Mable: AH-HA, yes! Finally on proper time! ^_^ Enjoy!
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Twenty-Eight
All things considered, Mike and Marionette were taking the news of having three extra people tagging along pretty well. That is, Mike only made two babysitting cracks and Marionette only had that huffiness that came with being worried. Yet they didn't put up much of a fight. Not once Charlie made it a little clearer why she couldn't say no to Jessica and John. They sent each other a long look and decided not to kick Carlton to the curb.
At about eleven forty-five at night, they started their drive to the Pizzaplex. They took a single car, Mike's car, to draw less attention. So, he was driving, unsurprisingly, Marionette was in the passenger's seat, and the four others had squeezed into the back. Charlie had taken the window seat beside Jessica with John and Carlton cramped in the middle and by the other window respectively, with them behind the driver's seat. It was just another risk being taken tonight.
With them pulling up on the turnoff for the Pizzaplex, Mike decided that now was a good time to go over some of the things he didn't feel he had been specific enough with before they left.
"So, here's the deal. Natalie- or Vanessa, as she goes by here- knows we're here, but she's not supposed to. So, if we set off any alarms, she's going to come looking for us. Or is going to make it look like she is for the cameras. If she sees us, she's going to treat us like she just caught a bunch of strangers breaking in, and we're not going to act like we know her, but we ARE going to scatter," he instructed. "The best thing you can do is not get caught."
"And that goes for the animatronics especially," Marionette added. He turned around in his seat to face those in the back, focusing mostly on the three newcomers. "These animatronics are not like the ones we encountered together. They are clean, brand-new, and very vocal. They may seem friendly, they may talk like Foxy and I do, but we cannot be certain they are safe. So far, we know for certain that Monty Gator is aggressive, but seeing adult humans trespassing might set off any of them. Be on guard, don't let them see you."
"And keep the taser close," Mike added.
"Got it! Charged and ready," Charlie said. She pulled it out of her jacket pocket and showed it off for emphasis.
They pulled up the gravel road and down the stretch towards the Pizzaplex. Mike could remember driving here with Marionette before it was finished. Playing around in the snow, hanging out at the construction site, all sorts of dangerous things that they couldn't gotten in trouble for if they would've gotten caught. Those were good memories.
Yet now at the end of this long road wasn't a construction site sitting in the snow. It was this large space-themed pizza mall with animatronic mascots sitting in the lull before true spring with sparse relocated trees outside its front entrance.
It was only when the others started making comments in the back-
Such as Charlie's, "Whoa!"
And John's mutter of, "How did they get this up so fast...?"
-that Mike suddenly realized this was also the first time Marionette had seen it too. He looked over to see his reaction, totally expecting that mask to steel up with determination and distain, and he wouldn't be shocked or disappointed to see it.
However, that was not what was happening on his mask, and likely not what was going on inside his head. Marionette's eyes had widened, his unmarked brow raised, and his mouth slightly parted in rather endearing look of astonishment. Less like a person confronting their former captor and current competitor and more like a kid seeing it for the first time.
Mike much preferred an awed Mari over a depressed one, though he wasn't confident it would last.
"This place is huge! It must've cost a fortune to build," Jessica nearly gasped.
"It had to of. Just buying and clearing the land alone would've cost a small fortune," John agreed.
"I wonder where they got that kind of money," Jessica remarked suspiciously.
"You're not the only one," Mike muttered.
"Probably from absorbing so many smaller establishments. There must have been a monetary gain of some kind," Marionette suggested. His voice betrayed distrust while his look of surprise only now started to fade.
"So… Is Nat leaving a door unlocked, or are we going the Foxy route- crawling in a vent and hope we don't get stuck or shredded by a fan?" Carlton asked.
"We're going in through the parking garage. She's leaving it open for us," Charlie explained. "But once it hits midnight everything's going to seal up and we're going to be locked in. So, if anyone's thinking of backing out, now's your last chance."
"No problem. I've been thinking of backing out since the moment I agreed to come," Carlton remarked.
"That makes two of us! Great minds think alike, don't they?" Marionette chimed up. Serious circumstances aside, he still managed a wispy little chuckle. "But she's correct. Last chance."
"Didn't come this far to turn back now," John said. Jessica agreed with a nod.
"Yeah, I'm just kidding around. No way I'd miss out on this," Carlton also agreed, even if he did seem a little more nervous.
"Wouldn't this be a great time for me to suddenly change my mind and ditch them here?" Mike asked, flashing his puppet companion a sly grin. Marionette returned with a small 'you better not' smile. The man winked and started to move to open the door and get out, only to stop and suddenly turn around.
"One last thing," he said as he turned around in his seat and looked into the back with a look of complete and utter seriousness. "The rabbit."
He could see Marionette's face firm up as he slowly turned his head forward. Ah yes, the rabbit- he could almost imagine him saying in his silence.
"If we see the rabbit, we're going after her. 'We're' being Marionette and I and only Marionette and I. If that happens, don't follow us, don't go for Natalie, just stay calm, stay quiet, don't get caught," he asserted. "Also, here. Take this."
Mike started to reach into Marionette's seat to grab the two-way radio, only for said puppet to meet him halfway by handing it to him.
"Thanks. Here." He then handed it back to Charlie. "You know how to use one of these, right?"
"I think I can figure it out," Charlie said. She did a quick look over of the radio and could tell it would be easy to use, what with a clearly labeled call button and not many else. "Where did you get this? Fritz?" she asked.
"Hilariously enough, I found it in the closet. Ignoring any implications of why they were there, they started working once I threw new batteries in them. Use what you've got, that's what I always say," Mike explained. A telltale sign that he really didn't want to think about William having radios in his closet when he knew there had been others stashed around the house. "In case you guys don't know, cellphones don't work in here. No reception."
"What?" Jessica said in surprise. Mike gave a sympathetically flat hum of agreement, his look showing that he shared her sentiments. "Well, there goes our backup if anyone gets seriously hurt," Jessica said with a slight huff.
"That's strange. It can't be the building itself causing it. As large as it is, we should still get reception through it," John pointed out. He got his phone out to double check. "Yeah, I'm getting bars out here… Think it's something to do with the animatronics, or do you think there's a reason they don't want working phones in there?" John asked Mike, his expression showing that he knew exactly what he was asking.
In contrast, Carlton and Jessica looked uneased by the suggestion, but neither denied the possibility.
"It's funny. Normally I'd say, 'oh yeah, it's to cover up what's going on inside', to make sure nothing gets out about any possible 'accidents'. See, back when I was a worker at Freddy's, they had you sign a bunch of wavers and could basically strongarm you into keeping your mouth shut if someone got hurt. It's not that easy in a place this big and with a lot more people carrying phones," Mike explained. He hesitated on that note before adding, "But considering how this place is being run, it could've been another blunder in the laundry list of bad decisions Fazbear Entertainment made opening this place."
"…They really made you sign contracts forcing you to keep quiet?" Jessica asked in disbelief.
"Yes. They even had wavers that said they didn't have to get us immediate medical help and weren't liable if that led to us dying," Mike said matter-of-factly. "And I wasn't working there when Fritz was, but he said that they had a clause where if you saw blood anywhere you had to clean it up with bleach and then report it to the manager."
"They can't do that! That's beyond illegal!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, it was, and I bet you anything that all it would've taken was one whistleblower to out the whole thing… But Freddy's- and we'll keep pretending it was "Freddy's" and not just Will- knew how to deal with loose ends, and they did!" Mike slid back into his chair and stared across the parking lot. "…I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I wouldn't be too shocked if Jeremy's accident was a planned thing. We know Scott's was."
"Someone tampered with Mangle in the past. I wouldn't be surprised if they did so before that accident… They were never that aggressive during the daytime," Marionette agreed somberly.
Mike looked over towards him and considered saying something, but alas, Carlton beat him to it. Leaning up behind his seat and whispering, "There's nothing like that in my contract, right?"
Mike quirked a brow and looked back. "Didn't you read the contract?" Carlton made a fifty-fifty motion with his hands and the brunette sent him an unamused look. "Okay, first rule to entering the job market: don't sign anything unless you've read it. Secondly, no. I own you, but I can't kill you or let you get killed… Thankfully, your shift ended, what, six hours ago?" He shot the redhead a grin and opened the driver's door. "Let's roll."
The car had been parked around the corner closest to the parking garage, so it wasn't too much of a walk to the open door, but if anyone had come out of the front doors, they would've spotted them right away. For one, everyone had chosen to wear dark clothing, which in hindsight was almost more obvious and suspicious than if they wore normal clothes.
The important part was that Mike himself didn't show up on camera. As long as he was with Marionette the cameras would be defunct, but he couldn't trust that something wouldn't crop up to separate them. Case in point: he was wearing Foxy's dark, baggy hoodie. Which meant if he was caught, he would be taking the fall for a lot more than this, but he wasn't going to let that happen.
The parking garage was nothing to write home about. If anything, the lack of neon or Freddy character standees was sort of a disappointment. The plan was to hide out there until midnight and, knowing about the crowded lower floor due to Natalie's recount, the group headed down there and were able to find an adequate hiding spot behind a forklift.
Almost immediately, Marionette began to wander around the garage with that look in his eyes, making sure the area was safe and that nobody, or nothing, was hiding in the shadows. Mike decided to join him without any convincing.
"We're going to take a quick look around. See if anything got left behind," he told the others. By the rabbit, he meant, but nobody asked.
Mike followed after his partner into the dark stretch of the dank subfloor. He had brought his flashlight and though it worked well to light the area, there was just an amount of grime that fogged up the place. How this culminated in only a matter of days or weeks was beyond him. It was enough that the puppet blended into it, nearly vanishing into the crowded space.
It didn't take long to find him. Mike spotted an open gate for a fenced in area and walked over to find Marionette at the other side of a hallway. He watched as he swiped a piece of paper off of the floor and looked at it.
The gate door squeaked obnoxiously as Mike pushed it further open. "Hey," he quietly called in.
Marionette turned his head towards him and then held the paper to show off what it said. "Hi."
"Huh." Mike shined his light over the lone word on the random scrap of paper. It felt like it was probably significant in some way. "Weird."
"Very," Marionette agreed. He hovered back over to him while folding up the paper and then handed it to him. "Hold this for me?"
"Sure thing." He took it and slipped it into his pocket while the puppet drifted back to the end of the hallway, watching as he tried to open the door and then, when finding it locked, tried to unlock it. If he knew Marionette-.
He couldn't even finish the sentence before the door was unlocked and pulled open. He got a twitch of a both amused and impressed smile and made his way over to follow him through, only for Marionette to back out of the doorway, gently pushing him back with his arm.
"Don't come in. It's a breaker room and it doesn't look very safe," he warned. He craned his neck to look around from directly inside the door. "I hear sparking coming from somewhere."
It could've come from anywhere though, Mike realized as he shined his light past his partner's shoulder. The place was overrun with wires. So many that they were falling over both the mounted and standing breaker boxes. Some of them looking tangled and glossy in the light. Not a shiny glossy either, he swore some of them looked downright greasy, maybe even slimy.
"Look at this place. It looks like something that would've come out of Afton's, but they managed to pull it off in record time," Mike remarked. He shined the light over the corners of the room. "How do you pull this off in a week?"
"Maybe they didn't. Maybe they came in looking like this…" Marionette said cryptically. Mike looked to him with a quirk brow, the puppet finally turning his head to look back at him. "…Or maybe they let the wires drag on the floor and then dumped them all in here. Honestly, it's hard to tell when something suspicious as opposed to negligent."
"I mean, you see what it looks like out there. It's a possibility," Mike said, pointing a thumb back to the rest of the parking garage.
Marionette stuck his torso in fully now, holding himself with one hand on the doorway, and looked around closer at the state of things. Nothing looked too obvious, but an out of sorts breaker room could mean a bigger problem, especially if they started having power failures. Though likely from the size of the building, this was only one of many breaker rooms.
Both he and Mike were suddenly taken off-guard by an initially unfamiliar but then recognizable voice. One that was audible but from a different level, an announcement travelling through the concrete ceiling above. Marionette snapped his body back out of the doorway to listen. Mike took a few quiet steps towards the gate to hear better.
"Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex is now closed. Initiating nighttime protocols,"an automated voice echoed. It sounded like the same one from the Handunit- another thing from Afton Robotics, Mike noted. He knew Marionette noticed too.
Mike checked his watch and hummed. "Midnight. Come on, let's get back to the kids," he suggested. Marionette gave a slight chime despite himself at the 'kids' remark and followed him out.
It didn't take them long to get back to the others. Charlie and Jessica, who were sitting on and leaning back on the same little cart respectively, noticed them first and got up to greet them.
"Midnight has come, young ones. Come along, it is time to explore this neon fortress," Marionette proclaimed with a sweeping motion of his arm. Then hovered a circle around them and back behind John and Carlton to usher them forwards.
"Isn't he like a year older than us?" Jessica quietly asked.
"Uh, maybe. Jury's still out," Charlie answered. Jessica gave her a perplexed look at that unnecessary vagueness, and she returned with a smile and an exceptionally quiet. "You know, the twin thing."
"Ah," she simply answered. She didn't say another word, sparing them all the risk of John or Carlton hearing, asking, and the resulting conversation to come from it.
Instead, they quietly made their way back to the upper level and into the hall that connected with the lobby. After a short walk, they came up on the open security door- likely left open by Natalie- and stepped into the corner of the lobby.
"Huh, so it's just as big on the inside. Neat," Carlton remarked.
Mike scoffed under his breath. If only he knew what was coming. A thought that was a much less appealing when he realized Carlton wasn't the only one who was going to be seeing it for the first time.
"It does have a sort of movie theater look to it," Charlie pointed out. Though that thought was dashed when they came up on some turnstiles, not the main ones but some side ones, and was able to see through into the lobby proper. She caught a glimpse of something and leaned over them to get a better look. "…Okay, I thought you were joking about the golden Freddy statue."
"Oh, there's no way," Jessica said. She leaned over the end of the turnstiles to look. "…That's not real. There's no way."
"Nah, I'm pretty sure its fake. Look at it up close and you'll see it's got that dollar store paint gloss to it," Mike said. He looked at the two and then hummed. "I like your idea though," he said. Then punctuate such by climbing over the turnstiles.
Carlton followed right after him. Jessica and John needed a little more convincing, not climbing over until Charlie did. Marionette just found it more appealing to pop up unexpectedly on the other side, startling Jessica who watched him seemingly pop into existence. He was a strange one, she thought, but she couldn't say she wasn't curious. Especially not since Charlie just reminded her of those suspicions she had.
When they got out into the main section of the lobby- Mike directing them to stay by the gift shop as they headed for the stairs- Jessica found her attention only briefly on the faux-golden statue before returning to the puppet. He had been slowly scanning the area when they first entered, but now he was looking into the windows of the gift shop while passing. She mistakenly believed from his attention in there that he had seen the rest before.
"So, Mari, have you been here before?" she asked. It was an easy assumption to make considering that Charlie had mentioned Foxy coming here- along with the attention on the gift shop.
Marionette seemed surprised to be addressed directly. He turned back to look at her, a smile returning to his face.
"I have not, but both Foxy and Mike have," he answered. He fell back to hover between her and Charlie, arms tucked behind his back. "But they've been trying their hardest to shield me from the harsh reality of this place."
"That's not true. I told you upfront it was a big, gaudy building with a bunch of goofy bear faces plastered over it," Mike said over his shoulder.
"That could've gone for the old Freddy's too," Marionette reactively quipped to Jessica.
"Tell me about it. If there's anything I remember about Freddy's, it was this big poster with a Freddy that looked like a real bear and had this big mouth drooling over pizza that made me so uncomfortable that I was irrationally scared of it. And it was looking right over the dining area. That poster still haunts my nightmares," Jessica remarked. Charlie grimaced, remembering the poster in question. Marionette simply perked up.
"I forgot that you used to go to Freddy's!" he chirred. "Goodness, that must've been long ago. It must've been the diner; I remember they had some very questionable rabbit posters."
"Wait, yes! I remember those! Like, they weren't as bad as the Freddy ones, but they were a far cry from the cute and cuddly thing they did with the characters later," Jessica agreed.
Marionette gave a little chime and the two started making their way up the stairs. Charlie fell behind them but didn't feel ousted. She noticed how delighted the other puppet was by the conversation. Delighted and completely distracted.
She also noticed John coming up beside her and briefly felt that weird sort of out-of-place feeling, but it was dashed quickly when she noticed the look on his face. He seemed troubled by something, considering something, like he had something on his mind but didn't dare to ask.
"What's up?" she quietly asked. He seemed surprised that she noticed and covered up quickly with a small smile.
"Nothing much. I've just got a lot on my mind," he admitted. He looked back up at Marionette's back for a long moment.
She also looked to Marionette before looking back. "Penny for your thoughts?"
"…Maybe later. We're going to be here a while, so we'll have time," he said. She didn't press any harder.
Mike kept an eye out as he ushered them into the elevator and once it was going bumped himself back to the front to stand alongside Marionette, who was still chatting away like they were hanging out at the coffee shop. He hadn't even been this talkative in the car, just the right switch had been flipped and now he was eating up the attention. Mike kept a dutiful eye out but stayed quiet and let him indulge, taking his own enjoyment in the puppet's lively chattering.
"-But Mike and I have been together for a long time," Marionette said, finishing off the end of an explanation of some kind. He then boldly and happily laced his fingers together with Mike's.
It brought a little smile to Mike's face and a nervous twist to his stomach when he remembered that the atrium was just a short elevator ride away. A twist that turned to a knot when the lift slowed to a stop and a dinging signaled their arrival.
The conversation dropped off as everyone faced the doors that he stood in front of. No shielding any of them from this anymore, not even if he suddenly changed his mind. The doors opened and the Pizzaplex was revealed.
Along with a Staff Bot who zoomed around the corner and shoved its face into Mike's.
"Augh!" Mike jumped back with his arms spread out to shove everyone with him. Only to have the bot suddenly stick a map out at his face.
"Hi! Please take this map."
Mike's look of alarm slowly fell to a slightly irked one. "…Ugh. Thanks," he said and snatched the map.
The Staff Bot immediately did a little circle and rolled away somewhere.
"That was just a practice run," Mike muttered. He decided not to look at Marionette or Carlton's face and instead strode out of the elevator, gesturing out towards the atrium. "Welcome to Freddy's."
Marionette had followed him out of the elevator and was staring in silent shock at what was around him. The lobby hadn't prepared him for what it wasn't going to be like- if anything, it gave him the false hope that maybe it was like a big movie theater, even when he knew about the laser tag and the golf, and all the many other fantastical things hiding inside this thick-walled building. Here it stood in all its glamor and glory, lit up with neon even in nighttime gloam.
While the others spoke through their shock, staring with wide eyes and perhaps open mouths at this place, Marionette drifted forward like a sheet in the wind and stopped himself with his hands tight on the railing. He could see the main stage from here and the numerous party tables before it. This place could fit so many people, so many kids. His pupils alit at such a thought.
"Mari?" Mike asked. He was paying some attention to everyone's reactions, but his was the most important, and his silence was telling.
He probably assumed he was going to have another outburst, but Marionette was determined not to. As good and fine as it was to get these emotions out before they led to something dangerous, he couldn't run around in a panicked frenzy all the time. He chose to remain calm about this. He chose not to give Fazbear Entertainment that amount of power over him.
"I'm fii-ine."
Well, that failed spectacularly. If anything, that discordant crack in the middle made it all the more apparent that something was wrong.
It didn't just tip Mike off, it tipped everyone off. Charlie was standing behind him, so she got to him first. She put an assuring arm around him and tipped her head towards his, a motion that he returned even with his fingers tight on the rail.
Jessica came up on the other side of him and only then did he remember everyone who was there and watching his reaction. He needed to remain guarded and collected, he felt. Though she seemed to have a plan of her own.
"It's big, alright, but it's nothing that impressive. What, mini golf? Bowling? It's just an amusement park without the rollercoasters," she said. Considering that she managed to stay face so well, he could've believe her. He mustered the smallest smile and tried his hardest to not look over the entirety of the room and have to take in more surprises. She stood alongside with her head propped on her hand.
Mike was concerned, but he gave them a moment since it seemed like it was working. Then drew his attention to Carlton who had come up beside him. Unlike Jessica or even John, his thoughts were on full display on his face. That look of equal shock and panic was one that Mike knew too well. He looked to him expectantly until the redhead managed a quiet, stunted whisper.
"We are in such… deep…"
"Don't," Mike said through his teeth, cutting him off. He then continued with a firm, "The overhead on this place is huge, it costs a fortune to get in here, and there are parents groups planning protests even as we speak. We'll. Be. Fine."
He might've been trying to convince himself more than Carlton, but he knew everything he said was true. Besides, Marionette didn't need to hear that. Mike was the boss, co-owner, he was the one who had to be on top of this. Not the star, not the staff, it had to be him.
Carlton started taking something out of his jacket pocket and he looked over to see him pulling out a camera. That alone got a slight, amused smile and he reached out to push it back down when Carlton started to lift it up.
"You're going to want to hold off on that until you're at least twenty feet away from Mari or it's coming out warped," Mike forewarned.
"Ooh, right. The camera thing."
"Yeah, it effects these ones too- but keep that nearby. We might need it," he said. Carlton nodded slipped it back into his jacket. Mike then headed over to join Marionette and the girls and patted the puppet's back from behind. "You're taking this a lot better than I did. I took one look at this place and almost dry-heaved."
"It's the lighting. A couple of minutes staring directly at it will give you a headache. Or at least burn out your retinas," Charlie joked.
Marionette gave a soft chuckle. Not a chime, but a good attempt to show his humor. He seemed to be easing up and that was a good sign to get this show on the road and the distraction going. Mike slid in between him and Jessica.
"So, where to first?" he asked. He fished out and unfolded the map in his hands. It wasn't an easy read, but he could fill in the gap with his memories of the tour.
"You said you were looking for a rabbit, right?" John suddenly chimed in. Both Mike and Marionette turned back as he waited for them, standing beside a standing map of the location. "Looks like there's a place called Bunny Bowl up on the third floor. Might not hurt to check."
"Good point, I second," Charlie agreed. She leaned over the railing to try and look up on the third floor for it. "That's probably where she's hiding out."
"Then there we go," Mike agreed. He folded the map back up in his hands and looked to Marionette to agree, but the puppet seemed to be lost in thought. "Bad idea?" he asked.
"No. I think he's right… You go ahead. I'll catch up shortly."
"Oh no," Mike mumbled. Marionette gave an apologetic smile. "…Alright. Where are we going?" he asked. Emphasizing the 'we' so Marionette knew he wasn't talking him out of coming.
"I want to see Freddy. Not to speak with him, not for him to even see me, just to see him. To see with my own eyes that Foxy was right," he said solemnly. "Then we can deal with the rabbit."
"Great! We'll come with you," Charlie said. Jessica agreeing with a semi-curious hum.
"It's better that you don't. There is a reason I don't want Freddy to notice us, and that goes for the rest of his bandmates. We won't be long. Or at least I won't be," Marionette said. He patted Charlie's hand as he detached from her before turning and heading towards the nearest escalator.
"I really think we should stick together," she protested, following behind him.
"We will. We're just going to take a quick look at Freddy, and we'll meet you up at Bunny Bowl," Mike assured. He had to quicken his pace to catch up with the puppet who quickly descended the stairs. "We'll be right back!"
Charlie frowned after them. It was less a matter of her being worried about them- though she did think this was a really risky idea- and more that she had effectively been left behind. Begrudgingly realizing that the only reason she was left behind was to watch her friends, whom were all more than capable of watching themselves. That 'young ones' comment should've tipped her off.
"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Jessica asked.
It was only with that question that it suddenly dawned on Charlie that maybe it was just an excuse for Marionette to get a moment away, and her face softened.
"He will be. It's just a lot to take in…" She turned back to the escalators that led to the upper floor. "Let's get moving."
The small group made their way up the escalators like they were stairs and found themselves on the third floor. Charlie went first to make sure the coast was clear and was about to step off the escalator when she noticed movement near the far left and held out a hand to stop the others. There was a Staff Bot wheeling down the walkway out front of Mazercise and El Chip's. From the way it seemed to be patrolling to the light it was carrying, she guessed it was a Security Bot.
"What is it?" John asked as he came up behind her. She was too focused on the bot and where it was going to notice how close he was.
"I think that's a Security Bot over there. It's too far away to see us, but it might be coming back in this direction, so we should hurry," she recommended. She looked back and he nodded, which she returned before stepping off the escalator and breaking into a sprint. One that was normal for her but almost surprised John by the speed of it, leaving him staring until Jessica gave him a small push.
Charlie was down the stretch in only a few seconds and was about to round the corner when she noticed something to her left and stopped on a dime. Freezing up in the middle of the floor and staring like she was under headlights.
It was another Staff Bot. This one was stationed outside of what looked like large elevator doors underneath a sign that read 'Fazcade', and it looked different from the Map Bot and the Security Bot. That was, they all looked relatively similar, but this one had something that looked like a Handunit attached to its arm. It didn't look like a Security Bot but almost more like a bouncer stationed outside the arcade.
She expected it to set oof an alarm regardless or signal for the Security Bot, but it did neither. In fact, it didn't seem to notice her at all. It wasn't looking at her but at her friends as they finally caught up with her.
"What's- Oh!" Jessica noticed the bot too. It continued to just stare at them. "What do we do, turn around?"
"Let's just…" Charlie trailed off, finishing her answer by moving further to the right and motioning them to follow. They followed her lead and continued on towards Bunny Bowl, passing another set of escalators and around some stuff before coming across an unfortunate revelation. "There's one outside the bowling alley too."
Indeed, there was a second Staff Bot that looked almost identical to the last one standing outside the entranceway to Bunny Bowl. It didn't seem to notice them yet and instead stood in place staring dead ahead.
"Guess they were prepared for people trying to stay after closing and sneak around," John remarked. "Why hire more security when you can just stick a robot outside every door?"
"Well, that's great. What do we do now?" Jessica asked. Her tone showing that she was already expecting the answer to be 'turn around and give up', which wasn't far from where Charlie was now.
Carlton shrug and gave a half-sarcastic, "Walk up and see if they let us in?"
"Maybe slip it a twenty and see if it lets us in?" Charlie offered sarcastically.
When she didn't get the retort she was expecting, she looked to him. Only then did she notice how his brows had stitched together in a thoughtful look.
"…You're not actually thinking about it, are you?" she asked.
"I'm thinking about walking up and seeing what it does," he said. Everyone looked equally shocked at the comment. "The other one saw us and didn't do anything. Maybe it'll think we're workers and let us in?"
"Carlton, that's got to be the worst idea ever. Even bribing the robot sounds better than that," Jessica shot down immediately. She crossed her arms as she began to list off, "It's after hours and we're not wearing uniforms. If we walk up to that thing, it's going to know we're not supposed to be here and set off an alarm. Then we're going to have the security guard AND the security bots onto us."
"And that's if the other one didn't already set off a silent alarm," John pointed out. While his nonchalant face showed that he probably doubted this, Jessica's eyes popping open and lips pursing shut suggested that she didn't.
"All good points, but here's mine: Foxy got into the laser tag arena with Freddy a couple of times. They had to have walked past a bot just like this and it would've seen Foxy in his disguise, thought he was a human, and set off the alarms, but that didn't happen. It's looking at us right now! Look!" Carlton stepped out and the bot's head followed his movements. "The alarms would be going off now, not when I got closer."
As bad as the plan was, he did have some of a point. Even as he walked in a little circle, the Staff Bot clearly saw him, but made no motion like it was alerting a security alarm.
"See? It's staring right at me. Distance shouldn't matter. Charlie, back me up," Carlton suddenly volunteered.
Charlie looked at him like he was insane. "Sorry, but I'm with them on this one," she declined.
"But…?" he coaxed.
As though him tagging on a 'but' was going to suddenly change her mind.
…
Charlie sighed. "But he does have one point. If they were going to set off an alarm on sight alone then they would've done it the second they saw us, or you guys- but that doesn't mean it won't set off an alarm if you walk up and engage it. We're lucky we got this close, we don't need to play with fire by getting closer," she said with some exasperation.
"It's worth a shot," Carlton offered. "I'll do it. And if something goes wrong, I'll run like hell."
"Excellent leadership," John remarked. Carlton turned and started to head over. "I wasn't agreeing with you!"
"Relax! I've got it covered," the redhead insisted as he started over. The three were left staring helplessly as he approached the Staff Bot.
"This is a terrible idea," Jessica muttered. She got in the last word before an automated voice suddenly spoke up.
"Hello. Entry into bowling alley requires one Bowling Ticket."
"Uh…" Carlton seemed to suddenly regret this plan now that he was standing in front of the robot. Something about its blank eyes and utterly lifeless voice made him feel seriously on edge, like it could reach out and grab him at any second. "We don't have a bowling ticket. Where can we get one?"
"Bowling Tickets can be purchased at the following locations:… the front desk located in the lobby… the help desk located on the first floor of the atrium… the prize exchange counter located in the prize counter on the third floor…"
Charlie started to notice a humming noise and turned back only to see the Security Bot that she noticed earlier was now coming down the stretch towards them, almost at the escalators they had come up. She gasped, the sudden tinging in it causing Jessica to jump and both her and John to her.
"Heads up, that security bot's coming this way!" Charlie warned.
It was coming fast, only slowed down by the curvy pattern to it path as to cover more ground with its light. It was enough time to make a run for it but not nearly enough to make it to those second set of escalators, which were facing away from Bunny Bowl. They wouldn't even be able to reach the escalators without running into the Security Bot on the narrow walkway beside them.
It was mutually decided that the best option was to turn and run past Bunny Bowl to the end of the pathway and hope there was somewhere to lose the bot at the end. Or that was what they assumed the plan was as John gave a direct, "Come on!" and made a run for it, with Jessica right on his heels and both assuming that Charlie was going to overtake them shortly.
Until there was a loud clunk from behind them. Jessica turned back only to see Charlie lifting open the shutter on this boxy stall they had just run by. Then, without any warning or explanation, she dove inside and pulled it shut behind her.
"Charlie?!" Jessica half shouted.
John looked back in time to just see that she was missing. "Did you see where she went?!"
"In there!" She pointed to the stall, and right as she did the Security Bot rolled into view.
John had to make a quick judgement call and grabbed Jessica's wrist. "She'll be fine. We have to move," he said. He pulled her away, trusting that Charlie knew what she was doing and hoped it was the right call.
For the two of them, they found themselves at a dead end with little more than a locked door against the wall and a corner with a kiddie ride. John pushed Jessica behind it and crouched down with her, watching the Security Bot roll in closer, closer, and then… it suddenly made a loop and rolled right back the way it came from. It hadn't even came up to the end where they were before turning around and leaving.
The two were only a little shaken. If anything, they were more shocked at how anticlimactically it resolved. Not disappointed, totally relieved, but still a little shocked. They watched from a distance and waited until the Security Bot was passing the escalators and arcade before hurrying back to outside of Bunny Bowl.
The shuttered stall was still closed when Jessica walked up and, after a moment, daintily knocked on it. The shutter slowly lifted, and Charlie peeked out of the small crack, her pupils alit a soft green. Jessica waved down at her and Charlie stared back momentarily before pushing the shutter up the rest of the way, the glow leaving her eyes as light fell over her.
"So, I might've panicked…" she said.
"You think so?" Jessica asked. The twitch of her mouth betrayed amusement, which only ignited Charlie's embarrassment. She hastily began to climb back out of the stall.
"It's, uh, it's a programming thing. Boxes and stuff-," she tried to rationalize. Only to have her explanation cut short with a dull clicking sound. She snapped her head over to see a camera aimed at her. "Carlton, really? Now?"
"Gotta take 'em when I sees 'em," he quipped. He got a smarmy grin. "Baby's going to love this one."
That's when Jessica did a double-take towards the redhead. "Wait a minute. Where were you?" she asked, hand on her hip. "You didn't come with us."
"Here. I just hugged the wall; it didn't see me," he nonchalantly answered
"So, you just stood there, and it didn't see you? How?" she asked.
He could only shrug. They were both baffled by this finding while Charlie was already trying to put the pieces together.
"Huh… So that's why it didn't see us when it was coming up," she murmured thoughtfully. She finished climbing out of the stall before look back down after the Security Bot, which was about to turn the corner towards El Chip's again. "It must have its attention focused on the beam of light. Maybe their field of vision is really narrow, or- you weren't moving, right? Maybe they only detect movement."
"So basically, I just got lucky," Carlton said.
"Considering you threw yourself at the mercy of that robot-," Jessica said, pointing to the Staff Bot outside the door. "Yes, I'd say so."
"But hey, it worked!... It didn't get us in, but at least we know that these bots are just gatekeepers and not security. Like a ride operator who will skimp on the rules as long as you cough up the cash."
Miraculously, this didn't seem to win anyone over.
"There's no alarms going off and we're not in handcuffs. I'd say we all got lucky," John said. "What do you think, Charlie? Should we head back downstairs and wait for those two to get back?" He looked to her for her opinion.
She instinctively pulled the two-way radio off the jacket pocket she had it hooked to, but then hesitated. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to send a call out until she knew they were back in the atrium, not when they were trying to keep a low profile and when she didn't know how loud it was. She kept it in her hand, thumb running circles around a button as she looked out across the atrium and the steadily moving Security Bot.
"…Actually… Let's keep looking around. Look at it: the Security Bot's moving in a pattern, so we might be able to avoid it and keep looking for an open door," she suggested. She gave him a shrug. "They can't all need a pass, right?"
"Now that you said that they will," John said.
"I thought of that right after I said it," Charlie agreed.
They cautiously continued further into the Pizzaplex, now keeping their pace much slower and their destination much more open. One of them had to be open.
And if it wasn't, it was going to be a very long night.