The next time 12:00 PM came, a man who claimed to be called Mike Schmidt walked into his new office. No background checks had been performed, though they would have yielded no results anyway. He had been careful nonetheless, but he needn't have worried. The management would have been happy to take anybody this last minute after what had happened to their previous night watchman. To be safe, though, he had entered Freddy's while it was still open and full of people so his past victims couldn't get off the stage mid-show and ambush him on his way to the office. Now that the place was empty, they had their chance to face their greatest enemy. Whether they were ready to take that chance, well, that was a different story.
"He's here! He's in the same building as us!" Joey yelped. "He's coming for us a-and he's here a-and we can't-"
"Joey! We can do this!" Nate assured both the little boy and himself. "We can stop him and we will stop him and we'll all do it together, just like we planned."
Joey nodded quietly. His gaze drifted over to the waiting Foxy. "I-I'm still really afraid, Nate. I want to stop him, but he's just…"
"Think of it like you think of every night here," Nate put an arm around the younger boy and gave him a reassuring smile. "And I'll be right there with you, and so will Timmy and Katie, and Henry'll be in the office draining the power, so getting in will be easier than ever."
"I'm not worried about getting in. I'm worried about what happens after we get in," he muttered. Nate grimaced. It was troubling all of their minds, this murder that they inevitably needed to commit. Nate and Henry and even Timothy wished that they could spare everybody the burden of having to take somebody's life, but Fredbear and the Marionette were in pieces in some scrapyard and there wasn't much a fan mounted on a desk could do. All the Toys had been destroyed long ago and Nate's attempts at trying to control the other children's robots yielded the conclusion that while he could easily possess any of the animatronics, once they were connected to a soul, it became impossible for anybody not bound to the robot to control it. All Nate could do for the children was be with them to offer what little support he could while they committed their first murder.
"This place is a real dump. I can't see what made you want to stay here, Henry," the man who claimed his name was Mike Schmidt remarked to the recorded voice of his predecessor as he assessed his new office. Invisible to him, the ghost of the person who had held Mike's position the night before was standing on the opposite side of the desk and giving him a death glare. Well, angry stares weren't going to help anything and the night was just beginning. There was a job that needed to be done and everybody knew their role in it. It was time to finish this once and for all.
"We've walked down this hallway a hundred times before. This isn't any different. It's what we do every night," Lucy assured herself. She was shaking anyway. "It's just another night, the same as every other night here," she shot a quick glance for courage at the ghost girl hovering beside her before reaching the door that slammed down in front of them. Katie parted ways with her friend there, going through the door while the chicken waited outside the office.
"He's still got 88% power left," Katie called, "and it's already 1:00! We have to try harder!"
Lucy nodded and peered in through the window. Mike was flipping through the cameras, a smile on his face as if everything about his situation was entirely under his control. Lucy shifted nervously from one chicken foot to the other, wondering why the killer looked so confident. Maybe he was just bluffing, or maybe he really did have some sort of secret weapon that he was hiding, ready to strike out at them the moment they tried to come in. Maybe he was just playing a game with them, a game where he couldn't lose, and this was just the pre-finale adrenaline rush to give him a few thrills before he destroyed them and finally washed his hands clean of the last bit of evidence of his crimes.
As if he knew what Lucy was thinking, Mike flashed the door light on for a moment and looked directly through the window into the darkness where the animatronic chicken was camped. "You having a good time out there?" he said amiably. "You want to come in? Pretty little girlie, do you want to come in? Or are you going to be a little brat and spy in places you aren't wanted?" he taunted. The smile came back on and he leaned back in his chair, a far off look in his eyes. "I have some beautifully clear memories of what we did together," he reminisced. "You screamed a lot, remember? When I stuck that knife into you, your head jerked back and all that pretty hair of yours got colored a pretty red. And then you started behaving rather nicely. So sweet, so quiet, no complaints. Remember all that?"
Lucy felt the world around her spin as one frightening image after another assaulted her memory. Mike folded his hands and smiled expectantly, as if he was waiting for her to answer his question. The only thing separating him from her was a powered door. No no no she was absolutely NOT going near that monster not after what he had done to her oh what he had done to her the memories so clear coming back—
Mike smiled and opened the door to find exactly what he was expecting to see: nothing. Lucy was halfway across the pizzeria, completely broken down to tears as Timothy, Katie, and Nate tried to comfort her. But the left hallway wasn't so empty. Mike sighed and closed the door on the purple rabbit. Oh well, he had plenty of memories to share.
5:00. 9% power left. "We can do this! We have to do this! Just focus on me and don't listen to him!" Nate shouted, more to block out Mike's disgusting chit chat than because he was actually frustrated with Brian's continual running away from the doors.
"I-I-I'm s-s-s-sorry N-Nate!" the child covered his bear ears, unsuccessfully trying to not hear what the man in the next room was saying. "I-I-I c-c-c-can't—" He sprinted down the hall, curling up in a tight ball on the floor as soon as he got to the stage. As upset as he was that their little window of time to exact their revenge was dwindling away, Nate, too, was glad to get far away from that vile man in purple. The things he was saying, well, if any of the children had harbored second thoughts about killing the current guard, his clear enjoyment of torturing anything helpless and in pain had erased even the tiniest flicker of feeling that he deserved mercy. It still didn't make having to be the ones to kill him any easier, though.
"P-Please Nate, I d-don't wanna go b-back there. Please don't make me go back there!" pleaded Joey upon seeing Nathaniel enter his pirate-themed room.
"We have less than an hour left before the night is over. You need to go out there and punch the door." Joey whimpered but gave a tiny nod. I'm pushing everybody too hard, Nate grimaced as the fox unsteadily picked himself up and made his way off the stage, the unhidden terror and misery at what he was being forced to do making him resemble a beaten puppy. But there was a task that needed to be completed, and so however much Nathaniel wanted to comfort the little boy and tell him that he didn't have to ever go near that awful man again, the young ghost pushed all those feelings away and hardened his gaze as Joey trudged past him.
6:00. 1% power. The shift was over, but there was no way the kids were just going to let their murderer leave the office. The doors remained closed on both sides and past victim and killer met each others' eyes through the clouded windows, caught in a deadly waiting game over whether or not the dayshift employees would arrive and force the animatronics back into their proper places before that last sliver of power drained away. Henry was doing his best to make that happen, but he only had one little fan and the six hours of making it turn extra fast had taken their toll on more than just the office's power supply. All were praying that the guard wouldn't start up another story.
The front door of the pizzeria opened. Just a few more seconds. All we need is a few more seconds. "What the hell are you doing here?!" screeched the familiar voice of the rude front desk lady. Muttering angrily, she shouted for her coworkers to help her move the animatronics back to their proper places. The children had lost. Accepting defeat, neither Brian nor Lucy nor Suzy nor Joey offered any resistance as they were dragged away from the office. Nate lingered back to watch the door open and Mike come out. The killer amiably accepted the handshakes and greetings of the dayshift workers, as well as a discontented snort from the ever-happy rude front desk lady, before walking out into the freedom of the morning world.
I feel bad saying this but the next chapter won't be done until probably the end of the month. School decided to pile on a bunch of projects and they are a priority above writing fanfiction. :( It sucks, I know. Well, I will do what I have to and then I will get back to finishing this story. I am also going to work on a little video about it and I will post it along with the chapter.