"Okay, first things first," Mike began their planning secession, Mabel already beginning to knit a sweater for Charlie. "No matter how exactly we proceed, all of you are going to leave the majority of the actual fighting to Dipper, Mabel, and I. And whatever ever we decide to do, we better make our move sooner rather than later as I don't want to give "Vanny" and William any more time to prepare than we already have."
"Hey! You're not the only that can take out animatronics!" Gregory immediately protested, feeling like Mike was underestimating his skills. "I managed to trash the one's trying to kill me all on my own!"
"And that is an amazing feat," Mike assured with complete sincerity. "But this is a whole other threat level as the Funtimes are specifically designed to kill."
"It's not that we doubt your capabilities, sweetie, it's just about experience," Mabel added. "Dip-Dop and I had already gone on several adventures on our own by the time we met Kiki and encountered a killer animatronic, but even we knew to defer to his experience and follow his lead. And even then things got way too close…"
"Plus there's the added wrinkle of Vanny," Mike continued. "Not only does she likely have future knowledge she can use, but she's possessed by something twisted and dangerous."
"What kind of possession are we talking about?" Dipper asked, immediately on alert.
"Turned into a sock puppet, but I'm sure the real 'Vanny' is still in there," Mike replied grimly. Those native to this dimension didn't understand the context of Mike's comparison but the way the twins both shuddered slightly made it easy to know it wasn't a good thing. Mike sighed and went on saying, "And from my encounter with her and Funtime Foxy, it seems she can 'infect' the animatronics and turn them into extensions of herself, making them even harder to take down."
"Hmm… so we'll need to get rid of the influence as well," Dipper muttered, pulling out his spell book and flipping through the pages. "Hey Mabel, can you make copies of this purification circle? Probably at least twenty to be safe."
"You've got it Dipping sauce," Mabel agreed, immediately putting aside her knitting and pulling out several palm-sized pieces of paper, effortlessly recreating the circle on them.
"Right, so I'm thinking I'll lead the assault on William's main warehouse as soon as we're ready," Mike explained, getting to the meat of the matter. "I've already been there and know my way around and they won't be expecting me to have recovered so soon. Mabel will be my backup as she's better at close-quarters combat like I am."
And it was inevitable that they'd have to get up close and personal with those machines to take them down.
"Sweet! And since they're evil robots that means we don't have to hold back!" Mabel said with a viscous slightly manic grin that everyone but her brothers hadn't even realized she was capable of making and made them very glad she was on their side.
"I'm not just going to let you go on your own to face down a bunch of killer robots and the maniacs behind them," Henry spoke up, making it clear that the mystery siblings weren't going to persuade him otherwise. "I know I can't fight the robots, but I'm sure I can help somehow and at the very least be there if something goes wrong."
"You can focus on William himself," Mike replied, knowing it wasn't his place to deny this Henry the right to help take down his daughter's killer. "It's very likely that while Mabel and I are dealing with the Funtimes and Vanny that he'll try and slip away to be able to strike again another day, so you can help make sure that doesn't happen. But if you need any help at all, you can call on us."
"I'm going to go with Dad," Charlie stated, immediately getting Henry to whip around to look at her.
"Charlie! You don't-" Henry began only to be cut off by the ghost of his daughter.
"Dad, I'm not letting you go on your own," Charlie said bluntly. "I'm already dead. There's nothing more he can do to me. I won't fight if I don't have to, but I'm not going to let you get hurt and potentially killed when I can be there to protect you."
They two had a silent stare-off, both wanting to keep the other safe. Henry broke first though, leaning over with a sigh and saying, "Alright Charlie… I won't stop you from coming…"
Charlie didn't gloat about her victory, simply nodding and wrapping her arms around him to give him a comforting hug.
"So what am I going to be doing while you're at the warehouse?" Dipper asked.
"I'm pretty sure the secret tunnel connecting the Afton house to the warehouse has already been set up," Mike explained, ignoring the several surprised reactions that statement got. "We don't want anything escaping that way so you'll head into the Afton house and cut off that route. Elizabeth and Michael will go with you to guide you through the house and potentially be backup if you need it."
While Elizabeth was still inexperienced when it came to fighting, she had already proven that she can hold her own and was willing whatever it took to keep her loved ones safe and Mike couldn't deny her strength would be invaluable in helping Dipper take down any animatronics that might come their way. Michael meanwhile, while his memories were pretty spotty, still personally knew more about the situation than anyone else and there was a good chance that he might remember a detail that could mean the difference between life and death.
"Alright," Dipper acknowledged before looking at the two 'kids' that would be joining him. "While I won't be dictating your every move, I do expect you two to follow my lead. And if I give you a command, I expect you to follow it as quickly as possible. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, okay," Elizabeth grumbled but agreed to know that she was out of her depth.
"What are we going to do?" Gregory asked, gesturing to Evan and himself. "Are we joining a team or is there something special we're going to do?"
"You two are going to stay here and be safe," Michael replied firmly. "I'm not letting you two just run back into danger Superstar."
"What! That's not fair!" Gregory immediately protested, his anger keeping him from registering what Michael had called him. The two immediately began arguing, with Henry taking Michael's side while Evan just looked extremely uncomfortable by all the fighting. Charlie and Elizabeth, while they understood Gregory's perspective, rather not risk any other kids being killed like they had been and just watched as this played out.
Mabel meanwhile, leaned closer to her brothers and whispered, "I bet a week's worth of shifts and chores at the Shack that Gregory's going to sneak out about ten minutes after we leave."
"He's going to be out far sooner than that," Mike replied quietly. "I bet as soon as he's out of sight he's going to try and convince Evan to guide him to the house and will already be on the move by the time we're leaving."
"I don't know, Evan can be surprisingly stubborn," Dipper murmured back. "And if this Evan is anything like ours he won't give in immediately, especially if he's worried about Gregory getting hurt. But he's also still just a kid right now so I bet they'll be on their way about two to five minutes once we're gone."
"Either way, they're going to be with your group Dipper," Mike added. "Do you think you can handle keeping them safe as well as dealing with whatever might be lurking in the house?"
"It shouldn't be too bad as I'm sure Michael's going to be primarily focused on keeping them safe," Dipper said, thinking it over. "I'll make sure they have some way to defend themselves of course, but I think we'll be alright."
The three siblings nodded, agreeing on both the plan and the bet before tuning back into their surroundings just as Gregory stormed off, Evan scrambling after his friend to try and calm him down.
"I hope he stays here as that's what's best for him," Michael couldn't help but sigh in frustration, knowing Gregory probably wasn't going to stay put.
"He's a smart kid, I'm sure he'll realize we only want to keep him safe," Henry assured, not fully realizing just how much of a gremlin Gregory could be.
"We better get going," Mike concluded, getting up. "The sooner we can deal with this the better."
The others agreed, determination and resolve filling all of them to bring this nightmare to an end. Once Dipper had endowed the circles Mabel had drawn with power, he disrupted them with quick instructions on how to use and activate them. Being as prepared as they can be, Mike and the others in his group piled into Henry's car and Henry drove them to the warehouse. The building looked just as plain and unassuming as it always did, doing nothing to hint at the horrors and nightmares hidden underneath.
"Let's do this," Mike nearly growled, being the first to get out of the car. They weren't going to let William and Vanny get away with the atrocities they'd committed and were no doubt planning to commit.
One way or another, everything was going to end today.