Chapter Text
As the data diver turned in the slot, a bookcase shifted beside him revealing a small dusty room with computers on every side. In the center was a small tan pad with a blueprint covering it. It had a small latch to insert the data diver, which Arnold gently inserted into. A message flashed in green text
M.I.M.I.C 2 Schematics downloaded
Yes! Finally!
Arnold breathed out a released sigh. Multiple near death experiences later, but it was worth it. He may not gain much for doing it, but at least he would never have to come back to this creepy as hell manor. The sooner he could forget everything he had seen the better.
To his right was an open latch and a vent leading back into the darkness. The man took a few seconds to compose himself before continuing. He just needed some time to breathe after everything it took to get there. At least half a dozen murderous animatronics, four separate chases, and his constantly nagging Disbatch who seemed more than happy to let him die here.
He leaned forward to climb into the small vent when suddenly a hatch fell with a loud SNAP, cutting off his exit, the door behind him following suit, plunging Arnold into near darkness besides the dim glow of the monitor screens beside him.
A voice echoed over the intercom, a garbled voice mixed with Disbatch’s voice.
“And just where do you think you’re going?”
He didn’t even have time to react before a blinding pain crashed into his back, causing him to fall to the floor in a heap. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a pair of glowing orange eyes glinting in the darkness before something sharp bashed into his skull, plunging the world into darkness.
—
When he blinked awake, everything felt tight, his head was swimming as he tried to form a coherent thought. He tried to move his arms before a white hot pain snapped through them, causing him to let out a muffled scream of agony.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you”
The intercom crackled to life again, Disbatch’s voice spoke to him in a condescending voice similar to a parent peaking to a disobedient child.
“Wh…where am I? What did… what did it… do to me?”
He wheezed out the question, barely able to speak. It felt like he couldn’t get enough air in.
The voice came again but from a different source, just behind where he was propped up.
“You may have been an obedient little dog, but your plans are meaningless now. You won’t fix anything with those schematics.”
A pair of glowing orange eyes appeared in his narrow line of vision. Arnold could make out the rough outline of the Mimic’s mechanical head through the open mouth of whatever costume he was stuck in.
“Now with you… I would normally just rip off your limbs and watch you bleed out, but that isn’t as fun. Usually your kind run at the sight of me like the little rabbits they are, now I can’t have any fun with that, so I made sure you couldn’t run away from me.”
The mechanical figure gripped the arm tightly, causing a few of the spring locks to partially spring inside the suit and dig into Arnold’s arm. He let out a pained scream as he tried to pull away, only to activate more of them.
“Now now, the more you struggle the more painful it will be, and you will bleed out faster.”
The mimic let go of the arm and stepped back, letting the spring locks move back into place.
“All I want is to repay the favor your kind have tried to give me. All I want is to rip apart your insides and take them for my own. Maybe take some of your bones to add to myself. I’ve tried to take them from my previous pets, but maybe taking them from a live subject will be different.”
The chest of the costume clicked open, revealing Arnold’s chest.he tried once again to pull himself free, but stopped almost immediately when the spring locks dug painfully into his arms and wrists
“Squirming like a bug will just make this take longer.”
The robotic figure moved its arm back before cracking it directly into Arnold’s lungs. The move knocked all of the wings out of him as he tried to scream. Seemingly not happy with the first try, the mimic repeated the motion into his stomach. Arnold almost threw up from the punch, a wave of nausea rushing over him in waves.
The man behind for it to stop in a low wheezing voice, but the mimic refused to listen. This time gracing onto his arm and knocking it backwards with a violent SNAP. He didn’t know what had been broken, but he managed a scream through his wheezing breaths. Overwhelmed by the pain, he felt tears run down his face as he once again begged for it to stop.
By the time the mimic did seem to get bored, Arnold was already bleeding from countless injuries. The robotic figure said something about needing stronger equipment, and tossed the costume to the floor causing all of the spring locks to activate in unison. The man was now drenched in blood, sweat, and treats as he faded in and out of consciousness on the floor. He heard the sounds of footsteps stomping around outside, and multiple loud screams, but he was too out of it to hear any of them.
The pain and exhaustion finally won out, and he did manage to slip into unconsciousness for at least a short while.
—
Andy stood nervously in front of the looming brick building. He didn’t want to be here any longer than he had to. He wasn’t even supposed to be here.
After Arnold had stopped responding to his radio, Andy knew something was up. Arnold wasn’t the type to just ignore requests from Disbatch . Even if Andy internally begged him to, he would take the ten extra shifts in the vain hope to keep himself afloat.
Andy knew how brutal fazbear entertainment was to their technicians. One fails to fill quota they always had five more to take their place.
So when Arnold seemed to just dissapear off the face of the earth, Andy immediately got suspicious. Not only was Arnold his friend (okay maybe friend was a strong word) but he was also at leat the twelfth technician to go missing at the manor.
Would he get fired for taking this risk? Absolutely. But it was worth it just to make sure his friend was okay.
Slowly opening the side door of the manor, he was greeted by a collection of bright lights and shining animatronics. They stood frozen in place as he slowly entered the dimly lit room.
Andy was afraid to admit this, but he always hated animatronics. Their unnatural movements and permanent wide eyed stares always unsettled him. He never mentioned it to anyone as he could see the line of questioning that would follow
“Why would you work for a company set in animatronics?” “How did you even get the job with you fear?”
The answer was… nepotism and a lack of other options.
Andy knew he was getting sidetracked, and decided to just suck it up and walk through the half open door. In his hand he held an executive access data diver that he had stolen from one of the higher ups, figuring they wouldn’t be missing it all that much.
Turning the data diver in the outlet with a click the door slid open to reveal even more animatronics.
…great, just… great
Walking forward he clicked on the small flashlight he carried with him everywhere. In the darkness he could make out the rough shapes of the animatronics surrounding him. He took several nervous steps forward, terrified that any loud noise would trigger the mimic to his location.
In the distance he saw the glowing lights of the security office, and let out a sigh of relief as he walked towards it. Clicking the data dived into place, he quickly shuffled himself inside without thinking.
In the room in front of him, it took him several seconds to process what he was looking at. In front of him sat a massive white and pink dog costume with a wide toothy smile thrown haphazardly into the machinery behind it. The dog’s chest was split open partially to reveal the spring locks inside.
Looking further, Andy could make out the faint glint of the green and brown outfit all the technicians wore, it was now soaked in blood and sweat from an unknown source. Opening up the chest cavity further, he could see the full extent of the damage. Blood was soaked through every inch of the coat’s arms and chest in measured segments across the body, as if the spring locks had been activated in sections instead of all at once.
Taking off the white and pink head, he could see Arnold’s face covered by his green and yellow hat. Andy slowly removed the hat, causing Arnold to let out of slow pained whimper. Andy reached out his hands to cup the man’s head without thinking, running his fingers through the man’s blood soaked hair.
“Arnie… Arnie it’s okay I’m here. Shhh don’t move I’m going to get you out of here.”
Arnold tried and failed to pull out of Andy’s grasp, his breath picking up in a panic
“No…no… leave me alone…”
He was begging now as he tried to move away, only to activate more of the springlocks. Andy tried to hold him down with one hand against his chest which only lead to a louder pained scream.
“Shhh don’t move don’t move you’re going to hurt yourself! Stop moving!”
The other man stilled for a few moments, his voice cracking as he tried not to cry.
“I’m s’rry… ‘m s’rry…” he coughed out the words, clearly in agony.
Andy slowly removed his hands as he searched for a way to deactivate the springlocks before quickly spotting a slot for the data diver. Clicking the walkie talkie-like contraption into place, he heard the springlocks click back into place, causing Arnold to slump deeper into the suit.
“Okay… okay I’m going to get you out of here…uhm…”
Fuck… how was he going to do this without hurting him more? He help him crawl out… but with his current condition that didn’t seem like a good idea… but it was probably his only option
“Okay Arnie… you’re going to need to work with me here.”
He could see every time he spoke Arnold flinched more violently, looking as if he would curl up and let the world swallow him whole if he wasn’t trapped in a massive dog suit.
Clutching his chest gently, Andy help Arnold work his arms out of the animatronic, allowing him to sink into the chest of the costume. Next Andy wrapped his arms under Arnold’s arms, gently pulling him out and laying him flat on the floor, apologizing profusely every time the man let out a scream of pure agony
“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry… you’re doing so well… just a little more…”
Andy managed to get the man laying flat on the concrete floor, the extent of the damage obvious now. at least one broken shoulder, springlock punctures going up both of his arms, several bleeding wounds to the chest… good gods what could have done this to him…
He answer came shortly after, the sound of a figure walking around outside with heavy robotic steps… And Andy’s own voice playing back at him.
“Arnie… I’m not done with you yet. I see you and your friend in there.”
What. The. Fuck???
he didn’t have time to process what he had just heard before the man below him started trying to pull himself away from the voice, only to fall back with another whimper of agony
“Don’t move don’t move… I’m not him… I won’t hurt you”
Andy once again placed a hand on Arnold’s unbroken shoulder, pulling him as close as he dared in a defensive shield. They both waiting in bated silence as the figure continued to use Andy’s voice to taunt them.
“You’re not being a very obedient dog Arnie, just get back in the suit.”
Andy was absolutely NOT doing that, and held Arnold still to make sure he wouldn’t try anything.
When the voice was gone, Andy looked back at the other man, who’s face seemed even paler than before
“Can… can you walk? We need to get to the entrance and I can pull the truck around to get you to a hospital.”
Andy tried to sound much more confident than he felt in this situation. He was mentally filing most of what was going on right now to process later when they were both safe
“Uh…uhm… m’by…”
Arnold tried desperately to pull himself to his feet, only to let out a few pained whimpers as he laid back down
“Okay… okay just… just lean on me okay? I can carry you.”
The injured man nodded weakly as Andy slowly pulled him to his feet, throwing his arm over his shoulder.
“We’re going to need to be fast… I don’t know how much time we have before that… thing comes back”
Andy opened the door to the office, trying to not let Arnold’s sounds of agony overtake him… he needed to focus! Not let his feelings take over. The creaking footsteps of the mimic echoing through the building as they limped along towards the showroom
“We need to be really quiet okay? Just for a little bit until we get out of here…”
Arnold nodded weakly as he let out a suppressed whimper. The next few minutes ticked along agonizingly as they moved slowly towards the welcome showroom. The mimic always sounded like it was right behind them, but slowly but surely they worked their way back into the darkened room.
Andy placed Arnold down gently on the steps closest to the door, noticing how the man’s eye fluttered closed as he walked towards the door. He really did need sleep after this… Andy felt so bad for putting him through this. He was the one who’d sent him here, he felt like it was his job to make this right.
“I’ll be back okay? Just give me a few minutes…”
—
Arnold’s entire body was on fire… he couldn’t tell what was real and what was his own imagination. What Disbatch real? Or was he finally dying and holding onto any hope he had? He felt like he was dying… the blood slowly dripping down his forehead felt real… what had he said? Something about being right back? Was he getting out or was that another one of his hallucinations?
He couldn’t tell… first he wanted to help him, then kill him, then help him again? It was all just swimming in his half awake mind. He just wanted to sleep…
Before his mind could fully slip back into unconsciousness, the voice echoed over the PA again.
“Arnie? Where are you going? You’re not done here.”
“Wh… but you said… I was getting out of here—“
“Get back to the security office as soon as possible, I can help you there.”
He could barely move… how was he supposed to get all the way back there? He didn’t have time to answer as the voice came banging through the door across from him
“Come back here, I’m not done with you yet.”
Arnold would have honestly flipped the voices off if he hadn’t lost feeling in his arm.
“Fuck … fuck you…” he breathed out as he laid his head back down.