Mable: I'm assuming Fanfiction is still not alerting anyone, but I hope someone still gets to read this! Enjoy!
Going Home in a Box
Chapter Eighty-Three
Jake and Beelora were both left in limbo out on the raceway- or up on the stands in Beelora's case- waiting to see what had happened.
What happened came staggering out from the door flanked by Chica and Monty on either side. Her hair dirtied and stuck in her gaping face. Jake couldn't help but stare, or the Nanny Bot he was controlling did as he reeled from what he was seeing. He knew she was damaged, but this was bad. Worse than Chica's, maybe.
Roxy must've heard the whir of the Nanny Bot as she turned on it with a growl. "Wh-What are you looking at?!"
"It's a Staff Bot, Rox. It ain't lookin' at nothin'," Monty assured her. He continued to coax her along. "Let's getcha down to Parts and Service."
"R-Right…" She lowered her head and followed along. Chica patting her arm as she went.
Jake continued to watch until Moon suddenly grabbed the Nanny Bot by the shoulders and turned it towards him. He was currently in the process of turning into Sun, but his voice was distinctly Moon's.
"We need to talk now!"
Jake didn't ask questions and instead piloted the Nanny Bot after the Daycare Attendant as he hastily speedwalked out of Roxy Raceway, restraining himself so the bot could catch up.
Foxy and Freddy caught sight of him leaving. Neither asked, both assumed he was going to check on Jake and Gregory. They looked to each other before Foxy nodded after his bandmates and they continued following them. Foxy almost jumped when Freddy put a hand on his back, but then soaked up the comfort. His body was too busted and his pride too flattened to turn down the reassurance.
When they stepped out into view, a quiet voice from above spoke up.
"Freddy?" Beelora quietly called down. "Is… Is she alright?"
"She… Roxy is very damaged, but we will be taking care of her. Err… Would you like me to accompany you back to the Hive Arcade?"
"Oh! No, no. That's okay! I can make it," Beelora assured him, waving her hands. Normally she would jump at the chance for some company, but in this case, she knew better than to get in the way. "I'll be careful. Tell Roxy I hope she feels better! Or gets… better? Umm… Tell her I'm sorry and that I will be thinking about her."
"I will. Thank you," Freddy called back. He was appreciative, but not feeling very chatty.
Beelora gathered her babies and the Mini Music Man and headed back to the West Arcade while Freddy continued after the others with Foxy.
Soon they were down in Parts and Service and Roxy was seated into the repair chair. She looked exhausted and had collapsed on it while the rest figured out what they were going to do.
"I don't trust the technicians. They'll leave her eyes out," Chica said in a message to Freddy and Monty.
"That is true… They are… unreliable," Freddy admitted in defeat.
"What?" Foxy asked.
"The technicians. Chica is worried that they will not fix Roxy all the way, like they did with her."
"Hmm."
"Th-This can't wait until morning anyways. We've got to get that clown in here or-r something!" Roxy called out, exasperated already.
As thrilled as Chica would be to have Ennard swing by, she suddenly had an idea. She remembered something that they had talked about when Ennard was here, and someone else who might be able to help. It came to her suddenly and she turned towards the only known technician on hand-
And pointed directly to Freddy.
"Me?" Freddy asked in surprise.
Chica nodded vigorously.
"But I do not have the proper training. I would not know the first thing about animatronic repair!"
But Chica shook her head and continued pointing to him, then to the cylinder, then to the computer.
"…Might have a point," Foxy said.
"Not you too!"
"Ya don't have to know nothin' 'bout repairs. The machine does the whole thing! Err, most of it," Foxy insisted.
Freddy seemed uncertain and his eyes lowered to the floor as he lost himself in his thoughts.
He wanted to help, he really did, but was he capable of doing this? He didn't even remember if he was a human, let alone a technician! When he tried to remember or think about it his mind would draw a blank. The only time he really remembered tricks or tips a technician would know was just out of the blue, randomly, things he was sure he could've remembered from hearing technicians working on him talking.
And yet part of him truly wanted to believe that maybe he was some technician. That he too was a human like the others, and not just a human, but one capable of helping his friend. That he could make up for his hand in Roxy's accident.
He looked at Roxy and thought about it and what it would take to fix her and…
…He did have a good idea of what it was going to be like. Of what plates would need to be fixed, which parts needed replacement, and how to go about it. And he didn't have the same clumsy claws as when he first awoke. He knew that he could count on himself for precise movements, and he knew already what he would need to do.
Freddy wasn't sure if he was a technician, but maybe for tonight he could be Roxy's technician.
Maybe he could. Just maybe.
Foxy noticed the lingering silence and looked to Chica and noticed the steadfast confidence in her eyes had changed to concern. Realizing the position they were putting him in, Foxy reached out and nudged Freddy's arm.
"Eh. On second thought, lemme just call Fritz. I have faith in ye, Freddy, but I ain't gonna make ya work on your friend. There's a reason they don't let doctors cut open their loved ones, yeah?" he said.
Chica nodded and made a shooing motion at Foxy for him to go to the phone. He patted Freddy's back on the way to the desk.
Freddy stood there a moment longer, his eyes shifting as he thought, when he suddenly came to a decision.
"Wait."
"Hrm?" Foxy asked. Currently trying to figure out how to pick up the phone with a busted hand and a hook.
Freddy turned back to him with determination in his eyes.
"I will do my best."
Both Foxy and Chica perked up, the latter pumping her fists in a cheer.
"That's the spirit, Freddy!" Foxy congratulated. "We've got yar back."
Freddy nodded and strode into the repair capsule like he was walking into battle.
"Ya got this, Fredbear," Monty called in after him.
They all seemed so confident in him. The only one skeptical of him- except for maybe himself- was Roxy who shifted uneasily.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked.
"I believe that I will once I get started," Freddy gently assured her. "Like Foxy said, the entire process is automated. It just requires a worker to guide it through the basic work. I can certainly do that much."
"Just… if you get stuck, just stop. Don't guess, stop."
"I will, I promise."
Monty and Chica leaned in at the desk and figured out how to activate the machine, with Chica clicking on the correct button on the screen to start the repair.
This was it, Freddy thought. He remembered being repaired here. He remembered watching Sun and Moon and Chica get repaired here. He knew what needed to be done.
He could do this. He wasn't built for this; he was born for this.
"For best results, only one animatronic may be allowed into the safety capsule during repair procedure. Please remove Freddy Fazbear from the control module."
"Never mind, Freddy,"
"D'oh…"
So, back to square one. Save that Freddy now felt even more useless. He quietly moped to himself as he stood back alongside Foxy, who tapped him with his hook.
"Hey, you were gonna do it. Ain't yer fault they locked us out," he said.
"W-Well, someone has to fix me! I can't st-tay like this all night!" Roxy called out.
"…Tell ya what!" Foxy thumped Freddy's arm with his hook to get his attention, mostly ignoring Roxy. "I'll call me brother. Get him, Mike, an' Charlie down here. She's a technician."
"That would be great. Thank you, Foxy," Freddy said solemnly. His ears still lowered and his eyes sad.
Foxy turned to go to the desk when Chica stopped him with a hand and began to make various gestures towards Freddy.
"What about Ennard?" Freddy asked for her.
Ennard was the more skilled choice, but Foxy didn't want to call him. Foxy didn't want to call him because then he would be telling Michael, and then this would become Michael's nightmare as well.
"I'll… I'll call him- but Charlie's very good! An' Mari's our safety net. I'll call, uh, I'll call Fritz too. He's the other guy who worked on Chica."
Chica tilted her head before nodding, vaguely recalling that someone else might've been there. She gave a thumbs up and Foxy went to go make the call. This time Monty picked up the phone and held it for him.
The others continued standing around the safety capsule watching their broken friend lay there with despair.
…
Mike wasn't unused to waking up to phone calls in the early hours of the morning. It wasn't the best way to start the day, but regardless of how tired he was he would answer the call, even if he wasn't awake yet. His eyes were still trying to stick together as he grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand and brought it to his ear.
"Hello?" he asked groggily.
"Ahoy. It's me."
"Foxy?" Mike rubbed his eye. "What's up?"
He was assuming that Jeremy had overslept and hadn't showed up. At least, he hoped that was the case. Foxy's dour tone was concerning.
"I, uh… I need ya to wake up Mari and Charlie and bring 'em down to the Pizzaplex. We've got a problem."
"Oh hell, what happened?" Mike asked. He woke right up at that. That tone, that tone gave it away.
"I'll explain when ye… Eh… I've been in an accident. Roxy too. It's a long story."
Mike shot up from the bed and flung his legs over the side to start putting on his shoes.
"Where's Jeremy?"
"Outside, prob'ly. If I call him, he's gonna blow in here and we've had a rabbit sighting… I don't want him comin' in here alone. I'll call him now, tell him to wait."
"Yeah. Good idea." Mike reached back and shook Marionette awake. He shot up like he was rising out of a coffin aw Mike leaned forward to tie his shoes. "We'll be right down there."
"Thank you, Mike. You're a good man."
Oh, that was bad. That amount of solemn appreciation was a huge red flag if Mike had ever heard one. Foxy only got sentimental when something was going down.
He was hurt, Mike realized. That was why Foxy didn't mention going out to see Jeremy. He was damaged in some way. His quick hang-up managed to make that very clear.
Mike swore under his breath.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Marionette asked, equally concerned.
"Some sort of accident down at the Pizzaplex. That was Foxy, he said it was with him and Roxy. We've got to get down there."
"An accident?! How bad was it?!"
"He didn't say."
"How bad did it sound?"
Mike paused for consideration, then shook his head and muttered a, "Not great."
Marionette was up and off the bed in a second. Mike was shortly behind him, and they headed out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
"Did he say where Jeremy was?" Marionette asked.
"Out in the parking lot. He hadn't called him yet, so we'll pick him up on the way in," Mike said to which Marionette agreed. He headed off down the hall as Mike approached Charlie's door.
Mike gave two light knocks before opening the door. "Charlie?" he quietly called in.
Charlie lurched upright in bed. Her hands resting on the covers on her legs. Her large eyes weary slivers and her mouth a tiny and agape frown; she barely looked awake.
"Oh, good. You're up. Listen, we need to get down to the Pizzaplex. Something went down and Roxy and Foxy got into an accident of some kind, and we might be looking at another Chica situation."
That woke Charlie up instantly.
"I'm up! I'm coming!" she said.
"Thanks. Sorry to wake you up like this. I'm going to go get ready to go."
Mike pulled her door to and continued down the hall.
He stopped into the bathroom before heading into the living room where he found Marionette bringing Max up to speed. He could hear the Puppet's ticking as he entered the room, and even if he hadn't the way he was wringing his hands would've given away his worry.
"But we're not sure how bad it is," he finished.
"Only Foxy," Max remarked.
Marionette sighed. "Only Foxy…"
"Only at the Pizzaplex… Hey, what about Jeremy? He's down there."
"Foxy didn't tell Jeremy because he was afraid he would go in on his own. We'll bring him in with us and bring him up to speed…" Marionette turned to Mike who came to stand beside him. "Is she coming?"
"She wouldn't miss it for the world," Mike assured, and he put an arm around him. Marionette's ticking was briefly interrupted by a light trill.
"Hey, there's no funny business going on between Foxy and Roxy, is there?" Max suddenly asked.
Marionette gave a bemused guffaw. "I'm pretty sure Foxy prefers the company of single dads," he replied.
"Oh yeah. He has been hanging around Freddy a lot."
"That's not what I meant," Marionette said flatly.
"Freddy's already got his hands full. Sun's sort of a two in one deal," Mike added.
"…I almost forgot about him."
There was a clatter from the hallway and all three looked over in time to see Charlie hustling down the hallway with her toolbox in one hand and her soldering kit in the other.
"I know they have all the tools in the repair tube, but I'm bringing my toolbox just in case. And my soldering gun," she explained as she wobbled in, balancing the weight between them. "Are we ready?"
"Just about," Mike said.
He grabbed his jacket on the way and pulled it over the T-shirt he slept in. Nothing he could do about the drawstring pajama shorts, but at least they were blue instead of plaid. They'd stick out like a sore thumb but not that badly.
Soon they were in the car and driving through Hurricane. They pulled off onto the highway and then it was a straight shot down the abandoned stretch. Marionette has sat slouched in the passenger's seat, but the road was so empty that he felt confident enough to sit up. Though not confident enough to not his fingers wrestling together in his lap and his back rigid.
Mike had that same antsy energy. There was something exhilarating about flying down the highway in the middle of the night with somewhere to go. Even though it was rushing to the scene of an accident at the Pizzaplex, involving his friend and Marionette's brother, with a countdown hanging over their head for when the Pizzaplex would open.
Action got the adrenaline going, adrenaline got the anxiety going.
The phone call hadn't helped. He kept thinking back to how Foxy sounded and it worried him. He had just sounded so defeated. Foxy was the type to roll with the punches and make anything work in his favor. When he lost out, he flared up not died down. That more than anything else forewarned Mike that something else was up.
Charlie was in the back looking into her soldering kit, so he wasn't concerned about her right now, but a glance at Marionette showed that he was just as wound up as Mike was. He looked back to the road and reached over to grab and squeeze Marionette's hand. Marionette responded by lacing their fingers together.
The rest of the ride was quiet. Once Charlie broke the silence to ask about the phone call, during which Mike brought her up to speed, but then it fell quiet again. Soon enough, they were at the Pizzaplex.
Mike parked next to Jeremy. He couldn't see him in the car at first and wondered if he had taken off into the Pizzaplex to find Foxy. It wasn't until he walked over with Marionette that Mike realized he was still there, asleep, with his seat partially reclined and his glasses on the middle console.
Mike tapped on Jeremy's window, and he shot up with a start. He looked up at Mike with fear, but that quickly turned to confusion, and he opened his car door.
"What are you doing here?" he asked. Before Mike could even answer, a look of panic returned to the blonde's face as he realized the implications of Mike, Marionette, and Charlie being here.
"There was an accident on the raceway. Roxy's pretty banged up and Foxy called us to come down so Charlie and Fritz can help clean her up," Mike explained solemnly.
"…There was a what?! An accident?!" Jeremy shouted in shock. He grabbed his keys and all but threw himself out of the car. "Why didn't Foxy call me?!"
"He was supposed to. He called us first because he said Vanny's lurking about and he didn't want you going in there alone. Might've not been the best way of going about it, but I get where he was coming from."
"I would've waited! I just- I wish he would've told me. Unless I slept through it… No, I think I would've woke up," Jeremy said. He knew there was a chance he might've still tried to get in, but he trusted Foxy's judgement.
"We're not sure, but… we think Foxy might've been injured too," Marionette quietly admitted.
Never mind. Promise or not, Jeremy would've waltzed right into that Pizzaplex.
Mike patted him on the shoulder. "He'll be okay. He didn't sound too bad on the phone, so I think Roxy's the worse case. Not that that's a good thing, but we've got to take what we can get," he said.
He noticed Charlie starting to lug her toolbox out of the car and went to help her. Marionette took his place at Jeremy's side, putting his hand on his opposite shoulder like Mike had.
It was then that another car pulled into the parking lot. Everyone was at attention until they were certain it was Fritz pulling in, just in time. He parked on the other side of Mike's car.
As he got out of the driver's side, Mike came around the front and stuck out his free arm. "About time! We've been waiting for a good, what, thirty seconds?" he asked Charlie.
"At least. Maybe even thirty-two."
"Very funny. I'm guessing nobody went in yet?" Fritz asked.
"Not yet. But we're ready."
"Then let's get in there, inspect the damage." Fritz hadn't brought his toolbox but had brought his toolbelt and notably, his taser. Which was an excellent decision as Mike realized- with an inward swear- that he had forgotten his own. "I hope Natalie's already. I tried to call the lost and found number, but she didn't pick up. I don't have the number for the security office she's been in."
"I'm pretty sure Foxy would've said something if she got hurt. The only one he's dodgy about is himself," Mike assured.
"Well, that's not exactly a good thing, but… I'm going to leave it at that," Fritz said. Taking one look between Jeremy and Marionette and deciding not to sound uncaring by saying anything more. "Are we going in through the loading dock?"
"Sure. Mari'll get it open."
Marionette agreed with a nod, and they hurried towards the back.
Fritz's concerns about Natalie were alleviated very quickly as when they arrived at the loading dock door, they found it propped open and Natalie waiting there with Smitty and Buddy just inside. Fritz walked up with his arms opened and she dropped any act- nobody was around to see it anyway- and gave him a tight hug.
"Hey. Sorry you had to get up so early," she said.
"No problem. Any reason to come see my girl," Fritz shmoozed. This got a snicker out of Natalie, and she gave him a playful thump on the back.
"Knock it off. You're on the clock."
"More like we're on a timer," Mike chimed in as he walked past. Immediately Smitty started coming for him. "Hey, whoa!" But the Staff Bot wasn't coming for him, he realized. It was going for Marionette who was following him in. Mike reflexively blocked the bot with his arm and got a shoulder in between him and the confounded puppet. "Whoooa."
"They always do this for some reason," Marionette said warily.
"Maybe's it's got something to do with the face paint. You sort of look like them," Mike pointed out. He gave Smitty a light push and the Staff Bot did willingly roll back, but tried to come back in. Mike had to keep holding him at arm's length.
Marionette suddenly got a look of uneasy realization. "Oh, I hope that doesn't mean anything…"
"Normally I'd think something funny's going on, this is Fazbear Entertainment after all, but they're probably just trying to rip you off," Mike assured.
"…That is a good point. Yes, that's probably it," Marionette agreed. He sounded relieved, but then moved directly behind Mike, his hands on his shoulders. "But just in case, let's keep you in between us."
"What am I, a human shield?"
"Of course not!" Marionette insisted. "You're my flesh and bone bodyguard! It's much different, I assure you."
"Uh huh. Do I get a raise?"
"You get all the cupcakes you can eat," Marionette promised.
"Deal! Alrighty, Smitty, take it outside. Go on, back to Vanana."
He shooed Smitty off, but the bot only really let them go once Natalie called him back.
"Come on. Let's go find Foxy," Jeremy said, trying to hurry them all up. They didn't need to be reminded twice.
"They're in Parts and Service. Let's go, and stay close," Natalie agreed.
They headed out of the loading dock and down one of the lengthy hallways. It smelled stale but it looked relatively clean, if a little cluttered in places.
"Did you see what happened?" Jeremy quietly asked.
Natalie considered her words for a moment before delivering it to them straight.
"Foxy slammed into Roxy with a go-kart."
"What?!" Jeremy gasped.
"On purpose?!" Marionette added. Loud enough to make Mike jump as he all but lurched over his shoulder.
"I don't think so. I didn't hear much of what went down, but I'm pretty sure Vanny was behind it. The second after the accident I started getting flagged back in the lobby and she ran me on a goose chase around the Pizzaplex."
Everyone there was already suspecting Vanny but the revelation that she was there only cemented it. Though the actual accident was surprising.
"So, that's what he meant by 'accident'," Mike realized. His concerns about Foxy's condition, which he had been shoving down, crept right back up. Now he was a little less certain that Foxy was walking out of this one.
Marionette had slid out from behind him and was now leading him by the hand, their fingers laced again. His eyes were alit, and he was on alert, waiting to access the damage.
He had to wait longer than he would've liked. Even with the quick pace, the basement was a lengthy maze of hallways that eventually walked them up to Parts and Service. Natalie stood aside so they could go in, but Marionette gestured for Charlie and Mike to stay back as he went to look in and see who all was there.
He could see Foxy sitting on a flimsy looking chair. Freddy was sitting on the stairs while Chica was in the repair capsule, so he couldn't see Roxy, and Monty was standing by Foxy looking in the window.
The Puppet called out to Foxy in a tone that made every animatronic in the room flinch and react. With Freddy and Chica both looking around, Monty hunching in, and Roxy could be heard asking, "Wh-What was that? Did you hear that?"
Foxy did, but he was familiar to the noise and instead of it startling him he looked to the doorway to see Marionette peeking out, being the only one able to pinpoint the noise. He sighed and somberly beckoned him.
"Come on in, Lad. They already know."
Taking that as his only cue, Marionette started coming in with Mike shortly behind him and then the rest, with Natalie staying back to keep attention off her. The Glamrocks took notice immediately, with Freddy standing to greet them.
"What's he doin' here?" Monty muttered. Foxy didn't have to look to know he was talking about Mike.
"Eh, he works fer me."
"Wight's kid?" Monty asked, surprised.
"Not Wight's kid. He's me security guard, co-owner, ehh… brother-in-law, sorta. He's been spyin' fer me," Foxy admitted.
"…Huh…"
Foxy got up to greet Marionette, trying to hide how sluggishly he did so. He expected him to pounce on him, but Marionette resisted, instead reaching for his shoulders, for his head, quickly looking over and spotting injuries that could've been subtle but were all too obvious to him. He focused on the hand, gently taking it as he let out a plethora of worried twangs and ticks.
"Now, it ain't that bad."
"Foxy…" Marionette said. A sorrowful lilt to his voice.
"It's just the hand. I'll walk off the rest."
"You're going to have to have Charlie and Fritz look at that ear too," Mike pointed out. His voice also filled with concern. "Foxy, what happened? We heard there was a kart accident?"
"Ya got that half right. It was a kart, but it was no accident," Foxy said bitterly. Then he caught sight of Jeremy standing there wide-eyed and mouth tight and that fire fizzled out. "Yar. Ahoy, Jere."
"Gabe, what- Foxy- Gabe," Jeremy finally clarified. He took a second to look him up and down, with his eyes locking on the injured hand currently cradled by Marionette's two.
It wouldn't look that bad in the grand scheme of things, but Jeremy knew how serious this was. He knew how much it would kill Foxy to not be able to perform, to have to struggle with a broken limb. Even now he seemed so defeated- Jeremy had learned how to read Foxy as well as any other person and he could tell that he was torn up about all this.
Jeremy softened his voice and started again. "I'm glad you're okay- Well, I mean. Not 'okay', but… okay." Foxy's eyes might've brightened a little at that. Jeremy stepped in and put an arm around him. Foxy slumped his head onto his shoulder and Jeremy rested his hand on his hand, careful to not bump his injured ear. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I did," Foxy mumbled into his jacket.
"…You did?"
"Yeah, yer phone's dead."
"My phone's…" Jeremy pulled out his cellphone with his free hand. His face went a little paler. "…Dead."
"Aye."
"I'm so sorry." He hastily shoved the phone away and turned his attention fully to Foxy, hugging him with his other arm. "I usually keep it charged; I don't know how I let that slip!"
"Nah, don't worry about it. I, uh… I only called ya 'bout four 'er five minutes ago," Foxy mumbled. "Ye would've already been on yer way."
"Your back's torn up too," Jeremy warned in a whisper. Marionette leaned over Foxy's shoulder to look and gave another hurt twang.
"Yeah, I know. Ain't that bad…"
"You've been through a lot worse. This? We can get this fixed up in no time," Mike reaffirmed. Really, he was relieved. He was imagining Foxy in a much worse state on the way over here so seeing him with his limbs intact took a weight off his chest.
A weight that slowly returned as he heard footsteps thump up beside him. He slowly looked up at the gator now breathing down his neck.
"Oh hey, Monty. I didn't see you there."
"Well, well, well. Look who it is," Monty said. There was a smugness in his voice.
Mike slowly looked back to Foxy with an arched brow.
"He knows," Foxy said.
"How's it feel workin' for one of us? Not so high and mighty now," Monty said.
Mike sort of caught onto what Foxy must've told him, or what Monty must've taken from it. He put on a somewhat rigid smile.
"You kidding? Any day I'm not working for Freddy's is a good day for me. No offense, Freddy."
"None taken, Mike."
"Doesn't stop ya from struttin' around like you own the pace," Monty said.
He lowered his sunglasses and shot a look at Mike, not noticing the disapproving frown Marionette started sending him, still while holding Foxy's hand who was draped on Jeremy like his batteries had already run out.
While this tense exchange was occurring, Charlie tried to scoot by to see Roxy- with Fritz right behind her- and ended up coming face to face with Chica. Both looked surprised, then Chica's eyes narrowed.
"Ohhhhhheey," Charlie stretched uneasily, with a similarly stretched uneasy smile. "You're looking great!"
Apparently, this sounded as unhandy as it felt saying it. Chica's eye lids raised a little in confusion, but she still looked annoyed. Charlie kept up a dumb grin.
Fritz coughed and hooked an arm around her, pulling her to his side by the shoulder. "Crossing our fingers that Roxy's goes as well. We're going to take good care of her!" he assured.
Chica suddenly looked to him in surprise, her eyes widening. She tilted her head questioningly and pointed at him.
"Oh, me? I'm Frrrrrrank. I uh, I'm a technician. I worked on you!"
Chica nodded and pointed at him, suddenly looking a little excited when she did.
"She remembers you," Freddy said, a sad smile in his eyes. "Chica, let them by so they can see Roxy, please. They are going to work on her together."
After giving Charlie one last suspicious look, Chica complied and stepped aside. Fritz's mouth dropped open, Charlie's eyes went wide, and Chica caught sight of Monty cornering Mike and sauntered over to join him.
Mike had decided it was time to give up the bit and apologize now that he could. The last thing he wanted was to have Monty as an enemy when it was over an act. He was doing so as Chica walked up.
"Look, I'm sorry for acting like a tool when I ran into you. I didn't want to blow my cover. I'm an ex-employee and if they found out I was here, there'd be trouble," he said sincerely.
Monty opened his eyes more like he was raising his brows. "That so?"
"It is, but I won't blame you if you don't believe me. I worked as a security guard back at one of the old Freddy's. You know, one of the ones that Fazbear Entertainment swears up and down didn't exist. We've been coming by to keep an eye out and make sure there's nothing funny going on, but when that happened, when you caught me, I got spooked and lied through my teeth. And I only know Wight because he's been trying to buy out Foxy's since this place opened."
"Huh…" Surprisingly, Monty seemed content with this answer.
Chica wasn't so much. She leaned in front of him with her hands on her hips, fingers tapping her casing, and her eyes narrowed at him. Mike hissed a little.
"And I'm sorry about hitting you with a golf club," Mike added with a sincere but awkward smile, scratching the back of his head tensely. "I saw you chasing that kid and I didn't know what I was getting into."
"He came from a pizzeria where the animatronics were very aggressive towards the workers, and where upper management was using them as bait to appease them," Marionette explained. He came over to Mike's side protectively but not aggressively. "I was there before and after and saw plenty of it myself."
"Hey, w-wait a minute!" Roxy called. She sat up on the chair and called out through the door. "I'd know that voice anywhere! You're that creep who had his fingers in my hair!"
Marionette got a blank face before giving a rather timid, "Oh yes, I did that too."
Mike quirked a brow at him before grinning and running a hand through his hair.
"I know what you mean. He can't keep them out of mine either," he said. Marionette gave him a look and Mike shot him a smile before looking back towards Roxy. That smile dropped on a dime. "…Oh."
Marionette noticed that reaction before Charlie tapped on his back. He turned back to look, and he got an eyeful of what Mike had just seen: Roxy's terribly mangled face. Or the crater that sat where it once was.
Suddenly it didn't matter that he didn't know her. He knew her enough to rush to her side, standing over her chair. Mike hastily followed behind, stopping in the doorway.
"Good heavens!" Marionette gasped. The sound of his voice suddenly beside her without any leading footsteps made her jump. Realizing then that she truly couldn't see him, he slowly and carefully touched her hand. She recoiled at it, and he quickly drew his own back to his chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you… Are… Are you in pain?"
"Ugh, the only thing that hurts is my image. L-Look at me! If anyone saw me like this, I'd be ruined!" Roxy vented, gesturing the same hand at herself before using it to shield her face.
"Well, nobody's going to see you like this. We'll make sure of it," Fritz insisted, leaning in beside Mike.
"You really think you two can handle it?" Natalie whispered.
"No, but the claw does most of the heavy lifting," he said, pointing to the tools mounted on the ceiling above the repair chair. "Worst case scenario, it stops us when we hit the face like with Chica."
"NO! We- You will NOT stop at the face!" Roxy snapped. She took a second to calm herself and continued, "I-I don't care what eyes you use. I don't even care if they work. I just need… to look like I do on my cutout before morning. Okay? I can't afford to be b-busted."
"Yeah! Ya don't need those upgrades! All they do's make ya hot an' itchy," Monty called over Mike's head. Marionette turned his head around to look at him. Monty looked back and then started to scratch his forearm. "Ah don't think they're put in right."
"Well, if you need anybody to take a look at that, the best guy for the job is right here," Mike said, pointing a thumb to Fritz. Though in the motion he got close enough to notice the heat coming off Monty. He looked back in confusion then held out a hand to feel without touching. "You okay? You're burning up."
"Nah, I'm just hot stuff," Monty brushed off, unconcerned.
But something clicked for Mike. He thought quickly and then casually shrugged and patted Monty on the arm, a friendly sort of pat, before turning back towards the repair cylinder. Monty was none the wiser.
But Mike recognized the burning heat on his palm even from that moment. No voices or immediate headache, but that magnetized heat felt familiar. He would have to bring it up later after Roxy was squared up.
Right on cue, Fritz chimed up again. "We should get started. We're going to be cutting it close as it is."
"Right," Charlie agreed. Mike stepped aside to let her enter and then followed, setting her toolbox down off to the side where it wouldn't be tripped over.
As he was sitting up, Fritz patted him on the shoulder.
"Hey, why don't you sit in with us? We can count this as like extra credit towards that engineering degree," he offered. The pat signaled more stress than his voice did, so even though he doubted he would be helpful, Mike decided then to sit in for support.
"Sounds good to me," Mike said. He gave Fritz a joking smile. "I haven't even started school yet and I already got homework."
"Four days left, Mike," Fritz said in a fake ominous tone. "We'll save the pop quiz for the walk back to the car."
He was joking, but Mike wouldn't put it past Fritz to start quizzing him once he did get into school. He slid off his jacket, unsure of how warm it might get, and carried it to Marionette where he draped it over his shoulders. Marionette gave a soft trill and a quiet, "Thank you," but kept his sad gaze on Roxy.
Fritz stepped out to turn on the machine and Marionette followed, turning to Mike, taking his face in his hands, and giving him a quick kiss before slipping out the door and standing at the window to watch. The procedure started right afterwards, with Fritz hurrying back into the repair capsule before it all started.
"You're sure you know what you're doing? I-If I'm out of your paygrade, just…" Roxy sounded unsure.
"You're fine! I worked on Chica, she's worked on Sun and Moon, and we've both been taking turns working on Foxy's crew. Trust me, I've seen a lot worse than this," Fritz said. It technically wasn't a lie. He had seen the Mangle after all and had attempted to work on it, but it seemed better to leave out the details.
"…Wait… Who's she?"
"Uh…" Charlie stared for a second. "…Novice technician."
"Nobody mentioned a novice technician," Roxy said suspiciously.
"I'm, well… Do you remember that puppet that you chased around?"
"…Of c-course you are," Roxy sighed knowingly, sounding defeated. "Don't mess this up."
"I won't!" Charlie reassured. It just seemed best to keep up the pleasantries and begin to work.
Which they did, starting with the lower legs- Fritz was worried they would get barred out once they reached the face, so he decided to hit everywhere else first. Some of the lower body would only require a casing replacement, so it would go a lot smoother.
Monty and Chica watched at the windows alongside Marionette. Jeremy tried to look past them but kept alongside Foxy to offer his support, still holding him, and patting his ears, and mentally going over how they were going to get Foxy himself back in service as fast as possible. Foxy could take a few days off, but he wouldn't do so sore and injured. Especially with that nasty hand injury.
Then there was Freddy. Freddy who didn't try to watch from the window because he couldn't stand watching. Freddy who looked at Foxy with regret as he saw the state he was in. He was thankful for Jeremy, because he was in no condition to offer Foxy, or Roxy, any assistance.
Eventually he found his voice.
"I… will be right back… I need to check on something," he told Foxy.
Foxy, assuming he meant Gregory, let him go without complaint. He considered going with him, but he felt a duty to stay by Roxy until she was fixed up. Besides, he didn't want to leave Jeremy either and he didn't want to risk separating him from the group and getting him anywhere near Vanny.
"Be careful, Freddy. She's still out there," he warned.
"I will. I may not be able to see her, but I will surely hear her if she comes near."
With that, Foxy let him go. Which relieved Freddy as omitting the truth on where he was really going made him feel more guilty than he already did.
Because Freddy wasn't going to the daycare. Not yet, he would after he checked on something first. It would give him a little time to figure out what to say to Gregory. There was no shielding this; Gregory was too smart for that. Besides, he needed to know of the danger.
That was what got him the most. The danger of the Pizzaplex.
Freddy always saw the Pizzaplex as a sanctuary for fun and pretend adventures. The risks were relatively low even in the action attractions. The biggest risk of all was Gregory getting caught, because then they would take him away and perhaps back into foster care. Freddy knew it wasn't his right to keep them from finding Gregory a home, but he was adamant that he could provide a good one.
Gregory kept running away because of something they were doing. Gregory needed more. More support, more love, more security. Freddy wanted to provide him with all of that. He wanted to be the best father he could be, even if he wasn't biologically or recognized by the state as one. Freddy wanted to be that person.
But it was becoming more and more clear that having Gregory being taken away wasn't the biggest danger here. In fact, it was now becoming the safest option.
What if Gregory had been in that cart? What if, instead of racing Roxy, Gregory and Foxy had been riding around the track. What if Gregory's brakes had been cut and he drove into Foxy. Or Foxy's brakes again and he drove into Gregory! It didn't matter which, the fall into the basement would've surely injured Gregory severely.
Seeing Roxy injured was a wake-up call because it was terrible that it happened to her. It would've been terrible if it happened to any of the Glamrocks, or Foxy, or Moon.
It would've killed Gregory.
Just thinking that made Freddy's chest suck with pain. He tried to push back the thoughts, but he couldn't. He couldn't ignore it anymore. Children died at Freddy's, and so easily Gregory could die too.
If only he was a person. A human, a technician. If he could've met Gregory and took him in, away from this place. He could imagine it now; he could've enrolled Gregory in school, given him a backyard with a swing set, given them bunkbeds in the room next to his- so if there was an upset in the night, he could come in just as easily as he could now from his green room. He could be a real father.
But as he was, he was just buying time.
That thought was still haunting him as he walked up to the door leading to the stairwell under Roxy Raceway. Sighing, he opened it up and headed inside.
As he thumped back down the stairs, he listened carefully for anything. Any voices, any footsteps, anything friend or foe. The voice had sounded like a friend, but Vanny was crafty. She could be luring him out here alone.
But Freddy had to know. Even if it was all a trick, he needed to know.
He arrived at the bottom of the stairs and looked around at the small, empty room. There was nobody there. Nothing there. Just an empty room.
Sorrowful and desperate, he called out for the voice. His voice echoed through the open doorway and into the hall past it.
Nothing. Nothing at all but an empty room.
Freddy sighed and let his ears droop, his eyes drop, his heart fall once more. He didn't keep trying at that point, he just turned and started back up the stairs.
…
"Fr….dy…"
Freddy's head shot up and he spun around so fast that he tripped and stumbled off the stairs. He snapped his head around wildly as though he could see through the walls like Roxy could, listening, hoping. He couldn't have imagined that.
"Where are you?!" Freddy called. He placed a finger to his temple and sent a message back, despite it claiming it had failed to send. Sending it and calling at the same time, "Where are you?!"
He waited for a response. He looked around frantically in distress and waited, and hoped that it wasn't a trick, wasn't a hallucination or a memory. That it was real.
His heart started to sink.
And then-
"…ven…. B….. sev…. B…. 7…"
B-7. Freddy processed that quickly. B-7; basement sector seven. Without any delay, Freddy bolted up the stairs once more.
While it seemed counterintuitive to go up when he needed to go down, Freddy only knew parts of the basement. He knew where B-7 would be by guesstimation, but the easiest way to get there without the risk of getting blocked would be to take the route that he knew, to basement sector three, and then feel out his way to basement seven.
So, that's what he did. He rode the elevator deep into the basement and began to jog down halls, and then through utilidors, from where it was cluttered to where it was full of overflowing trash from the dump. It wasn't nearly as horrendous as where Chica had fallen into, but it didn't look or smell quite right. There was water damage and even the painted B-7 on the wall had started to wash away.
"I am here! Where are you?!" Freddy called. His voice echoed down the shaft, and he shuddered.
This did not feel safe. This felt like a trap.
But Freddy pressed on. The garbage crushing under his feet as he looked at a pile of disassembled Staff Bots. Their chests were broken in, and his hand rested on his own. He pressed on more warily.
He called his name. He felt a ping in his head. He hurried over a mound of forgotten things and slid into an empty doorway, into another sizeable but smaller room filled with forgotten refuse.
And then in the darkness, Freddy spotted something. Something tucked into the back of the room behind rubble and trash, knocked against the wall, slid down into and seated on the mess.
It was a grimy recharge station, and the signal was coming from that.
"He-… Hello?" Freddy called quietly.
There was a loud thump on the inside of the station. A shift of metal a dragging across the interior before grabbing the door and sliding it open in one harsh shove. Broken fingers holding on tightly onto the door and more joining on the side of the station to brace itself as it hoisted itself upwards with a squeak and groan of shifting metals. Its upper body lurching out of the station and into view, rising from its metal coffin.
Its broken ears bobbing above its head as it twitched and turned to face Freddy with glowing eyes.
Freddy's heart stopped as it looked at him.
Its mouth dropped open into a broken smile of loose wires and broken shell.
"H-Hey there, Superstar."
"B… Bonnie?" Freddy asked. "B-Bonnie?!"
"Th-That's my name, don't-tcrtz wear it out!"
Freddy staggered forward before breaking into a sprint, crushing and stumbling over trash as he raced towards the station. Bonnie leaned back in anticipation for what was coming before Freddy all but slammed into the station and shoved his arms in to wrap around his shoulders.
Bonnie winced a little but then… he laughed. He laughed and hooked his arm around Freddy, the other still bracing himself and keeping the door open.
"Heh, I missed you too, big-g guy! You have- you have no idea. Oh wow…"
He rested his head on Freddy's shoulder, going slack into his arms, but Freddy held on securely.
Freddy held Bonnie silently for a long moment. He had always dreamed of this moment. When he would finally find him, when he would hold him and never let him go. He had tried to hold out hope, but part of him had begun to believe that it would never happen. That Bonnie truly was gone for good.
Yet here he was!... Terribly broken.
Freddy finally pulled back, but still held onto Bonnie as he did. He couldn't bear to let go.
"Bonnie, what happened to you? Where have you been?!"
"Where do you think?" Bonnie asked. He knocked on the side of the recharge station.
"But…"
Freddy looked over Bonnie and only now noticed the full extent of the damage.
It was devastating. It might've been just as bad as Chica and Roxy's injuries; they just wasn't focused on his face. His exterior cracked, dented, and splintered. An enormous hole broken into his chest where a few loose wires spilled out and his insides were little more than a jumble and tangle of his own remains.
His ear was chipped. His tuft of blue hair was dirty. The yellow star he liked to paint on his face had worn away long ago and now just left a yellow smear. Finally, last but not least, there was a big hole in the side of his face. It exposed his skull and his eye almost seemed to be slipping into it. '
Yet, despite all this, it was Bonnie. He looked just as happy to see Freddy as Freddy was to see him. But those injuries…
"Bonnie, what happened?" Freddy repeated solemnly. He looked to Bonnie with large sad eyes.
One of Bonnie's eyelids narrowed- though the other got caught up and stayed hiked up, giving Bonnie a quizzical expression.
"Monty happened."
"What?"
"Yeah, that psychchchc- krtz! That psycho Monty knocked me off the catwalks!" Bonnie choked out. He gave a frustrated growl. "That slimy son of a-!"
"But- But Monty said- he never said-!"
"What? Never said he skewered me like a freakin'- ugh. No shock there. Just covering his ass," Bonnie muttered. He gestured an arm. "He put his hand, like, straight through me. Right here! Straight through!"
Freddy looked to that wound in shock. It couldn't be, he thought.
But then he noticed that the shape of the wound did resemble a claw mark at the edges. There were even some scrapes leading in, as something must've stabbed into his chest. Freddy tried to look in deeper, but Bonnie fidgeted uncomfortable and Freddy stopped, watching Bonnie casually but self-consciously cover the chest wound with his hand.
"I've been stuck to this thing since I got down here, and I couldn't tell anyone I was down here b-because they were planning on axing me anyways," Bonnie muttered.
"Why… Could you not contact me? I would have never turned you in if Fazbear Entertainment was intending on disassembling you, but I could have been with you. Maybe I could have helped you."
"No service," Bonnie admitted. He gestured around his head. "So, I'm all scrambled from the fall, but you got close enough that I like p-picked up your signal? Thennn I messaged you."
"It was quite fortunate that I was underneath Roxy Raceway then…" Freddy said sadly.
"Don't beat yourself up. Beat up Monty," Bonnie joked. "Th-Then beat up the dingus who made these things so small." He tapped on the side of the recharge station.
It was still hard to not feel guilty. Bonnie had been down here alone for so long, for so many months.
But he didn't have to be anymore.
"I may have not been able to help you then, but I can now. I can take you somewhere better, and perhaps we can get you repaired!"
"I would love to, but ehhh, I think I'm gonna be here a while. This is pretty much my metal coffin," Bonnie said, knocking on the edge of it.
"Do not say that!" Freddy said. Loud enough that Bonnie's ears twitched. "We can get you upstairs. We can take you somewhere better. Let me go get the others, they can help. We can move the entire station if we have to!"
Freddy shot up from his kneel and Bonnie grabbed at him, missing his arm, and ending up clawing at his leg.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! We can't tell anyone," he said fearfully.
Probably afraid of Monty, Freddy deduced.
"Then let me get Moon. He has been hiding Jake for months. He surely will not tell a soul! We could move you into the safety of the daycare."
"Freddy, stop. Okay? Let me… Let me show you."
Bonnie pointed down before beginning to use both arms to lift himself up in the recharge station.
Much to Freddy's horror, his lower waist and legs didn't follow. It only connected to his top by a thick bundle of wires. He had been bisected.
It was worse than Chica and Roxy's injuries combined. It filled Freddy with immediate horror, and then instant hopelessness. The simple solution to moving Bonnie upstairs dashed in an instant.
"Oh Bonnie…"
"This station's keeping me going. But that's okay! Look, I'll figure something out, just…" Bonnie paused a second before looking up with pleading eyes. "Freddy, you can't tell anyone you found me."
"What? Why not?"
"Just… trust me. Okay? If the wrong people found out, then they'd… Let's just say I'd lose waaay more parts than this. This place is a hunting ground, and I'm the bunny with its foot in a snare. So, yeah, I've got to keep a low profile."
"I will not tell any of the workers… But Chica? Sun?" Freddy asked. Pleaded, more like. He didn't want to hide this, but Bonnie shook his head stiffly.
"No, not them either. It's… complicated. Okay, truth is, Freddy. There's… So, like… Every time you send a message, there's somebody listening. There's someone out there watching us and waiting for us to get broken, and then they pilfer parts off us."
"Vanny," Freddy said in a low growl.
"You know about her?" Bonnie asked in surprise.
"I do. I have not seen her, but I have seen what she is capable of."
"Stay away from her. You hear me? She might look like- well, you said you didn't see her. She looks like a chick in a rabbit costume, but she's not. She's way more than that, and she's got the means to take anybody out! She could've done this to me herself!... She might've had a part in it," Bonnie muttered. He lowered his head. "So, just… be careful. I don't want you ending up like me."
That hurt to hear. Freddy knelt back down alongside him and took his hand.
"Is there anything I can do? I cannot just leave you here, Bonnie!"
"I know you don't want to, but that's what's going to have to happen, Freddy," Bonnie said. He clamped his hand on Freddy's. "But y-you don't havvezzt to go yet! Stick around! Relax! Tell me about the big, beautiful world up therere."
Was that all he really could do? He couldn't take him upstairs, he couldn't fix him, he could only be with him… If that was what Bonnie wanted then how could he argue with it?
"I would be happy to," Freddy said, his voice perking up and a smile in his eyes.
"Heh, great! St-Start with Chic. How's she doing?"
Maybe Freddy couldn't help him as much as he wanted to… yet, but he could at least give him a distraction. And he got a few more minutes- no- he had gotten a new future with his dear friend. Someday he would have him fixed up like Chica and Roxy, and he would introduce him to Foxy and Gregory, and it would be like he had never left.
Freddy had never felt so hopeful and heartbroken at the same time.
But at least he had Bonnie.