Closing In
With the confirmation from Jeremy that the synths were being kept in the Parts and Services room, Susie only felt more convicted in her purpose after work tonight. Whoever this Lidiya was, she had to be working closely with the original synthetics and this gave Susie a prime opportunity to see if she could find out more to feed to Jeremy. At the very least, she'd be able to confirm if she had her own key and they'd be one step closer to their goal.
In the end, Susie had decided again to be partially honest with Wendy. She'd told her that she would be late home tonight as she was going out with somebody from work.
"Really? Who?" she asked.
"No-one special, just some people from work. You know me, the social butterfly," said Susie as casually as possible.
Susie thought she saw a flicker of suspicion cross her girlfriend's face, but it was swiftly covered by an amused smirk.
"The social butterfly indeed. I'll just see you later then," she said.
"Sure thing." She paused on her way to the door, went back and kissed her. "Have a good day, Wendy. I love you."
She was taken aback by the sudden affection, but no less pleased. "I love you too, Sue. Take care."
The pleasant butterflies that Susie felt in that brief moment didn't take long to turn sour. At least it wasn't a total lie and this was purely for the case, no other reason. That was what she told herself and refused to entertain the idea that a nice woman had taken an interest in her. No matter how much it threatened to creep into her head. It didn't help when Lidiya came in as she usually did but this time, the smile she gave Susie brought those butterflies back.
But she couldn't worry about that now. Instead, she resolved to focus on the next stage of her plan. Thanks to Mike and his dad, she was now armed with much more valuable information and she was going to use it to its fullest. She hoped this would kill a few different birds with one stone. At the very least, it would help create the stir that she was hoping for to get her called up to the main office.
She only did her duties of the day in the most automatic fashion possible. The whole time, her mind was spinning away as to what she would say come lunch time. She had a rough idea in her head of how to approach it, but there were so many unknown factors and so little time that she couldn't really come up with anything more in-depth. She would just have to do what she did best and go with the flow.
As luck would have it, the arrangement of the ex-guards come lunch was exactly what she hoped for. Stuart, Ernest and Jenny in their usual place. No sign of Daniel and Gordon seemed like he was still working his time. She met their wary gazes with her brightest smile.
"Hello, again," she greeted as she took a seat.
"You've already been told once, now go away," said Jenny.
Susie had expected something like that. Okay, if that's how this was going to go, time to be direct.
"She only wanted to see your camera," she said.
"What are you talking about?" Jenny asked in irritation.
"She thought it looked cool. She even asked you nicely if she could take a closer look at it. Doesn't really sound much like a potentially dangerous robot, does it?" Susie casually leaned back in her chair. "But I could have told you that. I worked there for years and Chica is the gentlest thing I've ever known."
Jenny stared at her in shock. "But… but how could you…?"
"And she wasn't the only one. Their leader, Freddy, he was a pretty stand-up guy too. Surely a killer robot would be all over you guys in moment, but he wasn't. He went along with everything you told them, told the others to back away so that nobody would get hurt." She let a harsher tone enter her voice. "That is until your fearless leader started waving a gun around and threatened to shoot a man, in front of his parents no less."
Susie couldn't help but relish in the satisfaction at the expressions on all of their faces. Ernest looked like he was trying to sink into the seat. Stuart was staring at her with a mix of shock and anger. Jenny looked angry too, but was that a little bit of shame too? Stuart was the first to break the tense silence.
"How the hell could you know all of that?" he demanded.
"I asked the guys who were there. You know, the night guard that your leader threatened to shoot and then his dad shortly after. What was it that you said to that night guard's mother, Jenny? That you promised that nobody would be hurt?"
Jenny blanched under her glare, but returned it defiantly. "What exactly are you getting at? What's your point?"
"My point is that you lied. All of you." She leaned in to lessen their chances of being overheard. "Not just to Mike's mother, but to the cops, too. You told them that those robots were all dangerous from your break-in but you know that's not true. You saw how they all acted. They were scared, they tried to reason with you and they cooperated with you."
"But then they tricked us and attacked us, one of them almost got Daniel!" argued Stuart. "Those things really were-"
"What, smart?" cut off Susie. "Of course they tricked you, Stuart. One of them was counting down to when he was going to shoot someone and as far as they were concerned, you were breaking into their home with weapons, what exactly were they supposed to do?"
"That was just a bluff, he would never have done it," hissed Jenny.
"Yeah? Is that why he then tried to stab Mike when things weren't going his way?" retorted Susie. "And by the way, the one that almost 'got' Daniel? Again, you should probably expect that reaction when somebody pulls out a knife."
"It could have killed him!" Stuart countered.
"And Daniel was just going to give Mike a little cut on his arm, was he?" returned Susie.
"Look, things didn't go how we planned them but it was necessary. They were hiding something there. We all saw how they moved around at night, tried to get at us. We had to find out the truth," argued Jenny.
Susie arched an eyebrow. "So the ends completely justified the means, did they? And by the way, who are you to be talking about truth? Despite everything you saw when you broke in, you were willing to sell a story about how they were all monsters, all the while ignoring the one already standing next to you?"
At that moment, Gordon joined them. He spared Susie a silent glare too, like the kind he had used on the bullying kid. It made Susie fearful for a moment, but she wasn't going to be stopped now.
"Oh, hello, Gordon. We were just talking about the night you broke into Freddy's. Do you still have that crowbar Freddy bent after you tried to hit him with it?" she asked casually.
He blinked in surprise and his eyes flickered to the floor. He looked to the others, who gave him rather guilty looks before taking a seat nearby to listen in.
"That's not true." Ernest's voice was quiet, but it was steady. "Daniel's not a monster. He isn't."
"Do you really believe that, Ernest?" asked Susie. "Even after all he threatened to do and almost did that night? Because that doesn't exactly sound like one of the most stable of people to me. I get it, he must have been the one who approached you and gave you the idea of uncovering the truth at Freddy's. It takes guts to do something like that but can you all seriously tell me you're completely sure about him?"
None of them responded to the question, not immediately. They all exchanged pensive looks with one another and eventually, Jenny spoke up.
"I won't deny that what he did was right. But calling him a monster? That's going rather far," she said.
"Yeah and who cares about the robots?" dismissed Stuart. "We were all going to go to jail and then Fritz came along with a lucky break. You'd be crazy to turn that down."
"And none of you thought that was weird? At the same time some big wig comes along to make an offer, the place you broke into and that he's trying to take over then goes under after a massive tragedy. The guy that Daniel blamed was going to run through ends up being thrown in prison, while you all get new jobs at the restaurant and a literal get-out-of-jail-free card. None of you thought that was odd?" she asked.
"Like Stuart said, i-it was that or go to prison," murmured Ernest, though Susie could tell her words had some kind of effect on him.
"What are you saying, anyway? That Fritz was responsible for what happened?" scoffed Jenny. "The man's a sleazebag but he's not a killer."
"No, he isn't. But what he does have is somebody with a grudge against both the place and the man working there and who has been willing to do what he feels is necessary to get what he needs," said Susie.
Gordon's eyes widened in surprise and then narrowed at Susie. He stood up from his chair and furiously shook his head.
"You're right, Gordon," agreed Jenny. "That's even more ridiculous! Daniel had a good reason for what he did and why!"
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions," quoted Susie darkly.
"And you have actual proof of this, do you?" Daniel's voice asked behind her.
Susie rounded on him. There he was, wearing that sneer and his stupid purple uniform. She stood from her chair now and looked him right in the eye.
"You know that I'm right," she said.
"So the short answer is no, you don't have any proof. You're just making some baseless accusation, on top of harassing us again. I'm not going to tell you again: back off," he growled.
"Or what? Are you going to pull a knife on me too?" She jabbed his shoulder with her finger. "I know what you are, Daniel. I know exactly what you've done. You almost killed my friend, twice and you're the reason he's in jail for a crime he didn't commit. You think you've gotten away with it but I'm onto you."
"I said back off!" he said, roughly shoving her shoulders. He looked like he was going to follow up with something but saw that a few people were staring now. "Just… leave us alone or I'll report you."
"Fine," she said. "I'll go. But this isn't over, Daniel and the rest of you?" She looked around at them. "If you honestly feel that nothing is wrong about this, you carry right on. But ask yourselves: what if I'm right?"
Her eyes lingered on Jenny especially, who didn't look as convicted as she did before. With that, she walked away from the ex-guards and sat down near Ken again, ignoring the prickling feeling of many pairs of eyes watching her. Ken himself was staring at her in awe.
"What was all that?" he asked.
"It's fine, nothing to worry about," she replied.
"I hope not. You're really going to stir up the hive with stuff like that," he said.
Susie only responded with an ironic smile and took the first bite of her sandwich with particular relish.
She deliberately kept her eyes off the five of them for the remainder of lunch. She was hoping Daniel would make good of his threat and get her reported, that would definitely give her a way upstairs. If he was the killer and Fritz knew that too, this would make them worried that somebody was onto them and it would certainly confirm her suspicions. If they didn't act, they had nothing to hide but if they did…
Then, there were the others. Though they hadn't exactly made great life choices, the other ex-guards weren't exactly hardened criminals. They were just people and unlike Daniel, they appeared to have straight moral compasses. Stuart was too scummy to be reliable but Mike's dad had told Susie about how Jenny had at least tried to talk Daniel out of pointing a gun at people and Ernest seemed decent enough. Gordon seemed too close to Daniel, so she couldn't be relying on him to do a heel turn.
With lunch done, all there was to do was to continue working until the end of the day. There were no summons up to the office, but she had seen Daniel leave on another job and looking quite agitated, glancing back at her as he left. She'd allowed herself a smirk at that. It was a good step in the right direction.
At the end of the night, she checked her phone and saw a message from Lidiya, informing her that she was going to be a little late, but she would be there. Susie texted back an okay and sat outside the restaurant to wait. She paced about and idly scrolled through photos on her phone, feeling the same way anybody would feel before they're about to go on a first date.
But this wasn't a date, she told herself. The nerves she was feeling were just to do with her main reason for asking Lidiya out. Not actually asking her out, of course, because this wasn't a date. She had information that Susie needed and that's all there was to it. Okay, this wasn't going to be like some kind of interrogation, but she had to be objective in doing this.
She stopped at one of the photos. It was one of her and Wendy, at a party. Susie had loved it, Wendy had tolerated it. She hadn't wanted to go, but she'd gone along because Susie had wanted to. In return, they hadn't stayed very long and they'd gone home to watch one of her favourite movies to wind down.
Susie fought to keep away the tears that threatened to emerge when Lidiya sent a text moments later. She was able to put on a good smile when she came around the corner and those butterflies became easier to ignore.
"Okay, one thing I should make clear: I have a girlfriend," said Susie. "I'm sorry if I gave off certain vibes yesterday. I still want to hang out with you anyway.
Lidiya shrugged. "That's okay, I have a boyfriend, but same right back at you. Shame on you for leading a woman on like that though," she added teasingly.
"I know, but sadly there's only one Susie to go around. Come on, let's get going."
"Okay, what's the plan?" asked Lidiya as she fell in step next to her.
"We're going to the best place to eat in town. And I best, I mean most affordable on my pay scale," she added.
"Woo, cheap eats!" cheered Lidiya. "I mean, no offence to you, I could probably afford something pricier but I wouldn't want to show you up."
"You're so considerate," remarked Susie.
The place she had chosen was a basic burger place. One of those places that wasn't as cheap as McDonald's but it didn't matter because the burgers actually tasted of something. The two of them placed their orders and picked out seats at the back. Susie made sure they were relatively isolated from other patrons. She didn't want to risk being overheard.
"Yep, definitely cheap eats," noted Lidiya. "Is this place any good?"
"The food's pretty decent for what it is, although watch yourself. This place can get a little rough," Susie said grimly.
"What? What do you mean by…?" Lidiya's face lit up in realisation and she grinned. "I'm ready for anything. Do they at least serve droids here?"
"No, which I never thought was really fair." Susie returned the grin. "Nice catch on the reference."
"Well yeah, I'm disappointed I almost missed it," said Lidiya. "I love those movies, even the prequels."
Susie made a noise of disgust. "Ugh, no. Those movies are so bad."
"I know they're not the best but they're not as awful as people say they are, either," said Lidiya. "They have a lot of faults but I can't help loving them all the same."
"I can respect that. Looks like we're going to get along great."
"I'd say so, though not as great as we could be," she said with a wink.
"Down, girl," ordered Susie. "So who were you there to see at the prison? Did you pluck up the courage?"
"No. I always do this. I tell myself this time, this time I'll see him, but I never follow it through. It's just such a big change, I guess I'm scared about what I'm going to find. I mean, I'm not expecting to go in there and find out he's shivved fifty other guys but yeah, it's still really nerve wracking." She sighed. "That makes me sound selfish, doesn't it? He probably needs a friendly face and I'm more worried about what it's like for me."
Susie shook her head. "I get it, don't worry. I had those exact same thoughts, too. But like you say, he probably could use seeing somebody, remind him he's not on his own with what he's going through. It's not going to work miracles but it really can make a difference."
"I suppose you're right. Looks like I'm just going to have to deal with it. Although I don't know how much good it'll really do, considering we…" She trailed off and laughed. "Sorry, that's my problem, not yours."
"It's okay, don't worry. Take as much time as you need but if you decide to go, I think you'll feel a lot better," said Susie.
"Yeah, Mike could probably do with the extra support. That's his name, by the way, Mike. Well, of course it's his name, I mean what else would it be?" she laughed awkwardly. "Who else could I possibly be talking about?"
"Hold on, Mike? As in, Mike Schmidt?" Susie asked in amazement.
"How did you… wait, were you seeing him?" She gasped loudly. "Oh, my god. There's coincidences and then there's this!"
"You're telling me! This is unbelievable!" cried Susie. "I know him from work, how do you know him?"
"University," she answered. "We dropped out of touch for a long time but when I found out he lived and worked in Little Borealis, I decided to drop him a message. Obviously this was before, you know, everything. Wow, it's amazing how things sometimes work out, isn't it?"
"You're telling me," agreed Susie.
In the wake of this revelation, she actually vaguely remembered Mike telling her about having feelings for a particular woman and how he had a hard time letting go of them. Was it possible this was the same woman? Susie could certainly see how she would appeal to Mike's tastes.
"So how do you know him?" asked Lidiya.
"We worked at Freddy's together. A little bit awkward, but still a pretty decent guy. We're good friends. I couldn't really believe it when he was arrested for what happened to those kids."
"I found it hard to believe as well," agreed Lidiya. "It just doesn't seem right. That's another reason I wanted to see him, to hear it from his own mouth. Kind of adds to the fear of finding out, I guess."
"But you don't really think he could have done it, do you?" asked Susie.
"No! No, no, of course not. But I mean, you know, never really well, know with some people, do you? You think you know them and then poof! That all changes. It wouldn't be the first time." She stared off into the middle distance for a bit, then back at Susie. "Can I ask, did Mike ever talk about me to you?"
"He did, but it's not really my place to say," said Susie.
"Come on, it's not like he's going to know. Just us girls," said Lidiya with a wink.
"He still told me in confidence and that stays between me and him. Sorry," she added.
Disappointment flickered across her face. "Okay, I understand. Just thought I would mention that there's two sides to every story. Like, what happened with me and Mike, I'm… I'm not proud of it but it's complicated. Not exactly black and white, if you get what I mean? But when are these things ever black and white, am I right?" she said with an awkward laugh. "I just don't want you to think that whatever happened is all on me and I'm just going to shut up now, sorry."
"No, it's fine," said Susie quickly. "What happened between you two stays between you. Like you said, it's just us girls."
"Thank you," she said quietly. "Sorry again. It's just hard not to think about it when it comes up. I don't think Mike ever really got over it."
"Okay," said Susie. Time to steer this conversation elsewhere. "So, you work in Parts and Services?"
"Yes!" squealed Lidiya. "Oh, my god, it's so amazing! I never thought I would have the chance to work so closely on technology like this, but I did and I love it! You wouldn't believe the sophistication behind the design of these sy- machines!" she said quickly, her face turning red. "I'm really not supposed to talk about it, but it's so hard not to, it really is, but it won't be long now!"
"They really sound like they're something special. I take it you're an engineer?" asked Susie.
"Yep, it's what I do," she said proudly. "It's pretty much luck I ended up working on this but I am so glad I did."
"I can definitely tell," nodded Susie. "So what exactly is it that you're doing?"
"I really shouldn't say," Lidiya murmured with a conspiratorial smile.
Susie returned it. "Come on, I'm already in the building anyway and you make it sound like something big is coming. What's wrong with a little preview?"
Lidiya bit her lip and shuffled in her seat, barely containing her obvious excitement.
"Okay, I can't tell you everything but…" She glanced around and leaned in. "Here's the thing. We managed to get the characters from the old location at Freddy's and we're going to be including them in the running!"
"Really?" asked Susie in genuine surprise.
"Yep! Some people apparently still have nostalgia for the place, so we're going to be including them with the new ones. There's a few kinks we need to work through, some odd little things in their original programming that I have the job of ironing out. I'm the only one allowed in, thanks to this." She pulled a key out of her pocket, a simple-looking Yale type one, silver in colour with a Darth Vader keychain. "It's been a challenge, but I've almost got the last of it done so you won't have to wait long!" She clapped her hands together. "It'll feel just like Freddy's again!"
"That… really sounds amazing," said Susie. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "And those are animatronics, yeah?"
"N- I mean, yes!" she said again. "Of course, why wouldn't they be?"
"I'm not saying they're not. I'm saying they could be something more than just animatronics," said Susie pointedly.
"O-Oh, yeah? Oh, wow, is that the time?" she said suddenly, getting out of her chair. "Sorry, I need to go. This was nice though."
"I know what's in there, Lidiya. I know it's not actual robots that you work with, that they're more than just machines," she said.
"I really don't know what you mean," Lidiya insisted. "Look, Susie, I really have to-"
"Synthetics," Susie said. "That's what they are." Lidiya stared openly, utterly dumbstruck. "If you're going to ask me how I know, I can't really tell you but I do know, trust me on that. Someone I know wants to help them and think you could really make a difference if you-"
"No." The firmness of Lidiya's voice made Susie stop. "You have no idea what you're talking about. Goodbye, Susie."
Before she could get another word in, Lidiya hurried out of the door. Susie tried to follow but by the time she got out, she'd already turned a corner and out of sight. `
Susie growled in frustration and banged her head against a nearby wall. She'd blown it. She thought Lidiya could have been a potential ally but she had misjudged it completely. There was no way she'd be able to talk to her again and now the fact that Susie knew the truth was exposed. What would this mean for her?
She tried not to think about it too much as she trudged home. After this, Susie was looking forward to just curling up in bed with her girlfriend and expected to just creep up and slide in next to her.
But Wendy was there. She was waiting near the front door with a blank expression on her face. Probably just tired.
"Oh hey, you waited up for me," she said brightly. "Come on, I need some snuggles."
"You sure your new friend wouldn't provide those for you?"
Susie blanched at the venom in Wendy's tone. "What do you mean?"
"The one you met after work. I'd finished early and it had been a while. I thought I would surprise you and join you, until I saw that you had decided to enjoy somebody else's company tonight." She folded her arms. "I'll say this, she was definitely to your tastes."
Susie felt her blood run cold. "W-Wendy, no. It's not what you think."
"Oh, so my girlfriend didn't lie to me about what she was doing tonight? She wasn't out with some other woman behind my back, is that it?" she challenged.
"I'm sorry, I just… I didn't think you'd like it if I told you it was just one person," she said weakly.
"Hmm, I wonder why that might be," Wendy remarked sarcastically. "Good to know I can trust you, Sue, it really is."
Susie should have felt guiltier, she knew she should have. She'd lied to her. But instead, something about what Wendy said made something else inside her snap.
"So now you suddenly care about what I'm doing?"
Wendy blinked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Don't pretend like you don't know. This is the first proper conversation we've had for a month because you've barely said anything to me otherwise." She felt the anger rising. "I thought you just needed your space, so I gave it but then you never did anything and I had no idea what to do or what to say because what exactly are you meant to do?"
"Sue, whatever you think-"
"What I think? Don't you mean what you think?" she spat. "Ever since his disappearance, this had been going on and it only got worse after he turned up dead. You didn't say anything, not even when Mike brought it up and I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to make it true but there's no denying it."
Wendy looked away now. "I really don't think this is a good time for-"
"No, you said how we should talk soon, well soon is now so here it is: it is not my fault that William went missing!" she cried.
Her words appeared to echo in the silence that followed. It was like they had broken some sort of spell, both in the house and on Susie. All of those feelings she'd been dealing with came pouring forth in that moment.
"I miss him! He didn't deserve to die like that, nobody does, especially not a child! Not a day goes by that I don't think that it was somehow my fault and how do you think it feels knowing that my own girlfriend blames me for it?! Watching and silently judging me so I can't even relax in my own home anymore!" Those tears she had kept down before were coming out now. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest about tonight, Wendy, I really am and I'm sorry about everything you're going through. But did you ever, ever stop to think about what I'm dealing with?"
Susie didn't wait for Wendy's reply. Instead, she went into the living room, shut the door behind her and pulled out one of the blankets. She didn't bother with pyjamas, she just kicked off her clothes and curled up, sobbing into the pillow.
