AN1: I'll be honest, I got a little lazy these past couple of weeks.
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Vanessas shift was nearing the four-hour mark, and she is grateful that it wasn't the snooze fest she thought it would be, however it was still only ten percent less sleep inducing then that. She is thankful that Freddy at least partially broke up the monotony that the job should have naturally brought forward.
Though the bear still couldn't solve the fact that they have been self-confined in this booth for hours now, no matter how talkative he made himself be. The guards whole body has been shaking with her heel rapidly tapping against the floor for a while now.
"Vanessa, do you need a break? You seem to be having a hard time." She raises her brow.
"What makes you say that?"
"You're vibrating like a kid who is about to enter a sugar high. Perhaps it would do you some good to leave the booth–"
"I'm not going out there, at least not alone." A small hint of frustration surfaces, but is effortlessly squashed.
"You didn't let me finish, I would of course be accompanying you still. It is more for your sake rather then mine."
"But what about the cameras? Even with some of them out of commission, I still need to keep an eye out with ones that still work."
"I can look at the cameras myself at any time and place if need be."
"Why do you care so much about me all of a sudden?" He almost scoffs at her.
"To start with, I care greatly about all who visit us. That goes doubly so for those who work to make the PizzaPlex as great as can be. And triply so for those who try their hardest to keep it safe." He says firmly. The guard shyly looks away from him.
Vanessa considers his proposal. On one hand, she didn't like the thought of having to leave the security booth because of her lack of tools to effectively watch over the place. On the other, she was pretty desperate to do something other then stare at the cameras waiting for something to happen. Ultimately, she couldn't stand it in this cramped room anymore.
"I guess I could escape this box for an hour or two. It wouldn't hurt, right?"
"No it won't, nothing bad will happen just because you decided to leave the booth for however long. Ask any one of us, we can attest to the countless nights we've spent here since creation. Yesterday is the exception, not the rule." His haste catches her off guard, he is already waiting at the door waiting for her to go first. "After you." She didn't look a gift horse in the mouth and swiftly took the opportunity.
The simple act of leaving the room did wonders for Vanessa, she instantly felt a little less tired, the pins and needles started to fade away, and it felt like she could breathe without her B.O. getting in the way. She stretches her whole body, getting a symphony of cracks throughout.
'Gahhhh, it hurts but feels good at the same time.'
Freddy cringed at every one of them, he almost thought that she broke down.
"That sounds painful, should I be concerned?"
"Only if I stop moving afterwards." She joked, though it seemed to fly over his head judging by his still worried expression. "Oh relax, us humans often do that to loosen up, it normally doesn't mean anything too bad." He gets the message this time.
"Huh, I see now. Good to know." The pair begin their aimless walk. Things were silent between them, the only thing being there to break it were the generic bots and their own footsteps, particularly Freddys.
Vanessa is specifically focused on all the staff bots that they pass, be it janitor or security. The latter specifically eyeing her up and down before moving on.
'There are just so, so many.'
Her mind then wanders to how pointless her presence really is tonight, and it didn't help her case that there were dozens upon dozens of the security drones rolling around. She really was only there as insurance. Freddy said it himself, 'yesterday was the exception, not the rule.'
Vanessa didn't really like her job during the day, although she would not go as far to say she hates it, at the very least it kept her occupied and actually allowed her to…you know, be a security guard. What she applied for in the first place. The robots help report on what is happening while the human acts on it, and not a day goes by without something requiring her or her co-workers' attention at all times. Sure it got hectic sometimes…all the time, but for her it was much better then having some random office job somewhere.
Although now…she doesn't want to admit it to herself, but she feels useless. It became very apparent during her short time here that the animatronics were essentially their own security. Vanessa shouldn't be here, yet here she stands, and for what? Some knee jerk reaction to a malfunction that could very well never occur again thanks to the tech team actually being worth a damn when it comes to their wallets. Years of being open, one night versus many, and with the company's reputation of making on the fly changes…not much of a confidence booster.
"Are you okay? Your breathing pattern has been strained for the past minute."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Nothing more was said, however he decided to press the issue.
"We can talk about it if you want. I feel that the simple act of speaking your mind can do wonders for your psyche." The bear is hopeful that he could ease her burden.
"...No thank you." Only to be shot down. Disappointment fills his being.
"Oh, okay. Well if you decide to talk, know that I'll listen." She doesn't acknowledge him, which dampened the mood further.
'Was it something I said?'
Both went silent once more, it was clear to him that something is weighing down on the guard he is accompanying. They eventually ended up entering Rockstar Row, and the first thing both noticed was the lack of any noise coming from, well, almost everywhere. Even Monty has gone silent, the jury is still out whether or not that is a good thing. However it didn't bother Freddy none, he just continued his merry way whilst Vanessa kept looking over her shoulder waiting for something to happen.
It didn't take long for the duo to figure out where Roxanne and co were. With silence this deafening, it was not hard at all to follow the muffled voices leading to Chicas room. Looking through the glass, they could see the girls chatting away without a care in the world, with a sleeping child in between them.
Chica was the first to notice them through her window, with Roxanne following suit right after. The former eagerly waved at them, to which Freddy returned the gesture. The wolf however, only narrowed her eyes in distrust towards Vanessa, who adjusted the collar of her uniform nervously while avoiding her gaze.
'I could feel her piercing my soul.'
The guard speeds up the pace just to escape from her line of sight, which forces Freddy to mimic her in order to catch up, then she suddenly stops. The bear is confused at first as to why, but following her glance shows the darkened room of Montgomery Gator.
Now that he thinks of it, he hasn't seen nut or bolt of the guy since the night began, and that worries him a bit.
"You think you could wait here for a moment? I need to check if he's okay." She simply nods.
Freddy nearly presses his face against the glass, trying his best to at least make out a silhouette, only to come up short. He then goes to the gator's door, placing his ear against it trying to hear even the smallest sound. Nothing.
"Monty? Are you okay in there?" This time he can just about hear something shuffling within the room, but no verbal response. "Please, talk to me." This time he yields no result. He then decides to enter the room, hoping that nothing is wrong with his friend.
It is dark, almost too dark for the bear to move any further within without possibly bumping into something. Despite that though, he persists, taking small steps to avoid any potential damage. He could feel the sheer amount of debris that lay beneath his feet, were he organic, he would be getting many cuts and bruises for his troubles.
'Come on Monty, work with me here.'
"Montgomery?"
"Please leave me alone Fazbear." Right away, Freddy could tell that Monty wasn't in a good mood. Understandable, but this simply wouldn't do.
"I'm sorry for intruding, but I felt the need to check on you. You haven't left your room once yet."
"Yeah, I know, don't rub it in." The bear follows his friend's voice, then proceeds to presumably sit on the floor next to him.
"Is it about last night?" The gator snapped at him.
"Well duh. What gave it away? The fact that I can't remember a thing? Or that I was a few wires away from literally losing my mind." He growled at him, but then it quickly died out.
"I can't say that I understand, but I'll help however I can regardless."
"Of course you don't understand, I don't expect any of you to. You, Roxanne, and even Chica got the easy end of the ordeal. A few tweaks here, a few lines of code added there, then presto, a job well done! What do I get?! A bunch of workers desperately trying to put me back together with whatever spare parts that were lying around! Seriously, I'd be impressed if I wasn't so–!" He stops himself, the urge to start breaking stuff creeps up, though he ignores it the best he can.
"For what it's worth, at least it won't happen again."
"It can't. I don't know what I did, but if I end up that beaten up again, I might get decommissioned for good." He fails to keep the fear out of his voice upon such a notion.
"Easy now, Monty. Nobody ever once thought that you were the problem, the blame entirely falls onto whatever virus that infected our systems. If anyone has to worry about being 'decommissioned', it is our tech team. This shouldn't have happened to begin with." The gator scoffs.
"At least we have some actual supervision this time around. Maybe she'll be just the edge I need to ensure that I don't get put through the grinder again."
"So you have encountered Vanessa?"
"That's the one, I thought she was an intruder at first, but a quick scan solved that problem."
"I didn't think you out of us four would be in favor of having a night guard."
"Me neither, but it was a wake up call when I finally regained my senses. You think it's fun hearing about just how badly damaged you were? They even had the nerve to show me photos!" Freddy is startled by the sound of snapping wood next to him, then said wood is thrown at the window, landing with a series of loud thumps.
"Will you please come out of your room tonight? Come spend some time with us, we don't think any less of you." Monty has had enough.
"You want to help so bad? You can start by giving me some space. I still haven't come to terms with what happened to me." Nothing more is said between them. The bear is reluctant to leave him, but respects his request to go. Once he navigated to the exit, he looked back hoping that Monty would change his mind, however that sadly didn't happen.
Vanessa still stood where Freddy left her, unintentionally eavesdropping on the conversation that just took place.
"At least we know he is functioning." She mumbled to him once he reached her.
"...I suppose that counts for something." They continue their directionless patrol, both hoping that things will get better soon.
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AN2: I didn't know how I exactly wanted to write Monty. Hopefully it doesn't stray too far into left field.