A/N Hello again everyone and welcome to the next chapter. First off, before we get started, I wanted to give a huge thank you to everyone who's reviewed so far. Your feedback means so much to me and I'm glad to see that everyone's enjoying so far. All I can say is keep 'em coming. There's going to be a lot to this story, and anything you can say will help. Now things are really going to get interesting. Hope you like it!

The door in front of Gregory was a large metal door with a button that opened and closed it vertically, much like the ones at the Pizzaplex. Foxy called the boy to his attention.

"This door has an automated locking system that was set up for certain business office shifts," the fox explained, "Once it was locked it couldn't be reopened until the shift began again. Unfortunately, the system malfunctioned and the door can only open for what was set as the late-night security shift, 12-6 AM. You'll need to get in there, get what you're looking for, and get out before the door locks for the morning, or you're stuck in there 'till tomorrow night."

"Got it," said Gregory confidently, but he was also thinking 'What is it with security shifts and that timeframe?'

Fifi stepped up next to him, anxious as could be, while Vanessa and Freddy stepped in behind them, ready for whatever may come.

"What are you guys gonna do?" asked the former guard.

"We're gonna stay out here and make sure no one from Fazbear Entertainment decides to crash your little party, doll," said Bonnie. "I just need to make sure Chica here don't get distracted in the kitchen."

"Uh, gimme a break, Bonnie," Funtime (FT) Chica replied. "I haven't eaten out of the garbage in 7 days…no wait, 7 hours."

The rabbit just rolled his eyes.

"Plus," added Foxy, "The door only opens from the outside, so someone'll need to be here to do that. But we'll need a signal from you so we know when to do it. Got any ideas, lad?"

"Why don't I just call you on my Fazwatch?" Gregory suggested. Then he brought the watch to his mouth and whispered, "Can you hear me?"

The fox's reaction told Gregory he could hear him. "By George, I think that'll work! Whoda thunk all that testing for the new tech on us would've paid off?"

"I've got one, too, so I can call you in case something happens," said Vanessa brandishing her own Fazwatch. "By the way, thanks Freddy."

The bear had given her the watch before they left the house. "My pleasure," he replied.

"Alright," said Foxy, "It's about 12:30 now so say the word and I'll open her up. You ready?"

Gregory's group turned to face him and they all nodded, one by one, Fifi going last, for confirmation. "We're ready," he pressed.

Foxy pressed the button on his left and the door opened. "Good luck to ya."

The four entered into the darkness that awaited them on the other side of the door, and the door was shut as soon as they were through. Shining their flashlights and turning on their optics, the group could see a strait hallway with many different doors and halls branching off of it. The hallway in front of them had no end in sight. They could already tell they were going to be navigating a veritable maze.

"Okay," breathed Vanessa. "Our goal is going to be the location on the map, but we should try to see if we can dig up some information along the way. We've got five and a half hours to kill, so we might as well use it." She looked at her Fazwatch, as Gregory already scanned the map into it. "There's a break room on the left that seems to lead to some offices going towards our mark. I say we just make our way over there and see what we find along the way."

"Are you sure that is a good idea, Vanessa?" asked Freddy, "Would it not be better to start looking at that location to begin with?"

"Maybe, but I had a reputation at the tech office of not leaving anything unchecked," she said. "That's the only way we're going to get anywhere with this, and if it kills me while I do it, so be it."

"Um…don't say 'kill,'" Fifi stammered. "There's superstitions about that, right? Not I believe 'em, but I just don't wanna—"

"Fifi, relax," Vanessa said calmly, "You're already in here, you can't chicken out now. You might as well face this head on. Besides, if anything's coming Freddy should let us know. He got a good eye upgrade while he was at the Pizzaplex."

Freddy cast his head down again. Yet another reminder of his friends from the Pizzaplex. His new eyes were taken from the 'tough girl' of the group, Roxanne Wolf. He just couldn't help but think what could happen if she was down here, too. She was always afraid of being scrapped.

Vanessa noticed the bear's troubled look. "I didn't say anything wrong, did I, big guy? I know it's only been a month but—'

"No, it is alright," said Freddy, "I just need to look forward for now. I've lost some things, but I've gained some as well."

Gregory wouldn't say it out loud, but after a month of thinking, he felt bad, too. Maybe he could have saved them, but how?

"Okay…well, how am I going to defend myself?" asked Fifi. "You guys got tasers, blasters, upgrades. I don't have anything. I was just supposed to perform."

Something clicked in Gregory's mind, "Oh crap, I forgot." He reached into the side pocket of his cargo shorts and pulled something out. "I brought this, too, just in case. I thought it'd be good if I lost the Fazerblast, but I think you need it more than me."

Gregory handed the mouse what appeared to be a yellow Polaroid styled camera decorated with Freddy's top hat and two rounded ears. There was also a red and black lanyard attached. She took it questioningly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's a Fazcam from the Pizzaplex," the boy explained. "The flash'll be enough to stun animatronics for a bit. Takes a while to charge, but you can at least get away if you need to. Not exactly an out and out weapon, but it's something."

"Wow," she breathed in amazement. After what happened tonight, she thought she'd never get a chance to see the Pizzaplex, let alone get a souvenir from it! With a newfound confidence she hung the camera around her neck by the lanyard. "Thanks Gregory!"

"Don't mention it," he said with a smile. For once, the boy was glad to find an animatronic that acted like it was made for kids.

Vanessa was smiling too. Now her new ward was starting to really act like a kid. "Come on guys," she said, "We better get moving. Six hours is really not as long as you think."

"Right behind you," called Freddy, seeming happier as well, and the group went forward along Vanessa's prescribed path.

The next few hours were surprisingly quiet. The group gradually found their way through the offices checking everything they saw along the way. There were no functioning bots or animatronics to be seen. Most of the computers they found in the offices would not turn on, and the ones that would were too damaged for any useful information to be found.

Many of the paths they thought they could take were blocked off by a number of things: boxes, crates, even the random cardboard cutouts. There were not many areas where a straight line could be crossed, but the group had an end goal to reach thanks to Foxy, and they were working to get there.

Still, Gregory couldn't help but complain as he clumsily fiddled with another broken computer. "In hindsight I'm surprised there's even still electricity down here," he said as he stared at the flickering screen. "Not that it's doing us any good."

"Nobody said this was going to be easy, kid," said Vanessa walking up behind him. "Just keep going at it and we'll find something." She paused for a moment to think. "But I'm gonna tenderize that Foxy if there's nothing in that office he marked."

Fifi stepped out from behind a crate with a monitor in her hands. "You know, Vanessa, it is a little weird he decided to help us after you mentioned that Afton guy. They never mentioned him when I was going through testing, but when you mentioned him, it's like time stopped for everyone. Did he really have such a big hold on this company?"

"You have no idea," the former guard replied. "He was the first one to show up for so many of the controversies surrounding this company in the early days, but you don't really know about that do you?"

"No," said the mouse. "They never talked about controversies. All they told me about when something ever goes wrong was 'don't get us sued.'"

Freddy chuckled from the other side of the room. "I do remember that. Though, it seemed they let up on that sentiment quite a bit when they started handing out the liability waivers."

Fifi turned to him wide-eyed. 'Liability waivers?' she thought. 'Weren't we made for children's entertainment?'

Vanessa smiled and shook her head. "I guess it does make sense you guys weren't told. This company seems to think that moving on from the past means forgetting it entirely. That's not the way it works. That's why I'm doing this."

Freddy nodded. "I can understand completely, Vanessa. I always try to keep my mistakes in mind so I can move forward without making them…. However, more and more often, it seems as though there are memories that I cannot fully understand yet."

"What do you mean, Freddy?" asked Gregory worriedly.

"When we were going against William Afton under the Pizzaplex, something familiar overtook me when he was trying to take control of me," the bear explained. "I cannot explain what it was, but it has troubled me why I cannot remember. I dread to think of it, but…there may have been more connections between me and him than Vanny."

The concern on the boy's face was clear. Freddy was the only one who had his back in the Pizzaplex, but how much of that was just chance? What could have happened before they met that he maybe didn't want to know about?

He decided to leave his friend alone for now and push forward. "Let's just keep looking, guys. We don't have all night."

Vanessa nodded her head and motioned for the others to follow. They were about to move to the next office room, when Freddy suddenly stopped. "Wait!" he exclaimed. They all turned around to notice that he was staring pointedly at the wall to his left.

"Something is coming."

Everyone soon grabbed their weapons as they followed Freddy's gaze. As he followed the unseen entity, a light finally appeared in front of the open door. The light's source made itself known when a lone S.T.A.F.F. bot rolled in front of the door. While this bot appeared to be functioning, it was still vandalized with that crudely drawn smile. When it stopped in front of the door everyone made absolutely sure to stay out of its range.

The bot spun around for a moment, as if it were making its regular rounds at the Pizzaplex, but stopped for a moment facing the direction it was heading. Everyone held their breath. After a few seconds, though, it went away and everyone relaxed.

"Is it gone for sure, Freddy?" asked Gregory.

"I sense no more movement," the bear replied. "There should not be any more trouble."

"Good," said Vanessa, "Now let's go."

They all walked out the door preparing to move on, when Gregory jumped at the sight of another vandalized bot laying on the floor. This one appeared to be faulty, however.

"Geez," he said grabbing his chest, "As if these things weren't creepy enough! Why'd somebody have to do that to them?"

Fifi cautiously approached the face of the horror in front of her. "I don't think I wanna know." She gingerly touched the face with a sad look and sighed, "What a waste."

But her expression quickly turned to horror when her hand was suddenly grabbed. This bot was not faulty! Its familiar alarm rang out loud enough to wake the dead. Immediately more lights filled the hallway as more bots entered at full speed.

"Everyone, stand your ground!" Vanessa yelled. She readied her taser as Gregory pulled out the Fazerblast.

Freddy stood at the center. "Fifi, cover your ears!" he warned.

The mouse complied after shaking her hand lose from the bot's grip, after which Freddy let out a series of sharp static noises that stopped the bots in front in their tracks. Immediately after though, more seemed to pour in, intent to restrain their victims at any cost. Gregory took the initiative and stunned even more with his laser gun. While he did so, Vanessa ran into the pack and went to town with her taser, short circuiting a large number of them.

All the while the stunned bots seemed to be reviving quicker and quicker There were about thirty in total, and more went down, the more got back up. Freddy eventually went in to help Vanessa, but the number of bots quickly overwhelmed the two and they were restrained.

"A little help, you two!" The former guard yelled.

Gregory kept shooting, but eventually he was out of shots and needed to wait for his gun to charge again.

"Fifi, go for it!" he yelled.

The mouse jumped, "Huh—r-right!" As she stepped forward, she clumsily fumbled with the camera and brought it up to her face, but it was facing the wrong direction. She pressed the button but the flash got her right in the eyes. "Ow!" she yelped as she stood convulsing, and the bots quickly restrained her as well.

Gregory huddled against the wall facing the amount of S.T.A.F.F. bots tumbling toward him at once, bracing himself for their coming blow…. But it didn't come. When he uncovered his head, they were just standing there staring at him, no further hint of immediate hostility.

'What happened?' the boy thought to himself, but he was instantly jerked from his thoughts when he was grabbed and lifted up by his collar.

"Hello again, Gregory," said a voice that still haunted his nightmares "I missed you."

Gregory turned his head to the right, and the singular thing he thought was gone a month ago was there again to haunt him. The white patchwork suit, the bunny head with long ears, that crooked cursed smile, and those crimson eyes. Vanny was back, and still kicking.

As Gregory squirmed in her grip, the deranged woman brought her knife to the boy's face. "I really hate to break up the party," she taunted, "but you and I have unfinished business. And this time, I've got some more friends to help me."

She turned to the S.T.A.F.F. bots. "Get them out of here," she ordered. "We deal with them later."

The bots took the victims they had in their grip and carried them in the other direction.

"No! Stop!" yelled Freddy. "Gregory!"

"Hang in there, kid!" called Vanessa. "We'll get out of this!"

"What's going on?" Fifi struggled, "Who's talking?"

Gregory struggled more than ever to break free from the madwoman's grip, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He found that Vanny had replaced her knife with a syringe and was injecting something into him. After a few seconds he began to feel drowsy. He tried to fight it, but slowly he began to fade.

"Are you having fun yet?"

Gregory was slow to regain consciousness, but when he did finally wake up, he was staring at his lap. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that he was sitting in a chair…tied up with his hands behind his back.

He still held his head down for a few more seconds, partially because he was still groggy and partially because he was afraid of what he would see when he looked up. He knew, however, that he had to face what was happening to him, and he finally lifted up his head, only to jump back in his seat when he found himself looking right in the crimson eyes of Vanny's bunny head.

"So, you're finally awake, are you?" she gloated. "I didn't think the sedative I used would have been that strong. Thought you'd be up and about again in ten minutes, but it's been more than an hour."

The boy struggled at his restraints for a moment, then attempted to size his captor up.

"What is your problem?" he seethed.

"I'm just trying to reconnect," she cooed menacingly. "It's been more than a month and I wanted to catch up while I can. We've got such big plans for you, Gregory."

He scowled, "What do you mean 'plans?' What are you gonna do?"

"Oh, you are so rude, you know that?" the costumed woman replied feigning offence. "But either way, it's a surprise. How is it going to be a surprise if I tell you?"

"I hate surprises," Gregory scoffed, "and who's 'we' anyway? I don't know how many working animatronics you think you'd find down here." (While he knew the opposite could be true, he thought this was a good enough excuse to throw her off, likely because he was still groggy.)

Vanny just chuckled. "I'm a very resourceful girl, Gregory, and sometimes, a little lucky too. I can get anything to work down here, given the right resources." She turned her head left. "Wouldn't you agree, Monty?"

A deep harsh laugh followed her comment. "Yeah, I agree with ya, honey!" called a deep voice with a southern accent. "It was a rough job, but you got me runnin'."

Gregory knew that voice too well. The past was coming back to haunt him tonight in more ways than one. He turned his head following Vanny's gaze and his fears were confirmed. Sitting at a desk at the other side of the room, ripping the arm off of an older animatronic, was the Pizzaplex's resident bass player, Montgomery Gator, eyeing the boy like a predator would do to prey. He did look better than the last time Gregory saw him, the main difference being that his legs were attached to his body again. Still, the animatronic alligator had his battle scars from their previous encounter, his bare teeth still showing on one side of his face. Needless to say, this guy was still not Gregory's cup of tea.

Monty stood up from his seat, chucking the rest of the animatronic body he held to the side. "Long time, no see, little guy," he taunted. "Whatcha been up to for the past month? Rip anything else good in half lately?"

Gregory tried to kick at the gator with his foot, which would not reach the ground in the seat he was sitting in. But he missed entirely, prompting Vanny to laugh cruelly.

Monty suddenly turned vicious. "Try that again, and I'll rip that leg right off your body, boy! We'll see how you like it!"

"Watch it, Monty," the woman warned calmly holding a remote control. "You know what'll happen if you take things too quickly."

The gator eyed her with contempt, but just as quickly an amused smile found it's way on his lips. "Of course," he replied smoothly, "Just got a little carried away there. Hard not to with this little brat." He nudged the boy's shoulder, hard. "He didn't just figure out how to stop me in my tracks. He actually outsmarted me enough to do it…. I just hate folks that think they can get away with that." He turned to the darkness in behind him. "But hey, that's just what you're looking for, ain't it?

The voice that replied was soft and childlike, but had authority. "Yes. He's the one. I'll admit I had my doubts when you both were speaking of him, but now…Oh, I must have a closer look!"

Yet another animatronic stepped into the faint light of the lamp shining above. This one must have been around 7 feet tall, and the casing showed white limbs with a red dress, notably with a fan in the middle. It had red hair styled into pigtails, and the face was stylized to look like a clown. The most striking thing about it however, were the striking pair of green eyes that were now staring intently at Gregory.

The boy was already squirming. "What in—"

"Let me introduce you to Circus Baby," Vanny interjected. "She has a…very special connection with the leader of our little operation here. I think you met him at the Pizzaplex, didn't you? Right before you burned the place to the ground?"

"Quiet!" Baby interjected. "Give me a moment to look." She turned to the disheveled alligator. "And Monty…Clean up your mess, won't you?"

Monty nodded to oblige her command, and he turned to a control panel that seemed to operate a claw-like crane, which took the remains he had stolen from out of sight.

Meanwhile, Baby cupped Gregory's chin in her hand as she inspected him, and the boy was not comfortable with how close she had gotten, to say nothing of the fact that her face seemed to be frozen in that unsettling smile. It was the Daycare Attendant all over again. It was a full sixty seconds before she seemed satisfied

"Yes," she gleefully breathed. "You're absolutely perfect. Our time has finally come...You are going to serve a very special purpose for us, Gregory."

"Yeah, no thanks," he spat out venomously. "Especially since we just confirmed your working for that Afton creep. He is your leader, right?"

"Oh, he is so much more than that to me," said the clown threateningly, "and you will do well to hold your tongue from any further comments. You have no idea what he is capable of, and we will ensure it stays that way."

Fear filled the boy's heart on hearing this, and it didn't help that her green eyes were suddenly glowing purple. These guys were not going to let him leave, but what else were they planning?

"You got a knack for sticking your nose where it don't belong, brat," added Monty, "but that'll get you killed around here."

"Precisely," Baby confirmed, "and for now we need you alive. We have some preparations we must complete before you meet your fate, and we will need to leave you in order to do so. Don't worry, though. We have someone coming along to entertain you, and to ensure you do not get into any…trouble." She finally turned away. "Come you two, we must get going, quickly."

"Coming," Vanny replied standing up. "We're all gonna have so much fun soon!"

Monty just smiled his shattered smile as the three of them walked away.

"It won't be much longer, Daddy," Baby said seemingly to herself. "Soon, you'll be back in your full glory."

As the door shut in front of him, Gregory took a moment to recover from the insanity he just witnessed. The sedative seemed to be out of his system now, so he could think. He took a look at the room around him and saw that the crane arm could be used anywhere in the room, as the frame extended across the ceiling. He turned around as much as he could and noticed that there was also an opening chute behind him. That must have been what happened to that animatronic Monty was working with. He is curious about his surroundings.

However, he did not have more than two minutes to look, as the door suddenly opened revealing an ominous sight. The animatronic there looked like the golden version of Freddy from the sign on the diner, only there was visible wear on every inch of the casing, and it had a large set of sharp metallic teeth. It's glowing red eyes bore into Gregory's very soul.

'Aw, man,' the boy thought, 'Here we go, again.'

A/N And there we go! Hate to leave it on a cliffhanger, but I've got to control myself somehow. Expect a few of these by the way. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed, and please follow and review this story if you can. Not only is it just great feedback, but it helps motivate me to keep going. Thanks again, and I'll see you soon.