Making use of its ridiculous number of limbs, Nathaniel Northwest's contorted body was stretching back and force across the laboratory, making use of a pestle and mortar while simultaneously repairing the broken tubes and pipes with an impressive level of strength.

All the while, his head hung, uselessly, in the centre - eyes a milky white and panting, dripping thick liquids from its slackened, purple jaw. It wasn't entirely clear how much of the man was still there; but his actions seemed determined and confident, fuelled by innate knowledge.

Whether it was something controlled by an unknown, leering third party or something from the man's own demented mind, it wasn't entirely clear - but it was a force to be reckoned with. The creature seemed to ignore their presence, continuing about its merry way.

It bubbled and belched, still leaking thick tendrils of the ethereal blue water.

"What is it doing…?" Dipper asked.

"That machine didn't have…all of that stuff…" Pacifica said.

It was right enough. Under the industrious series of limbs, the equipment had developed into something far more imposing. It was a crooked collection of parts, wrapping around Cornelius Northwest's corpse with a fierce lack of compassion.

The only sign of humanity was that, occasionally, a single hand stroked the husked skull's cheekbone, with what almost resembled a scrap of compassion for the desiccated corpse.

"Goh-bd….b-boiy….." It belched from its hanging, slack mouth.

It was almost mesmerising. Horrifying beyond belief. A disgusting creature that bulged and leaked, occasionally springing small tears that spilt out ghostly blue slime or thick, black drips of what resembled a mixture of molasses and tar.

Everybody felt sick. Nauseous. They had prepared for something bad, but this - to see the creature in full motion, to see it at work, and even to see it treating something with a certain level of care - was brutal. Almost impressively off-kilter.

Perhaps even the clearest view of Nathaniel they had ever had - a contorted, industrious but utterly conflicted monster. A creature that worked as a slave to a power that didn't seem entirely of its cognition. A creature so dedicated, so absolutely desperate to prove itself to an aloof, hateful higher power that it would do anything, through even the harshest of pains and agonising of contortions to try and please an uncaring, triangular master.

"Mr. Northwest." Ford finally spoke up. "You know this is a bad idea."

Ford was ignored with the same lack of concern as Stan usually blanked out on his lectures. The creature shambled along on its task. Whether it was ignorance, arrogance, or simply a lack of senses, the spindly, multi-limbed beast kept bending metal and grafting severed cables with an acidic substance it seemed to secrete from its hanging, dragging tongue.

It was fairly clear it just didn't see the Pines as worth listening to.

Pacifica whispered something into Mabel's ear. She eagerly listened in.

"THIS IS MADNESS, RICH BOY!" Dan tried, with far less tact.

The beast, once again, made no efforts to listen.

Mabel opted to throw a button at it - a big pink one with a happy star saying You should take a break!

The creature just ignored it.

Dipper was about to speak when Pacifica stepped in front of him. Stan was about to grab her and pull her back, before Ford snatched his arm, giving him a look.

The old swindler was worried. Pacifica had been through a hell of a lot tonight. But in the situation...he supposed they all had. He decided to give it a go. What else were they supposed to do?

"Mr. Northwest, Sir?"

The creature sniffed. That was Northwest blood speaking. It raised its shambling head, the grotesquely unhinged jaw swaying on its sinews, its eyes widening, thick blue and black streaks still pouring over its swollen, purple lips.

Pacifica swallowed hard and spoke up. "Trust me. You really don't want to do that. Bill Cipher never planned to work with you. He tricked you. He just wanted to use you."

The creature stopped working and approached her, its long, still-mostly-human-looking nose sniffing around her, as hands crept upon the floor like the legs of a centipede. She froze solid and winced as the overpowering smell of fennel and ozone surrounded her, the creature dripping on her fine court suit…

"T-the Northwest Legacy never turned out to be the great one you wanted it to be. I know that stinks. But if you do this? We'll never be able to fix it. Do you really want us to go down as a bunch of kooks who destroyed the world, or as a family that did good in the world? I- I think I can help us achieve the latter, great-great-grandpa. If - if you'll let me."

The creature gurgled and pierced her eyes with his own ghostly blue oculars. And gave a cruel, ghostly laugh from deep within its grotesque body.

It was worth a try, at least, Pacifica thought. "Now, Mabel."

Mabel opened up her blazer, grabbed a firework and lit it. "You never know when you need to blow off somebody's face with a firework!"

The firework was damp. Not soaked through, but far from ideal - having been subject to thin slithers of moisture through Mabel's suit. It took two or three strikes of the equally irresponsible matches that Mabel tended to keep in her pocket.

"I said now, Mabel!"

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" She replied, getting increasingly panicked. "Oh c'mon… c'mon!"

Nathaniel Northwest's disgusting form sneered and bucked its back - if one could reasonably assume it to be the creature's back - and whacked Pacifica across the face with one of its hands, sending her flying against the wall with a loud CRACK and a solid THUD.

"P-Pacifica!" Dipper yelped - he saw red and lept at the animal with nary a thought for his own preservation, punching the thing repeatedly in its expressionless, hanging face. "Don't! Touch! My! Girlfr-"

"Dipper, get out of the way!" Mabel shrieked as the rocket finally took off.

He jumped down just in time with a panicked yell, getting out of the way with only a singed trainer-top to show for it.

With a cacophonic BOOM! the rocket flew into the creature's mouth and exploded, throwing it back against the bizarre collection of machinery and hardware. Outsized yellow teeth burst from its jaw as It howled in anger, and worked to steady itself, hitting one of many levers and valves on the control column, thick plumes of smoke and multi-coloured sparks still flying from its mouth.

Immediately, machinery began kicking into life, thick blue mucus travelling through pipework and coil as the hastily repaired chamber began to fill with moisture.

Before the Pines could react, however, they noticed an increasingly, overbearingly loud noise…

thumpa-thumpa-thumpa-thUMPA-THUMPA-THUMPA-THUMPA

"Is that….a train?"

"GET DOWN!" Ford barked. "NOW!"

HooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

The engine never got to finish its whistle.