i have a bit of a fun ask :) can u put ur spotify on shuffle and write a fic with vox based on the first song that plays? plz plz HAZEL PLZ
Please please please know I am still getting my sea legs with Vox! So don’t go
into this expecting my usual… uhhh skill? Confidence?
also testing the new tag list system
「Warnings/Promises: Val exists, Vox x Fem Reader, stalking, pastry decimation, casual sexism」
Stalker’s Tango
From the moment you stepped out of your home, he was eagerly watching.
The security doorbell camera on your porch let him see you wore black pants and a white blouse. Perfect. A white pocket square in his suit jacket pocket to complement. “Wonderful choice as always, babe.” He spoke softly to the screen; to you.
He followed every move, jumping with muscle memory speed from traffic camera to home security camera to shopwindow full of screens.
When you stopped to go into a bakery, he was there in the cctv cameras, fisheye view of your order of cold brew coffee and a croissant. “Impeccable taste.” A confident laugh between you two as he shot off a text to craft services, two words, ‘Croissants. Now.’
“Could you possibly warm that?” You asked the young man behind the counter.
Another text. ‘Heated.’
He watched you at the bus stop. A man sat beside you and smiled at you. You offered a kind smile back. “Who the fuck is that?” He zoomed in, taking a screenshot to send to Velvette, ‘Find socials for this pissant.’
When you stepped onto the bus he sighed, relief the man was no longer bothering you but also with a heart heavy. You didn’t belong on the bus. Why couldn’t he just buy you a car? No, better, He should send a driver to pick you up daily. A personal chauffeur. You shouldn’t have to bother yourself with driving.
No, he was thinking too small. You should live in the tower. Angel Dust used to, why couldn’t you? A moment of fantasy.
Perhaps he’d walk in to find you in your pajamas. What ever could they be? He searched your online shopping history and couldn’t find a single purchase for sleep wear. Your lack of home television and a computer limited him to only watching you from your stoop and beyond. He buckled, what if you didn’t wear anything to bed? Why didn’t you let him see you at night? What did he need to do for you to trust him in your home.
A knock at the door he didn’t acknowledge. His sole focus was you. A book? You minx. Always playing hard to get. He knew you got the e-reader he sent. He watched you take the package from the doorbell camera, after all.
“Sir,” a small and slightly pathetic voice spoken through the door, “I’m getting word from downstairs they’re not sure how to keep croissants warm in the studio.”
Another zoom, what were you reading? He’d have the author on Vox programming, sure to take photos like old chums for you to see on your bus stop bench ads.
Vox rose slowly from his chair, eyes on you as he backed away from his desk.
A change in routine. You cut through Jekyll Park. No cameras.
Vox hurried to the door, huffing as he flung it open, “Have you never heard of a warming lamp?”
“They don’t have any… normally they only offer cold items.”
“Fine then have,” he pointed at a random employee walking by, “that fucker stand there with a toaster oven”
The eel demon shrunk, “Well he works for us not for-.”
The screen that comprised his head filled with static, eyes a swirling rage of red and black, “He works for the Vees. He goes where we tell him.”
He slammed the door, taking a moment to recompose himself before turning to face you. He didn’t want you to see him like that.
Spinning back, charming smile cocked on his face, “Alright where are you?” He strolled up to the displays and returned to his seat, scanning around until he found you again. But he wasn’t finding you. He couldn’t do anything about the park’s lack of cameras, it was pentagram city property, or else he’d have staff in there within the hour. Normally not an issue though, you never cut through that way.
Sixty seconds. Where were you?
Ninety seconds. Where were you.
One hundred and eighty seconds. Where were you!
Vox’s chair fell over as he stood with a panic, hitting the speed dial for Security. As the phone was answered and he began to instruct them to the west entrance of the park, you emerged from the tree lined path and tossed your empty coffee cup and food bag into the recycling bins. You’d just slowed your walk to enjoy your breakfast with a pretty view.
“Nevermind, false alarm fellas.” A nervous chuckle as he pulled at his collar.
“Sir we’re not all me-.”
He hung up and leaned on the control panel. He should have sent a text. In fact maybe he still should.
Good Morning sinners! Reminder—- you’re only safe when you’re under the watchful eye of VoxTek Security Cameras.
A mass push text to every VoxTek phone in pentagram city. He watched you look at your phone and then up to the camera pointed directly at you from a light pole. A satisfied hum, “Good girl.”
As his view switched to the VeeTower camera system he danced into the elevator.
Vox’s foot impatiently tapped, staring directly into the eyes of the VoxTek employee holding the toaster oven in his hands. The fishy looking demon was squirming as the heat bled into the metal casing and burned his palms.
“Oh! I didn’t know I paid you to arrive late!” Val’s voice carried across the set.
You gripped the handles of your tote bag, “Val I’m sorry! The bus got a flat tire and I had to walk.”
A hiss as Val leaned down to get eye level with you, “Sluts lie as easily as they open their legs.”
“No, Val.” Vox interjected, tone stronger than he had intended, “She’s telling the truth. It was on the local traffic report. Cut her some slack.”
“I don’t watch that shit.” A sigh, exhaling pink aphrodisiac laced smoke into the air between you three, “Fine. If amorcito says so.” Val smiled to Vox before sending a sneer back to you, “Now fuck off to the dressing room.”
He walked away to shout at someone else, so you took the opportunity to say, “Thank you.” You offered a little head bow, grateful for back-up in your lie. Vox had already been trying to sneak off the set when you started speaking to him, causing him to sheepishly spin around on his heels. “I don’t think we’ve met before, but I see you all over the place. You’re Vox, right?” You extended a hand.
His screen flickered, blue background now with a gradient pink starting from the bottom, a blush rising up his face, “I see my reputation precedes me.” A false bravado as he gestured to himself. He moved the croissant to his right hand so he could shake yours.
“Well… your name and face is on everything. So, yes! I guess so.” You shook his hand, “Oh, I had a croissant too.”
He beamed, “Ya know what they say, great minds and all that. I was just having a little breakfast after reading. I hear they have some on set today in craft services.” You perked up, looking to the food table and the man holding the toaster oven.
“My lucky day! If only they had iced coffee. It would be perfect.” With a polite smile you took a step away, “I gotta go or Val will kill me. Nice to meet you!”
Vox stood still until you were out of sight. His hand crushed the pastry before he launched it across the room, mumbling about coffee before looking back longingly in the direction you’d left in, “See ya later babe.”
༻Masterlist༺
∰ Summoning the Horny Little Deer Cult (general tag list):
@cxrsedwxrlds , @nonetheartist , @tsunaki , @janchei , @moonmark98 , @hoebihoeshi , @pansexual-opera-house , @polytheatrix , @lorddiabigmommymilkers , @backinthefkingbuildingagain , @harley2223-blog , @poinappel , @midnightnoiserose , @spookieroz , @missmidorima a , @ivebeenthearchersstuff , @downbadforfictionalppl , @xx-all-purpose-nerd-xx , @sleepylittledemon , @aether-th3-enby , @dontfuckbutimfab , @breathlessaura , @aperfectidiot , @certainlygay , @jth12 , @star-kujo-platinum @ivebeenthearchersstuff , @rubyninja1 , @simphornies
, @readergirlstuff , @berry-demon , @chirimeimei , @fairyv-ice , @olive-frog , @thonethatflies620 , @tiredkiwiii , @ilikemyteawithmilk , @whateverlololo , @psipies , @howabouticallyou , @roxxie-wolf , , @fizzled-phoenix , @phobophobular , @mariaclarade-la-cruz1 , @whateverlololo , @roxxie-wolf , @a-case-of-attachment , @multifandomfanatic02 @watereddownmilk , @bontensbabygirl
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Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 25: Inverted
Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix
Read Swapboys | Read Inverted | Read The InvertedSwap Crossover |AO3 Link
Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes | Fantasy Masks | Horror | Inverted
Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata
"Are you holding up?" Anti asks. They've officially reached Mirygale by now, though they're just on the edge of the surrounding suburbs and not into the proper urban area. "Need anything?" Anti looks Alt up and down, assessing his condition after so much glitching.
Alt has slumped against the nearest building he can, blinking colored spots out of his eyes. He giggles a bit breathlessly as his vision dips and sways. “ha ha… m’fineee~! J’st dizzy…!”
"...that's not fine," Anti states. "I don't know if your glitching has changed in the past eleven months, but you're not supposed to be dizzy after it." He shakes his head. "Okay. We're here. We've arrived in the city. I can start looking at the CCTV cameras for signs of your Chase. While I do that, we can sit down and take a break." He glances around. "I'm pretty sure this is a safe area. And if it's not, we can handle it."
“S’fine-“ Alt mumbles, not wanting to look too weak in front of Anti. However, when he tries to glitch to be back by Anti, his vision tunnels for a second and his knees buckle. His eyes roll for just a second as he attempts to catch himself back on the side of the building.
"Whoa!" Anti glitches forward and grabs Alt. He doesn't keep hold of him for long, just long enough to right him. Then he steps back. "Like I said, that's not fine." He glances around. "Look. Bus stop. Has a bench. We'll sit down there. I promised I'd explain things, anyway, this is just giving me an opportunity to."
Alt leans against Anti for the second he’s righted and then he nods slowly, shaking out the spots again. “M’kay-“ He slurs, trying to keep his eyes open. “Sorry-“ Ugh he wished he had Chase’s backpack- he always had some kind of snacks on him. He starts to stumble towards the bus stop.
Anti walks next to Alt for a little bit, then sighs and reaches out to help support him. The poor guy is clearly having trouble on his own. They reach the bus stop together and sit down.
Alt doesn’t protest to being helped- even though he normally would. He slumps against the bench and shakes out his head again.
"Right, you need energy, don't you?" Anti mutters. "Food. Um..." He thinks about it, then reaches to the side. His hand disappears into an invisible pocket for a second, then returns holding a handful of chocolate bars. "There. If you... need anything more specific, uh, tell me, I guess? I'm getting these from a petrol station store that won't notice snacks going missing so keep to stuff that'd be found in there."
Alt blinks up at Anti reaching- and then his eyes widen and shine with hungry excitement at the sight of the chocolate bars. He quickly starts to tear into them, hardly chewing but he nods to Anti. “These are great but- anything with protein can help- something that’ll keep me energized for a long time- maybe an energy drink?“ He stuffs another chocolate bar into his mouth as he mutters, “I was also just like- tortured in a lab for a day and all it gave me was water so I’m starving-“ He says casually, now properly distracted by actually being able to eat.
Anti nods along, sealing this to memory, and then stops. "Wait what the fuck?"
Alt blinks at him, pausing in his chewing. “…what?” His eyes then widen and he quickly looks away, “Uh f-forget about that for now! I can.. e-explain later… probably-“
"What fucking universes did you go to?! Gods." Anti shakes his head. "Okay, fine. You don't have to explain now. Protein and energy. Okay." He does the same thing, now pulling back a bag of beef jerky and an energy drink. "Here. Gods. Fucking hell."
“Too many…” Alt mutters as he takes the food from Anti and doesn’t look at him. “We’ve been… jumping for a while.” He cracks open the energy drink and takes a long swig.
Anti sighs. "Can't imagine... I know they're out there, but I can't go to other worlds on my own. The most I can manage is the Space In-Between. And my home of course, but that's a pocket dimension, not a universe, it's different. It must've been just one thing after another, huh?"
Alt nods, taking another bite of his chocolate bar. Though he laughs slightly. “that’s funny… you seem so powerful… I always thought you could go to other places.” He takes a drink. “to be fair we had help- a device we got from a place called IRIS.”
He fishes out of his pocket and shows it to Anti. “It was broken in the world we found it in… but all it needs is some of my magic and… then we can go anywhere… anywhere but Home though, it seems.” He laughs bitterly. “…it’s been like.., 5 days? A week? Honestly I’ve… lost track of time…” He grabs some of the jerky and eats some before pointing a finger at Anti. “Tell you what- catch me up on all the shit going on here… and I’ll tell you about what we’ve seen. Equal information exchange~!” He smirks.
Anti stiffens slightly at the mention of IRIS. But then he nods and moves on. "Yeah. I said I'd do that, didn't I?" He takes a deep breath. He doesn't need to, but it's steadying.
"After you guys left, Marvin started looking into other worlds. I don't think he found much, but hit led to him diving even deeper into his fucking... black magic studies. And I guess he decided he had enough of most of the others.
"He and Jameson teamed up against the rest of them. Jameson got Schneep on their side with that watch of his and... You saw Jackie's scars. Those were from Marvin. He... The two of them always hated each other. It's just that Marvin made the first move. The three of them got the jump on him and... captured him, I suppose. Moved their base from the house to this hotel area. Kept Jackie in the basement there for Marvin to fuck with for fun. He got out eventually, as you can see, but... the other two weren't so lucky.
"Jameson used his powers on Chase and Jack. Put them both deep under, deeper than he did with Schneep. Chase is providing them with money and victims by..." Anti laughs. "...by pretending to be Jack on his YouTube channel. But Jack is... He's... H-he's..." Another breath. "He's not dead, cause I'm still here. A-and I think that must've been on purpose. I think... Jameson wanted me to... I-I don't know. Realize I'm... not powerful? Jack is... You know about him, from the time we shared memories. He's... very important to me. And they turned him into a fucking doll." Anti curls up a little bit. "Just... a blank, empty shell. Something you can display. I-I don't know what they did but I can't... reach him. And then they moved him away. Somewhere with no cameras or anything, because I have no idea... where he is." Anti's voice broke. "Sam misses him, too, a lot. They don't... leave home much nowadays. They rarely did, but even less now." Another breath. "But... I'm going to find him. I'm going to fix him."
Alt listens closely, politely staying quiet. But, it all hits him like a truck. He gapes at Anti, especially when his voice breaks. He never even thought Anti could cry- He swallow thickly and looks down, “…a hotel? …my friend- she mentioned once… that her friend got dragged into this world… and was hurt in a hotel. By your guys.” He shudders, remembering things Huffle had told him.
"Yeah... I think I know what you're talking about. I was there for that. Maybe I met your friend, there were a few people there."
“That’s… thats fucked up. Massively fucked up… I’m so sorry Anti…”
Anti is quiet for a moment. Then he nods. "Thanks," he whispers. He reaches up and adjusts his scarf, briefly showing the bloodstained bandages underneath. "I'm not going to give up. Ever. I can be very patient, especially against people who deserve it." Wrath flashes in his visible eye, darkening its sclera to black for a split second. "But... that hotel. If we can't find your brother outside, we need to check there."
Alt shudders more at this and grips at his arm. “…knowing our luck lately? ….I wouldn’t doubt that he’s there…” He swallows shakily and reaches to slow pick a bit more at his snacks.
“Yeah… How bad has your luck been?” Anti asks, looking at Alt. “It looks pretty bad. You mentioned… a lab? And… IRIS.”
Alt takes a shaky breath and laughs, “Right.” He grips the energy drink can in his hands as he starts. “It all started when Mag took me into a secret room under our own freaky organization’s headquarters- they’re called SCLERA but I think they’re like IRIS. Anyways- he took me and Chase managed to glitch with us- and he found… an archway. Just like the one in the museum that brought us here the first time. He figured out it just needed black magic and my glitches to work. So he.. corrupted me- made me activate it. Chase luckily managed to come with us…
“Then we ended up in- in a universe we hadn’t been to. But with versions of us we met before- oh yeah it’s… it’s the guys I tried to call you about… they have a freaky version of Chase called Distorter.” He shudders and digs his nails into the can.
“… long story short there- Distorter led all of us to an old Iris facility- where we found the device we’ve been using. The TRVLR. The only problem is- we cant tell which universe is which. They’re all just labeled by jumbled up numbers and letters. So we’ve been just… picking one and hoping it leads back home.
“Obviously- none of them have been home yet. The second one we went to… had some really messed up guys. Their chase had… strings in his skin- and their Anti. They were… they were literally two people stitched together by black magic.” He laughs a bit more, but it sounds scared. “…you mentioned Amp earlier… Something like Amp happened to me there too.. I.. I glitched- and I.. I merged with them.” Instinctual tears fall down his face as he chuckles hollowly. “It was… it was awful.”
Anti's eye widens. "What?" he breathes. "You... you got stuck with some... being made of black magic?" He pauses. "...Stitches. I know of him. That world is close to this one. Gods, Alt. I'm... I'm so sorry. If it was like Amp... gods." Their thoughts had merged together. The pain and hatred that Alt must have endured in that fusion...
Alt laughs, sounding a little unhinged. “That’s what he’s called? Ha… how fitting…” He grips at the can more, denting it and feeling the metal poke into his skin. “…I could feel them- Marvin and Jackie… they were tearing apart- they were… it was horrible. To see their- pain and hate combining to make… that world’s version of me.”
He blinks more tears out of his eyes and tries to hide his shaking. “Of course it didn’t end there… but Um… we did manage to find a kinda nice universe after that? They had um… kid versions of us. Met a sweet teenaged Jackie and… a little budding magician Marvin.” He smiles at the memory, touching the trans pin on his jacket. “The magic there was… strange though. They called it greenlight. But- we even managed to help out a younger Anti… I felt so bad for him… he just- didn’t understand. How humans worked but… I think he just wanted to play.”
"...wait a... greenlight?" Anti blinks. "I--huh. I wonder..." He shakes his head. "Nevermind. This isn't the time. Well, that sounded alright. Some risk, I'm assuming with Magnificent tagging along, but not as bad as Stitches' world. "
Alt shakes his head with a smile. “No it was… it was nice. I… I adored that Marvin kid.”
He then sighs and tries to remember what came next. “Then… oh! Chase loved the next one- it was full of supers. Like- all of us had superpowers. There was a league and Jackie was the main hero there- like Bro is ours. We had to save their chase and… oh yeah there was… a really freaky Anti there too. He… he knew about me and chase just from our phones but- he didn’t actually wanna hurt us. Said he just wanted to observe. He was a freaky bastard.”
“Oh but then! The next one was wild! We ended up in a like- fantasy world- I think they called it Glasuil- Mag got captured by their king who was… also freaky. He like- actually controlled Mag. But I~ kicked his ass~!” He grins, pointing to himself with his thumb before focusing back on his retelling.
“But… I think being away from tech messed with the TRVLR… so it must have clicked on the wrong universe because that’s… that’s where the.. freaky doctor thing found me. Called itself Notarzt…”
"You ended up in THAT fucking world?!" Anti shouts. What follows is a series of curses in Irish and Gaelic. "Gods, Alt! Holy shit. Again, never been there, but I definitely know of that one. No wonder you're so fucking hurt. Gods. Fuck." He shakes his head. "I'm glad you got out of there. I thought things were bad here, but it must seem like a picnic after that."
Alt flinches at Anti’s shout and grips at his bandaged arm, shaking slightly. He swallows thickly. “Yeah I-it really sucked… met another freaky Anti there too. … it took us a long time to realize that those… things were more versions of us…”
He then sighs and gestures at the space around them. “And now! We’re here~” He ends his recap by taking another bite of a chocolate bar with a loud crack.
Anti can probably see how exhausted Alt looks by his posture alone. “…but we keep going. That’s what Chase always says… we keep going.”
Anti nods. "We keep going," he repeats in a quiet voice, scanning the city skyline as if it holds the solution to all his problems.
"If it helps, Alt... I might be able to help you figure out which world is yours. I know a lot about universes... and about how IRIS would number things. Maybe I could identify what they called yours."
Alt looks back at Anti with wide eyes. “R-Really?” He then laughs quietly and looks relieved. “That… that would be amazing. I wanna go home so. bad.” He starts to finish up his snacks and ball up the trash, feeling his energy coming back. “…we just gotta find my brother first. Anddd also unfortunately Mag…”
"Right. Him." Alt can practically hear Anti's teeth grinding in anger. "I guess he needs to go back to your universe. To preserve your stories, or whatever the fuck They said."
“Unless you wanna take him- but I think you have enough problems,” Alt chuckles bitterly.
Anti forces himself to calm down--god he wants to kill Magnificent, even more after hearing he started Alt and Bro's journey of suffering. But he'll restrain himself.
"Well... I've been running a background process to check the camera footage, and either your brother is somewhere without cameras... or he's in the hotel. They put up wards to block external eyes so I'm blocked off from there. Not blocked off from going in, though."
Alt listens and then gets up, throwing away all the wrappers and stuff from his snacks then shaking himself out, body shuddering with glitches. His eyes glow with renewed power as he looks back at Anti. “well… guess we got a hotel to check into then-“
Anti laughs. “Yeah. I guess we do. Come on.” He stands up and glitches farther down the street, waiting on a corner for Alt to join.
Alt smirks and then glitches right after Anti.
——————
It’s completely dark in the room, which is really disconcerting. Marvin had dragged him down the stairs with complete confidence. And while Bro was still recovering from the pain that his magic was causing, he locked a pair of chains around each wrist, binding him to the wall. And after a slight pause, he locked one around his neck too. A collar with a very short leash.
Bro struggles against the chains and then chokes in surprise at the collar being put around his neck. “Uh… this seems kinda kinky-“ He mumbles.
Marvin pauses. “Oh, you’re a talker.” He doesn’t sound particularly happy about that. “Fine. I can work with that.” Another pause. “I have no interest in that stuff by the way.” The defensiveness in his voice would’ve been funny if it didn’t have that uncanny echo.
“Oh yeah of course not-“ Bro mutters. “That’s why you do it without a second thought-“
Bro can see Marvin’s eyes glowing in the darkness. He can hear him walking across the concrete floor of the room but he can’t see what he’s doing. “Hmmm…” Marvin hums. A bit of bright violet magic gathers in his hand and splatters to the ground, where it clusters together and forms the shape of a translucent glowing cat. The cat construct shakes itself and walks closer to Bro.
Bro looks down at the cat with confusion and then tries to push himself back. “Uhhhh n-nice kitty…?”
The cat walks closer. It tilts its head to the side, looking at him. Well it doesn’t have eyes, but it feels like it’s looking at him. Then it places one front paw on Bro’s leg. Followed by another. Alt has a cat so Bro is probably used to this behavior. He is not used to the burning feeling that pops up where the cat construct’s paws touch him.
Bro blinks at the cat and then yells out as it climbs onto him. He kicks out his legs to try to get it off.
The cat digs its claws in but a couple tries knocks it off. “Thaaaaat’s not very nice, Chase,” Marvin says. “I didn’t know you were ailurophobic. Don’t worry! It just wants to check you out.”
“That’s a big word!” Chase comments with rising panic. “But if it means what I think it means no! I’m not scared of cats! I’m wary of freaky ones that burn me though!”
The cat recovers and approaches Bro again. A normal cat would be cautious of someone who just kicked it away, but this is not a normal cat. It hops right onto Bro’s lap, the burning sensation coming with it as it sits and curls its tail around it.
Bro yells out as the cat sits on him and grits his teeth, trying to figure out how to get it off.
“Well you better get used to it,” Marvin says bluntly. “If you can’t handle this you’re not going to last very long.”
As Marvin talks, the cat gets up on its hind legs and presses its front paws against Bro’s chest. Its head moves closer to his face like it’s sniffing him, though it doesn’t have a nose. Then it lies down, resting its whole body across his chest. There’s a slight hissing sound coming from it. Not like how cats actually hiss. Like the sound of water hitting hot metal.
Bro squirms under the cat and bites back any yells or whimpers that want to escape him. He can’t let Marvin think he’s already winning- he’s stronger than this… this is nothing!
The cat stays there for maybe a minute, the burning just feeling worse the longer it goes on. Then it abruptly dissolves into violet magic, which drips down Bro's chest before fading away.
Bro gasps quietly as the cat leaves, taking in careful breaths to try to work through the pain.
"Interesting," Marvin says. There's the clink of glass, and then Marvin approaches Bro, crouching down next to him. "Did you know you have a very unique soul?" The light from Marvin's glowing eyes makes his grinning face into a ghoulish mask.
Bro flinches as Marvin crouches next to him and tries to move away. “Ha- well, my aunts did always tell me I was special~” He tries to joke.
"So sorry for you," Marvin says insincerely. Before Bro can wonder what that means, Marvin takes out a long needle--and pricks him with it. And 'prick' really is the right word. Despite the length of the needle it barely goes into Bro's skin before Marvin withdraws it. He puts the needle in a glass tube filled with some sort of clear liquid, then caps the tube, stands up, and walks away.
Bro yelps out in surprise and blinks at Marvin in confusion. “..the hell does that mean? Is that a comment about my soul or my aunts? are you being homophobic right now? Or ableist cuz that’s not what I meant by ‘special’!”
Chase can see Marvin's eyes rolling perfectly well because of their glow. "The fact that you think I would be either of those things when my only friend is Jameson is insulting," he says, mostly to himself.
“To be honest- don’t know much about the guy besides the fact that he hypnotized my brother and my friends- but good for him being gay I guess? Does that give him a ‘not-as-much-of-an-asshole-as-you-could-have-been award’?” Bro says dryly.
Marvin’s voice drops into a deeper mutter that Bro can barely hear with his super hearing. "This is what happens when I try to be sympathetic, why did I even try..." Then he turns back to him. "You know, I waaaas going to just leave you here while we wait for the taglock to settle, but I guessss you'd rather stay and chat some more."
Bro’s eyes furrow as he hears Marvin mutter. “I mean- I like talking but you clearly don’t. But, at least I can ask some questions. …why were you trying to be sympathetic? What’s a tag lock? The fuck are you planning to do to me?”
"Heh." Marvin grins. "I didn't mean it literally, but sure. Why not." He walks up to Bro and crouches down again. Nothing in his hands this time. "For the first one. IIII know what it's like to be called that. It's not pleasant. IIII thought we might have something in common. Guess I was wrong. And a taglock is the process one uses to extract a tiiiny portion of your soul power and distill it into essence. Don't worry. Your soul recharges most power over time, such a small amount won't make a difference. As for the last question... I think it's more fun if it's a surprise. Fun for me, of course."
Bro frowns and looks at Marvin with a mixed look. ….he didn’t really feel like he was seen too different until he got his powers. And even then- his powers were a good thing. It was hard to deal with at first but… he’s glad he has them. He did get made fun of for being ADHD but- that didn’t really bother him much. “Hm- I guess our definitions of ‘special’ are different. I don’t think I was ever at your level.” He spits darkly. But then he blinks and furrows his eyebrows together, “Soul power? The fuck is that??”
Marvin's expression darkens as Bro speaks. "Don't worry about it," he says. "Just know you'll get it back. You probably already have it back. Now." Suddenly, his hand shoots out and grabs Bro by the hair, slamming his head back against the wall. "I want to try something out."
Bro yells out as his vision flashes white for a second- his head hitting the wall with a loud thud. But, he bares his teeth at Marvin and he lets power shine in his eyes. "Whatcha gonna do? Burn me with more cats?"
Marvin grins. "That was just a probe. Not really an actual spell." He adjusts his grip, now holding Bro's head in both hands, forcing him to look him in the eyes. "Not like this." Marvin's eyes glow brighter.
Bro writhes and tries to push out of Marvin's grip, a mounting fear weighing down his chest. He doesn't like the look in Marvin's eyes so he closes his, trying to shrink away.
"Scared?" Marvin adjusts his grip, prying Bro's eyelids open again with his thumbs. "You should be."
Bro's vision starts to swim. Fuzzy shapes start to form, repeating fractals, looping like a kaleidoscope, like seeing the angles of a room degrade and then rebuild and then degrade again. He couldn't put a color to the shapes if he wanted to, nor a type, but they're undeniably there. His head starts to hurt.
Bro swallows shakily as his vision swims with confusing patterns. He blinks rapidly, trying to make sense of it. "W-What are you doing?"
Marvin lets go of Bro's head. It's too late now. The spell is already in motion, even if he closes his eyes he'll see the patterns.
"Have you ever had a geometric nightmare?" Marvin asks. "That's not what they're called officially, but you'd know if you had one. This is it. But worse."
The patterns are repeating, growing. They're getting closer--no, Bro is getting closer, he's falling, falling, falling but he can't get his body to respond in time to fly. The shapes fracture, a swirl of swooping hills and broken glass. The rest of the room is wavering. To an outside observer, it looks like Bro's eyes are filled with concentric purple circles. To him, he feels sick. His ears are ringing. His head is aching, a sharp pain like the world's worst migraine.
Bro slumps against the wall, his eyes wide as he tries to blink past the patterns. He can't tell what's up and what's down. He tries to push himself up but that only makes him feel sicker. He shuts his eyes to try to get rid of it but it only makes it worse. "h-hngh-!" His head is killing him- what is this??
Smiling, Marvin stands up. "Have fun with that. I'll be back in... thirty minutes or so to dispel that." And he turns and leaves the room. Bro can hear him go up the stairs but with the darkness and the spiraling fractal patterns he can't see anything.
Bro shakily tries to push up after him. "W-Wait-!" He then crashes to the floor, his chains going taut and his collar choking him. He whimpers and curls up, alleviating some pressure and trying to breathe through the pain. He's a hero- he's strong-! He can handle this.. right?
The patterns show no sign of stopping their dizzying display.
-----------
Being a cat wandering the city at night is very different than wandering it as a person. For one, it's slower. Mag feels like he's been walking forever and he's still in this run-down part of town filled with condemned, vandalized buildings. Or maybe the urban maintenance of this city is just that bad.
Mag growls to himself. It was also slow because he was stabbed multiple times. Just his fucking luck. He tries his best to get around though- looking for a source of magic. Though... hm. If he's back in the universe with that goody two-shoes Anti- then his friends were... a problem. Sure, he got the upper hand on their Marvin and almost won. But, he had been defeated. And trying to steal from those idiots again might get him killed... So- guess the main focus was to try to find his cub. Again... this was starting to get old. He missed having the upper hand.
As he turns the corner, he feels... something. Something familiar. Not a magician, but... some sort of talisman. There's a small alleyway in between two buildings with a large dumpster. A man is shoving garbage bags into it while a second man watches.
Magnificent pauses at the feeling. Huh... he knows that feeling. He slinks into the alley's shadows and prowls closer, trying to get a better look.
The man moving the garbage bags is a stranger, but the other is very familiar. Wearing a red vest and black tie, looking very out of place in this environment, is this world's Jameson Jackson. He must be supervising the disposal of... what is in those bags? Magnificent's enhanced cat nose detects blood and something that smells like death.
Magnificent can't help but hiss at both the sight of Jameson and the smell. He knew the Jackson here was fucked up like all the others- but what the hell was he doing?
Jameson tilts his head... and looks over, right at Magnificent. {That is not the mind of an animal.} The voice says in Magnificent's mind.
Magnificent stiffens and tries his best to keep his mind blank as he backs up and hisses more at Jameson.
Jameson narrows his eyes at the cat... then sighs and turns away. This isn't the time to focus on that. Someone could come across at any minute. He'll keep an eye on that probably-magician and address it after they're done.
{Hurry up, please,} he tells... ah, he can never remember their names when they're new. But whoever it is, he does speed up on command.
Magnificent blinks almost comically. ... he did not expect that to work. But soon he curls up on the ground, watching with narrowed eyes, his tail flicking. ...if Jackson is up to something- maybe it'll lead him to wherever Alt would be. Plus... he can't help but be curious. This was the magic that held his own fools- he never really got to observe how to worked closely. He can't deny its fascinating.
It's not long before the man finishes putting the bags in the dumpster. Jameson nods, satisfied. Schneep used to be better at disposal, but now he can hardly remember to. A distasteful side effect of the control but one Jameson would have to live with.
{Follow,} he says to his man, and he two of them start walking down the alleyway towards Magnificent. Time to check that out.
Magnificent freezes and backs up more into the shadows- trying to keep his mind blank again. Act like a cat... he's surprisingly good at that. He hisses as they approach then tries to dart past them-
{Grab it,} Jameson commands, and the man scoops up the cat as it runs past, holding it up for Jameson to see. {I thought you might be that man who took Mr. Parker away, but I don't think he would find hypnotism fascinating. And yet there's something familiar about you...} Jameson narrows his eyes.
Magnificent yowls and tries to scratch at the man grabbing him. He hisses and narrows his eyes at Jameson- and as soon as they make eye contact Magnificent tries to send a flood of hypnotic power into him.
The man doesn't let go, seemingly unfazed by the cat scratching. But then Jameson makes eye contact. He staggers backwards from the force of the power. {Oh--I remember you now--} He shudders, closing his eyes, but it's too late. Magnificent has control... but it's not as complete as he would have wanted. Or as it was last time. It's like there's some sort of... slippery coating around Jameson's mind this time, letting him struggle against Mag's power.
Magnificent grins and shifts back into his human form to prowl around Jameson. “Well~! Jameson Jackson… we meet again~! How good it is to see you again, pet~” He hums in amusement. He goes to grab Jameson by the chin then slams him against the alley wall, baring his fangs. “Feels like you have some new tricks up your sleeves… perhaps you can enlighten me to what all you and your devious friends have been up to, hm?” While he still has control- he tries to pry and pick apart Jameson’s memories, seeing what he can learn.
Jameson gasps, a voiceless cry. He tries to hide his memories at first, and then suddenly stops resisting, as if letting Magnificent take them.
What follows is a rapid slideshow of a descent into madness. Marvin's descent into madness, to be specific. Studying with a fervor, taking people to try spells on, stealing and killing and doing anything to get more spells. Mag sees Marvin approach Jameson about controlling the others, something he easily agrees to. First, the spell on Schneep, twisting his mind's tendency for delusions inward. Then, the capture of Jackie, who isn't expecting Schneep's betrayal. The moving to the hotel. The screams from the basement. Chase and Jack's hypnotism, making one the other and forcing the other to listless life. Marvin's continued descent. There's an incident in there with a handful of teens and young adults, that's strange--but even stranger is the more recent memory of just a couple weeks ago. When a ripple of magic spread out from Marvin's apartment in the hotel. Jameson rushed over... and saw Marvin grinning at him with glowing purple eyes, hands full of black violet magic that, even in a memory, gives off this feeling of wrongness that makes the hair on Mag's neck stand up. "I've done it," the memory says. "This is it. This power... I can do anything."
Magnificent breaks the connection and staggers back a bit, processing the information. Then, he throws his head back and laughs, grinning at Jameson. “I see… my stupid doppelgänger has let himself be consumed, hm? How amusing… fascinating to see really~! Maybe I should observe up close…” He muses.
Jameson shudders. {Is it "letting" it happen if one jumps in headfirst...?} The thought drifts into Mag's head, then fades away as his control tightens again.
Magnificent chuckles, “Those of us with stronger will power know how to reach the edge but not fall in~” He sings with confidence. He turns to Jameson and smiles, “Jackson- would you be a dear and lead me to your base of operations?”
He resists for a moment before nodding jerkily. {We... walked here. It's not... too far.} He continues down the alleyway towards the street. The man he had hypnotized just stands there.
Magnificent hums with a smirk and then glances at the man. He makes a shooing motion at him. “We have no more use for you- get lost.” He then follows after Jameson.
Jameson nods, unwillingly agreeing with Magnificent. The hypnotized man wanders off. The other two head down the street, walking to the hotel.
-----------
Anti suddenly stops. "Wait. I forgot." They've reached a part of town surrounded by restaurants and short hotels. They all look fairly old, overtaken by urban decay. The hotel where the others are staying can't be too far now.
Alt pauses and turns to look at Anti, raising an eyebrow, “Forgot what?”
"Marvin." Anti looks at Alt with a serious expression. "Do you know what a Void is? Do they exist in your world? Well, the name might be different..."
Alt furrows his eyebrows and tries to think, “mmm… I feel like my mentor has mentioned something like that… something- consumed completely by black magic? If I had to guess-“
"Yes, that's it exactly." Anti nods. "A couple weeks ago I ran into Marvin while he was out looking for more magic. Or... what used to be Marvin. He's become a Void now. Which means that not only is he much, much more powerful, but he has even less impulse control than he used to and is pretty much running on straight emotion, not logic."
Alt shudders at the description of Marvin and swallows thickly. “Okay… sounds horrifying-“ He does hum in thought though, “…running on emotions- we can work with that though.”
Anti nods. He keeps walking as he talks--more proof that they're close. "We could. I'm sure he's just as easy to distract as he used to be, if not more so. But remember to be careful. That Void magic of his burns like acid."
Alt walks after Anti and shudders again at the mention of his magic. He grips at his bandages and nods. “noted… I would very much like to avoid that-“
"Oh shit, wait, something else." Anti's visible eye widens. "They have the whole place rigged up with a... what's the word? It disperses gas throughout the building. I forgot you breathe. We need a solution for if they decide to use that..."
“They fucking rigged the place with gas?!” Alt gasps. Then he curses and throws up his hands, “Of all the times it would have been nice to have my mask! But nooo Mag had to kidnap me from the comfort of my home where I don’t wear it! Fucking asshole-!” He grumbles.
Anti blinks. "It's like a bandanna, right? Here." He takes his scarf off and passes it over. "That should work."
Alt blinks in surprise and holds up his hands. “hey I can’t just… take your scarf- don’t you need it?”
Anti smiles sadly. "No, not really. Just to hide this." He gestures at the bandages around his neck. "People find it disturbing usually. I do like my scarf, so I'd like it back, but I think having you not pass out if they flood the halls with sedative is a higher priority."
“….I guess I can’t argue with that…” Alt mumbles. He looks at the scarf and then loops it around his neck. He’s not one of scarves usually but- it almost feels like his mask and it helps bring him a bit of comfort. “Heh- wonder if they’ll get us confused easier now.” He laughs.
"Heh. Probably." Anti smiles. "Now come on. We're almost there."
-----------
Bro lost track of time a while ago. The fractal shapes covering his vision haven't wavered once, nor has the pattern repeated. Or... has it? Maybe? The pain hasn't wavered either.
Bro is curled up as much as he can while being restrained. He gasps for breath, grunts in pain and is genuinely just trying to keep going. Keep going- keep going. He’s never felt so fucking sick and dizzy though- it’s like a screw is being drilled into his skull. Part of him is hoping he’ll pass out- but some part of him also whispers that he won’t be that lucky.
He's in too much pain to hear the footsteps coming down the concrete stairs. But he does notice the purple glow that cuts through the shapes, increasing until they burn away. The pain is gone, but its shadow remains.
Marvin is holding his head again, the same way he did to cast the spell in the first place. His eyes fade back to their faint glow as he smiles. "You don't look so good."
Bro cries out as he’s grabbed and then pants in Marvin’s grip. He glares at him and snorts. “J-Jeez- wonder what that is…? Not like I just had my head fucked up by s-shapes or anything-“
Marvin grins. "Noooo, of course not." He's being a little shit and he knows it. "Do you need a moment? Hmmm?" He conjures a handful of black-violet magic, casting a purple glow around the scene. He's holding something else in his other hand but Bro can't quite see it.
“Oh no by all means keep it coming, cat bitch.” Bro drawls out sarcastically. “Why even ask? I know you’re not going to-“
"Correct." Marvin holds up the item in his other hand. It's the glass tube from earlier, but now the liquid inside has turned from clear to opaque. It's hard to tell in the purple lighting, but it's a pastel orange color. "Can you guess what this is?"
Bro leans against the wall and raises an eyebrow at the tube. “Some magic bullshit- if I had to guess.” He snarks tiredly.
"Oh come ooooon, I told you about it earlier," Marvin goads. "Did you forget? I guess your memory isn't that great right now."
“No, I just don’t care-“ Bro tries to quip.
Marvin shakes the tube. "This is your soul essence, Chase." He popped the cap off. "Let's see..." He tilted the tube, sending a drop of the essence into the magic he's holding. Bro feels a sudden sharp pain in his chest. Right in the center.
Bro yells and doubles over, clawing at his chest with a choked gasp of pain.
"You should care," Marvin says. "I wiiiiill admit that the reaction you just had? Very strange. I've never done this before, but I'm sure the spells would list that." He pours a couple more droplets into the magic, Bro feeling the pain again every time, and then caps it. The color of his magic is different now. Very slightly, but it's a bit more red, a bit lighter in tone.
Bro screams out and braces his arm against the floor, bending on his elbow. The other hand clutches at his chest as he heaves through the pain. Bro struggles to lift up his head and then looks at Marvin’s magic with wide eyes. “Wha… what did you do?!”
"I've just infused my magic with your essence," Marvin says, grinning like a madman. "Normally this could mean I could heal you better, or find you easily with a tracking spell. But I want to see what else I can do." He puts the glass vial away and presses his handful of magic against Bro's chest.
“T-That’s insane why would you want to do-?” Bro protests before the magic gets put on his chest. During the awkward moment of silence Bro finally laughs nervously. “…can you not like- try to magic my tit…?”
Nothing happens. Marvin tilts his head, looking thoughtful. Then he stands up, slowly pulling his hand away. The magic stretches into a rope. As Marvin steps backwards away from Bro, he feels a strange pulling sensation in his chest, right where that pain was.
Bro regrets trying to joke as the strange pull makes him let out another choked gasp. He squirms and tries to back up. “Ew ew stop!! That feels fucking freaky!”
Marvin grins. "Does it?" He gives the magic rope a tug. The pulling increases to the point of near-pain.
Bro cries out as he's pulled. He tries not to show how much this is freaking him out. He knows next to nothing about magic- no matter how much Alt explains it to him it just doesn't click. So he's confused beyond all belief right now.
"I wonder... If I remember, your Anti can use electricity, right?" Marvin's free hand lights up with purple electricity. "Has he ever shocked you? Does it feel like this?" He grabs the magic rope with both hands. Violet magic races down it and into Bro.
Bro doesn't even get a chance to answer Marvin's questions before his body is flooded with electricity from the rope. He screams and spasms, crashing into the wall and craning his neck as his body writhes out of his control.
Marvin laughs. His grip on the rope slackens but he doesn't let go. He tilts his head, teeth bared in a smile, eyes alight. "What about this?" One hand crackles with icy power. Before Bro can recover, he sends that down the rope as well.
Bro yells again, now curling up and trying to claw at the burning cold invading his chest.
And he laughs again. "Oooone last try." The final magic is flame, burning violet. It races down the rope.
Bro crashes to the floor, screaming out in agony as he writhes on the ground, straining to try to get away from the burning pain.
Marvin drops the rope, waiting for Bro to calm down, watching with a smile.
Bro blinks pained tears out of his eyes as he heaves and tries to get his senses back. The room tilts and sways and he can hardly make Marvin out through the dizzying vision. "y-you... you bitch...!" He tries to snarl, but he's too wracked with pain to make it sound threatening.
"Not very creative, aaare yoouu?" Marvin says. "Just... impulsive. Like another do-gooder I knew." His face curls in disgust. "I hope the wounds killed him." He leans back against the wall. "Well, let me ask you a question, Chase. What would you prefer? To keep going like this? Or... I could hand you over to Schneep. He was really excited about this. Or maybe I could even hand you to Jameson. Now that I have your soul essence, he could put you under really... really... deep. In all honesty, that one's probably the least painful option for you. Dolls don't feel pain."
Chase struggles to push himself up on shaking arms. He bares his teeth at Marvin, blue trying to light up in his eyes. "Y-You don't s-scare me... W-Whatever you bastards do to me- it won't fucking stick. I won't become some doll or plaything or whatever you sick freaks have planned! Heroes don't get taken down- we keep going." He then laughs, sounding a bit unhinged. "And I know Alt is gonna find me. He probably will find your Anti too- and I know you fucks are scared of him. They'll kick your sorry asses!"
Marvin's eyes briefly flash brighter. "AFRAID of Anti? No, no. Never afraid. And even if we were, that was before. This is now. I've fought him with this new power and he ran like a bitch." He bares his teeth in a sharp grin. "As for your Anti, I'm sure Schneep will be excited for that, too."
Bro's eyes flash bright with blue power and he pushes himself up more, yelling in rage. "If you let that doctor bitch anywhere near Alt I swear to fuck I'll-!"
He stands up straight, moving around in the darkness. "Well, I offered you a choice and you threw it away. Though to be honest, I probably wouldn't have done what you asked anyway. So you're stuck here. With me. And with them."
He gathers magic in his hands and drops it to the ground--once, twice, three times. Each one splashes and forms another cat. Similar to the other one... but bigger. And these ones have claws and mouths with sharp, sharp teeth.
The hero cuts himself off as the new cats form and he slowly tries to back up. He growls and then tries to see if he can shoot Marvin with a concentrated electric blast.
Marvin sidesteps the blast, which cracks against the concrete wall, briefly illuminating the room. The walls are blackened and pitted like they were splashed with acid. Runes are drawn on the floor.
"Oh... I see then." His voice drips with venom. "Have the runes on those shackles worn off? Or does it simply not work on you? Either way, you've fucked yourself, Chase Brody."
And the three cat constructs pounce.
Bro yells out in rage- trying to pull against the shackles to go after Marvin. But, then, the cats pounce. And Chase screams, trying to pull them off or kick them or just- anything! But, soon enough he's back in a heap on the ground, crying out and curling up to try to protect himself.
Marvin leans back against the wall, watching with grim satisfaction.
-----------
The outside of the hotel blends in with the surrounding environment perfectly, not standing out at all. But Jameson walks up to it with certainty, stopping outside the front doors. {This is it,} he says reluctantly.
Magnificent smirks and then gestures towards the door, "Well, Jackson? Are you not going to show me around? I am a guest after all~" He grins.
Jameson grits his teeth and tries to resist, but doesn't quite manage to. He pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocks the door, holding it open for Magnificent to walk inside.
Magnificent giggles and bows a bit to Jameson before striding in. He takes in the look of the lobby and whistles. "My! What a fancy place you all have found~!"
The lobby is empty. Schneep was in here earlier when Bro popped in, but not anymore. Jameson walks in behind Magnificent. {Where... do you want to see?} It's like the question is dragged out of him.
Magnificent hums and then grins at Jameson, “Why don’t you show me where Marvin learned all those interesting things, hm? Perhaps it can help me as well~”
Jameson nods jerkily. He heads around the long desk in the lobby towards a door behind it.
Then, suddenly, lunges for it, reaching under the desk for something--
But shortly after he grabs it he freezes again. A small knife clatters to the floor.
Magnificent yells and tries to stop Jameson- then he growls as he sees the knife fall. He throws out strings to wrap about Jameson as he walks towards him, tsking softly. "Jackson, Jackson, Jackson... must we play these games?"
Jameson stiffens as the strings wrap around him. He tries to struggle against them but Magnificent's power is still too strong. {Yes,} he says, giving him as much of a glare as he can muster. {I've lived too long to fall to an arrogant child like you without a token of resistance.}
Magnificent laughs and then kneels down by Jameson, pulling him up by his hair to grin wide in his face. "And yet, my age hasn't stopped me from overpowering you once again~ How is all that experience aiding you right now, old-timer?" He then throws Jameson's head down to the ground and whips out some magic to keep Jameson pinned. "If you're going to be so difficult- then I'll find all your secrets on my own. You can sit here and writhe for all I care." Mag snorts and then in a flicker of static he disappears behind the door Jameson was heading towards.
As he disappears, he doesn't see a small smile flicker across Jameson's face. He also doesn't notice the small button on the underside of the desk, right where Jameson pulled the knife from.
Behind the door are stacks and stacks of books, paper, manuscripts, and all sorts of writing. It's not very organized, but the sheer amount of knowledge is impressive.
Magnificent laughs quietly and starts to prowl through the stacks, looking for anything interesting.
The variety of these books and texts is also impressive. All very dark magic, of course, but it covers just about any subject. There is a particular emphasis on the body, mind, and soul of a person, and how to use it all to your advantage, how to manipulate it, causing pain. There are also a smattering of texts about other worlds. There is a diagram of the doorway that was used to take them here the first time.
This immediately peaks his interest and he heads over to the diagram- trying to see what Marvin has learned about the doorway... maybe it could help his future plans.
Not much, apparently. This diagram, handwritten in writing that is not Marvin's, talks about how the doorway is something that naturally appears in remote areas around the world. The runes on the stone side are in various runic languages, and some of them are unknown. The only one repeated is an angled spiral in the two top corners. All other known runes mean either "travel" or "world." The magicians have found that they cannot destroy the doorway with magic or conventional means, though there has been debate about doing something so drastic as dropping it in a volcano or putting it in the path of a powerful bomb.
Magnificent does find this interesting though- good to know they're naturally occurring... He could use that to his advantage some day. And them being hard to destroy is a good thing too. Satisfied with this he looks around to see what more there is about the other worlds-
Most of the materials about that are sparse, about theories on why there are other worlds and how to reach them. But there is a book--thin but there--that lists magicians' attempts to reach other worlds.
There is a faint hiss coming from somewhere in the room. But Magnificent is too engrossed in his search and studies to pay it much mind.
Magnificent hums slightly and leafs through the book, reading through the attempts. He doesn't suspect anything is wrong- the pull of knowledge got its hold on him.
Most of the attempts are nothing interesting, more listing what doesn't work than what does. Most often, people disappear in their attempts and never return. But there are a handful of methods that work. It's most reliable to scry into other nearby universes--though which universes are nearby will change, as it seems they tend to move around while still staying in the same general position. Interestingly, the stone doorway is listed as having the potential to send others to new worlds, but it activates rarely, seemingly on its own.
Magnificent finds this fascinating. And can't help but chuckle that he has found a way to power the doorway when whoever wrote this can't. It feels him with a sense of twisted pride. He only needs to learn to control it- or gain control of the device from Alt...
There is a white mist spreading across the floor.
The mad magician blinks and sees the mist spreading across the floor. He stumbles back, "What the?!" He tries to look for an exit.
The door behind him has closed. There is a sweet smell in the air that makes his head spin.
Magnificent staggers and fumbles to hold himself up against one of the stacks. He curses in Gaelic and tries to see if he can teleport out of here.
Can he concentrate enough to do that? Can he muster up the focus? Whatever this is, it's taking effect fast.
He can't concentrate enough- trying to teleport out of the room has him knocking into the wall on the other side of the room. He curses and then feels so dizzy, he crashes down to his knees. "Fucking Jackson-! I should have known...!" He growls angrily, trying to focus on staying awake.
The room continues to fill with sweet fog. Magnificent's head swims and concentrating becomes even more difficult, disconnected thoughts in a darkening mind.
It's not long before the fog overtakes the dark magician and he sinks heavily to the ground, passing out in the fog.
It takes a couple minutes for the fog to disperse. Then the door opens. Schneep leans in, pressing some cloth to his face just in case. Jameson is behind him, doing the same.
"Aha!" Schneep says. "I honestly was not sure that would work."
{He asked for knowledge, and his desire for it overtook him,} Jameson says. {Now then. What shall we do?}
"Marvin is using the practice for the other-universe Chase," Schneep says.
{Oh? He's here too?}
"Yes. I thought he was our Chase before and I was very concerned because he wanted to go outside. So I pressed the button."
{Good job.} Jameson reaches into his vest and touches his watch. {Chase is too sick to go outside.}
"He is," Schneep repeats dully. Then he blinks and is back to normal. "Well we will have to get Marvin for some magic restraints, but we can put him in the operating room for now. And switch out him for the other Chase when it is time."
{That's a great idea.} Jameson nods. {Let's do this now.}
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Wreckx part 2
cw: unlikeable whumpee, stalking, creepy whumpee, male whumpee, autistic whumpee (written by autistic writer), cyberstalking, self hatred, unreliable narrator
masterlist
--
Wreckx, the loser that he was, had to take the bus to get to the diner. Of fucking course he didn’t know how to drive. He tried once, got too frightened behind the wheel, and swore off it. The black backpack on his lap had everything he needed for the job.
A camera with high zoom, his phone, and his cyberdeck. The cyberdeck looked like a bluetooth keyboard to any unsuspecting citizen, but using it, he was able to hack into whatever he needed to. Within reason, of course.
It was an external interface for his internal systems, a sort of brain chip put in his head that let him see into the digital space. It depicted lines of code as a branching node graph that he could navigate, and through that, he would be able to hack into any CCTV cameras in the area, and follow Rei Khan on her trip back home with them.
He got out of the bus at the nearest stop to the diner.
The street was still shiny and wet from the rain earlier today. The air was heavy with humidity. The pavement caught the bright lights from the street lights, but this part of town was far quieter than where Wreckx lived. Less bustle and neon, fewer cars passing by him. He didn’t mind it.
The walk to the diner was quick, but littered with glances over his shoulder. With the streets as quiet as they were, there was never anybody behind him, much less following him. He walked for a handful of minutes before coming up on the diner. It was old, nostalgic, metal with red and blue neon lights on the outside. Through the window he could see the warm lights and the red booths, and inside, an attractive woman in a yellow shirt and red skirt, hair tied up high behind her. She matched the photos on social media that Wreckx had stalked through beforehand.
He found a grimy, disgusting spot nestled between two dumpsters beside the diner (it’s where he belonged). He wasn’t likely to get spotted there, so he went ahead and tapped into the camera feeds inside the diner.
She was tending to the few patrons who were still there at such a late hour, her dark ponytail swaying with her walk. She really was attractive. Somebody Wreckx had no hope of ever being with, so what did it matter if something unsavory happened to her? She would just turn him down and call him a creep anyways, so that meant that she was a bad, cruel person. One who wouldn’t even give him the time of day-
Wreckx stopped his mental tirade and refocused on the cameras. When he was tapped in like this, because his cyberdeck was hooked up to his brain chip, it projected over his actual vision. He wouldn’t be able to see someone sneaking up on him so easily, so he really had to stay focused so he could get the info he needed without having to make a second attempt.
Her shift wrapped up as the minutes ticked by and she left the diner. Wreckx seamlessly swapped from the diner’s security cameras to the CCTV footage dotted along the street. She boarded a bus, and Wreckx followed along with the bus’ interior security cameras. She eventually disembarked, and walked ten minutes down to her house. It was small, but kept up well enough. It looked like there was nobody else home. Better for him.
The distance from his camp out spot to the house made it a little harder for him to keep the connection steady, but he managed. The footage became grainy or distorted at some parts, but thanks to her having a doorbell camera, he caught her entering the house.
He wasn’t sure if that would be enough for his benefactors, though. They stated that they wanted a photo of her inside the house. He couldn’t fuck up such a big payday.
With a grumble, Wreckx shut down the feed and pulled himself off the floor, grimacing at the dampness of the concrete beneath him. He was welcomed by the familiar head rush of cutting the connection in his brain chip, spots clouding his vision for a moment before he headed for the same bus that she had taken.
He had committed the route to memory. It was simple enough, he just had to hope that there was no neighborhood watch looking out for suspicious individuals (especially losers in black trench coats and face masks). He slung his bag over his shoulder and took the bus, getting off at the same stop Rei had. From there, he just had to cover the walk, and he was greeted by the familiar, small house.
He arrived just in time to see the lights in the last lit up window turn off. He surveyed the area. There was a fence dividing her house from the neighbors’, which made his job a little bit more difficult. On top of that, there was no shrubbery or trees to be seen. So he would just have to crouch at the window and hope that she wasn’t looking outside at that very moment. He’d also have to pray that none of her neighbors see him prowling around.
It wasn’t common for him to take jobs that involved going to someone’s residence. For the majority of his work, he would hack into corporate security cameras, or other posted cams inside businesses. He couldn’t deny the rush he got from this kind of work, though. It made his hands tremble in a way that was entirely counterproductive to him trying to get a clean, steady photo.
He fitted his camera with the medium zoom, night vision lens and turned off the flash, closing in on the window. He crouched, staying low and close to the building’s outer wall. As he made it beneath the window, he hoped that this was her bedroom, and that she was still inside it.
Wreckx’s boots scraped on the concrete beneath him as he turned and pulled his back off the wall, prepped his camera, and poked up just above the windowsill. He trusted his autofocus enough that he immediately clicked the button and shot back down under the window to inspect the photo, not even knowing what the image captured yet.
Fast fingers tapped at screens and buttons until a photo popped up on the display screen. That was Rei, alright. She was huddled under the blankets, eyes focused on her cell phone, which cast a pale blue light across her face. It made her look even more attractive to Wreckx, to catch her at such a vulnerable moment. It seemed that she hadn’t even noticed him.
The photo was surely enough for the job. He crept back out towards the front of the house, capturing a few photos of the exterior and taking note of the address for his benefactor (only for his benefactor, of course).
A successful job, just like any other. Wreckx scurried back home to his tiny apartment, ruminating on his actions while he was on the bus ride back. He didn’t want to seem overeager, but against his better judgment, he sent the photos over as soon as he got back to his place.
Around an hour passed before AnonyMouse gave any sort of correspondence back, and when they did, it was in the form of a link to an account where the money was waiting for him. Six grand for one night’s work was dizzying to Wreckx, and he snatched the money up as quickly as he could. The job wasn’t even that hard, and it was only slightly worse than the usual depraved things he did for money.
“I’ll keep you on file in case we need something else.” AnonyMouse said, before the connection was terminated.
He blinked a couple times. AnonyMouse called itself a we. That made a pit form in Wreckx’s stomach. It could have been just a mistake, or a royal we, but it felt bad to him.
Screwloose, Wreckx’s large, robotic cat, plodded over and sat next to his computer desk. He pet its head as though it had fur.
“What do you think of that, baby?” He asked the robot. Of course, it didn’t respond outside of the metallic whirring off its cooling fans. “Mm, okay, well, you’re gonna get some new upgrades soon.” Wreckx changed the subject as though Screwloose could sense the awkwardness.
The paycheck from AnonyMouse made it easier for him to get through the month ahead. Rent, food, he even had some leftover money to buy things that he actually wanted for once. He didn’t remember the last time he was able to do that. He got some upgrades for his camera rig, and some new cooling fans for Screwloose. He managed to sleep comfortably at night, only occasionally kept up by the sickening thought of what might be happening to Rei right now.
Maybe AnonyMouse wanted to kidnap her. Maybe they were going to give her information to someone who would.
It might be the dumbest idea he’s ever had, but something about AnonyMouse made Wreckx want to go check on Rei. It was around two weeks after he’d done the job when he got out of bed, grabbed his bag, and headed out the door.
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Taglist: @whumpinthepot
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