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"Mike?"
The knocking on the window is what made him jump and he put the monitor down to give the giant rabbit on the other side of the glass an annoyed look.
"What do you want? I'm busy," Michael pushed off from his desk to roll his chair over to the second monitor, briefly checking the systems to make sure they wouldn't malfunction on him when Springtrap was so close.
Spring watched, hands pressed flat to the window as he squinted inside. His vision wasn't the best after 30 years of decay. "... Can we talk?"
"No, dad," Mike muttered in return, rolling back over to his cameras. It wasn't uncommon for his father to show up and try to have casual conversation, as if none of this had ever happened. As if Michael could just forget what he had done.
"Oh." Another pause. Spring turned his head to watch the phantom of Freddy sneak past him in an attempt to scare Mike. It rarely worked now. He had grown accustomed to their tricks in these three days. "... How's the weather?" There were windows in the building, but they were either completely boarded up or far too stained and dirty for anyone to see out of them. He was kept in the dark, literally. He hadn't even been outside, let alone seen the sun, for a long time.
"It's spring," Mike was lying. Anything to take a stab at his father's fatal mistake 30 years ago. "Your favourite season, right?"
"Very funny," Spring growled, feeling his temper rise. But he tried to calm back down with a deep breath and a sigh. He didn't like being angry. He didn't like what it made him do. "It's been cold. It feels like winter."
"It's summer," Mike rolled his eyes. "Everything feels cold to you. You're dead."
"So are you."
Mike didn't like this conversation anymore.
"You know, I think the kids need you in this room, Mr. Spring Bonnie," Mike made a little dramatic flourish as he tapped the screen, playing an audio cue in a nearby room. "Wouldn't want to keep them waiting, would you?"
Spring's ears twitched up unconsciously and tilted in the direction of the laughter. His eyes briefly flickered green as the Spring Bonnie coding inside took over. He glanced down the hall and quickly left to find the children. Even though he was primarily a human, his animatronic suit had its own priorities. Things that couldn't be easily overridden. Following the sounds of a celebration, shutting down at 6 for maintenance that no one performed anymore… His suit would even try to speak sometimes, rattling off pre-recorded phrases from a stage show that had ended long ago. Since it was so old and damaged, the voice box would always stutter badly with frequent pitch changes and crackles of static. It was annoying, to both William, who was forced to deal with not being able to talk on his own for a while, and Michael, who had to sit and listen to it.
Their little game continued for a few hours, until Mike made a stupid mistake and his father was right back to the office, this time peeking in around the corner, that annoying permanent grin on his face.
Michael ignored him. If he could get him away quick enough, he could salvage this. Tonight really wasn't the night he wanted to be killed by his crazy dad. Just another audio cue and–
"Can you play music over the speakers?"
Mike stopped and looked over when Spring suddenly spoke up, a little confused by the question. Another attempt at some casual conversation no doubt. "What? Music?"
Springtrap looked up at the speaker above his head, wired to emit the joyous sounds of children. "I haven't heard music for a long, long time. I've nearly forgotten what it sounds like." He looked back to Mike. "It would be a nice change."
"You can't trick me," Mike was quick to express his suspicion, rightfully so after his dad had tried many times to trick him. "I know your protocol is to follow the sounds of kids. I wouldn't be able to lure you around anymore."
Spring looked offended. "My protocol is to be led towards the sounds of a party . Not just the children. Music would work." He looked hopeful as he tilted his head, ears flopping with his movement. "Don't you get bored of that wretched Balloon Boy voice?"
Mike just stared at his father for a minute, considering the idea. Even if he did want to listen to music himself, he could always just use his phone with his Airpods in. Nothing for him to gain here.
When he hadn't replied after a few moments, William tilted his head the other way and spoke up again. "You used to love music. Always listening to something on your walkman. You'd get mad if I tried to talk to you when you had your headphones on. Such an angsty teen you were." Michael didn't reply again. He didn't want to talk about his childhood, didn't want to remember. But Spring continued. "Do you still have your walkman?" Nothing. "You didn't get rid of it, did you?"
Michael silently rolled over to reset the ventilation as the red lights began to flash. Luckily, Spring didn't take the opportunity to attack him, likely still awaiting an answer. When he went back to his monitor, he played an audio cue in the room parallel to his door. "Go away."
As expected, Spring immediately left the doorway to search for the sound's source. Mike relaxed as the giant bunny disappeared into the room. The farther he was away from him, the better. Doing this every night was getting exhausting. And he wasn't even sure why he would still come back at this point. Did he have something to prove? That he could outsmart his father, who thought he was a god among men? Or was he just looking for an excuse to see him? Definitely not that one. And why was Spring so intent on getting into the office anyway? He assumed it was to kill him. That's what his father's animatronics had been built to do. Well, the earliest models at least, which is what he was now. Maybe the protocol was driving him, or he had an ulterior motive that Mike couldn't decipher. Not that he was worried. He could keep Spring away. He had for all three nights so far.
A sound in the vents had him pulling up his monitor again. Great, Spring must have crawled in when he wasn't paying attention. Eh, no matter. Mike simply sealed the vent door and went back to listening for any activity in the building. The spirits would show up from time to time, but their appearances had stopped scaring him. They were repetitive at best and annoying at worst.
Spring eventually left the vents with not an insignificant amount of clamouring. Mike pulled up the monitor and carelessly chose another room to lure Spring into. It didn't occur to him until afterwards that he hadn't even checked the cameras. He didn't know where he was, or if the audio cue had even been close enough to attract him.
As he began switching through the cameras, the feed went black and he slammed his fist on his desk. He went to quickly fix it and waited for it to stop beeping, then went back. Spring smiled at him through the glass.
"You shouldn't play so many audio cues," he taunted. "You'd think you would know by now." That didn't go down well with Mike.
"Go to hell," he glared, subtly glancing at the clock. 5:58. He'd almost done it. Maybe he could keep his dad talking long enough that they'd make it to six and he would be forced to return to the safe room and shut down until tomorrow.
"I think I might already be there," Spring's expression briefly became a bit grim, something uncommon for him, before he quickly rectified it by opening his animatronic jaw slightly into some creepy semblance of a smile. It made Mike shudder. "What time is it, Michael?"
"Wouldn't you like to know." 5:59. Just another minute. Just the way Mike had responded answered Spring's question.
"Hm. I see. Oh, how are your systems doing?" It was a pretty innocent if not random question to ask. Mike glanced over at the monitor in a subconscious manner, but quickly redirected his gaze back to the window. The empty window. The old man was fast when he wanted to be.
Spring grinned from the doorway, peeking around the frame. "Don't make this too easy for me." Mike stood up and backed away as the walking corpse that was his father took a menacing step into the room. "Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you, Michael." Mike knew better than to try to get around him. He'd seen how quickly the rabbit could move. So he just continued to back up. Maybe once Spring was close enough, he could surprise him by ducking under his reach.
"I don't believe you," Mike glared as his father came closer to him, blocking him in with his huge animatronic frame. Come on, 6 am, come on. He was so close , just a few more seconds...
"Don't you trust me?" Once Spring was close enough, he reached his rotten hand out. The tips got close enough to lightly brush Michael's forehead, making him shiver. Spring was close enough now that Mike could get a good look at the rotting body inside. It wasn't until now that he really saw William's human head inside Bonnie's gaping jaw. Rusty crossbeams piercing up through the dead flesh of his chin and up into his brain. And the smell… He nearly threw up right there and then. "I just need your h–"
And then the clock on his desk chimed. The arm Spring had outstretched spasmed and then went limp at his side. He straightened up, the rather menacing expression on his face falling completely blank. Mike breathed a sigh of relief as Spring's eyes went green. Good, just in time. That was a close call. He'd never gotten that close before. Luckily, the deactivation protocol had kicked in and his father no longer had control.
Without another word, Spring turned and walked stiffly back to the safe room, where he would stay until tomorrow. Slumped over and lifeless, as he should be. Not walking around as a rotting corpse in a 7 foot tall rank rabbit fursuit.
Mike took the exit key out of his breast pocket, spinning it on his lanyard and whistling cheerfully as he left. Another night over. And he still hadn't managed to figure out what his father wanted from him. Oh well. Whatever it was, he wasn't getting it from him. Besides, he only had a few more days.
How much harder could it possibly get?