Dipper glared at the Fazer Blast doors as Gregory stood beside him and the animatronics behind them, knowing the only person that knew the quickest way to his brother was inside.
"Gregory and I are going to head straight for Vanny," Dipper declared, as he pulled out his magnet gun with impressive but unnecessary flourish. "I need the rest of you to keep the staff bots busy while we make our way to her."
"How are we going to stop Vanny once we get to her?" Gregory asked as he attempted to copy Dipper's moves with his Fazer Blaster and nearly dropped it as a result.
"I'm going to create an opening for you," Dipper replied, giving Gregory a smirk. "Then you're going to give her a controlled shock."
"Okay," Gregory agreed with a wide grin of his own.
Dipper just nodded, took a deep breath, and started sprinting through the Fazer Blast maze, the others following right behind him. Staff bots filled the area and immediately swarmed towards them, hands outstretched to start tearing them apart. Roxy immediately ran forward, smashing through the first few coming after them. Monty roared and began crushing staff botts, slamming others into the sides of the maze and even destroying a few walls in the process. Moon climbed up the sides of the maze to get a better height advantage against their enemies while Chica and Freddy worked together to pick off the stragglers.
"Hold on tight Gregory!" Dipper commanded as he grabbed the boy by the arm and flipped him onto his back. Gregory let out a surprised yelp at the sudden change in position but managed to get a good grip on Dipper's shoulders. Once Dipper was sure Gregory wasn't at risk of falling off, he ran up the side of the nearest wall and jumped to the top of another one, gracefully landing on top of the thin structure. Dipper began running across the top of the maze and avoiding most of the robots trying to kill them, easily keeping his balance on the thin walls.
"I can see Vanny!" Gregory said, pointing up to the costumed woman looking down at them.
"Good eye," Dipper complimented, quickly identifying the best place to aim his gun. "Hold on with all your strength. We're about to take the express route."
Gregory immediately complied, clinging with all his might as Dipper pulled the trigger and the two of them were pulled up into the air. They landed on one of the suspended walkways, their momentum making them slide into one of the side railings with enough force to leave bruises. They didn't let that slow them down as they ran toward Vanny's secret hideout.
"Remember the plan," Dipper whispered as they approached, Gregory nodding against Dipper's back before slipping off. Gregory followed quietly behind Dipper as the man burst through the door and faced off against the possessed woman, Dipper's hands beginning to glow with energy.
"You're not going to escape," Dipper informed as he stood in a ready stance. "So you might as well surrender."
"You might defeat me, but you'll never stop my master," Vanny replied with a manic laugh. "And if I'm going down, I'll take one of you with me!"
Vanny brandished her knife high and lunged toward Dipper, clearly intending to do as much damage as she can no matter the cost to herself. Dipper immediately threw both hands out toward her, the energy around his hands growing exponentially as he shouted "Tenere!"
A glowing blue aura immediately covered Vanny's entire body as the spell took hold, locking her in place without even a hair moving. This spell could be dangerous to use as keeping someone completely suspended like this took a lot of energy and easily turns into a battle of wills. Even though Dipper had a pretty good chance at succeeding no matter what kind of opponent he was up against, the effort could leave him entirely wiped out of energy in the process. But Dipper never had to worry about holding the spell indefinitely because he rarely faced opponents completely alone. So for him, the spell wasn't about keeping an opponent captured, but merely keeping them still and vulnerable for just long enough…
Gregory immediately took his cue and ran forward, powering up his taser to half power and rammed it into Vanny's back. Dipper released the spell as soon as electricity began racing through the woman, allowing her body to spasm as she screamed. It felt like an eternity when in reality it was only a few seconds, but the electricity eventually ceased and Vanny slumped over unconscious.
Both Gregory and Dipper took a moment to appreciate that she was down before the sounds of the battle below them reminded them that things weren't over yet. Dipper immediately went over to the control system and activated the microphone, shouting, "Staff bots stand down! Return to your normal duties."
Upon hearing the order the staff bots all spasmed, their programming at war with virus influencing them. Their programming won out in the end though and those that were still intact dispersed, following their new orders. Dipper breathed a sigh of relief that it worked before turning back to the unconscious Vanny.
"So what now?" Gregory asked, still tensed as he stood near Vanny, watching for any sign that she was going to wake up unexpectedly.
"Now, you get to see what a real exorcism looks like," Dipper replied, pulling out his spray can.
Dipper immediately got to work on clearing a space on the floor and carefully preparing a complicated ritual circle. Gregory kept guard over Vanny the whole time Dipper worked and the animatronics arrived just as the circle was finished. After double-checking his book to make sure he had done all the runes correctly, Dipper placed a chair in the center of the circle and the animatronics helped tie Vanny to it sans mask.
"All of you should be outside of the room for the spell itself," Dipper told the animatronics. "It's going to be a lot of magical energy and it's better not to risk your systems getting glitched from it. The animatronics were reluctant to leave, but trusted Dipper's expertise, watching safely from behind the window. Gregory stubbornly stayed by Dipper's side and Dipper didn't bother arguing, rather just started to chant, "Per potentiam mundi et fabricam rerum nostrarum componens, posco ut malum, quod invasit hanc mulierem, a corpore et anima extrahat me!"
As soon as the spell began the painted circle immediately started glowing with energy, casting the whole room in an eerie light. As the spell progressed, Vanny began to twitch and then really jerk against her bonds as black smoke began to waft off her. Once Dipper said the final word, she threw her head back in a silent scream as black smoke poured out of her throat.
The cloud grew until it towered over Dipper and solidified slightly into something vaguely reminiscent of a humanoid bunny shape. Glowing magenta eyes and mouths full of sharp teeth opened randomly across its body, though the most prominent set remained where a face should be. The smoke still retained a wispy look, but it also seemed to drip like some sort of ooze and its lower half never truly formed, still attached to its host and curled around her like a snake.
Gregory immediately pressed into Dipper's side, fear filling his being at the evil entity before him. Even protected by the circle keeping everything contained Gregory could feel the malice and hunger that radiated from the inhuman creature before him and as a few eyes on its body turned toward him, he understood in his very core soul that this was the thing that had wanted him dead so it could devour the energy of his soul.
Dipper remained firm and unafraid of the monster before him and put a comforting hand on Gregory's head, though even he didn't dare take his eyes off the threat in the room. The monster lunged at them, maw gaping wide open as if it intended to swallow them whole. Gregory couldn't help the terrified scream that escaped him as he hid behind Dipper, only to be surprised and relieved as the creature slammed into the energy barrier at the circle's edge. The monster screeched in anger, slashing at the barrier with its claws but to no anvil.
"You are more clever than I gave you credit for," the piece of William spoke, glaring down at Dipper as its claws uselessly pressed against the barrier. "But in the end, you still aren't smart enough to outwit me."
"You think very highly of yourself," Dipper replied cooly, unshaken as he stared into William's eyes. "But I've faced down many far worse things than you. You are not going to win."
"Now who's thinking highly of themselves," William chuckled, floating back from the circle's edges and holding up Vanessa's unconscious head in his hands. "And while you've defeated and outmaneuvered my little puppet here several times, it still wasn't enough to stop me from getting what I wanted now, was it… While you've been busy freeing this worthless little pawn, I've been working to break down the one that's actually worthy to be on my side."
"Mike's strong and would never join you," Dipper scowled, unable to help the surge of protective fury that raced through him at the thought of his brother in the hands of this monster. "He'll fight against you with everything he has and we'll be able to rescue him long before you're able to truly break him."
"True… Michael has always been a fighter, but I have a way to bypass most of that don't I?" William mocked, tracing a claw around Vanessa's eye where Mike's animatronic one would be. "While I am impressed with the safeguards you've added, I've never seen such coding before, it doesn't change the fact that it's all built on my work. By the time you get to me, he'll already be fully under my control. And once I get rid of you and harvest your remnant, I'll have all the time I'll need to properly mold him into the perfect heir he was always destined to be."
"We're not that easy to kill!" Gregory said, feeling surprisingly brave at the moment even as William focused on him. "Despite everything you've thrown at us we've survived and came out stronger than ever. No matter what we're taking you down!"
"Then I look forward to watching you struggle and fail!" William laughed, his claws going to Vanessa's throat. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to make it easy for you…"
"No, you don't!" Dipper shouted, realizing William's plan. "Ego te amo!"
The piece of William shrieked in pain as the energy of the circle surged and ripped him apart, the sound only silenced as the last bits of smoke vanished.
"He's not gone is he…" Gregory stated as he looked at where the monster had been. He knew it couldn't possibly be that easy, but he was not sure what effect, if any, destroying that monster had.
"No," Dipper confirmed with a grimace as he tucked his spell book back in his jacket. "It was just a small piece of his whole soul so it got sent back to the core of his being. Hopefully, the backlash of having the part violently returned to him will give Mike relief and us more time to rescue him. But now for what we really came for. Expergiscimini!"
Vanessa gasped as the spell forced her back to consciousness, looking confused and disorientated before her face crumbled in horror and despair.
"I-I'm s-sorry," Vanessa sobbed, the ropes binding her keeping her from curling up into a ball in shame. "I swear I-I never… I d-didn't want to… I'm so sorry. He made me…"
"It's over now…" Dipper comforted as he kneeled before her, gently beginning to untie the ropes. "I know things aren't alright now and will never be the same again, but you're free now. He no longer controls you and you can start making things right. Please Vanessa… we need your help. Can you take us to the entrance of William's true lair?"
"Yeah…" Vanessa agreed with a shudder, rising to her feet unsteadily. "I doubt it'll do you any good, but I'll show you where it is."