The heat was starting to get bothersome, beating down on everyone's backs. Mabel and Dipper take the moment to sit down, while Boss endlessly fiddles with his equipment.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Dipper asks, Boss finally locating his binoculars.
"We can't just go in blind, just sit tight while I take a look," he says, taking a peek, "seems like a fairly light patrol."
"I can't see, I wanna see!" Dipper gets up, pawing at the binoculars. Boss eventually hands them over.
"Hmmph, I can't see anything. Are you sure there's anyone there?" Dipper keeps looking, missing all of the soldiers.
"Look closer, take everything in. They're camouflaged, you aren't supposed to see them." Boss nudges the binos to the right direction, a look of realisation spreads on Dipper's face.
"Well if we can't see them, how do we get past them?" Mabel shakes her head.
"Follow and learn, stay close." Boss motions for them to move over. Everyone slides down the hillside and into the small ravine separating the town from the road. Mabel's bright sweater isn't the best camouflage, but she somehow manages to avoid being seen.
"Uh, Uncle Boss?" Dipper makes a restrained pointer finger towards a man over the ridge. They're staring right at them. He waves for them to get low and stay put. The tension builds on every boot step, he's definitely seen them.
"Hold on, I got this" Dipper whispers, standing to jump on to the main road.
"Dipper, no!" Boss reaches out to stop him, but it's too late.
Almost like a graceful deer-boy, Dipper grabs a hold of the curious soldier who got too close. He climbs on to his head, covers his face and steers him over the ridge. With a thud, he's put out cold. Boss gives a look of confusion, as Mabel gives a thumbs up.
"Dipper, yes!" she whispers.
Boss shrugs and grabs the victim by his shoulders, "I guess that works," he muses, taking the man out of sight. He gives him a hard thump to wake him again.
The soldier slowly comes to, panicking in Russian when he realises where he is. Boss holds him down and draws his knife, spouting some Russian of his own.
"What's he saying?" Mabel asks quietly to Dipper.
"I don't know!"
He finishes up by choking the soldier out. It seems Boss got what he wanted.
"Aww, poor guy. Did he really deserve that?" Mabel leans over him.
"Don't think about it, he's not dead but we only have so long before he's with us again. Move!" Boss gently grabs Mabel to get her over, following Dipper over the ridge and across the road, ending up behind a wall.
"You don't have to deal with everyone, not always. That one on the light isn't paying attention, again!" Boss chooses the next spot, the Twins quickly catching on.
"You two wait here, I need to get a better look. Stay put, you hear me?" the Twins nod. Suddenly, Boss somehow pulls out a cardboard sheet. He unfolds it and puts it together.
"I-it's a box?" Dipper questions. Boss raises a finger to his lips and gets inside, slowly walking away.
"That man's a genius!" Mabel says, awestruck.
"Where is he?" Dipper questions. Boss has been gone for at least ten minutes with no sign of him. The Twins are starting to get worried.
"Dipper, you heard him. Don't move!" Mabel pleads, grabbing him before he gets up. Dipper gets up anyway, fishing in his pocket. He holds up the Shrink-and-grow Light.
"... Oh." Mabel realises, and stands in front of it.
With a brilliant flash of light, the two shrink to minuscule proportions. It might take ages for them to cross an alleyway, but the plan seemed to work for now.
"My logic is, if we're simply too small they can't see us anyway. Come on, he can't be too hard to spot," Dipper is practically running to get any sort of speed, tugging Mabel along.
Eventually they come across a large cardboard box. Mabel turns her nose up.
"Yup, that's him. No one else smells quite like that in the sun."
They slip in under the crack in the box's opening. They are soon sitting on his back with plenty of room. Without warning, Dipper returns them to normal.
!
"What the-?!" Boss nearly jumps out of his skin.
"Are you done yet? You've been gone a while," Mabel asks, straightening her neck.
"Yeah, sure. Keep up with me, we need to get out of this unseen." Boss presses a button to stop the tape. Was he listening to something?
The two fix themselves and put their feet back down, 'flinstoning' to the nearest wall. Boss pushes the box off, and packs it away.
"Reminds me of old times, hehe." Boss chuckles to himself.
Dipper makes a walking hand motion, shrugging his shoulders, 'where are we going?'.
"That's the building, I'm going to go take care of the others. Call me if you find him." Boss leaves on rather short notice.
"How do we get inside? I don't see any doors!" Dipper asks, but it's too late. Boss is already off causing trouble.
The Twins stay down and wander around the back. Suddenly, Mabel gets an idea.
"Hey, Dipper!" she says, pulling her Grappling Hook from her sweater.
Dipper nods and readies himself, but stops Mabel just before she fires, "I can hear something, don't." He goes over to the window of a building behind them.
"It's just a radio, Dipper. Why are you so paranoid?"
"Because, he'd see us if we kept going."
Dipper was right, another man was sitting at the table staring out the window. It seems he couldn't hear them through the eighties tunes, but he could become a problem. They look at each other and creak the door open.
Mabel gives a grin and pats Dipper to get him to stay put. Slowly crawling over, she wrestles something out of her pocket. A pink bottle glows in the evening sunlight.
"Mabel?"
When he wasn't looking, Mabel pours a little into the can the man was drinking from. She seals the bottle and quickly scurries away, pulling Dipper out the door.
"That wasn't… was it?"
She nods with an even wider grin. Groaning sounds echo from the building next to them. The man stumbles outside, clutching his stomach. He walks right past them and around the back of the building, out of sight.
"I am so glad I never had any of that," Dipper notes, somewhat scared of his sister now.
They get back into position and fire the hook. It grabs nicely into the wall, even managing to support both of their weights.
"Heh, the window isn't even locked" Dipper mumbles, pulling himself in and tugging Mabel over the edge. The room is clear, save for another loud radio. Before Dipper could stop her, Mabel pulls the tape out of it.
"Mabel!"
"What, Uncle Boss might want it." Mabel says, stashing it into her sweater. Dipper takes a look around the room, listening carefully for footsteps. All he can hear is the occasional thump as Boss 'deals with' people outside.
"Dipper, I think we found him!" Mabel almost squeals, being particularly proud of herself. She takes the bag off of the Prisoner's head.
"Huh, what? No, this can't be happening. What did you do to me? Hel-!" The Prisoner panics, before Mabel holds his head.
"We're here to get you out, don't panic, Mister!" she rubs her hands on the wall, blood stains trailing.
"Eww, what did they do to you?" Dipper recoils, The Prisoner looks like he's seen some things.
"I saw things I was never meant to see, that's why you're here right? To finish me off?!"
"No, no no no! Not at all, we just-" Dipper tries to calm him down as Boss enters the room.
"I'm back, what did I miss?"
"Boss, is that you?"
Boss pushes the Twins aside, cutting the Prisoner down from his restraints. The Prisoner laughs to himself quietly, obviously broken from whatever the Soviets did to him.
"Is he going to be okay, Uncle Boss?" Mabel asks, trying to help him get on to Boss' shoulders.
"He should be now, how did you two get in anyway?"
"Uhh," Dipper tries to think how to explain it.
"Grappling hook!" Mabel shouts, Dipper holding her back.
"Mabel, not so loud!"
"Oh, sorry."
Boss shakes his head and gets comfortable with the man draped across his back. He's wearing a Diamond Dogs uniform, obviously one of theirs. Boss carries him downstairs, waiting for them to follow.
"Wait, there's a building I forgot to clear. Look after him," Boss lays The Prisoner down, running off somewhere.
Not knowing what to do with him, Mabel rubs his head, "it'll be alright Mister, he'll be back in a minute."
It isn't long before he returns, holding his nose, "what's with the smell out back?"
"It's a long story, we'll tell you on the way home," Dipper says, looking at Mabel suspiciously. They all begin to walk out of the village.
"I know you told me not to bring it, but if Mabel Juice has that effect on thirty people then one soldier wouldn't be a problem!" Mabel recalls, almost too proud of herself. Boss is fiddling with his iDroid, almost not listening.
A voice crackles into their earpieces, "This is Pequod, arriving at LZ!"
"That would be our ride home, right?" Dipper asks, the familiar droning sound arriving over their heads.
Boss gently throws The Prisoner in, and helps the Twins inside. Clipping on his door-belt, he looks over the area on the way out.
"So, how did soccer practice go?" Pequod jokes, changing the 'close doors' light over.
"Very funny, full speed to home." Boss remarks, shutting the door.
"It's funny, isn't that the town you found me in, Boss?" Miller questions over the radio, not remembering everyone can hear it.
"What does he mean?" Dipper asks. Mabel, feeling a story coming on, sits cross legged in front of Boss.
"We lost everything. Our home, our men, our memories. Miller won't ever let it go. We fight every day, tooth and nail, just to get revenge on Cipher," Boss clears his throat, "as Miller said, we were played like a fiddle, it was too late to stop her bomb."
"Uncle Boss, are you okay?"
Boss freezes, he's not used to almost being a parent.
"Miller lost his leg and his arm on the old Mother Base, he used to be a far happier individual. Now I can't help but feel pity."
"Boss, you didn't have to tell them that." Miller chimes in.
"Nevermind that, check on the prisoner. Is he still breathing?" Boss stands. Mabel goes over and presses on his neck, giving a thumbs up.
"Now, what did you see. Tell me," Boss props him up on a chair.
"The fog," the Prisoner coughs, "it was them, it was Cipher…"
"Yeesh, it sounds like he's talking about a certain triangle," Mabel says, narrowed eyes and wiggling fingers.