Chapter Text
By the time Scott and Michael arrived at the second pizzeria, there were already several squad cars to meet them; lights and sirens blazing away. Michael ran over to Scott as he began to exit his car, both of them walking briskly towards the entrance.
"You alright? You look like you're gonna be sick." Mike knew it was a stupid question, but couldn't help his worry at the lack of color on the other man's face.
Scott didn't answer, Michael only caught a glimpse of his jaw tensing for a moment. They were almost to the entrance when a nearby cop yelled for them to stop.
"Hey, MacLoughlin! Get your ass over here!"
Scott and Mike stopped in their tracks, the redhead nervously glancing between the door and the cop. He turned to Mike, beginning to walk over to the police officer. "Go see 'Nessa, figure out what happened!"
Mike nodded, waving goodbye at the man as he entered the pizzeria. His hands rested in the pockets of his jeans, now much more thankful he had changed, and he looked about the main dining room as he passed by the relatively small foyer.
The main stage was different than at Junior's; instead of set into the wall and rectangular, it jutted out in a sort of dome shape. There was a prize counter directly to his left, a large box decorated to look like a present resting against the wall. God, he hated that box. Well, more like he hated what was inside the box. He remembered when Henry had first made that security bot to watch over both Michael's siblings as well as his own son and daughter. To put it simply, the damn thing looked creepy as hell to Mike.
This room felt huge with its light colored pastel walls, tall ceilings, and many dining tables. Past the prize counter was a smaller room with tables low to the ground. Mike could see a miniature carousel, a ball pit, and what looked like it might have been a pile of scrap. The sign above the entryway to the room read 'Kids Cove,' so why was there a pile of scrap?
Mike shook his head, and turned back to view the main dining room. The restaurant looked clear of most patrons, minus the weeping mother holding her daughter close to her chest. They sat at a table near the front stage, cops talking to them. He heard a door swing open to the right of him, and looked over to see Vanessa walk out of the kitchen.
She looked... Angry. Or frustrated. Or maybe a combination. Mike watched as he saw her lips move; the girl was talking to herself. Her eyes were glued to the floor, and she leaned against the edge of the stage. Glad to know her choice in men wasn't the only thing crazy with her.
"Um. Hey." Michael cautiously walked up to the girl, her gaze shooting up in surprise that he was there. Her face changed to a happier one, and she over-excitedly wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Mike tensed up at her affection, waiting for her to pull away before relaxing.
"Hey, you! I was wondering when you'd show up! Scott's outside with Chief Burke, right?" Vanessa crossed her arms, looking up at him brightly. Why was she so happy?
"Uh, yeah. I'm pretty sure that was him." Mike looked back at the main entryway, and he could see Scott facing some cops. He turned back to Vanessa, a hand moving to rest on the back of his neck. "Shit. I can't believe Burke still works here." He had spoked quietly, not meaning to actually speak but his thoughts still made themselves known. It was a somewhat surprising notion. Mike remembered how his son, Carlton, was the same age as Joseph. The boy had been invited to his house for his little brothers birthday party once upon a time.
Vanessa looked at him oddly, her head tilted. "You really are from Durham County, huh?"
Ah, shit. Quit being reminiscent, dumbass. Michael chastized himself for being too open, too vocal; clearly Vanessa wasn't going to have anything pulled over her head. She looked suspicious of Mike, and it made him worry.
What if she found out who he was? Who he was related to?
"Hehe, yeah, I guess." He sounded nervous as he spoke. "Well, um, what happened with the kid?" Yes, good job, change the subject.
Vanessa still gave Mike a suspicious look, but glanced over to the police at the table. "Oh, yeah. Er, everyone was fine and eating breakfast as normal, and then there was a scream. Next thing you know, she comes running around the corner from one of the party rooms saying someone tried to get her. There's a nasty bruise on her arm, but I think she ran into a doorway."
"Geez. Cameras catch anything?" Mike looked over at the shaken up kid; her eyes were far away. Poor girl.
"Cameras didn't catch anything, the lights were off in the room she was in so all they caught was her sneaking into the party room and running right back out. Bon's system, however, caught a shadow of someone coming out of the service room and heading down the hall." Vanessa sent an odd look to the blue rabbit as she peeked backstage for a moment.
Mike nodded and pulled himself onto the stage, maneuvering around on the dimly lit platform. He stepped behind Freddy and Chica to access the back of Bonnie's head, pressing a button to access the quick-view screen on the back of his endoskeleton.
Thank whatever God there was that Henry could develop a top-of-the-line bot.
He fiddled with buttons around the screen, trying to ignore how Vanessa was looking over his shoulder, and rewound the tape. Mike watched the curtains open, the police walk out backwards, and the dining room fill up. Everything looked comedic in reverse.
On one of the pre-programmed right turns Bonnie took (to make it seem like he was looking at the whole room), Mike caught a glimpse of something moving in the hallway. Bonnie's system had clearly flagged the movement, too, as the head quickly turned back to face the hall.
Mike watched as the service room door slowly opened. The movement seemed to catch the eye of the little girl, seated nearby, and she turned to watch. What looked like an anthropomorphic rabbit peeked out of the room and waved at the girl. She waved back, and Mike could see her head move to follow the rabbit thing as it slinked down the hallway. She stood as it disappeared down the hall, peeking herself around the doorframe.
The little girl (whose general silhouette was now somewhat familiar to Mike) could be seen sneaking into the dark hallway. Business hadn't changed, Michael thought; the party rooms were closed for the breakfast hours so the lights were all off. When she disappeared down the hall, Bonnie stayed still for another few moments, but when nothing else happened he resumed his normal programming (albeit with a little higher sensitivity on flagging patron movements).
Mike fast-forwarded a little bit until the dining room itself seemed to jump. Some adults stood for a moment, worried faces on many of them. Unfortunately, while these boys could process audio, they didn't have enough space to record it. Bonnie turned again to see where the presumed auditory interruption was coming from, and the little girl ran back in. Mike continued to fast forward on the tape, trying to see if anything else was seen moving in the hall, but with no luck.
Eventually, he lowered the back of Bonnie's head mask into place, less than satisfied with what he saw. The stupid fucking rabbit. It had to have been Father, and Michael hated that fact. He didn't know how, but he supposed that it wasn't such a long shot that he would be alive with his victims. He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed deeply, fighting the nausea that was trying to come up.
In the darkness of his mind, Michael felt himself as a kid again. He was hiding under his bed, shaking in fear. A hand was over his mouth as he shook afraid, holding his little brothers bear close to his chest. He could feel cold snot dripping onto his hand from his nose, his eyes soaked with fear-induced tears. Mike scooted himself further back, making his awkward preteen body squish against the wall, and tried to be as quiet as he could. Footsteps creaked from the hall, and he nearly shouted in fright as he saw Father's familiar dress shoes step into his room. He watched him walk up to the end of his bed, and stop. Oh no. No no no no no no no. This was bad. They both were still for another few seconds, until Father got down on his knees. Michael was trying not to scream. Father was going to hurt him, he just knew it. Michael's body was so tense in that moment that it hurt.
And then father looked down and into Michael's soul and he screamed.
Mike jumped as a hand on his shoulder pulled him from his memories. He turned, and his face was mere inches from Vanessa's. She looked concerned. His face flushed red in embarrassment, not entirely sure what he had looked like to her.
"You ok?" She stood on her toes, bursting his bubble of personal space even more. "You look a little out of it."
He laughed awkwardly and pushed her away, stepping around her and towards the edge of the stage. "Yeah." He cleared his throat for a moment. "Cops got a copy of the tape?" Mike's hands returned to his pockets.
He caught a glimpse of her nodding. "Yeah. Already checked everywhere, too. Can't figure out where they went." Vanessa walked up to him, forcing Michael to face her. "Who do you think it was?" Her eyes were unfamiliarly cold.
Michael shrugged, and turned away, her gaze incriminating in a sick way. "Too early to tell. We'll have to figure out where the rest of the staff were to make sure it wasn't any of them." He went through a list in his mind of places Father could have snuck in from. There weren't many, Henry had designed this place to be as safe as possible. "I just wanna know why the camera system here sucks so much."
She made an affirmative noise, and moved to get off the stage. "Well, I'll let you say hello to these guys. You probably missed them, right?" Vanessa gestured to the bots and laughed, before disappearing behind the curtain.
Michael rolled his eyes, arms moving to hug himself tightly. The multicolored lights above him left an eerie glow to the stage, and he felt so uncomfortable. He stood like that for a moment more, just trying to comfort himself after that vivid fear-ridden memory.
"Don't trust anyone."
Michael whipped his head around, comfort forgotten and body once again tense. Who the fuck just spoke? It had sounded like it was right in his ear. None of the bots had moved even a centimeter, and nobody was close by enough for it to have had that effect. He turned to exit the stage, thoroughly unnerved.
The voice had sounded odd. Not clear, like a regular persons would be, but not as metallic as the bots at Junior's. Frankly, it sounded somewhat underwater, but like an adult and a child were screaming the words at the same time while beneath the surface. Michael's hand was on the curtain when he heard a floorboard creak behind him.
He whipped around once more, and nearly yelped when he came face-to-face with Bonnie himself. Michael started to fall backwards, only for the blue bunny to catch him and pull him back to his feet. Finally catching his balance, Michael stood still as he took in the newfound knowledge that these bots were probably sentient too. Their eyes met, a look akin to curiosity on both of their faces, and for a moment Michael felt calm.
"Don't trust anyone. You Aftons know best what liars people can be."
Michael nodded slowly, trying not to make it obvious that the other two bots were seriously creeping him out, heads now turned to face him but their bodies still facing the curtain.
Bonnie let go of Mike, moving back to his place on stage. The other two turned their faces forward again, and Mike stared at the three for a moment. After he realized they weren't going to do anything else, Michael hopped off the stage, now on the opposite side of the room from where he'd started.
He looked around for a moment to assess the changes that the diner had gone through during his time on stage. The police were escorting the family out, Scott holding the door for them. Mike couldn't hear what he was saying, but it looked like he was apologizing. When the manager caught glimpse of Michael, he ran over, discolored face showing a hint of thanks.
"Hey!" He sounded so out of breath. Michael forced himself not to flinch when he clapped him on the shoulder. "Was looking for you. You see anything? I mean, you were back there for the tapes, right?"
Mike nodded. "I'll need to investigate more, but yeah. Something's definitely up."
Scott sighed, crossing his arms. "I dunno, I guess I feel bad for 'Nessa. Both times it's happened she was running the building alone. It's stressful for me, let alone a kid like her."
Michael got a weird feeling at that statement. Like someone had taken a block of ice and slid it up his spine. "Huh." He blinked, and noticed Fredbear seated on top of the large present box. Well, fuck, what did they want now?
Scott gave him a funny look, before beginning to back towards the entryway, tossing a set of keys over to Michael. "I've got to call the owner, and then head down to the police station for a little bit. Everyone should have cleared out, can you lock up? Don't wanna hold you up or anything."
He nodded, catching the keys and walking towards the door. "Yeah, that'll give me time to look around here and call He- er- corporate." Shit. God, Michael was a dumbass today. But, maybe that was just him running on three hours of sleep over thirty six hours.
He followed Scott out, locking the door behind him. Michael turned back to the prize counter only to meet Fredbear close up. He pouted, and flicked the old thing on its nose. Mike picked it up, and sat down on top of the counter.
"Well, stinky? Got anything to say or did you just show up because you knew I was busy?" Michael was long used to their annoying pop-up visits, but still found the bear somewhat unpredictable. They were quiet, and Michael felt eyes on him that weren't Fredbear's.
Eyes that made him feel like he was being hunted.
He continued to sit still, content with staring at Fredbear and listening to the building breathe. He sat like that for a while, hair raised and skin cold.
And then something fell in the back hallway and Michael shot up as quickly as he does when he wakes up from nightmares.