"So, your family doing better?" Mike asked as he sipped his coffee, walking alongside Jeremy. The two had met up after Mike returned from his trip, and were now walking to the diner for their next shift.

"A little bit. It's just so strange, y'know?" Jeremy mused, sipping his drink. "My uncle always had such a great relationship with my family, especially my dad. For him to just disappear...I dunno. It feels weird."

"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually, J." Mike comforted, before a grin rose on his face. "So, Eggs finally connected the dots with the bot designs."

"Please tell me you're joking." Jeremy moaned, earning a chuckle from his co-worker. "I mean, it was easy enough to put together. What company would build them like that besides one that makes...what'd you call them?"

"Adult Entertainment Units." Mike replied, still grinning. "Of course they give the fuckbots a proper title. Still, I'm just shocked whoever fucked up that paperwork got it wrong to the point this happened. Seriously, how is that possible?"

The two guards continued to bicker and quip with each other until they reached the entrance of Circus Baby's Funtime Diner. They entered without hesitation, spotting Eggs sitting at a nearby table while tapping away at his phone, a small frown on his face. Mike immediately smirked, and casually snuck over, peaking over the man's shoulder and watching his screen.

"Oh, man! Are you browsing their company page?!"

Eggs...well, he didn't scream, but he made a noise that wasn't far off as he nearly chucked his phone across the room, awkwardly juggling it before finally turning it off and whipping around, cheeks red and eyes wide.

"Fucking hell, Mike, do you knock?!" He hissed, which just made the other guard cackle harder.

"Sorry, buddy! Just wanted to see what had you in such a sour mood!" Mick sputtered between laughs, before composing himself (slightly) and smirking. "Didn't take you for the type to be into that."

Eggs was still blushing, and shook his head as he stood up, pocketing his phone.

"I'm not "into that", Mike, I'm trying to learn how to disable that side of their programing." The guard defended, pouting slightly. "I just wanted to get them back to normal."

"Hell, normal's subjective in this case, buddy." Mike quipped, before shrugging nonchalantly. "Still, I get where you're coming from. Sorry for giving you so much shit about it."

"I'm sure you'll fix them, Mike." Jeremy assured him good naturedly, before gesturing towards the elevator's door. "Shall we?"

"Sure, just let me check in with Van, make sure nothing special is scheduled tonight." Eggs replied, standing up and starting for the office. The two guards shot each other matching grins, and while Jeremy left to start the elevator, Mike joined Eggs as he opened their boss's door.

The manager was typing away at her computer, a frustrated glare on her face as she hammered at the keys intently. She ceased when she noticed the two guards, her expression rising into a smile.

"Ah, hey you two." She greeted, turning off her screen. "You guys need anything?"

"Just wanted to make sure you didn't have any news for us before we headed down for the night." Eggs explained, missing the way Mike's posture straightened out beside him. If Van noticed, she didn't comment, instead shrugging her shoulders loosely and waving her hand dismissively.

"Nothing new tonight, just a usual check-up." She answered, before returning her gaze to the computer. "Now, you mind getting to it? I've got some important manager things to do, thank you."

"Sure, sure. We'll get out of your hair." Eggs relented, making a two finger salute. "Have a good night, Van. Don't push yourself too hard, ok?"

"Heh, I'll try my best, "Eggs"." Van snarked, her eyes twinkling mischievously. "Feel free to visit me before you look out, ok? I get awfully lonely up here."

"Sure thing, V. See you in a few hours." Eggs promised with a chuckle, before stepping out of the room and closing the door. He turned to Mike, but faltered as he noticed the bizarre expression on his face. "You ok, Mike? You look...pale."

The older man jolted slightly, and forced a grin to his face, shaking his head as if to clear it.

"I'm, uh, I'm fine. Just...got a weird feeling." He muttered, eyes flicking back to the closed door before he turned away, starting for the elevator. "We better get going. Jeremy's waiting for us."

Eggs pursed his lips, unnerved by his friend's sudden and unexplained shift in mood, decided that it wasn't worth dealing with, at least not yet. With this in mind, he followed Mike over to the elevator, and descended into the facility below.

~~~Line Break~~~

By the time the trio reached the control room, Hand-Unit had relayed their instructions for the evening. Jeremy was assigned to repair Ballora, who was due for a general tune up, while Mike and Eggs were both assigned to repair an electrical error in Parts and Services.

"You sure you can handle Ballora alone, Jeremy?" Eggs asked as he grabbed the spar toolbox from it's compartment behind the console. "It's no trouble for us to switch positions for the night."

"I'll be fine, Eggs! I worked with animatronics before, I know what I'm doing!" The younger guard insisted, flashing him a smile. "Just keep Mike from burning this place to the ground, ok?"

"Who's the one who had to reset the power after every single one of our shifts again, J?" Mike asked, earning an exasperated groan in response. "That's what I thought. See you in a few hours buddy."

The three went their respective paths, leading Mike and Eggs down the new service corridor that Hand-Unit had authorized them for. As they walked, Eggs became more and more aware of the uneasy silence stretching between them, occasionally glancing at Mike and noting the concentrated frown on his face.

"Mike? You doing alright, buddy?" He asked, bumping the older man's shoulder and bringing him out of his stupor.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry about that." Mike muttered, shaking his head once again. "Just...thinkin' about something."

"Must be pretty important. I've never seen you spaced out like that." Eggs mused, coming to a stop as they reached the Part's and Services room. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Ah...maybe. First, we should get to work on this...error...thing."

Eggs frowned a little at both the obvious brush off and Mike's apparent forgetfulness regarding their task, but opened the door all the same. The room, as always, was bathed in a cool blue light, with the distant hum of electronics the only sound following the door closing behind them.

"Alright, the main service box should be right around...here!" Eggs stated, leading his partner over to the far wall and cracking open the box, revealing the mess of wires, dials, buttons and switches behind it. "Ah, typical Fazbear handiwork. Well, might as well get started."

Mike nodded, flipping open his tool box and hand Eggs a set of pliers. The younger guard started to work, searching for the source of the error while his partner stewed beside him, still deep in thought.

"...still up for that talk?"

Eggs paused in his work, turning to face Mike and nod in confirmation. Mike's expression didn't shift.

"So...how familiar are you with William Afton?"

Eggs shrugged his shoulders loosely, resuming his work as he answered.

"Vaguely. I know he was the owner of the company for a spell, co-owner anyway." He admitted, toying with a tangled clump of wires. "Van name dropped him once or twice, mentioned he died not too long ago."

"And do you know the rumors about him?" Mike asked, gaze now locked on the opposite corner of the room, as if...watching something.

"Again, vaguely. It's hard not to, even with how hard the company tries to clamp down on the spread." Eggs replied, freeing up the wire bundle and moving on the switches. "Why? Did you...well, do you think he was responsible?"

"I do." Mike confirmed, turning away from the corner and back to Eggs. "I met the guy more than once, and all I could think while talking to him was "This guy knows more than he's letting on", and now all I can think is what if I was right?"

"What if you were?" Eggs retorted, flipping switches on and off to test their respective systems. "It's not like you could take him to court or anything, even with evidence. It's all just words after a certain point."

"Yeah...yeah, I 'spose your right."

"What brought this up, though?" Eggs asked, finally getting all green lights for the switches. "I mean, Afton's been dead for like two weeks. Why'd the thought occur now?"

Mike didn't answer at first, as if he was weighing his options. Eventually, he made up his mind.

"How well do you know Vanessa?"

Now that question caught Eggs off guard, forcing him to turn away from the box and meet Mike's gaze.

"Well enough." He defended, eyes narrowing. "We're not best friends or anything, but I'd like to think I have a good grasp on her character."

"Easy, Eggsy!" Mike defended, a smile rising on his face as he raised his hands defensively. "I wasn't implying anything, just...I got that feeling again today when we talked to her. That feeling that she knew something we didn't."

"She's the manager, Mike. Of course she knows things we don't." Eggs deadpanned, before shutting the box beside him and turning to face the older guard fully. "I finished up the repairs. That error was just a bunch of concentrated wires, shorting out the light sensors. Would be fine now."

"Alright, guess we should head back then." Mike replied, starting for the door with his companion in tow, before stopping abruptly at the door and turning around to face him. "Oh, and to be clear, I wasn't coming after Vanessa or anything. Just giving you my reason, y'know?"

"Yeah...yeah, I get it." Eggs replied, the expression lightening slightly. "No hard feelings."

"Good, I'm glad." Mike admitted, lips quirked up unto a teasing smirk. "I'd hate to get on your shit list for calling out your girlfriend."

Eggs sputtered in embarrassment and continued to stutter excuses and protests as he followed after his cackling partner.

~~~Line Break~~~

By the time the two made it back to the main corridor, they were surprised as they nearly collided with Jeremy, who looked just as surprised as they were.

"You guys are already done?" He asked in surprise, glancing between the two.

"Yeah, it was a simple enough fix." Eggs confirmed, raising an eyebrow. "You already finished Ballora's repairs?"

"Yup, easy as can be!" Jeremy replied with a bright smile. "She shut down right away, and thanked me after I finished with the adjustments. She's actually really nice!"

Eggs didn't stop smiling, but internally he felt...something. A flicker of an unknown emotion. He brushed the thought away before he could analyze it further.

"Well, good! Makes all of our jobs easier." He chuckled, before pulling out Hand-Unit and turning it on. "Anymore tasks for us tonight, Hand-Unit?"

Silence filled the hall, and gradually Eggs lost his smile. Mike and Jeremy both noticed the shift, and eyed the tablet wearily.

"Um...that's not supposed to happen, is it?" Mike asked, a bit put off by the red screen that stared up at them.

"No, it's not." Eggs confirmed, turning off the device. "Van's gonna kill me if we broke it somehow. C'mon, let's get upstairs."

"Yeah, yeah. Right behind you, scrambled." Mike quipped, earning a chuckle from Jeremy as the three entered the elevator and ascended back to the surface level of the restaurant.

When the doors opened, the three were greeted with the inky blackness before them. A foreign sense of unease filled all three guards as they filled out into the main party room, their eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness.

"Van? Are you still here?" Eggs yelled, only to receive nothing in response. He frowned, and grabbed his phone from his back pocket, turning on the flashlight and scanning the area. "Weird. Usually, she's still on until our shift ends. Think she called it a night early?"

Once again, no response. Eggs turned on his heel, fully prepared to repeat the question, only to spot his fellow guards standing in the center of the room, facing the exit. He walked over to them, question dying before he even had a chance to say it.

Outside, on the opposite side of the street, a man stood. Watching them. At least, he seemed like he was. The white rabbit mask with piercing red eyes made it a bit hard to tell.

"Guys?" Eggs whispered, trying to catch them in his peripheral vision. "What do we do?"

Apparently, the choice was made for them. The man lifted his hand, and with an almost comedically calm wave, stepped backwards into the alley behind him, melting into the darkness.

Mike was the first to move after an unknown amount of time passed. He strode forward and checked the front door's locks, checking if they were secure. Once he was sure they were, he turned on his heel and addressed both of his fellow guards.

"Go to Vannesa's office and check the phone. If it's still working, call 911 and ask for Detective O'Brian." He ordered, a deadly serious look in his eyes. "Tell her that there's been a sighting outside of Circus Baby's Funtime Diner."

~~~Line Break~~~

A few blocks away, Van took a long, deep breath, muffled by the mask she was wearing. It was still such a bizarre sensation, both stifling and like wearing nothing at all. A paradox of the mind.

Feeling contemplative, are we? William cooed, not even making her flinch. Was that concerning? I was too, when I first suited up. My, that was quite some time ago…

"I'm still not sure I understand your endgame here." Van cut him off, eyes looked on the end of the street, where Circus Baby's Funtime Diner sat, dark and still. "What does the restaurant have to do with it?"

Everything, Vanny. The restaurant means everything.

The masked man emerged from the darkness next to Van, and once again, she didn't even flinch. Wordlessly, he offered her the Hand-Unit and her keys, which he had used to enter the establishment. She took both without pause.

"I have what we need." She stated, aware that Afton could already tell but feeling the need to state it anyways.

Good, that went better than I expected. William mused, a dark chuckle echoing in Van's head. Now, it's just a matter of time. We wait until the next full moon, and then? Then you get your freedom and I get mine.