J.R.S.
unverified robotics enthusiast
... doesn't the owner of the storage place not leave news papers or talk about the date and year during the day?
-
The tagging system on SpaceBattles has been overhauled to make it more useful for organizing and filtering content. A new age of tags is upon us!
-
If you are interested in interactive stories, check out our Quests section! With Quests, readers get to make choices that affect what happens next after every chapter.
-
We've got some fresh new Awards that you can gift and enjoy: The Artistry Award and Tearjerker Award have arrived!
Harry and the Shipgirls: Goblet of Fire Pt. 3 (Main story and Canonical Side Stories)
- Thread starter Harry Leferts
- Start date
-
- Tags
- shipgirls
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Why would the kids be paying much attention to that when they want to do stuff like explore and play now that they're free to do so?
Also, storage facilities are generally empty places anyways.
J.R.S.
unverified robotics enthusiast
fair enough... still need to find out what happened to my old chaos duel disk replica or where it went... though I would have thought charlie could look at her animatronic HUD to check the date at least to keep track? its still got A computer in it so it should have a clock showing the date and year at least.
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Once more, the years pretty much blurred for them to the point where they don't really care about the date. Charlie herself has been dead since 1991 in-story at the very least. It has been over twenty years for her.
Basically, they know that time has passed... but not really what is happening outside.
Looks like they are in for a surprise when they encounter Maggie. Although, does Michael have any disabling countermeasures against hostile, possessed animatronics?
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Actually, that would be the warehouse. Like Mike mentioned before, after he built Maggie, he spent several days in the warehouse making sure that she was not hostile.
J.R.S.
unverified robotics enthusiast
from what was just stated it's just the marionette so unless the kids find replacement bodies to inhabit mike has better time compared to his week at freddy's so unless henry left other animatronics like the rockstar band they are out of luck on that front.
….
I know it's legitimately funny that I've been doing a day-long double take, but-
Harry, to clarify again-
He really outed himself as legitimately violating/compromising the site's security in a non-harmless way,
by complaining that the chains he used to lock a door open so he could stuff his face with fast food got cut????
And he really had a habit of leaving it chained open when his shifts finished?!?!
I don't know if it happening,
Or that my faith in my fellow man is low enough by now that I can -see- it believably happening is worse..
I know it's legitimately funny that I've been doing a day-long double take, but-
Harry, to clarify again-
He really outed himself as legitimately violating/compromising the site's security in a non-harmless way,
by complaining that the chains he used to lock a door open so he could stuff his face with fast food got cut????
And he really had a habit of leaving it chained open when his shifts finished?!?!
I don't know if it happening,
Or that my faith in my fellow man is low enough by now that I can -see- it believably happening is worse..
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Okay, so the thing was that it was not the boiler man who left doors unsecured when they left, that was the regular plant workers. They basically used the fire exits and placed rocks in such a way that they would not close completely, allowing them to go in and out for smoke breaks. My first round was basically going around after the last of them left and knocking the rocks out to fully close the doors with me writing reports. But practically everyone was doing it.
With the boiler man, however, his shift was somewhat similar to mine in that he worked from eight at night until eight in the morning, at about $24 an hour around 2006 (granted, union dues took a chunk out of it). His only job was to sit in the control room for the boilers, because they heated the plant and kept pressure up for the pneumatics and conveyors. They didn't give a shit what he did in said room as long as he was there in case of an alarm or something going wrong to handle it. He could literally sleep in said room his entire shift, read porn (and he did), and so forth. His bosses literally did not give a shit as long as he was there.
To put in perspective the type of thing that he had to keep an eye out for, one of the days when there wasn't a boiler man on duty, pressure in one of the treatment tanks got high enough that the release valve went and spilled out the contents. Now, I wore heavy duty work boots, the type with steel toes and soles as well as resistant to shit like electricity. I walked into the puddle to identify the tank and called both the head engineer and my company while writing up a fucking multi-page report twice.
Four days later, those boots went into the garbage because the liquid was so damn caustic that it had literally eaten through the rubber soles and left it looking like rubber mesh while the leather itself was just fucking gone.
Now, asshole used to wait until about midnight or so, open one of the fire doors, tie it open with a heavy chain and lock, and then fuck off for at least an hour, sometimes more. Something which was a definite no-no, and not just because it left the place unsecure. And did this almost every night he was on, hence me getting tired. Now, the chain was owned by the plant, so I didn't damage them, but rather used the bolt cutters on the locks themselves. And these weren't small bolt cutters, but the "I'm half the size of a person in length and can cut steel rebar" bolt cutters. His locks were never going to be able to survive that, and they didn't because I often put the locks on his desk in the control room telling him that I was going to keep doing it.
What finally happened was that he was damn tired of paying for locks and, rather than just stop, went to complain to the head engineer that I kept breaking his locks. Of course, the engineer had cameras on the lockers (so no one could break into them), so he knew it was not those locks and he stated that he only chained the door open to have a smoke and he was close by. Which, was fair enough... except the head engineer asked him for the times, he gave them, and I had also written the times on my reports and what I did.
However, what the boiler guy had not realized, was that while the cameras out front did not cover the drive that wrapped around the building, they could see the lights from headlights coming up and down the drive.
Remember, there was exactly two people on site during those hours, me and the boiler man. So, one of us was leaving and coming back hours later. It wasn't me because we used something called "Toko", which was this heavy sort of cylinder/wand with an indent in one end. Around the plant during patrols, I would press that indent over a "Toko point", which was a small metal disk, causing the wand to chirp as it recorded that I had pressed the check. Hence, it could only be one person...
So, yes, the guy had basically went and played himself by admitting he was chaining the door open with locks, and I didn't see him again nor had issues with the doors being chained open.
choco_addict
Verified Chocoholic
He
As a plant engineer, that is honestly appalling what that plant worker was doing. I can already hear my executive and my senior supervisors screaming in bloody rage over it. Not to mention my production manager and the plant manager...
J.R.S.
unverified robotics enthusiast
... did the guy not realize if the boilers exploded people dying would be on his head if he didn't do his job properly? which was likely the worst case scenario to that situation I can think of here. losing his job would have not been the worst he got. no it would be arrested for negligence and endangerment in a work environment. if someone actually died because of it. there's lazy and then there's sheer lack of thinking consequences through here. especially as he already caused a hazard to even happen with his stunt.
beorn91
Ours mal léché
Wow, Harry Leferts had the displeasure to have a real life Homer Simpson as coworker.
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
There's reasons why the union rep laughed in his face when he tried to get them to help him.
If you mean the release valve thing, that happned when the boiler guy was off for that day.
As for the boilers themselves? Nah, they wouldn't explode or anything like that, they were industrial oil boilers and like I said, were there to provide for heat and pnuematic pressure. If they even got close, alarms would have been blaring throughout the building and I would have been booting it out.
Like, I was in more danger from the time that I was guarding an building under construction in the middle of winter as they had those massive industrial torches going to make sure that the ground did not freeze inside as they had not laid the concrete floor, with the large canisters of propane (each one roughly the size of a man) about fifteen to twenty feet away from said open flames. My job was to make sure that they did not leak... which, uh, considering by the time I noticed would be by the smell of propane in the air, inside of a shell of a building with open flames... well, yeah.
I mean, not the absolute worst case of incompetence... but definitely in the running.
Guardsman_Sparky
(Captain Oblivious)(Castle Mechanic)(Mandalorian)
Unfortunately, history has proven that far too many people have no concept of risk assessment.
"Why bother preparing for *BLANK*, there's no way that'll ever happen."
I mean, you said that what was in the tanks was caustic enough to eat through the sole of steel-toed work boots, and this guy's actual job was to make sure something doesn't go wrong.
Yet he was fucking off for hours without notifying anybody he wasn;t there, meaning that if something happened, it could easily go unnoticed until it escalated into a major incident.
As said, chaining it open for a smoke break, but still being nearby, it's not good, but given the company didn;t care if he was asleep in his office, it's within what the company are willing to tolerate.
But going completely offsite for an extended period? The only time I did that at my last job was explicitly a lunch break, and I only started doing it after checking it was allowed. (and it was no longer than the permitted lunch break, too) And the onyl consequences for slacking off would ahve been me getting into trouble, not a potential industrial accident.
So yeah, while not a boiler explosion, that boiler man was really stupid to do what he did.
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
He definitely was, yes. And there's damn good reasons why he got his ass fired on the spot once it was confirmed what he was doing and that even the union rep would not defend him. I will note that part of the reason I was there, besides obvious security, was that so that someone was there who could catch things even if no one else was in the building. If something went wrong, I was able to sound the alarm and get in contact with the people who could deal with it.
The sleeping bit was because the office had the alarms right there and the boilers on the other side of a glass window. So, as soon as they went off (and trust me, they were loud fuckers as when testing them, I could hear them on the other side of the building), the boiler man would wake up.
J.R.S.
unverified robotics enthusiast
Plus you said it ate through leather which is basically toughened skin so if someone else walked through it they wouldn't have feet anymore once it got past regular shoes... And I don't want to imagine the chemical fumes from that incident. ... Did the floor get damaged from the caustic liquid?
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
The stuff was caustic soda dissolved in water now that I think about it, so... yeah, you don't want to touch that stuff. As for the floor, it was concrete so it was unaffected by the stuff with it going eventually into the drains that were there specifically to control spills.
Huh, this weirdly reminds of that story of a bunch of soldiers going on a cigarette break after hauling cargo inside a depot. The cargo are ammunitions, and they decided to smoke inside the depot. Suffice it to say that the fireworks were spectacular. I mean, is it too much to just step outside for five minutes?
That boiler man could've just spent some effort to occupy himself inside the building. Didn't really need to go out to entertain himself. The way I see it, that building simply needed someone to mind the boilers. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything else is free game.
By the way, I'm trying to visualize the storage building Mike's in. Is it a large, closed building with multiple storage lockers inside? Or just rows and rows of lockers under open sky? I've got a hard time imagining how scary the animatronics will be when the areas open. Of course, all bets are off it's all inside one large warehouse.
That boiler man could've just spent some effort to occupy himself inside the building. Didn't really need to go out to entertain himself. The way I see it, that building simply needed someone to mind the boilers. Nothing more, nothing less. Anything else is free game.
By the way, I'm trying to visualize the storage building Mike's in. Is it a large, closed building with multiple storage lockers inside? Or just rows and rows of lockers under open sky? I've got a hard time imagining how scary the animatronics will be when the areas open. Of course, all bets are off it's all inside one large warehouse.
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Pretty much, yeah.
It's actually the first where you got multiple floors with storage lockers. The ghost kids don't really mind as they like to play games like hide and seek in the building and the like. As for ghost kids... they basically look like actual ghost kids (translucent and the like), but with various features due to their time spent bonded with their animatronic bodies. Fritz, for example, has an eyepatch with two fox ears on top of his head and a fox tail. Suzie mostly looks normal, except for the apron and the three tufts of hair that looks like the feathers from Chica as well as purple eyes like what Chica had. Gabrial/Gabe has brilliant blue eyes, a pair of bear ears, a bear tail, and often a tophat. And Jeremy's hair is purple with two rabbit ears and red eyes like Bonnie.
So... poor Cassidy is still stuck in Golden Freddy, somewhere. No wonder she's so pissed off when the opportunity to punish William comes.
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Eh... it was mentioned that she teleported out with Golden Freddy/Fredbear back to the diner after William's death in Spring Bonnie. Also, they made mention that Evan is also in Fredbear with her, the two of them having been best friends in life and in death (Michael teased him about Cassidy being Evan's girlfriend way back when).
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Snapping out of her thoughts and finding that the others were squabbling, Charlie metaphorically took a deep breath, "Enough!"
Nearly as one, the other children quietened down for several moments, their arguing stopping. Until, that was, Fritz spoke up, "But, Charlie, I..."
Just raising a hand, Charlie gave him her version of a gentle look, "I know, Fritz. I understand that you believe that this is William. Believe me on that matter that I am not calling you a liar or anything. But, you must admit, that it is rather hard to believe that it could possibly be him considering everything else."
Looking down, Fritz mumbled a bit as he kicked some with his floating feet, "I mean... I know, but... he looks just like him..."
Very slowly, the Marionette gave a nod, "And I understand that, Fritz. But, too many have died due to us mistaking them for William."
Suzie then spoke up a little bit, "Um... Charlie? Maybe he used that Poryjuice thing you told us about and controlled them?"
Pausing briefly, Charlie considered the question even as Fritz gave a thankful look towards Suzie. Then, slowly the animatronic nodded, "That... is unfortunately a possibility as William did make use of both polyjuice and imperius before. Though I doubt that greatly in the case of the one we killed." Then, she shook her head a little bit, "However, that said? We should make sure first." Getting nods from the others, the witch turned towards Fritz, "Did you see his scars? Or maybe get a name?"
Frown on his face, Fritz grimaced a bit, "I mean... he was wearing this sweater and a coat. Couldn't really see any scars... but then, he could be hiding them somehow. As for a name?" His frown deepening, he thought back some and crossed his arms, "It was... Mike... something... Smith! That was it, Mike Smith!"
None of the noticed how the eldest among them paused at hearing that for several moments, her eye lights disappearing. Then, they returned back with a curious tone to her voice, "Mike Smith? That..." Suddenly, she frowned a little bit and looked down, "Hmm..."
An odd look, Jeremy then frowned himself, "Sounds like that one night guard we had. You know, the one that we had for more than a week before he got fired because he was messing with our AIs?"
Blinking, Charlie snapped out of her thoughts and turned towards him, "I... don't remember that..."
With a shrug, Gabe shook his head, "You were already gone by then, Charlie. But, I remember him, his name was Mike Schmidt." Then, he frowned a bit as he thought back with a grimace, "He looked a lot like him, William, I mean. Though... he also kind of looked like an older Fritz Smith too."
Upon hearing that, the Marionette jerked a little bit as she felt a little bit of fear go up her spine, 'No... it couldn't be...'
This time, her reaction was not missed by the others, with Jeremy frowning at her, "Charlie? What's wrong?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, Charlie shook her head, "It is just... William's mother-in-law was originally from Germany, and her last name was Schmidt. Which... I think she got changed to Smith when her parents immigrated to England just after the Second World War. And Mike... is short for Michael."
Rapidly blinking, Gabe blinked at that, "Wait, Michael? As in that guy you were friends with and was Evan's brother? Who, um..."
Voice quiet, the Marionette nodded, "Yes."
Each of the other ghosts glanced at one another before Suzie spoke up, tone unsure, "Um... I remember that Evan and Cassidy were really active in trying to get him. That was why we thought that it was William, especially as he looked a lot like him."
If she could have, Charlie would have chewed her lip a little bit, '... Please, Mike... do not have involved yourself in this...'
Unknown to her, elsewhere in the building, the man she was thinking of had just finished signing some paperwork that he then handed to the storage building's owner, "Here you go."
Flipping through the pages, the older man grunted a bit, "Looks good on my end, all that's left is the payment."
His eyebrow raised, Michael frowned a bit, "Okay, you want it by card or cash?"
Only shrugging, the other man shrugged, "Either or, don't rightfully care as long as it doesn't bounce."
With a nod, Michael reached into his wallet and pulled out a number of bills, "Here you go, five thousand straight up. I'll give the last two thousand once I confirm the contents of the storage unit being there."
Counting the bills given, the owner of the business gave a nod, "That's fine, as long as I get my money and you get that shit as far away from me as possible and as soon as possible."
Simply nodding, the FBI Agent hummed a bit as he put his wallet back, "Got to admit, I am surprised that you were so willing to part with it like this. Would have thought that you'd have one of those auctions for it, like you see on television."
A scoff escaping from him, the other man shook his head, "I'll level with you... practically no one with any sense in the area would buy any of what was in there knowing where it came from. Even before the whole shit about magic being real happened." Rolling his eyes, he shrugged some, "Was seriously considering just tossing it out into the trash considering everything. Only reason that I didn't, was that I heard through the grapevine about you. Better than that one dumb teen anyways."
Rather curious, Michael raised an eyebrow, "A teen? What teen?"
Disgusted look on his face, the owner sneered, "Dumb local teen wanted to make some sort of haunted house based off Freddy's. Only sixteen or something, so I told him to go and take a damn hike. Fucking sick."
Upon Michael's own face was a similarly disgusted expression, "You're joking... why the fuck would someone do that?! Even if you discount all the urban legends, a bunch of kids went missing!" His expression only because more disgruntled, "You know what kid it was so that I can go and punch him?"
Only nodding, the older man pointed at him, "Nah, but I get where you're coming from. Had to hold back from slugging him myself." Then, he shrugged as he turned and grabbed a bunch of keys, "Anyways, might as well show you the place and what you just bought. Just remember, no buyer's remorse."
Amused, Michael chuckled a little as he followed behind, "No worries here." After a minute or two of silence as they continued to walk, however, he cleared his throat, "So, out of curiosity... what happened to the owner of the unit?"
Blinking due to not having expected the question, it took the other man a few seconds to reply, "Honestly? Don't know. Was owned by Henry Emily, who owned Fazbear's. Heard that his own daughter died and such." Frown on his face, he scratched his chin some, "Used to come by every few weeks muttering to himself and dragging this trunk with him, then leaving after a few hours all rumpled and such, like he had been doing some heavy work. Don't know what though." Then, the older man shook his head, "Anyways, stopped paying about two or so months ago, and hasn't been answering his mails."
Frown on his own face, Michael murmured some at that, "I see..." Internally, he continued, 'Hopefully, Uncle Henry is okay...' Suddenly, as they got close, he paused and looked around, "... Are you sure that there's no children here?"
Now pausing himself, the building owner glanced around as he felt the hairs on his arms prickle, "… I'm sure, there shouldn't be any children anywhere in the building today. Why?"
If anything, he broke out in a sweat as Michael frowned as he looked around, "I swear that I can hear kids somewhere nearby."
Only swallowing at that, the older man shook his head, "Can't hear anything myself. Might be a window open or something."
Considering that, Michael slowly nodded, "Makes sense, I guess…"
Meanwhile, at the same time, Jeremy flew into the giftbox with a hiss, "Guys! He can hear us!"
That caused the others to look at him with more than a little surprise on their faces. For her part, Charlie's eye lights dimmed in her version of a hooded gaze, "… That should not be possible. But if he can hear us… he might be able to see us." She then gave a small nod, "In that case, you all need to be careful and stay out of sight, understood."
Each of them nodded, though Jeremy had an odd look on his face, "He also made mention of knowing about magic? Both of them, this Michael guy and the building owner-"
Practically jumping, the others winced as Charlie's head hit the top of her gift box, causing the items above them to shift before she hit the ground, "What?!"
Rapidly blinking, the rabbit-earred ghost nodded, "Er, yeah? The old guy was making mention of how magic is known and stuff?"
Shaking her head, Charlie mumbled a bit, "But… how? What is going on out there…?"
With a shrug, Gabe shook his head, "Not a clue, Charlie. I mean… we heard mutters of some sort of war a few years back, just before the pizzeria closed down for good. Not many people showed up afterwards, and they blamed it on some war, but…"
A groan escaping from her, the Marionette rubbed her face, "Great… something's changed…" Just moments later, however, they all froze as they heard voices right outside the storage room that they were in. That was followed by the sound of keys and a lock being jiggled with the door soon opening up. Quietly whispering, Charlie gave them all a look, "Hide in the units next to ours, now!"
Once the others had quickly exited through the sides, she leaned back and her eyes went dim as she waited for whatever might come next.
It turned out that she did not need to wait that long as there was the sound of shuffling. Outside, Michael slowly made his way along past the various boxes and the like on the floor with a penlight shining as he checked some of the containers, "Hmm… some parts for various things… tools, looks like paperwork…"
Pausing at a filing cabinet, he noted looked around for a moment or two for a key. When he looked back at the owner, said man shook his head as he rubbed his arms, "Don't got any keys for that. You'll just have to find a way to open it yourself."
Simply shrugging at that, Michael grunted a bit, "No worries, I'll get someone in to take a look at the lock."
Upon spotting the gift box, he paused for a moment before making his way over as he examined it. The top of said gift box was covered in various heavy items, and there seemed to be clamps all along the top keeping it closed. Each clamp being held in place by a heavy duty lock, which made Michael frown some in thought. It was obvious that whoever made it wanted what was inside to stay inside.
Within said gift box, Charlie felt herself stiffen up as she heard the oh so familiar British accent. There were only really two people she knew of who had that accent with one other having a lighter version. One of those who had it was her murderer, and the other was her best friend.
Quickly, when a light shone in, she did the spirit version of squinting one's eyes closed, which caused the lights in her eyes to disappear. In reality, she could still see, somewhat, and thus it took everything for her to not react at the face she saw on the other side of the hole. A face that looked rather familiar, greatly resembling her killer's face. Yet…
Yet…
It was also different in many ways, such as the amount of stubble it had, the lack of scarring from a past springlock familiar, and the mop of brown hair. Also, the person had startling blue eyes that carried some warmth, not the cold, steel grey eyes of her killer. She continued to watch as the man examined her through the hole, light playing over her form. Then, he smiled and disappeared as she could hear footsteps, "Well, you definitely have it, the Puppet. So, as agreed, here is the other two thousand, I'll be taking everything."
From within the box, Charlie could hear the owner of the building grumble, "You don't need any help, right? Because I am not getting anywhere near that thing in there."
Lightly chuckling, the British accented voice then spoke up, "No, like I said, I already got a forklift that I can use to get this out of here."
Grunts came from the older man before he answered back, "Good. I'll leave you to it then."
Moments later, there was the sound of footsteps fading into the distance before the man mumbled a little, "Well… a lot more than I thought. Might as well get to it if I want to get home at a decent hour."
With that, another group of footsteps faded into the distance as well.
Of course, not long afterwards, Fritz reappeared in the giftbox followed by the others, "What the hell, Charlie! Did he… did that bastard just buy you!?"
Still stunned at that, Charlie slowly nodded, "… Apparently so?"
Arms crossed, Gabe scowled, "Fritz is right, he looks a lot like William."
Quickly snapping out of her thoughts, the Marionette looked around, "Look, I know how you all feel right now. But we're not going to do anything until we confirm things one way or the other."
Various scowls met her, but in the end they all nodded in agreement.
Not long afterwards, Michael returned with a reach truck that he had a pallet upon which he began placing the various lighter items, including the filing cabinets he found. Bit by bit, he took the various items out of the storage unit and transported them down to his cube van. One of the last things he took down was the gift box with the Puppet inside of it.
Finally done, he closed the door to the cube van and secured it before leaving.
________________________________________________________________________________
Poking his head through the roof of the storage area of the cube van, Fritz was looking around as it drove onwards. The ghost was looking around curiously at everything that he could see around them. Sure, they had seen some things through the windows of the pizzeria, and as well when they poked their heads out of the storage building that they had been in. But this was the first time that he really got to see the outside in the longest time.
Then, he spotted something and poked his head back down, "Guys! There's a bunch of tanks out here!"
Surprised, the other two boys soon joined him as well and, sure enough, there were damaged tanks being transported on flatbeds going in the opposite direction. Wincing at one tank, which was missing much of the back end, Jeremy pointed at it, "What do you think did that now?"
Frown on his face, Gabe shook his head some and shrugged, "No idea. And there's a lot of them." Then, he pointed at something else, "They're being escorted too by… I think that those are tanks too?"
Each of the boys curiously observed the IFVs that were moving along the road alongside the trucks before looking at each other in confusion as they wondered what was going on.
Upon feeling a tug, they ducked back down into the cube van's storage area where Suzie was sitting on Charlie's gift box while patting Sweetie, "Um, guys? What's going on up there?"
Inside of her box, Charlie also spoke up, "I'm wondering much the same myself. You said that there's actual tanks out there?"
Nodding as he floated down, Gabe had an odd look on his face, "Yeah, there was a number of them on trucks and they all looked damaged, some really badly. And there were other tanks, with wheels, moving alongside them on the roads."
Within the box, the Marionette's spirit blinked her eye lights, "Tanks? Damaged ones? What the heck is going on out there?"
Only shrugging, Jeremy shook his head some, "No clue at all."
Crossing his arms, Fritz furrowed his eyebrows, "Not even the first military stuff that I've seen. One of the train stops had a bunch of helicopters and planes on a train going by."
The ghosts there each gave each other confused and lost looks as they wondered what was going on. None of what they had just seen made any sense whatsoever. Poking his head into the cube van's cabin and keeping it behind Michael's seat, Gabe listened to the radio for a time before re-entering the storage area, "Uh… guys? There's news of some battle that happened just a few days ago north of Savannah in Georgia."
Staring for a moment, Jeremy looked at his long time friend in disbelief, "A… battle? In Georgia? Are you sure that you heard right?"
Just shaking his head, Gabe had a lost look on his face, "I know, but they were talking about it and… I don't know, they were mentioning some kind of battles in the Philippines and how the Caribbean is nearly secured from something called 'Abyssals'… No clue what those are."
Nervous looks were exchanged with one another as the spirit who once inhabited Freddy Fazbear continued. At one point, Charlie spoke up with a serious tone, "Gabe, go back… did you just say that the radio was talking about wizards and witches? And a dragon?"
Unsure look on his face, Gabe gave a nod, "Yeah, they were saying something about the dissolution of something called MACUSA and how they're sorting out merging the two governments."
Her voice quiet, Charlie had a tone of disbelief, "MACUSA is the magical government… there should be nothing on the radio, yet everyone knows of magic? What the heck did we even miss?"
Yet again, looks of confusion and befuddlement, as well as concern on the part of the lone witch of the group, were exchanged at what they were finding out. Wars? Battles? Magic being known?
Just what was going on out there in the world that they had missed while stuck in both the pizzeria and later in that storage facility?
Nearly as one, the other children quietened down for several moments, their arguing stopping. Until, that was, Fritz spoke up, "But, Charlie, I..."
Just raising a hand, Charlie gave him her version of a gentle look, "I know, Fritz. I understand that you believe that this is William. Believe me on that matter that I am not calling you a liar or anything. But, you must admit, that it is rather hard to believe that it could possibly be him considering everything else."
Looking down, Fritz mumbled a bit as he kicked some with his floating feet, "I mean... I know, but... he looks just like him..."
Very slowly, the Marionette gave a nod, "And I understand that, Fritz. But, too many have died due to us mistaking them for William."
Suzie then spoke up a little bit, "Um... Charlie? Maybe he used that Poryjuice thing you told us about and controlled them?"
Pausing briefly, Charlie considered the question even as Fritz gave a thankful look towards Suzie. Then, slowly the animatronic nodded, "That... is unfortunately a possibility as William did make use of both polyjuice and imperius before. Though I doubt that greatly in the case of the one we killed." Then, she shook her head a little bit, "However, that said? We should make sure first." Getting nods from the others, the witch turned towards Fritz, "Did you see his scars? Or maybe get a name?"
Frown on his face, Fritz grimaced a bit, "I mean... he was wearing this sweater and a coat. Couldn't really see any scars... but then, he could be hiding them somehow. As for a name?" His frown deepening, he thought back some and crossed his arms, "It was... Mike... something... Smith! That was it, Mike Smith!"
None of the noticed how the eldest among them paused at hearing that for several moments, her eye lights disappearing. Then, they returned back with a curious tone to her voice, "Mike Smith? That..." Suddenly, she frowned a little bit and looked down, "Hmm..."
An odd look, Jeremy then frowned himself, "Sounds like that one night guard we had. You know, the one that we had for more than a week before he got fired because he was messing with our AIs?"
Blinking, Charlie snapped out of her thoughts and turned towards him, "I... don't remember that..."
With a shrug, Gabe shook his head, "You were already gone by then, Charlie. But, I remember him, his name was Mike Schmidt." Then, he frowned a bit as he thought back with a grimace, "He looked a lot like him, William, I mean. Though... he also kind of looked like an older Fritz Smith too."
Upon hearing that, the Marionette jerked a little bit as she felt a little bit of fear go up her spine, 'No... it couldn't be...'
This time, her reaction was not missed by the others, with Jeremy frowning at her, "Charlie? What's wrong?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, Charlie shook her head, "It is just... William's mother-in-law was originally from Germany, and her last name was Schmidt. Which... I think she got changed to Smith when her parents immigrated to England just after the Second World War. And Mike... is short for Michael."
Rapidly blinking, Gabe blinked at that, "Wait, Michael? As in that guy you were friends with and was Evan's brother? Who, um..."
Voice quiet, the Marionette nodded, "Yes."
Each of the other ghosts glanced at one another before Suzie spoke up, tone unsure, "Um... I remember that Evan and Cassidy were really active in trying to get him. That was why we thought that it was William, especially as he looked a lot like him."
If she could have, Charlie would have chewed her lip a little bit, '... Please, Mike... do not have involved yourself in this...'
Unknown to her, elsewhere in the building, the man she was thinking of had just finished signing some paperwork that he then handed to the storage building's owner, "Here you go."
Flipping through the pages, the older man grunted a bit, "Looks good on my end, all that's left is the payment."
His eyebrow raised, Michael frowned a bit, "Okay, you want it by card or cash?"
Only shrugging, the other man shrugged, "Either or, don't rightfully care as long as it doesn't bounce."
With a nod, Michael reached into his wallet and pulled out a number of bills, "Here you go, five thousand straight up. I'll give the last two thousand once I confirm the contents of the storage unit being there."
Counting the bills given, the owner of the business gave a nod, "That's fine, as long as I get my money and you get that shit as far away from me as possible and as soon as possible."
Simply nodding, the FBI Agent hummed a bit as he put his wallet back, "Got to admit, I am surprised that you were so willing to part with it like this. Would have thought that you'd have one of those auctions for it, like you see on television."
A scoff escaping from him, the other man shook his head, "I'll level with you... practically no one with any sense in the area would buy any of what was in there knowing where it came from. Even before the whole shit about magic being real happened." Rolling his eyes, he shrugged some, "Was seriously considering just tossing it out into the trash considering everything. Only reason that I didn't, was that I heard through the grapevine about you. Better than that one dumb teen anyways."
Rather curious, Michael raised an eyebrow, "A teen? What teen?"
Disgusted look on his face, the owner sneered, "Dumb local teen wanted to make some sort of haunted house based off Freddy's. Only sixteen or something, so I told him to go and take a damn hike. Fucking sick."
Upon Michael's own face was a similarly disgusted expression, "You're joking... why the fuck would someone do that?! Even if you discount all the urban legends, a bunch of kids went missing!" His expression only because more disgruntled, "You know what kid it was so that I can go and punch him?"
Only nodding, the older man pointed at him, "Nah, but I get where you're coming from. Had to hold back from slugging him myself." Then, he shrugged as he turned and grabbed a bunch of keys, "Anyways, might as well show you the place and what you just bought. Just remember, no buyer's remorse."
Amused, Michael chuckled a little as he followed behind, "No worries here." After a minute or two of silence as they continued to walk, however, he cleared his throat, "So, out of curiosity... what happened to the owner of the unit?"
Blinking due to not having expected the question, it took the other man a few seconds to reply, "Honestly? Don't know. Was owned by Henry Emily, who owned Fazbear's. Heard that his own daughter died and such." Frown on his face, he scratched his chin some, "Used to come by every few weeks muttering to himself and dragging this trunk with him, then leaving after a few hours all rumpled and such, like he had been doing some heavy work. Don't know what though." Then, the older man shook his head, "Anyways, stopped paying about two or so months ago, and hasn't been answering his mails."
Frown on his own face, Michael murmured some at that, "I see..." Internally, he continued, 'Hopefully, Uncle Henry is okay...' Suddenly, as they got close, he paused and looked around, "... Are you sure that there's no children here?"
Now pausing himself, the building owner glanced around as he felt the hairs on his arms prickle, "… I'm sure, there shouldn't be any children anywhere in the building today. Why?"
If anything, he broke out in a sweat as Michael frowned as he looked around, "I swear that I can hear kids somewhere nearby."
Only swallowing at that, the older man shook his head, "Can't hear anything myself. Might be a window open or something."
Considering that, Michael slowly nodded, "Makes sense, I guess…"
Meanwhile, at the same time, Jeremy flew into the giftbox with a hiss, "Guys! He can hear us!"
That caused the others to look at him with more than a little surprise on their faces. For her part, Charlie's eye lights dimmed in her version of a hooded gaze, "… That should not be possible. But if he can hear us… he might be able to see us." She then gave a small nod, "In that case, you all need to be careful and stay out of sight, understood."
Each of them nodded, though Jeremy had an odd look on his face, "He also made mention of knowing about magic? Both of them, this Michael guy and the building owner-"
Practically jumping, the others winced as Charlie's head hit the top of her gift box, causing the items above them to shift before she hit the ground, "What?!"
Rapidly blinking, the rabbit-earred ghost nodded, "Er, yeah? The old guy was making mention of how magic is known and stuff?"
Shaking her head, Charlie mumbled a bit, "But… how? What is going on out there…?"
With a shrug, Gabe shook his head, "Not a clue, Charlie. I mean… we heard mutters of some sort of war a few years back, just before the pizzeria closed down for good. Not many people showed up afterwards, and they blamed it on some war, but…"
A groan escaping from her, the Marionette rubbed her face, "Great… something's changed…" Just moments later, however, they all froze as they heard voices right outside the storage room that they were in. That was followed by the sound of keys and a lock being jiggled with the door soon opening up. Quietly whispering, Charlie gave them all a look, "Hide in the units next to ours, now!"
Once the others had quickly exited through the sides, she leaned back and her eyes went dim as she waited for whatever might come next.
It turned out that she did not need to wait that long as there was the sound of shuffling. Outside, Michael slowly made his way along past the various boxes and the like on the floor with a penlight shining as he checked some of the containers, "Hmm… some parts for various things… tools, looks like paperwork…"
Pausing at a filing cabinet, he noted looked around for a moment or two for a key. When he looked back at the owner, said man shook his head as he rubbed his arms, "Don't got any keys for that. You'll just have to find a way to open it yourself."
Simply shrugging at that, Michael grunted a bit, "No worries, I'll get someone in to take a look at the lock."
Upon spotting the gift box, he paused for a moment before making his way over as he examined it. The top of said gift box was covered in various heavy items, and there seemed to be clamps all along the top keeping it closed. Each clamp being held in place by a heavy duty lock, which made Michael frown some in thought. It was obvious that whoever made it wanted what was inside to stay inside.
Within said gift box, Charlie felt herself stiffen up as she heard the oh so familiar British accent. There were only really two people she knew of who had that accent with one other having a lighter version. One of those who had it was her murderer, and the other was her best friend.
Quickly, when a light shone in, she did the spirit version of squinting one's eyes closed, which caused the lights in her eyes to disappear. In reality, she could still see, somewhat, and thus it took everything for her to not react at the face she saw on the other side of the hole. A face that looked rather familiar, greatly resembling her killer's face. Yet…
Yet…
It was also different in many ways, such as the amount of stubble it had, the lack of scarring from a past springlock familiar, and the mop of brown hair. Also, the person had startling blue eyes that carried some warmth, not the cold, steel grey eyes of her killer. She continued to watch as the man examined her through the hole, light playing over her form. Then, he smiled and disappeared as she could hear footsteps, "Well, you definitely have it, the Puppet. So, as agreed, here is the other two thousand, I'll be taking everything."
From within the box, Charlie could hear the owner of the building grumble, "You don't need any help, right? Because I am not getting anywhere near that thing in there."
Lightly chuckling, the British accented voice then spoke up, "No, like I said, I already got a forklift that I can use to get this out of here."
Grunts came from the older man before he answered back, "Good. I'll leave you to it then."
Moments later, there was the sound of footsteps fading into the distance before the man mumbled a little, "Well… a lot more than I thought. Might as well get to it if I want to get home at a decent hour."
With that, another group of footsteps faded into the distance as well.
Of course, not long afterwards, Fritz reappeared in the giftbox followed by the others, "What the hell, Charlie! Did he… did that bastard just buy you!?"
Still stunned at that, Charlie slowly nodded, "… Apparently so?"
Arms crossed, Gabe scowled, "Fritz is right, he looks a lot like William."
Quickly snapping out of her thoughts, the Marionette looked around, "Look, I know how you all feel right now. But we're not going to do anything until we confirm things one way or the other."
Various scowls met her, but in the end they all nodded in agreement.
Not long afterwards, Michael returned with a reach truck that he had a pallet upon which he began placing the various lighter items, including the filing cabinets he found. Bit by bit, he took the various items out of the storage unit and transported them down to his cube van. One of the last things he took down was the gift box with the Puppet inside of it.
Finally done, he closed the door to the cube van and secured it before leaving.
________________________________________________________________________________
Poking his head through the roof of the storage area of the cube van, Fritz was looking around as it drove onwards. The ghost was looking around curiously at everything that he could see around them. Sure, they had seen some things through the windows of the pizzeria, and as well when they poked their heads out of the storage building that they had been in. But this was the first time that he really got to see the outside in the longest time.
Then, he spotted something and poked his head back down, "Guys! There's a bunch of tanks out here!"
Surprised, the other two boys soon joined him as well and, sure enough, there were damaged tanks being transported on flatbeds going in the opposite direction. Wincing at one tank, which was missing much of the back end, Jeremy pointed at it, "What do you think did that now?"
Frown on his face, Gabe shook his head some and shrugged, "No idea. And there's a lot of them." Then, he pointed at something else, "They're being escorted too by… I think that those are tanks too?"
Each of the boys curiously observed the IFVs that were moving along the road alongside the trucks before looking at each other in confusion as they wondered what was going on.
Upon feeling a tug, they ducked back down into the cube van's storage area where Suzie was sitting on Charlie's gift box while patting Sweetie, "Um, guys? What's going on up there?"
Inside of her box, Charlie also spoke up, "I'm wondering much the same myself. You said that there's actual tanks out there?"
Nodding as he floated down, Gabe had an odd look on his face, "Yeah, there was a number of them on trucks and they all looked damaged, some really badly. And there were other tanks, with wheels, moving alongside them on the roads."
Within the box, the Marionette's spirit blinked her eye lights, "Tanks? Damaged ones? What the heck is going on out there?"
Only shrugging, Jeremy shook his head some, "No clue at all."
Crossing his arms, Fritz furrowed his eyebrows, "Not even the first military stuff that I've seen. One of the train stops had a bunch of helicopters and planes on a train going by."
The ghosts there each gave each other confused and lost looks as they wondered what was going on. None of what they had just seen made any sense whatsoever. Poking his head into the cube van's cabin and keeping it behind Michael's seat, Gabe listened to the radio for a time before re-entering the storage area, "Uh… guys? There's news of some battle that happened just a few days ago north of Savannah in Georgia."
Staring for a moment, Jeremy looked at his long time friend in disbelief, "A… battle? In Georgia? Are you sure that you heard right?"
Just shaking his head, Gabe had a lost look on his face, "I know, but they were talking about it and… I don't know, they were mentioning some kind of battles in the Philippines and how the Caribbean is nearly secured from something called 'Abyssals'… No clue what those are."
Nervous looks were exchanged with one another as the spirit who once inhabited Freddy Fazbear continued. At one point, Charlie spoke up with a serious tone, "Gabe, go back… did you just say that the radio was talking about wizards and witches? And a dragon?"
Unsure look on his face, Gabe gave a nod, "Yeah, they were saying something about the dissolution of something called MACUSA and how they're sorting out merging the two governments."
Her voice quiet, Charlie had a tone of disbelief, "MACUSA is the magical government… there should be nothing on the radio, yet everyone knows of magic? What the heck did we even miss?"
Yet again, looks of confusion and befuddlement, as well as concern on the part of the lone witch of the group, were exchanged at what they were finding out. Wars? Battles? Magic being known?
Just what was going on out there in the world that they had missed while stuck in both the pizzeria and later in that storage facility?
Hah. Welp. Looks like the ghost kids / Animatronics are wising up and won't jump the gun just yet as they scope out the changed world around them. My personal bet is that someone figures them out before they're ready, but not Mike. Probably either Maggie, one Mike's kids, or maybe even Alondra (Shipgirl sight letting Shipgirls see spirits after all.)
Harry Leferts
Solidarity
Yeah, basically you have Charlie who has spent nearly the last decade or so trapped in her box in storage. Meanwhile, the other four ghost kids have mostly been stuck in the closed pizzeria from 2006 until a few months back in story, and the rest of the time in a storage facility which barely sees even a handful of people a month who mostly just either put stuff in storage or takes it out, or pays bills, thus are there for very brief times.