Mable: Not much to say today, so I'm just going to go ahead with it. Enjoy!
Almost Feels Like Home
Chapter Fourteen
Foxy wasn't expecting anyone, but he jumped at the sound of the door opening with the same vigor he would've at opening time. He wasn't even disappointed either, even though Jeremy was still holed up at home and the pizzeria was closed and quiet, for Marionette was the first one to enter. He greeted him appropriately, "Ah, afternoon, Lad!" He swung an arm around his shoulders and tugged him into a loose hug. "I've been waiting for ya."
"Oh dear. That scares me," Marionette lightly joked.
"It should," Foxy lowered his voice as he started to tug his sibling down the hallway. "I want all the details, Lad. Yer lucky I let ya slide yesterday, but Jer'my was over here with a massive shiner. Ya wouldn't believe this thing, Lad. The thing looked like a plum!"
Yet right as he planned on continuing leading his sibling away, the other two finally entered, with Mike trying to somewhat shield Charlie as she slowly made her way inside. She held herself up with a hand on the wall and looked upwards, only to lock eyes with Foxy who was now staring back at her. His ears perked as he stared at the unfamiliar puppet and Marionette got an almost timid smile.
"All the explanation will come in due time. Firstly," Marionette began as he laid a hand on Foxy's shoulder to turn him towards the Security Puppet. "I think you've seen Charlie, but I don't think you two have properly met. As for Mike, I think you two know each other well enough," he playfully quipped. "Charlie, this is my older brother Foxy. You'll find him a bit more… Social than Baby."
Foxy's ears twitched and his yellow eye glanced in Marionette's direction. "Who said anything about Baby?"
"We went to see Baby before we came here," Marionette quickly explained. Foxy looked to him in surprise.
"Ya took her to Baby before bringing her to see me? What, ya wanted to scar the poor lass fer life?" Foxy asked in confusion. Marionette realized where that comment may have been a mistake. He was just about to talk himself through an excuse when they were both interrupted.
"You're brothers?" Charlie asked in confusion as he looked between them. "Like… Mascot wise or actually brothers?"
"I be his flesh and blood brother under all this metal an' fur!" Foxy boasted with a deep chuckle. He then stuck out his good hand to the girl. "Captain Foxy, pirate scourge of the seven seas! Now lemme get a look at ya." He then started to scan over her frame and while Charlie assumed she should've been, she didn't really feel uncomfortable. It was still difficult to look at her hands and arms and equate them to being hers. Foxy then slightly turned and murmured, "This that knock-off body Schmidt bought?"
"It's not a knock-off, it's just not the original," Marionette defended. Though this probably had some weight to it as the design was very reminiscent to the Funtime animatronics.
"And you were human too," Charlie clarified. She already knew this, but she felt the need to double check. After all, she hadn't expected Foxy to still be so involved in the character. Even off the clock here he sounded like the pirate captain.
"That be correct. I was just 'bout a teen when I got a knife in me back," Foxy quipped. Charlie stared at the bluntness while Marionette slowly raised a brow, also questioning why he would be so forthright. Thankfully, Foxy continued by explaining it. "We all've been in the same boat. Yer amongst friends here." He then leaned over and called back to the security guard. "How about you, Mike? How'd ya end up dead inside?"
"I was born dead inside," Mike called back. "Hasn't stopped everything from trying to kill me."
Foxy gave a chuckle and started to beckon Charlie further into the pizzeria. "Come in, come in, Lass! After Baby, ya must be starved fer somethin' a little less bitter." Once he noticed her delayed walk, he offered her his arm and nearly whisked her away. His excitement was obvious, and Marionette was relieved to see him so excited. Foxy could certainly give a better first impression, and even though she had been there before, Foxy gave her a full tour of the pizzeria.
"This be the main floor. That's me stage over there. Kids come in, I come out, ya get it. This back corner be the arcade. The kids get their tickets from the games and then take them in to Marion to exchange 'em fer prizes. Ya got yer plush dolls, ya got pencil toppers, posters, shirts, all sorts of things that the kids like all in the Prize Corner. Only really one spot fer a puppet in there though," Foxy explained. That was the only warning that came before he added in, "But all that's over here by the door is the doll stage fer the 'Reenas. We could put ya a box right here by the door."
"What? No, wait," Charlie interrupted in a near panic. She raised her hands in defense and shook her head, her bell jingling as she did so. "I'm not going to be a performer. I'm just… I'm just an animatronic, not a performer, right?" She looked to Marionette questioning, desperately, and Marionette nodded in agreement.
"Aww, that be a shame, Lass! If ya change yer mind, the place'll be here waitin' fer ya." Foxy didn't press her. After his death the last thing he wanted was to suddenly be pushed onto a stage and be pronounced Foxy the Pirate, so her reluctance was familiar enough. A shame, but understandable in these circumstances. It still seemed to make the situation a little awkward, or at least Mike thought that. He decided to dismiss himself from the scene.
"I'm going to go find a plate since we're sticking around awhile," Mike announced as he lifted the fast food bag. Foxy glanced over and gave a dismissive waving gesture, and the human gladly turned to go, already feeling half-starved.
"Wait," Charlie broke out. "I'll come with you." She staggered along the floor and tried to hurry on her stilt-like legs. "I'm sorry, I'm coming."
"I'm not going anywhere," Mike patiently answered with a shrug as he opened the kitchen door for her. He had a feeling that he was about to be cornered for reassurances, but he figured he could do that while eating. As they left the room, this left the remaining two animatronics standing in silence. The tension that they knew would eventually arrive came abruptly.
"It was the best body I could give her," Marionette defended insistently. "I know it seems like I selfishly chose my image, but the others were clunky and much larger. I thought this one would be easier to adjust to."
"Lad, ya don't need to explain it. I'm just glad Mike didn't talk ya into bringing back that Porkpouch bugger," Foxy remarked. Then he scratched at the back of his neck with his hook. "I, uh… I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner… I should've been there when it happened. I got to the kids, but just barely."
"No. I'm glad you weren't there earlier. I… I did some things I'm not proud of," Marionette meekly insisted. He looked to his sibling with shame. "I didn't show much mercy."
"Did ya kill 'em?" Foxy inquired. The Puppet thoughtfully tapped his fingers together.
"Well, technically, you could say that I did…" Now that he thought about it, it seemed very likely that he was the cause of Dave's death. Then again, he truly couldn't tell, but it certainly didn't help his possibly already faltering heart. Marionette looked back to Foxy who was watching alertly and expectantly. He knew what he wanted. "…Yes, I did."
"Atta boy!" Foxy playfully praised as he patted him on the back. "Yer finally joinin' the family business! I'm real proud of ya." This only managed to get a slight frown out of the younger. Foxy's voice grew gentler, "Don't worry 'bout it. T'wasn't like the guy didn't know what he was doin'. He worked at Freddy's, yeah?" The Puppet nodded silently. "Then he learned his own trade workin' with… the family…" Foxy turned his head towards the glass windows. His patch raised as yellow eyes focused in.
"It's not as though I strangled him or snapped his neck. All I did was startle him into what might've been a heart attack. I'm not really certain," Marionette meekly mused. "…And I still feel wrong. Not for Dave's sake, but that my own innocence, or what remains of it, feels like it has been-."
"Lad, we got company," Foxy abruptly warned. Marionette's head snapped over to see a car pulling into the parking lot. Not just any car either, but a Crown Victoria, a police car. "Schmidt, get out here!" Foxy bellowed back to the kitchen. He then yanked Marionette smoothly into the prize corner, shoved him towards his box, dove behind the counter, and disappeared.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Mike was watch nearly throttling a half-empty bottle of ketchup that refused to give up its contents. Nearby Charlie was leaning against the counter, half collapsed on it, head in her hands.
"I can't do it," she vented. "I just- I can't. I can't do it. I don't want to disappoint Marionette or Foxy, but I'm not… Ready to become a circus act. I'm just not-…" She let out a low ringing like a sigh as she drew back to stare at her hands. "…It's not just that I'm not ready, I don't think I can. I can't imagine me out there performing like an animatronic.
"Don't worry about it," Mike casually remarked as he took off the cap and jammed a plastic butter knife into the bottle to free the ketchup. "Foxy's just thinking out loud. He isn't going to force you into performing if you're just honest with him." It was then that he noticed how thick and buttery the ketchup had become. He gave a light scowl and looked to Charlie, intending to ask her opinion on whether it was worth eating. Yet he paused when he noticed she was eyeing him. "What's up?"
"Nothing. I was just- I only just now realized that I can't eat anymore," Charlie slowly answered. She looked vacantly- though it was hard to tell- at the floor. "If I would've known that was my last meal, I… I think I would've done something more special than microwave macaroni…" He could tell she was starting to decline once again.
"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure there's some variation of taste. Or else Foxy just lathers himself up in cake for fun," Mike playfully remarked. She looked to him curiously. "Might be worth breaking open a container of icing to see if you can get a reaction like Mari and Foxy can. There's some in the pantry if you want me to get it." She slowly looked towards the pantry and started to consider it. It wasn't as though she would be risking anything.
"Schmidt, get out here!" Foxy's voice suddenly bellowed out. The security puppet jumped while the security guard rolled his eyes.
"Oh great. Sounds like Mari ratted me out to Foxy. Not sure for what but does sound like I'm about to get chewed out," Mike remarked. He grabbed his plate and started out of the kitchen, but only got the door open before he spotted the man walking to the front door. Immediately his eyes widened, and any humor was replaced by sobriety. He turned his head and called back into the kitchen. "We've got company. Try to hide in the pantry or something." Then he let the door shut and crossed the dining room.
The man who watched him approach, with a knock on the door in greeting, was none other than the detective whom had questioned him before. Almost as soon as he saw him, Mike expected the worst. There was no reason this man needed to come back and question him, yet here he was, and Mike was cornered. The paranoid thought that maybe the detective had been waiting for him appeared. Perhaps he had been stalking the end of the parking lot like Dave had, waiting for his victim to pass through. He could only hope that he hadn't seen the animatronics get smuggled in.
Mike unlocked and opened the door almost hesitantly. "Alright, you caught me. My social life is so pathetically inept that I eat breakfast at my job even when it's closed. You can take me to jail now, but only if my hash browns come with me and only if we stop on the way for ketchup," Mike flatly remarked to him. A joke could ease the mood, or at least make him look less suspicious.
"Still beats spending your weekend at a crime scene. You're off the hook," the detective responded without missing a beat. "I saw you here and decided to drop in. See how you were holding up." Mike almost responded, but he was interrupted by the man. "I saw you on the news. How's business going?"
"We're open," Mike remarked, splaying his arms. The joke didn't land. "I'm kidding, of course. What psychopath would open days after that happened? I'm just here running maintenance and getting brunch."
"Good, good." The detective didn't sound like he was fully listening. "The funeral is on Friday if you want to come, but you're not under obligation. It's fine enough if you'd just rather not get involved."
"Uh… Yeah, I'll be there. Where is it?" The detective game Mike the address to the funeral home and cemetery in St. George. Even if Charlie wouldn't have been currently living with them he would've still felt obligated to go. It had been a harrowing experience for everyone involve and he needed to be there. "Thanks for inviting me. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. Seeing me might set off her family."
"Don't worry about that. You should be there," the detective insisted. Then he hesitated and looked towards the stage. The curtains were closed so he couldn't see that Foxy wasn't there. Mike, however, could see straight into the Prize Corner and noticed Foxy hunching down behind the counter. He was about to start sweating bullets if the detective got anymore curious about seeing Foxy. "We found something concerning."
"Oh yeah?" Mike asked.
"In the basement of Magictime Theater was an animatronic elephant. You said you used it to climb out?" Mike nodded. "But you didn't touch it beyond moving the head?" Mike declined this. "Well, we found a trace amount of blood inside the suit. There was an incident recently involving the same elephant falling on a child, but the location of the blood made it unlikely that it came from the boy. Instead, we're looking to the selling of the animatronic, and traced it back to an auction at Afton Robotics. You used to work at Afton Robotics you said."
"Uh, no, never said that. I worked at-." At the last moment, Mike realized what the detective was doing. There was no way that he had told the detective he worked anywhere suspicious and he was rather sure that he hadn't fessed up to being at Freddy's. He was backed into a corner but worked quickly. "-Chipper and son's. Only for a little while when we were first opening. I haven't even been there since they rebranded."
Perhaps the detective was disappointed by the lack of a slip up, as he suddenly looked a little more disinterested. At least he wasn't curious about Chipper's. Then again, who was? "Afton's had been under scrutiny for years. I'm sure you know of the fire and the recent death of the newest owner, Chance Johnson, under mysterious circumstances. Chance Johnson who would be the father of Henry Johnson, the original co-owner of Freddy's." He had done his research.
"Yeah, I heard about that," Mike agreed. "It's a shame. You never know when a place is going to burst into flames. Though I'm going to go out on a limb and say this isn't the worst thing that went down at a Freddy Fazbear Pizzeria." The detective was staring at him. "…What? What's that look?"
"Nothing," the detective denied. Mike didn't believe it for a second. "I just came by to give you the information and see if you had anything new to add before we reopened the investigation into Afton Robotics." Mike forced himself to show absolutely no emotion and just managed a shrug and denied it. The detective turned to leave and then paused at the door, looking back. "There's a man working here named Fritz?"
"Sam Fritz."
"Right. Well if you hear from a Fritz Smith then tell him we're looking for him." Then the man stepped out and Mike inwardly cringed. The detective knew something was amiss and all it did was leave him with a headache. He locked the door and took another bite of a hash brown as he watched the detective pull out of the parking lot.
"Took 'im long enough ta leave," Foxy grumbled as he exited the Prize Corner and headed closer to the safety of his stage. "Ya hear all that 'bout Chance and ARI? He's gonna gut the place! We be lucky we ain't stuck down in there! We better hope he don't start connectin' anymore dots." While Mike shared the sentiments, he didn't feel ready to relax just yet, and continued watching the empty parking lot.
Marionette appeared out of the Prize Corner, laid his hand on Mike's shoulder, and gave a light squeeze. Mike exhaled tiredly and looked to him, "We need to get out of dodge for a few days." There was a lingering pause as he continued eating, but then he continued. "Maybe go blow our savings in Vegas while we have the chance." The Puppet chimed in amusement and seemed to sympathize with him. He didn't have to say anything either, both were equally uneasy about the detective's questionings.
However, Mike's comment about skipping town wasn't one he was taking seriously, so when Marionette went to check on Charlie he thought it was the end of it. They stayed a little longer after that. Thankfully, Foxy had continued in being a good host to Charlie, and without making any other suggestions that would make her uncomfortable. This helped Mike who was lost in his thoughts. Mostly on whether or not anything was left behind in Afton's to incriminate him, as Chance had found. In a way, Chance was almost a saving grace, as he probably destroyed any evidence left behind. Still, they were on the radar now.
Mike also noticed that Marionette too seemed distracted. He was staying by Charlie and Foxy as they entered the arcade section, loyally following along and speaking with engaged, but he spent most of his time silent and seemingly poignant. Though Mike was too, elsewise he wouldn't be focusing so much on watching Marionette and so little on his meal. It was only a matter of time before they would be home again and perhaps then they could be forthright with their troubles. He hated admitting it, but Mike wanted to discuss it. He wanted to know what the Puppet thought they should do.
However, he wasn't expecting Marionette to engage a different sort of conversation on the car ride home. They had finally escaped Foxy's and were on the road back when the white mask slid up between the seats. As innocently as could be, elbow propped on the center console, Marionette asked, "So, where did you have in mind?"
"I'm sorry?" Mike glanced at him in confusion. The animatronic chimed lightly as his free hand's fingers tapped on the plastic beneath him.
"For where we're going to escape the chaos. We better hurry and decide; our 'free days' are almost over, and we're expected to open first thing next week. If we're going somewhere, we'll need to decide and go by this weekend," he explained. Setting aside that Mike was almost entirely baffled that Marionette was suggesting they actually should split town, the thought of where they would go led to a lot of immediate dead ends.
"Mari, you know I was joking, right? If we split, the first thing that detective is going to think is that we went to Vegas. Slots or not the place is a bust." There was a playful amusement in Mike's voice. "But if you've got a better idea that doesn't equate to my mother's house, then I'm game for it."
"Unfortunately, most of our local hotspots are either closed, caught on fire, are being investigated by cops, or switched to Mexican food," Marionette listed out. "Our options are rather limited."
"And I'm not exactly jumping to crash at Mom's when she's in freak out mode," Mike added in. He could only imagine how weird that would be. Especially if she became clingy and refused to let them return home again.
It was now when Charlie, who was currently smothered under the blanket in the back, spoke up. "When a friend of mine and I were planning on running away for a while, we thought about going out to Zion. It's not far from here." It was unclear whether it was a real suggestion or a joking one. It certainly sounded like a lighter comment, as though she would be smiling if not trapped under the blanket- and ignoring the mask's natural smile. She raised the blanket with her arm to peek out.
"That's it, we'll go camping!" Marionette volunteered dramatically. "Imagine it, Mike: you getting attacked by mosquitos, snakes, and whatever ungodly things are crawling in the desert and I get to watch!" Mike gave a scoff of amusement and expected that to be the end of it, but the Puppet was still watching him, as though waiting for an answer. When he didn't get one, he began to coax further. "You were the one who mentioned that you wanted us to go camping. Why don't we?"
"…Mari, we've got the police watching us, and you're willing to put yourself out in broad daylight?" Mike seemed shocked by the thought.
"I've hidden in plain sight before. Remember that night at the carnival? Everyone saw me, but nobody suspected a thing. We can do that again," Marionette persisted.
"That was different. I was in full costume, we were at a gig, and it was a carnival. It's not going to make as much sense when I'm carrying you around a canyon," Mike pointed out.
"They wouldn't see me. Or perhaps we would have to go out at night," Marionette said. He didn't seem detoured by Mike's resistance. "When would we have a better chance?"
"And Charlie?" the man asked. At the Puppet's silence he knew that he had hit the point of unknown. It was less likely that Charlie was going to be as willing to come with them, especially with how hesitant she was today at the pizzeria. Yet to his surprise, she spoke with a surprising suggestion.
"You don't have to worry about me. I was living alone before this happened. Even if I'm… Different now, I think I'm capable of watching myself," Charlie reassured. This only stoked the fires of Marionette's interest as he looked up at Mike again.
"We can be careful. Come on, Mike. You never were the type to be worried. You see how well I can hide…" His gaze fell over Mike's tense form. "…And I can tell that you want to go. I know when you're interested."
"Well, you got me," Mike caved. He paused long enough to reconsider it again. This was liable to get them both caught and send him to jail, but he couldn't resist the temptation of it. "…Alright, fine. This weekend will head out to the desert, die of heat stroke, scar some people, and hide from the cops. Will that make you happy?"
"I don't know," Marionette playfully murmured. His gaze narrowed as he rested his head on his hand. "Would that make you happy?" Mike glanced at him again out of the corner of his eyes; blue eyes glancing to that teasing smile.
"…Yes."
By time they had gotten home, the two had managed to concoct some sort of rushed out plan about how they would do it. It involved borrowing camping supplies, buying others, and various ideas on how to be discreet, such as possibly hiking at night. That was Mike's idea and even though Marionette worried it could be dangerous for his human companion, the thought of being able to explore freely was overwhelmingly tempting as well. He could barely resist it. As soon as Mike was in the door from escorting Charlie, Marionette was already back to planning.
"If I do get spotted, I think it would be best if you pretend you don't see me and get away from whoever did see me. I won't appear on their cameras with my natural distortion and as long as they don't track me to you then I should be able to avoid any further following," Marionette offered. It seemed like a good enough plan. Not that he had any intention of being caught.
"So, knocking them out with a shovel is out? Shame," Mike quipped with a slowly forming smirk following. Sure, he joked about it now, but Marionette thought it was a reasonable enough idea. Nobody would believe that someone saw a striped puppet wandering the depths of a canyon, so he wasn't at too much of a risk. The security guard passed by, patting his shoulder as he did so. "I'm going to go see if there's anything leftover in the house worth using."
"Check Foxy's room. He could've cleaned it out, but I believe he used to have a tent in his closet," Marionette suggested, turning to point him down the hallway. "It shouldn't be too moth ridden. Foxy's closet always was a deathtrap."
This got the slightest snicker out of the human who moved onwards. The Puppet could vaguely hear Mike mutter under his breath, "This is just going to go great." He couldn't help but chime in amusement at his companions continued pessimism even though he was obviously excited.
Yet while he was still excited, Marionette couldn't help but be a little concerned for Charlie. He looked to her and watched as she worked to climb over the back of the couch instead of walking around it. He approached the back of the couch and looked down at her, watching as she laid there on her side. "Charlie?" he quietly began. She looked up towards him. "Are you sure you will be okay? It should only be one night, but I don't feel right leaving you alone in the house."
"I'll be fine, Mari. Trust me, I'm used to living alone. One night's not going to-… I'll be fine." 'Kill me' seemed like the least appropriate thing to say. Charlie slid up on the couch to prop herself on the armrest. "Maybe a night alone would a good thing, just to show that I'm still capable of being alone. I'd have to rely on myself for a little while… I think I could use that in this body."
"Then that's what you'll get!" Marionette assured with a smile. "It'll be a night off for us all. For Mike and me, because we can escape the town for a bit, and for you because you can escape us." He chimed as he drifted around the couch. "And if you get uneasy or uncomfortable that night, you are always stay in Mike and my bed- That is, Mike's or my bed. Either bed, really." He thought he had just barely managed to save himself. Alas, after what Charlie saw earlier, she was rather aware of what was happening in the house. That slip up didn't make it by.
"I don't know, maybe. It depends on how good your pillows are." She considered saying more and finally dared to do so. "…Mari, I just want to say that you and Mike have been so great for these few days, and I…" Charlie tried to force it out. "You two have been great to me and I respect you both, and there's nothing I wouldn't…" But she couldn't do it. She already knew that she couldn't come out with it. In defeat, she gave half of it, "I think it's great that you two are so close, even though you're an animatronic now and he's a human being. I really think it's admirable."
"Thank you! Mike does have his charming points and I suppose I'm not half-bad on my good days," he playfully answered. Her suggestion went straight over his head; she was glad for that much.
Sometimes it got hot at night and the fans simply didn't help. It was on these nights that Mike wished they would've invested in a better air conditioner, and possibly one in the bedroom, as the one in the living room would have to creep down the hall before it made it into the room. He wasn't too surprised when he woke up in a near feverish delirium from the heat. He unwrapped Marionette from him, the Puppet being much too warm to stay alongside, and headed out into the living room. Someone had turned off the air conditioning and Mike mentally cursed as he knew it was probably himself who did it.
With a weary sigh, he crossed to the fridge to make a glass of ice water. Anything would take the edge off, he supposed, and gulping down icy water almost eased the heat. "I don't remember it being this hot last summer. I thought it was supposed to cool down at night." He pressed the glass on his cheeks and forehead, then proceeded to just pour some of the water over his hair. "Screw it. Maybe I'll just take a cold shower and call the night a bust." This seemed like a promising idea and he turned to leave the kitchen.
It was right then that he noticed a cold spot from beside the pantry. He hesitated and looked towards the door in confusion. Perhaps coaxed in by the promise of getting cooled down. He opened the pantry door and felt around. A cold aura of air seemed to be radiating from the bottom of the pantry. Furrowing his brows, Mike crouched down and felt around the floor. He had never questioned the small mat laying at the bottom of the pantry, but now poking around it he noticed it was so cold that it almost felt wet. He pulled it back and felt the floorboards.
That was when he found the hatch.
"What the?" Mike tossed the rug aside and lifted the small door, only to have it thump on the bottom shelf. He then removed the items off the bottom shelf and tried to remove it. It slid out easily and gave more room to open the hatch, which swung open into darkness. Frigid air gushed out as Mike stared into a dark abyss. "Great time to figure out we have a tornado shelter!" he choked out in shock. He went to retrieve his flashlight before returning and shining the light down what revealed to be a narrow stairwell.
"William had a secret basement…" Mike gave a shaky exhale and started to slide himself into the space of the stairs. The floorboards were freezing on his bare feet as he stood and continued down them. They only went down twelve steps before ending in a single door. It was a narrow door, almost like a closet, and he reached for the handle. "I'm making a huge mistake," Mike warned himself as he reached for the handle. "…But there's no backing out now." With that, he turned the knob and let himself into the room.
What waited was a small office. Not even as large as the bathroom, the closet-like office was set with a desk across from the door, numerous stacks of file cabinets, what almost looked like a large computer tower, and a single wooden dresser beside the door. The walls were lined with cork boards that were tacked with notes and blueprints. One even had a map pinned to it. It all felt very cramped and was surprisingly cold, which led him to believe that there was also another air conditioning unit in the room. It almost looked like an office from Freddy's; there was even a turned off fan on the desk.
"This might take me a while…" Middle of the night or not, Mike was going to scour the room. He didn't think he could return to bed if he tried. He turned on a lamp on top of the dresser as he couldn't see the switch for the overhead light, then began to look through the drawers. To his slight surprise- at first it seemed confusing, but then he realized it was fitting- the drawers of the dresser were filled with tools, parts, trinkets, and random things for animatronic repair. The first drawer was mostly a makeshift toolbox, the second full of various pieces that he couldn't sort through, and then the third drawer became interesting.
As soon as Mike opened the drawer to reveal folded black fabric, he knew that he was in for something alarming, and he was. Unlike the ones above it, the drawer was neatly organized. There was black fabric, striped fabric, various pieces that almost looked like they came out of a music box: it was a drawer filled with parts for Marionette. Almost like a first aid kit made specifically for the Puppet. In the bottom of the drawer, wrapped in bubble wrap, Mike even found the elusive second mask- though he doubted Marionette could put it on.
It was the same porcelain as his mask, but the lips were pressed together with a slight smile instead of a joyous one. The painting was also rather different, with black diamond marks under the eyes, black lips, and a soft ruby hue around the eyes. It looked much more like the typical Pierrot than his normal one. He set it on the folds of black fabric and looked over the drawer. "Looks like William stocked up on supplies after he brought Mari home… Not that Mari's ever needed any sort of replacement." It seemed like the Puppet simply repaired himself, but perhaps William didn't know that.
The fourth and final drawer was filled with tapes. Cassette tapes and VCR tapes were lined and labeled. Most of them just with dates, but one or two of the VCR tapes had actual labels. Naturally, these were ones that sounded innocent, such as 'Elizabeth's first birthday' and 'Summer Trip 1975'. They would be family videos, he assumed, and as for the unlabeled tapes, they would be Freddy's. He tapped his fingers on the edge of the drawer. "It's going to take me months to go through these…" With a tired exhale, he slid the drawer closed. "I can't really start tonight. That'll have to wait."
The sheer amount of paperwork and blueprints shoved into the file cabinets was egregious, and a lot of it was seemingly unimportant legal documents. Mike was thankful that he had split what documents they had for Foxy's with Fritz and Jeremy, because he couldn't imagine somehow getting stuck with something like this. Receipts, inboxes, lawsuit inquiries and dismissals; so much unyielding stuff that he couldn't sort through. Then there were the multiple blueprints. Freddys, Bonnies, Chica, multiple Funtime animatronics; it all started to blend together. "I'll come back to this."
The things tacked to the wall consisted of newspaper clippings, photos, and the map itself. The map being of the state of Utah and being entirely unlabeled. Though closer inspection revealed tiny holes, as though there used to be pins in the map marking locations. The newspaper clippings were, disturbingly enough, all about Freddy's. Except for a few about Circus Baby's failed restaurant. There was even an advertisement flyer held to the wall. "William must've really thought this place was going to make it. Maybe it would've if he didn't infest all of them with all that murderous intent. Waited until it took off and then did it. Impatient lunatic."
It was now that Mike made it to the main desk. He found a light switch against the wall and flicked it on, which illuminated a long bulb over the desk. He hummed thoughtfully, "Well, let's shed some light on this, shall we?... Except the obvious question of why William didn't put the switch at the door." With a scoff, he looked over the items, and he realized instantly that he had found the jackpot. Firstly, his eyes locked onto a stack of papers topped by Marionette's blueprints. The blueprints were the same as the ones he had found in the computer in Afton's. Underneath it was notes and scribbles.
One stood out. It looked like a hand drawn picture of Marionette's endoskeleton, but there was a brief blurb underneath it. "Never had any connection to Puppet body- why this one?" Mike blinked in confusion at the question, then continued to look through the writings. One was even more questionable: "Henry's creation. Basic model used in Freddy's franchise. Wasn't being used during the accident. Machinery is basic- most functions come from life." It seemed like William was trying to figure out how Marion became Marionette.
"Give it up, Will. You know it was Henry. You're not that dense," Mike scoffed as he went to set the papers aside. Then he hesitated a moment, tapping his fingers on the desk. "Or maybe he was if he couldn't figure it out… But he still brought him home and got all these parts together…" It was then that his blue eyes landed on a blueprint of Baby, one that looked different than the one he saw before. "Hello, what's this? Tampered blueprint?" He snatched up the paper, only to have his eyes widen when he saw what was underneath it, a single VHS tape labelled 'Michael'.
"Jackpot!" Mike whispered as he grabbed the tape and looked it over. Maybe William had left this for him. Maybe he assumed Mike would eventually find the office. "I mean, yeah, I'm living here. Eventually I'm going to notice a basement," he muttered to himself. He would need to watch the tape.
As for the blueprint, it was effectively the 'real' Baby blueprint. Unlike the one in Afton's, which had listed all her falsely positive traits, this one bluntly listed off the same storage tank, grouping coordination, and something cleverly disguised as being called 'ringleading directive'. It only took a few moments of scrounging before Mike located the paper that described what this directive was. "Lead animatronic can coordinate and prepare performances amongst other animatronics programmed with directive seven." A simple enough explanation and was followed was a length amount of blunt lines of code.
It was nearly gibberish to Mike, who was almost half-asleep enough to miss the bigger picture. That was, until he realized what he was looking at.
These papers contained Baby's programming.
"Whoa, wait a minute…" Mike's face broke into a smirk. "William, you idiot savant! You left all her programming out here in the open!" He gathered up the pages with the blueprint and the tape. "All this secrecy, hiding all this programming, and then you leave it all out on the table. I got to hand it to you, Boss, you just keep surprising me." He shut off the lights and took out of the office.
While he closed the trapdoor and the pantry, he didn't return the shelf to its place, intending to show Marionette his finding when he woke up. Then he crossed to the living room, placing the papers on the coffee table, and started to put the tape in. He turned the volume down low and waited expectantly. In the meantime, Moppet announced herself by brushing on his leg. "Hey, Cat," he greeted as he stroked her back. "You want to watch a movie? Let's see what Fredrick left."
It was then that the video came on, showing security footage of one of the old pizzerias, in one of the hallways. Mike's excitement started to waver with exasperation as he wondered if his discovery was going to be rewarded with footage of himself in Freddy's. That would've been unsettling enough, but it wasn't like William would've been the only person recording him. For a few minutes there was nothing visible on the camera and he almost considered fast-forwarding ahead. He was interrupted when what seemed to be the outline of a human appeared at the end of the hallway.
It wasn't him, however, and walked very oddly as it somewhat staggered down the hall. Its gait was unsettling, with a partial drunken and partial injured gait to it. It started to close in and he watched as the camera's view focused on the form.
Mike instantly wished that it hadn't.
What passed in front of the camera, swaying and staggering on its feet, was terrifying. It was human shaped, but its skin was shriveled into a dark eggplant color, and its limbs didn't move correctly. Its entire frame moved as though it was empty, which could only go along with its gaping mouth, which was a black abyss that hung open much too far. Above it sat saggy, empty eye holes. This thing was no human, it was a corpse. Mike could've readily believed that this was the horrifying monster the animatronics saw when they said they saw the 'purple man'.
The footage ended quickly and only once it had did Mike realize he was clutching the cat. Moppet didn't seem to care regardless. "Sorry," Mike muttered as he released her and reached forward to shut the TV off. It was the first time in a long time that he had been frightened of anything. Just seeing that walking corpse- and it had to be a corpse- caused his skin to crawl. It made him feel unclean, like he watched something unholy. All he knew was that the tape hadn't been left for him. William would've never left him an image of something so disturbing.
Though this begged the question: this copse, this living purple man, where was it now?
Mable: I would've loved to end that with it looming over Mike's shoulder, but then I would've had to explain how it got there and nothing would've made sense. XD Alas, that idea must be squandered. Anyway, the next chapter will be posted next week. I hope you enjoyed!