Primary Directive (Across the Years Part Four)

The Tape is Overdue

"They lied to us. They lied to all of us. They told us the whole point of this VR game was to undo the bad PR done by a rogue indie game developer, who supposedly made up a bunch of crazy stories that tarnished the brand. But that's not true at all! Fazbear Entertainment hired that game developer! Those indie games were designed to conceal and make light of what happened. This isn't just an attempt to rebrand. It's an elaborate cover-up."

Travis hit the pause button on the recording.

Wendy swallowed. "Why are you showing me this?" she asked, folding her arms.

Zachary narrowed his eyes on her. "Guess."

The three were in the personal office of the new Fazbear CEO-that, of course, being Zachary with Travis taking another large role. Wendy was sitting on the opposite side of the desk, with Zachary opposite her while Travis leaned against the side of the desk, hand on the recording.

Wendy sighed. "What is that?"

"That is a recording we found inside the Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience," Zachary replied. "It was made by a young woman named Victoria Abadiano, who was on the development team for the game and beta tested it."

"Okay?" Wendy asked, shifting in her seat.

"How exactly did she know about that?" Travis asked, bending over the desk and looking at her. "If I recall correctly, everyone who knew about our arrangement is inside this room right now."

"I don't know," Wendy shrugged. "Did you have any memos or any kind of paper trail about our deal? Anything you could have sent over to Silver Parasol by accident?"

The room was silent. Then, Zachary leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk. "How did you know about Silver Parasol?"

Wendy paused. "What?" she asked. "You said she was working on the VR game, right? Silver Parasol is the development company that was hired for it, isn't it?"

"Yes, but that information hasn't yet been released to the public," Zachary replied. "The press didn't know what Silver Parasol's project was, and that was the only connection between us and them. So how did you know that Silver Parasol was the company we contracted?"

Wendy froze. "I..."

Travis leaned forward. "Please, be honest, kid."

Wendy narrowed her eyes. She wasn't a 'kid' anymore-she was twenty-two years old, for Christ's sake.

The woman had grown beyond who she was before. It had all started with the deal she'd struck with Fazbear-after making the first Five Nights At Freddy's game, Travis and Zachary had quickly contacted her. Though Wendy had been unsure at first, they were quick to reassure her that not only did they like the idea, they wanted to fund her to make more. However, they were clear with her what the real reason was.

She'd kept up the games, creating six in total. Each one was based on a different section of the Survival Logbook she'd found. Each one earned her a surprising amount of money, so much so that she and her mom had been able to move out of the trailer park and into a nicer home.

For each game, Fazbear gave her a paycheck-well, not Fazbear, but Zachary himself. They didn't want a connection between those games and Fazbear itself.

Eventually, however, the second part of the Warden Brother's plan was set into motion. While Wendy had been making the games, she'd been using a fake name. The woman had crafted an intricate persona-Steve Snodgrass. A reclusive indie game developer with a history of failure.

All the while, the brothers had been creating a new business model-the Fazbear Funtime service. They'd been outsourcing labor, contracting other building companies and preparing for the other shoe to drop.