Author's Notes:

Sorry for no chapter last week everyone! It's been hectic. We'll try and get an extra up this week to make up for it. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 148

Boo

The staff was freaking out over how they kept doing things without meaning to. Like going into the closet or bathroom. The coding definitely seemed to affect them.

"Hedy..." Liam whined like a child for the fifth time as he stood in the doorway, having just come back from the closet again. The poor guy also wasn't pleased about walking around without meaning to, not with his fear of heights.

Hedy sighed and quit organizing her tools to pinch the bridge of her nose as Izzy paced in her periphery. The twins were far easier to babysit. "I can't do anything about it. It's Bonnie's code."

"Aren't you a programmer?" Henry asked, almost mockingly.

Hedy frowned and squinted at him.

Harrison winced and stepped back from where he was hanging around the mechanic. He knew Hedy well enough to know she didn't appreciate having her skills called into question. She was somewhat frighteningly like Ruby in that regard.

"It's deep," Hedy said, with the patience of a saint. She did, however, lightly brandish a wrench at Henry like a teacher with a pointer. "I try not to mess with their code too much if I don't have too. They usually can control their own coding."

She looked behind her at the sound of Puppet's music box.

"Ah!" Jerry shouted, his feet suddenly frozen in place as he abruptly stopped walking, frozen with the music box in hand.

Hedy caught her breath as he fell over from the momentum. He could have dropped the music box.

"Jerry!" she snapped. "Why would you wind it up?! Puppet specifically told you what would happen if you did!" She came over, prying the wooden box out of Jerry's hands as he looked at her sheepishly. She looked away. It was an expression that just didn't work with Puppet's face.

Hedy moved to Puppet's box and carefully set the music box inside near the back, having to stand up a little to reach without dropping it. She groaned in pain and sat back to catch her breath. It was probably the stress that made it hurt more today. Subconsciously tense muscles...

"You're stuck until it's done," she said, looking back at Jerry.

Jerry groaned as Jess chuckled a bit. "How is this even possible?" He complained.

"I think a music box that magically freezes Puppet is the least strange thing to happen today," Frank said dryly. It sounded so weird with Chica's voice.

The group really wasn't handling this well. Some of them were still in denial and saying this was a dream or something while the others just kept attracting trouble.

Henry had already walked into five of Ruby's leftover traps.

She did warn him to stay out of the vents.

The funniest part about this was the fact the manager was still in the building with them. It wasn't an issue, but it was still a weird thing to have in the back of her mind. Not that she cared what he thought but she occasionally couldn't help wondering what on earth he was thinking if he could hear them.

She was anxious about Andrew. He wouldn't sit still. He kept walking around, studying everyone else and looking at random things as if to see what was so different about Spring's eyes.

A lot apparently. "Colours look different," he had mumbled.

She was yanked out of the recent memory as he ran out of the room, moving far too sharply for her liking.

"Where's Andrew going?" she asked, staring out the door he disappeared.

"To look in the mirror in the bathroom," Marion said, shrugging. He tilted his head, stretching out Foxy's neck hesitantly. It felt...tight? He looked at the mechanic in confusion as she kept staring at the door, waiting for Andrew to return. Some of them hadn't missed how she kept a closer eye on the yellow rabbit. She might have looked worried, maybe frightened, if they didn't know better. Well, most of them didn't really know her well enough to "know better" anyway.

Most of them were trying to stay as still as possible and as close to the mechanic as they could. Henry was only wandering out of spite and Andrew was the only one who was moving around excitedly.

Jess was trying to ask Hedy simple questions, like if the bots drank oil like a drink (they didn't) but figured out pretty quickly Hedy was preoccupied when she pulled out a second tablet and flicked through the cameras.

Hedy glanced at Olivia, mildly wondering if the summoning still worked on Goldy's actual body. But she skipped over the camera with the poster and searched for wherever Andrew had wandered, tense.

Jess frowned. "Hedy?"

Olivia was watching her but refused to move. She said it felt weird without any exoskeleton. Like she had no bones… It was a disturbing concept to imagine.

"Andrew, what the heck are you doing?" Hedy muttered, mostly to herself as she watched Andrew lose interest in the bathroom and wander further into the building. "Get back here." She frowned. "Don't fricking go to Fright! Why is he going to Fright?!"

Harrison shrugged, weirded out by Hedy's concern. "He hasn't got a chance to check it out."

"It's been open for ages," Hedy retorted to the blue rabbit.

"You always have it closed when he's off," Henry pointed out, as if it was Hedy's fault.

Technically, maybe he was right, but it was a coincidence. They were quick to close it if Spring wasn't feeling it or Goldy was drained, which could happen apparently. The ghost bear could (rarely) be exhausted and flicker a bit or struggle with being solid. She adored participating so much that she got a little over-excited sometimes.

"Why are you so worried?" Olivia asked softly.

Hedy got the feeling that the building was also keeping a close eye on Andrew. Or a close camera. Or… whatever...

She drummed her fingers on the tablet and didn't answer. She froze as Andrew stopped in front of Fright's office window and started making funny faces in the grimy reflection.

"Boo!" Andrew said, snickering to himself and unaware the cameras had sound. "If this drags on, I wonder if they'll let me do Spring's job for a day." He bent sideways in a way that made Hedy nervous and wiggled 'his' ears. "Wouldn't mind a sick day or two off school to scare some people."

Hedy sucked in a breath but it wasn't Andrew that worried her.

Michael was standing in an adjacent hallway with a strange expression, half confused but still with a smirk as he watched the rabbit play with his reflection.

Andrew hadn't noticed him.

The ghosts didn't know about the switching, Hedy was pretty sure of that. Michael usually stayed missing during the day (and mostly at night too). Everyone knew Fazbear's Fright was pretty much Spring's whole part of the building even if that was where Michael was most of the time too. Michael usually behaved in the daytime (under threat of Ruby, that girl would find a way to murder him if he messed with children and he knew it) and Spring was usually with them at night so it wasn't too much of a concern.

Hedy sneered. This implied Michael sometimes messed with Spring when he was alone and Spring just never told them. She had a few words in mind for when Spring got back.

How could Michael still be such an idiot despite how many times Ruby beat him up for even looking in their direction now that she physically could?

Especially when it came to Spring. The rabbit might be closer to Hedy but Ruby got nasty when she was protecting him. More so than when she defended the others. It was probably because of how bad things had been for Spring. Ruby may struggle with empathy but she understood trauma. It was one of the only things that made her connect to others sometimes.

Hedy tried not to think about exactly how unhealthy that was.

None of that really mattered at the moment except for the simple fact Michael thought it was Spring in front of him.

"Hey Springaling, any brats come through today?" Michael purred.

Andrew screamed and jumped. There was a second scream, but that one was in pain as something in his side snapped and he froze, clasping his side and leaning against the window. If he was still human at the moment, he might have paled, both from the fright and the pain. He stared at the man who had snuck up behind him.

Michael genuinely looked surprised by the reaction, stepping back.

Spring still feared him, but he was rarely startled so violently.

Michael suspected Spring could sense when he was close, given how much time they had spent together.

Michael smirked, though Hedy could see the confusion in his eyes even through the grainy camera.

Everyone in the main room was looking around in confusion, having heard the scream even from there.

Henry looked mildly panicked for a moment.

Ruby was going to find a way to murder a ghost when she found out about this… Hedy was sure she already had some ideas in that notebook she scribbled into while laughing maniacally. That or it was prank ideas. Fifty-fifty chance.

Hedy panicked and did the only thing she could think of. She pulled out a small handheld bb gun Ruby had modified for her, much to the alarm of the employees.

"Hedy?! What the hell are you..."

"What the fuck?! She has a gun!"

Hedy almost laughed at the alarm but ignored the day staff as she went over to Olivia. Her stomach twisted. She didn't even know if she could do this.

Goldy was never going to leave her alone about this if it worked.

Ruby was going to be worse, much worse.

"Olivia, I'm really sorry about this," Hedy said.

Olivia looked alarmed. "Wh-"

She didn't get a moment to respond as Hedy touched her yellow shoulder and they both just disappeared.

The other employees shouted.

Henry stared. "I'm drunk, aren't I? This is a drunk fever dream."

Hedy and Olivia appeared in Fright with Olivia freaking out while Andrew screamed again and Hedy took the moment of Michael's shock to dry heave up an empty stomach that couldn't be hungry even if she wanted it.

This was probably the most confused Hedy had ever seen Michael. He looked between the panicking Olivia to the startled Andrew and then back to Hedy.

"What the fuck?" he muttered.

Hedy ignored the other two's rapid questions and pointed the gun at Michael, despite still being nauseous from the teleporting. (Which she could apparently control.)

Yeah, Goldy was going to be relentless in her teasing and trying to get Hedy to practice it now. She was always trying to play with Hedy about the ghost stuff if she even got a whiff that Hedy was having a depressive mood about it. She did the same with Ruby nowadays too. It was like Goldy knew having ghost attributes could potentially be damaging for a person's mind while they were still alive. If the human part of them let it.

Hedy noticed it too. Being unable to hide stronger emotions was one issue, but she suspected some of her more negative emotions were heightened at times, especially around Michael. Almost as if she was feeling vengeful like the kids. It wasn't healthy. But she was aware of it.

Ruby was too but she had far more practice than Hedy did in controlling her dark side.

Salt coated bbs. Honestly, it wouldn't do much more than irritate Michael, but they would still hurt.

"This isn't Spring," she said with a too-calm tone. "Not that Ruby's going to give you any leeway because he isn't, but I'm not dealing with Andrew breaking Spring because he doesn't know about you."

Michael blinked. "What?"

Hedy was rather proud of being able to speak to Michael without being pissed at him for once. She had other concerns.

"The building switched the bots with the employees," she explained. It might be funny if she didn't tell him anything and let him be confused, but that wasn't fair to the employees. They didn't deserve a murderer emotionally abusing them as if they were the bots while they had no idea what was going on. "That's Andrew. The building switched him with Spring, which I think was a bad choice," she looked pointedly at the ceiling before gesturing at Olivia. "This is Olivia, not Goldy. The day guards."

Michael blinked and looked at the bots. "Bullshit, Wiggy."

Hedy shot him in the face while Andrew and Olivia screamed, startled at her violence. The bb went through his cheek and stuck inside him for a moment before bouncing on the floor. He still jerked back and held his face in pain.

"FUCK!"

"Are you...!" Olivia asked in shock, her first instinct to see if he was hurt while Andrew looked at Hedy in horror.

"You don't get to call me Wiggy," Hedy said dryly. "And I wish it was bullshit."

Michael glared at her, stepping back as he eyed the gun in irritation. "Where'd they go?"

"Out. The bots are out doing human stuff while they have the opportunity."

Michael looked interested as he lowered his hand. He snorted in genuine amusement. There was still confusion but no malice in it, but it still looked very off-putting coming from him.

"I'm guessing Foxy wants to get drunk. Lucky bastard," he muttered. He squinted, smirking slightly. "Where's Ruby?"

Hedy frowned. He'd figure it out eventually. It wasn't like Ruby was usually there in the morning anyway. "With them. She, Jeremy, and Mike are the babysitters."

Michael smirked. "So it's just us today? And the employees. Unless you were stupid enough to let these idiots pretend to be the bots around little brats."

Olivia and Andrew were staring and getting very bad vibes off this stranger. Who was he? The restaurant was closed and they had never seen him before. They didn't like Hedy acting like the guy already knew who they were.

They could also see that Hedy absolutely hated the man. They didn't think she could be much scarier beyond when she was upset about the bots doing something stupid during work and getting injured. She also wasn't violent against people. Not even Ruby would think to shoot someone with an actual gun that could take an eye out or worse.

(As far as they knew anyway. Hedy wondered sometimes. They were just… theories though.)

"We're closed. The Manager's in his office," Hedy said. "Try anything and you're going to regret it."

Michael gave her a look with a small smile. "What could I possibly try, Wiggy? Jumping out and yelling boo?"

Hedy didn't fall for it and lifted the gun again.

"Hedy, who is this?" Olivia spoke up before Hedy could shoot the man again. She put Goldy's hand out to take the gun but Hedy held it out of her reach.

Andrew meanwhile had noticed the man didn't seem to have a visible wound or blood where he was shot.

Hedy was quiet for a minute. "Let's go back to the main room. I'll explain some of the story there."

"I can't move," Andrew blurted out, gasping in pain and still hunched in the same position. "I...i-it really hurts to move."

"Okay, stay still," Hedy said, her face twisting to a bizarre mashup of annoyance and concern. She ignored Michael and moved so she was between Andrew and Olivia before touching both of them.

Michael jerked back at them disappearing.

"... That's new. Neat trick, Wiggy," he said to himself. After a moment he decided to follow. Except he had to take the long way around. He still didn't have the hang of teleporting.

He could practically hear that damn nightguard gleefully crying "Shit ghost" in the back of his mind. Not like she could teleport either...

Timmy was watching silently out of sight and sighed inaudibly. Michael was going to cause trouble.

He never learned…

Everyone jumped and yelled when Hedy appeared with Olivia and Andrew.

Andrew gasped and almost lost his balance, still holding his side in pain and too distracted by said pain to really freak out about the teleporting.

Olivia yanked her arm away from Hedy.

"What was that? How did you do that!?"

"What just happened?" Jerry asked.

The day staff had freaked out at them disappearing, immediately worried for them and the fact Hedy was suddenly gone who-knows-where (no one thought to look at the tablet in those sixty or so seconds).

Hedy was well aware she shouldn't keep ignoring the questions but she was in a 'one thing at a time' mindset at the moment.

She gently coaxed Andrew into shuffling to a table and trying his best to sit up on top. She even asked a still shell-shocked Samuel to help lift Andrew up, to which he agreed without a word.

Andrew was in too much pain to really argue. It felt like he had been stabbed or several ribs had broken.

He gingerly shifted and hissed out a wince, wondering if the bots could cry. He wanted to. So what if a bunch of adults thought he was a baby?

Hedy glanced at Michael as he appeared, startling the day shift again. He leaned against a wall, watching her and the bots' stolen bodies with interest like the creep he was.

Hedy sensed Timmy come in to keep an eye on things and sighed. She glanced at Olivia as the day guard tried to drag answers out of her before she was ready. Could Olivia sense anything or was that sort of thing purely part of Goldy's soul? Did she feel like something was off about Michael or that she was being watched by Timmy? Did Olivia sense Hedy? She didn't really want to deal with explaining that. She needed an excuse with the teleporting that was still weird but didn't lead to fully explaining she was a "ghost." This was way too much for them.

Timmy was staying out of sight at least since explaining a ghost kid would be far more difficult than explaining a ghost murderer.

"What's going on now?!" Henry demanded.

He really was the least intimidating thing right now. Like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum. Loud but you just rolled your eyes with a long-suffering sigh.

Hedy looked away from Andrew, who she managed to ease into laying down on the table.

Spring apparently had a much higher pain tolerance than she thought. He had walked himself to Parts and Services with snapped springlocks just like this.

"What did you just do to us!" Olivia demanded for the fourth time.

"Teleport," Hedy finally said. "Goldy is a ghost. She has the ability to teleport herself and whoever she's touching anywhere in the building. I figured out how to influence where we land."

That was all the truth.

"That's...actually really cool..." Andrew moaned, squeezing his eyes shut.

Jerry was shaking his head as he came over to check on Andrew, worried about the moaning. He sharply looked at Michael, clearly freaked out along with the others. "Who are you?!"

Michael raised an eyebrow. He was quiet for a moment and they all got to witness the rare occurrence of him thinking, carefully studying 'Puppet' to see if he recognized the mannerisms. "You first. Puppet doesn't panic like that."

Hedy glared at him, warningly pointing the gun.

"Aw Wiggy, you want to introduce me to your friends?" Michael mocked.

"Shut the fuck up," Hedy hissed, shooting him in the leg.

"OW!"

"Hedy!" Harrison shouted. "Did you just shoot him?"

"Yes. He's fine," her tone said she would prefer otherwise.

It really put them all off. Hedy was so kind, usually. She always had a reason if she didn't like someone, but this was far deeper. It was scary.

"Uh..." Jerry said, catching Michael's attention. "I'm Jerry. Nice to meet you," he said without thinking.

Michael laughed. "Hear that?! Nice to meet me! Never thought I'd hear that with Puppet's voice. Hey Jerry, say 'I love Michael.' Oh, he'd hate that."

"Um...I don't think I will..." Jerry said, cautiously, glancing at Hedy.

She looked grateful.

Michael shrugged and leaned back against a wall.

"Well? Who are you?" Frank asked.

Michael was still clearly confused and stared at Frank with a squint. He didn't know who was talking to at any given time.

"I'm sure Wiggy would love to tell you."

"I actually wouldn't," Hedy hissed, shooting him again.

"For fuck sake! Stop it!"

"Language," Frank hissed before straightening and looking confused he even said that.

Hedy glanced at him but answered Michael. "If you don't want me to shoot you, you'll stop calling me Wiggy. Simple as that, you idiot. Not hard to figure out."

Michael sneered at her. Then he looked at the humans stuck in bot bodies.

He chuckled. He had all their attention.

"I'm Hedwig's boogeyman," the young man said proudly. "Fifteen, oh wait, sixteen years ago I murdered a bunch of brats in the back room using Spring there..." he gestured at Andrew who was suddenly wearing a horrified expression. "Meant to kill Hedy, but she got away. I got pretty close a while ago. Turned her into a juice box with a rusty pipe."

He smiled wide. There was something extremely cathartic about telling some people—strangers— and being able to take the credit for it. What were they going to do? Send him to death row?

Izzy froze from where she was sitting, previously nervously bouncing Mangle's knee.

Harrison, however, had twisted Toby's face into shock and a fair bit of horror that was a bit different from everyone else as he finally recognized the face.

"Michael? Michael Afton?"

Michael looked at 'Toby' and paused. "Alright," he said, irritated, "Who the fuck is in the barbie's head?"

Hedy frowned. She may have underestimated how long Harrison had been a cleaner. Also, she was so telling Ruby that Michael was trying to use her Barbie nickname.

Timmy shimmered into view beside Hedy, startling all but Hedy. "Michael," his voice was dripping in disappointment. "Leave them alone. Ruby's going to be mad at you."

Michael always looked uncomfortable when Timmy spoke to him and this was no exception, but he hid it under cruelty.

"Ruby can go fuck herself."

Hedy shot him. She must have got him in the eye because he screamed in real pain and covered his left one, cussing at her.

All this went on while the day shift were all in various levels of shock, looking between the strange boy that had just appeared, the strange man, and a suddenly violent Hedy.

"HEDY!" Izzy said, sickened at the eye injury. She was going to throw up if she saw blood (or she would if she could.)

Olivia was staring at the man with a gaping mouth. She stared at Timmy. But before she could yell something she looked at Hedy.

"Hedy." Olivia had an interesting "mom" voice. She wasn't much older than Hedy but she had her son much younger than most people. "Is this true?"

Hedy hesitated. "Yes." She said simply. After a moment. "He killed my childhood friends and almost killed me when I was five years old."

Marion suddenly shouted wordlessly, earning him some startled looks.

"Th-the blood! When ye..." he sputtered at the pirate accent that suddenly took over his voice without his permission. "When ye were in the hospital...! We 'ad to clean up..."

Michael raised his hand, bent over in pain while the other still held his eye. "That was the juice box thing," he hissed.

"You are pushing your luck," Hedy said.

"What the hell is he doing here?!" Henry sounded pissed, glaring at the stranger.

"He's a ghost obviously because that's a fucking thing," Jerry said. It was strange for him to curse. He was usually such a peacekeeper that he never did. But he sounded so upset, Puppet's voice really emphasizing it. He looked at Timmy, obviously struggling with what was going on. He suddenly looked so heartbroken, glancing between the still-floating-Olivia and the little boy whose feet were just barely brushing the floor.

Timmy sighed. "He refuses to move on. But Ruby can keep him under control. She's going to be furious when she gets back."

"What is going on?" Izzy whispered. "Ghosts? Murderers?"

"Izzy, I think you need to sit down," Jess said kindly, sounding much calmer than she actually felt.

Harrison was staring at Michael angrily. He stood up, his voice cracking as he barely restrained himself from yelling at Michael. "I knew it. I knew it. I thought you were a good kid. But then you up and disappeared after the investigation and I knew something was wrong! Scott didn't even know where you went!"

Hedy flinched and looked at the older man stuck in Toby's body.

Michael smirked at Harrison, still holding his eye. "Lot of good that did you huh? Not like you can talk much. You're one of the cleaners, aren't you? How'd it feel getting rid of those little bodies huh?"

Harrison would have paled if he could. He stepped back as his face filled with grief. He had disposed of a lot of bodies over the years. But those...

"Michael," Hedy said calmly. "Keep in mind that even if Ruby isn't here right now, she's going to make you regret everything you just said the second she hears about it."

"You know how pathetic you sound, Wiggy? Running to Ruby like she's mommy dearest because you can't do shit except tattle on me."

Timmy narrowed his eyes. He didn't usually get angry at Michael but the older ghost was pushing it.

"Michael, stop it."

If he kept this up...Timmy was going to go to Ruby himself. He could jump to her location pretty easily with her connection to the building. Not that Michael knew that.

Yet.

Michael stared at him for a moment before sneering.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Hedy pulled Timmy closer, the shock over the situation meant they missed the strangeness of her being about to touch the ghost. Then again, it wasn't like they knew any rules about ghosts.

Hedy glanced at the ceiling. A moment later, Betty fell from the ceiling and solidly hit Michael on the head. He went down, groaning and before he had a moment to recover Hedy wheeled herself close and grasped the bat, solidly swinging against Michael's skull. She wasn't worried about killing him, of course, so it certainly looked rather grim. She hit him in the face for good measure with enough force that it would have done more than break his nose if he was alive.

"I can be very lazy toward those I don't want to give the time of day," Hedy said to him. "And I'm not Ruby, so yes, I'm not always physically able to make this hell for you, but keep in mind the building likes me and doesn't like you. I can keep you in the same place if I want. I won't tell you to leave, but you better keep your mouth shut. This is difficult enough for these people. Of course, I don't expect you to care, but it influences my actions. I'm in charge here today. Remember that."

The literal only reason she wasn't willing to chase him out of the room or ask the building to do the same was that it seemed he was in a crueler mood than usual without Ruby there. She didn't want him going to terrorize the kids when she couldn't get to them quickly. She was still angry with them, but she was never going to purposely subject them to Michael.

No one deserved that.

Timmy tilted his head as he studied his prone brother.

"I think we always forget that there's a reason Ruby's afraid of Hedy when she's actually mad," he commented, making all the employees look at Hedy in shock. "What?" Timmy shrugged. "Why do you think Ruby stopped messing with the light switches? Hedy had a screaming fit when Toby got shocked and Ruby hid in the Cove behind Foxy the whole night."

They all continued gaping at him.

"Don't get me wrong, Ruby is way scarier. But she's also smart enough not to purposefully piss Hedy off."

"Did you just swear?" Hedy asked, distracted from her hateful stare down with Michael for a moment.

"No one will believe you if you tell them I did," he deadpanned.

Hedy had made a lot of odd facial expressions that day that the day staff had never seen before, but the 'exasperated older sister look' was incredibly familiar.

Timmy just smiled.