Where's the rift?

There’s a crack in the wall.

There’s a tear that someone can reach through.

Jackie nods. "That's what I was thinking, too."

He follows the car at a steady pace, making sure to stay out of line of sight of the rear view mirrors. Not that he needs to worry. Ayer is lost in thought. So much so that she quickly switches lanes to turn a couple times, almost forgetting about her turn coming up.

They reach an area of town with red-roofed white-walled houses, all surrounded by brick walls. It's a very quaint area. "Not where I expected her to live, honestly," Jackie mutters. "But I guess older places like this might be cheap? Maybe she's frugal."

She pulls to the side of the road in front of one of the houses, parking and hurrying over, still looking distracted. She takes a set of keys out of her pocket, unlocking the front gate and walking down the path to the front door, which she also unlocks as she goes inside.

"Go look, then! You're ghosts!" Jackie says. Then they pause. "Wait, right, you can't go too far from me. I'll just uh... sneakily follow."

They wait until the car is mostly down the street before coming out, sticking close to the houses as they use their super speed to keep up the pace.

...

It is Ramona Ayer driving the car. Her eyes are fixed on the road, staring straight ahead, not really paying attention to much. It's a good thing there isn't much traffic.

Jackie laughs. “Yeah… I’m not actually going to do it. I just… I think about the people still stuck there, you know? And I… I wish I could help.” He sighs. “What’s the use of gaining superpowers if you can’t rescue people?”

About letting them fight, though… the problem is, whoever “wins” might come out stronger. If Anti gets the info he wants from Psyode, he could get out and start “deleting” stuff. And if Payode manages to capture him, they could study him and make some sort of crazy possession-gun or something.

"Hm..." Jackie frowns. "That's true... I guess I didn't think of the whole 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' thing." They sigh, leaning back against a lamp post. "Fucking hell, man. This is all so much. But uh... about your thing. Congrats. So I guess you guys are getting... stronger? More powerful?" They smile. "That's great!"

Blur.

A blur.

What's happening?

Things are... moving.

Moving?

Moving moving moving moving...

What is... moving? Move...ment?

...

"Alright, go on," Chase says. "Like you said, it's worth a shot."

Jameson smiles. Thank you!

Chase leans back, rocking slightly where he's sitting. "Jackie would be losing his mind if he heard us being so nice about Marvin. He's been softening up to him lately but he's still got beef with him."

Where is your brother, anyway? Jameson asks.

"Ha, never heard someone use the phrase 'your brother' in real life when they know the person. Only seen that in TV shows. Usually people just say the person's name."

It's different in sign language, Jameson says. Where is he?

Chase sighs. "Yeah..." He pulls his legs close to his chest while he still sits on the bed. "That guy... that guy freaks me out." He looks at Jameson. "Um... I think... I-I think it's really impressive that you lasted that long under him."

Jameson blinks. He's clearly touched by that. I... well, I did what I could. Thank you. He smiles slightly. I just... Anti threatening to go after Marvin really got to me. I couldn't let Marvin go through any of that.

"Right, I-I forgot that's why you cooperated with him," Chase stammers. "It, uh... it seems like a lot to do for him, though."

Well, I care about him, Jameson says. I know he's prickly to everyone else, but he's really nice beneath that. You just have to get past his layers of defenses.

Chase laughs. "Yeah. You're... you're a good guy, you know."

"Hwa?" Chase blinks.

In my battery lantern, Jameson explains.

"Ohhh!" Chase nods. "Without turning the key or anything? Cool! A bit worrying, but cool."

Worrying? Jameson asks, confused. Because of Anti?

"Yeah... just, if they can do it, could he do it?"

Well yes. But he would need to be close by for something so intricate, which he is not.

"How can you tell?" Chase asks nervously.

Jameson nods slowly. That's true... if you ask me, they both seem like impossible tasks. But perhaps that's a pessimistic outlook. I'm just... not sure how to defeat something that's made of pure energy. Even if Anti was human once, he isn't now. How do you defeat energy?

Chase snorts and rolls over. He opens an eye a bit—then starts in surprise as he notices Jameson. "Gah!"

Sorry! Jameson says, backing up.

"What—oh, that's 'sorry,' right." Chase rubs his eyes. "It's fine. I'm just... on edge." He laughs. "I feel like I'm always on edge these days."

Jameson nods slowly. I know the feeling.

"What?"

The same, Jameson says, and gestures between the two of them.

…What if one day I could laser-cut wood with my mind? That would be awesome.

Well, from what I understand, you can't go too far from Chase, right? Or Jackie. Jameson goes to the back door of the house. So I'm not sure if that, in particular, is possible. But who knows? Either way, that sounds difficult.

Jameson heads into the house slowly, looking around cautiously. He walks from the kitchen into the living room, where Chase and Jackie have everything set up. There's a full-size bed on a rickety-looking metal frame in one corner, with two twin-sized mattresses shoved onto it awkwardly. Chase is lying on one, face-down in a pillow. Asleep.