'll keep an eye out for him. He's probably trying to play with the arcade cabinets again now that nobody's harping on him for once," Astre said with a smile.

"Knowing him, I can believe that. Now, I notified the others to help you find them," Vanessa said.

"Who do I have to watch out for this time?" Astre asked.

"Chica, Monty, Roxy, Rodney, Hulda, and Barbara," Vanessa answered.

'Who are Rodney, Hulda, and Barbara? Are they like Freddy or Astre?' Gregory thought.

"Talk about overkill..." Astre muttered.

Before Vanessa could say anything else, a loud crash was heard nearby. The sound scared Gregory and made him press his hands against his mouth tighter.

"What was that?" Freddy asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'm going to check it out. Astre, get Freddy back up to his room and then start patrolling," Vanessa said.

"Got it," Astre replied with a salute.

Vanessa then walked through a gate next to the First Aid Station and went through a door leading to a nearby room. Once Vanessa left, Gregory came out of hiding and looked at Freddy and Astre.

"Now... are you two going to explain what's going on?" Astre asked.

Both Freddy and Gregory sighed as Freddy opened his stomach hatch and Gregory climbed back inside.

"So... You're telling me that you and your friend, Heather, got pushed apart by the crowd. You conveniently found a vent that led to Parts and Services which caused you to hide from Caleb and Partick in Freddy's stomach hatch, which I'm surprised you knew about, where you actually first met me. Then you met Dave, who was the one who cut me, Freddy, and Stardrop from the main network for some reason, found yourself in Freddy's green room which is where you two actually met face to face, and now he's helping you get out of the Pizzaplex before midnight and is going to find Heather right after... Did I get all that right?" Astre said as she and Freddy walked through the utility tunnels with Gregory comfortably inside his stomach hatch.

"You know, when you put it like that, it sounds crazy," Gregory said.

"Trust me, little guy. I've heard crazier things from drunk employees," Astre remarked.

"How come you didn't sell me out to Vanessa?" Gregory asked.

"I could tell you didn't want to be here longer than you had to. And I would never let a kid get hurt," Astre answered.

"Thank you for helping us, Astre," Freddy said with a happy tone.

"No problem, Fazbear. Besides, I'm going to be the one stuck looking for Heather after this, so I better take advantage of the free time I got," Astre said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"So, what is this place, really?" Gregory asked.

"We are now under the Pizzaplex. The tunnels connect to all the available attractions," Freddy answered.

"We could go anywhere in the building?" He asked with a bit of excitement in his voice.

"Indeed, we can," Freddy said before proudly listing some of the attractions. "Fazer Blast, Monty Golf, Roxy Raceway, Roddy Roller Rink, Hulda Hive, and Barbara Boutique are the most popular of the Pizzaplex. They are accessible to S.T.A.F.F, with high enough clearance, of course."

"Guests aren't actually allowed down here, even if they're relatives of an employee. But you and your friend are a special case, if she's still here," Astre said as they walked past another chained-off gate and multiple crates and pipes.

They stopped at a fence with multiple S.T.A.F.F bots on the other side and walked through a hallway to the right. Freddy could feel his battery running low, and it caused him to walk slower.

Gregory noticed this and spoke up, "Freddy? Are you okay?"

Astre looked behind her at the top of the stairs and noticed his slow pace as well. Luckily, Freddy managed to reach where Astre was and stopped near a red cylinder with a glowing blue lightning bolt on the front. He opened his stomach hatch and motioned for Astre to come closer. She did and took Gregory out of the hatch. As she put him on the ground Gregory looked at Freddy.

"I am terribly sorry, Gregory. My recharge cycle had not yet completed when I found you. You and Astre must continue without me."

That made Gregory nervous. Astre noticed his mood change and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, little guy. You still got me," Astre said in a comforting tone.

"And you still have your Faz-Watch if you get in trouble," Freddy reassuringly said.

But those things did not help Gregory block out the thoughts entering his mind.

'What if I run into Vanessa or Dave and can't get away?'

'What if I run into the other animatronics and get caught?'

'What if Heather already got out and left me behind?'

Freddy entered the red cylinder and the door closed. Gregory did not want Freddy to stay behind, but he and Astre knew the more time they spent staring at the cylinder waiting for Freddy to come out, the closer midnight would approach. With a few deep breaths, Gregory steeled his nerves and looked up at Astre. She nodded and took her hand off his shoulder. They walked to the double doors in front of them and found a message lying on the ground.

"ATTENTION KITCHEN STAFF: All food materials must be securely stored at closing time. Chica has been caught eating from the kitchen garbage after hours. The maintenance repairs are costly and will come out of kitchen staff paychecks. - MANAGEMENT."

'Wait, what? Why would Chica eat from the garbage?' Gregory thought.

"I don't get it. Chica doesn't have a "Food Process" upgrade yet... And why the garbage of all things?" Astre thought out loud.

"What's a "Food Process" upgrade?" Gregory asked.

"Basically, it's an upgrade that allows us to eat like you humans. It recharges our batteries the same way the charging stations do. It's supposed to be the solution to using so much electricity for the stations. Only Stardrop and me have it at the moment. Fazbear Entertainment was planning on giving it to all the animatronics but..." Astre explained.

"Okay. It is kind of cool that you can eat," Gregory said with a smile.

Gregory and Astre entered a dark hallway but had to take a detour when their path was blocked by a table with some cans stacked on top. Gregory opened a nearby door that led into a filthy bathroom, and what he and Astre found inside confirmed what the message from earlier said. Chica was indeed eating from the garbage.

Gregory gagged as they slowly backed away from the bathroom.

"There's got to be a way to distract her..." Astre said.

Gregory turned to the cans and came up with an idea.

"Could we use those?" Gregory asked.

"Yeah. That could work," Astre said as she gave a thumbs up.

He shoved the cans as Astre opened the door, which got Chica's attention.

"Huh?"

She stopped eating the trash and walked out to investigate the sound. During that time, Gregory and Astre snuck back into the bathroom and made it to the other side of the hallway while Chica was busy restacking the cans on the table.

Gregory and Astre entered a storage room and found a CD sticking out of a red sofa in the room.

"What's this doing here?" Astre asked.

"I found two of those back when I was in Rockstar Row. I gave them to Freddy, but he couldn't see what was on them," Gregory answered.

"I see. I'll hold onto this," Astre said as she put it in her messenger bag.

Gregory and Astre found themselves in another long hallway. They kept walking until they reached a dark corridor with pipes. The boy's eyes shot wide open when they heard a voice from behind a chained-off gate coming towards them. Astre picked up Gregory and held him against her shoulder.

"There you are!"

The gate was smashed open, revealing Monty coming out from the cloud of steam on the other side. Astre frantically ran through the corridor, causing Monty to chase after them.

"Get back here!" The gator said.

They reached the end of the hall and made a sharp right turn after they heard Roxy's voice telling them to stop. They burst through a set of double doors and heard Chica pop out from behind a stack of metal boxes.

"Lost boy over here!"

By now, all three animatronics were following Gregory and Astre as she ran up a flight of stairs as fast as she could.

"Astre? Are you okay?" Gregory asked with concern.

While he had experienced running away from others multiple times, he had never run away from 3 animalistic robots while being in the arms of a humanoid robot who probably never needed to run before.

"It's alright, kid! I can take it!" Astre answered and showed a strained smile.

While the chase continued, Chica and Roxy broke off and took different paths.

Astre did not stop running until she slid inside a security office with the door closing behind them. Astre put Gregory down as she tried to regain her breath.

"Well done, you two. You found a security office. You two should be quite safe here. The doors were designed to keep our highly trained security staff safe in the event of an emergency. As long as the doors stay closed, which they will, as long as there is ample power." Freddy's voice said on Gregory's Faz-Watch.

There was power, but not much, and the sound of Monty banging his fists against the door did not help Gregory and Astre, who was no longer tired.

"Freddy, the power's only at 15% and Monty's pounding on the door! How are we going to get out here?" The boy said with evident panic in his voice.

Astre tapped the side of her head with her finger and then growled.

"Bad enough I can't call anybody, but I can't even look at my own damn map..." Astre thought out loud.

Fortunately, Freddy knew what to do.

"Do not panic, Superstar. You two should see an interface on the security desk. Hold on while I make it accessible to you."

After a few seconds, the interface flashed green.

"There. You can now activate security protocols."

Gregory pushed the button and heard Freddy speak again.

"Good. Your Faz-Watch now has a mini-map of your location and is connected to the security camera system. Check the map on your Faz-Watch."

Gregory and Astre looked at the Faz-Watch to see what Freddy was talking about. There was indeed a mini map on it, and they saw the camera feed from the room beyond the security office. When they saw the boxes on the mini-map screen, they heard Freddy's voice yet again.

"Do you see those boxes on the mini map? Those boxes are nearby security cameras. When the camera's motion sensors detect movement, you should see red alert icons. Switch between the cameras to find a safe path out of the security office and to the main lobby."

"Perfect! Thanks a lot, Freddy," Astre said with gratitude.

Before Gregory left with Astre, he noticed a message near the interface that was written by someone he knew.

"Life can work in so many ways. I lost my own mother, father, wife, and children long ago, yet I'M still alive, working for the same company that my parents hated. The reason I became a Robotologist in the first place... It was so that I could make sure that what happened to me never happens to anyone else. But my heart is telling me I already failed somehow. Pamela, if you can still hear me, I'm sorry I couldn't save you. - Signed by, Vincent A. Laverre."

This made Gregory feel sad and confused. He was glad to see something Vincent wrote, but he did not understand fully what he was talking about. Whenever they spoke, Vincent rarely talked about his past.

'I didn't know Vincent had a wife and kids. Wonder how they and his parents died...' Gregory thought.

Gregory left the security office, and they entered a small hallway. They heard Chica enter the room from a nearby door and Astre pulled up the tarp of an empty Parts and Services bin.

"Get in!" Astre whispered.

Gregory did as he was told, and she pulled the tarp back down. Gregory looked at the camera feed to find a safe way past Chica. Astre saw the animatronic chicken eating from a trash bag next to the exit. She grimaced as she saw a stack of cans placed on a cart and a pinata of Chica.

'That's one of the pinata's from today. Maybe there's some candy I can distract her with...' Astre thought as picked up the small pinata.

She broke it in half and candy fell out. Most of it were star-shaped chocolates that were encased with yellow, blue, cyan, green, purple, dark violet, and light pink colored wrappers that showed each of the Glamrocks that corresponded to that color. She took seven and put them in her pocket, then put the rest in her bag.

"Hey, Chica!" Astre called out.

The Glamrock guitarist looked up and saw Astre.

"Oh! Hi there, Astre! I was just... looking for the kids..." she said.

"In the garbage bags?" Astre asked.

"W-well... You know how kids are. They're small enough to hide anywhere!" Chica answered as she laughed nervously.

Astre tapped her head and did a scan. She stopped once a small and almost quiet beep was heard.

'So, she does have a "Food Process" upgrade. When did she get it? And why hadn't Management announced it to us?' Astre thought as she said, "I saw the message Chica. About you eating the garbage from the kitchen. Is something going on?"

Chica's nervous demeanor changed to sadness as she asked, "You did your scan thing, huh?"

"I just want to know. I get we don't have health problems like humans do, but even I know that there's nothing healthy about garbage," Astre answered.

Chica sighed as she dropped the bag and slumped against the wall.

"Astre... I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I don't know if it's our old friends or all of the people leaving. I hate it... and I hate that it feels like I can't say anything about it! Even if I do, I know I'll get decommissioned!" Chica rambled as tears began to fall from her eyes.

While Astre knew that these were just artificial tears, she shed them herself at times, she could understand what Chica was getting at. These days the current CEO of Fazbear Entertainment was not even bothering to notice what was going on with her and the animatronics. Even when he did, he either just ignored it entirely or sent an order to get that animatronic decommissioned on the spot and mark it as an "accident".

Astre reached into her pocket where the seven chocolate candies were and held them out for Chica. Instantly, her eyes stopped shedding tears and a smile, or what was close to one due to her beak-like mouth, appeared on her face.

"Here. I know they're not healthy either but they're definitely better than garbage," Astre said as she put them in Chica's hand.

Chica put them in her stomach hatch, which was a bit smaller than Freddy's, and embraced her.

"Thanks, Astre. You're a really good friend," Chica said.

Astre smiled back and accepted it. Chica then let go of Astre and went back the way she came as she took the light pink wrapper off her themed chocolate and popped it into her mouth. Astre sighed as she heard the tarp above Gregory's hiding place rustle.

"What happened?" Gregory asked.

"It's nothing bad, Gregory. Now, let's get you out of here," Astre answered as she helped him get out of the bin.

Gregory and Astre walked through the double doors to reach the lobby.

"Huh... So, this is what the lobby looks like," Astre thought out loud.

"What?" Gregory asked.

"Never mind," Astre answered with a shake of her head as she headed towards the front entrance with Gregory running to catch up.

Suddenly, a shutter was coming down while the intercom played an announcement, but not with the voice Astre had become familiar with.

"Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex is now closed. Initiate the nighttime protocols!" A female voice said.

"No! No! NO! Wait!" The boy shouted.

But they were too late. The shutter had closed when they reached the doors. Gregory frantically banged his fists against the shutter.

"Please! Please..."

Astre walked behind him and kneeled down. She held out her arms as Gregory turned around with tears now streaming down his face. He ran to her and accepted the embrace. While the comfort of Astre felt nice, he knew that he and possibly Heather were now trapped. Locked in for a whole week with six animatronics that were clearly hostile, a security guard on the hunt for them, and his only allies being Glamrock Freddy, Astre, and possibly Stardrop.

"What do we do now?"

Freddy had heard the commotion through Gregory's Faz-Watch.

"How unfortunate, Gregory. I'm sorry you missed your chance to leave, but there is still hope. You can still find Heather and escape when the doors reopen at 6:00 AM next week. Until then, stay by Astre's side, keep moving, and try not to draw attention to yourself. If there is another way out, I will help you find it."

"So will I! I don't know who hijacked the nighttime protocols, but I'm not letting anybody get you both," Astre chimed in.

"Y-you both promise?" The boy asked.

"We promise, Superstar/Starling," Both Freddy and Astre replied, with a nickname of their own for Gregory.

Gregory felt a warm feeling inside him after hearing Freddy and Astre make their promise. Maybe there is hope for both him and Heather to escape after all.

Hi Mooners! Sorry this one took so long. At first, I didn't even think of making Hulda or Barbara. But due to my ADHD, I ended up thinking TOO far ahead and made SO many profiles for my Animatronic OCs, so I was a bit slower while writing. By the way, there are some things I like to put out in case you didn't read the whole thing.

1. The "Food Process" upgrade is basically my explanation for Chica eating garbage in the context of Rewired. Both Stardrop and Astre had gotten it first due to them being very human-like and Fazbear Entertainment did not have charging stations made for them.

2. The "Starling" nickname she gave Gregory is basically how she, Stardrop, and another CP Animatronic refer to the children. Astre doesn't use it as much, but she will use it ONLY for Gregory from here on.

3. Rodney Raccoon, Hulda Honey, and Barbara Butterfly are a few more of MY OCs.

4. You might call me insane for this, but I'm having Gregory and Heather stay locked inside for a whole week instead of six hours. I feel like it gives off the traditional FNAF vibes to the old games parodying having to do a WHOLE work week. Plus, I always found it a little far-fetched to believe that ALL of the events of the original FNAF: SB happened in the span of SIX HOURS, but that's just the storyteller in me talking.

5. For those of you who may ask, "What about the daytime staff? Why don't they just get in the Pizzaplex the next day?" Well... let's just say a certain GROUP of infamous killers have a plan to keep outside interference away.

6. Vincent is going to have several of his own messages in this story. These messages will shine some light on the situation of the Pizzaplex and mention certain characters when the time comes.