Mike scanned the crowd of people waiting to be picked up by their various rides for the familiar figure of his little brother. It didn't take long for Mike to spot him and thankfully there weren't any cars in the way so he could pull up immediately.
"Hey there Dipstick," Mike greeted with a smile, pulling the younger man into a hug. "It's great to see you in person again, even if I don't care for the circumstances."
"But not unexpected, given our family's track record," Dipper laughed, happily returning the hug.
Dipper had undoubtedly grown a lot over the years. He was nearly as tall as Mike now and pretty much all lean muscle from years of running around on all sorts of magical adventures and monster hunts. His blue vest was now a blue flannel jacket and he wore a sturdy pair of black cargo pants. He no longer wore a hat though he had a pair of glasses, which he had customized to have several extra functions along with just letting him see. Mike himself hadn't changed as much, only gaining some muscle himself and rarely wearing a jacket or gloves unless the weather called for it. He was done hiding in the shadows, and the stares he got from his animatronic parts were nothing compared to when he had been a walking corpse.
"Come on, let's get you loaded up," Mike said, opening up the trunk. The two of them quickly piled Dipper's bags into the trunk and they were soon on the road.
"So what's the plan?" Dipper asked.
"We'll sneak into the Pizzaplex right before all the doors shut and lock at midnight," Mike explained. "Then we'll use one of the more hidden security offices to both look for any video evidence of what happened to the missing kids and to try and find the source of the "virus". We need to figure out where William is hiding so we can take him out again, hopefully for good this time."
"And your positive he's the one behind it?" Dipper replied with slight concern. "I just don't want us to miss anything because of what we're expecting to find."
"My father is definitely involved," Mike concluded, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "The biggest question is how many "allies" he has. The staff bots are definitely something to watch out for as they are constantly connected to the mainframe. Even if they aren't completely infected, being spotted by them would definitely alert him. I'm not sure about DJ Musicman or the daycare attendant as I don't work with them directly as often, but it's probably safe to assume they've been compromised. The daycare attendant especially because customers have been complaining more than usual lately. I wanted to check it out, but since the team hadn't reported anything unusual and I already had to deal with the Glamrocks, I never got the chance to. And while I want to say the Glamrocks are secure, since I haven't been able to figure out a way to prevent the virus from reinfecting them after I've cleared their systems it's safer to assume they're all compromised to some extent. Freddy's probably the only one safe at the moment as I have just cleared his systems and there shouldn't be enough time for him to get tampered with."
"What about the human night guard?" Dipper wondered, making mental notes of everything Mike was telling him.
"I don't know much about her as I've never seen her in person," Mike answered. "The few times I worked overtime we only interacted through messages. She could be innocent and just miss whatever the controlled animatronics are doing, she is just one guard in the huge place after all, but there's also the chance she's more directly involved since we suspect someone might be tampering with the animatronics directly. Either way, we'll want to avoid her until we know one way or the other."
"Sounds like our plan is going to fall apart immediately," Dipper smirked ruefully. "Sometimes I wonder why we even bother anymore."
"We do tend to have to wing it more often than not," Mike agreed with a chuckle. "All we can really do is arm ourselves for every eventuality and think on our feet when everything inevitably goes to hell. You ready to descend into the chaos with me Dipstick?"
"Always," Dipper confirmed as the two brothers shared a fist bump. They had arrived at the Pizzaplex's nearly deserted parking lot and got out of the car, Mike opening the trunk for them. Dipper opened one of his bags while Mike opened a secret compartment, revealing his own equipment.
"Here's an extra staff Fazwatch," Mike informed, handing over the device. "It'll give you access to the camera feed and has maps of the building's layout. It'll also let us communicate when we get separated without being picked up as a foreign signal."
"Thanks," Dipper said, strapping the device to his wrist and the buckling on his utility belt, making sure his upgraded magnet gun was secure in its holster. "I've brought some spare components and parts for your arm since you had to use most of them on repairs after dealing with that rogue werewolf. How are you on healing potions?"
"I'm glad you brought the parts, I always prefer having more backups," Mike said, getting the parts and slipping them into a pouch on his own belt. "I'm good with healing potions still as my animatronic limbs have taken the brunt of the damage on my last few solo adventures. Wow… I haven't seen this many protective charms since we all got the sigil tattoos. Why'd you bring so much?"
"For the Glamrocks as well as a few backups just to be safe," Dipper explained, handing a few for Mike to hold onto. "I'm not positive they'll work as we're not sure about how much of the virus is ghostly influence versus malicious programming, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try."
"Good idea," Mike nodded. "I doubt they're strong enough to free an infected animatronic, but they should definitely make it a lot harder for them to get reinfected once we clear their systems. We should probably get one to Freddy asap. Okay… we've both got extra tasers and a few tools that can be used as melee weapons in a pinch, you bring some EMP devices in case things get dire?"
"Yep, of various strengths and range," Dipper confirmed, indicating the ammo on the bandolier belt he just slipped on across his chest. "I also brought some of the miniature smoke bombs McGucket designed for us."
"Nice," Mike grinned, examining the marble-sized devices. "They probably won't be very effective on the more advanced animatronics but they should definitely come in handy against the staff bots. I think I've got everything I'm bringing, what about you?"
"Just about," Dipper replied, putting on black fingerless gloves with magic focusing circles stitched into the backs and slipping his personal spell book into his jacket's inner pocket. "Let's go."
All geared up, the two locked the car and went towards the warehouse entrance. Mike punched in the door's code, letting the two of them slip inside. Almost as soon as the door swung shut, the clock hit midnight, making the door lockdown under higher security and they could even hear the distance sounds of the announcement that the Pizzaplex was now close.
"Guess this means we're stuck here until six," Dipper commented, adjusting his belt and drawing his magnet gun. "So which way are we going?"
"We need to head down that hallway and… hang on," Mike paused as his Fazwatch began beeping like crazy. "Well, that can't be good… Helpy's apparently been sending me messages for the past thirty minutes and I'm only getting them now."
"Someone or something must be purposeful blocking external communications," Dipper frowned, checking his cell phone. "No signal… they really don't want anything getting out. What was Helpy trying to tell you?"
"Gimme a sec, he just sent me another one… Xsoter!" Mike cursed as he read the message, using an alien swear he had picked up from Ford. "Apparently a kid has been wandering around alone and he wasn't able to get out before the doors locked. He's trapped in here with us and a building full of potentially killer robots."
"Well that certainly changes things," Dipper grimaced, running a hand through his hair. "This must be a new record, less than a minute in and our plan already fell apart. Where's the kid and how soon do we need to get to him."
"I'm checking the cameras now," Mike replied, pressing various buttons on his Fazwatch. "Looks like he's just sneaking around the lobby area… at least he's smart enough to avoid the staff bots and… why the hell is Chica patrolling? And her movements do not look right… Okay, this is a potential disaster, but it's not an emergency yet. We should be able to sneak up to him without too much trouble. I'll message Helpy that we're on our way and to inform us if the kid changes locations or if he gets in trouble. If something happens, we'll forget stealth and just go in guns blazing."
"Lead the way," Dipper concluded.
The two of them began sneaking through the back hallways, carefully avoiding being seen by the patrolling staff bots. Mike kept a close eye on the kid through the cameras, ready to throw caution to the wind if it seemed like the kid was ever truly in danger. There were a few close calls, but the kid was clever and would hide in whatever small space he could fit into to stay out of sight. They arrived at the main lobby just as the kid entered the daycare center.
"Didn't you say that the attendant there is definitely infected?" Dipper asked just as they arrived at the locked doors themselves.
"Yeah," Mike confirmed with a grimace, opening up a hidden keypad. "And the tighter security around the daycare means I'll have to use my emergency override if we want to get in immediately. It's going to send an alert through the system, so we'll need to be prepared for greater resistance after this. There's no way William won't know we're here now, especially if he was already after the kid."
"We'll handle whatever is thrown our way," Dipper replied with confidence. "The kid is our top priority after all."
"Then here we go," Mike said, typing in his code and swiping his badge.
"Code accepted… welcome Chief Engineer Pines…" the robotic voice announced as the doors to the daycare swung open. The two of them hurried inside, the doors closing behind them with an echoing thud. They had just arrived at the balcony's edge in time to see the kid messing with something at the security desk before the entire area was plunged into darkness.
"Size," Mike cursed, his animatronic eye brightening as it automatically switched to night vision mode. They could hear the daycare robot screeching and freaking out and they knew things were about to get very dangerous.
"You go help the kid," Mike instructed, wrapping an arm around Dipper's waist while his wires emerged from his back. "I'll take care of the animatronic."
"Right," Dipper nodded, tapping the sides of his glasses to switch on night vision mode as well.
Mike leaped over the railing, using his wires to let them land safely. As soon as their feet touched the foam-covered ground, the two took off running into the chaos.