Chapter 10: Uncertain Truths
"I saw Roxana on the tv, and remembered she was part of a group that attacked me and two others," Fredi answered once he was back at the apartment with G and Ozzie. "So I left to talk to her and she ran away, forcing me to chase her. She then ambushed me in a locker room, which forced me to fight her and I took her eyes after that."
Ozzie looked baffled. "What compelled you to take her eyes?"
"She blinded me during our battle, so I took hers to replace mine," Fredi claimed as he glanced at Glenn, who was leaning against the door to the other room with a finger on his lips. "I was then approached by those animatronics I fought before, and they took me to the place you found me in. They replaced my eyes in exchange for the camera."
"They seem to be really obsessed with the camera," G noted. "But I guess since it's a new model, they were probably hoping to sell it and use the money to get out of here."
"Nate said that's why they wanted it," Fredi confirmed.
"Were you able to get answers out of Roxana?" Ozzie asked. He was now shirtless with his wounded shoulder wrapped in bandages.
"Sort of. Roxana said she and the others attacked me under Fred Bernstein the Third's orders. He apparently was conducting an experiment to see how animatronics handle stressful situations."
"Oh my God!" Ozzie exclaimed. "Now it's starting to make sense! When Fazbear Entertainment sold the robots and got rid of other equipment from the pizzaplex, they didn't disclose what they did to the Glamrock Animatronics. They must have given them human bodies and sent them out into the world posing as real people instead of having them work in the Freddy's Cafe, thinking their presence might cause suspicion due to how recent the pizzaplex incident was.
"But what I don't get is why they would have some animatronics posing as major public figures like Roxana, when I think they would prefer keeping you guys in the dark. Also, there's no reason for them to have animatronics attack each other at the risk of exposing themselves to the authorities. Though I suppose they could be testing you guys to improve the cafe animatronics."
"I thought the same thing," Fredi fibbed. "But if they were testing us, the results don't seem to be preventing their animatronics from running away."
"True, since Fazbear values obedience over everything else," Ozzie agreed. "And if testing an animatronic's stress meter was meant to reinforce their obedience, it seems odd that Bernstein would attempt such an experiment now. I mean, it's been four years since the pizzaplex incident, and animatronics only live for six years. But I'll bet the reason some Glamrock Animatronics have public aliases is because they're hoping to change certain policies to make it easier for them to get away with having animatronics posing as humans, hence Roxana's pro-robot stance."
"Or maybe they're trying to sabotage the repairmen, since they keep destroying their expensive robots over and over again," G added. "That's what Phone Guy speculated."
Fredi was perplexed. "Phone Guy?"
"He's the guy who told the repairmen which animatronics they were hunting," G said. "We didn't know his real name, so we nicknamed him Phone Guy cuz he always called on the phone."
Fredi paused and then asked G, "So is your name really Gregory?"
G looked annoyed and got himself another beer from the fridge. "I'm not sure if I can trust you with my real name. You run off without telling us where you were going, and maim one of your own kind out of self-defense? How do we know you're not malfunctioning like those Melody animatronics that kidnapped you?"
"But how can I trust you in turn?" Fredi argued. "You act like you don't care about me, yet go through the trouble of rescuing me."
"Ozzie dragged me into saving you," G replied.
"That's not true," Ozzie interjected. "You told me you wanted to track him, fearing he would get into trouble…almost like you guessed he would. If anyone's to come clean about the truth, it's you! Fredi has been honest with us since he woke up. But you haven't, Gregory!"
Instead of answering, G downed his beer in one gulp and left the apartment without saying another word.
"What do you mean the body's gone?" Larson demanded.
He was back at the Endopolis Police Station a few hours after the forensics team had examined the racetrack locker room and taken Roxana's body to the morgue. Larson had hoped to be present for the autopsy to confirm the strange things he saw, but he became pre-occupied with filling out a report on his findings. Then by the time he got to the morgue the coroner told him Roxana's body was no longer present. So he went to the desk of the police chief, who was a hulking tan-skinned man with a red mohawk, wearing dark shades and a tan police uniform that barely fit with black leather gloves covering his hands.
"I mean exactly what I said, Larson," the police chief said, not looking at Larson as he was flipping through several papers on his desk. "The coroner finished examining Roxana's body an hour ago, and now it's being sent to a funeral home where the body will get cremated."
"And who ordered the cremation?" Larson held up a piece of paper he printed off. "While I was making my report, I found out Roxana doesn't have any living relatives."
"Her lawyer ordered it," the police chief claimed. "Now if you're done talking, I have a press conference to get to after I've finished examining these reports."
"No, I'm not done," Larson insisted, placing the report on the chief's desk. "The coroner told me he didn't get the chance to examine Roxana's body before it was taken away. So you're either lying, or not telling me the full truth."
The police chief lowered his shades, revealing crimson-red eyes that skimmed the report at lightning speed. "You have the nerve to call me a liar, yet your report sounds too fantastic to be true."
"But I really saw wires and metal inside Roxana's head when I shined a light through her eye sockets," Larson stated. "Detective Vanessa Whit can back me up."
"Ah, right, this Vanessa Whit you claimed was at the scene of the crime before you showed up," the police chief said in a dismissive tone. "Unfortunately, there is no Vanessa Whit assigned to our department."
To be continued…
