Freddy’s Last Party
Summary: Face’s past is back to haunt him and this time, it is determined not to let him escape. Immediate sequel to ‘Preludes to a Birthday Party’. Cross over with Five Nights at Freddy’s. Brief cameo from ‘Lucifer’ the TV series in the last part of the story.
Rating: PG 13
Warning: Supernatural violence-Talk of child murders & pedophilia from the past. Should read previous stories first.
Part One
Face didn’t want to wake up. He clung to the darkness like a comforting blanket which blocked out the monsters of his nightmares. What he wanted was the chorus of voices to go away before they made him abandoned the bliss of ignorance.
“Mister!” they shouted. “Mister! You’ve got to wake up! Freddy’s here! He’ll kill you! He’ll kill all of us!”
The voices didn’t belong to any of the team but they were familiar. Whoever they were, they were young and scared. And he knew no matter how much he wanted to keep his eyes closed, he had to wake up and help them.
He saw them briefly, three small boys of slightly different ages; all with the same blonde hair and the same blue eyes, who disappeared in the mist that surrounded his brain.
He was alone.
A lifetime of training taught him the importance of remaining perfectly still and quiet in dangerous surrounding but this was pushing him to his limits.
“I’m back,” he realized as he recognized the tiled cluttered floor, the stench of decay, the torn poster of the crying children, Foxy, Bonnie Chica and Freddy.
He was tied, gagged and lying on the floor of the main party room; surrounded by the killer robots who watched him with soulless eyes. Oddly they weren’t moving and they hadn’t killed him.
He became aware of other voices nearby. He moved his head slightly and focused on the two figures on the stage. He recognized the tall spindly marionette from his last time at this place. It was talking to…Cunningham?
Memories started flooding back.
***TAT***TAT***
“Hey Hannibal,” BA said in a quiet voice. “I don’t like the way Cunningham’s been staring at Amy.”
Hannibal didn’t say anything but Face agreed with the corporal. While their latest client hadn’t done anything untoward, there was something about him that made him uneasy.
He was just a little too attentive to Amy for his liking. The way that he looked and stood; not close enough to be threatening but close enough to make BA’s muscles flex.
He sensed that Amy felt the same way but they all knew how stubborn she could be. She would never show weakness in front of the team by admitting anyone made her nervous. He wondered if she regretted answering the man’s plea for help.
Face didn’t care what the background check said on the man, he had difficulty believing Cunningham was one of the good guys in life. The man was soft with rounded edges but with a touch of cruelty around the corners of his eyes. He was the type of guy who was always picked on by others while longing to be the bully, himself; the type always on the lookout of someone weaker than himself so he could take his revenge on someone who wouldn’t fight back.
But there nothing imaginary about the air of fear around him; something had the man scared spitless.
And that’s what they did, they helped the frightened and helpless and while they were going to help this guy; there was no way he was going to leave him alone with Amy.
But there was no way that they could take her with them. According to Cunningham, the team was going up against a ruthless gang of blackmailers who had ties to the drug and the sex trade.
Amy might be one of the team but these weren’t the type of people they wanted even knowing Allen’s name.
Face wondered what the gang had on Cunningham. He bet it was something dark, probably sexual in nature. The guy reminded him too much of some of the creepy foster fathers that he had known over the years.
“Change of plan, kid,” Hannibal said without missing a beat. “I’m going to have you stay here with Allen as backup.”
Face opened his mouth to protest; after all why couldn’t Murdock stay behind.
Then he thought about it and closed his mouth. This was an initial recon mission to learn the lay of the land. No one was expecting any engagements. The team would be gone for a couple of hours and after they got back, Amy would be able to bow out, without losing face, by saying she had to start writing her story.
“Okay,” he agreed.
Face felt better about his compliance when he saw the flash of relief in Amy’s eyes. He would have felt even better if he hadn’t seen the same relief in Cunningham’s eyes.
“Maybe he’s scared he’d try something if he’s left alone with her,” Face thought. The more time he spent in Cunningham’s company, the more sure he was that they’d eventually discovered that he was the type of guy who deserved to be blackmailed.
And it seemed their latest client was at ill ease with them as they were with him. The team hadn’t been gone ten minutes before Cunningham said that he had to get back to his account books and scurried out of the room.
“Well, he’s certainly antisocial,” Amy said as she joined Face on the couch.
“Complaining?” Face asked her in a gentle teasing tone.
For a moment, Amy considered reminding the conman that she was more than capable of handling one creepy dude but she saw that he didn’t mean any harm and…he was right.
”You don’t feel good about him, do you?” he asked.
“He’s a little…peculiar. But he’s in a lot of trouble.”
“But he doesn’t feel right.”
“No,” Amy admitted. “He’s a little creepy.”
“So why did you agree to set up a meeting with the team?”
“Because I researched him and he checked out. There wasn’t any reason not to do it except that I don’t feel comfortable around him and that sounds too girly,” Amy said with a grimace.
“That’s your gut instincts talking.”
“Do you think it’s a trap?” Amy asked worriedly. “Could he be with the military?”
“Not the army. Even Lynch could pick someone better than him.”
‘Do you think the guys are in trouble?” Amy couldn’t stand to think that the team could be in danger because she didn’t want to admit that Cunningham made her nervous.
“Naw. They’ll be on guard and you never know the guy might really need help.”
Face had just stood up when Cunningham stuck his head into the room.
“Where are my manners?” he asked. “Would you guys like anything to drink or eat?”
“It’d be a cold day in Hell before I put anything that he hands me into my mouth,” Face thought sure that Amy felt the same way.
“If you want, there’s some bottled water in the frige,” Cunningham said as he pulled his head back to whatever task he was doing in the other room.
“Bottled water,”Face thought. “That sounds safe enough.”
Little by little he had been seeing the drink popping up all over the place. He loved the stuff and had even invested in one of the companies.
He frowned as he remembered the grief he had gotten when the guys found out about it. BA had his hands around his throat demanding to know what types of fools were going to pay for something that was free out of the tap.
The last time they had been that mad was when they discovered out about the investments into the designer coffee market. He didn’t care; he was sure there was a market for expensive coffee and bottled water.
“Do you want one, Amy?” he asked as he walked toward the kitchen.
“Sure.”
Face came back with two bottles of clear liquid. He threw one to the reporter and sat down next to her.
“What are you working on?” he asked straining his neck to see what she was writing in her notebook as he took a swig from the bottle.
“Nothing,” she answered. Amy paused as she considered what to say next. She wondered just what Face knew something about Freddy Fazbear.
“Actually you might be interested in this,” she said. “I’m doing a story about a series of strange disappearances in this area.”
“Sounds like something the team might be interested in. Tell me about it.”
“There’s nothing definitive but a place called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria seems to have something to do with it.”
Face had to fight back the vertigo as he shot to his feet. He looked away as a chill ran through his body.
“Why are you asking about that place?” Face walked over to the window and looked out into the dark sky, a fog had rolled in that seemed to have blocked out the stars.
“Just curious. There’s something happening there but no one wants talk about it.”
Face waited several long seconds for his head to clear; it was hard to put what he was thinking into words. For that matter it was getting hard to think.
“Amy…” he started as he turned to the reporter.
Another wave of vertigo overcame him as he tried to focus but it was difficult. Amy, not only appeared to be wavering in and out of his vision, but she seemed to be was leaning dangerously forward.
“Amy?”
He wondered if this was another dream as he watched her fall to the floor. He wanted to react but his arms weren’t responding and his legs no longer seemed to be able to carry his weight as he fell to his knees.
A deep sigh drew his attention away from his friend. He looked over and saw Cunningham, not with a grin of victory but with something fatalistic in his eyes.
“It was in the water,” he explained as he held up a hypodermic needle. “I thought you might like to know how.”
“Amy!”
A shot of adrenaline surged through his body, enough to bring him to his feet momentarily before he fell back to the ground.
“Don’t hurt her,” he begged.
“He’s interested in her,” Cunningham said as he brought out a set of cuffs. “You’re the one he wants.”
Hoping the man was telling the truth, Face took some comfort in the words but wondered who it was that wanted him. Were they after the team?
“None of this is my fault,” Cunningham explained as he pulled the conman to his feet. “I don’t want to do this so I don’t want you to be haunting me.”
“Hannibal will…” Face wasn’t able to finish the sentence as the blackness overtook him.
“Yeah, I expect he will,” Cunningham said as he dragged the small man toward the door. He had two roads ahead of him; both led to death and an eternity in Hell but the one he was taking might let him live a little longer.
***TAT***TAT***
“Amy!”
Face jerked upward as his eyes raced across the room. He didn’t see her. Did that mean that she was already dead or that she wasn’t here? He sensed that whatever this place wanted didn’t include the reporter.
His looked back at the things that still sat on the chairs. When he had moved, they turned their heads to observe him but hadn’t done anything. It was like they were waiting for something.
“Permission?”he wondered.
As hard as it was to put them out of his mind, Face concentrated on what was happening on the stage.
He recognized the voice of the marionette. It was the voice of the telephone man; the one who had told him the rules of this place that last time that he had been trapped here, the one who had sounded so amused by the people that died here.
He finally recognized Cunningham. The years had not been kind to the man but it was the same killer who had found him in an alley and dragged him into this place so many years ago. It seemed that Cunningham had gotten smarter, using metal cuffs instead of ropes to bind his victims.
But he wasn’t the same helpless child that he had once been. Pulling the small pick that he always kept hidden in the hem of his shirt, Face began to work on the lock.
***TAT***TAT***
“Look,” Cunningham pleaded to the creature from his nightmares. “I brought him to you. Isn’t that enough?”
The white faced life-sized marionette turned to face the frightened man; speaking without moving its mouth.
“No. You have to finish it like you finished the others.”
“But…Men are my thing and I don’t think I can…” Cunningham didn’t know what to say to the monster. Even if he wanted to, he wasn’t sure if he could get himself ready with Freddy and his friends watching him. He knew they were still alive and they still hated him. They were waiting for a chance to get their revenge, only the marionette held them back.
“Not that!” The marionette wrinkled its face in disgust. “But you do have to put him in Goldie.”
Cunningham turned to look at the yellow haired robotic bear sitting in the chair on the stage. It had been easy to stuff a child’s body into those things but a grown man…He’d have to cut it up.
“All of him?” he asked
“The heart. You have to put the heart in.”
“Okay, you can do this,” Cunningham thought. He had already done so many horrible things in his life; one more wasn’t going to damn his soul any worse than it already was.
“Then we’re done?” he asked.
“Then I’m done with you.”
The marionette stressed the one word. Cunningham wasn’t sure what it meant but did he really have a choice. He nodded his head and gripped the sharp knife in his hand. He turned to face his prisoner then gaped at the open and empty cuffs laying on the floor.
Gone. He turned back to the marionette scared that he’d be blamed for this.
“Where is he?” the marionette shrieked, his long legs taking him to the floor in one step. “You were supposed to watch him!”
The bear, the chicken, the rabbit and the fox all cocked their head as if to consider the words but made no move to respond.
You’re supposed to be my friends!” The marionette turned sharply, his long nails slashing against the muzzle of the brown bear. Cunningham saw the fur wetting as something seeped from the wound.
“Could these things be harmed, be beaten?” he wondered. It didn’t matter; he knew that he didn’t have the courage to stand against them.
The left arm of the marionette grew to a ridiculous length as it grabbed Cunningham and drew him close.
“Find him!” the marionette order. “All of you! Find him, kill him and bring him to me!”
The puppet threw the man to the floor. Cunningham clambered to his feet and loped off into the darkness.
Even if it was for a few minutes more, he wanted to live and if the only way was to cut out the heart of another so be it. Behind him he heard the others starting to move.
Part Two
“Damn, damn, damn, damn,” Hannibal repeated as he struck his fist against the dashboard pf the van.
He should have listened to his guts. The whole thing had been a setup from beginning to end. One that they had almost walked in on except that Murdock had recognized one of the too casual window shoppers as a lieutenant who had accompanied Decker the last time that he had been at the VA.
So they had high tailed it back to Cunningham’s place only to find an unconscious Amy and a missing Templeton Peck. And as bad as that had been, it was nothing compared to what they had found when they searched the place.
“Hannibal,” Amy said in a quiet voice as she tugged at his sleeve. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“Don’t,” Murdock said shaking his head as he pulled her back into her seat. “Just don’t. We’ll explain it later.”
“If there is a later,” he thought.
Looking in the eyes of the team, Amy decided not to ask any questions. None of this made sense; Cunningham turning out to be a plant for Decker, sending the team into a trap, drugging her and kidnapping Face.
It wasn’t the first time that someone grabbed Face. It was almost a monthly event for the conman but this time the team was really worried like, maybe, Decker or some bad guy wasn’t behind it. They had search Cunningham’s place for clues. They hadn’t found anything until Murdock brought those things out of the bedroom.
They were just stuffed toys; four little stuffed animals in some sort of band. But when Hannibal saw them, the blood ran out of his face and even BA looked like his knees were buckling. Then they ran to the van like the toys had told them were to find Face. She had barely made it into the vehicle before they took off.