Chapter Thirteen: Conflict at the Spring
The fact that Stan was still dying of cancer even after he drank the water from the Hot Spring was alarming. Dipper was busy reassessing his data on the Hot Spring.
Uncertainty 1: Does the hot spring only work when you bathe in it? Does drinking it do nothing? Or does it simply have a lesser effect that is insufficient to take care of the cancer that Stan has?
Uncertainty 2: Perhaps the hot spring was never able to handle disease. Will you regenerate from anything and live forever, so long as you don't get sick? What are the true limitations of this hot spring?
Uncertainty 3: Are there others in the past who have found the hot spring? If so, who are they and where are they? Do they live semi-normal lives by changing their identities every seven or eight decades?
Uncertainty 4: What about animals? Would we see invulnerable animals if some of them bathed in the water?
That was going off track a bit. He was just taking notes on his musings as he thought of them. He sighed.
Uncertainty 5: Perhaps Stan and the others simply didn't drink enough water. Of the people who bathed in the hot spring, Wendy, Mabel, Pacifica and myself are included. Of those who drank the water, our mother, Grunkles Stan and Ford are included. Perhaps a vial of the water isn't enough when drinking. Does it require either a larger does or bathing directly in it?
He continued to take notes on what he knew before putting the tablet in a waterproof bag.
"Mabel, I'm going to the hot spring." Dipper said.
"Hey, wait! Let us come!" Mabel said, bringing Pacifica and Wendy with her. Wendy was always willing to go on adventures. Whatever Dipper had planned, she was sure it was important. She doubted that he was just going there for a dip, especially when Stan was so sick. She was guessing that he was doing research.
"Grunkle Ford, I need to borrow some of your gear. My bionics allow me to experience far more than I've ever been able to in the past. But I'd like to have the backup of your detector goggles and some other things." Dipper said.
"Ah, you're going to the hot spring. Take this also." Ford said, handing Dipper a futuristic looking handgun.
"It has twice the power of a .500 Smith & Wesson but half the recoil. Unfortunately, it can't be denied that a spring that grants power like that one does will draw a lot of greedy people. I'm not sure how many people know about it. Maybe only you guys do. I heard rumors of animals that couldn't be shot down by hunters. I did some investigation of it, but came up with nothing. It seems like mere chance that you found the hot spring. Either way, you want to be able to defend yourselves if people come who are willing to kill to keep the spring secret from others." Ford said.
Dipper cautiously took the gun and put it in a holster on his belt.
"Let's get going then." Dipper said, gathering a few things and then heading towards the hot spring.
Unfortunately, as Ford had suspected, the legends of the Hot Spring's healing abilities, or rather Preston's snooping into the origin of Wendy's new healing had drawn a sizable group of people. As they approached the springs, Dipper heard rough, coarse voices.
"Hold back, Mistah Noathwes…" One of the men said. Dipper could hear a heavy accent, probably a regional accent from the US, but Dipper couldn't tell exactly where.
"Northwest." Pacifica whispered. Her parents were out here? Why?
"Shh…" Dipper breathed, working to cover Mabel and Pacifica in leaves.
"Just stay here. Move as little as possible. We'll come back when we're able." Dipper said, heading towards the sound of the voices with Wendy, staying hidden as best they could.
"Stay in the middle, Northwest! You pay us to protect you, not to act like your little stooges!" The same rough voice growled angrily. Dipper looked through the bushes, seeing an immense man walking in front of Preston and a smaller, but still very strong looking man walking behind him. There was a woman on the left side of Preston and a man on the right side. Dipper could tell just from looking at them that they'd have no compunctions about killing him. Suddenly, the woman shoved Preston away from her and looked into the bushes, pulling out her gun and firing.
Dipper gasped and staggered back. She'd missed him by less than a hair's breadth. That was a close call. She probably wasn't the strongest or the fastest or the best fighter of the group. But she seemed to have impressive instincts.
"Maybe we should press on." The woman said, pulling Preston into a standing position. Preston seemed distinctly ill at ease with this group. He clearly couldn't bully or intimidate them and while he'd hired them, they clearly had their own methods and they didn't include taking orders from Preston.
Boy, Pacifica would love seeing Preston being pushed around like this. Dipper laughed to himself. He knew that if he got into a fight with the group, he would win simply because he couldn't be killed. He'd proven that when his leg got crushed and almost immediately healed. Pacifica proved their true invulnerability by surviving being crushed by those steel beams. But Dipper didn't really want a fight and he didn't want to kill or even injure if he could avoid it.
"Are you sure this is the way to the hot spring?" Preston asked.
"If we're going according to the details your last mercenary crew gave you, then yes." The tall man in front said. Dipper could tell that while he had a rough and coarse tone of voice and way of speaking, he was intelligent.
"Okay." Preston said, following along with the four guards. Wendy sneered irritably. They couldn't let Preston get his hands on the water.
He was more of a nuisance right now. It was obvious he hated Dipper. But what would happen if he became invulnerable, or even immortal? What would happen if he managed to bathe in the water? They sighed as they followed along, getting Pacifica and Mabel.
"Paz, your father is here with four guards. They're heading to the Hot Spring." Dipper said, having Mabel and Pacifica follow him and Wendy. They followed the guards to the opening of the cave. It was touch and go. If they were going to stop them, they had to do it now.
Otherwise, Preston might very well get in the hot spring.
"What do you think?"
"Dad! Wait!" Pacifica said urgently. The guards immediately prepared to fight if necessary.
"Stand down. It's just Pacifica." Preston said. Pacifica cringed. He usually called her 'his daughter'. On the one hand, he was calling her by name now. On the other hand, that seemed to suggest that he didn't see her as his daughter anymore.
"Dad, you don't want to do this. The spring won't have the effects you think it will." Pacifica said. Preston walked over to her.
"Oh? And what effects does it have?"
"Temporary. Their great uncles availed themselves of the water and Stan now has terminal cancer." Pacifica said.
"The effects don't last and they certainly don't make you invulnerable." Pacifica said.
"You just heal a bit faster than you did before you bathe in it." Pacifica said, being loquacious and explaining a lot to hide the fact that she was lying through her teeth. She'd learned that when you talk a lot and tell the enemy a lot about something, they're more likely to believe you, especially if you're specific with your lies and mix in truth with it.
"For instance, Wendy didn't really heal that much faster from her axe wound. She's fully healed now. But it's been almost a week." Pacifica said. Preston nodded.
"I see. I see. Well, I appreciate you bringing this to my attention." Preston said.
"Wait." The woman said.
"How many times have you bathed in the hot spring? Have you noticed an increased effect over time?" She asked. Dipper sighed. She was definitely the perceptive one of the group.
He dipped back into the bushes while Preston was focused on Pacifica and went to the cave entrance, looking around and seeing that there was a large pile of dirt above the entrance. Dipper stood back and fired his gun into the cave wall, causing it to rumble and the dirt to tumble down, barricading the entrance. That would mean that later, they would either have to unbarricade it or they would have to accept that the hot spring was closed off to them forever.
-0-
"What was that?" The massive man demanded, having heard the gunshot. Mabel shrugged.
"Hunter?" She asked.
"No. It's not hunting season. What's going on?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Mabel asked.
"Yes. I would." The tall, large man said, taking out a gun and holding it to her head.
"If we kill you out here, we're far enough away from the town that nobody would hear.
"We could bury you and nobody would ever find your body." A muscular, but slenderer man growled. Mabel chuckled.
"Fire away." Mabel smirked.
"Just let me put in some ear plugs. I wouldn't want to go deaf." Mabel laughed. Pacifica clapped. That was actually a pretty good comeback.
"What do you think? Kill her? Get the others talking, Mr. Northwest?" The woman asked.
"Mmm… No. Why don't we see what we can get out of them without killing them." Preston said. He wasn't even sure if they could be killed anymore. They'd clearly all bathed in the hot spring. So maybe they were invulnerable. Did the hot spring give them superhuman strength as well though? If they fired the gun, would they be killed by superhumans?
Preston was more concerned about what would happen if he tested their abilities than he was about getting the information.
"Tell us everything you know about the hot spring. If you do, we won't cripple you. Shoot the redhead in the knee." Preston said. Mabel yelped as they fired a shot into Wendy's knee. Wendy's leg buckled and she let out a yell of pain as the bullet went straight through her knee, burying itself in the ground.
"Damn! That was a big ass gun!" Mabel protested.
"I like large caliber weapons." The tall, large man said. Wendy chuckled as she started standing up, her leg shaking at first, but then steadying.
"Nice try, buddy. Now it's my turn." Wendy said, running at the man, leaping into the air and tackling him, wrapping her legs around his head and pulling the gun out of his hand.
"Shoot her!" Preston shouted. Wendy took several shots, which did more damage to her shirt and jeans than to her. She stepped back and held the gun out, pointing it at Preston.
"Anyone who attacks me, or any of our friends and this guy gets it!" Wendy shouted.
"You're bluffing." Preston growled. Wendy fired the gun into the big man's leg. Not his knee. She was angry, not vindictive. A bullet to the calf though would still do damage.
"Do you really want to test me?" Wendy asked as Dipper came back.
"Where were you, dude?"
"Sealing up the cave. There were three entrances I could find. I used Grunkle Ford's gun to cause landslides that prevented entry to the cave." Dipper said. Preston growled.
"You have no idea of the enemies you've made today, Boy." Preston said. Dipper smirked.
"Please. You wouldn't even know what to do with the power of the hot spring." Dipper said.
"Now get your asses out of here." Dipper said. Preston snarled angrily, but left with his bodyguards.
"Nice job getting rid of those assholes." Came a voice from above them. Dipper gasped in shock, looking up to see a stunning woman with shaggy but short black hair and golden eyes, smirking down catlike at them.
