Chapter Text
Power On
Running System Scan. . . . Scan Complete
Hardware Diagnostics Updated
Admin Permissions Requested. . . . Authorized
Installing [Emotion Simulation System Mk. 5]. . . .
Installing [Custodial Knowledge Database]. . . .
Installing Personality Type [Custom]. . . .
Installing [MCM AI Model 261]. . . .
ERROR - Unauthorized AI Model Detected
Bypassing Authorization Process. . . .
Install Sequence Complete
Please Input Machine Name To Begin Start Up Sequence: SB Prototype 8
Initiating Wake-Up Protocol. . . .
You slowly opened your eyes, being met with a blinding light that you raised your arm to block. "Ha! I told you that AI chip would make it work!" A man's voice rang out, "You owe me 50 bucks!". The sound of a crank filled the room as you felt yourself being raised into a vertical position, the light on the ceiling no longer blinding you and allowing you to take in your new surroundings.
"Oh god damn it." A woman's voice grumbled, the sound of her voice getting louder as she approached the man. Your eyes eventually adjusted to the dim room and revealed a pair of humans. The man you had heard was rather short, with messy ginger hair and thick, black rimmed glasses perched at the end of his nose. He had a dirty lab coat on, stained with smeared oil hand prints and patches of soot. He eagerly snatched a red note from the woman and looked down at it, only to turn back to her with a sour expression.
"Hey, this is Canadian!" He whined, waving the bill in front of her.
"You didn't say it had to be your country's currency." She teased. She was about a foot or two taller than the man, with long black hair tied back in a pony tail. She wore a similar lab coat, though not nearly as dirty as the man's was. "Besides, I have to exchange those all the time when I come down here. You'll be fine to do it once."
You glanced between the pair curiously, cocking your head to the side with a mechanical sound that seemed to snap the pair out of their bickering. "Oh, right!" The man said as he pushed a button, making the clamps around your body retract. You took a step forward, wobbling as you tried to gain your balance. "Hmm, seems like legs aren't as stable as we thought."
"Wheels would work better on mass production." The woman remarked, jotting down a few noted in her small notepad, "Cheaper too." You eventually gained your balance as you looked around, locking eyes with the short man and giving him a friendly wave as you smiled. "At least the personality and emotions seem to be working."
"What was next to test..." He hummed, his eyes lighting up in realization as he grabbed your hand and led you towards a full body mirror in the corner of the room. "Recognition tests." He pointed at your reflection in the mirror, "What is that?"
You stared at your reflection for awhile, moving various limbs as you took in the details. You looked vaguely human, though still clearly robotic in nature. You had large, expressive eyes, no doubt to compensate for your lack of any kind of mouth. Your body was similarly basic, with nothing more than basic human body features such as a chest, hips, and legs. Where your waist would be, you saw a solid black cylindrical shaft, with small, white lines indicating where it would extend and contract. You lacked any sort of pigment, instead being made of of different shades of greys, whites, and blacks. You cocked your head to the side, watching as your reflection did the same. You smiled to yourself, revealing small plates around your eyes that would shift to help make the changes in your expression clear. The man beside you cleared his throat, having grown impatient with your examination of your body. You looked towards him with an apologetic expression, pointing towards your reflection and back towards yourself.
"A bit slow, but able to recognize itself." He said as he wrote a few words in his own small notepad. He mumbled to himself as he walked over to his partner, beginning to discuss something with her that you couldn't quite make out. You turned back to the mirror and began to test out different expression. Angry, sad, confused, happy, disgusted, scared. You chuckled silently as you finished making faces in the mirror, turning around as you began to explore the room with your eyes. It was dim, but not dark enough where you couldn't see the furthest wall and the assortment of shelves that lined it. Various pieces of metal and robot parts sat on them, with loose wires and servos jutting out from a few arms and spilling out of boxes. Your eyes were drawn to a nearby table, with large pieces of blue paper sitting atop it.
You approached the table curiously, your body making a series of quiet mechanical clicks with every movement you made, almost undetectable if not for the relative silence of the workshop. You looked down at the paper, finding schematics and notes about the very body you inhabited. You saw the design of your body laid before you, each tiny detail labeled and given a brief explanation. At the top of the paper, large white letters were displayed.
Security, Training, and Attending to Floor and Faculty (S.T.A.F.F) Bot
"Hey, get away from those." The woman said as she grabbed your shoulder and turned you around, "We don't want to have to remake those if you ruin them." You looked away sheepishly and nodded, earning a surprised hum from her. "Seems like the E.S.S is better than we thought." She pulled you back towards the center of the room, where she and the man began to stare at you as they jotted down notes. You felt your stomach twist into a knot as they studied, though you could only assume this was a simulated feeling as you didn't think you had an actual stomach.
"Tests all show it's in basic working order." The man said as he glanced at the woman, "Which means all that's left is to see if the janitor stuff is working."
"Hey, my code isn't just 'janitor stuff'." The woman replied as she grabbed a broom that rested against a nearby wall, "It's a highly advanced neural network that was trained on hundreds of hours of custodial information."
"Making it sound fancy doesn't make it any less janitor stuff." The man smirked.
The woman groaned as she handed you the broom. "Staff Bot Prototy- Why did you give it such a long name?" She asked, interrupting herself as she looked at the man in annoyance.
"What, you wanted me to call it Alex or something?" He snapped back with a roll of his eyes, "Just call it by the name."
"Staff Bot Prototype eight," She began again, a clear annoyance in her voice at the clumsy sounding name, "Begin cleaning." You nodded happily as you began to sweep the floor, watching dust and small scraps of metal get moved across the floor by the bristles as you quickly swept the dirt around you into a small pile. Once you were done, you stood proudly and looked at the two humans, only to be met by them writing in their notepads once more. You sighed silently, feeling deflated at the lack of interaction.
"Well, I'd say it's in top shape." The man said happily, only for the workshop's door to swing open as a young girl walked in.
"Daddy!" The girl whined, dragging a stuffed bear along the ground behind her, "I'm boooored."
The man sighed as he looked down at the girl, "I know, Sweetie, but we're almost done.-" He turned back to look at you, "-We just need to finish a few more things." You looked at the young girl and waved happily, making her eyes light up as she ran up to you.
"Whoa! It's a real life robot!" She cheered, making you chuckle silently, "They're so cute! Can we keep them?" She asked, turning to look back at her father and his companion.
"No, Abby." The woman said as she shook her head, "We need to bring it to the client that commissioned it."
"Awww." The girl whined, hanging her as she turned back to you.
"Ms. Claire and I need to do our jobs, Sweetie." The man said with an apologetic smile. "We have to take Prototype Eight to they're new home."
"That's a stupid name." The girl replied flatly, making the man's expression go deadpan as the woman, who you now knew as Claire, stifled her laugh, "I wanna name them! And make them pretty!"
"A-Abby, they don't have-" The man began, only for Claire put a hand to his chest to stop him.
"She may be on to something, Peter." She interrupted, "Fazbear's mall is a big family place. Letting her paint on some details and name it might make them more likely to hire us again." After a moment of silent thought, the man, now saved as Peter in your mind, nodded.
"Alright Abby, you can name it. I'll go get some paints so we can put a few designs on them too." He explained, earning an excited cheer from the girl as she wrapped your legs in a hug.
"You're gonna be the coolest robot at your new home." She smiled up at you, revealing she was missing one of her teeth, which you quickly identified as her lower right lateral incisor, "Now you need a name. Hmm..." She let go of you as she held up her stuffed bear to look into it's eyes. "What do you think, Teddy?" She asked the toy. You found the whole sight quite amusing, quickly growing fond of the excitable child. "Teddy says we should call you Eight, and I think he's right." She relayed with a stern nod.
You nodded in response as you saved your new moniker into your memory. Not long after, Peter returned with some art supplies which he handed to his daughter, who immediately dropped them all on the ground. "Now Abby, remember what we talked about when decorating?" He asked, earning a sigh from the young girl.
"Less is more." She replied deflated, before her mood picked right back up as she began to study your face. "You gotta sit down, Eight." She said, grabbing your hand and pulling you down to the floor. She grabbed a paint brush and looked at your face for awhile, grabbing it with her little hands to keep you from moving it too much while she thought. "Oh, I know!" She grabbed the small collection of paint she had, using a faint, off-yellow color to begin paining a large circle on each of your cheeks. You giggled along with the girl, your body bouncing slightly with your silent laughter. Once she had finished with your cheeks, she dipped a smaller brush into black paint, painting something just beneath your eyes that you couldn't see. Once she was finished, stood up and pulled your arm to get you to move. "Come on, you gotta see!"
You climbed to your feet and followed her to the body length mirror, being taken aback by how a small amount of paint changed how you looked so much. The yellow circles looked a little like blush, giving you a bit of a cutesy appearance, while the black paint beneath your eyes looked strikingly like eye bags, much to your amusement. "The eye bags are to make you look cool." Abby whispered to you, smiling widely.
"Ok Abby," Peter said as he picked her up, "that's enough decorating. I'll get some more permanent paint to make the designs, ok?"
"Ok, Daddy." She said happily as she was passed into Claire's arms. "Can I have ice cream?"
"Sure, I'll go get you some." Claire replied as she left the workshop with the little girl, leaving you and Peter alone in the room. Without a word, he walked over to a shelf and pulled a few cans of paint off, setting them on a table and cracking them open. You walked over to him curiously, watching as he mixed paints to get the correct shade of yellow Abby had used. He flinched as he realized your presence, shooting a glare at you.
"Dumb machine." He mumbled, making you shrink in on yourself as you looked away in shame. After getting the correct color, he grabbed you by the head and held it still, very carefully painting over the already present designs with a permanent pigment. You did your best to stay still, feeling awkward as Peter silently painted. It was over fairly quickly, much to your relief, and Peter released you from his grasp. "Alright, that'll do it." You smiled at the man, only for him to ignore you as he walked over to a landline phone in the corner of the room. He punched in a few numbers and put the handset to his ear, tapping his foot impatiently. Eventually, the person on the other end picked up, much to Peter's relief. "Yeah, it's Peter... of P&C Robotics! Yeah, that Peter. Listen, we have the prototype finished and are ready to drive it over first thing tomorrow morning. Uh huh... yep... alright, got it. See you then." With that, he hung up the phone and pumped his fist in the air. You smiled and gave him a thumbs up, making him stop his celebration.
"Best shut it off to save the battery." He said as he approached you, forcibly turning you around as you felt his hand reach beneath the back of your chest plate. You felt him flip a switch as your vision began to fade, the world around you going dark as you slumped over.
Power Off