Dipper and Pacifica had been running for seemingly forever. Pacifica was checking inside every door that was open and for everyone that was locked she and Dipper would have to force it open. "Pacifica, why are we doing this?" Dipper asked, he was starting to get tired from the amount of strength he was putting into running around the mansion, which seemed to be much bigger than the last time Dipper was there. "Before I passed out I was with a couple of friends and my nursemaid. Da-Preston told me that he killed Luke but he never said what happened to the others!" Pacifica explained, also panting from fatigue and nervousness. She had no idea if Rosie and Mystia were still alive but she had to hope, if nothing else she had to cling to whatever hope she had left.

Because Preston had crushed most of it...

A while after the two came to the second floor of the manor. Pacifica was about to round a corner but stopped dead in her tracks, nearly sending Dipper crashing into her. He was getting ready to say something when Pacifica shushed him and pointed around the corner. Dipper peeked around and almost had a heart attack, there were two guards posted outside one of the rooms and they looked vicious. Two guys, one Hispanic and one African American, both had on thick padded body armor over white t-shirts, matching black cargo pants, and shiny black combat boots. They both sported semi-automatic carbine rifles, concealed Beretta pistols, and large combat knives. "Well, I wasn't expecting a welcome party!" Dipper whispered angrily. "Do you think I knew they were here, I was tied to a chair for who knows how long while I was unconscious!" Pacifica whispered back in an irritated tone.

"That has to be where they are. Predictable, that he would put them into the one near impenetrable room in the house!" Pacifica was furious, she already had to accept the death of one friend and she wasn't about to let anyone else die who didn't deserve it. She pulled Dipper back around the corner. "I have a plan, but it's extremely risky." Pacifica whispered to Dipper, who recomposed his serious face and nodded.

"The office has a separate hallway just on the opposite side of it, Preston keeps a display of old flintlock pistols in a display case along with the gunpowder and round shots." Pacifica explained, making Dipper pull a horrified face. "You want me to kill them?!?" He asked incredulously, he had never known Pacifica to be so violent. Pacifica shook her head, "You won't have to, just fire it and get at least the attention of one of the guards. Besides, you'd never be able to penetrate their armor and unless you're right next to them you won't be able to shoot them in the head." She explained like it was completely obvious.

Dipper looked still uneasy but steeled his nerves. He made his way back downstairs and found another flight of stairs leading back up but on the opposite side. He climbed up and started walking down the hallways to the room. Sure enough there was the display case with four pistols and what looked to be an empty space where a rifle would have gone. Dipper didn't know why this unsettled him but he ignored the feeling, using his knife to force open the lock. He loaded one pistol but then got an idea.

He started loading another pistol...

"Come on Dipper, what's taking so long?" Pacifica wondered, she didn't think it took this long to load one of those pistols. "He's probably loading another pistol but why? He didn't want to kill anyone so why would he do that?" Pacifica thought to herself. After another minute or so she heard the familiar BANG!! of a flintlock pistol. Pacifica dared another peek around the corner and to her surprise both guards abandoned their posts to investigate the noise. "Idiots." Pacifica said with a smirk. She stalked over to door and knocked softly so the guards wouldn't hear her. It took awhile but Pacifica eventually heard a voice from inside.

"Who's there?" Came a voice, Rosie, clearly shaken with fear and grief. "It's me, Pacifica." Pacifica said, happy to finally hear Rosie's voice again. "Pacifica, you're alive?!?!" Rosie said rather loudly, making Pacifica freeze where she was. Sheglance around to make sure nobody heard, luckily she was still alone. "Yes I am, now please keep quiet!" Pacifica whispered, fearful that the guards would come back any minute. Then she heard another shot from a flintlock pistol followed by the shattering of glass. She looked to her side only to see that the other hallway had gone dark. More rounds were fired this time down the entrance of the hallway.

"Please be okay Dipper." Pacifica prayed, then she went to work on the door. Most would believe that without a key out would be impossible to open a locked door but that wasn't the case for the Northwests, they were always losing keys. So they implemented a sort of "secret passage" type of deal where every door had a specific code or trick to get in, and Pacifica knew every single trick to open all the doors...

Except this one...because she was never given a chance to learn it's secrets.

Pacifica wracked her brain to try and figure something out all the while she heard gunshots from deeper in the house and yelling down the hallway to her left. She searched along the door frame...nothing, on the side walls...nothing, not even the door itself held any clues. Pacifica was starting to get aggravated, she was being outsmarted by a locked door. She tried turning the handle just for kicks and of course...it failed.

At least Pacifica thought it failed...

Her middle finger brushed against something on the handle, like a button that would have been glossed over by most other people. "It can't be that easy, can it?" Pacifica asked herself and pushed the button on the knob. She couldn't hear it, but she could feel the mechanisms in the knob and the door begin to react, releasing hidden locks holding the door in place.

Dipper was getting tried of being shot at, though it's not like they could have hit him anyway. After shooting out the lights, dumb and dumber switched on their flashlights which only made Dipper's plan that much easier. He grabbed two mini walkie talkies out of his vest, tuned them to the same channel, and placed one behind a plant at the other end of the hallway. He then hid in a closet, making sure the door didn't creak, and talked into the walkie talkie. "Hey dumdums, over here!" Dipper said, which the separate walkie reiterated. The guards turned towards the noise and started walking. They passed the gun case, a sword display, and a closet door.

"Are you two really scared of one guy, I must make some impression!" Dipper wasn't sure where this bravado was coming from but he was liking the feeling. He saw the shadows of the guards pass by the door and further down the hallway. "Okay, now for the tricky part." Dipper muttered to himself. Once he made sure the guards were just far away enough, Dipper slowly opened the door. He saw the two guards make their way to where the plant was, this was his chance.

Time to explain, when Dipper first saw the guards he noticed they had com pieces in their ears, probably to communicate with Preston and the rest of their goon buddies. But what Dipper knew was that pieces like that were compromisable by high frequency noise that can't even be heard by most breeds of dogs.

A frequency that Dipper's walkie talkies can reach.

The only downside being that they had to be in range since utilizing this function used a lot of battery and had a low area range to work with, luckily the two were in the right position. "Please let this work," he prayed and pressed the button. He couldn't hear it, but Dipper knew the guards did from the way they were reacting. Immediately they had crouched down and grabbed their ears to try and block out the unholy noise being emitted. Dipper took this as his cue and rushed them. The first one saw him too late as Dipper ran up and kicked him square in the nose, knocking him to the ground in pain. The second one saw this and tried grab Dipper but was rendered incapable due to the noise. Dipper picked up the assault rifle and repeatedly hit the second guard in the head with the butt of the gun, rendering him unconscious.

Once he was satisfied with his work, Dipper switched off the walkie talkies. He picked the assault rifles and chucked them down the flight of stairs along with the guards' sidearms and their knives. He turned to leave but had a sudden feeling of dread wash over him. He turned around and saw one of the guards, the one who he kicked in the nose, retrieve a small handgun from inside his vest and start firing at Dipper. Acting quickly, Dipper did the first thing that came to mind...hide.

He ran over to a heavy oak hall table and tipped it over, using it as a makeshift shield. "And now I'm out of ideas, perfect." Dipper said angrily. The bullets kept coming, not truly puncturing the wood but leaving noticeable breaks in the wood. Dipper knew that soon this table will either give out or the guard is going to walk up and finish the job, Dipper had to move fast. Soon the gun ran out and Dipper heard a bit of rustling from the guard trying to reload. "Wait, it makes sense, he probably stored the ammo with the gun. Now he has to go into his vest each time to reload!" Dipper thought, sensing a slim chance of surviving this.

He mentally counted how long it took the guy to reload, "Thirty seconds...," next he counted the bullets that were fired from the previous clip that were indented in the wood, "20 shots...," then Dipper looked to the side and noticed a single candlestick. He picked it up, and was hit with quite possibly his craziest idea yet. He grabbed the tablecloth off the table and tore off a strip and wrapped out around the stick. He then grabbed a lighter out of his pocket.

He wrapped the cloth and lit it, as expected the thing burned like it was dowsed with kerosene. Dipper waited until the man ran out of bullets again, when he did Dipper chucked the thing at him. The guard saw too late as a ball of flame was hurdling towards him, catching whatever clothes sustainable to fire a light and already burning his skin. Immediately the guard thought about the bullets and ripped the vest off, throwing it away from him. Not a second too soon as just then the bullets started going off one after the other, destroying all bits of ammunition. Soon after some hidden sprinkler system kicked on, putting out the man and the clothes.

Although hurt, the guard looked more pissed than anything. He went over to his unconscious buddy and drew a hidden knife from his vest. "Come on out and fight me you brat!" The guard called out. Dipper was out of ideas, so he emerged from his hiding place. "You know something kid, biting the bullet was going to hurt a lot less than having me gut you like a fish!" The guard said, twirling the knife between his fingers. "You talk too much," Dipper shot back, pulling his own knife from his vest, "but I don't want to kill you!" Dipper charged the man, determined to end this.

Pacifica had just broken the lock puzzle, when she opened the door she was nearly crushed by Mystia and Rosie coming to hug her. "Oh God, I thought we'd never see you again!" Rosie was crying, she was checking everywhere to make sure Pacifica wasn't hurt. "I'm fine, I was actually worried what Preston did to you guys. After I heard what he did to Luke I-" but Pacific didn't finish because she started to hear a multitude of gunshots go off all at once. "We'll talk later, but now we've got to get out of here!" Pacifica sounded urgent, both girls nodded.

Dipper was getting frustrated, they had been just circling each other for a couple seconds looking for an opening. The guard was also getting impatient and made a forward stab at Dipper who sidestepped and slashed upwards. The guard saw this and moved his arm just enough that Dipper only nicked it. They both got back into defensive positions, waiting for the other to make a move. It was Dipper this time to lose his patience and advanced towards his opponent. He slashed upwards at the man's face but the guard managed to lean back and dodge the attack. Next, the guard outstretched his arm and slashed at Dipper in the mid riff, cutting a long gash across his vest. Dipper stepped back but that only encouraged the man to advance on him. Dipper wasn't liking the odds, the man was an easy half a foot taller than him and was built like a linebacker, plus he was pushing Dipper back to the entrance of the hallway where Pacifica was!

"If he manages to see Pacifica then there will be no one to save her this time!" Dipper thought desperately. "He'll probably kill you," Dipper was starting to lose focus, "he's going to kill your friends," Dipper's arms were shaking, "he's going to kill your family," Dipper was being forced down into a kneeling position, "he'll kill Pacifica!" Dipper was having trouble moving, all he could do was hold the man in a blade lock.

"You've certainly put up a good fight kid, but you're beat, I can see it in your eyes!" The man spoke in a sadistic tone. Dipper's mind was racing, he had to think of a way out of this! He glanced over to the stairway, an idea suddenly forming. Dipper glanced back up at the guard, "I like the bravado, but you're still a dumbass!" Dipper said. He got on his back and placed both of his feet on the guard's chest. He grabbed the guard and, using the leverage, flipped him over on his back. Dipper then got up as fast as he could and ran towards the stairs. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Dipper heard the guard yell. He looked back to see this hulking figure barreling towards him, a malicious look in his eyes. Dipper stopped at the stairway entrance and looked back to see the guard almost upon him. Dipper stood his ground and like a matador to a bull he leaped right to the side and watched his attacker barrel past him and down the stairs. Dipper wanted to say he landed alright but heard a sickening crack coming from the bottom, indicating the guard had broken his neck. Dipper was sickened to the core with what happened but remembered Wendy saying, "We don't want to be DIRECTLY involved in their deaths, if they get caught in the crossfire then it's just another casualty." Dipper looked down the stairs at the unmoving man, "Just another casualty, you keep telling yourself you didn't kill him...he killed himself." Dipper tried to reassure himself but he still felt queasy.

Dipper went back and found Pacifica and the other captured girls who introduced themselves as Mystia and Rosie. "And who are you?" Mystia asked, eyeing Dipper suspiciously. "My name is Dipper, I'm Pacifica's boyfr-" but Dipper was cut off by Mystia smacking him. "YOU BASTARD!" she shouted as she went to smack him again but Pacifica stopped her. "It's alright, we worked things out!" Pacifica explained. Mystia looked at her, then back at Dipper and felt as if an anime sweatdrop had appeared on her head. "Sorry about that," she said to Dipper, who was currently rubbing his face to ease the pain, "I just thought you were a heartless backstabber who enjoyed cheating on my friend." she said with an awkward smile. "I can tell I'm held to some kind of standard to you all." Dipper said, making all of them laugh. It was a good thing for all of them to do in their situation.

Then Dipper put on a serious face, "Come on, we have to get back to the others." they all nodded and ran off back towards the front of the house.

Mabel was getting really pissed off with these guys, not because they kept shooting at her but rather that THEY WERE SHOOTING JUST TO BE ANNOYING!!! Mabel wasn't as sure about "battle tactics" as most were but she didn't think that wasting all of your ammo was a smart move. Luckily for these guys they seemed to be pulling ammo straight from their asses since this has gone on for nearily twenty minutes. The rag tag team of friends were crouched down behind whatever cover was given to them such as couches, pillars, even a tipped grand piano. "So, when do you think backup is going to arrive?" Mabel asked Wendy sarcastically. "We won't need it." Wendy said with a smirk, she looked over at Soos and gave a signal who nodded in response. He then reached for something on his vest, a grenade. "Wait-" Mabel was saying before Wendy cut her off, "Before you ask, no it isn't a regular grenade as this one is only meant to stun those who breath in the chemical mixture. You see that little gadget attache to your vest, it's connected to a discreet breathing apparatus inside of your vest that will allow you to not breath in the Sandman." Wendy explained. "Sandman?" Mabel questioned. "Hey don't rag on the name it was my idea!" Wendy complained jokingly, causing Mabel to stifle a laugh. 

Mabel put in the apparatus and gestured Mark and Candy to do the same, Giffany was exempt because of her lack of a circulatory system. Once everyone had a mouth piece in Soos pulled the pin on the grenade, waited a few seconds, then threw it straight at the squad of mercenaries. The guards watched helplessly as the grenade sailed overhead and landed at their feet, exploding with an audible "CRACK!" Soon the whole area was covered with a white gas, making the room feel very misty. But just as fast as it had appeared the gas vanished and Wendy gestured to take the apparatus off. "It acts quickly and it leaves quickly, that's why it's the AMAZING, INGENIOUS SANDMAN GAS!" Wendy spoke triumphantly, making everybody laugh. 

Suddenly Mabel got an odd feeling, like someone was watching her. "MABEL LOOK OUT!" came warning from an urgent Mark-Anthony. Mabel had just enough time to turn her head to see a looming Preston Northwest reach an arm around Mabel's neck and start choking her while hauling her away from the group, he then held a gun to her head. "Let her go Mr. Northwest, there's no call for this!" Wendy spoke evenly to try and reason with the deranged man but he only smiled a sadistic smile. "It takes roughly 0.5 seconds for the brain to register any kind of movement, I've trained mine to react in half that time. If any of you try to raise a gun to me or even think of pulling a trigger then you can say goodbye to this little bitch!" he threatened, everyone growled in defiance but they lowered their weapons.

Dipper, Pacifica, and the rescued girls were making their way to the front of the house. When they arrived they were greeted with a terrifying scene. "No-PRESTON, YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!" Dipper yelled and ran towards him. He didn't get close when Preston applied more force to the choke, almost causing Mabel to lose consciousness, and press the gun harder into her temple. Dipper halted next to his friends who looked surprised that he was still alive. "Put her down, we can work something out to where there won't be anymore violence." Dipper said but Preston only shook his head. "Not this time boy, I've already been denied my Pacifica and therefore denied my lifestyle! I figure it's only fitting I deny you all of something, and what better than you're brat sister?!?" Preston had gone insane, the thought of losing everything finally tipping him over the edge. He leveled the gun and went to pull the trigger...

BANG!!!

Everyone jumped fearing the worst. When they looked Preston only had a look of shock, almost disbelief written on his face. Mabel managed to wriggle herself out of his grasp before he collapsed on the floor, there was blood. As Mabel gasped for air Dipper and Pacifica went to investigate the unmoving Preston. "He's...dead...just like that." Pacifica said astonished, she was relieved that she was finally free but now part of her felt...empty. Dipper pointed to where the blood was coming from, a bullet shot straight through his head. "Who did this, we are the only one's in the house right?" a now present Rosie asked. They soon head footsteps, a shadow was moving on the top floor and was walking towards the stairs. "SHOW YOURSELF!" Wendy ordered, leveling her knockout gun at the figure. The figure only laughed as they walked down the stairs, onto the same floor level, and into the light.

"You saved me?!?!" Mabel asked astonished.