Prologue

One Minute Thirty Seconds.

As Mabel, Dipper, and Soos entered Stan's secret underground lab, the ground shook wildly. The three looked at each other, Mabel looking desperately at her brother for advice in what to do. He was the one who dealt with the journals and knew about these insane mysteries. She could see the wheels turning in his head as he looked around the room. His eyebrows raised and he turned towards her.

"There!" He said, gesturing to a table with three keys. "Turn these, together!" All three of them rushed into place and simultaneously turn the keys. A device popped up in the middle of the floor with a red button encased in glass. She looked at Soos, and then Dipper again, awaiting his next instructions. When the two of them worked together, they really could accomplish anything. Soos' help was appreciated, but after all of this, she was struggling with who in her life she could really trust. Dipper seemed like he may be the only person.

Dipper took a breath, knowing there isn't a second to waste with the numbers on the huge countdown clock ticking down more every moment. "That's it! The shutdown switch!" He locked eyes with Mabel, insuring her that he knew this was best. "This all stops… Now!"

"DON'T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!" Stan shouted as he sprinted into the room, panting as if his lungs are about to burst. He looked at Mabel and she locked her gaze with his. She wanted to believe so hard that Grunkle Stan was who he said he was, that he was truly someone she could trust, that he still cared about her, despite everything. By this point, Dipper was next to the button, his hand hovering over it. Despite Mabel's inner struggle, Dipper seemed confident in everything he was doing.

"Dipper, just back away. Please don't press that shut down button, you've gotta trust me." Mabel looked between her Grunkle and her twin brother/best friend, and tears welled in her eyes. Family was everything, yet there they were, in the middle of what appeared to be a life-or-death situation. Mabel didn't know whether or not her family relationship would survive, let alone whether they themselves would survive.

"And I should trust you why?!" Dipper snapped. Though his voice never faltered, Mabel could tell this was hurting Dipper just as much as it was hurting her. "After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer?! I don't even know who you are!"

Stan began to step forward towards them, his eyes grabbing for some semblance of trust and sympathy from his niece and nephew. "Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on!" He pleaded. "If you'd just let me explain-" Stan was cut off by his watch beeping, the world around them shaking once more. "Uh-oh, no! Brace yourselves!" All four of the estranged family were tossed into the air as gravity no longer existed for the moment. Mabel, Dipper and Soos all started floating towards the device, knowing their lives may depend on the impossible decision they were all wracking their brains to attempt to make.

Stan spun around mid air, unable to give any direction to where he was going. Dipper reached for the button and was hit by a wooden support that broke off, slamming him across the room. Mabel gasped as her foot was tangled up in a long chord.

T-minus Thirty-Five Seconds.

"Dipper!" She cried out, clinging to the chord to keep from floating away.

"Mabel, hurry! Shut it Down!" Dipper called out as Mabel looked underneath her to see she was suspended just a few feet above the button, the chord she was tangled in floating far past where she would need to be to reach the button. She gripped the chord and began pulling herself down it, remembering how similar this was to climbing the rope in gym class.

"No! Mabel, Mabel, Stop!" Stan begged as he floated towards her, only to be swiftly knocked away by Soos. Stan stared at Soos in disbelief as Soos glanced back at him with confidence never seen by Soos before. "Soos, what are you doing?! I gave you an order!"

"Sorry Mr. Pines-if that is your real name-but I have a new mission," Soos declared, "Protecting these kids!" Stan looked between Soos and Mabel as she continued to pull herself along the chord. "Soos, you idiot, let me go!" Stan protested, but before he could do anything, Dipper pushed himself off the support beam towards Stan and Soos, shoving them farther away from Mabell.

"Go Mabel! Press the red button! Shut it down!" Dipper instructed, and as Mabel stared into Dipper's eyes, she desperately wanted to believe that was the right thing to do.

"No, you can't!" Stan pleaded as he pushed Dipper away from him. "You gotta trust me!"

Yet, some part of her couldn't accept that their Grunkle was really evil. She knew somewhere inside of herself that he had to be good, that there had to be some explanation, that there was no way that her entire summer was a lie.

Finally, after minutes of silence, Mabel spoke the words that had been plaguing her heart ever since the FBI Agents took Stan into custody. "Grunkle Stan," She sobbed, tears streaming down her face. "I don't even know if you're my Grunkle!" She took a deep breath, knowing she had to keep herself together. "I want to trust you, but-"

"Then listen to me!" Stan interrupted, looking at her without his tough guy mask, being vulnerable for the first time all summer. "Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?"

T-minus Twenty Seconds.

Everybody screamed as Dipper, Stan and Soos were shoved against the back wall by a powerful surge from the machine.

"I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me, and some of them are true, but trust me. Everything I've worked for, everything I care about, it's all for this family!" They were running out of time. Stan had to convince her not to stop it. Dipper had to convince her to push the button. Soos had to protect the twins. Mabel… Mabel had to make the decision that would change everything.

"Mabel, what if he's lying? This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!"

"Look into my eyes, Mabel! You really think I'm a bad guy?"

"He's lying! Mabel, shut it down NOW!"
"Mabel please!"

Ten.

Nine.

Mabel looked between the two people she thought she could trust most, then looked down at the button, mumbling, "Grunkle Stan…"

Six.

Five.

"...I"m sorry." Mabel lifted her hand fast, descending it towards the button.

"Mabel, no! This is my only chance to-" He cried despondently, but it was too late.

One.

Mabel's hand slammed against the button and the machine whirred, coming to a complete stop as all four crashed to the ground.