Aria walked into the MainSix Sporting Goods store across the street from the YMCA. “Welcome to MainSix,” the clerk at the counter said. “How can I help you?”
“Yes,” she said, putting on her best “girl next door” look. “I’m buying a hunting bow set for my older brother.”
“Well, we can help with that,” the man said with a smile. “What are you looking for?”
A shrewd look came over her face. “I need a Sagitta HuntPro105 with hyperpolyresin fibers. I also need StrongArm shafts, and a quiver to hold them.” She paused. “Oh, and do you have the Decapitator arrowheads?”
The man looked at her oddly. “We…uh, carry them, but…with a 105-pound draw, why would he need Decapitators?”
“Versatility,” she replied. “Hunting both moose and goose.” And guys who would hurt my sister, the teen silently added.
After selecting what she needed, she drove to the location, an easy nine in the evening. The streets were already empty, and given that the only thing open was the 7-11, that gave Aria plenty of time to set up. Opening up her gym bag, she then set her sniper rifle into position, speed bolting the rifle into position, then covering it with a tarp so it couldn’t be seen from above – all it would take would be one police helicopter and that would make life even harder than it already was. Once that was in place, she then climbed up the utility pole, tugging as hard on the wire as she could. Once she was sure it would support her weight, she then climbed, hand over hand, over to the building kitty-corner from the 7-11, an office building that was entirely abandoned.
Getting up to the third floor which would give her access to the roof, she set her new bow, along with three quivers, all armed with Decapitator heads. Between a 105-pound draw and the heads, penetrating the ceiling of the roof would be perfect if she needed to. As it was, if she needed to snipe any baddies she was probably going to break a few windows in the process.
Well, can’t afford for anything to happen to Dagi, the middle sister thought to herself as she climbed back over to the 7-11, and barely missed being potentially spotted by an SPD police cruiser going down the street. Getting sloppy, Aria, she chastised herself. Should’ve set up a zipline, but wanted to do this on the cheap, lazy.
Plopping down to the roof, she decided to run into the 7-11 to buy a thermos, some coffee, and more than a few donuts. Her waistline would likely hate her for it, but there was nothing like caffeine and sugar to keep alert and awake while being in position. She could sleep the crash off later, once she knew Adagio was safe.
Slipping on some headphones and some music, Adagio decided to take it easy tonight. The chances of the idiots being back the next night to try to steal the robots was ridiculous, she had to admit. Any smart criminal would realize that it was wiser to wait until the furor from the previous night died down and people had forgotten about the break-in. At the moment, she read about improved cameras, which she would recommend to Shim and Sham. If this place was going to succeed, it would need to do so without being broken into on a regular basis, which meant that it would need to be protected further.
Of course I’d recommend an armed security guard, but I’ve seen some security guards around these sorts of places; they’re jokes! Couldn’t handle regular troops much less CANSOF or us. Then again, she realized that was probably a bit of overkill, so heavy surveillance was probably the better response for a lightly-protected non-critical asset.
Well, it’s critical to Shim and Sham, she had to admit, as she continued to work, unaware that she was being stared at by Chica.
The chicken animatronic shuffled, eyes glowing with an unnatural light, towards the stage, where many of the others met. Chica looked at Freddy, and though no sounds were uttered, a million words’ worth of conversation seemed to be conveyed. The weathered, aged bear robot then looked at the (inferior) toy counterparts, seeming to also pass along a missive. Several minutes passed, and with that, the Mark II automatons moved to their positions, while the Mark Is remained in their places, ready for a show.
If there was any emotion to be expressed on the face of Freddy Fazbear, it was one of murderous glee. Last night was an error, a lucky favor on the part of the guard. Tonight, however, there would be blood and gore, and at last their bloodthirst would be sated.
Seated at home, all alone, Sonata Dusk pouted. Both her sisters were out tonight: Adagio at her job and Aria at a post-job celebration. Maddie was still gone, and it left the youngest triplet at sorts. Sure, Sonata was used to being alone, but that was during mission parameters. During downtime, however, that wasn’t what she was used to. Sure, she’d easily admit that out of the triplets she was the most emotive and fragile of the sisters, but that was part of her nature as the youngest of the three…even if she wasn’t entirely sure she was really the youngest.
So she gamed a little on Aria’s Playstation 4. The game was forgettable, and she knew her sister wouldn’t mind. She also got into her car and drove down to the local Burrito Bandito, ordered the Taco Fiesta platter to go, went home, watched a movie, ate dinner, sighed, watched another movie, then debated if she should take her carbine and go night-hunting just for practice. But a voice in her head said that Maddie would not be happy about the unauthorized use of weapons, so she let it at that. Not for the first time she wished she’d taken up Aria’s offer to teach her how to use a bow…but then again, she didn’t have one of those either.
Finally, she picked up the phone and called. “Ari, when are you coming home? I’m bored.”
“Soni, you’re not a child – you’re a SIREN. Act like one,” was the response. “Besides, weren’t you working on something for Maddie’s birthday?”
“Yeah, but I finished it an hour ago and can’t test it during the nighttime – it’ll make too much noise,” Sonata sighed. “Sorry, Ari, I just hate slack time. I was never one for just ‘relaxing’, you know?”
“Yeah, I know, sis.” There was a pause on the phone line and Aria then said, “Look, I have something going on right now, but I’ll tell you about it in the morning, okay?”
Sonata knew that tone in her sister’s voice. “You need help?”
“Not yet, but….” There was background noise over the phone, as though Aria was near some hardware. “Let’s just say that if it’s what I’m afraid it is, we’re going to have a very busy night tomorrow,” she replied.
“Sis, whatever—”
“Soni, gotta go – I gotta laser grid to set up,” was Aria’s suddenly rushed response. “I’ll talk to you in the morning, sis. Feel free to use my PS4; whatever games you like.”
“Already did, Ari.”
“Good; enjoy. Night, little sis.”
Hanging up her phone, Aria looked at her wristwatch and noted that it was almost midnight. Based on what Dagi said, this is around the time that she was attacked. Now if I’m wrong, I’m betting I’m in for a very dull night. But if I’m not…. She leaned down, settling into the scope and her old familiar sniper position. Dagi, please be safe.
Three minutes after midnight, she got the first tag from the net. She settled in, watching both positions, taking the measurement data from her phone attachment, and readied to fire if she needed to. And if it came to saving Adagio? No argument whatsoever.
I am a SIREN, she mused, repeating the motto, and I give no quarter.
Her favorite song playing, Adagio dozed in her seat, the music droning on. She hadn’t even realized she fell asleep, but between the flickering of the computer screen, the soft jam of her music and being bored for most of the night, she succumbed to the touch of sleep.
Meanwhile, in the farthest corner of the maintenance room, an automaton stirred. To describe it would be a jumble of parts, a patchwork quilt from hell composed of various limbs and pieces. In its heyday it would’ve been called Toy Foxy. However, the heavily-damaged Mark II was known simply as “Mangle”. Moving in a shuffling, slithering motion akin to a murderous technological lamia, the animatronic started to make its way towards the exit of the room, ready to beeline it towards the Office, where its target lay.
Behind Mangle, the other Mark IIs stirred, ready to commit to assisting in the bloody murder. The Puppet, on unsteady legs, walked over to a shelf, pulling off the surface a spare face mask. With gangly, twitching movements it tried to put on its new face, but to no avail. Balloon Boy walked over and picked up the mask, then placed it on the Puppet, with both giving the other a curt nod. With that, they then joined the small army walking towards its bloody objective.
Walking over to the stage, the army looked at Freddy, and he nodded in agreement, his eyes seeming to glow red before taking a look much akin to more natural, living eyes. As the army moved forward, a sinister look seemed to come onto Freddy Fazbear’s face. The unnatural robot then walked over to the power junction box, reaching over and ripping it off the wall. The power snapped within the building, and the pizzeria was plunged into darkness, even as Adagio continued to sleep, unaware that death was coming for her.
A silent cue was signaled, and Mangle took off like a shot, rushing down the hall.
Less than a second later, that movement stopped…as Mangle’s fox head suddenly shattered into a dozen pieces.
On the rooftop, Aria felt the buck of her sniper rifle, most of it absorbed by the fact that she’d bolted it to the ground. As befitting a semiautomatic, the next round slid into place, and, following the firing solution provided by her phone, she pulled the trigger again.
Running down the other corridor, Toy Chica suddenly had her head explode, followed by a portion of her torso. She was thrown backwards by the shots, crashing into Toy Bonnie.
With a sudden act akin to fear, Balloon Boy suddenly grabbed Mangle, pulling him back like a soldier would a wounded comrade. On the stage, the Mark I Freddy looked in utter confusion, completely unable to comprehend what was going on, save for one thing: the guard wasn’t being killed…and the animatronics were being shredded.
Okay, they’ve moved too far indoors for the rifle to penetrate; so, onto Plan B. Getting off the ground and picking up her compound bow, Aria jumped up to the power line and climbed over as fast as she could. Every second counted, and every second was not in her favor right now. She hadn’t tracked her older sister as moving, and that meant that she was either drugged, or wors—
No, don’t focus on that, girl, Aria said to herself as she reached her position. Quickly slipping on her quiver and making sure that everything was in place, she looked into the heat-seeking scope – surprisingly they had one at MainSix, and even more surprising was that they bought her excuse about her non-existent brother going night-hunting up in Oregon – drew back the bow and pulled.
If Aria had a single hobby, it was archery. It kept her edge on her sniping skills, and it allowed her to relax. She’d gotten good enough that she could actually snipe at mid-range with a bow instead of a rifle if everything was good. That being said, she’d had years of exercise to get used to the strength of the bow, and that meant she had some serious strength in her upper arms, though it thankfully didn’t show, as she was never one for muscles.
That being said, she bought a 105-pound bow, requiring a minimum of that strength to pull. Instead, she pulled 140 pounds of strength on it, then let the bow fly. With that much power, the arrow easily penetrated through the roof of the pizzeria, and as the blades of the decapitators kicked in, they sliced in, leaving a huge entry point.
Within the building, Balloon Boy didn’t know what hit him. The arrow went through the back of his head, slamming him to the ground. A second later, a second shaft punctured Toy Freddy, chewing him up like he was so much plastic and wiring.
The instinct to kill had somehow suddenly been routed, followed by the instinct to run. As one, Toy Bonnie and the Puppet ran for the back, trying to drag the others with them as much as they could.
Aria continued to fire shot after shot into the roof, exhausting her quiver. Without a moment to spare, she grabbed the second one, with conventional heads, and jumped onto the roof. These weren’t as strong, and she’d have to aim much closer than she’d liked.
The thumping on the roof awoke Adagio. Knowing something was up, she ripped off her headset and wandered into the darkness of the hallway. Continuing to hear the thumps on the roof as well as additional ones in the dining room, she wasted no time, firing a clip into the ceiling. She then switched guns, moving into the dining room, the flashlight attached to the tactical rail on her pistol cued and throwing light onto the walls.
What she saw, she didn’t expect: the animatronics were in various positions on the ground, stuffed like pincushions from various arrows. A sparking came from the far wall as it was clear that the junction box had been damaged.
Goddamn it, Ari was right – it is Les Scars, Adagio thought with concern. Guess we’ll have to plan to take them out.
Running as fast as she could, Adagio raced for the spare junction box; the building had one installed as a strange redundancy, but right now the SIREN was not going to argue her luck.
Aria climbed back up to the office building, her heart beating like a drum. Someone – likely Les Scars, had returned fire. Aria rushed back to the sniper rifle, desperate to find out if Adagio had survived, and if she was going to have to return fire…or worse, avenge her sister.
A few minutes later, she breathed a sigh of relief as the lights came on in the building and she watched the dot that corresponded to Adagio’s IFF signal running around the building, double-checking the perimeter. Immediately, Aria started disassembling the rifle and throwing the parts in the bag, getting ready for the police to arrive at any second. She didn’t want to be around when that happened, though she was sure that Adagio would be able to handle herself for the rest of the evening.
Hopping onto her bike, the middle triplet raced for home, her mind awhirl with plans: Les Scars had clearly tried to take out Adagio, which meant one of their teams was in the area. Madrigal wasn’t available, and while Vesper was in town, risking her cover would be unnecessary.
Well, time to prove our own worth, Aria thought as she headed home.