What if...Ruby was Being Rhetorical

Part 5

Detective Stone

He looked the same. The same amount of wrinkles and no grey in his hair. Just a little older, not that she would notice the difference as a kid. He never got the chance to go grey. He looked the same as he'd looked in the coma, although more stressed. That had been his 'work face'. The one that told her some bad person was in a lot of trouble.

He looked the same.

Why was it so difficult to breathe?

She paused briefly, leaning against a wall to gasp for breath before she was moving again. She wasn't actually watching where she was going. She didn't know this location. But a subtle lift of a tile here and a door opening there was leading her away from people and- and from memories.

A vent flashed into view and Ruby scrambled into it. They were too big, not the nice comfortable size of the ones she was used to. They were still vents though. People didn't go in the vents. Bots did, although Puppet disliked them. And apparently the Toys went in these ones but for their own sakes they better not take a wander through them today.

She needed to be away from people. From everyone.

Once she was far enough into the maze, she stopped and tried to get her breathing under control. It wasn't working though. She grabbed at her arm where he'd touched her and-

The sob broke out against her will. He'd touched her. Her dad had touched her for the first time in six years.

She didn't know how to handle this. She couldn't handle this. She was getting dizzy from lack of air as she hyperventilated.

She felt bad when she dug her nails into her wrist but the jolt of pain was enough for her to gasp in a breath of air. She tried to focus on that instead of... everything else. Her hands were already covered in blood. What was a little more?

Spring stared at the door the teenager had fled through. He'd never seen someone go that pale that quickly. And the sheer amount of pain on her face when she'd looked up at Derrick had hit like a gut punch.

He looked at Ruby's father. He hadn't met the man but Ruby loved to talk about him and how his job was to catch bad guys. He was a superhero in that little girl's eyes.

He wasn't sure how, but he knew who that teenager was.

Scott had confirmed it, although Spring still wanted some sort of explanation. And he really doubted Scott had one.

"I have to take her statement, Scott," Derrick said, although he listened when Scott told him not to follow.

"I...I don't think she'll leave the restaurant," Scott said with a frown.

Derrick didn't look very convinced but he trusted Scott for some reason. He looked down at Spring again. "You okay?"

Before he could answer, Puppet appeared in the doorway, his eyes darting around to make sure the children were gone before landing on Spring. He surged forward to check on the rabbit but hesitated when he noticed there was someone else beside Scott.

A practiced fake calmness slid through the bot's body language. He knew that a robot being stressed tended to disturb most humans. "Mr. Derrick. I left Ruby with Mrs. Rose," he said in a very even tone. He glanced at Spring when the younger bot winced at the girl's name and Scott shifted with an odd expression.

Derrick nodded, relieved. "I told you to call me Derrick, Mari Mari."

Puppet might have grimaced at an adult calling him that if he had a face, but he let it pass for once.

Spring figured he understood the man probably thought that was Puppet's actual name if that's how Ruby described him.

Spring shifted, trying to get up. It was a little difficult with one arm. He looked up at the others.

"Hey. Can you give me a hand?" he asked, unable to resist. "I promise I'll give it back." He cracked Puppet a weak smirk.

Puppet glared at him while Scott snorted in amusement.

"And, hmm, your... friend Scott?" Puppet asked carefully as they got Spring standing again. "I didn't see her on my way back."

Scott slipped out a noncommittal hum.

"Did you catch her name Puppet?" Spring asked quietly.

Puppet cocked his head at the odd tone the rabbit used. "No, she didn't mention." His eyes darted towards Derrick though. He couldn't help it.

Familiar green eyes. Black hair.

"She didn't mention anything," he continued. "She just... knew things she shouldn't."

Like that Hedy was in danger. That it was Michael who did it. That the room existed but not how to get there.

...Like the fact that he taught a little girl how to count down the time until her friend was supposed to come back.

Scott was staring at Derrick, contemplating something.

Puppet and Spring were not exactly being subtle in their conversation. They were just a little unused to people who weren't family actually paying attention to them.

"What really happened?" Derrick asked, carefully. He glanced at Scott then back at the animatronics. "Off the record. I understand we can't admit either of you did anything." His eyes flicked to the door. "Was that girl an employee?" That confirmed he had been paying attention while she helped with Spring and when she had talked to the other officer. He had a very guarded look that he hid very well. But with the immediate danger gone, his confusion and worry was slipping through the professionalism.

"No," Scott shook his head immediately.

"I don't think so," Spring corrected. He looked at Scott and whispered. "She knew how to take Michael out, Scott. Perfectly," he explained, trying not to shudder at the mention of Michael. "She even knew how to disconnect my arm on her own."

Puppet looked up sharply at that. The bots were complicated and no one could just look at them and immediately know how to do something. They needed practice.

"She knew about the springlocks," he added, glancing warily at Derrick. "She knew how to trigger them-She didn't!" he added, almost defensively towards the cop. "She did know how to though and threatened to. Michael went at her with a knife and..." he trailed off, glancing at his side and immediately regretting it.

Scott looked alarmed at that. He hadn't realized she'd almost been attacked.

"She was so... calm about everything too," Spring mused. "And... well... the first aid box Mari..."

Puppet shot a nervous look at Scott before glancing at the building. "What are you doing?"

The floor rumbled slightly, almost warmly.

Derrick and Scott steadied themselves in alarm. Scott shot the two bots a look.

"You kids never thought to mention this to me?" Scott scolded.

Puppet and Spring glanced at each other, maybe a little sheepish.

"W-what? It's not normal for all restaurants to be alive?" Spring asked innocently.

Scott squinted at the rabbit.

Derrick pinched the bridge of his nose as he listened. He was so confused.

He could deal with this very strange conversation. It felt important at least.

"The building is kinda... sentient?" Spring gave Scott a sheepish smile when the man didn't respond.

"Sapient?" Puppet wondered absently, glancing at the ceiling again.

"Either way, it really likes that girl. It doesn't just... do stuff for anyone."

"Do what?" Scott asked warily.

"Drop a first aid box from the ceiling," Puppet muttered. He squinted at the thing. "Why would we have a first aid box in here Scott?"

They all looked back at the box and Derrick bent down to poke it.

"The corner is bent," he noted.

"The building isn't gentle when it drops stuff," Puppet muttered.

The floor rumbled a little in offence.

"Regardless, it doesn't just do that for people. It might help a kid find a lost toy if it likes them. It likes to shock employees it doesn't like with static shocks. It hides things from people it doesn't like too. Why do you think the manager is always losing her coffee cups?" Spring asked.

Scott snorted at that. That was really funny actually. She was often complaining about losing paperwork too.

"But that's usually all it does. Little things. It also collects things," Puppet added. "But you can't just ask it to do something like produce a first aid box with the full expectation that it will listen. That's not something I've seen before."

"It likes Hedy," Spring murmured. "It shows her hidey holes a lot. And I think it occasionally plays games with her. But I've never seen it do anything like that for her either. I mean, I don't she ever asks, but I've never seen that. Our...uh...guest was tapping the floor a lot as well and kept catching herself and stopping. She did a lot of weird things."

He looked straight at Puppet now.

"She knew all their names. All the kids, without being told."

"She acted like she knew Toy Bonnie," Puppet admitted. "He didn't recognize her at all but, well, 'manipulate' is a strong word, but she distracted him very well to stop him from coming in here."

"She was worried when she heard his voice. Called him a baby barbie."

Scott snorted at that as well. He rubbed his eyes with a groan. The animatronics seemed to have come to some conclusion but neither wanted to say it, their processors frantically trying to come up with something far more logical.

"Question."

The two bots jumped a little at Derrick's voice. They were immediately distrustful of his casual tone.

"Yes?" Puppet eventually prompted when Derrick didn't ask his so-called question.

"Does it like my daughter?"

Spring stiffened a little and Puppet looked at him sharply.

"I know Ruby spends all her time with Hedy when we bring her. She begs us to bring her every day." The question was casual but it was impossible to miss how he was watching their reactions.

"It..." Spring hesitated. "Uh...I think it let her in here. The first time she and Wiggy met."

Puppet suddenly went still as he realized something.

"Marionette?" Scott asked, noticing.

"Five minutes..." Puppet muttered, staring at nothing for a moment. His voices sounded haunted. "She..." He shifted his white eyes back to Derrick. "I think it's fond of her. It...It cares very much for Wiggy. She practically lives here. Ruby is her best friend currently. It may have latched onto that relationship. And it would notice how often you bring her."

Derrick nodded. He fought through the desire to let his thoughts grind to a halt. Frankly, he decided to just absorb what he was hearing instead of trying to really process it. This was crazy... "Is it dangerous?"

They didn't know how to answer that. All the things that had happened. All the things it didn't stop...

Puppet clenched his hands and glanced away.

The people it didn't save.

Spring was watching him. He knew Puppet had a closer connection to the thing, only surpassed by Goldy now. But her situation was unique. Spring wasn't sure he could be jealous. It wasn't exactly a gift. He couldn't imagine having someone else in his head all the time like Goldy had mentioned.

"It's complicated, " Puppet landed on. "It...I don't think it...understands."

"It's not human," Spring tried to explain. "Er. We were made by humans. We still think like you. More or less, I suppose. But the building... doesn't. We've never really been able to figure out much about it. We know it can do things but it very rarely does." He paused and snickered. "It does keep moving Scott's bobblehead figures though. It likes to mess with you." He directed the last statement to the Head of Security.

Scott gave the ceiling an insulted look.

Puppet was staring out the door now though. "Why did she leave?" he asked carefully. "She didn't go back to the main room. I would have seen her."

"... she ran," Scott said awkwardly. "I think she was trying to slip out but Derrick noticed and tried to stop her. Then she just bolted."

Spring looked down. "She was trying to avoid looking at you the whole time, sir," he added quietly. "Puppet... she..." his voice failed him as he tried to put words to what he was thinking.

Scott looked around suddenly and moved over to grab the bag that had been discarded on the floor. The baseball bat Ruby had used was resting on top of it. Before he touched it though, the building rumbled and he froze.

"Uh..."

He looked at the bots for a clue of what to do, but they didn't look too sure either. He didn't have time to decide as Derrick suddenly strode over and snatched up the bat, studying it with a strange expression.

The cop's knuckles looked a little white as he gripped it, eyes fixed on the name roughly etched into the surface. He ran his hands over the tiny dents, scuffs, and scratches that denoted the bat's age.

The building creaked. And he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he glanced at the wall.

"I-I would put that back," Spring said quickly.

"She looks like Rose."

The other three froze.

Derrick looked up, his tone a little sharp as he ignored Spring. And the apparently grumpy building. "She looks like my wife ten years younger. Why?"

Spring and Puppet glanced nervously at each other.

"We don't know for sure..." Spring trailed off.

Scott looked down at the bag and (very slowly) reached out to lift the tag. His face lost all color as he read the words scribbled on it.

Property of Ruby Stone. No touchie. I bite.

"Oh-ho you got to be fucking kidding me..." Scott breathed as he bowed his head and screwed his eye shut, rubbing his face. "I'm having a long day..."