Author's Note

Thanks to Corona Pax for help with this chapter. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 70

Karma

Benji and Felix were engaged in a heated argument about which show Hedy should put on that night when Springtrap showed up on night four. It was starting to become routine. Goldy still couldn't be in the room when he arrived so she was already gone. The Originals looked resigned and angry to see him while the Toys pulled into a closer group. Logically they knew he couldn't do anything but...he still terrified them.

"Good evening." he flashed them that smirk that they all hated as the ghosts fell silent again. Jeremy edged closer to Hedy, feeling furious and useless. He still blamed Ruby for making it impossible to stop the monster from hurting everyone like this. "I wonder if dear Ruby went to the doctor for that shoulder today."

They flinched, remembering the blood staining Ruby's shirt as she left the pizzeria the night before, waving off their concern and saying Springtrap just got a lucky shot in. Jeremy immediately felt guilty again for blaming her when she was the one in danger every night. They just got a few words thrown at them. Painful and cruel words, but still just words. Why did she have to put them out of the fight though?

"I have been wondering though." Springtrap drew everyone's attention again. "Once I kill her, will she hang around like certain others?" his eyes locked onto the two ghost kids who stiffened.

"Like you can beat her." Foxy's voice snapped out and he looked like he wanted to tear Springtrap to pieces. "She's far better than you. And she's far better than them." his voice dropped to a venomous hiss at the end that had the kids glaring at him.

Springtrap just laughed.

"Oh the animosity is priceless. I remember when you all used to adore that group." the Originals looked away, they didn't want to think about those times. Springtrap looked back at the ghosts. "I am rather proud."

He smiled cruelly as their hostile expressions were tinged with confusion.

"You all went and followed in my footsteps after all. Though killing children is much more entertaining than adults I must tell you. There's just something about a victim that can't fight back. Then again, did any of the night guards defend themselves? Until the latest one that is? What could they do against possessed animatronics after all? I feel like a proud father."

There was a general sense of horror in the room.

"How does it feel? To become just like your murderer?" he asked, eyes locked on the kids beside Hedy. "Hey kiddos? How-"

He was cut off rather violently by a familiar baseball bat. It was rather strange to see the normally composed and in control robot stumble away with a curse and spin to glare at the seething teenager. She must be getting to him more than he let on.

"What. The HELL. Do you think you're doing?" she growled, stalking forward menacingly.

He glanced at the clock in confusion. She was early and it was nowhere near her shift. So how could she still hit him?

"Don't look so confused you moron." she spat out, deliberately moving between him and the other occupants in the room. "There's nothing in the deal about ME not being able to beat you to a pulp outside of my shift."

He scowled when he realised that she was right and that the building hadn't interfered.

"I'm surprised you're so angry." he tried to sound casual. "I wasn't doing anything that goes against the deal."

She raised the bat threateningly and growled. It was a bit odd. They would have expected her to get angry sure. She wouldn't like him being around her bots after all. But this...this was the same level of anger she showed when Toby was so uncaring about Scott's death around Hedy. The same vicious fury that showed when the ghosts tormented the Originals. It seemed a bit out of place since they were protected by the deal.

Hedy watched, willing herself to be silent as the shock of Ruby's sudden appearance wore off. Part of her wanted to cheer from the sheer satisfaction of seeing Springtrap get hit, his infuriating unconcerned air broken in a single moment.

As for the fire in Ruby's eyes? It took her a moment, but Hedy ultimately wasn't as surprised as she thought she was about Ruby's, at first glance, overreaction. The realization hit her quickly as she glanced between the furious Ruby and the ghosts.

Her eyes drifted to Benji and Felix. Springtrap was tormenting them when Ruby walked in. Not the Originals. Not the Toys. Not her.

The ghosts.

They had frozen, their lack of breathing making them look more like objects than people. They watched Ruby and Springtrap with a strange mix of emotions. Hatred, but conflict. She couldn't imagine they weren't pleased by the new dent the rabbit sported. She wondered if they had realized yet...

Springtrap seemed like he was going to stay and continue his verbal torment until he saw Ruby pull a glitter bomb from her pocket. With a scowl and with what dignity he had left, he stalked out of the room.

They all waited in silence as his footsteps faded away.

Then Ruby turned to face them. Her anger had not dimmed one bit.

"Exactly WHY does it sound like he does this often and yet not ONE of you mentioned it?" she demanded.

The Originals flinched and glanced at each other warily.

"We didn't want anything to distract ya lass." Foxy eventually explained.

She turned to glare at the fox which didn't happen often. "My job is to take care of everyone in this building! How can I do that if I don't even KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?!"

Jeremy didn't like how ashamed a teenager made him feel at that moment. Him, a thirty-two-year-old man, was guilty of not telling a teenager who was busy risking her life, that the monster she was up against was tossing verbal side shots at them. Actually, he was less guilty and more confused as to why he was guilty at all in the first place.

He glanced at Hedy and the kids and immediately knew why.

Hedy looked awful, that mask she managed to hold with Springtrap there unable to completely stay up. She couldn't look Ruby in the eye. She couldn't really look anyone in the eye for a second. It was so unlike her. Her expression stayed for a moment but she pulled herself together and looked up.

"Everyone?" Hedy asked, her voice carefully even. She didn't sound like she was trying to catch Ruby in a lie or call her out. It was a cautious question, one she didn't have hope for a good answer as she glanced at the ghosts. Ruby probably misspoke and Hedy knew it. She just didn't want to misunderstand.

The Originals looked at Hedy in confusion, not really understanding what she was asking. The Toys were just as lost.

Ruby's expression hardened and her voice was cold. "Everyone." she stated firmly. "I don't pick and choose who I want to protect." her glare at Jeremy meant it was a clear jab at their reluctance to believe Spring was still in there, and that conversation about shocks she clearly hadn't forgotten about. It made Jeremy uncomfortable, remembering his thoughts at the police station, staring at that taser… "It's pretty simple. That killer is a threat and I'm put at a disadvantage if I don't know what he's up to. My JOB is to protect EVERYONE from him. How can I do that when I don't know what he's doing? I trust the lot of you to let me know what he does during the day so I can be prepared that night. No wonder he's so fricking smug at the beginning of every shift."

The bots and humans all flinched to various degrees, knowing Ruby was right.

The ghosts glared at her, annoyed that she seemed to be completely ignoring them. She obviously wasn't speaking to them. Why would she care if Springtrap was hurting them? She didn't. Her deal was proof of that.

"So." the teen crossed her arms. "How long has this been going on? And what exactly has he been doing?"

After a long moment of hesitation the Originals answered her, looking pretty ashamed that they kept it from her. By the end the teen looked quite ready to go hunt Springtrap down and murder him but she managed to calm herself.

"Right. Next time tell me what's happening so I can stop it." she rubbed her temples and let out a sigh.

Hedy stared at the floor and nodded, mildly embarrassed as the Originals spoke about all the awful stuff Springtrap said to her, as well as them. They included everyone. Jeremy. The Toys. The ghosts. Hedy only nodded because she knew Springtrap didn't need any extra advantage over Ruby. Otherwise, she didn't really want to speak to Ruby at the moment and Ruby made it clear she wasn't keen on talking to her either. They'd had a few arguments over how to deal with the killer and Ruby wasn't forgiving her willingness to hurt Spring to get at Springtrap.

The teen sagged a bit.

"Resist the urge to break him. Resist the urge to break him." she muttered to herself before focusing on everyone again. "Now that that's dealt with, the reason I came early. Who wants to watch my home movie? I call it 'Paint Night with Springtrap'."

She held up a CD. The Originals practically pounced on them in their eagerness as she set up the laptop. And just like that, the anger was gone and things were back to normal.

Hedy silently turned away, wheeling to the other side of the room to tinker with something else.

Ruby glanced at her but didn't say anything as she showed off her handiwork.

"How'd you install a paint slide?" Freddy asked in disbelief.

"I'm not really too sure myself." She shrugged in reply.

After a second, the ghosts popped into place next to the mechanic and started whispering angrily. Hedy said something very deadpanned to them and they fell silent. She set up their cartoon but mostly ignored their pouting after that.

Jeremy didn't move from his spot, sensing that Hedy didn't really want his company right now. He just sat back in his chair and listened to the Originals snicker at the video and make comments.

The Toys looked a little lost. Eventually, Mangle went to quietly sit next to Hedy, ignoring her signals that she wanted to be left alone. The fox ignored the ghosts like a trooper too. Meanwhile, the other Toys tried not to act like they were too interested in the video Ruby had. They weren't doing a great job at it, especially since the comments were hard to believe.

"Did you set up paint mines under all those tiles or something?" Foxy asked in amusement.

"Maybe." Ruby grinned and glanced at the Toys.

The teen eventually rolled her eyes and told them to come look as well. She meant it when she said that anyone could look.

"Besides, I'm leaving this here when I go to start my shift." she checked the time. She still had half an hour to go.

Plenty of time to enjoy their reactions.

"Really? A unicorn?" Bonnie snickered.

That finally prompted the Toys to gather around as well.

"How on earth did you hang a bathtub of paint hooked up to a tripwire above him?" Teddy sounded both terrified and perplexed.

"You really don't want to know Ted old boy." She gave them a vicious grin and they all agreed that yes, they really didn't want to know.