Chapter 3: A deeper look
Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy arrived back to the pizzeria where everyone of the employees were outside. Some of them were coughing due to how bad the smells were. "There's Mr. Fazbear," said one of them, "But why the hell is he in a white van?" "Oh, that must be Bonnie's," said another, "Forgot that he drives now. But seriously, why a white van of all vehicles? Is that rabbit doing something we are not supposed to know?"
Freddy got out of the vehicle and immediately went towards the pizzeria. "I wouldn't suggest going in there!" said an employee. However, Freddy didn't listen and went in anyway. He was hit with the awful odor that was mentioned earlier. "Smells like a swamp and a high school gym had a baby!" said Freddy. The stench was all over the building instead of being in one place as originally reported. This made Freddy cover his nose as he ventured towards the back.
Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy entered the building, trying to follow Freddy. "Wait for us!" called Bonnie. "Good gosh, smells worse than the grease trap!" coughed Chica. "This is what Davy Jone's locker smells like when he's still got some leftovers!" said Foxy. It wasn't easy because of the horrendous smell, but they carried on.
It wasn't very clear where the smell had originated from, but it was assumed that it had to have been from one of the vents. The 3 caught up with Freddy and they stopped right where the east and west hallways were. "Bonnie, Foxy, check the vent in the west hallway," said Freddy, "Me and Chica will check out the vent in the east hallway."
In the west hallway, Bonnie and Foxy ventured until they got to the west hallway corner where one of the vents were located. "Help me up the vent," said Foxy. Bonnie let Foxy go on his shoulders as the vent was above them. Foxy then opened the vent and took a look inside. However, he couldn't see anything that could be the culprit and the smell didn't seem any stronger. And it wasn't because of the darkness, he had a small flashlight on him. "Huh?" Foxy asked himself, "If there's nothin here, what is causin this?"
Meanwhile in the east hallway, Freddy and Chica made their way to the vent. It was located in the blind spot outside of the guards office. Freddy checked inside the vent. "Anything?" asked Chica. Freddy came out of the vent, "Nothing at all." Just then, Chica saw a spider on Freddy's hat. "Uhhh..." she said, not sure what to say, not wanting to cause a panic. "What? Is there something on my head?" asked Freddy. He then took off his hat to potentially brush off whatever it was that was on him. However, he didn't feel anything or see anything come off of him. When Freddy was about to put back on his hat though, he saw the spider. He screamed as he threw his hat.
Back where Bonnie and Foxy were, they heard the scream. "Chica!" said Bonnie, as he suddenly moved away from the vent. Foxy ended up falling out of the vent and hitting the ground. "Bonnie!" shouted Foxy, before muttering to himself, "I know why you did what you did."
Bonnie rushed into east hallway. "Chica! Are you alright?" he asked, short of breath. "I'm fine," Chica replied, "Freddy was the one who screamed." Bonnie looked at Freddy, who shivered as he used a stick to move his hat around, to see if the spider was still there. "Oh," Bonnie said, somewhat surprised.
He then looked behind him to see Foxy glaring at him. "What's the matter with you Foxy?" asked Bonnie. "Ye leaving the vent suddenly and making me fall out!" replied Foxy, he then whispered, "Dinnae think I am so oblivious laddie, I know why you were so quick to react." "Anyway," Bonnie said, not wanting to acknowledge Foxy, "Did you guys find anything that could be causing the smell? Because we couldn't find anything." "No, we didn't find anything either," said Chica.
Freddy picked back up his hat and looked closely, but couldn't find anything on there, so he put it back on. "Since none of us could find anything in any of the vents, I'll call someone to check out the vents tomorrow," said Freddy, "In the meantime, I'll have to tell the employees they get time off until the situation is taken care of." "What are the four of us gonna be able to do?" asked Bonnie. "All of us, video chat at 7pm," replied Freddy, "I'll see if I can get my father in this too, which I'm sure he'll be willing to help out in this. For now, all we can do is go home until we video chat at that time. But don't you guys worry, we're NOT going down so easily."
7:00pm
Freddy is in his room and goes onto his computer. He turns it on, before logging into his profile. Once Freddy is on it, he goes to the video chat page and his profile. His profile picture was of him taking a selfie somewhere in town, possibly when he was out doing something. He then went to: create a party.
With him as the host, he added his friends and father to the party. Bonnie's profile picture showed him with a fedora and a chain on, somewhere in his home. Chica's profile picture showed her with sunglasses on as she was windsurfing on some beach somewhere. Foxy's profile picture showed him with a pirate hat on up on stage in Pirate Cove, possibly in the middle of a performance as the picture wasn't taken by Foxy himself. Fredbear's profile picture showed him somewhere in his house looking very confused, as if he didn't know what he was doing or if he was trying to figure out what was to take a picture.
Freddy started the video call and within about 10 to 15 seconds, his friends picked up as they cameras on their computers showed them. "Freddy Fazbear himself," said Bonnie. "Thank goodness I was on the dang thing in case it was 7 on the dot!" added Chica. "So Freddy, what do we do?" asked Foxy. "Before we get into discussing what's going on, I wanna wait for my dad to get on the call too," replied Freddy, "After all, since he is owner of Fazbear Entertainment, he must know everything of the matter."
Right after Freddy said that, Fredbear joined in on the call. The camera was right up to his face though. "Is this thing on?" he asked. "Yes dad, it's on," replied Freddy. Fredbear then turned off his microphone unintentionally. "Uhh, you shut off your mic!" said Foxy. The microphone then went back to being on. "Hold on a moment," Fredbear said, before setting his laptop on his desk, "Okay, I'm ready whenever you are Frederick."
Freddy wasn't necessarily a big fan of being called his first and real name, but he just let it slide. "So before we start, my dad is already familiar with the situation," he explained, "I don't know why this is happening now, but we'll figure something out and discuss about it through the call." "In regards to the current situation we face, I think this could be one that needs a deeper look," said Fredbear. "What are you talking about?" asked Freddy. "Well son, this situation could have something to do with the changes of people in town positions during and after the pandemic," Fredbear explained, "With new hires, comes lack of experience. While that is my first theory, I think there's something much more going on when you look deeper. This leads me to my second theory, that being the sudden shift of new town officials. I don't work with the town obviously, so I don't know what's going on behind the scenes and why they sent a clearly inexperienced health inspector, only to by coincidence have him be right when the place sticks up. But I do know this, something suspicious is going on."
"Maybe we get a lawyer?" suggested Chica. "That might not be such a bad idea," replied Fredbear, "That's something I am very likely to do if the pizzeria does indeed shut down." "So there's our plan right there!" said Foxy, "We just need to find the right one to help us." "There's plenty of options, so we should be good," said Freddy. "Wait a minute, I know someone who can help us!" said Bonnie. Everyone groaned except Fredbear. "Please don't involve him in this," groaned Freddy. "Involve who?" asked Fredbear. "My older brother," said Bonnie, "Buster works somewhere as a town official and I'm sure he could help us out. I know you guys might not agree, but if we want someone who knows information on the inside, he might be our best option."
Freddy thought about it. "Alright, I'll add him," he sighed as he added Buster to the call. Buster's profile picture showed him doing work on a computer somewhere, likely in town hall. He wasn't much older than Bonnie, only older by 1 or 2 years. His fur color was slightly darker than his brother's, he wore glasses, a white button shirt, and black suit pants.
Buster got onto the call as he was shown. "Hey Bonnie!" he said, "Little party with the gang huh? I mean, I have work in the morning, but I'm down for a few matches of Call of Warfare." "It's not exactly that Buster," said Bonnie, "It's something a little more serious going on. And to be completely up front, I think we're gonna need your help." "What's going on?" asked Buster.
Freddy explained to Buster everything he could. "Oh dear," Buster replied, "That's definitely not good. A lawyer might not be the best option either, not with how the town is covered." Buster then covered his own mouth, realizing what he had just said. Everyone looked at him. "What?!" asked Fredbear in a threatening tone.
Buster could tell things were starting to get tense, especially with what slipped out of his mouth. "Look guys, I don't know everything on what's going on, but I'll tell you this," he explained, sounding anxious now, "Ever since Mayor Friedlander made deals with an unknown individual, things have gotten weird. I don't know who this guy is or why the mayor wanted to do work with him, but ever since they partnered up, policies and things have been changing surely but slowly. Either way, a lawyer isn't gonna help you guys by much."
"Well what are we supposed to do then?" asked Chica. "If a lawyer cannae help a captain and his crew, then what will?" added Foxy. "The best option is to sit tight until I can give you guys more information," Buster replied, "It's clear there's some form of corruption going on that we don't have an understanding of or are ment to know. For now, I'll do whatever I can to look into this and see if I can get information off of others and files I can pick up. When I feel we are prepared enough, perhaps investigating of our own could be considered."
"Tomorrow's Monday," said Freddy, "We only have so much time!" "We need to take action now, or we'll lose time that could be spent on trying to save the pizzeria!" Chica added. "You heard the town official," said Fredbear, "We'll have to wait until he can come back with more information. We can't risk things immediately, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves under. For all we know, this could be dangerous, so I as the owner of Fazbear Entertainment ask that we don't do anything just yet, until we get a better understanding of this. But it was a good talk and I'm glad to be involved in this to some extent. Have a good night and I'll talk with you some more tomorrow."
Fredbear was about to sign off, but he only ended up turning off his camera. "Umm, your camera is the only thing that shut off," said Chica. The camera was back on and Fredbear's face was up in the camera like before. "Everytime this happens," groaned Foxy. "Using a laptop, let alone a computer is sophisticated and not my strong suit," said Fredbear, then hanging up seconds after.
Freddy sighed, "I guess we'll see each other tomorrow?" "Yeah, we'll see each other tomorrow," replied Bonnie. "I'll message Bonnie tomorrow if I am lucky enough to find things and he can then pass off the information to you guys," said Buster, "It was good talking with you guys, I think it's a good idea to have me aboard for this too." And with that, everyone hung up the call.
Freddy leaned back in his chair and groaned, "This is gonna be one long week, ain't it?"
To be continued in the next chapter...
(Chapter 3 published 2/17/24)