Struck Gold

Summary: A historian and his intern find something treasure-worthy at Fazbear's Fright. The place never opened due to an accident with an employee, but holds riches untold for museums. What the two find is… unsettling, to say the least.

Rating: T

Notes: This was made for a contest on the Five Nights at Freddy's subreddit. For readers of my other works, yes, I'm still working on them - this was a side project. Thanks, and please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own Five Nights at Freddy's.

Struck Gold

"This place reeks." The man gave a scowl behind a white surgical mask, Latex-free gloves sticking to his hands in the heat. There was a disgustingly rotten atmosphere to this place, the slime-ridden walls and sparking electrical failures only painting the picture of complete abandonment further.

Dodging a crackling wire popping out of the wall, he turned his head to his companion, a younger woman who's in the middle of her internship for the museum. Bright-eyed and young, she gave off the impression he did half a decade before - fresh and eager to begin her work and make something of herself. And a great companion she had been so far; he was grateful for her presence in the old haunted house they had been assigned to, at least.

"Mr. Banks!" Her whisper nearly made him jump in the eerie building, a hand coming up to press against his chest to calm the wild heartbeats drumming against his ribcage. After he shot a small glare her way, she blinked apologetically and murmured, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You just, like, seemed to be in a trance there. You okay?"

Shaking off the bad feeling this place left him, the man nodded. "Yeah, m'fine. And I told you you don't need to be so formal, Alyssa. Call me Logan."

"Fine, if you're sure, Mr. Ba- I mean, Logan. I know it stinks - literally - but I've heard a lot about this place! I'm sure we'll find something for our setup."

Logan's gaze tracked around the room, taking in the patches of darkness where not even his flashlight could see through. Everything was so… quiet, like this image had been trapped in silence for years; it was reminiscent of an old photograph in a way, a portrait frozen in time. Who knew how many years this place had simply existed - completely untouched, with relics merely sitting here in wait for harvest?

It made him frustrated as a historian; society could be lazy, throwing away goldmines like this place in order to cover up controversies and errors. He'd done his research before they began to explore the place; Fazbear's Fright was supposed to be a horror attraction about fifteen years ago, but had never quite received enough funding to officially open. There were rumors of incidents regarding an employee during his training week, as well, but the company was quick to dispel any hints of questionable practices.

The alleged haunted house was going to be centered around a popular pizzeria and its related real-life murders of children in the 1980s, which were... not the best themes, if Logan had to be frank. But that was probably why he had gotten a degree in historical studies, and not marketing or business; he had no interest in creating controversy, however great the public support tended to be with that sort of thing.

Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, the restaurant in question, had been a hotspot for children almost fifty years ago, sporting fun animatronic characters and deliciously unhealthy pizza. However, besides being a source of terror for five "special" guests - namely, the five children allegedly lured in the back room and killed by a man in a Freddy Fazbear suit - it was generally a very poor company and didn't do well commercially after better businesses came along. The public's opinion of Freddy and the gang went south after the murders and similar incidents - including an employee being mauled by one of the robots.

The whole place was a giant mystery, and Logan was interested in what the dump that was once supposed to be a functional place of entertainment had to offer. It took a lot of convincing - pleading - for his boss to let him scavenge this place, and he had a feeling that their new exhibit on '80s culture had a big part in his permission. Fazbear's Fright, while not built during the specific time period, held relics within itself - possibly dating back to the original restaurant. Anything they could nab would be worth the trip, as far as he was concerned.

Places like this gave him the creeps, but he knew that that was precisely the point. He wouldn't expect somewhere called Fazbear's Fright to be all sunshine and rainbows, after all.

"Hey! Are you coming?" Alyssa's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and he noticed she was much further down the hallway than she'd been before. Shaking his head clear, he forced his attention back to the mission at hand, glancing about for anything of value.

"Keep your eyes peeled," he muttered, holding his breath despite knowing this was all part of the tacky getup of the place. Still, the added neglect to the building and everything inside it didn't do him any favors; if he believed in such things, he'd even wonder if ghosts roamed these halls.

The checkered tiles of the floor cracked in some places, sprouting wilted vegetation. Some small animal bones littered a corner of the room, next to a pile of what looked like either rat droppings or rusted arcade tokens - he couldn't tell in the darkness. Alyssa's flashlight was fixed ahead while his wandered, peeking into crevices in the walls and the scraps of metal littering the floor. What had come through here…?

"Don't go too far," he warned, "just in case there's vermin around."

Alyssa wrinkled her nose. "Ew! Like rats or something?"

"Yeah, like rats… or dead people. Something like that." Logan cracked a dry smirk, watching the blood drain from her face almost immediately. He chuckled, trying to quell his own nerves as he added, "I'm kidding. Relax, this place is supposed to seem scary, but it's all smoke and mirrors."

"Don't joke like that… Seriously, this place is weirding me out. What are we even looking for?"

Poking at a particularly damp spot on the wall below a torn poster of Foxy the pirate, Logan replied, "There should be scraps of animatronics here, or original relics from Fredbear's - hopefully."

She snorted. "Fredbear's?"

"It was the name of the first pizzeria. Not my choice of name, either," Logan sneered in response, "but it had two animatronics - golden versions of Freddy and Bonnie. If we could find those, or even pieces of them… what a goldmine they'd be!"

"But if they're from the original place," Alyssa argued, "those wouldn't fit our '80s exhibit, would they?"

He shrugged. "Who cares? I'm sure we'd be allowed to do a whole new setup with those alone. Imagine it - people would be able to see the origins of such an infamous company. They'd learn all about the history of the place - and set their sights on real artifacts from an earlier time!"

His younger companion placed a gloved finger to her chin in thought. "That's true… I doubt anything would be working, though. The technology back then was advanced, but after years of deterioration…"

"I'm not getting my hopes up, but it's worth a look. Maybe we could restore some of what we find. Now, let's check this place back here - it must be the office." He pointed to a small room able to be seen through a thin glass window, a doorway (noticeably lacking a door) around the corner leading into it. It was much too dusty and dark to see from the outside, though; carefully, shaking hands clutching the flashlight, Logan made his way inside the office, eyes scanning about in the dimness.

"Ugh!" Suddenly, he was grateful he had at least some cover over his nose and mouth, for the whole room smelled absolutely foul. He couldn't even imagine how untouched this place must be, and he didn't really care to do the math to find out.

The small, flickering light danced wildly around the room as he found he couldn't keep a steady grip, his heart practically leaping into his throat. Barely two steps into the office, Logan noted the dark red streaks etched into the tiles of the office floor. In the back of his mind, he knew this was a haunted house, but he couldn't help but wonder for a brief second if that was real blood on the floor. But he shook the thought from his head; that was stupid - this was all pretend. It was make-believe, and no one actually got hurt here. The rumors were made to bring guests in, no doubt, despite this place never going public. It was probably some concoction mixed with ketchup or red food dye an employee splattered all over the floor, like a child making a horror movie.

After staring at the deep crimson marks a bit longer, Logan finally turned his attention to something much more interesting - something that shone in the corner of his eye, towards the ground. As he tried to get his trembling fingers to hold the damn light level and where he wanted it to be, he nearly tripped over what he'd discovered.

Lying in a heap in the middle of the office, propped up against the desk was a rusted, cobweb-infested animatronic.

He could only stare, holding his breath as he blinked dumbfoundedly, almost waiting for the robot to move like he assumed it was programmed to. He stood there, nearly going blue from not relieving his lungs of their held air, his bulging eyes taking in every small detail of the relic they'd discovered.

It was a horrible greenish brownish color, speckled with loose wires and tears in its once-shiny material. Mold grew out of some holes in its head and chest, something pale and purple peeking out from behind the visible parts of the machinery inside. Some of the inward mechanics were entangled on its limbs; what looked like metal springs hung loosely from its lower torso, metal feet rusted through and staining the ground below. Its face sported an etched, nightmare-inducing smile, face sunken in to reveal sharp yellow orbs in its eye sockets.

And the way it was positioned…

Its whole body was limp and slumped against the office's desk like a discarded doll. The animatronic's form seemed less mechanic and more… human than Logan expected. If he hadn't took notice the two rabbit-like ears on top of its head, he'd swear they had discovered a corpse.

In fact, by the churning of his stomach at the mere sight of the contraption, he almost felt as if they had just unearthed a body from some wreckage.

"Wow…" Alyssa's astounded breath came from behind him, but it sounded thousands of miles away. This creature had his attention - it somehow managed to capture and claim all of his natural inquisitiveness that came with his curiosities about history. Suddenly, he found himself kneeling in front of the suit, gloved hands smoothing over the chipped metal and wires, sweat trickling down his forehead.

He continued to poke and prod at the rusted and withered machine, exploring every scratch and crevice in the suit, amazed at how advanced the technology was, considering the time period it originated from. How this thing managed to keep itself together throughout years of wear and tear was beyond him, but he was nothing short of breathless at the pearl they'd found in this dump of an oyster.

It took more than a few moments of sitting there, nails absentmindedly digging at the dirt and dried substances caked into the split paths on the animatronic's limbs, before Logan finally noticed what was showing its ugly face behind the metal - or rather, entwined with the metal.

Once he brought a trembling hand up to flash the light towards the specimen's mouth, he could clearly see the remains of a human being, eyes bugging out wide and mouth wrenched open in an eternal scream.

"I can't believe this!" Alyssa nearly gagged as she inspected the arms of the animatronic suit, two layers of thick gloves to protect her hands from the pieces of meat she was tweezing out of it. This was just plain disgusting, and every last atom of her being didn't want to be doing this - in fact, she could think of hundreds, if not thousands, of alternative horrible things she'd do in a heartbeat over this.

This was torture, plain and simple. This was not how a young intern should be introduced to the 'wonders' and 'excitement' of historic restoration. Digging through an ancient rabbit costume to clear it of human bits was not her idea of a good time. And honestly, she'd be concerned if anyone would want to do this, but still - it didn't mean she had to be the unlucky loser stuck with it!

Why were they having her and Logan do this? Why did she have to start? Why couldn't he just be a good boss and take the work that may subject her to emotional scarring for himself? Why did this day suck so much!?

After they'd found the rabbit - apparently, it was called Spring Bonnie back in the Stone Age years of the first restaurant - Logan had called someone to help bring it back to the museum. When the team arrived, they loaded it onto the truck and grabbed a few other 'souvenirs' from the worn-down building. Their collections would be transported to the museum and taken to the lab, which was precisely where the big fish - or big rabbit - was going.

It wasn't until they returned back with their treasure in hand did Alyssa's ever-so-thoughtful boss decide to tell her that there was a rotten corpse inside the suit.

In order to begin to clean up the suit for exhibit - and yes, they'd somehow gotten approved to put Spring Bonnie in a spot all its own - the remains, naturally, had to be removed. But instead of hiring a forensic team to do the dirty work, the two saps who'd found the suit were stuck with the job.

Sighing, the young woman plucked a rather long piece of stringy cartilage from a hole in the metal arm. She barely could look at dead animals on the side of the road, much less the rotten form of a human being; besides being horrified by the experience, she also realized how inexperienced she was to do this job.

This was just… not fair.

Chewing on her bottom lip behind the surgical mask, she paused in her work, eyeing the small pile of meat piled carefully in her work station. Was this what butchers did for a living? After choking back bile at the sight, she had to step back for a moment, nearly jumping as a weight was pressed into her shoulder.

Letting out a startled cry, she whipped her head around and, upon discovering it was only her inconsiderate boss, instantly flashed Logan a glare. He merely chuckled, inspecting the space in front of her and slowly brought his gaze towards the Spring Bonnie suit lying on the table.

Holding up and waving around what looked to be a wrench of some sort, Logan smiled. "The team grabbed a bunch of stuff from the place, but this baby is gonna be the ticket." Gazing down at the tool as if it were a child, he continued, "It's a hand crank, used to switch this guy between mascot and animatronic mode."

Alyssa blinked, wrinkling her nose at the thought of someone fitting inside something that was meant to standalone as its own piece of technology. It was a weird thought, to say the least.

"Could all of the animatronics do that?" she asked, wondering if kids got confused at which characters were okay to approach and interact with.

"Nah. It was only this fellow, I think, and maybe one or two more. I didn't look that much into the history and mechanics of Freddy's, just the basics. Y'see, Spring Bonnie has two modes - Mascot and Animatronic - and he seems to be stuck in the latter. But with this crank, employees could push back the wires to secure them into spring locks, enabling them to get inside."

"That sounds…" The intern paused to collect her thoughts. "Dangerous."

"Yeah, and the spring locks were sucky, not surprisingly. They snapped back if you even breathed on them! Who let Freddy's actually be an eating establishment?" Chuckling to himself, Logan shook his head and whacked the Spring Bonnie suit with the crank, making a slight clunking sound. "Also explains how this guy died - though I have no idea who he was or why he went in the suit. Obviously he went in after the place closed, or else they'd cover this up just like all the rest."

"The… rest?"

"Never mind." Logan dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "We have to send the remains to the forensic team as soon as possible so they can… do what they do with them, I guess. Maybe they can figure out who this guy was. This crank oughta speed things up."

Delicately, as if the suit was made of glass and would shatter upon the slightest mistouch, Logan flipped it over and placed the hand crank on the back of the suit, sliding it into a clearly marked slot just below the neckline. With a grunt of effort, he turned it, hearing the rusted material forcing itself to move after who-knows-how many years of stillness.

Alyssa had to cover her ears; the noise was like nails on a chalkboard, screeching in a horrid way that just ran chills up her spine - like the desperate, final scream of a dying animal. She grimaced as Logan worked despite the clamor, a completely focused look painted onto his features.

After a few more wretched twists of the clank, the suit opened with a gurgling pop, the torso separating from the head and bottom half. With the sudden action, the springs let go of the flesh they had been imprisoning for years, allowing the man - or what was left of him - to crumble free. Logan had to maneuver the animatronic carefully, so as not to lubricate the springs and re-skewer the man; he gently brought the skull and neck of the corpse out, avoiding looking directly at his extractions as he placed them on the table.

"Don't look at that," he warned, turning back to his work. "Alright, pal, I juuust… let me have that spine, c'mon - ack, I wanna get your… oh, there go your ribs. Okay, okay, no biggie, I can still salvage…" He mumbled to himself as he dug around inside the costume, bringing out pieces of tendons and bones that didn't even look like they once were inside a human being.

"So you're cleaning it out so it can be restored," Alyssa observed, her voice shaky.

"Yeah - as best it can, that is," Logan replied shortly, not even flashing her a glance. "Actually, can you gather what you got and what I have there, and send it off to the lab? They can get a head start while I keep digging around. I don't want to break anything, though, so I have to take my time."

"Sure." Alyssa stood up and collected the parts in a giant basin and successfully avoiding looking at their mess so far. However, upon grabbing something to cover the bin up with, she accidentally got a glance down at the pile of human parts.

Looking up at her was a withered human skull, mummifying pure terror and fear in its agonized expression - and she dropped the basin, splattering the parts all over the floor. Logan cursed distantly, turning back to her to help gather up what she'd dropped, but she could not do anything but stare in horror at the corpse.

It had fallen, but not changed its angle at all; it was still staring back at her with what was left of its gnarled expression - an expression that, she realized, had become eternalized in its remains.

The obsession with his prize only grew.

Barely stopping to rest, Logan continued to dig away at the suit, making sure every crevice was cleaned of any obstructions. It became his personal project, and not long after he had first opened the suit, he had forgotten about why he wanted it in the first place. It was like something extraordinary was cheering him on, willing him to make this animatronic known by all as a part of history.

Perhaps he'd just gone mad from lack of sleep, or he'd simply taken his fascination with history too far, but the man simply did not care. He had to finish this, had to make sure the rabbit was perfect - or his definition of perfect - before it was put on display.

And when it finally met his standards and he had to send it off to professionals to be restored, he nearly sobbed.

But finally, after more weeks than he thought necessary, the suit was returned and placed in the office of the museum, restored to the best of anyone's abilities and in Mascot mode for the time being - though before it could be displayed, the higher-ups at the museum issued that it must be returned to its animatronic form, so as not to cause any accidents with the spring locks.

Alyssa had not been very helpful lately, her face growing paler the longer she was around the suit. He'd even asked her to not bother him anymore, choosing to work alone on the project; he could feel the distance between them, so he decided to cement it and asked her to call him Mr. Banks again, not wanting to be on personal terms with her any longer.

When the animatronic was sent away, he'd noticed the color had returned to her cheeks, but it was quite clear she was still nervous around her job. Logan couldn't really blame her for being frightened; while dealing with relics of the past was common for this type of job, he wasn't surprised digging through something more recent had caught her off-guard.

Freddy's had quite the collection of rumors and campfire horror stories to tell, but whether or not that was true, the presence of them alone was enough to unsettle anyone. The whole museum staff had been particularly nervous around him lately, though he usually just ignored them and continued on his way.

The past few weeks had been so boring, he barely knew what to do with himself. It felt like he'd lived a thousand different lifetimes before his treasure had been returned to him, and he never let it out of his sight once it did.

And Logan continued to stare at the suit placed behind the glass, its new paint job shining a yellow hue reminiscent of vomit. The eternal smile on its face seemed a lot less crooked, the crevices filled with plaster and wood filler, but it was still a wonderfully haunting image that was sure to attract horror fans.

The lab hadn't confirmed the identity of the man they'd found inside the suit yet, probably due to the lack of identifying traits the remains possessed. There were barely any teeth left, making dental records difficult to identify. Logan hadn't heard from them since they'd sent the corpse away about two months ago, anyway, and the status of the body was the least of his concerns.

The Golden Bonnie model had been restored to the best of anyone's abilities without causing it to crumble into pieces, and was ready to be put on display that day. And what an informative and interesting exhibit they had prepared for it!

Logan glanced over at the clock, ignoring the swaying sensations he felt at the movement. Quarter after six. Only three more hours until the museum started to open - only three hours left alone with his discovery. He felt personally responsible for this suit, as it was such an important find, and would surely draw in more public attendance. And the museum hadn't been doing so well in that regard lately, so that made Logan feel more and more like a hero every time he looked at Spring Bonnie.

Pure admiration shone in his eyes, his fingers pressed against the glass separating them. The key to the case was nearby, but that wasn't necessary; it was obviously perfect and ready to be put on display, so there was no need-

"Come here."

"What the…" Logan blinked and turned around, his blurry gaze tracking over the small office room. No one was in the room, but he'd clearly just heard something - unless his mind was playing tricks on him.

"Look."

Look? But look at what? There was only one important thing in this room, after all, and he'd been looking at it. The man spun back around, his gaze locking with Spring Bonnie's as he took a few steps closer, faint laughter echoing in his ears.

There. He caught what his mind - or whoever was talking - was showing him: a smudge. There was such a huge smudge on the front torso, it was amazing he didn't catch it before. The suit couldn't go out in the public like this; it would be like the restoration team had done nothing at all! It just wouldn't reflect back on the museum well, and the thought made Logan's stomach churn.

Thankfully, he still had three hours to make it perfect.

He didn't register anything wrong with the dark voice whispering words to him, or even the slight bending of the animatronic's finger behind the glass, beckoning him closer. Spring Bonnie needed to be perfect for the exhibit; it was asking him to fix it, obviously! And he was the only one who could do it - after all, if it wasn't for Logan, this thing would still be rotting away in the haunted house.

It had to be him.

Key to the case and hand crank in his hands, Logan peered up at his treasure, the wild grin on his face matching the animatronic's.

He would make sure Spring Bonnie was flawless - inside and out.

"Oh shit, shit, shit!" Alyssa cursed, sprinting down the block separating her work and the bus stop. It was 9:15 on the dot, the exact time she should be punched in and ready to go, not just getting off the bus! She wasn't even in her damn uniform yet!

Deciding to blame it on the morning traffic and not her oversleeping due to drinking with friends last night, Alyssa rehearsed the excuse she'd tell her boss all the way up the stairs to the museum and towards the office.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Lo- I mean, Mr. Banks!" she cried as she swung open the door, expecting to see a very irate boss standing there, arms crossed in disappointment. He'd probably complain about her tardiness and how important his animatronic display was; it had been so important, in fact, that she hadn't even been allowed to see it before it was ready to be placed on the floor. She was supposed to help move and set it up when it was finally finished, due to her playing a vital role in its discovery in the first place.

However, no such image greeted her; on the contrary, the office was nearly empty, save for one animatronic suit behind an open glass case. The room smelled as foul as the haunted house, the scent of death and blood wafting over from the display.

"What an awful job they did," she commented, shaking her head. The thing had more paint on it, sure, but it still stunk and still had stringy red flesh peeking out from some holes. Kids weren't going to want to look at this, that was for sure; it was still quite obviously holding a corpse inside, even with the majority of it removed.

The spring locks could be seen through the neck and limb areas, making her huff in frustration. Her boss had said he'd wanted her to see the "pristine condition of the mascot" before he put it back in Animatronic mode, but it looks like he already did that - probably because she was late.

Obviously she wasn't as important to this 'project' as she'd thought. Scowling, she turned her eyes away from it and glanced around for a note or something on Mr. Banks's desk. There were notebook papers with scribbles and doodles of the robotic rabbit, but nothing more - nothing letting her know where he was.

He couldn't be on the floor already, for he had wanted the two of them to deliver it there personally. Well, he couldn't be too far away, but she decided to give him a call anyway. Walking back over to the glass case, she took out her phone and dialed his number, gritting her teeth and making a face at the rabbit as the other line rang on and on, eventually going to voicemail.

The prick didn't even have the decency to put a personalized voicemail message, she couldn't help but think. When the beep sounded, she began her angry message.

"Hey, Mr. Banks - it's Alyssa. I gotta say, I'm so glad you waited for me to arrive to put the suit back in its animatronic state! So glad I'm important enough to see it before it could go out to the public! But I'm just an intern, right? Well, I'll have you know I helped you find it, remember?!"

Letting out a little snarl of annoyance, she kicked her foot into the base of the glass case, watching the whole suit twitch by the vibrations. Narrowing her eyes, she hissed, "By the way, this thing is in crap shape. Did you even have it sent away? It still looks like it's got a dead body inside it!"

Once she shut the phone, she glared up at the withered Spring Bonnie suit, muttering, "You'll never be shown to the public in this state. And y'know what - good riddance."