Chapter 10

Back inside the secret bunker, Dipper was looking at future Gideon's blood through a microscope. "Explain to me again how this is going to help us out," Robbie inquired. "On the off-chance that we fail to prevent Gideon from gaining his new powers, we're going to need a back-up plan," he stated, "which is why I'm trying to see if there's anything here that can tell us if they could be removed, or at least how they work." "Nice thinking there, dude," Wendy complemented, to which he blushed. "I'm not so sure that would work though," Grenda, who had shown up shortly after the mini-battle with Candy in tow, stated, to which said girl replied with, "Mutations cannot be reversed easily, if at all." "If nothing else, the kid MIGHT be able to tell us how we can defeat the creep," Stan deadpanned, to which everyone else nodded.

"So that creep is your dad?" Nicolas directed at Moses, who replied, "Technically yes, but even MORE technically no." "And I think I know what he means by that," Dipper suddenly stated plugging the microscope into a computer and bring up the image onto the screen. What they saw was curious to say the least, for even on low power, it was obvious that there was something extra in there: somehow, the blood cells seemed to be reflecting some of the light coming down on them. "That silver stuff you see appears to be the result of an excess of iron in the blood gone haywire," the male "Mystery Twin" stated, "and if I had to guess, it's not limited to JUST the blood, either."

"He doesn't manipulate reality, but METAL!" Pacifica stated excited, to which Moses declared, "So THAT'S how he did it." Turning to him, Mabel asked what he meant, to which he frowned a bit. "Gideon's prime example of his belief that he can warp reality can be traced to one event and that event only," he explained, "The day that the war began, and the day I was conceived."

(Flashback to three days after Gideon's "accident")

Dipper watched in horror at the scene before him: just two hours before Gruncle Stan would send him and Mabel to get lunch, Gideon had returned, alive and well, and proceeded to the destroy the water tower, cut off power to the town, and set multiple buildings ablaze. Though he wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off that guy's face, he couldn't because he and his sister were tied up with some wiring. "You thought I was gone for good, didn't you?" Gideon taunted as the male "Mystery Twin" attempted to cut himself free with some metal he found lying on the ground, "Well, unless you want the rest of this town to suffer, you'll give in to my demands!" "You can't tell us what to do: we live in a democracy!" Mabel declared, to which Gideon suddenly stopped his rampage.

"You have a point there: even if I achieve my ultimate goal, the leaders of the world wouldn't stand for someone ELSE calling the shots," he admitted, before getting an evil look in his eyes and declaring, "Unless I was the EARTH'S leader, one who doesn't take orders from ANYONE else!" He then brought Mabel, still tied up and unable to move, to his face. "But in order for me to KING of the earth, I'll need a QUEEN to make sure I have a way of continuing my kingdom's greatness when I'm gone," he lightly sneered, to which Mabel scoffed, "You're dreaming if you think I would ever help you: my brother hates you and so do I!"

Twisting his face in rage, he declared, "PERHAPS a demonstration of the power that I could wield against your brother is needed on YOU!" As the wires tightened and she began to lose consciousness, Dipper yelled, "Don't you touch her!" "You're a fool, Dipper: who ever said I was ever going to TOUCH her?" the phony psychic said with a laugh. Dipper and everyone still out in the open could only watch as a stream of white suddenly flowed up the one of Mabel Pine's legs. As she began to spasm uncontrollably, a boy whom Dipper had seen at Hoo-Ha's Jamboree started to throw various objects he found on the ground at Mabel's tormentor, trying to stop whatever was happening: only when he threw a shard of glass did he manage to get a hit on him. Despite the fact that it didn't hit anything vital, it seemed that Gideon WAS forced to stop the assault long enough for Dipper to break free from his bindings and catch her.

"Whoever you are, you're a fool to oppose me," Gideon directed at what seemed to be the twin's new ally, "but at any rate, you're too late. It'll only take a few months for you to realize just how helpless the situation is. In the meantime, I'm off to the White House: I hope the President isn't too attached to it." With that, he put a helicopter that had crashed back together and flew off in it, insane laughter heard the whole time.

"Thanks," Dipper stated, "Even if I wasn't tied up, I wouldn't be able to do anything from my angle." "No problem, Dipper, was it?" the boy stated, "The name's Nicolas by the way." "Dipper, it hurts," Mabel said with a wince. It was then that everyone noticed that blood was coming from between her legs. "I'm going to kill him," Dipper and Nicolas declared at the same time.

(end flashback)

"Gideon always said that his powers were responsible for me appearing nine months later, and it seems he was right," Moses stated, "though NOT in the way he thinks." "He controlled the iron in his cells to rape Hambone from a distance," Soos deduced, to which Pacifica smirked, "Looks like revenge is going to be a dish best served with plastic."

"Well, whatever we do, we'd better do it fast," Tambry stated holding a finger to her earpiece, "Future Gideon wasn't kidding when he said he was going to start his plans early: his younger counterpart is already announcing that he's kidnapped the MAYOR!" "This is bad: even if we manage to stop future Gideon, OUR Gideon can still do a lot of damage with the Mayor in his clutches," Dipper admitted, to which his daughter stated, "Well, let's find him then." "Where!?" everyone in the room, minus the Clue Cousins, all but demanded. "The place where my boyfriend's family FIRST defeated him, of course," declared a new voice. At this, Moses whisper-yelled, "Is that you, Rachel?" A violet-haired girl wearing a punk-rocker outfit walked up to them and beckoned to the shadows behind her, stating, "Not just me: ALL of us." Nobody could believe it: they were looking right at their future selves.

To be continued…

Author's note:

First off, sorry for the abrupt end to this chapter, but I need to think about how much these guys have changed in twelve years, with three of them being females who went through pregnancy. Also, this might seem ridiculous, but I decided to have it that Moses is dating Robbie and Tambry's daughter. And don't worry about how the members of the resistance managed to escape capture: that'll be explained next chapter.