Mable: Wow, chapter twenty already! My goodness, it doesn't feel like I've written that many chapters yet. XD So, like last time, this chapter was a little later so I could direct some attention to my upcoming 9 fic. I'm doing it now so that, later on, I'll be able to balance both stories equally. For now, here's the new chapter! I hope you enjoy!
Can't Go Home Again
Chapter Twenty
Marionette roused slowly and stretched into the bed beneath him. He couldn't remember falling asleep, but he knew it had to be more natural than the music box. He would've remembered the chiming and all he could hear was the low volume of the television. He glanced over towards it without much care before turning over to look at Mike. Except Mike was not there. Alarm bells rung in his head as he quickly sobered into a full sense of alertness. Mike wasn't on the bed, wasn't on either bed, wasn't in the room, and neither were his keys.
For a second the puppet was in a frenzy of panic, unable to believe that he had been tricked so easily, but then calmed down. He knew where Mike had gone so it wasn't any sort of mystery. He had been there himself, so he could eagerly teleport back over and find the man himself. Annoyed but undeterred, he quickly followed after him.
He swore he was going to kill Mike… If Chipper didn't do it first.
Glenn apparently relied on the security locks more than Mike had expected, because he was easily able to find an unlocked window that led straight into the office around back. He slid in easily and shined his flashlight around, not wanting to turn on the lights and risk alerting anything. It had taken longer for expected to get Marionette to sleep, but it had worked. Mike wasn't sure why it worked, but it had given him a chance to leave without having to bring him along and risk more.
This left the security guard only about fifteen minutes to check around before he would be locked in. He stepped out into the hall, closing the office door behind him and beginning to search the establishment. It was basically the same as it was during the day, everything in the same place, just the lights had been turned off. His first stop was the storage room where the animatronics were left. Peering inside he could see them all standing around idly. He nudged Chipper with his flashlight and received no give or response. Satisfied, he went to check the stage.
The curtains were drawn, but both the stage and the seating area were without change. By this point, Mike was starting to wonder if he made the wrong call. He checked his wristwatch and continued through the rest of the theater. By time he passed through the lobby he was convinced that there was nothing here. "If they're going to move then they'd start moving by now," Mike murmured to himself, leaning over the front desk and looking around inside. Again there was nothing, except a few stacked papers and some office tools sitting around.
Basically, Mike hadn't found anything. It was almost Midnight by now and he was discouraged, so he headed back towards the office to let himself out. He could probably make it back to the hotel in time to get a full night's sleep and still leave relatively early. Everything was uneventful until he got to the office and tried the door. He had shut it behind him, so he didn't expect when he turned the doorknob that he would just walk right into it. He fidgeted with it further, trying to see if the door was just stuck, but it seemed more likely that the office somehow locked.
"You've got to be kidding me." Mike tried to ram his shoulder into it in a halfhearted attempt to break the door open. Not only did it not work, but it only made him more aware of his current situation. He checked his watch to see that it was five minutes before Midnight. "I still have time to get out before the lockdown," Mike reminded himself as he turned and headed back towards the front room. As he crossed to the seating room, his foot struck something and knocked it onto the floor. He looked down with furrowed brows.
There was the termite animatronic, now laying on its back on the floor. Mike felt a cold feeling spread into his throat as he saw it laying there. "I didn't even hear it moving. It had to have moved on its own," Mike mentally thought, followed by a fit of mental swearing. His lips were tightly closed as to not let a single noise out to alert anything. "It can't just be this one. The others are probably starting to come out." Yet the termite animatronic was no longer moving so he desperately tried to block out the doubt and instead passed him.
The curtains started to open as he passed by, but he ignored it and instead approached the front lobby again. Not only would the doors not open, but there didn't seem to be a way to unlock them. By now he was starting to realize that something had went terribly wrong. He looked to his wristwatch as it turned Midnight. "What if my watch is wrong? What if it's been Midnight since I got here?!" There was a growing panic as he turned back towards the show room, taking a few steps towards it before suddenly seeing the glow of lights on the stage.
He wasn't sure how they were turned on, but he found quickly that he wasn't exactly curious enough to go looking. In fact, he stepped right back into the lobby, determined to continue searching for a way out. "Maybe there's a key or a remote somewhere. There's no way that these locks are unable to be opened until morning." Mike climbed over the front desk and began to search behind it more in depth under the counter. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nothing of interest hiding there, and by time he stood he realized that he wasn't alone.
There was a figure looming in the doorway. He couldn't see it well, but it looked tall enough to be Chipper. Mike dropped back behind the counter and turned back towards the door. It only made sense to sneak out through the other door. Though this plan was shot the second he realized that he wasn't alone. The door was cracked open and standing there was the seagull, watching him but saying nothing, its wing still stuck in the upwards position. He stayed still and hoped that the alleged 'play dead' method would work with it.
It almost worked, but was interrupted by a sudden hand reaching down over the edge of the counter and grabbing onto Mike's upper arm. He only had a second to process before he was suddenly yanked upwards and dragged over the counter. The second Mike's head was dragged over the counter he came face to face with the endlessly smiling face of Chipper. His blue eyes widened in terror before the rest of his body started to get pulled over. Somehow Mike managed to twist himself over and tugged himself to the side.
Chipper staggered slightly and released the human who fell face first onto the tiled floor. Mike scrambled to his feet and dashed to the doorway, sliding through and hiding in the alcove between rooms. His pulse was racing, his adrenaline was starting to raise, and he waited at the doorway to listen for Chipper. Yet Chipper didn't follow him. In fact, when he looked around the corner, the animatronic didn't even seem to know where Mike went. It baffled the human as he watched it circle the room once and then look behind the counter again.
"I just went by him; how can he not remember what direction I went in?!" Mike asked himself, dumbstruck. "…Then again, after that show earlier, I could believe that these things couldn't remember something as simple as that." A small smirk of amusement started to stretch on his lips as his body relaxed. They were awake, they were alert, they were hunting him, but they already were barely a threat. He had taken on Freddy's gang; Chipper and his group of short animatronics couldn't stand a chance.
He knew that the office was his best bet. If he could try again to knock in the door, he could slip out the window and be basically safe. Then is Glenn said anything- "That son of a- he was going to send me home with one of these things when he knows they do this! I can't believe I walked right into this…" Mike was circulating through emotions as he started to cross through the seats in the audience, not daring to get close to the stage and simply wanting to get to the back hallway as quickly as possible.
That was, until something suddenly hopped up a few rows of chairs down. It briefly jumped into the air before disappearing back into the seats again. Mike halted in his tracks and stared attentively, watching as further ahead a second, small figure jumped above the seats before disappearing again. While he couldn't get a good look, he had a feeling that it was the two depressing looking frogs from the show that were popping in and out. Mike was less than impressed, but tried to quicken his pace before the got any closer.
He made it to the hallway and approached the office door again to try and break it open. Just when he started hitting it hard enough that he suspected it was going to give, a light shined upon him from across the hall. In a sudden moment of flawed judgement, Mike believed that the light was actually some sort of flashlight. He stumbled back, "It's just me, I got-." His voice cut off at what he saw instead. The light was illuminating from the eyes of an animatronic down the hallway, and this time it wasn't a small, unthreatening one.
The Lumber Bot stood in the middle of the passage and stared him down. Mike found his eyes dropping down to the axe in its hand and he wondered if it was a prop or a real one. His answer came in a cold moment of realization when he noticed how much light it reflected. It was definitely metal. Now Mike was actually panicked and he turned to hurry down the hall. There were three more doors there; a closet and two bathrooms. "Maybe he's like Chipper. Maybe he won't be able to tell which one I went in."
The bathroom was the first choice, but seeing that the closet was closer, and that there was a higher possibility the Lumber Bot would walk by, he hurried in and closed the door quickly. He could only hope that this animatronic had the same memory trouble as he stood in the cramped place. And if he didn't… There was a dirty mop setting to the side that would barely make for a weapon. Mike stood to the side and listened to the heavy footsteps thumping down the hallway. Every second seemed to pass slower and slower as he stood there.
Then the Lumber Bot entered the first bathroom beside the closet. Once Mike was convinced that it was far enough inside, he threw open the door and took off down the hall, heading out into the showroom again. He got only a few feet before something suddenly flew into him. It was one of the Frogs and he easily threw it aside, trying to hurry away. Then the second one hopped at him and he only barely managed to dodge. "Get the hell away from me!" he called out reflexively, knowing they wouldn't obey. All it succeeded in doing was luring in Chipper from the lobby.
"Damn it," Mike swore under his breath, scanning the room for another way out. The Seagull animatronic was already wheeling its way down between the seats while Chipper was making it over. The termite had returned too and made its way towards him. Without a second to think about it, he climbed onto the stage and backed against the curtains, watching as they all started to crowd around. "If I can get away then I'll lose them all at once. I can lock them out of the lobby. I can-." He stepped back through the curtains and his back hit a hard, flat surface.
"…Are you kidding me?" Apparently even the whales, cutouts on wheels, were here to trap him. Though as soon as he realized Tyke was still missing he suspected he had something to do with it. The cutouts moved along with him as he tried to walk around them and, unlike how flimsy he thought they were, one push on the whale showed how sturdy it was. There was no breaking his way through. Instead, he looked forward to see if there was an opening to jump down off of the stage and get away. The animatronics were crowding in around his feet.
Then a split second decision hit him to leap into the chairs. From the distance, he knew he could land on the front row. The plan was to land on them, climb over the chairs towards the back of the room, and then find a proper place to hide. The closet seemed good enough, and this left him close enough to the office that he could try breaking in. It all made so much sense before he actually jumped and landed on the row of seats. Mike had been to multiple theaters in his life, but never had he been to one where the row of seats had not actually been bolted down.
The entire row fell back with his weight and he fell onto the chairs behind it. He struggled to scramble to his feet, climbing down the row of the chairs. It was a shame that the seagull was so quick on its feet, or possible wheels, as it was suddenly ramming into him, shifting its stiff wing. "Oh, when you're looking out to be living out on the sea, you got to get a boat!" it began to sing and Mike shoved it back. It continued trying to crowd into his legs as the Termite also appeared as his leg, poking its sharp arms into his calves.
Right at that moment, as he kicked the Termite animatronic across the aisle, a familiar hand was on his arm. It was Chipper who started trying to drag him back. Mike kicked at its legs, watching it stumble but noticing that its grip was much tighter than it had been before. It wasn't going to let him go. He tried to pry himself away, to drag himself back away, but he was yanked forward. The others moved in, along with Tyke who climbed down from the stage and grabbed ahold of his leg, helping Chipper drag him towards the stage.
"I didn't see any empty suits in the back. Maybe they just think I'm a roaming animatronic and are moving me back to the storage room," he tried to believe, only able to hear the seagull singing from behind. For a moment he really did think that he was in less danger than he really was… Until he realized where the animatronics were taking him. Not to the stage, but to the Lumber Bot, who now had its axe raised. Even with its big, stupid smile on its face, the Lumber Bot was more threatening than any of the others holding him.
Chipper held him firmly in front of the Lumber Bot, the same empty look on its face, and the Bot started to raise its axe. Mike struggled, now being weighed down by the multiple hands of the weakest animatronics he had ever seen. Yet they hadn't needed strength or intelligence to do this. As though it couldn't get any worse, Tyke started singing and Chipper almost did, but his voice fizzled out halfway through. He started to loosen his grip, head slumping as his overworked body suddenly gave out. Mike almost thought this was his lucky break, but he couldn't get out of the grasp.
The axe was raised high, position directly at Mike's head, and the Lumber Bot prepared to swing. "No, wait, stop!" Mike blurted out. "Stop, no-!" As though he could rationalize with the animatronic, trying to twist to the side. It was in this moment that he noticed another noise past the sound of Tyke singing. The distant sounds of 'Pop Goes the Weasel' entering the showroom. "I'm here! This thing's about to chop my head off!" he called out desperately as the Lumber Bot twitched. It was by sheer luck that its arm had gotten stuck in this position.
It didn't even have a chance to swing. A blur of black flew at the Lumber Bot, sudden enough for the animatronic beaver to be knocked back onto the floor. With the axe suddenly removed as a threat, Mike managed to regain his bearings. He braced himself and shoved back, trying to somehow knock Chipper back. This animatronic beaver also teetered and hit the floor, Mike falling with it and struggling to pry off its hands. The many smaller animatronics were swarming like ants around him, trying and failing to do anything compared to what Chipper or Lumber Bot could achieve.
Then there was a sudden 'shove'. Mike felt it along his spine and shivered in response while the small animatronics, save Tyke, were suddenly flung to the side. Tyke was still trying to grab at Mike who, now that he was free of the swarm, managed to tug his arm out of his grasp. Looking back, he could see that his suspicion was confirmed, as it was Marionette standing before him. Lumber Bot was shifting on the ground; newer model or not, he was struggling to stand. Mike took this to his advantage, "Let's get out of here before that thing figures out basic movement!"
He sprinted past the puppet and into the hall again, not stopping until he reached the office door. It only became apparent to him now that he wasn't being chased. The closest thing had been Marionette following him. "…They're not coming, are they?" Marionette didn't answer, but he knew it was true. He literally knocked the animatronics over and they had become completely helpless, and this was after they could secure Mike and threaten him with an axe. "Before you start thinking that I got my ass handed to me by a bunch of robots…Eh, forget it."
He turned to the door and started to fiddle with the handle as he tried to think of how to break in. "Hey, do you think you could…?" He looked to Marionette and stopped at the sight of him, slight glaring with his same smile and his arms crossed. "So are you angry about what happened at the hotel or just mildly amused? Either way, it's a good effort," Mike remarked, a playful smugness in his tone. Marionette raised a hand, pausing for dramatic effect, and waved it past his face. His expression was replaced with one of clear annoyance and lack of amusement. "Better?"
"Almost. I think I'd have a better time being inside this office and on our way out of here," Mike stepped back from the door. "I'm just going to get the axe. It didn't look like it was attached to the hand and, even if it was, I think I'd prefer it being as far away from it as possible." Before he could even go, Marionette raised a hand dismissively, "That's not necessary. I can handle the door." Mike could tell how peeved Marionette was as he watched him work. The puppet touched the wood of the door, feeling its thickness, then tried the door knob.
"I can unlock it from here," Marionette murmured as he attempted to focus on the lock on the other side, which he naturally couldn't see. Meanwhile, Mike suddenly noticed the sound of footsteps. "One of them's coming… You keep working on the door. I'll handle this." He reached into the closet and grabbed the mop, started down the hall, saw the coming animatronic, stopped, and then returned. "False alarm; it's just that seagull again. If I hit him he'll probably just start singing again." Mike perked at the sound of a click and the office door opening.
Marionette slipped inside and shut the door behind Mike when he entered. Back in the office, with the open window, Mike could feel nothing but instant relief. Suddenly he was in some form of safety again. As for the door, the lock on it was a simple turn lock and didn't even have a keyhole. Mike couldn't fathom how it locked unless shutting the door behind him had triggered it somehow. He glanced over the desk, most likely Glenn's desk, and exhaled, "For a place that's squeaky clean, there's a few too many murderous beavers running around."
At least it got a chime out of Marionette, but Mike knew he tried to suppress it. He turned to him, "But in all seriousness, thank you for coming in when you did. I don't know how they got on top of me when they could barely walk straight, but they were out for blood." The animatronic shifted a bit and eased a small amount. "I could've just come with you in the beginning. Always so determined to go in alone. Could you at least start carrying a weapon?" He brushed by in an almost dismissive fashion and approached the desk in interest.
"You're the closest thing I have to a weapon," Mike pointed out. "I really didn't think I was going to see anything. It just seemed safer if I came in, poked around, and left before the place locked down." Suddenly he was actually feeling rather embarrassed at the whole thing. "I can't believe they almost got me. How did they almost get me?" Marionette made a sighing noise, "They didn't almost get you, Mike. It was the axe; if it wouldn't have been looming there then you would've gotten out by yourself. I know you would've… But that's why I'm here."
His voice returned to its normal tenderness and he began to smile again. "If anyone should be ashamed, it's me. Watching that show earlier, watching them move, it's hard to believe that I am made of the same things that they are. I suppose sometimes I forget that not all animatronics are made differently… And even I have a few weak points of my own. Including an on off switch." So that was it. Marionette was upset because Mike managed to partially trick him; unlike most of the time when he was upset, Mike understood it completely.
"I don't know your weak spots because you're an animatronic. I know them because we are constantly within two feet of each other. Big difference," Mike remarked with a small smile. "That fiasco earlier, and the animatronics, they don't make me think less of you. If anything, they make you stand out better." He then looked down at the cleaned desk, wondering if there was even a point in looking around for any sort of evidence. "So there were deaths here too… Does that mean the Purple Man was working here too? Why did they keep giving this guy work?"
"And to think I was struggling to find a job. Guess all I have to do is start killing kids and I'm set for life," Mike bitterly lamented. It was weird to still feel bitter even though he knew the man was dead, but he couldn't help it. He literally got away with murder repeatedly, and the murder of children no less. Just thinking about it made him want to grab a weapon, as Marionette suggested, and go visit Golden Bonnie's moldy body. Though these thoughts were abruptly cut off when the puppet pointed out something.
"If there were deaths here, then they must have already moved on. From what I'm seeing now, there aren't any lost souls lingering here," Marionette pointed out. "It hasn't changed from earlier. Violent or not, those metal husks are empty as can be." Mike's head shot upwards and he looked surprised. He thought for sure after they started moving and attacking that they were haunted. In a way, this made him being caught even more discouraging. "Are you sure?" Marionette nodded. "Okay… Then that means that, I don't know, maybe this is a programming thing."
The more Mike thought about it, the more this made sense. "That's why they're so oblivious. They're just following a poorly set list of instructions… But the question is who gave them that directions. If it was Glenn or some other technician." He straightened once again. "And that's what I intend to find out tomorrow morning. Forget us taking an animatronic; Glenn's got a lot to answer for." Marionette got a playful tone in his voice, "It's a shame that I'm going to have to miss it." He watched as the human headed towards the window.
Though once at the window, Mike came to a halt, hesitated, and then exhaled in defeat. "Alright, I'm sorry about the trick. I owe you." He almost instantly regretted the final three words when the other chimed in delight. "Oh really? Mr. Schmidt, I gladly accept your generous offer! Now just to figure out exactly what it is you will owe me." While Marionette's voice took a teasing tone, Mike had no doubt that he was absolutely serious, and that he wouldn't be forgetting whatever this so called 'favor' was. That was the least of his problems.
At least, unlike all the other people who had covered their shady business practices, Glenn was alive. This meant there was nothing stopping Mike from demanding answers.
Jeremy had a feeling that he made a horrible decision agreeing to go along with the 'game'. It just seemed like it was a bad idea, a cover for something worse, but he went along with it. Mostly because he and Foxy would be working together in the near future. He would rather pacify him now than possibly suffer from low morale later. Considering that he had seen what Foxy went through at the warehouse, sympathy was also in play. Though that sympathy was running out as fast as the cycle of the 'game' continued to haunt him.
The rules were simple. The lights were turned off, Foxy hid, Jeremy got his flashlight out, and then he would look for Foxy. There was a catch, there always was a catch, that involved the game not ending until Jeremy caught Foxy and then ran to the front door. If he got to the front door without getting caught, then the game would be over and Jeremy could leave to go home. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done, as Foxy was quite fast and quite determined. This meant that the game was simply not reaching an end.
This wasn't the first time Jeremy had gotten led into doing something he didn't want to. He had a bad habit of going along with things, but now it was a much less sane situation. This wasn't another human, one of his peers or coworkers, it was a haunted machine who had hunted him at one point. It was still dangerous. His hand was shaking as he opened the door to the back bedroom and shined a light inside. At first he couldn't tell if the animatronic was there, but there was both a closet and the bed to check. Both of which had been hiding spots in other rooms.
Jeremy cautiously approached the bed and knelt down to shine his light underneath. There was too much stuff shoved under the bed for anyone to fit. Between the boxes and old toys, it wasn't possible that he could be hiding underneath. That meant he was either in the closet or not in the room at all. He started towards the closet, trying to brace himself if he had to break into a run in the near future. He took another step and the floorboards creaked underneath him. Alerted by it, the closet flew open and Foxy burst out with a cry.
This had happened numerous times now and yet it still caused him to flinch back. He forced himself out of it quickly and turned to take off down the hall, hoping to make it to the door this time. He was halfway down the hall when Foxy's heavy footsteps were suddenly behind him. Before he could even make it into the living room, Foxy caught his collar with his hook, tearing his shirt unintentionally in the process. Jeremy choked on the fabric around his neck while Foxy released a recording of laughter. "Sorry, Lad! Better luck next time!"
He had already said this multiple times as it was. Even though the tone didn't sound patronizing, Jeremy could just feel it was somehow. Foxy released him and nudged him towards the kitchen so he could wait. As before, Jeremy stiffly entered and waited against the counter, his nerves shot and his eyes tired. Part of him knew that he could just leave and yet he didn't have the willpower to do so. He was stuck with Foxy until he beat his game and willingly let him walk out without strings attached.
Part of him suspected that this was all just an excuse for Foxy to scare him over and over. He wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't too far from the truth.
Mable: I did struggle a little with this chapter, but the next one is going to be quite a bit easier, so I'm less concerned about how long it's going to take than I was with this one. It should be finished a lot sooner. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I will post the next chapter when it's finished!