A Radical Development

    "Uh, hello, hello? If you're hearing this, then congratulations! You've exceeded all expectations thus far and made it to your final night of the week! Well, unless you end up putting in some overtime tomorrow. Given what you likely have dealt with so far, you probably wouldn't. But it sure would be swell if you did! The turnover rate at this job is, uh, well, you probably can guess. Anyways, I should get right to it then and not take too much more of your attention. Now, you might have noticed the renovations on that new section of the restaurant has been completed. If so, you may already have seen the recent addition to the Fazbear Family. I know I know, you're probably upset by this. But I guess it wouldn't be Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria if Management wasn't pulling stunts like this. Sorry, I'm digressing. Uh, the new animatronic should have been left in the, uh- 'Arcade' area. Yeah, I'm not all too keen about adding newfangled machines like these to make money. My pastor said that 'vidyajames' are the devil. Why can't we stick to good Christian fun like skee ball? Well in any case, that section has been added to the camera system. Have a good night and good luck with the fresh face!"

    "Fantastic. Another murderbot." thought the security guard as he finished listening to the answering machine. While he had had the tape going, he was already flipping through the cameras. Immediately he had settled into his routine for the night. Pacifying Freddy, making sure all was quiet in the cove, eyeing the bird and bunny, and ignoring the poster of Golden Freddy. This guard was savvy to the way they all worked from his experiences over the week. From the likes of Bonnie and Chica double teaming him, to Foxy's mad dashes into the door, to the business bear's trips to the Woman's Bathroom. He'd seen it all. Save for the newcomer. Training the camera on the Arcade area, the employee took in the animatronic's appearance. Instantly he was repulsed by it, thinking the machine belonged in the trash.

    From the shape of the chassis and the wings, it looked to be modeled on a bat of some sort. Tall and lanky, with long spindly arms with what appeared to be support spikes along the joints for the "wings". If they could even be called that with the cheap fabric stretched over each pointed support, reminding the guard of a poorly made umbrella. Panning his view up to get a better look at its face the guard was greeted with its visage. Upon which was bizarrely enough, an overlarge pair of anaglyph 3D glasses. The clashing aesthetic between the colourful glasses and the drab grey of the animatronic had the guard wondering what the point of it all was. On top of that, it seemed that Management had gone even cheaper with materials, skimping on the faux fur even. Its chassis was mostly just metal aside from faux fur on its torso akin to a collar of sorts. No matter how the guard looked at it, he couldn't see how the higher ups could possibly have signed off on this. There's no way he could accept it as being kid-friendly. The worker then realized with a tinge of bitterness that it was right up this place's alley.

    Not allowing himself to get distracted any further, he switched camera feeds. He couldn't let his mind wander, not when his life was supposedly on the line. A small cynical part of him still disbelieved that machines' shoddy programming would lead one of them to actually accidentally kill him, but he was never one to take chances. Left light. Right light. Pacify Freddy (strangely the main three were still on stage). Check on the cove. His routine was in place, and he did not plan to let something new spoil that. "Unfortunately, " he worried, "This tacky bat is a wildcard. I'll have to keep an eye on it." he mused to himself as he switched back to the Arcade's feed. But the robat was already gone. Quickly switching between cameras, he soon realized he couldn't find it. Checking once more on the machines he was familiar with (and noting that they still hadn't moved), the guard set to work on locating the errant batanimatron. This time he was more methodical in his search, electing to also flash on the lights a few seconds for each area as he checked (while silently thanking Management for the one good idea they had all week in giving him access to power controls from his office). Again there seemed to be no obvious sign of the bat. So it had to have been in a camera blind spot. But between the lights and the cameras, the guard should be able to see any action that went on. Flipping back to the older animatronics he found it curious that still they had not moved. Even the cove was still closed. It was then that he saw it, one of the shadows had moved off camera.

    Swearing, the guard realized that though the animatronic was using the blind spots, it couldn't avoid casting a shadow. Knowing what he had to look for, he was able to track the machine much better. The guard found himself comparing to looking for Freddy, whereas instead of looking for something suspicious in the shadows, you're looking for the shadow itself that's suspicious. Relaxing a little, he switched back to the cove. "Nope. Still closed, still closed. Hmm..." pondered the security guard. Checking back at the stage showed the other three still had not moved. "Perhaps they were letting the new guy have a shot." he thought darkly. A shattering sound of glass breaking startled the guard next, causing him to frantically switch feeds around. As he did so, another crunch of glass was heard. Arriving back at the Arcade feed he went to flick the light on only for nothing to happen. Panic began to set in as he worried about the power, only for him to switch to another feed to successfully turn on the light. His frayed nerves did not get time to relax however, as a shadow moved across the screen before causing the light what he had just turned on to wink out with a crackle. The robot was destroying the lights.

    One by one each beacon of hope for the guard was snuffed out. Fear took hold of him, causing him to drop the tablet with a clatter. He had realized that the machine's plan must have been to force him to use the doors until he ran out of power, and wanted no part in it. Reasoning, hoping, praying that the other robots wouldn't get involved he dashed out of the security room. He refused to stay in the kill box, for as far as he was concerned the bat would have to work for it and find him first. Maybe he could stall it out. If it's only one machine it seemed doable to him. The guard's first thought was to run for the exit. But he stopped short when he realized how easy that would be. What if it was a trap? If the robot was capable of this level of planning already, the whole thing could be a setup just to get to this point. However the guard only realized it was already too late when he something fell past his face, accompanied by the sound of 3D glasses clacking off the floor. Alerting him to his fate. Purely by reflex, he looked up towards the ceiling only to scream as the last image he saw was of the lifeless empty holes on the cold machine that the glasses had covered.

    The following morning the cleaning crew arrived as per usual. They found the guard in the security office where he should be, only wearing a peculiar pair of 3D-glasses. When one of the custodians attempted to rouse him, the security guard fell to the floor. Revealing that his eyes had been removed. The sockets themselves were also shredded, with shards of glass in them. However, despite this shock, the guard was alive. An ambulance was called immediately, but the cleaning crew still had a job to do. Another accident to cover up, even if it wasn't another killing. And they performed their task admirably, including cleaning the blood off of the batanimatron, especially around its empty eyesockets, where much had been found encrusted. When the security guard finally came to, he learned that he had been fired for tampering with the animatronics (on account of being found with the glasses). Also odor.

    Nobody would believe his story about what happened to him, in fact all it's done has landed him in the loony bin. Sadly, it only got worse. He began to have nightmares about that night. About those eyes. His eyes, staring back at him being housed in machine. As the days passed so too, did the night terrors. But then came visions. Of a mechanical body. Of freakish robotic strength. Of choking the life out of a security guard. His replacement. The former security guard was slowly driven insane by these images, so real were they that it felt as though he was seeing things from the bat's point of view. And the murders being committed each night by its hands. His hands? Before long, he couldn't tell anymore. But each night in that asylum, you could be sure that his screams were not just his own.