It was the good old 4th of July in Gravity Falls, and this year marked the first time that the Pines Cousins would celebrate it at the Mystery Shack. It was the beginning of the morning, and Pines Cousins, Soos, and Wendy had just finished setting up all the decorations. But they were also excited because Gravity Falls was going to be having its own 4th of July fireworks show.

"Man, I can't believe that we're going to be having a firework show this year," Soos said with a big smile. "It's gonna be off the chain!"

"I know right!" Patrick exclaimed with a smile. "Which reminds me, check out what I found in the closet!" He ran inside while everyone glanced at one another in confusion. However, a few seconds later, Patrick came back outside with a large cardboard box. Walking out onto the ground in front of the Mystery Shack and setting it on the ground, the teenager opened the box to show everyone what was inside. "Bam!"

To the amazement of everyone, the box was filled to the brim with fireworks. It had everything from Roman candles to sparklers and firecrackers. But the crown jewel of it all was the missiles and rockets.

"Whooooa." The others said in amazement.

"You guys realize what this means right?" Mabel asked, and her brother instantly knew.

Dipper grinned from ear to ear. "You mean…"

"Firework party!" The two kids cheered together, with the others joining in the fun.

Patrick reached into the box and pulled out a plastic bag of snappers. "I wonder if these things are still good," he said, prepared to open the bag when Grunkle Stan's car drove up to the Mystery Shack.

Stan got out of his car and was about to see what all of his workers were doing when he spotted the box of fireworks and Patrick trying to open the bag of snappers. This made his face turn to a look of horror as he called out to his nephew. "No, wait! Don't open that bag!"

Startled, Patrick turned his head towards his great uncle, only for him to accidentally tear open the bag and all of the snappers went flying out.

Time slowed down as a few of those snappers fell down towards the open box of pyrotechnics. Patrick yelled as he grabbed Dipper and Mabel before making a break for it with Wendy and Soos. The three of them ran away from the box before the snappers landed inside with the rest of the fireworks.

When nothing happened, Patrick, Wendy, and Soos stopped and turned back around. Seeing the box still there with nothing else happening. Patrick set the twins back down on the ground as they stared at the box.

"Boo! No explosion!" Mabel jeered, crossing her arms and feeling disappointed. "That sucked!"

But then one of the snappers went off with an audible cracking sound. Setting off all the fireworks in the box in one big explosion that knocked everyone off their feet and onto their backs. They all watched as the rockets, missiles, and aerial repeaters shot into the air, exploding everywhere in bright, colorful displays. Oddly, but fortunately, they didn't catch any of the trees on fire.

The kids and Soos watched the fireworks where they sat on the ground. Stan stood up and looked to see the grand finale explode with the words "HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!" with patriotic music playing from inside his car.

When the radio was turned off, and the fireworks were finished, Patrick and the others turned their heads to see Stan. He was the one that turned off the music in his car and was now glaring at Patrick clearly enraged by what he had seen.

Realizing that he really messed up, Patrick's face grew worried as he laughed nervously. "Hey...Stan…"

{Play Stranger Things theme by Kyle Dixon Michael Stein}

The intro begins by fading in a scene of the road sign that said: "Welcome to Gravity Falls, Oregon."

We then see a view of the town of Gravity Falls, with the strangely shaped canyons in the background and the sun going down between the two land formations. As the sun was setting, the day turned to a blue night. However, a sinister red light comes from over the horizon. Shining between the canyon.

The next scene is of a large dinosaur footprint in the ground. It then changed to show the forest trees at night and a pair of glowing eyes staring at the viewer, before the camera switched to a wider shot and showed many more eyes staring at the viewer. The next scene was a far back show of two men dumping a body into the lake, and as that body sank down, it was swallowed by a massive creature.

PATRICK

The teenage Pines is shown in a freeze shot of him walking in the woods with a lantern and his crowbar in hand. Behind him, Bill's eye in the sky looked down at him.

DIPPER

The male twin is looking down at the journal with a flashlight. Not noticing that a Pteranodon was staring down at him, ready to eat him.

MABEL

The female twin is the final one to be seen, and it showed her wearing a sweater that lit up because it was plugged into an outlet. But in another, farther away shot shows Gideon's hand controlling her like she was a marionette.

The finale of the intro shows the Mystery Shack as the sun goes down behind it and the trees of the forest. When the sun went down and the night came, and just like the beginning, the red light appeared, but then a blue light shined from inside the Mystery Shack.

Then the screen went black, and the title of the story appeared in a flash of light.

WEIRDER THINGS

It then disappeared, before the chapter title appeared.

Chapter: Twenty-Six

Firework Run

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Stan yelled at Patrick inside the Mystery Shack. After dragging him and the others inside the house, Stan started going off on Patrick in the living room, with the young man sitting on the love chair as the others watched from the side.

"I swear it was an accident, Stan!" Patrick said with a guilty expression.

"Why would we set off all those fireworks before the biggest event of the year! Do you have any idea how much money we were going to get with those!?" Stan yelled, still mad at Patrick for what happened.

"Wait, what?" Dipper asked, confused as the others.

"Whatcha talkin bout?" Mabel asked.

Stan sighed exasperatedly before he started explaining himself. "The Northwest planned for there to be a fireworks show, but it turned out their usual guy that got their fireworks went out of business," he told everyone in the Shack before smirking. Looking proud of himself. "So, as the good citizen I am, I decided to step in. I knew that I had plenty of illegal fireworks that I would gladly donate to them. For a price."

"Oh my God," Patrick said exasperatedly.

"They were going to pay us 40 thousand dollars for those fireworks! All of them top of the line! And you just blew them all up!" Stan yelled at his nephew.

Everyone gasped in shock at this. Realizing just how much he'd messed up, Patrick stood up to apologize. "Stan, I'm so sorry. I'll make it up to you. I'll fix this!"

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, dude, but how?" Wendy asked, walking over to place a hand on his shoulder. "It's the 4th of July!"

"There's gotta be someone in town that's selling them," Dipper said.

"Wendy's right, squirt. It's not us buying from anyone in town," Stan said. He sighed in frustration as an unpleasant thought entered his head. "I didn't want it to have to come to this, but you're coming with me on a little road trip."

"Yeah! Road trip." Mabel cheered.

"No, just him."

"Oh boo."

"Where are we going?" Patrick asked.

"Out of town down south. I know a guy who's got the hook up on cheap fireworks," Stan said. Pushing Patrick and Wendy aside, he removed the decorative painting from the wall. The same painting that had had the duffle bag with money behind it. He pulled it out and unzipped the bag.

"And you're sure that his fireworks are good?" Patrick asked as Stan pulled out some money.

"Trust me. His stuff is quality," Stan said after counting enough money to pay for the fireworks. After putting the money back in the hiding place, Stan then turned towards Patrick with a stern scowl. "So, you really wanna make it up to me, you're coming with me to get the fireworks before the show starts at sundown."

With that, Stan walked out of the room. Leaving Patrick with the others. He sighed and sat back down on the love chair. Face in his hands. "Ah, man. I messed up really bad."

"Don't worry about it. It's just going to be one stop and then you'll be back," Wendy said, rubbing his arm to comfort him. "You guys get the fireworks and all this blows over."

Patrick looked up at his girlfriend with a hopeful look in his eyes. "You really think so?"

"Yeah, dawg!" Soos said with a grin. "What's the worst that could happen?" The Pines cousins and Wendy sighed in exasperation at what he had just said, much to Soos's confusion. "What?"

Stan and Patrick got into the car and set off on the road. Going out of town and heading down south for a few miles. As they neared their destination, Patrick noticed that they were entering a vast desert. There was nothing but miles and miles of sand and rocks.

That was until he saw a large building coming up. As they neared it, Stan started slowing down, and Patrick could see a sign reading "SOUTH OF THE LINE". It also featured a mascot of a chili pepper dressed like a cowboy eating a chile rellenos.

Stan made a turn into the South of the Line building with Patrick's eyes getting wider. "Dude, no way! Is this where they make South of the Line chile rellenos? The really spicy ones right?" He asked, having only heard about the chile rellenos.

"Yeah, my boy Hector runs this place," Stan said, as he drove the car past several other vehicles parked at the building.

"So the guy you know sells fireworks here?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah, but it's just a little business he's got goin' on inside. So keep it under DL," Stan said, parking the car. Grabbing the money in the envelope and slipping it in his suit's pocket, he turned to Patrick with an anxious look in his eyes. "Alright, you just stay put and don't go anywhere! I'll be right back."

"What?" Patrick asked, surprised. "But I thought I was going to be helping you with the fireworks?"

"Not for this part. Just do as I say and stay here," Stan told him sternly, before getting out and leaving the car.

Taking a deep breath, Stan started walking up to the door to the warehouse. He was really nervous. Why did he have to bring his nephew to this place? It was a dumb decision in the first place, but in the moment he was angry. Now he was here and was tense. But if Stan could get this over with as quickly as possible, he'll get Patrick and himself as far away as he could.

Stepping up to the door, Stan hesitantly knocked on the door and whistled. The peephole slid open and the man on the other side looked through it.

"Are you lookin' for somethin', friend?" He asked in a gruff, Spanish accent.

"Um, I'm here to see Hector," Stan said nervously. The man glared at him and then closed the peephole. The metal door opened and then Stan was grabbed by him. "Oh shit."

"Stan!" Patrick yelled, seeing his Grunkle getting pulled into the warehouse. He opened the door and stepped out of the car. "Stan, what's-" Suddenly two other men came up behind the teenager and grabbed him by the arms. They lifted him up and carried him to the warehouse. "Let go of me!"

Patrick was brought into the warehouse, where two men were standing on both sides of an even more anxious Stanford. "Stan, what the hell's goin' on?" He asked his uncle.

"Just keep your mouth shut!" Stan said through his teeth as Patrick was set on his feet.

Just then, a garage door opened behind them. Lifting up to reveal three men. Two of them were big and muscular, while the other looked like their boss. The man had a brown jacket with a white T-shirt under it, black pants, a belt, a black beard, and sporting several tattoos all over his arms and chest. He also had a gash across his right eyebrow.

The man and his employees walked up to Stan and Patrick, with his gaze fixed on the elderly conman.

"Hey, Hector," Stan said nervously.

With an enraged glare and his teeth gritting, Hector cracked his neck from side to side. He then turned back to Stan and started laughing. "Stanford!" Hector exclaimed happily, before pulling Stan into a bone-crushing hug. "It's good to see you, mi Hermano! Why don't you ever come to visit me, huh?"

"I…" Stan was about to start talking when Hector noticed his nephew.

"Who's your friend?" He asked, pointing at Patrick.

"Oh ah...this is my nephew," Stan said, still nervous as he placed a hand on Patrick's shoulder.

"Oh. First, you bring your niece and then your nephew, huh?" Hector asked with an almost sly smile.

"Wait, what?" Patrick asked before Stan quickly covered his mouth.

"Well, welcome...Stan's nephew," Hector said before laughing again. One of his employees brought over a wooden chair, and the tattooed man sat down on it as he talked to Stan. "So, tell me. To what do I owe this pleasure? Ah, let me guess! You're here for some of the world's spiciest chile rellenos!"

"Oh, thanks, Hector. But, we were actually wondering if we could get some…" With a scared and nervous expression, Stan gulped. Praying to God that he wouldn't be angry. "...fireworks."

At that moment, Hector's smile turned upside down. "Some...what?" He asked, believing that he misheard Stan.

"Um...just some fireworks." Stan nervously repeated.

Hector stood up and turned to talk to his employees. "I don't think I heard him correctly. Did you hear what he just said?" he asked.

"He said fireworks," said the one with the flannel shirt.

"Oh, fireworks," Hector said, seeming all calm. But then he screamed in anger as he grabbed and threw the chair at the wall. He then turned to Stan and got in his face as he started yelling at him. "YOU COME HERE ASKIN' ME FOR FIREWORKS?! ON THE FOURTH OF JULY?!"

"Look, we screwed up and blew all of our fireworks by accident," Stan said, scared of Hector. One of the only few people in the world that Stan never tried to cross, as he knew what he was capable of.

"So you think you can just come to your uncle Hector and he'll bail you out huh?!" Hector said angrily, before calming down and backing off. "I understand. People make mistakes, and I'm a reasonable man. Enrique!"

With the snap of his fingers, a forklift came driving out of the warehouse with a crate. The driver placed the crate in front of Stan and Patrick, as one of Hector's men gave him a crowbar. With the tool, Hector opened the top of the crate, revealing a lot of fireworks inside

"Does this please you?" He asked, holding out his arms.

"Oh yeah," Patrick said with a smile.

"That's perfect. Thank you, Hector," Stan said with a tone of relief in his voice.

"Then hand it over." Hector rubbed his figures together, asking for the money. Stan handed him an envelope and the man opened it. He looked in it, but then asked, "Where is the rest?"

"What do you mean? It's all there," Stan said in confusion.

"But these are last-minute fireworks, it's gonna cost you double!"

"What?" Patrick exclaimed.

"But that is all we have!" Stan told Hector.

"It's one box minimum. You can't afford it, then get out of my place of business!" Hector informed the two.

"How 'bout you just give us that one big one over there," Patrick said, pointing to something behind Hector.

Hector looked to see he was pointing at a large firework missile that was displayed in a glass case. It was black and red, with flaming words El Diablo written on it.

Hector turned back to Patrick and laughed. "You want to buy El Diablo? Let me tell you a little story about El Diablo. It has been prophesized that if it is ever lit, it will kill me. So no it is not for sale!"

Stan pushed the people behind him back and jumped onto Hector's leg. "C'mon, Hector, please, you gotta hook us up with the fireworks! We'll do anything!" Stan begged.

Hector let out an angry yell, trying to shake the elder Pines off his leg. He succeeded by kicking Stan in the face. "Get off of me you filthy dog!" He yelled, before calming down and readjusting his jacket. "Alright! You want the fireworks so bad! Here!" Hector took out a package from his pocket and tossed it to Stan. "You're going to be doing one last job for me, Stan. If you deliver this package with no questions asked, I will give you that box of fireworks!"

"Oh, thank you, Hector! Thank you!" Stan cried, hugging the package to his chest.

When Hector allowed them to go, Stan quickly ushered Patrick back outside in the hot sun and towards his car. Once they got into the car, Patrick instantly turned to his great uncle.

"Okay, Stan, what the hell was that?! How do you even know that guy?" Patrick demanded to know, glaring at Stan as he started the car and started driving out of the parking lot.

Stan sighed and started explaining himself to his nephew. "Alright, look. I...used to work for him. But it was only for a short amount of time. When I first opened the Mystery Shack, I needed more money, so I got in touch with some guys I knew and began working for Hector. Even though he made his chile rellenos, he ran his business like a drug cartel. But he didn't deal in drugs and it was good money.

"So, why did you leave?" Patrick asked as they drove down the road.

Stan paused for a moment. "You wanna know why your mom never trusted me?"

"Because you killed a llama?" Patrick asked with a deadpan expression.

"It was because of a job that Hector gave me," Stan insisted as he frowned. "He wanted me to steal a bunch of fireworks from a carnival, but things went wrong and it ended up getting me and your mom in jail before Veronica was able to bail us out. It was a mistake to bring her along. I ended up putting her in more danger by working for Hector, so I quit. Even though she still hasn't forgiven me for it."

Patrick's frown turned into a look of sympathy. Sure, Stan could be a shady guy, but he was still capable of making mistakes. When he found out that he and his mother killed a llama, Patrick thought that was what Nora was holding a grudge against Stan for. But now he knows that what happened on that job was enough for Stan to leave. Then again his uncle has proven himself to be a family man, and he held his family over everything. Even money, sometimes.

"I'm sorry for getting us in this situation, Stan," Patrick said with a look of guilt. Stan smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Ah, don't worry about it, kid. I'm sorry that I got you involved with Hector and his goons," he said as he drove the car to another part of the desert. It was a small building with a few men outside sitting at a table. Stan parked the car and grabbed the package. "We'll get this done, get the fireworks, and get back to Gravity Falls."

The two get out of the car, gaining the attention of the men outside. One of the men with an eyepatch stood up with a shotgun. "Can I help you?" He inquired, pumping the gun.

"We're here to deliver a package for Armando," Stan said to the man. The gang member nodded and walked back to the table. With their way clear, Patrick and Stan walked up to the door and knocked on it.

"What's the matter with you?! I got a quota here! You're costing me money!" Yelled a man from inside, before the door slammed open. Revealing a hairy man wearing a brown bathrobe holding a half-eaten chile relleno "What?!" He yelled with steam coming out of his mouth.

"Armando," Stan asked.

"Yeah!"

"Package delivery from Hector."

"Oh!" Armando took the package from Stan. "Well, come on in!" The man stepped aside to let the two Pines males into the rundown room. "Just wait here for a minute. I got something for you to deliver to Hector."

Armando closed the door behind him and started walking towards the back door.

"Uh... we kinda have to get going," Patrick said

"Yeah, have a seat!" Armando told him and Stan. Giving each other a glance, Patrick and Stan sat down on the couch. "Yeah, have a seat." He then opened the door and closed it behind him, before yelling at someone. "Keep going! What's the matter with you?! You're so lazy?!"

A dog walked up to Patrick and Stan with a chile relleno in his mouth sat in front of Stan. The dog glared at him and growled, making the conman laugh nervously. "Nice doggy!"

Getting impatient, Patrick got up and walked towards the back door. "Forget this, I'm going to find this dude," he said.

"Patrick, wait! Don't!" Stan exclaimed, going after Patrick, who opened the door.

"Whoa!" Patrick said in shock. When Stan saw what was behind the door, he too was shocked.

There was an entire working factory with workers on an assembly line making the 'South of the Line' chile rellenos. With the minutes having gone without a death at 45. Among the chaos of workers, Patrick spotted Armando at the end of one of the assembly lines. The hairy man ripped the paper on the side of the package, revealing the words gunpowder on the box inside it. One of the works held a chile relleno as Armando poured gunpowder into it. He then closed it up and put it within the South of the Line chile rellenos.

"Oh my God," Stan gasped, now understanding why Hector wanted him to steal the fireworks from the carnival.

"They're putting gunpowder in the South of the Line chile rellenos!" Patrick exclaimed.

"I told you to wait!" Armando yelled, pointing at the two. He then whistled, before his employees bagged Patrick and Stan's by their heads.

"Stan, what's goin' on?!" Patrick asked, unable to see anything with the bag over his head and his hand tied behind his back. Both he and Stan were stuffed into the back trunk of a car. When the car came to a stop, the employee with the eyepatch got out and opened the trunk. Pulling them out, he handed them off to two other men, who then started dragging them into Hector's warehouse. Patrick and Stan's heads were unbagged after they were chained to a bench. In front of them sat Hector and his two goons.

"Tisk, Tisk, Tisk! Looks like somebody stuffed their noses somewhere they don't belong!" Hector said with a smile.

"Hector, we can explain!" Stan said, trying to reason with the man.

"No! Let me explain something to you, amigo," Hector cut him off. "The FDA allows 0% gunpowder in each chile relleno. Do you know how much gunpowder is in each South of the Line chile relleno? 500%!"

Patrick and Stan gasped in total shock. "But that's just like eating nothing but gunpowder!" the teenager exclaimed.

"We're not gonna tell the FDA, Hector!" Stan pleaded with the tattooed him while sweating nervously.

"I know you're not gonna tell the FDA," said Hector, as he took out a bunch of chile rellenos that were taped together with their stems tied into one. "'Cuz we're gonna blow you into a million little Stan pieces!" He laughed maniacally.

"Hector, you don't have to do this!" Patrick pleaded.

"Oh don't worry! It's no trouble really!" Hector laughed again as he set the chile rellenos in front of the Pines. He then lit up the chile rellenos's stem with a gun lighter. The stem lit on fire like a dynamite fuse. "Happy Fourth of July!"

Hector laughed as he and his employees walked back into the other room where they watched the two Pines through a window. Hector watched with amusement as Patrick and Stan struggled to break free of the chains, but it was no use.

"Oh no, what are we gonna do?!" Stan yelled, still trying to get out of his chains.

Patrick looked at the chile rellenos that were about to go off and then he looked at the window. Hector was still watching through the window while eating a chile relleno and chuckling evilly. Getting an idea that might just save their lives, Patrick turned to his uncle.

"I got an idea. Follow my lead! Stand up!" Together, Patrick and Stan up with the bench, with the old conman groaning from the weight being put on his back. "Now turn around!"

Together, the two turned around to have the bench facing the chile rellenos and walked away from it. Hoping it would be enough to shield them from the blast. When Hector saw what they were doing, he was enraged. "Let's stop them!" He yelled at his employees. They ran to the door, where one of his employees is trying to find the right key to the door. Much to their bosses ire. "C'mon! C'mon!

Patrick and Stan continued moving as fast as they could away from the chile rellenos, when they suddenly exploded. The blast shatters the bench into pieces, unchaining the two in the process.

"I'll grab the fireworks!" Patrick exclaimed.

"Give me the keys!" Hector snatched the keys from his employee and tried to open the door. But he struggled to unlock the door. "AAAHH!"

Breaking the glass case with his crowbar, Patrick grabbed El Diablo from and ran out of the door.

"Let's go! Let's go!" Stan exclaimed near the door, stuffing his pockets with the chile rellenos. But when Patrick made it outside with El Diablo, Hector finally unlocked the door.

"Get them!" He yelled, chasing after Stan with his employees. Seeing his old boss coming, Stan picked up one more chile relleno and ran out of the warehouse. He slammed the door shut and locked the door. Using a broom to jam the handles. Seeing the window to his left, Stan took out the chile relleno before throwing it through the glass.

Inside the warehouse, Hector tried to get the doors open when the window broke and the chile relleno landed on the other chile rellenos.

In that instant, all Hector could do was express a look of horror.

The South of the Line warehouse exploded as Stanmobile drove away. As they drove back to Gravity Falls, they saw the sun beginning to set over the horizon.

"We're not gonna make it!" Patrick exclaimed. But Stan wasn't giving up, and put the pedal to the metal. Stepping on the accelerator and the car speeded away through the desert.

Back at Gravity Falls, just like for pioneer day, the town was waiting for the fireworks in front of the statue of Nathaniel Northwest. In front of the statue was a large wooden stage that the Northwest family was on.

"Hey! What's going on? Why aren't they starting yet?" One spectator yelled.

"Yeah! It's sundown!" another yelled, starting a protest from the crowd that wanted to see the fireworks. Things were looking bad for Preston. He needed this to go smoothly, especially if it was going to get everyone's attention away from one of his company's controversies. Apparently, there was a used condom found in one of the company's products and it was turning into a PR nightmare. This show was a publicity stunt to distract everyone.

Preston quickly walked up to the podium with the microphone. "I'm going to ask you to please remain patient. The fireworks show will commence shortly," he told the town, before quickly running off the stage to the Mystery Shack gang, who were still waiting for Patrick and Stan to come back and were getting worried. "Where is your uncle?!"

"We don't know. We haven't been able to call them all day and I'm starting to get worried," Dipper said, glancing at the others with concern.

"Who cares about them! I need those fireworks for this show," Preston said, having no cares about the safety of the family he was using.

"Hey, Patrick and Mr. Pines will be here," Wendy said, glaring at the Northwest. At that moment, they heard the sound of tires shrieking. They turned their heads to see the Stanmobile racing down the street towards them with its roof on fire. The car pulled up to them and Stan and Patrick jumped out.

Stan placed El Diablo on the ground as the others ran over to them. "Babe? What happened?" Wendy asked her boyfriend.

"Where have you been?! I told you to get here before the show!" Preston demanded to know.

"Sorry it took so long," Patrick said to the rich man.

"We're good to go! Rack 'em and stack 'em!" Stan exclaimed.

Preston's butler brought out the lighter gun to light El Diablo. But before he could light the firework, the Northwest snatched it from him. "Wait! Where's the rest of the fireworks?"

"That's all we could get," Stan told him.

"What?! You only got one firework?! You said you had plenty!" Preston yelled.

"That's not just any firework," Patrick said, pointing to El Diablo.

"This wasn't the deal! You were supposed to bring all your fireworks! That's it, I'm calling it off," Preston said, about to walk back to the microphone about to call off the show. But when he turned around, he found a gun's barrel pointed at his face.

Somehow, Hector had survived and arrived in Gravity Falls. But he was horrifically burnt on the left side of his body. Wielding a golden AK-47, he aimed it at Preston's face. "Ah-Ah-Ahhh...! Drop it, Preston."

Preston was shocked to see his supplier of South of the Line chile rellenos there with a gun aimed at him. "Hector? W-What are you-" Preston was suddenly hit in the face by the butt of the AK, knocking him to the ground with a bloody nose.

"Dad!" Pacifica and her mother ran over to her father and kneeled around him. As Preston held his nose, the blonde girl turned and glared at the man. "What's your problem? Why did you hit my dad?"

"Because niñita, the guys your father hired just destroyed my business. That's why I'm gonna kill each and every one of you!" Hector said with a big, sadistic grin that made Pacifica and her family scared. Hector then looked up and turned to Stan. "Starting with you, Stanford."

He aimed at Stan, making his family and employees gasp in shock. Patrick looked around, trying to think of a way to save him. But then he thought of a clever idea that made him smirk.

Just as Hector was about to pull the trigger, Patrick called out to him. "Hey, Hector!" Everyone turned to see Patrick standing a few feet away from his friends and family, holding a half-eaten chile relleno. Chewing on it, he looked at it with a look of disappointment. "You call these things spicy?"

He took another bite and immediately fought back a reaction and the tears in his eyes. Why? Because it was SO DAMN HOT! But if the plan was to work, he had to make it convincing.

After swallowing the bite, he coughed and said, "These chile rellenos are the least spicy I've ever had."

Hector glared at him and lowered the gun. "WHAT!"

"No wonder they aren't world-renowned!" Patrick continued mocking Hector by making fun of his chile rellenos. "Nobody's even heard about them, Hector! And I bet those who have heard about them, don't even think they're spicy. I bet a Newt could make something spicier than this."

As his fury built, Hector started to talk slowly at first. "South of the Line Chile Rellenos… are the spiciest... most world-renowned... CHILE RELLENOS... IN THE WORLD!" He then aimed his AK at the teenager and fired.

"Patrick!" Stan, the twins, Wendy, and Soos yelled out to his nephew as everyone gasped. But at the last possible millisecond, Patrick jumped out of the way. Revealing El Diablo behind him with some South of the Line chile rellenos piled around it. When the bullets hit them, they went off and set off El Diablo.

"NO, THE PROPHECY!"

The El Diablo rocket shot up into the sky at blistering speed. Once it was high enough in the air, it exploded, and a firework version of the South of the Line mascot appeared in the sky above Gravity Falls. Everyone cheered as the mascot started to spangle and sparkle. The Mystery Shack gang, the Northwest family, and Hector looked up and stared at El Diablo in total amazement

"She's even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined," the crime boss said with a tear in his eye.

The mascot in the sky drew his revolvers and twirled them around. Throwing them to the opposite hand and then firing, shooting out fireworks. Everyone cheered as he repeatedly fired his revolvers like a gunslinger from a western film.

But then El Diablo turned toward Hector.

"Hector!"

"NOOOOO!" Hector yelled in terror, before running away as fast as he could.

But El Diablo wasn't going to let him get away that easily. As Hector retreated, the mascot dropped his revolvers, and then pulled out not one, but TWO Model 1887 shotguns. Cocking both guns with a flip of the leavers, El Diablo fired one at Hector. As Hector continued running away, the firework sent him flying up in the air, screaming.

The mascot then repeatedly fired his shotguns. One at a time, sending fireworks at Hector. The mascot then cocked both Model 1887s and shot them at once. Firing the last fireworks at Hector. The last fireworks exploded behind them and sent Hector back flying into the desert. As he fell towards the South of the Line warehouse, Hector screamed again before his body hit the South of the Line sign. Causing an explosion that killed him and destroying the warehouse as fireworks started to spangle high into the sky.

The spectators of the town didn't know what they just saw, but they cheered with delight at what they saw as the best Fourth of July fireworks show. The Pines family, Wendy, and Soos all cheered together, with Wendy hugging her boyfriend and giving him a big kiss on the cheek. Making Patrick smile and blush.

With tissues stuffed in his nose, Preston walked up to the Pines. "Alright, I will admit, somehow you managed to top last year's firework show," he said with an impressed look on his face. "I'm a man of my word, so here's your reward."

He handed Stan a yellow envelope. Stan eagerly grabbed the envelope and opened it up. Expecting to see a check for the $40k he was promised. But upon opening, to his confusion and anger, he pulled out two $20 bills. "Hey! This is just $40 bucks!"

But the Northwest family was already in their car and sped off down the round towards their home. Leaving the Pines family, Wendy, and Soos standing there to figure out they were just hoodwinked by the rich family.

"You know, Mr. Pines, some of the grass around the Mystery Shack got burnt this morning," Soos said.

Stan turned to the other and said, "Don't worry, I know a guy who's got the hook up on real cheap sod."

AN: I'm back with another chapter of Weirder Things and this time it was a chapter that I've been wanting to do for a long time! "Firework Run" from Regular Show. It's a pretty great episode, and this was mostly for fun and to replaced Mystery Shack of Horror, but it allowed me to have Stan in the main lead with Patrick, and for the two of them to bond.

I've honestly thought about having "Firework Run" in Weirder Things ever since the chapter "Rage Against the Game". I honestly think it's a great addition to the storyline, as it's not only weird, but it also provides some more moments with Stan and Patrick. Something we haven't really seen, as most of Stan's real character development is in the final half of season 2.

And we kind of see what really drove Nora away from Stan. Hector sent Stan on a job to steal fireworks from a carnival, but he took Nora with him. And of course, things went wrong and Stan still blames himself for getting her involved.

Also, if you've seen Close Enough, then you'll likely notice the little easter egg I put in the chapter. And for El Diablo, I changed his lever-action rifle to two lever-action shotguns like in Terminator 2 and from Modern Warfare 2.

Next up is going to be the chapter "Society of the Blind Eye."

Thank you very much for reading. "Weirder Things" will return. Please be sure to Favorite and Follow if you like the story and review it so that I know that I'm doing good and what to improve. If you have any questions or discussions, you'd have for me, then please in a Review or a PM me.

And please consider leaving a tip on my Ko-Fi page, I'd really appreciate the support.

Thank you for reading and in parting, I wish you all love, peace, health, God's blessing, and to have a wonderful day.