The pizzeria was quiet save for the slow footsteps of the nightguards as they moved down the dark hallway. Mike’s body acted as a makeshift flashlight, illuminating the scribbled children’s drawings on the walls. The light didn’t reach very far but it was bright enough to let them see three steps ahead of them.

Though his steps were slow, his purpose was very clear. Mike kept up a steady pace with his eyes on a swivel. Any small movement could mean their deaths here. They were walking into the belly of the beast, the lair of all the Animatronics that were housed here.

Mike’s brows furrowed as they reached an intersection. He put out a hand out to stop Jeremy in his tracks. The blonde guard jumped slightly, trembling as he began frantically scanning their area, “W-wh-what is it? Is it Foxy?”

The taller guard shook his head, “No way. You remember what I did to that thing? The mechanics won’t be able to get him working again for a while. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if we ran into him. These things are damn resilient.” Mike didn’t mention how he was secretly hoping the pirate bastard would show up again. He didn’t get to finish him off last time. This time though, he’ll make sure that the machine won’t even be recognizable anymore.

Mike puts a hand on the right corner and pulled his head around to peer down the hallway. While he did that, Jeremy focused on the thrashing bundle of metal in his right hand. Swallowing nervously, he tapped Mike on the back, “Um, Mike? I understand not wanting him to disappear and possible hurt us, but do you really have to keep holding him up by his head like that?”

Mike turns around to look at the hand he has clenched around the tiny robot’s head. His grip is firm enough to cause dents to appear in the metal of the robot named Balloon Boy. The small machine keeps spinning its arms and legs in a vain attempt to get away from his captor. Mike shakes him up and down in rapid succession to stop his thrashing. The sound of gears being rattled echoes through the empty halls until the guard stops. Seeming to have gotten the message, the little bot keeps his arms in their standard position. Both held out to the right and left with a sign that just says “Hello” in his right hand.

Satisfied, Mike goes back to looking around the corner, “Don’t feel any sympathy for these things, Jere. Everyone of ‘em has no problem with killing us at any and every opportunity. Besides, he doesn’t have a neck I can grab so this is the next best thing.” Mike does another shake to emphasize. He focuses his gaze down the hallway around this corner. His sight didn’t seem affected by the oppressive darkness that used to leave him blind without a source of light. Yet another thing he has to thank these new powers for. It certainly makes this easier than it otherwise would be. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but he knew that meant little around this place. He picked out the open vent right above the door to the party room. The door to the room was covered in a multitude of plushies of the mascots. They were a hit with the kids, so it made sense to make a bunch of them. Even Mike had to admit that they had a strange, teddy bear like charm to them. Right now, though, they were small landmines that would go off and give away their position if they weren’t careful.

He turns around, nods towards Jeremy, and slowly moves around the corner in a crouch. He’s careful to step around and away from any stray dolls on the ground. Jeremy, after doing a double take around down the other hallway to be sure, followed Mike as best he could. The older guard’s steps were difficult to keep track of for Jeremy. They seemed almost other worldly at times. Even when Mike did end up stepping on an unavoidable plushie, he did so with so little force that it doesn’t make a sound.

Keeping his voice low, Jeremy says, “Mike, I-I’ve got to tell you something.”

“Yeah, what is it?” Mike places his back up against the wall right before the door to the party room. Jeremy follows behind, his legs shaking slightly at the thought of being discovered.

“Well,” Jeremy stops numerous times trying to find a way to articulate his point, “Last night, after you pass out, the Marionette came out and it….it….it tal—”

The sound of glass shattering rang from inside the party room. Both nightguards froze up, surprised at the volume of the sound. They looked at each other once, before Mike dashed into the prize room with BB still held in his right hand. Jeremy tried to stop him but his friend was too fast. Realizing his source of light was now inside the room, he quickly moved in after him.

The prize room itself wasn’t very remarkable. A standard prize desk were the kids can cash in tickets for the plushies set up on the shelves on the walls. The only major difference was the giant, white and pink striped box in the middle of the room. It was where they kept the Marionette animatronic.

And it was currently tipped over with its sides stomped flat by a multitude of feet. Next to the open hatch, a tiny, brown music box with the remains of a ballerina smashed against the ground.

Jeremy fall to his knees with his hand outstretched towards the destroyed item. He looks at it with the eyes of a man whose only lifeline has just been cut. He couldn’t say anything, just mumble nonsense while his brain tried to come up with an appropriate response. His hand drooped to the ground along with his head. His voice finally came back to him, “It’s…. it’s…. no. It can’t be. How are we going to survive now? That will…. it’ll just…. grab us right out of the office and….”

“Jere, calm down,” the calm, collected voice of his friend reached his ears, once again dispelling the despair that was taking hold of Jeremy’s heart. He stood up as Mike turned towards the door.

Jeremy followed, “Ok, but Mike, aren’t you even a little bit worried?”

“Why should I be?” came the curt reply.

“You know why! That thing is the most dangerous one of them. The light glitch doesn’t work on it, it knows exactly where we are no matter what room it is, and its too fast for us to keep track of so we can’t make a plan to counter it,” Jeremy takes a breath, finished listing off the reasons why the situation they were in was one of the worst they couldn’t been put in. “And the music box was the only way to stop it. Without that…. what can we do?”

Jeremy reached the side of his fellow guard. He looked up into Mike’s face and beheld the same manic smile and burning eyes that he remembered from when he started choking Vincent.

Mike turned towards his friend and spoke with utter certainty, “Jere, don’t you remember what we talked about last night? What our plan was?”

Slightly afraid of Mike’s feral gaze, Jeremy gulped before replying, “Y-yes. We just let you handle everything, while I stay out of sight. B-but that was for when we were in the office.”

“So?” Mike quickly walks to a wall and starts to size it up. His stance is relaxed and ready with his arms at his sides. BB’s feet almost touch the ground, causing the small robot to start trying to get away from the nightguard. Mike nods and says, “The plan hasn’t changed. Just the way we get it started. Instead of waiting for them to come to us….”

The sound of drywall being smashed in caused Jeremy to jump. He stumbled over the plushies that littered the floor, falling to the tiled floor on top of a pile of plushy goodness. He shakes his head, looking over to where Mike was…. then his jaw dropped to the floor.

Mike stands with BB slammed into a newly made, small, BB shaped hole in the wall. With a tiny chuckle, Mike speaks loud enough for his voice to carry, “We’re brining the fight right to them!”

In the first Party Room, on top of a wooden stage, the red curtain begins to rise…