I really like this chapter because of all its content and dialogue. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Uncharted or Gravity Falls.
Chapter 10: The Twelve Towers
(In the evening at Dipper and Pacifica's house, Pacifica sits alone in the living room with her laptop as her cell phone buzzes. She picks it up and sees it's Dipper calling.)
Pacifica: Hey, Dipper?
Dipper: Hi, honey.
Pacifica: Hi, I've been trying to get a hold of you. Are you okay?
(Dipper stands on a dock at a beach town in King's Bay, Madagascar. It's the early morning where he is. Mabel and Stan carry their bags from the plane parked at the dock while Dipper's on the phone.)
Dipper: Yeah, of course. What do you mean?
Pacifica: Oh, you know, the news. There's been all that flooding. Maybe going to Malaysia during the monsoon season wasn't such a good idea?
Dipper: Yeah, right... It uh... it grounded us for sure, you know... Had some equipment failure... but you know no one's hurt or anything.
Pacifica: Well, as long as you guys are safe. So, are you going to start work tomorrow?
Dipper: Postponed, actually. Looks like we're gonna need maybe another ten days or so.
Pacifica: (groans) Ten days? Hey, well... why don't I just go ahead and buy a ticket then.
Dipper: Oh, it's okay, Paz. You don't have to do that. I mean, you know these guys always overestimate things. I'm sure it'll be less time than that.
Pacifica: Okay, well... You know, don't rush and make sure that you're safe.
Dipper: I will. Always do. Listen, I'm sorry. I gotta go. They're calling me over. I love you.
Pacifica: Love you too.
(He hangs up and joins the others. Pacifica puts her phone down and sits alone in her home looking depressed.)
(The following day, as the sun shines in the clear blue sky, the trio stand on a dirt path with a small 4x4 ATV they rented from a place in the city. Stan wears a red button up shirt and dark pants. Mabel wears a pale-green button up shirt and brown pants. Dipper wears a dark-blue shirt, dark-green pants and his hat. In front of them is a massive landscape with the tall volcano behind it. Mabel looks out at the sight as Stan walks around holding up his phone. Dipper sits in the car impatiently.)
Mabel: What're the satellites saying, Stan?
Stan: (frustrated) Right now, not a goddamn thing. I lost the signal.
(Dipper gets up and takes out a folded up map of the land around them.)
Dipper: Hey, y'know what never loses its signal? Paper.
(He unfolds it and lays it out on the car's hood. He points out a path leading to the volcano.)
Dipper: Alright, this route right should take us straight to the volcano. Might get a little bumpy though.
Mabel: Let's get this show on the road.
(They all get in the car. Dipper gets in the driver's seat, Stan sits next to him and Mabel gets in the back area. Dipper starts up the car and drives down the path in the direction of the volcano.)
Stan: So, what're we looking for out here?
Dipper: Well, the map shows all these structures around the volcano. Some abandoned outposts, a handful of watch towers..
Stan: Watch towers?
Mabel: Avery was the most wanted man in the world, so if he was hiding something out here, makes sense he'd need lookouts.
Dipper: And one of those towers is right on the volcano.
Stan: With Avery's treasure?
Mabel: Fingers crossed.
(They drive for a moment until they spot the remains of an old building.)
Stan: I see some ruins up ahead.
Dipper: Wait here, I'll go take a look.
(Dipper stops the car and gets out.)
Mabel: So, Stan, you still do a lot of traveling these days?
Stan: I try... I tend to, pick jobs that get me away from the computer.
Mabel: I was telling Dipper... it's shocking how much of the business has moved to the internet. I mean, I bet you have all sorts of options to get rid of hot cargo now.
Stan: Yeah, sure but I prefer talking to clients face-to-face... get a good read on 'em. Hard to do that in a chat room talking to some guy named "Antiquity Master 37."
Mabel: (laughs) I could see that.
(Dipper comes back after searching the ruins.)
Mabel: Well?
Dipper: Nothing worthwhile. But we're on the right path. Let's keep going.
(They continue down the road. Dipper accidentally hits some rocks stacked on top of each other and knocks them down.)
Dipper: Wonder who made these cairns? Must be a trail mark. Let's keep an eye out for 'em.
(They go down the road into a wide ravine. They look at the volcano in the distance.)
Dipper: So with our luck, what are the odds this volcano is gonna erupt on us?
Stan: Zero. It's extinct. Trust me, that's the first thing I looked up when you said we were heading for a volcano. That, and where to rent the cheapest 4x4.
Dipper: (stunned) Wait, Stan... you're telling me that you actually did some research?
Stan: Can't let you be the know-it-all every time, kid.
(Dipper sees a path leading to an opening next to a waterfall on the side of the ravine. He curiously drives up it and enters a wide interior in the cliff wall.)
Dipper: (amazed) Woulda look at that.
Mabel: (smiles) Secret cave behind a waterfall. Gentleman, we're on a pirate adventure.
Dipper: (amused) What are you, seven?
(They find an old storage area in the cave. Dipper gets out to inspect it.)
Mabel: So Stan, how is it you know King's Bay so well?
Stan: Well, first time out here was for a swap. Stolen diamonds.
Mabel: Of course.
Stan: Deal went bad and I got arrested. Ended up bribing the police chief.
Mabel: Again, of course.
Stan: And in the process of negotiating the bribe, we, uh... hit it off. And I've made it a point to come visit every few years.
Mabel: Maybe we can preempt any trouble we might get into. Can you still reach out to him?
Stan: Her.
Mabel: (smirks) Oh, my mistake.
Stan: (laughs) It wasn't like that for once. We just saw the world in similar ways. Besides, she moved to Brazil. Haven't seen her in a few years.
Mabel: Maybe time for a visit.
Stan: Maybe. First, let's wrap this up.
(Dipper only finds empty crates and barrels in the storage area. He returns to the car and drives them out of the cave. They go through the falling water at the entrance and land in the stream. Mabel and Stan are taken aback.)
Stan: Little warning next time?
Mabel: Yeah, that's the first time in years I've had two showers in one day.
(They go through the ravine and under a large wooden bridge connecting the opposite sides.)
Mabel: That bridge there is what you would call "rickety."
(Dipper drives up a steep muddy slope leading up to the bridge.)
Dipper: Ah, this looks promising. C'mon, baby. Go, go, go, go, go!
(He steps on the gas and slowly gets up the hill. The car slides back a little and hits a big rock stuck in the mud.)
Dipper: Sorry, experiencing a little turbulence.
Stan: Let me know when I can open my eyes.
(They eventually make it to the top.)
Dipper: Made it.
(He carefully drives on the bridge and slowly goes across. It creaks a lot under them.)
Stan: (nervous) Okay, kid. Just... don't drop us.
Mabel: Whaddya suppose the weight limit of this bridge is?
Stan: With all that creaking, I'd say we're pretty close to it.
Mabel: Just keep it slow... keep it in the center.
Dipper: (annoyed) Yeah, there's a lot of backseat driving going on-
(Something snaps and the bridge slightly descends. They yelp in surprise but are still able to make it across.)
Dipper: (assuringly) We're good. Everything's good.
Stan: (sighs) Dear God...
(They get off the bridge and continue on the path. Dipper knocks over another cairn.)
Mabel: So much for that rock pile.
Dipper: Technically, it's called a "cairn".
Mabel: Yeah, I don't like to say that word. It just sounds weird. "Care"... "carin"... "car"... Nope, I don't like it.
(They reach another muddy slope. This one steeper than the last.)
Stan: Onward and upward.
(The car starts tearing through the mud and goes up but then slides back down.)
Mabel: Ugh... Got mud in my mouth.
Dipper: (groans) We're getting nowhere fast.
Mabel: You need traction here. Dipper. The rocks.
(Dipper drives up a less steeper slope with rocks stuck in it and gets higher on the cliff.)
Dipper: Okay, think I'm getting the hang of this...
(They drop down from a ledge a few feet and yelp upon impact.)
Stan: Oh, my spine.
(They find a stone ramp with a pair of tire tracks on it.)
Dipper: Look, tire tracks. Someone came up this way.
(They go over a ledge and into another wide area. Mabel spots a tall structure on a hill in the distance.)
Mabel: Hey, look up there on the hill! Got a tower or something.
Stan: Now we're talking.
(Dipper drives in the direction of the tower.)
Mabel: Hey, Stan, what were you arguing with the rental guy about?
Stan: (irritated) Oh, your brother insisted on getting a 4x4 with a winch.
Mabel: So you sprung for the winch, but you couldn't spring for the suspension. I got it.
Stan: But with Dipper so eager, he doubled the price.
Dipper: He would've doubled it anyway. Beside, it's important. Going off road, it might rain, might be muddy.
Stan: I'll bet we go this whole goddamn thing and never use that winch.
Mabel: So Dipper, you're thinking Avery, Thomas Tew, and some other big-shot pirates pooled their treasure, and came out here because... why, exactly?
Dipper: Who knows, maybe for protection? British authorities we're closing in on 'em.
Mabel: Sure. Maybe he helped them disappear? I mean, the guy clearly had a knack for hiding things.
(They reach the hill with the ruined tower that's about a hundred feet tall. A set of stairs leads up to it. Dipper tries to drive up a steep mudslide next to the stairs.)
Dipper: And... go!
(The car slides back down.)
Stan: And... no.
Mabel: Ah, it was a valiant effort.
(Dipper stops the car and gets out. Mabel does too.)
Dipper: Let's go check out that tower.
Mabel: I'll come with. It's in pretty good shape for something several hundred years old.
Dipper: Yeah. They're definitely ruins from Avery's era.
(They go up the stairs and into the tower's interior. Dipper finds a large symbol of a dragon on the floor.)
Dipper: Mabel, look.
Mabel: That's Christopher Condent's sigil. Captain of the Fiery Dragon. Operated out of Madagascar around Avery's time. (confused) So... maybe Avery recruited pirate captains... to what, be his lookouts? That don't make any sense.
Dipper: No, it doesn't.
Mabel: Well, maybe each captain was responsible for a tower... along with providing the men for it? Whatever the case, this certainly isn't our final stop on our tour.
(They exit the tower and Dipper finds a tree at the top of the hill. The bottom part of its wide trunk is naked.)
Dipper: Huh... bark's stripped away. Something was wrapped around this tree.
(He goes back to the car where Stan is and pulls out the cable winch at the front.)
Dipper: (jokingly) Hey, did you know our car came with a winch?
Stan: (sarcastically) No, really? I didn't know.
(Dipper takes the winch back up the hill and wraps the cable around the tree trunk before attaching the hook to it.)
Dipper: There. That oughta do it.
(He slides down the slope and gets in the car.)
Stan: Well, that looked like fun.
Dipper: Steeper than it looks. Alright, ready?
Stan: Give it a shot.
(He slowly drives up the hill as the cable helps pull it.)
Dipper: Here we go. Steady...
(They get to the top. Dipper gets out to unlatch the winch.)
Dipper: (laughs) You see, Stan? Winch. Totally worth it.
Stan: (unimpressed) We cleared a hill. It hasn't exactly paid for itself.
Dipper: Not yet. Small victories.
Stan: Yeah, well, I'll celebrate the big ones.
(Mabel gets back in and they continue on the path. After going through a small pass between two cliff walls, they come out into a beautiful landscape with valleys, river streams and more cliff walls with the volcano looming over it all.)
Mabel: Feast your eyes, gentlemen.
Dipper: Wow.
Stan: Spectacular.
Mabel: Just imagine... you've come here, a well-to-do pirate, far away from your oppressive government.
Stan: (laughs) Poor, oppressed pirates. All they wanted to do was to murder and pillage in peace.
Mabel: No. They wanted to live as free men.
Dipper: Well, if you're gonna pick a place to run away from society, you could do a lot worse than here.
(They start driving towards a valley. The volcano still looks pretty far away.)
Stan: (impatient) It's taking forever to get to this volcano.
Mabel: Patience, Stan. Patience. Do you know how those pirates got here? They had to start in England, sail to Brazil, then cut back across the Atlantic to South Africa...
Stan: Mabel-
Mabel: And they figured all that out with paper, charts, and by looking at the stars.
Stan: Hey. You're describing sailing to a former squid.
Mabel: The point is, we got it pretty easy.
Stan: Yeah? Well... still taking a long time.
(They drive off a ledge and into the valley. The car shakes as they drop down.)
Stan: Now, I'm definitely awake.
Dipper: Sorry, sorry... Good car, don't die on me.
(Dipper then knocks over some more rocks stacked up on the side of the path.)
Dipper: Hit another cairn.
Mabel: Rock pile!
Dipper: Sorry, right, rock pile.
Mabel: Thank you.
(As they're about to drive over a hill, they hear an explosion at the bottom.)
Stan: (startled) Oh, shit! Stop, stop!
(Dipper quickly stops the car and takes out binoculars.)
Dipper: I see 'em.
Mabel: What do we got?
(He sees a group of mercenaries searching another abandoned tower in the valley below.)
Dipper: Military types, poking around.
Mabel: Tambry's guys?
Dipper: Yep.
Mabel: (sighs) Son of a bitch.
Dipper: Looks like they found an old colony outpost.
Stan: But the wrong one, right?
Dipper: That's the good news.
Stan: That means there's bad news.
Dipper: The only route to the volcano is straight through them.
Stan: Well, shit. We do have the drop on 'em.
Mabel: What's the play here, Dipper?
Dipper: Just follow my lead.
(He slowly drives closer to the outpost. Then he parks the car behind a big rock and they move through some tall grass to approach the tower. Shoreline men patrol around it and start searching the inside.)
Mercenary 1: Place looks empty. I'd like to get it over with and move on.
Mercenary 2: Let's go, gentlemen! It's gonna be a hot, long day and we have lots to do. If those Drakes show their pretty faces, you all know what to do!
Mercenary 3: Will serve 'em right, too. Just hope I bag 'em first.
Mercenary 4: Ha. Your shaky hands couldn't do anything 'til they get in bludgeoning distance. I'm afraid it'll be my honor.
Mercenary 3: Up for a wager on it. For the usual amount?
Mercenary 4: Oh, you're on.
(Dipper stealthily ambushes one and knocks him out but another spots him.)
Mercenary 1: I got one!
(With their cover blown, the trio open fire.)
Mabel: Well, this should be fun!
(They find cover around the tower. With the combined skills and experience at combat between the three of them, they overcome the mercs around the tower. Then a guy with a laser sighted rifle on the tower aims down at them.)
Stan: Dipper, sniper!
(Stan and Mabel hide behind cover and shoot back at the sniper to distract him while Dipper gets higher up to take him out. Afterwards, the area becomes clear.)
Dipper: Okay... I think that's it.
Mabel: Damn... Tyrone and Tambry must have dozens of guys out here. They could just stumble of to the treasure through blind luck...
(The twins enter the base of the tower and find another big symbol on the ground. It's two skeletons holding weapons.)
Dipper: Another sigil.
Mabel: Adam Baldridge. He ran King's Bay for a while. He was a trader, slaver, general scoundrel.
Dipper: (impressed) Look at you.
Mabel: Yeah... prison, lot of books.
(They all get back to the car and proceed on the route. Past the tower is a bridge leading to the next elevated cliff. Dipper starts to drive across when it breaks in the middle and they drop to ground.)
Dipper: Oh, crap!
Stan: Sheesh, these pirates really need to work on their infrastructure.
Mabel: Now how do we get outta here?
(Dipper sees a pair of wooden poles holding up the part of the bridge in front of them. He gets an idea and gets out. He takes the winch out again and wraps it around both poles. Then he gets back in the car and puts it in reverse. The cable pulls on the poles as the car accelerates backwards until they break and remaining bridge becomes a ramp. The cable pulls itself back into place at the front of the car as Dipper drives up the ramp and up onto the ledge.)
Dipper: (laughs) Again with the winch, Stan. Pretty handy, right?
Stan: I wasn't against getting the winch, I was against getting ripped off.
(They drive through a passage between some cliff walls.)
Dipper: So, Stan, just how well do you know Tambry?
Stan: (skeptical) Why...?
Dipper: I was thinking, maybe you can contact her and convince her to call off her goons.
Stan: (laughs) Yeah, right.
Dipper: What if we promise her a bigger cut than Tyrone?
Stan: No, that's not how she operates. She's more a money-up-front kind of mercenary. So Tyrone's got the advantage there.
(They come to another valley wider than the last. They spot some large trucks going up another cliff far up ahead.)
Mabel: Look. Shoreline.
Dipper: Yeah. They're definitely going all in, aren't they?
Stan: And get getting awful close to that volcano.
Mabel: (concerned) I was thinking the same thing. What if they found the treasure already?
Dipper: Well, look, they're searching every inch of this place, if they'd found it already, they wouldn't be searching.
Mabel: (relaxed) Yeah... yeah, you're right.
(Dipper drives into the valley and hits another cairn.)
Mabel: Y'know, someone worked very hard to stack those rocks.
(They head to one side of the valley and stop where an old well is.)
Mabel: Well, well, well. (laughs) Get it? You know, 'cause it's a well.
Dipper: (unamused) He stole your joke, Stan.
Stan: (unamused) I noticed. Good sense of humor, though.
(Dipper gets out and sees the dry well is not that deep. He drops down into it and finds a secret hideout with many old provisions and even some skeletons laying around. He finds a note on one of the corpses.)
Dipper: What have we here?
(He reads it and finds it written about a battle the pirates had with authorities and bounty hunters and they defeated them and took everything they had on them.)
Dipper: Damn. These pirates weren't messing around.
(He then climbs out of the well and returns to the car.)
Stan: So?
Dipper: Nothing major. Let's keep going.
(They continue driving through the valley towards the next cliff region. Stan then speaks up.)
Stan: Hey Mabel. If you don't mind me asking, how'd you pass the time in prison?
Mabel: Ah, y'know, reading, mostly. There was this one guard, saw me as a charity case, I guess. He'd check out books from the library for me.
Stan: So what'd you read?
Mabel: History, especially everything related to Avery and other pirates... just in case, you know.
Stan: Sure.
Mabel: And besides books... working out a little... sometimes smoking... trying my best to stay out of fights between rival gangs... coming up with designs for sweaters... and just a whole lot of thinking. That's pretty much it.
(After a moment of silence, Dipper has a thought.)
Dipper: (curious) Mabel, if you had a guard doing you favors, why didn't you use him to at word to us?
Mabel: Oh, I tried. I wrote you a letter and asked him to mail it to your P.O. box.
Dipper: I never got it.
Mabel: (solemnly) That would be because the warden saw it before we could get it out. I got busted up pretty bad and never saw that guard again.
Stan: Damn...
Mabel: I got my own back when the warden decided to room me with Alcazar. (smirks) That didn't turn out how he expected of course.
(It gets quiet for another moment before Stan speaks again.)
Stan: You know, come to think of it... I actually did business with Alcazar a few decades ago, even before I met you two.
Mabel: (stunned) For real? How are you still alive?
Stan: Well, he wasn't quite the man he is today. Still working his way up the criminal ladder then. I sold his boss a few woodcut prints I'd smuggled out of Japan. Alcazar was the go-between.
Dipper: What was he like?
Stan: Soft spoken, but intense. Like he could explode at the slightest provocation.
Mabel: (chuckles) Well, he hasn't hanged much then has he?
Stan: Yeah, I just took my money and got the hell out of there.
(After another few seconds of silence, Mabel starts talking again.)
Mabel: (smiles) So... a pirate walks into a bar...
Stan: (annoyed) Oh, great. Here we go.
Mabel: And he's got this steering wheel sticking out of his crotch.
Stan: Uh, huh.
Mabel: So the bartender goes, "hey man, what's with the wheel?" And the pirate says back, "Arrrr! It's drivin' me nuts!" (laughs) Ah, I love that one.
Stan: Don't make me leave you out here.
(They soon reach the cliffs and drive up the path. Dipper has to make some sharp turns which rock the car and make them uneasy.)
Mabel: Ya might wanna ease up a bit, bro-bro.
Stan: This thing come with airbags? Or parachutes?
(Dipper struggles a little trying to get to the top and eventually knocks down yet another cairn.)
Dipper: Hey, knocking these over isn't bad luck, is it?
Stan: Don't think so... but it's kinda rude.
Mabel: Yeah, that rock pile had a family!
(They finally get up on the cliff and reach another old tower. This one's a very large post with a place to light a fire at the top. They get out of the car and head over to it.)
Dipper: Check it out, guys...
Mabel: What is it?
Dipper: Some kind of beacon. Cool.
(They stand near the ledge at the base of the tower and look out into the distance. They have a good view of the bay with the city next to it.)
Mabel: Wow. You can probably see all of King's Bay from up here.
Stan: Yeah, there's the city...
Mabel: And there's the river valley...
(Dipper goes up the tower and looks out at the path ahead. He spots another much bigger one not too far away.)
Dipper: Hey guys, there's another tower just over the hill.
Stan: See any Shoreline mercs?
Dipper: I can't tell.
(He goes back down and stands next to Mabel who's looking down at the bay.)
Mabel: (softly) Well, would ya look at this.
Dipper: Quite the view.
Mabel: I just keep waiting to wake up, and find myself in solitary or something. Like it's all some kind of dream.
Dipper: (concerned) Mabel...
Mabel: (assuringly) No, no, no guilt grip. I'm just... let's go find this thing.
Dipper: You bet.
(He goes over to Stan who's also looking out at the view.)
Dipper: So, how're you doin'?
Stan: Eh, still in one piece.
Dipper: I appreciate you coming along for the ride. And especially for negotiating with that rental guy.
Stan: (laughs) No problem. Hell, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying myself.
Dipper: Me too.
(After enjoying their view for a moment, they go back to the car and head towards the next tower over the next hill. They find the area deserted.)
Dipper: Well, it would appear we got here first.
Mabel: Let's check the place out and keep moving.
(Next to the tower is a deep gap. On the other side is a wall with a drawbridge raised up.)
Dipper: A drawbridge? How medieval.
Stan: Well, you don't put up a drawbridge unless you're trying to keep people out.
Mabel: Or protect something inside. Whaddya make of it, Dipper?
Dipper: A little out of place. But you don't put up a drawbridge unless you're trying to hide something...
Mabel: Such as... pirate treasure?
Dipper: Maybe...
(They exit the car to look around the tower. The twins enter and find another symbol imprinted on the floor. This one is a horse with wings.)
Dipper: Another sigil.
Mabel: So, you recognize this one?
Dipper: I do, actually. Anne Bonny. Operated out of the Caribbean. Thought she died in jail.
Mabel: "At least that's what the stories tell us."
Dipper: (smirks) Heh. Right.
Mabel: Avery must've invited her too. I'm gonna go check out that drawbridge.
Dipper: Sounds good.
(Mabel uses her hook and rope to swing across the gap. Dipper starts climbing the tower.)
Stan: Hey, be careful, kid.
(Mabel finds a platform on the wall with the crank to lower the bridge but there's no way up there.)
Mabel: Dipper, the stairs are busted. There's no way up to the drawbridge crank.
Dipper: Alright, I'll see if there's something up here.
(He gets to the top of the tower and sees a tower on a cliffside of the volcanic mountain some distance away. It's bigger than all the others they've seen.)
Dipper: Hey guys, there's a massive tower just past the drawbridge. Biggest one yet.
(On a platform at the top, he finds a wooden crate attached to a cable going from the tower to the wall. He pushes the crate off the platform.)
Dipper: Mabel! Special delivery!
(The platform then breaks and the crate slides down the cable with him clinging to it.)
Dipper: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
(The crate lands on the wall where Mabel is. Dipper stumbles to the ground and Mabel helps him up.)
Stan: Hey kid, you all right?
Dipper: I'm fine!
(He then moves the crate under the platform with the crank.)
Mabel: You got this?
Dipper: Yeah.
Mabel: Alright, see you in a few.
Stan: I'll bring the car closer.
(Mabel goes back to the car as Dipper climbs up to the platform and starts turning the crank. The drawbridge starts to lower.)
Dipper: You two just relax, I got this.
Mabel: I mean, there's only one crank, y'know?
Stan: (laughs) Keep up the good work, kid.
(Then they look behind them to where they came and see two trucks entering the area.)
Stan & Mabel: (urgently) Stop, stop! Dipper! Shoreline!
(Dipper sees the trucks coming and stops turning the crank. The drawbridge closes again.)
Dipper: Oh, no. Guys! Hide!
(Mabel and Stan hide by the tower and Dipper takes cover on the wall as the trucks stop.)
Dipper: (mutters) Ah, these clowns are really getting on my nerves.
(Shoreline troops come out and start searching the place.)
Mercenary 1: Rental car. Must be theirs.
Mercenary 2: Form a grid! I want them found. No warning shots. You see them, you take them down.
Mercenary 3: Come out! We promise to make it quick for ya.
Mercenary 2: Careful. Lots of hiding places around here.
(Dipper realizes he can't stealth kill them this time so he just opens fire at them from his position. Mabel and Stan join in from their hiding spots. They have the advantage since they had the element of surprise and they quickly take down all their enemies in the area.)
Stan: You still got it, kid!
Mabel: Nice one!
Stan: Let's go before more Shorelines show up!
Dipper: Alright... Let's try that again.
(He lowers the drawbridge as Stan and Mabel get back in the car. When the bridge is lowered, Dipper joins them and they move along towards the last tower.)
Dipper: There we go. Big tower on a volcano.
Mabel: Looks like the end's in sight, huh?
(They drive along the cliff's edge that gets slightly elevated as they go along. They're definitely very high up from the sea level.)
Mabel: Y'know, not to nitpick, but Avery spent all that money on towers, would it have killed him to put a guard rail up here?
(As they get closer, Stan has another thought.)
Stan: So, Mabel, just how much do you owe Alcazar?
Mabel: (sheepishly) Uh... half.
Stan: Half of what?
Mabel: Well, he said he wants half the treasure, but he only knows about the Gunsway heist...
Stan: Which is worth 400 million.
Mabel: Right, but if Dipper's theory is correct, then there's a lot more treasure at play. So if we keep that a secret from him, we'll end up with more than what he wants and he won't even know.
Stan: Still, you shoulda told him it was much less than it really is. You never tell your partners how much job is really worth.
Mabel: Wasn't exactly expecting to be "partners" with him.
Dipper: (assuringly) Guys, we're gonna find it, pay off that lunatic and still have plenty to spare. Trust me.
(They approach another muddy slope too slippery to drive up. A big rock is stuck in the mud near the top of the slope. Dipper gets out and goes up the stairs next to it.)
Dipper: I'm gonna look around.
(At the top of the hill, he finds another tree with a large trunk. He goes back down and takes the winch out again. Then he goes back up and attaches it around the tree. He returns to the car and starts driving up the slope.)
Dipper: We're all set. Here we go...
(The cable leans against the rock in the mud. Suddenly, the tension from the cable pushes the rock and starts to loosen it.)
Stan: (worried) Uh, oh...
(They get halfway up when the rock comes loose completely and tumbles off to the side and off the cliff. The cable pulls the car and swings it over the cliff.)
Stan: Oh, shit!
Mabel: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
(Dipper tries to control the car as it hangs from the tree on the mountainside.)
Dipper: (frantically) Okay! Don't panic!
Stan: I am very much panicking here!
Mabel: That cable's gonna snap!
(Dipper desperately moves the car forward to get it back up on the surface. Some rocks tumble down from the cliff. One hits the car and Dipper is knocked back out of the driver's seat and almost falls off. Mabel grabs his arm.)
Mabel: Dipper! I gotcha!
Stan: Hold on tight, kid!
Mabel: I gotcha! C'mon!
(She helps him back into the car and he climbs back in his seat.)
Stan: You okay?
Dipper: I've been better.
Stan: Get us out of this, kid!
Dipper: Hang on!
(He slowly and steadily drives the car upward.)
Mabel: (hyperventilating) Hail Mary full of grace our Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb...!
Stan: Easy kid... easy...
(He manages to get them safely back up on the cliff's surface. They all breath heavily.)
Dipper: (relieved) Ah... well, that was fun, right?
Stan: Yeah, I'm definitely sharing this one with my shrink.
Mabel: (laughs) Wait, you have a shrink.
Stan: No... but I will after this.
Dipper: Come on, you guys are over-reacting. I had the whole thing under control.
(He unlatches the winch and the carry on. They reach a big wooden bridge leading right to the tower.)
Dipper: Hold onto something!
(They manage to drive across the the bridge without any incident.)
Dipper: Ah... well, that was a nice change of pace.
Mabel: Yeah, I'm almost disappointed... almost.
(They stop the car at the base of the tower and get out.)
Dipper: Now... let's find our way in.
Mabel: (proudly) Let's go claim our treasure, boys!
(They go up a wide set of stairs to the front entrance which is blocked with rubble.)
Dipper: Can't get in that way.
(He finds a small building off to the side.)
Dipper: Mabel, give me a hand with this.
Mabel: Yeah.
(They both push the door to the building open.)
Dipper: Let's see what we got here...
(They go down some stairs and enter an old storage room. Dipper sees some light coming from behind a shelf.)
Dipper: Huh. Looks like there's something's back here.
(He pushes it aside and there's a brick wall with cracks in it.)
Mabel: Damn, it's bricked over.
(Dipper looks around and finds some small barrels of gunpowder in the back of the room. He picks one up and takes it over to the wall.)
Stan: Hey, careful with that thing, kid.
(He steps it down at the wall and takes his gun out.)
Dipper: Heads up!
(He backs up and shoots the barrel. It blows the wall down.)
Mabel: (startled) Ah! Geez!
Dipper: I said heads up.
(They go through the wall and up a staircase where there's a small gate leading into the tower. Dipper turns the crank that opens it and Mabel runs in.)
Mabel: (impatient) Hurry up, you two!
Stan: And she's off.
Dipper: Mabel, wait up!
(They follow her in a room with a spiral staircase in the floor leading down.)
Mabel: Come on! Dipper, Stan! This way!
Stan: She seems excited.
Dipper: She's got a lot riding on this.
(They get down the stairs and through a narrow passage. Then they enter a massive chamber with and upper balcony and a high ceiling.)
Dipper: Whoa.
Stan: Magnificent. Don't see a treasure though.
Mabel: Hey, guys. Come check this out.
(Dipper and Stan go over to where Mabel is. On the far side of the interior is a big wall with a large statue of a man tied to a cross.)
Dipper: Ah, Saint Dismas... we meet again.
Stan: So... what do we got?
(They see various symbols surrounding the statue on the wall. Many look familiar including the sigils of Avery and Tew.)
Dipper: More sigils. There's our boy Avery. Thomas Tew. And that's, um...
Mabel: That's Adam Baldridge. That's Joseph Farrell, and that's Richard Want.
Dipper: (smiles) Pirate captains.
Mabel: (smiles) Alright, so maybe your pirate pool theory wasn't so ridiculous after all.
Dipper: So let's see, what do you think the trick is here? You gotta push a button, pull something?
(They start touching the statue to see if it activates something.)
Mabel: Maybe... one of the arms, or...?
Dipper: Give it a shot.
(Stan stands a few feet back and realizes something about the wall.)
Stan: Guys. Whenever you're done fondling poor Saint Dismas, I think you might want to come take a look at this.
(They stand back to where he is and get a full view of the wall. There's a large trapezoid symbol on one end and a large crown on the other. The pirate captain sigils are scattered throughout between the two big symbols.)
Stan: The trapezoid is obviously the volcano. The crown, that's King's Bay. We've got ourselves a map, kids.
Mabel: (intrigued) Stan, you're a goddamn genius.
Stan: (proudly) You hear that, Dipper? Genius.
Dipper: Yeah, yeah...
(Dipper points to Avery's sigil which is right next to the trapezoid.)
Dipper: Okay, so, if we're here... this tower lines up with Avery's sigil.
Mabel: So then the other sigils...
Dipper: Must be the towers from Avery's time.
Mabel: Well, then... our treasure's gotta be in one of them, right?
Stan: Yeah, but which one? I count twelve towers.
(Mabel then spots something on the ground. It's a cigarette butt that looks like it was lit just recently.)
Mabel: (suspicious) Hey, ah... Stan?
Stan: Huh?
Mabel: You didn't start smoking cigarettes by any chance, did ya?
Stan: Looks like we're not the first ones here.
(They hear a voice from up above.)
Mercenary: Fire in the hole!
(An explosion blows a hole in the roof and several Shoreline troops rappel down to the floor and open fire.)
Dipper: Get down!
Mercenary: We got the drop on 'em!
Mabel: Shit! It's an ambush!
(The trio get behind pillars and large chunks of debris and return fire. A big guy with body armor, a helmet and a shotgun moves up towards them.)
Mabel: Dipper, armored guy! Take cover!
Dipper: Uh-oh.
(Dipper keeps his distance and shoots the armor guy until he goes down. They take out the others and another wave moves in.)
Stan: Here they come again!
Mercenary: Don't let up! They're trapped in here!
(A mercenary with a big gun appears on the balcony and shoots explosives down at them.)
Mabel: Grenade launcher!
Dipper: Son of a bitch! Guy's a real charmer.
(Mabel manages to distract that one with the launcher to allow Dipper to get him.)
Mabel: Nice shot!
(They mop up the remaining men and it gets quiet again. They catch their breath and take some ammo from the dead mercenaries.)
Stan: That all of 'em?
Dipper: Well, let's hope so. You okay?
Stan: Yeah, fine. Mabel?
Mabel: Over here!
(They see her searching one of the bodies.)
Dipper: Hey, what're you doing?
Mabel: Just confirming a suspicion.
(She finds a paper on the body and looks at it.)
Mabel: Shit. Look at this.
(Dipper sees the paper is a map of entire landscape around the volcano and city. There are twelve markings all over it. Each with a number and a pirate sigil.)
Dipper: They figured out the towers too.
Mabel: Locations, sigils, the works.
Stan: So now what?
Mabel: (upset) Now what? Now we're screwed. Okay, because there's three of us and there's God knows how many of them? And they have a head start.
(Dipper walks up to the map.)
Dipper: Yeah, but they don't know which tower to go to yet.
Mabel: That's great, Dipper, cause neither do we.
(He then remembers something and takes out the coin they got in Scotland. He looks at the side opposite of the volcano image.)
Dipper: (smiles) Yes we do. Look.
(He shows them the other side of the coin which has a faint carved image of a weighing scale. He holds the coin up to the wall next to a sigil of the same image marked at a place in the city.)
Dipper: It's a little worn down, but right there, that's a match.
Mabel: Are you sure? Because I mean it could be this one, too.
(She points to a sigil of a trident near the other side of the city. Dipper holds the coin upside down and sees the image looks the like the other sigil as well with the scale's three plates turning into the trident's large blades.)
Dipper: (frowns) Crap.
Stan: But still... two beats the hell out of twelve.
(Mabel points to the trident sigil.)
Mabel: Alright. I'm gonna take this tower. You two take the other one.
Dipper: (reluctant) Oh, no. Tyrone's guys are all over these towers by now.
Mabel: Exactly. So if we wanna have a chance to catch them, then we've gotta split up.
Dipper: Mabel, just hold up a second, will ya?
Stan: Dipper, she's right. These towers are at opposite ends of King's Bay.
(Dipper thinks for a second and gives in.)
Dipper: (sighs) Damn it.
(They get back outside where Mabel gets in one of the Shoreline jeeps the mercenaries came in.)
Dipper: If you run into any of those Shoreline clowns, you call us, okay?
Mabel: (nods) See you soon.
(She drives off and Dipper and Stan get back in their own car.)
Stan: C'mon, Dipper. We gotta hurry.
Dipper: Yeah.