Author's Note: I should've said this earlier on, but I combined the Afton and Princess Quest endings of the main game. Just for context! You'll kinda see what I mean.
ROXANNE WOLF
Well, you can say the others warned her about this kind of thing happening.
And she'd chosen to (stupidly) ignore it and miscalculated quite erroneously. And even she can say, in this instance, she may somewhat deserve this- not that she's thinking that now.
Roxy was being suspended maybe a good meter above the ground; her legs and claws flailing as she attempted to free herself from the... that CAN'T be the Mimic, right? It didn't look like that before! Or maybe it was- and it got lucky and found some nice and interesting pieces as of late.
The hook was lodged rather firmly into her breast plate; and with the way she was leaking coolant, she's pretty sure she was going to bleed out completely and lose her mobility within a minute or two. As soon as her coolant tank empties, her motor would heat up, seize, and shut her down- And she wouldn't be able to wake up and move again until her friends take her to Parts and Service.
Her claws razed the extended arm; but Freddy's frustratingly soft paws weren't something meant for combat. Yes, he has some good claws on him (as he can play instruments with it if he so chooses), but they didn't have the deadly sharpness Monty and Bonnie had and didn't have the length Roxy's old set did (length in which was intended to help her reach across the keyboard. A good design choice). The fluffy paw pads felt like they were cushioning her strikes; with the abomination barely twitching its new ear at her as if it couldn't care less -or notice - her struggling.
The offending bot cocked its head and lolled its jaw uselessly; the lower mandible not quite hanging on right as it scrutinized Chica and Monty with a prim and cold, calculating intensity that belied its pragmatic contempt of them. Foxy's single eye arrested on both and almost seemed to scan them- as if it was looking for something in particular that could be useful to it after dismembering them. And when it didn't find anything, it shuffled with Roxy still hanging obscenely from its extended arm-
And threw her at them.
Monty caught her; with Chica lunging ahead of them and opening her beak-
And she SCREAMED.
The noise was intense and yes, while Monty and Roxy were behind her and didn't suffer the effect as much, they were ALL still stunned nonetheless. The Mimic- zombie Foxy- whatever it was- was worse off; with it crumbling to the floor and rattling its shaky head. It attempted to get up, but couldn't manage in time-
Chica was seen running full tilt into it- and while she was weak compared to the other bots (and the lightest weight), it didn't have the desired effect. But she just barely managed to knock it over anyways and started punching its face wildly, screaming at the top of her bloody beak in clucking obscenities that went censored.
"HOW DARE YOU-!" Whack! "-HURT HER-" Whack! "-LIKE THAT!" Whack! "-YOU BA-BAWK!" Whack! "-YOU WON'T-" Whack! "-TOUCH HER-" Whack! "-OR ANYONE ELSE-" Whack! "-EVER AGAIN!" Whack! "BA-BAWK! YOU! BAWK YOU! BAWK! YOU!"
Her voice was keeping it from moving- But as it were, Roxy and Monty had to retreat in order to regain any full use of their own faculties and couldn't assist her when she was squalling like that. Chica kept the thing pinned and hammered into it with her fists; unrelenting in her rage. She even reached for a metal pipe nearby and started doing the guitar smash on its face! However, the abomination proved quick and resilient when it took a split second chance (in between her screaming obscenities) to throw her weak, non-feathery behind off and roll hurriedly to its feet-
And severed its own new ears.
The observation left everyone rightfully baffled, and it helped the Mimic become noticeably more resistant to Chica's voice. The hen gawped openly, but clacked her beak angrily as a reply. And as the Mimic went to run-
Chica hurled the pipe she was still holding right at its head and clonked it!
She stopped screaming for another second, snapping her beak with audible, and noisy crashes of her teeth. She started running after it- screaming and wailing at it with all her fury.
Monty was bent over Roxy, his hand over the hole in her tank. He attempted to stem it, looking as worried as he could be despite his muzzle usually staying fixed in a permanent smirk. Roxy pointed at the direction Chica went off to.
"Go-" She hissed. "-Go get her! I ain't... goin' anywhere. Not like this."
Monty snapped his jaws in a way indicating his annoyance. "You bloody fuggin' fool! Look at whatcha did to yerself! GEEZ-" He glanced at where he heard the hen vanish to, "Fine! You stay here and hold tight. I'll be back with Chica and then we're takin' yer fluffy ass to Parts and Services!"
Roxy growled at him reproachfully, pushing him off.
Monty got up and vanished in the direction the hen went, his green and neon yellow paint job a bright eye-sore in the gloom. But even then, he vanished completely into the murk after a few seconds and silence reigned. Roxy was left to wallow in her own shame as she weighed what she'd attempted to pull-
But she didn't care.
She thought she'd smelled Cassie.
She rolled over, growling when more of the precious, rust-colored liquid dribbled out of the hole in her motor. Already, it's starting to heat up just with her moving a tiny bit. If she stayed still, it shouldn't be so bad and she wouldn't have a violent shut-down. Replacing the tank was easy; but replacing the motor once it got to critical ranges and burned itself out... not so much. So Roxy couldn't move, propping herself up on the wall and shoving one of Freddy's ridiculously huge digits into the hole to stem it. It kinda worked, thanks to the paw pad filling the hole more snuggly due to its wide, fuzzy nature. It bought her some time.
She shut her eyes and focused on her compressor instead; making it move faster so she can stay cool. She bared her teeth too, growling constantly on and off. That thing knew where to hit her this time, and it hadn't held back. In fact, it even got smarter and wiser about where it should be striking. When Roxy met the Mimic in combat the last time, it'd wildly thrown her around the room with a careless impatience that belie just how much it desired its freedom- and it wouldn't stand for ANYTHING to remain in the way of that. It grabbed her head, smashed her into the walls a few times, and knocked her out when they fought in the pizzeria's underground.
But this instance... this was calculated.
She thought she heard Cassie too- not just smelled. But this thing, it knew it can lure the bots in one-by-one and take them out systematically using Cassie's voice. And no doubt, it was going to re-evaluate its tactics in regards to Chica's voice box. It didn't know Chica can do that- and had she lacked the ability, this skuffle would've turned out very differently. So its retreat was tactical- not fearful. Roxy doubted it was easily frightened by anything.
As to the matter of Cassie... well, while Roxy had fallen hook-line-and-sinker for the call of the Mimic, it hadn't emulated her smell. Roxy wouldn't have fallen for the singular auditory cue as easily if her nose also didn't tell her that Cassie had also recently passed by here.
Even now, Roxy stooped and smelled the area. And yes, while it also still smelled like a sewer, there hadn't been a lot of staff traffic and waste flow in the last months. So the sewer wasn't channeling as much gunk and most filters were still running fairly well. And just barely noticeable above all the ancient muck, Roxy caught Cassie's sweet aroma along the walkways here like a beacon. The wolf leaned over in the direction of the path, twitching her nose and taking in great gulps of the stinking air.
Yes. Cassie's smell is here. She no longer had the lovely coconut, chocolate or Roxy-grape scent; but her natural human aroma was definitely here. Her sweat, some blood, horrifyingly enough... it was here too. She's been here, and it couldn't have been longer than an hour ago- not even that.
Roxy snarled again and attempted to slither in the direction it led, but her motor cried out in protest. She fell to the floor and swore so much she'd make a nun cry. She sniffed the floor, lamented her injury, and swore more. She'd lay there for some uncounted minutes; glaring in the direction she could smell Cassie in a helpless, bubbling tizzy.
She jumped when she heard Bonnie's voice, "ROX! ROX! For fuck's sake, ANSWER ME!"
"Oh my god STOP yelling!" She groaned back at him. How long had she been ignoring him? She truly hadn't meant to. "What the hell, Bon? WHAT?"
"Answer me when I call then! CARROTS. What the hell happened!? Chica sent me an emergency ping and said she and Monty are dealing with the Mimic! I'm sending Freddy and Eclipse to your location, by the way!"
Roxy felt her tail swat the air once, then sat up, "It found us... but, it... its definitely been repairing itself. It's wearing... you're not gonna believe me but... it's wearing parts from... from..." She shook her head, eyes narrowed as she mulled over what she'd been looking at. "-It's wearing Foxy parts. You know, Glamrock Foxy? Captain Foxy?"
"...WHAT?"
"Oh my god, have YOU gone deaf? I just said its wearing Glamrock Foxy parts now! I think the Mimic found where the manager has oh-so kindly dumped him!" She hissed. She propped herself against the wall, blinking as she mulled this over herself. Not for the first time, she found herself cursing out the old manager and continued, "I think Foxy was in the garbage underground, and the Mimic's been hiding there. The second or first basement levels is my guess?"
"...We hadn't thought to check down there... probably has a hideout in that mess then," Bonnie continued.
Roxy felt her ears flatten, "That's not all, Bon... I found Cassie's scent here! Its why that thing caught me alone. It was using Cassie's voice but... it didn't have anything with her smell on it. I think she passed by here a while ago?"
"You sure?"
"Has my nose ever lied?"
"I can count a couple times-"
Roxy snarled at him for the comment, "BESIDES THOSE KIDS BLASTING MY FACE WITH GARLIC YOU NUT-BRAINED, BLUE-BALLED EASTER REJECT!"
"CALM YOUR JETS, ROX! Yikes!" He garbled something undertone that Roxy couldn't discern. Then, "And geez! Blue-balled? SERIOUSLY? Dude, not cool!"
She only snorted in reply. "Bonnie, I swear to shit, I ain't lying about Cassie! I SMELL HER! And I ain't leaving 'til something's done about it!"
"Okay okay! I know! I don't disbelieve you, Rox. I want to find her as much as YOU do, believe me," He breathed in a much calmer tone, but still somehow stiffer manner. "So, can you give me details?"
Roxy sniffed again, moving very carefully and slowly around the area. She then added, "I suspect an hour, tops. I want to follow it but... the Mimic got me in the coolant tank with Foxy's hook..."
"...It had a hook? I thought-" She can imagine head shaking. "Nevermind. I'm going to assume its changing parts out if it has a hideout somewhere... Also, Freddy's almost there! Give him another minute. He can use his sniffer to locate Cassie. Eclipse can help you get to Parts and Service. I also can't get Chica or Monty to respond... you know what happened to them?"
Roxy flexed her ears, listening raptly down the tunnel and finding its silence baffling and frightening. She worked her jaw, then, "No... Chica went screaming after it- literally. She flew into a rage and chased it down while screaming at it to stun it again. Monty went and followed her."
"Trying to ping them. I think they're blocking me-?" He went on to say.
"Might be engaged with it," Roxy assumed, her ear twisting when she heard footsteps. "Hold on, I think Freddy's here."
"Rox, I'm going to keep trying to ping them. You should go into rest mode so you don't burn out. We can't be replacing motors if yours gets further damaged. We don't have the resources."
Roxy rolled her eyes, "I know! Get off my ass, lettuce-face. I'll be good."
"...'Lettuce face'?"
She ignored him as Freddy approached. The bear looked furious though; which made Roxy shrink as she eyed him. His teeth were bared (no pun intended) and his borrowed, amber eyes were arrested down the branching paths like he wanted to run down both. His claws clinked with a sinister undertone.
"Which way," He growled, his baritone having dropped to a severe, and teeth grating bass.
Roxy simulated a gulp, then flicked her head down the northern tunnel, "Monty and Chica went in that direction... but Freddy- Cassie's smell-!" He'd been about to run down until Roxy threw the name in. "Cassie's smell is going towards the left! She's been by recently!"
Freddy frowned, then glanced at Eclipse briefly. The jester shrugged, bending down to help Roxy to her feet. Freddy meanwhile paused and lowered himself to the ground, smelling along the flooring and frowning as he did. And sure enough, his nose caught it too after Roxy had drawn attention to it. His borrowed optics arrested on the path beyond, then he was back on his feet.
"I'll check it out. So long as Monty and Chica are together, and so long as Bonnie has a read on their signals, I'm going to assume they're okay. Eclipse, you can-"
"I know, I got her," He gently assuaged.
Freddy nodded, then disappeared in the direction Cassie's scent went. Roxy can only watch him in go while stewing in frustration, lamenting very much how much she wanted to go.
GLAMROCK CHICA
It ripped its ears off.
Smart move.
Chica couldn't stop it if it can't hear her. However, the less impressive secondary auditory emitters on the endo portion of the Mimic (as the Foxy ears on the outer portion was now gone) no doubt could still hear her- seeing as it's still stunned rather briefly in place every time she's screamed at it. Chica also assumed its hearing wasn't as good though; or it adjusted on its body to tune down her voice. She just couldn't imagine it can get away under any other circumstance.
Once again it turned a corner, then it picked up a slab of broken metal and hurled it at Chica; prompting the hen to duck. She screamed again in response; and yes, it kept getting progressively more jittery as she did it. But even after all that screeching, it still kept running! And it only made her MADDER.
Behind her, Monty had finally caught up and surged past her, Chica producing an annoyed noise when he got ahead of her. The gator was a hot-blooded sort; so he was quick to launch himself into the Mimic despite the fact Chica using her voice box had been the only reason why they've been able to keep pace with it. In fact, Chica can feel Bonnie trying to ping her, but she didn't want to screech in his ever-sensitive ears while on the horn. The rabbit didn't have any replacement parts for his upgrade as it is.
Chica watched as Monty opened his fearsome jaws and latched onto the Mimic's chest; wriggling his head and throwing the bulk of his weight into his upper body and surging to the side. He attempted a death roll; and his sheer weight threw the Mimic off its feet fully and wound up on the ground with Monty rolling it across the gross floor. The Mimic lifted its hook in what Chica assumed was panic and started gouging at Monty's back, but the gator simply resisted the pain he was no doubt feeling and kept rolling. No wonder its called the Death Roll!
Something screeched and cried; then its new breast piece came off! Monty ended up rolling off with Foxy's chest piece in his jaws; crunching it into warped scrap like a wad of used gum as he got back to his feet. He spat it off to the side like a cowboy spits tobacco, then was surging forward again-
The Mimic retaliated by charging forward as well- and it slammed an elbow into the gator's jaws and forced them shut! Monty buckled beneath the blow; with the Mimic forcing him to the ground and pinning his jaws shut on purpose: Every alligator's ultimate weakness. Even a child can keep a real gator's jaws shut with the right amount of pressure. Monty himself sadly suffered from this glaring weakness; his jaws had closing power- not the adverse. You can tie a band around his muzzle and he's never be able to open it again unless he used his claws to take it off.
Chica threw herself back in, not screaming again but literally throwing herself at the abomination for the second time that day. Her elbow met its own face in return; forcing it off Monty and prompting for a screech of face plates when Foxy's right side caved beneath the blow. It too produced an annoyed, static-laced growl, then seized Chica around the waist and threw her aside-
Monty was on it again.
His over-powered hydraulic trap jaws sealed shut around Foxy's head in a sideways turn of his massive head; and with no doubt the same amount of pressure that had crushed Chica herself in the trash compactor. He started to squeeze it into a pinched and exaggerated parody of itself; the Mimic flailing its limbs over head but its shoulder pauldrons prevented much mobility. Chica watched in fascinated horror as Monty's awful teeth punched through its red-orange face and cave it in; its endo resisting the pressure being applied to the skull casing at first but ultimately caving in as well. Its glowing, mad orange eyes shook- and one POPPED out of place.
It made Chica flinch- the hen remembering with a violent flash how it felt to be ensnared in the compactor and finding herself backing away in a fearful and traumatic scuttle as Monty kept applying horrid, gods-know-how-much strength in his ridiculous jaws. The Mimic even produced a pained noise- and really, why the heck was it imitating human screaming?!
Chica covered her ears, feeling freaked out as she heard what was no doubt an echo of Cassie's voice escaping its voice box but crackly with static. Monty himself seemed briefly disorientated by the odd noise; like it confused him- and for that precious second, stopped applying his his force.
The Mimic took its chance.
It elbowed Monty so hard in the motor something got jarred loose; and thanks to the fact Monty had no abdominal plate and only his chest portion, the blow connected fully and painfully. The gator was forced to let go before he finished crushing the thing's head in. The Mimic from there rolled to the side-
And into an open sewer water-line nearby with a fast flow.
The pair sat there for a minute after that, blinking dumbly at each other at the obscene noise they've heard. Cassie's scream wasn't something they hadn't been prepared to hear, and the agonized quality of it left them bamboozled about how the miming automaton menace could've caught the noise originally. And really, the scream it chose had been so specific. Chica already was lamenting how it used its ability to get free.
"I can't believe we fell for that..." she muttered to Monty. She frowned at him, "Are you okay?"
"Hn... yeah," He was seen holding his torso funny though, tilting his head constantly and trying to see into himself- not that he could. His long muzzle and the way his large, heavily wired neck prevented him from bending his head down to see was awkward.
Chica crooned, then crawled over to help him. She resituated his motor, glad it was only jarred slightly out of place and nothing was really broken. Yes, it was dented now too, but no real damage was done. After which, she sat back and stared into the sewer line itself, humming to herself about what to do.
Now she pings Bonnie, "Hey, you there?"
"Oh my god I've been TRYING to get a hold of you two for the last few minutes! Are you okay? What happened! What the heck-"
"We're fine! Cool it, bunny bro. We're not really hurt actually? Just... surprised. And... upset." She glared at the pipe, "We lost it. The Mimic got away."
"Dammit... So, it didn't do anything to you?"
"No damage when we both jumped it. It jarred Monty's motor loose but I think that's the extent of it. I fixed it. The Mimic emulated Cassie's scream... it scared both of us into letting it go and it just..." She snapped her beak, "-It rolled into the open line here and got swept away. Can you tell us where this line goes? Do you know?"
"Lemme see... I believe that's a filtered water line. It's sewer water but it came from a filter under the PizzaPlex somewheres. Man that's gross... why is sewer water allowed to flow into the golf course-?" He trailed off there and sighed, "Well, anyways... Its going to Monty golf. I believe he'll empty out there. But even if you go after it, you may just loose it regardless. He'll be gone by the time you get over there. I'll keep a camera on the gator-head pipes though anyways, just in case."
"Alrighty, thanks, Bon-Bon."
"...Chica."
"Hmmm?"
"...What did we say about with the whole 'Bon-Bon' thing?"
Chica was completely unrepentant as she said, "You broke your promise we made that night. So I get to call you Bon-Bon."
"What night was that- oh... OH. Oh MAN. Dammit! AW MAN."
Chica snorted, then got to her feet. She helped Monty up too, who was actually smirking there too. "YEAH. I thought you remembered. You broke your promise about being safe," She sneered.
"I never made the promise! I said I'd promise to TRY."
"And you didn't try hard enough. You got yourself killed," She dead-panned. "So now, you're Bon-Bon. Get used to it."
"God dammit... I was hoping out of all the things you've forgotten, that memory was one of them. Dangit- fine. Fair. Now then-" There was a crackling at the other end of the line. "You should get back here, or go find Freddy and help him. Or actually... help Eclipse with Roxy. She's passed out from over-heating and a bit too heavy for Eclipse to bring back on his own. I mean... he COULD drag her back, but with all the dragging he'd do, she'd be scrapped clean of her shell by the time she gets to parts and Service. We can deal with the Mimic later."
"What happened to Freddy?" Chica blinked.
"Roxy got caught by the Mimic because she smelled Cassie- I don't think she would've fallen for the Mimic's voice alone otherwise. Freddy's using his nose and following the trail. Last time I talked to him, he said he was close... I suspect he's still trying to find her, considering the location of his ping signal."
Monty tapped a claw to his chin, than made like to scratch it- a character blueprint personality trait that just cued up. "I reckon I can help Fred with the searchin'? I gots a damn fine nose!"
"You sure, Monty? How's your motor? Be honest."
"S'fine, rabbit! Nuthin' doin'," He worked his jaws, the motion looking mighty strange as if he was trying to dislodge something from his teeth- in which he was, once Chica looked. A chunk of Foxy's chest was still lodged in the back of his mouth. The gator produced a gross gargling noise and spat again to the side- throwing what remained of the old bot into the water line.
Chica shuddered. She ALWAYS hated spitting- and whenever she's heard humans make the noise, she had to fight the cringe. She didn't disguise it here. Monty only leered at her.
"Well, you guys get going, then. Monty, help Freddy. Chica, find Eclipse. I'm updating your nav points too and running M.X.E.S full time to see if I can get a hold of the Mimic. But... that thing's been giving the M.X.E.S a run for it money when it comes to detection."
"Jammer, maybe?" Chica offered.
"Yeah. Still trying to route that out. It feels like every time we find a jammer and disable it digitally, the Mimic sets up a new one in its place. Can never get a lock on it... which is why it got us by surprise this time. Hoping that'll change soon." He sighed audibly, "Anyways, what we can discern is that it... he... they? Er, it, likely has a hideout somewheres in the lower basement floors. And it's likely changing parts out. It didn't have a hook before when it disabled the power box over here... so that Foxy find must either be VERY recent, or he found it a while ago and he's changing parts out and trying it out. Maybe experimenting... which is... not great to consider. Guess we'll know next time we see it."
"Damn annoyin'," Monty grumbled.
"It is... and with all the endos dissembled at the daycare and all the scrapped stuff beneath us lying around, who the heck KNOWS what kinda garbage its sitting on? Its bad enough that, considering this, this thing can actively repair itself often no matter what we do to it. I wager the next time we find it, its gonna be even tougher to take out-"
"Which means, the next time we see it-" Chica hissed. "-We ain't letting it escape again."
"Couldn't have put it better myself, Chic-a-rita."
Monty slammed one fist into an open palm, his pressurized jaws clicking in a satisfied smirk.
Chica grumbled, then turned to leave the area. She considered jumping into the water line a few times in the span of her talking to Bonnie, but she wasn't keen on damaging her circuit board on a chase that's likely to end badly. She hoped in that case, the Mimic got the worst end of its dive. With that, the hen disconnected from Bonnie and left with the gator. From there, they'd split up to find Eclipse, Roxy and Freddy.
GLAMROCK FREDDY
The bear snuffled along, nose working over time as he lumbered through the aberrant darkness.
With the way their bodies were built and how humanoid it was in origin, getting on all fours was just as awkward for Freddy as it would be for a normal human man. But, he did occasionally do so when he could anyways, keeping his nose to a metaphorical grindstone all the way down the maintenance tunnel. Sifting through the various, intrusive smells was taking a lot of concentration- and he figured at some point, Roxanne would lose the trail.
But, surprise surprise: Bears had better smell than wolves do. And Freddy's creators blessed him with this same trait. He inwardly thanked them for it too.
Yes, in the past, he's never really noticed his own nose's power. He tried ignoring rude smells- as they're not only and obviously distracting, but fed useless garbage data to him at wrong moments. He can tune out someone's body odor, for instance. People wanted hugs! And as a socialite and the star attraction, Freddy had to comply with a demand for a hug no matter how badly a person smelled. He had to grit his teeth and, no pun intended, bear it. So again, Freddy learned to just filter out smells and ignore his over-powered sniffer.
But now... he found himself relying and utilizing it in increased frequency. It felt like one of those 'powers' you knew you always had, but it lay dormant within. Freddy had to ignore a lot of unsavory human-related smells back in his day- but his sniffer, by gods. The things he can pick up from it!
He didn't have Roxanne's long muzzle- whereas her additional chassis space gave her an advantage when one considers that her chassis can have more sensors anchored into its under-side. Freddy's muzzle isn't long and narrow like hers, but he still had a lot of wide space in his chassis thanks to the way his face and cheeks were shaped. He'd been given this sniffer for a reason: and he can detect whatever could be wrong with someone, if say, they were sick or where they've been. And it was a good security measure on the side!
All these tangents aside, he found himself on his knees with his head stooped; his nose squeaking once he made contact with the cement. He inhaled deeply, held, and let his processor sort through what he was picking up. A lot of it was old smells; old waste, old food residue, old... various, and no less disgusting things. But Cassie's sweet aroma was the one blessed thing about this place and stuck out. She didn't have her shampoo scent anymore, but she had an interesting and natural smell that wasn't unpleasant like most older people do! Sadly, Freddy found himself frowning when he realized that he was also detecting faint traces of her blood.
She'd been hurt at some point. That's bad enough, let alone the fact she was still wearing that awful Vanny mask! Gregory said she's been wearing it when they encountered her. Vanny no doubt had the girl under her thrall. Had the mad rabbit prompted Cassie to do something to incur the injury? Or was the blood from when Gregory punched her in the face? He just didn't know, but he intended to find out.
Freddy barely got off the ground unless its to move. He stayed stooped and scanned every detail. He grazed a claw where he thought he saw a shoeprint in the muck-
Only to realize that there was a second set of steps next to Cassie's own.
She isn't alone.
Freddy bowed again; literally dragging his cracked and broken face across the ground to try and get details. It didn't smell human- but there was traces of something human in it... familiar? Maybe. But the size of the feet... it suggested a bot, and the smell was subtle and metallic- but it still carried undertones of something else he figured he knew. It smelled familiar and that REALLY weirded him out!
Was Cassie walking with a bot he knew? But, he didn't know any other bots! And really, the Mimic didn't have this smell- so he eliminated it being Cassie's company. Beyond the obvious attack on Roxy, the Mimic nearly killed Cassie when it encountered her. So once again, its eliminated from the list of bots Freddy thought he could identify.
But this smell... he knew it from somewhere. It too contained undertones of... blood?
Once again on all fours, he hovered on that spot and ran a scan of the feet. The impression in the ancient sewer sludge was a bit more subtle than he liked, but there was enough debris here where he can see it the foot's imprint fairly well. He took a picture with his camera eyes and sent the image to Bonnie. He got a reply in seconds.
"The fuck am I looking at-?" The rabbit bit.
Freddy 'Ahemed!" at him for the swear.
"Oop- sorry. I'm a... sorry. Didn't mean to drop the F-bomb on you there, Fredster. As for the picture... huh. That... I can't make heads or tails of it. Was Cassie actually abducted?"
"I have reason to believe she's under Vanny's influence when she left us. Now with that said, I find it strange she seems to be walking alongside this other bot," Freddy returned carefully. "She isn't alone but... who could this be?"
"So weird... I just ran a roster checklist of all the bots that's ever been programmed here and I have zero matches. And Foxy's parts are on the Mimic... so that can't be him. Who the heck is this?"
"Doesn't look like the paws are... hold a second," Freddy grumbled.
He blinked rapidly, then narrowed his eyes at the image of the pads. He dragged a claw through the sludge (gross as that was) and dragged out a single thread of egg-shell white fur. Freddy scanned it, although he was already feeling disturbed by the implification of it. He sent the image to Bonnie, inwardly hoping to any robot god out there that he was wrong in what he was identifying.
And his motor sank like a human heart would at Bonnie's words.
"Faux fur. Its dirty white fur too... and the paw pads... not huge like ours. But they actually look like... mine? Just, smaller? Like, rabbit-shaped... oh dear. Oh no. Freddy... what does it smell like to you? Describe it."
Freddy opened his jaws, then stared grimly at the path beyond. He clenched and unclenched his jaw as he separated Cassie's smell from the other. His tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth, as if to literally press air into his olfactory sensors for a better scan. He chuffed, then, "...Metallic, but... not metallic in just the material but... like, faint traces of old... blood."
"FUCK. YOU'VE GOT TO BE YANKING MY LITTLE COTTONTAIL! Freddy- I think I recognize it-!"
"I think I do too... but... how. That can't be..." He stood up and continued forward. "That just can't be-"
"Fredster... there's endos and their parts everywhere. Its not hard to download a programmed consciousness into a blank. Hell, I've done it- we all had to when we repaired each other. And if Vanny was just code that existed inside the mask..."
"She used Cassie to make herself a body," the bear finished. He bared his teeth, a deep, rumbling growl revving up in his core like a car roaring to life. His claws flexed.
"Vanny took her. Made her leave... I see now," Bonnie mumbled. "Still... despite this, I can't help but wondering... why she didn't do this before as Vanessa? Surely she knew she could do it."
"I think I can answer that," Freddy supplied, stopping to smell something else. Bonnie had to wait while Freddy sorted out the direction its gone. "Consider this: A bot existing outside the PizzaPlex looked impossible to all of us, once. Even Vanessa hadn't figured on giving me an alternate source of energy until Gregory discovered car batteries work on me. All the endos here, they need the recharge stations as much as we do. If Vanny made herself a body, she couldn't exist outside the PizzaPlex without having to return to charge every so often. And she's a very active rabbit..."
He growled there, "She likes to do her hunting outside the PizzaPlex. She needed a human body to be able to do this. Moreover, staying inside a human host... like the parasite she is... made her invisible to her prey. They don't see a murderer when they see Vanessa's face. Vanessa also tells me that Vanny sometimes possessed her even at odd times of the day at her other JOB... whenever she wanted. She didn't need to be wearing the mask to do so. Her coworkers could pass right by her and not know they're talking to Vanny and not Vanessa. There's more too-" He cleared his voice box, then went on with, "Vanessa also told me that some of her search history on the computer was on topics she wouldn't realistically touch. She got flagged for looking various torture methods, for example."
"Shit... So we coulda been staring Vanny in the face the whole time we were looking at and talking with Cassie... and we wouldn't know it."
"Yes. Having a human body was very convenient. But, now that Vanny knows what Cassie knows- that she can use car batteries... she can leave the Pizzaplex. But, she'd still need a human around to do some things..."
"She's gonna take Cassie away! SHIT."
Freddy growled when Bonnie did. And for once, he agreed wholeheartedly for the swear. "Shit, indeed," he said much to the rabbit's surprise.
"Dude. Keep searching. Monty's nearly on your location, by the way. You two can take her out together."
"Even if we take out the bot... I wager Vanny still has a hold on Cassie's body and mind. Cassie seems to be walking peaceably beside her. And that chip in Vanessa's brain... it gave Vanny a place to exist so she can possess her... and Cassie has the chip too, yes?"
"Yeah, so the only way Vanny can die... is if we take the mask, break it and her new body, and take that chip out of Cassie. Otherwise she's gonna keep perpetuating herself."
Freddy nodded, though Bonnie didn't see it. "We need to get Cassie out of here, and make sure she's tied up when we do! I don't want to say that, but it may be needed. Vanny will just continue to manipulate her into leaving. Those transmitters..." He snorted, "When they're installed, they have to actually be embedded inside the head itself. Vanessa said when she first used the mask, it hurt her. It jabbed something into her head via her eye. After that, it traveled beyond her skull and into the brain so it can feed data to her vision directly."
"Dude... what the what?"
Freddy sighed, "Occipital. Bonnie, you know what that word is: Its another part of the brain. The lobe at the back of the head? Come on. You're smart, keep up with me."
"...Shit. Yeah... The mask... the transmitter would have to travel from the face to... wow that's disturbing. How come I never noticed?"
Freddy shook his head. "At any rate, like I said: Vanessa had to get hers surgically removed. Cassie will require invasive surgery, on that note."
"Oh my lord... She doesn't... oh, that poor girl," Bonnie was likely gritting his teeth there- if that ingratiating clicking on his end was anything to go by. His voice took on a wheezing, breathy and crackling note, "She doesn't deserve this... she just... I can't, Freddy. This whole thing- Cassie doesn't deserve this!"
Bonnie's tone sounded amazingly like that of Cassie's father's own too, Freddy intrusively wondered. The wane lilt and apparent worry aside, even the tone matched for a weird second. The bear put that random observation aside though, pausing when he found more evidence of Vanny's steps in the sludge beyond.
"I know, my friend. I know," Was all he can say.
Freddy stopped however, his ears actually moving into a more alert and erect position as he fixated on a point beyond the darkness. His LED eyes shined into the tunnel, and he heard breathing.
Cassie was there.
Freddy didn't think, nor say much more than that. He merely said, "I think I found her-" And cut the line before Bonnie can comment. He didn't want Bonnie talking at the wrong time. He rushed forward but tried to be as quiet as possible. He lamented the whirring of his servos however; which always and universally made noise whenever he moved.
He knew Cassie was there though- he could smell her now. And not just her... but Vanny too. The scent of a moldy set of used, faux fur was glaring now.
Freddy bared his teeth and took the corner-
And was promptly whacked in the face by a strong, metal arm.
He should've expected it; by all rights. It sadly still took him off guard however, and the blow hit his nose directly. And anyone whose encountered a bear can say the nose was a sensitive and infuriating region to be striking. It hurt so much! And the pain was so bad, it made Freddy instantaneously wild with feral rage- As if Cassie's abduction hadn't been incentive enough!
His glittering amber eyes took in, for that heart-stopping second, the sight of the mad rabbit lady herself. Her glaring, cruel eyes locked his; and then she was whacking him again- Freddy caught it this time, then pushed back on her and opened his mouth to roar at her face with the intention to use Chica's box-
He didn't get the chance.
A pair of prongs lodged themselves into his breast plate, and the bear shook as several thousand volts shot through his entire body. The bite of the animatronic taser was enough to stop him dead in mid-motion. He released Vanny, eye-sight flickering as he flopped to the floor-
Cassie's unfeeling gaze was the last thing he saw.
VANNY
She clapped. Oh how funny he looked!
She jumped up and down in joy, reveling in the sight of Freddy twitching spasmodically and flopping to the floor in a comically rag doll manner. She would keep appraising the sight, playfully cocking her head and stooping to smile into Freddy's face even though his eyes were arrested on the girl before him. Seems he noticed Cassie was the one to strike him down! HOW FUN THIS WAS!
She'd stick out her tongue if she had one, playfully bobbing around the stunned and unconscious bear. She glided over to Cassie and patted the girl's head, gently rubbing in a manner as if a mother would. She didn't stop Cassie either as she kept frying the poor bear. Ah, but at length, Freddy was no use to them if he was hurt to such an extent. So she supposed the funny sight had to end at some point!
She gently put her hand over Cassie's own, then went pat pat! "Well done," She cooed. "But I think you can stop torturing the bear now. I wanna check his upgrades. I don't want those destroyed."
Cassie ceased with the current, but didn't retract the prongs.
Vanny stooped before him, tilting her head and rapping her claws on the bear's chest. She liked the edgy look of the chainsaw fingers Freddy had! Those were... not his normal paws, actually. Now that she was looking at him, it seemed Freddy had been keeping his friend's upgrades. Unusual. You'd think he'd give them back!
Vanny checked his eyes- yup, those were Roxanne's. And she pried open his stomach hatch and looked- and lo and behold, strength augmentation inside his chest, and she was certain in his arms too. The strength augmentation upgrades were additional and more effective servos with a greater weight limit tolerance and torque production; and those would be a bit weirder to dig out of him. She didn't want to damage him too badly... but, being patient wasn't exactly her greatest strength. She'll have to get back to that.
Now she was checking his legs- no upgrades, but at least she had all the info she needed. Freddy had at least a few to account for: His borrowed eyes, the new claws, voice box, and the enhanced servos in his upper body. Vanny knew of the latter when she first had him dig out the underground pizzeria. Those weren't Monty's upgrades, but Freddy's own. He's always had strength augmentation- he's just never used them until recently. Curious.
Vanny froze when she heard heavy steps, frowning at the doorway expectantly. Seems he'd brought a friend, from the sounds of things. She made a waving gesture at Cassie, then backed away into the shadows. Cassie had retracted the prongs in the taser meanwhile and ducked behind some upturned piece of table.
Montgomery gator slipped into the room, and his crimson gaze couldn't help but arrest onto the bear. He noticed the open nature of his chest cavity, the gator grumbling in what Vanny joked to be 'Florida man' growls. The robot reptile bent around Freddy and sniffed- and sure enough, detected traces of the ladies.
Cassie attacked.
The gator was quicker to react than Freddy had been. He jumped away and snapped his jaws warningly, his eyes on Cassie but betraying his hesitation in defending himself against her. The gator dodged away as Cassie attempted to retract the prongs once more- and then threw himself at her before she can press the buttton to hit him again. He pinned the girl to the ground, his one clawed paw easily covering the hand holding the taser. Cassie kicked at his face, but Monty acted like he didn't feel it.
Vanny simply watched, measuring what to do as she observed the gator's weirdly stoic reaction to the girl. Ironic... he'd been calm and calculated about the take-down, contrary to Freddy. How very unusual indeed.
"Calm down, girlie. We're here to save ya," He croaked. He grabbed the taser and crushed it. "You right in the head?"
Cassie roared at him, still kicking him in the face. Monty didn't even budge.
"I'll take that as a hard no. And seein' as Freddy's on the floor, I s'pose that's a stupid question. 'Kay then, I reckon we can make like flapjacks and flip- cuz you got us worried to hell and back," He shrugged as he moved off Cassie and went to pick her up. "Honestly, girl, you'd think with the way they fret, Roxy act like your ma and Bonnie acts like yer pa. Damn funny sight honestly!"
Vanny rapped her fingertips as she evaluated something. Then, she felt herself smile. She carefully crept closer to Monty while wielding the metal bar she had. Monty was scratching his scrappy head as he looked at Freddy- no doubt the gator was wondering how to carry both him and the struggling girl out.
She went to swing-
And Monty just ducked out of the way oh-so casually without even looking.
Vanny blinked, then bounced out of his sudden lash of an arm. His claws razed empty air, the gator snapping teeth briefly as he did. When it didn't connect, he just sighed and pulled himself back to his full height; very lazily turning to look at her. His smirk was wider than the Grinch's own and seemed to match the blood-thirsty leer she herself had. He even moved his lids like he would actual eyebrows; waggling them suggestively as if to flaunt something at her- whatever that was.
"Rabbit woman, huh? Yer a right awful sight," He snorted. Cassie kicked him in the jaw, but still he didn't move. "To think, you've violated me twice via hacking and I've never actually properly met you. This is my first time laying eyes on you and being able to remember it! Bonnie's talked about ya, yunno. I can see the hype. Yer a real piece 'o work, I reckon."
Vanny shrugged innocently, "So, he says nice things about me?"
"Lotsa stuff," Monty answered ever-so-leisurely. "You had him going coo-coo for you. Never seen the feller so damn uptight- the way he chases you 'round, you'd think he was a mad march hare in the middle of the summer! And here I thought he liked bears! HAHAHAHA!" He slapped himself in the face, just laughing in a mean-spirited way. Cassie hissed and spat in his arms all the while. "Honestly, I thought it'd real hilarious waking up inside the cylinder, that one night? And he told me he nearly clawed my eyes out just cuz he was chasing a GIRL bunny! How funny was that? Dude, I so ribbed him so hard for it too. I like how he can take a joke too- just rolls with it, yunno?"
Now he advanced, his leer growing wider.
"But nah, I don't like being the ass-end of a joke myself. Never had the same humor Bonnie does, and bless him fer bein' better about it than meself. Though frankly, Bonnie, he uh... he can be real territorial about the shit he likes. I ain't keen on gettin' in a scrap with him again for a wretched little thang like you. You look like something I ate, shat out, and ate again- given I could SHIT." He chortled as he took another step at her. "An' I can see yer in the market for some upgrades. Well, we ain't keen on sharin', yunno? Not 'nuff stuff to lying around to share."
"Well that's a darn shame," She mused. "Cuz I really wouldn't mind prettying myself up for your blue friend. He's all I can think about! Wouldn't mind meeting him in person again, after I put on my makeup."
Monty raised a single purple lid, "I wanna ask: why you so obsessed with him anyways? It feels right weird, not gonna lie."
Vanny put a fluffy paw pad to her mouth, bobbing her shoulders innocently before taking a light bow, "He makes our games fun. The rest of you tend to... fall in line too easy. Look at Freddy on the floor there-" She gestured to him next, "All of you- including yourself, have only ever been BORING. I can't stand boring! Boring makes me so mad, I just can't stand it! My life would be pretty empty without our favorite blue boy making our nightly rituals fun."
Monty shook his head. "Still didn't stop ya from offin' him. What's the REAL beef here? Humor me."
If Vanny could smile further, she would. Her head floated over to her other objective, a lovely and intrusive motivation that she couldn't help but savor. She tittered in place as she said, "I think its better I SHOW you all? Why not let me have the rabbit, and maybe I can let you have Cassie back?"
"Hn... how about, no?"
Monty skidded Cassie to the side- not throw her, per se, but close. And when he did, he lunged at Vanny again. He snapped his jaws and swung his arms; red eyes laser-focused on the bunny bot with each strike. Vanny herself dodged out of the way; brandishing the metal rod and whacking Monty in the face at least a couple times. The gator's head jerked with each strike- but it didn't deter him in the least. He just kept snapping his hydraulic powered jaws and lashed wildly-
When she jumped out of the way, he whipped around with his tail; the appendage cracking like a whip as it hurled her into the opposite wall. He hissed next; the sound followed by a belly-deep growl and another lunge.
Vanny flapped a droopy ear, then leapt straight into the air to dodge his next strike. And on the way down, attempted to drop kick the reptile-
Monty dodged by throwing himself to the side. Vanny's foot hit the solid concrete flooring; cracking it in some part but it dented her metal foot. The rabbit bot hissed as she watched the gator recoil and lash his tail. He too returned the sound, his throat visibly trembling from the force of his snarls.
Now he was grinning.
Vanny twitched an irritated ear in return.
"You're just buying time. You told Bonnie about me, didn't you? And where we are?"
"Now why would I do that?" He replied with a cute flutter of his eyes. Ever the innocent gator.
Vanny would narrow her eyes if she could. Her mask didn't emote more than the inflection it came with; but her ears gave way whatever she felt. She rolled her shoulders and straightened herself out; even adding the motion of dusting herself off.
"I don't like you. You aren't fun to dance with. Bonnie actually SWINGS like he means it."
"And what makes you think I don't mean tryna gut cha? I couldn't mean it more."
"You don't have the same dance moves. I call it boring."
"I'm hurt!" Monty guffawed. "I was taught by Bonnie himself how to dance and weave."
"Yeah? Well, you still suck. Dunno why corporate thought it was a good idea to replace Bonnie with YOU. You have no style; you just throw yourself around everywhere."
Vanny knew she hit a nerve of SOME kind when the gator hissed again and didn't even spare her the courtesy of a retort. Monty opened his jaws wide and snapped where she was just seconds ago; the effeminate rabbit sliding under him and digging claws into the hole in his back. She wondered where the hole could've come from; as it seemed to look like a hook got into him at some point, but she buried her digits into it anyways and held on.
Monty threw back his head and attempted to turn around and snag her; all attempts in vain. His tail could curl upward, but Vanny was resting the majority of her substantial weight on it; so he couldn't strike her with it. She was practically riding him now.
Nearby, Vanny saw Cassie had gotten to work in trying to remove Freddy's upgrades, leaving the rabbit smirking as she continued to distract the irritating reptile. She snirked at Monty in a self-satisfied manner, to which he couldn't see. Monty's ability to turn his head was rather limited thanks to the still, sturdy way his vertebra was built. It had to accommodate a heavy appendage like his tail and turn accordingly with it.
Monty bucked- but when he did, he caught Cassie trying to take Freddy's claws. And, despite Vanny on his back, the gator growled and lunged at her to get her off him-
Vanny pulled on the hook hole; yanking Monty backward like she was rearing a horse. He tumbled backwards- and then THREW himself onto the ground and rolled with Vanny still latched on. Vanny felt something give in her left elbow, a servo whining when the force prompted her to let go. She groaned as Monty freed himself and turned to snap his jaws down on her face-
She caught them; one hand on his upper mandible and the other on the vice versa. And while Monty had the realistic gator-like issue of dealing with having no real power to opening his jaws, his closing power on the other hand was monstrous. And yes, even as a bot Vanny had the ability to fend it off, but it won't be long until he clamped down on her limbs and death rolled. All the while, he got to work trying to gouge her belly open- only to find nothing in her. He only tore into worn fabric from the ancient suit. So, he tore into her motor instead-
Monty's jaws were quickly over-powering Vanny too. He must've been pressing down with enough force to flatten metal into paper thin sheets. Vanny winced when he started wreaking havoc to her chest- although she was glad he didn't have his other set of claws. His default set he was built with originally weren't formatted to accommodate a bass like his newer set. They were still sharp however, and enough so that her own coolant tank could crack open-
Vanny actually worried now. This was a losing fight- and Monty knew it. He redoubled on his efforts to clamping his jaws down; claws ripping and shearing with frenetic energy.
Cassie nearby also jumped when Freddy chose that exact moment to wake up. The bear wrapped a fist around her arms and stared into her face, the girl hissing and spitting like a kitten the entire time.
Vanny thought fast.
It was stupid, cheap, and probably the dumbest move ever; but it had the desired effect of taking her foe by surprise, at least: She kicked him RIGHT where his balls should be. And yes, the Glamrocks had sensors in a lot of interesting regions- and while it didn't have the same effect as it would if he really did have balls, Monty felt it. His right eye twitched in response, both in pain and confusion intermingling.
Vanny kept kicking- and one leg banged on his leg and threw it back in a way that broke it while bending it in the direction it wasn't supposed to face.
Monty's jaws loosened-
And Vanny rolled over and threw herself off.
She dodged another menacing snap of his jaws and ran out the door- leaving Cassie behind with both the waking bear and grumpy gator.
She'll have to retrieve her prizes later- as even she knew when she was beat. She had to leave Cassie, which was saddening but necessary. Besides, She still had control of Cassie- not like the Glamrocks can change that unless they ripped the girl's head open.
She still had one ace in the hole, and even they knew it. And while she lost the battle, this war was far from over. She still had Cassie under control- even if they did take possession of the girl physically, there was nothing they can do to change that.
Vanny smiled at that. She can still play this to her advantage.
MONTGOMERY GATOR
He can't believe it-
THEY LOST HER!
Correction- HE lost her.
Monty felt terrible! He had Vanny on the ropes and she just... She was wailing on his nonexistent daddy bags! What in the world was THAT? He had to admit, he hated being made the fool, as he told Vanny himself- but twice in one day, he's been turned into the greatest fool ever. The Mimic got him with Cassie's emulated scream, and he had a female bunny beat his nethers like a kangaroo drowns its enemies- with impunity.
He meanwhile looked himself over; and lord, he was ghastly. It looked embarrassing that he had a dented crotch now and he couldn't stand proper. His thigh plates were also warped to hell and back; with one of which digging an edge into his endo's skeletal structure and inhibiting movement. And while Vanny had no upgrades to her legs, she was still a bot with a considerable amount of force in her strikes. He couldn't imagine if she had upgrades like Bonnie or himself did in their own legs!
And speaking of which...
She had such a WEIRD interest in Bonnie.
Monty had been discreetly recording the conversation. While Vanny had made him a fool, he fooled her too- in his own way. He'd later present this to his friends when they returned to Parts and Services, and even they wouldn't know what to think of what was exchanged. Her obsession with Bonnie was definitely zealot energy- but she had an ulterior motive there. The upgrades, maybe. But Monty doubted Bonnie's upgrades were all she's after. Was it M.X.E.S she wanted gone? Or did she want Bonnie's physical form for something else? Both?
Back in the present, Monty was letting Roxanne tend his 'injuries' by popping the dents out and patching holes. She flexed an ear to whoever talked, the wolf now awake and far calmer now that Cassie was back-
But Monty can see Roxy was still clearly anxious about the girl having gone feral. Cassie wouldn't respond to anyone; NO ONE. Vanny still very much had her under control, and she was letting everyone know it.
Cassie was tied up, with Vanessa watching the girl pitifully nearby. The former security guard was accompanied by Gregory too, the boy trying desperately to get Cassie to respond to him- to no avail. It was honestly depressing.
Meanwhile, Monty got his piece back from Roxy and watched the wolf slink over to the girl and sit near her too; the wolf sighing heavily when Cassie showed no excitement at seeing her. Cassie kept jerking and twitching and lashing out- she was not having it!
"Why would she want you-?" Freddy mumbled nearby.
Bonnie shrugged- his own marron gaze also very firmly arrested on Cassie like he was hoping his mental willpower will break through somewhere and help bring the girl back to them. The expression on his face had Monty raising a metaphorical brow. He and Roxy both had this weird thing about her and it was noticeable to everyone in the room. No one commented though.
"My guess... she's bitter and vengeful and spiteful and bored... and she wants to play with her food before she kills it," Bonnie mumbled. "That or she likes my body and I'm too sexy and irresistible to her. I mean, who can blame her?"
Freddy folded his arms and coughed at him as if to get serious. Bonnie rolled his eyes.
"...I dunno man, I dunno! All I do know is that... when I was in the underground back before getting decommissioned, I think she was working on a pet project behind the scenes... she had the assembly for a recharge station down there. I think she always had something in mind for another bot but... Hell if I know," He said.
Freddy blinked, then he and Gregory- yes, Gregory- was catching each other's eyes. The bear then faced Vanessa, flicking his head at something. What the hell were they communicating, Monty pondered.
Vanessa meanwhile coughed, then let her gaze fall to the floor, "Call it a hunch... but I think she was rebuilding someone. I don't have many moments of sobriety of the times I was in the underground myself, but I DO know she was building another bot and it wasn't for herself."
Gregory blinked, then folded his arms in a petulant manner. He focused on Freddy now, "We saw another rabbit bot down there..."
"There's another rabbit?" Bonnie spat, looking rather vexed and horrified in equal measure. "The heck am I, some sorta cheap dollar store commodity?"
"No, my friend. No. This rabbit was... I can't put a claw on it, but there was everything wrong with it," Freddy allayed. "It kept hacking me- it's intelligent- far more intelligent than Vanny and that's saying something. As it were, we were able to deal with it and put it to rest. This thing was... well, it was falling apart. Couldn't hold itself upright."
Gregory held up two fingers and made a walking motion with it, "It literally looked like a zombie version of an OLD Bonnie. Its like... I think it was a spring Bonnie suit at some point? There was something or... someone... in it. And I think it's like Vanny in personality?"
Bonnie frowned at them, his ears flattening to his scalp. He pointed a carmine-tipped claw to his open breast plate, "She wants to turn me into scrap for this other ancient Bonnie... but... that was months ago... you guys took care of it, right? Left nothing behind of it?"
Freddy produced a thoughtful noise, "I sealed in one of the rooms that thing was hovering around in, and we burned it alive... er... well, burned it until it couldn't move. At that moment, that tangled monster showed up and, well... it was strange, but it dragged it off-? Gregory and I didn't want to stick around and find out what happened beyond that."
Gregory shrugged his shoulders. "We went back up to the PizzaPlex proper above ground after dealing with this spring Bonnie, and then we faced Vanny together in earnest. That was when Freddy got damaged-" He gestured to the bear's broken body. "Vanny jumped him with a buncha hacked S.T.A.F.F bots and tried to dissemble him. She was not happy about what we just did. And now, considering this other rabbit... I wonder if that's what she'd use you for?"
Bonnie shook his head, "But you said you saw the tangled monster drag it off... wouldn't she need to salvage something of its body for whatever this procedure is? I think..." He paused, seemed to recall something heavy, and his expression changed. Monty was growing increasingly frustrated by the lack of context here. But it seemed there was something here Bonnie understood that no other bot in the room knew- not even Freddy knew, considering the look on his face.
"Okay... now that makes sense... okay. Okay. I get it," Bonnie mumbled. "I think I know what she's doing fully now."
"Well, spit it out, carrot-face," Roxy snapped. "What the heck is it?"
"...There's a person in that rabbit suit... but, they're not alive," Bonnie went on to say uncertainly. Monty didn't miss it when the rabbit tossed a really swift and easily-missed glance at Freddy like he wanted nothing more than the bear to leave the room. This only continued to confuse the gator, "But uh... I know it sounds impossible, but I saw somewhere that... a person, a human, can persist after death underneath the right conditions. But like I said, the right conditions need to be met. And if Vanny hopes to bring this other person back, I think she'd need something of the original body itself. I mean, why else did she have such an old ancient, decrepit Bonnie around? There's something valuable in the body itself that needed to be saved."
The room was silent in the wake of his explanation; with everyone- save Cassie- glancing uncertainly at each other. Monty meanwhile felt his mind blown wide open; unable to properly swallow that a human could do such a thing.
"So... you're saying," Chica was speaking now. "That this Bonnie... he's like... not just a zombie but... a haunted one? And Vanny wants OUR Bonnie so she can bring him back?"
"That's my guess," Gregory shrugged.
"That is the most stupid, ridiculous-" Roxy started spitting. "I swear! That's so STUPID. That makes no fucking sense!"
Bonnie shook his head meanwhile, his expression grimly reserved. He believed it, apparently. "Now this is what I don't get... if that... many-headed amalgamation took off with this spring Bonnie cadaver and Vanny needed something of it in order to restore the person she wanted, she's need to find the body itself. But then, that means digging around wherever the amalgamation could've taken it-"
Eclipse pulled his wrists nearby, having made his presence quite small in the span of their conversation. He glanced between all the voices' owners each time one arose. Then, "That's why she was in the sewer... right? She's looking for that spring Bonnie corpse. Or some trace of him... And once she has your body, she can put the trace of him into you and make him come back that way-"
Bonnie shivered so violently it was comical. "Grosssss... gross gross gross gross!" He fluttered his claws and rattled his head too; ears flapping. "Dude, I know I'm a big deal, but come ON!"
"She won't have you," Freddy asserted, his baritone increasingly more gravelly with his resolve. "She'll have to get through me first."
"In the meantime- what do we do with Cassie?" Gregory asked, his voice weak with his worry.
Everyone looked at the girl, who had now thankfully stopped struggling. She was staring at the floor, disinterested in any of them. There was an increase in frowns everywhere.
Vanessa clicked her tongue, "Vanny, you in there?"
Cassie didn't respond.
"Ignoring us, great," Gregory mumbled.
"Get Cassie out of the room and put her under watch," Freddy ordered, but sadly. "I don't want Vanny listening to us if we start broaching details on something else."
Vanessa sighed, then nodded to Roxanne. The two of two hauled Cassie out; with the girl thrashing as they both had a hold of her underarms.
Gregory pulled his legs in and hugged them; burying his face into his knees and huffing. Freddy was seen crossing the room and sitting beside the boy; rubbing his head into Gregory's shoulders empathetically. Chica came over next, her white hands resting on the boy's back and rubbing.
Bonnie was heard releasing a pent-up sigh, getting slowly to his feet to wander the room in an anxious saunter. Monty frowned at him and folded his arms, "You have anythin' in mind, blue boy?"
The rabbit despondently shook his head. He blinked out of sync, then let his head sag closer to his chest. "I don't know, man. I want to just leave... to just, go, yunno? Get the humans out of here, get them care, and say fuck this to all the weird crap we've encountered so far. I'm this close-" He pinched a set of red-painted claws together, "-To just saying 'let's get the hell out of here' and leaving that tangle-thingy, Mimic, and Vanny here. But... we can't do that, can we?"
Freddy glanced sadly up, "If we did, they'll burrow their way out and kill a great many people outside the PizzaPlex. We literally don't have a choice. In fact, I wager Vanny would follow us out of the depths and stalk us home... and try picking us off until something is done with her, regardless."
"So what now?" Chica shook her head.
Bonnie rapped his claws on the repair module, "We set a trap, and blow this place up, I think. And hope its collapse kills everything in here. We can't go after them systematically... it'd take too long."
"We don't even know if the PizzaPlex's collapse will actually kill them all?" Monty threw out.
Bonnie snarled; his eyes briefly wild as his hands gripped the module's desk so hard, metal warped and screeched. Everyone jumped at once- with Freddy blinking worriedly at him.
"We don't have much choice, do we?" He hissed, his undertone a current of electrified wrath.
"We are pressed for time... and, with the way this building is, I don't see why it shouldn't work-?" Chica mumbled. "Maybe?"
Eclipse settled down beside the boy as well, spidering his long arms around him and Freddy jointly. His sun beams ticked once as he considered something else. "I don't want to say this but... even if we do blow up this place, I don't think we'll have enough propane tanks to get it ALL down... and even then, the explosion may not reliably trigger everywhere... propane tanks are... sturdy, and don't give easy. A lot of force and a lot of gas in a confined space may not be enough. I think at the very least, we should save the tanks for the tangle creature, and try to find the Mimic and Vanny..."
Chica glanced helplessly at him, "That'd still take so long..."
"Its all we can do," The former attendant sadly shrugged. "But, at least we kinda know where the Mimic is... its in one of the lower basement levels. We can track it down! We have the best smellers all around-" He gestured to Monty and Freddy. "And I think we can dispatch it fairly easily if we move on it as a group."
Bonnie glanced at him, his whiskers flicking with his nose. His gaze couldn't be harder than bedrock. "And Vanny? What do you suggest there?"
Eclipse stroked Gregory, the boy leaning into him as well. "Vanny is obsessive. We can lean on that. She's FIXATED on you-" He gesticulated to Bonnie. "Maybe, if you went out there alone... instead of staying cooped up in here coordinating us, it may lure her out? I mean, its RISKY, but she'd be unable to resist the bait."
Bonnie blinked and frowned, but he didn't disagree.
"Vanny's arrogant and fallible to mistakes. She's made them in the past. I daresay we keep leaning on that," Eclipse smiled through his voice.
Freddy patted the boy, glancing briefly to the side. He clearly didn't like this plan, but no one can argue it. Bonnie meanwhile had been going stir-crazy with staying in here, so the rabbit was practically vibrating with excitement. He rattled his head in affirmation, his reckless side showing in the way he levelled his gaze at the attendant. Monty had to fight back a laugh- as its something both he and the rabbit seemed to share.
"Alright then," The former bassist asserted. "I guess we're doing this. Let's finish gathering the propane tanks, then situate them in a small area. I'll get a voice blueprint synthesized to use as a lure for the amalgamation and test what its most interested in. And we need to locate it..." He put a paw to his chin, "Lure it in, and keep it there while we finish it off. Can't have it runnin' when we have enough to do."
Freddy sighed, then picked Gregory up gently. Chica stepped away as he did. "I'd feel comfortable if we also started taking the parts we've gathered and start shuttling them to the escape vehicle too. Eclipse? You're the fastest one here. If we're to leave this place forever, we'd need you to load up one of the party busses we found with these endo parts. Chica-" He turned to look at her, "You too. You can keep up with Eclipse."
"Sure," She nodded gently, stepping back over and butting her head with Freddy's affectionately. The bear returned it; his chest moving as a long breath escaped him. She burbled next, then nodded at Eclipse. The two went to work dismantling the endos and packing them away.
Bonnie fidgeted with the table, glaring at the armature within the cylinder. "And you, Freddy? You going to find the Mimic?"
"I have too, I believe," the bear shrugged. "Monty and me can take it easy. No biggie. We can smell around in the lower floors and see what we can find."
Monty once again punched a fist into an open palm. "What's that thing you like to say, rabbit? You tol' me yerself its somethin' more along the lines of-"
"Rock, and rumble," Bonnie smirked.