Chapter Text
“Psst, Madeline. Madeline, wake up!” Theodore whispered as he held his CatNap plushies paw out to nudge her face with it..
Maddie slowly woke up, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked at Theodore as he walked down to the end of her bed and climbed onto it.
“Theodore? What are you doing? You're not supposed to be on the girls' side.” Maddie asked with a yawn at the end. “Did you steal somethin again?”
“Uhhh yeeeeaaaah, but it’s not why I’m here.” “He continued to whisper. “Me and my friend need your help.”
Maddie woke up more at the mention of her brother’s friend. He’d told her a lot about him and even showed her pictures he drew of him, but she’d never actually met him. He always said his friend wasn’t ready to meet her yet, she just assumed his friend was imaginary, it did look really weird in his drawings, especially the one where he’s sitting on his bed with a weird robo-skeleton arm sticking out from underneath it.
“Help with what?” She questioned.
“I dunno yet, but my friend says we need two of the grabbypacks from the game station and a green hand on each.” Theodore started. “I already got them, but he says we need two people to hold each of them. He said he’s ready to meet you now!”
Maddie was confused, what was he talking about? Theodore must have picked up on her confusion.
“Pleeeease! I don’t wanna make my friend mad!” He pleaded.
“Fiiiiiiine! But we better not get in trouble for this. I wanna go on the field trip next week.” Maddie begrudgingly said.
“We won’t, I promise!” Theodore said, placing his CatNap doll on her bed and climbing down. Maddie climbed out too and followed him.
Maddie and Theodore walked through a big cave each wearing a small grabpack. Maddie felt funny walking through this cave. She’d always liked creepy stuff like bats, spiders, monsters, plastic skeletons, and anything else that an average seven year old girl would normally find icky or scary, but this cave made her feel a little scared. Theodore didn’t look scared at all, he just happily skipped down the trail of the cave.
“Um, Theo? Are we supposed to be here?” Maddie asked nervously.
“I don’t think so, but my friend said to meet him here!” Theodore said with excitement. “I can’t wait for you to meet him! And he can’t wait to meet you too!”
Maddie let out a small whimper as she looked around the cave as they walked.
“Don’t worry, you’ll like him! He gives me cool gifts, tells me stories with all kinds of silly voices, talks with me about stuff, and he doesn’t think I’m weird like the other kids!” Theodore said in an attempt to comfort her.
“Ok…are we there yet?” She asked, not feeling comforted.
“I think so, he said he’d find us somewhere here.” Theodore replied.
After a few more seconds of walking, the twins heard a strange clicking sound accompanied by the sound of small squeaks coming from above them. Maddie looked up in confusion, and Theodore looked up with excitement.
“He’s here!” Theodore cheered.
Theodore’s friend slowly lowered himself from the ceiling. He had six long, spider like legs, two long arms that had skeleton bones inside that ended with hands with long fingers, a big chest, a long neck, and a face that horrified Maddie.
“Madeline this is my frie-“
Theodore was cut off by a scream from Maddie that echoed off every wall in the cave. It was so loud that it scared his friend, making it jump backwards in surprise. Maddie quickly threw the grabpack off of her and ran away. Theodore tried to call out to her but he was cut off by a startled scream from himself. When Maddie looked back she saw the things running in the opposite direction with both the discarded grabpack and Theodore. Maddie screamed all the way back to Home Sweet Home, waking up several other orphans in the process as she ran back to her bed and hid under the covers. The whole Home Sweet Home erupted into a confused chaos, with the younger kids screaming and panicking at the sound of Maddie’s screams and quick breathing and the older kids either yelling at everyone to shut up, trying to figure out what was going on, or attempting to comfort the crying younger orphans. The commotion eventually caused staff to come in to calm everyone down. Eventually they got to Maddie and asked why she was screaming, she told them everything that happened and what she saw. The image of some of the staff turning ghost white burned into her head, one of them began running to alert security. The remaining staff sat with her and attempted to calm her down. Maddie saw her brother's CatNap doll still sitting on her bed, took it, and held it in her arms as she cried while a lady began rubbing her back and telling her that everything would be ok.
The dream faded away as Maddie slowly woke up. Head pounding, ears ringing, vision going from fuzzy to clear then fuzzy again, copper taste in her mouth, body feeling like she just got hit by a truck, she felt herself unable to keep one of her eyes open due to the pain. Thankfully for Maddie the ringing was quieting down and her vision was clearing up the more conscious she became, she was able to see the area she was in and make out the sound of…purring? She soon was able to see giant animal feet that looked oddly familiar, what the hell was going on? She saw herself getting closer to some kind of circular thing, once she was right next to it she saw one of the animal legs reach to the side of it and lift up a lid, ok, so it was some kind of bunker maybe? She felt herself get lifted into the air and suddenly she was moving down a tunnel, as she slid down, she saw a face she knew all too well.
“CatNap?” Maddie mumbled as she slid down.
Maddie hit something with a heavy thud that made her aching body hurt more. An alarm was blaring and making her pounding head and ears extra sore, the bright red light wasn’t helping much either. Maddie slowly got up and saw what she landed on, it was some kind of sack, she didn’t know what was in it but hoped it helped her avoid a concussion or cracked skull. Despite the blaring alarm and bright light sending her into a sensory overload she made herself look around the area she was dropped into and found herself surrounded by…trash? Then there was a new aggravating noise, the sound of something big scraping against the concrete floor. When she looked towards the source of the sound she saw a wall moving, it kept moving the more she stared. Oh shit. This was a giant trash compactor!
“Oh FUCK!” Maddie screamed once she realized the situation and began frantically looking for a way out.
Against the wall of the compactor there were some giant foam blocks and an old metal ramp that formed a staircase leading to a hole in the wall. Maddie made a dash for it and climbed through the hole before the compactor could squish her. She escaped through the hole just in time to hear the crunching of various items behind her. Maddie saw a ladder up ahead of her and ran towards it without hesitation, only to find it broken. She searched for another exit before looking up and noticing a handlebar in the ceiling. Right, her grabpack! Being very thankful she asked Alex for it before getting on the train, she fired the hand up and grappled herself to the top of where the ladder led to. Right as she got onto the ground she took deep, labored breaths, even sitting down to calm herself. She tried to think about what happened but her head hurt so badly she could barely think. Instead she decided to just sit and catch her breath for a minute. She put her hands on her face to rest her head, only to pull them back out of both pain and feeling a wetness against her hands. She looked at both hands and saw her own blood on both, what happened to her?
Once she had rested, Maddie decided to keep moving forward. As she walked she came across these odd cylinders that moved up and down. She hopped onto the one the path led her to and looked to her left to see more cylinders, two moving up when the one she was standing on along with another one moving down. Maddie assumed this was a part of some machine the factory used, but what? Was it for the trash compactor, or something else? Well, seeing as she had no other way to go, she hopped across each cylinder, once she got to the last one she saw a hole in the wall and jumped through it, sending a wave of pain throughout her body as she landed, making her sit down again. God how she hoped nothing was broken. As Maddie sat she smelled a sickening odor of rot in the room. Once she felt like she could move again she walked towards another hole in a wall and found herself in an area with mesh flooring where she heard the alarm sound from earlier. The foul scent of rot and death practically punched Maddie in the face as she entered, making her gag and cover her nose. When she looked for the culprit of the smell, she saw two Boogie Bots, one missing parts of its body hanging from a set of pipes, the other also missing body parts in a pool of blood, and a small Bunzo toy hanging from its neck from the ceiling. Maddie began to tear up from the sight, not just from the smell, but from the thought of what those poor souls that were put into those toys went through in their final moments before they were strung up like that.
“I’m sorry…” she whispered to the toys.
Maddie walked past the poor toys and got to the mesh floor part of the room, she was right above the trash compactor. She looked at the crushed items in the room and became thankful for being awake before it started moving. She looked behind her and saw a room that showed another pool of blood from where she was standing. Against her better judgment she walked into it to investigate and threw up at the sight. Four more toys, the head of a Candy Cat, the torso of a CatBee, a Bunzo toy that was impaled on a long piece of sharpened wood, and a Boogie Bot who shared the same fate as the Bunzo toy. There was a water leak in the room, when Maddie looked up she saw another corpse, a Bron toy hanging by its neck, the smell of rot coming from it too. There were large, animal-like claw marks on the brick wall of the room where the corpses were, and ‘HELP’ written in god knows what in front of a blood splatter. Maddie wanted to cry at the sight, cry for the poor souls that were these toys. When Maddie looked around the room more, she noticed a moss green vhs tape labeled ‘Connor Sawyer Interview 1995’ next to a tv and vhs player the same color. Maddie decided to take the tape and put it into the player. The tv began to flicker on, and a recording of a young boy, no older than fifteen, wearing a dark green hoodie and grey sweatpants sitting on a couch. Maddie instantly recognized him, he was Connor, obviously. She always thought he was lazy and a bore to be around back when she lived in and visited playcare, but now as an adult, seeing him now in the tape, he looked…sad.
Stella: “Hello Connor, how are you doing today?”
Connor simply looked at Stella behind the camera for a moment, then looked back down.
Stella: “I see, well-“
Leith: “I think you already know why you're here.”
Leith sounded annoyed. He sounded angry.
Connor: “The adoption interviews?”
Leith: “Yes, the adoption interviews!”
Leith slammed his hands on the table, making Connor jump in his seat slightly.
Stella: “Leith! Please calm down. Connor, you're not in trouble, we just want to talk about your behavior. We’ve gotten reports about your…lack of motivation and interest in both the school, playhouse activities, and during interviews with potential parents for you, we’re worried about you Connor.”
Connor: “Sure you are.”
Leith: “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Frustration was growing in Leith’s voice.
Connor: “I think you know.”
Stella: “Ok, everyone just calm down. Connor, we just want to know what’s going on with you, please, just talk to us. We want to help you find a loving home, a loving family.”
Connor: “What’s the point…they're just going to leave me once they get bored of me…”
Stella: “Now Connor, you know that isn’t true, the people who come here are people who want to give you a loving home.”
Connor: “No they don’t. They just want something to show off to their friends about how selfless they are to adopt a teenager nobody in the world wants… I’m sorry Stella, but you just wouldn’t understand.”
Leith: “We understand that you need to knock it off with your laziness!”
Stella: “Leith!”
Leith: “No! I’ve had enough of this! You are failing all your schoolwork and driving off any possible adopters! You're making all of playcare look bad! You're making US look bad!”
Connor flinched and began cowering once Leith began scolding him, he curled into a ball as he sat on the couch.
Stella: “Leith! That is enough!”
The sound of a chair scraping against the floor was heard as Stella raised her voice.
Leith: “No! Someone needs to tell this little brat that we are getting fed up with his laziness and that he needs to get his shit together and actually be something worth keeping around here!”
Stella: “What is wrong with you?!”
Connor closed his eyes, covered his head with his hoodie, and covered his ears with his hands as Stella and Leith began to argue, the tape ended as soon as the young boy had done that, leaving Maddie to stare at a blank screen.
Maddie couldn’t believe what she had just watched. She wanted to find this Leith asshole and give him a piece of her mind. She walked out of the room in anger, she needed to calm down before she continued. She reached into her backpack to get some water- wait. She patted her back and felt only the grabpack against it…where was her backpack? Did CatNap…steal her backpack? She checked for her pockets, she still had her pocket knife and pepper sprays. She checked for her belt pockets, yep, those were still there too, but they felt lighter. She checked the pockets and found only her flashlights, which were all broken except for one.
“Did CatNap…loot my body before putting me in the compactor…that little bitch!” Maddie yelled.
Once Maddie was done being mad about her stuff being stolen, she noticed a red door that she had skipped. When she opened it, a stairway only illuminated by a single orange light, well, she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She went up the stairs and on her left saw another staircase leading to a blue door with a light over it. She walked towards the door and heard loud machine sounds coming from the other side. She opened it, walked in, and saw more cylinders moving up and down, quicker than the ones from earlier. She gagged at the scent of death that filled the room, and looked over to see a Bron toy and a Boogie Bot skewered on more sharp planks of wood. She looked away and focused on the cylinders. She saw that they made a path to a broken part of a catwalk that led to more cylinders, and those led to the other side of the catwalk that connected to a path. Figuring out what she needed to, she hopped onto the first set of cylinders, but before she could reach the catwalk, she stopped from the stinging sensation of her head. Before she could react the cylinder she was on rushed down, right into a cloud of red smoke. Maddie began coughing once she was engulfed and closed her other eye to keep it from burning. She coughed and wheezed as the smoke filled her lungs, the poppy smell from the gas was so strong it was overwhelming, it was hard to breath with that much surrounding her.. Once the cylinder rose back up she jumped onto the catwalk and sat down.
“God damn it! I hate that stuff so much!” Maddie said with a cough.
Maddie was thankfully immune to the sleeping part of the red smoke, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t irritating to be submerged in it. She made a mental note to avoid the smoke as much as possible, got up, went across the other cylinders, and jumped onto the other catwalk, swearing internally as another wave of pain shot through her body. She heard a sound coming from across the room. When she looked back she saw CatNap climbing a wall and crawling into a vent above him.
“HEY!” Maddie yelled after him. “Give me back my shit!”
CatNap paused for a moment at the sound of her voice, then quickly rushed into the vent, closing it behind him and making a lot of noise as he scrambled through the vent.
“Get back here you asshole!” She called out to him.
Maddie was about to start running after him, only to stop to see that there was no more catwalk to chase him down on. She stared down at the abyss below that was full of red smoke.
“What the hell happened here!? Why are the only methods of getting around here broken!? Maddie yelled to herself. “How the hell do I get out of here?” She groaned.
That’s when she saw it, a small platform hanging from the ceiling with a handlebar on it. Maddie stared at it for a moment, putting the pieces together. She used the grabpack to pull it over, and let it go to see what would happen. Once she let go it ran back to the other side of the broken catwalk. She brought it back over, quickly hopped onto it, and rode it all the way to the other side. The speed the platform moved was fast enough to send her flying once it hit the other side, she screamed as she flew off, narrowly grabbing the inside of the vent the path led her to. Thankfully she was able to get her footing on some pipes that were below the vent. She climbed her way into the vent and laid there on her stomach taking deep breaths after narrowly avoiding a long fall.
“Ok!….that was…actually kinda fun!…NEVER doing that…again though…” She said between breaths.
After calming down, she began crawling through the vent. It didn’t go for long before it had a drop in it, and the familiar scent of rot once again hit her. She jumped feet first into the drop and found the source of the smell, another poor Bunzo toy skewered on sharp wood. She had no idea how it could have gotten into the vent, but she still shed a few tears for the poor toy. Eventually she began moving through the vent and came across a vent cover that looked like it could be opened. She kicked it and sure enough, it opened, and she found herself in the same room CatNap had brought her in. The room seemed to be a lounge of some kind, with some shelving, cabinets, a sink, a coffee maker, windows with messed up shutters, the trash scute she was dropped down, two vending machines, and a couple couches in front of a tv. She looked at the vending machines first, there was one for drinks called “Playtime Lemonade’ with a picture of Mommy Long Legs drinking some and a snack vending machine called ‘Candy Cat Snacks’, both she remembered seeing in playcare, though these ones seemed to take real money instead of play-bucks. She had no money with her so instead she kicked the glass for the Candy Cat one, shattering the glass and allowing her to grab whatever she wanted. Since she now had space in her belt pockets, she put as much as she could fit inside, a couple bags of Boogie Bot gummies, a few CatBee honey bars, and a few small bags of chocolate Brons. Once she filled her pockets she explored the tv area, the tv appeared to be on but had static covering the screen, and the couch had dried, bloody human handprints on it. Maddie wondered if others had come here before her and made it this far, but she couldn’t see any blood trails, making her question how this happened even more. She turned her attention away from the couch to the tv to try to turn it off, the static sound was starting to bug her, before she stepped on something. She looked down and saw a blue bayoux tape beneath her labeled ‘Claire Harper Debreif’. She put the tape in, and the screen went from static to an image of a gas mask.
Scientist: “Alright, Ms Harper, please explain the situation. Spare no detail.”
Claire: “Well, like any night, all the children are getting to sleep. It was peaceful, quiet, CatNap had the red smoke in the room. Then, suddenly, there’s this scream. Nightmares happen, I know, but this… I mean dilated pupils and quivering lips? The way her eyes darted around the room, and I swear, her hand in mine, it felt like her blood was boiling beneath her skin! She saw something too, something horrible! She-…I-I’m sorry, I don’t mean to…”
Scientist: “Ms Harper, we’ll provide the very best care we can offer, you have my word. But this is important. Did Marie happen to describe what she saw?”
Claire: “Yes! A monster she said, said it was colorless! Gosh, I could feel her poor little heart pounding. For her it was right there! A-and her movements, they were wild! Arms flailing, legs kicking!”
Scientist: “Hmmm”
Claire: ‘I… I wanted to talk to her, see how she’s doing. I just…I really need to hear her voice right now.”
Scientist: “That…would not be advised, Ms Harper. There are… manyconcerns…we must address at this time. But…vitals show normal, and we’ll continue to monitor. She’ll be ok.”
Clair: “NOOOO! Well pardon me if I’m not comforted by that!”
Claire: “Just bring my little girl back to me…”
Claire began crying, the tape ended, and the tv turned off. Maddie stared at the tv with horror and sadness filling her heart. She remembered that night. She remembered how the red smoke gave Marie pretty bad nightmares, it was a side effect even she experienced sometimes. The gas also made her see things if she was awake while it was in the room, it must have been the same for Marie. It was terrifying to see her react that way. That was the last time she ever saw Marie. Tears began to gather in Maddie’s eyes. She walked over to the sink, picked up an empty mug, and got herself some water from the sink. Despite what she’d learned about this place, it warmed her heart to know that there were some people who worked here that didn’t have hearts of cold stone. Once she finished her water she walked towards a shutter door, and saw two green holes with wires running towards it. Maddie was puzzled at the site, she searched the room and noticed a green square sticking out of a cabinet. She used the grabpack to bring it over to her and she realized it was a giant battery! She put the battery in one of the holes and heard a noise that sounded promising. She searched the room for another one and found it inside what she was assuming was a bathroom that had more toy corpses and blood all over it. She held back her tears, grabbed the battery with the grabpack, and placed it inside the other hole in the wall. Once she did that, the wires light up and a blue hand scanner activated.
“What dumbass designed this?” Maddie asked out loud.
As she pondered the stupidity behind this design, she fired the blue at the scanner and waited for it to finish. Once it did, the door opened to reveal a hallway with a Bubba Bubbaphant cardboard cutout at the end of it. Maddie walked over to it and decided to press the button, hoping Bubba could make her feel a little better, at least mentally.
“I’m Bubba Bubbaphant- Hey! I remember you!
Maddie giggled and pressed the button again.
“An elephant always remembers.”
“Want to know what I remember about you?”
“Whatcha remember Bubba?” She asked just to go with the nostalgia.
Instead of a heartwarming fact about intelligence like what she was used to from the cutout, Bubba began screaming like he was being brutally mauled once she pressed the button. It scared her enough to make her fall backwards, sending more pain throughout her body. She stared at the cutout for a few seconds, processing what she just heard, only to look down and notice a large streak of blood in front of the cutout. Maddie quickly scrambled to her feet and darted into the doorway next to the cutout and down another hall, this one ending with an intersection into two rooms. Once she was at the end, she heard a phone ringing. The sound made her pause, she looked towards the source of the ringing, it was coming from another room. She walked down that path only to see a staircase covered in dried blood. That was certainly a wonderful sign wasn’t it.
“Nope. I’m not going to be the dumb white girl who dies stupidly in a horror movie.” Maddie said as she turned around to go down the other hall.
The next hall revealed an elevator and a thing on the wall that was glowing green. Maddie pressed the button for the elevator and waited. Nothing happened. She tried to pry the door open, and actually got it to open, it was easier than she thought. Except when she opened it, she was greeted by the sight of broken wire rope and a drop down the hell. She stared at the sight for a moment.
“On second thought…maybe I’ll have better luck with the other way.” She said while backing up.
As she backed up she noticed the glowing thing next to her. Didn’t Alex say something about a green hand and electricity? Right, she can use the green hand to hold electricity for a few seconds, this must be where you get that electricity. The only question was, why was it here? Well if it’s here it must be for something important close by, right? The phone ringing continued, ok, that was starting to get annoying. She used the hand to grab the electricity and booked it back down the hallway and up the blood covered stairs. She came across a door with what appeared to be a place to put the electricity. She put the green hand onto it and the door opened . The ringing was the loudest in this room, it made her ears hurt. She entered the new room, and saw a phone hanging on the wall under a light. As annoying as the sound was, Maddie was hesitant to pick it up. She had no idea what was on the other side or what was in the area. But…didn’t Poppy say something about a phone earlier? Despite her self preservation telling her not to, she picked up the phone.
“Uhhh…hello?” She asked into the phone.
“Hey…hey, can you hear me?” A childish voice spoke over the phone.
“Yeeeeaaaah?” Maddie replied. “Who’s this? Actually, better question, are you trying to kill me and eat my corpse?”
“What? No! I’m trying to help you! You're Maddie right? One of Poppy’s new friends?”
“I am, again, who are you?” She asked again.
“I’m Ollie! I’m one of Poppy’s friends!” Ollie finally answered. She asked me to help you, and I don’t want you to die, so I’m going to help you!”
“Help me how? Are you nearby?” Maddie began searching the room, only finding pipes, boxes, waste buckets, a table and chair, a bloody floor, a battery hole, and a door.
“No, but I’m going to do this! Look at that tube thing on the back wall.” Ollie replied.
Maddie heard a rumbling noise behind her. When she turned around she saw a battery fall out of a tube she didn’t even notice at first.
“BU-BOOM! You can use that battery to open the door!” Ollie happily said.
Maddie looked towards the door and saw a wire running from the battery hole to the door, implying that it needed power in order to open.
“That’s just a regular door with a handle on it, why does it need a battery to be opened?” Maddie asked.
“No idea, the people who built this place are really stupid.” Ollie answered.
“Can’t argue with that.” Maddie muttered as she opened the door. When she looked through she dropped the phone and gasped.
“Woah…did you do that?
The door led her to the train tracks and back to the train. The same train that derailed, crashed, and was now on fire. Maddie remembered now. She was on the train, it started going too fast, and tried to stop it. The train crashed, with her, the mini Huggys, and her siblings on- oh god her siblings!
“MY SIBLINGS!” Maddie screamed. It echoed through the tunnel and even Ollie could be heard over the phone moving from being startled by it. “OH GOD! NO NO NO NOOOO!” She ran towards the train.
“STOP!” Ollie called out over the phone, making Maddie stop in place. “They're ok!”
“You don’t know that!” She yelled back at Ollie.
“I DO know that, because I saw them on the cameras. Their ok, Mommy Long Legs pulled them out before CatNap found you.” Ollie retorted.
“She…she did?” Maddie asked, calming down.
“Yes. I saw the whole thing. She rushed over, well, as best as she could, but she managed to pull them all out. She tried to get you too, but the fire started to grow and she can’t be around fire. Not to mention CatNap was on his way too, and she really isn’t able to fight right now.” Ollie explained. “I don’t know what you guys did to get her on your side, but she got everyone to safety.”
Maddie sighed in relief. “Wait. What about the mini Huggys?” She quickly asked.
“They're safe too, don’t worry.” Ollie answered. “As much as I’d like to give you a breather, you really need to get going. It’s not a good idea to stay here for too long, we need you alive. You are our mission. Together, we can save a lot of people. Including you and your family.”
“Right…right, that’s what we stayed here to do.” Maddie took a deep breath. “So, where can I go from here?”
“Playcare. It’s straight ahead.” Ollie said.
“K.” Maddie began walking, the pain was clearing up a bit, but she still had a slight limp, making her move slowly.
“You need to be careful though. It’s the home of CatNap…one of the smiling critters.” Ollie warned. “There used to be…eight of them? I think? Now it’s just him.”
Maddie stopped walking. “I’m sorry, ‘used’ to be…?” Maddie felt her heart sink.
“Yeah, a lot has happened in ten years, not everyone is very lucky. Sorry if you were excited to see anyone.” Ollie gently said.
Maddie stood in place for a moment, but then remembered something. “Hang on, Poppy said she was sending DogDay up to look for us, why did you just say CatNap was the last critter?” Maddie began moving again
“She did?” Ollie asked, he sounded surprised. “O-oh- uhh- D-DogDay doesn’t…really consider himself a smiling critter these days! I guess that threw me off, my bad!”
“Eh, don’t worry about it, I get thrown off by things too- woah.” Maddie stopped as she stood across from the entrance to playcare, well, across from the area to actually get to playcare. “You were not kidding when you said it was straight ahead.”
“Yes, and you need to be careful. Playcare is CatNaps church, his hunting ground. Whatever he wants it to be. You better get in there quickly, we’ll keep in touch.” Ollie said.
“Ok, thanks Ollie, talk to you soon.” Maddie said as Ollie hung up.
Maddie stared at the Playcare welcome area. Instead of a wave of pleasant nostalgia, she felt a sickly sour feeling inside her stomach as she stood there. Knowing what she now knew, she didn’t feel so good about the place anymore. Maddie began pondering how she was actually going to get in, without the train she couldn’t exactly get up to the other side to enter. She looked up and saw another handlebar on the ceiling, perfect! She grappled herself up, swung across the platforms, and landed on the other side. Maddie took a moment to gaze upon the welcome area. What used to be a sight that would fill any child’s heart with hope and happiness was now littered with trash and dead mini Huggys, making the area reek of death and rot. Maddie went to the turnstiles to get inside, but they wouldn’t budge. Naturally her first thought was to just hop over them, but she also knew they needed power to work. And if these had no power, then the rest of the place likely had no power either, so she’d have to get the power working again if she wanted to proceed, her body hurt a little too much to hoist herself over the turnstiles anyway.
She walked around to a door labeled maintenance, figuring it would be the best place to start. She looked inside the room and was able to make out the view of one of those power puzzles from the power room when she entered the factory, but when she tried getting in, the door was locked.
“Ok, other door then.” She said aloud.
She walked over to the other door labeled security and was thankful when it opened. She walked inside, looked around the trashed room, and made her way through it, opening another door and going down that hallway. This hallway led her to the maintenance room, but the power puzzle looked different. This one had a large pole in the middle with a panel sticking out of the side with a circle in the center of it. When she fired a hand into it, it spun around the pole and through another panel with a hole in it and ended up sending the hand into the wall. To say Maddie was confused would be an understatement. That’s when she noticed a note stuck to the pole, when she investigated she read that it was a new form of power routing, all she had to do was move the pole so the hand would fire at the power input and then connect the other hand to the source. It said when the pole was grabbed a blue laser would come from it showing where the hand would go once fired, all she had to do was aim it towards the input. Maddie did exactly what the note said, and the power came back on.
“Why the hell was the point of that? Who thought this would be necessary???” Maddie asked herself.
She unlocked the maintenance door and walked back to the turnstiles. This time she was able to walk through them with no problems. She walked up the stairs and saw the Elliot express. It was really just the gondola that brought people to Playcare, and right next to it was a KickinChicken cardboard cutout. Maddie began to think about KickinChicken upon the sight of it…was he actually gone like Ollie had said? She hoped not, she loved KickinChicken, he was one of her best friends. She walked over to the cutout and pressed the button.
“Hey, I’m KickinChicken! Wanna go outside and hang out?”
Maddie giggled. “I’d love to Kickin…” She pressed the button again.
“It’s lookin’ pretty rad outside!”
“I’ve…never been outside before.”
Wait, what? The cutout never said that. She pressed the button again.
“Will you come with me? I’m scared…”
“Here, follow me. I’ll step out first.”
Maddie hesitantly pressed the button again, only to hear the sound Kickin start screaming like it was being mauled just like Bubba’s cutout. Something was definitely wrong with the cutouts. Maddie decided to walk away from it and towards the gondola, where a Bron toy was hanging from its neck right next to it. She looked away from it and looked at the faded art on the wall on the left. It was a painting of PJ running around while Bunzo rode on his back like he was on a horse, posters for ‘Playtime Park’, an amusement park based off of the Playtime Co. toys. As she stared she noticed a lever sticking out of the wall, right, two levers needed to be pulled to power the gondola if she remembered correctly. She walked over to the lever to pull it, and saw the word ‘Joy’ written in blood next to the lever. Maddie just used the grabpack to pull the lever, not wanting to get any closer. She walked around to pull the other lever and saw large claw marks in the wall around the lever and a mauled CatBee in a puddle of blood below it, she again used the grabpack to pull the lever while keeping a distance. Maddie hears the doors of the gondola begin to open, she turned in the direction of the sound and saw a cloud of dust come from the door as it opened. It was at this moment Maddie realized she was about to get on a piece of machinery that hadn’t been sitting around collecting dust for ten years, and hasn't been worked on in who knows how long, over a giant canyon to get to Playcare. This was likely the most dangerous and stupidest thing she was about to do in her life. She quickly got the phone out to try to call Ollie, except she didn’t know how to call him, so she just pressed random buttons hoping she’d reach him.
“Hey Ollie, if you can hear me, is there maybe any other way to get to Playcare?” She asked into the phone.
Silence.
“Ollie?” She tried again.
Still silent.
“Damn it. Ok then, guess we’re just praying the whole time that it doesn’t fall.” She said to herself in an annoyed tone.
Maddie hesitantly stepped onto the gondola, watching her footsteps kick up more dust as she walked. The doors closed behind her, and the gondola began moving. Maddie sat down on a seat, coughing as more dust flew into the air as she sat. She looked out the window nervously, they weren’t at the giant cavern yet, but she knew it was coming. So far the gondola was running smoothly, she began silently praying it would stay that way. She was pulled from her thoughts at the sound of the tv coming to life. A picture of Elliot Ludwig himself, with his face censored for whatever reason, filled the screen.
“Hello. My name is Elliot Ludwig. When you look around at the world today, what one thing do you think it needs more of? I asked around once.”
The screen went to a grey background, and the image of a dollar bill appeared at the top left corner.
“Money, I never have enough.”
A lightbulb appeared in the top right corner.
“Understanding, I can never get any.”
A cross appeared in the center.
“Faith, the common man has lost it. Each answer was different, and I could perhaps see some little truth in each.”
Elliot’s censored image filled the screen again.
“But I think each was also missing something. Something simple.”
The gondola started going over the canyon, but Maddie hardly noticed due to the memories flowing through her as she watched the tape again after so long. It felt like she was a little girl again, sitting with Theodore as they watched it for the first time.
“You see, not one of them could muster a smile.”
The Playtime Co. logo came across the screen. The video had a pause, letting Maddie look out the window at the canyon Playcare was in, but she didn’t feel scared about the gondola falling anymore.
“A smile is hope. A smile is love. A smile…is understanding. And there is nothing more gratifying to my soul than being the reason for a child’s smile. To be the spark that ignites all their hopes and dreams. For it is only through hopes and dreams that we may create a better world. One where our children need not be afraid. One where they are protected. After all, this company and its toys are nothing without them. These children deserve to smile, they deserve to love, and they deserve a safe home.”
The gondola began to enter the dome Playcare was inside. A white fog engulfed the gondola, preparing it for the grand reveal. Within seconds, that reveal was made.
“That is why it is with enormous pleasure, that as the founder of Playtime Co., I announce…”
Playcare stood in all its glory. The statue of the Smiling Critters stood in the center. The school, toy store, playhouse, counselors office, and home sweet home all circled around it. The blue, artificial sky with puffy, white clouds created a welcoming atmosphere.
“Playcare! Our very own onsite orphanage. But it’s not only that. It’s a school, a playhouse, a place to belong. Our very own ecosystem beneath the surface, dedicated in every inch and detail to ensuring a child’s smile. Its teachers and counselors, mothers and fathers, until such a time they have all of that in you. May Playcare bring joy, inspiration, and smiles to all who enter these doors. For what gives life its meaning, if not a smile?”
The gondola came to a stop once it reached the bottom, the doors opened, sending more dust into the air, and Maddie stepped off. She looked around at the site, and was startled when she heard a squelching sound. She looked down and staggered back as she realized she stepped on a dead mini Huggy that was missing its head. She backed away from it and looked at the rest of the view. The staircase down was littered with dead toy parts and streaks of blood, it gave Maddie a sour feeling in her gut. Being in Playcare in general made her feel uneasy. This place used to bring her so much joy, so much love, so much peace. After learning what Playtime was doing, those feelings were replaced with sickness. The sound of the phone ringing pulled Maddie out of the head, she answered the phone.
“Pssst, it’s me again, Ollie. Cool place right?” Ollie asked.
“…Not anymore…” Maddie answered.
“I know…the kids used to live here. Now look at it…” Ollie replied.
Maddie felt her heart die a little.
“Anyway… do you see that statue in the middle of the room?” Ollie said, brushing off whatever feelings there was a moment ago.
“A little hard not to, what about it?” Maddie asked, trying to brush off her feelings as well. She needed to focus. There were lives that were depending on her now.
“Take the stairs that go under it.” He instructed. “There’s a really cool room in there that powers literally ALL of Playcare! I can give you a key down there.”
Maddie did as he said, she went to the door between the statues of CraftyCorn and Hoppy Hopscotch, surprised to see it was unlocked, and walked down the stairs. She looked around the new space, it certainly wasn’t an area kids were supposed to see. It was full of pipes, barrels, boxes, buttons, a generator, and other tech stuff Maddie didn’t understand. She made her way towards some kind of door, when she opened it it revealed a pipe thing. She heard a rattling noise come from it and a key slid down from some kind of wire. She took the key and inspected it, it was a simple blue key.
“So, you got the key…now the question you’re probably asking yourself is: where does it go? Well, head back out, and you should find a door just to the left of the cable car you took down here.” Ollie said.
Maddie did as Ollie said and sure enough, she saw a door by the gondola. She had seen workers go in and out that door several times both when she lived in and visited Playcare. She’d always wondered what was in there and she’d be lying if she said part of her wasn’t still curious about it. She walked over to the door, found it unlocked, and went inside. She walked down a somewhat long hallway, turned a corner, and-
“Oh my god…”
She stood in front of a huge machine with three tanks sticking out of it. The room stunk of rot and poppies. The tank on the right was full of red smoke. The floor was covered in more giant scratches. What the hell was this room?
“Welcome to the gas production zone.” Ollie said over the phone, answering Maddie’s question without her needing to ask it. “The beating heart of the whole evil Playcare system. All that you see coming from the machine is made right here in the factory. I believe you know what it’s called already.”
“The red smoke.” Maddie said.
“Exactly.” Ollie replied. “Right now it’s all heading off to the right. We need to make that red smoke go left instead. That’s how we can get to him”
“Wait. Where’s DogDay?” Maddie asked. “Poppy said he’d be here to help me out with this. Shouldn’t I wait for him?”
“We really can’t. It’s best we get this done as quickly as possible. The machine will probably have a few dumb safeguards for you to work around, but I think you can do it.” Ollie said.
“Ollie I appreciate your belief in me but I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t know how this thing works.” Maddie bluntly said.
“Don’t worry, it’s really not that complicated. It’s just a button you need to press. I’ll call you once it’s done.” Ollie hung up before Maddie could say anything else.
“Damn it…” Maddie sighed.
Maddie walked over to the machine, gagging as she found the source of the rotting smell. The source being two decapitated Candy Cats in a puddle of dried blood. Maddie looked at the console of the machine and was shocked to see it actually was just a button. Well, there was some other stuff on the console as well, but it seemed like all she really needed to do was press a button. Except the screen said there was no power. That shouldn’t be too much of a problem though. She looked around the room and saw a wire leading to some kind of lift, she chose to ignore that. What caught her attention was a doorway to another room. She walked over to it and gasped slightly at the sight. The room was big, and had a giant hatch dead center in the middle. She saw a cardboard cutout of CatNap next to a lever, Maddie assumed it was for the hatch. She pressed the button on the cutout a couple times, but it only made the sounds of sleeping, the last one sounding like CatNap was trying to eat the microphone recording the sound. Maddie focused her attention back to the hatch, it gave her a sickly, sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Where do you go…?” She asked herself.
Maddie noticed a tv on the other side of the room. She walked over to it and saw it was red, she looked around a bit and didn’t find any red tapes, she’d have to keep an eye out for one. What she did find was a big battery, she took it and went back into what she was calling the machine room. She walked into the machine room and saw a battery hole next to a closed shutter door on the other side of the room. She assumed that’s what the battery was for and went over to it. She popped the battery in, it opened, she walked inside, and she heard the grabpack start making all kinds of sounds she didn’t like. She quickly took it off and both hands fired out of it, followed by a few sparks and some smoke. The train crash must have busted it and she had no clue how to fix it.
“Yeah, you're not going on my back anymore.” She said as she dropped it to the floor. “Shit…now what. I can’t do anything around here without that I bet.”
Maddie glanced across the new room and noticed the sound of static coming from a parsley green tv on the wall. Well she might as well look for it, it was all she could do without a grabpack. She didn’t have to look very hard, however. She found the tape sitting next to some kind of knocked over shelf…and right next to that shelf, a new grabpack! It even came with a brand new hand already installed.
“Oh hell yeah! Score!” Maddie cheered.
Maddie quickly grabbed the new grabpack and put it on. She inspected the new hand, it was purple and had some kind of wires on it, it looked very techy. She picked up the tape and went back to the broken grabpack to get the blue hand. Thankfully the blue hand was easy to install, she sighed in relief at that and put in the tape. This tape explained that the new grabpack she was wearing was a prototype 2.0 version. This one had an extended wire length, the ability to swap hands, and air jets to break long falls! When the tape ended, she looked at the new hand, and a wide smile spread across her face. She felt a wave of power wash over her. She put the green hand onto the new grabpack, tested the swapping feature, and started moving, only to stop as she noticed something tucked in the corner of the room, it was another parsley green tape. Maddie used the new grabpack to both get the tape and test how well it worked at grabbing stuff. It worked perfectly, and Maddie read the label on the new tape, it was labeled ‘Tina Sawyer Interview 1995’. The memory of Tina flashed before her eyes. She was an old individual, she was friendly if you approached her, usually participated in activities in Home Sweet Home, and would lend a hand if you asked her to. Get food involved, especially sugary stuff, and she’d become very aggressive. It caused the orphans to avoid her like the plague, but if Maddie remembered correctly, that only began happening when she became an actual orphan. She wondered if it was a coping mechanism. She put the tape into the player, and the screen came to life once again, this time displaying a fifteen year old plus sized girl wearing a blue shirt with teal overalls and cap. She was in the same room Connor was in during his interview, Stella’s office.
Stella: “Hello Tina, how are you doing today?”
Tina: “Fine I guess, why are you recording this?”
Stella: “It’s just a procedure, do you know why you're here?”
Tina: “Because you said you wanted to talk to me?”
Leith: “We need to talk about your behavior young lady.”
Tina: “*groans* Why are you here?”
Leith: “Because I’m sick of hearing about your attitude in Playcare!”
Stella: “Leith! Please calm down.”
Tina: “What attitude? I’m not being a jerk like Liam or spreading rumors like Ruby.”
Leith: “But you are hoarding food, stealing treats from younger orphans, and making a ruckus at meal times! It’s getting on everybody’s nerves Tina!”
Stella: “But that’s not the main reason you're here today! We are worried about you Tina, these habits you’ve picked up aren’t healthy-“
Tina: “Oh my god! Did you really just drag me in here to give me shit about how I eat just like everyone else!?”
Leith: “Watch your mouth!”
Stella: “No! Of course not Tina! We’re just worried about you getting an eating disorder-“
Tina: "Only because nobody here actually cares if I do, they just don’t want more work for themselves! I see right through this bullshit! You all don’t actually care about the kids here, you just want to look good for the public, Kevin was proof of that!”
Stella: “Tina we did everything-“
Leith: “Kevin was a lost cause, he had no hope to begin with, don’t use him as an example!”
Stella: “Leith! How could you say that?!”
Leith: “Am I wrong Stella, you know that boy was problematic.”
Stella: “Yes! You are wrong!”
Tina: *scoffs* Uncle Harley was right when he said he worked with a bunch of clowns.”
Leith: “What was that young lady!?”
Tina: “You heard me.”
The tape ended before Leith could respond.
“Damn Tina, good for you! Call that asshole out!” Maddie chanted at the blank tv.
Had she not known what Playtime was doing when she first saw that tape she’d have been mad at Tina for making accusations like that. Now that she knew what was happening here, questioning how much the staff actually cared, she was on Tina’s side. Now, back to her mission, get the power going. She saw a room through one of the windows in the gas production room that looked promising. There was just one little problem, she couldn’t get into it. All the doors were blocked by rubble. Ok, time to head back to the room and find a plan B. She walked back out into the gas production room, and noticed a purple pad on the ground with a big purple hand print on it to the left of the room she just came out of. Putting two and two together, she figured this is what the nice new purple hand was for. She stepped onto the pad, fired the purple hand to the pad, and-
“Holy shit!” Maddie cried out as she flew at least eight or nine feet into the air.
She began falling, expecting a painful landing, only for the air jets to kick in and cushion the fall. It still hurt a bit though, even with the air jets. Maddie looked up at the area she just flew up to from the ground, she tried the hand again and saw a catwalk leading to a door that would bring her to the room she needed to go to.
“Well isn’t that convenient.” She said to herself.
Ok, she had a way up, now all she needed to do was figure out how to launch herself forward to get to the catwalk. It took her a few tries, but soon enough, she found out how to propel herself forward in the air, and landed on the catwalk, only hurting her ankles slightly in the process. After sitting for a moment to catch her breath and wait for the pain to leave, she began moving forward into the room. She really didn’t know what this new room was but there were streaks of blood everywhere on the floor followed by more giant scratches. She moved through the room quickly, rushing down the stairs she came across another hand print pad that would send her over a wall. Why this wall was directly in front of what seemed like the only way forward was beyond her, but she made it over only to discover another hand pad conveniently placed right in front of a large caved in part of the floor that looked like she wouldn’t be able to get out of it if she fell into it.
“What the hell happened here?” She asked herself.
Maddie took a deep breath, walked back to the edge of the floor she was on, ran towards the pad, and fired the hand once she was on it. She screamed while she soared across the hole and made a wobbly landing on the other side. The air jets helped break the fall but god did it still hurt her legs when she landed! She sat for a moment hissing in pain while she waited for it to pass. After a few minutes she got up and began walking forward.
“Ok, that hurt a lot, we’re not making any jumps like- are you kidding me!?” Maddie yelled as she stared at yet another caved in part of the floor with a conveniently placed hand pad right in front of it.
This time the jump would be made across a pool of…red water? Maddie stared at the sight, trying to wrap her head around what she was looking at. It didn’t have a metallic, coppery smell to it so it wasn’t blood, thankfully. Actually, now that she was paying attention to the smell of the mystery liquid, she realized that it smelled an awful lot like the red smoke, sharing the poppy smell mixed with the slightest hint of chemicals. Was this an ingredient for the red smoke? Well, whatever it was, something was telling her that she did not want to land in it, she really wasn’t in the best condition to go swimming at the moment, she didn’t know how deep it was and she didn’t see any way to climb out of it. Well, she didn’t have any other way across, so she repeated what she’d done moments ago, collapsing from the pain as she landed on the ground on the other side. She sat on the ground to catch her breath and wait for the pain to pass again, as she did she looked at the path ahead of her. Much to nobody’s surprise another part of the floor had caved in creating a jump that she’d have to suddenly become superhuman to make, and this time she didn’t see any purple hand pads to get across.
“Wonderful.” She groaned.
Once she felt like she could walk again she made her way to the broken path to see if she could find another way across. While searching, she noticed a big broken pipe sticking out of the wall, big enough for a person to stand on. She also noticed something dangling from the ceiling, it looked similar to the platform she had ridden on earlier. She used the grabpack to pull it down and bring it to her, it was a hand pad!. But the jump looked too big to make even with the purple hand. Maddie looked at the pipe sticking out of the wall, and got an idea, a very dangerous and probably stupid idea, but she didn’t have any other options. She used the pad to jump from the floor to the pipe, landing on it safely and only with a little pain much to her relief. She then moved the pad to the center of the red pool she was standing above and used it to make the rest of the jump across, it also didn’t hurt too much landing. Maddie looked at the fence door right in front of her, it looked like it opened upwards but was jammed, she simply climbed over it, not wanting to cause anymore pain to herself. Once over she walked forward and found herself in the room she had seen earlier, it was a power room!
“Alright!… How do I get the power back on?” She asked herself.
The room had two copper poles, each with one of those panels she’d seen earlier, two purple hand pads, a lake of the liquid poppy stuff dividing the room, a power outlet on the opposite side of where she was, and the power source on her side, but blocked off by a fence surrounding it.
“Crap…I knew I should have bought those wire cutters.” Maddie muttered.
Alright, time to tap into those puzzle solving skills. Maddie studied the purple hand pad for a moment and then looked back at the fenced off power source. She used the pad to see the top and was relieved to see a hole at the top. Nice! Now to get the poles sorted out. Maddie first went to the opposite side to see what she was working with, once across she looked at the outlet, then at the pole. If she remembered correctly from the power room in the front when she arrived, she’d need one hand on the source and another on the outlet. She grabbed the pole and aimed it so the hand would hit it. She went back across and moved the other pole so the hand would fire at the other pole and hit the outlet, she tested it and it worked! She got back to the top of the fence, connected one hand to the source, fired the others at the pole, and watched it hit the outlet. Nothing happened.
“Huh? Am I supposed to do something else?” Maddie asked herself.
Just as Maddie began trying to figure something else out, a noise made her stop. She turned to the direction of the sound and saw a shutter opening to reveal another power outlet. She then noticed a large wire on the floor that she hadn’t seen before glowing blue, oh! She must have got half of the power working, this must be the one for the other half, or something, she wasn’t really sure. What she did know is that the hand had to wrap around both poles, so she moved the closest pole so the hand would fire at the outlet, and moved the second one so it would wrap around the first pole. She got one hand on the source, fired the other at the furthest pole, watched it wrap around the closest, saw it hit the outlet, and heard the sound of the power coming back on!
“Yes!” Maddie cried out, quickly raising one arm in the air to celebrate her victory, only to feel a sharp pain in her chest and arm making her put it down quicker than she’d raised it. “Ow! Ok, not doing that again…ow…”
Maddie watched another wire begin glowing blue and saw it lead to a door. She got across the gap in the ground to get to that door. It opened as she walked up to it, she went through and went back to the screen and saw that it now just said ‘offline’ meaning there was power. Not knowing what exactly to do, she just pressed the big button in the center of the console. The screen went black for a moment, Maddie began internally swearing at herself thinking she just broke it, only to stop when she saw the screen light back up and say ‘online’. The screen then showed three rectangles, two being blank but the last one on the right was illuminated with blue. She then heard the sound of the gas being sucked and saw it being pushed into the middle tank, she then noticed the middle rectangle on the screen was illuminated and the right one wasn’t. Ok, she was moving the gas now, Ollie really wasn’t just being encouraging when he said this wasn’t complicated. She sighed in relief at her not breaking it, all she needed to do now was press the button again and-
Right as Maddie pressed the button, the lights went out, plunging her into darkness. She quickly got the flashlight out and began searching the room frantically for any foes that might have snuck in. She yelped at the sound of the phone ringing and quickly answered it.
“Oh no! Someone killed the power.” Ollie said in a disappointed yet anxious tone.
“Someone did this? I didn’t overload anything?” Maddie asked
“No, you didn’t. Don’t worry, I sent you another key, it’s under the statue. Use it to get into Home Sweet Home. Then once you're inside, find the buildings back up generator. Good luck!” Ollie said before hanging up.
Maddie didn’t waste any time. She rushed back to the statue as fast as her injured body would let her. Once she got back under the statue, she saw the damage to the generator. It was all clawed up and smashed, she didn’t want to know what did this. She rushed over to the tube she’d gotten the first key and watched another one slide down. She grabbed it and looked at it, it was yellow with a little house charm on it.Once she secured it she made a dash for Home Sweet Home.