Security Breach- More Angst for the Caretaker AU
My bizarrely popular Caretaker AU has really taken off, so I thought I’d give all you angst-lovers a new painful meal.
It occurred to me, that since there’s busted up STAFF Bots behind Sunrise’s balcony, not just disassembled, but destroyed- there may have been something completely different that happened back there.
There’s all kinds of possible theories for what happened to these bots, but for the AU’s sake let’s recall that Gregory was an orphan found by Sunrise/Moondrop in the Pizzaplex, hiding after hours since he had nowhere else to go and took him in and provided for him in his overbearing, but very kind and caring way. It’s almost like having his mom back, though he barely remembers her. The abuse and neglect he suffered in the foster homes he was shuffled through always eclipsed any happy memories of before.
Now, the balcony has a hidden access in the nearby Fazbear Theater. Gregory would be assured that it’s completely safe, there’s no way anyone would be able to find him back there, but one day, as the evening switch is rolling around, STAFF finds him in the hidden room, maybe they investigate a noise or Vanessa instructed them to look in that area since she wants total coverage and obviously there’s no cameras back there. And Vanny wants to find more kids, she’s already found a couple hiding away in the Pizzaplex... The STAFF Bots come barging in and since he has no guest profile, Gregory is immediately classified as an intruder.
They try to take him and he cries out for help. Sunrise comes immediately. There’s a ruckus, a terribly violent one, especially as the hour chimes and Moondrop is unleashed, the lovely room, the new home Sunrise had made up for Gregory is torn to pieces. Things get... messy. And the glitch takes hold, maybe it’s a literal infection from a scratch or contact with the STAFF bots. Maybe Vanny actually manifests somehow and starts to take control.
Moondrop fights back, but he’s unable to resist Afton’s influence. Sunrise’s already fragile AI is damaged in the struggle too, erasing the memories he has of Gregory one by one. In his resistance, Moondrop destroys more of the balcony room, scaring Gregory. Moondrop tries to tell Gregory to run, to get far away, clutching his head as his normally soothing blue glowing eyes flash red...
Gregory has to run for it, he doesn’t cry... much, he’s toughened himself up, but a single tear escapes him as he runs away down the corridor and into the crowded theater- this is still during business hours, and there’s a party going on. Gregory’s misery is only surreally compounded when compared to the smiling faces and laughter around him. He’s not even given a chance for a breather, as some STAFF bots on stage seem to notice him, he gets himself good and lost in the crowd. Eventually he winds up inside Freddy’s Birthday Cake belly hatch, reluctant to trust anyone.
And we all know the moment when his heart breaks into a thousand pieces... A pupilless, blank-eyed Sunrise, still looking a little grungy, rising out of the ballpit, handling him with complete unfamiliarity.
“Hello, NEW friend, are we having a slumber party? Where are all of your friends?”
Perhaps some part of Sunrise’s memory lingered, as he acted very strange, but not completely hostile at first. Perhaps he recalled a shadow of a byte, a corrupted image with a corrupted name... “G#r%^ry?” but the protocol was crystal clear:
PROTECT. KEEP HIM SAFE. KEEP THE LIGHTS ON.
When he’s unable to do even that for this child he doesn’t know, he does the only thing he can, he bans him from the Daycare. In his own insular, confused, and frenetically neurotic programming right now, it seems like the only logical thing. Get the child away from danger. At least then his Bad Side won’t be able to get him; little does Sunrise know that Moondrop has already broken free of the netted “cage” of the Daycare and roams, searching, doing a monster’s bidding.
Perhaps, if it weren’t for Sunrise’s constant fighting against him, Moondrop would be searching constantly and incessantly instead of just at the end of each hour. It’s all that Sunrise can do, it’s not enough, it will never have been enough, and both Sunrise and Moondrop will live with the guilt for the entirety of their artificially intelligent lives.
Gregory’s nightmares will probably go away with time, he is a child and we all know he’ll have Faz-Fam support, but Sunrise and Moondrop, their electric sheep dreams of lifeless children, torn to pieces, and looking down at their own articulated hands dripping with blood, will forever haunt them.