Gregory sank down to the floor of the charging station, Bonnie hugged tight to his chest. The impermeable wall he'd built and had been keeping together all night with glue and sand finally broke and as much as he tried, he couldn't slow down the sobs that raked his pitiful little body. He scrubbed the back of his hand against his face, and he tried to take deep breaths. But he couldn't stop his stupid hiccupping and gasping, and he still tasted the salty tang of tears that spilled over his dirty cheeks.
"Everything will be okay. Parts and Service is right through there. That's where we want to go, anyway, right?"
Gregory sniffled. That jester thing hurt him! What if he's hurt worse?
"I'm sure he'll be fine. He's a big bot that can take a bit of a fall. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear you're okay."
It's my fault he's there.
"No. Moon was going to attack you, and Monty wouldn't allow it. You couldn't help that. You hid, and that was the right thing to do. When you're ready, we'll go looking for Monty and see if we can help him. It's not your fault, Carrotpop."
Gregory sniffed, rubbed his shirt over his face, and nodded. Yeah, they needed to help Monty. He took another few steadying breaths, got to his aching feet, and left the charging station. He checked out the double red doors. The number "4" was printed at the top corner.
"Monty? Are you there?" Gregory asked. He walked around to one of the giant windows flanking the doors. After another short room and set of doors and windows, he could see further into the room. A giant cylinder, most of its walls made of glass, with a computer terminal dominated the front and center. There was a shape of a person before it. The lower half of the figure was dark, but the upper half sort of blended into the neutral surroundings.
Officer Vanessa.
No other human–save for Vanny–occupied the building right now. That had to be her.
He pushed through the first set and then stuck by the window next to the other doors. He hissed, "Monty, are you in here?"
The time was three-fifteen am.
Whoa, that was a very fast fifteen minutes. …why was he even surprised, anymore?
Officer Vanessa stood in front of the now open cylinder. Monty lay in the chair. Gregory muttered, "I've got to get him out of there."
"…I kept him in Lost and Found." Officer Vanessa's voice barely reached Gregory through the glass windows and metal doors.
Monty grunted, "Uh, good news? So, is he with his parents or what now?" Gregory smiled a little at that. So, he was alive, and they fixed him!
The security guard sighed tersely, "No, he's still out there and we can't. Turns out, there's no record of him here."
"No record? How'd he get in here? Every kid has a record!"
Officer Vanessa went on as if he hadn't spoken, her voice as dry as ever. "His name is Gregory. You know how I know that? You called him that before grabbing him and trying to chuck both of you off the third-story balcony."
"I wasn't gonna do that!" Monty snarled. "I didn't wanna fall! You pushed me!"
"I pushed an aggressive animatronic who disobeyed staff orders and drew blood from a child. You watch your tone, or you're scrap, you understand?"
…
Vanessa sighed. "Right. Well, you've been acting weirder than usual tonight. Hang out here for a bit. I gotta find that kid." With that, she walked away from the cylinder and to one of the stairs that wrapped around the side of the cylinder. The cylinder door closed once she backed out of it. Light glared over the stairs and walls as she moved and swept the flashlight over her surroundings.
Monty called after her, "Vanessa, don't leave me here!"
A few doors lined the walls above the stairs. She took the second one with a purple door and hall.
Gregory waited until it got quiet to push his way through the second set of red metal double doors.
"Gregory!" Monty called. "You're here an' alive! That's great!"
Gregory ran up to the now-closed cylinder and looked through the window. He couldn't see much beyond the animatronic's purple feet and, beyond that, his hands at his sides and his bottom jaw. "Monty! What did they do to you?"
"Jus' some maintenance. Got me put back together, but I'll still be a little roughed up until the next engineer team comes by with a new shell. Now, eh, use the console to let me out."
The boy walked around to the computer. Its screen glowed a very dark green. "Select Upgrade" in digital, light green letters stamped across the top. Under it was a list with slightly smaller printed words. "Power Upgrade" "Claws Upgrade" "Voicebox Upgrade" and "Eyes Upgrade", all in off-white text, listed below with "Exit" in lime text.
The computer said, "Welcome to Parts and Service. Please select your desired procedure."
Well, Monty didn't need an upgrade, and he said he was fixed. Gregory tried pressing the down arrow and it flipped to the next screen. "Select Repair" replaced the upgrade heading. "Hardware Scan", "Physical Scan", "Routine Check-Up", and "Custom-Repair" were listed below it.
He decided to do a hardware scan, first. Hardware was the wiring and stuff on the inside. Like a computer, the thing that lets Monty think. Considering the other option was just going to tell him about the outside stuff, he could infer his previous assumption about hardware to be correct.
The computer announced, "It seems that Monty is under the weather. It seems Monty's basic security protocols have been tampered with. A report to the main office has been filed. For liability reasons, Monty will now be disconnected from the main network until further notice. Activating safety protocols. Rebooting in Safe Mode."
A few moments passed where Monty went very still and then a few of the machine arms inside of the cylinder twitched up.
The cylinder opened beside Gregory. Monty got up and walked out, ducking his head a little as he went. While Monty had been put back together, his shell was still crumpled in places.
Gregory looked around the room. On the left of the cylinder was a line of rooms, some with wood-patched or blocked doors, others with broken windows. Generator-like machines and chain-link fences were on the right. An active endoskeleton stared ahead with blank red eyes and hung near the machines. The room was so wide he wasn't bothered by any loud noises, nor could he see clearly through the windows.
The time was three-thirty am.
"So, how do you feel?" Gregory asked.
"Better," Monty admitted. "I… feel different." He hesitated and then looked over at the far side of the room. He looked at Gregory. "Hey, Little guy? Can you try runnin' over there?" He pointed to a spot at the end of the room.
Gregory looked over at the spot quizzically and then at him. Then, understanding dawned on him.
"Gregory, this isn't a good idea. If this didn't fix him, you have nowhere to run."
Sure, I do! I could run over there! Gregory turned and raced over to the spot indicated. He stopped and looked back at Monty and gave him the thumbs up.
Monty gave him the thumbs up back and laughed. "You did it! Good job, kid!"
Gregory ran back to him. "That's amazing!" he laughed. "Now she can't make you try and kill me, anymore!"
"What about the others?" Monty asked. "You think Chica and Roxy are being controlled, too?"
Gregory thought for a moment. "That would make sense, yeah."
"And Freddy. He left out Freddy."
"And Freddy."
"Right, him, too," Monty agreed with significantly less enthusiasm. "…maybe. He's been acting different, but he hasn't gone after you."
Gregory asked before Bonnie could, "Weird how?"
Monty coughed. "Jus'… weird. Doesn't talk to us at night, jus' goes to the darkest part of the Pizzaplex and hides. Scares off that creepy jester while he's at it, too. That clown scares all of us, but lately, one hint of Freddy and he's gone." Monty hesitated. "…fer good reason. It's best if you don't meet Freddy, Little guy."
Gregory gave him a weird look. "Oh? You just said you didn't think he was being controlled and that he didn't attack me."
"Right, because he hasn't seen you," Monty agreed. "Look, kid. I don't know if he's hacked like I was or just went off the deep end, but he ain't actin' like us. He's attackin' us. An' if that's 'cause he was hacked like we were, he could attack you, too. But he only patrols the real dark places, like the garage and sewers, utility tunnels, and sometimes attractions when the power gets diverted out of there or if there's an outage."
"Well, can't we fix him, then?"
Monty shook his head. "I wouldn't suggest tryin'! If Chica or Roxy tried hurtin' you, I might be able to talk to 'em. That big bear won't listen to a word I say!"
Gregory looked away but said nothing.
Monty's voice calmed significantly. "Alright, kid. You need more badges if you're gonna get a high enough security level to get outta here. There's another badge in Fazer Blast. But that would need a Party Pass. I think Chica has a spare one in her room. She gives 'em out to the birthday kids. Her green room is next to mine in Rockstar Row."
Gregory looked up at him and nodded. He forged ahead to the right set of stairs curling around the protective cylinder. A few blackboards with diagrams caught his attention. One bore a pair of eyes with eyelashes. One had a beak. The other had a set of claws. The last had a battery. Gregory raised his eyebrows. "Monty? Check out these pictures. Chica has some sort of special voice box, Roxy has new eyes, and oh, here are your better claws. Freddy has some sort of battery?" Gregory looked over the railing around the protective cylinder.
Monty flexed his claws. "Yeah, got those adjustments a bit ago. Somethin' about bein' better at playin' the guitar. Which, they're fun an' all, but it's hard to play with my friends nowadays." The animatronic alligator walked up the stairs to join him.
Gregory furrowed his eyebrows. "Why does having special claws make it hard to play with your friends?"
Monty thought for a moment. "Well… back before my new claws, I liked roughhousin', an' so did Roxy. That's just what we did. We bite an' hit an' we don't mean nothin' by it. We can't hurt each other. But after I got these claws, it was like anything I touched became fragile. An' even if it wasn't, I ain't riskin' hurtin' my friends because I moved the wrong way. …imagine if one day you woke up an' all yer friends were made of cardboard. It would make playin' a lot different, wouldn't it?"
Gregory looked at him and then Bonnie and the hand holding it. His gaze drifted to the bandages on his arm. "Yeah, it would," he admitted. He walked through Roxy's hall and to the compact elevator. Monty stopped outside and waited as the doors closed on him.
One silent, slow elevator ride later, the doors opened. Inside the cluttered room made smaller by a few chain link fence pieces stood a recharge station. A few feet away from the elevator was a door. Gregory stepped through. Roxy's room was… purple. Roxanne toys, a Roxy neon sign, pictures, an overwhelming amount of racing and mechanics artifacts, an arcade cabinet, and a kiddie rocket ride filled her room. A lot of the stuff sat on the couch across from the door. The vanity's lights still glowed. The glass wall out into Rockstar Row stayed bared as the curtains held open.
Outside, Gregory heard a voice.
He stiffened and crept out of Roxy's room and hugged the wall toward Freddy's room. Searching in the semi-light, her flashlight dragging across the floor and walls, walked Officer Vanessa. "Come on, kid!" she called. "Where are you?"
Gregory peered around the corner. Unfortunately, the security officer hung around Freddy's room. Did she know Gregory was going there? She couldn't, could she?
"Are you hungry?" she called, her voice light despite the exhaustion that dragged at her words.
Gregory hid behind the wall as her flashlight's beam scored the floor near him. Did… did she have food on her? No, she couldn't have. She was just lying. She knew he was hungry. There had to be some place with food in this mall.
She stepped down the hall, passing by the artifacts in their cases. She stopped to inspect one, searching around it as if he might be hiding behind it.
He snuck past her and quickly got to Freddy's room.
"I'm here to help. Please, let me help you!" she called.
Gregory narrowed his eyes. That's just what the animatronics and the white rabbit said. He knew he couldn't trust her. He tried to get through Monty's room, but he didn't have the security clearance. Besides, he would not have been able to climb up there himself. So, he backtracked to Freddy's room, empty of the animatronic bear. This door opened to his pass. His room was red and orange and filled with Freddy Fazbear memorabilia, though the wall by his vanity had children's drawings tacked onto it. A couple of bowling balls sat on the ground by the couch at the foot of the two-step stairs before the arcade cabinet. A duffle bag sat beside his unlit vanity with a Glamrock Freddy plushie on it. A note sat inside.
"FREDDY REPORT: ERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT – Freddy's personality chip has started acting quirky lately. He becomes agitated around references to previous models of Freddy and has started destroying merchandise from the Prize Counter and patrons. It is recommended we remove the merchandise of older Freddy models from the Prize Counter before we start hearing more 'rumors'."
So that's why all those Freddies were hidden in the back of the Prize Counter.
Freddy's vent had no register in the side of his back room, where a pile of boxes near it could give Gregory access to it. He climbed up the pile and into the vent. He passed Roxy's room and then Monty's. He stopped by Chica's first room vent and unscrewed the vent covers. He only unscrewed three of the screws holding it together before it swung to the side to allow him room.
Chica-themed things–plushies, a neon sign, dolls, an arcade cabinet, the like–filled the space. Her open curtains separated her pink walls from the giant, clear window. A duffle bag sat on the ground with a note inside.
"CHICA REPORT: ERRANT BEHAVIOR REPORT – Chica's personality chip has always been a bit 'quirky', but the new Pizza Flavored Monty Mystery Mix Slushy Syrup has adverse effects on her programming. She has attacked patrons, employees and S.T.A.F.F. for it. It is recommended that Monty Mystery Mix should be recalled before we're inundated with lawsuits."
Huh.
Officer Vanessa called, "I'm only here to help. Please come out."
On Chica's vanity next to a large plush cupcake lay a little golden slip labeled "Party Pass."
"Monty! I found the Party Pass!" Gregory exclaimed, holding the golden slip.
Beep! [Good job!]
The time was three fifty-five am.
Bells.
Gregory bristled. "Oh, no, it's that moon guy!"
Beep! [Get to a recharge station! I'll meet you there!]
Gregory ran out of Chica's room. Officer Vanessa's flashlight no longer ran over the ground. He stopped as he nearly ran directly into the star-spattered jester. Moon cooed, "It's past your bedtime~!"
Gregory, sticking to the wall, ran past him, throwing on his jacket as he went, and then darted to Monty's room. He knocked on the door and Gregory was let right in. Gregory climbed into his stomach hatch. He winced at the bent plastic of his chest making his claustrophobic environment even tighter but stayed quiet. The animatronic alligator lumbered into his backroom and into his charging station.
The time was four am.
Unlike Monty Golf, they didn't go through the Utility Tunnels to the front doors first. Instead, they went through Rockstar Row and into the atrium that way. Fazer Blast was located on the opposite side of the atrium than Monty Golf.
Roxy still patrolled the atrium. This time she was far away. So, he slipped out into the dark floor and crept past the shops until he got to a set of shutters barring the rest of the atrium from a well-lit attraction.
The shutters opened.
His shoes fell upon the purple, cosmic carpet. A huge rocket ship statue dominated the center area, while alien ships scattered around the fringes too high up for Gregory to climb–including a Ferris Wheel with UFOs instead of seats. A small shop with stairs leading atop it sat to the right side. Although there was a hallway to the right, it stopped due to a construction sign. A S.T.A.F.F. bot standing before the elevator blocked his entry with one hand up and its electronic "FAZCOMMS" sign with Helpy on it facing him.
Roxy growled and looked around the small lobby. When he didn't immediately appear within her sight, she turned and stalked off and called for his attention again.
The boy took a deep breath. He marched up to the purple-and-yellow S.T.A.F.F. bot before the elevator that immediately barred him entry. The boy showed it the Party Pass, which the bot took. It tossed a bunch of confetti in the air with a short dance, stuck the ticket in the ticket feeder in its hip, and then promptly ignored him. Gregory strode to an alien-centric elevator and pressed the entry button.
…
He pressed the button again, but nothing happened.
He bowed his head.
Monty commented, "Looks like you'll need to divert power to Fazer Blast this time, too."
Biting back a retort, Gregory nodded. "Yeah, looks like it. I'll be right back."
He took the elevator in Salads and Sides this time. When he got to the power terminal, he asked, "What else should I turn on? I can turn on four other places while I'm here."
Beep! [I'm not rightly sure. You'll have five badges. The last three are in the warehouse next to Parts and Service, the West Arcade, and the Daycare.]
Daycare? Like with the Daycare Attendant? The moon guy? Heh. No way. Gregory looked over the panel. "Uh… what's the 'Warehouse'? I don't see that here…"
Beep! [It's uh… it's also called the 'Education Maze' sometimes…]
He pressed "PARTS AND SERVICE", just in case, "EDUCATION MAZE", "WEST ARCADE", and "FAZER BLAST". He could activate a fifth one… hmm… "KITCHEN".
He looked up upon seeing a sudden flash of light leak in through the doorframe leading to the kitchen.
Beep! [You got it! Lights are on at Fazer Blast!]
Gregory asked, "Outside of it, too? In that lobby area?"
Beep! [Yep!]
"So, they'll definitely know I'm in there, or at least going there."
Beep! [Oh, that's true.]
Beep! [You handled yourself pretty well in the atrium an hour ago, I'm sure you'll do fine here!]
Someone was confident, at least.
Gregory walked back to Fazerblast, avoiding Roxy as she patrolled. Monty waited for him by Fazerblast. The ticket bot didn't try to stop him as the boy walked straight past him and pressed the elevator button. The doors opened and allowed them inside.
The elevator whirred. Freddy's voice boomed, cheerful and loud, "Calling all recruits!" Gregory jumped and then sighed through his teeth. "Fazer Blast is a high-intensity, space combat simulation! Suit up and save the universe, as you blast everyone and everything with high-tech laser effects! Blast strangers, blast your friends! Beat the superstar score! And get a free Fazerblaster gun! Enlist now!"
Monty snorted. "Don't gotta worry about him here, Little guy. Lights are on. That's jus' a recordin'."
"I know," Gregory grunted. "Just… didn't expect it."
Eventually, the other door opened, and Gregory strode out into the room whose major light source, despite the few real lights being active, was the absurd amount of neon lights. Space and aliens scattered about the faintly lit room along with pictures of the glamrocks in space suits with laser guns. In a shop to the left behind a rocket, there was merchandise on shelves and clothes hung up and a few ATM machines sat against the wall.
To the right of the elevator stood a glass case with awards and a sign-up desk before it. Between the desk and a few rows of arcade cabinets was a blue futuristic door that slid up when Gregory approached. A bathroom sign with Freddy's and Chica's symbols stamped on it was above it.
From behind the desk, he caught sight of two doors on the opposite wall. One said "NO ENTRY" while the other had a security badge above it. Gregory ran around to the "NO ENTRY" door. There wasn't exactly a scanner, so it probably wasn't an employee door. Darn. A small "L" shaped hallway was behind the other door, with one door inside leading to a bathroom with a single toilet.
Further down the hall was a metal door with another Security Badge sign beside it.
The room went dark as soon as he entered.
Beep! [They know you're here! Get the security upgrade and get out!]
Gregory found the little security Freddy head and pressed its nose. As it slowly opened, he searched the small room. A duffle bag with a note talking about hiding Monty Mystery Mix in ice cream storage was there. An empty pizza box stood out amongst the clutter with a cyan and lavender bowling ticket on it.
Beep! [Nice find! That's a free bowling pass for the rest of the year!]
Gregory grabbed the security badge and indeed got out. However, when he went to open the door, he stopped dead.
Chica wandered around the place.
Chica stopped when her name was called and looked back at Monty. He said something Gregory didn't catch and pointed to the exit elevator. Chica shook her head and pointed to the security door. Monty said something else and, with a flippant wave of his hand, walked to the elevator. Chica, after a moment of hesitation, followed him.
Once they were gone, Gregory walked to the last blue door, this one leading to the arena.
After a short "L" shaped hallway, dark with neon arches like a snake's rib cage around him, he entered a room only slightly wider than the hallway. A whole big row of black seats lined the left wall. A S.T.A.F.F. bot with Fazerblast gear stood up on a stage on the other side. The lights turned on here.
The bot droned, "You must be the new Fazerblast recruits, and from the looks of you, the orange-slash-blue team hasn't got a chance. Soon you will be fighting for your lives. I am here to tell you how to play Fazerblast. There are two rules you must follow at all times. Rule One: No running. No jumping, hitting, kicking, pushing, shoving. No shooting Fazerblasters in, or close to, other players' eyes. Being flashed in the eyes may induce seizures, blindness, or semi-permanent paralysis. If you are flashed in the eyes, immediately flush your eyes with soap and water and then blink repeatedly until vision is restored. Rule Number Two: Have fun."
Gregory ran through the next door through an "L" and into another small room, this one lined on either side with vests and two tables with helmets. One side was orange with helmets that had bear ears and top hats, the other was blue with helmets that had springs and balls on the ends like alien antennae. The robot stated, "Before you enter the arena, grab a helmet and Fazerblaster."
Gregory took off his knitted hat, set it in his coat pocket, fitted an orange helmet on, and grabbed the lone laser gun beside all the other helmets. He put on the vest with the lightning bolt on as an afterthought. The helmet's visor went over his eyes. It was so clear and light that he could barely notice it being there at all. That was until the HUD appeared. "SCORE" "0/3" popped up in blue letters at the left edge of his vision. "HEALTH" with six short bars under it glowed green on his right.
Gregory remembered his mother telling him about what her VR had been like before she had to sell it. "It's like seeing into a whole other world." He'd never actually gotten to use it before, though. Like his stepbrother would let him use his, or his stepfather would remember his promise to get one for him. This was different than just seeing something because he could see himself and he was holding Bonnie under one arm and a Fazerblaster in his hands.
He couldn't help a joyful squeak and held the gun tighter.
The doorless entryway led to an actual door flanked by two other doors a few feet away. Both other doors said, "NO ENTRY." So, he went in through the middle one.
He got to the end with three doors. The robotic voice stated, "You are on the orange team, soldier. Report to the orange hallway."
The left door, glowing with bands of orange lights, opened for him. At the end of the long "L" hallway stood an extravagantly designed elevator that glowed with futuristic lights and patterns both carved and made of light. He half wondered if there were alien props that would go around yelling "boo" or something.
The lights shut off.
Gregory jumped and looked around as a red light became his only aid in sight. The other door opened, leading him into a neon-and-blacklight maze of barriers and vibrant carpet. A few boxes reached up, stacked like rooms without ceilings accessed by stairs. He checked his glasses. Cameras showed the absurd maze, a few boxes he could climb into, and three separate flags–one of which was at the top of the room stack in the center of the arena. He tapped his glasses to minimize the CAMS tab, finding a single catwalk. He forged on to the first flag.
Gregory had been partially right about the alien posters yelling "boo!", but only as S.T.A.F.F. bots wearing alien helmets and wielding Fazerblasters rolled out from around barriers. He shot them down before they could shoot back.
Each time he shot, one of the six glowing blue bars on the right of his headset's screen would go dark. If he stopped shooting long enough, the bars would refill. Words like "NICE SHOT", "AMAZING", and "5 IN A ROW" appeared if he shot them in a certain way or shot a certain number of bots in a row well enough. He smirked to himself. Heck yeah, he was amazing.
The first flag was in a corner near the door. A ceiling was overhead on this section, weirdly enough. A button on a pedestal beside the flag glowed green. He ran up and pressed it.
Computer bot announced, "You have captured the flag!"
"00:28" appeared in purple letters at the top of his vision.
A S.T.A.F.F. bot nearby announced in a monotone voice, "Capture the flag!"
Gregory shot it.
Computer bot said, "Time to defend."
The "aliens" that tried to sneak up on him or flat-out charged missed and got shot by Gregory quickly after being spotted. Bots continued to say things such as "Die Earth scum", "Stand still so I can shoot you", and "Intruder alert" as they attacked. Once the timer ticked down to nothing, "AREA CAPTURED" appeared in green letters on his visor and the computer announced, "You have successfully defended the station! Move on to the next one, Space Cadet!" The "0/3" at the top-left of his screen went up one.
Heck yeah!
He found the next flag on the ground, deciding to leave the middle one for last. He nearly forgot he was in a life-or-death situation and the only reason he was even playing was to…
Hold on, he already got the security badge! Why was he here? Well, maybe he could get something that could help him defend himself, like a Fazerblaster. He could sneak one out.
Thump, thump, thump!
Gregory jumped and hid behind a wall as he heard animatronic feet hit the ground. White, yellow, pink, and green flickered down the hall. He sucked in his breath as Chica emerged from deeper in the maze, searching the halls. She called, "Who wants candy?"
Gregory backed up into a wall and looked around, finding two paths–straight ahead or right into Chica. Both paths would cross into Chica's vision and lead to her chasing him down. He looked down at his Fazerblaster. The bots didn't like being shot by it.
He side-stepped into view and held up his gun. Her eyes turned on him. He shot, his laser hitting her straight in the eyes. She squawked and jolted like she'd been flashed by the camera. Gregory turned and darted around the maze to take the other ground flag. On the wall, he spotted a plain elevator door. Being similar to the one he went through with little fanfare, he could assume this was the loser's elevator.
Chica called from somewhere nearby, "Your parents are looking for you!"
Gregory scoffed at the notion and pressed the button beside the flag. Computer bot announced, "You have captured the flag!"
"00:28" appeared in purple letters at the top of his vision.
A S.T.A.F.F. bot nearby announced in a monotone voice, "Capture the flag!"
Gregory shot it.
Computer bot said, "Time to defend."
Gregory backed up and shot anything that dared get close. For a second, he could've sworn he saw something pale moving, but when he looked back, he only saw barriers.
The timer ran out. "AREA CAPTURED" appeared in green letters on his visor and the computer announced, "You have successfully defended the station! Move on to the next one, Space Cadet!" The "1/3" at the top-left of his screen went up one.
Now he approached the stairs. Hopefully, he could capture this flag up top with just as few problems!
As he climbed the stairs, the walls became scarce. There were a few walls on the landing and the top was ringed with them. But here, on the slope glowing with lights, he was vulnerable. Chica, on the ground, looked up upon hearing him and cried, "Lost boy over here!"
Gregory captured the flag in the center and hid behind one of the walls.
As the clock ticked down, S.T.A.F.F. bots rolled into his vision. Chica lumbered onto the top platform. Rather than target the flag, she searched for Gregory. She ba-gawked as she was blasted in the face again with his Fazerblaster.
"YOU WIN" blazed across his visor in blocky, electric, green letters and yellow stripes with thin stripes missing above and below with green furls on either side.
The computer bot said, "You have defeated the alien army! Good job, Space Cadet! Proceed to the winner's elevator for your reward."
Gregory laughed and ran.
As he tried to find his way, he found a plain metal door in the wall, hidden in the maze. Curious, he attempted to open it.
Click.
…oh, well. Not his problem. He had other things to do outside of bothering with random creepy doors. He found the Winner's Elevator with a "Blaster Return" box next to it. So, he didn't get to keep it. There was probably another he could take.
Gregory got inside the elevator and immediately pressed the button to return to the upper level.
Beep! He tapped his glasses to look at his chat log. [Good job, Little guy! Since you won, you should be able to claim your prize in the Superstar Lounge.]
The next door opened, showing a hallway lit with green lights that he ran through. The blue door at the end opened up to another couple of doors with an empty doorway on his right leading to a small lounge area. An empty pizza box and some unopened chip bags beside consumed coffee cups ringed the table.
A few small, red couches and benches ringed the small room overlooking the arena. A Freddie plush sat on a couch. He snatched the golden Fazerblaster and started to leave when he spotted the open vent.
The time was four-fifteen am.
"Where does this vent go?" he wondered, took out his mini flashlight, and ducked inside. He climbed up the steeply sloped vent that stopped rather suddenly at a fan with a grate over it. It opened onto an uneven catwalk with a few boards laying haphazardly on the ground and barred off from the arena by gargantuan cutouts of the main cast of characters. A partially crumpled note lay on the ground.
"NEW HIRE SUMMARY – Head Security Guard. No prior qualifications. Internal reference (name withheld)."
Gregory shrugged and dropped the note. Unfortunately, a wall stopped him from further movement. But the wall next to him had a vent he could use. This vent also continued up at an angle, taking two quick right turns and a left one and going up for what felt like an entire story before taking one right turn onto a grated catwalk.
Gregory stood up and looked down over the arena and the catwalk, and then the metal door to the room jutting out of the wall. The door itself was a metal security door with a window cut out of it. He peered through it, finding a messy bed, some pizza boxes, and a baby blue arcade machine covered in balloons with a smiling sun and a boy in a striped shirt and labeled "BALLOON WORLD".
"Monty, I found a secret hide-out, I think," Gregory reported. "Or maybe a station? I dunno."
Beep! [A security station above Fazer Blast? Maybe a hide-out. Got any more details?]
Gregory shook his head. "No. I don't know how to get in." Directly across the small room was another door, this one without a window. The wall between the doors was made almost entirely out of window material, but there was no way he was looking through it without risking falling off the catwalk. "There's this arcade machine that says, 'Balloon World' and a bed. It looks like someone lives here."
Beep! [I don't want to say this, but if anyone would know if someone lived here, it would be Officer Vanessa.]
"If she knew someone lived here, she would have kicked them out," Gregory pointed out.
Beep! [What if she already did? Kid, it's four-fifteen in the mornin'. Anyone who lived here would be asleep, don't you think?]
Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. "Um… well, I got the Fazerblaster. I'll meet you outside."
"It never hurts to be careful."
He kind of has a point, though. Gregory ducked into the vent system and retraced his steps. He passed through the Superstar Lounge into the door at the end. He took off his helmet and, with a forlorn look at the visor, set it back down and walked to the exit on the right, next to the entrance hall. Gregory put his knitted hat back on.
The open doorway leading into a neon tunnel, helpfully labeled "EXIT" took him down and through the "NO ENTRY" door he saw in the entrance area.
Gregory walked into the elevator and immediately pressed the button out.