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huffle-dork · 2 months

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Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 5: Shift AU

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

Alt feels that short fall, and arrives in a familiar location. This is a hospital hallway. But not the section of the hospital devoted to wards where patients stay. This is the part you visit if you need a checkup. There's a nice waiting room visible at one end of the hallway. The floor is covered in short gray carpet and the walls are painted white on the upper half and wooden wainscotting on the bottom half.

Alt shudders a bit seeing the hospital- even if it looks nice. So does the lobby of Hope Water… in the brief moments he’s been in the lobby.

Anti speaks from his phone. "I looked at the IRIS database. They call this world UA-1027019SF. I'm making a note of it in your Notes app in case you want to visit here some other time. Or in case you don't."

Alt blinks down at Anti and pulls out his phone to snicker, “Thanks, personal assistant, Anti.”

"Ha ha," Anti says in a deadpan tone.

Alt laughs, “C’mon man you gotta admit you sounded just like one!”

The nearest door opens up, and a man walks out--walking backwards, still looking into the room. "Next time either of you come here, I'm knocking you out, strapping you to a gurney, and wheeling you down to a doctor who can actually help," the man snaps.

"Oh, c'mon, don't be like that!" A voice says from the inside of the room. The man rolls his eyes.

Alt blinks up at the conversation, chuckling at the playful violence of the doctors threat. “Woah-“ he whispers to himself.

The man glances at Alt, noticing he's there. "Hey." Then he looks away again--only to comically snap back to staring at Alt. "What the...?" This man is wearing a white coat over a black button-up shirt. He has brown hair that sticks up in natural spikes, blue eyes... and a faint white scar across his neck.

Alt stares back at the doctor as he does a double take and his eyes widen. “Oh woah-“

"Uh. You looking for someone?" The doctor turns to face him fully. Weird, the pupil of his right eye is shaped strangely. Like a keyhole, not a circle.

"Someone show up?" Another man leans out of the doorway. He's wearing a red vest and a button-up with a popped collar and rolled up sleeves. There's a bruise forming on his face and a brace on his left wrist. "Oh, hullo. Are you one of Anti's relatives?"

"I don't have family," the doctor says.

“Uhhh-“ Alt says- very weirded out. Never thought he’d find a world where’s he’s a doctor. “Not exactly? I’m uh- lost- trying to find my way around.”

"Right. D'you have an appointment with someone?" Dr. Anti asks. "I can probably point you in their general direction."

The man in red walks out. "Don't be business as usual, Anti! This guy looks just like you! Except younger, and not permanently grumpy. Don't tell me you're going t'brush that off!" He smiles and waves. "Name's Jackie, Jackie West."

Another man appears in the doorway, looking back and forth between Alt and Dr. Anti. He has neat brown hair and a mustache, and is wearing a blue t-shirt hoodie over a long-sleeved white shirt.

Alt is- getting increasingly more weirded out. “uhhhhh- nice to meet ya? This is… so weird-“ He coughs then shakes his head, “Might as well just rip off the bandaid then- uh hi- I’m Alt Brody- but I’m also known as Anti… which is why I look like you. I’mmm from a parallel universe. One where I’m a magician.” He opens up his palm and lets a few green electric sparks rise into the air.

The other three all stare at him as he says this.

"...huh." Dr. Anti blinks, unsure how to react to this.

Jackie looks excited. "Oh that's wicked! You're like Chase! But you're Anti!" He reaches out to touch the sparks.

"Hey. Don't be a moron." Dr. Anti grabs his hand before he can get too close. "That could be dangerous. And this could be a trick."

The man with the mustache--oh, might as well call him by his name, he's obviously a Jameson--shakes his head slowly. I think he's telling the truth, he says in sign language.

"Why?" Dr. Anti asks.

Because if he was trying to trick us, he'd come up with something more believable.

Alt barks out a laugh at Jameson’s reply. “yeah I- truly can’t make this shit up!”

Dr. Anti looks at Jameson. "You're serious, Jackson? You're really going to trust him?"

Jameson nods. He looks at Alt and smiles. You can understand me? That makes this easy. Call me JJ.

Alt blinks at JJ and smiles, “Yeah I know sign! One of my best mates is deaf- another goes non-verbal sometimes. Nice to meet ya, JJ.”

Alt then looks down and processes, “…wait a second did you say like Chase?? When talking about my magic??” He emphasizes as he looks at Jackie with wide eyes. “…there’s no fucking way-“

"Yeah, Chase is a magic man!" Jackie says cheerfully. "It's fucking amazing, mate. He does all sorts of light shows."

Dr. Anti nudges him. "Jackie. Seriously."

Alt makes a concerned face, blinking slowly at Jackie. “…that is one of the most unbelievable things I’ve encountered so far… right up there with me being a doctor-“

"Heh." Dr. Anti smiles, a bit smugly. "I'm not just a doctor. I am an anesthesiologist. It's a highly specialized field."

“Oh- so I’m a smug ass here too-“ Alt makes a face at Dr. Anti.

"It's a deserved smugness, though," Dr. Anti says, unbothered.

JJ rolls his eyes and shoves him lightly, then looks at Alt and smiles. Don't mind him. He's always like this. Do you need help with anything? We're happy to help... even Anti here.

Alt blinks at JJ then smiles, “Uh well- I need to look for something here… our multiverse traveling device got broken and one of the pieces fell into this universe. I have a way to find it just- gonna be kinda hard not knowing where stuff is.”

"Huh." Jackie blinks. "A world traveling device? That's fucking wild." He looks around. "Do, uh, those exist?"

Not that I know of, not in here. JJ frowns, thinking.

"Well, you're in Blue Lake Hospital right now," Anti says. "City's called Mirton. The hospital's near the center. Jackson knows the city really well, if that'll help."

JJ nods. Like the back of my hand.

Alt grins, “Convenient! Sick- here lemme check where it could be…” He pulls out the tracker and touches the pupil quickly.

In this world, the TRVLR piece is in a building at the address 223 South Project Street.

"Oh, more magic!" Jackie gasps. "That's a glass eye of some kind, right?"

“It’s a tracker actually- kinda like a scrying orb.” Alt replies before stuffing it back in his pocket. “You all know what’s at 223 South Project Street?”

Dr. Anti stiffens and narrows his eyes. "Why do you want to know?"

Obviously because the thing he's looking for is there, JJ says. But he also looks troubled.

A moment passes, and Dr. Anti slowly says, "That's an old office building. It used to be owned by PUPIL. But not anymore. They cleared it out. You're not going to find whatever you're fucking looking for there."

Alt narrows his eyes back at Dr. Anti, “PUPIL huh? Dealing with a lot of SCLERA shit aren’t we?” He mutters to himself then shakes his head. “well this thing hasn’t steered me wrong- I know it’s there. So if you wanna be all pissy about it- I’ll just go find it on my own. I gotta find my brother anyways-“ He snorts, glaring a bit at Dr. Anti before he starts to glitch further down the hall. This guy was even worse then eyepatch Anti was when they first met! Just being around him made his skin prickle.

Jackie gasps and hurries after Alt. "Wait! Hang on! Oh, that's amazing."

JJ gives Dr. Anti a disapproving glare and also runs to catch up.

After a moment, Anti goes as well, trailing behind.

They reach the waiting room, and Jackie reaches out, putting a hand on Alt's shoulder. "If you're looking for something, we can totally help! We're quite tough, you know? Skin thick as steel." He grins.

Alt blinks as the others follow him. He turns to look at Jackie properly, though he does roll his shoulder to get Jackie off. Not unkindly though- just a little nudge. “I mean- only if you wanna. Don’t wanna interrupt… whatever it is you were doing.”

You have a brother?" JJ asks, curious.

Alt looks at JJ then smiles, “Yeah, my older brother, Chase Brody. Back home though, he’s a superhero called Bro Fantastic. He came here with me- we usually travel to other worlds together.”

JJ blinks. He smiles. A superhero, you say? Sounds fun. Do you have any way of contacting him? Or knowing where he would be?

Alt blinks at JJ then pulls out his phone, “oh yeah lemme see if I can call him… it’s really hit or miss if our phones work sometimes-“

JJ chuckles. Yes, calling would be a good idea.

"Oh, also you aren’t interrupting! I was just getting my wrist checked out by the doc here." Jackie points at his wrist brace. "It's been feeling weird for a couple days, must've yanked something out of place during the last shoot. I'm up for anything!"

"S'long as you don't sprain your wrist some more," Dr. Anti mutters, standing a bit apart from the group.

“A shoot? Oh! Do you do YouTube?? That’s just like my Jackie!” Alt grins. “Ha he’s pretty clumsy too-“

"YouTube? Ah, so you have that video webbedsite where you're from too!" Jackie laughs. "No, I do small films, mostly independent studios, mostly local stuff. I'm no actor, but I can do the stunts."

“…oooh! You’re like Henny!” Alt grins, “Neat-! God- he’d love to meet you.” He says as he puts the phone up to his ear.

The other end of the phone is ringing...

—————

Bro feels that slight jolt, and when the darkness clears he's standing in an apartment living room. There's a kitchenette by the front door, pale wood and white appliances. Three doors to the left of that, all ajar to show glimpses of a closet, a tiny bathroom, and a bedroom. The walls are painted an off-yellow, and the carpet is short and gray. But there's a nice fuzzy white rug to make up for the carpet's shortcomings.

"What the hell?"

"Whoa!"

There are two men in the room. Bro has appeared right between the two of them, next to a coffee table. One of them was sitting on the sagging sofa in the living room and now shoots to his feet. "Where did you come from?! I thought my wards were good!" He's wearing a long-sleeved pale yellow shirt (sort of matching the walls), a pair of ripped jeans, and a snapback cap.

"Uh--don't--please leave?" the other man stammers. He's standing in front of one of those wheel-able cork boards, which seems to have been pulled in front of a TV stand. His long wavy hair is pulled back in a messy ponytail, and he's wearing a brown leather jacket over a blue t-shirt.

Bro blinks at the bright setting then yells in surprise as the two men exclaim, jumping into and then floating in the air. He blinks rapidly then waves at them from above, “uhhh hi! Didn’t mean to intrude on… whatever this is-! Didn’t meannn to come here at all actually! Total accident! Sorry!!”

The man in the cap blinks. He points. "Wait a moment! You're—you look like me! But you're flying?!"

"The fuck is this?!" the other man shouts, looking a bit freaked out. "Are you trying to trick us?!"

"Y'know, I don't think we know anyone who can both imitate people and fly," the first one comments. "But—but—I thought the wards were good???" He leans over to the coffee table and picks something up. A white mask in the shape of some sort of animal with pointed ears—not a cat, the snout is too long. There are green and yellow designs on it, and a drawing of a sun in the middle of the forehead.

Bro blinks even more, “Ohhh! Other me!!” He quickly lands next to the man in the cap and tilts his head, “…wards? Ha- you’re talking like you’re a magician or something-“ he laughs like that’s the craziest thing he’s ever heard.

The other him blinks. “I… am? Are you not? You just fucking flew into the air!”

“Chaaase, what’s happening?” The other man says, looking at Bro warily.

“I dunno Marv, but I don’t think it’s him.” The other Chase tilts his head back, eyes flashing yellow for a moment. “He doesn’t have that weird signature.”

“I’m not magic- no matter what Alt tries to tell me,” Bro huffs, crossing his arms, “I’m a superhero! And also- I’m you from another universe, surprise!” He grins.

“ …From another universe?” Chase says slowly.

“Is that possible?” asks the other man—a Marvin, evidently.

Then, Bro lets his expression fall to something more serious, “…who did you guys think I was?”

“I don’t know for sure. But I guess it’s not the weirdest thing we’ve seen?” Chase shakes his head. “I’d ask for proof but I don’t think that’s easy to come up with.

As for who we though you were… could be a couple things. Some PUPIL shit, the Magic Circle looking for me… I still haven’t ruled either of those things out, but at least you’re not Shattered.”

“Unless he decided to pull someone else out of time,” Marvin grumbles.

Bro blinks at the two of them and tilts his head, “…PUPIL..? Shattered? …god everything is all shifted around here huh…?” Then he laughs. “I think the proof is kinda staring at you in the face, dude. But alright- To prove it- I’m Chase Brody, also known as Bro Fantastic. I can show you my ID if you’d like,” he jokes.

“An ID wouldn’t be that helpful, actually, that could be faked,” Chase says. “But you offering is a good sign.”

“Unless he’s just really prepared for this deception,” Marvin says.

“For fuck’s sake, Marv, you’re being paranoid. Honestly, you’re less trusting than Anti lately.”

“Oh really?! Hmm I wonder if there’s a reason for that, hmm?!” Marvin stares at Chase with wide eyes. Actually, he looks a bit frazzled, with some dark shadows under his eyes.

Chase sighs, and softens. “Sorry.”

Bro looks between Marvin and Chase with wide eyes, “…are you all in trouble? Or someone giving you trouble? This.. shattered guy? Which must not be Anti since you guys said his name like that-“

“Anti’s fine, a bit,uh… abrasive but good when you get to know him,” Marvin says. “You’re right, it’s the Shattered guy who’s clearly to blame. He—” Before Marvin can continue, Bro’s phone starts to ring.

Bro jumps a bit and blinks in confusion, “Oh uh sorry mate- it’s my brother… he’s also here-“ he answers the phone and puts it on speaker. “Yello?”

“Oh my god you nerd,” Alt snickers. “But good to know our phones work! Who did you end up by?”

“A Marvin and other me- dude he’s a magician??” Bro stage whispers, like Chase can’t hear him.

“I heard- super weird. Almost as weird as other me here being a doctor-“ Alt replies.

“What the hell?!”

“Anyways I’m at the hospital with bizzaro me, a JJ and a Jackie- …not sure what their deals are exactly but Jackie is giving off Henny vibes-“

“Henny vibes?” Jackie repeats, loud enough that Bro can hear him through the other end of the phone line. “What’s that?”

Dr. Anti nudges him. “Volume control. This is a hospital.”

“Oh sorry,” Jackie whispers.

“Oh Henny’s our friend-“ Alt says before giving Anti a look.

“I can hear you, by the way,” Chase says to Bro.

“So you’re this other Chase’s brother?” Marvin asks. “You sound like Anti with more life in his voice.”

Alt barks out a laugh at Marvin’s comment. “Ha! I’ll take that as a compliment~” he giggles.

“He used to sound more dead inside,” Bro snickers.

“Hey! …anyways, Yeah I’m Alt, where you at bro?”

“I think it’s one of these guys’ house…?” Bro says looking around.

"Yeah, this is my flat," Chase says, gesturing around.

“How ‘bout you?” Bro continues.

“Hospital, called Blue Lake. The TRVLR piece is at 223 South Project Street. The guys here say that this… PUPIL company used to be there.” Alt says.

“Hmm… PUPIL seems like this world’s IRIS or SCLERA-“ Bro muses.

“Seems like it- what’s with all these creepy companies calling themselves stuff after eyes?? Real TMA shit if I’ve ever seen it-“ Alt mumbles.

“You can’t make that reference with me alt I haven’t listened yet-“

“Well you should! Jay and I loved it!”

Marvin inhales sharply. "What's a TRVLR piece? Why do you have to go to a PUPIL place to find it?" He looks visibly nervous.

“That’s why we’re here actually,” Bro explains, “We used to go to other worlds with the TRVLR- it’s like this little iPhone thing that helps us travel around. But it got broken and the pieces were scattered across other dimensions so now we gotta find them.”

Alt sighs, “Believe me if we could just skip going to this obviously sketchy science bullshit we would but… not getting these pieces could cause… so many more problems down the line.”

"Hey, uh..." Dr. Anti clears his throat. "If Marvin's freaking out, tell him that PUPIL isn't there anymore. That should help reassure him."

JJ nods. I can imagine why that would cause problems... well, like I said, we'd love to help.

"Yeah!" Jackie grins. "These PUPIL guys are huge arseholes, anything we can do to fuck them up will be grand."

Alt blinks at Dr. Anti then smiles, “Yeah… can do. Hey Marvin, Anti says don’t worry- PUPIL isn’t there anymore.”

“Oh! Well that’s good,” Bro says.

Alt grins at Jackie and Jj, “Jackie and JJ say they wanna help too.”

“Sick!”

Marvin visibly relaxes. "Oh... good."

Chase pats his shoulder sympathetically. "Yeah, we can help, too," Chase says. "I can, uh, use my magic. It's of some help."

"Some help?! You're a great magician!" Marvin reassures him. "It'll be a big help!"

"Hah." Chase smiles a little. "And you can help, too."

"I can?"

"Yeah. You can drive us." Marvin rolls his eyes. "Oh ha ha. Okay fine. If your brother and our friends can get here, I can drive everyone to this... address."

Alt looks at JJ, Jackie and Dr. Anti, “Have you guys been to Chase’s flat before.”

All three of them nod. All the time, JJ adds.

Alt grins wickedly. “We’ll be right there, Chase,” and hangs up.

After Alt hangs up Bro sighs and puts his phone away- “You guys might wanna brace yourselves.” He tells Chase and Marvin.

“Lemme guess—he’s gonna appear out of nowhere just like you did,” Marvin says.

“Sounds like it,” Chase agrees.

At the Hospital, Alt offers his hand to Jackie and Jj, and glances at Dr. Anti. “If you all wanna come with- grab on. I can take us to his flat-“

Jackie immediately takes hold of Alt’s hand. “More magic?” He says excitedly.

One second, I left my backpack in the room, JJ says, hurrying back towards the room.

“Is your—” Dr. Anti glances at Alt, “—spare set of clothes in there?” JJ nods before going down the hall.

“Seems important to keep that with you, then,” Jackie comments.

Luckily, JJ soon returns, a dark blue backpack sling over his shoulder.

Thanks for waiting, he says, and then takes Alt’s other hand. Dr. Anti quickly grabs onto Jackie, looking a bit hesitant about all this.

Alt nods, “Yup!” He smirks. He blinks after JJ and tilts his head a bit. Then he shrugs. Honestly he’d do the same. He raises an eyebrow a bit at Dr. Anti joining up but- heh. It’ll be fun to see him react to this. “Alright, picture the flat for me please!”

In the meantime, back at the flat, Bro blinks at Marvin, “…what do you do Marvin? The Marvin’s we know… usually are magic somehow-“

"Oh, I mean... I do magic tricks," Marvin says. "In a way. I have this YouTube channel, I-I post videos where I use editing to make stuff look magic. You know... I, uh... don't know how to describe it. But that's how we met Chase, actually. Magic interests. Relatable."

“Oooh! That’s neat! And just like how I met my mate Jackie! He does superhero moves for his parkour channel- almost broke his neck but I saved him.” Bro grins.

Then in a sharp burst of pixels and light- Alt glitches all 4 of them into Chase’s flat. Glitching feels like- pop rocks under their skin and makes their blood feel electric. The ones actually holding onto Alt feel him break into a bunch of pixels that snap back together like magnets as they appear in the flat in a burst of green light.

“Whoa!” Dr. Anti let’s go, shaking his head. “Fucking weird.” He looks around. “Handy, though.”

“Oh hey!” Chase laughs. “Yep, appearing out of nowhere!”

Alt smirks and waves at Marvin and Chase, “Hey there!”

"Sup?" Chase waves.

Jackie does a little bounce on his heels. “That felt like breaking apart, but better.”

Bro laughs, “Kinda yeah!” He waves at the new people. “I’m Chase by the way but you all can call me Bro! Less confusing!” He grins.

Alt grins at Jackie and nods, “Technically I do when I glitch- but I don’t think you all do though? Something about what happened to me when I became a Glitch-“ He shrugs.

"A glitch?" Jackie blinks. "Huh?"

"That's a sort of mistake in a digital thing," Marvin explains. "Or when it doesn't work right, yknow? Never heard it applied to a person, though." Marvin looks at Alt. "Well... nice to meet you, then."

Alt blinks and tilts his head at Jackie, “…ohhh you’re really like Henny huh? Like.. out of time.”

"Oh, so you know!" Jackie says. "Yeah, it was bloody confusing. One minute the year was 1927, the next it was 2017! I've been here four years now and I still find it overwhelming sometimes."

"I can't believe you've never heard the word 'glitch' in all those four years," Dr. Anti mutters.

"Maybe I have, but I don't remember." Jackie shrugs.

Alt blinks then smiles knowingly, “Our friend Henrik was pulled out of time by our villain Magnificent… around the same time as you I think. About 90 years. He’s been adapting well though! I think he likes the future a lot.”

"I really gotta double-check my wards if everyone can just fucking... teleport through them." Chase sighs.

If these two are really from another world, they might have abilities that surpass that, JJ says. Don't put yourself down too much.

Alt smiles softly at Chase, “Yeah- JJ is right. My magic is different and my ability as a Glitch also makes things a bit fucky. Like… how there’s a mistake in tech… I’m like a mistake in our world? Kinda? I broke some boundaries and now can… glitch and stuff.” He shrugs.

"Ah." Chase nods slowly, laughing a bit. "Yeah, that does make me feel a bit better."

JJ smiles at Bro. So... I heard you're a superhero?

Bro grins more and nods, hopping into the air to hover a bit. “Sure am!”

JJ looks up at Bro excitedly. Impressive! I've never seen anyone who can fly!

"Well... some magicians can hover, I think," Chase says. "But that's not the same."

Bro lands and grins, “I can do other stuff too but they’re a bit more dangerous. The usual like super speed, super strength and I can kinda shoot lightning?”

There’s a slight pause.

"Sssso," Marvin says slowly. "We... have to go to an old PUPIL place, then?"

Alt blinks at Marvin then shrugs, “You guys don’t need to join us if you’re worried- we have a way to find these things pretty easily.”

“But It’d be nice to learn more about you all though, if you’re open to share!” Bro says.

"No no, it's fine, I--I want to help," Marvin says. "But we should... probably explain some things. Other Chase--Bro was asking about that before you called."

Dr. Anti stares at the corkboard. "What fucking... conspiracy nut stuff is this?"

"It's justified conspiracy nut stuff!" Marvin says defensively.

"Not saying it's not."

JJ walks over to the board and pulls off a sticky note, holding it up to Bro and Alt. On it is a drawing of an eye with a symbol in the center that sort of looks like the club suit in cards, but without the stem. This is the symbol of PUPIL. They've been causing trouble around town lately. Marvin got caught up with them.

Marvin nods slowly.

Alt and Bro look at the symbol and both of their eyes widen. Then, Alt’s eyes darken and spark dangerously. “…just like SCLERA.” Alt looks to Marvin with sympathy, “…we get it, Marvin. We’ve been caught by our own company, SCLERA. And… others-“ He shudders.

"Hah... thanks." Marvin smiles weakly. "SCLERA, huh? What's that?"

"It's the white part of your eye." Dr. Anti indicates his own eye, holding open the eyelids of his right eye and drawing attention to the misshapen pupil. "The protective tissue that covers everything but the cornea."

"Eye symbolism persists between universes, then," Chase says.

“Seems like it- freaking weird and creepy…” Bro mumbles.

"Um... course, it's not just PUPIL we're dealing with," Marvin continues hesitantly. "There's also the Magic Circle--Chase can tell you about that--and the shattered man. Normally we just call him Shattered, for convenience." He points at the corkboard again, where there's a series of blurry photographs.

Alt tilts his head and furrows his eyebrows, “mmm the magic circle is no fun to deal with sure… but the shattered man…?” He glitches over to look at the photos.

All the pictures are out of focus, like either the photographer or the subject are moving too much to get a good shot. The details are hard to see, but it's clearly a man, with bright blue glowing eyes, wearing some sort of long coat. One picture shows something metallic shining as well, thin and spindly.

"He doesn't photograph well," Jackie comments.

Alt looks confused but… those eyes and the coat… the only one missing here is… “o-oh god…” he whispers, covering his mouth.

Bro comes over and puts a hand on Alt’s shoulder. “Alt what-?”

Alt grabs him and whispers into his ear, “Their villain is Schneep-!”

Bro’s eyes widen.

"None of us know what his deal is, but he's been harassing us for a couple years now," Marvin says while the brothers whisper. "And... recently, he--" his voice cracks, so he clears his throat. "He... I-I don't know this for sure, but he has to be the one who--"

JJ takes something else off the corkboard. Another photograph, folded and crinkled like it's been held often. It's a picture of Marvin... and a little girl with curly brown hair and big brown eyes. She... looks a lot like him.

The brothers look at JJ and Alt takes the picture. His stomach drops. He looks up at Marvin with a heartbroken expression, “… you have a daughter…?”

Marvin nods slowly. "Her name is Skyler. She's eight. And she... went missing a while ago. S-some of the police think I..."

They're wrong, JJ signs fiercely. And they're not very good at their jobs anyway.

That makes Marvin laugh for a bit, but he quickly becomes serious again. "It... must have been Shattered. He's been after me in particular for a while. And then, when PUPIL took me, he fucking showed up and--got me out of there? But wouldn't explain anything about Skyler when I-I shouted at him about it."

"My tracking spells aren't working," Chase mutters. "She has to be somewhere protected."

Alt’s eyes flash brightly with green and blue light as he grits his teeth. “…fuck finding the piece.” He growls.

“What??” Bro gasps.

“Fuck finding the piece!” Alt shouts, whirling around, “We’re helping find Skylar!” He says fiercely, determination burning in his eyes. “We have magic and knowledge this Shattered can’t be prepared for I'm sure- I’m not leaving a child here in danger…!”

Marvin blinks. "You... you guys would do that?"

"Hey well--if you all have knowledge to help find where she is, we'll take you up on that anytime," Chase says. "Skyler's great, she's the sweetest little girl."

"Shattered has this little pocket world, but we're not sure how to get there," Jackie says, running a hand through his hair. "He seems t'be the only one with a handle on it. If he has her, she's got to be in there."

Bro slowly nods, “…as much as I’m worried we’re getting in too deep into this… I couldn’t leave when a kid is lost with some dangerous villain…”

Alt pulls out his phone and taps the screen, “Anti! Do you think there’s a way I can get into a pocket dimension? Or can you?”

The guys from this world all cluster around Alt's phone.

"...what the fuck?" Dr. Anti whispers.

Anti nods at him. "Long story. I'm also from another world, but a different one than these guys. But onto the question. All pocket dimensions have to connect to a world somehow. The entrance might shift, but there has to be at least one place. Or at least, that's how it works in this branch of the multiverse. There's guaranteed to be a place where this Shattered's world branches off from the main universe. I... might be able to sense where it is, but with my powers reduced like this we'd need to get close."

"So... what, do I just drive you all around the city?" Marvin looks at the others.

“…maybe-“ Alt says, “Or… I could try glitching around but I could drain myself really fast that way…”

Bro sighs and ruffles his hair before replacing his hat, “I take it flying isn’t a common occurrence here? So I couldn’t just.. fly Anti around-“

JJ blinks. Well... it wouldn't be the strangest thing the citizens see everyday, he signs.

"But it still might not be the best idea," Dr. Anti says.

Bro sighs heavily, “Yeahhhh probably. Damn.”

"Hey, uh... phone version of me.” Dr. Anti continues. “Would there be any other signs of a pocket dimension thing? Something detectable?"

"I don't know your technology capabilities here," Anti states.

If you're going to ask if Shawn can help, he's already looking, JJ says. He already knows it's a pocket dimension. I don't see how anything this Anti knows would help.

Alt tilts his head at JJ, “Who’s Shawn? …our J has a brother named that but- I’m assuming this guy is someone different.”

JJ blinks. Then laughs. No, actually! Shawn is my brother--or, half-brother.

"He's JJ's guy in the chair," Chase says. "Helps out with a lot of tech stuff. Good artist, too."

Alt and Bro blinks then Bro grins, “Yooo! It’s rare we actually get that right!”

Alt purses his lips, “Guy in the chair? Ha- are you saying JJ is like… James Bond or something? A spy?” He laughs.

The others all look over at JJ. "Up to you," Dr. Anti says. "I wouldn't, but I'm not you."

JJ grins widely. He takes his backpack off and reaches inside, pulling something out. And he slips it over his face. A purple hero mask--just like Bro's.

Bro makes a Pog face and points wildly at JJ, “YOOOOO?!?!?” He digs into his utility belt and pulls out his pink mask, putting it on so his hair flares to yellow green. “Same hat! Or… mask!! But instead of a hero- you’re a spy?!? That’s metal as fuck!!!”

JJ laughs. I don't know if it really counts as being a "spy" when it's just me and Shawn. But yes, I'm good at getting into places and finding information.

"He has powers, too!" Chase says excitedly.

"Why are you so excited? You have fucking magic!" Marvin laughs.

It's nothing flashy, JJ says. And it's hard to demonstrate, too. Think of it like... ESP.

“Oh!! You can just like pick up on stuff!? That’s so cool! Sometimes that’s more useful than being good at punching stuff like me.” Bro laughs.

Exactly! JJ nods. I pick up on the ~vibes~ The others smile.

Alt grins, “That’s so fucking cool.” Then he shakes out his head, “Okay- focusing on Skyler though… you guys haven’t found anything yet so- I guess driving around is our best bet. I’m sure me or Anti can pick up something right?”

"Yep, sounds like it." Marvin nods. "I know it might take a while, but it's the best bet we have. To the van, then!"

"Great." Chase takes off his cap and puts on his mask instead. "JJ, wanna put on your suit?"

Can I change in your bathroom?

"Of course."

JJ nods. I'll just be a minute, then. And he heads to the bathroom, closing the door.

“Supersuit!! Nice!!” Bro grins, “Man- kinda wish I brought mine!”

Alt rolls his eyes, “You’d just be showing off more than you already are-“

“Heyyy! I’m not showing off!” Bro pouts.

Jackie laughs. "Hey, I think it's wicked, man. Show off all you want!"

JJ changes quickly, coming out of the bathroom in a purple-and-blue suit. The outfit is sort of reminiscent of an old-fashioned suit, but more practical, something of a classic superhero suit in its design. There's a brace-like thing on his wrist with a keyboard sort of device on it.

"There's the Dapper Man!" Marivn says cheerfully.

JJ rolls his eyes. I didn't choose that name, you know.

"But it's so fitting!"

“I can’t deny you do look very Dapper!” Bro laughs.

Alt grins, “Looking Slick dude- we all good to go?”

"Yep." Chase nods. "Marvin?"

"I've never been more glad that I got that van," Marvin says. "It'll make transporting you all so much easier. Good deal."

"Great." Chase walks over to the apartment front door and opens it up. "And I've never been more glad that my flat is next to the stairwell. C'mon."

The group goes down two sets of stairs--Chase's apartment is on the third floor from the ground, the second floor according to the numbering--and out into an attached car lot. Marvin leads the whole group to a parked van, silver in color, a little bit of rust around the edges but it's clearly taken care of.

Bro whistles as they see the van. “Nice ride! I keep telling Jackie he should get a van but he said it would make him an old man.” He laughs.

Alt glitches a bit, frowning at the car. “…this is gonna be rough-“ He grumbles to himself.

"I'm pretty sure you can all fit," Marvin says, opening up the driver's side door. "Who's getting the front seat?"

It should probably be Alt, since he has the phone with that other Anti, JJ says.

Meanwhile, Dr. Anti slides open the back door. "First three in have to go in the back."

Alt nods and glitches into the front seat. “Don’t mind Alt- he hates driving around- finds it’s too slow.” Bro chuckles, as he climbs into the van, okay with taking the back.

"I mean--that's fair," Chase says.

"You all have to appreciate your autos more," Jackie says as he climbs in after Bro. "I'm all for a good walk, but it's so much easier to get everyone around."

“Okay, grandpa,” Bro snickers. “We appreciate them! But when you can fly and glitch a car seems way slower.”

JJ climbs in next, taking the final spot, wedging in between Bro and Jackie. Then Dr. Anti gets in, and finally Chase.

"Buckle up everyone," Marvin says, starting the car and pulling out into the street.

As they drive, Jackie leans forward, looking at Bro and Alt. "So--what's your world like? Anything really odd out here to you?"

Alt blinks back at Jackie then laughs, “Oh… just everything is odd here for us. Like back home? Our Jackie is a dad- has 3 kids. Sweetest things in the world. He also runs a YouTube channel where he does superhero moves but like parkour. It’s pretty cool. Our Jameson is a hypnotherapist but is taking some time to learn some nursing things. And uh- we have a fellow actor friend- Henny, he’s from…1933? 90ish years. And he’s deaf which is how we know sign. And our …villain. His name is Magnificent.” He trails off after this, squeezing his necklace.

"Oh, that is very odd." Jackie nods. "I can't picture myself raising kids or making short films like that--well, it is what I do now, but I don't do any of the filming."

I've never heard of that hypnosis therapy, JJ says, interested.

"It's pretty fascinating, if you ask me," Dr. Anti says. "Supposedly it can help people with sleep problems like insomnia."

Bro nods, “Yeah Dr. J helps Jackie with his insomnia! That’s actually how they got back into each others lives! We all were in uni together-“

"We don't know anyone named Henny, I think," Chase says. "Unless you guys do and I don't."

"Nope." Marvin shakes his head.

Bro smiles sadly, “Yeah uh… I’m not sure you guys would- his full name is Henrik von Schneeplestein. Henny is his nickname.”

"Oh? Interesting name," Dr. Anti says. "German or something, right?"

“Yup! German and British- but he spoke more German as a lad so he still has a bit of an accent.” Bro says.

Marvin looks a bit troubled. "Magnificent, huh...? That's uh... what my channel is called. MagnificentMagics."

Alt nods slowly, “…he used to be a Marvin… Marvin Mcloughlin… he’s not anymore. He’s been corrupted by black magic to become a… a monster. An evil puppet master who tries to steal as much magic as he can.”

"...that's...fun," Marvin says slowly. He's gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“I’m sorry-“ Alt says quickly to Marvin, “…it’s awful finding out you’re … so far from how you think you are in other universes. I know… just- trust me… the evil Marvin’s out there are far fewer than the evil Mes…” he sighs and curls up his legs a bit in the seat. “… but we’re different. We’re all different people. I don’t see Mag in you at all- and through all this? I think me and Chase have become pretty good judges of character.” He laughs a bit bitterly, “…that probably doesn’t mean much.. I just… I get it. God… I get it.”

Marvin relaxes slightly. "Yeah... It's... weird to hear about. I mean, I-I can't even picture it, you know?" He glances at him and smiles. "Thanks. I... It's good to hear that."

Dr. Anti leans forward a bit at the mention of evil Antis, but doesn't say anything. He only looks vaguely troubled.

Alt smiles tightly, “I’m glad…” he glances back at Dr. Anti and looks- troubled too. He’s not sure he wants to get too into it. He shakes his head. “…we just have to remember we’re our own people… we write our own stories.”

Chase shudders. "Black magic. I-I don't like that shit at all. Reminds me of the Magic Circle--though I don't think they would steal people's magic."

Bro nods to his other self, “Yeah it’s real freaky shit. Burns like hell too- made him all… not human. He’s a freaky motherfucker and I’m sooo glad he’s been leaving these last trips alone.”

"You mean he's come with you to other worlds before?!" Chase blinks. "I sure hope he never shows up here!"

Bro laughs, “I hope so too! He’s a pain in the ass to deal with in these worlds! Gotta make sure in the future he can’t hitchhike with us- but… when we’re dealing with these rifts… he hasn’t been around.”

“Maybe we finally found something he’s scared of,” Alt smirks.

Anti's voice comes from the phone. "Well, there's also the fact that I don't think Sam's rifts can be tracked as easily as your TRVLR use can be--to Magnificent, at least. That other me, the one following us, is probably able to detect both. Speaking of the TRVLR, by the way, I'm getting a feeling. I think it's from the next street over."

Marvin blinks. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Something wrong with that?"

"Well... we're approaching Project Street."

Alt pulls out his phone to look at Anti and furrows his eyebrows together. “You feel the TRVLR piece or the pocket world?” He asks.

"The pocket dimension," Anti confirms. "I can't sense the TRVLR piece, not by itself. It'd need to be the whole device, powered."

JJ frowns. Perhaps... it's no coincidence.

"We do suspect that the Shattered man has some... at the very least, some fascination with PUPIL," Dr. Anti says. "Maybe he linked up his dimension to this old building of theirs."

“…maybe both of them are in the same place,” Alt says quietly.

Bro blinks, “That would very convenient-“

"Well, it would mean we spend less time in one world, and that's better if you ask me," Anti says.

“Yeah… I want to save Skyler but I don’t want to lead the other Anti here..,” Alt mumbles.

Marvin turns onto Project Street, driving for a while. This area is filled with taller office buildings for various businesses. And... there's one with that symbol, the PUPIL logo.

"...well, I think you guys are right, it is very convenient," Anti says. "Because I'm definitely getting a pocket dimension feeling from that building with the eye logo."

Bro blinks then throws up his hands, “awesome! We save the kid and get the piece! Let’s go!”

Alt pulls out the tracker- maybe he can see if the piece is in that building or… whatever is in this pocket dimension.The tracker tells him that the TRVLR piece is on the fifth floor of the building.

Marvin pulls to the side of the street in front of the building. "I don't like seeing that logo again," he mutters.

"Me neither," Dr. Anti agrees, quickly getting out of the car. "Let's get this over with."

Alt glitches out of the car and squints at the building. “Tracker says the piece is on the 5th floor. …Skyler comes first though.”

Chase gets out of the car next, and then JJ and Jackie. "well, if we know where your thing is, we can stop by after we find her," Chase says.

Bro climbs out last and nods, “Sounds good.”

"JJ, can you like... sense anything?" Chase asks.

JJ pauses, closing his eyes for a moment. We'll have to be careful. I think Shattered is already here.

Dr. Anti walks up to the front door and tries it, but it's locked. There's a small card reader next to it. "Other me, Alt. Can your glitches get you in to unlock it from the inside?"

Alt looks at the key reader and hums, “if PUPIL left… why is this still on?”

"Shattered probably has something to do with it," Jackie says, frowning. "He's smart like that."

Alt puts a hand on the card reader and pumps it full of electricity.

The red light on the card reader suddenly disappears. Dr. Anti blinks. "I was thinking that you'd teleport to the other side and open it from there, but that works."

Alt shrugs, “This seemed easier!”

Dr. Anti tries the door again, and it opens up. The interior of the building is dim, lit only by the light coming in through windows. They walk into a small lobby, with a bland corporate-looking waiting area with a reception desk. Behind the desk is a directory, but many letters are missing, making it impossible to tell what departments were originally here. There's a hallway that branches off to the back and a glass door to an office-looking space to the left.

Alt glitches inside, looking around.

"Hang on." Marvin darts back to his car, grabs something, and returns. It's a small handgun.

Where did you get that?! JJ asks in surprise.

"Picked it up from the PUPIL compound I got stuck in."

Bro jumps a bit as Marvin shows the gun, “Oh woah! …I mean- this is your daughter in there… I guess this is justified.” He laughs a bit nervously.

Marvin nods. "Honestly, I think this won't do much damage to Shattered anyway. But better safe than sorry."

The inside is quiet. The rest of the group files in, looking around. Chase holds out his hand and conjures an orb of golden light, a miniature sun the size of a golf ball. "Creepy," he mutters.

JJ nods in agreement. He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a collapsible staff, which he extends to its full length.

Looks like down the hallway is an elevator and set of stairs, along with a couple ajar doors that seem to be storage for files and cleaning supplies.

Alt holds out his phone, “Anti… can you tell what floor the pocket world is on or is it just.. a general feeling?” He asks quietly, eyes darting around.

Anti pauses, static crackling from the phone speaker. "Upstairs, I think. I can't tell you specifically, though."

"Lift or stairs, then?" Jackie asks.

Never take the lift in an emergency, JJ says.

Alt nods, “Stairs then-“ He’s gotten pretty serious now as he glitches on and off- towards the stairs.

“Oh Jesus- Alt! You gotta wait for the rest of us!” Bro hisses after him, quickly moving to follow.The others run after Bro as well.

The staircase here is U-shaped, steps going up to a landing, and then another set of steps turning around and going up to another landing, that one having a door with the number 1 painted on the wall next to it--the entrance to the first floor after the ground. As the group heads up the staircase, the door swings shut behind them... and there's a strange cracking sound. Like ice in warm water.

Jackie's eyes widen. "Watch ou--!"

Then the wall seems to break, shards of a glass-like material flying out towards everyone. A figure lunges towards Marvin.

JJ throws his arms out, blocking the glass from Jackie and Anti but getting cut himself, one bit lodging in his shoulder. Chase tries to throw up a magical shield but the glass is too fast and slices past him, making him gasp in pain. Alt glitches quickly and slides back away from the wall, eyes wide. Bro dodges the glass with a hint of his super speed then looks bewildered. “the fuck was that?!”

Marvin cries out as the figure grabs onto him, pushing him up against the bannister of the stairs. "You came! I knew you would come find her!" a voice says, a strange crackling sound underneath every word, like someone using a bad microphone on a video call.

“Marvin!” Alt calls and quickly glitches to try to tackle the figure away from him.

Alt hits the figure and knocks him to the side, down onto the first landing. He's looking down at a familiar face, now distorted. The figure has messy brown hair and pale skin. His irises glow bright blue, and the sclera of his right eye is black. They stare at Alt from behind a set of glasses with shattered lenses. And... the face is... cracked. Like it's made of porcelain that was broken and clumsily put back together.

Alt growls dangerously at first as he pushes the man to the ground, lightning and magic sparking around him. Then, he takes in his face and he can’t help but gasp. It’s… awful- seeing his friend’s face distorted and cracked and full of madness. Reminding him both of Henny and stitched Schneep.

The man grins madly. "Oh? Who are you? You're not supposed to be here." He laughs. "Get off me." Something grabs onto Alt's left shoulder, squeezing tight.

"Alt, watch out for his hand!" Chase shouts.

Alt feels the thing grabbing his shoulder become sharp, piercing through his hoodie into his skin. He’s so unnerved that he doesn’t fully process Chase’s warning until it’s too late. He screams and crashes somewhat to his side as he tries to process what the hell just happened.

“Alt!” Bro cries out and then bares his teeth and flies down to try to punch the new man in the face.

The stranger starts to sit up, only to have his head snapped back again as Bro punches him solidly. There's a loud, disturbing CRAK! sound, like the handle snapping off a ceramic mug. The Shattered man laughs again. "You're not supposed to be here, either."

Bro recoils back in horror at the sound, looking scared.

There's another one of those cracking sounds, and suddenly the man is standing at the top of the other staircase, on the second landing. He's wearing a long black cloak over a blue shirt and pants, with tall black boots. The cracks on his face seem deeper now, and more cracks cover the rest of his body. In fact, his right shoulder ends in shards, a broken-off piece. His right arm has been replaced by a skeletal metal prosthetic. The fingers of the hand are long, thin, and sharp at the end... dripping with Alt's blood. "You cannot bring more people, that is not how this should be! No, no."

Bro looks behind him quickly as Shattered appears on the other staircase with wide eyes and a slacked jaw. “H-Hen…!” He whispers in terror.

Shattered tilts his head. "Hen? Like a chicken? You are so funny, stranger!"

"Where the hell is my daughter?!" Marvin demands, aiming his handgun at Shattered.

Alt bites back groans of pain as he pushes himself up and stares up, “W-what the hell…?” He breathes. He then grits his teeth and glitches up, getting behind Shattered and building up a giant ball of electricity to throw at him.

But then Shattered notices how Alt disappears, and he quickly vanishes from sight, barely dodging the magic blast. He reappears even higher in the stairwell, leaning over the bannister to look down at all the others. "I was expecting you to bring friends, Marvin, but not strangers! In any case, I am only opening it up for you. Don't you want to see her?"

"O-of course I do!" Marvin stammers.

Chase adjusts the mask on his face and throws something up into the air--a cloud of glowing gold magic. The cloud reaches Shattered and suddenly solidifies and pulls him down over the edge of the banister. He shrieks in surprise as he falls, landing on the banister around the landing Alt's on with another CRAK! But he quickly recovers and slides smoothly to his feet. "Much more vicious than last I saw you, Magician!"

Bro staggers back, eyes wide. Alt yells in rage and glitches to try to grab Shattered again, “I can show you fucking vicious!” He snarls, building up more electric magic in his hand.

Shattered's eyes widen as he's grabbed, and then he yelps, shocked, as the magic hits him. But then he laughs. "Another Magician! How unexpected! And so angry, too." His metal hand grabs onto Alt's wrist, and the smile disappears. "Be careful, Magician. If I do not clear the way, the way will not be found."

"H-he's right, Alt!" Jackie shouts. "He's the only one who can get people in and out of his pocket world!"

"Hmm?" Shattered's head rolls over to look at Jackie. "Ah, how have you been, Doll?"

Jackie flinches. "Sh-shut your fucking mouth!"

Alt bares his teeth at Shattered, his skin prickling wildly with glitches. But, Jackie’s warning does get him to loosen up a bit- until Shattered calls Jackie a doll. He yells and goes to cup his hand over Shattered’s mouth, magic sparking like he’s threatening to zap him, “S̸h̶u̴t̵ ̷u̵p̵!” He spits, “You wanna be a bitch? I’ll make you open the way then! I’m pretty good at finding what makes things like you scared.”

“A-Alt!” Bro cries out, worried to see Alt so angry. “L-Listen to everyone else!”

"Y-yeah!" Marvin shouts, voice cracking. "I-if something happens--w-we won't get her back!"

The Shattered man doesn't look scared as Alt threatens him. If anything, he looks fascinated.

Alt’s eyes spark with even more anger as he recognizes the look in Shattered’s eyes. He bends down so all he can see is his furious face and sparking eyes. “I hate things like you- tearing everything apart to try to see how it works- I know that fucking look in your eyes-! You only did this to find more fucking subjects didn’t you? I’ll tear you f̷u̷c̵k̴i̷n̶g̷ ̷a̸p̴a̴r̴t̴-̵!̶”

“ALT!” Bro yells and zips over to grab Alt off of Shattered and pull him away, breathing heavy and looking down at him with wide eyes.

Alt screeches in protest and tries to fight out of Bro’s grip- but the older brother holds firm. “Let me go, C̸h̷a̴s̸e̶!̵”

“Listen man I know this is fucked up but you gotta calm down!” Bro pleads.

Alt just lets out a glitchy cry of anger, any words he’s saying crackling incoherently.

As soon as Alt has let go of him, Shattered disappears and reappears farther up the staircase, accompanied by that same cracking sound. He doesn't say anything, just sits on a stair and looks down at the others.

The rest of the group rushes up the stairs, joining Bro's side. JJ steps in front of Alt so he can see his signs. A-L-T, please, I know this must be hitting a nerve, but take a step back. We can't fight him now. Not while he has Marvin's daughter.

Alt breathes heavily through gritted teeth, magic sparking wildly around him as he glares at Shattered.

Bro holds him tight and mutters calming words to him, his arms shaking, “I know… I know little bro… just- we need to find Skyler first…!”

"We'll kill him after," Dr. Anti promises, glaring up at Shattered.

Marvin looks up at him as well. "W-where is she?" he asks again, voice cracking.

"Where do you think?" Shattered says in a quieter voice.

“Just answer the f̶u̵c̶k̴i̴n̷g̸ ̸ question!” Alt screeches out to Shattered. “Stop playing with us, you fuck!”

"She's in my workplace," Shattered says calmly. "Doll called it my pocket world. But I was not planning on letting anyone through but Marvin. Not Doctor, not Hero, not Magician, not Doll, and not an angry Magician and his less angry Hero."

Marvin frowns. "I-I'm not going to be stupid enough to walk into your pocket dimension by myself."

"Then maybe I can be convinced to let one or two others come. Not the angry Magician, though."

“B̶a̵s̷t̷a̷r̷d̶!” Alt bites out, fighting in Bro’s grip again, “Is it cuz you’re fucking scared, pussy?!”

“Alt, c-c’mon dude! Breathe!” Bro hisses, surprised he’s been able to hold back Alt this long.

"I don't like angry people," Shattered says, frowning at Alt. "They get upset and break things and things are fragile enough in there."

"L-let's think about this calmly," Chase says. "I-if Marvin goes in there alone, h-he might not come out again. We need a couple people to go in and make sure everything works out."

Jackie shakes his head. "I... I-I'll stay out here."

"Aw." Shattered frowns, looking vaguely disappointed. "But I miss you."

"It's not mutual," Jackie hisses.

“I’ll break your F̶U̶C̷K̷I̸N̸G̵ ̴F̴A̴C̷E̸-” Alt screams, “You’re a sick psychopath for kidnapping a little girl!! I don’t care if you look like my friend I̸’̶L̸L̷ ̸K̴I̴L̵L̴ ̵Y̵O̴U̶!̸”

“ANTI!!” Bro raises his voice then lets him go for long enough to grab his shoulders and turn him around. “Anti please- listen to me.” He says quietly, trying to meet Alt’s furious eyes, “I know this is hard- I know this is bringing up bad memories and you’re feeling so angry right now- but y-you don’t want Skyler getting hurt right? Your anger isn’t gonna save her- not with this guy.”

Alt looks away, fists balled up so tight he’s shaking. “…I-I can’t sit here and do nothing-“

“You’re gonna have to now- cuz you can’t hold back your emotions.” Bro says sternly. “I know why… but now you g-gotta stay out here.. with Jackie, okay?”

Alt opens his mouth to argue, but Bro’s eyes spark with anger too as he growls, “Okay?”

"You're not going to be doing nothing," Dr. Anti says. "We're going to find your TRVLR piece so we can get out of here as soon as possible."

Jackie raises an eyebrow. "You're staying out here, too?"

"I'm not leaving you al--I mean, this is clearly the most efficient way to go about it," Dr. Anti says.

Marvin laughs. "Right. Sure."

Alt still looks furious about this and rips his arm away from Bro, anger still bright in his eyes as the brothers glare each other down. He spares one more glance at everyone else before he glitches away into the upper floors in a burst of power like a lightning bolt.

“Alt!” Bro yells after him then he growls under his breath, “Goddamnit!”

Marvin nods at Dr. Anti. "You go be efficient, then. I'm guessing Bro is coming with me, what about you, Chase? JJ?"

Well of course we're going with you, JJ says.

"Ah, three with Marvin is pushing it." Shattered stands up. "So will you choose two Heroes or a Hero and Magician?"

Bro blinks at Shattered’s ultimatum and smiles sadly at Marvin, “…it’s up to you dude- I’ll help if I can but… you all know Skyler better.”

Marvin stares back at Bro and nods. "Chase? Do you mind?"

"Oh! Y-yeah, of course, anything to help." Chase says. He glances at JJ. "Is that okay?"

It's fine. JJ looks up towards the upper floors. I get the feeling I'll be more helpful here right now.

"Excellent!" Shattered grins. He moves to the side, and the air behind him seems to... well, shatter. Like it was a pane of glass the whole time, and now a hole has opened up in it, big enough for a person to walk through. The other side of the new hole is hard to see, but it's definitely black, blue, and chrome. "Careful of the sharp edges of space!"

Marvin goes a bit pale, but his grip on his gun tightens. He takes a deep breath. "Well... let's go, then."

Bro watches this with wide eyes. He glances upwards with worry for a second before he shuts his eyes and smiles with determination at Marvin. “Let’s go save your daughter.”

Marvin nods at him. "L-let's all go together."

"No, it's not big enough," Chase says. "I'll go first." He braces himself, and walks forward through the portal. As soon as Marvin and Bro are through, Shattered grins at the others and steps through as well. The opening immediately snaps shut.

JJ, Jackie, and Dr. Anti all look at each other. "Well... let's go find Alt, then," Jackie says.

I think I know where he is, JJ says, and starts up the stairs.

#SBTCV #swap beyond the crystalverse #YEAHHH NEW AU/WORLD!!#this was a very very vague idea our server came up with and never did anything with!#but it was sooo cool to actually see them come to life!#i remember i was always in love with the idea of marvin being a dad #and GOD I LOVED PLAYING ALT SO ANGRY #he's like- going crazy cuz he was once a kidnapped kid he's gonna do whatever it takes to save them #god he's so traumatized ajhab #anyways i love this section a lot ahgjba this was so fun to rp!#i hope you guys enjoy it!#SBTCV Shift

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crystalninjaphoenix · 8 months

Text

Awakening

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

WHO'S READY FOR A DOUBLE-LENGTH SPECIAL?! :D This fic is around 11,100 words, so it's extra long. As you can expect, so much stuff happens that it's gonna be hard for me to simply summarize it all. But it boils down to two things. The group enacts their plan to wake Anti up. While Schneep and Stacy try to distract Distorter, Jackie uses that new IRIS technology to venture into Anti's mind to see what he's seeing, and hopefully snap him out of this trance. No more talk. This is The Moment. Let's get to it.

More of This AU | | First Chapter | Previous Chapter

Everyone arrived at the hospital at around nine o’clock. They all came separately, with Jackie and Rama arriving first. “Are you sure you don’t want to, uh, see this?” Jackie asked them.

“I’m sure.” Rama nodded. “Honestly, I’m not sure how much help I’d be. I’m a writer, not a magician or a super-enhanced guy.”

“I’m neither of those things, either.”

“You’re the only one who knows how to use this MR thing. They need you.”

Jackie sighed. He knew this. And he knew that it would be safer for Rama if they stayed home. He didn’t want them in danger. Not to mention he was a bit nervous about leaving Michelle and Will alone. Sure, they could hire a babysitter, but it would be easier to have Rama watch them. “This won’t take long. I-if I don’t call you in an hour, maybe drive on over.”

“Got it.” Rama nodded, then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.” They were going to need it.

Jack arrived after that, then JJ and Marvin, then Stacy, then Schneep. They didn’t talk much, the task weighing heavily on their thoughts. They might only have one chance for this. If they failed, Distorter would no doubt guard Anti zealously. Even Stacy showing up might not distract him for much longer. Jackie pressed a hand to his hoodie pocket, where the MR Headsets were awkwardly tucked away. He really hoped this would work.

Jackie couldn’t help but gasp when the group walked into Anti’s hospital room. “O-oh my god,” he breathed, and rushed over to the side of the bed. His eyes darted around, taking it all in. The bandages, the tubes, the monitors, the restraints. “This... oh my god.”

The others walked over slowly—though Marvin stayed back, moving his wheelchair to the corner of the room by the door. Jack crouched down close to the ground, and a green glowing orb shot out and into his outstretched hand. “Hey, Sam,” he said. “How’s he doing?” He listened intently to Sam’s mental voice. “They say that he hasn’t changed. They... also say they have a feeling like something big is gonna happen.”

Smart eyeball, JJ commented.

Stacy swallowed a lump in her throat. “Well... you guys should have your moment,” she said carefully, turning around. “I’ll wait outside.” And with her lines recited, she turned and left the room.”

Schneep was supposed to say that he was going to check on her and follow, but... he found his throat had closed up. When they walked into the room, no one else in the group had seen the figure standing in the corner of the room. The gray man who had noticed the way Schneep was staring at him, then gave a little wave and ducked behind the bed, out of sight. Distorter was here. Distorter had probably been here the whole time. And nobody else could see him. “I-I... I, ah... w-will go,” Schneep finally said, trying to hide how disturbed he was by quickly turning and hurrying after Stacy.

She was waiting just out of sight for him. The moment he walked out, she jerked her head down the hallway then turned and headed in that direction, asking him to follow. He did, quietly. Once they were out of sight, she whispered, “Jack told me there’s this room at the end of the hallway that’ll work. We’ll be able to see him coming. Or... you will.”

Schneep nodded. The two of them found a room at the very end of the hallway. A room without a patient staying in it. The blinds were drawn, but the door was unlocked. Schneep made sure to prop it open so they would have a good view of the hall.

Stacy paced nervously back and forth. Schneep glanced around. He didn’t like that they’d be distracting Distorter while in a hospital. He would’ve preferred that they take this outside altogether. But he wasn’t sure if Distorter would follow them, or if his commitment to torturing Anti would overwhelm that. Maybe Distorter wouldn’t even fall for this trap at all. Maybe he would realize what they were planning.

But then he saw the movement coming from down the hall. Schneep’s head snapped towards it. Distorter was walking calmly towards them. If Schneep didn’t know better, he might be tempted to think that this was just some guy in a spooky costume. But he did know better. And he knew to recognize the strange featureless features of Distorter’s face. “He’s coming,” he whispered.

Stacy stopped pacing, tensing up. She gave a little laugh. “You know... I wasn’t scared up until this moment,” she whispered back.

“It will be fine,” Schneep reassured her. “I will make sure nothing happens to you.”

Distorter stopped in the doorway. He stood there, hands loose at his sides, smiling as wide as ever. Stacy didn’t look directly at him—not avoiding him, but... she must not have seen him. But Schneep could. “So... that wasn’t a fluke, then, was it?” Distorter said, looking straight at him. “You can see me.”

Schneep stared directly at him and nodded.

Stacy jumped, going pale as she finally looked right at Distorter. “Y-you.”

“Me.” Distorter gave a little wave. “So... let me guess. You two are here to give your friends back there time to work. Time to try and break Anti out of my hold. Is that it? Because it’s a really stupid plan, you know. So obvious.”

“And yet, you’re here anyway, aren’t you?” Schneep pointed out.

Distorter giggled. “Because it doesn’t make a difference. I don’t care what magic you think you’ve found, it won’t be strong enough.” He stepped farther into the room. “Why not see what this was all about?”

———————

“I t’ink they’ve got it,” Marvin muttered, staring down the hallway. “I t’ink he’s left.”

“Are you sure?” Jackie whispered.

Marvin shook his head. “Can never be sure with Distorter. But... I’m almost sure. As close as I can be. It’s been enough time for him t’get curious.”

Jack let out a long breath. “You’re sure this will work, Jackie?”

“No.” Jackie reached into his pocket and took out the MR Headsets. “But we have to try.” He handed the white Headset to JJ, who carefully removed the bandages over Anti’s eyes and put the Headset in their place. Anti didn’t respond. He stayed lying where he was.

“Sam has a good feeling about it,” Jack said. Sam, curled up on Anti’s chest, waved their optic nerve slightly. “So... that’s a good sign. They’re going to try and help you as best they can.”

If something goes wrong, we’ll be here, JJ said. I’ll defend you.

“Thanks,” Jackie breathed. He held the black Headset for a moment, staring at it. No time to waste. He took off his glasses and put on the Headset, making sure it was secured. He couldn’t see a thing. And from what he remembered about this technology, he probably wouldn’t be able to hear or feel anything soon, either. “Press the power button on Anti’s headset. It’s right here, on the left—from the wearer’s perspective.”

“It’s on,” Jack reported. “There’s a little green light showing that it is.”

“Great.” Jackie nodded. His own finger hesitated over the power button. “Once I push this, I won’t be able to respond to you guys until you either power it off, or I wake up on my own,” he said. “And... that’s happening. On three. Take care of everything, okay?”

“We got it, I promise,” Jack said.

“Great.” He took a deep breath. “One... two... three.” And he pressed the button.

———————

“So... what’s your plan, then?” Distorter asked. “Do you think the power of friendship will be able to pull him back now that you have Jackie with you?” He laughed. “If ‘love’ didn’t work when his son was here, it won’t work with a mere friend.”

“Do you honestly think that we will tell you?” Schneep asked.

Distorter tilted his head. “No. But I expected you to think about it when I brought it up. And yet... whatever IRIS did to you, it made it harder to reach your thoughts. So I can’t see if you did.”

Schneep felt the breath knocked out of him. “Wh-what...? You... you know about...”

“About IRIS fucking your head into oblivion? Not at first. But it just makes sense. I’ve learned a lot about IRIS since they showed up here. And that seems just like the thing they’d do.” Distorter wiggled his blackened fingers. “They’re into that freaky shit, and choose their lab rats from people no one will miss.”

Schneep couldn’t help but stumble backwards. The fact that Distorter knew about it—knew about what they’d done to him—

“Why don’t you read my mind, then?” Stacy asked.

Distorter looked at her. “What?”

“You—you were trying to get us to think about our plan to free Anti so you could read our minds to find it,” Stacy said. “But you’ve only brought up Henrik’s mind and thoughts. Not mine. Why didn’t you look at me? I-I don’t have any of that IRIS stuff, surely you’d have an easier time there.”

Distorter kept staring at her. Stacy shivered, but didn’t look away or back down. “I told you to go home,” he whispered.

“I can’t,” Stacy said. “Not until all this is settled. This has been fucking haunting me for years—because of course it would! My family died! And you’re—you’re here. You’re still walking around, a-a living reminder of that, s-something that is still unsettled. Like a ghost.”

“So, like a ghost, you want to put me to rest?” Distorter asked in a low voice.

“...if it’s possible,” Stacy whispered.

He laughed. “It’s not, Stacy.” She flinched; he had never said her name before. “Something like me will never die. Will never be satisfied. Not until you give this up.”

Stacy kept staring at him. “I can’t do that.”

Distorter kept staring at her with those empty black eyes. That pasted-on smile, wide and unchanging, gave his face a mask-like quality. Was... that what it had always been? A mask?

Long moments passed. Stacy didn’t look away from Distorter, though she twitched slightly, an anxious expression on her face. Was Distorter trying to intimidate her with illusions that Schneep couldn’t see? Was he speaking into her mind? He had no way of knowing. He could only stare, tensed, waiting for Distorter to finally make a move.

And then he did.

Distorter lunged towards Stacy, and Schneep lunged towards him in turn, tackling him to the side before he could reach her. Distorter let out a loud shriek and twisted around, long nails scraping at Schneep’s throat. He hurriedly backed up before they could do too much damage, leaving Distorter to scramble to his feet in a flurry of limbs. “Ohhhohoh, so you want to be like that do you?” he growled.

“As opposed to letting you attack her? Yes.” Schneep raised his hands, getting into a defensive position.

“Fine. I’ll be like that too.” Distorter leaped for Schneep, animalistic in his movements, and the two of them went tumbling across the floor until they hit the wall. Stacy gasped and instinctively ran to the side, putting a chair between her and the conflict.

Schneep and Distorter struggled on the floor. Distorter lashed out at him, clawing and scratching and biting and kicking. Luckily his nails, sharp as they were, were not enough to get through the thick shirt Schneep was wearing. But that didn’t mean the blows didn’t hurt all the same. Schneep tried pinning Distorter to the floor, but he always yanked free of his grip, often with an unpleasant cracking or popping sound. So Schneep had to get more violent. He slammed Distorter’s head against the walls and floor, punching him in the ribs and stomach, stomping on his legs when they got too close to him. And, of course, he shocked Distorter. Over and over, causing Distorter’s limbs and body to spasm uncontrollably when the electricity ran through them.

The fight shifted tides often. One second, Schneep had Distorter cornered. The next, Distorter had leapt onto him and was trying to claw his eyes out. Schneep threw Distorter across the room and into the wall, but Distorter recovered and ran back, diving at Schneep’s legs and knocking him down into another on-the-floor struggle. Stacy watched it all with wide eyes, wanting to help but knowing she would just be putting herself in danger. “Wake him up soon,” she whispered under her breath. “Please.”

———————

It happened in an instant. One second, Jackie was sitting in an uncomfortable hospital room chair. The next, he was falling forward, rushing, bright lights flying past his face as he got closer and closer to the ground—and then he landed. He looked around. This was... a schoolyard. He would recognize one of those anywhere, though this was a lot smaller than the one at Michelle’s school, or even at the school he went to as a kid. There was a chain link fence around the edge of the yard, and in the far corner was an old playground with rope courses and swings and metal slides. The sky above was gray, cloudy, and generally gloomy. Kids ran around, climbing the playground structures and kicking up woodchips on the swings. They were all wearing school uniforms, red jumpers with gray pants or a skirt for girls. None of them could have been older than twelve years old.

Jackie stared at all this. It didn’t feel quite... real. Sure, the colors were vivid and the sounds were loud, and he could feel the ground beneath his feet. But there was something off... It was the details. On a cloudy day like this, he should’ve felt chilly, if not cold, but he felt fine. And he couldn’t quite make out what the children were saying. It all sounded like babbling gibberish. And beyond the chain link fence, it all sort of got blurry. He could see houses and a street, but it was like looking at them through slightly frosted glass.

Suddenly, one of the kids screamed. Not in joy, like they usually do, but in anger. Jackie’s head snapped towards the sound as he saw one small boy suddenly throw himself at a bigger boy, knocking him over. The other kids all immediately crowded around, and Jackie hurried over as well. He tried not to get too close, but he didn’t need to worry about that. The kids didn’t look at him. One even ran right through him. Clearly, he couldn’t interact with them... but he remembered from his research into MR that he should be able to interact with Anti. He just needed to find him. Maybe one of the fighting kids was him?

He easily peered over the heads of the smaller kids who were gathering around—some shouting for the fighting to stop, most yelling encouragement—to look at the fighting boys. The smaller one, the one who had provoked the attack, was hitting the bigger one at first. But then the bigger boy got the advantage and pushed the smaller one over, hitting him in the face repeatedly. “Hey!” Jackie shouted. “Hey! Stop that!”

But nothing happened. Jackie started pushing his way through the crowd of children, but saw that someone else was doing the same thing. An adult man, yelling “Break it up, break it up!” Immediately, the bigger boy stopped fighting and backed off. The smaller boy scrambled up. The man looked between the two of them. “Alright, who started it?”

“He did, professor!” the bigger boy pointed at the smaller. “He attacked me!”

“That’s not fackin’ fair you motherfacker!” the smaller boy immediately protested. “You started it! You called Mam a bitch!”

“░░░░░░, we dunnae use language like t’at!” the man—a professor, apparently—snapped.

“He did it first!” the smaller boy shrieked. “He called my mam a bitch and me a two-eyed freak!”

Jackie frowned. He leaned closer... and his eyes widened. The small boy had messy brown hair and two different-colored eyes. Blue on the left, green on the right. “...Anti?” he whispered.

He was far enough that he shouldn’t have been heard, but the smaller boy looked in his direction anyway. He blinked, looking... confused. No recognition in his gaze.

“Well, ev’ryone?” the professor looked around. “Who t’rew the first punch?”

The kids all muttered things. Many of them pointed at the smaller boy—at Anti.

“Very well. ░░░░░░, we’ll be talkin’ to your mother after school.”

Anti clenched his tiny fists. “She’s not gonna show up,” he muttered darkly.

The bigger boy from before leaned a bit closer, whispering something barely audible. “Because she can’ bother for you.”

Anti screamed and whirled around on him, punching again. The kids surged away, looking afraid. The professor stepped in, grabbing Anti from behind and pulling him off the bigger boy. “That’s enough, ░░░░░░!” He snapped. “We’re goin’ to the dean’s office! Now!”

“What?! Hang on! Didn’t you hear that?!” Jackie protested. Anti, fighting against the professor, paused for a second to stare at him.

Jackie tried running forward, reaching for him. “Anti, do you know who I am?” he called, but—

All of a sudden, he fell forward. Bright lights surrounded him once more, and the schoolyard disappeared.

———————

Sounds echoed down the hallway. Slamming, thumping, various sounds of things hitting other things. JJ glanced nervously towards the open doorway of the hospital room. Then he glanced back at Jackie, slumped in his chair, and Anti, still unresponsive in the bed with Sam curled up on his chest and Jack hovering nervously next to him.

“If we can hear t’at, ev’ryone else in the hallway can, too,” Marvin muttered. “Really hope t’at people don’t go check it out.”

“Of course they will,” Jack mumbled. “They’re people. People get curious, especially when it’s something like that.”

We can’t have anyone walking in and getting hurt, JJ said. He took his stage mask out of his bag and pulled it on; it usually helped him focus his magic. Hold on, I’m going to ward all the other rooms on the floor.

“You can do t’at?” Marvin said, surprised.

In theory. JJ walked over to the doorway. He pointed at the nearest door and whispered something under his breath. A small sphere of blue light shot from his fingertip and bounced on the door, splashing and rippling across its surface. The sphere leaped across to the next door over, causing a ripple of blue magic there, too, and also spawning a copy. The spheres of blue light kept bouncing to every door, until each one was covered in an almost-imperceptible blue film.

“And t’at’s the whole floor?” Marvin asked.

In theory, JJ said. But they’re not the strongest wards. I don’t want to prevent doctors from reaching an emergency. It should be enough to prevent people from checking out the sounds, though. They’ll walk up to the door and think better of going out. But if there’s something really important, they’ll be able to power through.

“Sam, can you... tell me how they’re doing?” Jack asked. “Can you sense that somehow?” Sam swished their tail. “No, no, i-it’s okay, I know you can’t read minds.” Jack sighed. “Just keep trying to reach Anti.”

Suddenly, a scream rang out. The three guys’ heads snapped down the hall. “Was that Schneep?” Jack gasped.

JJ immediately started running out of the room, but Marvin caught him, stopping him. “Don’! You’re our las’ line of defense for t’ese two, remember?” He gestured back to Jackie and Anti. “You can’ be the las’ line of defense if you get yourself hurt.”

But Henrik! JJ protested.

“I know.” Marvin hesitated. “I’ll go.”

“But Marvin, your leg!” Jack gasped.

“Come wit’ me, t’en!” Marvin snapped.

JJ stared at Marvin for a moment. Then nodded. You brought the cards, didn’t you?

“O’course.”

Then go. Be careful.

Marvin nodded. “Actually, Jack, you shoul’ definitely come—at least push me down t’ere faster t’an I can wheel.”

Jack nodded. He hurried over, grabbing the back of Marvin’s wheelchair, hesitated a moment wondering if that was okay, then rushed down the hallway once Marvin seemed fine with it.

JJ turned back to the room, watching Jackie and Anti. His eyes glowed blue as he drew more of his magic out, prepared to protect them both if need be.

———————

Jackie found himself somewhere else. Unlike with the schoolyard, this place was mostly empty. It was a pub or bar of some sort. And not a nice one. The table surfaces were scraped up, as well as the surface of the bar. Small graffiti was written just about everywhere, on the walls, on the chairs, around the door frames leading in and out. The floor looked like it hadn’t been swept in ages. Grimy windows showed a view of a city at night.

Jackie looked around, and his eyes immediately landed on a man sitting at the bar. He was younger than expected—probably barely of-age to be in here—wearing an old black jacket and ragged jeans. Anti was the only patron in this shabby bar. Quickly, Jackie hurried over next to him. “Anti.”

Anti doesn’t respond at first, still leaning heavily on the bar. Then he slowly turned to look at Jackie. There was something in his hand. A lit cigarette. Though, it looked a bit strange to Jackie. He never smoked, was never even tempted, but he’d seen discarded ones all around and... there was something off about that one. Maybe it was just something weird with the MR. “And you are?” Anti asked.

“I-I’m Jackie,” Jackie stammered. “Jackie Parker. Don’t you—Do you remember me?”

“Hmm.” Anti blinked slowly. “Should I...?”

“Well... I-I don’t know, I’m not fully sure on how this works,” Jackie said quietly. “But yeah, y-you should! I think. Even if this is just a memory.”

“Hmm.” Anti blinked again. His eyes seemed a bit cloudy.

Jackie stared at him. “You... you need to wake up.”

“Heh.” Anti gave him a wry smile. “Why?”

Jackie was taken aback. “Because—because we’re all so worried. W-we miss you, you know. W-we don’t want you to have to keep going through this.”

“You don’t have to lie for me.” Anti took a drag of the strange cigarette.

“...what?” Jackie breathed.

“You don’t have to lie for me,” Anti repeated. “I know the truth. I’ve never even told you guys my name. Why would you care about some guy you don’t know the name of?”

“I-it’s not just your name, Anti!” Jackie insisted. “You’re our friend even without that! We know you! We—we know that you’re a good man—”

Anti barked out a laugh. “I’ve really managed to fool you all, haven’t I?”

“No! I mean—it’s the truth!” Jackie stepped closer. “We know you, A-Anti. You’re smart, really able to think out of the box with things, a-and you’re really creative too, though you would insist that hacking games isn’t a creative thing at all. And you’re fun to be around, you have this really sharp sense of humor that’s really great, a-and if anything goes wrong you’re really willing to go to bat for your friends. A-and you’re really good with kids. No matter how snappy you are with adults, you’re never that way with kids, and they all love talking with you. That’s why—that’s why Will got along with you, isn’t it? When you guys first met at the agency.”

“...Will,” Anti whispered. He looked down at the bar counter. “...They never should’ve let me take care of him,” he says quietly. “The only reason they did was because I fooled the background check. Not sure how. I guess they really weren’t all that thorough. Or maybe they didn’t care. That was a shitty agency, I wouldn’t put it past them.”

Jackie shook his head slowly, in shock. “You’ve... you’ve never said anything like this before...”

“That’s not the sort of shit you say out loud.” Anti closed his eyes and took another drag. “Go away. Leave me alone. I just wanna get rid of these thoughts. They’re... hot. They make my brain heat up. It’s from how fast they go, y’know. Not a lot makes them quiet. Listening to them does, but that gets me in trouble. Well... this gets me in trouble too.” He laughed, shaking the cigarette. “But at least it’s just me.”

“I... didn’t know you smoked,” Jackie said slowly.

“Well I do.”

Jackie stared at him. Then he shook his head. “No. You don’t. That would be hard to hide from us. You’re good at hiding things, but not that good. You... you must’ve quit. In the past couple years.”

Anti stared at him. “Why would I do that? This is the only thing that helps.”

“No, that can’t be true.” Jackie shook his head again. “You wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t expose Will to that. So you must have quit. You must have figured something out.”

Anti stared some more. He gives a little laugh. “I... I think you think too highly of me.”

“No, I just know you,” Jackie insisted.

“...no, you don’t.” Anti whispered. “No one does.”

And before Jackie could retort, he found himself falling again.

———————

The battle was turning. Distorter managed to slash his nails across Schneep’s face, making three shallow cuts that nonetheless bled quite a lot, making it hard for him to see. They’d been fighting for fifteen minutes, and that felt like hours when you were enduring constant pain and exertion. Schneep was mildly surprised to find he wasn’t running out of energy—but his body still ached where Distorter had clawed and bit and kicked. Not to mention how he would sometimes throw his whole body at Schneep, slamming Schneep to the ground with a breathtaking impact. Everything was starting to add up. It was hard to keep going when movement hurt.

But Distorter wasn’t slowing down at all. Distorter wasn’t tired, and he wasn’t feeling the pain of Schneep’s punches and shocks the way Schneep was feeling the pain of his attacks. “Oh, someone’s hurting!” he laughed. “Someone’s slow!”

Schneep growled and sent another shock through Distorter’s body. Distorter jittered for a while, then recovered—faster than he had the previous times. Schneep felt Distorter’s wrist slip from his grasp—the sensation of bones grinding under his skin made him want to throw up—and Distorter punched him in the side of the head. Schneep managed to shake off the blow but it left his brain rattling in his skull.

“And I think you’re running out of juice, too,” Distorter whispered, smile widening. “Like a battery! Do you think you have some inside you?”

“Shut up!” Schneep shouted, grabbing Distorter by the shoulders and throwing him into the wall. Distorter just laughed and instantly jumped back, using the bounce of hitting the wall to give him more power as he tackled Schneep to the ground.

“Wonder if they’ll be disappointed in you,” Distorter whispered directly into Schneep’s ear. “Their great weapon can’t even take down one guy after five minutes.”

Schneep shrieked in frustration and jerked his head to the side, knocking it against Distorter’s. Distorter jerked back from the impact, giving Schneep just enough space to scramble out from under him.

Suddenly, Stacy gasped. “What are you guys doing?!” she shouted. “Get out of here!”

Schneep looked to the side, and saw Jack and Marvin in the room’s doorway. His eyes widened in horror, and he started to shout at them to get away before Distorter suddenly lunged at him again, nails digging into his skin.

“H-hey!” Jack shouted. He glanced around the room, then ran to the side and grabbed one of the hospital chairs that had been knocked over by the fight. He started to swing it towards Distorter—

“No don’t—!” Stacy protested.

—And Distorter leapt backwards, leaving Schneep to take the full force of the blow. “Oh my god!” Jack immediately let go of the chair. “I-I’m so sorry!”

“He’s too fast for us!” Stacy shouted. “I-I don’t know how Henrik is keeping up—”

Schneep pushed the chair back and scrambled to his feet, grabbing the chair as he went and bashing it into Distorter’s side. “Stronger than you two, I think,” Schneep gasped. “The chair just slows you down—” He suddenly yelped as Distorter grabbed his ankle and pulled, making him fall.

“H-hang on, Schneep, w-we’re here t’help!” Marvin said, taking his cards out of the bag attached to his chair and looking through them.

“Are you, now?!” Distorter laughed. “Why don’t you sit tight there? And you two—” His head snapped back and forth between Stacy and Jack. “Leave this to us!”

Suddenly, both of them collapsed, ragdolls losing all strength. Marvin gasped as he saw a drop of blood slip from Jack’s right eye. Distorter had done that! He’d controlled their bodies for a brief moment, just enough to make them fall like that. Hurriedly, Marvin looked through his cards.

“It’s just us now,” Distorter hissed to Schneep. He swiped his hands towards his face, but Schneep jerked his head back in time to avoid more scratches. But that was just to throw him off guard. Quickly, while Schneep was still reeling from that dodge, Distorter lunged forward, grabbing Schneep’s wrist. The two of them went tumbling, and Marvin couldn’t exactly make out what happened, but somehow it ended with Distorter pinning Schneep to the floor, holding both his wrists in one hand, knees pinning his legs. “Say goodbye.” Distorter’s free hand reached for Schneep’s neck, digging his nails into his flesh. Schneep thrashed against his grip but couldn’t break free, he gasped, starting to choke—

“No!” Marvin got up, dropping the cards in the process, and grabbed Distorter’s arm, pulling it back from Schneep’s neck.

Distorter looked up at him in surprise. “What? You—but—That shouldn’t be healed yet!”

Marvin blinked, and looked down at his broken leg. Or... formerly broken? He should have been in agony from standing on it, but it felt fine. Actually, it had felt fine for a while. He assumed the pain was fading naturally, but—but it still should have hurt when he put weight on it.

What happened?

In any case, Schneep was able to take advantage of Distorter’s surprise to pull a hand free and grab Distorter by the throat. There was an electric SNAP! and Distorter was thrown backwards with such force that Marvin couldn’t keep hold of his arm. Stacy gasped and scrambled to her feet. Jack did the same. That shock must have broken Distorter’s concentration. Stacy immediately rushed to Schneep’s side, helping him up. “I’m fine,” Schneep gasped. “I’m fine. It must look worse than it is.”

“Looks fucking terrible, yeah!” Jack said. Blood was dripping down Schneep’s throat in a steady river—or, actually, five small rivers, from five small wounds.

Distorter got to his feet, bones cracking. “Oh, does it?” he growled. Then he looked at Marvin and his grin widened. “Well, if you’re feeling better, you should make yourself useful, shouldn’t you? For your friend.”

Marvin blinked. Friend...?

Friend.

His vision seemed to waver, everything becoming blurry as his eyes lost focus. Friend. Friend.

Schneep went pale. “Marvin... don’t listen to him.”

“Smile for me,” Distorter whispered.

Marvin’s body moved without his mind, lurching for Schneep. Jack got there first, blocking him. Marvin tried to push past but Jack grabbed him, wrapping his arms tight around him and pinning his own arms in turn. “Marvin, snap out of it!” he shouted, but his voice sounded so far away... Muffled... Yeah... That’s the word for it...

“Schneep, watch out!” Stacy shouted, warning Schneep just in time for him to dodge Distorter suddenly attacking him.

“Schiesse!” Schneep cursed. “Y-you two take care of Marvin, I can handle this!”

“Can you?” Distorter grinned, and attacked again.

———————

For the third time, Jackie found himself somewhere else. But at least he recognized this place. It was Anti’s apartment, with the window outside showing the night sky, but it looked so different. There was hardly any furniture in the living room, pretty much just a sofa—not the sleeper sofa he had now—and a coffee table with a small TV on top of it—again, not the furniture he had now. The kitchenette didn’t have its counter stools... or anything else. It was pretty much just the furniture that was attached to the floor. Clothes were scattered around the floor, along with dishes, some of which were broken, most of which had old half-eaten food on them. Everything looked dirty. Jackie was glad that he couldn’t smell anything while in MR.

Anti was sitting on the floor between the sofa and coffee table, staring at the TV. It was on, but it displayed nothing but static. He wore an oversized T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. Jackie hadn’t seen him wear an outfit like that in forever. Anti was alway proud of his style. But... he did vaguely remember a time like that. And he did remember seeing the apartment in a state similar to this... though he didn’t remember it being this bad. “Anti?” Jackie called.

He didn’t answer. He just kept staring at the TV screen, rocking back and forth. One hand absentmindedly scratched his wrist—in fact, it looked like it had been doing that for a while, judging by how red and raw the skin was there.

“Anti!” Jackie hurried over, waving his hand in front of the TV screen to get his attention. “I know you can see me!”

Anti’s eye twitched. “Shut up,” he mumbled. “Leave me alone.”

“No! I will not leave you alone!” Jackie looked over the TV, found the power button, and pressed it.

Anti suddenly shrieked. “No! No no no no—” He reached for the power, but Jackie grabbed his wrist, finding that he could touch some things while in MR. “Stop it! I need it!”

“You need to stare at TV static? What the fuck?”

“The noise, I-I need the noise,” Anti said in a hushed voice. He reached forward with his other hand, but Jackie grabbed that one, too. “I need the shapes in the screen!” Anti’s voice cracked. “I need—I need—i-it goes fast, I need—I need—I-I need—”

“Anti, please.” Jackie knelt on the ground next to him. They were pretty close together. He could feel Anti’s whole body trembling slightly. “That’s not... something you need. You’ll just hurt your eyes. H-how long have you been sitting here? Did you eat anything?”

“I—” Anti blinked, eyes still fixed on the screen like he could make the static reappear just by waiting. “I—I—I—M-my brain—is stuck,” he gasped. “I—I—I h-have to—I can’t—think of a-a-anything else—”

“Does this happen often?” Jackie whispered. “Or... did it? I know this is a memory. It has to be. I’ve never... seen you do anything like this these days.”

Anti laughed. His eyes rolled back to look at Jackie. “Just because you’ve never seen it—just because it hasn’t happened in a while—” He laughed again. “Wh-why are you here? Why are you here?”

“I’m here to help you wake up,” Jackie said quietly.

Anti shook his head. “Wh-what if I don’t want to wake up? Wh-what if—what if you’re making a mistake—What if y-you’ll all be better if I stay like this—”

“There’s no way we’ll be ‘better’ with you like this!” Jackie said firmly. “You think we’d be happy to hear that you’re—you’re stuck in memories like this?!” He gestured around at the horrid state of the room. “This is fucking awful! I-I can’t believe this was—this was how things were for you! Anti, why didn’t you ever tell us? I mean, I remember you not having a lot in your apartment when we first met, but it was at least clean. A-and at least Volt and I were able to help you out. Even if you grumbled the whole time.” He laughed. “This... why didn’t you say anything?”

Anti looked at him. “...doesn’t matter, does it?” he whispered.

“Why?” Jackie asked. “Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Because it’s just me... nothing important.”

Jackie stared at him, shocked. Then—he couldn’t help it. He shook Anti by the shoulders. “What are you saying?!” he shouted. “You—nothing important?!”

Anti laughed darkly. “Besides... no telling what you’d say.” His head lolled back. “Better to be nothing. Better to be angry. Better than... being hurt.”

Jackie shook him again, then realized that this probably wasn’t the best method for getting through to him and stopped. “Th-that does explain some stuff about you, I guess,” he said slowly. “But—but Anti. I promise you. We would never hurt you. I-I think... I think you’ve been hurt a lot. Is that it? Is that why?”

“Why what?” Anti mumbled.

“Why... e-everything, really.” Jackie shook his head. “Like I said, it would explain some stuff about you.”

Anti shrugged wordlessly.

“Anti, we would never hurt you,” Jackie insisted. “We care about you. We’ve always cared about you, a-and we’re not gonna stop any time soon.” Anti started to shake his head. “No, don’t do that. Don’t do that, Anti.” Jackie hesitated, thoughts scrambling. If he remembered correctly, he should be able to have some influence over the MR world. Not as much as Anti—or Distorter, who had created this illusion—but some would be enough, maybe. “Don’t you remember? H-here. I think—I think I can show you.” He held onto Anti tight, closing his eyes as he concentrated. Maybe—maybe if he thought hard enough about it—

He felt that falling sensation again. And this time, Anti came with him.

When they landed, Jackie immediately heard Anti inhale sharply. “Wh-what?” he breathed. Jackie opened his eyes... and saw that they had landed right where he wanted them to. In a hospital room. Another Anti was lying in a hospital bed, bandages around his neck, fidgeting absentmindedly with the edge of the blanket. On the table next to him was a small whiteboard and a dry erase marker. “This... place...” The Anti beside him whispered.

As the two of them watched, a man walked past the open door to the hospital room. Then stopped, turned around, and walked into the room. Now it was Jackie’s turn to gasp. He didn’t realize how much younger he would look. It wasn’t that long ago that he’d met Anti, was it? Or... maybe it was. “Um... hi.” The past Jackie gave a little wave. “You, uh... you’re new in here. I’m Dr. Parker. This is sort of, my area. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”

The past Anti glared at him. He picked up the whiteboard, and wrote down Fuck off.

“Oh.” The past Jackie blinked in surprise. “Well, uh, I don’t want to bother you. Just wanted to introduce myself. You, uh... it’s funny, maybe we’re related? We kind of look alike, don’t we?”

The past Anti wrote over the Fuck off from before, making it bigger.

“Huh. Um... I’m guessing you can’t talk, then? That’s okay.”

The past Anti underlined the Fuck off.

“I wasn’t very nice to you...” Anti whispered. “I don’t know why you came back. I wasn’t expecting you to.”

“But I did, didn’t I?” Jackie said.

The scene before them fast-forwarded a bit. The past Jackie kept trying to talk to Anti but eventually left... and then returned with something. A milkshake. “I hope you like vanilla,” he said. “I thought it was the safest bet, but I can always go get another if you want. They have chocolate and strawberry down in the cafeteria.”

The past Anti stared at him. And, slowly, he picked up the whiteboard and wrote, Why?

Shrugging, the past Jackie said, “It looked like you needed one.” He set the milkshake down on the table and sat down in the one chair in the room. Anti stared at him. Then stared at the milkshake. Then, slowly, reached over and picked it up, carefully sipping through a straw. Jackie smiled.

Anti shook his head. “This... this isn’t the same,” he muttered. “You didn’t know me. I-I was just some—some random fucker with a hurt neck.”

“You know...” Jackie hesitated. “I... saw the report on your injury later. A-and all this time, I thought you’d gotten in a fight, you seemed the type. But lately... I’ve been thinking... You... don’t have to talk about it, of course. But... Anti, did... did you—”

“Yes,” Anti whispered. “But it wasn’t like what you’re thinking. The goal wasn’t... I wasn’t going to... I-I wasn’t thinking straight. I knew that... sometimes, if I got hurt, m-my thoughts would calm down. So I... But like I said, I wasn’t thinking straight... I didn’t... think of the consequences...” He trailed off. Then he turned away from Jackie, away from the memory of the two of them. “Don’t give me pity. I don’t need it.”

Jackie shook his head. “It’s not pity, Anti,” he whispered. “It’s empathy. It’s compassion. Because you’re my friend.” Tears welled in his eyes. “Knowing that all this happened to you... I-I can’t... it hurts me, to think about it.”

“Sorry to hurt you, then,” Anti muttered.

“No, not like that. It’s because I care about you, Anti. A-and because I care about you, I want to know this. I want to know, so that I can be there for you, so that I can help if something like it happens again. I-I’d rather know than suddenly get blindsided by this one day.”

“You don’t know me,” Anti whispered.

Jackie reached out. He didn’t touch Anti. He simply offered a hand. “Then help me know you.”

Anti stared at his hand. He hesitated, a nervous expression on his face... No. It wasn’t mere nervousness. It was fear. “You... won’t like what you see. A-and then you’ll...”

“I’ll what?” Jackie prompted. “Leave? Not want to be friends with you anymore?” He shook his head. “You’re already convinced that I think it’s better for you to stay asleep, in this fucking hellscape of bad memories. I don’t think it’ll get worse than that, will it?”

“Hearing it will be worse,” Anti said.

“Okay. But you might not hear it at all. You might find that I don’t care about whatever you’re hiding from me. You’ll never know.”

Anti was quiet for a moment. Then, slowly, as if expecting Jackie to pull his hand back at any moment, he reached out... and took it. Around them, the memory faded, a dull gray color taking everything over.

“Tell me about yourself,” Jackie whispered gently.

Anti nodded. “My... my mother was Ciara McLoughlin,” he said, forcing the words out. “She... lived in a town called Tragóige, i-in Longford County in Ireland.”

Around them, vague shapes started to form out of the grayness. Jackie saw a woman with long brown hair and dark eyes. She was checking her makeup in a wall mirror that hung on nothing.

“I—I d-didn’t know my father. She didn’t either, sh-she saw a lot of guys during that time. N-never checked, I think. Maybe she did, but she couldn’t reach him. I don’t know. All I know is... it was just the two of us.”

A small boy appeared next to the woman, tugging on the hem of her shirt. Jackie recognized Anti as a child. A room started to form around them. Dull brown-yellow walls with a faded wallpaper pattern. A TV on the floor and a saggy sofa. An overflowing trash bin. End tables with dirty dishes and bottles.

“We didn’t actually own the house. I-I knew that even when I was little. She rented it. It was on some farmer’s land, Donovan was his name, I-I think. He never seemed to like Ciara that much, I don’t know why he let us stay there. But we did stay there. My room was in the attic.” The room around them shifted, the woman disappearing, leaving just the child Anti, in a room with wooden walls and a slanted ceiling and a big circular window. “It was always up there. She got really upset when it was late at night and I showed up in her room. Which I did, sometimes. When I was littler. I stopped going down there when I got older. I figured out she wouldn’t do anything about the nightmares, or about me crying because I was alone.”

The scene shifted again. A classroom, filled with children. The young Anti sat in the back. For the first time, Jackie noticed how his uniform was a bit different than the others. The jumper was a slightly different shade of red, the pants had patches on the knees. “I didn’t really think anything was weird about all this until I went to school. I heard the other kids talking about their families and their parents and these things called birthday gifts. And... I realized I was different. They realized it, too. And kids don’t like kids who are different.”

Rapid-fire memories surrounded them. Anti being tripped in the hall by other kids, Anti having his things stolen by the kids around him, Anti being shouted at about how his eyes were weird, Anti getting his things back with insults written on them, Anti being taunted by the kids about how his mother didn’t care for him. Jackie’s heart swelled just seeing it.

“So, if they weren’t going to leave me alone, I was going to be too much trouble for them to deal with. I-I started fighting back, shouting back. I carried around a knife so that if anyone tried to hit me, they’d think better of it. That scared people. I... I think I liked that. I-it was better than being the one who was scared. So then I started doing things that would get around. Destroying school stuff, taking small things from shops, generally causing mayhem around town. I-it got me in trouble. A lot. I-I think I was just barely able to keep from being expelled, really. But... it worked. People stopped bothering me. But... some started getting really on my case. Which I don’t think I minded. I think... I think some part of me was thinking... that if I caused enough trouble, maybe she would finally do something about it. Ground me, shout at me, I don’t know. Something.”

The memories shifted. Anti grew older. A teenager. He waved a switchblade in other teenagers’ faces. He started fiddling with computers, using what he learned to break into other people’s machines. He threw bricks through windows and flipped off the police who started chasing after him. Rarely a sentence came out of his mouth that didn’t include at least one curse word.

“But... everything just got worse, too. I mean, of fucking course it did. I was the trouble kid, and soon, I’d be an actual criminal. So... before I turned eighteen, before I would have to start worrying about going to prison, I left town. I-it was really easy to, actually.” A memory of Anti at a bus stop appeared, a single backpack by his side. “I didn’t have much to tie me down there. But... I didn’t know where I would be going. Just that it wouldn’t be there. So I started wandering.”

Snapshots. Rural roads became suburb roads became city streets.

“I think... it’s around that time th-that I started... changing. I-I don’t know what it is. I studied psychology later, but I’ve never looked up what could’ve caused all this. I don’t... even really know how to describe it. Maybe I’m too scared to. I-it’s like... Some of it is intrusive thoughts, but it’s not just that. It’s... a state of mind. A disconnectedness. Disassociation, maybe? I’m not sure. Thoughts that keep going down the same path over and over, thoughts that I don’t want to keep going or get hooked on, but that I can’t stop.” Anti’s voice hitched. “F-for a while, I got... I got into some stuff, trying to muffle them. I-I knew it was bad, but I couldn’t help it. I-it was a short period of time, but I-I managed to get past it. But... that doesn’t mean things were better.”

More snapshots. Anti wandering city streets, Anti getting in fistfights, Anti causing more destruction and vandalism.

“I-I did some bad stuff. Stole things. Broke things. Attacked people for no reason, I-I might’ve even... k-killed someone.” His eyes welled with tears. “I didn’t want to. I didn’t mean to. I-I don’t know if it’s true, but... it might be. I-I don’t know. But eventually, I wound up in this city. Mirygale. I-I had some cash, so I started renting a place to stay. Bought a couple pieces of furniture. E-even found an old TV on the side of the road and a rebuilt computer. I didn’t expect to be able to stay there long, but it was... better than being out in the elements. But things wouldn’t stop. M-my thoughts... they... they weren’t being muffled anymore. I tried... other things. Distraction. Pain. Until... you know how that ended.”

The hospital room faded back into view. Jackie wasn’t there yet. It was just Anti in the past. Staring up at the ceiling. Eyes glazed. Completely still.

Anti took a deep breath. That scene faded away again, and they were surrounded by more of that gray nothingness. “So... now you know. Th-that’s my whole life.” He wiped at his eyes. “Jack’s my cousin, you know. Did you know that? I didn’t. Ciara never told me she had a brother, much fucking less that her brother had a family.” He laughed drily. “Maybe that’s where she got some of her money from. I don’t think she made a lot on her own.”

“I...” Jackie was left speechless. His brain struggled to process everything he heard... to understand all the misery that had plagued his friend’s life. “Anti, that’s... I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry that you had to go through all that.”

“Heh.” Anti gave him a small, wan smile. “Knew you’d say that.”

“You did? Then what was all that about being afraid to tell me?”

“Things will be different now,” Anti muttered. “You’ll look at me differently. You feel sorry for me, and every time you look at me, I’ll see that in your eyes. Just... something to feel sorry for. Maybe be a little afraid of. It won’t be normal.”

“Anti... that’s not true.”

“You say that but—”

“No, Anti, let me talk,” Jackie interrupted. “I’m sorry, but let me talk.” He put his hands on Anti’s shoulders, looking him straight in the eyes. “I feel sorry for you, yes. But that’s not all you are to me. You’re not an—an object for me to project feelings onto. You are my friend. You are the man I chose to be Michelle’s godfather.”

“You really shouldn’t have done that, by the—”

“Anti, please. Listen.” Jackie paused for a moment, making sure Anti’s full attention was on him. “You’re my friend. You’re my daughter’s godfather. You’re an excellent self-taught programmer—which is fucking amazing, by the way. And to get a minor in psych while doing that, fucking incredible. You’re a role model to tons of people online. You’re a great father. No matter what you think of yourself and your ability as a parent, you’re good at it, Anti. You’re good at all of this. Anti, I... I think I always knew there was something dark in your past. Someone who shows up in the hospital with a slit throat could not have had an easy life. And I saw your flat when you first lived there, remember? I knew you were struggling with something. But you know what? You managed to get past all that. You picked up your life. You got yourself a degree in fucking record time—and fuck anyone who says it doesn’t count because it was online—and managed to make yourself a career out of doing something that you love. Because I know you love games. Playing them and breaking their code, hah. And, after all that, you found a boy who was also struggling, and you gave him a home and someone who cares about him. The fact that you could do all this despite everything you went through? Anti, I think that’s the strongest thing I’ve ever heard a person do.”

Anti stared at him, completely and utterly shocked. “I... but... I-I’m not—I-I don’t really make a difference—”

“How could you say that after everything I just said?” Jackie asked. “All the people who love your videos aside—they’re all strangers really—what about the rest of us? You think we’d be the same without you? You think our lives would be better? Anti, that’s simply not true. Every day, I’m so happy to have met you. I’m so happy that you’re my friend. I-I always want to do everything I can to help you... sometimes to my own detriment.” He laughed weakly. “Because you’re my friend. Because you matter to me, because my life is so much better having met you. And it’s the same for everyone else, too. Especially Will.”

Anti swallowed a lump in his throat. “Maybe... maybe Will could’ve had a better family, if he hadn’t met me,” he whispered weakly.

“No, he couldn’t have. Because you care about him so much, Anti. You care so much that you’re worried you’re not good enough. But you are. There’s no one Will would rather have as a dad than you.” Jackie smiled. “And there’s no one we’d rather have as a friend. Anti, I love you. You’re my best friend. Don’t tell the others that, especially Schneep. But... I think it’s true. And you’ll still be my friend after this.”

Anti was quiet for a long time. He was blinking back tears. “Do... you promise?” he asked in a hoarse voice.”

Jackie gently grabbed his hand, wrapping their fingers together. “I promise, Anti.”

Anti closed his eyes. He leaned his head forward until it rested on Jackie’s shoulder. “Aodhán.”

“Huh?”

“My name,” he whispered. “I’m Aodhán McLoughlin.”

Jackie stood there, stunned for a moment. Then he smiled. “Nice to meet you, Aodhán.”

Anti let out a breath. And then, he started to sob. Quietly at first, and then louder and louder, great heaving breaths. He wrapped his arms around Jackie, squeezing tight, clutching at his clothes. Jackie hugged him back. Around them, the gray nothingness began to change. A green glow was piercing through the fog.

After a while, Anti stopped crying, but he didn’t let go of Jackie.

“Is it time to wake up?” Jackie asked.

“...yeah,” Anti whispered. “I’m ready.”

———————

“Marvin, I swear, we’re your friends!” Jack shouted desperately.

Marvin didn’t seem to answer. He kept struggling against Jack with that glassy look in his eyes, blood dripping from his sockets. Jack kept him pushed to the floor, and meanwhile, Schneep and Distorter were still fighting. And it was becoming increasingly clear that the fight was one-sided. Schneep stumbled, and Distorter pushed him against the empty hospital bed, his head hitting the railings with an unpleasant CLANG!

“Stacy?” Jack glanced over at her. “Do you have them?”

“Y-yeah, I think I got all of them!” Stacy pushed all the cards she’d gathered into a deck. Marvin’s cards, spilled across the floor when he suddenly jumped to Schneep’s aid. She hurried over, kneeling on the ground next to Marvin’s face. “Look! Marvin, these are yours! Do you remember these?!” She glanced at Jack, unsure. Jack nodded back. Surely the cards will jog Marvin’s mind or something. But his eyes were still glassy. “Uh... h-here, you can look at them.” She spread the deck out, showing the different designs on their backs.

And at that... something finally flickered in Marvin’s eyes. Jack felt his struggles still for a moment, and then one arm pushed against his hold. Jack hesitated, then let up for a moment. Marvin slowly reached for the cards, picking out two with the same symbol. Three lines forming a rough, wide U shape, with two dots in the middle.

“These? Uh, okay, what do we do with these?” Stacy wondered. “Uh—” she started putting random cards near those two, in hopes of getting more of a response from Marvin. It wasn’t working. Marvin’s eyes were glazing over again and he started to struggle again against Jack.

“I can’t hold him forever!” Jack said.

“I know I know! Uh—” With increasing panic, Stacy kept showing Marvin cards. Nearby, Schneep cried out in pain as Distorter bit into his arm. He lashed out and punched him back, but the cloth of his shirt ripped as Distorter pulled it away. “Marvin, please! You know this, we don’t! We need you! H-he’s playing mind tricks on you, please remember!”

“...mind,” Marvin whispered. He stopped struggling for a moment, reaching out and grabbing another one of the cards, this one with a pointed shape in the middle and two lines next to it. He pulled that forward, into the middle of the two cards from before—

A faint golden light rippled out from the three-card formation. Suddenly, Jack leaned back, blinking and shaking his head as he felt it suddenly clear. He hadn’t realized how foggy he’d felt until just then. Stacy’s expression was similar. And, suddenly, Marvin gasped. “H-holy fucking hell!” he shouted. “What the—wh-what’s happening?!”

Distorter looked towards him. “What? No! No, you’re supposed to be—” Schneep came out of nowhere, punching him in the face so hard it knocked him to the ground.

“The cards,” Marvin whispered. “Mind and safety—I-I knew. I knew e-even like t’at, I knew what they—Jack, can ye get off me?”

“Right.” Jack hurriedly moved away, allowing Marvin to sit up.

Distorter scrambled to his feet. “Fine! But that won’t work on your ‘friend’ Ant—”

A blue burst of light came flying into the room and hit Distorter in the chest, pushing him back against the far wall. Ice formed along his torso, pinning him there.

Marvin gasped. “Jems!”

JJ stood in the doorway, hand outstretched and eyes glowing bright. Don’t talk about Anti, he said. He’s not under your power anymore.

Schneep blinked. “You—you mean—”

Jameson smiled, nodding. The glow in his eyes faded, revealing the tears lining them.

“Forget abou’ t’at guy!” Marvin said, gesturing back at Distorter, struggling against the ice keeping him attached to the wall. “Let’s go!”

Everyone scrambled to their feet. Marvin made sure to get his cards but left the wheelchair behind; he could come back for that later. JJ looked confused about how Marvin was walking fine again, but shrugged it off. This was more important! They all rushed down the hall.

Distorter paused, assessing his connection to Anti—and found it gone. He screeched with frustration and broke away from the ice, tumbling to the ground. He quickly got up again, ready to rush after them... but then stopped. His head tilted to the side. What... was that? He... was sensing something strange. Slowly, he turned around, peering through the blinds on the window and down at the ground below. Oh. Oh. No, he didn’t want to be here for that. Quickly, he turned and ran, trying to find the easiest exit out of the hospital.

The group burst into Anti’s room. Marvin and Schneep weren’t sure what they would see. JJ said Anti was awake, but it didn’t seem real. Not until they all rushed into the room and saw Anti, unrestrained and sitting up, with Jackie sitting on the bed beside him, the two of them hugging each other tight and crying.

“...Anti?” Schneep whispered.

Anti looked up. His eyes were bloodshot, but clear, not glazed over. He gave him a small smile. “H-hi.”

Schneep relaxed. He laughed. “Hi? You are under a monster’s control for days, maybe weeks, a-and you just say hi?”

Anti shrugged. “Yeah? Fuck you. Is that better?”

Schneep laughed harder. “Oh. Oh, it is so much better. Anti. Anti. I-I am... so... so, relieved.”

Marvin covered his mouth, too overwhelmed by emotion to say anything. He hurried forward, reaching out but stopping. Anti stared at his hand, then took it, holding it in his. Tears filled Marvin’s eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I-I know what it’s like. Maybe... not... exactly all t’is, but...” He took a deep breath. “Y-you’re back. T’at’s what matters.”

JJ wiped his eyes on his sleeve. He nodded, choking back a sob.

“W-we should all give him space,” Schneep said, hiding the tears in his eyes as well.

“No, i-it’s fine right now,” Anti said. “I get it.” He looked past everyone else to Stacy and Jack, hovering near the doorway. “You two are here too, huh? Uh... good to see you, Jack. Stacy.”

Stacy looked a bit surprised, but nodded back. Jack gave him a tired smile. “I’m so glad you’re awake,” he said.

“Me too... fucking hell.” Anti shook his head. “I don’t ever want to relive that.”

“You won’t have to,” Jackie promised. “You’re back now. And we’re gonna make sure Distorter doesn’t fucking try anything like that again.”

Anti laughed. “Yeah.” He looked around the room. “Man... this place fucking sucks. Glad I wasn’t able to see most of it. Can I get out of here?”

“You cannae jus’ walk out of a hospital,” Marvin said.

“Yeah, there’s paperwork and stuff,” Jackie says. “We have to get a doctor to check you over.”

“We can go do that,” Stacy said. “Me and Jack.”

“Yeah, if you guys want a moment, we’ll just go look around for whoever’s in charge to tell them this,” Jack said. He glanced around and frowned. “And I’ll go look for Sam, too. Where did they go?”

“Yeah, you two can clear off,” Anti said. He paused. “Not that... it’s not good to see you,” he added awkwardly. “It... is. I-I think you guys helped wake me up? So... thank you. But... can I... Th-these guys are...”

Jack nodded. “We get it.”

Anti sighed. “Yeah.” He hesitated, then said, “Besides, as my family, you’re probably gonna be the one filling out paperwork.”

Jack’s eyes widened. He glanced around at everyone else.

“Wait, you’re related?!” Marvin gasped.

“We’re cousins,” Anti said. “It’s a... long story.”

I suppose that would explain some things, JJ signed, looking thoughtful.

“Finally, two of our group who look alike turn out to actually be related,” Schneep chuckled.

Jack smiled. He nodded at Anti. “Yeah. I’ll do all that paperwork and stuff. C’mon, Stacy. Let’s find a doctor.” The two of them headed off.

You’re really okay, Anti? JJ asked.

“I feel shitty, actually.” Anti pushed Jackie away a little and looked down at himself. “Fuck... hospital clothes don’t suit me at all. But yeah, my head’s all fucky a-and I feel... weak? I guess?” He looked back up. “How’s Will?”

“He’s alrigh’,” Marvin said. “Rama has been lookin’ after him. He’s missed you.”

Anti crumpled, tears coming back to his eyes. “I’ve missed him too,” he whispered. “F-for a moment... I-I was stuck in this facility, for a while, kept there by these guys called IRIS. And while in there, they said something, a-and... for a moment... I-I wondered if he was even real. N-nothing has ever scared me so much.”

“He is real,” Schneep said firmly. “And he is still your son.”

“And we know about IRIS,” Jackie added. “You don’t have to explain anything.”

Anti nodded, taking a deep breath. He raised his head higher, looking at Schneep, then Marvin, then JJ. “My real name is Aodhán McLoughlin.”

“Wha—” Schneep choked. JJ looked at Anti in surprise. Marvin leaned back, processing that. “Y-you just—just—”

“I told Jackie while in that freaky dream shit,” Anti said. “It’s only fair that you guys know, too.”

JJ laughed hoarsely. Well, it’s good to know, but it doesn’t change anything. Especially for me. It still starts with an A, so my name sign for you doesn’t have to change.

“You’ll still be Anti to us,” Marvin said. “Unless you want us to start usin’ Aodhán.”

“Uhhh no that’s too much too fast,” Anti said.

Schneep sighed. “Well... I suppose all this is settled. Finally.” He paused. “There is still much we have to do, though. But we can take a moment to rest. Get Anti out of the hospital. And—”

AAIIEEEAAIIEEEAAIIEEE!

Schneep suddenly screamed, clapping his hands to his ears and collapsing.

“Volt?!” Jackie gasped, scrambling to his feet. “What is it?!”

“What the fuck?!” Marvin stared. JJ crouched down and started shaking Schneep.

A man appeared in the doorway to the room. They all looked up at him in unison. Like all the doctors here, he wore a white coat. But there was a symbol on the arm. It looked like an eye with three irises.

“No!” Anti scrambled backwards, going pale. “F-fuck off!”

The man tossed something into the room and then slammed the door closed. It was a small metal ball, which fell apart into two different halves with a click. White smoke came billowing out from the inside at an alarming rate.

“What is t’at?!” Marvin asked. He grabbed the pillow from the bed and threw it at the metal ball, but the smoke was pouring out in such quantities that the thin pillow did nothing to stop it.

JJ threw his hand out and a blue shield formed a dome around the ball. For a moment, the smoke was trapped inside—but then the shield flickered and died. JJ looked down at his hand in alarm. He tried conjuring another shield but he couldn’t. He shot a bolt of magic at the ball but all he managed to do was rip the pillow in half and send the two parts of the ball skittering in opposite directions, both still emitting smoke.

“I-I don’t know what that is but it can’t be good!” Jackie shouted, running for the room’s window. But the window didn’t open. “Fuck!” He pounded his fists against the glass. He tried grabbing the chair but it slipped out of his grip. Shaking his head, he stumbled. Why did everything feel so heavy right now?

“It’s... i-it’s a drug,” Marvin said, his words slurring together, head drooping.

Anti tried to stand up, but found he couldn’t. So he started shouting. “HELP! HEEELP! HELP! PLEASE!”

But his pleas fell on deaf ears. Or maybe they just fell on ears that weren’t fast enough to do anything. His voice tapered off quickly and he fell back against the bed, eyelids fluttering.

One by one, they all succumbed to it.

And on a turn of a dime, their triumph was overcome by despair.

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