The trio walked in the hallway in silence. Michelle looked down, arms crossed, in a slight tremble while Miss Delight and Mommy Long Legs walked beside her.
Mommy Long Legs looked at 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 really good for reconnaissance." Michelle was silent. "Oh?" Mommy Long Legs asked.
Miss Delight looked at 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. "After CatNap told my sister about the children, they had each other's backs ever since and always report back to him," she continued. Mommy Long Legs hummed. "To think she trusted him..." she said.
Michelle walked ahead. "Can we... can we not talk about them... please..." she said, lowly. The toys looked at Michelle. "Ah, apologies, Miss Misha," Miss Delight said before they followed her.
When Michelle looked forward, she saw an orange hand shaped into a finger gun in a canister next to a cutout of a Smiling Critter shaped like a green bunny. Michelle looked at the orange hand before grabbing it.
Miss Delight looked at the cutout and pressed 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 gate beside the trio opened, which made them look at it.
Michelle aimed the orange hand before pulling the right trigger, shooting a flare out of it. Michelle looked at the orange hand as the flare hit the ground before it disappeared. "It's a flare gun..." she said. "Oh, sure, give me another weapon that can take another person's life."
The toys looked at Michelle, concerned, as she walked forward. "Let's go," she continued. The toys nodded before walking forward; as they went down the steps, Michelle spotted a battery on a ledge before aiming and pulling the left trigger.
The blue hand grabbed the battery before retracting. Michelle walked toward the door and spotted the battery socket before placing the battery inside it, which opened the door. Soon after, the trio entered a large cave system.
Mommy Long Legs turned her head to the right and saw an orange VHS tape on the ground before stretching her arm to it and grabbing it. "Another VHS tape," she said.
Mommy Long Legs turned her head to the left and saw a TV with an orange VHS player. "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, they heard something clinking 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 those kids deserve some real sunlight instead of floodlights and painted skies?"
Michelle glanced at the TV. "Hell, we're not even allowed to talk to these kids, isn't that—" Rich stopped himself and 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, uhm... 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 hummed. "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 trembled and clenched her arms before stopping and approaching the edge of the cave, which made the toys look at her. "Is something wrong?" Miss Delight asked. Michelle took a deep breath before letting out a loud, blood-curdling scream, which shocked the duo.
When Michelle stopped, she could hear the echoes of her scream. Michelle tried catching her breath before her tears fell. "Why does this stupid company hate me?!" she shouted.
Michelle sat on the ground and grabbed her head as she trembled. "Sometimes I wonder if coming back here was a mistake..." she said, lowly. Tears pricked Mommy Long Legs's eyes. "Oh, my poor little Misha..." she said, lowly, before approaching Michelle.
Mommy Long Legs lay next to Michelle. "What's wrong?" she asked. Michelle gripped her head tighter. "It's... everything..." she said, lowly. "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 head and looked 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. "How can I move on with this guilt?" she asked. Mommy Long Legs frowned as Michelle cried before looking down and lying her head on the ground. "I... have also killed people..." she said, lowly.
Michelle stopped crying before lifting her head from her knees and glancing at Mommy Long Legs. "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..."
Mommy Long Legs 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 done awful things to you."
Mommy Long Legs gently wiped 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.
Michelle stared at Mommy Long Legs before smiling. "Thank you, Marie..." she said. Mommy Long Legs was 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... I've never had someone call me by my human name in a long time..." she said. Michelle glanced at Mommy Long Legs. "Would you, uh... rather be called Marie?" she asked.
Mommy Long Legs rubbed her cheek against Michelle's. "I'd prefer you 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 and looked 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 have hate for 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. "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. "Bigger Bodies Initiative?" she asked.
Miss Delight looked at Michelle. "The larger toys like Mommy and 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. "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 carried 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 Mommy Long Legs climbed over obstacles, Michelle looked around the caves. "To think this area holds Playcare and all its facilities..." she said, lowly. Miss Delight looked down. "Not the most ideal place for children..." she said, lowly.
When Mommy Long Legs got on the catwalk, she froze and trembled, which made the duo look at her. "What's wrong, Mommy?" Michelle asked. When Miss Delight looked forward, she froze. "Miss Misha..." she said, lowly.
When Michelle looked forward, her face went pale when she saw CatNap kneeling before a structure made of dead toys 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 said. "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 said. Mommy Long Legs quickly nodded. "You don't have to tell me twice," she said before getting on the catwalk.
When Michelle glanced at the back, she noticed CatNap was gone. Michelle looked down as Mommy Long Legs climbed down. Is killing him... really the only option...? she thought.
Soon after, Mommy Long Legs stood before a door with a blue hand scanner. "This is our stop," she said before placing the duo on the ground.
Michelle looked up and saw the text 'Playhouse' above them. "The one area the Smiling Critters and Ollie said to stay away from," she said before sighing. "Unfortunately, this is our only path to get to the others."
Michelle pulled the left trigger, launching the blue hand to the scanner. After the scanner finished, the door shutter opened. "Expect some dangerous stuff in here," Michelle said. The toys nodded before entering the building.