July 7th, 2004

Waves crashed down on the hot Australian sand like mallets, spraying the small sandcastle nearby with water.

"No!" a small girl shouted, running over to the fort. "My castle!" She desperately clawed at the melting sand, but to no avail. The castle had fallen, it's supports destroyed. The girls lip quivered, before she began to cry.

"Muuuum!" she shouted, her short ginger pigtails waving in the breeze. "The waves killed my castle!"

Not too far away, another woman looked up from her sunbathing chair and squinted. The large beach hat on her head did nothing to hide the sun, so she quickly grabbed a pair of sunglasses and ran over to her daughter.

"Sweetie?" She asked. "What's wrong?"

"My castle!" the girl wailed. 'The waves killed my castle!"

"Oh no!" the mother said in fake surprise. "Tell you what, I'll help you build another one. How does that sound?"

The girl immediately perked up, the sadness of losing her castle gone. "YEAH!" she shouted, making her mother wince. "Come on!"

"Okay," the mother laughed. "Just hold on a minute, I'll go get the shovel."

"OKAY!"

"I'll be back in a minute Wendy."

The HIVE base was silent. You could hear a pin drop miles away, although that is achieved largely because of the echo, which was quite substantial given the amount of enormous rooms the building boasted. It was an old cathedral, and a big one at that. The money to buy it had been loaned from an anonymous benefactor whose identity was know only to their leader.

Elsa stood quietly in the elevator, beside her a tall man with black, styled hair. He wore a brown hunting jacket and navy jeans, his grey t-shirt tucked into them. His jaw was covered in thin black stubble that showed no signs of age, his dark brown eyes brighter than ever. Elsa herself was wearing the same black gown she'd had on during the board meeting, considering that that was only a few hours ago. She grimaced and hit the button for the top floor. Some old-times elevator music started playing as the car made it's way up. Elsa shuddered, able to hear the sounds of the elevator creaking over the loud silence.

Speaking of silences, this was one of the most awkward she had experienced in her life, and that was saying something. She glanced at the lift's other occupant. She knew him well. His name was Viggo… something. She'd never been able to remember his second name, and had given up trying long ago. Brian? No, that couldn't be it. Viggo Brian, she thought. Sounds like the worst James Bond Villain ever. The name Brian was definitely off the table, it could be Barstow, but at this point she wasn't sure. Viggo had been in HIVE for a long time, enough to gain a sizeable reputation. He'd been requested to become a council member once, but had declined, claiming that he was a field operative, not a bureaucrat.

His profile had detailed that he'd come from a broken home, literally. He'd burned the family house down one day after discovering that his parents had kept him in the dark about the supernatural world. The HIVE leaders had seen potential in him, deciding to break him out of prison so he could become an asset. The man had spent most of his life in a jail cell paying for his crimes, but HIVE had changed that. The doors opened into a familiar room, where two guards stood. They weren't the same guards as last time, but they were just as big as their predecessors. As they began patting the two down, Viggo looked at Elsa and smirked.

"Look like he got a bit close for comfort," he said as they made their way past the guards.

Elsa said nothing in response, merely sighing. She glanced at one of the guards, motioning for him to open the door for her. The guard caught on fairly quickly, grabbing the handle and doing as he was told. Elsa gave a quick look of gratitude, before walking into the penthouse. Viggo followed suit, immediately sobering up at the sight of his boss, who was standing at one of the huge windows lining the room. He faced away, the dim yellow light creating a rather unsavoury atmosphere.

The man turned around, his beady blue eyes drilling into his two accomplices. He had slightly tanned skin and a dark moustache, unlike his hair, which was a bright grey. He had a wide jaw and strong chin, with a pretty muscular build for someone of his age.

"Sir," Viggo said, his once humorous tone now stern and serious.

Elsa, feeling no need for such formalities, addressed him far more casually. "Phil," she spoke, her tone as unwavering as ever.

"The board is frustrated," Phil said simply. "They think that Stanford's sudden appearance is a major setback."

Viggo, confused, asked, "How would it not be, Sir?" He bit his lip, before hastily adding, "Respectfully, sir."

The mastermind behind the HIVE simply replied, "Because he will not live long enough to become one."

Elsa frowned, this was new. "Are you suggesting that Viggo should take him out?"

"No, nothing so crude," Phillip replied. "Stanford is in government custody and is quite a fighter, he is not the ideal target. The boy, on the other hand, well…"

"You want me to kill a child?" Viggo asked in disbelief. "I'm not doing that."

That's strange, Elsa pondered. Never really saw him as someone with a strong moral compass.

"No, bring him in. Then we can get information from him and use him as bait."

"Davian," Elsa responded, using her husband's preferred name for the first time today. "He's a child."

Davian smirked, "Don't underestimate him. Earlier today, I received a call from one of the safe houses. He was on the other end, demanding to know where his uncle was. He's a fighter."

Viggo sighed, "Very well, sir." As he went to leave, Davian stopped him.

"Wait," he said, coldly. "I hope I don't have to remind you of the last time I sent you to cross off the Pines twins, do I? In Washington?"

Viggo grimaced, he'd been as opposed to killing them then as he was now. "No sir."

Elsa watched as Viggo walked out of the room, then glanced back to her husband. "What should I do?" she asked.

"Reassure the board that everything will be alright." Davian replied, already walking away. "I don't want them turning on us."

Elsa breathed a sigh of relief, happy she wasn't getting sent to kill anyone this time. "Okay."

The sound of Judge Jadon's gavel slamming down onto his desk rang throughout the Gravity Falls courtroom, which was filled to the brim. It was a small town after all, and many people had been quite close to Tad Strange. They wanted to see the killer get brought to justice, which was great news for Stan, who was merchandise that had 'Go away Gleeful!' emblazoned onto it. T-shirts, pins, hats, phone cases, everything. If there was enough space on an object to have the slogan printed onto it, he was selling it.

Stan smirked, running his hands through the thick wad of cash he'd made.

"Four, five, six – HOLY HOT SAUCE!" he yelled. "Six hundred dollars in one day? My only dream, which was to possess money, has come true!"

"Don't you think this is kinda scummy Mr Pines?" Wendy asked, looking up from her phone. "I mean, he helped save the town from Bill."

Stan stared at his cashier in disbelief. "Your point being?"

"Did you listen to a word I said?"

"Listen Wendy," Stan said. "Before all this I might've been able to see your point, but the kid's a murderer. Also, six hundred bucks ain't half bad."

Wendy thought for a moment, before conceding. "True, true." The two stood in silence for an awkward moment, before Wendy spoke again. "What if he didn't do it?"

Stan' face morphed into an expression of shock, before he burst out laughing. Once he was done, he noticed the expression of Wendy's face. "You serious?"

'Yeah," the teen deadpanned. "He redeemed himself during Weirdmageddon, then suddenly becomes evil again. Also, he's too smart to leave such obvious clues. Hell, we don't even know how he did it."

"Magic, Wendy." Stan shoved the wad of cash into his pocket. "Also, the kid's not as smart as he looks. Every single one of his schemes to steal the Shack failed."

"You mean apart from the one that didn't?"

"Shaddup!"

Mabel Pines was confused. This was a result of the fact that when it came to mysteries, she was never really the one to solve them. Usually that would be Dipper's job, and she did all the punching. But Dipper wasn't here right now. She had to be the brains. There was also the small fact that during the summer, they complimented each other well. They each had a thing they were good at when it came to mysteries, but now it was different. Dipper was the brains and the muscle, whilst she was only the muscle. Sure, he had an unfair advantage now, but still.

What if he didn't need her anymore?

"Wow!" Wendy's mother said with a smirk on her face. "That's a really cool castle, right?"

"YEAH!" Wendy shouted. "It's even better than the last one!"

"JAAAAAANNNNNNE!" Manly Dan yelled. "Can you come here a minute?"

"Okay, just a sec!" Jane called back. "I won't be long, okay?"

Wendy smiled, "Okay."

Jane jogged over to her husband, who was watching their three other kids. "What is it?"

Dan sighed, "We can't stay at the hotel anymore."

Jane's eyebrows promptly because one with her hairline, her huge hat nearly falling off her head. "What? Why?"

"Apparently some huge bear rampaged through the place, it's getting' shut down for repairs."

Jane looked at her husband in confusion. "A bear?" Dan nodded, seemingly sharing Jane's disbelief. "But there's nowhere else to stay."

Dan's eyes lit up, and he said, "We could use the camping equipment I brought."

Jane nodded slowly, realising that they really didn't have any other option. "Okay," she pulled her sunglasses off and hung them off her collar. "I'll go get our stuff from the hotel, you set up here."

Mabel was determined. She was going to prove to Dipper that he needed her. Wendy had come to her with concerns that everything had been too easy, concerns that Mabel shared. She ducked under the police tape surrounding Tad's house and ran through the door. The house looked exactly as it had the last time she'd been in it, which was to be expected.

"Let's do this," she mumbled.

"Well this holiday is a bust," Jane commented as rain poured down onto the family's small tent. Lightning struck in the distance, failing to disturb her sleeping family. Why did it have to be so hard to get to sleep? There was no reason whys she—

Jane's motherly instincts immediately perked up when a loud bang shook the tent.

Something was coming.

Stan glanced down at his cards, then up at Wendy. She had a smug expression on her face, her lumberjack hat placed on the table next to her.

"I fold," he said, placing his cards down on the table. "Looks like 'ya finally got me."

Wendy laughed, "Yeah, it only took me two hours."

"GRUNKLE STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!"

Stan looked to the door in confusion. Mabel ran in, looking panicked and distressed.

"Mabel, what happened?" he asked.

"WellIwentbacktoTad'shouseandfoundsomebloodandItookittothepoliceandtheytesteditandit'sCorduroyblood!"

"What?" Wendy asked, shocked. "You found Corduroy blood there?'

"Maybe you were right Wendy…" Stan murmured. "Maybe it wasn't Gideon."

Dan opened his eyes slowly. He quickly grabbed his phone and checked the time. Great, of course he woke up at two in the morning. But something was—

Jane.

She was gone.

So we finally met our antagonists, and you don't have to be a genius to figure out what really happened to Tad strange. Thanks for reading!