Some Things Are Better Left Buried
By: Miss-DNL
Chapter 10: Turn for the Worst
"What's the problem?" Gregor asked promptly, as he met up with Karen at the front desk of the pizzeria. He glanced from side to side, nothing seemed off so far.
The guard looked to Karen. She was an older woman, in her forties or so. It was clear she had led a rough street life; her demeanor was gruffer than the average woman. Most of her hair was a silver grey aside from a few black strips here and there. It was all pulled back into a mid-length ponytail. Her outfit was the typical blue janitorial attire, baggy water resistant clothing. She also wore some brown gloves that were tucked under her loose sleeves.
"Morning." Karen responded, passively pointing out Gregor's lack of greeting. She seemed faintly amused, her worn lips in a slight smirk. Turning Karen beckoned the guard to follow her with a flick of her wrists. Gregor neutral expression fell, feeling like something bad was lying around the corner. Silently he followed the janitor down the hall, as he did he noticed something speckling the floor.
"Is that blood?" He questioned urgently seeing a thin, dotted, trail leaving from the prize corner and towards the main party room.
"That's not the worst of it." The janitor replied coming up to her janitorial cart. Not looking back at Gregor's shocked expression the woman followed the tail, pulling her equipment along with her.
Unnerved by how the janitor was handling this, Gregor caught up to her and demanded an answer, "Karen, what do you mean?" He asked sternly.
When the janitor didn't answer he grabbed her by the arm, forcing her to stand still and look to him. Faintly the older adult seemed surprised, but only briefly before she motioned to the parts and services room. Gregor slowly looked from the woman to the room. Soon after Gregor picked up on the strong tangy smell of iron. The guard felt a block of ice drop into the pit of his stomach. The rumored fate of guards that didn't survive to six am came to the front of his mind.
Gregor gave one more look to Karen before leaving the janitor's side to check inside the room. As he did the smell of blood only grew stronger. Carefully he pushed open the door to the mechanic's work room, it had been left slightly ajar. Soon as the light from the hallway entered the room Gregor wish he hadn't looked inside. Clifton's work bench was caked in drying blood, the smell nearly overwhelming inside the room. The stuffed Freddy Fazbear suit was vermillion around the edges where most of the blood had seeped out and soaked through. On the ground lay a bloodied a security flashlight. Only further confirming that the poor soul within the suit was Cole Henderson.
Gregor shook his head, this couldn't be happening…It could very well end everything! The guard felt a surge of panic go through him, no, no, he couldn't let that happen! Immediately he whipped around and faced Karen, grabbing her firmly by the shoulders. The janitor's eyes widened as the guard drew her in.
"You, can't tell anyone about this!" He asserted, his face demanding but stricken with panic. A wild look had entered his grey eyes. It was that of a cornered animal. One that could easily lash out at random.
Once Karen composed herself she gently nudged Gregor's hands off her shoulders, "That's why I called you, and why I tried to get ahold of Herald for." A small grin appeared on her lips, causing Gregor to give pause. "I think we can work something out. You catch my meaning?"
A look of understanding quickly came over Gregor's face and he stepped back, as if to get a better look at the janitor. He glanced back to the grisly, dark, and bloody murder scene then to the conniving woman. Gregor frowned, he didn't like what the janitor was alluding to. His nightmare, and the stuffed suit behind him, pressured the guard to turn the woman away, but something deeper rooted in Gregor urged him to accept.
"You want to be paid for your silence…?" Gregor assumed stiffly, feeling like he was being forced into a corner. One housing a dead body no less.
Karen nodded, grin remaining, "That's right. I can do a good cover up job, make things look spotless before anyone arrives."
Gregor eyed her, certain he was looking at a criminal, "Why do you know how to do that…?"
"I grew up around people who knew a thing or two." Karen began, while tilting her head to the side. The woman pursed her lips a little, "Though getting the kid out of that suit is going to take plenty of time and effort. Gonna have to charge extra for that, but I can make it disappear."
Gregor narrowed his eyes, "And how can I trust you to keep your end of the deal?"
"You get me the money I want and you have my word. This is the only job I got right now, I need the pay." Karen answered evenly, her covered arms loosely crossed. The lady's grin hooked upward, "So do we got a deal?"
"You'll tell the police if I don't agree, right?" The head of security guessed, frown grim.
"To be honest even if I didn't, somebody will notice a mess that big." Karen pointed out matter-of-factly as she jabbed her thumb to the suit.
Gregor's frown stiffened tightly, she had a point, but Karen had also admitted she'd squeal if he didn't agree. The guard rolled his hands into fists as he felt the pressure building up inside him. He darted his eyes from left to right, feeling like he was being watched. Gregor ignored the sensation and came to his decision. He looked to Karen, "How much do you want?"
"Triple my pay and three-fifty for the body," Karen responded promptly before cutting off the guard before he could respond, "Keep in mind, I gotta get'm outta that suit and it's going to be a pain. Frankly, I'm being generous with the three-fifty. Besides, that's how much my folks got paid."
"Your folks?" Gregor questioned, curious about the sudden mention.
"Heh, my folks used to work for the past Freddy's. Somebody had to clean up their messes ya'know." Karen explained with a hint of unfitting pride. "I worked for Fazbear's Fright, but you know-it burned down. Might not have realized it cause my Mom changed our names, and went back to her maiden name after Dad got killed on the job. Probably helped keep publicity off us after the last Freddy's went down."
A look of realization came over Gregor's face when he processed what Karen had just told him. His voice went barely above a hushed whisper, "You knew this was going to happen?"
"I had a feeling." Karen partly admitted with a slight shrug, "But I do know my folks got pretty paychecks when they worked for Fazbear's. Think of it as me continuing the family tradition, job, or whatever."
"Wait…" Gregor began, he appeared strangely hopeful about something, "You wouldn't happen to recall what your parents knew about the animatronics, would you?"
"I don't personally, but I do still have their old stuff. I remember that they each had a work notebook. When I was younger I got a peek at it. Had a bunch of stuff on how to handle the bots. Info on every animatronic, from Freddy to Balloon Boy." Karen answered, knowing she was further getting the guard to agree. She gave her small grin again, "Might have more stuff, I haven't looked thought the junk in a long while."
Gregor's face became even, his moment of panic over. Recomposed he gave his answer in a leveled manner, "Your price just became a lot more reasonable then. Get all the information you can from your parent's belongings. I'll see to it that you get your payment"
He gestured towards the brown crimson stained suit or more so the entire room itself. "Get that room cleaned up immediately." Gregor wrinkled his nose in distaste, the smell of blood was becoming overwhelming. "I don't care how, get rid of that body."
"You got it, boss." Karen answered, happy to have gotten what she wanted. Looking back to the bloody room; however, a thought came to mind. She looked back to the security guard, who was already walking away, and asked, "What about the technician? Sure he's going to spot a whole suit missing."
Gregor paused, halting before he turned out of the hall. Not looking over his shoulder Gregor gave his response, "Don't worry about Schwartz. I'll handle him."
"Got it." Karen repeated. Turning to her mop and bucket she pulled an industrial-sized black garbage bag out from the attached shelving. With a blink she recalled something and gave one last call out to Gregor, "Oh, and shut off the back camera."
"Got it." Gregor parroted as he continued down the hall.
Leaving the janitor to do her thing Gregor headed to check out the state of the pizzeria. The animatronics were in their places thus far. Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie were on stage. Their heads bowed, eyes half laden like they had just finished an encore and were tired. Standing at the front of the stage Gregor noticed the cupcake Carl had dried blood decorating his face. Though bewildered by the thought the guard made a mental note that the mini-bot could move on its own as well. The main three were mostly clean. Except a few spots on their hands and legs, but mostly their feet. Likely happened when they stuffed Cole into the suit.
Moving on Gregor went down to Pirate Cove. Pulling back the starry lavender colored curtain Gregor was greeted by an inactive Foxy. The red fox also had its head bowed, but it also seemed slumped over a bit. Its arms were hung at its side and shoulders were forward slightly. Gregor knew this was just how the animatronic rested so to speak. What caught his eye was the red on its hook.
Gregor wasn't really surprised that the fox had been a part of Cole's death. While looking into the supposed rumors the pirate captain had been mentioned a few times. Namely because it had supposedly been the one of the hardest to handle. Finished with his check of the cove Gregor pulled the curtain back and left.
Next he went over and checked on the Kid's Cove, and on the stage stood Mangle. To Gregor's shock Mangle had apparently stripped itself of a good deal of its suit parts. Petey the parrot, hung limply on its shoulder instead of being perched. Lifting up what he guessed was a forearm cover the guard peeked inside. It looked like all of the wires and cables were intact. Dropping the suit piece back onto the stage Gregor left the playroom behind him. Now he had another reason to talk to Clifton today.
He only took one step into the prize corner and Gregor felt a noticeable change in temperature. There was a chilly nip in the air making the colorful corner seem not so welcoming. Balloon Boy was at his spot at the front of the alcove. Gregor hardly gave him a glance over and instead went over to the Puppet. The box of an oversized present was open, indicating Cole had failed to keep Puppet under lock and key. What Gregor saw inside both surprised and confused him. The marionette animatronic was curled up in a fetal position with a Fredbear doll clutched against its chest.
As he looked at the black and white animatronic Gregor got the distinct feeling he was being watched. The head of security looked around, trying to pin point the source of the feeling. Then he recalled the boy from the other day mentioning "the boy behind the box". Gregor snapped his attention back to the Puppet, now with a stiff look of defiance. The guard reached into the box and grabbed the animatronic by its thin neck.
Gregor brought the marionette up to his face, growling at the gift giver, "You won't get in the way. I will get you and your friends under control. I will keep this place open…You can't stop me from doing that."
The guard dropped the Puppet back into the box. The long limbed animatronic falling in a heap on top of the Fredbear doll. Gregor gave the animatronic a glare before stepping away from the present and said one last thing to the animatronic before leaving. "You should be happy giving other children good childhood memories…"
Author's Notes: Gregor, your issues are showing...
Karen turned out to be more interesting to write for than I had thought she'd be. I always felt the janitor's new something about what was going on. Someone had to clean the messes up. Safe to say Karen had an interesting childhood, sight of a dead body does zilch to her. Little more on her brief time working at Fazbear's Fright next part. The next part will also be the last of this chapter. Its written out I just want to look over it more and build up more pages.
Shit, almost forgot. I may have mentioned this before but here I go again to be sure. No, I won't be adding SL to the story. For one I said I won't be adding anymore animatronics. I have enough of them on my hands as is. What it adds also won't mesh well with what I set up. My story is more akin to the book's universe where the animatronics are regular animatronics with no AI. At most I'll make references. I don't have anything against the game itself, its a step forward for Fnaf gameplay wise. I hope and thank you for understanding.
I'm also grateful for the reviews this story has been getting recently. Thank you all. :)
Hope you enjoyed this part!