#i almost made this part like 33 pages oops ahkba

[huffle-dork]

Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 22: Horror Septics

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix 

Read Swapboys | Read Horror Septics | AO3 Link

Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes | Fantasy Masks | Horror

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata  

  Magnificent feels like a child being supervised. It’s almost demeaning, but given what is supervising, he probably shouldn’t complain out loud. It’s definitely night by now. He needs to sleep. Maybe if he gets on a night train, it will satisfy the creature that he’s making progress while also allowing him to rest? It’s worth a shot.

Magnificent has been cursing his hubris and stupidity as his journey went on. Especially now that he felt constant eyes on him. He was exhausted… all this power and he still had to sleep. Fucking bullshit.

The train is quiet, the lighting kept low for people who want to sleep in their seats. Mag is just drifting off as the train pulls into another station. A couple people get on, looking harried. One of them seems familiar…

As the train stops the magician blinks his tired eyes and looks at the people coming on. His eyes widen- is that…?

Bro yawns as him and Jack sleepily enter the train. He blearily blinks around and then mumbles to Jack. “How many more trains do we need to take again…?”

“This should be the last one,” Jack says, staring at a map on the wall. “But then we have to take the ferry to France and I don’t remember if the run that at night. I don’t know if you can fly across they English Channel, but even if you can I don’t want to be carried across the English Channel.”

“I don’t want to carry anyone over the English Channel…” Chase mumbles, rubbing his eyes. “Even if it’s faster… I gotta save up my strength…” He looks like he’s ready to fall over, yawning again as he shakes out his head. “I hope there’s another outlet here…”

Magnificent feels his breath hitch and before he can really think about it, he pushes himself out of his seat and stumbles towards Chase. He grabs Chase by the jacket and pulls him close, desperation in his eyes. “Chase Brody-!”

Chase startles and tries to push Mag away before realizing. “M-Magnificent?!”

Mag looks actually scared and desperate as he whispers to Bro. “Where he is? Where’s Alt?!”

"Whoa!" Jack reacts fast, pushing Magnificent backwards. "Who are you?! What do you want?" He looks at Chase. "You know him?"

“H-He’s the other guy that came with us- fuck i… I totally forgot…!” Chase says, pushing back his hair.

Then Jack looks back at Magnificent. His eyes flick down to the strange mist around Mag's legs and his eye widens. "Oh."

Chase also looks at the strange mist around Mag and how tired and ragged he looks. “Jesus dude- what happened to you?”

“Answer my fucking question, hero!” Magnificent spits with urgency. “Where is that fucking useless brother of yours and the device?!”

Chase’s face loses color again as he grips his phone in his pocket. “…he’s gone. S-Something… something has him. We’re trying to find him.”

Magnificent’s face falls, starting to look pale himself. If he got into trouble with the denizens here… then there’s no telling what could have Alt. “…do you have any leads-“

“Shut the fuck up acting like you actually care, Mag!” Bro snarls, suddenly angry. “Looks like you fucked up and you want Alt to clean up your fucking mess?! Well maybe now you should actually live with the consequences of your shitty actions that got us all here, you fucker!”

If they hadn’t already drawn attention to themselves- they have now. Bro’s voice echoes in the train car, his anger palpable in the air, like lightning is about to strike.

"Jesus christ, Chase, calm down!" Jack holds his hands up patiently. "People are staring. We don't want people to stare." He glances around the train car.

There aren't many other passengers, but the handful sitting around are all definitely watching, annoyed. It's the night train, after all. You're supposed to be quiet.

Magnificent actually seems to shrink away from the hero’s anger- which has Chase quieting down quickly. Something has Magnificent actually scared. Which… isn’t good.

"Listen. Magnificent, was it? Weird name, but whatever. Why are you asking?" Jack’s eyes flick to the mist again.

Magnificent’s gaze flickers around the train before he looks to the both of them with wide eyes and whispers, almost too quiet to hear. “We need to leave here… as soon as possible.” He then looks around some more before gesturing for the two of them to follow him.

Chase looks down at Jack and raises an eyebrow. He looks wary but he finally sighs and decides to follow.

Mag sits back down into the chair he had claimed, curling his fingers into the arm rests as his eyes dart around, high on alert.

Chase hesitates before sitting in the seat across from him. “…okay you’re usually a freaky bastard but- this… this is weird even for you, Mag.”

Jack sits down next to Chase. "I think I can guess what's wrong," he mutters. "I'm assuming that fog doesn't usually follow this guy around. Let me guess... you found a forest in Ireland with a bunch of fog. Ran into a really tall person-like thing with a mask and a smile. It offered you something and you said yes."

The train is eerily silent. But they can hear the sounds of the wheels on the tracks.

Mag’s eyes snap to Jack’s and stares at him with wide eyes. His hands just barely tremble on the armrests, claws digging into the fabric. He seems to wait a beat- as if checking he can still hear sounds before he whispers. “…yes.”

Chase scowls, “You motherfucker- you were looking for more power weren’t you? We’ll look what happened… ya finally got a taste of your own bitter medicine, didn’t ya?”

Mag doesn’t even reply or look up at Chase. He’s quiet before he speaks up again. “…there’s something else. Following me… making sure I do the task it gave me.”

"A task?" Jack raises an eyebrow. "That's not normal... I guess maybe it thought you'd be too smart to just take an offer."

The truth of that assumption is up for debate.

He leans back in the chair. "Cait Coill can't leave the forest, so I'm guessing it sent another one to watch you. Hm... maybe Ragdoll. They seem to work together a lot." Jack looks up to the ceiling. This train has luggage racks... maybe keep an eye on those. "Have you seen any weird strings? Or had all noise stop all of a sudden? Maybe a little bit of music?"

“Yes.” Magnificent says in a hollow voice. His eyes are wide and distant and his muscles are taunt- like he’s expecting to loose control of them. “… Cat Coill… it- it wants me to find a man in a red hoodie. It… it wants me to kill it.”

Chase watches with a furrowed brow. When Chase hears the part about the red hoodie he looks at Jack with wide eyes. Then he mouths out, “Sangria?”

Jack looks back at Chase, thinking the same thing. Then he bursts out laughing. "Oh, you're fucked. You're so fucked."

Magnificent glares and then bares his teeth at Jack, snapping. “What do you mean?! I- I’m a powerful magician! I can take down a simple man! Easily!”

Chase shakes his head, he can’t help but laugh too, “Mag… we’re completely out of our fucking depth here… did you really think this- this cat thing was sending you to just kill some guy?” Chase shudders and looks into Mag’s eyes. “…the thing in the red hood- I met it. It tried to convince me it was Alt. ….I think it was going to kill me.”

Magnificent looks even more pale. “…oh.” Is all he can bring himself to say.

"No, it wasn't going to kill you," Jack says. "It was going to get you to ruin your own life. Probably make you kill someone else. Multiple someones, if it could keep you influenced for long enough."

Chase’s face turns more pale now, “oh… fuck. That’s… that’s even more awful I think…”

Jack pauses. "But. Yeah. If Cait Coill sent you to kill Sangria, it was fucking with you. You can't kill them. They can't even kill each other. Did you piss it off or something?"

Magnificent bares his teeth and looks away, cursing in Irish. “I should have known… i…”

“Yeah you must have pissed this cat thing off trying to get more freaky power! Now it’s finally bit you in the ass!” Chase bites out, quietly.

Magnificent closes his mouth and bunch his hands into fists, but doesn’t say anything for a while. “….I was a fool. I can admit it… but- we… we need to find Alt and the device as soon as possible.”

“To save your skin?” Chase glares.

“…to save all of us, Chase.” Mag breathes. “We shouldn’t have come here.”

"To be fair... you've only been here for about six hours and you've already run into one of them twice," Jack says slowly. "Not to mention Alt did, too. I... I think he's right. You guys need to get out of here. You're not used to all of this."

The two other-worlders share a glance with each other, seeming to agree.

Suddenly, Jack tenses. "Listen."

The sound of the train tracks has faded away.

Chase looks confused as he tries to listen. “I… I don’t hear anything.”

Magnificent stiffens, all the color draining from his face.

Jack looks up at the luggage rack above their heads. He jumps to his feet. "Hey!"

Something scrambles along, partially hidden by the luggage.

Magnificent feels a pulling sensation, like something's trying to drag him away.

Chase jumps to his feet, readying his fists and looking around for the threat.

Magnificent let’s out a terrified squeak and quickly digs his claws completely into the seat, trying to anchor himself. “no no- nonono!”

"Yeah, that's Ragdoll," Jack mutters. "It went that way, towards the other car." He glances back at Magnificent. "You... try to stay here. Chase, I-I'm going to follow, see what it's trying to do. You can stay with him or come, I guess?"

Magnificent nods, trying to keep himself rooted to the spot- then using magic to tie himself to the chair.

Chase shudders, “Ragdoll is a freaky name… and no way I’m leaving you dude! Mag can handle himself.” He glares at the dark magician who refuses to look at the hero.

"Okay, then." Jack nods. "C'mon. I think it left this car."

They hurry down the aisle to the doors to the other train car, which is just swinging shut. Chase, in front, bursts through--

This car is empty. Well, not completely empty. Someone is sitting in an aisle seat, looking relaxed. They're wearing a red hoodie. "I thought you'd be on one of these eventually."

Chase hurries down the car and then freezes when he sees that red hoodie and that voice. “y-You!”

"Me." Sangria smiles, and any resemblance to personhood fades away as it bears its teeth. "I said I'd see you later. Seems like you've been busy. Misery says it saw you in its house, and now this?" It jerks its head upwards. On the luggage rack above crouches something with spiral eyes, strings tangled around wooden limbs. It tilts its head a little, and there's a faint strain of distorted ragtime. "You and your brother have really bad luck."

Misery? Was that the name of the thing in the house? Chase stumbles back at the ragtime, looking at the wooden thing with wide eyes. Then, at the mention of his brother Chase’s eyes snap to Sangria’s with hatred, eyes turning bright blue with power. “How did you- Where is he?! Do you know?!”

"I do." Sangria's smile widens. "Do you want to get there sooner?"

Back in his seat, Magnificent feels something tighten around him. In a snap, he's just a passenger again. His body stands up without him and walks after Chase and Jack.

Magnificent wordlessly gasps as his body is taken over again and silently follows after the others. He actually wants to warn them- but he can’t.

“I don’t want to play your fucking games!” Chase roars, charging at Sangria like he’s ready to punch him.

Sangria doesn't move as Chase rushes at him. Jack cries out and tries to grab him but he's a split second too slow. As Chase throws a punch, Sangria t w i s t s to the side, an odd crackling sound breaking through the unnatural quiet. Its smile disappears and it stands up. Chase is suddenly aware that it is taller than him. "You're going there anyway," it says. "I'm offering to help cut the journey time. You could be there right now."

Chase shouts in fear as Sangria twists and he stumbles back, settling back by Jack. He takes a second to breathe before growling. "Why would you want to help me?"

Magnificent walks into the car and sees all this. Ragdoll turns to look at him with the spiraling eyes. The control loosens, almost disappearing but ready to pounce again.

Magnificent gasps as he's freed and looks up at Ragdoll in fear. His stomach drops as he sees the thing in the red hood. The thing Cait Coill wanted him to find-

"Might be fun," Sangria says plainly. "Besides--now that I've been thinking about it, you humans with powers might fuck some stuff up for--hello." It turns to look at Mag. "Who are you?"

"Fun?!" Chase spits, "My brother's life is in danger because of you fucks and you just-!" He pauses in his yelling to look back- and pales at seeing how.... scared Mag looks, standing in the door.

"...M-Magnificent." He answers, fists tightly at his sides. That thing... that thing will kill him. He knows it. If he attacks- it's gonna kill him.

Cait Coill sent him here to die.

"Unusual thing to be called." Sangria looks him over, then glances up at the luggage rack. "Did you grab him?"

A few strains of music fill the unnatural silence.

Magnificent hears himself speak. "Consider it a gift."

"I don't have any interest in gifts. They're hard to work with."

"Not from me."

"Not from--" Sangria stops. It looks at Magnificent again... and looks irritated. "Oh for the love of--Δεν κάνω τη βρώμικη δουλειά του--"

And then Magnificent feels the compulsion to attack.

Magnificent's eyes widen as power surges through his hands, lighting them on fire. Then, he lunges at Sangria.

"M-Mag! What are you doing?!" Chase shouts.

"Look out!" Jack pushes Chase to the side as Magnificent attacks. Sangria does not move. Magnificent's fire hits it with a dry hiss and it does not flinch. Instead, in an instant, it lunges forward and grabs him, wrapping one arm around Mag's neck and the other around his torso, pinning his arms. It looks up to Ragdoll. "You're going to make this happen?"

Ragdoll's head nods jerkily.

"Fine."

Suddenly, Magnificent feels a cold dead feeling sink into him. First at the hands and feet, then creeping up his arms and legs, leaving numbness behind. It feels like winter. It feels like dead trees and gray ground and a killing chill.

Mag can't fight the pull- he can't struggle as Sangria grabs him. He whimpers as the dead feeling sinks into his body. He looks at Chase with clear fear and desperation in his eyes. A call that Chase can't ignore if he wants to call himself a hero. He grits his teeth, then powers up a bolt of lightning in his finger and tries to shoots it out into Sangria's shoulder. "Hey! Let him go!"

The lightning hisses as it hits, and Sangria stumbles a bit. It looks back at Chase with clear surprise.

A distraction that stops the dead feeling; Mag's limbs tingle as sensation returns. Sangria doesn't let go of him entirely, but the arm around his neck unwraps and reaches for Chase--

Instinctively, maybe foolishly, Jack shoves Chase behind him. Sangria stops. "You fucking ruin everything," it growls at Jack.

"Because that's your job, right?" Jack says with a small laugh. "Look, are you really going to do what Cait Coill wants you to?"

Sangria tilts its head, considering. Ragdoll shifts position slightly, a few strings dropping down from the luggage rack as if getting ready for... something.

Chase stumbles and is about to push himself back out but stops when he realizes... Jack actually stopped Sangria completely. Chase eyes Ragdoll warily, eyes glowing with power.

Magnificent pants, heart threatening to beat out of his chest. "P-Please-" He tries to whimper out.

Sangria looks up at Ragdoll. “What would you want?”

Ragdoll tilts its head. Then holds up a hand with five fingers splayed.

“That’s a lot for you.”

The faint music in the background stalls for a moment, sounding almost angry.

“Okay okay.” Sangria looks at Chase and Jack and smiles. “Congratulations. You brought up a good point. I hate Cait Coill more than this man has annoyed me.” And it shoved Magnificent at Chase.

Magnificent stumbles forward and almost falls to the ground but Chase hurries to catch him and help him up. He stares down at the mad magician as he seems to shake violently, eyes wide. Chase swallows thickly then looks back at Sangria and Ragdoll, bunching up his muscles in case they try anything more.

The two of them are not even concerned with the humans in the train car. Sangria and Ragdoll stare at one another silently. Then, abruptly, Ragdoll scrambles down from the luggage racks, dangling upside down from the strings attached to it. It swings over and opens a window, squeezing through the small opening and out into the countryside beyond.

Magnificent sags as soon as Ragdoll leaves and then pushes himself away from Chase to lean on the seats in the car.

As if that didn’t just happen, Sangria turns to the group and asks, “Do you want to reach Alt sooner or later?”

Chase tries not to roll his eyes at Mag then stands tall to address Sangria. “…are you going to trick me? Is this some plan to like… steal my soul or something?”

“What would I do with that?” Sangria’s mouth curls in disgust. “I don’t want power like the cat. I need something else. But I don’t have to get it from you. There’s enough of you already.” Its attention shifts to Jack. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to step in on something else’s territory.” And back to Chase. “The train is stopping soon. You have to make a decision by then.”

Chase glances back at Jack and then looks back to Sangria with determined desperate eyes. “…yes- yes whatever you can do to get us to Alt-!”

Sangria grins. "Alright. In that case..." Its head gestures back at the door they came from. "Close that and reopen it. Head right through, I understand it's hard to maintain an entrance so far away and on a moving vehicle."

Chase looks at Sangria like its crazy- and it is. But... he can't afford to waste anymore time. He nods and heads back towards the door, stopping for a second to grab Mag and make sure he's coming too. Mag hardly protests. Chase closes the door and then reopens it-

Instead of the next train car, a hallway extends from the door. It’s walls are white plaster stained with rusty streaks, and the floor is white tile with similar stains. The hall goes forward until it eventually ends in a T-intersection.

Jack’s eye widens. “So I was right,” he mutters darkly. “Okay. Go!”

Chase hardly hesitates, running through the door and dragging Mag with him. He sprints down the hall- looking and listening for any sign of Alt.

Jack follows. He glances back though the door once he’s in the hall. Sangria smiles and waves. And then the door shuts on its own.

Jack turns around and hurries after Chase.

There is no sign of Alt. There’s not much sign of anything except the extending hallway. Chase reaches the intersection quickly. To the left is a seemingly endless hallway lined with doors. To the right is a seemingly endless hallway lined with old medical equipment, like IVs and wheelchairs.

Chase is trying not to panic now- he's so close- where is he?? "ALT!!" He shouts as he just picks a direction and runs, "ALT??!"

Somewhere else, Alt hears shouting, distant and muffled like it’s on another floor in a house. There’s a lot of shouting and screaming in here but this sounds different.

Alt blearily opens his eyes- confused on why he hasn't been stabbed a couple more times by now. He furrows his eyebrows in confusion at the shouting- but it sounds so far away...

Notarzt returns. It looks at Alt and sighs, sounding strangely disappointed.

He weakly looks at Notarzt and chuckles quietly, "... you sure got spooked by somethin', huh?" He slurs.

"Halt deine Fresse," Notarzt snaps. It walks forward and sharply pulls out the hooks in Alt's chest and stomach, each sharp motion accompanied by a shriek of pain. It removes the clamps as well, leaving behind red marks lined with blood. Alt didn't even realize his limbs had gone numb until the blood starts flowing back into them.

Alt bites back a scream at first but is soon yelling again. He glances at his arm and leg at the places the clamps were with wide eyes. He looks up at Notartz, "m sorry-" he quickly tries to apologize, afraid the monster is about to do so much worse to him,

Notarzt rolls its eye--why did it move like that?!--and reaches into its pocket, pulling something out. It roughly jams some cloth into Alt's mouth and ties it around his head. Tastes like blood. Then it pulls one of the wheelchairs over and quickly undoes Alt's restraints, pulling him off the table and towards the chair.

Alt yells against the rag and then- even if his heavy muscles protest, tries his best to fight against being moved, shouting against the cloth.

His struggles only make his wounds hurt more. Notarzt doesn't even flinch as it shoves him into the wheelchair, using the attached leather straps to fasten his wrists to the arms, his ankles to the footrest, and his torso to the back. Then it grabs Alt's jacket and ruined shirt from the floor and drops them on his lap. "Lass uns eine Fahrt machen," it says, pulling the chair out of the operating theatre.

Alt's vision blurs and dips as the pain flares up from all his different wounds. His head lolls to the back of the chair as he's rolled forward. He makes some noises of protest but he's so so so tired...

Chase, running through the hallways, is starting to get very lost. Everything looks the same, with branches happening at random. Maybe the hallways even loop. He could swear he's seen that cluster of three IVs before. Occasionally there are wooden doors in the walls, but beyond them are just empty rooms. Mostly empty. Every single one has a bed with leather restraints.

Jack is breathing heavily. "Chase! I think... we're not... getting anywhere..."

"No! No there- there has to be something!" Chase shouts, trying to keep running.

Magnificent is still letting himself be dragged but he speaks up, "Eyepatch is right, hero- you're just getting us all lost!"

Chase ignores him, "ALT!! ALT!!"

Chase turns a corner--and runs straight into a dead end. There is no door. There is no hallway. There is only a wall.

Chase runs into the dead end and screams in frustration. He punches the wall with enough force to dent the plaster then quickly turns to go back the other way.

When he turns the corner again, there is another wall. The hallway they came down is gone.

"What?!" Chase yells out in surprise and anger- he tries to turn back around.

"F-Fantastic, stop!" Mag tries to warn him.

The wall is closer.

"Chase, just stop!" Jack shouts.

Chase backs up, letting go of Mag and staring at the wall with wide eyes. Then he yells and throws punch after punch at the wall, frantic tears in his eyes as he yells, "NO! NONONO! FUCK YOU! GIVE ME MY BROTHER! ALT! ANTI!!"

Chase punches the wall over and over, until-- Suddenly, there is blood on his knuckle. When he looks at the wall closer, some of the plaster cracks away, a stream of blood coming from the wall. There is... there is an eye there. With a black iris and green sclera--

Chase stumbles back and looks at the wall with confusion- and then dread.

Jack screams and lunges forward, pushing by Chase to the side.

He falls back slightly as Jack pushes him and then looks quickly back at him.

He doesn't quite see what happens, but when Jack steps back, breathing heavily, he has his swiss army knife out with blood on the handle, and the eye is gone.

"D-Dude- what the fuck was that?!"

Jack doesn't respond immediately, staring at the spot where the eye was and breathing heavily. His hand presses to his face--to his eye-patch. Then turns and looks at Chase. "It... i-it was only a matter of time," he says, and laughs. Then he abruptly stops."The wall is gone."

Indeed, the wall behind them has disappeared again, replaced by a hallway that slowly slopes upwards out of sight.

"What do you mean? ... is that part of the thing that’s hunting you?" Chase asks, and then looks back towards the new hallway. He hesitates and looks at Jack with concern but then he's hurrying to run down the hall again.

Magnificent groans slightly then disappears after him.

Jack takes a deep breath, then follows.

The hallway slopes up, gradually, but at a steep enough angle that they can't make out what happens when it levels out at the top. Until, of course, they reach it. There is a stretch of level hallway, about fifty feet of flat tile. Until, at the other end, it starts sloping again. Standing near that downward slope, hands behinds its back, is Notarzt.

"Hallo," it says cheerfully. "Schön dich--" And then it stops. Its eye narrows as it looks at Jack. "You."

Chase pants and steps closer, eyes bright with power and electricity crackling around his fists. "Hey asshole! Don't look at him- look at me- the guy who's gonna punch your lights out if you don't give me back my brother RIGHT NOW!"

Notarzt blinks and refocuses its attention on Chase. "Oh, du willst deinen Bruder?" It steps to the side. "Hier ist er."

Alt is still bound tightly to the wheelchair, the cloth still in his mouth. From here Chase can see a myriad of cuts, bruises, and other injuries, including a set of stitches tracing his collarbone, sternum, and ribs. Notarzt keeps one hand on the chair, which is only a few inches from the sudden downward slope behind it.

Chase's bravado fades as he sees his broken brother, slumped over in the chair. "A-Anti...?"

Alt weakly lifts up his head and tries to focus. Everything sounds like its underwater. He blinks a couple times and then seems to straighten. His eyes widen. He shouts something against the cloth and tries to fight the straps again, tears in his eyes.

Now- Chase is angry. The tile beneath him cracks in a sudden burst of power. He pushes off from there and rushes at the doctor, eye alight with electric blue power and electricity crackling in his hands.

"Chase, wait--!" Jack starts to say, but it's too late.

Notarzt waits until Chase is right in front of it, then just before the moment of contact--it pushes the wheelchair back towards the downward slope of the hallway. Alt quickly disappears from sight.

"Ups!" it says--and then Chase slams it into the hallway ceiling, cracking the plaster and sending electricity sparking along its limbs. It simply laughs, blood staining the surgical mask it wears.

Magnificent watches as Notarzt tries to push Alt down the slope and he yells out and tries to summon some strings to stop him from going too far.

Chase yells as he sees Alt go out of view- sees as Alt tries to yell for him past his gag. Then, he slams the doctor even more into the wall, looking ready to put this thing out of its misery. "What the FUCK did you do?!"

Notarzt laughs harder, completely unthreatened by Chase's anger. It finds this whole thing delightful.

The strings barely manage to stretch far enough. They wrap around the wheels and stop the chair with a jolt. Jack sprints forward--right past the scene with Chase and Notarzt--and grabs the chair, pulling him back up. Good. It looks like a long way down, ending in a blank wall.

Chase roars in anger, punching and slamming Notarzt into the wall over and over and over, yelling in animistic rage.

Alt breathes heavily, confused tears in his eyes as he's stopped. He looks back at Jack as he helps him and then weakly tries to fight against the bindings again. To his surprise, Magnificent appears next to them and starts to cut Alt out with his claws.

"You're going to be okay, okay?" Jack says gently. "You're going to be okay now."

Alt nods numbly to Jack as he shakes in the chair. Magnificent gets through the straps and helps Alt up. Alt can hardly stand, the wounds on his legs flaring up in agony. He starts to fall and Mag manages to catch him, though he doesn't say anything.

Notarzt eventually stops laughing, realizing that it's only goading Chase on. It goes limp, letting this happen. With every slam blood starts to leak from the stitches on Notarzt's body and clothing.

"Fucking hell, Chase!" Jack shouts. "Stop trying to hurt the thing that doesn't feel pain and come help your brother!"

Chase finally lets go when he stops getting a reaction, letting the thing fall to the ground. He breathes heavily and then wipes his face off before rocketing down to the others. He takes Alt from Mag and looks him over, helping to remove the gag and running shaking fingers over the wounds on Alt and pushing his sweat soaked bangs away from his face. "Alt... Anti- o-oh my god... I'm so sorry- I'm so so sorry..!" He's crying now too, both relieved that he's got to Alt but terrified of the shape he's in.

Alt sways and then falls against Chase, whimpers of pain escaping his lips. Chase hurries to throw Alt's jacket over his shoulders and holds him tight, quickly going to pick him up in his arms.

"c..chase..." Alt slurs weakly, as if he can't believe he's actually here.

"I'm here baby bro... it's all gonna be okay..." Chase reassures quietly.

Magnificent hurries up to the two and lightly touches Alt's arm, "Alt- where the device? The TRVLR?"

Alt looks like he's having trouble keeping his eyes open as he slurs, "...dunno... dunno if i... i can glitch...s'mthin'stopped me..."

"That'd be this asshole, somehow," Jack says, gesturing at Notarzt.

"s'not just it..." Alt whispers, " m'phone... i tried to glitch through- but it just made so much n-noise- even scared it..." He blinks rapidly and leans against Bro.

Notarzt stands. It takes a needle and thread out of its pocket and starts touching up the stitches that Chase loosened. "Ja, ja, natürlich war ich es," it says dismissively. It looks at Jack again, its second eye opening partially, another bloodshot iris visible through stretched strings. "Und jetzt verschwinde aus meinem Haus. Raus aus meiner Stadt!"

"I'd love to get out of your city, but un-fucking-fortunately this guy probably needs real medical attention and new clothes as soon as possible," Jack says. "I guess you'll have to drop us off somewhere else."

What follows is rapid-fire angry German that not even a translation spell could have helped with. Notarzt turns to the side and--and was there always a door there? It points at it and says something in that same fast German, glaring at Jack the whole time.

"Thank you." Jack nods sharply. He looks at the others. "It really wants me out of here, so when we go through that door we'll leave this place."

Chase looks worried but he's not about to waste an opportunity like this. He picks up all of Alt's stuff and quietly reassures him, "We'll figure it out, Alt just- stay with us okay?" Chase glares at Notarzt as he readjusts Alt and then heads out the door, pausing to make sure Jack and Mag are behind him.

Mag looks annoyed- but he always does. He follows closely behind.

Jack stiffens a bit when Alt mentions the phone making noise. He glances around at the walls. Nothing. He takes a deep breath and walks through the door with the others.

They appear in an alleyway, scattered trash on the ground. Leaving the alleyway takes them to a street full of cars. The building on either side turns out to be a grocery store and some sort of haircutting business. But across the street is a hospital building--a small one, but recognizable because of the sign reading "St. Mark's Hospital." In English--so at least Notarzt didn't dump them in the middle of Germany.

There's also a phone on the sidewalk. Alt's phone. Evidently when Notarzt took it, it threw the phone out into the real world and it landed here.

Chase steps forward and almost steps on Alt's phone- but luckily he recognizes it. He frowns and picks it up and lays it down on top of Alt's chest with his ruined shirt. He checks on everyone then makes his way towards the hospital.

"Jesus- Are we really doing this? Risking staying longer here??" Magnificent whines, following after Chase.

"I don't know what that psycho did to Alt, Mag! I'm not risking him getting worse just cuz you made some bad fucking decisions-so if you wanna leave with us, Deal with it." The hero bites back with finality, enough to make Magnificent shut up at least.

Alt seems to be relaxing against Chase- but is also succumbing to the pain of all his injuries, eyes barely open as he pants against Chase's chest.

There's a crosswalk nearby. They have to wait a few seconds for the light to change, but after that they can hurry across and right into the hospital. There are a couple people in the waiting room, and a nurse in casual clothes behind a rounded reception desk. She looks up. "Hello there, will you be--oh my god!" Her spiel, neat and practiced in a posh British accent--is broken when she sees Alt in Chase's arms.

Chase hurries up to the desk, a wild desperate look in his eyes. "I need help for my brother, please! Anything you can give us!"

"A-alright." The nurse nods. She presses a button and speaks into an intercom. "Emergency team to the reception. Now, please."

Surprisingly quickly, a group of nurses and doctors appear from deeper in the hospital, bringing a gurney with them. "Sirs, if you would please follow us," one of them says, while another carefully takes Alt from Chase and lays him on the gurney.

Alt freaks out as the nurses try to take him, suddenly shouting out and trying to fight them, his eyes darting around in terror. "No nO! D-Don't touch me!!" He croaks desperately.

Chase hurries to his side and holds down his arm, helping him to lay down. "Alt please- they're going to help! I'll be right here next to you, okay?"

This seems to get Alt to calm down and Bro is quick to take Alt's hand as they hurry down the hall.

They begin going down the hall, with the same nurse asking Chase questions as they go, noting the answers on a clipboard. "What is the patient's name and gender? Do you know what happened? What is your relation--and you too, sirs? Do they have any allergies or medical conditions you know of?"

"S-Sorry uh... his name is Alt, male. He was taken by... by something. It hurt him but I don't know how. They're were in a hospital I think... he's my brother." Chase glances back at Jack and Mag, "These guys are... our friends. N-No allergies or medical conditions no... none that I can think of right now at least..."

The nurse looks confused when Chase mentions 'something,' but a couple of the doctors exchange glances. "We'll take good care of him, sir," one says. "Since you're family and the patient is reacting this way, would you like to be in the room for the examination? You'll need to wear gloves and a mask."

Chase quickly nods, "Y-Yes. I can do that, I just want to stay by him if I can."

"Great. Don't worry sir, you're all in good hands."