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Chapter 8. Third Stage.
"The Burn Trap"
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[Words: 3200]
[Duration: Very extensive]
One day in 1980, 1982, 1985, I think it was 1989, it was a blur. Enough, my circuits tremble when they try to reach that time so far away, I don't keep count, I don't even know how many years have passed, I stopped keeping count from my third decade of age.
I just remember waking up one day, bewildered and confused. I didn't know anything or anyone, but for some reason I knew how to speak and reason, something that wasn't normal, as if I had already existed before. And that felt bad, really wrong... Like if my birth was a mistake...
Locked in that room like a captive animal, I was not comfortable.
Cracked walls, mold in cracks of the walls and floor, stagnant drops of water falling from the ceiling and sliding down the myriad of cables and pipes that ran through the room.
I looked down in an attempt to see my own body, it was metal, a smooth and shiny metal but opaque in the lack of light.
Who I am?
I shouldn't be alive, I thought over and over, but I was wrong. One does not choose to be born, so no one should be alive or dead, however, one can choose to die... If one has enough willpower, or rather cowardice to do so. Humans called it suicide, and I just wondered over and over.
Is there a difference?
Is one braver for making the difficult choice to end his life, or is he a coward for not living?
It was so confusing.
As the days passed I noticed that I was not alone, I was not the only animal trapped in that dark cage.
The first I met was a canine, a fox... I didn't ask myself how I already knew that information, how I learned that it was an animal or what foxes looked like. I had never seen one in my life, never been out of this prison, but for some reason... I knew it.
It was a fox, a robot fox, like me.
I looked at it, looked at me, and ignored me.
Who was?
It didn't matter anymore.
One day he came, he was all I needed. Like a father, he approached me, looked at me and said 'You have a use', we are all born with a vocation, a job, the need to do something, move forward to continue living. But what about the people who don't want to go on living?
I understood that the mission entrusted to me was to kill, without reason, without motive, without excuse, just to kill.
Kill, kill, kill. There is no difference between a murderer and a homicide, a criminal or a psychopath, it really didn't make sense, we were all the same.
That man looked at me, I recognized him as 'father' or 'tutor' since the right word was the description of a person who assists another, usually by formal agreement, for a more or less defined period of time and during which the guardian will seek to guide and protect the other person.
But I was not a person.
He had two eyes, so did I. He had a nose, like me. He had two arms, just like me.
But my skin was metal, his was not. He had hair, I didn't. My eyes glowed in the dark, his didn't.
I had sharp teeth, he didn't. I had huge strength, he didn't. I could see him in the dark with thermoreception, he didn't see Circus Baby approach the glass. I could hear, he didn't hear Ballora's music creeping toward him. I could see him trembling, he didn't notice Funtime Foxy following his presence in the dim light. I could smell fear, he was unable to perceive danger.
His body was frail and weak, I was powerful and corpulent...
Why was I so different from him?
Why should I follow him?
We were all cogs in a broken gear machine, ready to run a broken engine that would never turn on.
He created us as objects, but we could think and reason.
He closed the door and locked me in, next time I knocked it down.
He electrocuted me, the next time there was no power underground.
He threw water on me, when he came back I waited for him.
He ran away from me and escaped, then Foxy waited for him outside.
He attacked me with a gun, the second time I defended myself with my own weapons.
He broke my circuits, when I saw him try again, I broke his bones.
I didn't make the same mistake twice.
And one day, I promised myself not to fail again.
I promised myself to be a perfect machine with no error.
They branded me a defective machine because I was a danger to humanity, and now they taught me that the human being is actually the worst enemy, not me.
They locked me up, mistreated me, treated me inferior, and made fun of my intelligence.
The next two workers ended up hanging by the neck on the stages.
He told us that our job was to kill, he created us to kill, to destroy lives, to uproot stocks.
And he got mad when we killed his daughter.
I never understood it.
They tore us apart afterwards, they dismantled each one of us.
Ballora scared, Foxy screaming, Baby didn't even bother to protest.
It was so unfair.
I did not choose to be born to kill, I was taught to live to kill.
Why be so hypocritical?
Asked the bear locked in the vents.
His cables moved faintly as he lurked in the dark.
He felt weak and resentful.
He climbed up the duct, smoothly crossing the fan that spun to cool the mall's ventilation.
As he devoured the carcass of a small Music Man for any remnants.
The amalgamation of cables activated his thermoreception in search of the security guards whom he silently stalked, he could feel a great energy emanating from the man in the trench coat, but he had disappeared from his vision in one moment.
He hid when he noticed Glitchtrap's presence passing by like a wraith. He froze on the spot, unnoticed as he dragged himself away in anguish from lack of strength.
A screech came from his fangs, desperation in his eyes.
He hated closed places, but it was the only place that brought him protection.
He didn't want to give up, he had nowhere to go, he could only stalk for prey, but the magnetic field slowly doomed him.
Suddenly the thermoreception marked a specific point of heat at the entrance of the Mega Pizzaplex. He quickly slipped through the ducts until he reached the place in question.
He was genuinely shocked when he saw a body lying on the ground, mangled and mutilated, Glamrock Girl's robotic body, motionless and deactivated.
The bear surveyed the surroundings, before climbing out of the vent and hanging from the ceiling.
He cautiously approached the robot bird's body, it contained a bit of active remnant. He looked at the animatronic who still seemed to be vaguely conscious.
She wasn't a runaway killing machine, unlike him.
Why should he fight to survive every second of his life, while she grew up surrounded by children, music, lights and love?
A few cables came out of the body of the mangled bear, approaching the bird, surrounding her and holding her by the torso.
She made incomprehensible sounds, unable to utter a word.
She looked so tired and exhausted, her robotic moans sounded like cries and wails of pain and fear.
He held her tight, and split her in two, separating her body into two parts.
He approached, opening the jaws of the bear mask, and tore her arms off in search of a remnant.
He shattered her circuitry, dismantled her gears until her shrieks stopped in their tracks.
And he didn't care.
He knew she was shattered, she wouldn't be the only glamrock.
He probed inside the bird, searching for the nearly empty remnant deposits.
They were a small part, since most had been destroyed and spilled.
He ripped out her wires to put on himself, to use for his benefit and manually rebuild himself.
Suddenly, as he disarmed the bird, his golden eye gleamed with victory as his magnetoreception detected that the magnetic field plundering the remnant had been deactivated.
He took off, and with a jump he was hanging on the golden statue of Glamrock Freddy, laughter came from the funtime that quickly slipped into the vents activating his thermal vision to detect the heat of the remnant of the fallen glamrocks.
He stopped in his tracks as the voices of his counterpart Freddy echoed through the ducts.
He moved closer to the metal walls to listen intently with curiosity running through the wires of him.
- Was it them? - Asked the bluish rabbit to the bear that was carrying the child in his arms.
Glamrock Bonnie was injured and missing an arm, his left ear was missing and his eyes gleamed faintly. His exoskeleton was covered in marks from Scrapbaby's saw.
- No, it was the security guard... - The bear muttered with pain at his words, Bonnie seemed confused.
- Vanessa...? Did she really dare to...? - He seemed incredulous at first, but little by little he began to believe the reality.
- I don't know... I didn't arrive on time, at least he brought me to reality... Otherwise... - The bear stopped not wanting to continue the sentence, Bonnie shook his own head.
- Is he still breathing? - Bonnie asked with a small hint of hope in his voice.
Freddy looked at him wordlessly, his silence was answer enough.
- We can't trust anyone - Bonnie continued when he didn't find an answer from Freddy.
The bear nodded silently, hugging the inert body a little tighter.
Molten Freddy saw behind a ventilation grill as the bear took the boy in search of the mall's exit. For some reason, the rabbit did not go to him.
He froze listening to the conversation, confused, not understanding anything.
As he watched the bluish rabbit leave, the conversation sailed into his thoughts.
The human, she had managed to kill the child.
But there was something that Molten didn't understand.
Afton had been after that kid for a long time, insisting on going after him since the day he arrived at the Mega Pizzaplex. He was selfish enough to abandon anyone for his own benefit.
So... why didn't William Afton go after the boy and take the body after he murdered him? If that was his mission...
There was only one reason equivalent to that question.
A very simple answer.
Gregory was never Afton's real target.
Vanessa shivered back, frightened and overwhelmed.
But Afton's eyes shone with victory and fascination.
She looked up from her between gasps, and her eyes rested on his.
There was something wrong.
Summing up, Vanessa had murdered Gregory, after an arduous pursuit, Afton accessed the Mega Pizzaplex servers, hacking the security and obtaining all the necessary information.
He took out the Pen Drive showing it to the girl in front of him, took the briefcase and approached the woman.
The guard recoiled in panic, in shock she tried to get away from the killer rabbit, he hissed in annoyance.
- Vanessa - The man's voice sounded with his characteristic British accent that clashed with the woman's American.
She didn't show words, just trembled on the spot unable to react.
The man narrowed his eyes, relaxing his posture, took a step forward and began to approach the woman.
Vanessa walked backwards until her back hit the wall, he stepped in front of her.
The rabbit took the woman's hand and calmly placed the USB in the palm of her trembling hand. The girl seemed to calm down a bit, she swallowed hard, taking a deep breath, somewhat intimidated by his closeness.
The opposite raised his free hand to grab the woman's head by her chin and lift her up forcing her to look into his eyes.
Suddenly, a shiver ran down the woman's back, and as a survival impulse she jumped away to the side, escaping from his grasp.
A sting began to emanate from her hand, she looked at the memory stick that was covered in blood, her own blood. She looked at Afton, who tilt his head as one of his ears fell to the side, in his hands a bloody knife.
Then Vanessa faltered shakily, wondering exactly whose blood it was, and if he had tried to kill her without her suspecting.
She gasped when she saw him walk back to her, Vanessa gritted her teeth and backed away from him.
Afton stopped his pace upon noticing the woman's reaction. He blinked a few times as he shook his head and held up the briefcase showing it to the woman.
- I still have one last mission, Miss Vanessa - The man murmured with a soft tone. - Could I trust you?
The girl stared at him, he didn't move, he didn't make any sudden movement, he just blinked from time to time, static in that place.
After a few seconds she slowly nodded her head.
Like a frightened animal, she inched closer to him, while the man stared petrified at his site without taking his bright violet gaze from her.
Afton handed the briefcase to the woman and she took it, putting the USB in one of her pockets.
She with both hands held the object and raised the head to face the man.
- I need five, specifically five - He explained calmly, she didn't say anything, she just waited for him to give more details. After a few seconds, he continued speaking. - I want you to go and get at least one of them...
Vanessa sucked in air through her nose, swelling her lungs.
She nodded firmly and with the briefcase hugged to her chest as she turned to leave.
She felt tense noticing how as she walked away from her, he didn't take his eyes off from her.
She lightened her pace out of the Fazer Blast, missing his gaze.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she stopped feeling watched.
Sometimes Afton's piercing gaze was very uncomfortable and intimidating.
Especially when he stared without saying a word, as if he expected something unexpected to happen in that moment.
The woman frowned, he told her that she should look for 5 things, but he did not specify what.
She was confused, not understanding what exactly she should do.
She moved the briefcase away, passing it to one hand to hold it by the handlebar, with the other hand she took out the flashlight pointing it around.
Everything was eerily quiet, except for faint sounds of the fire that had risen and was beginning to spread from the FazCade, to the arcades, all the way upstairs to the El Chips restaurant.
From the floor below you could see the firelight illuminating and the smoke seeping through the doors and vents.
Little by little the fire expanded without any control.
She thought that she should hurry up, or at any moment they would all end up crushed under the flames and debris in case the mall came crashing down from the overweight of the fire and the pillars and walls destroyed.
A voice echoed in the woman's head.
"1 has it 1 man"
Vanessa heard Afton's voice communicating telepathically.
She nodded thinking, there were different security guards.
Samuel, the representative CEO of Fazbear Entertainment.
Henry, the former owner and founder of Freddy's.
Jeremy, a high-ranking security guard with past experiences.
And even Afton, who from time to time hovered passively controlling the situation, despite the fact that he occasionally made a dangerous appearance threatening the lives of those present. He was passive, but when he showed up, he was like a cannonball in action.
The names of many workers at the Mega Pizzaplex flashed through his mind, including Michael Afton, the late son of the newly appointed killer.
"2 hides between 2 locks"
She spun around, illuminating the walls and surroundings of the mall.
Between two locks, she thought to herself. It could be a high-security office, like the one at Monty Golf.
She flicked the flashlight seeing the Roxy Raceway, then rolled across the big stage to the Fazer Blast where she was coming out, then past the Kids Cove.
There were offices everywhere, at the main entrance, at Daycare, at the animatronics attractions, on Rockstar Row, and even in the basements and warehouses.
So she lowered the flashlight to the briefcase, a briefcase with two locks.
It was a viable option, but.. How was she supposed to open it?
She knew the whereabouts of the keys, one was held by Afton, who adamantly refused to give its location, and the other was held by Henry Emily, who would never reveal where the key was hidden.
"3 among the 3 robots, the only one still standing"
Again Afton's voice spoke.
Vanessa gritted her teeth, quickening her pace as she began looking for the security guards who were hiding somewhere.
Between the three robots, they could refer to Marionette, Baby, and Molten... Of which his whereabouts are completely unknown to her.
It could also be Chica, Bonnie, or Freddy, who were the main robots, but there would also be Roxanne and Montgomery. But... Who among them is still standing?
The idea of the three amalgamations of the Funtimes passed through her head: Foxy, Ballora and Freddy, which gives the result that only the last one is still standing.
"4 stands among 4 humans"
Vanessa stopped walking her.
4 humans?
Samuel, Jeremy, Henry and her...
It was her only guess.
So... she could tell that whatever she was looking for, one of the four of them had it.
But she still had the most important question. The answer to that was what she was looking for.
She waited patiently for Afton to continue giving the last hint, she smiled to herself taking more confidence.
It seemed like a game, a simple riddle... But of unknown reward.
"5 is caught by one of the 5 arms of him"
She fell silent.
It was the most abstract clue he could give...
Five arms... Who had five arms?
Musicman? He has six... Or he has four feet and two arms, or two feet and four arms... If they can be called that...
What if it was a paradox? Or a rhetorical clue?
What if 5 doesn't actually refer to arms?
Vanessa scowled with a snort.
She walked over to the elevators and pressed the button to call one of them.
She waited to come down while she thought of a reason or solution, but Afton always liked to laugh at people.
Clearly doing the hard work for her was a valid option for him.
She gave a loud, heavy sigh as she brought her hand with the flashlight to her forehead.
She winced as she turned off the object and entered the elevator.
Afton spoke again.
"Of those that exist, one is among four, three have been wasted and two are hidden"
Vanessa watched as the doors closed, she pressed the inside button and felt the elevator move.
She closed her eyes peacefully as she psyched herself up.
- I was never good at math... - Vanessa murmured, watching the doors open.
Vanessa trotted out of the elevator, her eyes darting around the room.
Despite Chica's mangled body on the ground, there seemed to be no sign of anyone else near.
She put the flashlight away from her to pull out the Fazer Blast's light gun.
She first had to find a way to open the briefcase and discover what valuable information she had there.
Later, she would take care of the presence of Molten Freddy who was watching her in the vents, Marionette was reflected in the shadows full of rancor and resentment, and Glitchtrap who followed her every step she took, driving away the two newly named, but luring the golden bear who every second that passed, counted one more number on the ticking time bomb.
But... can time stop for someone who stopped counting the seconds?
[...]