"I don't care how it happened, all that matters to me is the fact that you lost your job and I don't want you to become a lazy slacker like your "friend" from school. So get out there and find yourself some work while we solve this or else you can kiss some of your privileges "goodbye!"
Deep in the storeroom of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, Arty silently swept the floor while replaying the harsh words of his father for what felt like the hundredth time since his shift had begun. The memory causing his grip on the broom to tighten as a flash of anger crossed his face.
Those had been the only words his father had said after he'd heard about Arty being fired from Saver Saviors. While his parents had initially believed his side and to overturn their son's termination they had ultimately failed as Jeremy held firm in his decision to let Arty go. The conviction his former boss had displayed causing some doubt to also form in their minds about the validity of their son's narrative.
Arty had been certain that having been just unfairly terminated would mean that his parents would have given him the time to let it all sink in and get over it. But his dad wasn't having any of that and had outright forced him into getting a new job as soon as possible.
But they'd run into a problem almost immediately as with the end of summer also came with the end of part-time seasonal hiring until the holidays. But even that would have only been a temporary fix on his job issue and his father quickly vetoed the idea of simply waiting until the holiday season came around.
What made even harder for the young man was that most of the places that were hiring didn't seem to care about him still being in school and wanted him on-call all day, or didn't pay well enough to justify breaking his back every weekend. To make things even worse was the discovery that but more than a few people in the area had not only heard about his termination from Saver Saviors but also the reason why and thus were unwilling to take him on as an employee.
The only place that would take him was the as-of-yet unopened Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. Which was run by an "out of Towner" called Rick Taylor. A friendly fellow who had been more than happy to work with Arty's school schedule, but this in turn came with a few drawbacks such as being stuck working on the weekends. Which would also include him doing a few hours on Friday nights.
This was something that would have normally led to Arty rejecting the job, but both the pressure from his father intermixed with the promise of a decent paycheck was enough to win him over. Besides, he figured it'd be best to just wait until people forgot about his earlier firing and then taking a better job if one were to come along.
But even as he toiled away with his new job, his mind continued going back to his firing from Saver Saviors as well as the reason why he'd been fired. Thinking about what Charlotte had done to him caused Arty to start grinding his teeth as he harshly threw his dustpan onto the floor.
"I can't believe all of that happened to me just because I wanted to help someone in need." He grumbled while collecting his accumulated pile of dirt into the dustpan. "Well, let's see if I ever stick my neck out for someone like that again."
Whatever feelings Arty had harbored for Charlotte became twisted into anger after he was fired from Jeremy's store. The fact that she'd not only rejected his offer to help but also insisted on defending that lazy writer infuriated Arty to no end because to him it seemed like Charlotte was just throwing her life away and unable to do anything besides work to fund John's "college dreams." But if that's what Charlotte wanted to do with her life then that was her business. Even if it meant her future would probably be that of a toiling puppet to John's whims. But after what she'd done to him, Arty found that he could no longer feel any kind of sympathy for her plight.
Once he'd finished finishing sweeping up the pile Arty picked up the dustpan and his grumbling turned into a disgruntled groan. The trashcans in the storeroom were surprisingly few in number and the closest one was located close by some older animatronics Mr. Taylor had trucked in from out of state. It was an area that Arty hated having to go to, but there was little option outside of trekking all the way across the storeroom. Plus he had to sweep in that area next and so another bout of grumbling he swung his broom over his shoulder before walking over towards that area.
The storeroom itself was a spacious room that was located close by the loading area near the back of the restaurant. It also served as a sort of repair area for the animatronics if nothing could be done for them while they were on stage. This meant that most of the space in the storeroom was taken up by shelves that held stacks of boxes full of parts for the animatronics. In addition to that, it also contained the restraints supply of spare chairs, tables, and extra boxes of party supplies. But most of it was allocated for stuff pertaining to the "stars of the show"
Cleaning it was perhaps the most loathed task in the Pizzeria; at least it was in Arty's opinion. The only true grievance with Rick Taylor was the man's obsession with keeping Freddy's as nice as possible. Wanting the entire restaurant to stay be pleasing to the eyes of the costumers, even the areas that were off-limits to most guests.
While his parents found it a rather admirable trait, Arty himself would more describe it as somewhat draconian in nature. Making the employees clean like crazy in order for Rick to boost himself by taking credit for their hard work. But it was something that Arty would never say out loud to anyone, especially not Rick himself. So he instead settled on grumbling his grievances beneath his breath whenever he was alone.
But due to his focus being more on grumbling than paying attention, he didn't see the blue rabbit standing before him until he'd run straight into it. The sudden bump sent him jolting back while also dropping the dustpan to the floor, the impact throwing its contents into the air before they settled back to the floor.
Arty scowled while checking over his face for any injuries and after checking his hand to see if there was any blood on it, he quickly looked up to see if he'd damaged the old blue rabbit.
Luckily for him, there wasn't even a bit of disturbed fur on the worn blue animatronic rabbit, at least not that he could see anyway. Other than the fact it was now slightly pushed to the side, there wasn't any sign of Arty's presence save for the dirt cloud now settling onto the floor. It was a good thing too as Mr. Taylor was very keen on keeping this rabbit and its contemporaries in good condition. Which was why they remained strapped down to large wooden pallets in the back of the storeroom. But even being tied down didn't stop the rabbit from casting an imposing presence that was quite unnerving to Arty.
The thought of said contemporaries made Arty glance away from the rabbit to check that the others were all still strapped down to their own pallets. His eyes passed from the rabbit to the bear, then the chicken and finally the fox. All of whom were thankfully still in their proper place, though that was mostly due to them being strapped down like precious cargo. It'd always been warned that any employee who even messed with the things a little bit was subject to immediate termination.
It was a bizarre rule that only caused Arty to raise even more questions regarding the sanity of his new boss. The man was dead set on these animatronics being treated like sacred relics, despite their rather old and very tattered appearances. They all had names too, which Rick always seemed happy to remind people of whenever he could. Though Arty couldn't be bothered to learn their names and so only ever referred to them by the animals they were based on. He also did this with he did with the one's in the restaurant itself, except for Freddy since he was the mascot and all. So forgetting him was nearly impossible.
Though he always felt like he was being generous by calling the animatronics animals as they only resembled them in the most basic elements like having animal-shaped heads and ears. Maybe it was because he wasn't a little kid, but Arty couldn't understand the appeal of these things. They were rather unnerving with eyes that seemed intent on tracking his every movement with uncaring gazes as if they were waiting for something. But he couldn't tell what exactly it was, but then he didn't really care to begin with. They were machines after all, no after how "advanced" they were.
A couple of hunks of wires, metal, and old cloth. That's what you all are and nothing more.' He thought while looking back over to the blue rabbit and gave it a dismissive look. The rabbit stared back with a face that was frozen like he was laughing at Arty for bumping into him and dropping his dustpan. With an angry huff Arty reached up and smacked the rabbit on the forehead with his palm.
"Wipe that dumb look off your face." He hissed before picking up his dustpan and looking around. "It's your fault anyway, now I have to sweep it all up again!" Despite Arty's yells the rabbit could only continue on silently staring at him as the young man began sweeping up everything he'd split; and despite his brazenness, he took extra care when sweeping around the pallets. The last thing he needed was to lose this job just because he accidentally knocked over some old robot.
Once he was certain that there was no trace of his fall left, Arty picked up the dustpan and carefully made his way around the older animatronics. As he passed by the blue rabbit he flashed a victories smirk as he dumped the dustpan's contents into the trash that sat just behind them.
But as he was turning away from the trash can, he suddenly heard the sound of both Rick calling out orders and a set of footfalls approaching the storeroom. Arty set down his broom before dashing around the animatronics and sprinted over towards the entrance. Stopping himself just short of the wide double doors as they were thrown open and Rick Taylor entered the room while directing a group of other employees handling yet another pallet with an animatronic on it.
This animatronic was another rabbit, but it looked even older than the blue one Arty had bumped into earlier. With more weathering and tatters around the joins with a yellowish color that becomes somewhat brown over the years. But perhaps the most striking feature of the rabbit was that it had what looked to have a permanent grin etched across its face. This, along with its half-opened eyes made it look as if it were relishing being carried about like an ancient king.
"Alright, let's walk him over to the others and then set it down next to Foxy," Rick called out to the workers. He turned to look ahead and saw Arty watching on which made a thin simile cross his face as he gestured for him to come over. "Oh, Arty I didn't know you were still working here. Uh, could you spare some time to help us all out?"
"Uh, yeah sure thing Mr. Taylor..." Arty said before running over and grabbing into the pallet, helping everyone else steady it as they worked to guide it through the storeroom to the other animatronics. Once they'd gotten it over them, they set the pallet down so it placed the rabbit into a standing position next to the old red fox.
Rick watched on as they set it down and once he was satisfied that the animatronic wasn't going to fall over, he began to warmly congratulate all of the workers. "Thanks, everyone, uh those of you who were just finishing up your shifts may clock out early. Everyone else will be getting a little bonus for your efforts today."
The other employees became quite jovial hearing that, though Arty didn't share in their mood. Mostly because he still had yet another hour to go and it seemed rather strange to him that Rick would offer a bonus just for carrying one of the old scrap piles. But he said nothing like the rest of the employees quickly filed their way out of the storeroom and left Rick and Arty alone with the older animatronics.
Arty turned back to collect his broom but then stopped when he noticed that Rick was walking over to the yellow rabbit and grasping its arms while a joyful grin spread across his face. He stepped back while still holding onto its arms while carefully looking animatronic up and down.
"Oh it's so wonderful to actually have one of these suits," He shook his head with an airy sigh. "it's a shame that we couldn't find Fredbear too..." Rick trailed off while gently stroking the fur on the animatronics arm with a far off look in his eyes as he conjured up a memory that he'd never gotten to actually see.
Arty watched on and grew unnerved by Rick's attitude and so aired the first thought that came to mind out loud. "Wait, who's Fredbear? I thought that the bear's name was Freddy?" He didn't really care if he startled Rick or not but the older man just looked over with a wistful smile as if he knew that question would come sooner or later.
"Ah, well Fredbear was the name of Freddy's precursor, way back in the '70s along with this animatronic." Rick gestured to the yellow rabbit and patted it's stomach while Arty looked at it over it in surprise. It looked way too advanced to have been built back in the '70s. From what he knew from the stuff his family had told him, something like this should have been impossible. Rick seemed to read his mind and addressed that with his next sentence.
"Yeah, Henry was really ahead of his time with all his creations." Rick looked down to the floor and shook his head sadly. "This suit and Fredbear were very special though, not just because they were his firsts but also because they could be both an animatronic and a suit." Arty raised his eyebrows and looked at the rabbit again. 'Why on earth would anyone willingly wear that thing?' He bit his lip to make sure the thought stayed in his mind as Rick continued talking. Seeming to not even care if Arty was paying attention or not.
"Course, they weren't exactly the safest things, though part of me wishes he'd kept on trying with them. It'd revolutionize the whole industry...or so some of my stockbrokers have told me at least." He sighed yet again before finally pulling his hand away from the suit and then laughed upon seeing some of the fake furs that had stuck onto his hand.
heh, ah I forgot how the fur on these suits would stick to everything." Rick said before proceeding to brush it all off on his pants.
Arty looked away from his boss and towards the rabbit, his own eyes meeting and gazing into the rabbit's own, which then made him suppress an involuntary shiver. The suit seemed as though it were judging him, even more so than the other animatronics that surrounded them. It's half asleep looking gaze pierced right through Arty and seeming to read him like an open book.
Arty pulled his broom closer to his body as though it were some kind of weapon, even as his brain mocked the fear that was rapidly overtaking him. But his nervousness went unnoticed by Rick, who suddenly turned to face Arty with a rather serious expression
Arty, do you remember the rules I made about the other animatronics?" He asked while looking behind Arty at the older machines, but didn't even allow Arty the time to reply before he pointed back at the yellow rabbit. "Well, it goes double for this suit. I do not want anyone moving or trying to climb inside this suit. I know I said it was meant to be worn but it was retired for being more dangerous than it was worth. Everyone's going to hear this but since you're still working down here, you get to hear it first." He patted the suit's stomach again, causing some of the internal mechanisms to rattle around. "Instant termination for anyone that tries to screw around with it."
Arty drew back at Rick's harsh tone before giving him a nod to show that he understood. Satisfied that his point was made, Rick stood up and began to exit the storage room. Casting a final look over his shoulder as a warning before walking out of the double doors and leaving Arty all alone again with the animatronics.
For a moment, Arty silently watched Rick leave before looking at the yellow rabbit one last time and shrinking away from its gaze again. The sudden change in Rick's tone had done more to unnerve him than spending a whole month with the suits. Part of him wanted to say something witty that would hopefully alleviate his rising tension, but nothing was coming to mind. Other than the single thought that told him to get away from the older animatronics and just finish his work.
This thought was one he was more than happy to listen to as he began walking off to another area of the storeroom he had yet to clean. His body turning on something of an autopilot that was determined to just do the bare minimum so he could go home for the night. The combination of the freaky-looking machines and Rick's grimness had eaten away at his bravado to the point where it almost didn't exist anymore.
To this end, he decided to do some work that would put him as far away from the animatronics as possible. There was thankfully a little office nearby which was located the top of a flight of stairs that overlooked the entire storeroom. He didn't know why it had been placed up there, but his best guess was it was so whoever was overseeing everything could keep an eye on everyone in the room.
But right now its purpose was the last thing on Arty's mind. It and the stairs leading to it were some of the last areas he had to clean and they were located far away from the animatronics. But upon further reflection, even that was perhaps a bit of a generous thought as they were still in the same room.
His footsteps echoed about the once again quiet storeroom as he clenched the broom and dustpan so hard he grew worried he might break them. But he didn't want to relax or slow down even a little bit. Deciding that he could rest once he was in the upper office and away from the animatronics.
But as he made his little flight over to the stairs, another sound began emanating behind him. It was an almost rhythmically harsh, yet hollow thud that sounded like the noise of wood smacking into the floor. He paused and turned just as an almighty "CRASH" boomed throughout the room. The accompanying sounds of splintering wood made Arty jump almost a foot in the air and fall back, only managing to regain his balance seconds before he took another nasty spill.
His heart was raced as he whipped his head towards the direction the noise seemed to have come from. Only to then realize that it had seemed to originate from the area housing the older animatronics. A hole opened beneath his stomach as he started to walk back over to the small area. Said hole enlarged as when came across a rather distressing site.
The pallet the yellow rabbit had been strapped too was now scattered about the floor. Many of the wooden planks broken apart from the others as if they'd been ripped apart by an almighty force; while the straps that had held the animatronic looked to have been pulled apart.
A string of colorful words followed his thought as he walked over to the remains of the pallet, only for him to then freeze as another realization sunk in. The yellow rabbit suit was missing. Not just lying on the floor underneath the pallet, but it was gone without any kind of trace left behind.
Arty took a quick glance around the area confirmed that it hadn't been thrown clear when the pallet fell. But that hope was dead on arrival as the only other thing he could see were the other animatronics with their heads slightly turned downward. No doubt having been jolted by the sudden impact.
"Shit." Arty gasped while stepping away from the scene with an uncomfortable shiver. Mr. Taylor's harsh words came back to the forefront of his mind as another horrible thought arose. He'd been the only one in the room when the suit had gone missing, which meant that when Rick came looking for answers as to the suit's whereabouts that Arty would be the first he came too and No doubt the first one he'd also fire when he did so.
Arty's breaths suddenly became a lot shallower as a sense of panic began to settle in along with the shivering. If he got fired from two jobs so close together then he'd be screwed. It'd be ten times harder to get more work and not only that, but his dad would probably burst a blood vessel when he heard about it.
'If Arty, not when. If.' Arty exhaled before relaxing his body in an effort to loosen up and calm down. There was absolutely no way he was getting fired over someone else's stupid prank with the rabbit costume. Not if he had anything to say about it at least. The re was only one way out of the storeroom and the perpetrator couldn't have gone far.
A smirk crossed Arty's face as he thought about catching the would-be prankster and getting some kind of reward from Mr. Taylor for turning them in, At the very least he could hopefully bargain for transfer out of storeroom cleaning duty,
The thought of that brought a bit of vigor back into Arty as he began quickly, yet quietly moving away from the older animatronics. He was so enwrapped up in his hopes of a better position in the restaurant that he didn't hear the clicking of old gears as the four animatronics turned their heads in his direction. Their eyes settling on his retreating form with matching despondent stares as if they knew something horrible was about to take place.
Something Arty wouldn't find out until it was too late.