Chapter 5: What Came Before

"They're just animatronics, but can I believe they're not cursed?"

Surprisingly, Fexa never came.

He waited for her to try and break down the door for what felt like hours, but she never did. Instead, he could hear her tearing the Tipsy Bar a new one.

"And I thought Monty was aggressive... Sorry, Braxton." He whispered, knowing the old security guard was gonna be the one to clean up her mess.

It didn't seem like Fexa was gonna be done rampaging anytime soon. In the meantime, he thought it best to use this time to find a hiding place for when she eventually searched here...

Wait, what exactly is here?

He turned around, finally noticing how dark the room was. His eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, but it was still hard to see much of anything, so he took out his flashlight and looked around.

Jack found himself at the top of a staircase that descended further into the darkness. "This place has a basement?" He looked down the staircase, confused. Adam and Braxton never mentioned anything about the nightclub having a basement. Why would it even need one?

Jack stared into the darkness for a while, being snapped out of his thoughts by Fexa yelling and cursing. He figured whatever was down in the basement was better than being caught by the angry fox.

Cautiously, he made his way down the stairs. The wooden floorboards creaked with every step, making him wince in fear. He knew it was over if Fexa heard him.

After a minute, he reached the bottom of the stairs and found himself in a wide area with concrete walls and a wooden floor.

"Damn. I can't see shit down here." Jack commented, noticing how pitch black it was. The light barely lit up his surroundings, but it would have to do.

He observed the room, noticing the many bar stools and other various broken items. At the back of the room was a countertop, and behind it were several shelves, similar to the one at the Tipsy Bar—Only difference was the shelves were missing bottles of liquor and glass wines. Maybe this area was the original place for the Tipsy Bar? If so, why was it moved?

Just as Jack questioned himself, his light shined on a corpse slumped over on the wall. He freaked out, barely able to stifle back a scream. He fell back into the wall behind him, and suddenly the lights came on, blinding him.

His eyes shut tight. Gradually, he opened them once his vision adjusted to the brightness. Afterward, he turned to see he had backed up into a light switch he somehow missed.

Jack whipped his head back to the corpse, immediately calming down once he got a better look at it. It wasn't a dead body like he had initially thought. It was just another mascot, though not one of the four he was familiar with.

Jack turned off his flashlight and approached the figure slumped down on the wall. As he did, he noticed the place was definitely once a bar. Plastered around the stone walls were various posters and picture frames, all of which related to Fredina's Nightclub in some way. The whole place was covered in dust and cobwebs. It was as if nobody had been in here for years.

A few seconds later, he reached the mascot, standing over them and peering down at their features. "What...?"

The mascot wasn't on any posters in the nightclub, nor does he recall ever seeing it on any of the many advertisements for the establishment. Despite that, it was clearly made by Fazclaire Entertainment, evident by the curvaceous figure it shared with the other animatronics. In fact, it looked like Fredina, sporting golden fur rather than brown. It even wore the same clothes as her, albeit they were very worn out and torn.

Jack knelt to the golden mascot's level, getting a better look at her. Because of the position she was in, he couldn't see her face all that well—So he cupped the mascot's face gently, slowly repositioning her head to face him. She looked extremely frail, so he did his best not to damage the broken mascot any further.

Jack nearly jolted from surprise when he saw she had no eyes. They were completely removed from the sockets, leaving a hollow space of blackness behind. Surprisingly though, even with the missing eyes, this golden version of Fredina admittedly looked much prettier than Fredina herself.

"Jeez. What happened to you?" He said remorsefully, a frown encompassing his face. Jack might've disliked Fazclaire Entertainment and everything it stood for, but he couldn't deny a marvel of engineering when he saw it. To see one such marvel in such a state of disrepair hurt his heart.

He let out a deep sigh before lowering the mascot's head back to its original position.

"What else is in here?" Jack wondered, standing up and moving towards the bar countertop.

The counter looked less worn-out compared to the mascot but was still in very poor condition, seeing as it was made from wood.

His eyes traced over the counter for a moment longer, only for him to spot something interesting. "No way." He grabbed the item of interest, creating a crumbling noise as he brought it to his face. "I thought they stopped making these." He said in slight awe.

In Jack's hands was a wrinkly newspaper—not a wild or worthwhile discovery, mind you. But in the year 2050, where technology reigned supreme, things like paper were rapidly going out of style since everything was transitioning to a digital format of some kind. As it stood, newspapers were an incredibly rare sight nowadays.

Jack straightened out the newspaper to remove as many wrinkles as possible. The headline immediately caught his attention. "Fazclaire Entertainment faces their first scandal?" He read out loud, greatly intrigued.

"In light of the pizzeria's only animatronic malfunctioning, a potentially incriminating discovery has been made. Fazclaire Entertainment has been allegedly purchasing and selling sex workers to facilitate their business. While there is little plausible evidence to support this claim, 'It would explain the sudden disappearance of Fazclaire Entertainment employees Sarah Gideon, Emily Carter, Georgia Judes, and Emma Freya.' Says local conspiracy theorist Nick Barnett..."

Jack couldn't believe what he was reading. Not only was Fazclaire Entertainment making money off of someone else's legacy, but now they were human traffickers, too? Just who was his brother working for? No, Adam wouldn't approve of any of this if he knew about it. Besides, all of this was alleged anyway.

Still, it was a pretty serious allegation. And just how old was this newspaper? Fazclaire Entertainment isn't that old of a company, but he doesn't remember there ever being a pizzeria... Maybe Adam—creak.

Jack froze, hearing something being moved behind him. He spun around, expecting Fexa to be right there, but she wasn't. In fact, no one was there. It came from the direction of the golden mascot, but nothing looked out of place. Everything was exactly how he last saw it.

"The hell was—" Suddenly, the lights went out in a low whirring noise. He could practically hear the power going out throughout the whole building. "Fuck." Jack cursed himself for leaving the right door closed.

He crumbled up the old newspaper, stuffing it in his pocket before taking out his flashlight and going up the stairs. Once at the top, he pressed his ear against the door leading back into the Tipsy Bar. It was quiet on the other end...

Did the fox leave? Jack wondered, hesitant to open the door.

After several minutes of not hearing anything, he slowly opened the door and peeked his head out into the darkness. Like the basement, the Tipsy Bar was pitch-black. He didn't hear or see anything. Correction—he didn't hear anything. With his flashlight, he could see the Tipsy Bar was in complete shambles. Fexa really fucked it up. Luckily for Jack, she was nowhere to be found.

Without wasting another second, he crept through the Tipsy Bar and through the halls of the nightclub. He never realized how quiet everything was without the soft ambiance of the lights. Though he was never particularly scared of the dark, the silence was unnerving to the point where he felt his heartbeat increase.

Paranoia set in as he imagined the animatronics finally catching him. He debated if he should turn his flashlight off, but decided that would do him no favors. The mascots probably had some sort of night vision to help them perform better in the dark.

If he kept the flashlight off, he'd have to listen out for them, which was just as bad as looking out for them. The only one he'd potentially have a chance with is Bonfie. Chiku has already proven herself to be a master of stealth. Fexa wasn't all that quiet, but her speed greatly made up for it—By the time he heard her coming, it'd already be too late.

Jack wasn't too sure about Fredina, but since she was more active in the dark, he had to assume she was also a master of stealth. Wait, shit, she was probably roaming around right now, wasn't she?

The thought made Jack quicken his pace. He constantly looked over his shoulder as he crept through the halls, carefully navigating through the club until he reached his destination: the generator room.

Once inside, he saw how tiny the room was compared to literally every other room in the nightclub. It was no bigger than a utility closet—actually, that's exactly what it was, with all the pipes lining the walls and strange tools haphazardly laid out on the old tiled floor.

"The camera really made this place seem a lot bigger..." Jack turned to the side where the generator was. It was small, but still big enough to encompass the entire corner of the room. He fiddled with the panels and buttons for a minute before a loud humming noise radiated throughout the building. Soon after, the lights flickered on. This time, Jack wasn't blinded, but everything remained a little too bright for the first few seconds.

After the lights dimmed to a reasonable brightness, Jack closed the panels to the generator and put his flashlight away. "Well, that was easy enough." He stood up and turned around, being met face-to-face with mountain-sized tits.

Before he had a chance to even process what was in front of him, the two mountains squished his face with unbelievable softness, forcing him into the generator. He dropped his flashlight and attempted to push whoever was assaulting him off, but they were unreasonably strong.

"My, my, look what I caught." A motherly voice cooed from above. It was unlike any of the animatronics he'd heard before, as this voice had a prominent German accent. Jack tried to look up, but the figure's impossibly large breasts kept his head trapped in place. Eventually, he found it hard to breathe. "A handsome, young man." Jack felt hands grab his hips, then slide him upward out of the figure's bosom.

Finally free to breathe and move his head, Jack looked up, seeing a pair of sapphire blue eyes staring back at him, along with a lustful grin. He'd know that face from anywhere. He had it as a badge. It was Fredina Fazclaire herself. "It's about time we spent some quality time together."

Even though it's been proven time and time again that the animatronics were physically much stronger than him, Jack tried to at least swing on Fredina, but he came to a horrible realization. When she slid him upward, his face traded places with his arms. He was pinned—held up in the air like a helpless toddler.

With nothing else to do, Jack tried to be stern with her. "Put me down, you—"

Fredina put a finger on his lips, silencing him instantly. "Shh." She hushed. "There is no reason for you to speak. Mama will take care of everything."

Adam was not kidding about Fredina being on the dominant side of the spectrum. She wouldn't even let Jack talk. Not that he was gonna let that stop him. Once she removed her finger, he went to tell her off again.

"Listen, you bitch! I'm not—" Jack was immediately silenced yet again, only this time with a passionate, deep, wet kiss.

Fredina locked her soft lips with his own and muffled out his voice. What's more, she was wrestling tongues with him! It felt so real. Not like synthetic silicone as he expected, but an actual tongue. It was warm, and the inside of her mouth was hot. He couldn't even tell if they were mixing salivas or if she was coaxing an alarming amount from him and swishing it around. The realism these mascots had was starting to creep him out.

Any other day, any other woman, Jack would've enjoyed this make-out session. But every time his mind felt like giving in to the forced pleasure, he immediately thought of how many other guys Fredina used her mouth on, which instantly made his stomach churn in disgust.

After what felt like an eternity, Fredina broke the kiss, giving him a chance to breathe once more. "Naughty boy! Cursing at Mama like that. Don't worry. I'll teach you some proper manners." She murmured lovingly, then locked lips with Jack again without giving him a chance to speak.

It was clear to him that Fredina wasn't going to let him talk. She treated him like a misbehaving child, which infuriated him more than he thought it would.

Even with all his anger and flailing, he didn't budge from her grip whatsoever. At the very least, he thought he would have some time to think of a way out of this situation, but then Fredina pinched his nose. She didn't let up on the kiss either, making it quite obvious what she was doing. Her plan was to make him pass out! And once that happened, God knows what she'd do to him.

He had to get out of this! But every struggle he made was futile. In fact, it seemed Fredina was enjoying his attempts at escape, moaning into his mouth with each failure. The more he struggled, the more tired he felt. His vision began to blur, and he knew his time was almost up.

Just when he was about to accept his fate, he felt salvation in his pocket. The Reboot Remote! He had forgotten he stuffed it in his pocket after escaping Fexa. He reached in and carefully pulled the remote out, holding onto it tightly. He was afraid of letting it go, as fucking up here would spell his end—or so his brain told him.

He looked at Fredina, who opened one eye to glare back at him. She giggled in response to his stare, none the wiser to the remote pointing at her belly—at least, he hoped it was pointing at her.

Please work. Was all Jack could think before feeling for and pressing the button. He only had to wait seconds for Fredina's eyes to widen. She didn't break the kiss, but her tongue stopped swirling in his mouth, and the fingers pinching his nose loosened, allowing him to breathe again.

Her fingers weren't the only thing to loosen. He felt her grip on him ease up, allowing him to move his legs. With that in mind, Jack took one quick inhale, then, while she was dazed, kicked his feet straight into her stomach as hard as he could.

Fredina let out a pained yelp as she stumbled back, dropping Jack in the process. He fell hard onto his ass, but ended up landing on his hands. A terrible aching pain shot through his wrists, telling him he landed on them the wrong way. He didn't care, though. His attention was solely on Fredina.

The brown mascot stumbled backward, tripping over one of the tools scattered on the floor. She tipped over and smashed the back of her head into the wall, busting one of the pipes. After that, she was out like a light, slumped over in the same position as the golden version of her down in the basement.

Jack swallowed hard, breathing in and out heavily. He just came very close to getting molested, and yet, he felt more concerned for Fredina in that moment. Or rather, the condition she was in. He wanted her off of him, yes. But he didn't mean for her to fall as hard as she did.

"Fuck!" He yelled quietly, scampering over to Fredina to examine her. To his surprise, he saw no damages on her. Not even a dent. Confused, he gently grabbed her head and tilted it to the side. Nothing. Hopefully, she still functioned properly. Otherwise, Adam and Braxton might have a few choice words for him.

Jack sighed in relief, only to feel his hands throb with pain. He winced and shot up to his feet. His hands... they were covered in fresh blood. "W-What?" He gasped. His hands hurt, but they didn't hurt that much. Plus, the fall wasn't that steep a drop. How did he bruise his hands that badly? Actually, where did he bruise his hands? He looked them over repeatedly and found no open wound.

While he did that, something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. It was the pipe Fredina had smashed into. Like he saw before, it was busted open. But now that he was closer, he saw it was stained in red.

Fresh blood... Now Jack was super confused. He never touched the pipe, so how was it stained with blood? The only way for that to be the case was if...

He looked down at Fredina and checked her over again, this time checking the back of her head. Once he parted her hair, he was mortified at the sight of a large bulbous gash. Jack was, by no means, a squeamish person. He could handle the sight of gore, no problem. But a robot shouldn't be able to bleed.

He could understand the animatronics radiating heat and the soft feeling of their synthetic skin. Maybe, just maybe, if he squinted at it, he could also understand the ultra-realistic feeling of Fredina's tongue and mouth. But for her to bleed actual blood? That was just absurd. It was totally unnecessary, too! Where was the sex appeal in blood? Actually, scratch that. He forgot there were a lot of strange fetishes out in the world.

Still, what benefit did Fazclaire Entertainment see to have the animatronics, or at least Fredina, bleed? It didn't make sense.

Jack shook his head. He decided to save his questions for Adam after he finished his shift. For now, he needed to do something about Fredina, who was still bleeding. He honestly considered leaving her as is. That seemed to be the best option. But what if the blood was important, like the heat components in their bodies?

Jack cursed himself for going with the motto 'better safe than sorry' in a time like this. But he knew there was a first-aid kit on the back desk at the office. So, he retrieved his flashlight and made his way to the office. He came back minutes later to find Fredina still offline. Jack worked quickly in treating Fredina's head injury. He wasn't sure how disinfecting and cleaning the injury would apply to a bleeding robot, but he treated the wound like a human injury.

After he was done, he finished it off by wrapping her head in bandages. With his work complete, he left Fredina in the generator room and hurried back to his safe space, miraculously without being seen. There, he would finish the rest of his shift.