Chapter 2: The First Day

Like for his interview, Tails was there early for his first. It wasn't like he had much to do before coming here anyway, he'd just been at home, doing some independent research on the restaurant. It turned out it used to be almost non-existent before the robots. After the company created the animatronics, families and their kids came from all over the country to see the characters perform and have a good time.

Now, its reputation had become almost world famous.

But apparently there had been an incident with one of the robots a few years age, but it was hard to find anything concrete as the restaurant had done quite a bit to smooth it over and cover it up. But what he had gathered was something had happened to one of the kids there and whatever it was, it hadn't done the restaurant any favours.

From there, it was hard to find anything recent.

There were some accounts from people who'd apparently worked there, the same position as him. But they all seemed to be weird stories about what happened after dark. But he dismissed it. He'd just got this job, and he needed it. There was no one there at the restaurant when he got there. Nigel's office was empty and it seemed the cleaners had been by.

He moved to the back of the restaurant and pulled out the recorder.

Nigel had left it him on the main counter, it was supposed to properly explain the job to him. He placed his tool box on the ground and pressed the green play button on the recorder.

"Hello? Is this thing on?" A voice called. "I'm sorry I can't talk to you properly, but I need you to listen. Now, you might think I'm crazy, but I'm not!"

"Sure buddy." He rolled his eyes.

"Management had this other recording for you, but I taped over it. They say nothing's wrong and it's like any normal nine-five, but that's not true! These robots! They're-!"

Tails suddenly turned the recording off as he nervously looked around. A dull clatter got his attention. He jerked in his seat and pulled out his torch. He shone it out into the dark hallway.

"Hello?" He called out. "A-Anyone there?"

He listened carefully but there was nothing but silence. All he heard was the buzzing noise of the machines from around the building. Shrugging it off as his mind playing tricks on him, he knelt down and returned to his work. He was about to go check on the arcades when he paused. He looked up. He'd heard something.

It sounded like it came from the hallway around the corner.

He reached for the torch in his belt and flicked it on. Only an empty hall met his eyes.

"Hello?" He called, starting to grow fearful.

Cautiously, he walked down the hallway. He shone his torch down the right. Nothing. Down the right. Nothing there either. He waited a moment, shrugged and headed back to his tool box. He almost screamed when he turned around. Standing over his abandoned toolbox was a shadowy figure. It was too dark to see who it was and he didn't dare shine his torch at the person.

He silently stepped back into a janitor's closet.

He heard a pair of heavy footsteps walk right passed the door and fade away into another part of the restaurant. His heart felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest. All he had was a cheap taser, he couldn't fight someone. He didn't even know how this person had gotten in. The building was securely locked up.

They used to have a night guard.

But they got rid of that job when they created Shadow. With him and his facial recognition technology, he'd be able to see an intruder in the building before the guard did and be able to silently alert the police. So he was slightly relieved at the thought that the Shadow robot had already called the police and he'd be safe.

But how long would it take them to get here?

That's when he remembered the night security job. They still had the back offices with the monitors and the cameras. If he made it to the office, he's be able to see exactly where the intruder was and if they were armed or not. After listening carefully and poking his head out the door, he was certain the coast was clear.

The office was at the other end of the hall.

He silently speed walked into the office. It was dusty and filled with cobwebs. He saw a few old school monitors that looked barely functional with a few scraps of papers and all food containers. He immediately rushed over to the monitors and almost cried when he saw that the building was still providing power to them.

Taking the camera monitor, he flipped it open.

The footage was statically and in black and white, but he could still make the footage out. The camera moved slowly from side to side, showing him the stage where Sonic, Sonia and Manic stood motionless. Their lifeless eyes stared out at the empty dining area, waiting for the show the very next day. He saw there were buttons that allowed him to switch the cameras.

Right now, the camera pointed at the stage.

Pressing a different button showed him the dining area. He quickly scrolled through the images, getting a quick mental layout before setting it back on the stage. There was no one in the building. He couldn't find anyone in the building. He just assumed that maybe they'd left the building. He knew that by now the Shadow robot had alerted the police, so all he had to do was wait.

Alone, in the empty restaurant.

It was eerie, how quiet the place was now everyone had gone. Nothing but the buzzing of the lights and the sound of Tails's own breathing. There was the brief flicker of static whenever he flipped up the monitor, but nothing else. After waiting for a while, just flicking through the cameras, he decided to check the clock.

He still four more hours to go.

There was still nothing, but as he looking through cameras, he froze. The parts and props room backstage door was swinging open in a slow motion. The fox gulped and switch the camera to that room. Nothing there either. Completely empty. Just a shelves full of parts and items for the animatronics and the staff members.

He examined the room through the camera.

There were spare costume pieces, spare endoskeletons among other things. But there was nothing else here. No intruder, no burglar, no stupid teenagers just having a laugh. Someone must have forgotten to shut it properly. Tails groaned in frustration again. He needed to get himself together. This job could be easy if he stopped jumping at his own freaking shadow all the time.

He needed to get back to his real job and check the machines.

First night and he was already scurrying up. His dad or Nigel weren't going to be impressed by this. His annoyance continued to replace his fear when he realised that he'd forgotten where he'd left his toolbox. He didn't see the need to go wandering around the building by himself when he could just look at the cameras for it.

He flipped the monitor open again and cycled between the cameras for his toolbox.

Nothing in the corridors either side of him. Not in the bathrooms. Not in the dining area. But then he realised something. Something he hadn't really noticed at first. But it filled him with almost a sense of dread that he changed the camera to the one at the stage. Sonia and Manic were present. But Sonic was missing.

The kitsune could feel his heart stop in utter horror.

He was gone. The blue hedgehog was meant to be onstage with the others and he was gone. Tails instantly came to the conclusion that the person who had broken in had stolen it? But he didn't know how had they managed to carry off a ton of metal without Tails hearing them. He almost collapsed when he realised that they must of tried to, but when they realised he was inside, they hid.

They must still be there.

Desperate, Tails went through all the cameras again. He stopped on the one in the parts room. There was Sonic, in the room. He was leaning over the table where some spare parts were. There was no one else with him as he stared directly at the camera. Panic overtook the fox's mind as he slammed the monitor down again.

He wasn't stupid, he now knew that this wasn't some break in.

The blue animatronic had moved, he had moved on his own to that back room. Maybe that had been who Tails had seen before in the dark hall. He'd been stalking with him out. He grew more scared as he thought about the other robots. He was worried that they were the same, that they could move and were hunting him.

Suddenly he heard something coming.

He looked at the monitors and almost screamed when he saw a shadow running fast in his direction. Seconds later, a rough hand grabbed his wrist and a massive thing filled his whole vision. He didn't know what it was that had grabbed him, all he acknowledged was the sound of his own screams echoing throughout the building.

This was it, this was the end of Miles 'Tails' Prower!

As his life started to flash before his eyes, Tails suddenly felt himself go limp in his captor's grip. He started to keel over as his head started swimming and his vision going blurry. He felt something catch him as faded shouting banged around his brain before he blacked out...