Sharon sighs as she finishes fixing the Cleaner Bot.
It was already the third time that week that she was having to go backstage at the Theater to fix Bots. This time she had to fix five, all of which had claw marks.
She would have to consult a certain alligator to confirm her suspicions of the culprit.
The Bot turns back on, staring at her.
"Can you do a check up to see if there are any other problems?" She asks. The Bot nods in agreement, and then starts running the tests.
She takes a moment and looks at her Fazwatch, no message from Chef Bot. It had been a week since her restriction was lifted, yet Chef Bot hadn't called her. When she sent him a message, he just replied to her to rest a bit more.
She huffs, though she was kind of pressured to accept, she liked making the deliveries. Except in dangerous places, those she left to the other deliverers using some lame excuses.
The Bot beeps, drawing her attention.
"Have you encountered any problems?"
It denies it with its head.
"Then we're ready to go." She smiles, looking at the other four Bots, who were waiting for their last friend "Let's go?"
They nod in agreement.
The six of them make their way to the entrance of the Daycare.
The Daycare was empty, there was no sign of the attendant. It was already half past seven in the evening, the Daycare closed at seven o'clock. Perhaps the attendant was resting.
"Ok guys, you can go back to your posts. You know, any problem, send me a message and I'll come running to help you all!" She says to the five Bots, who stare at her and then open their arms, in the universal sign of a hug "You guys are always so needy."
She laughs and opens her arms too, coming closer and hugging them, who close their eyes and let out beeps of happiness.
A shiver runs down her spine.
She felt that she was being watched.
She looks around, she can't distinguish who was watching her, only seeing customers and children walking around the place, already heading to the other areas of Pizzaplex, but everyone seemed not to mind looking at her.
Strange.
Her Fazwatch beeps.
"Oh, a meeting at the Fazcade? I wonder what they're up to?" She asks as she starts to read the message, until she reads what was at the end "What are they talking about competition?"
She looks at the Bots, who shrugs.
"Well, I have to go, but just reinforcing, any problems, just call!"
The Bots give her a thumbs up and she heads to Fazcade.
Unaware that someone was following her from afar.
"I'm the best Combat Kids player!" Arnold, one of Sharon's fellow deliverers, shouts, pointing to his own chest with a smile.
"Really? How much do you want to bet?" Kyle approaches menacingly, cracking his knuckles.
"This is going to be interesting." Annie eats some popcorn, while Sharon stares at the two of them with a disbelieving face.
Most of the staff gathered at Fazcade to have a friendly time with everyone, however when it got onto the subject of arcades, things started to get a little competitive.
"I bet on Kyle." Gary comes up behind the two girls.
"Those who are alive always show up." Annie looks at him "How are you? Is your arm better?"
"Yes, I can deliver again." He moves his arm and flexes it, to show that he was better.
"What happened this time?" Sharon asks.
"I crashed the bike after going over a hole, the deliveries fell into the river. I broke my arm on that, it's already the third time this year alone."
" 'This year alone'? How many times have you broken your bones in the past?"
"About five a year." He laughs at her surprised face "Let's just say I'm unlucky and like to live dangerously."
"And that always harms our work." Annie eats some more of her popcorn.
"Speaking of deliveries, do you know anything about the kitchen and Chef Bot? He hasn't called me to deliver for a couple of weeks now."
"Well, I'm hardly ever there for always crashing the bike, but for me it's chaotic as ever."
"And you Annie, do you know anything?"
"No, I was mainly busy discussing with the directors about the upgrade in Chef Bot. It looks like they are going to do it, they are just seeing the best date to implement."
"Place your bets!" Boris shouts, getting everyone's attention, hitting one of the tables with a stick. The employees begin to gather around him, placing their bets.
"Can we bet? Isn't that forbidden in our contract?"
"The directors don't give a damn unless someone reports it or a client sees it. Since Fazcade has already closed, we can do this without a problem." Annie explains "Fifty on Kyle!"
"Thirty on him too!" Gary also announces, the two of them heading for the buzz.
Sharon sighs, propping herself up against a wall near the tunnels used by DJ Music Man. She wouldn't bet, after all, she had a chance of losing money, and losing money was the last thing she wanted.
A movement catches her eye, a giant head pops out of the tunnel next to her, looking around until he sees her on his side.
"Hey DJ, how's it going?" She smiles at him, who looks at the commotion of people at the table and then at her, making a money and a question mark emotes in his eyes "Yeah, they're betting on who wins Combat Kids. I don't like betting, so I'm going to keep to myself so I don't get in the way."
The comment makes him think for a moment, until he seems to make up his mind on whatever he thought.
He extends one of his hands out of the tunnel.
"What's wrong? Do you want to give me a ride somewhere?" He nods. She looks for a moment at her colleagues, all eager to know who would win the bet. She ponders if it would be nice to join them, but she knew she would be left out because she didn't have all their excitement to bet "Yeah, they don't need me there." She decides, climbing on the hand of the animatronic, which starts to move.
The two arrive on stage and he leaves her on the dance floor.
"So, what's it going to be today handsome?" She smiles.
DJ imitates a dance with his two front hands.
"Oh, so I finally get to see the legendary DJ Music Man in action?" She laughs, he nods enthusiastically "Ah, I remembered something, can I call a friend?"
DJ Music Man tilted his head to one side, curious.
A movement caught his eye, someone seemed to be trying to hide in the men's restroom. Could it be the friend Sharon was talking about?
DJ Music Man nods, and she starts typing on her Fazwatch.
"Perfect, I'll call Monty, finally I can prove that we are friends." She speaks.
Oh, so it wasn't the restroom spy she was talking about.
Once the message is sent, one of the Mini Music Man appears.
"Hey Mini! How are you?" It hits its cymbals, excited "The DJ is gonna play some music, did you come to join in?" It agrees, making a few miming movements "Hm? Are the other Minis coming? We're gonna have a party then!" It starts dancing around her, who laughs.
"I'm coming, stop hassling me!" A voice draws their attention, it was Montgomery Gator, he was being pushed by three Mini Music Man.
"What's up Monty!" Sharon calls out, the animatronic alligator faces her and stares at the other bouncy Mini Music Man next to him, and then the big DJ Music Man behind her, who gives him a friendly wave.
"You've got to be kidding me." He approaches fearfully, his voice incredulous.
"I told you." She crosses her arms "We're friends, right DJ?" The big animatronic nods. Montgomery stares at them for a moment, until he simulates a sigh.
"Okay, you won, I believe you now!" He says defeatedly, making her laugh "Did you call me just for that?"
"No, the DJ wanted to play some music, I thought it would be fun for us to dance a little, you know, as thanks for the tour." She points to DJ Music Man, who puts one hand on his headphone, ready to rock out.
"Aren't you going to call the others too? Aren't you, like, best friends with Chica?"
"There will be other opportunities, besides, I wanted to enjoy a bit with you." She indicates him "Any more questions or can we have some fun?"
"No." He looks at DJ Music Man "DJ, Rock 'n Roll!"
The big animatronic nods in agreement, gets ready and starts playing one of his songs, which makes Sharon smile and start an awkward little dance, accompanied by the Minis.
Montgomery smiles at seeing this and joins them.
"You call that dancing?" He jokes.
"Stop pestering me, not everyone is a rockstar." She shows him her tongue in a childish sign.
"But I can teach you if you want."
"You? Teaching? Has anyone messed up your screws?" That gets a laugh out of the animatronic.
"I'm a great teacher. Don't you want to test?"
"Okay, let's see if you can turn me into a rockstar."
"I can teach, but I don't work miracles." That gets a grimace from her and a laugh from DJ Music Man.
"Don't you dare laugh at his jokes!" She points at the DJ, who laughs harder, making her join in the laughter.
Montgomery laughs too, until she turns to him.
"So, will you teach me?"
"When we're done, you won't be embarrassed at the clubs anymore." He looks at DJ Music Man "DJ, put on some rock music."
The big animatronic does a thumbs-up and changes the music.
With a laugh, the two begin to dance.
Not far away, someone was spying on the three. He wanted to join in, dance with them, have fun together. Having friends was amazing, but this was something he believed he would never have again.
He didn't want that to happen again.
"Ugh, my head is killing me." Annie puts her hand on her head, closing her eyes.
"Did you drink a lot last night?" Sharon looked at her, she was sitting on one of the stools and with her screwdriver in hand, fixing a Cleaner Bot.
"Yes, Kyle beat Arnold at Combat Kids and we grabbed a few beers and got our faces full in celebration." She sprawls out on the table in front of the camera monitors, they were both in the Control Room.
"It must have been amazing." She laughs, going back to fiddling with the Bot.
"Yeah, too bad you weren't there." The blonde gets up and goes to her, giving her a hug from behind "You were with the DJ right? I thought I saw you having a private dance party."
"Yeah, he called me and we had a good time there until the Plex closed."
"Was Monty there too? I thought I saw him doing his little jumps."
"Yes, he kept trying to teach me how to dance."
"And did you succeed?"
"No." The two face each other and laugh together "But what counts is the intention, right?"
"Absolutely. Amazing that you managed to become friends with the band, and the DJ, he hardly interacts, I think he's a bit afraid because of his size."
"Which is a shame, he's a sweetheart." She smiles "But it's amazing that they all wanted to be my friends, even though I'm just a nobody."
"Don't say such a thing, you're amazing!" She disengages from the hug, staring at Sharon, until a beep diverts their attention, they turns and looks at the camera monitors, from where the sound came "Hm, what is that?" She squeezes her eyes shut to try and see better "What the hell is he doing?!" She practically squeals.
"What is it?"
"That clown is out of his area! He should be watching the kids!" She pointed to the monitor, which showed an animatronic in gaudy clothes on Rockstar Row, trying to sneak around and not be seen. He seemed to stare at the doors leading to the Control Room.
"Isn't he the daycare attendant?" Sharon asks, obviously confused by the unusual scene.
"Yes, and he should be in the Daycare, not here!" Annie lets out a somewhat roar of frustration "If the directors hear about this, if it's reported, they'll rip my head off!"
"C-calm down, we'll just take him back to the Daycare and…" Sharon interrupts herself when she sees that Annie started to cry, smearing her makeup.
No panic, she should be the adult in that situation.
Taking a deep breath, Sharon stands up and puts her hands on Annie's shoulder, catching the tearful blonde's eye.
"I'll sort it out, I'll take the attendant to Daycare, no one will lose their job."
"A-are you going?" Sharon nods. Annie stares at her and then throws herself at her, hugging her and crying more "Again you're going to save me! You really are a saint!"
"It's not that big a deal. Besides, I think it's my fault he's here." She pushes the blonde away and starts walking towards the door.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothing." She smiles and leaves, leaving the blonde with a confused face.
Quickly descending the stairs, Sharon opens the door to Rockstar Row and looks for the animatronic, which she finds quickly, he was still in the same spot she had seen on camera, trying not to be noticed in front of Freddy's green room.
She starts heading towards him, and the animatronic notices that he has been spotted. Panicking, he wriggles his hands and looks frantically everywhere, until he crouches behind a plant pot, which only covered half of his body, making it very obvious that he was still there.
Arriving in front of the plant, Sharon tries not to make too many sudden movements so as not to frighten him.
"Hi, you're the daycare attendant, right? What are you doing here on Rockstar Row?" She asks calmly, without raising her voice. Seeing that she was talking to him, the daycare attendant starts fidgeting with his hands, obviously nervous.
"Oh! M-m-me? W-well, I kind of… I kind of… I got lost! Yeah, I got lost!" He avoids looking her in the face, still behind the plant. Obviously he was lying, something she didn't think those animatronics were capable of. But she had to get him back to the Daycare as soon as possible, so she couldn't worry about such minor issues.
"Right, I can take you back to the Daycare, how about that?" She holds out her hand, the animatronic stares at her for a moment "We can go through the Service Tunnels which is faster, then no one will see us." If she was accompanied, surely Freddy wouldn't complain about her walking through the tunnels again.
"A-are you going with me?"
"Of course." With that statement, the animatronic stood up in a leap, startling Sharon, who took a step back. He was tall, maybe a little taller than Freddy because of the sunrays on his head.
"It will be like follow the master! And you are the master!" He indicates her, now with an animated tone.
"Huh? I guess so?" She finds the animatronic's rapid change of emotion strange, but him being excited was better than him being nervous behind the plant "Let's go, the children are waiting for you."
"Let's go!" And she leads the way to the door of the tunnels, closely followed by the animatronic, who walks excitedly, jumping around.
She opens the door and they face the stairs, the lighting much dimmer. The attendant stops his jumping and fiddles with his hands, nervous.
"D-do we need to go that way?"
"Yes, it's faster. Is there a problem?" She notices his nervousness. What was the problem now?
"N-no, none! We can go!" His voice gives a squeak.
"If you don't want to, we can take the long way, we just have to go fast."
"No no! Let's take the tunnels!" To illustrate his decision, the attendant goes through the door and walks down the stairs.
Shrugging, Sharon goes after him, quickly catching up with him at the bottom of the stairs, where he was standing.
"Is everything all right? Can we go?" She fearfully touches his hand, which faces her.
"R-right! Show the way!" He makes an exaggerated motion for her to lead the way. She takes the lead and begins to guide him through the tunnels.
"Here we arrive at the entrance, and from there it's a quick walk to the Daycare. This way we avoid customers seeing us walking around." She looks back, the animatronic follows her, nervous "Why did you leave the Daycare and leave the children alone?"
"A-alone?! No no, they're not alone, Joshua is looking after them!"
"Who is Joshua?"
"The security guard at the Daycare! He's always behind the desk, staring at me all shy, he obviously wants to be my friend, but he's so shy!" He puts his hands together "Besides, the kids are at nap time, it's okay for me to go out for a bit!"
"It's ok for you, but it causes problems for other people."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Annie, who handles the publicity for Plex, was desperate, because if any customer takes a picture of you outside the Daycare during working hours, it will look like you're not doing your job, giving Plex a bad reputation, causing Annie to be questioned about whether she's really doing her job to spruce up the company's image, and in the worst case scenario, she could lose her job. And it could hit Joshua too, for not being careful enough to make sure you stayed in your area. Besides, if any child gets hurt during this period, the responsibility will be put on him, and he could also lose his job and…" She interrupts herself when she sees him standing still "A-attendant? What happened?"
"WE HAVE TO RUN!" His shout frightens her, who overbalances and falls on her butt on the ground.
"W-what?" She sees the animatronic putting his hands on his head, turning his head from side to side in a clear sign of despair.
"I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD BE SO MUCH TROUBLE! I DON'T WANT TO CAUSE TROUBLE! NO, NO, I HAVE TO BE A GOOD ANIMATRONIC!" He stops suddenly, Sharon swallows dryly, until he turns his head towards her in a frightening way. She tries to drag herself back "We're wasting time! We have to run to the Daycare!"
Before she could make any movement, the animatronic quickly picks her up between his arms, positions her comfortably and starts running.
The two make it through the Service Tunnels in half the time it would take. The attendant opens one of the doors and quickly passes the security office, where the security guard stares at them in confusion as the two open the doors and head for the entrance to the Pizzaplex.
They quickly sneak up to the doors leading to the Daycare, Sharon all the time being jostled and totally confused.
The animatronic arrives in front of the large doors of the Daycare and stops, finally putting the poor mechanic on the floor, who loses the strength in her legs and uses the door as a support.
"We are here! And very quickly!" The animatronic announces, pleased with himself. Until he notices Sharon's sorry state "What's wrong? Is everything all right?"
"Please…" She starts, catching her breath "Never again… Run like that… With someone in your arms."
"Oh dear, did I hurt you?! I can't hurt anyone, I have to be a good animatronic! Where did you get hurt? I'll take you to the first aid station! I promise never to do that again!" The animatronic starts to move to help her, but the doors of the Daycare open.
Sharon, because she is leaning on one of the doors, ends up being pushed and goes down, eliciting a yelp from the animatronic, who puts his hands where his static smile is.
"Where have you been?! These kids have been pestering me since you left!" An overweight man stares at the animatronic, not at all happy.
"Are you alright?!" The animatronic helps Sharon up, who nods, ignoring the guy.
"Sun! Stop ignoring me and get back out there! Do your job!" He raises his voice. The animatronic tenses, Sharon notices and touches his arm, who turns his face towards her.
"Go on, we ran all that so you could get back in there. I'm fine." She nods to the Daycare.
"B-but what about your injury?"
"I'm not hurt, just a little dizzy, but it will pass quickly, don't worry." She smiles at him "You have to go and look after the children."
He is visibly nervous, but he finally lets go of her and heads inside the Daycare, defeated.
When he sees that the animatronic has taken up his post, the man goes over to her and holds her hands, helping her regain her balance.
"Sorry about that, it's just that sometimes he only hears me if I shout at him." He speaks calmly now.
"Does it happen often that he runs away from the Daycare?"
"Lately, yes. I don't know what's going on, he used to just keep to himself, he wouldn't even go near anyone except the kids. Now every time he gets a chance, he runs away from the Daycare and leaves everything to me." He sighs "I'm just a security guard, I don't know how to take care of children, that's why I don't have children." That gets a laugh out of Sharon "I'm Joshua, by the way."
"Sharon, STAFF Bots mechanic and delivery girl in my spare time." The two smile at each other "Well, I'll let you get back to work, I have to let Annie know he's back and calm her down."
"Right, she must be crying until now if I know her."
"Do you know her?"
"Who doesn't? She's the one who fixes most of the shit on the Plex, plus she's always saving the image of this place when there's a scandal." He laughs "The only problem is that she goes into a tailspin and cries when something goes wrong."
"I didn't know she was so famous."
"Oh, she is. But enough talk, go and calm the poor thing down."
"Right."
"And if you need anything in the Daycare, just come and see me, I'm around all the hours it's open."
"Ok."
And with that she heads back to the Control Room.
Arriving at the Control Room, Sharon gets a surprise.
"Chica? Was there a problem?" She faces the animatronic.
"Hi Sharon! I was looking for you, and I saw Annie crying here…" She indicates the blonde, who was sitting in one of the chairs, her mascara all smeared, but seemed to have stopped crying, calmer.
"Oh yes, everything is under control Annie, he's back to work." She comes close to the blonde, who stares at her.
"No problems?" She asks, the tearful tone in her voice.
"Not much, he seemed to understand when I said it caused problems if he stayed out of Daycare during working hours, I don't think it will have any more incidents like that."
"Who?" Chica stares at them.
"The daycare attendant, was on Rockstar Row."
"Which one?"
"Sun obviously, who else would it be? Moonface wouldn't do it because of the restriction they put on him for a month." Annie stands up, sighing.
"What did Moon do?" Sharon stares at her.
"Apart from the fact that he scares the children with his face, he broke the hand of one of the Theater's security guards."
"Are you talking about Reyes?" Chica stares at her.
"Yes, since he broke Reyes' hand, he can no longer walk around the entire Plex, they put a restriction that prevents him from leaving the Daycare and Theater area, his rounds are restricted to those areas. If something like that happens again, I don't doubt that the heads won't try to get rid of him once and for all." Annie explains, bringing her hand to her face and seeing that her mascara has smudged, she sighs "I'm a mess because of all this, I'll have to fix my face before they see me."
"Want a hand getting ready?"
"No need, I'll fix it in no time, I'm used to it." She sounds tired "Not knowing how to deal with emotions properly sucks."
"Is that why you cry?" Chica tilts her head to one side, curious.
"Yes. That's why they don't like to work with me, I'm very dramatic." She giggles "But I'm good at what I do, so they have to tolerate me."
"You are amazing! I don't know what we would do without you!" Chica puts her hands together, happy.
"Oh, you don't have to compliment me."
"Yes, I do!" A noise interrupted them, and they looked at Sharon. Her stomach had decided it was a good time to rumble.
"Ah, sorry, I haven't eaten anything since I got here." She laughs shyly.
"That reminds me! I came here to ask if you want to eat something in the Atrium, we have a discount on the fries today!" Chica announces.
"Discount? Count on me." Sharon smiles.
"You can go, I'll meet you all later, if any problems don't come up on the way." Annie says, making Chica excited.
"No problems! What a joy, my two human friends spending time with me!" Chica says excitedly "It would be even better if Roxy came along, but she doesn't like to eat, which is very sad, eating is awesome!" The three of them leave the Control Room, Annie separating from the two afterwards, while they head to the Atrium.
"Can Roxy eat? I thought you were the only one who could."
"We all can, it's good to have a greater connection with the children. But I'm the only one who really appreciates being able to do that."
"Speaking of food, do you know anything about the kitchen or Chef Bot? He won't even let me near there, even though I'm no longer on the restriction."
"I don't know anything, he banned me from there too."
"I hope it is alright there."
"Oh, he'll call if he needs help, just enjoy that you have less work." She puts her hand on Sharon's shoulder, who just smiles, as the two continue their walk.
The next day, Sharon was fixing the last Bot of the night at Roxy Raceway.
Until footsteps catch her attention and the garage door is opened, revealing Roxanne.
"What are you doing hiding in here?" The wolf asks.
"I'm not hiding, I'm fixing the Bots that the kids threw water at." She finishes tinkering with it and turns it back on "Okay, can you run a scan and let me know if you have any more problems?" The Bot nods. Roxanne arrives at her side.
"Yep, as I thought." The wolf runs her hand through Sharon's hair, who is startled and stares at her.
"W-what?!"
"Your hair looks like shit."
Sharon stares at the wolf for a moment.
"Excuse me?" She speaks incredulously, Roxanne just came to swear at her?
"Don't make that face, you know it's true." Roxanne laughs.
"But you don't have to be gratuitous like that." She puts her hand in her hair, a little angry at Roxanne's attitude. The Bot beeps, drawing her attention, it indicates that everything was ok.
"That's why I came to call you to have a treat in my salon as soon as you finish what you are doing."
Sharon stares at her again for a few seconds.
Until she connects the dots and understands what the wolf wanted with all that.
"You don't have to call my hair shit and put my self-esteem down if you wanted to spend time with me." She laughs, forgetting her earlier anger.
"I needed to convince you that you needed a treatment, you look like you don't go to the hair salon."
"Well, you got it right, but next time you don't have to call me ugly." She stands up and looks at the wolf.
"I didn't call you ugly, I just said your hair was shit." The two stare at each other for a moment, until they start laughing.
"You have a point, but seriously, no need to curse my hair next time."
"Of course, of course, I promise to not do that anymore." The wolf crosses her arms, rolling her eyes. Sharon turns to the Bot.
"Well, you're free, and be careful with kids carrying buckets." She says, the Bot gives a thumbs-up and leaves the garage to resume its work "He was the last one, and as far as I can see, I have nothing else for today. I've got an hour until the workday ends."
"I'll fix your hair in thirty, and there's still time for you to charm some security guards."
"Hey, I told you I have a boyfriend!" She huffs, making Roxanne laugh.
"Then I'll make you extra tasty for him." Sharon turns red at the comment.
"You shouldn't say such things!"
"There's no one but the two of us here, so it's no problem." She laughingly takes the mechanic's hand and starts guiding her out of Roxy Raceway.
Halfway there, Roxanne stops.
"What's wrong?" Sharon looks at her.
"You know you've been followed for a few weeks, right?" She looks at her, who widens her eyes in an exaggerated expression.
"What?"
"Drop the drama. I know you already knew."
"Yeah, I was under the impression… And I also have some suspicions about who it is…" She looks down at the ground, seeing that she didn't fool the wolf.
"If you think it's the daycare attendant, you're right. He follows you every time you leave the Daycare, or tries to." She points to one of the kiosks, where they could see the face of the animatronic staring at them. As soon as he sees that they have seen him, he tries to hide "No use running away, we know you're there!" Roxanne shouts, and the two hear a little scream from him "Get out of there, you clown."
Slowly, the animatronic exits the kiosk and stands in front of them, looking down at the ground, defeated.
"So why are you chasing Sharon?" Roxanne crosses her arms.
"I-I'm not chasing her!"
"Right, I believe in you." She uses sarcasm.
"IT'S THE TRUTH!" He shouts, then shrinks back and fiddles with his fingers nervously. Sharon, seeing the tension that has built up, tries to calm him down.
"I believe him." Roxanne stares at her in disbelief "You were the one who stared at me when I was talking to the STAFF Bots in front of the Daycare, right?" She tries to change the subject.
"I-I don't…" He gets more nervous.
"You were curious because usually people don't care about STAFF Bots, right?" She smiles.
"Y-yeah, t-they never interact, and you all were having fun…"
"Yes, all the Bots were lovely." She thinks for a moment "How about next time you have some time, we all get together and have some fun? Me, you and the Bots?" She offers.
The animatronic stares at her, totally still.
A few seconds pass.
Nothing happens.
The two hear a loud sound coming from it. Their fans were running at full blast.
Until they see a small puff of smoke coming out of the back of his head.
"Oh, I think you fried his circuits." Roxanne speaks.
"WHAT?!" Sharon's eyes widen "No! He can't have fried! They'll blame it on me and take it out of my paycheck!" She puts her hands on her head and then reaches out and grabs the animatronic's arms "S-Sun! I can call you Sun, right? Please don't die!" She, for trying to shake him, the moment she releases him, he goes down with a beautiful metallic sound.
They stare at the body lying on the ground.
"I KILLED HIM!" She screams in despair.
"Calm down, we just need to let him cool down." Roxanne tries to calm her down by holding her arms.
"B-but what if…"
"For him to have overheated, there must be some problem, they must not be doing the revisions on him properly, it's not your fault." She explains, trying to be the voice of reason "We'll put him in a more comfortable place and I'll notify the directors about it, I won't mention you so they don't bother you. But it's his mechanic's fault, not yours."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolute." Roxanne turns around and faces the animatronic lying crooked on the floor.
"Where do we take him? I can call the STAFF and…"
Roxanne grabs his waist and unceremoniously throws him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"R-Roxy?!"
"What? It's quicker that way." The animatronic swings his arms as she turns to the mechanic "And we'll take him to the salon anyway, you can put him in one of the armchairs. Then I can make you look amazing and keep an eye on him."
"But do you need to carry him like this?"
"Yes." She could tell the wolf didn't care much for the attendant. Ending the conversation, she took the lead and started heading towards the hall. Sharon just sighs and follows after.
"Your hair is very good, very healthy, the problem is that you don't take care of it properly." Roxanne says, finishing doing Sharon's hair.
"Well, I only really tidy up when I have something important with Alan." She laughs.
"But moisturizing is at least the basics." The wolf snorts "I'll give you some products that help with that, and please use them. I'll know if you're not using them."
"If it's cheap, no problem." She laughs. Roxanne continues to fix her hair.
"Sharon… What's this boyfriend of yours like?" She sounds a little careful in her tone.
"Alan? Oh, he's an amazing guy, always taking care of me." She replies with a smile "He always shows how much he cares about me, how much he loves me. He also has a great job, so good that he could support both of us."
"And why do you work if you don't have to?"
"Ah, I don't like having to use his money to buy my things, he works so hard. I had a diploma picking up dust, so I decided to use my knowledge." She looks at Roxanne "It was worth it, this is one of the best jobs I could have."
"Ah, w-well… I'm glad you feel that way." The wolf shrugs, drawing a laugh from her. Looking from side to side, Roxanne takes courage "B-but is everything okay with your relationship?"
"Sure, that's fine. Why do you ask?"
"It's just that, well... I've noticed that you have some brui-…"
"W-Where am I?" A voice interrupts her.
In one of the armchairs, the attendant had turned back on, was sitting down and staring at his surroundings.
"Ah, how are you?" Sharon turns to him, Roxanne signals to her that she has finished her hair and she gets up and goes over to him.
She would have to talk to her about it later, at some opportune moment.
"What happened? What is this place? I don't remember coming here…" It was a bit strange that he sounded so calm at the moment.
"You overheated, and so that we don't waste our time, I brought you to my salon to give you time to cool down while we did our stuff." Roxanne explains "But you powered on much sooner than I thought."
"Have I overheated?" He was confused "How? My sensors indicate that everything is fine, Moon's too."
"That's what I'll find out later." She crosses her arms.
"Do you remember anything before you overheated?" Sharon asks.
"We were talking and you… And you…" His fans start making a lot of noise.
"Don't overheat again!" She starts to get desperate, stretching out her hands towards him.
"A-ah, yes!" He touches his hands to his face, then shakes them in an attempt not to overheat "B-but did you mean it when you said that?"
"About us having fun? Sure."
"Y-you mean you want to be my f-friend?"
"If you want to, of course!"
"I-I want to!" He gets excited, until he stops for a moment, then frowns, looking at the floor "But I can't."
"You can't?"
"No."
"What are you talking about? Of course you can." Roxanne takes the lead.
"No, I can't. Bad things happen to my friends."
"You mean Moon? He didn't do anything else after that."
"No, not Moon."
"So what is it?" The wolf was visibly impatient, and the attendant recoils a little at her tone. Seeing all this, Sharon takes her hand, turning her attention to her, who smiles and takes the lead.
"Look, you don't have to talk if you don't want to, we're all afraid of something." She says to Sun, who stares at her "If you don't want to be my friend, that's fine. Just don't let that feeling stop you from having fun. You don't need friends to have fun, you know? Sure, with friends is better, but it's not mandatory." She takes a step forward "But if one day you want to try to face that fear, I'm here."
The two face each other, Sharon smiling and Sun fearful, until he processes what she has told him.
"T-there's no problem?" His voice was low.
"No."
"You are not lying?"
"I'm not lying." She laughs.
"W-would you be my friend?"
"Sure, if that's what you want."
"I… I don't know." He simulates a sigh, looking defeated. Whatever happened for him to have these thoughts, it left some trauma.
But can artificial intelligence have trauma?
"No rush, like I said, anytime you want, just look for me. I'm always running around the Plex fixing Bots."
"I…" He begins to fidget his fingers nervously. She tries to encourage him to speak with her gaze "Can I… At least… Give you a hug?"
This surprised her. She thought he wouldn't want so much physical contact from spending all day with kids stuck to his chassis, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.
"Of course!"
The moment she finishes speaking, arms already wrap around her in a warm hug. Sun makes a contented sound, it seemed he was now going back to his usual cheerful self.
Sharon wraps her arms around his torso, she would have to admit, whoever designed him got that part right, he was good to hug.
As the two have their cute moment, Roxanne glares at them. She had to admit that Sharon handled Sun well, something she certainly couldn't, however his whole attitude raised a lot of questions in her mind. She would investigate in depth about that later, for sure.
"Thank you for getting my screwdriver from the ventilation, I don't know what would have become of me if you hadn't been there." Sharon thanks one of the Mini Music Man, the two of them entering the Daycare and Theater area. The Mini Music Man seems to puff out its chest, all proud, getting a laugh from her "Yes, you are amazing, I have to repay you for your help later." This cheers it up even more, and it hits its cymbals, eliciting more laughter.
She had done all the repairs for the day, so she would take the moment to rest in the locker room. She smiled at the thought, resting would be good and...
A beep interrupts the moment.
She looks at her Fazwatch.
"Damn." She reads the message "So much for plans to rest." Mini Music Man stares at her "Rick just sent me to fix more Bots over there at the Theater, at least it's here instead of the other side of the Plex." She sighs "If these Bots are in the same condition as the others, I'll be gone until it's time to leave, damn it."
The two of them begin to make their way to the Theater, and she notices that the Daycare was already closed, given that it had been over an hour since it closed. As she walks down the stairs, she wonders if Sun had been okay after all the confusion the day before about overheating and trauma. The two of them approach the door to the Daycare, and she continues to think about the whole thing, it was a shame that Sun doesn't want friends, it should be fun to spend time with him and…
The door to the Daycare opens abruptly, causing Sharon to jump back and let out a scream, as Mini Music Man furiously bangs its cymbals in an attack position.
"HELLOOO!" Sun practically screams at the sight of the two "What brings you here? Have you come to see me?" He gets his face close to hers, who backs away a little.
"Huh… Hi Sun, I can call you Sun right?" Sharon takes a deep breath, in an attempt to recover from her fright.
"You can call me whatever you want!" He was super excited "And what can I call you?"
"Sharon." A cymbal bang catches both their attention, Mini Music Man looking less than pleased to be ignored "Yeah, and Mini too."
"Hello little one!" Sun lowers his torso, waving to him, who clatters its cymbals, as a form of greeting "But have you come to see me?" He was really excited about the idea.
"Yeah, well, we're actually going to the Theater so I can fix some Bots." She explains, Sun turns his head a little, curious "And probably stay all night on them, lately they've been getting destroyed, Monty swears he didn't do it, but who else but him has claws and anger issues?" Sun whispers something "What did you say?"
"A-ah, nothing!" She would have sworn he said something like I'll have to talk to him later "You don't want any help, do you?" He tries to change the subject.
"It's always good to have help, but are you sure? I don't like to take up your time for these menial jobs. And don't you have to take care of something at the Daycare? And it's also boring and time-consuming to fix Bots, and they're heavy."
"I've done it all, I've got time on my hands! And I'm strong!" He makes a pose with his arm, as if showing his muscles, but his arm was still the same, after all it was metal. That gets a laugh from her.
"You're not going to tell me that you also carry STAFF Bots around like a sack of potatoes."
"No, because I've never been asked, but Moon has carried Freddy once." He gets pensive.
"Wait, Freddy?! He weighs a lot more than the STAFF Bots!"
"I imagine so, his endoskeleton is much larger and with more parts."
"How did you manage that?"
"I am strong." He laughs.
"But weren't you just supposed to look after children? They're not that heavy."
"Ah, never underestimate children. When you add five to my arm, it's almost the equivalent weight of Freddy."
"F-five?!"
"Yes, they love to test how much I can take." He says excitedly.
"You have to take care of that, they can end up breaking you at some point."
"Oh, I'll take care of myself, don't worry!" He puts his hands together "Can I help you then?"
"If that's what you really want, let's go." She looks at the Mini Music Man, who agrees, clattering its cymbals.
The three then start walking to the theater.
"But then, how do you work?" She decides to strike up a conversation.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, in training they explain that you contain two AIs, Sun and Moon, and that they change depending on the luminosity or something, but they never explain more than that." She explains "Oh, you don't have to explain if you don't want to, I was just always curious on how it worked."
"Ah, it's quite simple really." He laughs "In the old days I used to control the body only when the lights were on, and Moon when they were off. But since the… Fire, they changed the programming a bit." She finds the pause he made strange, it seems he was also affected by the infamous fire, did it have to do with his trauma? "Now we change when we want, regardless of the light, but sometimes it's difficult, we try to switch by agreeing on who controls, otherwise we switch too quickly between one and the other."
"Does light no longer influence?"
"More or less. I find it easier to take control if it is illuminated, if necessary."
"It's much more complicated than I thought. Why didn't they separate you? Wouldn't it be easier?" The two of them start going down the stairs to the Theater's dressing rooms.
"Not anymore, our programming became dependent on each other. Separating us could damage us both, as well as being very expensive."
"Oh sure, money. And merging it up? It's possible?"
"Our safety mode does this, but we are still two separate minds, one of us will want to fight for total body control at some point or another."
"That's pretty complicated." She gets pensive. The three finally arrive in front of the STAFF Bots that needed fixing.
Four in total, all with claw marks.
"Seriously, who's doing this to them?!" She huffs "If Monty's lying that he didn't do it, I'm returning the golf club favor."
"Golf club?" Sun turns his head a little, confused.
"Yeah, he ended up throwing a golf club at my head a few weeks ago." She picks up the toolbox that Mini Music Man lovingly brings.
"Oh, God! Are you alright?"
"Yes, just a cut, and it's healed." She fiddles and picks up a screwdriver "Let's see the extent of the damage…"
"L-let me move them so you can unscrew them better!" He takes the lead, a little clumsily.
"Oh, that will be good, thank you."
The two set to work, Sun moving the Bots so Sharon could better access the areas while Mini Music Man extended the tools she requested.
When she starts working on the third Bot, Sun begins to stare at her.
He was amazed that such a small human could do such menial work every day. And best of all, she visibly cared about the Bots!
She rolls up the sleeves of her long-sleeved shirt a little, and Sun catches a glimpse of something that startles him.
"W-what is that?" He brings his face close to hers, letting go of the Bot.
"What?" She stares at him, confused.
"Your arm."
"Huh?" Without having time to understand, Sun grabs her arm and was pulling up her sleeve "H-hey! Who let you do that!" She tries to pull her arm out of his hands with a jerk, which she succeeds.
Until she saw that a piece of the sleeve was in Sun's hand.
That was a disaster.
"Damn, I only have one other shirt besides this one! Now I'll have to buy another one to replace this one and…" She starts, staring at the state of the sleeve left on her arm, until she is interrupted.
"Who hurt you?"
The tone of Sun's voice sends a shiver up her spine. Fear, she was afraid of him.
"What are you talking about?" She steps back a little.
"Your arm, this injury is recent, no more than a day." He points to her arm, which she tries to hide.
On her arm were several ragged cuts, the skin was red around the wounds, which had dried blood covering them.
"T-that's nothing."
"What do you mean? Obviously it was not well cared for, not at least treated and covered in a way that would prevent infection." He takes a step towards her, who steps back further.
"O-of course it was."
"Let me take care, I know how to treat."
"N-no need."
"Tell me, who did this?"
"STOP IT!" She screams, making him stop "Just… Leave me alone."
"But you…"
"It's nothing!" She screams again, this time it's him who backs off "It's nothing…" She stares at the ground.
"S-Sharon?"
Before he could try anything, she took off running.
He makes a point of going after it, but Mini Music Man stands in front of him, preventing him.
"What's wrong? Can't you see she's upset? She needs someone with her so that something bad doesn't happen!" He speaks to the little one, sounding angry.
One of us is already together with her. If you go, you'll only make it worse. Mini Music Man opens the channel of communication with him.
"What do you mean?"
She is always sensitive when it comes to her injuries. It's best to leave her alone. She always locks up when anyone mentions it. We are all working to find out why.
"We?"
All her friends.
Obviously he knew that Sun had said he didn't want to be her friend.
Sun clenches his hands into fists, regretting having said that.
Have you forgotten what happened to your last friend?
Moon's voice sounds in his head.
"I know." He replies.
Want to try anyway?
"I don't know."
It's better to just leave it there, so you don't hurt yourself in the end.
Sun stays silent, but his counterpart knew what was going on in his head.
Just don't do anything rash. Adults are tricky and have ulterior motives, no one is a saint.
Sun just started to walk back to the Daycare. He understood why Moon was telling him that. But he could not trust his counterpart completely.
Especially after all that he've been through that culminated in that horrible fire.
And Moon knew that Sun would never trust him completely, it didn't take away from his reason.
They both just don't want to go through all that suffering after the fire again.