Chapter Text
Sunlight filtered in through thin gaps around blinds and the front door, coating the house in a dim gray/blue mood. Outside cicadas groaned their endless hum. The faint whir of air conditioning added to the lazy symphony. Dilan slouched on the couch, the clicking of a controller and quiet electronic beeps throwing some interesting chords to the humdrum ambience of the room. Clinking of metal and porcelain echoed from the adjacent kitchen. With one last definitive clunk, the noise in the kitchen ceased.
“Lunch is ready!”
Bouncy video game music halted abruptly. Dilan set the controller aside, pushed against gravity to get himself up, and shuffled to the kitchen.
Down the hall and to the right, Nappy lay stretched on the short plush carpet, resting his head on his arms, blanketed in the shadows beneath Dilan’s bed. Facing him sat Simon Seal, black threaded face peeking from silky-soft fur. Nappy’s disk of a head tilted to the right, almost like cocking an ear to catch an unseen voice. He reached out an arm and closed his long fingers gently around Simon’s flipper. Scooching sideways to the edge of the bed, he slipped out and pulled Simon to his chest, securing him with both arms. The animatronic stood and exited the room, striding down the hall to the kitchen, slightly hunched over, as usual, bells jingling merrily with each step, announcing his approach as he made his way across the living room.
Uncle Liam looked up from his phone, swallowing a bite as he raised a hand, “Hey. Nappy. How are you?”
Nappy tilted his face so his permanent grin stood out in the low light, “I am good. ….You?”
“Great!” Liam took another bite, looking at his phone again.
Dilan swiveled in his chair, “You need anything?”
Nappy shook his head, fiddling with Simon’s flipper, “Just want to be… with you.”
Dilan gave a lopsided grin, “Aw. Thank! You can sit down with us if you’d like,” Dilan reached over and pulled out an empty chair.
“Heehee… thank.” Nappy carefully took his seat, a little big for it, having to stretch out his lanky legs to avoid hitting the bottom of the small table.
Liam snorted, “You guys and your ‘thank’.”
Nappy swayed carefully side to side as the other two went back to eating.
Three clipped knocks broke the silence from the front door along with a muffled voice. The humans at the table tensed.
Dilan turned to Nappy, voice low, “Nappy, go hide under my bed, don’t make any noise.”
Liam’s face scrunched in confusion, “That can’t be Steve and Rebecca. They would have texted. ‘Sides, they wanted to ‘lay low’ for a while,” He shrugged, standing up, “Eh, probably a salesman.”
Dilan turned in his chair, making sure Nappy had disappeared down the hall, “Should we just ignore it, then?”
Liam paused for a moment, “Um…Nah. Could be Steve or Rebecca after all, or a neighbor. Might as well at least go see,” Liam pushed away from the table, pocketing his phone, boots clunking on the kitchen tile before transitioning to the swish of carpet. It occurred to him just as he was twisting the handle, that the house might look suspicious with the lights off and the blinds closed. His brain desperately fetched for an excuse while his arm pulled open the door, “Uh, hey, how may I—”
“Police! Search warrant, get down on the ground!”
Liam’s brain froze as he tried to process. Immediately officers were bustling forward, grabbing his arms and shoving him to his knees.
“Hey— uh— what!?”
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present before, during, and after questioning.”
Dilan peeked out of the kitchen, eyes wide. Another officer shoved past, striding forward. Dilan immediately dropped to his knees, hands on his head, before the officer could even bark an order.
Liam’s eyes were saucers, “C-can I ask— am I allowed— W-what’s going on?”
A man in a button-up shirt with colorful 80's themed patterning pushed in past the officer who was cuffing Liam, “What’s going on is that you scrapheads are busted.”
Liam blinked, “Wha—?” His eyes flicked to the man’s wrist as he checked an orange and blue bear-shaped watch. Liam swallowed, feeling the titanic sink in his chest.
The man pressed a few buttons, focusing on the screen of his Fazwatch, “The last known signal we got before it disappeared was right around…” He walked until he was in front of the couch, three officers following behind him, “Here… And it wasn’t long ago, so it can’t have been moved too far, hopefully.” He gestured around him.
The three spread out, two heading toward the kitchen, and another heading down the hall, flicking on lights as they went.
Dilan swallowed, throat dry. Should he shout to warn Nappy? Or say nothing and hope they didn’t check under the bed.
The sound of the kitchen door to the garage opening reached him. Hopefully the garage would be enough of a distraction.
He risked a glance down the hall and saw the officer had disappeared from sight, which meant he had to be in one of the rooms. His room, mostly likely, given it was closest to the living room.
Dilan forced himself to breathe calmly. He could hear the clatter of metal and plastic being ruffled through distantly from the garage.
Then he heard a shout and an electronic noise of pain from his bedroom. Dilan breathed out slowly, closing his eyes, feeling himself slouch.
“I found it, I found it! It’s under the bed!”
Immediately thumping of footsteps grew louder as the other two officers jogged over from the garage. The Fazbear (employee? Representative? Tech? Manager?) fast-walked after them into the bedroom.
Dilan heard his voice, strong and clear, “Voice Command, Daycare Attendant, follow immediate.”
Silence.
The voice cracked ever so slightly, “Daycare Attendant, follow immediate!”
Dilan thought he heard a quiet artificial, “No.”
The voice came again, sounding more frantic, “Daycare Attendant command override, 6-15-12-12-15-23, action immediate!”
Still nothing.
A younger voice spoke up, “I’m not reaching under there to drag that thing out!”
An older, more level tone responded, “Calm down. Instead of trying to move it from under the bed, let's move the bed from over it. Help me with this mattress.”
He heard grunting, creaking of the bed frame, then a pained whimper that cut off. Dilan winced. There was the clatter and click of electronic noises.
He heard Sun’s voice, “Huh, wha—?”
Desperately the Fazbear employee’s voice cut through, “Daycare Attendant, follow immediate!”
To his dismay, Dilan heard the rattle of wooden supports clattering to the side, and the clock-winding clicks that marked Sun’s movement.
From down the hall, Sun stuttered out, “W-wait, who are you, how did— where is— what—”
“Daycare Attendant, cease voice box immediate.”
The crackle of Sun’s speaker cut to silence.
Dilan felt a candle flame blaze inside him, shifting into a hook, solidifying like hot metal.
The Fazbear employee walked into the hallway, Sun following obediently, the three officers taking up the rear.
Sun’s stride faltered as his head jerked between Liam and Dilan, then snapped to the employee with blazing focus.
The officer with the deeper voice gestured to their prisoners, “Alright, get those two outside and in the car.”
The group filed through the front door where a gleaming company vehicle and two squad cars waited in their driveway. One of the officers opened the car door and started to shove Liam in.
Sun stopped short.
The employee opened the back of his vehicle and pointed to the luggage space, staring at Sun, “Get in.”
Sun took a step forward, then jerked to a halt again, body shuddering.
The employee’s eyebrows lowered, “Daycare Attendant, voice command, get inside the van, action immediate.”
The officer holding Liam paused, watching the animatronic nervously as it started to move forward before jerking and shuddering again.
A crackle of static started from Sun’s chest, low and muffled before it rose to an agonized growl. Sun gripped his head, volume raising to an inhuman electronic scream.
Taking a step back, eyes widening, the employee shouted, “Daycare Attendant, command override, 19-8-21-20—”
He was interrupted by a loud crackle POP as a shower of sparks burst out from the side of Sun’s head.
Sun’s posture shifted from robotically straight to hunched, a garbled chuckle escaping him, “No.”
Immediately three of the officers took a step back, hands going to their guns.
“No— wait!” The employee waved his hands, eyes wild. He reached to his belt and pulled out a sleek black metal rod, extending the end and pushing a button, the rounded tip emitting a low buzz, “We are to retrieve this asset with minimal damage, if you shoot it full of holes Fazbear’s gonna get on my back about it.”
One of the officers lowered their hand. Another one's fingers lingered over their holster uneasily.
Sun’s head jerked side to side, like a lizard eyeing a bug, “Hehehehe, go ahead. Try it.” Sun raised his arms slowly, taking a stance reminiscent of a wrestler preparing to block a tackle.
The employee swallowed, holding the rod out and taking a step toward Sun.
Sun held his ground, fans whirring, fingers twitching slightly.
The employee lunged forward, aiming for the exposed metal of Sun’s neck.
Sun’s long arm snapped out like a snake, catching the employee's wrist and angling the tip away, halting the rod short.
Time seemed to freeze, officers wide-eyed, waiting for a sudden movement or sound to spur them into action.
Instead, Sun slowly lifted his other hand and carefully pinched the handle of the metal rod between two fingers, just above the employee's hand, then simply pulled it free, regardless of how tightly the man was trying to grip.
Sun switched it off, then crunched it in his hand, the broken pieces tinkling onto the concrete sidewalk.
One of the officers pulled out his gun and started forward.
“Don’t.” Sun didn’t even look his way, eyes still locked onto the employee's paling face, wrist firmly clamped in Sun’s grasp.
Everyone froze again as the stalemate settled over them.
The employee’s eyes lowered, gaze becoming calculating. Suddenly he looked up.
The younger officer also looked up, soon followed by the rest. Even Dilan and Liam looked up, confusion on their faces.
Sun paused, processors whirring— what were they all looking at? He looked up and—
I N F I N I T Y.
[Error, system crash.]
[Attempting reb—]