Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delayed chapters. This month is very busy so the update schedule went out the window. Hoping things get back to normal after Christmas.

Chapter 112

Disaster

Hedy and Puppet were almost through getting Hedy free of the glue-soaked net that stuck to her hair and caught her wheels.

Puppet wasn't willing to leave her to find scissors and Hedy had left her tool bag hidden in the wall elsewhere.

The mechanic didn't even have her knife on her and she cussed at forgetting it. She always had it on her and the one night she didn't...!

"Ow! Puppet!" Hedy gasped as quietly as the pain allowed as he tugged too hard and she figured some of her hair ripped out.

The bot cursed under his breath. "Why did we think this was a good idea?" he muttered.

"It fucking worked for Ruby," Hedy snapped but Puppet could hear the distress in her voice. They were both covered in flour, which wasn't a good thing when trying to hide in the dark, and Puppet had gotten nailed in the back of the head by a paint balloon and orange was dripping down the back of his suit.

He sighed. "Yeah well we're not her. I have a new appreciation for her memory and multi-tasking skills though," he muttered.

"How the hell does she keep track of these?" Hedy agreed with a pained moan. She was going to have a bad haircut after this. Not to mention possible skin abrasions from the glue ripping away from her skin.

The net was sticking to Puppet's suit too.

"I have no fucking clue," he glared at the glue. "What did she put in this stuff?"

"Don't know but I hate it," Hedy said.

"It's never going to wash out," he muttered, "It has the consistency of gum."

Hedy growled. "Don't make my night worse by pointing that out," she moaned, hoping she wasn't going to have to shave. "OW! Don't pull. I'll get it off me while you work on my chair." She hissed at him. "I'm getting the sense you don't understand how sensitive hair is!" She plucked through her tangles, wincing as the glue caused her to yank our strands and a lot of the sticky residue stayed behind. She got out from under the net already, despite seemingly ripping off the top layer of her skin, and it was now a matter of teasing it out from her locks.

"You are entirely wrong and just being difficult and childish."

"Puppet! Just get it out of the wheels!"

"Fine," Puppet agreed as he bent down to tug the net out from around the axel.

"How can it be like gum and oily?" Hedy was so frustrated she weighed the pros and cons of being emotional and crying before deciding the idea was a waste of time and energy. She'd stick to annoyance and anger, but wasn't willing to get so angry she'd cry just yet.

It took a frustratingly long time to get free and when Puppet finally stepped back he looked at his hands in distaste.

Hedy wasn't spared from the horrible stickiness either but at least skin could be easier to clean than fabric.

She tossed the balled up net away from them. It immediately stuck to the floor. It was still reusable but they had to stretch it out and reattach the weights to it's corners that had allowed it to fly open and wrap around them.

Puppet growled as he tried to pull apart wrinkles and folds in his fingers as the glue made the fabric stick to itself.

Hedy stiffen. "We can't catch a break," she whispered in anger and a thread of concern as she sensed someone who probably had heard their commotion. They were lucky to have gotten out of the net when they did.

Puppet took one moment longer to curse Ruby's ingenuity before he helped Hedy back in her chair.

Puppet's arms were still hooked under Hedy when Springtrap turned the corner and they both internally cursed.

"Fuck," Hedy hissed.

Maybe they cursed externally.

Michael smirked. "Hope I didn't interrupt something," he said as Puppet quickly let Hedy go and stepped in front of her.

Just a quick glance showed Hedy that Michael had taken some time again tonight to damage Spring again. Nothing that would hinder him from moving but it would definitely hurt Spring during the day.

"What did you do?" Hedy demanded as Michael leisurely came closer with a smile at Puppet.

He had plenty of time. Two full hours. He briefly wondered how long it had taken them to get out of that net thing. Would have made things easier but not as fun if he had shown up a few minutes earlier.

"What? This?" He gestured at the oil that was spreading down his side and Spring's left leg. "Why on earth would you put a sensory wire right next to an oil tube. It's like you were just asking me to slice both of them."

Hedy stiffened, dearly hoping Spring wasn't conscious. Cutting wires hurt as if they were literally nerves.

Puppet glared at him, just as aware of what Michael had done.

"It's a complete mess. Just look at this. Tracks everywhere," Michael said, still smirking.

Puppet did his best not to react. Michael was looking for a reaction from them. It's what he wanted.

Michael smirked and walked closer.

Puppet's eyes narrowed as he ushered Hedy backward.

Michael opened his mouth, probably to continue mocking them, when suddenly his entire body locked up. He toppled over, revealing BB behind him with a taser. He waved it at them.

"I remembered to leave the batteries in!" he cheered.

Puppet actually cracked out a startled laugh.

"Good job," he said, giving BB a rare word of praise for the delight of seeing Michael suffer as he twitched.

Hedy wasn't too sure how she hadn't seen BB sneak up behind Michael.

"Thanks, BB," Hedy said. "I have to keep my other batteries but I'll give you some later today."

Michael growled wordlessly, the voice speaker a little muffled thanks to his jaw being locked up.

BB ran over to them quite happily.

That's when they noticed that he didn't have a speck of paint or glitter on him.

Just...how?

Hedy was jealous and Puppet frowned when he realized.

They put some distance between them and Michael before Michael had control of Spring's limbs again.

BB was skipping along happily, randomly clicking the button that made the taser spark. It was a little concerning. Just a little.

Puppet stayed well away from BB, not trusting that the little bot wouldn't zap him for fun.

"Watch it," Puppet warned as BB happily swung his arm, coming a little too close.

"Please be careful," Hedy said. "Helium's explosive, you know."

"I'm empty," BB promised.

"What I want to know," Puppet spoke after a moment of silence. "Is where you got the taser from. We didn't give it to you and neither did Jeremy and Mike."

BB just smiled.

Hedy didn't want to ask after that. She flicked through the cameras to check up on everyone, worried when she couldn't find Mike or Jeremy. The others seemed fine, but really not great.

Teddy was anxiously sitting on a stage in the Toy's room nervously glancing at the doors. He must have hurt himself or was recovering from something if he was sitting down but worried about it.

Chi was "catching" her breath in the kitchen trying to quickly wipe something off her face with a wet rag.

The ghosts weren't exactly having it easy either. The Originals were larger and tripping traps left and right.

She even caught a minute of Michael running in a blast zone.

They were running out of traps and they didn't have the organization to know which ones needed to be reset.

Hedy realized her mistake halfway through.

Ruby had never been complete chaos, no matter what it looked like. She had a plan and her instincts. She knew how to set traps, when, and when to loop back around. What they were attempting to do was shit and someone might have gotten hurt because of it.

Hedy took a breath.

Mike and Jeremy not showing up might just mean they were in the vents.

They'd approached this like Ruby did. But they weren't Ruby. Her mind didn't work the same way as Ruby's did. So her solutions shouldn't have been the same.

She couldn't afford to be beating herself up about this right now.

Mostly because in her thoughts, she accidentally tripped a motion sensor and a large balloon hit her face hard.

She started coughing and spitting up the paint as it blocked her airways for a second. The balloon stung and there was salt in the paint so it felt like acid.

Puppet used his suit to try getting off the excess as he pulled her out of the hallway into a side room.

"BB go get some water."

Hedy's eyes were watering as she continued to cough and spit, making too much noise. She tried to stifle herself but was finding it a little hard to breath. The smell of the paint, while a minor inconvenience compared to the salt, didn't help.

"To wash or drink?" BB asked in concern. Someone was going to hear...

"Both," Puppet said shortly.

BB ran off to do as asked and Puppet focused back on Hedy, listening out for anyone that might approach them.

"This night is a disaster," he muttered, angry with himself. He was supposed to be better than this. They technically outnumbered the ghosts. They should have the advantage.

Hedy couldn't answer but she guiltily nodded.

Still as long as no one died she would call it a win, but they were cutting it close.

"How lo—" she tried to ask but had another coughing fit."

"Ten minutes. We can make it," Puppet assured her, stressed about all the noise she couldn't help making.

Someone was going to hear.

A few minutes later and BB was taking too long. Puppet had to assume he had run into someone or was trying not to lead anyone back to them.

The salt burns were causing Hedy a little pain and his suit was too abrasive to help clean her up anymore.

She was still coughing, to her annoyance too.

Puppet worried she actually inhaled some of the paint. That couldn't be good.

He took the tablet from her and froze as he noticed Michael coming their way. He would prefer one or less run-ins with the asshole per night.

Hedy saw the tablet and covered her mouth, spasming as she was forced to keep coughing. He was in their hallway.

"I'm going to try luring him away," Puppet whispered in her ear as they heard his footsteps. "Don't move." He didn't sound like he actually liked the idea of leaving her behind but until Hedy could get control of the coughing, it was more of a hazard for her to move unless necessary.

Hedy gave him a look over her hands and used one to pull out her own taser.

He hesitated before taking it. He wasn't happy about taking Hedy's protection but he might need it.

He slipped out of the room silently. He could distract Michael for that long. And BB should be quiet enough to get back to Hedy with the water without drawing attention.

He waited and timed it so that Michael caught a brief glimpse of him turning the corner and couldn't see that Hedy wasn't with him.

He heard the footsteps slow and panicked for a moment that he would hear a door open before the steps shortened and came closer.

Michael was stalking him now but unable to be entirely quiet.

Puppet resisted the urge to huff in relief as he went further from Hedy. He halted at a hallway that looked far too pristine.

Either they didn't get the traps as evenly spread as they planned, or they didn't get set off in this hallway. One option was annoying, the other was worrying.

He didn't have anywhere else to go.

He heard Michael call their names around the other corner and had to think quickly.

He reached up to pop open a ceiling panel again, immediately disturbed that he didn't see any trapped set up in the ceiling. He crawled in and came out on the other side of the hallway without accidentally setting anything off either.

Perhaps they were in the floor.

Puppet would not have been able to do that if Hedy was with him.

Michael turned the corner and froze like he had. His eyes narrowed as he saw Hedy wasn't with Puppet at the end of the hallway.

"Being a little sneaky huh?" he asked in a bit of amusement and annoyance.

"You have three minutes left and I'm curious," Puppet said. He folded his hands behind his back primly. "Are you going to futilely try to go finding her or try getting rid of me? After all, I'm protecting her and she has an advantage with me. However, if we got into a proper altercation, I wouldn't stand much chance. Spring is much stronger than I am."

Michael narrowed his eyes at Puppet. Unfortunately, he wasn't stupid. But, he was reckless. He took a step forward.

"I've got all the nights I need to hunt her down."

"Oh? Actually have an interest in me then?" Puppet asked, not moving as Michael cautiously came close. He stifled the worry as no traps went off just yet.

Hedy sat quietly as the footsteps went past, choking on her lack of breath. She waited until it was silent for at least a few minutes before hacking as hard as she could, spitting up gummed up paint and blowing out whatever was in her nose. Her eyes and nose and lips burned as if she had been pepper sprayed (not that badly but close). She startled as an explosion went off, much closer than she was expecting.

Still coughing, she grabbed the tablet and flipped through, looking for Puppet. She mentally traced where he would have gone and was greeted by paint on the camera lens and smoke blocking the rest.

"Fuck..." she whispered, immediately needing to stifle another fit as her body racked with coughs. It was both panicking and irritating that they hadn't worked out of her system yet. Must be the salt. She checked the clock through watering eyes.

One minute. Literally one more minute and everything would be okay.

Michael opened the door with thirty seconds to spare.

His eyes landed on her and for a moment she couldn't take him seriously with the paint and sparkles spattered on him.

"Cutting it..." she wheezed through a harsh cough, finally able to catch her breath. "Close, eh, Michael?" she glared at him as she backed up.

He sneered in frustration, well aware of the time as he walked right up to her.

She saw the kitchen knife and instinctually covered herself with her arm and the tablet.

Too close.

"I'm not going to kill you tonight," he said with a low voice, leaning to her as he grabbed her arm and tried to pull her out of her chair and closer to him, smearing paint on her skin.

"Five. Four," she hissed at him, grey eyes glaring in defiance as she gripped her armrest and pulled away from him. "Three-."

"I want to make it last for both of us," he whispered, stressed and quick as he lost precious seconds.

Michael panicked. He jabbed the knife right as the chimes rang out and Hedy jerked her arm.

Spring's consciousness overtook him and forcibly threw him out, but he felt the knife connect and Hedy cry out with a gasp.

He hadn't killed her. The knife wouldn't even hit an artery.

But Spring's terror and that look in Hedy's eyes was still a small win in his book.

Hedy gripped her arm tightly, blood leaking out between her fingers. She ignored the knife clattering to the floor beside the tablet as Spring stumbled forward, almost falling on her.

"Stitches. Th-that's definitely stitches..." she whispered to herself shakily. She closed her eyes and willed herself not to pass out. It wasn't too bad. It wasn't too bad. Hurt like hell though.

She...she was okay. He hadn't killed her, again. She was okay. She would be okay. That was close but s-she was okay...

She was okay.

Her eyes snapped open as Spring grabbed her wound over her already bloodied other hand. For a moment she thought it was Michael and nearly kicked him away. Such a move would have likely damaged her spine.

What was he doing awake?! She expected Spring to drop like a sack of rocks. No one ever woke up immediately after six like this!

"S-Spring!"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Hedy," Spring said as if he was begging, nearly collapsed on her. He was hanging off her and her chair, his weight threatening to topple them both. He was sobbing as he clutched her bleeding arm tightly in his own hand, shaking.

He looked like being awake at the moment was physically painful, his hard drive not recovering from being possessed. He needed to be unconscious.

Hedy stifled her shock and concern for him to keep her voice even. "Spring. I'm okay. I'm fine. It's just a cut." She couldn't hug him with both her hands trapped under his so she had to settle for nudging her forehead to his, much like Mangle used to do with her. It was very silly, but the best she could do.

Spring continued to sob, still holding her arm as if to staunch the bleeding with his own fur. "I'm sorry," he cried himself into unconsciousness and finally let his mind heal from the possession as most of his metal body went limp against his will while extremities locked up.

Hedy struggled with his weight for a moment then let out a shaky breath she had been holding as she did her best to drop him to the floor at her feet without hurting him.

His hand remained clamped around her arm and hand and she couldn't pry it open. She was stuck until she got some help.

"I'm okay, Spring," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I'm so sorry."

She was angry at the betrayal of her own voice. She could sense Michael in the room, invisible for a second as he tried to recover from the draining of energy.

He left, but not before she sensed his joy at seeing her crack, just a little. He knew how close that was. He knew he had scared her.

Puppet appeared in the doorway and let out a curse. There were some flecks of paint on his suit. The sheer explosion in the corridor had actually knocked him off his feet earlier. They had used way too much force in those traps.

"His hand..." Hedy murmured, feeling slightly light-headed. That was embarrassing. She hadn't even lost that much blood.

"I see. I see. Hold on," Puppet said as he came to her side and began prying at Spring's fingers.

Her pants and his hands were stained by the blood quickly.

Hedy's arm was starting to ache and sting as the shock wore off.

"I think we need something to hold pressure on it," Puppet said.

"I'm not taking my shirt off, Mari."

"All your rags are dirty," Puppet said. "Frankly, no ones going to care."

"There're bandages in the first aid kit, wherever it is..."

"Hedy..." Puppet's tone hit a weird note as he moved her hand out of the way. "This looks deep...Is that bone?"

Hedy snorted. "I don't think so," she said, ignoring the fact she didn't really look. "But it's really starting to hurt now," Hedy said, her voice getting a little tighter.

Glancing down quickly told her that she definitely needed stitches. That was going to suck.

"I know Ruby keeps a couple of first aid kits around but I don't know where," she said.

A first aid kit fell from the ceiling.

Puppet squinted up. "It's still very creepy when the building does that," he muttered.

The building gave a rumble of offense.

"That's the pot calling the kettle black, Mari." Hedy said as she eyed the box, a little irritated that Puppet didn't immediately pick it up. She was a bit too incapacitated to do it herself.

This night had been a nightmare.