Chapter 14: The Hand That Rocks The Mabel: Gideon's Vendetta

Saturday. Finally. The school week was over, and I was finished with my apology gift for Mabel. It had taken two days, eight hours, three minutes, forty-eight seconds to complete, but I knew she would love them.

Stan had left the Shack again for the day, visiting with Buddy Gleeful to discuss more business plans. Apparently, he was trying to arrange some sort of marriage agreement between Gideon and Mabel. None of us informed him that their relationship was dead. At least, I didn't. I was too busy trying to bring my sisterhood with Mabel back to life.

Outside, the twins were playing a game with Soos where he held a pillow over his stomach, and they ran into it. Soos stuffed the pillow under his shirt. "Hit me, dude."

Dipper and Mabel rushed into it, bounced off it, and laughed. "Feels good," said Soos.

"I'm so glad everything's back to normal," said Mabel. Of course, there was Iz, who wasn't even bothering to show her face anymore since Mabel's outburst. But she tried to focus more on the fact that Gideon's relationship was good and over. She wondered if her friendship with Iz was too.

Inside the gift shop, the phone rang.

"Your turn," the twins said simultaneously to each other. But Mable said it faster.

"Ah, man," complained Dipper, but he headed in anyway to take the call.

"Yello?" asked Dipper.

"Toby Determined, Gravity Falls Gossiper," replied the reporter.

"Oh, hey man," said Dipper. "Sorry for accusing you of murder last week."

"Water under the bridge. Say, we want to interview you about whether if you've seen anything unusual in this here town since you've arrived."

"Oh – finally! I thought nobody would ever ask! I have notes and theories –" Dipper pulled out his notepad, and took down an address to meet Toby at. "Uh-huh. Uhhh-huh. Four one two, Gopher Road. Tonight? Got it." He hung up, excited that someone finally wanted to talk with him about his discoveries.

"Hey Dipper! Who called?" I asked, finally emerging into complete daylight. How I missed it.

"Where've you been all this time?" he asked me instead.

"I've been making this," I replied, holding up a small cardboard box.

"You've been making a box?"

"No, I made a gift for Mabel that's inside the box. The perfect thing that will mend our friendship." I grabbed my phone that was charging behind the counter of the gift shop. "Now all I need to do is go downtown and get it specially gift-wrapped." I couldn't wrap presents to save my life.

"Aren't you going a little overboard on this whole apology thing?"

"I want it to be perfect for her, Dipper. She's my summer sister. I need to be the big sister she never had."

Dipper pulled out his notepad, and showed me an address. "Well, as long as you're going into town, can you take me to this address on the way back? Toby Determined called and said that he wanted to hear about all the unusual stuff I've found in Gravity Falls."

"That's great!" I exclaimed. "Everyone will finally know that there's crazy stuff to look out for in these parts. But we can't be too long. I want to be back as soon as possible to make Mabel happy again."

"All right, it's about … six fifteen," Dipper said as he glanced at a clock on the wall. "I have to meet Toby at seven."

"Let's go now," I replied. "I'll start up the golf cart and we'll be on our way." I grabbed a disposable camera lying next to my phone. "I can't wait to take a picture of her face when she sees what I made her. It'll go in her scrapbook, and my conscience will be cleared." I followed after Dipper who already had a head start on me.

As I started up the engine, I caught sight of Mabel, running headfirst into Soos' pillow-soft stomach. I tried giving her a smile, but she only returned a look a bitter sadness. Like betrayal. Unfortunately, I knew exactly why. And having Dipper with me in the golf cart, ready to zip out on another adventure together without her, didn't help my case. Even so, I continued with my quest, informing Soos and her where Dipper and I would be and at what time exactly, and where to go if they needed to find us. I promised we wouldn't be long. It was one I meant to keep.

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Meanwhile, back in his office, Toby hung up, and looked across his desk. "There. I did your dirty work. Now it's time to pay your end of the bargain!" A slip of paper was tossed to him.

Toby gasped as he took hold of the paper. "Shandra Jimenez's phone number?! Bless you, Li'l Gideon."

The child psychic walked out of the office, the first part of his plan completed.

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At about 7 p.m., Dipper and I arrived up the sloped path that would take us to Dipper's destination: 412 Gopher Road. A mailbox nearby read the same address number, and at the top of the slope was a disused warehouse.

With my wrapped gift in one hand, I glanced down at the time on my phone. We were here on time. So why did the joint seem deserted?

"I don't see any sign of him," I noticed. "Are you sure we have the right address?"

"It's where the GPS on your phone told us to go," he reminded me.

Dipper glanced back and forth between the written address and the old building, pocketed the notepad and continued up the path. I stuck my apology gift inside a back pocket of my jeans and followed him, wondering why a reporter would ask Dipper to meet at a rundown place like this.

We didn't see any sign of him outside, so Dipper assumed that he would have meet Toby inside the warehouse. I found the front door to be unlocked, but was hesitant to go inside.

"We're in a secluded place, off the beaten path, in the middle of nowhere, where no one else would bother going," I noted, taking a full scope of our surroundings.

"Welcome to Gravity Falls, Iz," replied Dipper, rolling his eyes, reaching to pull the door open.

"I don't know, Dipper. Something doesn't seem right about this. Why would Toby tell you to come here? Why not just meet you someplace in town?"

"Does it matter? He's going to interview me about everything I know about the mysterious stuff in town. This could be my only shot at being heard and taken seriously about all this. Don't you think that someone other than us should know what's going on around here?"

I was a little surprised that Dipper's usual paranoid instincts weren't alerting him to the possible dangers that these circumstances seemed to be adding up to. But I knew how much this meant to him, and didn't want to disappoint him like I've been disappointing his sister. Also, the more I argued with him, the less time I had to get back home to deliver my gift. So I conceded and waited outside while he went in to find the reporter.

Inside, all was dark.

"Hello?" called Dipper, walking inside. He was met with silence. Boxes of merchandise slept piled in the shadows. Cracked windows coated in thick dust refused to let the fading sunlight venture in. The whole place seemed at once sleepy, and strangely alive.

Dipper, disappointed that Toby wasn't here after all, turned to leave. Except the door got in his way, slamming of its own accord. Dipper pounded on the door, calling my name.

"Dipper? What's going on? Are you trapped in there?"

He and I both tried desperately to force it open, when behind Dipper, all at once, the ceiling lights came on. He turned and watched them as one by one, they lit up, leading to the end of the room. The last light beam fell over a swiveling office chair. It swung around to face Dipper, it's occupant stroking a Li'l Gideon doll.

"Hello, friend," said Gideon.

Dipper's fear turned into annoyance in an instant. "Gideon," he sighed in an irritated tone.

When I heard the name on the other side of the door, I went to a cracked pane in one of the windows to spy on what was going on inside. Oh no. He brought us out here?What's going on?

Gideon played with the arms of his doll, and held a conversational tone as he spoke. "Dipper Pines, how long have you been livin' in this town – a week? Two? You like it here?" His tone became serious as he asked his last question. "Enjoy the scenery?"

Dipper cut to the chase. "What do you want from me, man?"

"Listen carefully, boy" he replied menacingly. "This town has secrets you couldn't begin to comprehend."

Dipper believed this had more to do with something else other than "secrets."

"Is this about Mabel? I told you she's not into you!"

"LIAR! YOU turned her against me!" Gideon stood up form the chair, and approached Dipper, grabbing the amulet in his bolo tie. It glowed an ominous turquoise. "She was my peach dumplin'!"

"Uh, you okay, man?" Dipper asked uneasily. He had been afraid the kid was going to freak out about breaking up with Mabel.

Is this kid going to try to fight Dipper or something? The little brat couldn't lift a finger against –

Gideon waved his hand in an upward motion, levitating Dipper off the floor in a turquoise glow. Dipper and I gasped as Gideon threw his arm, and he flew across the room into a stack of cardboard boxes. They burst open upon impact, and a Li'l Gideon doll landed on his lap. "Howdy," it squeaked, as Gideon's shadow fell across Dipper.

"Readin' minds isn't all I can do," said Gideon in a wicked whisper.

"But – but you're a fake," said Dipper weakly.

"So tell me, Dipper: is this fake?"

He gripped the amulet again, raised his arm, and all the unsold items that had been pack into boxes levitated in the air. Li'l Gideon brand clocks, mugs, pillows, and lunchboxes hovered over Dipper, who was really beginning to regret coming here.

So was I.

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Mabel sat forlornly on the front porch in the growing shadow of the nearby pine forest. She thought that she would be fine not being bothered by either Isannah or Gideon, but the guilt of yelling and being angry with her and not being brave enough to stand him down on her own had been on her mind all day. She couldn't help but question about whether she handle either situation well. She nibbled a strand of her hair as her thoughts and feelings ran confusedly through her troubled mind.

Wendy came out with her, tossing a towel over her shoulder, pleased that the work day was over. She sat by Mabel on the front step. "How's that hair tastin', buddy?"

"Wendy, I need some advice," replied Mabel, removing the strand from her mouth. "You've broken up with guys, right?"

"Oh yeah. Russ Durham, Eli Hall, Stoney Davidson …"

"I don't know what's wrong with me! I thought everything was back to normal, but I still feel all gross. And Isannah isn't talking to me at all anymore. Not since she tried apologizing to me and warning me about Gideon."

"... Mike Wirley, Nate Holt, uh … that guy with the tattoos …"

"Maybe I was too hard on Isannah. She did try to apologize about it. She needs to be forgiven. And maybe letting Dipper do it for me was a mistake. Gideon deserves an honest breakup."

" … Danny Feldman, Mark Epstene – oh man, I'm not sure I ever actually broke up with him. No wonder he keeps calling me."

"I know what I've gotta do. Thanks for talking to me, Wendy." Mabel then ran off the porch, jumped on her bike that was resting nearby, and peddled off. She knew where to find Isannah. Gideon would be her next priority.

Wendy was still pondering her past boyfriend troubles when her phone went off. She checked to see who was trying to reach her.

"Ignore."

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Dipper ran for his life, dodging merchandise missiles as Gideon laughed and continued to torment him. He ran to the opposite side of the building, but Gideon caused a tall cabinet to lean forward to crush Dipper. He leaped out of the way as it fell, rolling into a somersault, and slamming against a wall.

Gideon laughed as Dipper rubbed his head in pain. "Grunkle Stan was right about you. You are a monster!"

"Your sister will be MINE! Hahahahaha ha," Gideon laughed wickedly. He tugged a pull string on his doll, and it repeated his laugh. "Hahahahaha ha."

Dipper glanced beside him, and saw an item that he desperately needed: a baseball bat inside a box labeled "Li'l Gideon Blunt Object." He tore his hand through the plastic wrap over the toy, grabbed the bat.

Gideon meanwhile was still playing with his doll self. "Who's a cute little guy? You are!"

"No, you are!" replied the doll.

This kid was bigger manipulator than I could have imagined. I ran back to the door, and tried to force it open by ramming my shoulder against it. It wasn't locked at all, and gave easy. Too easy. I found myself kissing the floor and wondering for a dazed moment how I got there.

Gideon turned when he heard me barge in. "What? Why, Isannah Tannenbaum. How nice to formally make your acquaintance."

I spat some dust out of my mouth before muttering, "I'd hate to say the same about you."

His tone became accusatory. "Why are you here? Are you babysittin' li'l Dipper Pines? He can't take care of himself?"

"Listen, you don't want to do this," I said carefully. "Dipper isn't worth all this trouble. Just let us go back home and fetch Mabel for you, so we can settle this little misunderstanding once and for – "

"The only misunderstanding here is that you want to steal Mabel from me!" He levitated a cardboard box, and threw it at me. I tried to dodge it, but it hit me squarely against my back and threw me against a stack of other boxes. My eye barely missed being jabbed by a box corner.

Convaluted redirection wasn't gonna work on this conniving child. I twisted myself to face Gideon again. "If there's a misunderstanding from anyone, it's you! You promised Mabel only one date, and now you're trying to run her life!"

I stood to my feet, trying not trip over any merchandise. "I should've known you were trouble from your mockery of evangelism and gospel music."

"Don't appreciate my taste?" he asked. "Of everyone there that night, I thought you would!" He sighed, as though it was a shame he had wasted his time and energy on trying to impress me. He levitated me, and carelessly threw me against the door. My back slammed into it, and I felt a rush of air get knocked out of my lungs. I slumped against the floor, and prayed I didn't break a rib.

I was done talking with this monster. I could barely get any words out anyway."Gideon," I gasped. "You will … leave … Dipper … and Mabel … alone ..."

"Or what?" he taunted.

"Or else …" I pulled my disposable camera out of my pocket. "I'll send these … pictures of you … trying to harm Dipper, and expose your true nature for the whole town to see." There was a reason why I delayed Dipper's rescue.

At that moment, Dipper decided to take his chance, and held the bat ready to swing at his head. But Gideon saw his attack coming, and levitated Dipper off the floor in mid-run, causing him to drop his weapon. He then levitated me off the ground, causing me to drop my camera, and threw me across by Dipper, where he could see us both. He then levitated the bat and used it to smash my camera to smithereens.

"She's never gonna date you, man!" Dipper yelled at the rage-driven monster.

"That's a lie!" Gideon yelled back.

He glanced over at a box labeled "Li'l Gideon Lamb Shears."

"And I'm gonna make sure you never lie to me again, friends."

A pair of shears cut their way through the box. We were trapped in midair, unable to move away from the floating shears poised at our mouths.

I prayed and searched the room frantically, seeking out a solution.

No one knows we're trapped here! What are we gonna do, God?!

The shears snipped like the jaws of a monster as they floated closer, and closer …

"Gideon! We have to talk."

Gideon had made the same mistake twice. The forgotten door had been thrown open, and there stood Mabel.

I could have cried I was so happy to see her.

Gideon turned to her, not expecting this turn of events. "M-Mabel, my marshmalla." He dropped the shears, but kept me and Dipper were we were. "What are you doin' here?"

"I'm sorry, Gideon," she said, rubbing her arm sadly, "but I can't be your marshmallow. I needed to be honest and tell you that myself."

"I … I don't understand," he replied, tightening his grip on his bolo tie. Suddenly, Dipper felt his airways being constricted. My hair snaked itself around my neck, and squeezed it.

"Uh, Mabel?" he said in choked voice. "This probably isn't the best time to be brutally honest with him!" He looked like a balloon that was about to pop.

Being choked by my own hair? This irony is so sick. My hair looped like a noose. I felt pressure build inside my chest.

"Hey, but we can still be makeover buddies, right?" Mabel asked sympathetically as she approached him, and took his hands in hers. "Wouldn't you like that?"

"Really?" he asked hopefully with his adorable "Aw" face.

Mabel glanced at his bolo tie, and grabbed it.

"No, not really!" she cried furiously, ripping the tie off and letting us fall before we died of suffocation. "You were like, attacking my family! What the heck?!"

"My tie!" cried Gideon. "Give it back!"

Mabel tossed it to Dipper, who caught it with a "Ha!"

"Not so powerful without this, are you?" he taunted.

"Dipper, watch out – " But before either of us could even finish our sentences, Gideon bellowed, charged, and rammed himself, me, and Dipper out the window that overlooked the cliff the warehouse sat on.

"Iz! Dipper!" called Mabel as the amulet dropped unto the floor.

The three of us screamed as we fell down the high drop.

Gideon slapped Dipper repeatedly across his face, until Dipper slapped back, and the two fought as they tumbled through the empty air.

I almost slapped both of them to get their attention.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

It took them a few seconds to pause and realize we were about to meet their demise at the grass below them. We screamed.

"I WISH I COULD FLY!" I screamed into the wind. We shut our eyes as we waited to slam the ground.

But the end never came.

We opened our eyes to find ourselves glowing turquoise. Dipper and me floated upright, and Gideon was upside down. My wish had come true.

In the light of the moon floated Mabel, her face set with a warrior-like scowl, levitating with the amulet in her right hand. She floated to the ground, and addressed Gideon.

"Listen Gideon. It's over. I will never, ever, date you."

"Yeah!" added Dipper in agreement.

Mable dropped the three of us safely on the ground, and threw the amulet at a stone. It broke upon impact, and a turquoise skull cloud floated up as the remains of the amulet disappeared.

"My powers!" cried the fraudulent child prodigy. He stood and backed away.

"Oh, this isn't over," he vowed, his voice gradually morphing into a whisper. "This isn't the last you'll see of widdle ... ol' … me." He backed away into the forest behind him, and disappeared from view.

The twins just gave each other side glances, and I sighed, relief replacing the fear and adrenaline that had been coursing through me.

Well, now is as good a time as ever to give her my full apology. "Mabel," I addressed, reaching in my back pocket for my gift. "I'm sorry tha– "

"No, Iz," she replied stubbornly, and my heart sank.

"I'm sorry."

"What? You lost me."

"I shouldn't be so angry with you. You didn't tell me how you felt because you didn't want to hurt my feelings. If you don't want to be friends with me anymore, than I won't try to make you feel guilty about it." She smiled regrettably at me. "I know now how that feels."

I couldn't believe this turn of events. I had to say something!

"But Mabel, I do want to be your friend! It's what I've been meaning to tell you all along! I just wanted to say that I'm sorry that I didn't hang out with you before when we should have. I love being your summer sister, and to prove it," I felt for the box, and placed it in her hands, "I made you this."

The gift box had been crushed and the meticulously wrapped paper crumpled and torn. Good thing the gift inside wasn't fragile.

Mabel ripped the paper off, pulled the lid off the box, and gasped. She pulled out a pair of toe socks. They matched her shooting star sweater, with stars on the toes, and rainbow colors streaking along in tails behind them.

"I knitted them myself," I told her. "It was why I was hiding for the last couple of days. I hope that it makes up for all the time I lost not being your sister."

With almost a teary smile, she embraced me around my neck in a hug. I wrapped an arm around her. Dipper stood off to the side watching the sorrow and forgiveness play out. But I wrapped my other arm around his neck, and pulled him into the hug. He couldn't help but smile as his sisters repaired their bond, and returned our hug.

Our family was reunited.

DZZZ

Bud Gleeful was pleased with how business negotiations were going between him and Stanford Pines. Very pleased. He knew his son would be too.

He was seated in his recliner, pouring bottled water in a glass for himself. Stan was seated on the living room couch, signing a contract. He finished with an air of satisfaction.

"Ah, this is livin' brother." He took his glass of bottled water in hand, leaned back against the couch, and knocked his knuckles against the crying clown painting behind him.

"From now on it's all name brand foods and clown paintin's," agreed Bud. He and Stan clinked glasses, just as Gideon walked in.

"We-he-ll, hey Gideon," said his father. "Look who I – "

Gideon ignored him, storming right up to Stan, standing atop the coffee table between them. "Stanford Pines, I rebuke thee!" He clenched a fist for emphasis. "I rebuke thee!"

Stan sat there confused. "Rebuke? Is that a word?"

"The entire Pines' household has invoked my fury!" Gideon continued. "You will pay recompense for your transgressions!"

"What, you got a word-a-day calender or something?"

"Ap bap bap but – but sunshine?" Bud intervened with a nervous laugh. "What about our arrangement with Mabel and – "

"SILENCE!" his son snapped at him. He turned back to Stan with a murderous glare.

"Well, uh, I see that he's takin' to one of his rages again. Eh, sorry Stan, I have to side with Gideon on this one." Bud obliged his son by taking the contract off the table and ripping it in two.

Stan watched regrettably as the agreement between them was destroyed, and stood up. "OK, OK, I can see when I'm not wanted." He turned to leave, but not before snatching something behind him. He wasn't leaving the deal with nothing.

"Stan," said Bud. "I'm – I'm sorry but I'm gonna need that paintin' back. Stan? Stan!"

"Try and catch me, suckers!" called Stan, running out of the house with the sad clown painting under his arm.

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Back at the Shack, the twins lay out on the arm chair in the living room, Dipper and I bruised, and all of us exhausted. I took to faceplanting the living room floor.

Nearby, Stan hung up the clown painting, sighing sadly to himself. "I coulda had it all." He turned to us, and said, "What the heck happened to you three?"

"Gideon."

"Gideon."

"Gideon."

"Gideon," finished Stan with almost a growl in his tone. He sat himself on the dinosaur skull while I pulled myself into a sitting position.

"Yeah, the little mutant "swore vengeance" on the whole family," Stan continued. "Ha, I guess he gonna's try to nibble my ankles or somethin'."

"Oh, yeah," realized Dipper. "Yeah, how's he gonna destroy us now, huh? Try to guess what number we're thinking of?" he laughed.

"He'll never guess what number I'm thinking of," said Mabel. "Negative eight! No one would guess a negative number."

We all laughed. For my part, I was never gonna deal with mind readers or fortune-tellers again. I would never want to be like one of them. I was listening to my parents ideas from now on.

"Oooo, look out!" said Stan in mock fear. "He's planning our destruction right now." He sat down on top of the twins while they continued laughing. Then he gave me a noogy, messing my already unruly locks into tighter knots. But I was laughing so hard I couldn't care less.

"Oh no, my pompadour is ruined!" I said in a mock imitation of Gideon's voice. "The doves were building a nest there!"

This made the Pines laugh even more. Mabel was near tears, and Dipper was breathless.

The whole Shack was full of laughter on into the night.

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Gideon sat in his room, a self-made diorama of the Mystery Shack on a desk, along with some freshly painted little dolls of the Pines family and their tenant. He finished painting the face on his Mabel doll, and walked her along the desk, and up to him.

"Gideon," he said in an imitation of Mabel's voice. "I still love you, if only my family weren't in the way."

He then popped the head of his Stan doll on, and said in an imitation of his voice, "Look at me. I'm old, and I'm smelly."

He squirted glue form a tube onto a doll head of Isannah and attached a patch of hair and tiny ponytail to it. "Oh, you can't get away with it forever," he said in an Isannah imitation. "'Cause I'm a tattletalin' goody-two-shoes."

He finished painting on Dipper's face, and in a dopey imitation of his voice, said "Hey, what are you gonna do without your precious amulet?

"Oh, you'll see, boy," he replied to the doll with an evil grin. He looked down at a page that featured a drawn picture of his former mystic amulet, and closed the cover of Journal 2.

"You'll see."

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"You done?" I asked Mabel.

"Not yet," she replied. She was rigging me up because she had fantastic idea. It would have worked better with a body type like Soos, but I wasn't complaining. This was a Mabel project I was more than willing to participate in. I felt that I was gonna have fun.

"How bout now?"

"Almost … and … there."

I turned around, the entire anterior side of my body covered in sequins. I figured that bedazzling her own face led to this idea, and I loved it. I was finally doing something fun with Mabel.

Dipper stood by with a flashlight in hand, and Mabel was poised by the light switch.

"Let's do this," I said.

At my word, Mabel turned out the lights, Dipper flipped on the flashlight, and music played. I turned slowly in a circle, and the reflected light of the sequins danced around the room.

I had become a living disco ball.

Stan stood watching it all with obvious dislike.

"You're all fired."

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