.GIFanny stared at Soos, not seeming to care that the remaining Society members began to fight back. Tried to fight back, at least, their attacks did nothing to the robot's metal frame. The cheerleader robot that .GIFanny seemed to have made her main body didn't react at all to the attacks, although the two rats, beaver, and owl began to advance on the Society members. It didn't take long for all of the Society members to be captured. Some tried to run away, but found the exit blocked. All the while, .GIFanny stared at Soos, not saying a word. Soos was sweating under the intensity of her eyes, so he cleared his throat and said, "Uh, hey there, .GIFanny. Uh, thanks for the save, haha."

"You are welcome," .GIFanny said flatly, "Not that you deserve it."

Soos swallowed. "Umm, is this about pausing you?"

"Among other things. Namely, that you left me," .GIFanny pointed at Melody, "FOR HER!"

"Soos, what's happening here?" Melody asked.

"QUIET, HOMEWRECKER!" .GIFanny shouted. She snapped her fingers. "Capture them!" Only the rats responded, the beaver and owl seemed to be tying the Society members to a pillar for safekeeping. That's something, at least. Mabel thought as McGucket scrambled up the wall. He found a place among the tubes on the ceiling, saying "Ooh-whee! These robots sure are fancy, but I ain't sure I like being on this side of them!"

Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand and ran one way, while Soos grabbed Melody and ran the other way. Mabel heard him begin to explain how he bought a sentient dating sim, but they quickly moved out of earshot. It seemed one rat was chasing Soos and Melody, while the other had come after her and Dipper. Mabel had already seen that the robots were too tough for conventional attacks, so she began looking around for ideas on how to take them down. "There!" Dipper said after a few seconds of running. He was pointing to the ground, where once again the memory gun had fallen. The two of them beelined for it, the rat hot on their heels.

Dipper dived for the gun, grabbing hold and turning to shoot. A beam of blue light hit the robot head on, but it didn't slow down at all. It brought its fist down, and Mabel and Dipper had to scramble in opposite directions. "Shoot!" Dipper said as the rat chased after him. "I was sure that would work!"

Mabel thought for a moment, then brightened. "Dipper, I have an idea! Throw me the gun!" Dipper did so, tossing the gun over the rat. Sure enough, it followed the gun's trajectory, and began advancing on Mabel. "Hah, I knew it!" Mabel declared as she began to run. "Dipper, I think it did work! That's why it chased you, and then me."

"But then why didn't it stop?" Dipper asked.

"I don't know, you're the nerd twin!" Mabel said, running through the pillars to try and shake the rat.

Dipper thought about it for a few seconds. "Wait…Mabel, you can use that dial to type what you want to remove! It must have still been set for summer, but if you set it for the AI, then you could probably erase her from the robot!"

Mabel began fiddling with the dial, but after a moment shook her head. "I can't type and run at the same time. Catch!"

She tossed the gun back to him. The rat, predictably, changed directions, but she'd lured it to the other side of the room. That gave Dipper plenty of time to catch the gun, type in ".GIFanny," and shoot the rat again. This time, the rat slumped over, its red eyes dimming. "Haha, yes!" Dipper said, grinning over at Mabel.

She returned the grin, but it was quickly replaced by a look of horror. "Behind you!" she yelled, pointing.

Dipper spun around, taking in the giant beaver that had appeared behind him. He managed to dive out of the way of its attack, but in doing so he couldn't do anything about the pulse of electricity that left the beaver. It went up toward the ceiling, and Mabel watched in morbid fascination as it traveled through the pneumatic tubes up there, before coming out over the disabled rat. The electricity went into the rat, and it stood straighter, eyes once again glowing red. "Oh, c'mon, that's not fair!" Mabel exclaimed as the rat turned to face her.

The rat laughed, strangely not in .GIFanny's voice but rather a sleazy, conman sort of tone. "You didn't really think it'd be that easy, did ya sweetheart?"

"Why do you sound like that?" Mabel asked.

The rat shrugged. "Dunno. Guess the animatronic has its own personality, or something." It lunged for her suddenly. Mabel jumped, too surprised to get out of the way, but luckily another jet of blue light hit the robot and it fell to the ground before it could get her.

"Dipper!" she said in relief, looking over at him. He'd also disabled the beaver animatronic, but he was keeping his distance. Mabel joined him, and even as they watched, two more electric pulses came humming through the tubes on the ceiling. The electricity entered the two downed animatronics, which began to climb to their feet. "What do we do?" Mabel asked as both she and Dipper began to run away. "Is there some way to hit all five of them at once?"

"I don't know," Dipper panted. Mabel suddenly realized that he probably hadn't slept in over 24 hours, and was likely running on pure adrenaline. "The speed wouldn't even be a problem if it wasn't for the-" his eyes suddenly brightened, "tubes!" Dipper called out. "McGucket! Destroy those tubes! As many as you can!"

"On it!" McGucket said, kicking at the nearest tube. It bent on the first hit, and broke on the second. McGucket laughed, then had to scramble out of the way as a guitar went flying past him.

"Stop him!" .GIFanny commanded. All four of the other animatronics began throwing things at McGucket, starting with their instruments and then progressing to whatever they could find. The rats even began tearing parts off of the barrels they were contained in. McGucket seemed to be holding up well against the onslaught, slipping nimbly through the jungle of tubes and lashing out whenever he could.

Mabel waited a moment to confirm that he'd be OK, before rushing over to Soos and Melody. Dipper stayed behind, leaning against a pillar and panting hard. Mabel wasn't happy to leave him there, but with the animatronics occupied for the moment, it was safe for her to check in with the rest of the team. "How're you two lovebirds holding up?" she asked.

Melody laughed. "This is officially the craziest date I've ever been on, but I'm fine."

"Same here, dog," Soos said, "Though I haven't really been on many dates to compare it to, haha."

"Good, good," Mabel said. "As soon as McGucket breaks enough of those tubes, the memory gun should be able to get rid of .GIFanny pretty easi-" she was cut off by a scream. She looked toward where it came from, and her heart leaped into her throat as she saw that McGucket was on the ground, surrounded by animatronics. Maybe he'd finally been hit, or maybe the tubes' structural integrity gave out as he was smashing it up, but whatever had happened, he was on the ground now. A quick scan of the tube system showed enough of them intact to still be a problem.

"McGucket!" everyone yelled in unison, rushing forward, but .GIFanny put up a hand.

"Ah, ah, ah," she said, wagging her finger, "You wouldn't want me to delete your friend here, would you?" Behind her, the beaver animatronic picked McGucket up in a bear hug, and briefly squeezed him. McGucket let out a pained huff of air, and the beaver relaxed, but the warning was clear. "You can't run away from our relationship now, Soos," .GIFanny said, laughing her strange laugh.

Soos hesitated, looking at McGucket, then at Dipper. He was still holding the memory gun, but wasn't pointing it anywhere. It seemed Dipper had also concluded it wouldn't do any good. Soos next looked at Mabel, who shrugged back helplessly. She hadn't had a chance to hunt down where her grappling hook had gone, and even if she'd had it, she couldn't see how it would get them out of this. Soos finally looked at Melody, and even from where she was standing, Mabel could see the fear in her eyes. Melody had held up remarkably well tonight, but it was still her first adventure, and it had been a rough one. It now had three hostage situations, one of which had involved her, and she was clearly at a loss for what to do now. Mabel saw Soos give Melody a small, sad smile, before his face grew determined. He stepped forward, arms held up placatingly. "OK, .GIFanny, I'm listening."

"About time," .GIFanny said. "Communication is the most important part of a relationship. We'll work on that once you join me."

Soos looked confused. "Join you?"

.GIFanny held up her hand. "In the game world, silly." Her finger retracted, a USB plug coming out in its place. "I can upload your consciousness into my program, and then we can be together forever." She pointed the stick at Soos, who instinctively flinched back. After a moment, though, he stood straight again.

"And if I do this, you'll let everyone go?" Soos asked.

"Soos, no!" Mabel cried out.

"You can't!" Dipper added.

Soos looked over at them. "Sorry, dudes, but this is the only way. Tell my grandma I went out like a hero, OK?" He looked over at Melody. "Melody, you're a great woman. You'll make someone really happy someday."

"Soos…" Melody said, reaching out while taking a half step forward.

Soos turned back to .GIFanny. "Alright, let McGucket go, and I'll join you." .GIFanny snapped the fingers of her other hand, and the beaver dropped McGucket. He scampered away from the animatronics, trembling.

Mabel turned to look at Dipper in despair, because they just couldn't lose Soos right here and now. She hoped that Dipper had a plan, and she felt a spark of hope at the fact he was wearing his thinking face. And as .GIFanny began to extend her USB finger towards Soos, he held up the memory gun and commanded, "Wait!"

"Oh," .GIFanny said, tilting her head at Dipper, "is the little boy going to try something? Go ahead, I'm sure you can hit all five of us fast enough." She laughed.

"Maybe not," Dipper said, "but I don't have to." He turned the gun on Soos and fired.

Soos was briefly illuminated by blue, then he blinked rapidly, looking around in confusion. "What's going on? We were fighting those Society guys, and then everything went blank." He noticed .GIFanny and her crowd. "Whoah, Hoo-Ha the Owl and his band! Did you dudes help us take down the bad guys?!"

"No!" .GIFanny yelled, rounding on Dipper. "What have you done with my Soos!?"

Dipper smirked. "What good's a boyfriend who doesn't know who you are?"

.GIFanny began to scream in rage, but after a few seconds the scream cut off and she froze. Mabel shared an uneasy look with Dipper, because that couldn't be good. A second later, .GIFanny straightened up and her smiled widened. "You have taken everything from me." .GIFanny said, disturbingly calmly. "So I will take everything from you. Starting," she pulled a cylinder out from her shirt, "with this."

Dipper's eyes widened. "McGucket's memories! Nonono, wait-"

But .GIFanny, without hesitation, threw the tube on the floor and stomped on it. Chunks of glass and a few spools of tape flew out around it. Dipper made a choked sound as .GIFanny looked toward the group. "Now, the rest." she snapped her fingers. "Delete them. Save the boy for last."

The robot's began to advance, .GIFanny's main body joining them this time. Mabel looked quickly to the exit, placed behind the robot horde, before going to Dipper. He seemed to be in shock, looking at the remains of the memory tube, but even as she watched he jerked his eyes away. Dipper fired at the horde, aiming for the cheerleader robot. She stopped briefly, but without breaking stride the owl slapped her back and she was back. "Worth a shot…" Dipper said, beginning to back up.

Mabel followed suit, thinking hard. The memory gun was the best weapon they had against .GIFanny, but nothing they'd done with it had worked. The only thing that kind of had was shooting Soos. Argh, if only there was some way to hit all of her with one shot like that! Wait, Mabel's eyes widened, All of her in one place! Why didn't I think of it sooner?! Mabel reached into her pocket, pulling out the disc to .GIFanny's game. "Dipper, catch!" she yelled, tossing it to him like a frisbee.

Dipper caught it clumsily, making Mabel's heart leap into her throat, but he got his grip a moment later. He looked at it for a second, understanding dawning on his face, before he triumphantly held it out for .GIFanny to see. "Game over .GIFanny!" he declared, shooting the disc with the memory gun. .GIFanny let out a scream of pain, and then all five animatronics slumped forward and fell to the ground, finally laying still.

"Yes!" Mabel cheered, running over to Dipper and hugging him tightly. "We did it!"

"Yeah…" Dipper said unenthusiastically. He shrugged off her hug, walking over to the remains of the broken memory tube. Mabel felt her own excitement diminish at the reminder.

She joined him as he knelt down, releasing both the memory gun and the game disc. Mabel placed her hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, Dipper, it's not over yet. Maybe McGucket can fix this." She looked over at the old man. "Can you?"

McGucket stepped forward, examining the pieces with a pensive "Hmm." After a minute of looking and picking up some pieces, he said, "I probably could, yeah. But, this here tape," he pointed at it, "that's gonna be the storage medium, and it's fragile. The data might be corrupted from the damage."

Mabel smiled at McGucket, before lightly shaking Dipper's shoulder. "See, DIpper? We'll get what we can, and I'm sure that it'll be enough. And if it isn't, well, we'll deal with whatever comes together." Dipper said nothing, not looking at her. Doubt suddenly spiked through her. "Right?"

Dipper shrugged her hand off, standing up. "The tube being broken is your fault," he said.

"What?" Mabel said, hurt.

DIpper turned to glare at her. "If you hadn't pushed me to get that stupid game in the first place, none of this would've happened! .GIFanny wouldn't have been here to smash it, heck we wouldn't have had to split up in the first place! And how could you possibly have thought it would help, you know how stressed I've been, what kind of logic was telling you the answer was more stress!"

"Whoah, Dipper!" Soos interjected, standing beside Mabel. "You're being, like, really unfair right now. Sure, maybe she made some mistakes, but she thought she was doing the right thing. She saved your life today, dude, and yelling at her like this is really uncool."

Dipper stood there, breathing heavily but not saying anything, for a few seconds. Then, his fists clenched and he turned and stomped toward the exit. Mabel squeezed her eyes shut as he went, a sob escaping her as she sat down hard on the floor. Soos immediately wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright, Mabel," he said soothingly. "Dipper's normally pretty cool, so I bet he's more mad at the situation than you." Soos ruined the comment by adding an "I think?" afterward.

Mabel hugged Soos back tightly, realizing that this was the second time today she'd done so. "This is the worst day ever." she said. Soos hummed in agreement, continuing to hold her for a few seconds. Then, Mabel took a deep breath, and let go. Soos was probably right. Dipper needed to burn through some anger, and when he came back, they'd either work it out, or get into a proper fight about it. Until then, there was another problem to deal with. She picked up the memory gun from where Dipper had left it, then stood up and walked over to where .GIFanny had tied up the Society members. "Now, what are we going to do with you…" Mabel said, typing "Society of the Blind Eye" into the memory gun.

Dipper made it to the room with all the eyes before the guilt caught up with him and made him stop. He slumped against the fireplace, utterly exhausted. It had already been a long and rough day, and instead of just enjoying the fact that everyone had made it out in one piece, he'd blown up on Mabel and made things worse. He rested his head on his knees, thinking about all the problems he had at the moment. Mabel, yes, but also the broken memory tube, the fact that he'd shot Soos during the fight, the pain in his wrists that was coming back now that the adrenaline was wearing off, and above all the "Device Charging" screen that had really started this whole mess.

"What I wouldn't give for an easy solution…" Dipper whispered. As he said it, a chill seemed to enter the room. Dipper looked around, feeling that something was off. After a moment, he realized that all the eyes were looking at him, not the secret panel that opened the door. He scrambled to his feet, and the eyes followed the movement. He considered running back to the others, but the fire suddenly sprang to life in the fireplace. Dipper stumbled back, bumping into the wall where the panel was. Despite the fact that he'd had his back to the wall, a hand suddenly came down on his shoulder from behind. He felt a jolt of fear, shoving the hand off of him. He spun around, and saw that where the panel had been, Bill Cipher was now floating.

"'What wouldn't you give for an easy solution?'" Bill said. "Y'know, I was just wondering about that myself."

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Previous code: HOLDING HANDS? WHAT WILL THESE YOUNG PEOPLE COME UP WITH NEXT?

Notes: .GIFanny's dealt with, but we're not quite out of the woods yet. The next chapter will be the last of this Soos and the Blind Eye arc. For this chapter, though, I'm happy with how it turned out. I've had the idea of the conflict here, where .GIFanny can be erased from single robots but they can revive each other, for a long time now. I'm glad I got to figure out how that would play out. Also, Bill's appearance at the end is inspired by how, when I lay in bed at night, sometimes it feels like there's a serial killer creeping up on me, even when I have my back to the wall.

Was that too much information? Kinda feels like too much information. Ah, well. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Ratings and reviews are always much appreciated (even if I take a while to respond sometimes, sorry!) Thank's for reading!