Chapter 3: Missing Pieces
"Take a look," Clara said to En as she pointed at Frederick's body which was placed on a metal table with his face and chest opened up revealing the wires and plastic beneath. "See anything unusual?"
Looking at the body, En walked over to Frederick's face and pulled out his left eye with a gloved hand. Examining it, En's brow furrowed.
"This is a false eye, not his real one," En announced, showing it to Clara and Techie.
"Right you are," Clara nodded and held her hand out. "Pay up, Techie."
Groaning, Techie pulled out several dollar bills and put them in Clara's hand.
"Were you guys betting on me?" En asked.
"Yeah," Techie sighed. "I betted that you weren't going to figure out what was wrong with Funtime Freddy, but Clara claimed otherwise."
Surprised, En turned to Clara.
"Only because I figured you might know more about Animatronic parts than us, being one yourself," Clara responded bluntly.
"I see." Looking at the glass eye again, En said, "Any idea how old Frederick was?"
"Definitely on his last year," Techie stated. "So even if you weren't able to 'dismantle' him, he would've died anyway."
"Then was he one of the first Funtime Models?"
"Probably," Techie shrugged. "I scanned the eye to see who manufactured it, but couldn't find anything solid."
"Show me."
Taking the eye from En, Techie went over to an electronic scanner and placed it underneath. A blue light flashed and an image of the eye appeared on the screen above the scanner. Pressing buttons beneath the screen, En adjusted the image till he noticed something. Then he took a piece of paper, placed it against the fake eye, and used a pen to trace the thing he saw. Next, he used the scanner to take a picture of the paper and used the buttons to zoom in on the tracing.
"Well, I'll be damned," Clara remarked as she looked at the image which showed fragments of a word. "I think that spells out 'Afton Robotics.'"
"That's what I was thinking too," En concurred.
While Techie scuffed, Clara glared at him and then turned back to En. "Some of the other Animatronics that were 'dismantled' had eyes missing from them, too. And they were also on their sixth year."
"Odd," En replied.
"But that's not all," Techie added. "I discovered that some of the parts from those Animatronics, such as Freddy's arms, were relatively newer than the rest."
"So what does that mean?" En didn't quite follow the logic of Techie's statement.
"We're not sure," Clara shook her head. "But you are going to find out for us."
"How?"
Clara grumbled. "Go to Afton Robotics main headquarters, check the manufacturing dates, and see if you can find out why some of the parts had to be replaced."
"And why is this a big deal?"
"Because if Afton Robotics is replacing Animatronic parts to make them last longer, that could be problematic for a number of reasons."
"Very well," En nodded. "I'll see what I can uncover."
"Good, and report to me when you find something of interest."
###
The next morning, which was no less bleak or rainy than the previous day, En set off for the Afton Robotics headquarters. It was a giant building shaped like a circus tent with a holographic 'A' curved into an 'R' hovering above along with the four main Funtime Animatronics.
"Hey, it's me!" Babe shouted, appearing next to En and pointing at the Animatronic that looked exactly like her.
"That's Baby," En answered. "Circus Baby, to be exact."
Babe scuffed. "Maybe you have a secret fetish for her, and that's why I'm here."
"I don't think that's—
"Who are you talking to?" said a voice coming from the entrance to the building.
En looked closer and saw a girl who stood a foot shorter than he. She had short white hair, yellow eyes, wore a white dress-shirt underneath a pink vest, white slacks and shoes, and a red bow-tie. Her head was covered by a pink mod cap, her hands were covered by pink fingerless gloves, and a white bushy tail trailed behind her back.
"No one," En responded, walking up to the girl. "Aren't you Funtime Foxy?"
The girl frowned. "I prefer being called Foxx Vulpine. That's what my creator calls me."
"Your creator? You mean—
"Mister Afton," Foxx interrupted. "What business do you have with him?"
"Actually, I came to see your manufacturing records."
Foxx blinked. "For what reason?"
"I'm working on a case," En replied, pulling out his police badge.
"Oh, I see." Foxx turned back to the entrance. "I'll show you where they are."
###
"After the blackout, almost all of our records on Animatronics were erased and or damaged," Foxx told En as they walked past rows of filing cabinets. "Even the Fazbear Entertainment ones weren't completely spared."
En raised an eyebrow. "You keep those as well?"
"My creator likes to collect things, no matter how worthless the item may be."
Stopping in front of one cabinet, Foxx took out a special key and unlocked it. She pulled out a small black flash-drive.
"What's on that?" En asked.
"Just some security footage from Fred Bernstein's house," Foxx answered. "Though the footage isn't great and the audio is messed up."
Before En could say anything, Foxx plugged the flash-drive into a wall computer and pressed a button. Indeed, the footage was static-ridden and the audio couldn't be heard in some parts though a few interesting bits of conversation came up.
"If you knew someone was murdered…would you report it to the police or keep quiet?" asked a male voice that sounded a little older than En.
After a pause, a female voice responded. "I'd call the police."
"Do you call a repairman to fix it…"
"I would keep working…"
"She's clearly goading him on, thinking she can outsmart him," En observed.
Foxx folded her arms. "He's subjecting her to the Fazbear Policy Test, which Hook Runners used to tell Animatronics apart from humans."
"Now we just scan their eyes," responded En.
"Amazing, she's an Animatronic," the male voice said, sounding genuinely surprised.
"We do that with all our Animatronics, Mister Schmidt," replied another male voice that sounded older than the first.
"That's Fred Bernstein," Foxx explained. "He clearly knew the woman-in-question was an Animatronic all along, but wanted to see if this Hook Runner could tell that."
"You clearly spend a lot of time here," En noticed.
"I get bored when Mister Afton doesn't send me on his 'special' missions," Foxx responded.
"So you don't entertain the kids with Funtime Freddy?"
"I'm not too fond of kids."
"Sounds like something a renegade Animatronic would say."
Flustered, Foxx unplugged the flash-drive and put it back in the file cabinet before walking away. "The manufacturing records are this way."
To be continued…