The intercom stated, "Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex is now closed. Initiating nighttime protocols."
Gregory bristled and took off in a sprint past a huge pillar with a wrap-around, dark TV. Shutters decorated with winking Freddy faces slid over the doors. "No. No! Wait! I'm still here!" He slowed to a stop as he got to the sealed exit and sighed. "Now what am I supposed to do?"
Beep! He tapped his glasses. [Aw, it wouldn't let you through? Well, there's another way. The doors open at six am, so you should be able to get out then.]
Beep! [Until then, keep moving and try not to draw too much attention to yourself. If we find another way, I'll help you. Promise.] Gregory re-read the message before minimizing it. He had Monty on his side. He shouldn't worry too much, right?
He clutched Bonnie a little tighter and looked out the windows as he passed. The air chilled as he got close. He shivered and looked ahead. The air warmed as he walked deeper into the entrance area, though not by much. The temperature would only seriously change past the ticket stands.
Great. Ticket stands. He'd only gotten through because of dumb luck last time. There wasn't any teen to recognize a poor teen employee this time. Across the vast room, he looked past the pillars with dark electronic screens to see neon lights pointing to a sign. He faintly read something about a pass. Pass? Oh, something like a ticket into the Mega Pizzaplex, maybe?
This box had a crank on it, too. Gregory rolled his eyes and, preparing for the worst, held it down and cranked it until the top popped off with a honk and spray of confetti. He snatched the pass and walked to the ticket stands, which accepted his pass once he swiped it at a certain angle.
Beep! [Good job, kid! You got into the lobby! Unfortunately, that ticket doesn't let you into the Pizzeria. Look in Customer Service; there's an upgrade machine in there.]
Gregory started to speak but choked on his words upon seeing something move before the giant fountain before him. He tapped his glasses and minimized the chat log.
A faintly humanoid robot rolled around on two combined wheels, one robotic arm held up with an embedded flashlight, big block sensors with a robber mask painted around it on its face shadowed by a security cap. Aside from the hat and flashlight, it was identical to the ones in the utility tunnels and the one that took his party pass. It rolled back and forth, searching the rather small area. But worse than the creepy robot was the white, pink, and green shape that lumbered around the fountain. Thankfully, Chica's back faced him, and her head pointed away.
Gregory glanced around at his surroundings and then tried to creep forward. Unfortunately, both ways he looked, the entryways were blocked by diamond-shaped rolling shutters. He darted up to the fountain, out of range of the creepy security bot, and looked around for Chica. She stood at the top of the bright pink stairs leading down. But, before she could step down, Monty called, "Hey, Chica!"
She stopped and turned to her left. "Monty?" She stepped away from the stairs. Gregory let out a quiet breath and looked into the building beside himself. To his right, "Glamrock Gifts" inside two circles with lightning bolts glowed in neon on the shop window. Across from him, on the second-story wall next to the balcony, was "Faz pad" glowing in yellow neon. More than likely, he was going to go right.
Gregory went up the stairs and across the walkway. The "Glamrock Gifts" symbol glowed above the door. Behind him, a photo booth sat on carpet between two elevators. The crowded gift shop screaming at him to buy its yet-to-be-restocked merchandise weirdly felt more cramped and emptier than it did when it was packed with people. Maybe it was the darkness.
The first story's centerpiece facing the counter was something about a… mystery prize, maybe? There were a lot of question marks and a box with a crank flanked by the daycare attendant plushies. Well, the last two gave him passes. Maybe this one was a mystery prize that happened to be a ticket into the Pizzaplex.
He popped open the box and plucked the "prize" out, only to find–
"It's a crappy Mr. Hippo fridge magnet? Lame."
Beep! [Oh, sorry about that, kid. Maybe next time.]
Well, he wasn't here for the mystery prize, anyway. He was here for the tickets. So, the desk must be under the Fazpad.
Gregory backtracked up the stairs and across the carpeted landing. No noise came out of the place. So, he walked across the walkway and through the café. Hunger clawed at his stomach, but he ignored it. He had more serious issues right now. If he came across food, he'd go for it. Right now, he had other things to deal with.
He descended a couple of flights of stairs, the stairwells completely unlit and thus he needed to keep his hand on the wall to keep from falling.
Immediately after opening the door, he found a machine to the far right with a big screen on its face behind a counter. A few neon lights lit up the area, but they were scarce. He walked up to the machine and glanced at the wall beside it, where a warning to keep magnets away from the machine was stuck onto the wall beside it. The immediate desire to slap his new magnet onto the machine was balanced by the need to get a new pass. If he broke the machine, it might not give him a new pass, after all.
A screen with bear ears on top said, "UPGRADE YOUR FULL ACCESS PASS!" while the screen on the machine had the same light blue background but switched between a little chubby blue-pink-and-white bear with dialogue and the same bear with a barcode beside it. He fed the pass into the slot next to the number pad and looked at the screen. The screen stayed with the little bear saying its name and offering to help. Gregory huffed. "It ate my pass!"
Beep! [Is there any way of, uh… undoing it?]
Gregory glanced at the magnet warning and then the machine. Heh, maybe. He took the Mr. Hippo magnet out of his pocket and gave it the greatest purpose it could ever fulfill.
The screen glitched and the bear became very worried. Then, the machine spat out a new card–a blue one with clouds and a sun and a moon on it.
"Yes! The magnet scrambled the machine!" Gregory hissed in victory. Then, his eyebrows furrowed, and he took the pass. Superstar Daycare PICK-UP PASS. "Aw, man. Now it's some kind of Daycare Pass?"
Beep! [Daycare? Ya sure? Er–well, ya see it. Course yer sure. Well, uh, yeah. Have you tried the elevators?]
Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. "Isn't that how you enter?" Still, he left the café and walked to the first elevator he found. Nope, nothing. "It's locked. I think I need that entrance pass."
Beep! [Nah! Wait there a moment!]
Thump, thump, thump, thump!
The green and gold animatronic ran through the front entrance, halfway up the stairs to the landing, and then leaped up to the balcony near Gregory. He bared his teeth in a laugh. "See? Told you I'd be back! Let's get movin', Little guy! Jus'… hurry, before Chica comes back." He strode up to the elevator and pressed the button. It beeped and opened for them. Monty allowed Gregory in first.
After the doors shut and elevator music turned on, the elevator announced, "Did you know that everyone loves pizza? Yes, it's true! Based on a double-blind study from a leading Fazbear publication and scientists, one hundred percent of those questioned would choose pizza over any other food group, even people with wheat and dairy allergies! This has been another fun Faz Fact!"
Gregory looked up at Monty. "Really? Is that true?"
Monty nodded. "Probably. Chica likes to say pizza is her favorite food, too."
Gregory thought for a long moment. A memory of warm smells, a vast span of brown and yellow flecked green, and a gentle chiding to keep him from burning himself he always ignored crept into his mind. "Has she ever had casserole?"
Monty blinked. "What's a casserole?" Then he said, "Er, well, there are two exits you can take! There's the Loadin' Docks down by the kitchen, and then the Fire Escape by the Prize Counter. You… don't have a map. That's okay, I'll jus' show you where it is an' we'll take it from there!"
The elevator doors opened.
Gregory crept out behind Monty. His eyes went wide. Neon lights made themselves known and glinted off the shiny bits of wall, railing, and floor near them but that was about the extent of it all. What was once a colorful, crowded wonderland plunged into a dark nightmare. Shadows stole the true color of the massive environment and the lack of lights over the main atrium floor turned it into a gaping void. Far off, a few flashlight beams pointed at a low angle lit up the area before themselves and moved at a quick, even pace–too even to be human. Monty's umber eyes cast a glow over the confetti-carpeted ground and sleek, decorative map stand before them.
Gregory stepped out into the dark when a metal, three-flat-fingered hand gripped his arm with a sharp alarm. He squealed and whipped around to face the bot that grabbed him. It immediately released him and held out a shiny, dark pamphlet. The bot, though built like the security bot, had a yellow torso with a lowercase "i" on its front, orange blush circles, a hat with a short, round brim, and a square fanny pack of maps. It stated in a monotone voice, "Hello! Please take this map."
Gregory stared at it, wide-eyed, tiny flashlight gleaming off its round glasses.
"Take a map."
Monty said, "It ain't leavin' you alone 'til you take a map."
Gregory switched his flashlight hand and took the map.
"Thank you. Please enjoy." Map Bot stood up straight and swiveled its head around, searching for more mapless victims.
Gregory looked up at Monty and then the map, which he unfolded. It wasn't that complex, but it was large, and it was labeled. Monty pointed to two places. "That there's the fire escape, which you can enter through here, and that's the loadin' docks, which you can enter through here! An' you've been to Monty Golf before. So, let's get goin'!" Monty started walking.
Gregory folded his map, shoved it in his pocket, and walked after him. He asked the animatronic alligator, "Where are we going?"
Monty answered, "Well! You need a security badge, right? There's one in Monty Golf! There are exits–one in the Prize Counter and you could take the Fire Escape. But you'll need access to 'em first."
Gregory nodded in understanding.
Monty went on, "Where, uh… where do you want to go? Exit from?"
"Loading docks," Gregory answered. "They're the closest, and I don't want to set off a Pizzaplex-wide alarm or something that would attract her to me."
"Good thinkin'!" Monty congratulated. "You're a real smart kid, you know that?"
Gregory shifted his pocket flashlight to his other hand and looked at that, instead. "Heh. Uh, thanks."
Monty's feet clanked against the tiled floor of the main atrium. Gregory sucked in his breath and turned his flashlight off. A flicker of yellow appeared at the edge of his vision. Yellow eyes glowed over party favor-covered tables in the center of the atrium, flickering behind the potted plants and photo booths that got between them until those, too, stopped appearing.
Then, they got to a large platform with giant fake fronds and blades of grass and a huge golf club and ball declaring "Gator Golf". The party-themed shutters opened.
Roxy's yellow eyes snapped to the shutters. She hesitated in her patrol. But, upon seeing only Monty, she turned away and kept moving. "Hey, kid! Come on out!" she called.
Gregory followed close to Monty's side. Once the shutters closed behind them, Gregory turned his mini flashlight back on.
They walked through the green-carpeted, plant-covered golf entrance area and to the green and gold shutters trimmed gray blocking them from the hall. A bot quite similar in build to the security bot and Map Bot but with a purple throat, hatband, upper arms, and triangles stretching out from under its eyes stood before the shutters. Yellow buttons trailed down its chest. It held an electronic "FAZCOMMS" sign with Helpy and a box with a ticket feeder in it on its hip. Though it tried to turn toward Gregory, Monty stood between him and the ticket bot, and it stared ahead again.
The large hallway wound, empty and dark, lined with various golf-related decorations, and ended in a set of shutters that opened up into the huge mini golf course. While during the day the ceiling lights and lights inside of the different shops lining some walls and in the center house lit up the whole place, the only lights he could see were the orange string lights in the trees hanging over the path like a swarm of lightning bugs frozen in time. A couple of flashlights glowed further in as two security S.T.A.F.F. bots made their way around the golf course. Gregory frowned at his pitiful light. Still, it was better than nothing. Besides, he had Monty, and he could see Monty.
A few closed ice cream stands stood on the balcony as well as some wooden benches, just as he remembered them. "Monty's GATOR GOLF" was printed on the carpeted floor before them. A small gift shop cut into the wall directly to their left. Alligator heads all in various positions from being completely hidden in the water with their jaws shut to out and silently hissing lined the winding path.
Gregory looked up at the small stage as they passed by it.
"Monty played there before he became the bassist for our group."
Gregory asked, "Do you still play on stage?"
"What d'you mean?" Monty asked, incredulous. "I was just on stage tonight!" His eyes went to the stage beside Gregory. "Oh. That's what you mean." His voice lowered a little. "…not too of'en anymore, but sometimes."
Beside the stage was "Gator Grub", a kitchen currently dark and empty. As a S.T.A.F.F. bot started to get close, Gregory ducked inside. Monty, curious, followed. He admitted, "I guess this is another way to the security office, yeah. Now, an alarm's gonna go off once ya pick up that badge. I'll work on turnin' it off, alright?"
"Okay." They passed by a couple of ovens, a fridge, and some more tech before passing through a door into a tiled hallway tinted green like the rest of the minigolf course quickly ending in a right turn. A symbol of a security badge with a circle around it and an arrow pointing down the hall was painted at the end of the hall.
A quick turn later exposed a short hall with five red doors–two on each side and one at the end. The first on the right was locked with a white "5" on the top left, while the first on the right was left unlocked. A security badge symbol pointed to the left two doors. For being security, this seemed extremely unsecure.
Monty waited out in the hall as Gregory stepped into the checkerboard tile room barely wider than the door with a shelving unit on one side and a desk unit extending out of the side to the right at the end. A security metal door and a thin window cut into the wall on the right, at least.
When Gregory stepped into it, red lights turned on throughout the small checkerboard outer room and the security inner room and an alarm blared. He jumped and looked around the small space before seeing the Freddy-head-shaped holder on the tech-covered table in the front. He touched the nose. Beside it was a camera and on top of a pizza box was a blue and rainbow ticket to MAZErcise. "What's this? It looks like an old camera." He pocketed the ticket and badge and picked up the camera.
The time was four-fifteen am.
Gregory glanced at the time on his glasses again. Why did picking up the camera mess with his glasses of all things? Weird.
Monty opened the door and stepped inside. "C'mon, kid! Let's get outta here!"
Gregory ran out behind him, Bonnie tucked under his arm with the camera in his hand and the flashlight in his other hand. Monty glanced down at him. "Oh, you got a Faz-Cam! Yeah, you can use the flash to stun animatronics. Not me o' course, 'cause of my glasses. Like you'd try. Hah! Bright lights or flashes cause us to briefly malfunction."
Gregory glanced at the time as they escaped onto the minigolf course. "Monty, what time is it?"
"Four-fifteen. It's gettin' late. Good thing we're still together! The doors open at six. We're gonna make it!"
Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. "You didn't feel that?" What? Bonnie, did you?
"That wasn't a malfunction? Did time just move really, really fast?"
"Feel what?"
"Time just moved! It was just twelve."
Monty looked down at him. "Little guy, it's four-fifteen. Couldn't've just been twelve. Might've felt like it, though! Heh."
Gregory frowned. "Really, we came here directly from the doors. Though… if we came here from the doors… why was it still twelve? It should've been twelve-oh-five or something."
"Something is really wrong here."
You're telling me.
Monty started climbing the stairs and Gregory followed. "I'm not sure what yer talkin' about little guy. But if ya want to leave early, we can get to the loading docks."
Gregory's eyes brightened and he nodded. "Yes!" Time glitch thing or whatever or not, they don't need to think about it. What's important is getting the heck out!
"And getting away from the white rabbit."
Right, getting away from the white rabbit.
Gregory had spent most of his time at Monty Golf while the Pizzaplex was open. Even walking in the same direction he'd gone to leave, it was unrecognizable in the darkness and without its various moving parts.
Roxy still patrolled the atrium, though now her clunking footsteps took her to the areas below the balcony. She passed under the stairs between them and the doors leading to Salads and Sides. Though her head was turned to the side as she inspected her environment, she would be moving toward them any moment, now. Her head tipped up as she sniffed the air and her ear twitched. Could she smell him? Oh no.
Gregory, light off, looked at Monty, who looked down at him. He whispered, "Jus' climb into my stomach hatch and I'll walk you past her." His yellow-plated stomach hatch opened. Gregory slipped his jacket on, stuck the camera into his jacket pocket, and climbed in. Monty's stomach hatch closed behind him. He tipped forward as the animatronic alligator did so. She started walking in their direction, just seconds after Monty's stomach hatch closed. Monty passed her, swinging his head back and forth as he pretended to search for Gregory.
Roxy didn't even glance at Monty, and instead passed him, growling to herself. "You will find him!"
Once they were a sufficient distance away, and had a few closed food carts between them, Monty stopped and opened his stomach hatch. Gregory climbed out, pulled off his jacket, and tied it around himself again. Gregory looked at the doors and the vent, then walked up to the nearest door and pulled on it. Nope, locked and with too high a security clearance for him.
"They're all that level," Monty said. "I think I could go with you down there. Open the door an' such. That vent leads directly to it. We could meet in the middle." Monty growled to himself and then said, "That'd be too dangerous. Nah, you can come with me, we can go together!"
Gregory glanced at the vent. "Well, if it's faster, and that vent connects directly to it, then what's the harm? I went through those tunnels by myself! I can do this."
Monty snorted. "Ain't you optimistic! Well, you got spirit. If you're sure, then, I'll meet you there. Though, if you enter an area where I can't see yer glasses then I won't be able to track you. So, keep that in mind, alright?"
"Got it!" Gregory confirmed and strode over to the vent. Monty pushed open the door to Salads and Sides.
Gregory looked through the shiny, square vent. A few cables snaked over it. At the end where a corner began were gently spinning metal blades. A grate made a barrier between the fan and the vent itself. Bonnie in his arm and flashlight in the same hand, he crawled on his knees and one hand through the vent. Upon turning, he found more cables poking through the walls like stitches, crossing through the walls, and attaching themselves to electrical boxes. Some cables snaked across the ground. The boy clenched his teeth as every movement echoed and his uneven weight distribution caused the bendable vent to squeak and thump. After a short incline, he found a hole in the vent's ceiling going straight up. Some lights glowed inside his vent, which was a blessing.
Gregory froze upon hearing metal clicking. Behind him, a little rusted metal creature dropped from the vent above. Six metal legs held up its rounded body while its two arms held cymbals before it. It lifted its square head, white with pink makeup and a black top hat. It stared at Gregory with empty black eyes. Its broken, thin rectangular teeth gnashed in its unmoving mouth.
Then, it charged.
Gregory bristled and turned a corner, thumping unevenly through the vent as he hurried forward. The vent opened into a small circular room of sorts with a grate for the floor. He could stand on two feet and run for a few steps before diving into the other side. Its "feet" clicked on the vent lining and cymbals clanged as it gained on him.
The vent went down.
Gregory threw himself down. Except, his palm slipped. Instead of crawling, he was sliding. He crashed into the wall with each turn but didn't slow. The little rusted creature's scratchy music faded out of existence. Decades later, his battered body slid out into a small room. He landed on the grated floor with a huff as the fall knocked the wind out of him.
Gregory groaned and pulled himself to his feet. He held his arms above himself in a testing stretch. Nope, no broken bones. He retied his jacket knot and looked around at his surroundings, finding two red tanks and then a doorway that led into another small room with equipment and cartoon posters above what looked to be a bar. Phrases such as "100% OF FATAL ACCIDENTS INVOLVE HUMANS" on a poster with a S.T.A.F.F. bot, a picture of Monty's mouth twisted in a smile cut off at the top of the muzzle said, "NEVER STOP SMILING" and then a poster of Chica holding a pizza cutter with one hand as the other had been sliced off was accompanied by "KNIFE SAFETY."
Disinterested in everything going on in the empty breakroom and the open bathroom attached, he walked past a bunch of lockers and through a room straight out of a Sci-Fi movie. Monitors and machines along with a spaghetti plate of cables and wires and all sorts of wall machines cluttered the space so heavily Gregory had to watch his feet to keep from stepping on something. Yet there were two rolling chairs? Were they put there before or after a box of wires exploded all over the floor? There was a can of Orange Fizzy Faz with Freddy on it. As he discovered it was unopened, he snatched it and drank the can.
Outside of the room, a grid of catwalks ringed giant metal vats he could imagine someone had fallen into before above. As he drank his soda, now more fiercely aware of his thirst having ignored basic functions in his fear and escapes, he checked the cameras on his glasses. Chica roamed the catwalks. The catwalks themselves were high up and due to the darkness, Gregory couldn't see the area below.
Gregory decided to scoot around to the door on the opposite side of the room. He set the empty can back down where he found it–not his fault he couldn't see a trash can–and carefully moved through the sliding metal door. Chica wove around the vats. But if he was careful, he could just slip by her. She didn't seem to be using the leftmost catwalk, though she did seem to gravitate toward the door he needed to go through. Chica was just really good at getting exactly in his way, wasn't she?
At one point she made a sudden turn and he had to walk across to another row of the catwalks to avoid her. That just meant he was closer to the door and her back was turned to him!
Victorious, he slunk through a metal door in a yellow wall with a suitcase symbol beside it. A normal desk room nestled behind the door with computers and chairs in connected tables. Litter and objects cluttered the space. Unfortunately, Gregory did not have long to look at his surroundings as the door squeaked close behind him. He heard an exclamation of some sort in probably chicken language behind him and heavy footsteps clanged against the catwalk.
Gregory bolted out the other door and through a set of catwalks above a giant kitchen. Chica opened the door to the desk room just as Gregory slammed through another. Three more doors were presented to him: one on each side and one down the hall a little. To his left stood a security door. He ran through that one. It slammed shut behind him and magnetically locked. The power meter beside it glowed. The footsteps stopped, but Chica's banging on the door began.
Gregory backed away further into the small security office, most of it taken up by maroon cabinets and a giant computer monitor system on the opposite wall. Most of the monitors were blue save for the giant one showing the kitchen below, but one had a picture of Helpy in a chef hat tossing a pizza. The second security door stood blocked by a tower of boxes.
On the table sat a Freddy head with a security hat. Yes! Gregory pressed its nose and the head opened painfully slowly until the card was completely revealed. Gregory snatched it. The card reader snapped shut.
Gregory glanced at the door and hissed, "Monty, are you there? I'm trapped! Chica found me and there's only one security door!"
Beep! Gregory tapped his glasses and opened the chat log. [Oh, that's bad news. Hey, I got good news: you have access to the pizza delivery system through that console.]
Gregory coughed and asked, "What? How is that supposed to help?"
Beep! [Chica loves pizza!]
Oh, right. Was the pizza made right here? Admittedly, it made sense, considering there was an entire kitchen under them.
Gregory set Bonnie on the desk and pressed the button in front of the monitor.
Immediately, the computer greeted him. "Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex Quick Delivery Virtual ordering system. It seems you have qualified to upgrade to a supreme. Additional charges may apply."
The screen became a camera. The screen, now flanked by blue grids with an objective marker at the top left, turned on as well. Though darkness enveloped the kitchen, the bot's vision was brighter and allowed Gregory to at least see where he was going and the pictures on the labels of various stations. The HUD of the S.T.A.F.F. bot took up quite a bit of space, but he could still see through it. A flat circle of dough sat at the bottom of the screen as the bot held it. "You are now in control of one of our highly qualified pizza-making S.T.A.F.F. bots. Follow the instructions on the left side of your screen to force the bot to make your perfect mouth-watering pizza."
The S.T.A.F.F. bot stated, "Let's start with the sauce."
Gregory drove the bot around the kitchen looking for the sauce machine. He stole a quick glance at the security door. The battery life drained way too fast for his liking. Technically, any draining was too much for his liking, but this fast?! He found the sauce machine and selected it. The machine automatically sprayed sauce over the pizza for a few seconds before the S.T.A.F.F. bot picked it back up.
"It is now time for some cheese. Yum."
Commanding himself not to follow the urge to yell at the bot to go faster, he obeyed the directions and looked for cheese. That machine wasn't too far away, thankfully.
Chica called from the door, "Don't worry, you're safe with me."
The computer bot suddenly chipped in, "Would you like to take a short survey about your experience?
Another few seconds were spent dispensing shredded cheese on the pizza before the bot picked it up again.
"Let's get some delicious meat."
"Let me take you to your parents," Chica offered.
Gregory turned the bot around and searched the metal maze of tables and kitchenware until he found a machine labeled "MEAT" which the S.T.A.F.F. bot used as it put down the pizza. Another few seconds passed as what looked like pepperoni sprinkled over the pizza.
"Now it is time for the 'not meat' stuff."
"Your family is looking for you."
Gregory sent another nervous glance at the steadily draining door power but kept most of his attention–and then all of it once the bot picked up the pizza–on the screen. The "NOT MEAT" machine stood further in.
"Gregory…" Chica called. Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. How did she know his name?
What looked like spam rained down on the pizza. The bot picked it up. "Time to bake. An oven would be ideal."
The boy pushed the bot onward in search of the oven and stopped upon finding it. The oven slowly opened, accepted the pizza, and then slowly shut. The button didn't take long to press, but the oven took its time to cook. Strangely, when the pizza came out, it came out already wrapped in a pizza box with a smiling Freddy face on it.
The computer congratulated, "Delicious! To ensure a safe and timely delivery, our cutting-edge Pizza Tracker allows you to deliver the pizza to your own home or residence. Additional mileage charges may apply."
The banging stopped.
Gregory looked up at the battery that stopped draining and then at the screen. The S.T.A.F.F. bot turned on its own. Chica now stood beside it. She grabbed the bot, cried "Pizza!" and lunged at the bot's camera, which immediately went to static. Gregory stepped away from the console.
The computer bot went on cheerfully, "Your pizza has been delivered. How would you rate your service? Pick two that apply."
Gregory decidedly left the console, picking up Bonnie as he went. When Gregory left the room, Chica was nowhere to be found. He went down the hall and into a long, but not very wide, room. A hall back into the kitchen flanked the stairs. Across from that stood a set of double doors… that were too high of security for him to open.
Oh well.
He went through the kitchen. Across the kitchen was a set of double doors. "EXIT TO DOCKS" painted above them; white text on a red rectangle that popped out of the otherwise monotone walls. He froze upon seeing Chica and turned off his flashlight. She knelt on the floor, ripping apart the pizza. Gregory snuck by her, all but pressed up against the tables lining the wall and a duffle bag. The chicken animatronic, too busy with her meal next to the overturned S.T.A.F.F. bot, didn't notice him pass by nor did she even twitch to acknowledge one of the double doors a few feet away from her opening a little and then closing. He turned on his flashlight once out of the sparsely lit kitchen.
Ahead of him, through a short, open-topped hallway without a door, was a large gray room with yellow and black stripes painted into squares on the floor. Giant crates and forklifts scattered across the floor. Gregory said, "I found the loading docks, but there's nothing here. There are some big garage doors, but I don't see a way to get out."
Beep! [You see a set of controls anywhere?]
Gregory spotted a computer terminal near the door on the further left side of the room with a tall, thin pedestal topped by a glass case. He walked up to the terminal and looked over the pedestal with the badge. "I think so. There's a funny locked box with a badge on it."
Behind him, a door opened.
Gregory jumped and pointed his flashlight back. It reflected off green and gold paint and purple star lenses. He relaxed. Monty stated, "That ain't good. Someone changed the permissions on it an' made 'em way too high."
"Can't you open it?"
Monty shook his head. "I ain't allowed to open exit doors unless it's an emergency."
Gregory frowned and then asked, "Can we try the fire exit?"
"Yep! Come with me! The doors require a higher security level than you have right now, so you gotta keep with me for a bit."