Mable: I had an issue getting this chapter done, explaining how long this took. I'm not going to be too surprised if this throws off the schedule for a few weeks but rest assured that I'm going to be putting my all into these chapters, so it'll hopefully be worth it! ^_^ Enjoy!
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Forty-Two
It felt like they had been walking for a long time, but it was probably because these hallways seemed to go on endlessly. Apparently, they stretched from the daycare to Monty Golf and if what Jake said was correct, were used by employees to get between the two without having to walk around guests. At least they weren't as dark and humid as the tunnels underneath the Pizzaplex, not that he wouldn't be heading down there after Freddy. He hadn't told Jake or Sunny that.
His backpack was weighed down by the lunchbox he fit inside but other than that he felt fine. It hadn't been that long of a walk, and it wasn't late enough to feel tired. Even if it was, he didn't know if he could've rested feeling as antsy as he was. Looking around at these narrow walls that all seemed to blend together, smelling like fresh paint and clogged air, and reminding him of the hallways he walked through his first night at the Pizzaplex.
Sunny led the way. While Gregory was initially suspicious of him doing so, it became apparent that he wasn't planning something quickly. He was nervous, and it exuded through his body language. He was partially hunched, his steps were quick and close together, and he hadn't stopped wringing his hands since they left the daycare. Every time they came up on another hall or the set of stairs leading down, his head snapped to them and he would stare until they passed.
Jake was in the back and in contrast he spent a lot of his time looking between the hall ahead and the control panel in his arms. Control panel was the right word for it. The rectangular hunk of hardware looked like it had been uprooted directly from a desk or module, what with the unfinished bottom to its and the loose wires that had been duct taped to said bottom so they wouldn't hang down.
There was a keyboard and a number pad on the panel along with an imbedded green screen that was partially jutting out of the top. There was a Freddy shaped button in the upper left corner, but it too had been covered with duct tape and a piece of carboard. Not in a way to keep it pressed down but as though to keep it from getting pressed. There was a sort of yellow handheld thing with a screen and what looked like painted eyes crudely bolted on the right side.
When Jake noticed him looking back at him, Gregory asked, "So, what is that thing?"
"This? This is my control panel! Or that's what I just call it. Half panel, half Handunit, half hunk of junk," Jake joked. He tilted the panel so Gregory could see it better. "Using this I can open doors, check cameras when it's plugged into a monitor, and I can hook into the bot network and take control of Staff Bots."
"Whoa, really?!" Gregory said with surprise.
"It's true! Usually, I use it to control the Nanny Bot in the daycare, but it works on security bots too. And security doors, which is why we're bringing it. See, animatronics like Sunny have a certain level of security clearance, but if they open a door, it'll record that they were the ones who did it. Opening it with this means they won't be able to trace it back to him," Jake explained.
"Huh. That's pretty cool. Why don't you just use that to get into Parts and Service?"
"It's a whole different beast down there… Err, what I mean is that this thing works well with all the stuff up here, but everything downstairs is a little more… jumbled. It's harder to get stuff to crack. That's why it's easier to get a pass."
"We're almost there so you two use your inside voices," Sunny warned. He was ticking and twitching more the closer they got to the end of the hallways. "Oh, this is a bad idea! We're gonna get caught…"
"What happened to your adventurous side?" Jake asked with slight playfulness.
"I think I must've lost it around the time I started having to babysit three dozen kiddies for hours and hours and hours all day every day," Sunny huffed. Though suddenly realizing what he said, he quickly correct. "And it's wonderful! I love the kids! Especially the ones who don't pull on my points or have sickies on my pant legs. Oh boy!"
Gregory almost felt bad for him, but then he remembered who he was and felt less so.
"Oh ho! Here we are!" Sunny said. He pointed a long finger at a door at the end of the hall in front of him. He then held a hand out behind him, signaling the two to stop before sneaking to the door. Slinking in an uncomfortable 'Moon-like' way.
Gregory checked his watch. They were cutting it pretty close. Hopefully Jake could hold off the Moon like he did to the Sun, but if he couldn't then Gregory was more than prepared to run.
Sunny slowly turned the handle and pushed open the door. He slid his head through and craned his neck around to make sure nothing was in the hall. Then he slid himself out, palms and body flush to the wall as he continued to peek around. Music could be heard through the crack of the door. Guitars and banjos, dipping through a heavy "rockstar" theme to a southern sort of twang.
Eventually the Daycare Attendant deemed the hallway safe enough and pushed the door open before beckoning the two with his hand. Gregory came through next and looked both directions down the hallway. It was a rather unexciting one: greenish grey in hue with square tiled floors that nearly match and square, crackling lights above.
Jake followed behind Gregory and the three made their way down the hall and eventually to two doors marked with security badge insignias above them.
Sunny stepped aside and led Jake go first through one of the doors. It was unlocked, though before Gregory could question this he stepped through and saw the actual security doors on the other side. It was like a tiny office inside of an office, with windows peeking out into the hallway around it. Kind of like that first office he hid from Monty in- just remembering that made him feel much less safe.
"Okay, let's see…" Jake started to click along buttons on the keyboard section of the control panel. His fingers moving quickly, like the legs of a spider. It wasn't until now that Gregory realized they were just like Sunny's.
The security door opened with a clank and revealed the inside of the cramped office. It could've been smaller than the one he compared it to a few minutes ago. There was a desk, a couple of chairs, and some file cabinets all crushed together.
The only thing that caught his attention was a cardboard box in the back that was overflowing with disposable cameras shaped and colored like Glamrock Freddy's head. When he followed Jake in, he picked one up and looked it over.
"Don't think about iiiit," Sunny warned from outside the doorway. Gregory set him a flat look at the jester who was tenting his fingers and watching him.
"I was just looking at it. I wasn't going to do anything," he grumbled.
"Back in the box," Sunny instructed, pointing down. "Those things are banned for a reason."
"Everything's banned in this place," Gregory grumbled. He put the camera back down, if only to quiet down his current warden.
"They also only sell them here. Go figure," Jake remarked off-handedly. He was currently digging around the desk and into the drawers before snatching out and holding up a thin card. "Ah ha! Here we go. Now let's look for a badge."
"We shouldn't push our luck…" Sunny warned nervously. "Let's just take the pass and go!" he insisted, pointing his thumbs at the door to his right.
"We will. Let me just check this Freddy head case and then we'll go," he assured. Gregory looked back and, sure enough, there was a tiny box shaped like Freddy's head sitting on the desk. Jake pressed its nose and the case popped open, revealing a card sitting inside. Jake half-gasped at seeing it. "There is! We can use this!" he said and plucked it out.
An alarm blared through the security office. It was so sudden that all of them jumped and none of them had time to react before the security doors both slammed shut. Gregory's eyes widened in panic and he ran to the closer door, the one Sunny was behind, and frantically pressed the button for it. It wouldn't open back up.
"It won't open! What's going on?!" he cried.
"I'm not sure. Hold on, I can fix this," Jake said, his own voice bordering on panic. He started to press those buttons with as much frenzy as Gregory had with the door's, trying to override the security protocols.
"I TOLD YOU SOMETHING LIKE THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!" Sunny yelled. His face pressed in the window.
"I can fix this!" Jake called back. He was scrambling to at least, trying to force the doors back open.
Yet through the back wall they could all hear a door banging open and thundering footsteps. It was Monty, it had to be, and Sunny raced back into the hall to try and buy them a little more time. Gregory pressed his back to the security door furthest from Monty's inflamed voice when suddenly- "Got it!" -the door opened behind him. He stumbled and was caught by Jake who ducked behind the corner with him right as the office door slammed open.
Monty came storming right in and searched the office as the alarm continued to drone on overhead. He shoved the chairs aside to look under the desk, then turned around and ripped over a locker standing against the wall. All the while Sunny rushed in the other door and stood into the security door doorway to block it off, going so far as to grab the edges of the door as he watched Monty search for someone who wasn't there.
Sunny reached one hand to Jake and he handed him something before nudging Gregory forward and around to the front of the office to hide. Unfortunately, there weren't any real hiding spots, and if Monty whipped around the corner, then they would be spotted immediately. Thankfully, he seemed to have a one-track mind. Once he deemed that there was nobody in the room, he turned his gaze on the other possible culprit.
"What's going on?! You see somebody in here?!" he demanded.
"Wha- Me?! No! No, no! It's just me! Sunny Dee!" Sunny rambled in an unconvincing way. Splaying his hands as his points recoiled and popped out. "Just coming to say howdy-do and be on my way! Eh heh heh!"
"Why're you all twitchy like that?" Monty asked, looking the clown up and down. Sure, he usually was twitchy, but he didn't miss how especially so he was now. "You see somethin'?"
"No! Oh, no! If I saw something I-I-I would tell you!" Sunny lied badly.
Monty didn't seem to buy it and Gregory regretted putting his faith in the jester and was even scooting towards the corner in preparation to bolt.
Right as he was about two things happened in quick succession. Monty headed back out the security door and started towards the left to walk around the front of the office, in which he would see Jake and Gregory, and as soon as he did there was a loud outburst from the Sun.
"OKAY! AUGH, I can't take it anymore! I've been lying the whole time!" Sunny gushed guiltily. He pulled at his points before covering up his face with his hands. "Th- The truth is… I SET OFF THE ALARM! I did it! I was the one who snuck in here!"
"Really? No kiddin'," Monty replied. He turned back as his lack of amusement quickly started to shift to annoyance. "What're you tryin' to pull?"
"Nothing! Oh, well, a fast one, maybe- but I had a good reason! I-It was to get this!" Sunny whipped out the security pass that he had gotten from Jake during their brief exchange. "I need it to get down to Parts and Service!"
"Well, why didn't you use yer own?" the gator asked gruffly.
"I would, but it's gone! Somebody must've taken it! Oh, I hope one of the kids didn't take while I had my back turned. They're always trying to sneak behind the desk, the little rugrats!"
"Why're you going to Parts and Service anyway? Ya look fine to me."
"Oh, it's not for me. Well, I guess it is 'for me', but it's for me to go see Freddy! He's still not back from maintenance and I'm getting awfully worried!"
Monty hummed and lowered his sunglasses to shoot him a look.
Sunny recoiled in offense. "What's that look mean?" he asked defensively.
"Ya could've taken it without setting off a damn fire alarm," Monty said with exasperation. Both ignoring Sunny's question, lowering his glasses, and starting to head back out. "Just keep it, I don't care."
"Really?! You really, really mean it?!" Sunny chirped. "Oh Monty, thank you, thank you! Oh, I'll make it up to you!"
"Don't. Just stop sneakin' around down here."
It seemed like Monty was calming down and had bought the ruse, going so far as to stop his search and start heading out of the office.
Meanwhile, Sunny leaned out from behind the corner on bent legs to send his constantly beaming smile at Jake and Gregory. From his slow motions alone there was no doubt that he was reveling in his act, perhaps smugly. Jake gave a relieved sigh and a thankful nod.
"Hey, why's that door open?!"
Any confidence Sunny exuded was shot down immediately by the yell. Pushing off the floor with his hands he all but sprinted to the door, shoved through, and raced Monty down the hall. Jake's head dropped into his hands.
"Get ready for round two," he warned.
Monty got to the door before Sunny could and they could both see that the door was open a crack. In fact, Sunny was sort of impressed that Monty had noticed. The gator was always so out of it that he seldom seemed aware enough to notice what was going on around him, let alone a door that was barely ajar. Yet he had, and he turned on Sunny quickly, with him sliding to a stop so close that he had to stay leaning back to not have Monty's jaws in his face.
"Did you open this door?!" he demanded, pointing a clawed finger at it.
"Uh, er, yes! I came through that door," Sunny answered.
Monty cooled down a little. Though not physically, Sunny could feel warmth coming off him even from this far away and could hear the other's internal fans already kicking on. As though he worked himself up enough to start overheating. Monty turned his head to stare down the door.
"How long ago was that? How long's it been open?"
"O-Only a minute or two! Geesh, what's the big deal?"
"The big deal's that ya left this door open! Anything could've crawled up and gotten in here!" Monty growled. Hot exhausted exhaled through his mouth like a non-existent breath. "I don't know how it works in yer daycare and frankly I don't care. When yer here you keep this door shut!" He grabbed the handle and slammed the door shut with a loud crack. "We clear?!"
Sunny stared at him.
Monty stared back. Then looked down at the door handle still in his hand. "…Oops."
"Wha- Nice going! How'd you pull that off?" Sunny cried. Gesturing both hands at the knob in exasperation.
"Wasn't me! This thing's been loose fer days, I thought they got it back on!" Monty defended. He then trying to stick the handle piece back in, to no avail. He couldn't even stick it inside and leave it for the illusion of being stuck in.
Sunny gave a frustrated little huff, crossed his arms, and tapped his foot as he watched the gator continue to try and fix what he had broken. Which had no doubt easily broken due to past rough treatment.
"What are you even afraid of? There's nothing down there but endoskeletons!... And maybe rats, and cockroaches. Probably spiders- okay, never mind," he said. "But how am I supposed to get back to the daycare?"
"Maybe take the front door like yer supposed to?" Monty suggested.
"Oh, right! Why didn't I think of that? Why don't I go walking through the dimly lit Golf Course?! I'm sure it'll be fiiiine!"
"Then take that gold door over by the bathrooms. Just make sure to shut it-!"
All at once the lights died and the sound of everything powering down echoed through the hallway and the rooms connected to it. There was a pause before Sun's glow suddenly sputtered out and he made a noise akin to a hitching breath. His hands balled into fists as he hunched forward, shoulders and head jerking and dropping down. One by one his points pulled in, and by then Monty silently adjusted his sunglasses and very quickly made his way out of the hall.
The door shut behind him right as a jingling chime broke from the Daycare Attendant's chest, signaling when the changing of the guards was complete.
"Oh no!" Gregory whispered in panic. He looked at his watch and saw that the lights had gone out right on time. "What are we going to do?! That Moon guy's gonna come after me!"
"It's going to be okay. He's not going to do anything. Not as long as you're with me," Jake assured. He sounded much less worried and instead maybe a little peeved, likely at Moon. "It sounds like Monty's gone. Let's sneak back out of here."
By time Jake peeked out of the office door, the hall was completely empty. No Monty, no Moon. He wasn't nearly as concerned about the latter roaming around, hopefully going to do his rounds and get Monty in his charging station, so he focused on leading Gregory back to the door. Gregory couldn't see at all, save using the watch's light to get his bearings but it didn't do much but light the area directly in front of him.
It was going fine until Jake realized that the thing sitting at the base of the door was its broken handle.
"Oh, that's just…" Jake exhaled tiredly. "Looks like we're going out the front door."
"What?! But then Monty AND Moon are going to see us!"
"I mean, we can wait in the office until the power kicks back on, but this might work in our favor. Monty's night vision isn't great so we might be able to sneak by without much trouble. We'll just have to be extra quiet," Jake warned.
"And you can't just kick the door down?" Gregory asked. Jake gave an apologetic head shake. "…Okay, fine. Just… stay close. Okay?"
"I'll be right beside you the whole time," Jake agreed. He readjusted the control panel into his arms. "Hold onto my leg, alright? I'll lead the way."
Gregory felt weird about holding his leg- it seemed like a very kiddie thing to do, just a step beneath holding his hand- so he instead grabbed a handful of the end of his coat, or cloak, or whatever this tattered thing was draped over him.
Jake led down the hall to the furthest door that wasn't at the end of the hall and opened it up. Immediately Gregory was hit in the face by a weird smell. Kind of like what pools smelled like with that sharp chemical scent. The air was also sort of thick and humid, like it would be on a warm day. Though it wasn't really that warm in here. It was more… misty. Muggy.
The music had gone off and the old sounds they could hear were distant footsteps and whirring of nearby Staff Bots. In fact, the place would've been pitch black if not for a few scattered lights moving around that illuminated pieces of the golf course. There were Security Bots in here and they hadn't been effected by the lack of power, continuing to search on their designated paths. Their lights beaming across and through fake trees gave the illusion of them being in a real forest.
There was a Security Bot that kept circling the general area right in front of them. From its flashlight, Gregory could see the mini-golf courses on the floor and some railings segmenting them, blocking them from portions of fake trees. Jake turned to the control panel, pressing a button before looking at the imbedded screen. There were some moving dots on labeled with numbers that appeared on it, and he chose one dot's numbers and typed them in on the keyboard.
He pressed a few more buttons, tapped the Handunit screen until it glowed with a keypad, tapped in something there- all while Gregory was looking around with paranoia- and then finally pressed one last button which caused the Security Bot to lurch to a halt. It lifted it flashlight to stare ahead in a default position.
"Got it," Jake whispered. He then pulled free one of the duct taped cords from the bottom and holding the control panel with one hand, used the other to pop open a panel on his forearm under his elbow, and plugged the cord into his arm.
The Security Bot jolted and shifted around a little before spinning around and coming to them. Gregory reflexively took a step back, but as the lights fell on him there was no reaction from the bot.
"Here we go…" Jake murmured. He readjusted the control panel into both hands before relaxing his stature, and then the Staff Bot moved past and stopped a few feet ahead of them. Jake took a few slow steps after the bot, almost bumping into a photo booth as he did so. Gregory hurried a few steps and followed behind him, them trying to rush along.
The Staff Bot might've been leading them with its light but the two were still keeping a careful distance. Partially because every time the Staff Bot had to move Jake would get uncoordinated. Eventually Gregory had to start pulling him by the cloak to help him along as they inched around what looked to be a giant alligator's gaping mouth. It was actually a walkway- any other circumstances and Gregory would've thought it was really cool.
All of a sudden Jake blocked Gregory with his arm.
"Wait right here," he whispered.
He moved the Staff Bot further along the path between the props and fake foliage and stopped it with its flashlight aimed forward. Gregory could see an artificial river and a wall with a doorway to a hall with what looked like a bathroom door, along with what might've been stairs in the distance, but it was hard to tell at this angle.
Jake crept up behind the Staff Bot while keeping low and seemed to be looking at something. Whatever it was Gregory hadn't noticed it, but he wasn't willing to risk anything with Monty on the loose.
A quiet jingle from somewhere above reminded him that he wasn't the only threat either.
Gregory ducked down by the railing beside the mouth and looked up and around for the telltale starry print, blue glow, and white face, but he saw nothing. He couldn't see anything but darkness, but he surely couldn't see the Moon either.
Jake came shuffling back hurriedly and put a hand on his back to guide him across the gator mouth. Even before Gregory heard the water directly gurgling underneath, he had figured out that it was a bridge, and he thought it was maybe the entrance to Monty Golf too. Instead, Jake stopped them at the back teeth and then began climbing over them. It took Gregory all of two seconds to realize that this was just a shortcut over the river.
Still juggling the control panel, Jake was halfway over the teeth when Gregory saw movement in the still stagnant beam of light and watched with eyes as wide as saucers as Monty walked out of the hallway.
"Monty!" he warned as he pulled at Jake's arm. The animatronic caught on and rolled back over the teeth and laid flat on his back. He might've avoided sight, but the clatter of the motion was just audible enough for the alligator to snap his head in their direction. Gregory just barely dropping his head down before he too was seen.
"Who's over there?! Moon?!" Monty called. When there was no answer, he started to stalk across his bridge, briefly stopping at the frozen Security Bot on the other side of the river. "What's up with you?" he muttered. He poked the side of its head with his claw, to no response.
This bought them very little time and Jake realized they had to move quick. To his right, where the throat of the massive gator mouth would've been, was an open doorway leading into a hallway section with one of the holes in it. A quick place to escape if not for the Security Bot currently passing through and heading past in the exact direction they needed to go. He needed that bot out of that way, so he pressed the button to sever his connection with the other one.
The Security Bot snapped to alert and began to spin in place searching for the route it was supposed to be on. Monty watched it with confusion before continuing on down the way towards the initial sound.
Jake was scrambling to reestablish connection onto the network, now with the Security Bot to his direct right, but time was not in his favor. At least, it didn't seem like it to Gregory. It felt like it had taken a dozen little steps to get to the point of control, and after that he was nearly stumbling just to get moving. All while Monty was creeping in. Monty who was sounding and acting normal now, but who he knew would change the second he saw him.
He remembered that crazed face pressed up against the office window vividly and white-hot panic shot through his veins. Normally he didn't feel this way unless something was outright chasing him, but something about Monty being that close sent it through him. It made him feel like if he didn't run now he was going to suffer the consequences.
And then the lights kicked on. Dozens of tiny lights like fireflies hanging from fake vines and branches kicked on across a swampy backdrop. A few spotlights lit notable locations, such as the large gator head they were sitting inside, but otherwise the lighting was surprisingly low. The power on should've meant the Moon wasn't a problem though, and the return of the music and ambience of gator hisses and crackles and calls disguised some of their own sounds.
And as soon as those lights were on and Gregory had his bearings, he knew he had to run.
He sprung to his feet and ran further down the mouth, shielded by a wall of fake barrels, and slipped around teeth and railing to sprint back in the direction he had come from. He ignored Jake's whispered calls to stop him, he could barely hear them over the louder bellows from further behind.
"Hey, who's over there?! You get back here!" Monty gruffly yelled. Though his booming voice did make Gregory quicken his footsteps, it was nothing compared to what he knew was coming if he was spotted.
He didn't run back into the hallway, there didn't seem to be much point. Instead, he continued running blindly along the back wall of the golf course. There were more Security Bots too. Somehow, he managed to dodge one in his path but then alerted another whose light shined through the fake plants a few moments later. He left the blaring behind, trying to figure out the paths before the heavy footsteps- which were concerningly more beside than behind him- found him.
Gregory took to a middle path trying to avoid a Staff Bot and caught sight of the alligator head again and a way back to Jake. One that was unfortunately cut off by a close-by roar.
"HEY! LITTLE GUY!"
He had been spotted, and from the hasty, heavy footsteps Monty was directly on his way. Gregory turned back and looked for a hiding spot and spotted a beacon towards possible safety only a few feet away. It looked like a trailer, but the fact that there was a hole running through it suggested that it was just a prop. What was more important was that its narrow doorways were open and suggested any easy place to hide.
Tripping over the edge of the hole, Gregory got inside and hid to the right of the door. There was a little seat there, positioned in what would be the back of the RV, and he sat on it with his back to the wall by the door and his legs pulled in tight. He held his breath as best as he could and listened as Monty thumped around outside.
Apparently, Monty's vision wasn't so good with the lights on either, because he thumped right past the RV and down the path Gregory had initially came from. He breathed a sigh of relief but knew better than to get comfortable. He had to get back out and out of this golf course before Monty caught wind of him again. There was a second exit to the RV, one at the end that was also part of the hole, and he got up and crept to it instead of risking it back out the door he came in.
He took a careful step out and looked around. There was a lit-up snack bar and eating area to his right that it seemed best to avoid, so he was either going back to the left of the RV or making a straight shot for a flight of stairs he could see. All things considered, running for the stairs might've been the best chance he had.
He was pulling up his backpack straps and bracing to run for it when he suddenly noticed a familiar ticking noise from very close by. When he paused to listen, he also noticed a slow, quiet whirring along with it. He recognized the sound; it was the telltale sign that the Daycare Attendant was creeping around nearby somewhere. Which shouldn't have been a problem since the lights were on.
Except Gregory noticed that the sound seemed to be coming from the RV roof above him. The Daycare Attendant was hunched down on the roof of it, probably sitting on his heels with his long legs bent and his spindly fingers on his knees.
That seemed a little out of character for the anxious, twitchy Sun, but it was perfectly in character for Moon.
Gregory didn't even second guess the- "But the lights are on?!" – and instead just took a slow step back, then another, and back into the RV he went. He took only a moment to listen for Monty's footsteps and once he targeted them to somewhere behind him and not in his escape route, he started making his escape again. This time taking a slow step out the door he came in, looking up towards the roof as he did.
There was a crescent face staring back at him and confirmed his worst fears. The power might've been on, but the Sun had not come back out. Gregory froze in place, staring back silently and waiting to see which direction to run.
Moon slowly raised a finger to his ever-present grin in a shushing motion before using the same hand to beckon him closer. Gregory shook his head with similar sluggishness. Moon insisted, beckoning faster, and beginning to lean further over the edge. As he tilted his body down it was like he was defying gravity. All he had to do was drop forward and-
"THERE YOU ARE!"
Both Gregory and Moon's heads snapped over in time to see Monty trample a plethora of fake ferns and take down a clothesline of jeans and shirts strung from the back of the RV. He was huffing and puffing already, with his claws up and ready to grab anything that got too close. Gregory turned and ran knowing that Monty could close that short gap in only a matter of seconds.
But Gregory prided himself in thinking on his feet- at least, he managed this long doing that. Right now he was stuck with an impossible choice; turn right and have the Moon pounce on him from the top of the RV or turn left and lose a half-second of distance and get grabbed by Monty. What lay straight was a dinky barricade blocking off an artificial pond that the rivers fed into and from, and a boat settled by the water's edge.
He was pretty sure that robots didn't like water, and he was even more certain that Monty couldn't swim, gator or not. So, he made the rash decision to push past and jump onto the boat.
…There were only two issues with this plan. First, the boat was slowly turning, and his timing couldn't have been worse, with it facing sideways with the slimmer end partially in his direction. This meant that he landed on the edge. Which he might've recovered from if the boat didn't bob in the water, the lone tether holding it underneath not keeping it sturdy.
Gregory fell back off, going feet first into the pond. Then promptly had his feet slip on the bottom and splashed fully onto his back. It was too shallow to be a risk of drowning, but he still found himself covered in this bad smelling water that burned his eyes. He hacked on the dregs that went up his nose as he got to his feet, now totally saturated.
However, the plan had seemingly worked. He looked back to see Monty trying to step out onto the boat, but when it sunk under his weight he was forced to give up. He huffed and slammed his fist on the railing, which bent under the blow.
Before the boy could so much as smirk in triumph, he was jarred by Moon suddenly thumping into the railing beside the pond and reaching for him. Gregory was just out of his grasp and he gave an infuriated growl as he grabbed the railing.
"You get out of that filthy, filthy water this instant!" Moon snapped. No rhymes, no singing or mocking, just a direct order.
A direct order that Gregory decided to obey by turning and wading as far away from both as possible. He knew they were going to follow him, especially Moon with how he darted along the side of the pond, growling and muttering even more than Monty was.
He knew he couldn't get out. The water was the only thing keeping them back, so if he got out at the wrong place, they could easily get ahold of him. However, if he followed the river… he would still be in the same boat, but at least he could get back to the entrance. Maybe then he could meet up with Jake and get the Moon off of his heels, since he was slowly becoming the bigger issue.
The only way forward was under a wooden bridge and Gregory hastily waded towards it, hoping to get under it before anyone got on it. Moon figured out the plan too quickly and sprinted out of the fake reeds, hopped a railing, and was on the bridge in seconds. He wasn't just dancing around mocking either, he was on his heels with his hands tight on the bridge's railing posts, watching him like a hawk. He was going to grab him as soon as he went under.
Gregory knew Moon likely couldn't get wet though. If he got close pretending he was going to go under and splashed him, he could probably get enough time to slide underneath. Especially since Moon mentioned how gross the water was. Likely all he had to do was get a few drops on him and he would go into one of those crazy 'clean up' spells. So, Gregory got close, and Moon watched him with twitchy fingers, and Monty started making his way around the pond.
And then out of nowhere, Jake ran in from the right and shoved Moon aside with a quick and panicked, "Move!" Which caught Moon off-guard so much that he actually toppled onto his backside while Jake reached a hand out to Gregory.
Gregory took it and was hoisted from the water and helped over the bridge as fast as he could before being shoved behind Jake who now turned to face Moon and Monty. The former hopped onto his feet while the latter lifted his glasses.
"Wha-?" he asked in confusion. His ruby eyes looked the strange animatronic before him over. He would've identified him as an unrecognizable animatronic off the bat, but the exposed body was clearly one like the Daycare Attendant. It left his programming confused and his mind equally addled. "The hell 'er you supposed to be?"
"Uh… Hey Monty! Remember me? I was the Sun! Y'know, the Sun before Sunny took over?" Jake attempted to offer. He wasn't sure why Monty hadn't outright attacked. Moon wasn't either from how he was looking between them.
"…Ya mean the old sun? The one they trashed?" Monty asked in confusion and disbelief. His focus had gone solely to that strange mask he was wearing.
"Right, yeah. That one," Jake agreed awkwardly. He pushed up his mask so that Monty could see his face. Gregory couldn't see it for himself and wasn't too eager to barge around his shield.
Much to Jake's surprise, Monty didn't react to the visage under the mask. He didn't react at all, just staring blankly, silently, in sharp contrast to his previous bluntness.
Suddenly he had a full body shudder, a sign that something was kicking in, and he dropped his sunglasses back in front of his eyes. Jake had a bad feeling he had made a terrible mistake. He wasn't the only one to notice the change.
"Do you remember me?... Monty?"
"Out of service rogue mascot sighted in Monty Golf," Monty said. It might've been his voice, but it wasn't as though he was speaking it. More like he opened his mouth and a recording spilled through.
Jake tightened his hold on Gregory.
"Indeed. Hmm, that is no good. No good at all…" Moon drew out in a sly hiss. He gave a menacing crackle as he stepped in front of Monty. "Go finish your recharge cycle, Montgomery. Leave these troublemakers to me…"
Monty made no attempt to move. He didn't even seem to hear or acknowledge what was said, and Jake looked past Moon's shoulder just in time to notice that Monty was starting to slink down behind him. The gator was bracing himself.
Jake barely turned and grabbed up Gregory in time as Monty shoved Moon aside into the bridge railing and all but threw himself after his target, slamming to the ground on fists and a knee right where Jake had been a moment before and would've still been if he hadn't broken into a run. The gator pushed off the ground and ran with a hasty yet lumbering gait.
Ignoring the fact that his decision to hide the control panel out of the risk of it slowing him down might've just saved both of them, Jake ran for his life carrying Gregory like a child half his age. His weight wasn't too noticeable, but Jake was already trying to work around a limp. The stairs in front of them looked like a chance for freedom, but he knew Monty would overtake him and catch them both, so he took a hastily left.
With Monty right behind him and him unable to make any sharp maneuvers while holding Gregory, he took notice of a large ball fit to the left. A majority of the balls were green and yellow, and they circled a little island with a play shack atop it like a moat. He had to make a quick choice and it came to him what he had to do.
"Get him!" he called.
The next thing Gregory knew he was being tossed out of Jake's arms and landed right on his back into the ball pit. He was swallowed up by the balls instantly and had to struggle to surface.
"Hey!" he cried. For a second thinking that Jake might've thrown him as bait, but he quickly realized that wasn't the case when he saw Jake take a quick turn around some props and railings and starting to run back in the direction he had come from, getting Monty completely turned around- and significantly more wound up as he shoved his way violently through everything.
Then Gregory realized who the 'get him' really had for when he heard the loud clatter of something diving into the ball pit nearby. He looked back to see Moon rise in the pit and start striding easily after him.
Gregory turned away and made a run for the only quick exit to the ball pit, the play shack on the artificial island in the middle of the pit. He was just close enough to race up the stairs and make it around and into one of the doorways. A long arm shot through the window beside him, only held back by the wooden cross running through it. Gregory pressed back into the corner as those reaching fingers finally recoil.
Moon's red eyes peered into the window before he climbed onto the roof of the shack, turning his body and rotating his head so his startling gaze could stay on him as long as possible.
"Tick, tock. Tick, tock. You're running out of time, and I'm running out of patience…" Moon crackled lowly as his face slid out of view.
He sounded more irritated than usual, and that along with the pattering and creaking on the roof reignited a fear Gregory hadn't had since the first night he came across the jester. He stayed in the middle of the room and circled around, occasionally catching a glimpse of a crescent face trying to distract him from coming up with a new plan.
Then he noticed it. There was a large wooden slide shaped like a log that connected the ball pit up to the second floor, possibly on the same platform as the entrance. That was where he had to go. Planning to outwit the Moon, he began to 'quietly'- noticeably but quiet enough to make it sound like he was trying to be subtle- backed towards the opposite corner of the shack. He shuffled his bag a little as bait.
The Moon's large hand shot through the window behind and just barely scraped the back of his backpack as he dashed back out the doorway, to the edge of the island, and hopped off. Once again, the ball pit saved him from a painful fall as he practically swam towards the opening of the log slide, expecting do hear sound of Moon diving in behind him.
Instead, there was a flash of blue and a resonating bang through the log as Moon leapt onto it, just as Gregory had made it to it. Knowing there was no time to turn back, he hurriedly crawled in and began to climb the slide, only to have a long arm follow him in and grab him by the backpack like a claw in a crane game, easily tugging him down the slide.
Once out and with the Moon caging him in, Gregory tried to shed the backpack to no avail. Those large hands hooked under his arms and lifted him up helplessly, holding him far enough out that no amount of kicking would help anything.
"That was a bad choice, little Moonwort. A very, very bad choice," Moon said. His voice sounded like rocks grinding in teeth and his frustration was beyond what Gregory had previously heard. It was downright terrifying. "Jumping into that nasty, nasty water- trying to get yourself sick. Not just naughty- no, no- you are utterly puckish. A tiny little gremlin. A little bridge troll."
Gregory could barely figure out what Moon was getting to when he was swung and started to be carried towards the side of the ball pit.
"Thirty minutes? No. Forty minutes? No, no. Sixty minutes. Sixty minutes apiece for every rule you broke- and a minute more for every minute of my time you're wasting- and you're sopping wet! Ugh!"
Gregory couldn't say he wasn't still frightened, but he couldn't help but be peeved that he was being lectured by the same psycho who ran him towards the water. Not that he could say much about it when he was totally at his mercy.
Moon waded to the edge of the ball pit and started to climb out of the designated steps. He was stewing and had Gregory totally at his mercy with no one to mitigate whether or not there came a swift or unjust punishment.
All that went forgotten at a single agonizing cry.
Jake managed to outmaneuver Monty for a while, but he couldn't shake him. Even though he might've been the same model as the Daycare Attendant, the adjustments that made him unique held him back. There were empty spaces throughout his body effecting his stability and his replacement endo leg wasn't doing any favors. He couldn't hop around nearly as easily- in fact, he couldn't very well hop at all.
This made losing Monty more difficult. He knew he couldn't outrun him, barely able to get any ground at all after making a U-turn to head back towards the stage area and away from Gregory and Moon. The tentative plan was to run into the kitchen of the snack bar- the Gator Grub counter, specifically- and then try to lose Monty by going out the other door. Monty was like a bull in a China shop; all he had to do was tear through and he would probably get tripped up somewhere.
Jake ran past a Security Bot that began to blare its alarm and barged into the kitchen, only to have Monty all but fly in behind him, skidding and crashing into one of the stoves. Jake, nearly knocked off his feet, realized he wouldn't make it to the other door and instead climbed onto the open counter, having to all but throw himself over it and out from Monty's claws. He landed hands first and transitioned into a roll that was broken in a painful thump as his slow to respond endo leg struck the ground outstretched. He stumbled to his feet as he heard the door slam back open behind him and started to run.
All at once a mighty weight slammed into his back and threw him flat on the ground, and then Monty was above him. He wasn't sure if he had pounced on him or just kicked him dead center in the back before dropping on him, either way was possible and equally painful. Either way he was pinned and entirely at Monty's mercy. The gator was overheating so high that he could feel the warm exhaust escaping between his plates.
Jake tried to pull out from under him by crawling at the ground when Monty suddenly lurched up. In a split-second of precognition, Jake yanked his arms in under him and watched as Monty slammed his fists to the ground where they would've been. His hands would've been broken beyond repair, but as the gator dragged down his claws and cut through the carpeted flooring smoothly, he realized he was still in immediate danger.
"Stay down!" Monty warned. He sat upright and roughly grabbed him by the back. His claws slicing through his cloak and catching into the opening where his rigging hoop used to be, where his endoskeleton spine was still very much exposed.
Jake seldom panicked, but when he did there was only ever one thing he could rely on.
"ANDREW! ANDREW!"
Moon's eyes flashed blue, but he was seeing red.
Without a word, he all but tossed Gregory into the closest baby stroller, entirely ignoring his complaints, and broke into a sprint down the path. He came up onto the scene in second, Monty knelt down with Jake pinned underneath him.
Monty noticed blue out the corner of his eye and looked over just in time to see Moon coming before he slammed into him full force. The strength and speed of it sending Monty off of Jake and onto his side, and then on his back, and then at the mercy of Moon twisting up around him. The two getting into a scuffle as Jake managed to roll out and scuttle back away.
As strong as Monty was, Moon got an upper hand almost immediately and during the tussle got into position to twist the gator's arm behind his back, then used that as leverage to make a grab for his face. He ripped off his star shaped sunglasses and barely pulled back before Monty could sink his teeth into his hand. To which Moon swung up his elbow and hit him in the chin, snapping his mouth closed and his head back.
This also snapped the gator into some amount of cohesion as he suddenly stopped fighting back and instead tried to get Moon off of him. He rolled himself over, Moon scuttling to keep from getting trapped underneath, and lined himself up enough to finally kick back and shove the jester off. Moon landed nimbly on his feet and waited expectantly as Monty finally pushed his back up, still half-sprawled on the carpet. His uncovered eyes showed a degree of confusion.
Moon's showed no mercy. He mockingly waved the sunglasses. Monty reached up for his face like he only then realized they were the sunglasses off his head, then gave a steamed-up huff and pointed a finger at the jester.
"Ya best be tossin' those back or I'm comin' to get 'em, Moon," he threatened. "Don't think I won't."
Moon tightened his fingers on the glasses, his hand slightly shaking, and gave a low chuckle.
"Oh Montgomery…" he said as though speaking to a child. "You're not going anywhere."
He dropped the sunglasses to the floor and crushed them underneath his slipper, grinding his foot into the pieces.
Monty stared in aghast before giving an enraged yell. "What was that for?!" he bellowed. In seconds he was back to huffing on his own exhaust- especially when Moon started to dance in front of him. Hopping from foot to foot and swaying his head in a mocking display. The gator growled and slammed his fist hard onto the ground beside him. "Knock that off! Now you better cough up another pair by mornin' or I'll be pickin' up all them pieces and shovin' 'em right- r-right, uh…"
Something felt wrong. All of that fury building up suddenly went lukewarm as a prickling sensation started to crawl along the back of his head. He didn't feel right. He felt like those creepy long fingers waving in the air at Moon's sides were climbing up the back of his neck and pushing through the back of his head like it was made of jelly. He didn't like the look in its eyes. He didn't notice when they started flickering but it made his head fuzzy. He couldn't look away.
"Stop that," Monty said. He couldn't look away. "Stop that. Yer creepin' me out."
"Always so aaangry. Always so worked up. Throwing tantrums like a child," Moon mocked. His movements didn't slow or hitch. "You don't know what real anger is."
Monty wheezed as a puff of heated exhaust forced out of his mouth like a pant. His fingers clawed at the scrapped carpet as he tried to get his body to do something other than sit here.
"So, I'm putting you in time out," Moon hissed. "And maybe you can think about what you did… And what I'm about to do," he added sinisterly.
He gave a petty little wave in the midst of his rocking and rhythmic dance.
"Nighty-night…" he rolled off his non-existent tongue. Then he announced with a much more authoritarian tone, "Initiate sleep mode for FZ905 Montgomery Gator."
Somewhere inside a switch flipped and everything started to shift. The fans struggling to cool his overheated body started to slow down and his body entered the same state it would sink into during repairs.
But this was not normal, and Monty didn't trust it. He could feel something squirming around in the back of his head and even with his body obeying his mind was in a panic.
"Stop it…" he blurted out. He seized control for a moment and got a hand up on his head. He scraped his claws along the shell. "Stop it. Get it out. Take it out."
"Stop that," Moon curtly corrected. "Relaaaax."
The scariest part was that Monty jerked his arm away against his will. He fought back, slamming his hand against his head, then the second one, clawing at his casing and trying to get off the invisible fingers.
"Stop… Stop! Get- Get out of my head!" he yelled. He was starting to thrash in place, lurching away from a touch that wasn't even there. He could feel it all over, like concrete dust settling into his nostrils. His body was not his own.
By now it was very apparent that Monty was not reacting normally. While Moon had not needed to use this coercion frequently, it should've worked just as it had with Chica. Implant the suggestion and coax them on their way. Upon the activation of sleep mode, Monty should've gotten right up and went to the nearest Charging Station where he would've stayed until summoned in the morning. Instead, it didn't look like he could get up at all.
Moon broke his swaying routine to wave back Jake who was still standing beside the RV watching. He should've made a run for it a long time ago, and he would've if he didn't start seeing whatever this was unfolding.
Monty didn't even notice. He barely noticed Moon at all anymore. Just his red eyes swaying back and forth and blurring into the error messages starting to crowd around his vision.
Red. Hued red closing in around his vision. Fighting to shove him off when he wasn't touching him.
He could hear music that wasn't there. He felt cotton on his claws and blindly threw himself forward towards the source of the scratching and to silence the music and the hum. To get it out. To get it out of his head.
"Wait, stop…" Jake warned as he watched Monty decline. Moon had finally stilled, but Monty had not, continuing to writhe and shudder before digging his claws into the carpet, his heels following suit, and launching himself forward. "Move!"
By time he yelled it was already too late. By the time the jester stopped his hypnotic suggestion and sprung aside it was too late. He just couldn't move far enough and was thus sucked in, trapped underneath as the hysterical bot crashed full force into a cluster of tables. One buckles under the weight while the others were knocked over. A couple of chairs all but shattered when they didn't buckle fast enough. It was an inhuman crash, and there was a gut-wrenching crunch.
Monty felt like he had been hit by a wrecking ball, which was probably what managed to finally shake him out of his stupor. There was a brief moment of twilight innocence, where he technically knew what happened but didn't realize what he had done. Not realizing the weight of his partial black-out until he dragged his gaze down and saw it for himself.
The moment Monty's weight was off of him, Moon started to crawl back from underneath him. He noticed a distinct weakness in his left arm and when he tried to move it pain shot down his torso. He gasped and grabbed the limb to stabilize it. It didn't feel broken, and it definitely was still attached, maybe dislocated. He could fix that on his own and he looked down to access the damage.
It wasn't his arm. At least, it wasn't only his arm. The seam down his chest that divided lighter and darker segments had been separated with one of the panels bent back a few inches and loose wires spilling forth between it. Through the gap in his chest, he could see both his speaker and drinking hose. It was a bizarrely visceral sight, almost unreal.
He wasn't the only one staring in aghast at the damage. Monty looked down with wide eyes that could finally see but didn't want to.
"Did I-?... I wasn't tryin' to- I swear, Moon. I wasn't gonna- I didn't mean to-!" Monty rambled. His hands hung in the air over the exposed wiring until Moon smacked one back, causing the gator to recoil.
"D-Don't touch me-e!" the jester warned. His voice wavering and hitching as he did from the disturbed speaker.
Monty recoiled his hands as though the motion actually hurt him and continued to stare in disbelief. But the longer he stared, the more his mood began to shift, and soon his hands tightened into fist.
"Ah warned you," he said lowly. The change in tone didn't go unnoticed by Moon, whose eyes rolled up from his exposed wiring to stare at Monty. "Told ya- Told ya to stop… And ya didn't. It ain't my fault." Monty huffed. The fans kicked back on as his hands tightened and his eyes stared distantly at the damage he had done, then closed tightly. "It ain't. my. fault. Ya wouldn't let go-oah!"
A chair hit him over the back of the head. Not enough to damage him, but enough to throw him off momentarily and give Moon a moment to slink out from in front of him in the blink of an eye. Not that Monty was looking. The second he recovered he looked back, but by then Jake had made a hasty retreat as well, leaving Monty seemingly alone.
No longer distracted by Moon's injury he remembered the decommissioned animatronic still on the loose. The guilt, the frustration, it was all wiped away and replaced with one narrow focus, the one he originally had, to contain the threat. He got back to his feet and was back in pursuit. The lone witness watching him leave being the still alerting Security Bot by the counter.
…
Gregory wasn't the most obedient child in the world, especially when it came to following the orders of someone, he didn't trust to not turn their back on him. Moon fit into that category well. What kept Gregory in the stroller this long was the sound of the scuffle on the other side of Monty Golf, because the last thing he wanted was to get back in the middle of that.
Though he could've done with a better hiding spot. Not only was this humiliating but he couldn't see what was going on. Still, he stayed put and waited.
Until there was a crash so loud that he swore he could feel it shake the stroller.
"Was that Monty?!" Gregory thought. He tried to peek through the mesh of the stroller, but there was too much stuff in between him and the location of the noise. "Ugh, I can't see anything! What are they doing over there?!"
That annoyance didn't last long, because after a few moments of muffled talking and what might've been another scuffle he caught a glimpse of none other than Monty stalking around in the distance, and he was alone.
"Where's Jake and Moondrop?... There's no way he could've got them," Gregory thought. Yet he felt fear building up inside him.
That noise was loud, a huge crunch sound that could've been a whole robot being shattered to pieces- what if that was Jake? Jake was already a little broken up, he said so himself, and if something as big as Monty jumped on him he could've smashed him to bits. At least, that was how Gregory saw it. The fact that Monty was walking around and there was no sign of Jake OR Moon was a bad one.
He had a sinking feeling in his chest. He was alone again; he just had a sure hunch that he was. He could've checked to make sure, but there was part of him that was afraid to- and it wasn't just a fear of Monty or Moon.
He had to get out of here, fast. Gregory wanted to run back to Kids Cove and hide, but the better solution and the one he knew he had to take was to run back to the daycare and see if those friends of Jake's were there.
"Maybe… Maybe they can help him, if something happened to him," he thought. He took a deep breath and straightened up, listening and making sure he couldn't hear Monty anywhere nearby. "Okay. I'm ready."
Gregory quickly got out of the stroller and carefully looked around to make sure nobody was there before turning back towards the entrance. For a split second he thought he saw a white face up on the second floor and his head snapped up to stare, but there was nothing there and no footsteps and yelling afterwards, so he guessed it was probably a Staff Bot. There were plenty of those around.
He quickly and carefully avoided them as he made his way back to the bridge, the one he and Jake had tried to avoid on the gator mouth bridge, which now loomed to the left. The Security Bot was long gone but so was everyone else, giving him a free shot towards the stairs tucked off to the left. He raced over to them and started to hurry up, going around a sharp corner only to have a horrifying wakeup call.
"Oh, THERE you are!"
Chica was waiting for him on the stairs, just far enough up that he couldn't see her until he was around the corner. Suddenly he regretted brushing off that glimpse of a face so quickly, but it was too late to take it back. All he could do was turn and run, but it was too late to do even that. As wobbly as Chica's steps seemed, she rushed down the stairs with exact precision and grabbed his arm before he could run around the corner.
"No, no! No more games," Chica said. Her sickening sweet coo turning sour towards the end. She gave a firm tug that nearly pulled him off his feet. "Please come with me," she said. The tone was a lie, it was an order not a suggestion.
Gregory wasn't going without a fight. He grabbed onto the railing and hooked one of his legs on it, trying to fight against Chica's grip. It worked for a few seconds before she all but yanked him off, her grip much stronger than his. His arm ached where her fingers dug in and was twisted back as she started to drag him up the stairs. He tried to hold onto the steps to no avail.
"Stop! Let me go!" he yelled. Also, to no avail. "You're hurting me! Let me go!"
Chica ignored his pleads and dragged him to the top of the stairs, and it was clear she was intending to drag him all the way to wherever she wanted to take him.
Or that was the plan until a golf club swung out and cracked Chica across the chest.
Chica bawked loudly and started to fall backwards down the steps. Though before Gregory could even register that he was about to get crushed underneath her, he was suddenly grabbed up by something tight and soft and whisked out of her weakened grip. He was carried down the steps, around the corner, and into the safety of the hallway in a matter of seconds. Chica came sliding and bumping down the stairs on her back and only stopped at the bottom.
It didn't take Gregory more than a few seconds to realize that what was wrapped around him was a pair of fabric covered arms. As soon as he did he began to fight against them, only to be held more securely and softly shushed.
"It's okay. It's okay. I'm going to protect you," an equally soft voice whispered.
He wasn't sure how much he trusted it, but he stopped thrashing the moment he heard the heavy footsteps that signaled Monty racing over. The plush animatronic carrying him pushed back on the bathroom door and ducked inside.
Meanwhile, Chica gave a pained sort of cry and sat upright in a daze before her eyes focused on the man standing at the top of the stairs with the golf club, Mike Schmidt.
"Oww!" she yelled at him. "You creep! What did you do that for?!" She stared for a moment before that distant look settled on her face. "I am sorry, but the Pizzaplex is closed. Trespassers found on the grounds after hours will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Also: damaging or vandalizing animatronic mascots is punishable by fines equal to or exceeding the amount for repair and funds lost during period of repair. Please lower your weapons and wait for security staff and or local law enforcement to arrive."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Chickadee," Mike retorted with exaggerated confidence. He reached into his jacket and pulled out his security badge which he held for her to see. "But I am security."
"You are… What?" Chica seemed confused. The clarity came back to her eyes as she narrowed and zoomed to see the badge. It didn't look like the current security badge, but that was definitely a Fazbear Entertainment security badge. "…No. No, you're not! The current security officer is Officer Vanessa Smith, and you're not her!"
"I'm Marcus Wight, senior security officer. Smith might be the night guard, but I'm the one who gave her that job," Mike lied through his teeth. "With all the reports we've been getting I was called down here to help keep an eye on the place, and what do I find? One of our stars manhandling a child!"
"M-Manhandling?! No, I wasn't! He was running from me; I was taking him to safety!" Chica defended, startled by the accusation.
"He gave you two verbal warnings, and you didn't let him go. He told you that you were hurting him, and you didn't let him go," he recited while stuffing his badge back in his pocket. "Do you know what would happen if you broke that kid's arm? Do you realize what we had to go through to get this place open with all those rumors floating around? One incident, one injured kid, and it's done. The place is shut down, I'm out of the job, and you end up in a back alley."
"I wasn't trying to hurt him! He's been in here for days, running around lost and confused! I was trying to help him!" Chica pleaded. She played up the guilty tone well, but Mike wasn't sure if he believed it. "I would never hurt a little boy! My programming makes me incapable of hurting anyone- unless done accidentally while subduing a violent customer," she insisted.
While she continued to plead her case, Monty came up the steps to stand beside her and stare up at him. Just from the motions alone he seemed significantly more suspicious. He waited until there was a break in Chica's protests.
"Who're you again?" he bluntly asked.
"Marcus Wight, senior security officer," Mike repeated.
"Got any proof?"
He flashed the badge quickly before returning it to his pocket. "Want more? Go ask Smith. She's out there in the main room chasing shadows," he deflected. "You can do that on your way out. I want both of you out of here."
"What?! But that boy's still in here!" Chica protested. She suddenly remembered that he wasn't beside her anymore and looked around. "Where did he go…?"
"I'm going to find him, but I'm not going to have you two running around risking a lawsuit because you couldn't keep your hands to yourself."
"But- But you hit ME with a GOLF CLUB!" the chicken guffawed.
"And I could've done a lot worse. Unlike Officer Smith, I'm qualified to carry a taser," Mike said matter-of-factly. He punctuated his point by pulling back his coat and tapping said taser on his belt. "Now unless you two want me to drag Smith in here to drag you out of here- in which case I will be filing a report about you ignoring a direct order from a human staff member- I want you two to get back to your stage. NOW."
The result was immediate. Chica seemed to jolt and while Monty didn't, he also didn't continue putting up a fight. Something had changed instantly, and Mike wasn't sure which threat it was that did it but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He played up his role, stepping aside to tap his fingers on the railing and look out across Monty Golf as though looking for the kid.
Chica gave him a glare as walked past and headed out the entrance of Monty Golf. Monty stayed back at the top of the steps, waiting until Mike looked to him before speaking up.
"There's a decommission bot runnin' around out there," he warned.
Mike quirked a brow. "Which one?"
It was a sarcastic comment, playing into this act that worked so well in getting him some amount of control. As far as he knew there was only one decommissioned animatronic and that was the ex-Sun, Jake, who he knew came in here.
He wasn't expecting the wide-eyed look Monty got from the question. A fearful look that was backed up by how quickly he looked down. He reached for something on his face only to then lower his hand uselessly; Mike only noticed now that he was missing the trademark sunglasses that were present on every piece of official art.
"The old Sun… Moon's in here too somewhere," Monty muttered. He sluggishly turned to leave, his hand twitching up like he was already trying to reach for his face again.
There was something definitely up with Monty, Mike decided. Though that wasn't saying much when Chica was flipping back and forth between mindless robot and clear sentience. If not for the knowledge that they had been chasing a child around he might've felt bad for coming down so hard on them.
As soon as Chica and Monty were gone and he couldn't hear either of them, he called over towards a gift shop to the left of the entrance. Right from his perspective. "Coast is clear."
Jeremy hustled out of the gift shop and walked quickly to him. He kept his eyes towards the entrance while he did so.
"I can't believe that worked," he confessed.
"I can't either," Mike agreed. "They cleared out just in time. Any longer and I would've thrown up."
"Sounds gnarly. Mind if I join you?" Jeremy remarked. Mike rolled his eyes to him, and he returned with a cheeky, nervous smile. "Did Mari get the kid?"
"Yeah, it looked like it. Let's go find them before Nat gets in here," Mike suggested. Jeremy nodded and followed suit, and the two headed down the stairs. He waited until he got to the bottom before whistling, a signal that the coast was clear.
Marionette exited the bathroom and promptly set Gregory down. Gregory immediately tried to get what distance he could- which wasn't that far when they were in a narrow hallway- and spun around and looked up, and up at the animatronic who had been carrying him. His eyes widened at the sight of it, then dropped down to confirm that it was, in fact, hovering above the ground. That alone was enough to blow his mind.
"I'm sorry I grabbed you so suddenly, but I wanted to get you away from Chica. Are you alright?" Marionette asked gently. He sunk down onto his knees in a less intimidating kneel while doing so.
"…Yeah, I think so," Gregory mumbled.
He heard footsteps and both turned their heads to see Mike and Jeremy appearing at the end of the hallway. Gregory took a cautious step like he was preparing to run but didn't do so yet, thinking that these might've been Jake friends.
"Who're you guys?" he asked.
"I'm Mike, this is Jeremy," Mike said, gesturing between them. Jeremy waved. "And that's Marionette."
"You can call me Mari," Marionette chimed in. "Jake called us. We're here to help you find Freddy."
"Wait, so you're the puppet they were talking about," Gregory confirmed. Said puppet nodded. "It took you long enough! There's so much crazy stuff going on. I don't even know where Jake is!... I think he might've got in a fight with Monty."
Mike felt a sinking feeling at hearing that. "Wonder if that's why Monty was acting so suspicious," he thought. He could just see from Marionette's face that he too was concerned by this.
"Well, Monty and Chica are gone now," he assured. He stole a look at Mike to make sure and he nodded in agreement. "We'll go find him ourselves. What do you say?"
"Okay…" Gregory agreed unsurely. He couldn't help but be a little skeptical of the newcomers, even if they did fit with Jake's story. After all, how well did he even know Jake? He watched Marionette slowly lift back off the carpet, tall and thin, and still floating somehow, and he double-checked, "So, you guys are friends of Foxy?"
"That's right! He's my brother," Marionette agreed.
"I've got pictures if you want to see," Jeremy offered. He was already getting out his wallet and after a few seconds managed to pull out a couple of pictures of them at Foxy's. One of which being him dressed up with Foxy at Halloween and the other being a group photo of them at one of Marionette's birthday parties.
Gregory quirked a brow at the second photo. "What's he doing?"
"Getting blinded by a flashbulb," Jeremy answered.
"Huh. Okay, I believe you," Gregory said, handing the pictures back. It did help ease his suspicions a little. He followed along a little more confidently as the men led the way deeper into Monty Golf.
As confidently as he could when he dreaded what they were going to find.
Mable: Weird place to end it, I know, but I had to cut it off eventually. ^_^ I hope you enjoyed!