Chapter 16: A Promise Of Safety And Tragedy

"So, what are we going to do with this thing?" Molly asks, an eye brow raised as she lifts Plushtrap towards Mitchell, holding the robot up by it's arm pits. Plushtrap does not seem pleased at how he is being handled or at being called a thing for that matter.

Mitchell rolls his eyes as he takes off his boots and puts away his coat before finally looking towards Molly, "Thought we were going to keep him?" Mitchell mutters under his breath, not bothering to raise his voice from that volume.

Molly finally pulls the robot back to her and wraps her arms more safely around the toddler sized robot, cradling Plushtrap in her arms before answering him, "I just wanted to make sure." Molly shrugs, "How was your job?" she asks, there was nothing wrong with being polite and with nothing else to talk about, his job seemed like a pretty good choice.

Mitchell smiles slightly at her question, "It was actually pretty good,"

Molly nods in understanding, "Befriended any of the robots yet?" she asks curiously.

Mitchell nods, "Yeah, I befriended Bonnie and Chica." he pauses before continuing, "I also befriended this other animatronic called Ballora."

"The one from Circus Baby's Pizza World?" Molly asks, surprised. She heard that the robot's there were stolen or something, so it's a bit surprising that Fazbear Entertainment managed to get them back considering how easily they gave up the first time.

"Uh-huh. I think so." Mitchell agrees automatically with a small, barely noticeable, shrug. He knows very little about Fazbear Entertainment, most of what he knows are second hand rumors that he heard when he was in school or stuff that he heard from Molly and Janis. He's pretty sure that Ballora said something about Circus Baby's Pizza World, he never did have a great memory though. Molly knows more about this stuff then he does anyways. As always he'll leave it to the expert.

Molly narrows her eyes at him, tightening her grip on Plushtrap, "Are you listening?"

Mitchell rolls his eyes, gently nudging her shoulder as he makes his way past her and up the stairs to the second floor, "Yep. Are you coming with?" he doesn't wait for an answer.

Molly huffs a small laugh as she follows him up to his room, "What are we gonna be doing?"

"Wanna tell you more about the night I had." Mitchell shrugs, opening his bedroom door and allowing Molly inside before closing the door behind them. He flips on the light-switch before collapsing onto his bed.

Molly sets Plushtrap down before sitting next to him, "So what happened?"

Mitchell smirks up at her, "Well, last night when Nessa gave me a ride home she said a night guard from one of the previous locations was going to give me a call. So around 12 during my shift, the phone rang-"

"What's the guys name?" Molly interrupts him.

Mitchell rolls his eyes, "His names Jeremy, he's a real nervous wreck." he answers her before continuing on with his story, "So basically, Jeremy was telling me a bit about the Toy animatronics and the vent system. The Toy's from the second location are being worked on in the basement during the day and, you've guessed it, the vents lead right down into the basement and there's a stairway leading down there in the back-stage area."

Molly nods, "So they might not stay in the basement." she guesses pretty easily.

Mitchell smirks, "Yup. Even worse, the vents are big enough for any animatronic to get through and one of the vents is right in the middle of the ceiling above my chair and another is in the wall above my desk. Apparently in the location they came from, they used to crawl around in the vents a lot."

Molly's eyes widen, "Crap, that could be pretty bad. Couldn't you just close the vent grates?"

"Only one of them can be closed and it kinda looks like a garbage chute when it's closed so uh, not really a vent grate." Mitchell shrugs before continuing, "The vent in the ceiling doesn't have a grate or anything to block it off with." Mitchell tells her, his heart racing when the inevitability of an animatronic falling on top of his head jaws first crosses his mind.

Molly frowns, "Thats... a pretty bad design choice."

Mitchell rolls his eyes at her, "Yeah. An animatronic could fall right on top of me and I'd never see it coming." he says dryly, sarcasm coating his words despite how serious the situation actually was.

Molly huffs, "Not that! I mean, that is a part of it but heat rises, right? So putting a vent in the ceiling is a waste of money."

Mitchell stares at her blankly, "Yeah but what does that have to do with it being a bad design choice or whatever?"

Molly rolls her eyes at him, "So heat rises yeah? Hot air rises, cool air sinks. If you have a vent in the ceiling then the floor will be freezing and it also takes twice the amount of money to put vents in the ceiling then down near the ground. There could be two different vent systems for each purpose but even then it's a pretty bad design choice, it's a waste of money either way." Molly pauses, "Is it a vent grille?"

"No idea. What's a vent grille anyways?" Mitchell asks, he knows some stuff but he doesn't know everything and he definitely knows nothing about old vent systems.

Molly bites her lips, thinking about how to explain it, "Well, a vent grille is an air return. It's supposed to extract or suck air from a room and recycle it through the system to help with heating and cooling. It's supposed to help maintain a certain temperature inside a room." Molly pauses, "Any cool or hot air blowing from it?"

Mitchell thinks about it, "I don't think so, I can check during my shift tonight though."

Molly nods before changing the subject, "Did you see any of the Toy's?"

Mitchell hums before shaking his head, "Jeremy said Mangle might visit me but I didn't see her or any of the others from the basement yet. He said Foxy will be up and running by tomorrow though."

"What about Freddy?"

Mitchell hesitates before answering her, "Chica said Freddy would be up and about by tomorrow so things are going to get challenging pretty quickly. Especially if the Toy's start roaming tomorrow like Jeremy said they might."

Molly frowns, her eye-brows furrowing as she lightly touches his arm in what's probably meant to be comfort, "You don't have to go back there you know. You can quit any time." she suggests softly, concern in her eyes.

Mitchell huffs, leaning away from her, "I actually can't. Company policy, I can't quit until the five day mark and even then I'll probably keep the job anyways." he admits with a stubborn frown before looking over to her, "I'm not going to give up on them, Molly. I can't."

Molly's eyes soften, "I know you can do it and that's exactly what I'm worried about." she whispers softly with a small smile.

Mitchell hesitates before sitting up and grabbing her hand, "I'll be okay. I befriended three animatronics in one night. I can handle a couple more." he reassures her before making a promise "After the five day mark, if it gets too much, I'll quit immediately."

Molly bites her lip, still a bit unsure, before finally nodding, "Alright. Anything else you'll have to worry about?" she asks, concern coating her voice. Mitchell can handle a lot, but by the lord does she wish it'll be easy for him.

Mitchell hesitates before nodding, "Yeah, there's this music box I have to wind up. It keeps one of the animatronics asleep. Since I have doors to keep them out though, it probably won't matter much if I keep the box wound."

Molly sighs, rolling her eyes at him, "Uncovered vent, remember? If the animatronics can get inside and there's nothing you can do to barricade that vent then..." Molly trails off but Mitchell understands her just fine.

Mitchell's eyes widen, "Oh crap. How the hell will I keep them out?" regardless, he doesn't seem very concerned.

Molly smirks at him, not very surprised, "I trust you'll figure that out on your own." she sends him a Look before continuing, "Ask your boss or maybe Nessa what they can do about that vent. Till then, just keep the music box going and if one of the robots are in the vents then hide under the desk or something."

Mitchell nods, squeezing her hand lightly, "I got it. Anything that wanders in, should wander back out if they don't see me."

Molly beams at him, "Yeah! Pretty much." she pauses, "They might have pretty advanced AI but even a human will walk right out to search somewhere else if no one is in the room. Hiding shouldn't be too hard as long as your quiet."

Mitchell rolls his eyes at her before flopping down on the bed once more, "I got it the first time."

Molly snorts, "Yeah, I know. Just making sure it sticks into your brain." Molly pats his head before dancing out of his reach before he could slap her hand away, "I'll leave you with Plushtrap, see you later!" she leaves the room with a smile and a playful wave as she closes the door behind her.

Mitchell sighs, a fond smile growing on his face. Molly was always a delight to be around. She knew so much more then he did and yet she still went about life with a smile on her face and a carefree attitude. Rolling out of bed, he picks himself up off of the ground before searching for Plushtrap.

There, hidden in a pile of dirty laundry was Plushtrap, the only parts visible are his bunny ears which poke out from underneath the pile of clothes.

The robot hisses at him as it's picked up out of Mitchell's dirty laundry pile, Mitchell smiles at him, "Hey there, buddy. How's Molly been treating you?"

Plushtrap gasps out waves of static before scrambling out of Mitchell's grip and back into his dirty laundry.

"Damn it!" Mitchell swears, looking down at the brand new scratches littering his arm, one of them was deep enough to draw blood.

He huffs before carefully sitting down next to where Plushtrap was hiding, "Come on buddy, I'm not going to hurt you." Michell promises, keeping his voice soft and friendly.

Plushtrap peaks out of his hiding place with curiosity in his plastic eyes, he hums lightly in question.

Mitchell slowly puts his hand out towards Plushtrap but doesn't touch him. The plush rabbit comes closer before quickly climbing up Mitchell's arm to latch onto the front of his shirt. Mitchell eyes Plushtrap but doesn't argue, lifting his arms up to support the rabbit's weight before slowly standing back up and making his way back to his bed.

Mitchell sits down slowly, "I'm going to take a nap and then after that get some food. Are you going to be a good bunny?" Mitchell quietly asks Plushtrap, the plush rabbit looks in his direction before nodding slowly.

"Alright, I'm going to set you down and once I wake up again, I'll give you back to Molly." Mitchell sighs out, freeing one of his hands to rub the bridge of his nose before setting Plushtrap down next to him on the bed, "Be good."

Mitchell takes the time to change his clothes before getting back on the bed and finally falling asleep.

Plushtrap waits a few moments before scrambling off the bed, a few moments later he comes back with a golden bear plushy cradled in his arms. Scrambling back up onto the bed, Plushtrap crawls over to Mitchell's sleeping form with Fredbear in his arms. The mechanical robot places the giant plushy next to Mitchell's head before scrambling underneath the covers and curling up at Mitchell's feet with a mechanical purr.

Fredbear's empty sockets shine with light not a moment later, "Tomorrow's another day." Fredbear whispers lightly, a solemn promise of safety echoing within the plushy's voice.

In another place, in another time, a young boy cries his heart out, his best friend looming above him in a monsterous form, the boy pleading for mercy as the very same words are spoken to him. Not as a promise of safety but instead a promise of tragedy. A promise that would never be broken for as long as he lived.