Chapter Text
You took a deep breath, leaning your head against the wheel for a long moment. First days on the job always sucked, and you had a creeping feeling that your first day at the Pizzaplex would be no different.
At least it was a security job, which meant that the main part of the job wasn’t new to you by any means, but the giant robots you were contracted to guard weren’t exactly calming your nerves. You’d seen the news stories years ago about the head security guard’s disappearance, and the investigation into the company it had prompted, and of course there were rumors about the old pizzeria chain being cursed.
You flexed your hands on the wheel, staring across the empty parking lot at the megamall across from you. There hadn’t been any substantial claims against Fazco since, at least not on the front of violent animatronics. Odds were the old conspiracy theorists had simply blown the investigation out of proportion.
Pulling yourself up and out of the car, you made your way across the parking lot before pushing the door open, stepping into a wide lobby with a large golden statue of Freddy in the center. The lights were dimmer than they likely were during the dayshift, casting everything into unsettling shadows, but you didn’t bat an eye, long since used to the liminal spaces your career choices tended to drop you in.
Scanning the room, you quickly located a tall man with dark skin and blue (purple? The lights made it hard to tell) dreads waving to you from the main doors and you waved back, moving towards him quickly.
“Heyo! You’re the new nightshift right? My name is Cory, and I’m gonna be showing you around the place and fillin’ you in on a few things!” He grinned, hopping slightly from one foot to the other, and you found yourself pausing to recalibrate slightly. With the way he was built, and the normal energy of nightshift employees, you had been expecting a much less energetic personality, but you quickly brushed it off, grinning back.
“Hey, thanks for the help. Are you the head of security then?” You held your hand out, and he immediately grabbed it, squeezing tightly, and chuckled.
“Nah, nothin like that. I’m actually a handler for one of the animatronics. Greg is off work for the week doing god knows what, so it’s fallen to me to give you the tour and introduce you to the talent. After I’m done with you we can get ya dropped off with security for that part of your training.”
His grin was infectious, and you found your own energy starting to creep up, despite how early in your day it was. “Which one of them do you work with then?” You scanned him up and down, picturing the Glamrock shows you’d seen clips of on social media. “Let me guess, Chica?”
“HAH! I mean, good guess, I get along pretty well with her, but nah. I don’t work with the Glamrocks often, though I am on Freddy duty this week. I handle a bot that’s a little bigger than that.” He turned, stuffing his hands in his pockets and began to walk further into the building, clearly not planning to elaborate on who the fuck was bigger than the Glamrocks.
You fell in line behind him as he lead you through the turnstiles and into a massive atrium. “This is the central room of the plex, so you’ll probably be passin through it a lot. The bots normally aren’t around here unless they’re doing a show though. On your right is the kids cove, which leads down into the daycare. If the lights are on and you want to talk to the daycare attendant for some reason, head that way.”
He frowned, his voice going serious. “Don’t mess with them much, they don’t really like adults. But that’s where you want to run if something breaks in and you can’t deal with it. Moon is the head security bot, and I don’t even know if I’d bet on the DJ over him when it comes down to it.”
You opened your mouth to ask a dozen questions about that, starting with who any of these bots were, but Cory barreled onwards, and you got the impression he wasn’t really used to his conversation parter responding to him.
“Otherwise, you’ve got the entrances to Monty Golf, Fazerblast, and Roxy Raceway. They’re exactly what they sound like, and their respective cast members often hang out there if they aren’t in Rockstar row. They like to do cleaning and setup before the day starts and sometimes will just play their own games. Up the escalators is Mazercise, the Fazcade, and a bunch of shops. Mazercise is where you can normally find Chica, and the Fazcade is where you can find me and the DJ”
Your head was already spinning as he led you through the Atrium. This room was enormous, and the sheer number of branching off rooms was already trying to give you a migraine. “Um- sorry. I thought the bots weren’t allowed to roam at night? So, I should always find them in their rooms, yeah?” Cory tensed slightly, turning back to fix you with a much more intense stare than his usual expression.
“Yeah. That’s the general rule. Moon and the S.T.A.F.F bots are the only ones allowed out at night. That being said, keeping your mouth shut about harmless rule breaking is generally smart, alright newbie? You wouldn’t want to spend 100% of your life either interacting with fans or sleeping either, so let them have their fun. Oh, and when they give you a bot taser, don’t even think about using it. I’ll happily dent your face in if you hurt the DJ, and I’m the chillest handler here.”
You took two steps back, holding your hands up defensively. “Whoa, sorry. Didn’t mean to offend you man. I was just confused. I- uh… haven’t exactly met any of the animatronics, so I didn’t know they could break rules unless they had a virus or something.” Cory chuckled, his grin reactivating and his hands dropping back into his pockets.
“Most people don’t, and we prefer to keep it that way. If the world figured out exactly how smart our animatronics are, there’d be mass panic. Hence the NDA the higher ups make us all sign.” Venom slipped back into his voice at the mention of the higherups, which you could sympathise with, though it didn’t raise your faith in this job any more than the blatant threat he’d just thrown your way had.
You took a deep breath, reminding yourself of the nearly six figure paycheck, before following him past the stage and into Rockstar Row, where he beelined straight to Freddys door, grinning back at you. “Alright, time to meet the showstoppers, so, best behaviour.” He raised his hand to knock, and a few seconds later the door slid open, revealing Freddy Fazbear himself, fidgeting slightly with his paws.
“A-ah, hello Superstar! Are you our newest security guard? It is good to meet you!” He extended one paw out to you, and you took it after a moment of hesitation, shaking his hand.
“O-oh you’re… softer than I expected.” You brushed a hand through your hair with an awkward chuckle. “I guess that makes sense, don’t want kids hurting themselves.”
Freddy chuckled, nodding. “All non-S.T.A.F.F animatronics are equipped with silicone outer layers to avoid guest injuries!” His vision seemed to flicker, and you wondered if that line came prerecorded. “Anyway- it is nice to meet you! I hope to see you around the Pizzaplex! Hopefully we can become good friends.” He inclined his head, before stepping back into his room, body language awkward, and you heard a tinny voice call out from behind him.
“Freddy! Who’s there? It should be way past closing, is something wrong?” The voice sounded faintly panicked, and Freddy flinched.
“My apologies Gregory, I was called upon to meet a new employee!” He stepped back further, and the door slid closed in front of you.
Your turned around slowly, making eye contact with Cory, who held your gaze for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. “Sorry- sorry. He’s just more anxious than usual because Gregory is out of town. Poor guy has been struggling for the last fo- two days.”
You stared at him blankly for a moment, which only caused his chuckling to worsen. “Who the hell programmed the animatronics with separation anxiety?”
Cory shrugged, leaning back against the wall behind him. “Honestly, I don’t know if anyone did man. They’re learning programs, Freddy very well might have just taught it to himself. Hard to tell what’s base code and what is built on top of it, specially considering none of em have been turned off or updated in ten years cept for the attendants.”
That couldn’t be right, your computer forced updates every two months, and he was trying to say the most sophisticated machines in the world had gone 10 years without? “Not even like, map updates when the plex changes?”
He shook his head. “Nope. The DJ tells me they update the maps manually instead of letting the techs do it. They’ve honestly been a real pain to us handlers about trying to get the animatronics to let them do deep work, but, its not like we can do anything, and there’s no way in hell I’m letting them force DJMM to update.”
“You’ve been stopping the techs from doing their job? How are you not fired?” His earlier tone had implied the higher ups were shitty bosses, but that kind of leniency was ridiculous.
“They did fire Monty’s gal a few years back, but he kept force deactivating himself until they hired her back on. After that they kinda gave up on punishing us. They still threaten it occasionally but, well… I hear last time they fired Gregory the staff bots all started just… spinning in circles. They gave up before he made it out the door with his stuff.”
You stared at the floor for a moment, trying to reconcile that with the way people tended to talk about Fazco’s animatronics. So good you could almost believe they were people, but they’re still just mindless robots. Except mindless robots wouldn’t get anxious about being separated from their handler or intentionally trigger errors until said handler was brought back. “They’re… people then? Not robots?”
Cory chuckled, clapping his hand on your shoulder. “There ain’t a difference kid. They can be both.” He let out a long breath and smiled, but something about it seemed more genuine this time. “If you can make that connection this quick, I think we’ll get along just fine. Oh, and don’t mention anything… weird you see on this tour to management, eh?”
You followed him to Monty’s room, where he banged on the door “Laura, Monty! Got a newbie for you to meet. Someone cursed loudly inside, and then there was a series of loud clangs, and a yelp, before the door was sliding open to reveal a young woman clutching her leg in pain.
“Sorry- fuckin- charley-horse, stood up way too fast. What’s up cher.” She was short, with messy hair, half shaved on one side, and dressed in clothes clearly fashioned after the massive gator standing behind her, chuckling at her pain and lashing his tail. The sound of his fans was significantly louder than Freddy’s had been, and you wondered if he ran hotter.
“Language, if Freddy or Sun catch you talkin’ foul I’ll need to get a new handler, and I actually like you.” He leaned on the doorframe above her, looming over her with a sharp toothed grin that sent shivers down your spine.
Laura slapped his chest with one hand, rolling her eyes. “I’m irreplaceable and we both know it. You’d be sobbing in the bottom of the golf course for weeks if I left.” He snarled down at her, but she just rolled her eyes before turning her attention to you “Hey newbie, good to meet you or whatever. I’m Laura, this is Montgomery Gator.”
Monty reeled back, tail lashing viciously behind him. That could not be safe for dealing with kids. “Hey! What the hell chère, what’s with the full name! Ignore the damn handler, my name is Monty. Call me Montgomery and you’ll be endin’ up in the swamp.”
He curled vicious looking claws around Lauras hips and picked her up, chucking her back into his room with a huff before moving to block the door. “It’s good to meet you tho lil guy. Sorry for the nasty intro. If you ever need a tough guy to rough some intruders up for you, gimme a call.”
You took a step back, nodding at what you hoped was a normal speed. “Uh- yes sir, I’ll keep that in mind! Isn’t there like, a security bot to call for that though…”
Monty chuckled, and there was a loud clang as something hit him in the back. “Trust me chère, you won’t want to be callin’ Moon up much. Guy hates humans, and for good reason. He’s good with kids but… well, you ain’t that little.”
“Stop giving the guard cryptic ass warnings and get the hell in here so I can dismantle ya you ugly hunk of metal!” Monty’s head jerked forward as an already half destroyed chair clocked him in the back of the head, and he and Cory chuckled.
Monty raised a hand in a mocking salute to your tour guide with a grin. “I’d love to say hi to you too Cor’ but I fear she might drag me to parts and service if I ain’t careful. Talk to you when I’m done gettin’ my ass kicked.”
“Try to get her calmed down before I have to hear her complaining about you for hours, will ya?” He shot back, and the yells in Spanish from behind Monty’s back certainly didn’t sound Fazco approved, even if you couldn’t follow them. He groaned, turning back into the room and letting the door slide closed, and the muffled sound of them arguing slipped through the door.
You gestured helplessly at the door. “Is that uh…”
“Normal? Yeah, don’t worry, those two love each other, they’re just both stubborn assholes who get a kick out of fightin’. I doubt Laura is even all that mad, she just enjoys picking fights with him.” He leaned back, shrugging. “They chose handlers based on similarities to their animatronic, and Monty’s been a fighter for… a long time.”
So, something had happened to Monty. You chose the safer topic instead of questioning Cory, picking at your nails nervously. “So, uh. People keep saying cryptic shit about this… Moon? Can I get a proper explanation? What does ‘he doesn’t like adults much’ mean exactly?”
Cory paused, scanning the corners of the room and staring into the nearest vent for a long moment, before two metallic clangs sounded from inside it, making you nearly crawl out of your skin. He didn’t react to your surprise, just nodding to the vent, before finally answering your question.
“The daycare attendants have been through a lot. People tend to find them creepy, probably because they’re more humanoid than the rest of the bots. DJ has that problem too, but…” He shrugged. “He’s calmer and more… palatable. Big guy doesn’t really talk, so it makes sense that people who are creeped out by him kinda just… tune him out.”
“Sun though… you can’t really tune the guy out. He’s loud, opinionated and in your face. It’s how he was coded, to keep the kids entertained. He’s also a stickler for the rules and hates parts and service. It makes the technicians hate him, and then they don’t treat him well at all.”
You stared at the clanging vent as he spoke, frowning slightly. “I asked about Moon though. What exactly is Sun?”
“You’ve never been here have you newbie?” He didn’t wait for your answer, barreling onwards. “Sun and Moon are the same bot. We call the two of em combined the Daycare Attendant. Sun runs the show when the lights are on, Moon takes care of naptime and security.”
“The techs hate Moon even more than Sun. He knows they’re mean to Sun, which makes him downright aggressive. He’s hard coded not to hurt staff, but… there have been a couple of mishaps.”
“They had a handler at some point but… well. She didn’t like the bots. Saw them as objects. Girl was a piece of work, and Moon scared her off quick. The couple before her were even worse, and corporate decided not to give the Attendants a new handler. So, now they’ve got no one to protect em from the techs either, and the techs do every minor bit of work.”
You could put together what that meant easily. “So, then they trust adults less, which makes it harder to get them a good handler. Until… what? They kill a tech and management dismantles them?”
“Cory sighed heavily, straightening his jacket. “Yeah. Probably. We’ve tried to help but… Moon won’t talk to anyone but kids and other animatronics, and Sun can’t leave the daycare. Theres nothin to do about it.”
There was a loud clang from inside the vents, and Cory swore, checking his watch. “Shit, we need to get you in one of the Glamrocks rooms, you ain’t on the registry yet!” He spun, heading toward the next room, and banged on the door. “Rox! Cassie! Got a visit-” Suddenly the lights cut off, and Cory groaned, his head hitting the door in frustration.
You froze, fumbling for your phone, when you heard something skitter across the roof above you. “Nauggghty Naughty! You’re out past your bedtime! You don’t have a profile!” The voice was gravelly, and sounded like it was stuck in a growl, but you didn’t have time to question that before you were being pinned to the floor by razor sharp metal claws, with glowing red optics staring into your eyes.