"WHERE'S CASSIE?!" Roxanne snarled, her tail fur bristling as she stalked towards the cowering security guard, her hands balled into fists.

"I d-don't know who you mean!" Rex stammered out, tripping over his own shoes. His feet slipped out, but he was quick to regain his footing, now in just his bare socks. Rex's mustache fell off entirely as he looked around for any escape route. Chica and Monty were in front of the elevators leading to Rockstar Row, Freddy was between him and the Staff exit, and if he tried to make a run for the stage lift... even if he was able to actually get on it, there would still be plenty of time for the angered animatronic wolf to get at him before the platform could rise too high. As the revelation that he was trapped settled in, Rex felt silent tears streaming down his cheeks.

"LIAR!" Roxy snarled, stomping closer to Rex. "I left her in my room to stay safe! But there's a bloody handprint on the door to my own elevator and a trail of blood drops leading away from it! What. Did. You. DO?!"

"I c-cut myself on accident! Then I heard a n-noise from the elevator and went to investigate it before I even knew I was bleeding!" Rex was breathing heavily while holding up his hands defensively. Freddy's eyes went wide as he saw the wound on the boy's palm.

"Roxy, wait! He really is hurt. See his hand? I think we all need to calm down. Besides, scan his face again! He's just a child."

Roxy froze in her tracks, her eyes glowing blue as her software did indeed perform a scan then and there. All previous interactions with Rex had involved him looking away, wearing large aviator sunglasses, or otherwise trying to obscure his face in some way or another. That, combined with the fake mustache as well as his employee profile, had been enough for her, as well as the other bots. She started to cross-reference his face with their guest database, when there was a sudden sneeze along with a loud thunk, and a nearby table of tools was jostled. Everyone froze, except for Rex, who was still breathing heavily and staring right at the lift. Roxy's ears twitched and she bolted straight towards the table, scooting it aside. There, crouched down, were a guilty-looking Cassie and Gregory, the latter of which was rubbing a sore spot on the top of his head.

"Cassie?!" Roxy gasped, scooping the girl up into her arms and hugging her closely. "You're alright? No injuries or anything?" Roxanne asked this while searching a blushing Cassie over.

"I'm fine, Roxy, I promise!" The girl assured the animatronic wolf, hugging her back as she did so. She looked up at the loud footsteps of Freddy, who himself reached down to pick up Gregory.

"Superstar, I thought I told you to stay in my room until it was safe." Freddy spoke while scanning the top of Gregory's head, making sure he wasn't seriously hurt. "Are you injured?"

"I'm fine, Freddy," Gregory insisted, "I just accidentally banged my head against the table when the dust made me sneeze, that's all."

"Uh... what's going on here?" Chica asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"O-oh... w-well, you see..." Freddy turned to face the chicken and trailed off, unsure of how he could spin this.

"I'm just watching Cassie for a little while," Roxie said while standing back up, now looking at her feet.

Freddy saw Chica look from Roxy to him and quirk an eyebrow. He sighed and nodded.

"I am doing the same with Gregory... though, not necessarily for a little while..."

"Huh, so you two've been keepin' quite the secret so far, hehe." Monty smirked while looking over at the guilty-looking wolf and bear.

"To be fair, I didn't know about Freddy taking in that little gremlin." Roxy scoffed while pointing at Gregory.

"Hey!" Gregory crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out at the wolf, who was quick to return the gesture, finding herself grateful for once for the animatronic tongue that came with her upgrade.

"I too was unaware of Roxanne looking after Cassie. To think that this whole time we could have assisted each other." Freddy chuckled as Roxy rolled her eyes.

"Uh, guys?" Chica asked, drawing everyone's attention to her. The chicken was looking around nervously. "Where's Rex?"

The lift started up and everyone turned in tome to seem him wiping his tear-stained face before he rose too high.

"Poor thing must be terrified!" Chica looked straight at Roxy. "You scared him half to death, Roxanne Wolf!"

Roxy winced, both from the sudden admonishment as well as the knowledge that when Chica used your full name, that meant that you were in trouble.

"Okay, okay. I'll apologize and see if I can't find out why a literal kid is our current security guard." Roxy sighed and, after giving Cassie one last gentle squeeze, set her back down. "Alright, Rockstar. We'll talk about you sneaking out when I told you to stay put for your own safety in a little while."

"B-but--" Cassie started, only to be silenced by Roxy pressing the tip of her finger to the girl's lips.

"Hush now. Keeping you safe is my top priority, and had this not been just some scared kid doing... whatever he was doing, you could have been seriously hurt. Now, like I said, we'll discuss it later. You need to head back up to my room and wait for me and Freddy."

"... Okay." Cassie looked down at her shoes, prompting Roxy to ruffle her hair a bit and smile at her girl.

"Superstar, you and I shall also be having a discussion about sneaking off to dangerous places when you've been told to stay put." Freddy set Gregory down and started to wave a finger admonishingly at the boy. Gregory put his hands in his pockets and looked awkward, smiling a little at the head pat he got. "Now, you and Cassie can both stay in Roxanne's room until we return for you, understood?"

"Yes."

"That's my Superstar!"

Cassie reached over and grabbed Gregory's hand, tugging him along after her as they ran to the elevator.

"Do you think we can find him before he gets even more hurt?" Chica asked, wringing her hands together. Seeing this and hearing the worry in her voice, Roxy pulled Chica into a side hug, making the chicken blush a little.

"Of course we will, especially since I'm part of the search party. I am the best, after all."

"Yeah, the best at terrorizin' kids," Monty said quietly. Hearing him, Roxanne's ears started to droop and her tail began to tuck itself between her legs.

"I... didn't know..."

"Monty, it was an honest mistake, so that comment is uncalled for." Freddy frowned while looking at the now embarrassed gator. They all awkwardly headed towards the staff elevator when they all received a notification for a new message on the chat.

Sun: The lift is rising and the security guard is in sight. R U guys ok?!

Monty: We're fine, Sundrop. Things are a bit more complicated than we thought...

Eclipse: Wait, he gave you guys the slip?

Chica: ... Kinda... but we can explain!

Moon: No need. The lights are off and the naughty security guard will soon be caught! Hehehehe.

Roxy: Moon? Wait! Just keep an eye on Rex! He's just a kid!

Freddy: Moon?

Roxy let out a frustrated growl after seeing several Message Unsent notifications suddenly pop up. "Perfect time for the network to mess up!"

"You don't think that they'll... hurt Rex, do you?" Chica asked, rapidly pressing the elevator call button.

"Prolly not on purpose, Cheeks, but ya know how Moondrop can get when he thinks someone might pose a threat to the kids like Vanessa did," Monty said, starting to look worried himself.

"This is bad... stupid elevator!" Roxy muttered, happy at the familiar ding and the doors sliding open. She rushed in, followed by the others.

"Roxy, please don't worry," Freddy said, "we just need to explain the situation and I'm sure everything will turn out okay."

"I hope you're right, Freddy," Roxy said, feeling a pang of guilt in her chest circuitry. With the knowledge that Cassie was safe and sound, Roxanne could think more clearly, which in turn meant she reflected on what happened. Riding the elevator up, she recalled Rex's crying face as he stumbled back, terrified of her. Their jobs were to make kids happy and keep them safe. But now she's terrorized one and possibly put him in danger. "I really hope you're right."

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Up on the lift, a shaky Rex focused on calming himself down as he re-entered the atrium.

"O-okay... i-if I can get to the security entrance," Rex muttered, feeling around his belt and unclipping the key ring. "I can make it outside and... I can go from there..."

Suddenly, the keys are ripped from Rex's grip. He squints and looks around in the gloom, only now realizing that the lift has come to a stop, and that the area is much darker than it had been dark. Not too far away, Rex could see a familiar white glowing circular face with a pair of glowing red eyes, causing a cold pit to form in his gut.

"Going somewhere?" Moon asked in the most sinister voice they could muster. This was a rare time that Moon was wishing that the upgrade hadn't included a face for them that wasn't creepy like the last one had been. Instead, Moon settled for their mouth to be making a smirk in the gloom as they jingled the keys. They were glad for the 'super-extendo-limbs' however.

"M-Moon... what're you doing out of the daycare?" Rex's voice was barely above a whisper.

"The better question is, do you really think we're just going to let you leave?" Moon turned their head in a way that they remembered had scared some of the children during the pre-nap storytime from the previous week, cocking it to the side. Rex bolted, heading straight for the nearest stairs. Moon sprang after him, but received a faceful of flashlight.

"My eyes!" Moon shouted. They blinked a few times and spotted a nearby lightswitch. "Looks like you'll have to be the one to chase him, Sunny."

"Leave it to me!" Sunny's chipper voice came out from the hidden speaker at the back of their shared head, installed so that the dormant personalities could still speak when not out and in control of the body.

"Uh, Sun, Moon," Eclipse said while Moon extended and arm and flipped the switched on. There were a series of clicks, and suddenly Moon transformed into Sun. "I keep getting notifications that the others are trying to send us messages..."

"INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!" Sun shouted, their voice at max volume, and proceeded to spring about, almost dancing, while rapidly loping after Rex who was almost at the top of the stairs. "Gotcha!" Sun triumphantly shouted... only to wrap his arms around air. He looked around and spotted Rex back on the ground floor, sprinting. He hadn't noticed Rex turn to do a front flip off the stairs and into a roll that ended with them running.

"Oh no you don't! No one threatens the pizzaplex or our friends!" Sun shouted, springing off the stairs in pursuit.

"Sun, you need to stop! The messages are finally getting through!" Eclipse pleaded, though Sun was too distracted by the chase to take notice. It had proven time and again to be a bit of a problem when playing tag with the children in the daycare. The ones who didn't want to take a nap quickly learned that they could extend playtime just by giving the happy Sun something to chase. One of Sun's hands shot forward, only for Rex to summersault over a table. He did it again, only this time taking a split second to kick a chair back without turning around, right into Sun's outstretched hand.

"Oh, he's good," Sun said, the smile on their face becoming a bit more genuine and playful while unwrapping their arm from around the chair.

"Wait... is this for real?" Moon's voice came from the speaker now.

"Yes! But I think Sun's having too much fun to listen!" Eclipse replied.

"Okay, then why don't you just take control? It's too bright for me to."

"I can't when Sun is in play-mode! We gotta snap them out of it!" Eclipse's voice was full of worry.

Just then. Sun's hands both shot out to catch a chair hurtling towards them.

"Hey now, we do not throw chairs, Mister!" Sun scolded, wagging a finger at Rex. The human's response was to grab another two chairs and heave them at the animatronic. Sun leapt towards them and whipped their arms and legs out to wrap around them. Just as they were setting the chairs down gently, Rex ran up and grabbed the different limbs.

"What are you doing?" Sun asked while trying to grab at Rex, finding it now much harder than before. Taking a moment to analyze the situation, Sun realized that their extendo arms and legs had been tied together in a bow around and through the legs of the three chairs.

"Hey! No fair!" Sun wriggled and tried to untie themselves. Rex simply stuck his tongue out at them before sprinting off. "Hmm, this shouldn't take me too long to get out of."

"SUN!!!" Moon and Eclipse shouted from the speaker, startling the blue-eyed bot.

"Huh? What is it, you two?" Sun asked.

"We've been trying to get your attention! Look at the messages Chica and Roxy sent us!" Eclipse was thankful that Sun was finally able to listen.

"Hmm? Let's see here... oh... oh my! Oh no!" Sun's shining face grew a little dimmer as their spikey rays lining their circular face drooped. Sun then looked at the chairs and their limbs, seeing spots of red. That's when the notifications began to pop up in Sun's line of sight along with a quick scan of a digital pic of Rex's face taken after the lift had carried him back up.

[Distressed Child]

[Injured Child]

[Frightened Child]

"Oh no, no, no, NO!" Sun redoubled their efforts and slowly began to untie and untangle their arms.

"Sunny, it's going to be okay." Moon's voice was soft and conciliatory.

"The others tried to warn me, but I was too wrapped up in the chase to listen! And if he was bleeding enough to leave that much, then my chasing was probably only making the injury worse!"

"Sun, you didn't know! After what happened with the last night security guard, it's perfectly understandable. You were just trying to keep everyone safe," Eclipse said soothingly.

Rex felt relief as he neared the security office for the floor he was on... until a familiar green mass came stumbling out a Staff door nearby. Monty shook his head and adjusted his glasses.

"Dang mop buckets." His gravelly voice felt to Rex like nails in a coffin. And then his red irises roamed, stopping on Rex. "Heh, I knew splittin' up was a good idea."

Monty took a step towards Rex with his arms outstretched. "Alright, l'il guy, no need to be scared."

At that, Rex looked to his left and bolted, entering the lobby and heading towards the center stairs, elbowing over some security bots who sounded their alarms as he did so. He could hear the loud thundering footsteps of Monty giving chase.

"Kid, stop! I promise that ya ain't got nuthin' ta be worried about!" Monty shouted, simultaneously sending off a text alerting the others as to where Rex currently was. Just as he neared the top of the stairs, Chica came barreling out of another Staff Only door.

"There you are, Rex! I found you!" Chica cheered while Monty just shook his head.

"Rex, there's nowhere left ta run or hide." Monty and Chica, arms held out non-threateningly in front of them, started to slowly close the distance between them and Rex.

Without thinking, Rex jumped to the right, grabbing ahold of one of the golden palm fronds, which proved to be surprisingly sturdy, as he swung from frond to frond, making it to the ground and dashing inside a gift shop.

"Wowee! He really knows how to move," Chica said approvingly. "I bet he'd love playing in Mazercise!"

"Not the time, Cheeks, not the time!" Monty said, running back down the steps and heading towards the gift shop.

"Oh, right!" Chica was quick to follow the gator into the shop.

A minute later, Roxy and Freddy came running from around the corner, having just exited the utility tunnels. They came skidding to a halt to keep from ramming into Chica, who presently had a trash can stuck over her head and was frantically bumping around.

"Chica? You know you're not supposed to be eating from the trash. Not only does it make the technician's job with general maintenance harder, but it sets a very bad example for the children." Freddy admonished, not aware of Roxy pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing. Chica stopped her flailing and put her hands on her hips.

"I didn't do this, Freddy!" Her slightly muffled voice came from the pink and white bin. "No way I'd get myself stuck like this twice in the same week! Rex ambushed me and slammed this on my head before running off. Monty chased after him and just left me like this!"

"Oh... well, I apologize, Chica." Freddy said while Roxanne snorted, reaching over to grab the trash can.

"Alright, Chica, hold still and I'll get this off your head."

"Thanks, Roxy! I really appreciate... is that pepperoni?!" Chica froze and started making audible eating noises.

"Chica, you crazy chicken, quit eating the trash!" Roxy couldn't help but laugh. With a loud POP, the can came free, and Chica wiped away at her eyes. Just as some of the cleaning bots started to swarm around the garbage that had fallen out, Freddy noticed a notification in the messages from Monty.

Monty: The little guy is headin' to Superstar-cade!

Sun: We're almost untied! We'll join you shortly.

Monty: This kid is provin' to be really slippery. Each time I've almost grabbed him, he leaps or flips or even swung around on some bars, flipping from one to another. If we don't catch him soon, I'm worried he'll make a misstep and get seriously injured!

Freddy: Understood. We are on our way. I suspect that Rex is still very scared, so hopefully we can just talk this out.

Over in the Faz-cade, Rex was taking a breather, hiding behind some of the arcade cabinets.

"This isn't fair!" Rex quietly croaked out, feeling miserable. He looked at his now throbbing hand, presently wrapped up in a torn strip of his uniform shirt. "I just... wanted to fix him..." Rex sniffled and tried to choke back a sob. He had heard the stories, the urban legends, about the pizzaplex and the pizzerias that came before. A silent tear ran down his cheek, soon falling to the floor. "I just wanted it to be like before." Rex wiped at his eyes, nervously looking at the floor sign bot that was staring at him. It wheeled itself over to the boy, who flinched back away a bit... only to have the sign bot gently lean into his side.

"A-are you trying to... comfort me?" Rex asked. The bot hopped up and down a few times, which he had learned a while ago was their way of saying yes. Rex sniffled and gave the sign bot a hug. "Th-thanks... I appreciate it."

"Kid, this has gone on long enough!" Monty's voice boomed throughout the Fazcade. "Now, c'mon out already."

Rex trembled a little, but steadied himself. On this level, if he could get past the Prize Counter, he could make it to a security office and lock himself inside until morning... or he could rush past it and shoot for the fire escape instead. Listening to the clomping footsteps of Monty nearing, Rex held his breath, made himself as small as possible, and put the sign bot in front of him. Monty walked right past, and Rex didn't waste any time in quietly slipping around the cabinets, heading in the direction Monty had come. Confident that he couldn't be heard, he jogged past the Prize Counter and saw the security office. He kept going in the direction of the fire escape, his eyes brightening at the sight of the door. And that was when DJ Music Man dropped from up above and landed in front of the fire exit.

"No!" Rex exclaimed, freezing when he saw the DJ turn his giant white head in his direction, the frozen grin still stuck to his face as he gazed back at Rex with those large black eyes. The DJ wagged a large finger at Rex, and then shot a hand out towards the boy. Rex leapt back and started to sprint for the office. He almost turned to go inside... until he spotted Monty's tail poking out from just inside the open doorway. Hearing the DJ right behind him, Rex ran right on by. Soon, he could hear Monty grumbling and stomping along as well, having figured out his little trap hadn't worked.

A short while later...

Rex was out of ideas. As he looked down at the catwalk above Gator Golf, he could see the different animatronics walking by, some below the catwalk, some on it, calling out his name. The exits were all being guarded, and the doors to the security office were locked shut. He was sitting up in the fake foliage, perched atop the metal beams from which the lights were connected. He hoped that, provided no one spotted him, that they'd go and search another area.

"There he is!" He had no such luck, it seemed. Looking around, he spotted Roxy, standing next to the number five hole below, looking right at him with her yellow eyes wide, pointing him out to the others.

"Oh gosh! That looks really, REALLY unsafe, Rex, honey!" Chica said, folding her hands together in front of her chest. She looked around on the catwalk for anything that could help. Freddy jogged over to stand next to Chica, his mouth partially agape as he looked up at the boy.

"Th-that is NOT a safe play area! Rex, please come down so that we may talk about this." Freddy looked worried.

"Oh yeah right!" Rex felt his heart beginning to thump louder and much more rapidly in his chest. "I come down because you say we can talk this out, and then you guys grab me and stuff me into one of those exosuit-things!"

The bots all shared a look of confusion. "Kid, what are you talking about?" Roxie asked with an exasperated sigh.

"You can forget it! You're not getting me!" Rex tried his best to sound confident, though he winced as his voice cracked a bit at the end there. He slipped a little and grabbed some nearby bars to steady himself, gripping so hard that he could feel some pain in his hand wound, certain he had just caused it to start bleeding again. Looking at the animatronics staring at him, Rex was grateful that he was just out of their reach... or he was until Sun ran in.

"Alrighty everybody! I finally was able to untie the last knot! Now, where is our slippery little troublemaker?" Sun turned and looked up in the direction that Roxy was pointing... and immediately began to panic.

"Th-th-that's so unsafe!!!" Without thinking, Sun's legs extended just as he reached out with his extendo arms to try and grab at Rex. Rex let out a yelp and slapped the hands away, making a leap to another beam. Unfortunately, the moment he gripped it, his hands slipped, and he began to fall. Tears were welling up in his eyes as time seemed to slow down. He could see Sun's mechanical arms flailing and trying to catch up to him, Chica and Freddy running towards him. And then, with a grunt, his descent stopped, and the world began to move back at regular speed. He looked over at the animatronics, and they, even Sun, were just staring open-mouthed at him. Rex realized that he had landed in someone's arms. Someone's bright blue and fuzzy arms. Turning cautiously, his breath hitched in his throat.

"B-Bonnie?" Rex asked, feeling so small in the large blue smiling bunny's arms.

"The one and only, Hopstar!" Bonnie said while pulling Rex into a warm, and gentle, embrace. His upgrade had included soft faux fur all over his blue plating, with some tufts for his cheeks. The warm red eyes of Bonnie twinkled just like Rex remembered. Rex's vision blurred, and his breath hitched. Despite fighting it, he felt the tears flowing freely down his cheeks, and let out a sniffle. Bonnie smiled sadly at Rex, and started to rock him in his arms.

"It's okay, Hopstar. No one's gunna hurt you. You're safe. So please... just let it out." Bonnie's voice was soft and soothing. Unable to hold it back any longer, the dam broke, and Rex found himself with his chin resting on Bonnie's shoulder, sobbing freely.

"That's it," Bonnie encouraged, a sadness audible in his voice. "Let it all out."

"I missed you so much!" Rex cried out.

"And I missed you too. But don't worry. I'm back now, and you're safe here. No matter what."

At that moment...

"Woah! I did not see that coming!" Gregory said, looking down at the screen on his Fazwatch, which was showing the live security camera footage from the catwalks in Gator Golf. It was currently sitting propped up on Roxy's coffee table in front of her couch. He was currently hugging a plush Freddy, with Cassie sitting next to him, hugging her plush Roxy, watching as the bots started to leave the area, Rex still being cradled by Bonnie, with Chica and Sun looking at his hand and seemingly checking him for other injuries.

"Me either... although, I think that it is really sweet how much he'd missed Bonnie. And I'm glad he's ok." Cassie hugged her Roxie plush a little tighter.

"Me too... but now I kinda wanna know how a kid like us could get hired here as a security guard... because that's a great idea!"

"Gregory." Cassie rolled her eyes and tried not to giggle.

"Think about it! Me, with a flashlight, a security badge, and my trusty Fazerblaster!" For emphasis, he pulled the toy gun out and started to spin it in his hands like in a western... until he fumbled and dropped it.

"Obviously with a little bit of practice."