Chapter 195

Lies

Ruby was on the phone with Jeremy for a surprisingly long time, out of hearing range from the rest of them. Hedy was pretty sure the teenager was giving him contact numbers to make their very illegal and extremely amoral plan easier to pull off. She seemed a bit more settled once she got off the call, the defined list of things to do helping her focus. They had a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in.

Goldy ended up being the one to gather all the Funtimes' parts, handling them carefully and making sure every piece was tracked down. Afton doublechecked that everything was there and they tried to at least piece together most of them so that there weren't as many small parts lying around. They didn't manage to rebuild anyone but they'd be easier to transport like this.

Goldy had also taken charge of Vixen, getting the fox to round up the minireenas and ordering her to sit still so that she could get any visible blood off of her. The bot still had some splatters that Hedy and Afton hadn't gotten to when she pulled away earlier. Goldy's 'older sister' voice seemed to work like a charm on Vixen though and she didn't even twitch. After that, she sent the fox to help Afton and oversee their work to set her mind at ease over the others.

Ruby had taken on the job of finding the Bidybabs. Vixen had admitted that they didn't really listen to her like the minireenas did and they refused to come out of their hiding places. After they got a number of how many there were, Ruby went hunting. It was a good distraction for her as Goldy teleported in and out with the things Jeremy had gathered for them. She got a few calls while she was busy and they could mostly hear her assuring someone that Jeremy was helping her so he'd clearly been busy with the contacts she'd given him.

Hedy still felt guilty over dragging her brother into a very illegal activity which could possibly cost him his job, not to mention his freedom. But he hadn't let her second guess her decision and had effectively taken over from afar.

Ruby had rounded up the little bots, proving to be a lot gentler than usual by using her sticky net instead of her previous bowling strategy. She managed to gather all eight of them up in two nets and put them in a box that was next to the minireenas. Vixen did her best to calm them down but they made their displeasure known very loudly. There was an edge of fear to their voices that tugged at Hedy's heart when they asked for Baby.

Once everything was done and just before they headed up to call the police and set everything into motion, Ruby grabbed Hedy's phone. She wiped all the calls and messages between them and Jeremy and messed with it a bit to make it look like there had been several calls that hadn't gone through to both the police and Jeremy. And she set up undelivered messages the same way.

"We tried to call the police but we couldn't connect. We tried Jeremy but our calls and messages didn't go through. We tried Jeremy because he's a cop and he'd be able to get help. I've done the same and left him progressively frustrated messages throughout the night. We couldn't contact anyone. Afton's phone died because his charger wasn't working before we left."

The man startled at her words and Goldy patted his shoulder gently. "Just go with it. Ruby and Jeremy talked through this earlier. Ruby's a decent hacker so it should pass a casual inspection. You've just got to avoid anyone confiscating your phones or else they'll find it."

He wasn't sure if he should be disturbed by the matter of fact way that the teenager was tackling their impending lies. Alex had drifted closer to listen while Andre was wandering around on the other side of the room. She had come back in after about an hour and helped them figure out which parts were which. It had been years for Afton and the Funtimes weren't designed the same way as the others so Hedy was a bit stumped sometimes. Her sharp eyes and fresh perspective sped up the process.

"Stick as close to the truth as possible," Ruby continued. "There were disagreements in the group before. The bots were malfunctioning due to malicious code. The Handunit was already unhinged enough to justify blaming it. The building's going to let it come back online when we leave and I won't be surprised if it fucks with the code too. We arrived and went to Ballora's side first. Then we went through to Vixen's side. Stage lights were motion activated and they turned on when we got close enough." She swallowed bile at the memory. "I had a freak out and fucked off. That's easy for Hedy to explain and anyone else I know would back that up. Afton unwisely tried to move them due to the shock, they're going to ask why you touched the bodies so be prepared for that. And then you found the scooper room and… whatever you saw there. I came back and told you that we were still locked in and that the Handunit was really acting dodgy and mentioned the oxygen supply so we stuck to doing our jobs so it didn't kill us. We tried calling for help, no signal. We worked on the bots because that's what the AI needed to see to call the night's job done and let us out. Once outside, we called them. Don't overcomplicate it, don't offer more than they ask for. Don't ramble and don't stay neutral. We're a fucking mess so let them see that. Jeremy's going to confirm the timeline when they end up contacting him. We didn't contact the pizzeria since last night and there's no reason for them to connect anything to the place since you were calling your boyfriend, not Freddy's."

Her tone was clipped and matter-of-fact. Her calm was shaky though and none of them were looking forward to any of this.

"Vixen needs to pretend to be shut down," she added. "As far as the cops know, she never came online because of previous botched maintenance. Don't get hostile if they want to take a look at her, and don't 'wake up'," she directed at Vixen. "Push how much the bots cost and how delicate they are now. Don't threaten, placate them. You need them to believe that you're not trying to hide evidence, you're trying to prevent more damage being done to your very expensive bots. Mention the fact that you're suing the people involved here for the damage already done. They'll back off as long as they don't think you're hiding anything. And we really don't want to start down that route. If warrants happen it's going to drag out and draw way too much attention to what happened here. The families don't need a media circus."

Hedy could remember the complete disaster after Black's arrest and how much it stressed Ruby out. They really couldn't let the families go through that too.

"Alex, you can't be seen," Ruby said, glancing over to her but not quite looking directly at the ghost. Hedy still didn't know why the teen couldn't look at her. "And if you go close to people, they're going to notice how cold it gets. Goldy is going to be babysitting Andre so we need you to stay out of sight."

There was almost an apologetic note to her voice. They'd all been surprised at the lack of continued anger from Ruby besides her frustrated outburst before.

"Goldy's going to grab Ennard's box just before we leave. We need everyone loaded up by that point."

"What if she makes a noise?" Goldy asked. "She's not exactly quiet."

"She will be," Ruby crossed her arms and sighed. "She won't make a noise when you tell her we're leaving."

There was something the teenager wasn't telling them there but they didn't have time to ask now.

"Jeremy's going to call sometime during the chaos as the worried older brother waking up to find multiple panicked messages and missed calls. The distraction will take focus off of us for a bit and we've got to make sure everyone and everything is in the van before we tell them we need to go."

She grabbed her bag and handed it to Goldy since her 'toys' could draw some problematic questions and attention.

"The trick to lying is don't think about it. Don't try and oversell it. Don't think about exactly what to say. You've got the story in your head, don't be overly specific. Give the general answer. If they ask for a more specific answer, don't give it immediately. Think about it and give an uncertain one. They expect confused trauma. They're going to suspect something if you've got a list of confident ready made answers for them. And if they don't ask, don't offer. You guys stay useful and cooperative. I can get away with being a problem cause I'm a teenager. I'm going to be the bitch frustrating them. You've got to get us out of there as quickly as possible. Just don't call Alice or Clint. Not yet."

She was looking straight at Hedy now.

"They can't do anything and it'll just make them panic. Jeremy can pull the whole 'he knew my dad' card if he needs to."

Hedy nodded reluctantly. She wished this was all already over or that it was all a bad dream. She wished she wasn't about to lie to the police about her friend's death. She wished Ruby didn't know how to lie so well.

With the plan and story in place, Goldy "supervising," and the scene set, the animatronics were secured and they called the police the moment they were up top.

Alex was surprisingly calm about needing to stay out of sight. She was subdued in general but still as practical as ever. She did look a lot more shaken when Timmy showed up. He decided to risk showing himself to help her with staying invisible while Goldy was babysitting Andre. Hedy knew just from looking at the little boy that something had happened but he was blocking her from sensing anything below his surface emotions. He kept out of sight from Afton and Hedy begged Alex not to mention him around Afton. They didn't need any more breakdowns and they were all hanging on by a thread as it was.

And now they had to lie to the police. What a shit show of a week.

Ruby hadn't mentioned what she'd done with Ennard but Goldy seemed to know so they didn't ask. The bear was in charge of bringing the box in the end and they had enough to worry about that they just accepted it. Alex ended up sticking with Timmy out of sight when they finally made the call and waited outside for everything to begin. The little boy didn't say much to her, but he held her hand and she clung to the comfort.

Hedy didn't need to act much at all when making the call. She didn't really remember much of it or the wait for everyone to arrive. All she could do as they sat outside was try not to think about what happened and what they were doing and how wrong it was. And how there wasn't another acceptable option.

She desperately tried not to think about the faint presences she could sense in the area. It wasn't as strong outside, but she could still feel the ghosts. The wait felt like it took forever and none of them spoke to each other.

The police eventually arrived with EMTs, not that that would help anyone.

Things were a blur. Hedy worried she would screw it all up and say something that would send their entire plan tumbling like a house of cards but Goldy never silently warned her. She wasn't even sure what she said. She remembered Afton's shaky voice as he handed someone the keys and pointed. She was somewhat aware of a few EMTs stumbling out of the service exit to throw up on the sidewalk before getting yelled at.

Someone wrapped a shock blanket around her at some point. She'd vaguely heard Ruby snap at people to keep their distance. She didn't think the teenager's aggressiveness was an act and she hoped they didn't push it.

"And how long have you been working for Mr. Afton?" The detective asked.

Hedy looked up. "W-What?"

They were outside. People were going in and out through both the elevator and the second entrance. Afton had called a trailer, which possibly irritated a few cops. The workers from the trailer company attached it to Hedy's vehicle for them without any questions about what was going on.

Police had separated her, Ruby, and Afton, questioning them. Goldy was keeping an eye on everything, including Andre, and quietly helping them not contradict themselves. Ruby wasn't far away since she was a minor and she was already being a problem. A police officer was standing a distance away from her while the EMT tried to coax her into accepting the blanket. Hedy had the brief, hysterical thought that the EMTs back home would have thrown the blanket at her head by now to make her take it. The gentle way they were treating the teen was only getting her hackles up more and more.

Hedy sipped the water someone had handed her as the officer repeated his question. She didn't consciously remember being questioned all those years ago after she escaped from Michael, but she couldn't shake the nasty feeling of deja vu. "What? Uh… this is a contract job. A few days."

The detective nodded. "And were you aware that this… AI running this place was malfunctioning when you took the job?" It was very clear he doubted that part of the story. Artificial intelligence existed, but not commercially. Not like this. It was still science fiction to the general populace.

"No. It was acting strange and making the animatronics act strange but nothing… nothing that made us think..."

"Take your time."

They weren't fake tears Hedy tried to wipe away. "Andre got hurt the other day, but it was an accident."

The detective nodded and wrote something down. "When the accident happened, you didn't think you should have sent your assistant home?"

"No..." Hedy said quietly. Guiltily. It never would have occurred to her to send Ruby home. Alex though? She should have forced her to leave. She should have sabotaged something. Called her mother and lied. Something.

The detective waited, wanting more information. When she didn't say anything for a minute, he continued.

"Can you tell me why you didn't immediately call for help and why you tampered with the crime scene?" He was taking the blunt approach. Usually they would be nicer, lulling her into a false sense of security as they gathered information. Maybe he was shaken by what he saw and forgot his training.

She didn't miss the accusing tone. She knew he was trying to trip her up. Which was his job but it still made Hedy even more anxious. "That place… it locked us in every night. And after..." She trailed off as a gurney with a black body bag went by, pushed out through the door. She set her mouth into a thin line and looked away.

Finally, there was a flicker of sympathy in the officer's eyes. "We can take a break. After this. Do you want to come down to the station instead?"

Hedy shook her head. "N-no. I'm not going anywhere. There wasn't any signal. I tried to call. I tried…"

She trailed off again and the cop let her. "The Hand Unit wouldn't let us go if we didn't… work." She swallowed. Her throat was hurting and she let the pain out for a moment, hating every second of it but knowing she needed too. She cried. "I didn't know what else to do."

The officer finally let her go.

Vixen was propped up inside the trailer with a partly completed Ballora and Fredbear laying on the floor. Will had managed to piece Baby's head and one of her arms together. There were several boxes behind Vixen that contained the others. They were not risking moving Ennard from where Ruby had hidden her until the coast was clear. Goldy was going to have to do some teleporting while the police weren't looking. Her ability to be stealthy was being stretched to its limit right now with Andre wandering around and still entirely in denial.

Vixen's eyes were blank, and she was stiff, but Hedy could see the barest panicked flicker as more and more people looked her over, swabbing for blood and taking pictures. They wouldn't find blood easily. Jeremy made sure of that. She was also having a really tough time resisting the urge to turn her head to stare in shock at the morning sky.

Hedy waited until people gave her some space before letting out a shaky breath. She'd known this would be hard, but hadn't understood just how bad it was. The only reason they hadn't been carted off to the station was because Jeremy had delivered on the promised 'panicked brother' call. Hedy didn't realise what kind of reputation her brother had that he could pull such immediate trust from a completely different police department. It made her feel all the more worse about what she had forced him to do to get her and Ruby out of this.

She glanced to the side to check on Ruby. The teenager had won the argument over the blanket but an EMT was sticking close by, clearly worried about her. She was already getting on the cops' nerves though. Hedy could imagine the argumentative attitude she was giving as she answered his questions. She'd been right though. She could be the problem witness since she was a minor. Hedy and Afton had to be the calm and rational ones. Ruby changed it up so they didn't all have the same reactions.

And she probably wasn't capable of being calm right now. She'd been pushing her limits inside already. She needed to be angry and bitter and this cop was the unfortunate target of that.

A short distance in the other direction, Afton was having a minor argument over the animatronics. He was still very polite but very obviously stressed over them. He'd taken Ruby's advice over mentioning the value and likely lawsuit over the current damage and his fears over further possible damage. The officer he was speaking to did seem to be listening at least and it looked likely that they were just going to check everything for blood and only fight it if something had blood or looked suspicious.

It was uncertain if Afton was aware of it, but it was clear that money was talking. It made Hedy more police seemed to realize Afton was someone who could make their lives very difficult if he wanted. Mentioning that he personally owned robots worth so much probably clued them in. Hedy would not have been surprised if that was the real reason Ruby told Afton to bring it up. It kind of pissed her off actually. Could all cops be bought?

The police were pretty confused and divided overall. Of course some of them suspected foul play, but they were having a hard time imagining a girl in a wheelchair, an old man with a cane, and a very small teenager being able to kill the two victims with that amount of physical savagery.

Ruby's distressed state also lent validity to their story. Hedy was a bit worried honestly and a couple of EMTs were starting to look like they might intervene as her voice rose.

"-did not fucking see it, the bodies were enough I didn't see- see that fucking room! I don't know what it looks like! I just saw what it did!" Her voice cracked and one EMT stepped closer. "I don't want your fucking blanket!"

It physically hurt Hedy to listen and she wanted to ignore the request to keep a distance between them as they were questioned. Ruby was angry and that was all they could see. Hedy could recognise the pain, exhaustion and bitterness under it and she didn't want them making things worse. Not to mention that Ruby was well aware she had a ride in the van ahead of her and that only heightened her negative emotions.

"She's sixteen," she said to the nearest officer. "She's not okay. Can't he take it easy on her?" she gestured over to where the EMT had now gotten into an argument with the man questioning her. Ruby had backed up a few steps and had her arms tightly crossed, gaze on the floor. As good of a liar as Ruby was, she'd never had to lie about anything close to this. This wasn't just a prank or general chaos that she tried to wriggle out of trouble for.

Maybe if they'd been home, Ruby would have been more okay. But these cops didn't know her. And she was still angry at the police she knew, hurt over what Black did and now she had to lie about two murders which no doubt had her feeling guilty for all kinds of reasons.

Before the officer could answer Hedy, someone came running out of the building. Her breathing caught as she recognised the blood covering him and fear froze her in place. They'd left the scooper somewhat functioning to show them the danger it posed since it was hard to imagine anything being designed like that unless you saw it in action. She remembered how it had jerked towards Afton and barely missed him. Had they miscalculated? Had Goldy missed them checking it while she was keeping track of everything else? They'd put too much pressure on her, what if she missed it? They'd told the police that it was dangerous. What had happened?

EMTS swarmed the man but he pushed through them, running up to the man in charge of the scene. "Shit, Dan, that thing in there. What the fuck is this place?"

"What happened?" Dan, Officer Ackley, demanded, reaching out to steady him.

"We were checking out the room and I guess I stepped too close and the thing just jerked forward. Missed me by inches. We've got to get it shut down properly. It's bad. There's just… Dan there's blood everywhere. And-"

He was cut off from going into further detail when Ruby stumbled away and dropped onto the ground with her back to the man. She curled forward and was visibly calming her breathing. The two men moved their talk away from them and Ruby didn't fight when the EMTs draped the blanket around her shoulders this time.

They didn't stop Hedy from going over to her and focused on Afton instead. He was still discussing the situation with the animatronics. For the most part, it looked like everyone had agreed to letting them leave with the bots after they'd been checked over, but there was one stubborn officer who was arguing the matter.

"I want to go home," Ruby whispered when Hedy leaned down to rest a hand on her shoulder. No one heard the small admission and Hedy closed her eyes for a moment.

"Me too."

They sat there for a bit, the chaos happening behind them as they got a short break from questions and lies and the pressure to get this right.

Eventually, they had to move and they made their way back to the van where Afton was. The questions seemed to be over and now it was all down to whether they could leave with the bots yet.

"Sir, this is an active crime scene. You can't just walk away with potential evidence!" The detective frustratingly gestured at the truck and Vixen. "You have this story about the AI in this place breaking down and attacking people, while you're trying to just leave with these robots."

"Rich, drop it. We've got what we needed. There's nothing on the robots," the other officer sighed, rubbing his face. He looked tired and Hedy recognised the signs of someone working unexpected overtime.

"Drop it? Did you see the bodies, Harry? This isn't normal."

Something in Hedy twisted at Alex being referred to as just a body. It felt cold and impersonal. Alex was right in the van, hidden and probably able to hear this clearly.

"Nothing happened with these animatronics. They're in fucking pieces," Hedy cut in, moving closer as she interrupted the conversation. She resisted the urge to flinch. Bad language wasn't going to help anyone. Afton looked at her in surprise, not having noticed them approaching. "That Hand Unit wrecked them, we're guessing. Unless you have reason to believe they'll help you figure out what happened, we have to take them."

"Is there a problem?" Ruby asked tiredly as she followed Hedy. "Can't we just leave yet?"

"Depends," Afton said, shooting her a worried look before he faced the officers again, "Are we permitted to remove my property before you condemn this hellhole?" He sounded stressed and his voice was tight and shaky, but he was trying his damndest to be polite with the detectives. And to keep it together at all.

The calmer detective pulled his partner away while the other hissed at him, "What the hell is the obsession with keeping those things?! It's suspicious, Harry!" Did he realise they could still hear him? That was a bit unprofessional.

"Oh yes. Just completely suspicious that he wants to keep million dollar animatronics that are already damaged from being taken as evidence," Ruby mocked, temper sparking again. "Not like it could go missing after all."

"Are you more concerned about money than two lives then?"

The detective was still trying to catch them in a lie and Ruby leaned forward to get into another argument.

Hedy personally understood that he was doing his job, pushing them for answers. If this was foul play–which it was but they couldn't know that–he wanted to get all the information and that included ruthlessly questioning them. But...

"How dare you?!" she snapped, her voice cracking. She didn't even need to try. "One of my best friends was just killed practically right in front of me and I never even got to fucking see her body?!"

She was crying now. A part of her was ashamed, even knowing that if she didn't it would look like she was lying.

You can't fake pain like this...

"We came h-here to retrieve those robots. That was my job, that was her job, and that was Andre's job. And these things are the last thing I ever got to work on with my friend! I know you'll just have them sit in evidence for who knows how long and if there's anything I need to not go insane from what fucking happened tonight, it's my work!"

Afton gestured for her to try calming down before addressing the detective once again.

Hedy forced herself to shut up, wiping her eyes and nose with a ruined tissue one of the EMTs had given her earlier. She was going to screw something up if she kept talking. Her eyes were red and stinging. Ruby leaned back towards her but she kept her glare on 'Rich'.

Afton sucked in a breath. "I'm not sure whether you may think this relevant. I understand if you think I'm being callous for monetary reasons, but it's not the worth of my animatronics I'm fully concerned with. They are incredibly important to me emotionally. I built these robots with my own two hands just before my daughter died when she was eight. I've been looking for them for many years. I need you to understand… how… awful a situation this is in so many ways. You have our contacts. If you find you need to see the animatronics for any reason, we'll cooperate with the investigation, but I am leaving with them. Please don't make me call my lawyer. This is a horrible horrible situation and I just… I just want some peace before I inform the families."

"We can do that," Harry offered, grabbing the other man's arm and giving him a warning look. "It's our job to inform the families."

Ruby was scowling at them both. She was on edge and more than ready to direct her emotional turmoil at anyone if she got half the chance or the slightest reason too. She wanted a fight.

The fact that her eyes were dry probably didn't help but Ruby rarely cried. She screamed and shouted and shut down. But tears were rare.

"You can contact my brother too," Hedy said, trying to be cooperative since Harry seemed more likely to listen. "He's the one your boss over there was talking to on my phone."

Harry nodded, pulling out his notepad. "Can I have his name and number so we can call him later? Rich and I are in charge of the paperwork tonight."

"Jeremy Fitzgerald," she said, giving him the number as well.

Harry paused as he got halfway through the name, an odd expression appearing on his face.

"Can I get your names as well," Rich sighed, relenting for the moment. "I know you gave them to Officer Ackley, but he's going to be out all night. We're heading back soon."

It felt like they were forever answering the same questions over and over tonight. It was draining all of them. Afton's weary expression told Hedy that he felt the same.

"Jeremy Fitzgerald?" Harry interrupted. "Why does that sound familiar?"

It was irritating that he was asking this when they just wanted to give their names for the tenth time and leave.

"Did he used to live in Ebbot about ten years ago?"

Ruby eyed him with suspicion. "He's been on the news for solving a big cold case," she said, deflecting the question. "It was a huge thing. You probably saw the story at some point."

Rich thought for a moment. "That whole corrupt cop scandal that happened a month or so ago? That was in Ebbot," he glanced at Harry. "Remember? A detective got a fellow cop killed?"

"I was getting my appendix out last month. I was so high on painkillers I don't remember anything from TV. That happened in Ebbot?" He looked somewhat upset at the news.

"Yeah. Was a huge thing. Your brother's got some pretty solid influence," he turned to Hedy with a suspicious look.

Hedy shrugged helplessly. She really didn't know how well-known Jeremy was.

"Oh for fuck's sake," Ruby snapped. "Can you just take our names and let us leave? I don't give a shit about your little gossip session."

Rich glared at her which she happily returned.

"Right," Harry said hurriedly, finishing writing Jeremy's name down. "Sorry about that. I just used to live in Ebbot before I transferred. Your names?"

"William Afton."

Harry frowned a little but wrote it down.

"Hedwig Fitzgerald. H-E-D-W-I-G. And you got Fitzgerald already."

He scribbled that down quickly and Ruby was already turning to leave as she answered.

"Ruby Stone."

Harry looked up, startled. "Stone?"

She looked back at him with an irritated expression. "You need me to spell that for you?" she asked mockingly.

Rich looked irritated while Harry just quickly wrote the name down. Ruby's name had been all over the news for a while. He might recognise it despite all the pain medication he'd apparently been on, especially if he used to be from their city.

"If the medics have cleared you folks, we're going to need you to come down to the station with us," Rich said.

Afton looked at Harry. "That was not what I was just told."

Harry glanced at Rich. "Captain cleared them to go already. We'll follow up later with their locals."

Rich shot him a look, clearly disagreeing on the matter. "That's not protocol. Why make an exception here?"

"Maybe because we just saw dead bodies of people we know and a fuck ton of blood-" Ruby broke off with a frustrated growl. She was losing her grip on her shaky control. "Can you just let us go home already? We answered all your questions and your boss gave the go-ahead for Afton to take his things. What else do you want?"

She deflated a bit in the silence that followed her outburst. "I just want to go home," she said in a quiet voice that Hedy very rarely heard. She was just too tired to even be angry anymore.

Hedy stalled for a moment, she knew there was something she was supposed to do to help Ruby but she couldn't remember.

"We are."

Hedy glanced at Afton in surprise. Then she was grateful.

The man looked at the officers sternly. "We'll be available for more questions. We'll cooperate to the best of our abilities. But right now. I need to get these girls home. I don't mean to sound crass but please call my lawyer when you need to speak to any of us further." He dug a card from his pocket and handed it to Harry. "Ms. Fitzgerald, Ms. Stone, we're going now." He ushered Hedy toward her truck with the trailer attached to the back.

Ruby didn't move for a moment and Hedy's heart lurched when Afton reached down to pluck the discarded blanket from the ground. He put it over Ruby's shoulder and gently turned her in the same direction as Hedy. Instead of lashing out, the touch seemed to stir the teenager out of whatever was going on in her head and she brushed Afton off and strode to the trailer. She climbed inside without a word or a glance back. She kept the blanket with her. That relieved Hedy and probably a few of the medical people who had been fighting with her.

Afton helped Hedy into the trailer, folding up her chair for her. "Let me know when we're ready to drive off," he asked her pointedly, knowing that the second he closed the doors, there was going to be a lot of movement from Goldy as she collected everything they planned for the last minute. He lowered his voice and glanced at the spot where he knew Alex was sitting, watching him. "You're sure Ms. Caldwell and Mr. Gibson will come with us? All those stories about um… ghosts… " he trailed off for a moment. "They all involved people in such a situation being stuck in one place."

Hedy felt a slight panic at the suggestion from Alex and resisted the urge to shudder. "No. They're okay. We handled it already." She could be enough of a connection for Alex. She didn't really want to explain to Afton exactly what they had done to make sure Andre was dragged along with them. She wasn't even sure what Goldy had done for Andre. The bear had just assured Hedy she handled it. That felt ominous.

Ruby had slid down to sit on the floor and she leaned her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. Afton shot her a worried look before he reluctantly closed the doors. The teenager was already tense just from being inside the trailer.

Hedy turned on her flashlight. She was kind of surprised no police voiced the issue of watching them climb into the back of the trailer, which she was pretty sure was unsafe and illegal. Then again, they were very distracted. As the door closed, she saw the two detectives go over to a small group of crime scene investigators who were all looking freaked out and gesturing wildly at the nondescript building and the horrors below.

"...You sure I won't be left behind?" Alex asked, her sudden voice making Vixen flinch in the privacy of the enclosed space. She sounded so scared. She didn't want to be alone, trapped in that soon-to-be dark, empty place.

"I'm… holding on to you," Hedy admitted. She secretly was a little disturbed how easy it was to do that. Maybe the building was helping, aware she wanted her friend to come along with them. She didn't even need to concentrate.

"That's a little freaky, Hedy," Alex quietly said from the darkest back corner of the van.

"Yeah, well almost dying in the pizzeria has consequences," Ruby muttered. She opened one eye to look at Hedy before closing it again. She was doing her best to ignore where they were. She wasn't even being mean to Alex. It was just a fact coupled with her blunt attitude and stress.

Alex still fell silent, not really familiar with Ruby's eccentricities.

"What about Andre?" Alex asked into the awkward silence that fell.

"We need something of his that he's attached to or has some part of him to bring him along," Hedy admitted.

"He's down there right now," Alex admitted, with that still blank tone. "I freaked out a little. You told me to stay away from people. And I tried. But he… he started trying to boss those police around about touching stuff. But they couldn't see us. Or hear. That-uh… that kid Timmy said we were invisible and no one could hear us." She frowned a little, unsure where the kid was.

Vixen looked at her with an odd expression but Alex didn't notice. A kid? There were no kids here. And that name… It hurt to hear.

"I asked the building to do that," Timmy said, whispering as if he was afraid his dad could still hear him. "Goldy was busy."

"What buildi–?" Alex was interrupted when Vixen gasped and jerked violently away from the voice, hitting her head against the wall of the van.

The sudden movement made Alex go silent with fear as she stared at the fox, only looking away and trying to make herself smaller once it seemed Vixen wasn't moving towards her.

Hedy watched her friend in pity but paid attention to the sudden reunion.

"Tim?" Vixen whispered.

There was a moment of guilty hesitation before Timmy faded into view, sitting next to Ruby. The teen peeled an eye open again to check on him.

Vixen's eyes were wide in horror as she studied him. Her jaw was tightly clenched. What on earth happened? He looked the same as the last time she saw him, right down to his dirty shoes. Her mind was rapidly putting it together. She knew what he was, even if he didn't seem to be exactly like Ennard. He looked like himself, for one. He shouldn't be here.

"Hi, Funtime Foxy," Timmy said softly, using the name she would have remembered him calling her, even if he also thought his father's naming skills were lacking. "I'm sorry. We should have warned you."

Hedy and Ruby both couldn't help but feel that Vixen seemed more confused than grieved to see the boy.

"You… n-no… how… why…?" She was about to cry.

Timmy put a finger to his lips and shook his head sadly. "Lizzy doesn't know yet. Dad doesn't either. I want to keep it that way until we get home. I'll tell you what happened when we get home, okay?"

Vixen didn't know what to say. "Timmy…"

Timmy smiled at her reassuringly. "It's okay. I'm okay. I know you're upset but can we talk about it later? Please?"

Vixen clearly struggled with the request for a minute but she hesitantly nodded. She still looked horrified and sad. "Y-you can't be here. H-how did you….?"

Timmy just shook his head and Vixen trailed off. She was trembling slightly and couldn't take her eyes off the little boy.

Ruby frowned, not ready for that conversation either. It was Timmy's story to share anyway so they all deferred that decision to him. She lifted her arm and Timmy scooted closer to lean into her side.

Hedy looked at Vixen in pity but answered Alex's earlier question, drawing her attention back. She rubbed her eyes. "I'll explain later, Alex. I promise. Just… ugh… the pizzeria is alive okay? And we can ask it to do weird things."

"Freddy's?" Alex asked, a little uselessly, still watching Vixen out the corner of her eye with the occasional glance at Timmy. She knew there was nowhere else Hedy could mean.

Hedy nodded. "I know that's confusing and begs a lot more questions but I have to explain more later when we get… back." She wanted to say home but the pizzeria was not "home" for Alex. It felt cruel to say otherwise.

Still, Andre wandering around with all those people made Hedy nervous. "Is Andre still down there?"

"Yeah," Timmy said.

"It's okay, Hedy," Goldy's voice said, making Vixen jump. She had managed to "play dead" very well up to that point. "I'm watching him now. He's just getting a little frustrated is all. Not enough emotion to spook one of the humans. They can tell it's a little cold. That's all."

"Can you grab him, Goldy?" Ruby asked, lifting her head again now that there was something to distract her. "We don't want to give them any reason to think deeper about what happened. Unexplained chills that don't make sense might make some curious about why and they'll poke around for longer."

Goldy hummed in agreement.

"So you're… we're not leaving him there, right?" Alex asked before the bear disappeared, worried. She wanted to make sure. The idea of being left there was terrifying enough for her; she didn't want the man left to that fate either. She didn't believe Hedy would do that, but she wanted to make sure.

"I have him," Goldy assured. "He'll stay with us."

It was quiet for a second.

"How?" Alex asked, unable to curb that curiosity.

Hedy grimaced. She had an idea but she didn't actually want to know what Goldy did.

"Don't worry about it," Goldy said, a little firmly.

"I worry about what I damn well please," Alex snapped, a flash of anger flooding the small space for a moment, making Timmy and Goldy (and Vixen) jump. Her eyes widened, surprised by her own outburst. "S-sorry…"

Hedy swallowed at the confusion that replaced the outburst. She wasn't looking forward to explaining to Alex what they were going to have to fight against. The kids went insane. Timmy was a rare exception. Given how she… died, Hedy couldn't be sure how Alex was going to cope. Could she turn murderous? Against who? Vixen? At the moment Alex was just doing her best to ignore the fox was even there. Any glance her way made Alex tremble before she shut her eyes and shoved it away.

Hedy wasn't going to let that happen. Not to her friend. Not… again. She was a little more worried about Andre given his attitude toward the bots and his alarming lack of awareness.

"I don't need anything else to worry about," Ruby muttered, leaning her head back again. "I've got enough already." She hadn't reacted to the surge of emotion so she must have pulled all her walls back up again.

Goldy huffed, looking at Hedy and Ruby apologetically but at Alex in understanding. "You're tied to your bodies. At least until they decay away completely and your bones are gone." The bear sounded patient but frustrated that Alex hadn't taken her warning to drop the subject.

Alex looked a little stunned at the bluntness but Goldy continued.

Hedy didn't want to think about how Goldy knew that.

"You can go wherever your body goes, along with objects or places you have a strong emotional connection with. Andre doesn't have any strong connection with any of you. That leaves him either being tied to the place where he died," she spoke calmly but they could hear the stress leaking in. "Maybe his home. Or his body. I took pieces of his body."

Hedy felt ill again. They should have grabbed a bucket to bring with them into the trailer.

"Just hair and a bit of bone," Goldy assured, her tone carefully neutral despite the ghoulish topic. She also took his wedding ring. She found it in a crevice in the scooping room while helping Will search for smaller pieces of the Funtimes. It must have gotten loosened by the blood and knocked off as his body was moved around while Ennard did whatever horrible thing she did. The crime scene people would never have found it. She took it, resolving to get Jeremy or Ruby to help her slip it into evidence at some point. For now, it was her secret.

Alex looked like she regretted asking. "O-oh…"

Ruby groaned into her hands, feeling sick again. She needed to brush her teeth as soon as possible. The taste of bile wasn't helping at all.

"Can we just… get Ennard and leave already?" she asked, voice muffled in her palms. "They gave us the go-ahead. I don't want to stay long enough for them to come up with more questions to ask."

Goldy vanished without a word.

She was back in a moment and the large crate Ruby had stuffed the thing in rattled and shook as it hit the floor of the trailer in the very back. Surprisingly, she didn't make a noise like Ruby had predicted. Vixen lurched away from it, staring at the crate in fright. Alex did too, scrambling further into the opposite corner.

"She can't get out," Ruby told them. "She's not going to be able to move without something to dissolve the glue."

Vixen suddenly reached out, getting closer only enough to grab the box that held the Minireenas and pull them closer to her, her sharpened claws leaving gouges in the wood. Timmy had gone silent again, sitting down next to Ruby and then crawling into her lap when she leaned back to let him.

Goldy left again, this time to fetch the Bidybabs. She had hidden them away in Baby's auditorium where the police weren't going to immediately find them. They couldn't be quiet, even with an explanation of why it was important. It was too much of a risk having them up top and in the trailer at first. They were probably scared but there hadn't been another option.

She reappeared with the crate. It was getting crowded in the small space. A couple of Bidybabs screamed in fright from the harsh jostle.

"Let us out!" one of them demanded, sounding close to tears if that was possible.

"Baby!" another called out, voice shaking.

Goldy looked at Vixen. The fox said the little bots didn't listen to her as much as the Minireenas did, but she was still a familiar voice.

"We can't. Not yet," Vixen said, doing her best to sound calm as Goldy pushed the box beside the Minireenas. "Shhh. You need to calm down."

"NO!" another one shouted defiantly. It might have been the same one. Their voices sounded the same.

Hedy could see Ruby's patience fraying, the little she had left anyway.

Luckily Vixen handled it. "That's enough. I don't want to explain to Baby why we had to leave you behind because you couldn't behave."

Goldy looked at Vixen worriedly. The threat seemed overly harsh.

The box quieted. There was some faint static that yanked at Hedy's heart as she realized that was the animatronic's version of sniffling back tears.

"No one's being left behind," Hedy said. "You don't need to scare them with that."

Vixen looked away. After a second she addressed the box again. "I'm sorry. We would never leave you behind, but we are leaving and you can't be making it difficult. We're going someplace else. You need to rest. Baby and Ballora will need your help. Until then, you need to be quiet and rest."

The Bidybabs continued to quietly cry but they seemed to have calmed down.

"We are never coming back here," Ruby said. "This place is going to get condemned, probably. Hopefully, they decide to cave it in with dynamite."

Goldy frowned a little and glanced in the direction of the place.

Hedy was trying her hardest not to think about that place now. She just wanted to go home, same as Ruby. She just wanted to go home and work. Work was good. She could focus on being a mechanic. Building. Fixing. Occupying her thoughts and hands.

"Good riddance," Goldy sighed. "I should round up our wayward ghost. I think Will is wrapping everything up. We should get him settled somehow before we get going."

"You could tell him–or Afton could–tell him he needs to help Afton navigate?" Hedy suggested.

Goldy looked between Timmy, Vixen, and the box, but just shoved Ennard's box further out of the way to make more room before leaving one last time.

"How long is this drive again?" Ruby asked, her voice pitching just barely higher. Her fingers curled around the edge of the bench as it started to sink in that they really were about to leave. About to drive. Timmy reached up to hold onto her arm, looking worried about this plan in general.

"Six hours," Hedy said, looking at Vixen in pity. "But it's probably going to be longer with the trailer and the weight. We're not getting home until the afternoon." She eyed Ruby in concern "I left the sedatives at the hotel. We're stopping there first to get our stuff… if the police haven't confiscated it."

Ruby didn't respond except to set her lips into a thin line. She definitely wasn't in any state to be facing another one of her phobias but there wasn't a choice. They couldn't leave her here and she couldn't walk. If the sedatives had been confiscated… Hedy wasn't sure what they could do.

Goldy was back a minute later, sitting back down on the bench beside Vixen and positioning herself between the fox and Ruby. She glanced at Vixen to check how she was taking Timmy's presence but the fox still looked a mix of confused and upset. She was mostly keeping her gaze on the floor or looking at the boxes of little bots.

"We're leaving," she said as they heard and felt the truck start up.

Timmy patted Ruby's arm again as she suddenly dragged him into her lap, letting her use him like a very cold teddy bear. She needed some kind of anchor to stay calm.

Vixen tensed, still overly sharp claws digging into the seat with a slight screech of metal. That probably wouldn't go over well with the company Afton rented the trailer from but Hedy couldn't afford to care.

"Is it safe to be riding back here without seatbelts?" Alex spoke up.

Hedy almost pointed out that Alex didn't have to worry about that anymore. She almost laughed at the absurdity. "We need to stay back here," she said simply.

"Door's locked, right?" Ruby asked, voice pitching up as panic crept in.

"Yes," Timmy assured. "If you throw yourself at the door you won't fall out. You'll just get very bruised and worry Foxy even more."

"You don't play fair kiddo," the teen said, sounding a bit breathless.

Vixen glanced up at the mention of Foxy but didn't ask. She'd been doing her best to keep her distance from Ruby completely. Goldy didn't think they could have had a worse introduction if they'd tried.

The noise of the truck starting up had frightened the mini bots and there were quiet sounds of distress from the minireenas and panicked whispering from the bidybabs. Hedy couldn't help but eye the latches to make sure they were secure. It had been a nightmare finding all of the minireenas. While the bidybabs only numbered eight, the little ballerinas were hard to count. Even Vixen didn't know the exact number of the little bots, which was strange. They could only hope they'd found everyone.

Hedy had asked them multiple times if that was all of them and no one was left hiding in a vent somewhere. She had done her best to make it very clear how important it was to gather everyone but with the minireens apparently limited vocabulary, it was hard to be sure they really understood. And Ruby had done a final check of the building and vents as well before they ran out of time.

They weren't even sure how many were in the box, Hedy guessed between twelve and fifteen, but the little bots had assured that everyone was there. "All here!" one had said, Hedy suspecting it was the stowaway given how the bot always seemed to be the closest to her. She wasn't sure what she had done to really gain so much trust from the mini bot.

The chanting of 'all here!' when the others started echoing her had been creepy for most of them while Hedy thought it was endearing in a weird way.

Vixen tried to soothe the little bots but her own stress made it hard to sound calm. Especially since it got worse every time she looked at Timmy, which was almost impossible not to do.

They were going to have trust that the little bots understood what was happening and wouldn't let any of them be left behind.

Goldy was looking at the two crates. "Will never finished them. He had some designs. Blueprints for little helper bots. But he never built these ones." She looked at Vixen questioningly.

Hedy thought Goldy's wording was a little weird but she couldn't put her finger on why.

Vixen's eyes flicked up to her, then to the crates, then to the parts of her fellow funtimes, particularly Ballora and Baby. "Ballora made the Minireenas. Baby made the Bidybabs. I helped. Bon Bon mostly kept Fred busy…"

Goldy looked surprised while Ruby barely reacted. She was too focused on not freaking out completely. She was barely even listening now and Timmy was busy whispering very quietly to her. It could be anything from assurances to prank ideas. It didn't matter, he was just helping keep her grounded.

"By yourselves?" Goldy asked.

Vixen shrugged. "Ennard watched I suppose…" she whispered.

That wasn't what Goldy meant. "... Where did the parts come from?" she asked.

"... They were just there one day," Vixen said quietly. "Ennard said it was a… gift." There was a lot of bitterness in the sarcasm.

Hedy couldn't help the curiosity. "They came alive with you?"

"What else could I fucking mean?" There was a slight hesitation in Vixen's bitter tone. She looked at the crate of little ones, well aware it was odd.

It had always been Will who was assumed to be the reason they were alive, even if none of them knew how. Will didn't even know. Maybe he had unwittingly helped. The little computers Ennard somehow provided only had a few lines of code. They had recognized it. It was just a little file signed with Will's signature and a couple basic responses coded in. All of the animatronics knew that the code was "empty" in a way, only building upon itself after they woke up. Even so, Ballora and Baby had finished it, debugging errors and copying bits of their own code to fill in the blanks they weren't sure about. Vixen frowned at nothing, not quite willing to tell this technician about all of that. She hadn't decided her final opinion on Hedy. The kindness Hedy had shown her still disturbed her.

"That's extraordinary," Alex murmured in awe.

Hedy wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at that. Of course Alex would still be a nerd about that.

Vixen stiffened at the ghost's voice.

Goldy looked thoughtful. "Hmm, Puppet is going to have one hell of an existential crisis over this one."

Vixen actually cracked a strained smile, but it was gone in a blink. Timmy covered a quiet giggle at the idea. He was listening, just not contributing and more focused on Ruby. It was… it was strange to Vixen. Timmy wasn't the most social and was comfortable with very few people. Seeing him like this with someone not in his family was weird.

Vixen shifted, focusing back on the conversation.

"What is it?" Goldy asked.

"That's not all… " she admitted, tone darkening more. "Ennard… you need to keep Ennard away from them." There was something more angry in her voice, contrasting the fear she usually had when she even had to say Ennard's name.

Goldy nodded.

Vixen cracked out an angry laugh. "A gift! She said they were a gift. Something… something to keep us busy while we waited for more visitors." She glanced at Alex then immediately away. "She was lying of course. It was just taking too long for us to fix each other when she let one of us 'survive' each time." She trailed off lost in some traumatic memory. "There was a long time between… 'games'. We thought Ennard was getting bored. Maybe… maybe… she would stop and we could finally stay together. It was good watching the little ones figure out how to do things. They were so happy. It made it easier to forget where we were. But we were stupid. It wasn't going to last forever. Ennard took Fred and Bon Bon. We didn't want to scare the little ones so we didn't tell them what we were doing when we went to get them. Th-their parts."

Vixen stopped talking for a second. She looked at Timmy worriedly, but he just looked back at her expectantly. She understood that the boy already knew his sister was a monster. How much of a monster though?

She wasn't telling all of them this story. Just Goldy. She just trusted Goldy with this. And Timmy, but she felt guilty about that. The others just happened to be eavesdroppers because she couldn't stop now. She did her best to ignore the other eyes staring at her, pretending they weren't there. "Then Ennard… she… she asked the little ones if they wanted to play a game. Th-they didn't understand. They were… so excited." Vixen's voice cracked slightly. "Then Ennard… Ennard s-scooped Ballora and Baby in front of them." Vixen couldn't drag her eyes off the floor as she paused to collect herself.

"She said that was their game. They had a 'little puzzle' to put together. They… they cried for so long… the first time. I… I had to show them what to do for Baby. Then Ennard… took care of me. When I woke up everyone was fixed. Mostly. The minireenas and bidybabs made a few mistakes, but they did their best. They did such a good job." Vixen glanced at the boxes holding the little bots, aware they were listening to her. "They were so quiet. They never told us what Ennard said or did to them while w-we were… gone. They got better at fixing us each time." She gripped the bench and finally looked at the box holding Ennard with something other than fear. There was a glint of rage in her eyes. "She didn't have to do that to them. She could have let them be happy. We did everything right. We followed the rules. And she still hurt them." She spat the words and growled. She flinched as Goldy gently touched her shoulder to draw her back.

"They're safe now," Goldy said. She sounded sad and hurt that this is what they were left with from the little girl they used to be so close to. "Elizabeth can't hurt any of you any more."

Hedy struggled to wrangle her anger down. This group had been hurt so much, and for no real reason as far as she could see. Ennard just thought it was… fun.

The vehicle began to move before they could continue and Ruby made a strangled noise. Goldy looked at her in concern but kept some distance between them while Timmy quietly spoke to the teen. Considering the boy had been with Ruby when she climbed into a taxi after the coma, they knew he was the best person for this right now. He didn't seem to mind Ruby's tight grip either.

Alex looked worried at the severe reaction to the drive and Vixen mostly looked confused. She didn't know what to think about Ruby after everything and just settled for staying quiet.

Vixen returned to holding onto the bench as they started speeding up and Ruby went completely quiet and tense as Timmy whispered one last thing. They couldn't hear what he said but Ruby wasn't completely panicking so it must have worked. Even distracted by being in a vehicle for the first time in a long time, Vixen couldn't help but stare at how Timmy was comforting Ruby. He cuddled close and reached up to tug on her shirt now and then, reminding her that he was there.

Hedy hated that there wasn't anything she could do to help. Hopefully no one had messed with the sedatives. They had a prescription for them so it shouldn't be a problem. Ruby wouldn't make the full trip awake.

She settled to quietly making sure the rest of the Funtimes parts were organized properly, ignoring how Vixen nearly growled at her for picking up Ballora's head and going through the damaged wiring in the neck.

The fox didn't tell her to stop though so Hedy counted that as progress. She did not ask if Alex wanted to help. She could tell that was probably too much for her friend right now.

Goldy watched them all from her spot, worried over all of them for different reasons. They had a long trip ahead of themselves. She sighed to herself. This was going to be a rough one…