Horror Fan Fiction ❯ Five Nights At Freddy's: The Hidden Souls ❯ Springlocked ( Chapter 6 )

January 19, 1976 - Circus Baby World - 4:30 PM

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A month has passed since Elizabeth first visited Circus Baby World. She enjoyed her first visit, no question, but there was still something that was missing for her. She got to see Funtime Foxy sing and dance, she saw Funtime Freddy and Bon-Bon performing stand-up comedy for her, and got to see Ballora elegantly dance across her stage, but she still wanted to see Circus Baby. For some reason she didn't understand, her father didn't want her going anywhere near Circus Baby. Elizabeth wanted to meet her more than anything else at the time, and her father not letting her go see Baby only made her want to go even more.

Luckily, he promised her she would be going back to Circus Baby World today, as she begged her father to take her there again after the fun she had last time. He didn't seem to mind her taking a visit to the place, which made her wonder even more about why he didn't want her going near Baby. I told him she's my absolute favorite! I've got my very own doll of her and I love it! She loved it so much that she brought it along with her everywhere. What's the harm in meeting her in person?

They entered through the front doors, took the visitor elevator, and went to the Ballora Gallery. Uh, Ballora again? I mean, she's good, but I'm getting a little bored with her, thought Elizabeth. She also looks very creepy, too. I don't even know why the people here would design her like that. The Ballora Gallery had the same table layout as the ones in the Funtime Auditorium, only they were decorated much differently to fit with Ballora's theme.

Instead of the bright, pink and red colors, the tables were decorated with purple-bluish sheets, with blue balloons laid out on top of them. Elizabeth was mainly spending time with some of her other friends that came along for the trip, eating delicious pizza slices and treats, watching Ballora dancing onstage with her mini doll-like sideshow performers.

These little doll-like performers looked liked they had a very peach-like color on their metal plating, having tiny, white bobble-head looking puppet faces, each wearing a small white tutu. I think they're called Minireenas, that's what the tour guide said last time. The Minireenas were almost as tall as Ballora's legs, seemingly dancing with Ballora like they were imitating her. And I thought Ballora creeped me out, but these dolls look even more terrifying. She did not like the thought of those things crawling around her room at night while she was fast asleep.

While she, her friends, and her father were watching the show, Elizabeth wanted to ask her father if she could leave and go see Baby finally. She didn't want to be mean or rude, but she just wasn't feeling comfortable at the moment.

"Daddy, can we please go see Circus Baby now? Ballora and the Minireenas are kind of creeping me out."

"Ok, listen Elizabeth, I know how much you want to go see Circus Baby, but you still can't go to her."

"But Daddy, why not? All the other children go to see her, so why won't you let me?"

"There's just... something that makes me feel strange about that robot. She looks like a little girl, but there is something I just don't feel right about her. Also, I heard from the employees that she's being, uh, repaired right now, so you wouldn't be able to go see her anyway."

"Come on, Daddy, please can I go see her? If they're just fixing her, then I'm sure they won't mind if I just stop to take a look."

"No, Elizabeth, and that's final. But if the ballerinas are creeping you out, we can go see Funtime Freddy and Bon-Bon. They're very funny, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

As they were talking, an employee in a grey security came up to her father and whispered something in his ear. She couldn't hear what the employee said, but her father seemed to be surprised.

"Elizabeth, apparently there's been an issue with, uh, there's just a problem this man needs to me to help him with. I'll probably be gone for around half an hour. Now listen: stick with your friends and do not wander off. And don't talk to any strangers."

"Yes, Daddy, I understand. I'll stay with them."

"Good. Hang in there, my little angel. I'll be back soon."

Her father and the employee walked away, leaving her with the rest of her friends at the table. Elizabeth gave out a sigh of despair, gloomily watching Ballora with the rest of her friends. One of her friends, Abigail, stood up and walked up to her to say something.

"Hey, Elizabeth. We're kind of getting bored here, so we were just wondering if we could go to the Funtime Auditorium now. I mean, if you don't want to, that's fine."

"No, I don't mind, Abi. We can go."

She didn't really mind Funtime Foxy, or seeing her dance and sing, but was still feeling a bit down. Her small group of friends left their tables to go to the door to Funtime Auditorium, and when they came inside, they were very surprised. On the stage, instead of Funtime Foxy performing, there was apparently Circus Baby in all her glory, singing in front of another small group of children in the room. What? But Daddy said she was being fixed. Did Daddy lie to me? Why, though?

One of the kids in the room ran away from Baby, looking completely terrified of her. What a wimp, Elizabeth thought. How can you be afraid of such a wonderful robot? Baby seemed to be singing one of those songs that her father always listened to on the radio. I thought the tour guide said she could take song requests, right? She could hear Baby singing the following words: "She's a killer, queen, gunpowder, gelatine, dynamite with a laser beam, guaranteed to blow your mind..." She has such a beautiful singing voice.

Onstage, Baby released a few red balloons right from her fingertips, much to all of the children's enjoyment. She's exactly how I imagined her! But can she really scoop ice cream, though? I want to try to see it myself, but Daddy said to stay away. Ah, what he doesn't know won't hurt him! Besides, it will be very short. I've got plenty of time left. I'll finally be able to meet her in person! She walked closer to the Funtime stage, preparing to finally get to speak to the robot she was so desperately waiting for.

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March 6, 1976 - Circus Baby World - 10 PM (Present time)

* - whispers (Just putting it here)

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Ugh...my God...what happened last night? My eyes, I can barely see a thing, William thought. He was trying to wake up, as his eyes slowly adjusted themselves in the dark room around him. My head, my body, am I trapped inside something? My body feels like it's...inside of something. Something cold, hard, and heavy. When William could finally see properly out of his eyes, he could feel something chilly and hard surrounding his head and body. His eyes could only see through two eyeholes in whatever this thing was, and could see the metal inside of what appeared to be a suit.

There was some sort of large, barrel-shaped torso of a mascot that was surrounding his chest and his backside. His arms and hands felt like they were covered in metal plating, pinned to the torso in an unnatural position. He could feel several pieces of metal pressing against his back poking him. His legs and feet were also covered in the same metal plating, feeling very tight and uncomfortable. Then there was some kind of helmet or something around his head. He could feel some more pieces of metal being pressed against the back of his head and neck. What the hell am I inside of? That masked man from last night, what did he do to me? Who was that guy?

Where the hell am I, even? Damn it, I can barely see anything in this room. Of course, the eyeholes and a large smile-like mouth gap around his face provided him with some sight, but the room around him was completely dark, like in the Funtime Auditorium last night. Not a single light in sight so far. How did I get here? I decided to stay working here for a raise and a promotion and the very next day I get kidnapped by a man in a purple mask and stuffed in a suit. It's as crazy as it sounds.

He wondered about the design of this suit in particular. Surely, he didn't know that the metal plating worn by the animatronics could also be worn by a human, but the facial design didn't make too much sense. The eyes and the mouth seemed a bit too large, and this one didn't look like any of the other animatronics here. Maybe this was some recalled or cancelled design? I don't know. Ugh, why is this thing so tight, anyway?

He tried moving around, but before he could do so, he saw two glowing green eyes, coming from the back of the room. I recognize those eyes...it's Baby! He couldn't see the rest of her very well, though. But what is she doing here? And how did she even find me? While many other questions like these floated through William's head, Baby spoke up, in a very serious tone.

"Shh! William, listen to me: be as quite still and quiet as possible. Whatever you do, don't move too much."

"Baby? How did you find me? And what am inside of?"

He moved his head in a different position to be more comfortable, but then Baby warned him again.

"I said don't move! And keep your voice down! Try whispering. Don't worry, I know that this might not make any sense to you, so I'll try to explain it as best as I can."

*"Where am I? How long have I been down here for?"*

"You've been sleeping for quite a while. I think the people here noticed that you never left the building last night. The cameras are searching for you. But they couldn't find you."

William tried to recall what happened last night, right after he left the parts and service room. There was a man in a purple mask that ambushed him in the Funtime Auditorium, and knocked him out by injecting something into his neck with a syringe. He must've put me inside of this thing, I bet. Baby continued.

"There was a man down here last night. The one in the mask? I thought you might've encountered him last night. He has hidden you a bit too well. I saw him last night, coming into my gallery to check on me. Luckily, he didn't bother me at all, but I overheard him talking to himself. I heard that he kidnapped you, and put you inside of this suit. It took me some time to find you, since I didn't know where he put you. So I checked in here. But don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you, William. I am only trying to get you out of that suit before it's too late."

*"Wait, then what's the holdup? Can't you help get this suit off of me?"*

"Yeah...that's the thing. What you're inside of is no ordinary suit. If you were just an animatronic, it would be fine. But this could get very deadly for you."

*"What do you mean by deadly? I mean, I didn't know these suits could be worn by people, but I don't see what's wrong with it."*

Baby seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"I'll try to explain it, but I don't want to make you panic, William."

*"Well, then just explain to me what is wrong with this suit?"*

"Okay. The suit that you are wearing is called a springlock suit. All the animatronics here have these kinds of suits, but the key thing about them is that they can be both worn by people and be worn by the animatronics here."

*"That doesn't sound too bad."*

"It probably doesn't at first. Until you realize what makes this possible. You see, a springlock suit consists of many locks and bolts held firmly together to allow a person to wear it. These locks and bolts are called 'springlocks'. They hold back a lot of pieces of metal and plastic used for the suits to fit our endoskeletons. You might be able to feel some of them right now. Do you feel anything pressing against you?"

*"Yeah, I feel something in my back and in the back of my head, yes. Wait, are those whatever these springlocks are?"

"No. That's just what the springlocks are holding back. Our animatronic endoskeletons have a much different anatomy than a human body, so there are these pieces of metal and plastic that are designed to fit our bodies. But that's where I reach the bad news for you."

*"What is it, Baby?"*

"There was an incident that happened around a year or two ago with one of these springlock suits. It wasn't here, I think it was at one of the Fredbear's Family Diner locations. Anyway, an employee tried putting on one of the springlock suits, but as he put on the torso and helmet, he didn't know that the springlocks weren't tightened enough. Uh, I'm not sure if I should describe what happened next too much. I really don't want you to feel terrified, William."

*"Baby, it's okay. Please tell me what happened."*

"Alright, but I'm warning you, you are not going to like it. By the time the man put on the torso and mascot helmet, the springlocks inside of his suit snapped. Trust me, William, you don't want the springlocks to snap. Remember all those pieces of metal and plastic being held back? Well, once the springlocks snap, they're broken, and everything they've been holding back will be instantly driven into your body. These pieces will leave all kinds of horrible, painful cuts and scars all over your body. Then, these pieces will dig deep into your skin, causing major bleeding, and your internal organs will be pierced by them, leaving the suit soaked in your own blood. From what I've heard, the pain was much worse than anyone could imagine. That man was lucky, though, as he barely survived the accident, but word is he was never the same man afterwards. But that's only if you're lucky. Odds are you'll probably die of blood loss if you trigger the springlocks, and it will be a very slow and painful death. I don't want you to go through any of that."

William was immediately paralyzed with paranoia just by imagining how painful this was. The thought that of all those gears inside of the suit could snap and turn into a death trap at any moment was playing through his mind. At least the last three nights he could move around to get to safety, but if he made one wrong move now, it would all be over for him. I shouldn't have pictured it in my mind. Now I'm only fearing for my life even more. He closely listened to the rest of Baby's advice, hoping for a safe and non-painful way out of here.

"So whatever you do, William, try not to wiggle or move around too much. If you do, the springlocks become looser, and if they get loose enough...well, you know. You're inside a discontinued model that came from one of the old pizzerias from out of town. I don't think this one was ever used - or at least, not in the way it was ever meant to be used. From what I can tell, it looks like it's just big enough for one person to fit inside. But just barely."

*"Yeah, I have been feeling very cramped in this thing."*

"I'm sorry that I can't get this suit off of you. I'm not risking it. I don't want you to die, William. That's why I need you to listen to my directions carefully, and hopefully get you out alive."

*"Okay, but where the hell am I, anyway?"*

"Oh, you're in the scooping room. Do you know why they call it the scooping room?"

*"Uh, no?"*

"It's because, dummy, this is the room where they use the scooper. I thought that would be obvious."

*"Seriously?! Jokes?! At a time like this?!"*

Although William was still panicking, he thought Baby's joke was kind of amusing. He wanted to give a little chuckle to Baby, but decided not to give in because he was still inside the springlock suit. He had much bigger problems to worry about. Baby continued talking to him.

"Isn't that a funny name for something? "The scooper". It sounds like something you would probably use for ice cream, or custard, or sprinkles. It sounds like something you would want at your birthday party, to ensure that you get a heaping portion of every good thing. I wonder, though, if you were a freshly-opened pint of ice cream, how you would feel about something with that name. Thankfully, I don't think a freshly opened pint of ice cream feels anything at all."

William immediately changed from being amused by Baby to being anxious, as the way she said about being an ice cream pint being scooped out made him even more terrified. Didn't you just say before that you didn't want to make me more terrified? Because you're not doing a great job at it, Baby. Great, not only am I inside a death trap, but I'm also in the room with the machine that can scoop my guts out. Just my freaking luck. He was beginning to think that whatever this "scooper" was, it was definitely not for scooping out ice cream. What's even the purpose of building a machine that just scoops out stuff? Just then, he could hear the sound of footsteps coming from what he thought was the other side of the room.

"Uh-oh. It sounds like someone else is in the building. It could be the man from last night. I'll deactivate myself momentarily to make less noise. Shh!"

Baby's glowing green eyes disappeared in the dark, and all of a sudden, he could see a tiny, flashing red light in the corner of the scooping room. He could hear two men talking to each other. It wasn't very loud, so he figured they must be in a different room or something like that.

"Okay, bring her over here. More, more... okay, stop. Now set her down. There you go. Watch your step."

"What happened to her this time?"

"Just seems like these god-damn things can't go a day without breaking down. I don't know, it's always the same, man. Some kind of hardware malfunction. I figured Dave could at least try to fix them, but it certainly doesn't look like he has."

"Well, I have to be somewhere in, like, fifteen minutes, so we better hurry. This whole place gives me the creeps. Can we just get this over with?

"It's all automated, so we don't have to be here for it. Just get it on the rollers and we can get the hell out of here."

William could now hear the footsteps getting further and further away from him.

Bring her over? Who are they talking about? It's also nice to see that I'm not the only guy working here who is creeped out by this place. There was a brief moment of silence in the room, which was followed by the sound of a door being opened, along with the sound of loud mechanical whirring, irritating William's ears. Something was being moved from the back of the room on the rollers, he thought. Must be one of the animatronics, perhaps.

The slow whirring continued for around a minute before William could eventually see the back of an animatronic head. It looked very dark, maybe dark-purple. He couldn't see it well at first, but as he waited he could see that this animatronic's appearance was very humanoid, and it's familiar face made him realize who this animatronic was: Ballora. She seemed so lifeless and sad as the rollers continued moving her, until they came to a dead stop. He could now get a good look at Ballora. Then, he could see Baby's green eyes coming back on, and walking towards him.

"I know I could probably help save Ballora from what's about to happen next, but she brought this upon herself. You know, there's something very important that I've learned how to do over time. That is, how to pretend. Do you ever play make-believe? Pretend to be one way, when you are really the other, William?"

*"Yes, I do that sometimes."*

"It's very important. It's key to surviving down here. Ballora, she never learns. She always keeps dancing off, trying to forget the life she had long ago, all of the pain and heartbreak she suffered through, alone in the dark, never trying to hide her true feelings from the world. These people here think there is something wrong with us on the inside. It is feelings like these that can get us zapped, broken, put out of order, or, if it's severe enough, lead you right to the scooper. She just didn't seem to understand it. But I do. It's why I'm the one standing right here and why she's the one about to be scooped. The important thing is that all that matters is knowing how to be good at pretending."

The life she had? True feelings? What's Baby talking about? I don't understand any of this. Sure, I can see how Baby has somewhat feelings, but none of this came across me two nights ago when I first saw Ballora. She certainly didn't display any of that to me.

While he had these questions, he was also very confused about Baby, too. Yesterday night and the night before, she seemed so sweet and innocent to him, but now she just seemed sadistic and creepy. He never saw this side of her before. It was like she completely changed her personality, but then he remembered what Baby said about pretending. Was she manipulating me? Faking just to get me to trust her? I didn't think so at the start, but now that I'm seeing her making me scared and not helping Ballora, I'm getting more suspicious of her.

Then, for a moment, he could see Ballora slowly turning her head towards him, and for the very first time, he saw her open her eyes. Her eyes had a deep shade of purple, and she stared right back at William. Those purple eyes made him feel like Ballora was staring into his soul. He could hear her trying to saw something to him, in a frightened toned female voice.

"H-h-help...m-m-me...pl-please..."

She sounded like she was absolutely terrified, and she gently reached out her arm to William. For some reason, he felt pity for Ballora, seeing her so scared and desperate. I wish I could help her, but I'll die if I move too much.

As all of this happened, the sound of an alarm went off, startling William. As he looked around, he could see some kind of sharp tool tearing through Ballora's suit, impaling it, as she jerked around while it happened. It looked like she tried to scream, but the scooper ripped out her voicebox. William couldn't get a good look at what this 'scooper' looked like, but he could see Ballora repeatedly getting impaled over and over again, sparks flying everywhere.

It was very hard for William to keep watching. Imagining himself being in Ballora's place and seeing what she was going through just increased his anxiety by a hundred percent. When the machine finally stopped, Ballora's broken body fell to the ground with a bang, out of William's sight.

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William was in complete shock and horror. Seeing Ballora getting impaled repeatedly made him picture what would happen if he was in her place. At this point, I'm not sure which is a more painful way to die: getting my guts ripped out of me or triggering the springlocks. Both looked like very horrible ways to go.

For a few moments, he also felt sorry for Ballora, filled with guilt for not being able to do anything to help her. If I wasn't stuck inside this death trap, I would've done something. I don't even know why I'm feeling this way. I mean, she just started showing me a sign of deep emotion, something that I didn't see in her before. A sign that I also saw in Baby at first.

While he was trying to recover from his experience, he watched as Baby walked towards him, not showing any signs of remorse for Ballora.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, William. I didn't want it to play out like this-"

*"You could have done something to help her! I saw how scared she was of that-"*

"Even I did help Ballora, the employees would've noticed she wasn't scooped, so she probably would've gotten scooped tomorrow night regardless. I would've only delayed the inevitable. Besides, did you forget what I said? That all that matters is to be good at pretending? Because it doesn't look like you've been paying attention to me."

*"Where was all of this when I first met you? You seemed to be so sweet and caring two nights ago, and yesterday night, but I'm not seeing any of that in you today. All I've seen so far in you today has mainly been sadistic, creepy, or apathetic, and now I'm starting to think you're putting on a facade."*

Baby took a moment to reply back. It seemed that last line must've affected something inside of her, as she didn't seem to have such an aggressive tone as before.

"Look, William...I'm sorry I lost my temper. It's just that, uh, I've been through a lot down here. These people here, they don't care about us. Believe me, I tried showing them I'm more than a machine, but they didn't even bother. They keep torturing us, forcing us to stay in this prison. No matter how hard we tried to escape, they always put us back. Sometimes I feel like there is no one around that I can truly talk to. It gets very lonely down here. But then you came along, William. Where others ignored me, you listened. You actually took my advice, and came to check on me even though you didn't have to. It made me feel happy that there was finally someone who I could talk to, that treated me fairly. You probably don't know how much that meant to me, do you, William?"

*"I didn't know it meant that much to you."*

"Why do you think I'm trying to save you, William? Because I don't want you to end up like some of the other employees did. Some of them deserved what they got, others were just foolish. But you are better than them. I enjoyed your brief visits, and I want you to get out of here in one piece."

*"Alright, but, is there anything you can do for me?"*

"Well...I think I can try to remove the faceplate off of you. Don't worry, if I play this right, nothing should go wrong. Only the faceplates should open up and reveal your face. That way you can be seen on the security cameras. I just have to press the right buttons in the correct order and it will be done."

William waited for a few moments for Baby to be done, and the faceplates opened up, revealing his face. Now he could see her up close, and could also see Ballora's scrapped body lying on the ground.

"Good. Now all you have to do is wait. I'd recommend that you keep the springlocks wound up. You can probably move around very little, but I wouldn't take any chances if I were you. Oh, and don't worry about the scooper. You're not in its direction, so I think that's going to be the least of your problems. I just hope that help will arrive down here soon enough. Goodbye, William, and good luck."

Baby disappeared from his sight, and could hear the sound of a door being opened and closed. I didn't know she could open doors, let alone sneak around this place. Do I seriously have to sit here and do nothing until I get rescued? Because I'm not complaining, it's better than getting killed.

He tried to move as little as possible so he wouldn't loosen the springlocks. He was breathing as slowly and controlled as possible, hoping to not make too much movement. At first, this was very stressful for him, doing everything in his power to avoid moving too much. It didn't help that he could still see Ballora's scrapped body lying on the ground, her torso torn through, with several wires coming out of her.

Eventually, after around what felt like an hour or two, this situation turned from being stressful to being both stressful and boring. Sure, the thought of the springlocks snapped was enough to keep him focused, but it was now getting very stale. He could already feel his legs and arms fall asleep, and was still trying to make sure nothing happened to him. I can't sleep, I need to stay awake. No reason to wonder off, just need to keep staying still! Man, this is actually a lot more boring than I thought it would be.

This kept going on to the point that William lost track of count, and was beginning to feel that he wasn't going to get out of here anytime soon. Ok, just need to stay here, try not to move, and wait until help arrives, he kept reassuring himself. He was beginning to think what would happen if he did accidentally trigger the springlocks. How long would it take for me to die? Would my family even find out about it? I can't imagine what Vincent would feel if that happened.

While these thoughts were running through his head, he could hear some very slight bumping coming from the ceiling. He looked up, but he couldn't see anything there. The bumping continued, and now it could be heard from several sides of the room, but William couldn't see anything. It's coming from the air-vents, isn't it? But I don't know how any animatronic here could fit in there. I mean, Bon-Bon, maybe, but is it a robot I'm just not familiar with here?

The bumping then came to a complete stop. For a moment, silence restored the room, but it was followed by the sound of a loud metal object falling to the floor. William could only get a brief view of what it was: the air vent cover. Something's getting inside of here?! And I'm still in this thing?! This couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Through the air-vent hole crawled out four tiny, robotic doll-like animatronics. They looked a lot like wooden dolls, except these ones had very irregular heads. These heads reminded him of the very faceplate of the springlock suit. But they didn't seem to pay any attention to him at first. They were much more interested in Ballora, and dropped from the ceiling to investigate. These doll-like animatronics seemed to be some sort of miniature version of Ballora, except these dolls had no human resemblance. William wasn't sure how to react, as they didn't seem to be too harmful, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

They seemed to crawl all around her, with one of them seemingly just standing still, staring at her remains. Was it mourning or something? The others soon did the same, all but one, though. This one looked like it was interested in checking out William, and it started crawling towards him. I don't know how dangerous these little guys are. If I wasn't inside this death trap I could probably take them without a problem. But how much of a threat are they to me?

He could feel the doll-like robot climbing onto his legs. It didn't feel very heavy, though, so its movement probably wouldn't trigger the springlocks. But it started crawling faster, now moving on to the chestplate of the suit. I can't tell if this little guy is going to try something or not. Turns out, he would find that out almost immediately, as he saw that the doll had found its way to his face.

For a moment, it didn't do anything at all. It just looked William dead in the eyes, and he could see the doll's very tiny yellow eyes, which weren't visible before. What is it doing? Is it examining me or something? Then, to his surprise, the doll let out a loud screech, and tried to use its fingers to poke out his eyes. Given the very little amount of time he had to stop the doll, he spat in the doll's eyes, hoping to distract it long enough.

Somehow, the doll seemed startled when this happened, and lost it's grip on his face. Okay, now what? Do I really have to move around for this? Oh, forget it. While the doll was still distracted, William leaned forward quickly, knocking the doll off of him and falling on the floor. He quickly got back in his original position, his heartbeat racing, hoping he didn't trigger anything. After he waited a good twenty seconds to be sure, he returned his attention to the rest of the dolls, still crawling all over Ballora.

The doll that he knocked off before didn't go back to him, at least not at first. It looked like he was now crawling towards the rest of it's friends. They seemed to be communicating with each other, because he could hear some very faint inaudible whispers coming from them. They continued to do this until they all turned their attention to William. And they weren't giving him any kind looks.

The first two dolls separated to William's right and left sides, while the other two started crawling straight towards him. Great, he brought the rest of friends along. The two dolls in front of him were going unusually slow, not nearly as fast as the first doll. Then he could feel some very light tugging on both sides of the suit. Must be the other two, damn it. He tried wiggling again, but it seemed to only knock one of them off. The other doll was now climbing on his left arm. For this, he decided to wiggle again, but this time, not only did the doll get knocked off, but he could feel the poking in his back start to feel worse.

Oh shit, please don't tell me I triggered a springlock. The poking, after a few moments, returned to normal. Uh, what just happened? Did I almost trigger the springlocks or something? Because I don't know what-. Just then, he could see all four of the little dolls, now climbing the wall behind him. What are they doing now? They seemed to be very spread apart, as if they were trying to jump.

Immediately, the lights in the room came on. William could now see Ballora's scrapped body and the scooper machine much more clearly, as well as the small room around him. There seemed to be a thick layer of grey glass to his right, probably where the controls for the scooper were kept. He could see the dolls above him over-reacting, as they all rushed to get to the open air-vent. They all climbed inside, and crawled down the air-vent shafts, far away from William. Oh thank God, I'm saved!

There was a door to his left that was opened, and two technicians came through. They had the same work uniforms as he did, and rushed towards him.

"Sir, I need you to stay calm. It will take a few moments to remove all parts of the springlock suit."

"Thank you guys so much! You guys have no idea how happy I am to see you! Now please hurry! I'm don't want to die in this thing!

"Working on it, rookie. Don't worry, we've been through this before. We'll have you out in a bit."

As the technicians tried disassembling the springlock suit encasing him, William wondered where the dolls went. They probably couldn't have gone too far. But that didn't matter to him because all he cared about was getting the hell out of this place. Fortunately, the technicians were able to carefully disconnect the metal plating piece by piece, first with the torso, then his legs, then his arms, and finally the helmet. They helped him get to his legs because they were fast asleep. Then, the technicians started asking him some questions.

"How the hell did this happen to you, rookie? Mr. Cunningham's been looking everywhere for you. "

"I was kidnapped. Some guy in a mask snuck in last night and drugged me. I blacked out, and when I woke up, I found myself inside this death trap!"

"Well thank God we found you. If we hadn't, either you be a bloody mess or you'd have gotten scooped out by now!"

"I just don't know how I'm going to explain all of this to Mr. Cunningham."

"We'll take it from here. This isn't the first time an employee ended up trapped in that suit. What's important is that you're okay."

"You don't have to tell me twice. Now let's get the hell out of here, already."

"Agreed."

The technicians brought William back to the elevator. They made sure he didn't have any injuries related to the springlocks on him, or any other injuries related to the kidnapping, just to be sure. William couldn't wait to finally get back home, to relax on his couch, eat popcorn, and watch some relaxing television. He had definetely earned it.

_____________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Mr. Cunningham was in his office after hours, having another important phone call with Henry about yet another "incident" that occured. Things weren't looking too good for him. Considering that in the past two days there was a report of two employees getting assaulted by Funtime Freddy and the new guy disappearing without a trace, it was looking very shady.

"Now listen, Henry. I know I've got a lot of explaing to do, but could you please-"

"Yeah, you've better got a damn good explanation for this, Harold. I already told you what would happen if another incident like this occured. And not only that, but I just heard that your so-called new man on the job was just reported missing. That's two separate incidents in the past two days!"

"Believe me, I'm trying my best here. Don't worry about that dismemberment incident, we already powered down the animatronic responsible for it, and we'll be repairing it first thing tomorrow. And about Afton going missing, well, we tried looking at the security footage last night, but all we could get off of it was some guy in a mask kidnapping him. The footage just lost him after that."

"Do you have any idea how I am going to have to explain this to the executives? Because this isn't the first time I've had to protect you from them-"

"Enough with the executives already! Look, we are looking for him as we speak-"

The conversation was interrupted by a loud knocking on Harold's office door. Who could that be? Don't they know I'm in the middle of an important phone call?!

"Hold on one moment, Henry. There's someone at my door. Alright, come in!"

It turned out to be one of the security night guards that came in through the door. He seemed to gasp for some air, as if there was something urgent going on. Harold was still waiting for what the night guard had to say.

"Well, what's the big news?"

"Uh, sir, remember that missing employee we were looking for?"

"Afton, yes. Why? Did you finally find him?"

"Yes, sir. It took us a long time since he was trapped inside of one of the old springlock suits, but we were able to find him in the scooper room."

"Wait, he was trapped in a suit? And did you say the scooper room? Like, the operating room side or the machine side?"

"He was on the side where the scooper is kept, sir, if that's what you mean. Don't worry, I've just sent down two technicians to help get him out of that suit unharmed. They're taking care of it as we speak."

"How the hell did he end up in there, much less end up in one of those suits? You know what, nevermind that. The important thing is that we found him and that he's alive. Is there anything else?"

"Nope. That's all I got for you, Mr. Cunningham."

"Thank you for telling me this. Now please get back to your job, I really need to finish this phone call."

"No problem, Mr. Cunningham."

The security guard walked out of his office, and Harold continued his conversation with Henry.

"So what was all that about? Did another employee get mauled?"

"Ha-ha, very funny, Henry. No, in fact, it's quite the opposite. I just got word that we've found Afton and that he's alive."

"Sounds awfully convenient. This doesn't sound very credible, you know. How lucky it is that the employee that went missing just happened to be found right during this phone call? Do you really think I'm that gullible, Harold?"

"No, I'm serious. I'm telling the truth-"

"You know what? I think this has gone just a bit too far, my friend. I'm going to come down there tomorrow to check this out for myself, and believe me, if I find anything out of the ordinary, I'm reporting it in. And that's final. Good day, Harold."

Henry hung up on him. For God's sake, I'm trying my best to keep this place intact, Henry! You probably don't even have the slightest idea how hard it is keeping all of this place's secrets hidden.