Mabel continued to try to pull her hands free from the metal restraints of the chair. Despite her attempts, she just struggled to no avail. Dipper, on the other hand, sat in his chair without movement or even an attempt to escape. He simply looked on at Mabel's struggles defeatedly.
"Mabel, it's been ten minutes," he reminded her. "Just give it up."
"Give it up?" she questioned, struck by her brother's already defeated mindset. "Nessman's gonna shut down the Mystery Shack and you want to give up?"
"Even if we did get out of here, what makes you think we'll catch up?" he asked. "Again, he's had a ten-minute head start. Also, we walked here. There's no way we'd reach him before getting to the Shack."
Mabel stopped struggling and looked daringly at Dipper. "So what's your plan then? Since according to you, mine is apparently useless."
"I don't have a plan," Dipper told her flat out. "We're just gonna have to wait and hope that Soos found the deed by now because that's the only way we're going to get out of this one. Someone will eventually find us and release us. Then we'll report Nessman for locking us up here and hopefully, everything can just go on from there."
"All I heard was you have no plan," Mabel glossed over as she continued to struggle with the constraints. "So if you don't mind, I'm gonna stick to my plan."
"Suit yourself," Dipper said, relaxing in the chair.
"Dipper, c'mon!" Mabel called out. "We're about to lose the Mystery Shack. Are you seriously just leaving everything to fate instead of actually trying to find a way out of this?"
"Mabel, I don't know a way out of this, alright?" Dipper admitted. "I know I'm, like, supposed to be the smart guy and all, but right now, I just don't see any way of getting out of this. Unless Soos comes through with that deed, I think we've lost this one."
Mabel stopped struggling with the constraints and just slumped back in her chair sadly. She stared forward uneasily.
"So we waited four years for it to end like this?" she asked, glancing over at Dipper dejectedly.
"I guess so," Dipper said defeatedly despite not wanting to admit it.
Mabel closed her eyes and sighed. The genuine hopelessness that built within made her almost want to cry as she stared emptily at the floor.
"What a summer, huh?" she said softly.
Dipper lowered his head. "It was fun while it lasted."
The two sat in silence for a good moment, thinking over their future once they lost the Shack, which was something neither of them wanted to do. But considering the current stakes, it was the most likely future. Not that they didn't believe in Soos finding the deed in time, but knowing him, he wasn't exactly their brightest beacon of hope either.
As it was looking, they were staring the end of their summer in Gravity Falls dead in the eye. All the years they had waited to return just for it to barely last a few days. So many things they had yet to do and so many people they had yet to see again. Including Stan or Ford. If this was the end of summer, there was no telling where to go from there.
But just a moment later, the two heard some noise. Large, pounding footsteps running around nearby. The footsteps seemed to get closer toward them, as the thumps they gave off got louder every second.
"You hear that?" Dipper asked Mabel, both of them looking around curiously.
CRASH!
All of a sudden, the doors to Nessman's office broke down. Startled, the twins turned their necks around to face the broken double doors. A cloud of dust from the impact filled the air for a moment until a menacing figure stood before them.
As the dusty air dissipated, they saw the figure to be an incredibly bulky man with loads of tattoos on his arms, while also wearing a large black vest with some gear placed on his shoulder. He had long brown hair and a large mustache and beard. But his most notable feature was his pair of ghostly white and empty eyes.
Dipper and Mabel recognized him at first glance, but couldn't place exactly where they knew him from. They then looked at his shoulders, where they soon realized Gideon was mounted.
"Gideon?!" the twins shouted in shock but also with a bit of relief.
"Wooooo-we!" Gideon whooped with a grin as he looked down at the two. "I reckon y'all are in need of a rescue? Free 'em, Ghost-Eyes!"
Ghost-Eyes walked over to the twins and looked down at their restraints. Dipper looked back at Nessman's desk and remembered the button that he had switched to activate the trap.
"Quick! There's a switch over by his desk!" he told Ghost-Eyes, gesturing toward the desk with his head. "I'm pretty sure it can-"
"Too much button-pressing!" Ghost-Eyes cut off.
He then put his hands on their metal restraints and tore them off effortlessly with his sheer strength one by one until the two were freed.
"Um, that works too," Dipper said, somewhat stunned by Ghost-Eyes' strength, even though he knew he really shouldn't be.
"Glad I can be of some assistance, for once," Gideon gloated.
"Wait, how'd you know this would happen to us?" Mabel asked, standing up from the chair.
"I didn't, really," Gideon admitted. "But Nessman always did come off as a questionable man to me. I figured that y'all having a direct confrontation with him wouldn't lead to any good, which is why I brought Ghost-Eyes here…"
"Sup," Ghost-Eyes greeted, waving his hand up.
"...and another ol' prison friend of mine who's waiting for us in a pickup truck outside."
"You actually came to rescue us?" Dipper asked in surprise.
"I told y'all I wanted to help," he said as he crossed his arms and gave the two a broad look. "But you both denied me and said I would only get in the way."
"Well, could you blame us?" Mabel asked.
"Yeah," Dipper nodded. "Not really hard to assume after all you've done to us before."
"I know!" Gideon gave in and agreed. "But I wanna change! I'm sorry for writing the article on the Mystery Shack! I shouldn't have done it for the money, and I should've thought about how it would affect you guys! The truth is- I don't wanna be a thorn, and I do wanna be different than the last time you saw me! I want you two to look at me after four years and see all the new good in me rather than remember all the old bad I've done!" He cupped his hands together desperately. "Please let me help! I really want to be a good guy this time!"
Dipper and Mabel glanced at one another with uncertainty. They thought about it for a minute.
"He did save us," Dipper began.
"I know," Mabel agreed. "But c'mon, it's Gideon."
"Um, y'all know I can still hear you, right?" Gideon intervened, raising his hand.
Dipper sighed and turned back to him. "Fine, you can help. But we're warning you- if there's any sign of a double cross…"
"There won't be! I promise!" Gideon assured.
"Alright, then I guess you're in," Dipper settled on hesitantly.
"WOOOOO-WE!" Gideon cheered, throwing both his hands in the air jubilantly. "Look out, world! 'Cuz I'm one of the good guys!"
"Hey! There are the bad guys!" a security officer called out as he pointed at Gideon and Ghost-Eyes from the broken doors that they had just burst in from.
"Dang it! Well, I guess I should've figured that running and crashing through the walls of a bank would attract their security," Gideon realized.
"Actually, it might be because I robbed this place before," Ghost-Eyes casually mentioned.
The security officer then ran inside along with three backup units. Each of them pointed taser guns around at everyone in the room. The original entryway into the office was now blocked off as well.
"Hands in the air! Now!" one of the officers ordered as he pointed his taser.
"Welp. I think now's a good time for us to get out of here," Ghost-Eyes said as he picked up Dipper and Mabel from the ground and placed them on each of his shoulders.
"But they're blocking our way to the stairs!" Dipper addressed.
Ghost-Eyes turned away from the officers and began running toward one of Nessman's windows. "Who said anything about taking the stairs?"
Dipper looked ahead at the window that Ghost-Eyes was running toward as his eyes widened in fear. "Wait, what?!"
"HOLD ON TIGHT!" Gideon shouted, wrapping his arms and legs around Ghost-Eyes' head.
At the same moment, Ghost-Eyes jumped and crashed through the window with the three riding on his neck and shoulders. Dipper and Mabel quickly wrapped themselves around Ghost-Eyes' head just like Gideon and began screaming for their lives as they fell toward the ground of the bank's parking lot. However, a black pickup truck in the lot drove right beneath them as they fell, and the four landed in the back of it, with Ghost-Eyes taking most of the impact from the fall.
After a moment of shock, Gideon stood up and looked into the rearview mirror to see the driver, who was a man built and dressed similarly to Ghost-Eyes but with dark skin and a green bandana.
"Killbone!" Gideon shouted happily. "Nice catch!"
"Ain't the first time I pulled that stunt before, Gideon," Killbone said, smiling back at him. "You got your lil' friends?"
"Yeah, and we're about to be under some serious heat for breaking in," Gideon warned. "You gotta get us outta here!"
"Where to?" Killbone asked.
Gideon turned back to the Pines twins, who were still lying down in shock next to Ghost-Eyes after the landing. "Dipper? Mabel? Do y'all know where Nessman is heading?"
"Ugggh," Mabel groaned as she pulled herself up. "What?"
"I asked, where's Nessman going?" Gideon repeated, panicking at the time they were losing.
"Oh... OH!" Mabel exclaimed in realization once she processed his question. "He's going to the Mystery Shack to shut it down! We gotta get there before he does!"
"Head to the Mystery Shack, Killbone!" Gideon commanded as he turned back to him.
"The what?" Killbone asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I SAID THE MYSTERY…!" Gideon began impatiently before suddenly realizing something. "Oh right... I mean, head to the Local Town Cheapskate!"
"Ohhhh, the Mystery Shack! I gotcha now!" Killbone processed. He looked back ahead and prepared to start the truck again.
Mabel raised an eyebrow as she looked over at Gideon, who caught her look of confusion. "I may have used specific terms and names when referring to a lot of things related to y'all in prison when we were still enemies, heheh..."
Ghost-Eyes stood up and rubbed his head. He looked down at Dipper, who was still lying down from the fall.
"Devil Child? Are you okay?" he asked as he picked Dipper up from the ground onto his feet.
"I'm fine," Dipper nodded as he pulled his arm from Ghost-Eyes' grasp. He paused. "Wait, did you just call me Devil Child?"
"Gideon, is your girlfriend okay?" Ghost-Eyes asked, completely disregarding Dipper.
Mabel placed her hands on her waist and glared at Gideon. "Seriously?"
"Wha... I don't…" Gideon stuttered with a blush. "I haven't even called you that in years!"
"Isn't that what you called her just this aftern-" Ghost-Eyes began.
"ALRIGHT! ENOUGH!" Gideon anxiously cut off. "Let's just... move on from that."
"Right…" Dipper said, finally involving himself in the matter. He turned to his sister. "Mabel, we gotta warn Soos that Nessman's on his way to foreclose the Shack. He needs to hold him off before we get there."
"Don't worry! Mabel's got this!" she shouted as she grabbed her phone from her back pocket.
The Mystery Shack's museum was a huge mess. Soos, Wendy, and Ryland had basically flipped over and sorted through every single attraction on display. Soos had even begun ripping through some of the floorboards of the Shack out of sheer desperation of not being able to find the deed. He was becoming increasingly worried over his inability to find it.
"Holy crap!" Ryland exclaimed as he pulled a small chip bag from beneath one of the attractions. "Wendy, look! I found a bag of Ghost Chips underneath the Six Pack O' Lope stand!"
Wendy glanced over at him. "Weren't those things banned back in 2008 for being too hot? Or was it because they caused kidney failure?"
"Hey, if that means I could go home early, that's fine with me!" he said as he tried to open the bag.
Wendy swiped the bag from Ryland's hands. "Yeeeah... no. You're not taking the easy way out and leaving me alone to deal with this mess," she said as she threw the bag in the trash.
"Aw c'mon, we could've shared!" Ryland said.
"Yeah, but I kind of like my kidneys," Wendy shrugged.
The two then looked over at Soos, who had suddenly received a phone call. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and looked at who was calling.
"It's Mabel!" he announced as he looked back at Wendy and Ryland. He answered the phone. "Hello?" He began walking around the room as he listened to what Mabel was telling him. His eyes went wide. "What do you mean the bank is coming to foreclose us?!"
Wendy and Ryland's eyes also widened worriedly at Soos' restatement. However, the two looked behind themselves and noticed that Melody had suddenly popped into the room with her eyebrows raised at Soos, who was facing the other way, completely unaware of her presence.
"Um... Soos?" Ryland tried to alert him, glancing back and forth between him and Melody.
"Hold on, Ryland," Soos dismissed. His attention diverted back to the phone call. "What're we going to do? We haven't even found the deed to the Mystery Shack yet!"
Soos turned around midst his pacing and immediately spotted Melody standing in the room with her arms crossed. His heart dropped upon the sight of her and he dropped his phone on the floor in surprise.
Ryland and Wendy looked back and forth between the two awkwardly, neither of them sure what to do or how to react. They suddenly decided to stand still with straight postures as if they were cadets and Melody was their general.
Soos giggled awkwardly. "H-hi, honey. Um... how'd you get back in?"
"Soos, I live here," Melody said calmly, although, with a hint of irritation in her voice. "There's an emergency key to the house, you know."
"Not to be disrespectful, Melody," Ryland began. "But why'd it take you until now to get back inside?"
Melody thought about the question for a moment. "Alright, I admit, I forgot where the emergency key was and I had to find it. But that's beside the point. Soos, what's this about a deed?"
Soos gulped nervously. "Babe, please don't be mad, but... there's a deed to the Mystery Shack that Stan had given me that could save us from getting foreclosed because it'll make us the official owners of the Shack. The problem is... I lost it, and I don't know where it is. I'm so sorry."
"And what?" Melody asked. "Someone from the bank is coming right now to foreclose us?"
"That's what Mabel says," Soos said as he picked up his phone from the floor. "She says that if he puts up the foreclosure sign, there's nothing we can do about it."
Melody sighed, still maintaining a calm demeanor. She glanced over at Wendy and Ryland, who still stood loyally. "You think you two can help me distract this guy when he arrives?"
"Um, sure," Wendy said, as Ryland nodded in agreement.
"Good," Melody nodded. "Meet me in the gift shop."
Wendy and Ryland rushed through the museum curtains back into the gift shop. Ryland, however, stuck his head back into the museum to watch what was about to happen. However, Wendy grabbed his arm and pulled him away, leaving Melody and Soos alone.
Soos looked over at Melody, who had her arms crossed and gave him a glare that demanded answers.
"Melody, I'm sorry I never told you about the deed," Soos began, looking down guiltily. "I know I should've told you, but I wanted to handle things on my own for once to prove to you that I'm capable of fixing things for us. But as you can see, I've done nothing but prove that I'm too stupid to keep track of a simple piece of paper."
"Aww, Soos," Melody said as she walked over and kissed him on the cheek, which he wasn't expecting at that moment.
"You're not mad?" he asked.
Melody gave an unsure expression at first. "Well, I'm a little irked that you kept this from me, but your intentions were sweet," she said with a smile. "It's just that we've been running this business together for almost four years, and we've only been together just a little longer. After everything we've been through, I figured there was nothing else we needed to prove to one another."
"It's just that I feel like you do most of the heavy lifting around here, and I just wanted to take some of the weight off your shoulders for once," Soos explained.
"And it's sweet how you wanted to do that, but the truth is, you don't need to," Melody told him as she placed her arm around him. "We've always been a team. You're the one up front putting on a show for these customers while I'm in the back keeping things in check. Without either of us, there's a major piece of this business missing, and so neither of us should ever have to face these sorts of problems alone."
Soos gave her a warm smile. "Yeah... I guess not."
"So can you promise not to hide any more important secrets regarding the business from one another?" Melody asked.
"Well, this wasn't so much a secret, but more me forgetting we had a deed and where I put it…" Soos clarified, scratching the back of his head. "But yeah, I promise."
"Good," Melody said. She then rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly as she slowly walked back toward the gift shop. "And I know I just went on about how it should be us against these problems, but I'm really gonna need you to find that deed on your own within the next couple of minutes while I try to come up with a way to screw this banker over before he places that sign," she said as she stood within the gift shop, only her head popping through the curtains. "But I love you, and I believe in you!"
Soos was left alone in the museum silent, staring as the curtains dropped and blocked his view of her and the others. He then smiled dreamily.
"Man, what a woman..."
Mr. Nessman drove his car to a red light before stopping. He glanced around the interior of the car before catching a glimpse of his face in the rearview mirror. He brought himself up to the mirror and looked at himself closely, opening his mouth and licking the front of his teeth. He then clenched his teeth and gave an exaggerated, suave smile.
All of a sudden, he studied his rearview mirror and looked at the driver in a pickup truck right behind him. While he noticed the driver himself appeared really tough and bulky, what caught his eye was the teens leaning over from the back of the pickup. Upon looking more closely, he immediately realized that the teens were actually Dipper and Mabel. His eyes bulged knowing now that they had escaped and somehow caught up to be right behind him.
He saw Mabel lean outward on the driver's side of the vehicle to smile and wave at him before sticking her middle finger out at him with her tongue out. He gritted his teeth together angrily.
"Now that's not cool," he sputtered through his clenched teeth, gripping his steering wheel tightly.
The light turned green and he began driving normally, turning a corner. The Pines followed, but they were not in the middle of some big chase sequence, as they were in the middle of town, and drawing attention wouldn't be the brightest idea. Nessman knew he was being tailgated, however, and figured he needed to find a way to throw them off on his way to the Shack.
Dipper and Mabel focused on Nessman closely as they stood in the back of the truck, while Gideon watched from Ghost-Eyes' shoulders. Despite how much taller he had gotten in four years, he was still considerably shorter than most and still needed help in elevation.
The twins then noticed that Nessman had taken an odd turn.
"Where's he going?" Mabel asked. "That's not the way to the Mystery Shack."
Dipper knew what he was doing. "He's trying to throw us off," he told her, eyes narrowing.
"How can you be so sure?" Gideon asked.
"Because the Mystery Shack was an obvious left turn and he took a right. There's literally no reason for him to take a right," he mentioned as he looked over to give Mabel an annoyed glare. "...and we already know that we had gotten his attention..."
"Hey, it would've been a missed opportunity if I hadn't done it," Mabel shamelessly defended.
Dipper facepalmed. "Whatever. We just need to stay on Nessman. We can't lose him."
"Why don't we just go to the Shack and wait there?" Mabel suggested. "He won't put up the sign if we're there waiting for him."
"And how long do we plan on doing waiting?" he asked her.
"I don't know. Until tonight?" she suggested. "He'll probably give up after like a day."
"I'm not sure that's the case for this guy, Mabel," he said. "He seems really set on shutting us down. Like this has been a plan of his for a while now."
"Oh, I wouldn't be surprised," Gideon said, chiming in. "When he first asked me to write the article, he came in prepared with everything. He had the money, he had the pictures, heck, he even told me what to put in the article specifically. And as one with a history of evil plans, I got a familiar sense of those old schemes coming from him."
"Well, this scheme isn't gonna work," Dipper said confidently. "Nessman's the only one going down today, not us. Not the Shack."
"GIDEON!" Killbone shouted angrily from the driver's seat. "I'm getting impatient driving around in circles! How much further must I tail this piece of trash before I wipe him off the street?"
"Uhhh... no!" Gideon shouted. He hopped off of Ghost-Eyes' shoulders and rushed over to the side to call out to Killbone. "Killbone, we're not ramming into anyone! We're just following him!"
"WHAT?!" Killbone questioned. "FOLLOWING HIM?! FOR WHAT?! ISN'T THIS THE BAD GUY?! I TAKE BAD GUYS OUT! I DON'T FOLLOW THEM!"
"Calm down, Killbone!" Gideon pleaded with a forced smile through his panic. "Remember what we learned in prison? There's nothing greater than the power of…?"
Killbone's face reddened as he held his breath, trying to contain his anger. But he couldn't try hard enough.
"DEEEEEATH!" Killbone screamed ragefully.
He suddenly stomped on the gas as he drove behind Nessman. His pickup gained speed quickly as he caught up to Nessman's car. Dipper, Mabel, Gideon, and Ghost-Eyes all fell back in the bed of the truck with a sudden gain in speed.
"NO KILLBONE!" Gideon shouted in panic. "IT'S FRIENDSHIP! FRIENDSHIP, KILLBONE! FRIENDSHIIIIP!"
But Killbone didn't pay attention to Gideon and was too focused on ramming his car into Nessman's. Nessman himself then looked back at his rearview mirror to see the speeding car behind him and smiled. As the truck got closer and closer to his car, he made a sudden turn to the left, while Killbone continued to speed straight forward. After losing Nessman's trail, they began to draw closer and closer to the forest instead. This appeared to catch Killbone's attention, as he stomped on the brakes.
"KILLBONE!" Gideon cried out desperately.
While the brakes managed to slow down the truck a bit, it didn't stop them from entering the forest and crashing straight into a large tree. The front of the truck took most of the collision, allowing Dipper, Mabel, Gideon, and Ghost-Eyes to stay in the bed of the truck mostly unscathed, though not without getting thrown around. They all got up and groaned in pain caused by the overall impact of the crash.
Gideon immediately became frantic once he realized Killbone was still in the front. "Oh my gosh! Killbone!" He hopped out of the back and ran up to the driver's seat to see Killbone's head lying on the airbag. "Killbone! Are you okay?!"
Killbone blinked his eyes a few times as he brought his head up from the airbag. "I'm sorry, Lil' Gideon," he said with a look of guilt. "I gave into my angry side and forgot all about friendship."
"It's okay, Killbone," Gideon said with a tender smile. "You tried and that's all that matters."
Killbone smiled back at him while Dipper, Mabel, and Ghost-Eyes jumped out from the back of the crashed pickup truck. Dipper looked around and saw they didn't crash too far into the forest, seeing the street only a few yards ahead of them. They were in a particularly uncrowded part of town as well, meaning no one really paid much attention to their crash, which would've made for a much worse scenario had it truly been a greater issue. Luckily, everyone survived the crash. Unfortunately, Nessman was nowhere in sight.
"Damn! Nessman got away!" Dipper said as he kicked a lone rock on the ground out of frustration.
"And there's no way we're going to get this truck going again," Gideon added as he observed the pickup's damages.
"Great! There's no way we're going to catch up now!" Mabel said defeatedly.
"Don't worry! I can take emergency precautions!" Ghost-Eyes insisted.
"Really? You came prepared for this?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ghost-Eyes nodded. "Of course! Watch!"
On the corner of the street beside a carwash, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland stood beside their police car. They examined it admiringly.
"Lookee there, Durly," Blubs told him, wrapping an arm around him. "Ain't that the cleanest car you've ever seen? Tell me you ain't seen anything as clean as that car right there."
"Gosh, it sure is clean," Durland agreed.
"I mean, you'd have to be a fool not to wanna drive something as clean as that," Blubs continued.
"A mighty fool, indeed," Durland nodded.
"I'm gonna be honest, I'd even let a criminal drive it," Blubs added. "This car is too clean to deny anyone its glory."
"Oh, I agree, Blubs," Durland said. "If a criminal came up to us right now and stole this car, well, I'd rightfully understand."
"Amen to that," Blubs nodded in agreement.
At that moment, Ghost-Eyes casually walked up to them. "Mind if I borrow this car from you two?"
"Not at all, mista!" Blubs said with a smile as he tossed him the keys to the car.
"Thanks!" Ghost-Eyes said with a smile.
He then used his elbow to shatter the window glass and stick his hand inside to unlock the car door, which shocked Blubs and Durland. He started up the car with the keys and looked up at their shocked expressions.
"C'mon, guys! I got us a ride!" he shouted out to the others on the side.
Dipper, Mabel, and Gideon quickly ran over to the car. Gideon got into the passenger seat while the twins got in the back.
"Wait, why would you still break the window if he gave you the keys?" Dipper asked.
"Force of habit. And I enjoy breaking things," Ghost-Eyes answered honestly.
"Fair enough," Mabel said, despite Dipper's look of disagreement. "Now drive!"
Ghost-Eyes stepped on the gas and began driving down the street and around the corner, sending them on their way to the Mystery Shack. Blubs and Durland stood back on the corner in pure shock.
"Did we just let a criminal steal our car?" Durland asked, visibly confused.
"Yep," Blubs nodded.
"And are we a pair of fools for just standing here and doing nothing about it?"
"Maybe. But ya know what?" Blubs asked with a smile as he put his arm around Durland again. "What matters is that we're a pair of fools."
"You're right," Durland nodded with a smile as he looked back at Blubs dreamily. "Because two pairs are better than one."
"Two pairs?" Blubs asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean two pairs?"
"I don't know. I forgot the saying," Durland admitted.
Blubs stared at Durland blankly for a moment without a means of replying. He then smiled. "Hey, me too!"
The couple burst out laughing as they put their arms around one another. Once their laughter died down, they just stared into each other's eyes dreamily.
"Hello? Lil' Gideon? Anyone?!" Killbone called out from the driver's seat of the crashed truck in the forest, not too far from the corner where the two cops stood.
But the two didn't react to the cries for help and simply continued to stare at one another as if they heard nothing.
Nessman continued driving until he saw the sign for the Mystery Shack. His eyes bulged and he smiled as he pulled into the main lot. He drove up to the front of the Shack and parked. As he got out of his car, he glanced around, ensuring he was in the clear from the twins.
He walked to the back of his car and opened his trunk, where the foreclosure sign was kept. He had pieces of wire and pieces to attach the sign to the white post that he had brought along to plant the sign into the ground. He began to assemble the pieces together in the back of his vehicle.
"Hello there!"
The voice startled Nessman, causing him to quickly glance around at his surroundings in fear. He then spotted Melody, who was dressed up in Soos' Mr. Mystery outfit. Behind her were Wendy and Ryland, both wearing question mark tees over their normal outfits. They all stood smiling brightly at the banker as if they had no idea who he was.
"Welcome to the Mystery Shack!" Melody greeted. "The world's weirdest and most mysterious tourist attraction!"
Wendy pitched in. "We saw you pulled up and were wondering if we could interest you in one of our famous mystery tours!"
"Really? A tour?" Ryland whispered over to her. "But the place is a mess, remember?"
"Ryland, I swear..." Wendy threatened back in an irritated whisper.
"Oh right. My bad," Ryland apologized, immediately realizing his mistake.
"Ahem," Melody cleared her throat, grabbing the attention of the two as she walked beside Nessman and placed her hand on his back to begin leading him to the Shack and away from his car. "Anyways, we feel as though you'd be very interested in what we have to offer here. Just one tour can absolutely blow your-"
"Thanks," Nessman interrupted, pushing Melody's arm away. "But I didn't come for a 'tour'. I have more important matters at hand here."
He took a step back toward his car until he was stopped by Ryland standing in front of him. "More important than a bottle of our Mystery Moisturizer?" He held up a bottle of moisturizer with a label reading 'MYSTERY MOISTURIZER - Totally moisturizer that is mysterious'.
"Yes!" Nessman said, walking past Ryland dismissively. "There are far more important things then... wait, moisturizer?"
"Mystery Moisturizer," Ryland clarified.
"What's so mysterious about it?" Nessman asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Better question- what interests you about our mystery moisturizer?" Wendy asked, chiming in. "Because you wouldn't be so curious if there wasn't some sort of interest."
"Well, I mean..." Nessman began, thinking about how to answer. "You see, I work in an office all day and all I do is sit around filling out paperwork. And you wouldn't believe how dry your hands get! And it's just been so hard for me to find a decent moisturizer in this town that actually, you know, moisturizes!"
"Well, I think I have your solution right here," Ryland told him, gesturing to the bottle in his hand.
Nessman stuck out his hands for a brief second before retracting them and looking at Ryland with a skeptical look on his face. "Wait, you never said what made it mysterious."
"It wouldn't be such a mystery if we told you, would it?" Wendy answered with a grin.
Nessman thought about the answer before settling on sticking his hands forward. Ryland leaned forward and squeezed some moisturizer from the bottle onto Nessman's hands.
"Voilà," Ryland said.
Nessman began rubbing his hands together and his eyes widened upon feeling the sensation. He looked down at his hands and smiled. "Say... now that's cool! I can feel my hands getting softer by the minute!"
"It gets even better over time once it really settles in," Wendy said.
"That's right," Melody said, pitching in. "Here at the Mystery Shack, we not only have the finest attractions but the finest merchandise and products. No other tourist stop compares! You're quite lucky to be experiencing the effects of such a quality product for free."
Nessman kept rubbing his hands together happily. "I certainly do feel quite lucky."
All of a sudden, there was a loud screech from a car entering the lot of the Shack. Everyone turned their heads to see a police car drive in. Nessman spotted the driver and immediately recognized Ghost-Eyes and Gideon, and even caught a brief glimpse of Dipper and Mabel in the back. His senses immediately came back to him as he realized that he was being distracted.
"What am I doing?" he asked aloud. "I have a job to do! You three were trying to distract me!"
"Way to figure it out, Sherlock," Wendy chuckled.
"You knew I was coming!" Nessman realized as he took a few steps backward to the back of his car again.
"Yeah, and you're not taking the Mystery Shack away from us," Melody said as she took off her eyepatch and narrowed her eyes at Nessman. She, along with Wendy and Ryland, began to slowly approach Nessman threateningly.
Nessman used both of his hands to pull out the foreclosure sign from his trunk, holding it out in front of him defensively. "This sign says otherwise!"
Ghost-Eyes finally parked his car in a close enough spot to the ongoing commotion. Everyone in the car immediately stepped out and began to make their way toward the others.
"GUYS!" Mabel called out to the others as she began to run up to them.
"Don't let him plant that sign!" Dipper called out as he ran, pointing at Nessman's sign.
"It's too late!" Nessman shouted as he raised the sign in the air, preparing to plant it into the ground. "You all have wasted enough of my time! It's time to end your little Mystery Shack once and for-"
"AHEM!"
Everyone's heads turned to see Soos standing outside by the door of the Shack. He casually walked up to Nessman, who was still holding the sign in the air.
"Sorry to interrupt, dudes," Soos began, glancing around apologetically at everyone. He then turned toward Nessman and presented a paper to him. "But I feel like I needed to share this with you."
Nessman stared at the paper, which read '618 Gopher Road DEED'. He recognized this was the official deed to the Mystery Shack and looked up at Soos.
"The deed!" Mabel realized excitedly.
"Honey, you found it!" Melody said, running up to wrap her arms around Soos' in a celebratory embrace.
"Heh, yeah. Turns out I was right about my first guess," Soos said, glancing at Dipper and Mabel. "I was watching TV the last time I had it."
"But I thought we already searched the whole living room?" Wendy asked him.
"The whole living room except for underneath the seat cushion," Soos said. "I mean, no duh, right? The thing was lying right there when I pulled it back. Also a bag of Ghost Chips. Would've given them a try if I wasn't in such a rush, but it can wait until later."
"Well, you were just in time, it looks like," Dipper told him. "Now Nessman here can't foreclose us!"
Nessman looked over at him and burst out laughing. "Why? Because of the deed? A little of a piece of paper?" Nessman laughed. "How's that supposed to help you? Stanford already owned the Shack. I can still bring you down!"
"Stanford?" Soos questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Uhh, hate to break it to you, dude. But the name's not Stanford."
Nessman stared at Soos blankly for a moment, soon his calm face devolving into one of horror. "...what?"
"I don't know if you've heard, but I'm a Soos," Soos clarified. "The former owner of the Shack was Stanford. Or his brother, Stanley. I can't remember. After all this time, the name thing is still kinda confusing to me."
"The point is- we never had official ownership of the Shack until now," Melody jumped in, grabbing the deed from Soos.
"Yeah, and because of the 'Finders Keepers' Law, since Soos holds the physical deed to the property, he now owns the Shack. He's no longer under Stan's name, which is the name all your reasons for foreclosing us were under," Dipper explained to Nessman with a victorious grin.
"No. That can't be! That's a stupid law!" Nessman said in denial as his skin paled with the growing feeling of defeat. He then tried to pull his hands away from the sign but found that they were actually stuck to it. Despite how hard he tried to pull, his hands stayed attached to the post. "GAH! I can't move my hands!"
"Oh yeah, that mystery moisturizer that we gave you was actually an experimental super glue," Wendy revealed. "Something that we discovered in the closet that Stanford designed. Apparently, it uses a chemical that makes your skin softer, but makes the glue even stickier."
"What?!" Nessman cried out. He continued to try to pull his hands from the sign but to no avail.
"Wooooo-we! I must say, that's quite the sticky situation you got there," Gideon joked with a grin.
"Gideon! You little traitor!" Nessman said as he pointed the sign toward him offensively. Gideon fell on his back and raised his hands up in defense.
"Don't worry, Lil' Gideon!" Ghost-Eyes said as he ran up to Nessman and violently pushed him to the ground. Nessman attempted to stand back up but found the task onerous with his hands being stuck to the sign. He lay on the ground and rolled his eyes over to look at Gideon.
"Gideon, we had a deal! Why'd you tell them about me?!" Nessman asked as he continued to struggle to get off the ground.
"Well if there's anything I've learned from my experience with the Pines, it's that they're far more intimidating than you'll ever be," Gideon said as he stood back up over him. "And the job I had done for you was wrong! I've realized it was selfish of me to choose to work for you. I shouldn't have ever done anything to hurt them, and so I'm making it up to them by standing up to you!"
"You'll pay for this, Gideon!" Nessman shouted angrily. He eyeballed everyone else. "All of you will! You think you've seen the last of me?"
"God, I hope so," Mabel said with a light chuckle. "You're a lot more pathetic than most of our other villains. I mean even Gideon was better at being evil than you are. I mean, just let that sink in for a moment. A child was a better villain than you."
"Ha, yeah!" Gideon agreed, smirking. "Come to think of it, I don't remember why I ever thought you were scary! You really are pathetic!"
Everybody besides Nessman suddenly burst out laughing, while Nessman ignored them and continued to struggle to pull his hands away from the sign while lying down, rolling back and forth. He sat up on his bottom for a brief second before pulling himself up only to fall back down on the ground, angrily growling.
Mabel calmed down a bit from her laughter and looked over at Dipper with a slight look of concern. "We're not taking this too far, are we?"
"The dude paid Gideon to ruin our business, kept us locked up in chairs when we confronted him, and came here to shut down the Shack before it was even time to do so," Dipper reminded her. "I think this is warranted."
Gideon wiped a tear from his eye following his laughter. "Alright, that's enough fun. C'mon, Ghost-Eyes. Let's get this man outta here."
Ghost-Eyes picked up Nessman and followed Gideon over to their police car. Nessman looked fearful for a second. "Wait, where are you taking me?" he asked. "You're not gonna kill me, are you?"
"Gosh, no!" Gideon assured, greatly unsettled by the idea. "Who do you think we are? No, we're just gonna drop you back at the bank and let them deal with you instead."
"By the way, the glue should wear off in about five to six hours!" Ryland called out. "So, I don't know. Just watch TV or something until then."
"And the glue bonds you to whatever you're stuck to, so if you try to get the sign torn off, you're probably gonna lose your arms!" Wendy added.
Nessman groaned miserably as Ghost-Eyes shoved him into the back of the police car, the sign still attached to his hands. He slammed the door shut and got into the driver's seat, while Gideon got in the passenger seat. The two waved at everyone else as they began to drive off, and they waved back in return. Nessman dejectedly looked up and out the window to see the Pines and everyone else waving. He particularly eyeballed Dipper and Mabel and narrowed his eyes at the sight of them.
"Well played, Pines," Nessman mumbled to himself. "Well played."
Two days had passed, and the day generally seemed like any other normal weekday. The Mystery Shack was all cleaned up after being turned inside out from looking for the deed, and it was the first day back open since the Nessman encounter. And thankfully, business was thriving again.
Soos had just finished up a tour and several customers lined up at the register to purchase merchandise from the gift shop. Dipper and Mabel had sat in the corner, along with Waddles, watching Wendy and Ryland handling all the sales.
"Man, the place seems to have really picked up today," Dipper acknowledged as he looked at the long line of tourists.
"Yeah, this is more in line with the type of business Stan was getting when he was running it," Mabel added.
"Right?" Dipper nodded in agreement. "This is easily the most customers I've seen here since we got back."
"That's because of yesterday's paper, dudes," Soos said as he walked over to the two with yesterday's edition of the Gravity Falls Gossiper, pointing out a particular article.
"'Mystery Shack NOT a Hack!'" Mabel read aloud, taking the paper off of Soos' hands.
"Looks like Gideon wrote an article retracting the claims he originally made against the Shack," Dipper said as he read through the article.
And he was right, as Gideon seemed to address every point that Nessman had wanted him to make in his original article that started the Shack's downfall. This new article completely reversed those original claims, giving support to the Shack's mythos and validity to its attractions once again.
"And as you can see, it seems to be taking effect," Melody said, walking over to the three with a printing calculator in hand. "I already checked the amount of merch we've sold today. If we can manage roughly the same sales performance for the next week or so, then we'll have enough to pay off the month's mortgage and the late fee we obtained!"
"That's amazing!" Soos said excitedly as he placed his arm around her. "Looks like we really are back in business!"
"Gotta give credit- Gideon really did pull through for us," Mabel admitted. She then gave an unsettled look on her face. "Man, that feels REALLY weird to say."
"It does, but it's true," Dipper nodded. "We owe a fair amount of this to him."
"Gosh, y'all are making me blush," Gideon himself chimed in, surprising the four with his sudden and unexpected presence. "I appreciate the words. Really, I do!"
"Gideon? What are you doing here?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Admiring what the effects of my article have done for y'all. It really has done some good today, hasn't it?" he replied, turning to look at the long line of customers. "On a more serious note, I was wondering if we could converse a bit more in private outside."
Dipper and Mabel glanced at one another with skeptical looks but gave in. "Alright then," Dipper settled as he and Mabel began to follow him outside onto the porch of the gift shop.
Gideon shut the door behind them and rubbed his hands together excitedly. "So in my own time since we last met, I've done my own research on our good friend Mr. Nessman, and I've managed to dig up some interesting information on him," he began as his excitement died down to a more serious tone. "It turns out ol' Biz's plan to foreclose the Mystery Shack wasn't actually his idea."
"What do you mean?" Mabel asked, confused. "He said he wanted to tear down the Shack so that he could buy out the land for personal business ventures."
"Sure, he may have said that. But those aren't his personal business ventures," Gideon revealed. "He's actually working for someone else. Some rich feller is trying to pay off their debt by hiring him to buy off expensive lands for them to expand their business and generate a greater source of revenue. As it turns out, Nessman is just another pawn in the game. He wasn't the man who wanted to take down the Shack after all."
"What?" Dipper said, utterly shocked that they still haven't tracked down the man truly responsible for their latest misfortune. "So who's the real guy?"
"That, I'm not sure. And believe me, I've done a lot of research," Gideon assured. "But there doesn't seem to be any notable connections I can find tied to Nessman. Whoever's in debt wants to make sure no one finds out their identity. Especially since they're apparently really rich. They hid their tracks well. I don't think we'll find out who they are anytime soon."
"So there's someone else out there who has a target on us," Dipper thought aloud. "And they're still out there."
"Maybe we should interrogate Nessman about them," Mabel suggested.
"I'm not sure about that," Gideon said with concern. "At least, not now. I'm publishing an article specifically on Nessman for tomorrow's issue of the Gossiper that exposes him using a collection of other info I've gathered on him. If the effects on the Shack are any indication of the reaction he's expected to receive, then he'll be under a lot of heat. It's probably for the best that we stay away from our associated ties with him for the time being."
"I guess," Dipper reluctantly agreed as he turned to Mabel. "But I think it's safe to say that we have our first big mystery for the summer."
"I guess so," Mabel nodded.
"And I'm allowed to help out, right?" Gideon asked. He caught the twins' looks of skepticism toward him and frowned. "C'mon! After all that I've done for y'all these past few days?!"
Dipper sighed. "I guess you've proven us wrong in the sense that maybe you can change. You still have a few ways to go. But we're impressed. If you can keep going down this current road without any signs of turning back, I think we can consider you a true ally."
"Also, if you come to terms with the fact that I am never going out with you. EVER!" Mabel added, crossing her arms in disgust.
"Done!" Gideon accepted happily. "And I promise that you won't see me turn back. I swear, I'm a new man!"
Dipper and Mabel glanced at one another again before looking back at him. "Alright. Well, as it is right now, I guess you can help us out with this," Dipper told him.
"WOOOOO-WE!" Gideon cheered happily before suddenly hugging the two, catching the two completely off guard. "Thank you! I promise I'll never let y'all down again!"
"Alright, but we didn't agree to hugging," Mabel said, attempting to pull away.
"Just let him have this one, Mabel," Dipper told her as he lightly hugged Gideon back. "He's earned it."
Mabel sighed and lightly placed her arm around Gideon as well, solidifying the group hug between the three. After a few seconds, she heard a faint sniffing sound.
"I'm pulling away if you don't stop sniffing my hair," Mabel said in a clearly annoyed tone of voice.
"Sorry!" Gideon said as he stopped sniffing as asked.
"I know, sir," Mr. Nessman spoke into his phone as he paced around his bank office. "I tried, sir. But they've returned."
He walked up to his former window, which had been previously broken when Ghost-Eyes jumped out with Dipper, Mabel, and Gideon on his shoulders. It had since been replaced with a bunch of wooden boards that did not blend in with the rest of the room.
"...Dipper and Mabel Pines, sir. They've come back to Gravity Falls," Nessman continued over the phone. "I swear, if it wasn't for them, I would have absolutely succeeded in getting the land for you."
"Any competent banker of mine would know how to handle a pair of mere teenagers!" the man scolded. "And obviously you're not competent enough. You're fired, Biz."
A door opened behind the man and a blonde teenage girl with bangs entered the house. She took off her earphones and began to wrap them up around her phone as she passed by the living room where the man stood.
"I'm home, Dad!" she announced.
"Not now, Pacifica!" Preston Northwest exclaimed, covering the microphone on his cell phone. "I'm on the phone!"
Pacifica rolled her eyes as she walked right past him and began walking up the stairs, turning the corner into her room and shutting the door behind her.
"But Mr. Northwest…" Nessman's voice emerged from the speakerphone.
"Don't you 'but Mr. Northwest' me!" Preston upbraided, violently smashing his fist against the wall in anger. "This was my ONE chance at obtaining that land and being able to repay my debts, and you've ruined it for me! You're fired and you best not contact me again!"
Preston then took a deep breath as he tried to control his anger. He then looked around at his surroundings in the room, ensuring he was alone at the moment.
"And I hope you still remember the gag order you've signed," he quietly spoke into his phone. "I recommend never speaking of any of our deal to anyone if you know what's good for you."
He hung up the phone and threw it down on the table beside him. Making his way over to a large window in the room, he placed his hands over his face and sighed loudly. He stared outside for a moment in silence until Priscilla walked into the room behind him and stepped up next to him.
"So what're we going to do now?" she asked him with a concerned look on her face.
"Back to the drawing board, my dear. Back to the drawing board..." he told her casually as he wrapped his arms around his back in a formal matter.
"So what should we do about next month's renaissance party?" she asked him. "Should I cancel the invites? You know we used to send these over a month in advance before. Is it too risky?"
"No," Preston assured her, placing his hands upon her shoulders in a comforting manner to settle her down. "This is only a setback. Trust me, there will be other ways." He took his hands off her shoulders, walked back toward the window, and stared outside. "Send the invites for the revival. It's time for the world to know that the Northwests are back on the map."
From their new mansion, he stared across the valley where their former mansion sat, which now belonged to the McGuckets. Their new mansion was slightly smaller in size compared to their previous one, but he wasn't going to let a little size difference get the best of him. McGucket may have been rich, but his name wasn't nearly as big as theirs once was. By the next month, he planned for things to be just like how they used to be. By the time the party arrives, it'll be as if they had never lost their fortune. It'll be as if they had never gone away.
And after all these years, they'll still be the best of the best.
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Hope you all have been enjoying things so far. Next time, we take a bit of a break from Dipper and Mabel to check in on another pair of Pines twins.
-Absolute Rift
(Chapter updated as of February 14, 2024)