It had been a few months since Michael was fired from the rental company. He decided the first place to start looking for his father would be when any more major murder cases turned up.

He spent weeks learning how to tap into police comms in the UK and in the US. And finally, after about 5 months of waiting, he got a hit. And to his shock, it was at Henry's pizzeria. Michael sighed and began packing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upon his arrival, Michael immediately tried finding an opening to work there. In about 5 days, there was an ad in the newspaper for a position as a nightguard. So, he applied under the alias "Fritz Smith" and got the job. Henry was still off the clock so Michael was able to avoid him. 

In the hours before starting his shift, he listened to all the previous phone calls and messages on the office phone to write down anything of evidential importance. One thing that piqued his interest was that the animatronics were moving. The Funtime crew made sense. Those were high-tech mascots with soul metal.

"But what makes these move?", he asked himself. The guy on the phone didn't explain it, but Michael found that suspicious. Earlier he had tried asking the manager what the incident was, but the manager refused to answer.

Michael shook his head. This was the time to focus and learn about the recent crime. That meant keeping all the mascots from reaching him during his shift.

Then the clock chimed. 12:00 AM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Henry awoke from a deep sleep. He got up and winced at the bright sunlight coming through the blinds.

Then he walked downstairs to greet his wife, who was making breakfast.

"Hey, dear", Charlotte said as he sat down at the table.

Henry replied, "Good morning, babe."

She placed a cup of coffee in front of him, "How's the pain today?"

"It's alright. Just gotta keep pushing."

She hugged him, "I know you want to go back to work, but you need your rest."

"I know, I know", he said as he took a sip of his coffee, "Any news?"

"Well, we just hired a new nightguard. The previous one moved to the day shift."

"Any more malfunctions?"

"Nothing more than before."

"Good", he set his mug down, "What's the new nightguard like?"

"He's ambitious, asks a lot of questions, and appears to be eager. I'm just worried he may not have what it takes to handle the night shift. Our last guy..."

"-was just a little scared."

"Maybe, but I'm still worried", Charlotte continued, "Also, the new guy is seriously disfigured. And smells terrible. I don't know what happened to him, but it's pretty bad. He probably couldn't take the day shift even if he wanted to. We don't want the kids scared."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there", said Henry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael's eyes were wide as he downed his third coffee. 

He'd been able to deter all of the mascots from entering the room, but that wasn't what scared him. He'd experienced seemingly sentient animatronics before.

What truly frightened him was the Fredbear costume. "Golden Freddy", as the US locals called him, would come into his office and just stare at him. He'd put on the spare Freddy mask reflexively and it would disappear. 

"I must be going crazy", Michael remarked to himself.

As mascots kept going in and out, on and on, it began to feel like a blur. Then the alarm went off. 6:00 AM. The new Freddy mascot was right in his room, but then they all returned to their proper locations.

He wiped the sweat off of his brow. He looked at the camera into the Parts & Service room and saw that the old mascots were all in their proper place. He made his way over to where they were.

They seemed lifeless, unlike only hours ago. Michael experimentally snapped his fingers in front of Freddy's eyes. Nothing happened. So, he removed Freddy's outer head to see if there was anything different about these mascots compared to the Funtime crew.

He found nothing of importance. They looked normal, minus their now dilapidated state. He sighed and turned to go check on the Puppet, but as he turned to leave, he bumped into the maintenance guy, Ronald.

"Fritz?", Ronald asked, "What are you doing here? You're not authorized to service these guys."

Michael played dumb, "I was just curious cause I used to go to the old Freddy's location when I was younger and-"

"Why did you remove Freddy's head?"

"I wanted to see how it worked."

"Well Fritz, I'm gonna have to report you to Charlotte."

Michael pleaded, "No that's not necessary, we could work something out."

Ronald didn't listen to his antics and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...And then he tried to tell me he was just 'curious'", said Ronald, "Ma'am, I think he was the one that messed with the facial recognition."

"Ron", Charlotte replied, "Ever the conspiracy theories with you! We would have seen a guy like him before. But you're right, he should be fired."

She wrote out a pink slip for "Fritz" and mailed it to his listed address.

"Thank you, Ronald", she said before sending him out of her office. Then she called Henry.

"Well, that was fast", Henry remarked after she told him what happened.

Charlotte said, "Next time, I'll choose the candidates okay?"

"There won't be a next time."

"Why babe?"

"I'm shutting it down. The new mascots are too dangerous. After losing Jeremy..."

"I think it's a great decision. Maybe we can work on a different, better venture in the future."

Henry sighed, "It's gonna be hard to part with this."

"I know", Charlotte comforted him, "But it's going to be okay. We'll catch whoever did it and bring him to justice."

"I sure hope so."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The spirit of Charlie made her way to the Parts & Service room again.

She folded her arms in front of the broken husk of Golden Freddy.

"Cassidy, why did you attack him?", she demanded, "We're supposed to do it. We already had a talk about the last guard."

There was no response.

"Cassidy!"

The spirit of Tristen appeared in front of her.

"She won't talk with me unless it's mean words, and she won't work together with me", he said.

Charlie sighed, "How are we supposed to help you two if she keeps wanting to blow your cover?"

"She says....", Tristen struggled to speak, "She says she doesn't want to separate. She's angry at my father. We think the last guard was my father."

"So do I, but that doesn't mean Cassidy should be as reckless as she is now. Everyone?"

All the spirits showed their faces.

Charlie announced, "If we get a new nightguard, keep Cassidy from attacking 'kay?"

They all nodded and returned to their mascots.

"Now if I could get that new Foxy to tell me why it hurt Jeremy..."