Mable: Alright, so here we go! I won't delay this, because it's pretty late at night. I hope you Enjoy!
Can't Go Home Again
Chapter Seventy-Two
"I'm going with you."
Mike was midway through yanking on his shoes when the Puppet spoke up. He looked up at the animatronic and was met with a look of strict determination. He was going to stand his ground no matter what response. "There's no use trying to dissuade me. I won't let you go alone." Apparently, he didn't realize that Mike no intention in arguing.
"Great," Mike responded as he circled the living room, grabbing his things. "It saves me having to ask you." There was no way that he was intending on going without Marionette, not with Jeremy's life at risk. "Grab your music box and your walk man, then we're out of here," Mike pointed out as he shoved his cell phone into his pocket. "My tazer's still in the car. Believe me, we'll need it."
"I agree, but what do we need the rest for?" Marionette asked in confusion. "I would prefer not to sleep in the car when I need to be sharp."
"Jennifer- Phone Girl, sort of- said that the animatronics act weird with music. The walk man's for your sake; the second I get in the car, I'm blasting rock until we get there." Apparently, this convinced Marionette as he left to do so. He didn't even ask about the details. Though Mike assumed it was a coincidence; a familiar program built into other animatronics. The last thing he needed was Marionette worrying about there being some sort of connection when there wasn't. Mike got into the car and Marionette appeared in the back a few moments later.
"So, let me give you a rundown of what we're going to see before we get there. Or before the uncomfortably long car ride," Mike suggested as he started to pull out of the driveway. Marionette leaned in, folding his arms on the console between the seats, less afraid of being spotted this late at night. "Hickory and Dickory are blind, but if they hear or feel you then Doc will barrel off the stage and come looking. He might be blind, but I can't really tell. There's Bo Peep; she used to follow this little sheep around, but now she just pops up wherever and shrieks all the time."
"She sounds fun," Marionette remarked. It certainly sounded like Freddy and the others' behavior patterns. They all had them and they were all either connected to personality, to their animatronic bodies and programming, or were just whatever seemed to work at the moment. Naturally, he couldn't predict the animatronics without seeing them.
"And you're never going to believe this; there's actually a weasel. I am not kidding," Mike sent Marionette an amused smile. He needed something to ease the tenseness. "I hope you're ready for a chase."
"Mike, I'll have you know that as long as you're being hunted," Marionette began, lowering his voice, "I will always be ready for a chase." He then looked out the window, "I'm a bit high strung tonight."
"That's underplaying it. Probably a pun too, but I'll give it to you," Mike agreed. He glanced over and watched as the Puppet intertwined his strings between his fingers. As though trying to make a design when he was obviously just venting silent frustrations. "You are high strung, aren't you?"
"It's not every night that I get a chance to," Marionette pulled his strings taunt, "pop a sheep."
"Don't you mean weasel?" Mike offered as he glanced back at the road. He already knew the answer.
"No, I don't," the Puppet assured. For a few seconds, the car was silent except for the soft sound of tugging strings. It wasn't until they pulled onto the largely quiet highway that Mike spoke again.
"We've got a long drive ahead of us, so you're going to want to save that energy until we get there," Mike suggested and gestured to the passenger seat. "Nobody's going to see you if you want to risk it." Without a word, Marionette slipped into the passenger seat, bringing the Walkman with him and fiddling with it. His motions showed his concern; his hands twitched and the occasional broken chime slipped out whenever he couldn't suppress it. They weren't talking about Jeremy, but they were both terrified for him.
Seemingly giving in to his lack of anything to do, Marionette finally slid on the headphones and faded into whatever music he could. Mike looked over a few times and once reached over to rest his hand on his leg, where it lingered up until the sound of music interrupted their drive. Not just any music either, but the sound of the 'Toreador March' ringing from his phone.
Mike sucked in a weary exhale as he answered, half-expecting to hear a panicked Jeremy on the line. "Hello?"
"Oh my goodness, Matt, I'm so sorry!" To Mike surprise, it was none other than Jennifer feverishly apologizing on the line. "I only just got out- I'm sorry I'm late, but I found something. You're going to want to know this." She was almost frantic as she held back her explanation. It all piqued the security guard's interest and he glanced over at the Puppet. He seemed to not be paying attention, with his eyes closed and his body relaxed into the hum of the music.
"No problem. What did you find?" Mike asked back, quick to the point.
"Something, I think, but first I need to know now what you know about Freddy's. Your history, your knowledge, I need to know what you know and then I'll tell you what I know." This seemed fair enough, but he was reluctant.
"You can't tell anyone else," Mike forewarned.
"That's fine. I'm going to lose my job if they find out that I've been looking in the office's files," Jennifer pointed out. "Trust me, I don't want them knowing I know what's going on."
"Alright, well, first off my name's not Matt," Mike pointed out. "…But I'm going to keep going by Matt so that we don't get stuck in a bad situation. As far as you know, I am Matt whatever my last name was." Jennifer gave a confused agreement. "I worked at Freddy's as a night guard, so I can confirm that all the rumors about the animatronics wandering at night are true. They do the same thing that these do." He paused for emphasis. "And our good friend Mr. Afton is involved with Freddy's. You know him as the man behind Afton Robotics."
"I know," Jennifer agreed. She exhaled shakily, "He supplied the Funcade with the new animatronics to get it off the ground… But they weren't new animatronics." Mike furrowed his brows, but let her continue. "They've been recycled. Chance thinks that they came out of one of Freddy's, and he can never know that I know he thinks that. That's why the animatronics act strange; they took Freddy's leftovers, dolled them up, and shipped them out as new animatronics. They've always been broken and nobody ever fixed them."
"Damn… Like that 'Concept Unification' thing? What do you know about that?" Mike continued to delve. "That's what you're describing, right?"
"Yeah. I've actually seen it done before," Jennifer assured. "Usually it happens when they're trying to change characters or masks. Bobby's outside has needed to be replaced over and over again, so maybe that counts. They just throw a new outside onto a reused inside, so nothing gets fixed. The glitches are still there."
If only she knew the truth about these 'glitches'. Yet Mike wouldn't let that slip. Instead, he considered what he was doing in bringing Marionette into the situation. If what Jennifer said was true, then it was possible that he knew the animatronics at the Funcade. Of course, this may be a good thing, if Marionette could then talk them down. Or it could be something extremely uncomfortable, leading to only more disturbance for the two. Considering that Marionette had lived in the pizzeria so long, he would probably know these animatronics. Perhaps he would even know about concept unification.
Then, suddenly, Mike had a growing suspicion. He couldn't prove it, he wouldn't voice it, but he had a growing concern that these puzzle pieces clicked together in a much more sinister way. He glanced over towards his companion hesitantly.
"Matt?"
"Yeah, I'm still here." Mike snapped out of his thoughts and back to attention. "Anything else?"
"…Watch out tonight. This is going to be a hard night and I don't want to wake up tomorrow and find out that you didn't make it," Jennifer murmured quietly. It was a silent confirmation of one thing; night guards had died at the arcade in the past. There was no denying that. Mike's hand tensed on the wheel.
"It's going to take more than a couple of ticked off nursery rhymes to kill a Schmidt. Believe me, I've got it covered." Almost right afterwards, his blue eyes widened and he clenched his teeth. "Shit, forget I said that."
"I was only half-listening anyway. I've got to go, but if you make it to morning… I'll call you, but I think this is it. I think I'm putting in my two weeks in the morning... So, you've got two lives on your hands now," Jennifer playfully suggested. However, Mike could only inwardly cringe.
"You have no idea…" The call ended shortly after that and Mike was driving once again. His focus returned to Jeremy, until Marionette interrupted the thoughts.
"Who was that?" the Puppet inquired. There wasn't any suspicion in his voice, but there was some concern, as though he expected Jeremy had called back like Mike had.
"Phone Girl giving me the fifth night call," Mike answer honestly. Then he looked confused, "You didn't listen in?"
"…No," Marionette answered back. "…I didn't feel the need to." Or more realistically, he was afraid to. He didn't want to hear the last words from Jeremy when he was still too far to save him. "What did she say?"
And it was here that Mike came to a crossroads. It would've been very easy to voice his suspicious, but they seemed so outlandish that he was hesitant to do so. Firstly, there was no evidence beyond a few coincidences that could be wrote off. Secondly, he didn't want to put Marionette through a forty-minute car ride with such a heavy thought lingering. Especially if walking into the arcade would disprove it.
"Just about some of the things that she found out about the arcade. It's connected to Afton's, might be connected to Freddy's, and the animatronics may or may not be reused from an old location. Basically, everything that we can say about Foxy's," Mike recited out as he reached out to flip through the radio stations.
"…That would be plausible," Marionette quietly agreed as he removed the headphones. "It would also explain the aggression. I… I don't need to tell you that animatronics get a bit less patient the longer that they go without proper care and comfort. That anger just becomes more intense, until it's a part of you."
"You say it like you know," Mike pointed out. "There's not an angry bone in your body. Metal or not." He struggled to lighten the mood even the smallest bit. Alas, he was overcompensating for something that he couldn't control, and the worrying knowledge looming over his head. His hunch was very possible and if that was the case then maybe he couldn't take Marionette inside, but again, he couldn't prove it.
"Oh, I get angry, just not at you," Marionette assured. He turned to face the human more, propping his arm on the console between the seats. "I could think of at least one person whom I'd have a hard time not springing upon on sight…" Unless, of course, that's not what happened when they entered the arcade. Mike abandoned the radio and reached to take Marionette's hand, squeezing it.
"Just try to stay close… Hey, uh, Mari?" Did he even dare ask this? "…You… Have you ever seen animatronics getting taken apart? I don't count Ennard, I mean… Do you know what they do when they get rid of an animatronic? Is it possible these were recycled?" He tested the words carefully, trying not to be suspicious.
"I always assumed that they disposed of them. Or, to be technically, recycled them for parts. Something that the Scooping Room could have actually been used for if it was legitimate," Marionette explained. He then paused and squeezed Mike's hand back. "…But… It could be possible. I couldn't imagine how they would do it, but it could be possible." The car fell into an uncomfortable silence and left Mike still uncertain. He didn't ask any more questions.
Eventually Marionette broke the silence. "I love you," the animatronic quietly assured.
Mike was no longer uncertain in what he was going to do, and so his suspicions went unvoiced.
Jeremy had tried to sit behind the prize counter as long as possible, but it was becoming obvious that he was in a dangerous area. While Foxy had went to check the back door, Jeremy was stranded in the prize corner, listening as other animatronics circled and cycled around the arcade. One made frequent stops inside the room with him. From the small glimpses he had seen of it, it looked to be styled like a human woman or a shepherd. It would return every few minutes and stand in the center of the room before leaving.
It was only a matter of time before it saw or heard him; Jeremy knew this. He also knew that if Foxy started fighting with the door and making noise that they would all be drawn back here. There was certainly more than one too, if the multiple plush toy characters and numerous footsteps were any hint. Eventually, he knew that he had to hide better.
Jeremy waited until Bo Peep left the prize corner before creeping to the door and peering out. Down the main hall he could see that three mice animatronics were looming in front of the stage, staring off at something to the left, but seemingly distracted. He swallowed down what little saliva he had in his drying mouth and took a warning step out. Where would he go? There had to be bathrooms around here and so that seemed like the most logical option. At least, until Mike came and figured out a way to get the doors unlocked.
He shuffled off towards the right hall and crept down between the wall and the aisles of arcade games. Some of them were alit, glowing with colors and menu screens, but Jeremy showed little interest as he made it to the end of the hall. He peered around the corner and felt his heart nearly stop. Of course, it didn't; it was pounding too heavily to even think that it had stopped.
It looked like there was some sort of small office on the other side of the arcade. Though it was hard to tell from all the animatronics lingering outside the front of it and staring in expectantly. As though they believed someone was there and they just couldn't see them. He held his breath as he tentatively stepped out a small bit. He then shirked back as Bo Peep stepped out of the hall beside the office and started down towards the front again.
"There's so many of them…" Jeremy jumped at the sound of banging from the back of the arcade. Two of the mice animatronics blocking the office seemed to suddenly become interested in the noise and headed down the halls beside the office, splitting up to corner the source of the noise. The frantic banging sounded like it was Foxy at whatever other door there was.
"I'm a sitting duck! They could just- they could see me at any moment and I just- What was that?" Jeremy turned his head towards the front and could hear something banging around. "Is that the woman in the prize corner?!" The 'woman', or Bo Peep, was banging through something up towards the front door. Maybe she somehow found out that he had been in there and was now tearing the place apart. Paranoia set in and Jeremy looked around frantically for a hiding place.
It was then that the most obvious answer came to mind. It was both silly and genius, and Jeremy found his idea to hide in the bathroom completely dropped in favor of the plastic tubing passing above his head. His eyes fixed on the play tunnels as a sanctuary and then latched onto the steps and opening into the tunnels. Though getting to it meant crossing the room in plain sight. He couldn't see around the machines into the entryway nearby, meaning that it was a blind spot.
But standing in the hall was going to get him killed. These animatronics were alert and ready; once they knew he was here, they would be ready to shred him to pieces. He could already imagine their sharp teeth and was driven out of the hall. Jeremy kept his eyes on Doc's back as he quietly pattered across the floor to the steps. He was almost at the tunnels, just about to step onto the stairs, when Doc suddenly cocked his head. The human choked and scrambled up the steps.
Just as Jeremy was forcing himself into the tunnels, he heard a warning bellow from the animatronic. He scrambled inside, ignoring how much noise he was making and climbing deeper into the tubes. Once he was around a sort of corner he went still and listened. The animatronic mouse thundered to the stairs and stopped at the entrance. He could hear it moving around in the opening to the tunnels; probably looking around and trying to see if he was there. He could only pray that Doc couldn't get inside. He covered his mouth, trying to slow his breathing, and waited.
Banging echoed across the arcade again. Suddenly, Doc lost interest in the tunnels as his footsteps could be heard leaving. Jeremy pressed his face against a dotted vent on the side of the tunnel and watched as Doc leisurely stomped by. For a moment, he almost felt safe. That ended when another animatronic sprinted under the tunnels and off towards the office. This animatronic wasn't just fast, but it was a bit slenderer, and it looked almost weasel-like. There was no doubt that the weasel would be able to climb into the tunnels with him.
Fearful, Jeremy started to climb up into the tunnels. It was a cramped fit and the air felt hot and stagnant in the tunnel. His shoes squeaked obnoxiously on the plastic floor and it was by luck alone that neither of the animatronics detected this light noise. Jeremy continued to scoot along until the tunnels opened into a sort of grid shaped tunnel room. In short, there were plastic 'pillars' spread around inside, but they didn't seem to have much use, other than blocking vision other routes into the tunnels. Jeremy just pushed on ahead.
He climbed higher into the jungle gym. It was stiff and uncomfortable, but something made him feel safe. He could remember hiding in a plastic slide once when it was raining, trying desperately to stay longer and wait out the downpour; that memory was a comfort as he started to make it to the top. Jeremy climbed small plastic 'steps' on a slanted tunnel, approaching the highest room, and nearly felt relief. Maybe this would keep him safe until Mike arrived, like child Jeremy waiting out the rain.
Jeremy finally saw into the small room and froze on the spot. He wasn't alone.
The room was a wider tunnel with plastic windows lining the sides, so that someone could look out at the arcade. The floor was spongy and covered in stiff plastic. It would've been the perfect place to hide from the animatronics down below, and apparently Jeremy wasn't the only one who thought this.
Its body was bent and broken. Limbs weren't facing the right way and sections of endoskeleton could be seen under loose fabric. Its face was pointing towards the ceiling, or perhaps its plastic mask was, and it laid there silently as though deactivated. Jeremy didn't know what was worse; the fact that one of the animatronics did willingly climb in here or the fact that it reminded him so much of the Mangle.
"Maybe it's asleep…" Jeremy wanted to believe this. Even though sleep mode was a myth, he had seen the Minireenas all engage in a form of sleep. Just thinking of the Minireenas made him feel a wave of guilt; he wondered if they were worried about why he hadn't come home. Max probably wouldn't care, but little Daisy and Rose would certainly be worried. Even Forget-Me-Not would find it odd that he hadn't come home.
With an anxious swallow, Jeremy decided that the animatronic was most likely asleep and that he could just go back down to the lower tunnels and hide by the door. There he would be close to his escape but still safe from the threats outside. He began to slowly climb back into the tunnel again, wincing at the squeak of plastic, and backed down until he could no longer see it. He had gotten to the space at the bottom of the ladder and turned himself so that he could traverse forward again, then continued.
Then he reached the second portion of 'steps', located just about underneath the room where the mangled body was sitting. Backing down was safer, he knew this, but he didn't want to waste time in getting away from the animatronic, so he went down forward, awkwardly shuffling down. Another squeak, a soft thump, and then Jeremy was stopped at the bottom by what sounded remarkably like a groan; wheezy, mechanical, and located just above him. He went still and listened, hoping it would go still again.
Instead, the animatronic suddenly started to bang through the tunnels, quickly. He could hear it rush down the tunnels and knew it was coming for him. There was nowhere to hide in the tubes. As Jeremy crawled down through the colorful tubes, frantically pressing on and ignoring the banging he was making, he could hear it picking up speed behind him. The thumps, the scrapes, the guttural groans, the noise that sounded like a largely distorted 'baa'; it was coming after him and it was almost on his heels.
Jeremy dropped back into the larger lower room and scrambled to the entrance. He started to dip around the corner and came face to face with a gruesome sight. There, waiting at the entrance, was the weasel. It was crouched down and staring in with pinprick eyes, along with a face frozen in a twisted grin. The exit was blocked and as Jeremy watched, it started to climb inside after him.
The human turned and fumbled back into the room, where he could see the mangled sheep entering in on the other side. Its endo face followed him and it released another guttural groan as it quickened its crawling. All its limbs moved inappropriately, as though it had no joints at all, and he knew he couldn't outmaneuver it for long. Thinking on his feet, he tried to calculate another idea and eventually remembered the slide that he had seen earlier. This meant getting back into the higher tunnels and getting around the sheep.
As the sheep wormed its way through the pillars, Jeremy tried to make a mad crawl in a sort of look around it. It almost worked until the sheep grabbed his ankle, right as Jeremy made it back to the tunnel that would take him up. He looked back just in time to see the weasel climbing into the room, though much slower, and the sheep trying to lower its sharp teeth onto his ankle. He wasn't willing to get bit; Jeremy kicked out with his other foot hard enough that he could hear a tear and proceeded to watch as its mask hung down off the side of its head.
This did manage to stagger the sheep, whom groaned and twisted its head back into position. Jeremy just yanked his foot free when the weasel reached out for him and was barely able to climb higher into the tunnels. Now it was back to a scramble, frantically crawling towards the slide. His palms burned and he expected that he had bruised his knees at this rate, but he didn't slow even for a second. He threw himself down the slide and sluggishly descended on his belly. He came to a stop at the bottom and half dangled over the ball pit.
Alas, there was a ring of animatronics now standing around the ball pit, blocking off the continuation of escape. The three mice and Bo Peep stood on the edge of the ball pit and watched him flounder, but seemed reluctant to move in any closer. Jeremy didn't make any further movement. He was stuck in a moment of surprise that only lasted until a strong hand grabbed his ankle and tugged. With a choke, Jeremy grabbed onto the edge of the slide and tugged his leg back from the vice-like grip of the animatronic in the slide behind him.
Jeremy attempted to knock the grip off, but as much as he kicked back, the sheep didn't relent. The human desperately tried to hold on, knowing what would happen if he was dragged inside of the slide.
"Wait- stop! I'm not the night guard! I didn't- I didn't kill anyone!" Jeremy cried out, begging for mercy and hoping to convince them. "This is a mistake!" Maybe they would believe him and let him go, but he realized quickly that this wasn't going to work. "Please, I didn't do anything to hurt you! I'm not the murderer!"
Slowly, a head started to raise up beside the slide and Jeremy watched in horror as a slightly familiar face stared down at him. Wooden body or not, the puppet standing beside him was the spitting image of the Balloon Boy, and his still smile only made him more disturbed. For a second his cries were cut off as he stared at the animatronic now looking down at him. "BB…?"
Then the Balloon Boy animatronic raised its arm and brought down its fist onto Jeremy's fingers. The human hissed, but struggled to keep his grip, especially as the sheep gave another tug back. A second strike and Jeremy's right hand released. He scrambled to grab onto the corner of the slide's tunnel. The Balloon Boy knock off then proceeded to bring its fist down on Jeremy's other hand. Its striking and the sheep's tugging were almost simultaneous, and Jeremy was very aware that he couldn't hold on much longer.
"Foxy!" Jeremy cried out desperately. As though the animatronic could save him. "Foxy! Foxy, oh God!"
Outside, Foxy was back at the front doors and pacing when he suddenly heard the cries from inside. He scrambled over and pressed himself to the glass of the door. He couldn't see what was going on other than seeing the forms of a few animatronics down at the end of the hall. However, he could clearly hear Jeremy, and he twitched in growing agitation.
Jeremy second hand released and he was pulled further into the slide, just barely able to cling onto the higher edges. His fingers began to burn at the strain as he felt sharp, metal teeth dig into his calf. The sheep began to yank back, like a dog tearing at a piece of meat, and his hold started to give. "Foxy, I can't hold on!"
All of a sudden, a loud shattering noise broke out from the front of the arcade. It was loud enough that the Balloon Boy puppet snapped its head over in alarm and the animatronics seemed to all twist and turn their heads in confusion. This was then followed by the sound of rapid, banging footsteps, and a red blur dashing in. Foxy had gotten inside; Jeremy was both elated and terrified at the same time.
The animatronic fox barged through Bo Peep and Hickory, knocking the former into a stagger and the latter into the ball pit, and leapt forward at the small glimpse of Jeremy. Only seconds before Jeremy would've let go and he suddenly had Foxy's hook tearing into his collar and forcibly dragging him out of the slide. The human couldn't help but choke out a pained groan as the teeth dragged down his calf and no doubt left scratches in their wake. Though adrenaline quickly covered up the stinging.
Jeremy only fell into the ball pit for a second before he was yanked to his feet and shoved off to the side. "Run!" Foxy commanded without a hitch. Jeremy flailed to the edge and started to climb up, watching in dread as Dickory started towards him. The mouse didn't even have a chance as Foxy climbed up and swung his hook into the side of its head. There was a loud cracking, but Jeremy had looked away before he could see the full extent of the damage.
With them blocking the way to the front, there was only one option of immediate escape. He made a mad dash under the tunnels and through the doorway he saw earlier. Jeremy bounded into what looked like a dining room and looked around for any route of escape. Soon he was sprinting into the kitchen, but it was an immediate dead end. By time he came back, Foxy had made his way into the kitchen and was currently holding the doors shut behind him. The animatronic's ears perked and he looked upwards in time to see the human.
"Lad, get out of here!" Foxy commanded. "I can't hold the door fer too long!"
"There's no way out!" Jeremy choked back, obviously in a panic. "There's no other door or window or anything!" Indeed, the dining room and kitchen were both comprised of cement brick walls, and neither of which had windows. "What do we do?!"
"Go hide!" Foxy commanded as he pointed off randomly. "Before they get in! Go!"
With this sharp command, Jeremy turned and dashed off into the dining room. Unfortunately, this too was relatively fruitless. The only possibility to hide him was behind the stage curtains and this also seemed like the worst idea possible. No doubt whoever's stage this was would come right in and look for him behind the curtain. Yet it was the only option and looking back, Jeremy could see that Foxy was struggling with the door. He nearly lost his hold on it more than once, but was barely able to hold back, even as his feet slowly slid across the floor.
The next thing Jeremy knew, he was huddling behind an old, dusty curtain. He tried to feel over his calf and was slightly relieved when he realized that the scratches were rather minor. But that didn't change what was coming. To Jeremy's horror, he couldn't help but acknowledge that as soon as they found him, as soon as they swarmed Foxy, it was going to be over. He could remember the yellow eyes of the Mangle as it bit into his shoulder and could only imagine the yellow eyes of the sheep as it did the same. Perhaps this time it wouldn't miss his neck.
There was a loud bang followed by rapid footsteps, and suddenly another form dove behind the curtains with him. Jeremy was too frozen to scream as Foxy huddled down in a kneel beside him.
"Be quiet," Foxy whispered in a command. "They're coming in." The fox's ears twitched as he listened in to the footsteps out in the dining hall. It sounded like they were heading into the kitchen, but it was hard to hear over Jeremy's quickening breath. Foxy only started to notice how loud Jeremy was being when he was fully hyperventilating.
"Lad, yer gonna have to quiet down. They're gonna hear you," Foxy murmured out in warning. Jeremy looked up at him with widened, glassy eyes, still unable to slow his breathing any. It was obvious that he wasn't alright and at this rate he was only going to continue downhill. The fox reached out and grabbed his arms to shake him out of his trance. "Come on, Jere. They're just bots. It's just one night!" He hoped that the other's security guard training would kick back in.
Unfortunately, this couldn't be further from the case.
Jeremy dropped his head forward and gave a light choke. It was almost a sob, but Jeremy snapped to attention enough that he desperately covered his mouth, hoping to suppress the noises. His entire body was trembling and shaking as his mind continue to go back to the teeth. These teeth were sharper, there were more teeth and more mouths this time around, and it couldn't even be twelve-thirty. They would never make it at this rate and their hiding place wasn't good enough to last for long.
"I'm going to die," Jeremy whispered out in terror. "They're going to kill me."
"Don't say that," Foxy protested back. "We just gotta get around them and back to the front. I got the door open." 'Open' wasn't exactly the word for it, but he didn't get glass lodged in his fabric for nothing.
"Foxy," Jeremy's voice wavered. The hyperventilation returned, along with a choke of a hiccup and frantic trembling. "Foxy, help me. Please." He was falling apart and Foxy could just watch him with little idea of how he was supposed to help. He knew how he usually helped Marionette whenever he was distraught, but he wasn't sure if the much more skittish Jeremy would react as well.
It was then that he noticed the footsteps returning from the kitchen. From the weight and the count, three of them, he suspected that it was the three blind mice. Jeremy had to be quieted down or they were going to hear him. Then they would come and get him, and Foxy couldn't fight them all off on his own. He would have to watch as they took ahold of his first mate and dragged him away.
Without any forewarning, Foxy grabbed Jeremy and pulled him to his chest. His eyes darted around frantically, his ears continued to perk to listen in on the incoming animatronics, and the fox couldn't help but twitch under the stress of it all. He could feel Jeremy cling to him and was almost relieved that the motion seemed to quiet down Jeremy's frantic breathing. They still had a little time left.
He didn't feel safe enough to speak, so instead Foxy proceeded to tuck Jeremy's head under his and held him as tightly as he could. Nobody was getting his first mate; not while the captain was still awake and alert. Foxy wasn't going to sit by and watch a rogue animatronic kill his innocent companion. They were clearly unwilling to be reasoned with if they still pressed on regardless of Foxy's presence, so he would have to hold on and continue this crusade to keep the young man safe.
"Jeremy," Foxy murmured quietly. He let himself fall out of character for the moment, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought you here. This is my fault." Jeremy shuddered against him. "I won't let them hurt you. I won't let them take you from me. You're mine." Jeremy didn't give much of a reaction in his state, but it was as though Foxy had unlocked a completely different section of his programming. A section that suddenly labelled Jeremy as his own, who nobody else could touch, and it gave him an unrivaled feeling of power.
Which was a shame, as he felt equally helpless.
Mike parked in his usual spot and made a jog for the front with Marionette on his heels. In one hand he held the music box and his other hand lingered above his tazer, as though he would suddenly get jumped and would need it. He made it to the front door and was immediately alarmed to find the glass of the front door broken through. Some large shards still jutted out from the frame, but it was as though something smashed through the door hard enough to obliterate the glass.
"Looks like we missed the party," Mike muttered as he looked around to see if there were any animatronics in the area. "Shouldn't an alarm go off or something?"
"What upstanding company wants to risk the police coming and finding a deceased security guard?" Marionette quipped back as he passed by and carefully slipped through the opening. "Be careful, there's glass everywhere." He then took his turn to look over the surroundings. It was about what he expected, though honestly a little nicer than what he had pictured in his head. Especially considering that their animatronics were labelled as 'broken' by those who had seen them. "Which way?"
"The stage is straight back," Mike pointed out, "but let me lead. I know where I'm going and if anyone jumps me then they're going to get the shock of their life." He carefully passed through the broken door and started down the corridor. Some of the arcade machines were on, but they began to static as they passed by, so he assumed that the striped animatronic was somehow interfering with how they were working. Though he swore that one or two of them had some sort of timer on it. Perhaps counting down to five-twenty.
As disturbing as it all was, there was a lingering confidence in having the animatronic following him and he felt somewhat less unnerved when appearing at the office.
The office was trashed. One of the animatronics had obviously gotten angry and decided to take it out on the desk. The wastebasket was tipped over, the monitor broken on the floor- it looked like it was stomped- and the desk itself looked askew, like something yanked it around and then hadn't straightened it again. Mike glanced over it before looking towards the three blind mice's stage.
"Looks like all of them are off somewhere," Mike muttered as he looked over the stage. "Probably wherever Jeremy is."
When he received no answer, Mike glanced behind him to find that Marionette was suddenly missing. This would've been concerning if not for Mike being still able to feel him nearby. So, instead, Mike pressed onward with less concern, hearing some sort of ruckus from the direction of the kitchen. With a sharp inhale, Mike started towards the kitchen, finally sliding his tazer off his belt. He only got a few steps closer when something suddenly slid into the ball pit from the slide. It was quick enough that he hadn't been able to see much of the body, but he made his own assumption.
"Head's up! Black Sheep's dropping in!" Mike called back to wherever the Puppet went. He took a step back and watched the movement through the colorful balls as the animatronic crawled through them. It was only once the animatronic started to lift itself out of the pit that he realized he was mistaken. That twisted smile certainly didn't match the face of Bobby. "Scratch that, it's the weasel!" There was a fleeting thought following of, "This is going to be fun." It wasn't exactly sarcastic either. He was expecting to see a weasel get popped.
Then he realized that there was something he left in his car. Mike hadn't even thought about grabbing his flashlight when his hands were full and when it was usually stuck on his belt.
"You've got to be kidding me," Mike muttered as he raised his tazer threateningly. Hopefully, Sly would be able to remember what had happened before when he was cornered, but this seemed less likely as the weasel continued to move in. The security guard took a few steps back, considering his next move, and Sly suddenly broke into a sprint, closing in on Mike.
It would've reached him too if it wasn't for the black and white blur springing onto it.
What followed was the closest thing to madness that Mike had ever witnessed. The crazed weasel tried to fight back as Marionette enwrapped his strings around and through his body. The animatronics thrashed and continued to tussle, with Sly trying to claw at the Puppet's mask as black fingers stabbed through the flimsy fabric of his chest. 'Pop Goes the Weasel' was wildly repeating from the music box within Marionette, punctuating the frantic nature of the attack. Unlike what Mike expected, it wasn't nearly as humorous as it sounded in concept.
During the tussle, Sly managed to turn his back on Mike, and he used this to his advantage. He quickly grabbed up the tipped over office chair, abandoning the music box on the desk, and rushed in to slam it across Sly's back. Being a metal chair, it didn't immediately smash into pieces, but the back was bent at an odd able. The taser was not an option while Marionette and Sly were in direct contact. He swung and struck again.
As Sly staggered, Marionette pushed off Sly and dropped to the ground, then slipped back and retracting his strings with him. They tightened around the weasel and somewhat obstructed its movement, even as the weasel made a swipe towards the Puppet's head. Marionette easily dropped beneath its swipe and tightened the strings further. They pulled roughly against the already shoddy fabric and could almost slide through. Mike knew it was time to strike and planted the taser into the center of Sly's back.
The electricity jolted through for about five seconds before Mike retracted back and watched for a response. Sly didn't take the shock well; it shuddered once and fell forward, with Marionette just barely sliding out from underneath before the animatronic could land on him. Sly crumpled onto the ground and shuddered a few times before going dormant. It wasn't broken, not from the crackling noises it was making, but it was incapacitated for the moment. The music died and Marionette retracted his strings as Mike kept an eye out.
"So that's what popping a weasel looks like," Mike remarked breathily. Something about seeing it brought that rush back, especially watching Marionette fight so effectively. There was such a thrill in watching him work. Mike looked over towards his Puppet, giving him a once over to make sure he was alright and suppressing his pride for the time being. "Let's hope they all go down that easy."
"He won't stay down for long," Marionette forewarned. The Puppet felt a strange tinge in his chest and looked back down at the weasel. Something about it was very strange, but he didn't know what. It obviously was like him as he could feel its anger, but it had walls that he hadn't expected. It could block him out and had no intention of letting his influence in, less this all be so much easier. There was no doubt that the other animatronics would resist his influence, which meant that their best chance was a show of dominance, which would hopefully drive the others off.
With an out of tune pang, Marionette turned back towards the kitchen. "There's more than one in there. I can hear them…" He could feel their aggression too. Whatever happened to these animatronics, it had driven them to this level of aggression. At night they would attack anything; reasoning with them was futile, or so he assumed. Regardless, he would have to fight. Fellow animatronics or not, both Mike and Jeremy- and Foxy, as he only just realized that he was probably the reason the door was broken- were his family.
"What's the plan? I can lure them out here and we can try to systematically take them down, or we can storm in, take out one, and then run like hell. Either one should get them away from Jeremy," Mike suggested as he approached the kitchen door, which was barely cracked open. "Or I could use the music box."
"That could backfire spectacularly. Let's hold on that until we have no other choice," Marionette shot down quickly. Indeed, he dreaded the idea of being rendered helpless. "…You don't have to come in."
"Yes, I do," Mike protested. "If we're doing this, we're doing it together. Besides, I know their tricks." He offhandedly flicked the tazer on and off, and sent Marionette a small smirk of confidence.
"Try not to get too overexcited. Regardless of what we do… They outnumber us. Even if Foxy is still able to fight." A flash of fear and anger passed by as he imagined what could've happened to his brother. He pushed it aside and reached out to lay his hand on Mike's shoulder protectively. "Stay close to me."
"Same to you, Doll," Mike said, trying to keep his voice even and trying not to show the growing dread. They were about to willingly walk into a battle to save someone who could've been dead. Neither of them said it out loud, but it was still a very real possibility. There was a very good chance that he wouldn't make it out tonight either.
With a deep breath, Mike started to open the door.
Mable: Sorry about the weird cut off point, but it was the best place to leave it off so that the next chapter wouldn't have an awkward starting place. It's kind of cliffhanger-y, but it's much better than the original plan, and the next chapter is… Yeah. I'm not going to go there just yet… Well, technically I can't, because that's the next chapter. XD
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!