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As much as things had changed, there were still the bliss of old routines. At least the ones the survivors hadn't managed to overwrite yet or decided was worth keeping.
Moon wandered the main atrium of the mega pizzaplex as always, during the lockdown hours. Only based on the routine of the clocks rather than the old tell tale signs. The lockdown no longer lifted for the hours it used to. And the lights no longer changed between on and off hourly. Saving the energy all venues and useless technology had been turned off permanently, with few exceptions. Whatever was a necessarily was permitted energy, such as the charging stations.
In the dark Moon saw the silhouette of an animatronic wandering its nightly route as himself. They also wandered in the day, but took these quiet night hours more seriously. It was when they were programmed to activate security mode. Quiet hours of bliss they could fall into routine than the mess their lives had become.
Of course not all was quiet. The humans had parted into groups between who stayed up at night and who took care of things in the daylight hours. But at night they avoided roaming, leaving the pizzaplex to the animatronics. The human instinct of avoiding the dark. They weren't built for it. Moon was. With all the lights off, he saw the atrium as brightly as Sun would in the day. If he ever dared to wander that far when it was his turn to be out. But he never did. Never would.
They were no longer locked in the daycare. That place had been closed down to save energy and looted for everything the humans saw value in. The computers and tools as the security desk. The toys and blankets, everything soft for makeshift beds, anything distracting for the kids and even some of the adults needing something, anything, to fiddle with least their hands began to shake.
Sun merely made himself home in their midst, and stayed in those locked off rooms full of humans, scared and angry. He was a blessing to them, helping distracting the kids when the other animatronics wandered their routes around the complex. Sun wasn't built with a roam function, might as well make use of it.
But the humans sure were happy to let Moon wander off. Nothing new there, they remembered the mess it was to try get around his safe mode being off, his glitching when they started to sleep in shifts instead of respecting bed time. They got less ervous around him, as well as some of the other animatronics, once they managed to reactivate safe mode. Once they realized it wasn't necessary to keep it off. But the damage had already been done.
A pause in his wandering, Moon sat on a rafter up in the ceiling, looking down. The atrium was mostly empty besides the line of trash and tables put up, circling the many doors. Leftovers of the security bots and other service automatons that would be useless energy wastes, now used as dead weight for the barricades. A single mop bot had escaped the fate, still wandering the pizzaplex. The humans had given up hunting it down, hoping it would eventually break down without maintenance.
Things had changed a lot, despite what routines might still be in effect.
As a Fazbear animatronic, Moon wasn't programmed to care or wonder about the outside world. Along with the safety precaution that it would be difficult to find ways to recharge without the stations in the pizzaplex. Even more so now, according to the bits he caught from the distraught humans discussing the outside. The pizzaplex still ran thanks to its generators that was cheaper to run than paying the monthly electricity bill in full. Now it was a scramble to ensure those generators kept going without the outside grit.
He remembered the day they came. The hoards of people, screaming and scared. It was in the day, so it was the memories interlocked with Sun's. They had been in the daycare as always. But heard the screams. The panic. Never even before experienced such sounds as gun shots. Much rarer noise now they had to preserve the ammo, not daring to venture outside looking for more. But that day, the noise rang over and over and over and...
He had seen them through Sun's eyes, heard the adults screams just like the children when they forced their way through the doors. He remembers their shared confusion. What was that. Those things. The way they moved. Nothing in their data base gave any answers. They looked human. But moved wrong. The scanners showing the lack of pulse and heart beat. Remembering standing frozen when seeing one of the things grab a living human, heard the tone of screams Moon knew well.
Lights had then been turned off, allowing Moon out. Still frozen in confusion until enough screams of 'do something' came through. So he did.
Not many made it out of the daycare that day, but it was a matching scene in most of the pizzaplex. The other animatronics and robots just as frozen and confused, thrown into scenarios they were never programmed to calculate and choose an action for.
By the time the lockdown initiated, earlier than it should thanks to a technician managing to force an overwrite, things were chaos. Such chaos. So many lifeless forms, so many moving that shouldn't have been able to.
Cleanup was a nightmare. Damage control even worse.
Staff automatically took authority, they knew the pizzaplex in and out. They had the access codes and keys. And the animatronics were programmed to obey them.
When safe mode was activated. Though some orders and routines still got through even with safe mode off. Can only attack stragglers when they are alone, so no one was permitted to be on their own at night, not even during bath room breaks. Groups of at least 3 adults. Until the surviving programmers could work around the broken codes of the animatronics during the day.
The debate on whether or not to put safe mode back on or just try work around it. They needed the security, their own weapons limited. Needed the animatronics ready to tear apart those things.
Sun proved all that worry about safe mode on or off wasn't necessary. He never had safe mode off. That was only Moon. Sun proved these things, walking corpses, weren't protected by safe mode. They didn't register as human, as staff, guests, fellow animatronics or even animals. Even the little ones, so much like the children Sun looked after, didn't register as human when without a heart beat yet still moving.
Damage was still done that some of the animatronics were left without the trust some of the others had. Just because the humans oh so loved to play favourites, even if they didn't realize it.
Cleanup had been a mess, but not impossible. The corpses, both of the things and humans, dragged outside to avoid diseases to spread. Any time a human terminated for any reason, their empty husk was dragged outside. Only the husks of the robots were used for the barricades.
Lockdown had been overwritten to stay permanently. Games and venues their power rerouted to keep the place quiet and preserve the hardworking generators for the priorities most needed for the humans.
Moon had no idea how the outside was beyond the pile of human husks. Couldn't wander further. There were nowhere to go even before the world broke down. Sun is always around the children and doesn't want to listen in on the adults, no matter Moon's pleas. Things changed to much and he wished to know. Sun didn't. Sun always ran on denial and faked positivity.
But Moon caught just bits and pieces now and again. The humans discussing their resources. How long the generators could keep going. What they should do. How many of them were left. Whether or not there were anyone else somewhere out there. Somewhere safer. And the reluctance of going out there to look. How long they could stay. The optimistic assessment was they could last for years thanks to the pizzaplex built like a fortress and how the artificial ingredients in all the food practically kept it from ever going bad. The pessimistic pointing out it wouldn't stay safe forever. It wasn't even safe now.
Some suggesting to leave and take the animatronics with them. Only to be shut down, because there would be no means of recharging them out there. As much as Moon could gather, for now all they could agree on was to stay huddled in the depths of the pizzaplex and wait. Wait for someone, anyone, to come for them with news of better safety elsewhere.
All arrangements within the pizzaplex was all only just 'for now'. Moon wondered how long the generators would keep running once the humans left. Wondered if the other animatronics thought the same. They mostly seemed focused on just here and now. To protect the humans while struggling with the programmed routines going against current orders. Animatronics don't talk to one another like humans do. How they feel, their fears and worries beyond just following the orders and the programming.
Even after stark reminders of how... human they had made the animatronics, the actual humans rather keep treating them as things.
Years and years of management pushing for realism in the AI - make them as alive as possible. Never stopping to see what it did.
Roxanne Wolf wandering the pizzaplex like a warrior princess of the wasteland, playing up this role put on her by admiring children and teens. Only to be found curled up in quiet corners making crying sounds and motions, anxious and stressed, more self conscious than ever. Knowing she can't protect them all. Who programs an animatronic AI with self esteem issues?
Monty's anger management issues not making him popular among the survivors. The more he acted up against authority, just because he acted on the personality given to him but glitched to be amped up too high when under stress.
When they had to shut down Chica permanently, as she kept destroying their stockpiles of food. Couldn't get around her gluttonous glitch, she didn't even need to eat but couldn't stop herself. Was deemed more trouble than worth the safety. Couldn't keep them safe if they starved.
The horror of the other animatronics when seeing her torn apart, scavenged for parts to use for repairs. At least some of the humans had the decency of acting guilty, feeling remorse - even when scolded by others for feeling sorry over some robots only imitating human behaviour.
Yeah, they only imitate and follow a set programming. But that programming was to be as human as possible and feel their emotions. Moon wasn't a big fan of it. Left that to Sun. The one perk of their duality processor. Sharing certain codes and memory, yet enough apart to have different behaviour and routines.
A sound brought Moon out of his thoughts. One of those human behavioral traits he couldn't escape at this point. Getting caught in thoughts and forget the world around him. Inefficient. Annoying.
But any noise in this area had to be investigated closely. Especially since it came from the plates covering the doors out of the pizzaplex's main entrance area. Too much noise would attract them.
The noise sounded like a fist hammering against the door cover. Weak, yet determined. A lazy rhythm, took several seconds between each beat. Moon knew what it was making that noise. A living human would be frantic, faster, use both fists.
The animatronic would climb up, instead of going to the door, finding a failing vent too high for anything to reach except himself. A tight squeeze bit he was limper enough to make it.
Outside. The cool night air something his sensors was able to pickup although not built for it. The sensors in the surface of his limbs meant to feel when touching and be able to calculate a grasp that wouldn't destroy whatever he held. These rare trips outside kept catching him by surprise what else he could feel.
No time to spare on this discovery that felt new every time, he looked down. Just one, slowly hammering at the door. He couldn't see anyone else nearby. Good. Easy to dispose of.
He leapt off the building.
Had he any human biology like a stomach, he might describe the sound as nauseating. Despite the lack of those biological functions, he still felt disgusting covered plenty.
9 foot tall animatronic, steel and plastic, quite the match against a decaying corpse when landing ontop of it with full weight. Efficient and quick, even if disgusting. Had to be quick. These things seemed to reach to noise and movement. One getting worked up, it would attract more. They didn't more to come around.
Moon took his time to look around, making sure those vague silhouettes far in the distance had not decided to investigate and join whatever the first one had started. Some stood still, some staggered aimlessly. Without a target, they were docile and without purpose. But such a mess when they begin to move in unison.
At least they seem to ignore animatronics, other than lashing out upon noise or movement. They wanted the humans, the beings with a pulse and a heart beat.
After brushing as much off of himself as he could, Moon moved the remains to the pile gathered in the parking lot. They things didn't seem interested in the husks. They wanted the living, though sometimes he would catch sight of groups gathered around any fresh human husk that had to be thrown on the pile to rot with the rest.
For some reason he had felt disgust with himself for the momentary comparison to Chica, while watching them tearing the human corpse apart.
His job done, Moon returned to the pizzaplex, swiftly climbing up to his exit, now his entrance.
Returning to the atrium he saw Monty by the spot the noise had been. Looking up upon Moon joining him. Just nods, signalling the issue had been handled and things were safe. For now.
Animatronics don't really talk that much between themselves. Sharing data base all they had to worry about was their orders given by humans.
”I saw Freddy nearby,” Monty then spoke, startling Moon. He tilted his head, the gator ignoring how this headtilt had his whole faceplate turn upside down.
”Is that kid again and his stupid plans.”
Ah, yes. Everyone's favourite troublemaker. Making Freddy go outside protocol, Moon wondered what they had done this time and if they were the reason that thing outside had noticed life might be hiding within the walls of the pizzaplex.
Moon's faceplate corrected itself back to proper position. Well, no need to tattle, Sun would know through Moon's memories, whether he liked it or not.
”Gonna cause enough trouble one day,” Monty declared darkly, looking at the closed and locked up doors they guarded. Moon agreed. But felt sure the humans would just find a way to blame it on the flaws of the animatronics instead of human errors. The nature of humans.
Not getting a conversation, if that was even what he wanted, from Moon, Monty turned around to leave. They both knew the time. 6Am would come around soon.
Even with the lockdown made permanent, even the computer systems struggled with going out of routine, like the animatronics. A glitch might occur, just the tiniest bug, and the doors would try and open, speakers declaring loudly that the venues were opening. The noise, the safeties gone, plenty a risk to attract a horde.
So it was a new routine. The animatronics placing themselves strategically by the doors, waiting. If anything happened, they would be ready. A human would make their way to a control panel, ready to try and overwrite the system again should the bug occur.
Moon felt Sun stir within their processor. Not because the day would starts soon and he would have to return to the lit up rooms with all the children waiting to be distracted. No, he felt that little hope lingering.
Hit by the memories of the day they faced a horde, the day they all too late realized the risk of the doors unlocking and opening at 6am despite the change in lockdown schedule. Caught by surprise, the humans were sitting ducks. Their only luck being the horde focused on the group they needed to approach through one corridor. Had more animatronics been present they could have tried to block it. But there was only Freddy nearby at the time.
And Sun.
Lights were on, Moon couldn't come out, and still remembers the cries of fear all around. Noises he knew well, but now in such a loud cacophony all around him. He didn't think he could do anything anyway had the lights gone out, feeling overwhelmed.
That's when Sun moved. Pushing Freddy aside. The Daycare Attendant much taller than the Glamrocks, although thin. His long limbs easily able to reach each side of the corridor, maybe he could block it more effectively.
But that wasn't what he was doing.
Instead he had charged at the incoming swarm of dead husks.
The day they learned safety mode didn't had to be deactivated for the animatronics to fight back the undead. They weren't alive. They register as friends, or humans, or anything. Except for threats. Of all the safety measures built in, they didn't cover what Moon had heard the humans refer to as zombies or 'walkers'.
Sun kept them back enough for the other animatronics to make it to, move barricades to keep the horde from spreading to the rest of the pizzaplex. The humans with guns finally gathered enough to join in, fight off the swarm until the pizzaplex could be locked down again.
Sun was a hero to the humans that day.
They thought he was protecting them for their sake.
Moon knew better.
Moon was no fan of the installed emotions and empathy in their shared processor. He left that to Sun, who had to imitate the most. Be friendly, happy, caring, empathetic – be as human as possible. But obedient, an item, a product made to obey. Feeling the stress and anxiety the fools making AI with no idea what they were doing. The neurotic mess Sun was deep inside, only held back by safe mode and the strict programming they followed.
The walking corpses weren't protected from him.
Moon had felt the rage, the stress, the flood of emotions Sun could finally let loose. He doubted no human had heard the laughter erupting from the sun themed Daycare Attendant as he lunged into the horde and tore them apart. Yet they ignored it. Sun was a hero, beloved as Freddy, the caretaker and nurturer.
Sun would follow his programming, strictly as ever, Moon felt the sense of relief coming over him. Finally getting air for all those thoughts and emotions building up that even Moon had ignored, not taking seriously.
All these thoughts flooding him now, feeling Sun stirring within. Hoping. Oh how he hoped, he prayed.
Let the doors glitch, the lockdown deactivate. Let the speakers announce too loudly its static message of opening hours and liabilities. Let it attract them, all as one, coming in one wave. Let him rip and tear, feel that relief of stress and anxiety, imagining living faces upon something not safe from him.
Moon stood still, only a light twitch showing anything might be going in what the humans might refer to as a 'headspace'.
They couldn't protect them forever from a horde, sooner or later the barricades would fail, couldn't hope to stay lucky. They were only so many animatronics, they could only do so much. And without the humans the pizzaplex would eventually shut down, the generators go out, they would have no means to recharge. No where to go.
Wouldn't that be great?
Sun had asked that before. They all thought he was the safest one, the neurotic behaviour easy enough to shrug off. Always compliant and easy going, obedient and oh so dedicated to cheer everyone up. A hero. If only they knew the thoughts Moon had to note from his counterpart.
Imagine that. Getting to rip and tear until either they are all gone... or our batteries have run out. No power to recharge. Just shut down. Free of it all. The messes, the screams, the touches, the voices, all the NOISES.
To sleep at last.
Moon stood waiting, watching the doors.