A stormy sunset saw a pile of exhausted twins on Winter and Summer's living room sofa – or two exhausted twins and two pretending to be exhausted twins. Summer had Mabel in her lap, drooling and almost snoring, while Winter had an out-cold Dipper slumped against her stomach. They were the only four people in the house. A frantic phone call to California had revealed no problems with the Pines' parents; with that fear no longer around to sustain them, the kids simply had no more left to give. Stan – reluctantly – let them stay with the identical twins for now. Nobody had heard from Wendy since that morning, either. It was Winter's decision to leave her out of the loop for now unless events warranted otherwise.

Summer had already taken her catnap, but remained as still as possible to keep from waking anyone up. It was impossible for her not to smile at the clump of people surrounding her. "How cute," she whispered. Winter seemed to be asleep – but when she searched out her hand, it squeezed her fingers in return. "Hmm? Are you awake?"

"Partially," she muttered. "Worried. About everything. About you."

"Oh." She ducked her head slightly and pouted. "I'm fine. I think I might have overreacted to the... you know."

Winter nodded once, but held no contempt in her expression. "Mm. I'm not sure I would have nailed someone to a tree." Her eyes grew distant. "Actually, I'm not sure what I would have done. At any rate, you know none of us are mad at you."

"I know, I just feel terrible about losing control. Especially in front of them." Another peek down at the kids made her frown. "Shouldn't we put these two to bed? We're all muscle and bone, we can't be very comfortable."

One minutes-long, careful dance with magic and old-fashioned slow movements later, the kids were in their bedroom and safely tucked away. After making sure the tingles wouldn't rouse them, the sisters withdrew back down the hall and toward the living room. "You snapped a little, didn't you?" Winter asked gently.

A crestfallen Summer hung her head. "I snapped a lot."

"No, you didn't," she denied, taking her hand again. "Trust me, I know what 'snapping a lot' looks like." A sound stopped their chat from getting any farther: the generic ringing of their home phone. "Mm, this must be Stan again. I don't know why he didn't stay."

"It could be important, you know. We'd better see what he wants."

They moved into the kitchen to find out – but the number on the ID wasn't familiar. A confused Winter answered. "Hello?"

"Hey, man. Uh, which one of you is this again?" Wendy – and she sounded a bit frazzled. "It's so hard to tell over the phone."

She cocked a brow, scowling faintly. "This is Winter. Is something wrong?"

"Uh, well, I'm not totally sure. I'm outside the Hermanos Brothers – you know, the Mexican place with the stupid hat? And I just saw..." Lightning made her trail off for a moment. "Woo, that was a close one. Uh, this government car drove by. It looked like it was headed up toward your place."

"A what?" Winter put her on speaker. "How could you tell it was a government car?"

She laughed a bit. "The logo on the side helped. So did the "U.S Government" text printed on the doors in billion-point font."

Summer gnashed teeth and began to pace. "What could they possibly want with us now?"

"I don't think I want to know." Winter fell silent for a moment to gather her thoughts. "They didn't stop and talk to you, did they?"

"Huh? Nah. Why? Should they have? Do I need to be freaking out right now?"

She glanced out the window at another flash of lightning and scowled. "No, just curious. All right, thank you for the warning. We'll deal with it if they do show up."

"Right, right. I gotta go round up my brothers. Later."

Not five minutes after she'd hung up did a yellow glow become apparent through the front windows. Summer peeked through the curtains and found a black sedan coming to a stop along the sidewalk. "Well, they're certainly not trying to hide anything, are they?" she said, making a face at the massive text emblazoned along the doors. She watched as two men in black suits emerged, unfurled black umbrellas, and walked toward the house. "Oh, these aren't the ones you knocked out. By the way, what did you do with them?"

"I decided I'd let them wake up and escape. Perhaps I should have turned them into clarinets." Winter waited at the door, arms folded, until she heard a knock. "This should be interesting."

There they stood, looking grim and professional. One was an older, balding man with dark hair and a mustache. The other was somewhat younger, with sandy, spiky hair and a strong jawline. The older man spoke first. "Miss Weiss, and... Miss Weiss," he greeted awkwardly. "I'm Agent Powers. This is Agent Trigger." They showed equally grave-looking picture IDs. "We're with the United States Government."

"We noticed," Summer said, glancing past them at their car. "Why are you here?"

"Just to talk. May we come in?"

The twins stepped forward, forcing them back, and shut the door behind them. "Based on what happened last time someone from your government came into our house, no. We'll talk out here," Winter advised with a chilly gaze. "So? Start talking."

The agents shared an uncertain look before Powers spoke again. "Very well. It's come to our attention that you may have become aware of a defunct military project. We know this resulted in some, uh, incidents, but we don't have the security clearance to get those details. Any actions taken against you were not our agency's doing."

"Also, there are rumors running around that you're aliens," Agent Trigger added. "Completely baseless and incorrect, I assume."

Summer shot down that notion with a cheerful smile. "Oh, sister wasn't lying about that. Didn't anyone talk to the woman she sent back last night? Everything she said is completely true. We're not from this planet, and bullets just sort of annoy us, not hurt us."

"Well. Excuse us a moment." Powers lead his partner off the porch and back into the rain. They could tell he was having a conversation with someone via his earpiece.

"I suppose things are going well so far," Winter muttered, watching them like hawks. She perked up a bit as they returned. "Yes?"

Powers again took the lead. "First, uh, welcome to Earth on behalf of the people of the United States."

Summer tilted her head. "How kind of you," she said with a faint smile. "Everyone has been very nice. Except your colleagues. They haven't."

"Our apologies, ma'am. Joint headquarters would like to know what happened to the twenty-seven other operatives that were sent here, including two extremely high-value assets that haven't reported back, and three others from their unit that were found dead in the forest northeast of here."

"Twenty-seven?" Summer tapped her chin, thinking of the flower pot full of marbles and trying desperately to avoid memories of the woods. "Hmm. That seems about right. We're holding them." She hung her head again and sighed. "The deaths are my fault. And there are four, but you won't find the other body."

"I... see. Let me call it in." Powers moved away again to have a covert chat, but this time he was back in less than a minute. "All right. Our superiors have authorized us to negotiate," he explained, faintly anxious.

"And we'd like to personally ask you not to capture and/or murder us. I'm far too grizzled and exceptional to die," Trigger added, apparently completely serious.

Winter rolled her eyes, shifting her weight to one hip and staring them down. "Oh, I see. Attempt to kill first, then try diplomacy when you fail. Better late than never, I suppose. Very well, we'll talk." Neither of the agents knew how to respond; even if they did, she didn't care to hear it. "But what is there to negotiate?"

"An exchange. HQ would like the personnel back, so let's make a deal," Powers replied, straightening his tie. "Within reason, of course."

"If you'd stop dispatching people to kill us and our friends, that would be a start."

He regarded Summer with a frown. "I'll pass that along."

"Mm, how thoughtful of you," Winter said, words soaked with disdain. "They can try sending more assassins, if they like. Eventually we will run out of patience and start calling our friends. The ones from home."

"Oh, and you don't want that," Summer added cheerfully. "Some of them are quite scary when they're mad!"

"Understood," Powers nodded. "I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot, so..."

"That's an understatement." Winter smoothed her hair back and laid down terms. "We'll return your personnel, but we demand that you stop trying to murder everyone, stop monitoring our communications, and otherwise leave all of us be while we figure out what's going on."

"Whoa, whoa we can't let you investigate any further," Trigger denied.

Annoyed, Summer lifted them with her magic and pressed them against the porch ceiling. "Listen, you, I've already had a bad enough day. Play ball or leave us alone. Actually, just leave us alone. Why is that so hard? We were perfectly content to poke around and pretend to be normal until you sent that idiot with the gun!"

Winter put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Summer, calm down."

"I am calm." The agents weren't, though – she stared up at their confused flailing. "If you needed any further convincing, now you have it. You also have our terms." She let them down and watched as they tried to dance the tingle away.

"Yes ma'am," Powers said breathlessly. "I sense a lack of trust here, so we'll report back and get them to stop the operations. We're not really in a position to make promises beyond that, so headquarters will probably send a mediator in the morning to hash out the other requests – assuming you can prove the safety of your captives."

"We can. We've nothing more to say," Winter said with a glare as she pointed back toward their car. "Get out of our lives. When you do, you'll get your people back." The agents themselves obliged her, leaving straight away, but the twins lingered and watched the thunderstorm. "I hope I didn't just dig a deeper hole."

Summer shrugged a bit. "No, I think you made our point. It's up to them now."

"Mm." Another rumble of thunder passed by. "We should get those phones on our plan tomorrow. Hopefully, the hardware will work."

"Ah, so you don't trust them?"

She smiled at the teasing tone in Summer's voice. "Not as far as I can throw them." Her face screwed up a little. "That analogy doesn't really work for us, does it?"

Her smile became a wry grin. "I guess not. More waiting and seeing then? I'm not sure how much clearer we can make ourselves."

Winter stared down the street in the direction the black car had departed. "If they try something again, I know a few ways."

"No, stop hugging me. No. No..." Mabel grumbled in her sleep, fighting with the air as she tossed in bed. "Your hugs are bad. No." An accidental smack to her own face forced her awake. "Ow. What the—oh, I was dreaming." She sat up and rubbed her cheek. "And I just slapped myself upside my own head." Her mood only got worse when she looked around the dark room. "Still here. Great. Wonder who's gonna try and kill us... today?" Sure enough, her watch confirmed it was Tuesday – 6:00 AM, to be exact. "Oh boy, now I'm on Dipper Standard Time," she said with a grin. To ease her nerves, she looked over to check on him. He was sprawled out, snoozing quietly. "Okay. We're all good. Good. Yeah."

But a moment later she realized there were no footsteps – no one was on patrol. The house was incredibly quiet. Unnerved again, she slipped out of bed and left the room to do her own sweep. This was the first time she'd really looked around the place, and upon finding two of the other bedrooms completely empty she got confused. "Huh? Where's all their stuff?" The third bedroom contained a bed, but no twins. "I don't like this." She moved quickly toward the living room, nearly losing her footing on the polished oak floors a few times. There she found them, cuddled up together and asleep on the couch. Mabel slid to a stop and regarded the scene for a moment. "Oh, phew. Also, awwww. Is that what we look like to people when we're cute together? Man, no wonder everyone loves us."

Adrenaline subsiding, she carefully sat down and tried to get her mental bearings. This included turning on the TV and looking for something fun to watch. Given the early hour, however, all she got was news and infomercials. "From the makers of Owl Trowel," she whispered, reading along, "comes the all-new Beaver Cleaver?" A demonstration of the device made her retch and change the channel. "Ew, go away. And bro bro wonders why I don't wake up early."

"Why would anyone want to cleave a beaver?" Winter asked lowly, startling the girl. "Sorry. Perhaps I should learn to wake up louder."

Mabel, hand to her chest, had to catch her breath before replying. "Yeah, you sleep ninja." They shared a smile. "Did anything happen while me and Dip were knocked out?"

"Yes." She waved off the horrified look. "No, a good thing. They're negotiating with us now. Someone will be here later to talk more, but it seems no more hit squads will be coming after us for the moment. Perhaps you and Dipper will be able to go back to the Mystery Shack today."

Mabel's smile outshone the TV. "I wanna explode but I don't wanna wake up Summer. Be right back."

Winter, head tilted, watched her hop off the couch and skitter down the hall. Seconds later, a series of happy noises reached her ears. It all made her smirk to herself. "Mm, that sounds rather familiar." She waved slightly as the girl returned. "Feel better?"

"Wooooooooo!" she cheered quietly, still beaming as she returned to her seat. "Does everyone else know?"

"Yes. We didn't want to wake you up. You were too adorable sleeping."

Grinning again, Mabel went back to channel surfing. "Pff, we get that a lot. You guys are pretty cute too. Twins are literally the best. So, like, when will whoever be here?"

Winter tried to shrug, but with Summer draped over her it proved difficult. "Not sure. Sometime this morning."

"Ooo, exciting. In a good way! For once."

So they all killed time, including the red-eyed woman after she woke up. She and Mabel went to spruce themselves up a bit for the occasion, leaving Winter to figure out how to deal with breakfast. It was the smell of food that attracted a half-awake Dipper. "Tacos?" he droned, stumbling into the kitchen. "For breakfast? Not complaining, I'm totally on board with this, but..."

"Mm. I just want some for some reason." With a quick, magical tug, she stopped him from falling over. "The government is ready to talk. We got them to stop sending people after us, too. All of us."

"Oh." Further reaction was delayed by the fog of sleep, but it hit like a brick upon arrival. "What? Really?" he asked, now fully alert. "How? When?"

She nodded at the flower pot and the glistening marbles inside. "Yesterday. They want the people we've captured. We want them to back off on a permanent basis. I think it's a fair trade, but we'll see what happens when their mediator shows up later."

"Wow. I guess they finally got the stupid message, huh. And all it cost was us nearly dying." The memories made him shuffle a foot and stare at the floor. "How's Summer doing?"

"Fine." Winter busied herself with the hamburger meat, but her brow furrowed hard. "It's not the first time we've had to kill to protect ourselves or someone we like. I doubt it'll be the last."

"Oh." He stared at her for a long time. Eventually, she stared right back. "I understand, man. I do. It's just, you know, we've never run into it before." He went back to awkward feet shuffling. "It sucks."

There was no disagreeing with that one. "It truly does."

"Hey hey hey!" Mabel danced into the room and slammed right into the sullen atmosphere. "What the heck. This feels like bad news."

"Nah, just a serious chat." Dipper looked down at his noisy stomach. "Man, I am hungry." He smiled up as Summer arrived, but a knock drew everyone's attention.

"Hmm. I'll get it," the red-eyed woman advised, almost skating along as she did. Upon opening it, however, she was greeted with the sight of Pacifica Northwest, anxious and jittery. "Oh, hello. What brings you here?"

"Huh?" The blonde regarded Summer for a second and blinked. "Oh, yeah. Hey." Then out came her gaudy pink iPhone, and she fired off a text. "Okay. Can I come in?" she asked, sniffing the air. "Because whatever that is smells awesome and I haven't eaten yet."

"Um... sure." An uncertain Summer let her through and followed to the kitchen. "Why are you here, again?"

"Why is who-" Mabel froze upon seeing her mortal enemy. "You." She glared bloody murder at the blonde – but Pacifica wouldn't engage. It was a stunning reaction. "Huh?"

But she did manage a flippant toss of her ponytail. "Ugh, I didn't know you nerds would be here. Glad she seems to be a good cook, otherwise you'd be stinking up the neighborhood. Hey, Winter."

"Hello." She was just as confused as her sister. "What are you doing here?"

Pacifica twirled her hair and avoided all possible eye contact. "Um, my dad's on his way. He just sent me ahead to check if you were awake yet."

Dipper and Mabel had never seen her like this before. "Oooooookay... why's your dad coming over?" he asked.

The blonde looked down her nose at him and tried a sneer. It came off hollow, as did her words. "Please, like you'd understand what rich people talk to each other about."

"You're really off your insult game today, sister," Mabel said, walking closer. "What the heck is going on here?"

"Pacifica? Run along." This was a male voice from the living room, stately and slightly gruff. "The car's outside waiting for you." Everyone but Winter emerged from the kitchen to find Preston Northwest standing there, clad in a black three-piece suit with a gold tie. "Ah, there you are." He regarded Summer with a professional smile, but blinked down at Mabel and Dipper. "I wasn't aware you had... company."

"Dad, I want to stay for breakfast," the blonde said, pouting with arms crossed.

"Now, now, you've had enough for one day, don't you think?"

"Let her stay if she wants," Summer said. "What brings you here? Do you want a reading session too?"

He cleared his throat and frowned at the children again – including his own. "Ah, no. Regardless, this isn't a matter for little ears, I'm afraid. Go on."None of the children would yield. "Pacifica..."

"You dragged me out of bed at six AM and..." Her voice caught. To the Pines, it seemed she was on the verge of tears. "All I want to do is get something to eat. Humor me, dad."

He squinted at her briefly and sighed. "Oh, if you insist," he relented. While she went into the kitchen, Dipper and Mabel continued to stand their ground. "I'm fairly certain you count too. Shoo. Be gone. Leave us. Don't make me use my poor people repellent."

"Dude, no wonder everyone hates you guys," Dipper said, rolling his eyes. "Fine, whatever. Come on, Mabel, let's help Winter with the food."

When they were gone, Preston regarded Summer with a far more serious eye. "Miss Weiss, I'm here on behalf of the United States Government. Shall we have a chat?"

"Oh. Yes, just a moment." She looked through the kitchen door and motioned for Winter to come out. "Sister..."

After seeing to the kids, she was there. "Yes?" A glance between Summer and their guest made her frown. "Oh, hello. Wait." She made a suspicious face at him. "They sent you, didn't they?"

"You're correct." They had a seat on the sofa, Preston on one end and the twins on the other. "The Northwests have worked with officials in Salem and Washington for quite a long time, and given our history with the town, I am eminently qualified to serve as a mediator. Besides, you seem to have a pleasant acquaintance with my wife and my daughter. I think the choice was obvious."

The twins thought about it for a moment, then shared a nod. "Very well. Let's get on with it," Winter said. "Have they considered our demands?"

"Washington is ready to back off, given your-" he hesitated, seeing Mabel peek around the door. She blinked and quickly disappeared. "-special circumstances. Upon safe receipt of the personnel in question, all monitoring and other activities will cease. Further, the government is willing to-" He stopped again; now it was Dipper spying on them.

"Oh, just a moment." Summer lifted a hand and magically shut the kitchen door, smiling a little at the Pines' protests. "There we go, continue."

A startled Preston had to collect himself. "No wonder the Pentagon and USIC are in such a tizzy," he muttered with amazement. "Ahem. Given your apparent extraterrestrial status, the government is willing to construct a background for you to prevent any unwanted attention while you go about your daily affairs."

"Hmm, how nice of them. What about the Pines and Soos, and Wendy Corduroy too? It won't do your side any good to go after our friends and make us angry. Again."

He nodded once. "The witnesses have made that clear enough. It will take some extra time, but the NSA is willing to let their communications go as well. Fort Meade will provide phone and computer hardware that circumvents PRISM, Fairview and XKEYSCORE monitoring protocols – although I was asked to inquire about a phone call from this location early yesterday, which was already 'encrypted via unknown method'. Care to elaborate?"

Summer's eyes lit up with glee, but she kept quiet at her sister's behest. "We brought our own phones from home," Winter said. "If you don't mind, we'll keep using them. We'll try your computers, though. How long after our exchange can we expect you to hold up your end of the deal?"

"Not more than 48 hours. Before we get there, however, I need to go back with some proof the prisoners are alive and well, especially the high-value operative. You know who I mean."

Winter tapped her sneaker in thought. "That will be easy. But not here, and not now. I want to eat first, and I don't think the kids appreciate being locked up."

"Of course." He rose with a smile and looked at the door. "I must admit, I'm a bit peckish myself. Your cooking smells divine."

Beyond that door Mabel and Dipper had their ears to the wall, straining to hear the conversation. When footsteps became audible, they retreated back to the table. Pacifica was already there and eating slowly. "Special circumstances? What special circumstances?" Dipper wondered out loud.

"The fact that they're..." Mabel looked at the blonde, hesitated a moment, and decided to go vague just to be safe. "Special, I guess? I dunno."

"Yeah." He looked at Pacifica as well. "Normally I wouldn't care, but... are you all right? Your hands are shaking."

She fired a weak glare in reply. "Of course they're shaking, I'm trapped in a room with you two. Anyone would be twitchy."

But her vitriol still lacked punch. As the Pines dug in, and the twins arrived with Preston, Mabel realized this wasn't the first time she'd seen someone act like this. She put down her taco and thought a moment. Then it hit her: Wendy, post-journal. Both she and the blonde looked like they'd seen every ghost in the world at once. Her eyes went to Pacifica again and stayed there, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Stop looking at me!"

"If you two want to fight, do it outside," Winter warned – though she noticed the oddness in Mabel's eyes as well. "Or at least wait until after we're done eating."

"Yeah, yeah," she relented, grabbing her food again. Dipper's confused glance made her shrug. "What, bro? I was just thinking about something. I can think."

He smirked at her around a mouthful of taco salad. "Think about what? Unicorns? Made of rainbows?"

"No!" Her face dropped. "That's a neat idea though. I'ma draw some later."

Pacifica was ready with a stronger barb this time around. "I've seen your chicken scratch. You call that artwork?"

"Now now, they have to entertain themselves in some way," her father said. "It's not like they can jet off to Corsica on a whim like us." His nod also indicated the identical twins. "You should make the trip if you can. Lovely place. I've invested in a hotel there."

"How nice," Summer replied politely. "Perhaps you can tell us more after we conclude our, um, business."

"Certainly." He glanced over at his daughter and frowned. "I suppose I'd better see Pacifica home after breakfast first. She's not had an easy morning."

"Yeah," she agreed with a sigh. "That's one way of putting it." Everyone else at the table regarded her with varying levels of confusion. "You wouldn't understand."

"Of course not, we're poor people," Dipper said, rolling his eyes. "Look, man, we know why you're here. Is this the first step to us going home or what?"

While Pacifica looked up with surprise, her father was a bit stung by his candor. "It depends on these two. If they play ball, yes. If not..." His daughter left the table and walked out of the kitchen abruptly, forcing a brief pause. "Ahem. If not, I don't know what happens next."

"Trust us Mr. Northwest, we'll play ball," Winter said, leaning forward. "I suggest your side does the same."