Gravity falls : I am … Stan pines !

Narrator's POV

"Damn, I've been pushing myself too hard lately."

Stan got out of bed with a slight migraine, but he was starting to get used to it. For the past few days, he had been sacrificing his free time for the children and the laboratory because of the FATHER project.

*Bing bing* notifications.

"She'll be here soon." Stan quickly got dressed before heading to the kitchen to eat something.

Terri had sent him a message to signal her arrival in Gravity Falls. It was excellent news for him, but a bit sudden.

The reason is that he wanted to deal with Gideon today. That kid had started harassing Mabel a few days after they met.

'I was planning to use the confrontation between Gideon and Dipper to steal journal number 2.'

Unfortunately, Stan would have to use a less subtle method to delay Bill Cipher's arrival for a while.

The reason is that Gideon's harassment is more disgusting to see in real life, and he doesn't like seeing Mabel afraid to go out, but today he has another priority.

He would have to postpone that and focus on Terri and the multiverse travel machine.

It's important to understand that Stan had already stolen a good portion of Terri's mentor's scientific research thanks to GIFfany, but he hadn't yet decided to put it into practice.

The reason is simple: Stan simply wasn't ready to venture into another world. He was too weak and didn't have the Titan's blood at that time to power the machine, but things are different now.

Stan has the scientific research of Terri's mentor, Dr. Frakes, as well as the Titan's blood and Arlecchino.

He also has Terri herself. She literally worked with her mentor to build this machine that was able to lead Anne to Amphibia.

[Master, I have executed the remaining tasks, except for a few], Arlecchino's cold voice suddenly resonated in the kitchen.

"I received the information, thank you. But next time, avoid contacting me by hacking my phone."

Although Stan said this with a smile, Arlecchino understood that his master was not happy with him.

He had been able to understand this thanks to his constantly evolving database, fed by the internet. It is now easy for Arlecchino to understand an individual's body language.

This is something GIFfany can also do, but it will be a bit difficult for her.

It's not a problem related to her capabilities, but to her lazy personality.

[I apologize for the inconvenience. I will just send a text next time and will only call if I receive no directives after a long period.]

Stan nodded with satisfaction.

'She's really reliable, and she even sent me a detailed report after she left.'

After eating, Stan stayed in the kitchen reading Arlecchino's report.

In the report, there were videos of her demonstrating some simple capabilities related to the Titan's runes, as well as purely physical abilities.

Arlecchino's physical strength is clearly above a ton. She showed a video in her report where she lifted various extremely heavy objects without problem.

Her speed is just as impressive as her physical strength. She can break the sound barrier, but she doesn't reach the speed of light.

There's also her endurance, which is one of her most impressive attributes in my opinion. Arlecchino literally withstood most of my weapons, but her clothes didn't hold up.

To understand why Arlecchino is so incredible, you need to know what she's really made of.

Apart from her hearts and exceptional brain, Arlecchino has artificial muscles much more powerful than those of a human.

They are also extremely dense.

'I really struggled to design them. Taking inspiration from Captain Man seemed simple, but applying it was much more difficult.'

It's not just her muscles that are exceptional, but also her skeleton. Stan used some of the excess metal from Ford's portal.

You have to understand that this metal was obtained from a spacecraft that crashed in Gravity Falls. Stan really wanted Arlecchino to be able to withstand the various pressures exerted on her body.

He even did his best to increase her regeneration capacity to the maximum. It would have been simpler to use lizard DNA, but Stan didn't want Arlecchino to undergo a possible alteration in her future development because of an immediate gain.

He had to create nanomachines. This would have been impossible in just three days, but with the size-manipulating crystal, he was able to do it easily.

So, yes, Arlecchino has technological manipulation thanks to her machine and AI nature, as well as her nanomachines.

It's thanks to this that she was able to easily stop GIFfany back then, in the laboratory, when she was still in her capsule.

'I don't need to see more, I'm sure of her martial abilities.'

...

"Hello, I'm your new mentor and boss."

Stan was currently waiting at a bus stop to welcome his new assistant and colleague, alias Terri, a scientist with great potential.

"Hello, Mr. Pines, I'll do my best to deserve your investment in me."

These were exactly the words Stan wanted to hear from Terri's mouth. He immediately started smiling as Stan Pines knows how to do and activated his mind-reading machine.

'He doesn't look like a scientist, but I shouldn't judge him by his appearance. Dr. Frakes doesn't look very intelligent either,' Terri thought while smiling and shaking his hand.

'There's no doubt about it, this invention is probably the most practical one I've made,' Stan congratulated himself.

"I'm sure you're tired, I'll drive you to the Mystery Shack," Stan said, trying to take some of Terri's luggage.

"No, no, I can't decently give my suitcases to a mature man, and moreover, my hierarchical superior."

"Alright, you have a point."

'He's more human than Dr. Frakes. I hope he'll be just as impressive, even if I don't know his name in the scientific community.'

Stan was happy that Terri was starting to like him and led her to the Mystery Shack.

Stan's sudden arrival accompanied by an unknown woman carrying suitcases puzzled some, but GIFfany was already aware, and Arlecchino, in the basement, had already spotted Terri thanks to a spy robot.

"I thought I would be working in a laboratory..." Terri said, slightly confused as she looked at Stan.

She was clearly in a tourist trap, not in the laboratory Stan had mentioned online.

"Uncle Stan, is there a laboratory here?"

Dipper was the first to speak after hearing Terri's words. Only Wendy didn't seem really surprised.

'She probably had doubts about the origin of the metal glove I used against the Minotaur,' Stan thought, quickly understanding why Wendy wasn't surprised about a laboratory, unlike the others.

As questions rained down on him, Stan struck his cane on the ground to get attention and silence everyone.

"I had already decided to explain the situation of Gravity Falls soon, but my encounter with GIFfany precipitated things."

Stan's words confused some, like Terri or Soos, but Wendy and the children seemed to have understood part of his words.

Gravity Falls is weird.

"I'm not going to waste time vaguely explaining the details, I'm going to show you and explain. Follow me."

[Are you sure you want to reveal all this to them now?] GIFfany's voice suddenly resonated on Stan's phone.

Terri was surprised, but remembered Stan's words and preferred to wait for full explanations.

"Yes, if I want to save my brother and Gravity Falls, then yes," Stan replied in a serious tone that contrasted with his usually carefree and friendly face.

Stan had already decided to retrieve Gideon's journal number 2 in a more direct manner, and he was soon going to change bodies. He was therefore going to have a discussion with Dipper about Gravity Falls sooner or later.

...

"Welcome, master," Father's cold voice greeted the children and guests in the basement of the Mystery Shack.

"Enough with the formalities, Arlecchino. I want you to show them Gravity Falls," Stan ignored the surprised expressions of his guests and directly made his request to Arlecchino.

"I see that the master has chosen the most logical path for his growth. Young master and servant of the master, please follow me," Arlecchino said, taking the lead to guide them towards Ford's portal.

"Servant? The term used is more appropriate." Unfortunately for Wendy, no one cares about her protests.

Thousands of questions were running through Dipper and Mabel's minds, but these ceased when they saw a book on an altar in front of the inactive portal.

"The... the journal," Dipper said, slowly moving towards it, but the moment he reached out his hand, he was abruptly stopped by an extremely pale hand.

"This is the property of the master, young master Dipper, and the same goes for this," he said, pointing to journal number 3 hidden in his bag.

Arlecchino's eyes emitted a disturbing red light from Dipper's point of view, and his cold voice didn't help to ease the situation.

An invisible tension began to fill the basement.