#it's like when i actually took a good look at bill cipher's design and realised he had such expressive potential

[moinsbienquekaworu]

How have I been in fandom for - going on 8 years (?) and not gotten into fanvids before?? All the association I could have been making.... All the memories.... All the composition and clever editing....

[a-mad-scientist-approaches]

Multiverse is a Curse Word (4)

Dodoodoodoodo seeing how much of this I can post before Christmas …

@the-subpar-ghost your Adrift AU is amazing and I’ve wanted to make content for it for ages.

@hntrgurl13 I am in love with Addi, as you know, but thanks again for creating her, the Dimension Jumper AU, and the Drifting Dimensions AU. I can’t stay away from them!

@scipunk63 I swear I’m not just tantalising you with the promise of your Addiford ship appearing.

My buddies. My dudes. @thejesterlyfictionista and @deadpool-demon-diva. Tell me what you think.

AO3  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11

Chapter 4: Broken Heart or Broken Bones - Your Choice

“Doctor Pines, a word if you please,” Wesley called.

Ford rose from the couch they were cooking breakfast on and went over to the resistance leader.

“I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that we are planning to undertake a strike mission against Wikert Expansion Enterprises tonight, in case you wonder about all the extra weapons around,”

“Actually, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have noticed. Mabel and I were planning to leave today,” informed Ford.

Wesley appeared surprised. “Really? When you have not even paid back your debt?”

Ford went cold. “Debt?”

“Why, we saved you, and your child, from certain death. We cured you, vaccinated you, even performed a blood transfusion, and you do not think you owe us anything?” Wesley asked innocently.

Ford stood silently for a moment, thinking through his options. This was undoubtedly a ploy to rope him further into the organisation. He had no problem harshly replying that no, he did not think he owed them anything, because when a child is in trouble you damn well help them, however he did not think Wesley would take a simple rejection for an answer. Fighting his way out would be tantamount to suicide in the middle of all these people, so that left one remaining option.

“Fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Come with us.” Said Wesley immediately. “I’m going to need the best two hackers I have, and you are number one.”

The lab yesterday was a test, Ford realised. “Where are we going?”

“A research facility. Military owned, military operated. Fortunately, most of their personnel has been called away to address an issue I organised, leaving it up for the taking. We need your help to break into the data centre and steal one specific file: WEE.rc736,”

Ford took a deep breath, and paraphrased. “You want me to participate in an incursion to a military institution owned by an evil, interdimensional capitalist corporation, trusting people I don’t know or like to watch my back, all the while most likely initiating a warzone over a digital file called urine.”

“Not sure if you can handle it?” asked Wesley pleasantly.

Ford seethed. “You expect me to bring a twelve-year-old into all this?”

“Oh no, by all means, she is welcome to stay here until our return,”

“If we return,” said Ford through clenched teeth.

“Are you going to repay your debt or not?” Wesley’s tone had not changed from that of an agreeable conversation the entire time.

I’ll just ask Addi to look after her, Ford reasoned.

⃝

An alarm rang through the complex and continued sounding as everyone began to move towards the hangar.

Ford had been trapped in a conference room with Wesley all day, going over and memorising a plan weeks in the making which the other eighty participants were already up to date on. He had not had a chance to speak to Adeline and Mabel.

The hangar was on the ground floor towards the back of the base, one wall completely missing to act as the exit. There were four shuttles inside, all of which would be used in the assault. As Ford made his way there he did not see either Adeline or Mabel, and he could feel the stress mounting. It was bad enough that he had to do this, and he should at least get a chance to say goodbye to his niece. He was striding over to Wesley’s ship with the intention of demanding he transmit a message to Adeline, when he heard her call out behind him.

“There you are. Here’s your niece, see you when we get back.” She clapped him on the shoulder as she passed.

“You’re coming?”

“Well yeah, I’ve got a database to help hack.” She frowned. “You’re not coming, are you?”

I’m going to need the two best hackers I have …

“You’re the second hacker,” he realised.

“Second?” Adeline’s expression was changing as she started to grasp what was going on.

Well who did you expect? Thought Ford furiously. Of course it’s her, you just refused to think about it, blocking it out because it interfered with your plans, because you needed her here, looking after –

“What’s going on?” asked Mabel with a nervous smile. “Are we going on the mission too, Grunkle Ford?”

The very thought filled him with fear, and sent him small flashbacks to other resistance efforts, other missions, other battlefields, other soldiers who were little more than teenagers, dead on the orders of some faceless leader, explosions that rocked entire worlds, weapons firing every colour of the rainbow, dark dungeons and prison cells that were the price of failure, and everyone ceaselessly believing in a non-existent hope that things would get better when how could they? The equilibrium of the multiverse was too stable to change in his favour. It was a buffer system of bad things.

Ford’s heart started to beat faster as he frantically thought of solutions.

“No.” He said distantly. “Just me. Adeline and I are both needed to steal a file for this resistance cell.” He watched Mabel’s smile fade as her eyes flicked between the two adults.

“Wesley needs the best people available for this. He’s collecting on the debt we owe him for saving us,” he had no idea why he was continuing to explain. It was obvious she had already put two and two together and come up with a less than satisfactory answer.

“You need to stay here,” The acknowledgement of this reality shattered the unnatural calm which had befallen both of them.

“What? No, Grunkle Ford, I have to come with you.” She shook her head and used both hands to grab onto his sleeves, correcting him as though it was a simple mathematical error he had made.

“It’s too dangerous. I’m sorry Mabel, not this time,”

“No. No, you can’t leave me here.” She insisted, tightening her grip.

“I can’t take you with me, Mabel. I’m not joking around, you need to stay here,”

Why isn’t she listening? Thought Ford as he numbly tried to twist out of her hold. Can’t she see this is serious? She could get hurt, she could die.

The hangar seemed to be getting colder by the second.

She cannot come. I draw the line here.

Regardless, Mabel was refusing to let go of him, and he could not bring himself to use more force than he already was. A quick glance behind him showed that Adeline’s face was going pale and Wesley was calmly continuing to direct weaponry and supplies onto the aircraft.

Ford was suddenly angry. Angry at Wesley for forcing him into this position. Angry at Adeline for involving him in yet another resistance. He was angry at Mabel for not listening to him, angry at Stan for pushing him into the bloody portal and then getting his niece thrown in too. He was angry at Bill fucking Cipher for ever approaching him with designs for the portal, at Fiddleford for not trying harder to convince him of Bill’s treachery, at himself for not listening to Fiddleford. At himself because he had no idea how to take care of children, or how to keep them safe, and angry at Stan again because he did. He was angry that his anger changed nothing.

“Mabel, it’ll be okay, you’ll be okay here, I’ll come back-” But how do you know that –

“No!” Mabel’s shout was violent enough to cause him to stop dead. “No, it’s not okay, it’s not safe here! You were awake last night too, I know you were, you heard what was going on!” Tears were filling Mabel’s eyes now, whether from anger or fear he did not know. Most likely both …

His mouth going dry and his pulse was thundering in his ears. Yes, he had been awake last night, he had heard Adeline’s sword sing and the muttered threats she had given their visitors. Another thing he had refused to think about in his efforts to convince himself that Mabel would be safe when he left her, because the truth was he did not know what he would come back to if she stayed. It was no use trying to say that most of the resisters were coming on the mission, that she could hide, that whatever happened would surely be better than being captured, tortured and killed – but that could happen here too. The very thought of the results of either decision made him sick.

He turned to Wesley. “Please, is there any other way to pay you back? Anything?”

“I am sorry Doctor Pines, this is the only thing you can do for me. I need your skills now, on this specific job,” he said unsympathetically.

“Wesley, come on!” Adeline said, shocked. “She’s a kid! You can’t let her stay here alone.”

“I never said she had to stay. That decision was all courtesy of Doctor Pines,” Wesley said flatly.

“Wes, I can’t believe this! Let’s just go back to the original plan, Kot and I can handle it. Hell, I’ll do it by myself if you want a medic!”

“Alternatively, what if Wikert has safeguards that we do not know about? What if you hit a block similar to the one on the lab? No, Doctor Pines is coming with us, no matter what. Make a decision Stanford: choose to break her heart or break her bones, but do it quickly,”

The last of the ammunition was loaded onto the vehicle. Wesley started ordering the personnel into shuttles. The hangar began to hum as engines ignited.

Break her heart or break her bones. Which choice leads to which exactly? He stared into the girl’s own glassy eyes like he would find the answer there.

“Mabel, sweetheart, please …” Please don’t make me choose, please understand, please do something to make this easier …

“No.” Her voice shook but she held his gaze steadily, and continued to clutch at his sleeves like a lifeline. They might have been.

“We do not have unlimited time, Stanford Pines,”

“I know, I can hear the fucking sirens!” Ford snapped. Of course this would happen, of course, why wouldn’t it, of course ofcourseofcourse-

Hardening his heart, he turned back to his niece hating himself. She was going to stay here, she was going to be fine, he was going to get the damn file, he would come back, and he would figure out how to make this up to her. She would deal with it, and so would he. The tightness in his chest meant nothing.

He braced himself to pull away and said, “Trust me.”

“NO!” It was the seventh time she had said it, and the most shocking. The word ripped convulsively out of her, and the tears started to break from their dam.

“I mean – I mean, yeah, I do …” She struggled to find the right words. “But, the last time I said that,” she was looking at him, desperate to have him understand whatever was going through her mind, trying to convey a message that was almost too painful to speak aloud.

“I let go of the only thing holding me to the ground and I fell into the portal. And I’m sorry, but I really, really wish I hadn’t, I’m so sorry.”

That was the sentence that broke both of them. Ford sank to his knees and hugged her tightly as Mabel collapsed onto his shoulder, sobbing. There was no way he could leave her after that.

⃝

After a few seconds Mabel was able to regain control of herself. She peeled herself off her uncle and Addi came over to take her hand. She looked scared.

“Come on kiddo, let’s get you into the ship,” She sounded as confident as ever.

“I’ll be right there,” Mabel heard Ford say quietly. Emotionally drained, she was too sapped to feel embarrassed, or scared, or anything other than relieved. She wasn’t going to be left behind. She wasn’t going to lose her family again.

Mabel nodded, and Addi briefly squeezed her uncle’s hand before strapping her into a seat and sitting next to her.

From out in the hangar came a loud “Shit!”, which caused Mabel to wince, followed by the sound of a boot slamming into the aircraft’s side. Footsteps thudded over to where Wesley waited.

“If anything happens to her …”

“Nothing will,”

“For your sake you should hope so,”

Addi’s knuckles had gone white.

Then Ford climbed into the craft and sat on Mabel’s other side, pinching the bridge of his nose. A moment later the doors slid shut, the alarms ceased, and the shuttles lifted up into the air.

No going back now, Mabel thought.