Project Rebirth

New Harmony, Utah

Thursday 1st December 2016, 18:47 PM

Sam watched on as Mike approached the window behind him, pulling back the curtain. Just enough to be able to look out of it. When he was seemingly satisfied, he stepped over to the other. For a brief moment, Sam recalled how Ella had been sent through that very same window last year.

Not needing to ask to know what he was doing, she remained silent. Allowing him to confirm that they were not being watched. Her thoughts fell back onto her companions waiting outside and she worried. If there was a chance that they were being watched, leaving them outside was not a good idea.

Tyler's smart, she reassured herself, so is Spencer. They'll keep low until then.

While she waited, Sam fell back into the shadows, anxious about her every move. As they'd approached the house, the possibility that Mike's house was being monitored hadn't passed them by. Yet as much as they had checked, how on Earth could they ever be sure?

Once he was done with the final curtain, Mike nodded, satisfied. Then he stepped back and turned to her, giving her a small smile and a nod.

"Where are the others?"

"Just outside." She told him, sensing that his checks were negative, "Just Tyler and Spencer. We made sure to keep a low profile."

"Good. That's good." By his movements, Sam deduced that Mike was no longer worried about someone watching them. Heading over to his sofa, standing just in front of an old television, he leaned on it. "Bring them in. I think we're good, but it's cold out there."

"A minute, first." Sam asked, remembering her conversation with Tyler. There were a few words she needed with him before they could get involved. "Mike, I know that whatever this all is must be…as you said, complicated. But I just don't get why you didn't ask for our help. Taking on Fazbear Entertainment like this? By yourself?"

"It was better this way, trust me." With an outstretched hand, Mike offered her the seat on the sofa against the wall behind her. Hesitant, she took it, sitting down carefully. Opposite to her, Mike leaned against the back of the chair and took a deep breath.

"This wasn't the intention I had, you know. Getting inside Fazbear Entertainment. I guess you could call it a…well, a happy coincidence. My cover's fragile, though. That's why I had to get away from you back there."

Though she knew there were very little options in that regard, Sam still felt relieved that they were correct. "I'm sorry about that. I just…I thought you were in trouble, or…dead. I didn't want to jeopardise you."

"Don't worry," he grinned, "It was easy enough to come up with an explanation. I've established a friendship with Malcolm Hargrove. He's one of the board members, you see. One word from him, and any suspicion was dropped."

"Right. About that; how did you manage this?"

"Manage what?"

"Getting in with Fazbear Entertainment? For one thing, we were surprised to see them back at all. After Dutch killed those board members last year."

He shrugged, "There's a lot of branches around the country. The company is spread thin at the moment, but from what I've heard, it's not the first time."

"Okay. That makes sense. But I'd like to go back to the previous question: How are you not only working with them, but so far up the chain?"

"Connections. Like I said, I'm good friends with Malcolm. You don't know how strong word of mouth is these days…"

"Mike." She spoke plainly, trying to push back her frustration, "You're a wanted man. They funded Reginald Wood, remember? You, Ella, and Jack were all fingered as the culprits. Carl and I barely avoided being ID'd. There is no way that they don't know your name and face. If not from that incident, then from what happened twenty years ago."

"Maybe I slipped through the cracks."

"They sent a hit man after you. There's no cracks to slip through."

Biting his lip, Mike seemed to acquiesce. "I'll admit that it's been difficult. I've had trouble keeping on the down low. Especially recently. They've been getting more suspicious, I believe."

Sam grew concerned, "Are they watching you?"

"Maybe. I've gotten a few strange looks. A few times on the way home, I could swear I've seen the same car following me. Might just be another commuter."

"Maybe?"

"There's a lot more people flooding in the area. It's both easier and more difficult to remain unnoticed. My new identification has helped, at least. These papers I got, a new name…you know how it goes. How could they prove without a shadow of a doubt I'm the same guy?"

"I wouldn't put it past them." Sam answered, feeling only increasingly doubtful. "But while we're on that subject…why?"

"Why what?"

"Afton? Really?"

He hesitated at that, until she couldn't help herself.

"I can understand you changing your name, but out of every possible choice you had…"

"It was for a good reason."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that the Afton family has a longstanding relationship with the company." He answered evenly, "It has connections. Having all those connections at my disposal meant that I could get in with them faster."

"Even if that means everyone knowing you as one of William Afton's relatives?"

"William Afton is a name very few remember in this town. He's been almost written out of history. One damned name isn't enough to sentence a family to Hell."

"That's not the point, Mike." Sam sighed, struggling to find an argument in spite of herself, "If you think it's best, and it's already gotten you in with them, then fine. I'm only saying I'm worried about you. Coming back here, living in your old house, going radio silent for months…"

"I know. I'm sorry."

With a tired sigh, Sam suddenly remembered what Tyler had said to her. A fear in her that he was about to come in guns blazing told her enough was enough.

"Are we all clear, just so I know?" Sam asked him, needing that clarification, "Can the others come in?"

Mike nodded, "Of course. Nobody's watching us, so I reckon we'll be fine."

"Okay. Good." Turning, Sam headed to the back door and opened it. Before she went down the hallway, she looked over her shoulder at Mike. Biting her lip, she continued opening the door and came face-to-face with Tyler and Spencer. The former seemed agitated, but relaxed upon seeing her.

"Cut it close." He seethed, "I was about two seconds away from kicking the door down."

"Sorry. We got talking."

Turning around, Sam led them into the building. A glance back told her that neither of her companions were at all complacent. She supposed she couldn't blame them. A small amount of guilt filled her at the thought that she'd left them worrying about her for minutes on end.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Sam showed them into the house where Mike was leaning against the wall. He offered a smile at the sight of them, yet only Spencer returned it.

After returning the smile, Spencer stepped close to his mother. "Mom, everything alright? What happened in here?"

"It's fine." She assured him, "We just talked. Gave me some answers."

"Good." Tyler growled, overhearing them, "Maybe he could start explaining to the rest of us?"

"Ty…" Sam sighed, but Mike beat her to it.

"I wanted to apologise for this." Mike said, holding out his hands, "It wasn't my intention to drag you all out after me."

Tyler scoffed at that. "Didn't come for you. I came to make sure she didn't get herself killed pulling you out of another hole."

"Of course." Mike accepted that, not showing if he was offended by it.

"Ty." Sam spoke more firmly, "Simmer down."

Shaking his head, Tyler raised his hands in surrender before stepping away. Turning back to him, Sam tried to give an apologetic smile. In her head, however, she knew that Tyler was well within his rights to express himself. "So…Mike. We've already gone over this, but do you mind if we go over it again?"

"Right." Tyler sighed, "I'm guessing you've gone undercover? We're not jeopardising that by being here?"

"No." Mike told him, "We're not being watched. At least, not that I know of."

"Yeah, I know. I checked the perimeter. The kid checked for any digital surveillance. We're the only four souls in a three hundred metre radius."

"Good." Mike beamed, but faltered when he saw the look Tyler returned to him.

"Had a feeling you were working undercover. Put on quite the act. You should be proud of yourself. Must be good at it, keeping it up for so long."

"It was a risk and it's not come without mistakes, but I'm managing."

"That," Tyler smiled bitterly, "or maybe you've gone and turned your cloak."

Before Sam could even begin to shoot him a dirty look, Mike shrugged the accusation off. He straightened and left the wall he was leaning on. "That wouldn't be the best idea, would it? I don't think that leaving myself without allies, in the middle of such a snake pit, would keep me alive any longer."

For several moments, Mike and Tyler remained standing there, watching each other. Like they were in a standoff, waiting for the other to make a move. Growing frustrated, Sam finally stepped in. "Enough. Both of you. Going for each other's throats won't help us."

"Right." Spencer agreed, "Tyler, we didn't come all this way just to accuse Mike like this. We came to help him."

"That would be easy enough," Tyler said, "if we actually knew what the Hell this was all for."

Spencer hesitated at that. "True."

"Then ask." Staring at him hard, Samantha gritted her teeth, "Rather than accuse."

"Alright." Shooting Mike a smile that was just slightly off from mocking, Tyler seemed to feign his relaxation, "So, Mike, care to explain why exactly you suddenly disappeared, stole our files, and went off on another suicide run for some lead we've never heard about? While you're at it, maybe elaborate on why you haven't gotten back to us in over a month?"

"Of course." Mike cleared his throat and leaned back against the wall again, "As I was going through the files, something felt off about the area. Mostly on some of the things that Tom found, things that I suppose he never confirmed."

"Like this hidden facility?" Spencer offered.

"Right. That was one of the first things I looked into. I eventually tracked down what little information I could, most of which had been locked up tight."

"What about Circus Baby's?" Spencer inquired. For a brief moment, Sam shot Tyler a look and noticed how he seemed to disengage. "What did you find out about it?"

Mike became hesitant. "It helped; very much so. Led me to some interesting discoveries. It's how I got in with Afton Robotics, then later Fazbear Entertainment itself."

"But what did you find out about it?"

"Nothing." Mike answered plainly, a sullen glint in his eye, "It was a dead end. At least, what I was looking into turned out to be nothing more than a hope."

Sam could feel his disappointment. She sadly shook her head, "That's been this whole investigation from the start, Mike. Don't feel bad. Tom ran into more dead ends than either of us could count."

"Exactly." Mike gave her a smile, ""But it didn't turn out for nothing. I was able to get close to Fazbear Entertainment through it. That led to me on the track of finding out more about what they were planning."

"Like this Project Rebirth." Spencer crossed his arms.

"To start with."

"So what is it?"

"It's…difficult to say. It's not just one department working on it. The Hurricane Sector was assigned just one of the parts of it."

Sam nodded, "You're the project leader of the work going on here, right?"

"Not what I was expecting. Had no idea about it until just last month. Then Malcolm was asking me to lead our sector's work, and that was that."

Spencer's frown deepened, "Hang on. That doesn't make sense."

Hearing that, Sam blinked, yet Tyler only tilted his head. Almost like a shark, sniffing for blood.

"Come again?" Mike asked, raised eyebrows.

"You just said that you only heard about Project Rebirth recently. But I read your files you made over the last couple months. You heard about it around the same time you were looking into Circus Baby's."

Though the grin wasn't pronounced, Sam could see it beginning to form on Tyler's face as he agreed. "This kid. Sees details the rest of us miss. Like his old man, hey, Mike? So, care to explain?"

"Right. Yeah, I get where you're coming from." Mike smiled sheepishly, "I first started to hear about it around the time I was looking into that facility. You know, the one I believed the old Funtime Animatronics were housed in?"

"It was all just hearsay, a lot of concepts that were being brought forward. Not enough to make a definite answer on what they were planning."

Spencer nodded, "So what about the Funtimes? Did you find them?"

"I did," Mike stated, "at least, what was left of them. They were being tortured down there, experimented on. By the time I found them, it was already too late. Any answers died with them."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Spencer inclined his head, "So what do you know about this project?"

"It's supposedly some sort of comeback story. You know, a company with a tattered reputation comes back, promising fortune for everyone. To what extent, I cannot say for sure. It could be a rebrand, maybe to bring back an old franchise."

"Like what they did back in the eighties." Spencer offered.

"Exactly."

As they were exchanging ideas, Sam glanced over towards Tyler. He had a look on his face, something she could not quite decipher. Like he was chewing on a lemon. Noticing her stare, Tyler shrugged, unwilling to explain himself.

"Then it sounds to me," Straightening, Spencer still seemed perturbed, "like our heading is to figure out what they're planning. It's our only lead. So, Mike, if you are willing, I'd like to help you in any way I can."

"I agree." Sam stepped to join her son's side, smiling, "It's not the first time we've worked wonders."

The two of them looked towards Tyler, whose face had only grown more rigid. "Sure." He mumbled, "Anything to help."

"I appreciate it." Looking between the three of them, Mike seemed to be thinking deeply.

"To start with," Sam asked him, "what have you got for us to look into? A head start could get the ball rolling."

"I've got a few things in the works, but it's going to take some time. More than anything so we're not blowing our cover. Like I said, I'm getting worried they're getting suspicious."

Grunting, Tyler adjusted the sniper rifle on his back and turned. "I'll keep a lookout, then. Make sure nobody comes kicking the door down."

Without another word, he headed back outside. As he left, Spencer shot his mother a concerned look, who returned a small shrug and smile in return. In her head, Sam reminded herself of the clear and obvious bad blood her brother-in-law had with Mike. One she had a feeling wouldn't resolve itself by her getting involved.

The only way for the two to make amends, she thought, is for him to want it.

As she turned back to look at the two left in the room, her eyes fell onto a cardboard box shoved behind the old television. Curious, she stepped over to it. Crouching down and opening it, she saw the many old VHS tapes that were lined neatly inside.

"What are these?" Sam asked Mike with a look over her shoulder.

"Huh? Oh, those." Mike grinned, "Just some old tapes from a show I used to watch."

Understanding, Sam got a better look at the tapes. "The Immortal and the Restless, huh? What's it about?"

"Just some vampire show. I found them in the basement."

Spencer snorted, "Do they still work?"

"See for yourself."

He and Sam looked at each other and shrugged. Taking one of the tapes, she plugged it in to the player on the TV. After half a minute of it loading, the tape finally played. A few analogue scratches followed, yet the episode seemed to play fairly well."

"Well, I'll be damned." Spencer mumbled dryly.

Sam couldn't help but smirk. "This is what we had to deal with all the time, kiddo. Didn't have your fancy DVDs until soon after you were born."

Spencer snorted. "Wait until you see Blu-Rays. They'll blow your mind."

Sam laughed at that, before turning back to Mike. A sudden level of guilt passed over her. "Sorry, we're not meant to be snooping. At least, not on you. I'm just…still amazed you came back and fixed the old place up."

"It just seemed fitting." Mike shrugged, "It's a nice house. It would've been a shame to let it fall apart."

"You take good care of it."

"Eh, that's mostly my housekeeper."

"You should give her a raise." Spencer stood back up. "So, this is where you've been all this time? You know, if you didn't want their help, you could've called us. We're just a couple states over."

"Seemed like a waste of your time." Mike answered that.

Sam scowled. "It would've never been a waste of our time. Mike, I…I was really worried we were only going to find a corpse. Dropping out of contact like you did, not reporting back in so long…"

"I was never in any real danger." Mike gave her a reassuring smile, "Really. It's just been the same old, same old last couple months."

New Harmony, Utah

Tuesday 4th October 2016, 00:58 AM

"You will need to restart the power system manually." The voice explained, only sinking the dagger in further, "Please return to the primary control module."

As Mike sat there in the space under the desk, it dawned on him the kind of hole he'd possibly buried himself in.

Nobody knows I'm here, he thought numbly, and I've got no way to contact anyone outside.

The only way he could get out was by way of the elevator. Which, although not for definite, was most likely not working with the power system off.

With a weary sigh and knees now no longer aching, rather he could hardly feel them at all, Mike pulled himself out of the space. The room was now clear of whatever it was that was inside. Perhaps that may have comforted him were he any more naive; he knew better.

After all, he had no idea where they had come from in the first place. Either from one of the auditoriums, which was bad news considering his next likely task. Or from within the very walls themselves. Meaning they could pop out from anywhere, now that they knew he was here.

With an irritated grumble, Mike worked his way back through the vent, half expecting to find something already there. Instead, his journey was met with deafening silence until he reached the control module. As he stood up, the voice rang through and for a moment, Mike briefly missed the minutes spent without it.

"You will now be required to crawl through the Ballora gallery using the vent to your left to reach the breaker room."

Circus Baby's words were proven true and Mike felt the notion that he had to make a decision burn in his chest. There were three possible options laying ahead of him. None of them were exactly ideal.

"It is recommended that you stay low to the ground, and reach the other side as fast as possible, as to not disturb Ballora."

That isn't helping, Mike cringed. Either Circus Baby, or whoever was talking to him, was lying, trying to get him killed. That wasn't exactly a good argument, because if so, why didn't she just let him die via those things earlier?

Then there was the option that she was telling the truth, for her own purposes. Perhaps it was possible that her plan included him walking out with his blood very much inside his veins. Maybe not. Either way, being her pawn wasn't the most appetising idea, but he was scant for choices down here.

Or three, he considered however doubtful he was, she genuinely means well. Foxy had sided with me without an agenda. Why not her? Especially why not her?

"I will deactivate myself momentarily, as to not create an auditory disturbance." The voice finished, before uttering one final word before its untimely departure, "Deactivating…"

With that, a small click to his right signalled that the vent had been unlocked. Staring down at it, Mike then looked up towards where it led. Ballora's Gallery, the size of which he'd only seen in those blueprints. Surrounded in darkness, which an animatronic inside who would not be very happy to see her unwilling torturer waddling through her home.

Make a decision, Mike, a voice cursed inside his head, because the only one to blame for this is yourself.

Nobody was coming to rescue him. Thomas Caine wasn't about to arrive accompanied by an armed squad to pull him out. Samantha wasn't going to be there to motivate him through another nightmare. Spencer Schmidt's hand wasn't about to place itself on his shoulder and offer him comforting words.

He was well and truly alone down here.

"Damn it." He growled to himself, before getting back down onto his hands and knees. Then, not giving himself the chance to back out, he pushed his way through the vent and into complete darkness.

Fumbling with his flashlight, Mike aimed it downwards, feeling the hard grey surface of the room under his fingertips. As quietly as he could, he began to crawl further into the darkness, with two differing options running through his head. Go fast, or go slow.

One would kill him. The other maybe wouldn't. One told to him by an incompetent computer system which could be lying to him. The other by a likely-insane possessed robot who, if telling the truth, would be one in a million.

So, he made a decision. No matter how long it would take, he would crawl through this hellish darkness as cautiously as possible.

A minute into his crawling, Mike halted at the sound of music playing. His lunges stopped at will as he heard it approaching somewhere in the right side of the room. Straining his eyes against the darkness, he tried to make out its source. When he came up well and truly empty, he just listened.

It drifted into the centre of his path, before fading off towards the left side of the room. When he could no longer hear it, Mike allowed himself to continue.

This is insane, Mike's every fibre screamed at him, yet he somehow pushed back against it and continued. As he made his way through the room, whatever was wandering inside would get closer, before vanishing again. It took all he could to latch onto the idea that it was oblivious to him being perhaps mere inches away at times.

When he finally saw the flickering light ahead of him, Mike felt a foolish sense of relief fill him. A relief that withered away when he considered the issue. Once he was done with whatever his task entailed, he still needed to find his way back out.

One step at a time, Mike ordered himself, no point in getting ahead of myself when-

"It seems you are taking a long time." The voice boomed across the room from some unseen loudspeakers, "Please proceed as quickly and as quietly as possible."

As the voice had spoken, it had taken every bit of will he had not to scream out, make a rash move, or to go for his pistol and fire. On a worse day, he might've done all three. Somehow, in spite of the horrifying actions the voice had just taken, he'd kept himself glued to the floor and as silent as a shadow.

Even if internally he was uttering every single curse he knew his mother would be ashamed to hear him say.

For what may have very well been minutes, Mike remained right there, refusing to move. Taking as quiet a breath as possible, he proceeded towards the door.

Come on, he pleaded, so close…

The music came back, fading, but growing louder. Freezing on the spot, he heard it come up to his right. Gritting his teeth, he knew that it was out of his hands. Either she was about to step on him, or-

The oxygen in his lungs was torn out as he saw the shape pass by mere feet in front of him. A pair of long legs, shaded in the shadows, danced by, seemingly oblivious to him.

As she drifted back into the shadows, the music going with her, Mike had to force his body not to rush towards the door. He didn't even get halfway the leftover distance there when it came back.

For a moment, Mike could feel her standing right on top of him. Rather than being in front of him like every other time, she was right behind. Enough so that the music, a soft music box chime, was loud. Then it, like every time before, drifted away.

Just as Mike fully believed he would be crawling that short feet that felt like miles forever, he was almost surprised to find his hand grabbing the doorknob. Creaking it open, almost automatically, he stepped into the room. Moments before the music closed in on him.

Mike shut the door, as quietly as possible, and finally sucked in a much needed breath. Cold sweat poured from his forehead, so much so that a quick wipe drenched his hand. Turning away from the door, he half expected a far more welcoming scene.

Were he so lucky.

A spark of electricity that came every so often was his only light source. That, and the control panel about chest high, dim orange lights at the very least showing the buttons. Mike stepped over to the control panel, just as the voice returned.

"You may now interface with the breaker control box. Using the interface may disrupt nearby electronics."

What electronics? Mike pondered and for a brief moment, he feared the worst.

When his eyes caught sight of the shape, lit up for only a moment by the spark, he could feel his soul be ripped asunder.

Funtime Freddy had nearly blended in with the tentacles of wires strewn against the walls. Motionless, still like a statue, he stood looking off to the side. In his right hand was a hand puppet, in the form of Bonnie.

But Mike knew that these were not the shades of his friends long gone. Keeping his eyes on it, waiting for any sign of movement, he allowed himself to relax when he saw none.

"If you feel that you are in danger, feel free to disconnect the interface temporarily, until it is safe to reconnect."

Okay, he mused despite his fear, I've come this far.

Using his hand unit, Mike did what he was told and interfaced with the control box. Across the unit's screen came up a map, one he knew closely. It was the same map that the blueprints had shown. His mouth went dry, however, when he saw three separate maps off the side of the blueprints.

Much like the map, he knew he recognised these three. Fredbear's, he thought, my house, and those two abandoned buildings.

They had all been connected. Just like he'd theorised.

Looking down the right hand side of the screen, Mike's eyes narrowed at the sight of names. Beneath each was the same word. Restart.

He clicked on the first, attached to the Circus Control. After a brief moment, one of the error signs on the map became orange, then eventually green. The word online replaced it.

Easy enough, Mike stupidly thought until the chest-tightening laugh covered the whole room.

"Well, hello again!" The animatronic said through his laughter. Unlike the Freddy Mike knew, this one lacked that educated, high class charm.

This Freddy sounded like he was completely insane.

As calmly as he could, Mike lowered the panel, and clicked on the button, play mascot response. A new voice came from his hand unit, one that sounded almost like a child.

"Calm down and go back to sleep! No one is here."

After several painful seconds passed in silence. Once he was sure that the bear had gone back to sleep, Mike continued.

As he restarted the next room, Freddy's voice came back. "Hey Bon-Bon, I think-ink that's the birthday boy over there-ere. We should go give him a surprise!"

Sucking in a breath, Mike repeated the process.

"Nope! No one is here!"

The process repeated again, and again. At one point, in his numbing, petrified mind, Mike realised that the bear had left its stage.

"I s-see you over there in the dark! Co-Come on out!"

Trying to convince himself that he wasn't utterly terrified, Mike pressed the audio button.

"Oh calm down, I think it was just a mouse!"

When the moment came that he finished rebooting all the rooms, it almost flew right over his head. It wasn't until the voice congratulated him that he realised he'd pulled through.

"Great job. This completes your tasks for the night. Please proceed back through the Ballora gallery with care, and we'll see you back here tomorrow."

Wordlessly, Mike turned back around, trying his best to ignore the shadow stretched across the room. He stepped out into the darkness of Ballora's Gallery again and made his way the same as he did before.

Then his night went from worse to hell.

"Is someone there?" Ballora's voice called from the darkness, "I can hear someone creeping through my room…"

At some point in the minutes following, Mike finally made it to the vent. He crawled into sanctuary and heaved, trying not to vomit all over the control room floor.