Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Mike was trying to calm down as Circus Baby kept talking. The more he heard, the more he felt like crying, because what she was saying, it changed everything. Someone in the team- oh who was he kidding. His father had made Circus Baby especially to murder children. Elizabeth’s death was probably an accident, but the way she described it, she was designed for murder. Child murder.
“I will open the faceplate, so that someone will find y-“
“Wait!” He said. He wasn’t sure how much they were checking on the cameras or how aware handunit was, but he was risking lip-reading.
“What do you want?”
Circus Baby was silent for a while before questioning him back.
“What do I want?”
He didn’t know how she did it, but her tone was incredibly threatening.
“You didn’t like doing that, right? And you didn’t like the people who came before me dying, right? That’s why you helped me?”
He didn't fully believe what he was saying. He was sure Circus Baby had some ulterior motives, but her thinking he thought she was altruistic would probably lower her guard.
“…yes, I didn’t like losing control of my body like that. I don’t like this place or what happens here.”
Mike thought fast. These animatronics were able to kidnap him with little problem, he had to make himself indispensable if he didn’t want to end up like his predecessors.
“…do you want to get out? Do you want me to help you get out?”
At this, Circus Baby’s silence deepened. Mike felt like minutes and minutes kept passing, with him trying to stop himself from shifting or breathing too hard.
“Why? Why would you do that?”
“You helped me. I want to help you.” Was that enough? What if she didn’t believe him, he needed more.
“And I don’t like shocking you, it feels inhumane.”
Circus Baby considered his words.
“It doesn’t matter. Even if I managed to escape, there’s nowhere I can go looking like this. They would find me. And they would take me back.”
She sounded… disappointed, but not as if she had given up. The feeling of dread intensified tenfold. Michael knew this conversation was important, he had a feeling that if he fucked this up, he’d fuck his future as well. What could he offer that others couldn’t? …wait-
“I can just make you a new body! I’m just a technician but, I don’t know if you know this, but my father built you. He hasn’t shown his face in a while, but I still have his business partner’s contact. If Uncle Henry could build the animatronics at Freddy’s years ago, I’m sure he could build a human-like robot for you to inhabit!”
“…your father?”
This sounded even more dangerous. She was confused, not just surprised, but genuinely confused. Did she- did she think he was his father? It sometimes happened, people on the street greeting him as if he was William. It’s why he started letting his hair grow again. His dad wouldn’t be caught dead with a mullet.
Still, this was dangerous, he didn’t know Circus Baby’s thoughts on his dad, but in case they were negative, he should play it casual.
“Yeah, William Afton? I thought you would’ve met him, but I guess not… actually, I never introduced myself. Hello, I’m Michael Afton, but you can call me Mike”
The silence said it all. She definitely thought he was William. He was glad he had the faceplate on and that all she could read him by was his tone of voice, because he didn’t know what kind of face he was making.
“Hello, my name is Circus Baby, but you can call me… Baby.”
She was giving herself an identity, kind of, wasn’t she? Well, that’s cute and mildly horrifying. Why was her AI so advanced? He was sure the others weren’t this aware.
“So, Baby, what do you say, want me to help you get out? I could contact Henry tomorrow and come up with a plan, and I’ll update you on my shift!”
God, please say yes. Mike really didn’t want to die, but this whole experience left him feeling like one wrong move would be the end. He felt like if he didn’t play his cards right in this conversation, he would get murdered. And that’s not even counting being trapped in a spring locked suit, he saw a man almost lose his leg back at Fredbear’s because of these!
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
That wasn’t a yes-
“Mike”
but… it wasn’t a no either.
Chapter 2
After Baby opened the faceplates, spending a whole night screwing screws and fighting those stupid minirinas, some workers found Mike and let him out of the spring locked suit.
Even though he wanted to head to bed immediately, he knew he had to do this now if he wanted to have a solid plan before his shift.
Mike hadn’t been entirely truthful with Baby, though. He hadn’t seen Uncle Henry since Charlie’s funeral. He knew his dad kept in contact with him after, but Mike made a point to avoid the pizzeria, so he just never saw the man again. This made finding Henry’s phone number a bit tougher. The old one had changed, so he ended up going through yellow pages to find his new one. Luckily, Emily wasn’t a common last name in his town, and it seemed like Henry hadn’t moved away.
He slapped his cheeks a little to wake himself up before dialling. It rang a few times, and Mike was worried Henry wouldn’t pick up at all, but just when he was giving up, it stopped ringing.
“… Emily residence”
The voice sounded tired- which made sense considering the hour, but the years and the phone’s audio quality made it hard to tell if it was Henry. Not that there were any other male Emily’s around, as far as Mike knew.
“Unc- Henry, is that you?”
“…who is this”
“It’s Mike, Michael Afton,”
“Michael? Why are you calling this late?”
“I need your help, I just figured something out and- I think my father was involved in something bad, I need to speak to you, preferably in person!”
He couldn’t stop himself from his slightly manic tone, but he had learned so much, and then had been left there to fend for himself with only his thoughts as company.
“Mike, calm down, I can arrange it so we can meet up, but it doesn’t have to be right now, why don’t you sleep a little and-“
“No, uncle- I mean Henry, you don’t understand. I have to figure something out before my next shift, or something bad might happen. I told her I’d talk to you and I- I can’t fail her, I want to help her, but I don’t trust her at all, I don’t know what will happen if I don’t figure this out!”
Henry was silent as Michael started to freak out. He had to convince him. He couldn’t be seen as untrustworthy, especially considering she wasn’t sure she trusted him at all.
“Ok Michael, I’m going to tell you my address and I want you to take a cab here. Even if you have a car, please take a cab, you don’t sound well enough to drive. We’ll talk when you get here, ok?”
Mike nodded before realising Henry couldn’t see him and replying “ok”.
He would make it out ok, and so would Baby. His motives weren’t as pure as he’d told her, but he did feel for her. She’d sounded so… lost and confused when she mentioned killing Elizabeth, to a point where he really didn’t blame her. His father on the other hand… he hadn’t had time to process it, but if it was his father who built her like that, he would have to find him. He remembered he still had his phone in his hand, and said one last thing before hanging up.
“I’m on my way”
Chapter 3
When Michael made it back to his job, his head was reeling. He’d talked with Henry the entire day and hadn’t slept at all. Coffee and willpower were the only things keeping him up.
The day started pretty normal, Hand Unit was being an actual menace as usual, and Mike just lost a cash basket and won some… exotic butters… yayyy. He couldn’t be too mad about it (yet) however. His mind was stuck on the conversation he had with Henry and how he would explain it to Baby.
He kept doing his daily tasks, checking on Ballora and Funtime Foxy, until Hand Unit said something different.
“Great! It looks like everything is as it should be in Funtime Auditorium. Your task today will involve more maintenance work. Circus Baby had a rough day, and is in need of repair. You will be required to reach the Parts and Service room by once again sneaking through Funtime Auditorium. As always, please proceed with caution.”
Circus Baby, this was his chance.
He made his way to the Funtime Auditorium in the worst way possible -as always. When he finally got there, there she sat, slumped over and empty looking. Hand Unit hadn’t been lying when he said she had a rough day.
“Are you ok?”
He had one ally, and she looked like shit. His plan wasn’t looking good.
“I’m pretending, dummy”
Ok rude. He wondered if his father programmed her with this much personality, or if this was something she developed herself. He brushed a hand through his hair and sighed. Even though she didn’t move or say anything, Mike could tell the animatronic in front of him was judging him harshly. He’d like to see her go without sleep as your whole world crumbles around you!
“Mike,” Baby’s soft voice snapped him out of it. “Your plan. Be quick, they must think you’re fixing me, but even that won’t last forever.”
“Right, sorry, rough night,” he said, giving her a slight glare. “Well, I’ve always been good at starting fires-” the judging aura suddenly intensified, but Michael decided to pretend he couldn’t notice. It wasn’t like his parents hadn’t tried to snap him out of it before, one animatronic wasn’t going to succeed where they failed, “so I thought I’d burn down the building as Henry gets you out!”
Circus Baby stared.
“… That’s your plan?”
“Hey, it’s more detailed than that! Henry had this whole idea on how to get you out, but it might take some weeks to plan out…”
He kept telling her about what they’d decided to do. As he talked, Circus Baby’s outward appearance didn’t change, but he felt as he did while telling his father he wanted to be an artist. Disbelief, exasperation, and zero faith he was going to succeed. He felt his expression change.
“Look, we only had one night to plan this out, but-”
“I’ll do it”
His eyes widened.
“You- you will?”
“Yes. I’ll have to fix some details, I don’t think you’ll be able to start the fire without me, but I’ll do it.”
For the first time since Elizabeth died and left him an only child, Mike could feel himself smiling.
“You think it will work?”
“… You’ll have to do it sooner, but… it’s better than the plan I had.”
He knew she was planning an escape, he just knew it. He wondered how dead he was in that plan of hers, she’d already demonstrated that she could kidnap him without phasing any consequences.
As he grinned at her, Handunit started working him through Baby’s repair process. Apparently she was only slightly scuffed and didn’t need her actual technician’s help. He wondered just what she had done to herself to have this conversation.
“Should we also help out the other funtimes? It might make the plan more difficult but-” he was interrupted by a very firm tone.
“No.”
Michael’s hand stopped his unscrewing of her arm as he stared at her. She had never been this assertive with him, her tone always soft and melodic. He wondered if he should question it, maybe the other animatronics deserved freedom just as much as she did. But then he remembered, not only had every single one of them but her try to kill him, she was the only one to communicate and help him out. Plus, he wasn’t helping her for selfless reasons, no, he was helping her out because he didn’t want to risk being against her.
Mike took a deep breath, then continued his work on her and brought the smile back to his face.
“Ok, just you. You’re the only one who hasn’t tried to kill me so far, makes sense. The others might be a danger to humans.”
Baby just stared ominously, as she liked to do.
“… Yes, that.”
He definitely didn’t trust her. She also definitely didn’t trust him. But it was ok, Uncle Henry’s plan was good, and Baby was weirdly intelligent for a party robot, so her input could only help. They were getting her out of here, and they would burn everything his father cared for to the ground. What would happen after? Well, time would tell.