The stage was empty. It was normally a sight which would have filled Michael with dread, but during the day, with other people around to boot, the feeling was somewhat mitigated. Several people working for a moving company had loaded the animatronics onto a truck, almost as if they were ordinary objects. Then again, he supposed that to most people, they were just that.
"The kids will probably be pretty disappointed, but I think you'll be happy to be rid of them at the very least," the manager of the Fazbear establishment Mike worked at explained.
If nothing else, Michael had to agree with that. The announcement had been so sudden. One day, he was neck deep in trying to keep those monsters from killing him, the next, he's being told that they're being replaced.
"All a part of the rebranding mandated by corporate," the manager continued, "They apparently whipped up some spiffy new ones, complete with a whole redesign and everything. Supposed to be super high tech from what I hear. Won't be in for about a week though."
Michael could have sworn he saw one of the old animatronics twitch just as the door to the moving truck closed. A part of him would miss them. Well, he wouldn't miss having to fight for his life night after night, but he would miss the familiarity. The worst part was how he would never be able to release the souls. The whole reason he had taken this job was to free the souls of the children his father had killed, after all, but now that was a near impossibility.
"What's going to happen to them?" he asked.
"Hm? Oh, the old ones? I imagine they'll be scrapped. Either that or recycled for parts."
Michael nodded, stroking his chin. Would that do the trick? He had often considered dismantling them himself, but he had never had the proper opportunity to. Not to mention it was difficult enough getting within an arms width of those things without getting killed at night. Perhaps this would be best. If they really were being dismantled, then it gave the kids a better chance of moving on than Michael could ever offer them.
"Well, I think that just about covers everything. You enjoy the peace and quiet," the manager gave a wave as he left along with the people from the moving company. For a moment, Michael was confused, only to remember he still had a job to do. It was getting late, and he was the nighttime security guard after all. He made sure to lock the door before checking around the building and settling into the security office.
The whole place felt so… empty. Unnervingly so. In his few weeks doing the job, Michael had always assumed that a major factor in the restaurant's creepiness was due to the fact that he was not alone. Staring into those cameras, seeing Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy move around, gradually encroaching, it was terrifying. Now, on the other hand, he was getting used to a very different type of fear. He was all alone. At least, he thought he was all alone. He hoped he was all alone.
Michael let out a sigh, leaning back in his chair. In spite of the fear, he was beginning to notice how dull this job really was. Maybe it was best to just quit. After all, without his reason for being there, what was really the point in keeping the job? On the other hand, there was no reason to rush into anything. His father was still at large, but he had no idea where he was. There was also the matter of spending money. It wasn't as if he was exactly flush for cash, and his appearance was a major downside for most employers. Michael was no idiot; he knew how he looked… he knew how he smelled too. Most people weren't exactly jumping at the opportunity to hire a literal zombie. The only reason he had been hired here was because there was no way he would be interacting with any of the staff or customers. If nothing else, it was good to save up a bit before moving on to his next step. If nothing else, he had to stick around to see what these new animatronics were like. For all he knew, they would be just as killer as the old ones.
It was about a week later when he got the phone call about the renovations. The construction crew working on the new stage area were set to be working all night. With this in mind, it was best that he stayed home. Michael never much liked his crappy little apartment, but he decided it was better not to complain about a free day off. The crew took a little longer than expected, a full two days, but all things considered they worked fairly fast.
"I'm tell'n ya kid, these new ones are really something else!" his manager raved over the phone, "You won't believe how much of an improvement they are over the old ones! Real state of the art stuff!"
"The only thing I care about is how violent they are," Michael said dryly, holding the phone in one hand as he slipped on a shoe with the other.
"Well, we can only hope for the best, right?"
On the drive over, Michael was unsure as to if he was feeling dread or excitement. He had to admit, that on one level, he was interested to see these animatronics in person. From what he had heard, they put the old ones to shame in terms of design and function. On the other hand, animatronics and him had never really mixed well. Sure, he was good with mechanics, but that was more an outcome of observing his father than anything else.
By the time he arrived, all the employees and customers had long since left. It was par fer the course at this point. No one really liked having to look at someone like him. The manager was one of the few people working there who had any idea what he looked like. Some of the kitchen staff who had the misfortune to stay late had also ran into him by accident, but it never seemed to end well. He was certain there were rumors about him amongst the day staff, but he tried to not let it bother him. It was the sort of thing that happened no matter where he went. He did his best to stick to the shadows, but he was still seen on occasion, whether he liked it or not. It was a lonely life, to say the least, but Michael tried to not let it bother him. He had his goal, to find his father, and as far as he was concerned, that was good enough. Besides, who would want to be friends with someone like him? An undead man, the son of a killer, responsible for his own brother's death. No, he was certain that even if he looked normal, friends were out of the question.
He took a breath, placing his hand on the handle to the front door. Upon stepping in, he was awe struck at how different the place looked. Everything was so clean, with an excess of neon. Foxy's cove had been done away with, in favor of a much more elaborate stage area. Before, it was so small, like the type of thing you would have for an open mic night. Now, however, it looked fit for rockstars, which was appropriate considering the new animatronics. Michael had been given a brief rundown of what they were like, but he had yet to see any photos, so this was his first time truly seeing them. He had been told that they were given a glam rock aesthetic, and they certainly lived up to that name. The things looked straight out of a rock and roll album cover.
All four were standing together on stage. Glamrock Freddy and Chica were easy enough to figure out. While they were different from their older versions, most notably in their new slender build, it was still undeniably them. The other two were new, but it didn't take much work to figure out that the alligator was Montgomery Gator, and the wolf was Roxanne Wolf.
To say that they formed a sharp contrast with what came before would be the understatement of the century. They were so sleek, so colorful. Everything about their look was simply pleasing to the eye. What stood out most, however, was not what they were, but what they weren't. There was no way Michael could look at these characters and find them scary. To his surprise, he could not help but feel a twinge of sadness that from now on, kids would never know the experience of going to a Freddy Fazbear's and getting terrified by a creepy animatronic. On the other hand, it undeniably made his own job much more pleasant.
In spite of this, there was one thing which set him on edge as he entered, something which stood out much more than any of the changes in appearance. Normally when he entered, the animatronics stood on stage, motionless, only coming to life at 12. Here, they were quite the opposite. While all four of them might have been standing on the stage, they were anything but still. They were all speaking to each other.
Michael could not help but to find this quite odd, seeing as there was no point in keeping them on past closing. Surely this was just some automated part of their routine. There was no way animatronics could just casually converse in their free time.
Suddenly, they stopped, one of them pointing to him. All four turned and stared. Michael tensed. While he might not have been able to find these things scary, there was no way they didn't fill him with a certain level of apprehension.
"Why hello there," Freddy waved in a friendly manner, his voice deep, while also comforting. At first, Michael assumed that it was merely some sort of automated response. He had heard that some of the older animatronics had been built with facial recognition technology, so it was possible that these ones were simply programmed to spot when someone was in the room, and act accordingly. This thought was immediately dashed when Freddy added, "You must be the security guard."
Ok, now that was way too specific. There was no way that that was some prerecorded response.
"I… am," Michael said hesitantly, not sure where this was going.
"It is a pleasure to meet you," the bear said with a nod, "I'm am Freddy, and these are the other members of my band, Chica, Roxy and Monty. I would like to thank you in advance for keeping us safe."
"Speak for yourself, not all of us need protection," the gator added.
"Don't complain Monty," the wolf interrupted, "When you're as beloved as I am, you need all the security you can get."
Michael stood there, not certain what to think. They were so… real. Before, there was no doubt that the old Fazbear gang were a bunch of robots. If it weren't for the souls of the children, then there would have been no way for them to truly think by themselves. They were simply designed to carry out a set of instructions. These ones, on the other hand, were an entirely different story. It was as if a set of cartoon characters had leapt out of the tv and were standing before him, albeit in robotic form. Their conversation felt so natural, it almost made him forget that they were just machines.
This illusion was carried even further when Freddy stepped off the stage. Unlike the speech option, the previous animatronics had been able to do this as well, but there was nothing stiff about the way Glamrock Freddy did it. The whole motion felt very fluid.
"If I could, might I ask your name?" the animatronic bear asked, stepping closer to a rather nervous Michael.
"Mike… um, that is to say, Michael, Michael… Schmidt," he had almost said 'Afton', but there was definitely no need to go dredging up that old name.
"I look forward to working with you Michael," Freddy said, still very polite. The two were quite close now, and Mike was only just beginning to realize how tall these things were. While not sure of their exact height, he knew that they were way taller than him.
"Right, well, I'll just be in the office then," said the security guard, eager to get to the only room in the building which could be remotely described as safe.
"Oh, well, before you do, we were wondering if there was one thing you could do for us… just as a favor?"
Michael had already begun to walk towards the security office, but at this he stopped, hoping it wasn't anything major.
"Yes?"
"Well… it's just that… we know that you probably have orders to turn us off at night, but the four of us were talking and… we were wondering if you could leave us on. Just for one night?" Freddy stood there, doing his best approximation of puppy dog eyes. For a robot, he was doing a pretty good job.
Michael was unsure what to think of this. On the one hand, every hint of logic told him that the right thing to do would be to say no, and shut them down. After all, he needed to take his own safety into mind first and foremost, and in his experience, Fazbear brand animatronics were counterintuitive to that goal. Despite this, to his surprise, there was a part of him considering the request. He had no doubt that these things could be dangerous if they wanted to be, but so far, they had shown no sign of aggression. Furthermore, asking a question like this was quite advanced to say the least. It demonstrated some form of self-awareness, possibly sentience, which begged a great deal of questions.
If they wanted to killed him, then why had they not done so already? After all, there was nothing stopping Freddy from leaping out at him in that very moment. Were they waiting for something? Did they want something out of him, like a piece of information? Was their off-setting automated? Was that it? If it was, then that might have been it. He makes sure they stay on, then they kill him. Still, there was no way to tell without first checking.
"Is you shut down automated or manual?" Michael asked. Freddy looked to the others, confused. None of them seemed to have an answer.
"I… I don't know."
"Alright, let me take a look at it," Michael gestured for the bear to come closer, something he never thought he would do to an animatronic.
Freddy looked notable worried at this, "Please, I just want you to consider-"
"I'm not gonna shut you off yet, I just want to take a look,"
The animatronic shuffled forward nervously. Climbing up on one of the tables, Michael turned Freddy around, tilting his head forward in order to get a better look at the back of his neck. While he might not have been familiar with these newer models, he knew it was typical for Afton robotics to place their power functions in that area. Sure enough, just past some wires he could make out the spot to power an animatronic down. It was manual, just like the old models. He climbed down, pondering what to do next. If that wasn't their ulterior motive for not killing him, then what was?
At this point, Michael was beginning to wonder if it was better to comply with them, as opposed to rocking the boat. It was all too easy for one of them to attack him while shutting another down. If they truly were sentient, or some proximally, then it stood to reason they would get upset at being turned off. That gator especially seemed quick to anger.
Michael sighed, "Don't make me regret this."
Freddy perked up, "Does…does that mean?"
"Yes, I'm letting you stay on."
