There was a deafening pound as the gavel struck its sounding block. "Victor Frankenstein, we find you guilty of murder in the first degree," the Judge's voice slithered out.

"V-very well," said Victor shakily. "Then - then what is to be my punishment?"

its antennae flickered in a way that sent shivers down the accused's spine. "Your notions of fetters and straight jackets and ten stone weights are just as outdated and morally repugnant as yourself. We will do no such thing - you are to be delivered, by any force necessary, to the courthouse portal, and sent to your home reality. Failing this, you will be put under house arrest until a suitable alternative is located, which you will be deported to."

The man laughed; weakly, shrilly. He looked like a tiny ant, held an audience by a giant cockroach. "Then I shall be fettered still - what difference is it to me, whether I am chained in a madhouse or a courthouse? I shall not protest, but I humbly ask to be allowed one final request as a free man."

"Ask as you wish, and it shall be honored," said the Judge, with a clack of its jaws.

"The spirit of the law is that I am simply to be removed from Simul, by any means necessary. Is that correct?"

"Correct."

"Then I am to be removed by my own hand!" he exclaimed, and revealed the pistol he had stored within his coat pocket; there was a collective gasp from within the courtroom, and the Cimex guards had to physically restrain the witness stand, which was filled with Victor's panicked friends. Nonetheless, no authority made any move to stop him.

"Watch, my friends, and may you learn from my hubris," he said, addressing the witness stand. "I had only wanted to leave a mark upon the world - to cure the sick, to ease the burden of death, to perfect a flawed design! And yet look at me now. Look at all of us now! This society - this mixing of Gods and Creations - it is an affront to every Power that may ever be, and it is doomed. Yet it is my one escape from Hell! I have given nothing to this God, and I have taken nothing away! If my soul remains here, know that it is at peace, but know that it has escaped the bitter consequence that it has earned."

His bony hands trembled as the pistol was raised to his head. He took a deep, shaky breath, and then said, "I bid thee farewell, my friends; do not mourn me. Take my things, so I may serve you posthumously, but hold no candle to my memory." And with that, he pulled the trigger.

The gunshot left everyone's ears ringing, as did the shrill screams of those he had endeared himself to as a spray of hot blood rained upon them. His scrap of a body crumpled earthward, his golden cravat floating after him like a flag of surrender; Elizabeth's fine stitching was now accented with shining rivulets of gore.

The courtroom fell deathly silent. All they could do was stare at the madman whose corpse lay before them; the tension was so great that it could snap at any moment.

Suddenly, it was broken; the scene had felt so surreal that it appeared to have actually wrinkled the fabric upon which reality was laid out. A rift had torn itself into existence upon the courtroom wall - whether it was caused by the agony of the departed soul, or only occured by chance, is unknown.

Two small, alien figures stumbled out from the rogue portal; one tall, the other triangular.

"It's over here!" said Phineas.

At once, Ferb ran to the body on the floor, and dug his hands through the sludge of dead matter that surrounded it.

"Yep, it's genuine."

Splattered upon the tiles as it was, they had finally located Frankenstein's brain.