Dipper and Mabel continued running for their lives as the angry mob of townsfolk continued to chase them through the town with no signs of giving up.
"Dipper, we can't keep running forever!" Mabel called out to him as she focused her eyes on the road ahead.
"I'm thinking!" Dipper called back, actively trying to figure out a means of escaping the conflict at hand. He then noticed they were about to pass another corner, to which an idea came to mind. "I got it! Mabel, this way!"
Dipper grabbed Mabel's arm and pulled her to the right as they turned the corner of the street. They soon wrapped behind a building into a small alleyway right before the mob could catch up to see them. Dipper crouched behind a dumpster and patted the ground beside him for Mabel.
"Right here!" he quietly directed her.
As she got down beside him, both of them could hear the mob around the corner continuing to actively pursue them. Though, without doing much searching, Manly Dan and the rest of the mob turned the corner and continued to riot straight down the road ahead of them, completely passing the alleyway. After a brief moment of waiting for the mob to pass, Dipper stuck his head out from behind the dumpster to scout and verify that they were in the clear.
"Alright, I think they're gone," he said, standing back up alongside his sister. "That was the second time I've been chased by an angry mob of people this week and also the second time I used that trick and it worked! You can thank me later."
"My hero," Mabel said sarcastically before snatching the newspaper from his hands. She looked back again at the article on the Mystery Shack and frowned. "Now we gotta figure this out."
Dipper leaned over beside her to read over the newspaper again. "I just don't get how this one article made everyone so angry."
"Me neither," Mabel sighed as she lowered the paper worriedly. "What're we going to do? If the Shack isn't popular anymore, then it doesn't matter whether Soos finds the deed or not. The Shack's still going to have a bad reputation because of this stupid paper!"
Mabel threw the newspaper on the floor frustratedly, landing with the front side up. Dipper glanced at the front cover, looking directly at the newspaper's name: 'Gravity Falls Gossiper'.
"The Gravity Falls Gossiper, huh?" Dipper read aloud as he narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
He picked the paper back up and turned to the back cover, which revealed a picture of Toby Determined with the title 'Owner' beneath it. He turned the cover toward Mabel and pointed out Toby's picture.
"I think I got a pretty good idea of who's behind this mess."
Mabel gasped. "Of course! I forgot that Toby wrote the newspaper here!"
"I did too until I noticed that this was the Gossiper we're talking about- the most infamous paper in town."
Dipper continued to read through a few more lines in the paper while slowly walking out of the alleyway. But right at that moment, he looked up from the paper and noticed the Gravity Falls Gossiper building conveniently across the street from the two.
"And would you look at that?" he said, pointing the building out to her with a grin. "I say we head on over and give Toby a piece of our minds, don't you think?"
Mabel quickly grinned back at him before cracking her knuckles. "Yeah... we got four years' worth of catching up to do..."
"Woah, woah!" Dipper said with slight unease. "Relax. I was only suggesting we talk to him. Nothing crazy."
"Fine," Mabel moped disappointedly.
The two began to walk across the street over to the Gravity Falls Gossiper, simultaneously watching their surroundings in case anyone from the angry mob stuck around or even returned. Upon realizing the coast was clear, they made their way to the front of the building. Dipper stood in front of the door, while Mabel tried to peek through the windows, but the interior blinds were down.
"Drat! Can't see if anyone's inside," she told him.
"Don't worry. We're going in anyway," Dipper commanded, standing back from the door. "On three: one, two, three!"
SLAM!
Mabel had gone ahead and given the door a full-force kick, slamming it against the wall inside. However, her kick was so hard that the impact of the door hitting the wall was enough to snap it off the door frame entirely. As such, it fell to the ground, causing another loud slam.
"Oop," she simply said afterward as she stood frozen with her foot slightly in the air.
"Waaaay too overkill, Mabel," Dipper told her, narrowing his eyes. "I was just going to turn the handle. We aren't cops."
"Ah! Teenage cops!" cried the voice of Toby Determined, who was cowering in the corner beside his desk. He shook his pencil point in front of himself defensively. "Stay back you fiiiiends!"
"Chill out, Toby. I just said we're not cops," Dipper told him as he and Mabel walked into the room, cornering him.
"Then whyyy'd you two just break down my doooor?" Toby asked. "You could've just knooocked!"
"Because my sister knows nothing about subtlety," Dipper replied, glancing over at Mabel with a lack of amusement.
"Not my problem that you'd rather do things the boring Dipper way," Mabel said, crossing her arms. "I just wanted to make things a little more exciting."
"We're not trying to make things exciting. We're trying to get answers!" Dipper sternly reminded her. "Just follow my lead, please?"
"What could you two scoundrels possibly want from meee?" Toby asked, still waving his pencil at them.
"Spill the beans, Toby. Why have you been denouncing the Mystery Shack in your papers?" Dipper interrogated.
"Yeah! Your papers have been ruining our business!" Mabel added.
"What? I haven't been writing anything about the Mystery Shack," Toby responded, getting up from the floor.
"Oh yeah?" Dipper questioned as he held out the article from the Gossiper and shoved it in Toby's face. "Explain this then."
"'The Mystery Shack is a hack?'" Toby read aloud in confusion. He looked back up at Dipper. "I didn't write this!"
"Dude, it's your newspaper," Dipper pressed, not convinced.
"It is!" Toby admitted. "But I'm not the main writer anymore!"
"Wait, what?" Dipper questioned, lowering the newspaper in confusion. "You have another main writer working for you?"
"Someone had to be desperate for a job," Mabel whispered over to him.
"You think I could keep writing the Gossiper on my own after all the years I've been running it?" Toby asked. "I've needed another writer to help me for years now! And what do you know? Someone actually accepted willingly!"
"You had to negotiate a high paycheck, didn't you?" Mabel presumed, unconvinced.
Toby frowned and looked down guiltily. "I gave him like nine raises before his first day," he admitted. He then walked to the other side of the room and pointed out a door to another room. "He also asked me to divide the office in half so he doesn't have to look at me while he worrrks. But the point is- I have an actual employeeeee!" He did a celebratory dance, thrusting his arms forward and kicking his legs as he hopped from foot to foot. "Ha-chacha!"
Ignoring Toby's horrific little dance, Dipper glanced at the door. "So... the real writer is in here?"
"Yep! He's the one responsible for alllll your problems!" Toby nodded as he walked back to his desk. "Now if you two will excuuuse me, I have to go online and buy a new door for my office."
As Toby began typing away on his computer, Dipper and Mabel walked up to the door to the writer's office.
"Alright, Mabel. Remember, NO kicking the door in this time," Dipper demanded. "Got it?"
"Fine," she accepted. "Now let's bust this sucka!"
Dipper smiled and nodded along at her energy. He then put his hand on the office doorknob and turned slowly, pushing the door open. He and Mabel walked in and looked forward to face the writer. The writer looked up from his computer and gasped once he saw Dipper and Mabel, who also gasped back once they realized who he was.
He wore khakis and a baby blue polo shirt. He was slightly chubby, with relatively pale, freckled skin. He wore a visor cap on top of his head, which was coated in white hair.
It couldn't be.
"Gideon?!" Dipper and Mabel shouted in unison.
Gideon Gleeful grinned as he stood up from his desk. "My-oh-my. If it isn't Dipper and Mabel Pines. After four long years, we finally meet again..."
Ryland rode his bike up to the front of the Mystery Shack. He got off and chained it up beside the gift shop before hurriedly rushing to the door. Immediately he stopped and stared at the front, where a 'Closed' sign was posted.
"Closed?" he questioned aloud, confused. "Huh... did I read my schedule wrong?"
"Yo Lando," a voice called out behind him. He turned around and spotted Wendy hitching her bike beside his.
"Oh, hey Wendy," he waved as she began making her way up to the front door beside him. "Did you know we were closed today? I know I'd usually be late at this time, but I still skipped out on breakfast to not be too late. So if we're closed today, I'm gonna be a little irritated."
Wendy looked at the 'Closed' sign and just shrugged. "Soos never said anything about us being closed today, but hey, if the sign says closed, what can we do?"
"Well, crap," Ryland said disappointedly as he rubbed his stomach. "That means I skipped out on omelets for nothing. If only I could go inside so I could snag from the vending machine before heading back."
"I got you, man," Wendy told him as she took a key out of her pocket. She put it into the keyhole of the door and unlocked it before turning the handle and opening the door for him.
"You have a key to the Shack?" Ryland asked curiously.
"Don't tell Soos," she told him as she put the key away. "Sometimes when I'm out late with friends and we're feeling too cheap or lazy to go out and buy food, we just drop by here so I can go snag from the vending machines."
Ryland nodded his head, impressed. "Niiice."
The two walked into the gift shop but immediately froze upon witnessing the sight before them. Glancing around the shop, they could see all their shelves and merchandise flipped over with everything lying on the floor. T-shirts, mugs, postcards, and other knick-knacks. The entire shop was just a huge mess. It was as if someone came around and searched under and around everything and didn't clean up once finished.
"Well, this place certainly looks... not good," Ryland commented as he looked around.
Wendy tapped Ryland on the shoulder as she made a rush for the vending machines. "Quick! Let's grab the snacks and book it before Soos finds us and puts us in charge of cleaning this up!"
This reminder made Ryland realize that the last thing he wanted to do was spend his Tuesday cleaning up the gift shop. He quickly rushed beside Wendy, who was in the process of unlocking the vending machine. Within a few seconds, she popped the machine right open. The two collected a bunch of random snacks from the machine and held them in their arms. Once they had everything they wanted, Wendy kicked the vending machine door closed.
"There!" she exclaimed. "Let's get out of here!"
Before making a run for it, they heard a loud crash, one that sounded like a glass object breaking. The two turned around and looked in the direction of the living room door, where the sound presumably came from. Wendy and Ryland glanced at one another.
"Hold up, you think that maybe Soos is getting robbed?" Ryland whispered over to her.
"I don't know," Wendy whispered back as she walked over to the counter and placed her stack of snacks down. She grabbed an axe from behind the counter and held it in her hands readily. "But if he is, then that robber just made a huge mistake."
Ryland stared at her axe in surprise. "Alright, so you just keep that right behind the counter. Yeah, that's... that's fine. Totally fine. I'm okay with that."
"Follow my lead," Wendy ordered him as she quietly stepped over to the door to the living room.
Ryland placed his stack of snacks aside as well and stood beside her. The two suddenly heard footsteps getting closer to the door.
"Someone's coming!" Wendy whispered over to Ryland.
She raised her axe in the air, preparing to swing. Ryland looked up at her axe and noticed that he didn't have his own weapon, so he raised his fists. The footsteps got louder until the door slammed open and Soos came running out in panic. Wendy's eyes bulged in surprise as she promptly hid her axe behind her back.
"Oh, hey, Soos!" she greeted awkwardly.
Ryland put his fists down and smiled forcefully at him. "Soos, my favorite boss! Haha!"
"Look, Soos, we had no idea that the Shack was actually closed today," she lied, her vocal tone seeming as innocent as possible. "We just assumed it was a mistake or something and we came in anyway."
Soos didn't respond and instead kept glancing around the gift shop frantically, which she noticed.
"Oh, and I know this looks bad, but we swear on our lives that we didn't make this mess," she added.
"Yeah, it was like this when we got here!" Ryland supported. He glanced at the two piles of snacks that the two had put down. "These snacks were also totally here as well. We absolutely had nothing to do with them. Totally didn't steal them from the vending machine. Nope, they were always there."
"Alright, I think he gets it, Ryland," Wendy nudged him, getting a tad irritated.
Soos finally looked over at the two. "Oh, hey dudes! Didn't notice you for a second," he said before frantically searching around the gift shop. "Hey, have either of you seen the broom? I have the dustpan, but I can't find the broom. I REALLY need the broom, man! I've searched everywhere for it, but I just can't find it!"
"Um..." Ryland said as he walked over to the vending machine and pulled a broom right beside it. "Right here next to the vending machine? Where we always keep it because of how many messes we make right next to it?"
Soos stared at Ryland for a moment before running up to him and swiping the broom from his hands. "Thanks, dude!" he said before running straight back into the living room.
Equally curious and concerned about Soos' erratic behavior, the two walked into the living room. They immediately saw him frantically using the broom to clean up a bunch of broken glass shards on the floor. Wendy and Ryland glanced at each other, noticing their equal unease with the situation.
"Uh, Soos? Are you okay?" Wendy asked, walking up to him.
"Yeah, you seem kinda stressed out," Ryland added.
"STRESSED OUT?! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM?!" Soos questioned as he got straight in Ryland's face, which freaked him out.
"Alright, Soos. You need to relax, man," Wendy said calmly as she pushed him away from Ryland and into the living room chair. "Ryland, turn on the TV."
Soos tried to force himself up and out of Wendy's hold. "Nah, dude! I'm good! Couldn't be better! Trust me, I'm fi-"
Just as he rose from the chair, Ryland turned on the television and the screen began playing some sort of anime battle between two bulky characters. Soos stared at the screen for a moment, processing the entertainment he was viewing. He started smiling as he sat back down and mellowed out in his chair, pupils dilating.
"Aw man, I love Dragon Sphere X..." Soos said, almost as though the show had put him in a trance.
Wendy looked over at Ryland and made a gesture telling him to shut the television off, which he did. Soos then stared at the blank screen for a quick second before processing it was off. He rubbed his eyes and then blinked several times as he looked around the room.
"Soos?" Wendy asked, grabbing his attention. "How do you feel, man?"
Soos slumped back in his seat and frowned. "Aw man... I don't know anymore, dude. I can't find the deed to the Mystery Shack anywhere."
"Deed to the Mystery Shack?" Ryland asked, raising an eyebrow.
Wendy had somewhat of a memory in regard to the deed to the Shack but had overall forgotten it had existed until Soos mentioned it. "What do you need the deed for?"
Soos stood up from his chair and sighed. "Long story short, dudes- if I don't find that deed soon, we might lose the Shack."
"What?!" Wendy asked. "Lose the Shack? Why?"
"We, uh, we may not have enough money to pay for this month's mortgage," Soos explained. "And because we never officially transferred the Shack from Stan to me and Melody, we're still under his name, which isn't all that great. So we need the deed to transfer the Shack to us officially so we don't lose it."
"Wait a minute..." Wendy began as she processed everything. "You mean you lost the one thing that can get you out of this situation?"
"IT'S BEEN FOUR YEARS, OKAY?!" Soos shouted defensively. "And it's not easy to keep track of a piece of paper! There's a reason I was never good at turning in homework!"
"Soos, this is, like, one of the most important papers for you to keep track of!" Wendy told him.
"I know!" Soos acknowledged as he stuffed his face into his hands with guilt. He looked back up at the two. "But can you please help me find it? I'll do anything!"
Ryland thought for a moment. "Well, I have been meaning to ask for a raise…"
"Ryland, he's already having trouble affording the place," Wendy reminded while narrowing her eyes at him.
"You're right. Poor timing on my part. My bad," Ryland quickly retracted.
Wendy glanced back at Soos. "Soos, we'll help you find the deed. No cost."
Soos stood up happily and immediately hugged the two. "Thanks, guys!" He placed them back on the ground and reverted to a more serious face. "Just whatever happens- don't tell Melody."
"No worries, Soos," Wendy assured. "Melody won't find out about anything."
"Hey guys," Melody said as she walked into the living room from the stairwell. The three turned toward her in surprise. She was immediately floored when she saw the mess that the room was in. "What happened in here?"
Soos, Wendy, and Ryland silently glanced at one another and around the room. None of them were sure how to respond.
"IT'S A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!" Soos lied on the spot. "AND YOU'RE RUINING THE SURPRISE!"
"Huh?" Melody questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
"GET OUT!" Soos said as he ran up to Melody and began gently but quickly pushing her to the front door.
"Soos, my birthday is in December!" Melody tried to tell him as she was pushed out the front door.
"Uh... never too early to celebrate!" Soos added. "Spend some time going out! Don't come back until, uh... later?"
He shut the front door and locked her out of the house, leaving her staring at the front door in absolute confusion about what just happened.
Inside, he brushed his hands together as he confidently walked back into the living room. "There. That should buy us some time. Now, who's ready to find a deed?"
Despite his confidence, Wendy and Ryland glanced at one another with uncertain expressions.
Dipper and Mabel continued to stand in shock at the very sight of their former enemy, Gideon Gleeful, right in front of them again. The shock came mainly from the fact that he was now in a place of power where he could write articles against the Shack that had the damaging effects they did. Another factor would be his major change in appearance compared to last time.
For one, he obviously looked older and had gotten taller, having last dealt with him while he was a ten-year-old. Now he was thirteen, and he looked like it too. The most notable change was how different his general style had become. Rather than a pompadour haircut, his hair had been significantly trimmed down to the point where it was just simply combed up. His hair was still white, however, so it still had that oddity to it. But, at least it wasn't bigger than his head anymore.
Second, instead of the baby blue suit they were used to seeing him wear, he now wore a baby blue polo with dark slacks and dress shoes. He also wore a gray visor cap on his head. It was a much more casual look for him compared to having massive suit shoulders. Minus the white hair, their former enemy now looked like an actual normal person. Kind of.
"Dipper and Mabel Pines!" Gideon cheerfully named. "This is a pleasant surprise. Please, come in! Have a seat! I insist!" he kindly asked, gesturing to a pair of seats right in front of him.
Dipper and Mabel stared at him for a moment, still processing his presence. The two then bitterly walked over to him, preparing to confront him over the whole ordeal.
"This is quite unexpected, I must say," he told them as he sat back in his chair, kicking his legs back on top of his desk. "How long has it been? Four years? My-oh-my does time pass," he said with a little giggle. He glanced over at Mabel and scanned her appearance. "And Mabel, ain't you looking as darling as ever!"
"Ugh, it hasn't even been a minute yet and you're already being creepy," Mabel said in disgust.
"I apologize. I intended no such thing," Gideon told her. "It's just some facts of the world need to be said. And fact is you've aged as gracefully as sweet honey pie!"
"Oh god, I'm gonna hurl," Mabel said, clenching her stomach.
"Enough, Gideon," Dipper demanded. "What are you doing working for Toby Determined?"
"What do you mean?" Gideon asked. "It's just my job. The reasoning couldn't be clearer."
"Yeah, well, I feel like you going from once promising world domination to becoming a normal newspaper writer sounds more than a bit out of character," Dipper addressed.
Gideon sighed as he lowered his eyebrows at Dipper. "I see your pestilent persistence hasn't changed in four years, Dipper. Fine. I'll tell you," he said as he got up from his seat. "Ever since Bill's defeat and the end of that summer, I tried my best to turn over a new leaf from my former, subjectively 'evil' actions. As I told you both in our last confrontation at your birthday party, I strived to become nothing more than a regular kid."
"And let me guess... you didn't?" Mabel presumed, crossing her arms.
"Actually, I did!" Gideon refuted. "Although, I wasn't that great at it, admittedly. I kept my old prison buddies around to beat up the bullies for me throughout middle school. They were and still are all I got in terms of friends," he said as he looked away from the two, thinking of his past doings. "But that's beside the point. After that summer, I eventually realized I had no goals. No aspirations. At least when I had the journal, I knew I wanted to take over Gravity Falls. For a time, that was my motive. But if that wasn't to be my purpose, then what was?"
He walked over to the window on the other side of the room beside the door from which Dipper and Mabel entered. He looked outside dramatically.
"That's when I realized that beyond my lust for power, there was something about the journal that I realized I loved more than anything else..." he claimed. "The marvelous storytelling!"
Dipper and Mabel stared at him blankly for a moment, somewhat caught off guard by his response.
"Wait, what?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Marvelous storytelling?" Mabel repeated.
"Yes!" Gideon excitedly nodded. "I mean, I was obsessed with chasing ultimate power because of it, sure! But the hidden truth was that I was also fascinated with the way it was written! Some of the adventures that your great-uncle described were so well told! I still get jitters just thinking about how intense they were. I was hooked for a reason!"
"I mean, yeah, I gotta agree," Dipper admitted, looking over at Mabel. "I always used to think Journal 3 was the type of book that should be published and sold to millions around the world."
"Exactly!" Gideon agreed as he began walking back over to his desk. "And so, my fascination with Journal 2 inspired me to write my own stories and articles, and over time, I realized that I had a real passion for it. I decided to try to find jobs writing for others, whether it be magazines, web articles, or even newspapers, but as it turns out most of them aren't quite willing to hire a thirteen-year-old to write for them. Much less the one that was publicly outed for spying, fraud, and other likes years back."
"But the Gravity Falls Gossiper welcomes all!" Toby said as he popped his head into the room.
"I'M TRYING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION HERE, TOBY!" Gideon scolded angrily.
"Yes, Gideon..." Toby moped as he slowly pulled his head out of the office.
Gideon cleared his throat as he sat back down in his chair and directed his attention back to the twins. "Yeah, as you can see, Toby was my only real option. I'm not proud of it, but I'm content working for him after negotiating a solid pay rate and after getting half of the office so I don't have to look at him while I write. And hey, I still get my writing published and seen by others!"
"That's great and all," Mabel began, snatching the newspaper from Dipper's hands and raising it in front of him, pointing to the Mystery Shack article. "But can you explain this?"
Gideon's face somehow managed to pale more than it already was once he caught sight of the article. "Alright, so, I know this looks bad…"
"You think?" Dipper questioned, growing upset again. "Tell us. Why are you writing hit pieces on the Shack?"
"Yeah, the Shack is risking foreclosure because of your stupid article!" Mabel added. "Do you try to make us miserable?"
Gideon bit down on his lip hesitantly before suddenly standing up from his seat, slamming his hands onto the top of the desk. "Alright! I admit that I wrote the article! But I didn't want to write it!"
"Oh, great," Dipper rolled his eyes. "Here we go with the excuses."
"It's not an excuse!" Gideon defended. "Look, the truth is, a banker for the local Gravity Falls Bank wanted me to write it. He provided me the photos of the fake props and attractions for me to publish alongside the article and offered to pay me for it!"
"A banker?" Mabel repeated, looking over at Dipper. "Soos said that the bank doesn't like Stan after everything he's done. You think a banker is actively trying to shut Stan down considering we're still under his name?"
"That's one possibility," Dipper admitted as he thought about it. He looked back at Gideon. "Who is this banker?"
Gideon rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well... I was also kind of paid not to say anything about him, and I feel like that's an obligation I need to-"
Mabel slammed her fist down on Gideon's desk before grabbing him by his collar and pulling him over the desk, giving him a very threatening look as she raised her fist in front of him. "WHAT'S HIS NAME, YOU LITTLE SOFT-SKINNED TWERP?!"
Gideon trembled in her grasp, holding up his hands defensively. "OKAY, OKAY! He's some feller by the name of Mr. Nessman. I don't know his first name, I swear!"
Mabel threw Gideon back in his chair and walked back beside Dipper, who was thinking.
"Mr. Nessman, huh?" Dipper thought aloud.
"Do we know a Nessman?" Mabel asked him.
"I don't think so," Dipper said, turning around and beginning to walk back toward the door. "Looks like we're going to have to take a trip to the bank."
"What about Gideon?" Mabel asked, glancing back at a cowering Gideon.
"Leave him," Dipper said. "What else can he do? He's told us everything we need to know."
"Let me help!" Gideon offered, standing up from his chair and walking toward the two. "Ya know, just in case things go wrong! I can back you two up!"
"No," Dipper refused. "Things will only go wrong if you're around. You could still be working for this guy for all we know."
"Especially considering you just refused to sell him out a minute ago," Mabel added, beginning to follow Dipper toward the door.
"It was a paid order!" Gideon defended. "An opportunity!"
"Everything's an opportunity to you, Gideon!" Dipper scolded. "But you never take a moment to think about what you'll end up doing to others! I mean, did you once think about us when writing that article?"
"Well, to be fair, it has been four years since our last meeting..." Gideon defended with a nervous smile. "I didn't even think I'd ever see you two again honestly."
"And so you didn't think we'd ever feel a type of way knowing that your paper got the Shack shut down? This is why we can't take you seriously. I can't believe I thought you could change," Dipper said with a facepalm. He then opened the door and stepped out of the office. "Let's go, Mabel."
"B-But, I have changed!" Gideon tried to tell them. "I'm not evil anymore!"
"It isn't about whether you're evil or not," Mabel said as she walked over to the door. "Maybe you're not 'evil' anymore, but you're still just as selfish as you've always been. Maybe you're a smaller thorn in our sides, but you're still a thorn nonetheless."
She left the room, leaving Gideon alone in his office with a look of guilt splattered across his face. The thought of being called a 'thorn' was unsettling to him. He remembered during Bill's invasion how he had made the switch over to the good side and actually had something to fight for. Since then, he had made an honest effort to change, but here he was being told that he hadn't actually changed much at all. And it really stung.
Toby then walked into the room and looked over at him. "So, how's that Deathball story coming along?"
Gideon slammed a fist down on his desk threateningly. "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY, TOBY?!"
"I'm just doing my jobbbb!" Toby said innocently as he ran out of the office in fear.
For a small town, Gravity Falls actually had a pretty decently-sized bank, running approximately three stories high with a pretty wide length. It was one of the most modern-looking buildings in the whole town but still had somewhat of an old-school vibe, being constructed from bricks and concrete, which fit in with the rest of the town. Dipper and Mabel never went to the town bank before, nor have they ever had a reason to, as twelve wasn't exactly the age for one to start involving themselves in finances.
They were simply there in search of Mr. Nessman and to get to the bottom of why he would want Gideon to defame the Shack. As Mabel had suggested before, it was certainly possible there was a connection between him and the bank's general bad relationship with Stan. They hoped that confronting him would be the end of their hunt and they wouldn't be directed toward someone else. At the very least, they knew Gideon wrote the article that caused this mess in the first place. Now it was a matter of finding the intentions of the one who wanted the article written.
The twins entered the bank and looked around the place, seeing how many people were around talking to bankers, accessing ATMs, and discussing other finances. It was pretty decently filled for a Tuesday afternoon. The two approached an open teller window with an available banker.
The banker looked up at the two. "Hello there! How may I help you two?"
"Hi, we're looking for a banker. A guy named Mr. Nessman?" Dipper told him.
"We need to talk to him," Mabel added.
"Nessman," the banker repeated. "Yes, I believe he's up in his office on the third floor. I'll ring up the door to the left and you can take the stairs up to him."
The banker pressed a button and the door to the left buzzed open. Dipper turned the handle, opened the door, and walked inside with Mabel following right behind. They walked up the stairs up to the third floor, where they saw one set of double doors at the end of a short hallway.
"Is his office the only room on the third floor?" Mabel asked as they began walking down the hallway.
"Not sure."
They looked at the walls as they walked through the hall. Hanging from the walls were multiple paintings of different pieces of abstract artwork. Nothing ominous, but Dipper felt increasingly unsure the closer they got to the office.
"We really should've done some research on this guy before coming here," he said.
"He's just a banker," Mabel shrugged off. "He's corporate evil at worst. Shouldn't be a bigger problem than what we're used to."
"I don't know. Maybe you're right," Dipper said as he kept looking around hesitantly. "But I just have a bad feeling about this."
They reached the end of the hall, to which Dipper firmly knocked on the door and stood back.
"So what's the plan?" Mabel asked.
"Just go about this casually," Dipper told her. "This isn't like Toby or Gideon. We don't know this guy, so let's just stick to asking questions in a calm and orderly manner instead of posing as threats. Got it?"
"Calm and orderly manner. Got it!" Mabel repeated confidently.
The door clicked, indicating it had been unlocked. Dipper put his hand on the door and held it open for his sister, before walking in right after her. As soon as they walked in, they noticed how dimly lit the room was, which contrasted far more with the light and colorful atmosphere brought upon by the abstract paintings. Nessman's office was dark and the only light came from the sunlight piercing through the windows in the back. The office was also large, seeming to practically take up the whole floor.
Dipper cautiously walked up to the desk in the center of the room, where there was a chair facing away from them, where Mr. Nessman presumably sat. "Um, are you Mr. Nessman?"
The chair slowly turned around toward the twins. In the chair sat an elegant-looking man, who wore a dark blue suit, light blue undershirt, long khakis, a pair of glasses, and a short brown comb-over. He looked forward at the twins with a stern face. The twins glanced at one another with apprehensive looks.
Suddenly, the man's stern face then switched into one of cheerful delight as he gave them a pleasant smile.
"Indeed, I am! Nessman's the name, and banking's my game!" he said cheerfully as he stood up from his desk and walked over to the twins, offering out his hand to shake. "Actually, handshakes aren't cool. How about we just give each other some high-fives? Up top!"
He held his palm out eagerly in front of the two, giving them both an opportunity to high-five. Dipper was apprehensive and gave a high-five that was much less than confident. However, Mabel was instantly sold and didn't pass up the opportunity, giving him a quick and powerful high-five.
"Wow! Now, that's cool!" Mr. Nessman said as he shook his palm in the air, pleasantly surprised by the intensity of Mabel's high-five. "Please! Take a seat! Both of you! Get comfortable! Mi casa es su casa. Actually, it's not really my house, it's my office, but you get the idea! Just have a seat!"
"Welp! I already like this guy!" Mabel told Dipper as the both of them began walking over to the two seats directly across from Nessman's desk.
"You are way too easily impressed," Dipper said candidly.
"So... how may I assist you two? Are either of you in need of any financial assistance today?" Nessman asked, rubbing his chin wondrously.
"Oh, um... no. No financial assistance needed," Dipper told him. "We actually came by to see if we could ask you some questions."
"Questions? Cool, cool. I'm down with that," Mr. Nessman nodded as he sat back down in his desk chair. "Hit me with whatever you got. And if you don't mind me asking, what are your names?"
"Uh... they're not important," Dipper answered with a nervous smile. "You see, we're just a pair of surveyors going around town asking people questions about Gravity Falls. We were hoping we could get some personal input from you."
"That's cool!" Mr. Nessman replied gladly. "Yeah, go for it! I love giving input."
"Alright," Dipper said as he pulled his journal out from the inside of his hoodie. He opened up and took a pen out. "First question: what is your opinion on the Mystery Shack?"
"Pfft, way to be subtle," Mabel cracked under her breath, quiet enough for Mr. Nessman to miss.
"Hmm... good question," Mr. Nessman said as he thought over an answer. "I think it has plenty of financial opportunities that aren't being properly utilized at the moment."
Mabel raised an eyebrow at this response and looked over at Dipper, who also seemed curious about the answer. "Interesting," he said as he pretended to scribble in his journal. "Any chance you could expand on that?"
"Well, allow me to break a law to give you that answer, heheh," Mr. Nessman chuckled. "But ever since the weirdpocalypse happened four years back, the Pines family and their ownership of the Shack have increased in popularity due to their role amongst the chaos. And at the same time, the value of the land the Mystery Shack sits on has also increased by several margins. I mean, that old hut is sitting on land with more value than most mansions! But it's being disrespected by an old wooden house still being run to the ground with fake knick-knacks. For such a greedy businessman, Old Man Stan Pines doesn't have a clue what to do with that place anymore."
"So that's why you hired Gideon to destroy our reputation? So you can just sweep in and take the land from us?!" Mabel intervened angrily.
"Mabel!" Dipper said angrily at the fact that she was breaking their cover. "What about that is calm and orderly?"
"Mabel…" Mr. Nessman repeated as she stared at her analytically. "Mabel Pines?"
Dipper's heart dropped upon realizing that he had accidentally blown their cover as well by revealing Mabel's name. Nessman's eyes then glanced over to Dipper.
"And you're Dipper Pines!" Mr. Nessman realized. "I knew you two looked familiar. You're the Pines kids! How could I not make that connection before?"
"Look, we don't want any trouble," Dipper said, holding his hands up defensively.
"Oh, neither do I!" Mr. Nessman said with a cheerful smile. "In fact, I'm actually glad you two have come to talk about this! Because now we can properly talk business and opportunity! For the both of us!"
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked skeptically.
"Look, I know why you two are here," Mr. Nessman admitted. "You've obviously come to defend the Shack and confront me on my plans. Yes, I did hire Gideon to write the article so the Shack's reputation and sales would plummet. But honestly, I'm not trying to be anyone's enemy here. All I'm trying to do is take on a huge financial opportunity. As I said before, your Mystery Shack sits on some pretty wealthy land now. If I can eliminate the Shack and set it for foreclosure, I can personally buy out the property and use it for, err... personal business ventures!"
"That's terrible!" Mabel exclaimed, horrified by the plan.
"Is this supposed to convince us that what you're doing is good?" Dipper asked, growing angry.
"Wait, wait, wait! Let me finish!" Nessman pleaded. "Look, as it's looking right now, the likelihood of the Shack paying off its mortgage this month is very slim. But I don't want to necessarily kick you guys to the curb either. Again, I'm not trying to be anyone's enemy. So instead, I'm offering a trade. The value of the Shack's land is too high to pass up, but if you two let me go through with the foreclosure, I will assign your family a few hundred thousand dollars in credit to buy another property, just as long as it's outside of Gravity Falls. And with that much money, you can do A LOT better than that rundown hut in the middle of this crappy town. And if you really wanted to, you could just set up the Mystery Shack again somewhere else! You almost have nothing to lose! It's a great deal if you ask me! A lot of other bankers would just take the property away and be done with you, but not this guy!" Nessman said as he pointed toward himself boastfully. "So what do you say? Do we have ourselves a deal?"
Dipper and Mabel looked at one another, both considering the offer. They nodded at one another as they visibly confirmed one another's thoughts as if they could read each other's minds. They turned back toward Mr. Nessman.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Nessman," Dipper began. "But we're going to have to decline that offer. Gravity Falls and the Mystery Shack mean too much for us to leave it all behind in favor of some big house in some average town outside of it."
"Yeah," Mabel agreed. "The Mystery Shack may be some rundown hut, but it's our rundown hut. And what you call some crappy town is what we call home to some of the best people we know. Some of greatest friends, some of the greatest family, and some of the greatest memories."
"Exactly. We've made timeless memories here in Gravity Falls," Dipper continued. "I mean, I almost consider it more home than our real home and we've barely spent more than a single summer here. The people, the places, the weirdness- we love it all."
"And we wouldn't trade it or the Shack for all the money in the world," Mabel concluded.
Mr. Nessman nodded. "I understand."
He then reached for a button under his desk and pressed it. At that moment, Dipper and Mabel were strapped into their seats as metal cuffs chained their arms to the armrests and their legs to the chair legs.
"But that doesn't mean I agree!"
"What the...?" Mabel said as she tried to pull herself from the constraints.
"What is this?" Dipper asked as he also struggled with the constraints. He looked back at Nessman. "What are you doing?"
Nessman pulled a large white sign and a post from underneath his desk and placed it on top of it. The sign read 'Foreclosure' in bright red. He looked back over the twins. "Seeing as you two are against me and my deal, I can only assume that you two are simply going to try to get in my way. And that's not cool. So, I'm temporarily trapping you two here in my office while I head on over to the Mystery Shack and put it up for foreclosure!"
"What?!" Mabel panicked. "You can't do that! We still haven't run out of time to pay off the mortgage!"
"Except that doesn't quite matter," Mr. Nessman said as he pulled the sign and post from his desk. "According to the 'Dibs!' Law, which is located in the official Gravity Falls Law Book, if an official Gravity Falls banker posts up an official foreclosure sign on any property close to foreclosure, that property is immediately set for foreclosure and cannot be removed by anyone who isn't a banker."
"Are you kidding me?! You're making that up!" Mabel said with disbelief. "Dipper, tell me he's making that up."
"Actually, he isn't," Dipper said, shaking his head. "That's an actual law in the Gravity Falls Law Book. And as ridiculous as it is, it's no less real than any of the others. It's also far tamer than a few others as well."
"But we still have time to pay off the mortgage! The Shack can't be set up for foreclosure if there's still time!" Mabel tried to reason.
"Except because of all of your Great Uncle's refinances, we've been allowed to take away the Shack whenever we feel it poses a threat to the bank," Mr. Nessman told her with a grin. "Because this is the first personal contact we've had regarding the Shack's financial situation in four years, I can write this little conversation off as a threat to us and finally put the Shack down with a reason."
"So you're going to lie about our visit so you have a reason to foreclose us?!" Dipper questioned. "And just keep us chained up in here at the same time?!"
"Where's the law that says that any of this is okay?!" Mabel asked Nessman as she continued to try to struggle out of the metal constraints.
Nessman opened the door to his office with his sign and post and took a step outside. He looked back at the twins. "Oh, there isn't one, unfortunately."
"Then you should know you aren't going to get away with this," Dipper threatened as he clenched his fists within the restraints.
Nessman chuckled. "With connections like mine, kid? You'd be surprised," he said as he closed the door, leaving the two trapped within their chairs in his dark, barely illuminated office.
(Chapter updated as of February 12, 2024)