Author's Note:
Public service announcement. Please be kind to your retail workers on Black Friday. It is a day of hell. Sorry for the late chapter! Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 153
Post Office, Bank, Beach
Most of them opted to go with Mike. Foxy wanted to try skydiving as well though, so he went with Jeremy.
In the end, there wasn't enough room for everyone that wanted to go with Mike, so Hedy would have to drop some of them off at the go carts before she and Mangle went for the errands alone.
As boring as it sounded, Mangle was a little pleased she would get to hang out with Hedy by herself.
Even when Spring opted to come with them it didn't really disappoint her.
With all the excitement and activity, Spring did need some time to calm down.
Jeremy was making sure that Foxy was sober enough to want to do skydiving. Luckily for him, he sobered up pretty quickly apparently. Faster than Mangle, who was still giggly.
Lovely. Hedy was going to be dealing with a tipsy Mangle in public with professional adults. This will be fun. At least she could trust Spring to behave, right?
Spring stuck close to her, looking around with wary curiosity. Mangle was just rambling about everything she saw to Hedy. She also almost wandered off a couple of times but Spring grabbed her when Hedy didn't.
First stop was the post office and Hedy had to practically drag Mangle through the line to the front desk to drop off Izzy's package. Difficult with only one hand.
The worker looked at Izzy lazily. "Been a while," he said, raising his eyebrows and pinching his yellowing teeth together.
Mangle looked between Hedy and the guy. "Uh, hi."
Spring stayed near the door, still anxious about crowds.
"We have a package to drop off."
The man glanced at Hedy and made a face.
That was weird...
He then told them the price of postage.
"Postage is already paid for," Hedy pointed out with a frown.
"Huh. Didn't think you could see from down there," the man shrugged.
Hedy narrowed her eyes.
She vaguely remembered Izzy saying something about not upsetting the postman.
What sort of loser got a power trip from holding people's mail hostage so he could be rude? Did Izzy let him get away with it?
Mangle twitched slightly next to her but thankfully didn't say anything. Yet.
This also might explain why Ruby said the orphanage went to a post office that was further away... The teen would have found a way to get at the guy for that comment.
"Priority shipping?" the man asked.
Hedy stared at him. "No. Standard. Like it already says."
He looked at her for a moment. "Look babe, is your name on this?" he held up the envelope, glancing at "Izzy" in amusement.
"No."
"Then I don't need any input, thanks."
"You're very rude," Mangle ground out.
The man smirked. "I'm just doing my job, ma'am."
Mangle scoffed, crossing her arms. "If everyone 'did their job' like you do, then the world would be an even more miserable place. Imagine the waiters in restaurants or cashiers in stores behaving like you. 'You didn't order this? Well, I'm just doing my job. I overcharged you for this bag? Well I'm just doing my job.'"
Hell, Mangle had spent way too much time around Ruby...
The man's sharp smile didn't leave. "There's no need to be disruptive, ma'am. I'll just take that package for you."
"See, I don't really trust you with it anymore," Mangle said calmly.
Hedy didn't want to admit she was interested in seeing how Mangle handled this.
"Trust is a big thing for customers, after all. If you don't have that, then you don't really have customers do you?" Mangle asked breezily. She tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment. "Hey Hedy, interfering with mail in any way is a federal crime, isn't it? Ruby said that once. Maybe you could call your brother. As a detective, he'd know right? I just don't want anyone getting in trouble, you know? We could call Ruby too. She befriended that FBI agent last month, remember? Has she said how he's doing? He seemed nice, and he said he'd bring his kids to the restaurant some time soon."
The man's eyes slid to Hedy as he paled and Mangle's eyes and serene smile drilled into him.
Mangle smiled as she slid the envelope toward the man, eyes flicking to the camera. She looked at the nametag. "Oh, you're the manager here too? Well, that's very convenient. I suppose you have access to the security cameras. How interesting."
"Just to be safe, should we film this Hedy?" Mangle asked innocently, still keeping a solid grip on the envelope. "Ruby said to always film the important stuff, and this is pretty important right?"
Ruby was going to be so proud of her… She might cry.
"That sounds like a good idea," Hedy said with an amused smirk. She lifted her phone. "I just wish we had recorded some of the rude and unprofessional things he had said earlier because I'm sure he's going to act all polite now that there's a camera. Though I suppose there's the security camera too. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to bank on it looking suspicious that there's missing footage when the FBI comes to check things out. Shame."
Mangle gave a solemn nod as she released the envelope, now that Hedy was recording. "It'll be nice to see Jason, though. Although he won't be able to bring his kids if he's working, will he? That's disappointing."
Spring was eyeing them both suspiciously across the room. They both looked far too innocent to be genuine.
The postal worker didn't say a single word as he watched Mangle and Hedy leave, meeting a teen boy waiting near the door.
"Well that was..." Hedy said outside.
"What a rat-skinned, splinter-faced, raisin glue-fingered motherfucking cunt-bag of a chewed gum reject dick human," Mangle blurted out, a gleeful smile breaking her features as she finally loosed her first real cusses.
Hedy wasn't entirely prepared for the obscene severity, nor was Spring.
Hedy almost forgot she was still recording, her phone sitting on her lap.
She suspected Mangle didn't actually know what a 'dick' was...
Spring stared at Mangle before shaking his head. "I don't even want to know. Plausible deniability."
"Wow..." Hedy said with a wincing shake of her own head.
"I just wish I said it to his face," Mangle sighed. "But I don't think Izzy would have appreciated it."
"Well, I appreciate your self-control," Hedy praised.
Spring was still watching both suspiciously, like he thought they'd just done something illegal.
"What was that about?" he eventually asked.
"What about plausible deniability?" Hedy asked with a smile.
Spring winced. "Right..." It was hard to ignore how curious he was so he changed the subject. "The outside world is...strange."
"I think the ability to curse makes it worth it," Mangle said with a smug grin.
"That was certainly...colorful," Hedy commented. "And creative."
"Thank you!"
Hedy snorted.
They got to the bank and Hedy was grateful it wasn't too busy.
Spring seemed to debate standing near the door again before he followed after them instead.
Mangle grinned at him, amused by his seemingly responsible old brother duty, if that's what it was at all.
"So how do I do this?" she asked Hedy.
"We're dropping it off, just like at the post office. We'll stand-in line, then get called to the counter. You should be able to just hand the envelope over and they'll figure out what account it needs to go to. They might ask for a signature. Think you can copy Izzy's?"
Mangle nodded. "I can copy everyone's but Ruby's. She keeps changing hers."
Hedy rolled her eyes. It was a little impractical in her opinion. But very 'Ruby'. If it inconvenienced others then she was likely to do it no matter the inconvenience to her.
She vaguely heard the sound of a girl calling someone from across the lobby, but it didn't register as important so none of them noticed it.
"Please don't do anything illegal..." Spring muttered to them both.
Hedy actually looked vaguely insulted while Mangle just smiled at him.
Spring pointed at Mangle. "That. That's what makes me worry. And she's the only bot who could get you to go along with it."
"Oh, that's not true," Hedy said. She shook her head and looked at him sympathetically. "Technically, forging Izzy's signature is illegal," she informed him quietly with a small smile.
He actually scowled at her. "You're supposed to be the responsible one."
"This is an unprecedented situation," Hedy argued, while Mangle snickered.
It wasn't often that Spring actually turned on Hedy.
"Andrew!"
They were startled as the shouting from earlier came closer in the form of a girl running toward them with a huge smile.
All three of them stared for a moment in confusion, as it didn't click.
Then Hedy blinked.
Uh oh.
Spring's realisation followed soon after hers and he felt instant panic.
"I thought you were at work," the girl said, a little confused. "If you were off, I thought you'd call me."
Spring glanced at Hedy in fear.
"Hi," Hedy spoke up. "Andrew's technically still at work right now. We're running a couple errands. Who are you?"
The girl paused, waiting for "Andrew" to introduce her, but when he didn't for a few awkward seconds, she smiled sweetly at Hedy.
"I'm Juliette! Sorry, I didn't realize."
"Are you...siblings?" Hedy glanced over at the woman who was watching them, presumably Juliette's mother.
Juliette blinked in surprise before shaking her head in confusion. "No, he's my boyfriend."
Mangle was impressed Spring didn't just bolt out the door.
Spring's eyes screamed for help.
"Aw," Hedy said, forcing a smile. "You never told us you had a girlfriend, Andrew."
Mangle guessed Hedy was actually talking to the real Andrew in her head.
Except...he had. Andrew had mentioned avoiding the mall so they didn't run into his girlfriend.
Whoops.
But they weren't at the mall.
Spring's mouth felt very dry. "W-well...you're also so busy...I didn't think to." His mind was spinning. He didn't know how to lie. What did he do? He wanted the girl to leave, but he didn't want to get Andrew in trouble.
Mangle took a little pity on him. "Well he doesn't talk about his personal life much hey Hedy? It's mostly work work work for him."
Spring nodded enthusiastically.
Juliette looked a little confused. "I-I guess so..."
"I'm Izzy, this is Hedy," Mangle continued cheerily. "I'm on the day shift too, but Hedy usually does the night shift."
"Oh, that's cool! I wouldn't have figured a restaurant needed a night shift," Juliette said. "What are you doing today?"
"We're just dropping off some paperwork so Andrew is able to get his next paycheque."
She nodded and smiled at "Andrew," startling Spring as she grabbed his hand and hugged his arm.
"Is it okay if we go hang out on those couches over there?" she asked. "My mom's doing her own stuff and it's kind of boring here."
"A-ah...maybe I should stay...here..." Spring panicked nervously.
Juliette looked surprised and disappointed as Hedy winced.
Spring should have waited for her to "order" him to stay.
"We're trying to get some of the other employees used to running these errands," Mangle lied smoothly. "I'm the only one doing them at the moment and it's a bit difficult when I get sick and stuff. Andrew's kind of been freaking out about the responsibility though, so he's been watching closely. The manager's a jerk."
"Wow, really? Andrew talks about him all the time," Juliette said, surprised to hear other adults complained about the manager too. "Well, okay. Will I see you later, Andrew? What time do you get off?"
Spring managed to get the end of shift time out without stuttering.
"It might be a bit later. The others are doing this group bonding thing," Mangle rolled her eyes playfully. "We're meeting up with them after this."
Hedy watched Mangle lie so easily with a bit of amusement and didn't add anything.
Spring nodded.
Juliette nodded in understanding. "Oh, then I'll see you tonight?" She gasped. "You can come over for dinner."
"S-sure."
Hedy cut in. "You shouldn't promise anything, Andrew. We might be working later than usual."
"Oh right..."
"Ok just give me a call so I can let Mom know!" Juliette said.
"Juliette," her mother called from near the door, having finished what she needed too. The woman waved at Spring sweetly. "Hello, Andrew! Sorry we can't stay to chat. Julie, we're in a hurry."
"Coming! Bye, Andrew!" Juliette said right before planting a kiss right on Spring's lips before running. "Bye Ms. Hedy! Bye Ms. Izzy."
The three stood in stunned silence in the middle of the bank for a second.
Spring suddenly opened his mouth to scream right before Mangle slapped a hand over it.
"Spring it's okay," Hedy said to calm him as his eyes widened in horror. "She thought you were Andrew."
"Jeremy needs to arrest me..." Spring panicked guiltily as he frantically wiped his mouth.
"What? Spr-"
"I'm an a-adult! T-technically. I kissed..."
"You didn't kiss her," Hedy assured, trying to make him keep his voice down.
Mangle looked like she was trying really, really hard not to laugh at him. She was biting her lip and shaking as she held it in.
Spring moaned softly and covered his face. He was never leaving the restaurant again.
Hedy patted his arm comfortingly as Spring mumbled again about needing to be arrested as the bank clerk called them from the counter.
Mangle walked over with a bounce to her step while Spring trailed after them like a despondent puppy.
Hedy watched Spring occasionally wipe his mouth again as if the kiss was something poisonous. She chuckled.
Mangle wasn't sure if she was supposed to greet the bank teller or anything, so she just slid the envelope under the glass and waited to be told to do something.
Luckily the teller didn't seem to be the chatty type and just got to work. Spring pouted at Hedy when she laughed.
"This never happened," he muttered.
"Sure. Sure it didn't Spring," she said.
"Sign here," the teller said, sliding a clipboard to Mangle, who dutifully signed Izzy's name.
"Please don't tell Goldy," Spring almost whined. "She'll never let it go."
Hedy laughed. "You're going to have to tell Andrew. Else he's going to get in trouble for not calling her tonight. Hopefully, everyone's switched back by then."
Spring just went back to looking terrified.
"I'll tell him?" Mangle offered with a wicked smile.
Spring froze. "No, that's worse."
Mangle laughed as they left the bank and headed back to Hedy's car.
"When did you get so good at lying?" Spring asked suspiciously. For a long time after getting her voice back, Mangle just sort of blurted out whatever came to mind.
Mangle shrugged. "I guess after not using words for so long, I either want to mean every word I say or nothing at all. So if I have to lie I better mean it." She paused. "Or maybe since I couldn't do anything but think for so long, I got really good at thinking fast."
Spring was silent for a moment. "I'm never going to be able to believe a word you say ever again."
Mangle looked at him in mock betrayal. She turned to Hedy. "Beach?"
"Yeah. I just texted Mike..." Hedy frowned at her phone as Mike replied. "Huh. Puppet is the last one I would have expected to actually crash a go-cart..."
Spring looked at the picture over Hedy's shoulder and blinked. "Maybe he was trying to run someone over..."
"I can see that happening." Mangle nodded thoughtfully.
Hedy scoffed. "Puppet with road rage...I hope Mike got a video. Jeremy hasn't answered so they might still be on the skydiving plane or something."
"Unless Foxy and Goldy pushed him out of the plane," Mangle pointed out serenely.
Hedy caught her breath for a second before forcing a laugh.
Spring glared at Mangle. "You can be really mean..."
She just grinned back.
"You were so shy when we first met," Hedy said as she ushered them in the car and got in herself. She paused a minute to try remembering how to get to the beach. She hadn't gone there in a while.
Spring stared at Hedy as he buckled up. "Wait. Wasn't Mangle trying to kill you?"
"She was still shy though."
"She was shy while trying to kill you?" he asked dubiously. "That makes perfect sense." The rabbit's dry humour had slowly been coming back over time. He felt more comfortable with less people though, so it wasn't surprising that he was more willing to talk like this when it was just Hedy and Mangle.
Mangle shrugged a bit, looking just a little guilty. "It was a weird time... I wasn't really trying that hard."
Hedy patted her shoulder before backing up to leave the parking lot.
They were quiet for a moment.
"Was that when Hedy threw you off a balcony?"
"I dodged! Mangle threw herself off."
Mangle whistled a fall and crashing noise with her mouth as she smacked her hands together.
Hedy was a little impressed by how Mangle figured out how to make those noises with a human mouth so quickly.
"I still didn't throw you," Hedy said. "And I went to check on you!"
"Which I still think was kinda dumb."
"It kinda was," Spring agreed. "And you didn't even meet Ruby yet so you can't blame her influence."
Hedy looked affronted. "What are you implying?"
Mangle smirked.
Hedy squinted. "I was around you two all the time as a little kid. If anything, you would have influenced me. Goldy's mentioned you sometimes did pranks, Spring!"
"Me?" Spring looked aghast, but he was smiling as he scolded her. "Hedy, you know I can barely talk to people, much less pull a Ruby."
"You liked to mix really strong food dye in the drink mix," Mangle hummed.
"Well I don't remember it, so it doesn't count," Spring argued with confidence.
Hedy glared at both of them.
Spring hid a smile as Mangle just laughed at Hedy.
Hedy muttered under her breath with half a mind to drop them off halfway to the beach and make the two walk the rest of the way.
Then again, she probably couldn't trust Mangle out on her own... who knows what trouble she'd get into?
They got to the beach long before anyone else and Mangle was fine with that.
There was such utter joy in her eyes at the sight of the ocean, and she ran out onto the sand in her shoes just to freeze and stare at the horizon for a minute.
Hedy and Spring were slower. Hedy because wheelchairs didn't agree with sand, and Spring because he wanted to help her if needed.
There surprisingly weren't as many people as Hedy expected. She eventually settled in a warm spot and sat in the sand on top of an old sweatshirt she had in the back of her car, kicking off her shoes to dig her toes in the sand.
"It's so big," Spring said, looking at the water.
Hedy was keeping an eye on Mangle. Swimming was a completely foreign concept to the bots considering how bad it was if water hit them. But she really wouldn't put it past the excitable fox to run into the water without thought to her lack of swimming experience.
"Mangle!" she called after a moment of worried thought as Mangle jumped into a shallow wave that came in and soaked the sand, breaking out an excited wordless shout like a child.
Mangle still looked up at Hedy.
"Don't go deeper than your ankles until Jeremy or Mike gets here."
Mangle rolled her eyes and nodded. Spring was content to sit beside Hedy, running his fingers through the sand curiously.
"It's weird isn't it?" Hedy said.
Spring nodded.
"Are you sad about going back inside?" Hedy asked. "When this is all over."
"Maybe. It's so strange that humans can do so many things. And I know we're doing maybe just a little bit of it." He paused. "But it's not like being an animatronic is any 'less.' You and Ruby always manage to bring something new."
"Do I?" Hedy looked confused.
"I like it when you talk about what you did at college," Spring said. "Or just random stuff. The weirdest part about all this has been seeing you and Ruby and Jeremy and Mike just...knowing what to do. It's weird that you just exist out here where we don't see you."
The pizzeria was kind of its own world by now. To the bots, whatever happened outside might as well not exist since they never saw it. Goldy and Puppet had both seen more of the world so it wasn't the same to them. And Spring didn't remember those experiences.
"You're just a regular human. Out here. Driving around. Getting groceries. Buying stuff. Eating. Drinking. Talking to strangers. Seeing the sunlight. You have a life we never see."
Hedy chuckled and laid down in the sand, trusting Mangle enough to relax just a little. "You guys are part of my life. Things are always just a bit more complicated than you have awareness for."
Spring was quiet for a moment. "We hear about your life a lot. About Jeremy and Mike too. Why doesn't Ruby ever talk about school or the kids she lives with unless someone specifically asks?"
That was something that never changed. Ruby had always kept her life at the pizzeria and outside clearly separated.
"I don't think she wants the stress to mix," Hedy admitted. "She compartmentalizes to deal with things. Each side is like a break from the other. I do the same with my other friends. I don't talk about them all the time because they give me some normality when Michael or the ghosts really bother me." She scowled like always when she mentioned the ghost kids. "And then if there's school stress or some drama with my friends, I can come to work and escape for six hours, not having to think about it. It's probably a similar thing with Ruby. I can't imagine living in an orphanage isn't emotionally draining. There's no kid there that doesn't have some sort of pain in their past. It's not easy for children to be without their parents."
Spring nodded quietly. He could understand that. And Ruby had more responsibility than most thanks to being the oldest kid there.
"I don't think I've told you this," Spring said as Hedy made herself comfortable. He took off Andrew's uniform jacket and rolled it up so she could have a pillow of sorts.
She thanked him with a nod. "Told me what?"
"That I'm really proud of you," Spring said.
Hedy immediately looked up at him confused, which Spring thought was silly.
"You went through a lot. With Me. With Michael."
"Spring," Hedy nearly interrupted, figuring Spring was about to blame himself for something that wasn't his fault.
"But you still managed to grow up into a really cool person. You're a good engineer. And a good aunt. A good friend to us. To your 'normal' friends." He snickered a little. "You're a good big sister to Ruby, even though she makes it difficult. You're a good little sister to Jeremy, although he would probably disagree when he's cross with you. And well, if you and Mike stay together and decide it's what you want to do, or even if it's not with Mike, I think you'll be a really good mother."
Hedy stared at him, not sure what to say.
"But really, all of that doesn't really mean much. Because those things are just a natural side effect of you being...you. And you're a good person, Hedy." He sensed Hedy might cry if he didn't break up the speech. "Not as good as Mike, though. He doesn't have a mean bone in his body. You can be scary."
Hedy snorted and closed her eyes. Maybe to hide tears but he couldn't really tell.
Spring smiled. "I just really wish I could remember you as a kid." He swallowed a bit, glancing at the ocean to check on Mangle, but also because he wasn't sure if he could take it if Hedy really did cry. "My kid. I wish I got to see you grow up. I wish it so much it hurts..."
Hedy didn't open her eyes and was quiet. For a moment, Spring thought she had fallen asleep, which he wouldn't have been hurt by. She had to be exhausted.
"You're lucky you didn't say that in the building," she said, half jokingly. "The building might have done something."
"Wouldn't have been a bad thing. But I don't think it can reverse time," Spring said. "Wish it did though." He sounded wistfully bitter for a moment.
It was quiet for another moment before Hedy spoke. "Spring?"
"Hm?"
"Why say this now?"
"I don't know," Spring said with a guilty sigh. "If I had to guess...I never feel alone at the pizzeria. Which is a good thing most of the time. But I…" He frowned, glancing at her. "You can sense where Michael is, all the time. Can't you?"
Hedy frowned. "Yes. And the kids. And Ruby. And Timmy now that I know he's there."
Spring nodded. "I think I can sense where Michael is. I always feel like he's there. Maybe I'm imagining it. But here. Outside. I just...I feel like we're actually alone. I feel at peace. I don't feel like someone is going to overhear me. Even the building. I think I can sense it too sometimes. It's always there. Always listening. Always watching. It drives me crazy. I feel like my thoughts are never private. I can't say words that are just for you, or anyone. At the pizzeria, I feel like someone is always going to eavesdrop on my thoughts."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Spring," Hedy said sympathetically. She hadn't thought about that. She could escape from the presence of the building that was 'always listening' to her thoughts by just leaving. Going to school. Going home. If Spring could even sort of sense it, she could see why it would be awful for a bot who had to occupy his own mind with Michael for so long. Being alone could be awful, but never being alone could also be awful.
She needed to check on Goldy about this too.
"It's okay," Spring said. "I'm just glad for the break."
"Is that why you like to feed Kitty outside at night?"
Spring nodded.
"When everything goes back to normal," Hedy said, closing her eyes again. "We'll put some nice lawn chairs and a table out back, closer to the woods and away from the building. You know, no one owns that area. It's just forest really. Ruby cuts through as a shortcut from her house. It's all brush and poison ivy and brambles, but we could probably clear a path and make an area away from everything. I bet I could save up to buy a gazebo to build back there, or something." She chuckled a little.
"Do you have that money?"
"Not really, but that's what saving is for."
Spring thought for a minute. "I would like that. I think the others would like that too. Someplace that they could actually go to."
"Hmm." Hedy mumbled, probably half asleep.
Spring let Hedy rest, remembering that she and Ruby would usually be asleep right about now.
She was probably exhausted and this was her first chance to take a nap.
Spring might have had an hour of peace, watching Mangle play in the waves and letting Hedy rest. He felt relieved Hedy trusted him enough to fall asleep in public. He kept vigil, eyeing any stranger that seemed like they might get too close. Still, he lapsed in checking behind him.
"RAH!"
Both Spring and Hedy screamed as Mike pounced, grabbing Hedy's arms after sneaking up on them and warning the others to be quiet.
Hedy elbowed him in the side on instinct and he collapsed in the sand next to her laughing and gasping at the same time. He was lucky she didn't break his nose given how he had been leaning over her head.
"MIKE!"
Spring watched with wide eyes as his heart pounded.
"Considering that she survived against murderous animatronics, you're lucky you only got an elbow to the side," Bonnie pointed out dryly. "Ruby would have bodyslammed you into the floor."
Mike continued to giggle as he caught his breath, lying prone in the sand.
"I carry a taser and a knife on me, Mike!" Hedy said, brushing sand off her arms. "Why did that seem like a cute idea? Quit laughing!"
She actually sounded worried about almost hurting him.
"Given how you acquainted me with the taser the very first time we met, I figured I could handle the risk," Mike wheezed.
Hedy slapped his shoulder.
"Don't hit a guy when he's already down!"
"Then sit up."
"You're so abusive," Mike pouted, settling more into the ground. He wiggled into the sand as if burrowing into it, poorly.
"Sneaking up on me is almost literally the same as asking for it," Hedy said. It was a tasteless joke, but her eyes were still lit with worry.
"Agreed," Most of the bots sided with Hedy. There was a reason none of them tried to sneak up on either girl at the pizzeria. Ruby for obvious reasons and Hedy after Toby got a wrench to the head for his trouble.
Jumpscares outside of horror movies just weren't a safe bet.
They didn't even mess with Jeremy. He still had muscle memory of grabbing a flashlight and pointing it at them. He did apologize profusely to Foxy and they both agreed never to tell Ruby about it.
Mike still didn't look apologetic and propped his head up on his hand. He leaned forward to take Hedy's hand and kiss the back of it to let her know he was fine, completely ignoring the faces the bots made.
She struggled to glare at him while he spat sand out.
"Are you sure he's the nice one?" she muttered to Spring who snickered a little.
"How long have you guys been here?" Mike asked.
"Not long. Mangle's..." Hedy trailed off. "Spring, where's Mangle?" There was a thread of panic in her voice before Spring pointed.
Mangle had run off to explore the length of the beach, but was running back barefoot after seeing everyone had arrived. She waved excitedly and pointed at the water jumping up and down.
"Mangle really likes the ocean," Spring observed.
"...Leftover pirate programming?" Mike suggested, glancing at Foxy. "Was she ever supposed to be a pirate too?"
"Or she really is just happy to see the ocean all on her own," Hedy said with a shrug.
Foxy actually looked amused at Mike's question. "She was supposed to be but she told the guy who built us 'no way'."
Goldy giggled at the memory with a nostalgic look in her eyes.
"I've always wanted to see it too," Teddy admitted, shifting on his feet. "I didn't realize it would be so loud."
Jeremy was being awfully quiet and Hedy was kind of concerned Goldy and Foxy had managed to traumatise her brother while skydiving.
"I can't imagine Mangle as a pirate..." Jeremy admitted as the fox in a human body ran up to them, Izzy's hair sticking up in a weird, wind-swept tangle.
"I go into the water," she said. "And there's no bzzzzzt!" She announced, twitching to mime a violent short. "Best thing ever. Why don't you come here all the time?!"
"One. I can't swim," Hedy said. "Two. I'm too busy."
"Three. Sand gets everywhere. Like in your underwear," Mike said.
Jeremy snorted.
"Those are excuses," Mangle accused.
The humans shrugged. "It's a treat when we go," Mike spoke up. "But it's not something we feel like doing all the time."
Most of the bots were eying the water warily.
Except Goldy and BB who were racing towards it.
Mangle's eyes lit up at the movement and she took off, running back to the water after them.
"You guys make sure no one drowns," Hedy said to Mike and Jeremy.
"Mike's turn first. I...I need to sit down," Jeremy moaned. "Sweet solid ground..."
"I wouldn't call sand 'solid'," Toby said, toeing the sand in curiosity.
"Shut up." Jeremy's patience was very thin from the stress of jumping out of a plane.
"Be nice," Hedy said while Mike stood up to get a better view of the water.
"Hedy, you want to get in?"
"Not if you're supposed to be watching the bots," Hedy said, "I'm a full attention kinda gal in the sea. You know that."
Freddy was looking between Foxy and a paler than normal Jeremy. "What did you and Goldy do?" he asked suspiciously. The plane had freaked him out too much so he decided to stay on the ground and watched from the hangar.
Foxy huffed. "I didn't do anything. Goldy's the one who got impatient and shoved him out. I told him not to turn his back on her."
"Oof," Mike said.
"Shut up," Jeremy said, still pale and laying down as close to the ground as possible. "If that wasn't her 'wish' that gets you guys to switch back, I'm gonna kill her."
"So long as you break the news to Olivia," Hedy deadpanned.
Spring squinted. "Why don't I feel surprised that she pushed him out of a plane?"
"I'm not," Puppet muttered.
"Mike sent me some pictures of the go-cart racing," Hedy said, turning on Puppet. "What exactly happened? It looked like a crash."
The fact that he refused to meet her eyes was new.
"He tried to run Toby off the track," Bonnie had zero hesitation over ratting Puppet out apparently.
Puppet growled at Bonnie, while Toby took a noticeable few steps away from everyone.
"Uh...I think I'm going to..." he pointed at the water nervously.
"It was a perfectly valid move," Puppet defended.
"No it wasn't," Mike retorted.
"He cut me off!"
"It was go-cart racing! You should never get behind the wheel of a real vehicle," Mike deadpanned.
"Can we just ban Puppet from ever driving for any reason? Talk about road rage," Chica eyed him disapprovingly while Chi nodded frantically in agreement.
"Hmm. Agreed," Hedy said.
"Well..." Jeremy lifted his head. "Can you imagine if he was ever pulled over? That would be a story for an officer."
"Tsk," Puppet said, crossing his arms.
"Would Puppet even pull over?" Spring wondered. "Or start a car chase?"
"Well he can't exactly get a license," Hedy pointed out.
"But running from the police is a felony. Driving without a license is a misdemeanor," Jeremy countered.
"But isn't that all moot if the law doesn't even count an animatronic as a human?" Mike asked.
"There's no precedent in the first place," Jeremy said.
"You're all insufferable," Puppet said dryly, instead of mentioning that if the law started to see them as people, all the bots were going to have to go to prison with him at the front of the line. A traffic ticket at that point would be pretty inconsequential. "I'm going in the water."
"Don't drown!" Hedy called out cheerily.
"I'm surprised he's going near the water," Freddy admitted when Puppet was out of hearing distance. "He hates water more than any of us."
Hedy frowned a little.
"He's not going in," Mike noted. "He's just standing at the edge."
Sure enough, Puppet was standing just at the edge of the waves in the wet sand. He didn't even take Jerry's shoes off. He stepped back a bit as the ebb and flow came a little closer.
Hedy sighed. "He must have really wanted out of the conversation," she chuckled quietly. "Go check out the water, guys. You won't short. I just wouldn't go too deep. And be careful. A wave can knock you over if you're just up to your knees. If you're in trouble, get Mike's attention or raise your hand up so that lifeguard over there can see it."
"Are there seashells here?" Chi asked curiously.
"Yep."
Chi and Teddy decided to go look for seashells while Freddy and Chica headed for the water. Toby and Bonnie on the other hand went to go investigate building with the wet sand (and then burying Bonnie in it).
Foxy headed for the water too after a moment of thought.
Back at the pizzeria, Jerry continued with his uncomfortable staring contest with Michael.
Ruby calmly sipped at a cup of coffee as she watched the strange stare down.
Michael was just really uncomfortable. He didn't leave though.
Jerry's gaze slid to Ruby, which was creepy enough with Puppet's pinprick eyes. Jerry just wasn't a very "creepy" guy so it made his demeanor all the more concerning.
To everyone else it didn't "look" out of the norm for Puppet.
"You sure there isn't a way to force him to cross over?" Jerry eventually asked with a serious tone.
Michael blinked then glared at him.
Ruby hummed and shook her head. "I've been researching into it but haven't found anything so far. He's certainly not going to go willingly. I'm half convinced we'll have to wait until another ghost crosses over and takes him with them."
"Another ghost..." Marion said, glancing into the dark halls.
Jerry frowned. "I don't like him here. With all the children. Has he ever shown up to cause trouble during the day?"
Michael rolled his eyes.
"I've never seen him around..." Izzy muttered. She was occasionally glaring at Michael too.
"Oh even he knows better than to do that," Ruby's voice dropped to a dangerous tone. "Besides, the building wouldn't let him."
Timmy had told her once. The building didn't let them show themselves to the regular children who visited. The twins were an exception since Jeremy brought them at night.
"I still don't like the thought of him watching children," Olivia snapped with a tense shudder. She had brought her son to the pizzeria some days and hated to think of that man watching him.
"The building thing still weirds me out," Andrew changed the subject before he could get too upset.
Some of the adults gave him looks that said they weren't done discussing the ghost.
"He can't watch the children. Not even Fazbear's Fright. I'm not really sure what the building does but I do know it keeps him away during the day."
Michael's glare told them exactly what he thought of that situation.
"The building learnt a lesson when he killed those kids. It won't let another child be harmed in these walls. Adults are out of its hands though. And teens are iffy."
"Iffy how?" Harrison asked.
"How long did it take you to figure out all this weird crap?" Henry asked at the same time.
The tense annoyance in his voice sounded strange coming out of BB.
Ruby shrugged. "I sort of had a feeling about some of it from the beginning and the rest I figured out over time. No one knows everything about the building. Though Hedy knows more than I do now. And the building doesn't go out of it's way to protect teens like it does kids. We can still get hurt here but more often than not it's a result of our own choices."
Olivia chuckled. "All I'm getting out of this is that if something happens, we're fucked but our kids are fine. Oh wait. I thought Goldy couldn't swear..." she hummed.
"I feel awful for Hedy..." Izzy sighed.
"That sums it up," Ruby told them cheerfully. "And Goldy can swear. So can Puppet. Foxy broke through the programming by accident. Most of the others claim they can't." She smirked. "Yet. Some are in denial. Mangle's been trying. She's probably having a lot of fun right now much to the rest of the group's dismay."
"As long as she doesn't run into anyone I know," Izzy groaned.
"You'd be surprised how good she is at lying. If she does run into someone, she'll be fine. Goldy and her would probably be able to talk their way out of any situation compared to the others. I don't think Foxy would care much..." She looked thoughtful. "The others would panic."
A few of them winced.
Andrew groaned and lay back down on the table, carefully. "Can we do something? I'm bored. If I can't work or do my homework, I still don't want to be just sitting around with a creepy ghost dude."
"I can beat up the creepy ghost dude?" she offered innocently. "Or there's movies."
She was being a lot nicer than they were used to.
"...Both?" Olivia suggested as Harrison chuckled.
Michael pursed his lips together.
"Oh..." Izzy said. "As much as I really don't like him. Hate him really. I don't really want to make an afternoon out of watching a man get beat up. Even him," she admitted.
"This is why I like Olivia better," Ruby muttered petulantly, sounding like an actual, normal teenager for once.
Izzy actually looked a little hurt before she shook her head and sighed while Jerry patted her shoulder with a smile.
"Hey, she still likes you. Just not as much."
Izzy rolled her eyes.
"Movie then? Wait. How do you watch movies here?" Andrew asked. "And I saw that nice game system in the staff room a while back. Never had time to check it out though. Who brought that?"
"Hedy did," Ruby stood up and walked towards the door. She paused and turned back. "He tries anything, throw salt at him."
Then she was gone through the door to fetch the tv.
"..brat..." Michael muttered barely a minute later.
A whole can of salt smacked him in the face.