Going Home in a Box: Chapter 64- Teaser
“I’ve got to be honest, this doesn’t seem like a good idea,” Mike said. In a surprising twist, he was playing the voice of reason for once.
Of course, he was currently driving towards the Pizzaplex with a car full of animatronics, so he knew good and well it was too late to even pretend that he was the reasonable one.
“Oh, it’s not,” Marionette agreed. “But I don’t see how it is possible that it can be any worse than last time.”
Foxy and Charlie agreed from the backseat.
“And by that I mean: under no circumstances will this end up like last time,” Marionette clarified.
The grumble and hum of agreement responded again.
“Because if it does, I am throwing whoever is the cause of it directly into the nearest dumpster to make an example out of them.”
“I would’ve loved to see you wrestle Ennard into a dumpster,” Mike said off-handedly as he turned off the highway.
“Yer just built like that Schmidt,” Foxy scoffed.
“I get my kicks on route six-six-six,” Mike replied. “Speaking of hell, we’re here.”
“Not counting the thirty minutes it takes to get inside,” Charlie quipped.
“Nah, we’re gonna be halfin’ that. Freddy’s got us on a tight schedule, and we got a double birthday before lunch. We’re going to be leggin’ it less we want to spend our whole time walkin’,” Foxy explained. He shifted his legs in the tight confines of the space behind the passenger seat, Marionette already scooted up as far as he could go. “Let that be yer warnin’ that if ya guys get distracted with Jake ‘er Sun, ‘er whoever, I be leavin’ you.”
“And what happens when Freddy gets distracted with Sun?” Marionette playfully asked. Pulling down the passenger mirror and peeking into the back with it.
“Then I’m grabbin’ the boy and leavin’ ‘em both,” Foxy said. As unamused as he sounded, everyone in that car knew he wasn’t kidding.
They pulled up towards the back of the Pizzaplex, further down past Natalie’s car and closer to the back entrance where they would be heading in. They got out of the car and hastily hurried around back to the exit door and found it propped open.
Foxy led the way into the loading docks where Freddy and Gregory were waiting. The bear anxiously pacing around while the boy spun back and forth in the office chair behind the loading dock controller desk. Then the doors opened, and Freddy looked up to see Foxy sauntering in, tossing his arms open in a silent proclamation of his arrival. Freddy perked up with his eyes glowing with excitement.
“Foxy, you came back!” Freddy cried. Then he lunged.
“Ya couldn’t keep me aw- Omph!” Foxy was cut off by Freddy misreading his gesture and taking him into a big hug. It would’ve knocked the air out of his lungs if he still had them. After a second he recovered enough to chuckle and pat Freddy’s back.
“I missed you so much!” Freddy finally drew back but kept his hands on Foxy’s shoulders. His mouth open in an excited grin.
“Blimey, Freddy. It’s only been a few weeks,” Foxy pointed out. His voice low in a mixture of confuse and concern.
“It has been a long few weeks,” Freddy answered. His eyes briefly giving away a melancholy look, only for him to quickly cover it back up. “But now that you are here, are you ready for the raddest night of your life?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” Foxy proclaimed. He pointed his hook back. “Yar, I brought them too.”
Mike, Charlie, and Marionette greeted Freddy with two “Hey”s and an “Good evening”.
“Hey, guys!” Gregory chimed up.
“Ahoy, Lad!” Foxy greeted.
Mike walked up and tussled his hair. “How’re you doing, Kid? Staying out of trouble?” he asked.
“Kind of. Nobody’s caught me yet,” Gregory answered.
“That’s how you do it. You keep that up and you’ll be set for life.”
“Mike,” Freddy lightly disagreed.
“He knows I’m kidding,” Mike said, sending Gregory a playful wink. The boy smiled back, apparently won over by the ‘cool’ display.
“He knows you’re not kidding,” Marionette retorted. Gliding up beside him before smiling down at Gregory. “Nice to see you again, Gregory. I like your shirt!”
“Thanks! Freddy got it for me,” Gregory replied.
He pulled it out so it could be seen better. It was another Freddy shirt, but this one didn’t have Freddy himself but instead crisscross claw marks and a microphone, with a cursive autograph-grade ‘Freddy Fazbear’ in the corner. It was deep navy in color. Though the shirt wasn’t the only noticeable thing. Gregory seemed generally more put together, with brushed out- but still naturally tussled- hair and a face clean of band aids and lacking the sunken in marks that used to be prominent under his eyes.
Both Foxy and Marionette easily recognized the signs of a neglected child. Seeing those signs start to disappear off Gregory were both noticeable and filled them with joy.
Freddy perked up happily at Gregory’s showing off the shirt, then turned his attention to Charlie.
“Speaking of cool digs- Charlie, I notice your jacket! It is very cool. Did you get it for your birthday?”
“I did! It’s brand new,” Charlie said. Stretching out her arms to show it off.
“It’s a high-grade costume with everyday wearability. We had the ones who made Foxy’s coat make it,” Marionette explained proudly.
Both Freddy and Gregory looked at Foxy’s hoodie.
“Not this! Me pirate’s coat! The one back at the pizzeria,” Foxy interjected with a half-chuckle.
“Oh! Of course!” Freddy said. “It IS a good quality hoodie though.”
“Hasn’t died on me yet,” Foxy replied.
“Only smells like it has,” Mike quipped with a grin.
“That’s because of you-!”
“Hey Charlie, did you get our gift?” Gregory asked, ignoring the upcoming battle he had inadvertently cut off.
“I did, and I love it! I’ve got it set up on my nightstand and it makes for an incredible nightlight,” Charlie said thankfully.
“Gregory, we should get one for you! That way you will have a nightlight during the hourly recharge,” Freddy suggested. Gregory got a somewhat embarrassed look at this.
“Okay! But only because it’s cool, not because I need it. I’m not scared of the dark or anything,” he amended.
“I’m not either. I just like to leave a light on,” Charlie agreed to assure him.
“Usually, we keep the hall light on to see. There’s a difference between being scared of the dark and being scared you’re going to trip over something walking to the bathroom and chip a tooth,” Mike added on.
The mix of both statements making Gregory a little less self-conscious. The group started to make their way out of the loading docks and towards the elevator.
While on their way in, Charlie reached out to Jake through her radio.
“Jake, are you there?”
“Hey, welcome back! I heard you have a hot date up in the Fazcade,” Jake greeted with a cheery pep to his voice.
“Oh yeah? What’s it like?”
“I can’t tell you… That is, if I tell you, it will ruin the surprise. You just have to see it for yourself!”
“Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be,” Charlie replied jokingly. “Then I guess I can’t tell you how far I’ve gotten putting together your gift.”
“Uh oh. I didn’t foresee this possibility,” Jake replied. “Guess I’m going to have to bribe you with information.”
“Give me a hint and you’ll get the goods.”
“Okay, let’s see… Well, first off: If you’re expecting the West Arcade to look anything like the East Arcade, it doesn’t. Expect a lot of stairs.”
“In this place? I already do,” Charlie joked. “So, I’ve gotten the chest section together. The frame, I mean, but I haven’t even started on the wiring-.”
As she was talking with him, falling a little behind to do so, Marionette decided to catch up to Freddy’s side and start his own conversation.
“How is Chica?” he asked.
“She is… managing. I do not know if Foxy told you, but she did not have her voice box replaced. I spoke with the technicians today about replacing it, but they refused.”
“What excuse they give fer that?” Foxy asked.
“They said… due to the fact that her upgrade was such a valuable piece of equipment, and that they are not authorized to replace it with anything else, they will not be replacing it. Not until higher ups tell them to do so.”
“I’m sorry, Freddy,” Marionette apologized remorsefully. Foxy patted his shoulder sympathetically.
Mike was silent. That was the most he could do. Listening from beside them, there was a lot he wanted to say- and a lot that immediately sparked frustration- but venting those feelings wouldn’t exactly help Freddy. Especially when he started venting them himself.
“I do not understand how they can be so callous. I understand the thinking process, to stop this from happening again, but… it is ridiculous to treat us like this. Monty is right, they would not treat human employees like this.”
“Agreed, but if they’re anything like the old Freddy’s they don’t treat the human employees much better. That’s how many of them wound up being the next line of entertainers,” Mike said cryptically. Marionette nodded in agreement.
“Only reason the employees ‘round here got it so good’s ‘cause there ain’t more than a handful of ‘em,” Foxy scoffed.
“You’ve got a point about that. It’s easy to ‘lose track’ of one of hundreds of employees, but if it’s one of ten, you’d think people would ask questions,” Mike agreed.
“Sometimes…” Marionette ominously half-agreed.
“But we are supposed to be part of the new and improved Freddy Fazbear’s! How can they accept that same behavior of the old franchise if we are supposed to be doing better? Safety first, then service. What they are doing to Chica is just pure laziness,” Freddy said. He sighed and then perked up slightly, “But for now, she is at least no longer in Parts and Service. Chica will be at the salon with Roxy tonight, so we will not have to worry about her hearing us. They are having a girls’ night out, but in!”
The conversation lightened up and thinned out as they continued to the elevator and rode up. Then headed out to the atrium and rode an atrium elevator up to the top floor, barely able to squeeze everyone inside.
“There is something I should tell you before we get to the West Arcade. There is a possibility that you may lose me sometime tonight,” Freddy warned.
“What? When’d that happen?” Gregory asked in surprise, turning around and looking up at him. Foxy also looked over in surprise, nearly getting a mouthful of shoulder pad in the process.
“It is true. Regretfully, I will no longer be in control…” Freddy said cryptically. “When I step onto the West Arcade dance floor, I cannot stop myself! It is a programming bug.”
“Ugh, Freddy,” Gregory pouted. Freddy chuckled.
“I have the same bug. I do a mean macarena,” Marionette chimed in. He then proceeded to do a very brief demonstration- one Freddy could barely see over his shoulder and somehow managed to dodge hitting Mike and Charlie in the process.
“Yar, I be partyin’ with a coupla dorks,” Foxy said with some fondness and strode out.
“But all jokes aside, I do have to get in at least five minutes of dancing to stop the irresistible urge to return myself to the dance floor,” Freddy remarked.
Foxy sent him a weird look only to see Freddy smiling, dead serious. He decided to not even question it; it wouldn’t be the worst Fazbear mandated ‘quirk’ he had seen.
Freddy got them through the Party Bot, and they started walking through the entrance hall outside of the Fazcade. When they were suddenly interrupted by a long leg with puffy star-studded pants stepping out from behind a pillar. The rest of the jester body slinking after.
“Gooood eveniiing,” Moon greeted. The wicked grin on his face appropriately matching his tone.
As suddenly as he appeared, nobody was that surprised to see him. At least not beyond a second or two.
“Hey Moon,” Charlie greeted.
“And hello to you too, Jingle Bell,” Moon greeted. His face rolling in a display of fondness that showed Sun just beneath the surface.
“Ahoy,” Foxy also greeted.
Marionette gave a chime and a wave while Mike got a little grin.
“So, have you been waiting for us long or did you beat us up here?” Mike asked cheekily.
“My time is very valuable, Mr. Schmidt.”
There was a pause in anticipation for a further answer, but Moon didn’t give one.
“Did you change your mind?” Freddy offered, finally breaking that silence with a hopeful warmth to his tone.
“I’m afraid not. Here’s the deal for you all to hear,” Moon announced. He tented fingers, made a motion and sound like inhaling, and then began to list off his grievances on his fingers. “No setting off any alerts, no rousing suspicion with any of the Glamrocks, no entering into the Hive Arcade, no annoying the DJ, no climbing over the railing, running down the stairs, riding down the railings, using fake coins, tokens, or any inappropriate coin-shaped objects in any of the machines…”
He paused for dramatic effect, then pointed at Gregory.
“And he is downstairs and in bed before three.”
“What?!” Gregory cried.
“My only offer.”
“I think that is a very fair offer!” Freddy agreed. Gregory looked up at him in betrayal before huffing.
“You would say that,” he grumbled.
“Just fer me own curiosity, but when’d you start calling the shots?” Foxy asked. He sounded more amused than anything. Or perhaps not amused, maybe a little smug, a shred of mocking in his tone.
“I have been calling the shots since the first night you got here. I just haven’t put my foot down until now,” Moon quickly corrected. “Don’t like Misss Smith fool you. I am the night guard.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Mike agreed.
“Then you best follow my rules, or I will be sure to escort you out,” Moon tutted. He then, finally, stepped aside and made a sweeping motion back with his arms. “Now then… Enjoy your stay.”
The group passed by- Freddy giving him a wink as he did- and headed through the security door and into the West Arcade proper.