Chapter 7: Bribes


At town hall, Mayor Friedlander was on the phone. "We can't be certain that Freddy and his friends won't come back," he said, "They may have been quiet, but-" "See? Luck went your way," said the voice he talked with before, "Don't know why you're so worried. Remember, I am loaded, so no cop or town official will dare to expose me or you. Hell, the chief of police was lied to so he wouldn't get suspicious of us."

"Look, all I'm saying is this is Fazbear Entertainment we are dealing with," he said, "I don't know if you're aware of this, but they came to my office 2 days ago and questioned me. I was saved by a phone call that Freddy got which somehow matched up with my lie." "If they come back, I already have an alternative plan, or plans rather," said the voice on the other line, "You just continue doing what you're doing, and I'll do what I can to make your town profit, while also profiting myself."

Mayor Friedlander sighed, "And that plan is?" "Look in your drawer," the voice said, "I got tickets you can bribe them with. They were picked out specially." The mayor looked in his drawer and checked out the tickets. "And you are sure this will work?" he asked.

In this fancy looking office, the voice that was talking with the mayor turned out to indeed be the one and only Montgomery Gator. "Believe me, it will," he said, before hanging up the phone.


Meanwhile

Freddy, his friends. and father had arrived to town hall in Bonnie's van. "So this is Bonnie's personal vehicle?" asked Fredbear, "I mean, I'm not judging, but it's odd." "You'll get used it," said Bonnie, "Anyway, I've been waiting for this since Sunday. I got sunglasses for all of us. We are gonna enter city hall in style!"

The gang entered city hall with sunglasses on. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy doing some sort of gestures with their hands, while Fredbear just kinda walked in like anyone else would. He looked at his son and his son's friends in confusion. The people waiting in the seats just sort of looked at them awkwardly, while some just slept in their seats, then others were on their phones, and one of them just coughed. This made the gang stop trying to make a "cool" entrance.

"Hmm, this seemed better in my head," said Bonnie. "Ya think?" asked Foxy. "At least we know not to attempt this again," said Chica. "Did Bonnie really have this planned out?" asked Fredbear. "Eh, more or less, for at least a few days," replied Freddy.


Back in Mayor Friedlander's office, he was on his computer. The only thing he really did was go through some files on there. Some of which looked normal, while others looks suspicious.

It was right around this time, when Cheryl phoned him. "Mr. mayor," she said, "The Fazbear's and their friends want to see you." Friedlander went pale, "Freddy, his friends, AND his father?" "Yep." "Well umm, tell them I'm avaliable." "You got it!"

The mayor opened the drawer to examine the tickets, before putting them back in. He admittedly wasn't very keen on it, but he was gonna try it regardless. "Well Monty, time to see if this works," Friedlander said to himself.

Soon enough, the whole gang entered. "Hey guys," Mayor Friedlander greeted, "Please, take a seat." Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Fredbear took their seats. There was some clear tension in the room, but that was to be expected.

"So, what brings the whole crew here?" asked the mayor. "Well, we found the cause of the problem," said Freddy, "A stink bomb was found in one of the vents. We had someone check it out, and that's exactly what they spotted." Friedlander did his best to not look or sound nervous, but hearing that sent shivers up his spine. "So you're going to lift that orange paper and let us open back up the pizzeria, right?" asked Fredbear, giving the mayor a stern look. "Here's the thing, it's not gonna happen just like that," said Friedlander, "There's a process and wait that needs to happen. It has to go through a system that decides whether the restaurant is eligible for reopening, including a possible second inspection."

Fredbear was not having any of this. "I've been in charge of Fazbear Entertainment for years, and never have I delt with such a process like this before," he said, "Granted, we've gotten into sticky situations before, but this is just ridiculous. And I'm guessing the COVID-19 Pandemic is your excuse for this? Or is it because there is something more going on that we can't know about?" "It's the truth, it did screw things up," the mayor replied, "I can assure you that it's the reason why things seem different and more confusing than before. Nothing else is going on." "You sure about that?" Fredbear asked, "Not even with someone to make improvements with?" Mayor Friedlander was getting really nervous now.

Bonnie was having a drink of some water in a glass. "This is really good," he said, "Have you guys tried this?" "Bonnie, can we save this chat for later?" suggested Chica. "Seriously, this water is unlike any flavored water I've had before!" Bonnie continued, "Is that lemon lime? Gotta give Cheryl props for offering this!" Everyone looked at Bonnie. Getting the message, he shut up.

The mayor saw the opportunity to strike. "As a way of apology, maybe I can hook you five up with a deal that you guys can't resist," suggested the mayor, "While I figure out the situation and possibly help find out the whole deal, the five of you can go see a show playing this afternoon at our town's theater." He showed Freddy, his friends, and his father the tickets.

They looked at them closely, then looked at each other. "Tempting," said Bonnie. "This don't seem right," added Chica. "Just to be clear, while we do our thing with that, assuming we were to, you would look into it to possibly help us?" asked Fredbear. "Absolutely," replied Mayor Friedlander, "Why wouldn't I help you guys? You can chill, while I do the work." "I'm not so sure," said Foxy, "What do ye say Freddy?" Freddy didn't look like he was gonna fall for this bribe, but what happened afterwards would be surprising.


Later in the afternoon, at the town's theater, Freddy and the gang were watching the show from their seats. What was on stage was an orchestra playing a bit of Beethoven. As it turns out, they fell for the bribe. Why they fell for it is not known, but it's possible that the orchestra had a lot to do with. After all, they all did have a soft spot for classical music.

"I feel like we got bribed," said Chica, "I said it before and I'll say it again, but this doesn't feel right." "I knew that shitebag would be trickin us!" said Foxy. Freddy facepalmed at the realization of what he got himself, his dad, and his friends into. "How did we fall for that?" he asked himself, "It was clear that he wanted us to be distracted!"


After the show

It was now the afternoon, as Freddy and the gang entered back into Mayor Friedlander's office. "That was a clear distraction!" said Fredbear, "You're not getting us with the bribes again!"

However, the mayor knew what to do. "Look, I'm helping you guys out right now," he explained, "So while I help you all, you have two options. You can either visit Lagoon Amusement Park, or you can see the pizza eating contest at 4."

"Oh please," said Bonnie, "We aren't falling for tha-"


Just like before though, they fell for the bribe. They decided to see the pizza eating contest somewhere in town. Chica really seemed to enjoy it, as this was something she was hoping to see at some point in her life. Bonnie was surprisingly enjoying it too, since he wasn't usually a big fan of seeing this sort of stuff. It's possible he may have only been this way only for Chica's sake.

"This is great!" said Fredbear, "Why can't they have stuff like this playing on TVs in public places? I mean, who wants to see all those depressing news stories? That's no fun. We need entertainment like this to brighten people's moods!" "Not gonna lie, I have to agree with that," said Freddy, "Plus, sports playing on TV besides the news is just overrated."

Foxy groaned, "Oh for God's sake! We fell for yet another one!" The others groaned at the realization too. "How does this keep happening?!" exclaimed Fredbear. "He REALLY knows what gets us!" replied Freddy.


After the contest

It was now sunset, and the gang were back at City Hall and barged into the mayor's office. "No more tickets and no more tricks!" said Freddy. Mayor Friedlander was surprised to see them barge in like this. Cheryl came in, "Sorry mr. mayor, I couldn't stop them." "It's fine Cheryl," replied the mayor, "It's not like I'm doing much anyway." Cheryl then left.

"So how was the contest?" asked Friedlander, "Was it good?" "It was not good," replied Chica, "It was great! What a contest to see!" "Except for the fact that it was a CLEAR bribe," said Freddy, "Now to make our situation a little more clear, that inspector said to our staff that we only have so many days till the pizzeria gets shut down. Supposedly, Friday is the deadline, and Saturday is when it's officially shutdown. Is what that inspector said true? Or was it inexperience like you made it out to be?"

Mayor Friedlander's nervousness became much more visible than before. Before he could answer though, his phone rang. "Pardon me," he said as he picked up the phone, "Hello?" "Guys, follow me," said Freddy, as he instructed his dad and friends to the corner of the office. "What is it Freddy?" asked Bonnie. "I have an idea, but listen closely," Freddy explained, "I'm thinking of doing good cop, bad cop. I'll be bad cop, and one of you guys can be good cop." "I will gladly participate in this son," Fredbear offered.

Freddy wasn't expecting his father to wanna join in so quickly on this, but it made sense in context. After all, Fredbear is the owner of Fazbear Entertainment. Whether Freddy underestimated Fredbear's ability to help or was just generally worried about him doing this was up for debate. But little did Freddy know, things were about to go south really quickly.

After the mayor hung up the phone, Freddy went over to him in an intimidating voice, "Alright, enough with the lies! What's going on that we don't know about?!" Friedlander looked at Freddy with a shocked, yet convincingly confused look, "Huh?" "Tell us what's going on right now!" Freddy shouted. The mayor looked at Fredbear who was right near Freddy. "I'll talk with you!" he said, "You look easier to talk with."

Fredbear grabbed the mayor by his shoulders and bellowed, "YOU LISTEN TO ME YOU PAMPERED PRICK! IF YOU DON'T FIX THINGS SOON, I'LL MAKE YOU EAT A PLATE OF PINEAPPLE PIZZA TOPPED WITH A GREASY LOAD OF SHI-" "Woah! Woah! Woah!" said Freddy, "I said good cop, bad cop! Not bad cop, bad cop!" Fredbear thought for a moment. "Are you sure you about that son?" he asked, "I could've sworn you said bad cop, bad cop." "Dad, read my lips with me saying a word," sighed Freddy, as he did that. "Eh, looks like bad cop, bad cop to me," Fredbear said.

With both bears distracted, the mayor reached for a button to alert security. It was at this moment when an alarm bell accompanied by red rotating beacons went off. This made Freddy and Fredbear gasp, then look at the mayor. "You made me do it," Friedlander said, "I hope you have experience with getting physically ejected out of places!"

Bonnie began panicking and running around, "WE'RE BONED! WE'RE SO BONED!!!" "This sure turned into a metaphorical sinking ship," said Foxy. "I hope we don't get searched TSA style," added Chica.

To be continued in the next chapter...

(Chapter 7 published 5/23/24)