Chapter Two baby! I don't have much to say beside this chapter will give more looks at Michael's character and his general personality. He'll also be meeting one of the animatronics who I admit is going to be hard to write alongside the others. They all have such varied personalties and I have to figure out how they will clash and ebb between the others.

"-and this is the atrium!" The peppy kid giving me a tour of the Pizzaplex announced as soon as the elevator doors opened. "You've probably already seen it but I thought I may as well give you the Fazbear introduction."

"How long have you worked here?" I couldn't help but ask. My memories of some of the employees I'd gotten to know in the past had been either drained or somewhat delusional. Fazbear Entertainment wasn't known for their five-star employee treatment.

"A-about a week." The boy, Jack as his nametag read, admitted sheepishly. "I got the job from a family friend's recommendation and I have no plans on squandering this opportunity."

I had no idea what opportunity Jack was referring to. Fazbear Entertainment wasn't known for putting their normal workers on pedestals. The only way a worker could even possibly get higher in the company is if you were an engineer or could work multiple jobs at once. Both were incredibly taxing positions when both would have you having to deal with possessed animatronics trying to kill you because you resemble their killer by virture of being an adult.

And I was getting too ahead of myself. I might very well be wrong and the only problems that could occur here were the typical soul crushing work of a 12 to 6 security job. I hoped so anyway.

"So how are the animatronics?" I asked, wanting to get a gauge on the things.

Jack's face lit up almost immediately and he began talking excitedly as he led me across the floor, "Oh, where do I start? Fazbear pulled out all the stops on those guys and it's like I'm actually interacting with the characters. I think Freddy is the best of them right beside Chica and Bonnie but don't tell Monty or Roxy I told you that."

"They have fully functioning responses?" The idea that the AI was that advanced floored me. The only ones that I could really compare them to were the Funtimes. Those had been the most advanced animatronics I had ever seen and even then they only had so many responses to certain actions.

Then again it was kind of hard to get a guage on them when they were actively trying to use me as a human sock puppet. Not that they failed to do so. I was too stupid back then to notice Elizabeth had changed. Too stupid to not think for myself on dad's orders.

Thankfully before I could fall into that familiar pit of self loathing Jack responded to my previous question, "Yeah! It's crazy, I know AI's gotten more advanced but-actually hang on a second." Jack stopped and turned toward…Chica who was seemingly staring at the entrance leading to El Chips. "Chica, hey!"

The animatronic seemed to startle for a moment before looking over at us. I felt every single instinct that I'd gained over the last few decades scream at me to start running from the approaching murder machine in front of me. Thankfully I knew I had a shield in Jack so I played the cool older guy shtick.

"Hi!" Chica greeted us both though she seemed more focused on Jack then me. Seemed my plan of using him as a shield was already working. "Is there something you needed, Mr. Kennedy?"

"Oh I'm just showing the new guy around before his shift starts." Jack gestured to me and now Chica was looking at me.

The white chicken hummed before beams of blue came from her optics and ran up and down my figure. I wasn't too put off by this since I'd gotten a warning over the phone about the animatronics identification feature.

"Oh, you're the new head of nightime security." Chica spoke. "Mike Anthony Schmidt, correct?"

"Yeah, that's me."

Chica put both her hands together and looked pleased with herself, "Well let me be the first of the band to welcome you to the family!" Chica squawked slightly as she spoke with clear excitement.

"Yay." I couldn't help that sarcasm. I wasn't really here to rejoin the family as I was more worried about any issues that could pop up for me. I idly reached into my pocket and pulled out a small slip of gum which I popped into my mouth.

"You don't sound too excited." Chica seemed to pick up on the sarcasm. Her AI must've been programmed to pick that up as well.

"Yeah, I've had some bad experiences with the company. I don't think anything will happen but I can't help but be cynical." I said easily enough. Chica likely had access to Mike Schmidt's files so she would soon be aware of my abysmal luck in the company.

Chica's eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment before they gained focus and her gaze turned sympathetic, "Oh, it seems you worked for our previous iteration before the company's copyright buyout. Don't worry, the management here isn't as terrible as in the past."

"Yeah." I didn't completely disagree with Chica's take, or the programmed take that Fazbear gave the AI. Before everything went bad, Mike had the sense to see that Henry and William weren't the most responsible people when it came to a company. I mean the springlocks were bad enough but the procedures around a springlock failure? Need I say more? Though I had no doubts this new Fazbear Entertainment was any better.

"Wait, wait, hold the friggin phone!" Jack spoke up before his eyes zeroed on Michael. "You worked at the previous Fazbear locations!?"

"Uh, yeah?" I realized momentarily that I'd phrased that as a question. "Why?"

"I-is it true then?"

I narrowed my eyes at the kid, "Is what true?"

"You know. Those…ghost stories." Jack was shifty in his tone like he didn't want anyone else to hear. I think he forgot that Chica was right beside us and actively listening to the conversation. "The ones that were made into those games."

Right, another thing that gave precedence to my belief that Fazbear Entertainment hadn't changed. They'd tried this ten years back with Fazbear's Frights but had kept their names out of it. Thankfully that had blown up in their faces due to my actions and, though indirectly, Willaim's as well.

Five Nights at Freddy's was Fazbear's newest attempt at slandering the past. Indie games created by someone Fazbear had in their pockets and who was now taking a fall from grace due to Fazbear suing them. There was supposedly a VR game remaking those games into a virtual experience to further discredit the truth behind those events.

When I had first heard about someone getting money over those tragedies I honestly hadn't cared. At the time I was just going through a depressive spiral since I'd been forced to survive by Henry. The old man thought my life shouldn't have been decided by anyone related to Fazbear Entertainment but forgot that he himself had a hand in it.

I didn't blame him for thinking the way he did. After thinking back on it I'd realised he'd been right. My life had been stripped away from me because of Fazbear Entertainment; my father. I was just a puppet for him until I'd finally opened my eyes to who he really was. I suppose getting my organs ripped out of me did wonders for my awareness.

"Oh, those. Yeah, just ghost stories." I decided to play along with the narrative Fazbear was feeding the public. I didn't feel like being a whistleblower. "The only danger in those resturants were the questionable kitchen conditions."

"Ha, yeah I guess I should have known." Jack said. "I mean, actual kids disappearing like that can't just be covered up."

"Yes, those rumors were simply slander that was taken too far." Chica said. "I think that kids did go missing in the area but people were too quick to point fingers."

I simply watched as the two seemingly brushed the whole incident aside as nothing but slander.

I didn't bother correcting them.

And there we go.