PART 1:
Thunder cracking overhead, two pairs of feet run through a puddle on a rooftop, distorting the reflection of the Pitt factory. The hooded figures dodge obstacles and duck the projectiles being fired at them from a man chasing behind them. The two look over the edge of the roof, Jace throwing the protesting smaller person towards the distant, lower roof. She pulls off her hoodie and starts flying, but the man chasing them fires a net, which immobilizes her and sends her crashing onto the roof.
The chaser walks over to Jess(andra Boreas), modified triple-barrel shotgun at the ready, and asks her if she's been to Gravity Falls. Jess plays dumb at first but then reveals that she knows about the town, and about it disappearing from the internet and people's memories, though she doesn't know how he knows about it. He says that he doesn't personally, but his employer does, and that employer knows that two harpies around her and Jace's age have been there... and have met Dipper and Mabel Pines. Jess really doesn't know where the twins are, although the man doesn't believe her and aims the weapon at her-
Then Jace flies in and knocks him off the roof, although he is able to pull out a grappling hook and save himself from hitting the road below. By the time he gets back to the roof, Jess and Jace are already gone, and with a sigh, he begins a video call with a sleepy Alvis Leuthar. The man, Mr. Jeffreys, tells Alvis that he found the harpies and their kids, though he hasn't found the twins yet. Alvis tells him that updating when all he has is bad news isn't going to please Kinley and promptly kills Alberta's good mood at being called instead of Montana, who has disappeared since the start of summer. Alvis tells Alberta Jeffreys to find the twins, assuring him that the twins will lead them to someone even more valuable...
At a rest stop overlooking Pittsburg, Mabel is being herself by yelling at the city. Dipper heads to a vending machine as Ford admires the technological advancements of the city and easily shows off that he knows the content of Pitt Soda. Dipper returns and calls a group meeting, bringing up the lack of trust he has in Ford... for the fifth time. Dipper is nearly paranoid, Wendy is suspicious, but Soos and Mabel don't have a problem with Ford (as long as he stays normal), and Dipper is unable to give a specific reason why this Ford is a liability.
Dipper agrees to let the evidence speak for itself, Ford thanking him before turning the conversation to why they are in Pittsburg. Dipper mentions Zander, Ford grumbling that he can't be trusted either, but Mabel assures him Dipper doesn't trust Zander before pulling him away from the others. Dipper says that he still doesn't like the situation and that he's concerned Bill has something planned that they don't know about. Mabel reminds him that people should be considered innocent until proven guilty, Dipper realizing he's been blaming this version of Ford for what his counterpart from three years ago did.
Then he sees Ford looking through the Journals and everything goes out the window. Dipper asks him what he's doing with his Journals, Ford responding that he's updating a theory he wrote in his Journals and he flips through the second book. Dipper clamps down on his excitement at seeing the Author in action and mentions what happened last time they met, but Ford reminds him they never met before as he finds what he was looking for. Dipper gives in and watches as Ford updates a telekinesis spell, mentioning how Gideon used it to attack people. Ford admits that magic in the wrong hands can be dangerous but agrees with Dipper that Zander is too quick to say all magic is bad and corruptive just based on his experiences with the Sorcerer and the Warlock.
Ford tells Dipper magic is a very pragmatic thing and was something that could have been a reality at one point in time, mentioning magic was nearing its peak around 400 years ago before it died out suddenly. Dipper, knowing about the Stone absorbing magic around the time Ford mentioned, starts to try and trick Ford into teaching him about magic while the 'research' the answers together, but Mabel comes in and pulls Dipper away, angry at him for wanting to learn magic despite Zander's warnings. Dipper admits that Zander probably does know more about magic than Ford, Mabel mentioning that if the Guardsman is scared by something, it must be pretty bad, although Dipper isn't too sure about this.
They all gather together to debate where they should go to wait for Zander to call. Soos suggests visiting the original Pitt Cola factory, which seems like a good idea until they arrive to see the place crowded. Dipper starts a four-way phone call with everyone to determine if going in is a good idea or not, Ford saying that blending into a big crowd is probably their best way of remaining unseen. Dipper eventually agrees that they can go in, although he can't shake the bad feeling he has. The climb out of the cars and start heading for the factory, but stop short when Wendy's wraith senses notice someone watching them from the roof of the building.
They turn around quickly but their retreat is cut short when six men with triple-barreled modified shotguns start walking up, Dipper kind-of recognizing the leader as he steps forward. Ford, who has moved between the leader and the twins, is called kid and told to get out of the way, Ford recognizing something just before the leader fires. Wendy jumps in front of Ford and gets hit by the tranquilizer instead, but stays up and the five of them start running, Wendy blocking as many darts as she can. Another man comes out from between some cars and fires at Mabel just before she punches him out cold. She collapses, Dipper catching her as Ford stops running and starts a spell, Wendy distracting five of the men so he can perform it. The sixth, however, is able to hit Ford and knock him out as well, Soos checking on him.
The leader tells Dipper to surrender so he can stop Wendy from getting beat up any more than she already has been, but a shadow passes overhead and the man aims his weapon at the sky. A man with red, orange and silver feathers swoops in and send the leader to the ground, the leader warning his associates about the arrival of harpies just before a harpy woman with brown and green feathers starts an attack of her own, giving Wendy some backup. The leader explodes a smoke bomb and runs away, the others hunters following his lead.
Dipper checks on Mabel and pulls the tranquilizer out before asking the male harpy who he is. A familiar voice tells her dad to introduce himself, Jess landing and giving Dipper a bear hug. Her father, Archer, introduces himself and his wife, Chloe, as Jace lands next to his mother, who is fussing over Wendy. Jess asks Dipper why they aren't in Gravity Falls and who Ford is, Dipper agreeing to answer questions once they get somewhere less public, the crowd observing them with phone cameras at the ready. Chloe says they can come to their home, Dipper trying to figure out how they were tracked down so quickly as he drives himself and a bursting-with-questions Jess to her family's place.
Under one of the many bridges in and around Pittsburg is where the family built their nest, Archer not exactly alleviating Dipper's fears about the structure potentially falling due to the increased weight. They enter the home, smaller nests made of blankets on platforms above the kitchen and living room. Ford and Mabel are put in one of the nests as Chloe begins making tea, Dipper asking Jess and Jace why they are in Pittsburg if they're from Canada. They, and their father, explain that their home in Canada was designed to protect the Phoenix, but with it gone, they had decided to head back home to Greece, but that plan fell through when Alberta and his hunters showed up.
Mabel starts to stir, hug-attacking Jace and Jess when she realizes they aren't part of a dream. Jess says the hunters make a living hunter extra-normal people, Jace saying that that's the term that has been designated to the returning paranormal species. Wendy says that that makes her feel better, eventually telling a suspicious and still jealous Jess that she's a wraith. Ford wakes up as this news is processed, Archer requesting getting answers of his own about why the twins show up when they are supposed to be in Gravity Falls, and why they show up a week after Alberta and his hunters start causing problems.
Dipper tells them everything that happened since the death of the Phoenix and their current mission. Chloe brings the tea over as Archer mentions that people are scared of them and the other extra-normal beings, Alberta and his hunters the result of that fear. He mentions Jess and Jace being attacked the night before, but Jess admits that Alberta had been asking questions about the twins, making Dipper feel guilty to no end. Jess assures him knowing him- wait, them is worth it as Archer says they will have to stay on the move and put Greece on hold until the twins complete their mission. Dipper looks around, contemplating how lucky they were to run into the family, but then notices Soos staring at his tea and his concern is aroused.
Ford interrupts before Dipper can get answers from Soos, finally having placed Alberta's voice. He says that his brother and the entire Jeffreys family was famous back in his time for being archaeologists and having talking dogs, the twins realizing that Alberta must be related to Montana Jeffreys, everyone shocked at the number of adventures and amount of danger the twins get into. Archer says the twins and their friends need to leave, concerned about the safety of his family, the twins agreeing with this despite Jess' protests that they can't leave yet.
Dipper says that now's the best time since they lost Alberta and his hunters, but Wendy glances out the window, having just enough time to yell for everyone to get down before a helicopter blasts the nest to shreds. The firing stops for a second, but a man breaks open the door and aims a gun at everyone. Wendy jumps at him and kicks him through the open door and into the water below, but as she lands, the floor under her gives out, and she disappears from sight.
PART 2:
Heedless to the danger, Dipper scrambles to the edge of the house to see Wendy barely hanging on to the remains of the floor. With everyone pulling her up and Jace and Jess flying and giving her a boost, they pull her back inside the collapsing structure. The helicopter circle around again and starts coming for them, Archer and Chloe telling everyone else to get to safety while they distract the helicopter. Jess and Jace try to protest but their parents start flying before they can do so, dragging everyone's attention to the walkway that leads up to the house, men with weapons and wearing clothes with the hands and flaming star symbol of Graupner's cult, the Rising Grasp.
After a brief pause for Jess to grab the Pine Tree hat Dipper gave her when they first met, they start evacuating the house, taking out cultists as they go. Then the helicopter fires a missile and causes the house to explode, although the only people who are affected are the cultists. Dipper, realizing how serious Graupner has become, allows Mabel to pull him the rest of the way to solid land. Stopping by the cars, Jace and then Jess say their goodbyes to everyone, Jess visibly preparing herself to tell Dipper how she feels when a voice yells from the alley to get them. Dipper pulls Jess down as everyone else dives for cover and Jace takes to flight, the bullets only hurting the car Ford took.
Jess says she can fly away but Dipper tells her it's too dangerous and her brother was lucky, saying they need to get her somewhere safe and make sure they aren't being followed anymore. Mabel and Wendy, then Soos and Ford, all step out to distract the three guys shooting at them, Mabel taking out two while Ford knocks out one about to attack Soos with a knife. Jess gets in Dipper's car, the girls hopping on Mabel's bike and the guys in the El Diablo as more cultists arrive, everyone getting back on the deserted main road as quickly as possible, Dipper thankful the citizens were smart enough to run away from the gunfire.
The three vehicles are forced to split up when a suped-up garbage truck makes an appearance, the truck starting to follow Dipper while a man bungee corded to the top yells about magic into a microphone. Dipper gives Jess the short version about Graupner and everything, realizing that this means war as she asks him how they should deal with the truck, which is damaging a lot of property as the people on it throw pamphlets, a helicopter now following from above. He yells at Jess to start a group call with the others, Wendy and Ford answering while Soos and Mabel continue to drive.
After confirming that everyone is okay, he tells them his plan- stay in the city and let the authorities handle the situation, as they are in no way equipped to handle the Rising Grasp. He says that staying in the city would make it easier for the authorities to handle, and just maybe, they will be able to stop the problem before anyone else gets hurt. Ford agrees with the plan, but says they should loose the cultists if they can, Dipper agreeing just before he has to swerve to avoid a police cruiser, Jess hanging up the phone as the garbage truck crashes into and knocks aside the cop car.
Dipper realizes they won't be able to loose the garbage truck if they stay on the streets, so he decides to act like Mabel and start driving for the fence surrounding a city park. Praying his car can survive, he barrels into the park and starts driving over and through roots of trees. He tells Jess to check on the truck, Jess turning just in time to see it break through the fence. She reports this as Dipper swerves to avoid a pond, grumbling about the amount of stress he's under avoiding the cultists and keeping her safe as the tree branches knock out the guy on top of the truck.
Jess reaches into his vest and pulls out the Journals, Dipper telling her to find a spell that will increase reaction timing and thinking as the truck continues to gain ground. Jess finds the spell, Dipper repeating the words quickly and instantly allowing him to focus and plan how to loose the truck. He turns the car and starts heading back towards the pond, swerving at the last second to avoid going into the water, the truck not having enough time to react and crashing into it as Dipper drives out of the park. Then the spell takes it's toll, Dipper's brain becoming foggy and making him unable to focus on anything, especially driving.
He is able to snap himself out of it just in time to avoid Alberta Jeffreys standing in the middle of the road, gun aimed at him. Dipper swerves and barrels into the parking lot of the Pitt Cola factory, Soos and Ford following behind them as Dipper looses control and the car crashes into the wall, Dipper getting a cut on his head in the process. Ford and Soos come over just as they scramble out of the car, Journal back under Dipper's vest, Alberta and his hunters closing in. Ford bolts and drives away in the El Diablo, leaving Dipper, Soos and Jess to run into the factory alone.
They run through the factory, avoiding tranquilizer darts as they make their way to the factory floor, having to climb down chains attached to a control platform, which Soos accidentally turns on. The machinery up and running and pumping out steam, they hide just as Alberta and his hunters make it to the platform. One tries to turn the machines off, but everything shorts out, so the hunters are stuck using thermal vision. Dipper points out that the steam is working in their favor on that, and when he sees something on the ground after Soos asks how exactly he should hide, Dipper says they might have a way to fight the hunters.
Over their comm sets, Alberta warns his hunters to be prepared for retaliation. One of the hunters notices a shoe about the size of Jess's feet sticking out, something round and fuzzy between him and the shoe. As he steps over the fuzzy thing, it moves and attacks him, the last thing he sees being a peach with a face before he yells and is silenced. Over the comms, Alberta asks what happened, but the hunter who remained on the platform only saw something big and round move. Alberta says to consider the hunter he lost dead and tells everyone to keep searching, not wanting to be seen as less than his brother, although he fails to notice a peach mascot watching him.
The hunter on the platform hears the chains rattle, informing the others over the comms that one of the people is below him, not listening to Alberta when he says to hold. As he leans over the platform, there is a gust of wind and two feet slam into him, knocking him off the platform. Alberta tells the remaining hunters to regroup by the boiling vats, still failing to notice the peach costume sneaking away. Dipper removes the costume as he reunites with Jess and Soos, suggesting Jess be bait so the hunters will come to them instead of the other way around.
Jess runs out, Soos and Dipper taking down the first hunter to go after her, all three of them taking out the second. Then the last of Alberta's hunters fires a net at them, trapping Soos and sending him rolling to the edge of an empty boiling vat. Dipper and Jess take out the hunter before moving to free Soos, but just as they finish, Alberta appears and traps Dipper in a net as well. Jess moves to help Dipper while Soos defends her and the other extra-normal beings, whom Alberta calls monsters. Soos tries to attack but his moves are easily blocked. Alberta admits that Soos is persistent when he gets in the line of fire again, Soos agreeing that he is where his friends are concerned. Alberta mocks this, saying those 'friends' have done a great job keeping Soos safe and all he's good for is being a meat shield, Soos faltering at these words.
Dipper asks Alberta how he can be so different from his brother, Alberta freaking out when Dipper says he's met Montana personally. Grabbing him by the net, Alberta asks where his brother is, but Jess jumps in, making Alberta drop both Dipper and his weapon, although she is unable to avoid being kicked. Dipper gets out of the net and starts wrestling with Alberta, telling Jess to shoot when he sees she picked up the tranq gun. Jess shoots, but Montana moves at the last second, the dart sicking under Dipper's arm and sending him collapsing onto Alberta. Then Dipper roars and pushes him off the edge of the vat, both of them falling to the bottom.
Soos scrambles down a ladder while Jess flies down, both rushing to Dipper's unmoving form. Soos starts feeling for a pulse while Jess babbles about having to tell Dipper that she loved him and she should have warned them about what was going on so he could avoid being hurt. Then his eyes blink open, Jess going red while Soos hugs Dipper, then yells at him for pretending to be dead. Dipper admits that the fall really did mess him up, but assures them that he is fine, pulling the tranq dart that got stuck in the spine of the Journal out of his vest. The start to climb out, but stop when the first hunter they knocked out aims a gun at them from above. Then he is hit on the head by a piece of pipe wielded by Ford, who says he regrouped with the others as Jace, Wendy and Mabel come into view.
Outside, Jace tells Mabel that his family is probably going to be going to Baltimore as Dipper marches over to interrogate Ford about why he bailed. Ford says he went immediately to find the girls and says that it was probably good, because who knows what would have happen with the last hunter otherwise. He says that he knows Dipper knows about what happened with Bill but insists that he's not the same person, warning Dipper that 'trust no one' is how he got involved with Bill in the first place. They agree to work together to figure out what happened to the town with the Stone and everything, Ford heading to the cars, leaving Dipper facing Jess. She babbles oh-so-similarly to how he did to Wendy three years ago, but he is able to use that experience to assure her that she's not alone and give her what comfort he can, knowing pretty much exactly how she feels, though it still hurts, especially because she knows he still has a thing for Wendy. The two of them hug before she and Jace fly away, Jess assuring Dipper that she doesn't need it anymore when she drops his hat at his feet.
Memory of home back on his head, Dipper leads the five of them to a motel on the edge of the city, authorities assessing what they can. Ford, Wendy and the twins head into the room, although Wendy leaves to check on Soos when they realize he didn't follow them in. Around the side of the building, with Alberta's hurtful words echoing in his mind, Soos is trying to find where everything went wrong, trying to pinpoint the exact moment he stopped watching over Wendy and the twins and just started watching them.
Then Kelly appears, telling Soos that she has the answers he wants, and that she can see all of the self-doubt he has. She conjures the Rising Grasp's insignia, informing Soos that her prophecy is still set to occur, and he needs her help to stop it. Soos asks Kelly why she would help him if she gets nothing out of it, but Kelly responds that she would gain his trust and maybe prove that her family doesn't deserve the bad reputation they have. She says that she can help Soos make his entire life, and everyone else's, better, if he gives her permission to change one event in his life. Soos demands to know how, to which Kelly responds by holding out a blue-flaming hand and telling him to shake it, offering him a trial run when he still hesitates to accept. He reaches out to shake her hand, and the world begins to go black, Soos maybe hearing Wendy distantly calling to him before his eyes close.
Cryptograms:
Yzgtj ut znk kjmk ul znk vutj, ruuqotm gz euaxykrl, eua ykk cngz utre eua igt. Zgqk g yzkv otzu znk cgzkx zu ruuq ngxjkx, eua soyy cngz cgy hknotj eua znk ktzoxk zosk. Stand on the edge of the pond, looking at yourself, you see what only you can. Take a step into the water to look harder, you miss what was behind you the entire time.
Gsv Qvuuivbh yilgsvih, hzw hglib gszg. Gltvgsvi zmw rmhvkzizyov, zmw gsvm gsvb ulfmw gsv kfkh. Dsl dlfow szev gslftsg gszg Zoyvigz dlfow yv hfxs z sliiryov kvihlm? Zg ovzhg Nlmgzmz rh tivzg gl srh uzmh. R svzi gszg sv dirgvh yzxp gl gsv uzmh gszg mvvw srn gsv nlhg! The Jeffreys brothers, sad story that. Together and inseparable, and then they found the pups. Who would have thought that Alberta would be such a horrible person? At least Montana is great to his fans. I hear that he writes back to the fans that need him the most!
20-8-5 15-14-12-25 16-9-20-20 25-15-21'12-12 23-1-14-20 20-15 19-20-1-25 9-14-19-9-4-5 15-6!
The only Pitt you'll want to stay inside of!
