With boredom clouding his mind, Foxy fruitlessly attempted to busy himself as he mindlessly tapped his metal fingers against the firm padding of his box's interior. He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying out the feel of having a working jaw again. It felt strange to have it not hanging by a single bolt, thanks to Steve fixing it after the last "successful" security guard, Mike Schmidt, was fired, successful meaning he survived an entire week of of the job, before Steve's brother, Jeremy, had mysteriously disappeared during Mike's fourth or fifth night. After Steve took Jeremy's place, he had felt bad for young Mike and decided to fire him, making stupid excuses to get him out of the agreement he had with Jeremy. A series of tapping sounded from beneath him. Must be Bonnie, Foxy thought as he deciphered the taps.
"Why do you keep saying 'Mira' over and over?" Foxy blinked. What?
"What do you mean?" Foxy tapped back.
"I mean what I say. You kept tapping 'Mira' again and again."
"I did not know that." Foxy began to stare blankly at the black lid of his container, thinking deeply. Bonnie shifted around in his box.
"How come you did not know?"
"I just did not realize I was doing that." There was a long stretch of silence as both animatronics contemplated the conversation. Foxy's ears twitched when Bonnie began tapping again.
"Do you like her?" He didn't answer. He didn't want to. "Foxy?"
"No," he replied. Just mild interest for a young pretty girl, that was all it was. That's all it will ever be, all it could be, all it was allowed to be. Foxy smiled wryly at the silliness of the thought. A human and a possessed robot. What kind of couple was that? It could never happen. Lost in his thoughts, Foxy didn't hear what Bonnie had tapped next.
"Liar."
After they changed into their white outfits, Suzianna gave them lab coats and name tags before ushering them into her blue Toyota. They drove up into the mountains by an abandoned-looking dirt road, reaching a clearing with a dirt helipad that had a glossy black helicopter sitting peacefully amongst a few flowers. The pilot glanced up at them from his book before he buckled himself in as the trio got themselves situated in the other seats. They then took the helicopter to a seemingly random flat area of cement engulfed by vegetation and forest where a black car waited. They climbed into the car, the helicopter pilot drove them through a very cramped forest road a couple of miles to an even more remote area in the middle of a tree-infested nowhere, until they finally pulled up to a shabby-looking house surrounded by more plants and other growths.
"Hey, Boss," Mira whispered loudly as she shook Steve's shoulder, rousing him from his sleep. Steve sat up and wiped off a line of drool that had accumulated on his lower lip onto his white t-shirt.
"Yeah?" He asked as he yawned and stretched, taking up most of the room in the back seat, Mira leaning away in order to not get accidentally punched in the face.
"We're here," she replied, opening the passenger door and swinging her legs out, her muscles stiff from lack of movement. She stretched a bit, feeling her back pop in response and groaned before standing up. She shut the door and Steve remained sitting inside, feigning sleep. Mira ignored him and began to follow Suzianna and the pilot. Steve had quickly come up behind her, finally deciding to come along and not be left alone. The four stepped through the bent frame of an bug-eaten doorway and came upon a strange circular table thing covered in cloth. At least, that's what it looked like.
The pilot took the table cloth and yanked it off, revealing a hatch which Suzianna soon manned, grunting with effort as she twisted it open. White light poured into the dim room, momentarily blinding Mira. Grunting, she covered her eyes as she felt Steve do the same beside her. The pilot slid down the ladder connected to the sides of the metal tube and soon disappeared from sight. Suzianna gestured for Mira to do the same.
"Hup, hup, hup! We don't want to keep everyone waiting!" She said, nudging Mira towards the hatch. Curious, Mira peered down into the white depths, suddenly becoming dizzy as her vision momentarily tunneled.
"Oogh..." She moaned, stepping back, "I think I'd better go after Steve."
"Wait, what?" Steve said, looking up questionably from his hands. Suzianna pointed at the hole.
"Demonstrate your manliness to us frightened damsels." Steve stared at her, unamused. He made a strange strangled noise as he gingerly climbed into it. Suzianna must've gotten impatient with the snail-like pace he had set, because she shoved him down and he fell with a loud shout that echoed throughout the whole building. Thankfully, the close walls allowed him to get his grip back on track and shakily inch his way to the bottom. Mira stared wide-eyed at Suzianna, who smirked in return.
"Next?" Mira whined like a dog and quickly scrambled into the hatch and down to where Steve stood rubbing his burning hands. It was a circular, spacious room with only two exits, the hatch and a hallway that seemed to get darker and darker as you went in deeper. Steve muttered something beneath his breath. Mira looked at him.
"She's evil! I swear she's out to get me!" He whispered to her. Mira laughed quietly and unsteadily.
"Well, you're not the one who went to school with her so how would you know?"
"I feel so sorry for you."
"Don't be. She only injured the boys." He stared at her.
"What...-"
A resounding thump sounded when Suzianna landed on the floor behind them. The blonde turned to face them, eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. Steve rubbed his arm, fixating his gaze on the suddenly interesting floor. Mira internally smiled at his irrational fear of her best friend. She wasn't that scary.
"What the hell was that for?" Steve asked, looking up to frown at the scientist. Of course, she ignored him.
"Let's go! Better not keep everyone waiting!" Suzianna said jovially, starting out into the strange hallway at a near jog, her steps quick and long, an unnervingly happy smile on her face. Point taken, she's terrifying.
Exchanging glances, Mira and Steve wandered down behind the bouncy blonde as she practically skipped with sudden, very sudden, merriness. Mira studied the walls as they gradually changed from smooth white plaster to dark hole-filled metal. Clanking of their feet on the metallic flooring sent vibrations and echoes along their path, making their eerie descent into the ground that much creepier. Mira let out a short, quiet breath and hugged her arms closer to her body as a sudden draft floated by her legs. Steve walked along a couple inches to her left, hands shoved into his pockets and worrisome gaze darting around the increasingly dark atmosphere. Suzianna remain oblivious to the two's discomfort and strode on happily, occasionally making Mira and Steve have to jog to catch up with the fast steady pace of hers.
Soon the descent began to get lighter as a whitish glow appeared at the end of the tunnel-like hallway. It was then Mira realized that the pilot that flew/drove them here was no where to be seen. She shrugged it off, for the guy had probably just gone ahead of them. They came upon a glass wall that, for some reason, you couldn't see through but looked as if it were perfectly clear. An illusion of some sort.
"I hate this thing," Suzianna muttered, raising her hand up to the wall, "It's so hard to find anything on it." She pressed the tip of her finger against it for a moment and the area she had touched lit up. Mira heard a faint buzz start up and the wall let out a whoosh of air and slid sideways into a cavity to he left of it. Through the door was a eye-dazzling array of strange mechanisms as well as people. Three doors were stationed on the three other walls, flapping in and out as men and women both young and old entered and exited in a seemingly endless stream of activity.
Mira's breath caught as she absorbed everything around her, all the sights, scents, colors, and noises. Whirs of different machines, poofs of chemical reactions from graduated cylinders, squeaking from a robotic prototype that needed to be oiled, a burning stench coming from one corner where a young-looking scientist was burning some weird bluish liquid on a Bunsen burner, dark blue gas floating up and surrounding the youth. The scientist's face was covered by a gas mask and every now and then, he would cough. Steve waved his hand in front of his wrinkled up nose, grimacing at the odor.
"Ugh, what's that guy doing?" He asked, gagging. Suzianna sniffed and grimaced as well.
"That's just Lil' Charlie playing with Indigofera again. He's a little strange when it comes to that particular plant or substance or whatever, I don't care. As you should know, I was sent here for the other stuff. C'mon!" She abruptly turned and strode quickly toward the middle door. Mira bounded after her, excitement making her steps quick and light while Steve merely trudged along behind them. Suzianna began to jog down the hallway, forcing the other two to go faster or get lost amidst a maze of tunnels.
"Suzi! Wait up!" Mira called, dragging Steve behind her as she struggled to catch up. Suzianna groaned and slowed.
"We're almost late! We need to hurry! I hadn't realized that Steve would be so damn slow!" Suzianna said exasperatedly.
"Hey!"
"We all know it's true."
They finally reached their part of the robotics wing where five black boxes stood in the center of a white room. A couple doors lead off to different operation rooms. Mira studied the boxes.
"The animatronics are in those," Steve explained to her questioning looks. Mira rubbed her arm thoughtfully.
"Why are there five? I thought... Oh..." Mira met Steve's gaze. "You brought the...golden one too?"
"Why not? This place is top of the chart safe. At least, that's what Suzianna said," he said, scratching his neck uneasily, "Look, I'm worried too, but I'm not about to let him cause another wreck back home. 'Kay?" Mira nodded, understandably.
"Alright." The doors the three had gone through opened again and two men entered. One of them was definitely Tony, with his perfectly cut pale blonde hair and keen green eyes, a pair of smart-looking rectangular glasses balancing on his straight nose with intelligent precision. In other words, he seemed exactly like his sister, except it was obvious that he spent much more time outside than she did, and he was a several inches taller. His white clothes snowy against the great contrast of his skin, he even wore white gloves, gold embroidery designs on the dorsum of his hand, matching his professional grade lab-coat. Mira looked down at herself, feeling a little too fashionable compared to Tony's practical attire.
The second man, however, was quite intriguing to Mira. His face was long with a gently rounded chin, strangely devoid of pockmarks and blemishes, but had a more prominent jawline as most males seem to acquire. His nose straight but smaller than Tony's, his mouth fitting his face easily. His hair was dark, though not completely black, having natural deep brown streaks adding a nice extra touch of color to his pleasant features. His skin tone wasn't swarthy like Tony's, though it was shade or two darker than Mira's own tan. But the most noticeable and eye-catching attribute he possessed were his eyes. They appeared slightly slanted with dark eyelashes, his irises colored plain and grey with no dab of blue or green to enliven them, but Mira couldn't help but be dazzled by the intriguing silver pools. They were bright with intelligence, the overhead lighting giving them a sort of sparkle, but seemed to be as cool as the showery April skies back in the Americas, giving him an aura of calm and serenity. Mira blinked.
Deep brunet hair swept lazily to the side across his forehead fell into his eyes and he reached up and brushed it back with a smooth movement of his hand. He was dressed in crisp white clothes, much like Tony, but wore the professional clothes in such an easy, relaxed way one might think he were wearing the the most comfortable clothing in the world, his lab-coat crumpled with his ease. His body was thin, yet muscular, lean and lithe like a tiger or leopard. And he was tall, perhaps an inch taller than Tony who appeared to reach around six-two. He met Mira's intensely studious gaze, those remarkable silvery eyes brightening even more as a kind, polite smile curved onto his lips. Mira immediately grinned back. The men addressed them, greetings said, names exchanged.
"My name's Mira, Mira Tyler," Mira said kindly, outstretching her hand. The dark-haired man nodded and took it.
"Phoebus Maheras," he said, his deep voice rich with laughter, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mira." His large hand encased her much smaller one in a warm shell, his grip firm, but very gentle. Mira felt her face flame slightly, making his smile becoming an amused grin.
"Y-yeah, it's nice to meet you too," she stammered, feeling awkward. He laughed, his eyes sparkling merrily.
Bright light entered his vision as strange yellow things opened his case, carefully taking his arms and pulling him out of the foam mold she they saw he had difficulties with getting out by himself. And his robotic eyes focused themselves to the lighting which greatly contrasted the fifteen hours of darkness he had spent inside the box. Foxy's vision finally grew accustomed to the whiteness of his surroundings.
Foxy looked around, his gaze searching. He had hoped that when they landed and let him out of that goddammed box, that he'd finally get to see Mira again. But she seemed to be nowhere in sight. His shoulders drooped a bit, before he turned to watch the yellow things pointing at the door. It took Foxy a moment to embarrassingly realize the yellow things were people in suits. He stopped himself from hitting himself across the snout for his stupidity, but he was afraid that if he started beating himself up now, that the people would think that he'd gone haywire. The people opened the door and frantically gestured for him to go through it, now speaking foreign words exasperatedly.
Foxy blinked and walked through, seeing another of the yellow-suited people motioning for him to follow. Foxy complied obediently, his feet clicking on the white tiled floor, his gaze traveling around his surroundings. White. White. White. Why was everything white?
The yellow guys lead him to another room with a scary looking operation table in the middle of it with even more terrifying (and shiny) tools on a wheeled table right next to it. They guided him to a tube-like machine on the other side of the room and had him lay down on it. Foxy stared at it uneasily. Then the door opened as a blonde man that looked very much like Suzianna entered the room. Again, that strange feeling of once knowing that person arose within Foxy. The man greeted him with a warm smile.
"Hello Foxy! It's been a long time, eh?" The man chuckled. Foxy was silent for a while before responding.
"I assume so... I reckon ye were at ta birthday party when '87 happened, hm? Ye look like the wee blonde lad with the female twin."
"Yep, that was me! Name's Tony," Tony held out a hand. Foxy grinned and shook his hand. Tony didn't seem afraid of him at all, that was a nice change. "Now, shall we begin the upgrades?" Foxy nodded hesitantly. Then, Tony instructed him to lay down on the pad set in from of the tube machine. Tony and his assistants began attaching plugs to several areas to his body. Fearfully, Foxy asked what the machine did, Tony replied it was just going to scan him for a couple minutes while he and the yellow-suited people prepared everything else for use.
"Yer sure it's ship-shape?" Foxy asked, amber eyes flickering across the ceiling and a whirring sound began beneath him and the tube thing started to cover him in shadows. Tony didn't answer. "Tony?" Foxy called, a frown passing over his features.
"Don't worry, my fox friend! This is tip-top tech! You're gonna be perfectly fine!" The blonde's voice called out. "All I need you to do is to go to sleep."
Foxy obeyed, slowly shutting down each of his systems, but a rebellious side of his urged him to keep himself aware of his surroundings. The whirring grew louder and Foxy shut his eyes, but he kept his ears perked and listening.
"Hey! You asleep in there? Yoo hoo!" Tony's voice called. Foxy didn't answer, waiting. "Yeah, he's out. Thank god, now he won't feel a thing." Foxy's eyes jolted open, just as an electric shock coursed through his system, pain seeming to set his systems on fire. A wild shriek was released from his voice box, his body writhing in the mass of wires the were connected to him, restraining his movement. The electricity was overloading his system and Foxy desperately shut himself down without any of the essential preliminaries. Immediately, everything went black.
Tony's hands were flying over the controls on a computer as soon as he heard the scream, trying to shut the machine down. His yellow-suited assistants were doing everything they could to open the machine, but for some reason it deemed impossible. Usually, Tony could disengage the machine with only the press of a button, but now, he couldn't access the master control.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" He hissed, spamming a single esc key. The computer blared red warnings and yellow danger signs, but nothing Tony tried to do helped. Upon giving up the attempt, the screaming stopped and all the warning signs disappeared. Baffled, Tony raised his glasses and looked at the computer screen more carefully. Nothing wrong. It seemed the procedure was going along perfectly. The animatronic's main systems were down and they had complete control over him. The robot wasn't broken, the computer read, all the necessary systems were shut down and they could begin the transformation.
A sweat bead rolled down his face and Tony wiped it away. With a couple quick words, he ordered the other scientists to start working. Tony rolled up his sleeves and prayed as he pulled on thick rubber gloves, hoping that after all the extra crap, all wasn't lost.
Hey guys, this time I'm not blaming school for my late update. It's around this time when I tend to move away from a story and take care of other ones. BIG THING HERE, I'm not abandoning this one, I'm just going to be much slower with the updates. I mean, this is the funnest time I've ever had whilst writing a story. Seriously you guys really motivate me. I want to give a special hand to my best friend who hadn't stopped poking at me since she read the last chapter. Another thing, I found the long lost original chapter eight. There is some really good material in that to I didn't rage and delete it. The extra crap will save me quite a bit of writing so woo hoo!
Stay awesome bros.
:D