Chapter 21

Responsibility

Mike backed away as Chica advanced forwards to the monstrosity lurching towards them, like some steampunk aberration. Even though the duo moved in different directions they had the same goal; to kill that thing. However, the means to reach that goal were still unknown to them. Would bullets and brute force really take down this seemingly indomitable titan? There was a sense of dread kicking in the human's stomach that it might not be the case.

In addition to that, neither the guard nor the animatronic had noticed the police officer by the doors, firing steady shot after steady shot at the monster's head. Even with his precise accuracy it was difficult to hit its fleshy head, due to the thick metal chamber surrounding it. He wasn't even sure what the hell he was shooting at; all that he knew was that it was the enemy. And then there was the Fazbear animatronic, locked into a struggle for power against it. What the hell was that thing doing here?

This entire scene seemed like something out of a demented play, something born from wild dreams, and yet this unrealistic scene was playing out right before him, two seemingly sentient machines in battle against one another, with that enigmatic boy fumbling with a gun in the background. And that boy, what was his part in this? When he looked Dewitts in the eye and said 'I don't know anything' was this on his mind at the time? Just what kind of nightmare had they both slipped into?

But for now there was no time for distracting thoughts. Even if this felt like a dream, there was a very real foe before them, and if Dewitts wanted to live long enough to see the contents of his brother's suitcase, he needed to kill this thing first. As for the boy and his machine, for now they were allies. He would decide what to do with them once this was finished.

In the centre of the room Chica felt the bare weight of the creature bear down upon her as she struggled to keep it at bay. She could hear the banging noises made by the thing Mikey held in the background, but her world was restricted to the fight she was currently in. This monster was immeasurably stronger than the others, they felt like frail dolls compared to this thing. Not only did it dwarf her in size, but it's strength was enough to make her afraid. She could feel her knees threatening to collapse under its weight, and if she didn't do something now, she would break. It dawned upon the naïve girl that strength was her only asset, and unfortunately it wouldn't save her here.

With a grunt of exertion she twisted to the left, crouching with her knees and swinging her hip to pull the weight of the monster along with her. She had seen Freddy do this one time with a very large human a few years ago. That man had come from a different land, spoke funny and had worn a funny little hat. But despite that, he had been amazingly big and powerful, and a capable fighter. He was so strong, he'd managed to knock down the others, and even forced Freddy into a stalemate, locking their arms so Freddy couldn't move. It had been the first time in a long while that Chica had been afraid for the safety of her family, but then with one of his little, confident smiles, Freddy had thrown him to the side, punching through his chest before he could recover. And as they gathered around his body, Freddy had told them that size could be used as a weapon.

At first the monster held firm, but then with a surprised roar it's knees gave way, toppling to the side like a collapsing tower, slamming into the ground on its shoulder with shaking thud. The impact made the whole building tremble, causing the lights hanging from the roof to wobble threateningly and the humans to fall to their knees, but Chica held her balance. Before it could register what had just happened, Chica was upon it, copying her leader's actions long ago by punching it in the chest as hard as her servos could muster.

As her fluffy yellow fist slammed into its chest, it left only a tiny, tiny dent in the various, thick metal materials woven together to form its armour. But refusing to be discouraged she continued to assault it, punching again and again on it as though she were furiously beating a drum.

"Break! Break! Break! Break! I'll break you into a thousand pieces" She cried, grabbing a loose crowbar forming it's ribcage and tearing it off. Behind it she saw a sliver of flesh peeking out from the whole, and she realised what it was. This monster was similar to the other things she and Mike had killed earlier, but those things had been humans with bits of metal attached to them, but this thing was a human inside a shell of armour, hooked up to it through various tubes and parts.

Pulling the whole thing apart wasn't necessary, all they needed to do was destroy the flesh inside, and then the whole thing would fall. Foxy had all looked down on her, saying things like 'you're so slow and childish!' or 'you're so damn naïve, you don't understanding anything about the world!', but in this hadn't she proven she could think of smart ideas too? She wished Foxy was here to see that for himself, so she could make him admit she wasn't just a kid.

As she lunged for that flesh, she found herself being shaken about by the angrily stirring body of the monster as it fought to get back up. Then she felt its hand seize her with its stubby but sturdy fingers, and then the entire world spiralled as she was flung across the room and into the far wall. As she flew she felt the effects of gravity, a concept she did not comprehend, fade from her body for the duration of her flight, and the horrified look on Mike's face as he looked up to see her.

A small gasp escaped her mouth as she impacted the wall, her vision of the image before her swaying as she stood back up without hesitating. Already her foe was on its feet and lumbering towards her, an artificial but spiteful look glowering in the red LED eyes sitting in its dense skull. It came with its arms held out wide and elbows bent, and Chica knew why immediately. It knew it was stronger, and intended to crush her with its superior strength, something she was incapable of countering.

Other methods, she had to try something else. But what? What would her family do? Freddy was smart, but she couldn't think like him. Foxy was fast, but that's because he had a lighter body, and she couldn't keep up with him. And Bonnie was relentless, the sort who was suited only for attacking prey, not for defending. In the end, all she was capable of was brute force, and now in this rare instance where that wasn't effective, she didn't know what to do. She didn't like this; she had always been in control, always surrounded by strong allies, now she was just barely remaining in the fight and Mikey, although a nice person, was of little help.

She scampered to the right as it came upon her with a bellow in an attempt to get away, just barely evading the impact of its heavy body as it tore right through the brick wall. It looked around the other warehouse and then to its own hands to look for its target, before realising she was still behind him in the other room. It struggled to clamber over the scattered bricks and through the hole in the wall that it had created, gnashing it's warped, sharp teeth at her as it came through like a hungry animal as it came. Every few seconds sparks leapt up around it as bullets pinged off its body.

Cautiously she backed away one footstep at a time, desperately thinking of what to do. A direct attack was pointless as she had just learnt, would that momentum trick work again? It didn't seem like a very bright creature, all it did was charge and swing its fists in an attempt to destroy her without stopping to sum the situation or possible plans of attack. If she could keep throwing it off its feet, then maybe a chance to strike would occur. It was a dangerous bid, but running away from it would solve nothing, she was lucky it hadn't noticed Mike yet.

It was coming towards her again, and this time she was ready for it. Knees bent, one foot spaced back, arms tense and ready, she patiently waited for it to come to her. An intelligent person would have noted the sudden change in her tactics and suspected something was amiss, but the ignorant creature haphazardly prepared its next attack without thinking as it charged. Their eyes locked into a hate exchange of glares as it swung its solid fist towards her, but in the fleeting moment before it struck her she pivoted on her back foot to dodge it, and then with both hands she seized it's forearm, swinging with all her might to propel it forward. With the momentum of its weight already throwing it forward, the creature lost all balance and spiralled out of control, falling onto its chest with another thud, its arms and legs slayed out in a moment of weakness.

"It's legs, Chica! Break it's legs!" Mike yelled to her, seeing the monster's vulnerability. It was like a gorilla, its strength lay in its arms, but if it's less robust legs were to be destroyed, then it would be incapacitated. Chica made no noise to indicate she had heard, but with an angry shriek she tore into its right leg, pulling, bending and twisting to inflict damage. The main mental beams forming it's 'bones' remained undamaged, but as she twisted it the knees warped with a metal screech, bending it out of place. The creature gave an infuriated roar and kicked her hard with its other foot, but in a flash her hands locked around it, and then with a victorious cry she snapped it off, holding the severed part up like a trophy before tossing it away.

Realising it had become vulnerable in this state, the monster began thrashing on the floor to get her off, flailing it's limbs about until it looked like a spoilt kid throwing a tantrum. Chica hung onto its leg for dear life but let go when its amputated stub struck her in the face. As she fell back, the monster crawled forward, struggled to get back into a standing pose as now both its knee and foot refused to work properly.

But rather than turn around to attack the downed animatronic, the monster instead turned its attention to the human shooting at it, with a menacing snarl.

"Oh shit!" Mike gulped nervously as the monster began to shamble towards him. Even in its damaged state it was still faster than him and had already closed the distance between them, and Chica was still trying to get to her feet. Desperately he looked around for somewhere to flee, but there was nowhere to go. In a panic he fired one last bullet straight into its skull in a bid to execute it, before he felt the full weight of its arm slam into chest, the world turning tenebrific as his body was launched up and then back down to the earth. As he was suspended his body wracked with pain, was this what people meant when they said 'hit by a truck'? And then it occurred to him that the forearm he had been struck with really was a truck bull bar.

Head spinning and spiralling Mike struggled to move, to get out of the way before he was hit again. Although he was wracked with pain he was unharmed, something that took him by surprise. But if he were to be hit again, especially while on the floor, it would kill him for sure. As he pulled himself along, clambering over a blood-soaked corpse, a figure far away caught his attention. On the other side of the room a man was still alive and shooting madly, how had they not noticed? Had that person hid? Wait, that chubby face seemed familiar, wasn't that the police chief?!

Yes, it was the police chief who had interrogated him before, firing a volley of bullets at the creature as it loomed above Mike, face hardened as he concentrated his fire. When the hell did he get here? Had he been following Mike all this way? Mike couldn't comprehend how he got here and why he was here, all that mattered was that he had the same enemy as them. As for Mike, there was no time to move, so fumbling with the gun in hand, he raised it back up at the creature looking down on him, struggling to hold its weight after enduring that heavy hit. If this shot didn't kill it…

"Raaagghh!" With a savage roar Chica leapt onto the behemoth's back in an attempt to distract it from her ally. She wasn't as agile as Freddy or Foxy so she could only jump onto it's back, but with her superior grip she was able to clamber up it until she was upon its head. Madly she swiped again and again at its neck, trying her best to tear its head off. Nothing else mattered but killing that thing, it had nearly killed both her and Mike and if she allowed it any more time then it would. Her efforts seemed vain initially, but then a wire tore loose, and then a pipe, until she could see the frail human head inside.

The duo of machines teetered about as the monster clawed at its own back to get her off, and upon failing that allowed itself to fall onto it's back, crushing Chica under her weight. The impact forced her to let go, and then it was upon her, holding her down with one hand, and striking her with the other. Now the animatronic was completely at its mercy, unable to move or defend herself from the flurry of attacks.

She knew she had been bested, and as the prospect of being broken presented itself, her thoughts drifted to her friends. She had been a naughty girl and left the restaurant even though Freddy told her never to do so, and now she was never going to see her friends again. Would they miss her? Would they notice she was gone? No more playing games at night, no more singing for children during the day, everything was going to end for her. Now, more than ever she wanted to be back in the comforting presence of her family, where she didn't feel alone.

Chief DeWitts tsked at his pistol magazine ran dry. It didn't really matter, during the whole fight it seemed like he hadn't even inflicted the smallest ounce of damage. The raging animatronic alone had done all the damage, and now it was helpless and pinned under the unbearable weight of the mechanical creature as it punished her. This wasn't good, once it was finished with that animatronic it would turn to the two humans next, and they didn't stand a chance.

The policeman looked around for a way to assist further. He had been unhelpful until now, and he wanted that to change. Then he saw it, a crowbar lying on the ground metres away from the struggling machines that the animatronic had torn off the monster earlier. It had also done some sufficient damage to its head, leaving it loose and vulnerable to attack. If he could get in just one serious hit, then it would be enough to give the animatronic room to retaliate, but that meant drawing attention to himself, drastically reducing his chances of living through this. If he really wanted to live, he could just turn and run, eventually someone else would kill that thing. But what would his brother have done? Ah, he would've said something stupid like 'this is my responsibility!' and ran into the fry, wouldn't he?

Tossing the gun aside, the unfit man sprinted over to the crowbar as fast as his large body could carry him, picking it up with one swipe, and then with a battlecry charged and swung the crowbar into the back of its neck as hard as possible. "Aaaaaggghh! Die and go to hell where you belong!" He roared, watching as the form of the monster shuddered under the impact of the weapon connecting with its spine. It screeched with agony, human moans mixed with electrical static, as it let go of the animatronic and swung wildly at the human behind it.

The policeman managed to evade the attack but was knocked onto his rear from the effort. As he looked up, searching for the crowbar to defend himself, he saw the monster already raising its fist above him. As it descended, time seemed to slow down, making everything around appear lucid and crisp. Just out of reach was the crowbar, completely worthless. Past the monster, both Mike and the animatronic were looking on in horror as they both ran toward him, both too far away to do anything to intervene. And then past them a shadowy, golden silhouette materialized, glimmering like a mirage, looking onward as it laughed with hollow, black eyes.

'Ahahahahaha! You should have run, human. Your brother made the same mistake. In the end you were the same – fools with no sense of self preservation.' A haunting voice echoed in his head, murmuring and laughing wickedly.

Excruciating pain exploded in his chest as the full weight of the monster's fist slammed into him. He felt as every single one of his ribs snapped and pieced his body, heart, lungs, stomach and liver, leaving him a broken, bleeding wreck. In a futile attempt to preserve his rapidly fading life he went to kick his legs, until he realised his spine had been broken. All he could do was lie there and look back up and the metal face watching him under its force.

As it smiled down on its victim, the monster felt a pair of hands wrap around its head, but before it could react there was a groaning, tearing sound as its head was wrenched free from its body, it's last dying vision was that malevolent glare on Chica's face.

"Break."

And with that she squeezed it with both hands, crushing the human head inside like a prune, grinning as red spurted out, before tossing it away. Then, after clambering down from the large corpse which no longer stirred, she hefted it to the side to get a closer look at the strange new man she had never seen before. Gasping for breath, Mike ran up to join her.

Mike stared at the broken human body on the floor, a mixture of despair and nausea churning inside him. The man's chest had completely caved in, and the sight of a human body so unnaturally flat made him feel sick. And through the policeman's white shirt shards of bone stuck out jaggedly as blood rapidly seeped through and pooled in the hole in his chest. To make it all the worse his fingers and limbs twitched feebly, much like Mike had seen dying animals do in the past.

"Shit, how did you, wha- I-I-I I don't know what to do!" Mike stammered out in shock, mind reeling as he thought what to do. There was a man dying before, and he had no idea how to act, or even if he could do anything to help. Even though he wasn't the one mortally wounded he felt just as trapped.

Crouching down, Chica examined the man with a passive stare, like this scene was nothing unusual to her. "Mikey, do you know this man? What's he doing here?" She asked, looking to him to explain.

"Uh, yea- yeah, I sorta know him. And I have no idea what he's doing here!" Mike continued to sputter. What to do? He couldn't call and ambulance or for help, because then he'd have to explain the sentient animatronic and the pile of corpses. He had forgotten his first aid training, and even if he remembered it he doubted it would be of any use.

"M-ng-guh, fa-fa, brrng" The wounded man tried to speak, but the blood coating his mouth clouded the meaning of his words. Reaching down Mike gingerly wiped the blood away, allowing the man to breathe more clearly.

"T-Thuh- The… s-suh-suit…"

"What? I can't-"

"The suh-suitcase…" Chief DeWitts managed to gasp out, staring at Mike with begging eyes.

"A suitcase?" Mike asked in confusion. What was he talking about so suddenly? In his last moments had he lost his grip on reality?

"I-In… car… passng- seat… suitcase… I-I nuh-need- know…" He continued to gasp for air with laboured breaths, face contorted in pain as he tried to force out each word as clearly as possible.

"In… car… o-on street. Suitc-case… I…

need…

to k-know… What ha-happened to brother, what…

brother…

knew…"

With that the man fell silent, too exhausted to continue speaking, but still he begged Mike with his eyes with that final wish.

"Oh, uh, okay. A car out on the street? I'll go get it." Mike declared with a nod. "Chica, hold your hands on his chest very, very gently like this. Don't press on him, you just need to stop the blood from coming out." Mike instructed the curious animatronic to assist in stopping the bleeding, as he stood up to leave.

"Okay! I'll do my best!" Failing to understand the gravity of the situation Chica eagerly and cheerily followed Mike's instructions, gently holding the man to stop more blood from coming out. "It's okay mister, I won't let you break." She smiled down at the human as he could only stare back up at her, still struggling to comprehend what she was.

Mike sprinted as fast as he could, through the double doors, through the front door, stumbling over the bullet ridden corpses in his way. It was too late to save DeWitt's life, Mike knew that. But that man had sacrificed his life for the sake of saving theirs, and this was the only way Mike could pay him back. He cursed his aching body for slowing him down to a limp as he sped down the driveway and out onto the street. The sun had set long ago and in the night sky a nearly full moon shone down upon him as he sighted the sole car out on the street. For all he knew, he had run out of time, and any further effort was all in vain. But if that was true, then no matter what then he was doomed from the start.

With a gulp he tested the car door. Unlocked, thank god. Pulling open the door he climbed into the vehicle, hastily searching for this suitcase. Where had he said it was again? In his rush he had forgotten, making him curse himself as he pulled the car apart to find it. It was already hard enough to see due to the lack of light. As he fumbled around, the edge of a handle bumped against his fingers under the passenger seat, and without thinking he clasped it and pulled it out. In his hands was a large black suitcase, surprisingly heavy in his hands.

Without bothering to close the car door he limped back towards the building, hoping that he wasn't late. He didn't know what was inside the strangely heavy container, but whatever was in it was valuable enough to make Dewitts mention it with his dying breath. He would show it to him, for sure.

Carefully stepping over the bodies by the door he sprinted through the office and back into the warehouse, heaving past the heavy metal doors to a hushed Chica, kneeling before the man. Her arms were at her sides, and as he came in she looked up at him with an expression that he recognized all too well – the look of a child when they thought they were in trouble.

"Chica, I told you to compress his wounds!" Mike protested angrily. Seeing his respond like that, she looked down at her knees, fidgeting with her hands nervously. "Chica, what happened?" He asked more softly, a sense of dread filling his stomach as she avoided his gaze.

"I did what you told me to do, but it just keep coming out… I'm sorry." Chica said in a hushed voice, nodded towards the body before her. Resting on the floor in a puddle on his own blood, the crumpled body of Police Chief DeWitts lay still. He no longer struggled to move, no longer struggled to breathe, his eyes held shut.

"Hey, hey! Are you OK? Can you hear me?" Despite knowing that the man was already dead, Mike continued to call out in the vain hope that he would open his eyes again and respond.

"He stopped making noises a little bit ago. I didn't know what to do." Chica spoke hesitantly beside him. Angrily Mike threw down the suitcase and walked away, pacing the messy room in frustration.

"Dammit!" He cried. "He died so we wouldn't, and I couldn't even pay him back. He must've died being scared and having no clue what he had just happened."

"Are you angry at me?" Chica asked, looking back up at him. It occurred to Mike that she didn't really understand what had happened. She must've 'broken' so many people over the years that this seemed ordinary to her, and yet now when she wasn't even responsible she suddenly felt guilty. Was death and its consequences really that hard a concept for her to understand?

"No, this isn't your fault Chica. You couldn't have done anything to help him, it was pointless to try and save him from the start." Mike shook his head, looking sympathetically at the dead man. "At least, I just wanted to give him what he wanted before it happened.

Relieved by his words, Chica's demeanour quickly brightened up back to her usual cheery self, disregarding the horror scene they were still in. "Ah, phew, I don't like it when people are mad at me. But still, I didn't want that man to get broken. Who was he?"

Mike wearily rubbed his eyes as he walked in the opposite direction. "A good man who got dragged into this nightmare. He was a bit of a bastard who tried tricking me, but he didn't deserve this." He muttered quietly, approaching the torn doors that the monster had pulled open. He was curious to know where that monster had come from, and why it hadn't attacked sooner. But on top of that, he was also trying to get away from the body he would never be able to get out of his mind. This was the second time in his life he'd seen a body, and he only felt partially sad. Would anyone else be mourning at this point? He had become too despondent to death already?

Stepping over the threshold of the warped doors, he entered the next warehouse. Like the one they had just fought in it was mostly empty, except for a large, reinforced cage sitting in the middle of the room, its door wide open. Rather than having been savagely torn open like the warehouse doors this one had been left undamaged, as though it had been pulled open gently. At any rate, it was clear that the monster hadn't gotten out on its own. Had someone let it out on purpose? He hadn't seen any of those cultists escape the fight, but who else could have come in here? Surely DeWitts hadn't let it out, but then just who could've?

"Mikey, you dropped this. Isn't it important?" Chica spoke behind him as he crouched to inspect the cage, appearing in the doorway with the suitcase in hand. Reaching out, she handed it to him, contents rustling about as she did. Taking it from her, he hefted the suitcase underarm.

"Alright, let's get out of here. I just want to get the hell away from this place. Those other guys can clean all this up later." Mike stood back up with a sigh. For now he wouldn't worry about how the hell that monster got out of there, or even who the hell these people were. So long as he got back to the pizzeria with Chica, he could grill that man for questions later.

That still left the question of how they were going to get back. Fortunately DeWitts had left them his car, and even if Mike didn't know how to drive, he would give it a shot at getting back home. But then there was the case of getting back there presentably. He had splotches of blood on him that weren't all that noticeable, but Chica was absolutely saturated with gore. She really did look like something that had just crawled out of Hell itself.

He spotted a long hose lying by the transport doors attached to the wall, surrounded by crates, tools and rags. It might not be perfect, but at least he could clean her enough with that so she didn't draw attention if anyone saw her.

"Chica, come over here and let me hose you down." Mike said, taking her arm and walking her over to the hose. As he picked it up she suddenly tugged away from him, looking at him with as much horror as plastic eyes could hold.

"What? We need to clean you, everyone will go crazy if you stay like that." Mike said irritably. Was she seriously about to say she didn't like baths or something dumb like that?

"Mikey, water is dangerous for me… I can't let it get on my inside parts." She said nervously, edging away. Ah that's right; she was a machine after all. Even if she thought she was a real chicken, it was a good thing that she had enough sense to fear water, otherwise Mike would have just seriously screwed her over.

"Oh, whoops, sorry. Here, I'll just wipe you down with this rag then." With a sigh Mike picked up one of the rags and with a grunt turned the rusting hose tap on, allowing the gush of water to saturate the rag. Turning around, he saw Chica was still looking at him warily. "Relax, I promise it won't damage you." He said, forcing a smile. Stepping forward like a wild animal meeting a human for the first time, she came up and allowed Mike to wipe her down. Starting with her chest he ran the cloth over her body, freeing it from the red mess coating it. Realising it was of no harm to her, she immediately perked up.

"Wee! Mikey's giving me a bath!" She giggled, obediently raised her arms when Mike indicated, so could clean under them. As he cleaned her she hummed her little tune cheerily, almost dancing on the spot as she moved around to let Mike clean her. It was absurd, Mike thought, that just last night he and this thing were locked in a battle of life and death, and now after fighting a battle on the same side were bathing one another. Neither of them had intentionally allowed it to reach this point, and yet they were both complacent with it. When she wasn't trying to kill him, she was actually nice to be around. When they got back, would she be the same? Or would she go back to trying to kill him again?

"Be careful not to get the water in me though, Mikey." Chica cautioned. "A very, very , veeery long time ago someone spilt water on Foxy, and something very bad happened. I can't remember what 'coz it was so long ago, but I remember it was really bad." She mused, reflecting on that vague and distant memory that Mike couldn't comprehend.

"Relax, I'm being as careful as I can be." He lied. Really, he was hastily wiping her down without a second thought, and it surprised him that she hadn't noticed it.

"Ah, nice and clean!" She said in satisfaction, examining her mostly clean body. She was still a slightly darker shade of yellow from the blood that had seeped in, but it wasn't obvious that it was blood. What was important was that she could pass for something that wasn't murderous and blood-spattered.

"Oh, this is still dirty. I'll take it home and wash it for you." Mike said, untying her soiled bib and stuffing it in his pocket. He felt weird saying that, it made him sound like a parent. It was bad enough that he was playing bath time with her as it was.

"Thankies! And now it's your turn." Chica suddenly said in a duplicitous tone, tugging at his clothes with a smile. "Take off all your clothes Mikey, it's bathtime."

Mike took a few skittish paces away from her in surprise. "Uh, no. I definitely don't need a bath. Thanks for the offer though…. I guess. And stop calling me Mikey, dammit!" He held up his hands in protest as the animatronic took another step toward him.

"Aww, but I wanted to be a mommy. Maybe another time." Seeing his resistance, she gave up with a sigh. She could be a real weirdo sometimes, Mike thought to himself.

"Whatever, let's just go already. We're seriously running out of time." With an irritated huff Mike dragged the happy animatronic along with him into the other room. In the brief few minutes he had been away from it, he had forgotten the sheer absurdity of this room. Numerous bodies lay strewn about in the red haze, sightless eyes staring off into the void of death, and beyond them the mound of the fallen monster, accompanied by the corpse of Police Chief DeWitts. Now that the urgency of battle no longer clouded his senses, the sight and stench hit him for the first time, compelling him to throw up onto the floor, vomit mixing with blood to form an abstract brown.

"Are you OK?" Chica asked worriedly, patting him on the back. Wiping the mess away from his mouth, Mike gave a feeble nod.

"Yeah, I just… didn't realise it was this bad." He said, composing himself as best he could. This time Chica took the lead, walking him to the door. "Oh, wait! I forgot something!" Without informing Chica, he jogged to the backroom that they had escaped from. There, still lying on the floor was the shock collar. Snatching it up, he forced it into his back pocket. This would definitely come in handy later on.

As he came back out, Chica was standing patiently by the door. "What's wrong?" She asked, completely oblivious to the fact that Mike had just acquired the device that countered her and her friends perfectly.

"Oh, it was nothing. I just left my wallet behind, is all." He lied for a second time, pulling Chica out into the cool night air with him.

"Shit, I left the door open. I hope the battery isn't dead." Mike muttered, leaning into the seat's seat to check the keys were there.

"Oooh, I've never been in one of these before!" Chica exclaimed excitedly. "They're always going past the restaurant, but I've never seen one so close." She clapped her hands and began bouncing on the spot like a child on sugar high. Was this thing seriously pulling people's faces off in bloodlust a mere ten minutes ago?

Ignoring her Mike pulled open the back door and indicated for her to climb in. "Climb in here and lie down. Stay still and don't do anything stupid, or we'll get in trouble." He said gruffly. People might already find it suspicious that someone like him was driving a mufti police car, let alone if there was a giant robot chicken in the back.

Giggling like this was some sort of adventure; she gently clambered into the vehicle face first, before rolling over so she could see upwards. Even when she was fully inside the car her feet stuck out awkwardly, forcing Mike to push them inwards. She could now fit inside the car, but her knees were peeking above the window. Oh well, at this point he didn't really care. It was better than her sitting up and staring at passer-bys.

Setting the suitcase on the passenger seat beside him, Mike entered the car as well. It was shameful to even think that someone his age had no clue how to drive, but in all honestly he was too poor to afford lessons, the same reason why he'd taken that damn job at Fazbear's in the first place. But surely it wasn't too hard; he knew how to turn it on at least. Turning the key, he smiled at the car purred to life. As the car started up, the clock flashed its numbers at him, informing him that it was 9:23PM. Fortunately that meant he still had time, but he didn't want to waste even a second of it in case that man changed his mind about giving Mike a second chance.

Okay, he had no idea how to change gear, but that was fine. All he needed to know was the accelerator and the brake, but which one was which? Gingerly he pressed down on the left pedal, eliciting an 'ah!' of realisation when nothing happened. That one must be the brake. Pressing down on the other one, the car suddenly zoomed jerkily down the road, forcing Mike to jam down on the brake in panic. "Okay, that's definitely the accelerator." He chuckled nervously. Starting tentatively he drove the car down the street in jerky thrusts, before gradually smoothing out into a steady pace, coming to screeching halts at every set of lights or corner. Maybe he shouldn't have been so harsh about Maria's driving earlier, his was about a thousand times worse. Fortunately few people were on the road this late on a Thursday night, alleviating some of the invisible tension bearing down on his shoulders as he remained self-conscious.

"This is kinda bumpy, can'tcha go a bit better than this?" Chica protested his driving quietly in the back. If it were a normal person he would have told them to piss off despite being aware of his own horrible driving skills, but he knew she was too innocent to understand how rude she was being.

"Sorry, I've never done this before so I'm no good at it." He begrudgingly admitted with a sigh, double-checking the rear mirror for anyone following them. He still couldn't believe they had just walked out of there like it was nothing.

"Are you sure you're feeling OK?" She asked again, this time more seriously.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Tired and sore, but I'm fine." He quickly turned back to give her a reassuring nod before returning to his vigilant gaze of their surroundings. Was driving supposed to be this mentally demanding?

"Are you sure you're sure? 'coz normally when humans see other humans get broke they get upset and start screaming and stuff. A lot of people got broken back there, and you're acting very calm. I just think it's strange, is all." She spoke earnestly, but in the mirror she looked at him with a surprisingly mature expression, like she suspected something was amiss.

"I… I don't know what I feel Chica. So much crazy stuff has happened to me in the last few days, I'm just sort of… too drained to care anymore. Maybe in the future I'll realise everything that has happened and break down, but for now I think it's best if I just stay calm." He murmured, more to himself than to her. It was a response that would satisfy her sure, but was it true? He didn't know what to feel, what he was supposed to feel, even after witnessing all those deaths and monsters he just wanted to lie down more than he wanted to scream or cry.

"A lot of crazy things happened to me today too!" Chica replied, discarding most of what he had just said to her. "Hehe, when I said I left to come punish you that was only half true. I've never gotten to leave the restaurant before, so I also left to come on an adventure. I got to see lots of interesting and funny things I've never seen before; I even got to pay with some duckies! But I got so distracted playing that the sun came up and I had to lie still, and then those scary people came along. I was really scared by those nasty people, but then you came along and we got away!" She recounted the events of her day and night like she was summarizing some great adventure; it was almost like she hadn't forgotten it had been brutal reality.

"Today I had more fun and excitement than I've ever, ever, eeever had! Thank you for taking me on a fun adventure Mikey." She squealed, kicking her legs up cheerily, shaking the whole car violently by mistake.

"Jesus Christ Chica, I told you that wasn't an adventure, didn't I?! It was a goddamn nightmare! You and I both nearly died, had that policeman not helped." Mike snapped at her, irritated by her simplistic view of everything that had transpired tonight.

Seeing that familiar street corner where he lived, Mike awkwardly swerved to the left and pulled up outside his house. "Now sit here and behave for a second." He chided the animatronic, reaching over to grab the suitcase beside him. He looked up to see the living room light was still on; his mother must be panicking about him right now. Home and all the comfort and safety it brought were mere metres away, and yet it was impossibly far away.

Avoiding looking at the house on purpose, he crouched down and hid the suitcase behind a bush. If that man found out about this suitcase then he would definitely confiscate it, and Mike couldn't allow that. For now he would hide it here and collect it later on, discovering all its secrets for himself. A small shiver of excitement ran down his spine as he thought about it, whatever was in this suitcase must be ostensibly important, what secrets did it hold? Giving one last worried look to the bush and then his home, he re-entered the car. To his horror, Chica had sat up and was peering at his home, hands pressed against the glass.

"Hey! What did I say! Sit back down!" Mike scolded her, pushing her head back below the window in a panic. He didn't think there was anyone who could've seen that, but he still sped off before anyone showed up.

"Where are we? Is this your home? Can I come in and play for a while?" She immediately asked, a hint of excitement glimmering in her voice. Was she seriously asking to come into his house?

"No you can't. My mum will have a heart attack if she sees you, and we need to get straight back to Fazbear's. It's just around the corner from here." The human insisted. He anticipated getting there and finally getting this burden off of his shoulders, but at the same time he was dreading it. What if he had already failed? What if he was just coming back to be shot? And even if they welcomed him back with open arms, he still had a full night of work ahead of him, or at least he presumed.

As though she could read his thoughts, Chica suddenly fell quiet, before speaking up again in a serious, almost mournful tone. "Mike… I'm really grateful for everything you've done today, but when we go back inside… I'll have to go back to trying to break you again." Her voice almost broke at the end, eyes cast down she turned away so he couldn't see her face. "I'm sorry…" She murmured.

"It's okay Chica. I still don't understand all of this, but I don't think you have much of a choice. Just do your job and I'll do mine, and it'll be fine." Mike comforted her with his selfless words, regretting them as they came out of his mouth. Of course it was a lie, he wanted to yell and beg her to spare him, but there wasn't much point. So far she had been the least dangerous out of all of them, playfully wandering about in her little playland world. He could handle her with little trouble, of that much he felt sure.

Mike's stomach coiled and his jaw tightened as the familiar purple building came into sight. Inside the lights were still on, and he could see people moving about inside. Hands shaking he pulled over, heart pounding as he wondered what was to come next. Up until now he had felt mostly empty, too tired and devoid to feel anything, but now as this crucial moment reached its peak unbridled fear seized him. It was a fear of the unknown, fear of failure; fear that it all had been a waste of time. But he had to try, didn't he? As pointless as it was, he had to try.

Switching the vehicle off, he gave a trepid gulp. "We're here." He rasped out, watching those glass doors for any signs of sudden movement. In an instant he felt a powerful arm seize his shoulder, and as he turned over he saw Chica staring him dead in the eye with a serious, compelling expression he had never seen from her before.

"Mike, when tonight begins we have no choice but to hunt you. When that happens, please resist us with every last bit of strength you have." She requested, her sombre eyes dully reflecting the light cast down from the building outside.

"Heh, idiot. You make it sound like I'm not doing that already." The night guard scoffed in return, the slightest trace of a smile appearing on his lips.

A/N: Happy Easter everyone! Off topic, but I'm not religious and I have very sensitive teeth and I can't eat chocolate, so I just enjoy Easter by collecting rabbit plushies. It's a crying shame there isn't any Bonnie merchandise to collect…

I just want to remark on how amazingly the plot has been progressing. With over 120K words this story is the size of a large novel, so you can congratulate yourself for reading up until this point. But despite that, we've barely even scratched the main plot of the actual story, so many characters and revelations had yet to be introduced the story so, to me, still feels like it's in its baby stage. This is already the largest FNAF story there is, and it's still got a long way to go. It's a bit mindboggling, really.

Also, rip DeWitts. We hardly knew ye.