Foxy snapped his jaws several times in three seconds, some whips of the head almost clipping Max's coat tails. He chased the human with dilated optics as the latter scurried and jumped onto various carnival rides, weaving through even the narrowest of ride structures. When he chased Max to the Ferris Wheel, the Guardian leapt through the skeletal base of the Wheel but Foxy couldn't follow, instead his head was lodged into the pie-shaped hole.
Realizing his predicament, he roared as he brought his clawed pede to try and push himself out. He whimpered darkly when his head wouldn't break free. The dinosaur-based Transformer clicked and whinnied, waiting for one of his friends to respond but nobody came. He didn't even see Max walk up to his trapped form as the Wheel began to creak from the pressure, slightly leaning towards Foxy.
Max frowned with empathy and scouted a solution. As much as he disliked the aggressive Dinobot, he knew the kid was trying to defend the only home he's known since 1987. He didn't deserve to be trapped. The only problem was dodging Foxy once he got loose.
Grabbing his gun, he aimed it first at Foxy who immediately froze and stared with a glimmer of betrayal. Max remained expressionless but then shifted a bit down and fired. The bullet hit the bolt of the bar hooked under Fox's throat cables and broke, the bar falling from place and freeing the Dinobot. He put away his weapon and watched as Foxy slowly moved his helm out of the structure.
"Are you good?"
Foxy grumbled and readjusted his stance, shaking his tail and head but just grinned a little at the human. Before Max could react, Foxy's glossa ran up his body and pulled on his exposed skin like sticky tar paper which made him wince. Once the tongue left, half his body and clothes were drenched in cold saliva and he just slowly glared at the Dinobot in utter surprise. Then the tongue returned a few more times, coating him with an oily substance that he didn't want to know what it was made up of.
"Okay! Alright! Stop please!" Max exclaimed, stumbling back as Foxy gave one last swipe and he put his hands up to keep a barrier of distance.
Foxy purred and made noises of what Max assumed was happiness though it sounded more like the baby raptor coos from the Utahraptors on Zeliria before they attacked their prey. Apparently, the noises were enough to attract Chica because the yellow femme Seeker approached and perched on top of one of the smaller buildings like a hawk, wings pointed downward on her back.
Max carefully acknowledged her and narrowed his eyes when he spotted Bonnie nearby the pizzeria with Freddy near the sandpit. Ennard was resting atop the ice cream store curled in his protective ball asleep still so that was kind of better since he was tougher to deal with. Marionette and Golden Freddy weren't around but he could see Ballora and Balloon Boy emerging from the tent, one dancing away while the smaller of the two clambered like a hellhound searching for something to kill. And then there was the Mangle staring at him from the shadows entangled in the trees which he was surprised didn't break under her weight. Both heads were locked onto him and he shivered from how creepy her upside-down stance was.
Suddenly, all of the visible entities caught him in their sights and he merely frowned, "Okay, this isn't good."
Freddy was the ringleader so it was expected that he would be the first to approach, slightly limping towards him at a fast pace. Foxy only held out his tongue like a dog, wagging his tail and not doing anything to prevent Freddy progressing upon him. That's a nice thank you for the help, Foxy.
When the brown and black mech was nearly on top of him, Max muttered, "Gabriel, this is no way to treat your guests!"
He was sure Freddy didn't hear him because of how quietly he said the name but alas, he was wrong. The mech came to screeching halt, dirt uprooting from the damaged pedes. Slamming his servos onto the ground, Freddy roared almost directly in front of the Guardian's face with his teeth bared. Max only then smiled. Freddy knew better than to hurt him now.
In the corner of his preoccupied eye despite being practically covered by Freddy's visage, Max cursed under his breath when Ennard stirred. The two three-clawed extra limbs on the mechanoid's back broke away from the slumbering form like a pair of wings being stretched out for the first time in years. Ennard's helm pulled out from between his entwined arms as they slowly moved up to lift his body off the roof of the store. He brought his head to stretch up high parallel with his limber neck before glancing around with an audible yawn and snarl. His yellow and green candy cane horns and spinal spikes made him look like an absolute monster under the moonlight as one of the three-clawed appendages rotated, and his blue optics latched onto Max.
With his unfinished tail swinging irritably, Max knew off the bat the monstrosity of a creation wasn't going to play nice with him. As the human watched him jump off the ice cream building like a panther, the lumbering scrapped mech used all his limbs to clamber up to Gabriel's position to replace him as the big bad of this problematic scenario.
At least Max could talk to Freddy but Ennard...Michael was unapproachable. He was still sour as hell about what his father did to him, trading places unknowingly to be killed by Circus Baby and now he wanted to kill everybody regardless of their positions on his situation. It was ironic how children were much more reasonable than a formerly mature young adult but Max didn't necessarily blame Michael for thinking that way. It just made his job of communicating with Michael much more difficult.
"Hey, Mikey! How's...life treating you?"
Ennard's one functioning optic and his half broken one dimmed, narrowing with a furious growl.
Instantly, one of the grappler claws wrapped around and squeezed Max like plush toy, bringing him to eye level with the angry abomination. Bonnie and Chica were practically cheering the adult spirit to crush him while Balloon Boy was just leaning back against the former petting zoo gate with his fanged smirk, that little Minicon was actually happy for once.
"Okay! Okay, I know you're upset! I know what it's like to be betrayed but I think killing me is wrong because it makes you no better than your father, so why don't you put me down and we can discuss this like adul-!"
Ennard's optics almost turned blood red in fury and clutched harder with his free servos making the obvious motion of wanting to tear him apart too. Max coughed as his organs were howling in agony of the pressure. His skeleton wasn't too happy either, feeling his lower spine bending a bit awkwardly inward. If this kept up any longer, the intervertebral discs would pop out into his body like a Pez dispenser.
Suddenly, a white and black servo grasped Ennard's grappler and twisted it, the mech bellowing in shock and pain. He whipped his claw back behind him as he let go of Max. The same servo caught the Guardian while Ennard tended to his appendage which took a while to regain full clutching abilities due to a strain on the cabling linking it to his animatronic system. He whimpered and backed off when he noticed who it was.
Max held his back and rubbed it with one eye closed but gave a tired smirk seeing Marionette in her full size daring Michael to try and hurt him again. The children whined and whinnied at her presence but it was a respectable gesture, not a rude one. Even the ones formerly taunting his demise refused to defy her unspoken rule. Balloon Boy or James, Michael's little brother formerly a coward, no longer was carrying that shit-talking smile and bowed his head solemnly. Brother like brother influence, have to love that.
Marionette scowled, "Why are you antagonizing my children?"
"What? I can't drop by and say hello to an old friend, Mari?"
"They don't know you well enough to allow you to wander freely, I thought you knew that?"
Max cracked his back with a grunt of discomfort, "Now I remember, and I'll continue to remember that for now on. Ow!"
The purple mech, Bonnie, giggled like a toddler in a deep Cybertronian adult voice which would catch a normal person off guard, "The pirate is funny! Can we keep him as a pet, Mama?"
"Pet!?" The Guardian flew up from his semi-yoga pose to help his spine and shouted, "I ain't nobody's pet and I won't be nobody's pet. Try it and I'll make your life a living hell although you seem to already be enduring that, Charlie."
Bonnie shrunk back almost wounded, glancing rapidly from him to the ground and back shamefully.
"Susie, Cassidy, Charlie, Jeremy, James, Michael, Stephanie, Theresa, and finally Gabriel. I have to say I'm disappointed with a lot of you. I'm almost tempted to put you all in the Devil's Den."
An uproar of pleas in both ghostly and loud voices met his ears and he couldn't help but smirk from the determination to change his mind. Oh, they may be tough because they are equipped with Cybertronian bodies, but they were still scared little children sans three of them who have been stuck around children for too long to act like rational adults. Only Marionette was unaffected by the threat primarily because he only spoke to the spirits, and she wasn't dead.
"I wouldn't do that to you guys. You've been through enough. I'm not that cruel but I will get you back for attacking me, just so you know."
Balloon Boy stuck out his glossa in a childish manner and crossed his arms stubbornly. Ennard moved backwards with a dark glimmer in his working optic and frowned, slowly turning away with a growl. Obviously, Michael wasn't one to get revenge on and Max made a private note of this as he continued to stretch his arms and roll his shoulders painfully.
The Marionette set him down with little to no expression, "Max, why are you here? I am doubtful you really came to visit."
The Guardian converted his smirk to a serious neutral snarl. He softly muttered, "I came here to tell you he is loose again."
All of the Transformer corpses along with the puppet-like femme made their optics go wide. Suddenly, dark whispers grew into an uproar around the environment and Max couldn't help but shiver at the fury and sadness unwinding. He could feel their fear, their various other emotions twisting and turning madly from their auras. To be fair, he didn't blame them. He was a nightmare.
"How long?" She asked in a strained two-toned voice.
Max shrugged, "It depends on what he wants to do. If he wishes to go after Circus Baby first for humiliating him, he's going to do that. If he decides to take back the fairgrounds or go after you, he's going to do that too. I can't predict what he has planned and what's worse is that he's figured out I put a tracker on him. He tore it out of his chest cavity not long after he escaped. I can't track him anymore. The only thing I can do is warn you and I'll let you do what you think is best. I can't exactly force you to relocate but until he's captured again..."
Marionette glanced around at the scared faceplates of the children and met Michael's concerned look. Sighing, she peered back down towards the human male, "I can hold him off, capture him. The children will be safe if there with you during this. I've trapped him before, I can do it again. Once I capture him, you can return them."
Nodding, the man snapped his metal-clawed fingers. "I promise I'll take care of them."
Freddy sniffed the air, growing restless at the new information. The others followed suit and chirped loudly amongst one another wondering what they should do.
"Hey, hey," Max suddenly frowned worriedly, "It's okay! He's not even close...yet..."
That did nothing but excite their fears with Freddy the worst offender of all, pacing back and forth like a wolf with rabies. Max would've preferred the wolf here at this point.
Marionette gave him a dark look. "Now look what you did."
Abruptly, a grapple hook snagged Freddy's small horn on the side of his helm and tugged him to stumble down so he was face to face with the human who grasped his chin in one hand and stroked his nose plating comfortingly.
"It's okay, calm down. I'm right here. I promise I won't let him hurt you," Max softly cooed, making sure Gabriel made eye contact to assure the mech.
It worked somewhat as Freddy's frilled broken armor slowly sank in chunks back into their original place. The others always followed his lead so naturally if he was calm, the others simmered down just as fast. As he continued to stroke the nasal area, Gabriel sniffed him slightly which kind of tickled, not that Max would admit he had a little weakness such as that.
"Now that everybody's collected, except Resting Bitch Face," Max commented, ignoring Michael's following grunt of disdain, "This can go much smoother."
Grabbing the blue gem attached to his gold-lined orange Victorian ascot, he detached it and infused blue energy into it to make it glow before throwing it. It shattered midair and expanded into a portal which portrayed a live image of Zeliria with its main island glimmering. Normally, he could just produce a ball of energy and teleport but when it came to Zeliria, it was mighty picky how it wanted to be contacted and the gems from its islands made for precise homing beacons. Max didn't care much though.
He gestured towards the island awaiting, "Well children, here's your ride to your temporary home."
Chica gave a small whine and glanced at the Marionette who only nodded. "It's okay. He can't find you there."
It was enough reassurance for Foxy to start approaching the portal. With a very toothy crooked grin, he waved his hook sweetly at his mama and entered. Chica followed and then Bonnie, but Freddy refused and peered around determined to find something. As Ballora finally emerged from her spot and danced her way beautifully but sad towards the portal, the ring leader started to give out a hoarse roar over and over again as if calling to somebody.
Max briefly glanced at Marionette until it dawned on him who Freddy was trying to get the attention of. Cassidy. It was true that Golden Freddy only appeared when convenient, being able to teleport when others cannot, but like a good sibling, Freddy didn't want to leave her behind. She always listened and watched the others so she would come if her brother called.
An abrupt growl made the human jump and turned only to have Mangle nearly in his face with her creepy grin...or grins. The two heads smirked and rattled, sniffing him before the armorless head let out a wicked laugh. The huge Dinobot then merely mewled and stalked past him, leaving him bitter. Balloon Boy leapt onto his brother's back and both went through, not before Michael gave Max a small scowl. The response from Max was mutual.
When Freddy started to sound more desperate, a plume of ghostly green essence swirled and formulated a figure right next to Marionette who remained stoic while Max still twitched a little, not expecting her to appear at the given moment. Freddy yowled happily as a broken armored, barely stable yellow mech limped towards him. A possessive snarl emitted from the corpse-like entity that may have even rivaled Springtrap's.
Cassidy was the most damaged of the mechanoids so that was why she abused the teleportation so much and was considered the most unpredictable. She approached solemnly and cracked her head oddly to put her damaged nasal ridge against Gabriel's own. It was a sign of respect and love, an important greeting for both Cybertronian and Polynesian cultures coincidentally. Together, the two entered the vortex and that left Max with Marionette who peered down at him softly.
"Protect them, Max, I know you can."
"Are you sure you can handle him? If you need help or if you wish to join them, I'm only a signal away. You don't have to fight this on your own."
"It was my mistake that made him a true monster, so it is my duty to fix what I've done. I need you to help them more than me. Promise me."
Max gave a single nod, "I promise. But if Michael gives me shit, I'm throwing his deformed ass out."
"Max," Marionette huffed.
"Fine, I'll help him too."
As Max turned to the portal and made his way to the edge, he then spoke softly, "It was never your fault. Afton was already a monster long before you became involved."
Marionette was left alone to ponder in the fairgrounds as the portal closed, leaving behind unusual silence.
AN: Prequel to my soon-to-be-released story Five Nights starring Bumblebee. Max will be in it but this also takes place earlier in his career so he's not as nice as you have seen him as.