CHAPTER TWELVE: THE ATRIUM

We entered the Lobby, the door slamming shut behind us. It took us a while to get there since we used the utility tunnels. It was a bit nerve-wracking to be going back down there, but at least there wasn't anyone occupying the tunnels, unlike last time.

Roxanne and I began heading in the direction of the stairs where the elevator that'll take us to the Atrium. During the walk, I noticed out of the corner of my eye Roxanne looking at me with a funny look on her face. I would check to see what was up, but every time I did that, she would look away so I could see her face. It was annoying, but it was also strange. Annoying because I couldn't get a good look as to what kind of face she kept giving me. Strange because I couldn't understand why she was doing that.

I thought about what happened back in her green room when she had kissed me earlier. Was she really embarrassed because of the kiss? Was she looking at me with a goofy smile because of it? I could only guess that it could be the cause as I really couldn't think of anything else. Plus, I know she said it was a way to pay me back, but was kissing really a way to pay someone back? As I thought of the kiss, something clicked in my head.

Roxanne Wolf kissed me on the lips… stealing my first kiss. I felt my face burn up at that. Even with all the crushes I had, I'd never kissed a girl before… let alone getting kissed on the lips by an animatronic mascot. I wished this whole thing was a dream and not real life right now as I was planning to give my first kiss to a girl I liked… not lose it to Roxanne Wolf, whom I had known for only a few days.

"Mihael, you alright?" I heard Roxanne ask, snapping me out of my trance. I looked at her to see her just a foot away from me, the wolf having stopped in her tracks. I stopped in my own.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, doing my best to get rid of the heat on my face. "Nothing crazy or anything."

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking at me curiously. "Your face was dark red just now."

"It's nothing really, Roxanne," I insisted. "Let's just get to the elevator and get to the Atrium to find Gregory and Freddy."

She eyed me for a moment before walking beside me and we began heading to the elevator. We walked up the flights of stairs to the second floor. As we walked up, I felt my heart racing at the very thought of Roxanne knowing the reason for my reddened face. To me, that would be embarrassing, especially if she knew she took my 1st kiss. I had no doubt it would lead to awkwardness between us.

We reached the top of the stairs and walked over to the elevator. I could only hope and pray that Gregory was safe. Although I knew he was with Freddy, so many things could go wrong if the kid wasn't careful and mindful of his surroundings. Just one wrong move and it was all over for him. He would be caught and only God knows what'll happen.

We approached the elevator, the metal doors beckoning to the both of us. Roxanne pushed the button that summoned the elevator. As we waited, I looked around and saw that we were the only ones there. To be honest, it was strange to not see a lot of security for a place like this. Due to the sheer size, It would've taken at least a few security guards to protect the place. There had to be a reason as to why that was the case.

I looked at Roxanne, who was waiting for the elevator patiently. I had a feeling that she might know the reason for the lack of a lot of security. She had been here since the Mega Pizzaplex finished construction and since she was one of the only animatronics on our side, it would be better to ask.

A low ding echoed throughout the room along with the sound of the metal doors opening. We stepped inside and Roxanne pressed a button on the panel. A moment later, the doors slid closed. I felt the elevator moving, the pressure pushing me down. As we went down, the urge to ask Roxanne came knocking. I had to know.

"Roxanne?" I said. She looked at me.

"Yes, Mihael?" she responded.

"I was wondering, why does this place lack a lot of security?" I began. "For a place this huge, it's a little strange that they have Vanessa guarding this place by herself."

She eyed me for a moment before it looked like it suddenly clicked in her head.

"Well," she began. "We used to have security bots to help Vanessa with that. They weren't anything fancy. Just plain bots fitted with a hat and a badge that said 'SECURITY'. They didn't look as cool as me and my friends."

"Pretty bland, I assume," I said.

She nodded. "They were. All they did was move around in a circle and if someone were to get caught by the light of their flashlight, they would alert any of us that are nearby the security bot to the intruder's location. Once we caught them, Vanessa would take the intruder, tie them up somewhere, and call the police."

"I see," I said simply. "So, what happened to them?"

"For 5 months, they kept breaking down or malfunctioning," Roxanne replied. "The mechanics had to fix the bots every 2 days. It got so bad that they just got sick of it. At some point, one of the bots had attacked Vanessa during her rounds 2 months ago, leaving her with minor injuries. Eventually, they scrapped the bots and they've been left down below to rot."

I nodded. That made sense. If an incident like that were to occur anywhere else, no one in their right mind would keep such terrible machines as the security bots. While they did the right thing, that meant leaving Vanessa to guard the Mega Pizzaplex by herself unless she had the mascots help her watch over the place. However, something told me that such a thing would only occur if what was happening now occurred. If not, I doubt Vanessa would've let them leave their green room for anything else.

Speaking of which…

"Speaking of security," I began. "Do you guys help Vanessa with her rounds?"

She shook her head. "No, not really. She never lets us leave our green rooms. Once the place is closed, no matter how bored we get, Vanessa forces us to stay inside our green rooms until the place reopens at 6 AM. It's pretty boring, I tell you."

I shook my head mentally. That had to suck. To be stuck in your own room with nothing to do in there while someone else was doing their rounds, exploring the place at their own leisure. Just from that alone, I had a feeling Vanessa was a terrible security guard. I also felt terrible for Roxanne and her friends. No one deserved such a thing. No one.

A ding snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked to see the doors sliding open. Once they were opened, we stepped out in the opening, the doors sliding closed behind us. We walked over to the railing and saw that we were now in the Atrium.

The place looked just as beautiful as ever. The only difference was the feeling it gave off. Instead of one that excitement and joy for all who entered, the place felt dark and empty, ominous. Like we didn't belong in here. On top of that, it reminded me of someone I lost just a few hours ago. I could only imagine the joy the kids were feeling before I came rushing into this place to tell my dad the bad news.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Roxanne asked, leaning against the railing. I looked at her, the wolf admiring the room with wonder plastered in her eyes.

"Yeah, it is," I said. "Though now, it reminds me of what could've been a good time if Lisa hadn't gone missing."

Roxanne looked at me, the wonder being replaced with sympathy.

"Mihael, I'm so sorry about your sister," Roxanne said softly. She reached out for my left hand and grasped it, holding it gently. "We will find her. I have a feeling Lisa's okay. We just got to have a little faith."

I looked at her, feeling the urge to smile. A smile doesn't form on my face. I wished I had her optimism. This place was huge and with all the dangers we had to deal with, it would be difficult to almost impossible to find her. However, I didn't have the heart to tell her that.

"I appreciate your optimism," I said. "We should go find Gregory. Make sure he's safe."

Roxanne nodded, but she didn't move from her spot. She began to look around, turning her head left and right, up and down like she was trying to spot something. I had no idea what was going on. The urge to ask her came knocking.

"Found him," she said suddenly, looking up. Her face then changed into an expression of horror. "Though, he's not in a good situation right now."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Where the hell is he?"

"In a security office trying to fend off Chica and Monty," she replied. "I don't know how long it's been going on, but if we don't hurry, the doors' power will run out and they will get to him for sure."

I really wanted to ask her how the hell she knew that. I didn't understand how that was possible. It was like she had some kind of superpower one that may be unknown to me. However, at the very same time, I knew right now wasn't the time to ask questions. Gregory's life was on the line and we had to get there in time.

"Do you know how to get there?" I asked urgently.

"Yes," she replied. "It's in the back of Pirze Corner. Come on!"

She began running and I did the same. We went up the stairs and in the direction of what I presumed to be where Prize Corner was. I'd never been in Prize Corner mainly because I never had any reason to do so. All I knew was that the place was huge and had multiple shelves filled with plushies and all kinds of toys.

We began heading in the direction of a huge set of metal doors. I was surprised by how many there were. At the same time, I kind of understood. If the place was huge, there had to be more than just one entrance.

We approached the doors and the doors slowly slid open. We waited a bit impatiently for the doors to open. When they did, we charged in with Roxanne leading me to where the office was. I couldn't get a good look of the Prize Counter, but I was able to see that there were a lot of shelves filled with plush toys.

We ran to the back where we saw a door with the number '2' imprinted on it. Without hesitating, I kicked the door open, the door flying off its hinges. We ran down a small hallway and entered another, one that looked to be in the shape of a square. In the center had to be the office itself. A loud blaring was echoing throughout the hallway. Must be some kind of alarm.

We stayed where we were, listening for any kind of sound. It did not take long for the sound of loud clanking footsteps could be heard down the hallways, along with the sound of loud banging on the doors. I looked at Roxanne, silently signaling for her to stay quiet and follow me. She must've gotten the hint because she gave me a nod of acknowledgment.

I slowly went down the hall, trying to not make as much noise as possible, even though the blaring was overlapping the sound of our footsteps. I could Roxanne following behind me, doing her best to not make her steps so loud. I peeked around the corner and felt the blood draining from my face. Montgomery Gator was standing in front of the door, slamming his fists against the door. The metal began to creek from the strikes. Just a few more and the door was history.

Without hesitating, I jumped out from my hiding spot, balling my hands into fists. The need to protect Gregory silenced any thoughts screaming at me, asking me what the fuck I was doing. I didn't care at all. All that mattered was getting Gregory out safely.

"Hey, fuckface!" I shouted. Montgomery stopped what he was doing and looked in my direction. I watched a sinister grin form on his face, probably seeing me as an easy target.

"Mihael, what are you doing?!" I heard Roxanne whisper loudly, her tone frantic.

"There you are, little man!" Montgomery shouted before charging at me, his back arched forward. I pulled my right arm back, readying myself to strike.

As I readied myself, I could Roxanne screaming from beside me, fear clear in the screams. He was a foot away from me, his arms outstretched. As he was about to grab me, I swung my right arm upward with as much force as possible.

My fist connected with his lower jaw. I was expecting him to fall on his back. What I was not expecting was for him to fly a foot in the air and hit the ceiling before falling onto his back about two feet away from me.

I just stared at him, stunned at the feat I just performed. To top it off, I didn't feel pain coursing through my hand the last time I did something like that. Plus, punching Montgomery felt like I had just punched a wooden door rather than punching hard metal. If that was crazy enough, it was surprising that his jaw wasn't punched off due to how hard I punched him.

"What the fuck?" I whispered to myself.

"Mihael, behind you!" I heard Roxanne call out from behind me. I didn't have to look behind me to know Chica was coming behind me.

With everything I had, I spun around quickly, swinging my right leg. I felt the back of my foot connect with something before I heard the sound of something colliding into the wall. I looked to see Chica on the floor, lying on her back, a huge indent impression on her face. On the wall was a huge crater, no doubt from how hard she hit the wall.

I just stared at them, in awe at what I just did. To be honest, I didn't think something like this was gonna happen. Plus, I had no idea how I was able to do it. I knew I was strong for someone my age, but not able to do what I just did now. I tried to figure out how the hell I got as strong as I did.

Something clicked in my head. The memory of getting something plunged into my chest back at the Daycare came flooding to me. It didn't make sense to me at all. Why would whoever injected me with whatever was in that syringe make me stronger rather than just kill me? From what Roxanne told me back in her green room earlier, whoever might've tried to poison me, but must've grabbed the wrong syringe filled with the wrong fluid. If that was the case, it was a sloppy mistake.

"All done!" suddenly came Freddy's voice through my watch, along with coming from inside the office. "See? That was not so bad. If the path looks clear, head to the Prize Counter."

"Okay," I heard a voice reply from inside the room.

I heard a door slide open beside me. I turned to see Gregory stepping out of the office, small beads of sweat dotting his face. He stopped in his tracks once his eyes locked on me. We stayed still as statues just looking at each other. He was no doubt trying to comprehend if he was seeing me or not.

"Mihael?" he asked. "Is that you?"

I mentally facepalmed at the dumb question. What is up with people asking that frequently asked question. However, at the same time, I kind of understood the question? He probably had been through hell and to see me here must be some kind of dream.

"No, it's Pinocchio," I said sarcastically. "Of course, it's me!"

"Mihael!" he cried out as he walked over to me. "I can't believe it! You're alive! I thought something happened to you."

I wanted to tell him that something did, but I decided against it. I didn't understand where my increased strength came from and if I mentioned it, he would be curious as to how it happened. He would no doubt want an answer, one I didn't have. At the same time, I did have a question to ask him myself.

"It's okay," I said. "Everything is going to be okay. I do have a question. How the hell did you get here? How come the alarm was blaring when I got here?"

He looked away, his eyes focused on the floor.

"After we left you behind, Freddy and I hid in a charging station as the power went out and was diverted to the charging stations," he began to say. "As we hid, I saw someone dancing by."

"Who was it?" I asked, curious as to what he saw.

"It was some dancing rabbit lady with a blue bowtie," he replied. "After I lost sight of her, we were talking about what happened. As we were, a moment later, I saw you being carried away by Roxy on her shoulder. You were unconscious and not moving so I thought you were dead."

I just stared at him, resisting the urge to throw up. I couldn't believe what he said. A dancing rabbit lady with a blue bowtie. It could've been a coincidence, but the description almost matched the same one I had been seeing in my nightmares. I had never seen this rabbit lady before so why was I having nightmares about her? It all didn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

"I see," I said. "So what happened after that?"

"After Roxy took you away, we decided to head to the Atrium," he continued. "With the security badge, I was able to get there. Once I got there, Freddy told me to get another security badge, which was in a security office close by. I had to traverse through El Chip's and the vents of an arcade just to get here. When I took the badge, the lockdown was activated and Freddy was doing his best to deactivate the lockdown. I thought I was done for… that was until I heard you show up. I didn't know if it was you, thinking it was my imagination after seeing you being carried away. It wasn't until I left the office that I saw you."

I nodded, understanding all the events. I couldn't imagine how horrifying it was for him to try fending off Montgomery and Chica while waiting for Freddy to shut off the lockdown. It must've been an absolute nightmare.

"I see," I said. "That must've been terrible for you, Gregory. I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you sooner."

"Don't worry, I'm fine now," he said, trying to reassure me. "I'm just glad you're alive."

"And I am grateful to be alive as well," I said. Something clicked in my head. Gregory had been alone for some time. With that being the case, I wanted to know one thing in particular. "Gregory, while you were looking for the security office, did you see anything that stuck out to you like a sore thumb? Like finding any signs of Lisa?"

He went into deep thought, no doubt trying to recall anything that might be useful. I hoped that he did see something, any signs of my little sister. Although I knew that it was wishful thinking, just a bit of information was better than nothing.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I was keeping an eye out for her, but I've seen nothing."

"Well, it's okay now," I said, trying to hide my disappointment, though I had a feeling I didn't do a very good job at that. "You're also very lucky. I would've not known where you were if it wasn't for Roxanne. She was the one who told me where you were."

Gregory's eyes widened at what I said. I mentally slapped myself for telling him that without thinking.

"Roxy's here?!" he shouted. I grabbed him by the shoulders and had him look me in the eyes, his eyes wide in terror.

"Gregory, it's okay," I said reassuringly. "Roxanne's on our side now. I removed whatever had a hold on her when I shocked her with a taser I found in the Daycare. She's here right now."

We both looked in the same direction, the corner where Roxanne was standing behind of. After a moment, Roxanne stepped out from behind the wall. She looked at us before turning her attention to Gregory. She smiled weakly and waved at him in a friendly gesture. I looked at Gregory, who was looking at Roxanne in disbelief.

"Like I told you," I said before letting him go. He looked at me.

"This is… quite interesting," he said slowly, no doubt trying to make sense of it all.

"It's better than nothing," I said. "So, where do we go next? If you know, we better go there before Montgomery and Chica get back on their feet."

"Freddy said there's a fire escape at the back of Priza Counter in the VIP room," Gregory replied. "He thinks it's one of my ways out of here."

"Then that's where we're going to go," I said, determined.

"That won't be possible," Roxanne said suddenly. We both turned in her direction, confused as to what she meant. "The fire escape is unreachable to anyone who is not a VIP. It is a terrible emergency system. If that doesn't make it any worse, after Mihael dealt with Monty and Chica, I quickly went to check the fire escape to see if it was open." She shook her head. "It was locked. So I came running back here to let you both know that in case you were planning to use it."

We stared at her, utterly stunned at what she said. Despite having known her for a short time, I knew she wasn't lying. Threw was no reason for her to lie, considering she told me that she wanted to help me find Lisa and Gregory. I didn't see any reason for her to turn her back on us. Just in case, I had to ask.

"Are you sure, Roxanne?" I asked.

"Yes, Mihael," Roxanne replied. "That fire escape leads to the roof of the building. Since it's locked, there's no other way to get to the room in any part of the building we're in now."

"That's just great!" Gregory exclaimed. "Now, how am I going to get out here?!"

"Stay calm," Roxanne urged. "I will go check for another for you. While I am at it, you two should use the elevator inside the Prize Corner. It will take you two down to the main Lobby. I will alert Freddy to meet you two in the Lobby. Speaking of which, where is he right now?"

"He left to go find other exits while I went to use the elevator to go to the Atrium," Gregory replied.

Roxanne nodded. "Mihael, keep Gregory safe. I will notify any of you if I find anything."

"Roger that," I said. With that, Roxanne ran out of the hall and back to the Prize Counter. We waited for a few moments before I looked at Gregory. We stared for a moment before we began walking out of the hallway towards the door Roxanne exited through, leaving Montgomery and Chica on the floor.

We opened the door and stepped back into the Pirze Counter. Upon walking to the other side of the wall, I surveyed the area. Just like the Glamrock Gift Shop, this place was also a gift shop though it was much bigger. Various plushies and toys filled the shelves with many of them being much bigger than the ones sold at the other gift shop and a few arcade machines here and there.

"Wow, this place is huge," I said in awe.

"So many toys," Gregory said. "Much bigger than the gift shop down on the first floor, that is for sure."

"Absolutely," I said. I turned my attention to the center of the room and found what we were looking for. In the center of the room was the elevator needed to get back to the first floor. "Over here, Gregory."

I pointed to the elevator. Gregory looked and I heard a sigh of relief escape his mouth. We both ran over to the elevator, the thing looking like a beacon of hope. I pressed the button to summon the elevator. We waited patiently for the elevator to arrive. As we did, I checked behind our back occasionally to make sure no one was going to sneak up behind us. The last thing we needed was to get jumped by Montgomery or Chica and get seriously hurt.

A ding echoed throughout the room, signaling to us the elevator arrived. The doors slid open, the inside beckoning for us to step inside into its safe confines. We stepped inside and I pushed the button to close the doors.

'This seems easy,' I thought to myself. 'A little too easy.'

As that thought ran through my head, something grabbed the doors, keeping them from slamming shut. The suddenness of the action made my heart skip a beat, a wave of terror washing over me.

"Free map, free map," something robotic said.

"AHHHHHH!" I screamed out loud in terror like a little girl before blackness suddenly filled my vision and felt myself losing consciousness rather quickly.

"Mihael!"

"Move! …Got you both!"

Author's Note:

Check it out! Chapter Twelve is up and ready to be read! :D

This was both an easy and hard chapter to write. Mainly because I had to find a way to fit both characters into it. Plus, the ending took a bit of time to figure it out. I am glad I was able to put it together.

Now, it looks like there are some unanswered questions as to what the hell is going on. Like I said, all of it will make sense in due time. For Mihael's sudden increase in strength, it will remain a mystery for now. I know most don't like being kept in the dark, but I promise it will make sense.

That is all for now. Keep an eye out for Chapter Thirteen. Constructive criticism is appreciated and I will see you guys in the next chapter! :)