#JSE Explained

[jselorekeeper]

ALTRverse Information

“Get Slapped Across the ALTRverse!” By the podcasters Angrygeeks Show and Robert Meyers

Robert Meyers is the publishing director for Badegg who has taken part within ALTRverse! Here is some of the information he decided to share with us!

1. The art style for Jackie changed because the artist had problems and couldn’t continue the art style, a new artist stepped in to save it

2. Robert is most excited about Void Silver! He loves Jackie’s comic just the same but he had more of a hand in Void Silver!

3. There will be a limited edition only for preorders!

4. The range of the price is 15-30 dollars!

5. Jackie and Marvin’s paths could merge at some point! He didn't wanna give any promises but he feels like they should!

6. Higgins is based on two cats within the team!

7. Robert likes the idea of Higgins having his own Plushie!

8. Will we see other egos? Robert cannot confirm or deny but he said to stay tuned for things beyond these comics

9. He said there will eventually be merch for the comic books! He isn’t quite sure when!

10. He hinted they might be at Comic-Con in the Fall on the East Coast of America!

[thechaosqueenishere]

My headcanon Jackie and altrverse Jackie talking:

Altr: Omg you're a real superhero? Saving the city and all that?!

HC: Yup! And don't worry kid, you'll get there too, just believe in yourself.

My HC Marvin and Altrverse Marvin talking:

Altr: ...and who are you?

HC(smug): I'm what you wish you were.

Altr: Fuck you.

[sonknuxadow]

ive said multiple times that i hate it when people say youtubers/streamers/whatever should voice sonic characters (and yes this includes the ones you the reader like. zero exceptions) but im actually not super mad about jacksepticeye in sonic prime im more confused than anything. like how come you wouldnt get anybody from the games but you let him in. also why him specifically

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Breakthroughs and Breakouts

A JSE Fanfic

SepticHeroes AU: Part 32

First Part | Previous Part | Read on AO3 at CrystalNinjaPhoenix

I almost called this chapter "Jackie's Bad Day" but then I realized that, as funny as it is, it doesn't encompass everything in this chapter. I'll just get right to the summary. Jackie goes to check on Dr. McLoughlin, to see if the other's suspicions have any weight. While there, McLoughlin tells him about his accident. Afterwards, Schneep gathers everyone up to ask for their help. And yeah. Enjoy the chapter! ^-^

===============

Something had been bothering Jackie lately.

Alright, several things had been bothering Jackie lately. The situation with JJ and the Vault, the visit from Kinetics yesterday, the daily stress of being a Hero—even though no major villains had popped up since he defeated the Puppeteer, petty crime would never fully stop—there was a lot to be bothered by. But something that was nagging at him beyond the heavy anxiety of the more serious problems... was Dr. McLoughlin.

Why did McLoughlin have those modified SAMs? If he didn’t make them, why were they in a hidden room in his lab? Marvin’s insistence that McLoughlin was shady kept running through Jackie’s mind... was it true? He couldn’t deny that McLoughlin had several suspicious things surrounding him. The scans of the Puppeteer mask being different than they should be, the way Anti-Virus targeted SepTech, his company, and now this. Maybe... maybe he really was working with Anti-Virus?

But Jackie refused to jump to conclusions. If his recent experiences had taught him anything, it’s that people were more than how they appeared. He should at least give McLoughlin the benefit of the doubt. He should at least check it out on his own.

He walked into the North SepTech location with some slight nerves, but McLoughlin had said Windstorm could visit whenever he wanted. Surely he wouldn’t have a problem with Jackie stopping by now. He let the front desk know he was there, just to be polite, and then headed down the hall to the elevator to the lab.

This was the third time he’d been in here, and it looked the same as it did the last couple times. The conveyor belts, the robotic arms, the monitors everywhere. Everything seemed so close together despite the high ceilings of the large room. “Dr. McLoughlin?” Jackie called. “I know you can hear me! You have cameras and stuff!” He paused. “Are you here?”

After a moment, a nearby monitor turned on and showed the words INTERCOM SYSTEM ACTIVATED—just like last time Jackie was here. “Hey Windstorm!” McLoughlin’s voice came from the speakers. “Come on in! I’m in the middle of the lab.”

“Thanks.” Jackie jumped into the air to get a good look at everything. Once he spotted McLoughlin he flew down, landing next to him.

“Good to see you again!” McLoughlin looked up at Jackie and smiled. He was sitting at a table, with various mechanical parts spread out in front of him. Jackie recognized the spherical exterior of a SAM, cracked open like a coconut with one half to the left and the other to the right. 

“Yeah, good to be here again,” Jackie said, putting a smile on his face as well. “What are you doing? Fixing a SAM? Isn’t that uh... a bit beneath you?”

“What? Beneath me?” McLoughlin laughed. “What d’you mean?”

“Well you own the company and designed the SAMs yourself, it seems like you’d have people to fix the individual Machines,” Jackie explained.

McLoughlin pulled his hands out of the parts, brushing them against each other. “Well I’m not fixing it in the first place. I’m looking to see if there’s anything I can do to improve things. There’s always room for improvement, they say.” He pointed to a nearby cluster of monitors, all of which were showing various blueprints. “I can’t just work on stuff in writing, I need to be able to dig into things and mess around with them physically.”

Jackie nodded slowly. “Do you... work on a lot of SAMs in here?” he asked.

“Sometimes,” McLoughlin said casually. “I also tend to mess around with stuff while I’m doing something else. Heh, sometimes I have SAM here project the blueprints so I can watch something on the monitors.” He stood up from the swivel chair he was sitting in. “Anyway. Anything I can do for you?”

“Oh, uh... I just wanted to get more familiar with your lab,” Jackie said. “Could you give me a tour?”

“A tour?” McLoughlin brightened—but then dimmed again, looking a bit hesitant. “Um... there’s not much to explore, really, I-I’m sure it would bore you.”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t. I mean, I might not understand a lot of what you say, but I’ll be happy to hear about it,” Jackie said.

“You sure?” McLoughlin asked. “I mean, I don’t even know what’s going on here half the time. I have a million things that I started and then didn’t stop, and so much shit in the storage rooms that I just put away and let the computer keep in the database forever.”

Jackie chuckled. “I’m sure. Just walk me through what you have, I’d appreciate any of it.”

McLoughlin nodded slowly. “Alright. Well, um... to start with, uh, a lot of these conveyor belts move things around—uh, obviously they do, that’s what conveyor belts are designed for.” He laughed nervously. “But I mean, there are a lot of parts involved in stuff and sometimes it’s easier for me to let the robot arms do stuff in one location then send it over to me in another...”

They started walking around the lab, going in a zigzag pattern towards the back. McLoughlin explained what each of the robot arms do—some of them are general purpose while others are designed for more specific things, like the ones that have devices on the end to screw things in, or even a couple that have blowtorches on the end! He started explaining the various projects he’d made in the lab. Finding unusual ways to construct computer towers, designing hologram projectors, creating hoverboards—the longer he talked, the stranger his accomplishments became. And the more excited he became about them, until he was absolutely gushing about how he came up with the idea for the SAMs. 

“It was so hard to propose that to the board, let me tell you that,” McLoughlin said. “They usually can’t justify the cost of a lot of my designs. But I figured that if I combine all of my favorite ideas together, then market these as assistants, then the board would go for it. And I was right, haha!”

“So... when did you decide to sell them to the League?” Jackie asked.

“Well I figured that if anyone needed an assistant, it would be Heroes, right?” McLoughlin said. “I was willing to give them for free, but the board insisted. They’re all about profit, you know.” He shrugged. “But I don’t mind. I can’t work on everything all the time, even if I want to. I couldn’t build all the SAMs myself, or even supervise everything. I automate a lot of stuff.” He frowned. “Which... might’ve been a bad idea. After all, maybe if I’d been more, uh, hands-on, our systems wouldn’t have been hacked.”

“It’s not your fault,” Jackie assured him. “I’m sure you have a great firewall. One you didn’t expect would ever be breached.”

McLoughlin sighed. “I guess... but still.” He paused. “I did think that nothing would be able to defeat the—”

“New camera installation completed,” a robotic voice said.

“Gah!” McLoughlin jumped in surprise, then sighed and leaned against the nearest conveyor belt. “Whaddafuk?”

“New camera installation completed,” the voice repeated.

Jackie frowned. “You... didn’t know you were... installing new cameras?”

“I, uh... forgot, I... I guess.” McLoughlin let out a breath. He rubbed his eyes, then reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out that remote with the single button. “When did I request the infrared cameras?” he asked into it.

“Yesterday at 11:29 am, after the motion detection at 2:01 am two nights ago,” the robotic voice said.

“Ohhh.” McLoughlin nodded. “Yeah, I would do that. Honestly I probably should’ve put in new cameras a long time ago.”

Jackie stiffened. Didn’t Schneep say he snuck into SepTech recently. “So, uh... what motion detection?” he asked, trying to sound casual.

“Oh, the system woke me up at 2 am recently because of a supposed intruder,” McLoughlin explained. “I have a little bed area set up in Storage Room 18, you know cause I practically live here.” He chuckled. “And there’s a camera in there, you know, for security. The system is set up so that it alerts me of suspicious movement.”

“Was there someone in your room?!” Jackie said, alarmed. Did Schneep really sneak into McLoughlin’s bedroom?! Well, not bedroom, but still, it’s similar, isn’t it? It felt like a breach of privacy.

“Nah,” McLoughlin dismissed. “I toss and turn a lot when sleeping, so I have a blind spot set up over my bed for the motion detection. I must’ve just passed out of the blind spot and triggered the alarm.” He shuddered. “God. What a fucking way to wake up, though. I hate the alarm sound.”

“Well, uh... th-that must be—that must mean it’s working, then.” Jackie forced out a laugh, trying not to think about Schneep possibly breaking into a room while someone was sleeping.

McLoughlin frowned. “I... I guess. It just... brings up... bad memories.”

Jackie blinked. “Bad... memories?”

McLoughlin glanced at him. “Um... you know what? Come over here.” He turned and walked to the side, going around tables and robot arms. Confused, and slightly concerned, Jackie followed him.

They reached the corner of the room, where a bunch of control panels on counters were pushed against the walls, along with four large monitors. At first glance, it didn’t look too different from anywhere else in the lab... but then Jackie saw something. The walls around these counters were stained black. He’d seen patterns like this before. Sooty impact lines. There had been a fire here. Maybe even an explosion. “What’s this?” he asked.

McLoughlin pulled a swivel chair over and sat in it. “Why did you decide to become a Hero?”

Jackie started. What did this have to do with anything? “Uh well... I-I wanted to help people.”

“Why?”

Jackie gave a little laugh. But McLoughin’s usually relaxed expression was different now. Serious and intense in a way the scientist had never been before. “Well... Why does anyone want to help people?” He sighed. “Sorry, that’s not an answer.” Leaning back against the counter, he thought about what to say. “Well if I have to boil it down to one thing, it’s that... It’s just that I don’t want people to be hurt. And when you can do something to help people, you should.”

“What if helping others gets yourself hurt?” McLoughin asked.

Jackie blinked. “Well, it depends on the stakes and how much you’d get hurt. I’ve like, broken bones and twisted ankles and stuff. It sucks but it heals. But if it’s something like... getting shot and dying to some random criminals stealing jewelry or something... then I’d really prefer if that didn’t happen. At least let me die doing something cool like saving the world.” He laughed. The sound slowly fades as he looked back towards McLoughlin. “Why d’you ask?”

“I wanted to figure out how much you’d get what I’m about to say,” McLoughlin explained. “Cause like... I think if you can really change the world, it’s worth it, y’know?”

Jackie nodded slowly. He was beginning to suspect something. “Is this about the accident you were in?”

“Yeah. Yeah it is.” McLoughlin rolled his head back, resting it on the back of the chair as he looked up to the ceiling. “I really like working with robots, but something that’s always annoyed me is the programming side of things. The software and stuff. Doesn’t matter how fucking sweet your robot is, if the computer in its brain has some variables crossed, it can’t do anything with its design.”

“Makes sense,” Jackie said.

McLoughlin grinned. “About three and a half years ago, maybe closer to four now, I was working on this really intense programming project. Something I was sure would help people. It’s kind of hard to explain—and it failed anyway so it doesn’t really matter what it was, I think. But I really think it would’ve helped people. It would’ve made programming things in the future so much easier, we could’ve used it in software to help detect cancer a-and launch space probes and—and so much!”

Jackie raises an eyebrow. “There’s really some program that could’ve done that?”

“Well it was more like a bunch of programs all working together in a big super program, but yeah. I think so.”

“...how does something like that lead to an accident that cost you an eye and an arm?” Jackie asked.

McLoughlin raised his head and turned his chair towards Jackie. “Cause a project that intense takes a lot of computing power. Like a lot. Like... this whole corner here was just walls and walls of hard drives.” He laughed. “I think the power I was using single-handedly caused a couple rolling blackouts. Don’t tell the board I said that. They’d be so mad about the bad PR. Anyway, I kept trying to shrink the program and increase my computing power. The project wouldn’t be any good if it took a whole city power grid to run. For months, it was just that. Shrink the program, boost the power. Shrink the program, boost the power. Shrink the program, boost the—you get the point. Going back and forth making adjustments for like half a year.”

Jackie whistled. “That... sounds like a lot of work.”

“Oh it was. But it was worth it... or at least, that’s what I thought.” McLoughlin sighed. “Then, right when I was on the brink of getting something sustainable... The constrictor burst. And everything just—” He made an explosion sound with his mouth, moving his hands outward to indicate something blowing up. “I was right in the middle of it. I was lucky that I just lost my arm, eye, and all that surface stuff.”

“Holy shit,” Jackie whispered.

“Tell me about it,” McLoughlin said. “But see here’s the thing. I could have left sooner. But I was busy trying to salvage what I had programmed, so it wouldn’t disappear when the hard drives blew up. Transferred it to an external drive. Standing in the middle of everything, hearing that alarm go off around me while I waited for the transfer.. .” He shuddered. “Bad memories. I hate that alarm sound.”

“Yeah I don’t blame you, fucking hell.” Jackie shook his head. “That was really worth risking your life for? Worth losing your arm and eye for?”

“Well... I thought so at the time,” McLoughlin said slowly. “But, uh... what I got away with wasn’t really what I wanted.” He shrugged. “Still, it worked out in the end, I think. I used some of the code from that project for a lot of other stuff, like the SAMs. And I do like what I came away with in the end.”

“What you... came away with?” Jackie asked slowly.

McLoughlin didn’t answer right away, facing away from Jackie. Then he snapped out of whatever trance he was in and turned back to him. “My cool cybernetics,” he said, grinning. 

Jackie laughed. “You’re happy about that?”

“Fuck yeah I am. I mean, it really sucked to get them. I...” His smile slipped. “I don’t think I’ll ever be in so much pain... ever again...” Then it returned. “But these are basically the same thing. The synthetic skin even feels stuff. It was real fucking hard to get the artificial neurons to work right. Don’t get me started on the eye—it’s basically a camera but it was so hard to hook up, I had to turn everything upside down. But at least the vocal synthesizer was easy. All the pieces were already in place.”

“Vocal synthesizer?” Jackie repeated, standing up straight.

“Oh yeah, my vocal cords got shredded,” McLoughlin said casually. “I know, I don’t sound like a robot, do I? I already had voice samples to work with. I basically sound the same as before.”

“So, like... you work with voice synthesizers a lot, then?” Jackie asked. “You’re really familiar with them?”

McLoughlin tilted his head. “Uh, I guess, yeah. Why do you ask?”

“I was just thinking... about the Puppeteer mask,” Jackie said slowly.

“Huh? You mean the synthesizer the Puppeteer used to speak?”

Jackie nodded.

McLoughlin stared at him. He stood up. “Do you think I should’ve recognized that there was a synthesizer in there?” He sighed. “They’re really small, Windstorm. It’s hard to identify anything inside that mask with just your eye. It’s why I let the computer scan it. Besides, it was inserted behind the plastiglass surface and hidden from view. Yeah, maybe if someone hadn’t messed with the scans, I could’ve recognized it. But they did.”

Jackie nodded. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything.”

“Offend me?” McLoughlin looked confused.

“I don’t know, you might’ve thought I was implying something.”

McLoughlin paused for a moment more, then his eyes widened. “Oh! You mean—oh.” He laughed. “No, I mean—I would suspect me of something too, if I was in your shoes. No worries.” He shrugged. “Besides, if I was really working with the Puppeteer and this Anti-Virus guy, I would’ve given them a better synthesizer. One that didn’t make him sound so robotic.”

Jackie laughed. “I guess. If you could sound like a real person, why wouldn’t you?” That all made sense to him. But... remembering the modified SAMs Schneep had seen, he stayed a bit cautious. He wanted to ask more about McLoughlin’s project that led to his accident. But he had to remember what he was here for. “Hey, can we keep looking around? Or is the mood ruined?”

“We can keep going,” McLoughlin said. “But we’ve been here for a while now. Is there anything, like, specific you want to see?”

“Uh, I think you mentioned storage rooms?” Jackie said. “What’s in there?”

“A bunch of stuff, really. I don’t even know what I’ve shoved into those rooms.” McLoughlin laughed. “We can check it out together. C’mon.”

The two of them walked to the edge of the room, where the doors lined the walls. McLoughlin explained that there were twenty rooms on each side, adding up to a total of forty rooms. Hearing that made the task of checking all of them seem daunting, but he had to do it, didn’t he? So he went with McLoughlin as they checked the rooms one by one

“Oh. Huh.” After a while, McLoughlin pulled at the handle of one door—Storage Room 10. “This one’s locked.” He pulled out his remote and spoke into it. “What’s in Storage Room 10?”

“Spare parts for the production of computer towers,” the computer replied. “Including graphic cards, fans, water cooling—”

“Okay thank you,” McLoughlin said quickly.

Jackie frowned. “Is it... normal to have locked storage rooms?”

“Oh yeah, all the time. I think Rooms 30-40 are always locked.” McLoughlin shrugged. “You don’t need stuff from there all the time, you know?”

“Hmm...” Jackie thought about it. “Can we go in anyway?”

“Huh? You sure?” McLoughlin looked doubtful. “I mean... there’s not much exciting stuff in the Storage Rooms in general. You want to look at a bunch of spare computer parts?”

“Just... humor me on this?”

“Uh, sure.” McLoughlin gave him an odd look, but then spoke into the remote. “Unlock the door to Storage Room 10.”

“Unlocked,” said the robotic voice.

Jackie reached for the door and tried to pull it open—but it didn’t move. He tried to push it, but it still didn’t move. He tried to slide it. Same result. “It’s not unlocked.”

“...weird,” McLoughlin muttered, confused. He spoke into the remote again. “Unlock the door to Storage Room 10.”

“Unlocked.”

Jackie tried again. Still nothing. “No dice.”

“Really weird,” McLoughlin said. He spoke into the remote once more. “Uh, hello? Storage Room 10 is not unlocked. Why are you saying it is?”

“Unlocking Storage Room 10 now. Unlocked.”

“Is something wrong with this?” McLoughlin shook the remote, then turned it over and over to examine it.

Jackie’s superhero instincts were going crazy. This could be a weird glitch with McLoughlin’s remote—or it could be a cover-up of some kind. “Which way does this door open?” he asked. “Inward or outward?”

“Inward, why?”

“Stand back.” Jackie walked backwards, making sure he had a clear path to the door.

McLoughlin’s eyes widened. “Wait, what are you—”

With a yell, Jackie ran forward, the wind pushing him to speed up. He concentrated all his force in the point of his shoulder, and sprinted into the door.

WHAM!

He bounced backwards, shoulder smarting with pain that ran into his neck too. “Owowowow! Son of a bitch!” Jackie cursed. The door hadn’t even jiggled a bit.

“Holy shit, Windstorm!” McLoughlin gaped at him, shocked. “You don’t need to get in there that badly!”

“Dr. McLoughlin, trust me when I say that I do,” Jackie insisted.

“Alright, fine, let’s find some other way to open it then, fucking hell,” McLoughlin grumbled. “SAM?” The custom SAM of his, which had been following them this whole time, darted off. McLoughlin’s fake eye shifted color, going from a normal greenish to a glowing, acidic green instead. “I’m looking around for some tool or something... do you think a screwdriver would help?”

“Hmm.” Jackie examined the door. “What, are you saying we should take off the doorknob? I guess that might work. These screws are cross-shaped.”

McLoughlin looked at the screws on the doorknob. “Yeah... I think this will fit.”

“So you can see through the camera on your SAM?” Jackie asked, impressed.

“Yep. It really comes in handy. But I don’t recommend it all the time. You get a bit motion sick.”

The SAM flew back over, its peripheral wrapped around a small screwdriver with a gray handle. Jackie took it and started trying to unscrew the doorknob. McLoughlin stood by the side and watched silently. It took an infuriating few minutes, but eventually, Jackie had the doorknob in pieces, dangling on either side of the metal door. He tried to push the door open again. It felt stuck, but this time, he could tell there was some give. So he gritted his teeth and shoved it hard. With a few seconds of effort, the door flew open, and Jackie stumbled inside.

He looked up... and his jaw dropped. The room was full of deconstructed SAMs, many with their attachments out. He’d been in this hero business long enough to recognize guns and other weapons when he saw them. They were piled on tables and shelves, in the middle of being constructed. Slowly, Jackie turned back around, looking at McLoughlin. “...care to explain this?” he said quietly.

“Huh?” McLoughlin stepped up, looking into the room. “Oh... That’s not computer parts.”

“Yeah no shit!” Jackie said. “What is this all doing here?!”

“I guess I mislabeled the SAM parts,” McLoughlin said.

“Not the SAMs! Well, not just the SAMs! All the—the fucking weapons?!”

“The what?!” McLoughlin pushed past Jackie into the room, head spinning around. His face drained of color. “Wh-what the fuck? When did—why—wh-what are—Weapons?!”

“Are you saying you don’t know what these are doing in here?!” Jackie demanded.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying!” McLoughlin said. “I don’t—I don’t even remember the last time I checked this room! Ohhhh fuck. Oh god.” He rubbed his face. “Why the fuck is it always me?”

“You have to know how this looks,” Jackie said, glaring and crossing his arms.

“Yeah of fucking course I know how it looks! Shit!” McLoughlin shook his head. “Windstorm, I swear I didn’t know anything about this. I-I swear on my life. On—on every SAM we’ve created! I don’t know why there’s a room full of weapons in my lab, but I have nothing to do with it!”

“Okay, so how did they get in here, then?” Jackie asked. “Did someone sneak them in?”

“I—I guess? I-I don’t know how, since... this is my lab...” McLoughlin trailed off. “I, uh... I usually keep the doors locked while I’m not in here. But some people in the building have the clearance to unlock it. Maybe they came in while I was out? Oh!” His eyes widened. “Or maybe—maybe that motion detection thing wasn’t a false alarm! Maybe someone—someone with superpowers or something, maybe they’ve been working on the SAMs in here secretly!”

Jackie shifted on his feet. That “false alarm” was Schneep, it wasn’t someone sneaking SAMs into McLoughlin’s lab. But still, didn’t it open up the possibility? If Schneep was able to break in, what if some other superperson could? But... “The problem is, why would someone break into your lab to secretly put weapons on SAMs?” Jackie asked.

“Maybe they need the equipment? I don’t know.” McLoughlin shook his head. “But I promise you, Windstorm, I swear on everything I have, I didn’t know anything about anything in this room.”

Jackie scanned McLoughlin’s face. He didn’t see any malice or general shiftyness in his expression. But that didn’t mean anything. McLoughlin could simply be very good at deception, at hiding his true feelings. He seemed like an open person, but was that a facade? Even so... Jackie couldn’t jump to conclusions. He couldn’t. He had to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. But this was so, so, so, SO suspicious. “You know I’ll have to tell the League about this, right?” he asked.

McLoughlin nodded. “Of course, of course.”

“You’ll probably be put under some sort of watch. You know that?”

“Makes sense.” He laughed. “Though I don’t really go anywhere interesting for people to watch.”

“All these SAMs will be taken away.”

“Oh fuck, yeah, take them. I’ll start moving them out right now, if you want.” McLoughlin took out his remote and pressed the button again. “Can we begin clearing out Storage Room 10?”

“Yes, Dr. McLoughlin,” said the robotic voice. Some of the arms started whirling to life, moving along tracks above and reaching down. Inside the room, more robotic arms pop out of the walls and start grabbing SAMs, passing them to each other, taking them out of the room and into the main lab.

“Oh!” Jackie started in surprise. “That’s... pretty elaborate. Why not just get some workers down here? Surely SepTech has employees for that.”

“Yeah, but why make people do it when you could build robots?” McLoughlin grinned. Then his smile fell. “I’ll fully cooperate with any investigation into this, you know. I... I-I want to know who would do this. This isn’t what the SAMs were meant for. It’s... not at all what they were meant for.” His voice became quiet at the end, his expression softening into a vague sadness.

Jackie nodded slowly. “I’ll call the League right now to get advice on that.” He started backing away, reaching into the pocket of his suit.

“You do that.” McLoughlin turned away, watching the robotic arms work.

After a moment of hesitation, Jackie turned and walked some distance away, out of earshot but somewhere he could still see McLoughlin. He jumped into the air, hovering about six feet off the ground, and took out the Red Line... and then something buzzed in his pocket. Jackie took that out, as well, checking the screen. A text from Schneep. Can we meet at Neun Park today?

A chill went down Jackie’s spine. He wasn’t sure if it was caused by fear, or anticipation, or something else entirely. He glanced around; there were definitely cameras in here, even if he couldn’t see them. Cameras that Anti-Virus could hack... if hacking was even necessary. Perhaps Anti-Virus always had access to cameras in SepTech. Anyway, the point was he’d have to wait until he was outside to answer that. For now, he put his phone back into his pocket.

===============

It was a while before the group could meet up. Jackie wanted to stick around to make sure that all the SAMs got moved out of McLoughlin’s lab. They did, and then they went into a different storage room up on another floor. Which wasn’t a perfect solution, since they were still within easy access for anyone who could get into SepTech, but at least it was out of McLoughlin’s lab. And even if Jackie wasn’t busy supervising all that, Chase had work for most of the day. So they had to wait for him to be done. By the time everyone arrived in Neun Park, it was starting to get dark.

“Stupid early sunsets,” Marvin grumbled. “I always hated them.”

“Yeah, it sucks,” Chase agreed. 

“Can we get to business quickly?” Schneep asked, unusually nervous.

“Yeah, of course.” Jackie bounced on his feet. He’d just pulled his street clothes on over his supersuit, as he was planning on going back out on patrol once this was done. His patrols had been really lacking lately, as he’d been concerned with the whole... JJ in jail and Anti-Virus running amok thing. “Why’d you call us out here, Schneep?”

“Well, ah, Marvin has something to say first,” Schneep said.

Marvin nodded. “You know that van that took Dahlia away? My contacts found out what happened to it.”

Jackie stood up straight. “What? What happened to it?”

“Well I don’t know for sure, but I talked to someone who talked to someone,” Marvin said. “The van was purchased on the black market and modified at a client’s request. It was then picked up by a man in a mask and hood. About three days later, it was returned, along with a promise of more money if the modifier sold it somewhere out of the city. The modifier did so, and a packet of money ended up at their place of work the next day.”

“Hmm.” Jackie frowned. “I’m guessing the modifier doesn’t remember who the client was, or what the man in the mask looked like.”

“No, it was all done anonymously, over emails and phone,” Marvin said. 

“Digital stuff, then,” Chase summed up. “And if it was sold out of the city... does that mean... that Anti-Virus is in the city?”

“I was thinking the same thing!” Jackie nodded vigorously. “Or at least—he was in the city at the time. If he wanted it out of here, then it probably means he wanted it as far from him as possible.” He paused. “I mean... it’s not... much of a lead. I was kinda assuming Anti-Virus was in the city anyway. And that... Dahlia was here, too. But it’s a lead!”

Marvin nodded. “I can ask for more, but I wanted to bring that up before Schneep said whatever he was going to—”

“We are going to break JJ out of jail,” Schneep blurted.

Silence.

“I’m sorry, what the fuck?!” Chase blurted. “Isn’t that—isn’t that fucking—illegal?”

Schneep laughed. “Why yes, yes it is.”

“Henrik!” Marvin hissed. “I didn’t agree to telling them!”

“Well I knew you would never agree,” Schneep said. “So I decided to go ahead.”

“You didn’t know that! You can’t just do this!”

“We need your help, Jackie,” Schneep continued.

“Don’t ignore me!” Marvin stepped in front of Schneep. “You can’t just tell him that! I didn’t agree to that! You can’t just steamroll me without talking about it!”

Schneep bristled—and then took a deep breath. “I suppose I... should not have... been so blunt. I am sorry. I just—I could not—w-we really need Jackie’s help, and I didn’t... I-I could not stand dancing around the subject any more, debating if we should or should not ask him.”

Marvin sighed. He looked at Jackie. “...well? How do you feel about that? About... breaking someone out of the Vault?”

The conversation had seemed distant until that question. Like it was happening at the end of the tunnel. But as Marvin directly addressed Jackie, he snapped back to the world, fully immersed in it again. “I... I just... why?” he whispered.

“Why do we want to break him out?” Schneep asked. He barked out a laugh. “You agree that he does not deserve to be there! It is injustice. He is being blackmailed, and they will keep him in there just because his powers are supposedly dangerous. They will not help him. They will not protect him. Because it is easier to have him stay there than do their jobs.” He shook his head. “It is not fair. If they will not do their jobs, then they do not get to keep him there. In that place. You know they keep the prisoners there injected with neutrinalin? Despite the side effects?” He swallowed a lump in his throat. “I... I know JJ will be reluctant to leave. H-he will be worried about Dahlia. But if we can keep this under wraps enough, if we can execute an operation so smoothly that the League decides not to cause a fuss, then things will be easier. And Jackie... the best way to do that is to have you help. You are a Hero. You could have information that the rest of us cannot.” He looked Jackie straight in the eyes. “Please... I know you would not stand for this, either.”

Jackie nodded slowly. “I... I’m a Hero...” he said quietly.

“Knew you would say that,” Marvin muttered.

Normally Jackie would’ve snapped at that, but he didn’t have the energy to. His mind was scrambling, his thoughts and emotions moving too fast for him to even identify. He took a deep breath, turning and walking away. He stared at the strange abstract statue for a moment, putting his hands behind his head as he thought. Everyone had been very blunt about JJ’s chances. He was a Hero. He couldn’t break the law. But he also couldn’t let someone innocent stay in jail, could he?

Then, after a moment, he turned right around and came back. “I can’t be directly involved in this,” he said in a low voice, pulling the three guys together. “I can get you information somehow, but I can’t do anything in the actual breakout part. If something goes wrong and I get caught, you lose your guy on the inside. In fact, try to keep me in the dark as best you can. Do you guys understand this?”

Marvin’s eyes widened in shock. Schneep nodded seriously, and after a moment, Marvin did too.

“So we’re really gonna do this?” Chase asked.

“You do not have to, Chase,” Schneep said.

“Well I... I know that I probably won’t be able to do much, but... if there’s anything I can do, I-I want to,” Chase said. “JJ’s still my friend.”

“I’m... sure he’d... appreciate that, Chase,” Marvin said awkwardly.

“We will see how things go,” Schneep said. “In the planning. Let us know what you can do, Chase.”

Chase nodded.

“Also, we can’t like... house JJ at any of our homes,” Jackie said. “We all have a bunch of electronic stuff that Anti-Virus can hack. He absolutely cannot know JJ is out. If he does find out somehow, he can’t know where he was. JJ needs to be somewhere without anything that connects to the Internet.”

“Kanchana can help with that,” Marvin said. “She has safe houses all over.”

“She huh?” Jackie blinked. “Why?”

“It’s for henches,” Marvin said.

“...henchpeople hiding from the police?” Chase asked.

“Sometimes, but usually it’s henches hiding from villains,” Marvin explained. “Sometimes a hench works for a particularly heinous villain, and they need to be protected while Kanchana gets HUAC ready to go after them. I’m sure she has something that can meet our needs.”

Jackie nodded. “That’s perfect.” He paused. “Uh... Schneep? What did you mean about... neutrinalin side effects?”

“I didn’t know, either,” Marvin muttered darkly. “Apparently if you have neutrinalin in your system for a couple days you start getting headaches and nausea. The League told SDER departments about this, but not Heroes, apparently.”

“...ah.” Jackie blinked. “I... Putting aside the... injecting harmful chemicals into people thing—”

“A big thing to put aside,” Chase said, looking alarmed.

“—why wouldn’t the League tell Heroes that? What if a villain kept injecting them with neutrinalin?”

“It does not make sense,” Schneep agreed. “There have been situations like that. Why not warn Heroes about that?”

“And they know about the side effects and keep putting it in the villains at the Vault!” Marvin said. “Surely there are better ways to restrain a super! Ones that don’t involve side effects! Fuck, the League makes me so angry.”

“Honestly, I... I see where you’re coming from,” Jackie whispered.

Marvin looked at him. He nodded. “Thanks,” he said simply.

“Now... we need to talk about what to do about the breakout,” Schneep said. “While we are here. Oh, but do either of you have anything to say?” He looked at Jackie and Chase.

“Nah, bro, of course not.” Chase laughed.

Jackie hesitated. He remembered everything that happened earlier that day. Everything with McLoughlin. But... he couldn’t bring it up. He wasn’t sure why. He just... he knew how the others would react. They would insist that McLoughlin was suspicious, but he knew that! He knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t be taken in, he would remain cautious, but he would not say that McLoughlin was, for sure, Anti-Virus. Even if he was doing something wrong, there was no proof of the Anti-Virus link. He would not accuse someone unrelated, even if they had committed a crime. He would not do what they had done to JJ.

“No, I don’t have anything else,” Jackie said. “Let’s talk about what to do now.”

[rogue-of-broken-time]

ALTRverse, the Multiverse, and the Jacksepticeye Cinematic Universe

Hey. This little theory is about exactly what it says in the title; the "Jacksepticeye Cinematic Universe", the universe(s) the comics will take place in, and the concurrent multiverse as a whole.

I'll do my best to explain my thoughts below the cut. :)

—

What if, despite a lot of things being called canon and not canon these days, we made a theory that wraps all those things together?

And what if I told you it's all possible because of IRIS?

IRIS is short for "Inspiring Research of Impossible Sciences". They push the limits of what's possible by any means available to them, and according to themselves, they've actually succeeded in doing that.

But… what does IRIS have to do with the story, aside from being a corporate entity within it?…

Remember that time they tweeted about the multiverse?

What if there actually is a multiverse in play here? And what if… even our universe is part of it?

Hear me out:

My concept here is that IRIS is a multiversal constant. Meaning, wherever you go, in whatever JSE canon universe there is, IRIS is there somewhere.

We've actually had basis to believe this given to us. The fact that IRIS has a Twitter account in general means they're "in" our universe. They also exist in the same universe as Chase Brody. And, as seen in Void Silver issue #0, Marvin also recognizes the IRIS signature.

So, if IRIS really is a multiversal constant, what does that really mean?

It could very well mean that, in every single universe IRIS is present in, there is also an Anti or an equivalent of him.

Here's an example of what I mean:

2016-2017 Antisepticeye as we saw him on the JSE channel and ALTR-114209 are very, VERY different from each other. Sure, they may both make technology malfunction in their presence and be generally ill-meaning, but aside from their somewhat-similar appearances and motives, they have almost nothing in common.

Now, back in the day, we would've theorized that the in-universe explanation for this change would've been that the "Anti" we see and the "Anti" Chase Brody would've seen are the same entity, presenting himself based on his different victims' fears.

What I'm proposing is that, despite both of them being "Anti" in essence, they are two different universes' versions of one character. They are equivalent, but not exactly the same; "Antisepticeye" is our universe's Anti, which is why we've seen the most of him– and ALTR-114209 is another universe's.

(Of course, the out-of-universe explanations for the changes to the character can be chalked up to time– Anti has evolved over the years to be applicable to various situations on the channel, after all. I'm just suggesting explanations for in-universe events here.)

As with Anti, however, all the egos and even IRIS itself can have an equivalent in the other universes. KJSE Henrik, Mayhem Henrik, and Henrik as we saw him in You're Not Ready For These Scary Games could be three variants of the same character. Chase Brody as we saw him in Bro Average and as we saw him in Anomaly Found could be two variants of the same character. Heck, C!Jack could be a variant of Chase or even someone else– just because Seán declared him "non-canon" to the IRIS storyline doesn't mean he can't be canon somewhere else!

Dear ego artists and writers, does this concept sound at all familiar to you? Because it should.

It's pretty much the basis of every ego AU ever made by a fan.

And, well… in the extended multiverse of JSE lore, who's to say what is and isn't "canon" in its own right? Something canon to the story Seán is telling doesn't necessarily have to be incorporated into an AU. Similarly, Seán doesn't have to incorporate fan-made AUs or headcanons into the actual canon.

But it's something we kinda do anyway, because of the way we feed off of inspiration from each other, isn't it? Kinda cool when you think about it that way. :)

As for the future of the IRIS storyline and ALTRverse, though, my prediction is that we're going to see things harken back to events in the past (although those events may be altered for the sake of the setting), while making our way toward the actual canon story. I can't imagine a better way to wrap it all up in a nice little bow.

But, anyway… that's just a theory. ;)

If you read this far, thank you so much! I put a lot of thought into this one, so hopefully it makes some sense. Have a great one! :D

[isa-ghost]

Yknow what, I wanna settle my stupid little brain.

I've explained before that because we didn't have any ongoing/new ego content, and Sean's videos have been nothing to panic about and irregular in general, I just hadn't been posting a ton about the egos.

But I've still on/off felt like and worried about the JSE Community, especially the theorist part, moving on without me. So let's shut my brain up once and for all:

[th30ryart]

Cultivated a lot of JSE sketches, drawings and doodles for a few of my au’s I have with a friend of mine! It includes a few OC’s made for said au’s as well, in case there’s any confusion on some characters

One of the characters is based off of @inspiredrawaw’s IRIS employee uniforms, specifically the Wtchr uniform!

I’d be happy to elaborate or explain any of them further!

[kalcifers-blog]

I have an angsty jse lore theory that makes me sad to think about.

So this is going under the assumption that Marvin is the one that (accidentally) released Anti into everyone's universe and/or started the ripple effect that would be Anti's rampage.

I like to imagine that against The Magic Circle's wishes, Marvin brings it upon himself to travel through the different universes to make things right- Marvin already knows exactly who Anti's been targeting (i.e Chase) at this point so he goes directly to Chase, only its too late and this is after the events of Anomaly Found- where Chase has basically nothing left and his family has died because of Anti.

Chase immediately doesn't trust Marvin- but he has no friends or allies and nothing else to lose so there's no other real option than to see if he's right. Gradually over time, they build trust and a genuine friendship through everything that's been happening, and it's the first time Chase has felt genuinely safe in what feels like forever.

But then they come across an archive within IRIS, an archive that's not just been keeping track of Anti but of ALL the Egos, including Marvin. Which is discovered by Chase- him coming to realise that if it wasn't for Marvin his family would still be alive and his life wouldn't be the wreck that it is- and that all his intuitions about him was right (in his mind)

Marvin would desperately try to explain how it doesn't show the whole picture and how Anti's possession likely played a part in Marvin getting him to escape- or how he had no idea what would happen at the time and how hard he'd worked to fix things.

But I doubt Chase would hear him out and I'm interested to think of what would happen next in response to this (maybe Chase accidentally manages to realise what Echo meant by saying he was "special" or something)

[n-anon]

What do you think about the jse comics?

For me it´s...idk kinda tricky. I get the idea that on this way someone can explain the whole lore with the egos and the universe better and all but I´m thinking about all the people who can´t afford it. All the people who might have very strickt parents, who won´t allow spending their money on "stuff like that" or even those who don´t have enough money to buy it at all. Won´t they be missing out on the whole jse ego lore?

My thing is that there are fans who are going to share the images regardless. And I'm sure if someone asked one could show the full comics via pictures to someone who isn't able to afford it or like you said, have stricter guidelines

It won't be the same experience as holding it in your hands, but you won't be missing out on lore as long as you know where to look.

Also not all of the lore is going to be in the comics. Jack himself has said he plans to make it via many art forms.

[the-deceased]

KIN INTRODUCTIONS

The obligatory post to explain my kintypes because I can not shut up about it.

All are spiritual through alternate realities unless specified :3

AVIAN/WINGKIN

My wings are a part of my soul in a way. It's not past life, nor alt reality, is as if my soul has wings. My wings are very similar to this image, if not larger.

FICTIONKIN-- GHOSTBUR, DSMP

This is definitely my highest kin. I also had wings like Phils ! When I am shifted or talking about my memories, I will refer to myself as Aster. I do not support Wilbur soot.

FICTIONKIN-- C!TOMMY DSMP

(my own cosplay, aren't I awesome?)

Another high kin, very canon divergent. Once example of my canon divergence is that I was the one given Wilbur's jacket after he died! Many memories, much trauma /hj.

FICTIONKIN-- ANTISEPTICEYE JSE

Definitely my most cringe in my opinion. I have some kin memories, but most of it is canon. We hart you homocidal man.

FICTIONKIN-- STOLAS GOETIA HH

This is probably one of my lowest kins, mainly due to the fact I didn't interact with my media often. I'm not owlkin, but I experience certain owl tendencies when in Stolas shifts. I do not support Viziepop

FICTIONKIN-- LEX MURPHY JP

My first awakened kin. Most of my memories lay in the movies, though I haven't seen past the first one sigh. If I ever see clips from the movies and see her, I go "omg it's me".

Idk how to end posts but yeah !! I'm always willing to talk to mediamates and take questions about them ! Idc abt doubles, i wanna see how our kins differ! I hope u have a great day :33

[marie-dairy-cream]

Silly JSE ego theory because silly me,

So, I was thinking about Anti for a bit and noticed something. Ever noticed how in anomaly found Antis neck wound is gone? Like fully gone. I would get if the blood is gone but not even an scar is weird.

Well I think I found an reason why, let me explain.

Anti isn’t even physical / doesn’t have an body in anomaly found. He is using chase as one

-> first , you might say that ALTRs could have body’s but like c!arin explained, ALTRs are kinda spirit like, they’re objects that distort the surrounding. They can harm people mentally and physically, some even go darker routes (possession?)

So them having an physical form is out of the room from what we know

-> second, you might be wondering how anti can do blood prints on the floor . Well what if i tell you that what you saw in AF isnt anti physical, but just an nightmare in chase head. An depiction of what happened, while he was possessed.. let me explain.

=>> Chase was once bare feet, so the possibility of him being barefoot there too isn’t out of the room. But this isn’t about feet, lets look at more clues. This isn’t the first time something like this happened, dark silence looks and feels similar. In dark silence , chase screamed “Where are they? What do you what from me!?”, indicating that he is looking for his child and wife. Furthermore you can hear children’s laughter sooo there is a connection.

Also , the scenes look extremely similar to

• red room

• anti looking and running to chase

Also Anti didn’t use chases body the first time, chase mentioned that he didn’t kill them while talking about his kids and remember he was looking for his kids in dark silence. Dark silence feels like a depiction of what happened that night while being possessed by anti.

Anti taking the form of chase in a nightmare would also explain why he doesn’t have an neck scar. Why ?Because the scar is on c!jack. The only time he has that scar is when he is possessing c!jack

You might say he possessed schneep in kjse but remember that schneep in was trying to save c!jack. So in canon he is right in front of him, meaning he (Anti) could always appear in the body of c!jack

In conclusion : i feel like anomaly found is like dark silence. When anti posses someone they’re in a nightmare. I think anti used chases body to kill those guards.

-> third, anti talking about puppets

Puppets are always used as something to depict someone , play a character. Anti using the egos body’s like show puppets to show himself isn’t out of the room

Thats all for my silly theory :D If I misspelled something or something sounds confusing my apologies, English isn’t my first language ^^’

[jselorekeeper]

Jacksepticeye Ego's Explained (1/2)

Welcome my dear viewers to this explanation of the egos and their stories, this is for all theorists new and old who want to relearn or learn more about the egos! To get lost in Jack's world of storytelling.

Let us start with the people behind the making of the ego lore!

Part Two's Link here!

First and most obvious is Jacksepticeye, he plays and makes up the egos through a series of videos, comic books, games, and podcasts to come! (Note the game and podcasts have not come out yet)

Secondly will be TurquoiseMagpie, they are a freelance artist whom Jack reached out to a while ago to help story plan the egos, they tend to tease little hints of lore when we approach new videos including all of the egos.

Third would be Jacksepticeye's editors, which includes Alice (BitofAlice) who has recently retired from working for Jack! Alice Robin started editing for Jack around 2016 and was the first person to help bring egos to life! She spent endless hours editing every single ego to the best of her ability which helped create this world that is not like any other.

Then Trey (Tr8ss) who is a new editor within the group, he has helped bring projects such as IRIS to life! Trey typically edits most of Jack’s stuff now from ego lore to everyday videos when he is given the chance!

We also have Diceroll who is a common editor for Jack who tends to appear at random, he has helped tease the egos a few times alongside just being part of the ride!

Hyper RPG is a company that helps creators create interactive livestreams, virtual production, etc. The company had a part in the production and creation of IRIS and the IRIS interactive live stream.

BadEgg Publishing is a company that helps bring the ideas of comic books to life, recently it has been revealed that BadEgg had a part in the production of the comic books “Void Silver” and “The Somewhat Incredible Jackieboy Man!” or better known as the “ALTRVERSE”

Kyle Horwood is an Indie game developer who has created games such as “Security Booth” which is a game that Jack decided to play one day and absolutely fell in love with. Jack since then has reached out to Kyle about developing an IRIS-themed video game! The game is still a work in progress and has no release date!

The Magic Circle is a UK-based company that surrounds itself based on the idea of magic and show business, The company has been mentioned within the description of Marvin’s lore within the comic books! 

Arin Hanson, or better known as “egoraptor” and one of the faces of Game Grumps! Arin plays as Dr. Hanson (Fanon name) in IRIS, he accepted Jack’s request to be part of the universe and quickly made a bit of time in his schedule to help out!

Now we have some of the artists and editors of the ALTRverse comics!

First is Suzi Blake who is one of the artists for ALTRverse, she has teased a few photos here and there about Marvin’s story and the scenes she is working on!

Secondly is Laurz Drawz who is a comic book artist and illustrator, they created the cover for Marvin’s comic “Void Silver #1” and has expressed their gratitude to work with the team and bring something beautiful to the community!

Thirdly is Skylar Patridge, she is a comic book artist, illustrator, and sometimes writer for the comics she works on! They helped create the cover for Jackieboy’s comic “The Somewhat Incredible Jackieboy Man #1” and had a bit of help from the next artist!

Next is Megan Huang, they are a comic book artist who had part in the cover for Jackieboy’s comic “The Somewhat Incredible Jackieboy Man #1” as they created the background for it! 

Lastly is Michele Abounader, she is the publishing associate of Badegg, editor, and writer for comic books! She helped bring light to some of the artist who has taken part in ALTRverse!

Now onto the Directors, Writers and Color Artist!

First is Robert Meyers who is the Director of Publishing within Badegg, he has met with Jack multiple times and helped decide which egos should get comic books! He has had a hand in both stories but mainly Void Silver!

Secondly is Alejandro Arbona who is a writer and editor for the series, he is the writer for Void Silver so he makes sure everything makes sense and flows well!

Third is Andrew Dalhouse who is another artist within the series who does the coloring, he is one of the many artist working on Void Silver, he helped with the little preview we saw of young Marvin and his cat!

Fourth is Robert Meyers who is the Director of Bad Egg Publishing! He has stated he helped work on both Void Silver and Jackie's comic books, but ultimately he has more of a hand in Void Silver.

Five is Philip Sevy who is one of the artist of Jackie's second book! They admitted they enjoyed creating the art and is more than willing to come back in the future to draw again.

[dtaegis]

explaining to my friend the jse fanfics i wrote this month

friend: what were they (fanfics) about

me: gay people. a lot. of gay people

[starbotic]

I would personally love to hear about your anti variant 👀 (also been a long-time fan of your art, there's quite a few of your pieces in my favorites tag <3)

Bro wtf?? 😢💜

My Anti varient is a bit hard to explain without going into major detail, but it's a story about redemption and learning to forgive oneself. I've been RPing with him for like 4 years so there's 4 years of character development and stories.

Two fun facts about him:

- His hands are a mix of flesh and metal and his fingers are blades. There's a lore explaination i promise. They're also a constant reminder of what he used to be. (Also i just thought the idea was fuckin cool)

- Because he's an rp character and there's other people in the server that have Antis, so his designated nickname is "Mountain Man" (big, muscular, thick beard)

I'm also hesitant about sharing him kuz i heard aparently the jse fandom doesn't like redemption arcs for him?? And I've only ever seen like, one artist depict him redeemed and im not in the neighborhood to get chewed on rn. ✌

[crystalninjaphoenix]

On The Outside

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

A bit of a shorter chapter this time! Short for me, at about 5500 words XD But hey, it doesn't need to be longer, y'know? We flash back a couple days to look at how the rest of the group reacted to the main guys disappearing. Jack, Stacy, and Rama all have to figure out what to do now that five of their friends are missing. They get help from an unexpected source... and one of them has an encounter with a very expected hostile source indeed. Anyway yeah. A few shorter scenes. Enjoy!

More of This AU | | First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Read on AO3 under CrystalNinjaPhoenix

“Sam? Saaam?” Jack wandered around the hospital hallways, looking around for that familiar green glow. Where could they have gone?

“Do they always disappear like this?” Stacy asked.

“I mean, I don’t keep an eye on them all the time, but they rarely leave suddenly like this,” Jack explained. “Even when they disappeared to go find Anti the first time—and I mean the first time, you know, before I even met any of them—even then, they said something vague about needing to do something.”

“This is no time for jokes,” Stacy said, slightly annoyed.

“Huh?”

“You said ‘keep an eye on them.’”

Jack stopped walking. Then he laughed. “I didn’t mean to do that.” His smile quickly fell. “But seriously. I have a bad feeling about them being gone. Maybe they’re outside?”

“Is it really a good idea to leave the others?” Stacy asked. “After all, Distorter might still be around.”

Jack hesitated. “We’ll just pop our heads outside really quick. You can stay up here if you want.”

“No... I think we should stay in pairs. Safety in numbers, you know?”

The two of them took the elevator down to the first floor, then headed out through the main entrance. Outside, the parking lot didn’t look too unusual. It was filled with cars, including a blue van parked next to the curb. But Jack started, hearing something. “Sam?” he called.

“What? Do you see them?” Stacy asked.

“No, but I hear them, so they can’t be too far,” Jack said. “They’re saying to go down the street... Sam, we can’t leave the others. Are you sure?” He paused. “Well... if it will only take a minute... They want you to come, too, Stacy.”

Stacy frowned, but didn’t protest, just followed Jack as he walked down the street.

Then down another.

And another.

“Sam, this is getting ridiculous,” Jack muttered. “Why do we need to go so far? And where are you? You’re not flying away, are you?” He paused. “Are you?” He made a face. “Sam, this isn’t funny. We might as well go back to the hospital—Gah! Okay, okay, fine! But we’re not going any farther than the street corner.”

He and Stacy stop next to a traffic light on a corner. Jack looked up—and noticed one of the lights was the wrong shade of green. “Sam! Get down here!” he shouted.

Sam flew down to the sidewalk, hovering between Jack and Stacy. “So, uh, what’s up with the wild good chase?” Stacy asked the little eyeball.

“Yeah, this really isn’t like you.” Jack folded his arms and glared at them.

Sam darted forward, up to Jack’s face.

“Whoa!” Jack stumbled backwards, pressing his hands to his ears. “Slow down, Sam!” But Sam continued to stare at him intently.

“What are they saying?” Stacy asked.

“Well, uh... I can’t remember if you know this, but sometimes Sam gets these strange feelings, this, uh... knowledge that they need to do something.” Jack bit his lip. “They suddenly had one of these feelings, and knew that you and I had to leave the hospital. But they don’t know why.”

Stacy shivered. “Maybe there was some danger?”

Jack’s eyes widened. “Maybe there was some danger... shit!” He spun around and ran back the way they came. Stacy followed shortly after. They both had the same thought. If there was danger at the hospital, the others could be in trouble. And even if they weren’t—danger in a hospital was never a good thing.

Even running, it took a while for them to reach the hospital again. And then they had to get up to the right floor and the right word. Neither of them said anything the whole way, too worried with what they would find when they returned to the room.

But what they found was... nothing at all.

———————

“They couldn’t have just disappeared!” Rama shouted.

“No, we know! Clearly something happened!” Stacy shouted back, her voice cracking.

“Can we all stop yelling at each other?!” Jack yelled.

Rama slumped. They ran a hand through their hair and turned around, pacing across their living room. “You’re right. This isn’t helping anything. I just... e-everything was going so well. Jackie was back, Anti was going to be back... fuck, how do I explain this to Michelle and Will?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. Whatever happened there, you two probably wouldn’t have been able to stop it.” Rama looked at Sam, sitting on the edge of the TV. “Why?” They asked them. “Why did you feel like they needed to be away from there?”

A pause. “Sam said they don’t know,” Jack said. “They never really know the reason for their feelings. But... I think we need to be out here.”

“If we were there at the time, we probably would have been taken by whoever did this, too, right?” Stacy said. “That’s why Sam felt like we needed to be away. Which brings us to the question. Who did this? Was it Distorter?”

Rama shook their head. “I don’t know much about Distorter, but from what the others have told me about him, this is not his style. He only wants to control some of them, he wants the rest dead. I have no doubt that if Distorter somehow got an upper hand in that hospital room, there would be at least one body in there. But I do not think he would be able to get that upper hand in the first place. His powers seem very... individual. I would bet he cannot control too many people at one time. He could not make them all walk out.”

“What if... what if Distorter controlled some of them, and made them fight each other?” Stacy suggested. “And the ones being controlled won, so they knocked the others out and dragged them off.”

“There would’ve been signs of a struggle,” Jack said.

“I... yeah, that’s a good point.” Stacy’s shoulders slumped. “So then... why are they gone? Who did this?”

“I have a guess,” Rama muttered. “IRIS. They probably aren’t happy that Jackie took some of their technology.”

“And Schneep... he was a subject there,” Stacy said slowly. “They would want to take him back.”

“Same with Anti,” Jack muttered. “And if IRIS specializes in investigating impossible things, they’d want to take JJ and Marvin, too. For their magic.”

“So we agree,” Stacy said. “IRIS was probably behind this. But... where does that leave us?” They glanced back and forth between Jack and Rama. “We were only able to get Jackie out of that compound because Volt and JJ went in to get him. What do the three of us do? We’re just sort of... normal people.”

“We can come up with something,” Rama said. There was such conviction in their voice that it seemed inevitable. “Stacy, don’t you have some sort of in with them?”

“Huh? I mean... I guess? Maybe? I talked with a guy...”

“And Jack, you have Sam. Surely Sam can help.”

Jack looked over at Sam, who curled their nerve-tail around them as they balanced on the TV. “I guess if we really have to, Sam could try to scout out that IRIS compound. But I don’t want to put them in danger. If IRIS likes weird things, there’s nothing weirder than Sam.”

“Hmm. True.” Rama sighed. “We will come up with something,” they said again, sounding a bit less sure than they did before.

“Do we even know where they are?” Stacy asked. “They have multiple bases, right? Maybe they’re not at that one compound you drove JJ and Schneep out to, Rama.”

Rama went a bit pale. “Well... then we’ll find them!... somehow.”

Jack rubbed his eyes. “I... I’m tired, you two. And maybe... maybe in shock. Are we... really in a mental state to plan a rescue?”

“A mental state?!” Rama repeated incredulously. “Are you saying we should take a break?! We don’t have time for that! Who knows what’s happening to them now that they’ve been fucking kidnapped!”

“Um, well, I-I think Jack has a point...” Stayc said slowly. “I don’t think... IRIS will want to hurt them too badly. They seem like a mad scientist type of group. They’ll probably want to keep them alive... for... stuff.” She shifted on her feet uncomfortably.

“So you’re saying we just stop here?” Rama asked.

“I’m saying we take the rest of the day to think about what to do individually,” Jack said. “We can meet back here tomorrow, once we’ve processed this emotionally. Then our heads will be clearer. And we’ll be ready to make a plan.”

Rama didn’t say anything right away. They turned to stare blankly out the window. Looking towards that IRIS compound where Jackie had been. Then their shoulders slumped. “Sure. Sure we can do that. Do you two need a ride?”

“The bus is fine, thanks,” Stacy said.

“Yeah.” Jack nodded. “We took it here, we can take it back to our places.”

“Alright.” Rama nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

Jack and Stacy said their goodbyes, and Sam flew over to hide in Jack’s pocket. Rama watched them leave through the living room front window. The second they were out of sight, they collapsed onto the sofa, putting their head in their hands. Tears welled in their eyes. Why did so many bad things happen? Just when Jackie had returned, he got taken away again. What bullshit was that? Did god just hate them and Jackie and their little group of friends?

They wanted to just sit there and cry for a little. But then Rama remembered that the kids were still here. Michelle and Will were home. It would be time for lunch soon. They couldn’t just not feed the children they were looking after. So they took a shaky breath and stood up. After lunch, they would have to find some way to break the news to the kids about what happened. They would have to find some way to reassure them. And then... then they would deal with their feelings.

———————

Jack had a hard time getting to sleep that night. He stared up at the ceiling of the hotel room, unable to even close his eyes. He knew it was probably a good thing that Sam had made him leave the hospital. If IRIS really was behind this, they might’ve captured him, too, for his connection to Sam. But... he couldn’t help but feel like he should have done something more. Like he should have stayed behind to help. Maybe it would’ve made a difference. Maybe not. But shouldn’t he have stayed to try?

Maybe he thought too much about helping other people. He spent more time doing that than looking after himself, he knew that. If he just focused for a while, got a real job, he could afford to rent somewhere to stay instead of internally living in hotels. But he didn’t. If he could help others, didn’t that mean he should? Especially if one of these people he could help was a family member he didn’t know existed, and who clearly had been through a lot? Poor Anti... just escaping Distorter’s vice grip on his mind only to be caught by IRIS again.

Sam didn’t sleep. They rested, but they didn’t really sleep. So when Jack noticed a slight glow moving in the corner of his vision, he thought it was them. Until he realized that Sam’s glow was green, and this was a white glow.

Jack immediately sits up and reaches for the nightstand. His phone is there, but so is a knife he’d borrowed from Anti’s apartment recently—or at least, Sam had, bringing it to him in case of self-defense. He hadn’t thought he would need it but in this situation—!

Then he froze. He stared.

Something was forming at the foot of his bed.

It started as a thin column of white light, but as he watched, it filled out, becoming wider, but also fainter. It grew into the vague shape of a person, with arms and a head, but not much else.

ck?aJ

Jack gasped. That voice! It was definitely a voice, but—he couldn’t exactly hear what it was saying. And yet, somehow he knew what it was asking instinctively. “Wh-what are you? H-how do you know my—my name?”

nilWY. chouc srmae eapl

“...call you... Whisper?” Jack repeated, brows furrowing in concentration. It was definitely appropriate. Their voice sounded like a whisper. A very, very weird whisper. “Okay. But you didn’t answer my other question!”

.m mnrT neihad se’.o etferI’i

“What do you mean? Why should I trust you?”

neiso reh’tmT. epedahsf neotnra hnon toah ma iieoTv dh,d uucho.f e rrol r

“The what?”

Bn dst t oyuaeowioud c.f’aoetitre ii , tepn eeblcut tobs’.tYn

“Th-that doesn’t make any sense!” Jack protested.

But the white light of the figure was fading. Soon, it was gone, leaving only a lingering voice in the air.

uhraP rle.sye

Jack stares at the spot where the glowing figure had been. No sign of them remained. “Uh... Sam?”

Sam popped into view. They rested in a small shoebox on the other nightstand.

“Did you... see that? Too?”

Sam told him that they did.

“Oh... okay. Good.” Jack... didn’t know what else to say. Or what else to do. He just... leaned back and went back to bed.

Strangely enough, he has a better time getting to sleep after that.

———————

“Maybe it was an illusion?” Stacy asked. “A trick by Distorter?”

Jack shook his head. “I don’t think so. Sam would have said something. Right?” He was in Rama’s living room once again, this time sitting on the sofa instead of standing. Sam, on his shoulder, bobbed up and down and told Jack that they would have. “Yeah, right.”

“But... can Sam be fooled by Distorter?” Rama asked.

“No no, it’s the opposite, really,” Jack said. “Sam is immune to his powers. That’s why Sam was trying to break through Distorter’s hold in the first place.”

“Well that begs the question, then,” Stacy said. “What was it? Who is this ‘Whisper’ person?”

“Is it even a person?” Rama wondered.

“And what do they want?” Stacy asked.

“I think... I think they want to help us,” Jack said slowly. “They mentioned the compound was to the north... they must have meant the IRIS compound. The one where the others are being kept.”

Rama and Stacy glanced at each other. “Well... that’s great, if it’s true,” Stacy said slowly.

“I can drive up there today, maybe?” Rama said. “But then again, someone has to watch Will and Michelle. And I...” They glanced down the main hallway of the house. The kids were sleeping in today. They hadn’t had the heart to wake them up at the usual time. “...I don’t want to leave them alone. Even with a babysitter.”

“What about tomorrow, then?” Stacy asked. “They have school, then, don’t they?”

Rama scowled. “Can we really leave Jackie and the others in that IRIS place for so long?”

“I... don’t know if we have a choice,” Jack said. “Oh, uh, there’s also that other thing that Whisper said. Something about, uh... we won’t be able to see the compound, but we can find it?”

Rama paused, thinking. “Jameson said that the compound Jackie was at was magically hidden somehow. That’s why he had to come with me and Volt. Well, that, and being backup.” They paused again. “Actually... I think he said it was... not magic? Or... it was some power that was similar to magic? Ah, I don’t understand any of the magic stuff.”

“So... if it’s hidden... how are we supposed to find it?” Stacy asked, getting frustrated. “How are we supposed to find anything if we can’t see it?”

“I don’t know!” Jack threw his hands into the air. “Maybe we’ll get some weird fucking magic sense! Maybe this Whisper will be there! Who knows?!”

“Alright, alright.” Rama shook their head. “In any case, if we can’t go there today, we should talk about what we will do tomorrow when we get there. I think we should scout it out first. But IRIS will probably be protected, so we shouldn’t get too close... Sam might be of some help, but as Jack said yesterday, IRIS might take an interest in them...”

“Maybe we could be more stealthy than that?” Stacy asked. “What if we find some way to sneak in under, uh, regular circumstances?”

Jack and Rama looked at her. Jack made a ‘go on’ gesture.

“Well, I thought about what you said yesterday, about me having an ‘in’ with IRIS,” Stacy said. “They really seemed helpful when I talked to that guy, you know? And, uh, sent me the cameras. Maybe... maybe I could contact them again. Tell them about more weird stuff I’d seen. Try to come up with some reason for me to have to go to one of their facilities. Then, uh, if I go in there, maybe I could look around, try to figure out if Anti and everyone are really there, and how to get them out.”

“By yourself?” Jack asked.

“Huh?”

“Are you suggesting you’d go in by yourself?” Jack repeated. “That, uh, doesn’t seem like the best idea... I know that we don’t have any special powers like the others or anything, but the three of us on this rescue would be better than just one person.”

Stacy slumped slightly. “Maybe I could... tell them about you guys? Maybe if I said you two were involved, too, we could get a legitimate way in.”

Rama frowned. “I shouldn’t be involved if we’re doing things that way. They definitely know that I’m married to Jackie. They might realize that we’re looking for him if I come along.”

“Just me and Jack, then. You can stay outside and... provide backup?”

Rama chuckled. “I was the getaway driver when we got Jackie out.”

“Maybe we could buy some walkie-talkies or something to communicate with each other on whatever heist we do!” Jack said.

Stacy blinked. “Or... we could use our phones?”

“Oh. Well, yeah, but walkie-talkies are cooler. And less noticeable.”

“I think a phone, something that everyone carries around, would be much less noticeable than a walkie-talkie, which almost no one carries around casually.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Fine. But we might need supplies, anyway. Like... self-defense weapons.”

They talked for as long as they could, before Rama heard the kids starting to stir in their room. Once that happened, they agreed it would be best to break it off for now. Though none of them were happy with waiting an extra day to go check out this location Whisper had shared with them, it was really their only option. Unless Jack or Stacy wanted to go out there without Rama, but they didn’t. They all needed to be in this together. They all wanted to be in this together. If they were going to get their friends back, sticking together would be the best way of going about this.

But still, none of them liked to wait.

———————

Jack had said he would buy some supplies that might be helpful. And Rama said they would look after the kids. So that left Stacy by herself for the rest of the day. Unsure what to do. Unsure what she could do. She was just a normal person. She worked in real estate, how was that any help? And honestly, she didn’t even like real estate. So she wouldn’t even be good at that. The most she could probably do was reach out to the freaky corporation keeping the others hostage and hope that they didn’t realize the connection between her and them.

...thinking about it stressed her out. She needed... she needed to not think about it for a moment.

When she needed to relax, she liked to cook or bake. It took up a lot of her mental energy. But she didn’t have many ingredients in her rental house at the moment. She needed to go out for groceries soon... maybe after everyone was back. But she did have ingredients to bake. After all, it was rare that she used up a whole bag of flour. So she ordered food for delivery and got out her supplies. Luckily, the rental house had a lot of things for baking, like pans and a stand mixer. For a while, she lost herself in making some cookies. Chocolate chip ones, because she had the chips to use up.

After a while, she put the tray in the oven, closing it. Now... with nothing to do... her worries returned. Really, how the hell could they get their friends out of a top-secret high-security facility?

“You don’t.”

Stacy spun around immediately. Her hand shot to the side, scrambling for something to defend herself with. But a blackened hand grabbed her wrist, stopping her inches from opening the silverware drawer.

Distorter smiled at her. That same smile he always had. “Hello, there. Been a while, hasn’t it?”

Stacy yanked her hand free. “It hasn’t been that long! We saw you yesterday! A-and that wasn’t long enough! What are you doing here?!” Her eyes darted around. How did he get in?!

“The window in your living room was unlocked,” Distorter said, like he’s trying to be helpful.

“So you do read my mind!” Stacy gasped, going pale.

“Hm... it’s also just very easy to read your face,” Distorter giggled.

Stacy narrowed her eyes. “So... you didn’t read my mind.”

Distorter didn’t answer. He just stared at her. And, after a moment, leaned closer to her. Stacy instinctively took a step back, but she backed into the warm oven. She was cornered. “I’m giving you one last chance,” he whispered. “Leave.”

His voice sent shivers down her spine, but she gritted her teeth and stared back at him. “You’ve given me a lot of last chances,” she said. “I’m starting to think you’re not actually planning on doing anything to me if I don’t lea—”

He grabbed her. Stacy yelped, feeling his hands squeezing her upper arms. Holy shit, she never realized how much taller he was than her. It had to be at least six inches of difference, right? “Don’t test me,” he said in a low voice. “I am very serious, Stacy. I don’t know what I’ll do if you stay, but it won’t be good.” Huh... that didn’t quite sound like a threat. It almost... sounded like a... warning.

What color were his eyes? Stacy stared at his face. His eyes were supposed to be blue. His eyes were supposed to be blue.

...they weren’t blue.

But they weren’t empty black pits, either.

“You know you can’t fight IRIS,” he said. “So go back home. They’re still everywhere in America. But you’ll probably be lost in the move. You can start over. Forget about all of this. Forget about all of this.”

Stacy narrowed her eyes. “Are you... trying to keep me safe?”

His eyes darkened... back into that solid black color. Stacy inhaled sharply as she felt his sharp nails pierce her skin. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he laughed. “Why would anyone want to keep you safe? Only because they need to. Only because you can’t keep yourself safe.”

Stacy flinched. She tried to keep her expression stoic in spite of that, tried to hide how much that really got to her. “Right, of course,” she said, speaking slowly to keep her voice from shaking. “It’s just more of you wanting everyone to forget about you, for some reason. Why? Are you ashamed?”

Distorter blinked, and his grip loosened slightly. “What?”

“Ashamed of what you did to them?” Stacy asked.

He leaned back. For a moment, he looked shocked.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” she persisted. “No one here ever talks about it directly. Even though they all know. Is that your doing? Do you want them to forget about it? I would. I wouldn’t want to be known as the person who killed their own fam—”

“SHUT UP!” Distorter slammed her backwards. Her head hit the edge of an upper cabinet and stars filled her vision. He let go of her—letting her sink to the ground limply—and backed up, breathing heavily. He... could breathe. How... strange. Or maybe... maybe it was more of an emotional response than an actual physical need. He looked down at her wordlessly. She looked up at him in turn, tense, waiting.

And then she blinked, and he seemed to disappear.

She didn’t get up for a while. After all, Schneep had told everyone that Distorter didn’t actually disappear, just vanished from their perspective. But, after a while, she thought he was probably really gone. She stood up slowly. After leaning against the warm oven, her back felt cold. Or maybe that was just the feeling that she was being watched.

Nothing happened for the rest of the night. But her guard stayed up. She didn’t know what was lurking in the shadows after all.

———————

Right after dropping Michelle and Will off at school, Rama drove around to pick up Stacy and Jack (and Sam, too.) None of them said much. Stacy shifted in her seat, staring out the window. The other two could tell there was something on her mind, but that wasn’t surprising, was it? There was a lot on all their minds.

Rama drove straight north. First on a highway that headed out of Mirygale. And then, when it started to turn west, they instead drove off at the first exit that went north. This winding road turned into a dirt path really quickly before dying out abruptly in the middle of a hilly field. Rama parked the car, looking around. “So many empty fields around the city,” they muttered.

“Well, we’ve been driving for long enough, haven’t we?” Jack said. “The IRIS facility has to be around here, somewhere. Maybe over one of the hills?”

“Let’s... look around, then.” Stacy unlocked her passenger-side door. “See if we can... find it. Even though we can’t see it.”

Rama turned off the ignition. “Let’s.”

The three of them headed out of the car and looked around. There was no sign of anything... so, without saying anything to each other, they headed in a random direction.

And they walked.

And they walked.

And they walked for a while.

The car was well out of sight when Sam, riding in the hood of Jack’s hoodie, suddenly popped up. “What is it?” Jack asked. Sam said they had a feeling something was nearby. “Really? Lead the way, then!”

Sam bobbed up and down, then darted to the right, flying swiftly through the air. The three land-bound humans had to run to keep up with them. They sprinted up a hill, with Rama in the lead, followed by Jack, and then Stacy in the rear. Then they ran down it, gravity speeding them up—only for them to have to stop suddenly as Sam froze mid-air. Jack looked at them, and they said that this was the place.

“Alright...” Jack said slowly. “We... don’t see anything. Can you... help with that?”

Sam whirled around to look at the three of them. They paused for a while, thinking. Then darted forward, hitting Jack in the middle of the forehead, and then quickly doing the same to Rama and Stacy. “Gah!” Rama shouted in surprise, and Stacy stumbled back. But Jack was used to Sam doing weird things like this, so he didn’t react. To that, at least. He was too busy gaping at what had just appeared.

A massive stone wall encircled a spot of land in the distance. It was huge, easily taller than the three of them combined, and encompassed an unbelievably wide area. Square white buildings poked over the top, as well as a concrete structure that looked like a parking garage. Jack could see a metal IRIS logo on the edge of one of the buildings.

And then... the whole thing faded from view.

“You... you two saw that, right?” Stacy asked.

“Sam, what did you do?” Rama asked.

Sam said that they were able to disrupt the cloaking for a moment. Jack repeated this for the other two, then added, “Can you do that for longer, Sam?” Sam considered that, and said they didn’t know. “That’s fair. You’re a tiny eyeball, even if you’re a magical eyeball. You probably don’t have enough power to keep that up for long.”

“Whatever this cloaking is, it will disappear once we actually get in,” Rama said decisively.

“How do you know?” Stacy asked.

“Well, it just makes sense, doesn’t it? It would be very inconvenient for the IRIS employees if they had to wander around invisible buildings.” Rama stared at the spot where the facility was, squinting like they were trying to force their way through the cloak. “Maybe... maybe we could go to some magicians for help.”

“Jameson did mention something about a Magic Circle,” Stacy recalled. “Maybe we could find them?” She frowned. “How... how do we find a magician?”

“Maybe they’ll find us?” Jack suggested. “Jameson has this one friend who’s into, uh, divination magic or something. Aoife. Maybe she could find us?” He paused. “Or maybe... maybe we could look through Jameson’s stuff to see if he has the contact info for her or any other magicians around?”

“Just lying around?” Stacy said doubtfully.

“No, that makes sense,” Rama said. “Jameson likes to keep things very organized and he doesn’t have the best memory. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had an old-fashioned address book or something. If not for him, at least for Marvin, who still isn’t used to, uh... phones and everything.”

“So we’re not going to do anything while we’re here, right?” Jack asked.

They were all silent for a moment. Then Stacy nodded. “That’s... that’s a lot more, uh... intimidating... in person. We need... to... plan this out.”

“Let’s hurry,” Rama said. “We have to get them out of here. And the sooner we plan, the sooner we can do that.” They looked back and forth between Jack and Stacy. “We can do this. We can do this. Right?”

They both nodded.

“You have to say it,” Rama insisted. “We can do this.”

“We can do this,” Stacy and Jack said in unison. Sam bopped up and down, also backing up the statement.

“Good.” Rama nodded. “If we... if we focus on this... we can do it.” They took a deep breath. “Back to the car, everyone.”

They didn’t want to turn their back on the facility. Not while they’re here, so close to where their friends are being held. But, though it was hard, they did. And they tried not to think about what might be going on beyond those walls. 

———————

“Have you ever experienced a terrible occurrence that has impacted you significantly?”

Jackie glared across the table at Daniel. “You know that, don’t you? I told you all—w-well not you specifically, but I told IRIS about—about everything that happened to me. You know the answer.”

“Please answer nonetheless,” Daniel said calmly.

“Yes, alright?!” Jackie’s voice cracked. “Are we done yet?!”

“Not yet, Dr. Parker. There’s one more question. Have you ever lost someone close to you?”

“I...” Jackie swallowed a lump in his throat. “I guess... my... parents aren’t around anymore...” He hated that he said that. He shouldn’t have told IRIS that. But they already knew so much about him. What was one more fact?

“Thank you, Dr. Parker.” Daniel stood up. “We will see you again soon.”

“W-wait!” Jackie lunged forward, managing to grab Daniel’s sleeve. He looked down at him in surprise. “Please. Please just—just tell me what’s happening to the others. Wh-what are you doing to them?”

Daniel shook his grip off. His expression shifted very slightly. “EX subject 1-019 is undergoing training, while the anomaly still has some tests to go through before we reach a decision.”

That meant Schneep and JJ. “Wh-what about the other two?” Jackie asked.

“Don’t worry, they are safe,” Daniel said. “We will see you again soon, Dr. Parker.”

Jackie watched him walk away. He didn’t stand up, even though he felt like he should run for the door as Daniel opened it and headed out. The door clicked closed again, and Jackie slumped forward, putting his head on the table. He wondered what that “assessment” was for. They probably wouldn’t tell him, would they? They didn’t tell him any of the plans they had for him.

Though... training, huh? What were they “training” Schneep for? And what would they do to JJ once these tests were done? What sort of tests? And... what were they doing to Anti and Marvin, if they didn’t want to say anything about it to Jackie? Would he know soon? Did they plan to do the same things to him?

He wondered if there was a way out of this place at all.

Then he pushed that thought away. There had to be something they could do! Maybe—maybe people outside would notice that they were missing. Rama would definitely notice! Surely they would do something! Maybe with Jack and Stacy too!

Surely something would give eventually.

Surely... something would give... eventually.

Whether in here... or out there. Something had to give eventually.

[docheros]

i always forget that. at some point in time, the jse community, especially the egos side, was full of people. we still have a lot hanging around ofc, but i mean "2430 notes in an anti fanart" type of full of people

and it just leaves me wondering, where did these people go? sure our interests change, i myself hadn't thought or written about these guys since 2022, but a mass leaving? is it just a tumblr thing, bc of the porn ban? is there another reason i'm unaware of? please fandom elders explain what happened to me !