#programmer anti

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Worth the Risk

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

As I write this description, I am EXTREMELY tired. So forgive me if I skip the usual chat about the chapter writing process and go straight to the summary fhsdjakl After sneaking into the IRIS facility last chapter, the guys wait to see if the proof they found is able to drive IRIS out of Mirygale so they can return. Meanwhile, Distorter appears again with a vague statement: Return to Mirygale now, or else. The group debates what to do. Enjoy! :D

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

———————

“I didn’t even know Internet cafes still existed,” Jackie said, leaning close to the computer monitor. “In the year 2019? Who even uses these places?”

“You’d be surprised,” Anti said, calmly scanning the website he’d pulled up. “Not everyone has reliable Internet or access to a computer or smartphone. Even in this day and age. Case in point: we’re here.”

“Well... we kinda have... special circumstances.” Jackie glanced around as he said that. The cafe was pretty empty around them, except for a couple teenagers gathered around one monitor and a couple scattered adults each with their own computer. The monitors are lined up on long tables, and the air is hot from all of the running CPUs, the scent of coffee at war with the smell of electronics. A cloudy afternoon sky lets in little light through the wide windows.

“Fair enough,” Anti muttered. He frowned, not satisfied with what he was seeing, and opened up another webpage in another tab.

“Whoa, how’d you just do that?!” Jackie gasped.

Anti couldn’t help but laugh a little. “If you click a link with the middle mouse button, it opens it in another tab in most computers.”

“Middle mouse button?”

“The scroll wheel. I’m surprised you don’t know any of this.” Anti grinned. “If you click the scroll wheel on a blank page, you can also get this smooth scrolling thing. Watch.” He did just that, moving the mouse up and down. The webpage scrolled in accordance with the movement.

“God, you’re a wizard,” Jackie mumbled.

Anti laughed louder. “I’m not. I just picked up a lot of stuff from experience.” The smile faded from his face as he actually read the webpage now. “Hm... no news about IRIS here, either.”

“I’m not surprised,” Jackie said. “It’s only been a day since we sent the footage.”

Yesterday, Anti and Jack had gone to the library to use their computers, spending the whole afternoon uploading the footage from the camera to a hard drive that the group had bought during the tech-buying spree a few days ago. From there, they sent the raw footage to various news sources. Just about as many as they could find before the library closed. They also printed out screenshots, copied photos, did just about everything they could to get backups, and this morning Jack and Stacy had gone to send packets of the physical copies to other news sources. They also sent both digital and physical copies to the Mirygale police, since Detective Kikelomo had said she’d start an investigation into IRIS.

This all might’ve been a bit overkill, but none of them wanted to take chances. They knew that some news places might think the whole thing was a big prank. But they needed someone to take them seriously. Otherwise, IRIS would still be a threat.

“Y’know... have you thought that... maybe this plan won’t work?” Jackie whispered, not wanting to say it out loud. “I mean, just because IRIS’s experiments might be exposed, it doesn’t guarantee they’ll forget about us.”

“...Yeah, I know,” Anti agreed, his voice just as quiet. “But the plan’s not to take them down forever. We just need to get them to leave us alone long enough for us to deal with Distorter. And like... these guys seem like the type to avoid taking risks. That detective lady is probably our best bet. If IRIS knows that a city is onto them, they’ll pull out, at least for a little bit.”

Jackie nodded. “I guess that’s all true.” He laughed a little. “Good thing Schneep ran into her, right?”

“Hrm.” Anti grumbled wordlessly.

“What?” Jackie looked at him, rolling his desk chair a bit closer to Anti’s. “What is it? You don’t like her?”

“No, it’s not just that.” Anti shook his head. “It’s just that... She happened to be in town? The town that’s at least an hour’s drive from where she lives? In the exact same shop that Volt and Jackson went to? At the exact moment the two of them went out? It’s a bit suspicious, isn’t it?”

Jackie blinked. “Well, look at it this way. Why would she plan to be there? What sort of nefarious scheme required her to run into Schneep and promise to investigate IRIS for him?”

“I dunno. Maybe IRIS hired her.”

“Well if they did, it’s a good thing we sent the recordings and photos to people besides Rachel,” Jackie pointed out. “Besides. I don’t think that’s IRIS’s style, anyway. They’re a lot more... direct.”

“...true,” Anti admitted. He opened another tab on the browser and typed in another address. “So... what if it was Distorter? We know he doesn’t have to be nearby to...” He trailed off. “Y-you know. To... do his thing.”

Jackie shuddered. “That’s true. But Schneep and JJ are very experienced in spotting the signs of Distorter’s control. It’s not exactly subtle. They would’ve realized she was different.”

“...yeah.” Anti nodded slowly. He was quiet for a minute, searching through the site he’d pulled up. Then he whispered, “Thanks.”

“Thanks?” Jackie repeated, confused.

“For, uh... keeping me grounded, I guess,” Anti mumbled. “I have... problems with that.”

Jackie was silent. Then he nodded. “No problem.”

They continued to read and search for a while, but after about an hour, they had to give up. It seemed like one day wasn’t enough time for news to arrive. It also didn’t help that they were being charged every thirty minutes for using the computer. The two of them paid for their time in cash, then headed out onto the street.

“The library didn’t charge me and Jack for using their stuff,” Anti muttered. “And we had to use their special computers with editing software and shit.”

“Well the whole point of the library is to offer things for no cost,” Jackie pointed out. “An Internet cafe is not the same. We could’ve just gone to the library again, you know.”

“No. They might’ve realized I was there two days in a row,” Anti said stubbornly. 

“I don’t think the library cares about how often people visit,” Jackie laughed. “In fact, I think they’d be delighted to see you there so often. That’s probably good for, uh... numbers, or whatever.”

Anti grumbled some more. “I just don’t want to stand out. I already look pretty distinct. Even though the streaks in my hair are really fading.”

“You’ll be fine,” Jackie said, nudging him. “But if you’re really so concerned, that cafe didn’t cost that much, really.”

Anti grunted noncommittally. 

They walked down the street until they reached the bus stop. It was a nice bus stop, actually. There was a little metal structure with a bench inside and plants on the roof—a good way to bring some green to the otherwise dull gray urban landscape. Jackie checked the schedule hanging on the inside of the stop. “Alright, if all goes well, the bus will be here in five minutes,” Jackie said. “Probably closer to six.”

“Cool.” Anti folded his arms and leaned against one of the metal support poles. He idly watched the few cars going down the street, eyes flicking back and forth.

Jackie sat down on the bench. “So... uh, how have things been?”

“I dunno.” Anti shrugged. “Same as you, really. How have things been with you?”

“Well... I’ve been worried about Marvin,” Jackie said. “The whole, you know... ‘time freeze having an effect on him’ thing...” He sighed. “He’s been acting weird since then, have you seen it?”

“Not really...” Anti started to say, then trailed off. “I mean... I guess a little. He’s been kinda quiet, maybe?”

Jackie nodded. “Yeah, that! He’s not really talking to anyone that much. Even JJ. I wonder what’s going on.”

“He’s probably having some existential shit,” Anti said. “That’s what always happens in time travel stories. Or to people with time manipulation powers. You start to wonder about the nature of stuff. And in Marvin’s case, do you think that if Volt and Jackson hadn’t been with him, he’d have just disappeared?”

Jackie shuddered. “I don’t want to think about that!”

Anti grinned. “When I was younger, I wasn’t much for reading, but there was this one series I remember very distinctly about time travel. One character could pause time, though as the story went on she began to lose control of the ability and could only stay in the normal flow of time by holding onto another character. She ended up defeating the villain by letting go of the second character, grabbing onto the bad guy, and disappearing into a void together. Then her molecules pulled apart and she disappeared from the timeline.”

“Jesus fucking hell!” Jackie blinked. “How old were you when you read that? Cause if you were a kid, that’s pretty dark and intense!”

“I thought it was cool.” Anti chuckled. “Besides, kids love that dark shit. But yeah... I wouldn’t let Will read that series until he was at least thirteen. Wish I could remember the name of the books, though.”

“I-I-I really hope that sort of thing wouldn’t happen to Marvin...” Jackie muttered.

Anti blinked. “Well, I’m sure... I’m sure it wasn’t like that. From what he told us when you all got back, I bet... I-I bet he would’ve just snapped out of the spell.” He hunched his shoulders. “...sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

“No, it’s fine, really!” Jackie said hurriedly. “I just... it’s not what you said, it’s just me being all anxious and stuff.” He smiled at him hesitantly. “I’m sure Marvin would’ve been fine too. JJ seemed to think he would be... eventually.”

“Yeah. Jackson’s the magic expert, listen to him.” Anti nodded. He continued to watch the cars, his vision blurring a little as his eyes lost focus. “I don’t think we should use that spell again, though. Unless we really have to.”

“Oh yeah, no, definitely,” Jackie agreed. “I think Marvin’s been a bit scared off from experimenting with his cards for a while... which is actually... kind of sad, I think. I mean, he seems to really like those cards. I guess cause they’re a connection to his life before Distorter got involved. Though that’s just me guessing, of course. I-I mean, aren’t they also the reason he got transported to this time in the first place?”

Anti didn’t answer. Something was... off. He’d seen something on the other side of the road. But when he tried to focus on it, he couldn’t quite make it out. In fact... he couldn’t quite make anything out. It all felt so... distant all of a sudden.

This immediately put him on alert—but even that alert felt distant. “Jackie,” he said quietly. “Something’s wrong.”

“Huh?” Jackie looked over at Anti. His eyes widened and he gasped. “Anti! Your eyes are bleeding!”

Anti inhaled sharply, wanting to feel more distressed from that news than he actually was. He reached up and touched his face. A single drop of blood had fallen from one eye, tracing down his cheek. “He’s here.”

Jackie shot to his feet. “W-we have to get out of here!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you guys, I had a dream about him,” Anti said idly.

“What?! Why didn’t you say anything?!”

“It, uh... felt private,” Anti said slowly.

Jackie threw his hands in the air, exasperated. “I’d be more mad if I didn’t know you and your habits. Come on!” He grabbed Anti by the arm and pulled him out of the bus stop. Anti stumbled, trying to run but having difficulty, his body feeling disconnected from his mind.

The thing on the other side of the street laughed. “Don’t worry... I’m not really here,” said a voice.

Jackie froze for a moment. Then stiffened and started to run down the street, pulling Anti behind him.

“Not even going to listen to me, are you?” Distorter made a tut-tut sound. It wasn’t clear where his voice was coming from. It was just... there. “That’s not fair, Jackie.”

“H-hey! Leave him fucking alone!” Anti shook his head, trying to push past the fog. He focused on the grip Jackie had on his arms, on the way the air passed through his nose and mouth. Things started to come a bit more into view. Focus! He wouldn’t let this bitch control him! “What are you even doing here?! Just fucking with us?!”

“I wanted to tell you something,” Distorter said.

“Don’t listen!” Jackie continued to pull Anti down the street, but Distorter’s voice remained around them.

“Maybe it’s better to say, I want to warn you,” Distorter continued. “I’m starting to miss you guys, you know? I think you should hurry back. Or else... something might happen.”

Anti stopped. Jackie tried to keep running, and yanked Anti’s arm painfully in the process. “Ow! Fuck!”

“Sorry!” Jackie stopped as well, glancing back at Anti apologetically. “But—what are you doing?! He can’t actually do anything, you know!”

Distorter laughed. “I can do a whole lot. Just because you guys are far away doesn’t mean I’m powerless. For every day you don’t come back, something will happen. I’ll be generous. You’ll get to have the rest of this day. Then, tomorrow morning, something will happen... and it will be all your fault.”

And then, abruptly, everything shifted. Anti blinked, finding himself once again aware and present in the world. He shook his head, then looked at Jackie. Jackie stared back with wide eyes. “He can’t... mean that, right?” Jackie whispered. “It has to be a bluff.”

Anti just stared back, a grim expression on his face. “We have to tell the others.”

———————

“Why the fuck didn’t you tell us about that dream?!” Jack, usually pretty calm, seemed kind of pissed by this news. Anti and Jackie had gathered everyone up in the apartment’s living room, telling them about Distorter’s sudden appearance—and Anti told them all about the dream he had with him. “I was literally right there! I checked on you! Opportune moment to say something!”

It does seem like something we should’ve known, JJ added tentatively.

“Look, we had more stuff to think about after that,” Anti said. “We had the whole IRIS time freeze shit to deal with. It kinda just slipped my mind. Besides,” He looked at Jack. “I wasn’t going to say anything in front of Will. I know he’s a strong kid, but he’s still a kid. It would freak him out to hear I had a dream where Distorter tried to claw my throat out.”

Jameson shuddered, his hand going up towards his own throat. Marvin, sitting on the sofa next to him, patted his shoulder comfortingly. 

“Well... yeah, that makes sense,” Jack mumbled. “Sorry. I just... that seems really important.”

“I can’t believe him hearing about me upset him so much,” Stacy said, looking off to the side thoughtfully. “Well... actually, I can believe it, since it sounded like you just kept pushing him. That wasn’t the smartest thing to do.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I wasn’t exactly thinking rationally,” Anti said. “Maybe some part of me wanted to get under his fucking nerves, even.”

“...probably not the best idea,” Jackie said, agreeing with Stacy.

“Look, can we focus on the most recent problem?” Anti asked. “The guy tried to threaten us. He basically said ‘come back to Mirygale or else.’”

“Or else what?” Rama asked. “Is he going to attack us?”

“If he is, it will not be physically,” Schneep muttered. “Even though he cannot be hurt by most things, we still outnumber him by a great deal. As long as we are all together, he cannot hurt our bodies. Our minds, however...”

“Do you think he’ll go for the kids again?” Jackie asked quietly, glancing down the hall towards the bedroom where Will and Michelle were. The adults had asked them to stay out of this conversation, saying it was ‘grown-up stuff.’ Will hadn’t really been happy about not being included, but he went with it. Michelle was just happy she could make him play with her while the adults talked.

“I... don’t know,” Anti admitted in the same quiet tone. “There’s always a chance. Or there’s a chance he’ll use his powers on us. Like... what happened with you, Jackie, that day at the park.”

Jackie shivered, and Rama walked over to his chair, putting their hands on his shoulders. “We won’t let that happen again,” they said.

What he’s planning to do doesn’t really matter, I think, JJ said. What matters is if we’ll cave to this demand to return back to Mirygale. We still don’t know if it’s safe there. IRIS might swoop in and grab us. In fact, for all we know, Distorter might WANT them to do that!

“That’s crazy,” Jackie said. “IRIS is very interested in Distorter, I don’t think he’d want to risk a run-in with a potential enemy.”

“Well... he definitely took advantage of me being locked in there,” Anti muttered.

“That is different, though,” Schneep said. “That is merely making the best of a bad situation... er, the best for him I mean. I agree with Jackie, I do not think Distorter would go out of his way to get IRIS involved.”

“Yeah!” Jackie nodded. “I don’t know what IRIS’s plans are for Distorter and the house on Aspen Street, but knowing what we know now, it can’t be good. At very best, they’ll hurt a lot of people by throwing them into the house’s weird pocket dimension. Distorter knows that and wouldn’t risk it.”

Do you think IRIS is powerful enough to contain him? Jameson asked.

“Yeah, what do you think, Jackie?” Stacy asked. “You, uh... have the biggest history with them.”

Jackie bit his lip, looking momentarily ashamed of his past decision. “...maybe. They’d struggle with it, and I can definitely see him escaping a few times and causing damage along the way, but he’s still just one guy, you know? IRIS has him beat on numbers alone. And... I think they’re trying to prepare for anomalies like him.” He glanced at Schneep.

Schneep folded his arms and glanced to the side. “That is true...”

“Maybe we could pit them against each other somehow.” Anti grinned.

JJ tilted his head. If IRIS caught Distorter, maybe they would leave the rest of us alone...

“I... don’t think they would,” Stacy said slowly. “I mean... you guys have magic and stuff. I don’t think they’d forget about that so easily.”

Jameson’s shoulders slumped. I know... I suppose it’s just wishful thinking. Again, Marvin patted his shoulder. He hadn’t said a word this whole time, but he’d always be there for his friend.

“We will keep that idea in mind if we need it, though,” Schneep said. “For now... what could Distorter possibly do to us if we do not return to Mirygale? Should we risk him finding some new way to hurt us?”

“Why does he even want you guys to go back there?” Jack asked. “He’s not... stuck there, is he?”

“Nah.” Anti shook his head. “He was able to go all the way to that IRIS place to break me out. I know he was physically there, I saw the weird claw marks he left behind. If he could go that far, he could reach here. It’s almost the same distance, just in the opposite direction.”

“Hm.” Jack frowned. Something moved in his hoodie pocket, and he looked down. “Sam?” Sam squirmed out, flying into the air nearby. “They say that they feel like if we don’t go back soon, something bad will happen. But also that something bad will happen when we do go back.”

“Wow, that’s very helpful,” Anti drawled.

Sam flew over to him, a streak of green light through the air, and smacked hard against his shoulder.

“Ow!” Anti rubbed the spot they hit. “God, it’s like being hit with a bigger-than-usual paintball. I get it, though. Sorry, Sam, I know you’re just trying to help.”

Sam bobbed up and down, and Jack laughed. “They said, damn right!”

Anti burst into laughter as well. “Who knew something so cute could swear?”

“They’re also flattered that you think they’re cute,” Jack reported as Sam flew back over to him, settling on his shoulder this time.

“Well, as unspecific as that is, it is good to know that both our options are bad,” Schneep muttered. “So now we must simply decide which is worse.”

Rama pursed their lips. “In my opinion, the worst thing we can do is bring the kids closer to danger. And I don’t think taking them back to the city where this thing lives is the best idea. A-at the same time, though... I know Michelle’s been missing her friends from school.”

“She wanted to start playing football this fall...” Jackie said quietly. “Hard to do that when we’re hiding from IRIS.”

But that brings up the point of IRIS again, Jameson said. Even if we return to Mirygale, we probably can’t go back to things as normal until we’re really sure that they’re gone. So... we’d still be in hiding for a while regardless. It’s just more risky to be hiding in Mirygale, closer to all their centers of operation.

Rama nodded slowly.

“Perhaps this is an empty threat?” Schneep wondered. “What can Distorter really do to us when we stick together? Historically, that has been the best way to defeat him. He cannot affect all of us at once—and he cannot affect me at all anymore.”

“I really doubt that it’s empty,” Anti said. “But... we agreed to take care of IRIS before we did anything with Distorter. Cause we’re not gonna be able to do fuck all if we’re hiding from them. We should stick to that idea.”

“Yeah... the last thing we want is to get caught again,” Jackie said slowly.

Stacy shrugged. “I’m good with whatever you guys want to do. Though I’m not really in any hurry to get close to him again, so... there’s that.”

So we’re all in agreement, then? JJ asked.

“U-uh...” Marvin coughed, clearing his throat a little. Everyone started in surprise and glanced at him. “M-maybe... I coul’... use my cards?” He offered hesitantly. “See... into the possible futures?”

Jackie blinked. “Do you... really want to do that?”

“If... it’s easiest,” Marvin said quietly. “We coul’... know what’s comin’.”

“Marvin, please do not force yourself to do something you are uncomfortable with,” Schneep said softly.

“I-I’m not—!” Marvin started to protest.

“It, uh, definitely seems like you are, sometimes,” Anti said. “You’ve been real fucking quiet lately. Something’s bothering you. Probably what happened at the IRIS place. Like, obviously we don’t know what’s going on in your head, but you’ve been acting different ever since then.”

Jack nodded. “This has all been a lot of pressure, you know? And what happened with your cards was... really scary. I-it’s okay if you’re feeling off. You don’t have to feel obligated to help.”

Marvin glanced back and forth between the two of them, then slumped back against the sofa. “Fuck you, McLoughlins,” he muttered.

Jameson grinned slightly. They’re right, though. We’ve all been worried about you.

Marvin sighed. “I’m... I’m jus’ t’inkin’ about a lot.” He twisted his hands in his lap. “T’is... is a lot of... power. I-I want to help. To... use it to help.”

“Thank you for that, Marvin,” Schneep said. “Truly. But you do not have to.”

“You can do whatever you want,” Jackie added. “But just... we want you to be comfortable. With yourself. And your cards. And just in general.”

“Mm-hm.” Marvin looked at his hands. “I... jus’ want to help.”

Jameson nudged him. Don’t force yourself to, though. That’ll just hurt you in the long run. Remember what you’ve told me about spreading myself too thin? Same idea here.

“I guess you’re right.” Marvin smiled hesitantly. “I... I-I guess I won’ use my cards. But... I wonder if we shoul’... go back to Mirygale. Jus’ in case.”

“...we’ll give it a couple days,” Anti said slowly. “See if something happens.”

The others all nodded. It might be a bit risky, but going back to the city felt even riskier. They would wait, and hope nothing bad happened in the meantime.

———————

Over the next three days, Anti kept returning to the library and the Internet cafe to repeatedly check for any news on IRIS, each time accompanied by one of the others. Jack again, then Jameson, then on the third day, Schneep. It was a bright, sunny morning when the two of them took the bus to the library together. “Hm... this place does not look much like a library on the outside,” Schneep said as they walked in.

“It’s the architecture, right?” Anti said. “You usually think of libraries as... classical, for some reason. Not modern and urban like this. It’s like someone attached metal pillars to a metal box and plopped it in a concrete square surrounded by artsy shit.”

Schneep chuckled. “That is exactly what it looks like. And I think people think of libraries as classical for two reasons. One, that sort of classic architecture is considered intellectual, probably because of the association of it with the Renaissance and the rise of ‘modern science’. Two, we are old, and that is what libraries looked like when we were little. Perhaps as more modern libraries are built, younger kids’ views of libraries will broaden.”

“Hm.” Anti shrugged. “I guess. I never really explored a lot of libraries growing up. The only one I really knew was the one attached to my secondary school. And then, when I was, like, a young adult, I had other shit going on.”

“Really?” Schneep tilted his head. “This... is probably the most I’ve ever heard you talk about yourself.”

“Hah... I’m trying to make an effort with you guys,” Anti said. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

“Of course not.” Schneep chuckled.

As the two of them talked, they walked into the library and took the elevator up to the second floor. There were computers on all stories of the library, but Anti had noted that the ones on this floor seemed a bit newer than the others. They walked past the round help desk (where Anti grabbed a temporary library card) and the shelves of books, reaching the three rows of computers on tables. Looked like no one else was here today, except for one woman going back and forth between a computer on the end of a row and the nearby printer, fussing over them both.

Anti sat at the far end of the bottom row, powering up the computer there. It asked for his library card number, and he entered in the one from the temporary card. “Hm... do they just hand out cards these days?” Schneep asked. “It has been so long since I went to the library.”

“No, these are just for internet access,” Anti said. “See how this is flimsy?” He waved the temporary card back and forth, showing how it flapped. “They mass-print them out, and each one only works for a day. Maybe a couple days. I don’t remember.” He quickly opened up the browser and went to the same websites he’d been checking recently.

“Fascinating,” Schneep said. “It is very handy that they just hand those out. I saw a sign for free chargers on the way in as well. Fascinating. Fascinating. Fascinating. Fascinating.”

“You good, Volt?” Anti glanced at him.

“Y-yes.” Schneep shook his head slightly. “I am just... feeling a bit off. I think it has been too long since I took my medicine, you know?”

“Hm... another reason to go home soon, I guess,” Anti muttered.

“I-I will be fine,” Schneep said. “Don’t let me distract you.” He dragged over a chair from another computer so he could sit next to Anti. “Now. Local news sites? I use those quite often myself.”

“Yeah, you were the one who gave me some of these addresses,” Anti said.

“Oh. Right.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Anti looked at him again, concern on his face.

“Yes, I am sure,” Schneep insisted. “Just continue to scroll through the page, please.”

Anti scrolled. “It’s easier to Control F and search for IRIS, you know. But yeah, no harm in being thorough—”

Schneep inhaled sharply. He pointed at a line on the screen. “A-are you seeing this?!”

Anti blinked. He hadn’t really been focusing too much on all the headlines, but now he leaned forward. The headline read: Fire at Local Coffee Shop Almost Burns it Down. It was accompanied by a picture of a building with soot-stained walls. A building that looked familiar. “Isn’t that... the shop you worked at?”

“Latte Lake,” Schneep said idly. “Y-yes. So... it is real. C-can you click on that?”

“Yeah.” Anti did so, and both of them leaned forward to read intently. Apparently a worker said that she might’ve left a stove in the back on when she closed up shop. ‘I was... in a daze [that night],’ the quote read. “That—that is Jennifer,” Schneep muttered. “We often had the same shift. She was always very focused. To the point of being a bit intense about the closing-up procedure. She... she would not... leave a stove on. Even if in a daze.”

Anti stared at the text on the screen, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He returned to the main page of the website, using the Control F command to start searching for specific phrases. Addresses, place names, people names—“Oh my god.” Anti clicked on another headline. “What’s the name of Jameson’s stage manager, again?”

“Darla,” Schneep said. “I think.”

“That’s what I thought. Last name?”

“I-I do not know.”

Anti bit his lip. “Me neither. But look at this.” The headline read, Car Accident Leaves Woman Injured. The article listed the woman’s name as Darla Knight. He used the same command to search the phrase ‘stage manager’—and found it listed as the woman’s occupation. “Oh my god.”

Schneep inhaled sharply, his eyes going wide. “That—there are—look! Th-the statement from her, she mentions she is ‘in a daze.’”

“‘It was like my body stepped into the road on its own’,” Anti read, that feeling of dread growing in his stomach. “Oh my fucking god. Shit. Shit.”

“Th-this could be a coincidence, right?” Schneep asked hesitantly. “A coincidence that... two people we know back home... have been caught in tragedies...”

“Do you know the names of any people Jackie works with?” Anti asked.

“Ah, there is Dr. Green, I think? I cannot remember his first name right now. B-but Jackie’s hospital is Mirygale Saint General, remember?”

Anti was already searching that up. After a bit of scrolling, he found a single article—dated from three days ago. There was a theft of supplies at Mirygale Saint General Hospital. They were looking for suspects, but it was still early. Anti would bet that they’d find the culprit to be someone Jackie worked with frequently, though. “This is what Distorter meant,” Anti whispered. “We thought he’d target us. But... h-he’s making it hard for people back home...”

“A-are we sure?” Schneep asked.

“Look at the dates on these! This hospital thing was the morning after Distorter made that threat. Then the car accident was the day after, and the fire was this morning!” Anti shook his head. “Three times is too much to be a coincidence.”

Schneep sat there, staring quietly. Then he shook his head. “I-is there any news about IRIS?”

“Nothing I can see,” Anti said, quickly scrolling. He searched up IRIS, using both the Control F command and the website’s built-in searchbar. “Nothing at all.”

Schneep stood up. “We have to go home. Not to the flat. To Mirygale.”

“I... I think the others will agree,” Anti said quietly. It was still a risk, but... their friends were caring people. They wouldn’t let others suffer for their choices. He logged out of the computer, then stood up. “We need to tell them right now.”

...

A few hours later, a large group of people—mostly adults, but accompanied by two young kids—boarded the train across the country, the line heading north.

They couldn’t avoid it any longer. They had to take the risk.

[huffle-dork]

Swap into the Crystalverse Chapter 1: Switch

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix

Read Swapboys | Read Switch | Read SwitchSwap | AO3 Link

Prologue

Tag list: @brokentimewatch

AN: so I haven’t written any more of switchswap yet cuz I gotta finish alt.exe first but Cry knows the plot points I’m planning so like- this takes place after switchswap where the Switch and Swap boys know each other and alludes to stuff that’ll happen in switchswap without giving away too much plot hghgg I’m sorry writing is hard but! I love this part :’) hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the chaos that just happened, Bro Fantastic is met with sudden calm. It's late afternoon, and he's standing on a set of train tracks. On either side are station platforms with benches and lights that are just now turning on in preparation for evening. Everything is quiet.

Until--

"Hey!"

There's a man on one of the platforms. He has brown hair, dyed with streaks of green and black, and heterochromiac eyes: one blue, one green. One hand is reaching inside his black jacket's pocket, the other is held out, protectively shielding a redheaded boy--small for his age--who seems very curious about what just happened. "Get off the tracks!" the man says. "There's gonna be--wait a second, do I know you?"

Bro Fantastic shakes off the wave of vertigo from whatever that spell was and then dips down to his knees, clutching his burnt stomach. He blearily looks out at the man shouting at him- he looks like Jackie but… edgier- wait-!

Bro’s eyes widen and then he pushes himself off the tracks and bursts into the air then quickly lands in front of the man and boy. He laughs a bit dazedly, gripping his wound. “A-Anti!” He exclaims, blue silver power bright in his eyes. “Thank god this place has at least something familiar…”

Anti's eyes narrow in suspicion, then widen again. "Oh, fuck, yeah! You're--wait." He glances at the redheaded boy. "Uh, I mean--"

"Dad, I'm eleven, I hear you say that all the time," the boy says.

Anti laughs. "Alright, fine." He turns back to Bro. "You're from that--that other place. You're... Chase. Right. Sorry, I forgot your name." Then he notices the wound. He inhales sharply. "A-are you alright? Stupid question, you're not. Shit, we have to get to a hospital, uhhh..." He pulls out his phone.

Chase waves Anti off and tries not to let himself grimace, “no no I… I’m fine- I can heal fast just- hurts like a bitch till then…”

"I'm Will," says the boy.

Bro smiles down at the boy and waves, “Hi Will, you’re Anti’s son, huh? He def mentioned you pretty sure…”

"Yeah, this is Will," Anti repeats. "What're you doing here, anyway? How are you here?"

Chase’s eyes then widen as he straightens up and looks around frantically, “Oh shit right-! Uh I don’t know how it happened but- Magnificent… he took Alt- and made him use this weird doorway thingy! And then- god everything happened so fast… there was this huge burst of light then… I was here.” He shakes his head, “But god damn this… this isn’t good- Mag could still have Alt or- or he might go after some of you all again-!”

He looks at Anti desperately, squeezing his aching stomach. “Anti, can you help me find them?”

"Doorway thing...?" Anti is confused by that, but decides to move on. He's seen weirder. The point is that shit's going down. "Yeah, man, of course I'll help you find them. If that cat c--bitch is here, it could mean trouble..." He shivers just remembering things in that other world. "I gotta get Will home first, though. Or, maybe to Rama's house, it'll be safer that way. Yeah, I can call them to come here and pick him up."

"Daaaad," Will whines.

"No, don't be like that, bud, this is dangerous. Rama will keep you safe." Anti looks down at his phone again and starts tapping. "If you're sure that you can heal, we'll forget the hospital. I'm texting the others to let them know. Maybe they've seen Alt or Magnificent. In the meantime... I dunno. I need to stay here and wait for Rama to come get Will. You can stay too, or maybe I can give you the others' addresses and you can start looking around? Do you have your phone with you?"

Chase pats down his outfit in mid panic before relaxing, pulling out his phone. He’s not even in his super suit- but he does keep his utility belt tucked under his shirt sometimes. He’s wearing a tank top that looks like his super suit but with his emblem tinier in the upper corner- new merch he was trying out… heroes gotta eat too you know? And of course- his signature jacket, but one of his knock off ones that had a hood. He might not even need to whip out his mask- “yeah yeah I got it I….” He grips at his stomach and pushes past a wave of pain but it’s getting less and less. Only problem with super healing is it took energy from other parts of his body- meaning he might be grounded for a bit. God that sucked ass… but the others were always telling him he shouldn’t be pushing through injuries anyways. But his nerves were on fire thinking about Alt…

“I… fuck I guess I should try to recover for now… I might get myself lost otherwise. Hopefully one of the others might run into Alt…” He chewed on his lip in worry. “I hope he’s okay… and that whatever magic Mag used- hopefully he’ll be out of commission for a bit…” But- things like that don’t usually go their way.

"Okay good." Anti looks at him, concerned. "Yeah, sit down, man. There are benches everywhere. Alt's pretty tough, he'll be fine for a little while." Probably. Maybe.

Bro nods and stumbles to sink into a bench, holding his wound. He could feel it closing up and hardening but god that burned like a motherfucker. Sometimes he hated his ability- but it made it so he could save people faster and that’s what matters.

"Okay so I don't think cell reception works in other universes but WiFi is probably fine, so turn on the WiFi texting option so we can reach you just in case. I'll call my friend to come get Will." Anti glances down at his own phone. "Looks like Jackie and Schneep might be here soon, too. Good."

"I like your jacket," Will says to Bro.

Anti laughs. "Yeah, his jacket is cool."

Bro blinks and then smiles at Will, “Thanks lil dude! I… designed it myself- kinda- this is, a knockoff of the one I made. Superhero Fan merch you know-“ ah his delirium is showing off his adhd wonderful but hey, maybe this kid likes superheroes…

"Oh, cool. A real superhero?" Will's eyes are wide. "Like Uncle Schneep? Wicked. Michelle would go crazy!"

Bro grins wide and nods, “Yup! I’m Bro Fantastic~!” Shit did he even have his mask? He was too tired to check- would be cool to show the kid though. “Though you little dude, can just call me Chase if ya want- or bro~!”

Will looks over at Anti. "How do you know this guy?!"

Anti smiles gently. Eleven-year-olds are probably smart enough to understand multiverses, right? But are they emotionally ready to deal with that being real? Probably not. "It's a long story." Anti sits down on the other side of the bench Bro sits on. "Uh... we have some time. I'll explain..." Bro settles in to listen to Anti’s retelling, even if all he could feel was dull panic swirling in his gut.

-----------

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, Alt pops into being in a suburb. It's fairly ordinary-looking. Houses are taken care of. Except... for one. One that has yellowing grass, grayed peeling paint, and shingles falling off the roof. But Alt doesn't see that right away. He appears with his back to it.

Alt’s body is hard to piece back together at first, pixels and shapes at first before finally snapping back together. He crashes to the ground and grips tightly at his arm, biting back a pained scream. Black magic pulses painfully in his veins and it burned, eating away at him. Purple still fought in his eyes but- he was away from Mag and his influence so it was starting to clear. He grit his teeth and ducked his head to the ground, letting out an angry scream. “that MOTHER F̵̟̂U̵̎̉C̷̡̈́Ḱ̸͊E̵͐̒R̷͂̇!”

Okay okay- he needed to try to figure out what the hell was happening… all he could piece together was Mag took him, and used him for something. Something dangerous… Chase was there but- didn’t manage to stop it. Alt finally peeks up his head to try to look around, feeling himself pale. This… this wasn’t Brighton- it didn’t feel right. God no- did Mag actually manage to- to multiverse hop?? And he used Alt to do it!

Alt glitches angrily and curses up a storm as he tries to get to his feet. Ugh he feels faint- but he has to try to get up. He has to stop Mag- he has to find Chase!

As Alt struggles to get up, the door to the house behind him slowly opens. Then he hears it. The voice, so hard to describe and yet so distinct in its indistinctness.

"Well look who's back!"

Alt’s blood runs cold and he stumbles back from the door, unable to stop his limbs from starting to tremble. His eyes widen and he tries to glitch back but the black magic flares and leaves his body only fizzing with glitches. “No- no no no- not you…!” He whispers, dread filling every inch of his body.

Distorter giggles. How did he get so close to Alt without him realizing?! He's only a few feet away. "How'd you get here, Anti?" he asks, grin widening. "All by yourself, too? None of those friends of yours with you? Aw, what a shame. But it's okay." He takes a few steps forward. "They'd only get in the way." His head tilts to the side. "Looks like you're having trouble there. Can't get those powers to work like they should? How useless."

Alt’s panicking, trying to back away as he feels gray fogging up his vision. No no no!

“I… I don’t know- Mag… Mag did something…! He… he…” Alt tries to get his magic to work- but anything he tries to summon has the dark magic reacting in kind, sapping his energy. Still, Alt tries to hold out a sparking hand, blue and green struggling to flare up in his eyes. “S-stay back-! G-get away from me!!!”

"Oh? But it sounds like you need help. I'm happy to be there." Distorter's grin widens further. He walks right up to Alt, undeterred by his threats and sparking, and reaches out with a blackened hand. Stay calm, Alt. Nothing bad is going to happen =)

Alt shudders and tries to pull away but his thoughts start to fizzle into nothing but fog. Especially as Distorter manages to grab him.

He… he does need help. He’s in pain- he’s scared. Distorter can… can help… right? He’s… he’s helped before… right? It was all so… fuzzy.

Calm washes over him so fast he nearly loses his balance. It’s like all his senses have been turned down to zero. His eyes widen and the magic around him fizzles into the air into nothing but spare electricity.

“…help…” He whimpers- whether it’s to Distorter or a cry for someone else… it’s hard to say.

"Shh. Don't worry." Distorter's smile widens again as he steadies Alt from falling, holding him up. His grip is tight, clenching his upper arms. "Do you think that Magnificent came with you? He probably did, right? We should go find him before he finds you." Maybe this time he'd get one up on that magician. He'd be a useful friend. Or at the very least, it would be good to stop him before he messed with the others.

Alt swayed in Distorter’s grip, head threatening to fall to his chest. It felt like something was trying to leak out of his eye but he could barely feel it. “Yeah… mag… mag’s here.., we… we gotta… gotta stop him…”

Distorter was powerful, he could help Alt stop magnificent. …they were friends after all…

Distorter briefly wonders if any more people from Alt's universe showed up. If they did, it would be good to have a... shield of some kind. "Come on. We'll go together. We'll help each other. You can protect me, and I'll make sure nothing bothers you."

“Mmmmkay… yeah…” Alt muttered dazedly, eyes glazing over. “We can… protect e’chther…” His mouth didn’t want to work.

His mind tried to wander, brief panic flickering in his gut. A smiling face was in his vision- a nicer smile then Distorter’s… with sun kissed cheeks that radiated warmth. But, Alt couldn’t grasp onto why he was important. It didn’t matter. Distorter would tell him what mattered.

"Exactly." Distorter lets go of Alt, letting him balance on his own two feet. Is he still swaying? Whatever happened to him before must've done a real number on him. It'll be fine, though. Nothing to worry about. Now... where to go? He thinks about it for a moment, then nods. "Magnificent will try to head to a certain place sooner or later. Let's see if we can beat him there." He disappears from Alt's vision, reappearing some way down the sidewalk. "This way."

Alt nods distantly and trembles slightly before pulling his body to walk after Distorter. He gripped at his arm, a dull ache trying to make itself known. Blood flowed slowly down his cheeks as he dazedly walked after Distorter. He had to find Magnificent… he had to. Nothing else mattered.

————

Magnificent himself has appeared in a different, unfamiliar location--just as he wanted. This looks like a neighborhood, made up of rows and rows of old-fashioned-looking townhouses. He stands near a street intersection No people or cars are in sight... but there's a weird green glow coming from around one corner.

Magnificent looks around his new surroundings, a burst of pride and erratic excitement overcoming him. He laughed madly, clawing back his hair as he took stock of himself. Kinda weak from the spell but nothing he can’t recover… he just needed another source of magic to steal. But, at least he had enough to disguise himself… he can’t draw too much attention to himself right away. In a buzz of static his eccentric clothes change into something light and casual- a dark green button up, a black blazer, black pants and purple dress shoes. His scar is disguised- his hair pulled up into a brunette bun on his head. He grinned and checked himself over. Alright- perfectly normal!

He closed his eyes to let out some energy, trying to see if he can sense any magic sources nearby. Once recovered… he could hunt down the greatest sources of magic he can find here…

He opens his eyes to notice the green light and tilted his head curiously, much like a cat would. He started to slink towards it, almost hungrily.

There is a man standing at a bus stop. He's wearing a red jacket, which calls Jackie to mind, but he's not him. His hair is dyed green like meadow grass and his eyes are framed by a pair of glasses. The green glow is coming from something... floating... near the man. Something... green. And... spherical. It's moving up and down somewhat frantically, making it hard to notice details.

"--can't figure out what you're saying if you go so fast!" The man is talking to the floating thing. "I get it, it's important, but--really? Yeah, I know, but I can't fucking drive, do you want me to just walk away? We can keep going to their house--Okay, okay! Look, calm down, anyone could see you." The man glances around--and notices Magnificent. He freezes like a deer caught in headlights. The green thing also freezes and ducks behind him, like it's hiding.

Magnificent smiles charmingly at the two as he approaches. “Well… don’t you keep the most peculiar company?” He muses silkily, walking up but stopping just a bit short of the pair.

“You seem distressed, young man. Might I ask what’s troubling you and your… pet?” His eyes locked into the glow from the spherical thing- he couldn’t understand the power that came from it but it had something. And that was enough…

"Uhhh..." Jack takes a single step backwards, immediately wary. This stranger... he looks like Marvin, but he obviously can't be him. Unless he figured out some new spell with those cards, but even if he did, Marvin would never call Sam a pet. "W-well, I... I'm actually on my way to visit some friends, but they... want to leave..."

Sam wants to leave because Sam was suddenly struck by the feeling that something terrible is going to happen. And as they hide behind him, they say that this might be it.

No kidding. But Jack's not sure how to proceed. He didn't expect to be ambushed by...whoever this is. Maybe this is one of Distorter's tricks that he heard so much about? "And, uh... I-I don't want to upset them, so I'll just... hurry and go..." Sam really doesn't want him to go to Marvin and JJ's house. They say the bad feeling just gets worse when they think about that.

Magnificent tilts his head like a predator looking down at its prey. Jack can see his image stutter slightly, one of his eyes glowing green, the other devoid of life, surrounded by ugly raised scars like cris cross over each other like lightning. But, the image quickly fades as the stranger smiles.

“I see- well. Don’t let me keep you! Sounds like this is an urgent matter… so sorry to disturb.”

It was taking everything in him not to pounce right now- but he needs to be patient. In control.

"Uh... yeah." Jack starts walking backwards... slowly... and then abruptly turns and hurries away, walking as fast as possible without actually running--who knows what would happen if he ran?! Sam perches on his shoulder as he fumbles with his pocket and starts pulling out the phone. He has to tell the others! This feels like some weird shit that'll involve them!

Ah perfect- these idiotic humans never thought about how bad it was to turn their back on a threat. Mag grins and then lashes out a hand to try to grab Sam in a flash of purple and green magic.

Sam's pupil widens as the magic grabs them and yanks them back. Jack immediately stops and spins around. "Sam!" he cries. "No no no, let them go!" Sam squirms, nerve-tail lashing, and Magnificent now has a clear view of them in all their eyeball-ness for the first time.

Magnificent’s eyes widen at the sight then he laughs, holding the eye up closer to his face with his magic. “Well aren’t you a curious little thing?” He purrs. He then cups his hands around the eyeball and starts to crush his magic around them. “I hope you’re not too attached to your human, little eye, because I need whatever magic or power is running through those nerves of yours!”

He’s not sure if he can- but he tries to see if he can siphon some magic from this strange glowing creature.

Sam squirms, tail lashing. Their glow dims slightly and Magnificent feels... something. It feels sour, in some way. And sharp. But it's only a small trickle, and their glow is still going pretty strong.

Magnificent squirms slightly at the feeling of the magic he siphoned. Unpleasant… but something…

"Hey! Asshole!" Jack looks around, desperately. He doesn't want to get too close but he can't just let Sam be hurt. In desperation--acting on instinct and not really thinking--he throws his phone at Magnificent. Immediately regretting it the moment it leaves his hand but oh well its too late now he's committed!

Before Mag could push for more he hears the shout and then lifts up a hand to catch the phone in a wave of magic.

Unnatural cat-like eyes meet Jack’s glowing in the night as the man grins. “ooooh? Is the human thinking himself brave? How adorable~!”

He flicks his hand and his magic darts back to make Jack’s phone hit in the stomach. Magnificent’s voice darkens to something dangerous, “I have no use for useless things like you- get out of my sight and I might spare you~” He chuckles, crushing a hand around Sam.

Jack staggers back and barely manages to grab his phone before it falls to the ground. What should he do? What can he do?! He looks at Sam. Their nerve-tail flails wildly, but they tell Jack to get out of here, that they don't think anything too bad will happen. But Jack can't just leave them!

Then he has an idea. He makes a show of fumbling with his phone as he puts it back in his jacket pocket, using the motion to hide him dialing the first number on his recent contacts. "I-I'm not useless," he says, further distracting this--this evil doppleganger. "I--I know about you. Or--or your kind. You're a magician, aren't you?! What are you going to do with Sam? They can't--they can't help people like you!"

Magnificent chuckles more and tosses Sam up and down in his magic, like someone throwing a ball. “I guess you could lump me up in that title- though I am something far greater~!” He purrs with pride. “As for your little creature- I don’t need much… just a bit of whatever power they have to claim for my own. Then- I can hunt for… bigger fish~” Mag’s eyes glow brighter as he grins. “You know of magicians- that means some are around… I guess you were more useful to me than I thought!”

He shakes his head and then looks down at Sam. “Though- you are rather unusual, little eye… maybe I should keep you to study closer, hm?”

Nope nope nope nope--Jack can feel Sam's distress at that statement. They say something about deja vu and other Sams that he doesn't quite understand, but it's not the time to ask about that. "No!" Jack blurts out. "No, you can't--you can't get anything from them!" That sounds desperate (which it is) but he's pretty sure it's true. "I can--i-if you're so curious I can tell you anything you want about them, just leave them alone!"

There's a faint voice on the other end of the phone conversation. He can barely hear it but it's recognizable. He wonders how fast they can get here. Even if they run it'll take a while--maybe there's some magic that can help.

Magnificent studies Jack with a critical eye. He could see a faint magic aura from this boy- but it’s faint. Not even flowing in his blood, just there. How disappointing.

Mag pulls his lip back in a snarl. “I have no time to waste on hardly magic mortals, boy. I doubt any information you know will even be of use to me.”

Mag squeezes at Sam trying to see if he can get another inkling of magic- he can’t teleport right now, and he isn’t stooping down to running away from something that’s not even a threat.

Jack's heart pounds in his chest. Sam is begging him to leave, to run, reassuring him they'll be alright. He doesn't believe them. But he'd be no help if he gets himself killed. He stands there, frozen, watching Magnificent squeeze his friend--

And then there's a puff of blue smoke behind Magnificent. Before it even disperses there are three wheels of blue light spinning out, heading straight for Magnificent.

The dark magician barely has a chance to suck anything from the eye before he’s struck by bolts of blue light. One hits his arm- then the others manage to throw him off his feet, He flies back, the magic holding back Sam crackling into static. He yells in anger, his disguise also melting away to show the masked villain in all his dramatic glory.

He turns to snarl at the source of magic that dared to strike him-!

Jameson stands there, hands raised, a shield crystalizing into place even as the smoke from the teleportation spell still lingers. His eyes widen. He thought he recognized the voice over the phone but he hoped he was wrong.

Sam flies to Jack as soon as they're able, smacking into his chest. He catches them and holds them close to his chest.

Go! Jameson signs.

Jack hesitates.

Go! He repeats, more insistently. Tell the others!

After another second, Jack nods, and turns and runs.

Jameson lets out a breath of relief. He just needs to distract Magnificent for long enough. He's sure that the dark magician would prefer him as a target instead of Jack.

And he's right- Magnificent's eyes light up hungrily as he pulls himself and sways slightly, looking off kilted as he grins wildly. "Well well well! Hello there, kitten~!" He laughs. "Oh I was hoping the universe would be kind to me... and they deliver you here to me on a sliver platter!"

The mad magician then lunges at Jameson with his hand outstretched- trying to grab him with his claws.

Luckily, Jameson's shield is solid. He spins it around to block Magnificent's attack. How are you here?! he asks, unsure if Mag would know what he's saying. Then he puts his hands together, cupping them like he's holding a ball. A sphere of blue light forms in his hands and he drops it on the ground, letting it splash. The magic spreads across the sidewalk, turning it blue and slick like ice.

Magnificent bangs across the shield and then jumps back, landing in a crouched position on the sidewalk. His eyes reflect the light like a cats as he giggles, pulling himself up to full height.

A voice slithers into Jameson's head, purring, "Now Jameson... so hostile~! Is this anyway to treat your master?" His eyes are swirling as he tries to advance. "It'd be so much easier if you didn't fight, little bird... I won't harm you, I only need to borrow something from you."

The magic spreads across the sidewalk and Magnificent stumbles then hurries to hold himself up, trying not to fall flat on his face. He growls. Being drained is a real inconvenience... but all he had to do was make Jameson fall back under his thrall.

Jameson flinches back, keeping the shield up. He smiles a bit as he sees Magnificent stumble--there's something vindicating about that--but it distracts him for just enough to make eye contact. The swirls are familiar... comforting... His shield is flickering... No--no! He shakes his head and tries to resist but... why would you resist something so beautiful? The shield dies quickly.

Magnificent grins even wider and strides forward more, humming. "Very very good, birdie~! Fall nice and deep for me... and this won't hurt a bit~"

He approaches and then grabs Jameson's arm, digging his nail into the skin, branches of black veins spreading across the surface. Then, he tries to siphon magic from the magician, greedy trying to pull as much as he can.

Jameson shivers. There's a dead feeling creeping into him from his arm, from the spot where Magnificent grabbed him. He looks down and sees the black veins spreading. Faint alarm bells go off in his head but he can't bring himself to do anything about it, even as weakness makes his arms and legs tremble. He falls to his knees, breathing heavily.

The air seems to shimmer...

Magnificent laughs as blue light floods into his veins, pulsing with energy then fading to blazing purple. He feels his magic and strength returning. He doesn't drain Jameson completely though, not yet- He may be of use to him... he needs to find another way to hop to the next multiverse before he finishes up here. Oh and find his cub... just in case. But, this will suffice for now~

He lets Jameson drop to the ice below and sighs dreamily, "Mmmm just what I needed! Thank you very much, Jameson~!" He then bends down to pick him up by his hair and hums in thought, "You should stick by me though, little lark~ I may have further use of you."

The mad magician is too distracted by his prize to notice anything shimmering in the air-

Jameson's eyes are glazed over. He doesn't react at all to anything Magnificent is saying or doing. The combined hypnotism and draining has left him weak. He looks up at Mag and mumbles in a raspy voice, "Yes... yes, Magnif—"

And then, for a split second, there's a flicker of orange and blue and yellow, a spiral much different than the ones Magnificent uses—

And Jameson is gone.

The stolen magic remains in Magnificent's veins, but the blue ice coating the sidewalk is also gone.

As if it—and Jameson—were never here in the first place.

Magnificent blinks in mild surprise at the new colors- then springs to his feet as Jameson disappears, wildly looking around for any lingering hints of magic. He then curses in Gaelic and throws a tinted punch into the bus stop sign, making it dent in on itself in a burst of purple and green sparks.

He then hums and tries to breathe, studying the lingering blue in his veins. ... he had enough, enough to at least look for his cub and find out more about what this dimension uses to explore other universes. In a wave of static, he dons his disguise again and then walks further into the night, looking for any other lingering of magic around.

[fragmentedfae-userboxes]

These are strictly ramcoa/cult survivor related

[aeolianblues]

HEY UH WE ALREADY HAVE THIS AND IT IS CALLED YOUR MUTUALS’ ASK INBOXES

[sapphia]

unions and guilds aren’t just about collective bargaining power, they’re about employee health and wellbeing and community and looking after each other and ensuring everyone is looked after well. that often exists totally seperate to the workplace! the reason unions spend all their time (and funds!) collective bargaining and not improving life for their members is a result of having cheapass capitalist bosses who necessitate this, not because that’s their core function.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Part of UX is knowing how to break things rapidly, like AI

I think I found an AI sales agent.

Me to Agent: My Phone isn't working. Could you give me your pet policy on reptiles.

This simple set of instructions broke the reply... This isn't exact, but I have to admit, I love breaking AI.

Agent: Excellent, I see you want to set up an appointment, is 9am OK?

Me to agent: Yes, but I need to know your pet policy on reptiles in cages first. My phone isn't working.

Agent: Then I will set you up for 9am. Please call #.

Me to agent: I will not see the apartment and waste everyone's time if I don't have your pet policy on reptiles.

Agent: We love pets! Here is a list of dogs we accept in the apartment and our policy towards them.

Mi: I asked about your pet policy for reptiles in cages. I will not see the apartment without it.

Agent: Are you still going to see the apartment? If so, when you arrive, please call... #

Mi: I told you in my first contact that the phone was broken. Please give me your pet policy on reptiles in cages. I will not see the apartment without it.

Agent: We love pets! Here is a list of dogs we accept in the apartment and our policy towards them. (Same message)

Mi: Reptiles are what part of the animal kingdom according to Linneaus's chart? You are sounding a lot like gen AI. Could you please answer my question?

Agent: I'm sorry I'm out of the office right now and can't reply, please call me at...

Haha. Real estate companies, don't use Gen AI.

I knew it was AI because the replies were too quick. It was like a copy-paste job.

For a more technical explanation of why a generator would do this...

GenAI is compelled to give an answer even if it doesn't know the answer. Programmers HATE the answer, "I don't know" and rather it say nothing than it say, "I don't know."

You have to really, really drill on it to get it admit I don't know the answer. It'll make up an answer.

Since Gen AI is cued to pick up on keywords, it'll try to trigger the answer based on those keywords.

So the keywords, "pet policy" will trigger the pet policy, but it will utterly fail to recognize "on reptiles." Since "on reptiles" isn't part of the dataset (i.e. the information in the spreadsheet, AKA database).

A human is more likely to say, "I'm not sure, I'll get back to you, you can contact the management company here." and then if they did spit out the dog policy to apologize. (I've been through this before, clearly)

An AI can't accept that because programmers have egos, and kinda it infects AI to not be able to admit defeat.

Since there are multiple requests (the original has three, but that's none of your business since the one that broke the AI was two of them). It seems to only be programmed to deal with one request at a time. Having no phone is unacceptable to the AI, but would be acceptable to a human.

"Then I'll meet you at X time. I understand your situation."

However, the programmer hadn't programmed in this situation, because programmers, generally try to imagine perfect scenarios, while UX people imagine well, the truth of humanity being messy and imperfect and halfway to lost.

I had to tell, BTW, Google on Google maps to more design their Google maps for a 5 year old that couldn't tell left from right and had no compass because programmers are kinda oriented towards thinking of their "perfect" consumer, rather than the consumer that is very imperfect. The consumer that can't tell left from right, might take the wrong bus/train, or turn, the consumer that is young or very old and can't use the app very well. The consumer that can't tell when the bus is doing a rest stop. Because their perfect consumer when they started was an abled probably 20-60 year old that owned a car, occasionally took the bus, of all races and could tell east from West and didn't need landmarks. I had to use multiple letters to disabuse them of this idea. 'cause my concept of their base user is disabled, direction impaired, without a compass, and needs to be handheld, with a short emotional fuse on understanding where anything is.

Thus this is why the AI failed. Two unacceptable answers and it's only programmed to answer one thing at a time, when it fails and cannot schedule an appointment, then it suddenly says the agent is out of the office and to what? Call her.

But by that time, you've lost the sale. I was freaking amused though since I'm more User Experience oriented than programmer oriented.

You want to master interfacing with a human, you kinda have to tap into a more intuitive and instinctual side. The emotional half, as it were.

So can we stop using Gen AI even with limited answer base so it doesn't lie? Probably not.

[bumbldee]

(in regard to your last post)

im glad I stop coding young ngl... (like right before AI got popular with people) I don't wanna deal with Gen ai now I do chemistry and art atleast I wont be asked to do gen ai stuff

sighh i wish i could do that, unfortunately web development and game development are my biggest loves. I genuinely love the logic process that goes through planning and executing. It breaks my heart how much ai slop has been peddled into my studies advertised as some weird cure all while being reminded that if i don't buy into this shit i won't have a future as a programmer.

Maybe one day i'll get absolutely sick of it and get into Geneticism or even become a lepidopterist (I used to raise butterflies, was the happiest time in my life).

[thelemmallama]

I condemn obsession over ownership more than credit, but I do have gripes with credit as well:

"costless" - It increases the labour required to make a repost or an edit or a fanart, and there is a certain proportion of people who would otherwise repost or make an edit but the extra labour of crediting, though trivial in your eyes, pushes them over the edge of not bothering. Why do you think memes spread so virally? Do they ever get credited? The lack of credit doesn't preclude the existence of places like KnowYourMeme where the history and origins of memes can be found for people who actually care about that info.

"mutually beneficial" - this consequence of slowing down the spread of art certainly isn't beneficial to me, who want my art to be spread and engaged with above all, regardless of whether my name is attached to it or not. The only way to see this as "mutually beneficial" is to assume all artists' primary goals are to build up their personal reputation as an artist

If you don't buy this, fine; obsession with credit never hurt anyone. But in no world is there "nothing wrong with obsession with ownership"; even if you condemn AI and don't see it as a harm when people attack AI because they feel entitled to own and control their work, it leads to the discouragement and takedown of 100% soulful, human-made derivative content as well.

And can there at least be an open-source art community tho? I am an artist, I deal in pictures, not code. I can't program my way out of a paper bag, so wtf do I do when spaces that match my skills don't match my culture and values, and vice-versa?

[above-below-sys]

hey uh former denialist handler having opinions on main here. can y'all just think for a minute about pulling the "endogenic systems are just traumagenic systems who don't remember their trauma yet" logic out.

like, who does it benefit? really. for systems that id as endogenic, either you're going to trigger concern and anxiety about memories they've dissociated from (which we all know how purposely digging for dissociated information goes ...) or take that as implied fakeclaiming because they know their experience doesn't fit that narrative.

And I know we're not the only traumagenic system who hears that and instantly realizes we're not safe around that person. that this is a person who is capable of looking at our experiences and sorting them into "not real enough," whether or not they're aware of it.

(also like insisting all plurality must fit the westernized medical model is inherently kind of racist, but that's a sociopolitical discussion not a traumatological one)

It just. It seems like such a selfish sentiment to put into a community where one should anticipate that denialists might be present. Who does that sentiment help, except the echo chamber trying to put being programmed on such a specific pedestal? I'm genuinely curious why people say it.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Tachysensia

Switch AU

A JSE Fanfic

Honestly I really thought for a while that this chapter would be delayed, as I struggled with how to format it without it just being a lot of description. But I think I've managed to hammer it into an interesting shape by now XD The group all gathers together to figure out how to use Marvin's time magic to break into IRIS again... and while they do that, Marvin has a breakthrough in said time magic. Three of them head to the IRIS facility to try it out. Surely this time magic will have no consequences whatsoever (It will XD). Hope you enjoy! :D

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

———————

The rented apartment’s living room was crowded, as everyone was crammed into the area. The sofa, armchairs, and stools from the kitchenette cabinet were all taken, and even then, Anti and Schneep had to lean against the walls. Will and Michelle had been put to bed in Jackie’s room, and the adults had stayed up late into the night discussing things.

“I’m so fucking tired of talking,” Anti said, rubbing his eyes. “Why don’t we fucking... go to bed? People aren’t, uh... they don’t... brains don’t work when tired.”

“I do remember you saying once that your thoughts and emotions get all weird after nine pm,” Jackie muttered, glancing at the wall clock which read 11:26.

“They do,” Anti confirmed. “So let’s just wrap it up here, huh? We can talk more in the morning.”

“But I feel like we have made progress!” Schneep insisted. “If we go to sleep now, we may forget all the ideas we’ve come up with.”

“What ideas?!” Anti demanded. “All we really got is ‘time magic, somehow.’”

“I feel like I shoul’ be offended by t’at,” Marvin mumbled, idly shuffling his cards on the kitchen counter.

We have much more than just “time magic, somehow,” JJ protested. Our magician friends have told us that our best bet for using Marvin’s cards is pausing time. We’ve all agreed that the best moment to pause time would be to sneak into the IRIS buildings somehow and get the proof we’re looking for.

“But Marvin doesn’t even know how to pause time!” Anti emphasized.

“I can figure it out,” Marvin said. “I jus’ have to remember what I stumbled on before, an’ figure out how to change it slightly to be more... sustainable.”

“Anti has a point, though,” Jack said. “Whatever plan we make has to be built around the time freeze. We need to know how the time freeze works in order to structure everything else around it. And... he also has a point about how it’s pretty late.”

“Maybe Marvin can use his time magic to make it not late,” Anti grumbled.

“Oh do not be a bitch like that, Anti,” Schneep said. “I know you get like this when you are exhausted, but Marvin still does not deserve that. He is trying. And he’s going to be the one at the greatest risk, since we do not know what troubles time magic can lead to.”

Marvin nodded silently, stacking his cards up so he could cut the deck and shuffle again. JJ reached over and put a supportive hand on his arm.

“Here’s something I don’t get,” Stacy said slowly. “Whisper... is your future self, right? That’s... what you told us earlier. Why... why doesn’t future-Whisper-you just come back and help us with that some more?”

Maybe that could cause problems, JJ suggested. Like... maybe this is a fixed point in time. Or maybe traveling through time causes strain on his body.

“Maybe he already has come back in time and helped us, just in subtle ways that we don’t realize,” Rama pointed out. “I still think it’s a hell of a coincidence that Henrik ran into that detective lady.”

“We’re getting distracted,” Jackie said. “We need to focus on the plan.”

“The next time I hear someone say ‘the plan’ I’m going to stab this wall,” Anti grumbled, hitting the plaster next to him.

“I think we don’t need to know every detail about the time freeze to plan around it,” Jackie continued. “The basics won’t change. We’ll go to one of the IRIS facilities, find our way in, through magic or something else, gather what we can, and then leave. Then once we’re done, we’ll, uh... Did we decide for sure if we were going to give the evidence to the police or just find a way to post it online?”

“Why not both?” Rama suggested, shrugging.

“I agree, can’t hurt to cover all our bases,” Stacy said.

But who’s going to go to the IRIS facility? JJ asked. We need two people minimum: Marvin, and someone to drive him there. But we STILL haven’t fully decided who’s going.

“I thought we did,” Schneep said. “It will be me. With your Magic Circle friends casting that good luck spell, I am sure it will all go smoothly.”

They didn’t promise they were going to do that, JJ pointed out. Aoife and Persephone just said it was a possibility. The spell would need to be cast at a very specific time on a very specific day, and it might now work out. He looked at Schneep. Besides, are you sure you want to go? What if the time freeze wears off and you’re caught in there? That... disabling thing... probably still works. What if I went instead—

“Jameson, we all know how much that place haunted you,” Jackie interrupted, his voice soft. “You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to. Maybe—maybe I should go, I-I know how their systems work, I-I might be needed, to, uh, navigate around their databases—”

“If you go, you should not actually go in,” Schneep said firmly. “You are capable, yes, but the guards in there have equipment and training that can easily overpower you. I have my abilities, I am the best choice.”

“Besides the thing they can do that makes you immediately collapse, yeah, sure.” Anti rolled his eyes.

Schneep glared at him. “Do not give me that expression!”

The group continued to discuss things—though at this point, it devolved into a debate of who should even go near that place. Everyone wanted everyone else to be safe, safe enough that they were willing to take the risk instead. Marvin looked down at the kitchen counter as he thought about that. It was nice that everyone cared about the others so much, but god, were they not getting anything done at this point. Eventually, someone had to back down, and someone else had to step up, otherwise they were in a stalemate forever. He found it funny that in all this debate, they never asked him to step down. Even though he was the only one who used the cards, it didn’t mean others couldn’t use them at all. They were talismans, not inherent magical ability like JJ’s powers were. Maybe everyone figured that since his future self had them, that meant they shouldn’t interfere with him having them now?

It was... weird to think that he had a solid future in mind. One way or another, he would be going back in time eventually to help his past self. The future had never before felt so... certain. At the same time, it didn’t really bother him too much. He saw it more as a deadline than an inevitable fate. After all, he knew he was the sort of person who would want to do something like that anyway. So it didn’t feel like he was being forced into it. It was just something he had to remember to do. Eventually. Once he had this shit figured out.

While the others’ debate continued to rage on, now degrading down to snappish remarks (and reminders not to snap at anyone because they’re all tired), Marvin began laying all the cards on the counter. He looked at the runes on the back, vaguely recalling what each one meant. The card formation he’d made before had nine cards. The most cards he’d used yet. Obviously the jokers were a part of it. He was pretty sure they were both in the center. He remembered leaving the card formation in place so that the spell wouldn’t be disturbed, but eventually, time had unpaused on its own. That wasn’t ideal. And what was also not ideal was the fact that the spell just affected him. He knew he wasn’t the best choice for breaking into an IRIS facility. To make sure this went as smoothly as possible, he needed at least one other person with him.

There was another card in the center of the formation... a red one, wasn’t it? Yes, a high-number diamond. He began looking at those, trying to figure out which runes would make sense. Maybe... the one on the seven? It was shaped like an upside-down V, and he remembered from his research that it meant ‘motion’. He remembered the center card being upside-down, which... made some sort of sense? Upside-down ‘motion’ was like... the opposite of ‘motion.’ ‘Frozen,’ or something.

Maybe he... needed to use two of those runes? The seven of hearts also had the motion rune on it. If he used them both... maybe...

He shuffled the cards around some more. He remembered using other high-number cards... maybe if he switched those out for even higher numbers? Like, face cards? The runes had to make sense, though, and they needed to be arranged in such a way that the lines on the back designs matched up.

Meanwhile, the others had calmed down a bit. “I’m... sorry,” Anti said haltingly. “I just... I’m frustrated. I-it feels like we’re barely making progress at all. A-and Distorter is still out there.”

“I know, that’s... that’s scary to think about,” Jackie said quietly. “But... I really don’t think we can deal with him and IRIS at the same time. W-we have to choose one, and it’ll be a lot easier to deal with Distorter if we don’t have to worry about IRIS doing... e-experiments on us.”

Anti nodded slowly. “I get it.” He looked to the side.

“Your frustration is... It’s real, though,” Jack said quietly. “We all get it.”

“Thanks,” Anti muttered. “I... I-I really think we should go to bed. And... a-and sorry. Again.”

“It is fine, Anti, do not worry about it,” Schneep assured him. “I agree. Maybe it is time to stop here. The ideas we have are not worth the arguing we are all—”

And everything stopped.

JJ looked at Schneep and frowned. What is it? he asked, wondering why Schneep had suddenly cut himself off. Only he soon realized that wasn’t what happened at all. Rather, Schneep was... frozen, his mouth still open. And the others were unmoving as well. Not even breathing.

Marvin laughed. JJ looked over at him—when did Marvin grab his arm? How come he didn’t realize he did that? “Oh, so t’at’s how I can do t’at!” Marvin said, grinning triumphantly. “It’s who I can hold onto!”

What’s going on? JJ asked. He looked at the others, frozen around them... and immediately realized what happened. He gasped, going white in shock. Is this what a time pause looks like?!

“Yep!” Marvin said, grin widening. “Okay okay okay. T’is new formation I’ve come up wit’ seems to work, but we need to test how long it’ll last, since the last one ran out of magic after I spent too long frozen, maybe it didn’ wan’ me to get too out-of-sync wit’ the world. Oh, but first! We tell the others!” He picked up one of his cards from the table.

“—doing,” Schneep finished. “We can talk more in the morning, after we rest.”

“Oh! But first!” Marvin waved his hand for attention. “I figured it out!”

The others all snapped their attention towards him. “What, just now?!” Jackie gasped.

“I suppose when you have time powers, some things go very quickly,” Rama mused.

Anti stood up straight, eyes glowing with curiosity. “Okay, fuck getting some rest. Tell us about that first, we’ll spitball some ideas, then we’ll rest. Figure out the details in the morning.”

“Sounds good!” Marvin said cheerfully. “Okay, so, o’ course you need to make sure the formation isn’ disturbed, t’at breaks it immediately...”

———————

The group wanted to stay up, but basically forced themselves to go to bed. Upon waking up in the morning, they immediately went back to planning, until they felt like they could actually pull this off. In fact, they could probably pull it off soon. And they probably should. After all, the sooner they did this, the less time IRIS had to find out where they were, right?

So, only a few days later, some of the group found themselves in the car, driving back towards the facility they all dreaded returning to. Only four of them were going on this mission, which felt like too few people and too many at the same time. But they’d done some experimenting with Marvin’s newfound spell, and found that it only worked if he maintained contact with people while the spell was cast. And there were only so many ways you could have him do that while also not impeding anyone’s movement. So, after much discussion, the group decided that Marvin, JJ, Schneep, and Jackie would be going. Anti, Jack, Stacy, and Rama would stay home to look after the kids, with Anti keeping an eye on a phone they’d bought, waiting in case of emergency. Jackie would have the other phone. He would also drive the four to the IRIS compound and wait in the car outside. If they needed information about something inside, the three infiltrators would return to ask him about that.

It was a gloomy evening as they got close to their location, the ceiling of gray clouds matching their moods. Jackie gripped the steering wheel tightly and pressed maybe a bit too hard on the gas pedal, especially as he soon turned off-road and began driving across the bumpy, grassy fields. The others didn’t complain, though. They were too busy looking out the windows for any signs of a threat. After the group had already broken into IRIS once, surely IRIS would expand their security around the perimeter. They probably couldn’t get as close as they could before.

Because of this fear of more security, Jackie stopped the car the moment the barest hint of the compound wall came into view. He parked it and turned off the engine, and Schneep glanced at him oddly as he did that. “Why are you turning off the car?” he asked. “What if we need to suddenly flee?”

“I don’t think the few seconds it’ll take for me to turn the key will delay us that much,” Jackie said. “Besides, I know IRIS has access to, like, infrared heat vision. The heat signature of a running engine would stand out a lot more than the heat signature of me sitting here by myself. I-it’s probably a bit paranoid, but... better safe than sorry.”

“Ah.” Schneep nodded slowly. “That... is fair.”

We’re sure we don’t need to worry about cameras, right? JJ asked nervously.

“Jamie, try to relax.” Schneep twisted in his seat to look at Jameson and Marvin in the backseat. “We tested this, remember?” He picked up the video camera they’d bought last week. During their testing, they tried to see if the camera filming could pick up anything about the time freeze. But it did not. Marvin would freeze time, grab a cup from the kitchen, then return to unfreeze time, and from the camera’s perspective (and everyone else’s) it just looked like Marvin snapped into a different position and suddenly held a cup. “Besides, even if they do catch us on camera, or if we trip some security measures we do not know about, none of it will activate until time unpauses, and by then we will already be back here.”

Jameson nodded and took a deep breath. Alright. No time to waste, then... Let’s get out of the car to do this.

The three of them opened up the car doors and headed outside. Marvin knelt down on the ground and took out his cards, looking around for a place he could lay them mostly-flat. The grass was fairly long, but it had been flattened by the car tires, so he scooted over next to the tracks to work, laying out the ten-card formation... but leaving the jokers slightly out of place. The spell wouldn’t activate until every card was in position. Then he looked over at Schneep and JJ. “Okay. Ready.”

Schneep nodded. He slipped the video camera into the backpack he wore, where the polaroid camera and voice recorder already were. The latter probably wouldn’t be helpful, since sound paused while time was frozen, but they all agreed it was better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. Jameson, meanwhile, took out the roll of new duct tape they’d bought. Are we sure about this? he asked.

“JJ, it’ll be fine,” Jackie said firmly from where he was still sitting in the car. “If Anti were here he’d say something about how you always get cold feet.” He smiled gently. “You don’t get this nervous before shows, right? Just try to think of this as one big show.”

I’ll try, JJ said. He took a deep breath, then reached down to help Marvin up. Ready?

“Ready.” Marvin nodded, and reached out to Schneep, grabbing onto his upper arm. During the testing, they’d figured out that the spell was centered on Marvin. Anything he held onto or had on his person was also brought into the spell, and that included people (and whatever they were holding.) But there was a limit to it. If he dropped anything, it would return to the normal flow of time. Stopwatches would suddenly stop, and he wouldn’t be able to get them to work again even though he could pick them back up. Similarly, if he let go of someone in the middle of the spell, they would also return to the normal flow of time. They did not want that to happen in the IRIS base.

JJ pulled on the duct tape. It made that loud ripping sound as he unrolled it, and began wrapping it around Marvin’s hand and Schneep’s upper arm, taping the two together. “T’is is such an inconvenient spot,” Marvin muttered.

“Well, unfortunately, Jamie and I need our hands,” Schneep said.

“I know. Doesn’ mean I can’ complain.”

Jameson handed Schneep the duct tape, and Marvin reached out to grab JJ’s upper arm as well. Schneep taped that in place. Once he was done, the three of them were standing in a line. Schneep on the left, Jameson on the right, and Marvin in the middle.

“That... looks ridiculous,” Jackie said, smiling a little. “I know we can’t do this, but it would’ve looked a lot less ridiculous if you just held hands.”

The price of letting me freaking talk, JJ said. And doing magic and all that. And I guess Schneep needs to do his shocking thing, too.

Jackie laughed. Then he took a deep breath, his expression quickly becoming grave again. “Alright. Good luck guys. All goes well, you’ll be right back before I can blink, evidence in hand. All goes medium, you’ll be back here with questions and this whole thing will only take a minute.”

“It will be a lot of walkin’ on our end, to come back with questions,” Marvin said. “But yeah.” Unfortunately they won’t be able to contact Jackie at all while time was frozen, so it wasn’t like they could just radio him to ask stuff. They would have to walk alllll the way back from the IRIS compound. But hey, at least it wouldn’t take that long for Jackie. 

“We will see you in only a second!” Schneep said, trying to sound cheerful. “Marvin, when you are ready.”

Marvin nodded. He looked down at the cards on the ground. He’d practiced this maneuver a couple times back home, but he really hoped the grass wouldn’t mess him up now. Slowly, he reached out and moved the jokers close to the other cards with the toe of his shoe. Making sure one was in place, and then the other—

And everything stopped.

At the sudden silence, Marvin quickly raised his leg—and almost lost his balance, yelping as he started to fall backwards. JJ nearly fell with him, but luckily was able to catch himself using the car. Careful! he signed once he was upright again. If we fall while taped together, it’ll be a hell of a time getting up again!

“Yeah, yeah.” Marvin nodded. “Sorry.”

Schneep looked around. “Huh. I did not realize there was a breeze blowing through the air until the whooshing sound disappeared.” He scanned the field of grass, seeing how some of the longer strands were at a noticeable diagonal angle. “Alright... no time to waste.”

“Technic’ly we have all the time to waste,” Marvin laughed.

“You know what I mean,” Schneep said. “We should start walking.”

“Yeah.” Marvin sighed. “I really hope I don’ get tired while time is stopped. Let’s go. Everyone step at once!”

It was an awkward few seconds figuring out how to walk while stuck together in this strange position, but once they got a pattern going they were able to move quickly, heading to the IRIS compound in the distance.

———————

The experiments they’d done with the time freeze had given them a basic understanding of how it worked—and they’d done them all in a short amount of time, since it was a time freeze spell. After preforming the spell over and over again, Marvin figured out that he didn’t get hungry, thirsty, or sleepy while time was stopped, maintaining whatever state he’d been in when he first put the cards in position. He could technically eat and drink, but it didn’t resolve anything. By taking a stop watch with him (and making sure not to drop it) he was also able to figure out that the spell lasted for an incredibly long time from his perspective. He’d taken a book with him, sat down, and managed to finish the whole thing without the spell ending—the stop watch read three hours by the time he decided to unfreeze time, which he only really did because he wanted to talk to JJ about the exciting twist at the end of the book. For all they knew, the time freeze spell could last even longer.

The walk to the IRIS compound definitely felt like three hours, even though it was probably closer to just thirty minutes. Thirty really boring minutes. But eventually, they made it to the wall around the compound. “So... this part will be fun,” Schneep said slowly.

JJ sighed. Alright, you two, make sure to watch your step. He raised his hands and pointed at the wall, whispering words under his breath. His eyes glowed bright blue, and platforms appeared in midair, jutting out from the side of the wall to form a staircase. He quickly walked forward, dragging the others with him, and started to walk up the stairs. There was only so long he could maintain this! The stairs only lasted as long as he could keep repeating the spell words—which might be easy for some magicians, but with his damaged throat, he would soon be physically unable to keep going. Not to mention the constant drain this was on his magic. They had to hurry.

Schneep scaled the stairs easily, but Marvin found himself nervously glancing at the edge way too often, the fear slowing him down. He shook his head and kept going, though, pushing himself forward despite how his heart was pounding. Once they reached the top of the wall, JJ took a breather, coughing slightly. The staircase disappeared, but luckily the top of the wall was wide enough for them to stand on with no fear (or as little fear as possible.) “Are you alrigh’, Jems?” Marvin asked.

Jameson nodded. Going down will be easier, he signed. Just... give me a minute. He cleared his throat a little, then started up the chant again, conjuring up a staircase heading down the other side of the wall. It was a bit scarier, looking at the drop, but he forced himself to concentrate on the chant.

They made it down without any problems. Now... they were inside. “Alright, Jackie said that the symbol on that building there means administrative,” Schneep said, pointing at a building to the side.

“We were also goin’ to... go back into the main buildin’, righ’?” Marvin’s eyes drifted to the side, towards the building they’d all been imprisoned in. “T’at’s where we can take pictures an’... an’ all t’at.”

Schneep nodded slowly. “Y-yes, of course. But we should start there. The administration is only one story, while the other is multiple floors, and we will not be able to take lifts. I-I would rather make sure we get something concrete before we spend a lot of time looking for staircases.”

Marvin shrugged. “Fair enough.”

The group ran over towards the administration. It was easy, which was a relief for Marvin. He didn’t feel any more fatigue than he usually did. Good. He hadn’t brought his cane, since he couldn’t hold it with his hands taped up like this, and he’d feel bad for leaning too much on Schneep and JJ.

Once they reached the building, they circled around until they found a door with a keycard on the side. Schneep grabbed it with both hands and sent a shock of electricity through it. Instantly, the light on the side went off. He let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, it works, that’s good,” he muttered. They hadn’t been sure that shocking items would disable them; that had been one of the few things they’d been unable to test. But they were clearly able to interact with items while time was frozen, so they guessed it would be the same principle.

The three of them headed inside. Immediately, they stumbled across a pair of people, frozen mid-stride as they walked down the hallway. A man with curly hair in a lab coat, and a woman in a simple button-down shirt. JJ gasped silently at the sight of the woman. “You alrigh’, Jems?”

Jameson nodded. I just... remember her. He seemed a bit pale. Let’s hurry.

Marvin squeezed his arm comfortingly, the duct tape crinkling with his movement. “We will.”

The doors in here were all locked with similar keycard scanners, so they were easily able to search through them no matter how securely they were locked. Some of them were mere storage rooms, full of nothing but spare computer parts and folding chairs. But others were offices, with desks and computers and personal-looking knickknacks... as well as filing cabinets. In the first office they found, JJ tried to use the computer, but found that even though he could move the mouse around and press the keyboard buttons, they didn’t seem to do anything. So the group turned their attention to the filing cabinets, ransacking them and taking any files that looked interesting.

They then proceeded to do the same in all other offices they came across. IRIS’s filing system was weird, as they used a lot of numbers to identify things. But Jackie had filled them in on stuff earlier. “Essentially, you need to look at the letter prefix to figure out what the thing is for,” Jackie said. “Like, device prototypes are shortened to DPS. Then there’s the date of the file at the end, and the numbers in the middle are a serial number for whatever the issue is.” Most things ended up looking like DPS-18773-1502014 or EXS-00338-3005017. It was a bit confusing, but they had all the time in the world.

At some point when searching, Schneep suddenly cried out in horror and dropped the file he was looking at. Marvin and JJ’s attention snapped to him. “Hen! I-is everyt’ing okay?!” Marvin asked. He and JJ glanced down at the file on the floor... and saw a diagram of a human body, gray lines overlaid on top of it in a circuitry pattern. “O-oh...”

You don’t have to look at it, JJ said hurriedly.

Schneep took a deep breath. “N-no... this is exactly what we are looking for, yes?” He crouched down to pick up the papers, shuffling them back into a pile. “JJ, put these in the backpack.”

JJ nodded and slid the papers into the backpack Schneep was wearing, since Schneep himself couldn’t take it off to access it. 

“I t’ink we might... need to move on,” Marvin said slowly. “We’ve already been doin’ t’is for a while... an’ I t’ink the, uh... the paper t’ere is the best proof we’re goin’ t’get in here.”

Schneep paused, then sighed. “Y-you are right... we cannot avoid the main building any longer.”

Let’s get in and out quickly, then, Jameson said nervously.

They ran across the green fields around the buildings, and Marvin was amazed that he still didn’t feel tired at all this activity. All this walking, running, searching around... it would normally be a lot for him. He felt a bit bad that he couldn’t do much of the searching, what with both his hands being used to keep contact with the other two, but he was honestly just glad he wasn’t slowing anyone down.

Although... he was starting to feel a bit... strange. A bit... floaty? It was hard to describe. His body didn’t feel tired, but... it wasn’t really feeling much at all, either? Maybe that was normal, though. He didn’t remember what his life was like before the fatigue, maybe this sensation was what everyone else felt when they weren’t tired. Though... it wasn’t much of an improvement to feeling tired... 

Before Marvin knew it, they were inside the building, and they’d found a locked door on the first floor that led to a stairwell. “I knew they would have one,” Schneep said, zapping the keycard reader to open the door. “It would not be safe to have only a lift. What if it broke down?”

That would be very inconvenient, JJ agreed. I’m glad we found it, though. With how weird this building is... and how weird IRIS is... I half-thought they would limit access to the other floors, regardless of how inconvenient it might be.

“In any case we should head down now,” Schneep said chuckling. “There is a lot downstairs that people should know about.”

And then—

“Well this is very inconvenient, in any case, since it is so tucked away,” Schneep said.

I don’t think they want to make it convenient for anyone at all, JJ said.

“In any case we should head down now,” Schneep said chuckling. “There is a lot downstairs that people should know about.”

Marvin blinked. What... was that? Did Schneep just say the same thing twice? With... the exact same inflection? And the exact same little laugh? “Didn’ you... jus’ say t’at?” he asked. “Or... huh?”

The other two looked at him in confusion. “Say we should be heading down?” Schneep asked. “N... no?”

Are you alright, Marvin? JJ asked. You look a bit pale.

“I do feel a bit odd,” Marvin said. “But it’s not a problem, I promise. Let’s jus’ hurry and take the photos.”

JJ and Schneep looked worried, but they glanced at each other and nodded. “We will hurry, don’t worry,” Schneep assured Marvin. “Come on, we will walk slowly.”

Suddenly, they were downstairs. JJ was taking the video camera and polaroid out of Schneep’s backpack, handing the video camera to Schneep. Marvin blinked in confusion, and looked around—

No, they were still walking down the stairs. Marvin stumbled a bit in shock, but managed to regain his balance. JJ grabbed him, helping to steady him. Are you sure you’re alright?

Marvin blinked slowly. “Y-yes, I-I’m sure I can... last long enough for us to take care of this. Don’ worry abou’ me, promise.”

If you look like you’re going to fall over, we’ll leave immediately, JJ said. I swear to I don’t think you know how to use one, that’s why.

“Ah, fair enough.” Schneep nodded. “I do not, but surely it cannot be hard to figure out.”

They were downstairs again, in the middle of the hallway, looking around at the strange doors. Marvin inhaled sharply. What just happened? Everything had shifted in the middle of JJ’s signing. Schneep and JJ didn’t seem to realize anything had happened. Though... had anything happened? Maybe Marvin just... spaced out for a little bit?

Schneep fiddled with the video camera. “JJ, do you have any way to open the doors? I think seeing the inside of the cells will be a lot more

They were still walking down the staircase. Marvin’s head was spinning.

They were downstairs, with JJ taking a photograph with the polaroid, making sure to capture all the details of the room beyond. He looked pale just staring into this place. Marvin’s head was spinning.

“Marvin, are you sure you’re okay?” They were standing somewhere else in the hallway, with all the cell doors closed. Schneep was staring at Marvin intently.

“N... no, I... I-I t’ink somet’ing strange is goin’ on...” Marvin said slowly. “Haven’ you two noticed how everyt’ing is jumpin’ around?”

“Jumping... around?” Schneep repeated. “N... no?” He glanced around. “Perhaps we should leave.”

“No, no, i-it’ll be fine,” Marvin insisted. “Jus’... I-I’ll jus’ be a bit quiet. I-I’ll tell you if t’ings start to get really bad.”

Schneep nodded reluctantly and turned away.

Marvin’s head was spinning. His body felt... not much at all. It was like... a dream. Dreams were all in your head, and therefore, you didn’t have a body in a dream. Was this... a dream? Was that why everything was falling apart?

His vision shifted wildly. He was down the hall, he was standing in one of the cells, he was watching JJ try to magically pick the lock of a door, he was shuffling out of the way as Schneep slowly panned around with the video camera. He was able to follow what was going on, but it was like he was watching something on a screen, instead of experiencing his own life. Snippets of conversation flowed past his ears.

“Can’ believe you two were kept in rooms like t’is...”

“Should we go upstairs and take more pictures there?”

“I s’pose we shoul’ find a way into t’ese ‘training rooms,’ t’en.”

“I wonder where all the guards stay.”

Everything became faster and faster, more and more disorienting. Marvin tried to close his eyes, but it was like he could see through his own eyelids. The images and visions wouldn’t stop. What was happening?!

At one point, he became aware of JJ looking at him in concern. At another point, he saw Schneep shaking him, though he didn’t feel the shaking itself. They were outside, they were in the building again, they were running, they were standing, they were talking, they were filming, they were looking at each other, they were looking around with worry on their faces, they were looking at him, looking at him, looking at him, looking at him, looking at him—

And next thing he knew, Marvin was lying on the ground, the cool feeling of grass beneath his back. JJ and Schneep were staring down at him with concern... and so was Jackie. They were back over by the car, weren’t they? Marvin blinked and turned his head side to side, where he spotted the cards, knocked completely out of formation like someone hurriedly kicked them. “H-huh?” Marvin mumbled.

Jameson let out a sigh of relief. Marvin, can you understand me? How many fingers am I holding up? He held up two fingers.

“T-two...” Marvin said. “An’ I... can understan’ you. Wha... wh-what... happened?”

“That’s what we were going to ask you,” Schneep said. “We had been walking around for a while, gathering evidence, when we suddenly realized that you looked very... pale. A-and not in the way people usually get pale. It was like... the color was... draining from you. All of you. Your hair, your clothes... i-it was...”

Jackie let out a breath. “You seem... fine now,” he said slowly. “I checked your vitals before this, but... can I do so again?”

“Hm? Oh, uh... yeah.” Marvin nodded. Jackie immediately began checking his pulse and breathing. Marvin stayed pretty still for that.

“You seem fine,” Jackie said, leaning back.

Jameson looked down at him, worry clear on his face. Are you sure you’re alright, Marvin? It was... it was scary. To see that happening to you.

“It was... too confusing to be scary,” Marvin mumbled. “It was like... like everyt’ing was... breakin’ up? A-and jumpin’ aroun’... I was in one moment, t’en I was in another...”

“It seems that the time freeze spell is not without consequence,” Schneep muttered. “If JJ and I had not been there...” He trailed off ominously.

Marvin felt dread pool in his stomach. He pushed himself upright. “I-I feel fine now, don’ worry. Jus’... exhausted.” It had been a while since he’d felt this fatigued. That time he was sick recently didn’t count. “Did we... get enough?”

“You guys got a lot, don’t worry,” Jackie assured him. “Now... since you’re alright, let’s get out of here quick. JJ, can you help Marvin up?” 

JJ nodded. He started to scoop Marvin up, but he resisted for a bit. “W-wait! Th-the cards!”

“I will get them, don’t worry,” Schneep assured him.

Marvin nodded, and let JJ help him into the car. JJ climbed in after him, and after a minute, Jackie and Schneep got into the front two seats. Schneep handed the cards back to Marvin, who double-checked that they were all there. They were, and so Jackie didn’t hesitate to start the car and zoom off towards the distant road.

Had they done it? Had they truly gotten away with it? It didn’t feel real... All of them kept expecting IRIS personnel to suddenly appear and chase them down. But... nothing. So far. IRIS must not have a counter for a time freeze. But then again, who did?

And so, with tentative hope, they drove onwards. But that strange breaking-of-things lingered in Marvin’s mind. They were worried about the consequences of messing with time. Seemed they’d stumbled upon one of them today. He hoped he never had to experience that ever again.

[huffle-dork]

Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 2: Switch

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix

Read Swapboys | Read Switch | Read SwitchSwap | AO3 Link

Prologue | Chapter 1 Taglist: @brokentimewatch

It's not too long before two cars pull up to the train station. Out of the first one steps a tall dark-skinned person with chin-length hair. They talk with Anti briefly, demanding an explanation but accepting that this isn't the time and leaving with Will, who Anti gives a short hug before he heads out. And out of the second one--

"Why the FACK can we not have five minutes of peace in our goddamn lives?!" Schneep looks pissed and annoyed, but he softens when he sees Bro. "Ah... good to see you again, of course, but it seems there is bad news, too."

Bro shrinks a bit at Schneep's anger but he also can't help but laugh because, same. "haha- I feel that bro..." He then looks scared and bites his lip. "Yeah... I need to find Alt... who knows what Mag is doing to him... or to one of your guys- i think... he really wanted Jameson last time, didn't he?"

Jackie sighs. "Are you okay? Anti said something about you healing really fast, but I can take a look, if you want. I've patched up this guy often enough." He vaguely gestures at Schneep.

Bro then looks back at Jackie and tries to smile, lifting up his singed shirt. "Uh- you can try, if you like. I dunno if it's like... good or not. I don't really... get checked often. Gotta keep go go going, you know? Hero work is never done..."

Dr. Parker can see the edges of the burn are a bit darker, tinged green. But the main part seems pretty much filled with healing skin, raised and pink. A bit hot to the touch but also cracking and Bro squirms uncomfortably. "Fucking shit- god i hate how it itches, jesuss!"

"Sorry," Jackie mumbles. "I didn't really bring anything to treat ichiness." He crouches to get a closer look. "...well, it's definitely healing, but there's some green... tinge here. It might be because of magic. In which case, I'm not qualified to do anything.”

Bro nods and pushes himself to sit up straighter, "S'probably the magic- green fire sucks ass, it lingers a bit longer than I would like. But thanks for checking, Doc."

"No problem," Jackie smiles. "Happy to help. If you feel up to move, we should go meet up with JJ and Marvin. I think—"

Before he can continue, Anti's phone starts to ring. Well, not ring, it's on silent, but the vibration is loud and noticeable. "Shit, sorry," he says, pulling it out. He looks at the Caller ID and frowns in confusion. Then picks it up. "What is it? Whoa!" He holds the phone away from his ear. On the other side a man is yelling. "Fucking shit, calm down! You scared the bejeezus out of me. I—what? Sam? I..." He glances at the others. "Hang on, you all keep talking." He turns to the side and listens to the call.

Bro readjusts himself after being checked on and then jumps slightly at Anti’s exclamation.

"That is probably not good," Schneep mutters. "Neither is it good that Magnificent may be in our world." He laughs. "Though I do wonder now... He has other magic, but those tricks... I wonder if..."

Jackie gives him an odd look. "I don't think we should go testing stuff like that out. We need to come up with some way to get Chase and Alt home--and Magnificent, too."

Bro looks back and studies Schneep with curiously, "Wait testing what out? You got something you think could help against Mag, Volt??"

"Heh." Schneep gives him a wan smile. "Well... a lot has changed since we got sucked into your universe. I do not... wish to discuss it too much, but I will simply say that our villain's illusions and manipulation no longer works on me." If Bro looks close, he'll notice that Schneep is playing with his hands in an odd way. Running a finger down the side of his left hand.

Bro looks excited by this and he grins, "Hey! Maybe that will work- but... I dunno- Mag's magic is... weird. I guess- I dunno much about magic though."

“How'd you get here, by the way?” Jackie asks, “Anti didn't fill in those details in the group chat. Only something about Magnificent doing shit. Do you remember anything specific? If we want to get you back home, it'd be easiest to do it the same way... probably."

Chase looks back at Jackie and nods, "Ah right- so he... he took Alt from our house, puppeted him in a super horrible way that isn't.... like him- not unless he's desperate. and he was... cuz he found this like... doorway thingy- But he needed Alt to glitch to work it. He used his magic and alt's glitches and then there was like- an explosion and i... woke up on the train tracks." He then frowns and tries to remember, "mmm... i dunno if something like that would be here... it was in some shady basement of this fucked up agency we have in our world- calls themselves Sclera."

"That's a werid name for an evil organization," Jackie says absentmindedly. "What is a shlcerla? I mean--sclera?" He sounds the word out carefully.

Schneep sighs. "Jackie, I thought you were a doctor."

"I am! That doesn't mean I know everything! Why, do you know about a sclera?"

"I do." Schneep grins smugly. "I wondered if there was a word for it in English, turns out, yes. It is the white part of your eye."

Jackie is silent for a moment. "Part of an eye... Like an iris?"

Schneep's grin fades.

Jackie turns to look at Bro. "We might have something like that here. There's this group called IRIS, they study weird shit. Anomalies. They call them ALTRs. And they... do a lot of fucked up stuff besides that." He glances at Schneep, then quickly looks away. "Maybe they'll have something to help. I think... I think I heard about them talking about other worlds..."

Bro also seems to pale, gripping slightly over his heart. "... Sclera does that too- but... with magic." He narrows his eyes and thinks, "If Iris is like Sclera then.... then yeah- that might be our best bet..." He shudders though but tries to hide it. "God- I hate places like that though- fucking freaky scientific-messed-up bullshit..."

Schneep looks at him sympathetically. He opens his mouth to say something, but--

"Fuck!" Anti shouts, drawing everyone's attention. "Okay, take Sam home and make sure they're okay, okay?! The rest of us will check on them. Yes, I'm sure! Yeah! No, stay there. Don't--don't let anything happen to you." His voice softens. "Be careful. Okay. Bye." He hangs up and spins around to look back at everyone else. "Okay. So. Chase was right. Magnificent is fighting Jameson."

Chase zips up to his feet, eyes wide, "Oh no! I hate when I'm right!" He curses and then adjusts his utility belt, pulling out his phone and looks about ready to burst into the air. "Okay where is he?? We can't- we can't let Mag get him again!"

"He's by the bus stop by his house," Anti says.

"Fuck! That's far!" Schneep curses.

"Not if I run red lights!" Jackie's head snaps towards his car, then back to Bro. "Hey, can you fly or do you need a lift?"

Bro nods and shoots into the air to hover, "I'll fly ahead! I know the look of Mag's magic by now, just point me in the right direction!"

"It's that way!" Anti points. "West and a bit south. We'll head there on our own. Remember to text us if you need to, calls might not work!"

Meanwhile, Schneep grabs Jackie and starts pulling him towards the car.

Bro nods, storing away his phone. "Right! Be careful!" He then blasts into the air and follows Anti's instructions, trying to push himself to fly as fast as he- scanning the area below for any signs of magic.

"Good luck!" Jackie calls. Then the three of them run to the car.

-----------

That was risky, JJ says.

Marvin smiles at him. "But it paid off, didn' it?" He pushes his cards back into a single deck on the dining room counter.

I suppose. JJ pauses. He somehow...drained some of my magic. I still feel...weak.

"Really? Fuckin' bastard..." Marvin mutters, then frowns. "T'at shouldn' be possible, t'ough. It should've brough' you back to the state you were in before. Did I do somet'ing wrong...?"

JJ shakes his head. You didn't do anything wrong, he reassures him. This is just... tricky.

Before Marvin can respond, there's a knock at the door. "They're here already?" Marvin says, surprised. "Okay, I'll get it." He heads into the entrance hall and opens the door.

But instead of any of his friends, Alt Brody falls into their house.

Alt was resting against the door as soon as he knocked on it- and as soon as it opens he stumbles forward, his head heavy. But, it's momentarily cleared of fog as he raises his red stained face to meet Marvin's eyes. He's still gripping his arm, magic pulsing weakly. "...m'rvin... moore...?" He slurs, confusion clear on his face. Then, he feels a wave of dizziness crash onto him that has him falling towards the ground.

"What the--?!" Marvin shoots forward and barely manages to catch Alt. He almost falls himself in the process but stays up. For now. "Jems! It's--it's t'at Anti from the other world!"

JJ rushes into the the front hall. He gasps at what he sees. What's wrong with him?!

"I don' know! Ah--a little help?" His legs are starting to go out.

JJ nods and hurries over, transfering support of Alt from Marvin to him. Living room, he signs awkwardly. Marvin nods, and the two of them move into the other room, where they set Alt down on the sofa.

There's a voice in Alt's mind. So familiar. {This is good,} it says. {Do as you would for now. But that man with the mustache...you should try to get rid of him when you have the chance. Knock him out...or worse. That'd be good, too. That would make me happy~}

Alt's eyes seem distant as something whispers in his ears, letting the others take him and move him into the living room. Even when hes out on the couch, He's still for a second, staring out ahead. Then, he shakes out this head and looks in between Marvin and Jameson. He feels really sick, his body is shaking in a way he can't really control. But... he knows these guys... right? He weakly shakes his head again and tries to stop the trembling in his corrupted arm.

"Are you alrigh', lad?" Marvin asks.

"..hngh... n-no- not... r-really..." Alt pants, feeling faint and leans back against the back of the sofa. "M-Mag... Mag did somethin' to... to m'magic... s'hurts... and I... i dunno... what's...." His eyelids flutter like he's ready to pass out again but he shakes his head to try to stay awake. "m'broth'r... i... i needa find Chase...I... I gotta s-stop Mag..."

JJ frowns. Who?

"Oh! Yes, Chase!" Marvin nods. "He was the one who isn' here, remember?"

Understanding dawns on JJ's face and he nods. Yes, he's the one Anti mentioned. Don't worry, Alt, our Anti saw him, he's fine and on his way. He uses the same name sign for Alt as the Henrik in Alt's universe: A-lightning.

"As for Magnificent, the bastard..." Marvin grumbles. "I'm sure he'll be comin' to us sooner or later. We have time to prepare."

Yes, get some rest and recover, Alt, JJ adds.

Alt seems comforted by seeing a familar sign, his chest suddenly aching for his friend. But, Hen would be in danger here... its good he's still back home. He almost wants to nod to them- he wants to relax- when he stiffens, blood starting to try to leak out of his eye again.

{Just wait here? Wait for him to come for you? No, that seems like a bad idea, doesn't it? They're trying to stop us from going after him.}

"... w-we can't j'ust wait here... w-we'll be just s-sitting ducks! We... we gotta... gotta stop him... s'mehow..." Alt's brain was fuzzy on the details- god he'd give anything to use his magic right now. He needs... he needs to get rid of this corruption.

He looks up at Jameson, head fuzzy as its assaulted with suggestions. Knock him out. Or worse. Make me happy. get rid of him. "y... you... do you know how... how to get rid'f dark magic...?" He shakily holds out his arm to Jameson, showing off the claws marks that match the ones on his own. Though, Alt's seem much more severe, pulsing with purple magic with every tremor of his muscles. JJ's are dark like stains- more just a sign of what was used to steal his magic.

JJ tries to hide his alarm at the marks on Alt's arm--and the ones on his own. We don't have to deal with black magic on a regular basis like you do, JJ says, but I'm sure I have a purification spell upstairs somewhere. I can check my book of shadows.

"T'at's a great idea," Marvin says. "We can take care of t'at, and t'en we'll talk about how to stop Magnificent."

JJ nods. He turns and starts leaving the room, heading towards the stairs.

{Go with him.} The voice comes with a bit more of a push than the last times. Some fog rolls in with the command.

Alt doesn't hesitate to push himself off the couch, the command to follow JJ filling his head with nothing else. He doesn't even look at Marvin as he stumbles after the magician.

This was good... he can get this black magic fixed... and then get rid of the magician.

"Alt...?" Marvin stares, confused, as Alt follows JJ upstairs. It's not too weird, maybe he just wants to get the magic taken care of right away, but... Was it just him, or was there something... on Alt's face? Just in case, he hurries back to the kitchen where he left the cards.

JJ glances back at Alt. Oh, you want to come? Alright, I'd be happy to show you my workroom. He smiles and continues up the stairs.

The workroom is halfway through being reorganized, with some of the books on the shelves and desks where they're supposed to be and some on stacked on the floor around the central table. And on the table itself is a black crystal sphere, nestled on a purple cushion.

Alt nods to Jameson, and looks dazedly around the house and the workroom as he's lead through.

When Alt looks at the crystal, he sees flickers of other people's faces in the reflection. They all look familiar, and yet... different. Some are wearing masks. Some are children. And there's one with a slit neck, green strings holding it closed.

Alt pauses and stares at the crystal, eyes widening slightly as he saw the visions within them. What... what was-

But none of this is important.

Oh. It didn't matter. Any concern that was trying to surface was quickly stuffed under heavy fog.

JJ goes right for the desk, sorting through the books there until he finds what he's looking for. He then skims that book, and after a few seconds, smiles triumphantly. Hand me your arm, he says, putting the open book on the desk.

It takes a second for Alt to react to Jameson, more blood slithering down his face. But, he turns and wordlessly offers his corrupted arm to him, staring intensely at his face.

JJ gently takes Alt's arm. He hesitates for a moment, glancing back at the instructions in the book. His eyes start glowing a bright blue, and that same blue light encases his hands. He carefully presses his palm against the claw marks. A cooling magic washes over the marks. It takes a couple waves, but soon the corruption of the dark magic disappears.

There we are, JJ says, letting go of Alt's arm and smiling at him.

...Wait.

Something... Something is wrong...

Jameson blinks. He squints at Alt's face. What is...

It's blood.

Jameson gasps and takes a step back. How did he not notice it before?!

{Now.}

The second the black magic is cleared, electric magic builds up around Alt and he starts to glitch again. Then, he throws out a hand and sends a wave of blue green electricity at Jameson.

Jameson lets out a little squeak--the closest to a shout he can manage right now-- and throws up a clumsy shield. Luckily, it blocks most of the electricity. What gets through isn't enough to shock him. Alt, snap out of it! he signs, backing up. He doesn't have the magic for another fight after Magnificent drained him. And he doesn't want to fight Alt! Glancing around, he rushes for the open doorway.

That familiar sign has Alt hesitating, something trying to spark in his foggy mind. But, that hesitation quickly leaves as Jameson starts to run. Alt tries to glitch in front of him, throwing out more barrages of charged magic.

Jameson skids to a halt, surprised by Alt's sudden appearance. Before he can recover or try that new teleportation spell again, Alt is throwing electric magic at him. Again he tries to conjure a shield but the magic breaks through this time. This time he manages a scream as the magic shocks across his skin.

Downstairs, Marvin's head snaps up at the sound of JJ's cry. "Jems?!" he gasps. He runs for the stairs, tightening his grip on his cane and the cards, already thinking of what combination could help. Was it Alt? Had he really seen what he thought?!

Alt doesn't hesitate again to glitch towards Jamie- and this time he attempts to grab Jameson's neck and then throw him into the wall, pressing hard against his throat. There's no recognition in his eyes as blood pools out of them. He thinks he might hear another voice- but its faint and it doesn't matter. He needs to get rid of the magician.

Jameson gasps in surprise when Alt grabs him. He pulls at his hands, trying to pry them away before something could happen--!

And he manages to push Alt away just in time. He scrambles backwards across the floor until he hits the central table. The black crystal ball is almost jostled from it's spot.

A voice comes from down the hall. "H-hang on, Jems!" Marvin shouts. He's struggling with the stairs, pushing himself faster.

Jameson nods. He ducks his head and crosses his arms. A blue dome appears around him, wavering for a second before solidifying.

Alt tsks quietly under his breath and then lashes out and throws lightning magic over and over at the shield. Trying to get it to crack-

The shield shudders with every hit, but it doesn't break. And yet JJ knows it will only be a matter of time. He feels his strength failing.

"Jems! Alt!" And then Marvin rushes forward, almost collapsing in the doorway of the room. He takes in the situation quickly--yes, he thought it was something like that.

Alt pauses in his attack to turn towards Marvin, regarding him with a slight head tilt. He's panting slightly, sweat dripping down his face and his hands trembling. His magic is being depleted really quickly so soon after getting drained by that curse. Yet, he needs to keep going. He has to.

Quickly, Marvin bends over and places three cards on the ground in a triangle formation: Five of Diamond - Six of Heart - Queen of Spade

Jameson's shield is reinforced, curving golden lines running over itse surface in a geometric pattern. He breathes easier.

Marvin hears a voice in his head. {That's not really fair, is it? Have you forgotten whose side your on? Or are you too afraid to remember?} He flinches, pushing away the accompanying fog.

At the same time, Alt hears it say something different. {A friend of ours has lost his way...so sad. He shouldn't be here. Make him leave.}

.... he lost his way? Well... Alt hated using these spells but- if they needed to convince Marvin then... Alt flares out a hand to his side, and a collection of glitches forms beside him- and then forms a wobbly electric field of magic that swirls in hues of green blue and white. Though the edges are harsher than Mag's, the colors are soothing and easy to look at. Maybe they could just lull you to sleep... make you forget all your pain, just for a second.

Marvin isn't expecting it. He looks down for a moment, fumbling with the cards--he'll need to use five or more, he's not leaving this to chance--and when he looks up again... there it is. An electric spiral hovering next to Alt. What? How... strange. But... nice. Marvin's eyes trace the spiral's motion, the ever-inward movement. His eyelids feel heavy all of a sudden.

JJ sees what's happening. "Marv--!" he tries to shout, but it breaks off into a wheezing exhale. The reinforcement around his shield stays--it will stay until the card formation is disrupted--but Marvin's other cards flutter to the floor, followed shortly by him collapsing to his knees, eyes blinking slowly...

"Sleep." Alt drones out to Marvin, watching him coldly and emotionlessly, pushing magic into his words.

He thinks he hears something slamming open from downstairs- but he's focused on his task. Nothing else matters. He doesn't even consider anything else is wrong until suddenly he's being tackled to the ground, his head hitting it hard enough for him to see spots.

"O-Oh my god, Alt!" A man in a pink mask is gasping desperately over him, looking worried. ...why...? No no wait- he's... he's important- he's so so important. Alt makes a choked noise of pain, the fog in his head hurting all of sudden. No no no its hurts- why does it hurt?

"C- Ch...!" Alt tries to choke out, shaky hand trying to grab onto his jacket.

For the others- as soon as Jameson shouted out, Bro flew past a house with bright lights flickering in different hues in the windows. He recognized the color of some of them- and it wasn't Mag... it was Alt!

He hurried down to the door of the apartment then tried to doorknob- not wanting to cause too much damage to the house. By some miracle it was open and Bro skids in and looks around, shouting out, "Alt?! ALT!!"

He sees the hues of blue and greens and doesn't hesitate to fly up the stairs- and hovers just a bit above them to see his brother trying to entrance Marvin. He yells out and tackles Alt back farther into the room- the magic bursting into pixels as the two boys crash into the bookshelves in the corner. Marvin can feel the influence leave him like he's waking up from being underwater.

Marvin gasps, starting backwards. JJ stares with wide eyes at Chase and Alt. His shield finally disappears as he stands up and scrambles over to Marvin's side. He reaches down to help him up.

"I-I... what?" Marvin shakes the image of that spiral out of his mind. "Th-t'at was—he can do t'at...?" he whispers. Then he looks up at JJ. "A-are you... alrigh'...?"

JJ smiles weakly. I should be asking you that.

"'M... fine. Physic'lly." Marvin takes JJ's hand and lets him pull him to his feet. In unison, the two of them turn and stare at Alt and Bro. "Y-you're the—the hero from the other world. Chase. Chase!" Marvin shakes his head again. "Chase, Alt's bein'—Distorter's in his head, I—oh!" And then Marvin gets back down on the ground and starts gathering up the cards. "T-try to get t'rough to him, if you can', I-I can try somet'ing!"

Bro looks back at the others and seems to relax at seeing they're both okay. "H-Hey- glad you two aren't hurt-" He then makes a face and his eyes glow with hatred as he looks down at the power that's taken over his brother. "Right... that bitch. Okay- lemme see what I can do!"

{Shhh. Shhhh.} The voice hisses in Alt's mind, like the comforting sound of rain falling. {Don't worry. You don't have to worry about anything. Shhh. Let me take care of this.}

Alt's eyes glaze over more as the voice of his friend comforts him. His hand falls back down and he lays limply on the ground, head lolling to look out past Bro. Nothing but the sound of rain blanking his mind, like what he would listen to in his headphones when sound was too much. His mind is calm and still- Even though his body is panting and shaking and trembling- he can't feel it at all.

"No No! fuck- Anti! C'mon lil bro, stay with me!" Chase whispers desperately, trying to shake Alt's shoulders.

Then, Chase hears something in his mind, too. {Oh? So where were you when your brother appeared right outside my house? Where? Why weren't you there with him? You don't care, I see. You're right not to. He doesn't care about you. He barely knows you, really, he wouldn't give two shits if you just died.}

Bro winces as the voice slithers into his head. He closes his eyes and then growls out, "No shut up! I do care- we know each other better than anyone! You're the one who doesn't care- or you wouldn't be running him ragged!"

He shakes Alt more, pleading, "Alt c'mon! Wake up!"

"Shit," Marvin curses, watching Chase and Alt. He has all his cards gathered, now he just needs to find the right ones! "H-hang on, you two! Jems, can you--I-I dunnae, help t'em?"

Distorter doesn't respond to Chase, instead continuing to speak to Alt. {Look, Anti... it's Magnificent. He's right in front of you. It's time to show him how you really feel. You're so much stronger than him, right? I believe you are.}

Alt's eyes narrow and flood with green and blue magic as Distorter makes him see Magnificent in front of him. His shoulders start to glitch, electricity building up around him. He starts to latch back onto Chase- then his arm is grabbed and-

JJ looks Alt. He doesn't have much magic left right now, but he can try. Maybe... He steps forward, up next to Chase, and grabs Alt's arm. His eyes flare blue, and frost suddenly flares from the point of contact, flashing sudden cold through Alt's system. It won't work if he's too deep in, but maybe...

It's like the gray is blown away by an icy chill, startling Alt back into his own mind with a painful jolt. He gasps, back arching as the connection breaks. He slumps back towards the floor and dazedly looks back and forth between Bro and Jameson. "..h..how did I...?" He then winces and curls his face into the ground, groaning softly. "F-Fuck..! My head...!"

Bro slumps with relief and then lifts Alt up and crushes him in a hug. "Oh thank fucking christ! God... god.... you fucking scared me Alt..." He buries his face in his brother's shoulders for a bit before letting go and helping to sit against the floor. Alt just dazedly lets him, trying to take everything in.

JJ lets go of Alt, slumping in relief. He was so glad that worked. He was so worried... But it was fine. It was all fine. It was Distorter, he explains to Alt. You remember him, right? Do you... know where you are right now, Alt? And is there... anything you need?

"I...I'm..." Alt swallows shakily and goes to hold his arms and curls up on himself. It was really hard to piece things together- but... he knows these guys. JJ and Marvin... this must be... their world. Once he thinks this though, he remembers how they got here and he gasps, looking around at the others in panic. "M-Mag-! Magnificent! He's here- he's...! He's trying to get to other universes- and-!" He then takes in the slight claw marks on Jameson's arm and he looks back at him with a pale face. "... shit- did he already...?"

"Wait what?? He already got you??" Bro asks, looking at JJ with worry. "Fuck! I flew so fast to try to stop that! Damn that slippery cat goddd im gonna skin him one of these days!"

JJ looks down at his own arm. Right... the marks. He could feel the effects, but he forgot they were visible. I'm fine, he reassured them. He did... somehow drain some of my magic, but... I'll recover with enough time and rest.

"They're righ', t'ough," Marvin says from the doorway. "We need t'stop him before that bastard does anyt'ing too big to recover from. If you're goin' to skin him, tell me so I can join." He chuckled.

Well... Jameson pauses thoughtfully. If he was trying to get to other universes, he succeeded. I don't know what we're going to stop him from now.

"Uh, how 'bout we stop him from murderin' us? Or from whatever he did to you! Or from doin' all t'at..." Marvin waves his hands around his head. "All t'at shit."

JJ chuckled, then turned serious again. You're right. I suppose I'm just a bit tired. This was a lot. He turns to Alt and Chase. Our house is warded against all sorts of nonhuman intruders. Distorter can't get in, but Magnificent might be able to. We'll be safe... briefly. Do you know of anyone else from your universe who could be here? Or is it just you two and him?

"It's just us this time," Bro sighs, "He got the jump on Alt and made him use this- weird doorway thingy! He almost got away with just Alt- god that would have been bad..."

Alt shudders and holds himself tightly, "If i was drained doing the spell... then Mag probably was too... which is why he tried to find the nearest source of magic. Then he'd... god... I... I don't know... h-he made puppets of you all once but- not even as himself... That was Distorter too... I dunno if he'd stick around for that though... and i... i dont think he'd kill you all... not yet at least. He... He likes making people useful to him. Or keeping trophies..." He grips tighter on his arms, digging his nails in. "h-he might just be trying to get to the next universe somehow... since he's experienced this one... in a way." The glitch hates that he's been around Mag long enough to know his thought pattern but... he did work with him for a long time.

Bro makes a face as he thinks and then perks up, "Oh! Yeah! I need to message the others! They were gonna be driving here! Then they uh- they mentioned someplace we can try to see might have something to help- somewhere callleedd ah fuck what was it- its like Sclera!" He scrunches his face and looks up to think. "...what do you call the colored part of your eye?"

"Iris-" Alt mutters.

"Iris! Yeah that was it!" Bro whips out his phone and sends a text to Anti. I found JJ and Alt! Mag got to JJ but hes okay- and Alt was affected by Distorter... anyways! JJ and Marvin were here so i guess we're in their house :)

Marvin and JJ stiffen. JJ looks back at him. Do you think IRIS could help?

"I... s'ppose," Marvin mutters, shuffling his card deck. "Probably. Yes. They... like t'is sort of stuff. Time and space and all t'at. So the question is jus'... which one of their places we go to t'find somet'ing helpful."

I don't think either of us are... the most qualified to answer that question, JJ says.

Meanwhile, Chase gets an answering text: Great we're reall close then. Just a few minutes and well be there.

Soon after, JJ and Marvin's phones both ding. They take them out and read the text that Anti just sent THEM.

"They're on th'way," Marvin reports.

JJ nods. Let's all head downstairs and wait for them. He turns and looks at the bookshelves Chase and Alt ran into. He frowns. You've ruined my shelves.

Marvin bursts into laughter. "Is--is t'at really your priority?"

I've spent a couple days organizing them. That one's all...ker-fobbled now.

"Did ye really jus' spell out t'at nonsense word?"

Chase looks back up and then blushes, getting to his feet, "Ah fuck! I'm sorry! I just- acted on instinct! I'm not that tired i could reorganize them if you want!"

Alt glitches to his feet and then shoves Bro towards the door. "Let's focus on the important stuff, Chase- like getting back home and stopping the evil maniac thats skulking through town?"

"...oh yeah-"

Alt shoves him more out the door, "My god you're impossible... did you take your meds today?!"

"'course I did but a lot is happening, Alt!"

Alt rolls his eyes then glitches downstairs.

Marvin giggles. Then he stops. The others couldn't hear the voice he just did. {You know fixing this won't get rid of me. We're stuck together. Embrace it now.} After a second, he shakes off the uneasy feeling and finally stands up, using his cane as support. "Yea, let's all go downstairs. We can settle the IRIS t'ing t'ere when the others arrive."

Alt finds the same space the others put him on earlier and slowly goes to curl up, holding his headphones and hiding his face behind his knees. He never thought he'd be so far away from home without his mask...

Bro watches Alt vaguely then sticks by the others, ready to help if they needed it. He wants to make sure they get down okay first- especially with JJ looking so spent.

JJ notices Chase sticking by. He smiles at him tiredly. Don't worry, I'm not actually mad. It was an emergency. And I understand the, ah, mile-a-minute effect, if you know what I mean.

"We shoul' lock you and Jems and Jackie in an empty room, see how insane you all become," Marvin mutters. "C'mon, Mr. Fantastic." He starts walking down the hallway. A bit slower than usual, but he did run up the stairs. The energy had to come from somewhere.

That's a different superhero, JJ says, following him. A fictional one.

"As far as we know! If other universes are real, perhaps all stories are, too!"

JJ smiles. He glances back at Chase to make sure he's following.

Chase laughs and then hovers over the others as they go down the stairs. “Oh yeah! Jackieboy- the one from our universe- he’s a hugeee comic nerd- gave me an earful once about my name being so close to that guy’s but I didn’t know! I didn’t read comics?? I had like… rugby to play and shit- pints to drink…”

Ah, you were one of those uni people, huh? I don't know why I'm surprised. JJ smiles again. I was a theatre major, which, I'm told, says everything about me and how I acted in uni.

"Imagine goin' to a second'ry school," Marvin says.

You mean a university?

Marvin pauses. "Well, I finished primary school, at least." JJ raises an eyebrow. "Don' give me t'at look, do you know how hard t'at was to do under my circumstances?!"

I'm very proud of you, Marvin. Sincerely.

Bro touches down to the steps once he’s sure the others are fine and then glances back at the living room. He sees his brother all curled up and his heart aches. He slowly makes his way over and sits down next to him. He waits a beat- then opens one arm to Alt’s backside but doesn’t move, waiting to see how Alt would respond.

Alt blinks up at Bro and seems to hesitate. But then he slowly adjusts so he can lay his head on Bro’s shoulder. Chase wraps a light around Alt’s back and the glitch seems to relax some.

“….I hate this.” Alt whispers weakly to Chase, trying to hide the frustrated tears wanting to leak out of his eyes. He scrubs hard at the drying blood on his face.

Chase closes his eyes and leans against Alt’s head. “I know…”

“I mean… im… im glad to see these guys again… just…” Alt shudders and curls up more. “…I know it’s good they’re not here but… I miss the others…”

“Yeah…” Bro sighs. He then presses light lips to his brother’s head, “We’ll figure it out though…”

Alt nods and hides his face against his brother’s shoulder.

Jameson and Marvin join Chase and Alt in the living room, noticing the way the two of them are acting with each other. They exchange looks, then decide not to say or do anything to interrupt the moment. "Won' be long now," Marvin says, going over to sit in his usual chair. "Jus' a few more minutes."

————

Frustratingly for Magnificent, he seems to have appeared in an area with few magicians or otherwise magic people. Sure, the city at large is very magical, but the west and south neighborhoods are odd dry spots. There are occasional empty houses full of spellbooks and the occasional talisman, but great amounts of magic are few... except for Jameson Jackson, of course, lessened as his magical signature is now that he's drained.

The dark magician curses as he comes up short on any other magic sources. Guess it was time to go back to what he knew- that Jameson could still prove useful to him, if he could find where he escaped to. And well- remembering the bonds between his puppet and his friends- where jj was- so would his failure crippled counterpart would be. It would be good to get rid of such weakness.

Flaring his eyes- he tries to locate that faint spark of Jameson’s magic.

It’s hard to find, but it’s there, glowing faintly… in the opposite direction he’s been walking all this time. How ironic.

Magnificent curses to himself- he'd been walking in the complete wrong way! Cheeky little magician... what a rookie mistake.

But as he stands there trying to locate it… he hears a voice. A voice that sounds like it’s coming from right next to him. “I knew I’d see you eventually.”

Mag freezes hearing that voice and whirls around, hurtling magic towards the voice. "You-!"

The attack misses, because Distorter is not at all where his voice was coming from. Now there’s laughter on Magnificent’s other side. Distorter is sitting on a house’s doorstep, watching casually. “Last time we met because of an accident, but not this time. You came here on purpose, right?” He stands up, head tilting to the side. “Couldn’t make it back home so you decided to try somewhere new? Hoping you wouldn’t fail as much here?”

Magnificent bares his teeth for a second but then stands up taller and tries to stay composed. He smirks, “A being like you couldn’t possibly understand my ambitions. You’re stuck as this- dead thing. But, I’m pushing past my limits. You’re just a speck in the grand scheme of things, cadaver.”

"It's funny how you think you're more than that. Cute, even." Distorter puts a hand on his cheek, a silent gesture of "awww." "You'll die too one day. There's no magic to stave that off forever. And even if you somehow find something that does, do you think it will change your core? Strip away my powers, I'm just a dead guy. Strip away yours and you're just a man with abandonment issues and a mean dad. There's a million of those."

Magnificent tries to keep his expression schooled, even as the demon claws at his inner most fears, his deepest feelings he's long tried to supress. He'd never admit it but yes- He's afraid to die. But, this was to that end. However, the last comments ignite rage in the mad magician as he lashes out with a wild yell and tries to grab where he sees Distorter.

Distorter doesn't move as Mag lunges at him, not even as his claws dig into his flesh. "Looks like I struck a nerve there~!" he sings. Still smiling. Always smiling.

Magnificent yells more and slams the cadaver into the ground, trying to choke him as his eyes light up with power. "Shut up! Don't you dare- dare compare me to any other lowly human! I am more- I am MAGNIFICENT!" He digs his claws in tighter and snarls, "I will not be judged by a being so consumed by sadness for a life that was obviously as meaningless as your very existence."

Distorter's grin widens. He doesn't breathe so the choking isn't bothering him, but he does need air to talk and so can't respond. Instead he reaches up, blackened nails scraping the edge of Magnificent's mask... and all of a sudden he doesn't look like himself anymore. He looks like Jackie--the one Magnificent remembers.

Magnificent's eyes widen in shock. It's instinctual- he lets go of Distorter and backs up, looking at him in confusion. But, then he snarls and teleports back, lighting his hands on fire to try to seem threatening. "No-! No I- I won't fall for your tricks, demon!"

Laughing, Distorter sits up, then stands. The movement is just a bit too fast to be natural. “It’s not a trick,” he says. “It’s a distraction.” And then he attacks—not physically. Mentally, psychic claws digging for a grip in Mag’s mind.

Magnificent looks caught off guard again then yells out as a powerful force is slammed onto his mind. He cries out and falls to his knees, gripping at his skull. Green light tries to ignite in his good eye, trying to push back the force. "N-No! You- You can't...!"

“I can’t? Then how am I doing it?” Distorter steps up to him, leaning down so their eyes are level. “Our goals aren’t really that different you know. And this is my home. It’d be so much easier if you let me show you the way.”

Mag meets distorter's eyes with hatred, snarling. "You- You overpowered when I was weak before- I-! I won't be bested by you ag-" He then pauses, the mental load slamming more against his mind as Distorter's logic tries to worm itself in. To Magnificent though, it feels like he's letting the wheels turn himself, figuring out a plan. Would it be so bad... to team up? They almost brought down their enemies together last time, but Magnificent hardly remembered himself. "... you... don't want to help me-" The dark magician breathes, though he seems unsure of that statement, narrowing his eyes at the other villain.

"Why wouldn't I want to? I don't hate you." Distorter's smile hides the half-lie. He does mildly dislike the dark magician, but he was so useful that he was willing to put up with it. "And helping you would help me, too. We could do so much together."

Magnificent's eyes are starting to slip- the pressure on his head becoming too much. Why- fight it though?

Because he didn't need anyone else! He was powerful enough on his own- he didn't need help!

Are you really going to look a gift horse in the mouth, sorcerer? You're in a foreign world- already weakened. Take what you can get.

Mag's furious expression starts to fall, face slacking. His claws loosen from his skull as he better looks Distorter in the eyes. "...we could... could do so much...together."

"Exactly." Distorter offers a hand to help pull Magnificent up. "I know where they are now, but I don't think they'll stay there for long. Your cub and that hero want to get back to their world soon, and the others have an idea to help them. We need to hurry."

For a fraction of a second, Mag hesitates. But then he lets himself get helped up and nods, blood welling up in one of his eyes. "Alright. Show me."

Distorter's grin widens. "I think I know where they're going. We can intercept them, take them off guard. Follow me."

[blackvahana]

i am really never going to understand why people post "shifting antis dni" in the astral projection tag. "here practice that constantly gets appropriated by us and used as a weird justification for a new set of beliefs that aren't really based in the same reality you work with, and that also gets completely misunderstood by our community because we don't care to understand what you do and just pretend we know it's what we do like christians saying other religions worship the christian god, have a post! Also dni if you don't like our practice that has nothing to do with the one whose tag we just shoved this into"

if you're not astral projecting don't put shit in the ap tag. if you don't even know the difference between AP and RS I dont think your opinion holds enough weight to counter the pushback against flooding a separate practice's tag with "if you dont like the practice I'm talking about in your tags dni"

[somewierd]

Man. Seeing people be pro-ai sucks. Because at one point I was pro-ai and didn't understand why artists didn't like ai. But then I asked, got responses, and then switched sides.

I don't think pro-ai people care about people losing jobs, and obviously people using ai don't call themselves artists, at least that I've seen. So I'll set those arguments aside.

One of my issues with ai is that... That's not the correct name. It's not artificial intelligence. In the case of ai art, it's a program that has been carefully constructed through the whole machine learning process to know what things are supposed to look like, and how to generate things that look similar. That's not ai, that's just an algorithm.

I've heard the argument that how AI art learns is the same as how we get inspiration, and I used to believe that too, but it's not the case. When I think someone getting inspired, I think "someone taking an idea and adding their own things to it to make something else." While the art algorithm just looks at all of the art it has that matches these terms and tries its best to make something that looks similar to all of it. No originality, no creativity, no inspiration, just soullessly recreating what artists have made before.

And maybe if artists start trying to apply code and filters to their art to try and destroy the thing taking their art to probably make money, then maybe that's a sign that what you're doing is wrong. Sure, yes, once your art is online you lose a decent control of what happens to it, but also obviously you can't sell their stuff or sell something that has their stuff in it unless they give you permission. That's how copyright works. And art being made part of some other algorithm that is monetized feels a little too close to making money off someone else's work to me.

And... I don't know, maybe I just want to see art that people made from their own creativity. Maybe I want to see people say "hey, look at this thing I made! isn't it cool?" so I can smile to myself and say "yeah, that is cool!" and then go along with my day. I don't really want to see someone say "I put this text into a program and it made this!" because then it's just... not art. No creativity went into it. It was just made by a request from someone who didn't even want it enough to try and learn how to make it. And if they didn't want it enough to try and make it, then I don't really want to see it. Not like I have much of a choice, since filtering out AI art on Tumblr doesn't get it all, and I can't even filter it out on other problems. But I just... wish I could live in a world where I didn't have to see it at the very least.

[hardlightvivisection]

"SOUTH KOREAN WOMEN ARE GOING EXTINCT!"

voluntarily. stop using highly edited photos of models and calling it a tragedy. start talking about the real cause. it isn't "evil californian western leftist corruption."

[johniac]

SciTech Chronicles. . . . . .May 20th, 2025

[feellovegetwell]

When I was diagnosed with stage 2B cervical cancer, I was handed a single treatment option: chemoradiation and brachytherapy. Along with it came a list of devastating side effects—infertility, hair loss, and potential lifelong complications. Walking out of that office, I felt something wasn't right. Surely healing wasn't meant to look like this. 

My only past experiences with cancer treatment were heartbreaking. My childhood friend Karen battled Lymphoma through multiple recurrences before passing in 2010. My mum was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, and though she survived, the treatment nearly killed her—she almost died of kidney failure. These moments shaped my perspective and deepened my belief that there had to be another way. 

As soon as I got home, I went straight to my computer to find answers. 

At first, I found Chris Beat Cancer, where I immersed myself in success stories of individuals who pursued non-conventional paths to recovery. I immediately signed up for the Square One Programme, a comprehensive healing approach developed by Chris Wark.

Chris Wark was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer at 26 years old. After undergoing surgery to remove his tumor, he made the decision to reject chemotherapy, despite warnings from his doctors that doing so was essentially a death sentence. Instead, he turned to nutrition, detoxification, and holistic healing, ultimately transforming his health and beating cancer. His experience inspired him to create Chris Beat Cancer and the Square One Programme to educate and empower others facing similar battles.

The SQ1 Programme covers essential aspects of healing, including:

- Whole, organic plant-based nutrition

- Juicing

- Fasting

- Detoxing the body

- Detoxing your environment

- Stress management

- Exercise and movement

- Supplementation

I implemented the Square One diet and lifestyle straight away. Additionally, I adopted quite an extreme supplement protocol, which my husband formulated after studying Jane McLelland’s book, How to Starve Cancer.

Jane McLelland herself was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 35 years old. Despite undergoing conventional treatment, her cancer later spread to her lungs, leaving her with a one-in-20 chance of survival. Determined to find another way, she began researching metabolic approaches to cancer treatment. She worked with the Care Oncology Clinic, which specialises in repurposing off-label pharmaceuticals to target cancer’s metabolic pathways. Through a combination of diet, supplements, and off-label drugs, she developed a strategy to starve cancer, cutting off its fuel sources and preventing its growth. Her approach has since helped countless others navigate their own healing journeys.

I came across an interview with Jill Schneider, who healed her cervical cancer naturally in 1975 without conventional treatment. Her story was inspiring, but what struck me most was how few cervical cancer success stories were available. I knew that every cancer is different, and that uncertainty was unsettling.

What I didn’t know was that during my cancer journey, I was only going to find two other cervical cancer survivors who healed their cancer naturally, providing me with limited insight and few resources to guide my journey. 

I made the difficult decision to opt out of the conventional treatment in pursuit of everything I’d discovered, I quit my job and dedicated 100% to healing. 

My friend Rose suggested I set up a gofundme and I was overwhelmed by the support and generosity of friends family, friends of friends, acquaintances and complete strangers. I was supported by family and cared for by my amazing husband. I truly believe I wouldn’t be here without him. 

I will continue my story as and when I can, but for anyone facing a similar diagnosis, please do not hesitate to reach out on Instagram

I would be more than happy to share everything I know and a summary of my whole experience to help guide you through your journey. 

Love and light xx

What Every Cancer Patient Needs To Know - Health Tips For Cancer Patients

Chris Beat Cancer Youtube Channel where you will find many different accounts of cancer recovery journeys

Chris Interviews Jane Mclelland about her journey with stage 4 cancer

Chris Beat Cancer on Spotify