Chapter Text
"Gear up everyone," Charlie said, hoisting her bat up on her shoulder. "I just got a new hit on the radar. We're goin' on a road trip,"
The twins looked up from their game of cribbage, Lizzie's excitement showed on her face, but so did Evan's nerves.
"Sick," She said, springing up with a stretch, ginger pig tails swaying as she moved. "Where is it?"
"Southern Cali, there's been reports of 'strange activity in the shopping center and the suburbs around it and of course witnesses say that they're seeing quote unquote 'giant animals' roaming the streets and stalking children's play area like parks and schools nearby. Sounds a lot like the work of Uncle Will if you ask me." Charlie laid a hand on her hip and smiled ruggedly at them, ever the charmer. "So it looks like we've got a gig."
Lizzie squealed in delight. "Oh! This is so exciting! I can't wait to try out my new baby!"
That 'baby' being a .45 caliber shotgun with gold engravings on the stock. Evan refused to even touch the thing, too scared of accidentally taking his own head off, deciding very early on that trying to operate any sort of shooting weapon with only one hand was completely off the table. Liz insisted that she could teach him to use a pistol but Evan had never liked the recoil anyways (it reminded him of the spring locks in Fredbear's mouth snapping shut on his arm and the way he had edged on blacking out from the pain but never quite making it and the way Michael had screamed while for the first time Evan had been silent). He absentmindedly rubbed the sub just below his elbow at the thought and turned to Charlie.
"Do we have to drive this time? You know I get carsick easy," The thought of a 35 hour drive made Evan want to hold his head in his hand and cry. Plane trips sucked but at least they were only a few hours long rather than a few days.
She frowned as Lizzie side stepped her to get to the bathroom to grab her toiletries for the trip. (They'd leave once everything was packed, and Liz was an adrenaline junkie, rearing to go). "We're broke. I don't know about you but I can't afford a plane ticket and I know for a fact neither can you."
(The girls didn't let him work outside the house, too scared that something was going to pop and nab him before he could defend himself due to his lack of fight in the 'fight of flight' mentality, not that he particularly wanted to leave the little apartment the three of them rented anyways, it was in a decent part of town and he could have food delivered in around thirty minutes so it was enough of a compromise for him, the world outside their little bubble was scary, and Evan had never dealt particularly well with fear)
"Well..." He broached, scratching the back of his neck with a nervous grin. It stretched over his teeth uncomfortably and the feeling made him want to cringe out of his own skin. "We could always use the money father sent us...?"
Father, despite all his many, many flaws, did attempt to provide for them, even though they had made it fairly clear that they wanted nothing to do with him. Each month since their eighteen he sent a direct deposit was sent to both his and Liz's bank accounts, under the guise of Afton Robotics. Liz had tried disputing it before, but whenever the bank called, any and all employees under their father would always say that they were both employed by the company. Without hesitation. No matter how much they fought it, the answer never changed, and because of this, Liz just decided that they would put the money in a separate savings account and never use it.
Needless to say, there was a lot of money in that joint account.
Charlie frowned. "We're not supposed to use that money."
"But I really don't want to drive." He didn't even have his license and it wouldn't be fair for only Liz and Charlie to take shifts at the wheel. (God he felt like such a burden sometimes).
"Evan, you'll survive if we drive," She rolled her eyes good naturedly, and set her things down, walking over to help him back. "We have your nausea pills and you can just sleep in the back while we drive, okay? It'll be fine, it always is,"
He heaved his suitcase up from under the bed. She opened his dresser drawer and she was right. Charlie had always been right, even when they were little kids and Michael was alive, she would always win their arguments, no matter what it was about. Hell, she'd even gone tow to tow with their father and occasionally come out on top. He'd always get this look on his face, like he'd on a particularly sour lemon, then turn to Uncle Henry, who would sigh and laugh and hold father's head in his hands and press their foreheads together. Father, without fail, would flush and groan and turn away, and bury his head in his hands or his hair or the crook of Uncle Henry's neck.
It was all very domestic for someone as strange and unusual as their father.
Evan grumbled and they began to pack the suitcases, Liz coming out of the bathroom a moment later with all their toiletries.
"Who do you think it'll be this time?" She asked, almost giddy as she danced around them. Lizzie hated their father with more than the burning rage of a thousand fiery suns, hated what he did to those children, hated how he tried to buy their love, but she was more than happy to rip those animatronics limb from limb with her bare hands if she had to, just to get the adrenaline rush of the hunt, the satisfaction of freeing another set of souls from the remnant, the confidence of defending those she loved and preventing even more untimely deaths.
"Probably the usual suspects, I'm pretty sure there's a Freddy Fazbear's in that mall, it's too suspicious to be lacking, and I can't imagine Uncle Will bringing out the spring lock suits, even after all these years we still haven't been able to find them..."
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They left the apartment dark.
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