The phone rang again. The trill jerked several heads upright; they were too worn out to react any more extremely. Slenderman went right back to checking cameras, L.J back to listening for steps, jingles and static, Dark Link and Jeff manning the buttons. After a few rings, the message started playing, for the pleasure of the few who weren't busy trying to keep them all alive.

The upbeat music of Barbie Girl filled the terrified silence, along with Phantom's drunken singing. "I'm a Barbie girrrrrl in a Barbie wooooorld!"

Smirky muttered an expletive.

The singing continued. "Life in plastic, it's faaaantastic!"

"Is there an off button?" Smiley questioned.

"Yooou can brush mah hair-"

Toby swung his hatchet down and the phone burst apart, buttons flying with mechanical parts, the receiver spinning off the edge of the desk by its cord. He raised the hatchet and slammed it into the phone again for good measure, leaving deep grooves on the tabletop. The recorded message became garbled and distorted, then cut out.

"Thank you, child," said Slenderman. In the background, Smirky turned his face to the ceiling and breathed out a deep sigh.

"You're wuh-welcome," said Toby.

Jeff happened to glance at the left door and gave a scream. He dove for the button to close it; seconds later, Foxy started banging on it. Slenderman cursed. The power dropped lower and lower with each hit. Phantom's needless phone call had distracted them all.

"Jeff, Chica!" Dark Link called in panic.

Jeff sprinted to the other side and closed the right door before Chica could step into the office. Once again they were put in the position of two doors closed, power draining fast, too fast.

"We're gonna die," Jeff said, "Oh sweet Zalgo, we're gonna die."

"We are not going to die," Slenderman said firmly. "Open the left door."

But as soon as they did, and Dark Link flashed the hall light, Bonnie was standing there, his head twitching in a violent and glitchy manner. Jeff slammed the left door button, shutting it on the malfunctioning bunny.

"Very well, the right door then," Slenderman said.

The power crept lower, closer and closer to zero.

Dark Link flashed the lights as Jeff opened the door, and immediately closed it on Chica's toothy beak before she could take one step closer.

"Still there!" Dark reported in a panicky voice.

"Go away, you old sacks of bolts and grease!" Jeff wailed.

"High score!" cheered BEN, victory music playing from under the desk.

Bonnie and Chica's heads were twitching violently on camera as they stayed in the west hall corner and east hall corner respectively. Freddy was in the east hall corner as well, his eyes pinpricks of white light as he stared up into the camera. Slenderman checked on Foxy, cursed loudly.

The curtains were wide open.

"We're gonna run out of power!" Jeff panicked.

"They're not moving!' Dark Link said, his voice high-pitched and shaking with fear. Their power was at ten percent. Each heartbeat that passed could mean that number dropping to nine, to eight, to seven...

"Brace yourselves!" Slenderman warned everybody just before Foxy made contact with the door. The sharp bang instantly brought the power down to four percent.

"Fuck!" someone swore, possibly and most likely Smirky.

The second bang echoed hard and loud in the office. Everyone was frozen, fearful, gazing at the indicator which informed them they had zero units of power remaining.

The lights went out. The monitor switched off. It was a total shutdown and they were left scared in the pitch blackness. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Smiley and Smirky's eyes glowed; thin rings of scarlet in the dark.

Every noise, every whisper, was amplified for their ears.

"I'm scared," whispered Sally.

Smirky's eyes flickered down. He pulled her close and held her tight. She buried her face in his neck, trembling.

The footsteps were coming. The laughs, the mechanical groans and creaks.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" BEN asked, poking his head out from underneath the desk. The light emitted by his Switch was dim and cool blue, making him visible.

"The power ran out," Slenderman said, sitting very, very still.

"Well, turn it back on," BEN complained. "I need to charge my stuff, man!"

"I do not think we can, child."

"The animatronics are coming," said Dark Link.

"Whaddia mean, you can't?" said BEN, crawling out from under the desk. The light of the switch was enough to faintly illuminate the room, glowing off of the huddled forms hiding inside it. Toby was holding his hatchet at the ready. Jeff and Dark Link were standing close together, the latter's hand on the glittering hilt of his sword. Smirky had Sally in his arms. Smiley was sitting next to them, his face white as a moon.

BEN hopped onto Slenderman's lap and touched the computer monitor. A volley of sparks jumped from his hand as it passed through the device, like a ghost passing through a wall. His tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he pushed his whole arm in, seeking something.

"And... voila!"

All of a sudden, the lights came back on and the monitor opened its eye and informed them they had twenty percent of power remaining. The doors slammed shut on either side, just in time to keep Freddy and his friends out of the office.

BEN turned around to face a room stunned into silence.

"There," he said, sucking Dorito dust off his fingers. "Easy peasy."

"You could do that all along?" Dark Link demanded.

BEN ignored him and hopped off the desk to resume his gaming, on a Switch freshly connected back to a power supply.

Dark Link ran a hand through his white hair. "He could do that all along," he muttered dazedly. "All along." He looked close to fainting. Jeff put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"It won't mean much if you don't start checking those cameras," Smirky said, still holding Sally.

"I- Yes- Yes, of course..." Slenderman said, seeming to just notice there was a job left to do. "Jeff, Darkness, back to action stations." A tentacle operated the computer, switching to a view of pirate cove, where Foxy was peeking out.

The two of them stumbled off to the buttons. Dark Link flashed the east hall light and found Chica was gone. Slenderman checked the cameras and found Freddy in the east hall corner, so they kept the right door closed. Bonnie wasn't in the west hall corner, so Jeff opened the left door and Dark Link flashed the light to verify there were no unpleasant surprises hiding behind.

Toby never put his hatchet away, and Smirky wouldn't let go of Sally.

"Come on," Smiley muttered desperately, checking the time on his phone. "Six AM, come on, come on... oh please come on..."

"Bunny!" Dark Link called, and Jeff knew to immediately close the left door. The right door was still shut and it could stay that way; Freddy had not moved. They were doing well enough for power. BEN had possibly saved them all without knowing, all to charge his Switch enough for Sonic Racing.

Foxy was staying put in pirate cove, thanks to Slendy's routine checking.

Sally left Smirky to grab the cupcake off the floor and brought it back to him, getting comfortable on his lap, which she had decided was the safest place to be with killer animals closing in from all sides. Smirky didn't complain.

Smiley smirked at him. "You big softie."

"Burn in hell," Smirky responded. "Say hello to Zalgo's mother in law for me."

Jeff opened the left door; Bonnie was gone.

"We're gonna make it!" he breathed, exhilaration in every word.

A jingle played, and it was different from Freddy's. Smiley checked his phone and threw his hands up in victory. "Six AM, baby!"

On cue, the security guard uniform poofed off their persons, leaving them in their original outfits. Dark Link hugged his hat with a delighted cry.

"H-Hooray!" Toby cheered, finally lowering his hatchet.

"Yay! Yay!" Sally jumped off Smirky's lap and jumped for joy, cupcake in her arms. "We didn't die! We're alive!"

Jeff and Dark Link shared a fist bump. Slenderman slumped back in the seat, sending it wheeling back a few inches, staring at the screen in relief, fiddling with the tie of his elegant black suit.

The victorious celebrations went on for another few minutes, then dwindled down and died as they all realized something rather important.

"Uh..." Jeff trailed off. "How exactly do we get out of here?"

"That," said Slendy, "is a very good question, child."