Heeey, so it has been a long time. Too long... I've had these chapters written but I have been between moving and moving again and stress... I'm at least in a better position now. SO I am going to finish this freaking story already! It's been too long not done, and I have other stories I want to make too! I WILL complete this one no matter what! ENJOY whomever remains!
A little earlier, Stephan and Luka were talking a few things over about some metal plates Stephan had purchased and wanted to know if he got the right size for a project he was working on. Luka approved of his approach as Stephan was glad while Sarah soon left to check on Lily. Luka then brought Stephan up to the office to get something he had forgotten. He gestured to the chair in front of the laptop, as Stephan approached and then stopped when he noticed the usb in the laptop. He turned to Luka, as he nodded more firmly, and then Stephan realized what was happening.
"… Luka. Not you. What's really going on? We're friends, you can tell me," Stephan said.
"The less I tell you, the better off you will be. As my friend, I'd want to protect all of you," Luka replied.
" Sigh… Okay. Okay, I'll trust you. I don't know if Markus will be too happy about it, but you've been our friend for a very long time and haven't ever lead us in a bad way so I'll trust you… but you know I can't let you come back until we investigate further, right?" Stephan said as he sat on the chair and began inputting the proper security measures and codes.
"I know. I only intended to come once. For now I can't disclose anything, but please trust us," Luka said.
"… Us?" Stephan asked.
"That is all I will say for now. I'm sorry," Luka replied, and Stephan breathed out as he looked downward.
"Alright… the information downloaded. Go on then. I'll let my brother know and we'll see what he decides to do," Stephan said as he gave Luka the usb.
"Thanks Stephan. Again, I'm sorry. I would have preferred to get the information from Markus," Luka said.
"Just answer me this… Did Angela send you? Or the boss?" Stephan asked.
"… I came to help my family and friends. I can't do it alone, so I need my friends to trust me… as hard as it will be," Luka said as he started to walk out.
"Is that girl really your girlfriend then?" Stephan asked.
"You know the answer. I don't have time for that," Luka replied with a smile as he left.
Luka sent a message to Ethan to return, as he met the girls just outside the ballroom.
"What happened?" Luka asked.
"We have to leave now. That Markus guy let us go so I guess he really liked Lily," Sarah said.
"I'm sorry. I felt it was best to pull my gun on him since he was figuring out so much and I didn't want to risk getting captured. I'm glad Sarah came when she did," Lily said.
"Ah… I'll definitely have to talk to him later about that. I don't think that was a good idea since you had no bullets in it," Luka said.
"I think he knew. He's… very perceptive. He knew most of what we planned so easily. I panicked a bit," Lily said.
"His sister pulled her gun at Lily so it's a good thing mine had a few rounds," Sarah said.
"… Sigh. Amelie is always overly cautious as loyal as she tries to be. Come on, let's hurry up," Luka said and they headed out.
The trio hurried along to the vehicle waiting for them and quickly went inside. Once secured in, Ethan began driving out.
"Phew, we made it," Sarah said.
"Did you get the information, Luka?" Lily asked.
"Yes. I got it all," Luka replied as he flashed the usb for a moment.
"… What the hell HAPPENED?!" Ethan yelled out, startling the three.
"Andie was frantically whisper yelling at me about you pointing a gun at a dude on the balcony and then a woman points a gun at you while the other animatronics had to hold Freddy back from revealing themselves! I was about to tell her to go up when she says Sarah came and held the woman at gun point, and I had to make all of them calm the heck down from the phone! What was going on?!"
Luka, Lily, and Sarah explained what had occurred during the meeting party. They went on to their hiding place in a more isolated location with some land that Luka owned so that he had a base when hiding from his uncle. As they pulled onto the property, Andie and Mike were opening up a van that held the animatonics that came to the meeting party inside. The front door of the property opened as a few of the animatonics who stood at this home base came out to greet them all. Ethan parked and then they all exited the vehicles and met together in front of the house.
"Thank goodness you guys are all okay! We got so worried and worked up it was so hard to stay back and watch!" Andie said as she hugged the trio.
"It was one heck of a party, but it turned out alright," Sarah said, as Luka showed the usb.
"Nice! Let's get that into the computer and see what we got," Mike said.
"Phew. I can finally get out of these heels," Sarah said as she removed her heels and carried them in her hand.
"Sarah, your feet are going to get all dirty," Foxy said.
"Yeah you guys should get some rest. You earned it," Mike said.
"Lily are you alright? You didn't get hurt or anything right?" Freddy said quickly as he looked her over.
"I'm fine, Freddy. He let us go. He wasn't as bad as I thought but I suppose it was because of Luka being his friend and all. He already suspects we are working with Angela. He's very intelligent," Lily said as she looked off to the side remembering the meeting briefly and rubbing her arm to calm her nerves that delayed in response to her nerves since she was safe now.
Freddy noticed this and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, giving her a light squeeze as comfort. Lily looked up at him, exchanging a somewhat distraught smile, but as she took a breath to relax, the stress did as well.
"What... happened at the meeting? You guys seem like you were all on edge," Mousie asked, seeing the interaction.
"Let's get inside and we'll talk more about it," Ethan said, as he gestured to the door, and everyone headed inside.
The humans settled in and were able to relay what happened at the meeting. Everyone told their sides and were able to piece it all together as Luka gave Ethan the usb, and Mike gave Ethan his camera from having Dog and Perry distract the greeter and guards as he quickly went ahead and took a picture of the guests list to download on the computer.
"Okay it's almost done," Ethan said, examining the computer.
"Good. We need to head out as soon as possible. I suspect Markus may come here by tomorrow after cleaning up from the party and all," Luka said.
After a moment of silence and looking between each other, Andie looked at her watch and yelled out,
"We don't got that much time! Let's hustle guys!"
Everyone got up and started heading to their rooms to take their belongings, though much of it wasn't fully unpacked since they didn't expect to stay long.
"Come on, ladies! Get your stuff in here!" Chica said from in the girls' room as they put some of their belongings in her stomach hatch to hold onto.
"I got extra room for a few smaller things!" Mousie said as they gave her some scarves, gloves, and ammo within her own chest cavity to hold.
"Do you have room for this?" Mike asked Dog in the boys' room as he held a small dog plushie.
Dog raised a brow and asked, "Where did you even get this?"
"I found it when we went to the market to get some food. I thought it would be a nice gift for Andie for being a good member of our team. I also got Luka this," Mike replied as he showed him a black fur scarf he had.
"Well, that's very thoughtful of you, Mike. Keeping the moral up, right?" Dog asked, and Mike nodded.
Luka walked in to pack as Bonnie, who was next to the guys quickly grabbed the scarf to hide it. Mike turned and noticed the scarf was missing, as he looked towards Bonnie who winked and he nodded back at him.
"So we're heading to your home base in Russia?" Ethan asked Luka as he was giving Freddy his stuff to hold, and Luka nodded and said,
"We'll be able to train more and prepare to head to any other locations we need to get to from there."
"Is it cold there now?" Mike asked.
"I believe so," Luka replied, and Mike reached his hand towards Bonnie who gave him the scarf.
He then handed the scarf to Luka, "Then now seems like the perfect time to give you your gift."
Luka blinked a few times as he looked at the gift and slowly took it.
"Where… you got this for me?" Luka asked, his eyes brightening in a way that Ethan was a little surprised to see it.
"Yeah! You're part of our team, so I wanted you to feel included. You've really been helping us out so I wanted to thank you for being a bro," Mike replied with a warm smile.
"… Heh. Thanks Mike. I really appreciate that. Thank you," Luka said, a grateful smile gracing his face.
Ethan saw how happy Luka felt from receiving the gift as his expression softened towards them while also making him realize how hard he was on him and willing to shoot him so easily. Freddy noticed Ethan's change of expression as he was surprised to see a softer more understanding side of Ethan, which made him realize what Lily must see when she looks at her brother. Ethan took a breath and then returned to his usual expression as he said,
"You're one of us now, Luka, or should we say that we're with you now... as a team."
"Aw, I appreciate that Ethan. Especially from you. I won't let you guys down," Luka said with a nod towards him and a smile still on his face.
"And we won't either. We're all in this together, so let's go all the way until we win," Bonnie said with a thumbs up, as the guys in the room all nodded and lifted a thumbs up.
In the truck, everyone was more snugged since they had to get a different truck on Luka's recommendation and head out towards Luka's homeland. As they traveled along, Lily was looking through their database of the locations they received and noticed that they were heading towards where one of them was. She bit her lip, thinking about whether to inform the group or not, as Sarah noticed her doing so and asked,
"Hey Lily, what's up? You look like you're thinking too hard."
"Um, well… I just happen to notice that one of the locations on this list is actually along the way. I was considering whether I should bring that up since we're hurrying," Lily admitted as the truck grew quiet.
"I don't mind if anyone objects. It may be better for us to keep going to get out of here if the Gerissens decide to look for us but… I feel like we should go there anyway to check it out, but what do the rest of you think?" Lily asked.
Silence still greeted her as everyone thought about it, and the animatonics looked towards one another and nodded.
"I'm with Lily! We came to bust these places so let's bust them like we've been doing!" Andie said as she raised her hand, and everyone else followed.
"Huh? Are you all sure?" Lily asked, feeling a little flustered by everyone's support.
"One hundred percent, Lily! Besides, who would suspect we'd work so fast?" Chica said.
"Sounds like a good time to take advantage since we're already ahead. Aaand I was getting a little tired of lookout duty," Bonnie said.
"We're all already packed and ready, so let's go for it," Sarah said.
"We should still have time, so let's make it count," Luka said.
"Lead the way, Lily," Ethan said.
Lily smiled, happy to have such a great and supportive team as this one, as crazy as it's been since the start of all of this.
She was ready to show the location to her brother as she remembered Markus' words,
'"You're part of that group aren't you? The ones destroying the animatronics… maybe even the leader."'
Lily shook her head a bit and focused as she told him the location.
'I'm not the leader… we're all a team.' She thought.
'… if that is what you want to think,' Golden whispered in her mind, as she turned away from his where she heard his voice coming from.
Freddy and Dog noticed this since they had a keener sense of sensing Golden as they looked towards one another with narrowed eyes.
Outside of a building near the edge of a city where the buildings stand between two lakes:
"Ooo, this is pretty big," Andie said as she was looking up at the beige and black wooded building that reached almost three stories high and about the same as it's width.
They were parked out among some trees that were nearby since they were close to outside of the city limits where some forestry grew out, and would probably be taken down or moved eventually to expand on the small town.
"It's a restaurant apparently, but the windows are all darkened so we can't really see inside. It's called Köstliche Küche," Ethan said as he and Mike walked over to the group.
"That just rolled off the tongue for you, Ethan. Good job," Sarah commented.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I studied up on some languages before and got a good feel for the pronounciations," Ethan said, rubbing the back of his head.
"You sound really cool, Ethan! Ever thought of speaking German more often?" Andie said, as a certain animatronic looked towards her.
"Not really, but thank you. Maybe one day I will," Ethan said with a small smile.
"Come on guys. Let's see if there are more things for Ethan to read inside," Luka said as he and Foxy were standing near the back door and opened it, Ethan giving him a look as he chuckled.
They traveled inside and started checking the place as they were very cautious and as quiet as possible. From the back room they branched out once they reached the kitchen and started looking around in groups.
"It's very quiet," Andie whispered as she, Lily, Bonnie, Freddy, and Mousie were walking around the food storage area.
"You get the feeling it's too quiet too?" Lily asked, and Andie nodded.
"I found some cheese. Am I suppose to eat this?" Mousie whispered as Bonnie put the cheese she held back.
"Don't touch! We shouldn't let our guard down," Bonnie whispered to her.
"Sorry. Usually I'm allowed in the kitchen to play since I experiment with cooking," Mousie said.
"You can cook? Why didn't you say so earlier? You could cook for our human friends," Bonnie said.
"Ah yeah. Sorry, I just haven't been in a kitchen for a while since even at Lily and Ethan's house. I mostly stood outside," Mousie said.
"Well, we'll need to get you to a kitchen then," Bonnie said, as Mousie smiled and nodded.
"Hey, come on. Pay attention. We aren't home," Freddy said to them as they nodded to him.
"Right, let's… go…" Andie said as she looked besides her when she turned towards them and realized no one was besides her.
"… Lily?" Andie said, as the other animatronics were alerted as Freddy turned to see a vent nearby.
He growled as his eyes darkened towards the vent while his fists curled up.
Lily felt like something was behind her as she turned to see brown eyes staring at her from the form of a black wolf with a red scarf and pants. She was going to fight him when she noticed something about his eyes and lowered her guard for a moment when the wolf grabbed her and took her up through the vents. Although her instincts kicked in to struggle, Lily decided to wait for a moment since she recognized those red crosses in the pupils of his eyes. She could hear from behind them something had also climbed into the vent, but the wolf was too fast and those sounds became a faint memory. Through a specific path in the vents, the black wolf dropped down into a storage room and then dropped further down through a basement door in the corner of the room. When the coast was clear and quiet, the wolf placed Lily on a chair in the middle of the room. Taking in her surroundings, Lily realized it was an infirmary storage but was set up for something.
"… Do forgive me for dragging you out of there like that. Once I confirmed your identity by facial scan, I immediately went to action to follow my set goal. Though I didn't expect that you would come to me, but maybe I should have…? All well. It is nice to see you, Ms Lily Lova. I am Blaken the Nightwolf," Blaken the Nightwolf introduced himself in his low voice.
"… It's okay. I figured you had no ill intentions when I recognized those red crosses in your eyes. That is Angela's signature right?" Lily asked, and Blaken nodded to confirm.
"She had given me a mission for a Ms. Lily Lova. I was supposed to go find you, but soon realizing you were here it was the best opportunity. Though knowing you may be hard to reason with among your allies and my own functions, I felt it best to nab you on the spot away from them. I'm sure my sister would be kind to them and let them know what is happening. She has better speed then I," Blaken said as he took a black box from a nearby table.
"You were pretty speedy yourself… So, what is this mission? What does Angela want from me?" Lily asked.
"It is not what she wants, or more that she has a gift custom-made for you. She figured it would be best to make this since you'll need to be in tip-top shape and prowess for what lies ahead," Blaken said as he then bended in front of Lily since he was pretty tall.
Lily looked at the black box presented to her as Blaken placed a clawed hand over it and opened it up. A soft light glowed from within, and when Lily realized she was being stared at, she jolted. It was a jar of some sort with a small motor attached to it with wires that held inside a green eye floating in clear liquid.
"Sorry if this may be a surprise, but Angela is very concerned about that eye of yours. She feels the procedure done for you to see now is not enough since you'd need to continuosly in your lifetime need a procedure done to see after a certain number of years. Angela decided to take the iniative and have another eye made for you. She has made eyes before and her process has been very successful, so you will have no problems with this one. If there are any, Angela, A.3, and myself or others Angela made like me can always take a look, but it is guaranteed to not be necessary. It is waterproof, can absorb electricity, and can lubricate itself and even shed tears as an eye usually would. Though of course…" Blaken stands upright as he closes the box and adds,
"That is up to you. If you want it I can start the procedure immediately. I'll also keep your old eye in a safe place if you ever want it back."
"…. This… is a lot to… to take in," Lily said as she placed her free hand over her left eye.
"Take your time to think about it, Ms. Lily. If you don't want to or don't want to do it now, it will always be available to you. Also, you wouldn't have to worry about not seeing either. It's build to last a lifetime," Blaken said.
"…" Lily leaned back on the chair to collect her thoughts from the shock of the situation.
Meanwhile, the others were still sneaking around and met in the main dining room.
"Anything?" Mike asked.
"Nah, there's nothing here. It's strangely quiet too," Ethan said.
"Maybe they are hiding?" Perry suggested.
"It seems like… there aren't supposed to be any animatonics here… but they were on the list which is weird," Chica said.
"Guys! Guys! Lily was taken in the vents by someone!" Andie rushed in with the others in their group except Freddy.
"What?! Where did they go?" Ethan asked.
A vent opens on the upper wall as Freddy jumps out.
"The vents are like a maze, I can't figure out the path they went through. We need to all get inside to find her," Freddy suggested.
"That won't be necessary. We have nothing to hide except from a fight," A voice called to them as they looked up at the dark ceiling to see a white wolf upside down of blue eyes looking down them with a pink shirt and black shorts as her silver hair on her head hung down.
"Are you the one who took, Lily?!" Sarah asked her.
"Wait… you look familiar to me," Luka inquired.
"There is nothing for all of you to worry about. I am Lumi the Lightwolf, we were asked to keep you all safe until Lily makes her decision. Do not worry, my brother is talking to her now," Lumi the Lightwolf said as she stood on the ceiling with her arms crossed.
"What decision? What is this about?" Ethan asked.
"Your sister was injured, so we are offering her the opportunity to get it fixed," Lumi replied.
"Injured? When? She has been fine," Chica asked.
"An occular injury," Lumi replied.
"… Wait you mean her eye? We took care of that," Sarah said.
"Not in the long term. We are offering her an opportunity to get it replaced completely so that she can see for a lifetime and not need anymore procedures," Lumi said.
"Huh? You can do that?" Mike asked.
"Wait wait, woah… You're going to take out my sister's eye?!" Ethan shouted.
"Relax. It's not that big of a deal," Lumi said.
"It's a big deal to us! Where is Lily? Bring us to her so that we can be sure of what you are saying is true!" Freddy said.
"No. If she agrees then the procedure is to be done immediately, if not, it is better you don't know how to reach where they are. Certain places are not open to the public," Lumi said.
"Hey! That's not right! Let us see her or at least me so that I know it's going well!" Sarah said.
"It would be you alone but that is unnecessary. My brother is capable. Now just sit tight and wait," Lumi said.
"Why should we even trust you if you stole Lily from behind our backs and now won't even let us see her?!" Mike shouted.
"… Well you don't necessarily have to trust me, but I'm not letting you go see her," Lumi said.
"That just makes it worse!" Andie said.
"Enough! Let's just spread out and find her! We don't need this mutt's help and if we have to break a wall then we will!" Bonnie said.
Lumi jumped down so fast Bonnie barely blinked when she kicked him in the face as he landed on his bottom. The others were surprised by her speed, and more so by the red cross eyes blazing in her darkened eyes,
"You are NOT permitted to damage property. If you wish to fight to pass the time, I'll oblige."
The animatonics began to growl, as the humans furrowed their brows.
"There was no need to attack if you just explained this to us before taking Lily, but it seems like… you are picking a fight with us on purpose. Did Angela ask you to do that... too?" Luka asked upon this realization, as Lumi's ear twitched.
"That seems like the case," Freddy said, his demeanor calming down.
"If a fight is what you want, I'll oblige as well," Luka said with a smirk, and Lumi gave him a glare.
The brawl worked as a one-on-one since Luka stepped up and Lumi was ready to fight him. He was able to battle the animatronic and hold his own, even grabbing at her fist and halting an attack. The guys were impressed as the ladies were surprised. A side glance from Lumi seeing the others' reactions and then looking back at Luka made him tighten his lips as he gripped her hand more. She understood that he wanted to show an example to the others that it was possible to face animatronics without always needing a weapon. She decided to comply furthering the battle since this would give Blaken extra time.
"Wooah. Do you think we'll be able to fight like that, Ethan?" Mike asked him.
"… I think so. Though if we're going to reach his level we got to work really hard," Ethan replied, and Mike nodded.
Andie was very observant as she was studying how they moved and fought, while Bonnie peered towards her from the corner of his eye, noticing how her eyes were bright watching the fight as he felt annoyed that he couldn't see them directly. Chica bumped Bonnie to make him pay attention to the fight, smirking secretly.
Lily held the black box as she contemplated this decision thoroughly while Blaken waited for her response. She was weighing the risks and rewards, and felt a tinge of fear on her chest trying to disrupt her breathing. Yet she kept calm as she occasionally tapped the box with her fingers softly, the light melody seeming to ease a small part of her mind. A slow intake of breath, and then her fingers tapped the box at the same time, alerting Blaken as his ears flinched.
"I have a question first..."
"Ask away."
"... Who really are you?"
"..."
"I'd like to know before giving my answer."
"... An old friend of Angela. My sister and I were her partners. We made a mistake and paid with our lives... We don't regret it, but we miss being able to walk in the light with her," Blaken replied.
"... How did it happen?" Lily asked, sympathy as her voice grew softer.
"There were those who were still loyal to the former leader, so we were going to weed them out from the organization. Though... we thought keeping Angela out of it would keep her safe since we knew she was a target of theirs but... they got us right as she found us. We were the only ones brought back after Angela dealt with them," Blaken explained.
"... Dealt with? You mean she killed them?" Lily asked.
"... I've never seen such ferocity with a smile before in my life... She not only destroyed animatronics but destroyed the people too... Not even A.2 had to get involved. It was beyond terrifying as I slowly died, but not so bad since she was at least alive so my sister and I didn't totally fail in our goal to keep her safe and take out the traitors," Blaken replied.
"... You guys must have really been friends if you considered dying to be okay to protect her. She must have felt bad about losing her partners," Lily said as she felt a chill down her spine and tightened her grip on the box.
"Yes. Our only regret... was seeing her tears," Blaken said, Lily's eyes widening, almost forgetting that Angela is still human.
Lily closed her eyes and felt an uneasiness of thinking if anyone in her team were to perish, and if they did so protecting her. She didn't want to lose anyone or be unable to save them if she could help it. She steadied her breathing and opened her eyes to look at him more confidently.
In the upper rooms, Lumi and Luka were evenly matched enough that they decided to stop fighting, so instead she challenged the other animatonics to one-on-one combat. Unfortunately, they couldn't reach her speed to defend themselves often from her, and she barely had a scratch. As she was ready to deal a kick down on Bonnie's head, she said,
"It is foolish for you guys to move forward if you don't have what it takes to stand on your own. You may not always have someone to watch your back, and even if you do, you can bring each other down if you aren't ready. Like so."
She brought her leg higher and narrowed her eyes, as Bonnie realized he was in for a direct hit on the head that may knock him out. Two arms grabbed the white wolf's arm and pulled back as her leg just missed Bonnie's head while his eyes widened as did everyone else though more in relief that it missed.
"No! Don't hurt my Bonnie! You don't have to make an example of him! We get it!" Andie yelled out as she held on.
"You need to know what happens! If not prepared you would be shocked and may end up getting yourself hurt! Now off!" Lumi said as she hit Andie's arms with her other one.
"Hey! Don't hit her like that!" Sarah said as she grabbed the loose arm.
"You're both not strong enough to hold me..." Lumi said as she lifted her arms while the two girls lifted up with them.
"They don't need to be!" Bonnie yelled as he shoulder tackled Lumi as she was shoved back on the ground, while Ethan and Luka grabbed the girls before they fell too.
Lumi sat up quickly but stopped when she felt someone near her and looked to her side to see Mike holding a shotgun pointed to her head.
"We may not be strong now, but we will be. At least we got the determination to get you down on the ground," Mike said.
"... Hehehe. Alright. I'm sure with that willpower you guys will be able to get on our level fast. You all seem capable anyway," Lumi said as she relaxed.
"So will you take us to Lily then?" Freddy asked.
"... I don't have to. She's coming with my brother now," She said as she pointed to a darker, doorless hallway.
They all looked towards it and waited as they saw red-crossed glowing eyes approaching them. At first they went on guard, but then felt relief to see that the animatronic was carrying Lily as she said,
"It's okay. I'm here guys."
Though once in the light of the room, they were surprised to see a gauze patch and bandage covering over her left eye with medical tape.
"Lily... you... you actually replaced it?" Ethan asked as he approached his sister while Blaken set her down on her feet but kept his hand on her back.
"She is stable, but she will need rest from the procedure. I will be keeping the real one in containment for now if she needs to switch back, though it may not be necessary," Blaken said.
"Lily..." Freddy said as his eyes softened seeing that she looked tired.
"It's okay. I chose to switch it... I'm just a little sleepy now," Lily said as she took a slow step forward.
"Here take my arm," Ethan said as she took his arm to lean on.
Freddy stared at Blaken with darkened eyes, as he stared back calmly.
"I did not convince or force her to replace it. She had a choice and decided to do it to help you guys. I suppose she didn't want to be a burden if her eye went out on her in the middle of a struggle, from what she told me," Blaken said, and Freddy's eyes returned to normal as he lowered his gaze.
"She… shouldn't have needed to…" Freddy tried to say, but Blaken placed a hand on his shoulder and said,
"We may wish for things to be better, but sometimes they are not, especially in our situations. But do not dismay. I am sure you will do all in your power to help her now. If the now is changeable, then do all that you can to make it better so the past can be countered by the new you of the future."
Freddy looked up at the wolf and nodded more confidently, as he nodded back.
"Well since this is settled, I suppose we must head out too. We need to send Angela the report," Lumi said as she stood up while Mike lowered his gun.
"Right. Sorry about the stress we put you guys through. We are pretty straightforward in our progress but also secretive," Blaken said, as some were confused by the wording as the others didn't mind.
"Was the procedure a secret or something that we couldn't be nearby? You know what, why am I asking? This is Angela so it was probably both." Mike concluded.
"You are right. Angela didn't want Sarah to be tempted to try or mess with Lily's eye since she doesn't know how it was done in the first place," Lumi answered.
"What?! She did-You did- because I was- Oo! Are you kidding me?! I'm a doctor and Lily is my patient! I can't help but be concerned when a procedure is done without me knowing about it!" Sarah hollered, frightening those who were nearest to her.
"Good grief, relax. Once our report is filed she will send you details and trust you to make sure her eye recovers under certain conditions," Lumi said pointing at Sarah's pocket.
Sarah checked her pocket for her phone and read a message on it:
'Hello fellow Red Head! It's a me. Don't worry yourself about little Lily over there. I'll send you some information about the procedure once I get the results from my wolf friends Blaken and Lumi. Stay pretty for when I get to see you guys! With Great Love, Angela.'
Sarah's expression of narrowed eyes and a twitch of her eyebrow made certain to everyone that the message was from Angela.
"Sigh. Very well. There's nothing to do but move on. And it looks like Angela will be coming to see us soon, so we can talk to her later at least," Sarah said as she put her phone away.
"That's good then. We can all talk it out and then work together," Mike said.
"Yeah, with a crazy, eccentric demi-human," Ethan commented.
"Don't be that way, Ethan. She's helping us, and we did agree to come here," Lily said.
"That's right! We can't be too upset by all of this. We chose to stick together and beat that evil organization, so we have to keep our heads up and press on until the end!" Andie encouraged.
"It was pretty nice of Angela to make a new eye for Lily too. We should thank her," Chica said.
"… That's right. For now we have to focus on what we're doing. Let's get out of here and head to our new base so that while Lily heals we can train and practice. As long as we are here, we're going to fight and win so that we can see another day and give other people a chance to do the same," Freddy said, adding on encouragement as some cheered and agreed in nods.
"Shall we also take our leave, Blak?" Lumi asked.
"Yes. We'll leave along with them too. Did you hold up well?" Blaken replied.
"I'm perfectly fine. A little scratches are nothing," She replied back, and he nodded towards her.
Blaken turned to the others and said, "Okay. Let's all be on our way then. We have to leave anyway and I'm sure you guys still have a ways to go."
Freddy approached Blaken and extended his hand towards him, "… I'm still a little upset, but not at you. You were following Angela's instructions, and since Lily agreed, then I understand. I just want you to know there's no hard feelings from me. Thank you for taking care of her."
"Thank you for being understanding as you are. I know how you care for her so I made sure to take extra care of her, as Angela had told me," Blaken said as he shook his hand, and Freddy nodded, while the other animatronics took that as a form of admittance.
Afterward, they all left the building in their respective vehicles and headed out to their destinations. Lily was wrapped with a sheet they had just in case if the truck got cold in the front passenger seat, and she fell asleep while the others whispered to make sure she had time to rest and not disturb her.
"Lily is so brave. I don't think I'd be able to make a decision like that in one night," Andie said.
"She's brave alright. But I think she had time to think it over. That fight with Lumi wasn't short," Sarah said.
"… Was Lily's eye always burdened?" Luka asked.
"After she fought with Angela in hand-to-hand combat, Angela made a comment about her eye and that's when me and Sarah investigated it further. Apparently Lily was having problems a little before that, and she just thought she needed time to heal, but we found out her eye was damaged internally," Ethan replied.
"Oh my. Poor Lily," Andie said.
"Yeah… I really feel like an idiot for not noticing or protecting her better," Mike said, looking downward.
"Mikey. You tried your best as all of us have. We can't predict internal damage like that," Sarah said.
"But I feel responsible. I gave her the guns from the start so… I feel responsible," Mike said.
"We all do, lad. You're all important to us, and we feel responsible for all o' ye," Foxy said from the back.
"If it's anyone's fault for dragging Lily into this, it's ours," Chica said solemnly.
"If we would have left her alone then maybe she would still have her eye," Bonnie said, lowly.
"… And ye would all have your lives," Foxy said.
"… No. The fault is all mine. I caused… all of this, and Lily to lose her vision. There's no one more to blame then me," Freddy said as he looked downward.
"… What is this? The blame game?" Sarah said as she turned towards everyone.
"Everyone contributed in some way, sure. Even Lily herself for being so darn brave to keep fighting and fighting. But you know what? I don't see Lily feeling bad or sorry. She's sleeping there all peacefully, so why don't we help her feel better about her decision and next time we get beaten up for her, alright guys? No more guilt and gloom!" Sarah commanded.
Everyone looked towards one another, besides Ethan since he was driving. Her words empowered the others to stop feeling so sorry, as they all turned to her more empowered, a nod of approval greeting them from Sarah.
"You're all so sweet," Lily said as she turned towards them with a smile, and they were surprised to see her awake.
"Lily, we thought you were sleeping," Ethan said.
"I was, but I coouldn't help but wake up after hearing my name a few times," Lily said.
"Well don't worry, Lily. You go on to sleep and we'll all be pitching in to take care of you, okay?" Mike said.
Lily nodded and then turned to get comfortable in her seat to sleep. The rest of them talked a bit and avoided saying her name too loudly as they traveled to their next destination.
It took a long bit of driving, which was at least bearable due to carrying gasoline canisters to keep moving, until they finally reached close to the base Luka had mentioned. After hiding the truck in an abandoned looking garage, they set on foot across a snowy field, as they walked on a line in each other's footprints to look as though only one person came through to a factory.
"So how long have you owned this factory, Luka?" Andie asked him from behind.
"Um, for almost a year now. My uncle wanted me to start a business from scratch so he gave me this abandoned factory. I converted it to a base and shooting range for myself though," Luka replied.
"Why is it abandoned? Do you know?" Ethan asked.
"A malfunction in a mechanism resulted in ten injuries and one technical death... but the person was brought back in time... with no foot," Luka replied, noticing the other's surprise as he looked behind since they were all following him.
"Your uncle is quite generous to give this to you like that. What does he do?" Lily asked.
"Heh, generous... I suppose he is. He wanted me to take over his metal business by starting my own here, but I didnt want to considering it would be under contract with our enemy. Though I guess... my uncle is my enemy now, technically..." Luka turned away to hide his discontent, though a sliver of it was evident in his voice.
"What is the contract for?" Ethan asked.
"To create the metal endoskeletons for the animatronics. That was his deal with the organization we're after. Though he has other metal workings that he does, the fact that it's a contract prevents him from leaving it. Apparently he signed that contract a while ago when they were shifting dealers, but didnt realize what the company did until the first meeting they had with the other owner. I know the owner has changed, but... it's unsure what they want considering some associates like Fazbear Entertainment for example, are still doing their own thing..." Luka replied as they reached the front door while he unlocked it.
"Well if they are, either they don't care about what they are doing, or are fine with it," Ethan figured as Luka concluded,
"... It seems more like they are focused on something else. But that something must be pretty important to distract them like that."
"Do you happen to know who they are?" Mike asked.
"I'm not one hundred percent sure because I tried staying away from the business. But I think... Angela would know," Luka replied as they entered the factory.
They were able to take refuge in the second floor since it had more rooms for office meetings and specific areas of study. Though sleeping on desks and tables would be uncomfortable, they were able to use the bundles of blankets Luka had stored there and mats to make it work. The animatronics roamed the factory and found movable vents, as Luka showed them around and had their help in fixing some areas for lighting and functionality. After the first two nights there, the abandoned factory was truly a base and refuge for the team. They were also able to use the shooting range, though Lily wasn't allowed until her eye healed under Sarah's considerate care. Luka then took it upon himself to begin training everyone in combat, arms, and defense. Lily was eager to at least watch and listen, so a seat was arranged for her by Freddy and the other animatronics while they watched over her as Sarah trained too.
"You guys learn pretty fast. Good job," Luka said as they just finished shooting practice.
"Oh wow I got right on the marks!" Mike exclaimed as he examined his paper target.
"It's getting easier to manage each weapon. I'm impressed by how well informed you are about all of this, Luka," Sarah said.
"I'm sure it's because his uncle wanted him to be part of the business, so he must have got training for him," Ethan wondered, and Luka confirmed it with a nod.
"Alright, let's go to the court room and start building those muscles up. Sarah you need to reach 100 squats. Mike you need to reach 150 pushups, and Ethan you need to reach 300 situps," Luka said, as Mike and Sarah sighed while Ethan was bewildered.
"Why 300?! I thought I was doing 200 since I did 100 yesterday?!" Ethan asked.
"Well, I figured you should do extra for you, Lily, and for a challenge. You're technically second in command to Lily and her guardian, so I'm sure you'd like to be the strongest you can, right?" Luka asked.
"... Ill do 400 to protect my sister," Ethan said with high confidence.
"Woah woah! Calm down there!" Luka laughed as the others did as well.
The four headed towards the court room, which was an indoor courtyard, while Lily stood behind to clean up since she wanted to at least do something so they let her put the equipment away. Although the animatronics volunteered to help, she wanted to do it herself, as Freddy and Chica supervised.
"They're making some good progress! I kind of wish I could do the same too! Wonder if I could hit a target..." Chica pondered.
"Well considering the size of our hands, we can't really test that anyway," Freddy said, pointing to his hand.
"Ugh! We have such sausage fingers! It's annoying," Chica said with her arms crossed.
"I could possibly shrink them a bit, or reconfigure them," Lily said as she cleaned off the guns.
"Oh no, don't be getting ideas and try to use that as a reason to work. You only have one more week out of the three weeks to rest and take off that patch. Let's wait until then," Chica said, as Lily sighed, and lightly touched the green eyepatch she wore now.
"At least you won't have to wear that anymore. You'll be free to train with the others for the last week of this month," Freddy said.
"Yeah! Though they are ahead now, I'm sure you'll be able to catch up before Angela gets here! You were already pretty strong," Chica assured as Lily smiled with a nod.
After cleaning up, Lily wanted to rest in her room a little more, so the two walked her up to her room. Freddy volunteered to stand outside her door to make sure she was okay and give her privacy, while Chica went along to watched the others exercise and report if Freddy sends her a signal from a new upgraded communication system installed in them from Lily and Luka.
"Rest as much as you need, Lily. I'll be here" Freddy said, and Lily nodded.
"I really appreciate your help, Freddy. It means a lot to me," Lily smiled.
"Anytime you need support, I'll be there for you. Go on," Freddy said with a nod.
Lily entered her room and closed the door as Freddy stood guard in front of it. He closed his eyes to listen if anyone else was coming by, as he could hear Lily jabbing at the punching bag she found in a closet in her room.
I will have the next one soon! I am going to finish this!