I'm gonna be out of town for a little while, so here-have this excuse for a chapter to tide you over. Just so you know, the next one is when everything goes to shit, so be warned.
unique is cool: SQUEE! Thank you!
The Keeper of Worlds: Yeah, they're definitely in for a world of hurt once Wendy and her police force get their hands on them.
Jessica Jayme Bell: Oh, she will. And it's not just Danny that they're going to want-but that's all that I can say on the subject without spoilers!
Pretty soon we're going to start play the "how many times can I imply Fiddauthor without actually saying it" game.
Danny fiddled with the small silver metal bracelet on his wrist. It was covered in small green and blue markings that almost looked like they belonged on some sort of cyborg, and there was a small lime green 'button' on it that had his symbol carved into it-Wendy was far more creative than people tended to give her credit for.
The bracelet acted as both a shield to the scanners that picked up his ectosignature and as a tracking device. Wendy and Ford (as well as Dipper and Mabel, who were both still in Piedmont but tried to call every day) both knew whether or not he was in Gravity Falls, as well as roughly where he was at any given time. At least it wasn't too specific.
Currently, the ghost boy was waiting for Wendy to get out of school while sitting in a tree. The teenage girl was staying late for detention, because "apparently kicking a boy's ass is usually enough to get someone suspended or even expelled, which is why they don't have any proof that it was me."
When the doors of the school were flung open and Wendy hurled herself down the steps, Danny jumped out of the tree. He used just enough of his powers to get himself down easily but not enough to raise suspicion. If anyone had been around to see it other than Wendy, that is.
She reached out and ruffled his hair. "You ready for later?"
"Yeah. Do you think he's telling the truth?"
"Oh, probably. You don't just lie about a spaceship under the town where you live." Wendy grinned. "Plus, it certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing that we've seen."
"No. But still the coolest! Do you think that there is still alien technology in there? Maybe they had pictures-or whatever counts as pictures on their planet-of stars and galaxies that we've never been able to see from earth!" Danny couldn't hide his excitement.
Wendy laughed. "I didn't know that you liked space."
"I love space. I always wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. I know that I can't now, but... " Danny shrugged. "I still like the stars and the idea of exploring planets, though."
"I always wanted to be anything other than a full-time lumberjack. Being an astronaut sounds pretty cool though. I mean, obviously I could never actually be one, but it still sounds like an awesome job."
The ghost boy nodded eagerly. "You wanna go explore a spaceship?"
Wendy raised an eyebrow at him. "What kind of question is that?"
.
.
Wendy clambered down the rusty metal ladder that lead down into the saucer. Ford was beneath her and Danny was already at the bottom after sinking through the metal of the spaceship. He had promised not to run off and look around the ship without her, but they both knew it was a promise he would most likely break.
The teenager jumped down the last few feet. She looked round with wide eyes.
"This place is even cooler than that bunker down in the woods," she commented softly to herself.
Danny was up near the ceiling, studying some of the ancient symbols carved into the metal. Ford was looking around with a slightly nostalgic look on his face. He glanced over at Wendy.
"McGucket and I used to come down here to do, uh, research all of the time. We raided this place for parts to build the portal in the first place."
"I completely forgot about old man McGucket working with you," Wendy replied, blowing some dust off of a disk with several strange symbols carved into it. "Have you seen him since Bill?"
Ford shook his head. "No, not since I came back through the portal. How is he doing, by the way?"
Wendy winced. "Well, he's starting to get his memories back. But I think that after you... Disappeared, he went even more crazy with that whole memory-erasing junk. I think he's still living in the dump, although I'm pretty sure that I saw him building some kind of house over by the lake near Tate's place."
The clanging sounds that Ford was making behind her stopped abruptly.
"Fiddleford was living in a dump?"
"Er, yeah. He could hardly remember anything for a while, but it's starting to come back to him. He helped Dipper, Mabel, Soos, and I take down The Society of the Blind Eye."
Something grabbed Wendy's shoulder, and for a moment she thought that it was a very not-dead alien.
Ford spun her around to face him. "But he was living in a dump."
"Yeah." She nodded.
Ford stumbled back slightly with wide eyes and a horrified expression. "I didn't-I thought-"
Before he could form a complete sentence, something clanged loudly down in the tunnel.
Danny dropped down beside them. "It's not a ghost."
"It can't be an alien. All of them have been dead for at least a million years-probably. Which means that it has to be the-"
Two orbs whirred loudly and floated out of a corridor. Ford slowly pulled a black gun out of his trench coat. Wendy and Danny both privately wondered how he fit all of that stuff in there.
"-Security system," Ford finished. He looked at the two teens out of the corner of his eye. "Listen to me. These things can sense adrenaline. What ever you do, stay calm. You'll be safe as long as your heartbeat is steady."
One of the orbs tilted slightly towards Danny, then started to glitch and spark. Something that looked like a huge gun unfolded from the top of it, and then the alien machine collapsed on itself.
Danny blinked in confusion. "What?"
"It was built for humans, animals, and other creatures like them. Not ghosts or Halfas," Ford explained quietly as the second orb turned to him.
It stayed on him for about thirty seconds before humming and switching to Wendy.
The redheaded teen closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I am not afraid.
The robot buzzed and squeaked before zooming off down a passageway and smashing into a wall. Which in turn broke it into about a million pieces.
Wendy unfroze and let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding.
Danny gave her a small high five.
Wendy's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she jumped slightly before looking sheepish.
"I'll be right back."
She walked over to a shadowy corner and held the phone to her ear.
"Yo, who is this? Make it fast, there's a reason that my phone was on vibrate."
"Wendy? Is Danny with you?"
Dipper's voice was static-y-the connection underground really sucked, and the spaceship was interfering with the signal.
"Yeah, why?"
"Good. A guy in a white suit just knocked on our door and asked us a few questions. But then he went down to our neighbor's house too, so I don't think that he singled us out. He said that his name was Agent K."
Wendy swore loudly. "Okay. What kinds of questions?"
"Where our parents were, if we had ever seen Danny, stuff like that. Mabel charmed him and then spoon-fed him a bunch of lies."
"Anything about Oregon?" Wendy watched Danny from across the room.
"Yes. If we had ever been there, if so where in Oregon, whether we had any family there, etcetera. The answers were no, nowhere because of the first answer, and no again."
Wendy nodded, even though the younger teen couldn't see it from Piedmont. "Alright. Call me again if anything else happens, 'kay?"
"Got it. Might be Mabel though, because she says that it's her turn. Bye."
"Bye."
Hanging up and making her way back over to where the other two were, Wendy relayed all of the information to Ford in a whisper.
Danny still heard the whole thing.
.
.
Maddie Fenton checked the power level on her ectogun. Beside her, Jack tucked away the Jack-O-Nine-Tails as well as an extra Fenton bazooka.
They had received their directions from the head supervisor of the Guys in White, and all that they needed now was to get in their transportation.
Jack hopped in the driver's seat of the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, and Maddie grabbed ahold of the dashboard until her knuckles turned white.
She loved her husband, but he was a really terrible driver.
But they did have a lot of ground to cover.
After all, Gravity Falls was about halfway across the country from Amity Park.