Dipper stared at Stan wide-eyed, no longer struggling against the latter's gentle grip on his hands, and said slowly, '…Brother?' 'My twin brother', Stan said, 'The author of the Journals'.
'What…' Dipper said shaking his head a moment, '…your brother wrote the journals?'. 'Yeah', Stan said, 'He's the one who started all this: the portal, the journals, everything'. He turned right – Dipper turning too, staring to the smashed portal before them, 'Now it's all gone'. Suddenly, a crackling sound came from their left – forcing them to twist fast – and the familiar voice of Agent Powers called out: 'Fan out! We're not going anywhere 'till we find Stan Pines and those kids'.
'Oh no!' Stan said – letting go of Dipper's wrists - 'If they find us down here, we're done for!'. Soos said behind him, 'Aw, man. They may take us away to federal prison, or use us for government experiments'. His voice then turned thoughtful as he said, 'Although to have superpowers…'. Stan said lifting himself up from the ground, 'At least I can give you some worthwhile experience Soos, something to keep in mind'.
Dipper widened eyes as he said, 'Wait a minute, keep in mind…that's it!' He darted for his backpack – catching it next to one of the big, ran towards it and took the memory gun out from inside as he said, 'We can use the memory gun! But how can we erase all their minds though?'
Soos said – Dipper turning to him – 'You'll need an amplifier to get into their radios. That way they should forget easily'. 'Where is an amplifer down here?' Dipper said. 'Check the lab' Stan said, 'There might be something here'. They turned towards the lab and ran back through.
The lab wasn't as damaged as the portal room – bar the few ceiling panels dropped and broken with some papers around the floor, and Stan's chair lopsided over on the opposite side of the door – as Dipper came to the computer equipment on the right-hand side, and darted again all over – Soos and Stan silent as they looked around. Coming to a wooden panel with the head of a bird above it, Dipper looked inside the periscope gap – two wires sticking out underneath the periscope, and said, 'Aha, Got one. Soos?'
Soos came over and took the wires in hand, then looked over the Memory Gun for any kind of port drive, switched something on the gun, and pushed the wires inside. Dipper looked through the periscope – a few government agents still standing outside the porch, with Agent Powers and Agent Trigger standing underneath what might be the totem pole. 'That should do it', Soos said, 'Cover your ears dudes!'.
Dipper brought his hands quick to his ears unmoved from the periscope – the room beginning to shake once more gently – and Agent Powers, though his voice was muffled, could be made out as he said, 'Hey do you hear that?' A pause, then a blue circular wave blew out over the Mystery Shack – Agent Powers and Trigger, and the rest of the government agents clapping hands to their ears as they said crying out, 'AHHH!'. The wave continued through and disappeared from the periscopes sights – the agents falling down onto the ground in pain, beginning to murmur.
'I think we're good', Soos said. Dipper took hands away slowly, as Stan said, 'Alright, time to finally get rid of those agents'. Dipper turned to see him walking along to the elevator, then bending down to pick up the papers lying on the floor, and said turning to them, 'You two stay here until the coast is clear'.
Dipper kept his eyes on Stan as he entered through and went up. He bit his lip, and turned behind to the portal – the lights flickering in and out, the centre still shimmering the gentle blue light . 'Mabel…' he said quietly – breathing slowly and blinked, then arched his eyebrows - '...I will get you back. I swear'. 'Where…' Agent Powers's voice sounded close by – Dipper turning to the wooden panel – 'Where am I?'
Dipper stepped back to it as Powers said continuing, 'Why am I standing in front of some goofy fun knick-knack house?' Stan came through the entrance as he said, 'Stand down men. I've received the latest information from Washington'. He raised the papers looking at them as he said, 'According to this report, the causes of the freaky weirdness in Gravity Falls are due to crossed wires creating some electrical disturbances around the town'. He lowered them again as he said, 'Total embarrassment for you guys. But I'm here to take everything off your hands, and I'm gonna need every bit of info you have to clean this mess up'.
Agent Powers said, 'Uh, everything we have is on this drive', Agent Trigger bringing hand to a suit pocket, and taking what looked like a small flash drive out then passed it over to Stan, who took it quickly in hand. Stan then said, 'Well what are you waiting for? Get out of this town'. 'Uh…yes sir', Powers said, 'Apologises Sir'. 'Come on Soos', Dipper said turning away to the elevator, as Powers said, 'False Alarm everyone!'
'Dude', Soos said, 'You think we're really gonna flip the script with the portal?' – Dipper stopped in his tracks eyes fixed to the elevator – 'I mean, I want Mabel back too, but you wanna try after what you read in the journals?' Dipper frowned, and looked down to the ground, then said, 'Let's try and get some answers from Stan'. Soos didn't say another word as he waked behind him, and they entered inside the lift.
They came out of the vending machine – the gift shop completely empty despite a few merchandises smashed on the floor – and they came to the door then opened it – Stan kneeling as they heard Gompers the goat bleating, then a chomping sound, and Stan said, 'Good for something now, aren't you?' Dipper said as he walked over to him, 'Thanks…Stan…' – Stan standing and turning around to him frowning as he said, 'Let's not get carried away, it was serviceable'.
Dipper flickered a smile, then said, '…now, we are gonna talk. No more lies, you owe us some answers. What's the deal with this portal? Why did you keep it a secret?' Soos said from behind, 'I hope all this aligns exactly with my fanfiction Stan. If not, I will be very disappointed'. 'Okay, okay, okay', Stan said, 'I have a lot of explaining to do. Maybe we should go into the living room'. 'Alright', Dipper said, and turned around.
They walked through the gift shop and entered through the next into the living room – the soft yellow chair tipped over before the slightly moved yet pristine TV, the side table fallen over next to the fish tank, and Stan said, 'Sit in the chair kid'. Dipper continued reaching the yellow soft chair, and took one arm – Soos taking the other – and lifted back into place, then sat himself down – Stan coming to stand in front of him.
'First off' Stan said, 'my name isn't actually Stanford'. Dipper blinked lowering eyebrows to him, and Stan said, 'It's Stanley. Stanford was my brother. It all started a lifetime ago, in nineteen sixty something. I lived with my Ma and Pa in the lead paint distinct in the family pawn shop. Dad was a strict man - Tough as a cinderblock and hard to impress. Ma was a pathological liar which served her well as a phone psychic. And then was my twin brother, Stanford. As if his abnormally high IQ wasn't enough, he also had a rare birth defect: Six fingers on each hand – just like on the journals. Which might have explained his obsession with sci-fi weirdness. As for me, I had what Ma would call: personality. But as different as we were we were the perfect team. And every day we'd wonder the beach, looking for adventure'.
'One day we found this wrecked boat underneath the pier, and we made it our pet project to fix it up. Ford dubbed it the Stan-O-War, after a moment we picked on by Crampelter – a sad sack of a human being - before he scrammed away. I said to Ford not to worry, for we were gonna leave that dump, and sail around the world for treasure, babes: an unstoppable team. Those were the good times. Those bullies may have been right about us not making many friends, but when push comes to shove, you only really need one'.
'Ford's brains seemed to get more impressive every year. So did our pet project. Sure I got in more than my fair share of trouble, but when your brother's the smartest kid in school, you've always got a leg up on the competition. The future was lookin' bright. For both of us. Till one day...'
'We were told to come down to the principal's office, but Ford was the only one who went in. I looked through the keyhole seeing my parents were there too, then placed ear to the keyhole. The principal said because he made a perpetual watchamagiggy, he was getting a visit from these brainiacs from somewhere called West Coast Tech. It didn't bother me he said someone's got to scrap off the barnacles down the pier, it was I was gonna lose my brother'.
'He promised that if they didn't like his work, he'd come with me. But I knew deep down inside, without Ford I was just half of a dynamic duo. I couldn't make it without him. And now, thanks to that dumb college, I was gonna lose my brother forever. I went into the school…and hit the table hard with the machine on, so hard, it broke. I tried fixing it up, but it didn't work. Ford didn't get accepted in.
'He confronted me the next night, and said I ruined his chance of getting into that college. Dad took me by the scruff of my neck, and kicked me out of the house, and don't come back unless I can get a fortune to get them out of that dump. I pleaded with Sixer to tell Dad he was crazy, but he closed the curtains, and Dad closed the door. I said I didn't need them, or anyone. So, I got into my car, and drove off. Thanks to one dumb mistake I had no brother, no home, no nothing. But I had a plan to fix everything.
'I had decided I wasn't gonna show my face at home until I made something of myself. Unfortunately, the treasure-hunting business was slow going. Apparently gold was some kind of... rare metal. Luckily I struck a different kind of gold... in sales. I created Stan Co. Enterprises, and made a cloth wipe called the Shammy, sold them as the same kind astronauts used to clean cranberries on the moon – people hooked line and sinker.
'I had made my mark, all right. Unfortunately, so did the Shammies. Apparently the cheap dye I used to color them only made stains worse. Customers went crazy about that. Fortunately they were using Stan Co. brand pitchforks. I was officially banned from New Jersey, but with a quick name change, Steve Pinington was ready to take on Pennsylvania, with the rash-free Rip-Off band aids-' 'Wait' Dipper said, 'Steve Pinington…that was one of the names on those ID cards!'
'Yeah' Stan said, 'had some good times under that name. Anyway…I said the Rip-Offs wouldn't give you rashes. It gave ya rashes. I travelled the whole country, sometimes outside of it, always one step ahead of the law, looking for something that would be my big break. I was doing great. I had come up with a sophisticated new business strategy. I was in great shape, living on my own, and the best part was: I didn't need any help from nobody. Then out of the blue, I get this postcard from Stanford, asking me to come up to Gravity Falls. Not really knowing what else to do, I went to his home outside the town.
'When I saw him, he looked like Ma would after ten coffees, holding one of the journals and took me down to the portal. He said it was a universal gateway, a hole in a weak spot of our dimension. Created it to unlock the mysteries of the universe, yet it could be used for destruction. He had gone way over his head, and he had to stop whatever research he was doing to save the world, by getting rid of his journals. He asked if I remembered the trip we talked about, and said take the journal on a boat and dump it where no one would find it. I just let rip at him, saying how selfish he was hording his scientific grants, Ford accusing me of being the same costing him his dream school.
'I took the journal in my hand, and tried to burn it, but he tried to stop me. We fought inside the lab, and…he kicked me into the side of the panel, branding me with that symbol you were hung up on a while. So I punched him back, and said if he wanted his mysteries he could have them, and shoved it in his hands. But we had switched the portal on while fighting, and he floated back towards it, tossing that journal back, and got sucked in. In one flash, he was gone. I tried pulling the lever back and forth, but it was no good. I'd lost him.
'I didn't know if he was dead or alive in some distant galaxy, but I knew his journal must have the answer to getting him back. Somehow. But it was continued in the second journal. I didn't get much sleep that night. Or the night after that. I tried for weeks to turn that dumb machine back on. But without the other two journals it was hopeless. Finally I ran out of food. I had no choice but to go into town. I couldn't pay for groceries, until everyone thought I was Stanford. I tried putting them off, but with little money and only my brother's name, I had not much choice.
'So I came up with a plan. I couldn't leave my brother's house until I figured out how to save him, but I needed to pay his mortgage somehow. For once in my life, people were actually buying what I was selling. And so the Murder Hut was born! Later renamed the Mystery Shack. Finally I found something I was good at. For once being a liar and a cheat paid off. The old me was dead, and I'd faked a car crash to prove it. By day I was Stanford Pines: Mr. Mystery. But by night I was down in the basement, trying to bring the real Stanford back. I couldn't risk anyone learning the truth and sabotaging my mission, so I lied to everyone: the town, my family, your parents, even…even you kids'.
Dipper stared down onto the floor wide-eyed, then said, 'So all this time…' – lifting his gaze to Stan - …you were just trying to save your brother'. He sighed lowering eyes back to the floor and said, 'Grunkle Stan…' then raised eyes back, 'I'm so sorry I didn't believe you'. Grunkle Stan said, 'It's alright kid. I wouldn't have believed me either'. Dipper said, 'Now Mabel is trapped somewhere beyond that portal…and we have to get her back'.
'Woah kid' Grunkle Stan said laughing, 'what are you saying?' 'I know', Dipper said laughing, and kept smile on his face, 'It's a trans-dimensional gateway we thought would destroy the world' -turning to Soos giving a small smile back to him – 'but it took thirty years for you to try and get your brother back. It's gonna take LESS time to get them both back'. 'One question', Grunkle Stan said, 'Think you can be a little discreet next time with getting radioactive waste?' 'What radioactive waste?' Dipper said – Soos said in unison, 'I was never here when it happened'.
Grunkle Stan smiled, and said, 'Ok, it's been a long day, so you hit the hay. Me and Soos will try and see what we can salvage from the portal'. 'Grunkle Stan, I can't…' Dipper said, but Grunkle Stan took a step forward as he said, 'Trust me' – then knelt before him and placed a hand on his shoulder, 'after what I've been through, you'll need it'. Dipper glanced to the ground a moment, and back to Grunkle Stan, and said, 'Alright'.
Grunkle Stan took a step back, and Dipper took himself out of the chair, then stepped through the door leading to the stairs, and climbed up slowly to their room, and opened the door.
It had virtually remained unchanged – bar Waddles lying on Mabel's bed, who slowly awoke to see him, blinking those dark eyes quickly, and drifted back to sleep. Something to keep in mind - Dipper breathed slowly, and walked over to the small creature. 'Waddles…'Dipper said, '…Mabel's had to go away for a while. But I'm gonna get her back, I promise you'. The pig simply oinked back gently, and he drew a small smile on his face.
He twisted around to his bed, and took a step – something soft underneath his foot. He looked down – one of Mabel's sweaters, the moose one she wore before they went up to Pacifica's mansion the night before – and frowned. I should put this with the others – and bent down taking it in hand. As he lifted back up, he looked at it – the moose staring back at him. But…something to keep in mind – drawing further passed his frown, and twisted it around and put it over his head, and pulled carefully at the ends.
Comfortable – he twisted his lips, and stepped slowly over to his bed climbing on and laid there just a moment. He turned gaze over to her bed – Waddles unmoved breathing gently, those posters of Several Times and some other pop singers he didn't care about stuck over, the bed covers untouched since that morning when she was creeping opening doors – beginning to bite his lips. He then turned eyes to the ceiling, and said, 'Please be safe Mabel'.
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N TO COME...
Please leave a review or message if you liked the story. Many thanks :)
