Iron Dipper 3 Chapter 4, a gravity falls fanfic

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Gravity Falls or any other cartoon promotions.

Same Day: New York

Steven Universe was sitting at a patio table in a restaurant in New York City. He was wearing a brown leather jacket and beige trousers and had his hands in his jacket pockets. He looked across the street as he kept his eye on a particular clothing store on the other side of the road, trying not to be distracted by the volumes of cars and people moving around him.

Mabel Pines was sitting at a table with him, "You know..." Steven turned to look at Mabel, "When I asked Rick to set this up, I was hoping I'd get to talk to you."

Steven says, "Right. Sorry."

Mabel tells him, "No, it's fine. I... I can see how this would all be overwhelming. Trust me, I know." Steven went silent as he pulled his chair closer to the table, "What have you been doing since you woke up?"

Steven answers her question, "Trying to understand."

Mabel nods, "Makes sense."

Steven says, smiling, "That and a lot of physical training. Let me do something I recognize. SHIELD's got a great gym. I'm also trying to sort through all the things I have to catch up on. People have been handing me lists. Music albums. Important events. Films."

Mabel cuts in, "Star Wars."

Steven looks at Mabel, confused, "What?"

Mabel repeats herself, "Star Wars. Make that your top priority." Steven scoffed before turning his head to look back at the clothing store, "Something's over there?"

Steven tells her, "No, it's..." He exhaled and looked down for a moment, "Everything's the same. But it's all different." Mabel didn't respond. Instead, she waited for him to continue, "I grew up in Brooklyn. Knew the city inside and out. Every road. Every alley. And the people... they were the heart of this city. The people." Mabel frowned. Steven points at a clothing shop, "That store there used to be a... a diner. It made the best damn sandwiches in Manhattan, at least if you asked me. I would go there all the time with my friends. We would show up, share a laugh, and get a sandwich and a Coke. I'd never finish, and they'd make fun of me for it." Mabel held her hands together on her lap as she listened. Steven says, "Wonder if anyone else remembers that place."

Mabel says, "I'm sure some do."

Steven smiled and sat back in a chair, turning to Mabel again, "Well, that's enough. Rick told me about you. He said you were a friend and that you insisted you wanted to see me."

Mabel laughed, "Heh, yeah, you could put it that way. No way I would let Dipper meet my hero, and I don't get a shot."

Steven asks, folding his arms over his chest and looking outside, "You see this? Your brother and I did this. We made sure New York was still here."

Mabel says, "Hell yeah. But this is just another day at the office for you guys, huh? Saving the world? Dipper and I have been there, done that. You think just because you're like a hundred years old that you're better than us?"

Steven tells her, "Better? No. Wiser? I was around when polio was still a thing. You're all newborns compared to me."

Mabel narrowed her eyes at Steven, "Is that right?" Steven chuckles in response as Mabel says, "So... The Avengers. Gotta say, badass name. Do you think you guys can still make it work? In case the world ever needs you guys again?"

Steven says, "Yeah. I think so. But for today... today, I think we should just enjoy the view."

Mabel smiles, looking outside as well, and says, "Yeah. That... that I can do." They both looked out at the city as they sat silently for a few minutes. Mabel finally breaks the silence, asking, "You know you both went on a suicide mission, right? You both went out there, knowing that you're likely not coming back alive."

Steven says, "Doesn't change that we don't have a choice. Besides, I know a thing or two about suicide missions."

Mabel nods, asking him, "Just gotta do what you must do?"

Steven answers her, "Exactly."

Mabel paused for a moment as she exhaled and nodded before getting up from her chair, looking over at Steven, "I should probably get going. I have something I need to work on. A little upgrade for my suit. I should probably get to that once I get back home." She turns around and walks away from the table.

Steven then turned towards her, yelling to her, "Mabel!" Mabel stopped and slowly turned around, looking at him. Steven says, "I knew Stanford well. You do him proud."

Mabel warmly smiles at him and walks out of the restaurant as Steven watches her leave, looking out at the city again.

Pines Industries

After Wendy had just left, Pacifica was about to go for a meeting. Pacifica turns to Soos, "Soos, we'll talk about this later, but right now, I have to deal with this very annoying thing." Pacifica steps towards her office.

Soos asks as he follows Pacifica, "How so?"

Pacifica speaks lowly for nobody else to hear, "I used to work with him before I worked for Dipper, and he used to ask me out all the time, so it's a little awkward." Soos opens the office glass door, and they enter.

Soos tells Pacifica lowly, "I don't like the sound of that."

Inside: Pacifica's Office

Soos and Pacifica step inside Pacifica's office and stop as they see Bill Cipher looking handsome and fit in a business suit. Pacifica was utterly shocked at the change in Bill's appearance.

Bill smiles as he looks at Pacifica, "Pacifica."

Pacifica narrows her eyes in confusion, "Cipher?"

Bill looks at Pacifica's appearance, "You look great."

Pacifica, for once, is at a loss for words and stutters as she talks, "God, you look... you look great. I-I-I can't... What on earth have you been doing?"

Bill shrugs, "Nothing fancy. Just five years in the hands of physical therapists. And please, call me Bill." He smiles before narrowing his eyes in confusion, asking, "I thought I was supposed to be meeting with Wendy."

Pacifica snaps it of it and answers, "Yes, she... Uh... had somewhere she needed to go to and asked me to fill in for her." Bill shrugs, not minding.

Soos narrows his eyes between them and taps his badge, "Uh... you were supposed to be issued a security badge."

Pacifica turns to Soos entirely, "Soos, it's okay."

Soos, looking down at Pacifica protectively, "Yes?"

Pacifica smiles, "We're good."

Soos is still in protective mode, "You sure?" He sees Pacifica as family, so he ensures she's safe.

Pacifica says smoothly but gives Soos a stern look, "Yes. Stand down."

Soos tells Pacifica as he points outside the office, "Okay. I'm going to linger right here." He's not changing his mind.

Pacifica sighs lowly and knowingly, "Thank you."

Soos accepts, "Okay." Soos steps out of Pacifica's office and closes the glass door.

Pacifica turns to Bill, who narrowed his eyes in confusion between Soos and Pacifica but smiles at Pacifica as she walks past him, "It's very nice to see you, Cipher." Bill turns and watches as she walks past him.

Waiting Area

Bill's partner, named Giffany sitting lazily on a single couch. She looks to her right and sees a magazine on the side table. She picks it up and looks over it. Soos waits outside Pacifica's office on a couch. He sees Giffany sitting in the waiting area.

Soos calls out, "Hey, girl." He points to his security badge twice.

Giffany picks up her badge from the table next to her and holds it up to show Soos that she has a badge. Giffany then sees an employee as they walk past her and says, "Merry Christmas." She then puts her leg over the arm of the couch in a very unprofessional manner. Soos watches her and looks at her with suspicion.

Inside: Pacifica's Office

Bill, sitting on a couch with Pacifica sitting on another on his left, Bill starts, "After years dodging the President's ban on 'immoral ' biotech research-" He used his fingers as he quoted 'immoral', "-my think tank-" He grabs a box and puts it on the coffee table, Pacifica watching his movements carefully, "-now has a little something in the pipeline. It's an idea we like to call EXTREMIS." He puts something behind his ear, "I'm gonna turn your lights down." He holds up the remote and dims the lights, then holds out his hand and shows Pacifica three tiny metal balls, "Regard the human brain." He gently throws the balls onto the coffee table, and they roll smoothly, then suddenly stop and project a 3D image of the stars into the room, "Uh... wait. Hold on, hold on. That's... that's the universe, my bad. But if I do that..." He presses his projector control, which changes the 3D image to show the inside of the brain, "That's the brain. Strangely mimetic, though, wouldn't you say?" Pacifica is looking at it with intrigued eyes.

Pacifica comments as she looks at it, "Wow, that's amazing."

Bill tells Pacifica, "Thanks, it's mine."

Pacifica breaks away from the 3D image and looks at Bill in confusion, "What?"

Bill answers Pacifica, "This." He points at the 3D image, "You're inside my head. It's a..." He taps behind his ear, referring to something embedded inside his head, "It's a live feed. Come on up. I'll prove it to you." Bill gestures for her to stand up as he rises from the couch and stands on the coffee table. Pacifica looks at him unsurely, "Come on." He holds out his hand, and Pacifica reluctantly takes it, letting him help her up to stand on the coffee table in front of him. They are standing directly in the 3D image. Bill holds his arm out in front of him and Pacifica, "Now, pinch my arm." Pacifica smirks unsurely but a little devilishly. Bill smiles reassuringly, "I can take it. Pinch me." Pacifica chuckles lightly and not so lightly pinches him, and something immediately lights up in the 3D image of Bill's brain.

Pacifica's eyes widen curiously and ask as she looks at the projection, "What is that?"

Bill answers, "It's the primary somatosensory cortex. It's the brain pain center. But this is what I wanted to show you." He points behind her and gently turns Pacifica around with a hand on her left shoulder. He presses his projector control, and the image changes. He reaches around Pacifica in front of her to put the controller in his other hand, her not noticing how close they are as she stares at the image, fascinated, he then moves the image closer with his hand, "Now, EXTREMIS harnesses our bioelectrical potential, and it goes here." He moves the image around a bit before stopping and shows her an area of the brain, "This is essentially an empty slot, and what this tells us is that our mind, our entire DNA, is destined to be upgraded." He looks at her.

Pacifica, amazed and speechless, "Wow."

Waiting Area

As Soos sits outside Pacifica's office on a couch, he gets a call on his tablet. He picks it up and hesitates as it rings, "Oh, Wait. Uh..." He whispers. Giffany, flipping through her magazine in front of him, sneaks a glance at Soos with narrow, confused eyes. Soos finally presses the button on the screen and answers the call, holding the tablet high up so the camera monitor shows his forehead and eyes, "Hello?"

Dipper's voice asks sarcastically, "Is this the forehead of Security?"

Soos, realizing it's Dipper, lowers the tablet, "What? You know, look... I got a real job. What do you want? I'm working. I got something going on here."

Dipper's House: Garage / Workshop

Dipper asks sarcastically as he walks towards the stairs down to the wine cellar, holding Phillip on his right hip and his phone in the other hand, "What? Harnessing interns?"

Soos's voice exclaims, "Let me tell you something. Do you know what happened when I told people I was Iron Man's bodyguard? They would laugh in my face." Dipper chuckles, "I had to leave while I still had a shred of dignity. Now I have got a real job. I'm watching Pacifica."

Dipper walks down the stairs as he questions Soos, "You know Pacifica can easily take care of herself, right?" He knows how good Pacifica is in a hand-to-hand fight.

Soos's voice answers, "Yeah, I know. I'm just being thorough." Phillip is playing with his toy keys.

Dipper accepts the answer and asks, "What's going on? Fill me in." He reaches the bottom of the stairs and adjusts Phillip on his lap.

Soos's voice questions, "For real?"

Dipper answers truthfully, "Yeah." He looks at the wine bottles on his left.

Soos's voice informs Dipper, "Alright, Wendy's on vacation somewhere, and she won't be back for like a few days. So Pacifica is doing a favor for Wendy and meeting up with this scientist. Rich guy, handsome."

Dipper's unsure, "Right." He looks around.

Soos's voice tells Dipper, "I couldn't make his face, at first, right? You know I'm good with faces."

Dipper tells Soos enthusiastically, "Oh, yeah, yeah. You're the best." He puts his phone down on a box beside a one-seater couch as he watches his prehensile suits get lowered to a lower compartment in the wine cellar.

Soos's voice explains, "Yeah. Well, so I run his credentials. I make him. Bill Cipher. We met the guy back in... Where were we in '99? The science conference?"

Dipper tries to remember, "Um… Switzerland." He sits on the one-seater and adjusts Phillip to sit on his right leg with his arm, holding him gently in place. He moves his phone to face him.