Chapter 187

Intruder

"Something happened," Hedy said, locking the door behind her in a moment of paranoia. "What? You were freaked."

Hedy glanced at Afton while addressing Ruby.

The man was very quiet, clearly upset about what happened in that room with Bon Bon and Funtime Freddy.

Ruby crossed her arms looking upset for a different reason. "Her entire behaviour changed when you guys went through the door. It was like an entirely different bot."

"They...they're already acting differently. To me," Afton said, his voice strained. "Can you be more specific?"

"I mean she acted more like a- a robot," Ruby waved a hand irritably. "Movements were more mechanical than before."

Andre opened his mouth to sarcastically comment, but Hedy cut him off. "Mechanical," she said with a thoughtful frown. "Something was wrong with Bon Bon too. We could communicate with her. She still couldn't talk, but she was clearly terrified of something."

Ruby shook her head. "That's bad too, but I'm talking about something different. There was no emotion with Vixen. At all. Just...nothing." Ruby seemed pretty disturbed, crossing her arms again in a move that Hedy read as more self-comfort than defensive.

"Any idea what she's talking about?" Hedy asked Afton. She froze at the look on his face.

He didn't answer. His eyes were clouded over with an expression that was hard to place. He looked frightened and depressed like he was revisiting a memory he had put far too much effort into squashing under confusion and a desperate bid to keep it together in front of the rest of them.

That was horror, the rest of the room realized.

Ruby eyed him warily, stance tense and uneasy.

"If I had to make a guess..." The teen spoke carefully without taking her eyes off the man. "I'd say some code kicked in when she was alone with me. Some kind of… override."

She'd done research into coding and basic ai when Hedy showed up (because she hadn't trusted the new mechanic not to touch her bots). She still didn't understand half the stuff the mechanic spoke about but she enjoyed throwing Puppet off balance when she said something that was correct about their programming. He was probably convinced she was bullshitting him half the time.

Afton's eyes snapped to her, suddenly focused although his voice sounded weak. "Do...do you think she had any awareness when that happened? When she...woke up... did she look confused or like she had no or limited memory of what happened?"

The other engineers didn't like the tone he was using.

"Confused," Ruby answered after a moment of hesitation. "And kind of surprised that I was still there."

Afton crossed his arms tightly and covered his mouth with a fist as he stared.

"Mr. Afton, do you know what that was?" Hedy asked.

He shook his head. "I could be wrong."

"What is it?" she asked, insistent.

There was a thread of panic and grief in the man's tone. "I...fixed it. I'm sure I fixed it," he said quietly, pain and guilt in his voice. He didn't want to talk about it but knew he had to.

"What?" Alex asked, confused.

"You fixed what, Mr. Afton?" Hedy asked, thinking it was better she was stern now rather than give Afton time and risk Ruby losing patience with him. As it was, the teenager had started pacing.

He was so quiet as he leaned against a wall that the loudest sound in the room was Ruby's sharp footsteps. Which was saying something. She was freakishly quiet when she walked.

It surprised the two women and the girl when he cast a worried look toward Andre who was staring. Ruby's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

But Afton spoke despite whatever misgivings he had. "When I was making the Funtimes… When they were..." His voice cracked with a whisper, "Very very young...something happened." He stopped and covered his mouth. The memories that accompanied the words were not pleasant.

Hedy flinched at a sharp dip in temperature between Alex and her.

Timmy had done a good job of keeping himself out of the way, so much so that Hedy sometimes forgot he was there. He gripped her sleeve now and she could feel a subtle tremble in his hand. Ruby likely hadn't even noticed Timmy's spike of emotion. Her own mental walls were permanently up and she was too focused on the conversation.

The teen let out a quiet growl, frustrated that Afton wouldn't just spit it out already. The topic was clearly difficult to talk about but it would take more energy than she was really willing to spare for her to drag up some honest empathy and patience for the man.

"What happened?" she asked sharply. And what did this have to do with Vixen's odd behaviour? And why was getting the answer like pulling teeth?

"There...there was an...accident," William Afton said the word like it tasted bad and he didn't believe it himself. "I...I had put them—the Funtimes—to work at friends' parties to get them socialised before they were complete. We had done it before with no problems except for maybe some awkwardness. The bots are...are always so shy around strangers…at first." He swallowed and chased away a memory that was far more pleasant. "I don't know what happened. My—a little girl was alone with Baby and..." He trailed off with a noise that half sounded like he needed to throw up. Maybe it was a sob.

They couldn't tell.

"It was so fast. She was already...w-we couldn't...there was code... I must have done something...I must have made a mistake." He sounded disgusted. With himself?

Andre's eyes widened in horror while Afton's words became a little more frantic. Ruby had frozen in her pacing, gaze locked on his face.

"I removed that code. I'm sure I did." He paused, looking away. "Baby didn't know what had happened. It was like she couldn't control herself again." He whispered. "She didn't know why I was screaming at her. She didn't know why she...did that to Elizabeth. She was so confused…"

He wasn't looking at the others in the room now. He had told Andre about some of this. Hinted at it. But he hadn't wanted to scare the rest of the team just yet. He hadn't wanted to scare his younger employees and the teenager in attendance.

"Before it happened, Baby had told me that she was always aware of how many people were in the room, especially children. She kept track in her head. Four. Then three. Then five. She didn't know why she did it and she didn't like it because she couldn't stop. It was a compulsion."

He took a shallow breath before looking out the window toward Vixen's room. "I thought it was a harmless glitch that was an accidental hold-over..a bug from another of my animatronics. It wasn't as painfully obsessive to the older models, so they weren't as bothered. I promised Baby I would fix it."

He didn't stop staring at the window. "Then the accident happened." He abruptly stopped, as if just calling it an "accident" left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I found the counting as part of the damaged code...the virus. The counting was like a symptom. I stopped..." he paused for a moment. "I shut all the Funtimes down and didn't finish my work on them for years. I switched to finishing another group. Their code was somewhat simpler. Less moving mechanical parts, although they couldn't be as expressive. For the longest time I couldn't bring myself to work on the Funtimes without thinking about Elizabeth."

He halted, realising he had slipped up saying the name. He swallowed. "If I thought of her, even for a second, I could have made another mistake..." He shook his head to stop the tangent.

"Maybe I failed. Maybe I didn't really get it out." He sounded terrified of the possibility.

It was so quiet in the room. They could have heard a pin drop.

"What the fuck…" Alex coughed out. "You…you brought us here knowing at least one of those bots had…" she swallowed. "Killed someone?"

"A child," Andre added.

Afton swallowed and flinched, rubbing his hands on his arms in a self-soothing gesture.

Alex glanced at Hedy, recoiling at her friend's expression.

She did not like how unsurprised Hedy looked, Ruby even less so. The teenager was looking out the window, lips pursed but not obvious horror on her face. If Alex was being uncharitable, she'd think Ruby had just zoned out of the conversation entirely.

Alex grit her teeth. Was this one of those things Hedy didn't want to tell her about?! The idea pissed her off. It took a lot just to cross her arms instead of suddenly yell at her friend. Still, she gripped her arms so tightly she half expected bruises later. Screw whatever silent treatment they were giving each other.

Ruby looked thoughtful as a tense and angry silence fell. She moved to stand next to the window into the fox's room. "Vixen knew who was in the room, but she only got weird when it was just me. And then she was back to normal after you all came back into the room." She looked at Hedy. "What are the chances of the same bad code happening in two completely different bots?"

"High if Vixen's code was based on Baby's," Hedy said calmly. She didn't miss how Afton mentioned that an older bot did a similar counting thing. She wondered if the man was speaking about Puppet. It made sense, given Puppet's original function. He always had a knack for knowing how many children, adults, and staff were in the building.

"I had a similar 'style' of coding within a group," Afton said. "Quite a lot of the code is the same at the base." He looked up sharply. "But I was afraid of that. I checked all of them. Only Baby had it. I...thought it was just her. Did I miss something?" The question wasn't really directed at any of them, more a private thought he didn't realise he said out loud. He glanced up, confused as he noticed something. "Vixen?"

"I am not calling her 'Funtime Foxy' everytime I need to refer to her," Ruby deadpanned, finally turning away from the window. "She's Vixen now. It suits her."

Hedy cracked a small smile at Afton's expression, also pleased the fox had a nickname now.

He looked like he instinctively wanted to argue but immediately conceded. The switch in his expression was so quick it was amusing. He must have agreed his naming skills weren't exactly the best. Plus, he also looked like a man who was already under too much emotional stress to get into an argument. "Good… good, yes…" he nodded instead, almost absent mindedly.

Ruby moved her hands to her hips, rolling her shoulders and biting back a wince as she moved the injured one. "So you need to get a look at Vixen's code. And maybe Baby's. And we need to find out if any of the others react the same way."

"How the hell do you propose we do that?" Andre asked with a scowl.

Alex was pacing now, stealing tense glances at Hedy despite how the other young woman seemed too lost in her own thoughts to pick up on any nonverbal communication from her friend.

Ruby ignored them both and looked at Hedy. "Glitter glue?" she asked oh so hopefully it threw everyone off. The teenager's mood and tone changed too quickly to keep up with sometimes. Although Hedy never seemed to have a problem.

Hedy grimaced at the idea. That...that would be a nightmare to clean out of these designs. Cleaning Chi and Toby out were already a problem. And it was always Hedy who had to do the personal cleaning for any of the bots. The cleaners still didn't even touch Spring, too afraid of damaging anything. Bots with that many moving parts? Vixen was going to be shedding glitter for at least two weeks as it was. Adding glue to mix…

She looked at Afton who was still recovering from regret and bad memories, "Is there anyone we haven't had a run-in with yet?"

Ruby sulked when she delayed answering her question.

"We haven't actually seen Baby yet," he admitted softly. "Everyone else has made an appearance. Except…" He paused. "There was someone else, but she…was lost with a different group long before I sent these ones…" he glanced around, looking a little ill again, "Here. I did not see Ballora with you," he reminded.

Hedy frowned. She gestured at the hallway behind her. "Baby's room seems like it's on the other side, and there isn't a way to get there along this hallway. We haven't gone down the other direction far enough to find if it goes around the whole structure. We could ignore the vents and try to get around to her room. Maybe the Hand Unit hasn't locked us out."

"Hmm," Ruby hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder why they're all so separated. It seems weird. Baby is practically isolated."

"...What are the chances of getting a straight answer if we just...asked?" Alex asked, calmer now even if she was still a little pissed.

"You're all bonkers," Andre said, holding his arm. "Insane! Didn't you just hear–!"

"Probably low. They're kinda focused on killing us," Ruby pointed out calmly. She wasn't in the mood for the 'you're crazy' accusations. While a little true in her case, Hedy was still pretty damn sane despite the universe's best attempts.

Hedy winced for the sake of the other three. Until Vixen attacked Andre, the others couldn't be sure of something like that. It wasn't a pleasant idea to ease into. Ruby had always been a fan of the 'jump into the deep end' method though and had no regrets dropping the pair right in there with the sharks.

Hedy watched Alex cross her arms tightly again and shift on her feet in stress.

"Should we leave or try to explore the hallway a little? The tasks are done for the night apparently," Hedy asked. It was not ideal if she wanted to keep her friend calm, but she and Ruby were getting tired of not doing enough. Being limited to what they could do each night was rapidly wearing on both their patience and she couldn't be certain that Mike wouldn't just show up if they took too long out here. Jeremy would likely be with him and she wouldn't be surprised in the least to find out that a couple bots had tried to stow away somehow.

Namely the foxes. Or BB. BB would get away with it. So would Puppet actually. The lanky bot at least could fold up into a boot, twig that he was. Ruby had once mused over whether he'd actually fit in a duffel bag. He'd let loose a rare swear at the question and refused to try.

"Let's explore," Ruby unsurprisingly suggested. "At the very least, we should find out if the rest of the hallways are monitored like the vents and the one to the elevator."

Hedy nodded while Alex continued to fidget. She opened her mouth a few times but couldn't seem to voice her concerns.

Afton didn't seem to notice the plan as he stared out into Ballora's room, lost in his thoughts for a moment. Ruby snapped her fingers impatiently to get his attention. "Are you staying or going?"

Afton blinked. "I-I'll go." He looked at Andre and frowned.

"I'm staying here," Andre said firmly, looking like he'd actually just rather leave the building entirely.

"I don't think anyone should be left alone right now," Afton reasoned, despite the fact they had just left the other man alone mere minutes ago.

"Especially you," Ruby shot a glare at Andre. "You'll do something stupid and almost get killed again. Probably get someone else injured too. You are so damn lucky my pseudo siblings aren't here cause they'll be pissed when they inevitably find out."

"Do you hear yourself?" Andre asked, more obnoxiously than he probably realised.

Hedy had to squash the urge to coo. It was always sweet when Ruby admitted to her sibling-like relationship with the Originals. It didn't happen often enough for her to enjoy and tease her for.

Timmy probably had to stifle a giggle so hard it hurt.

The man looked insulted to the extreme by Ruby's words but stood up anyway. "And how exactly do you propose we defend ourselves from these...sentient...animatronics?" he asked, speaking like he still didn't entirely believe the self-aware part. He still thought everything was an advanced faulty code in the end. Even Afton admitted it. But Afton's upsetting story that morning at the bar was getting harder to ignore.

The old man might be crazy if he genuinely remembers "speaking" to the bots. Perhaps that accident he mentioned broke him and made him not the best at discerning reality.

Still he had outright mentioned "Baby" killing someone named "Elizabeth". That stuck with Andre.

"Just stay out of my way," Ruby said, all but dismissing him as she went over to dig in her bag.

Andre glared at her in disbelief.

"Should we split up and go both directions?" Afton asked.

"That sounds like the first bad decision in a horror movie," Ruby mused.

Alex had to agree. She liked horror movies. She knew Hedy didn't so she wasn't sure if the other engineer understood what the teen meant.

Wait, where did she pull that bat from? That wouldn't fit in that bag of hers.

"I don't watch horror movies..." Afton admitted, a little confused.

Ruby stretched carefully. "Oh you know. The horror movie tropes. Splitting up is always terrible and people are captured or killed as a result. Picked off by the monster or slasher."

"Tropes?" he asked hesitantly. This was one of the things he missed out on when it came to this generation, wasn't it?

"There's so many," Ruby's enthusiasm for bad horror movies was leaking through. "Like there's always the dumb jock who's trying to get in someone's pants. There's the pretty, popular chick that you just know is going to die." She shot Alex a look.

Alex caught it immediately and was offended. She did not fit the pretty bimbo look. Hedy at least was blonde.

"Pardon?" Afton looked mildly scandalised.

"And if you have sex in the movie?" Ruby drew a finger over her throat. "You're dead. Also you're screwed if you're in a minority in the group. Horror movies are still sticking to some really controversial cliches if you think about it. Then there's the one where the final girl is almost always a virgin. So guess I'm the only one surviving this then."

There was a moment of silence before it actually clicked.

"Ruby!" Hedy yelped in embarrassed offence while Afton spluttered incoherently, face burning red.

"What?" the teen defended. "Those two have kids," she pointed at the men. "And I've met your exes. Rena shares way too much when you're not there even though she doesn't like me. The only maybe case is Alex and considering how pretty and confident she is, I doubt it."

"Uh…thanks?" Alex chuckled. She couldn't help the short laugh at the absurdity and the mortification on Hedy's face. It was the first time her friend looked truly bothered throughout this whole week.

Hedy shook her head despairingly, unable to even process the unicorn of Ruby saying something that might have been a compliment to Alex. However, knowing the teenager's bluntness and utter lack of tact, her comment on anyone's looks was likely an objective fact. Ruby's deficit in social skills showed up at the weirdest moments sometimes. Although these conversations never came up at the pizzeria since the bots blue screened whenever someone mentioned anything close to intimacy. The Toys still thought every mention of Mike staying with Hedy at her house implied a sleepover, in the most innocent definition of the word. Hedy suspected they knew better but hadn't quite figured out that much about humans.

"Unless we've got a twist horror of course," Ruby continued, ignoring the clear embarrassment in the room. "If that's the case, then Hedy would be the final girl hands down. She's got the most common sense of anyone I've ever met. A rare commodity in horror movies." She paused. "I'd be really impressed if Mike appeared at the last moment and saved the day. Although that would be super cheesy. Actually, talking about Mike, have you two-"

"Stop stop stop it!" Hedy waved her hands frantically.

"What? I can't ask when Jeremy is around since he's still super overprotective."

Afton's lost expression shifted from confused embarrassment to something else at Ruby's words, but only for a moment. He schooled his expression very quickly though, the only one who was watching him at that moment being an unseen little ghost.

"Just don't ask then!" Hedy snapped.

Ruby considered that for a moment. "But then I don't get the information I want."

"Why do you want it?!"

"So I can make crude jokes at inappropriate times when your and Mike's guard is down back home. If I time it right, I could break everyone and start game five then and there. Or I guess if it's after this it would be game six."

This is why Foxy was necessary when Ruby got in a mood. He was the only one who could derail her when she got like this. The damn teenager was like a dog with a bone when she wanted something and apparently today that was personal information to figure out who would survive a hypothetical horror movie.

"What would be the best reveal though, would be Hedy was the mastermind villain and I was her minion. That would be fun."

"That's too obvious," Alex scoffed.

"Which is why it would work," Ruby argued. "Everyone dismisses the obvious option first nowadays. So when it happens, they're completely shocked."

"What about Andre?" Alex said, jerking her thumb at the frustrated man while Hedy wordlessly pleaded for Alex to stop encouraging the teen.

"Oh, he's the stuck-up know-it-all that dies cause he's trying to disprove that there's something trying to kill them at all. In a supernatural horror, he'd be the one killed for ignoring the warnings to not go into the spooky woods or to not open the door with runes etched into it or whatever. He'd be dead before the monster or ghost is actually revealed."

Hedy was rubbing the bridge of her nose. It was funnier when Ruby timed these kinds of things to when the mechanic was wearing her reading glasses. Then she had to take them off and hold them in her fingers while rubbing her eyes.

"But back to the original question," Ruby finally said, much to her friend's relief. "With this new horror knowledge, to split up? Or to not split up. That is the question."

"Did you just make a Shakespeare reference? How much caffeine is running through your veins right now?" Hedy demanded.

"Probably more coffee than blood. And most of the leftover regular blood left my body when I got bitten. So about ninety percent."

"Do I need to snitch?"

Ruby stilled and glared at her. "Don't you dare, I'm allowed to exeed my daily limits in emergencies."

"This isn't an emergency yet."

"Extenuating circumstances then."

Alex had a feeling that this argument could go on for hours if it wasn't stopped. She'd never seen Hedy get so aggravated by one human being in all the time she'd known the woman. It was kind of amusing if she was honest and not potentially scared for her life.

"We should stick together," she said pointedly, hoping to get them back on track. "I'll go, but I want to express that all of this is very worrying."

Hedy had to fight a frown. She'd been hoping to have a moment with Timmy, but that would have to wait. Splitting up was probably not a good idea in the end.

The kid was a wreck for some reason she could probably theorise. She could sense his emotions rippling like a jostled bowl of still water ever since Afton had started his halting and pained explanation.

"Alright, we stick to together, or at least in sight of one another. Just in case." She relented.

"We flipping a coin to decide which way first?" Ruby asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot now.

For some reason, leaving it to chance gave Hedy anxiety.

She was starting to suspect she wasn't just experiencing residual ghost attributes that followed her from the building. Her instincts had been screaming at her and were a little too right more than once.

There was something. More than one "something." Something good and familiar, even if very weak. And it wasn't just Timmy. But there was something safe and something else that made her skin crawl.

She didn't know what it was but it gave her a feeling as if a venomous snake was in the room, unseen. She knew there was a vague sense of danger but not where.

Ruby was studying Hedy intensely now, gaze sharp. "What about through Ballora's side?" She asked, watching the mechanic's reactions.

Safe. Hedy thought without meaning to.

But safe didn't mean answers.

She looked the other way, into Vixen's room and toward Parts and Services. Answers were that way, but so was something else.

Ruby cocked her head while everyone else was confused over the silent communication going on. The teenager and mechanic weren't saying anything but they were still saying something to each other somehow. Alex thought she could read her friend pretty well but somehow a slight forward tilt of Hedy's head had Ruby's frown deepening.

Then the teen offered her bag to Hedy, offering any of her gadgets for self defence.

Hedy silently took out a can of salt, which raised some eyebrows, even from Ruby, and an extra taser before handing the bag back.

"If we head in Vixens direction. I... think something's that way." She didn't explain to the others why she thought that. "But we...we should check for more rooms in the other direction first."

"Okay," Ruby agreed before the others could ask. She didn't hesitate any longer and walked over to open the door.

"What's the salt for?" Alex asked as she followed Hedy.

Hedy wasn't sure how else to explain. "Ghosts. Or…things like ghosts."

Alex faltered. There was just something in her tone that made brushing it off as a joke almost impossible.

Andre's expression was hilarious but no one could care at the moment.

"What?" The man truly thought she had lost it.

But Hedy didn't answer this time.

Afton looked confused, looking to see if Ruby knew what on earth Hedy was talking about. The moment he thought he figured the two out, something new popped up to surprise him. Confusion was beginning to be his default state.

Ruby didn't react at all to the statement. Instead she started heading down the hall, shining her flashlight over the walls.

Hedy did the same as Alex suddenly remembered she had forgotten her flashlight.

"Congratulations! You have completed all tasks for the night. Please proceed to the service command module and exit through the vent behind you."

Several of them startled at the voice.

"Well that answers the question of whether it can track us outside the vents," Hedy said.

The Hand Unit spoke again as they passed Ballora's door to find that the hallway kept going.

"There seems to be an error in the quantity of listed technicians on duty tonight. We're sorry but while we're thrilled you're so excited to share the love of your exciting new career, per your contract, guests are not allowed for 'behind the scenes' visits. Please vacate the premises. Management will be in contact to discuss a penalty deduction in pay."

Ruby flipped off the ceiling in general as they kept going, scanning the walls for any doors or vents.

"Huh. Now it notices an extra person," Hedy said.

"Sometimes it seems really advanced and other times it seems really glitchy," Alex admitted.

Ruby suddenly stopped. "Hello vents." She crouched down in front of an entrance. "You were not on the plans."

"Let me see," Hedy said, coming closer to Ruby.

The vents were different to the ones they'd been using before, a little smaller. Still big enough for Ruby to go through easily enough but Alex would struggle. Andre and Afton wouldn't even fit. These ones didn't have mechanical covers either.

"Damn. Kind of hoping for a real door. Do you suppose this goes to Baby's room?" Hedy said.

Ruby looked thoughtful. "Could be. Could lead to anywhere. Interesting that it's not all that dusty though. Almost as clean as back home."

Hedy nodded. The building didn't let any dust build up with Ruby in the vents so often. There had been a glitter bomb incident after an unexpected sneeze.

"Maybe it just blows really strong when it's on?" Alex suggested.

"Even wind tunnels gather dust," Andre corrected with a scowl.

"Hmm," Ruby hummed and ducked down to look inside with her flashlight. Hedy could tell she was itching to throw herself in to explore. But this wasn't the restaurant where she knew every inch of the building. And more importantly, Hedy was here. Maybe at one point Ruby would have abandoned her without regret to sate her curiosity.

But she wasn't that same teenager Hedy had first met. It was almost impossible not to change after everything they'd been through though. Hedy wouldn't say Ruby had mellowed out, far from it. She was a little bit more calculated now and tended to consider the consequences of her actions on others when they were people she liked.

"Let's make note of it and move on," Hedy suggested, "If we can get a better idea of the layout, maybe you can take a peek."

Or Timmy could. Carefully. Hedy cringed at the thought. There wasn't a lot that could hurt him, but that wasn't something they should bank on. They didn't want to put their adopted little brother in danger.

As expected, Ruby pouted but pulled back from the vent and stood up again.

The Hand Unit spoke, somehow sounded more insistent. Threatening maybe.

"This area does not pertain to your duties for the night and is therefore restricted. Return to the control module and leave the way you came. Please vacate the premises. Management will be in contact to discuss a penalty deduction in pay."

The tone was lower and everyone could hear the difference.

Hedy felt uneasy. What exactly could it do to them if they didn't leave?

Ruby eyed the ceiling warily, eyes automatically scanning for threats.

They stayed still for a moment as they waited to see what it would do.

"There appears to be an issue with the Ballora Gallery staff access door. The electronic locking mechanism appears to have failed. We apologise for the inconvenience."

There was an ominous click in the dark from the direction they came from.

"Shit," Alex whispered.

"Please immediately proceed to the exit for your safety. The situation is under control and we'll see you back again tomorrow night."

"Hmm psycho computer," Ruby mused. "Is this where Skynet starts?"

"Did it just open Ballora's door on us?" Andre asked, disturbed and backing away from the darkness.

Hedy didn't answer as a familiar pressure made itself known, though pathetically weak. It scrambled for a hold, latching onto her, Ruby, and Timmy.

With a jolt, Hedy realised the connection had always been there, but passive and near invisible.

But now it was scrambling for more purchase, reacting to Hedy's sense of danger. Something about the bots threatening them didn't set her off, but the Hand Unit actively doing so did. It was an odd distinction to make.

Then again, Hedy and Ruby would probably always see the bots as family, even while threatened by them.

Ruby hummed, apparently not noticing it just yet. "Ballora is blind so shut up," she moved her flashlight to take in the area.

Hedy could almost hear Andre snap his mouth closed. She felt Alex stiffen next to her.

They jumped as the door slammed closed unexpectedly and there was a strange clang.

It reminded Hedy and Ruby of when Foxy ran into a guard room door that slammed on him.

"The heck?" Hedy murmured.

It was silent for about a minute before the Hand Unit spoke again.

Hedy sensed insult at the voice.

She looked up sharply.

"Did the door just shut again?" Ruby murmured suspiciously.

She glanced back at Hedy.

Hedy's expression was one of confusion but she nodded, sure of it.

Another click echoed from the dark and the door squeaked a little as it opened. Again.

"We're sorry. There appears to be a malfunction with the Ballora Gallery staff access door. The electronic locking mechanism appears to have failed. We apologise for the inconveni-"

SLAM!

"What the fuck!" Alex hissed.

"Please standby. Please standby," the Handunit said. "Error. Handunit infrastructure error."

Hedy flinched at a flash of indignant anger and rolled back as if that would actually get her away from the feeling that surrounded her.

Intruder.

It wasn't directed toward her, but she felt it nonetheless.

Ruby twitched now. She must have felt that. It was intense.

"Sounds like there's a bit of indecision there," she murmured, voice tight. There was pressure on her mental walls and she recognised it even if it confused the hell out of her.

"Error. Error. The system detects corruption. Attempting to quarantine. Please stand by."

"What on earth is going on?" Afton asked as he stared at the ceiling in confusion.

"I swear if we die because the stupid thing shuts down..." Andre said. "The oxygen and elevator better not be connected if it dies on us."

"I got dynamite to get out," Ruby answered absently. She was trying to focus on that oddly familiar feeling but couldn't quite manage it so she kept an eye on Hedy's reactions. The ghost shit was still pretty out of her comfort zone. She didn't adjust to all the emotional and sensing stuff nearly as well as Hedy did. She just caused a minor earthquake when she had a breakdown.

"There appears to be a serious system malfunction. Immediate repairs required. All administrative and life support will shut down if the issue is not resolved."

Hedy cringed as the Building angrily "yanked" at the Hand Unit. Because it was the Building, as impossible as that seemed.

Hand Unit wasn't allowed to die, apparently. It wasn't allowed to shut down and leave its Night Guard and its Mechanic (and its bots' and a few of its ghosts' "Creator") stranded in the cold, dark, and stale air, even with Ruby's dynamite. It didn't doubt their survival. It was just incensed at the audacity.

Hedy had to think of her own metaphor for what was happening. She understood now that the building, their Building, was doing something. The fact it was even there was enough of a surprise. Fighting, sort of. Except it wasn't a fight it had any danger of losing.

The Hand Unit wasn't some consciousness. It wasn't living in any real way, but the building knew that Hedy didn't want it completely wiped out and it was struggling with itself to tear apart all the "administrative" functions while forcing it to continue running in the background and do the basics. Like the things Andre mentioned.

She got a somewhat amused sensation of it "beating" the Hand Unit into submission. From the computer's "point of view" the Building was a virus that it was desperately trying to resist. Or at least, that's what she could tell.

She shuddered as the Hand Unit "touched" her through the building's connection. It was so cold. Unliving. Robotic.

Ruby gave her a worried look as they heard the life support systems whir to a stop before almost immediately starting again. She knew there was something going on in that faint 'listening through a wall' way. She refused to let her walls drop even for the sake of curiosity though.

The walls creaked around them and Alex squeaked, grabbing Hedy's arm, surprised by how chilly Hedy felt underneath her shirt. She didn't have a moment to consider it as unholy static screeching filled the air from the hidden speakers.

Garbled words spilled out over the noise.

They clapped their hands over their ears in pain, except Hedy and Ruby.

Hedy cringed and ducked her head, but kept her grip on her wheels.

Ruby twitched again but kept scanning the hallway for anything dangerous.

To be fair, they'd both heard the bots' jumpscares far too many times to be truly bothered. The Toys did it for fun sometimes, getting into literal screaming matches. The corrupted voicebox audio really disturbed Jeremy and Mike though.

Suddenly there was silence. Both presences faded from the front of Hedy's mind, one more real than the other.

She gingerly reached out, a little worried something bad had happened.

She felt a little bit of fear as the Hand Unit spoke again.

"You have completed your tasks for the night. Please exit through the command module and we'll see you back here tomorrow night!"

There was a beat. No threats. No opening door. It didn't repeat itself.

"What. The. Fuck," Andre hissed.

The Building answered Hedy, very pleased with itself.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Glitchy tech," she shrugged while watching Hedy.

Hedy looked back at her, seeming a little shaken and confused but no longer worried.

"I think we're fine now," she said.

"How the hell can you say that?" Andre snapped.

"Whatever it was has resolved," Hedy said despite Afton's confused and, frankly, terrified expression.

The older man took a sharp breath. "I have some...words I'd like to exchange with a few people. Particularly whoever developed that thing. Does anyone have any idea what just happened?"

Hedy ignored his pointed tone, glancing across the ceiling. She didn't feel safe, but she felt safer than before.

"Their attempt at Skynet went wrong," Ruby answered. "Can we keep moving now?"

"I really want to go home," Alex admitted.

Hedy gave her friend's hand a comforting squeeze, Alex flinching at how icy cold Hedy's skin was.

"Soon. Ruby's right though. We should keep moving."

Alex rolled her eyes and pulled her hand out of Hedy's to shoot her a halfhearted glare as she wordlessly wagged a finger for a moment as if saying, "I'll send you my therapist's bill."

"Does it feel like the hall's curving to the right to you?" Ruby asked, having moved further down the hallway during their exchange.

"Yeah," Hedy said. "I keep having to make adjustments." She tapped her wheels.

"Hmm it must be wrapping around Ballora's room. I knew the walls weren't straight."

"Why would the blueprints be this stupidly inaccurate?" Alex asked cautiously.

"Who knows," Ruby shrugged dismissively.

"Helpful," Andre said.

"Which is the exact opposite of what you are," Ruby snapped back at him.

"Shh," Hedy said. She stopped and ran her hand over a space of wall panelling. "Can you guys feel this crease here?" She trailed her finger over a thin line. "I feel air coming through."

Ruby ran her fingers over it as well. "Huh, secret panels..." She murmured, interest piqued.

Hedy frowned. "Think it's a door?" She didn't have the best past with false walls and hidden doors.

"We're just giving up on those blueprints entirely, aren't we?" Alex muttered.

Ruby was pressing around the panel curiously, humming to herself. She did love a good mystery.

"Based on where we are," Hedy said. "It might be the door to Baby's room."

"Great. Let's leave it alone," Andre said. "Unless you have some plan for shutting down and fixing these malfunctioning insanities." He pointedly held up his injured arm.

Ruby didn't even turn around. "All your injury proves is that you're an idiot who doesn't listen."

"Both of you be quiet. Now isn't the time," Afton said, the first bit of assertiveness they had really seen all night. His head seemed to have cleared a bit. He took a deep breath. "What next? Should we try to open it?"

"Not without a proper plan," Ruby grudgingly admitted. "With how glitchy the system just was, forcing a door open might cause more trouble."

"I should have mentioned this earlier, but you being cautious is so unbelievably strange," Hedy said. "But I do think we shouldn't be too aggressive."

Ruby pulled a face. "I'm getting a rash. I'm allergic to responsible decisions."

"Hmm."

"Can we hurry this up, please?" Alex begged.

Hedy took a screwdriver and dug it into the crack, trailing the path.

"You're going to open it?" Ruby asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

"No, just looking for the hinges," Hedy said.

Ruby took a step back to give her space to work and looked around briefly to make sure nothing had snuck up on them.

Hedy didn't take too long, drawing on parts of the hidden door to show where the hinges were.

"Best places to put explosives," she said dryly with a look at Ruby.

Alex, despite how long she had known Hedy, had no idea if that was supposed to be sarcastic or not.

Ruby just grinned brightly which didn't make them feel any better.

"The hallway keeps going. Are we looping?" Hedy wondered as she put away her tool and the marker.

"Could be," Ruby admitted, looking up. "We've been here pretty long though."

Hedy shuddered. It didn't feel like they got many answers, but she wanted to leave too. And if she was right about the drama that just assaulted her senses, they were probably going to get the chance to really explore the place better the next night. However, there still was something she wanted to test, though maybe not on a door that they didn't know anything about, like where it went.

She reached out to what was now the Building and got an affirmative feeling.

She frowned. The connection was still somewhat weak and felt foreign but was gradually getting stronger by the minute.

"Hedy?" Ruby asked, a thread of concern in her voice.

Hedy glanced at the others before looking at Ruby. "We should probably head back."

Ruby nodded after a moment. "Alright."

Passing in front of the door to Ballora's room caused a few nervous shudders but Hedy halted them in front of the door to the service control module.

"Do we still have to leave through the elevator?" Alex asked, "I'm pretty sure the Hand Unit is already mad at us. I'm not convinced it won't crash the elevator."

"Shh," Hedy said, looking at the door and confusing the others for a minute.

No one said anything as they waited for Hedy to do something.

The door clicked and swung open a little, Hedy looking very pleased with herself as those of them that weren't Ruby startled.

"Huh," Hedy said. She glanced up, "Thanks. Just checking."

They stared at her like she was crazy while Ruby just followed her like nothing strange had happened.

"Should I ask? I don't really want to ask…" Alex muttered, properly wondering if her friend was insane. Or if she was.

"I'm not sure what to ask," Afton admitted as he followed, shaking his head.

"Just accept it. It's much easier," Ruby called over her shoulder cheerfully.

Andre shook his head. He didn't even know what to be confused about.

Hedy and her crazy assistant were more insane than he thought. This night was...utterly ridiculous. Was he going insane too?

"The door opened by itself," he mumbled, eyeing the frame.

Hedy stayed in the hall. "I'll meet you guys outside."

"I don't think it's safe for you to head up to the surface alone," Afton said.

The elevator ride was about three minutes. Taking the hallway up was longer.

"I wonder if the Hand Unit is even working anymore?" Ruby mused.

"Only to keep the oxygen flowing," Hedy said, slightly giving up on being secretive about the weirdness. The "fight" gave her a beating inside her mind and she was too tired out from the emotional stress to really care about the other humans' mental state or confusion at the moment.

Ruby hummed. "I don't trust the elevator after all that. Let's leave through the door."

"What?! Didn't you say—"

"It doesn't matter any more," Hedy snapped, too tired for any more patience. "The Hand Unit can't force us to use the elevator any more."

"How in the hel–" Andre started.

"Very well," Afton said, a little stiffly, ignoring as the other man sputtered in confusion. The perplexing and depressing debacle that was the entire night clearly got to him. There were so many things he felt he needed to figure out and fix.

They were walking down the dark hallway for a few minutes when he asked, "What of tomorrow?" He wasn't sure what he was asking her.

Hedy hummed. "You might still need to take the elevator down to unlock it for me." She eyed Afton, wondering what he thought was happening. She couldn't quite get a good read on him though. She never had since meeting him.

He was definitely thrown off balance by what had happened tonight.

They all made their way out through the other exit, not really talking. The fresh air was welcome after the stuffiness from inside and the Hand Unit didn't say a word.

Outside was colder than when they'd arrived, the morning air brisk. It was going to be a cold walk back for Ruby and Hedy wasn't confident in Ruby's lack of jacket. She didn't think the piece of clothing was salvageable anymore and wondered if she should ask Jeremy to get her a new one for when they got home. Ruby put off buying clothes like it was the worst inconvenience in the world.

Ruby eyed Hedy. "What? You've got that 'worrying' look on your face again."

Hedy frowned and peeled off her sweater. "It's cold." She held the clothing out to Ruby. It wasn't much thicker than Ruby's shirt but it was another layer at least. If they had carpooled in her car she could give the teen a blanket, but she doubted there was anything like that in Afton's rental.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "You know I'd be fine Hedy. I've walked in worse."

"Just take it," Hedy snapped. "Humour me."

Alex smiled a little bit.

Ruby rolled her eyes but accepted it, grumbling as she pulled it on over her torso carefully. She limited how much she moved her injured arm.

"If I get blood on this, it's not my fault," the teen reminded her petulantly.

Andre muttered to himself as he opened the car door and climbed in, slamming the door.

Afton winced as he followed, climbing into the driver's seat.

Hedy faintly heard him asking if Andre wanted to go to the nearest hospital to get his arm looked at.

Ruby shooed Hedy in the direction of the car when she hesitated too long.

"Keep an eye on the idiot. I'll be fine."

"Be safe," Hedy sighed, knowing Timmy was probably going to walk with her again.

They were definitely going to talk about the insanity that happened tonight, along with the building indignantly (violently) poking itself into the situation.

Hopefully the others would leave her alone for the most part in the car.

She wasn't keen on explaining her odd behaviour or the part with her talking to walls and doors that move on their own. What were they even thinking about that?

The beginning of the drive was awkward, no one knowing what to say. The other three were in a bit of shock still.

Hedy passed out in the back seat, not entirely sure where the exhaustion came from. Even half-conscious, she wondered (with a little annoyance) whether the Building borrowed a little something from her to win that fight.

They might need another talk on boundaries when they got home.