Reincarnated In ToonTown Chapter 201: Investigation I (Patreon)

‘Fingers in, pinch grip, slow and steady, nice and relaxed.’ 

“Whatcha doing?” 

Dipper jumped as Mabel’s voice suddenly materialized right next to him, shattering his focus and all of his careful preparations, “Mabel, what the fuck?! I’ve got a knife in my hand!” 

“Yeah, I can see that, which is why I asked what you’re doing,” Mabel replied matter-of-factly as she stared her twin down, who suddenly felt like he was being interrogated for the second time that day. 

“I’m cutting some vegetables for dinner,” Dipper answered, stating the obvious, “Now, is there anything else I can help you with?” 

Mabel pursed her lips, “Yeah, actually, now that I think about it, you can tell me how your first day undercover went.”

“It went fine,” Dipper muttered, making Mabel pause, “That’s it…it went fine, that’s all you have to say?!” 

“I was only there for a few hours, and I mostly just stood in the kitchen and watched,” Dipper said defensively, but Mabel wasn’t backing down in the slightest. 

“You were there for hours, and all you did was watch?!” Mabel threw up her hands in disbelief. “What the hell, Dipper?! I thought we were trying to expose this guy and whatever shifting stuff is going on with him!” 

“We are and we will,” Dipper replied, forcing himself to calm down, “But that doesn’t mean we need to rush. I may not have done much today, but I’m already gaining his trust and have been invited to come over to the restaurant basically whenever I want.” 

“Alright…that’s some progress, I guess,” Mabel muttered, easing up a bit, “But come on, you must have noticed something unusual; the guy had a freaking floating spatula.”  

“Well, um…all of his staff are attractive women…maybe that’s something?” Dipper said hesitantly, only for Mabel to stare at him with a dumbfounded look on her face, “You really have lost your touch, haven’t you?” 

“Oh come on!” Dipper shouted as Mabel turned around and walked away, “Give me a break, it’s only been one day!” 

“I don’t know; it seems like you’ve learned more about cooking than anything worthwhile,” Mabel taunted back, leaving Dipper to mutter angrily under his breath as he turned back towards his cutting board. 

“Lost my touch…what does she know? I’ll show her. I’ll uncover this whole mystery all by myself…And if I learn how to cook while so be it!” 

‘Fingers in, pinch grip, slow and steady, nice and relaxed.’ 

--- 

“So, you taking the kid under your wing?” 

I paused halfway finished with wiping down the countertop as Tiana asked me a question, “I don’t know about all that…but there’s no reason why I can’t teach him a thing or two. Why’d you ask?” 

“No reason, it’s just a side of you that I haven’t seen before,” Tiana replied as she turned off the sink, “Though, to be honest, I haven’t seen you interact with many other men before.” 

I smirked, “Harsh but fair, though in my defense most of the men I’ve met in this town have been nothing but short-tempered assholes on desperate power trips.” 

“I don’t think you have to limit that criticism to just this town,” Tiana replied with a small laugh, “But back to the kid…I think you’ll be seeing a lot from him. Something in his eyes reminds me of me when I first started cooking.” 

I raised an eyebrow, “Really…then we just might end up with a third cook after all if he takes this seriously.” 

“Wouldn’t that be nice,” Tiana agreed just as the kitchen door swung open and I glanced over to see Summer holding the restaurant phone to her chest, “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but there’s someone on the line asking for you by name.”

I frowned. Anyone who needed to ask for me by name should have my personal number, but a brief glance confirmed that I had no missed calls, “Did they say who they were?” 

“Yeah, some woman called Albedo says you guys have a lot in common, and she wants to talk about it,” Summer replied with the mild dismissiveness and brattiness that I found both endearing and frustrating. Partially because I knew that she knew how much I loved punishing her for being a brat. 

However, the name Albedo instantly made me freeze for a second, something that was noticed by both Tiana and Summer, “Is that all she said?” 

“No, she gave an address…what’s going on? Who is she?” Summer asked with a sudden interest like a bloodhound catching a scent. 

“Someone I’ve been meaning to have a conversation with…what was the address?”

“Oh come on, you’ve got to give me more than that,” Summer said with a sly smile, only for me to meet her with a level gaze, devoid of levity, “Summer, the address.” 

Summer realized that she wasn’t joking around and reached out, offering me a slip of paper, “I wrote it down…though when I looked it up online, there was nothing that I could see why someone would want to meet you there.” 

 “Thanks, I’ll check in with her and see if the address was wrong,” I muttered as I took the piece of paper and read the address written down.

“She said to meet her there in an hour if you wanted to talk.” Summer said before turning around and walking out of the kitchen. 

“Everything alright Ramon?” Tiana asked carefully and I took a moment to gather myself before letting out a slow breath. “Yeah, it’s just not a name I was expecting to hear, and this person isn’t the easiest to talk to, and the conversations are never light. But everything is gonna turn out fine.” 

---

There was no certainty that everything was going to turn out fine. 

My face was set into a stony mask as I stared out my windshield, mindlessly driving towards the address that I had received unexpectedly just hours before, ‘I guess she got impatient waiting for me to make first contact…but why?’ 

That was the question that had been hammering itself over and over again in my head, ‘What reason could Albedo have for talking to me…there was nothing about our last conversation that would have warranted her to reach out again. 

‘The plan was that I would go to her and ask for her assistance with searching for something related to a primordial incubus and see how she reacted. Now she’s going to be the one asking questions. Questions that most demons could answer, yet I would have no way of knowing.’ 

But despite this major flaw and potential trap, Megan, Patty, and I had agreed that going to meet Albedo now was better than later and letting her become suspicious of me. 

‘Since she wasn’t outright hostile and even courteous during our first run-in, there’s no reason to assume that the natural disposition between demons is anything but neutral.’ 

Keeping that neutrality was critical for keeping an opening for me to eventually figure everything I needed to about my unique race and powers. 

Turning down the street to the address, my eyes were automatically drawn towards the old-fashioned brick-and-mortar building at the very end of the street. For a moment, I couldn’t place what about the building drew my attention. At a glance, it was just a worn-down, most likely condemned tower of red bricks, but my eyes remained fixed, and a split second later I watched the illusion shatter. 

Suddenly, the old sun-faded walls were replaced by bright red, freshly fired, neatly stacked bricks acting as the perfect backdrop for a sprawling sign with elegant writing that read in bold letters, ‘Tartarus.’ 

‘Tartarus…like the darkest depths of the hells in Greek mythology.’ 

In an instant, I realized that Albedo was most likely the least of my concerns and that it was likely a miracle that I hadn’t encountered any other paranormal individuals. 

‘Just how many of us can there be if we need an entire bar with an obscuring hex on it?’ 

I pulled to the side of the street and sat there for a moment, seriously considering what my next steps should be as this was far beyond what I expected. But after a few seconds, I realized that I couldn’t leave this big of a metaphorical question mark unanswered, ‘In for a penny, in for a pound.’ 

Stepping out of my car, I locked it before walking straight towards Tartarus and perhaps even actual hell itself.