Deceptive

Friendly Advice

Anybody else would've flown straight out the front door and back to the car, but they had come with the intent of finding Elizabeth and Afton, and that was what they were going to do. Even if they ran into... unexpected obstacles.

Foxy still couldn't quite believe it. He knew that Afton had apparently survived death and brought his youngest son back to life, but he still couldn't believe that he had just encountered his friend, whose mangled corpse was on display in multiple photos that Elizabeth had left behind, still walking.

Riley had survived an incident with one of her father's dangerous creations before. Maybe somehow, someway, she had again, even though she definitely appeared to be dead in those pictures.

But Elizabeth had said rather plainly that Riley did die. Was she lying? She had obviously done so before, so that was a strong possibility.

Maybe Afton had managed to reanimate another one of his kids.

Maybe the person Foxy had just encountered wasn't actually Riley, but instead an animatronic like Elizabeth. He didn't know.

He didn't know where she had gone.

He didn't know where anybody had gone.

He didn't even know if they had all managed to get away unscathed or not. The whole house was alive with noise. It groaned with every movement, the direction it was coming from completely indiscernible. That motor attached to Riley's pincer was still faintly audible. Loud crashes came and went every other second. Screams occasionally followed them. Hopefully, nobody had been seriously hurt.

Foxy was hiding behind the kitchen counter, unsure if he should move. He had the strong urge to get up and check on everybody else but didn't know if it was a good idea or not. After all, they did split up for a reason. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he ran into Riley again either.

"Riley's not dead -- I think -- and she's trying to kill us now. What I do?" he whispered to himself. "Maybe I could talk her out of killing us and taking Michael."

"That will not work."

Foxy looked to his right and was greeted with a pair of eyes staring at him. He jumped so hard that he smacked his head on an open drawer that was next to him. Forcing his yelp into a hiss, Foxy rubbed the back of his head and frowned. "Miles, you scared the crap out of me! How did you even get in here?"

"The same way I got into the warehouse. Remember, I go wherever Father goes."

"Right, I forgot about that. What were you saying?"

"Talking to her will not help," Miles repeated.

"Then what do I do?" Foxy's frown deepened. "It is really her, isn't it?"

"I can assure you that it is."

Okay, it was her. It was the real Riley. Foxy inhaled sharply. "Okay, well, something's clearly not right with her and it's definitely Afton's fault. I don't know what he did to her, but I know he's done something."

"That much is obvious." Miles shuddered, his broken and rusted joints rattling a bit. "I have witnessed her being broken down and put back together. Trust me, attempting to converse with her will not help you."

"How can we know before we try?"

"I have tried many times to no avail. The person you knew is no longer there."

"What if she is, though? What if you're wrong?"

"Even if I am wrong, even if she is still buried somewhere deep, deep inside of the fog in her head, there is no way that any of you could help her out of it. And the people that can are far from being on your side."