The trio walked in the hallway in silence. Michelle looked down with her arms crossed, slightly trembling, while Miss Delight and Mommy Long Legs walked beside her.
Mommy Long Legs turned her head to Miss Delight. "So, Miss Delight... if you don't mind me asking, how did you escape your sister's sight?" she asked.
Miss Delight looked down. "Well... while my sister's steps were loud, mine were very quiet..." she said. "A very good thing to have for stealth. It's also helped me with reconnaissance."
Michelle remained silent and clenched her arms a bit. "Oh?" Mommy Long Legs asked.
Miss Delight turned her head to Mommy Long Legs. "As I was trying to hide from my sister, the entrance to the school opened... revealing CatNap at the front," she said. "My sister wanted to kill him, but... he somehow persuaded her to team up with him."
Miss Delight looked down with angry eyes. "After CatNap told my sister about the children, they had each other's backs ever since and always reported back to him," she continued.
Mommy Long Legs hummed. "To think she trusted him..." she said.
Michelle started walking ahead at a slightly fast pace. "Can we... can we not talk about them... please..." she said in a low voice.
The duo looked at Michelle. "Ah, apologies, Miss Misha," Miss Delight said before they followed her.
When the trio looked forward, they saw an orange hand shaped into a finger gun in a locker next to a cutout of an anthropomorphic bunny toy with lime green fur and green fur on its paws, on the tips and on the inside of its ears, and on its tail, wearing a collar with a gold lightning bolt pendant before approaching it.
Michelle looked at the orange hand before twisting the knob, switching from the green hand to the empty slot and grabbing the right arm cannon's handle.
As Michelle grabbed the orange hand, Miss Delight looked at the cutout before pressing the button. "I'm Hoppy Hopscotch! Wanna try hopping to the moon with me?" it asked.
Miss Delight looked at the cutout. "Logically speaking, that would be impossible to do," she said.
Mommy Long Legs looked at Michelle as she put the orange hand in the empty slot. "A new hand... what does it do?" she asked.
The door shutter beside the trio opened, which made them look at it. Michelle stared at the orange hand before aiming the right arm cannon at the opening. When Michelle pulled the trigger, a flare came out of the barrel before hitting the wall.
Michelle looked at the orange hand as smoke came from the barrel and the flare on the ground disappeared. "It's a flare gun..." she said before her expression grew somber. "Oh, sure, give me another weapon that can take another person's life."
The duo looked at Michelle, concerned, as she walked forward. "Let's go," she continued.
The duo slowly nodded before following Michelle; as they went down the steps and crossed a metal bridge, she spotted a battery on a ledge.
Michelle grabbed the left arm cannon's handle before aiming it at the battery's handle and pulling the trigger. The blue hand shot forward and grabbed the battery before retracting back to Michelle.
When the trio was close to a large shutter, Michelle spotted the battery socket on the right wall before approaching it and placing the battery inside it, which opened it; soon after, they entered a large cave system.
Mommy Long Legs turned her head to the left and saw a dark orange VHS tape on the middle wooden plank before stretching her arm toward it and carefully grabbing it. "Another VHS tape," she said.
Mommy Long Legs turned her head to the right and saw a TV with a dark orange VHS player next to it. "And there's the VHS player; why don't we take a brief break?" she continued before inserting the tape into it.
After the TV booted up, the trio heard something clinking in the background and a man groaning. "Stupid clunky elevator," Rich said.
"What was that, Richie?" a man asked.
"Nothing, nothing," Rich said. "Let's just get this shipment dropped and go."
As the trio listened to the audio, they could hear Elliot in the background before it suddenly stopped. "I take it you're not a fan of this place? Are you?" the man asked with a slight chuckle.
"Nope... never liked the feel of it," Rich said. "I mean, don'tcha think these kids deserve some real sunlight instead of floodlights and painted skies?"
Michelle let go of the arm cannons' handles and crossed her arms before glancing at the TV. "Hell, we're not even allowed to talk to these kids, isn't that—" Rich stopped himself before he cleared his throat. "Sorry, Stu..."
Stu laughed a bit. "Sorry? That doesn't sound like the Rich I know," he said.
"Well... I'm trying to stop being so pissed off all the time," Rich said. "My wife says I'm a lovely man, but I gotta control my temper. So I'm doing it for her."
Stu chuckled. "You're just different, Rich, honest to a fault... but I've always liked that about you," he said.
"Yeah? Well, you're one of the few," Rich said.
The trio heard Stu hum. "You know, Richie, with my retirement coming up, hmm... they've been pushing hard for me to choose my replacement," he said. "I'm actually thinking about giving the role to you."
The trio heard Rich sound baffled. "Really?" he asked.
"Yeah, really; nothing official yet," Stu said. "But I think there's a decent guy beneath all that gruff; an honest, hardworking man. You prove me right... I'd say your chances are pretty good."
Rich sounded shocked. "Wow, I uh... jeez, I don't know what to say!" he said. "I'm just... glad to see not everyone in this place has it out for me."
The trio heard Stu chuckle. "Not everybody, Rich. Not everybody," he said before the video ended.
Mommy Long Legs stared at the TV with a hum. "That man seems like a decent guy," she said.
Miss Delight nodded. "I've seen him a few times, and Stu was very accurate about him," she said.
Michelle looked down, trembling, and clenched her arms tightly before she let go of them and approached the edge of the cave. The duo looked at Michelle as she stopped at the edge before looking forward. "Is something wrong?" Miss Delight asked, worried.
Michelle took a deep breath before letting out a loud, blood-curdling scream, which shocked the duo. When Michelle stopped screaming, she looked down and tried to catch her breath as the trio heard the echoes of her scream in the cave.
Soon after, tears fell from Michelle's eyes, and she clenched her fists before looking forward. "Why does this stupid company hate me?!" she shouted, which made the cave echo.
Michelle sat on the ground with her knees up and grabbed her head with both hands before laying her head against them, trembling. "Sometimes I wonder if coming back here was a mistake..." she said in a low voice.
Mommy Long Legs stared at Michelle with a frown and tears pricking her eyes. "Oh, my poor little Misha..." she said in a low voice before approaching Michelle.
When Mommy Long Legs was close to Michelle, she lay next to her. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Michelle gripped her hair while trembling. "It's... everything..." she said in a low voice. "All I wanted to do was find my friends, but now there's always new pressure added to my plate."
Michelle gritted her teeth. "Trying to stay strong for all of you, trying to keep myself alive from toys that want to kill me, trying to keep high expectations," she continued. "And now..."
Michelle let go of her hair and lifted her head before looking at her trembling hands. "I've never killed someone before... yet I did it with Miss Delight's sister..." she said. "I'm a murderer... I know she already forgave me, but..."
Tears fell from Michelle's eyes before she covered them with her knees and wrapped her arms around her legs. "How can I move on with this guilt?" she asked.
Mommy Long Legs frowned as Michelle cried against her knees before looking down. Mommy Long Legs placed her hands over one another before laying her head against them. "I... have also killed people..." she said in a low voice.
Michelle stopped crying before lifting her head from her knees and glancing at Mommy Long Legs with tears pricking her eyes. "It... wasn't my proudest moment..." she continued. "What the scientists did to me... to the other toys... I couldn't forgive them."
Mommy Long Legs looked down. "Then after it was all over... I must've reached a breaking point and remained at the Game Station," she said. "The guilt weighed on my shoulders for a long time... if I had stayed there any longer, I would've gone insane from the solitude..."
Mommy Long Legs gently smiled at Michelle. "That is... until I saw you again..." she continued. "Your kind and gentle heart that gives those second chances even though they've made bad choices or bad decisions against you."
Mommy Long Legs lifted her head before raising her right hand and gently wiping Michelle's tears away with her finger. "If you're willing to give others second chances for the awful things they did... then you should be given second chances in return," she said before pulling her hand away.
Michelle stared at Mommy Long Legs before smiling. "Thank you, Marie..." she said.
Mommy Long Legs looked at Michelle, surprised. "Marie?" she asked.
Michelle flinched a bit and looked away. "Sorry, that slipped out by accident," she said.
Mommy Long Legs giggled a bit. "It's fine; just that... it's been a very long time since someone called me by that name..." she said.
Michelle glanced at Mommy Long Legs. "Would you, uh... rather be called Marie?" she asked.
Mommy Long Legs brought her head close to Michelle's before rubbing her cheek against hers. "I'd prefer you to call me by who I am now, my little Misha..." she said.
Michelle giggled a bit. "Very well then, Mommy," she said.
Miss Delight stared at the duo with somber eyes before looking down. Michelle turned her head to Miss Delight before standing up and approaching her, which made Mommy Long Legs stand up and follow. "Did you hate them, too?" she asked.
Miss Delight held her arm. "Well... yes and no," she said. "I hated that the scientists turned children into toys, but..."
Miss Delight looked down with sad eyes. "If not for them, I would've been dead years ago," she continued.
Michelle looked at Miss Delight, surprised. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
Miss Delight looked at the duo. "Back in 1990, I was once a counselor to the children in Playcare, a young twenty-one-year-old woman trying to console children at the time," she said.
Miss Delight looked at her hand. "However, during my time as a counselor... I was diagnosed with stage-four ovarian cancer," she continued.
The duo was shocked. "So when the scientists offered me to take part in the Bigger Bodies Initiative, I took it," Miss Delight said.
Michelle looked at Miss Delight, confused. "Bigger Bodies Initiative?" she asked.
Miss Delight looked at Michelle. "The larger toys like Miss Mommy and Mr. Huggy... they were given certain tasks due to their size," she said. "However, there are a few large toys that lost their humanity to those experiments."
Michelle looked down as Miss Delight clenched her fist with angry eyes. "There's a small part of me that's grateful that they saved me, but I'll never forgive them for what they did to the children," she continued.
Michelle looked at the cave. "Well then, I say let's get out of this place," she said. "The others are probably worried sick about us."
Mommy Long Legs scooped Michelle and Miss Delight in her right hand. "You two rest up; I can take it from here," she said.
The duo nodded as Mommy Long Legs walked forward; as she climbed over obstacles, Michelle looked around the caves. "To think this area holds Playcare and all its facilities..." she said in a low voice.
Miss Delight looked down with somber eyes. "Not the ideal place for children..." she said in a low voice.
When Mommy Long Legs got on the catwalk and looked forward, she froze in horror and trembled, which made the duo look at her. "What's wrong, Mommy?" Michelle asked.
When Miss Delight looked forward, she froze in horror. "Miss Misha..." she said in a low voice.
When Michelle looked forward, her face went pale when she saw CatNap kneeling before a structure made of toy pieces and the upper part of a human skeleton coming out of a dead PJ Pug-A-Pillar's mouth. "What... is that?" she asked.
Miss Delight stared at the structure. "It must be a shrine CatNap made for the Prototype," she whispered. "He worships him like a God..."
CatNap stood on two feet and held his arms out to the structure. Michelle stared at CatNap before looking at Mommy Long Legs. "We should leave while he's not looking," she whispered.
Mommy Long Legs quickly nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice," she whispered before she got on the metal bridge.
When Michelle turned her head to the shrine, she noticed CatNap was gone. Michelle looked down with a contemplative expression as Mommy Long Legs climbed down. Is killing him... really the only option...? she thought.
Soon after, Mommy Long Legs stood before a large shutter with a blue hand scanner. "This is our stop," she said before placing the duo on the ground.
Michelle looked up and saw a glowing sign that said 'Playhouse' above the large shutter. "The one area the Smiling Critters and Ollie said to stay away from," she said before sighing and grabbing the arm cannons' handles. "Unfortunately, this is our only path to get to the others."
Michelle aimed the left arm cannon at the scanner before pulling the trigger; the blue hand shot forward and touched it, activating it.
After the blue hand retracted back to Michelle, the large shutter created an opening. "Expect some dangerous stuff in this place," she said, which made the duo nod before they went through it.