After they land at Mother base, Boss took his rescued collegue over to the Medical platform as the Twins made their way to the command tower to meet the Gruncles. The door swings open and the Gruncles go down the stairs to meet the twins.
The Gruncles scoop the twins up their arms, "nice job out there kids, you made your Gruncles proud!" Stan says, hugging Mabel as she giggles.
"Thanks Gruncle Stan!" She says as he puts her down.
Dipper sees Ocelot walking down, "hey Mister Ocelot! Did we do OK?"
Ocelot chuckles as he presses Dipper's hat down, "you'll have to ask Miller when he comes down."
Dipper pouts a bit before Mabel tackles him, "don't worry about it brobro, we did a really good job! You kept your sanity intact for three days while you looked for me!"
Her pick-me-up worked and Dipper grins back at her, "thanks Mabel."
"No prob bob!"
A sentimental Miller limps down the stairs slowly and up to them, "you two," he points to the Twins, "meet me in my office when you're ready. Don't panic it's nothing bad."
He turns to the Gruncles, "we'll test you two tomorrow, Boss won't be there to help you but rest assured, it'll be nothing too dangerous."
They nod as Boss walks up to them, the twins bounding up to him, "Uncle Boss! Uncle Boss! How'd we do?!"
He pauses in his tracks as the children hop up to him, he's having trouble at understanding how they can stay so optimistic despite what they've been through. He looks at their grinning faces.
"You did a fantastic job, I didn't even need to get you out of trouble," he gives a thumbs up.
They squeal in delight and he winces, that squeal had to be at a frequency only dogs could hear. The Twins excitedly run back to the Gruncles as DeeDee pads up to Boss. The Pines family head on over to the command platform's mess hall to have dinner with the men.
The Twins are making their way to Miller's office, the Gruncles already went to their room to retire for the night. Dipper knocks on the door, a 'come in' floats through and the Twins enter the office. Two embroidered Diamond Dog emblems sit on the desk.
Miller nods his head towards them, "you performed exceptionally well considering everything, these are your emblems. We unfortunately don't have uniforms in your size."
Dipper picks one up, "you mean we're one of you?"
Miller nods, a smile picking at the corners of his mouth, "for the time being, yes, this means you may be wanted on the field occasionally, within reason of course."
Mabel jumps in place before steeling herself and saluting, "yes sir!"
Dipper follows suit and they exit the office as Miller grins.
The twins make their way to the RnD platform where the textile room is. The Tailor looks up and smiles at them as she gets up. Mabel picks her way through the fabrics as Dipper waits by the door.
Mabel holds up a bolt of blue fabric, "Dipper, is this close to the shade of your hat?"
He snaps to attention, taking off his hat and looking at the fabric, "yep, make it a shade darker, along with your star."
She nods and picks up the next shade. She walks to the lady and asks for the uniform pattern and to borrow a sewing machine. The tailor gives her the items and she walks up to Dipper.
Dipper takes the sewing machine from her to lighten the load, "lets go Mabel."
They walk to a table on the platform and set up shop in the fresh air while they still can. A few of the RnD men notice them. Mabel gets to work flattening the fabrics, marking them so she can cut the pieces out and start sewing. Dipper comes back to watch her sew, calming his nerves. She starts to work on Dipper's uniform first as the men come up to investigate, watching in amazement as this child starts making a professionally well done uniform.
Mabel finishes with Dipper's and starts to work on hers, the men whispering to eachother about her skill. She finishes hers and folds it up, placing it on top of Dipper's.
She stretches and yawns, looking at the time, "whoa Dipper, we should go to sleep. We can wear these tomorrow!"
Dipper nods as some of the men take the spare fabric and sewing machine back to the tailor's for them.
One of the men approaches them, "Y'know, I can take you back the command platform."
The twins grin as they follow him to one of the jeeps and they climb in. He checks to make sure they're secured and drives off, reaching the command platform in good time. The Twins get off and with their new uniforms, head up to their room to sleep. When they enter their room they see a few items on their beds and a note.
Dipper picks it up, reading from it, "They're a little basic but these early iDroids should serve you well while you're here. Mabel, I know you're in to keeping mementos so I grabbed this from Miller's cabinet. He wasn't using it anyway.
Stay safe you two, ~Ocelot"
Mabel picks up the small walkie-talkie-like object, "cool."
Both set their new items aside with their current items and tuck themselves in.
"Goodnight Mabel."
"Goodnight Dipper."
Another day awaits them in the morning...
Early the next morning Dipper groans awake, feeling the car crash in his bones from two days ago. A uniform is thrown on his face.
"C'mon Dipper! Put it on!" Mabel says as Dipper gets up, pulling the uniform down.
Mabel's already wearing hers, her other clothes in a pile by the door. Mabel turns around as Dipper strips down and pulls on his Diamond Dog uniform. It fits snugly. The Diamond Dog patch is on their left shoulder, the pine tree and shooting star on the opposite shoulder on their respective person.
Dipper drops his tattered clothes on top of Mabel's as he adjusts the Shrink-and-Grow-light to his belt. He stretches and groans before heading towards the door, turning to look at Mabel, "come on Mabel, let's go wake Gruncle Stan and Gruncle Ford."
They quietly ran down the hall, Dipper's combat boots and Mabel's gumboots making zero noise across the corridor. They startled several of the men and Ocelot before they make it to the Gruncles room.
The twins knock on the door as Ford opens it, rubbing his eyes and yawning, "good morning children, oh, where did you get those? They look great on you two."
"Thanks Gruncle Ford!" Mabel says.
"Wait, don't you two have your field test today?" Dipper asks.
Stan shrugs, "we didn't get a time so we kinda slept in?"
"That either means our test already started, or we have to go ask Miller," Ford muses as he walks out the room. The Twins run ahead, Mabel's hair leading behind her.
"So Poindexter, what do you think of all this?"
"I think that we should find a way home and beat Bill once and for all," Ford says, rubbing his temples. He didn't get much sleep last night.
Boss suddenly rounds the corner, startling the Gruncles. He walks up to them, "meet me at the helipad with your stuff for your mission."
He walks off without another word, stopping briefly to wave to the twins and they salute in response.
Ford pats his trench coat and his weapon strap, giving a thumbs up to Stan, "I got all my stuff, you?"
Stan pats his suit and takes out his knuckle dusters, "yep, lets go."
They make their way to the helipad with the twins in tow, glancing back now and then to make sure they're following them.
The Gruncles see that Pequod already landed and Boss waiting for them. Stan kneels in front of the kids, "well knuckleheads, see you later."
They climb onto the Helicopter and as it flies off, Quiet appears behind Mabel and starts to brush her hair. Dipper watches her quietly as she pulls Mabel's hair into a bun to keep off her neck and out of the way.
Mabel pats it and smiles at her, "thanks Miss Quiet!"
Quiet smiles at her, standing up and pats Dipper before disappearing again.
"Say Mabel, want to head over to the RnD Platform?" Dipper asks.
Mabel nods, "what reason, Dipper?"
She pouts, "I wanted to watch Gruncle Stan and Gruncle Ford on their mission."
"They'll be fine, I'm sure Mister Miller has a close eye on them. Coming, Mabel?" he asks and Mabel nods, following him to the Platform.
It didn't take them long to reach the platform, the Twins wandering around aimlessly when their codecs crackle to life.
"Your 'Gruncles' aren't the only ones being tested today, can you go back to the large block on platform one?" Miller's voice says through their earpieces.
They look down the bridge and see RnD Platform One towering in the distance, "yeah?"
"See if you can't get deep inside of there without anyone noticing, and bring back one of our 'pets'. I won't tell anyone, and if anyone sees you don't panic. I'll have the dogs muzzled," his voice says over their earpieces and the twins share a look, a grin, before running across the bridge.
They flatten themselves against the railing and Dipper peaks around, "OK so we need to get inside."
"This should be easier to sneak around than the oddpocalypse," Mabel whispers and Dipper nods.
"Right, let's go in Mabel," Dipper says as he runs across the clearing with his sister in tow, the men not noticing them dash inside.
They're quietly walking down the corridor, eyes and ears peeled to watch and listen for the men. Miller's voice crackles, "good, good, go down this corridor then turn left, there's a cart with some items for you two."
The twins turn the corner to a cart with two pairs of small sized knuckle dusters sitting on it. Dipper grabs the gold pair and puts them in the pouch at his leg while Mabel does the same with the pink cameo ones.
"Boss found those on the person of a Soviet soldier, I guess they thought they were going to be funny. He picked them up and thought of you for whatever reason. We're looking into them, but otherwise I think they're totally ordinary," Miller says.
The twins walk along the corridor and Dipper nearly has a heart attack when he spots a triangle shaped patch on the wall. He takes a couple of deep breaths to steady himself before continuing.
Mabel looks at him concerned, "you OK Dipper?"
Dipper nods as they reach the gun room, "yeah, now let's steal a gun."
They both walk around the room, listening for footsteps while they search for the perfect gun to borrow for their test.
"That patch you stopped at Dipper, I'll have the men replace it," Miller says.
Dipper pokes a handgun, "oh, uh thanks Mister Miller."
"If I may ask, Dipper, how did you get your nickname?"
"Oh, from my birthmark on my forehead," Dipper answers.
"May I see it when you get back, if that is alright with you?"
Dipper attempts to pick up a shotgun, "sure."
"Dipper, come look!" Mabel calls softly.
Dipper looks over to Mabel standing next to a large box with the name 'Honey Bee' scrawled on it. Dipper carefully carries the shotgun over and sets it down next to the box. Taking the Shrink-and-Grow-Light from his belt, he shines the pink light on the guns, shrinking them. Dipper grins at Mabel as he puts them in his breast pocket and they head out of the room. They jog down the corridor and back outside, not even alerting the men.
The Twins make it back to the Command Platform to see Miller standing around. They walk up to the crippled man as Dipper takes out the shrunken guns. Miller watches him as he sets them down and changes them back to their normal size.
Miller's at lost for words, they raised no alarms, none of the men noticed them and they managed to get out with two large guns. He's impressed to say the least.
"How'd we do?" Mabel asks and they look at him expectantly.
He looks at the acquired Honey Bee and shotgun, "good, very good."
The wind quickens as Pequod flies in and lands, the door opening and the Gruncles hop out.
Dipper grabs the shotgun and drags it over to them, "Gruncle Stan! Gruncle Stan! I got this for you!"
Stan finishes cracking his back and grabs the shotgun before Dipper could drop it, "geez kid, thanks n' all, but where did you get this?"
Miller steps forward, "I asked them to acquire some items from RnD Platform One."
Ford raises and eyebrow, "why?"
"I needed see how they would handle getting large objects out of a highly populated area. They passed."
The Gruncles shrug and congratulate the kids as Boss and Ocelot walk up to him.
Ocelot regard the kids with a patient look, "at least they're getting a break from wherever they came from."
Dipper walks up to Miller and flips up his bangs, showing his birthmark to him before walking back over to his family.
Miller watches the Pines family share a laugh and wonders what sort of hell they came from.
"I wonder what level of hell they escaped from," Ocelot says with a whistle.
Miller looks at him, "You just read my mind. How did Stanford and Stanley go?"
"Better than I expected, I was worried that Stanley might alert to their location. It seems that even he knows when to be silent," Ocelot comments.
Boss pats DeeDee, watching the Pines joke around and explain their tests to the others. Stan comments on Mabel's hair, saying that it looks very good on her.