As time went on, the place became more and more sustainable. They finally got out of the reds, could pay their taxes properly without any problems (even if Dave was screaming and crying about their submission to the state) and the animatronics behaved... as much as one could expect from those depraved creatures made from every lawyers nightmare.
Really, it went almost swimmingly and things could go on like this for a while... at least in Old Sport's opinion.
Though, there was of course this one thing...
His... pet project... in the saferoom.
Deep down he was asking himself if what he was doing was right. Something compelled him to fix her up. Something he couldn't explain, but it was an urge stronger than any he had felt in a while... minus fixing up Dave a bit.
But it was another kind of urge.
Something far more... urgent.
Dammit, he was horrible at describing it. It was such an alien sensation that his thoughts started to walk circles around it.
Needless to say that he hadn't mentioned her to anyone yet. Phone Guy would freak out, as well as probably the puppet and Dave... Dave would probably tamper with her.
So he was alone in his work. Daily he disappeared for exactly two hours, trying to figure out what she was and what that rusty body needed in order to be considered functioning again. If anyone asked, he explained it away with "Manager Activities", whatever the hell that was- it seemed to be something serious though, since Phoney never did anything but nod with a serious expression and let him go away, promising to keep an eye on Dave.
Today's two hours were almost over.
It wouldn't be worth starting with another part of her, it would only risk insects or moisture to creep into her vital parts and ruin all he was working for... so instead he sat back and stared at her.
Who build this creature?
As always, his eyes wandered over her "hair" and crown, then to her giant claw, until he ended up at those weird roller-skates.
Whatever had created needed to have a mind so far split that it was enough for two people. Two personalities.
For some reason she held a certain innocence to her name, despite looking horrifying. In a way he could imagine her come up to rip his stomach out just as well as her coming up for a hug.
It was the same reason he hesitated repairing her superficial appearance. As if she was supposed to look that way... with those wires and needles sticking out...
Someone loved this machine.
For a second he paused, but then it began making sense.
The crown and the skaters... the details on her skirt, the care put into her hair...
"Who made you...? And why did he bring you here?" His voice was barely more than a whisper.
But she stayed unmoving, simply smiling back at him. For whatever reason, it felt as if her deactivated eyes followed him around, no matter where he moved. But that was impossible. An illusion.
Slowly he moved closer, crouching down in front of her. "You could consider yourself lucky. Not many people get this... unconditional love in their... life..."
Unconditional love.
Suddenly his heart ached.
"I will see you tonight at the usual time... goodbye, princess." It was more of a petname, since he didn't know her real name and didn't dare to give her one. She had one, there was no question about it.
And for some reason he felt as if her smile widened a bit whenever he called her that.
Projection they called that.
With a sigh he turned his back to her and walked off to find Dave, filled with a strong desire to see that man... and to have him act in his usual cheery way. It didn't matter that the happiness came from a place of absolute insanity, it was happiness and with that more than enough for his needs. If we listened to him without thinking about it, he was able to pretend for a while that Dave was just that happy-go-lucky friend he always tried to be himself.
Eh, but then again, that hit a bit TOO close to home for comfort.
He wasn't in denial about his own borderline psychotic nature and his constant destructive behavior... but something's gotta fill the void that once was his soul, right?
Right.
With dread he thought back of California.
Just forget about that.
It's over.
It happened and everything was alright in the end, right?
He felt barely more than a little bad about it.
But that was okay, right?
No one-
No one knew.
"SPORTSY! SAVE ME!"
Ah, music to his ears. A reason to overreact. "What did you DO again?!"
"I didn't do anything! That dreadful chicken and those insane prepubescents are doing stuff!"
"Wait-" Now this was worrying. "--- what?!"
Laughing came from behind and Chica, as well as a group of children ran up to surround the springtrapped worker. "LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU- PUNKS!"
Snorting Old Sport looked away. Punks? "Kiddens, what appears to be the problem?"
"OTP, OTP, OTP!"
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....?"
Chica snickered. "I was dared to get the bun to give me a smooch!"
"SAVE ME, SPORT! MY VIRGIN LIPS ARE FOR YOU!"
Rolling his eyes at that statement, Old Sport wondered what the problem was. "For heck's sake, Dave, it aren't even your lips but the mouth of the damn suit!"
"NEVER CAVE INTO TODDLER'S DEMANDS! I'VE SEEN WHAT THEY WOULD DO TO THE ANIMATRONICS IF THEY COULD! IT'S ALL OVER THE INTERNET!"
"Wait, when did you get internet- weren't you sealed off?"
"C'mon, I've been out for a while!"
"But I've never seen you in the office without me..."
"You're disappearing on me all the time!" Now he sounded actually hurt. "I've got no clue where you're going or what you're doing and since Phoney just won't let me have any alcohol, I gotta numb my pain somehow, right? What better way than the endless pleasures and horror of the unlimited imagination that the internet represents?"
"I can imagine a FEW better ways..."
"A'ight, tell me! Though I can't even fa-"
Chica leaned over while they were discussing and touched his cheek with her beak. The children cheered and she only winked. "Talk to you later, handsome~"
The eggplant only hissed and held the touched area. "I fucking hate toddlers. I want to murder them all."
"If it were anyone but you, I'd shrug it off, but... NO DAVE. JUST BECAUSE PEOPLE ANNOY YOU, DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN KILL THEM."
"Children aren't people!"
"You were a child once!"
"Exactly!"
They stared at each other and Old Sport considered asking if he was okay... though the answers was probably a bit obvious. "Dave, you need help."
"No." Pouting he turned away, his ears twitching a bit.
"I wonder what you think you're getting out of this."
"Your attention?"
"I hope that isn't all you're ever trying for." Because otherwise killing kids would surely do the trick.
"Ya always so negative towards me! I'm trying my best to impress ya and be a good boy, but you always think the worst of me! It's been more than thirty years at this point since I last killed a kid!"
"Wonder why that is? Because of magical reconsideration and a sudden heel-face-turn, or because you literally didn't have the option in that time?"
"Ow, I didn't kill the people getting me out!"
"You didn't?"
"Well... only a little?"
"WHAT?! YOU CAN'T KILL SOMEONE "A LITTLE"!"
"Yeah, you can! You punch 'em down and leave them there! They might be dead, but they might survive!"
"It's pretty damn unlikely-"
"What else were I supposed to do, Old Sport?! I was angry that it wasn't you! I'm still angry, to be honest... you wouldn't have come look for me, would ya?"
For a moment Old Sport hesitated.
Neither answer was a good one.
Might as well be honest.
His heart said yes. Of course he would have come to look for him. Alone for the fact that... well... Dave wouldn't just disappear, right?
If someone ever told him that Dave was dead, he would only believe them if they brought him his scrawny, purple bones. Wait, would his bones be purple? Everything else was-
Never mind.
That didn't change the fact that it would keep him restless forever, not knowing where Dave was and what had happened to him. For some reason, despite all these years, he still felt like his responsibility. As if they were somehow connected by virtue of being this similar in their nature.
Naturally, he would rather be yiffed by a nightmare version of Candy Cadette than admitting to it though.
"Yeah, I would of come to take you out of there... purely based on the fact that the wall will someday crumble and when that day comes, I certainly don't want you to roam free!"
"Is that all?" This made Dave almost quiet. For a moment he looked like a lonely, isolated kid, the one that no one wanted to play with and the one that their parents forgot to pick up on time. It hurt just looking at him.
"No... of course not... fucking eggplant colored idiot." Those words were harsher than he meant them to be, but his intonation gave away that it wasn't meant to hurt. "Without you..."
Dave looked at him with those giant, round eyes and if he had a tail, he'd probably wag it.
Flustered Old Sport tried to find a way to not sound too soft with it.
"Without you, who'd give me my daily adrenaline shots? Who'd stress me out and give me the feeling that I actually spend the day instead of rotting away?"
"That doesn't sound so positive!" Insulted Dave frowned, but the sadness had vanished. "I'm the main attraction here! Everybody comes to see the Zombie-Bunny! Without me, you'd be bankrupt within a WEEK!"
"Yeah, the income your produce by pick-pocketing our customers almost makes up for the customers you motivated to run and never come back because of your filthy mouth!"
"Don't gimme that! The children know WAAAAAAY worse words already! Fuck is child friendly! The word fuck is the reason they exist!"
"I disagree with that- generally."
"I disagree with you specifically!"
"Dave, you're aren't making sense anymore!"
"Neither do you!" More whining. "You could just hug me and make me feel better, how about that!"
"YOU DESERVE NO HUG!"
"WHY NOT?! I'M WORKING HARD AND NOT EVEN FOR TOKENS! YOU'RE A WORSE BOSS THAN PHONEY!"
"TECHNICALLY YOU WORK FOR TOKENS! THE HARDER YOU WORK AND THE BETTER YOU BEHAVE, THE MORE TIME YOU GET ON THE ARCADES!"
"I DON'T WANNA BE PAID LIKE THAT! PAY ME IN LOVE AND AFFECTION!"
"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS! AND WHY ARE WE SCREAMING?"
"BECAUSE I AM MORALLY OUTRAGED!"
"HOW!? YOU LITERALLY HAVE NO MORALS!"
"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?!"
"Uh... boss?" Phone Guy looked between them. "The customers... uh... they're staring."
Dave growled. "And why should I care?"
"Well, uh, for starters..."
The demonic toddlers appeared. "CHICA, WE NEED YOU TO CALM YOUR BOYFRIEND DOWN!"
"Okay darlings~"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-" Davetrap ran away again and was rightfully chased around by the same creatures he used to torment for his goal for the rest of the day. At some other point, more people joined in, since they thought it was some weird game of mass tag.
That was a good activity for him, Old Sport decided and allowed it to happen. He'd be fine at the end of the day and there was zero reason to pity him... they all escaped a horde of attacking kids at least ONE time here at Freddy's! Even the animatronics weren't safe and smart enough to get out while they still could if they sensed their audience becoming hostile.
The main part of the day passed fairly quickly, he helped getting a few orders out and solved a few disputes, in general very relaxing stuff.
Almost a bit too relaxing. So, when the Puppet began to freak out and walk around, of course it caught all his focus.
For a while Old Sport watched the black bear walk around, opening his mechanical companions... or at least trying to.
Freddy instantly hissed at him. "Do not DARE to touch me, you filthy copycat!"
"It is only for a minute, I need to check on something inside-"
"GUARDS! COME TO HELP ME! I AM BEING MOLESTED! PHONE! MOVE YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"
"Uh- couldn't you... calm down...?"
"EXCUSE ME!? HE ADMITTED TO WANTING TO OPEN ME! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THAT SORT OF BEHAVIOR!" He stemmed all four of his arms into his hips, showing that he was REALLY mad.
The sad Phone caught between them stammered and turned to Marion. "Why would you want to open him? Y-you see how upset he is..."
"It... I only need to make sure... I am- there might be-" It was unusual for the machine to keeping what was bothering him to himself like that... he appeared twitchy, with his fingers moving at an almost random intervals. "See it as a normal security check up."
Freddy hissed. "I only let the FINEST of human hands touch my godlike body!"
Pleading Marion turned to Phone Guy. "Would you...?"
"No problem, but... can't that... uh... wait? We still have a few customers here..."
For a moment the creature hesitated. "Fine. Don't forget about it."
With that he turned around, walking off heading towards Chica. Mildly entertained Old Sport followed him.
She was quite a bit more open about... being opened. "Oh, darling, I didn't know you feel this way about me~ But couldn't you at least buy me dinner first~?"
"Ah... it... it's really nothing, I only need to check..." He screwed her open and frowned, before nodding and putting the plate back. "Thank you for your cooperation."
"For someone as handsome as you I'll go a long way to please~"
Fleeing the situation, he sneaked up on Candy Cadette. "Hey... I need to... open you shortly..."
The machine turned its "head" around 180 degrees. "I am Candy Cadette. Come get your candy here! I have candy all day, every day. Candy. Candy. Candy. But I see no need for you to open me. My candy storage is full."
"It's... not about candy."
"Then why would you want to open me, if not for candy?"
"... Only a moment." Shortly the creatures opened a lid and peeked inside, before sighing and closing it again. "Thank you."
"If it helped. I am Candy Cadette. I help people." The creature rolled off.
Last, but not least the Puppet walked over to the other version of him, more hesitant than ever.
For a while it watched its new and improved counterpart, but didn't approached.
After a few more minutes, it was Old Sport who moved closer, his curiosity almost killing him. "Hey, Puppet-boi! What's the matter?"
"Did you do anything?" Its voice was controlled, but angry.
"Huh? Like what?" Honestly, he didn't deserve to be shit on like this, he had been on his top behavior, next to creeping out children and almost taking cocaine again.
"There is... something... around here... I think Dave might has started... again..."
"That's impossible!" Orange Guy frowned. "We're keeping an eye on him almost twenty-four-seven, also, he doesn't plan to shut our place down, so why would he go around and kill kids?"
"Something here is possessed! I can feel the energy of it flooding me!"
"Are you sure you're not getting overly sensitive?" No, Dave hasn't done anything. Firstly the kids could have probably triggered the springlocks by trashing about in his grip- killing them with anything involving blood would be impossible for him to cover up- and secondly... he was fairly sure, Dave would have brought up SOMETHING about the machine in the back. Fucking hell that man couldn't go half a day without trying to chat him up about the most mundane of topics, just to talk with him. A giant horror machine would pretty damn surely make a great reason for Purple Guy to talk to him.
"I think the trust you have in him is misplaced."
"I think you're looking for an excuse to make a fuss." There was some sort of spite in those words, a way the Marionette didn't expect to be talked to. Something was changing about Orange Guy.
Or was he actually paranoid?
"I... I am not trying to make a fuss. I am WORRIED, Orange Guy."
"Of course you are. You always are, n00dle. How about you calm down and try to enjoy the peace?"
"How can I if there MIGHT be a trapped soul around?"
"Technically speaking we all are trapped souls."
Marion didn't even bother answering. In this situation, it was no use trying to have a reasonable discussion with the angry man. "If you find anything out of the ordinary, let me know."
"You know what's out of the ordinary? My brain right now. Because I have a few questions. You know, Puppet, you're weird. You always knew what the kids wanted and needed to be freed... but how? Aren't you a child yourself?"
"I'm-" It was obvious the creature disliked this conversation. "It's..."
But Old Sport wouldn't let him get out of it that easy. He waited.
Again and again the creature stumbled over its words until he finally arrived at the answer he could give without actually answering anything. "I became quite good at guessing after a few years."
"Guessing?! Are you SERIOUS?" He couldn't believe it. That all was an act?!
Defensive Marion hissed. "As you may remember, first off the children had only very simple requests not actually needed something extreme to bring them back to happiness, secondly the spirits... always... melted into their hosts. Their needs became quite... similar. Music, certain items, friendly conversation... anything to make them feel... whole again. At least for a bit."
"You know... maybe I over idolized you, Puppet."
"Excuse me?! I HAVE been quite the powerful creature and helpful adviser over the course of these years... not to mention that I BROUGHT LIFE to the animatronic and have an amount of other abilities that you can only DREAM of-"
"Why did you bring them back?"
"What?"
"I thought that was the problem. I thought it was that they stuffed souls and denied them afterlife that was truly horrible. Not every Serial Killer's victims come back to haunt places... even if it were children. They... they were suffering, right?"
Even through the bear-suit it was abundantly clear how uncomfortable the creature was. "Yes, that is correct-"
"And whenever someone died- namely in California- it was you who brought them back to life, just for me to free them again directly afterwards. Why? They didn't even help catching Dave. That was me and Phone Guy." Thinking hard, he tried to find the point where it did ANY good to stuff them and bring them back to life. None, right? It made Phone Guy problems- but Phoney wanted to get rid of Dave anyway, he didn't need more motivation in form of more stuffed animatronics. Please, don't say... don't say you stopped five children from moving on... just in case? Just in case you needed them to restrain the killer, despite having me, Peter and Fredbear on your side?"
"What are you ACCUSING me of?!" The puppet couldn't believe what he was hearing. This HAD to be a joke.
"Answering really isn't your strong suit." With one last sigh, Old Sport decided to drop the topic. "Anyway, so you say suddenly a soul haunts this place?"
"Not... suddenly. I felt it for a while. At the back of this place, through the vents-"
"Vents?!" There WAS a connection to ventilation in the saferoom, but-
"Perhaps... not. Sometimes this place seems more... lively than other times." Slowly but surely Marion gave into his own doubt. After all, he had saved all the children, right? At this point- he had to. It needed to finish someday, right?
It was over. But for some reason he couldn't accept it apparently.
"I didn't mean to be a hassle, Orange Guy. But you can probably understand why, can't you?"
"Somewhat. Don't sweat it, I'd probably have those paranoid fits as well... if I wouldn't have been the one saving each and every single one of them with my own bare hands-"
"We saved them together, don't forget that."
"Yeah... right. Fine. Sorry." Old Sport wasn't in the mood to discuss anything like that today. "I'll be in the office, hiding from my responsibilities now! Keep an eye on Dave, I'm counting on you!"
"Alright... I'm counting on you too, Orange Guy. If anything out of the ordinary happens... you will tell me. Right?"
"Of course!" Smiling the man felt set back to California and Peter. Dammit, it had been so much time.
Though this time he was brutally lying.
No. It wasn't THIS out of the ordinary, right? It was just another animatronic.
Appearing in the back alley.
In the middle of the night.
After the neighborhood was trashed.
With a horrifying ambiance.
That had a claw.
And skaters.
...
PERFECTLY NORMAL FOR FREDDY'S!
NO NEED TO WORRY!
Psht, and even IF it was reason to worry... he kept an eye on her, didn't he?
In fact, he was doing that right now! By visiting out of the usual time! So she wasn't climbing through any vents!
YEP, HE WAS KEEPING THIS PLACE SAFE!
HIS STYLE!
EVERYONE WHO DISAGREED WITH THAT COULD AND SHOULD LEAVE!
AT LEAST HE DIDN'T HOLD ANY EMPLOYEES HOSTAGE WITH THAT RED CONTRACT STRAIGHT FROM THE DEVIL!
As fast as he could, he dashed off to the saferoom, ready to talk to that animatronic.
Good news, she was sitting right where she belonged, slummed against the wall, her mysterious smile still on her face. Slowly he walked closer, staring at her face. Admittedly it had been fishy to him that she wouldn't activate, no matter how much he repaired her interior.
As if she didn't want to be activated.
Softly he petted her, before uttering. "How about we drop this charade already?"
Her eyes didn't move, but as always they seemed focused on him. No reaction.
"I know you're possessed." For another minute he stared. "He told me."
With that, all of her sudden her eyes lit up in a bright green. A gentle female voice sounded. "And he calls me the "party pooper"..."
"Uh... what?"
"His horrible habit of calling everyone who has common sense a party pooper... even me... it is childish..."
"You two know each other?!"
There was a lot of confusion on both sides. "... Wasn't it Freddy who told you our secret...?"
"No... the puppet."
"Who is that?" A hint of interest echoed through her tone.
"A puppet." Without any facial expression those words were said.
The girl groaned and sat up. "Typical dad."
"What?"
She smiled up at him. "Nothing."
Silence crept into the room, as Old Sport tried to reflect that he found another spirit after all this time... wait a moment-
"Hey... who did you- what Freddy were you talking about?"
"... Now that the secret is out anyway..." She took a breath and stood up. "I came together with my friend... using that term loosely. We escaped out of an underground facility under a home... first we were hiding in the same machine, but then they chose to eject me. I think I can count myself lucky, because I do doubt anyone but Freddy's mind is left... anyway, as soon as we heard about the new Freddy's we had to come. We had to come home. Return here. Find out why we were left behind."
With a sting of pity he stepped to her and hugged her.
"A-ah... thank you... I'm fine... after all, you finally found me!"
"I'm just surprised you aren't currently gutting me, haha..."
"Why would I hurt you?"
"Uh... robots seem to be somewhat keen on gutting me one way or another."
"I guess it's what we are made for..."
"Are you?" Now, this was interesting- he backed off to take a better look at her. There had been a few questions about the designs of all the machines, especially why they could go around and bite things.
"Who knows?" She smiled and her tone made it obvious she didn't want to talk about it.
Fine, he wasn't the one pushing the dangerous creepy machine to do anything. "What's your name?"
With a small curtsey she obliged. "My name is Baby. Nice to finally being able to introduce myself."
"Old Sport! Nice to finally get you to talk to me!" Really, he was excited. Weirded out, but excited. "So... you came here and pretended to be a broken animatronic in hopes to get in?"
"Freddy tried to talk to you... I didn't want to scare you. It seemed that people disliked us coming up to chat..."
Snickering the Orange Guy though about normal people on the streets starting to scream when that machine walked up to them with a polite "Good morning" or something. "Don't sweat it... whenever the police sees and recognizes me, they try to bash my head in with whatever they have indiscriminately."
"So..." She sounded surprised. "It... it isn't just me...?"
"Nah, don't worry. People are easily scared, I could make them run just by wearing golden heady and roar at them."
"Golden... Heady...?"
With a wide smile Old Sport looked at her. "Welcome to Freddy's!"
The confusion only grew, but it was a good kind of confusion. It was the kind that came with the knowledge of quick satisfaction.
The boss continued. "Either way, how about we close the restaurant soon and you introduce yourself to the others?"
"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Baby sounded skeptical. "They all seem somewhat... weird."
"You call THEM weird?! AND YOU'RE TALKING TO ME?!"
"A-ah, you seem sometimes a bit... impulsive too, but I can reason with you!"
"Oh, please, you can reason with all of them as well! Except Freddy maybe- Rockstar Freddy I mean. He's... special."
"I know... I watched you all interact from the vents..."
"Aren't you a scaredy cat! If you already this invested in us, you HAVE to come out! I don't take no for an answer!" Motivated Old Sport grabbed her and tried to pull her out, but since she was way too much metal, it was pretty much impossible for him to so, once she used the stoppers of her skaters.
"Please, I can't- not right now! There are still people out there!" For once there was actually a hint of panic in her voice.
"Stop your whining, there are barely-" He peeked outside. "Okay, we're closing in half an hour. Then you'll better be ready!"
Indeed, for now he left and stayed impatient until even the slowest eater had finished up and left. In the time he walked around and told everybody that they would be introduced to a new friend at the end of day.
So, when the place finally closed down for the day and the tables were clear, the other animatronics and Phoney gathered around Old Sport.
"Sir...? Would you mind now explaining what... uh... you were talking about?"
"I'LL GET HER, JUST A SECOND!"
Chica seemed delighted. "Another gal~?"
Dave crossed his arms. "I don't like this already..."
"You can say that again..." Phoney didn't feel comfortable.
But he was already around the corner and returned with a humanoid robot. Correction, with a nightmare straight from hell. Phone Guy at least saw that.
"OH DEAR LORD, WHY?! W-WHAT IS THAT!? W-WHO BUILD THIS!? NO! NO! IS THAT A CLOWN GIRL?!"
"Well-"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I CAN'T- I C-CAN'T STAND THIS! THIS IS NOT OKAY!" The poor overworked Guard ran out, leaving all the others confused.
"What a drama queen!" Freddy huffed. "She isn't anything against me, but that's no need to overreact... not everyone can be eye candy after all!" He held out a hand to her. "I am Freddy, the mascot. Just don't be jealous all the time and we MIGHT can get along, m'kay?"
Baby shook the offered hand, but couldn't help against her eyes automatically rolling, something not lost on Freddy.
"Quit that attitude, young lady! Or you won't ever come even CLOSE to my level! And wouldn't it be a shame for such a young soul to lose all her potential this early."
Candy Cadette rolled around her. "I am Candy Cadette. You should get your candy from me! I have candy all day, every day. Candy. Candy. Candy. What is your name?"
Shyly she smiled at him. "Circus Baby."
"Can I turn you into a story?"
"Uh... sure?" She didn't seem to be sure what that meant.
Chica stepped closer and gave her a tight hug. "We're gonna be best friends~! I love you already~"
"Could you... not?"
"Yeah, sure Baby~" She stepped back a bit again, still smiling.
Even the Security Puppet had come over to take a look. After walking around her a few times it shook its head. "You look like an incredible risk to have around."
"Aren't we all?" She smiled softly.
"Maybe. Don't hurt anyone."
Last, but not least was Lefty.
He only stared, first at Baby, then at Orange Guy.
The amount of accusation in his eyes were astounding for the fact that those eyes weren't even real.
"So there WAS a case of possession."
"Well... I just figured it out myself to be fair! You saying that something here was possessed-"
Baby turned towards the bear and tiled her head. "You were the one telling him? He said it was a puppet..."
"I am trapped in this." Marion opened the mouth as far as he could to peek at the animatronic. "Where do you come from? Where have you been before?"
"In an underground facility. Hidden away from most people."
"Underground..." Alarmed the animatronic looked over to Old Sport, before returning his attention to Baby. "Were there more souls trapped with you?"
"Yes. We escaped together, in one piece. But they found a way to eject me. This makes me lucky, as it seems that Freddy has fully taken over... this... this topic is a bit tiring..." Wary she looked around, the animatronics were still looking at her. "May I request a bit time on my own?"
They all muttered and murmured, but ultimately backed off, except Davetrap, who continue staring until Old Sport softly nudged him. "Dave?"
"Oh-? Sorry, Sportsy! I got... distracted a bit. Anyway, it's nighttime! Are you ready to playtest some games?!" His usual cheeriness returned, but something was off. "Welcome to the family, Circus Baby, I- I bet we'll get along great! Davetrap is the name."
The girl nodded and went away, some weird form of exhaustion in her expression.
Dave watched her for a while. "Whatcha gonna do with her, Sportsy?"
"Huh?"
"You can't have her around, right? We would get sued..."
"Uh... I'd be ready to risk it'?" He always wanted a lawsuit anyway!
For some reason, this made his friend smile. "Do you think... Isaac and his friends will like her?"
"If they are anything like all other children, yes. Kids only love things that are very likely to kill them."
"Fair enough." For another moment Dave let the silence linger, then he began laughing. "Ya know what, Old Sport? I'll bet on your glorious butt cheeks that I can speedrun the arcades faster than you!"
"No you can't stop- wait, what did you just say?!"
Outside of the restaurant meanwhile, PG was making an important call. "Uh... h-hello?"
"Hello, hello? Phone Guy?" Peter wouldn't call him by any other name until the boy figured out who he once as. Not because he really wanted... but there were no names he could use without making him sound like an object, for example the location name and giving him a real name would maybe deter him from finding out the truth. "Glad to hear from you! How is it going?"
"Uhm... s-so, let's say, there appeared a new animatronic—Old Sport just pulled it out of nowhere it seems. It's... a horrifying clown girl, with a giant claw and skaters. I'm scared, what am I supposed to do?!"
"Slow down, slow down... take a breather, calm yourself." For a while Peter kept calm and nodded along to the things his other version explained, without saying anything, until finally the other Phone Guy stopped talking, the shaking in his voice barely audible anymore. "I see... now that could be a problem."
"COULD BE?! HE'S TAKEN THAT THING ALREADY IN! I THINK HE WILL LET HER ROAM THE PLACE AT DAYTIME!"
"Stop! Don't panic, that doesn't do anyone any good... Now, if she doesn't go off for some reason and begins to kill people, which would be very untypical, even for Freddy's animatronics, then you have a bit of time to find out what the thing with her is. It's not like you would be suddenly forced to do the nightshift, right?"
"No... but... sir, do you think she might... you know..."
"Uh... I don't know?"
"... Have... a soul... in there...?"
For a moment there was a pause. "Maybe. But you shouldn't worry about that yet. You said she looked dangerous, didn't you?"
"YES. SHE HAS A CLAW."
"In that case... I know it's hard, but you have to keep the customers safe at all costs. We can't allow more death to happen, not like this. But don't worry, you're not alone! Even if Old Sport is stupid and senseless and completely irresponsible... he values the safety of the children just as much. And didn't you talk about what great help the Security Puppet was?"
"I know, sir, but... it's creepy. How could she just appear out of nowhere like that?"
Peter sighed. "Freddy's attracts these troubles like an open flame attracts moths. It was honestly just a question of WHEN a killer robot emerges to threaten the lives of everyone entering the establishment."
"So... you're telling me I should just, uh... keep my head up, stay relaxed and do my job?"
"For now there's nothing better you can do." After some hesitation, he continued. "And...? How is... Dave acting?"
"He didn't seem to know about Baby either, though... he didn't seem fond of her? After all, she took quite a bit of Old Sport's focus away. Now, without that... I say... they fight often? I mean, I don't want to call it "fighting" it's more of a... they get hysterical at each other. Dave probably does it for attention...?"
"And Orange Guy gives him said attention."
"Does he have another choice? It would probably make it worse to ignore him."
"But he feeds that way of acting! He shows him that he can get what he needed by acting the way he does and starting fights! I... what if the fight turns personal at one point and Dave does something really stupid- no, I mean deadly?"
"I get it, I get it... I'm keeping an eye on their volume... and what they say." Suddenly he sounded incredibly tired.
"Oh- Oh..." How he wished the man had a name. Something he could call him to make him feel better. For now he would have to go with stupid option C though. "Partner, don't- don't give up. You're an incredible help and I could swear you probably saved a few lives already, just by being there and paying attention. Keep going, don't let it tear you down."
"... Thank you. I won't let you down, sir."
Hope was a valuable resource.
"And remember-"
"Sweep it under the rug, it's probably fine?"
"No. I'm counting on you, partner. And I'm always just a call away."

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A/N:
Good. At least this one worked out.
Heads up for "A Guard's life" - the chapter might be delayed. I'm trying my best, but HOLY FUCK!