ADVISORY: This chapter contains graphic violence and a huge drop on the Cerebus Rollercoaster.
Chapter Six: Facial Recognition
Mike had decided to search the desk drawers in the office, pulling out an array of different objects as Freddy decided to explore the restaurant some more. There were a few souvenirs from when the restaurant was in business, such as little plush dolls of the Toy versions of Chica and Freddy, as well as those same dolls for what would become Foxy and Bonnie. There was one doll that puzzled him, one of a yellow Freddy. It had been buried deep down in the drawer where the little prizes were stored, and Mike took a small delight in lining them up on the desktop. The yellow Freddy seemed out of place, so he turned it around to stare towards the hallway.
As the night guard pulled out a creepily familiar cupcake toy, he failed to notice the entrance of a small animatronic.
"Hi!" a cheery voice said from directly next to Mike.
The guard gave out a shout of surprise and whirled around to face the source. It was a small, round humanoid animatronic, wearing a red and blue striped shirt, matching propeller cap, blue pants and brown shoes. He was holding a striped balloon in his right hand and a sign cheerfully promoting "Balloons!" in his left.
"Uh… hi," Mike greeted awkwardly.
"I'm Balloon Boy, but most people call me BB! What's your name?" the small animatronic asked.
Mike rolled the chair slightly backwards, not trusting this animatronic.
"I'm Mike," Mike replied simply, "The, uh, night guard."
BB's eyes and grin widened.
"Night guard? Alright! We haven't had a night guard since Jeremy worked here. He was nice, but he wouldn't let me touch the glowy thing or his flashlight. Can I touch your glowy thing?" BB asked innocently.
Mike subtly put the tablet in the drawer.
"I don't have a 'glowy thing'," he lied, "Or a flashlight."
BB visibly deflated.
"Oh," he said sadly, but then perked up immediately, "Do you want a balloon? I got lots of balloons!" A drawer slid out of his chest to illustrate this point.
Mike rubbed his face, already sick of BB being here.
"Will it make you go away?" he asked, "Don't you have something to do?"
BB shook his head, smile still plastered on his face.
"Nope! Marion says that I can be a 'nuisance' sometimes, whatever that means," BB explained, "Oh, right, Marion! Oh, I gotta tell him you're here, he loves meeting the night guards!"
With that, the small robot dashed out of the room, leaving the balloon he had brought to float up and bump into the ceiling. Mike sighed in relief, but a thought soon struck him. If that robot was active, then the others could be active too. He quickly pulled the camera tablet back out again.
"Bonnie? Chica? Foxy?" Freddy called out, trying to find his friends.
"Over here!" he heard Bonnie shout, and followed the voice to the Show Stage. To the bear's surprise, the other animatronics had activated, and had swarmed Bonnie and Chica. Chica was currently talking to the blue Bonnie.
"So let me get this straight: you're a guy?" Chica asked. Bonnie nodded.
"Yup! Don't worry, I get it a lot. Everyone always assumes that I'm a girl because of my name and all that, but usually the owner explains that I'm actually a he, and it gets straightened out in the end," Toy Bonnie explained casually, "So who's this Mike guy you were talking about?"
"Oh… He's a friend of ours," Bonnie answered vaguely, hoping the blue rabbit would take the hint. He didn't.
"Friend? I love new friends! Can I meet him? Pleeeeaaassseee?" Bonnie begged. Mangle had crawled up on the ceiling, hanging down into the conversation.
"I want to meet him too. He sounds nice!" she said. Toy Chica giggled.
"You don't know anything besides his name, silly!" she said. Chica inwardly groaned at the mannerisms of her counterpart, feeling embarrassed despite the fact they were two separate characters.
"I'm not so sure that would be the best thing to do right now. He's… sensitive to animatronics," Freddy explained, making himself known to the new animatronics for the first time. Toy Freddy looked at the bear with genuine delight.
"You're back too!" he said, and grabbed him in the world's most literal bear hug. Freddy chuckled and patted Toy Freddy on the back.
"Yes, yes I am," he replied calmly, bemused smile on his face, "I take it we've been here before?"
"You were built here, buddy!" Toy Freddy explained in his goofy voice, "But then you went and plumb disappeared, and we thought we'd never see you again!"
"Now all we have left to meet is your friend Mike!" Toy Chica said, "Where is he? Outside? Isn't it cold at night? I don't want him to be cold! Is he in the bathroom? I've never been in there, what happens there, exactly? Oh! Is he in-." Chica clamped a hand over her counterpart's beak.
"Do me a favor?" she asked.
Toy Chica nodded, not wanting to speak while her beak was obstructed. Chica leaned in.
"Shut up," she said, and let go of Toy Chica's beak, who looked at Chica confused as she rubbed her beak to make sure it was still in place.
At that moment, Balloon Boy wandered in, heading for the Prize Corner to see if Marion was awake. He gave a cheer of surprise upon seeing Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy.
"Guys! You're back!" he exclaimed, then gasped, "I gotta make more balloons!"
The small animatronic hurriedly extended his drawer and attached a brown balloon to the valve in his mouth, quickly inflating it. Freddy chuckled.
"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," he said kindly, "We were actually hoping to learn about what happened here."
"Oh!" BB said, and released the balloon, which rocketed around the room as helium spurted out with a pfft! BB laughed at the sight, and then remembered why he was there.
"Is Marion awake? I want him to meet the new guy!" BB said excitedly.
Toy Bonnie leaned forward with interest.
"New guy?" he asked. BB nodded.
"Yeah! His name's Mike and he's kinda nice, I guess. He went into that office thingy, at the end of the hall," BB explained, pointing towards the way he came from.
"Ah hah! So that's where he is! C'mon guys!" Toy Freddy ordered, and lead Toy Chica, Toy Bonnie, and Mangle towards the Security Office. Chica moved in front to block them.
"Uh… Maybe we should all go together?" she suggested. Foxy stepped next to her, nodding in agreement.
"Aye, tha' would be best, we'll introduce ya," Foxy said. The Toy animatronics nodded, not caring one way or the other. Foxy and Chica exchanged a glance then continued towards the office, Freddy and Bonnie following behind.
Mike watched the animatronics, both Toy and Normal, interact with each other, noting the large amount of hugging that occurred.
It's almost like they remember each other, Mike thought, Or they're really friendly. Either way, better than what usually happens to us.
Mike then noticed the group start heading towards the Office, and reflexively became nervous. He wasn't sure how the Toys would react to a human, since he had learned from before that people were perceived very differently by Fazbear animatronics.
Chica and Foxy were leading the way, trying to give Mike some comforting smiles, but even they looked nervous. It seemed to be going well, until Toy Bonnie made full eye contact. The jovial green eyes suddenly darkened, little LED pinpricks replacing it, and the smile dropped from his face.
"Hey!" he said, voice losing the happy quality, "Get away from our kids!"
Mike gulped, incredibly confused. Chica and Foxy turned, confused as well. The other Toy animatronics changed one by one, eyes turning black.
"I thought I told you to leave!" Toy Bonnie screeched, and lunged forward towards Mike. He was stopped in mid-air by Foxy, who forcibly knocked him to the ground. He screeched in surprise, and looked up at Foxy, eyes green again.
"What? Did I run into you? Gosh, I'm sorry," he said, "Are you okay? I-," Toy Bonnie looked at Mike again, and his eyes turned black again.
"Hey!" he ordered once more, "Get away from our kids! Predator!"
Toy Bonnie lunged forward again and Foxy blocked him, overpowering the smaller animatronic.
"Mike! Tha mask!" Foxy said as the other Toy animatronics (and Mangle) began advancing as well, being held back by Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica. Mike quickly donned the Freddy head and sat tensed up to run. The Toy animatronics kept advancing.
"They saw him do it! Quick, break eye contact!" Freddy ordered, and they each pulled a Toy animatronic to the ground, forcing them to look at them. Their eyes immediately returned to normal, and they looked up, confused.
"What happened? Did I fall? Goodness, I'm so clumsy," Toy Freddy said, getting up from under Freddy.
"Ouch!" Toy Chica said, "I'm sorry Bonnie!" Bonnie helped Toy Chica stand up.
"Byzzrt," Mangle said apologetically, untangling herself from Chica and climbing back onto the ceiling. Mike watched her, terrified.
"Did I run into you again?" Toy Bonnie asked Foxy, who hoisted the rabbit to his feet, "I don't know what's wrong with me tonight. You're not mad, are you?"
Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy all exchanged a nervous glance. Mike sat in silent fear, starting to sweat profusely underneath the Freddy head. Toy Chica noticed him. Her eyes remained normal.
"Hi! You must be Mike!" she greeted with a wave, "Are you related to Freddy? You have his face!"
"Uhhh…" Mike said, voice heavily muffled by the mask, "Sure… Yup…"
The Toy animatronics excitedly introduced themselves, practically climbing over each other (in Mangle's case, quite literally) to meet the quivering night guard. Toy Bonnie leaned over the desk with an outstretched paw.
"Hey new friend! I'm Bonnie, just like that Bonnie," Toy Bonnie said, pointing to Bonnie, "But I'm blue, not purple! Are you going to work here? You look like that one other guy that looked like Freddy. He was here a lot, but then he left. Wonder what happened to him…"
Toy Bonnie stared off into space, remembering, before realizing he hadn't shook Mike's hand yet, and did so with a surprising degree of gentleness. The blue rabbit then stepped aside so Toy Chica could get her turn. She waved.
"Hi Mike! I'm Chica, just like that Chica, only not as fat!" she said, oblivious to the insult. Chica shot a glare that the other chicken couldn't see. Mike awkwardly shook hands with Toy Chica, and the plastic chicken joined Toy Bonnie off to the side allowing Toy Freddy to approach.
"Hey there, buddy!" Toy Freddy greeted in his goofy voice, "I'm Freddy Fazbear, nice to meet'cha!" He grabbed Mike's hand in a firm handshake, nearly pulling the guard's arm out of its socket as the bear enthusiastically shook.
"Hello…" Mike replied nervously. Toy Freddy just beamed before stepping aside.
At first, Mike couldn't see anyone standing behind him, until a pink and white fox head dropped into his restricted view upside-down, grinning widely with a mouth of sharp teeth.
"Tzzyrrtyxxxxzzt!" it said, voice just a mess of static and what almost sounded like radio frequencies. Mike stared, disturbed by how torn apart Mangle was. Toy Bonnie stepped forward as the silence continued, Mangle hanging down expectedly.
"That's Mangle, and she says hello!" Toy Bonnie translated, "Don't worry about it, her voice box doesn't work right so she's hard to understand." Mangle nodded in confirmation, and leaned closer, snout bumping into the Freddy mask, single glowing eye filling most of Mike's restricted vision.
"Gyzzrtxxyrtzz?" she asked, blinking her one eye. Mike looked at Toy Bonnie for help.
"She's asking what's behind your face," Toy Bonnie translated, "Hey, that's not nice!"
Mangle garbled apologetically and crawled back into the hallway, watching Mike from a distance with an unblinking stare. The guard gulped audibly.
Then, a commanding voice rang out from the end of the hall.
"What is going on here?"
"What is going on here?" Marion asked, dangling from his track. Mangle turned to look at the puppet.
"Zzzyrrxxt," she explained.
"What?" Marion asked.
"She says that the others are back!" BB translated, having followed Marion after waking him up. Marion froze.
What!? No! How did they get here? he thought, panicked. He kept his outside demeanor calm.
"Oh really?" he asked, seeming almost bored by the news. He looked at the other animatronics.
"So they are!" Marion said, "It's good to see you again! And you've brought a new companion with you!" Freddy, Chica, Foxy, Bonnie, and Mike all stared at the puppet, never having seen anything like it before. Marion waited expectantly for one of them to say something, and when nothing came, continued.
"Why don't you all go to the Game Area and catch up?" Marion suggested, "I'd like to talk with our new friend here for a moment. Surely you don't mind?"
Freddy and the other Normal animatronics exchanged a nervous look.
"I'm no' so sure-," Foxy began, but Mangle interrupted him.
"Gyrzzrt, byzrrtMarionkkzzzxxrt," she explained. Foxy paused.
"Oh. If he be in charge…" Foxy said, "Best no' make him mad, aye?"
The other animatronics reluctantly agreed, and allowed themselves to be lead out of the Security Office by their Toy counterparts. Marion and Mike, still wearing the mask, watched them go. Once they disappeared from sight, Marion turned back to Mike, going to hang over the desk.
"You can take off the mask, I know you're a human," Marion told him. After a short pause, Mike complied, wiping away sweat with his forearm. The puppet leaned in close, causing Mike to shrink back into his chair.
"Listen to me, you have to get out of here, now!" Marion said. Mike's eyes widened, surprised.
"What? Why?" he asked.
"Isn't it obvious? You're in danger, the animatronics here have a facial recognition system linked up to an old criminal database," Marion explained. Mike furrowed his brow.
"I don't understand. I'm not a criminal," he pointed out. Marion sighed.
"Something went wrong with it, it glitches out, gives false positives," the puppet explained, "They attack people at random, not stopping until they're either dead or out of the restaurant. The mask is a good barrier, but the more you use it the more likely they are to see past it. And now that they know where you are, expect them to frequent the office more often.
"Actually, now that I think about it, we can't risk these guys getting outside either," Marion suddenly said, "Just try and last until six, they-we all charge in the morning. There are a bunch of messages recorded on the phone. Listen to them, it'll help you keep them away. Just make it to the morning, then get out."
Marion turned and began to wheel himself out of the office. Mike stood up.
"Wait! Why are you helping me?" he asked. Marion turned around.
"Because I can't let someone die again," he answered, and headed back towards the Prize Corner.
As Mike began playing the phone messages while keeping a watchful eye on the animatronics, Goldie snuck up to the side entrance. He needed to talk to Marion, and demand another favor to keep his hobby going. A yellow paw froze as it reached for the doorknob, finding the door ajar. He nudged it open and ducked his head inside.
Finding nothing, he slowly crept into the hall, closing the door behind him and locking it. Not wanting to get caught by whoever had broken in, the yellow bear hid in Parts and Service.
Foxy was starting to bore of the Game Area. There just wasn't much to do there. Catching up with the Toy animatronics had been a one-sided conversation as they hadn't even been fully built while they were in the restaurant. He could have watched BB demonstrate his balloon making ability, but at the end of the day balloons just weren't that exciting. Foxy felt his pirate thirst of adventure begin to show. He wanted to explore more.
The fox wandered over to the Prize Corner, seeing Marion winding a sort of music box. The puppet nodded at him, watched the pirate for a few seconds, then resumed winding the crank. Foxy nodded in return and kept walking, looking for something remotely interesting. Movement in the corner of his eye provided this, and quickly turning his head Foxy could see a door close with a clack. The sign on the door read "Parts and Service."
Instantly curious, the pirate lowered in eye patch and opened the door cautiously, wondering who else was inside. It was quite possible one of the others had headed this way, but a part of Foxy told him to be wary. The inside was dark, predictably, but as the night vision adjusted, Foxy could make out a very familiar yellow bear. The memory came flooding back of a yellow Freddy pulling five children along behind him, heading for the Backstage as the others watched, unconcerned. They had learned the truth later, and vowed to never let another animatronic into the restaurant. And they remembered this one.
"Hey!" Foxy called out, "I remember ye!"
The bear looked up in surprise, and backed away, hands raised up at chest level.
"What the? You're not an animatronic here," the bear observed in a deep voice. Foxy nodded, taking a step forward.
"Aye, I'm no'. Ye go' us in a lo' o' trouble, Yella," Foxy said.
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," the bear replied, continuing to inch backwards. Foxy advanced more.
"Aye, I remember ye… Yer the reason we attacked our night guards! Yer the reason we had all tha trouble in tha first place!" Foxy accused, connecting the dots in his head. It all made sense; all of the restaurant's troubles started with the yellow Freddy's appearance. By now, Golden Freddy had backed into an array of shelving, cornered. Foxy raised his hook.
"Well, looks like I can avenge fer tha strife ye caused us," he said. Golden began reaching behind his back.
"Come now, I'm sure we can come to an agreement!" Goldie shouted the last word and pulled a cattle prod out from behind him, thrusting it into Foxy. The first jab buried itself in Foxy's suit harmlessly, and the fox quickly recoiled backward. Goldie lunged again, with Foxy narrowly dodging and tackling the bear to the ground, widening the tears in his suit and losing the covering on his left ear. The prod fell out of the bear's hands and he let out a shout as he hit the ground.
Foxy was surprised how easily the bear was overpowered, but the victory was short lived when Goldie managed to recover the prod and shove it, end crackling with electricity, through one of the tears in the pirate's suit. Sparks flew from the contact site, overloading Foxy's systems, triggering the failsafe. The fox's eyes dimmed, and he froze, falling off to the side. Goldie stood up, dusting himself off and looking at the cattle prod.
"I knew that was a good investment, now let's see if we can fix that attitude problem," he said to himself, and wheeled out the programming computer. Fritz Smith, the guard who got fired immediately for tampering with the animatronics, was a technological prodigy and had left the script altering program he created loaded into the device.
Goldie opened up the back of the fallen fox's head, plugging in the upload cable and scanning through the data, using the program to simplify things. Awkwardly typing with his large fingers, the bear covered up the self-written disabling of the "Guard Dog" program and removing his description as part of the triggers, then adding an absolute command program. He disconnected the computer.
"That ought to do it," he said, and powered Foxy back on. The pirate's eyes flickered, and he shook his head, the hastily added program creating conflicts. He turned to Goldie.
"I don' be feelin' righ'," Foxy said, "Who are ye?"
Perfect, Goldie thought.
"I'm a friend," Goldie replied, "Now can you help me out? I need you to bring the others you came with. By any means necessary."
Foxy twitched, eyes flickering again as more conflicts arose, but eventually he nodded, and headed out of Parts and Service.
The first animatronic he ran into was Bonnie, and a spasm shot through him as Goldie's request took precedence. Bonnie noticed.
"Foxy? You okay?" she asked, concerned. Foxy didn't reply, and instead shot out his good hand and grabbed Bonnie by the wrist, dragging her towards Parts and Service.
"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked nervously, starting to pull away. Foxy pulled harder, opening the door and forcing her inside. The rabbit spun around and saw Goldie standing with the cattle prod.
"You!" she said, and tried to back away, yanking her hand away and leaving Foxy clutching the suit covering that tore free. Bonnie paid no mind as she tried to push past Foxy, now fully aware something was wrong.
"Restrain her!" Goldie ordered, and after a long pause Foxy complied, trying to grab Bonnie with both hands. She dodged backwards, but Foxy's hook wound up lodged in the side of her head. For a brief second, Foxy's face bore an expression of complete shock, but his eyes flickered again and his face became determined. He began to try and pry his hook out, severing many of the pieces of Bonnie's suit and skull.
With a loud tearing sound and an explosion of sparks, the hook came free, taking Bonnie's face with it. Goldie seized this opportunity and jabbed the rabbit with the prod, electrocuting her and activating her failsafe as well. Bonnie fell to the floor face first with a crash. Foxy studied her, expression changing rapidly from horror to neutrality, before settling on the latter.
Goldie quickly loaded the same "fix" he constructed onto Bonnie, then reactivating her.
"Oooh, I don't feel so good," she said, pieces of her exposed endoskeleton moving randomly. Her LED eyes flickered, and she looked at Goldie.
"Go grab one of the others. Only two more now," Goldie ordered, prepping the cart and prod for the next victim.
Chica managed to finally get away from her Toy counterpart, who refused to leave her alone, by hiding out near the restrooms. She imitated a sigh of relief.
"Gosh she's annoying," Chica groaned, and sat appreciating the quiet. She saw Foxy round the corner and lock eyes with her, his yellow flickering as his head twitched. Chica frowned.
"Hey Foxy, you okay?" she asked. Foxy froze before slowly shaking his head, jerking left and right. Chica's jaw dropped when Bonnie went around as well, and muffled a shout.
The purple rabbit's entire face was gone, just a dark space from which her red LED eyes shone out of. The suit's lower teeth were still present, but that was it.
"Bonnie! What happened?" Chica asked, rushing to her friend's aid. She was surprised when Bonnie grabbed her and started dragging her towards the main room. She pulled out of her grip.
"What's gotten into you?" Chica demanded, and felt Foxy forcefully grab her shoulder and shove her towards Bonnie. Chica struggled to pull away, but proved to no avail as she was grabbed by each arm by Bonnie and Foxy and dragged towards Parts and Service.
As soon as the door was opened and Chica saw Goldie standing in the middle of the room, the chicken immediately began putting up a fight. She dug her heels into the floor and kicked out as hard as she could, temporarily shaking off Bonnie and Foxy. Chica locked eyes with Goldie's empty sockets.
"You!" she screeched, and went to lunge at him, but was caught by Foxy and Bonnie. Chica growled, and kept trying to get Goldie, pulling hard against Foxy and Bonnie's grip. Foxy and Bonnie pulled back. This violent tug of war ended with the sound of grinding metal and tearing fabric as Chica's arms were torn off at the elbow joint.
The chicken paid no mind, focused entirely on the yellow bear in front of her. She lunged at him again, severed arms forced out in front of her. Goldie managed to dodge out of the way and Chica landed face first onto the wall, damaging her beak as she couldn't catch herself with her arms. The cattle prod came shortly afterward, and Chica tried to hold on as long as possible, but her failsafe overrode her intentions and shut her down to avoid permanent CPU damage. Goldie hooked up the computer.
"Only one more left," he said. Bonnie and Foxy twitched, Foxy's expression changing in an endless loop. Chica came online again after a few minutes, and the three reprogrammed animatronics strode back out into the restaurant.
Freddy had noticed the odd disappearance of Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, and was on edge. The Toy animatronics tried to comfort him, assuring the bear that everything was fine and that they were just exploring. The band leader didn't agree with them, and wasn't surprised when Chica found him and he saw she was damaged.
"Oh no," he said simply, "I knew something was wrong." Freddy watched sadly as Foxy and Bonnie met up with Chica, wordlessly acknowledging his presence. Bonnie and Foxy grabbed him and started pulling him towards Parts and Service, while the Toy animatronics looked on, incredibly confused.
Freddy shook off his friends-turned-captors and opened the door to Parts and Service himself. He was greeted by Golden Freddy. Anger built up within Freddy as he saw his yellow counterpart.
"We meet again," Freddy said. Goldie nodded.
"We certainly do," Goldie replied, and nodded to the others. Foxy and Bonnie grabbed Freddy by each arm while Chica blocked the doorway. Freddy looked at them sadly, then turned back to Goldie, face full of defiance.
"Go ahead. I'm not fighting my family," Freddy said, and stayed still as Goldie jabbed him with the prod, disabling him. A few minutes later, and the leader was back on his feet, freshly reprogrammed.
"Who brought you here?" Goldie asked Bonnie.
"A night guard," she answered, voice empty of emotion, "He's in the security office."
"I see..." Goldie replied, then pointed towards the door, "Take care of him."
The animatronics sat, twitching and flickering, until finally nodding in unison and walking out the door.
"Fuck, no! No, no, no!" Mike cursed, having watched everything that had happened since Chica got captured, and his spirit fell when Freddy walked out with them. He yanked off his cap and set the Freddy mask on his lap, keeping it within easy reach. The tablet sat ready and waiting on his desk and his flashlight primed in Mike's right. Instinct kicked in, and the guard's faced hardened, finger tapping rapidly through the cameras. It was back to the beginning now, and the only saving grace would be six o'clock, when he could escape and hopefully get help. He lingered on the Parts and Service feed, seeing the yellow Freddy stand around fiddling with the cattle prod.
"Alright, you yellow freak," Mike muttered, "You want to play this game? Fine. Let's play, because I can go all night."
A/N: Well, I'm just going to walk into this bunker here and brace myself, since this series has probably just gotten the darkest it's been. Welcome aboard the Cerebus Rollercoaster ladies and gentleman, keep your hands and arms inside the ride vehicle at all times and hold on tight, because we're all going for a ride.
-DeltaV "This damn coaster better not have any loops!"
Oh, quick little thingy, Mangle's voice box does not make complete sentences. Her dialogue is in italics as that is just animatronic translation, sort of like how Russians in movies speak English when they're alone: They're technically speaking Russian, but speak English in order to keep the audience from having to read blocks of subtitles. Same thing with Mangle.
