A/N: Well, not much to say here, so let's keep on going. This is going to be a bit of a shorter chapter than most, simply because I've had a very busy past couple of days at work and have been having a somewhat difficult time collecting my thoughts for this fic. I was going to originally have this be just one chapter, but I think I'm going to have to split it to two parts out of necessity.

Also, full disclaimer here, I have no clue how the law works, and I don't have the time to research it. I apologize if what I type here is completely incorrect to how the law works in real life. Just consider part of the alternate universe; it's not like some artistic license regarding the law is the most unbelievable thing in this fic when freaking ghosts and demons exist.

UPDATE: This chapter was fixed to have Nelson's correct last name.

DeathClawProductions: There is definitely some catharsis to be had, that's for sure! Although because of the reasons listed above, it's gonna be split across multiple chapters.

Jay: In this fic, Mike Schmidt is a separate character from Michael Afton. It's something that I establish in the intro note at the start of the first chapter.

Jack0Lanterns: Oh, I know about those creepy moments. Vanny is seriously messed up in the head…not that that's much of a surprise, considering who we know is behind her insanity.

AlchemyWriter: Thanks, and you too!

FireFlamerx9z: It's an advantage the Schmidt family certainly wouldn't have had three decades ago, that's for sure.

Thanatos D.E.M.: There's actually going to be less filler than there used to be, since I don't exactly have the time to write a bunch of story-themed chapters compared to before.

Chapter 146 – Multi-Pronged Attack, Part 1

Ironically, the first part of Mike's plan to strike against Fazbear Entertainment was to wait for its success.

As much as the kids wanted to start trashing Fazbear Entertainment's reputation online, they knew that they had to approach this delicately in order to achieve the very specific outcome that they desired. They had to make sure that Fazbear Entertainment had a strong enough foundation with the success of Nightmare's new-and-improved VR game to withstand a scandal. Collapsing the business entirely might have been gratifying in the short-term, but it would ultimately allow Glitchtrap's possession victim to slip away into the shadows, free to slaughter more innocent children and recreate more tragedies without any way to track them.

A situation that they absolutely could not allow, no matter how "questionable" the alternatives might be.

"I'm still not sure how much I agree with this," Gabe grumbled. "Letting this mysterious woman anywhere near Fazbear Entertainment just so that we have some way of tracking her seems like a disaster waiting to happen."

"I know how you feel," Charlie sighed. "But we don't have any better ideas. At least this way, we have a way to track her down at all, and we can try and minimize the damage by putting pressure on Fazbear Entertainment to NOT fuck up with security and safety for once."

"Do you guys have any idea Dad's gonna pull that off?" Cassidy wondered. "He hasn't told us anything."

That was another thing that bothered them. Though Mike had told them about his initial plan of attack on Fazbear Entertainment, he hadn't actually shared the details on how exactly he was going to pull it off.

"It's a surprise," was all Mike had said, winking conspiratorially at them as he did so. "But I promise, you guys…you're gonna love it when you see it."

Halloween had come and gone, the VR game being launched on the holiday defined by spookiness and Trick-or-Treating. Mike had strictly forbidden them from attacking Fazbear Entertainment's reputation online until after he had unleashed his part of the attack first, and as November crawled on the ghosts were starting to get antsy. It was difficult for even them to tell whether their anxiety was due to youthful impatience, or unease borne from the apparent success of Fazbear Entertainment and their lack of action. The temptation to demand answers was growing, not that they could do much about it right now – Mike had more frequently been making trips in and out of his house lately, leaving the ghost kids to their own devices while he took care of whatever business he needed to.

"God, I can't keep this up for much longer," Fritz complained. "If Dad doesn't do something soon, I'm gonna go nuts!"

Charlie was about to try and calm him down, when her phone suddenly buzzed. One look at the Caller ID quickly identified the caller as Mike. "Yeah, Dad?" she asked as soon as she accepted the call.

"Is everyone there?" Mike asked.

Charlie looked around to make sure the rest of her family was accounted for. "Yeah, we're all here."

"Put your phone on speakerphone, this is for all of you." Charlie did as she was requested, gesturing for all of her siblings to drop what they were doing and pay attention to Mike's words. "Go online and look up the local news for our town," Mike instructed. Everyone immediately noticed that his voice was practically oozing with smugness and satisfaction. "It's time for me to show you the surprise I was talking about." Before anyone could say anything, he cut the connection.

"Oh, crap!" Jeremy exclaimed. "It's finally time!"

"I want to see this!" Susie declared gleefully.

The ghosts crowded around Charlie as she opened up the news for Hurricane, Utah, making sure to search specifically for Fazbear Entertainment. The moment she read the headline, her jaw dropped open.

"FORMER FAZBEAR ENTERTAINMENT EXECUTIVE EXPOSES THE SECRETS OF HIS FORMER COMPANY!"

"Holy crap," Liz murmured as everyone crowded around the article that had just been released.

"After being closed and banished to the shadows of obscurity for decades, the children's entertainment industry, Fazbear Entertainment, has finally resurfaced in a new incarnation earlier this year," the article read. "The reborn industry had announced their intentions to herald their triumphant return through the creation of a VR game, one that will incorporate and greatly expand on horror game series "Five Nights at Freddy's" by Scott Cawthon. However, the release of the video game was complicated by a scandal surrounding its conception. According to rumors, Fazbear Entertainment had created the video game as an attempt to discredit the tragedies surrounding Fazbear Entertainment, only for the local police of Hurricane, Utah to release a statement confirming the murders of several local children within Fazbear establishments decades prior. In response to this irrefutable contraindication to their previous claims, Fazbear Entertainment insisted that they had created the VR game as a means to commemorate the tragedies rather than discredit them, and that the latter was an unsanctioned effort by rogue elements within the company that were promptly identified and removed."

"Yeah, bullshit," Cassidy scoffed.

"Despite this earlier scandal, Fazbear Entertainment released its VR game at Halloween, promising many new features and minigames that were previously not intended to be in the game as an apology for the delay caused by the scandal. The game has been released to the public for several weeks now, and has been met with positive reception despite the previous scandal. In particular, the designs of the Nightmare animatronics, monstrous and demonic versions of the original animatronic mascots, has been praised as a perfect representation of Halloween horror."

Gabe rolled his eyes. He and his siblings knew full well that it had been Nightmare who was the true mastermind behind the Curse of Dreadbear DLC, not Fazbear Entertainment. A part of him still rankled at the fact that Mike wasn't even slightly acknowledged for his contributions to the success of the VR game, although the former Freddy inhabitant knew full well that Mike didn't particularly care about the recognition, and that the less recognition he did receive that was connected to FE, the better.

"However, the recent success that Fazbear Entertainment has enjoyed may yet be undermined or even nullified entirely by yet another scandal. A former Fazbear Entertainment executive, Mr. Nelson MacGregor, has recently released a statement to the public that has exposed the dark truths behind Fazbear Entertainment's business practices."

"WHAT?" Charlie exclaimed once she read the name. "THAT Nelson?"

"Who's Nelson?" Liz asked her, shocked at Charlie's extreme reaction to the name.

"Dad and I met him over a year ago when we were trying to find the house I used to live in when I was still alive," Charlie explained, earning some more surprised looks from her siblings. "Nelson lived in the house as a favor to my other Dad, and that was how we learned about things like Remnant and how we got the Rockstars. Dad must have convinced him to speak out against Fazbear Entertainment!"

"So THAT'S what Dad's been doing lately!" Susie exclaimed. "He must have reached out to this Nelson guy and convinced him to speak out against Fazbear Entertainment. This must've been what Dad meant he said he was going to start our attack!"

"Maybe, but I don't think that's all of it," Jeremy countered. "From what Dad told us, it sounded like he had more than one way of striking against FE. I'm sure he's the reason why this Nelson guy's speaking out now, but Dad has to be doing more than just that."

"We'll see," Gabe muttered. "Let's just read the article for now." Nobody had any objection to his suggestion, so they turned their attention back to the article.

"Mr. MacGregor's statement has revealed Fazbear Entertainment's history of appalling callousness towards the safety and well-being of their employees, a history that he has been able to support with hard evidence," the article continued. "This evidence includes a copy of Fazbear Entertainment's contract for their establishments in 1987 and 1993, both of which have clearly stipulated that upon discovering that damage or death have occurred, a missing person report will be filed within 90 days, or as soon as property and premises have been thoroughly cleaned and bleached, and the carpets have been replaced. Phone recordings from the 1993 establishment have also been recovered, confirming that the animatronics have exhibited the dangerous behavior of forcefully stuffing employees in Freddy Fazbear suits with metal components that would almost certainly kill whoever was forced within them."

The MCI ghosts cringed a bit at the reminder of their crimes, though the guilt that had once crushed them over their past sins was no longer as crippling as it had been. They had a new purpose now, and they would not allow the cycle of tragedy to start over again. It was the least they could do to pay back the debt they owed to the ones they had murdered.

"These pieces of evidence paint a damning and horrendous story about Fazbear Entertainment's past business practices," the article asserted. "Not only did Fazbear Entertainment hire unsuspecting night guards to a dangerous location with a high risk of death, they barely provided any information about the nature of the job and its hazardous conditions. The situation is only made worse with the revelation that Fazbear Entertainment did not have the decency to report the deaths of its workers, instead choosing to cover up those deaths from both the deceased members' families and the police in a pathetic attempt to maintain their reputation. At best, Fazbear Entertainment has been criminally negligent and apathetic towards the well-being of its employees. At worst, they are downright malevolent in their behavior with practices that even other corrupt businesses and executives would balk at."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Charlie thought. Fazbear Entertainment was a twisted mockery of the Fredbear's Family Diner that Henry had created, one that spat in the face of the dream that he had envisioned. What really made it so disgusting was that William Afton had, as far as she knew, had barely been involved with Fazbear Entertainment's business practices. It had become a cesspit of greed and corruption all on its own, without a psychopathic serial killer's malice tainting it in the background.

The article wasn't done crucifying Fazbear Entertainment, however. "What truly makes Fazbear Entertainment's business practices so horrible is that the deaths themselves could have been completely and easily avoided," it declared. "Mr. MacGregor has provided further evidence which suggests that the animatronics could have been adjusted so that the danger they provided to the night guards could have been minimized. He has provided blueprints of the original Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, which include a system incorporated into the animatronics that can adjust the AI levels, making the animatronics more or less active. Fazbear Entertainment has stated that these AI levels merely affected the performance of the animatronics while on-stage. However, the popular video game Five Nights at Freddy's, which has been inspired by the Fazbear tragedy, insinuates that the AI levels controls the movements of the animatronics at night as well. This theory is further supported by records presented by Mr. MacGregor, which states that an employee, who shall remain anonymous, was fired from Fazbear Entertainment for "tampering with the animatronics." However, following the employee's termination, the number of missing persons reports from Fazbear Entertainment decreased dramatically, with only 1 report filed before the 1993 location's closing at the end of that year."

"That has to be Dad," Cassidy commented. "He was the one who switched all of the animatronic AI's to 0."

"I'm happy that they didn't mention Dad's name outright," Jeremy added. "If people started coming around here to ask questions, that could make things a lot harder for us."

"Why the hell didn't Fazbear Entertainment pick up on this?" Susie pointed out. "Dad had practically no experience with animatronics when he was only a teen, and yet he STILL managed to stop us with just a few minutes of messing around with the AI settings!"

The article seemed to agree with her sentiment, for it addressed that point with its next few words. "Fazbear Entertainment can claim that they didn't know the animatronics' AI settings affected their nighttime attacks, and perhaps that may be true. But even if it is, why was this never investigated? Why did Fazbear Entertainment not spend just a few days to experiment with the settings and see how that affected the animatronics' behavior? Why did it take several months for this problem to be solved, by a single employee who either took the initiative to do the right thing on his own or stumbled upon a simple solution through sheer luck?"

"Dad pretty much said exactly the same thing," Fritz remembered. "Remember? When he was ranting about Fazbear Entertainment all the way back then."

"It says this Nelson MacGregor person is the one who's speaking to the newspaper, but I'm positive Dad's the one behind this," Liz theorized, before adding, "and I do remember, Fritz. Everything the article is saying is pretty much exactly what Dad told us back then."

"Nelson's the person who needs to speak publicly and openly, as a former high-ranking Fazbear Entertainment employee and someone with hard copies of the contracts and blueprints and everything," Charlie mused. "He has the credibility…but Dad is the one pulling the strings from the shadows."

"He has to, if he doesn't want his identity and possibly us to be exposed," Jeremy pointed out.

"It is no exaggeration to call the Fazbear Entertainment of decades past one of the worst companies to ever exist," the article lambasted the company. "It stands as an embodiment of everything wrong with the world of business through its staggering incompetence, horrific disregard towards the welfare of its employees, and sheer laziness and inability to improve itself. Qualities that have all contributed to the tragic deaths of many innocent night guards, and very likely played a role in the deaths of multiple children on their establishments as well."

"Amen to that!" Susie exclaimed, with general noises of agreement coming out from the other ghosts.

"In the years since the closing of the 1993 Freddy Fazbear's pizzeria, the franchise has continued to suffer misfortune and failure with every attempt to rise from the ashes. Fazbear's Fright, a horror attraction modeled off the original restaurant, burned to the ground only a week after it was completed, right before it was meant to be opened to the public," the article continued. "Another incarnation of Fazbear Entertainment was established a few years ago, but was never opened to the public and ultimately suffered a similar fate. Perhaps these failures are karma for the many sins of Fazbear Entertainment's past, or perhaps it is merely a curse of ill fortune."

"Well, we all know the REAL reasons why those things turned out the way they did," Gabe commented.

"I don't think my other father accounted for the fact that some OTHER idiots would try and bring back Fazbear Entertainment after he brought down William Afton with the trap pizzeria," Charlie added, before sighing. "Then again…there's a lot of things that none of us could have possibly accounted for."

"Perhaps this newest form of Fazbear Entertainment will be different," the article concluded. "Perhaps this latest incarnation will be the one that redeems Fazbear Entertainment of its many past flaws, and will rise to create the safe, fun, and joyful children's establishments that it was always meant to." Fritz let out a derisive snort at that, a sentiment that nobody there disagreed with. "But Fazbear Entertainment has much, much more work to do before it can hope to cleanse itself of the taint of its past. And given the scandals it has already faced during the development of its new VR game, it already has a concerning track record despite the success of that game."

"Wow…" Cassidy whistled. "This really says everything that's wrong with Fazbear Entertainment in a nutshell, doesn't it?"

"If only somebody could have written a hit piece like this on William Afton back then," Liz muttered.

Charlie took her phone and called Mike's number back. "Well?" Mike's voice asked smugly once he had reconnected. "What did you guys think?"

"That was amazing, Dad!" the former Puppet inhabitant praised. "I had no idea that you were working with Nelson to slander Fazbear Entertainment in the newspaper!"

"I knew you'd like it," Mike replied, the satisfaction clear in his voice. "Nelson and I had to plan this out very carefully, or else Fazbear Entertainment would just try to deny it like they try to deny all of their fuck-ups. Henry left more than just information on Remnant and the Rockstars to Nelson, Charlie. He left behind copies of the work contracts, blueprints of the classic animatronics that showed the AI settings, copies of the original Phone Guy recordings, pretty much anything that you can think of that that would work asammunition against Fazbear Entertainment."

"But is this going to be enough?" Jeremy asked worriedly. "Do people even read the news anymore?"

"Oh, this isn't just going on the news," Mike reassured him. "Nelson's also going to be speaking on TV, and he's going to be providing the evidence he has both on TV and on the Internet. We're going to make sure everyone knows that Fazbear Entertainment's many mistakes are real, and are coming back to bite them in the ass. And in case Fazbear Entertainment actually has the guts to try and sabotage and destroy that evidence, I've got a backup with me as well."

"Won't Mr. MacGregor get in trouble from this?" Gabe questioned, clearly concerned. "He could get sued by Fazbear Entertainment for showing all this to the public."

To his surprise, all that he got in response was a bout of laughter from Mike. "Ah, but that's the beauty of it, Gabe. They can't," the man countered. "The contracts and copyrights were all owned by the previous incarnation of Fazbear Entertainment, an incarnation that no longer exists. And this latest version of the company, in its infinite wisdom and foresight," the sarcasm was positively dripping in Mike's voice, "forgot to renew the copyrights for those old animatronics or their blueprints. Which means that they don't have any legal ground to stand on suing Nelson."

Susie grinned. "Ha, idiots!"

"And trying to sue Nelson for slandering them is going to backfire horribly on them," Mike continued. "Firstly, we were very careful to specifically target our vitriol at the previous incarnation of Fazbear Entertainment, and not the current one, no matter how tempting it might have been to fire a few jabs in their direction. Secondly, we have hard evidence to back up our claims. If Fazbear Entertainment tries to double down on their bullshitting when we have facts to back us up, they're going to look absolutely terrible. That's the last thing they need right now when they've already had other scandals to deal with just a few months ago. And finally, if worst comes to worst and Nelson does get sued, I'll cover his legal fees."

"Oh right," Liz mumbled. "Perks of being rich."

"I've also been in contact with the police," Mike added. "I don't have as much influence over their actions as I do with Nelson, but I have convinced them to release a statement confirming that during 1993, Fazbear Entertainment released several "missing persons reports" for night guards of their establishment, individuals who were never seen again after taking the job. They're not going to be releasing any names for the sake of confidentiality, but family members and friends of the night guards will piece together and finally get some closure." The satisfaction disappeared from Mike's voice and he sighed, "even if we can't give them the full truth."

The MCI children lowered their heads, the feelings of guilt and shame over their actions still lingering even if they were not as strong as they had previously been. Every single word written in the article was true, and Fazbear Entertainment absolutely deserved a significant portion of the blame for allowing the tragedy to continue so long. But it didn't change the fact that they were the ones who had actually done the killings, and they were the ones with innocent blood on their hands.

There was nothing they could do about the past. All they could do was make sure that another Fazbear tragedy like the one that had claimed them would never happen again, and that no innocent lives were lost. Whether those innocents were young children looking for a place to play, or night guards doing their duty without any malicious intentions.

"Anyways," Mike diverted the topic, as though he had sensed the unease and remorse coming from his children. "The moment has come. I've launched my first attack on Fazbear Entertainment, an alpha strike to catch them off-guard, weaken them, and force them on the defensive. Give it a day or two, wait for the public and for the Internet to react."

"And then?" Charlie prompted, though she and the other ghost kids already knew the answer.

And although none of them could see Mike's face in that moment, they could already visualize the grin spreading across his face at his next words. "You strike."

/

A/N: And it's begun! The Schmidt family couldn't let Fazbear Entertainment get too comfortable in their success, after all. Not if they want to make sure that one of the most corrupt and incompetent fictional businesses in existence actually gets its shit together, even if it's only for selfish reasons.

A lot of what was written in this article reinforces points that I've made much earlier in this fic. The ghost children might have been responsible for the actual killings, nobody (not Mike, not the ghost kids, not myself) is disputing that. But Fazbear Entertainment not only did absolutely nothing to stop the tragedy from continuing, but they were fully aware of it and covered it up while freely allowing those dangerous conditions to continue without giving a single flying fuck. The article's condemnation of Fazbear Entertainment might not be the whole truth, but it otherwise does speak the truth and nothing but the truth.

The article was also phrased specifically to target the past version of Fazbear Entertainment, both to minimalize the chance of a lawsuit and also to avoid putting too much fire on the present version of Fazbear Entertainment. Keep in mind that as much as they hate the company, the Schmidts don't want to destroy it completely…not when Vanny is out there, and the end of Fazbear Entertainment would give her the perfect opportunity to slip away and commit another atrocity completely unchecked. They'll give Fazbear Entertainment a chance to defend itself…but the company already has a lot of work cut out for it, and that was just with stage 1 of the Schmidts' attack.

Next chapter will be when the ghost kids start shitting on Fazbear Entertainment on the Internet. And that's all I have for now, so I hope you guys enjoyed!