Chapter - 14

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers was not having a good day, by any measure. What started as a restaurant with delicious pizza and an amazing performance by their favorite band. Has now become a true horror story where their lives are in actual danger. That was made all the clearer when the robotic bunny started monologuing.

The moment when everyone accepted, they were in mortal danger was when the rabbit said, "You know, for your help in finishing six months of effort, you deserve a reward, and for dealing with that annoying usurper, I know the perfect one." In the blink of an eye, the rabbit closed the distance and stabbed the ninja lady, Yori, right in the chest. Ron cried out in disbelief, the rest of them were in a stunned silence. The rabbit then said, "All right everyone it's time to add more guests to the party! So, get in position."

The other animatronics began to shake and jerk, making short choppy movements. It was clear they were resisting. Then suddenly they all stopped at once. The rabbit took a step back, clearly confused for a moment. Then it turned and said, "Well, well, well, aren't you a stubborn one." The rabbit was facing the Happy Man. Then the rabbit said, "We'll have to fix that." It approached clearly intending to finish of the Happy Man. Since it was moving at a slower pace, Fred had a chance to react and use one of his traps.

The trap sent it flying, which gave the rest of them breathing room. Kim and Ron rushed to Yuri's side, but it was too late, Yuri was gone. Shaggy and Fred removed Yuri's staff from the Happy Man, sparks flew from the opening. Vanessa shouted, "Come on! We need to get him on his feet before Afton returns!"

The Happy Man responded, "T-That is n-not going to wo-work. All m-my fo-focUS is currently o-on protecting th-them. I-If I'm go-going t-to stop A-Afton, I-I-I need Pu-Puppet's hElp." Another shower of sparks flew from his chest. As he continued, "I-I can ke-keep them fr-from hurting YoU but o-only Puppet can blOCk o-out Afton. You ne-neEd to Hu-hurry before the Ni-Nightmares co-co-come."

It took Velma only a moment to figure out what he meant, and then they realized that the Puppet was not with the others. Which meant that it was probably at the gift shop near the front, on the opposite side of the building. The plan was simple but crazy. Fred, Ron, and Kim would guard the Happy Man, while everyone else would rush towards Puppet taking different routes.

While Shaggy and Scooby-Doo were the fastest and would take the most direct route, the others would try quieter methods. There were two problems, first they had no idea where Afton landed, and second was the Nightmares. Velma figured if they were meant to be Afton's muscle, them they would have a way out of that room that didn't involve the door.

Everyone wished each other luck, and then Shaggy and Scooby ran faster than they ever had before. At the halfway point they heard someone scream, they didn't stop to figure out who. When they made it to the gift shop, they heard a second scream. Shaggy was disheartened, because it meant at least two of the girls were in serious trouble. The went to the giant present, since that was where the Puppet would be, they tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

Then Shaggy tried knocking, then they heard a kid's voice, say, "I'm not coming out, it too scary out there." Then Shaggy said, "Look I know it's scary out here, believe me, but if you don't sing your song, then we are all going to die, and your family will be tormented forever. Is that what you want?!"

The box opened slightly, and the voice said, "No." Then they heard a third scream. Shaggy wanted nothing more to cry at that moment, but he looked at Puppet and said, "My friends are risking their lives right now, please, help us save them." They lid on the box closed, and then the voice said, "I'll try."

After a moment Shaggy and Scooby looked at each other for another moment wondering if they been lied to when the box suddenly collapsed, showing it was empty. Then music started playing and that was when the front doors began to open.

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Fred was using every trap in the book, but it was barely slowing Afton down. When the Nightmares showed up with torn and bloodied fabric from the girls, he thought it was too late for any of them. Then music started playing over the P.A. system. The Afton Rabbit said, "Looks like that kid of mine finally grew a spine, I'll have to rip it out later." The rabbit gestured to the Nightmares and said, "Finish it already." The fox rushed forth and leaped into the air. Freddie for a moment thought that this was it. When suddenly three more foxes tackled the attacking fox in mid-air. The Nightmare Bunny got clothesline by the gator, before the others started to dog pile it. It definitely was a sight to behold.

After letting out a scream, Afton charged at Ron, with the same speed which he used to take out Yuri. Only this time, the Happy Man intercepted, and yelled, "Run! F-Front doors are open!" As if to put emphasis on the fact it was not up for argument, light bulbs began exploding, and groaning from the roof meant it was threatening to collapse. They started running, then Freddie heard a voice say, "No! None of you are escaping here!"

Ignoring that, Fred just ran faster. More explosions and things collapsing threatening to bury them. When Fred saw the front lobby part of him was holding out hope that the girls would be there, maybe injured, but alive.

There was no such luck, only Shaggy and Scooby-Doo were there. Then the metal gate over the front doors began too slowly close. So that left no time to discuss what was happening. Only one choice, everyone there just ran right through the doors.

With everyone was outside, Fred finally started breathing, his heart pounding in his hear. The gate finished closing, and then he heard Ron calling out for Kim, evidently, she didn't make it out. Fred said, "We need to call the police, anyone who could help."

Ron pulled out a device and immediately began talking to someone called Wade.

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As they waited for the emergency service to arrive, Ron tried to think of when he lost sight of Kim. She was so skilled, so, capable, that he didn't both keeping an eye on her.

It took an hour for anyone to show up, evidently their GPS kept sending them to the wrong locations. When the police arrived, they asked questions, and then they tried to open the gate. For few minutes it didn't budge, but once they said, "This is the police! Open up!" The gate opens right away.

As everyone pour into the lobby, it was clear the building was a wreck. But there was the Happy Man standing in his usual place, of course he had visible damage. Then Ron walked up to him and asked, "Where are they?!" The police were stunned by Ron's boldness and total disregard for procedure. The Happy Man unaffected by this display answered, "That which was lost my be reclaimed at lost and found by the registers." He then pointed; Ron looked at that direction. There were four tarps were laid out, each one was obviously covering a body. He could instantly which was Kim and Yori, even without moving the tarp. The lead detective demanded to know what had happened. The Happy Man responded, "I have the relevant security footage pulled up, if you wish to view it."

The detective said, "Run it." Ron turns to see one of the promo monitors starts showing the security footage. First it showed what happened to Yuri. Then it showed what happened to Daphne, and then Velma. Finally, it showed what happened to Kim. Ron felt his heart squeeze as he watched. Kim was right behind him when Afton threw his knife and hit Kim in the back, piercing her lung. So, she couldn't say a word. Tears filled his vision as he witnessed her reached for him, but because he didn't notice, he kept running. She fell, not saying a word.

The detective asked, "Where are the machines responsible for these deaths?" The Happy Man answered, "They are contained behind the building waiting for proper decommissioning." The detective responded, "They are evidence and will be taken into are custody until they can be properly processed." The Happy Man responded saying, "If that's what you want, I won't interfere, as long as you sign this." He then pulled out a form and handed it to the detective.

The detective asked, "What is this?" The Happy Man answered, "A liability form, you and your department will need to take responsibility for any death and destruction those machines cause while in your possession." The detective looked at the paperwork, concern clearly visible on his face. The Happy Man added, "When it comes to that yellow rabbit, this is not the first time the police had to take it way for evidence. However, last time it broke out and burned down a warehouse owned by Fazbear Entertainment. So, a protocol was added by the executives, that if such a thing were to happen again, somebody else would pay for it."

The detective realizing the legal landmine that he was holding said, "This seems like some the D.A. needs to go over, instead let process the crime scene where the deaths took place." The Happy Man said, "I'm sorry, but I can't permit that, the area past this lobby is unstable and you would risk injury or even death, if you were to enter."

The detective was starting to get annoyed, but also realized that there was no point arguing with a machine, this whole affair will be handled by lawyers. Then the detective asked, "Can we at least take the victims out of here so their families can mourn them?" The Happy Man answered, "Of course." The paramedics came in and started putting the girls on stretchers and carrying them away.

Ron got into the ambulance with Kim's body. Ron was so distracted by the sight of Kim's body and the thought of what he was going to tell Mr. Possible left him distracted from a few key details. Like where was Vanessa's body, were the Hex Girls also killed. Was Kim's mom ever really there. And other important questions, but alas, such things were forgotten while he was drowning in grief.

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As the doors closed and the last of the emergency vehicles drove off. A women dressed in a green and black fox costume approached the Happy Man. After looking around really quick, she removed her mask. Then Shego said, "You know something, you might be the world's greatest actor."

H.M. briefly looked at Shego before saying, "I have no idea what you mean." Shego placed her hand over the place where Yuri's staff had pierced. The spot in question wasn't over anything vital, the only thing there was a small compartment that the Happy Man would use to store things when he was doing a slide of hand trick for kids. What was in there at that moment was a remote-controlled device that would shoot sparks on demand.

The Happy Man had been aware of Afton's presence since he discovered that Afton created the social media challenge, and while he couldn't keep Afton from influencing the Nightmares. The truth of the matter was that he could influence Afton. Not enough to force him to do anything he didn't want to, but causing Afton to rant and rave, and inadvertently take the blame for everything was well in his bag of tricks.

Just then a little drone flew by him, it gave a whimsical beep, and flew off. His latest creation was an improved version of a previous model. When he tested it on the Hex Girls, none of them burst into flames which was good. However, they still died unfortunately, but H.M. did figure why. The problem was the speed at which the information was being transferred. It simply left nothing behind, and the brain couldn't replace what was lost to run the important functions, like breathing, or keeping their heart pumping.

After some calculations, H.M. figured it would take at least eight hours minimum to harvest what he wanted and not kill the original, that left uncomfortable amount of time to risk discovery. So, he decided in the future he leave a temporary substitute. One that would conveniently dispose of itself a month or two after the switch was done.

Then Shego said, "You know I would love to know where that nerdy girl, Velma wasn't it? Got her sweater, because it was hiding some serious melons under. H.M. smirked, while he did give the bodies back, the truth of the matter was that his drone had already collected each one of the girls right before their "death" and since one of the other improvements was for the drone to no longer need physical contact for the download the targets mind, no one else noticed it. Between the alien woman, Warmonga, and now the five new additions, he has a bit of a backlog to take care. Well, even though all the damage was superficial, they would've had to shut down for renovations to make room for the new additions. So, he had time. Maybe he would try a different method on Kim Possible, might be fun to see how long she lasts. Then as if she was reading his thoughts, Shego said, "You know, you really are a bad man." H.M. responded, "You're wrong about that my dear. After all, I'm the Happy Man." He began to laugh and then he signaled the little helpers to start the clean-up. After all, they were the ones who fixed Afton's body, it was only right that they clean the mess.