Chapter Two
A knock on her door interrupted her packing, four knocks to be exact. One slow then two rapid ones followed by another slow knock, slightly off beat in the middle of the door. Mabel rolled her eyes, turning off the poppy BABA song that no one could prove she still listened to. Of course, one of Dipper’s contacts would have tipped him about her mission by now.
“My dearest brother, what can I do for you?” She leaned against the doorframe as Dipper pushed past her silently. “Well, hello to you too,” she muttered as she closed the door.
Dipper stood by the bed, gazing at the half-packed luggage as if it contained wonders. “So, you’re actually doing this? You’re actually going back there?” He looked up. His expression looked incredulous as he searched her face for an answer.
Mabel kept her face composed. She wasn’t about to let her brother get the best of her. “Yes, and I checked. The mission doesn’t require a cryptography analyst,” It wasn’t like her brother could go even if he wanted to. Sure, his skills provided him a government job way above her pay grade even at his young age, and his descriptions about it were always really vague. However, she always knew he was a tad bit jealous when she was chosen for the paranormal task force. That had always been his passion, after all. Cryptography, on the other hand, gave him power, money, and security. He would have been a fool to not utilize his most valuable asset.
Dipper still stared at Mabel, his surprise turned into frustration. His hands flailed as hesearched for something to put a handle on the situation. “Mabel, you can’t go back there. They’d recognize you!”
Mabel resumed packing and kept her eyes on her dress to fold it just right. She didn’t meet her brother’s gaze“Dipper, can you honestly say I look the same as I did nine years ago?” She didn’t. The years of imprisonment and spywork made her lean, and her curly brown locks stayed thrown back in a sleek ponytail most of the time. Now that she mastered contouring (which may havetakena three day longvacation and a handful of youtube tutorials), the round face of her youth was replaced with something more angular. She looked sexy. She looked serious. She looked nothing like Mabel Pines, the girl who dated a bunch of gnomes and doted on a grappling hook. No, she was AgentPines now. “And besides,” She continued, “It’s only an observe and report mission, Bro. I’m supposed to blend in, and I already know how it works there. It’ll be easy!”
“It’s Gravity Falls, Mabel! Things are never what they appear to be!”
She brushed this off. “I can handle it. I’m tougher than you think I am, Dipper.” She shut her suitcase, and it bulged. It refused to fully close. She stared in annoyance and grumbled, “Ugh- look, sit on this. Do me a favor, will you?”
He scoffed but reluctantly climbed onto the suitcase. “So, how long are you going to be there?”
“That’s confidential, and you know it!” Mabel zipped up the bag easily and took a breathbefore continuing, “You know I’ll be back, right? There is nothing keeping me there anymore. I’ll be back, and we’ll have pizza and play portal or something.” Dipper scoffed again, hopping off the suitcase when it finally closed properly.
“I’m not scared of you not coming back, Mabel, it’s just-,” Dipper stopped, and Mabel could see his expression falter along with his sentence. Nevertheless, he flipped open his messenger bag to hand her a book. The book. The journal. “I’d rather you have this or something. I already took notes on most of it anyway by now. Just … keep it in case anything happens.”
His resigned tone knocked her off guard, and suddenly she felt uncertain about her decision to go back. “My ride is downstairs. I have to go,” She said dully. He nodded and grabbed a bag to walk her down to the door.