Gravity Rises (S2)

BB: Part Seven

"Stanford!"

Stanley threw his arms out and hugged his brother tightly. Ford stood there stiffly. When Stanley drew back, Mabel could see the shock in Ford's eyes.

"Lee. . . How?"

Lee put a hand on Ford's shoulder. "Brother. I've been waiting for you for thirty years."

"But you were. . ."

"Don't you remember? There was an accident. I got trapped down here. I've been here ever since, living off canned beans and fighting off the last of your monsters. I thought you would come back, but. . . you never did."

"That isn't what I remember at all," Ford said. "But my memory hasn't exactly been reliable lately."

Mabel thought back to that night in the secret basement. The expression of Ford's face as he stared up at the portal was burned into her memory. The tears he had shed for his brother had glistened as they had fallen to the ground. He couldn't have remembered wrong. Could he?

"Follow me," Stanley said. "Come see where I've been all these years."

He bent down and picked up Ford's flashlight, handing it back to his brother with a smile.

Ford took it, but didn't smile back.

Stanley started down the tunnel.

"Wait," Mabel said. "Isn't the monster back there?"

Stanley turned. "Oh. Yes. I stashed the body in another tunnel. There are all sorts of monster corpses littered around here. But I keep the path to my hideout clear."

Mabel and Ford followed him through the passage. They didn't say anything, but both of them stayed back a little.

"Mabel," Ford whispered. "Something is wrong."

"That's not your brother, is it?"

He shot her an impressed look. "I don't think it is. What tipped you off?"

"You. You looked suspicious. And you can't be wrong about him being in the portal. Not after the other night."

Ford nodded. "That's what I was thinking too. There are plenty of creatures who can look like something they're not. And something else he said. . . 'all sorts of monster corpses.' There was only one cage back there, and the harder I think about it, the more I only remember one creature. At least. . . the last time I was here."

"What kind of creature?"

"I'm not sure."

Mabel and Ford abruptly cut off their conversation as Stanley came to a stop in front of them. Lee — or, the Lee imposter — stepped up onto a rocky ledge and pushed back a tattered cloth hanging down from the ceiling. "Here we are."

The room beyond looked like the rest of the tunnels, except littered with empty cans and metal scraps.

"It's not much," Lee said with a chuckle. "But it's home."

"How come you couldn't just leave?" Mabel asked, glancing at Ford. He nodded, almost imperceptibly. They'd ask the imposter some questions to see if they could get him to reveal himself.

"I couldn't get past the security room!" Lee replied. "We came down here all the time, but Fordsie here always put in the code. I didn't dare try. I know how dangerous that thing is. It's ridiculous, but Fidds just couldn't help himself."

Ford gasped.

Mabel jumped at the force of it. Ford stumbled back, hitting a nearby rock wall. His eyes were wide, his breathing heavy.