BEFORE YOU READ! This story is a sequel to my other FNAF story "Free," which is an alternate reality/parallel to the games' stories. Specifically games 1 - 3. Therefore, if you have not read Free, there are things in this story that may not make sense or will not have the impact they otherwise would. I ask that you go read Free before this one. Free is only 20 chapters and not terribly long. This story is an alternate/parallel of Security Breach and follows the same main character as Free did. Lea (pronounced like Lee). That said, I hope you find both stories interesting.
Today was the first day. The first day of her new job, that is. Since the place was not terribly far from her home, she decided to walk, carrying her tools in the black and gray backpack she liked to use. She paused momentarily to look at the storm drain on the street's edge before continuing. As she turned a corner, she passed a black cat that was walking in the opposite direction. It paused to meow at her. She stopped and crouched down to give it a stroke along the back before standing up and continuing on her way. He was the local stray that everyone called "Tom." She began to pick up her pace, causing her long dirty-blonde hair to stream behind her. Finally, she reached it. Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizzaplex. What a mouthful, she thought.
"Hey, Lea!"
She turned at the friendly voice. It was her closest friend, Abby. Abby was a woman with short brown hair that just covered her ears. It was difficult for Lea to describe Abby's personality. She was weird, but cool. Abby was into things like crystals, astrology, and spooky stuff. In her own words, Abby was not a witch, she just liked to do witchy things.
"You're riding your skateboard to work?" Lea questioned.
"Yeah, so? You're just walking." Abby stopped the board and kicked it up to grab the nose of it. "You know I don't have a car. Hey, you ready for your first day?"
"Ready as I'll ever be."
"Hm. Mechanic work must be hard."
"It's dangerous," Lea told her. Abby was a day shift security guard at the Pizzaplex. "Machines can be…quirky."
"And heavy. You've never been in here, right? I'm telling you, it's super cool! And the robots are crazy smart!"
"Technology has come a long way in recent years," Lea admitted. She began to walk towards the front doors.
The mall-like facility was huge on the outside, but the interior was even grander. It seemed that Fazbear Entertainment had spent quite a lot of effort and money in the display and design. The floors were shiny and waxed and the black ceiling high above them was decorated with star-like dots of light. Abby grinned at Lea's stunned look. "Try not to get lost!"
"How many floors does this place have?"
"There's three stories accessible to guests, with an underground area for workers and forklifts to move and transport stuff. The place is confusing to navigate though. As a whole, I mean. Where do you need to go?"
"I'm supposed to report to the Parts and Service Center today."
"Oh, well you can get there a few ways, but it'll be quicker if you go downstairs. I'll show you real quick."
Lea followed her through a red door off to the side that led to a dimly lit stairwell. They made their way down and into an underground system of storage areas, forklifts, and people either operating them or writing on clipboards. A few segway-like robots helped to transport boxes to and from containers and assisted with general work.
"There's a whole lotta robots in this place," Abby told Lea. "Of course, you're not the only mechanic here, but taking position as the head mechanic will be nuts. I couldn't do it."
Lea paused, half-listening to her, and studied one of the S.T.A.F.F. bots from a distance. It was flipping through the papers on a clipboard when it seemed to notice her looking and waved hello. A tad surprised, Lea gave it a small smile and waved back before rejoining her friend.
"Wait 'til you meet the main gang," Abby was saying. "They're awesome! Well, here we are. Behind these doors is the hall that leads to Parts and Service. Just go straight to the big double doors. No detours or you'll get lost. Seriously. Been there. Anyways, I'll see you for lunch. Later!"
"Yeah. Thanks." Lea entered the hall and made her way to the other side. The hall was rather large, likely to allow transport vehicles in and out when needed. She glanced over at a branching hallway, wondering what it led to, but kept walking straight until she got to the next set of double doors. When she entered Parts and Service, she found a man waiting for her. "Mr. Axel."
"Please, call me Stanley." He greeted her with a handshake. "Leanne, right? You're our new head mechanic?" Stanley Axel was a big man, but not necessarily overweight. He had a short-trimmed beard and mustache that was dark like his head hair but flecked with white.
She nodded. "Yes sir."
"Fantastic! None of the others have the experience to replace the last head mechanic, so I was seriously relieved when I got your recommendation. How long have you been doing mechanic work again?"
"Long as I can remember. My father taught me when I was little, but I went to school for it later."
"Splendid! Right then. Now that's out of the way…" He turned to gesture to the whole of the room and the large cylindrical chamber in the center where sat a chair that reminded her of the dentist. Above it were the dormant arms of computer-controlled claws, drills, blades, and other tools. It looked like a torture chamber. "Welcome to Parts and Service! This here is the protective cylinder, where animatronics are placed inside when they need serious work done. Don't worry, the terminal outside makes it easy to figure out."
Lea gave the tiny old computer a somewhat concerned look. It was ancient compared to the rest of the system.
"There is a separate place for working on the S.T.A.F.F. bots, but we'll get to that later. Follow me, please." He showed her around, explaining some things for a while before showing her a set of four doors each labeled with a similar but different symbol. "Each of these doors leads directly to the rooms of our main star attractions: Glamrock Freddy, Glamrock Chica, Roxanne Wolf, and Montgomery Gator. There's even a platform that leads directly to the main atrium stage. Makes it easier. Anyways, I'm sure you've worked with lots of different machines and maybe even animatronics too, but I guarantee that you've never seen any like these guys!"
"What do you mean?" She purposefully fed into his bragging.
He was happy to oblige. "Ah! Well, they're revolutionary when it comes to artificial intelligence! They can hold real conversations with each other, workers, and guests! They remember faces, names, an individual's preferences. They can differentiate between guests and workers or children and adults. They're self-aware! Each has their own personality, the ability to learn, comprehend, their own likes and dislikes, and more! And that's the software! When it comes to hardware, they can interact with people and environments more realistically since they have specially designed sensors."
"You mean they can feel touch?"
"Not just touch! They can feel specific kinds! Pleasure, pain, textures like soft or coarse, hot and cold, dry or wet, and so much more!"
"Pain?"
"It's revolutionary! And yes, pain. So, be careful when working on them. We don't want our stars to get hurt or become dysfunctional. That would be quite costly."
Lea wondered if he cared about them only as sources of income or something more. "So, they can feel things physically. What about emotionally?"
"You're asking me if they have real feelings." Stanley smiled. "Even the workers debate that all the time, but I say yes, of course they do! It's so obvious. There are some things we did not program into them that just happens. But I'll let you decide. Speaking of… Since it's your first day and no one currently needs any serious work done, hows about you go introduce yourself to the gang, huh? You can even give them a quick look over. Just be careful what you expose them to. They can be a bit influential."
She nodded. "Yes sir. I'll go see them now."
He nodded too. "Great! Here's your clearance pass. You have one of the highest-level passes as our head mechanic. Don't abuse it! And for the love of Pete, don't abuse the robots!"
"Why would I do that?"
"You'd be surprised, Leanne. Oh! And take this too. It's a Fazwatch! But it's different from the ones we sell to the guests. This one can be connected to other workers' watches and even the animatronics. You can use it to send messages, make calls, and there's even a map! After you introduce yourself to the main gang, take some time to get to know the layout of the building. After your lunch break, meet me in the west arcade so I can show you where we take care of the S.T.A.F.F. bots. There's also another animatronic there I want you to meet."
"Okay. Thank you."
As he turned to leave, Lea turned to glance between the four doors. She was unsure which to enter first. Judging by the symbols alone, she could safely assume which door led to which animatronic's room. After a long debate with herself, she finally decided to take the obvious route and go through the door to meet Freddy.
Freddy was standing in front of his mirror after having just woken up from sleep mode with a fresh charge. "Hm?" He looked over at the back door to his room as it slid open and a pretty-faced woman walked in. "Oh, hello there."
Lea jumped a little when he spoke and resisted the instinct to step away as he approached. She had forgotten how big they were. "Um, hello."
He looked her up and down, seeming to scan her. "Hm, I do not recognize you. Are you lost?"
"No. Um, my name is Leanne. I'm the new head mechanic here."
"Really?" His ears perked up. "That is great news! It is very nice to meet you! My name is Freddy." He offered his paw.
She chuckled a little and accepted the handshake. "I know. It is nice to meet you, too, Freddy." It was odd to her. The last version of Freddy she knew was years ago, when she was young, and he looked very different. Still, it was funny that he retained his signature top hat.
"When did you start?" he asked.
"Actually, today is my first day. Mr. Axel – er – Mr. Stanley said I should introduce myself to everyone."
"A wonderful idea. Well, Leanne, I am glad to have you here. I cannot wait to get to know you better!"
She chuckled again. "Same to you, Freddy. Thanks."
Lea took a few minutes to look around the room. One wall was plexiglass with large curtains on the inside that were currently closed. Freddy, who had been watching her curiously, seemed to notice her looking at them. "It will be time to open the curtains when the Pizzaplex opens to the public in one hour. That way, guests can see us before we head to the stage."
Lea looked around the rest of the room. Each item she stopped to examine came with an explanation from Freddy.
"Those are drawings from my fans. They are very talented. Oh, that is my favorite arcade game. Those balloons are nice, aren't they? It is a plush toy of me. How silly. That is my skateboard. It is very sturdy."
After listening to his descriptions of the things in his room, Lea bid farewell for now and left through the side door. She had entered an area that was almost like a museum, featuring glass cases with old and damaged items from previous locations. Deciding to stick to the ones she knew first, she made her way over to Chica's room at the end, where she heard impressive guitar playing coming from within. Using her newly acquired key card, she entered the room to find the white chicken rocking away. Lea watched for a while until Chica noticed her and stopped playing.
"Ooo, hello new guest!"
"Hello, Chica." Chica was also very different from the one Lea knew. "My name is Leanne. I'm the new head mechanic for the Pizzaplex. I just came to say hi."
"New mechanic? Ooo, fun! So nice to meet you! Do you like parties? What about pizza? I love pizza!"
It seemed that some things never changed. Lea smiled. "Pizza's great."
"Isn't it? Oh, are you here to give me a checkup, new mechanic lady?"
"Do you need one?"
"Hm…" She thought about it, taping a finger to her beak. "I don't think so. Not yet!"
"Uh, right then." Lea took notice of the many empty pizza boxes scattered around the room. After chatting with Chica for a bit, which mainly consisted of answering random questions about herself, "What's your favorite color? Do you have any pets? How old are you?" Lea bid her farewell and went on to the next room.
Montgomery Gator was a character entirely new to her, so Lea did not know what to expect. She could hear terrible sounds of crashing and destruction from within and a sign outside labeled the room as "out of order." Deciding to save that one for last, she went over to Roxanne's room, where she found the wolf examining herself in the mirror.
"Today is going to be another good day," Roxy was telling her reflection. "People are coming to see you. Yes, I know." At the sound of the door opening, she snapped her head around to look.
"Uh, hi. I'm Leanne. The new head mechanic."
Roxy immediately stood up straight and alert. "Head mechanic? Well, good. It's about time they replace that last loser."
"Uh, what?"
"Never mind." Roxy shook her head and took on a friendlier tone. "I'm Roxanne Wolf. Pleasure."
Lea nodded and smiled. "Yes. Nice to meet you. Um, hey. What's going on over in Monty's room? There's a lot of noise coming from it."
"He's got anger issues," Roxy told her. "But he isn't that bad. Lately, we've all been a little… on edge."
"Why?"
"Why?" She thought about it. "I… don't know. We just are. You're the mechanic. Aren't you supposed to figure that out?" She was not saying it in a rude or aggressive way, more like confused.
"I work on hardware, not software. But I suppose it's possible something physical could be affecting the software. But all of you?" Lea lowered her voice to mutter, "Vanessa wasn't kidding then… Something's going on."
"What's that?"
"Hm? Oh, nothing. Sorry. I was just thinking out loud. Anyways, I just came to introduce myself and meet you guys. Your design is incredible, by the way."
Roxy seemed flattered. "Ah, well, yes. I know. Thank you."
Lea smirked. She seemed to like the attention. Still, Lea had things to get to. "Right. Well, I'll leave you to get ready for the day."
"Fine," Roxy said in an almost disappointed way.
Lea once again approached Monty's room and stopped at the door. She listened to the loud crashing and banging inside, which caused her to hesitate for a long time. Mr. Stanley did not give her any warnings about Monty, so she should not have to worry. …Right? With a deep breath, Lea opened the door and stepped inside.
The inside of Monty's room was dark, the lights behind the giant star on the ceiling flickering vainly. Inside, the sounds were even worse. She could not see anything but the vanity to her left where a few bulbs were only able to light the mirror. The rest of the room was too dark to see. Pulling out her phone, she turned on the flashlight and used it to look around until she spotted the large animatronic alligator lifting a large trashcan to throw at an already decommissioned S.T.A.F.F. bot slumped against the wall. After chucking the trashcan, he whipped around to look at her, his eyes mostly hidden behind star-shaped sunglasses.
Lea tensed when he spotted her and backed away as he began to stomp over to her. Her back pressed against the wall, which she just realized was covered in claw marks. As he got closer, mouth gaping and claws up, she wanted to shut her eyes and turn away, but she held her ground the best she could and stared him in the face. He stomped all the way over until he was hovering over her, a deep reptilian growl rumbling in his metal and plastic body. He snorted, and she was incredibly surprised to feel synthetic breath blow her hair out of her face. Why do they need to be so realistic? she thought. Lea puffed her chest and forced herself to stand straight. "Montgomery Gator… My name is Leanne. I'm your new head mechanic. I just came to say hello." She spoke carefully to keep her voice from shaking.
He continued to hover over her, snorting as if he was trying to get her scent. His growling had turned into a low, quiet grumble in his belly until it stopped completely and he suddenly stepped back a few steps and sat down cross-legged on the floor. "Hi."
"Huh?" she accidentally said.
"Hi," he repeated calmly.
"Oh!" She was flabbergasted. "Uh, hi." She let herself relax a little. "Um, how are you?"
"…I'm fine."
Somehow, she doubted that. "Ah, that's good. Are you…upset about anything?"
He did not answer and only continued to stare at her.
"Right. Well, if you ever are, you can tell me. As your mechanic, I'll do my best to look after you guys. So, if there's ever anything you need, just tell me. Okay?"
He tilted his head a little. "Okay." He seemed rather intrigued by her. "…Where are you from?"
"Oh, I'm actually from this town. I grew up here."
"I'm from the bayou."
She held in a laugh. It was not that what he said was funny, but rather how sudden he said it. She was positive that he had never been outside of this facility, but it was not surprising that the characters had backstories. "Oh? Makes sense. Do you like to swim?"
"Yeah!"
Lea smiled at his now friendly behavior. Seems he really was not so bad. "What else do you like?"
"Well… I like golf!"
"Golf?"
"I've got a minigolf place here. Monty's Gator Golf! You should try it sometime."
"Okay, I will." Her Fazwatch beeped to indicate the change of the hour. The Pizzaplex was now open to the public. "Hm. I should get going. Today's my first day, see? The boss told me to get acquainted with the layout of the place after I met you guys."
"Oh, I see."
She nodded. "Mm-hm. Thanks for chatting with me. I'll see you later, okay?"
"All right."
As she left the room, she stopped to wait and see if his rampage would kick up again. Luckily, though, it seemed that he was calm now and no noises could be heard coming from inside. She wondered why he was prone to destructive behavior in the first place. And why had he calmed down so much after talking with her? Did he just want someone to talk to? Or was he only curious because she was new? It was a matter that remained to be seen, she supposed.
Lea took her time for the next few hours to explore the entertainment mall. From the main stars' rooms and tiny museum, she found her way back to the main entrance lobby where she saw many people already waiting in line. She showed her card to the S.T.A.F.F. bot, who moved to allow her past it. After making her way past the giant golden statue of Glamrock Freddy and up the escalators, she stopped to look around. There was an elevator in the center with some photo booths nearby. To her right was a set of double doors with "Superstar Daycare Pick-Up" painted above them, and to her left was a lounge area labeled the "Faz Pad" via red neon lights. As she entered the elevator, she began to wonder about the place's electrical bills.
The main atrium was even more impressive with numerous attractions on each level. The first floor held a huge dinning hall with many tables and chairs. A large stage was set at the back. Amongst the many locations were food courts and the entrances to things such as Fazer Blast, Roxy Raceway, Monty's Gator Golf, Kid's Cove, and so on. Lea decided to head over to Kid's Cove after spotting the top of a false lighthouse. There was a statue of Foxy, but no real animatronic, which disappointed her. Her eyes eventually landed on the image of Bonnie where the text read "Bonnie Bowl." Remembering her dear friend, Lea quickly made her way over and into the food court there. There was a small stage with a closed curtain and a sign in front that said it was closed and out of order with red velvet ropes blocking it off. Curious, she approached it. After glancing around to ensure that no one was looking, she carefully moved aside the curtains only to find nothing there. Disappointed again, she sighed and left.
Lea knew that the animatronics she once knew were very different and separate from the ones in the Pizzaplex. After all, the ones she knew had been possessed by the restless spirits of dead children. Still, she did like the characters themselves, especially Foxy and Bonnie, so she would have liked to see them used there. However, she did find it interesting that there was a stage there. Was Bonnie around?
After exploring a bit more, Lea eventually met up with Abby at El Chip's, a Mexican-themed food court located in the atrium. Whilst sharing an extra-large plate of nachos, Abby ranted on about having to chase some teenagers out of a back area off-limits to guests.
She sighed. "Anyways, how's your day so far?"
"Fine. I haven't done any work. I've just been getting to know the place's layout. Oh, and I met Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty."
"Sweet. Who's your favorite?"
"Favorite?"
"I like Monty."
"He seems to have anger problems."
"Yeah, he's not supposed to either. But when he's acting normal, he's super cool."
"Really?" Lea was intrigued by this information. "What would be causing him to behave so aggressively?"
Abby shrugged. "Beats me. You're the one who snagged a job here to learn its secrets. I'm just here to pay rent. All the robots act funny from time-to-time. But none of them are as bad as Moondrop."
"Moondrop?" Lea echoed.
"Moon, Moondrop. Same difference."
"Who is that?"
"One of the daycare attendants." Abby dunked a chip into the cheese. "Uh, well technically there is only one, but he's also two? He's weird."
Lea was confused. "What? What are you talking about?"
"It's one robot, but it changes when the lights go out. Sun in the light and Moon in the dark. Moon is supposed to be the one that looks after kids in the daycare during naptime and help them sleep, but he started acting real scary a while ago. Now he usually gives kids nightmares." Abby chuckled.
"That's not funny, Abby."
"Bah." She shoved the chip in her mouth, jumping forward to lean over the plate as cheese fell from it. "Mmph! Whoops." She cleaned the table with a napkin. "Anyways, the daycare one never lets any of the mechanics work on him, whether he's Sun or Moon, so good luck with that one."
"He won't? Why?"
She shrugged. "Dunno. I think he's scared. He doesn't really trust any of the workers. He's friendly though. Well, Sun is."
"Are they and the other four the only animatronics besides S.T.A.F.F.?" Lea inquired.
"No. There's the DJ. He's in the west arcade. I like him."
"That's where Mr. Stanley wants me to meet him after lunch… I guess the DJ is the one he said he wants me to meet. Any others?"
"No, I don't think so. Uh, well, for some reason the mini Music Men have been running around lately. They're not supposed to be active and they just run around in the vents and places where people don't really go."
"No Foxy?"
"I wish."
"Bonnie?"
"Now that's a story."
"What do you mean?"
Abby leaned back, having gotten her fill of nachos. "They had a Glamrock Bonnie. He played guitar. There's a little stage in the Bonnie Bowl food court just for him. But one day, he just disappeared."
"Did they ever find him?"
"Nope. But they're supposedly programmed so that they can't leave the building. He's got to be somewhere, but no one knows where. His signal cut off when he disappeared, too."
Lea finished eating her half of the nachos, mulling over the information. She had gotten a job there to assist her friend Vanessa in investigating what was really going on in the Pizzaplex. Lately, children had been going missing, many of them last seen in or around the mall. It reminded her of old newspaper articles she had found twelve years ago. Apparently the animatronics here had been acting strange as well, and some had even gone missing. Lea believed that working closely with the animatronics would allow her to get some insight into things. And if they really were as smart as Stanley Axel claimed, perhaps they would be able to answer her questions after gaining their trust.
With a last sip of her drink, Lea stood up. "Well, I'd better go find Mr. Stanley. I'll see you later."
The west arcade, also known as the Fazcade, was the largest arcade in the entire Pizzaplex consisting of three floors on its own. Lea met up with Stanley on the first floor, just beside the spiraling staircase. She looked up, noticing how the purple and black ceiling resembled spiderwebs.
"Grand, isn't it?"
Lea nodded.
"Yup. Well, follow me." They passed a foggy dancefloor that was currently unoccupied where there was a stage with a giant hole in the wall. "DJ MM is on break right now. I'll show you where we run maintenance on S.T.A.F.F. bots then bring you to meet him before his next appearance."
He brought her around into a side hallway that led to a security office where two security guards were watching the cameras. They greeted Stanley and Lea as the two entered and moved past them to the other side of the room where a rectangular chamber of scary-looking tools sat motionless. Lea did not like the appearance of it, even if it was just meant for robots. After being introduced to how it worked, she was led back out to the dancefloor area where people had begun to gather. She followed him up onto the stage and into the giant dark hole. Or, at least it seemed dark due to the flashing neon lights outside. Upon entering, it was not really that dark and they could see rather well.
"You may have noticed the numerous giant holes in the walls all around the west arcade," Stanley said. "They're all entrances and exits to a system of tunnels for the DJ to move around and interact with guests. Of course, he's usually on his stage jamming away to his own custom beats. Ah, here he is."
Lea looked and nearly yelped at the sight of the animatronic. It was utterly massive and spider-shaped with numerous limbs to match. The face was humanoid with teeth like those of a piano's, and painted somewhat like a clown's face. Upon its head was a massive pair of headphones. It appeared to be sleeping, resting its head on its forelimbs.
"Still sleeping?" Stanley said. "It's almost time to DJ for the guests. They're already gathering on the dancefloor!"
The sounds of mechanical movement and air blowing echoed in the tunnel as the giant animatronic stirred. It lifted its head and placed the palms of its hands down, shaking the ground a little, then leaned forward to look at them closely with large, round, black eyes.
"DJ Music Man, this is our new head mechanic, Leanne. Leanne – DJ Music Man! Go on. Say hello."
"Uh, hello." She cautiously approached the behemoth. "It's nice to meet you." She wondered how she was supposed to ever run maintenance on this thing.
He seemed to be examining her for a long time before his eyes lit up with blue checkmarks and he nodded.
"He likes you," Stanley told her.
"I'm glad," she said with a relieved sigh and a tiny laugh.
Stanley laughed. "Don't look so nervous! He's harmless! Well, outside of Bouncer Mode, that is. Ah, but you won't have to worry about that. Now then, we should let him get to work. There's one last animatronic I want you to meet. After that, you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day. The real work starts tomorrow. Bots always need daily checkups or simple paint touch-ups."
While they walked, Lea decided to ask, "Whatever happened to Bonnie?"
"What's that?"
"I heard there was a Glamrock Bonnie. There's even a bowling attraction based around him and a stage, but no Bonnie."
"Oh, that… Well, you know, he passed the mantle down to Montgomery Gator."
"Okay? Was he decommissioned?"
"Er, well, not exactly. See – uh, ah! Here we are! The Daycare!"
She narrowed her eyes but looked at the doors to the Daycare. Painted on the walls were advertisements for candy called Sundrops and Moondrops. So that's where Abby got those names… She followed him into the Daycare lobby where the sound of little kids playing could be heard from down below. The lady at the desk greeted them as they passed and Lea took notice of the mouth of a slide with a sign that read "Slide into fun." A part of her wanted to use it, but she resisted the impulse and followed Stanley down the steps located around the side that led down into the play area.
Lea was impressed by the play area's size and multiple jungle gyms. There was a large ball pit at the bottom of the rainbow slide, several colorful foam blocks, children's toys, seesaws, slides, tubes, balls, and, of course, numerous young children running around. Off to one corner was an arts and crafts area and in another was a security desk area with monitors and a single guard.
"Mr. Stanley," the guard said, sitting up straight. He had been lounging in his seat. "What brings you here?"
"At ease there, Jeremiah. Just showing the new head mechanic around to meet her charges. Leanne, this is Jeremiah. He's the daytime security guard for the Daycare."
Jeremiah and Lea stared at each other for a long time. There was something about him that Lea instantly did not like. Still, she gave him a curt nod of acknowledgment. "Hello."
"Hello." He nodded back.
Stanley placed his hands on his sides and glanced around. "Hm. Where is that jester? Oh, there he is."
Lea followed him over to where an animatronic was being swarmed by a pack of energetic children. He was humanoid, thinner than the others, with baggy striped pants and a matching frilly collar. Red ribbons and bells hung from his wrists. The face of the animatronic was almost like a mask, motionless as he spoke, and resembled a sun with a big grin. The shape of a crescent moon could be made out on his right. The children were tugging at his clothes and some even clung to his legs.
"What's going on here?" Stanley asked, amused.
"Mr. Stanley!" Sun said with pleasant surprise. "Oh, nothing really. I just lost a game of tag."
"Tag? Are you sure you were playing it right?" he said loudly.
The children giggled then released the animatronic upon Stanley's request. They seemed to know Mr. Stanley and liked him. After they ran off to continue playing, Stanley gestured for Lea to move to his side.
"Sunny, I want you to meet someone."
"A new friend?" he asked excitedly.
"I hope so," Stanley muttered to Lea. She figured it was because the Daycare attendant did not like mechanics. "This is Leanne, the new head mechanic."
"Oh!" He stopped and tapped his fingers together in a nervous sort of way. "A new… mechanic? W-Well it's nice to meet you!" He tried his best to sound friendly.
The complexity of these animatronics' AIs greatly impressed her. She gave him a soft smile. "It's nice to meet you, too, Sunny," she said in a gentle voice.
"You'll have to excuse him," Stanley told her. "He's a bit nervous around mechanics. Kind of like a kid at the doctor's."
"It's fine," Lea said. She smiled at Sun again. "I hope we can at least be friends."
He tilted his head to the side just a tad. After determining that she sounded genuine, he nodded. "Me too! Oh! I should get back to the children!" He gave them a grand and dramatic bow before skipping away, humming to himself.
"We've got some new parts in to give the main gang and the Daycare attendant more expressive features," Stanley said as he walked with Lea into the Daycare lobby. "The Daycare attendant's face is more like a mask, to match the whole jester schtick. But I've been wanting to change it up just a little. Same look, better features and movement. So, when you have spare time, do me a favor and tinker with those parts, yeah?"
"Sure thing, Mr. Stanley."
"Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow begins the real work. See you then!"
She nodded. "Yes sir. Thank you again." As he walked away, she contemplated everything in her mind. Missing children, missing animatronics, odd and even hostile behavior from the animatronics… She could not wait to get started.
To be continued…
Again, if you have not read Free yet, please do for context. Either way, thanks for reading!
