Deceptive

Metal

Elizabeth could be seen rounding one of the corners in the back hallways.

Foxy grabbed Ballora's wrist, pulling her along as he gave chase. It wasn't long before they all began to approach the back room, and Foxy began to worry that Elizabeth was going to try and make it outside.

But she couldn't.

Charlie closed the backdoor, eyes wide with surprise because clearly, she hadn't expected to walk in on what was currently transpiring.

Elizabeth stumbled to a halt, hissing something under her breath. She whipped her head back to look at Foxy and Ballora, finding them blocking the doorway. There was a very real, very vulnerable look of fear on her face -- but then, as abrupt as a lightning strike, it was quickly replaced with the impassive expression everyone was more used to seeing her wear.

Freddy quietly set down the bag of trash he had been about to take to the dumpster, looking incredibly confused.

"What's going on here?" Charlie asked after a moment, still holding onto the door handle and doing so with enough force that her knuckles had turned white.

"I kind of sort of told Ballora about the things you gave me and we decided—" Ballora sent Foxy a look. "Okay, I talked her into questioning Elizabeth with me and we uh, may have tied her to a chair. She answered our questions but broke free and ran off when we turned our backs."

"You restrained me. I panicked," Elizabeth said defensively, hand searching for something in her pocket and coming back with nothing. Her lighter, maybe.

"Sorry about that." Foxy meant it too, even though he still wasn't sure that she was innocent now.

"What are you doing here, Charlie?" Ballora asked.

"I told Foxy that I was gonna come back after I found answers. I'm pretty sure I also told him to wait for me."

"Sorry," he apologized once more.

"Are all of you plotting against me or something? What exactly did I do to make you all act like this?"

"You know what you did." Charlie let go of the door handle and stepped closer to Elizabeth, narrowing her eyes. "And you know that you never actually came back from that warehouse, don't you?"

"What are you going on about? Where the hell else would I have come from?"

"Listen. You aren't fooling me. You never have. You're not fooling anyone else here anymore, either. I... I didn't understand how, and I know there are things I'm still missing, but I've enough figured out enough to not feel right leaving you here with these people."

"Are you trying to imply that I'd hurt them or something? The fuck, Charlie?"

"With all things considered, I can't put it past you." Stepping even closer to Elizabeth, the brunette reached into her jacket and pulled out a pocket knife, which had a serrated blade about five inches in length.

Although Elizabeth's expression remained unchanged, her shoulders tensed slightly. "What the fuck, Charlie?" she said again.

"I don't want to use this, but I am not letting you walk out of here without giving me answers, or... or letting you hurt somebody here. I am sick of all of this. It's going to end. You're going to cooperate, or else. What's your actual name?"

"Elizabeth. Exactly what you've all been calling me already."

"Is it?"

"Yes," Elizabeth bit out, sounding as if the mere implication that her name could have or ought to have been anything else was offensive to her.