In the morning, it was raining, but Lea still decided to walk to work. The shower was not heavy enough to bother her. After getting ready for the day, she slipped on her sneakers, hefted her backpack onto her back, and snagged her pale blue umbrella before exiting her home. She still lived in her childhood home, but alone now as her older sister had moved out. Of course, Alex had not gone far. She owned a little bakery that she lived directly above with her fiancé and their little French Bulldog named Pudge. Lea quite liked Pudge, and would often kidnap him for sleepovers while her sister was tending her bakery. Pudge was happy to go along.

As Lea left her house, she glanced over at the neighbor's home. Ms. Westin was an elderly lady who had recently fallen ill. For a while, she was in the hospital, but she managed to persuade them to let her be bedridden at home instead. She had told Lea that she would rather die in her own home than become one of many trapped souls in a hospital. Lea visited her every day and helped tend to her and her many cats. It was the least she could do for the woman, she thought. After all, Ms. Westin had been looking after Lea and Alex for years after their parents passed.

The sound of water being guzzled down by the storm drain broke Lea away from her thoughts and caused her to turn her head. She began to wonder about the thing that was lurking around down there…somewhere. Her last encounter with it had not been a pleasant one, but since then it had not attempted to leave the sewers. Despite its horrendous attitude, she still hoped that it had somewhere dry to rest. That is, if it was even still moving…

Further up the street, like always, Lea encountered Tom. Though this time he was sitting below a covered corner of someone's roof where it was dry. "Good morning, Tom," Lea said. The cat slowly closed his yellow eyes, twitched the tip of his tail, and mewed; he would not be approaching her today. "Don't worry," Lea said. "I understand. See you later."

Upon reaching her destination, she caught up with Abby, who was skateboarding while wearing an oversized yellow raincoat with the hood up. Lea thought she somewhat resembled Coraline, from that strange movie that Abby liked. Judging by the hump on her back beneath the raincoat, Abby had put the coat on over her backpack to keep it dry.

"Hi," Abby said, looking sleepy.

Lea smirked. "Gloomy day, huh?"

"Makes me wanna go back to bed."

They entered the building and Lea accepted a plastic bag from a S.T.A.F.F. bot to place her umbrella in. "I thought you worked night shifts?"

"I do. I was just filling in for someone yesterday and today. I go back to my normal nighttime guarding tomorrow. Ugh. I can't wait."

"After today, I'm going to be working overnight too," Lea told her. "Seven to seven."

"Wow, we have so much in common."

"What?"

"We're both nocturnal."

Lea snorted and shook her head. "You mean that's your schedule too?"

"Uh-huh. Hey, have you talked to Vanessa yet?"

"Not yet. I'll talk to her tomorrow night though."

After going separate ways, Lea made her way to Parts and Service to clock in and drop off her umbrella. She then informed Mr. Stanley via the Fazwatch that she was there. His reply was as chipper as his vocal tone. "Great! Welcome! To start off, please report to the west arcade. There are a few S.T.A.F.F. bots that need looking at. After, please go run basic diagnostics (or rather, checkups) on the others when they are free and perform any maintenance needed. This includes paint touch ups. Their free times today are as follows:

Freddy – 12:45

Roxy – 1:30

Sun – 2:30

DJ MM – 3:15

Chica – 4:00

Monty – 5:00

Each one gets about an hour of free time. Thanks!"

Lea set herself reminders for each before making her way to the west arcade. She did not particularly like the fact that the area for working on S.T.A.F.F. bots was located inside of a security office and therefore not isolated from prying eyes and bothersome questions. Lea was generally friendly, but she did not yet know who amongst the human staff members were trustworthy. It was possible at least one of them had something to do with the missing cases over the past year. Still, she supposed that she did not entirely mind the curiousness of the younger of the two guards. He was fascinated at how quickly and easily she performed diagnostics and repairs, as well as how quickly she seemed to pick up on the strange communication method that the S.T.A.F.F. bots used to speak to each other.

Most of the bots only had minor nicks and scratches, while some required assistance removing things from their wheels or fixing stuck joints. One, however, was heavily damaged and had been carried in by two others and placed on the floor.

"I heard this one got crushed last night," said the curious security guard. "One of the crates being moved wasn't balanced properly and fell when they were lifted."

Lea noticed that each bot had a specific code abbreviation on them. TRSPT-08 was the one on the floor in front of her. She sat down beside it and got to work, taking notes down of any missing parts before getting up to gather them all and bring them over to her work spot. She had gotten so caught up in her work that she had not noticed the time going by. Just as it was time for her lunch break, she snapped a final piece of outer casing into place, pulled the bot up onto its wheels, and took out the strange device she had been given that was simply called a "Faz-Wrench." She plugged it into a spot in the lower half of the robot's body, twisted it, fiddled with something on the wrench, twisted back the other way, then pulled it free. As she did, the S.T.A.F.F. bot whirred to life and looked around.

"Hello," Lea said to it. "You're fine now. Don't worry."

It looked itself over, gave her a thumbs-up, then rolled away.

...

Once again, Lea met up with Abby for lunch, this time in the Bonnie Bowl food court. She had to fend off Abby from eating her fries while she told her about the crushed S.T.A.F.F. bot and the talkative security guard.

"Jonathan? Yeah, he's new. Ow! Hey!"

Lea had jabbed her in the hand with a plastic fork. "Stop trying to steal my fries!"

"You're taking too long to get to them! They'll get soggy and cold. I'm doing them a favor!" She reached again. "Ow!"

…

"Hello Leanne," Freddy greeted her when she entered his room.

"Hi there!" She smiled at him. "How are you?"

"Oh, I am quite well, thank you. And you?"

"Great."

"That is good."

She liked his polite and friendly attitude. "Okay Freddy. I'm just going to give you a quick checkup all over. If I find any issues or need to repaint anything then I will. Okay?"

"Of course."

"Nothing to report?" she asked as she looked him over.

"No. I am functioning at peak condition."

After determining that his exterior was good, she had him open his chest cavity to peek around inside. Everything in it was fine. No chips, dents, or rust. She closed his chest and began to open and check the interior of the arms and legs. After closing the last of those back up, she had him sit down so she could reach his head. Before checking in on him, she had taken the time to study the instructions on how to access the different parts of each animatronic. That way, she would be able to work on them anywhere and only need to bring them to Parts and Service for more serious matters.

After pressing a few tiny hidden buttons, his mouth suddenly opened wide to expose part of the endoskeleton head hiding within. Using a flashlight, she looked all around inside but found no problems.

"Looks great," she told him as she closed him back up.

"Ah, that is great news. Thank you for checking on me."

"No problem big guy. You enjoy the rest of your break. I'll see you later."

"Goodbye."

Lea still had about thirty minutes until Roxy would be due for her checkup, so she lingered around the area where their rooms and the museum were located. She had learned that the area was known as Rockstar Row. Some of the old pieces of animatronic casing looked familiar, but many of them were dark and damaged, as if they had been through a fire. A particular torso piece caught her eye. Though it was stained gray from ash, keeping her from really knowing what color it ever was, the tears in it resembled the torn body of Foxy. She suddenly recalled a time when she was a kid, in her bathroom with the big fox peering over the counter at a music box while she tried to peek in through the gashes of his body while cleaning him up.

Pulling her eyes away from it, she walked over to look at some old posters on the wall featuring characters from old locations. Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica instantly caught her eye. While looking at them, she began to feel sad and had to force herself to turn and walk away. Time had passed quicker than she realized as her watch began to beep at her. She made her way over to Roxy's room and knocked on the door.

"Come in. Oh, Leanne." Roxy's ears perked up at the sight of her. "So glad you're here. I could do with a few touch-ups."

"Is that so? All right then. Let me take a look."

Internally, Roxanne was fine. Externally, she had a few minor abrasions and chips to her paint, and her hair and tail were a little frizzed. When asked about it, she explained to Lea that she had been racing with guests in the Raceway, and often times it messed up her hair.

"Still," Roxy said. "As much as I hate my hair being ruined, I do love racing."

"Well, hair and makeup are easy fixes," Lea said as she took Roxy's brush from her vanity and sat down on the couch in the room. She gestured for Roxy to sit in front of her and began to carefully brush her hair and tail while the wolf chattered on about her day so far. Lea smiled to herself. It felt like she was the hairdresser in a salon, listening to the gossip of her clients. The synthetic hair was silky and smooth, and it shined in the light. Lea was glad that it responded well to being brushed, unlike the hair that was used for dolls.

When Lea had finished and began to touch up her paint, Roxanne said, "So, Leanne. Tell me about yourself."

"Me? What do you want to know?"

"Everything really. But whatever you want to share is fine."

"Heh. Well, I grew up in the nearby town with my older sister, Alex. Her real name is Alexis. She and my friends call me Lea. When we were little, our parents passed away. Mom had passed when I was a toddler, so I don't remember her much. She got sick. Dad passed away in an accident related to work."

"I'm…so sorry."

"It's alright. It was a long time ago."

"Were you and your dad close?"

"We were. He was great. I have only good memories of him."

"That's good at least. What else? Where is your sister?"

"She lives on the other side of town with her fiancé and their little dog. They have a bakery. I still live in our old house and look after the neighbor. Ms. Westin is very old and sick. She's the one who looked after us after our parents passed."

"I see."

"Mm-hm. My dad was a mechanic and I took an interest in it, so he taught me about it. Now, I'm here. There. All done."

Roxy got up to look at herself in the mirror. "Perfect." She turned to Lea. "Thanks. And thanks for talking with me… Lea."

Lea smiled. "Of course." She checked her watch. It was 2:20. "Oh wow. I need to get to the Daycare."

"Pfft, good luck."

"What do you mean?"

"He probably won't let you even check him. He's terrified of mechanics."

"Oh, that's right… Hm. Well, I still have to try, at least. It's my job, after all. I'll talk to you later, Roxy. You did great."

Without seeming like she was in a rush, Lea quickly made her way out from Rockstar Row and around to the main lobby. Instead of riding the escalator, she walked up it to save a bit of time then turned and went through the doors leading to Daycare pick-up. There were actually two entrances to the Daycare that she knew of, but this way was quicker at the time. She stepped inside the Daycare itself at exactly 2:28, and with a huff, she made her way down. Apparently, it was the children's nap time, as they were all wrapped up in blankets and pillows. A few of the lights were off or dimmed, but most of them remained on. Lea assumed this was to keep an eye on the children better, but then she remembered Abby telling her about the Daycare attendant's other personality recently causing issues and frightening the children. Apparently, Moon came out in the dark, but the Daycare was still lit up enough that Sun was the one she found neatly stacking up foam blocks and toys.

"Hello, Sun," she said.

He jumped a little. "Oh!" his voice was quiet. "Hello Leanne. Er, what are you doing here?"

She was pretty sure he already knew, but she still answered. "I'm supposed to run a quick check up on you right now."

"Now?" He tapped his fingertips together nervously. "Like, now, now?"

"Yyyyes… Now, now."

"But I'm fine! I don't need a checkup, and I certainly don't need any work done. Thank you."

She placed her hands on her hips. He really was going to give her trouble over this. "I don't doubt that, but I still have to check. It'll be quick, and it won't hurt."

"No, no. I'm fine."

"You're making this harder than it has to be…"

"I could say the same…"

She stared at him, hands on hips, processing what he had just said. "…You've got some sass, I see."

"Oh, uh. I didn't mean – er…"

Lea sighed. "Fine."

"Huh?"

"If you really don't want, then I won't force you."

"You…won't?"

"No. I won't. Besides, your lanky, but I'm pretty sure you'd win anyway." She sighed again. "Oh well. I tried. I'll take your word for it, but you need to tell me if anything starts causing you issues."

"Oh. Yes, I will. Thank you." He was honestly surprised that she had not further insisted or even forced him to obey. "Thank you."

Lea bid him a polite farewell before heading back up and leaving the way she had come. Despite not being able to work on the DJ until 3:15, she still made her way over to the west arcade. While waiting, she decided to look around at the different arcade games. She also found air hockey, which triggered another old memory of playing such a game with Toy Bonnie while her sister played an arcade game with Toy Chica. Lea was feeling a mix of sadness and nostalgia that she had not dwelled on in a long time. No, she had not forgotten them. She could never forget them. But Lea had a way of hiding or even ignoring her own feelings about some things. The memories of her old friends were bittersweet and she silently hoped the children's spirits were at peace.

After reading the titles of several arcade games and passing by karaoke rooms filled with laughing people, she began to make her way back down to the dancefloor where the DJ often was. As she arrived, he was crawling backwards into his hole in the wall while a prerecorded announcer informed everyone that it was time for the DJ's break and what time to return if they wished to. Lea dodged around guests and made her way up to the stage and into the tunnel. There was a cubby not too far in where she found the DJ sitting patiently.

"DJ Music Man," she greeted.

He tilted his head at her then greeted her with a nod and "Rock On!" flashing in his eyes.

She noticed the screen inside of his mouth, which usually displayed a moving swirl of bright colors, seemed to be blinking in and out. "Oh. That screen… Can I take a look at that?"

He lowered himself down so that she could reach and moved his keyboard teeth as if opening his mouth. Lea approached, squinting her eyes a little at the brightness. She could not see anything from where she was standing, so she carefully stepped over the bottom row of teeth and into his mouth. There was not much space between the teeth and the screen, so she was pressed up against it while she turned her head up to look at the hidden wires above it. The giant animatronic was calm and remained still, much to her relief, as she reached up to tug at the wires. They were all tightly fixed in place, aside from one. When she tugged on this one, the screen turned off.

"Ah, it's just loose."

She grabbed the wire as high up as she could, standing on her toes to reach, and pushed the plug into its place. The screen turned on again, brightly displaying the colors that hurt her eyes up close. After checking the lower half and the rest of the wires, she determined all was well and climbed out of his mouth.

"There we go! No problem!"

DJ Music Man nodded, pleased with her work.

Lea began to look over the rest of him, noting a few bits of wear and tear on the outer shell where the metal limbs attached and made a note in her watch to tend to that later when she had more time.

"Okay DJ, you're all good. Great job."

He gave her a thumbs-up.

…

"Leanne!" Chica exclaimed when she entered her room. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Lea chuckled. "I'm happy to see you, too, Chica. How are you?"

"Kind of hungry, but I'm fine."

"Hungry? Do the others eat?"

"No, not really. I have a special bag in my stomach."

"A bag?"

"It's a trash bag."

"Oh." Chica had said it so bluntly that Lea was a bit caught off-guard. "Right. I remember reading about how to change that. Let's do that first then."

"Okie dokie," she sang.

After replacing the bag, Lea took the opportunity to check around inside of Chica. Like the others, everything was fine internally with a bit of touch-ups needed on the exterior. Like Roxy, Chica began to tell Lea all about her day, but in a far more talkative and excited way. In the midst of it, she would ask Lea related questions about her day. By far, Chica seemed to be the friendliest, aside from Freddy, and the least reserved.

"All done," Lea said, taking a step back to look at her. "Hm, I still have thirty minutes until I can go check on Monty…"

"Oo! Do you want to play my arcade game while you wait? It's super fuuun!"

"Heh, okay."

After playing for a while with Chica, Lea bid her farewell and walked over to Monty's room. She was relieved to not hear any sounds of destruction coming from within. She knocked but received no response. After trying again to no avail, she used her card to enter anyway. Like before, the room was dark, the light on the ceiling flickering dimly. For a moment she wondered if he was not there yet, but she could feel the unnerving feeling of being watched. She scanned the wall next to her and located a light switch. When she turned it on, she spotted the robotic alligator standing in the opposite corner of the room. His knees were bent and he was hunched forward, almost as if he was lurking around. He stared at her through his sunglasses for a long time before slowly walking around the room towards her.

"Hi, Monty," she said calmly. His behavior was odd, but she had seen him earlier with guests and he was acting normally, talking, laughing, performing, and walking upright.

He continued to approach until he had gotten just out of arm's reach from her. It was then that he lowered himself to sit on the floor, suddenly seeming no longer borderline feral. "Hi, Leanne."

She was instantly filled with relief. Truthfully, he made her a bit nervous, but she did her best not to show it in her actions or voice. "Hey. How are you feeling today?"

He appeared to be thinking it over before he responded. "I'm okay."

"Yeah? That's good." She wondered if he had sat out of reach on purpose. Perhaps he would not want a checkup, like Sun. "Can I come over there?"

"Sure." His tone was not aggressive or even wary, but it was not exactly friendly either. Still, he was calm. He watched her closely as she approached and sat down in front of him. Since he did not seem wary of her, Lea thought that perhaps he was just curious.

"How was your day, Monty?"

"Good."

His replies were always short. Since she had seen how he interacted with guests and the other animatronics, she assumed his behavior towards her was merely due to them being strangers to each other. Since she was not a guest, and was essentially their doctor, it was likely that he was unsure how exactly to behave with her. At least, that was her guess. Really, she had no idea. Another idea of hers was that perhaps he could pick up on her nervousness around him, despite how well she thought she was hiding it.

They sat there staring at each other for a long time while Lea tried to think of something to say. She could not see due to his sunglasses, but he had been studying her appearance the whole while. "You're pretty," he said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"You're pretty."

"Oh! Th-Thanks." Lea had not expected him to speak, and she certainly had not expected a random compliment. She had been pulled out of her thoughts so suddenly that she was a bit flustered. "Um, I'm supposed to give you a checkup and any touch-ups if needed. Is that okay?"

"Okay."

Hesitating a moment, she moved closer and stood on her knees to look him over. He watched as she did so and said nothing. "All right," she said, moving back to his front. She noticed something and leaned forward to look at his hands. The paint was heavily chipped there; she assumed this was due to his rampaging the previous day. There was also a cut in the outer shell itself. When she reached to touch it, he moved his hand away. "Oh, sorry. Does it…hurt?"

"Er, no. Not anymore…"

"Oh… Is it okay if I take a closer look?"

After considering it for a moment, he nodded and allowed her to take his hand. Lea lightly traced the cut with her finger. It was just deep enough to barely expose part of the endoskeleton hand.

"Hm… Hold on. I'll be right back." She got up and left the room through the backdoor, leaving her backpack of tools. She quickly made her way through the hall and into Parts and Service where she began to rummage around in spare outer pieces until she found a new left-hand cover and took it back with her. When she returned, she found Monty still sitting on the floor waiting for her.

He watched with interest as she sat down, pulled a few tools from her bag, then got to work on removing the damaged hand cover and replacing it with the new one. She wondered how it worked that they could feel pain when damaged yet they seemed wholly unbothered when parts were removed. Was it because she was removing them properly? If she tried to rip away a piece of the outer shell without a tool or by using the tool incorrectly, would it hurt them? Likely so, but how? Her talent lied with hardware, not software. At least, she assumed their sensory settings were software related.

When she had finished replacing the cover, Monty examined his hand and tested it by closing and opening a fist. While he did that, Lea began to fix the damaged paint on his other hand. The instant the wet paintbrush touched him, he jumped.

"That's cold!"

"Oh! Sorry." He had surprised her. He did not protest any further, so she took it as a sign to continue.

He watched for a while before saying, "It kind of tickles."

"Does it?" Lea could not help but chuckle a little at that. "I guess it would, huh?"

When she had finished with that, she checked the inside of his body. Everything was in perfect condition, even his left hand's interior. Pleased with this, she closed everything up and gave him a smile.

"All right. You're good to go. Good job."

"Thanks." He tilted his head. For a moment, it appeared as though he wanted to say something, but he decided not to.

"Okay," Lea said as she stood up. "Try to stay out of trouble big guy. I'll see you tomorrow night."

"Night?"

"Mm-hm. Tomorrow, I start working exclusively overnight. Seven to seven."

"Neat. Um, see you tomorrow then."

She nodded. "Yeah. See you."

On her way out, Lea thought things over in her mind. Monty was both intimidating and highly interesting to her. They were all intriguing to her, but only Monty made her nervous. Still, it seemed that he was actually rather friendly and curious. She also had a secret soft spot for reptiles. Hopefully she would be able to get herself to stop feeling so nervous around him. Now, she just had to figure out a way to get the Daycare attendant to let her work on him. In truth, she was there on a mission unbeknownst to the higher-ups or Mr. Stanley, but she still wanted to do her job. Not just to keep up appearances, but also because she wanted to help the animatronics there. They were fascinating and each held a different personality and interests. Tomorrow, she would try again with the Daycare attendant, but she did not expect much.

To be continued…