Gravity Rises (S2)

BB: Part Five

Gideon followed the Pines down into the bunker. He had to admit it was pretty impressive. Maybe even more impressive than the one his family owned.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and he got his first good look inside. He grimaced. Definitely not as clean.

He followed the Pines and the small fiend Candy at a safe distance. Every time they looked back, his heart jumped in fear they would see him. But they never did.

Before Pacifica had told him about what she'd found, he'd never imagined using his amulet for invisibility. He did most of his work away from prying eyes anyway. But after using yesterday to practice, he felt confident he could hold the invisibility for a sustained amount of time. This was going to be extremely useful.

Stanford led his little group swiftly across the small room, leaving Gideon little time to look around. He was impressed by the amount of supplies down here, as well as the half-open weapons cabinet. Stanford certainly was prepared. They'd be fine down here once he trapped them.

"Through here," Stanford said, pulling aside a poster to reveal a circular crawl space.

The passage was long and cramped. Even though he couldn't see them, Gideon just knew his pants were getting filthy.

All five of them went through, Ford first and Gideon invisibly at the rear. The passage opened into a square room with the walls and ceiling divided into smaller squares, each with a strange symbol in its center.

"Woah," Mabel says. "It looks so cool." She reached out to touch a symbol on the wall.

"Don't touch that!" Ford shouted.

Mabel pulled her hand back in shock.

"Sorry," Ford said. "This is the security room. I'm trying to remember how to get past. . . but until I do, don't touch anything, okay? Don't move."

Everybody froze.

Ford reached into his pack and pulled out the Journal, nearly hitting Gideon with it. Gideon stared at it hungrily. Not yet. He needed to find the first Journal, and then he could take this one.

Ford flipped through the Journal. "This is the page where I supposedly put the code," he said, "but it's just a diagram of the symbols. Which ones are the key?" He took a cautious step forward.

Towards Gideon.

Gideon stepped back hurriedly to get out of the way. The floor under his foot gave way, and he stumbled. A glance to the ground showed he had stepped on some sort of pressure plate.

The circular door closed and sealed shut. The symbols on the walls and floor and ceiling lit up in red. A buzzer sounded.

And the walls began to close in.

"Something set it off!" Ford cried, looking around in panic. The squares on the walls and floor and ceiling shot out towards them, one by one.

"Grunkle Ford, what's happening?" Dipper backed up, almost running into Gideon. Gideon twisted out of the way. This trap would surely reveal his presence — if it didn't kill them all in the process.

His hand went to his amulet to push the blocks back, but stopped himself just in time. He'd wait and see if the Pines could get themselves out of this. He'd only reveal himself if he had to.

"Everybody stay calm," Ford was saying. "The code. . . it's on this page somewhere. . ."

"Grunkle Ford," Mabel shouted, "you have to remember!"

Ford closed his eyes. "Code. . . hidden. . ."

"Grunkle Ford! It's closing in!"

"Shine it on the page. . ."