In the Pizzaplex, a mall-like building riddled with AI systems, you'd think it would be hard to control such data links and security measures. It's a large place, it not only has money, but it is full of secrets, secrets that have been long since swiped from all data files and bargained to keep hidden.
It was information people would pay millions for.

But, what if you had in your hands, you held a cyber virus? Think about what you could do with it. It's a small, little data piece that passes right under the noses of detection, and once it spreads, it grows and grows to the masses, corrupting and collecting data and creating new products and outputs.

And once they realize such a virus is infecting the system, there is nothing they could do. They could try and remove all connections, but the virus has already spread far enough to bypass any other obstacle in its way. In the pizzaplex, everything is connected by links and handles... and that's one of its greatest downfalls.

Control one asset, and you can control them all.

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The Atrium was large. There could be multiple, a hundred ways you could describe it. But what it mainly was, it was a crossroad. You can enter one way and go out the other. It wasn't hard to navigate through if you could read many signs and indicators. But (y/n) couldn't do such a thing, she didn't understand.

Maybe that's why she got so lost easily, maybe that's why she felt so confused and alone all the time, maybe that's why she felt so small in such a dark place, maybe that's why all the atrocities happened that night.

She depended on people to help her, because she was just a child, of course. But that was her fatal mistake. Children shouldn't be here, on the night of this war, in the crossfire between two different powers. Even from the very start, this night was a game of who had more wit, more blood, and more superiority.

Perhaps it was because she came at the wrong place, the wrong time, and met the wrong people. But none of that matters anymore, because now the spotlight is on her. And what will she do, when those eyes are pinned on her, those glamorous, wicked eyes?

You have only met a few contestants so far. But at the Atrium, the crossroads, the point of no turning back when you have chosen a path. Are you ready to finally play this twisted game, little one?

She was heading to that large stage area. This is the same place where all of this happened, when Freddy malfunctioned and fell to the floor. Despite it happening a few hours ago, to her, it felt like years. The events of this night felt like it was nearly her whole life.

She was still shaken up from that dream she had, and found her eyes trailing around her, desperate to see if her parents would jump out and laugh, saying it was all a joke. She preferred that, all of this being a cruel joke, than the reality she was living with.

Just ahead of her was the entrance to the main Atrium! She rapidly trudged in. Her eyes flicked all around the area. Looking for a certain bear animatronic, he said he'd be here, he said to find him here? So where is he? Her arms started to tremble when she saw no sign of him.

"I know you're here..."

She froze up, her whole body broke out into a cold sweat. She slowly turned towards the direction of that slightly familiar, robotic voice. It was... that wolf animatronic. She didn't see the little girl yet because she was facing a different direction, but she was striding through the tables, those neon yellow eyes carefully analyzing everything. Looking for someone.

Looking for her.

The little girl jumped behind a photo booth as soon as the wolf spun around in her direction. The animatronics pointing yellow eyes stared holes into the ground the girl was standing on just moments ago. Maybe the wolf was bluffing that it knew she was here, but the girl couldn't help but feel the creeping anxiety rise in her at the thought of the animatronic realizing she was there.

The animatronic let out a snarl, a hiss of breath, and then skulked away with stomping feet. The girl let out a shuddering breath of relief. She peeled herself away from the photo booth and peeked out from the side of it, her fearful eyes glinting in the dim neon light of the plasters.

The wolf was far away enough, but still dangerously prowling around with an aggressive scowl. The girl rushed in the opposite direction of the wolf quickly animatronic, but that was her mistake as she didn't know that Roxy in particular had astute hearing, the robot's neon yellow eyes locked onto the figure of the running girl like a loaded gun.

The robot seemed to be surprised for a split second at seeing a little girl instead of that boy, but her surprise immediately washed away as she sneered at the little girl who was frozen like a deer in headlights on the floor.

"Are you lost?" The robot said mockingly as the little girl stepped back slowly. The girl shook her head rapidly. The animatronic just chuckled while she took heavy steps to the girl. Long, red painted nails clicking together threateningly as the robot approached in mock slowness, shaking her head, as if disappointed.

"It seems like my fans just can't resist me!" The robot smiled a very sharp, red lip-stick smile with pointed teeth poking out. The little girl's eyes widened in horror as the robot leaped at her like a spring, claws outstretched. The girl clumsily ducked out of the way with a terrified yelp. She almost crashed to the floor but continued to scramble away from the wolf like a scattering mouse.

The animatronic raced after her, metal paws clanked against the floor as the animatronic sprinted after the girl like it was a fair game of hunt. The robot caught up with ease, but the little girl scrambled around annoyingly to the robot. AI depended on the predictability of its prey to catch it, after all.

The girl saw an open vent with wires jutting out of it dangerously, but it was a means of escape. The animatronic saw the girl's line of sight and tried to stop the girl before she could reach the vent. (Y/n) escaped another swipe or claws and ducked inside the vent with heavy, jelly-like limbs.

The animatronic's opened her maw and slipped her head in after the girl, a desperate last resort. She snapped her mouth shut with a loud clanking sound right behind (y/n)'s throat, her sharp incisors just barely scraping the small hairs behind her delicate neck.

The girl jumped forward with a horrified yelp at the sound but continued to crawl on her aching knees down the vent that was tangled with wires that sometimes shot dangerous sprays of bright sparks. She didn't dare look back as the robot angrily called for her down the vent with a hissing voice.

"Come back here, you little rat!"

After what felt like one of the most terrifying minutes of her life, the girl stopped scrambling down the vent with vigor. Her adrenaline began to wear off, fizzling away, despite her racing heart. And the ache in her lungs and legs finally caught up with her. She breathed harshly, a sob occasionally shook in her chest. She was trembling like a leaf in the wind. Where was Freddy? Where was Gregory?

That's when she heard it, the unmistakable sound of crawling. She felt shivers tickle up her spine as she realized it was coming closer... from behind her. She shifted her body to look behind her, and she saw a small figure slinking towards her from the vent. The clicking sound of multiple metal legs as the figure lit up from the shooting sparks.

The girl never was a fan of spiders, but the creature she met eyes with was some sort of twisted attraction that was built like an arachnid. It had hollow eyes smeared with dried oil and web-like cracks that littered its body, burns streaked its twitching legs. Its teeth clacked together in a large smile that seemed more like a ferocious grimace.

It began to crawl rapidly towards her with clicking teeth and her throat closed up in terror as she panicked and scrambled away on her aching knees with vigor. She heard the thing's mechanical legs tap behind her as she weaved past the ripped wires with a yelp as they sprayed bright sparks at her.

She continued to clumsily slink her way through the vent as the awful thing was getting closer and closer. She let out a loud wail as she slipped down a downwards ramp. She hit the rough ground and rolled across the floor, pain burst across her shoulder as she groaned in agony.

The spider stopped chasing her, as she heard the thing's tapping legs get quieter and quieter, giving up the chase. She breathed out loudly through her nose as she slowly stood up on her legs, cradling her bruising shoulder.

She warily observed the area she was in. It was some sort of grimy locker room, yellow lockers for workers littered the place, the ground and metal walls were stained and dusty. This place was filthy, which was strange considering how clean the Pizzaplex usually was. She looked up and saw the gaping vent she just slipped out of. No spider monster was there, so it didn't follow her down that ramp...

She left the place behind, and entered some wire infested control room. Her shoes were stained with the locker room's grime. Her bright shirt was an eyesore in this dark place, she stuck out like a bright glow stick. The dull lights above her flickered and the walls groaned. She was in some sort of underground facility, beneath the Pizzaplex.

She examined the abandoned control room, with chairs in disarray, she wondered what it was used for but couldn't think of anything. In front of her was a large metal security door that opened when she came near, it opened into a large area that hummed with the machinery above. There was a building in the middle that was flanked with catwalks.

Right as she entered a large catwalk-like area, she heard the loud stomping of an animatronic. She jumped as the lilting voice of Chica echoed from the distance. The robot prowled the dark, but she was too far away to catch sight of the girl, for now. She had no idea why the animatronic chicken was down here, in this grimy place, but she had a feeling that Chica was looking for her.

She trembled as she practically tip-toed her way to the small building near the middle.  There were two catwalks with metal rails, they twisted around each other, but there was no other place to hide from Chica, who was approaching from the other side of the office. The girl quietly entered the office and closed the door behind her.

It was a small security office, with many monitors and plastic cups that sat there for a long time. Posters littered the walls of the Pizzaplex and its animatronics; she didn't like looking into the eyes of those illustrated animatronics, who had friendly smiles and bright eyes. They looked nothing like the real thing.

She approached the monitor while trying to open the Freddy themed box that held the security badge. Gregory took it from the daycare security desk before, and she had a feeling she might need it. The monitor in front of her was flashing with an emergency message, as it glitched and crackled with noise.

A singular sentence appeared on the glitching monitor, flickering out of place. It made her heart stop as she froze in place, the box in her hands opened up with a cheerful sound as the security badge shined. But she wasn't paying attention to that, but instead on the words on the flickering screen that was flashing red. Those words will remain etched in her memory for nearly the rest of her life.

She wasn't sure why, but it always brought dread that shot through her very soul every time she thought about it. It was a warning, a foreboding warning that she didn't understand, at the time. A warning that she couldn't have heeded.

Caution: Security Breach

And you might ask: how does one destroy a virus completely? It's easy, simple really...

Make another one.

Sorry for being gone a bit. The update schedule will be changing because chapters are going to be longer. There is around 25-30 more chapters left before the end of the story 🤸🤸

This is around the halfway mark! I'm gonna start editing older chapters and proof reading it so they have a lot less errors and a little more pizzazz! You don't have to read back on them tho.