Mable: Hey there! Here with the next chapter! I actually only got one question, but it was a good one. Tomas asked what the characters looked like; if you haven't noticed, I haven't until this time given much concrete information on Mike, Fritz, and Jeremy's physical description. This actually was intentional in the beginning to allow people to make their own assumption… But I think it's time to actually put out there what I intend for them to look like in the story. And only ten chapters in!
Mike has naturally black hair that is cut short, is about standard height, and has an athletic build. He tends to wear his work uniforms even off the clock, which is a habit that he has become accustomed to over the years. His eyes are a blue-grey color, even though canonically they should be just blue, and even though I mistakenly labelled them as grey in a past chapter. I didn't catch it until after I posted. Mike literally is the average guy and it is what's inside that really makes him stand out.
Sam's, or Fritz's, hair color is brown with copper undertones, but is naturally a heavier copper color. Like his name, this is another thing he changed to protect his identity after Freddy's. He is slightly taller than Mike, and is built a bit stockier. Sam doesn't have a pattern in clothing that's noticeable. His eyes are hazel and he has a darker complexion to Mike. Unlike Mike, he does have some facial stubble, but doesn't seem committed to growing it out or shaving it. It's sort of just a perpetual shadow. Currently he's also a little banged up from Foxy.
Jeremy is noticeably shorter than both Mike and Fritz. He's slender, small, and does seem to look like the 'anxious type'. His hair is more of a sandy brown color and is longer than Mike's or Sam's, though isn't styled or managed in any way. His eyes are blue like Mike's are, but are a darker shade. Jeremy's right arm, shoulder, and the chest and back around it are noticeably scarred, though he keeps it well covered most of the time. This damage was caused by an attack from an animatronic and is part of the reason that Jeremy has become as… Hesitant as he is.
This author's note is getting pretty long, so I'm going to wait until the next one to do Frederick and Natalie. I hope that answers some questions and I hope you enjoy!
Can't Go Home Again
Chapter Ten
The Golden Bonnie animatronic tried its hardest to throw itself at Mike. It was only out of reflex that Mike raised his hands to push it away. The animatronic grabbed one of his hands, tightening its strong grip and then reaching out with another hand to grab his opposite shoulder. In a smooth motion it turned its body and threw Mike to the floor heavily. Its strength was unimaginable; Mike was swept off of his feet and slammed into the wall and floor, briefly dazed. The Golden Bonnie came at him further, but was suddenly hit when Marionette sprung at him.
Sam made an attempt to go for Mike who stopped him, "Sam! Run! Get out!" He warned and the technician nodded and hurried out the hole. Mike managed to get to his feet as well, only now realizing that his hand was throbbing from whatever the other did, and followed through. Once in the hall he stared back through at the scene of the fighting animatronics, but had trouble seeing, especially when Sam yanked him back. "He'll be fine! We need to get out while he's still distracting him!" With that, Mike reluctantly began to run with Sam down the hallway. The two were halted at the very end.
Suddenly their path was blocked by a new figure at the end of the hall. Both recognized it immediately, from its dilapidated state to its twitching motions, to its red, filthy fur. It was Foxy who now blocked their path. Sam's reflexes kicked in and he shined the flashlight forwards, but Foxy didn't seem to react at all to the bright light being shined in his face. The noise from inside the sealed room suddenly spread into the hall and Mike looked back in time to see Marionette come out, followed by the very determined Golden Bonnie. It squeezed itself through without much effort from the soft walls.
"Damn…" Mike swore as he looked back towards Foxy just in time to see the animatronic break into a sprint. "Damn!" he cried again and shoved the frozen Sam against the wall. He then fell back against his own side, watching in relief as the animatronic flew by. There was a split second of panic again when he noticed Foxy and Marionette, who was floating down the hall, were in a collision course. In the last second Marionette dropped to the floor and Foxy leapt over him, diving with teeth bared and hook poised at the Golden Bonnie. Foxy's weight slamming into him knocked the bunny back.
"We've got to get out of here!" Sam warned Mike and continued to hurry down the hall. Mike lagged to watch Foxy and Marionette, waiting until Marionette was floating again and beside him before continuing out. In the slight safety of the dining room, Mike now drew attention to their new problem, "We can't let that thing get outside the Pizzeria. Sam, there's got to be something you have that shuts off animatronics or something!" Sam hesitated for a moment, "I… I don't think… I mean, there's a Taser, but it doesn't really work." It seemed like a good enough weapon for the moment.
"Go get the Taser! I'm going to try and keep it distracted, or something. I don't know what that thing is, but we can't let it get out!" Just as he said this there was a loud thumping noise from down the hall, followed by the sound of footsteps. "Sam, quick!" Mike insisted and finally Sam took off to the door. The Golden Bonnie appeared at the doorway, its focus falling on Mike and the Puppet, though primarily on the Puppet who returned its gaze. Mike knew he needed to get to the office and called for him, "Mari, come on!"
Marionette instead spread its arms out, hovering a little higher off of the ground. Golden Bonnie started to move in and Mike was just about ready to drag the Puppet into the office. He was stopped when he noticed a few objects in the room, like chairs or broken pieces of tables, levitated into the air as well. In the last second, Marionette thrust its arms forwards and the lifted objects were thrown at Golden Bonnie. It stumbled back and blocked its face with its arms; not injured but at least briefly slowed. "Come on!" Mike commanded again and took off down the hall.
Any other time he would've been impressed, but now he had a job to do. He slipped into the office and Marionette followed him in. He quickly shut both of the doors leading inside. Then Mike began to look around the dusty monitors laying unused on the desk. "One of these has to still work… Ah!" He ripped his hand back after trying to move one of the screens, pressing it to his chest. He hissed in pain, "I think he broke my hand." He continued to try and check the monitors, eventually yanking one forward to feel around on the back.
Marionette moved in to take his injured hand with his own, looking over it with concern. Even to the animatronic it didn't look right. A loud bang on the door stopped both of them in their tracks. It was followed by another heavy one and Mike remembered that Foxy's banging caused quicker loss of power. Golden Bonnie could literally break his way into the office. "Get behind me," Mike whispered and pushed the Puppet with his good arm. He then backed towards the opposite door, preparing to press the button and run if need be.
Only after a few steps he couldn't back away any further as Marionette was brushing the opposite door. The animatronic grasped his shoulders tightly as it waited. Another bang, another, another… And then silence. Mike heard the sound of heavy footsteps that were trying to somewhat run back into the dining room. "He could be coming to this other side," Mike warned and moved them back to the desk. "He could be coming from either side… If Sam or Jeremy walked in, though…" A nagging concern bothered him and he worried about what he couldn't see from inside the office.
He turned back to assault the monitors, searching each, plugging in wires, and finally having one click on. "Hah! We're on!" It wasn't easy to see through the fuzz of the monitor and Mike had to manually change it to show the dining room. There he and Marionette could see Golden Bonnie and Foxy back in a battle. Foxy tore a hunk of fabric off of Bonnie's shoulder while the bunny managed to wrestle him back against the wall. He angled Foxy's head out of the way with one hand and clamped his other tightly around his neck. It wasn't to strangle; it was to destroy.
Marionette let out a cry and suddenly disappeared, giving Mike only a second before he too appeared on the screen. The monitor went haywire with the Puppet's presence. It was almost as though it couldn't properly detect him and, because of this, he sputtered in and out of vision. Mike could see Golden Bonnie get struck by the thick strings of the Puppet which then tightened and yanked back, trying to drag him away from Foxy. Golden Bonnie dropped Foxy and tried to struggle, falling down to the floor.
For a second Mike thought that Marionette had succeeded in overpowering the animatronic and felt an eagerness intensify his pulse. More of Golden Bonnie's fabric was shaved off by the wires. Then, in one quick second, it seemed to suddenly get a burst of energy and grabbed the wires, yanking them back. Marionette was caught off guard; Mike was too as Golden Bonnie had deceptively looked like he was weakened. He used Marionette's own strings against him, dragging him closer and trying to tangle him.
This was all Mike needed to see; in a panic he looked for any sort of weapon he could get. He settled on the fan and the tape player, as they were the only things he could throw with some sort of weight to them, and sprinted down the hall to the dining room. He heard a loud cracking noise right before he actually arrived. What Mike saw was certainly not the scene he saw in the office, but something much worse. The Golden Bonnie had gotten complete control over Marionette using the strings and seemed to have just thrown him to the floor, face down, his hand on the Puppet's back still tangled in the wires.
Mike knew what the cracking noise was before he had even seen the Marionette. In a panic he threw the fan, an awkward gesture since he could only use one hand. Because Golden Bonnie was crouched it actually struck his head. It seemed to do something too. There was a strange noise that sounded like sliding metal inside of the animatronic and it shivered, then looked directly at Mike. Mike moved the tape player into his good hand and prepared to throw again. "Get your hands off of him, rabbit!"
He planned for Golden Bonnie to charge him, but instead Golden Bonnie was suddenly sucker punched by a hook as Foxy came back into the fray. Foxy seemed to be more than determined to ward the bunny further back into the dining room, which allowed Mike to address the Puppet. "Come on…" he murmured to himself as he untangled the strings, watching as they slowly slid back into the black fabric, and watched as the animatronic started to move a little. He wasn't moving right, though. He struggled to get his arms and hands underneath to push himself upwards, so Mike assisted in lifting him.
Usually there was always a sort of pull when the Puppet moved around him, the effect of him hovering, but it was completely absent as he was entirely limp. Once upright, Marionette clutched at his face and Mike tried to nudge away his hands with one of his. "Let me see it," Mike instructed firmly and Marionette let his arms drop. His entire face was severely cracked. None of the porcelain seemed to have broken off, thankfully, but Mike wasn't sure how he was going to fix something like this. The color even seemed to be more muted and pale along his cheeks and lips.
"Oh God… Uh… Okay, we can fix this." Mike looked around desperately, "Not now, just… Alright, we need to get you out of here. Can you lift yourself or anything?" Marionette weakly shook his head. He was already having to lean on Mike to stay upright. "Then I'm going to need your help. Just- Here." He started trying to lift Marionette, which was surprisingly not difficult, and managed to juggle him using his arm instead of his broken hand. Though right when he had him where he needed him, something suddenly flew through the air and landed beside him.
Mike looked down and blanched at the sight of a hook tipped arm. "Don't look," he warned. Marionette didn't move, he just clung onto Mike for dear life. Golden Bonnie stared down Mike once again, leaving Foxy slumped against the wall, twitching and seemingly damaged enough that he was malfunctioning. Mike took a step back before raising the tape player threateningly. "Get the hell away from me! I'm not afraid of you!" Golden Bonnie kept lumbering forwards and the former security guard wasn't sure whether it wanted him, Marionette, or simply both.
He tossed the tape player and grabbed the animatronic with his good arm, taking a few quick steps back towards the hallway. The tape player his Bonnie's ear and landed behind him. "-recorded my messages for you… When I did." The voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere and Mike choked for a split second, brought on by his already growing alarm, but then realized it was the tape player. "Great timing, Phone Guy," he sarcastically huffed under his breath. It then occurred to him that Golden Bonnie had stopped in its tracks.
Its head twitched and its mouth briefly opened a small slither. "Hey, do me a favor. Maybe sometime you could check inside those suits, uh, in the back room? I'm going to try to hold out… Until someone checks." Slowly Golden Bonnie turned around, staring down at the tape player laying there on the floor, eyeing it. "Maybe it won't be so bad. I-I always wondered what was in those empty heads back there…" In the split second that the sound of Freddy's toreador march began to play, Golden Bonnie lashed out, bringing his foot down directly onto the tape player.
It crunched and died underneath his foot. The tape was destroyed as well. Then a shadow darted by Mike and appeared behind Golden Bonnie, shoving a glowing tool at its back. It was none other than Sam and Golden Bonnie let out a mechanical groan at being electrocuted. It then turned and knocked the technician back. Sam fell back against a broken table, his back striking the table painfully. The animatronic seemed to still be malfunctioning as it twitched and stared, mouth opening and closing, but it didn't come forwards to attack even though the technician was at a disadvantage.
Sam got up quickly and jumped forwards, jamming his Taser into the side of Golden Bonnie's neck. This bold gesture got a stronger reaction than he expected, with Golden Bonnie violently seizing for a few moments. Though Golden Bonnie then responded by striking again, his fist hitting Sam in the upper chest and knocking him to the floor yet again. Sam gasped and tried to get the air back into his lungs from the sudden blow, wheezing lightly. To his and Mike's fortune, Golden Bonnie seemed to suddenly become wary of them and stared them down before heading back to the bathroom hallway and vanishing.
Mike didn't know if it was leaving to recover or planning something else, but it was still an immediate danger, and Mike knew that he couldn't just leave without making sure that the animatronic wouldn't hurt anyone else. It wasn't like Marionette; its aggression was much more intense. Mike moved to Sam's side. "Are you okay?" Sam nodded with a cough, "Yeah, I'm fine… I think my asthma just flared up for the first time in thirteen years." He was joking lightly, but then looked to Foxy's arm lying beside him. "It… It got Foxy?"
He lifted the arm in horror while Mike gestured across the room. "He's over there. I don't know if he's worse off. He's not moving or anything. You're going to have to take the Marionette and let me go after Golden Bonnie." Marionette's grip tightened while Sam looked reluctant, "Mike, you're not going back there alone." "No, let's all go back there together. You get Jeremy and you both can carry Foxy, remember the arm, and I'll just balance the Taser on top of Puppet," Mike responded sarcastically.
"Sam, if I'm going to die because of a stupid decision at least let it be one that doesn't get everyone else killed. He probably only went back there to lure us into that room. I can do more if I go it alone." Sam seemed to disagree, but Mike was distracted with Marionette. "I'm going to pass you over to Sam. You worry about keeping yourself together." He tightened his grip. "Come on, Mari." Then came the wires. Mike exhaled slowly and was preparing to continue, but then Marionette tried to speak. His voice came out smothered in broken tones and static, but not from anger.
The voice sounded damaged and he guessed it had to do with the cracked face. "F..xy…ke…me…F..xy…" What Mike definitely heard was 'Foxy'. "Want me to put you over with Foxy?" Marionette nodded, then limply dropped his arm too gesture in the direction of the hooked arm in Sam's hands. The technician passed it over and Mike headed over to Foxy's slumped body. The fox animatronic wasn't shaking as much, but it still looked in poor condition, especially with its missing an arm.
Mike crouched down and carefully lowered Marionette down, allowing him to move into a crouching position. The Puppet looked over Foxy slowly, reaching out tentatively and brushing the spot where his arm needed to be. Foxy made a metallic noise from its chest and trembled a little. Seeing that the two were content enough, Mike slid back and looked to Sam, mouthing out, "Watch them." He took the Taser in his good hand. "Then I can't stop you…" Sam exhaled, then broke into another round of coughing. "Here," he got his jack knife out and handed it over.
"The cords in the neck are always the weak spot. If you hit the wrong one then nothing happens, if you hit the right one the system is damaged enough that it shuts down. I… Can't even begin to tell you which is which. I don't even know in this thing." Mike took the jack knife and Sam got a playful smile, "Sure you don't want me coming?" Mike gave a nod, "I think I can handle it. I'm not afraid of it." With that, Mike headed into the bathroom hall. "Be careful," Sam warned him quietly. That was the last thing Mike heard before he started down the hallway.
He tried to keep his footsteps quiet as he approached the hole. Since he didn't have his flashlight he was going in with worse vision than before. He inched around the hole, trying to look in and see if he could see Golden Bonnie. He couldn't and edged inside to see if, getting any closer, he could see where it was. This was a mistake as suddenly Golden Bonnie was on him from the side, right from a blind spot.
It grabbed Mike by the front of his shirt and threw him to the wall. The man stumbled briefly and then recovered, so when Golden Bonnie went to grab at his head he jammed his Taser into its wrist. Golden Bonnie let out a roaring groan and took a step back, but Mike was ruthless. He looked to the puddle in the back corner and decided to use it to his advantage. With Golden Bonnie stunned, he used all his strength to run forward and try to push him back. Between both weight and charge, Golden Bonnie staggered right into the trap, and into the puddle.
There was a brief tussle as it tried to get its hands on the Taser. Eventually one hand was on Mike's throat and in this moment he got the right angle to shock it, but he couldn't because Mike knew it would crawl along the arm and possibly shock him too. Instead he was forced to drop the Taser and go for the jack knife, jamming it into the animatronic's arm. It yanked back and Mike planned to grab the Taser, jump forwards, and then do something amazing… But he didn't, because for a split second he saw something inside the mouth of the rabbit. It was a second of something fleshy.
Suddenly Mike knew what that smell was. There was some sort of body inside of the animatronic. He leaned down to grab the Taser and as Golden Bonnie moved in again he jammed it in the ankle with it, triggering the groaning and the seizing yet again. The water didn't work like Mike had been hoping it would as the Taser simply didn't have enough of a shock to it. Though his eyes now landed on the fleshy coils around its ankles and he felt sick. In one last ditch effort he pulled upwards and took a step back, then shoved forwards again, ramming Golden Bonnie while shocking him.
Golden Bonnie fell into a sitting position like he had been when Mike first entered the room. The man standing in front of him caught his breath as he considered his next actions. The plan was to jump in and violently attack, to stop Golden Bonnie from attacking anyone else, but suddenly Mike found emotions overtaking him. It was overwhelming anger as he suddenly connected what Marionette said to what was in this room. The body was obviously of an adult, trapped in this room, being attacked by the other animatronics.
"I know who you are," Mike growled out. "I don't know your name, but I know what you did." Golden Bonnie had been attempting to stand, but slowed to a stop and instead stayed still. The former security guard stepped forwards aggressively, holding his ground as he stared down at the thing that had attacked him and the others. "Maybe you were just forgotten back here, maybe Fredrick knew you were here and left you here to rot, I don't know. I don't care really. It's a justified fate, isn't it? Stuck back here in what you created."
He clutched his fists, ignoring the pain in his broken hand. "You killed those kids, didn't you?" Golden Bonnie didn't even respond. Mike just stared at this being in front of him, knowing that it hadn't been confirmed or denied, knowing that it wasn't going to admit to anything. "And you just kept coming back. Kept tempting fate because, hey, nobody caught you the first time, right? Just kept coming back…" It didn't respond at all. "Do something, damn it!" Finally, Golden Bonnie responded when Mike's actually yelled. It raised its head, stared at Mike, and then reached to its head and tried to lift it.
As much as it tried to prey off the heavy head, it was completely stuck and going nowhere. It was a grotesque display; its mouth opened just enough that Mike could see more of the face inside. It was obscured in shadows but he could still see the outline of a gaping mouth inside of the mouth. The smell had only grown more intense, as though the suit was the only thing containing it. Along with the fleshy material inside, but even that was trying to slide out from any crack or opening in the suit. He couldn't watch it any longer but he couldn't force himself to look away.
He inhaled shakily and then announced, "You have a choice here. I won't make it for you. Like it or not, you and I share more in common than I feel comfortable with, but I'll be dead before I take the responsibility of choosing for you. Option one, you sit back here in this room sealed away until demolition. You get to sit back here waiting in that husk until the walls fall around you, and that's if they actually go ahead with the demolition like planned… Or you let me shut you down now. It's the closest thing you're getting to mercy. There's nothing else I can give you. I just don't even have it."
The animatronic didn't respond at all, but Mike started to step forwards. Since it wasn't outright being aggressive at the moment he assumed it would be cooperative. He leaned down in front of it, staring at its neck and looking for the cord that would force it to shut down. This probably wouldn't be enough, most likely Sam would have to dismantle it later, but this would end the threat and he reached forwards. Golden Bonnie's arm darted out and its heavy hand caught Mike's wrist. For a second Mike's heartrate skyrocketed, he braced himself for a fight, and he waited for what was coming.
What came was Golden Bonnie releasing a muffled groan. It sounded almost human, like a voice trying to say something, and then laid it head back against the wall. The gap between the torso and head was now more evident. It already knew what he was planning on doing and he couldn't continue for a second. Mike managed to talk himself forwards and he started checking the neck for a significant cord. He didn't want to cut anything he didn't have to; he wanted this clean and quick. He was already ashamed of doing this. "He killed those kids without mercy. This is already better than he deserves."
It didn't make him feel better, but eventually he did find some sort of cord that seemed of some significance towards the back. He had to dig through a lot of rotten flesh to find it, to his disgust, and he could only hope that it would work. Hopefully with the animatronic off the spirit in it would also go dormant. That's all Mike could hope for. "…Whatever happens next is better than this," Mike said, not sure which of them he was reassuring. Then there was a quick slice. He hadn't realized how much noise Golden Bonnie seemed to make until that moment, as everything went dead silent.
Mike waited to make sure that it took and it was soon obvious that the animatronic had shut down. As for the soul inside, he didn't know what had happened. He didn't want those answers. He stood and stumbled out of the room, started down the hall, and then stopped towards the end. The Taser and jack knife slid from his hand, but he ignored them to raise his hand towards his face. He was planning to rub his burning eyes, but instead stopped when he noticed the filth that accumulated on his hands. It was the decay from inside of the suit, and it felt like it was tainting him.
He leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. He didn't care if he was sitting in a puddle of water for the moment. His broken hand was hurting worse every second, he couldn't get away from the smell, and the thought of what he had done… He didn't know why it was bothering him so much. Maybe if Golden Bonnie hadn't had been so willing. He knew it was the murderer inside the suit, it had to be, but still… Mike shuddered at the sensation of warmth on his eyes. He tried to fight back the tears, but he couldn't touch his face.
"It's okay." Mike heard the voice out of nowhere and turned his head to listen through the wall. He then realized that Foxy and Marionette were probably still on the other side. He couldn't see Marionette embracing Foxy around the neck, holding him protectively while Foxy now held his missing arm with his remaining hand. "I'm still here… I will put you back together." Mike forced his eyes closed as he tried to calm himself down, trying to cling onto that one thought. This wasn't the end of the world. He wasn't like the man in the suit; he still had a chance.
"I will put you back together."
Mable: So… Yeah, I intended to have a big fight scene and have Mike overpower Golden Bonnie, who is clearly just mislabeled Springtrap XD, but at the last moment I scrapped the scene and changed it. It… Fits with the story I've been trying to tell a little better than it would've if he fought the animatronic… And let's be reasonable, even with the tools he had Mike wasn't much of a match for a hulking animatronic. But, yeah, uh, there we go. Now I know this seems like the story is ending, but I've actually got a special author's note in the next chapter that will explain what will actually happen.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed! Next chapter will be posted soon!