Later that night, I had returned to Freddy's, staying in the office to browse the catalog for new attractions. Between expensive video games and weird robots that looked like they peed lemonade and fruit punch, there was a few items that I could actually afford: a kiddie pool filled with plastic ducks, a cardboard box filled with small, plastic multicolored balls, and a black Freddy Fazbear animatronic named "Lefty" that looked like it would kill me for just paying the five buck price for him. Pass.

In addition to Lefty, there was a few other animatronics-or at least, that's what the catalog called them. A box with two huge foam fingers attached to him, a mop with a bucket on top of it for a head, and others made out of random garbage. I could make these using the dumpster outside instead of paying for them!

I didn't see a point in paying money for a little duck pool or a box of balls when I had an actual robot coming soon. Rather than stare at pictures of the arcade machines while wishing I could afford them, I decided instead to print out the banners, flyers, and other decorations that were available. Cheaper and faster than waiting on things to be mailed to me, I thought.

The banners, made of printer paper that I had to tape together, looked terrible. The ink in the printer was old, which made the printer fight me every step of the way, and most of the cartridge was empty, making everything that should be colored look an ugly black and white. Despite only having Circus Baby in my restaurant, the banner was nothing but pictures of Freddy and his band characters. It was as if corporate is just trying to shame me for not agreeing to house their murder-happy retro machines.

While I was at the computer, I put in an order for a new printer. Corporate would complain, but with how ridiculously loud this ancient piece of tech was, I wouldn't be able to hear anything while using it. If someone were to pull a fire alarm, I'd be too focused on printing out terrible promotional material from this screeching printer than be able to hear it and escape. If I had the money, I'd offer to pay for anything better than dial-up internet for my store in particular, but I thought that might be pushing things. Maybe if I end up being successful, I can buy my way out of this technological stone age.

Oh God, I'm turning into my uncle.


The next day, Anondos, Mike, and I had gathered again to hang up all of the banners, put up the small 'posters' that I had printed out on the walls, and give the place one last major cleaning. Even if we had a few more days until we finally opened the doors, I didn't want dust to collect and make us have to keep cleaning before we had customers. I had replaced the glass in the framed parody movie posters, but seeing a huge, professionally-made poster of Bonnie parodying Beetlejuice (as 'Bonniejuice,' of course,) made the little picture of Freddy's face next to it look cheap and lazy by comparison-which it was, but still.

"Where do you want these banners?" Anondos asked, trying to keep them all in his hands. The weight of the printer paper made the stack of taped-together decorations continue to droop to the floor.

"Hang them above the stage." I replied. "Put one above the door so people can see it when they leave."

"When they leave?" Mike piped up, taping a picture of Chica on a wall near the kitchen. "What good will that do?"

"Because," I started, trying to sound intelligent, "people will see the characters on their way out, remember their good time, and want to come back and have that great experience again."

"Uh-huh." Mike snickered, smoothing out the picture. "You've been reading that guide book, haven't you?"

"I have to." I replied with a smirk. "When I called about Baby, I found out they're gonna quiz me in a month."

Speak of the devil. My cell phone started to buzz in my pocket.

"Hello?" I asked, placing it to my ear.

"Mr. Anon!" It was the same man I had spoken to earlier in the week. "Good morning! How are things coming along?"

"Great, thanks." I replied. "I got those old movie posters that were left here all fixed up, and Circus Baby is supposed to show up tomorrow. Anything new I need to know?"

"No, not to my knowledge, anyway." He said. "Since I know you're going to open soon, I just wanted to try again and offer you a set of Freddy's band animatronics, free of charge. Baby is nice, but surely she could use a backup crew, right?"

"I told you, I'm not interested." I replied with a harsh tone. "I told you, and the other guy who called, I don't want old robots. I don't care if they're just 'rumors,' I don't want something that could remind people of unpleasant things in my store." He grunted at my protest, but I continued anyway. "I don't want the 'Toy' versions, either, and I sure as heck don't want your 'double purpose' animatronic suit. I have my own Freddy suit that works just fine, and the other three are supposed to arrive the day after Baby gets here."

"You didn't need to use such a tone, Mr. Anon." The man replied. "You've made your point. I needed to make sure that you haven't changed your mind, that's all. Good luck with your Circus Baby entertainer, and don't hesitate to give us a call if you need any help."

"Thank you, and I'm sorry for snapping at you." I said. "I know you're just doing your job. I apologize."

"Water under the bridge!" He cheerfully replied. "Since we're on the same page, I wanted to offer you something special before I go: a very rare, very exclusive, very sought-after golden version of the Freddy animatronic! It's-"

"Bye!" I yelled over him. Click.

Why the hell can't these people understand? I'm not going to have people die in my store. How many times must I repeat myself on the phone and in my own thoughts?

Bzzt! Bzzt!

Is he calling me again?!

"I don't want your damn robot!" I yelled into the phone.

"A-Are you cancelling your delivery?" A surprised-sounding woman replied. "Your repair has already been shipped, sir!"

"Oh, no! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I apologized. "I just had a very bad phone call and I thought you were that person! I'm very sorry, yes, I do want my delivery!"

"O-Oh, well that's okay." She replied, her voice still unsure. "As I said, your repair has already been shipped out to you. Is it okay if you recieve it a day early?"

"Do I really have a choice since it's already on the way?" I asked.

"I guess not." The woman sighed. "I'm sorry, I just now got the memo to call you. Your repair should be there within an hour, according to my computer. Are you at the delivery location to pick it up?"

"Yeah, I'll be here." I replied. "Don't worry about it, I'm excited to get it. Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem!" She sounded a little happier now. Why did everyone involved in this sound so worried when I first spoke to them? "Have a good day, sir!"

"Guys! Guys!" I shouted as I put my phone in my pocket. "She's coming!"

"That's not what she said!" Anondos yelled back, then started snorting at his own shitty joke.

"Shut up, asshole!" I smacked him in the back of the head. "Baby's gonna be here really soon and you haven't hung up a single banner!"

"Okay, okay, I'm on it ..." Anondos muttered. "Go wait on the goddamn robot you want to fuck."

"He wants to what?!" Mike turned from hanging up pictures to stare at me. "Is THAT why you wanted this one?"

"No, damn it! No!" I protested, stomping my foot like a child. I blushed when I caught myself doing that. "I just thought she was cute! Nothing more!"

"Mike, this is the same guy who was really against any animatronics until he saw a picture of this one." Anondos said. "Don't listen to a word he says. If you catch him dry humping it, make sure the kids don't see."

"You guys are assholes!" I shouted, heading into the employee hallway and leaving my taunting friends behind me. Mike needs to remember I'm his boss, or maybe I'll cut his pay and force him to remember. Pushing open the exit door, I jumped back when I saw a huge truck parked right outside. Two men were stepping out of the back, with one pushing a long flatbed's handle. On top of the bed lay the repaired, like-new Circus Baby. Her bright green eyes seem to look directly into mine when the men propped her up onto a tall, two-wheeled dolly.

"Mornin', sir." The man pushing her greeted me, tipping his hat. "Where do you want her?"

"In here, please!" I replied, sounding much more excited than I would've liked. I lead them down the hall and into the dining room, pointing near the stage. "Could you put her up there?" The men looked around the room as they walked inside.

"Damn, I didn't know Freddy's was still a thing!" The pushing man commented. "I thought it shut down after all'a dem dead kids!"

"Me too!" The man walking behind him agreed. "Real nice to see this place lookin' new again! Ya did a good job!"

"Thank you." I smiled at the praise. "Freddy's not gonna be here, though. Circus Baby is gonna be the only robot."

"Oh yeah?" One of the men asked as the two started to load Baby on to the stage. "SHIT this thing is heavy! S-So why is it the only one?"

"Because he wants to-" Anondos walked up behind me. I backhanded him in the mouth.

"I've heard too many bad things about the old robots, so I decided on this one." I replied. "Far as I know, she's never killed anyone."

"Well, at least ya got that goin' for ya!" The second man said as the two finished placing Baby on stage. "We got the power thing for her in the truck. Looks like a big battery, I'll go get it."

"Thanks." I said. As he walked away, the remaining man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small clipboard. I signed my name on the pick-up papers and took the copies from him as he placed the board back into his pocket. "So anything I should know?" I asked.

"We weren't told much." He replied. "Dunno why they told us this and not you, but somethin' about havin' pins in the arms?" He pointed to Baby. I nodded. "Yeh, it was apparently a pain in the ass to fix her and not have them in it. Somethin' about them bein' in the blueprints or whatever, so there's a couple in there anyway. Said the pointed bits are inside her so nobody should get poked."

"That's NOT what I paid them for." I groaned. "I guess it's too late now. If the points are inside her, I guess I don't need to worry."

"Take it up with them." He replied. "Their info's on the paper there somewhere."

"And she's done!"

The two of us looked over, seeing the second mover had set up Baby's power source. He hopped down from the stage.

"You charge up that battery when she's not being used, unhook her from it during the day, and she can go on that juice until it's empty." He explained. "They don't need wall plugs anymore. Real neat shit. You might wanna bolt her to the floor, though, but that ain't us. That's on you."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." I walked past them and climbed onto the stage. "So she doesn't fall off, I guess." I looked the lifeless animatronic up and down. Her piercing, yet gentle green eyes staring into mine. Her shiny white face, arms, and legs that looked polished with care. Her red top and skirt that looked identical to the picture I had seen, and the chest was actually a bit heavy-I still assume due to the ice cream dispenser. I'll have to look into that.

No huge claw in sight, which was my main concern. She still had a little fan on her stomach, but it didn't look anywhere near as dangerous as it did when she was broken. I'll have to see what exactly it's for, too. Her red hair and pigtails had the same shine as the rest of her, and the microphone in her right hand looked brand new. There were indeed some pins trailing up her arms to her shoulders, but I could overlook them.

I looked down at her legs, seeing a very, very small switch. The emergency stop, I assume-small enough that a child couldn't see it and get curious, but colored a darker gray than her leg so I could tell where it was. Above it was a small, round circle in her leg; I gently pressed it and stood back, watching as Circus Baby came to life. Her arms started to move, her pigtails wagged up and down, and her head started to turn left and right.

"H-Hello there! I'm Circus Baby!" She greeted me, seeming to look right at me for a moment before turning. Although it would sound creepy to say aloud, her voice was like silk. It was just feminine enough without sounding annoying or fake, and she sounded very kind. From her soft, soothing voice, I didn't feel nervous whatsoever. "W-W-Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza! I hope you have a good time!"

I didn't like her stuttering, but I'm sure it was just because she hadn't talked in a long time. I liked that whoever repaired her took the time to change her dialogue from 'Pizza World' to 'Freddy's' for me. Nice touch.

"Hello, Baby!" I replied. The four guys standing around the stage looked at me with raised eyebrows. I blushed. I was going to enjoy this, damn it! The blueprints said she had a built-in song bank, so ... "Okay, Baby. Could you play 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' for me?" Something simple that even the youngest of children like. That'd be a nice test.

Royalty-free, too. I think.

"I know that one!" Baby excitedly replied. Music started to play from hidden speakers on her body, and she moved her microphone towards her mouth, with bright, round red cheeks at both ends. As the melody played, she began to sing. "Twinkle, twinkle, lit-tle star ..."

Okay, definitely a bad idea on my part. Hearing that silky-smooth voice singing anything made me have to hide my boner as I awkwardly walked off stage. What kind of fucking weirdo am I that a song as innocent as that did something to me? I think she could read the phone book and still give me a tingle down there.

Regardless of what her voice did to me, I still kept it at the front of my mind that Circus Baby is an animatronic. Even if she was repaired to work like new and looked like new, she's still a robot. Once I remembered that, any unclean ideas faded away from me. I'm still going to take Anondos's advice; if I let my dick get the better of me, it's going to get chopped off. That, and she's a kids' entertainer-she doesn't have the proper equipment for anything more.

I hopped off the stage, and we all watched Baby finish the song. It had been years since I had seen an animatronic perform without their arms or legs not moving properly, or their eyes being crossed from a broken servo, so seeing her move fluidly without so much as a bad twitch was almost magical. When the song finished, Baby did something that I couldn't believe-she gave a slight bow. I didn't know animatronics could move THAT much! I'll definitely have to write a good review for whoever repaired her!


Once her show was over, Circus Baby seemed to go idle. She looked around the room, moved her arms up and down, and her pigtails moved slightly when she turned her head. It was as if she was waiting for instruction. Luckily, I had recieved her show DVDs in the mail this morning, so I eagerly ran off to the office after thanking and saying goodbye to the movers. I reached for the stack of discs on my desk, flipping through them and reading the scribbled titles on the front of the jewel cases.

"Birthday show, birthday walk-in, Sports Day segment 01, Sports Day segment 02, Valentine's Day segment 01 and 02, nah ... Oh, Christmas show?" This one had a whopping five discs! That'll be cool when the time comes. "Here we go: Circus Baby introduction and guest welcome." This is what I've been directed to play for the first week of opening-Baby will introduce herself and the restaurant to guests, and sing a few songs. If I had another bot, she could do a little banter with them, but I'm sure the parents will be happy that I sacrificed a few cheap jokes for their kids' safety.

I took the disc and stepped to the other side of the room, where a large control panel sat. A huge keyboard-like tray sat on top of a hard tower, full of different buttons for the show. 'Open curtain,' 'Close curtain,' 'Emergency show end,' 'Show force start,' things like that in case things weren't running as smoothly as they should. Above the buttons sat a disc drive. I pushed the button next to the door and the tray slid open, closing when I placed the DVD inside.

I adjusted the show to begin in three minutes and quickly made my way back to the dining room, watching as Baby started to move and music began to play. "Excited" didn't begin to describe how I felt as I watched Baby's eyes flicker and light up as the show began.