Micheal could hear his heart pounding out of his chest. That one noise drowned out the drowning of the fan, the clanging of factory pipes and machinery beyond the door of the Private Room, and most importantly, the sound of a killer machine moving through hallways and vents with its primary goal of breaching his safe space.
He knew that signing up for a job in his father's company was the first sign that it wouldn't be the average Joe job, but having murderous animatronics gunning after him was just a tad over the top. And by "a tad", he meant very much of the top. For God's sake, why were they going after him? Did they have something against him? It had something to do with his father, didn't it? It was always something with his father. Why why why did he come back here?!
And now that damn monster was talking to him again. It had been Baby at first, thinking that she could guilt trip him into letting her and her friends in. Pah, did she think that he was stupid enough to fall for that, after the first four nights?!
... Then again, he did take this job in his own free will.
But now...now it was a voice that he had not heard in many years. A voice that made his blood run cold. A voice that had once belonged to his sister.
"Hello?"
He froze.
"Hello?"
No, no, no, that can't be her. That's not her that's not her that's not her-
"Hello?"
That's not her!
His nerves were already set on fire, so the slight sliver of noise to his left caused him to whirl around and slam his palm down on the door button. He caught a glimpse of a metal wire before the door closed completely.
Bastard! How dare he use his sister's voice!
"Everything is okay. I'm still here."
He heard shuffling, and he flipped up the camera to see that it had moved away. Another button push brought the door back up again.
"You have to let me inside the room!"
God, it sounded exactly like his sister. His sweet, yet demanding sister. It sounded and acted exactly like her, and yet it didn't.
"Isn't this why you came here? To be with me again?"
Why he came here? Why did he come here? He was well aware of the risks of being in the proximity of a building associated with the Fazbear franchise, much less working in one. So why did he come here? To make a quick buck? To see what his father has been up to? To see what had become of his sister, whom his father had always refused to talk about.
Well, whatever it was, the alternative would have been sitting on his ass all day and watching crappy soap operas. Maybe his mind was subconsciously finding ways to off him.
"I don't understand!"
Yeah, neither did he.
"I know it was an accident!"
His hand shot up to press the door button, and he could have sworn that he had heard a curse before the door closed completely. Huh. Who know kid-friendly entertainment robots knew swear words?
He flipped up the camera, and the image of the monster's clown face filled the screen. As if it knew he was watching it, it looked up and glared into the screen. "Hello, asshole. First time I see you up close," he mumbled, and clinched when the image turned to static. The next second, it was gone. "I hope it won't become personal."
The door opened, and he resumed listening intensely for murderous-animatronic-clown-robot noises.
"We need you so that we can hide!"
No. No way in hell.
"We need you so that we can leave!"
Go AWAY!
He curled his hand into a fist and punched the left door button, wishing with every fibre of his being that it could have been that freak's face instead. The door closed, and the last thing he had expected was deafening banging and screeching from the other side, causing him to physically jump away from the door and back up until his back was against the wall.
"Just let us in!" the creature screeched, and Micheal could hear the distinct sound of wiry cables scratching frantically at the door. "Do you know what they will do to us if they find us like this? They'll-they'll tear us apart! Don't you understand? This is our only chance!"
He swore that his heart stopped when he heard the door creak ominously. Micheal knew that the doors were built to withstand great pressure, but he somehow doubted that the maker had a seven feet tall animatronic in mind during the process. Damn it, if that monster actually managed to break the door down, there will be nothing standing in the way of it getting whatever it wanted. And what it wanted was his lifeless body.
'Unless... Unless I can find something to defend myself with!' That was his only option at this point. He looked around the office frantically, and the first thing his eyes fell upon was a metre-long metal pipe. It looked pretty rusty, but it was his best chance at survival. He snatched it up and held it up like a club. 'I just need to hit it once. Just one whack the moment it bursts into this room, and run to the elevator.'
The door creaked amidst the monster's howls.
'I can do it. I can do it I can do it I can do it.'
He flipped up the camera, and the percentage of power dropped down to 5% as he watched.
'Anytime now.'
"LET US OUT!"
4%
His heart was beating erratically, and beads of sweat rolled into his stinging eyes.
3%
'I'm not dying. Not today.'
2%
"LET US OUT NOW!"
1%
He braced himself.
...
... Then, the bell rang. The sweet, sweet bell.
He couldn't believe his ears. He shakily flipped up the camera, and right before his eyes, the percentage of power was escalating exponentially.
He survived. He survived! He SURVIVED!
At this point, he would have performed a celebratory jig in the office, but then the sound of a large body colliding with the metal door nearly made him hurl his pipe at it. "Why didn't you let us in? Don't you understand what you have done to us?!" it demanded. Micheal switched the camera views, and he saw the feed of that...thing throwing itself against the door and clawing it desperately like its life depended on it. "If they see us like this, they'll...they'll...!"
Micheal didn't dare approach the door even as it slumped onto its knees, making a noise akin to cry-screaming. But it did bring up a good point; if he brought other, more capable employees here, then they can decommission this freak permanently. There should be some coming down now, if HandyUnit's words were to be trusted. All he had to do was to step out of the Private Room, find some living room and-
The door rattled dangerously. "Please let us out!" it wailed. On camera, he could see the violent trembles going through its frame. "We don't want to die! Please... Please let us leave!"
Micheal slowly shook his head, trying to close his eyes and ears to the pitiful begging. Wait, pitiful? God. Was he actually feeling sorry for that monster? There was no way. That thing had been terrorising him for four days straight, including stuffing him into a springlock suit and dangling him over the cliff of death, and kept trying to break into his office to drag him to the Scooping Room. He was well within his moral rights to beat the crap out of it. He should do it anyway, before it tried to kill anyone else. It was so easy; just one push of the button and a swing of the pipe, and it would be finished. Just...one...push...
Carefully, he stepped forward and pushed the button. The door withdrew, revealing the shivering pile of metal cables in the ground. He already had the pipe ready in his hand, but it didn't attack, or even look up. It just stayed in its hapless position, flinching and whimpering. So this was the advanced piece of technology that his father created, huh?
Great, now his only wall of defence was gone, and that was his own fault. If he had any brain cells to spare after this stressful week, he would be walking out of this place without a backward glance.
But then again, what will they do to it once they find it? They would obviously take it apart, but after that? Will they just ship it back to his father, only to end up with another band of killing machines masquerading as entertainment robots? As much as he didn't want anything to do with Fazbear, there was no way he could let that happen without leaving a black stain on his conscience.
Off in the distance, indistinct voices were drawing near.
"Hrng..."
Gah, looks like he had no choice. "Stay there!" he hissed at the pile of parts. He crossed over to the desk and began pulling out drawers, rapidly shifting through various items. "Come on, it has to be somewhere here... Aha!"
He pulled out several blueprints with a triumphant smile, and he dusted them off. He didn't have the time to read the gibberish on them, but the images of the Circus World animatronics were enough for him. Rolling them up, he stuck it under his jacket and turned back to the lump. It was still shivering and crying (without tears). Pathetic.
"Hey." It didn't respond. "Hey, you!" In a particularly bold move, he poked it with the pipe. The thing stilled, and a baby blue eyes peered up at him warily. "You want to get out of here, right?"
A tense moment later, it nodded.
"Then come on. I'll get you out of here," he said, and extended a hand toward it.
What was he doing?
It stared at his outstretched hand, like it was scared of him instead of the other way round, but it eventually accepted his hand with its wiry one. Micheal pulled it up to its fret and led it out of the Private Room, feeling very much like he was leading a child around. Surprisingly, it remained quiet and docile, but who knew how long that could last?
'Well," he thought miserably as he stared at the open vent, 'if this comes to bite me in the ass, at least I'll die knowing I tried to rebel against my dad one last time.'