"Eclipse?" I kicked through the rusted turnstile to the daycare with Freddy and Chica in tow. "Hey buddy, I brought back some friends!"
No answer. I called his name again, still nothing. Did he get locked in the breaker room? Nope, the door was wide open. My first thought was, that Gregory kid! He got back in here just to do it all again! I tried to shake it away. "He was just a kid, Elijah. Just a little kid who didn't realize the consequences of his actions. He's not out to get you." I told myself. "It's been two years, how would he even get back here?"
"You said that the daycare attendant was here," Freddy sounded disappointed. "Are you sure he is safe?"
"There's no way he couldn't be," I told him. "I rebooted his whole system, set him into Eclipse mode, and to be extra safe I took out his internal clock to make it literally impossible for him to switch to Moon mode!"
"Wait!" Chica said suddenly. "Do you hear that?"
I stopped and listened. It was nigh impossible over the buzzing of the old lights and clunks from the AC system needing a patch (or 27), but faintly within the main daycare there were two voices, one panicked, one agitated. The panicked voice belonged to Eclipse.
"Eclipse?" I called out, running into the daycare. "Buddy, are you alright?"
"Elijah!" He came flying out from the back of the daycare, talking fast. "She came in and I didn't know what to do! So I blocked her in! I don't know how much longer I can keep her in there!"
"Woah woah!" I said. "Settle down. Who is she?"
"Let me outta here!" An angry child's voice came from the back of the daycare.
"How did a kid get in here?!" I asked, running towards the voice.
"How did you get in here?" Chica asked from behind me.
"Fair point."
I climbed over a fallen bit of jungle gym and landed on the wall of foam block. Eclipse had put up. Inside was a little girl with two brown buns in her hair and a red jacket. She hadn't seen me yet, but as soon as Eclipse appeared she started yelling at him again. "Let me out! I gotta find him before it's too late!"
"What do I do?" Eclipse looked at me, which made the kid look at me.
"You did good, I'll take it from here," I said, having absolutely no idea what to do. I turned my attention to the kid, who didn't look afraid of me, but was still concerned about the random man who was also illegally in a closed down Pizzaplex.
"I'm not supposed to be in here, and I know you're not supposed to be in here. Truce?" I held out my hand to her. "I'm looking for someone too, if that means anything."
She looked me up and down for a while before nodding. "Truce."
I pulled her up over the wall and let her dust herself off. If I learned anything from having a little sister that was half my age, it was to let a little girl do her own thing until she asks for help.
"Little girl, it's not safe for you to be in here," Eclipse said, watching on.
"Not everything fun is always safe," I reminded him as the girl pulled her backpack onto her shoulders. "But he makes a good point, what are you doing in here, uh…."
"Cassie," she said."I'm looking for my friend, Gregory. He said to meet him here, and now he's trapped. I have to find him."
"Gregory is here?" Freddy asked.
"Hold on, Fred." I said shortly. There was no way that Gregory could have gotten in here and none of the animatronics would have known. Besides, the way into the atrium was blocked by stuff I could barely move! "I've been the only one in here all night, if he was in here I or one of the animatronics would have seen him."
"Actually, he is very sneaky," Freddy chimed in. "He was able to sneak past Vanessa all night."
"And he's trapped!" Cassie pulled a Roxy Talkie from her bag."Gregory!" she said into it, "I got away from Eclipse! I'm coming to find you."
"Good job!" A little boy's voice crackled out of the tiny speaked. "Please! Hurry!"
He really is trapped in here. I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Okay okay okay," I said, trying to vizualize the problem in front of me while talking. "Not questioning how he got in here, we've gotta get Gregory. Then we have to find Roxy and Monty and get them into a functional condition. Then we've gotta get everyone out of here and you two back to your parents, all by midnight." I took a second to breathe. "Yikes."
"We have to leave?" Chica asked.
"What happens at midnight?" Eclipse tapped his fingers together.
I groaned. Whatever loosely put together plan I had was out the window. "Okay, I didn't say anything because I didn't want anybody freaking out on me, so listen fully before you do anything else." They all looked at me, I could feel a pit growing in my stomach. "At midnight, they're going to start moving equipment here so they can tear this whole place down. Don't freak out on me yet. So I'm getting all you guys out of here because Fazbear Entertainment wasn't planning to."
It was dead silent. "That's in about five hours if any of you were wondering," I offered helpfully.
"That's not a lot of time," Freddy said absently. The rest made some sound of agreement.
This was the moment to give some form of empowering speech, something to get everybody back in spirit and go about this mission with heads and confidence held high. I felt ready, I didn't have anything planned, (after all, how often do you give empowering speeches to three animatronics and a little girl?), but high school improv competitions hadn't failed me yet. I took a deep breath, and said, "better get movin'." I took a mental note: Things my Parents Say: 1, High School Improv: 0.
. . .
According to Cassie, Gregory was stuck under Roxy Raceway, on the complete opposite end of the Pizzaplex from the Daycare. This was not only bad because the way there was completely blocked and we would have to get in through the tunnels that led from Bonnie Bowl to the Glamrock Salon, but the backstage tunnels weren't animatronic sized, meaning that neither Freddy or Chica could go with us. Bringing Eclipse was an option, but as he was built for little kids, his endoskeleton was a little flimsier than the others and would likely lose a limb if he was hit too hard. So it was me and this little girl I had met five minutes ago against a decimated Pizzaplex and a five hour clock. Oh boy…
"Who's Schmidt?" Cassie asked as we made our way up to Bonnie Bowl. She was pointing at the embroidered name badge on my shirt.
"Schmidt's my last name," I told her. "But this shirt is my dad's. He was a technician here."
"Oh," she pondered this for a moment. "Was he a good technician?"
"The best," I said. "Dad could fix anything wrong with the animatronics, and everything else. He taught me how to do it too. He's a good guy, patient with people, good at thinking out his problems, and passionate about everything that he does. No opportunity for fun is ever wasted with him."
"He sounds really nice."
I chuckled. "Yeah, he is. I try my best to be like him every day, my mom too. They're good people. But look at me, I'm rambling about my family, and we've got a mission to go on! Hopefully Bonnie Bowl isn't too hard to get through."
Author's Note: Small Child Acquired! With a new mission it's a real race against the clock now! But two heads have got to be better than just one!
