Author's Note: Hope everyone is having a fantastic 2025!
Chapter 201
Careless
The next few days were a bit of a blur.
There were certainly a few more complaints from the bots regarding the new schedule but even they begrudgingly knew it was necessary with Hedy injured.
Everyone was shocked that Puppet didn't complain much at all and most were just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Most expected a fit of some kind with him being forced to spend more time than usual with Ruby.
Ruby, surprisingly, seemed content with letting her irritation get as far as weaponizing Toby's guilt about breaking her arm so long ago when he started complaining about his check up.
"Really?" she said. "You're going to whine about me doing this and wait months for Hedy to heal just to pile more work on our poor overworked mechanic? You remember how long it took my arm to heal. This is much worse. But sure, if you want to drag on a problem that can be fixed pretty instantly, be my guest."
Toby got no help from Puppet either.
"I did your repairs in the Warehouse. The Night Guard's presence hardly makes a difference."
And that was it for Toby. They had him and he knew it. That didn't stop him from complaining entirely though. His grumbles were mostly under his breath though and only drew the occasional eye roll from Ruby.
The teenager wasn't exactly having a good time with the temporary job and that was more than enough to have the Originals on their best behaviour. She'd even got Goldy to sit still for some suit repairs. Since the teen was used to stitching herself up it was a tiny bit better than the other tasks. She still threw up a couple more times but eventually just settled into a stubborn scowl as she grit her teeth and pressed on.
They weren't sure if being forced to face this particular phobia so up close was going to make it better or worse in the end, but there wasn't another choice. And Ruby wouldn't hear a word of backing down to the challenge now that she was committed.
The occasional argument between her and Puppet had turned into something resembling disturbingly civil snarky banter but no one had the guts to comment on it. It was a good thing that the pair could get along during what was a stressful time for everyone so they shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.
That didn't mean it wasn't weird to watch though. They couldn't remember the last time the two had had a genuinely angry or bitter argument and that was definitely strange. No one liked that they were working together either. They were a frighteningly good team when it came to making people do what they wanted. Mangle's attempts to pit them against each other fell flat and the younger fox eventually gave up.
Meanwhile, Hedy didn't talk much. She was around during the day more, which the Toys (especially Mangle) were pleased about. The Funtimes seemed a little calmer if she was visiting since her presence meant they didn't need to interact with other humans, like the day staff. Hedy was an excellent buffer for those awkward introductions they weren't ready for. For some reason, they'd much rather deal with Hedy than Ruby, which pretty much everyone noticed but didn't point out, especially Foxy. He'd seen the way Vixen tensed around the teen, eyes darting around and looking for the taser Ruby was sure to be hiding on her person. But she relaxed around Hedy so long as Alex wasn't nearby.
Foxy was a bit disappointed that Vixen was so uncomfortable with the night guard but Ruby shrugged it off and gave the Funtimes a surprising amount of space. She was busy most of the time now so she rarely ran into them outside of their nightly group meetings.
The Originals, Goldy, and especially Spring, however, worried over their mechanic. If Hedy was with them during the weekdays, then she wasn't going to her university classes. She wasn't like Ruby who had a house full of younger children to go home to and ground her to "real life". While Hedy certainly wasn't the most social human, she still needed more human interaction than Ruby did and Mike was simply not enough of a social group. She was on the phone fairly often, hiding in Ruby's office or hers to take them. She didn't say what the calls were about but her mood always seemed to dip even more after them, if that was possible. She also spent a lot of time with Alex, the two of them going over Mike and Olivia's additions to the repair notes. That wasn't so strange. They just didn't seem to speak about Alex's current "state."
Alex seemed to forget her situation if Hedy was around. No one was really sure if that was a good thing or not but they were content to let Hedy be there for her friend. When Hedy wasn't there, the ghost kids seemed to follow Alex around, which Hedy wasn't exactly pleased about. But she didn't tell them to go away or stop. Alex seemed to like the company at least, although she did disappear for hours at a time to sit alone and cry when she thought the others (and Hedy) wouldn't notice.
It was Friday afternoon before Freddy thought to ask Mike what the phone calls were about. The young man and Ruby both had been taking more day shifts but Ruby was keeping busy in the Cove at the time.
Mike waited until there was no one else in earshot. "People have a lot of questions about how Alex died," he explained. "Her friends keep calling. Alex's mom…" He trailed off.
"Oh. I see," Freddy said awkwardly, admittedly not sure if he really did. "Is she okay?"
"I'm not sure," Mike admitted with a weak shrug. "She doesn't really want to talk about it and I want to give her space."
Freddy nodded, not sure what else to say.
"Has Ennard been a problem with you guys?" Mike asked as neither of them could figure out what else to talk about. "I haven't seen her at all and it kinda creeps me out."
"Goldy says she can sense Ennard watching us," Freddy said, glancing at a nearby vent. "I don't think she's spoken to anyone though."
Mike nodded. He frowned and looked at the bear. "How are you doing?"
"What do you mean?"
"... I mean. A lot has happened. Do you want to… talk about it?" He winced.
Freddy smiled at the ex-nightguard. "Mike. I appreciate you trying to help, but I'm alright. The others and I have gotten used to talking to each other if something bothers us."
"Okay, I just… if one of my sisters died… like that… and then showed up… like that, I would not be having a good time." It might have been the first time Mike had mentioned his family to them, as far as Freddy could remember.
Freddy nodded with a sigh. "It hasn't been a pleasant revelation, but we've talked it out between us. We learned not to let that kind of thing fester too much. I can't speak for the Toys, but we're okay at the moment."
Mike didn't look entirely convinced but he knew his relationship with Freddy wasn't quite to the point he could press the issue yet, so the two of them went back to work.
Jeremy was not around very much, which was understandable. The man was the only one of them that really had more of a life outside of the pizzeria. He had a very important job and a family to take care of. Still, that didn't stop him from calling nearly every night.
If Hedy ignored his call out of exasperation, then Mike got a call and the young man took on the task of reporting that day to Hedy's brother without much complaint. On the very rare occasion Mike missed the call, Jeremy called Ruby, which usually resulted in the phone being thrown in Hedy's general direction to make her answer.
Mike tried to keep his eye on his during the night to avoid that brick flying through the air with Ruby's impeccable aim.
Olivia was a strange presence to a group not used to new people at night. She mostly kept to herself besides polite conversation and observation. They could see her curiosity though. Besides that building-prompted incident, the Day Shift was not very aware of how different everyone acted at night. A few of the bots swearing (even when they refused to admit it) or the more mature topics that came up certainly startled her but she listened with amusement. Chi and Mangle getting into a very heated discussion on the validity of certain ships from TV shows that weren't meant for children was not something Olivia expected to witness. If she was being honest, being around them at night made the bots seem more… human. However, she didn't come every night.
Andre was someone the group guiltily forgot about sometimes. No one really knew him and his lack of awareness of where he was or what was happening was just disturbing. No one knew what to do with it, so while a few of them went out of their way to at least check on the man, they struggled to stay with him for longer than a few minutes. They just didn't know what to do.
The one time Spring attempted to introduce Kitty to the man, Andre complained about Afton allowing cats to get hair in their work. That was fine. Spring expected that. What Spring couldn't handle was Andre mentioning that Kitty was admittedly cute and that his own daughter had an orange cat named Ginger and that he needed to remember to pick up more cat food on the way home. Spring was too depressed to continue the conversation for much longer after that and Andre soon forgot the interaction ever happened.
A few of them suspected Andre was a little more aware than he seemed at times. He usually remembered the bots' names after all, even those he only met after he died. His behavior toward the bots sometimes seemed less like he was humoring machines and more like he was aware he was actually speaking to people. The moments were few and far between. They just couldn't be sure.
Will was… around. More than some of them wanted. However, besides that first day, the Day Shift never saw him and they didn't tell the manager about his presence either. The bots weren't sure if that was because Afton had asked for their discretion, or Ruby had subtly threatened them into silence. They didn't ask though and the only member of staff in a worse mood than usual was Henry so they assumed things were okay between the nightguard and day shift.
Freddy just hoped that things would at least stay somewhat stable for now if it didn't get better.
They'd all been a little lax in remaining alert and as always, that came with consequences. They'd grown so comfortable with things being safe in the wake of a deal that they'd forgotten that this wasn't like the previous ones.
There'd been no binding agreement made with the Funtimes.
Ruby had taken to disappearing between maintenance 'appointments', needing the breather to calm down and brace herself for the next one. After this, she was never going to interfere with Hedy's maintenance sessions again. The longer they stretched on, the more fidgety the bots got and she was this close to hitting someone over the head with Hedy's wrench. Original or Toy, even fox, it didn't even matter at this point.
That would only create another problem that would need to be added to the maintenance schedule though so that wouldn't help anyone, least of all her even if it would feel good for a moment.
The teenager sighed and splashed some water on her face before studying herself in the bathroom mirror. She looked even more sleep deprived than usual, which was thanks to the delightful slew of nightmares she was getting every night (although luckily not of a supernatural sort or horrifically vivid). She noted that her hair was growing out again and tugged on a strand as she considered whether she could get away with chopping it short again with some scissors. Hedy would probably lose her mind, so likely a bad idea. The older girl almost cried when River brought out an electric razor to at least neaten up the aftermath of Ruby's run in with a sci-fi laser.
They never really brought that experience up since Spring kept asking if it was 'canon' which only gave Puppet more existential crises.
Would be kind of fun to see her freak out though. And Goldy would complain about it for hours in a very sister-like fashion. Ruby cracked a smirk at the thought and pushed away from the sink as she considered the idea. The place needed a little bit of the fun kind of chaos. It'd been too quiet and she couldn't use explosions to fix that just yet. The Funtimes were still awfully jumpy so Ruby had already asked Goldy to store her louder toys in her poster for her.
Should she use the scissors in the staff room or steal Hedy's? Hedy had her own pair that had some sort of special "anti-stick" coating on the blades for cutting tape and other sticky stuff. Hedy would be very annoyed if Ruby absconded with them but the mechanic had been very melancholy lately, which Ruby wasn't sure how to fix. Usually a prank or some mild annoyance snapped her pseudo-sister out of a funk. She didn't expect it to fully work this time, but anything was better than nothing.
When was the last time she'd properly pissed Hedy off? Maybe she just needed something else to get angry over instead of fixating on everything else?
A plan forming, Ruby headed out of the bathroom and towards the staff room. As much as she'd like to get her hands on the fancy scissors, that would require asking the building to swipe them for her and it was useless at hiding anything from Hedy. Unless she kept them in her bag instead of her toolbox. That was possible.
As she headed down the passage, she was distracted from her scheming by a crash from a nearby room. Dammit, she really hoped that wasn't Ennard getting into something she shouldn't. That's the room Mike set up the tv for the ghost kids in. They'd been more focused on Andre lately so they hadn't been making much use of it.
She angled towards the door and reached out to push against it as frantic whispering reached her.
"Is anything broken?" That was Ballora and that was her fretting voice. So one of the mini bots had probably done something stupid. She'd put money on it being the Bidybabs.
"I don't think so," Baby didn't sound so sure and she hissed something frustrated under her breath, probably directed at one of the little bowling balls.
Ruby really hoped it wasn't the tv. The thing was old and already on its last legs. Getting a new one would be a pain and a laptop didn't work since the kids (AKA Felix and Ginny) started complaining about sitting too close to each other.
She pushed the door open with a sigh, ignoring the niggling feeling that she was forgetting something. Something important.
"What happened?" she asked, scanning the room before looking back at the bots. It looked like it was just a stack of dvds had been knocked over. The pair were stressing over nothing-
She blanked for a moment as she found a robotic maw suddenly in front of her.
"Shit!"
Ruby threw herself to the side, barely dodging Baby's grab. She clocked Ballora's music a moment too late and swore at herself. Dammit, dammit, of course the fucking messed up programming counted her as a kid. Shit, she'd already known that! How'd she forget something so damn important?!
She didn't have long to bitch to herself as she needed to dodge out of the way of Ballora, biting back other swears as she forced herself to go quiet. The minireenas were making enough noise as they panicked and ran for cover to make Ballora pause, unsure of where her target was. There was a disturbing lack of concern for the little bots when she was usually fussing over them constantly.
The bidybabs weren't as accommodating and Ruby had to remind herself that they were probably reacting instinctually when they went for her while she was on the floor. She might have kicked one a little too hard as she pushed herself upright. Little brats had iron grips and they were heavy.
Enough to slow someone down while their mama finished the job.
They'd definitely make getting to the vent a problem. While she wasn't the type to run usually, she wasn't stupid. She'd stopped carrying her tasers and explosives and she didn't carry Betty around everywhere she went. She hadn't actually realised how often she went around unarmed in the pizzeria. That wasn't usually a problem but before now she'd at least had her taser. With the Funtime's aversion to electricity and shocks though, she hadn't wanted to risk triggering them if she shocked Toby or BB out of habit. They were harmless little shocks on the lowest setting but they were loud.
Well, this was what she gets for being nice apparently. A taser would be real nice right about now. Thankfully the building was well trained in dropping Betty in when needed and she forcibly lodged her beloved bat in the giant gaping hole (what the actual fuck was that design?!) in Baby's stomach.
New nightmare successfully unlocked. That was a little too similar to a certain trauma bear for her liking.
The sound of metal and joints creaking as the bat jammed it all open was just a lovely addition to the mix. She was disturbed by how sharp the metal was as well since when she pulled her hands back, Baby moved and she gained a cut down her arm, ripping straight through her jacket like it was butter.
"This isn't helping with making me like you," Ruby hissed at the Bidybabs as she yanked one off her ankle. Little fingers dug at her skin but she didn't pay it much mind as she slammed the one hanging onto her arm into the wall. Now dazed, it let go and Ruby darted for the vent. It was higher up than usual in this room, likely to keep the little bots from getting in since Ennard had made herself at home in them.
She was really off her game today though. She almost missed Ballora's hand coming at her and she took a glancing blow to the head.
Admittedly, her temper snapped a bit. She knew it wasn't their fault, but dammit she wasn't in the mood for this.
"Motherfucker!" she shouted as she ducked out of the way of the next swing. The pain from the blow was likely to turn into a hellish headache soon enough, which was just fantastic.
The building panicked enough at her actually getting hit to send the floor rolling and Ruby had better luck at keeping on her feet than the animatronics did. She heard one of the bots fall behind her and the bidybabs shrieked in fright. She'd just scaled the table next to the vent and was partway through pulling herself in when the door slammed open.
Ruby was expecting Foxy, maybe Puppet, and sure enough they followed, but the first one in was William Afton, eyes wide and with a frightening focus that she only saw after he took over when she froze up at the sight of blood last week at the other location. One second he was frozen, his eyes flicking between Ballora and Baby, then his eyes seemed to focus on the blood on Baby.
There wasn't much and Ruby wasn't that hurt. But it was hard to be sure since she couldn't exactly look at Baby that closely. The fucking creepy stomach hole thing was not something she wanted to look directly at and Betty was jamming it open still. She shifted her focus to Ballora instead, finding her in a crumpled heap on the floor being swarmed by the minireenas. Parts of her that looked like clothes, like her tutu, were designed to flex and bend, but it still wasn't real fabric. She had gone down hard and the dents would not be pleasant to deal with. Ruby was sure she was crying softly and her heart twisted. New trauma for everyone unlocked it seemed.
Afton's reaction was very different from when Hedy's blood from a broken hand was on Baby. The man moved faster than seemed physically possible for him. He crossed the room in a few strides and there was a crackling as he jammed a taser into Baby's neck before Ruby could yell at him.
The act left her speechless and a quiet noise near her head almost made her jerk back and fall off the table.
"Oh," Ennard whispered, staring into the room and seeming genuinely shocked by what she'd just seen. She let out a squawk when Ruby grabbed her mask to stabilise herself again. The teen's balance was precarious since the old table wasn't meant for even her weight. It was creaking ominously and one leg might be buckling so Ennard would just need to deal with being an anchor since she was blocking the vent now.
Will didn't seem to waste any time because he was coming toward Ballora a second later, ignoring Baby who was locked up with frantic eyes, staring at the man as she twitched from the shock.
He was about to attack Ballora with the taser as well but Foxy suddenly grabbed the man under the arm and yanked him back.
"The fuck are you doing?!" The fox snarled. "It's over!" He roughly gestured at Ballora who was curled up on the ground sobbing.
Will ripped his arm away, tearing his sleeve on Foxy's claws and swinging the taser at the fox.
Foxy jerked back, barely missing getting zapped himself and growled.
Ruby bit back her own angry protest. Something was wrong. She just couldn't put her finger on it in her high adrenaline state. Her usually quiet self preservation instincts were screaming at her and she was stuck in a rare moment of indecisiveness as she was halfway into the (occupied) vent.
"GET BACK!" Will snapped, his eyes unfocused and his voice trembling despite the volume and panic. "S-stay away from her!" He backed up so that his back was to Ruby and Ennard, and he was between them and the perceived danger in the room. His eyes flicked over his shoulder to her, seeing the red from the little bit of blood on her temple, but as their eyes met for a second, Ruby realized he wasn't seeing her. Not really. It was hard to explain, but his eyes just looked empty in a far-off way.
"Stay away… st-stay away…" Afton said, his hand holding the taser shaking just as bad as his voice. He was afraid.
There was a noise from across the room as Baby got some movement back, but it wasn't enough to get up. Still, she shied away. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She whispered, pressing herself further into the corner.
"W-why…" Afton mumbled. He was crying now. Why was he crying?!
Goldy had popped in sometime during the chaos and was hovering nearby but out of range of the taser.
"Will," Goldy said, shocked by the violence, especially with how gentle Will had been with the Funtimes up to that point.
Puppet glared at the man as Ballora curled into herself tighter and sobbed.
Afton didn't seem to hear Goldy. "Look what you did! What did you do… wh-what did you do… Why did you do this… Let her go…Please please let her go…"
What?
"Will?" Goldy asked, more worried now as the man brandished the taser at her. "Will… Pops, wh-what are you doing?" She sounded scared of him and she clearly hated it.
"Goldy?" Will stammered with a sliver of clarity. "Don't let Clara in!" Will barked out. "She can't… don't let her see this…? Go away. Don't… don't look. Please. Please don't… Just stay away! Get out! Keep everyone away. Go to Timmy. Right now! I need… I need. Where's Henry? Where's Scott? He'll know what to do… Don't let your mother see…"
Puppet stiffened in alarm and looked a little closer at Will as the man paced in the space between Ruby and Baby, his eyes never leaving the large clown animatronic who was crying to herself now.
"Don't let her see! Keep Clara and the boys out! Oh god, Lizzy... C-call the… hospital… maybe maybe…"
"Fuck," Ruby whispered as it clicked. She glanced at Ennard who had gone still as a statue as she watched Will. Looking back, she could see that Foxy was trying to edge around the man towards her and she gestured sharply at him to stop. She was fine aside from the blood getting into her eye (and being a tiny bit stuck). The pain wasn't even registering at the moment. She was just worried that any movement (and potential crash from the table giving way) would set Will off even more. They needed to handle this carefully.
Afton's eyes never focused on anyone, not even Baby really. He was seeing something else. He was somewhere else entirely. His breathing was hard and he continued to say words that were vaguely familiar but didn't make sense.
"Where's Lizzy? There's so much… Where is she! WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Will cried out in a screaming sob at Baby. "Where is she?!"
Baby seemed to grasp what was happening to the man at she stared in fear and guilt but still unable to say anything but "I'm sorry," whispered frantically and with so much shame.
"Why would you hurt her?!" Will screamed, reacting to Baby's voice. "Why would you… why… why…" He was sobbing in desperation but never lowered the taser. "I don't… I don't understand. I don't…"
Ruby looked back at Ennard and made a split second decision that could backfire horribly. "If Timmy shows up and sees this, he'll be devastated," she whispered, her hold on Ennard's mask not letting her pull back. "And he's going to show up. He always does. You can talk Will down before that though. In this moment, he'll listen to Elizabeth. He'll listen to the daughter he lost." Ruby stared at Ennard, willing whatever was left of that little girl to understand. "That's all he's listening for."
She maintained eye contact with Ennard, expression hard as she waited to see whether she'd go for it, whether she cared enough about Timmy to try.
"…Daddy," Ennard said, the voice of a little girl a little shaky and with an electronic tone but surprisingly clear.
Puppet stiffened at her choice of voice and the other two bots in the room who were not horrifically traumatized at the moment flinched but stayed still.
"Daddy… I'm… okay," Ennard said, clearly struggling with the words. "I'm okay. Everything is okay. You can stop."
Will choked on a sob, but his hand with the taser lowered a little bit. "But… there's so much blood… I-I…" He still didn't turn around, maybe some part of him knowing that if he saw Ennard, then the illusion that was saving him from drowning would fall apart.
"It's just paint, Daddy," Ennard said, the lie a little too natural. "Baby and I were playing. Just playing. Things got a little messy but we'll clean it up. I promise. I'm sorry we made such a mess." Her eye lifted to meet Baby's for a second before flicking downward again. "Everything is okay. I'm okay."
Baby was completely still now and staring ahead blankly as Will seemed to slowly be calming down. Ruby let out a quiet sigh as Ennard played along. Maybe this wasn't the morally correct choice, but it was the most effective at the moment.
"I'm safe."
Eventually after what seemed like hours of Ennard repeating that everything was fine in various different ways, the taser clattered to the ground, its plastic outer case cracked, and the man sank down on shaking legs as he leaned against the wall beside the table and below the vent and just… sobbed. Goldy was quick to dart in and wrap Will up in a hug, knocking the taser a distance away just in case.
"Thank you," Ruby muttered. "Timmy didn't need to see that."
Right on cue, all the ghost kids appeared along with a minor stampede outside.
"Daddy?" Timmy asked in concern, floating down towards Goldy and his father with some speed.
Mike rushed through the door with Hedy calling out behind him in worry. The building's panic had probably hit her pretty hard.
"I'm fine," Ruby answered automatically.
"Let go," Ennard growled, keeping Elizabeth's voice for a moment longer.
"You're the one who blocked the fucking vent," the teen snapped back.
"Just drop down."
"The rickety old table disagrees." She wiped her eye irritably on her sleeve. She could just jump back down to the floor, like she always did, but admittedly she was more shaken than she'd like to admit and irritating Ennard was fun. "Fucking hell, I haven't been got like that since night six with the brats," she let out a breathless and disbelieving laugh.
Ennard growled and pushed forward out of the vent enough so she was hanging over the edge and Ruby didn't have the tension holding her up.
"Fuck," Ruby muttered. She briefly considered moving to grip Ennard's neck instead, but she shouldn't push her luck. Considering her luck was clearly awful at the moment, she decided that was a rare wise choice on her part. She pushed away from the wall and jumped over the table to the ground.
Will was conscious enough to prompt Goldy to scoot so Ruby had more room to jump to the floor. His breathing was still ragged but he was purposefully breathing in and out now. He flinched as Ruby's boots hit the ground but didn't react negatively.
"Will?" Goldy asked quietly, still hugging her father tightly while Timmy hovered anxiously. "Do you… do you know where you are?" She sounded… not necessarily scared, but more than just worried. Wary perhaps.
"Is it bad?" Ballora whispered so quietly they almost didn't hear. Her voice was slightly strangled like she was forcing down sobs. "I- I can hear-"
"I'm fine," Ruby said immediately, right before she got hit with the full force of Foxy's fussing now that she was on solid ground again. "Oh come on! That barely counts as a cut Foxy! And you know head wounds bleed like crazy. It was barely a bump! I was just caught off guard. I'm fine."
"Shut up and be still," Foxy ordered her gruffly as he continued to look her over.
Hedy poked her head in the room but she and the others stayed out in the hall and out of the way for the moment.
"What did I…" Will stammered as Timmy stayed close in concern but didn't attempt to touch without Ruby making him tangible. "Wh-what did I do?" He seemed aware he had done something wrong if the guilt on the edge of another sob seemed to indicate. He didn't answer Goldy's question.
"You attacked Baby," Puppet said bluntly.
Goldy glared at him.
"I'm sorry," Baby whispered, trying desperately to close the hatch, still stuck open. But she didn't have the mobility or leverage to pry Betty out. Gears ground as they tried to fight the block. She wanted to close up before Will looked up and saw her. The blunt and confident personality of hers was gone for the moment.
"It was my fault," Ruby admitted loudly enough that she grabbed everyone's attention. "I forgot about the programming while I was scheming to piss Hedy off and I left my weapons behind. Can someone please save Betty?" she looked up at Foxy with wide, hopeful eyes.
Foxy was loath to leave her side but she gave the sad puppy eyes he was weak to. He glared balefully at her as he crossed the room to crouch in front of Baby. She wouldn't look him in the eye, too ashamed.
A few bidybabs got in front of him, staring distrustfully.
"I'm really fine," Ruby leaned to the side, trying to catch Baby's eyes. "I heard you guys in here and I should have taken that as my cue to back the fuck up. I screwed up when I went inside. This isn't on you guys. It's my fault for not being careful enough."
A few of them were a little surprised by how quick Ruby was to take the blame and how insistent she was on it as well.
Foxy ignored the bidybabs as he stared at Betty, studying how it was lodged. He didn't want to hurt Baby pulling it out. He tried to meet Baby's eyes but she was silent and still wouldn't look at him. He reached for Betty but the bidybabs hissed at him. Well it wasn't really a hiss. It was a weird static noise but it got the point across.
Mike shuddered.
"Oh, cut it out you little shits," Ruby snapped, her temper still a smidge too close to the surface with the adrenaline in her system. "You've given me some hella painful bruises so you've got no room to be hissing at my fox when he's trying to help your mom."
"It's not their fault," Baby spoke quickly, still not really processing the title Ruby gave her. While hesitant to defend herself, she didn't pause in defending her little bots. "We… they did what they were… supposed to…"
They did what they were trained to do.
Ruby let out a sigh and wiped at the blood in her eye again. This jacket was officially ruined. She really was going through them too quickly lately. "I know. I don't really blame them for that. A few bruises are hardly the worst thing I've dealt with. They can back the hell off now though."
"Move," Baby said, a little firmly to the Bidybabs. "Let him help."
Foxy eyed the little bots warningly as they shuffled out of the way, one tucking itself under an arm of Baby's while glaring at him. "Is this going to hurt?" he asked.
"Not really," Baby said. She was lying and he knew it.
Foxy nodded and pulled out the bat, wincing at the sparks and grinding as the hatch snapped closed with loud and violent speed. He immediately felt ill ( or something as close to ill as possible for him) and Goldy whimpered from across the room while Ennard made a similar noise. It was hard not to imagine what that would do to a child. Or Ruby.
"Do you need stitches again?" Mike asked, moving closer to the teenager who had bent down to pick up the taser.
Ruby studied her arm through the ripped fabric. "Nah, it's not that deep. I'll just wrap it up in a bandage and it'll be fine."
"Are you lying to avoid another visit to the hospital?" he asked and didn't flinch when she glared at him.
"No," she said sullenly. "It's honestly minor. I can't even use it to get out of maintenance work tonight. You know, I preferred it when you were too scared to call me out on shit."
"Hey, I'm not too pleased about it either," Mike retorted.
Puppet shifted from one leg to another and looked back at Will. "Why would you design that?"
"Puppet!" Goldy snapped. "Not now."
"Why the fuck are the Funtimes still designed like that?" Puppet pressed.
"I didn't…" Will mumbled, still hiding his face in his drawn up knees like a child. "It was just storage. For supplies or helium tanks like Balloon Boy…" He trailed into muttering. "I-I welded them shut after…"
"Clearly not well enough."
"Marionette!" Goldy scolded. "Ask him later."
Puppet stiffened but didn't push. Even Timmy was glaring at him.
Ruby moved away from the bickering and over to where Ballora hadn't moved yet, slowing when the minireenas started frantically apologising, their little voices turning into incomprehensible chattering as they each pleaded for Ruby not to be angry at Ballora.
"Hey, hey," she said, tone switching to the soothing one she used with kids. "I'm not mad at Ballora. Accidents happen, right? I just want to make sure she's okay. And that you guys are too. None of you got hurt in that scuffle right? I'm pretty sure I only kicked a bidybab and not one of you."
"Out of my way," a voice snapped from the hallway and the small crowd parted to let Vixen, Fred, and Bonbon through.
No one needed to explain what happened, although the three looked very concerned about the scene and Will against the wall with his knees brought up.
"Oh no…" Bon Bon worried when she saw Ruby injured.
"Everyone is okay," Baby said. She looked at the fox of her group. "I'm fine. Help Lora up."
Vixen nodded and walked over to Ballora to help her up first, clearly uncomfortable being so close to Ruby. But she did eye the injury with worry. Whether that was over Ruby's health or reaction wasn't clear.
"Not hurt," a minireenas said to both Vixen and Ruby.
Vixen stared at Ruby. "I thought you were smarter than that."
Ballora smacked her on the chest with a clang.
"What?! She triggered it with me! She should know better."
"Stop it," Ballora whispered in hushed frustration.
"We were just addressing that," Foxy said.
"It was stupid," Ruby admitted with a sigh. "I guess I'm more tired than I thought. I might have to resort to sleeping pills since the caffeine isn't doing it anymore."
Foxy reached out to set a steadying hand on her shoulder while a few of the others shot her alarmed looks. Ruby had never considered sleeping pills just to get enough rest to work before. She'd definitely been downplaying the nightmares.
Vixen glanced at Hedy and the just arrived Alex. Her eyes flicked to Will for a moment, then back at the college students. "Can you fix us?"
Hedy blinked. "I… I don't like to get into anyone's code if I can help it but…" She looked at Alex who looked interested in the prospect.
"You should get over that," Vixen said.
"Vixen," Foxy growled, too on edge after seeing his kid hurt to have much patience. "Cut it out. It's not that simple and they'll get to it when they're sure it's safe for you. We don't mess with programming if we can help it. It's dangerous. It was easier for Afton when all of us were younger, maybe. But now we're… complicated. Hedy tried to fix a facial recognition glitch in the Toys and she had to give up because their code is massive now. And they're the youngest."
"The longer we put it off, the more risk there is that someone will mess up," Vixen said.
"Everyone's getting used to the new normal. And there's gonna be mistakes. They're not dragging their feet. Hedy is being careful. She probably knows how we work better than Will at this point so you need to trust her judgement."
Hedy looked both surprised and a little uncomfortable with Foxy's faith in her, especially in front of the man who literally made them to begin with.
"Also, Ruby's still a kid," he growled.
Ruby blinked and turned to glare at him. "Hey! I'm sixteen!"
"Don't call my kid stupid," Foxy continued, ignoring her, and his voice dropped into a familiar protective growl. The sound made Vixen jerk back a little in shock. There were very few times that she'd been on the receiving end of that tone.
"Fine…" she said.
Foxy nodded and turned away, missing how Vixen glanced at Alex, who stiffened a little at the attention from the one bot she couldn't even look at properly. But it was only for a moment.
"Will?" Ballora asked softly as she got to her feet. "Are you…" she fearfully flinched at the sound of Ennard shifting in the vent above the man. "Are you… here?"
"… What happened?" Will asked, his voice cracking.
"You don't remember?" Goldy asked.
"Marionette just said I attacked Baby…" Will murmured. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't… I don't know what I was thinking…"
"It's okay, Will," Baby said, her voice still small. "You didn't hurt me," she lied. The desperate and panicked words hurt much more than the electrical shock. She knew he hadn't meant to be cruel and he wasn't in his right mind and she deserved to be hurt by his panic.
It was quiet for a second.
"Lizzy is… she's dead, correct?" Apparently, the man still wasn't all there just yet.
"Yes, Daddy," Ennard answered above him, making Timmy glare at her, but he didn't say anything.
"A-and Timmy and Michael…"
"Yeah," Timmy said with cautious patience. "We're… we're ghosts, Daddy."
"And your mother?"
"Mother is gone," Puppet said calmly. "But she did not stay as a ghost."
"I see… thank you," Will said honestly as the confirmation seemed to help ground him a little more. "I think I need to leave for the night…" he admitted guiltily. "I-I'm sorry…"
Foxy and Puppet (and maybe a few others) bit back some comment about the man running away from his problems again. Hedy shot Mangle a warning look when the fox didn't look like she had the self-control to follow the others' lead.
Goldy nodded. "Okay. Mike can call you a taxi if you want."
"I think I need to walk," Will admitted guiltily as Goldy helped him up.
"Okay…"
Will left without looking at anyone, Spring walking to the exit with him before coming back to linger in the doorway beside Hedy.
Ruby watched until he was out of sight. "Okay, show's over. Everyone shoo! The Funtimes need space."
Baby scoffed quietly, never once getting up from where she ended up. She didn't complain when Fred walked over to sit next to her without a word and Bon Bon hugged her around the neck.
The Toys, the other ghost kids, and most of the Originals dispersed with some firm prompting from Hedy, despite Chi loudly asking what happened. They hadn't seen what preceded Will shutting down after all, although Hedy had an idea.
Puppet, Goldy, and Foxy stayed put when it was clear Ruby wasn't leaving either and obviously no one was about to leave her alone with the Funtimes. Mike, Hedy, and Spring stayed out in the hall.
"So," Ruby started. "I'm going to start carrying my taser again."
"Please," Baby whispered.
"I don't want to use it," she clarified. "And I'll put it on one of the lowest settings. But I think it'll make all of us feel a little bit better."
There were some murmured agreements around the room.
"Also," Ruby continued. "I've clearly been slacking and losing my touch."
"I don't like where this is going," Mike muttered, starting to back up and ready to take off down the hall.
"Therefore, I'm going to start having spontaneous wars with the Originals and Toys again. I actually got hit. None of you have been that lucky since Toby broke my arm."
Hedy didn't like that she almost sounded impressed.
"I said I was sorry! Stop bringing it up!" Toby yelled from the hallway, having not actually left despite Hedy's urging.
The mechanic shot him a look over her shoulder.
He was contrite but still didn't leave and Hedy didn't have the energy to tell him off.
"I'm going to go clean up now," Ruby decided, ignoring the protests over the promised future chaos. "Hedy, can I borrow your scissors so I can cut my jacket off? I don't want to drag it over the cut and the staffroom ones are missing."
The mechanic missed the 'too innocent' tone in her voice and those that did catch it only squinted suspiciously at her.
Spring was glad that no one called her out on it.
Watching Hedy have a minor meltdown a little later over the disaster Ruby turned her own hair into was funnier than it had any right to be.
"You look like a haystack!" Hedy yelled in despair.
