What do you mean I'm not supposed to be here?" asked Gingerbread "This ah my restaurant."
"Still called Freddy's" said Bonnie under his breath. Or something like that.
"I'm not talking to you guys. I'm talking the human" clarified Orville.
"Oh, okay. Why?" asked Jeremy
"Something about our sentience being a trade secret." said Orville.
"Trade secret?" asked Jeremy to no one in particular "Fine, whatever. It's not like I'm gonna sell this information to Grebel or anything"
"Who's Grebel" asked Gingerbread.
"The closest thing to competition we have. The animatronics she designs are..." Orville paused to hunt the right word "Lackluster"
"I went there once awhile back. It was terrible. The leader was an animatronic named Johnny Hawk. The name was the only remotely thing entertaining thing about him" recalled Jeremy "I don't remember anything else"
"Are we lackluster?" asked Gingerbread worriedly.
"Not from my experience" said Jeremy with a chuckle. The night guard look down at Orville and realized that being on the ground probably wasn't Orville's ideal scenario, so he picked up Orville's detached head, which was lighter than he expected it to be, and placed it on the table
"I've always wanted to see the world outside this room" said Orville "Can someone give me a tour?"
"I got nothing better to do" said Bonnie, hoisting up Orville's head and taking him out of the room, which left Gingerbread and Jeremy alone.
Jeremy, being naturally curious, starting shifting around in Elyse's workroom. A filing cabinet caught Jeremy's eyes.
He quickly went to open it. He was expecting some opposition from the cabinet, but it slid open as if it was oiled recently. "Elyse was never that good at locking things up"
Gingerbread peeked over Jeremy's shoulder as the metal drawer opened silently.
Inside were about eight metallic boxes that were about the size and thickness of a videocassette. It was mainly black on color, with several green buttons in the center. Each object had a label on it that seemed to correspond with something. One said Craig. Another said Marcel. And and so on.
"What the hell?" muttered Jeremy. Gingerbread grabbed one of the personality drives and examined it.
"What are these for?"
—-
Abi Grebel didn't fear Kaiser, but she definitely feared the information he could have. The Fazbears were going to put her out of business. She didn't like dealing with criminals like Kaiser, but her animatronics, once revolutionary, were now primitive lumps of metal.
Her only ace in the hole is Mr. Hippo. Mr. Hippo is a hippopotamus having a purple-colored skin with lavender accents and he has royal blue eyes, a black hat, a flower with red petals and a yellow center, and two black buttons upon his chest.
Mr. Hippo had been with Grebel since the very beginning of her quest to own a successful pizzeria. Very soon afterward, Grebel had constructed another animatronic.
Pigpatch, her country music artist and foodie, is pink in color, with a lighter shade on his snout, inner ears, torso, and on the bottom of his feet. A pink belly button can be seen on his torso, as well a spiral tail on his back. Pigpatch has a different colored pelvis and upper legs, resembling pants. His cheeks are red and he has a right green eye and a left royale blue eye. He carries a brown banjo with tan accents.
Happy Frog, who existed to provide Mr. Hippo with back up vocals and individually teach kids about other cultures, is an lime-colored frog with yellow accents on the jaw, fingertips, stomach and eyelids, she is holding a microphone, magenta colored eyes, a dandelion-colored ball with a rod connected to the head and green shorts.
She didn't like working with criminals, even if Kaiser had evaded the law so far. She feared Kaiser and his crew would fail.
Other than that, Grebel was having a severe moral crisis. Her mechanics entered the room and easily personified why she was shifty.
Her mechanics, similar to Mr. Hippo, had also been with Grebel ever since they had started up. Although, now that Grebel thought about it, she had never seen Macy Micheals or Truman Talbot interact with each other in a non professional way. Grebel wouldn't have trouble believing that Truman and Macy didn't get along outside of work and avoided each other at all costs.
Macy stared at Grebel with a distasteful expression on her face. Macy was a young woman, fresh from her college years (her job at Hippo's Hopping Pizzeria became full time after she was expelled from Fullerton University). While Grebel didn't know for sure, she had to guess that Macy was around half her age, about nineteen or twenty. Her hair reached the base of her neck but not far beyond. She had high cheekbones, bluish-gray eyes and a smile that made you think she had thought of two thousand ways to killing you.
Macy was around 5'4. Her arms and legs were dense, but it was indeterminate, at least to Grebel, if it was fat, muscle or a combination of both.
Her style varied drastically from day to day. Sometimes she wore a cotton, yellow trench-coat over a halter top and ripped jeans. Today, she wore a sundress with strawberries with pink crocs and a lopsided black beret.
Truman looked at Grebel with a look similar to the one on Macy's face, which worried Grebel greatly. The two rarely ever agreed on anything, which is probably the reason why after so many years they've only constructed three animatronics.
Truman was Macy's elder by around a decade. His hair ran wild with no evidence that Truman had ever even attempted to tame it. He had some stubble on him, but it was neither thick nor widespread. His eyes and nose were small but his mouth and smile were large and toothy.
Truman, even without the hair that resembled a lion's mane, topped 6'1. His limbs were skinny but built. He normally donned overalls and a oil splattered white shirt, other than Fridays. Oddly enough, Truman took the tradition of Casual Fridays and flipped it on its head. He wore a sensible business suit with a brown and red tie every Friday.
Truman was far more social with customers and friends then Macy was. He loved starting conversations and learning about the different walks of life in Wrightwood. It was a quiet town but not necessarily a small one. If one were to start a conversation with Macy, she would likely reciprocate, but she wouldn't go out of her way to talk to anyone. At least in Grebel's experience.
"We just read your instructions on Nedd Bear we just wanted to clear things up." explained Truman "Now, are you sure you want him designed, and I'm paraphrasing here, 'as a weapon to kill innocent people'".
Macy rolled her eyes at Truman's bluntness but said nothing.
"Look, you guys know that Fredbear's Diner is back on the scene, right?" asked Grebel. Her two employees nodded. "What if a scandal were to happen there? Another death?"
"Something about this seems illicit" said Truman cautiously.
Macy seesawed her hand. "I mean, whatever we have to do to stay in business"
"I like the way you thing, amiga." said a new voice. A short, skinny, teenage boy dressed in jeans too short for him, a white T-shirt and a leather biker jacket that reached his mid thigh forced himself into the office.
Grebel panicked. Whoever this kid was, he already knew too much. She thought about pulling the pistol on him that she had stashed away in her desk, but she decided against it.
Macy stared at the newcomer with a surprising amount of respect. "So you're the thug we're working with?" she asked.
The teenager looked at Grebel with mock hurt "Is that all I am to you? A thug."
Grebel had an epiphany and realized that the thin teenager she was talking to was somehow the feared and revered Kaiser.
"No, no, of course not? Some wine?" deflected Grebel. Kaiser eyed her then apparently decided it wasn't worth the trouble to pursue that avenue of conversation.
"Root beer" Kaiser said simply.
Grebel internally cringed. Maybe it made sense to assume that Kaiser drank alcohol.
"Okay, I'm lost" said Truman, thankfully breaking the ice. "So this fourteen year old is the kingpin our reputable establishment is getting in bed with?"
"I'm sixteen" Kaiser grumbled.
"But you're so short" said Truman, flabbergasted.
"My mom was like five foot nothing." said Kaiser bitterly "I'm lucky I made it this far"
"So what's your plan?" asked Macy "I know you already have one so spill"
"I asked that the construction of an animatronic resembling Freddy take place. Then, all I gotta do is send a buncha idiots I found hanging around the skatepark and make it look like Freddy killed them. It's quite simple, really."
Truman started to have doubts about assembling Nedd Bear. Unquestionably, Nedd Bear was the weapon that Kaiser intended to use against whatever poor gang he roped into doing this.
"And will I be rewarded?" asked Macy.
Truman elbowed her in the ribcage "You can't seriously be considering this."
Macy elbowed Truman back, harder. "I love this job and I'm not going to lose it. No matter what it takes."
Kaiser's unnervingly relaxed demeanor frightened Grebel. She secretly agreed, or at least sympathized with Truman. Doing this was absurd.
"Looks like you're the deciding vote, Abi." said Kaiser. Grebel flinched at the sound of her first name.
"Finish Nedd Bear" she said grudgingly.
Kaiser grinned "Pleasure doing business" he said. Grebel offered her hand, but Kaiser turned away despite having ample time accept Grebel's offer. "I never got that root beer" said Kaiser as he walked away.
Macy wasted no time in following Kaiser out and heading towards the back room. Kaiser and Macy had some form of history, Grebel knew it.
"I don't think I can do this" said Truman. "Designing something that is almost definitely going to take a life? More than one, actually."
"You'll do it you're fired" said Grebel.
"Are you kidding me? What, does that skinny ass kid run this restaurant now?" yelled Truman.
"Get out of here. Now." said Grebel, her even tone starting to break.
Truman looked at Grebel for any sort of indication that she was joking or not. After finding no such thing, Truman stormed out of her office, shoved Happy Frog over and exited the building.
Kaiser saw it all.
—
Freddy felt nice and rested after his six hour long power nap. The light came back on, and Jeremy, the night guard, left and Ivette, the morning guard, took his place.
Freddy realized that there were four guards that each had rotating shifts. Ivette stayed from six in the morning to noon. Twain stayed from noon to six in evening as the afternoon guard. Freddy had yet to notice an evening guard. Perhaps there wasn't one.
Chica groaned. Even before Elyse's retrofitting, Chica was always a little low energy before seven in the morning. Freddy didn't care much. The breakfast rush started at about a quarter after seven.
Freddy felt a strong yearning to rebel against his programming and try something new. Sing a new song and dance a new dance. "Do you guys feel that urge?" asked Freddy "To try something new?"
"Yeah, kinda" answered Bonnie.
Chica ignored the others and focused on loosening her joints up for the day.
Marionette popped out of their box and waved at the original threesome genially. They turned to organize the plushies for sale in the Prize Corner, then halted when they realized there was no more organizing to be done.
Balloon Boy was nowhere to be seen. Freddy wasn't necessarily concerned with that. He found Balloon Boy's repetitive dialogue to be irritating. Maybe Elyse was doing some repairs.
The entire restaurant was free of patrons so Bonnie and Freddy started a conversation about songwriting.
About fifteen minutes later, Elyse emerged with Balloon Boy. Something seemed a little off with the humanoid robot. The propeller from his hat had been removed and the sign that Freddy had thought was permanently attached to his hand had been removed.
"What's going on there, boss?" asked Freddy.
"Giving Balloon Boy something new to try. Say hello to Tyler."
"Balloon Boy? Is that my stage name?" asked Tyler "That's so fucking stupid. Can you be anymore blunt? Why not something thought provoking? Like Atmosphere Polluter?"
Freddy looked at Elyse for an explanation, but all she could do was shrug. "It's a work in progress"
"Damn right it's a work in progress" said Balloon Boy confidently.
—
Later, during the peak of rush hour, when dozens of kids were running and screaming, Bonnie, Freddy, Foxy and Cha-cha started to call for everyone's attention. It turns out, Ivette, the morning guard, was an excellent songwriter. Hopefully, Freddy thought, Ivette's song went over well.
Gingerbread cautiously wielded a pair of drumsticks while setting behind a set of drums that Jeremy had dropped off earlier.
"We ready, boys?" asked Cha-cha.
Speed and Chica flashed encouraging smiles from the back of the audience.
"I think so" said Freddy.
"Try to hear my voice
You can leave, now it's your choice
Maybe if I fall asleep, I won't breathe right.
Maybe if I leave tonight, I won't come back."
Truman shook his head. He couldn't believe that Grebel would fire him over something that seemed so morally obvious. Truman quietly seethed at a pub outside of Wrightwood. He knew Macy was completely incapable of creating animatronics without his expertise.
"Another!" called Truman. Johnny, the bartender, poured Truman another shot of Jack Daniels and warned him that he was now cut off from any further consumption.
Truman sighed.
"I said it before, I won't say it again
Love is a game to you, it's not pretend
Maybe if I fall asleep, I won't breathe right"
"Uncle Will, I'm home!" called Kaiser.
"Ah, good. There's something I want to show you." said William Afton, Kaiser's guardian and biological uncle.
In the middle of the living room was an animatronic. The thing's facial expression was seemingly static with two small purple cheeks, a large pink nose, two pink eyebrows, a purple cleft chin, and a long row of teeth. It's eyes weren't visible under a pair of sunglasses
He has six legs which resembled the legs of a spider on a round body. His pink and white striped torso contains a speaker (like most of the animatronics Uncle Will created do) with 2 smaller speakers above and below. He also holds a cymbal in each of his hands and wears a black fedora with a white stripe.
"What's his name?" asked Kaiser
"Morris, after your father and my brother-in-law"
"Can nobody hear me?
I've got a lot that's on my mind
I cannot breathe
Can you hear it, too?"
Jeremy didn't expect to find Elyse back in his apartment when he came back from another heavy night of drinking. Or Marionette. Or the two other guards that used the security office, Twain and Ivette.
"We're here because you have a problem" said Elyse "And this is something we should've done long ago"
"What are you talking about?" asked Jeremy, unable to comprehend what Elyse was talking about.
"You're an alcoholic." said Ivette bluntly.
"You kiss and you kiss
And you love and you love
You've got a history list and the rest is above."
Marco and Matteo hoped Kaiser would've shown up so they could put their competition in the ground. However, Marco supposed that Kaiser wasn't called the Emperor of Crime for nothing.
He was too smart.
When the twins, Kirk and Julianna heard footsteps, they spun around and saw a monstrosity. A brown bear with tan accents, he had green eyes that seem to be crossed, a red hat but seem to have had a metal spring between the head and the hat, he has also a long red tie with diagonal, white stripes.
Julianna only had time to say "What the fuck?" before Nedd Bear backhanded her, sending her flying into the skatepark's basin like a rag doll.
"And if you're warm then you can't relate to me
From the floor to the floor
And the sky to the sky
You've got to love and adore and the rest is a lie
And if you're warm, then you can't relate to me
I said it before, I won't say it again
Love is a game to you, let's not pretend
Maybe if I fall asleep, I won't breathe right, right, right
Can nobody hear me?
I've got a lot that's on my mind
I cannot breathe
Can you hear it, too?"
The song finished, and the entirety of the pizzeria was stunned silent, before it exploded with the sound of applause.
Author's note: Please review. It means the world to me. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. Or tell me what I'm doing right. Either or.
"Hear Me" is a song written by and performed by the Imagine Dragons. Neither Bonnie nor I wrote it.
Morris is Music Man.