I Don't Own Fnaf
Mike had been running from the three chasing animatronics for longer than he would appreciate at this point, the only good part of all of this was that the new two weren't all that quick, Goldie had the same problem, the springlock models weren't exactly built with mobility and speed in mind, and given just how clumsy the four seemed to get increasingly more and more, it was clear that Mike being in actual control of his body was the defining factor that let him continue to slip around and run the four animatronics around on a goose chase. As well as the fact that Mangle and Bonnie still hadn't shown up, making him think that they had to be with Fritz more than likely, something he just hoped the other man could handle.
As for himself, he was getting tired, as he moved in a blur of activity, rushing around and about with the sounds of his death charging behind him like dogs on the hunt, refusing to even think about moving away in a way that would lead them to not getting him. It was still scary, but frankly a bit of Mike's mind found it as well just annoying, wondering what the hell the animatronics problems were with him, given at this point it was getting ridiculous. The only reason they had probably separated from chasing at all was to get the springlock suits to just be able to chase him down even more. At least Chica hadn't gotten out, he wasn't sure he could handle another one to deal with. Already moving around the three when he nearly got himself cornered had nearly gotten him killed more than once already, an experience he really wasn't looking to repeat any time soon in this lifetime.
Slipping through cracks and spaces that simply were barely big enough for him and much to big for the four meant he constantly was on the verge of losing them, even if he didn't exactly have the layout memorized, even if at this point he really should Mike just didn't need to go many places beyond to the office where his brother usually was. And yet... For some reason, he never lost them, and not through a lack of trying. It was almost confounding.
Mike knew how to lose a tail, this wasn't that, every time he made a move, one of the others, even with their slower speeds, had at some point had broken off and moved around to be there right as he exited the other side, leading to him having to duck and jump and move in those moments to avoid being nicked by sharp metal... As it stood, as the man rushed around another corner, his breathing coming out more as wheezing, as he held onto his right shoulder, which had a short but nasty cut along it, he hadn't been able to dodge all of them, and defense wasn't what he was used to in a fight.
Gritting his teeth, his eyes were suddenly blinded as the lights flooded the building as Mike slowly moved back around to where the crates were stored, apparently that's what Fritz had been up to, getting the power working again, he couldn't say he minded, given at least now he wasn't squinting to make sure that he didn't trip into anything around him as he was running.
The sounds of chasing footsteps however told him that his chasers were slowly getting closer and closer, and he was frankly put exhausted at this point, his legs were beginning to burn with effort from the dead sprint he had stayed in for what had to be at least a dozen minutes at this point. It didn't sound like a lot, but it really was, and as it stood, he was only just now beginning to get his own plan in motion, as he moved around before dipping down into and under a shelf to get next to one of the crates, and... Yep, there it was, the lumbering chasing form of Freddy, already around the corner ready to pounce at him.
At least they were predictable, as Mike just gritted his teeth, before doing the only thing he could to buy himself another second by flashing his light right into the eyes of the plastic bear knock off, just enough to cause the thing to stumble back, its clumsy feet nearly tripping over itself. While in the meantime Mike reached down, tossing the light away in favor of grabbing at the locks that he himself had put there to secure this crate in particular, before with a jittery mess of fingers, worked at it before, with a familiar click, the lock sprung open as he flung open the door just in time to turn around to see Freddy reaching out to grab at him with a surprisingly not fully broken hand.
Mike let out a yelp in spite of himself as he half stumbled back as the bear continued to move in with frighteningly momentum as the two moved into the crate. Mike just struggled to keep his feet underneath him for just a second before giving up on it, and instead just letting himself fall, twisting around as Freddy swiped at air that had just been displaced by Mike's own head, as the man landed roughly on his shoulder into a small box that made him let out an involuntary hiss of pain as he rolled himself around onto his knees before pouncing forwards.
It was a desperate move, one he had gotten from seeing how Chica had gone down so easily, one that only worked because something was clearly wrong with the animatronics' that made them way less dangerous chasers than they could have been. But it did work, and that was the only thing that Mike cared about, as he rushed past the shattered bear on his hands and knees, wincing at the feeling of the sharp jagged poking out lines of hard plastic casing sliced a long line into his left arm, catching onto his jacket and ripping it away, as he pushed past the bear before stumbling up onto his feet in the same time that Freddy could have simply lifted a foot to crush down on his back or be able to turn around to rush out, but instead it had only managed to begin to shuffle around, like being in the more confined space was making it harder to move around properly.
Mike just took it as it was, shooting his hands out, grabbing onto the metal doors of the crate, and slamming them shut, before grabbing the lever and slotting it place over the door frame to keep anything in from being able to get out. It wasn't a lock, so the other animatronics could let Freddy out again, but considering the sudden pounding on the doors of the crate before a sudden resounding silence... Mike had the faint impression he didn't have anything to worry about anymore from that bear at the very least.
Turning around in time to see Spring Chica stomping its way right at him, Mike just grimaced, two down, two more to go... Though he frowned for a moment as he turned to get ready to run off, he saw... something, again, a... figure in the background, now with the lights on, the contrast between the darkness making it's silhouette and the light was a lot more noticeable, letting him make out a few more details, but the eyes... the eyes were most certainly the same, it was the same thing...
Ignoring that for right now, Mike just grimaced as he realized that as he rushed around the crate again, that the only place for him to go was one of the shelves, and with ow his arms both were doing, and with how hard his breath had been to catch now that he had stopped breathing for a second, he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep running for long, instead Mike's mind wracked for a moment before finally coming up with something as with one last burst of adrenaline, Mike rushed forwards, his long arms shooting up into the air as he jumped with his full strength, as his foot caught onto the side of another one of the crates, while his hands grabbed onto the top of the container, as with a grunt he pulled himself up and rolled over it as the two Springlock animatronics were instantly at the side of the crate, open pawing hands reaching up and almost over to try and grab a hold of him as he just stumbled back away from the hands as he moved into the exact middle, just out of the clunky range of the suits who already couldn't move their arms that high up.
Mike kept an eye out on them, but couldn't stop himself from half doubling over, his breathing coming out as harsh wheezes and pants, his entire body felt faintly pain to the sharp cold stabbing pain in his lungs now that the adrenaline truly was fading away. Taking a second to just recover while the Springlock suits began to move away only to stop and stare up at him, Mike just gave a tired mocking wave before pulling off his now ruined blue jacket, ripping the sleeves off of it with shaking hands to use it to tie around his bleeding limbs.
"I-... Don't suppose we can talk about things now huh?" They just shuddered for a moment, something that Mike knew nothing about, when suddenly a loud ringing echoed out from his pocket nearly making him jump back and off the crate as Mike's heart rate spiked before calming back down as he realized it was his phone... Right, he had that... He sent a look at the animatronics and said, "You mind?" Before not waiting for an answer as he dug into his jean's pocket to pull out the phone, looking, seeing it was Jeremy, before answering.
"Hey, great timing Jere, listen, I need you-" Mike was cut off by himself as he noticed the faint unholy sound that vaguely reminded him of Marionette when he let out that dial like tone when he was upset in the background. Before he could ask about it, Jeremy spoke up, his voice shaking with a lack of composure that nearly floored Mike.
"M-Mangle, the- it's here! It's outside, help, need help now!" Mike felt like something heavy just dropped into his gut at the sheer terror he could hear in his friend's words, along with the sudden sound of crashing and smashing in the background, the faint hitching of breath from Jeremy over the line didn't help... Shit, right.
"It's alright, I'll get Mar-" Mike cut himself off with a curse, Marionette couldn't know what was happening and Mike couldn't tell him because he hadn't yet turned back on the home phone at the house, he had been putting it off as being unnecessary compared to the one to the warehouse so he just hadn't thought about it. Marionette hardly called anyone so it hadn't been an issue... until now when he needed someone who could teleport. Fuck... "Right, listen, just... does it know you're there?"
"Y-yeah... It- it hit the door but it left... It's breaking things out there, it's destroying everything" The sheer despair mixing into the fear in the older man's voice showed just how he was taking this. A pain rang through Mike's chest as well, just for a moment at the almost to perfectly cruel timing of a loud crashing sound of shattering glass coming from somewhere in the background. But he pushed the feelings away with ease with how overwhelmingly concerned he was about something way more important than the diner.
"Doesn't matter, it hasn't tried to get at you after, you're fine, just... Stay safe, keep it out, block the door or something. I'm.. uh, caught up in my own situation" Mike glanced back down at the two animatronics staring up at him with those dark pitch black eyes and those... spectral eyes... something clicking in his head for a second, before saying down the line, "So just keep safe, the second I'm done here I'll be right over with Fritz and kick that pink fox into the scrap heap" Mike kept an eye on the two Springlock suits, seeing the way both, in sync, began to lightly tremble with an unsuppressed rage. Mike knew how certain emotions presented to most animatronics.
Mike knew for a fact about what someone enraged looked like when they were a Springlock suit. One more thing clicked into place as he felt something dark, twisted, and familiar twisted in his chest for just a second before he pressed it down hard as he listened over the line.
"I- I don't... I can't Mi-" Whatever the man was going to say it was cut off as the sound of static spiked itself into Mike's ear as he let out a shout of pain as he ripped the phone from his ear and watched with faint distress as his phone's screen flickered for a moment before blanking out as the acrid smell of burnt plastic filled his nose with a blast of pungent odor... Did the battery just burn itself out and melt his phone?!
Mike just glanced down at the two Springlock suits, still just there... like guard dogs, before gritting his teeth as he said blandly down to the two.
"That's the second one in a year you know" Of course the two didn't answer him, Mike had the feeling it couldn't... Or rather, he couldn't, as Mike glanced around, everything coming together. and he could only hoped something changed soon, a not so quiet urging panic in his chest at knowing Jeremy wasn't safe, a need to help pressing into his chest and would have probably made him do something impulsive soon as he could breathe normally again, or even before then, but thankfully he didn't have to.
Jeremy was not so subtly hyperventilating against a nearby wall to the door, staring at it after dropping his phone when the call had dropped, no amount of calling back had done anything, Mike didn't pick up, neither did Fritz, and frankly he didn't have anyone else he could call in a situation like this, none of the animatronics he'd actually want to see had phones. He was on his own...
Jeremy was on his own...
That thought struck him suddenly and without remorse, but instead of causing him to fall into a deeper panic, it made him freeze instead, just for a second, and then just like that it was like an uncomfortable calm forced itself to settle over him as he realized his situation in its full grasp. He was in the office of a pizzeria with a rampaging animatronic just on the other side of a door that it had already tried to break through.
It was like the context forced its way to the front of his mind and wouldn't leave... and he didn't want it to, as Jeremy took a deep breath before settling his mind fully. This wasn't like a normal shift at Freddy's, it wasn't just about survival, it was more than that, as the sound of another crash hit his ears, Jeremy felt his hands tighten into fists. This wasn't some place that he didn't care about, this was his life, something he helped put up, helped create, helped become something more than what it had come from. And now it was back, here to tear down everything he had helped make.
Jeremy wasn't the security guard for Pirate's Cove, but he had been the night shift at Freddy's, and that meant something. It's what made him calm in this moment, knowing he had no one but himself to rely on to deal with the threat, but it was that first one, in spite of not really being his job, that would make him do what he was about to do. He might not be a security guard anymore, but like hell was he not going to do his best to protect this place, no matter what it was that was attacking it.
Taking a short breath, Jeremy moved, heading over to the desk, opening it up and reaching in to pull out a flashlight, none of the three men liked being in rooms without them for fairly obvious reasons. Jeremy was just appreciative that he let Mike hide them around the pizzeria now, as he moved over to the side wall. The back office was where a ton of things were located, it had been their meeting place for a long time after all, and as such he knew a few things about it as well, as he moved over to the back wall where a newish cabinet was. Grabbing it, he pulled it to the side with a grunt of effort, before reaching up and with a pull, opened up the breaker box to the entire building.
With a determination that he hadn't felt since his last day in a Freddy's, he reached up to the main... and snapped it to the side, as the lights around him died out in an instant... Except for two rooms, the one he was already in, but he had a... thought, and a plan. Jeremy remembered a few weeks ago when Mike had needed help resorting the lights at the warehouse, he and Fritz had helped out with it, and could remember being told about dangers of working with live electricity.
That in mind Jeremy moved over to another part of the backroom, thankfully there was where Fritz liked to store his tools, and given how much he had been needing to work on at the Cove, he left more than a few things around, including a pair of rubber gloves along with a pair of wire strippers. Of course the faint 'peace' couldn't last, even as the sound of destruction stopped for a moment outside, it was clear soon after that somehow, the mangled animatronic knew exactly what had caused it, as in the next instant, with Jeremy half away across the room from the door, the sound of that static dialed radio sound started up again, before getting louder and louder, closer and closer, until-
*BANG!*
The door to the back room shuddered with the force of the blow, the wood creaking and snapping in some places as the frame gained long splintered cracks running up it, as Jeremy just took a deep breath, his heart racing in his chest at the sound before moving away, rushing to the nearest wall, reaching down where a small standing fan had been set up given the back room didn't have the best ventilation. Bending down, he put on the gloves, as another room shaking thud slammed into the door, the sound of the door giving-in filling his ears, but Jeremy just ignored it, just like he ignored the strange overwhelming rage echoing off the animatronic from his nightmares.
The strangest part that he refused to think to hard about, was the fact that that rage wasn't directed at Jeremy, it was at... everything else, like Mangle was beyond pissed at its surroundings more than anything else, but he didn't think much about it, because frankly he was much to busy grabbing a pair of scissors as he cut the wire to the fan, before grabbing the strippers and with a grip and a long tug stripped the outer cord.
Jeremy's hands were shaking, it made it harder to work on, on top of the gloves he was wearing, as he just gritted his teeth, separating the wires out in his hands, having no idea just what the hell he was about to do, but hoping it was going to work out, it needed to work out. because if it didn't... Well, he wouldn't die, but he had no interest in seeing how that worked out for him.
And then Mangle finally got in, with a final slam seconds after the last, the sound of the radio was no longer muffled, as Jeremy looked over his shoulder at the horrible sight. The darkness from the main room only made the light shining from the office all the worse for the broken down and beaten up remains of what had once been toy foxy. It's entire endo was exposed to the world to see with exposed wiring and rust speckled all over it from time, held up by three different modeled legs which when moved in a clunky and almost crab like waddle, the entire upper portion, which held two head endos a hand attached to where one of the heads should have been to the top of the metal chest, and the only remaining real outer piece of the Mangle. It's face.
It was broken and cracked, one of the white and pink ears having been snapped back and cracked nearly into two pieces, held only together by the metal skeleton within, the single yellow eye Jeremy had remembered was hidden by the voids of light that came with angry spirits making a chill go up his spine, because there was still wires spinning out of both eyes making them almost look like demented tears. The second head endo's jaw had been snapped down, so as it moved, the metal teeth simply flopped up and down, leading to the sound of metal smacking into each other on top of the unsynchronized thuds of mechanical foot falls.
It was horrifying as the day Jeremy was killed by it, and it didn't waste a second charge at him with clunky and clumsy footfalls, the entirety of it's body creaking and twisting in a way that hurt to look at, as metal bend and rotated around itself with the express purpose of getting closer and closer by the second. Jeremy felt sick, stumbled, or at least trying to, his feet, all he ended up doing was falling back as he half crawled backwards, all courage suddenly vanishing in the face of his personal monster.
That didn't stop the Mangle, it didn't even pause at the pathetic mess he must look like, as it just rushed forwards, that blinding rage pushing against his terrified mind, death racing right at him...
And Jeremy grabbed onto it.
It was instinct, a way to keep himself from dying more than anything, but he did it, grabbing onto that rage, that hatred, that fury, and pulled, feeling his own hate grow to match the fox's own, pushing past any fear, clouding out that feeling with a new one as he let out a faint roar to get himself moving as he lunged, one hand shooting up, holding on his flashlight shining it straight into the eyes of the rushing animatronic's void-like eyes, all four of them. As he watched as it's body recoiled, before reaching out and grabbing onto the wires with his other hand, before with a twist, shot his hands up slamming the exposed copper into the mangled mess's midsection, sparks flew out and Jeremy just watched as the entire machine spasmed for a moment before half collapsing.
...Right... Fuck, he felt like he was going to be sick.
Stumbling back and managing to properly get onto his feet, he just backed up quickly, his stomach rolling at the sight of the animatronic in front of him still, as he just had to take a number of long breaths to keep from hurling his nerves up, not to mention the pain aching through his skull at what he just did... He didn't know he could do that. It was like... He made his own emotions match the thing he was feeling, but how? It didn't really matter, frankly the experience made him feel like someone just rolled over his head with a truck, so he'd much rather just forget it happened at all.
Though, Mike certainly had a point about being angry making it much easier to ignore being afraid, guess the unstable guy with rage issues would know what he was talking about? Guess he had to be good for something.
...Ok, that was... mean, like, really mean. Where the hell had that come from? Jeremy had never thought something like that about his friend before so... why did he feel so angry at the man?
...Was... Was that what Mangle was feeling? Why was Mangle, who never could have met Mike, so enraged by him to the point it'd come to the Cove to try and destroy it?
How the hell was it even moving around at all? It didn't feel like a normal possession... In fact, it almost felt like... Oh.
Oh no... He needed to get to the warehouse. He had to get there now!
But... glancing back to Mangle, which let out another crackle of sparks, the smell of burning plastic hitting his nose with a pungent wave... He should probably handle that first... Somehow.
Fritz the second he had moved away from Mike kind of regretted the other man's decision to split up, mostly because he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to be doing, he had been told to get a weapon, like what?! Did Mike just think he kept a shotgun around or something? The only things he had to work with were the things around here, and nothing else! But... But he could still do something at the very least. Their flashlights were like beacons, it was going to get them killed, or at least make Mike's run around plan much harder for the man, given Fritz could tell exactly where the man was even a solid minute later by just looking over his shoulder to where the frantically moving beam of light was coming from.
Heading into the back corner, Fritz just took a deep breath, looking around for a moment, before moving to open up the panel to the fuse box. He had no idea how the lights had turned themselves off, but he wasn't looking to keep them that way... Only the main breaker fuse had been blown out from whatever weird supernatural surge had been used to turn the power out... Right, well, he was in a building full of tools and equipment, if there wasn't a breaker fuse somewhere here, then well... This just wasn't not anyone's day.
It took a few minutes, along with Fritz as well grabbing a few other things, but he finally found what he was looking for, the sounds of slams and crashing in the background keeping the man's heart rate at a steady and uncomfortable high, as he rushed back to the box, prying it open and moving to work on it... Beyond the blown fuse, there wasn't any real damage to anything, and even then the fuse itself was basically undamaged, only slightly burnt... In fact if it hadn't barely crossed the threshold to have the thing break, then more than likely they could have just flipped a switch to turn the power back on, maybe with a few issues on start up, but nothing else...
That sounded a bit too familiar. The arcade machines often flickered off before they came back on, wiped, which... could have happened from an electrical surge, in fact that was one of the first things that Fritz had thought the issue had been, but he hadn't been able to find any issues with the wiring or anything at the Cove, making him figure it had to be something else. Could they be related? If so, how long had these animatronics been around... The answer he found himself coming to made him deeply uncomfortable.
He couldn't do anything about that now though, as he just moved to get the power back on, it didn't take long. With a faint whirl of power, the lights above him and throughout the rest of the warehouse flickered back to life. Right, that was one problem solved, now he just had to get back to Mike with something that could disable the animatronics. Thankfully there, he had managed to get some inspiration while he had been rushing around and grabbing the things that he had needed. More specifically remembering something that was in the warehouse that happened to have a ton of electrical output that he could use now that the building's power was back on.
He'd need another thing first though, as he moved back to the office, looking inside before finding it. A pack of water bottles, that along with a few things had slowly over time had gotten themselves situation in Goldie's room, even though the bear hardly needed any of it, it was nice to have small things on hand for the human three whenever they were here working on stuff or just hanging out for a few hours. Mike was the one who brought it here, given he was the one that was here the most often. Fritz was silently thanking the man for that as he grabbed the pack, holding about half a dozen bottles, before moving along, needing a minute to set the trap and then for Mike to be able to somehow lead them into it.
It only took a minute before he found it. He never had actually gone inside this crate, having been told directly by Mike that it was private, and even if the man hadn't, he still knew enough about the situation that he wouldn't do that to Mari. But he didn't need to go outside to see the massive electrical relay that was attached to the back of the thing, with a thick electric cord coming out of the back of it. It also happened to be directly tied to the main power of the building along with a secondary generator. Dave Miller wanted to make damn sure nothing would ever cause this thing to turn off the things it was powering in the crate under any circumstance.
Once upon a time, Fritz would have been more than fine with the idea, the puppet had been... well, terrifying to him to put it in simple terms, but now? Just standing around the thing made him feel grossed out. Still, he didn't have the time to think about things like that, as he pulled the cord out, stripping it down at the end, before moving down the cord to see the secondary power switch that would cause the building's power to be directed to it.
It was overkill frankly, a normal high grade taser would do enough damage to render an animatronic out for the count at least for a bit, especially if you kept applied pressure with it, but this? Well, Fritz was going to have to be careful to not hurt them that badly, given he wasn't looking to shunt off whoever was inside of those suits. Hence the water.
Huffing, while being extra careful to not do anything too sudden with the very dangerous live cord he was about to move to a new location, his thoughts were stopped at the sound of a crash a bit too close to him to be comfortable with. Fritz froze in place for a moment before listening more intently to what was going on around him, as he heard the sound of... Mike talking? Moving slowly around, while keeping a tight grip on everything in his hands, Fritz slowly creeped around to get a better angle on what was happening.
Only to peer out from one of the crates to see... Two new animatronics, the old springlock suits that they had decided were to dangerous to use, now shaking with a silent rage staring up at Mike who was just staring down at them with a mild annoyance that Fritz could tell from the shaking of his own hand, tightly gripped into a fist, that was put on to hide not fear but... anger? Fritz had seen it before, when Mike had lost his temper when they met up with what the younger man had dubbed 'Phone Guy'.
Fritz was pretty sure the man didn't even know Phone Guy's actual name. But the point was, Mike looked like he was barley holding in his temper at something, the broken toys were nowhere in sight, and the two that were here in front of him were frankly even more susceptible to electricity than the more modern designed animatronics, so really it didn't change much, just the target he had been expecting, and the trap was the last thing to be set up, instead of luring them there, it seemed Mike already was keeping them in place in his own way.
Unsure if he was suppose to warn the other man or not, just in case Mike decided to give running around shot, the choice was taken from the older of the two, as Mike's eyes glanced up, spotting Fritz easily with the lights restored, with the number of things on his form, half peeking out from behind a crate. Fritz managed to quickly hold a finger up to his mouth to tell the man to not say anything. If anything, Mike looked like he was withholding the desire to roll his eyes at the obvious advice, before watching a bit more intently as Fritz tried his best to show that he had a plan and Mike needed to keep the aminatronic's distracted a bit longer.
The man, thankfully, seemed to get it, as he moved closer to the edge of the crate, a look of anger flickering into his eyes for a moment before settling out in the look that Fritz was more familiar with, that blank apathetic look that was great at getting on people's nerves, as Mike called out casually.
"So, what's the big plan? You hound me for months, pester my business, and then suddenly you're trying to kill me? Any reason why? Or are you just so incompetent that you figured something like that was enough to do something before now?" Fritz had only half an idea on just what Mike was talking about, and while he could have wondered just how Mike had been able to figure out whatever was happening was related to the weird mechanical issues the Cove had been having, he decided it was much better to just get to work with is plan, choosing at that moment to tune out Mike.
Getting to work, he propped the cord up, just to make sure nothing would go wrong, before reaching down to grab the water bottles, it wasn't a lot, but the amount of power going through the cord would make up for it, as Fritz unscrewed them all, and then, with both hands holding onto them all, moved out from behind the crate and just tossed them all right in front of him. The bottles hit the ground with the thuds that were expected, as water splashed up and emptied out of the bottles, as the two animatronics seemed about to turn around when Mike called out casually.
"I'm just wondering why some second class rabbit reject has been hiding out this entire time. Mari would be so disappointed you know" Fritz didn't know what that meant, but in an instant the two animatronics gave up what was happening behind them and instead both turned and as one charged, slamming their entire weights into the crate as Mike just let out a faint yelp, as the entire thing actually moved, jerking forwards if only by an fraction of an inch, but showing off just how powerful those suits were.
Of course that's when Mike did something incredibly stupid, moving forwards saying to the bots below him.
"What? Wrong string to tug? I guess I'll save that for my puppet" And with that, Mike jumped, literally jumping off the crate, over the heads of the now literally shaking so violently bots that Fritz was almost sure they would rattle themselves apart, before landing on the ground, nearly over the water puddle Fritz had made, before falling into a roll to break his momentum, something the older man didn't even know the younger knew how to do, before saying Fritz.
"NOW" Fritz just blinked past his shock as he realized the man was right, as with a grunt, he reached over, grabbing onto the cord, before throwing it forwards, just as the two springlock suits moved, looking to charge at them both without a single thought of anything in their way. As with timing that was almost too good to be true, the exposed wiring of the cord landed with a splash into the puddle just as the two suits walked into it.
And then they writhed, it was almost disturbing to watch as the suits shook and collapsed, the entire bodies of the two spasming as the sounds of creaking and snapping could be heard from the fragile springs that made up their insides were violently coiled and snapped on top of each other. Fritz made the move to pull the wire out from a safe distance, but Mike just grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
"Don't bother, they aren't being held by anyone"
"Uh, what?"
"Remember how Spring Bonnie could control the others? Nothing to say someone with a similar ability couldn't do the same to an empty suit, it'd probably be a lot easier even" Fritz was just... confused, as he followed along the quickly moving Mike, who was heading to a nearby crate.
"Wait, so... What? Someone was controlling them? Who?"
"The only bunny still here, I'm really starting to hate rabbits, they always seem to have something against me"
"Wait, Toy Bonnie did this?" Out of all of them, Fritz... really hadn't been expecting that. Mike just sighed but nodded, as the two reached where the taller one had been leading them. Standing right in front of a crate that had clearly been broken open from the inside out. The crate that had been holding the toy animatronics, as Mike walked straight in without fear, standing in front of the only one left inside, an unmoving, blank, unresponsive, Toy Bonnie. Fritz just looked between the two before saying.
"Not to doubt you, but... He's the only one that hasn't tried to kill us... And he's not moving"
"I know, that's why I know it had to be him" Mike didn't explain just staring straight into the shorter aminatronic's eyes, before saying.
"Shut down Mangle now, or I'll find a way to lock you in that body and then throw you into the bottom of a lake" The suit didn't respond, but Mike just turned to Fritz.
"Call Jeremy, make sure he's safe, if so, get him to my house, get Marionette, and then get over here" Fritz didn't even finding himself doing anything else, the idea that Jeremy had been in danger as well not even crossing his mind, and now that it was there, his own protective need to know his friend was alright was at an all time high, as he moved to quickly get on the phone, moving back a bit while Mike turned to just stare at the animatronic in front of him, saying simply, "I think it's about we have a chat, huh, Shadow Bonnie?"
Oh boy, we in it now.
I don't have a lot to add here but I do want something to be said, not a single character in this story is incapable of handling themself. Sure, they might not always be able to handle just as much as other characters in the main cast, but that does not mean they are somehow unable to support themselves. This ain't some cliche horror movie where the collective brain cells of the group is in the negatives.
In this case, I'm mostly referring to Jeremy. Sure, Mike is a badass who has had a very rough life and has made him more than capable of going toe to toe with whole groups of animatronics at a time if needed, as proven here and in pervious chapters. But that does not mean just because he's the 'action hero' that everyone else needs Mike to be there to solve all their problems, that's stupid. Jeremy is a fairly short, incredibly skinny, man with almost negative experience in a fight, but that does not mean he can't keep himself safe. Hence with him dealing with Mangle in a fairly controlled and 'easy' manner, with the biggest issue being his, you know, overwhelming amounts of trauma. No one in the cast is dumb, they all can handle themselves, because I think the idea that Jeremy, and Fritz as well, not being able to do anything on their own is an incredible disservice to the characters that I'm trying to portray. Cause Fritz also managed himself just fine, in the background sure, but he still made the trap that took out two animatronics that had Mike pinned.
So, yeah, I got a bit... long winded, but the point is useless supporting cast who exist solely to make the main character look better in times of crisis annoys me, and I want to make it a point that it ain't going to be like that in this story. They all got strengths and weaknesses, but knowing how to deal with animatronics is one thing that's most certainly a skill set that they all have through experince. Anyways, See ya.