"Greetings, sir-slash-madam," the jovial voice on the phone began, greeting the man who answered it with an air of positivity, "and welcome to Circus Baby's Pizza World! Now, the name may sound...odd, but I can personally assure you that this building is as legitimate as can be."
Jacob's eyebrow raised in mirth, scoffing to himself at the claim.
Nothing about Fazbear Entertainment, or any of its equally-corrupt affiliates, was 'legitimate'. His father had ensured he knew that fact before signing up for the job he'd taken.
"Before we, uh, begin, please allow me to fill you in on the specifics of your job, and everything that it entails." The voice continued, droning on listlessly. Jacob could hear the tinny sound of papers ruffling about from the other side of the phone. A quiet clearing of the throat later, and his caller was ready to continue.
"'Welcome to Circus Baby's Pizza World, a place of happiness and joy. A magical land of fun times await for every girl and boy. Circus Baby's Pizza World isn't a place of tears, instead it's a place of joy that will last throughout the years!' ...Th-that's, er, the mandatory introduction out of the way." The 'phone guy' chuckled to himself before continuing.
"Now, then, onto the rules. You are the technician here; this means that you are to travel around the building and ensure that everything is maintained adequately. You cannot tamper with the animatronic characters present in the building, you cannot hold your own little private parties after-hours, you cannot defecate anywhere but the company toilets - er, don't ask why that's a rule - and you must never, *never* use the animatronic characters here as springsuits. You could, er, damage them. And yourself. Don't do it."
Jacob rolled his eyes at the excessive rules - as if he'd ever have done any of that anyway.
Drumming his fingers on the desk in front of him impatiently, he sighed at the relaxing feeling of the cool breeze hitting the back of his neck. He had the immense fan behind his chair to thank for the sensation.
"Now then, with that all out of the way, please press the circular blue button on the desk in front of you. This will turn on the TV screens that should be just above it, and so will allow you to check the security cameras and make sure they're online all throughout the night. We wouldn't want one of them to stop working before we open up again tomorrow, would we? Something unsavoury could happen."
At this, the voice chuckled lightly. Jacob hadn't found the statement very funny at all.
Nonetheless, he followed the voice's command and flipped up a glass lid sheltering a bright blue button, circular in shape, before pressing it. Sure enough, the television screens in front of him slowly flickered to life, soon revealing the rest of the pizzeria to his prying eyes.
His gaze stopped on the second-to-last camera, which provided him with the sight of four humanoid figures. One was an anthropomorphic bear, obviously being the ever-iconic Freddy Fazbear, his muzzle and round stomach now having taken on a feminine pink hue. A small hand puppet covered his one raised arm, the puppet being shaped like the bear's old bunny accomplice, Bonnie.
Another of these figures proved to be a fox-like creature, also anthropomorphic, who was blatantly a Foxy knockoff. This one, however, seemed to be his female counterpart - the mammalian robot donned a very short skirt-like pelvis-piece, a pink streak running down the centre of the clothing. This one, too, had a pink muzzle and stomach. It also donned some lipstick, the cosmetic being bright red and rather visible, even in the darkness of the room.
The third of the four was an unnerving ballerina-like robot the likes of which Jacob had never seen before. Her eyes were shut, yet her face wore a content smile on its almost porcelain surface. Her blue 'hair' was tied into a neat bun, and she 'wore' an oddly revealing dress. Jacob took a moment to study her elaborate design, admiring the gem-like orb on her forehead. She was locked in a pose that indicated she'd been shut off mid-dance, her arms raised high above her head as she balanced on a tip-toe, her other leg raised slightly to form a 'P' shape.
Jacob was impressed at the animatronic's ability to balance itself so well - until he saw the strings holding her up glint in the waning light, whereupon he chuckled to himself.
Finally, his attention was drawn to the fourth member of the apparent band.
Her head was round. Almost perfectly so. She was short and stout, being slightly smaller than her accomplices. Her body was almost cube-like in shape, seeming to be at around the same size as her head. She wore a delicate skirt, much like the ballerina, yet this one's was less elaborate. Almost her entire body was a bright red, yet her 'skin' was a ghostly white. Her green eyes stared off into nothingness, her body rigid and motionless. Looking closely, Jacob soon noticed a multitude of *pins* stabbing into her arms and legs. The sight reminded him of a voodoo doll, and he shivered involuntarily at the thought.
A little button nose protruded from the robot's round face slightly, her mouth locked in an eternal, unmoving grin. Big rosy cheeks complimented her dress colour, and long black eyelashes helped enforce her feminine appearance - as did a pair of delicate red pigtails.
Looking at all four of the characters, Jacob noticed something.
Each and every one of them were *covered* in a series of splits, separating their body parts and parts of their faces. The divisions halved their bodies, their arms, their legs and even their heads. It were as if they were Frankenstein's monsters, all of them having been haphazardly constructed from various spare parts before being crudely stitched together. Speakers were embedded into the quartet's chests, the metal gleaming as Jacob stared at it.
A chill went down Jacob's spine, the feeling only worsening when he finally realised that the 'phone guy' hadn't spoke to him since he'd turned on the television screens.
"SO," the voice suddenly began once more, causing the technician to nearly jump out of his seat with a profane exclamation, "now that you've likely seen all of the rooms and characters in this building, allow me to continue."
"Asshole." Jacob muttered under his breath.
"Your job is simple: keep the cameras running, make sure the animatronics are well-looked-after, and please ensure that the ventilation in the building is constantly flowing. We don't want our loyal patrons suffocating. Remember - you are nothing but a technician. If you don't get distracted and just do your job, I'm sure we here at Aft-...*Fazbear* Entertainment will be proud to have you amongst our ranks." The Phone Guy concluded, his voice suddenly having a slight edge to it.
"Alright, I'll be sending you another message tomorrow. 'Til next time, sir-slash-madam."
The phone stopped the message with a beep, and a cutting silence filled the air in its place.
"Great. Alone again - naturally." Jacob muttered to himself, following the statement with a loud yawn.
*Six hours of sitting on my ass awaits. Can't wait!* He thought to himself, grabbing a cup of soda that was left sitting on his desk by whom he assumed had been the previous technician.
That thought was strange, given how the building had only been open since the week beforehand. How come they'd cycled through somebody already?
Brushing the query aside, Jacob took a sip of his new drink, remaining wholly unsurprised when he tasted a slight bitterness in his mouth, the beverage having flattened, rather than the fizzy sweetness the drink was known for. It seemed like quite it had been left out for a while.
Jacob took another sip anyway. He'd had worse.
Things remained wholly uneventful for a long while, minutes stretching into hours with little-to-no incident. Soon enough, 3:30 AM had rolled by and Jacob still hadn't had to do any particularly laborious tasks. The animatronics were designated for a last-minute checkup at 5:50, so he had a long while until he had to get near the unnerving things.
Of course, no good thing lasts forever. Jacob started as he heard a loud *thud* from behind him, before the cool breeze hitting the back of his neck abruptly stopped. Turning around, he groaned in exasperation at the sight of the large fan facing his desk having apparently malfunctioned. A small cloud of smoke began rising from between its monolithic blades.
Getting up from his chair with a grunt, the seat creaking in response, Jacob picked up the toolkit laying beside him and made his way over to the fan, turning his back on the television screens he was asked to maintain.
Pulling out a screwdriver, he unscrewed the grate protecting him from the fan's normally-rapidly-spinning blades, flicking the 'off' switch on the large device promptly after to ensure he wasn't cut to pieces whilst repairing it. Clambering into the small chamber housing the large fan, he made his way behind it.
Jacob then promptly groaned in exasperation as his eyes met the countless wires snaking along the floor behind the fan, some even being made of metal whilst still coiling like little snakes.
This would take a while.
In fact, it would take so long that Jacob wouldn't notice when the television screen showing the animatronics resting peacefully in their positions, ready for their shows tomorrow, spontaneously flickered out.
The man swore as a spark flew from the back of the fan, the sizzling noise having caught him unawares. He held a torch in one hand and fiddled with the circuitry of the fan with the other, vocalising his frustration with the sudden difficulty of his task.
"They could've at least given me an instruction manual for this thing or some shit." He mumbled, flicking a switch in the device's circuit board to no avail.
He would never have admitted it, but he was beginning to feel antsy. Whilst the front half of his office was coated in a more natural blue light, this back half was tinted an unsettling shade of green. It made him think of sickness - of death. Of how truly vulnerable he was in that moment, hunched over with his back turned to any potential assailants.
Not to mention the countless animatronic masks attached to the wall, even in the dark fan chamber.
Jacob figured that the company had just hidden spares all over the building, wanting to avoid the chance of a saboteur ruining their business by destroying all of their animatronics' suit pieces or something. Still, the dead eyes watching him work were exceedingly off-putting.
Shivering slightly, Jacob shook off the cold feeling of dread slowly beginning to settle in his gut and instead opted to focus on making the final adjustments he needed to keep the fan working. It was a stubborn old girl, but eventually the machine gave off an almost content hum of activity as Jacob crossed two wires, the fan slowly beginning to start up again.
Quietly celebrating, the lanky man was quick in weaving through the network of wires and clambering out of the small space, back into the sanctuary that was his office, before flicking the fan's switch once more and reapplying the grate that shielded him from the fan's iron blades. He smiled to himself, watching it steadily pick up speed.
His smile faded, however, upon hearing various sounds coming from deep within the building.
A series of clatters and thumps reached his ears, though he was certain they'd have been nigh-undetectable had the fan been working at full-power. The sounds were of an obvious metallic nature, causing them to echo down the corridors of the large pizzeria.
Jacob raised his eyebrow in intrigue as he continued to listen to the noises, pondering why they were occurring. His first theory was that the building was still settling - it was rather new, after all - but that notion was obliterated as soon as he looked to the TV screens at the front of his office once more.
The quartet of animatronic characters he'd seen earlier on in the night had suddenly been reduced to a trio. His breathing began to hitch as he continued staring, a look of horror adorning his face upon witnessing the remaining robots slowly return his gaze.
*They weren't shut down.*
Jacob wasted no time, his finger stabbing the 'call' button on the outdated phone on his desk as he anxiously eyed the number of his earlier advisor, the digits having remained on the device should he have needed to call the man beyond listening to his simple message.
"Hello? Who is this?" That same voice answered, an obvious drowsiness lacing it. It was then that Jacob realised just how late it was. Who could help him?
"I-It's the new technician, J-Jacob. Er, I have s-something I need to tell you."
"Ah, Jacob! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"The...the animatronics. They're...you promised me they'd be bolted onto their stage."
A long pause followed Jacob's statement. He could hear the man on the other side of the phone take in a few noticeably deep breaths on occasion, as if he were about to say something, before falling infuriatingly silent once again.
Jacob waited impatiently for a response, his fingers frantically drumming the metal control panel that stood beside his desk. He felt like he was stuck in one of those movies with the Xenithmorp alien-thingies he'd watched as a teenager, the office suddenly seeming less comforting and more oppressive. He truly felt isolated from society, the feeling doing very little to calm his nerves.
The voice took another deep breath. Jacob listened intently, praying for an explanation. All he wanted was to hear the voice say, "Oh, that's a perfectly normal occurrence. We've programmed the animatronics to move around to make it easier for you to perform maintenance - they'll go to you instead of the other way around. They couldn't harm a fly, don't worry."
Instead, however, he got a dial tone.
He slammed the phone down with an infuriated yell. Upon doing so, he noticed that the noises abruptly stopped. A dead silence loomed over the building, the only thing breaking it being the hum of the large fan behind Jacob and the man's own short breaths.
Then, after the wait grew unbearable, a plodding noise filled the metal halls. The sound was rhythmic - robotic, even. It followed a pattern, and followed it perfectly.
*Plod. Plod. Plod. Plod.*
And every single sound, without fail, began sounding closer than the one before it, if only slightly.
David's eyes turned to his TV screens once again, his pupils darting across their smooth surfaces in a blind panic. Soon he caught sight of a flash of white, along with two gleaming blue eyes. Looking to another monitor, he then saw that same flash of white and the two blue eyes - though this time it was not just for a fleeting moment.
Funtime Freddy was making his way towards Jacob's office, appearing to be chattering with his wild-eyed Bonnie puppet. The diminutive friend then replied back, its mouth flapping unnaturally - yet no sound escaped either of the pair's muzzles.
Who the fuck installs security cameras with no microphones?
Ominous red lines streaked along various screens on the control panel before Jacob, who gulped at the sight. He began pressing a few buttons on the panel, remembering what his superior had instructed before he'd taken the job, and looked back to the screen to see what effect they had on the ever-advancing ursine on the other side of them.
The sprinklers in the room Freddy was lurking in activated upon Jacob's command, coating the animatronic in a watery sheen. Even still, the liquid did not phase the bear. He simply continued advancing, water pouring down the edges of his top hat and coating his face in cool droplets.
As if to spite Jacob, the animatronic allowed his facial flaps to open up slightly, causing water to relentlessly pour into his inner systems and coat his vulnerable endoskeleton.
It didn't do a thing.
Freddy advanced, his piercing blue eyes staring up into the camera. Into Jacob's own eyes.
Jacob was unsure of what he could do to stop the animatronic, running his hands through his matted hair as he grit his teeth. Freddy passed by yet another camera, nonchalantly making his way through the building at a leisurely pace. He was focused almost entirely on figuring out how to stop Funtime Freddy, to the point where he once again failed to notice the screen showing the remaining trio flicker out before fading back in, a certain fox now missing from the group.
Eventually Jacob was unable to handle the pressure anymore. Practically leaping from his seat, sending it sliding along the floor of the office, he had an idea.
He was quick in taking action, latching his flashlight onto his belt before once again pulling out his screwdriver. Spotting a small ventilation shaft in the corner of the room, Jacob rapidly pulled out the screws bolting it to the tiled wall, yanked off the cover, and clambered inside before pulling the cover up behind him.
He waited with baited breath, hearing the dreaded plodding become louder and louder. He gasped, having seen Freddy peer the large window just below his television screens with a look of malice. Holding his breath, Jacob watched as the bear lumbered through the open doorway leading into his office.
The mammalian robot looked around, seeming slightly disoriented by his absence, before looking to the vent housing the man he was looking for. The animatronic stared blankly at it for a while, Jacob sweating bullets as his heart pounded like a drum within his chest, before his facial plates twitched, the bear looked to his rabbit friend and he turned to leave.
However, at that very moment, fate decided it was in need of some crude entertainment.
Jacob's hand slipped, having been using it to hold himself up in a crawling position form within the vent. His shoulder collided with the metal floor, causing a tremendous *CLANG* to surge through the building as he groaned in pain.
He opened his eyes, having shut them in a grimace.
Freddy was staring directly at him from the doorway, his head having done a full 180-degree turn to face him whilst his body remained facing the wall adjacent to him.
Jacob breathed in sharply, his eyes widening in horror, before he began crawling backwards at a breakneck pace, descending deeper and deeper into the heart of the building through the maze-like system. Freddy's body spun around as he strode across the room towards the vent once more, ripping off the vent cover before peering into the shaft.
Upon meeting Jacob's green eyes with his own shining blue ones, the bear expressionlessly clambered into the vent before almost *slithering* towards his target. The Bonnie puppet snapped its jaws viciously, the accomplice being used to help Freddy crawl through the tunnel-like shaft.
The size of the animatronic caused his shoulders to constantly scrape the edges of the vent, occasionally causing the metal to emit bright sparks that illuminated the bear's blank visage for but a moment.
Jacob set his gaze to stare behind him, into the deep blackness of the vents, to ensure that he didn't come to a dead-end. He didn't dare look ahead of him, and see how Freddy was rapidly gaining ground.
Soon enough, however, Jacob was spurred on by an encouraging sight: a small amount of light seeped in through small holes in one section of tunnel, even when he focused his flashlight on something else. Freedom! Another vent!
It was a straight crawl from where the man was standing. He could make it if he just tried.
He heard Freddy crawl into the same home-stretch as he hit the halfway-mark to his goal, the bear's hulking limbs causing hollow *thuds* to fill the shaft as they propelled him forwards.
He *had* to make it.
Freddy, too, saw the second vent cover - and the sight caused him to begin crawling at inhuman speeds, a terrible *SCREECH* being emitted by his convulsing body as it scraped along the metal surface beneath him.
Jacob scrambled for it, running as a chimpanzee would, thankful for the vent being just big enough to accommodate the change in posture. Falling backwards as he reached the metal grill, the technician desperately kicked at it in an attempt to remove it.
Freddy was a mere foot or two away. He could feel the breeze being caused by the animatronic's scrambling limbs.
One last kick.
The grill flew open.
Funtime Foxy was grasping it, staring into the shaft viciously as the metal was moulded around its hands by the force of its pull.
Jacob screamed in despair, sending another kick Foxy's way before making a last-ditch effort to scramble out of the opening. The animatronic fox was sent reeling, its snout opening up to reveal serrated endoskeleton teeth for but a moment, before recovering as quickly as it could and lunging at the man as he bolted past it.
Foxy's claws nicked the back of Jacob's head, but just barely missed him.
Freddy's head poked out of the vent, the robot having been less than a second away from grabbing the technician before he'd managed to make his escape. The animatronic managed to send a glare - or as close as he could get to one - at Foxy as he clambered out of the claustrophobic shaft, promptly giving chase. Foxy bolted past him, the nimble animatronic being much faster than the round bear.
Jacob's lungs burned in his chest as he ran through various rooms, his eyes scanning every last one for any other animatronics. He just had to get to the elevator. Just get to the elevator.
From somewhere behind him, a voice rang out.
"Where do ye think yer goin', matey?!" The shrill, almost-feminine voice gruffly yelled out, Jacob almost immediately deducing that his pursuer was Funtime Foxy. The canine surged towards him, its paws outstretched. He momentarily stole a glance at the animatronic, his green eyes meeting the fox's golden ones.
*Fast little fucker.*
Upturning chairs in the various rooms he passed in an attempt at slowing the relentless animatronic, Jacob almost failed to notice the lithe form standing in the corner of the dark space he currently ran through.
Flinching away out of reflex, Jacob's eyes widened as a foot wearing a shoe the shape of an arrowhead shot out at where his own head had been mere moments beforehand. The leg's movement was completed within the course of a second, the limb having shot from the shadows like a bullet.
The sudden dodge caused Jacob to lose his footing, his feet simply giving way beneath him as he yelped in shock. Colliding with the floor painfully for the second time that night, the man grunted with pain. His flashlight detached from his belt, clattering along the floor noisily.
Two sets of footsteps - one a gentle pitter-patter, the other a harsh *clunk*, neared his fallen form.
Looking up at the duo, Jacob's eyes widened in a terrible concoction of recognition and fear.
The uncanny ballerina delicately approached him, performing delicate twirls as she walked on her tip-toes. Her unmoving smile remained on her pale face, her eyes still shut tight. Funtime Foxy slowly approached him from behind her, its large tail wagging in sick delight.
The ballerina leaned over Jacob's downed form, his eyes wide and his body frozen in fear.
Some of the flashlight's beam struck her cheek, and the light illuminated the wickedly sharp steel teeth that lay within her grinning maw.
"Welcome to the Funtime Auditorium! Please, make yourself at home." The animatronic said, her voice husky and full of mock-happiness as her mouth stayed completely still.
"Please don't hurt me." Jacob whimpered, unable to form a sentence any longer than four words.
At this both the ballerina and Foxy voiced their amusement, the ballerina giggling delicately as the fox heartily laughed, slapping its knee in mirth. The contact caused the animatronic's thigh to split in two momentarily, before bringing itself back together. Funtime Freddy lumbered through the doorway promptly afterwards, staring down at the helpless human cowering before him and his friends.
"Fine work, you two! See whatchu can achieve with a little teamwork?" The bear commended in a deep Southern drawl, placing some emphasis on his last word whilst giving Foxy a slight stink-eye. The Bonnie puppet perched on his arm violently nodded, its head thrashing about furiously as its arms hung limply at its sides.
His piercing gaze fell upon Jacob.
"Now fer you," The animatronic began, grabbing the technician with his free hand before lifting him up to meet the bear at eye-level. "I think we're gonna be the best of friends, you n' I! C'mon n' enjoy the party, sport!"
His grip tightened on Jacob's neck, and the Bonnie puppet's jaw began rapidly chattering as its teeth gnashed on empty air. Of course, so long as Freddy kept the man suspended in the air, his legs frantically kicking out beneath him as he gasped for oxygen, the puppet wouldn't be chewing nothingness for much longer.
Before the puppet could make mince-meat out of Jacob's skull, however, a fifth presence in the auditorium caused all three of his animatronic tormentors to divert their attention.
Looking in the direction that they were facing, his eyes widened as the fourth member of the band stepped through the doorway and into the room. Even in the waning light of the lights above, Jacob could see her bright red dress and pigtails. Her green eyes studied him intently, her emotion - as tended to be the norm with robots - unreadable.
Freddy immediately marched over to the short animatronic, Jacob still in his grip, before roughly handing him over to the clown-like robot. The girly animatronic analysed the desperately thrashing man for but a moment more, her arm then lightly gripping his shoulder. The contact was a stark contrast to the roughness of Freddy's uncaring hold.
Her unblinking stare put Jacob on edge, a feeling which was not helped by her small grin along with the complete silence that accompanied the moment. The girl's endoskeleton teeth shimmered dangerously from between her permanently-open lips, causing shivers to shoot down Jacob's spine.
Her facial plates twitched, opening one after the other ever-so-slightly before closing once again.
After what felt like an eternity, the speaker on her chest crackled to life.
"Who are you?" She all but whispered, her voice sounding incredibly childlike and high-pitched. It chilled Jacob to the core.
"M-My name is Jacob. I-I'm just a technician, I swear to God." He sputtered in response, raising his hands defensively. The animatronic giggled at his fear, yet her face did not change in any way. She merely continued staring at him.
"My name's Baby." She stated bluntly - though this time her voice sounded far more mature, like that of a young woman. Whilst her childish voice sounded unnervingly human, this new voice sounded completely devoid of emotion. Truly robotic.
"N-Nice to meet you, B-...Baby." Jacob mumbled, the name sounding horribly wrong for some indiscernible reason.
Baby turned her head for a moment, staring at the doorway leading from the auditorium into the control room Jacob had began his night in.
"You want to leave us, don't you?" She asked, her childlike voice back all of a sudden. She was also back to nearly whispering, Jacob having only just heard her question. All the while, she never took her eyes off of the doorway. The man weighed his options.
"I do." He said after a short pause. His hand reached for the wrench on his belt. Gripping it firmly, he waited to see if any of his assailants had seen him grab it.
"We won't let you. We want you to be a part of our family." Baby continued. Jacob felt his gut sink.
*Like fuck that was happening.*
Not another word was exchanged between the human and the machine, Jacob's hand swinging at Baby from his hip as he *thwacked* her in the head with his wrench. The movement caused the robot to lurch to the side, a shrill scream escaping her speakers.
Before Freddy could retaliate, he followed up by driving the tips of the wrench into the bear's eye.
An equally-childish scream escaped his muzzle and Jacob met the ground, the bear having relinquished his grip momentarily.
Taking advantage of the moment whilst subduing his shock at the sudden change in Freddy's voice, the man sprinted at the doorway leading to his office and, subsequently, his only way out of the godforsaken hellhole that was Circus Baby's Pizza World. Neither the ballerina, who had now taken to shrieking grotesquely as she ran for him, nor Funtime Foxy could catch up to him in time.
Jacob bolted through his control room without even sparing it a second glance, knowing exactly where he wanted to go. Within seconds, he caught sight of the elevator. Looking behind him, the animatronics still hadn't made their way into his office. Sprinting down the corridor leading to the set of metallic double-doors that would set him free from his iron prison, the technician risked another glance behind him.
Freddy was at the end of the hallway, but Jacob was already a mere few feet away from the elevator.
Or at least he was, before a steel tendril abruptly shot out in front of him at just-above ground level and tripped him up.
Falling flat on his face one last time, screaming in anger and terror, Jacob attempted to crawl the last foot or so required for him to reach those accursed double-doors.
Of course, it was too late.
The tendril wrapped around his torso - as did another. Then another. And another. Until eventually, Jacob was bound by iron tentacles. The wire-like coils moved and shook, and as Baby and her gang drew near Jacob saw why.
A humanoid head, more humanoid than even the ballerina's, descended from the shadows of the hallway's ceiling. It had been waiting right beside the elevator doors, ready for him to come charging down the corridor without thinking to check for any other animatronics being in the building.
As with its brethren, a split ran down the middle of its head - however beyond that, it had no others. Its jaw was hinged, once again being moulded into the shape of a smile. A bald head hovered just above Jacob's own one, being suspended in the air by its metal tentacles, as its lone red eye sized him up.
Just like the ballerina, this one had jagged endoskeleton teeth resting at the back of its throat.
Jacob dread to think of what it could do with them.
Finally, Baby and her band reached Jacob's violently thrashing form.
"Greetings, friend." The head mounted on a mass of tentacles began, its mouth actually moving - a deeply unsettling twitching of the jaw as it spoke. Its voice was deeply distorted, sounding like a jumbled mess of multiple differing voices all speaking in perfect synchronicity. "Our name is Ennard. From what we have heard, you are Jacob."
Jacob couldn't speak. His lower lip merely trembled, his eyes wide as he regarded the humanoid animatronic with an air of pure terror. Still, that red eye studied him.
At this point, Baby and her three accomplices had merely opted to stand over his tied-up form, watching in intrigue as he violently thrashed about.
"Why do you not wish to join us? You could be so happy here." Ennard continued, its red nose closing in on Jacob's own as the coiling abomination's cracked, almost-porcelain face neared the human's.
"We could be a family." It suggested, false positivity lacing its unnatural voice. The animatronic's ears twitched in an almost animal-like manner, adding to its uncanny appearance.
At its suggestion, a lone tentacle began gently stroking Jacob's cheek.
Jacob tried to think of an excuse. Any excuse at all. But nothing came.
Baby broke off from her group, walking closer to his constricted body before slowly kneeling down.
As she did, Ennard propped Jacob up by forcefully pushing his upper body, leaving him in a seated position.
"Please stay in your seat. The show will begin momentarily."
And with that, Baby delicately grabbed the technician by the neck, pushing him aside so that his back was pressed up against the wall. All the while, Jacob screamed as much as he possibly could.
Ennard's grip loosened on him, the quartet of other animatronics surrounding him. Baby once again reached for him, this time taking his chin, despite his constant screaming for help. Her cold fingers did little to quell Jacob's horror.
His watch beeped at that very moment.
5:55 AM. He'd set it to an alarm so that he knew when to begin packing up to leave.
Jacob cried as Baby's grip tightened, and her animatronic friends closed in on him.
He cried as they all began grasping at the parts of his body that weren't covered by Ennard's ever-tightening tentacles.
He cried as every last one of them giggled like young children, eyeing his flesh as if it were a prize in a county faire. Their faces split open, revealing the unnatural endoskeleton skulls lying beneath.
He stopped crying when Baby's grip on his chin tightened and she broke his jaw effortlessly. From then on, all he could muster were horrified gurgles as his flesh was torn by multiple metal hands, the wet muscle beneath his skin being exposed to the world as their fingers dug in deeper and deeper.
Even his gurgles were soon quelled, devolving into nothingness as his blood pooled onto the floor beneath him.
By the time Circus Baby's Pizza World was once again open and ready for business, there was not a single trace of Jacob even having set foot within the pizzeria. The floors had been thoroughly bleached, his CV had been burnt, and his uniform had been wiped clean of his DNA, ready for use in future.
Ennard chuckled as he hung in a shadow-coated corner of the Circus Gallery, watching disinterestedly as children ran around the room excitedly. They mingled with the now-spotless Baby, the robot having been thoroughly scrubbed of all the blood and viscera coating her by the janitor. The tentacled animatronic swayed from left to right ever-so-slightly, content with their new addition to the Fazbear gang.
"Welcome to the family." Ennard said simply, its facial flaps twitching in delight upon hearing Jacob's voice amongst the many others speaking in unison with it.