Dipper followed the tracker through the maze, though it felt like that word didn't truly apply anymore. Dipper was pretty sure that even if he purposefully made a wrong turn he'd still end up heading in the right direction.
After all, William wanted to be found.
Dipper knew he was getting close when the looks of the hallways changed, becoming more utilitarian and no longer decorated like he had entered the 'employees only' area rather than places meant to be seen by guests. As he turned down another hallway, Dipper could see a reinforced metal door with caution stripes on it. As he approached, he could feel the evil energy that filled this area get even thicker and made Dipper's protective tattoo burn a bit where it was inked over his heart.
This had to be the center of William's lair.
The door automatically opened once Dipper was close enough and Dipper didn't hesitate to go through, the door clanging shut behind him. It was dark in the room, which only drew more attention to the growing monitors, showing some sort of video feed. The top left screen showed some sort of race track, with Roxy gritting her teeth in concentration as she raced against a shadow clone. The one below it showed Moon crawling through a tube maze. The top right one showed Monty running through a jungle of some sort with a large shadow clone chasing after him. The one below that was of Freddy trudging his way through a hallway, eyes glowing magenta showing that the bear wasn't truly in control. And the screen in the middle displayed a hiding Gregory, close enough to clearly show the boy's fearful but determined expression.
"As you can see Mason… You're the only one left…" William said, drawing Dipper's attention to him.
William was sitting in a security chair and facing the screens, but as soon as Dipper's attention was on him, he dramatically spun around with a smug grin on Mike's face and his fingers steepled in front of him. Dipper barely managed not to roll his eyes at how clichély villainous it was.
"And if you're hoping Michael was still fighting back, you're sadly mistaken," William said, making Mike grin even wider as his eyes glowed brightly with victory. "He was so determined to buy the brat a little more time that he made himself an easy target. He's now trapped in a nightmare of his own creation and he's not going to get out until I let him out."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Dipper asked with a frown, buying more time while he thought of what his next move should be. While William could be lying about Mike's current condition, Dipper couldn't risk relying on that, especially as what William described was something Mike would absolutely do.
Mike is still so willing to throw his own safety aside to protect those he cares about.
"To prove to you that I was serious that I would destroy all the others if you refused me," William reminded, gesturing to the screens behind him. "All of them are trapped in places that I could either release them from or ensure will result in their end. But I'm willing to give you one last chance to convince me to spare those hunks of metal and let the brat live. I will be accomplishing my goals one way or another, but if you willingly help me I won't be forced to continue on with more death and destruction."
"And I'm supposed to believe you're actually going to stop even if I help you?" Dipper scoffed, glaring at William as his eyes glowed with blue magical energy. "That even if you get exactly what you want… you'll stop killing in a quest for more power? No… people like you… once they start they're never going to stop unless someone else makes them… I'm not going to help you… I'm going to stop you here and now!Prohibere!"
Dipper's spell didn't take hold like he wanted though he wasn't surprised considering this was where William was strongest. Instead, the magic just dissipated uselessly into the air while William shook Mike's head in disappointment. With a sigh, William said, "I tried to be patient and generous, but you once again reject me… Remember that this is all your fault now…"
Dipper surged forward only to be stopped by some sort of barrier preventing him from actually getting more than halfway across the room. William mostly ignored Dipper, confident in his control of the area, and turned his chair slightly to press a button on the desk more for a dramatic effect rather than actual need. Speaking to a microphone by the button, William said, "Destroy them… turn all of them into nothing but a pile of broken and torn apart limbs and pieces…"
The Shadow Roxy's eyes glowed even brighter, her grin becoming impossibly wider, and she pressed a button on her dashboard, making spikes coming out of her car's hubcaps. Sharply breaking, Shadow Roxy waited until the real Roxy's car was level before slamming into it.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Roxy growled, barely maneuvering her car enough not to have her tires pop as the spikes shredded into the side of her car. Her car trembling violently from the assault, Roxy did her best to keep her car on the track while her counterpart tried to push her toward the edge.
The Shadow Moon's grin widen and the claws on his fingers became even bigger and sharper. Instead of crawling within the tubes and through the various obstacles in the maze of the play structure, the shadow began tearing through everything with his claws to more quickly get to the daycare animatronic.
"He should be banned from this!" Sun spoke within their shared mind. "Not only is he destroying Fazbear property it's making a mess!"
"Not really the time Sunny," Moon grunted, barely twisting out of the way of the claws digging into the top of the tube tunnel he was in. Moon hurried out of the tunnel and down the next one, the trail of destruction following close behind.
The Shadow Monty actually stopped chasing after his smaller counterpart as the orders came through. Instead, he pulled out a giant golf club and golf ball, dropping the ball on the ground beside him. Taking a big swing, the shadow yelled, "FOUR!"
The ball went sailing over the trees in a perfect arch and landed a few feet behind Monty. As soon as the ball impacted the ground, it exploded, sending dirt and shrapnel flying and knocking Monty onto his face.
"Of course…" Monty grumbled as he quickly forced himself back to his feet and spat dirt from his mouth. "Of course, he has exploding golf balls!"
Monty continued his sprint through the twisted jungle as more golf balls rained down on him.
Freddy straightened up as the 'virus' sunk its claws even deeper into his coding, looking less like a zombie and a bit more like his old self. He soon came into the party room and approached the first table. Bending down so he could look under it, Freddy called in a voice that contained a sinister edge, "Gregory… Where are you?"
Gregory remained silent, eyes wide with fear and despair as his once protector and friend now searched to kill him.
"Superstar… Why do you hide?... I thought we were friends."
"NO!" Dipper shouted in worry as he stared at the screens, seeing how the traps had turned even deadlier.
"Having second thoughts? I'm afraid you've already wasted your last chance," William laughed, turning back to face Dipper. "But don't feel too bad… I'm not going to leave you out of the fun…"
Dipper suddenly found himself falling upwards as if gravity had been reversed in that split second. His years of experience let him twist his body around and land on the new surface in a crouch rather than simply slamming into it. Looking around, Dipper could see that his surroundings had changed into something that resembled that crazy stair painting. Walkways expanded and crisscrossed in every direction. Doorways stood open at the ends of the walkways, showing only black voids that looked to swallow Dipper whole.
"And don't think I didn't notice the spirit you're letting tag along with you," William's voice echoed from everywhere. "Since you decided to help out that little demon, I figured I should give you a taste of what she put me through."
Glowing eyes appeared in all the doorways and what seemed like every animatronic Dipper had ever heard Mike describe and even several he hadn't begun to emerge from the openings, all of them looking at Dipper with murderous glee.
"Oh simzel…" Dipper cursed as he saw all the animatronics that were eager to hunt him, holding his magnet gun ready. The original Foxy peered out on the door in front of Dipper connected to the walkway he was on. He gave Dipper a wide grin to show off all his sharp teeth before he began sprinting at Dipper at top speed.
"What are you waiting around for!" Cassidy shouted as she faded into view beside Dipper. "RUN!"
Dipper didn't need any more encouragement as he turned around and started to run to the other doorway that had Toy Chica coming out of it and was charging at Dipper though a lot slower than Foxy. When Dipper got close, Toy Chica swung her arm holding the cupcake at him, trying to knock him off the walkway. Dipper ducked under the attack, pressed his gun against her side, and fired. The magnetic burst scrambled her systems and left her standing there twitching. Dipper continued his run and didn't look back when he heard Foxy crashing into Toy Chica.
"Not bad," Cassidy complemented, sounding grudgingly impressed.
"It's not even close to over yet…" Dipper replied in concentration, running through the now empty doorway. He arrived at another walkway and he could see Rockstar Bonnie already coming at him from the other end. Out of the corner of his eye, he could also see Toy Chica and Foxy recover and began to follow after him.
"Let's just see how long you can last!" William said maliciously, his laughter echoing all around.