Last Bow
Spring had gotten out from underneath the Nightmare Fredabear. He was shaking, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.
"You just couldn't let me have this, could you?!" he screeched. "You couldn't just go away and leave me alone! You managed it just fine before!"
"You know why we can't do that, Spring," said Goldie through the suit's speakers. "You can still stop this."
He cackled. "Oh you'd love that, wouldn't you? Well, tough! Besides, you made my new buddy mad."
Nightmare Fredabear let out a double-roar from both of its mouths. It lumbered towards Mike and he became aware of just how big it was. Even in the springlock suit, he couldn't help but shiver.
But just as he prepared to fight, something purple struck it from above, bounding off and landing next to Mike. Was that Chica's cupcake she was holding?
"Come on, Springy!" Bonnie flashed a smirk. "You brought along everybody else's nightmare knockoffs except for mine? Gotta say, I'm hurt."
"Hey! You interrupted!" he snapped.
"What can I say? I love when all eyes are on me. Now, this guy…" She eyed Nightmare Fredabear up and down, then glanced at Mike. "I'll just pretend I'm hitting you, Goldie. That'll make up for it."
"Whatever makes you happy," she replied. "Be careful, Bonnie."
"When am I not? Don't worry, we'll handle the scary ones. Mikey?" She winked. "Kick his ass."
He gave her a thumbs up. "I'll give him one for you, Bon."
She returned it, then kicked Nightmare Fredabear again. The monster snarled in annoyance and pursued her, moving away from Spring and leaving Mike's path open. Even so, the two of them didn't move.
"Mikey, Mikey, Mikey." Mike could have sworn Spring's grin actually grew wider. "We've had some good times, haven't we? Remember when I almost choked you like a chicken? Twice."
He swallowed, but controlled his voice. "That's not going to happen again. We're going to stop you, Spring."
"Ha! That's rich!" He loped towards Mike, arms hanging loose. "You think that fancy little suit will stop me from peeling you out of it, bit by bit?"
"Don't let him scare you, Mike. I'm here," said Goldie.
"And then there's you, my old pal." He was stepping down off the stage. "After I'm done making you watch what I'm gonna do to your pet, I'm gonna leave you just like you left me. You're gonna be alone, in the dark and you won't be able to do anything about it."
"I'm hearing a lot of talking, Spring!" she shot back. "So why don't you put your money where your mouth is?"
He stopped. "You know what? You're right."
He suddenly slammed one foot on the ground and shot into the air. Mike only just managed to dodge his spin-kick, but he bounced off the ground and delivered a roundhouse kick to his face. The suit took the brunt of it, but Mike was still left reeling.
He didn't have time to do much before Spring charged him again. He leaped, legs lashing out in a series of rapid kicks. Mike rasied his arms to block them, but left himself exposed below. Spring crouched when he landed, thrusting into Mike's chest with both fists. He was sent shooting backwards, smacking into an abandoned car.
Mike gulped down air rapidly, trying to stand back up. He was vaguely aware of Goldie calling his name, Spring guffawing from nearby.
"Oh this is gonna be great! Without that suit, this would have been over way too fast." Spring cricked his neck. "Come on, Mikey! Don't quit on me now!"
"Mike, it's okay. Just breathe," said Goldie. "We can do this."
"He's… he's so fast… so strong…" Mike wheezed.
"So we need to be smarter. Only you can hear my voice right now. All we need is to administer the Purge virus to his core and this will all be over. If that suit is anything like ours, it'll be somewhere at the back of the head. Wait, look out!"
Spring was sprinting at them again, looking like he was going to tackle them.
"Car fender!"
Mike saw what she meant. It had been knocked loose by his impact. He grabbed it, so taken aback by how strong he felt that he accidentally swung it just as Spring dived at him. It clanged as it struck, knocking the insane AI to the side.
"Holy hell!" Mike stared at the fender. "Did… did I just-?"
"Swing a heavy length of metal like a baseball bat? Yes, you did. Now get him again!"
Mike couldn't help but grin. He went to bring it down on Spring before he could get back up, but he rolled to the side.
"Hitting a guy when he's down, Mikey? I thought you were a fair play kind of guy!" He jumped back and ripped off his own, using it to block Mike's next strike. "Ever seen American Gladiators?"
He grasped the fender with both hands, using it like a staff. Mike did the same in time to block his next strike. The two of them went back and forth, trading and blocking hits. The difference was that every hit Mike took, he felt it whereas Spring just seemed to keep going. If anything, every strike only seemed to invigorate him.
"You need to get him off-balance," said Goldie.
"I'm trying-" He ducked under another hit, but took the next on the chest. "Trying to!"
"Give me a moment… okay, he's leaning too much into his swings. Back up, keep out of range and when I say 'now', take a shot."
Mike stepped back to avoid Spring's blow. He kept this up, feeling the fender whistle past him, just grazing his suit. Spring seemed to be getting more frustrated with each miss. Mike could hear him, snarling and grunting louder and louder each time.
"Quit playing chicken and let me hit you!"
He put a lot of power into his follow-up. He missed, stumbling as he did.
"Now!"
Mike hit him around the back of the head. He knocked the fender out of Spring's hands before he could recover, then kneed him in the face and rammed his own fender into his chest. Spring stumbled back, but grasped Mike's fender and yanked it out of his hands.
"Thanks, Mikey!" He struck Mike around the head and kicked him away, whooping with laughter.
He could feel his ears ringing and he shook his head to clear his vision. Spring was swaggering towards him, dragging the fender along the ground with a horrendous scraping.
"We can't… can't fight him like this," he said. "That's a synth body… in that suit."
"You're right. We just need to soften him up a bit…" She suddenly gasped. "Get to the Fun Palace, quick! I have an idea!"
Mike had to duck when Spring tossed the fender at him like a javelin. It shattered a car window and Mike ran, Goldie giving him directions.
"Oh, so you want another round of our game, Mikey?" Spring cackled behind him. "Alright! I'll give you a ten second head start. Then I'm coming for you!"
He didn't look back, didn't stop running. Not even as the AI's laughter rang in his ears.
Bonnie had learned from last time not to go solo with the Nightmares. They were just too tough for that. Hence her strategy right now was to keep her distance and gather up the others. Now that people had been evacuated, they had free reign to do whatever they needed.
Jumping up to a rooftop, she spotted Chica, battling her Nightmare counterpart. Or rather, the Nightmare was fighting her. She just looked like she was playing keep-away. She could hear her voice as she got closer.
"Please stop! I know this is confusing, but you have to listen to-!" She was cut off when the Nightmare swiped her into a car.
Bonnie leaped off the roof, delivering a sharp kick to its head.
"Lay off the lady!" she yelled. "Get going, Cheeks!"
"But Bonnie-!"
"Go!"
She waited until Chica started running, then jumped off to join her. She scooped her up and hopped onto a lower roof, setting her down.
"You okay?"
"I'm… I'm fine." She pressed a hand to her chest and winced. "Bit bruised, but I'm okay."
"You're lucky that's all it was!" Bonnie gripped Chica's shoulders. "These things aren't in the mood for talking, Cheeks! We need to take them down!"
"But they're children, Bonnie! At least parts of them are. I thought that… that I could…" She bowed her head. "It was stupid, I'm sorry."
"No. No, it wasn't." Bonnie sighed and gave her a one-armed hug. "That's just you. I know you don't want to hurt them and you want to help. But the parts that are kids aren't in control right now and they're just going to hurt everyone else. We need to stop them. But once we do, we can help them."
Chica looked forlorn for a moment, but she nodded. Bonnie helped her up, remembering that she was still carrying the cupcake.
"Oh yeah, got this for you." She passed it off. "Not really sure if making distractions is going to help us here."
"I'm intending to do far more than just distract." She adjusted something on the robotic treat, nodding with satisfaction. "That should do it. Wait, isn't that Foxy?"
Bonnie looked where she was looking. Along with battling the Nightmare version of himself, Foxy had gotten mixed up with a sizable group of bots too. He looked like he was taking a beating, the Nightmare slashing at him with its claw while he tried to fend it off and avoid the bots.
Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Typical peg-leg. Come on!"
She picked Chica up again and jumped the next couple of rooftops. The two Nightmares they'd fought were right on their tails, but they couldn't reach them up here. When they got down to the street though…
Bonnie landed and set Chica down. She was about to charge for the bots, but Chica stopped her.
"Let me handle this. Foxy! Cover your ears!"
Foxy looked up to see her holding the cupcake. He nodded and dived behind a car. Bonnie made sure to take Chica's advice. She tossed the cupcake into the midst of the bots. The parting where the icing met the cake opened. Chica sucked in breath and she screamed.
Bonnie cringed as the piercing sound echoed from the cupcake. The bots stopped in their tracks, momentarily stunned. The Nightmares stopped as well, clutching their heads. Foxy stuck his head out, kicking the Nightmare as he ran past and joined them, making sure to give the same to the stunned bots.
"What in blazes was that?!"
"Ventriloquist control," whispered Chica, her voice hoarse. "Increased volume to beyond its maximum."
Bonnie stared. "How come you never used that before?"
"Wasn't sure if it would actually work." She tapped her throat and shook her head. No more talking for a bit then.
"It's a fine thing that it did. Grand work, lass! Cheers fer the save, mighta gotten a lil' in over me head."
"You think?"
"Like yer one ta talk." Foxy glanced around to see the bots and Nightmares. "Looks like they're comin' around."
"How long before you have another one of those in you?" Chica held up two fingers in response to Bonnie's question. "Couple of minutes, right. Rooftops, go! We need to find Freddy!"
With Bonnie jumping whilst carrying Chica and Foxy climbing, they were back up above. It didn't take long to find Freddy, being ganged up on by his own Nightmare and the trio of Freddles. She motioned for them to follow.
"What about Mike?" asked Foxy. "And where's Vev?"
"She's still getting people out and he's dealing with Spring. He's got Goldie and that suit, they can handle it but we need to keep these things away from the people," said Bonnie.
Foxy didn't look completely happy with the situation, but said nothing else. The three of them vaulted off the roof onto Freddy's assailant. Foxy barged into the Nightmare while Bonnie and Chica went for the Freddles. They caught the little monsters by surprise and Bonnie was able to kick hers a fair distance away.
"Yeah, how's that for a home run?"
Freddy frowned. "Uh, Bonnie?"
"Shut up, I don't know sports." She watched him grab another Freddle and slam it into the ground. "You holding up there, boss?"
"Not sure about that," he admitted. "No matter how many times I strike this creature, it barely seems fazed. The thought of the others, not to mention everythin' else…"
"Hey, come on now!" Bonnie clapped her hands. "We can't give up while these things are wrecking everything! We've gotta defend our home, right?"
"Yes. Yes, of course." He smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Bonnie."
"Anytime." She heard a yell and stepped aside as Foxy landed next to her. "Nice of you to drop in."
"I'll drop ye, lass," he muttered from the ground.
"First inspirin' words, now puns as well? Should I hand my hat off to you, Bonnie?" Freddy chuckled.
Bonnie shrugged. "I mean, I do look pretty good in one."
"Maybe you should wear one for your date with Hermy," teased Chica.
Bonnie was saved the mercy of responding directly by all of them having to get out of the way from Nightmare Freddy. It stopped to gather its Freddles and they took time to regroup.
"Hey, your voice is back!" said Bonnie quickly.
"Ready and waiting," she said. Then she gasped. "Look! It's the bots! They've stopped!"
Bonnie looked to where Chica was pointing. They had indeed. They hadn't fallen over or anything, they just stopped moving. She approached it carefully, jabbing it with her fist. It didn't even react. One less thing to worry about.
But the Nightmares were gathering. The monstrous Fredabear, Chica and Foxy were charging from around the corner. They grouped with Nightmare Freddy, who had recovered all but one of his Freddles. The group roared in unison, their eyes fixed on the synths.
"Come on, guys!" Bonnie stood back-to-back with her family, facing outwards towards the oncoming monsters. "We work together, we can bring these things down! We can stop this!"
They chorused an agreement. Chica tossed out her cupcake and as the Nightmares reeled from another sonic attack, the Fazband charged.
Mike could see the Fun Palace. Goldie had told him what she planned to do. They just needed Spring to get inside. That wasn't proving to be a problem though. He was following them. They could hear him, but they couldn't see him.
He flinched every time he heard that laugh. From behind a car. From somewhere on a roof. He'd catch a glimpse of him, but then he'd vanish. Mike almost wanted him to just show himself, to stop toying with him.
He regretted that when Spring suddenly landed in front of him and struck him with a backhand.
"Gotcha! And you remember what happens when I catch you."
Before could Mike could get up, a bot grabbed him by the arms. He pulled himself free, but more were coming. They were surrounding him, cutting him off as Spring came closer.
"Handy these guys, aren't they? A little brittle maybe, but you can't beat how many there are. I mean, you really can't," he giggled.
"Indeed. Too bad they only come from one place," said Goldie. "I think you've noticed that there's a few of us noticeably absent that are addressing that problem."
He cackled. "You think I didn't think of that? 'Cause I've left someone in charge of the factory. I think you know him! Gave him a fancy new suit to be sure of that!"
Mike's eyes widened. "No…!"
"That's right! And he's gonna make sure that… Huh? What's going on?"
The bots had halted their advance. Their empty eyes stared blankly ahead of them, standing utterly motionless.
"Hey, what gives?" He shook one of the bots by the shoulder. "What are you doing?! Get him!"
The bot did nothing and fell over when Spring let go. He held up his hand. The eyes briefly flashed yellow, but the bot only managed one jerky twitch before stopping again. Spring winced, pressing the side of his head like he had a migraine.
"What is this?!" He tried the same with the others and got the same results. "No, no, no, no, NO!"
"Problem, Spring?" asked Goldie. "Maybe you forgot to pay your evil robot army bill, so your service has been discontinued."
"What did you do?!"
"I think you know. No more new bots, Spring. It's just you, us and your Nightmares."
"So what?! Who needs these dumb tin cans?!" He strode towards them. "I'll finish you myself!"
Mike grabbed a bot and shoved it into Spring. He barged past him and ran to the Fun Palace. The door lock was broken, but Goldie accessed the system and closed the security shutter. It wouldn't hold for long, but it would buy them some time.
"Kitchen, go!"
He ran for it, hearing the shutters buckle under a sudden impact. He hurried into the kitchen, shutting the door behind him. Rooting around in some of the drawers, he found a box of matches and slipped them into a space between his body and the suit around the chest. He started fumbling with the gas controls for the stoves, flinching when he heard a crashing from nearby.
"Don't bother with that, just pull them away! Rip open the pipes!"
He took firm hold of both sides of the cooker, heaving until he heard a rip and a hissing sound. Before he could move on, the door flew off its hinges and Spring tackled into him.
"Bet you're feeling really smart now!" He punched Mike low in his gut area, then again, knocking the wind out of him. "Think you got one over on me, that you're better than me!" He lifted Mike over his head and tossed him bodily into another cooker, causing its pipes to burst. "How about now, huh?! You feel smart now, you two?!"
Mike didn't feel very smart. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of this. Even with the suit protecting him, he could still feel his body aching. He got shakily to his feet, his legs trembling.
"You humans. Doesn't take long for you to wear out, does it? Not a problem for me," he sneered. "I already killed Philly-boy! I'm gonna do the same with you! With everyone!"
He was coming. Mike needed to stall him, keep him in here. He said the first thing that came mind.
"Yeah, you did kill Phil. And how did that feel?"
Spring stopped dead in his tracks. "Huh?"
"How did it feel? The first human you ever killed. You must have felt something," he said. "Did you enjoy it? Was it worth the wait?"
He expected Spring to start laughing again, to gleefully tell Mike at how much pleasure he took in the act. It would only make igniting the gas even more satisfying, he'd be doing it for Phil. But Spring sounded the furthest thing from happy when he responded.
"Why do you care?" spat Spring. "He's dead now, what difference does it make?"
"Because you killed him!" Mike cried. "He only wanted to help! He wanted to stop Sid, just like you did and you murdered him for it. Even worse, you let him get torn apart by the remnants of those kids. I thought you'd be happy about it, Spring or what have you got that big smile for?"
"Shut up!" he snapped.
"Or what about me? Like you said, you almost killed me. Talking about turning me into pizza paste, you almost had me." He threw his arms out. "Come on, Spring! You seemed pretty psyched about it earlier, where's that energy gone?"
"Stop it!" He gripped the sides of his head, shaking it furiously. "Stop talking, stop it!"
"Why? Isn't this what you wanted? Your big party? You had everybody in this town rounded up! You could have set those Nightmares on them anytime you liked or just had the bots kill them in the first place! You had this big song and dance when you were about to kill Aaron and Brad, but you didn't just get on with it. You barely tried to stop them when they all got away! There's nobody left in town now, Spring! It's just us! Was this what you had in mind for your party?!"
Spring screeched in fury and charged at Mike. He easily stepped aside, shoving one of the cookers against him to pin him in place.
"It didn't help, did it? It didn't make you feel any better or give you any kind of peace. I'll bet that's why you haven't killed anyone else yet, is it?" Mike braced when Spring tried to push himself free. "You've put this whole thing into motion, this big plan to get rid of humans so nobody can ever tell you what to do again. But what happens after that, Spring? What happens when there's nobody else left? You think the synths will ever like you for that? They'll hate you and they'll make you pay for it! Or maybe you'll kill them too, then what? It'll just be you, all alone and in the dark again!"
"SHUT! UP!"
With a sudden burst of strength, Spring pushed the cooker away. Mike backed away when he leapt on top, striding towards Mike with fury in his bulbous eyes.
"You wanted us to stop you!" Mike ducked under his clumsy swipe. "You're too scared to see what'll happen if you just give up! You think you've gone too far and there's nothing else for it!" He blocked the next swing and jabbed him twice in the face. "Stopping would mean admitting you were wrong. But it's never your fault, is it, Spring? It's always the kids or the bore or Goldie or whoever else you feel like! Anything or anyone, just so long as it isn't you!"
"You're a human!" He tried to punch Mike, but he caught his fist. "What do you know?!"
"Because I've been where you're at!" Mike caught his other fist, forcing them into a cross shape. "I just never killed anyone because of it."
He reared his head back and slammed it into Spring's. He kicked him sharply in the chest and ran out of the door. Taking the matches out of the space in his suit, he went to strike one. He fumbled with it in his hands and dropped it. Spring was getting back to his feet. He tried again, trying to stop his hands trembling.
"Come on, come on…!"
A spark. A flame! Spring was charging like a bull. Mike tossed the match over his shoulder and bolted.
A bloom of heat erupted behind him. The blast sent him forward, hitting the floor. Trying to ignore the ringing in his ears, he stumbled over a fallen chair and made for the door. He didn't stop, didn't turn around until he was back outside.
The fire was already spreading to the rest of the building. Smoke was pouring out of the side door. It smelled faintly greasy. There must have been some frying oil in the kitchen as well. For a moment, Mike dared to hope that was the end of it.
Then something came out of the side door, a tongue of flame chasing him as he went. A high-pitched scream mingled with the lingering ringing caused by the explosion.
"Oh Spring…" he heard Goldie whisper. "I'm so sorry."
The flames were still licking at Spring's suit as he staggered out of the flames. The majority of it had been burned away, exposing the metal frame and the synthetic body beneath. Those that remained were blackened and charred. The lower jaw of the suit had fallen off, showing that some of the flesh around the synth's jaw had been burned away.
Spring spotted Mike, making his way towards him. He made it a few more steps before falling to his knees. This was his chance.
Mike approached Spring. The AI didn't try and fight back. He only glared at him. Mike opened the storage unit and removed its contents.
"Do you know what this is?" Mike held up the delivery system. "It's a thing that's meant to kill you! All I have to do is jam this into your core and that's it. You're done, Spring. You won't be able to hurt anybody else again."
"So go on. Do it." He snapped his head up. "Come on, Mikey. You won! Finish me off! Do it!"
"I want to. Believe me, I really do." Mike's hand was trembling. He lowered the spike slowly. "But here's what you're going to do instead. You're going to eject yourself from that suit. You're not going to try and escape. Nothing like that. You're going to give yourself up."
"Yeah? How do you figure?"
"Like you said, I've won. But you're not getting the easy way out." He knelt to look right in Spring's eyes. "You're going to pay for what you've done and you're going to live to see it happen."
Spring stared at him. He let out a choked giggle. It became a cackle, then full-blown laughter.
"You really think that'll work?! You're a hoot, Mikey!" He suddenly stopped laughing. "What makes you think I'm just gonna go along with that? That I'm never going to try and kill you again, just because you say so? You really think I'm going to give up, just like that?!"
"You already have. You were on fire just now and you're still talking to me. If you really wanted to, you could carry on fighting, finish me off like you keep threatening too and carry on with your party." Mike stood up and gestured. "Here's your chance."
Spring stared at him intently. He pushed himself up on one knee. He clenched and unclenched his fists, twitching randomly. He took a couple of shuffling steps forward. Then, he stopped. He bowed his head.
"Why?" His voice trembled a little, barely above a whisper.
Mike stared at the exposed back of his head. It would be so easy to do like they'd planned. But he just looked so… pathetic. In a way that was personally familiar to Mike.
"Well…" Mike thought for a moment. "I guess we've got a thing for hopeless causes, our little group. You know one of them."
"It's true, Spring." Goldie's voice came through the speakers. "They could have shut me away after what I did. But Mike made another call. He gave me another chance. The way you were treated wasn't fair, you're right. But we can help you, Spring. I can help you."
"Right, yeah. I'll bet all your friends will just love that."
"You let us worry about them. Please, Spring. I'm so, so sorry for what you've been through and… and my part in it," she murmured. "But you weren't meant to be like this. We found records for you and me. We think… we think your neural pathways were tampered with. Somebody made a mistake and tried to cover it up by just making it seem like some kind of fault. We… we can't fix what they did. But that doesn't mean we can't still help you."
Spring stared silently at her. His twitching seemed to lessen.
"I shouldn't have left you," Goldie continued. "I shouldn't have left you. I should have come back for you. Please, don't let anybody else get hurt for the mistakes of the past. I… I want my friend back."
"F-Friend…?" Spring's voice trembled again. "You… you're…?"
"Yes. Come on, partner. What do you say?"
Mike extended his hand. Spring stared down at it, like he'd never seen anything like it. Slowly, very slowly, he raised his hands. One more time, they curled into fists. Then, they reached around and pressed something on the back of his head. With a hiss, his AI core popped out.
"I… I can come back?" he asked.
Mike nodded. "It'll take some time. It did for Goldie. But if it happened for her, it can happen for you too."
"I… I…" Spring stretched out his core slowly. "I'm sorry…"
"I am too," replied Goldie. The core reached Mike's open hand, settling gently into it. "But let's make things right, together."
"Together," whispered Spring. "Just… just like old times?"
"Just like old times," she echoed.
Mike's fingers closed around the core. The little yellow light of Spring Bonnie glowed gently inside. He started to pull it away.
It was then that Spring looked up. His eyes were no longer dirty yellow. They were a deep, vibrant purple. A strangled, rasping voice came from the ruined mouth of the synthetic body's jaw.
"I don't think so."
It pulled the AI core back. A free hand swiped the Purge virus from Mike's own. It brought it down onto the AI core and pressed the spike into it. The light within it flickered and flared, like the vestiges of a dying flame before it went out.
Alanuki: Ah right I gotcha XD
Yellowscar1: There is a reason for why that's the case though, which will be explored in the next chapter.
Arc of Carona: Yeah the Puppet is definitely still iffy. Jeremy is certainly put through the ringer XD
Guest: What's left of them, yes.