Authors note: New chapter is here already. I'm personally glad that I got this chapter done, it means I can finally get out other cool ideas that I've been wanting to use for a long time. This chapter was a little rushed than the last one because I just wanted to get out of Gravity Falls already, as much as I love the town, there are other places to explore. But that doesn't mean it's the last time we see it because of obvious reasons if you read the story, but it will take a while until this town is seen again. Other than that, please review and enjoy the new chapter.
Chapter 9: Narrow Escape
O-O-O
Wendy wanted to help Stan, she really did. She knows that she and Stan never really had the best relationship, especially when it came to working at the Mystery Shack, always slacking off and never showing even an ounce of respect to her former boss, but deep down inside that crusty geezer, Stan had a heart, especially when it came to Dipper and Mabel. She knew that what Stan was telling her about his broken leg, that all he would do is slow the rest of the group down and get everyone killed, it was nothing but the truth which was surprising to hear from Stan, and the least she could do for him, to finally show some form of respect to the old man, was to abide to his wish to be left behind, but she still felt guilty about it and regretted not giving Stan any form of appreciation in the past.
Wendy promised everyone, including herself, that the group would ALL make it out, no matter what cost it would take, she wanted everyone to leave and have some kind of happy reunion. But life is cruel, and in a world where loss is common, she should have expected this, yet she still felt surprised that this happened, despite living in a world where every day a sacrifice had to be made to stay alive. She was still shocked at how cruel life could be, and how even after all this cruelty, she still managed to keep her heart and not lose hope when it's being dashed by the Slegs, which was rare for anyone in this world.
"Fuck." Wendy cursed to herself. "Not again."
"Again?" Asked Soos, wiping away his tears from abandoning Stan.
Wendy shook her head, trying not to think about her darker thoughts. "I-it's nothing. We should go now."
Soos frowned but nodded his head in agreement, and proceeded with Wendy leading the way to run to the store across the motel, checking her dark surroundings for any CSF, she could hear distant sirens from behind her, meaning that CSF were most likely going to investigate the motel, they would have heard the shots by now. The group had to move now more than ever, they somehow managed to wipe out a SWAT team on their own, which was surprising to say the least, but all their training must of worn off over these ten years, doing absolutely nothing in a small town that had little activity going on until now, but it was still pure luck that most of the group made it out.
Soos and Wendy could see Dipper and Mabel wave to them, and they went behind the build where they hid to meet up. It didn't take long for the twins to suspect something was wrong, their Grunkle Stan wasn't here, and quickly changed into morbid expressions to Wendy and Soos's dismay.
"Where's Stan?" Asked Dipper, fearing for the worst with the lack of his Grunkle's presence, while Mabel just covered her mouth in shock, expecting the bad news.
Wendy thought to herself if she should tell the truth, that they abandoned Stan because of a broken leg, that he wanted to be left behind because he felt like a burden, something that Wendy agreed with Stan on as much as she didn't want to, but that wouldn't be a good excuse to leave someone's loved one behind, she knew the twins would react furiously and try to go back for their Grunkle, and Wendy didn't want to lose anyone else at this point, so she made a tough choice.
"He… He didn't make it." Lied Wendy, looking down at the ground to avoid eye contact from the twins. "One of the Slegs backed me into a corner, he was about to squash my head like a melon until Stan jumped up behind him. He was shaken off and the Sleg just…"
Wendy stopped speaking, not wanting to tell the rest of the lie when she looked back at the twins, giving her sad gazes as Mabel was already tearing up while Dipper just stared blankly at Wendy, not wanting to believe what she was saying.
"No." Whispered Dipper, covering his face with both hands. "It can't be."
"I'm so sorry, Dipper." Said Wendy solemnly, silently hating herself for telling the twins, especially Dipper, something horrible like this. "I wish I could have stopped him but-
"Stop." Interrupted Dipper, uncovering his hands to face Wendy, with tears forming in his eyes. "Just stop."
Wendy just listened to Dipper, not speaking about Stan anymore while more guilt racked up inside her.
"Can we just go now?" Said Dipper, not wanting to listen to Wendy's lie anymore, which he believed was the truth along with Mabel.
Wendy nodded her head and proceeded to lead the way, going ahead of the twins behind the store, but not before she passed by Soos who wrapped his arm around Mabel, who was silently crying to herself and covered her face while the handyman tried comforting her, and gave Wendy a look before shaking his head, to which Wendy replied by mouthing to Soos "I had to do that."
The group followed close to Wendy, still leading the way with Soos and Mabel close behind and Dipper being the farthest from the group, wanting to keep his distance so he could have his own space right now, it was the closest thing he had to wanting to be alone.
O-O-O
The twins couldn't believe it, their Grunkle was gone. All it took was one chance encounter with CSF and just like that, their last family member was gone, the only people left in the Pines family were each other, while assuming the worst for their parents that they were gone too.
Mabel couldn't stop crying after hearing the news, she didn't sob out loud to attract the attention of CSF but instead cried silently, with Soos trying his best to help Mabel through the whole ordeal, she eventually stopped crying with Soos's help, reminding her that right now the important thing is to just leave Gravity Falls, but the pain still remained inside her, her favorite Grunkle in the entire world was dead, and instead of staying inside the motel to fight off the Slegs, she was the first to run. She felt like a useless coward that fucked up everything she touched.
Dipper was more of a shut in, not wanting to express his emotions to everyone else so they wouldn't worry about him, he kept his distance from the rest of his group, but not too far so that they would get spotted, he wanted his own space to himself for a while, to try and cope with the recent loss of Stan, all he wanted now was to leave, leave this hellhole that he once called a second home, so he could just escape the painful memories that this town preserved and reminded its residents every day, just so he could finally have some form of peace that didn't involve pain and death, so he could try to forget about the guilt and regret of not being there to save his Grunkle, he just wanted to move on.
Soos had experienced loss of family long ago, when the first days of the occupation in Gravity Falls began, the Sleg government enacted a "Survival of the fittest" policy, which meant anyone deemed "unfit" for service were to be executed immediately, the policy mainly targeted the old, sick, and handicapped, Soos's grandmother was one of the victims while his cousin Reggie still stood up to the Slegs when they occupied the town, the last time Soos saw Reggie was when CSF busted down Soos's house and arrested Reggie, the cousin was never seen again. So when it came to leaving Stan behind, Soos was heartbroken, especially when Stan told him that he considered him as a son, the old man was the closest thing Soos ever had to a father and he just left him, and although he didn't show it, he had some anger pent up inside when Wendy lied to the twins about Stan's fate, although he understood why Wendy lied, it didn't mean he had to like her decision.
Wendy was just shocked at what was happening the whole time, she thought it was going to be simple, sneak inside the town, find everyone she knew, and get them out. But complications delayed the escape, Mabel killing a CSF officer, encounters with other officers, the high alert Gravity Falls was in, and the motel shootout that made the group lose a member, the simple and effective plan turned into shit really quickly, and everyone in the group was deeply affected with the loss of Stan. Wendy still kept her hope intact the most out of everyone in the group, which was probably the only thing that was keeping the group together, but that didn't mean she ignored what tried dashing her hopes, especially the motel shootout. Not only Stan had to be left behind but she killed nearly every SWAT officer that entered the motel, she knew CSF were never the nicest individuals around, but that didn't mean she enjoyed killing them, she never wanted to kill them in the first place, she only did it for the group's survival. It was either her people or theirs.
After what seemed like an eternity to the group, going past several more checkpoints and patrols from the CSF, who were using every resource they had at their disposal, the group finally reached their destination that Wendy had wanted to get to ever since this whole situation started, but it was something that everyone else in the group was confused about, the destination was the old Gravity Falls museum, which was yet another building that was abandoned by the Slegs, which still looked pretty much the same except the stone exterior of the museum was filthier, and the glass doors were stained like many other windows in Gravity Falls.
"Are we at the right place?" Asked Dipper, confused as to why Wendy led everyone here as the group ran up to the entrance.
"Yup. We're almost home free." Replied Wendy confidently, putting a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "We're gonna make it, okay? For Stan."
Dipper looked at the ground briefly before replying back with a nod, still giving a sad expression but with some hope still visible. "For Stan."
But the moment was cut short as sirens could be heard from the distance along with the whirring noise of a helicopter, Wendy turned around to see three CSF APCs coming down the road, along with a CSF helicopter close behind in the air, which made Wendy change into a more concerned expression when she noticed how fast they were driving.
"Shit." Cursed Wendy when she saw the convoy. "They found us."
The rest of the group turned to see the convoy, which shocked them for how fast the CSF tracked them, but they did leave a bundle of evidence at the motel with the firefight they had there, so it didn't take long for CSF to connect the dots and figure out where they were going. The group hurried inside the museum, not wanting to get gunned down by CSF as they barged right inside, sprinting through the spacious hallway while CSF APCs parked right outside the entrance.
While the CSF helicopter circled around the museum in the air, shining its spotlight to look for the humans, The APCs below unloaded three SWAT teams from their vehicles, two Guanians and four Geckens in each team, most of the SWAT teams were armed with sub machine guns similar in appearance to a MP5, a more longer ranged variant of the standard Sleg sub machine gun, but one Gecken and Guanian in each SWAT team were equipped with pump action shotguns, in similar appearance with a Mossberg shotgun, so SWAT really meant business this time.
When the SWAT teams assembled outside, they were waiting for orders from their team leaders, who spoke to their commander from an undisclosed location.
"Status report team leader one, over." Said the commander over the CB radio, to which a Guanian armed with a sub machine gun replied.
"Four of the fugitives are trapped inside the old museum in sector seven. Our available teams have arrived and are awaiting orders to move in, over." Answered team leader one.
"What's the status of the fifth fugitive team leader two? Over." Asked the commander.
"He was apprehended at the old motel in sector three sustaining major fractures on his right leg. Fugitive's name is Stanford Pines and is being transported to HQ for questioning, over." Replied team leader two.
"Permission to enter the museum granted. All team leaders are to advance inside and apprehend the remaining fugitives, dead or alive. Exercise caution when entering, fugitives are believed to be armed and dangerous, over." Said the commander, relaying his orders to the rest of the SWAT team leaders.
"Copy that, commander, the humans don't stand a chance. Over and out." Replied team leader one.
The SWAT teams immediately received orders from their team leaders, and complied with their orders and proceeded to advance. Team one and two positioned themselves at the front entrance while team three circled around the building for flanking maneuvers, covering the back entrance as they awaited orders from their team leaders to move inside.
"All teams, move in."
O-O-O
Meanwhile, The human fugitives inside were unaware of SWAT moving inside, as they continually ran through the hallways of the museum, passing through old exhibits that were dusty and filthy, not being touched since the museum closed down. The human group stopped running when they were at the middle of two hallway paths that went left and right.
"Which way do we go?" Dipper asked Wendy, still unsure why Wendy led everyone here.
"Uh… Right. We go right." Replied Wendy, just remembering where to go.
Before the group could move, they heard distant footsteps from behind and turned to see a Sleg SWAT team at the end of the hallway that spotted them.
"Fugitives found. Engage, engage." Ordered team leader one to his squad as the sub machine gunners opened fire at the humans.
"Run!" Shouted Wendy, as the group ran with her to the right hallway, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the gunfire as the Sleg SWAT team started to run after them while their team leader contacted the other teams on his CB radio.
"Targets found. We are in pursuit. Sending coordinates now." Said team leader one to the other teams as they followed their target's path.
Wendy knew they were close now, she and her group were now running down a familiar hallway, at the end of the hallway there were two hallway passes close to each other, one in front and the other pass close to the right, above the ceiling there were metal pipes that went through the passes above. While the group ran, the SWAT team from behind caught up with the group and began firing at the humans again, motivating their targets to run as fast as possible
"Take cover!" Shouted Wendy as the group ducked down behind the old exhibits for cover, with Wendy and Mabel behind cover at the left while Dipper and Soos were at cover at the right, while the Slegs slowly advanced, with the shotgunners leading ahead and sprinted towards their human foes.
Wendy noticed the shot gunners and fired her sub machine at them, knowing how devastating a shotgun at close range could be and unloaded an entire clip at the Guanian shotgunner first, riddling the Sleg with bullets before he had a chance to pull the trigger, while the Gecken shotgunner sprinted his way to cover. Dipper and Soos tried shooting him with their pistols, but showed they weren't as experienced as Wendy when the shot gunner reached cover, only being twelve meters away from the group, and pinned Soos and Dipper when the shot gunner opened fire, the spread alone was enough to keep the two ducked while the rest of the SWAT team took the opportunity to move forward while reloading, getting ever closer to their targets.
When Soos and Dipper had to reload, the Gecken shotgunner took this opportunity and sprinted towards the two companions, a risky move to take out two targets at once, the Gecken managed to get around cover and aim his shotgun at them, with Wendy being too busy shooting at the other advancing Slegs, Dipper ran up to the Gecken and grabbed the shotgun, making the Sleg point his shotgun at the ceiling as he pulled the trigger, a lucky move by Dipper as he tried to wrestle the gun away from the Gecken.
Knowing the Sleg would win the struggle, Dipper thought of a better idea to deal with the Gecken. When he saw the advancing SWAT team pointing their guns at him in the open, Dipper managed to turn the Gecken around at the last second when the advancing Slegs behind the shotgunner shot at Dipper, but managed to use his Gecken attacker as cover and make his teammates accidently kill their own squad mate, filling him with several bullet holes at his back, with Dipper managing to take the Gecken's shotgun and get back to cover before getting shot at again.
When Wendy reloaded her sub machine gun, she realized that this was her last clip for the gun, and she knew that Dipper and Soos didn't have much ammo left, the group needed to leave now, or everything they did to get to this point was for nothing.
"Guys! We need to move now! We can't take them on any longer!" shouted Wendy over the gunfire. "When I say go, we run as fast as we can down the hall!"
The group understood and waited in cover for Wendy's order, while firing back at the advancing Sleg SWAT team to keep them from getting any closer. When the Sleg SWAT team had to reload their weapons, Wendy gave her order to the group to run while dropping her sub machine gun, not wanting to use it anymore since she ran out of ammo for it, while Dipper took this opportunity to grab as many shotgun shells from the dead Gecken next to him, grabbing about ten shells and stuffing them in his back pocket before running away.
"GO! GO! GO!" Wendy continued to shout, making the group sprint their way to the hallway as the Sleg SWAT team finished reloading.
"Fugitives are on the move. Gun them down." Ordered team leader one to his squad, who opened fire at the fleeing humans.
When the group reached the end of the hallway, they ran to the right pass while avoiding the gunfire from behind and ended up in a familiar room that took the group back down memory lane.
The pass led to a large room that may have seemed ordinary to the average citizen in Gravity Falls, but it was anything but ordinary to the group, what stood out to them in this room were the large amount of eyes in the room, from actual eyes to merely pictures of them, they were all looking at one specific item in the room, a triangle shaped stone tablet with an eye carved at the center, making everyone in the group remember this room, the same room they went on one of their mystery hunts ten years ago, the same room where they found the secret society of the blind eye hiding in the town. Those were the good old days.
"I remember this place." Said Dipper, thinking back to old times. "But why are we here?"
"Because this place is our ticket out of here." Replied Wendy, who quickly went up to the stone eye and pressed against it, opening the secret entrance at the fireplace in the room that led below the museum. "Let's go, now!"
The group hurried to the entrance, not wanting to get into anymore firefights against SWAT with limited ammo, with Wendy pulling a nearby lever to close the entrance, as the secret door started to close, while Sleg SWAT teams sprinted to the fireplace just to get a brief glance at the humans before the door closed, leaving them stuck outside to figure out how to open the entrance.
"Damn." Panted Mabel, close to exhaustion from all the running. "That was too close."
While the group was safe for now, they noticed that it was quite dark inside and could barely see anything, which made Wendy take out a small flashlight she kept in her vest and turned on the light, giving the group some form of visibility.
"Let there be light." Said Wendy as she went down the stone steps, with the rest of the group following close behind. "It won't take long for CSF to figure out how to get down here, so let's go."
The group complied and followed Wendy as they went past the curtain that led to the former secret society's meeting hall, once used for their secret meetings to discuss whatever they wanted or to wipe the memories of citizens who have seen too much, now the hall was nothing more than an abandoned space, the whole underground complex was dark and dank, nothing had been moved from place ever since the society was disbanded, thanks to the efforts of the Mystery Group that was there now.
"This is how you got inside?" Dipper asked Wendy as the group walked through the meeting hall.
"That's right. I didn't tell you this before but, this isn't the first time I've sneaked inside the town." Said Wendy, somewhat surprising Dipper.
"That explains why you knew where you were going. But how did you even get in here if you didn't go through the museum?" Asked Dipper.
"Well, a while back, I found this secret entrance behind the waterfall in the town. I'm guessing that it was one of the many entrances that those blind eyes weirdoes used to travel faster." Explained Wendy as she grinned. "If you didn't notice, it's real handy."
"Can't say I don't agree." Said Dipper, grinning back to the red head.
"The Slegs had no clue about this whole thing?" Asked Mabel. "They wouldn't really forget something like this."
"That's because they're too busy dealing with the resistance." Replied Wendy. "They've been more active lately."
"So the rumors are true? There's still a resistance after all these years?" Asked Dipper, making Wendy sigh sadly.
"Wow. No one told you guys anything." Said Wendy, making the rest of the group go in an awkward silence before Wendy spoke again. "I have A LOT to tell you guys. But I'll tell you guys after we leave, we still need to get out of here and meet up with my uh… friends."
"Friends?" Asked Dipper, eyeing Wendy suspiciously at the way she said friends.
"It's a-
"-long story?" Said Dipper finished Wendy's sentence.
"Yup. A long story."
O-O-O
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls, but I do own the Slegs.