In time, however, Michael was forced to return to work.
"What are you planning on, Michael?" Elizabeth asked as he made his way to the door. He had successfully put her back together again, but his work was very far from finished. Sure, maybe he'd polished up Elizabeth's body, removing any weapons she had (that metal claw was the first thing to go) and then adding in those defense systems of the controlled shock belts laced across her endoskeleton, but that wasn't it for her. Michael still wanted to build her a newer, better, safer, comfier, prettier body. The modifications to the Baby body were only temporary. But how was Michael going to about building that new body?
"I think I'm going to talk to Henry," he replied calmly as he reached the door, which still barely fit into the broken frame.
"Henry?! You mean like, Daddy's old partner?" Elizabeth recoiled in disbelief.
"Yeah, he's still alive, believe it or not," Michael smiled bitterly, understanding where Elizabeth's surprise had come from. "Turns out, he hadn't committed suicide after all. He just became a bit of a recluse, went into hiding, but he's back now. He helped me start up this last little pizzeria. It was his idea and my effort that brought it to life, but I'm going to ask him to help build you a new body."
"And you think he'll say yes?" doubt and guilt entered Elizabeth's voice yet again.
"I know he will," Michael promised. Ong, He won't judge you for what our father did. I know Henry. If anything, he'll be delighted to help you. His beef is not with you, it's with our father."
"But won't he be jealous of you and me? What about him and Charlie?" Elizabeth's voice grew soft and sad as she spoke that old name. Although there had come a time when she'd forgotten her own, she'd never forgotten that one. Henry's daughter, Charlie, had been Elizabeth's very best friend when they were both still alive, but then Charlie passed away. Henry seemed to have followed her to the grave, suddenly vanishing right from existence. Originally, this was chalked up as suicide, but from what Michael was saying, it hadn't been quite so drastic. Henry was still alive.
"Well, that's just it," a smile stretched its way across Michael's chapped and purpled face. "We found his daughter too..."
"You found her?! You found Charlie?!" Elizabeth was so surprised, she straightened up entirely and ended up hitting her massive metal head on Michael's ceiling. Luckily, the roof was still high enough that she didn't break anything. "Ooops," she grunted, slowly tilting her head backwards until she could see the ceiling. There was a small dent about the size of the top of her head, but that was it.
"Must you destroy my house like this?" Michael sighed, but he was smiling in amusement.
"I'm your big little sister, remember," Elizabeth muttered as she rotated her head back down to look at Michael, who was a foot and a half smaller.
"That you are," Michael agreed as he looked back up at her.
"But is it really true?" Elizabeth demanded next. "That they found Charlie, I mean."
"It is," Michael nodded. Although Elizabeth was unable to make very many facial expressions because of her metal face, Michael could sense that she was in total disbelief, laced with something akin to joy. Once again, Charlie had been her first and last friend up until tonight when she finally got to see Michael's true change of heart. It made sense that Elizabeth would be over the moon at the thought of Charlie being back in her life.
"And it is my goal," Michael continued. "To save her too. I know I wasn't supposed to let anything from this franchise go, but I'm a weak man-"
"No you're not!" Elizabeth interrupted. "You're the strongest, kindest, bravest person I've ever met!" she glared at him fiercely, eyes burning with sincerity. He smiled weakly at her before continuing.
"Thank you for having so much faith in me, but I really am very weak. It's because I'm going to save you, and her, and Henry, and myself instead of throwing us all away, like I should have. With you already here, I've proved that an animatronic can be saved. If you can be, so can she, and I know that Henry will follow suit. He's like me. He'll do anything to save the girl he loves. He'll stop his suicide mission if he knows that Charlie can be saved. I just have to talk to him, but I know I will get through to him with no trouble..."
Michael trailed off then, a pained but proud smile on his withered face before bidding Elizabeth farewell as he headed off to work. It was a smile that Elizabeth mirrored, genuine hope welling up in her giant metal chest for the first time in a very, very long time. For so long, she had been certain that her life was over, that her old happiness would never return again, and Circus Baby had fed that belief. Circus Baby had been her inner demon, that little voice in the back of her mind, convincing her to abandon all hope. For awhile, she had. She had given up on all hope, surrender to Baby's twisted will. But now, with Michael here, standing before her and promising to save her two oldest friends as well, real hope was beginning to fill every wire in her endoskeleton. Maybe she didn't know how likely this plan was to succeed, but it was such a leap, such a big, beautiful promise, that she was willing to put all she had into it. If this was a chance to bring a bit of her old life back to life, she would not miss that chance.
"I told you it wasn't hopeless," Elizabeth whispered inwardly, talking to the dormant consciousness that shared her body.
"Don't be to sure of it. I will find a way out. There will be blood. And you will never escape..." ok, so maybe that other consciousness wasn't so dormant after all... Circus Baby's eerily ethereal echoed up from somewhere deep inside of the endoskeleton and Elizabeth shivered a little as she felt Baby's voice vibrate up the wires and all around her head. Elizabeth could hear so much stifled, controlled, dormant anger in those lines. Baby was not done with them, though she was behaving right now. But Elizabeth wasn't done either.
"No, Baby, you're wrong. I will get out, I will find my life again, and you will be left here to rot like the monster you are!" she muttered, then she tuned out her companion's hissing voice. With Michael gone to work, she had nothing else to distract herself from Baby. Except the TV. Hmmmm, she wondered if Michael had any good channels...
Meanwhile, the moment Michael went into work, he made a beeline towards the back room where Henry's newest assignment was awaiting him on a little tape recorder. Michael heeded every word on the tape recorder before taking out a tape of his own, leaving it addressed to Henry. Upon that tape was his request that Henry come to meet him after work outside of one of the bars between this pizzeria and his own house. It seemed like a strange request, but Michael didn't dare be more specific, not when animatronic ears were open and listening. He could only leave the new tape with the recorder and hope that Henry would see it. Although Michael knew that Henry was his partner in crime, he had yet to see the old man in person. He was still very much a recluse, refusing to meet anyone face to face, but Michael knew that Henry must come out at least once a day because of the new tapes left for Michael every day.
Sure enough, Michael's bet was correct. Just after he'd closed the pizzeria and made his way to the back to see what new animatronic might've appeared on the doorstep, he found a new cassette tape. It began typically enough but, instead of the usual, "You may proceed with the salvage, well done. End tape," line, he received something different.
"You may proceed with the salvage, however, as per paragraph three, section two, there is one more task you will need to complete before you can sign off for the night. Further instructions will await you outside, once you complete the salvage. End tape," and Michael knew immediately that the whole "extra task as per paragraph blah under section whatever" was just a coverup. The real message was clear. Michael finished the salvage unusually fast that night, hurrying outside the moment he was certain the animatronic would not cause any trouble while he was away.
Outside, sitting down curled up beside Michael's car, sat a man that could've only been Henry.
"I thought I said the bar about a couple miles away?" Michael teased Henry as he approached.
"I've downed enough alcohol for several lifetimes," Henry responded humorlessly. Michael was sobered (pun possibly intended) up by this dark statement and all lightheartedness left his withering body.
"With all due respect Mr. Henry, we weren't going out for a night on the town or a casual drink at the bar," Michael said.
"I thought not," Henry nodded. His expression was unreadable, partly from the darkness and partly from his own ability to keep a straight face.
"Though you might want a drink after you hear what I do have in mind," Michael grinned through the dark. Then he segued into the whole story, starting from the moment he met Elizabeth in the vents last night to this very moment.
"Well, you were right, I could definitely go for a drink," Henry chuckled morosely once Michael finished the story, but there was something more than bitterness in that laugh. Michael heard it and new at once that he had won. Although Henry's mental health was awful, he had not entirely lost the capacity to feel hope, determination and purpose, nor had he ever forgotten the beautiful little daughter that he had lost years ago. To hear Michael suggest that they might be able to save her, though he wanted to deny it and call Michael a fool, was far too promising for him to be able to do more than swallow nervously. He wasn't even able to come up with a real reaction, so confused were his emotions and so long had it been since last he'd felt any at all. His mind was a torrent and a haze and he didn't even know where to begin. Of course, the first emotion was disbelief in Michael, but the second, that was shockingly strong was hope, excitement. That was why he had no idea what to say or do in response to Michael's plan. Michael, however, understood and continued to coax the man gently.
"We can save them, Henry, we can save them both. It is possible! We can save two innocent lives, restore them to what they should've been, make at least a few things right again! Sure, it would be far easier to burn every Fazbear thing we can find, but what it easy is not always what is right. This will complicate things, I admit, but it just might be worth it in the long run, especially if it gives back to those who've lost so much because of us..." Michael trailed off and, in time, Henry finally agreed.
"Ok," he moaned, shoulders shaking slightly because he was crying at the thought of his long, lost, beloved Charlie. "I'll do it. I'll help. I'll help you save them," he promised and Michael smiled grimly before turning his head back towards their locked up pizzeria.
"Come on, then, we've got a big black bear to catch," he said and Henry rose unsteadily but squared his shoulders with resolve. Together, the two old comrades strode right back into that pizzeria and while one went to find and decommission the Lefty robot bear, the other returned to the vents to distract all of the others until Lefty could safely be removed from the building.
An hour later, the two men and metal bear were back home.
"Give me a sec," Michael got out of the car first. "Let me get my sister," then, with Henry and the decommissioned Lefty still in (or in Lefty's case, tied on) the car, Michael hobbled his way up the driveway and knocked on his skewered door.
"Michael?" Elizabeth's soft but excited voice asked. Michael could hear the wheels of her skates rumble against the ground as she rolled closer.
"It's me, and I've got Henry and Charlie too," Michael replied proudly, another lopsided grin forcing itself across his wrinkled, stretched face.
"You do?" Elizabeth poked her head out the door in excitement for Charlie, but still looked ready to roll away in case she saw Henry. The poor girl really was so certain that Henry would hate her for outliving Charlie, even if only for a few months.
"I need your help getting Charlie inside," Michael replied calmly. Although Elizabeth lacked eyebrows, Michael could tell she would've been raising them in disbelief if she'd had them.
"Are you sure?" she was still afraid of Henry.
"Charlie needs you," Michael replied. That did the trick and, after straightening herself up a bit again, Elizabeth squeezed her giant body out the door frame, a few more cracks spider-webbing out. Michael inwardly cringed at the sight, hoping that he would still have a front to his little suburban home by the time Lefty was shoved through the door...
Michael's wish was granted and Elizabeth was able to easily pick up Lefty's deactivated form. As big as Lefty was, Elizabeth was surprised to find that it was very light. She carried it right through the door with Henry behind her, looking up in awe, disbelief and something like happiness. Not a single bit of envy or bitterness was to be seen, contrary to Elizabeth's fears.
"Here we are," she muttered as she set the big black bear down gingerly. "Home sweet home..."
"Well, then, let's wake her up," Michael murmured, kneeling before Lefty's slumped over metal shell. "Elizabeth, pass me my monkey wrench," he commanded and the massive robot obediently brought him the toolkit he'd used to fix her up just 24 hours ago. Henry observed, silent and unreadable. Elizabeth felt uncomfortable beneath his impossible gaze, but she didn't even dare look him in the eye, let alone address him. Instead, she handed Michael his tool and watched as he began to pry Lefty's arm off. Wait. What?
"Don't hurt her!" Elizabeth reached out to stop Michael.
"I'm not," he reassured her with an amused look. "This isn't her real body. It's what lies inside, underneath."
"What?" Elizabeth drew her giant hand away from Michael in confusion. Michael only continued to grin mysteriously up at her before trying to pry Lefty's arm off again. It went against Elizabeth's instincts to let Michael do this, but she trusted him enough to let him do what he wanted to. The shoulder popped off easily. Too easily. Michael was right, this was not a real animatronic. Maybe it looked like one, but the arm plate had come off far too easily. And the endoskeleton underneath? It was long and striped black and white. It wasn't an endoskeleton at all! It was a whole other animatronic, in this case, Puppet/Marionette. But that explained why the shell had been so surprisingly light...
"She's Charlie?" Elizabeth breathed as Puppet's body was carefully removed from the Lefty shell.
"Yes," this time, it was Henry who answered. It was the first time he'd spoken since his conversation with Michael in the pizzeria parking lot. Once again, Elizabeth instinctively flinched away from his voice, but she tried to convince herself that he meant her no harm. Instead, despite his stony face, Elizabeth tried to meet his eyes respectfully as he continued to explain.
"We knew what my daughter had become from the get-go. She had, as it was so in her nature, become the guardian of the pizzeria, the Security Puppet bot, but we needed a way to bring her away from that pizzeria and into this new one. The only way she'd come was if we would trap her, in a different suit all together. Lefty. Lefty isn't just some weird name, though, it's an acronym. It's LEFTE: Lure, Encapsulate, Fuse, Transport, Extract. Lefty was built to bring Charlie right to us..." Henry trailed off, a real expression finally flickering across his aged face. The only problem was, it was an almost sadistic smile, not exactly the most comforting of expressions. But Elizabeth understood exactly why. If this new pizzeria had been nothing but a suicide mission from the get-go, what did it mean for Henry to be luring Charlie right into the heart of it all?
While Henry spoke with Elizabeth, Michael powered Puppet up and the eerily tall animatronic woke up right as Henry gave off that eerie grin. Before he could say more, however, Puppet's eyes blinked as it stood to its full height of nearly eight feet, nearly a foot taller than Elizabeth. The slow rise to its feet might've been more intimidating, had it not hit its head on the ceiling before it was entirely upright.
"Ow!" a very feminine little voice came out of the massive animatronic and three delighted voices cried out in reply.
"Charlie!" so, the mission had succeeded, and Charlie had been returned to them.
Unlike Elizabeth, Charlie had not required any maintenance. Her body was in much better shape and, because the animatronic that she inhabited was built to protect children, she was not in any danger of a negative programming trying to retake control of her mind. On the contrary, Charlie had an excellent relationship with the animatronic she shared a body with. Although it had also convinced her to become a killer, Charlie had found it a lot easier to become this way because, in both of their eyes, killing night guards would save children. Elizabeth had never been ok with this ultimatum, however, and Baby had never killed for justice, only vengeance. That was why Elizabeth and Baby had a very toxic relationship while Charlie and Puppet were able to share their body fairly.
So, since Puppet was more than happy to surrender control to Charlie, the moment Michael activated the animatronic, it was Charlie who was in control and it was Charlie who responded to the others.
"Daddy? And Circus Baby? And-" the moment her solid black eyes roved over Michael's body, a light suddenly illuminated them. Two pure white pupils appeared within the darkness of her eyes and she looked ready to attack. Michael was still in the night guard uniform and Charlie, on reflex, processed this as being the man who killed her long ago even though the idea was ludicrous. Puppet was thinking the same way and had retaken control, both it and Charlie aiming to kill Michael out of habit, seeing the uniform.
"Charlie! Wait!" Henry cried. Michael raised a feeble hand as Puppet lunged at him, moving as fast and gracefully as a snake.
"NO!" it was Elizabeth who actually made a difference, however, skating over to Michael at an impossibly fast speed for such a tiny starting space. She scooped him up easily with one hand and then turned with impossibly impeccable control right back around. She reached out a heavy arm and Puppet's lunge-attack was stopped the moment its white face crashed into Elizabeth's outstretched hand.
"No, Charlie, no," Elizabeth muttered as Puppet slumped to the ground. "This is not the man you are looking for. This is my brother, Michael. You remember him. He's a good guy now, he's trying to help us, to save us. He's not the enemy, Charlie, he's a friend. Let him go..." she continued to speak softly to Puppet until those white pupils dimmed away again and only the solid black eyes remained.
"Michael?" Charlie sounded a bit disbelieving and hostile, but seeing that Circus Baby was too big to defeat on strength alone, she accepted this temporary defeat and got slowly back up, eyes never leaving Michael's face. "Is it true?" she demanded her voice was but a soft and gentle whisper, but the hostility and distrust was clear.
"Yes, it is," Michael responded calmly, legs shaking but voice flat. He was actually terrified, heart still pounding from such a close call, but he was used to trying to look calm and collected. When he spoke, Elizabeth seemed to remember that he was still in her hand and she set him back down on his own two feet apologetically. "Yes, Charlie, it's me," Michael continued. "I know it may seem strange, but trust me. Just let me explain..."
Charlie's reaction to the story was much like Henry's had been: disbelieving, bitter and hopeful.
"So you mean that you can save me? That you can get me out of here? You can fix me? Us? And this nightmare will finally be over?" she muttered.
"Yes," Michael vowed. "If you will let your father and I help, we will fix both of you..." he swung his head back and forth between the two giant robots, silently asking their permission. They gave it willingly, still a bit uncertain about all of this, but not willing to turn down such a chance without at least giving it a try. Freedom was a very tempting offer, and if they thought it was possible, they were going to go for it.
It took quite awhile but, using leftover profit from the new Fazbear pizzeria, Henry and Michael were able to get enough cash to rebuild Charlie and Elizabeth, giving them those promised, newer, better bodies. Piece by piece, Henry and Michael bought up the machinery they needed and, one by one, they put Charlie and Elizabeth both back together. Once the two bodies were ready, Charlie and Elizabeth both willed their souls from their current residence to these new forms. They were still uncertain as to how this was possible or how they were able to transmit their souls from vessel to vessel, but they didn't need to know how it worked to know that it did.
Suddenly, Charlie looked more like a little girl and less like a spindly human. Her new body was taller than even the average man, but it was evenly proportioned now and looked a lot like what she might've looked like had she survived long enough to enter her college years. Elizabeth's new body was almost the exact same, made of the same parts put in the same place and order. The only difference was in the features. Charlie was given short brown hair with blue eyes while Elizabeth's long, fiery locks and bright emerald eyes were put into her new body. Charlie's skin was a few tones darker than Elizabeth's and she was in different clothes, but other than that, the girls were identical, and they were beautiful!
"Wow! Michael! Thank you so much!" Charlie gushed, admiring her new home. She twisted her head, inspecting all of her newer, shorter limbs. She tested her legs as well before lunging forward again, though this time, it was to hug Michael instead of attack. Michael stumbled in surprise, buckling slightly under her weight, but he was so touched by the true adoration he felt within that hug that he embraced her back as hard as his arms would allow. He hugged her tighter and tighter, tears starting to slide down his wrinkly and decaying cheeks.
"Thank you!" Charlie continued to murmur. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" then
Then, the moment she was done hugging Michael, she launched herself into her father's arms while Elizabeth replaced Charlie.
"Oh, my brother, my biggest, bestest brother! You put me back together again, just like you'd promised! I can never repay you..." she murmured into Michael's shoulder as she hugged him as tightly as she dared. He could hear the tears in her voice even though her new anatomy did not allow for physical crying. A couple feet away, Henry was absolutely sobbing, bawling, into Charlie's new shoulder, beyond relieved and amazed that he'd actually been able to save her after all. His bliss was so strong that it was almost delusional and, just for a second, he could've sworn that if William Afton, the man truly responsible for all of this death and despair, were to walk into this house right now, Henry would forgive him in an instant, no questions asked. But this, of course, was all hypothetical.
Maybe the new bodies were done, maybe Elizabeth and Charlie had been put back together again, but there was still the question of what to do with the bodies they left behind, and what to do with the pizzeria itself.
"Are we going to finish what we started?" Henry asked Michael in private. He'd tricked Elizabeth and Charlie into going off to the mall, now looking real enough to pass as humans despite still being animatronics. With them gone, however, the two men could speak of these dark but important topics without concerning the girls. They might've had the bodies of adults now, but they were still very much like children and Henry wanted to talk things out with Michael before telling them anything at all.
"I don't know," Michael responded honestly. "I mean, I know we need to get rid of William, Circus Baby and the other animatronics, so I still think we should go on and torch the place, but I almost don't want you to come along with me tonight."
"What? Why not?" Henry frowned in confusion, looking much healthier ever since he'd been able to put his daughter back together again.
"Well, because, I don't think that I'm going to throw myself away anymore than I threw Elizabeth and Charlie away, but I don't want to be the only one that looks after them after the sunrises the next day," Michael admitted. It was a vague statement, but Henry understood what Michael was implying at once and he shook his head.
"Don't worry, Michael, I wouldn't dream of it now. Let me help you, I'll be there for support. We can help each other escape, then we'll finally be able to clock out of that awful place and never clock back in," he smiled dryly and Michael decided that Henry was being honest.
"Offer accepted," he said and the two men shook on it. Now all they had to do was wait for their night shift, the last night shift, to begin.
Upon the day when Charlie and Elizabeth's new bodies had been made ready for them to enter, Henry and Michael had intentionally deactivated Circus Baby and Puppet as soon as possible. After that, while the girls got used to their new forms, the men returned their old ones back to the pizzeria. What happened after was quite amusing. Circus Baby had gone mad with rage, violent with fury, that she was being returned to this awful place with Elizabeth somehow free from her influence. Although her voice was programmed to be soft and smooth, she still managed to spit venom at the two men the moment they woke her back up and she found herself unarmed and back in that horrible pizzeria.
"You will pay for this, you will all pay for this, I swear it!" she murmured, chasing after them and pounding through the vents despite being totally unarmed and now ill-equipped to fight. Before she could get to them, however, Puppet had grabbed her ankle with its long, spindly fingers and dragged her right back out of the vent. Although it was clear Puppet didn't like being back here anymore than Baby did, it seemed to understand why enough to agree and protect Henry and Michael from Baby's wrath. For the next few days, as the two men finalized their plans, while Baby became increasingly aggressive, Puppet would work from the shadows and try to keep them safe, but then at last, that fateful day arrived...
At the end of the nightshift, with all of the animatronics closing in on the intentionally open and vulnerable security office, Henry finally revealed himself to the other animatronics. Although Baby and Puppet knew of his existence and role within this new pizzeria, neither of them knew where he disappeared off to every day because, while Michael remained as the most visible employee of the pizzeria, Henry just kind of went underground and disappeared. But tonight?
"You have all been called here into a labyrinth of sounds and smells, misdirection and misfortune. A labyrinth with no exit, a maze with no prize. You don't even realize that you're trapped. Your lust for blood has driven you in endless circles, chasing the cries of children in some unseen chamber always seeming so near, yet somehow out of reach. But you will never find them, none of you will. This is where your story ends. It's time to rest: for you, and for those you have carried into your arms. This ends for all of us. End communication," Henry growled into his cassette tape with savage and sadistic, satisfaction. All during his spiel, he'd started the fire meant to burn this pizzeria to the ground forever. The rooms all slowly got hotter and hotter. Michael had deeply enjoyed the disbelief and anger from the animatronics but now, with the danger very real and coming at him from all sides, it was time to go.
"Henry! Come on!" Michael managed to escape through a vent that none of the animatronics were near. He fled down the hall until he found the passage to the basement where Henry was waiting. He extended a bony and deadened arm that Henry took willingly. The two then helped each other to survive the inferno and escape even as the pizzeria was destroyed all around them.
"Oh no you don't!" a soft, gentle voice hummed and a burning metal hand clamped down on Michael's shoulder. It was Circus Baby. The lower half of her body was mostly melted and her hairs had singed off and her wires were sparking from the overheating, but she still had the strength for one last attack. "No you don't. You don't leave us. You don't leave us here. You will burn with usssss!" she hissed, dragging both of the men back towards the center of the pizzeria where the fire was burning the hottest.
"Henry! Go!" Michael commanded, then he shoved Henry away from himself and Baby with the last of his strength, but Henry refused.
"I'm not leaving you!" he thundered. He tried to grab at Baby, but her metal shell was too hot to hold, not that Henry's strength would ever be a concern to Baby. She only scoffed at him, a distorted sound that erupted from her melting voice box, and continued to drag Michael backward.
Moments before Michael touched the hungry tongues of fire, however, something struck Baby's head clean off of its shoulders. Baby's hand released its hold on Michael at once, but before he could collapse out of shock, heat, and smoke inhalation, he felt another hand picking him up like a ragdoll and he was suddenly high in the air. The feeling of being carried forward again was the last thing Michael felt before finally fainting. He thought he could see Henry's amazed face through the smoke, but it was far too hard to tell and Michael was too tired to keep on looking. Instead, he let the hand of fate continue to carry him away, higher and further out, Baby's body burning to ash behind him.
The next time Michael woke up, he was back in his own little room in his own little house. It looked like a totally normal day. The only thing that made it weird was the two female robots sitting at the foot of his bed, the old man at his side, and the tall, spindly humanoid standing in the corner of his room. None of it made sense and Michael passed out again not long after taking in one quick survey of his room.
Michael continued to dip in and out of consciousness for a good time more but at last, there came a time when he woke up and managed to stay that way. From what he was told, once he was finally able to comprehend speech again, was that Puppet had saved him and Henry at the last second, scooping them up in its powerful arms and carrying them safely to the doors. The fire had not yet reached this far, but it was getting really close. Henry unlocked the door at the very last second and ushered himself, Michael and Puppet to safety. Although Henry was pretty weak as well, he was strong enough to get himself, Michael and Puppet all in/on the car and drive far enough away that the fire would not reach them there. He passed out not long after, however, and that left Puppet to carry them home. Luckily, once Henry was strong enough, he was able to find the car again and drive it home proper. He, Elizabeth, Charlie and Puppet had been waiting inside the house for Michael to wake up ever since.
"So is it over? Is the nightmare finally over?" Michael rasped. Were all the robots, minus Puppet, truly and finally gone?
"Yes, I think it is," Henry murmured, a true look of pride crossing his wrinkly face. "And it's all thanks to you, my boy. You are a son any father should be proud of," he added. It was the first time anyone had ever heard him compliment anyone so sincerely or look so genuinely happy and proud. Michael suddenly felt embarrassed and shy and, if he had been able to, he would've blushed. Elizabeth giggled at the sight while Charlie only nodded in agreement with what her father had said. It did her metal heart good to see and hear him looking so genuinely happy again after being broken and bitter for decades on end. Puppet, meanwhile, continued to watch over them all from its place in the corner. Puppet, it seemed, was going to join their little family now too, but after its daring rescue of Henry and Michael, such an idea was totally fine by everyone.
So that was where and how it began. A new life for this new family. It was a strange life, to be sure, but it was a strange family (one co-leader being a very old man who could build possessable robots, the other co-leader being an undead entity, two of the members being the souls of little girls inhabiting robotic bodies of young adults, and the fifth and final member being a semi-sentient guard robot that looked like a human spider), so things evened out in the end. Henry and Michael found new jobs to support the family and house, the girls were allowed a few years to enjoy the life they had before they, too, found jobs (with the possibility of going to school still on the horizon) and Puppet becoming something of a housekeeper, its protective programming making it feel naturally inclined to look after things within its care, houses included. So while it was a very odd family, it was also a very happy one and they all managed to get by with the love and support of the others. At long last, what was once five broken individuals had become one reborn family, put back together again by nothing short of the strongest, sheerest determinations and love.
AN: Dardmulzombie, I hope you're happy. ; ) But nah, it's all good, this was fun to write even though I wish it wasn't so long. I just hope all my readers like it and think it wrapped up the story well enough. Thx again to all my readers and reviewers and special thx to Penroses for inspiring me to write this.