Ivanov creaked his eyes open slowly. His eyelids felt like cement. He was sitting in what looked to be an abandoned part of the Moscow underground. He soon saw the boy sitting in front of him. The boy was wearing a long black coat over a navy sweater, and had the beginnings of a cleft on his chin that sat slightly to the right of a scar. He wore a belt across his chest and had chocolate brown hair that matched his bright brown eyes. Then he spoke.

"Anton Ivanov," he said. "I'd say you're a hard man to find, but that's not true at all." The boy leaned forward and smiled. "We are looking for an organisation that we believe you are a part of."

"And if I was part of a 'secret organisation,' I wouldn't tell you about it. Unless you have a rather large…" Ivanov's heavy Russian accent echoed through the hall. "… pocketbook."

"Well if we're going to do this the hard way," the boy smiled. "I'm gonna need a cup of coffee." He walked out of the room and shut the door.

The sound of him locking it echoed on the walls.

Ivanov smiled. Good cop, bad cop. He thought to himself as the lights flickered to life. So that's how it's gonna— his head smashed against the table with a resounding thud—"ow, augh… ow."

"You're going to tell us who you work for," the man said. He had a slight Jersey twang to his accent, Ivanov noted.

"Alright, alright." Anton clutched his throbbing nose. "Jesus wept…"

Dipper hooked his fingers around the handle of his mug and slowly lifted it up to his mouth. He took a sip, then promptly started gagging when the caffeine burned his tongue.

"It's called the HIVE mind," Ford said as a projection of a building appeared on the monitor behind him.

"Maybe it's called that because it has people everywhere," Soos added. "Like in all my favourite anime's!" He leaned over to Dipper and whispered, "and my fanfics."

"Lemme' guess," McGucket adjusted his glasses. "We need to infiltrate it."

"Yes."

"So do we just go in a window or something?" asked Dipper.

"All windows are just for show and are actually sealed off. As are the water mains and electrical system."

"What's the security like?"

"Fingerprint scanner to enter the elevator, three combination locks, a retinal scan and a facial scan."

"Facial scan…" McGucket muttered. "For that they'd need profiles. Where are they stored?"

"Are profiles are stored in here, the spire."

"So," Dipper smiled. "One of us needs to infiltrate the building whilst the other changes Ivanov's profile to our own?"

"Yes."

"I can get the Russian guy's fingerprints for 'ya 'ta wear!"

"Good idea Fiddleford. He can also tell us the combinations."

The Kremlin was a majestic building, its towers framing the sky like drawn curtains. Many people – both tourists and locals – walked around the plaza, chatting and taking photos. Elsa walked in the opposite direction to the crowd, people continually bumping into her. As the people began to disperse, she spotted Banks sitting on a bench. He was a man in his early sixties, his grey hair styled in an absolutely egregious combover. His circular glasses framed his blue eyes, which were surrounded by wrinkles. Elsa bit her lip as she leaned down and placed her handbag on the bench, then sat down.

"Hello Elsa," Banks said, his voice deep and posh. "Was your last mission a success?"

"It took you long enough," Elsa grumbled, looking away. "It's been two months since then."

"Well I'm sorry, but it's rather difficult to set up a meeting with the wife of a crime lord gone mad."

"I got him the case."

Banks smiled, adjusting his glasses. "Good, good," he purred.

"Why are you helping me?" Elsa said suddenly.

Banks turned to look at her for the first time, the breeze disturbing his combover. "We have a deal, remember? You help me take down HIVE and in return you go free."

"No, I just want to know why you're helping me," Elsa probed, still refusing to make eye contact. "Who are you working for?"

"My boss is a very…" he searched for the right word. "Well off woman. A woman who wants to do something good for the world. All your questions will be answered, I promise. And now that your husband has the case, he has unknowingly put our plan into motion." Banks smiled at Elsa. "You're doing a good thing, trust me."

"I know that…" Elsa said. "I just…"

"Just what? Come out with it dear, I'd never tell. Not like that crooked husband of yours. I'd never do that."

"… I just don't know whether I can trust you," Elsa admitted as she crossed her arms.

Banks' smile softened slightly. "Oh, Elsa." He leaned in close to her. "Of course you can trust me."

Elsa pursed her lips, grabbing her bag and getting up. "I hope you're right."

As she walked away, Banks smiled to himself. Elsa was out of earshot. "Of course I am," he grinned. "I always am."

Dipper aimed the harpoon gun at the spire and closed one eye as he lined up his shot. There were people milling about in the streets below, despite it being close to midnight. He was on the roof of a building, looking through the sights as the crosshairs lined up with his target.

He squeezed the trigger.

The harpoon shot out and the gun shot back, hitting him in the face. "Ow," he mumbled as he felt at his nose. He pulled his hand away and saw a drop of blood on it. "Shit." He rooted around in his pockets for a tissue, then promptly gave up. Of course he didn't have a tissue on him. Sighing, he pulled the zip line device out of his pocket and attached it to the line of rope stretching from one building to the other. After making sure that the gun wouldn't move, he attached the zip line to his belt and pressed the radio in his ear. "Soos, McGucket," he said. "I'm ready when you are."

"Just a sec dude," Soos said.

"Good just – arrghh!" the brunet shouted as he slipped off the rooftop, certain he was going to die.

"Dipper! You okay dude?"

"Yeah," Dipper mumbled, his voice quivering. Good job I attached the zip line, he thought (as he was now hanging from a rope in between two ten-story buildings). "I'm okay." He took a deep breath a started inching his way across the rope. Come on Dipper, you can do this. Just don't look down. Don'tlookdownDon'tlookdownDon'tlookdown – ILOOKEDDOWNWHY DIDILOOKDOWN?

"Alright," Dipper sighed, setting up his laptop and plugging it into the central control unit.

"I'm in."

"Going to radio silence… now," McGucket said, the line going dead.

Ford walked through the door to the base and pressed his thumb onto the scanner, promptly pulling the fake print off and dropping it into his pocket. He walked through the three glass door, putting the respective passcode in each.

Dipper readied the fake profile, took a deep breath, and switched it with Ivanov's as fast as he possibly could. He glanced at his laptop, seeing the green dot representing Ford walk past the final door and into meeting room.

Little did he know, this was just the calm before the storm.

Ford pushed through the crowd of people, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and white shirts. The meeting room had a large, rectangular table in the middle. Each seat was occupied by men and women with golden pins on their lapels. There was a large balcony circling the hall, on which Ford was stood on.

"Enhance," Ford whispered after tapping his glasses. The image zoomed in, revealing the pin to be a circle with two tadpole-shaped blobs flying round it. Ivanov's ring had the same design. The lens zoomed back out, only to zoom back in again as a door to the left opened and two people walked out; a tall, brown haired woman and a man of similar height in a grey suit. He wore a burgundy tie, and his receding hair was a grey-ish white. Ford couldn't quite make out his face, but he could see the woman's. The glasses took a picture for later use. Ford pressed the button on his earpiece and began to listen in on the meeting.

"I have been informed that Mr Anton Ivanov has been captured." The supposed leader said, sat at the head of the table. "Is this true, Antanoly?"

The man called Antanoly widened his eyes and began stammering, "Well, uh, he's just gone—"

"You were not summoned here to grovel," the leader snapped. "We have many enemies, one may have taken him hostage to gain information. In fact, they could even use him to infiltrate out operation. That would be unfortunate," the leader looked up to the balcony, right at Ford.

"Right, Stanford?"

It was then that Dipper decided to break the radio silence. "Abort," he said quickly.

Ford's brain suddenly caught up to his situation, immediately telling him to leg it. And that he did, the leader's shout of, 'seize him,' echoing through the halls.

Ford burst through the double doors at the front of the cathedral immediately running over to a motorcycle. He fiddled with the wires until it started up, then jumped on and sped away. A fleet of cars followed suit; their guns aimed for the cycle's tires rather than his face. Ford was racking his brain for who the leader was, he recognised the voice but couldn't quite place it. He looked back, he'd lost the cars a while ago (his time in the multiverse had given him much car chase experience, it was practically second nature to him now). But it was in vain, as another fleet of cars rounded the corner, these with blue flashing lights. Someone had called the police. He twisted the handle and sped off, eventually ending up surrounded.

Knowing that his luck had run out, Ford raised his hands in the air and got off the bike.

So... it's been a hot minute since I updated this story. Basically, I got tired of it and started on other projects. But now that The Neophyte series is on hiatus, I'm finally getting the chance to continue. I won't make any promises on when the next update will be, as this is the first time I've updated in over a month. I was actually inspired to get this chapter done by another writer known as Theory of Weirdness, whose profile I would link but I'm not sure I can on this site.