Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay. Life got busy. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 136

Interviews

Both teams stared after Ruby in bewilderment when she strolled out the door at six.

Hedy only gave them an incredulous look when a couple of them insisted that something happened to her the night before.

They let it go and decided it must have been a prank by the teen to get out of hanging around them.

The morning after their interesting first night, they returned to do a handful of interviews with the staff. They were going to be doing them over the entire week.

Calum declared they'd go first and dragged Jerry into the empty room they'd be using. John rolled his eyes and went back to talking to his team while they went over the plan for that night.

Jerry let himself be dragged away, even though Hedy had done the whole manager spiel of 'as long as you don't distract them from work' bit.

"Alright then." Calum sat down across from the young man and gave him a reassuring smile as Mason started filming.

The 'empty room' they were using was the manager's office, since she was out of the building running some "errands" and it seemed to be the only room that was decently blocked off from the sounds of screaming children.

Shania and Kevin had insisted on being present for the interviews, so had stolen some chairs from the main dining room and were sitting just out of shot in the small office.

"Now, don't worry about anything your manager might have told you to say or not to say. We want to hear it all, okay? We'll deal with her if she gets upset. So, tell us your name."

"Uh.."

The young man glanced between Calum and the camera, as if he wasn't sure where he should be looking.

"Jerry?"

"Okay Jerry, what's your role here at the pizzeria?"

"Um, I'm a host. I show people to their tables and stuff like that."

"Great. Now, could you tell us about any times you've experienced something out of the ordinary here? Something you would maybe describe as supernatural?"

Jerry looked at Calum with a look he hoped portrayed nervousness. The other man gave him another smile and pointed to the camera encouragingly.

So Jerry looked straight into the camera, and started to lie.

In hindsight, maybe a dramatic story about hearing creepy voices in the kitchen wasn't the best story he could come up with, but they seemed to buy it.

They were on the edge of their seats the entire time. Jerry was really just channelling what he felt whenever he overheard Ruby and Bonnie plotting something.

Unfortunately for both camera crews, they weren't able to get as many interviews as they wanted.

Only Jerry really.

All the other staff found some excuse for being too busy to take a few minutes to talk. In reality, most of them wanted more time to come up with a ridiculous story like Hedy suggested.

She and Ruby had kinda sprung this week on them without a ton of explanation so every single one of them was kinda winging it. Ruby encouraged them to come up with whatever they wanted, so long as they steered clear of mentioning the bots and murders. She wanted to give the teams everything but what they came here for.

Olivia in particular was trying her hardest not to glare at them (both teams). Ruby had mentioned the incident about the first team filming without permission and George had been there the previous day, so she was already a little pissed about them possibly filming her son.

Ruby had assured her that she'd wiped all the footage, but still… she made sure none of them were filming outside of the interviews.

Both teams left with wildly different stories from Jerry and got ready for the next night.

John's team got a few likability points by being very understanding with the staff about not getting the footage they were hoping for.

Ruby was already waiting for them when they arrived, Mike with her. Hedy was 'at home' but was really getting settled in her secret room, watching everything from the cameras.

"Looks you're on time tonight," Ruby mocked, drawing on all the annoying teens she'd ever met in school. "You each get two rooms tonight. So either you're in them or in the main room. No other options. You," she pointed at Calum, "Get the Originals room and the kitchen tonight. Other group gets the Toys' room and the generator room."
"Generator room?" Eric asked in confusion.

"I forgot about it yesterday," Mike told them sheepishly. "The building runs on a generator at night. To save money on electricity." Internally, he cussed the manager out. Or whoever decided that was a good idea. But his nervous (if pleasant) smile never faltered.

"Well, you guys have fun. Don't damage anything and stick to your rooms. The cameras record all night." Ruby waved at them and started to walk away.

Shania barely waited for Ruby to be out of sight before turning to Mike. "How come that brat walks around like she owns the freaking place?" Apparently, her buttons weren't the hardest to push. Or she was just as unhappy as Calum about being ordered around by a teenager.

Mike chuckled, glancing around as if someone would hear him. He eyed the Originals and lowered his voice. "Ms. Fitzgerald is just pretty… protective of her little sister. She doesn't like to tell her 'no', not after… " Mike trailed off like he was about to say something he shouldn't. He shook his head. "H-heh. Nevermind. It's not important."

"After what?" Calum demanded, while John exchanged an alarmed look with his team.

Mike just waved him off. "You guys know where your rooms for the night are?" he asked.

"Actually," John interrupted. "Would you mind showing us the generator room?"

"Sure. You guys can drop your stuff off in the Toys room. It's on the way."

Calum and his team didn't offer to help move the others' stuff as they left, which they weren't obligated to help. But Calum wasn't about to agree either if they asked.

"Finally," Mason muttered when it was just them.

Kevin yawned and settled into a chair. He never did anything unless someone asked.

Shania claimed a table for her "instruments" and laid out a cloth, placing various crystals and totems on it, including her special "amethyst" crystal.

"Why aren't you filming yet?" Calum asked.

Mason glared at him. "You want to do this? It's an art not a science!"

Calum just rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just hurry up. We've got six hours to get everything we can in these rooms, apparently."

"Dude, we have a whole week," Mason argued, the excitement slipping into his voice. "Do you realize how lucky we are?! Most places get, like a night at most. We can get so much content out of this."

Calum sighed. Ever since college, Mason had always been the nerd who actually believed in this bullshit. But the guy vomited from stage fright if he was on camera, so that's where Calum came in. Plus, the idea of a show deal and some good cash was attractive, even if it meant putting on a show for suckers.

"You rolling yet?" Shania asked impatiently,

She didn't get an answer.

There was a horrible clanking sound that echoed through the building as they plunged into darkness. Faintly they might have heard that Mike guy scream. It was pretty high pitched for a dude so maybe it was one of the women?

Kevin screamed.

Shania screamed.

Mason maybe screamed but he wasn't sure.

Calum definitely screamed but he wasn't about to admit that.

There was a mad scramble for equipment bags as all four of them hunted for their flashlights or cellphones.

When they finally got flashlights on they all frantically looked around the room.

Nothing had changed from before the lights went out.

Why did the lights go out?!

Mason tentatively flicked the light switch a few times.

Nothing.

"Should I get the night vision camera out?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Calum huffed, sweeping his light.

Mason rolled his eyes, not that anyone could see in the dark.

Then Shania squeaked.

"What?!"

It was quiet for a moment and even Mason paused in unzipping one of the camera bags.

"Nothing," the self-proclaimed psychic said with a scoff at herself. "Thought I hear-"

She was cut off by a faint whirr. For a moment they thought it was the lights about to come back on.

Then silence again.

Calum nearly decked Kevin as his cousin grabbed his arm. "What are you-"

But Kevin squeezed his arm tighter and turned him in the direction Calum realised was the stage after he processed the sight of eyes and a partial face glowing in the dark.

The eyes began to flicker in time to a creepy tune that seemed weirdly familiar but none of them were really thinking about any operas they might have seen.

If she was there, and totally not watching the whole thing from a camera, Hedy might have hummed a couple of the lyrics along with Freddy's recorded tune that he pretty much never used anymore.

Toreador, en garde!

Toreador, Toreador!

Et songe bien, oui, songe en combattant

Qu'un oeil noir te regarde.

But this was a special occasion.

Who even put that tune in Freddy's computer in the first place?

Hedy doubted Freddy got the reference.

Uncle Scott did like opera though…

Their guests didn't seem like the biggest fans.

Hedy watched as Mike finally got the generator running again and ran back in as everyone was blinking away purple spots. There were still a ton of light bulbs missing (also courtesy of Mike) but hey! Some light was better than none.

"Sorry about that!" Mike said, out of breath as he used his torch to get a better view, noting how pale Calum and his team were. "Are you okay? Did... did anything happen?"

Calum gestured at Freddy on stage beside Chica and Bonnie. "Um...is it supposed to…" he waved vaguely, unsure how to describe what just happened.

Mike looked panicked, glancing back at the stage with wide eyes.

"It like, lit up like…." Kevin put his fingers around his eyes in circles, "And there was some freaky music."

"Oh…. yeah…." Mike relaxed a little but still had a wild panicked look in his eyes. "Freddy can get a little more...active in the dark. N-nothing to worry about!" His voice went up a few octaves.

They didn't look convinced.

"So what the hell happened?" Calum demanded, glancing at the stage again.

"Ooh, heh, I was just showing the other guys how to restart the generator if it goes out while they're there and I can't get to it in time.

"In time? In time for what?"

Mike stared in silence. He glanced at Freddy and the other two on stage. "You guys seem busy. I should go. You know, night guard stuff to do and all that." He started backing up out of the room. "Just...um… maybe avoid going near the stage if the lights go out again. Not that they will! Just, you know, better safe than sorry. You wouldn't want to be too close." He binked, as if realizing he might have said something wrong. "It's uh….tripping hazard. Yeah you wouldn't want to run into that stage in the dark."

The lights above them flickered and his eyes widened before he darted out of the room.

They all stared at each other with wide eyes.

"What the fuck?" Kevin asked into the silence.

After the mess in the generator room where they'd stumbled around blindly for a bit until Mike restarted it with many apologies, John and his group went to the Toys' room.

"Phew," John said, as he helped Eric get the large camera into his stability harness. "Let's get started."

Avery tilted her head as she stared across the room. "Was that little bot here when we dropped our stuff off earlier?"

They all looked over to find Balloon Boy sitting on one of the tables with a bunch of balloons in his hand.

John was pretty quick to come up with a rational explanation after staring at the bot for a long couple minutes. "Ruby probably moved him to mess with us. She did pull that stunt with the fox robot yesterday," he reminded.

"But didn't she mention they keep him off at night so they don't waste helium?" Eric asked, pointing at the balloons.

"Maybe they're from earlier today?" Miriah asked but she was staring at the bot with an odd look.

All of them ran their flashlights over the room to note the positions of the Toy group. They were on their stage, deactivated. Just like they should be.

"It could have been Ruby," Avery admitted. "I think that other group did something to piss her off. She's mostly hostile to them."

Eric panned the camera around the room and frowned when it fell on the bots on stage.

"Guy? Did one of them just move?"
They all turned to face the stage, finding that Toby was in a slightly different pose. Or was he? Were they just paranoid? It was a very slight change if a change at all.

Eventually John pulled them all back on task, although he couldn't avoid glancing at the stage either as he turned his back. "Uh Eric?"

"Huh? Oh. Rolling!"

John smiled at the camera. "Hey folks. Welcome back. This week we're looking at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, a locally loved restaurant with a dark and shrouded past. You folks know the process. Research. Reach out. Resolve. If you're new here, give us a like and consid-" John cut off at the sound of a faint giggle that was quiet, but disturbingly close.

"Mirah?" John prompted.

Miriah frowned in concentration, barely noticing the camera turn her way. "There's someone...someones… here. But I'm not quite...sure?" She shrugged at the camera uncertainly.

Eric looked back at the bots. "Uh, is it just me, or did the chicken move too?" He asked nervously.

Avery automatically glanced back at Balloon Boy and let out a curse. "Where the fuck did the bot go?!" she demanded.

They all turned to find the spot he'd been sitting in empty.

Well...this was going to be a fun night.

BB watched them from the vents, holding back a giggle. All they were doing was moving occasionally but it seemed to be freaking the crew out pretty bad. Now he just had to sneak some balloons over to their bags when they weren't looking…

Weren't these humans supposed to be used to staying in haunted weird places. Then again, things were always a little unique at Freddy's.

Calum was already in the middle of a long monologue when he opened the kitchen door.

"Geez your voice is annoying," the unexpected statement made them stop. Ruby was sitting there, glaring down a slice of pizza with a petulant expression.

There were enough weird things going on so Calum wasn't super interested in why the teenager was creepily sitting in a big empty room with a single sad-looking slice in the center of the table, on a paper towel, in front of her.

He was annoyed that she was interrupting their filming. Technically they had permission from her sister to get her on the film so they wouldn't get in trouble for that. But it was still annoying.

"You guys get bored of watching deactivated animatronics?" she asked, poking the pizza and then withdrawing her hand quickly, hissing like an angry cat.

Calum glared at her. "We're filming in here now. It's our room for the night."

She rolled her eyes dramatically and slowly stood up, making the movement as petulant as her expression.

"Fiiiiine," she grouched as she turned to leave.

The lights flickered above them and Ruby looked up. "What?"
Then they went out. The group tensed up, remembering what happened last time. But they were not prepared for the sudden banging of pots and pans and an unholy screeching to fill the room.

They were suddenly reminded of Jerry's story.

It was horrifying, but good content. At the time.

They screamed again and panicked, fumbling phones and flashlights.

Before they could find a source of light though, the noise cut out and the lights came back. The room was empty though, no sign of Ruby.

And they'd been standing in front of the exit.

Just to be sure, Mason checked the loading door. It was securely locked.

"What the fuck?" Calum muttered after they'd checked every damn cupboard and hiding spot in the kitchen.

Ruby was laughing so hard she was almost crying as she watched the footage from the repaired kitchen camera. Goldy smirked smugly next to her.

"I'm such a drama queen," Ruby snickered. "I can't die once. I've got to die twice in equally dramatic ways."
The pair watched their gradually increasing panic and attempts to find an explanation for her abrupt disappearance with great delight.

Night two, success.

"You guys could have been a little more subtle," Hedy sighed from across the room.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Ruby asked with a smirk.