A/N: Well, I had a bit of extra time on my hands, might as well get started on this chapter! There's going to be a LOT of responses to the comments in this upcoming block, so you may need to scroll down a bit to get to the chapter. Also, I know that 's been having some issues lately. If you can't see the chapter, please let me know and I'll try to upload it again.
Astro-oro: Hello! Pleasure to meet you! You've said a lot so I'll try to respond as best as I can. There's no way to really tell how many people the MCI children killed, although admittedly it's probably more than William's kills. I don't think it's as large of a scale as some people think, although it's definitely noticeable enough that Missing Person reports had to be a thing. Also, your theory about the glitches, the game, and the connection to the afterlife is fascinating, but it's a little too complicated for me to utilize in this fic. The route I'm going will be a lot simpler, although I appreciate the creativity. And yes, differentiating the children's personalities is one of the more difficult tasks of the fic. I think I've given Susie enough unique qualities that she can stand out as her own character, although I do agree with you that Jeremy is the least developed out of the cast of children. I don't have much to say to that except that it's hard to write seven different personalities and keep them distinct. If I have the time to read "Ghosts in Shells", I'll do so. Thank you very much for your review!
Ginopippofrebooteer: To be fair, it's not like Scott ever gave William Afton a real motivation either…at least in the games universe. I don't know enough about the books to see if it's any different there, although it would be an interesting topic to address in the future, possibly in a UCN chapter. I also don't really see how the fanfiction is "stuck on a loop" considering that William Afton is only involved in a minority of the story and the story is focused on the ghost kids' present and future, not the past. As for the song you mentioned, it…kinda slipped my mind, to be honest. I'll give the song a listen when I have time, now that you've reminded me about it.
GriffonicTobias: I'll certainly be implementing the hidden lore of Security Breach, but not the gameplay of Special Delivery for now. At the very least, I won't have animatronics coming in to invade the Schmidt house. And the ability of the family to play out Special Delivery is kind of limited considering that there's only a few animatronics around; since Mike definitely isn't going to be zapping them and causing his own children pain, any attempt to "play" Special Delivery would ultimately end up being watered-down and half-assed. I honestly don't consider the gameplay of Special Delivery canon to FNaF since it completely contradicts the timeline. The big example being that there's animatronics like Springtrap and the originals that are apparently chasing the player in their house despite being, you know, already destroyed?
Guest: Uhh…June 10, why?
SuperDescendant: Glitchtrap being the one who killed the kids doesn't make any sense, considering that Glitchtrap didn't exist until after FNaF 6 happened…or FNaF 3 at the very earliest, since that's when Springtrap was first discovered. I personally consider Glitchtrap to be, at the very least, a fragment or part of William Afton's soul that was uploaded into the game from the pieces found and taken in Springtrap.
RicAlburquerque: You make some good arguments, although in my fic at least the primary reason why the kids murdered the night guards was that they thought they were all William. I honestly don't remember the points where I say that "they thought every murderer was like William", and I'd appreciate you pointing out where I say that if I did. I might have said something like "they killed the night guards to protect other people like them from being murdered like they were," but that could also come from the fact that they didn't understand why William "kept coming back" every time they seemingly caught and killed him.
As for Charlie, you raise some fair points, although I still think it's possible for her to not identify William if he was intelligent with regards to how he went about the murder (putting heavy clothes on, not making sounds, using the dark and stormy night to his advantage). I think I've also heard somewhere that the regular Puppet appearing in FNaF 3 was a visual bug. Though your arguments do make sense if Charlie DID recognize the difference between Michael and William. Obviously, things are a little different in this fic's universe since Lefty and Michael were cooperating the entire time during FNaF 6 in my story.
FracturedSpark/BlockishBench/FerMrack/Numbnuts55: It's always a pleasure to write Nightmare segments. And there's always an ulterior motive where Nightmare is concerned…
BarcodeMan47: Yeah, there's going to be a lot of people up in arms over this :P
Properman: I don't understand this whole Health Inspector thing. Is this like a specific character that I'm not aware of? Or are you just talking about Health Inspectors as a general profession?
HealthInspector: Your theory, as interesting as it sounds, is starting to sound like a crossover, and there won't be any crossovers involved in this fic. I personally consider Remnant to be possessed metal, but that's just my interpretation. Also, nobody was forcing William Afton to do anything when he committed the murders, he was evil entirely from the get-go.
TobiasRieper: I have a very, VERY lengthy response to this, so I'll save it for the bottom after the main chapter itself. Otherwise it'll be 3+ pages before we get to the actual chapter.
Fnaffan418: I answered your question above.
AlchemyWriter: I actually think Vanny is the Help Wanted player who is ultimately possessed by Glitchtrap, or at the very least someone very similar to the player.
FrostTheFrozenFox: Too bad Vanny was woefully ignorant of the true danger of Glitchtrap. And I'm interested to see where they go with the Glamrock animatronics myself.
TU4Q: It was either William's backup plan or a fortunate accident for him. Either way, not good.
Rockstar Ballora: It's fine. And yeah, bad times are coming…
FireFlamerx9z: I wish I knew.
Slweaver: This…kinda was the Halloween chapter :P Yeah, not much Halloween stuff going on this time (like my Halloween in real life lmao). I guess you could call the whole thing a Halloween arc? I honestly don't like horror games all that much (FNaF being the exception), so…I dunno XD
Ichorus: Thank you very much for your kind review!
Whew, that was more than 3 pages of review responses. Let's get to the chapter already!
Chapter 114 – Aggressive Negotiations
"God DAMN IT!" Mike shouted furiously, glaring at the offending headline on his phone screen with undisguised loathing. "How the hell did they pull this off? I didn't hear so much as a goddamn WHISPER that this shit was happening! I thought we'd have more time before the shit started hitting the fan again!"
The ghosts stared at Mike rant, and then something clicked in Jeremy's mind. "Wait…" the former Bonnie inhabitant realized slowly. "Did you…did you know that this was going to happen, Dad?"
Mike scowled. "Not…specifically," he worded his answer carefully. "But I did get…some kind of warning about something like this."
"Wait, WHAT?" all the ghosts exclaimed. "What warning?" Gabe asked worriedly.
"A couple of months back, before our vacation to Chicago," Mike explained. "I had a dream that was more like a visit by a supernatural being."
The ghosts instantly tensed. "Nightmare?" Cassidy asked quietly.
Mike shook his head. "No," he denied. "Not Nightmare. Someone completely different. I don't think any of us have seen him before." Suddenly, his eyes fell on Liz. "Actually, hold on. We never saw him. But your brother did. Many years ago."
"My brother…" Liz's eyes flashed green with shock. "Wait…do you mean?"
Mike nodded. "That crocodile-headed being from the afterlife? I had a little chat with him way back then. We talked about a lot of things, but the one thing that's relevant is something he brought up at the very end. He told me," he took a deep breath before continuing, "that something was coming. Something bad. Something that I'd need to bring out the worst parts of my personality to beat," he added mentally, though he didn't say this last sentence out loud. So far, only Charlie knew the full details about his darker side, and the situation was already disturbing enough without him making it worse.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Fritz demanded.
"I didn't want to needlessly worry you," Mike answered.
"We could have done something!" Fritz interrupted, too worked up to let him finish speaking. The looks on some of the other ghosts' faces showed some agreement with the former Foxy inhabitant's words.
"Like what?" Mike countered more forcefully. "What could we have done? It's one thing if I had concrete evidence of Fazbear Entertainment's return, or hell, if I'd so much as heard any rumors of it. You can bet your ass I would have investigated those, and I would've taken you along with me if you wanted. But all I had was this vague warning of something coming, and I had practically NOTHING to go on. Not a single goddamn clue." He gave the phone screen another venomous glare. "Whoever these fuckers are that are trying to resurrect a cursed franchise that should stay dead, they hid their tracks well."
"…you still should have told us," Susie insisted quietly. "Maybe we could have found something you missed."
Mike sighed. "Maybe you're right," he muttered. "And if it means that much to you, then I'm sorry for keeping this hidden. But I did have my reasons, even if you don't agree with you."
Gabe shook his head. "It doesn't matter," he declared. "What matters is what we do now. We know that Fazbear Entertainment is back, and we have to do everything we can to stop it."
There was something in the way Gabe said those words that attracted Mike's attention. "Is there something I don't know about?" he questioned.
The look that the MCI children gave him was enough of an answer, although strangely neither Charlie nor Liz had that same look. In fact, they seemed just as oblivious and confused as Mike was. "We had a dream last night," Jeremy explained. "All of us did, though not at the same time."
"Mr. Emily…Charlie's dad…he appeared to us in our dreams," Gabe added, causing Charlie's mouth to drop open in shock. "He talked with us and told us that we hadn't actually really started our redemption quest yet."
"Wait, what?" Now it was Mike's turn to shout out the two words. "But you've made my life better and tried to protect me from that fucker William when he tried to invade the house!"
"We've paid our debts to you," Jeremy corrected. "But not to the other night guards we killed. I know we try not to think about it or bring it up, but it doesn't change the fact that we have a body count of our own." He tilted his head downward and gave the floor a downtrodden look. "Hell, it's even bigger than Afton's."
"What did my old Dad tell you guys?" Charlie asked quietly. If she was completely honest, she was a bit jealous that her father had seen her siblings but not her. Even if the more rational side recognized that Henry would only ever be allowed to visit any of them under very specific circumstances, most of them on matters of great importance.
"The night guards we killed wanted justice for what we did to them," Susie explained. "According to Charlie's Dad, they and Heaven decided that we needed to make up for our kills by stopping the next great darkness." She gave the phone a gloomy look. "I guess that's what they meant."
"Is there going to be another killer?" Cassidy speculated, her eyes filled with worry. "Another William Afton?"
"God, I fucking hope not…" Fritz muttered.
"Even if we take out the possibility of a second serial killer, and that's a BIG if," Mike added. "Let me remind you that Fazbear Entertainment is already a giant shithole. I think I've already gone on and on about how corrupt, fucked up, and unsafe that place is, haunted animatronics or not. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys didn't have anything to do with the Bite of 1987. And you definitely didn't have anything to do with the Bite of 1983 or those fucking springlock suit accidents." He let out another growl from his mouth. "I'd hate to think what any poor shmuck who signs up to work at Fazbear Entertainment is getting themselves into. I wasn't kidding when I said that Fazbear Entertainment is just as responsible for the deaths of the night guards as you were with the extreme negligence."
"What are Fazbear Entertainment planning?" Susie asked. "Do we know?"
"That's a very good question…" Mike answered, picking up his phone. With the ghosts reading over his shoulder, the family slowly began reading through the article, doing their best to pick up any details. The beginning sections were mostly worthless drivel, claims by Fazbear Entertainment about how they were going to bring back the Freddy Fazbear franchise and other meaningless garbage. Once they made it past the first few paragraphs, however, they started to find information that was much more interesting and relevant.
"While there are no current plans to open any Fazbear restaurants at this time,"a spokesperson for Fazbear Entertainment stated in the article, "we have something different and special plan. A brand new indie video game to show the world, once and for all, that the tales of tragedy and horror from ages past are nothing more than silly rumors and legends with no true basis in reality. This claim has already been met with very vocal opposition from numerous families, all of whom have claimed that they have lost relatives and loved ones to the alleged tragedies."
"Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?" Liz nearly screamed, her eyes flashing green with rage. "They're trying to pass off everything that happened as nothing but a lie!"
Gabe's form flickered in and out of his gruesome and murdered visage with his black-void eyes. "Trying to take advantage of all the tragedies that happened AND passing them off as lie?" he snarled. "Fucking hell! I'm starting to hate them almost as much as I hate Afton!"
Jeremy spat violently on the floor, his own form flickering as well. "Absolutely disgusting," he growled. "They haven't changed a bit."
As her siblings let out exclamations of disgust and disbelief at the callousness of Fazbear Entertainment's claim, Charlie gave her father a nervous glance, wondering if he was about to lose control and reveal the dark aspect of his personality in front of her and her siblings. Only to notice that, contrary to what she would have expected, Mike wasn't frothing at the mouth with rage. In fact, in contrast to the ghost kids who were desperately trying to contain their anger, he was completely calm…
…too calm.
"…Dad?" Susie was the first to notice Mike's quiet, deathly silent demeanor.
"…one second," Mike answered, his voice devoid of emotion. "I need to make a call."
Mike pressed the main button on his phone, consigning the offending article into the background. Right as he was about to type a phone number and make a call, his phone suddenly rang. Mike raised an eyebrow when he saw the Caller ID on the phone: Scott Cawthon.
"Oh, wow!" he mumbled. "I was just about to call this guy." He answered the phone and brought it up to his ear. "Hello?"
"Oh thank God, Mike…" Scott gasped on the other end. Mike could immediately tell that his friend was on the verge of panicking. "I was afraid you wouldn't pick up. Did you see the article…?"
"…about Fazbear Entertainment?" Mike finished for him.
"Yeah!" Scott confirmed. "Mike, you've got to do something!"
"Calm down, Scott…" Mike instructed. Once his friend's breathing had eased, he continued. "Now, tell me what happened."
"Remember those Five Nights at Freddy's games that I made?" Scott asked.
"Yeah."
"Fazbear Entertainment contacted me and demanded that I hand over the rights of the games to them and work for them," Scott explained frantically. "They threatened to sue me otherwise! I don't have the resources to fight a legal battle with them over this, Mike! I had to give them up!"
Mike sighed. If he had been the one who had made the games, he might've had a chance of fighting this. But while Scott might have been well-off, he certainly wasn't anywhere close to the same level of rich that he was. "I understand, Scott," he reassured him. "So what happened?"
"They're trying to write the games off as nothing but a great big lie," Scott warned. "They're going to bury the past with these games, pretend that anybody who looks into them and thinks that they're based on real events is just a crazy fan. God, Mike, I don't know what I can do! If I speak out, they'll follow up on their threat to sue me and I can't deal with that! Not with my family depending on me!"
"I understand, Scott. I really do. For now, just…keep your head down," Mike instructed. "Do what they tell you to for now. Trust me, Scott…I'm better equipped to deal with this than you are."
"Are you sure, Mike?" Scott asked worriedly. "Playing along with Fazbear Entertainment's schemes…it just doesn't sit right with me."
"I'm sure," Mike confirmed confidently. "Let me handle this. It'll be much better for all of us in the long run."
"All right," Scott reluctantly conceded. "I hope you have a plan, Mike. You were the one who introduced me to all this. And you can bet I won't tell Fazbear Entertainment a damn thing."
"Good," Mike replied approvingly. "Trust me, Scott. Everything will be okay." He waited until Scott hung up the phone, before cutting off the connection himself.
"…Dad?" Cassidy was the first to break the silence. "What are we going to do?"
"Are Fazbear Entertainment gonna come after us?" Susie asked, concerned. "Are we going to lose the Rockstars?"
Mike shook his head. "No. Fortunately, Henry took care of that. He might have only recreated Fazbear Entertainment as a trap, but he was technically the previous owner of Fazbear Entertainment, and he legally left the Rockstars to Nelson in his will. And since Nelson gave them over to me, that makes me the true owner of the Rockstars. Nelson gave me copies of all the documents. Even if Fazbear Entertainment tries to come over here and pull some stupid shit, they won't be able to take the Rockstars away from us."
The ghosts all breathed a huge sigh of relief. "That's good to hear…" Jeremy muttered.
"Let me go check something," Mike suddenly declared. He got up from his chair and left the living room. The ghosts heard him walk up the stairs and they looked at each other uncertainly, wondering whether they should stay put or follow him. After several minutes, Mike returned to the living room. To everyone's surprise, the man was smirking.
"Uh…dad?" Liz ventured, after Mike didn't make any sound for several seconds.
To everyone's surprise, Mike started to chuckle. "Heh heh heh heh heh…" the chuckle exploded into full-blown laughter. "Heh HA HA HA HA HA HA HA…A HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
The ghost kids jolted and shuddered, completely taken aback by Mike's sudden amusement. Their father's laughter wasn't the good-natured expression of mirth that they were familiar with. No, this laughter was cruel and mocking, a laughter that promised pain and malevolence against whoever was unfortunate enough to be Mike's victim. It was already terrifying enough for most of the ghost kids, for Mike's malicious expression of glee was reminding them uncomfortably of Nightmare. But it was even worse for Charlie.
For Charlie had seen what none of the other ghost kids had that terrible night when William Afton had attacked. She had seen the very worst of Mike Schmidt in horrifying detail, and although Mike was very much a human now in the real world instead of the unstoppable force of destruction that he had been inside his own mind, the laughter was otherwise the exact same kind that Mike had given…right before he had tortured William with a level of brutality that had left even the Nightmares in awe.
"Oh, Fazbear Entertainment…" Mike finally spoke after finishing his vicious, triumphant laugh. "You don't even know it yet, but you've just given me the perfect noose to hang you with," the ghosts shivered as Mike snarled out the last 3 words.
"What are you talking about, Dad?" Gabe asked. He was feeling a roiling surge of conflicting emotions. Relief, that Mike seemed to have a plan that he was confident would succeed in countering Fazbear Entertainment's rise. Fear, at how disturbingly…evil he was acting, he couldn't think of any better word to describe it. And confusion, since he didn't know what was going on. And he could see similar expressions on his brothers' and sisters' faces.
Mike seemed to notice his son's discomfort, for the malice on his face faded. "I have a plan, guys," he explained. "I don't know if it'll be enough to stop Fazbear Entertainment entirely, but I can certainly hit them where it hurts."
Susie tapped at her father's shoulder. "What can we do?" she wondered. "We want to help!"
"It's been you doing most of the work for the things we did in the past," Jeremy agreed. "We want to do our part too!"
Mike gave them an apologetic look. "I can see that, and I do understand," he assured. "Unfortunately, for the first step in dealing with this issue, I'm going to have to be the one to do it simply because it's literally impossible for you guys to do it without causing a catastrophic shitshow."
"…oh, it's cause we're ghosts, isn't it?" Gabe mumbled.
"Yeah…" Mike agreed ruefully. "But I'm sure you'll get your chance. Henry wouldn't have talked to you guys if you weren't."
The ghosts smiled gratefully at him as Mike adopted a pensive look on his face. "Despite what I just said, I doubt that what I'm about to do will kill off Fazbear Entertainment before it can even get going. We've all seen just how annoyingly persistent it can be, like a fucking cockroach. But…" a cold smile spread across his face. "Let's see how well they can handle a scandal before they've even released their first product."
Three Days Later…
Mike smirked as he read the new headline on his phone. As the ghosts read it as well, they too began to grin with mischievous delight as they realized the play that their father had just pulled.
"Fazbear Entertainment Rocked in Scandal: Caught Lying About Tragic Past"
"The newest iteration of Fazbear Entertainment, which has only recently declared its resurgence, is already suffering its first massive scandal," the article read. "The local police in Washington County, Utah have released their own statements confirming the tragic murders of at least five children on the premises of establishments tied to Fazbear Entertainment in the past. A spokesperson from Fazbear Entertainment has clarified that the murders of the children technically took place in Fredbear's Family Diner, a separate entity from Fazbear Entertainment. However, the presence of the murdered children's corpses in an established Fazbear Entertainment location has already thrown their claims into serious doubt, and their claim that Fazbear Entertainment has no true tragic past has been discredited beyond question."
"Wait a minute…" Susie suddenly realized. "Why were our corpses found in the 1987 Freddy Fazbear location?" she wondered. "We were murdered earlier than that somewhere else!"
Mike shrugged. "That's where Liz and I found the corpses," he answered. He suddenly got a disturbed look on his face. "Oh God, I just realized that William might have moved them from one location to the other."
The ghosts made various expressions of disgust at his statement. "But why though?" Liz spluttered. "That doesn't make any sense!"
"It's William Afton," Charlie scowled. "Do you really want to try and go into HIS head?"
Liz shuddered. "Fair point."
"Well, whatever caused him to move the corpses the first time, he clearly didn't move them again to the place where I worked at," Mike muttered. "To be fair, the hidden room in the 1987 was a lot harder to find than the safe room in 1993." He shook his head, trying not to think about the horrible discovery he had made with Liz back in the 1987 pizzeria. "Anyways…"
Everyone turned their attention back to the article. "The exposed deception has further galvanized families whose loved ones have vanished under mysterious circumstances while under the employ of Fazbear Entertainment," it read. "The business has already released a statement attempting to placate both these families and the local communities, who have already turned hostile to its resurgence in the wake of the scandal."
"We will not make the mistakes of the past," a spokesperson from Fazbear Entertainment affirmed earlier today. "We take the welfare of our employees and the safety of our customers very seriously. We will do everything we can to ensure that Fazbear Entertainment will rise again as it was meant to, free of the tragedies that have tainted it in the past. We also apologize for the false statements made earlier, as one of our employees made them without proper consent or authorization of Fazbear Entertainment as a whole. The employee in question has been dealt with accordingly, and we sincerely apologize for our grievous error. We hope to commemorate the tragedies associated with previous iterations of Fazbear Entertainment through our games, and hope that they will shine as a symbol of how hope and a brighter future can rise above the weight of the past."
Mike scoffed as he read the article. "Yeah, right," he snorted. "More like they got caught lying red-handed and put the blame on a scapegoat." Still, the man was in a good mood.
"Wait…weren't we trying to stop Fazbear Entertainment?" Cassidy asked, clearly confused at the satisfaction on her father's face.
Mike's smirk grew. "The point wasn't to destroy Fazbear Entertainment entirely," he explained. "Believe me, I would have absolutely LOVED for that to happen right here and now, but it wasn't the main point of what I was trying to do. We've put them on the backfoot by catching them in their lie, which means that when I negotiate with them, I'LL be the one with the advantage."
"Negotiate?" Gabe repeated. "Why are you going to negotiate?"
Mike smiled at his children, especially the MCI ones. "Your chance for redemption," he answered.
A Few Hours Later…
"GOD DAMN IT!" the man shouted into his phone furiously. "We tried so hard to rebuild our image! We were going to bury the past under the rug, pretend like it never happened, and then the fucking POLICE of all things release the truth to the public!"
The man's scowl deepened as he listened to the other line. "I know the police didn't talk about the night guards, but it's not like it matters! The public doesn't trust us anymore! If things keep going this way, our entire venture could sink into the ground before it even has the chance to take off!" He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. "We need to be very careful about how we handle things from this point forward. Do whatever you can to make absolutely damn sure nothing else goes wrong!" Once he received affirmation of his orders, the man disconnected and then slammed his phone onto his desk in disgust.
"Urrrgghhhhh…" the executive scowled. "We planned this so well!" he ranted. "We covered our tracks so thoroughly that we were sure that nobody was going to discover that we were bringing Fazbear Entertainment back until it was too late. Now this shit happens and our beta testers have quit working on our upcoming game! Normally I'd just say release the damn thing already, but now we have to delay its release because of this shitshow going on! Thank God nobody knows about the accident that happened to Jeremy or we'd have a real shitshow on our hands…"
"Sir?" a female voice interrupted him. The executive looked up to see his assistant poking her head into the room. "Somebody has just scheduled a meeting. He says he's looking for a job and is asking about any possible openings. He can meet right now if you wish."
"Really?" the executive asked incredulously. After today's string of disasters, a possible new employee couldn't have arrived at a better time. "Schedule an appointment with him and bring him here as soon as possible!"
"Right away, sir!" the secretary confirmed before leaving. The executive sighed and palmed his forehead.
"At least something's going right today…" he muttered.
About an hour later, his secretary returned. "Mr. Schmidt will see you now," she reported.
"Send him in please," the executive ordered, in a slightly better mood than before now that he'd had the chance to calm down.
The door opened wider and Mike walked in. "So, you're Mr. Averus?" the middle-aged man held out his hand. "Mike Schmidt. Pleasure to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you too," Mr. Averus curtly replied as he accepted the handshake and gestured for Mike to sit down on the chair. Once the two made themselves comfortable, he continued. "So I understand you're interested in being a beta tester for our upcoming video game?"
"Yes indeed," Mike answered smoothly. "I would very much like to test this game for myself. I'm just a guy with a little too much free time on my hands, and I might as well put my time to good use."
"Indeed…" Averus replied, his voice not betraying any emotion. "And…what makes you think that we need any beta testers at this point in time?"
A smirk suddenly appeared on Mike's face, disconcerting the executive. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have wasted either your time or mine bringing me in here."
Damn. This man was no fool. "As much as I'm grateful to you for coming down here, I don't really understand why a man like yourself is so interested in our Freddy Fazbear game. Why are you so interested when our designated audience is in the child-teen range?" he interrogated.
Mike grinned warmly. "Why wouldn't I be interested?" he asked, spreading his arms wide and placing them behind his head. "It's Fazbear Entertainment! After all…" the grin suddenly turned sinister, sending a chill down Averus' spine, "I used to work here before."
"You…worked here?" Averus' repeated. And then his eyes bulged as the realization hit him. "You…you're a night guard, aren't you? The night guard that Scott used as a reference in his video game."
"You got it!" Mike replied with a tone that was as pleasant as it was fake. "Based on a true story and all that. And I'm here to…make a deal."
Averus scoffed. "We don't have to listen to you!" he snapped.
Mike's grin only widened in response. "Oh, I disagree," he retorted. "I know all about the rough times you're going through right now. Shame about that scandal, how the police outed the murders of the poor children in public and caught you redhanded in your lies."
"The person who said that misspoke!" the executive protested. "He was the one who conveyed that false message."
"Oh, I'm sure," Mike drawled, his tone making it clear he didn't believe a single word of it. "But that doesn't matter, does it? Whether or not you lied intentionally, the public believes you did. All it takes is someone to tell them about your history of fucking atrocious business practices regarding the night guards, how you knew about the disappearances and tried to swipe them under the rug with Missing Persons Reports, and…well, that might just be the final nail in the coffin."
"But you can't!" Averus blustered. "The contract you signed! It swore you to secrecy at risk of being sued!"
The chilling laughter that he received in response sounded almost inhuman. "Ah, but that's where you're wrong," Mike hissed. "I studied that contract thoroughly. And that contract was between me and a previous incarnation of Fazbear Entertainment. An incarnation that has been dead for over 30 years. So there's nothing stopping me from simply going over to the press and telling them everything I experienced." Averus tried to open his mouth to make another comment, but Mike didn't give him the chance. "And let's assume that I'm wrong. Let's assume that I'm still bound to the agreement of secrecy. The thing is…that agreement stipulated that I would be sued for $50,000 if I broke that agreement." A triumphant gleam appeared in Mike's eyes. "A price that I will be more than willing to pay."
"…you planned this," Mr. Averus accused. "You planned this from the start."
Mike shrugged, an easygoing smile on his face. "Maybe I did," he replied smoothly. "Maybe I didn't. Either way, not much you can do about it."
The Fazbear Entertainment let out a defeated sigh. "What do you want?" he asked after several seconds of silence.
"Now, believe it or not," Mike replied smoothly, "I don't want to destroy your franchise's reputation before it even gets off the ground. I just want to make sure that shit gets done, and shit gets done right."
Part of that was a lie, of course. He hated Fazbear Entertainment as passionately as he ever had, and even now he was sorely tempted to go to the press and just bring Fazbear Entertainment crashing down. He sure as hell didn't care about paying the lawsuit penalties for doing so, if they even applied in the first place.
But he couldn't. He'd read enough fantasy and fiction stories to know that Henry's discussions with his children, while not technically worded as such, were functionally a prophecy. The children who had once murdered night guards were almost certainly fated to carry out their redemption through stopping Fazbear Entertainment. His instincts were screaming to him, warning him that if he tried to circumvent this path by trying to take the easy road and destroying Fazbear Entertainment early, it wouldn't truly solve the problem.
Sure, he could do exactly as he threatened, reveal his experiences to the public (minus the ghost kids' involvement, of course), and destroy Fazbear Entertainment. But then the exact same thing that had happened would happen again. Fazbear Entertainment would disappear, only to rise again somewhere else, refusing to die like the cockroaches they were. Possibly they would reappear far away from where they were currently at, possibly even under a different name. And if that happened, there would be no way for him or his children to do anything to stop, at least before it was far too late. The way that Henry had spoken to his children and Nightmare and Old Man Consequences had talked to him, it wasn't a matter of if, but a matter of when.
It would be better to know what he was dealing with and exert some degree of control over it. Hopefully, by effectively taking charge of this initial video game project that Fazbear Entertainment was banking on, he and his children would be able to more effectively neutralize the incoming darkness. And even if they failed to stop it completely…it was still better than whatever inane and idiotic policies Fazbear Entertainment would implement unchecked, that was for sure.
He gave Mr. Averus a winning smile, disconcerting him with his suddenly friendly demeanor. "Mr. Averus, despite what I just said right now, I'm not trying to ruin you," he reassured him disarmingly. "If I did, I would have gone straight to the press without ever contacting you. No matter how I feel about your company personally, I wouldn't want to force all your employees into unemployment. No, I'd like to make a deal with you. A deal that I think that you will actually appreciate."
"Okay…" the executive answered cautiously. "What do you have in mind?"
"It's simple," Mike explained with a smile. "You delay the video game release by, say…two months. Given that you're still dealing with the scandal, a scandal I caused…" he added the last four words in his head smugly, "you'll probably need to do that anyway simply out of necessity. You give me your latest copy of your video game to me, and only me. Nobody else will work on it except for me, and you don't give it to anybody else. And once I'm done working on it, you implement the changes that I recommend, and release the video game to the public ONLY after those changes are made."
Mr. Averus' eyes narrowed. "And what do we get out of this?" he demanded.
Mike grinned. "Free labor, of course!" he declared. "I will work on this video game for you and beta test it completely for free, without any salary. And of course, I will keep silent about my experiences, both in the present and past. I have plenty of free time on my hands, and I will work on this video game and pretty much nothing else for the next few months."
The Fazbear Entertainment executive stroke his chin thoughtfully. It wasn't a terrible trade-off, all things considered. The most important thing was keeping Mike silent on his experiences as a Fazbear Entertainment Night Guard, and the man was offering a relatively easy way to ensure his silence. The delay he was insisting on essentially didn't matter, and the man was offering his help during a time when the beta testers for Silver Parasol Games had quit or…there was that one incident regarding Jeremy that he didn't want to think about. And without having to pay him any salary for essentially a month or even two months of service?"
Yes, there were certainly worse deals that he could make.
"I'm inclined to accept," Mr. Averus admitted. "However, I want weekly reports on any observations and changes you accept in our VR game."
"It's a VR game?" Mike mused. "That's quite interesting. Haven't played a whole lot of those lately. All right, that's a fair condition to make. I'll accept it. In exchange, I'd like to take the main copy of the video game that you're beta testing with me back to my house. Simply because I work better at home. You don't have to worry about me misplacing it. I don't intend to let that happen." The intensity in his voice made it clear he took the security surrounding the video game very seriously.
"I can agree to that," Averus replied. "Just make sure to leave us your address so we know where our video game copy is."
"Sure, sure," Mike nodded agreeably. "I'm glad we could come to an understanding, Mr. Averus."
"Yes…" Mr. Averus answered neutrally. "You've actually been surprisingly accommodating, all things considered. Once you leave, my secretary will give you directions to Silver Parasol Games, where you can pick up the main beta version of our VR game. I'll call them to let them know about our arrangement."
The two men shook hands. "Oh, and Mr. Averus?"
"Yes, Mr. Schmidt?"
Mike's eyes narrowed, and his menacing aura returned. "I take my privacy very seriously. And as much as I don't want to ruin you, I don't trust Fazbear Entertainment as far as I can throw them. And if I so much as think that you're trying something funny, like sending people to spy on me at my residence or anything shady like that, I'll just go straight to the press or the police and spill the beans on everything I've been through because of your company, agreements be damned." He gave the Fazbear executive a cold glare. "Do I make myself clear?"
Averus waved the threat dismissively. "Please, as if we could afford to alienate you at this critical juncture when you're doing us a favor and could have so easily ruined us," he retorted. "You can be rest assured that we won't plan to make any moves against you, Mr. Schmidt. We're not stupid. We don't fight battles that we know are losses from the get-go."
Mike nodded curtly. "So long as that remains the case, you can expect nothing but my hardest work, dedication, and a full-time commitment to the development of this game." A statement that was entirely truthful, though for completely different reasons than what the Fazbear executive was probably imagining. Still, that didn't mean he was going to be careless when dealing with a business as shady as Fazbear Entertainment. He was going to be upgrading the security systems in and around his house, for starters.
Mr. Averus pressed a button on his desk. "Stacey?" he called. "We will be requiring your assistance. And bring a computer with you. Mr. Schmidt and I will be making a rather unique work contract for his employment."
"Right away, sir…" the secretary replied.
As Mike sat back down, patiently waiting so that they could begin haggling over the finer details and forming an official agreement for his employment, Mr. Averus internally let out a sigh. Part of him had been…quite frankly, scared, of Mike Schmidt. There was something about the seemingly unremarkable man that terrified him, and yet in the end Mike Schmidt was seemingly offering him the solution to all of the problems that had tumbled onto his lap ever since the revelation of the murdered children to the public by the police.
The Fazbear executive scoffed inwardly. "Who knows?" he thought as his secretary came in with a laptop, as instructed. "If he really wants to go through our upcoming video game with a fine-toothed comb so badly, he can deal with the glitchy code issues by himself."
/
A/N: "Glitchy code issues." I'm sure that's nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. Also, it's totally a coincidence that "Averus" sounds like "Avarice."
And here we see the glimpses of Dark!Mike starting to resurface, even if it's in a more restrained form. You might wanna cool down there, Mike. You're looking disturbingly similar to a certain demon lord…
Mike could have easily gone to the press and tried to bring Fazbear Entertainment down early, but he's read enough "prophecies" in fiction to know that trying to run away from your destiny never turns out well. By more-or-less blackmailing Fazbear Entertainment into giving him control over the VR game, Mike has effectively claimed some degree of control over Fazbear Entertainment itself…at the very least, enough to plant himself right in the thick of things and see what's going on for himself. Of course, going to the press is always an option, but only as a last resort.
So, Mike now has access to the VR game, and since he wants his ghost kids to have a proper chance to redeem themselves, he'll be passing a significant portion of the responsibility of going through the game to them. But that doesn't mean that he won't be monitoring things carefully himself. Even without a certain something or someone factoring in, you can never be too careful where Fazbear Entertainment is concerned…
And thus, the Help Wanted arc begins. Hope you guys enjoyed! Before I go, here's the response that I promised for TobiasRieper:
I find it quite interesting that you invoke your Christian background when you argue why William Afton should be forgiven, because the argument that God should forgive William Afton is fundamentally incompatible with two core tenets of Christian faith.
1. Forgiveness requires repentance (and accepting Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, but I've largely ignored that one in this fic despite its importance). You bring up the point that there are people who have done worse than William Afton and yet have still ended up in Heaven, and you aren't wrong. But those people ended up in Heaven despite their worse crimes because they showed remorse for their sins and were willing to better themselves. Let's look at your example. Alfred Nobel, the man who invented dynamite? He was horrified at what his creation was ultimately used for and made the Nobel Prizes as an act of repentance. And hell, Nobel's original intention wasn't to blow people up with dynamite, but instead to make quarrying and mining (ironically) safer.
Now let's look at William Afton. Unlike Nobel, William Afton has shown NO remorse for his crimes whatsoever. He murdered the MCI children, murdered his close friend and business partner's only daughter, lied to and manipulated his older son, corrupted his daughter into becoming a monster, and (in this fic) deliberately pulled the plug on his younger son so that he wouldn't have to "waste time" taking care of a disabled child. All of which are horrendous crimes, and the latter ones are arguably even worse than murder. Dante Alighieri, at least, considers Fraud and Treachery to be worse sins than Violence (something that I agree with to a degree), and what William did to Henry and his family almost certainly qualifies as either Fraud or Treachery. But more important than the types of crimes he committed, and what ultimately determines why God cannot and will not forgive William Afton, is because he is completely unrepentant of his wicked deeds, showing no regret whatsoever. Whether as a human or as Springtrap, his entire existence is defined by bloodshed of innocents, and he remains a vicious murderer up until his final death in FNaF 6. God's love is unconditional, true. But His forgiveness is shown ONLY to those who show remorse for their sins. Otherwise, by your logic, Hell would not exist, and monsters such as Hitler, Stalin, and Idi Amin would be welcomed into Heaven. Their crimes might absolutely dwarf William Afton's, but like William they showed no remorse whatsoever. And that's the crucial factor that determines their eternal fate in the end.
Now for the other point. 2. Forgiveness can only be granted before death. You have all the time in the world to redeem yourself and earn salvation…but only while you're alive. Once you're dead and you move on to the afterlife, that's it. If you're still unrepentant by the time you appear before God in Heaven to be judged, your fate in Hell is sealed for all eternity. William Afton never repented, and thus is condemned to Hell. No matter how much he may beg for forgiveness or mercy while burning in the Abyss (and this fic has clearly shown that he still doesn't show any remorse, given that he escaped from Hell to attack the Schmidts), he will never be saved.
"But what about the ghost kids?" you may ask. "They never showed repentance either." The ghost kids are different for two reasons. One, unlike William, they never committed any significant sins while alive. All the crimes they committed were AFTER their death and imprisonment in the animatronics, trapped in a cursed state of undeath that never should have been allowed to happen in the first place. This introduces a very obscure gray area and situation that has never been presented to Heaven before, and it allows God to be flexible with the rules, giving Him the opportunity to show mercy to the ghost kids. William Afton, on the other hand, committed monstrous crimes without remorse as a living human LONG before his first death as Springtrap, and thus there is no such ambiguity. And even though I never outright stated it in this fic, I imagine that, in the thirty years where they were trapped in the ruined shells of their animatronics after killing William, they slowly realized (with the help of Charlie's benevolent influence, who came to the realization long before the rest of them did) that they had been killing innocents and showed remorse for their sins. It wouldn't be enough to win them a free pass to Heaven by itself, but it WOULD be enough for them to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves. And thus, the events of this fic.
Arguments don't mean much without examples, so let us imagine a different Springtrap. A Springtrap who, in his thirty years of imprisonment, came to regret and show remorse for all the evil he had committed in his life. A Springtrap who, unlike in FNaF 3 and FNaF 6, wanted to reconcile with his family and was interested solely in destroying the Fazbear franchise and its corruption without continuing to target innocents like he does in canon. He would still have the sins of mass child murder and fraud/treachery against his family on his back. But unlike the canon Afton or the Afton of this fic, he would be forgiven and allowed into Heaven. Why? Because he showed remorse. The one difference that makes all the difference in the world.
We can argue all day and night over whether the kids should forgive William Afton. I personally don't believe they have any obligation to, although I DO intend to address this point despite my perspective on it. But God will never forgive William Afton not because He's biased, but because it's fundamentally against Christian doctrine for Him to forgive sinners who show no remorse for their crimes, or forgive them after true death and moving on to the afterlife has already happened.
