Ocelot leads them there, "you two kids have fun now."
Stan and Miller enter into a staring contest.
"Miller, sit down and shut up, you two take a seat" Boss commands.
"It was nowhere near four o'clock when we left," Ford muses, looking at the clock on the wall, his back cracking into the chair he was given. He hears Stan groans into the chair next to him.
"Right you two, get it out quick. Why are you here, what do you want with us?!" Miller shouts accusingly at the two.
"Miller!" Boss cuts him off, "explain, how did you get here?"
Ford takes his chance, "We don't even know where we are, we aren't even from the same time as you, do you really think we came to sabotage your little operation here?" Miller shoots him a death stare.
"They probably wouldn't believe you if you said we crossed through some magical barrier doo-dad," Stan cuts in, ignoring Boss and Miller, "It's like being back in our childhood!"
"Hmph, what do you mean by that?" Boss shrugs.
"Don't listen to them, they've obviously been sent here by them. Erased their memories, subconscious programming!" Miller becomes ropable, he's not having any of this.
"Sent by who, my crazy brother?" Stan jokes, trying to ease the mood.
"What do you mean by 'them', Cipher?" Ford questions, rubbing his back.
Miller twitches, "See, Boss it's them! You can't trust them, get them overboa-" Boss raises a hand to Miller yet again.
"Miller, stop and think. Look at the equipment we confiscated, the R&D team hasn't seen anything like it. Especially this," Boss holds up Stan's TV remote, a rather benign item.
"You're actually going to believe them? Boss, you can't do this!" Miller buts in yet again.
"Look at them, they don't look the type. Back off for a minute, will you?" Boss calms him down, he can't afford another incident like Huey's.
"There has to be a misunderstanding, who's the 'they' you're referring to?" Ford asks, unusually puzzled.
Miller shakes his head and goes over to grab something, a small box-like object.
"Hey, a cassette player, I st-... had one while we were kids!," Stan points, "That was after I left."
Miller pushes a button to get the reels rolling. An unfamiliar voice plays, probably from an older mission's audio log.
"Come on you two, you recognise the voice of your superior don't you?" Miller tilts his head, waiting for an answer. They both shake their heads, "nope." Miller shows them a photo.
"Come on I'm jogging your memory!" he basically shoves the photo in Stan's face.
"Nope, still doesn't ring any bells," he replies, his temper slowly degrading.
"I have never in the multiverse seen anything like that," Ford says, further clueing in that they are not from this timeline.
"Miller, you're beating a dead horse," Boss whispers in Miller's ear, "I think they're fine, keep them busy. Send their things to the R&D platform, the men there might have some things to learn."
Miller reluctantly agrees, "Go find those kids and I'll put these two to bed, they could be more dangerous than them."
Boss has one of his rare smiling moments, nodding and getting the door on the way out. Stan breathes a loud sigh of relief. Miller commands them to stand and follow.
The sun had already crossed the horizon a while ago, Miller was pacing about like a headless chicken.
"Boss, there you are. Where did those kids go, what are they doing did they touch anything?!"
"Miller, calm down. I just put them to bed, they might've slept in," Ocelot strolls in from his morning walk, "doesn't seem like you to get worked up over some little kids."
Miller pauses, he's right. He was more paranoid over Amanda than any of her compas.
"Boss, go check the R&D platform. I have a feeling they'd check the more interesting parts of the base. See if you can't bring them here. I already checked the older ones, they're really sleeping in," Miller leans in while Ocelot shakes his head and walks off.
"You two are too paranoid, learn to enjoy their presence will you?"
Boss takes one of 'acquired' jeeps to the R&D platform. It felt good to not have Miller in his ear for a while. He checks most of the hidey holes, before realising it's around breakfast time for the late ones.
The door opens to a lot of noise, and about a dozen salutes.
"Dipper look it's that guy again!" a childish voice says to his right and he turns his head to a particularly crowded table, Mabel and Dipper are the centre of attention. Boss leans to see that they're doing fine.
"Seems that you two made yourself at home, when you're done here Miller wants you at the command platform. Come see me when you're ready," he heads off to get a bit to eat with quite the commanding stride.
"Yes sir Uncle Boss!" Mabel salutes, trying to follow what everyone else did when he came in.
"Uncle?" Dipper questions.
"He seems nice enough, Dipper. the one in the hat seems really cranky though," Mabel says, cringing, "Maybe I should give him some Juice to cheer him up!" She looks back at Dipper, he just shakes his head.
The Twins finish up breakfast and go over to Boss. He seems to be in a sort of trance, so Mabel tugs on his shoulder.
"We're ready sir!" Mabel says, both saluting.
"Oh, yeah. Right," Boss takes his slice of toast with him, waving for them to follow.
Boss takes them out, both in awe of this soldier's sheer manliness. He might even exceed the Manotaurs. It's going to be rather hot, the warm wind whipping their faces already on the jeep ride over. Mabel caught Dipper trying to figure out how to drive the thing at least twice.
Boss leads them right inside, to a room with a funny smell. A two way mirror looks into a small area, complete with a large table and set of chairs.
"What's with the indoor window?" Mabel taps on the glass.
"One-way mirror, we can watch you but you can't watch us. Not easily anyway. Don't worry too much, you aren't in trouble." Boss nods to Miller, 'Don't be too harsh'.
"Hmph, I've been waiting. I'll take it from here, Boss." Miller makes them take their seats, the air is a little close. Boss goes to tend to other things.
"Do you two know who this is?" Miller asks, holding up a photo. The kids just shake their heads.
"Nope, never seen him. Seen plenty of things like him though." Mabel responds rather quickly.
"Yeah, Gnomes, Gremlobins, Unicorns, A Multibear, Manotaurs, tons of weird stuff," Dipper follows up, a little scared of Miller. The glare he's giving them is enough to turn them to stone.
"You almost sound like hardened veterans, but it wasn't war you were fighting, was it?" Miller's confused, what a strange cover story.
"An Apocalypse," Mabel deadpans.
"Hmph, I guess it might not be so far fetched. Wait a minute, you. The one in the sweater, were you handing out glasses of a pink substance in the R&D mess hall a minute earlier?" Miller looks her over, it's almost unsettling how calm she is.
"Yup, that was me. I could make you some more Mabel Juice if you want some?" Dipper gestures to Miller while Mabel isn't looking, 'Whatever you do, don't.'
"That'd explain the visits to the medical bay earlier, all 30 of them," Miller growls under his breath.
"Oops, I guess I made it too sweet," Mabel says, Dipper facepalming in the corner.
"Do you know anything about this base, where you are, what we do. Are you here to sabotage us in any way?" Miller's pressing the point.
"No, no, no aaaaand no," Dipper says, "I couldn't even get a clear answer out of your cowboy, we're lost I keep telling you!"
Miller recoils, perhaps he is being a bit harsh.
"Calm down, Dipper. He already said we weren't in trouble. Say, do you have any idea where that dog went?" Mabel gets up and stretches. It seems this whole thing went nowhere.
"Well, sorry. I'm obviously looking for something that's not there. Go on, get out of here. If you're wondering where your uncles went-"
"Gruncles," Mabel interrupts.
Miller sighs, "If you're wondering where your 'Gruncles' went, they were asleep when I last checked. Go get them breakfast or something, just be out of the way." The twins nod in unison.
"Really, nothing else?" Dipper questions.
"I would put you two to use, but what do you even… do?" Miller stops for a moment, holding the door open.
"I can scrapbook, knit, make electrical sweaters, fire a grappling hook," Mabel continues on for a while, Dipper waiting for his moment.
"I investigate conspiracies, I do pretty well academically, and obviously I work together with her. Even if some of the things she wants to do are… less than conclusive." Dipper adjusts his hat.
"Conspiracies…?" Miller thinks to himself, "Just, go for now. If we have reason to believe you could be useful somebody will come get you. Keep yourself occupied in the meantime and don't go anywhere you shouldn't."
"Yes sir Mister.. Miller sir!" They both salute, again. They quietly go back down the hallway.
Dipper and Mabel were doing their best to balance all of the things they were bringing in. The clinking of the cutlery could be heard all the way down the corridor. After an awkward juggle, they knock with their shoes.
"Gruncle Stan, Gruncle Ford, we have breakfast!" Mabel says, behind a coffee cup and toast with jam.
"Oh Mabel, come in!" Ford says.
"Could you open the door please, we can't," Dipper says and the door opens to Ford and Stan sitting in a room also without a window.
"Let me grab those off of you two," Ford says as he grabs the trays of breakfast off of the twins and gives one to Stan.
Stan takes a sip of his coffee, "did you two make our breakfast?" the twins nod, big grins spreading on their faces.
"Yup!"
"The mess hall was empty?" Ford questions, taking a bite of his toast.
"Yeah, though when we were organizing your trays, some cleaning staff came by," Dipper says.
"Yep! They cleaned up some of the milk I accidently spilled, we also told them that the trays were for you!" Mabel exclaims happily.
Stan chuckles, "I guess that might've made their day." Dipper and Mabel giggle in response.
"So, how did you go, was he rough on you two?" Dipper asks, shaking his cramped arms out.
"If he went any longer I might've socked 'em in the face," Stan remarks, clearly irked about Miller.
Ford nods, "I was getting to the end of my temper as well, being interrogated after being tortured by Bill is not one of my best moments."
"Yeah that doesn't sound too jazzy," Stan jokes and the family shares a laugh when someone knocks on the doorframe. They turn their heads to Ocelot standing outside.
"Uncle Ocelot! Hi!" Mabel yells excitedly as she skips up to him.
"Uncle...Ocelot?" Stan questions.
"Did we gain a new family member?" Ford asks.
"No, he's just really nice and he helped us settle in," Dipper replies looking at Ocelot as he crouches down to Mabel's level to talk to her.
"So we did gain a new family member?" Stan says and Dipper shrugs while nodding.
"Quick question, who is 'Bill'?" Ocelot asks, rising from the floor. Stan and Ford look at each other, Dipper and Mabel shuffle their feet.
Ocelot notices this movement, "You don't wanna tell me, huh? I won't keep prodding."
"I like this guy!" Stan says beaming, the children mirror the gesture.
"Would you guys like to come outside? The staff brought out some games, it's supposed to be hot today," Ocelot asks. The Pines family nod their heads. They follow Ocelot out onto the platform to see a bucket filled with water balloons and various other water games. Miller is glaring at everything that moves.
Mabel pokes Dipper in the side and whispers to him, "Grumpy bum."
Dipper giggles in response as said 'Grumpy bum' glares at them. He turns away when Stan gives him a glare to rival his own. Dipper and Mabel swipe a few water balloons as they pass the bucket.
Dipper and Mabel grin at one another, wheel around to face their Gruncles and prepare the catapults, "MYSTERY TWINS, ATTACK!" Stan and Ford only had a millisecond of warning before water balloons explode on their chests. They laugh as they grab some balloons and chuck them at the kids, the platform being filled with the sound of laughter.
"What was the date anyway?" Stan asks, between getting hit.
"You're just in time for the August Staff Birthday, something to lighten the mood a little. Go and enjoy yourself now." Ocelot smiles and shakes his head, going to attend to something else. It dawns on Stan what the date is.