Author's Note:

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 101

FNAF 4 Night 1 (Again)

Mangle couldn't swear, not out loud, but she could think cusses loud and clear.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Fucking dammit. Shit.

She ran, her metallic feet pounding the floor as she raced around the corner and down another hall. She could sense a couple errors pop up in her computer in protest to the strain and sharp twinges of pain shot through various parts that Hedy intentionally hadn't tightened down yet but she couldn't focus on that. She had to get to the office. She didn't know what the ghosts were going to do-if they were even going to bother with the night guard or not. They had to get him out of here.

She turned the corner, her orange-yellow eyes spying the black and yellow warning strips above the door at the end of the hall. The door was open and the light was on through the view window.

On the chance the night guard wasn't checking the hall cam at the moment, she took the opportunity and booked it, sprinting for the door the moment she saw that the red light from the camera wasn't on. Stealth wasn't something she was willing to bet on unless she was in pieces with multiple limbs and hanging from the ceiling supports. She knew how to be quiet then, but even just basic walking was still newish to her.

She heard a shout and the door slammed down, almost taking her head off.

"No! You idiot! Let me in!" She shouted, skipping backwards then back to bang on the door, then the window.

But the glass was very thick, as were the doors, and her voice wasn't loud enough to carry all the way around the establishment and down the other hall to the other, currently still open, pneumatic door.

She could barely see through the dusty window and if the night guard could hear more than banging, he still wasn't opening the door.

She froze and shrieked in surprise as the light outside the door flickered briefly on to show a reflection of her in the window glass.

Her...and Bonnie standing behind her.

Whoever was in the room was smart about power and the light blinked off the second he saw her, so he missed how she dodged a grab and scrambled away from the purple rabbit.

Benji stared at the pink and white fox through Bonnie's eyes as she quickly put distance between them, but she accidentally turned the wrong direction and went into a wall. Damn!

Mangle stared warily at the red-lit eye lights that showed Bonnie wasn't the one cornering her.

"B-Benji," she tried. She wished Hedy was there. Mangle wasn't close to any of the ghosts. "What are you doing?" she asked softly.

Benji was quiet for a moment. "Either you help us or you're against us," he said, his younger voice creepily overpowering Bonnie's.

"What are you trying to do?"

"Get rid of Springtrap once and for all."

The fox swallowed nervously, the back of her feet pressed against the wall. She figured that part out... "W-what about..."

"You think we actually care about Spring!? About any of you?!" the ghost shrieked, stepping closer. "After everything? He still let this happen! I said before, he can burn with Purple Guy for all I care." He hit a hand against the door and Mangle's breathing hitched as she heard tearing metal squeal and crumple as Bonnie's arm sparked and his wrist twisted inward horribly. The ghost didn't care, not feeling the intense pain Mangle knew from experience that damage should've caused.

There was a new dent in the metal door. He was strong, stronger than Bonnie's body could handle.

"You should help us. You're better than before. You can help us set things right, now that Ruby's gone. Your deal doesn't affect you anymore."

Mangle glared, "Ruby's coming back."

He was being stupid, but that didn't really matter.

"No she isn't! She's probably dead right now. The deals off and I'm right back to possessing Bonnie. Which means Purple Gu-Michael can go right back to killing kids!"

"Then why are you after the night guard?" Mangle said, eyes darting around for an escape.

She didn't get an answer as at that moment, said night guard decided to check the light, found no one was standing there and opened the door.

"Shit!" a male voice shouted and Mangle got her first glance at him standing inside the door as he frantically hit the door button again.

Bonnie lunged into the closed door and Mangle took the distraction to make a break for it, knowing he couldn't catch her. The night guard seemed to have okay reflexes at least.

Teddy was trying to get Puppet's music box to stop playing while Chi and Toby looked out for the Originals and Springtrap at the doors to the Prize Corner. BB shifted from foot to foot beside the bear, glancing around.

"Just break it!" Puppet snapped from inside his box, peering out. His tapered fingers gripped the lid.

"But..."

Despite the freezing control it had on him, Puppet loved the thing. It was the one object that was actually his, like Bonnie's guitar or Chica's cupcake. In a way, it was as important to him as Hedy's wheelchair was to her, even though the effects of his object on his mobility was opposite to hers. It had to stop working for him to move dammit! Perhaps it was even more important to him. But the new night guard, whom the Toys informed him of, was keeping the thing well and truly wound up.

Toby and Chi looked back in surprise whileTeddy just stared at him.

"Break it," Puppet ordered his voice serious and threatening, though not specifically at any of them, "Stop wasting time. Now!"

Swallowing, Teddy nodded mutely and picked it up, gingerly. After a sharp "breath" and a moment of hesitancy, he slammed it into the ground.

Puppet flinched and tensed, wincing as his music box cracked into the linoleum. He forced himself to look up at the lack of silence.

The tune didn't cease and the box looked unharmed as it bounced once and settled.

"Again."

Teddy tried again, harder, his arm actually hurting a bit. He cringed as the music box sputtered for a bit and repeated a few notes before continuing on.

"Again!"

Teddy complied, starting to panic a bit.

But the box did nothing.

"BB, get Ruby's bat," Teddy said, hurriedly. "Be careful."

BB nervously glanced at the vent, "Bett-."

"No! NO batteries!"

Teddy stopped and BB stared at him silently. "I'm sorry. You were saying 'Betty.' I'm so sorry. I know what you mean. Just get in and out as fast as you can and stay away from the...others."

BB nodded and darted for the vent, trying not to be hurt by Teddy's panicked snap at him. Once inside, he realized he couldn't remember the way to the main room. He wasn't in the vents enough to memorise them.

They were just there! They should have grabbed the bat then. But they wouldn't have known to... They didn't know they were going to need to break something and no one would usually dare touch Betty besides Ruby.

Which way! Which way! He panicked as he got to a split in the aluminum tunnel. He looked left and right, completely turned around. He didn't like being in here, but should he really care about one of Ruby's bombs right now?

Left. Turn. Turn. Right. Wait...that can't be right...Left. Another left. Where was he?!

He crawled for a while until he heard banging that wasn't his own movements and froze. He looked up, found a grate he was seconds from bumping into in the dark, and realized in horror that while he was concentrating on trying to remember his way, he hadn't noticed when he came up on the connection system between the main building and Fazbear's Fright.

His tunnel was flush up against a grate covered fan that would pull air from his tunnel into the horror attraction. When it worked...

He didn't dare move, hoping whoever it was would pass by the fan and grate on the other side without noticing him in the darkness.

A faint shadow came into view and BB quickly shut his eyes, Hedy's tip about how his eye lights gave him away in the dark when they played hide-n-seek jumping to mind. He waited in blind terror, trying not to make a single sound and unable to see if he was safe.

The body moved on without stopping, inches away from his face. Bang. Slide. Bang. Slide.

BB waited until the sounds had faded and all was quiet again.

He peeked one eye open and was immediately greeted by two glaring red eyes staring through the grate.

BB squeaked as Springtrap suddenly punched through both layers of grating.

Michael's laugh was cut off as the fan he had stuck his hand past suddenly whirred to life, slicing into his arm and part of his face. The ear Hedy had repaired was suddenly lopped off as well.

"AARRGH! OW!" he yelled, jerking away from the far-too-high-powered-and-sharp-fan with a swear and glared as BB scrambled out of reach and disappeared. Then his face twisted in curiosity and he looked to the side down one vent to see a red light. Camera.

Hedy and Ruby were both gone.

Interesting. Looks like they had a guest.

BB half fell out of the vent into the main room.

Freddy's eyes turned toward him and BB gulped as Chica's followed. They were bright red.

They looked at him for a moment before frowning and turning back to stare at the nearest hallway, the one that led to Sprintrap's side of the building.

BB nervously scanned the room for the humans' stuff.

There was Betty, leaning up against a wall right where Ruby had left it when she ran from the room sneezing. No one had been willing to move it after they'd found her and watched her get rushed off in an ambulance.

Again.

Beside it was Hedy's tool bag. They had forgotten to put it in the Parts and Services Room for her like she asked.

He got up, running towards the stuff.

Frederick noticed BB was going for that stupid bat and sneered, stepping off the stage to stop him. He didn't know why the walking helium tank needed the ex-night guard's weapon, but he could bet they probably wouldn't like it.

BB got to the girls' stuff, grabbing the bat and Hedy's bag for good measure and looked up in fear as a shadow fell over him.

He tried saying "Hello" nervously and smiled, hoping that would appease the possessed robot. They never really gave him much thought before...

Fredrick frowned again, narrowing his red eyes, and reached down to take the things in BB's hands when something slammed into the side of his face, exploding into a cloud of green and pink glitter.

His eyes snapped to the perpetrator in shock and angry confusion, Cheryl doing the same from the stage. He growled and tried to wipe the powdery glitter out of his eyes. He couldn't see! Ruby couldn't possib-...

Toby swallowed and anxiously tossed another of Ruby's bombs up and down in his hand to test the weight, while picking a third up from the ground quickly. He glanced at BB, ears back.

"Uh...y-you in there Freddy? Chica?"

Fredrick growled, "You. What do you think you're doing?"

"...guess not," Toby said. "NOW!"

BB snapped out of his daze as someone grabbed Betty from his hands and swung it.

Cheryl screeched as she jumped from the stage at Toby.

He screamed, his terrified scream only slightly less static-y than his jumpscare one, and chucked the bomb at her.

It exploded in Chica's beak, paint gumming up the gears and her speaker at the back of her throat, turning the screech into a gurgle as paint blocked the sound. He ducked as she blindly stumbled into a table.

Fredrick only had a second to register Toby's shout before the bat collided with his chest.

Chi considered hitting his head, but she was too scared of causing damage up there. She'd never tried hitting any of the Originals before. Could she hurt him? Did she hit too hard? Did she swing not hard enough?! How did Ruby do this?!

Ultimately, there wasn't much force in her blow but it was enough to take the bear down, if only by surprising him.

"I'm so sorry!" Chi cried out, grabbing BB's hand and bolting, Betty still in hand.

They didn't stop until they were back in Puppet's room. It wasn't exactly safe but it was better than nothing. They weren't even sure if the ghosts really cared about them.

They ran into Mangle at the door. She skidded into the room and almost tripped over BB.

"Did you get the night guard out?!" Teddy asked, he and Puppet looking up, grateful it was them coming in.

"No. He thought I was after him. He's fast," Mangle said, her voice clipped and she took in air in short pants to cool down. She wasn't out of breath, not possible, but she was distracted by something. "Good...reflexes..." she added through gritted teeth.

"Mags...?" Chi questioned softly.

Everyone but Puppet screamed as one of Mangle's legs let out an awful grinding, clicking noise and sparks flew. She shouted and went down on a knee, clenching her claws into fists as the pain hit from a couple of internal endo-skeleton pieces she had snapped when making a few sharp turns.

There was a beat.

"...Hedy's going to kill meeee..." Mangle sang jokingly, though it was strained. She laughed lightly.

Teddy sputtered and glared at her. He started to pace.

"What do we do what do we do what do we do... " Chi fretted. "The deal's off, Mags is hurt, Puppet's stuck, the kids are possessing the Originals, Michael has Spring again... d-does this mean Ruby..." she cut off with a yelp as Puppet reached with his long arms as far as he could out of his box to swipe the bat from her hand.

Puppet froze for a moment as he looked at the box. He let the music tick through his mind for another second, as if begging him to reconsider.

I'm so sorry Charlotte...

He shook the thoughts away before they could deter him any further.

They all jumped as he slammed the heavy piece of hollow aluminum into his music box solidly, splintering in the top.

It whirred in protest, clicking much like Mangle's leg had. He hit it again, ignoring the pain from seeing the inside gears bend and twist and the little electrical device that connected it to the tablet in the office blink green, then yellow, then die.

It silenced.

Puppet started to sigh, both in pained nostalgic grief as well as relief and moved to get out of his box.

Mmmyyyy graaaaandfaaaather's cloooock goooees tick...tock...tick...tock...

They stared as the tune whined out of the device, slowed down and demonic sounding from the damage.

Puppet froze and snarled, hitting it again, his fingers creaking as he gripped the bat.

But the damage didn't get any worse and the music box continued to belt out it's pitiful melody.

There was a whirring sound and they realized the new night guard had wound it up again.

The light above the camera was off, so he wasn't watching them. Maybe if he did, he would question what the fuck they were doing and actually pause to think!

Puppet made no noise and set the bat beside his box. He had suspected it wouldn't work. Now the building was tormenting him with an achingly damaged rendition of the song... He leaned back in his box.

"We have to call Hedy..." Teddy said, continuing to pace and trying to ignore the horrible music that made him want to claw his ears off. "We have to get to the office phone and call Hedy."

"She'll know what to do..." Chi muttered hopefully. She looked up in horror. "But..."

"What?!" Toby snapped in panic. "We can't! Springtrap will..."

"We got to at least warn her," Mangle interrupted. "We have to warn her," she said again, quietly. "She didn't say she wasn't coming tonight. She just said she might be late."

"We have to get to the office, to get the phone, the tablet, and to get the night guard out of here," Teddy said decisively.

The Toys all stilled as they realized something. They shared looks, except Puppet who stared down at the floor having wondered when they would notice.

Mangle frowned, looking at the others, Toby in particular.

"When..." Toby spoke up after a long silence. "W-when did we decide we were going to help the night guard...?"

They stared.

"The deals are all suspended," Puppet said emotionlessly. "The ghosts. Yours. You could go after him too."

They didn't answer immediately.

Teddy looked at Puppet. "You're not going to try convincing us?" Not that it would work on all of them, but he thought Puppet would at least try.

Puppet chuckled. "Would that work anymore?" he asked dryly.

The Toys were quiet for a minute.

"I wasn't going to attack him anyway," Mangle said, "Much less listen to you." She added with a glare at the older bot.

"It...honestly didn't even cross my mind..." Teddy admitted, almost sheepish.

Chi nodded awkwardly. "He's the night guard...but I didn't even think about him as a nightguard. Just some...guy. I..I didn't even think about how upset Hedy would be with us if we did...or...Ruby..."

They looked at Toby, who shifted.

He stared down at the floor. "...not all night guards are the same..." he said quietly. "Springtrap...Michael...he...he's the one...the only one we need to be worried about..."

They were quiet, thinking back and trying to remember when they had changed their minds. Mangle knew when she did, back at the warehouse, and she had noticed the others slowly change over the last several months. But it was amazing to actually hear them say it.

"Puppet...what do you want to do..." Teddy said.

Puppet glanced up. He looked at the Toys steadily. "I never trusted any adult that comes here. Or teenager really."

His words were slow and carefully thought out, despite knowing that he didn't really have time to waste. "This is a place for children, and it shouldn't be surprising I don't trust adults. Not after the multitude of times they've betrayed whatever little bit of trust I could muster."

Mangle sneered at him a little. Did he have a point? Did he forget Hedy was an adult? They all saw he cared at least a little bit for Hedy, though his excuse was that he saw her as the child she used to be. Her own category. Perhaps it was the same for Ruby at this point.

Her own category.
"I honestly never cared if they were night guards or not."

He let the phrase hang for a moment. He let the confusion pass before speaking again.

"It was always an easy category to manipulate you to blame," he explained. "They were the easiest to reach. Alone with us at night. I don't trust adults. You never know which ones aren't a danger and I didn't like to risk it. Best take as many out as you can." He shrugged. "And I'm aware it's...illogical. But in regards to Night Guards, it didn't help that Michael took the job. I still don't care for them. Adults. Teenagers." His eyes narrowed. "The only ones close to exceptions to my distrust that I've seen are Hedy and…" Here he paused and the words almost seemed to pain him to ground out. "Ruby. Despite how they each...annoy me."

The younger bots still didn't react beyond their expressions and Puppet almost wished they would.

"I still don't like Jeremy," he said quickly. "As he could have stopped the murders of the five children and Hedy's pain. But I tolerate him for Hedy's sake. But right now, the children and Michael are who I'm concerned with. Not the human in the office. I can be concerned about whatever crimes he might commit as an adult later."

The Toys listened without interrupting, turning his words over in their heads. He was speaking to them differently. This seemed like the most honest he had ever been with them. It was bizarre, him speaking to them like equals, almost, not naive young robots who he could manipulate because they didn't know any better.

They did know better. Now.

"So what do we do?" Chi asked in the silence that followed Puppet's words.

They all looked at each other.

"I guess...we try and stop them. If he's alive by the end of the night then he can leave at least," Teddy suggested.

They all grimaced. This was going to be a long night.