Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 147

Laser Tag

Ruby eyed everyone.

"Well, Foxy said that he wants to try laser tag and drinking alcohol. And Bonnie wants to go to the Star Wars convention." she looked pointedly at the others and waited for suggestions.

Chica shifted awkwardly. "I always wanted to see what other restaurants were like. Places that didn't sell pizza," she admitted.

Freddy crossed his arms in embarrassment. "The library," he muttered.

Goldy ducked her head and picked at her shirt. "Skydiving."

Everyone stared at her.

"What? Will mentioned going once..."

Most of them stiffened and she looked away.

"Well...the sky diving place is across town so that's your problem," Ruby nodded at Jeremy. "What about you guys?'' She turned to the Toys.

Teddy looked nervous, not sure if Ruby would be okay with it. "Go-cart racing sounded fun."

"I kinda like that one too," Toby admitted, "But I also want to check out Hedy's house."

That got him odd looks.

He shrugged. "I want to see her video game systems."

"Ooh. Hedy's house! Um, for me, I want to go with Chica," Chi said. "To a restaurant, but I actually want to eat something. We're going to do that right? Not just look?"

"You all should probably get to eat something. Eating's pretty great," Mike said with a grin while Jeremy snorted and Amelia chuckled.

Mangle thought for a moment. "Is there someplace with a rollercoaster? No, I know! I want to go to the beach."

"Batteries."

Everyone stopped for a moment.

Jeremy groaned. "Okay, even you should have something else in mind."

BB looked him dead in the eye. Then he smiled. "I want to buy batteries. With Henry's money. And a bag of bread. Then I want to go to Henry's house and hide bread in random places."

Ruby pointed at BB. "I am in total agreement. You get best bot award today."

Well...none of them could be too annoyed about using Henry's money. He was a jerk.

"Oh, and I'm banned from go-kart racing so I'll sit it out." She waved Teddy's concerned look away. "Apparently I get too enthusiastic on the track. It doesn't bother or freak me out."

Jeremy did not look too pleased about the idea of teaching BB how to use money.

Ruby caught his look and grinned in amusement. "He fakes a lot of his dumb moments. Manipulative little-"

The bots seemed to have a natural sense for when the teen was about to swear since Freddy cut her off. "So where do we start?"

"Laser tag," Foxy said. "That's the closest, right?"

Bonnie shifted a little. "How long is the convention open?"

Mike waved him off. "The convention is going all day, plus the laser tag sessions are specified time slots. It will take about thirty minutes. It's still morning so we can do both of those for a couple hours each, do the store trip for bread and go carts—that's about another hour— and then get lunch and switch off with Hedy. Then we can take Freddy to the library, BB to Henry's house, and Mangle to the errands then everyone to the beachfront while Jeremy takes Goldy and Foxy to get a drink and go skydiving."

"That's a terrible combination," Jeremy deadpanned.

"You should probably skydive first."

"Except I think I'm going to need a drink before jumping out of a plane," Jeremy retorted.

Ruby snickered. "It's really not as scary as it looks. I'm friends with the instructor."

None of them were surprised. Ruby had a scary amount of connections in this town.

"Right, laser tag! I'm on Foxy's team!"

Mike looked at Jeremy sideways. "How good are my chances if I'm on your team, Officer?"

"You're dating my little sister. Not great, Mike."

Mike might have paled at that. Thank goodness it was laser tag and not a paintball battle. Jeremy was a little too willing to leave bruises with those.

Ruby snickered at them as she started walking. Jeremy had eased up a lot on Mike but he was still an overprotective brother at his core.

"Come on, we're wasting daylight. No getting run over by cars, people."

The bots all turned to look at the busy road at the same time and paled.

"Heheh. Nope," Toby said and Goldy grabbed the back of his shirt before he could bolt back to the restaurant. She took Spring's hand.

He was getting twitchy as his eyes darted around, trying to track the vehicles with a somewhat alarmed expression on his face.

"Ah. Fuck," Puppet breathed.

"Puppet," Freddy scolded through gritted teeth, glancing at the children and mildly horrified that Puppet out of all of them slipped. Although it didn't seem like Marcus and Mercy heard.

"Why can't people just run everywhere?" Chi whined.

"I've asked that same question many times," Ruby sighed. At least she didn't seem skittish about the cars. She only had a problem when she was in one. "We're crossing over there." she pointed and started walking immediately. Foxy looked like he was stressed over the idea of RUBY crossing, more than he was stressed over crossing himself. "Don't worry, we'll send Mike first. If the clumsiest of us can do it, we all can do it."

Amelia picked up Marcus while she watched Goldy let go of Spring and Toby to pick up Mercy and hold the little girl just a bit tighter although her expression didn't seem worried.

Spring stayed close while Toby took a few steps closer to Bonnie subconsciously.

And then BB ran straight into the traffic and they saw Ruby have a near heart attack.

He dodged one car that swerved in a panic and another that hit the brakes before they hit him. Luckily cars further back had seen BB bolt and by some miracle the drivers were all paying attention. No one got rear ended.

BB waved happily from the other side while the cars honked angrily, well within their right to.

"I'm going to kill that little shit," Ruby snarled as Goldy lowered her hand from covering Mercy's eyes and caught her breath. Ruby stalked across the road and gave the finger to some guy who yelled at her.

Or maybe he was yelling muffled obscenities out his window at BB and Ruby was just reacting.

"I think she's actually going to strangle him," Bonnie whispered.

"If she doesn't, I will," Jeremy snapped as he gestured for the rest to follow the moment the walking sign turned on. He brought up the back to keep an eye on everyone while he struggled to calm down.

"Henry's face makes it easier," Mike said, trying to get his heart rate down as he linked arms with Spring and dragged Toby behind him. "Cover the kid's ears." He then shouted. "BB, what the flying fuck was that!"

"Mike," Jeremy hissed.

Amelia and Goldy had seen Mike's panicked anger and successfully covered the kid's ears in time before he even warned them.

"Do that again. Please," Puppet said the moment his feet were back on the safe sidewalk and he squinted at BB. "Rid us of Henry and your foolishness all at once."

BB blinked at the older bot in confusion but didn't seem hurt by Puppet's harshness at all. He smiled at them. "Then you're stuck with Henry in my body for the rest of your life. I wouldn't do that to you," he said, aghast.

Ruby reached out and grabbed him by the collar, jerking him down so she could glare at him.

"Do that again, and you'll learn exactly how painful it is if I kick you somewhere specific," she growled.

Mike winced.

BB wasn't an idiot (despite how he portrayed himself) so he did look at least a little apologetic. But he didn't understand the depth of Ruby's threat, so he still had an insufferably smug smirk that he wasn't trying to hide very well. He was also a bit too pleased about being taller than almost everyone for once.

Ruby threw him a dark look. She wouldn't hesitate to follow through on her threat. It was Henry's body. She wouldn't feel bad.

Toby kicked him lightly in the shin as he passed, mad about Mike having to drag him across the road. "Jerk."

"I think you just lost out on any batteries from the lass for at least a month," Foxy grumbled.

BB hopped in pain and looked suitably disappointed at that. Then again, he had Henry's credit card. He could stock up.

Ruby stormed off.

"You really scared her BB," Bonnie murmured before following.

BB paused. "I wasn't going to get hit." He spoke with absolute sureness.

"We didn't know that," Jeremy scolded. "Don't do anything like that again."

BB stared at Jeremy, confused. Was Jeremy worried about him?

The other bots were following after Ruby, Foxy and Bonnie trying to help her calm down a bit.

"The laser tag place is just up ahead," she told them. "Shouldn't be too busy this time of day."

It wasn't, which was weird for a Saturday. They could probably credit the convention. In fact the guy manning the front desk looked bored out of his mind. That didn't stop his slight irritation from seeing a large group come in. He hoped they were all together, then he could get through the instruction and safety rules all at once.

He raised his eyebrows a bit at them. They were too varied in age to assume they were a friend group and too different looking to say a family. Then he saw the uniforms quite a few were wearing. His curiosity spiked and confusion bled into his expression.

Yeah, he knew about Freddy's down the street. He almost got a job there years ago, but the only job available had hours he wouldn't have been able to do. Why were they here though?

Ruby gave him a sweet smile, the one that had everyone who knew her wary immediately. This guy didn't know her though so he wasn't pre-warned. She'd brought the kids here before but that was when another guy was on shift.

This could be fun.

"Team bonding exercises." She stuck to her lie from earlier. "You know, getting the staff closer and all that rubbish."

The guys stared for a moment before deciding it was more trouble than it was worth trying to question her.

"Uh...right," he said, "How many?"

Ruby looked to Jeremy. "Are we doing everyone at once?" she asked.

Jeremy thought for a moment. He didn't have a clue what would be best either way. He glanced at the poor worker with a flash of sympathy.

"Sure..." he said.

Mike raised his hand slightly. "Can we take pictures?" he asked the worker.

Hedy was going to be mad if no one brought her back pictures.

"Er. Not inside. You wouldn't want to anyway. There's a lot of flashing lights..." the guy said.

He didn't notice Foxy stiffen or most of them flinch.

"-But there's an observation deck. We get a lot of parents who don't want to play," he gestured to a door with a stairs symbol.

Ruby turned to the others. "Who wants to play and who wants to watch? Remember, no coding means no light issues." She met Foxy's eyes and he relaxed after a moment.

The worker pretended to busy himself with getting equipment but they could see his face twist in confusion.

Chica was the only one of the Originals who wasn't very interested in playing. Even Freddy was curious.

"I'll take Mike's phone and take videos," Chica offered while Mike shifted. "I'm sure Mike really wants to play."

"Eh heh," Mike laughed, glancing at Jeremy nervously. Then he stopped and looked at Chica in surprise. "Did you just throw me under the bus?"

"That's what you get for trying to use my kitchen." Chica squinted at him and he shuffled.

"My roommates broke our stove!" he defended.

"You left it a mess!" Chica argued while Jeremy muttered, "...how do you break a stove?"

Ruby snickered. Mike was getting no help from anyone. She turned to the Toys, BB and Puppet. Goldy was talking softly to Spring.

"What about you guys?"

Puppet didn't seem to hear her for a moment. He was staring outside as the sky was starting to take on a slightly greyer look.

"I want a go," Chi said, actually a bit excited.

BB just smirked.

Toby shrugged, not really wanting to admit he did too. He wasn't so sure though. Just walking down the street made his knees a little sore. Was Harrison a bit worn down or something?

Teddy didn't look sure while Goldy said that she and Spring were in.

Jeremy begrudgingly paid the fee while Amelia took Mercy from Goldy.

Mercy and Marcus didn't look too pleased to learn they were too small to play (the vests they had to wear would have swallowed one of them) but Amelia promised they could cheer everyone on and go get some ice cream later. That seemed to appease them.

As always, Ruby softened around the little kids in a way she didn't around anyone else. She promised them that the nearby ice-cream place had the best frozen treats ever.

Ruby snagged both Foxy and Spring for her team, mostly for the reason that she didn't like being on the opposing team from them.

"Jeremy is captain of the other team," she announced.

"I'm with Ruby," Goldy immediately announced.

"Mike is on your team," Jeremy said, cracking a small smirk, well aware he was probably setting them up to lose if he was going to get stuck with most of the Toys. Mike may be clumsy, but he had great reflexes.

Bonnie sighed, knowing whoever was on the team against Ruby, they were probably going to get their butts kicked. However...Liam's eyesight was much better than his. It was a bit shocking actually.

"I'll be on Jeremy's team," he volunteered.

Freddy joined Bonnie on Jeremy's team since it would probably be more organised than Ruby's.

The teen looked over at the Toys impatiently. "Pick a team!" she was impatient to get started now.

Chi, Mangle, and Teddy went on Jeremy's side while Toby (with a little bit of complaint) and BB went with Ruby.

Six against six with Chica sitting out and Puppet not saying anything yet.

"Puppet," Spring spoke up while the worker looked really confused at the name.

What the hell kind of name was 'Puppet?'

Puppet jumped a bit and ripped his eyes away from the sky outside. "What?"

"What team are you on?" Spring asked curiously.

Puppet was silent for a moment. "Excuse me," he looked at the laser tag employee, much less sympathetic than the rest. His voice was stiff speaking with the strange adult. "Do I have to be on a team?"

The guy looked more confused. "Well...no. I can change the vest color to green or something. But that means you're against everyone else and you have to get some really good shots in to make any good points. Points get deducted if you shoot and don't hit anything either so every shot has to count. Plus with this many, you can't get hit a lot. That takes away points too."

Puppet didn't look so concerned. "That's fine."

He stared at Foxy for a moment. If this was Foxy's 'wish' and he really wanted to enjoy this ridiculous activity, he better have a bit of a challenge. Perhaps, Jeremy could make it difficult but Puppet wasn't holding out hope.

Foxy grinned back while some of the others started to get nervous. Foxy was pretty competitive and Puppet liked to win.

"Now things are getting interesting," Ruby smirked.

The employee gave them the basic safety rules, which included no hitting other players with the butt of the guns, and demonstrated how to put the target vests on and how they worked. Then he went to a computer and did something before Ruby's side lit with red lights and Jeremy's lit up blue. Puppet meanwhile was the only one in green.

"When a target flashes and you hear this sound..." he pressed a button and Toby's vest warbled. "That means you got hit. You're not out or anything, but it's a negative point while the person who shot you gets one. You probably already figured, but the goal is to end with the most points when the timer goes off ten minutes after I tell you to start. There's a lot of obstacles and places to hide. But on either side of the room are these big targets you have to defend. Every time the other team hits it, it's twenty points. Who wants to go in first and set up their base?" He gestured at Puppet. "You don't get a base. Sorry."

Ruby bounced up and down with her hand in the air.

"Let's go let's go!" she was about as excited as playing 'the game' got her.

"Wait but I have to..." the employee started before Ruby darted to his station and hit the button to open the doors. "Hey!"

But Ruby was already dragging her team through while Jeremy quickly apologized.

None of the bots were surprised by her actions. They were impressed that she sat through the explanations so far.

Once inside, Ruby promptly disappeared. Again, none of them were surprised.

It was a little off-putting to Mike and Jeremy to watch the bots in human bodies slip into their hunting stances unconsciously.

They shuddered, casting an understanding look between them before going their separate ways. They were on opposite teams after all.

The employee's voice came over the loudspeakers. "I'm starting the count down from ten. Your ten minutes start at the horn and end at the siren."

Foxy and Mangle quickly disappeared into the dark. Puppet wasn't far behind them.

Most of the group automatically spread out instead of staying in groups.

BB ran off while making an excited squealing sound. It was very unsettling coming from Henry.

Jeremy sighed, throwing any idea of an actual team out the window. Then he ducked behind a wall and shot Spring.

The poor rabbit was looking a slight bit lost.

Goldy proved her more protective side when she got him in retaliation. Despite not having her ghost abilities, it was near impossible to spot her.

They heard a maniacal cackle (Ruby) and then a startled yelp and curse (Toby, surprisingly). Teddy and Freddy both yelled 'Language' at the same time over Mangle's screech of rage at the realization Toby seemed to be familiar with cursing.

It gave them away and two distinct sounds of vests going off sent some of the others into giggles.

Jeremy startled as his vest went off again, twice. He pressed against a wall and looked around but couldn't see anyone.

Who was shooting him?!

Puppet let out a wordless scream right above him.

Jeremy screamed and hit the ground as Puppet shot him a third time and promptly disappeared again.

Foxy and Mangle were having a sniping war and mostly ignoring the others. Bonnie was single-mindedly hunting for Ruby who kept getting him when he wasn't looking. He was half convinced she was on the ceiling somehow.

BB just kept giggling creepily from the dark corners.

Somehow...somehow. Puppet's green vest never lit up with a tag in the darkness. Nor did Ruby's red one.

It took losing nearly all the shots he made on Mangle for Foxy to realize maybe he should pay a bit more attention to the fact that, while he was well hidden from Mangle, he was wide open for pretty much anyone else.

Mangle smirked as Teddy got another shot on Foxy. Her spot was much better defended. She cackled as Foxy tried to duck, but ended up tripping on a foam obstacle. "Oh come on, Captain! Where's your sea legs?!"

The next moment her vest lit up.

"Sorry Mangle," Ruby cooed sweetly from directly behind him. "But he is my favourite fox." She nailed Teddy as well before darting off again.

Both foxes were quiet for a moment before Foxy spoke. "How the heck does she do that? I mean seriously. I love the lass but it's like she appears from thin air!"

"No clue," Mangle muttered. Her vest lit up again. "BB! What the heck?!"

Foxy chuckled right before his did too. "OI! We're on the same team, helium head!"

BB didn't look repentant at all. "Friendly fire."

"Traitor!" Spring shouted from somewhere else.

Jeremy groaned. If avoiding shooting your teammates was another aspect of getting points, they were doomed.

Goldy, however, ignored the shouting on the other side of the room as she aimed at Puppet. There was no way she was letting him get away without getting hit at least once. He didn't need the ego boost.

But he ducked and Goldy cursed. Of course, that would have been too easy.

Instead, Goldy hit Ruby, who she somehow hadn't seen in the shadows behind Puppet getting ready to shoot him too.

"Sorry, Ruby!" Goldy called while Puppet silently dived under another obstacle to disappear. But she could tell he was definitely laughing at them.

Ruby shrugged. "I'll fill his box with glitter when we get back."

Those nearby winced. Ruby had only done that once. The box actually needed to be vacuumed and there was still some glitter inside afterwards.

A few moments later after Puppet got both Bonnie and Goldy in quick succession, his vest unexpectedly lit up. Turning around revealed Spring who gave a nervous wave. He really wanted to tell Hedy that he got Puppet.

Puppet couldn't even be mad about it. He looked so happy.

Meanwhile, up on the observation deck, the employee was perplexed at how well most of them were playing while Chica was recording with Mike's phone and trying not to laugh too hard.

Marcus and Mercy were being distractingly adorable as they cheered everyone on.

The employee was also a bit disturbed by how into the game the teenager got.

This was such a weird group...

Their names only added to that.

"Oh, come on Mangle!" Chica called.

'Mangle' had to be a nickname. A really odd one. It slightly worried him about what kind of lady got the name "Mangle."

They just kept going until the timer finally ran out and there were multiple complaints when it did. None of them avoided being hit entirely and some got hit more than others. A lot more than others. Like Mike and Bonnie. Thanks to Jeremy and Ruby respectively.

"Alright, who won?" Mike groaned, knowing it wasn't him as he shrugged off the vest.

"How much did Barbie Rabbit get hit?" Ruby asked eagerly. They were a little surprised by her lack of concern over who won but then again she played games with kids a lot. She probably threw the games for the younger ones.

"...Barbie...Rabbit...?" the employee looked up from his computer in utter confusion.

"Hey we were on the same team!" Toby complained. "Wait, were you the one who kept shooting me?!"

Spring cracked up in stifled giggles at the human's face.

Ruby was grinning wickedly at Toby. "So, how much did he get hit?"

Turned out Toby got hit the most, followed by Teddy. Ruby and Puppet were tied for getting hit the least, something that made the teen glare at him. Foxy and Mangle also tied. Mike wasn't quite as bad as Toby but he'd been hit almost exclusively by Jeremy.

"Darling," Amelia said as she and Chica came down with the children, Mercy jumping down the steps and Marcus in Chica's arms. "I really expected better from a firearms instructor." She smirked at Jeremy.

"I barely got hit!"

Goldy snorted.

"Yes. But you only mostly shot Mike. Do I need to tell Hedy you're bullying him?"

Mike made a face.

"At the very least I expected you to get Mari once," Amelia said as Puppet looked at her oddly.

Only Hedy really called him 'Mari'. The older adult must have picked it up from her.

Jeremy grimaced and Amelia's sweet smile widened a bit. She was well aware that the danger around the bots was gone, so now her husband's mild fear of them was open for a bit of teasing.

Ruby snickered and then scowled when she realised she'd laughed at Amelia's joke. She still had her issues with the woman and was stubbornly holding onto them.

The bots rolled their eyes subtly behind her. By now, it was pure stubbornness keeping Ruby at odds with Amelia.

"Ice cream, Mommy?" Marcus said from Chica's arms with his thumb in his mouth.

Jeremy huffed a bit. That sounded like a brilliant idea. They were all hot and sweaty after running around and it was only a matter of time before someone started complaining about their own smell and how sticky they were. The bots couldn't normally smell, could they? That's a new experience.

"Ice cream might be a good first thing for you to experience eating anyway," he suggested. Somewhere in the back of his mind he admitted he was kind of hoping Puppet got brain freeze in retribution. Or Mangle, as she and Chi were the ones who got them into this, but he wasn't as keen about making them really pay like a few of the others had been. They were enjoying this after all, so far.

The employee, who was still putting up the discarded vests, paused facing away from them and glanced over his shoulder in confusion.

Ruby noticed and just shot him her most 'I'm slightly disturbed but I'm not locked up' grin. She had that one down to perfection by now but usually used it on the manager.

Sue her, she wanted to have some fun.

"Hedy's going to be upset we got ice cream without her," Mike sighed.

Hedy liked ice cream.

Amelia smirked. "Well, you'll just have to bring her a pint when you head back."

"True..." Mike said, missing Amelia's approving smile.

She liked him. And the kids liked him. In her opinion, Mike was a sweetheart and he and Hedy complimented each other.

They were both anxious and often stressed individuals but their stresses were different. He mellowed out her intensity when she focused too hard on something while she calmed his quieter, more constant anxiety. Hedy was definitely the more dominant personality but Mike was insistent on being honest with her. They had a more "give and give" relationship, rather than a "give and take." All this Amelia had gathered from chatting with Hedy and cutting through her husband's complaints to hear the praises Jeremy would sneak in about Mike.

She would not mind him as a brother-in-law in the slightest. She was still upset that Jeremy hadn't invited him to dinner with them. It probably didn't even cross her husband's mind. He was just so caught up in the fact Hedy was actually dating anyone that he didn't often stop to consider he actually liked Mike quite a lot.

Ruby shooed them out of the building, demanding that they get ice cream now instead of just standing around and talking about it.

"What flavor do you like, Marcus?" Chica asked as she handed Mike his phone back.

They didn't miss the curiosity in the 'Frank's' voice as she asked.

"Lots," Marcus said, pulling his thumb out of his mouth. "What do you like?"

"That's why I was asking. I've never had ice cream before."

Marcus and Mercy both looked shocked.

"Ma'tronics can't have ice cream?" Mercy gasped.

Jeremy snorted a bit at his daughter's horror.

Ruby snickered. "Nope, this is their first time ever having ice cream. So you've got to help them choose the best ones okay?"

It was always a little jarring to see Ruby soften when she spoke to children.

Some of the bots couldn't help laughing a bit too.

"Any suggestions, lad?" Foxy asked Marcus.

"Vanilla," Marcus said immediately while Mercy made a disgusted face and gestured for Foxy to pick her up as they walked down the sidewalk. She wanted a piggy-back ride that didn't involve her dad tickling her like he did every time.

Foxy obliged without a second thought.

They listened to the kids' suggestions closely, like they did with every child. That wasn't something that was tied to their mechanical bodies. It was just them.

Frankly, it was adorable.

Mike grinned as they arrived at the ice cream shop. Things were going pretty well.

And Hedy was probably doing completely fine handling the humans trapped in robot bodies.

Completely fine...