⊰ ⚙ ⊱ For one mere second, she’s relieved. The gravity anomalies were perfectly normal, right? But then two people intrude and she’s shaken for a moment before Rey pins them down. Oh, she is no stranger to this type of situation, and she initially takes a defensive stance as there was clear reason for the amount of security they had to go through to get here. Gloved hands ball into tight fights before the threat is neutralised and she listens.
The young boy seems sincere, frightened, and she’s not sure what to think at first. How could something promising so much be…dangerous, as he says, then the older of the pair chimes in and it hits her. How could…she have been building something that could potentially lead to disaster? How could she have been so foolish…again. She trusts Ford, like she’d trusted her father, like she’d trusted Varrick and she’d listen to him for his side of this, because she doesn’t know the intruders.
Then he admits he withheld information from the two engineers. And the other girl is clearly upset, but Asami has to pause in shock, tears stinging at her eyes as she looks up at Ford, brows knitting. “No. He didn’t tell us.”
“How…could you? We trusted you, Ford. I trusted you!” Her fists clench at her side, the woman biting at her lower lip. “Why wouldn’t you tell us there was a chance this thing could hurt people? I don’t…I don’t know what this sort of technology could do. I’m not from your time! You…” She pauses, glancing downward then back up with more conviction. “You used us! You used me! Why couldn’t you talk to us? What if there was some way we could have avoided the possible dangers? We’re smart engineers, we’re not idiots, Ford. Do you…” Another pause and she frowns. “Do you even actually trust us, Ford?” Why else would he lie? Like her father had.
The destruction Rey ensues, causes her to flinch. She isn’t about to join in on the destroying of a machine she never fully understood. Not when she’d gone through something similar already. She didn’t want a repeat of the entire Spirit Portal fiasco. “Wait…”
𝓣his was a disaster previously beyond his imagination, now unfolding in flames before him. In an instant had he squandered what pillars of trust he had forged, watching as they toppled in a pool of ashes at his feet. Breathless for the want to combat the hard truths lain before him, the beginnings of shame crept into his chest at pairs of eyes locked upon him in evident betrayal. And, in the face of Rey’s rage and Asami’s tear-stricken grief, Ford felt every foundation he’d had for his actions crumble beneath his feet.
“I–” I’m sorry. The words pushed to the brink of actualization. Yet some part of him– less feeling, and more shrewdly calculating substituted them for the explanation they clearly sought.
“That wasn’t my intent– to use, or to lie! By the time either of you were involved I had already done my utmost to alter the portal’s original blueprints from their abominable destination.” Having seen the Nightmare Realm first hand, he had no intention to unleash that Hell upon Hive City. Yet, though well-intentioned, his knowledge and experience had afforded the author arrogance as well, lending him too much pride to admit to his past mistakes in the portal’s construction. “There was no need to confide that which I thought need no longer apply. Especially not with still so much work to be done. You must understand– I was desperate!
“Please, if there is anyone who knows the cost of building a device such as this, it is me.” Though that particular branch of exposition wasn’t what was needed right now. He could only hope to salvage what dregs of promise still lay vested in him– and the portal along with it.
“A-and that’s why…” Tremulous, Ford began, “I should have told you the risks. I should have told you everything.” He should have trusted them. “I thought I was sparing you any unnecessary misgivings. I was wrong. Asami– Rey, don’t do this.”
Yet this realization had dawned too little too late in the wake of the garish blaze of a lightsaber starting to life. And, no sooner had it been drawn did Ford feel his steps lurch forward; the searing line cloven through machinery striking at a chord exceedingly close to home.
“N-no. Stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!” The warning ripped itself free of his throat, every effort made to blink away the crippling parallels his mind drew to a similar disaster thirty years prior. “Stop!”
Dipper and Oz are released from whatever force was keeping them against the wall, and he watches things fall apart as his feet touch the ground. One of the young women is in frustrated tears and the other, the one who kept them pressed against wall is now brandishing a blade seemingly made of light or concentrated energy. Whatever it is, it’s powerful enough to cleave through an unfamiliar looking machine like butter.
She’s angry; Ozpin can respect that if Ford has kept the information, risks, and possible opponents secret up until this point. He’s not going to try and stop her, since she’s proven herself extremely powerful and there’s no telling if his fields would hold against such a blade or if the small portion of control he has over time is enough to hold through a fight. Even if he wanted this to be as peaceful as possible, but how could it have ever been? There would have always been some resistance from Ford, and he’s already destroyed some machinery on the way in- He just hasn’t been expecting it to be slightly in their favor. He rests a steady hand on dipper’s shoulder about to warn as much to his younger companion, when Ford actually starts approaching Rey in a distressed daze.
“Ford, wait- Leave her be; There’s nothing-”
Oz is interrupted by Ford’s outcry, clearly not being heard, and he grits his teeth. He doesn’t know this young woman, or the extent of her temper, but he does know Ford won’t stop on his own, not like he is right now.
It’s partially panic that causes it, but the headmaster quickly raises his cane, and then slams it hard into the floor, green energy crackling forth from it zig-zaging it’s way across the room until it creates a circle around the other man and then raises into its completely enclosed state, keeping Ford inside.
“I said wait! You can’t stop her. You.. can’t stop this from happening.”
It takes more concentration than normal to keep the orb up, as he clutches his cane white-knuckled. He glances back over to Dipper.
“Dipper, how do we turn this off? I assume there’s another way- regardless of quickly as she’s getting the job done in her own right.”
