Stan's car was filled with laughter and cheerful chatter as he went down the familiar road to his home, everyone talking about the fun they had vandalizing the new Mayor's mansion.

"At least Tyler didn't seem too mad about us pranking him," Dipper grinned. "I'm pretty sure I saw him cheering us on from one of the windows. "

"If anything, we improved his house," Mabel giggled. "Everything always looks better covered in glitter."

"I'll admit, I haven't had that much fun in years," Ford confessed with a chuckle. "I haven't pranked anybody since-"

Ford was cut off as they all heard a terrible pained scream.

"That sounded like Mike…" Mabel said, the shock and fear making the normally loud girl barely speak more than a whisper.

"It sounded like it came from the other side of the house," Ford said, jumping out of the car and already charging up his gun.

"You two stay here!" Stan ordered, moving nearly in synch with his twin as he slipped on his brass knuckles and bolted from the car. "We'll take care of whatever this is!"

Dipper and Mabel, of course, did not stay in the car, joining their Grunkles in sprinting around the side of the house. Mike was their friend, practically their big brother in every way that counted, and he was in trouble. They couldn't stay back and do nothing, not when someone they cared about was clearly in danger.

Mike had dropped his flashlight at some point during the struggle and it had rolled at such an angle to clearly illuminate the scene on an otherwise dark night. This meant when the Pines family rounded the corner, they got a pretty good look at the metallic spaghetti monster that was looming over a dazed-looking Mike.

"Get off of him!" Ford commanded, immediately shooting at the monster, expertly blasting through several wires holding Mike down and making the monster rear back with a screech.

"No one hurts my family you pile of wire vomit!" Stan added furiously, delivering a powerful punch and knocking Molten Freddy the rest of the way off of Mike.

Ford and Stan immediately focused on attacking the monster, Ford's gun forcing it to remain on the move and Stan was able to knock back any attack that tried to get too close. They weren't causing any damage, as the monster was surprisingly agile and the dim light kept them from accurately aiming for weaknesses. But they were keeping it at bay and that would do until they could think of a plan. Dipper and Mabel meanwhile ran straight to where Mike was laying, wrapping their hands around his arms with the intent to drag him to safety.

"…No…" Mike slurred when his unfocused gaze landed on the younger twins. "…dangerous… leave…"

"Of course it's dangerous and that's why we're all leaving immediately," Dipper said, purposefully misinterpreting what Mike was trying to say. "Come on! We've got to get out of here while our Grunkles are keeping that thing busy."

Mabel and Dipper pulled and pulled, but Mike didn't move.

"Oh no!" Mabel gasped and Dipper followed her line of sight. Even though Ford had managed to blast through the wire that had stabbed Mike, a large part of it was still there, keeping him pinned.

"This is bad," Dipper muttered in worry. The wire was pretty thick and seemed firmly planted and while Mabel and Dipper might be able to get it out eventually with their combined efforts, that would take time Dipper wasn't sure they had right now.

"… leave… me…" Mike tried again, managing to put a little more force into his slurred speech. "… not… worth…"

"Yeah, arguing isn't worth it," Dipper forcefully agreed, desperately looking around for something to help. He spotted a familiar device gleaming in the flashlight's beam and went to pick it up.

Molten Freddy soon became aware of the younger twin's attempts to get Mike to safety and its focus immediately locked onto them.

"N-NO!" Molten Freddy shouted with a loud metallic screech that made all those that had a free hand instinctively cover their ears. "H-HE'S OURS!"

The metal monster lunged at the kids, but Dipper was prepared. He lashed out with Mike's taser and managed to connect it with Molten Freddy's face. The animatronic shrieked and spasmed as electricity danced across its body. Stan punched it away once more the moment the power faded. Molten Freddy seemed to decide that it didn't like its odds with the group and began retreating into the forest. Ford fired a few shots after it, but it managed to avoid getting hit and soon disappeared into the trees. Ford kept his gun trained on the trees just to be safe while Stan went to look Mike over.

"You okay kid?" Stan asked, grimacing as he saw the wire impaling Mike through the chest. "Is this what made you scream like that?"

"I thought you said you were immune to melee damage!" Dipper accused, though it was obvious he was more worried than angry.

"… I am…" Mike replied, his voice starting to sound a little clearer. "…electricity… not so… much…"

"Fascinating," Ford couldn't help but comment. "Ghosts are able to be detected with electromatic devices and are well known for affecting electronics of all variety, so it makes sense that they in turn could be affected by them…"

"Not the time Poindexter," Stan interrupted. "I just need to know whether or not it's safe to pull out the metal in his chest or if I need to worry about him bleeding out!"

"I think it won't cause any harm to remove it," Ford replied, looking Mike over. Mike gave a small nod in agreement and that was good enough for Stan. Stan grabbed onto the wire and pulled it out with a grunt. He was just going to toss the wire away but Ford took it instead, saying he wanted to study it. With Mike now free Stan pulled him to his feet, putting an arm around Mike's waist and draping Mike's arm over his shoulders.

"Let's get you inside so we can get a better look at the damage, kid," Stan said as he began dragging Mike towards the door. Mike tried to help, but with him still recovering from the shock to his system he was little more than dead weight.

Dipper and Mabel opened the door for Stan and Mike, watching the two with worry. As soon as everyone was inside, the younger twins ran around to every door and window to make sure they were locked and secure. While the evil animatronic could probably easily break through if it wanted to, the task helped the twins and others feel safer and they soon joined the others in the living room while Stan was helping Mike settle into the armchair.

"Let's get this shirt off of you," Stan said, grabbing a pair of scissors. There was no saving the shirt as it had so many rips and a huge hole in it, so it was just easier to just cut it away than try and help Mike get out of it.

"… not pretty…" Mike warned, letting his head flop back. If he had been at full mental capacity, Mike would have insisted on taking care of it himself and retreated to his room. But the shock had basically short-circuited his thoughts and left him very much punch drunk, meaning he didn't resist as Stan got to work.

"Hot Belgium Waffles," Stan cursed once he got a good view of Mike's torso. While the hole in the upper part of Mike's chest had been a known issue, what drew Stan's shock was the wound in Mike's stomach area. Normally, Mike had bandages wrapped around his stomach to help cover up as the wound was far too big to sew close. But the fight with Molten Freddy had loosened them and while it didn't completely uncover the wound, it showed enough to hint at just how large the wound truly was.

Stan wanted to ask about the wound so he could dish out some well-deserved justice to the one who had given it to Mike, but he knew better than to actually do so. Stan had plenty of his own scars that he didn't like to even think about let alone explain how he got them, so he wasn't going to pry. Ford on the other hand, while having plenty of scars of his own that he didn't talk about, was not nearly as good at keeping his mouth shut even after all these years.

"That doesn't look like something that comes with a natural decay of a body," Ford observed with horror. "That had to be inflicted, and considering that the skin around it matches the rest of the of it, that would mean that it… that it's the fatal wound that…"

"…Killed me..? Yep!" Mike confirmed popping the "p" with a slightly hysterical giggle, lacking any of his usual filters at the moment. "I got scooped. I was a tub of ice cream that got scooped empty."

"Why would someone do that?" Mabel couldn't help but gasp in horror as they all paled at the comparison.

"They needed to make room," Mike replied, but thankfully didn't expound any further. The implication was bad enough without having to hear the gory details.

"Well, your other wounds don't look too bad, considering…" Stan observed, attempting to get back on task. "But I'm not really sure what to do for it…"

"Just sew up what you can," Mike instructed, sounding a lot clearer though it was still obvious he still wasn't completely aware. "It's what I do. Don't want to be falling apart more than I already am…"

Stan nodded and had the younger twins fetch the first aid kit. While Stan wanted to send the kids to bed so they couldn't witness this for any longer, he knew it wouldn't do them any good. They'd be too worried about Mike to actually get any rest and Stan knew from experience how the imagination could be a lot worse sometimes than the horrors of reality. So he was silent as he accepted the kit and got to work on sewing up Mike.

"Why do you have so many wires interwove throughout your body?" Dipper couldn't help but eventually ask, even though he looked a little green at the prospect of getting the answer. Dipper knew it probably wasn't fair to question Mike when he wasn't in a state where he couldn't really refuse to answer. But Dipper had a bad habit of letting his curiosity get the better of him and he couldn't let the opportunity just pass him by, even as Stan and Mabel shot him disapproving looks.

"They left them behind when they were done wearing my skin," Mike replied, looking down at his arms and absentmindedly tracing the wires seen through the holes in his flesh. "I don't know if I could move as well I do if they hadn't left so much in place of what they had taken out of me, but… it makes me scared… Am I really still me? Am I really just a ghost in its own corpse that happens to have animatronic parts throughout it… or am I a haunted animatronic who's still wearing the skin of someone who was killed long ago..? Am I really that different from the monsters I hunt… or am I just refusing to see that I'm just like them?"

Mike didn't even notice when black tears had started to flow from his eyes during his speech, but he couldn't stop them. He couldn't bring himself to look at the others, finally, clear-headed enough to realize just how much he had revealed and terrified that they finally grasped how much of a monster he was. He was startled then when instead of disgusted demands to leave, he felt Stan wrap an arm around his shoulders and the younger twins take his hands in their own, all of them offering him comfort instead of rejection.

"It's not right what happened to you kid," Stan murmured, pulling Mike close and resting his head on Mike's. "But whether you're a ghost, a walking corpse, or a haunted animatronic, it doesn't matter to us. You're a part of our family now and nothing's going to change that."

Mike's breath hitched a bit before he broke down into full-blown sobs. He had wanted this so badly, long before he had even realized it consciously, but had been so scared he would be rejected that he had convinced himself that the others hadn't truly meant it whenever they indicated that they considered Mike a part of their family unit. But now as they got a glimpse of what a broken mess he was and their only concern was to give him comfort, Mike was finally starting to believe them.

As Ford watched as the others curled closer to Mike, he couldn't help but feel out of place. He knew he hadn't truly earned his place to give comfort for such a sensitive moment, but he found himself wishing he was. It would take time for Ford to have the same emotional connections, but Ford was willing to put in the effort. In the meantime, he could use his knowledge and skills to keep his family safe, both from the ones they knew about and the ones they didn't. Ford settled himself into a chair with his gun in his hand, determined to keep watch over the others as the tears finally ended and they all fell into an exhausted sleep.