Hey there everyone, chapter 18 is here, and things are starting to get heated.
In this one, we'll learn some more about the plot's backstory, at some point in the future I do plan to cover the past in much more detail to explain how things got to where they were by the beginning of chapter one.
No song for this one I'm afraid, I need time to find songs which match the theme of the individual chapter and it's harder than it sounds.
Also, thank you Elaine for your reviews, yes this is the Fazbears vs Afton in a titanic death match kind of fanfic, I don't really mind how you view the characters, be it animatronic or human, I just wrote them down as human because I wanted to be different from most FNAF fanfics, I personally think it's a nice twist.
Also thank you to Nknown and Junio - Mphahlele for recently deciding to follow this story.
Please enjoy...
Chapter 18.
Creeping Shadows.
"Never fear shadows…they simply mean there's light shinning somewhere nearby…"
Ruth E. Renkel.
Vincent purposely fell backwards, just narrowly avoiding the bullet shower that was aimed to go right between his eyes.
Instead the bullets hit the far wall and mostly shattered in even smaller pieces of shrapnel.
He rolled left, immediately picked himself up and ran blindly down the corridor towards the main room.
From behind, he could hear footsteps coming up the stairs in at a quick pace, he needed to get the Toys off his back and the Nightmares were ideal for such a task.
They were sitting round a table, playing cards, listening to music via Vincent's phone, however the shot created by Toy Freddy's gun had cut through the sound barrier and caught their attention.
"What's going on, why do you look shocked all of a sudden?" Nightmare Chica asked, scanning Vincent's body language as he raced into the room.
"They're…here…the Toys," Vincent gasped, pausing briefly to catch his breath.
"WHAT!" Nightmare Foxy shouted, quickly rising from his seat, but knocking the table and its contents over in the process, whilst looking clearly shocked and somewhat confused.
"THE TOYS ARE HERE WITH GUNS!" Vincent yelled, pointing back to the hallway, from which the sound of multiple footsteps and voices could be heard.
"Shit!" Nightmare Freddy whispered, fully realizing the situation they had found themselves in.
"How could they find us so easily, the fucking police couldn't," Nightmare Bonnie hissed, with her purple eyes narrowing in extreme annoyance.
Luckily Vincent had already thought of a plan on the spur of the moment.
"We need to act, you guys hold them off, we can't stay here, I'll go to the office and conduct the endoskeletons to take all the necessary equipment up to the roof, I'll also call the airship out of hiding," he ordered, running towards the stairs at the far end of the room that led to the upper levels.
"If the Toys are here, then where are the others?" Nightmare Bonnie asked, looking around.
"Oh, they'll be here…somewhere," Nightmare Freddy answered, his eyes scanning the entire room.
"But Vincent," Nightmare Foxy called out, catching his attention.
"What about-"
"Shock reverse, remember, they won't be expecting it," Vincent replied, cutting Nightmare Foxy off.
"Do what you have to do quickly, I don't like being outnumbered," Nightmare Chica snarled, frustrated that she didn't know where the other Fazbears were.
Vincent quickly vanished through the far doorway and up the stairs, leaving the four Nightmares alone with the approaching Toys.
"Let's hide…use the darkness, N-Chica, cut the lights please," Nightmare Freddy ordered, his eyes fixed on the hallway.
He knew that even with their guns, the Toys would be in a slightly better shape than them…thanks to Goldie.
Nightmare Freddy clutched his arm, twisting it, Goldie had dislocated it and it hurt like a bitch, especialy after when Nightmare Foxy had forcefully pushed it back into its socket.
He briefly smiled, Goldie was right, he had put people through worse scenarios then what he had undergone.
Just ask those who had been unfortunate to cross his path earlier today…expect that they were all dead.
He turned to look at Nightmares Chica and Bonnie, if one were to look at Nightmare Bonnie closely they see that her nose had been re-corrected, apparently Goldie could headbutt really hard.
She along with Nightmare Chica had to straighten their teeth as had Nightmare Foxy much to their agony and Nightmare Freddy knew that kind of pain all too well.
But still they could fight, all four were willing to bet that the Toys were immature, less experienced than the Originals were.
However, they could be wrong…
Nightmare Chica, turned the lights off, before disconnecting them completely and plunged the entire room into complete darkness.
Only their eyes were visible which glowed in the dark like fireflies.
One dark red, one a blueish purple, another an orangery yellow and a fourth, a brownish red.
"Now what?" Nightmare Foxy asked.
The blueish purple, the orangery yellow and the brownish red turned to face the dark red.
"Follow me," Nightmare Freddy whispered, walking off in one direction, to which the other three followed.
"Follow me and see a Nightmare in action…"
"God dammit!" Puppet groaned, as she crawled inside the metal pipe, the small confines heavily restricting her movement.
She was the thinnest of all the Fazbears, yet even this was a tight fit.
"Remind me why we took this route?"
"I told you, we're heading to the 8th floor and to search for Goldie, the Nightmares or Vincent won't even know we're here," Balloon Boy replied, crawling forward, keeping himself close to the floor.
"Everything's cold and hard in here, and cramped to say the least," Puppet moaned, clearly annoyed with her surroundings as the consent moving over metal rims was not doing her legs any favors.
"I'm sure we're near the 6th floor, or maybe the 5th by now," said Balloon Boy, proceeding to pull himself forward across the icy cold metal.
"Just keep moving, I'm freezing in here," Puppet muttered, shivering as her body reacted to the cold.
Clearly this building didn't have any operational central heating.
"Maybe it's because your cold bloodied," Balloon Boy replied, wiggling his eyebrows in a humorous manner.
However, the Puppet didn't find his joke very funny, and proceeded to give Balloon Boy, a cold glare, so cold, that his blood froze.
When Puppet was serious, she meant it…
"Sorry, I didn't mean to refer you to the Ice Witch of Narria."
Oops…
"I meant Witchking of Angmar."
Now you're in for it…
The Puppet appeared to physically shake under her anger, only to control herself and breathe out.
It was like wrapping a shell around an unstable reactor core.
She smiled…but it wasn't inviting.
"Get running BB, I'll give you a five second headstart," she whispered sharply her hands turning into fists.
It took Balloon Boy a few seconds to realize what she intended to do, before he turned and raced up the pipe, crawling away as fast as he could.
"I'm sorry!" he cried, scrambling as fast as he could.
"Well you shouldn't have called me the Witchking of Angmar then," Puppet cried back, following up after Balloon Boy.
She didn't even know about Lord of the Rings, but she could easily guess that the term wasn't positive.
"Well you can be cold sometimes," said Balloon Boy, looking back.
Puppet narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth, causing Balloon Boy to scuttle even further away.
"Sorry Mari, but in a relationship, we need to be honest with one another, you could say I'm an idiot and I would happily accept that."
"You've been an idiot on so many occasions I've lost count," Puppet replied sourly, crawling after him.
"And I accept it Mari, it's called being mature, try it sometime," Balloon Boy called back.
"You take that back!" Puppet hissed, who was starting to gain on him.
"You'll have to catch me first," Balloon Boy sang playfully, scuttling even further forward, well beyond her reach.
"I will," Puppet whispered bitterly under her breath following him.
"I will…"
At least they were moving towards their objective.
"Freddy, are you and the others inside already?" Toy Freddy asked, whispering into the phone Jeremy had given them, so anyone nearby couldn't hear.
"Yeah, we're in the pipes, all five of us, where are you guys?" Freddy asked back, his voice crackling due to the weak signal as they were in a building with concrete walls.
"On the second floor, we've searched the basement, ground and first floors, but found nothing, however we did find Vincent," Toy Freddy replied.
"Pardon?" Freddy asked, sounding confused.
"Yeah, I saw him as we were coming up the stairs, just a few steps above me, I shot him, but somehow it missed him, before he ran off in the direction of the main assembly area."
"Bastard!" Was simply Freddy's reply.
Toy Bonnie then joined in, taking the phone off Toy Freddy.
"This building is at best guess a factory of sorts, what we found in the basement hints towards the production of various chemicals for scientific research, some of it even dates as far back as the Cold War."
"That was a 'peaceful' time and all, not that I cared much for it," Freddy mumbled over the static.
World politics had merely passed them by without a second thought, none of it affected them so they took no notice of what was going on in the wider world.
Toy Freddy, meanwhile turned to face Mangle, cocking his head in the direction of the hallway before them.
"Mangle, keep an eye on the hallway, we don't want anyone sneaking up on us."
"Sure thing," Mangle replied, casting her eyes towards dimly lit corridor which led into nothing but pitch blackness at the far end.
Then Toy Chica spoke.
"Mike and Jeremy have gone up to the 4th floor, and the Puppet and BB should be at the 8th floor, you guys will be entering..."
"The 6th floor," Freddy answered.
There some disruption as the phone struggled to maintain the signal.
"Good, that way this place is searched from top to bottom, we along with Springtrap will intercept Vincent, Mike and Jeremy will hopefully cut off the Nightmares' escape route to the roof," Freddy stated.
"We'll keep the Nightmares busy for as long as possible, we outnumber them thirteen to five, excluding the endoskeletons," Toy Freddy replied, although he was staring into the pitch blackness, his mind imagining what horrors lay beyond.
"Fine, good luck, you'll need it," said Freddy.
"You too, over and out," Toy Bonnie replied.
She cancelled the call, before shoving the phone into her pocket.
"Come on, they're counting on us," she said, walking forward into the darkness.
"Eyes peeled, they'll play tricks on us for sure," Toy Chica added, joining her.
"Their Nightmares, they hide in the shadows, what else could we except," Toy Freddy stated, taking the leading role.
"That they feel no remorse or pity," Mangle added, hurrying on behind them.
All four of them knew this would be a hard fight, no quarter, no mercy and defiantly no holding back.
It was payback time…
"Right, the Toys are moving into position, the Nightmares should be occupied with them, we just need to find floor six and then save Goldie, killing Vincent would be a bonus in my books, if we can get him that is," said Freddy, crawling his way forward through the narrow pipes.
"Why must theses be so narrow," Bonnie moaned, finding it difficult to twist and turn round corners.
"Their air vents, they not designed to be crawled around in," Chica answered, who was also finding it a hard time to move properly.
"I think it was a bad idea for all five of us to go in, because it's getting cramped in here, not to mention that it's bloodily freezing!" Springtrap called from the back of the group.
Foxy laughed, finding Springtrap's bitching to very amusing.
"I agree with you on that laddie, it's like Christmas in here without the festivities."
"Guys, we need to hurry, Mike and Jeremy should on the 3rd floor by now doing a quick scan of the area-"
Then Freddy's phone or rather a phone which Jeremy loaned him buzzed in his pocket.
He reached in and pulled it out to see a text from Jeremy.
"Moving up to 4th floor now, stay safe."
"Ok now they're at the 4th floor," he said, pushing it back into his pocket and scuttling forward, whilst trying not to hurt his neck against the rather low metal ceiling.
"Puppet and Balloon Boy are heading up the pipes towards the top floor right?" Chica asked.
"Yes they are, the idea is that-"
Bonnie had to stop mid-sentence, while she squeezed herself around another tight corner.
"Sorry, again, the idea is that we hold the advantage in numbers they don't and even with their endoskeletons they can only cover so much ground."
"Makes sense I guess," Chica answered, shrugging her shoulders.
"They will now know that we're here captain," said Foxy.
"Yes Foxy, but they won't know where 'we' are," Freddy replied, turning back to smile.
"Best make use of that advantage then," Springtrap added, crawling forward on his hands and knees.
After crawling up several more pipes, Freddy looked around and raised his hand to stop everyone.
"Ok, if my calculations are correct then we should be at the 6th floor now."
"How are you sure?" Bonne asked, raising her head.
"Trust me, I counted on our way up, did any of you guys do that?" Freddy asked, turning round.
He received no reply, but rather several silent shrugs.
"I thought so," said Freddy, clearly in smug mode.
He moved forward.
"Come on, I think I see a hatchway up ahead."
"Finally, freedom, my knees are aching because the metal's hard," Bonnie moaned.
"Oh quit moaning woman, you've been through worse," Springtrap groaned from the back
Freddy couldn't help, but chuckle internally at Springtrap's words.
"I have, I can tell you that now," Chica muttered, casting her mind back to her first meeting with Nightmare Freddy.
The hatchway when they reached it was...smaller than previously thought.
"I'm telling you guys, it looked a lot bigger further away," said Freddy, examing the rather small steel grate.
"Well, this'll have to do, there's no other way around this," Foxy stated.
"He's right and we don't have the luxury of time to search for a better exit," Springtrap added.
He gestured to Freddy and Foxy.
"Help me get this open."
"Sure thing," Freddy replied, rolling up his sleeves.
"It's what I do every day," Foxy laughed, gripping the metal bars with his hand and hook.
"On the count of three, one, two, THREE!" Springtrap shouted.
They tugged at the metal bars, pulled on the hinges…but it didn't come loose.
They tried again, all three pulling back on the bars, hoping that their combined strength would tear the grate off its hinges.
"That's strong.…for a mere air vent grate," Freddy muttered, pausing to catch his breath.
"It's bloody tough that's what it is," Foxy groaned.
Then Chica and Bonnie crawled forward, pushing the three males aside.
"Let us do it," Bonnie, gripping the metal bars with her hands as did Chica.
They pulled on the bars, appearing to make no progress like the others had.
Springtrap sighed, shaking his head.
"If we three can't do it, then what makes you think that two ca-"
The metal grate can off with a clear metallic snap, symbolizing its hingies breaking off.
"Well…that was easy," said Chica, surprised that it even came off.
"I can't see why you three kept on struggling," Bonnie muttered.
She and Chica turned round to smile at a clearly shocked Springtrap, Foxy and Freddy.
Springtrap raised his hand.
"I would put it down to our combined strength helped weaken it for you two."
But Chica and Bonnie continued to smile smugly at them, feeling prideful in light of their success.
"It was a lot stronger than it looked!" Springtrap stated, pointing at it.
Bonnie rolled her eyes.
"We can roll with that, can't we Chica?" she asked sweetly.
"Yeah, let them live in their little bubble," Chica giggled, she pushed the grate out of the pipe and squeezed herself through the now open hatchway.
She then turned round to helped pull Bonnie out.
"Ok, be carefully it's quite a tight squeeze, keep your head low," said Chica, slowly pulling Bonnie forward.
Bonnie with Chica's help, pushed herself out of the hatchway, landing steady on the floor.
"Thanks," she muttered, pulling herself up, also keeping her voice low, as they were technically in enemy territory.
"Ok, now you Freddy," Chica whispered, urging him to come forward.
Freddy briefly turned to face Springtrap and Foxy.
"You guys push me out, ok?"
"Sure thing Freddy," Foxy replied, whereas Springtrap just nodded in confirmation.
Freddy crawled forward and grabbed Chica's and Bonnie's hands.
They pulled him out, although Springtrap and Foxy for a laugh, shoved Freddy out, causing him to fall out into the floor.
"I said push, not shove!" Freddy stated through gritted teeth.
"Sorry, the opportunity was there and I just couldn't resist, it's a pirate thing," said Foxy chuckling.
"Beside we're entertainers, we need some form of comedy every once in a while," Springtrap added, smiling innocently.
"Your next then," Freddy grinned, reaching in and grabbing Springtrap by the collar and pulling him out completely.
"Hey, watch it, this exit isn't small, ow, ow, ow, ow," he moaned, as Freddy pulled him through with little care.
He then dropped Springtrap onto the floor.
"There, safe and sound, right Springtrap?" Freddy asked with his tone being nothing but pure sarcasm.
"Yeah…," Springtrap replied, with the same tone.
"Safe and sound."
Chica and Bonnie, pulled Foxy out with some difficulty, mainly his size.
"Try to lie flat Foxy," Chica groaned, trying to pull him out.
"And don't make any noise."
"Hang on I got it," he said, pushing himself down against the metal floor.
"I'll just inch my way out."
He started to crawl out slowly…too slowly.
"Your taking too long," Springtrap muttered, rolling as his eyes as he shook his head.
Not wanting to lose time, he and Freddy grabbed Foxy by the shoulders and yanked him out in one big tug, with Bonnie and Chica catching him.
"There, that's all of us out," said Freddy, quickly counting every member.
"This is the 6th floor, if you take a look at that map over there," Springtrap added, pointing to a panel on the wall, which displayed the number six in bright red, along with a map of the building's interior.
"Judging on how fast Puppet and BB cover their respective floors, we should meet them soon, and possibly Mike and Jeremy," Bonnie stated, examining the map in closer detail.
"Here…if Goldie's being held captive anywhere, it would be there," said Freddy, pointing at the desired location.
"The main office…which just so happens to be on this very floor," Bonnie muttered, staring at it.
"Does everyone have their guns?" Springtrap asked.
"Yep all here," Foxy replied, pulling out his pistol, while Chica revealed an automatic.
Freddy carried a shotgun, while Bonnie held a rifle and Springtrap like Foxy also possessed a pistol with iron sights.
"Let's go," Chica whispered, taking the first step forward.
She exited the room, checking round the corner first to see if anyone was here, before moving on, the others followed her lead.
"Isn't this like one of those spy movies?" Foxy asked.
"Pretty much, without the special effects," Freddy answered.
"Shhh," Bonnie hissed, putting her finger to her lips.
"We don't know what's up here, numerous endoskeletons maybe, Vincent or even the Nightmares perhaps, we best trend carefully," Chica suggested.
"Does anyone know the way to the main office?" Springtrap asked, looking back to the others.
"I do…sort of, I read the map," said Freddy, raising his hand.
"Which way then captain?" Foxy asked.
"Mmmm…that way, to the left," Freddy replied, pointing to one of the many corridors that lead into the building's core.
"Good, we better move then," said Springtrap marching off.
Then, there was a pair of aloud unexpected screams from somewhere above them, followed by the sounds of something bashing against metal, succeeded by even more screams, it echoed throughout the floor, carrying itself to the lower levels.
Everyone with their instincts on edge, pushed themselves against the walls to avoid being detected.
"What the fuck was that?" Bonnie whispered, her eyes darting about in confusion.
"That scared the living shit out of me!" Foxy hissed, annoyed that he had allowed something to scare him.
"I don't know, but it sounded like BB and the Puppet," Chica said, trying to recall the sound of the screams.
Then came several loud metallic sounds, machines humming, motors grinding, metal scraping against metal, creating a high pitch squeal.
It moved above them, steadily moving down through the walls, bypassing the gang's location.
It felt like they were only cemeteries from whatever was creating that sound.
Once it passed onto the floors below, the gang blew an immense sigh of relief.
"What the hell was that 'thing'?" Freddy asked, looking clearly shocked.
"I have no idea, but it's for the best that we should move on," Springtrap stated, tilting his head towards the suggested corridor.
Everyone else nodded in agreement, before setting off with Springtrap leading them into the bowels of the former factory.
Three minutes earlier...
This was amusing, funny, entertaining for Balloon Boy…but not so for the Puppet.
She had been chasing him for what seemed like ages through one pipe after the other and they all looked the same.
A grey, bumpy and uncomfortable metal labyrinth.
At first it was because Balloon Boy had annoyed her by calling her the witch queen of Narria, then the Witchking of Angmar…why the last one had annoyed she had no idea.
Now she was just trying to catch up with him to ensure that he didn't do anything stupid.
"BB SLOW DOWN, I CAN'T CATCH UP WITH YOU," she shouted, her voice echoing along the pipe's metal casting.
She pushed herself moved, trying to desperately catch up with him.
"BB STOP IT, WE NEED TO STICK TOGETHER!" she shouted, reaching forward with her arms, trying to grab onto his legs.
Yet each time she tired, she just kept on missing.
She then forced herself to the absolute limit of her ability to crawl.
As BB neared one of the building's many hatchways, Puppet was finally able to grab his legs.
With one fierce tug she pulled him back, twisted him over onto his back and pinned him down,
"Alright stop, let's just stop it right now," she growled, forcing him to remain still, every time he wiggled.
"Yes, you have my attention," Balloon Boy answered smiling curiously.
Puppet groaned in annoyance, rolling her eyes.
"Stay together, no more childish tricks ok," she hissed, keeping her voice low, even though it had echoed through the pipes only moments earlier.
"Sure thing, I was just trying to make you go faster, as well as make you stop complaining about the temperature," Balloon Boy replied, merely shrugging his shoulders.
That was surprisingly true, since the Puppet had solely focused on catching up with BB, she had forgotten about everything else.
"Your right, but no more running off, you're with me now," Puppet ordered, pointing at herself.
"Besides," she muttered, looking around to observe her surroundings, even though there wasn't much to see.
"We can easily get lost in here, God alone knows where we are," she whispered, keeping her voice low.
"Everything looks the same in here."
"Follow me then, I know the way," Balloon Boy stating, breaking of her hold and crawling ahead, only for Puppet to quickly grab him by the shoulders.
"I'll lead this time, you follow me," she ordered, crawling around him to get at the front.
Seeing how she was very thin, it was easy to bypass him.
"How do you know the way; some parts are even unstable and I wouldn't wanna fall through those?" Balloon Boy asked.
Puppet thought for a moment.
"Do I know the way, sort of, besides this place seems stable enough," she replied optimistically, lightly hitting the pipe wall, making the sound echo around them.
"See…stable," she said smiling.
Then Balloon Boy's ears picked up the faintest sound of something…snapping.
"Did you hear that?" he asked, looking about.
"Hear what?" Puppet asked, registering his facial expression which didn't look confidence.
Then came another snapping sound.
"That," Balloon Boy replied, pointing in its direction.
Puppet turned to where he was pointing and only now the sound of something snapping was much clear for them both to hear.
The snapping sound increased in frequency, bouncing off the walls as it got louder and louder.
Then the pipe collapsed at one end, causing it to bend and shake as it buckled.
"Oh no!" Balloon Boy yelled, as the supports for the pipe broke under the increasing strain.
"We need to go now!" Puppet exclaimed, stating the obvious.
They turned and both quickly raced towards the pipe's hatchway, feeling the pipe tip downwards into the darkness.
Balloon Boy got there first, he pushed it opened, letting it drop to the floor and poked his head out…only to find the room filled with endoskeletons, all standing in rows back to back.
They all appeared to be in offline mode, not moving or speaking, heads and eyes down cast while their arms remained motionless by their sides.
Best guess there were around fifty endoskeletons in total, all standing still, completely unaware of the world around them.
Out all of the rooms in this factory, they just had to pick this one…filled with endoskeletons.
Balloon Boy, taking in the situation, slowly pushed himself out of the vent.
But the second he placed his hand on the cold metal floor, the whole room lit up in the whitish glow of endoskeleton eyes.
Balloon Boy in his shock looked up and saw all the endoskeletons raising their heads…and they saw him.
They were on standby mode, set to be triggered by any form of motion or sound.
Quickly he attempted to push himself back inside the pipe, but the endoskeletons were fast, reaching him in seconds and grabbed hold of his arms.
They seemed to be very edger to capture him as they tired to pull him through the hatchway.
"PUPPET!" Balloon Boy screamed, trying to break free of the endoskeleton's grip as he desperately tried to dig his heels in.
Puppet instantly grabbed hold of BB's legs, trying to pull him back.
"NO, YOU SHALL NOT TAKE HIM!" she screamed, pulling back with all of her strength.
She positioned her legs against the pipe's walls to steady herself.
Her strings would offer an advantage, but she knew that in an enclosed space they were of little use.
The pipe groaned, struggling to cope with their weight as it was quickly losing the support to do so as each new snap, signalled its approaching collapse.
Currently the Puppet was locked in a contest of strength and the endoskeletons were clearly winning as she felt herself slowly being pulled forward.
Glancing behind her, she saw that the end of the pipe was sliding down, breaking off from the rest of the pipe system, with the rear end staring down into the black unknown which dwelt at the centre of the building…a dismal abyss.
Yet, it offered an escape route, it was her only other option besides being captured by Vincent's endoskeletons.
Taking a deep breath, she reached forward, quickly wrapping her arms under BB's armpits and whispered in his ear.
"Push back now with everything you've got!"
They did, with their combined strength allowing them to fully break free of the endoskeletons' grip and fall backwards down the pipe.
The endoskeletons tired their best to reach out and grab them, but to no avail, as both BB and the Puppet fell out of the pipe and into the darkness which swallowed them whole.
Then the pipe broke off completely and fell into the darkness, knocking into the surrounding pipes with a series of deafening clangs and causing them to also fall, this earned several screams of terror from BB and the Puppet, as numerous metal pipes fell around them, heading into the unknown.
Their cries echoed through the centre of the building, blasting out of nearly every hatchway on almost all floors.
The endoskeletons collectively agreed to pursue them, climbing into the hatchway and pulling themselves into the nearby pipes that where still stable, following the sound towards its source.
Downwards…towards the basement.
The movement of multiple metal beings against solid metal created a loud screehing sound, which would cause any human's ears to crinch in agony.
This unbearable sound passed through the pipe system, echoing out of every air vent in the surrounding area.
One by one they followed the sound, homing in on its location, which was quickly falling towards the basement.
There was only way out of the basement and they knew that blocking the only exit would trap their enemies…oh yes, Vincent hadn't wasted his engineering/I.T skills on their programing.
"Ok, this room is clear and that's…"
Jeremy paused to think.
"The sixth room we searched on this floor so far."
"All empty, no sign of Goldie, Vincent, Nightmares or even any endoskeletons, I don't like this," Mike muttered, walking pass with his gun in hand.
"You suspect a trap?" Jeremy asked, turning to face Mike, watching the younger former nightguard walk down the corridor.
"Yeah…it's way too quiet…something's wrong, there appears to be nothing on this floor or the floor before that, the others haven't texted me anything new," Mike answered, he was on edge, his instincts as an nightguard were on full throttle.
"Search for any shadow, any sound, the slightest thing that's out of place and you slam that door down."
Mike reconstructed his thoughts in line with the present situation, he wasn't at Fazbear's anymore.
Yet there were still people out there who murder him in less than a heartbeat.
Jeremy then walk up, his eyes scanning Mike's somber expression which was one of deep thought.
"If there's nothing on this floor, then that means our enemies are near the Toys, the Originals and BB and the Puppet, as big as this building is, they can't hide forever," he stated.
"Although I wouldn't put it best them to have lay some sort of trap in advance."
Mike coming out of deep thought, slowly nodded in agreement.
"True, they must be somewhere, I just hope that whichever groups encounters them, they can take them on," he replied.
Jeremy then patted Mike on shoulder.
"They're Fazbears, they been through hell and back, they're the strongest people I know, I would never underestimate them, especially when their angry," he joked, shedding some humour into the situation.
"True, that I do know, yet I'm just worried should someone…die," Mike replied, although the last part was more of a whisper.
"As am I, but everyone knows the risks we're taking, we all wouldn't be here if we accepted the fact that death was a likelihood," Jeremy muttered, casting his eyes around the gloomily hallway.
"Of course, it's just…"
Mike appeared to pause, lost in his train of thought.
He turned to face Jeremy.
"Do you find it all to surprising and sudden how we quickly made friends with them, I mean we were all at opposite ends when we first met?" he asked.
Jeremy laughed.
"Of course I do, I just don't question it, I sort of see it as major misunderstanding," he said, passing his gun between his left and right hand.
"I mean, the company never told me anything about the franchise's past when I first signed up, although Phone Guy's records offered me some details, but I found everything else from the others when I started talking to them, I'm still surprised by how quickly things changed."
He laughed again.
"I mean it wasn't like relations turn around overnight, they were still hostile towards me, suspicious of course, but I won them over and so did you, although you said it was a lot harder with the purple color of your uniform, it sent them ballistic apparently."
Mike smiled, the memory replaying in his mind, so were nail biting days, living on the edge of potential death.
"You know I had the choice of informing the police about the various nightguard disappearances…they were so tense about that happening, begging me to stay and listen, to believe them..."
"Freddy even got down on his knees and gave me a heartfelt plea for me to spare and the others the idea of going to jail and getting the death sentence…"
He chuckled lightly to himself.
"Thee Freddy Fazbear of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, the icon of many people's childhood, on his knees before me, hands clasped with the fear of death in his eyes."
"He would have properly tried to kill me, if I had used the Pizzeria phone in the office."
"Looking back now, it seems so childish, now we're friends, companions, in 1993 I never would have thought that such a thing would be possible," he said, turning to face Jeremy, who only nodded.
"Well neither did I in 1987,w but sometimes, you just gotta roll the dice…sometimes it is fate."
He then brought his gun up into his arms, ready to use if it was required.
"Vincent Afton is in there somewhere and believe me, he will be caught and hung…or rather stuffed into something," he replied, cocking his gun, ever ready.
"That sounds good enough for me," Mike stated, he turned his eyes towards the remaining untouched rooms.
"Let's go, we need to reach the fire exit and cut the Nightmares off from the roof, that's if they're on the floors below us," he said, walking forward, gun in hand.
"I like you're thinking," Jeremy added, grinning as he followed him close behind.
"Wait," Toy Freddy ordered, holding his hand out to stop everyone else from going forward.
"Hold up…"
"What?" Toy Bonnie asked, leaning out from behind him to get a better look.
"What is it?"
They all stood in the doorway of the assembly area, the room itself was vast, taking up most of the 2nd floor.
Although it was dark inside the room, the lights outside could raise the Toys' field of vision to see several desktops, outlines of large and bulky looking machines for processing data, numerous chemical jars and workplaces with burners, clamps and tripods, however it was hard to see everything clearly.
"Stick close…I don't like this," Toy Freddy whispered, gripping his shotgun close to his chest.
"It's too quiet," Mangle whispered back, her eyes scanning every inch of ground that was visible.
"Baby steps, remember," Toy Chica muttered, slowly taking her first step into the room, followed by everyone else.
Their footsteps sent out a foreboding echo as soon as they hit the concrete floor.
Toy Freddy reached out for the light switch, which was on the wall nearby.
He pushed the switch upwards…but nothing happened.
"It's dead…yet the lights everywhere else aren't," he said under his breath.
Something was wrong, there was an uneasy feeling in this room.
"Mangle, use your endoskeletons arms to reach out ahead of you," Toy Bonnie whispered, to which Mangle nodded.
Her metal endoskeleton arms slowly reached out across the room like snakes in the grass., touching anything they came into contact with.
The Toys kept close together with their guns at the ready, waiting for anything.
"I feel so nervous," Toy Chica murmured, she could feel her legs shaking like jelly with each step, not too surprisingly Toy Bonnie was feeling the exact same.
Toy Freddy maintained his gaze at his front, checking for anything, although it was a struggle with all the darkness surrounding them which acted as a veil.
"Freddy and the others should be on the 6th floor by now, Mike and Jeremy are properly on the 4th, while the Puppet and BB could have reached the 8th, however I haven't got word from them since we entered the building," he thought, keeping track of everyone's progress.
"I just hope that everyone is ok-"
Suddenly there was a loud crash of glass, as one of Mangle's endoskeleton arms knocked over a jar of powdered chemicals from one of the workbenches, which caused everyone to freeze on the spot. Mangle turned and gave everyone a cheesy grin.
"Sorry," she mouthed, smiling to which Toys Freddy, Bonnie and Chica returned with shaking their heads in strong disapproval.
They continued to walk forward, unsure if their enemies were nearby or somewhere far away.
They passed broken machinery, rotting wooden chairs and old 1950s to 80s computers, which were scattered around the floor like toys, cracked screens with red, blue and yellow wires sticking out.
The room appeared to be split into different sections in terms of brightness and now it was becoming too dark see, so Toy Freddy decided to use the phone as a torch, using its bright screen to push away the darkness.
"I wonder why no one bothered to actually clear this place out?" Toy Bonnie asked outloud, surveying the chaos.
"I have no idea why, but it must have been important to just leave everything here to decay," Toy Chica replied, stepping over broken jars and piles of scrap metal.
"Do you think they're hiding?" Mangle asked, looking around, inside she was starting to panic, the sole sound of their footsteps and nothing else was deafening.
"Properly, nightmares always hide in the shadows, it moves about avoiding detectionu and we must flush it out," Toy Freddy answered.
Toy Chica yawned in pure sarcasm.
"Gee, Toy Freddy could you be any more poetic."
Toy Bonnie and Mangle laughed, finding her words to be humorous much to Toy Freddy's annoyance.
"Could you phrase it better then Toy Chica?" he asked sternly, daring her.
"Easy, find Nightmares, aim gun, fire, dead, it's as simple as that," Toy Chica replied playfully.
"You better hope it is," Toy Freddy muttered, turning back to face her.
So far, they had covered slightly over a quarter of the room and hadn't found anyone or anything and as far as they were concerned there were only four people in the room.
Yet your own eyes can play tricks on you…
Things are building up to a climax and I've got several plot threads lined up for implementation, but they'll have to wait until next week, but the wait will be worth it, I promise.
Can you guess at what's to come? ;-)
Also when I wrote in the endoskeletons, I imagined them to be the more advanced ones from FNAF 2, more resemblance of an actual skeleton.
Please Review