Author Notes
So this chapter ended up longer than I thought it would be. Hope you all enjoy. Good luck Toys, you're going to need it.
Chapter 21
Night 1 Take 2
Hedy glared at Ruby who was lounging on a table flicking through the cameras on the tablet idly. The Toys were still trying to get the Puppet out an hour after she had locked him in and Bonnie and Foxy were enjoying the show, mostly ignoring the mechanic. Goldy was floating mid-air while she read the first of her favourite books. Freddy and Chica were watching Ruby and waiting for the explosion they knew was coming.
Surprisingly, the most volatile combination was turning out to be the night guard and mechanic. Their personalities were too different. Ruby was impulsive and violent while Hedy was a peace-keeper and logical. Hedy also clearly thought Ruby too reckless for the job after the deal she had made with the Toys.
"Where did you put the key to the box Ruby?" Hedy was making an effort to be civil at least.
Ruby wasn't. Anyone else would have probably stopped a long time ago with the hostility that was radiating off of her. She turned a scathing glare on the mechanic who flinched. Who wouldn't?
"Oh, that key?" she said sweetly, looking ready for murder in all honesty. "I gave it to BB with a battery and orders to not let any of you get it."
They stared at her incredulously. That explained BB's absence but she was already using their own against them?
Ruby went back to the tablet but they weren't fooled. There was an annoyed twitch under her right eye now and she looked ready to throw something at the older girl.
"This isn't going to end well." Chica murmured to Freddy who just sighed and nodded, going back to his book.
The entire night was strained and while Toy Freddy and Toy Bonnie eventually got the key back the Puppet immediately disappeared into his box (trailing glitter behind him), muttering some profanities that had both animatronic groups biting their tongues. Seems he didn't care about swearing like they did.
"Hey, how come he can swear?" Ruby pouted as the chimes went off, looking at Freddy.
"He's just otherwise." Freddy chuckled as she flopped back and glared mildly at him.
"Are you sure about this whole challenge Ruby?" Chica asked softly, now that the Toys had left. Hedy was the only one there as she was packing up her things.
"Of course." Ruby grinned. "It'll stop them from causing problems. And I get a way to vent my frustration."
Bonnie and Foxy dragged Goldy over to join them.
"We should at least tell you how they work." Foxy said, elbowing Goldy in the ribs.
She grumbled but put her book down.
"Well, Toy Bonnie is the first to leave every time." She frowned in thought as she remembered the past.
"Does he also have a weird obsession with the closet?" Ruby asked and Bonnie swiped at her playfully which she easily dodged.
Goldy chuckled softly. "Uh, then I think Toy Chica is the next most active and then Toy Freddy the least. As long as you keep the music box wound up the Puppet will leave you alone. Mangle used to be more sneaky but she seems kind of different now. And of course I'm not participating."
Freddy nodded. "None of us are. There's nothing they can do to force us like last time."
She smiled at them, understanding the subtle flinches and winces for what they were.
"So what did happen to Mangle? Since spoilsport over there won't tell me." She asked, pointing at Hedy who was almost finished her packing.
"Well, you know how popular Foxy is." Chica smiled slightly. "They didn't take kindly to him being replaced."
"They didn't take kindly to anyone being replaced lass." Foxy frowned. "But yeah. The lass took the brunt of it and the kids pulled her apart one day."
Ruby looked shocked. "Yikes. Okay, that does explain the jumpiness."
She frowned but shook herself out of it a moment later. She had to get home before Alice had a heart attack again.
"Well, I'd better get going." She waved at them as she walked to the door.
Wheels behind her told her that Hedy was also leaving.
Outside Ruby stretched for a moment in the fresh air before turning to face Hedy. She knew the mechanic wanted to say something away from the 'bots, which was why she had dawdled while packing.
"What?" she asked flatly.
Hedy sighed as she rubbed her eyes.
"Why are you being so reckless?" she demanded.
Ruby's eyes narrowed. "Listen here. I might not be able to drink legally yet but I can sure as hell handle a bunch of animatronics. I already did it before, and if you don't remember that group actually managed to kill a few night guards. Your bunch is still way too inexperienced."
"You speak about this as if it's a game!" Hedy exclaimed, fixing her eyes on Ruby.
"Because it IS a game. To them. That's how they think. They're programmed to work with children after all." Ruby hissed back.
"You're not helping anything with challenging them." Hedy tried to reason with her.
"Remember Hedy." Ruby rounded on her, eyes burning. "They're the ones who started this. They're the ones who want to kill me. Everything I do, it's just self-defence."
Her smile sent chills down the older girl's spine. A smile was not appropriate for this conversation.
"I'm not about to roll over and die. I intend to win. No matter what it takes. That's just my approach to life in general." As she turned to leave she paused for a moment and looked back. "This whole logical, peaceful approach you've got going on? It doesn't work here. This place doesn't follow regular logic or conventions. You're not going to make it if you don't understand that."
She left with those parting words echoing in the mechanic's head. Hedy found herself more confused about Ruby than ever.
Ruby arrived for her shift Monday night twenty minutes early. She calmed her 'bots down as they'd spent the day working themselves into a panic over what was going to happen. Once that was done she set them up with a projector and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. That would keep them busy at least.
"Stay safe Ruby." Freddy told her just before she left and she grinned back.
"Have you already forgotten how I kicked your butts last time?" she smirked and they had to chuckle at that. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Can't say the same about the Toys."
She left with her signature smirk on her face, patting her bag of weapons.
She ran into Hedy who was just coming out of Pirate's Cove. The mechanic set her jaw and wheeled over to her.
"Since you seem determined to do this I needed to tell you that Mangle won't participate. She's too fragile at the moment so I told the Toys that she can't help." Hedy explained stiffly once Ruby had stopped to listen.
"Okay." Ruby shrugged indifferently.
Hedy studied her for a moment before speaking again. "Do you mind if I stay in the office? I have some work to do on some parts."
Ruby shrugged again. "I never stay in there anyway."
She started walking again while Hedy frowned and followed.
"You don't stay in the office?" she asked in confusion.
"No that's just plain stupid. It's like asking to be attacked if you stay in one place with killer robots wandering around." Ruby rolled her eyes, tired of explaining this to people.
It seemed like common sense to her.
"So you just run around with no protection?" Hedy stared at her incredulously.
"Who said I don't have protection?" Ruby grinned sadistically as she patted her weapons bag.
Hedy sighed in frustration at the girl's persistence.
"Just stay out of the way and things will be fine." Ruby shrugged as she entered the office.
Tuning out Hedy's arguments Ruby spotted a box on the desk that hadn't been there the previous night. It had "Night Guard" written across the side and looked kind of old.
Curious, she dropped her bag and moved over to the box. Prying it open she was surprised.
"Training tapes?" she murmured to herself, holding the tapes up to inspect them.
They were each labelled Night 1 through Night 6.
"Huh, they must have come with the Toys from the old location." Hedy guessed.
Ruby shrugged and moved over to the phone. She'd already taken the tape that held 'Steve's' recordings home so she just slipped the tape in and closed it, waiting for twelve to start playing it.
Hedy watched her in silence, admittedly curious about her strange actions. She had guessed that Ruby would run off immediately after arriving.
Twelve hit and the phone rang, sending a wave of nostalgia through Ruby.
"Uh, hello? Hello, hello?" the familiar voice shocked Ruby.
"Steve!" she yelled happily as Hedy murmured "Uncle Scott?" at the same time.
"Uncle Scott?" Ruby frowned at Hedy but the call continued, stopping that conversation.
"Uh, hello and welcome to your new summer job at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, I'm here to talk you through some of the things you can expect to see during your first week here and to help you get started down this new and exciting career path." 'Steve' explained excitedly and Ruby chuckled.
"Some things never change." She murmured fondly.
"Uh, now, I want you to forget anything you may have heard about the old location, you know. Uh, some people still have a somewhat negative impression of the company. Uh... that old restaurant was kind of left to rot for quite a while, but I want to reassure you, Fazbear Entertainment is committed to family fun and above all, safety." 'Steve' sounded nervous again.
"Safety. Right." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Except for the killer robots."
"They've spent a small fortune on these new animatronics, uh, facial recognition, advanced mobility, they even let them walk around during the day. Isn't that neat?" he paused to clear his throat.
Ruby stiffened up at the mention of the Toys which had Hedy glancing at her in concern.
"Yeah, spend a fortune replacing childhood heroes. Always a good idea." Ruby muttered bitterly, hands clenching and unclenching a few times.
The bitterness in her voice surprised the mechanic.
"But most importantly, they're all tied into some kind of criminal database, so they can detect a predator a mile away. Heck, we should be paying them to guard you." 'Steve' laughed unsteadily.
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Uh no thanks. No offense and besides the fact that they hate me, they look like fricking dolls."
Hedy glared at her. "You should stop calling them that."
"I'll call them what I bloody well please." Ruby growled back.
"Uh, now that being said, no new system's without its... kinks."
Ruby just rolled her eyes again. "Steve, you are the master of understatements."
"Uh... you're only the second guard to work at that location. Uh, the first guy finished his week, but complained about... conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift, so hey, lucky you, right?"
"Yeah! Lucky me! I get homicidal dolls now!" Ruby cheered while Hedy bit her lip to keep from commenting.
It didn't seem like she could get through to the night guard that way.
"Uh mainly he expressed concern that certain characters seemed to move around at night, and even attempted to get into his office."
Ruby gasped. "No kidding?! The same thing happened to me!"
Hedy glared at her while she giggled. She was treating this like some kind of joke.
"Now, from what we know, that should be impossible. Uh, that restaurant should be the safest place on earth." 'Steve' assured them.
"Wow. Security must have sucked worldwide back then if that was considered 'safest'." Ruby idly fiddled with some things on the desk, getting bored.
"So while our engineers don't really have an explanation for this, the working theory is that... the robots were never given a proper "night mode". So when it gets quiet, they think they're in the wrong room, so then they go try to find where the people are, and in this case, that's your office. So our temporary solution is this: there's a music box over by the Prize Counter, and it's rigged to be wound up remotely. So just, every once in a while, switch over to the Prize Counter video feed and wind it up for a few seconds."
Ruby stared at the phone, waiting for the 'but' that would inevitably follow this 'brilliant' solution.
"It doesn't seem to affect all of the animatronics, but it does affect... one of them." he cleared his throat again.
Ruby face-palmed with a groan.
"Uh, and as for the rest of them, we have an even easier solution. You see, there may be a minor glitch in the system, something about robots seeing you as an endoskeleton without his costume on, and wanting to stuff you in a suit, so hey, we've given you an empty Freddy Fazbear head, problem solved!" he cheered.
"Wow, he glossed over that really fast." Ruby was impressed. "But I am not sticking my head in some head. That's just weird and what happened to spending a fortune on them? That seems like a pretty big glitch. Not that it's really a glitch. They're just messing with you."
"Do you talk to yourself a lot?" Hedy sighed in annoyance.
"What do you mean? I'm talking to Steve!" Ruby grinned cheekily back.
Hedy pinched the bridge of her nose and breathed in deeply.
"You can put it on anytime, and leave it on for as long as you want. Eventually anything that wandered in, will wander back out." 'Steve' continued explaining the second 'brilliant' solution.
"No thanks." Ruby shook her head. "And you're making them sound like stray animals."
"Uh, something else worth mentioning is kind of the modern design of the building. You may have noticed there are no doors for you to close, heh. But hey, you have a light! And even though your flashlight can run out of power, the building cannot. So, don't worry about the place going dark."
"Okay, no doors? Seriously stupid. Do they WANT to lose security guards? But I'll admit the limitless power thing would help." Ruby smirked at the phone again.
"Well, I think that's it. Uh, you should be golden." Ruby choked on a laugh.
"I wonder if he knows about Goldy?" she giggled, effectively distracted from everything happening now.
"Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up, piece of cake. Have a good night, and I'll talk to you tomorrow." 'Steve' hung up.
Still giggling Ruby began checking the tablet. She noticed a new button on the screen when she flicked to the room with the Puppet's box in it and, being the curious and impulsive girl she was, she pressed it. Faint music could be heard and she assumed she was 'winding up' the music box as the meter on the screen went up.
"Weird." She muttered, skipping over Goldy's poster, Pirate's Cove and the room where her 'bots were watching their movie.
She'd all but forgotten Hedy was in the room at this point.
"Huh, so Barbie Rabbit is the first to move. Better get going then." She grabbed her bag and turned around at the last second. "Uh, when you hear explosions just ignore them."
Hedy groaned. It wasn't even 'if'. It was 'when'.
"Just don't do permanent damage." She almost begged.
"No promises." Ruby's smile was feral.
Hedy looked at the doorway, biting her lip. Why did she feel more worried for the Toys than the night guard?
She glanced at the phone after a moment. She hadn't heard her uncle's voice in a long time…
Ruby had forgotten how much fun messing with homicidal robots was. She raced down the hallway, laughing so hard she could barely breathe, adrenaline pounding through her system while the irate blue rabbit chased her. Well…he used to be blue…
She'd decided on another paint night for night one.
Toy Chica appeared ahead, obviously thinking she could cut Ruby off. The night guard grinned maliciously and aimed the paintball gun.
Not even animatronics could stand up to a machine gun barrage of paintballs. She sprinted past the horrified chicken and dived into a nearby vent.
The Toys had been furious to discover that she used the vents to navigate the building and that none of them could fit into them in this incarnation of the pizzeria. Of course, they'd been shocked to find that Ruby didn't even stay in the office in the first place. That was all before she's started shooting paintballs at them and now they didn't even know what to feel…
BB, being the smallest 'bot, had tried to follow her into the vents. Then there'd been loud bangs and screeches and now he refused to leave the closet, having barricaded himself inside.
She was already driving them crazy, having found time to string plastic wrap across the doorways and leading them straight into the clingy film. She'd hit them with glue bombs followed up by glitter bombs and mines. She'd set up explosive pizza in the kitchen. There were paint buckets above doorways, confetti cannons around corners. She'd even placed a table on the puppets box at some point which he was NOT amused by.
In short, she was making sure the Toys knew that this was HER space. She was marking her territory in a sense. And making them aware of the fact that they were intruders.
At some point she stumbled, laughing, past Mangle who was timidly poking her head out of Pirate's Cove. The fox froze when she saw Ruby but the night guard waved her fear off.
"I slipped a glitter bomb into the Clown's box. That was funny." She giggled madly, stumbling off while trying to breathe properly again.
Mangle stared at the girl in confusion. She was really strange, but admittedly she didn't seem that bad. She was just trying to protect her friends as she saw the Toys as a threat. After another explosion gave her a fright she scurried back into the cove to hide.
Toy Freddy felt like he'd been hit by a bomb (not talking about the actual glitter glue bomb that had hit him). This night guard was insane. Utterly insane. She was actually enjoying the chase. The Puppet was currently trapped in his box by a table and none of them could get through the literal glitter minefield that she had set up around it.
He leaned against a wall to straighten out his thoughts when another explosion went off in the building and Toy Bonnie screamed in frustration.
"Is she always like this?" he mumbled to himself.
"Yup." Goldy's voice echoed eerily out of nowhere.
She materialized, still holding her book and grinned at him.
"She's always like this. But it's much more fun when it's not directed at you." She hummed happily as she flipped a page.
"She's the night guard!" Toy Freddy hissed but Goldy ignored him. 'I can't believe that the kids haven't gotten rid of her yet."
Goldy snorted. "Yeah right. She won that bet fair and square. Just like she's going to win this one."
"You seem awfully confident." Toy Freddy frowned.
Goldy shrugged. "You do know she's still warming up right? It's only night one."
With that she disappeared, leaving an ominous feeling behind with the other bear.
Toy Chica slid down a wall panting. This girl just never seemed to run out of energy.
"Why won't she just stay in the office." The chicken whined to herself.
Nearby, Mangle poked her head out of the cove at the chicken's voice and looked at her inquisitively. She was rather confused about all the glitter…
"The night guard." Toy Chica explained petulantly. "Booby-trapped the entire place."
Mangle looked up and down the hall a few times before she disappeared back into the cove. She wasn't getting involved in whatever was causing those explosions.
Toy Chica huffed in annoyance and stood up again, determined to get this girl.
Toy Bonnie was losing his mind. Completely and utterly.
"Stop doing that!" he screamed at the guard who was pelting him with paintballs.
Surprisingly she did stop and speared him with a glare.
"Oh come ON. Will you stop being such a fricking baby Barbie doll? It's a paintball gun. The 'bots survived it fine and took it much better than you." She looked thoroughly annoyed. "Honestly, are you trying to ruin the fun?"
Toy Bonnie growled and leaped at her. She danced out of the way, the annoyed look still on her face.
"Fine, you don't want to play? Then you get the Betty treatment."
Before the rabbit could even process the words, the bat came speeding through the air and slammed into his skull. It tipped him off balance and sent him to the ground. Dizzy he looked up at her in shock.
"My 'bots dealt with a lot worse you wimp. Man up." She sniffed disdainfully before sauntering away.
BB came running down the hall screaming out his war cry again (seeming to have gotten over his earlier fright) and Ruby absently batted him into a wall.
"Note to self, bring the sledgehammer next time."
The Puppet sat fuming in his box. He was well and truly stuck with whatever was on top and the guard keeping the music box wound up. Every now and then he heard an explosion or yell of anger and frustration echo out.
After a while he started to wonder if he was better off inside the box…
Bonnie glanced back at the door longingly as yet another explosion went off.
"She's got it handled Bonnie, trust me." Goldy assured him from her position reading in the air.
"But, I want to play to. It's boring." Bonnie groaned, flopping back.
Chica looked at him in sympathy. "I think its best if we stay out of her way tonight Bonnie."
Freddy shushed them and returned to avidly watching the movie while they snickered at them.
A scream echoed through the building at Foxy tilted his head.
"That's Toy Bonnie. Wonder what the lass is doing tonight?" he mused.
Bonnie groaned again. "It's probably fun. And they won't even appreciate it most likely."
Before they could say anything else, Freddy shushed them again and they smirked in amusement. Seemed each of them had a weakness for a specific movie franchise.
When 6 AM finally chimed the Toys felt like they had been hit by a bomb. They hadn't even gotten close to catching the night guard. She grinned at them from across the room as Hedy surveyed the damage.
"You've got to be kidding me." She deadpanned.
The Toys were covered in paint, glitter, glue and a hundred other things. So was the rest of the building excepting the main dining room and Pirate's Cove. Ruby had even somehow drawn a mustache on Toy Chica. Not even Toy Chica knew how that had happened.
A whistle from the doorway caught their attention. Foxy was surveying the mess.
"Looks like you had some fun lass." He chuckled, ignoring the glares sent his way.
Ruby skipped over to him and grinned.
"Yeah, but none of them can run as fast as you." She admitted in annoyance. "Kind of takes away from the thrill."
They gaped at her while Foxy just chuckled again.
"So you heading home now?" Bonnie asked from behind Foxy.
He was still wary around Hedy.
Ruby stretched and nodded. "Want me to bring any specific movie for tomorrow night?"
"Well, I don't think Freddy will be happy until he's gotten to watch the Lord of the Rings series finished." Foxy chuckled.
Ruby smirked. "I'll bring the Hobbit series then. It's a prequel trilogy."
Bonnie grinned. "He'll be happy but I don't think Chica will. She didn't really like it I think."
"I'll get something for her after the Lord of the Rings binge." Ruby laughed.
She packed her things and headed for the door while Hedy struggled to clean something off of a complaining Toy Bonnie.
She glanced back at the mechanic. "They can do it themselves. My 'bots could."
She left before anyone could yell at her and Bonnie and Foxy ran off to avoid the inevitable explosion too.
The Toys were still yelling an hour later and Hedy had to frantically calm them down before the cleaners got there.
Said cleaners looked around at the mess after they arrived and glanced at each other. Seemed like it was an exciting night alright.
Author Notes
Hope you enjoyed :)
Thanks to Thrill-Pair-All-The-Way, wes27, LightSong-ShadowDragon and Rikku-056 for the weapon ideas.
Next chapter up on Wednesday and thank you again for your interest everyone. :)