"Did… did she really paint her name across her secret lair?" Mike couldn't help but ask as he and the others looked through the window.
"I think it's an ego thing," Dipper commented with a shrug, thinking back on his various adventures. "When their so confident that no one can stop them that they need to show off that even knowing where they are won't do you any good."
"Well let's knock her down a peg or two," Gregory smirked, about to open the door only to be yanked back by the other two. "Hey! What gives? Don't you want to see what kind of things she's hiding in here?"
"While I'm sure there might be useful secrets, it isn't worth the risks," Dipper replied with a shake of his head. "While Vanny and William are certainly arrogant, they aren't idiots. The door is bound to be trapped in some way, at the very least has an alarm of some sort and we'd end up cornered here."
"We'll keep this place in mind, but we'll leave it alone for now," Mike agreed, heading back towards the vent. "If we need to purposefully find Vanny or draw here to us for some reason, we'll come back. In the meantime, we need to free the rest of the Glamrocks."
Gregory huffed, annoyed that he couldn't trash the secret lair, but willing to admit that the adults had a point. They went back through the vent and towards the Fazer Blast lobby, only to have to slow down and hide because there were a lot more staff bots patrolling now than when they first came in here.
"Looks like patrols have increased everywhere," Mike whispered to the others as he flipped through the cameras. "When we get to the main atrium, you might to call Freddy and hide in his stomach hatch before we continue towards Bonnie Bowl."
"Alright," Gregory agreed, doing just that when they finally got out of the Fazer Blast area.
With Gregory and Helpy safely tucked inside his stomach, Freddy casually began making his way over to Bonnie Bowl while Dipper and Mike had to move more slowly to stay out of sight. Eventually, though, they all arrived at the entrance, and Freddy couldn't help but pause.
"Freddy, is something wrong?" Gregory asked when he noticed Freddy's stop.
"I… I haven't been here in a while," Freddy admitted softly, gaining the attention of the other two as well.
"Why?" Gregory asked, concerned for his friend as Freddy sounded so sad.
"Bonnie got damaged, so much so that they couldn't repair him and they decommissioned him instead," Freddy informed sadly, looking at Bonnie's image. "I miss him…"
"That isn't exactly true…" Mike admitted slowly, immediately gaining the attention of the bear. "While Bonnie's damages were extensive, but it was mostly the casing with only a few major damages to the endo. It would have taken time to get a new casing, but the actual repairs weren't too bad. Before I got very far in the repairs though the parts got stolen. Management chose to sweep it all under the rug rather than do a big investigation, just telling the staff they chose to decommission Bonnie. Luckily I had already removed Bonnie's AI chip so I could restore him once I had the proper casing, but with everything going on I haven't-"
Mike's explanation was cut off as he found himself pulled off his feet as Freddy enveloped him in a hug.
"Thank you for telling me Mike," Freddy whispered. "I thought I'd never be able to see my friend again… but now I have hope that I will…"
"I should have told you sooner," Mike replied, feeling guilty at seeing Freddy's reaction. "I knew you were missing him, but I was so focused on William and his plans that it just slipped my mind."
"And I understand," Freddy said easily as he put Mike back down. "You had a responsibility to keep children safe. Bonnie wouldn't want you to have worked on him when there was a risk that children could get hurt. You made the right choice."
"Thanks," Mike said, touched by Freddy's sincerity. "And don't worry. We'll be sure to grab his chip before we leave. We have a friend in Gravity Falls that loves building robots and would be more than happy to help me get everything I need to make Bonnie a new body. I just hope you don't mind having to wait longer…"
"I don't mind at all…" Freddy assured. "The fact that I'll be able to see my friend again is more than enough."
"Though probably not too long," Dipper chipped in. "McGucket can build machines like a madman. And with Mike helping, and keeping him reigned in, I know that they'll have Bonnie rebuilt in no time!"
"Let's keep moving," Mike concluded, leading the way into the bowling alley. "We've been here too long."
The others followed behind him, Freddy looking noticeably happier. They carefully snuck by the staff bots and carefully made their way toward the ice cream counter.
"Is that..?" Dipper couldn't help but do a double take at seeing the staff bots styled after Circus Baby.
"Yeah…" Mike confirmed, refusing to look at the bots.
"And the ice cream…" Dipper whispered in shock and disgust. "That's so messed up…"
"I usually try and avoid this area at all costs," Mike replied, his voice trembling with buried anger. Their companions noticed the odd behavior and conversation, but Freddy was too polite to bring attention to it. Gregory was going to ask about it, but Helpy shook his head and looked at Gregory with a pleading expression, convincing the boy to drop it.
Heading into the back area, it didn't take long for them to find what they were looking for.
"Monty's Mystery Mix," Freddy commented as Mike picked up the container. "The mystery is the pizza flavoring."
"With this, we'll be able to lure Chica to an ambush easily," Mike grinned, tapping his Fazwatch. "Roxy, Moon, meet us in the kitchen. And start clearing the staff bots so we can set up a trap for Chica."
"Understood," came Moon's response.
"I'll have all the bots cleared out before you get there," Roxy replied confidently.
With that taken care of, they began to make their way down to the kitchen. As promised, they only found broken staff bots by the time they arrived, a few still sparking and twitching.
"These guys were surprisingly fun to destroy," Roxy grinned from where she and moon were tearing apart the last staff bot. "Can we do more?"
"Later," Mike promised, setting up that Monty Mix container in the middle of the kitchen while Gregory climbed out of Freddy's stomach. "But first we need to get Chica back."
Roxy nodded, becoming more serious at the thought of saving her friend. Once Mike had finished setting up the bait, everyone found a place to hide and lie in wait for their target. It didn't take long as Chica had already been drawn to the area by the destruction Roxy and Moon were causing and once she caught a sniff of the Monty Mix she made a beeline right for it.
They moved as soon as Chica was in place. Moon dropped down from the ceiling landing right on the distracted chicken, making Chica let out a startled squawk as Moon's wight forced her to the ground. Freddy and Roxy rushed forward next, helping keep her down as Mike rushed forward with his hand crackling with electricity. Chica screeched as the shock went through her systems, loud enough that all the animatronics momentarily glitched. Thankfully isn't wasn't enough for them to let go and Mike was able to successfully begin the manual shutdown process, Gregory and Dipper watching with their guns at the ready in case they were needed.
The group had moved so efficiently though that William wasn't able to do anything before Chica was completely shut down and Mike was able to begin clearing out her systems. Moon and Dipper stayed guarding him while he did so, but Freddy took advantage of being in the kitchen to make some fresh pizza for Gregory and Roxy told stories about herself to Gregory while the boy ate, trying to become his favorite despite their rough start (though it was pretty obvious who Gregory's favorite was). Eventually, Mike finished freeing Chica from the virus and was rebooted.
"Aw, my stars…" Chica groaned with a slight southern twang, holding her head as she sat up looking around as she came fully online. "What happened? Did get caught in the garbage disposal again."
"Not this time," Mike said softly as the other animatronics hovered nearby in concern for their friend. "What do you last remember?"
"Practicing in my room," Chica replied easily, mimicking playing her guitar. "I'd almost gotten my new song down when… something was saying I had to… my stars… did I!?"
"You're alright Chica," Freddy assured as he and Roxy hugged their terrified friend. "You didn't hurt anyone and you're back to yourself now."
"Old Fredbear here was keeping the kid safe," Roxy added. "And now you can help too."
"But… but I…" Chica protested, nearly sobbing if she was capable of it. "I… the kid…"
"I don't blame you," Gregory cut in, giving the animatronic a forgiving smile when she looked his way. "It was the virus's fault that you were acting weird. But Mike fixed you so it's fine. You don't need to feel guilt, it wasn't your fault."
"I… Thank you…" Chica said softly, though she couldn't bring herself to look at Gregory for long. The kitchen fell into a peaceful silence as Roxy and Freddy continued to hold Chica and offer her comfort.
"Now that Chica's on our side, all we have left is to get Monty," Mike said once he had given the animatronics as much time to recover as he dared, getting everyone's attention. "It's not going to be easy, as Monty is the strongest, and William has to have caught on to what we're doing by now."
"So more resistance," Dipper concluded with a grimace. "Is stealth still an option, or do we just abandon it entirely?"
"We'll try and stealth for as long as we can," Mike replied. "We don't want to get swarmed by the staff bots until we get Monty on our side. So here's the plan, Monty usually hangs out in Monty Golf, either in the main area or on the catwalks so we'll tap him there. Chica and I will wander around separate areas of the main golfing area, using our voice mimic abilities to lure in Monty and confuse him. Dipper, you'll be Chica's backup while Moon will be mine. Once either group finds Monty, we'll message the other and join efforts to ambush him."
"Sounds good," Dipper agreed, getting a nod from the named animatronics as well.
"Gregory, you and Freddy will focus on taking out all the staff bots in the area," Mike instructed, getting a nod from the bear and a gleeful grin from the boy. "We don't want to have to deal with them while we're dealing with Monty. Roxy, you patrol the whole area and keep an eye on all the groups. If it looks like anyone needs help or there are any surprises, you let the rest of us know before you provide any assistance."
"Sounds great," Roxy replied with a flip of her hair.
With the plan in place and agreed upon, the group began making their way toward Monty Golf. They did their best to go unnoticed, even traveling in smaller groups, but there was more than one staff bot that needed to be silenced before they finally arrived at their destination. It only took a second to take out the bot blocking the door before they all split up to proceed with the plan.
Gregory had a grin on his face the whole time he and Freddy worked together to take out the staff bots. They ended up with a near fool proof strategy, where Freddy would be able to wander around to find the staff bots without raising the alarm while Gregory followed behind, hidden amongst the fake plants. Once they spotted a bot, Freddy would get its attention for Gregory to get a shot in. Once the bot was stunned, Freddy would be able to destroy the robot before it could recover.
"That was an amazing shot Superstar," Freddy praised once they took down their fifth staff bot. "And it seems we've finished with those in this immediate area. We'll have to move to the next section of the course."
"Let's go!" Gregory grinned, twirling his Fazer Blaster. "I'll be right behind you."
Freddy began making his way to the next section and Gregory was about to follow when he missed the twirl, making him drop the blaster and it bounced into the nearby bushes. Gregory waved the bear onward, knowing it'd only take a second to retrieve his blaster. Freddy disappeared around the corner as Gregory picked up his blaster when Helpy suddenly fell over, twitching slightly as his eyes dimmed.
"Helpy?" Gregory asked in concern, turning to look over at his little friend.
"Are you having fun yet?"
Gregory didn't have time to react to the menacing whisper before an arm wrapped around his waist and the other held a knife to his throat.