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Mike felt like his throat was too dry to breath properly, and his chest ached more than it should, his legs didn't feel quite as strong as he knew they should be, but he walked all the same. It was fine, ignorable even, more than he liked to admit, the walls clashed with the familiarity of the old style that first appeared in Juniors and had memories of that time resurfacing, it wasn't fun memories, they were too stained by the things he learned later to be able to actually fondly remember the past, but it distracting to his own feelings and emotions.

Still, he, his brother, and Mari, all found themselves finding a small side hallway that lead into the other section, Bellora's Gallery, the place Mike hadn't seen yet at all, which was more than fine with him, he had no interest at the moment in being on the side of this demonic basement where the scooper room was. He did feel a bit bad about sending Fritz in that direction though, but he trusted the man to be able to handle himself, though the lack of ways to communicate beyond shouting and hoping for the best still left a bad taste in the back of his mouth.

Instead of thinking about that either, he just looked around the room for a long moment, the lighting was awful but Mari was nice enough to float on ahead and managed with his much better night vision to find the room's light switch, flipping it on and illuminating the room back into bright lights made for a showroom and stage. The room was impressively large, though Mike had no idea just what the point of it was. Glancing around he just frowned. Evan spoke up his thoughts.

"This place is bare"

"Maybe this is an area for show floor performances?" Mari's idea was quickly dismissed by Mike as he moved across the floor, looking down at the ground for a long moment.

"No... There used to be tables here, it was cleared out though, this wasn't just for exhibits... It doesn't really matter, we should explore the side rooms" Mari let out a low chime but didn't mention anything for a long moment, following after Mike as he headed towards the first one that he saw. Though he did say, with a bit of worry in his voice.

"That's the room where they stored their shells... There's also someone in the vent" Mike paused at that, grimacing for a long moment before just nodding, and kept walking, he had already been told about that, but he hadn't thought he'd manage to walk right towards this room first. But there weren't many other rooms around to explore either, so it wasn't like he had much of a choice in the manner, so he just sucked it up and found himself standing in front of a room that read 'Breaker Room' on the door, as he pushed the cracked opened door inward and looked inside before instantly saying.

"It's also where about a million safety code violations are being stored" Evan moved over, looking past Mike to see what he was talking about before saying.

"I'm not going in there" Mike glanced back as the animatronic explained blandly.

"One shock and I have a springlock failure" Mike couldn't really say anything to that, as he looked back in the room, watching as after a moment another errant crack sounded as a spark of blue leapt off of some frayed and abused wire that was hanging down from the ceiling.

"Right, let's not have to drag you out here bud... If you want, go check out the stage or some of the side rooms, I'll be quick in here" The bear didn't seem all that enthusiastic about splitting but, but a shared look between him and the puppet had Evan finally turning and lumbering off in the direction of the stage in question. It wasn't really the bear's style, but there was probably something to look at, even if the place frankly disgusted him a bit.

While that was happening, Mike turned back to the door with a frown, but quickly made his way inside in spite of himself as he looked around, the place was a mess of wires as he looked around the walls for some kind of light switch so that he could see without having to keep a hand on his flash...light... That was in his jacket. He still had Jeremy's hat, so he just reached up and lightly adjusted it a bit on his head as he looked around.

"Over here" Turning to glance back, he saw Mari by another wall, and watched as an anticlimax click of the switch was hit only for nothing to happen, as he looked up at the lights above him and said drily.

"What are the chances there's a blown fuse in this room?"

"I think a better question is just how many are still working"

"Let's find out, better to know now I guess" Moving ahead, ignoring the corner that he had seen Mari glance at the moment they had walked into the Breaker Room, knowing more than well enough what he would find there if he looked to closely, he made his way up to a strange panel with a few levers on it.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Mike glanced over at Mari before saying confidently.

"I can work a control panel" Turning back, he stared down at the thing in front of him for a long moment... before glancing around for something to tell him what the hell he was looking at. There used to be labels on the meter dials to his right, at least he was pretty sure that was the case, but the whole thing was about as busted up as the rest of the room, as he reached out and pulled on one of the levers and blinked as suddenly multiple of the meters spun to life, while a few stayed off...

"Working well?"

"Of course, perfectly under control... I think these are the sections of the building that still have power, probably a miracle that this many are still working given the state of this place... This is probably some kind of meter control... box... thing" Mari didn't seem wholly impressed with that, and Mike ignored the faint embarrassment of not knowing the right word for the machine he was messing with. Instead looking away, deciding to toss Fritz at it if they had to, and instead said. "It's useless though, we're not here to play repairman... Where's the bots?" Mike knew he couldn't rush through all of this, but at the same time he didn't like being here, and knowing his brother was technically alone didn't help his normally steady nerves.

"Over here" Mari didn't seem all that comfortable to lead him here, but none of this was something comfortable, even as the puppet said softly, stopping just for a second, before they turned into what Mike assumed to be a small out cove in the wall where everything was, "A-are you sure you want to see this Mike?"

No, Mike didn't, but he needed to, because no matter what happened to him, he would always be the same in that regard, if it was in front of him, then he couldn't just look away. At least he hadn't thought he would, but after his father's secret... Now it felt somehow more important than just a trait that got him into trouble, so he just said back, trying for comfort.

"I'm a big boy Mari, I'll be fine" After a moment, just as he rounded the corner, Mike couldn't help but let slip out as well, "Besides, it's hardly going to be the first dead body I've seen"

Mike was pretty sure he was going for joking, but then he thought about it, and then he was remembering Evan, and then he was remembering his dad, and then he was remembering himself. Out of all the dead people he's seen in his life, a number that frankly shouldn't have been as high as it was, it had to be him and his family that he recalled.

That was not fun, what was even less fun was turning the corner and seeing a trio of massive animatronic with their insides ripped out of their stomachs, with wires pooling out from a 'wound' sight that made him feel incredibly uncomfortable to stare at. The often painful awareness of emptiness in his chest didn't go away over the last few weeks, it was ignorable for the most part, something he had gotten used to, like all the other kinds of chronic pain he's tacked along over the years, but it was very hard to ignore it when he was seeing the same exact thing in front of him, as Mike said blandly.

"Well, at least we know where they got the idea from... And why they said I wouldn't die" Mari let a very pained chime out at that, as Mike himself grimaced, yeah, that was in bad taste, but he wasn't sure he was wrong either. That made him deeply uncomfortable, "Where's the scooped human?" Mari just gestured towards the vent, as Mike nodded, moving over before leaning over a bit to look down the vent way, as he felt his face screw up in faint disgust.

"Gross, guess there's such a thing as too much purple" Mari batted him on the arm at that.

"Mike" he just glanced back, already moving to stand up straight again and move away, not wanting to look at that, as he glanced at the vent cover on the floor and kicked it over with his foot to better cover the entrance while doing his best to not breath too heavily, honestly now that he had seen it, the stench was much harder to ignore. Still, he said back-

"Am I wrong? Because personally I prefer the gray to grape" The puppet couldn't really say anything to that, as he reluctantly answered.

"Well... No, but still" Mike decided to not say anything more, it wouldn't earn him any points with the puppet and he was quickly becoming aware his uncomfortableness and stress from being here was making his coping sense of humor beginning to cross some lines about just what was okay to be joked about, before he could think to much about that Mari suddenly said, "One of them is missing" Blinking, Mike looked back and realized the same thing.

"Huh... Yeah, Circus Baby's gone" He hadn't really registered it because he didn't really know just how many to expect, but Mari had been here, and now that the puppet himself was looking around, there was a certain massive hunk of metal missing from the trio in front of the two. Mari moved forwards, closer, looking over the still present animatronics, before saying.

"None of them are back in these shells... Maybe Ennard moved into that one? She was the one that brought us down here after all" Mike just hummed, that was as liable as anything.

"Possibly... But if they spent so long together outside of a suit, why go back in one now?"

"Well, maybe they needed the shell to hold themselves together?" Oh, right, Mike had near fully dismantled the wire animatronic the last time they... interacted.

"Even more possible, we can have Fritz take a look at these later then, if Ennard doesn't want their old suits, then I have no issue carting this foxy onto a stage that isn't twenty feet below... Maybe not the other two" Turning to look at Bellora, Mike had to admit, out of everything down here that reminded him of his very painful demise, looking at the face on this animatronic was probably harder than any of that.

While for Funtime Freddy... Well, Mike wasn't much a fan of anything holding the name freddy in his restaurant. Admittedly hypocritical given the fredbear in the other room, but Mike really didn't think that counted. Mari himself let out a contemplative hum.

"I mean, it's broken up a bit but if there was any place to find parts for it..." Mike nodded, there were bound to be parts around for this fox somewhere to get it up and running right? Hell, if they were lucky they could toss a new paint job on the thing as well. Mike didn't mind pink, but he'd rather something that wouldn't traumatize Jeremy... The thought made him aware of the brim of the hat Mike was still wearing, coincidentally a Pirate's Cove branded hat Mike had gotten the man as a gag gift, the brim's color was the one that caught his focus. Maybe orange would look good? Mike spoke back all the same.

"Like we don't have enough projects going on, but a staff member that I don't have to sign checks for sounds real nice" That finally got an amused chime out of the puppet as he said teasingly.

"You say that like you pay me" Mike raised an faux offended eyebrow.

"Excuse me? Of course I pay you, it just happens I put your paychecks in with mine. I don't think the bank would be all that interested in opening an account for a Mario Nette" Mari cracked a smile at that.

"Yeah? And is there going to be a time where I see those checks?"

"Where do you think your baking stuff comes from? I mean, I tried a demonic deal to get out of having to go to the store of course, but the guy on the other end of the pentagram said puppets were out of his comfort zone, the coward" Mari gave Mike a look that told him the puppet thought he was being ridiculous, Mike just shot a look back, while being damn grateful for Mari and the two's ability to even in horrible spots, being able to banter themselves out of their moods.

...Of course that was instantly ruined as there was a call from behind them in the familiar, dry, and incredibly unimpressed tone of his brother.

"If you two are done flirting next to a corpse, I found something that's actually important" Mike wouldn't say he got flustered easily, in fact he would go as far as to say he didn't get flustered at all under any normal circumstance, apparently this was not a normal circumstance. Mari let out a loud surprised chime as Mike ignored the heat in his face, turning back to the doorway, to see Goldie standing there, arms crossed looking supremely disinterested.

"You been taking stealth lessons from Jeremy?"

"You going to keep standing there? Or can we get to the hallway for a house I just found in an underground factory" At those words the faint embarrassment at being 'caught' vanished under a sudden cold weight dropping into what used to be his lower gut.

Jeremy and Foxy both weren't really sure just what they were looking for, well, they had a list of things that the others had mentioned to be on the lookout for, Fritz with that handunit thing that Jeremy honestly had no idea just what it looked like, and Mike with a few things, most weird, like openings that didn't look like normal air vents. He hadn't really explained it, but Jeremy hadn't pressed either. He had a feeling the answer wouldn't leave him feeling alright, and the blonde was trying to keep that to a minimum as it was.

Either way, there wasn't a lot to see, Jeremy even handed off his now spare flashlight to Foxy as the two moved around Circus Gallery, but there wasn't much of anything in the room itself. The stage looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it at some point in the past, the lights didn't work, and the floor was empty beyond a few of the closest storerooms that were filtered around the gallery, where it seemed like the things inside had been ripped out and thrown aside. The whole room seemed to just be abandoned and beaten up. Foxy seemed to think the same thing, as he looked around, anxious.

Honestly the silence was quickly getting to Jeremy as well, making the back of his mind itch with that feeling of being watched, though logically knowing if he was being watched he would know. That did nothing to help the feeling. So he started to talk, saying out loud as the two walked around the empty dark room, moving from the few doors connected to it at a time, most being just storage spots for things like cleaning supplies and electrical stuff and nothing else.

"So, how have you been?" Foxy glanced back at him, confused a bit, and Jeremy just shrugged, unsure just what else to say, the two hadn't really talked in a while, none of them really talked in a while it felt like, they all had just been so busy the last two or so months. At least that's how Jeremy felt, he could only really think of a handful of conversations he's really had with the others since Summer it felt like.

Jeremy pushed down the familiar ache that tried to push itself into his chest, it was fine, they were all busy. Foxy shrugged at the question, his one good hand waving the flashlight about out of habit of animatedly gesturing when he spoke as he answered.

"Been alright enough, all this purple business been a right wreck on Goldie, but I've been there for em" Jeremy could only wince a bit at that, he didn't know what was going on in Mike's head anymore, but Goldie's? The bear's emotions were... loud on a good day, but recently the amount of things rolling off the animatronic was honestly a bit too much for Jeremy. He couldn't blame the bear, and was glad to hear that Foxy was trying to help, but it was still a lot even being on the wings of knowing what1 the bear was going through.

"What about you though? I mean, he did, uh... Well" Foxy just waved the man off.

"Eh, you can say it, the purple bugger sent me down to jones' locker" Jeremy was honestly a little surprised that Foxy didn't seem nearly as bothered about it as he thought the fox probably should. Then again, Foxy always seemed to focus on more... strange parts of his situation, rather than the obvious parts.

"And that doesn't bother you any?" Foxy just shrugged.

"It don't matter now does it? I already got my time making sure the bastard paid with a taste of his own medicine" ...Jeremy wasn't sure that was a healthy way of looking at it, or if it was healthy to be completely calm about a dangerous animatronic talking about stuffing, especially when in this place of all things, but... It was Foxy, the kid was... Well, not harmless, this was Foxy, but too well meaning to actually be worried about, circumstances or not.

"I- uh, I guess"

"It don't bother you any?"

"No, of course not. I mean, I feel bad for Mike and Goldie of course, it can't be ea-"

"Nay, I meant the killing thing" Jeremy was completely blindsided by the question, the shift in just what they were talking about hitting him from left field as he turned to look at Foxy, moving his eyes away from a cupboard he had been more or less staring into for the last few minutes as they talked, as Foxy himself was rooting through another supply closest, this one seemed to be filled with a few gag items fitting for a clown based animatronic.

"Uh... Well, I mean... I'm, not like, cool with murder or anything, but I'm not going to say I'm all that sad about Mill-, uh, Afton's? Purple Guy's death" Jeremy wasn't sure he could admit he was fine with how that day, nearly a year ago now, had gone, but he wouldn't lie and say he regretted it either. Frankly he was alright with what they had done, the man, frankly, had deserved it, and there was no realistic world where someone like him went down for his crimes, he would have weaseled his way out of it somehow.

Because the man was still causing problems even now, months and months later, was causing problems for them, if Jeremy didn't know any better, Purple Guy had set everything up in a way that would cause as much possible pain for them to deal with for after he was gone... Maybe that wasn't just coincidence though, this place now showed the man was more than fine with letting those he had destroyed continue to rot and break. Ennard... the more he thought about the animatronic, now that he was here, in these cold walls where even Mike's oversized jacket couldn't keep the chill out, the more and more he understood.

Before Jeremy could fall too far into that kind of thought, Foxy's sudden and triumphant voice boomed out.

"Ahoy! We've struck gold!" Moving over quickly to see what the fox was talking about, Jeremy blinked at the sight in front of him. Foxy had slowly but surely been tossing the props and items in the space he had been searching through. Behind it all was... a door? He shot a questioning look to the fox, who without hesitation moved forwards, tossing Jeremy his spare flashlight back as the man let out a yelp as he scrambled to catch it, unable to say anything in time as Foxy grabbed the door knob and with a twist, it was pulled open.

"A-are you sure that's a good idea?" Foxy didn't seem to think much in the way of potential danger, as he just let out a gwuaffing chuckle as he said brazenly, a sudden energy to the animatronic that Jeremy wasn't fully sure was an act or not.

"We here to explore, not deal with old feelings, come on lad!" With that he marched on in as Jeremy was left holding two lights and a very uncomfortable pit in his stomach, he couldn't just let the kid go on his own, even though the idea of wandering into a dark hard to find secret hallway in a place like this was the very last thing he wanted to do, he just ended up letting out a faint pained sound before rushing to make sure that Foxy wouldn't get to far ahead without someone to watch his back.

The thing that Foxy had stumbled into was what looked like a tight subspace between the walls, wrapping mostly around the entire Circus Gallery, thankfully for the both of them, nothing jumped out and tried anything, the space seemingly just being used to be able to get at wiring and pipes, which were running along the walls and one of the reasons Foxy was constantly muttering curses under his breath from the limited space to walk around with, while Jeremy took a small amount of joy from the small victory that came from being the smallest of the group.

Eventually after making a sharp right turn, and then another similar right, they finally found something of note.

Another way into this subspace tunnel that connected to another one of the side room storages that had been connected to Circus Gallery, just on the other side of the room, it was from one of the storage spaces that had its contents tossed and ripped out of it, the door as well which lead to the place he and Foxy were now exploring as well looked like something had nearly ripped it open. Jeremy didn't have much skill in investigation, but even he could notice the hinges of the door splitting the base they were attached to.

He and Foxy just shared a look, a nervousness pressing into the man while the fox only seemed to grow more interested. The two continued down the path before finally the tubes and pipes that had been going along the wall broke off suddenly, as a small space opened to at the very end of it, trailing down, where an open hatch rested, with a long set of metal rungs making a ladder heading down to who knows where. The fact that the hatch looked like it had been pried open didn't fill Jeremy with much interest in exploring.

Unfortunately, before Foxy could make some proclamation about going down there and dragging Jeremy along for the ride, the sounds of frantic yells rang out, as they both suddenly rushed to get out of there to see what the commotion was about. Jeremy swore none of this was good for his heart, as he could almost feel the sudden fear echoing off the walls.

Fritz and Janet took a long moment to find their way into the large dark room of Funtime Auditorium. Fritz himself was a bit worried about the lack of any animatronic to be with them in case something happened in the in between of getting Mike's taser, and Janet because the air felt like it was suffocating her down here. It was so much heavier than she was imagining, even with the rooms empty, that lack of life pushed thoughts into her mind.

Of the Cove mostly, her work place for the last few months, she barely left the kitchen during her shifts, always too busy beyond the occasional lunch which she much rather preferred to take out back or in the back office. It wasn't that she didn't like kids or anything, but it was always loud enough in the kitchen just from the noise pollution, and it was nice to get away from the cheers and screaming for a while.

Now? Now the echoing silence in a place that looked just enough like the Cove to make her think of it made dread seep itself into and root itself tightly into her limbs. It was just unsettling in the worst kind of way. Moving into Funtime Auditorium just made the feeling worse, as she let out a faint gasp as the sheer amount of red streaked against the ground. This is where it had happened, and suddenly it was too real, but she couldn't back out, and even though Fritz looked pained, he still stepped forwards, flashlight in hand, as he said.

"You can stay here for a moment, I'll grab the taser then we can move into the parts and services room over there" Janet just nodded, she didn't think she was the type for a weak stomach, but this was a bit much for her, as she watched as Fritz moved quickly into the room, a few seconds passing before her boyfriend had returned, a new item in his off hand, a large and intimidating looking taser, she had seen Jeremy's, she knew how large they needed to be to be effective, but seeing it in Fritz's hands helped ease her nerves back down to a more reasonable level.

"Are you alright?" Janet couldn't help but ask at the faint dazed look on Fritz's face, the man didn't immediately answer, just turning as he exited from the door, moving to close it behind him, that might have been answer enough for Janet, as she just watched, worried, as the man took a deep breath in, before nodding.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, come on, let's look through that room" Fritz gestured once more to the door with the sign for parts and services to its side, Janet just slowly nodded. If Fritz didn't want to talk about it, she wasn't going to press it on him, even as she moved a bit closer to his side, both for her own nerves, and to try and help his own. As she asked, trying to keep the silence from returning to the oppressive air of the room.

"Looking for something?" Fritz took a long moment to answer, his mind elsewhere for a second, before he seemingly snapped out of whatever headspace he was in, as he answered back.

"Parts for Bonnie, the toys weren't made here, but I bet there are plenty of parts still around that got recycled back here that didn't end up at the warehouse. At the very least there should be a ton of tools I could use to make the suit parts in the meantime at least if there isn't exactly what I'm looking for" Janet had to take a second to remember that were was in fact an animatronic that she had yet to meet, she wondered what they were like, that one wasn't often brought up, it made her want to ask.

"What are they like?" Fritz just shrugged, as they walked into the parts and service room, Fritz flicking the light, and thankfully with that the room was lit up, showing off a large conveyer belt in the middle with two openings on either side to lead to who knows where, the thing was covered in loose wiring and random parts that Janet didn't have the mind to figure out what they were once for.

Looking around at the walls, Janet wasn't sure if she'd rather look into the scooping room, on one side there was a whole wall covered in tools, with shelves stretching the entire length up to the conveyor belt, with dozens of parts and bits and bobs on them that she didn't really recognize, but Fritz instantly moved over to inspect with a keen interest glinting in his eyes that she took for a good thing.

Janet on the other hand, unfortunately found herself morbidly interested on the other wall... It was not as innocent and the reason she was pretty sure she would have liked to be anywhere else in the building, as she looked at the wall, which was also filled with shelves... Only the parts on those shelves weren't metal bobs and bits, they were full of body parts.

Thankfully nothing that looked completely human, but the amount of long white colored metal arms, legs, chests, and things that resembled parts of a face that were just resting in front of her still put a long chill rushing up her spine, as she slowly found herself unwittingly moving closer. Other parts became more and more visible, showing off metal eyes, other segmented metal looking plates, and other kinds of similar items that made her feel like she was living in a crime documentary.

Looking it all over, she nearly jumped when Fritz walked up beside her, reaching past as he picked up one of the arms like it was nothing while speaking.

"I'm not sure, we've never really talked, though I hear he's up and moving again" After a moment Janet realized that Fritz was answering the question she had asked a minute ago, as she just slowly nodded.

"Right... Think you can use any of this?" Fritz just hummed, looking over the arm in his grasp, before saying after a long moment of consideration.

"I-... Think so, I'd have to shorten a few of these things, they're all just too big, but that shouldn't be too hard. Bonnie will be more metal than plastic, but I don't think that's a bad thing, his endo isn't as strong as the originals but it should still support these plates, just make him a bit slower... I don't see any rabbit face plates though, but I could probably make one with enough time with these parts..." Fritz trailed off, his mind lost in the technical aspects of whatever it was he was debating, before he pulled his backpack off his shoulder, as he opened it up and began to slide a few parts into it.

It only took a moment, but the back's weight increased by at least a few dozen pounds, as he grimaced as he lugged it back over his shoulder, saying to Janet, only kind of jokingly.

"Remind me to hand this to Foxy when we meet back up" Janet managed to crack a smile at that, as Fritz just hummed, turning back around a faint look on his face that made Janet ask.

"Something wrong?"

"No, not really, just... Figured if one of those handunits would be anywhere, it would be here, but I haven't seen one still. Maybe they all got sold off or something" Janet just looked around as well, not sure really what the device he was talking about looked like, but compelled to at least see if she could spot something that might fit the bill, before finally saying.

"I mean, it might still be in here, maybe there's another room or something, this can't be all the parts right? This is a robot production plant" Fritz nodded, looking more invested as he took a look around the room a bit more closely.

"Yeah, there has to be a proper manufacturing room somewhere, might even be connected to this room, let's look around, Freddy's always was a fan of having secret rooms even when they didn't need to be secret" Janet could hear the history in that sentence, but didn't say anything, instead just nodding as the two separated out a bit and began to look closer.

Maybe it was a bit silly to not look around the auditorium a bit more, but if neither particularly wanted to go back out to the main room that was covered in streaks of their friend's blood... Well, it was something that didn't really need to be said as Janet hopped over the conveyer and began to look at the side of the room past it while Fritz himself shone his light down the two darkened paths that the conveyer came and went from.

The back side of the parts and services room was pretty bland, all things considered, nothing really out of place, it was just walls that were broken up by fairly large wire shelves that didn't have much in the way of things on them. Beyond just a lot of what looked like thick metal wires, which she wasn't sure what that was for, or just why there needed to be that much of the stuff here... Honestly, thinking of.

"Hey, Fritz?" The man's head tilted up from where he was staring down into the dark tunnel the belt moved through, giving her his attention, as she asked, "Is this normal? To have this many spare parts for the animatronics? I mean, the Cove doesn't have a surplus of parts or anything right?"

"No, animatronics in general don't really need much maintenance unless they get themselves damaged, the people who made them designed the animatronics to last... Honestly now that you bring it up, the Funtimes are durable, like, really durable, at least they should be, metal plates means their outsides can take a beating and their wire structure should mean any wear and tear is easy to fix... So, why are there so many spare parts for them all?" Janet could only shrug at the man's rhetorical question, as his face twisted up in confusion at the newest mental problem to work over as Janet turned back to the shelves, looking around for a moment, before frowning, moving around the shelves for a moment before finally looking down.

That's when she spotted it, it was faint, and if it hadn't been for the amount of built up dust and disuse that had accumulated on the ground and the things inside this room like all the others, she wouldn't have noticed it, but as it was, she could see the faint grooves of lines in the dust on the ground that wasn't quite... right, it was very faint, but a divot was something, as she tracked the strange curved lines up to one of the shelves.

Leaning down to look it over, Janet let out a sound of faint excitement as she saw that unlike all the others, the legs of this one were seemingly going into the ground. Quickly getting back up to her feet properly, she reached out, grabbing onto the side of the wire shelving, and began to pull. There was a heavy resistance at first, but soon it was like she had pushed past the friction and soon the entire shelf swung out like it was nothing, along the track like lines in the ground, as Fritz called out soon after.

"What did you find?"

"Not sure, but look at this! It's like one of those hidden pathways!" Admittedly the coolness of finding something that she had been convinced was only a thing in the movies override some of her cautiousness, as even before Fritz could being to climb over the conveyor ramp to get to her and see it for himself, Janet was already moving in the space where the shelf had been, looking along the wall before reaching out and running her fingers along another hard to notice seamline, her nails sliding down it before she felt something catch as she blinked in surprise as with a pull the metal wall simply... slide away, into the rest of the wall, to reveal...

"It's a hallway to... a closet? What the hell?" Fritz was saying something, but the strangeness and the curiosity was now overriding anything else as Janet found herself stepping into the strange opening, moving in as Fritz was now scrambling to catch up, when Janet finally stepped too far inside, as the sound of a faint blaring noise echoed around her.

Janet felt her entire body flinch at the sound, a cold feeling rushing down her spine as she turned back just in time to watch as the metal door she had opened without issue slammed shut behind her, as she felt her heart drop as she rushed to the doors, slamming her hands on it, only for the blaring sound to grow louder, to the point she could barely hear Fritz yelling her name, to the point she couldn't even her hear own voice yelling his back.

Janet's heart was pounding so loudly in her chest, as she continued to scream for Fritz to get her the hell out of there, the panic setting in so tightly, that she only realized she was coughing her lungs out after she had nearly been bent over wheezing and coughed as she had no choice but to stumble backwards, half falling through the two white shuttered closet doors, into what her burning eyes could only perceive in the first moment as a child's bedroom, her foot catching on some phone that nearly tripped her to the ground as she tried to get her breathing under control.

She didn't have nearly enough time to, before the sounds of the blaring faded, her ears now ringing with silence, her heart racing so hard that it felt like it was impossible to think... When the sounds of heavy footfalls echoed out from one of the two bedroom doors that where at either of her sides, as her shaking and trembling hands, still clutching a flashlight shot it at the door, an overwhelming and nearly flooring fear coursing through her as the faint sounds of breath seemed to echo through the air and in her head.

Mike had been dealing with the fact that his nightmares were quite literally a reality and all the implications of that which he had been slowly become more and more convinced were true over the last few days of horrible dreams, but having unbreakable proof of it in front of him made something curl up in his chest and die a little as he looked at the hallway in front of him with his own eyes.

The almost to familiar grayish blue wallpaper clashing painfully with the cool industrial theme of the room he had just been in made something under his skin crawl as he looked down the hallway, with a set of open doorways on both sides spanning down the length to a dead end, where sat a singular chair. If he wasn't several feet taller than what he 'remembered' being in this room, he might have thought it was even a bit intimidating. As it was, his head was brushing against the roof and he was already half bent over.

This place was made to feel claustrophobic to a child, while still being at a ratio that a normal hallway might be like, but that did nothing for Mike who was frankly just way too big to fit in the space properly, even Mari, the shortest of the three, only six feet tall, was still to tall really, he was just a cheat who was infinitely more flexible than Mike even on one of the man's good days where his bones weren't more like puzzle pieces.

Either way, Mike was building up the energy to explain this room to the others, to explain what he had been... shown, by whoever it was that kept bugging him in his sleep. Honestly, Mike was pretty sure he was supposed to have a much bigger issue about that whole thing than he actually did, but honestly with all the actual heavy shit he was dealing with, weird nightmares wasn't really the biggest issue of his.

Did he like the idea of ghosts in his head? No. Did he like the idea of Ennard in his head? Hell no. But he didn't think it was Ennard, and he wasn't sure of a few things, so he just pushed those thoughts away and just dealt with what was in front of him, like he always did, as he investigated the room, everything he had worried about confirmed and let him focus on just that..

Of course that only worked well up until the yelling started.

It was faint at first, they were on the other side of the building, but that was concerning enough as it was, being able to hear anyone screaming was signs of something that had gone very wrong. Mike had barely enough time to glance at Mari to give a nod before the puppet was already gone, the space he once was in now only air as the two remaining turned and began to run.

Mike never felt more out of shape than he did in the moment's watching Evan blast past him, his brother's suit was not at all meant for speed, but Mike more or less was hobbling behind all the same, his chest protesting loudly the second he tried to rush so much so that he nearly doubled over on himself. But it was just pain, and he kept moving, quickly as he could without injuring himself, as the two brothers exited out from the stage that held the hidden door to that horror hallway, and though the openings to the other sections, moving through Circus Gallery in time to see Jeremy and Foxy both rushing out of a room themselves, as the group of four spirited into Funtime Auditorium.

Mike didn't have time to think of just why he didn't want to be in there, instead to busy watching as Foxy blazed past everyone, rushing straight to the sound of the voices, into a room marked parts and services, as he hobbled along a bit after Goldie, as he watched just in time to see Foxy using a conveyor in the middle of the room as a springboard to launch his entire body straight into a wall of all things.

"What's happening?" Fritz, who was pacing off to the side, with Jeremy standing by, both shot their eyes over to Mike as the man himself looked around, trying to spot Mari, a panic welling in his aching chest when he didn't spot the puppet.

"S-She- Janet!" Fritz took a forceful breath, before saying, "She got trapped in there, it's a door, it closed behind her" The man was shaking, his voice had a tremble in it that Mike hadn't heard in a long time, as he just looked at the door before rushing over, half vaulting over the conveyor belt himself and trying to not cry out at how it bunched up his chest as he moved to the door just as his brother and Foxy both shoulder checked it hard enough that it felt like the room was shaken with how hard the metal wall reverberated from the impacts.

There were clear dents beginning to mark the wall section, though Mike's mind instantly noticed just the fact that there wasn't any handles, much less locks he could mess with, and judging by the indent in the wall itself where the animatronics where slamming, his mind shot back to one of the rooms he was just in, as he turned, ready to rush off once more, as he said.

"The power, we need to shut the power off" Jeremy spoke before Mike could build up to a sprint.

"Mari already went to do that" That gave Mike a moment's pause, a strange off footed feeling settling in his chest before he just stopped and nodded, right, Mari was on it, they were already on it, Mike didn't need to do anything.

The man ignored the itching feeling of uselessness in the back of his mind, and instead just forced himself to not pace as well, his arms crossing as his fingers clenched into his forearms, as he was forced to just wait. A long minute passed, Fritz looked ready to either faint or take up where Goldie had left off and start trying to break the door down himself, when suddenly it happened, the lights in the room they were in flickered, just for a moment, before all that once they were plunged into darkness.

Mike's light was the first to be flickered on, as he shone it at the door as Foxy darted forwards, his hook stabbing itself into the ridge where the two panels met and pulled, and unlike before when he had attempted that move, the hidden door let out a long shuddering groan, but was slowly moved, creaking open just an inch where Evan was suddenly there, his large pawed hands reaching out and with one harsh yank, the doorway was pulled open enough for even the bear to be able to slip in easily enough as Fritz looked ready to rush in, Mike felt something in his stomach drop that caused one of his hands to shoot out and grab onto Fritz's arm to keep in him place.

His torch, from where it was shone down, put the beam of light shining right on a pair of closet doors that were so familiar that if Mike was normal, it would have made his heart skip a beat. That... That was the room. Taking a breath in, and before Fritz could say anything, he said firmly.

"I'll get her, Evan, Foxy, take a step back away from the door, it might be a minute" He glanced at Jeremy, who while not really understanding what was happening, seemed to read the look on the man's face well enough as in the next moment he was tossed the man's own taser as he quickly moved into the room, taking one last breath in as he went, his eyes flickering up at the ceiling just for a second, spotting instantly what he was looking forwards as he put an extra bit of energy in his steps, dread pooling in the remains of his guts.

Pushing himself out of the faux set of doors, he instantly found her, Janet, setting there in the darkness at the foot of that damn bed, her hands clenching tightly onto her own flashlight, the moment he had exited it, the light from her flashlight shot right at him, as he was forced to raise a hand to not get blinded as he just slowly moved forwards, getting a better look at her.

Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, her entire body trembling in terror, as she stared up at Mike like she wasn't entirely sure what she was seeing, as Mike gulped, but made sure to not open his mouth, as he slowly bent down, careful of his chest, as he just sat there, legs crossed and waited. Holding his hands to himself, making a clear motion of it when Janet's eyes shot to stare at them, as the two just stayed there.

He had come down quickly, he remembered that much, but who knew just what this room did to people, so he waited, until Janet slowly stopped shaking, ignoring the fact that the pressure in his lungs only began to ache after minutes of holding his breath. Once Janet seemed to fully come back to the present, her voice choking out some words.

"Y-your... I-is it over?" Mike just slowly nodded, as Janet's face twisted up in a mix of relief and still heart gripping terror, Mike slowly just reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder, before slowly guiding her back to her feet, she stumbled for a moment, but soon after they were wandering back out of the doors. The second they were out, Mike let go as Fritz shot over and pulled Janet into a hug, one that the woman quickly latched onto and clung to the man in equal desperation, her body shaking again.

Mike just let out a raspy gasp as he finally exhaled, feeling a wave of dizziness hit him all at once as he got his own breathing under control when he felt a familiar pair of long skinny arms wrap around his side to balance him, as he glanced over to see the concerned look of the puppet. He just gulped, before saying.

"We need to get her to the surface" No one questioned it, Fritz was half way guiding Janet to the door already as Mike just sighed, glancing once more back at the door in question, while the rest of the animatronics moved over to Mike, as it was Foxy who asked.

"Why'd yah need us to stand back?" Mike just grimaced, as he made his way to follow after the others, speaking lowly to them.

"Because she just had the equivalent of her first night shift" He could feel the way the three's eyes moved to stare at the doorway, as he continued, "There aren't any in there, it's... Complicated. I can explain once we're out of here" Speeding up a bit, the group of four followed after Jeremy, Janet, and Fritz, catching up quickly, though Mike could only have wished that it was because they were choosing to wait on them.

As it stood, the man could only wish that one day their luck would be able to turn to something even approaching positive, as in the now powerless building, there was the tangled and splayed out figure out being lit up by a pair of flashlights in the middle of Funtime Auditorium, standing in there way to Circus Gallery were their way out laid. As Mike felt a cold feeling spread out through his entire body, the writhing under his skin becoming almost painful, as he stared at the thing in front of them, blocking their way, even as he spoke, Mike's idiotic brain never knowing when to be quiet.

"Ennard, I was wondering when you'd show up"

This was a long one folks, like, a really long one, nearly nine thousand words, which is pretty cool, I knew it would be going into this, cause I knew I wanted the actual exploration to be contained to just one chapter, because damn I really stalled on the building up to actually exploring this section of Afton Robotics because there was just so many other things happening in the mean that that needed to be focused on as well.

Obviously a lot of stuff is going on here, that's fun, the crew are all beginning to find the pieces of the fnaf four spots, which is nice with Mike finally being able to have proof to a lot of his own background deductions he's been having for the last ten or so chapters, some foreshadowing was set up for later, and Janet finally got her turn on the trauma machine. I debated for a while who I wanted to be thrown through that ringer, originally it was going to be Fritz actually, but this I think works out better. And now we're back to dealing with the wire spaghetti, which is going to be interesting I'm sure.

Beyond that... Got to be honest, this chapter kicked my ass, it took me nearly two weeks to even start writing this one to be honest, I just had no real motivation to get it started, of course once I started writing, it only took me about three to four days, which admittedly for me is pretty slow, but I think that's just because I'm in that area of this part of the story where I have the rest of the story basically fully prepped out now, but I'm only about seven-tenths of the way through actually writing it, and the idea of writing the needed hundreds of thousands of words of ideas that I already have planned and ready to go is just daunting feeling now that I have a vague idea of where I want the finish line to be. I'll get over it, but it's just catching up with me now that we're so far into this story and yet we're not even all that close to done yet. At least for me, given, well, it's just a lot of freaking words to type. Anyways, I'mma try to get the next chapter started much faster than this one, not that it's noticeable for any of you because of my chapter backlog thankfully, so See ya!