Warnings: Swears. Small amount of gruesome imagery.
Almost unrecognizable scratching and scraping became audible within meters of the small, underground workshop. Previous happenings here saw this place closed off and inaccessible. Mostly.
Rats, rodents and mice were the primary source of noise, with the exception of the occasional drilling and hammering. All this to say progress was moving slowly. Very, very slowly.
The bastion of his cause was not dead, although clinging to life like a man overboard clinging to a lifebuoy. Small doses of the remaining precious panacea kept his remaining body satiated, but also kept him driven. Determined. He will bring him back. No matter the cost.
That fateful night was looking so, so promising. Until the damn fox ruined it. Or wolf, whatever. Didn't matter to him. All she was: Another obstacle to overcome. The old night guard also put up a bit of a fight. But he was long gone by now, unfortunately being replaced by the current guard, having not fallen for the trap. Perhaps he was to make the discs easier to find next time.
The animatronics' knife to the head hurt, but it was going to take a lot more than a bit of steel to kill him. A lot.
The suit decayed; it's expiration date going as far back as the 1970s. A snail outgrowing it's shell, yet refusing to let go. The constant pain was all too familiar. As automatic as breathing. He'd learned to be quiet, despite no one ever coming down there. The loud mouth rodents bothered him, a lust for their blood in his broken, forgotten eyes.
A bench with hundreds of organized, metal parts lay in sequence, with something just beyond the rotting table showing promise...
He turned around and punched the wall. It caved in showing almost no resistance, creating a small avalanche of dust, rock, a bit of wood and some metal. He turned back around. The object in question then turned, and punched the wall on its side, with an escalated amount of force and power.
The rats and cockroaches scattered, fleeing from the tonnes of dust and rubble approaching. The spiders in their webs stayed to observe what was happening. The creature observed it's hand. Not a dent. It didn't talk. It didn't need to. He smiled, and croaked a decrepit cackle. Victor had just created Frankenstein.
6:24 am
"What a fucking night..." Emma exclaimed, having slumped on the couch the second she entered through the door. Melatonin mercilessly closing in like a pack of hungry wolves to a lone rabbit. The extreme exhaustion was uncommon, for never had there been a night with this much going on.
Emma dreaded the conversation that would inevitably follow with her boss, Henry. He wouldn't be happy with what happened, despite there being minimal damage done to the establishment. As always, it would be her fault. She would be liable. Nothing she could say or do would change that fact, despite the 'fact' being a lot more of an opinion.
Her eyes closed as her mind began to wonder. Maybe being fired could be good. There's not much left for me there anyways. I'm not valued, I'm easily replaceable. Maybe I should try to find somewhere that actually remembers I exist. Leave it to her to dwell and make herself panicked thinking about the worse possible case scenario.
Earlier That Night
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.
Nothing. She sipped her coffee. In the middle of the atrium, in a plastic seat right before the stage, she searched the establishment for anything. A little on edge about her boss' message, she wondered if the fire would spread.
It had already spread to a shopping alley adjacent of the Pizza Plex, somehow. It seemed the firefighters were struggling, despite the media's best attempts to reassure the populous. She saw the many news broadcasts and alerts all over her phone, inescapable.
People begun to take advantage of the situation, with looters putting on fake firefighting suits and running into half-alight storefronts to steal anything of value. Emma was surprised at how willing these people were to almost kill themselves just for a quick buck. Then she remembered the news of what happened to the nightguards at the fazbear restaurants before this one.
Another sip. And a sigh. She looked at some live coverage of the shopping alley, as bright as the sun, despite it being the dead of night. There were many, many more looters, mixed with volunteers trying to put out the blaze, and emergency services dashing and racing from one store to another. Absolute Chaos.
She kept watching and saw some of the Pizza Plex's exterior being pre-emptively sprayed down by firefighters to protect it. It was getting close.
With so many people at the scene the inferno buffered. And kept buffering, seemingly not moving at all. The looters were getting worse. The more rambunctious of them were targeting stores that were unaffected by the flames, and getting away with it too. Emma watched on through the broadcast. She worried for the Pizza Plex's safety.
Sirens blared, although falling on deaf ears. The soft carpet absorbed the noise like a sponge in water. She wondered if the animatronics were aware of what was happening, and if they were; if they cared. Maybe they were stoked. Finally free after all these years, to roam the world, until inevitably running out of power. Maybe they were horrified. Their only home going down in great balls of fire, a tragic spectacle to behold.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Smash. Buzz
Huh? Wait, go back.
The low quality camera slowly rotated to show the lobby of the Pizza Plex. Emma refocused and brought her attention to 3 hooded individuals dressed in all black, currently vandalizing walls and pillars with spray paint, whilst stealing everything of value.
She looked at the entrance shutters, forced open with a cleverly placed crowbar with smashed glass all over the floor.
"Oh shit, something to do!" Emma sprung up with a sudden burst of adrenalin and informed the animatronics with her fazwatch.
Nom nom nom nom... Mmmmm... I shouldn't be doing this... But I do it all the time!
The cognitive dissonance swayed back and forth. A pair of arms hesitantly stood still over a dishevelled trash can.
Nom nom nom... Yummm... But it's so satisfying... And I've done it for sooooo long! Why stop now?
The garbage was rummaged through once again, with rotten apple cores, mouldy drinks and food as well as the odd bug or two being thrown around by the careless hands.
Suddenly, a loud, piercing noise was heard by Glamrock Chica, causing her to recoil from the trash, making a further mess.
"SQUAAAWWWK!" She audibly shouted.
The noise soon stopped and Chica was informed of what was going on in the lobby.
"I-I'll be right there!" She snapped out of her feral mood and started walking at a pace to the lobby. She wasn't far, a nearby elevator ride bringing her to her destination.
The sounds of shuffling, bags waving, items smashing and spray cans spraying echoed. And so did Chica's voice.
"And just what do you three think you're doing?!" She squawked in anger as she stomped over.
The hooded figures stopped what they were doing and looked at each other, then at Chica.
"..."
"So are we going to explain or not?" She talked like a furious, disappointed mother.
In sync the three vandals scattered, running surprisingly fast with the valuable merchandise all in different directions.
"Ah- Hey! Hey! No! You lot come back here now!" A hand was held up to the thieves in protest.
Chica's indecision towards who to apprehend caused her to hesitate, allowing all 3 of the thieves to run to the hills.
And by hills, that meant deeper into the Pizza Plex labyrinth.
"Shit..." The Chicken audibly clucked.
"You're kidding me." Emma told herself blankly. "Shit." She lent back in her chair away from the cameras. She sighed.
"Gonna be one of those nights hey?"
6:28 am
Emma found her cosy bed in the dawn of the new day, preparing to sleep the morning off like a bad hangover.
Having taken place under the covers, she checked her phone, more specifically the news.
Oh. The Fire's been put out. Good.
She was supposed to be relieved at that fact, yet she couldn't find any relief at all, since there was no fear to begin with, or any emotion at all, really.
Birds began to chirp as the cracks through the curtains grew ever brighter, causing Emma to surgically close them in order to seal away any streams of light to remain in the darkness.
Now back in her bed, she kept reading the news.
"3 in custody tonight after being caught looting Fazbear Entertainment's local Mega Pizza Plex, along with 63 others caught looting various shops and establishments within the fire zone, putting themselves and others at risk..." She mumbled to herself. Her face was brightly illuminated with the blue light from her phone in the pitch black room.
"Good riddance. Serves them right." A sigh followed.
"Hopefully the fat boss man has a heart attack before he rips me a new one for what they did." She sighed again as she put her phone down and turned over to sleep, not sure what to feel.
4:13 pm
Awakening with as much drowsiness as when she fell asleep, Emma saw the crisp, golden rays of sun poking through the curtains. Just from the warm colour, she could tell it would soon be dark.
Adjusting to the lights, she checked her phone, which revealed important messages.
'In wake of the recent traumatic events, Fazbear Entertainment has made the executive decision to pull the release of our brand new, state of the art security system, the Virtually Assisted Neutral Network Interface's date forward, effective immediately. Construction of the network will be completed in a few days time, leaving room for relevant employees to receive training in preparation for it's revolutionary release.
Construction of our new V.A.N.N.I system is relevant information for all employees, although only a select few will be entrusted with it's daily maintenance and full access around the Pizza Plex. Being Chosen for this job is a huge honour. If you are chosen, do not disappoint us.
This new security system will allow guards to have certainty when monitoring the establishment, as well as guests, that nothing that isn't supposed to enter will, and that nothing that isn supposed leave does. This security overhaul will ensure more safety, privacy and peace of mind then ever before.
· Fazbear Entertainment'
'This is Henry. I've reviewed all the footage from last night, and as much as I want to tell you to pack your things, I can't. You followed all the procedures correctly and overall dealt with the situation in an efficient and somewhat safe way.
Although, if something like this happens with the new security system, there'll be big trouble. Costs to repair the damages won't be coming out of your pay check this time. Lucky girl.
· Henry'
"Quite the charmer, you fat pig." Emma scolded, somewhat relieved that dinner would be on the table this week. Or more accurately in the microwave.
A Week Later
Waiting in anticipation. Just sitting there, staring. The rodent was intrigued, sniffing the air, enticed by the smell of food. It squeaked and sniffed again. In short bursts, it was getting closer.
Burntrap waited, and watched. Every move the rat made, the decrepit creature studied, in preparation for his attack. Physical strength wasn't needed, if your mind was superior. The rat squeaked again, getting closer to the bait – A piece of mouldy bread entangled with cheese, and insects.
Finally, within reach. The rat reached the ball of abomination, looked around cautiously (paying no mind to the large animatronic human hybrid), then began to feast.
The opportunity was here. Burntrap swung his hand onto the rodent at an unfathomably fast speed, quicker than a scorpion. His hand landed down on the rat with a thunderous crash, it being unharmed but trapped by Burntrap's fingers.
It was then mercilessly picked up and shoved into the bunny's mouth, being horrifically consumed alive. Blood spurted and spat as it squirmed and squealed in pain whilst being crushed by the cyborg's mouth, before succumbing to it's grizzly, untimely fate.
The animatronic finished chewing and looked at the other end of the room he was situated in, observing another robot. It looked to be an endo skeleton. It stood in darkness and just stared blankly. It didn't move... it's large, bulging eyes just stared.
Burntrap stared back, the fearful sight of a demon coming to mind. Blood dripped from his 'mouth', a brand new, free red paint job having just been applied to his jaw. Some of the rodent's guts lay disassembled and mangled in a puddle of blood in front of the robot suit. The tail wasn't too far away.
"Did you hear that?" An engineer queried to his partner.
"Hear what?" The second replied.
"Could've sworn I heard like... a little screech or something."
"What? No? Are you trying to scare me? Because you just sound dumb." The reply was snarky.
"No I'm being serious, I thought I heard something." The engineer began walking more cautiously.
"If you thought you heard something now just wait until you start this node's construction. Heh, you won't have ears after drilling in a cave like this for hours. Actually, lucky you... Last node we have to do."
"I'm really reassured." The casual comment brought the engineer a sense of relief. His cautious pace dissipated and he sped up to catch his partner.
They soon reached an elevator.
"Wonder what's down there." The first asked.
"I don't know. Not us, or anyone for that matter. Strictly prohibited. No man's land."
He put his hands on his hips and looked at the barely functional lift.
"Besides, that thing looks like a one-way trip."
"Creepy. Some random elevator underground that leads to... I don't know."
"Welp-." A large sigh. "Time to get busy. Put your duffel bag down and hand me the blueprints. Sooner we're done, sooner we leave. I could use a coffee."
"Yeah. It is surprisingly hot down here. Get to it I guess."
Man, this was easily the most difficult chapter to write. The motivation didn't exist. Don't worry though, chapters will come sooner, I pinky promise. There is a plan. Thank you all for your patience. XOXO