Mable: Here we are! Trying another Wednesday posting since I got all my eggs in one basket. ^-^ I also failed to mention in the last chapter (I think?) that I finished another chapter of my book's sequel! It's a small thing, but I like to give progress on it as it moves along. Anyway, Enjoy!

Almost Feels Like Home

Chapter Forty-Seven

Mike and Ennard made their way back into what was left of the dining room and found the others. Natalie was already standing inside while Fritz was carefully climbing past the police tape. The blond gave a greeting wave towards them both.

"About time you two showed up," Mike lightly joked. "Doesn't look like the cops left much. Let's hope they overlooked the saferoom." He then started to head towards the back hall, leading the others with him.

"We parked over at the gas station," Natalie explained as they walked. "Which wasn't my idea, since they're going to have our car on camera, but it's better than doing something silly, like parking right beside Freddy's." She sent a cheeky smile after Mike, who didn't have to see it to know it was there. They were at the opening in the wall before he could concoct a response.

Mike turned on his flashlight and shined it into the room. Slowly he started to lean in more and more, making sure that nothing was hiding inside and waiting to ambush them. Thankfully, the room looked mostly untouched, save for a few yellow, plastic markers placed on the floor around an old blood stain. The stain surrounded where Springtrap had been sitting when they found him, so it was apparent that the blood must've come from him. The police had clearly found the room and were now aware of at least one death, considering that there was too much blood loss for survival, even without the body.

"Coast is clear, and the box is still there," Mike said as he spotted the box left wide open on the other side of the room. After only a moment of hesitation he began to move through. "I'm going in. Come get me if anything drops from the ceiling."

"We're right behind ya!" Ennard chirped as he watched the security guard move through. "You can tell Freddy's and Baby's were working under the same guys. When we were over at Circus Baby's we saw a room just like this one. Except it didn't have such lovely decorating." He pointed towards the blood stain.

"I'm… sort of surprised you can see them at all really," Fritz admitted. "You're not supposed to. The usual programming-."

"I'm not even supposed to exist, and me breaking programming isn't anything new. That's just what makes me so amazing," Ennard interrupted, clasping a hand to his chest dramatically. "Then again, of course I'm amazing! I was the one who fixed up Baby." He then proceeded to stare down Fritz, who just looked back in confusion, unsure if Ennard was finishing for a compliment or just bragging.

Mike stepped through the wall and knelt in front of the box, then lifted one of the abandoned padlocks. "Fritz, mind throwing me the keys?" he asked as he held out his hand. His response was the two keys being tossed to him and he began to try them in the lock. Curious, the clown watched the keys fly over and then followed them to Mike and stopped to stand behind him.

"Gee, I don't mean to interrupt your busy work," Ennard began. He leaned over him to look at what he was doing. "But I think the box is already open," he finished in a whisper.

"You really think so? I didn't even notice," Mike sarcastically answered. "I'm just checking the keys. The lock's busted, but if the key fits then mystery solved. If it doesn't, we can at least tell if it goes to a lock like this. Then we get to live in constant wonder of where that box went." He continued to check with Ennard over top of him.

On the other side of the room, Natalie was looking down at the blood stain when Fritz came up beside her. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is from that Bonnie animatronic you were talking about?" she guessed. He agreed and she made a hissing noise. "That's a lot of blood… Kind of makes you feel sorry for him, whoever he was. That couldn't have been a pleasant way to go." Ennard made a strange noise, like wires rubbing against each other, shuddering lightly. She looked back in his direction and considered asking. "Uh… The rabbit rings a bell, Ennard?" she tried.

"He rings a lot of bells. Alarm bells," Ennard clarified. "That guy hates me."

"Foxy said you bit his ear off," Mike blankly added, still focused on the box.

"He hated me before that," the amalgam defended unenthusiastically. "Baby did something to him. She and her friends… Err, her and her band. They weren't exactly friends. She and them pretty much hated each other as far as I know."

"It's almost a relief to know it's not just me that got on Baby's hate list," Natalie joked with a slightly uncomfortable smile. It was almost unbelievable to think that she was more uneasy talking about Baby than talking to Ennard, who she still occasionally stared at in awe and confusion, still unsure how he was holding himself together. Before Fritz could assure her, Ennard chimed back in again.

"Hate? You? Nah! Baby doesn't hate you!" the clown reassured. He then looked to the technician beside her, splaying his arms towards him. "She hates Fritz!" She could've sworn that she saw Fritz's face grow two shades paler. Ennard either didn't notice or didn't care as he continued to ramble. "Which was great for me, cause I think she likes me now. Ha ha! You want Baby on your good side."

Fritz certainly knew that. The last thing he wanted was an animatronic who would attack on sight, especially since it usually was in a warehouse that they used frequently and was probably now also at Mike's. Especially since constantly moving her required the company van, which was in his possession. This was a new kind of situation with Baby, one that he didn't know how to deal with and thus didn't. He hadn't spoken to her since he told her since the incident didn't foresee himself approaching her anytime soon. From what Ennard was saying- though he could've been exaggerating- this seemed like the best plan.

He was somewhat roused out of his thoughts by Natalie putting an arm around his back and sending him a sympathetic smile. Silently encouraging him that, for now, everything would be fine. For now.

"Okay, so good news and bad news," Mike interrupted as he stood. He spun the keyring on his finger. "Turns out that these keys do go to a box like this. Same size, perfect match, just not to these locks. They go to a different box." He stopped the spinning abruptly and caught the keys in his palm. "And we are never going to find that box," he bluntly added.

"You mean there's not… What about the warehouse?" Natalie asked and looked to Fritz. He shook his head. "No boxes in the warehouse at all? Well… Isn't there anywhere else?"

"Yeah, ARI, but it's swarming with cops and probably better security systems," Mike answered with a disappointed exhale. "This is the end of the road once again. The second time we struggled to deal with this box and got nothing from it."

Mike had forgotten how much he hated that feeling of being left in the dark. He had been spoiled by the surplus of information he had managed to get ahold of and had ridden off that high for a long time, but here he was at another dead end. Somewhere there was a lockbox with something just important enough to hide the keys to. Probably at Afton's, maybe confiscated by the cops, but nowhere he was going to find it.

"That sucks," Fritz admitted with a breathy exhale. "I was just hoping it went to that, then we wouldn't have a mystery box floating around… And we're going to have to leave. This-." He pointed a thumb back at the yellow tags. "This shows that the police are keeping tabs on the place. Partial pun intended."

Mike nodded in agreement and Natalie started to head for the door. "At least we double checked," she assured them. "Hey, you know, this would be a good time to grab anything that's not nailed down and not wrapped in police tape."

"Wait, wait! You're just giving up?!" Fritz and Natalie were out in the hall and Mike stepping out of the saferoom, but all looked back at Ennard's cry. He looked shocked, as shocked as he could with the mask's smile, and his eyes flickered between them. "You're just- It's just over? Like that? There's gotta be something here! A secret passage, a hidden vent, another boarded up room- It can't just be this, right? It's Freddy's! There's- There's got to be something else!"

"There was something else, that Spring Bonnie suit," Fritz pointed out. "That was pretty much the big secret of this location. Fredrick had him sealed up in this saferoom and then… Kind of moved his projects elsewhere. Trust me, I checked the place top to bottom when I took Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy out of here. Other than this saferoom, everything else is already gone."

"Yeah, the place's been gutted. You just got here a couple years too late," Mike said as he did a quick scan of the room. He then added in with a mutter of, "I know that feeling." He exhaled somberly before noticing the clown was watching him and could see his disappointment. "Let's go, Ennard. The sooner we get out of here the less chance we have of getting arrested."

Now, finally, the amalgam started to sluggishly follow. He was quiet, but willing, with his eagerness to act like 'one of the humans' overtaking his need to tear the building apart looking for something. As they passed into the dining room, he looked at the walls and the molded and messy posters that were peeling away. He had always imagined seeing Freddy's like Scott had described it. Seeing it like this was a huge disappointment, especially when he was no closer to his goal. With a frustrated staticky noise, he followed the others out and returned to the car with Mike.

It was clear that both were equally frustrated with the situation. They kind of just dropped into the car and lingered in an unsettled silence as Mike started pulling on his seatbelt. It was only because Ennard despised lingering silence that he willed himself into, again, a falsely cheery tone of optimism.

"At least when we get back, we can check the files again, right? You said we had to get home, but ya didn't say we had to stop looking! Besides, what was the chance of Afton employee records being in some lockbox anyway? They're probably in your house!" Ennard insisted confidently. "You don't have like a desk or something or a computer?"

"No, we just have the file cabinets. I think there's another one in the basement, so we can check that and see-…" Mike trailed off. Then he realized what he said and opened the door, raising a finger. "One moment."

"Uh, okay?" Ennard asked, tilting his head in confusion. Mike climbed out and ran around the building. Thankfully he managed to catch Fritz and Natalie as they were walking down the sidewalk towards the parking lot. He whistled after them and they both looked back in his direction.

"Back to my place! We're checking the basement!" the security guard called after them. After a few moments, Fritz gave him a thumbs up to signal that they were on board, and he hurried back to the car. Now to escape before anyone noticed him, since he had just announced his presence to anyone in the area. He jumped back in the driver's side and started the car, then brought Ennard up to speed. "There's a secret basement under the pantry. That's why it's cold, hums, and takes out the phone service occasionally. Now I've looked through that basement before, but not hard, and not looking for something specific."

"That- That's great!" the clown exclaimed almost shrilly. He seemed overly excited. "There used to be secret passages and doors all over ARI! Ha, heck, there's like a direct secret passage between ARI and the sewer, they're everywhere! If we're gonna find anything from there, it's gonna be locked up tight in a lockbox, in a secret basement, in Afton's own house!" He laughed in delight while the security guard was oddly silent.

"…There's… There's a secret passage from the sewer- Never mind. I don't want to know," Mike said definitively. "I already know too much about Afton. I don't want to know this."

"Ha ha. No. You don't," the amalgam reassured.

The rest of the drive was silent but didn't last long at all. The car pulled up into the driveway and parked while Fritz and Natalie were still tailing down the street.

"So, I didn't bring the tarp-," Mike began. He was cut off by Ennard throwing open the door and running across the yard and around the house at speed that rivaled Foxy's. He could only stare after him before giving a simple, "Well damn." And then, "Well, that makes my job easier."

He got out of the car and let himself inside the house, leaving the door cracked open for Fritz. Then he headed over to the pantry, opened the door, and started to take out the bottom shelf to get to the basement entrance. He could hear the thumping on the other side of the house from Ennard letting himself in before hurrying down the hallway and popping up behind him.

Mike looked back at him nonchalantly. "Huh, you're still here?" he joked. "I would've guessed you went home by now."

"Ha, long time no see!" Ennard played along. "How's Mari doing?"

"He's doing good. Been sleeping a lot since you left. The usual this time of the night." It was now that Mike got the entrance opened and almost started heading down when the front door opened.

"Hey…" Fritz hesitantly shuffled in and shut the front door behind him. He looked around uncomfortably and cleared his throat. "So, Natalie's just going to wait in the car…"

The other man raised a brow at him, glanced over his disheveled appearance, and then simply asked, "…You know Baby's still in the warehouse, right? She's not here."

"Oh! Heh, that's a relief!" The technician nearly sunk against the door. "For a moment I thought-… Yeah, that's not important. This probably isn't going to take too long though, so I guess I'll just let Natalie chill out for a couple of minutes."

With the three of them there and ready to go, Mike started down the stairwell and began to approach the door. "Suit yourself. Alright, let's go."

"Right behind ya!" Ennard chirped before following. He got down a few of the awkward steps before suddenly coming to a halt so fast that Fritz almost walked into him. "Whoa!" He froze in place as Mike looked back to him. The amalgam's eyes seemed to be focusing strangely, shifting uncomfortably, and his wires slowly tightened. "…Oookay, no I'm not," Ennard slowly said as he began to back up a step. "Nope, not going down there."

"What?" Mike asked in disbelief. "What, is it the stairs? It can't be the stairs. What is it?"

"I… I don't know. I just don't want to go down there," Ennard defended. He gave a motion like a wince and looked away uncomfortably. Mike gave him an unconvinced look.

"You don't know," he answered. "Give me an idea: are you having some sort of flashback, is this a claustrophobia thing, or a spontaneously reoccurring memory thing, or something else that you're not saying?"

"I'm not hiding anything if that's what you're getting at," the clown defended as he sent Mike that 'half-lidded' unenthused look again. "There's a funny ringing noise down there. I can't stand it; it's scrambling my servos."

"A ringing," Mike repeated. He was about to point out that Marionette had come down into the basement fine without there being an issue, but then immediately bit his tongue, because- "Mari didn't hear the ringing from Lefty either." Suddenly Ennard was much more credible, and he didn't want the amalgam anywhere near a suspicious noise. He and Fritz would have to find the source. In the meantime, he gave a shrug and changed his tune. "Fine, just wait up here. We'll go through what we find and if there's anything on Afton's technicians I'll bring it up. Alright?"

"Ha, thanks!" Ennard chirped as he totally backed out of the pantry. "I just don't trust those sorts of noises. Not after the walk-in oven incident, which still haunts my nightmares."

"Same here. Let's go, Fritz," Mike volunteered and continued down. The technician sent a last look at Ennard, who returned it, before hurrying down the stairwell after him. It wasn't until they were at the bottom and Mike was letting them into the room, and he thought they were somewhat out of the clown's audio range, that Fritz whispered to him.

"So, what's going on? Ennard's trying to find out about the workers at ARI?" he asked hesitantly. Mike agreed and Fritz only looked more uneasy. "Why?"

"I don't know. He's not really being completely honest with me. Unless he's doing this on a whim, which I could easily believe, there's something he's not saying," Mike admitted. Just saying it out loud made it sound worse.

"I don't want to be the person who points this out, because Ennard could still be listening in on us, but this could be a bad idea. He could want anything to do with these workers. What if he's looking for their addresses to pop in on them, and then one of them calls the cops, everyone finds out about the clown from Afton's, and Burke blames us since Burke blames everything in the free world on me," Fritz explained with obvious concern. "One way or another, Ennard can be dangerous." It was then that Ennard decided to call down the stairwell.

"Mike! I was just thinking: scrambling, Eggs Benedict- That was like a pun and I didn't even realize it!" Ennard then proceeded to laugh wildly as though it was the funniest thing in the world. "I'm always on when I'm off the clock, I'll tell ya!"

"…Let's be honest, if Ennard's a threat to anyone then it's himself. He's been making cracks like that all night and a lesser man might've scrapped him for it," Mike defended. "But I've been living with Foxy for weeks."

"We've both told worse puns than that. Don't think I missed that 'cracked' pun," Fritz volunteered. Then he slowly raised his brows, "…You don't think he thinks he's one of those technicians, do you?" This was answered with silence. Somehow, this convinced the technician to cave in. "Alright, fine. Let's just see what we can find down here."

"That's the spirit," Mike answered with a pat to the shoulder. He then pointed towards the dresser. "Ignore that. It's got a deconstructed puppet inside of it, so we're not going to find any lockboxes or papers in there." Though as soon as he started towards the file cabinet, Fritz leaned over behind him and opened a drawer enough to peek inside.

The file cabinet had been glanced through once or twice, but with nothing specific in mind it hadn't been worth much. Now Mike knew what he was looking for and began the meticulous task of looking through the files. It wasn't too difficult, considering that there weren't too many in the cabinet. A lot of the paper stuck in the cabinet were either newspapers, fliers, or schematic that weren't important to the job at hand. He patiently continued to sort through them.

It took a few minutes of looking before Fritz noticed something underneath the desk. He leaned down in front of it and looked at the object, seemingly appearing to be a box with a pillow case shielding half of it and trying to disguise it. While he was pulling it out, he realized that it was a metal box and knew it was what they were looking for even before getting the pillow case off.

"Found the box," Fritz announced. Mike's head shot up and he looked towards the technician abruptly.

"What, already? Where?" he asked. He was still watching as Fritz pulled the case off to reveal the box underneath. "Huh, I should've just dragged you down here after I figured out this room was down here. You've got the eyes of a hawk."

"And the ears of a bot apparently. That buzzing noise is coming from modem over there," the technician pointed out and gestured towards the corner. Paying close attention, Mike could hear something akin to a humming coming from it but hadn't expected that to be the noise that the amalgam had been so disturbed by. "What is that?"

"I don't know. That's our next project, because it's probably running up the electric bill," Mike pointed out before crossing over and kneeling beside his partner. "Alright, moment of truth. Either we open this and find something, and that makes up for the last box being a complete disappointment, or we find nothing."

"And I blame you for yanking me out of a warm bed to drag me down to this ice-cold basement," Fritz finished with an amused tone. He pointed to the box insistently and Mike started to unlock the padlocks. As soon as one of the keys fit, both found themselves leaning in with growing anticipation.

"It actually fits. This is actually the box," the younger said in disbelief as he took off the second padlock. He set both and the keys aside. "Okay, here we go…" With a deep breath, he rested his hands on the box's lid. "Please don't be a body."

Fritz was about to jokingly ask how a body could fit in a box that small, but then clammed up as soon as he realized what kind of body would fit. He just watched as Mike lifted the lid and revealed the contents of the box.

Neither were expecting what they found inside the lockbox, because at first glance they just looked like clothes. Small clothes that could've fit any of William's children were shoved into the box until they were nearly overflowing. A pair of sneakers, a green shirt, a pair of jean shorts, a small dress, a fluffy white hair tie; they were just clothes.

"…And we've got stuff?" Mike said almost awkwardly. "Not what I was expecting, but…"

He started to fall silent as he stared inside the box. A creeping feeling of dread started to climb up his spine as he started to piece together the reality of the situation. William wouldn't have locked away his own children's clothes like this.

Taking his silence as disappointment, Fritz reached into the box for the green shirt. "At least you got a new wardrobe. Maybe we can donate them to Jeremy's little-." He lifted the shirt and unintentionally revealed a large, brown stain down the back of it. Fritz's smile dropped as Mike's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The technician forced a thick swallow and quietly choked out, "That's blood."

Mike knew that he was right. "Fritz." He tried to stay as calm as he could. "They're from the kids. They're trophies."

The technician dropped the shirt with a panicked gasp and immediately stood from the spot. He promptly began to rub down his hands on his shirt desperately, trying to get off the unclean sensation even when he couldn't. He swore more under his breath in those few moments than he had in the entire time Mike knew him. The entire time Mike was silent and still just staring into the box. He regretted even looking. This was exactly why he knew not to look.

He turned away from the box as he heard Fritz moving around behind him. "You're not going to split, are you?" Mike asked with slight desperation. He looked back to find Fritz beginning to pace with his hands folded on his head. He wasn't handling it well and, honestly, the security guard wasn't doing much better considering that the thought of the older leaving him down here made him seriously uncomfortable. "If you're going to freak out, at least go through the files while doing it. Two birds with one stone."

"I can't believe I touched it," Fritz nearly whined as he headed to the cabinet. He began to search through the papers. "Why did I even think this was a good idea?... How are you staying so calm?" He looked to the younger in disbelief. "How do you even know what they are- about trophies and- and-."

"TV," Mike admitted honestly. He looked towards the floor vacantly. "I don't know. I don't even know how to react to this." Part of him realized that he was in shock. It was the first time in a long time that he felt that.

Accepting this, Fritz turned and leaned against the file cabinet, staring down into it as he tried to even his breathing. Then he finally blurted out, "We don't tell Natalie. Or Ennard. You- You can tell Mari if you want."

"I can't," the younger responded. He slowly looked back into the box. Just the thought of telling Marionette about this scared him. He could recover from this, but the Puppet wouldn't, which meant he would have to hide it from him. He would have to hide it from him even though he promised he wouldn't. "I'll figure something out. That's not important right now," he tried to convince himself. "…Then what the hell is?! What am I even going to do now that I know this is down here?!" Anxiety tightened at his throat and a twisting filled his stomach, like butterflies but much worse.

Slowly he reached out and started to poke through the box. He wasn't sure why he did other than some sort of feeling like he had to. He wondered which ones went to which children, numbly looking through them. Only stopping once his fingers brushed leather. He thought it was a belt until he took ahold and realized that it was a wallet instead. He pulled it out and flipped it open, half expecting to see William Afton's visage staring back from an identification card he had disposed of once changing his name. Instead, he was met by the license of a young man who only somewhat resembled William.

Then he saw the name: Michael Afton.

"Well, that backs up the Michael is Spring Bonnie theory. If Will had his wallet then he's dead," Mike thought to himself. It was the lesser shock of the evening, and he started to go through the wallet. There were a few business cards, a social security card, some cash, and a single folded picture of Michael and another, smiling young man. He lingered on the picture, if only because Michael was smiling in it and looked so much like Fredrick facially that it was uncanny.

"I don't know how much we can trust a handwritten note, but I think this might be a list of the workers at Afton's," Fritz said as he turned back. He hesitated as he saw the wallet. "Oh great, another one. What's that?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Just Michael Afton's wallet, nothing new," Mike said with forced sarcasm as he tossed the wallet atop the clothes. He then stuck the picture from the wallet in his jacket pocket. He would stick it on the edge of one of the other frames and reunite him with his siblings- photo-wise, at least. Then Mike stood and came to Fritz side to look at the paper. There were names, addresses, phone numbers, dates, and ID numbers written in a list. "Looks like Will was keeping tabs on everyone he had working for him. Probably to hunt them down if they ever squealed. You recognize any of them?"

"No. Nobody who transitioned out of Freddy's," Fritz replied. He then began to read through the names. "Rudy Mills, Hubert Malone, Ben Hansberry… Michael. No last name, just Michael." He sent his companion a cryptic look. "I didn't even know Michael worked at ARI. These dates- I don't even know if William was still around then. I think he had changed his name and identity by then." There was still no denying between them that Michael must've been working at Afton Robotics, but why was anyone's guess. "Still doesn't explain how he got into Spring Bonnie."

And it was only then that Mike remembered the secret he had stashed under the television. The one that Marionette had insisted for him to put away and the one that had struck uneasy and fear into all who watched it.

"Hey…" Mike slowly began. "I think there's something you need to see." Fritz looked over in surprise at the uneasy tone, with the younger averting his eyes as long as he could. "But it's disturbing."

"Any more than that?" Fritz asked as he pointed a thumb back at the box.

"Close, but I don't know. This is sort of in a league of its own. You'll just have to see it." Mike took the paper and headed for the door with Fritz flicking off the lights behind him. Both had a feeling that they wouldn't be back down there tonight. "I'm going to take a guess and say that calling these numbers are probably going to be a dead end, but we can always take a whack at that after the video."

"It's a video?" Fritz asked in confusion as they headed up the stairs. Before he could be answered, Ennard popped up at the pantry door.

"There you guys are! Didja find anything?" he excited asked. Mike silently handed him the paper before continuing into the living room. "What is- Oh, WOW! This is it! These are all of them, aren't they?! That's- That's amazing! Great job!" He began to scan through the list. "Kind of was hoping for pictures, but this is good enough. Huh, this name kind of sounds familiar."

"It should, it's mine," Mike chimed in as he knelt in front of the television. "Ennard, you might not want to watch this. I showed it to Mari and animatronics don't really do well with it either." The clown tilted his head with a 'huh' while Fritz came to stand at the back of the couch. After getting the video ready, Mike stood and backed to the armchair to sit down. Then they watched as the video began. As he remembered, it started slow, without much to show.

"What is that? Is that Freddy's?" Fritz asked in confusion as he squinted at the screen. The security guard nodded. "It's like security footage, but I was pretty sure Fredrick erased it all." The security guard stayed silent and waited as the time ticked past. Just when the older was about to question if something was going to happen, the figure appeared on screen. The corpse-like, limping figure revealed itself. "…What… What is that?"

Ennard leaned over the back of the couch to look closer. "I think it's a guy, but he's looking pretty-!" He was already giggling, thinking it all looked so comical and goofy, even though the body was walking so strangely and looked so peculiar.

Yet those giggles died as soon as the body came further into view, and as soon as he realized that it almost moved like it was empty or missing most of its mass. Its purpled skin showing the decay of skin and the staggering way it limped along gave it the appearance of being hollow. A hollowed out, scooped clean body that was barely struggling to whatever soul was left. In the back of his mind Ennard felt the prickling of familiarity and horror. He knew exactly what he was looking at as his fingers dug into the back of the couch. He knew exactly what happened to the man. He swore he could feel that rotten skin stretched around his wires.

Tearing skin struggling to fit over a matt of wires before it was fully abandoned once it became too damaged to save. Ennard knew exactly what he was looking at.

"I think it's Michael," Mike admitted. "And not just because it says his name on the tape either. Though that's a pretty big clue." His attempt at humor was just to keep him somewhat sane, even if it was less humor and more stating the obvious. "That paper says Michael was working down at ARI and then he somehow ended up inside of Spring Bonnie. This must've been right before them. I don't have exact dates, but that at least looks like a date that would've lined up. Even though he already looks like he came out of Spring Bonnie… That must've been what he looked like when he went in."

He looked back at the two as the tape stopped. "So, here's the big question: what exactly happened to him down in ARI?" Mike then proceeded to look straight at Ennard, who was staring almost vacantly at the television. The list of names crumpled underneath his fingers, which Fritz noticed and looked to him.

"Uh… Ennard?" Fritz asked warily. He almost looked ready to run, because he now suspected the same thing as Mike; the animatronics in Afton's had done it. "Ennard?" he asked again, noticing a lack of response. "He was a technician...?"

Slowly the amalgam glanced from the television to Mike. Then towards Fritz to his side. He looked at these two men with complete silence as he continued to grip tightly at the couch. Slowly he turned towards the technician at his left, but he almost seemed to be looking through him. He looked distant as he gave a strange sort of seizing through his back. Without warning, he lurched forward.

Fritz only barely managed to step back and avoid the torrent of wires that burst past his teeth. They spilled to the floor, hanging from his mouth as the bottom plates of his mask were forced open.

"What the hell?!" Mike blurted out as he stood. Ennard clung to the back of the couch with one hand for a moment before failing and dropping to his knees. Wire fingers clawed at the floor as his body shuddered and forced out more wires onto the floor. There was a wheezing noise and any voice was smothered by static and breathy groans of pain. Mike ran around the other side of the couch and watched as wires in his back slid out of place and out to the floor. He scrambled for something to do and eventually looked past to Fritz, "Fritz, do something!"

"Do what?! What is this?!" the technician choked back. "Have you seen him do this before?!"

"No! Of course I haven't seen this!" Mike called back. He then looked back down and watched as Ennard rejected another bundle of wires. Slowly he was unraveling and already looked thinner, and Mike wasn't sure if the wires would go back on if they were somehow detached. "Okay, okay, Ennard? Ennard, you need to try to calm down," Mike tried to rationalize as he knelt beside him. The amalgam's eyes glanced up in his direction for a minute, then he shuddered as the wires slipped out further, slower now. That distant look returned as he stared past Mike at nothing.

"Mike?" Mike looked up to see that Marionette was behind them and knew he must've been woken by the yelling. The Puppet had a look of horror on his mask. "What's going on? What happened to him?" he asked.

"I don't know! I was showing him and Fritz that 'Michael' video and he just started spewing out wires all over the place!" Mike explained. Before he even had a chance to ask Marionette if he knew what was going on, Ennard collapsed.

Marionette rushed in to the opposite side of Ennard, sliding in between him and the couch, and kneeled on the floor. He rested one hand on his shoulder and used the other to grab some of the wires.

"Mike, help me get him up," the striped one directed. Mike didn't need to be told twice and started to lift his chest from the floor. "Carefully, not too much… That's enough, thank you." Marionette kept his voice low and soothing as he scooted in closer. "Ennard, can you hear me? I need you to try and pull your wires back in," he coaxed. He raised the wires to his mouth as he used his other hand to open the plates more. "Please just try. It's okay, you're safe. Just pull them in."

Slowly, the amalgam started to tug them in a little further. Fritz breathed a sigh of relief and pinched the bridge of his nose, Mike lightly rubbed Ennard's shoulder with an exhale, and Marionette got a tentative smile.

Until Ennard suddenly seized and wires were forced out. They dropped onto and draped over the Puppet's hands, much more coming out then going in.

"DOn't Fit! Get th-m OUT!" Ennard pleaded out in his broken voice. He seemed confused as he clawed at the floor desperately, as though trying to move himself forwards.

"Shh, it's okay. I need you to calm down, Ennard," Marionette tried to coax. He tried to lift the wires to his mouth once more. "Let's try again, alright?" The clown turned its head away in refusal. Now the Puppet was becoming more concerned. "Ennard, please. You're falling apart," he nearly begged. Still the other resisted and more wires slid free, with him now looking up at Mike again. Marionette looked up at Fritz with silent question, but he could only give a worried shrug.

Mike attempted to step in since Ennard was looking at him. "Look, Ennard, you're going to have to try. You have to try and put these back in." The clown still stared vacantly. Mike snapped his fingers a few times, holding him up with only one shoulder. "You still with me? I need you to look at me, not through me."

"I'm Here," Ennard simply said. He didn't sound there from that vague comment alone.

"You sure are, Buddy," Mike said flatly. "Come on, Ennard. Please." In response, the amalgam shuddered and refused another clump of tangled wires. "Please," he repeated, more firmly and desperately.

"Fritz, would you please go call Scott?" Marionette asked, still trying to remain calm. It was becoming clear that the severity of the situation was starting to get to him. Fritz headed over towards the phone without protest and quickly dialed the number.

"We were over there earlier. Scott's already asleep," Mike pointed out. Marionette looked to him in confusion. "Long story short, you went to bed right before the party got started. The chances of Scott being awake are nonexistent."

"Hopefully he has his phone by his bed," the Puppet murmured lowly. He looked towards at Ennard's vacant look again, then back up to Mike. "What happened?"

"Ennard wanted to know about the technician's at ARI. Then I found out about a safety deposit box that led me to Fritz's, who gave me a key, that led me to Freddy's, that led me back here to the basement, that went to a box, that had Michael Afton's wallet in it, that went along with a paper that said Michael worked at ARI, that reminded me of the Michael tape, that we watched that caused Ennard to freak out," Mike listed out. He then gave a tired exhale and sardonically added, "That worried the cat, that killed the rat, that ate the malt, that sits in the house that Afton built."

"It sounds like a terribly long night," Marionette sympathized. He was more curious, but this wasn't exactly the time to worry about it. He could ask later. "And Ennard only just started this?" Mike nodded in agreement and the puppet sighed, looking down at the clown. He gave a somber chime and rubbed his arm with comforting circles.

When Fritz came back over without saying anything on the phone, it was clear that he didn't have good news. "Scott isn't answering… He's just going to keep losing wires like this. We're going to have to do something." He inhaled deeply as he considered the only option. "…I've got tools at the warehouse. I don't want to go over there, but I don't think we want to know what happens if he becomes completely unraveled. He might not be able to twist himself up again."

"It's probably our only shot," Mike agreed. He looked up at Fritz questioningly and asked, "What about Baby?"

"…This is more important than my problems with Baby," he shakily answered. "Just don't leave me alone with her… Which is fine, because we'll probably need to start working on him as soon as we get there." He moved to crouch down in front of the amalgam and started trying to collect his rejected wires. "Let's just get him moved."

This was easier said than done. Ennard was entirely silent and unable to cooperate, and even without all his wires his frame was heavy. While Mike and Marionette tried to lift him up, Fritz felt something strange in the wires and pulled his hand back to see red paste.

"Mike there's- there's blood on his wires!" Fritz gasped as he yanked his hands back and stared at a clotted, red mixture on them. Marionette leaned over to look at it.

"No, that's just ketchup," the Puppet assured.

"For Freddy's sake, Ennard," Mike muttered. He tried hoisting the clown's arm and part of his torso over his shoulders. Fritz came forward and took the Puppet's place on the other side, trying to help lift him.

"We're going to get you fixed up," he insisted before looking to Mike. "Can you take him in your car? There's stuff in my backseat and I can't spend the time getting the van." Mike responded by sending him a thumbs up, to which Fritz nodded back. They then started to move a little towards the door.

"Wait a second," Marionette blurted with his hands reaching out. Now behind Ennard, he was able to see something unsettling. The clown's left leg had lost most of its wires and was barely attached by a few and wrapped around by only one. "His leg's starting to come off. If you drag him then he might lose it." Mike swore under his breath. "I can help carry the back."

"Someone might see you. It's going to be hard enough trying to get Ennard out uncovered…" Fritz said. Though he then snapped his fingers. "Natalie's right out there. I'll go get her and we'll carry him out. Ennard, I'm going to need you to just hold on to the couch here and I'll be right back." He moved Ennard's hand to the back of the couch where it grabbed on weakly, more from a reflex than the suggestion. Then Fritz hurried out the front door.

Marionette moved in, ducking under Ennard's arm and resting it over his shoulders. Now both he and Mike were somewhat holding Ennard up and he tried to assure the clown once more.

"It's going to be fine, Ennard. You're among friends. We'll put you back together again." Marionette tried to say every comforting thing he could think of. Ennard trembled slightly in their grasps and then responded.

"J-Just waNT to go h-home." He was nearly pleading.

Mike and Marionette exchanged a look, and both knew that this long night would get only longer.