Gravity Powers - Stranger Than Mystery - Book 3

Chapter 4 - Gathered

Gideon and the monsters had disappeared from the mansion on the hill in the outskirts of Portland. Dipper, Mabel, and the group had arrived at the location and saw it was covered in security of every kind.

"Think Doogle Maps can help us out of this one?" Mabel asked.

"We don't need any help." Dipper said.

"Without it we wouldn't have been able to get here, Mr. We-can-just-ask-for-directions." Mabel folded her arms.

"Alright fine!" Dipper threw his arms up.

"Guys. I think we're too late." Kronos said. He pointed out the truck window to all the soldiers in black armor.

They all ran out and up to the entrance. "Excuse me!" Dipper shouted to the soldiers.

"Stay back!" A soldier barked at them.

"Hey! We were attacked by the lunatics in there. We came all this way to beat them senseless." Mabel said.

"Many people have the same story." A man said standing aside. He was walked forward in between the group and the mansion. "What makes yours worth giving you access to this unstable situation?"

Dipper's jaw dropped. He looked closely at the man. He was around his age, with messy dark brown hair that looks like it was quickly combed without inspection, He had rather big eyes and a small, almost pointed nose. He was wearing a nice tan sweater over a dress shirt with a dark trench coat over everything. "Wirt Rogers?"

The man looked up at Dipper. After a few seconds, he had a similar reaction to seeing Dipper's face. "Dipper Pines?"

The two took one more look before laughing and hugged briefly. Everyone looked at them curiously. "You know each other?" Wendy asked.

"Yeah! Wirt here was my roommate in college!" Dipper said.

"How come you never mentioned him?" Mabel asked.

"Well. He was always a really shy person." Dipper said. He turned to Wirt. "What are you doing here? How do you know these soldiers?"

"After you left college to marry your girlfriend, I got picked up by the Paranormal Investigation and Apprehension Agency. I didn't know such a service existed. Years later, here I am. I'm the director!" Wirt said.

"You-you're the director now?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah! Wait. Does that bother you?" He looked at Dipper.

"I ended up working for the agency at one point years ago until I learned how big of a jerk the director at the time was. Our opinions collided more than a few times and I quit to continue my previous job as a writer for the Weird 'n Strange magazine." Dipper said.

"Oh. Which director?" Wirt asked.

"Director, uhhh....Williams I think." Dipper said.

"Oh. He was the one before me. He retired just a few months ago." Wirt said. "I didn't like him either."

Dipper smiled and patted his back. "It's good to see you again, man."

"Yeah. You too." Wirt smiled back.

"Sir. Uh. They're not allowed to be here." A soldier ran up and said to Wirt.

"Let them be. I'm issuing a Mutual Protocol. They'll be helping us out. We could use their potential." He said waving his hand to dismiss it.

The soldier saluted and ran back. Wirt swiftly turned to Dipper. "Please tell me you guys can help so I don't have to shoo you away."

"Don't worry, Wirt. We're good at what we do." Dipper said proudly.

"Yeah! Together, we're unbeatable!" Mabel chimed in.

Dipper turned Wirt to face the group. "This is just a small part of my family. She's Mabel, my twin sister."

"Pleasure to meet you!" She said.

"And this is my good friend, Kronos." Dipper said pointing to him. "The greatest warrior and friend I ever had."

Kronos waved his hand.

"And this is my childhood friend, Wendy, and her husband, Zak. They're both awesome in many ways and Zak has the ability to transform into a giant reptilian monster on command." Dipper said.

"So you all came to find Gideon and...Tad?" Wirt asked.

"Yes. They hurt us." Dipper said.

Wirt looked at all of them and could practically see the pain they felt in that sudden moment. "If you have a plan. Use it. We haven't entered the building yet. Just contained it."

"Thank you, Wirt. We won't disappoint you." Dipper took his hand and shook it. Wirt shook back. He then turned to the rest of the group. "Ok, guys. We need a plan to get Gideon and Tad out before they unleash anything else."

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Tad lifted his hand and a bunch of cables from the broadcast levitated off the ground and plugged into many of the walls by force. He snickered as the building's interior reformed into a giant antennae growing more and more out of the ground. It crashed through the ceiling and then the roof. With another wave of his hand, everyone casting a shadow within a mile watched as their shadow lunged out at them. All except the group. They watched as everyone was surprised by their own shadow and pinned to the ground.

Kronos sprang into action and pulled out his sword. He ran past many soldiers being held down by the shadows. They screeched as he passed and suddenly the upper half of their bodies fell to the ground in piles of black sand. The lower halves did the same shortly after.

The rest of the group followed and destroyed any remaining shadows. Zak looked down the hill to Portland. He could hear distant screaming and screeching coming from it.

"Agents! Open fire on those things!" Wirt commanded. He'd been scratched up at his arm from his shadow which was now a pile of black dust.

The soldiers gathered and opened fire on the shadows they missed. Some were coming up the hill from the city. They turned to the dip and fired.

Suddenly, the house exploded. Tad hovered above the ground and laughed manically as he floated forward to the large group. "Look at you. So cute."

Kronos burned into his monster form and readying his sword, he jumped up at Tad swinging his sword down at him. Tad put his hand forward and fired purple lightning bolts from his fingertips. Kronos was thrown to the side and wasn't getting back up. "You can change your appearance too? My turn!" He laughed with some pain in his voice as his body burned away in blue flame. What remained was a bluish purple humanoid body dressed in his human clothes with a black cloak over that. His head was cubic with a single large eye with a horizontal snake slit. No other facial features remained.

His hands were sharpened into claws and he waved them around as he fired lightning at Kronos' unconscious body. He then levitated Kronos in the air and closer to him. "Actually....You seem familiar. Like one of Atbash's little freaks."

Kronos looked up slowly at him. "T-that's right. And guess how he died."

Tad's smile dropped. "You? You were that creature that they created that rose up against them and left to the Angels. Then to Earth?"

"Yeah. You gonna kill me over it?" Kronos asked.

"No. You remind me too much of myself." Tad smiled.