Author's Note: Thank you for following and favoriting this story everyone! And I'm terribly sorry I couldn't update sooner. We sincerely hope you enjoy this chapter as it leaves more insight to future events. ^^ As of late, Hunter and I haven't been able to rp so I have been organizing our past replies into different chapters, and am doing so even now as we speak! Chapter 4 and 5 were originally going to be added together, but it would be far better if it were separate, so sorry! I promise I'll try to upload it sometime either this week or in the weekend! Anyways, thank you so much for support! =D It's great to be a part of this wonderful new fandom!
Chapter 4
Foxy pushed past the other animatronics and into the room when he saw how Mike was acting and stood about two feet away from the frightened brunette, a worried look on his face. "Mike, Are you okay? We aren't going to hurt you. I swear we won't. You're okay now, nothing's going to happen to you." Freddy grunted and growled quietly at being pushed, eyebrows furrowed as Foxy began speaking to the man. He had never seen this side of Foxy and to be quite frank, it scared him a little. Foxy had always been a stone cold murderer. And even if he wasn't, he never showed his soft side.
The brunette was frozen in shock, but listened carefully to the animatronic's words as his heart rate began to slow until it was restored to a somewhat steady pace. "S-Sorry. It's just- you know." He sighed, turning away from them. "I-I still have to get used to this." Mike shook his head and looked back at the map. "Anyways, I uh, did some research- oh right, I already said that... Umm, so I have a few maps from the town here that I thought could come in handy. The manager did say this place is operating under "a" animatronic manufacturing company, meaning that it's probably just one in this area." The nervousness in the former night watchman's movements and tone began to fade away the more he studied the map, reading over the streets and different icons on it. "If we want to stop them, we'll need to break in somehow and destroy their main power source."
Chica frowned. "We can't leave though, our programming renders us as useless puppets from 6:00 to 11:00 AM." Freddy sighed. "Which means we would have to do it at night when someone else is supposed to be watching us... This is not going to be easy, but it has to be done nonetheless. We shouldn't worry about that quite yet. We will get everything figured out. For now, let's focus on where we are supposed to be going and how we are going to get there." Foxy smiled softly to himself at seeing Mike calm down. he stepped back away from the man and leaned against the wall, simply watching everything else take place. He would only talk if he truly needed to or if someone talked to him first.
"I think I can help change that." The brunette thought it over. "... D-Do you have an exoskeleton lying around here somewhere? I used to be good with hacking into websites and making programs on my computer. Maybe I can undo yours when I learn how to work with it first." He glanced at the animatronics. "Is it your skeleton that's programmed, or the suits that you wear?" Chica looked at the other three animatronics curiously. "I'm not sure, do you know guys know?"
"We do have one, and it is the exoskeleton that is programmed." Freddy turned to the other two animatronics nearest to him and nodded towards them. "Bonnie, Chica, go to the supply room and get the extra exoskeleton for Mike. This may be our only way out of this and he is going to need that as soon as possible. So don't get distracted."
Bonnie nodded and squeezed Chica's hand lightly. "You got it boss. We will hurry." Chica squeezed back and also gave him an affirmative nod before leaving. "Okay." Mike looked over at the drawers on the desk and knelt down, pulling them open and started to rummage through them. "Are there any tools in here?" Freddy shook his head. "There shouldn't be, but we might have some in the supply closet." The night watchman pulled out several papers complete with children's drawings of the animatronic band, a few portraying them with black eyes and one of Foxy which was ripped down the middle. Mike blinked in surprise and looked up at the pictures taped to the wall beside the poster above the desk, noticing the creepy similarities between them and sighed as he straightened up. "Man, how did I get caught up in all of this? I didn't just want to work here only for the money, even though I said so earlier… I really wanted to see you guys again, just not in this way." Freddy looked at him, surprised. "Really...? You actually wanted to see us again? We really aren't much to look at though... We never really were." Foxy smiled to himself, tilting his head. "It's always a sad day when you realize your childhood is never what it seems."
"Of course!" Mike was silent for a moment before he looked at the two animatronics. "... My parents took me here for my eleventh birthday, just the three of us since I didn't have any friends other than you guys. And now years later I decided to come back and work here for the money and because I have a ton of happy memories from this place... But then you guys tried to kill me each night and I didn't know what to do." He glanced back at the wall where the pictures hung as a silent accusation and sighed."I was torn between leaving this place or finding out the truth, and even after I lost my job here I still can't leave!" The brunette shook his head slowly. "I must be insane to try and help my would-be killers, but I don't care... I used to view you guys as my only friends before, so I still care about all of you even now after everything you put me through..."
Freddy listened to everything the former night watchman had to say and nodded. "Well, thank you for helping us. I mean, we are really sorry for trying to kill you. We honestly didn't know that you were someone we could trust. But now that you're with us, you can't get out of it. S-"
"Let him go home. He obviously doesn't belong here. What is he even going to do?! There is no way he can help us. No one can help us. We are a lost cause and there is nothing anyone can do! So just let him go. Let him be done with us." The red fox animatronic cut him off, but Mike shook his head. "No, he's right. I know too much now, so I can't be ignorant of what is really going on here anymore." He glanced at the maps and looked back up at the animatronics. "I'll reprogram you guys so you can leave this place, and I know you have nowhere else to go so I cleared out two rooms at my house ahead of time so you could hide out there until all this is over." The former night watchman got back to his feet and tried to ignore the arm on the floor as he picked up the tag from the generator that he laid on the desk. "This generator has been here since the restaurant first opened, and the writing is a bit faint but I can still make out some of it... #0000419384. That's the distribution code. Now, if we can just trace it somehow it'll lead us to the distribution center where we can find out where the manufacturing factories are."
Foxy stayed quiet and looked down. He thought for sure that Mike would flee as soon as he got the chance. If they were causing him so much stress, why on earth would he stay? It made no sense to him whatsoever. Freddy nodded. "Alright. Hopefully we can track it down. If we cant how are we going to find the factory? Do you have a backup plan or something? I mean, that would be kind of helpful." The brunette glanced at the pad on the desk and picked it up, looking over the feed from each room besides the kitchen since there was still yet only audio there. "I do as a matter of fact... This has been here since the pizzeria first opened too. If I took it back home and hack into it, I might be able to find the factories that way as well... This thing really saved my life a ton of times." Mike sighed and held the pad close. "Anyways, that's Plan B. Plan C would be for us to camp out at my place until we can find the location by looking through old library archives and doing extensive research."
"You really have thought about this a lot, haven't you? Do we really mean that much to you?" Freddy asked after a brief pause. Foxy looked up at Mike, then looked away. He didn't understand what he was feeling and he didn't really like it either. It was really new and weird. "Believe it or not, yes. I very nearly bought you guys a fruit basket in the hopes that you would quit hunting me down!" The brunette caught the red fox animatronic's gaze and blinked, wondering if he was alright but didn't make any inquiry about it. "A fruit basket? Seriously? What would we do with a fruit basket? Food fight? We can't exactly eat the fruit." Freddy rolled his eyes and chuckled quietly. "I know! I realized that only after I bought one." Mike couldn't help but laugh a bit at the memory. "I left it on my neighbor's doorstep and tried to think of something else to give you guys, but I couldn't come up with anything else." The brown bear animatronic laughed a bit and nodded. "That was definitely not the smartest thing to do. Tell me again why we are letting you help us?" He shook his head, sitting down on the desk.
Mike reflexively flinched away but relaxed. "I don't know, maybe it's because I'm the first human who agreed to and who cares about you guys who is not a child? Although technically I've always loved you all since I was a kid, so I'm not sure if that counts."
"Oh, it counts because even if kids knew about the shit that went on when they left this place, they wouldn't be able to do anything. If they told their parents they wouldn't believe them either. So the fact that you're helping us now is just... Thank you." Mike smiled, looking at the leader of the animatronic band sadly. "No, thank all of you for being my friend back then... I'm just returning the favor."
It certainly made for a rather odd scene, having a former night guard and an animatronic bent on revenge to be seen conversing in the late hours of the night. It was almost surreal in knowing that not too long ago the four robotic constructs were dead set on ending the brunette's life and now they were slowly repairing the walls which had crumbled down over the years between them. Age really /is/ just a number, Mike decided at that moment. He was no longer surprised in the least that he didn't hate the animatronics for terrorizing him before. He must have known- at least his memories had, and reminded him that the quartet were actually good- what? Constructs? Beings? People? In any case, Mike felt a rush of gratitude and sympathy towards them and their plight, and at the peak of his churning emotions he reached over and wrapped his arms around the taller brown bear animatronic, hugging him tightly. "Thank you so much." His voice quavered not from fear this time, but from choking emotions which made it difficult for him to speak.
Freddy's eyes widened a bit. He did not think this man before him would ever be hugging him in such a way. Honestly, he had never truly been hugged. Unless it was by a kid but usually that was just because their parents wanted a picture or something of the sort. he liked the feeling of the hug. And after a few seconds he hugged the man back, just as tight. He patted his back, grinning. "You're welcome. It feels so nice to know someone out there actually cares about people like us." Foxy watched as the two embraced, a burning feeling swelling up inside him. This was nothing like the one before. It was more dark and angry. He hated this feeling and he wanted it gone, but as he watched them it only grew. He wanted to be the one to hug Mike and he wanted to be the one being thanked. He didn't want Freddy to hug him like that, he didn't have the right. But he did. Foxy knew Freddy had more of a right than anyone. He shook his head and walked out of the room silently, making sure not to draw attention to himself as he sighed and retreated to Pirate's Cove, hoping this feeling would go away.
The former night watchman smiled, feeling tears well in his eyes as he hugged the other back. "I can't understand why anyone wouldn't care." He noticed Foxy leave and drew away, peering out at the darkened hallway and flicked on the lights to see West Hall empty. "Where did Foxy go?" Mike frowned a bit, then remembered he had the pad and took it up, scanning the cameras for any tell tale signs of the animatronic's whereabouts. Freddy raised a brow and shrugged. "I have no clue. I was meaning to talk to you about him, actually... Since the Bite of '87... No one ever even asks about him. Plus, you've seen the shape he is in. The workers won't fix him. Is there any way you could help him out...? He seems to really take a liking to you."
"I think so! I mean, I don't have much experience in the medical field but I did bring my first aid kit with me- oh right, I almost forgot this! The brunette opened up his suitcase and removed the first aid kit from the case as well as the assortment of neatly folded and cleanly pressed clothes. "These belonged to my parents, but you guys clearly need new clothes."
"Woah... We haven't had new clothes since... Ever, actually. This is really nice of you. You know, its one thing to help us but you didn't have to go this far as to bring us clothes."
"Well, I figured why not? If anything, this can replace that failure of a peace offering nights ago." Mike chuckled. "It's kind of plain for now, but I'm planning on changing that later once you're all settled in. I just need to see if the clothes would fit first." Freddy nodded and held the shirt up, looking it over. "I hope it fits." He chuckled and pulled the shirt on. It was a bit small but wasn't so bad. It actually fit him pretty well. "It's... Perfect."
"Great." The brunette smiled and wrote the distribution number down on the map and began fiddling with the pad. "Does this thing have any other use other than functioning as a camera viewer?" The brown bear animatronic thought about it for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No, not that I know of. All I do know is that it's for the cameras."
"Hmm, it'll be cool if I could hack into the factory's camera system through this once we get in."
"That could work. Since you're good with computers and all, you should be able to do that."
Mike nodded as he met Freddy's gaze.
Their plan would be settling into motion soon enough.