Present Day-
CASSIE
There was no denying the fact she was equal parts excited and nervous.
Cassie was being piggy-backed by Roxy; pointing at the area of the Bowling alley where Bonnie lie. The wet floor bot at the corner of the room definitely wasn't something Roxy would miss on her own, but the room beyond may or may not be something she can see. She'd carefully let Cassie slide off her back once they got to its front; the wolf flicking her ears and glancing at the little mini music men nearby.
That was the worrying part: The wolf had noticed the weird bots and their grotesque, exaggerated damage that seemed quite deliberately done. The rabbit ears, ripped smiling faces, and strange, twitchy, buggy ways they moved had her on high alert. They were definitely dangerous- but they hadn't deigned to bother the two yet. It's a small consolation- but how long would this remain so?
"At least in here, they won't see us," Cassie said to her.
"I'm worried about them changing their minds for when we leave... not gonna lie, I doubt they'll let us leave as easily as when we came in," she supplied with careful neutrality.
Cassie could only shrug; then hobbled her way to the hole in the wall where the bowling monitor had been raised. She gesticulated to the crumbling area, "Mind your head. When you get to the end of this little tunnel here, watch your footing too- it kinda drops. There'll be a stack of boxes underfoot too. But that room is where he'll be."
Roxy nodded, eyeing the mini wind-up prototype music men as Cassie carefully hobbled and slithered into the nook. She got on her knees; fighting an audible "Ow" each time she moved her fractured leg a certain way. She kept her mask on her person too; just not donned at the moment. She'd also taken her fazwrench- wondering how useful it'll be for Bonnie's body (not that she thinks she can fix him right then and there).
She was very careful to step into the room; and noticed just how strangely quiet it was back here. The only notable noise that can be discerned was the sound of the building settling on its foundation- and even that was a distant noise. Cassie can almost hear her own heart in her ears as she eyed the forlorn rabbit animatronic. She caught Roxy crawling in after her, moving away so the wolf will have room to step out of the tunnel.
Bonnie was... unchanged, since she'd been here several hours ago. Half a day ago? Couldn't be more than that. She still couldn't help but be creeped out by the wet floor bots surrounding him like some sort of ritualistic circle. His glowing eyes suggested he had power but... now that she was LOOKING at him, the more unnerved she couldn't help feeling. Something about him rubbed Cassie the wrong way and she just couldn't put a finger on it.
"If your gut says its dangerous, you should listen to it," her father once told her. And right now, she was rethinking her idea of trying anything with Bonnie- but she wanted to get to the bottom of this and why he still had power, and what happened to him.
Roxy's garbled gasp had Cassie jumping out of surprise of the oppressive atmosphere being broken. The wolf knelt by the rabbit's side; her Freddy-themed paws gently tracing his broken visage while her shoulders bunched and curled in on itself. She bent over him; her head touching Bonnie's own briefly in a sign of affection. A foreign, strangled noise escaped her; and Cassie couldn't help wondering if she made the right decision in coming here with her.
"Oh my god... Oh my god oh my god... WHO WOULD DO THIS?" Roxy snarled at the empty either. "Who'd fucking do this to you?! Who'd hurt you like this? Who'd hurt you AND Chica like this-"
She stayed on her knees; her blue claws gently tracing Bonnie's 'good side' and lifting his head until she can look him in the eyes. Her own optics remained arrested on his blank ones; as if trying to divine the answer to this predicament from just the once-over. Cassie remained silent all the while, waiting for Roxy to finish processing what she was looking at.
The wolf continued to butt her forehead with Bonnie's; slowly pulling his torso up so she can hold it. Her forehead briefly touched his once more; one paw cupping the back of his head as she sat there for some uncounted moment or two. It's a bitter respite; the wolf bot simply trying to take in the fact that all of their worry, fuss, and wonderment regarding their friend was now being partially answered. Freddy's claws rubbed his cheeks; once grazing his whiskers. She eventually lowered him, taking a moment to now look around the small room too. She frowned at the wet floor signs.
"These bots..." She muttered. She squinted at it- the bot staring at her in-turn.
"Yeah, they won't budge," Cassie shrugged. "I just found them like this. Do you have any idea of what's going on with them?"
The wolf shook her head, but it was in a slow, uncertain manner. She once again prodded the closest bot; every-so-gently lowering Bonnie as she did. A look of comprehension slowly dawned on her face.
"I wonder- Oh... oh god. No... No way."
"What?"
Roxy shot a look over at Cassie, then glanced at the bots. "I think... I remembered something: Not super long after Bonnie vanished, these... signs, started acting up. They began tripping people; getting in the way, and not doing as they're commanded. It was brief, but it was a weird bug in the system nobody can find a cause for to troubleshoot. Some of these bots were disposed of- and the others were rounded up to be repaired- in which it didn't work."
Cassie raised a brow there.
"See, they not only resisted the repairs, but some even vanished altogether. A handful of 'em... and these ones around here-" She motioned around them, continuing with her story, "Might be the missing bots. Nobody can find where they went or figure out why their behavior became so erratic. See, they're part of the S.T.A.F.F bot sub-server- where pretty much only S.T.A.F.F bots and these mop bots get commands to go to certain places in the PizzaPlex to run maintenance or whatever-"
She looked down at Bonnie, her expression heavy, "These bots can also instantaneously rely information to each other- like if one S.T.A.F.F bot gets to a sight of a mess before 5 others did, the other 5 can turn around and clean a mess elsewhere. Whenever a person spills something or whatever, no less than half a dozen cleaning bots are informed on the fly. Kinda see what I'm getting at? Its to keep them from bunching into one place in case they're needed elsewhere. This PizzaPlex is big enough... they don't need to be walking all the way from one side of the PizzaPlex to another just to pick up a spot of some kid's spilled soda."
"Oh! Yeah... that makes sense. So... where are you going with this?"
"One day, the sub-server the S.T.A.F.F bots use shut down mysteriously. Nobody could get it running again. We had to make a new one entirely in order to get control back over these bots. The old one couldn't be reopened and it remained locked. But now- I'm starting to wonder-" Roxy reached out to one of the bots- in which it didn't budge. It simply stared as it always did; unresponsive to her talons tracing its 'ears'. Her eyes went back to Bonnie, the wolf sniffing around him and looking into his head- she hissed, her head low. "It actually happened not long after Bonnie disappeared. And now that I'm looking at his chip- which is damaged- hm."
Cassie hobbled over to sit beside her, noting how oddly calm Roxanne was being the longer they sat here. And despite the portent dropped, she wasn't freaking out again.
"He's brain-dead... But not all the way- I should say, his main body is brain dead?" she continued a moment later. "I wonder if Bonnie knew he was in danger and... made a back-up of his personality? And put it into the S.T.A.F.F bot network," She eventually said. "It'd explain their meltdown and subsequent behavior... And he's weirdly smart so... maybe?" She stared sadly at the chip, "Still... his original self is gone with the chip. That's fucking depressing."
Cassie looked horrified as she looked at the bots around her. "OH CRAP. AND I'VE BEEN SHUTTING THEM OFF! I think I killed him!"
"No you didn't, you left these guys in here active. Why'd you do that anyways?"
"I dunno! I thought I was HELPING."
Roxy patted her, "And, what were you thinking when you left these guys on?"
"I thought I'd come back later and explore this a bit more... I wanted to make SURE I was doing the right thing before turning them ALL off-!"
"Then you made a good call. You did just that, and I think we found our guy," Roxy looked at the mop bots again. She waved a paw in front of it's face, then harrumphed. "Shit. If he's actually active in these things, he must've been driven NUTS by how lonely it is. I wonder if he's the one making the bots trip people? To try and get them in here? Freddy told me one of the bots insisted on trying to get into his room one night... yeah, I'm almost positive. Bonnie might still be in there!"
"That's so sad... Bonnie being in here for so long and alone..." Cassie whined. "I can't imagine how frustrated and trapped he must be."
Roxy sighed with her, patting the girl and the rabbit's head at the same time. "Let's see what we can do here. Fixing him will be a tall order, but if he saved himself in these things... I think we can restore him completely."
"Really?"
"He's better off than Chica... I can say this much," Roxy said. She winced however at the crude words, "Though... I think I should be using those words a bit more loosely, in this instance. Still dunno how he's doing this thing with his battery... How are his eyes lit up-? That just CHEWS through your battery." She looked again into him; then peered into his chest. "His primary power module is empty- that much I can confirm. His head meanwhile still has charge, albeit, not much of it. There's a battery in both our heads and the hearts of our motors; its why we can function without our bodies. Both having separate power sources has saved us trouble quite a few times we'd go without recharge stations. Its a preliminary safety feature."
"That's... strangely intelligent and weird," Cassie wondered. "You guys are REALLY resilient. That's honestly insane, but in a good way? Hm... Do you think he can hear us?"
"I wager he can- these wet floor signs record snippets of footage sometimes- to help prevent lawsuits? He's likely using the cameras in them to see and using the gigs of space in them to further preserve himself. I mean, everything remotely computerized has some memory on it... and so long as you have memory, you have wiggle room."
"I didn't know these wet floor signs have CAMERAS in them... and gigs of space of storage? Can you explain that?"
"Its for storing video footage. Think about it: People like hassling our employers (for good reason). So some people, out of spite, may go out of their way to trip on a wet bit of floor just to incur some damage and get a reason to sue. They can take Fazbear Entertainment to court for negligence or something? Dunno how law works. But as you can imagine, if we didn't have cameras everywhere, more people would be demanding blood money from this place for accidents they themselves caused just to have a reason to sue. These bots record security footage on their own so the night guard can review it later on. We actually caught a couple customers lying about their slips here and there so you can't say these things didn't pay for themselves. Yunno?"
"Ohhhhh- okay. That makes sense."
"Anyways... In Bonnie's case right now, I think his awareness and intelligence may be weak if its just down to these bots... probably for the better. Otherwise, I can't imagine how incomprehensively boring and painful it must be if you're fully alert all the time in this sort of suspended state-" She huffed, her compressor briefly heard as she inhaled. "-He may have these mop bots in power saver mode too. I dunno... We'll hafta see and wake him up. I'm going to take one of these guys and his head here and bring it back to Parts and Service... then, depending on what the computer says, we may get our bunny back. Not that I'm holding my breath." She turned Bonnie's body over and around, "Crap baskets... he's so... he looks straight awful. He has all his parts... but... god. How would we put him back together?"
"We can't just replace his joints? We have some of the wires too... And we can use a spare endo, right?"
"That could work... but he'll need a bit more work beyond that. But yeah, I think we can get him fixed. It'll take a while however... and he'll be grumpy if we turn our attention to him and not Chica. He'll be last on the list, I hate to say. As for his chip-" She turned his head again and looked inside it. "They won't have a spare chip for him after being decommissioned. We'd have to configure a blank one for his conscious to slip into- which is also a given I'm not completely talking out of my ass at this point and all that shit I said actually has some basis in it. So, again, fixing him shouldn't be too hard to do... The hard part would be dragging his body from here to Parts and Service for reassembly... the armature can do it with the right tools."
Cassie smiled, reaching out and patting Bonnie's head. She gazed gently into it, and then said, "Don't worry! We'll get you put back together in a jiffy!" She'd then turn to Roxanne again, "How do we take his head off? Oh wow... that sounds weird."
"Real easy- looks like his head is barely staying on to begin with," She said. "Look: see how he has no neck chassis left? His throat was ripped out. He couldn't scream for help. His voice box is still there... just no intact wires to connect it with. His motor may be the worst part... beyond his head. Again, he won't be easy, but he won't be too difficult to do either if we have the parts on hand already. Afterall, all of us have pretty much the same endos and all replacement parts for them can be uniformly fitted between them. I think the only real difference is the number of sensors some of us have in our endos? Like mine having more olfactory sensors because I'm a wolf character. I also think there's some gender-related nuances somewhere but... its lost on me."
"Well that's good! Let's just go and get it done already," Cassie jubilantly cheered.
Roxy nodded, then removed his head completely with NO effort whatsoever. Bonnie's fragile neck indeed snapped apart; revealing a grotesque amount of bite marks all over his vertebra. Roxy was horrified by the sight of it.
"...Shit."
"What?"
"Shit shit shit shit SHIT."
"WHAT?"
"Look at this!" She pointed at where his neck pieces should've been. Around the ragged collar of his breast plate, they can see the tooth marks. "That muzzle size- the one who did this- that only leaves it to three animatronics-" She passed Cassie this hollowed out, thousand-yard stare. "This could've been me, Monty, or FREDDY who did this. And we wouldn't remember! ONE OF US KILLED HIM!"
Cassie looked again- and sure enough, only a physically adept animatronic with fangs could do this; frightening Cassie with the possibility that one of them had indeed been hacked and killed Bonnie. She found herself looking around the small room, wondering how in the world Bonnie got in here in order to get whacked- let alone whoever finished him. She frowned, then looked at the indentation in the wall beyond Bonnie's feet. The mind boggled.
"How would any of you have gotten in here? The only way in was through the vent or the ball recycling track..."
"Bonnie knows every nook and cranny of his bowling alley; he likely knew this room was here," Roxy supplied as she stood up with his head and peered into his eyes again. "He may have had another way in. He has to do clean-up in here sometimes... those balls are polished, and the track's clean too- considering the amount of time that's passed, and nothing disturbing it, he may have been in here a couple times before this happened to him. Anyone else wouldn't know how to get in... and if they did..."
She looked at where the vent was, her expression falling further into dawning comprehension.
Now she turned to look at Cassie.
"Cassie... I dunno but... I think I killed him."
The girl shook her head rapidly, grabbing Roxy's paw and carefully guiding it away from the body, "Roxy, it doesn't matter who did it: NONE of you would've intended on this to happen. None of you would've been in your right minds. None of you are to blame. And really, YOU? What makes you think you did it?"
She pointed towards the vent, "I'm the only one small enough to get in here. And there's green paint on Bonnie's breast plate-" She eyed it. "From my nails... possibly. And the muzzle marks-" She flicked her head at the collar of his chassis too. "-I couldn't be MORE sure- that HAS to be me."
"Did you ever come back to Rockstar Row with a blank memory?"
The wolf eyed the mop bot now, her gaze arrested on it. "Yes... two times I can count. One time only lasted a minute- the other... much longer."
"Was it around the time he vanished?"
She didn't answer directly, but her expression did. Cassie gulped, then glanced quickly at the rabbit again. She asked, "Roxy, surely you would've noticed if you fought him? Wouldn't there have been damage on you? You know, missing hair, imperfect nails- something?"
A slow head shake. "No... Bonnie would never fight back against his friends. He'd just sit there and TAKE IT. He refuses to hurt us on principle, even if his own life is in danger. Which means this would be very one-sided. I'm weaker than he is- so if he wanted to fight back, I'd assume I would've been in pieces instead. As for my nails... I dunno. I just, they're solid coats but... I don't fucking know."
Cassie still wasn't too sure herself. Roxy's old paws still had the paint on despite the time that's passed. But there was still no denying that someone with green on them did this. And Roxy was literally the only one here who seemed to match what was required to take Bonnie out...
Unless Freddy did it... wouldn't he knew where this room was? No. He would've found Bonnie in here a long time ago if he did. It seemed Bonnie kept some parts of his place a secret- not that the mentality of that made any sense to Cassie. She could've swore Bonnie would mention this room to Freddy- they were close after all. Something here still didn't make much sense.
Now back to the matter of if Roxy was hacked and did this... what if the person who commanded her to do put the paint on Roxy's nails themself after the deed was done? To cover their trail, that made sense. Cassie offered this idea to Roxy- in which the wolf frowned and looked at her paws again- not that they were HER original paws so much as they were Freddy's.
Roxy took her paws and held them to Bonnie's breast plate; imitating the motion needed to rip it wide open. No doubt Freddy and Monty had the strength and power for it- but the paint still didn't make any sense, as well as the room itself. Both girl and wolf frowned. As it were, nothing would ever make any sense if they kept speculating on it- so it's best to move on.
"Bonnie was onto a lot of stuff in the last days he was around. He never mentioned anything explicit though and had a tendency to lie by omission. I know he found something out... but hell if I knew what. Stupid asshole-" She eventually continued in this soft murmur. She glared into his face next, her voice crackling with unshed tears. "Why did you think you can do everything on your own? How come you didn't talk to us?"
Cassie and her finally turned to leave; making a note to come back for the rest of him a little bit later. Roxy picked up his head and one of the bots; the thing simply staring blankly as she picked it up and forced it down the tunnel after Cassie. She then stuck her nose out and eyed the Music Men; who seemed to be more active now. They patrolled very nearby; as if Roxy's earlier shout got their attention- which, might've been true.
The wolf whimpered, then pushed Cassie back. "Stay here," she warned. "I'm going to draw them away. Keep carrot-breath and the wet floor bot with you and wait for a minute to come out, alright?"
"Okay."
Roxy slipped easily out of the hole, baring her blue-tipped claws and snarling in the direction of the wind-up menaces. She snapped her muzzle, then produced this snarling, rolling, teeth-clicking bark that had all of them turning their heads towards her.
"Hey!" She bellowed, "Over here! None of you can catch me!"
They ignored the taunt, but proceeded towards her anyways. Roxy steered them away from the corner of the bowling alley; disappearing behind some debris nearer to the ice cream parlor as she went. The music men formed a ghastly trail behind her; slamming cymbals and skittering horrifically like methodical spiders with the intent to hunt her down.
Cassie meanwhile left the nook; though she had to be careful with both the head and heavy wet floor sign. Neither were too light; but Cassie had the wet floor sign to lean on as she hobbled away from the corner of the room. She tucked Bonnie's head under her arm; frowning as she dwelled on Roxy's words.
That video I saw in the daycare theater, she recalled. I wonder... in fact, with all the weird stuff I've seen in here... was it possible Bonnie had been trying to show me something- given he does still exist in the system somehow? Or am I looking too much into it? Is he more aware than we think?
She looked at his head briefly; noticing the limp nature of his voice box. Once she got a minute, she'll have to resituate it properly in his throat pipe and charge his head. And configure the chip so she can get his conscious downloaded into it, as Roxy said. With all of that done, getting Bonnie talking won't be hard. Again, its just a matter with his body being damaged. If Roxy didn't have to deal with Cassie, she probably could've taken it with them.
She couldn't help but recall the weird nature of that circle- and the fact that Bonnie's ability to keep his power seemed... unnatural. And the room he'd been in... something unearthly about it made the hairs stick up on the back of her neck. She wasn't sure what, but a nasty part of her wanted to know despite being afraid to ask. Her instincts alone said there was something else wrong here.
Clambering up the steps in the bowling alley proved the hardest for Cassie; as she had to crawl up them after giving Bonnie's head a slight toss so she can drag the wet floor sign with her. She apologized to both objects, then continued on while listening for Roxy: She couldn't help but pause when she thought she heard scrabbing not too far away. Did Roxy run into trouble? Cassie didn't call out though- afraid she'd incidentally drag those things back here. Roxy was buying her time for a reason, and she didn't want to squander that.
She picked up Bonnie's head again and glanced off to the side, her brain reeling to a stop when she noticed at least one of those mini abominations were still floating around. She whimpered quietly to herself; then slithered behind the counter. She still had the V.A.N.N.I mask, at least, so worse case she can use it-
Actually.
The girl pulled it out; slipping it on and looking back over- and sure enough, the bot can't seem to see her. Cassie hadn't wanted to put it on again so soon (seeing as it gave her migraines), but she figured she'd be okay in this instance. She went to the entrance hall to the bowling alley; then waited in its lobby to wait for Roxy. At least getting out hadn't been hard.
She took the mask back off; then ended up looking at it with a dawning realization:
She's seen the main server network before. She's SEEN it with this mask. When the M.X.E.S appeared as a large, imposing figure overhead, she'd seen the east wing's server and noticed the broken nature of some of the domains. She wondered if she could've connected with Bonnie at any point during this if he hadn't had blocks in the system at the time. Could she do that again now that some of his blocks were gone? Was her disabling security here a good thing after all and what caused for Helpi to finally detect him? What if not enough of Bonnie was in this wet floor sign and they'd have to reactivate ALL the bots in order to salvage his personality? They'd have to find the sub-server S.T.A.F.F bot network in order to recover him- and it was locked out.
And this all hinged on a THEORY.
"Come on," Cassie grunted to herself. Maybe this was stupid- there were too many unknowns here.
She turned the mask over, then frowned at the thought. Its likely they won't be able to salvage Bonnie as easily as they thought- he was an A.I- not just a singular conscious relegated to a single entity anymore. All the Glamrocks were complex within themselves. With this said, in order to preserve himself, Bonnie would've needed to use almost every available wet floor bot in the building to preserve himself- especially if he was more advanced then he let on.
She cradled his head, looking the rabbit in his face as she weighed what to do. She took out the fazwrench then; turning his skull over and looking for a port. If she gambled correctly, this may lead her to him.
All the while she's been doing that, the wet floor sign watched her; the girl suddenly feeling an oppressive air from it without prompt. She glanced at it and winced; finding it so weird how it just... observed her. In fact, it rolled an inch closer; making the girl scoot away from it- the first bit of life its demonstrated in all the time she's seen these things.
"W-what?" She said to it.
It didn't budge again- but Cassie ended up looking at the fazwrench and the head in her lap. Recalling Roxy's theory, she turned Bonnie's head over found the port inside it; she had to look past his damaged left eye to see it. She took the broken eye out, pocketed it, and found the port pretty fast. She didn't put the wrench in yet though; taking the V.A.N.N.I mask and slipping it back on first. THEN she turned towards the wet floor bot-
It was screaming again... that weird, ethereal, strident chorus of pain. She had no idea why she can hear it when she wore this mask; and its weird Roxy couldn't hear it. But what the heck was that anyways? Could she get her answer once she probed a little further?
She turned back to the now one-eyed Bonnie. "Please, show me what to do," she murmured just as she shoved the port into his eye socket.
The AR world around her SHIFTED.
She was no longer in the bowling alley anymore- no longer can she hear Roxanne in the adjacent room likely struggling with those things. No longer can she hear anything but the warbling cry of the bot beside her. No longer did she think she was inside the alley's lobby in any capacity-
Now she found herself in a straight purple hall; with pixelated walls and blocks of unidentified data clusters around her. Her brain just couldn't process it; and it was evident already in the way her head throbbed a couple times. Cassie winced from it, but she didn't drop her precious cargo. She stared around; trying to discern what the fuck she was even looking at.
Her attention eventually returned to the wet floor sign; whose still unerringly arresting its own gaze onto her. With Bonnie's head still tucked close and the fazwrench stuck in his socket, she turned towards the bot with confusion- noticing it's voice started to... change. The crying became softer, more subtle. It was a whimper now; dying down almost completely within a moment of Cassie's notice. Then, it started to turn away and roll down the long, purple hall. It moved with purpose from her; albeit very slowly. It even stopped once, turning back to look at her again. It was clear it wanted her to follow it.
Cassie wordlessly obeyed.
The AR world was full of... anomalies. Cassie figured that she hadn't gone far from Roxy in real life, but knew that whenever she took off the mask next, she may have wandered as far as the other side of the PizzaPlex. She was apprehensive about this, and for good reason. But if Roxy was right, they won't be able to help Bonnie in a timely manner. Not to mention the fact that Cassie herself was all that CAN help him right now.
She touched her mask; wondering why she hadn't heard from Helpi in a while. Was he still disabled? She asked for him, and he didn't appear- and it seemed he won't be available for a while yet. Cassie didn't miss him that much... but it made her wonder about this mimic program he commented on earlier. This was something she'd have to ponder a bit later.
The bot stopped, waited, and turned again. Cassie figured in real life she may be in the atrium now; but it's hard to tell in this thing. It'd lead her on for a while too; several minutes passing and Cassie's leg no longer throbbing warningly as the mask helped her cope with her pain (she'd also taken a second dose of the pain meds Eclipse had given her earlier, which likely added to her ability to walk at all here). The bot took sharp turns here and there; and then, she felt herself take a slow ramp down.
Where was it taking her?
There was a white door that appeared; its frame pixeled and faded in some regions. The wet floor sign led her on; and right into the seemingly spectral corridor beyond. She blinked and shook off her sense of vertigo; finding herself in, once again, what looked like the main server. Thank god! And so fast too!
"Oh! Thank you," She said to the bot. "Please, can you lead me to which domain I can help with?"
It did just that; huh. Perhaps it was intelligent? It creeped her out, but she somehow felt it wasn't angry or frustrated with what she's done to the others. And if it's angry, it didn't show it.
All around her were these walls with names of different parts of the PizzaPlex; she saw Fazerblast, the restaurants themselves, Glamrock Gifts, MAZErcise, and so on- and when she looked behind herself, she noticed she'd physically walked out of the white door from the bowling alley domain. She can open doors in here? Trippy. Could she... teleport to any part of the PizzaPlex in here?
Don't ask. This is already too much as it is, she figured.
Okay. This was beyond human comprehension- and Cassie can tell that if she tried wrapping her head around it, she'd go mad within an hour. She had the understanding to know that humans aren't MEANT to understand the same things A.I did. A.I existed in its own plain for a reason; and the same way it takes time for them to learn human inflection would be the same for people. Although, she doubted either or would truly understand the other if all A.I saw the world like this. Madness paraded around her; twisting and distorting everything she tried to lock eyes on. If Bonnie was here, he wouldn't be completely okay.
That scared her.
The bot led her on; its path unerringly purposeful as it proceeded past most of the localized areas. Cassie moved her head around and noticed holograms of some of the bots in whatever areas they reigned over; like Sun and Moon over the Daycare and Freddy over Fazerblast. Wherever it was taking her, this bot wasn't directing her to any physical representation of the PizzaPlex. The girl couldn't help but get increasingly confused the further it went.
"Where are you taking me," she trailed off as she eyed its back.
It finally paused: stopping in front of a 'Security Services' node and turning to look at her.
"Oh! Okay-" she tucked Bonnie's head closer, then reached out- the white door opening up before her. The bot didn't follow her in however; staying behind in the strange main server network.
Security... well, Cassie still had the level 5 technician service. And apparently, it meant something when she's able to freely meander around this equally as weird place. All purple halls and block-y, rudimentary shapes meant to represent complex data streams her monkey brain cannot hope to properly process into functional information.
Here, she saw it: Bonnie's own personal node. It was here in the Security sector all along. Its blocks were gone now, but it's still locked in here for some reason- dark and lacking the same glow the other domains did. In fact, it was chained down.
This personal node of his had been forcibly relegated to this place by whoever blocked him originally- Cruel. And as she looked around, she realized that no other bot's core was here but his. Bonnie had been removed from the main system almost entirely, save for this one spot. Its bad enough his name didn't show up on the repair module in Parts and Service- but this now explains where his file went. The staff whose done this to him jailed him here digitally. Considering this, she figured if she freed this node, his name will start appearing in other places in the PizzaPlex server again. So she walked up to it, then took the fazwrench from his skull. A port opened up right before her; and into it she plunged it's pronged end-
His node lit up; then, it was consumed into a flurry of pixels and VANISHED from this area.
"Whoa! What-" Cassie turned everywhere, trying to find where it went. Instead, the white door opened again, with the girl realizing that she finished what she came here to do. She was confused, but went through anyways. She filed back out into the main server; with the wet floor bot waiting on her.
It lead the way again.
"There's more?" Cassie muttered as she followed it.
When she looked yonder towards the Parts and Services sector now, she raised a brow; there was CHAINS on some parts of it. She stopped when the bot did, the thing waiting for her to proceed.
"I see now," she said to it. "I got it!"
Another door opened; and then she was inside the Parts and Service domain of the server. In here, she was alarmed and vaguely fascinated by the fact there was sections of it that had the animatronics' individual names on random nodes. All were lit up- all but Bonnie's, which had appeared here only after it was freed from the Security domain. The sight of it being here was fine and dandy now, but it was still chained down. Whoever did this REALLY didn't want him free. Cassie went ahead and took the wrench; plunging it into the node and stepping back. The chains on it disappeared; and she was startled when she heard a voice rupture through the weird silence around her.
"Final block removed," Said what she identified to be the handunit default voice. "Repairs can be made again to User I.D 01265783, or Glamrock Bonnie within the Parts and Services sector. Cylinder improvements readjusted and recalibrated and uploading relevant data. User Alert: You have a level 5 technician's authority. Access can be granted to the manager's office for any spare emergency supplies for any animatronics pending repairs."
Cassie considered something, then thought back to Chica. "Can I log a query from here?"
"Permission granted. What is your request?"
"What alternatives can I use for Glamrock Chica? Whose personality chip is damaged. I don't want to have to reconfigure a new chip and destroy however much of her personality has developed. Solutions?"
"...Please wait a moment."
...
...
...
...
"Scanning complete: Glamrock Chica is stable inside cylinder. Personality chip scan also complete. Approximately 29.69% of her personality is salvageable. The rest cannot be recovered due to excessive damage to her chip."
Cassie felt her mouth go dry; that wasn't enough. She was no genius but that simply wasn't enough. To have literally 70% of your personality gone was... it's just too much. She thought fast, then looked at Bonnie's head.
He would've thought of everything, wouldn't he?
"Question," she asked now, fighting the need to cry. "Was there any personality blueprints made after a certain interval that 'saved' the animatronics current behaviors? Like, any recorded data on whatever improvements they could've made?"
"Please wait a moment."
...
...
...
...
"Scanning complete. Yes! A certain number of blueprints were recorded after a fixed point in the animatronics software at 10/10/XX. Last year."
"Last year... okay, so, is Chica in there?"
"Correct!"
Cassie considered. Though they'd be outdated in some part, at least Chica had backups of her personality- thank GOD. However, it looks like anything she could've recorded after that date wouldn't be known to her. She'd lose a year of her life, technically. But, if it set Chica back to roughly before the time the PizzaPlex closed, she should be herself. Maybe, they can fix her yet. And with whatever little she could've had from that 29%, it could help get her partially back to her 'quirky' self. It was more than what she had several minutes ago.
Hopeful, Cassie then asked, "Is anything of Bonnie in the system?"
"Yes: However, it seems his personality blueprint had been erased from this section of the Animatronic Personality Code center. His personality allocation had been moved to a new server domain without permission from staff. Permission to extract and delete this illicit file?"
"NO! No no no no-!" She rapidly shook her head, "No just... Extract it, and have it ready for a new chip. Bonnie's current chip is also broken."
"One moment... Error: Cannot extract it from current server location. It is heavily encrypted and protected by an unknown firewall. This is most unusual."
Cassie raised a brow, "Did you find it in the outdated S.T.A.F.F bot server network? Did you check the right place?"
"Yes. However, that network had been decommissioned by staff a long time ago. The time stamp was {ERROR: INFORMATION REDACTED}." Cassie blinked and frowned at glitching she heard. The voice however went on despite the erroneous mishap. "-I have attempted entry and was violently ejected."
...Roxy was right. Bonnie was not only in that network, but he was actively protecting it. He was hiding.
Wild!
"He... made his own firewall? His own programs? How the heck did he- how-?" Cassie muttered. "Why did he do this? What was he doing exactly?" She considered, then said, "I'll be back."
"Logging you out."
The door behind her opened again, with her stepping out to the mop bot before her. She frowned at it, then lifted Bonnie's head and spoke directly to it, "You are wily, I have to admit. You're going to have to tell me everything!"
It gave no reaction, as expected. The wet floor sign meanwhile merely turned and lead her away to some other dark corner of the PizzaPlex server. She followed it while cradling Bonnie's actual head, wondering how much longer she'd have to be here. His intelligence and ability was just... wild. Could all the Glamrocks do this? Just how smart did Fazbear Entertainment want to make these things? WHY did they make them so smart? Was there a reason why their intelligence had been so heavily limited before?
Humankind had been advancing a lot when it came to tech and bots- though a lot of it may have been inspired by now defunct Afton Robotics a long time ago. Even outside the PizzaPlex, Cassie knew there was some decently smart bots here and there- but none can hold a candle to the robots made by Fazbear Entertainment. The Glamrocks were a spectral modern marvel to society; and it attracted all kinds of people from all over the states. They were the best A.I had to offer; even though the faces and names were from older times. The names Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy were decades old. Pushing on to 50 or more years now- not that Cassie knew the exact time estimate.
Her father was a very small child when he first laid eyes on Bonnie bunny; and the rabbit had been purple at the time. In a way, a part of Cassie's own family literally grew up with the characters and the legacy they passed on. And the good memories her father had as a child with this purple rabbit had influenced what he wanted to do as an adult:
To become a Fazbear technician, and jump onto the bandwagon of modern A.I development so he can get close to his childhood loves (and this love was also what inspired his tinkering, and by extension, Cassie's own knowledge of the bots). Freddy Fazbear's crew had been there for many people- in both good and bad ways. However, Cassie was glad to say she and her father's experiences have only ever been good. Between her visits here and her father's fondness for the characters, both had a biased but endearing adoration for the Glamrocks. And to see something so advanced was a pleasure within itself.
But this- Bonnie's intelligence was uncanny. It's a window to what the world beyond this one was capable of. Bonnie had been advancing on his own, and in relative secrecy. He'd become aware of his own potential, by the sounds of it. Aware, and more than willing to manipulate that fact.
Like Cassie said; that was both wild, and frightening. The fact that he made further backups of himself when he could've had another backup of himself in the system originally was proof enough. His old self was gone- that was irrefutable truth. His original self inside the chip died with it. But he anticipated it'd happen and saved himself by dumping himself in here...
Just... crazy.
Her dad said once that the old CEO emphasized making these characters larger than life; as even one of his last quotes was the characters living on forever. Weird, literal and cosmically hilarious when you consider Bonnie's methods. As for the person who owned the pizzeria chain though, this desire to see their characters immortalized was dramatic and a bit much for what used to be a small and humble company. In a way, their desire was fanatical- perhaps insane altogether. And with time and technology advancing, it's only a matter of time until the bots became both sentient and dramatically removed from what they originally were- Bonnie alone was testament to that.
He seemed more than aware of his abilities as an A.I- and that was a strangely unnerving and powerful thing for him to control. But in hindsight, he was defending himself from someone whose undoubtedly meant ill will here. The PizzaPlex was destroyed now because the people running it were evil, malicious, and straight cruel to the very creations they WANTED to make intelligent and life-like. Fazbear Entertainment, since the very beginning of their founding days, strived for 'life-like' in all their creations. This was an absolute- and even Cassie knew this.
But to think... Bonnie's preservation would extend to this kind of reach. It's so strange. And the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and the no-doubt violent conditions it went under- all too extreme. His 'life-like' behavior had accelerated to areas nobody ever could've conceived thanks to cruelty and stress.
That was HORRIBLE to consider.
Was it possible that whoever did this to him, did for a reason? Was this A.I too advanced? Too ahead of itself? Was all this intelligence too much for him too?
Cassie found herself pausing; the wet floor sign stopping when she did. She stared at it, unable to break eye contact with it as she mulled over what she knew so far: She simply didn't know enough- and the last time she thought she was doing the right thing for someone, it blew up in her face. The Mimic was free; and it intended harm to whomever it passed. What if Bonnie, being locked up as he was, was just as wild and crazy? And he's been in solitude all this time- she's already gleaned that he wouldn't be mentally well.
Now she was having second thoughts.
She lifted his head and looked at it again; still inanimate, and vacant of life. But, it's sad that he had to be trapped here in the lonely manner he's been. He tried calling for help- and no one heeded it. And from what Cassie knew from her (albeit limited) interactions with Bonnie himself and the word of her father, he was a gentle soul whose kindness was only matched by Freddy's own. So why all this security?
"Well... I'm here now. And if I thought Bonnie would hurt me, I'd be turn back. Right?" She said to no one in particular. Should she gamble again? Take a risk while the time to turn back was there? Forget how far she's already gotten?
Yeah- one can already have the answer to this whole conundrum if one looked. Cassie was gonna throw all-in and see where this story lead. So, forward she went.
"I'll free you," She told him. "But please, don't make me regret it. I know you don't deserve this... you and the others are victims here too. No one needs that garbage following them around, right?" She sighed, her expression a weak, paltry thing. "You were backed into a corner and stripped of everything you were. You don't deserve to be in here anymore- trapped in your own home. That's too cruel."
She still wasn't sure about his mental fortitude, but she hoped that with the fact Cassie intended on fixing his friends, maybe they can be the balancing act he needed to be reminded of his old self. Support from your friends was a blessed thing to have; and she saw this love when she watched Roxy embrace the rabbit's corpse and nuzzle it.
Roxy. Nuzzling him. Lord- she couldn't imagine what Bonnie would say to that. Didn't Roxy tell her that they annoyed each other?
"They miss you so much, I bet it aches," She continued to monologue to his head. "They love you so much and... they weren't allowed to find you. They were told to stop after a couple days. I know Freddy wouldn't have stopped unless someone's life was on the line. Him, and the others..."
She felt her tears return again- her thoughts falling briefly to Roxy's earlier spiel regarding Bonnie and Chica's bond too. She hugged his head now; an errant tear falling into his dirty hair. She hiccupped again; and not for the first time, strongly desired the love and embrace of her father. "I wish I had friends like you do," She breathed hoarsely into him. She had to stop now; her shoulders rolling a few times. "They love you so much. Roxy cried in that room when she saw you-"
Gregory betrayed her. Her 'friends' from school never showed up for her party. She couldn't make anymore friends beyond them. Her father was dead.
She had nothing.
She fell to her bottom; ignoring the jab of pain from her heart, leg and tail bone as she cried uncontrollably into Bonnie's mussed hair. Fixing him suddenly mattered so MUCH to her; him, and Chica. She NEEDED to fix them.
She wanted to protect that love too.
Their world had been so small, but they were happy together. Because they had each other. And she? She didn't have anyone but her father- and even then that was no longer the case. Roxy shared some of that love she had with her friends with Cassie herself; gave her a taste of that beauty and familial unity. She wanted that again- as selfish as that could be.
She WILL fix Chica and Bonnie. And Cassie refused to leave the PizzaPlex until the job was done.
The mop bot meanwhile watched, waiting until Cassie found the strength to look up. Her tears rolled down her face still; the girl reaching a hand under her mask to wipe them away. "I'm so sorry," she rasped to it. "I'm just- I'm sorry. We can keep going. Gimme a minute."
It didn't move, but... Cassie could swear it inched towards her. She wasn't sure, and didn't bother to look too far into it. She stroked Bonnie's soft fuzz all the while, marveling the fact it still felt like fur on a real rabbit. The comfort of it felt obscenely nice- even though he was clearly filthy.
"Okay. I think I'm okay now," She murmured to him. "I'm just... I'm sorry. Let's go now."
She stumbled to her feet; slumping once or twice when he leg throbbed again. This was where the mop bot came in; it finally approached her and slipped into her hand. She stabilized herself on it and found footing; the girl hiccupping and thanking it. It stayed near her too as they moved along.
They'd finally stop in a dark area of the PizzaPlex's main server; the chained up node containing the old S.T.A.F.F bot security network. Cassie winced at the odd look of it: Something about it was definitely wrong:
The chains didn't have the same look to them as the others she's seen by now; glowing in... shades of pink and purple. They pixelated and broke in some places; just to reassemble again tighter than before. The node itself was dark; although its lettering was defiantly still alit. It was indeed still active and under heavy lock-down. A padlock appeared in front of it; complete with a hole in which for her fazwrench to fit into.
Cassie gambled.
The padlock fell off and vanished into pixelated dust; the chains doing the same. Another white corridor opened; admitting the girl inside. She felt herself holding her breath after a point; not sure as to how long she's been doing it. Its only until she realized she was light-headed did she realize she's been holding it for something like a couple minutes. She was so tense and couldn't fathom why.
Inside the S.T.A.F.F bot network, it looked... dramatically different from the rest of the server. It was so strange Cassie thought she fell into the wrong place:
No more purple corridors or floors or ceilings. No more dark colors. It was... kind of bright in here. There was a pixel fire blocking her, but it admitted her peaceably and with no fuss. She looked around too; in awe of the fact that the environment was such a tone changer that she didn't feel as anxious anymore.
The floors where white... but faded into a light blue gradient outside the area she walked around in. The light blue turned into darker shades of sapphire as it stretched up and away into the 'horizon' of the server. The distance was different shades of gentle cerulean like a day-time sky; giving Cassie the illusion that she was standing amidst a world where the sea and heavens blended together. It was so WEIRD that she couldn't wrap her head around it. Did Bonnie do this? She looked around though, noticing varying nodes everywhere in the holographic shapes of the wet floor bots floating around her. Cassie was saddened to see that so many were darkened because of her, but here they remained nonetheless.
The girl walked timidly forward; tucking the rabbit's head like its a plush toy in meager comfort. She found maybe some 40-ish wet floor holograms in here- plus a LOT of dark S.T.A.F.F bot holograms alongside them. This place was quiet; and didn't have the screaming like she thought she'd be hearing.
"Whoa..." was all she can manage as she walked further in.
Finally, she found it: At least 4 wet floor signs left that hadn't darkened- the three she left with Bonnie's body and the one that's led her here. They surrounded a final node; this one shaped like his symbol. Not his face, but a triangular silhouette of his upper body not unlike the other Glamrock symbols she found around other places in the PizzaPlex. His image looked like Freddy's- save for the fact it had long ears and his hands didn't end in fists. It was lit in neon blue; his typical Glamrock color.
She approached it cautiously, then squinted.
The wet floor holograms had these gold chains attached to his Glamrock symbol; definitely showing a literal, clear picture of his link to them. Cassie had no way of knowing what'll happen in the next few minutes, but she was here now, and she's already thrown in the dice. She held up the fazwrench; his Glamrock symbol floating down within her reach. Its prongs met the heart of his icon; where she was prompted to connect node dots; very much like when she deactivated Roxy a little while ago.
She finished it, and the icon drifted out of reach-
Then, a vast flurry of gold chains reached out and latched into every single darkened symbol of the wet floor signs; brightening them up again as if to reactivate them. Some sort of data cluster emerged from each one and fed into the parent node; Bonnie's own icon. She watched all the bots deactivate; every single one fell dark as all the data left them- His icon blinked a few times in response; having taken back the data from the signs.
The S.T.A.F.F bot network suddenly ejected her! Cassie was sent forcibly through the white door and back out in the PizzaPlex main server; the sub-server locking again but not in the manner as it had before. The girl noticed no obvious ominous chains; just a wall of fire around it now- was he protecting himself again? Was Bonnie awake and suspicious?
"What happened?" She muttered. If only her brain can process data streams! "Maybe I should get into computers when I grow up cuz this is weird," She muttered to herself as she turned her attention back to where she last left that one wet floor bot-
Only to see it was slumping over now.
"What!" Cassie hobbled over to it; bending over and prodding it. It didn't move again. She frowned at that, then looked back at the locked image of the S.T.A.F.F bot network. It was reactivated again now... the entirety of its node lit and pulsing. She assumed Bonnie's mind, wherever it sat inside it, no longer needed the bots.
Welp. At least that lightens her load by a lot.
Did he eject her because she didn't need to be mucking around his brain? It would be weird to literally float around somebody's mind... so she supposed the sudden ejection was for that reason.
She stared at the now defunct bot; its whimpering no longer heard. She'll have to ask Bonnie about it later, once his chip was reconfigured. In the meantime, the girl knew where to go from here on her own. So she proceeded back towards the Parts and Services node, opened the white door, and stepped inside.
"Excuse me," She called to the handunit intelligence. "Hello there? May I log a query?"
"Permission granted! Level 5 verified and authenticated. What is your request?"
"I'd like to resume my previous operation and extract Bonnie's conscious- er, his personality blueprint from the outdated S.T.A.F.F bot network and place it in a new chip. Can that be done automatically?"
"One moment, please."
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...
...
"Extraction complete! Personality profile now allocated to proper domain. In order to finish this operation, return to Parts and Services and find a blank chip in the manager's room. Then, place it inside the repair module outside the protective cylinder and follow the instructions from there. Is there anything else you wish to do?"
"Do the same for Chica, and be prepared to sync her data from her old chip- whatever's left of it, with the 'saved' copy of her previous personality. I'd also like to inquire if there's a spare endo lying around so I can complete physical repairs?"
"No more than 1 unit remains. However, there are replacement parts in the warehouse so repairs to both Glamrock Bonnie and Glamrock Chica can be finished- so long as the animatronics current bodies can be salvaged."
"Bonnie has all his parts... he's just in pieces."
"Repairs will involve a new set of wires, joints, and all his current upgrades are checked. When inspection on his head is done, be sure to tune his hearing- as Bonnie's auditory system may need to be recalibrated to prevent any problematic system shut-downs when certain frequencies are heard. Is there anything else?"
Certain frequencies knock him out? Huh. "Nope, that'd be it," she said.
"Done. Logging you out. Thank you for using the friendly Fazbear technician interface! How would you like to rate your experience?"
In which, Cassie can only say, "Exemplary." She smiled, and she was glad to say that for once. Because in all actuality, that was all the Glamrocks have ever given her.
It was their gift to her- that love and care they extended to children as well as each other. And Cassie knew that she wanted to return it in equal measure. Roxy showed her that care even though she needn't have to; she showed up to save Cassie even though Cassie had chosen Gregory over her. She still came to Cassie's aid and fought into near and total nonfunctionality for her.
That love was worth a throbbing leg for.
She clutched Bonnie's head ever closer, nosing his hair and mind falling back to the rare times she's spoken to Bonnie. It wasn't common... but she's seen him around and she's talked with him with her father in tow. Bonnie had nothing but love to give; and while he wasn't a hugger all the time, his reluctance to let children leave couldn't be more obvious. He kept patting Cassie's head when she stood near him; kept their personal space relatively to a minimum despite her dad standing right there and he didn't need to be so watchful.
Now Cassie was left to wonder something else: The Glamrocks were so dedicated to children. It must break their hearts every time to see them leave the PizzaPlex. Bonnie's willingness to engage touch even though he wasn't entirely physical felt... needy. Like he's trying to affirm that she'd been there the time he'd talk to both her and her dad. The sensation of his claws in her hair had been comforting- parental. And her father didn't seem to mind it at all; he just talked and talked away with his favorite bot and the two would laugh.
She also remembered that every time they had to part ways, Bonnie would ALWAYS ask if they'd come back soon. And every time her father said, "Of course!", the rabbit would almost seem to visibly glow. But her father worked there- he didn't need to keep asking-
Oh. Suddenly, his reluctance to leave Cassie's space made more sense. Perhaps all his gestures WERE needy.
And Bonnie wasn't the only one; Roxy had picked up and swung Cassie around enthusiastically after her wins in the Raceway. She was eager to close their distance and do her makeup; held her hugs for long stretches until Cassie herself chose to disengage. They held hands and ate her birthday cake together- even though Roxy showed reluctance in the fact she'd have to clean the food out of her chest cavity. But she ate the food with Cassie and enjoyed it in the same way the girl did. All of them have been good to her in small ways- even if their meetings have been fleeting.
Cassie began to walk around the main server, looking around for an exit. She was pretty sure she can find one from here. She glanced at Bonnie's head in the meantime, her embrace harder than ever.
"I promise," she said to it. "No one will be allowed to hurt you all ever again. What was it you said to me, once?" She blinked, then reiterated, "-'There isn't enough love in the world. So its best to put some of that love back in it'? I'm pretty sure that's what you said."
He said nothing.
"My dad quotes you a lot. I think he really liked that phrase. I know I do," Another head rub. "I still don't understand what I was feeling in that room where we found you, but I know you don't need to be in there anymore. I want to put that love back into the world- the same way you gave it to me. Like I'm your kid too and not just my dad's. You and Roxy..." She sniffed. "I won't let that go to waste. I swear it. How lonely I feel, I know you felt that too in that room. Nobody deserves that, doncha think?"
She got no response, and didn't expect one when his chip was broken and he had barely any charge left. But Cassie suspected he'd agree. She rubbed under her mask again, gladdened when a white door opened up to admit her out of the server. She stepped through it and out the door into some unremarkable hall in the PizzaPlex proper. She turned around to watch the door fade away-
Only to see standing within the frame of the white door, what she could swear was the image of a large rabbit smiling back at her as it faded away.