Security Breach - Sequin

Thickening

"I have to take your head off?!"

Freddy let out a static wheeze at Care's reaction. "It is not harmful. There are some wires that can only be accessed without my head in the way."

Care gave him a disturbed expression. She then inhaled through her teeth and shrugged, "If you're sure."

Freddy's shoulders rose as he looked through the window of the repair cylinder, as if having doubts of his own. "I am sure. I need to be able to speak."

"Alright," Care approached the cylinder, "What do I do?"

Freddy moved around her and took his place in the operating chair. Care gave a wary look at the machine, "This thing looks like a torture device. You still sure this is safe?"

"As long as you follow instructions, it will be. You will need to interact with the computer outside and then come back in here to assist the machine. It will walk you through the procedure."

Care glanced at the thick monitor sitting in front of the cylinder. "This thing? Of all the cutting edge tech this place has, its repair station has an actual 80's computer? I thought the stuff in here was only supposed to look retro, not actually be fifty years old."

"There were... some shortcuts taken."

Care slammed her fist on the table, "Shortcuts is how people get hurt and overlooked! If you don't have the time to do it right, then why do it at all?"

Freddy blinked at her from the other side of the glass, "I am sorry, I did not know you felt so strongly about that."

"It's fine. It's nothing." Care caught herself and turned her attention back to the computer. "Let's see, press E to run diagnostic. Okay." She clicked the key and a loud music trill coughed from the screen that made Care jump.

A robotic voice started speaking from everywhere in the room. "Hello! Welcome to Parts and Services. It appears that Freddy is here for some maintenance. Running diagnostic. Diagnostic complete. Please select the task you would like to perform."

A list blinked across the screen. Care tilted her head, "Freddy, why is literally everything wrong with you?" she squinted at the grainy screen, "Servos locking up, ocular incompatibility —whatever that means—, rust, buildup of organic fluids, misfiring circuitry, code aberration-? Wait, organic fluids? Like, human stuff?"

Care glanced at Freddy, "Is that what I've been smelling? Something rotting? Did you get blood on you or something?"

Freddy suddenly couldn't keep eye contact. "Please just find the one referring to vocal functions."

It took a bit of scrolling, but Care found just that. She clicked it and the automatic voice barked forth, "Thank you for selecting! Please enter the protective cylinder to begin."

"Okay..." Care waited at the door and ducked under it. It closed behind her with a rather ominously heavy thud.

The overhead voice chimed in. "In case of an emergency, the protective cylinder will protect important service personnel outside of the protective cylinder."

"What?!" Care exclaimed.

"Deactivating animatronic safety protocols n-ERROR."

Care noticed a blue spark ignite across Freddy's fingers.

"Safety protocols active. It is recommended that no mistakes are made during the procedure."

"Uhm... o-kay?"

"It appears that Freddy sang a bit too enthusiastically in the last show and has shorted out his voice box. You will need to access wires under Freddy's head to fix the shorted circuit."