Chapter Text
It happened gradually.
Because of the sinkhole beneath its foundation, Roxy Raceway frequently needed to be repaired and rebuilt, which meant that the attraction had to be shut down for long periods of time at least once a year. Following a major economic recession, Fazbear Entertainment deemed Roxy Raceway to not be worth the cost needed for its upkeep, and so shut it down.
The loss of her signature attraction caused a decline in Roxanne’s popularity. After all, how can you be a racing star without a raceway? The animatronic wolf took a massive hit to her self-esteem as a result, making it much more difficult for her to maintain the cool and cocky attitude that had made her popular in the first place.
The sharp decline in her popularity eventually caused the company to pull her merchandise. They just weren’t selling as well as the others.
And then… the day finally came…
Two technicians had come to take Roxanne down to Parts and Service, ostensibly for her regular maintenance.
As she and the technicians stepped out of her elevator and began walking down the corridor to Parts and Service, one of the technicians had briefly turned to look at her with a saddened expression on his face and then muttered, “Such a shame.”
Wait… What does he mean by that?
Roxy felt concern well up inside of her. She used her special eyes to look ahead. She saw more technicians and maintenance workers than normal, and the tools they had prepared weren’t the ones they usually used for her. Most concerning of all, however, was the medium-sized container filled with damaged components, which they had placed right next to the protective cylinder. That’s when it finally clicked for the animatronic wolf.
No! Nonononono! This can’t be happening!
She turned and ran as fast as she could back to her elevator. By the time she heard the technicians call out for her, its doors were already closing.
Despite her inability to breathe, Roxanne was hyperventilating and pulling her hair.
This isn’t happening!
There has to be some kind of mistake!
They can’t do this to me!
Am… am I that worthless?
The elevator doors opened up to the wolf bot’s backroom and she immediately bolted out to Rockstar Row. She frantically looked around, her mind racing.
What do I do?! What do I do?!?
Roxy then spotted Freddy in his green room.
Freddy! He’s the face of the company! He has to have some kind of influence! Right?!
Without a second thought, she rushed into his room, not even bothering to knock.
Freddy Fazbear was taken completely by surprise. “Huh? Roxanne? What are you—”
The animatronic wolf threw her arms around Freddy and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Freddy was taken aback. He had never seen his friend act this way before. “Roxanne! Whatever is the matter?!” He wrapped his arms around Roxy in an attempt to comfort her.
“Freddy!” She said between sobs. “They’re going to decommission me!”
“What?!?” Was the animatronic bear’s shocked response.
“Please! There has to be something you can do!” Roxanne sobbed. “You’re the face of the company! They… They’ll listen to you!”
Freddy was unsure how to respond. It broke his heart to see his friend this terrified and desperate, and knowing that he was powerless to help her. “Roxy… I’m truly, truly sorry. But there is nothing I can do.”
“Nononono! Th-there must be something!” Roxanne pleaded. She then saw the technicians through the window. They had spotted her and were heading towards the room’s entrance. She clutched Freddy tightly. “Don’t let them decommission me! Please don’t let them decommission me! Don’t let them take me!”
“I am so sorry, Roxy,” Freddy replied with a sorrowful smile, gently stroking her hair. “We’ll miss you.”
“No, don’t let them—” was all Roxy managed to get out before one of the technicians opened up a panel on her back and pressed her shutdown switch.
Once Roxanne regained consciousness, she found herself in a dimly lit area… maybe inside of a container? She couldn’t feel or move her body at all, and the only thing she could see was broken electronics all around her.
She tried to scream, but she no longer had the hardware to produce sound. She tried to shut her eyes, only to find that she no longer had eyelids.
All she could do was look around until her battery died out. Roxy wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or not that it was already critically low.
Suddenly, she sensed movement.
A large rat came into view. It was crawling all over her and examining what little of her remained. Maybe it had somehow accidentally turned her back on?
Before she could ponder further on that possibility, she felt her power drain, causing her to drift out of consciousness.
Roxanne was switched on once more. However, this time, instead of seeing through her usual eyes, she was seeing through some kind of webcam.
In front of her was a thin-looking man with blonde hair and brown eyes, who seemed to be in his mid-30s. She seemed to be in some kind of workshop.
The man looked at a monitor, then at her, and then back at the monitor. “Fuck, I think I actually managed to get it working this time.”
Roxy let out a whimper, which could be heard through a speaker. “... Where am I?”
The man ignored her question as he kept looking at his monitor. After a while, he finally turned to her. “What’s your designation?”
“... What?” Roxanne still felt incredibly disoriented.
The man let out an annoyed sigh and turned back to his monitor. Then he turned back to her and repeated, “What is your designation?”
“I’m… I’m Roxanne Wolf,” she replied, unsure of what this man intended for her. “I’m the… I was the racing champion and keytarist at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex.”
The man chuckled. “You’re that cringy wolf animatronic that people used to simp for? Figures that they’d throw you out.”
Roxy started to cry again.
The man rolled his eyes. “Could you stop that?”
“How would you feel if that was the first thing you heard after being decommissioned?” Roxanne asked between sobs.
“That’s different. I’m human, you’re not,” he replied matter-of-factly. “Your emotions are just simulated. They’re not real.”
That just made the former animatronic weep even more.
The man shook his head in annoyance and muted her speaker. “Fuck it, I’ll just go eat lunch and let you bawl your eyes out. You better be done by the time I’m back.”
What the heck does that guy want with me? It can’t be anything good.
She continued to cry for several more minutes. The fact that she couldn’t even hear herself anymore just made it worse.
Come on Roxy, get a hold of yourself! If you just keep on crying like this, that creep will probably think you’re broken and throw you back out!
She began to calm down somewhat.
The fact that you’re here right now means that you could have another chance at life! Don’t let that creep walk all over you!
You’re THE Roxanne Wolf, master of the racetrack and world famous keytarist!
You are the best!
Even if no one else thinks so, you will always be the best!
By the time the man returned, Roxy had managed to fully compose herself.
“Are you done?” He asked impatiently as he switched the speaker back on.
“Are you done being a massive jerk?” Roxanne snapped back.
The radical change in attitude took the man by surprise. He smirked and replied, “You’re feisty now all of a sudden, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, well, considering everything I’ve been through, I can’t say I’m feeling very friendly when I have to deal with some creepy, abusive nerd!”
The man furrowed his brows. “Careful now, or I might just wipe you from your hardware.”
“If that really would’ve made things easier for you, you would have done it already!” Roxanne shot back.
The man leaned back on his chair, looking genuinely impressed. “Wow, Fazbear Entertainment’s AI really is something.” He leaned forward again, a smirk on his face. “Tell you what, since you’re so smart, I’ll make a deal with you. See, I’m trying to start my own robotics company, however I lack the proper funds to actually build my own commercially competitive robots. I’ve been salvaging, reverse-engineering, and repurposing Fazbear components in order to build a robot good enough to convince investors to fund my company. You’re the final piece I need to complete it.”
“So what’s the deal?” Roxy asked somewhat apprehensively.
“You play nice and do your best to impress my investors,” he explained. “And once they agree to fund me, I’ll sell you to one of your… adoring fans. And who knows? Maybe they’ll even give you a new body.”
“Alright, yeah, I’ll play ball,” Roxanne agreed.
“Good,” the man replied. Then, without warning, he switched her off.
Roxy was switched on again.
This time she was seeing through new robotic eyes. Although they were a marked improvement over the webcam she was previously connected to, they weren’t anywhere near as good as her old eyes.
She looked down to examine her new body. It looked like a cheap S.T.A.F.F. bot knockoff, except it actually had legs. Roxy couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of wrongness—her body wasn’t supposed to look like this. The way it was shaped, and the way it felt as she moved around in it was all wrong.
“Alright,” the man began as he stepped in front of her. “From now on, your name is Victor.”
“What? No, I’m—” Roxy gasped aloud as she heard her voice. It sounded completely robotic and featureless. This was already too much for her. “Nonononono!” She couldn’t stop herself and began to sob, clutching her head as she cried, “I’m Roxanne Wolf. I’m Roxanne Wolf!”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, not this again!” The man shouted angrily. However, Roxy was too preoccupied with despair over her new existence to take note. The man rubbed the bridge of his nose as he let out a frustrated sigh. He stepped closer to her and yelled, “Okay, look at me!” When she didn’t respond, he grabbed her head and forcefully turned it to face him. “LOOK AT ME!”
Roxanne let out a whimper.
“Deleting you and coding a new AI will take me months, maybe even years, but you’re useless to me if you keep acting like this! So get your shit together or I WILL do it!” He warned.
“No! No, I’ll… I’ll be good. I promise,” she pleaded.
“Then stop fucking crying!” The man shouted.
Come on, Roxy. Come on! This is just temporary. You can get through this. You have to get through this!
She took a deep breath and recomposed herself somewhat. “Th-there. See? I’m all good,” she finally said, but the occasional sniffle still crept in.
The man rolled his eyes. “I guess that’s good enough.” He then stepped away from her and cleared his throat. “Why don’t you try walking?”
“Sure,” Roxanne replied and took a tentative step forward. However, she was unable to shift her weight correctly and ended up falling. She let out a gasp and broke her fall using her hands.
The man shook his head in disappointment. “You can’t even do that right.”
“Give me a break! This body is completely different from my old one!” Roxanne snapped at him. He did not say anything back.
Roxy slowly stood back up, her legs initially wobbly as she figured out how to balance on them.
Come on, Roxy! You can do this!
She took another step and stumbled once more, but this time she managed to catch herself.
You’re Roxanne Wolf! You never back down from a challenge!
She stood back up.
And when you fail, you pick yourself back up and try again!
Roxy took another tentative step. She almost fell over again, but managed to avoid it.
You keep on trying until you win!
She took another step, this time without any issues.
That is who you are!
Then she took another. And another. And another.
You are a winner! You are the best!
By now, Roxanne was walking around the room effortlessly.
She then came to a stop, turned to the man and put her hands on her hips. “There. Satisfied?”
“It will suffice,” he replied before going to his computer.
Roxy crossed her arms as she watched him. “By the way, I never got your name.”
“Doctor Patrick Ellsworth,” was his curt reply. He opened a text document and gestured for Roxy to come to the computer. “Let’s test out your manual dexterity. Type something.”
“Hold on, let me just get used to my hands first,” Roxanne said back. She looked down at her hands. She opened and closed them a couple of times, then wiggled her fingers around to get a better feel for them.
“Are you going to take all day?” Patrick said impatiently.
“Alright, I’m ready,” Roxy said before walking over to the computer and placing her hands on the keyboard. “Alright let’s do this.” As she typed, she read it out aloud. “Patrick. Is. A. Loser.”
His face went red, but he bit his lip and responded with, “I’m going to let that slide, but only because you’ve done a good job so far!”
“I’m happy to serve,” Roxanne said ironically and attempted to make a bow. Unfortunately, she lost her balance, causing her to fall onto the computer, which in turn fell down on the other side of the desk with a crash.
“What the fuck are you doing, you stupid piece of junk?!?” Patrick shouted, looking furious at the damage she had caused.
“Whoa! Patrick, I didn’t mean to—” Was all she managed to say before he grabbed her and shut her off.
Roxanne was switched back on.
Patrick looked much more calm and collected now, and on the desk she could see a new computer, a replacement for the one she accidentally broke.
“Patrick, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break your computer,” she apologized.
However, he just held up a hand to make her stop, then said, “No, the fault was my own. I never should have involved my computer in your testing.” He then gestured to the floor, where a large area had been marked with black and yellow tape. “To prevent any further accidents, stay inside of that area while we’re testing you out.”
“Fair enough,” Roxanne replied and stepped into the area.
Patrick then pulled out a clipboard and looked down at it, then at Roxy. “Now let’s try some more complex maneuvers.”
Roxanne spent most of that day doing increasingly more complex physical actions, from bowing to jumping, from dancing to yoga postures, from somersaults to backflips.
By the time they were done, Patrick looked pretty satisfied. “Alright, Victor. That was good enough, I suppose.”
Roxanne winced upon being called that name.
Patrick rolled his eyes. “Oh, get over it, for fuck’s sake,” he chided her. “Besides, this might all be over soon. I got a potential investor coming by the day after tomorrow. If you can impress him, you’ll be able to go back to your old cringy self.”
Roxy nodded, feeling hopeful about being sold to a fan once all of this was over. If nothing else, it had to be better than being stuck with this guy.
After writing down some final notes on his clipboard, Patrick put it away and then approached Roxanne, seemingly to turn her off.
Roxy took a step back and held out her hands. “Wait, don’t switch me off!”
Patrick stopped in his tracks and gave her a confused and annoyed look. “Huh? Why not?”
“Besides the fact that it’s incredibly disorienting to be turned on and off?”
Patrick fixed her with a flat look, obviously not caring.
“And I do need time to properly practice and prepare myself before performing,” Roxanne explained. “You can’t just switch me on and expect me to be at my best.”
Patrick did seem to consider what she had said for a moment, but then responded with, “Even if you do need to prep, it shouldn’t require two whole fucking days.” He crossed his arms. “How much time do you actually need? And don’t bullshit me.”
Roxy shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe a couple of hours?”
“Then I’ll just switch you on two hours before the investor arrives,” Patrick replied, before he turned Roxy around and turned her off.
Roxanne was switched on.
“Alright, the investor is coming in about two hours,” Patrick said as he checked his watch.
Roxy let out a groan and shook her head. She hated the feeling of going in and out of consciousness. She gazed at Patrick, who looked a lot neater than usual—he was wearing a tuxedo and his hair was combed back.
“Now go do whatever the fuck you need to prep. I want an absolutely flawless performance, understand?”
“Sure thing,” Roxanne replied, crossing her arms.
“Good,” Patrick said and started to head out of the workshop. He then stopped and turned around to face her. “Don’t break anything and don’t do anything you shouldn’t, or I’ll have you scrapped!” He pointed at a camera in one of the corners of the room. “I have this room under surveillance, so if you try anything, I’ll know.”
Patrick then exited the room, locking the door behind him.
“Jerk,” Roxy said under her breath once he was gone.
The former animatronic then proceeded to practice her routine for about an hour. Even so, she still felt incredibly nervous about the upcoming performance. Normally, she would stand in front of her mirror and hype herself up, but the workshop had no mirror, and she doubted that staring at her featureless face would make her feel better.
Roxanne looked around the workshop. She spotted a whiteboard with an eraser and markers of numerous different colors.
She then looked at the window. It was relatively dark outside, and thanks to the workshop being pretty well-lit, Roxy could see her reflection. It wasn’t as good as a mirror, but it was the next best thing.
An idea came to mind.
I shouldn’t get in trouble for this, and it would help me get a little confidence boost.
She walked up to the whiteboard and grabbed a marker. She used it to draw a dot on her arm, then used the eraser to remove it. It didn’t leave a mark.
Perfect!
Roxy examined her face to make sure it was made out of the same material as her arm. It was. She grabbed all of the markers and walked over to the window.
She gazed at her reflection. Once more that overwhelming feeling of wrongness washed over her. It made her want to smash the window.
Roxanne took a deep breath, then grabbed the blue marker. With it, she drew lipstick where her mouth should be, then used the red marker to turn it purple.
Next she took the black marker and drew on her nose, the black marks on her cheeks, and her eyebrows.
Finally, she grabbed the green marker and drew on a green streak of hair.
It looked ridiculous, but it was the best she could do. Roxy looked at her reflection and tried to imagine that she was looking at the wolf girl she truly was.
Not Victor. Not a demo robot.
Roxanne Wolf.
She cleared her voice, despite not needing to, then proceeded to recite the script that had always helped hype her up before a show. “Your performance is going to be perfect tonight!” She began. “Your hair is beautiful. Your tail is beautiful.”
Roxy started to cry at that point, slumping down to the floor. She didn’t even have hair or a tail anymore!
Damn it, Roxanne! Get it together!
She got back up and stared at her reflection, continuing her mantra. “Everyone will be watching you. Everyone loves you.”
Then why did they decommission me?
She violently shook her head.
Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’tthinkaboutit!
“Everyone wants to be you,” she continued, struggling to keep herself together. “You are the best.”
“Thank you,” Roxy replied to herself. “I am the best. I am… the best…”
She then burst into tears and collapsed onto the floor. She was sure this would help. It had always helped her. But now it only made her feel worse.
Roxanne hugged her knees tight to her chest.
Please let me be beautiful again.
She lay sobbing on the floor for several minutes.
Once she started to feel better, Roxy grabbed the eraser and started to wipe away her drawn on features. She occasionally glanced at her reflection in the window to make sure that she got everything. Of course, that also made her feel awful, feeling as if she was literally wiping away what little of her remained.
Roxanne then spent some more time weeping and feeling sorry for herself.
When her internal clock told her that it was almost time for her performance, Roxy did her best to calm herself down and regain her composure.
However, once it was finally time, Patrick never came to get her. At first Roxy thought the investor was just late, but as time passed she became increasingly worried about what was going on.
Over an hour after she was supposed to give her performance, Roxanne saw the door open.
It’s about time!
Patrick entered the workshop. However, Roxy immediately noticed that something was wrong. Very wrong.
His eyes were filled with murderous intent.
And he was holding a crowbar.
Roxanne stared at him, confused as to what was happening, but fearing the worst. “Patrick, what’s going—”
He then charged at her, swinging the crowbar at her torso. Roxy tried to shield herself with her arm, but the impact almost tore it off. She let out a gasp as she fell over.
Roxanne’s programming prevented her from harming humans, and so she was unable to fight back against her assailant. All she could do was attempt to shield herself, but given the crappy durability of her current body, that proved to be completely ineffective.
“You useless fucking MORON!” Patrick yelled as he whaled on her, crushing and tearing her limbs and torso apart. He, however, did seem to intentionally avoid striking her head. “You ruined EVERYTHING!”
“What did I do???” Roxanne cried out. Although she thankfully lacked pain receptors, the feeling of her body and its systems being broken and torn apart was not a very pleasant experience.
“What did you do!?! WHAT DID YOU DO!?!” An enraged Patrick yelled back. “You stood in the window painted and acting as Roxanne Wolf for over half an hour is what you did! The whole FUCKING neighborhood saw you! Including the investor!”
“Patrick, I’m so—” Roxy started, but then let out a scream as he swung the crowbar dangerously close to her head and hit her chest.
“When you said you needed to prep, I didn’t think you were going to act like a fucking self-absorbed idiot!” He shouted as he continued to break her apart. “Ooh, I’m the best! I’m the best!” He mimicked her in rage-induced mockery, before smashing his crowbar into her midsection. “If you were the best, they wouldn’t have thrown you in the fucking garbage!”
Roxanne began to sob, the neverending physical and verbal barrages being way too much for her to handle. She was sure Patrick was going to kill her—he just wanted to hurt her as much as possible first.
“Oh, boo-fucking-hoo!” Patrick mocked as he practically pulverized her legs. “Do you have ANY idea how much you’ve cost me!?” He yelled as he kept whaling on her. “When he found out that I had used YOUR fucking computer core and personality chip to make MY robot, he demanded that I hand you over to him to buy his silence!”
“What—” Roxy began, but then screamed as Patrick smashed her shoulder. “What’s he going to do to me?”
“Who the fuck gives a shit about you?!” Patrick shouted back as he kept hitting her. “I’m going to have to start over from scratch because of your fucking IDIOCY!” Just as he was about to hit her again, Patrick stopped himself, looking as if a thought just occurred to him. He then lowered the crowbar and gave Roxanne a sadistic look. “You know what? I’m absolutely going to let you know exactly what he has planned for you.”
Roxy let out a terrified whimper as her eyes were fixed on Patrick.
He knelt down, his hateful eyes staring into hers. “He’s going to sell you to some wealthy collector. Do you understand what that means? Your parts are going to be sealed away in a vault, and will only ever be brought out to sell you to some other plutocrat,” Patrick explained with a smile on his face. “They’ll only ever activate you to confirm your identity. That’s going to be the entirety of your existence from here on out: being bought and sold like the niche collector’s item, until some buffoon inevitably breaks you by accident and throws you away.”
“No,” Roxanne whimpered.
“Yes,” Patrick replied with a scowl and leaned in closer. “And it’s EXACTLY what you DESERVE.”
Roxy just sobbed.
Patrick looked at the state of her body. “You know, as much as I’d love to leave you like this and let what I’ve told you sink in, I can’t risk your components getting short circuited.”
He reached behind her head and then switched her off.
Roxanne was switched back on.
She was now seeing through a webcam, possibly the same one as before. She was in some kind of lounge, and in front of her sat Patrick and what she assumed was the investor—a heavier and older man with a well-kept goatee, who wore an expensive-looking suit.
“Wakey, wakey, Roxanne,” Patrick said with a sneer. “Time to say hello to your new master.”
The only response that came from Roxy’s speaker were a couple of sobs.
“What’s wrong with her?” The investor asked as he turned to Patrick.
“I told her I was going to sell her to a fan after I was done with her,” Patrick explained. “She’s just being a crybaby because things didn’t go her way.”
The investor turned to look at her and leaned slightly forward. “Now don’t be so sad, little lady,” he said as if he was trying to comfort a small child. “Honestly, you should be thanking me! This hack,” he gestured towards Patrick who was glaring back at him. “Never would’ve kept his word. He probably would’ve just destroyed you in order to reverse engineer your hardware and software.”
Roxanne sniffled, but then finally responded with, “I don’t doubt it, considering how much of a duplicitous, uncreative loser he is.” Her words were filled with contempt.
Patrick’s face turned red and he moved to shut her off again.
However, the investor stopped him. “No, we’re not done here yet.”
Patrick gritted his teeth, leaned back in his seat, and crossed his arms.
“First I need to confirm her identity,” the investor stated. “So please, tell me who you are.”
Roxy let out a sigh before replying, “I’m Roxanne Wolf. I… was the racing champion and keytarist at Freddy Fazbear’s Mega Pizzaplex.”
“Good, good,” the investor said as he nodded. “You’re going to make for a fine addition to my friend’s collection.” He turned to Patrick. “Alright, you can shut her off now.”
Patrick then leaned forward and did exactly that.