The body was gone.
When Roxy left, when Freddy arrived to take the kids back to their parents and the Security Guards to take the would-be killer away, she had vanished. Even the blood on the wall was gone. But Roxy's still was.
That blood… She fled to a medical station when Freddy showed up. She'd wrapped her arm up, but before that, examined it.
Underneath her casing and fake skin, was muscle. Human muscle. Every twitch her arm made, she witnessed. She could see the entire Deltoid and a bit of the Bicep.
That shouldn't be possible. It couldn't be real. But when she tapped it with a claw, she winced in pain. It was real.
And the blood was getting annoying.
She… she needed to talk to Nixus.
But… the thought made her stomachservos churn. Anxiety flared, and a thought came to her mind.
She lay upon a metal plate, a surgeon taking a hammer and chisel to her casing, ignoring her screams, her blood painting the walls red. It wasn't real, but it HURT-
No, stop that Roxanne! Get a hold of yourself…
She'd figure this out.
She… she just needed a Nap.
- ... . ... . / -... - -. . ... .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-
Chica was stuck in a tizzy. The Pizzaplex closed after Roxy found that would-be killer, and she'd had nothing to do but sit around, anxiety tearing her servos apart like a symphony. She tried talking to Freddy, but his Greenroom was locked, a handwritten note simply saying that he'd like to be alone for tonight. Monty… he was raging. He was angry he couldn't help, stuck searching the places farthest from the Attack. And Roxy…
She had vanished after the attack, simply saying she needed to replace her casing.
So, Chica sat alone. Well, almost alone. She had the STAFF Bots, dutifully cleaning, and a Little Buddy wet floor sign by her side. But it didn't help her feelings.
"Uh, Chica? You good?" Nixus's voice surprised her, causing a small Jolt to form in her Voice Box, setting off the Little Buddy and killing a STAFF Bot. That… made her feel worse. "Man, did they even install that hunkajunk right?"
"I don't think so." Chica mumbled, burying her head in her knees. Nixus sat down next to her.
"Hey, I got some good news. If the Online Hoards keep it up, Burrows will be forced to rescind the Upgrades you guys got, and that means I can replace it with an Upgrade that actually works as an upgrade!" His excitement was almost contagious, but Chica's mood was too low, almost unnaturally.
... ... . .-. ... / - .. -. . -..- / -. / ... / - / ... / -
Nixus's ear perked up a little bit. "Hey, did you hear that beeping?"
"No?"
.- .- .. - .-.-.- .-.-.- .-.-.-
"There it is again, it sounds like Morse."
"Any clue where it's coming from?"
"Hold one… There! It's in your torso!" That was weird. "Did you eat a Pager or something?"
"No? Can you check it out?"
-.. - -. .-. - / -.- - ..- / -.. .- .-. .
Nixus pressed down on Chica's shoulder pads, popping open the Breast Plate. Gears, Mechanisms, normal stuff, but now that her innards were exposed, the ticking became much louder.
.-. .. .-. / ... .. ... / - ... .-. - .- - / - ..- - / -.-. .-. ..- ... ... / ... .. - / -.- .. .-.. .-.. / ... .. - / - . .- .-. / ... .. ... / . -.- . …
"There, it's your Voice Box!" Nixus pointed out, slowly examining the ticking piece. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "I'm going to try something, alright?"
Chica nodded, letting Nixus connect a cable from her Voice Box to his phone. It beeped a few times, and Nixus's brow furrowed. "That's… weird. It looks like a tertiary program is vacuuming up your Charge."
.. / .- .. .-.. .-.. / -. - - / .-.. . - / -.- - ..- / ... .- ...- . / - -.- / - - -.-
Now that Nixus pointed it out, Chica realized how exhausted she felt. The overwhelming feeling of exhaustion that came from being undercharged was pulling at her motors. "I should go charge then, huh?"
"Probably… C'mon, there's a Charging Station nearby." Nixus helped her to her feet, where Chica almost slumped over her own weight. "Oh, yeesh, you just took a critical drop in power. Shit, 4%..."
Chica's eyes were falling down, and she slowly noticed her HUD quickly taking an odd purple hue. It was like a hand was on the back of her neck, slowly rubbing her back like a good friend. Chica slowly looked at Nixus and-
... ... ..- - -.. - .- -. / -.-. - -.. . / .- -.-. -.-. . .-. - . -.. .-.-.-
Chica's systems jumpstarted. Several systems were off, and her throat section felt weird.
"Oh, hey, you're back online." She looked to her side, seeing Nixus lounging on a black lounge chair and drinking a cup of something. "Yeah, sorry about using the Security Override code on you, but you were about to be taken over by a virus I found in the Voice Box."
Chica would have bwak'd if she, y'know, had a voice box.
"Oh, I'm working on a replacement, and purging the Voice Box you had. I think I'll keep it for myself, that EMP Frequency could be pretty useful in case of emergencies, or when I'm tired of people trying to film me." Nixus chuckled.
Chica surveyed the room, and it was definitely not Parts and Services.
"Oh, yeah, I kiiiiiinda stole you from the Pizzaplex."
Chica blinked. Nixus blinked.
Chia released a Digital Bwark across the AR Code, waking Mangle up from her nap on a nice sunny hill. The Artificial Intelligence grumbled. "Can't an ai giww take a nap in this houwse? w"
- ..- -.-. ... .-.-.-
The upgrades Chica had before her were… interesting, to say the least. Nixus had collected materials and blueprints, plans set out for each and every single primary animatronic in the Pizzaplex.
Right now, she was playing with a slab of Synth Skin, a replication of the same stuff they apparently used well over 60 years ago with Pre-Plastic Casing animatronics. The Synth Skin Nixus had designed was thinner, yet durable enough to withstand a knife going at it, and yet malleable enough to form facial expressions when hooked up to the complex systems of pistons and switches now installed around her eyes.
Roxy, according to her blueprints, had those systems around her muzzle, as it was a soft enough area to be used for emoting, unlike Chica's beak. The Synth Skin was also placed around her body in general, giving more life to her originally cold casing. Which was a really weird thing to think about. Nixus had given her the ability to Feel, somehow. And it was nice, she had to admit. Actually feeling out Nixus giving her new five fingered hands a shake was a greater feeling than just the artificial locking that occurred before, simulating false senses of Touch.
And the upgrades, wow! Each step she took no longer shook the whole darn room, she could even jump now! And the big piece was the Biogenerator, which Chica still had a headache over figuring out how Nixus got his hands on it. It was a simple container where her Stomach Hatch Compartment used to be, originally used for snacks and gift boxes, resembling a simple box with a few panels and lights. What was impressive was a tube leading from her neck area down to it, allowing her to actually eat and get something out of it. Anything she ate or drank was either boiled or incinerated, creating Thermal Energy that gave her a Third power source to draw on if her Primary Charge System or her Secondary Battery Pack went down, or simply charging both of them on the fly.
Of course, Nixus wasn't able to make a way for her to actually Taste anything, but hey, Tech only went so far.
Her voice box was also back to full functionality, like before the upgrade, letting her yell and sing, free as a bird, and without shutting anyone down. That, woof, that made her happier than a songbird. Though, weirdly enough, her vocals were shifting to a different Dialect. Originally, she had a pretty basic accent, without any real tone, she guessed it was close enough to a Californian accent, but now? It had fully shifted over to a country accent. Not too thick, and when she sang it became a bit masked, but hoooh boy, you could tell once in casual talk.
And boy, did Chica talk. She was like a chicken cracked up on, well, crack. Not that Nixus minded. It was nice having someone to actually talk to.
(Mangle didn't count on the front that she was in his head.)
And having someone to talk to made his work finishing his upgrades for her fly by, ending up back at the Pizzaplex before the night broke for the day. They were in and out, without a soul noticing.
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