Chapter Text
"I don't see why you brought him.” William said in a not too hushed tone. “ We’re still paying for a babysitter."
The bus was fairly crammed with people with all sitting taken, so the three Afton's were standing near the middle of the bus. William gripped a bar above as his wife Clara held onto one of the vertical bars, while little Michael clung to his mother's hand.
"I couldn't bring the twins with me. Michael should see his fathers final project. Didn't you say it was some cute animals?"
"I said they were animal mascots. I said nothing about cute." He sighed, rubbing at the bridge of his nose, "Frankly, I should be rewarded just for making that idiot Florence's' idea a reality.”
The invention in question was an animatronic. A hunched over elk with a flapping tongue and hooves that tapped at an electric keyboard set in front of him. Granted, both designs of Rick the Elk and Fredbear were overly ridiculous, but at least the singing bear had some design elements to him. The worst part of the stupid elk was the antlers.
Lucas insisted on keeping the antlers the way he wanted them. A large pair of antlers with various ends, all of which had different effects. Two ends spit out confetti, another shot out sparks. Some twirled, others blinked their lights, and even a few more details crammed in at the last stretch of the deadline.
Coupled with the weight of the antlers themselves on a jutting out animatronic head, it used up a lot of energy. A lot.
"Well, that's not ideal for running a business." Henry had mumbled.
"Dumping the entire budget on a single show? No. It's not." William intoned.
"Well, this is just the first envision. We can work out the kinks back in the states. Besides, we're just using the university's power for this presentation." Lucas decreed.
Lucas’ assuredness had felt like dripping hot motor oil.
A short walk across campus from the bus stop and the family found themselves in the large room of the mechanics class. Dividers were put up to separate the twisted coils and generators being used to power up the various projects. A good amount of people had showed up for the project fair displays with a decent crowd forming around one particular area.
“Hm.” Without much of a word, William walked forward, his wife and son walking behind. He came to a stop as he noticed just where the people were standing around. A small crowd had congregated to see the two animatronics set up in front of the curtain. On closer inspection, it appeared everyone was admiring them in awe.
William looked back and forth to the people gathered. They actually were interested in these things?
“Oh my, William, they are impressive!” his wife congratulated.
"Wow!" Michael's eyes went wide and he started to walk straight up to the animatronics
"Hey," William gripped the kid by the shoulder and pulled him back. "Stay back."
"You shouldn't get too close to them sweetie," Clara assured, brushing a hand across her son’s back as the boy rubbed at his shoulder.
“William, good you made it!” Henry and Lucas walked up to them, smiling at the gathered crowd before looking back at the family. “It’s good to see you again Clara, thanks for coming.”
“Henry, these robots look so cute!”
“Animatronics actually,” Lucas intervened, smiling, “You’ll really see the difference once we get them moving. Which, hey, Will, can we do a preshow? There’s a lot of people waiting for it!”
William stared at the grinning man for a moment before looking to the gathered crowd.
“...Sure. Let me get it set up first.” Without another word, Mr. Afton moved to the other side of the curtain.
“Hey Michael,” Henry stooped low beside the young boy who finally noticed him.
“Mr. Emily!”
“How do you like them?” the man asked after receiving a quick hug from the child.
“They’re so cool!” The young Afton looked back at the animatronics with practical stars in his eyes, “You and my dad made them right? Can I make one?”
Henry laughed, “Maybe, you should come up with an idea for them!”
"I will!"
William came back from behind the curtains, carrying the box with a large cord attached to it. Centering himself behind everyone gathered.
He flipped a switch.
The two animatronics came to life. Rolling lights came up through their joints and into their eyeballs. Both in synchronous motion straightened themselves up. Fredbear’s hand went up and down, with his head rotating side to side. Rick tapped his hooves on the plastic keys and nodded his head.
“Hey everybody! Welcome to Fredbear’s Pizza! I’m Fredbear, and this is my friend, Rick the Elk!” A voice very much like Henry Emily putting on a show filtered through the machine’s speaker.
Lucas's own voice filtered through the moving elk, putting on an over the top accent. “Howdy ya’ll! I sure am elk-cited to start the show!”
There were a few small laughs in the gathered crowd. William rolled his eyes. Michael’s eyes were wide as he watched the moving animatronics in full rapture.
“Hey Fredbear, want to hear a joke?”
“Sure do, Rick!”
“What do you call an elk who is dressed for Halloween?”
“Gee, I don’t know, what?”
“A scarybou!”
The two made some cliché laughter as the robots moved their mouths to imitate talking.
“The mouths are still not moving in sync.” Lucas mumbled as he backed up to stand beside William.
“At least the recordings are going off on time.” Henry assured, coming to stand on his opposite side.
William pressed another button on the control box.
“Say Rick, let’s start today’s show with a classic!”
“After you, Fredbear!”
The starting cords to “Sweet Home Alabama'' started, much to the chagrin of the largely British crowd. And then something went wrong. The lights flickered in both animatronics eyes and Rick’s head started to dip low. Joints flinched in far more robotic movements. A low thrum of gears squealing started to reach a crescendo.
“Hold on-” William pressed a button and both the elk and bear went still.
“What’s wrong?” Lucas leaned in to look at the control box.
William grumbled, “It’s the power.” After a moment, he sighed and said off handedly, “Could one of you two go take a look?”
“I will!” Henry had stepped away, “Perhaps something got knocked loose.”
“No wait, you help the business guy here with the machines, I’ll go check.” Lucas pulled away and ducked around the curtains. William and Henry walked up closer to the animatronics, Will setting the control box aside on the floor.
Some of the folks of the small gathered audience started to drift away. Mrs. Afton managed to strike up a conversation with another woman, while Michael was still staring awestruck at the animatronics. They were still pretty cool even when not moving.
There was the typical loud thrum of chatter in the room as a few more people entered the building. It was disappointing the show was cut short, but it happens. The worst thing to happen would be for the three to receive a low grade on their final by their professors, but there was no doubt that William Afton, Henry Emily, and Lucas Florence would graduate. The animatronics were a wonder of ingenuity, and perhaps after a few tweaks and improvements, would be going places.
Suddenly a loud crackling could be heard. The lights blinked in and out before shutting off completely, casting the room in a semi darkness only illuminated by the sun through the windows and doors.
A muffled thud came from behind the curtain.
“Lucas!?”
Henry and William rushed behind the curtain, followed by a few other classmates and Clara. The hum of chatter died down, with a few anxious and hushed whispers. Some of the gathered adults, including Michael, stared at the curtain.
“Someone call 999!”
“Lucas!”
“Henry, don’t touch him!”
The smell of something burnt wafted into the room.
---
Cambridge Police Report
Ref: Death Investigation
Date: [Redacted]
University of Cambridge security was called to the scene at the Annual Engineering and Robotics Project Fair. A student of 25 years old enrolled in the Robotics Masters program was found dead in the backstage area where the fair was set up. The man was found unconscious, partially burned, near exposed wiring. No one was allowed to approach until the power was shut off. By the time it was shut down, [L.F] was found dead with no pulse.
Cambridge police have been called in to investigate. Initial reports show there was no sign of foul play and that it was caused by a malfunction in the wiring.
[L.F]’s family has been notified.
Cause of death: acute electrocution and heart attack.