"Come on, Muscle Man! We can't just leave Skips all alone out there with Gideon!" Mordecai yelled into the dark corner of the storage room.
"Screw off, bro! I'm not going out there like this. I look ridiculous!" Muscle Man shouted in retort.
Muscle Man had taken to hiding behind a stack of crates in the far corner of the storage room. It was the only part of the room that light could not reach. As far as Muscle Man was concerned, he was determined not to leave the spot. Not after what the group had to do to him.
"Muscle Man, get out here right now!" Benson demanded, his head turning that familiar shade of red. He had had enough of Muscle Man's sulking.
"Come out OR YOU'RE FIRED!"
A few seconds of silence went by after Benson's threat. It seemed that his boss' familiar words would convince Muscle Man to cooperate.
"No, I'm not coming out." Muscle Man said with finality. "Besides, it won't matter if I get fired because we'll all be dead anyways..."
Benson's patience had finally run out.
"THIS IS OUR ONE SHOT AT LIVING, MITCH! YOU CAN'T MESS IT UP FOR US JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT LOOKING RIDICULOUS!" Benson roared, clearly fed up with the stubbornness of his employee.
"BESIDES, SKIPS HAS BEEN OUT THERE FOR GOD KNOWS HOW LONG STALLING THAT MONSTER! THE LEAST WE CAN DO IS GO BACK OUT THERE AND HELP! NOW GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE AND LET'S GO!"
A rustling of cardboard was heard, and the sounds of heavy footsteps echoed in the spacious room. Muscle Man slowly emerged from the shadows in front of the group. Immediately, Mordecai and Rigby started to laugh uncontrollably at Muscle Man.
Muscle Man looked like a completely new person. He had been stuffed into a powder-blue suit that seemed to be at least a size too small. His normally shaggy, messy hair had been slicked back into a giant poof on the top of his head. Muscle Man now resembled an older, fatter, and greener version of Gideon.
Muscle Man muttered a quick "Ifuckinghateyouguys..." under his breath as Mordecai and Rigby tried to regain their composure.
"Sorry, Muscle Man... It's just too funny!" Rigby spoke in between suppressed giggles.
"Okay guys, now that Muscle Man is ready, we can go get that book back." Benson said, trying to bring order back to the group. "I don't see how this is going to work though. Dipper, you want to explain this to us?"
"Sure thing, Benson." Dipper began, he turned to address the whole group. "We know that Gideon acts unpredictably when he is hurt or insulted, judging by what he did to... Wendy..."
Dipper took a moment to pause, trying to force the thought out of his mind again.
"So, Muscle Man here is going to make fun of Gideon while he is dressed up as Gideon. This might be enough of a distraction for one of us to swipe the book from."
As Dipper finished speaking, loud banging and splintering wood could be heard outside of the storage room. Apparently Skips and Gideon took the fight out from the hidden room and into the rest of the Mystery Shack.
"It's now or never guys, let's go." Stan said as he unlocked the huge metal door.
They could still hear the carnage going on outside. It sounded as if most of the display cases and fake oddities were being thrown around and broken. Stan had a mini panic attack at the thought of all his merchandise being smashed and flung around. But he decided that the matter at hand was more important than the money he would have to shell out later to repair the Shack.
"Muscle Man, you go out first and distract him, we'll try to sneak in and surprise him." Dipper said as he nudged Muscle Man over to the doorway.
"F–Fine... I w–will..." Muscle Man replied shakily. The normally confident yet obnoxious man was now a nervous wreck as he approached the doorway. He feared what Gideon would do to him.
The door opened slightly, and Muscle Man slipped out quietly. In the room right outside the door, he could see the path of destruction from the fight between the yeti and the demon. Overturned display cases, broken picture frames, and shards of broken glass littered the wooden floor of the Mystery Shack.
As Muscle Man took in his surroundings, the wall next to him exploded with a sickening crunch. Out from the hole in the wall, came Skips flying through. He landed roughly on the ground right next to where Muscle Man was standing. Skips picked himself up immediately, then noticed Muscle Man standing next to him.
Skips took a wide swing at Muscle Man, almost connecting with his fist to Muscle Man's jaw.
"SKIPS, WAIT! IT'S ME, MUSCLE MAN!" Mitch cried out in fear, cowering with his hands over his face. Skips had mistaken Muscle Man for Gideon with the way that he was dressed up.
"Muscle Man? Why're you dressed up like Gideon?" Skips questioned, lowering his fists.
"It's all part of the kid's plan to save us, just go along with it." Muscle Man said without any real time to explain.
"Well, well, well, what is this?"
Skips and Muscle Man turned to the hole in the wall to see Gideon floating through it. Gideon's shadow puppet Robbie followed his master through the hole.
Muscle Man let loose a curse under his breath, then started to dance and hop around the room foolishly.
"Hey, everybody! Look at me! I'm Gideon!" Muscle Man babbled in a ridiculously goofy voice. "I'm an annoying little 2 foot tall albino midget!"
Gideon was not amused one bit. His eyes lit up, glowing a dark shade of purple. He then screamed as he let forth large fireballs at Muscle Man.
"HOW DARE YOU! YOU FAT TROLL!" Gideon screeched, enraged at the mockery coming from Muscle Man.
Muscle Man had to dodge and run all around the room to stay alive. He did not let up on the Gideon insults through it all.
"Hey, I'm a huge powerful demon! But I took the form of a fat little pig-looking human kid! That makes a lot of sense!" Muscle Man did not relent from his verbal assault.
If there was one thing that was certain for Muscle Man, it was that he knew how to get on anybody's nerves. In fact, Muscle Man started to lose his fear of Gideon the longer his tirade went on. His barrage of insults came more easily and became more brutal. He was truly in his element at the moment.
Gideon, however, was the exact opposite. He had become a glowing ball of homicidal rage. He practically foamed at the mouth as he screamed curses and threw fireballs and energy balls at Muscle Man. Gideon was slowly becoming more unhinged, more careless. All his attention was focused on the insulting green man who had dressed up exactly like himself.
He did not see the door to the storage room open up.
He did not see everyone hide behind the wreckage around the room.
"NOW! GO, GET IT! QUICKLY!" Stan shouted from behind a splintered bookcase.
At that instant, Gideon turned away from Muscle Man, utterly confused as to what was going on.
One second ago, the room was empty except for himself, Robbie, Skips, and Muscle Man.
But now he saw everybody making a rush towards him. They leaped into the air to bring the demon down to the ground. All of them were dog-piled ontop of Gideon and Robbie. At least a dozen set of hands frantically grabbed at Gideon, trying to pull Book 2 from his suit.
"RRRRAAAAAAGGGHHH! ENOUGH OF THIS!" Gideon roared as loud as physically possible. Everyone was suddenly pushed violently off of Gideon as he glowed with a purple aura around him. They hit the walls around the room and crumpled to the ground from the impact.
Gideon knew exactly what they were trying to do now. He once again smiled in his twisted, insane way. Slowly, he reached into his suit and pulled out the book. With a snap of his fingers a small flame danced inches away from the book.
"Looking for this ol' thing?" Gideon sneered. "Well then, Stanford, I assume you possess the other two volumes as well?"
Stan said nothing, he merely glared up at the demon floating above them.
"No matter, it won't be any use to you after it is reduced to ashes."
The flames grew larger, getting closer to Book 2. The heat from the close flame started to peel the red coloring off the cover. It would only be a matter of time before Gideon completely engulfed the book in flames.
"Once the book is gone, you'll have no way to stop me. And this time I'm not letting anybody escape alive."
Gideon put on a wicked grin.
"You'll all be dead. Including you, and your sweet, innocent little niece and nephew."
Stan felt as if he had been kicked in the gut.
"NO! NO! LEAVE THEM OUT OF IT!" Stan pleaded with the twisted demon. Tears starting to well up in his eyes. "THEY'RE NOT A PART OF THIS! IT'S BETWEEN YOU AND ME!"
"Too late, Stanford." Gideon spoke plainly, he then made the flame grow even larger and closer to the book. The cover started to singe and fray. It started to smoke and smolder as the flame drew nearer.
Stan watched in horror as the book was about to be engulfed by the hungry flame. It was at this instant, he remembered something from the first day that the twins had arrived.
Mabel...
The gift shop...
Yes! Of course!
"Mabel, you still have that military-grade grappling hook from your first day here?" Stan asked his niece who was on the floor next to him.
"Of course, Grunkle Stan. I carry it around everywhere I go." Mabel replied slightly confused by the random question.
"Quick, give it to me. I have one last plan to save all of our skins." Stan commanded.
Mabel obliged and pulled the grappling hook out from beneath her sweater and handed it to her great uncle.
Stan levelled the sight of the grappling hook at the floating Book 2. His shaky hand made the sights sway off target and back on target constantly. It was going to be a tricky shot from the distance he was at.
Come on, Stan.
Get it together.
You've only got one shot at this...
Stan held his breath, steadied his hand as best as possible, and squeezed the trigger.