Aggie dreaded having to tell Ford the truth. She knew she'd have to sometime, but for now she was willing to avoid it for as long as possible.
A day passed, then a week. Still no word from the board.
They were almost at the testing phase. All that was left was troubleshooting.
The first day they flipped the switch to see if the portal would even turn on, they held their breath. As each part of the machine turned on one by one, the hum of the engines increased in frequency- the lights of the runes flashed from the base- their intensity blazing as slowly, the aperture of the portal swirled - first an inch in diameter, then larger, as the bright blue light emitted from the steel circle. It glittered like a pool of water reflecting the stars.
"It works!" Ford cried, as he held onto the lever in the portal chamber.
"Well, I'll be. It actually worked." Fidds muttered, still holding onto the control panel.
Aggie didn't like the look of it. It pulsated with a horrible aura.
Ford laughed, his joy from their hard work finally coming to fruition.
He threw the lever, causing the portal to close. Aggie could feel herself relax.
He walked over to the outer chamber where Fidds and Aggie were sitting by the control panel
"This test was a resounding success!" Ford exclaimed. "We did it. Let's start testing tomorrow, I asked a dressmaker in town to lend us some mannequins she wasn't using. We can tether them to us and see where something from our world is able to go through."
"Is that a good idea?" Aggie asked.
"Do you have any other suggestions?" Ford responded.
Aggie shook her head.
"That's settled then. Come on, gang. I think this deserves a celebration! Who's up for a game of DDND?" Ford grabbed his game from his workbench, and whistled as he walked upstairs.
"We'll have to tell him." Fiddleford noted. "Now that it works, it's only going to draw more attention."
Aggie but her lip. "I'll tell him, later tonight."
Ford was in a good mood that evening. He opted to DM, and helped them navigate a rather ambitious campaign that neither Aggie or Fiddleford really understood, but appreciated the effort.
"So can my cleric cast a spell now?" Aggie asked.
"Have you completed the necessary calculations for velocity and impact?" Ford asked.
Aggie picked up her pencil and scribbled something down. "Yes."
"You can, when it's your turn." Ford replied.
"I cast giant robot on Aggie's cleric, rendering them dead." Fiddleford declared.
"Fidds! That's not a sanctioned spell. This is high fantasy, there are no giant robots." Ford said in exasperation.
"Then it's powered by magic!"
The phone rang. Ford stood up. "I'll get it. Why don't you read the handbook again one more time while I'm gone."
As Aggie argued with Fidds about her now dead character, Ford picked up the phone and listened.
"You read my paper, and want to double my funding? Well, that's…certainly unexpected. Thank you. Yes, yes. I'll keep you updated if anything changes. Of course, I'll prepare for visits from any interested trustees. Thank you." Ford placed the phone back on the receiver and listlessly trudged back to his seat.
"I just had an interesting call with the university board, who somehow knows about the portal."
Fiddleford looked away, Aggie's eyes widened in fear.
"Would either of you care to explain how that happened?" Ford asked quietly.
"It was my fault." Aggie exclaimed. "I wrote the paper and sent it out. I wanted you, I wanted us, to be recognized for all the work we've put into this."
Ford looked devastated. His hands rested limp in his lap. "Aggie, how could you? I thought I could trust you."
"I was only thinking about you! If you lose your grant, you wouldn't be able to even keep the portal running in the first place!" Aggie argued. "And once Dooley know what you can accomplish, you will get everything you deserve. You think about it, we could even get the Nobel for this."
"Dammit, I don't care about any of that. You went behind my back and you couldn't even tell me afterwards. That's low, Aggie." He ran his hand through his hair as he started pacing. "I don't know why, but it seems there's always someone trying to stop me. First there was Stanley, now it's you…I don't know."
"I'm sorry, Ford." Aggie said numbly.
"You're fired, get out." Ford replied.
Aggie was stunned. She nodded wordlessly, then went upstairs to pack her things.
"If she's going, so am I." Fiddleford declared standing up.
"Not you too." Ford said in disappointment. He frowned. "Fine then. If you want to leave, be my guest. I don't need anyone."
Aggie angrily stuffed her limited possessions in her suitcase! Unbelievable. After everything she had done, Ford could so easily discard her.
"Well, we had a good run." Fiddleford declared, leaning outside her door.
"I thought he'd at least see things from my perspective, and understand why we did what we did." Aggie complained. "I hoped we could move past this."
Fidds looked away. "I guess not. What are you going to do? Do you have somewhere to go?"
"I can figure something out." Aggie replied, closing her suitcase."
"Come work for me. I could always use the help."
"You're leaving too?" Aggie asked, surprised.
"Wouldn't seem fair to let you take all the blame."
They climbed down the stairs, suitcases in hand.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Ford?" Fiddleford asked. "If Aggie apologizes, will you let her stay?"
"How can I work with her again if I can't trust her?" Ford asked.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging at the door.
Ford looked alarmed. "I don't think we were expecting anyone."
The pounding became louder. "Open up, I can't take another minute in this godforsaken mosquito trap." The voice on the other end shouted.
"Rand." Aggie whispered. "He's here."
"What do we do?" Fiddleford asked.
"Could we ignore him?" Ford asked Aggie.
"Possibly, but he will break in." Aggie replied.
Ford sighed. "I guess we have no choice then." He strode over and opened the door, causing Rand to almost lose his balance before leaning against the doorway.
"About time. The name's Rand. Rand Ridley, you might have heard of me, I'm the founder and CEO of Cognito Inc. Glad to meet ya." He lifted out his hand to shake. "You must be Dr. Stanford Pines."
Ford did not accept the handshake. "The pleasure's all mine." He said with no emotion. "Please, do come in."
Rand gave a low whistle as he kept his hands in his pockets. "Not much of a workspace you've got going here. It's…cozy."
"It's my home." Ford said stiffly, "As well as my research station."
"Got it. Done some of my best work in my garage when I was starting out, but where do you keep your lab?" Rand asked pointedly.
"That information is confidential." Ford replied.
Rand winked. "Right. Gotta keep mum until you get it in writing, I get it. Let's talk business, Stanford. I can offer you a job at Cognito, all the resources you could possibly ever want, power beyond anything you could ever imagine. And that's just the signing bonus."
"Pass."
Rand looked skeptical. "Really? Out of all of the very few people I've offered this deal to, you are the first to refuse."
"You don't have anything I or my team could possibly want. We are conducting research for science's sake. And I don't know what plans you have for this portal, but you're not going anywhere near it."
Rand glanced over at Aggie and Fiddleford and laughed. "Holy shit, is that you Davis? Figures I'd find you in this backwater. How long have you been here since I fired you? Weeks?"
"Hello, Rand." Aggie said moodily, folding her arms.
"I bet you convinced poor little Stanford here that I'm the bad guy." He laughed. "Well pal, you'll find out soon enough she's a piece of work!"
"Oh, I'm well aware." Ford replied.
Rand snorted. "I like you. You sure I can't convince you to join me?"
"I'm afraid not, allow me to walk you to the door."
It wasn't long until Rand pulled Ford's arms behind his back, placing one arm over Ford's mouth, the other holding a gun pressed to his back.
"If either of you want him to live, you're going to take me to your lab to see this thing. I had a long flight over, it's only polite."
"You maniac!" Fiddleford shouted. "I'm calling the cops." He stormed out of the room.
"Don't bother, he controls them." Aggie said wearily.
Rand winked. "You know me too well, Davis. Come on now, be a dear and help me out here."
"You know I can't." Aggie replied, her hands shaking.
"You know, this is why I had to fire you. You weren't willing to get your hands dirty. Now, wouldn't it be such a waste to the scientific community if I had to kill your boss just to look at this thing."
"You won't be able to turn it on without him." Aggie said confidently. "Only he has the instructions."
"Then I'll just have to take him back with me and see if I can convince him with a little help."
Rand lifted what Aggie had thought was a normal gun, only to see it was one of her designs. It was a modified version of the memory wipe device, that emitted controlled doses of Myc's mucus to make the target suggestive to requests. Rand placed it to Ford's temple. "I tried to be reasonable…"
"Alright, I'll take you!" Ford shouted.
Rand grinned. "See, that wasn't so bad."
Aggie watched as Ford guided Rand to the elevator, the gun still pointed at his head. Aggie turned to the kitchen, to find Fiddleford poised with a rake in his hand. They walked slowly, as quietly as possible until the were right behind the two men with their backs turned.
"The bookshelf thing is…cute. Oh who am I kidding? This is lame as hell." Rand declared.
"Take this, Ridley!" Fiddleford shouted as he smacked the other man in the head, causing him to fall to the floor.
Ford escaped Rand's grasp. He grabbed onto Aggie's wrist, dragging her into the elevator with him.
"Oh no you don't!" Rand shouted, only for Fidds to hit him again. Rand took out his device, sending a burst of toxin into his neck.
"Fidds!" Aggie shouted as the elevator door closed in front of them.
"What are we going to do?" Aggie asked, biting her nails. "That stuff contains a powerful neurotoxin. Fidds is basically going to be mind controlled into taking Rand down here."
"Then we give him what he wants." Ford declared.
"What do you mean?" Aggie whispered fearfully.
"Open her up, and let Bill take care of him."
"Ford…that's horrible."
"You're not soft on this guy, are you Aggie?" Ford asked. "You never really told me what your relationship was to him."
"He was my asshole boss, nothing more. I might have hero worshipped him in the past, but that was before I knew the depths he'd sink just to make a quick buck, and how controlling and manipulative he was!" Aggie declared.
As the doors opened, Ford ran to the control panel to turn on the machine. As the lights of the runes started to turn on and the panels lit up, the metal creaking as it activated.
"Why don't you press the button inside," Ford directed Aggie. "I'll take the journals. Once he's inside, we're going to have to make a getaway."
Aggie frowned. "But Ford. This is your life's work, you can't leave this."
"Not for good. We'll just have to lie low for a while. Maybe stay in the bunker for a few weeks."
Aggie went inside the antechamber to push the button, allowing the portal to open. She could feel the force of gravity pulling her inside as her feet floated an inch off the ground.
"Not bad at all, Pines!" Rand shouted. "This I can work with!"
"What did you do to my friend?" Ford shouted.
Fiddleford stood woozily, his eyes completely blank behind the eyes as Rand threw him in the chair.
"Just a little memory eraser, mood stabilizer. I wouldn't order him around too much for the next 24 hours. He won't be able to say no to anything. Watch this, quack like a duck."
He quacked.
Rand chuckled. "Never gets old. Come on now, give me the grand tour."
Ford nodded, and opened the reinforced door.
"As you can see, we've found a weak spot in our reality, and using electromagnetic pulses…"
"You've punched through!" Rand exclaimed. "We were always aware of the unique properties Gravity Falls, but there didn't seem anything valuable here. This changes everything! How do you power this?"
"Nuclear waste."
Rand laughed. "Good thing I'm not planning on having kids anytime soon. Guess you aren't either, Davis?"
Aggie glared at him. "Do you want a closer look?" She asked.
"Lead the way." Rand wrapped his arm around her shoulder that was more a threat than a friendly gesture. "No tricks here, honey. I have all the cards. I always do."
Aggie lead him to the edge, past the danger line, so he could examine the frame and the power source.
"Incredible." He muttered. "Have you tested objects through the portal?"
"Not live ones." Aggie admitted.
"Then let's start." Rand grabbed onto her wrist abs shoulder tightly, pushing her head inside the portal.
Aggie closed her eyes out of instinct, opening them to see Bill staring back at her in a purple world full of other horrible creatures. Aggie screamed.
"Well, well. It looks like we have a guest. Did you want to say hi, Aggie? My friends have heard so much about you."
The other demons laughed as they advanced near her.
Suddenly, she felt herself being pulled back.
"We need to close it!" Aggie screamed. "Bill's demon friends are going to come through!"
Ford stared in surprise. "What?"
Suddenly, the large green monster and the smaller turquoise one with a keyhole in its face jumped out of the portal, ready to attack.
"Fascinating!" Rand said. He lifted up a small device, an immobilizer, and sent a ray of proton inhibitors right at the demons. "But this should stop them in their tracks."
"It might not work, they're from another dimension." Aggie said. Sure enough, their weirdness prevented any shot from hitting them as they were hit repeatedly. Rand started to swear as he ran from the creatures, dodging their attacks.
"You don't want me, get her!" Rand shouted.
"All humans taste the same!" The keyhole demon shouted.
"Bill says you're all fair game. Maybe we'll take the whole combo!" The green one agreed.
Aggie used their distraction to get away and watched as the green demon grabbed Rand, dragging him into the portal. He dropped his
"Aggie, you can't let them take me, not like this!" Rand shouted, dropping his memory wipe device. Aggie tore out the glass cartridge, throwing it on the floor as Myc's
mucus turned into a toxic gas upon impact, filling the room with powerful vapors. The demons coughed, covering their faces.
"Let's get out of here!" The keyhole demon shouted, the green one following him back in.
Rand and Aggie coughed, trying to cover their faces from the gas, and failing. Rand fell over, wheezing and immobile. Aggie thought about throwing Rand in the portal, but no matter how much she hated him, she couldn't. She pressed the button, closing the portal. She grabbed Rand, and dragged him back towards the reinforced door, pounding weakly for Ford to open up.
As soon as the door opened, she dragged Rand back in and they closed the chamber. Ford deactivated the rest of the portal mechanisms, and lifted Aggie up from the floor, pulling her into his arms.
"Don't touch me," she wheezed. "I need to decontaminate. Get Fidds out of here, start packing your stuff, we need to go. You go first, we'll take the next elevator."
Ford nodded, taking immediate action.
As the elevator door closed behind her, Aggie tried to stay awake. If she slept, the neurotoxin would make her forget everything that had happened, and she couldn't leave an unconscious Rand with the portal controls.
So she started reciting the table of elements until Ford arrived. She reached the Alkali Metals when he returned. He helped drag Rand into the elevator.
Ford put on a gas mask as they rode up. "You should probably take off those clothes. You can change when we get back."
Aggie agreed, throwing her clothes on the floor. When they reached the main floor she hobbled to her suitcase and pulled out and extra speedsuit, snapping on the buttons as Ford dragged Rand outside.
"I'm going to drive him away from the house, back into the woods."
"Good," Aggie rasped. "Once he comes to, he won't remember why he was here. Keep the windows open."
As he left, Aggie went to check on Fiddleford, who looked better, but still dazed.
"What…what was that?" He asked wearily.
"Memory eraser, and a mood stabilizer," Aggie replied, her throat feeling like sandpaper. "Powerful toxin from an alien sentient fungal species."
Fidds blinked. "And here I was trying to use electroshock frequencies," he chuckled.
"What?" Aggie asked.
"Don't worry about it, honey." He replied, patting her shoulder. He rolled over the side of the couch, onto the floor, fast asleep.
Aggie slapped herself, trying to stay awake. She rocked back and forth, singing Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'
Ford returned about fifteen minutes later, looking only slightly worse for wear.
"How's Fiddleford?" He asked worriedly.
"He'll live," Aggie rasped.
"Will you?" Ford replied.
"Let's get in the car, and we'll figure it out. You're going to have to drive though. Do you have the journals?" Aggie asked.
"Yes. Why?"
"We'll need to lock up the house. I know a place we can hide out that not even Rand will touch, but it's a long drive. I'll get Fidds in the car, if you get the bags."
As soon as they reached the car, Aggie braced herself, hopefully the navigation device she built still worked. Fiddleford was fast asleep in the back. Ford turned the keys in the ignition. "Where are we going?"
"Navigation, create a route to the Venture Compound."
