Chapter Text
Zapp never cared much for company.
That was of course hyperbolic and a bit extreme to state it that way, but it was how it felt to her at this point. People were complicated, curious, self centered, cruel...
Easier to just stay away from unwanted company, as any stranger have potential to become unwanted. Everything unknown. Really she was fine by herself and her job was perfect for that.
Not just with how the pizzaplex operated on hiring as few human staff as possible, saving money by using automation and robots instead, to save a few dimes. But her position in particular was very isolating and she preferred it just like that.
Even without company she got designated a nickname by someone thinking themselves funny. 'Get it? Zapp? Cuz you fiddle with the robots and wires!' After that she didn't indulge in the staff chat anymore, yet the name stuck somehow.
Parts and service a department of the complex down below the areas full of customers and wandering animatronics. So well isolated one would never hear the thousands of footsteps, not even when a show was performed on the stage right above. Not quiet like a tomb, as it was full of wires and computers, the constant hum of a loudspeaker left on in case of emergency messages, and whatever music any staff present at the time left on on the radio in the corner. Thanks to the penny pinching it was usually only one employee on shift at a time down there.
Yes, just how she liked it. Spending her days fiddling with machine parts and motherboards, keeping everything sorted and tidy. Awaiting for any bots or animatronics sent down for repairs or maintenance. The simpler bots often needed a few scratched buffed out, or crossed wires fixed when caught slamming themselves against a wall due to glitching. Worst was the infamous map bot, that often time came down into parts and service for a dent in its chest or head. No matter the attempts at debugging it kept jumping visitors any chance given, and sometimes a customer reacts to fight or flight with fight.
Today was dedicated the much more refined animatronics. The monthly maintenance checkup with some updates to the AI. Usually just a bit of debugging based on any reports on odd glitches and behaviour, but this month was also scheduled for a full software update. The programmers always working hard on adding to the coding and try implement more believable behavior, more alive, more marketable. Her expertize was robotics, the hardware, and couldn't begin to understand the work put into creating an illusion of a living thing through nothing but codes given the ability to manipulate a shell. Fascinating. The other bonus of her job other than the isolation, getting this technology up close.
Zapp enjoyed the animatronics. The fascination of human ingenuity. Robot company, at least for a day trip to too expensive games and rides, overpriced food, to marvel at and play with.
Through her first year at the pizzaplex she had front row seat to observe the development of these top of the line robotic marvels. She didn't really get to interact with them much, as they had to be shut down for maintenance. And she was no fool not thinking they were harmless little toy plushies. Many layers of safeties that had to be shut off during upgrades, making it a very delicate procedure to perform. Heard of one guy on the other shift ending up in the hospital for a month once. A warning to keep in mind that these were indeed just machines and without their safeties, they were unhinged tools lashing out without thought. Couldn't really blame them for that. The flaws of man's hubris when forgetting the dangers of the tools he created.
At this point the AI was so high functional the animatronics would go down to parts and service themselves when the scheduled maintenance ticked in on their mainframe, always connected to the shared data base making it easy to keep track of everything. They came in the same order as always. Chica becoming quite the chatterbox with each update, seems like they wanted her more approachable for the energetic and talkative kids. It was almost a blessing when she was shut down for the update procedure. Roxy felt like an angsty teen with an attitude problem, presumably to make her popular among the older kids and teens. Same with Monty though that one was more the quiet but posing type, the tough guy, rather than the self praising Roxy kept pouring over herself. Apparently just trying to sell an image of self love or something. Zapp wasn't part of marketing and had no idea how their brainstorming meetings for these kind of ideas go.
Freddy, the calm and soft spoken one, the most popular just by being the face of the franchise itself and marketed first and foremost to the youngest before they might decide to pick another favorite eventually. Seemed to have grown a stronger and stronger need to be of service, always asking ”Can I assist you?” whenever making it down to parts and service for his checkups.
And Bonnie. In the same vein as Freddy, like Chica one of the 'oldies' when it came to the character itself. Roxy replaced an old character the CEO seemed to think came off too aggressive, and Monty was simply added to expand the collection of animals they could make toys of.
Bonnie a soft spoken animatronic, like Freddy aimed at the younger kids, leaving the rowdy teens to Roxy and Monty.
Arriving on time as always, the animatronic stood in the door to parts and services as Zapp looked up from her task notes. Waving at her with the face contorted in the best attempt of a smile the design so far allowed. Still better than some designs in the past. Too much teeth. Terrified the kids. Now the focus was on a more 'live' body language and tone of voice from their voice boxes. That also did get better with each generation of these things.
”Hello, nice to see you again, champ!” Bonnie called out as he stepped in now she had seen him. ”It's been too long,” he declared with the perfect tone of genuinity Zapp didn't consider herself the type to have favorites among these robots, that felt childish. Though she could still admit Roxy's attitude easily got on her nerves, Monty was a dumb jock, Chica talked too much and hyperfixated on food, Freddy too eager to please and Bonnie... Bonnie was alright, to some extend.
She waved him off towards the cylinder in the middle of the room. Had a special upgrade for this one today, to help with performance, and not just the new software update package. Obediently Bonnie headed to the chair in the cylinder and seated himself. As part of procedure the animatronics would be strapped down securely, and shut down into sleep mode. As well as the cylinder's opening closing itself shut and locking. A loud speaker as part of it all announcing the necessity of these safety measures in case of malfunctions. Of course the great flaw was whatever staff INSIDE the cylinder with the robot was left in danger if anything went wrong and they couldn't get out. But kept everyone else outside safe.
The hubris of man creating something that could easily become such a danger it had to be isolated and imprisoned. She was no fool, she had looked up every bit of available data about the job and the dangers it entailed. A lot of wavers to sign before you could start work. But the medical insurance was out of this world, and the wages high enough to be considered hazard pay.
Zapp was one of the best as far she was concerned, never one incident but refusing to allow herself to slack and get sloppy just because nothing had happened yet. Just think of Mike last month. That's what happens when you get sloppy.
Bonnie was still once shut down. Never fully down, that was were the danger lied. Rebooting from complete shutdown was a hazard to this hightech machinery and software, so it was more like a sleep mode. Zapp watched her screen as it dictated safety mode shut off as well, to allow access to the coding. But first the new physical upgrade. The developers of thes machines always observing and developing new ways to improve these things bit by bit, until it would finally just pay off better to scrap them and replace with a new model built from scratch. Wanting the animatronics to actually play the instruments and not just mimicking to playback, it demanded far more delicate hands and digits. Turns out imitation certain parts of the human experience differed greatly between the different parts. A hurdle they overcame but still felt could be improved and Bonnie was going to run the test of the latest upgrade. A bunny with claws did feel off to her, but turns out they greatly helped playing a string instrument when not relying on a human hand. These new re-enforced hands should make the performance even better.
With the utmost of care as always Zapp replaced the old with new, made sure it was all connected. A slight pause when feeling a twitch going through the animatronic. Freezing up but relaxing again when nothing happened. Perfect job once again. Now to the software update. ”A new package for your skull and new digits for your hands,” Zapp mused out loud. Not typically the type to talk to herself, but couldn't help but make comments to the animatronic while they were lying there shut down. Not like they would remember once booted back up again. Each update to the AI meant to make them more life like, add a bit more to their personality, and fix out a few of the usual bugs noticed and reported. This part of the procedure did cause the animatronic to start twitching a bit more, but nothing to feel as alarmed over. The data streaming through the system, adjusting and adapting. Soon enough the loading bar finished and it was done.
She breathed out, easy peasy. Just a quick checkup now for anything in general. Chica was usually a nightmare just by all the food stains and half chewed leftovers somehow ending up inside its chassis. Last Freddy was in for maintenance she found several pieces of gum stuck to its back, probably by troublesome kids. Bonnie was usually clean and orderly, at worse needed regular checkups on its hands for wear-down. Not as much due to the position in the band as the fact it was also the bowling mascot. Which the new reinforcement should help with. Why this one was picked as the tester, just to see how well they would last.
Now to put safety back on before rebooting and- she spun her head back to the animatronic, noticing a twitch going through the full frame of Bonnie. Usually shouldn't do that at this point. She paused, watching, waiting. Nothing. Probably nothing, but should note this in the report. Always came with glitches with new software packages after all. Procedure over, the animatronic was rebooted and the straps undone. Taking a moment before the animatronic suddenly sat up, swinging its legs over the edge of the chair. Looking at her with its head tilted. They always came out acting a bit disoriented after this kind of ordeal. Giving the animatronic the time needed, Zapp got off her chair, grabbing her clipboard to mark off the procedure from her list of tasks for the day. The cylinder's door unsealing and opening to let her out now all safeties modes had been reactivated.
”These are new,” she heard behind her, looking back to see Bonnie had gotten up on his feet, staring at his hands. Huh, not an expected reaction.
”Yeah, new upgrades. So you can play the bass better. And not wear your hands down as fast when bowling,” she explained. Whenever she found herself talking to the animatronics it was always a marvel to her how well the AI did to seem alive like this. How much was just a pre-decided script it relied on and how much was it able to improvise when facing new data?
”I see,” Bonnie said, tilting his head as he studied his hands. Same colour and everything as the old ones, just new and with a bit more sturdiness to them. ”Why, thank you.” The animatronic looked up to perform that mechanical attempt at a smile. Then seemed to just stare at her for some reason, leaning down a bit closer. Kind of felt like the time she first got introduced to each of them and they took a moment to scan her face for recognizion in the database. She wrote it off as after effect of the new update. Then he leaned closer.
”I haven't asked before abou-” When he reached his hand up for her face she smacked it aside. Well, she smacked her hand against it and the built in safety measures made sure his arm gave instead of letting her get hurt hitting an immovable object. Human versus machine was easy gamble if it wasn't for the safety measures, that was for sure. She pulled back, pushing her cap down over her face. Usually only had to do that around living humans, not the robots satisfied with just her face matching the photo she had been forced to provide for her digital profile.
And what did it mean 'haven't asked about'? That was none of its business!
Looking back up a Bonnie he had stepped back. Looked.. hurt? Damn those programmers making those AI's and coding their behaviour. ”Get back to your green room, NOW,” she growled, turning away.
”I didn't mean to-”
”Your maintenance has been complected and you got work to do.”
Why was she arguing with it now? At worst some of the others might talk smack *CoughRoxyCOUGH* but they usually obeyed the orders from staff as long they were within the perimeters of their programmed tasks.
”I'm sorry, buddy.” The words were pitiful. Even in her annoyance she couldn't help but admire the work done on these synthetic voices to hit just right.
”You always take good care of us, I just wanna be your friend.”
She frowned and turned back to face the animatronic once again. Fiddling with his hands, hunched over to seemingly not appear as large and threatening as was too easy for a robot his size. Wasn't first time he rambled about a friend request, same with Freddy and Chica. But they typically just seemed to assume and moved on, friendship archived, now go play with the kids.
This was more direct. Zapp sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Maybe they tuned up the friendship-o-meter too much on this one. She would make sure to add it to the weekly bug report.
”Sure, now get going,” she replied, giving a softer tone. This did seem to perk him up again.
”Really?”
Another, heavier sigh from the engineer.
”Yeah, sure, really.. Just get going, git!” She waved her clipboard at him, like one waving off a cat. It seemed to satisfy the animatronic at least, appearantly seeing this as playful. With a new pep in his step he finally headed for the door that would take him to the elevator to his green room up above. She still had a few more animatronic updates scheduled for the day, Chica would be next.
_ _ _
Her shift finally over, Zapp headed for the staff elevator up. Managed to get all the animatronics through their updates, and made note of their immediate behavior. Definitely a change. They already acted pretty well to imitate human behavior, making it less of a fluke how Bonnie had acted. Well, it had still been the one most forward, and dared trying to touch her. The others at least kept from that.
Only other thing of note was Freddy's decision to call her 'superstar' which she knew was reserved as a pet name for kids. Probably just an adjustment period, no new updates without its kinks. Not unusual the animatronics called staff whatever nicknames they were programmed with. Apparently they couldn't get too friendly using names.
She had written her report on her observations and packed up. She didn't change from her uniform, the clunky jumpsuit required for maintenance staff, until she made it home. It wasn't a flattering outfit but she could at least use it as inner monologue excuse to blame for her figure's appearance. It didn't mean anything to anyone who ever saw her, the elusive parts and service engineer who avoided contact with any other human staff in the pizzaplex. Was just how it worked for her. She didn't liked to be seen.
After Bonnie's comment when reaching for her face, she had spent rest of her shift the way she usually only did when leaving its confinement at risk of facing other people. Her black hair pulled over to cover the left side of her face, including her eye - her cap down over her face to keep it there. Great, now she had to be self conscious around the AI's too. Wonderful. Not like it was a big secret, anyone looking up her profile in the data base would find the photo she had been forced to hand over, showing her face in full, for identification and facial recognition.
She just rather they kept it to that than giving her the curious looks or pity up front.
Granted it hadn't been pity she gotten from Bonnie, but the curiosity, the need to ask, the uncaring hand reaching out to TOUCH without permission.
This was why she didn't have any favorites.
Her way to the exit nearest her car took her past the green rooms. Most of their inhabitants turning in for the night, the curtains pulled to hide them away. Of course the animatronics didn't sleep. And couldn't be turned off due to the whole pile of reboot issues it could cause outside maintenance. It was just a place to keep them once the kids had gone home and there were no more visitors to entertain.
Chica never seemed to pull her curtain, just dancing around in her room to her own tunes played on her instrument. Ever so energetic. Roxy by her vanity, ever the symbol of high self esteem and vain self absorbance. Yes yes, give kids THAT for a role-model.
And there was Bonnie, the curtain pulled yet left open enough him to stand and peek out. His ears perking up as he waved watching her go by. Not... unusual, Bonnie was the friend maker, even if a bit on overdrive today. He would often be seen looking out to wave at staff, just to make any connection.
She couldn't really blame him for anything, just following his programming. Wasn't his fault. Of course she shouldn't feel apologetic about it either, he was just a machine. An it. But still she raised her hand, giving half a wave as she rushed by. Not looking back to see any reaction from him. Probably just the same as always. Happy body language to make up for the difficulty of a proper smile as a robot.
She was soon out and heading home to rest after a long day of work.