Meet and Greet

For the past few months he'd been working at Freddy's, Mike had fallen into a routine. He would sleep from around seven in the morning when he came home to about two in the afternoon. When he woke up, he would have what was essentially brunch and find some way to pass the time. At eleven, he would leave and make his way to the restaurant, work his shift and come home to rest.

Now, things had changed. For one thing, he had to change his commute to get to the new restaurant. He also technically wasn't the night guard anymore, so getting up in the morning rather than late at night was something he'd have to get used to all over again. Even so, it was a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things.

On the one hand, Mike was just happy to be back doing what he loved: spending time with the most remarkable group of people he'd ever met. Though he'd only been in prison for a month, it was long enough to make him miss them and enough to keep him from going back into prison ever again. When he wasn't crushingly alone in his cell, staring blankly at the wall every night, he was glancing fearfully over his shoulder, flinching at every loud voice and just doing his utmost to keep his head down and out of trouble. He'd been lucky, since comparatively his time in prison was quite short, but even so…

He shuddered and shook his head. He didn't have to think about that anymore. He was out and he was free, he wouldn't ever be going back. It was time to get back to doing what he did best and help the synths. Even if it had a few more strings attached this time around.

Carefully looking over his shoulder, he pulled the key out of his pocket and slipped in the back way. After locking it, he took the time to process just how much bigger this place was than the original Freddy's. A familiar flash of purple announced the arrival of Bonnie.

"Uh yeah, who do you think you are? Wandering in off the streets and strutting around like you own the place, honestly. Go on, get lost."

"I would, but then who would you have to wind up if I did," returned Mike.

"Eh, I'll make do with what I have." She offered him a fist, which he bumped. "Man, I never thought I'd miss seeing your pasty mug show up, Mikey."

"And I didn't think I would miss hearing your wonderful remarks every day, Bonnie." His face split into a grin as she sniggered. "Is everyone else here yet?"

"Well, all of us synths are, still waiting on the other two so everybody else is getting the lay of the land. Come on, take a load off." She pulled out a chair and rested her feet on the table. "Geeze, this whole thing is messed up."

"You'll get no argument from me," agreed Mike. "You spend all this time hiding from Hawthorne and now we're basically working for him."

"Makes me sick," she muttered. "First he sets his pet synths onto us and locks us up, now he's expecting us to fix something that he messed up when he made them? I'd fix him right now, if he was here. And I don't care what he said to Aaron. If he wasn't somehow involved with what happened to those kids, I'm the Easter Bunny."

"Unfortunately, Bonnie, there's not much we can do to address that at the moment." Freddy had come to join them. "We can keep our ears low to the ground and perhaps see if somethin' makes itself known, but we're not in any position to do anythin' about Sid. We have more immediate concerns."

"I know, I know," she said. "I'd just really like to see him get what's coming to him."

"In time, I'm certain he will. And a good day to you, Mike," he added. "Nice to see you joinin' us again."

"Nice to be back, Freddy." Suddenly, his vision went dark as somebody covered his eyes. "Huh?"

"Guess who," a sweet voice sang in his ear.

Mike laughed. "Foxy? Wow, you really sound like you had some work done."

"Hmm, should I be jealous?" Chica asked, removing her hands and sitting next to him.

"I don't know," said Mike, kissing her briefly. "Should you?"

"Hey, I thought we agreed! No mushy stuff around me," complained Bonnie.

"Sorry, Bonnie," she tittered. "But there is going to be a minimal amount of 'mushy stuff', I'm afraid."

"I don't know," said Mike, taking Chica's hand, "I think we can uh, p-push it a little beyond the minimum."

"Ooh, very bold indeed, Mr. Schmidt."

Bonnie groaned. "Ugh, I thought it was frustrating when you two were stammering around each other. Can we go back to that?"

"I believe that particular ship has long since sailed," remarked Freddy.

"What's this about ships?" Foxy plonked himself in the chair on Mike's other side and wrapped an arm around him. "Hey, there's me first mate!"

"Ahoy, captain!" greeted Mike.

"Hey, Chica, your competition is here," stage-whispered Bonnie.

"Well, he'll have to be prepared to go through me first," said Chica.

"Oh no, that's one fight I'm no' gettin' involved in," said Foxy immediately.

"So, the great pirate Foxy has finally met his match?" She stood and folded her arms. "Can it be that the mighty swashbuckler has been defeated by a lowly maiden?"

"Aye, but there be no shame in this loss." He swept his hat off and bowed to her. "A pirate knows when ta pick his fights and when ta call it quits and yer anythin' but lowly."

"How gracious of you. I shall return the favour and allow you to keep your captaincy. For now," she added.

"Oh, did I miss the shipping wars? Such a shame." A metal clamping announced Golden's arrival, piloting a new endoskeleton fashioned with a new version of her old suit. "And here I thought the bromance of Foxy and Mike would win out. What happened to pals before gals?"

"Not when Chica is around," said Mike.

"Wise move. Oh and Mike?" Her voice became sultrier. "If things don't work out with her, you know where to find me."

Mike looked her up and down. "Sorry, Goldie. I don't think you're uh, my type."

"You wound me, Mike. Deeply!"

Mike grinned again. He knew he'd missed this, but didn't realise until he was with them just how much. Even Goldie felt like she was a proper part of the group again and not the mistrusted traitor as she had been. It really felt like a little family, one that he was happy to be part of.

Their chatter was broken up when the door opened again and Jeremy joined their midst. Mike approached him first and the two shook hands.

"I figured you'd be early," he said. "Sorry if I butted in on anything."

"Don't worry. Come on, join us." Mike pulled out a chair for him. "You've more than earned your place, I'd say."

"To say the least," said Jeremy, his face splitting into a grin. "I have to say, I'm still pretty psyched about meeting you guys properly. All this time and this was what was hiding under those suits."

"Yep, we're pretty amazing," shrugged Bonnie. "Autographs cost you ten bucks and a selfie is fifteen."

"Come on, I helped save you guys. Don't I get a discount?"

"Fine. $9.50."

"What a ringing endorsement."

"Hey, that's being generous, don't knock it," Bonnie sniggered. "You managed to spin this alright with your mom in the end?"

"As best I could. She wasn't exactly thrilled when I told her who I was working for, but I told her I'm out of high school now. This is what I want to do and I'm old enough to make my own decisions." He made a face. "It took a while, but she came around. I just need to let her know when I start and when I finish each day."

"Aye, well we're glad ta have ya along," said Foxy. "Welcome ta the crew, lad."

"Thanks, Foxy. How are they doing anyway?" he asked.

"At the moment, they're still in standby mode," answered Goldie. "I wanted to wait until everybody was here before we outline what we're going to do. Only one other person to wait on now and we can begin."

"Oh yeah, Hawthorne's lackey," remarked Bonnie.

"He's on our side," reminded Freddy. "It was only thanks to his invaluable information that Goldie, Jeremy and Susie were able to do what they did, among many other things."

"Yeah, yeah. Still doesn't sit well with me," she muttered.

"Aye, I don't like it much either, long ears," said Foxy. "But we'll keep an eye on him, dontcha worry."

At this, the door opened and closed again. A more nasally voice met their ears.

"Hello? H-Hello, hello?" Phil had just stepped inside and he wore a nervous smile. "Oh hey, looks like y-you're all here. That's great! Looks like everybody's eager to get this going."

"Hello, Phil." Goldie shook his hand. "It's good to be working with you again."

"Hey, Goldie! Same to you," he said. He looked around at the gathered synths. "Okay, now uh, I know there's probably some wariness about me. I-I get it, you know. Like I've told Mike and Jeremy, I have to report back to our uh, generous benefactor about what happens here. That sounds bad, I know but there's really nothing to worry about. I'm only going to be making note of the absolute bare bones, nothing in great detail. W-We just gotta play our cards right and we'll just see where it takes us."

"I think that's an agreeable path to take," said Freddy, offering his own hand. "I hope we can work well together, Mr. O'Neil."

"That's great, it really is. Hey, call me Phil, no need for this formal stuff," he insisted, shaking Freddy's hand. "Wow. It's really amazing how much you look like him. Y-Your dad, I mean. It's like uh, like I'm talking to a ghost or something."

"A very substantial ghost," noted Freddy with a chuckle.

"Heh. Yeah." His gaze lingered on Freddy for a little while. "S-Sorry, you probably get that a lot, huh?"

"Not as much these days, though I like to think I am very much my own individual and not just a stand-in for Fred Fitzbar," said Freddy.

"Oh yeah, of course. You don't need to d-define yourself from him. You do you, Freddy. And hey, look at all of you," he said to the others. "I-I can't believe I'm finally getting to meet you. Last time I saw any of you, I was told you were all gone after Sid took off. Glad to see you're not though, of course."

"Yeah, no thanks to your boss," said Bonnie icily.

"Bonnie," said Chica pointedly but Phil kept his smile and held out his hands.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm not expecting us to be, you know, all best friends right away. I-If it's any consolation, I get it. I was in the line of fire that day, literally." He rolled up his sleeve and showed a notable spot on his arm. "Shot me right there. That was uh, that wasn't a fun experience."

Bonnie whistled. "Holy crud. And you still took off after him, even after that?"

"I know, must be out of my mind, r-right?" Phil chuckled. "Yeah, I probably was. B-But I just felt like I had to do it. I'm not exactly Bruce Willis, b-but I had to do something, even i-if it was just keeping an eye on him for Aaron. H-He's the kind of man where, w-when he knows what he wants, he uh, doesn't stop until it's his. As I learned the hard way. So yeah, a-at the end of the day, I just want to make sure that everybody gets what they deserve. I-Including Sid."

Bonnie and Foxy exchanged a look with one another. Neither of them said anything, but Mike could tell that Phil had already done a great deal to lessen their suspicions of him. Then Chica surprised them all by approaching him.

"Well, I um… I want to say, thank you, Phil. You've b-been very brave and if it wasn't for you, we'd… we'd still be trapped. So… thank you." She stood awkwardly and held out a hand. "I h-hope we can be friends?"

Phil looked a little bemused but it didn't last long. He shook her hand. "Yeah, of course! I'd be happy to be your friend. It's really no problem, I-I'm glad I was able to help. I'm just… I'm sorry I couldn't do more. A-Anyway, enough about me. We're here to do a job, right, Goldie?"

"Indeed we are. Since we're all gathered here, I might as well inform you all of what I have in mind right now. Everybody, take a seat." She waited until they were all sat and looking at her. "Right, so the long and short of what we need to do is helping the new synths. As Mr. Hawthorne has made clear already and based on my own findings, there were problems with their initial brain mapping, which has resulted in some unspecified issue with their mental development. This hasn't been helped by the existence they've been enduring all of their lives, thanks to the Puppet. We need to find the root of the problem and at the same time, help them adapt to their new lives without the Puppet's influence."

"That last bit shouldn't too hard," said Bonnie. "They'll be pretty happy to know they're free of that thing."

"It's not a question of happiness, Bonnie. It's a question of the impact the Puppet had. Even with his control gone, it was still a significant part of their lives. The scars may never fully heal, but we've been through our fair share of troubles. If anyone can help them, we can," she said. "We're all going to work together to do this. Since we don't want to overwhelm them and he's the main individual they know the best, Jeremy will be the first and only one to meet them when we wake up. He can explain the situation to them and try to de-escalate any potential tensions that come up."

"We're going to be waking them all up at once?" asked Jeremy. "I'm all for that, but it still sounds a little risky."

"Indeed, which is why we're not. Vevina will be woken up first. Given her behaviour, it's going to be chaos if we let her run rampant, so we need to get her to calm down first before we do the same for the others," explained Goldie. "That's another reason why Jeremy will be the one to do it, since she actively helped you when she could."

"I just hope she remembers that," said Jeremy.

"Don't ye worry, lad," said Foxy. "I'll be on hand in case she starts ta get too outta control. Just holler if ya need me."

"So once they're all up and about, we can start helping them through their uh, issues?" asked Mike.

"That's the plan. In a sense, things are kept balanced. Between the two groups, there are five synthetics and one human companion apiece, helpin' to maintain somethin' of an outsider's perspective if things get a little hairy," said Freddy. "Since he's not personally affiliated with either group, Phil can also act as somethin' of a mediator."

"That makes sense," he agreed. "I-I wasn't really involved with the actual process of uh, making and developing either groups of synths, n-not even Sid's. He preferred to keep me a-at a certain distance, especially when they were brought o-online fully. Always good to h-have a man in the middle, right?"

"Um…" Chica had a hand raised. "E-Excuse me?"

"Chica, this is a meeting, not a classroom," said Goldie, though it was with fondness. "Speak your mind."

Her face blushed a bit. "O-Okay, sorry. Um, how do you want us to be, I suppose, handling the new synths? I-I mean um, one-to-one, as a group o-or…?"

"For the moment, we'll be trying it as a group," she answered. "But don't feel the need to be constricted by that. Whatever we feel you may need to help them along, we'll do our best to support one another and accommodate any suggestions or arrangements that might have to be made. It's another reason why Mike, Jeremy and Phil are here, to help give us some extra flexibility. Remember, none of you are alone."

Chica still looked a little nervous, but she nodded firmly and kept her determined look. Foxy placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and Mike felt her hand give his own a squeeze.

"Any other points to raise?" Nobody answered. "Very well then," said Golden, "if we are all clear on what our roles are, I think we've waited long enough. Let's wake them up."

Arc of Carona: I hope you won't be disappointed :)

Guest: Thank you!