Broken Record

[36]

(CW: Swearing, Abuse of power)

Business has been slow, which was strange since this place was so popular. It wasn't like a gradual drop in business, no it was a straight drop down.
It couldn't be because of the rumors. It had to be something else.

Freddy was in the Fazcade with Gregory. There was barely anyone there. The shows were cancelled, but it wasn't because of business being slow. There was a malfunction with the protocols and it had to be fixed. That could explain why business is slow.

"It's like a ghost town here." The boy commented, "Did something happen?"

He shrugged, "I'm not sure."

"Hey, what time is it?"

"Hmm, it's around 11 o'clock."

"We should go check on Fonso, Pj told me he was feeling lonely." Gregory said.

Hearing the male's name reminded him of the other day. He felt bad and wanted to apologize, the problem was he hadn't seen him since then.

"We could go right now." Freddy said, looking at the boy. He saw his mouth turn to a small frown.

"Maybe after one more game." He glanced up at Freddy with pleading eyes.

The bear sighed, "Alright, just one more game."

His eyes lit up, "Yes!" He quietly cheered.

Freddy chuckled, rolling his eyes. Gregory had really grown on him. They had grown a bond with each other since that night when he helped the boy find a way out of the Plex. Without him he never would've stopped that virus or really he would've never known that it was there. He really helped open his eyes.

Though he can't help, but think that there's a lot more hidden secrets about what's going on here. It seemed like things were getting better, but now he can't tell if they'll ever be able to close that chapter in their book.

After a while they decided to head over to the lost and found to check on Fonso.

As they were walking through the lobby they heard voices and stopped. Looking around they saw Pj and a man, he stood tall and had an intimidating look on his face. He looked only a couple years older than Pj.

"Freddy, Who's that?" Gregory asked, since he had never seen that man before.

"He's one of the supervisors." He told the boy. "I believe his name is Derrick."

"There's more than one here?"

"Well think about it Gregory you know how big this place is, so it'd be difficult for one person to manage a place of this scale by themselves."

"That sounds impossible."

"Hmm, actually it's possible but with only a slight success."

They stayed silent as they tried to listen. Freddy knows that eavesdropping was wrong, he made that mistake before, but he had a bad feeling about this and decided to listen in.

"Beckett you better have a good explanation for this!" A gruff voice boomed.

It came from Derrick as he stood over the male. The fact that he was taller made this even more intimidating.

"I do, it's just-" Pj spoke, but the man interrupted.

"You've been messing with the system, tampering with the animatronics, and doing unauthorized repairs!" He shouted, making him flinch. "What? You thought it would be okay that you repaired the damn bunny animatronic!"

"No, I-"

"You're pathetic! You know that? Making friends with the animatronics, that's honestly the saddest thing and most pathetic thing I've heard."

The male looked down at the ground, abashed.

"You're a dumbass kid who had a near death experience and now you think you're just above everyone huh?" He retorted, "Got a scar across your eye and think you're all that?"

"No, it's just the virus that was in the system went away, but there are still traces and that's why there's still malfunctions."

The man groaned, "Of course you can't just wipe a virus and expect it to be as good as new, idiot!"

"No, that's not what I'm talking about." Pj ran his hand through his hair. "No, I'm concerned about them!"

"Them? The fucking animatronics come on," Derrick scoffed. "They're machines, just a bunch of mechanical parts that can be replaced."

"Just. like. you." The man jabbed at his chest with every punctuation.

"We knew about the virus in the system, we knew something was happening, but what do you fucking expect it's a goddamn Freddy Fazbear's for Fuck sakes. As long as people keep coming, they make money and that's all that matters to them."

"If you knew then, why didn't you try to fix it?" He asked in a small voice.

The other male scowled, "Why do you think we had you backup the system?"

"You had me backup the system?" Pj asked, confused.

He grabbed his face and looked over at the male.
"Did you lose your brain or something?" He asked with fake concern.

He has a finger under his chin tilting his head up. Forcing to look him in the eyes. His thumb caressing his cheek, "Honestly, I thought you were smart."

He spoke in a gentle voice, even though what he was saying contradicts the tone.

"Clearly you're not because you screwed it up, like you always do." He flicked his forehead making the male recoil back, Pj rubbed the sore spot hoping to soothe the stinging sensation.

He rolled his eyes at the display.

"That's not true, if you had told them about that I found a way to decrease-"

"Shut it!" The male flinched, shrinking down a bit.

"The last thing I want to hear is how to run a business from a sad sack of shit like you."

"You're only a low level manager." He muttered under his breath.

The man raised his hand, but stopped himself. He put his hand back to his side. "We already have enough problems to deal with."

"That stupid bowling alley is getting renovated and themed for the new animatronic."

"New animatronic?"

"Yes, we're tired of them asking about that bunny. Now, it's nothing but history."

"So, it's not going to be a bowling alley anymore?"

"Of course it's still going to be a bowling alley. I said ''renovated, not remodeled." Derrick snapped.

"You know how much money it would cost to replace all that with something else."

"A lot."

The man thought about it. "You're right, but a lot of people like the bowling alley, so why change it."

"But what about Bonnie?"

"You can do whatever the hell you want with it! It's not our problem anymore!"

"We're having to upgrade the animatronics and you're supposed to supervise it to make sure nothing bad happens."

"Why me? Doesn't Amber normally do that?"

"Yes, but she has to deal with that new animatronic." He sighed, "So, you're going to have to do it."

"Let's just hope you don't screw it up. We can't afford having to deal with your shit again." 

"When is all this happening?" Pj asked, he was already panicking. He wouldn't be able to handle that.

"You'll know we tell you." He told him. "Now, get back to work."

The man walked away, leaving Pj to stand there. He wrapped his arms around his body, hugging himself.

He bit his lip trying to keep himself from breaking down. He could feel the tears pooling up in his eyes.

Dread was starting to set in. If he was former self he would've been able to handle it no problem. But he wasn't his old self. He was a ticking time bomb he was going to screw it up. He always screws something up.