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It had looked like such a simple job in the papers. The watch the cameras for any criminals or break ins or disturbing activity, make sure the animatronics are in working order and don’t break anything during night time free roam.
Of course, the phone messages told of a few other things: Wear a Freddy mask when they get too close to avoid their facial sensors mistaking a night guard for an endoskeleton (A weird kink in the system since the designers had forgot to add the night staff as recognisable to the “Safe” classification.), wind up the music box in the prize corner with the tablet, and under no circumstances break anything.
Madeline had been there for the first premiere of the new restaurant, so night shift sounded like an easy way to get involved in the business and make some spare change for living and stuff.
The first night wasn’t too bad, honestly. Bonnie had wandered in a few times and stared through the mask, but soon returned to roaming and strumming his blazing red guitar.
The second night… hell, Madeline didn’t know what happened. Maybe she forgot her meds? But suddenly the tasks seemed too much, the music box kept almost reaching the end, the animatronics kept entering the office and making ominous sounds.
It was four in the morning, two hours away from the end of her shift, when Madeline had run out of luck. She’d just used the Freddy head to ward off Toy Freddy, weirdly enough, when the distinct sound of pop goes the weasel began to chime down the hall.
Madeline shone the light down the hall, only to see the slender black and white striped form of the Marionette flying towards her like a pouncing animal.
Tackled to the ground, staring dead into a pair of pinprick light eyes, Madeline felt the weight of terror push on her shoulders. She was gonna die here. She wasn’t gonna go home or wake up again. This was it. The others, Freddy Bonnie and Chica, had entered the room by now, looking down with plastic eyes.
It couldn’t be resisted anymore. Madeline let tears flow down her eyes, sobbing like a large child. Her mind felt slow and heavy and weird.
She heard the animatronics begin to speak, sounding a lot… for the lack of a better word, alive.
”Hm, I think she needs a hug!” A dopey voice, Freddy.
”Definitely not a bad adult…” a squeaky high pitched voice, that was Bonnie.
”Look at her, we gotta cheer her up somehow,” a high energy party girl voice, Chica.
Madeline didn’t listen to a lot after that, keeping her eyes closed before she felt something brush under her eyes. Like soft fabric wiping away her tears.
It made her whimper, the heaviness in her brain not quite going away. She felt herself get picked up, then a soft and gentle voice talking from above.
”It’s okay…”
The woman was placed beside the large gift box in the prize corner. None of the toys had seen a case like this before. Their sensors read that this was an adult, and an unidentified one at that, but her behaviour triggered their “Assist and Care” programs.
”Is she okay?” Freddy asked with overflowing concern. He was designed to be a friendly figure first and foremost.
The Marionette’s black three fingers reached over the counter, handing their guest a random stuffed doll in the likeness of Chica. Bonnie made a sound of playful disdain.
”Hard to say. She seems physically okay, but mentally, it’s like she’s replaced by a child…”
With a human, Bonnie rubbed his blue plated head, his ears twitching like his animal likeness.
”How young? Because I don’t think we have the stuff if she’s a super small superstar.”
They were designed to entertain children and families, but this situation had layers to it, layers that could lead to disaster if something fell from place.
There was a sound like the mechanical impression of a gasp coming from Chica. All eyes, plastic and pinpricked, turned to the feminine yellow chicken.
”Wait a darn minute! There’s one of us who adores taking care of younger ones!” Chica walked over to the toy shelves in an exaggerated fashion of femininity, before plucking out the pink and white fox toy.
Toy Foxy. Freddy looked a bit nervous. He liked Foxy, always thought it was unfair what happened to her, but she could also be scary. His worry was the opposite of Chica’s enthusiasm at her idea.
”Why don’t we ask… uh… what’s her name?” Bonnie asked with genuine confusion, acting as the tiebreaker.
Silence, Marionette touched the guard’s face.
“What’s your name?”
The question brought Madeline out of her funk, looking into the eye holes of the Marionette’s mask.
”M-Madeline. O-or Maddy…” She murmured shyly. Maddy was the name she liked using when like this.
Toy Freddy let out a cheerful guffaw, throwing out his arms.
”Oh, that’s a wonderful name! Maddy the buddy!”
They didn’t look very scary anymore. They didn’t roll their eyes into black hollow sockets, or tear off their beaks to show a row of sharp endoskeleton teeth, or stare with shrunken irises. They looked, well, like giant toys.
Still, Maddy had to ask, clutching the Freddy doll tight like it was her only lifeline.
”A-are you gonna hurt me?”
The answer was an overlapping series of refusals and promises about they wouldn’t hurt anyone in need of comfort. Chica asked if Maddy could stand. She tried, and succeeded, but she didn’t feel big enough for an adult posture. It was now that she realised her uniform jacket had been removed.
Not only that, she noticed a white and red gift box on the counter. Curiosity led her to pick it up, “What’s this?”
Being a bit too curious for her own good, Maddy opened the box, spying the contents. It was a collection of items for little kids, all themed after the characters. A small set of pacifiers, a blanket, a custom drinking cup, and a pin saying “Little superstar!”
The Marionette explained that it was a gift box for little ones, able to be purchased by parents for a discounted price. The pin could also be used to help the animatronics recognise a younger guest.
There were thankfully no plastic underwear packets. Maddy might be little but she didn’t… usually need that stuff.
“We have a friend who has special programming for taking care of younger children. If you want, we can take you there until you feel better.”
Maddy blushed a bit at the thought of needing special care. She didn’t usually have a carer when she got like this at her own home. Still, they wouldn’t have any reason to lie, if they were even capable of doing so.
”I guess it can’t hurt…” Maddy replied, before yelping as she was lifted in both arms yet again.
They called her The Mangle. She used to be Toy Foxy, the attraction of the Kid’s Cove, designed to entertain the youngest customers at the new and improved Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Oh, but kids could be so handsy, too much fun in their little bodies. They’d torn Foxy apart, for three days, every time the show would begin. Eventually Toy Foxy became a take apart and put back together attraction.
A toy, but not the kind she was meant to be. Even still, she could still move her metal limbs, shambling about on four legs like the animal she resembled. Hell, her voice system still worked like a charm, despite the mechanical stuttering and overlaying static when her emotions got too riled up.
Despite everything that had been done, Mangle didn’t hate the kids who tore her up. It upset her, of course it did, but the adults were to blame for not helping. They could’ve set up a barrier, or a sign that said “No touching!”
Nevertheless. Even now, Mangle wanted to be on stage again, telling the kids her stories.
Luckily, a familiar set of faces were approaching. Her fellows in the band plus the Marionette. The latter was carrying an adult woman. The woman was wearing a purple set of pants and a black undershirt, in her hand was the plush doll of Chica.
Marionette placed the figure down on the floor in front of Mangle, who watched as her eyes went wide in surprise. This one wasn’t like other adults here. More like a child.
”This is Maddy, she looks like a night guard, but she’s in need of some special care,” Marionette explained with their musical voice.
Rearranging her limbs into a more natural shape, Mangle’s head twisted and turned, studying the woman. She noticed the pin on her shirt, triggering the “Little guest” parameter.
Just in time for Maddy to start crying at the sight of what looked like a metal monster. Mangle crawled over, wrapping a hands and another endoskeleton arm around her.
”Shh, no tears. I’m not here to hurt you…”
The girl-woman kept making sniffling sounds of fear. One of Mangle’s spare hands reached into the box Marionette offered, pulling out a pink foxy themed pacifier.
It sat in Maddy’s mouth, silencing her cries and making her look quite adorable to Mangle’s perspective.
”There, see? A scary monster wouldn’t have done that.”
A nod.
”Do you want to hear a story? It’s about a princess and her friends.”
Maddy nodded slowly, yet with an undercurrent of excitement. It warmed the broken fox’s circuits to see that childish excitement. At least there was someone who still wanted her stories.
A way to be what she was built for.