#im saddd tumblr wont let me do the chat text for anti >:C

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Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 11: SepticHeroes

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix 

Read Swapboys | Read Septicheroes | AO3 Link

Prologue | Switch | Stitched | PNPT | Septicheroes Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata  

  Jackie and Bro had been flying for a while. Jackie would never admit it, but he was starting to get tired. He settles down on the edge of a shingled roof for a moment and sighs, looking at the ground below. This is an area lined with shops. Lots of foot traffic. "Jameson used to live here, yknow," he says, pointing at one of the shops. "It was a family business. I mean, no one's taken over the building, but... sucks that he can't run it for now."

Bro touches down next to him and he looks tired as well. He shakes out his head and refluffs his hair under his hat. "Oh really? Why can't he work there now?"

Jackie sighs. "It's... complicated. I mentioned I was looking for a villain earlier. One we don't know anything about? Basically, he made JJ do some fucked-up stuff. Now the police and the League are after him so he and Schneep are hiding out. Oh yeah, did I mention they're cousins? I don't know if relationships are consistent across universes, since our Chase doesn't have a brother. Anyway. They're cousins here but neither of them can run the family business due to being, you know, wanted."

Bro's eyes widen. He shakes his head, "Yeah no.... our Schneep and jj- they're close but... not cousins."

Then, he gets a righteous look of fury in his eyes as he looks out. "...I get that. Magnificent did the same for my brother. Made him do fucked up shit. and Even though he was really disguised when he worked for him... Alt is convinced he needs to hide back home. He's afraid of getting caught... Even though it wasn't his fault! Mag tricked him- manipulated him... controlled him!" He grips his hands into fists. "... i don't get why- villains can just do that to someone...!"

Jackie lets out a huff of laughter. "Yeah... good and bad are complicated, but I know that hurting--manipulating--innocent people is terrible." He pauses. "Maybe your brother and JJ could talk about that stuff together. Maybe we can suggest that when we find him.”

"Heh... maybe- dunno how open he'd be about it though... he's a tough nut to crack. Our Dr. J knows that." Bro laughs.

Jackie pauses, squinting down at the street below. "Oh would you look at that. If that's what I think it is, it's perfect timing." He points at the street, where there's a flicker of green pixels on the sidewalk.

Bro blinks and looks down towards the street with a raised eyebrow.

In a fizzle of green blue pixels, Alt skids out onto the road and then heaves a bit, bending over his knees. "Goddamnit- why is this city so big??" Then, there's a shadow over him as Bro whoops and then divebombs his brother in a huge hug. "Alt!!"

Alt yelps in surprise and then pushes off of Bro and glitches away. "Jesus Christ Chase!" He acts mad for a second then slowly laughs. "You know for a flying hero- you're pretty tough to find-"

Jackie laughs as he sees Bro divebomb his apparent brother, a few pedestrians scattering to give him room to maneuver. They all look unsure at first, until Jackie flies down and starts making casual small talk with the pair. At which point they relax and go about their business... or stay to watch.

"You're pretty tough to find, too. Alt, right?" Jackie holds out a hand. "I'm Windstorm. No real names with all these people around, but you met some friends of mine so you should know it anyway, hahah."

Both the boys look a bit startled at the fact they just said each other's names out loud and look around at the apparent crowd they attracted. Alt hides in his jacket for a second, covering up his face. Then, he blinks and drops it to study Windstorm. He narrows his eyes and tries to think of who this reminds him of, before his eyes widen. Then he laughs, "No fucking way-" And he takes Jackie's hand to shake it. "Well, Windstorm, nice to meet ya!"

"Yeah!! Isn't it cool!!" Bro grins, stimming a bit. "Dude!! Heroes are apparently everywhere here! There's even a league!"

"Yeah i heard-" Alt laughs with a shake of his head.

Now Bro notices Alt's hair color and mask and he gasps, "Alt!! Whats with the costume change- is that a hero outfit??"

Alt immediately blushes- "N-No! No- i uh.. I'm just trying to you know- blend in! The others mentioned it might be good to..." He looks away, embarrassed but trying not to show it.

Jackie glances back and forth between them. Then smiles at Alt. "Well I think you look super cool, dude!...That was unintentional, I promise." He giggles. "Seriously though, you'd look right at home in a comic book. Right, Bro?"

"Hell yeah dude! It's awesome! We can totally make a cool uniform for you back at home too! If that's what you want!" Bro is bouncing on his feet with excitement.

Alt still looks sheepish but he laughs quietly and looks back at them. "I'll... think about it." But then he sighs, "... we can't get too comfy though, Bro. We need to try to find Magnificent before he gets someone around here seriously hurt." Alt looks back at Jackie, "... the others mentioned someone called uhhh" He quickly finger spells out the name M-A-R-V-I-N. "and i.... i think that could be Mag's target if i had to guess... do you know where he might be?"

"Oh shit, right, you guys gotta get home." Jackie had been so caught up in knowing new supers that he forgot they had to go back to their home dimension. "Uh--hang on, let's get to somewhere less crowded." He glances around. Most of the onlookers have moved on by now, so he turns to the shop he pointed out to Chase earlier. The sign reads Jackson Legacy Crafts. "Come on, in here." He takes a key out of his pocket, mutters "I knew I had that in there" and unlocks the front door.

Bro and Alt share a look and then nod, following Jackie inside.

"Jackson crafts huh...? Guessing JJ owns this-" Alt muses as he looks around.

"Yeah, I was just telling your brother about this place. JJ doesn't run it right now, I don't know if he told you about the situation with... why he's staying somewhere else, but suffice to say he can't right now."

Alt nods, "Yeah- they mentioned a bit about it. About that villain that can use tech and stuff. that super sucks..."

The interior of the shop is basically empty, floor collecting dust. The back wall is the only thing that gives any indication that it was once used. Framed family photographs--and one poster of a super called Timekeeper--decorate the wall behind the counter.

"Okay," Jackie says. "I promised Chase--my Chase--that I'd call him once we found you, keep him updated. Actually, I'll FaceTime him so he can see you guys." Jackie takes his phone out of his pocket, still talking. "Anyways, nice to meet you, Alt! That glitching thing you do is really cool, I love how it looks."

Alt blinks and then looks bashful again at Jackie's compliments but he does grin slightly. "Oh! Thanks! And you're- god, I can't believe you're Jackie...! our Jackie can do cool stuff but i think he'd break every bone in his body trying to be a superhero." He laughs and Bro can't help but join in, nodding. "Yeah- we used to be mates in uni- but i re-met him trying to save his neck doing a dangerous parkour move."

Jackie laughs. "God, I can see myself doing that. I really can. The only reason I haven't broken my neck doing stupid stunts is because I can fly. Hell, sometimes I still get hurt." As he talks, he dials Chase's number. It rings for a while. Then it picks up, showing Chase's face. "Hey bro, did you find one of the other guys?"

"Yoooou bet!" Jackie turns the phone so all three of the guys are in shot. "Look at us all!"

Alt grins and then glitches a bit before waving. "Hi! I'm Alt!" Bro grins and wraps an arm around Alt and then gives him a noogie, even as Alt tries to glitch to get him off.

Chase laughs. "Hey, nice to meet you! My brother in another universe, apparently. Hey, since the other-me got to meet him, here's Frosty." Frosty shoves his head into frame. "And also since he keeps trying to get on my lap.”

Alt smiles, “Aw cute!” He’s a lot better around dogs now then he used to be.

“Anyway. What're you guys gonna do now? You have some villain to find, right?"

"Yeah." Jackie nods and looks back at the brothers. "You guys know more about him than me, what d'you think he'll do?"

Alt’s eyes darken and he nods. “Yeah… knowing Mag- he’s either gonna try to find a crazy big power source to drain… or he’s gonna go after this universe’s version of him… and try to kill him. Or drain him- or both.”

“Why he got such a grudge against himself is beyond me.” Bro mutters.

Alt shrugs, “self esteem issues I guess. But- that’s what he’s been aiming to do for the last couple of worlds.” He looks back at Jackie. “That’s why I think we should probably find Marvin… make sure he’s okay. I’m really hoping Mag has stayed knocked out for while but… I know we’re not usually that lucky.”

"Marvin?" Jackie blinks. "We know a Marvin. I--you guys probably know that by now, I don't remember if I told you but maybe JJ and Schneep did. I, uh... don't know where Marvin is, though. He's never told us where he lives. Or what he does, mostly. He has some trust issues, to be honest--"

Alt raises an eyebrow at this but then shrugs, “I guess I get that…”

“You were kinda like that when we first met-“ Bro quips.

“Only cuz I was being used and controlled by a cat bitch every other day.” Alt deadpans back. Bro shuts up.

"Hang on, bro, the messenger's going again," Chase interrupts. If the guys listen closely, they can hear the sound of pen against paper.

"Really? Okay, maybe JJ and Schneep figured something out, then." Jackie looks back at the others. "While that's going on. What do you mean by drain?"

Alt meets Jackie’s eyes and hums, “well- in our world. He’s a dark magician- and dark magic is serious shit. People who use it constantly are always looking for more power- and Mag can steal that power from other magicians or… what you guys call super humans. Or if he’s desperate- even take the life force of someone… taking out all their energy until they’re just a husk and converts that into magic power.” Alt shudders at this before continuing. “…I don’t know if he even can though here… life force maybe but… magic? I’m not sure… that exists here- from what I’m hearing.”

“That doesn’t mean he won’t try though,” Bro adds darkly.

Alt nods. “Yeah he’s ridiculously stubborn… and is convinced he needs to drain power from every world he can get his claws on. Mad quest for power and knowledge- you know- classic villain shit.”

Jackie is silent, pale beneath his mask. On the other end, Chase is also silent. "What the fuck..." Jackie whispers. "That's... that's different than an absorber or copycat... Those guys can't kill anyone. That's... that's fucked up."

"Supremely fucked up," Chase agrees. "Uh... to change the subject really quick. The message is done." He holds up a note in front the screen, then puts it down before anyone can read it. "Marvin's at the safehouse. He's freaking out because... well what do you know?" Chase laughs darkly. "Because he had some encounter with a weird absorber who kind of looked like him."

"Shit," Jackie curses. "Is... is he alright?"

"Message doesn't say. And we can't just ask them, you know that."

Alt and Bro don’t reply but their expressions reflect their grim acceptance. Alt’s eyes glow with anger as he hears the description. “Yeah… that’s probably him.”

"We should get to the safehouse fast, then," Jackie says.

"Yep. I'll hang up now so you can do that. Good luck guys." And with that, Chase is gone.

"Okay. You two. This is going to sound a bit weird," Jackie says. "How good are you guys with tunnels?"

Alt seems a bit nervous about the tunnels, “uhhh… depends on if it’s narrow or not. I don’t do good in… tight spaces.”

“I can handle a tunnel, I think.” Bro responds.

"I don't think it's too narrow?" Jackie says. "It's about the size of one of those underground maintenance tunnels. If that doesn't sound good, you can teleport to the safe house where Schneep and JJ are, you know where it is. Bro, I'll definitely be taking you to the tunnel entrance. It looks like a sewer entrance through a manhole, but it's not. It's also not suspicious to see heroes going underground, so don't worry about that. For all anyone knows, we're tracking down some arms dealers down there. We're going to take it to the safe house."

Alt frowns and then sighs, “it’ll be fine- I gotta save up my glitches anyways…”

Bro wraps an arm around Alt and grins, giving Jackie a thumbs up. “Alright! Let’s do this then~”

"Okay." Jackie nods. "Stay close to me. I'll show you where it is. It might be a bit of a walk, so be prepared for that." And with that, he leaves the shop.

Alt grumbles, “yayyy walking.” Bro nudges him with an eye roll before dragging him after Jackie.

-----------

It is not normal hospital policy to let someone go immediately after the SDER department treats them. But Magnificent has his ways. He walks out only about forty-five minutes after being admitted. The burn pain has not faded entirely but it has significantly lessened.

Magnificent had convinced the doctors that he was healed enough to leave so he staggers out of the hospital, thinking of all the ways he’s ready to tear that orange masked kitten apart. Wounding him that much, humiliating him! He was going to pay in the most painful way possible. Now… he just had to find him. …but how?

He's barely out of the hospital car park when something floats out of an alleyway toward him. It's... a flying robot, like the one back in the office building. But slightly different. This one is larger, about soccer-ball-sized, and completely black. The camera in the center fixes on Magnificent's face. A ring around it spins, revealing a set of speakers. "Where did you come from?" a computerized voice asks... a voice that almost sounds like a robotic version of Alt's voice, like someone used samples for the voiceback.

Magnificent jumps slightly and then he narrows his eyes at the robot. He opens up a hand just in case he needs to summon some magic as he eyes it down. “…I could ask you the same thing. What are you?”

"This is merely a device for communication," the voice says. "Called a Semi-Autonomous Machine. The fact that you haven't heard of it is suspicious. As is the fact that you appeared out of nowhere in the East SepTech location.”

Magnificent chuckles and eyes the machine. “Well- very clever. I guess machines here are far more advanced than I had anticipated.”

“Your face is not registered anywhere. Or, it is, but that cannot be you, because Spitfire Cat was there in person with you. My only conclusion is that you either come from somewhere very isolated, or you are not from this world at all."

“Spitfire cat huh… well at least I have some kind of identifier now.” Mag crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at the SAM. “So- your machines have caught me. But- you must have something else in mind for you to approach me outright. Who are you? And what do you want?”

"I prefer to remain anonymous," the voice says. "It has been my greatest strength so far. But if you must call me something, you may call me... Anti. I think that will suffice. As for what I want... I imagine you are planning to go after the man who burned you, are you not? I wish to lend my aid. It would be to my advantage if him--and others he associates with--were eliminated."

Magnificent’s eyes light up with mad glee. Ah… another Alt seeking his aid. How amusing… He smirks and shows off glowing eyes. “Is that so? Well then… I suppose we have a partnership then, Anti. Catch me up on what I need to know… and I can get rid of these pests for you.” Usually he’d ask for more in return- but the thought of revenge is too sweet to turn down. Besides… he’ll get his worth from this he’s sure.

The SAM's peripheral flicks like a tail. "There are four of them. Technically five, though the fifth is not a threat. You have already met Marvin Nedra, the Spitfire Cat, and his solid-heat energy that he forms into shapes and beams. The others are Chase Brody, who is but a normal human, Jackie Skye, who can fly and control air, Henrik von Schneeplestein, who can become invisible and intangible at will, and Jameson Jackson, who can produce strings to control other's bodies. Those last two are currently hiding somewhere I cannot find, some sort of safe house. Marvin is likely to head there as well after you absorbed his power. But if you wish, I can locate the other two easily. I've also armed this SAM with minor combat capabilities, if you require aid."

Mag can’t help but look impressed. “Your knowledge of your enemies is impressive, Anti. And very straight to the point.” He grins. “Send me to one of them and I can track down the other annoyances- I assure you. I’m sure my own are probably teaming up as we speak…”

A moment passes in silence. "Okay. I believe we should take out the weakest link. Chase is at the apartment building 88 Parker Street, in flat number 1010. If he is in danger, the others will come running. It kills time. The building is in that direction." The SAM's peripheral points down the street.

Magnificent chuckles darkly. “I like the way you think. Consider it done.” He sends a little cheeky salute at the SAM’s camera then starts to teleport down the path they indicated.

The SAM dips, like it's nodding its head. Anti says nothing as Mag disappears. The SAM merely rises into the sky and moves in that same direction.

-----------

There is a trapdoor in the hallway of the safe house. A knocking noise comes from it, and Schneep hurries over, opening it up. "I was wondering when you would get here," he says.

Jackie floats out of the trapdoor. There's a ladder, but he decides not to use it. "Sorry it took a while," he says. "But hey! We found these guys."

Bro follows Jackie’s lead and also floats out. Alt glitches up and then shakes himself out, grumbling. Bro laughs and then waves, “Hi guys! I’m Chase! Or Bro Fantastic~! Whichever you wanna use!” He beams.

Schneep jumps a little when Bro flies out, then laughs. “I see, I see. The resemblance is truly uncanny. Ah, Bro would probably be less confusing for me.”

Bro laughs and nods, "Fair enough!"

Alt half heartedly waves at Schneep. “Hey again-“

Schneep nods at Alt. “Good to see you again. I’m glad you found your brother.”

“Marvin is here, right?” Jackie says. “We need to ask him about the guy he ran into.”

“Yes, he and Jameson are in the living room.”

The group moves down the hall to the room in question. JJ is sitting on the sofa with a man in a white, orange, and red costume. He quickly puts his cat-shaped mask on when he sees Bro and Alt, but for a split second before, they saw his face, and it was familiar. “Whaaat the fuuuck…” He whispers upon seeing them.

Alt and Bro blink at the cat masked man and then Bro can't help but laugh, "Yeah that's a fair reaction!" He smiles, "Hi Marvin! I'm Bro Fantastic!"

"..m'Alt-" Alt mumbles then steps up, "Chase told us your message- can you tell us more about who attacked you?"

“Uhhhh… right.” Marvin is still clearly a bit weirded out by this, but he moves on. “Alright. I was in the East SepTech building—”

“Wait, what?” Jackie interrupts. “Why?”

“Becaaaause that McLoughlin guy is sketchy and you know it.”

“He is not. He’s just a bit weird.”

Alt and Bro exchange looks- wasn't McLoughlin Mag's former last name?

“I really don’t want to get into this with you right now,” Marvin says, looking like he very much wanted to get into it, “so I’ll just move on. Anyway. While I was looking around for… something, this guy appeared who… looked like me? If my face was all scarred up. He grabbed my wrist and… and I felt really terrible. Like my life was being sucked out of me. So I got out of there. I think I hit him with one of these on the way out, though.” He holds up his hand, and a small red ball of light appears, giving off a significant amount of heat. “A-anyway, he can teleport so I thought he’d follow me but I guess I hit him really good.”

Alt's expression darkens, "Yup... definitely Mag-" Then his eyes widen as he sees Marvin's power. "Oh woah-"

Bro laughs, delighted. "Oh! Sick power! I hope you made that motherfucker feel it~!"

Marvin gives a small little smile. “He really didn’t seem happy with what happened, I’ll tell you that much.” He curls his hand into a fist and the ball disappears. “JJ’s been filling me in on this whole multiverse thing. So that guy actually was me from another world, then?”

Alt slightly chuckles before nodding. "uh... yeah. His name is Magnificent. Formerly Marvin McLoughlin. Though- say that around him and he'll kill you. He's... bad news. And... if he knows you're this world's him... he's gonna try to go after you again... and probably do much worse than he already has."

“Not… happy to hear he’ll be back for me. Felt like shit after he did whatever… absorbing that was. But I’d be glad to give him a piece of my fucking mind.” Marvin replies.

"Yeah... he drains powers- or life forces if he's desperate... it's not fun... sorry he put you through that," Alt mutters.

“If we all look for him, we could overpower him, probably,” Jackie says. “Just through numbers alone.”

JJ frowns. You want me to help?

Jackie pauses. “Only if you want to, of course,” he says in a quieter voice.

“Bro, Alt, what are Magnificent’s powers?” Schneep asks. “We must be prepared if we are to help you confront him. Which, if he is looking for Marvin, we will eventually.”

Bro makes a thinking face, "uhhh what does Alt call it- freaking mind control bullshit-"

"Mental magic..." Alt sighs, "He can overpower the mind... hypnotism used to batter defenses- he can control you- turn you into puppets. Or.. if he has enough time... even turn you into a pet." He shudders, and in the dim light, the others can see Alt's eyes are almost reflective, like a cat's. "He can also summon other magic... fire usually- sometimes electricity. But, he'll aim to take someone down in his power first. Oh and- you saw, he can teleport, too."

JJ flinches when Alt mentions puppets, but he says nothing. And before either of the brothers can bring it up, Marvin says, “How many fucking powers did he absorb?”

“Marvin, no, he is not an absorber,” Schneep says. “Those are just his powers.”

Marvin blinks. “I’m sorry? What the fuck?”

“They are from different universes, the rules must be different there, I already had the breakdown you are going to have,” Schneep says tiredly. “Do not get me started on Alt’s technopathy and teleportation and fucking… spell circles.” He points at Bro. “I do not know what your powers are but I will bet they are just as confusing.”

Bro looks at Alt who just shrugs in response. “It might be a magic thing- magicians are close to being Jack-of-all-trades- some are expected to be even if they’re not made for it. Some specialize but… the circle likes a wide variety of powers under their belt.”

Bro thinks, “uhhh I think- I can kinda control the energy in my body- and I got an abundance of it! If I wanna run fast, I push it in my legs. If I wanna punch hard- I put into my fists! Flying… is kinda just something I’ve been able to do right away- but maybe it has something to do with that. Oh! And I can kinda use electricity and do like a cool electric bullet thing- but I hear it hurts like a bitch so I try not to use it too much.”

“Well in that case I guess the suggestion I was about to make about using Windstorm’s neutrinalin probably wouldn’t work,” Marvin says.

“I don’t want to use that anymore anyway,” Jackie says.

Alt hums, thinking. “…we’re still trying to figure out what we can use to stop him… usually- the rules of magic would stop him but he’s cheated the system. All I know is- Bro’s his biggest threat but we aren’t sure exactly why.”

“It’s cuz I’m a hero, duh! That’s just a law of the universe!” Bro laughs. Then the hero blinks, “What’s Neutrinalin?”

"Oh, it's a chemical that will muffle supers' powers when it's injected or consumed," Jackie says, sounding like he's quoting a textbook. "The League controls the making and distributing of it. I, uh... don't use it anymore because..." He glances at JJ and Schneep. "Well, uh... I didn't realize there could be... side effects. A-and even though the side effects don't appear for a while I... still don't... like to use it... after seeing them." He clears his throat. "Anyway, your powers are really cool, Bro. Sounds handy."

"I don't like this Magnificent's lack of weaknesses," Marvin mutters. "I mean... I probably could still blast his head off but--I mean, that's a last resort sort of thing."

Alt shudders, holding his arm. "I mean... that might could work but... he's also as hard to kill as a cockroach. and yeah- I dunno what will happen... if we did that." He looks anxious thinking about it.

"Also I don't kill, " Bro says with finality. "It's wrong. Magnificent has done awful things but... killing isn't the answer. Even if we don't have a name to his weakness.. it's something I can do- or Alt. Ive seen him able to neutralize Mag... he just doesn't get his powers as well yet."

"Not to mention we do not know what will happen to Bro and Alt's universe if all three of them do not return," Schneep says. "It may cause problems."

🎶 Dadada da dadada da dadada daa daa 🎶 Jackie jumps, surprised, then slowly settles back down to the ground and takes out his phone. "Uh... sorry..."

"You brought a phone here?!" Marvin gapes at him. "Did you not listen to Kanchana's safe house rules at all?!"

"Hey, there was no time to drop it off, I was concerned about you, dickwad!"

"Well thank you, prick."

Don't worry, they're not actually that mad, JJ says to Bro and Alt.

Bro smirks a bit, "Yeah no i get it- me and Alt bicker like that all the time."

Alt looks at Jackie, "...who'd be calling you here...?" for some reason, dread is starting to bloom in his gut. He has a bad feeling....

"It's Chase," Jackie says. "Which is weird, because he knows he shouldn't call me at the safe house." He pauses, also feeling that same bad feeling Alt has.

"Well... maybe it's an emergency." He picks up the call.