Pull Together

"This is really rather fascinating, you know," Theodore was saying. "These files are quite extensive. Only on your creator's earlier work though. Seems ours took everything of note when he departed, but still very interesting. They even kept regular record of your neural development, along with Spring's. It's odd, there's a regular progression for you both but something seemed to happen with Spring. It's like his mind seemed to be altered in some way. What do you imagine that was?"

"Who knows?" she muttered indifferently.

"It might be interesting to consider, might even account for his behaviour in some regard. I wouldn't mind speaking with that Handy fellow, see what he knows. Any chance of that?"

"I turned him off. He was irritating me."

"Oh. I see." He cleared his throat and tried another tack. "That your creator was able to hide himself here for so long. In plain sight, you might say. Oh yes, very impressive. Curious as well, considering that we have partaken in similar practices over the-"

"Theodore? Stop talking to me."

He winced at her tone, but decided that discretion was the better part of valour in this circumstance. He had hoped that the two of them might be able to have something of a heart-to-heart following her… outburst. The trouble was he had no idea how to begin addressing it. Theodore liked to think of himself as reasonably competent, but this whole 'sensitive matters' business was something he was still getting used to. He'd tried at least.

He set down the files he'd been rooting through, making a mental note of anything interesting. A lot of them recorded some of the earlier work of Fitzbar, namely on Goldie (recorded in the files as Fredabear) and Spring Bonnie. Animatronic construction and assembly, suit designs, other matters. The man was clearly quite a visionary, given the time these files were put together.

While still determining how best to speak with her, he took a look around the room. It seemed to be a clutter of animatronic and mechanical parts. Clearly, this was Fred Fitzbar's workshop of sorts. Had this always been here or was it relatively recent? Something constructed when he suspected the treachery of Sid Hawthorne.

Theodore still marvelled at how quickly things had changed in the space of a few months. Before this, he thought he knew his purpose. To lead the others and carry out the wishes of their creator, towing the line of the Puppet. Now here he was, in the wake of attacking his creator's headquarters and having his position supplanted by a boy with a proclivity for balloons. Still, he supposed he was capable and had graciously stepped aside.

He found himself wishing that Billy was here. When on earth did that happen?

An item caught his interest. It looked like a complete endoskeleton, but of a markedly different design. The limbs, body and head were fitted with some kind of attachments with metal plates around the edges that seemed to be on hinges. He pulled it up into a standing position, looking at it closely.

"An old springlock suit." It seemed Goldie noticed what he was doing. "They were used to help programme human movements for the endoskeletons. You'd wear it and it was directly interfaced with an endoskeleton that either Spring or myself were controlling. It let us get used to the sensations themselves before we were given full control. This one looks like it's been modified."

"Perhaps it was something that Fred did to keep himself occupied down here." He tapped one of the metal sections. "What do you imagine he might have intended in its use?"

"Who knows? I also can't help but notice you're talking to me again."

Theodore drew himself up. "You addressed me, my good woman. I still remember manners well enough to participate in a conversation directed to me, unlike yourself."

"Well aren't we polite and proper?" she remarked.

"Good lord, you're really quite insufferable in this state, do you know that?"

"I can't say that I care."

"Evidently." He drew himself up as much as he could and strode over to her. "On that note, there's something I'd like to say to you, madam."

"Please, do go on."

He hesitated due to her deadpan tone but pressed on. "You… you were very unfair to Miss Holland. Yes, markedly so. While your frustration is understandable, she had absolutely nothing to do with the cause of it. You should apologise to her at the earliest opportunity."

"Indeed?"

"Well, yes." He cleared his throat again. "The poor woman must be quite taken aback, given the circumstances. Considered an outsider by the majority, blamed for something that isn't entirely her fault. Really only by association for someone else's deed. There may be some bad feelings there already, which will only now be doubled in the wake of such chastising. She must feel so dejected, isolated, trying to reconcile this misplaced sense of guilt that has been-"

"Are you quite done with projecting yourself, Theodore?"

That did it. He'd done his best to be patient and have some understanding while still getting his point across, but that was too much. He strode over to where her head was rested, boring his gaze right into its eyes as he slammed his hands down either side of it.

"How dare you? How dare you?! What gives you the right to behave in such a…!" He stopped. He let the anger drain out of him. "I can see this exercise is pointless. You don't want to listen to me or anyone else? Fine. I'll leave you alone and engage in more constructive matters."

She didn't say anything to that, nor when he went to leave with an armful of the files he'd been perusing. He paused in the doorway and glanced back. It was strange how small she was in the physical world compared to the digital one. The thought of that world struck a chord in his memory.

"Do you remember what your brother called me? A jackass. Rather blunt but… well, he wasn't wrong. He called upon you as an example of what anger and bitterness can ultimately lead to. I still remember what you told me. About the darkness. It didn't sound very pleasant, not at all. I'll… leave a light on for you though, in case you… well…" He paused, trying to think of something profound to say. Nothing came to mind. "Well, I've said my piece. Good day, Goldie."

With that, he left her and made his way to the exit. Perhaps a stroll around the glade of trees would help to clear his head.

Hermana had never cooked anything before. There was no need for her, since there was usually food in the kitchen of the Fun Palace if she wanted it. But with their human friends sound asleep, she knew they'd probably be hungry when they woke up and decided it would be nice if they had some food when they did.

Of course, they couldn't go out to the store but some rooting around had revealed that Fred Fitzbar had planned for that. Tins of baked beans and other canned goods were stocked in a room off the kitchen. This would work fine. The only problem now was how to get it open.

She was strong, being a synthetic. But there was nowhere obvious on the can that she might be able to get it open. She drummed her fingers on the top. She couldn't exactly screw it open. She banged it on the side of the countertop. Didn't even dent it. Maybe you were supposed to cook the food in the can first and then open it? Yeah, that made sense.

Scanning the kitchen, she found the microwave. Okay, this she knew how to use. It took her a moment as this one was different to the one back at the Fun Palace, but she got it down in the end. It was just starting to spin when Bonnie came in.

"Hey Hermy, what are you…?" Her eyes widened at the sight that greeted her.

"Hey Bon! Just whippin' up a little snack if people wanted- HEY!"

She was barged aside by Bonnie who wrenched open the microwave door and pulled the beans out. She held it at arm's length for a moment, breathed out and then held it in front of Hermana's face.

"You can't put metal stuff in the microwave!"

"Huh? Why?"

"Because it explodes!"

"Really? Oh. Huh. Whoops." She forced a laugh and immediately felt terrible. "See, what'd I tell ya? Screw-up."

"You're not…!" Bonnie took a moment to calm down. "You're not a screw-up, Hermy. You just didn't know. But now you do."

"You're… not mad at me?"

"Not mad, just making sure you don't burn the house down. Come on, there should be a can opener in here."

Hermana gasped. "You can cook?"

"Well… a little bit. Some stuff. Okay, Chica doesn't exactly let me near the kitchen for… reasons. But hey, it's beans!" She paused to apply the can opener, popping the top off. "How hard can it be?"

A few minutes later, the shrill whine of the fire alarm was going off and Hermana scrambled to open the door to let out the billowing clouds of black smoke spewing out of the pan. She had to duck when Bonnie threw out the whole pan, the sorry remains of the has-beans splattering on the ground.

"Fire, fire, fire!" Theodore shrieked, practically diving out the open door. "Everybody out, quickly!

"What the hell is…?" Clyde stopped in his tracks to cough. "What are you both doing in here?!"

Hermana took a moment to think of a good answer. "Um… cooking?"

Clyde looked at her, then the smoking pan and its contents. He quirked an eyebrow at Hermana, who tried a disarming grin. It did nothing to alter his expression and she soon gave up.

"Don't worry about it, man." Bonnie placed an arm around Hermana. "Just us screw-ups, doing what we do best."

"Yeah!" She went to hug Bonnie back but paused. "Am I good?"

"Yeah, you're good."

She trilled happily and wrapped both arms around her. A blue tint came to Bonnie's cheeks, but she smiled and hugged her back. If being a screw-up could still make her feel happy, maybe it wasn't so bad. And it seemed to make Bonnie happy too. She had a really nice smile, one that made Hermana feel really… well, nice.

The fire alarm died down and the bleary-eyed humans, woken up suddenly from their sleep, were filled in.

"How long have we been asleep?" asked Mike.

"Pretty much all morning." Bonnie indicated the clock, telling them it was half past 12. "You guys were out like lights. Figured you could use it."

"Well, we're up now and even with that little uh, incident, I have to say I'm feeling hungry." Jeremy clapped his hands together. "Get me some more of those beans, I'll sort this out."

Following this, Jeremy took over for cooking. After he whipped them up a few bowls of beans, they all took seats in the living room while the humans ate. Hermana sat on a couch with Bonnie and Mike. An embarrassed Theodore returned to the desk chair he'd been reading in while Clyde reclined on another couch with Jeremy. Lidiya had taken a solitary armchair, facing the two groups.

Hermana felt a little bad for her. She looked like she wanted to say something, but wasn't quite managing it. She could see others were glancing at her a lot, like they weren't sure what to make of her. Until now, Hermana only had the vaguest idea of who she was. She remembered someone with her voice and face from their earlier days after they'd woken up, but even that wasn't much. Even if she had worked for Sid, she seemed okay.

Well, she thought, time to see if she could be less of a screw-up.

"So hey, Lid!" she said when Lidiya had finished eating. "You holdin' up okay there?"

"Huh?" She looked surprised she'd been addressed. "Oh! Um, yeah. Kind of. I mean, everything I thought I knew just got turned upside down and I'm now on the run from a homicidal AI with you all but hey, what else is new?"

"Oh plenty! There's this house and the lab downstairs. Ooh, just today I learned that metal stuff explodes in the microwave and I nearly…" She paused when she saw Lidiya staring. "Oh, you weren't actually askin' that, right? Sorry."

"No, no, it's okay," she said quickly. "I used to take stuff literally too. Like this one time, I was at college with Mike and we were out buying stuff for the apartment we shared with a few other people. We were in the checkout line at the grocery store and the lady ahead of us starts getting all worked up. She's yelling at the cashier, saying she's been waiting for 'literally hours'. Her words, not mine."

"Oh, I remember this," said Mike, snapping his fingers. "So then you tapped her on the shoulder and said 'no you haven't. It's only been five minutes.' She wasn't happy about that."

"But it was true!" she insisted. "I'd seen her step into line only a few seconds before we did. Then she gets mad at me, says I'm trying to make her look bad and I tell her 'no, you're the one who's doing that'."

"What?!" Jeremy had a gleeful expression on his face. "You didn't actually say that!"

"It wasn't meant to be an insult! She really was the one making herself look bad!" She laughed, relaxing visibly. "Luckily, that was around the time that store security came in to escort her out. She tried to blame me, but the cashier backed us up that she was the one making the fuss. He even put a discount on for us!"

"Of course he did. You basically did what most retail workers wish they could do: call out a Karen," said Jeremy.

Clyde raised a hand. "Hold up, were you there too?"

"What? No, I hadn't even met them yet. Why?"

"Then how did you know her name?"

"Her what? Oh, I see. No, her name wasn't actually Karen," explained Jeremy. "That's what we call customers who are really entitled and crappy to retail staff."

"What if she's actually called Karen?"

"Then I guess Karen's a Karen. But that doesn't mean she'd necessarily be a Karen, but anybody could be a Karen if they show that kind of behaviour."

Clyde nodded slowly. "I think I get it. So the mom that got in my face a while back when we were still performing, because her kid called me lazy and I did this." He extended his middle finger from his fist. "That makes her a Karen?"

"No, that just makes you an asshole to kids."

"I'm fine with that," he shrugged. "I mean, the kid wasn't wrong but still."

"How did the Puppet let you get away with that one?" asked Mike.

"I think he thought it was funny. I was surprised he let it slide too, but hey, I guess he was good for something." He looked across at Lidiya. "I mean, for keeping the 'synths under control', right?"

Lidiya shifted guiltily in her seat, retreating into herself. Hermana at once felt bad for her and walked over to sit on the arm of her chair.

"Clyde, why'd you have to go and say that?"

"Come on, like you weren't thinking it. Sure, there's a lot she says she doesn't know, but I bet she knew about that. Not a problem for her though. We were just machines, weren't we?"

"Yeah but-"

"Hermana, wait." Lidiya managed to look up at Clyde. "You're right. I did know that's what it was doing and… that was all I thought of you as. But that's changed. I've seen what you're capable of, what you've been through and I'm… I'm sorry. I was… I was wrong. I want to try and make it right."

"Great. Any chance that you might know how to stop Sid and save our friends? That'd be good."

Lidiya considered for a moment, then gasped loudly.

"Hey, there actually might be a way!" She rooted around in her pocket and pulled something out. "We use this."

She held aloft a ring of keys, a Darth Vader key fob held proudly between her fingers.

Jeremy broke the confused silence. "Okay, Lid, not that I wouldn't want a Dark Lord of the Sith on our side at a time like this, but I don't think-"

"No, look!" She removed his helmet, revealing a USB port. "It's something that Sid gave me in case the Puppet ever went rogue. It's a Purge programme, basically a really aggressive computer virus that's capable of breaking down even the most advanced systems. Even an AI. Once they're gone, Sid's just one guy, even if he is in a synth body now."

"Wait really?" Jeremy looked at it with renewed interest. "You mean we actually have a shot?"

"We do! Except…" Her face fell. "The virus is coded specifically for the Puppet. I could reconfigure it for Spring as well, but unless I have something to reference for him, it would take a very long time."

"Would a record of his base code from his inception help?"

They looked around to see Theodore, holding up a specific page from the files he had been combing through. Lidiya hurried over and began rapidly looking over the page, muttering under her breath while she read.

"Wait, you were actually reading through all of that boring crap?" asked Clyde. "I thought you were just pretending to so you didn't have to talk with us."

"But of course," said Theodore proudly. "Sometimes, to get to the heart of the matter, you must go back to the start. And in matters such as these, where better to start than with the paperwork?"

Clyde rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Yes! Yes, this is exactly what I need! Theodore, this is brilliant!" She hugged him, earning an embarrassed muttering and blush. "Okay, okay, okay. I'd still need a good few hours to properly do it and a few more to configure some kind of direct interface for it for the two of them, but this will make it a lot easier. I'll copy Spring's from the Puppet virus and work from there. The only thing is…"

Her eyes drifted towards the garage door. Even Hermana was able to get her meaning. She needed to use the lab downstairs and downstairs was Goldie.

"Well, we're not lettin' ya go down there on ya own," she said. "Come on, guys!"

Mike and Jeremy went to stand with her. Bonnie seemed uncertain, then joined them as well.

"Pass," said Clyde. "I'm not dealing with her."

"Y-Yes, I do believe I wouldn't be of much help either," said Theodore. He went back to the files.

"Okay-dokey, see you later!" Hermana gave them all a beaming smile. "Come on everybody, smile! When Goldie hears this plan, I'm sure she'll think it's great!"

"This idea is terrible."

"What?!" Mike was incredulous. "How can you think that?"

"Easily. From what I can gather, it seems very much like you're suggesting that we kill him," she stated. "Oh no wait, I meant 'delete' him, right Lidiya? Since he's little more than a programme to you."

She recoiled again at Goldie's harsh words.

"Okay then," said Mike, "did you have something else in mind?"

She hesitated. "Admittedly, no. But there has to be something else. Deactivating Spring was bad enough, but asking me to help put him out of commission permanently is too much."

"We don't exactly have any other options. You already tried talking to him and we know how well that went. I still get vertigo thinking about it," said Jeremy. "So far, this is the only solid option we have."

"I'm surprised at you, Jeremy, given who's suggested this option, as you call it. From what I gathered, you weren't very trusting of her either."

"Maybe, but you can get a look at the file itself, make sure it's what she says it is before we do anything with it. Plus, I'll bet you could be a pretty big help in actually tailoring it for Spring."

"You said yourself how bad the situation is," said Mike. "This isn't like when we found him last time. We know that he can do everything you can do and the only thing holding him back is Sid Hawthorne. How long do you think he'll manage that?"

"But you're talking about killing him!" she cried. "Not just switching him off, but killing him! Look, we could make another signal suppressor and attach it to him. Keep him confined, maybe we can help him. Mike please, you must think there's a chance for that. You did it for me, why not him?"

"Because it's not just his life on the line. Or did you forget our friends are in danger too?" Bonnie approached with her arms folded. "If you're seriously asking me to choose between Spring and them, you know what my choice will be."

Her voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Bonnie… he was my friend…"

"I know." She knelt in front of Goldie's head. "I get it, okay? You want to help him and if things were different, maybe we could. But they aren't. You know what he's done already, what he's going to do. The only people that have a chance of stopping him are us. It sucks, I know it does, but this is how it is. If this is our chance at doing it, then I'm taking it and if I have to put you away until it's done, I will. Because I'm not losing them or anybody else to some maniac who choked out a kid for upsetting him."

Goldie was silent for a long while. When she spoke, it was in a defeated tone.

"Okay. Do what you have to do, Lidiya Holland. I'll help where I can. Let me make myself clear, however: I still don't trust you. I will work with you, but if there is the slightest hint of any kind of treachery on your part, I assure you that you'll regret it. Do we understand each other?"

"I do." She glanced down. "For the record, I'm sorry too. But I'm not your enemy. I promise."

"We'll see."

They were here. He watched them inside his truck, hidden further down the road. Close enough that he could detect them at the Hidden Place, but not so close that they would detect him. If he tried to find out exactly what they were doing, She would know he was there. There was no need to give himself away so soon.

The Puppet considered attacking now. He had them outnumbered, with the squadron of Toy-Bots he had brought with him, along with the one Spring had given him. They would strike before they knew what hit them. But it would be dark before long. They had assumed they were safe. He would show them how wrong they were.

Another thought occurred to him. Perhaps he wouldn't need the Toy-Bots after all. The trigger he had hidden when he was last here was still present. If he activated it, She would be trapped and unable to help. All that would be left would be to pick off those that had been isolated. If he could keep them disoriented, frightened, then the rest would all fall into place.

A low growling came from the back of the truck.

The Puppet allowed himself a smile. Yes, that wouldn't be a problem at all. All he had to do was watch and wait for just the right moment…

Hey guys! Sorry I didn't upload a chapter yesterday. It got very hectic and by the time I got home, I just collapsed into bed XD

Yellowscar1: Ain't that the darndest thing.

Vyrhys: I've always shipped foxy/mangle so I had to do it for this one xD as for the spring lock suit, I had to try and make it work in the world I've established. Glad it worked.

Monkey999Boy: While Sid is no doubt an evil man, they're all still very taken aback and shocked about what happened. None of them would have ever conceived something like this. And I do remember. Foxy and Bonnie was a favourite of yours, though I will note the two of them are more like siblings than anything along with the rest of the originals xD

Arc of Carona: you should be xD