At around midnight, Soldier 76 jerks awake, gasping for breath and struggling to keep his heart steady. The soldier stands shakily to feet, trying to steady his breathing as he stumbles towards the door. He needs to find Ford, now that he knows what Wendy meant by 'if the isosceles ghost comes back'. He opens the door, stumbling out into the hallway and slamming into the wall. The soldier attempts to take deep breaths despite the pain in his stomach and back.
"Are you alright Soldier?" Dipper asks from in front of him.
"F-Ford, where's Ford?" Soldier 76 manages to wheeze out.
Dipper waves his hand, "Oh, yeah. I know exactly what you mean. Follow me."
As Soldier 76 follows Dipper into the gift shop he realises something, "Wait a minute, what are you doing awake?"
Dipper smiles at him, "Same as you, though I know how to deal with it."
Dipper leads him to the vending machine, inputting a code and the vending machine swings open, letting Dipper and Soldier 76 down to the elevator.
"I hope you weren't looking at that," Dipper says as they ride the elevator down.
"What?" Soldier 76 asks, not sure what he's talking about.
Dipper laughs, "I guess you didn't look."
After getting off of the elevator, Dipper leads Soldier 76 deeper into the basement were Ford seems to be working on something.
"Gruncle Ford, Soldier's here to see you, I'll be back upstairs," Dipper says as he leaves.
Ford turns to look at Soldier 76, eyes darting to the shadows. Ford grabs a glass and fills it up with water, offering it to the soldier, "Here."
Soldier 76 nods his thanks, grabbing the glass and drinking deeply.
Ford winces at the movement, "Yikes, he really had his fun with you didn't he?"
"You already know, don't you?" Solider 76 asks after finishing the glass.
Ford nods, taking the glass and offering some cookies, "Wendy warned me and I'm quite familiar with the scalene bastard's tricks anyway."
Soldier grabs a few of the cookies, "Scalene bastard? Isosceles ghost? Seriously, what is happening here?"
"You're being harassed by essentially the ghost of a dream demon called Bill Cipher, saying his name is completely harmless, but I ask that you do not say it, out of respect for any victims," Ford answers, grabbing a chair for Soldier 76 to sit down on.
Soldier 76 nods and sits down, "Is he like an enemy of sorts?"
Ford nods, also sitting down, "Used to be, the scalene bastard is of course, a ghost now. Has been since last summer."
"So how do I deal with this bastard? He seems really twisted to play with my fears and dreams like this," Soldier 76 says, leaning back into the chair.
Ford give the soldier a weak smile, "He's extremely twisted and I found that the best way to get rid of him, is to let go of whatever he's tormenting you with. It's kind of a backwards way of dealing with him, but it works."
"Well the thing he's tormenting me with is not something I really want to share."
"He'll stop when you go home, but I'm assuming you want to go back to sleep?" Ford asks.
Soldier 76 groans, at least he knows that he can trust Wendy and Dipper, but he's not too sure about Ford.
Ford sighs, "I understand that you don't trust me, on account of the threat I made the other day and I'm still very wary of you, but you're being tormented by someone I hate far more than you."
Soldier 76 looks at him, "Do I have your word you won't tell anyone?"
Ford nods, "I'll take it to my grave if I have to."
"The scalene bastard's using my fears to torment me, fears about if I'm the one on the wrong path and about what Talon is planning," Soldier 76 says, staring at the high ceiling.
"Didn't you say you went up against top agents of Talon on your own? You should've known going up against them without backup was a bad idea forming," Ford says, leaning forward in his seat.
Soldier 76 groans, rubbing his face, "Didn't have any backup, although, in hindsight I probably should've asked my old team to help. But I'm a bit annoyed at an old friend for the stunt he pulled."
"I'm not the best at advice, nor do I want your story, but I will say this; go to your old team, they don't need to know what you're hiding or anything but rejoin up with them. You are fighting the same battle aren't you?" Ford asks.
Soldier 76 nods before getting up and walking back to the elevator. He turns back to Ford, "You're not down here because of the scalene bastard are you?"
Ford shakes his head and looks at his watch, "Noooo, I actually lost track of time."
The soldier nods, heading to the elevator and back up to his room to get a little more sleep in before everyone wakes.
In the morning, Soldier 76 gets woken up by something getting thrown into his face. He sits up, his stomach protesting at the movement as the two sweaters tumble off his face. He turns his head to an eager looking Mabel.
She beams more, "I finished your sweaters! Do you like them?"
Soldier 76 looks at the sweaters separately, the jacket one that was half done when she first shown him and a new one. This new sweater is a medium red with the number 76 on it's back in black. He looks at the front which has a blue, black and white gryphon orb trying to look fierce. He pulls the gryphon one over his head, it fits snugly. With a bit of extra room to fit his vest underneath it.
"I made the neck a bit longer so you can pull it over your face and go into sweater town!" Mabel says with glee.
"Sweater town?" Soldier 76 questions, looking at the extended neck.
Mabel nods, "Like so!" she pulls the neck of her sweater up over her face.
She pulls the knitting down as Stan walks in with Soldier 76's carrier vest and a bag, "We replaced the plating in your vest and you can keep this bag. Poindexter says you're going later today."
Soldier 76 nods, getting up off of the sofa, grabbing the bag and putting the extra sweater in it. He grabs his visor and slips it on. He removes the gryphon sweater to painfully pull on his vest over the shirt. The soldier pulls the sweater back on.
"I wouldn't mind a short walk in the forest," Soldier 76 says to Mabel.
She grins and grabs his good arm, leading him down the hall, "Dipper, Soldier wants to go walk in the forest!"
"Coming!" comes Dipper's answer as he runs into view.
"I'll get your stuff together for you!" Stan calls after him.
"Thank you!" Soldier 76 calls back as he's lead outside after tugging his boots on.
Once the twins lead the vigilante out into the forest, they take him down a relatively well used path. They walk along this path for what seemed like a few minutes when Soldier 76 hears something. He looks around and finds a pretty thick but short branch, picking it up.
"What's wrong Soldier?" Mabel asks.
"I hear Mr. Evanescence," Soldier 76 says as he swings the branch, swinging at Reaper as he apparates in front of the soldier.
Reaper grabs the branch, ripping it out of the soldier's hands, grabbing his shirt collar, laughing as he punches Soldier 76 when a grappling hook whizzes past his head, interrupting another punch.
Reaper pushes Soldier 76 away, advancing towards Mabel when the Talon agent is suddenly choked back by the vigilante, struggling away from the kids.
As the two men are struggling against one another, the twins duck behind the trees. Dipper stares at the tree-line, taking a couple of breaths before peeking out to see Reaper teleport out of Soldier 76's grasp. Dipper ducks back behind the tree as Reaper reforms some distance away, pulling out his hellfire shotguns.
Soldier 76 ducks behind a tree as buckshot slams into the trunk. As Reaper grabs another pair of shotguns, Soldier 76 grabs the twins and tugs them with him as he ducks behind another tree. The trio do the same thing as Reaper advances closer. They start to quickly work their way back to the shack doing duck, dodge and run.
While Soldier 76 and the twins are dodging for their lives away from Reaper, Ford is poking at the soldier's fusion gun as Stan puts the soldier's bag in his car's boot. Soldier 76's jacket and gloves are sitting on the car's bonnet.
Stan checks his watch, "I hope they're back soon, since your a stickler about how long the portal's open for, he hasn't got a lot of time."
Ford nods as he aims with the fusion gun, "No he doesn't."
Soldier 76 and the twins burst from forest, legging it across the shack's large yard. The Gruncles narrow their eyes in confusion when Reaper appears close behind, shooting at the trio as they dodge the buckshot.
"Um, is the black veil bride, shooting at our Great- niece and nephew?" Stan asks as he grabs Soldier 76's jacket and gloves.
Ford brings up the gun and aims, "He'll be panicking at the disco in a minute."
Soldier 76 notices Ford aiming his own gun at him, he grabs the collars of the twins' shirts and dives to the ground with them as Ford shoots Reaper.
Mabel picks her face up from the ground, "Bleh, grass in braces."
Soldier 76 gets up and looks at Ford, "I though you were going to shoot me. Wait, I had a lock on that."
Ford looks confused, "Oh so that's what that was."
Soldier 76 grabs his gun from him, "Give me that."
"Ummmm, he's linkin' himself back together in the car park," Stan says as he helps Soldier 76 change out of sweater for his jacket, when he notices Reaper forming himself back together.
"Alright time to go to the mansion, now, everyone in!" Ford says, jumping into the passenger seat.
The twins and Soldier 76 climb into the back, Mabel in the right seat, Dipper in the middle and Soldier 76 on the left seat. The fusion gun is sitting in their laps, with the muzzle on Soldier 76's.
Stan jumps into the driver's seat after closing the boot, starting the engine and driving off, nearly hitting Reaper.
"Aw I missed," Stan whines as he drives towards town.
Soldier 76 smacks his head on the roof, earning a grunt from him, "You'll only annoy him more."
Stan tilts the rear-view mirror to see Reaper catching up to his car, "Well shit, the bastard's catching up."
Ford checks the speedometer and pales, "He is not human if he can catch up to a car going 50 miles per hour."
Soldier 76 hits his head on the roof again, grunting in annoyance, "He's not running."
Suddenly a clawed hand smashes through the window, grabbing Soldier 76 by the neck and attempting to pull him out it. Soldier 76 tries to pull Reaper off of his neck as the twins scramble for his fusion gun. His eyes widen underneath the visor as the muzzle is faced towards him and he flattens himself against the seat as Reaper gets blown away.
"Ow! Hot! Hot!" Dipper says, taking his hands off of the barrel.
"Mabel, sweetie, not in the car!" Stan yells.
Soldier 76 grabs his fusion gun from Mabel, "Give me that! Guns aren't toys!"
Soldier 76 pokes his gun out the window, squeezing off his own rounds as his head hits the top rim, "Auugh! Watch where you're going!"
"I am!" Ford answers, the one not driving.
Soldier 76 stares at him, "What?!"
The twins scream as Reaper lands on the roof.
"Remember what I said to watch the road? I take that back," Soldier 76 says.
Stan grins, Ford pales, bracing, "Stanley wait!"
"Ladies and gentlemen keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, except for all current members of imagine dragons!" Stan yells, thumping the roof.
Stan drifts around the next corner.
As the mansion's street comes into view, Reaper punches out Stan's window, his masked face coming into Stan's view.
Stan screams as he punches Reaper off of his car, driving up to the mansion's gates.
"I'm glad he's wearing a mask! It protects my fragile heart from his face!" Stan remarks as he parks in the mansion's courtyard.
The mansion looks well cared for and the same as it was when the Northwest's had it, except now it has spare metal littering the yard and the occasional animal. Despite the yard's outlook, the mansion still retains it's original pioneer glory.
The Pines and Soldier 76 get out of the car, Stan grabbing Soldier's bag from the boot as they run into the mansion. Ford leads them down to a large room near the back on one of the wings of the mansion. They enter the portal room, panting.
Soldier 76 looks up at the large portal, an upside down triangle with new bits wielded on, making it look like a sharp hourglass. A ramp leads up to just under the gate's symbols. The room itself is fairly bright, the installed generators and panels spread throughout the room. The panels and machines themselves are moderately well cared for, the wiring bundled up out of the way.
Mabel walks up to Soldier 76 with gauze in her hands, "Here lets wrap your neck up before you say good-bye."
She lifts up the torn visor cloth and wraps the gauze securely around his neck, pulling the cloth back over.
"Whoa, jeez. New bandmate for Robbie comin' up the road!" Pacifica yells from the front of the mansion.
Soldier 76 peeks out just as Reaper walks in, spotting the soldier and advancing towards him. The vigilante checks that his plates are secure, his gun's loaded and his new bag is secure.
"Well, that's my cue to leave with three days and grace," Soldier 76 says as he walks up the ramp.
"Bye Soldier!" Mabel calls waving, Dipper waving next to her.
"Take care of yourself!" Stan says with a grin, standing next to Ford.
Ford smiles at him, "Fare well Soldier 76, if you end up here again, you know who to ask."
Reaper appears in the room and everyone ducks. Soldier 76 walks backwards up the ramp, waving his gun at him. Reaper disappears into a cloud of black and reappears before 76, pushing both of them through the gate.
Ford and Fiddleford shut-down the portal.
Ford sighs, "This close, this close to figuring out cold fusion. If he just stayed for twelve more minutes."
Stan looks at him disappointed, "So that's why you were poking at the gun, honestly that doesn't surprise me. But I'm pretty sure he had that lock on there on purpose."
"So I don't mean to mention this, but, um, should we maybe worry that this 'Talon' group has a portal?" Dipper asks.
Mabel and Stan pale, "Uuuuuuh…."
Ford shrugs and waves his hand dismissively, "Oh I'm sure our wanted friend can take care of it."
"Says the man that threatened him as soon as he woke up from his injuries," Stan counters.
"Any idea what kind of world they came out of, Poindexter?" Stan asks.
Ford checks a few of the machines, "No, but I have theories based on his gear and how he was acting in the car on the way here."
"Well what are they?" Mabel asks eagerly.
"Well he obviously comes a reality in the 'future' or at least one more advanced than ours to discover cold fusion, and possibly hover cars," Ford says.
"That explains why he was really annoyed at the bumps, he wasn't used to it," Stan agrees.
Pacifica pokes her head into the room, "Yo, Pines, Fiddleford put on some tea, want some?"
The Pines nod their heads in agreement.
As the Pines are walking along the hallway, Mabel speaks up, "Dipper makes a point though, Talon has a portal, they might be back."
Ford stops in his tracks, "Hmmm, that is true. We may need to keep our eyes open then."
"Ok this talk of death, doom and the apocalypse 2.0 is giving me bad vibes, lets go drink our tea and have a fun summer," Stan says in annoyance.
He gets noises of agreement in answer as the Pines walk through the mansion, leaving the portal room alone for hopefully, a while.