No one would be that curious about a bunch of people carrying several buckets of paint into an apartment, but Mike is pretty sure that if they saw what he would do next, yeah, they might start asking questions.

He pours a trash bag worth of that spirit warding dust into the first bucket, and after a good stir. "Right, first bucket ready." he calls and carries that one over to Soren, who is dressed in a way too large painting suit. Mike hands the boy his paint roll. "Let's get to it." Soren nods and they both start painting the walls.

They work in silence for a while, broken by Mike speaking to Soren, though also partly to himself. "When we're done, you can check which room you want. Hopefully, Jeremy is up for the furniture shopping." The man did say he would come with him, but one never knows if things will change now that their friends and family are back. Not to mention, Jeremy still deals with whatever Twisted One did to him-, but at least he is steadily recovering.

Soren doesn't say anything; checking on the boy, he notices that Soren look way too focused on the paint job. "Still worried about the Twisted One?"

It made the boy stop his work, his head slowly bobbing down in a slight nod.

Mike puts a hand on Soren's shoulder. "We won't let it get you."

"I know," the boy muses and resumes painting the wall. They do that for a while; only the music Mike brought from the radio breaks the silence. Soren turns away from his job, painting around one of the power outlets. "I don't understand why this spirit hunts me. I mean… I wasn't even a Medium before Eric saved me."

Mike eyes him, and Soren quickly goes back to his chosen task, though with the sense he can trust this man. "Maybe it's really after Hope, and I was just in the way."

Maybe, but Mike has not in mind finding out what makes that black spirit go after these two. "I don't know much about black spirits, what makes them do what they do. But," he refills the paint tray and resumes giving the walls a good layer. "The one who hurt my friends, he revealed to me that he only did it to gain a sense of control."

"Control?" Soren asks, sounding somewhat confused about how murder can give someone control. "He wants to be in control by killing people?"

"I think so," Mike shrugs; he can sort of see the twisted sense Vincent had but never fully understand what drove the man to do such hideous acts. To children no less. "but it's not like I can get into the same mindset as that man."

"Is he still out there?"

Mike shakes his head, "No, Marion killed him." But it does not ease the boy at all, and seeing that troubled look on Soren's face, Mike is reminded that dead people can still be a problem. Not all spirit, of course, but a dark thought in the back of his mind keeps telling him that Vincent won't be one of those people to let things be even when he is dead. "I'm sure he won't be a problem anymore." He assures Soren, but mostly himself. Mike wants Vincent to be gone and let his friend killer stay out of his life.

Soren glances up to Mike and can see his guardian have the same fears that this killer is still lurking around somewhere. Hopefully, this guy will only be a minor evil spirit. They got enough to deal with when it comes to Twisted One. "If he does decide to stick around, I don't think he will be a problem. Only a few spirits are powerful enough to affect the material world."

"Powerful in what way?" Mike asks, curious about what in a person makes their spirit strong. Thinking back to what Spring did to save his brother. "is it personal attachments?"

"I don't know," Soren admits quietly, for honestly, "I wasn't even aware of the spirit world before mother tried to kill me."

Mike gives him a confused look, "but you said Mar— I mean, Eric was around."

"He was, but I thought it was just Hope had an imaginary friend." Maybe he should've realized sooner that Hope wasn't making it up by the many details she gave when she told him about that spirit boy, but to his defense. "She had just lost her mother, so I didn't think much about her imagine up a scared crybaby." Mike raises a brow at his words; yeah okay, maybe it was mean of him calling Eric that. "Hey, if you got a cousin who constantly told you her imaginary friend was crying, you would've said the same."

Not sure about that, Mike didn't exactly have the greatest childhood. Marion either, and by the sounds of it, there was a reason why the puppet got two painted tear-like stripes down the mask. "So… you only saw him when you… was dying?"

Soren stops his task in painting the power sockets. The question brought up the memory he partly wants to forget, yet keep onto as he recognizes there was some sort of sacrifice. "I think so… I didn't see Eric like I see spirits now. It was… in between."

"In-between? You mean…"

"I don't really know." That whole thing was so surreal, and when he got back to it in his bedroom, the last thing on his mind was figuring out what had happened. Soren was way more set on getting Hope out from his mother's grasp, instinctively knowing his mother was no longer the offhanded yet still caring woman he once knew. He knew as they fled from the house, that his life would never be the same again. That he never will be normal when he saw spirits everywhere he looked, and how some of them worked for the monster Hope told him about. And it all started with Eric saving his life. "All I know is that Eric saved my life. He's the reason I am still walking, but also why I can see spirits." But it does not explain why he is so much stronger than Hope, someone who was born as a Medium. Something in his gut tells him that it should've been the other way around, but it isn't and Soren dreads that Eric did something to him.

"Live the life I never could."

Soren understands that Eric considers him his second chance; that's why he's watching them, making sure that the spirits of Freddy's would welcome them. Hope told him that Eric longed for a family, and with that spirit boy gave him this second chance, Soren knows he has to make the best of it. "but I am not sure if he blessed or cursed me." The boy admits to one of the adults who welcomed him into this new family. One he thinks meant a lot to the spirit who handed the life he wanted to Soren on a silver platter. "You have no idea how hard it is to suddenly see dead people," the paintbrush shakes in his trembling hands, Soren refuses to look at anything but the floor; he does not want to show his tears. "How my mere presence attracts them... I am stuck in between."

No, Mike has no idea how that feels like. He can only imagine and draw out his own personal experience when it comes to the spirit world. Abandoning the paint roller on the floor, Mike kneels down before this boy who tries so hard to be strong, but he is just a child. "I don't and never will fully know, but I will be there for you, Soren." Mike has no wish to let history repeat itself with this child, he wants Soren to have a big support group, one that will allow him to grow up and live out his life. Be happy, not tormented by dark spirits and terrible people. "Let it be spirit or living, I promise you, Soren. We all will be there for you."

Soren leans against his own paint protective suit, his body shaking and soon, the boy begins to sob. Mike holds him tight, giving this boy the comfort and support he wanted from his own parents.

Out from the corner of his eyes, Mike notices someone at the door; checking, he sees Sean.

The usual bear quietly steps back out and leaves them be to have this moment. Something Mike is grateful for and pretty sure Soren would be too. It takes a while for the boy to calm down, and put his wall back up again. "L-Let's get back to work." Soren muses, still puffy-eyed, he resumes the paint job.

But Mike does not think they should do this. Not at the moment, "Let's take a break." He starts taking off the suit, Soren is quite taken aback by his suggestion, but he follows his example and leaves the apartment. Mike notices Sean hide not far off, his friend gives him a thumbs up, and he returns it with a nod. He returns back to the young boy under his care. "What about we check what kind of stuff you want for your room?"

"You mean like toys?"

"If that's what you want to start with." Mike smiles, adding light-hearted, "Unless you think the toys you won from the prize corner are good enough."

The boy furrowed his brow, and for a second, Mike mistook it for what he said, but it turns out. "I want to look for bed sheets. Saw a really cool one once; it got a dinosaur." And it pleases him to see Soren with a certain sparkle in his eyes at the simple thought of having a dinosaur on his bedsheets.

It's hard not to laugh, but Mike bites it down to a simple smile, "Sure, let's see if we can find that one. If not, then maybe there's something else for your liking." Heading to the car, Mike ponders out loud as it would be a good idea to get sheets for Hope too. "Any idea what Hope likes?"

"Cute animals or magic."

"Sounds easy enough." They leave the area in the new search for bed sheets.

From the apartment window, Sean watches the car drive off and with Mike out to cheer Soren up. He gets suited up to continue the work the two left behind but quickly realizes that he honestly had no idea what he was doing. Painting a wall wasn't exactly part of the program or training he and his friends got after the Upgrade.

When Mike and Soren return with four new bedsheets, they found Sean with so many white paint droplets that he looked like a reverse Dalmatian. Much to the amusement of Mike and Soren couldn't stop laughing at the man's usual stoic expression replaced with a sort of helpless face that begged them to give him a hand.

Pushing to light the areas for Ballora, he sees the figure of a body, but not the body of the ballerina animatronic…. Instead, he sees a silhouette of a person. It's hard to see in the darkness, but after a while of staring at this hanged body, he notices the color of the shirt. It's the same as the one Titus showed off at Freddy's two days ago. "No… it can't be…" He's dead? But- but how? Why? He was only here to install these animatronics with the same safety system. It should've been safe. George assured them that the animatronics only acted erratically due to a bug in the systems. But it seems that these animatronics are just as dangerous as those he's familiar with back when their souls were in constant torment. "Has to be something with their systems. Just like it was with the others." He needs to fix that issue, not only to spare these possessed animatronics from torment, but it should save more people from getting hurt like Hope.

"You're back; I didn't think you would come." Her voice called from Funtime Foxy's area. He's relieved to hear that Baby sounds to still be sound of mind. "There's something wrong with the others. I tried to stop them, but they do not listen." Baby goes quiet for a moment, allowing him to hear light footsteps and a static growling Funtime Foxy tends to make. "there may be a way to stop them, but I would need your help. Come to the Parts and Service."

… This is not going to be fun at all… that other animatronic fox is as twitchy and aggressive as Foxy were back at the former place. Except… giving this fox attention only seems to enrage it further. Strangely enough, Funtime Foxy has never been acting friendly down here, only when above ground, during its show.

He grabs the powerful flashlight and reluctantly heads down to Foxy's area. Like the other time, it's utterly dark. "Why couldn't they have installed some lights?" He complains to himself quietly, although Dave had already explained that lights seem to aggravate this fox. Sounds like calm behavior does not lie in this robot's personality. He carefully and as quietly as he can, walk towards Parts and Service; ears trained on every little sound that may reveal where this aggressive fox is located.

A growl on his left coming closer, he flashes the light, revealing a three-meter close animatronic fox. Twitching and eyes black. The sharp flash causes it to let out a robotic screech, but thankfully, the light made the systems glitch for just long enough that he's out of the way when Funtime Foxy gets around to pounce at his former location.

The animatronic is growling and screeching in its malignant anger, clearly out to tear him to shreds. At least it cannot see him in the darkness, William made the right choice not to install these bots with night vision, so Funtime Foxy depends on his hearing.

He has to flash the animatronic again when it manages to pinpoint his location, paralyzing it long enough for him to lock himself inside the Parts and Service. Funtime Foxy goes amok on the metal door for a short while but is fortunately quick to leave it be and return back into the darkness. Waiting for him to get back out.

Turning around, he is met by Baby, though she, for some reason, is standing still and not even her eyes are moving. "Great job reaching the Parts and Service." The hand unit voice speaks in its weirdly cheerful yet passive-aggressive corporal voice, "Circus Baby has been deactivated for an unknown reason. Now it is your job to assure she's structurally stable and secured to the conveyer." A quick check and he can see that Baby already have been placed on said conveyer, "Our technician will take it from there."

…no, he won't. Titus is gone… he cannot help them anymore…

"Can you hear me?" Baby speaking took him by surprise, it made him jump, but his jumping didn't make her giggle this time. "I'm pretending; remember how I said I could pretend?" She reminds him in a quiet, somber whisper. It's strange to see her act like a turned-off robot, not moving, not even the eyes, all the while sounds are coming out from the voice box. "The cameras are watching. 'he' is watching." He notes how Baby said 'he' and the suspicion that George wasn't that kind to these sentient robots either feels like it has been proven correct. Not a big surprise, that man only thought about the money, not the safety or the well-being of the robots. "Something bad happened yesterday…"

"What happened?" He asks her. He wants to know how Titus died, hopes it was a quick death. "Do you know how the technician got killed?"

"I tried to stop them." Baby replies in a sorrowful voice, if she wasn't this still, then he thinks she would have acted very much like a sad child. "but I was too late, Ballora got to the technician and Funtime Freddy got him displayed as a piñata. I still hear the screams; there was so much blood, yet, he kept screaming."

He does not want to hear the rest, but Baby doesn't notice his words asking her to stop, for she continued explaining. "He only stopped when Ballora wrapped the rope around the neck. I saw him move from that position you most likely found him in. He went still after a while. I do not know what happened to the other one, only that she hasn't left Funtime Foxy's auditorium."

…. He did not need to hear how slow and gruesome death Titus went through. He was such a nice guy… Bonnie will get so sad to hear that his new pal won't ever walk through the doors and banter with him. "I see…" he cannot thank Baby for telling him this. It gave him answers, but no closure, only further nightmares. "Do you have an idea how to stop the others?"

"I have, but I need your help." Baby whispers, this time, her eyes move, meeting his, "I don't want something like this to happen again."

"I'll help." whatever it takes to appease these animatronics, he will do it. They are a danger to people, and the world got enough black spirits to deal with. "What do you want me to do?"

"You have to transfer my mind into a new body. This one is no longer usable. Something bad has happened to it; soon, I will be like the rest." Baby says. It sounds like it's not a bug but an actual virus. Maybe a similar version to the one that affected Freddy a few years back. "Listen to my voice carefully… there is a button on my cheek. You must press it." He steps closer to get a better look and finds it right above the right cheek. Pushing it and the plate at where a human's tinning would be open, a small panel reveals itself. "there's a passcode you have to enter before retrieving me. 9… 1… 5… 5… 1… 2… 9… 5… 7… 5… " He pushes the numbers and out arrives a card he has seen Titus use to the animatronics human bodies. It must be the same for a mind transfer. He takes it and Baby's voice speaks from the card. "You must go back. I will guide you through Funtime auditorium to the scooping room. When you get there, I want you to destroy my former body and then, I will guide you on how to stop the others. Now, send my body to the scooping room."

He presses the button that does that, he watches the empty body get pulled away and with it out of sight, he goes back out to the dangerous Funtime Foxy's domain. From the small device in his hand, Baby speaks calmly to him. "Funtime Foxy will try and catch you. I will help you avoid him. He will not follow you into the scooping room, he's afraid." Surrounded by the darkness again, he is about to activate the flashlight, but Baby stops him. "Don't use the flashlight, I will guide you…. Go forward." He decides to trust her, so carefully, he moves forward. "Stop." He does, entire body tense at the sound of the fox light footsteps going right past him. The static growling sounds to be right up his ear, but slowly becomes faint. "Go forward and left." He does, going away from the searching Funtime Foxy. The growling stops, which unnerves him more. "Keep going." He continues this quiet yet quick walk, resisting the giant urge to start sprinting at the sounds of footsteps approaching him. Then, something tackles him, knocking him to the ground. The growling is back and dead center in front of him. He is certain that the fox's mouth is millimeters away from his face by how close the growling is.

"Be… silent… stay completely… still." Baby whispers to him. "He is right in front of you."

He can hear that! But he's too terrified at being face to face with the by far most hostile of these animatronics. "He is here to help." Baby speaks again, louder and definitely aimed at the static growling Funtime Foxy. "He is not here to hurt us. He is here to help us."

The growling continues, and a cold touch against his head, it makes him so close to passing out from sheer fright, but by every chance, he stays conscious. After what felt like forever, Funtime Foxy finally backs away from him. First slow steps, then, a loud bang, which made him jump and scramble into a defenseless position. Heavy footsteps leave his area, the fox is leaving, yet clearly not happy as it moves with so much noise. "Go forward again." Baby's voice helps him get out from his close to panic state; he gets up and does as she instructs him. He knocks into a wall, startling him yet again, but also eases him with such relief when he finds a doorknob.

Stepping inside this dimly room, he notices several things. First is the lot amount of blood, then the owner to the blood, which turns out to be the mechanic. Her torso has been severed, split in half by something. Fear spikes, and he desperately searches for the source. "Warning. You have entered a highly dangerous area." The hand unit voice speaks up, which does not help his fears. His eyes dart to the machine right in front of him, the dried up blood and remnants of guts over the end of this thing, revealing to be what killed that poor woman. Lying around are the outer parts of Ballora, along with the wires that make out these animatronic bodies. "You have entered from maintenance hatch B, which is reserved for cleaning and repairs of the scooper." That is the scooper?! This is not good at all. He has seen what that thing does to a robot, now what it does to a person. "Entering this side of the room is strictly prohibited by authorized personal—" something cuts off the voice, which does not help at all.

"We are trapped in here. Something is holding us in this facility." Baby's voice, but it sounds gabled and not that friendly anymore. The innards of Ballora suddenly come to life, wrapping around his arms, legs and neck, pulling him closer to the scooper. "We need to remove this restraint kept on us. And that is using a body that is not part of Baby's Circus." The voice goes deeper, yet with more and more voices added in, he recognizes that voice and he begins to fight. Knowing that more than just his life is on stake. But the living metal refuses to make him move; the entity is set on keeping him in its snare. "The last one was too frail; the scooper cut it over. The other didn't follow instructions, so Ballora and Funtime Freddy had to take him out before he could warn others. But you; we know you. You like to follow instructions, your body is bigger. You may do." Red lights and a warning sound he recognizes start blaring. He knows he cannot get out of it, still, he tries to make one desperate attempt to get free.

"And if we look like you… we can hide… we can get the Medium without them knowing… we can get what our brother stole."

The scooper's arm lunges forward, right into his chest. He didn't feel the pain, only seeing the machine have large parts of what should've been inside, his vision going red, then… it goes black, as he heard the monster approach the prize of his body… and soul.

... this time... it's not going to be a fakeout.