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Infinity Verse Spotlight

Dipper Pines: The Secrets We Keep


"Again!" April said to her two students.

Dib was breathing hard at this point. Nearly a half-hour of sparring with his opponent had drained the paranormal investigator of nearly all of his energy. He wasn't exactly accustom to fighting, but, as April had said to convince him to be a part of her self-defense classes, if he wanted to defeat Zim in a hand-to hand fight, then he needed to know how to fight in the first place. However, while the big-headed teen was starting to feel drained of his strength, the same could not be said for his opponent for this match. The challenger was slightly taller than him and had been putting in more hours in his training than Dib did. He wasn't muscular like Danny, Kim or the Ninja, but he did have some small viable muscles like Marco did. This was Mason 'Dipper' Pines, and he was about to mop the floor with the big-headed kid for the fifth time in a row now.

When the Infinity League had first formed, Mason, his twin sister, Mabel, their great-uncle, Ford, their friend, Soos, and Mason's girlfriend, Wendy, were recruited by Danny as among the many the original six members of the League had set out to recruit. The group said yes, but while Ford and Wendy were instantly cleared for field duty, the same could not be said for the twins and their heavyset friend. Granted, while Dipper and his sister had experience fighting monsters, aliens and a reality-bending demon, they didn't have any experience fighting in a real combat situation. Soos remained on the Tower as its chief custodian while juggling his time as a owner of the Mystery Shack and was content with that. The same could not be said for the twins, who wished to be on the front lines like Ford and Wendy. But, without any proper training, the best the League could offer them at the moment was guard duty for Mabel and Telepad controls for Mason.

Seeing that they were capable of so much more, April O'Neil, a friend of the Ninja Turtles and a master martial artist herself, offered to train the twins and others such as Dib in hand to hand combat and stealth. Once they earned her clearance, her students would be allowed to go field missions. Admittedly, the Pines siblings were at first slow learners, but in time, they had began to master the basic arts of Ninjitsu. It also helped that the twins had recently gone through a bit of a growth spurt. True, they had only grown only a foot taller than before, but it gave them a bit of an edge in their training, such as beating Dib's face in...again.

The paranormal investigator let out a battle cry before lunging at Mason, who only stayed in his battle stance. Dib made the first move with a right hook, but Dipper easily countered the attack and twisted the big-headed boy's arm behind his back. He then kicked out Dib's legs out from under him, thus forcing him to fall to his knees. If Mabel wasn't on guard duty, she'd be laughing her head off at the sight before her.

"It's not like your even trying," Mason said as he released his hold on his teammate.

"I am trying!" Dib defended. "You're just better than me!"

"You're going to fight a lot of people who are better fighters than you," his teacher informed him. "The trick is to be the smarter fighter."

"Which I'm also better at than you," Mason added with a smirk at the other boy. "Just FYI."

Dib sneered at that remark before getting back on his feet and storming out of the training room, all the while swearing under his breath.

"Excellent work as always, Mason," April praised. "You and your sister are among the top of the class."

"Not like its that hard," Dib's sister, Gaz, remarked dryly as she continued to play her Game Slave 2.

Aside from from the twins, the only other students who April trained were Dib and his sister, who mostly sat in the corner and played on her game console the entire time. April would normally tell the goth to switch off her game and train like the others, but in all honesty, she was creeped out by the girl.

"You think Mabel and I are good enough to be cleared for active duty?" he asked.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," the redhead replied. "You're good, but you've got a bit more training until your ready for any field missions."

A quick flash of anger stung Dipper's mind, making him clench his fist in the process. April was the only person who could allow the Pines siblings to go on missions with the other heroes, but only when she decided they were ready, which at this rate could take forever. The gesture did not go unnoticed by his master, who wished to defused the situation.

"I can understand how you feel, Mason," she began. "When I started training with Master Splinter, I wanted so badly to get on the same level as Donnie and the others, but this takes time. I have no doubt that you two will be great fighters, but until then, you just have to stick to your training."

"Alright..." was all Mason said to that, still showing his discontent for her answer.

"I think that's enough for today," his teacher said. "We'll pick this up tomorrow."

With that, April left the training room while Mason stayed behind in order to gather up his things.

"You know, it's funny," Gaz noted as she approached the teen. "One moment, you and your sister straight up suck at this, and the next thing you know, you're the prized pupils."

"I attribute it to a good training regiment, a healthy diet and a well-timed growth spurt," Mason brushed off with a small laugh.

"Cut the shit, Pines," the goth girl said sharply. "What are you taking?"

In that moment, Dipper stopped what he was doing for a moment before sighing in defeat. He knew he couldn't hide this from Gaz.

"You really want to know?" he asked as he finished gathering up his stuff. "Follow me."


Mason lead Gaz back to his and his sister's quarters on the tower. After letting her in, he went over to a nearby drawer and began to rummage around in it before pulling out a small object. He then tossed it over to the goth for her to look over. It was a little orange bottle that contained black and red oval-shaped pills on it with a 'V' on each one.

"Did you know that before he made the Powerpuff Girls, Professor Utonium had a military contract?" Mason began. "He was working on a drug that could enhance a soldier's strength, speed and agility without any addiction to it. He called it Chemical V."

"Let me guess: it didn't work?" Gaz conculded.

"Oh no, it did," Dipper corrected. "But only for people with a certain blood type. Those who didn't, well...let's just say they had a bad time. So, he shelved it."

"And I'm guessing that you and Mabel have the right blood type?" the creepy girl surmised. "How did you steal these from Utonium?"

"I didn't steal anything," the boy said. "Professor Utonium gave them to us after Ford told him that we were having difficulty in our training and he offered Chemical V to us as a way to keep up with everyone here."

"And you haven't told anyone about these because why?" Gaz questioned.

"Because no one's asked," Mason answered. "You can tell everyone if you'd like. Mabel and I haven't done anything wrong. I was telling you the truth when I said that the training and the growth-spurt were the reasons we were getting ahead. These are just helping us. And honestly, I think this isn't any different from what some of the League's members have done to themselves."

"You mean train, be chosen to wield their gifts, get powers by accident or were just built that way?" Gaz responded sarcastically. "Yeah, they'd totally understand taking experimental drugs just so you can feed your ego."

Mason sneered at that before walking up to Gaz, who stood her ground with her regular scowl on her face.

"You said Utonium didn't give this to the military because it didn't work for everyone," she continued. "But I wonder: maybe it was because it also had some nasty side-effects too."

"You got your answer, now get out," Mason ordered in a stern voice before snatching the pills out of her hand.

"Whatever," Gaz shrugged off.

With that, she turned away and began to walk out the room. Just as she was was about to open the door, it opened before she could reach out and activate the panel. Standing before her was Wendy, who had obviously stopped by to see her boyfriend.

"Did I interrupt something?" she asked curiously.

"Nope, just your boyfriend being an asshole," the purple-haired girl mentioned. "Be seeing you at the next training session, Pines."

With that, Gaz left the room, thus leaving Dipper and Wendy finally alone.

"She's so not your type," the redhead joked.

"Don't I know it?" Dipper replied with a small chuckle. "I prefer my girls to be a bit more rough and tumble."

Wendy laughed at that. Normally, if a woman walked in on her boyfriend with another woman, there would be a fight, or at the very least some harsh questions. However, Wendy knew that her lover was 100% loyal to her and only her. Besides, Gaz didn't strike her as the 'homewrecker' type. It was then that the lumberjack's daughter noticed the bottle of pills in Dipper's hand.

"New bottle?" she asked.

"Yep," Mason confirmed. "Got it from Utonium today."

"And you're taking the proper dosage, right?" Wendy furthered.

Mason didn't answer her right away.

"Right?" she repeated.

"Yes!" her lover answered a bit to sharply. "I'm only taking as much as he told me."

Wendy nodded at that, but still had her suspicions. When the twins told her about the new drugs they were taking, she was admittedly apprehensive about the whole thing, but after Professor Utonium himself explained what Chemical V was and how it was helping them, she pulled back. Yet at the same time, she still worried for her boyfriend's safety. The father of the Powerpuff Girls had told the Pines siblings to only take two a day or else they would fall victim to the drug's side-effect, which was aggression. But if their time in Gravity Falls had taught her anything, it was that Dipper had a tendency to sometimes go overboard.

"I'm sorry," he quickly apologized. "It's just that Gaz was in here talking shit about my training."

"Don't let her bother you," the ginger reassured with a kiss on the cheek. "You'll be out there with me soon enough."

"Thanks, babe," Mason said softly. "So, how was your day?"

"Ugh, sucked," Wendy groaned. "This Red Talon junk is driving everyone nuts!"

Red Talon. That was the name of the latest supervillain on the scene that the League had to deal with, and so far, he was beating them at every turn. It started with a break-in at Dr. Wakeman's lab a few weeks ago, leading to the theft of several of the doctor's schematics of Jenny's systems. The Red Talon managed to escape into the night before the League could arrive to stop him. A two weeks later, another break-in occurred, this time at the home of Professor Utonium. The League arrived to again try and capture the masked villain, but he once more evaded them and made off with Chemical Y, an agent that worked as an antidote for Chemical X. Recently, the third break-in occurred in the very home of the Ninja Turtles, who were mostly out with the exception of Donnie, who was working late in his lab. The Red Talon broke in, managed to stun Donnie with a tranquilizer dart and stole a fresh batch of retro-mutagen.

Whoever the Red Talon was under his mask, he was smart, knew what he was after and, most importantly, he knew how to bypass everyone's security easily. What made him even more of a threat was that he seemed to know everyone's weakness, making some of the members of the League to believe that he was either a genius, or that he was getting help from an inside source. No one wanted to admit it out loud, but the League was starting to fear that there was a traitor among them.

"Any new leads?" Mason inquired.

"Just two," Wendy said as she flopped down on her lover's bed. "Jack and shit, and Jack left town."

"That good, huh?" her lover gathered.

"That's the thing Dipper, he's too good!" Wendy furthered. "He's been stealing junk that can do some real damage to some of the League's strongest members and its starting to freak people out!"

"I wish I could be out there helping you guys, Wendy," Mason said glumly.

"Then you'd only hear Kim and Danny barking orders in your ear," his girlfriend in formed him. "Trust me, sometimes these missions aren't what they're cracked up to be."

It was then that Wendy reached out and took hold of Dipper by the shirt and pulled him down on top of her.

"But let's not talk about work," she said in a bit more of a lustful tone. "I've got something else on my mind."

"Oh? Do tell," Mason replied with a smirk before kissing her deeply.

Wendy kissed him back while her lover's hand traveled down her side and down toward her pants. But just before they could go any further, a certain A.I. suddenly materialized in the room.

"Jesus Christ, Sheila!" Dipper exclaimed as and Wendy got up. "Haven't you heard of knocking?!"

"You two can do the nasty on your own time, Dipper," the A.I. answered snidely. "Right now, Wendy is being requested for a mission."

"But I just got back from one!" the ginger argued.

"And now you're needed for another," Sheila replied. "Danny's orders."

With that, Sheila departed, leaving the young couple alone again.

"I'm sorry, babe," Wendy apologized.

"It's okay, Wendy," Dipper assured. "I'm going off duty anyway, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Alright," Wendy said before kissing him again. "Love you."

"Love you too," Dipper replied.

With another kiss between them, the lumberjack's daughter departed, leaving Dipper alone in his room. Once she had left, the teen opened the bottle and took four pills out for him to consume. The rush of energy it gave him was immense, and it gave him the focus he needed for what he was planning to do tonight. He then switched off the tracker in his communicator. It was time to go to work.


After Wheeljack teleported him back down to Gravity Falls, Mason made his way toward the former Northwest Mansion, which was now home to one Fiddleford McGucket. A mad prospector and inventor who the teen had been employing for the past few weeks now. McGucket had helped the boy build a suit that he had been using as of late, one that he was going to use once again. When Mason opened the doors, he found the old madman in the midst of trying to build some machine of some kind. When he saw the teen enter, he instantly stopped.

"Is it time, then?" he asked.

"It is," Dipper confirmed. "Let's get started."

McGucket went over to a nearby grandfather clock and spun the two hands on its face until it struck midnight. The clock then moved to the left to reveal a doorway with a staircase that lead downward into the depths below the manor. The two walked down the stairs and into an underground cave that held a large base filled with computers, weapons and a make-shift teleporter similar to the one in Skyward Tower. It had taken weeks to set up this facility in secret, but thanks to the enchantments Chemical V gave the teen both physically and mentally, not to mention the sheer brilliance of McGucket, it was much easier to accomplish.

"So, what are y'a hunting for tonight, boss?" McGucket inquired.

Mason went over to the computer where he then typed up an image on the screen for his ally to see. It was a green and silver bullet. One that Dipper had kept his eye on since its construction.

"This is an Ecto-Bullet," he began. "It's meant to destabilize the genetic make-up of any spectral being."

"So you can kill ghosts with it?" came another voice. "Can't imagine who'd you use that on."

Mason turned around to see his other great-uncle, Stan, approaching the two of them. Unlike the others, Stan wanted no part of being a member of the Infinity League, calming that he had dealt with enough insanity as it was. But when Dipper came to him one night to tell him what he had planned, he offered his aid to his grand-nephew. Since then, he had repaired Mason's suit, patched him up whenever he was hurt and above all else: he kept his secrets.

"So, where is this dohicky anyway?" Stan continued.

"Its at Fenton Works," Mason answered. "I'm going to steal from the Fentons it before they can produce anymore."

"So you can build them yourself, right?" the con-artist gathered.

"I only need the one bullet," his nephew corrected. "One shot is all I need."

"You know, this would be a lot easier if you let your sister and the others in on what you were doing," Stan mentioned. "They could at least cover for you in case anyone starts catching on."

Ever since Mason had begun this crusade, he made it his point to keep this a secret from his friends and family. As much as it pained him to keep this from them, it was necessary to carry out this task without them knowing, fearing that they wouldn't understand. He could only pray that his mission would be justified.

"You are the last person on this planet to tell me not to keep secrets," Dipper said harshly.

"Exactly, and look where that got us in the past," Stan countered. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't follow my example!"

"They wouldn't understand, Stan" his grand-nephew replied. "What I'm doing would only confuse them. They'd think I've-"

"What? Become a supervillain?" Stan cut him off sharply. "Because it seems to me that you're doing that all by yourself!"

Mason snarled as he suddenly reached out and grabbed his great-uncle by his shirt before hoisting him into the air. It took him a good few seconds to realize what he was doing before quickly putting him back down.

"I...I'm so-" he attempted to say.

"Just suit up and get going," Stan told him.

Knowing that there was nothing else he could say at this point, Dipper pressed a button on his computer that activated a glass case to rise from the ground that contained his suit. The suit was all black with silver armored shin guards, chest plate, boots and gauntlets with red claws at the end of them. It had a long red cape with a large, frilled collar on the back of it. The hawk-like mask was crimson with green lens that could see at night and in infra-red. The suit also contained various compartments that contained different tools, gadgets and weapons that Mason used to carry out his missions.

For Mason Pines was the Red Talon.

"Ready the teleporter, McGucket," he ordered. "Set the location for Paris first. There's something I need to pick up before the fun begins."


After getting what he needed to complete his mission in Paris, Mason ordered Fiddleford to teleport him to Amity Park. Due to the shield that surrounded the building, the masked teen had to be sent several blocks away from the Fentons' home, thus making him travel the rest of the way on foot. However, traveling on foot was perhaps an understatement, since he had something built for just this occasion. He reached behind his back and pulled out a small metal device that was attached to his armor. With one flick of his wrist, he unfolded it into a glider that he climbed on before taking off toward the building.

At this point in his mission, he knew that the rest of the League was no doubt starting to catch on to what he was after and would probably have stationed a few of the League members around the area to keep the Ecto-Bullet out of his grasp. Thankfully, he knew that several major players in the League would be tied up with the mess Steven had dropped on the League's lap. Well, 'mess' was probably the wrong word for it, but what the gem-human hybrid did caused quite the upheaval for both the League and the GJN.

Recently, Steven and his family had returned to Earth after traveling to the Gem Homeworld. While the Crystal Gems were still debriefing the League and the GJN, what was known was that they not only had to find a place for the newly reformed Gems from Rose's army, but were also finding themselves allied with Homeworld as well. This gave Mason the perfect distraction to carry out his heist for the night.

Suddenly, the fake-villain's gilder was struck by a sudden impact from a strong blast from below, forcing him fall on top of a nearby rooftop. His attacker leapt from his hiding place to reveal himself as the Ninja, who was no doubt leading the squad protecting Fenton Works.

"Ninja to all points, I've got him," He said into his communicator. "I'll hold him until you get here."

Mason figured that it would be the Ninja that would be the one he had to face, considering that he wasn't the one to sit around and listen to anything regarding the paperwork the League had to do. What he wasn't expecting, however, was facing him so early. Mason had training, but he wasn't even in the same class the protector of Norrisville was in.

"My advice: give up now, before this gets ugly," the Ninja advised as he drew his sword. "We know what you're up to. You've been stealing weaknesses for the League, and we weren't about to let you get your claws on that Ecto-Bullet."

"Walk away, Ninja," Red Talon warned through his mask's voice modifier. "I'd rather not waste my time with you."

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing," the black-clad hero answered.

It was then that Mason reached into one of his suits compartments. Rather than try to stop him, the Ninja scoffed at him.

"Give it up, bird-brain," he said. "I don't have a weakness."

"Oh, but you do," his adversary corrected. "One that I've already prepared for."

With that, Dipper pulled out a small camera and flipped the screen on to show an image that shook the Ninja to his core. It was was his lover, Rena Rouge, tied up against a pole within what looked like an old warehouse with a bomb vest strapped to her body. The very sight of his lover in such a state made the Ninja nearly drop his weapon in horror.

"This is a live feed in case you were wondering," Mason added. "The bomb is set to go off in thirty minutes. That was fifteen minutes ago."

"You bastard!" the Ninja snarled.

"I'm willing to tell you where she is if you let me go," Red Talon offered. "Refuse, and the next word the fox says is 'boom.'"

The Ninja stood silent, unable to move or even so much as think of anything else other than the thought of the woman he loved being blown apart. However, he knew that if he let Red Talon go, then his teammates would be put in future danger.

"Tick-tock, Ninja," the Red Talon furthered. "By my count, I'd say she's only got about twelve minutes to go now."

The Ninja lowered his weapon, a silent sign that he had relented to the villain's demands.

"Good choice," Mason said. "She's on 5th and Porter Street. I'd hurry if I were you."

The Ninja shot Red Talon a fierce glare as he took out a smoke bomb and threw it on the ground, vanishing into a cloud of orange smoke. Mason knew that when the Ninja arrived that he'd find Rena Rouge tied up alone without any real explosives on her person. He needed the distraction to get the two heroes out of the way, but he was still unsure as to who else was among the Ninja's squad. Hopefully, since the Ninja forgot to tell the others what he was doing that he could have some time to get a bit of a head start to Fenton Works before they caught on.

However, that plan was instantly dashed when a massive shadow came down from above Mason, forcing him to leap out of the way of the incoming figure from above him.

"Your reign of terror ends here," Goliath, leader of the Manhattan Clan, declared. "Surrender now, and I swear no harm will come to you."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Mason replied.

"So be it," the Gargoyle said in a low tone.

Even with his gear, Goliath outclassed Dipper by a long-shot. He had hundreds of years of battle experience and was vastly stronger and faster than any human. It was then that Mason heard the sound of others jumping onto the rooftop behind him. He glanced behind him to see a member of the Ninja Turtles, Donatello, and another Miraculous holder, Queen Bee, there, ready to take him down. Now Mason was truly in for it if he didn't think of something fast. If it was just Chloe, he could handle her, but Goliath and Donnie easily outmatched him in every way. He could fight them, sure, but his training was nowhere near the level it was for the mutant and the gargoyle. Mason then glanced over to his still down glider, instantly giving him an idea in the process.

"I warned you to surrender," the leader of the Gargoyles continued. "Now you shall be taken by force, villain!"

"Sorry, but I'm kinda on a schedule," Red Talon answered as he put his behind his back. "Places to be, people to maim, you know how it goes."

As he kept the three heroes focused on his face, Mason began to reactivate his glider via his gauntlet's wrist computer. Suddenly, the glider sprang back to life as it flew toward Donnie and Queen at a rapid pace, making the two teen heroes jump out of the way. Goliath let out a roar as he lunged at his enemy, who narrowly evaded a swipe of his claws as he leapt back. Mason then quickly pulled out a flash-bang grenade and flew at the Gargoyle's feet. The bright, ear-splitting blast disoriented the winged beast long enough to get away from him. However, Donnie and Queen Bee blocked his escape route.

"Venom!" Chloe cried out as she activated her power.

With Donnie backing her up, she leapt toward Red Talon with the intent to stun him, but before she could do so with her attack, Mason dodged the sting, grabbed her arm and redirected the attack so that she struck Donnie instead. The sting from her venom instantly made the mutant remain still like a statue. Before Chloe could react to the mistake she just made, Mason round-house kicked her in the chest, forcing her to fall to the ground with the wind knocked out of her. Rather than keep fighting, Red Talon ran toward the edge of the building before jumping off it and landing on his glider in mid-flight. Every trick Dipper had pulled on his teammates weighed heavy on his conscience, but he reminded himself that everything he did was for a good cause, one that he hoped that the League and the world at large would soon thank him for.

As he was now half-way to his target, he heard a furious roar behind him. He turned around to see Goliath, who had clearly shaken off the effects of the flash-bag, gliding through the air in pursuit of the masked-thief, all the while his eyes shined with rage in them. Fighting Goliath was still on Dipper's 'do not want' list. Thankfully, he had something that he could at least use to slow the gargoyle down with. He tapped his foot on his glider, firing a net from it that wrapped around Goliath and forced him to tumble down toward another rooftop. Even with the net's steel wiring, Mason knew that the winged hero would still make short work of the net, meaning he had to move fast, or everything he had been planning would be all for nothing.


Jazz looked out her window for the fifth time now. It had become silent outside, and she was unsure if that was a good or bad thing. Danny had posted some of the League's finest members to guard their home, but from the stories she's heard about this Red Talon character, it was hard to say if anyone could stop him. Ever since Danny had joined the Infinity League, he had kept his identity a secret from his teammates, and while the others found it strange that a ghost would be working alongside a family of ghost hunters whom had hunted him at one point, he claimed that they had made peace with him. It was mostly due to the fact that Jazz's younger sibling was trying to kept them safe. But safe was just a shadow at this point, for a villain had arrived at their doorstep regardless of Danny's intentions.

While the Ninja lead a majority of the squad to ride out and face Red Talon head on, one of the members of the League had remained at home with the rest of Danny's family as a last line of defense. Although Jazz was a tad skeptical about the Ninja's choice in guarding the building, she trusted her brother's team none the less. Thankfully, the League bought the lie that Danny was safe at Sam's house during this whole mess.

Just as she was about to leave her room, an explosion tore down the wall from the outside. When the smoke cleared, it reveal the masked-villain hovering into her room atop his glider.

"Hello, my dear," he greeted a sinister tone.

Jazz let out a scream of terror as the villain jumped off his glider and roughly snatched her off the ground. She attempted to reach into her pocket and pull out her Fenton Ghost Peeler, but she was stopped when a blade shot out of Red Talon's gauntlet before he held it closer to her throat.

"Don't even try it," he warned her. "Now then, let's have a chat with your parents, shall we?"

It was at that moment that the door to Jazz's room was kicked open to allow her parents to storm into the room with their weapons drawn. The blasters were meant to be used on ghosts, but they'd still do quite bit of damage on Dipper regardless. Following behind the Fentons was a young woman dressed in a black and silver combat suit with a mouth piece covering the lower part of her face to hide her identity from those around her with her long red hair tied in a ponytail. Dipper's heart stopped upon seeing the League member before him.

It was Wendy, and she had her axe out, ready for a fight. Going by the code name 'Lumberjane' while out in the field, Wendy was among the few League members who had to wear a tactical suit and mask in order to safe guard her identity. Such was the case with other Infinity League members such as Penn and Sashi. Even Ulrich, Odd, Yumi and Aelita wore masks and had code names such as Swordsman, Geisha, Wild Kat and Angel.

Dipper's mind was in a full on panic. He couldn't bring himself to harm the woman he loved, nor could he leave here without the Ecto-Bullet. There was also no doubt in his mind that Goliath had already torn himself free of the net and was on his way here. Quickly gathering himself, Mason switched on his villainous facade once more.

"I'm going to make this simple, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton," he began. "The bullet, or your daughter's head. You have ten seconds."

"Or about this instead, asshole," Wendy interjected. "Give up, and I won't break every bone in your body."

"Now it's five seconds," Red Talon said as he inched the blade closer to the teen's neck. "Four...three...two..."

"Wait!" Jack Fenton cried out. "You can have it, just please don't hurt our daughter!"

"You can't give him the bullet!" Wendy denied. "Who knows what he'll do with it"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the fake villain said before holding out his hand. "The bullet, please."

Jack begrudgingly rummaged around in his jumpsuit for several moments before taking it out and tossing the experimental weapon to the villain, who then pushed Jazz into the trio before him. Dipper said nothing. No petty threats, no mocks over the heroes, nothing. He had enough of this and just wanted to be done with it all. So, wordlessly, he raced out of the hole he made and jumped into the air, allowing his glider to catch him once again and allow him to fly off into the nights sky.


It wasn't before long that McGucket teleported Mason back to his secret lair where Stan was waiting for him with a cross look on his face. However, it wasn't just Stan and Fiddleford who were there waiting for him, but Mabel as well. Dipper stood there, shocked by the sight of his twin sibling in his secret lair and dressed as the very villain their team had tried to stop.

"I couldn't do it anymore, kid," Stan began. "She needed to know."

"Mabel, I can-" he tried to say.

"Take off that mask," she commanded. "I want you to look me in the eyes as you rip my heart out!"

Slowly, Mason removed the helmet from his person, revealing his face to his twin sister, who immediately began to let tears of anger flow from her eyes. The look on Mabel's face destroyed him on every level as she then stormed up to her brother and slapped him across the face. The hit hurt not only because of the Chemical V that flowed through her veins, but also in the betrayal he had put upon her.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she shouted in his face. "The League allowed us to join them and you just go and stab them in the back?!"

"I had to do this, Mabel!" her brother shot back. "The League wouldn't understand if I tried to tell them!"

"Tell them what? That you're stealing stuff from them so that can kill them?!" Mabel snapped back.

"I was trying to keep them safe!" Mason exclaimed.

Mabel and Stan's eyes widen by that sudden testament. Before they could say anything else, Dipper continued.

"There's too many villains out there who want to exploit the League's weakness," he began. "You saw how easily I took out everyone, and I wasn't even trying to kill them! If I can do it, imagine if someone like Cobra Commander, or Black Hat, or even Megatron learned about all these things that could take out the League? I tried to tell them what might happen, but they wouldn't listen to me. So, I took it upon myself to bring everything that might harm the team to one secret location in order to keep them out of any villains' reach."

Mabel's look soften slightly, but her eyes still held a look of betrayal in them.

"You didn't even tell me..." she said tearfully. "I'm your sister, and you kept this from me..."

"I know, and I'm so sorry," he apologized deeply. "But I was afraid that if anyone outside of Stan and McGucket knew, then they League might catch on and I'd be stopped."

"So, not even the others know?" Mabel surmised. "You didn't even tell Soos, or Grunkle Ford, or even Wendy?"

"I did it to protect them," her sibling explained. "If they had known that I was the Red Talon, then they would've been arrested along with me for knowing who I was if I was caught. And you and I both know that even if I did tell them, they wouldn't rat me out."

Mabel was silent for several moments, trying to mentally process everything. It was then that Stan approached the twins in an attempt to speak up.

"Mabel, I'm sure that your brother-" he attempted to say.

"Don't even try to defend him!" she sneered. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just as guilty as he is!"

She then looked over to McGucket.

"And so are you!" she informed him.

"Hey, I just built the gizmos, I didn't tell your brother to go be a fake supervillain!" the inventor defended.

Mabel glared at him for several moments before looking back at her brother.

"This stops, Dipper. All of it," she said firmly. "I won't tell anyone this time. But so help me god if you put on that mask again, then I will go straight to Wendy and the others and tell them everything, and that's before I tell the rest of the League what you've done. And after they beat the piss out of you and lock you up, I will no longer see you as my brother. Do you understand me?"

"Mabel-"

"Do you understand me?" she repeated sharply.

"...yes" Mason compiled softly.

"Good," Mabel replied.

"Look, since you're here, there's something else I wanted to show you," her brother mentioned. "Something I wanted to surprise you with once it was ready."

"Oh good, more secrets," Mabel said sarcastically. "Not like they haven't destroyed this family before."

"I liked it better when you're happy, kid" Stan commented.

"I am pretty freaking far from happy right now, Grunkle Stan," his grand-niece answered before looking back at her brother. "Okay, Dipper, what is it?"

Mason lead his sister over to a small desk that had several blueprints on it. He took one off of the desk and handed it to his sister to look over. As Mabel gazed upon her brother's next project, she couldn't help but be impressed.

"I only have enough material to build one for now, but I swear I'm going to have one built for you too," he told her. "Think of it as a way of me saying 'I'm sorry.'"

"Well...it's a start," his sibling admitted. "But this time at least give the League a heads up before showing it off."

"I'll be sure to do so," Mason replied. "So, we good?"

"No, we're not," his twin denied. "Look just...give me time to process this, okay?"

Dipper nodded in understanding as Mabel, Stan and McGucket all exited the room. Mason then took out the Ecto-Bullet and looked it over. He had caused so much pain to those he loved over this and other items, but it needed to be done. While he had told Mabel half the truth that he was indeed keeping these things out of the villains' hands, he still wasn't being honest with her or even Stan and McGucket for that matter. The true reason he was stealing these items was that should ever one of the members of the League go rogue or be taken over by mind control, then he would use these weapons to take them down. He had every reason to do so. Danny once told them that he had become evil in a possible future and Jenny had been taken over multiple times by several villains, as had several other members of the Infinity League.

Even before his teammates had started pursing him, he had been stealing objects and weapons to combat each and every one of them, and while he no longer needed to be the Red Talon anyway since he stole his most vital tool to fight the League, there was still data he still needed to collect on a few of them in order to build proper counter-measures to use on them should they step out of line, which he could collect as his regular old self.

In the end, his secrets would either save the world one day, or have him be condemned for his actions against those who were his friends as the villain he pretended to be.