I was originally going to make this just a one shot, but die to It's length I'm dividing it into a two shot.
Maddie rubbbed her gloved hand over her chin feverently. Beads of sweat were just beginning to form along her neatly trimmed eye brows, the sweat moistenig her fair skin. Her pale violet eyes scanned the machine with perfect precision. She double checked every wire, nut, bolt and screw. Her curly hair hung at her shoulder matted and unkept. Her eyes swept over the minature device propped up atop the laboratory blacktop table. Her eyes lingering over the beauiful piece of machinery that her and her colleagues had worked on for several laborious, nerve-racking months. After many failures and moments where she came dangerously close to throwing in her towel and giving in to the impossibility of it all, she finally felt that this was it. She could feel it in every fiber of her being.
Her hands traveled up the sides of device, starting at the stand slowly trailing her nimble fingers up the side. Her palm pressed up against every crevace, every inch of the device before her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him. Her dearest friend, that she had begun to think of as something more, was gazing at her as he leaned against the wall on the opposing side of the laboratory.
"Do you think it'll actually work this time, Vlad?" The redhead questioned, just barely above a whisper. She still clung on to that little bit of hope inside her that all their hard work was finally about to pay off, but she wanted to hear that Vlad, who she trusted dearly, thought the same. She just needed to here his conformation so she would know whether or not to allow herself to get her hopes up. His deep blue eyes bore into her own. He nodded, the corner of his lips curved into a gentle smile, "There is no doubt in my mind, Madeline."
For whatever reason no matter how confident she felt about the experiment she just couldn't voice her excitement. It was as if something within herself was trying to hint that she was wrong.
She brushed off that feeling of doubt quickly, feeling soothed by Vlad's words.
Everything will go smoothly today, Maddie... She thought to herself.
She returned her attention to her beloved piece of machinery. It was carefully crafted to form a perfect circle, exactly twelve inches in diameter on all sides. The stand gave it an extra inch or two so it stood just below eye level from it's position on the table. She stared at the glorious portal as if it were about to combust never to be seen again, but she only chuckled under her breath at the ridiculousness. The damned thing wasn't even plugged in yet.
She heard a soft, familiar chuckle from behind her. "Oh Madeline, It'll work. Trust me" Vlad comforted when on the inside he was feeling just as nervous and skeptical as she was.
She turned around to face him and pulled out a stool tucked beneath the table and plopped down. She rested her elbow against the table and lent her chin onto her palm. A strand of hair fell into her face, just brushing against the corner of her eye. "What if it blows up in our faces like all the rest?"
"Then we rebuild it" he said simply.
She opened her mouth to object, to explain how maybe the portal never worked because there was no such thing as a Ghost Zone in the first place, but it was at that exact moment that the door decided to swing open at full force. A very large man with brought shoulder stepped into the room. He had a very friendly face, but his normally easygoing demeanor was replaced by one of focus and concentration. He had a clipboard held tightly to his chest with an inch thick wide bunch of papers clasped to it. His eyes traveled across the room landing on the faces of his dear friends, his gaze lingering slightly too long on Maddie's beautiful face before his gaze finally fell upon the Ghost Portal she was perched in front of.
He quickly crossed the room taking heavy steps, his eyes lit up with both his eagerness and nervousness at todays events. Today was the day.
He dropped his clipboard on the table, thumbing through the countless sheets of paper giving them a quick once over before beginning the experiment. He then bent down and picked up the plug, his eyes scanning the room for a free outlet.
"I have a good feeling about this one" he announced as his eyes fell on a nearby outlet and shifted over in front of it. His hands clenched around the thin wire trembled with his internal mixture of anticipation and excitement. Beneath his thick, black rubber gloves his knuckles had begun to turn white. Maddie picked up the clipboard, and there on the first page something caught her eye. Her pale violet eyes narrowed at the formulas scribbled down across the page, suddenly her eyes widened as she picked up on the error. The fatal error.
"Jack...I don't thi-"
But it was too late. She was too late. Jack jammed the plug into the outlet with one fluent motion. The electricity pulsed through the wire immediately and traveled through the great length until it finally reached the portal. For the briefest of seconds nothing happened and Maddie's breath hitched in her throat. The look in her eyes was no longer filled with her earlier excitement but showed only fear instead. Today was not the day after all.
The portal hummed to life, the bulbs all lit up at once, the wires all pulsed with electricity in perfect synchronization. Yes, the portal itself had been built perfectly, but that one tiny little unfixable error would be it's Achilles heel.
The center of the portal began to ripple with green energy, slowly growing brighter until the entire thing was covered in a green misty swirling of pure energy. Maddie as well as her fellow scientists gaped at the portal.
"I can't believe this" Vlad said, the wonder clearly evident in his voice.
He inched his way across the laboratory floor, coming to a stop just mere inches in front of the portal. His eyes were impossibly wide as he watched the continuous mist swirl around and around again.
Maddie couldn't believe her eyes. Where her eyes playing tricks on her?
Her eyes continuously scanned over the formulas. Was she the one at fault here?
No. According to these calculations the portal should have combusted into nothing. But here it was...fully functional. Or was it. According to these calculations it shouldn't be too stable. Actually, it was more of a ticking time bomb than a functional portal.
"Vlad" She warned. "I wouldn't get too close."
He didn't seem to even realize anyone had even spoken to him.
"V-Man. Listen to Maddie."
"We've done it." Vlad whispered in complete awe. He extended his arm, ever so slightly grazed his hand along the rim. His thumb just barely grazed the inside of the portals rim getting sucked into the thick, misty, sickly green substance. smoke tinted a unattural deep shade of green errupted from the portal. Vlad withdrew his hand immediately, cradling ot against his chest.
Maddie clapped her hand over her mouth at the sight of the portal shaking, rattling and bellowing smoke.
Maddie turned away from the smoking portal keeling over in order to protect herself from the inevitable explosion. Her heart beat so fast, she could feel it thumping wildly against her rub cage, hear it pounding obnoxiously in her ears.
The force of the blast was powerful enough to knock her off her feet. She scrambled across the floor desperate to get more distance between herself and the blasted portal. She sat with her back flush against the wall, crushing her knees into her chest. She glanced around the room, but her vision was to blurred to make anything out.
She rubbed her balled up fists over her eyes, blinking rapidly until she could just barely begin to make out the shapes of the room and it's contents.
Vlad was on his knees several feet in front of me. He was clawing at his own face wildly, a blood curdling scream surpassing his lips.
She gasped as he suddenly lifted up his head, his shoulders rigid and ever so slowly turned to face her. It was the most repulsive sight she had ever seen.