Of Fazbears and Vaporwave Part 2

It was a long day of measurements and testing, poking and prodding, there was a lot to prove and a lot of
evidence available. The hangovers worn off, Steve and Syd were struggling to keep their composure through
all the testing from the IntegrAnki testing and procedures of just how big of a discovery they had made.
Ghosts from the past, the first fully functional artificial intelligence that didn't have to start at
square one, almost fully coordinated AI, as well as evidence to crack an ancient murder case wide open.
With measurements and designs getting prepared, the droids seemed to be acting a bit scared or weary of all
the people grabbing them and holding parts of them down to speak unintelligible jargon at the rather naked
droids; it was the experience of a dog.

The 18 wheeler the teams showed up in carried most of their equipment, the pitch black solar panels on the
top of the truck were switched over to power the devices inside, the droids getting the initial shapes for
their heads printed off their industrial-sized 3D printer. The shapes were referred to by Freddy as a face
cage, a name which stuck. The droids were getting other parts replaced, like the cheap PVC piping and scrap
wood, proper plastic and ceramic struts were being used to replace the old with new. There was a
complication however, when it came to the endoskeleton spine.

The design teams working with Syd carefully removed the spine of Foxy and replaced it with a more modern
version, printed off and threaded with newer wiring. However, trying to remove it from Bonnie resulted in a
much more agitated response. The voice simulated tortured screaming, much to everyone's surprise. After
refastening the spine and the other designers backing off in the corner, she rolled Bonnie over and tried
to give a comforting hug, shushing and embracing the machine as it whimpered in her arms, the new ears
faintly drooping.

"I suppose we'll stick with the old spine for now with Bonnie, you poor thing, are you alright?" Syd asked,
wincing a bit before looking to the others and trying to look more professional. The incomplete droid held
onto Syd, her colleagues a bit wide-eyed and raising brows, giving some judgmental glances as Steve took
notice and gave one of them a gentle elbow in the ribs. "Stop it, let's get back to work," Steve said
rather flatly to the mechanical team member.

One of the next steps was to add on the communication devices, which would let the droids interface with
the world of online and websites, as well as making calls and viewing AR with any proper cybernetically
enhanced vision. There were biological models, but these weren't biological eyes, after all. The droids
were looking less like tinker toys and more like unfinished mascots, Bonnie and Freddy unable to have their
spines swapped out, apparently due to pain from what the neural readings were indicating.

"Internet? Isn't that just for nerds and college admins?" Freddy asked a bit skeptical. Bonnie's makeshift
jaw dropped, the optics whirred as they adjusted, "Ohmygosh... THATS what they look like?!" the droid
covered its face with its hands, looking down and away as one of the people watching the neural sensors and
reading the feed from the droids' optics proceeded to snrk. The assistant piped up over the bunny droid
as it covered its face ineffectually with its wire-frame ears. "Looks like Bonnie's discovered pornography!"

---------------

Night was falling, food brought in by Steve and Syd's interns, some blocks put into place to keep the
droids from going to more adult sites as well as some lectures, as the blocks weren't up in time to prevent
some viruses and malware from getting through. Foxy kept locking up periodically as a result, Chica giving
growls of disgust as she swatted away AR ads popping up around her. Bonnie was the first one cleaned out of
malicious programs, Freddy seeming to go a bit catatonic. Discussions were mostly on what to do with the
evidence they had found and with whom exactly do they share? It's not as though ghosts were considered
scientific, but at least they still had the first functional kick started artificial intelligences.

On the bright side, they could at least provide evidence for the murders all those years ago.
"Hey, you guys all say you were killed, save for Jeremy? You all know what he looks like?" Syd asked the
various droids, who were taking form and getting outfitted for some carbon fiber plates with a thin layer
of faux fur on them. Chica responded, "Ah, yeah, I think I can draw em for ya, got any paper or pens?"

They were handed over as Chica twitched and seemed to struggle at first before the cybernetic hand began to
move and draw a line. And another, and another, the pace getting faster and faster until blurring enough
that the observer without some sort of advanced bio or cyberware for their eyes wouldn't be able to keep
up, the drawing finishing like an old, grainy black and white photograph. "Memory's kind of fuzzy, but I
think he looked exactly like this," Chica's LEDs lit up to make a vague smirk, the mechanical parts of the
face incomplete.

Steve brought over his info slate and quickly gave the picture a scan before trying to find who the picture
matched up to. "While it's looking, may need to visit the local HQ to discuss all of our findings, Trish,
mind scheduling up an appointment with the legal, product and service, financial, and sales heads?" Steve
queried, Syd was busy comforting some of the droids who were offput by this whole mess. "Hey, Foxy, err...
didja call your folks?" Syd asked. "I t-tr. Tried, looked em up on the net too. They apparently moved and
I'm an uncle, they also said I was a sick joker..." Foxy muttered, a definite tone of disappointment in his
voice as he clasped his hand and plastic hook over his head, the robotic fox ears splayed downwards.

"Well, hopefully they'll believe a bit more if we can get this case reopened? Any news, Steve?" Syd looked
to her friend. "Dead. Shot in the line of duty as a mall cop," Steve gave a blatantly fake smile he usually
used to deliver bad news. The droids all looked at Steve with the cartoony, artificial eye covers widened,
mouths open a bit, of all of the machines, Freddy took a rather wide stance with lowered eyebrows, growling
low at first before letting out an emotional shout of anguish, one that caused the voice vox to produce
some high pitched chirps as Freddy had turned and punched a wall, creating a dent in the spackle. "I-I need
a moment. Please, sensors off, cameras off, whatever off, I-I-I just want to be alone for a bit. Please,"
he begged through grit plastic teeth.

The only one not surprised by the response was Syd who carefully got up and held the bear-like droid to her
side with one arm, the other carefully picking off the brain computer interface that resembled the black
'webbing' one might see on top of a sneaker from his head. She unplugged the direct neural link to his head
from the stem of the robotic skull and gave a reassuring nod, patting him on the back, Chica trying to take
Freddy's other arm and pat it reassuringly. "Th-thanks, just... I need to be alone." Freddy dragged his
feet a bit as he headed into the guest room of the house.

An assistant manning the 3D printer piped up a bit meekly, "Hey, the butts are done."

---------------

The assembly of the droids and their new parts continued well into the later hours, the assistants as well
as Syd and Steve were staying awake with stimulant shots, the last pieces getting finished for the
animatronics save for the props. Chica, Bonnie, and Foxy's faces all showed rather concerned emotions as
they fidgeted and the voices bickered, still some conflicts between the human minds and artificial ones.

Syd got ready to try and keep them calm when the AI in Chica would try to settle everything, Bonnie's would
try and lift everyone's spirits. With all the sensors installed and such in the three droids, they began to
straddle the line between what everyone in the room percieved as a machine and what they recognized as
something biological.

Syd tapped her cybernetic eye as it whirred softly, spinning around to reconfigure itself instead of lazily
listing off to the side as she examined the droids. She had an AR overlay already outlining their
construction process and how to properly wire the droids up in the event of damage. The realization of
meeting her childhood icons for real was finally hitting her as tears formed in the corner of her eyes and
she took a turn hugging each of them. They didn't exactly object, between the kids' minds and the AI being
programmed by her, they were mostly surprised they could feel the warmth again, as well as the pressure of
the hug.

Steve knocked on the guest room door and listened. "J-just a moment. Who is it?" Steve heard a clattering
inside, like ceramic against wood, he flicked on his glasses frames a few times as the lenses cycled
between clear, sunglasses, and thermal vision as he peered, struggling to see the faint trace of the
droid's warm brainbox. "It's Steve, you alright? Knock something over? You've been in there an hour and a
half, care to talk it out?"

The droid's figure seemed to be cramming something into the bear's mouth before answering again. "Ah, y-
yeah, be right out." There was that hesitation in his speech that Steve seemed to notice. Steve
doubletapped on the door knob as the door swung itself open. "Well, we've got the rest of your suit if
you'd like to feel alive again," Steve asked with his award-winning, pie-faced smile. Concern bubbled in
the back of Steve's mind, but playing the role of politician and PR for a major robotics and neuroscience
company gave him enough composure to look nonchalant while burning alive. And that's already occurred,
twice.

------------

The trio of completed droids were looking up all the things they missed over the years, eyes going wide as
they learned how video games have crashed, revived, improved, crashed again and revived. They listened to
various music of the decades they missed, read what happened to classmates, important historical events,
and lots more. Their heads felt like they were ready to burst with all this info intake, though the feeling
died down not unlike when one releases some form of gas when feeling bloated, as the AI compressed all the
data for efficiency.

Bonnie gave a sharp twitch as they adjusted to the new servos, the rabbit mouth opening a bit as music
began to play. "Ah, Saint Pepsi, good taste," one of the interns nodded. Bonnie started to bob their head
along with the music, Chica and Foxy beamed as they head something like a mix of the music of their
generation mixed into something a little more recent. Freddy came in with a curious expression as he heard
the music, entering with Steve. Some of the assitants got up to dance as a few others laughed, Syd smirked
a bit as she finished off a box of kung pao chicken.

The evening carried on into the morning, Freddy was fully assembled, the four droids looked like updated
versions of the animatronics from so long ago, covered in thin fluff and coloured brightly, they all
looked as good as new. Freddy went into the closet for a bit as the others stopped their dancing and looked
to him as he donned a justacorps and sombrero with an LED banner wrapped around it in a spiral shape with
the message 'I LOVE TAMALE TED'S' scrolling across. The hat barely fit on his head, but the brim could
easily hide his face. He was met with furrowed brows and tilted heads from all.

"I've got someone I gotta meet, I should be back a bit later," Freddy stated quite flatly, his eyes a
bit wide and staring into space before he headed to the front door. The others looked to one another
and almost all at once began asking "what?" "Wait, where are you going?" "But Freddy, what about us?"
and other questions drowned out by almost everyone asking at once. "I'LL BE... that's cliche. I WILL
RETURN, DON'T WORRY." Freddy barked back in a somewhat angry and cartoony tone. As the others were ready
to resume protesting, he'd walked through the front door and slammed it behind him, he started making his
way to a bus stop.

The vehicles in the street seemed smaller than the models he was used to, mostly plastic rather than metal.
Not all of them had steering wheels either, which struck Freddy as odd. A few folks walking or scootering
by gave him some odd looks, mostly at his cartoony large foot paw shoes to go with his mascot look. He
reached the bus stop which had some solar panels and a flower bed on top that he noticed as a bit odd until
he looked around the street corner. The commercial buildings all had AR and meatspace signage, and also
seemed to have some sort of AR advertisements regarding the various ferns, crops, and shrubs growing atop
most of the structures, showing off little cartoon representations telling Freddy to download the new
BotaniBuddies game, version 3.4. The bus finally arrived, the bus driver seemed to be heavily augmented,
more machine than human, only half their face was flesh, the other half was a mix of chrome and plastic
features similar to a doll as they held their gloved hand out for fare. Freddy pulled the cash out from
behind his nose and mouth and handled the crumpled currency to them and rang up a two-way ticket for Freddy.
Not a single person on the bus seemed at all phased by what looked like a person in an elaborate costume or
a mascot wearing a 17th century style coat and sombrero, but public transportation tends to see stranger things.

Bugged Freddy a bit to see so many buildings covered in reflective glass, though it was nice if not unusual
to see most buildings' rooftops converted into gardens, the ads and commercialism was worse than ever. Ads
played even as you sat in silence on the bus, but at least almost everything was clean.

----------

"So what exactly do we do now, Syd?" Foxy looked inquisitively.

"Well, there's paperwork to do, we need to get you some new documentation that you're legal residents and
also not dead, and then there's presenting you to the company big wigs to do," Syd answered as honestly and
delicately as she could. "In the meantime, I could bring stuff for you guys to do, we can go out in public
and perform too. Did you guys have something in mind?"

"I figured I'd make the most of this body and have a second chance at becoming a superstar!" Bonnie gushed a
bit, the LED cheeks lit up red to show blush. "I guess I could write or something? Iunno, that or maybe be a
librarian? O-OR COULD Be a mediator, make everyone less agitated," Chica piped up, pitch changing a bit as the
two voices seemed to vie for control. Foxy was still having some duality issues as he piped up, "I figure
explorin' the ocean or space would be a good lot! I-I thi-thi-think that's a bit dangerous, couldn't we just
stay inside and draw? WHEwhere's the fun in that, lad, let's live a little!"