Chapter 4: This is Bad

Mike sat back on his couch and ran a hand through his hair. Ever since the disturbing feeling he had gotten back at the restaurant, he checked every possible lead. He called his parents, and they were fine, having gotten back safely and going to bed. He paid a quick visit to the pizzeria, and again, everything seemed normal. The animatronics were performing as usual, Foxy was camped out in Pirate's Cove, as usual. Arianna wasn't even all that mad his parents visited (but he still got an earful). So what was that?

The guard had no clue, and decided to absent-mindedly surf the web, hoping looking at a screen would tire his eyes enough to let him sleep. While clicking around, Mike thought to try the local news. Maybe something had happened. Further investigation revealed it was a slow ass news week, with the top story being the opening of some new restaurant. That served pizza. With animatronic performers. Wait, what?

Yes, it seemed Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria might have some competition, but that was hardly a reason for that spike of dread. The worst possible thing would be the restaurant would finally close down, and that was hardly a reason to fear. Besides, that new restaurant wouldn't be open for a while, if this article was any indication. Apparently the building had just been bought, and work was progressing. Again, nothing to worry about.

Mike smacked his forehead, trying to rack his brain for any possible reason he was spooked. It took a lot to do that these days. Maybe his mother was right, and his job was finally taking a toll on him mentally. Whatever, he'd check with the animatronics tonight. Maybe they could help.


"I don't know what to tell you, Mike," Freddy said to the guard, "Far as I know, everything's pretty much the same. The manager was miffed, but she always seems that way."

Mike and Freddy were in the Dining Hall, Mike sitting at a table as Freddy arranged the chairs, like always. Bonnie and Chica were in the Kitchen doing who knew what, while Foxy could be heard singing to himself in Pirate's Cove.

"Yeah, real ray of friggin' sunshine, her," Mike agreed, "But seriously? Nothing? Not even a malfunction?"

The bear shook his head.

"Foxy's even in a much better mood after last night," Freddy added, "Perhaps this job is making you paranoid."

Mike nodded in silence.

"Something broken?" he asked, not ready to give up the goose just yet.

"No," Freddy replied.

"Something dirty?"

"No more than usual."

"Break in?"

"Wouldn't we have known?"

"Terrorist threat?"

"Now really, Michael, what even is that?" Freddy asked, "I think you're looking for a problem that does not exist."

"I guess you're right," Mike finally agreed, "I must be too used to something happening. Have you heard about that new restaurant they're building?"

Freddy shook his head.

"I don't really get out much," he said, pushing another chair closer to the table.

"Right. So, apparently, it's a pizzeria," Mike explained.

"I see. Can't complain," Freddy replied, not entirely interested.

"And it has animatronic entertainers. Like you," Mike continued.

The chair Freddy was pushing was suddenly slammed into the table.

"It has what?" Freddy asked, eyes wide.

"Animatronics," Mike replied, not sure what the big deal was.

"Do you think they're… you know…" Freddy gestured to himself.

"What, a bear?" Mike asked, and upon seeing Freddy's frown added, "No, probably not. I've seen some other animatronic stuff, and you guys are one of a kind."

Freddy looked relieved, and straightened the chair he had slammed into the table. Mike checked his watch. 12:32. Time to do… Something. Mike stood up and wandered down to Pirate's Cove to check on Foxy. But first he decided to stick his head into the Kitchen to check on Bonnie and Chica.

The Kitchen was dark, but Mike could make the two of them out. Chica was digging through ingredients, while Bonnie was absorbed into some kind of book, studying it intently.

"Hey girls," Mike greeted, and Chica and Bonnie turned to look, Chica's head turning almost half way around.

"Oh, hey Mike," Chica responded, and went back to searching the cabinets. Bonnie went back to reading.

"What are you guys up to?" Mike asked, "What are you reading, Bon?"

"A cookbook," Bonnie replied, "Chica found it sitting on the desk out front. She wants to learn how to make other stuff besides pizza." Chica gave an affirmative wave.

"Alright. Best of luck, I guess," Mike said. Chica gave a dismissive wave, and Bonnie looked up and smiled, then went back to the book.

Mike passed through the curtain to Pirate's Cove, finding Foxy standing on the stage, singing some sort of shanty, while dancing around happily. He stopped upon seeing Mike.

"Ahoy, Mike!" Foxy greeted, raising his hook up, a massive grin on his face.

Mike returned the wave, "Hey, Foxy. You sure seem happy," Mike said. Foxy nodded.

"Aye, that I am! I got ta entertain again!" Foxy cheered. Mike smiled.

"That's good to hear. I assume you like my dad?" Mike asked.

"O'course! He's a fine first mate," Foxy said, and stepped off the stage, walking up to Mike. "What do the others be up to?"

"Freddy's being OCD, as usual, and Bonnie and Chica found a cookbook, so they're trying stuff out," Mike reported. Foxy nodded.

"That sounds nice, it does. Why don' we go visit?" Foxy suggested, and Mike shrugged.

"Fine by me," he replied, and the two of them left out the curtain.


Upon walking into the Dining Hall, Mike suddenly sniffed the air. He looked at the Kitchen quizzically.

"Is something burning?" Mike asked Foxy. Foxy shrugged.

"I don' know, mate. I can' smell," Foxy replied. In the low light, Mike could see what appeared to be small wisps of smoke.

"Chica's not that bad of a cook, right?" Mike wondered aloud, walking towards the kitchen. Foxy followed him. Sticking his head through the door, he was greeted by a room filled with smoke, an oven ablaze in the corner of the room.

"Holy shit!" Mike exclaimed, coughing, and ran towards the security office. Foxy sprinted after him.

"Wha'? Wha's wrong?" Foxy asked, concerned.

"Fire! Tell the others!" Mike ordered, and Foxy immediately changed direction, lowering his eye patch.

As Mike made for his office, he ran into Bonnie.

"Hi Mike, what's the hurry?" Bonnie asked. Mike brushed by her, not stopping.

"There's a fire!" Mike called back, and ducked into his office.

Sitting in a small locker on the back wall was a fire extinguisher. Mike struggled to open it, none of his keys fitting its lock.

"Damn it! Why the hell!?" Mike shouted, but then stuck his head out right door. "Bonnie!" Mike called, and heard quick, heavy footsteps as the rabbit ran into the room.

"What!?" Bonnie asked, eyes wide. Mike pointed to the fire extinguisher locker.

"Break this open!" Mike ordered. Bonnie nodded, and slammed a fist into the glass as hard as she could.

The glass cracked, but didn't shatter. Bonnie hit it several more times, leaving large dents in the door, and eventually the glass shattered. Mike reached through it and yanked out the fire extinguisher.

New tool in hand, Mike sprinted for the Kitchen, Bonnie right behind. He practically broke the door down by slamming through it, and had the extinguisher aimed and ready. The smoke and heat hit him like a wave, and the guard took a step back. The fire had spread, engulfing the old wooden cupboards that hadn't been replaced.

Coughing hard, Mike aimed the extinguisher at the base of the fire, letting loose a stream of white foam. Slowly, the flames began to wither, and Mike pressed on, getting closer and closer. Before the fire was fully smothered, the extinguisher sputtered, it's supply of fire-fighting foam depleted.

"Shit!" Mike exclaimed, and started coughing hard again. The smoke hung thick as the fire continued to burn, and the guard began finding it hard to see.

Lapsing into another coughing fit, Mike dropped down to try and get below the smoke. He slowly started to crawl backwards, and a hand grabbed his collar, dragging him out into the Dining Hall. It was Bonnie.

"What do we do?" Bonnie asked. Mike didn't want to send the animatronics in, since their suits were definitely flammable. They needed to get help.

"Just stay here, keep an eye on it. Hopefully it'll just stay in the Kitchen. I'm calling the fire department," Mike said, getting up. He hurried to the front desk, grabbing the phone of its cradle. He quickly dialed 911.


Meanwhile, Foxy, Freddy, and Chica had been scrambling around Backstage for something to stop the blaze. There was one other extinguisher, located in the maintenance room, but the animatronics didn't know how to use it. Foxy tore open the locker and grabbed it anyway, with the intention of giving it to Mike.

Clutching the extinguisher in his good hand, the fox sprinted back out into the Dining Hall.

"Mike?" Foxy called, looking around, "Where are ya?"

He saw that Bonnie had her head stuck in the doorway of the Kitchen.

"It's getting bigger, Mike!" the rabbit yelled towards the lobby.

Foxy ran for the main entrance, spying Mike speaking intensely.

"Yeah, yeah, Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. What? Oh, uh, 808 Broadway. Yeah, it's a kitchen fire, and our extinguishers are out. Uh huh. Okay, will do, thank you," Mike spoke into the phone, and covered the mouthpiece with his hand. He saw Foxy.

"I foun' this Backstage," Foxy said, holding up the extinguisher. Mike shook his head.

"Too late. Fire department says to get out, it's past the point where they'll work," Mike relayed.

"But we can' go outside," Foxy said, "We're s'posed ta be in our places. What will the firemen say?"

"We gotta take that chance, buddy. It'll be better than frying. Now c'mon, grab the others, we're heading outside," Mike ordered, and returned to the phone. "Yeah, I'm still here. No, I don't know how it started, I was in my office. Uh, no, no, there's no one else here."

Foxy left as Mike continued to talk. Bonnie was still watching the progress of the fire, and turned to Foxy as he walked past.

"It's really bad now," Bonnie reported, "It's burning up the walls." Foxy nodded, and ran for the Backstage, bursting through the door. Freddy and Chica looked up.

"We be jumping ship lads, head fer the lobby," Foxy said, and turned and left. Freddy and Chica looked at each other, wide eyed, but followed.

The animatronics and Mike gathered outside, the smoke starting to spread to other parts of the restaurant. Chica stared at it.

"This is bad," she said. Freddy nodded.

"And that's putting it lightly," he added.

Mike stared at the scene in silence. Smoke was wafting out of the small cracks in the side of the building, and was slowly filling up the main entrance, seeping out of the seams of the door. Sirens could be heard in the distance, and snapped Mike out of his trance.

"Damn! Alright, guys, just freeze like you're onstage, okay? Go off to the side, in a bunch," Mike ordered, pointing to a section of the parking lot.

When the fire truck arrived, Mike flagged them down. The sergeant jogged up to him as the other 3 firefighters jumped off and gathered their gear.

"What's the situation?" the sergeant asked.

"It's in the Kitchen, off to the right once you walk in," Mike explained, "I don't know what's burning, but there's wood and cooking stuff in there, and lots of smoke." The sergeant nodded.

"Alright, we'll take it from here, Mr…?" the sergeant began, looking to Mike for the answer.

"Schmidt. First name's Mike," the guard replied, and the sergeant went back to the truck.

The team quickly hooked up a hose to the tank of the truck and raced inside, equipped with SCBA gear to protect against the smoke.


Twenty minutes later, and the firefighters walked out of the main entrance, leaving the door open to vent the smoke. The sergeant walked up to Mike, taking off his breathing mask and wiping sweat away with his sleeve.

"Fire's out. Most of the ovens and stuff were damaged by fire and smoke. We found a charred up book next to a pot on a stove. We think it lit up and spread from there. Are you sure you're the only one in here?" the sergeant asked.

"Yeah. Well, aside from these guys, but they don't do much," Mike said, pointing to the Fazbear clan, "I pulled them out so the smoke didn't get them."

The sergeant and the other firefighters looked at the animatronics, and sat on the curb. Mike hooked his fingers in his belt awkwardly as they talked amongst themselves, wiping away sweat and grime.

"Well, thank you, sergeant, I'm gonna check on my friends here," Mike announced, and the sergeant nodded, and laid on his back on the curb, eyes closed.

Mike walked over to Freddy, and on the guise of giving him an inspection, murmured,

"Alright, just keep your cool. They'll probably leave soon, and we'll go from there," Mike told the group. They all nodded slightly, looking like their neck joints slipped.

Several minutes later, and the firefighters left, leaving Mike and the animatronics alone. Freddy turned to Mike.

"This is really, really bad, Michael," Freddy said, worried, "We could be put out of business! We could barely afford to repair the kitchen after the break in!"

"I'm sure this place has insurance, and they'll be able to afford some new appliances. I just don't know where they're going to put them," Mike said, and Chica frowned.

"I'm sorry, guys, I left that book by the stove. I thought it'd be fine," Chica apologized. Mike put a hand on her shoulder.

"It was an accident. At least nobody got hurt," Mike told the chicken. She nodded, then shrugged.

"Well, if the Kitchen's closed, we get the day off tomorrow, I guess," Chica said. Bonnie wasn't as happy.

"But what about the children? Won't they be disappointed?" Bonnie asked.

Foxy, meanwhile, had been looking around, still enthralled by being outside. He noticed a cat slinking down the sidewalk, following it with his head. A car passed by, immediately distracting him, and by the time the fox looked back, the cat was gone.

Eventually, the others were distracted by the outside as well, looking around the large parking lot they were in. Mike watched as they all watched intently a early morning flight streak across the night sky, wingtip lights flashing.

The sky slowly lightened, and Mike sat on the curb as a sedan suddenly tore into the parking lot.

"Guys, freeze!" Mike ordered, and the animatronics stiffened.

Arianna exited the car and slammed the door shut, heading towards Mike with large, angry strides.

"What the hell happened?" Arianna demanded, seeing the animatronics outside.

"There was a fire," Mike explained, and when the manager's gaze hardened, added, "It wasn't my fault, alright? Chica was cooking, it was an accident."

Arianna stared at Mike blankly.

"The hell do you mean 'Chica was cooking'?" Arianna asked. Mike gave her a confused look.

"What do you think I mean?" Mike asked, puzzled, "Chica was cooking." Arianna looked at Mike as if he had just told her the sky was purple.

"Chica doesn't cook," Arianna said, "She's a robot. She doesn't cook."

Mike's eyes widened. She didn't know? How the hell didn't she know?

"You don't know?" Mike asked, astonished.

"Know what?" Arianna questioned, suspicion written all over her face.

"These guys go on free roam at night. That's why I'm here," Mike explained.

"I know that. They just wander around the restaurant mindlessly, I never really looked into it. The other guards hated to talk about it," Arianna said, crossing her arms.

Mike gave her a look of utter bewilderment, and took off his hat, running a hand through his hair. He shook his head.

"I just… You don't… How could you not know?" Mike asked, "You run the place."

"What are you getting on about?" Arianna asked.

"Arianna, the animatronics do more than wander around the restaurant after midnight. They're sentient, they make their own decisions. How could you have never known?" Mike asked.

"Oh, God, not you too," Arianna groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose, "All the other guards swore these robots were evil, and alive. I know they've stuffed people in suits, I clean it up, but it's just their programming. They're machines, Schmidt. Look at them now, they're locked up. They don't have programming for anything outside. I will give you one thing, good thinking getting them out."

"They walked out. And they're faking. C'mon guys, I guess say hi to the boss," Mike said, astounded he had to make introductions twice.

Freddy turned to Arianna and tipped his hat, smiling.

"Well, I'm surprised I've never had the pleasure. Freddy Fazbear, at your service, ma'am," Freddy said politely.

Foxy crossed his arms and gave a nod.

"Aye, lass, it be a fine greeting from me as well," he said.

Chica turned as well and shrugged.

"Hey," she said simply.

Bonnie gave a little wave, smiling.

"Hi, boss! I can't believe we've never talked to you before!" Bonnie greeted happily.

Arianna stared, and for the first time, Mike saw a different emotion on her face besides contempt. Mike chuckled.

"I mean, seriously, you've worked her for how long? And you never knew this," Mike said, also crossing his arms.

Arianna kept staring, shocked, and Freddy began to look at her with concern.

"Ma'am? Are you okay? Don't be upset, I'm sorry the fire occurred, but it was an accident," Freddy told the manager.

This seemed to jolt her out of her stupor, and she turned to Mike.

"You, me, chat, now," she ordered, and dragged him around the side of the building. Mike spread his arms.

"What?" Mike asked.

"What did you do to them? Huh? This some kind of sick joke? Because if you screwed with my animatronics, so help me…" Arianna threatened.

"I didn't do shit, Arianna," Mike replied, "They've been that way since the place opened."

"They're robots," Arianna hissed, "They're not supposed to be able to do that!"

"Well they can, and they do. It's their A.I., it was built to learn, apparently. And they learned how to think for themselves," Mike explained, "And don't you dare try and 'fix' it."

"But that means those guards they killed…" Arianna began.

"It was programming. Blah, blah, blah, they don't do it anymore, and they feel bad," Mike said, exasperated, "Not like you care about us guards anyway. You knew they did that, and you didn't tell us shit. Now can we focus on the fact this place almost burnt down?"

"Fine. Let's go," Arianna said, and walked back around to the front of the building. The animatronics watched them walk up.

"So. Mike in trouble?" Chica asked, grinning.

"No, but I got to figure this mess out," Arianna told her, "Go back inside, looks like the smoke's cleared out."

The animatronics acknowledged, and went back into their places. Arianna turned to Mike.

"Go home. I'll call you if I need you," she said, and followed the robots back inside.

"Whatever," Mike said to himself, and headed for the bus stop.


Mike was woken up by his phone ringing. It was around 5:30 in the evening.

"Hello?" Mike answered.

"Hey, Schmidt. Look, here's the deal. Insurance covered the damaged stuff, but we can't use the actual room the Kitchen is in yet, and we can't afford to be closed. We're going to use Pirate's Cove," Arianna told him.

"What about Foxy?" Mike asked.

"Yeah, here's the thing. He's done. We're 'retiring' him. We can't keep him in the Cove with the cooks, and there's nowhere else for him to be," Arianna explained bluntly.

"No! You can't! What about Backstage?" Mike asked.

"We're using it for food storage," Arianna replied, "Look, alright, it was bound to happen sometime."

"You cannot scrap Foxy," Mike pleaded, "What if I took him? Kept him with me until the Kitchen's back to normal? You just found out he's sentient!"

There was a pause as Arianna thought Mike's offer over.

"Fine. It'll be for at least an entire week until we can move back. And don't screw this up. You can pick him up after your shift," Arianna agreed, and hung up.

Relief shot through Mike. Foxy was safe. And now he had a new roommate.

A/N: Welcome to the final non-epilogue chapter of Night Four. I have some bad news. Normally, it would be good news, considering what I'm about to tell you, but the reason as to why I'm telling you makes it bad news. My "secret project" is against FanFiction Terms of Service. It's a Choose Your Own Adventure set during the events of my first story, "Foxy's Freedom." One of my beta-readers pointed that out to me, and I don't want my account banned. I'm incredibly disappointed, since the reason of my lapse in updates was because I was putting all time into it. It wasn't finished, but still. I want to apologize to you guys for hyping it so much, then essentially giving you the finger. I don't blame any of you if you decide to stop following me, or anything, since that's a really dick move. I'll try and do something special, but I haven't a clue as to what. Maybe I'll put all my stories into one big collection that people can read all at once, cleaning up a few continuity errors and such. Shitty consolation prize, I know. If anyone has an interesting idea, share it! Tell me what you guys want to make up for it. As long as it's not money or sexual favors.

While that sucks, at least I can tell you one good thing: this series is probably going to go beyond seven nights, since I still keep coming up with ideas. I also want to admit that I'm not the first person to make an animatronic a house guest of Mike's, there are a few other stories that did it first (and most likely better.) I'm sorry, again, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Next story is already underway, and I'll be uploading as much (quality) stuff as I can as yet another apology. I'm bummed, but I still love my series, and my readers (not in a gay/straight way, as friends. Non-committed friends I would probably not invite to my house.) Have a good one! –DeltaV "I mean, who ACTUALLY READS the Terms of Service? Lawyers?"