So now we're jumping back to the present after the flashback in the last chapter. Hope this is not too confusing for you guys.

Chapter 21: Return of the Mad Hare

"Vanny was the figure in the rabbit suit at the pizzaplex," G said to Fredi after lowering his gun and releasing Fredi from the chair. "She was the one who killed all the kids that went missing, and she was planning to make me her next victim. But you saved me from her, thanks to the upgrades I gave you after I stole parts from your friends. Yet during your struggle, you both fell off the roof of the building and died."

"But I didn't die," Fredi said. "I was given this new body, yet retained my memories. Although the trauma caused by Chief Jacaré's punch has made my memories fragmented."

"That's what happened to Vanessa. She somehow ended up in a coma while she was working as a security guard at the pizzaplex trying to find me, and got partial amnesia. I felt sorry for her, so I agreed to live with her since I was an orphan which was when we were approached by the Phone Guy. Because of our experiences at the pizzaplex, he recruited us into the Night Watch Repairmen. We both thought it was a little dangerous at first, but the pay made it worthwhile.

"Then a few months ago, we were chasing this animatronic named Lolbit from Afton Robotics. They're a direct competitor to Fazbear, run by a guy named Will Afton who used to be friends with Fred Bernstein the Third. Now normally, we don't go after Afton's animatronics. But Vanessa insisted, because she wanted to get to the bottom of Afton's daughter's disappearance before the grand opening of his Baby's World cabaret."

"So what happened?" Fredi asked, though he already had an idea of where this story was going.

G sighed. "We had Lolbit cornered in the alley behind a comedy club, but Vanessa shot them fatally. I asked her why she did it, and she told me Afton ordered her to kill Lolbit threatening to kill me if I told anyone about it. Then a minute later, she acted like she didn't kill Lolbit. So I quit the Night Watch Repairmen."

"Because you didn't have the heart to tell Phone Guy that she did something she wasn't supposed to?"

"Not just that, but she freaked me out. She was acting just like Vanny, and now I don't trust her."

Fredi reflected on this information before looking down at his new hands. "Does this mean you don't trust me?"

"I don't know," G shrugged. "You're not as honest with me as you were back at the pizzaplex, and your sporadic violence towards your fellow animatronics makes me wonder if you're even emotionally stable in that new body of yours."

"That's what I've been wondering too."

Fredi got up and looked at himself in the mirror. He expected Glenn to appear next to him, but like before he was completely absent.

"My memories are fragmented too," G said, catching Fredi off-guard. "I remember just about everything that happened at the pizzaplex, but there are two things that are fuzzy to me: what happened after you and Vanny fell off the roof, and the exact moment of my growth spurt."

"Well, it has been four years since we've seen each other," Fredi pointed out. "You may have been growing without realizing it until now."

Before G could answer, the door at the top of the stairs suddenly opened. Into the underground chamber walked a female figure wearing a rabbit head mask with gray top under a white fur vest, leggings, a white skirt, and boots. A bloodstained knife was gripped in her right hand.

"Hello, Gregory," said the costumed figure in a distorted female voice. "Did you miss me?"

"Vanny!" G held up his repairmen gun and pointed it at the costumed figure. "I thought you were dead!"

"Well, you thought wrong," Vanny said. "I can't die!"

"How did you find us?" Fredi demanded, clenching his fists.

"Simple!" Vanny held up a phone that had a dot with a beeping sound coming from it. "I killed Ozzie and downloaded the program he was using to track you, Fredi."

"Ozzie's…dead…?" G couldn't believe what he heard. "What happened to Vanessa?"

"I don't know this 'Vanessa' you're talking about," Vanny claimed. "So many people have died by my hand that all their faces have blurred in my mind."

As tears fell down his face, G fired his repairmen gun at Vanny. But to Fredi's surprise, she managed to dodge every single shot as she made her way down the stairs doing a series of flips and cartwheels. Vanny then lunged forward and cut G's earlobe. Fredi intervened and shoved Vanny into a nearby wall. She merely laughed and charged at Fredi. He managed to block her knife stabs, though he was getting cuts along his arms. Then Fredi made a sonic roar that sent Vanny flying across the room and onto the floor.

"You fully upgraded yourself," Vanny said as she got up. "I'm sure you must be proud knowing you murdered your friends again just so you could become more powerful."

"That was not my intention!" Fredi claimed. "I only killed them out of self-defense."

"Sure you did," Vanny responded sarcastically. "Though I heard from a certain beaver that you were talking to someone unseen."

"You mean Chips? Is he dead too?"

"Of course he is! I rarely leave anyone alive, hence why I killed his friends."

"Then Chips was telling the truth," G realized, holding his earlobe to stop the bleeding.

"You assumed he was lying because he was an animatronic?" Vanny laughed. "How very bigoted of you!"

Insulted, G shot the overhead light which plunged the underground chamber in darkness. As the eyes of Vanny's rabbit head glowed red, Fredi grabbed G and they ran out of the back entrance the Melody animatronics took when they fled before.

To be continued…