Mable: Enjoy!
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Natalie waited a few days before going ahead with reporting her findings about the elusive white rabbit. Just long enough that the security footage would've been written over and impossible to retrieve. Nobody would be able to double-check and risk catching something they weren't supposed to. Bafflingly, they didn't even do that to check for what happened to Chica. They just told her to and took her word for it. Likely because nobody seemed surprised or concerned for Chica.
That alone said plenty about Fazbear Entertainment's concern for their safety and wellbeing. She could only hope they took the paying customers into higher account.
So, Natalie marched herself into the office to see Wight. Alas, he was out. After considering whether it was worth waiting or it could be taken to one of his underlings, she found herself sitting across the desk of a very pointy woman. One not too far from Wight's age with a permanently furrowed brow which intruded upon what could've otherwise been pretty features. She kept her gaze down for most of the beginning of the conversation, filling out a form unrelated to Natalie's query.
"So, you need to file a security report. I'm assuming on Chica's recent accident," the woman offered. Natalie didn't even know her name. She never introduced herself and there was no name plaque.
"I already did. This is about something else. There's been someone trespassing into the Pizzaplex at night, a woman wearing a white rabbit costume," Natalie answered.
The woman gave her a dryly questioning look. She seemed neither convinced nor concerned.
"I know it sounds crazy, but I saw her with my own eyes. Twice, in fact," Natalie explained.
"You saw a woman in a rabbit costume. Do you mean like a playboy bunny costume?"
"What? No! Just a bunny costume. All white with red eyes."
"So, an Easter rabbit. You saw an Easter rabbit running around the Pizzaplex," she clarified doubtfully. It was clear now that she didn't believe her and was being obvious about.
"Yes."
There was a long moment of silence.
"I can tell you don't believe me-."
"Ma'am, if I can be honest with you, I don't know what game you're playing," the woman answered. "This is a very important time of the year for our business. You couldn't have chosen a worse time to start making outlandish accusations, which makes me very suspicious to why you would."
Natalie was startled and flustered by the accusation. With nowhere to turn, she was forced to play her only card.
"They're not outlandish accusations. I have pictures of this woman running around in the basement, and it looked like she had a knife on her," she said with exasperation.
That changed the look on the woman's face instantly. First to surprise and then to something much sharper. Her voice switched as well from dry and unenthused to sharp and direct.
"You are not authorized to remove security footage out of the Pizzaplex. You will need to hand those over immediately."
Natalie all but recoiled in shock at the comment. Then she narrowed her eyes at the accusation.
"How can I hand them over? They're in the Pizzaplex. In the computer," she retorted.
"You didn't remove any copies of the footage?" she pressed. To which Natalie lied and said she hadn't. "Good. Very good, then we don't have a problem."
The disbelief returned to the blond's face. "What do you mean, we don't have a problem? There is a woman in a rabbit suit running around the Pizzaplex with a knife! And she's come back at least twice."
"Isn't it your job to be dealing with that? It certainly isn't mine, and it's not Mr. Wight's. Now, I would recommend you figuring something out without getting law enforcement involved, if you want to keep your job," she hissed. "This business hinges on trust, and we will lose all of our goodwill if someone starts spreading accusations that remind the community of the rumors about Freddy's."
"They weren't rumors."
"They were."
"They weren't," Natalie snapped. She was barely able to keep herself in line and only did so for her own wellbeing. "Also, don't threaten my job. Mr. Wight's done nothing but sung praises about my work and he's the one who signs my paycheck. If you have a problem with it, you go to him. Or better yet, maybe I should go to him. We can see what he thinks about all this."
Now it was the woman who looked startled. Even lifting a hand to her chest as though she had just been personally attacked. Natalie didn't feel much victory as she turned on her heel and strode out of the office.
She had almost thought that Fritz had been exaggerating about how little Freddy's cared about safety, or assumed that was the old Freddy's, but no. A lack of concern for staff and patrons was very much still present at Freddy Fazbear's.
Natalie stormed out of the office with a sour look on her face, unsure if she should be relieved that Fazbear Entertainment seemingly didn't care or just outright offended at whatever just happened. Honestly, she was leaning towards the latter. She huffed out a very unkind word under her breath.
"I know, right? She's just such a pain in the neck."
And was promptly blindsided by someone waiting beside the door. Her head snapped over and her stomach nearly plummeted at the sight of Ness standing there. Like she had been listening, at least the closeness to the door suggested so.
"Did you hear us…?" Natalie dared to ask.
"What? Oh, no! I wasn't eavesdropping! I just meant I've run into her a few times and she's, yeah, she's a lot. Even Mr. Wight doesn't get along with her, and I mean, can you blame him?" Ness said. Her face broke into an excited grin. "Speaking of Mr. Wight, take a look at what I've got."
She lifted what looked to be a little coupon book with a Pizzaplex logo on it between her hands. She flipped through them in front of her, allowing Natalie to get a few brief glimpses at coupons inside.
"Coupons?"
"For the Pizzaplex! Wight gave them for me because I said I'd go to the retreat with him. Look! Seventy-five percent off mini-golf, twenty percent off a membership to Mazercise, free refills to all mega-sized mug drinks!" Ness listed off. She waved the coupons in her hand. "Okay, so, I don't really want to spend my life hanging out at the Pizzaplex alone like a weirdo, so why don't you come with me, and we like… blow through most of these in one day? What do you say?"
She sounded so excited about the prospect. So bouncy and thrilled at the idea of them hanging out.
Natalie only noticed now how Ness' eager little motions seemed to line up with Vanny's. She really hoped she was just imagining it, even though she was almost completely convinced that this was the white rabbit out of costume standing before her.
"You went on the retreat already?" she asked. Buying herself a little time to consider her answer.
"No, we're not leaving until the seventeenth. Just enough time for him to maybe change his mind? Hopefully."
"You don't have to go."
"I think I do. I took the coupons," Ness pointed out. "So, what do you say? Girls' night out? Or day. Afternoon."
What could've been such an innocent offer a week or two ago was suddenly much less safe. Ignoring the fact that Ness might've been listening in on her, but now she had reasons to believe Ness herself wasn't quite what she seemed to be.
It was like walking a tight-rope, and Natalie considered it for a second. Eventually she came to a decision.
"You know what? Sure! I've got nothing else going on," Natalie agreed. She had a bit of a bad feeling about this, but she had a worse feeling about giving Ness a reason to retaliate. Though she wasn't going to open herself up to that much risk without a backup plan. "Hey, do you mind if I invite someone to come with us?"
Natalie and Ness showed up to the Pizzaplex wearing business casual. Looking like a couple of ladies who had just gotten off work and were looking for somewhere to kill time.
Louise showed up in a hot pink pencil skirt with a sleeveless cream blouse like she came prepared for date night, hair pulled back in a high ponytail and lips a cherry red. That was one way to leave a first impression, Natalie supposed.
"Ness, this is Louise! Louise, Ness," Natalie introduced.
Now, Louise was aware of the situation with Ness. Not the whole deal about the possible possession and what happened with Marionette but knew at least that Natalie suspected that Ness was the woman running around the Pizzaplex dressed in a rabbit costume. And since Natalie hadn't had a chance to update her feelings since the whole possession idea came up, she still was on the train of thought that Ness was some oddball running around in said rabbit costume for attention or to spite Freddy's.
So, it was no wonder when she greeted Ness with the gusto of not knowing you were talking with someone who could potentially be a danger to other people.
"Hi! It's so nice to finally meet you! Nat's told me all about you," she greeted with a friendly smile.
"I didn't know there was that much to tell!" Ness replied with a significantly more nervous one.
"Don't worry, I didn't tell her about the freezer incident," Natalie whispered behind her.
"The what?"
"She's joking! Joke- We've got this running joke about my… empty freezer," Ness awkwardly discredited. "Let's get inside before the afternoon rush gets here when the kids let out."
"Sounds good to me. Where to first?" Natalie asked. To which Ness got out the coupon book and Louise's eyes popped open.
"Now there's a fat coupon book. Can I see?" Louise eagerly requested. She held her hand out and the brunette handed it over to no complaint. The redhead skimmed through it. "Seventy-five percent off?! Where did you get this?"
"From my boss. Our boss."
"All my bosses give me is free pizza," Louise lamented. "Monty's Gator Golf's mini golf, right? Let's do that! Something to break us in."
So, that's where they headed first.
Monty's Gator Golf was so much different during the day. The lighting was only a little brighter, so it still gave that foggy swamp feel, but now there were kids and people all over the place so it was much less intimidating. Ness had gotten them to cut the small line with a fast pass she had on hand. Natalie almost considered asking where she was getting all these perks but didn't have to. It was Wight, likely. Buttering her up for some reason.
It didn't take long to get in and get going. They picked up their supplies from the golf shop, including having to sign a paper that agreed to pay the full price of each golf club and ball if they didn't return them- with only some leeway if they could prove they hit their ball into the water- and then were on their way to the first hole.
It became apparent rather quickly that while Louise had suggested golf and was having fun with it, she wasn't great at it. Either this was her first time playing or she just couldn't get in the swing of it, Natalie didn't ask. Especially since Louise was still having a good time and didn't seem to care that she had gotten under par once or twice. Her focus was on the cutely designed greens and the ambience, not her little issue tapping the ball just a bit too hard.
Until the sixth hole. The sixth hole was basic enough in theory, but in practice was a little more complicated. Hit the ball past a group of gator heads, up a ramp, into a gator's mouth, and then when it pops out tap it into the hole. Seemed like an easy shot.
But Louise was having a slight amount of difficulty, and perhaps it was because she was still stuck in the gator heads on her par stroke, but she was suddenly taking the game a lot more seriously. On both next strokes she got it past them and up the ramp into the gator's mouth, only for the ball to roll back down and lodge itself back in the heads. Louise kept her mouth in a tight line and decided a new tactic was in play.
Right when Ness was about to offer a tip, Louise suddenly whacked the ball over the side of the track, intending to skip the gator and go straight into the green- and it almost worked. Unfortunately, she tapped it a little too hard and popped over the other side.
Her line mouth slowly dropped into a frown and Louise rolled her eyes back to the other women with a fed-up look.
"Just put me for five plus. I'm done."
Natalie gave a teasing little shrug and marked it down, and that was the end of it.
Or it should've been.
While coming down the stairs to the lower level of Monty Golf, Natalie had caught sight of Monty on stage. He was likely supposed to be performing, but instead he was just standing there, bass in hand, staring off into the distance. She might've thought he was looking at something if this wasn't Monty, who had drifted off into a blank stare in almost every one of their interactions.
She waved at him, and his head turned towards her. He acknowledged her with a nod and started to strum his bass like he might've originally been doing. Just a little exchange that she wouldn't have not thought twice about except for the heavy footsteps walking up.
By now Ness was already going and stole a look back before hastily whacking the ball up into the gator's mouth. She got herself out of the way right as Natalie and Louise turned back to see Monty walking up, quickly finishing up her go while they were distracted before fading off to the side. Louise mumbled an 'uh oh' under her breath and greeted the gator with a smile, expecting to get caught red handed.
Monty sauntered over to the two before greeting them with, "Someone having a tough time?"
Natalie pointed to Louise who gave a look of betrayed shock before putting back on a smile and raising a hand. "Guilty as charge! But it's no big deal."
"Mm-hm," Monty said. Natalie flashed him the bad, which he spared a glance at while pretending to adjust his sunglasses.
"Happens all the time. Mind if I give ya a few pointers?"
"Sure! I'll take all the help I can get," Louise agreed.
She offered him her club. His claws brushed over her fingers as he took it. He accepted Natalie's offered golf ball and dropped into onto the green, then got into position to swing.
"Just enough space to run it down the middle. Line it up, firm tap." He did so, did so, and knocked the ball through the heads rather easily. Then stepped past them under the head. "Knock it in hard on in. You'll need that force on the other side." One sharper hit had it up into the gator's mouth and after a few moments left it popping out into the boxy maze to the right of the hole. Monty stepped down into it and got into position. "Now just line 'er up and…"
One last hit bounced across a couple of walls before rolling it right into the hole. "There ya go."
"You make it look so easy," Louise complimented. "I just keep hitting it too hard."
"I hear ya, I've got the same problem, but ya can't hit it too hard on these ones. Gonna need that power behind the swing."
"Thanks, Monty," Natalie said with a smile. "It's nice seeing you outside of work hours. Well, my work hours."
"Any reason why you came in? I'd think this is the last place ya'd want to be," Monty pointed out. Partially leaning on the golf club, though more for show as the flimsy little thing likely wouldn't hold too much wait.
"We got a coupon book from Wight that we're taking advantage of."
"Old Wight or young?"
"Daddy Wight."
"Gotcha. Glad he's treatin' ya well. You deserve a few perks fer this job," Monty remarked. He then straightened back up. "I best be on my way. You ladies have a good game."
He flipped the golf club around and offered it to Louise. Though when she grabbed the handle, he tilted his head down and lowered his glasses to glance over the top.
"And if ya have any more trouble, just give me a holler," he said. His voice trailing off in a low rumble.
"Then don't go too far," Louise joked with a little wink.
Natalie pursed her lips at the distinct shift in the conversation. Monty didn't notice, even if he did he might've not cared, and then sauntered off back to the stage. Louise watched him go with a continuing smile.
"He's really cool," she said. Then, with the same smile, she leaned over and whispered out the corner of her mouth, "Is it just me, or was he…?"
"He was flirting with you."
"Okay, good! I didn't want to jump to conclusions if he's like this with everyone," Louise said. She wasn't even the slightest bit bothered by it. She turned around only to notice they were missing one. "Where'd Ness go?"
"Over here! I was just, uh, over here. Trying out the next one," Ness called from nearby. She didn't come back over though, instead lingering by the next hole until Natalie finished up and the two followed her.
It was obvious that she had been avoiding Monty. Natalie decided to not call her out on it, but she tucked it away in her head for later.
But that wasn't the last they saw of Monty, and not just because his face was peppered all over the golf course. They were in the final stretch of holes where Louise had finally hit another difficult one. She held out until she reached her fifth swing before she got a thoughtful look, then picked her ball back up.
"You guys go ahead. I'll be right back," she said.
Natalie quirked a brow at her, though without questioning. She knew exactly where she was going.
Louise found Monty back on the stage. Instead of staring off into space, he was leaning against one of the oversized speakers strumming on his bass. As she approached, he lowered both the bass and his sunglasses to peer over the top again.
"Hey, sorry to bother you, but if you're still giving golf lessons…" Louise began with an apologetic but also borderline pleading smile.
She didn't have to say a word more. He propped his bass where he once stood and hopped down from the stage before following her over. Once he saw the hole in question, he gave a low hiss.
"Yeah, this one gives everyone problems," he admitted. Something she believed as she watched Natalie slowly put around a bunch of glowing circle-shaped obstacles. "Ball likes to stick to those things fer some reason. Ruins the flow."
"Surely not a problem for you though," Louise hinted.
"Maybe not, but I'm not the one who's playin'," Monty quipped back.
"Then teach me. I still have a chance to win this," she proclaimed with a faux dramatic tone. She was also blatantly lying, as even if she made birdies for each holes she likely wasn't coming out on top this game. He gave a nod and hum of agreement.
Once Natalie finished, and since Ness had scooted off somewhere nowhere to be seen, Louise offered the club to Monty. He raised a hand in decline and instead beckoned her to follow.
"Y'mind if I get a little hands on?" he asked.
Her brows shot up and her mouth got a goofy little tug to the side. "It's fine with me! Show me what to do."
"Atta girl."
Natalie knew what was coming even before it did. She had seen enough movies to know exactly what was about to happen.
"Now, the important thing 'bout this hole," Monty began. He wrapped his arms around Louise from behind and took ahold of the club just above and below hers. "Is to look where yer goin'. Normally ya just gotta keep your eye on the ball, but this time you gotta keep the whole scope in play." He slightly rested his head on her shoulder, if only to focus while lining up the shot. He then guided her to putt the ball.
He continued this through the entire hole. Slowly guiding her in every put, his low murmuring only occasionally broken up by a tiny giggle here or there. Louise's face was slowly turning redder with every passing moment, but her grin never wavered.
Monty was playing the cheesiest game with a straight face, Louise was eating it up like it was dripped over a plate of nachos, and Ness was once again nowhere to be seen. Natalie felt like the straight man in a show she wasn't even getting paid for.
It didn't stop there though. Monty hung around for the next hole. Another 'difficult' one, pretty much a straight line with only a simple turn and basic obstacles. Louise had one wild swing and Monty was back to showing her how to hit it properly, and at this point Natalie was pretty sure the game was over. Spotting Ness putting at another hole, she walked over and joined her in the doorway of Monty's trailer- or the trailer obstacle for the hole. There wasn't nearly enough room for Monty to hang out in here.
"Hey," she said. Ness looked over a little quickly, only to relax and greet her with a little smile. Natalie smiled back, a bit sympathetically perhaps. "Monty make you nervous?"
"Something like that," Ness admitted. She looked down to line up another shot. "All of the animatronics do, really. Except maybe the, umm… The spider guy up in the arcade."
"There's a spider guy?"
"Oh yeah. Big guy."
Well, that was news to Natalie. "And he's the one that doesn't scare you?"
"Nope."
"…Freddy scares you?" Natalie dared to ask a bit more doubtfully.
"Oh yeah," Ness affirmed. Then she knocked the ball down the little slope to stop by the hole. Natalie didn't respond, and Ness look back to see her quirked brow and the twitch of a restrained smile. "…He's weird! He's… I don't know. Unpredictable? He could just show up anywhere," she quickly defended.
"Yeah, he does sort of do that," the blond agreed.
"I like my animatronics soft and plushie, without the claws and extra stuff. That's why-."
Ness cut off and looked aside to see Louise and Monty coming. Natalie looked back to see them as well, then looked back to Ness to catch a glimpse of her back as she nudged the golf ball in and disappeared around the trailer.
Funny, Freddy was starting to look like the normal one.
…
After golf wrapped up and Monty finally went off for good, the three moved on to the next attraction to see. It was Natalie's idea to check out Mazercise. Not to stop and hang out there or anything, but to see what it was like during the day.
It was about as dysfunctional as she expected it to be.
Half of the room was devoted to the workout area where a woman in gaudy pink and lime green spandex and a high ponytail led a group of people in a jazzercise routine. There were a few stragglers working out with weights or other equipment pieces as well. It all fit with what Mazercise was supposed to be, save that there was no sign of the so-called maze.
Then there was the other section of the room devoted to dining. Tables for people to eat, where plenty of people were eating, and a buffet ready with all sorts of recently made snacks. A pile of cookies, a warming tray full of French fries, a few slices of pizza left on two largely barren platters; it was a regular smorgasbord. Unfortunately, it was a smorgasbord only about twelve feet from a bunch of people working out.
The smell in the room was unbelievable. It was some weird blend of fresh sweat and nachos. Either of which could've been fine on their own, but mixed together was less than appealing to the senses. They didn't stick around long.
It was while riding the escalator down that Ness volunteered, "You want to go get something to eat?" Upon getting a peculiar look, she quickly added, "Not back there. I meant anywhere else. Down there somewhere."
So, they headed down into the food court to eat. It wasn't nearly as crowded as it would likely be later, so it wasn't a bad choice to enjoy what they could while they had the chance. Plus, it gave Natalie and Louise an excuse to scout out the competition's food.
The food was, as expected, expensive even with coupons, and unfortunately the coupons they did have were rather specific. So, unless they wanted to walk to some sort of diner or the Faz-Pad, most of it was coming straight out of pocket. Ness had nudged Natalie and discretely reminded her to tell the Staff Bot at the counter that she was an employee. After having to flash her card and having it study her face for a long time, it identified her as a worker and gave her a minimal employee discount.
With that discount she bought a pretzel stuffed with cheese and pepperoni. The quality was good, and the taste fit the bill, but there was a little bit of toughness to the edges. Like it had been cooked just a touch too long, though dipping the tips in its own leaking cheese made it easy to ignore the flaw.
Louise got something called a Burger Dog. It turned out to not be a Hot Dog that tasted like a burger, but a Hot Dog made of burger meat, covered in condiments, and wrapped in lettuce. No hot dog bun. Louise gave it a quizzical look and then went about trying to eat it.
Ness got two slices of pizza. The only peculiar part being her chosen toppings, a classic pepperoni and cheese styled pizza topped with broccoli and pickles. Natalie wasn't sure what kind of craving must've led to that combination, but it didn't look too unappetizing. She ended up buying her novelty mug as well, one with Glamrock Chica's face on it, and got it filled with something called a Fizzy Blast and asked at least three times if Natalie and Louise wanted to try some. Promising that she wasn't contagious with anything.
They got a table by the Fazer Blast sign and while sitting close to a couple of families, it wasn't nearly as loud as to be expected. Lunch went fine at first, but they had only gotten a little into it when Ness got a weird look at something past Natalie's back. A sort of deer in headlights look that instantly made Natalie guess that Monty was walking up behind her, so she was surprised when that wasn't the case.
"Thought I recognized that ponytail. What, you haven't gotten sick of this place yet?" Chaz joked as he walked up to the table.
"Not when I'm eating on Mr. Wight's dollar," Natalie retorted. She watched him come over and lean on the back of the unused chair, his beard especially frizzy today. "Are you still working on Chica?"
"Nah. Not until we get some parts in," he answered. He looked across the table at Ness and nodded at her. "How's it going, Ness?"
"Hey," Ness greeted with a smile. Though there was some nervousness in it. In fact, Natalie could tell Chaz seemed a little awkward too. There was something strange between the two.
Louise must've noticed too as she stuck out her hand and all but yanked the attention off the nervous looking Ness. "Hi! I'm Louise."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Chaz, head technician by technicality," Chaz introduced with a grin and a shake of her hand.
"So, what are you doing? Just on standby in case any of the Staff Bots go down?" Natalie asked curiously. Mostly to keep the conversation going.
"As a matter of fact, no. We… think we might've found that power leak," Chaz said, hanging on the words in anticipation. "We found this gnarly looking high voltage cable running from the downstairs cafeteria into the basement and haven't been able to source it."
"Huh, that's a weird place."
"You'd think so, but from where it's plugged in, we think it might've been left over from when the Pizzaplex was being built. It's running right off the line that powers one of the recharge stations and we know they were using those for construction before the stations were installed. Once this place closes up, we're going to cut the power and pull it loose."
"Good luck with that. That sounds dangerous," Natalie warned.
"Anytime the lights are out in this place we're at a risk of getting smoked. That Moon wants me dead. He already ran off Ray," Chaz said dryly. He didn't really sound to be joking, but he also didn't sound too concerned. "But we'll get the lights back on before your shift."
"Thanks. I don't think I could handle a whole night here in pitch dark. I'd die of boredom."
Something Natalie immediately regretted saying as soon as she remembered who was sitting beside her. She looked casually over at Louise and then Ness to see if there was any reaction on the latter's face without it being too obvious. Ness smiled back uneasily.
"Yeah, if you don't die of suffocation first," Chaz remarked. "You ladies enjoy your afternoon. And try to steer clear of Roxy Raceway, we've got some cracks popping up on the track again."
"Again?" Ness asked in disappointment.
"Again?" Louise asked a little more pointedly.
"Yeah, again," Chaz said with an almost fed-up shrug. "One thing or another. Alright, take care. See you around, Ness, Ness." He nodded at both 'Ness's and made his way off as they exchanged their own farewells.
"Well, I guess go-karting's out," Ness said with a sigh. She was crinkling up and tearing a napkin in her hands, still nervous. "We can still check out Fazer Blast, but they don't open their adult-only lobbies until three, I think."
"That's probably for the best. I don't really feel like zipping around right after eating," Louise offered.
"So, I guess bumper cars are out too?" Ness asked, getting a small, crooked smile. She got an idea and turned to Natalie, "You know what we could do-."
Just as suddenly Ness cut herself off. She looked at something behind Natalie for a long moment before looking back to the blond.
"Uh, hold that thought. I need to use the bathroom," she said. Then she got up from her chair and hastily hurried off.
If that wasn't enough of a clue, Natalie noticed encroaching heavy footsteps and the sound of kids in the general area getting excited. She looked back over her shoulder expecting to see Freddy Fazbear himself walking up.
Nope, still Monty Gator. Striding towards their table with the same saunter he had at the golf course. They had lost him for thirty minutes at max.
Natalie looked back at Louise intending to jokingly remark, "Can you believe this guy?" but caught sight of Louise's equally eager look and clammed up. Maybe the gator wasn't the only one on the prowl.
Monty walked up beside the table, standing behind Ness' empty chair, and greeted them with a cool nod.
"How're ya'll?" he asked. Less like a rockstar making rounds and more like a waiter dropping in to ask about refilling their drinks, regardless of how broadly he stood.
"Having a really good time," Louise remarked, resting her chin on her tented fingers.
Monty glanced down at her plate for a long second.
"Where's yer buns, Cher?"
"I'm sitting on them," Louise cheekily answered.
Natalie turned her head away before she slapped her hand over her face.
"I don't know. It's supposed to be a hamburger flavored hot dog, but I sort of assumed it was going to come with a bun," Louise said more honestly. Sending a furrowed and downright confused look down at the plate.
"That's real strange… Ya'll should've stopped on by Gator Grub before ya left. We've got buns," Monty said. "If yer lookin' to plan another round, I can getcha a free pass."
"That would be great, thanks! You're going to be there, right?"
"Not fer a couple of hours. I'm headin' back to Rockstar Row. I've got a meet and greet, and a party 'round two, but I'll get on back there, so drop in."
"We will! Before we leave, for sure."
Considering that Roxy Raceway was out, Natalie supposed she could give Monty Golf another go. She didn't mind playing wingwoman for Louise.
"Rock on. Make sure ya'll stick around for the show too, aight?"
"We wouldn't miss it!"
"Hi," a small voice said from somewhere behind them. Monty turned back to see a small kid waving from one of the other tables. "Hi."
"I'll see ya'll later," Monty finished. He sent Louise a quick look over his sunglasses before heading over to the table to greet the family there. Almost immediately getting swarmed with more children who suddenly decided this was confirmation to move in.
"Later gator!" Louise said after him.
"I'm guessing later could be anytime now," Natalie joked. She stood up from the table. "I'll be right back. I'm going to see where Ness ran off to."
"Good idea. I'll wait here and admire the view," the redhead said as she watched Monty start a mini meet and greet in the middle of the food court.
"You know, I didn't think you'd be into this so fast," Natalie remarked. Vaguely, but Louise knew what she was implying.
"I'm warming up to the idea," she replied.
With that little exchange, Natalie headed off to find the bathrooms. It didn't take her long to locate the ones that Ness likely went into, considering this was the direction she darted off in. She stepped inside and went around the corner and spotted Ness right away.
She was standing at the back of the bathroom facing the wall with her back towards Natalie. The sight of it made her stop in her tracks.
There was something wrong. Just something about how rigidly Ness stood there with her arms straight at her sides. It reminded Natalie of Smitty being wedged up into the corner. There was a low murmuring coming from the woman as though speaking under her breath, but it was too quiet for her to hear. Natalie stained to listen and stepped a little closer, further away from the door where the noise and music of the atrium spilled in.
Whatever Ness was saying, Natalie couldn't hear it and she didn't feel safe enough creeping up on her. So, she decided to make her presence known and cleared her throat.
Ness jumped in a rather dramatic fashion and spun around to look at her. Her eyes were wide, pupils wide, staring in shock before finally cracking into a smile.
"Heeeyyy, I didn't hear you come in!" she said. She straightened back up. "Monty's got me antsy. You know how it is- eh, you know how he is."
"He can be a little intimidating, for sure. It's not as bad once you've been around him a while," Natalie assured. "Is everything okay? You looked a little… spaced out."
"I'm fine. I just had a moment, that's all!" Ness dismissed. She turned towards the bathroom mirror and began to fix her hair.
"Well, I'm done and Louise won't take much longer. What was your idea before Monty came up?"
"That! Well, I was thinking…" Ness trailed off for a long moment. She squinted at herself in the mirror as though drawing a long blank, then snapped out of it. "Sorry, I lost my train of thought for a second. How about we go bowling? There's no animatronics up there."
Though the idea of going up to Bunnie Bowl raised some flags, Natalie noted that it would've been just as suspicious if Ness hadn't have brought it up.
"Sounds good to me. Louise and I have gone bowling a few times, so we're not too rusty."
"Good! And then once we break our nails doing that," Ness said with an almost mischievous grin. She pulled out the coupon book from her pocket and flipped through it to one of the coupons. "Bang! Twenty percent off hair or nails at the Glamrock Beauty Salon!"
"That's a steal! Wait, and or or?... Okay, maybe not as much of a steal, but still probably a deal. Where even is that? I've heard about it, but I've never seen it. Is it in Roxy Raceway?"
"It's kind of to the back and right of it," Ness said, making the motions with her hands. She looked at herself in the mirror again, briefly fluffing up her hair. "Maybe I should get my hair done. I've always wanted to do it. Why not?"
"Why not? You've got the coupon," Natalie said supportively. "So, what were you thinking of having done?"
"Highlights. Like… Like rainbow highlights, I… Uh…" Ness blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes with a low hiss. "Sorry…
"Ness, are you alright?" Natalie asked more worriedly.
"I've got a headache. That's all… the lights or the food or something. I'm okay!" The brunette perked up and smiled at her. Finally, it seemed a little more natural and less strained. "I'm good. Sorry about that. I'm just still a little out of it."
"Don't be sorry. Look, the coupons aren't going anywhere. Why don't we put a raincheck on this?"
"No! No, I'm fine. I promise," Ness insisted. "…Maybe I'll hold off on the hair care products for now?"
"Oh yeah," Natalie agreed. "Still up for bowling?"
"Sure!... Would you mind peeking out and making sure Monty's moved on?"
Natalie did. While she did, she could hear Ness turning the sink on and came back to see her splashing water over her face. Seemingly recovered, Ness had her typical bounce back in her step once they were on their way upstairs.
From that point on through the rest of the day, Ness never had another incident like that. She didn't act weird at all, save the almost comical reaction she got at the price of cupcakes at the Cupcake Shoppe. That didn't stop her from buying one.
She didn't go ahead with getting her hair done. She seemed to buckle under the idea almost immediately, but Natalie didn't blame her when it was Staff Bot running the salon, or Salon Bots. Some of which had scissors attached to one of their hands and circled around making clipping noises. Thankfully, getting their nails done was a different story. There were human employees to do that aspect, likely because of the precision it required that the Staff Bots simply weren't up to.
Fazer Blast was a no-go, overbooked, so the fallback ended up being bumper cars. Allowing Natalie to get a good look at Roxy Raceway's racetrack with the lights on. There were plenty of people in there, many still trying to get onto the racetrack, but it was closed. As became apparent when Natalie passed a man getting heated with a Staff Bot vocalizing the same thing. Natalie watched the altercation for a moment before Ness goaded her to come along.
The Staff Bots could handle themselves, she supposed. Something that was confirmed a little later when Natalie heard the same bot sounding an alarm, signaling a Security Bot to come and escort the man and his family away.
They also caught one of the performances. Louise took the plunge to disappear in the crowd while Natalie and Ness watched from the second floor. As soon as the show began, the absence of Chica was significantly more noticeable. Everyone remained in their own places, so Chica's spot was left open and empty. The sound of her guitar playing through a recording instead of being from her.
"Why's it taking so long to get Chica back up and going?" Natalie asked. More so asking herself than Ness, murmuring it under her breath. Though the other woman did hear her.
"It's that upgrade she got. You know, the one to help her sing? That was a really big deal. Some sort of prototype for something and it went missing when she got broken, and now they've just got her shutdown downstairs while they're waiting for… I guess a replacement."
"A replacement… Wait… Was it in her beak?"
"It was attached to her beak, I think,"
"…Huh." That suddenly made Chica's beak spontaneously disappearing awfully more suspicious. "Did Wight say anything?"
"About Chica?"
"Like when he thinks she's coming back."
"Oh, he doesn't know," Ness brushed off immediately. She slouched further onto the railing. "Mr. Wight might be the one running the place, but when it comes to the technology in it, he's not running the shots."
"What does that mean?" Natalie asked curiously.
"It means a lot of this stuff is like stuff being tested- experimental! The Staff Bots and stuff, it's all this experimental technology and Mr. Wight's doesn't really own it he's just borrowing it. At least, that's what I think," Ness explained. She sat there a long moment before quietly adding on. "Brad thinks so too."
"He does?" Natalie asked with mild surprise. "So, he's been to the Pizzaplex?"
"Uh, well yeah, but that's not- not a big shock since I work here and I- he's been here. He's not here right now, but he's came by and he agrees with me… probably because he always agrees with me. He's kind of like that," Ness said, tapping her nails on the railing.
"Why don't we bring him with us next time?" Natalie offered.
Ness got a small smile. "Sure."
The rest of the show went by as did more of the afternoon, until the point where everyone was starting to feel worn out from Pizzaplex 'fun'. Though Natalie was the one to finally voice as much.
"So, what do you guys thinking about leaving soon? I'm having a great time, really, but I'd like to get some time at home before I have to come back in for my shift," Natalie said. Get some time with Fritz too. Good thing he was at work for most of the day because elsewise she would've felt bad about missing time with him. That softened the blow.
"Oh! We can do that, sure! These coupons aren't going anywhere," Ness assured. She seemed a little caught off-guard, but she quickly recovered. She took a quick look at the top coupon and squinted for the expiration date. "…Until June."
"We'll be back by then," Natalie promised.
Louise made a hesitant sucking noise through her teeth. When Natalie looked to her, she gave an apologetic little smile.
"How about one more round of golf?" she tentatively asked. From her tone to her look, to the little shrug that accompanied both, gave off the impression that she knew exactly how it sounded and was aware that they were going to catch on.
"I know we said we were going to, but I think I'm going to have to pass. It's just so busy in there…" Natalie said apologetically. The fact was that the place was now packed and committing to mini golf would probably eat up double the time it normally would.
"Are you sure? We could just play half a game, nine holes," Louise suggested.
"Or… You could just go visit Monty," Natalie verbally nudged. "We'll just chill out in the lobby until you get back. Get Ness another refill."
Louise bit her lip thoughtfully. She didn't want to make Natalie wait for her, but she didn't really want to get left here either. It was a really cool place, no doubt, but the horror stories she had heard from Mike, Jeremy, and even Foxy left her with the heebie-jeebies.
"I'll be quick," she promised. She turned on her heel and hurried of in an instant, speedwalking her way back to Monty Golf.
Thankfully the Staff Bot taking party passes was distracted, and the human manning the desk inside- who didn't look to care either way- bought her on the fly 'lost my earring' excuse. Said missing earring carefully removed and currently hiding in her palm before she walked into site. They believed her- then again, they didn't seem to care- and she walked right in.
There were double the amount of people here. Probably all the families who were hogging the lobbies in Fazer Blast earlier, she guessed. She hustled around the families who were playing and made her way to the stairs and down beside the stage, but Monty wasn't there. Undeterred, she continued to make her way around the attraction along the walking paths looking for him. It didn't take too long before through the multitude of voices and faux gator hisses she heard the telltale sound of those heavy footsteps.
She ended up walking right up on him. His head snapping to her, his slouch posture straightening up, and him greeting her with a, "Back for more, Cher?"
"You couldn't keep me away," Louise remarked cutely.
He let out a contented little rumble. "Didn't even hear ya'll come in. Where ya'll at?" he asked, looking around.
"No, we're not playing. As a matter of fact, we've got to get going," Louise said with an apologetic smile. "Not my decision. Na-ess needs to get some time at home before she comes back to work."
"That's a shame but she's the boss… Unless ya wanna stay. Don't worry 'bout these folks. We can get ya squeezed in fer some one-on-one pointers," Monty offered, his voice dropping into a lower rumble. The suggestion alone heating up Louise's cheeks, regardless of the whole gator thing.
"I'd love to, but I'm the ride. But I'll be back! I could maybe squeeze in some time this weekend," she offered.
"I've got a better idea. Come on." Monty gestured her to follow and started walking away.
Louise followed him all the way back to the stage. Though instead of going directly to it, he led her to one of the first aid stations. He pushed back the curtain and leaned in, moving something aside before pulling out an envelope stamped with the Pizzaplex logo and handing it over.
"This'll getcha back in," he said.
Louise turned it over in her hands and noticed the message jotted on the back in green ink, along with his autograph punctuated with a little star. She quirked a brow with a teasing grin at the little message.
"The Monty Experience?"
"It'll rock your world," Monty promised. Dragging his sunglasses down to wink at her. "Aim fer Monday if ya can. It's a whole lot quieter."
"It's a date!" Louise agreed. "Well, not a date per say."
"Nah, it's a date," Monty doubled down. A chuckle rumbling through his chest at the sight of the flush spreading across her face. "Come back soon."
"You can count on it," Louise agreed. She then started off with a much more confident sway in her step. Clasping the envelope between her hands as she made her way out before stashing it in her purse.
This was so weird, but it didn't feel as weird as it probably should have.
It wasn't until after she met up with the others, left the Pizzaplex, and had gotten into her car that she opened the envelope, which had been folded closed but not sealed. She expected to find maybe a couple more golf coupons. There was a golf-specific party pass inside along with an entry pass, a photo pass, a meet-and-greet pass-.
Suddenly Monty's clarification made a little more sense. Not that she was complaining.
Though next time she was smuggling in her own lunch.
Gnarly was a rather tame way to describe this wire.
It was thick. So thick that it took two hands to wrap fully around it. A wire made of a bundle of other wires combined into one, leading back into a vent and, upon following it far enough, they had actually found it coming out of another vent and leading down the corner of one of the perpetually poorly lit hallways. It was following it this way that they found that areas where the wire was either duct taped or had a partially melted casing. It wasn't just a lengthy wire, but seemingly a bunch of wires tethered together.
It finally slipped through some fencing and disappeared into yet another vent. This shaft leading straight down, likely towards a lower floor. Tugging at the wire offered some slight give before it halted. It was plugged in somewhere, and wherever socket it was stuck in it wasn't coming loose from. Now, where it was plugged in on this side was a little more pliable as the wire ended in a crudely attached plug that was connected in right alongside the main line for the nearby recharge station.
It still wasn't safe to work on the wires leading into the recharge stations unless the power was cut. When the Pizzaplex routinely shut down to conserve energy for the hourly recharge, the stations didn't just stay on. They ran in a safer more energy conservative mode. This mode was vital when it came to working around them, making them safer and less likely to discharge. So, they shut down power to the Pizzaplex and went to work on getting the wire free.
Abe was watching the security cameras while Tommy had his boots kicked up on one of the desks looking through a copy of Screw, Bolts, and Hairpins. They were supposed to be taking turns but the time to switch hands had passed a while ago. Abe had just zoned out looking through the screens while Tommy was none the wiser.
Then, suddenly, the power died. Everything shut down and the entire Pizzaplex was thrown into darkness.
Abe straightened up to alert in a panic. Only to have his nerves eased by a soft click and the comforting glow of a flashlight beam breaking up the pitch black.
"Relax. They're just down workin' on the power," Tommy brushed off. He aimed the flashlight down at his magazine and continued reading.
"Is this safe?" Abe asked doubtfully. He slowly turned his chair to face the other man, who gave a shrug.
"Nah, but what are ya gonna do? Least it's still early."
Abe sunk back into his chair and tapped his fingers on his leg, which soon started to jump a little. He never had a problem with the dark until he started working here. There was just something spooky about this place at night. It was hard enough sticking around after it got dark, let alone when the power was out. It made him feel claustrophobic.
But just as quickly as it went dark, the lights kicked back on and the world was back to normal. Tommy clicked off his little flashlight and Abe sighed in relief and turned back to the screens.
And found that something was very wrong.
Suddenly the multiple screens showing off different scenes across the Pizzaplex where showing something different: a lot of static. Some of the screens looked smeared, some of them were stuttering, looking back he could see some of the others were on standby.
"Uh, Tommy?"
"Yeah?... What?"
Tommy's tone changed the second he lifted his head and caught sight of the screens. He scooted forward and tossed the magazine aside onto the desk as he leaned in to look at the images. He looked around at all of the screens, his head snapping to each one as his fast was struck with shock. Abe scooted forward and typed on the keyboard, trying to use the hotkey he knew would usually reset the cameras. It did nothing. The screens were stuck like this.
He then watched as Tommy's eyes slowly narrowed and knew this wasn't going to go well.
After a few minutes of yanking and plugging in cords, pressing buttons, and all but smacking down on the keyboards, Abe found himself hustling after the shorter man as he strode out of the security office, across the atrium, and in the general direction of where he knew the technicians had been working. Abe could already tell that this wasn't going to go well, but he wasn't about to stay back alone in the office while a disaster unfolded.
They ended up meeting a small group of technicians at the elevator. Not all of them, but Chaz was present, and since he was the current head of the squad Tommy had a bone to pick with him specifically.
"What did you guys pull loose?" Tommy asked. Him barely holding back his frustration.
"The nastiest wire I've seen in a long time. It was like this thick around." Chaz held up his hands to show the exact width. "Probably left over from construction. Don't worry about it, it's done. The lights are staying on."
"Well, apparently they ain't, because you're going to shut them back off and plug that thing back in," Tommy instructed. All the technicians looked confused; Chaz included. That look was enough to pop Tommy's top. "The security footage is dead! Kaput! Totally fried!"
"What? How did that happen?"
"How'dya think?! You pulled some kinda wire and busted the whole system!"
"There's no way. The security system is nowhere near this thing," Chaz denied.
"Then what do you think it was?" Tommy challenged.
One of the other technicians, his name was something like Mack or Malcolm, spared a glance in Abe's direction.
"No, don't look at him. He didn't do nothin'," Tommy quickly shot down.
"Okay, look, it's late and we've already got to move some junk backstage before we can take off. I'll take a look at it tomorrow," Chaz tried to compromise, or dismiss.
"The problem-," Abe started.
"Tomorrow?! What about tonight?! We can't monitor the cameras like this!" Tommy interrupted.
"Then I guess you're going to have to use those things holding your feet to your ass and actually do some rounds," Chaz said. Now much more dismissing of them and a little annoyed himself.
Abe blinked at the comment. Tommy might've inwardly erupted.
"You expect the two of us to walk this whole building ourselves?! That ain't happenin'! It's a huge waste of time!"
"How come? If Vanessa can walk this place alone at night, then the two of you can," Chaz argued back. He gave an expressed sort of shrug. "And come on, the place is closed. It's not like there's going to be anyone running around in here. Just hang out in the atrium and watch if anyone comes through until Vanessa takes over around eleven-thirty. It's as easy as that!"
"Actually-," Abe started to interject.
"Actually, Genius, the place might be closed, but those front doors are still wide open. And how're we even supposed to know everyone left if we can't even see inside the attractions?! If we go walkin' down there, whoever's there could just hop up and haul off somewhere else!" Tommy quickly finished. "And that means getting up close and personal with the night patrol of a half dozen robots that won't stay in their sections and won't take orders! How'd you guys manage to screw that one up?! At this rate the whole lotta them's going to end up wandering into that trash compactor, the one that you STILL have running on a generator for some stupid reason! Not to mention the generators in kiddie area at the daycare- who in the hell thought THAT was a good idea?! You're the one always going on about how crazy Moondrop- or whatever the hell his name is- is and you're giving him full access to the ONLY way for someone to turn the lights on! What's with that?! Why do we even HAVE this many generators- and here you guys are screwing around with one fat cord thinking that's going to save the electricity crisis- the hell it is! Here's a clue for ya: the lights are always on. Even when we close, there's overhead lights on all over the place! What, did you forget to set the timers or did that get budget cut too? Not like THAT wouldn't cut back on the constant waste of power. Also, hello, the robots! The robots blow through charge 'cause they're still up and moving! I know you can set a sleep mode- you did it for the other ones! And now we've got a show with three robots and it sucks! This whole place sucks, why in the hell are we cutting corners like this?! Someone's gonna wind up dead, and it sure as hell ain't gonna be me, 'cause I ain't walkin' around in the dark!"
With that, Tommy finally cut off from his tirade. Everyone was staring at him, having silently watched the outburst without trying to interject.
Finally, Chaz was given the floor. It took him a second to recover from the whole thing, and after such a lengthy diatribe he had only one reply:
"Are you done?"
Tommy was nearly shaking with frustration.
"I'm about to be," Tommy said through his teeth. He then reached down to pull his security badge off his belt.
Only for Abe to suddenly catch on and grab his wrist right as he pulled it free. Tommy sent him a still heated look.
"Come on, let's not do this," Abe pleaded. He turned to address Chaz. "We know you're just doing your job and I know you don't want to get stuck here any longer than you have to, but we're trying to do ours too. We count on those cameras because it's just not safe to go running into attractions when we don't know who's in there. You know what it's like..."
It was a good plea because Chaz knew exactly what it was like. He exhaled slowly.
"…Yeah, I do. Tell you what, we'll head up there and take a look at it. Probably what happened was that shutting off the power caused the system to glitch out. No big deal, we can reset it. Can't promise we'll get the system back up tonight."
"That's okay. If you'll just see what you can do, we'd really appreciate it," Abe said with a small smile.
The security guards stepped out of the way and let the technicians pass by. After a moment Abe looked back to Tommy, who side-glanced back. His jaw was clenched, and he was likely biting his tongue to let the pacified technicians pass. It was the closest he could get to literally swallowing his pride. Abe was still staring; Tommy lifted a brow questioningly. Abe gestured down with his eyes, to which Tommy rolled his away and almost reluctantly slipped his badge back onto his belt.
"Let's go," he muttered. He strode after the technicians while waving for Abe to follow. Which he did, shoulders sinking in relief.
Meanwhile, the remaining technicians were still following the cord looking to find where it led. They had got to the fence and one of them started to get it open while another tugged at the wire, and it was then that he noticed something strange.
"You tried to pull it out, right?" he asked.
"I did already. It's stuck."
"Not anymore. Feel, it's just dangling."
He moved the cord around to show that even though still the same bulky size, it was moving around without much trouble. Signaling that it wasn't anchored nearly as much as it was when he saw it earlier.
Stunned, he simply said, "Let's pull it up." So, they did.
It didn't take too long to reel in the cord from the depths of the vent. The latter half smeared in black grime and slick to the touch.
The end had been crudely cut.
They shrugged it off and headed back upstairs. It wasn't worth dumpster diving in the basement for a few cents of overtime. As far as Fazbear Entertainment would be concerned, the job they wanted done was finished.