In her attic bedroom of the Stanley Pines Memorial Library (which was bigger on the inside than the outside, thanks to her Uncle, and wasn't that a fun party trick), Willow Pines clicked away from her email (nothing new yet from G-great uncle Ford, who was off researching The Sight and its different manifestations, both physical and magical) to follow the link to her uncle's Wikipedia page, ready to see what ridiculous new thing the editors had to say about her uncle and parents, or what silly theories they were batting around about her and her siblings now.
Instead of the Wiki page on Alcor the Dreambender, though, she got a grey page with the words "Page Cannot Be Displayed" across it, and she glanced down at the icon at the bottom right of her screen automatically, blinking in surprise and dismay before groaning at the red x over it, taunting her that the internet was down.
The Library was on its own network and router, thanks to being just far enough from town to need it and with high enough need for their own connection, but since firebirds liked to perch on the wires and not all of them had been magic-proofed by Uncle Dipper yet...not that it worked well when the birds would just pick at the lines until they fell but still.
She headed downstairs, ready to check the router and eye the lines before she had to call someone about the internet. Maybe she'd get lucky this time, and it was just a brief moment of tech and magic not getting along, or something that could be fixed with a few mini Snickers once Uncle Dipper was home.
She poked her head into the kitchen when she passed it by, hearing her dad's voice from inside. He was looking at the phone in consternation, pressing on the hook. "Phones are out," he said when she caught his eye. "Right in the middle of talking to your sister, too."
"So much for calling about the internet," Willow said, leaning against the doorway. "It's down too."
Henry rolled his eyes and set the phone back down. "Well, with the way your mother drives, the three of them will be here soon anyway. They'd already gotten to the edge of town when the phone went out on us. Guess we'll just wait a bit and see about getting it fixed after they get home."
A car pulled in behind the Library, near the door to the house proper, tires scraping on the gravel, and Henry looked towards the door with a frown. "That's...odd, they shouldn't be here that soon..." he said as car doors slammed.
Seconds later the door burst open and figures dressed in black, ski masks covering their faces, poured into the Pines kitchen.
There was a sharp pain in Henry's upper arm, and he had enough time to see a dart in his upper arm and have the insult of being sedated like a wild animal register before it hit his bloodstream, the edges of his vision starting to blur.
Then they went for Willow, and the adrenaline was enough to fight back against whatever the hell was in that dart as Henry threw himself at the men attacking his daughter, too uncoordinated and dizzy to call on Dipper or turn into the Woodsman, the power flickering just out of his reach when he needed it.
It took ten of them to take him down, spells flying to hit both him and Willow, fighting to get to his daughter as she collapsed under six of her own attackers, and he dimly felt the rope wrapping around his arms and saw a figure in a blue suit striding into their kitchen as though they owned it as drug and magic took him under.
One of the members of Gideon's team came up to him, saluting. "Stanford was sleeping in his room, sir. He didn't go down easy, but he's been secured."
"Did you drug him?" Gideon asked eagerly, finally turning his attention from the redheads being secured in the truck for transport into town. He needed to find out who those two were and what the hell they were doing in the Mystery Shack...now apparently the 'Stanley Pines Memorial Library', whoever the hell 'Stanley Pines' was. Gideon didn't care about that. But gracious, you leave town for a few years and everything changes, just enough to make things odd.
"We didn't dare, sir," they replied, not noticing Gideon's wandering attention. "He's rather old, and since both you and Master Anthony demanded as little human blood shed as possible during the round up we feared it might interfere with whatever medications he may be on, plus who knows what it might do to someone that old."
Gideon waved away their explanation impatiently. He didn't care why they hadn't drugged the old man, all he wanted to know was if someone around here was awake to answer his questions.
Not that Stanford had ever given Gideon answers before, willingly at least. It didn't matter, not now.
"Get him in the truck with the other two and hide a team here," he demanded. "We need him and Mabel Pines, they're the dangerous ones in this town. We'll take these three into town and try to cut them off, but if we miss Mabel in town, she's got to come home sooner or later. Everyone else is sheep, they'll fall in line once we have all the Pines. Go see what the old man knows!"
In the Gravity Falls sheriff's office, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland were already locked into the station's lone cell, having been caught while making toys and a new blanket for their new naga grandbaby instead of paying attention to the town outside.
(Really, it was a wonder they hadn't retired yet. After this, they just might. Though with all the supernatural around, it was surprising they'd lasted this long, even if Dipper did take care of most of the 'ooky spooky stuff'. They just hadn't been quite ready to miss the bi-monthly 'we arrested Alcor!' antics. The kids had some good ideas for keeping up the tradition, at least.)
Anthony leaned back in the sheriff's chair, enjoying the moment as his team ransacked the office. All across Gravity Falls, he knew, similar scenes were taking place as the people were rounded up and brought to areas his people held secure, separated from the creatures they'd brought into their homes as 'friends' or 'family'.
As if they had the intelligence or morality to be equal to a human, let alone so close to one. It was laughable.
Despite the town being the epicenter of magic thanks to the damn Transcendence, most of the residents seemed too laid back to expect any kind of attack, be it magic or proper, non-cheating human ingenuity and muscle, just going about their lives with the magical creatures living among them as if they had a right to do so.
Fools. Magic was dangerous, they should be more ready than any to defend themselves against it, and here they were, accepting it and acting as though it were normal, something to be proud of and accepted.
Apart from a few pockets of resistance (the Corduroy family, primarily, as well as a few Pines family allies – apparently the Pines family's handyman and his family were surprisingly resilient, and his grandmother had a mean right hook none of them had seen coming, along with a hobo in the dump who his team claimed had had some kind of giant robot, of all things, which would have been nice to know about ahead of time. Though it was a surprise and disappointment to find Wendy Corduroy, the famed supernatural hunter, fighting to protect the magical scum instead of helping the Alliance), reports were pouring in of sector after sector of the town coming under their control, most too taken off guard to fight back against them.
There was a community center near the center of town, and per Anthony's orders any who resisted were being taken there to be bound in the gymnasium, where they were warding it with enough spells and deterrents supernatural creatures would either be unable to enter or have enough difficulty that the teams left guarding the humans would have plenty of warning, or be utterly blind to the people inside.
They needed the church next to the community center for phase two, so they may as well secure the area around it now. And maybe they could persuade a few residents to help them while they were at it. While he and Gideon were too busy for it right now, a few of their more devoted followers may be able to pull it off.
He picked up his phone as it went off, noting the name on it. "Did you take the Shack yet?" he asked as soon as it connected, not bothering with niceties.
"Got the Shack and Stanford secured, but the other Pines ain't here," Gideon snapped back. "Got two redheads here, don't know who they are. The old man ain't talkin', claims he don't know when they'll be back. There's evidence of them doing magic all over the place but nothin' to say where they're at or when they'll be back. An' he won't say what happened to Dipper or where he is!"
"So we catch the sister and the brother shows up," Anthony said. "You said it yourself, we don't know where or what Dipper Pines is now, or even if he's still alive at all, but if he is, he'll always come for his sister. If his Great Uncle won't talk, his sister might. We need to find them fast, either way, so get your team back into town. We haven't found any Pines in town and we need you to ID them for us."
Anthony hung up after Gideon's strangled "Fine," musing again on the obsession Gideon had for the Pines family.
It was almost amusing, how Gideon blamed the Pines – especially the elusive, possibly deceased, male twin – for everything that had happened to him.
Then again, it was impressive how close a nine year old had come to ruling this town, would have done it if twins hadn't thwarted his plan (if he hadn't gone after them personally and drawn them in) back then...which was exactly why Anthony had done everything he could to talk Gideon into helping him now.
They almost had all they needed, now. Just a few more steps and they could start preparing to undo the insult that had been done to their world.
Mabel's hands clenched tighter on the wheel the farther through town they went, eyes scanning the streets. She let go just long enough to hit the door locks, hearing them click into place as they traveled slowly down Main Street.
It was the middle of the day. Gravity Falls should have been bustling, but the streets were empty, and something was obviously wrong.
She glanced at the passenger seat, where Acacia was already slipping on her brass knuckles, eye scanning the disturbingly bare streets much as her mother had.
In the backseat, there was shifting noises as Reina, Acacia's wife, unzipped the backpack on the backseat and pulled out the blackjack from the front pocket. She may not have as much experience as the rest of the Pines family, but one didn't marry into this branch and not get some practical lessons pretty quickly.
So when the line of people dressed and masked in black streamed out to block the road, none of them were particularly surprised.
Varying degrees of angry, worried, and irritated, yes. Surprised, not so much.
Though there was a great degree of confusion mixed in with the rest. Everyone knew what Gravity Falls was, what cult was crazy enough to try and take on this town this openly?
And...by appearances...was winning?
Mabel rolled the window down a half inch, enough to hear and be heard without getting out of the car.
Well, okay, she'd be muffled but they could just deal with that.
"Who are you and what do you want?" she called, not bothering to pretend at being innocent or nice. Her town was empty, something was wrong, and she wanted answers now.
Then a figure stepped out from behind the black covered ones blocking the road and Mabel's hand's tightened on the wheel involuntarily, fighting down the instant instinct to punch down on the gas and run his ass over.
"Mom? You're growling," Acacia whispered, and Mabel huffed.
"I thought your demon uncle was supposed to be the scary one," Reina commented from the backseat, only joking a little, as quiet as Acacia.
"He had to learn it somewhere," Acacia said with a shrug. "Mom?"
"Gideon," her mom hissed, a level of hate in her tone neither woman in the car was used to hearing from the generally cheerful Mabel.
"Mabel! My sweet little marshmallow!" the man in the powder blue suit called, arms open wide as if he expected Mabel to leap from the car and go running to him.
"Ooooh, that Gideon," Acacia said, the last piece clicking into place. "I thought you said he was in jail?"
"Heard he escaped during all the chaos of the Transcendence," Mabel said shortly. "Surprised we haven't seen him before now. What are you doing here, Gideon?" she called out the window.
"Aw, aren't ya happy to see me?" he called back.
"Knock it off, Gideon. I'm in a car and you're squishable!" Mabel yelled back.
Acacia rubbed her ear, muttering, "Wish you'd open the window the whole way, you're loud."
Mabel just grinned and gunned the engine, not by much but enough to say she was serious. Gideon, showing more sense than Acacia had expected, backed away a few steps.
He scowled at the car as if Mabel had severely disappointed him before snapping a few words over his shoulder at the people still blocking the road.
"Hold on, girls," Mabel ordered. "And get ready. This won't be pretty." With that as all the warning she gave, she punched on the gas.
The car's tires squealed as it rocketed forward, and Gideon and his cronies scattered from the path of the speeding vehicle. A few, quicker to recover than the rest, shot at its tires and Mabel cursed as she felt two of them blow out.
The car began to weave dangerously across the road as Mabel fought to get just a little farther away before she lost control of it completely.
Gideon cursed again as the car sped away, one of the higher ranking members of his team already barking orders into their two way radio as several others aimed for the tires of Mabel's car.
It skidded as it rounded the corner. Gideon's team broke into a run, following the sound of crashing. Gideon followed after them, panting as he tried to catch up. He didn't do running, curse it all! He was management!
Mabel and two women were out of the car when he made it around the corner, though the amount of his team laid out on the ground suggested they'd launched themselves from it rather than being dragged out.
The secondary team came pounding up the pavement, and sheer numbers finally overwhelmed the three women, though not without taking severe losses.
None of the women went down easily, even after being overwhelmed, and it was only the subduing and knockout spells that finally took them down for good, with over half the team knocked out or nursing injuries by the time it was all over.
With the humans of Gravity Falls knocked out or subdued and restrained, depending on the person involved and the danger they presented, the Alliance turned their attention to the forest.
The forest was, in its way, more dangerous than the town. Humans could be predicted, while the forest...no one really knew what all lay inside the forest.
They had to move faster than ever, lest the humans they'd rounded up try and break free, maybe even warn those inside the forest, the traitors to blood and species that they were. Anthony's idea, since Gideon wanted the inhabitants of Gravity Falls to have plenty of time to worry and fear what they were planning.
Under other circumstances, Anthony would have been very willing to grant Gideon his wish. As it was, though...there were rumors that Alcor the Dreambender was...fond...of Gravity Falls, or at least fond as a demon could be. Had possibly even claimed it as his territory.
Which meant they needed to get everything in place before the demon returned, so they would be ready for it, and for it to be angry that they had invaded its town.
This was going to take a lot of preparation.
(A/N: Yes, I know according to canon Stanford is actually Stanley, but Gideon doesn't know that here. Also, I don't know how the TAU mods are handling the naming of the memorial library with this new information, so I'm going with "The older twins let the town keep thinking of them with the 'wrong' names," and leaving the name for now.
Finally, I'm going to do my best to update this on Tuesdays. Not a guarantee, but the attempt will be made.)