Original: "Tell Me How He Died" and "Heroes of Justice".

Chapter Twenty-Four

Justice, Tell Us How They Died

Michael was watching a rerun of The Immortal and the Restless when the door was bombarded with murderous knocking, scaring the shit out of him and making him almost knock over the bowl of popcorn he'd gotten going for Kaleia and himself - whenever she'd be back. It had been God knows how long since she'd stepped out just to make a run to the market.

By herself. By herself when the cops could be watching out for us, or William, God forbid. But she knows how to take care of herself, so no stopping her.

Opening the door, there was Melinda, harried and clenching her jaw. "Jeremy hasn't come back from the front desk. He was supposed to ask for some more bathroom towels for later, but it's been two hours. I tried not to worry, thinking he went off to pick something up for us, but he's never gone THAT long, Mike!"

"...Kaleia, too."

The sizes of their widened eyes now matched.

Her fiancé and his wife had to have been taken. They had to get Mom and Uncle Henry now.

~o~

Navy knit pants. An evergreen tank seamlessly flattering the figure and having lace at the straps and neckline, the gathering between the bust accented with a brooch: Art Nouveau, which had been a birthday gift from Grandpa to Grandma and was a platinum naked fairy with the wings enameled with blue, green, and a little yellow, the wings edged with tiny rounds. Finished off with her ears pierced with two platinum hearts woven into one - one set with diamonds, the other simple - around a brilliant stone, encompassing a romantic blaze. Yeah, yeah, she was thinking about her fashion sense at a time like this. Just when she thought it was safe to go out and get a few things for Mike and herself. And the other shouldn't have had this happen to him, not that she was blaming him for getting captured with her.

"How the hell did we get into this mess?" Jeremy bemoaned.

They were in the classic hostage situation position: back-to-back, tied at the wrists by cable instead of looped around to each other like in the movies. Silly in the head, but realistically, they were screwed, because how the hell did they get into this moment?! When they'd been very careful up until now?

Kaleia wanted to scream in frustration, but she settled on gritting out, "I don't know, Jer, but whoev -" She stopped talking. There was only one person she could think of. "Afton. He got us here if we're at the pizzeria or somewhere else."

"Correct you are, my dear."

A light went on over their heads, like a spotlight on stage where everything else was dark. Wherever they were, the dark part of her brain was telling her to be realistic and admit they were screwed, but the light half urged her to not give up without a fight. The golden circle was wide enough to accommodate the one who brought them here, who now spoke, and footsteps very much like the Fazbear gang's reached her and Jeremy's ears. She jerked her head to the left, Jeremy doing the same, and there be a massive foot with four toes, covered with dirty yellow faux fur. It was followed by another, then the legs, and finally the upper body.

The face of Spring Bonnie looked down at them through, leering. Glowing silver eyes delighted in taking in the sight of her and Jeremy bound back-to-back. Don't let him get to you, Kaleia thought to herself. You saw shit in Desert Storm. You can find anything to use here, beat him at his own game, once you get out of this.

"You can take the damned mask off. We know it's you, Afton."

A distorted, freakish laugh emitted from the rabbit's maw. If you looked closer at its eerie grin, you could see the faintest hint of a human chin beneath. He then made the hilariously ridiculous gesture of bowing his head, foot stepped back a little behind him, and one arm out on one side in a horizontal line while the other went over his abdomen as if this were a show he was either bowing out of or arriving as announced. Like the showman he was. "Clever girl, Kaleia Schmidt - Kai, as it was before. Oh, I knew who you were the moment I saw you. You're Ilene and James' kid."

Kaleia spat at him, knowing it wouldn't reach him from that distance, but she wasn't gonna say another word unless she had to. He took that as his answer and reached up with both hands, the gears audibly clicking, and the face was revealed. Grayish-hued skin from a lack of sunlight, bluish eyes frigid as the North and South Poles, dark hair unkempt from being underneath that mask, and the facial features she would have said were handsome for his age if not for his list of sins. But now she saw where her Mikey got his looks from; that was as far as she was going.

William Afton. The man behind the slaughter. Clara's ex-husband. Henry's old business partner and friend, and the murderer of his daughter and five other kids. Michael's father. My father-in-law.

"And you're gonna pay for what you did to my family, to the other families whose lives you ruined...madman."

"Madman? Oh, I prefer scientist or magician. A pioneer."

Kaleia scoffed. "An ego the size of Jupiter." She jumped out of her skin and back into Jeremy who stifled a yelp. The two, three thunderous footsteps of the massive suit came out of nowhere; her heart just about jumped up into her throat.

William was leaning forward, his icy eyes glaring down at her as he bent forward, being four feet away but close enough to make himself eye level. "I warn you, I can only take so much sassing. Just as I did with your mother." His mouth stretched into the kind of smile nightmares were made of, like some clown or the Cheshire Cat. Or perhaps the Joker. "But don't worry, I'm not gonna put your essence into one of my machines - or you, Mr. Fitzgerald."

Jeremy snorted. "Yeah, like the years did anything for your essence, Mr. Afton," he answered sarcastically, earning a chortle.

"Well, reunions aside, let's get to business. We still have some time before the show begins. The fact my son, the little bastard Michael, has done quite well for himself? I never thought I'd see the day." His attention flickered downward. "And you wear Clara's ring from yours truly, I've seen."

"Obviously, not with your blessing," Kaleia replied, lifting her chin at him. "So what do you need of us? What's your interest?"

"To draw everyone into the show. The final act before the curtain falls."

~o~

"Kaleia Schmidt and Jeremy Fitzgerald have been taken in most likely by William Afton, but they could be anywhere in town, so we will comb every possible hideout in town, including Freddy Fazbear's."

Chief Clay Burke addressed all in the room. Clara remembered him back when he was still a detective. Even now, he was another who believed her ex-spouse was guilty before this evidence came to light. Not only were he, Detective Brackett, and every available police officer present, but so were she, Michael, Henry, and Melinda...

...and the families of the victims who had been contacted and came here in hours.

The Stampler family had long accepted Susie was gone, but now they'd been called and informed that their missing daughter's remains had been found, along with the others. Chloe Stampler had wailed and cried, holding little Avery close to her while her husband, though calm, growled that he wanted to see the face of the man who took away his little girl. He was joined in by the Grace couple who all but ignored their own daughter who was all they had left; Clara wanted so much to embrace the girl and show those parents of hers they had no right treating her the way they did, but right now, there were bigger problems.

Aria Landis had passed away yesterday, so her daughter, Harper, could care less if Cassidy was ever found. In other words, the cold-hearted bitch refused to come and just went about her empty, narcissistic lifestyle. If I had less reserve, I would give her two slaps, or two punches, or one of each. Or TWO of each. Either way works with me. But at least the poor old woman trusted someone to do the right thing about her missing granddaughter.

Since Liam O'Neill was long dead, Jeremy's body would be laid to rest next to his dad's, and that left the Wilson family. What was left.

Layla Wilson, as the group now knew her, was still committed back in Beaver, but she was notified, and it got back to them that she suffered a horrendous breakdown and had to be sedated. Her ex-husband, Daniel, was telephoned and came down here to deal with the discovery of his lost son.

Finally, there were Mason and Akela.

Akela couldn't even look at any of them, her eyes light with tears unshed, and tightly holding her husband's hand. Mason himself was furious and vengeful, letting it show. Their youngest daughter had been murdered by William who then tried to kill their sole living one, and now their granddaughter had been kidnapped by him. They didn't even ask their grandson-in-law why they couldn't even be told the truth, though had the idea that Kaleia had once said: they deserved the last of their years in peace after everything, even if it meant lying to them. Of course, their reactions to finding out were less than pleased, but they did beg for Kaleia's safe return, as well as Jeremy's.

"And...I wish to speak to my daughter when she wakes up," Mason had firmly, brokenly, requested. Not "if", but "when". Clara would have said the same thing.

It was so hard to watch the devastation on her son's face.

"I would feel the same in your position," Henry butted in coolly yet gently, "but it's not Mike's fault, or your granddaughter's. No one is to blame but William. He brought us all to this point. Clara, myself, and the kids went out there to stop him since no one else, not even the cops, was able to. It's just hard to explain, but we had a good tip you never would have believed. You deserved your last years without any more pain; you were owed that much. We never thought he'd abduct Kaleia and Jeremy."

Their faces softened just a little, but Akela was still a little angry. "She's the only family we have left. We never thought to put the blame towards any of you, but yes, we should have been told."

"Would you have tried to stop any of us then?"

Mason answered for his wife. "We would have, but the kids are all adults. We trusted Kaleia when she went off to join the army for a while, so we would have had to now. It'll take a while before we forgive the fact we were lied to, even though we understand."

Michael looked off to the side, but that didn't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks, one side seen by all. He just nodded, numbly. "I'm sorry I never told you both who I really was," he mumbled.

Akela scoffed, anger forgotten. "Yeah, had an idea, but it's yours to tell, not ours. And it's not like children help who their birthgivers and sperm donors are," she said with a smile she finally managed. Then their attentions were diverted when they overheard indiscernible voices shouting near them, getting the attention of the entire force when the chief was done speaking at the moment, having sent a couple of units out already and ready to send more.

Clair was fighting with her parents before she could join her colleagues. Clara's temper snapped, and she stalked over, shocking Mr. and Mrs. Grace. No one saw her this pissed off, but she seldom lost her temper. When she did, it was the highest category of a hurricane.

"ENOUGH! YOU TWO, SHUT UP AND STOP BLAMING HER! SHE'S THE ONLY CHILD YOU HAVE LEFT! I LOST TWO CHILDREN OUT OF THREE AND ONLY HAVE ONE LEFT, AND I NEVER BLAMED HIM FOR SOMETHING THAT WASN'T REALLY HIS FAULT! IF YOU TWO DON'T SEE THAT, THEN YOU'RE JUST AS BAD AS WILLIAM IS!"

The two just gawked in horror at her, speechless and not knowing what to say. Clair just gave her a grateful smile and glared at her parents, then turned to join her squad so they could cover what Burke would tell them to.

Clara looked behind herself and saw Henry in conversation now with Daniel Wilson, who had left his wife when she hit rock bottom and had been very high when she almost killed a man she mistook for the real murderer. I have some sympathy for him, but at the same time, he abandoned the woman he loved and the mother of his child for less, unlike when I left William. And Melinda was speaking to the Stampler family, fawning over Avery and saying who knew what comforting words to Ethan and Chloe. Now the man she and her daughter-in-law interviewed knew why she and Kaleia had been there that day, and he was thankful.

But when all of the families first learned of HOW the lights of their lives were brutally murdered, one could care less while the ones present...the devastation and disgust got worse.

"Chief Burke!" the man snapped into the phone that rang on the nearest desk to him. He turned his back to all of them for a few moments before brusquely nodding in a heartbeat. "Thank you, Your Honor. Alright, listen up, everyone! Nothing's changed in terms of squadron orders, but a special order: once we arrest Afton, all families of the victims will be present so he can look upon you. The ones who came out here before you, before today..." He looked in the direction of Clara, Henry, Melinda, and Michael.

"...you go with Officer Grace and her unit to Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria."

~o~

"You got away with everything long enough, but now it's over. We'll be noticed missing," Jeremy heatedly hissed, "and your ass is still gonna be grass."

Afton chortled as if he'd been told a good joke, throwing his head back so his nose's point could be seen. "I'm counting on it, but by then, it'll be too late. Just as it's too late to save your little friends."

Kaleia's blood turned to ice. "What are you...?"

"I'll show you, so the both of you get up and follow me. Don't worry, either. I said there's no use killing either of you...yet."

He was playing with them. Like a wild cat circling its prey before pouncing, or a snake charming its food before swallowing it to its doom - the snake analogy befit Afton when he butchered Gabriel, Susie, Fritz, Jeremy, and Cassidy. With a grit of her teeth and a grunt, Kaleia managed to stand up, getting on both knees before standing on one in a kneeling position and using that to support herself. Jeremy did the same behind her. Then a harsh scraping sound made them look back at William, seeing the blade of a kitchen knife in his hand. He scowled at them. "Relax and turn around, Kaleia." Scowling back at him, she turned halfway to him, and moments later, she felt his presence behind her, as well as the bonds cut in no time. He did the same to Jeremy while Kaleia rubbed her wrists which had no marks.

"Now...follow me, children."

And follow him they did, on either side, and he brought them back out to the area where the stages were. From somewhere overhead, the lights flickered on. "The generator now has a backup, at least for now," William told them. "Once the existing power goes out, then it restarts for the show."

"You get a kick out of everything, don't you?" Jeremy spat. "Not just the missing kids and their families, Kaleia and hers, but your own. Ruining everything because you were never satisfied, and would never take responsibility for your actions."

One of William's armored hands was behind Kaleia's back, the firm touch a power signal; he had it over her. The other had the knife behind Jeremy's, simply because he was a friend of his disgrace of a son and one of the boys of the Bite of '83. "Watch your mouth, boy," William growled, the angle of his arm movement meaning he'd prodded the blade's point into the younger man's back, making him yelp a little. "Don't make me gut you in a non-lethal part before we've even started."

Kaleia looked upon the faces of the trio on stage. Jeremy, Gabriel, and Susie were still dormant until midnight, and they were still hours away. The stage light shone on them, and another on Fritz behind her and the men, but that wasn't the only one. A third beam made her crane her neck and find the destination in the direction of where all the kids' drawings were...

...and there was one in particular. She could see it even from afar.

There was one large drawing, crudely made if artistically clear. At the center was the Core Four, cowering in fear of the surrounding figures. The police, Henry, Clara, Melinda, Jeremy...and Mike and me. Oh, no, this is it! He influences them through pictures; that's gotta be it!

Damn it, and she thought it would be something technical. But if the children's souls possessed the machines, then drawings had to be it. To someone else, it didn't make sense, but pictures influenced kids more than words often did, the actions speaking volumes. Kaleia didn't favor psychology much, but she did learn a little in school, taking some subjects to heart. This was one of them.

And that meant she had to somehow get a drawing on that wall in its place, or Jeremy. They were alone in this.

Yup, people, I used the drawing tactic from the movie. :D A combo of that with something implanted in the animatronics, programmed to stay on Afton at all times.