Phantom Justice

7: Arrival

The above artwork does not belong to me.

Tucker was honestly quite nervous to meet the scientist.

He, Sam and Jazz were sitting at their usual spot in the Nasty Burger, waiting. Ford, the man from Gravity Falls, was supposed to get there any minute.

The boy glanced outside to see a grey-haired man with a duffle bag over his shoulder walking through the parking lot. He wore a trench coat over a red turtleneck sweater.

Tucker tapped Jazz's shoulder to get her attention. "Is that him?" he asked her.

She nodded.

The redhead waved to the man as he entered the shop. He recognized her immediately and sat across from her, next to Tucker.

Ford smelled strongly of old books, which wasn't particularly unpleasant, and had a serious demeanor. Tucker could tell that the scientist was intelligent just by looking at him.

The man glanced around the table. "Thank you for coming, Mr. Pines," Jazz said. "This is Sam and Tucker, Danny's two best friends."

Narrowing his eyes, Ford asked, "Do they know?" His voice was deep, commanding, even.

"They knew before I did. They were there when it happened."

Ford nodded. "My name is Ford Pines," he said, addressing the younger teens and shaking hands with both of them.

He then got right to business. "Now then, Jasmine, where is this device and where can I fix it?"

Jazz bit her lip. "Well, Mr. Pines, that's just the thing. It's in my parents' lab. It would be easy to just take it and bring it to you, but you can't use the lab equipment--"

"Unless I can somehow get into the lab," he finished. "All right. How do you suggest we do that?"

Tucker was amazed that he had agreed to break in to someone else's lab so readily. The boy could tell that Sam was surprised as well.

"My parents are going on a date tonight," Jazz said. "They should be gone for at least three hours."

Ford raised his brows. "Aren't they worried about your brother?"

"We told them that he was staying with Tucker and I," Sam answered.

They could tell that Ford was slightly skeptical about that small detail, but he let it go. "When are they leaving, then?"

"Eight."

He nodded again. Tucker noticed that there was a small crack in his glasses.

Suddenly Ford looked out the window, his eyes widening. Tucker turned to see two brown-haired kids watching them from outside.

The scientist shot out of his seat, leaving his duffle bag, and ran outside. After a brief hesitation, the other three followed him, curious.

They found him outside, scowling at a couple of kids with backpacks. "What the heck were you kids thinking?" he barked, furious. "This is dangerous stuff! You shouldn't be here!"

"But grunkle Ford--" the boy tried to say.

"Don't 'grunkle Ford' me! What you did was stupid and dangerous! How could my brother let you do this?"

"Don't blame Stan!" the girl shouted suddenly. "You always blame Stan!"

Her outburst seemed to shock Ford and the boy. They were silent for a few moments.

Finally, Ford said quietly, "Let's go inside before you get cold."

Wearily he led them back in. Tucker and the rest of the Amity Park residents followed hesitantly to find the old man and the kids seated on one side of the booth. The other three sat across from them.

"Sorry about that," Ford muttered, "but these two were supposed to stay home. This is my great nephew, Dipper, and my great niece, Mabel."

Sam, Tucker and Jazz nodded awkwardly, introducing themselves. They didn't bother to fill the two kids in, as they had probably been listening anyway.

"So until eight," Jazz began, "we have a lot of time to kill. About six hours."

"We should look for clues," Dipper said. Mabel just stared down at the table, but she had a determined look on her face.

Ford scowled at them. "You two are staying in a hotel or something. What were you thinking, getting on a bus by yourselves and following me?"

"We were always right behind you," Dipper protested. "We're not that stupid. I could have gotten your attention if something went wrong."

"That's not the point, Dipper! I asked you to stay home and you didn't. How am I supposed to trust you with my secrets if I can't even trust you to do what I say?"

"Grunkle Ford, you can trust Dipper," Mabel interjected. "I know you can. You're the one we can't trust," she added quietly.

Ford and Dipper looked at her, speechless. Tucker figured that she wasn't acting normal.

"Mabel, what's gotten into you?" Dipper asked.

Mabel traced circles on the tabletop. "Nothing. It's just that Stan and Ford are always fighting and blaming each other, and you're getting dragged into it. I don't like it."

Dipper wrapped an arm around her protectively. "I won't get dragged into it, all right?"

Tucker, wanting to change the subject, cleared his throat. "So . . . we're going to search town again and look for evidence?"

"Sounds good to me," Sam said. Jazz also agreed.

They all looked at Ford, who finally sighed and gave in. "Fine, we'll go look for clues. Dipper and Mabel, you can come too. But you're going to be the ones calling Stan, not me."

The twins nodded eagerly. After all, they hadn't come all the way to Amity Park for nothing.

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Hey-o! I know this chapter was a bit shorter than my usual 1,000+ words (this one was 900), but I thought it ended nicely here. The fact that it wasn't all that fun to write probably has something to do with it. But the next chapter was awesome to write! I had to take a piece of it and use it to start another chapter since it got so long. I'll publish it soon, guys. Don't worry.

The fanart thing is still open, peeps. Just saying.