#sitcv switch

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.

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."

"... i need something to eat- so I can at least glitch without passing out." Alt admits quietly. "Something fast- you're right... Mag can sense magic... he might already be on the trail to this... Iris place. If it has magic."

"We have some snacks in the kitchen," Marvin says, starting to get up.

No, I'll go get them, JJ says. You stay here. And the rest of you keep talking without me, I'll still hear you. And he turns and leaves the room.

"Sensing magic, huh?" Anti repeats. "I'm... not sure if IRIS is magical. They're more on the... techy side. But, uh... Shame that JJ just left right now, but apparently their facilities have some sort of weird... not-magic-but-sorta... aura."

"He has described it as artificial-feeling in the past," Schneep recalls. "But that might not stop Magnificent."

"So where shoul' we go?" Marvin asks.

"Well, we all know about the north one, that's probably not a good idea," Jackie says, causing all the Switches to shudder at the memory. "And I know a lot about the east one, enough to know the multiverse time-space stuff wasn't their focus. Uh, Volt, what about that one in--"

"Too small," Schneep interrupts.

"Right. That just leaves the one to the west."

“Well at least that narrows it down…” Bro agrees.

Alt grips over his chest and sighs, “That’ll be enough for Mag. He can’t sense the difference between artificial magic and true magic. Anything with power- he’ll find.”

"Well that's fucking worrying, then," Anti states, concerned. "We might have even less time than we thought. Jackie, did you hear about anything that could help get them home?"

"Um..." Jackie shifts where he stands uncomfortably.

JJ returns. He puts a handful of snack foods next to Alt: a bag of chips, a bowl of raspberries, and two granola bars. I wasn't sure what you would want so I got a couple things, he says. We have more if you need it.

Alt relaxes some and smiles at Jj, “Nah this’ll help- thanks JJ.” Alt isn’t usually big on eating in front of others- but he sees the food and realizes just how hungry he is. He had to glitch a lot… he tears unto the granola bars, trying to chew quickly.

“Wait- did Jackie… did you like- work for Iris or something?” Bro asks with a tilt of his head. “…if they’re like Sclera…”

"I--It's--it's a long story." Jackie looks away, ashamed. "I didn't know about all the, uh, immoral stuff going on with them. Just their tech. I-I thought it... might be able to help protect us from Distorter..."

"It was not a bad idea on paper," Schneep says quietly. "If you do not know about what they do, you would take what you could."

Jackie clears his throat. "Anyway. Because I was focusing on Distorter protection, I didn't know much about anything else. But I think... I think I heard they were working on something to help... travel? Maybe that could... I don't know."

"Well, it's a shot, isn' it?" Marvin says, putting some cheer in his voice.

Bro nods, no judgement at all in his expression or stance. He smiles warmly at Jackie. “Hey no worries bro- I get it. Distorter is freaky as fuck. Doing whatever it takes to try to help is really brave.”

Alt pauses in his eating- though he’s practically finished everything off. “Yeah- even if nothings there… if Mag thinks there might be… he could hurt a lot of people to get it.”

He glitches to his feet and then shakes himself off, letting his shoulders and upper arms fizzle with pixels before popping back into place. “How far away is the west branch? And… you guys don’t have to come with us- if you don’t want to. Sounds like they’re a lot of hang ups around this place…”

Jackie lets out a breath, silently relieved that the two of them didn't judge him. "No, I-I have to go. I know the general layout and signs and stuff. Besides, it's out of town, so we need to drive and JJ and I are the only ones who can... assuming you guys can't."

“Fucking hate driving,” Alt mutters, crossing his arms. “Too slow-“

Bro smiles and nudges Alt a bit, “But we can… manage. We just don’t normally need to much.”

I don't know how much use I'll be with my magic still recharging, JJ says. Perhaps I should stay. I can try another teleportation if... someone gets here.

"If you are staying, I should go to help in case of a fight," Schneep says.

"Are you sure?" Jackie asks.

"Yes." Schneep nods firmly.

"Well if you're going I feel bad if I don't go," Anti mutters.

"I'll stay wit' Jems," Marvin offers. "If somet'ing happens I can protect him." He shuffles his cards nervously.

Alt looks worriedly at Jj and Marvin, “…you’ll be safe… right? Cuz of the wards- so… yeah… yeah okay.” Alt breathes and then meets the others eyes, determination bright in the glowing green ring in his eyes. “Alright. Let’s get on it then…”

Bro hesitates and then walks over to Jj and Marvin and smiles warmly, “hey- if something.. happens. Or we manage to get ourselves back home… it was good to see you all again. Youre getting really good at using those cards, Marv!” He beams, “Take care of yourselves alright? And.. sorry for all this mess.”

"We'll be fine, don' worry," Marvin reassures them. "We have a few tricks up our sleeves now." He grins, looking almost mischievous. "T'ank you for noticing the cards, by t'way. I've been rememberin' more and more."

It was good to see you, too, JJ says, smiling. Wish it could've happened under better circumstances. Maybe another time. Good luck on getting back.

Alt smirks, “…if we can figure out how to do this without dragging danger with us… it’d be nice to chill, someday.” Alt throws his hands into his pockets and looks away, red on his cheeks. He tries to pull up his mask- but it’s not there so he just blushes more. “Thanks guys… for everything.” He mutters.

"Come on, guys!" Anti is already back in the front hall. "Your cat is trying to get out!"

Marvin gasps. "Don' let him!"

"I'm not!"

Jackie laughs. "Alright, everyone, let's head out."

Bro and Alt look up at the shout and chase laughs. He waves goodbye and follows the others. Alt lingers for a second before glitching after them.

Marvin and JJ wave goodbye back. "Good luck!" Marvin calls. "An' goodbye."

Everyone piles into the car and heads out.

-----------

Mirygale is surrounded by a field. Most of the roads heading out are highways and motorways that cut through it. But out west there's just a single winding road. It's easy to tell if someone's coming. Which is why Distorter tried "convincing" Mag to come out this way. That, and he was pretty sure they'd be trying to go to the IRIS facility over here. It was the only one left when they really thought about their options.

Even influenced, Magnificent is not gonna subject themselves to walking for miles. So- he gets the location from Distorter and manages to portal them right outside of the facility. He scans the building- trying to find a magic signature to catch onto.

Distorter laughs, delighted. "That's a handy trick you have there. Makes things a lot easier." Then he turns and looks at the facility. "Hmm... this one's different than that one up north."

The facility is actually about three buildings, none of them larger than the average house, surrounded by a high chain-link fence. It used to be an old military base before IRIS swooped in and repurposed it. Right now, it looks abandoned. There are no cars or people walking the asphalt between the buildings. But... Magnificent can feel a faint signature. Not like magic, but something similar. Like the artificial taste of a cherry candy versus the real thing. One is a mere imitation. Or is it even trying to imitate anything at all? Either way, it seems to be coming from all of the buildings. Like there's something strange about the structures themselves.

Magnificent narrows his eyes as he takes in the signatures, a sour expression on his face. “…there’s faint power coming from all of them but… it’s artificial. Strange… I believe that doorway gave off something more than this…”

"Doorway?" Distorter leans closer. As Magnificent thinks about the doorway, an image of it pops up in his mind that Distorter can see. "Hmm. Never seen something like that before. Then again, I don't get out much." He giggles. "You shouldn't bet on just one mode of transportation. What if you go to a universe without magic? I doubt they'd have one of those. You need something else. IRIS is resourceful enough to figure that 'something else' out."

"hm... yes- I suppose so..." Magnificent hums in thought.

He takes a step back and scans the fence. There's a gate some ways away, but it'd be much easier to climb over the fence. Which he does, grabbing the links and scuttling up like some sort of spider. There's barbed wire at the top but he just climbs over that, too, not minding the way it digs into his skin. "Come on. You don't have to go over, of course, but come on."

Magnificent looks at the gate and Distorter climbing and makes a face before walking forward and in a wave of static appears on the other side of the fence.

Distorter grins as he watches that happen. Teleportation again so soon? After such a large jump? Yes, Magnificent is powerful indeed. Not nearly as great as his self-chosen name would suggest, but it'll be useful. Distorter drops down from the top of the fence, landing on his feet. "Well, I'm sure there's a lot that'll be useful in here. I'll keep watch. You can check out as much as you want. When they come, I'll tell you."

Magnificent nods distantly and looks towards the buildings. "Alright." He says simply then fizzles away into static to start to rifle through the buildings. What could there be here...?

Distorter watches him go. Then he walks over and hides around the corner of one building. Normally he'd be able to hide in plain sight, but they might have... that one... with them. He can't take that chance. He's hidden from the gate here and that's good enough.

...some time passes. And then a car appears, driving down the dirt road to the facility. Distorter recognizes it immediately. {They're coming,} he tells Magnificent.

Magnificent hears the warning and narrows his eyes. {Noted. Let me know if they get in our way.} He continues his search, brushing aside things, looking for any sign of- well he wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Maybe it would give off the right magic- or maybe it’d be labeled. That would be nice.

Inside the buildings is an environment of painted white walls and keycard-locked doors. Many of them have labels--identifying them as labs of various kinds--but some do not. There are also offices full of filing cabinets and storage rooms full of boxes with strange ordinary-looking tech inside: anything from CPUs to TVs to microwaves. But every single thing gives off that strange artificial magic feeling. There are cameras everywhere, visibly dangling from the ceilings.

As Magnificent walks, tiny bursts of static fizzle over the cameras as he passes. He did not want to be watched. He tries his magic to open some of the doors-

The locked doors are surprisingly sturdly. They look like wood but that's merely a facade, they're actually metal wrapped in a wooden exterior. But surely a big enough blast will knock them in. If Magnificent is willing to try.

Meanwhile, Jackie parks the car right outside the gate and gets out of the driver's seat. "Did not anticipate a locked gate," he mutters.

"At least it's only a fence," Anti adds, getting out of the passenger side. "Remember the walls up north?"

"I don't think any of us will forget those."

Even before they’ve parked all the way, Alt glitches out of the car. He shakes himself off like a disgruntled cat.

Bro doesn’t act nearly as desperate as his brother. He carefully steps out, then studies the facility. “…it looks abandoned… is that good or bad?”

"Well, good because it means we will not have to deal with them," Schneep says, getting out of the car last. "The IRIS guards and their CC group, I mean. They would be very interested in you two. I think it is bad because... why would they clear out?"

"Do you think it's a trap?" Anti asks quietly.

"Either that, or something just as bad for our health." Schneep narrows his eyes and scans the grounds beyond the fence. "How do we get in?"

"There's a keycard scanner there." Jackie points. Next to the gate is a little black box. "That's probably our best chance. I'm betting this fence is sturdier than it looks."

Alt and Bro seem to shiver at this, Alt gripping at a scar on his wrist.

Chase frowns, “They.. wouldn’t know all of us are here though so.. maybe not a trap? Unless… Distorter or Mag did something.”

“Mag has moved fast before in these places,” Alt mutters bitterly. He then glances at the others and then back at the fence. “I mean- if we don’t want to be detected- Chase can fly over and I can glitch some of you. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

"That could work," Anti says. "Are you sure that won't, uh, drain you too much?"

"I could try to work with this." Schneep walks up to the keycard reader. "Perhaps if we short it out the gate will open."

"Or maybe it'll stay closed and an alarm will start going off," Jackie says. "I think the glitch thing is safest. If it's not too much trouble."

Alt seems a bit apprehensive but he quickly nods and then offers his hands out to the others, green glowing in his eyes. “I got it- should be quick. But uh, warning I hear it doesn’t feel… great if you’re not used to it. But uh- just link up with me.”

Bro is already vaulting over the gate, climbing up some then doing some high flying parkour move to land on the other side. Show off.

"Is fine, I'm sure it won't be the worst thing." Schneep is the first to link up with Alt. Then Jackie, then finally, after a moment of hesitation, Anti.

"Show off," Anti mutters, watching Chase's fancy flying parkour moves.

Bro just waves excitedly from the other side.

Alt rolls his eyes, “He doesn’t mean to- but yeah.” He laughs. He then channels his glitches and in a quick zip the 4 of them appear in a zip of electricity on the other side of the fence. The feeling is disorienting- but it feels more like a full body shiver, like your whole body fell asleep then woke up with a quick jolt. Though, the others can feel alt breaking into pixels for a second before he snaps back together, he quickly steps back and looks around.

"Whoa." Anti quickly pushes away from Alt. No offense, but feeling someone dissolve is very, very unpleasant for him.

"Th-that was weird..." Jackie whispers, shivering.

Schneep doesn't say anything. He looks down at his hands, though.

Inside, Magnificent bares his teeth then sends a blast of magic at the door.

The door gives way, blasted off its hinges. The resulting BANG! and clatter rings out like a gunshot.

Alt glitches in surprise at the sound of the bang. He lights up electricity and looks around, already on edge. “Fuck- did Mag beat us here??”

"What the fuck?!" Anti jumps and immediately pulls out a knife. He wishes he had time to bring his gun! Even if it has been a while since he used it. "He fucking must have, jesus christ..."

Distorter turns towards the sound, annoyed. They were trying to be subtle!

"Where did that come from?!" Schneep's head darts around, looking for any sign of Magnificent--but he sees something else instead. A face that he can't identify, which is an identity itself. He gasps. "The magic man is not the only one here. It is our bitch, too."

"Fuck!" Jackie shouts.

Alt stiffens and in a panic holds out his hand towards where Schneep is looking. “No no! fucking- Why is he here?!?”

Bro narrows his eyes and tries to see if he can tell where Schneep is looking. He builds up some power in his fingers, then shoots them off towards where Distorter is, electricity rocketing out like a bullet.

Magnificent hardly blinks as he steps through the wreckage and steps inside the room, lighting up a flame on his hand so he can see.

Magnificent has found himself in a wide room--wide as in it extends far to the left and the right, seemingly along the length of this building in particular. There are mechanical work stations going in a row across the room, robotic parts and boxes of metal bits. It looks like a place where they build cell phones. Some of these parts are giving off a stronger magical signature. Particularly some rectangular red computer chips.

Magnificent quickly looks around the room, sweeping his light across the walls to try to see the magic signatures better. He sees the chips and speeds towards them-

{They're here.}

Mag curses as he hears Distorter’s warning. {Keep them distracted! I think I found something-}

The red chips have power, but as Magnificent examines them, he sees no way for them to use it. They're just sitting there, emitting a signature. Perhaps he could drain them, but they're very small. It seems they're only a part of a whole.

Magnificent curses and then grabs the chips, as many as he can stash away in his pocket. Then he sprints to try to get through the next room- seems like they were on a timer now.

Distorter barely has time to receive Magnificent's mental message before--ZAP! Bro's electricity smacks him directly in the face, knocking him into view of the group. He spasms on the floor for a moment, then laughs and goes still. "Is that a new one? Are you actually trying now?" His head turns towards the group, grinning. "Oh? Looks like we're missing some people. You just left them behind? Ah, well." He stands, going from laying on his back to a backbend to pushing himself upright with some disturbing cracking noises. "But we have some friendly faces out there. Hello, Anti. Hello, Jackie. Hello, Aodhan."

Anti stiffens. Then immediately rage clouds his face and he lunges forward. "Get my fucking name out of your fucking mouth!" he shouts. Luckily, Jackie holds him back before he can do anything stupid.

"There is no use hiding!" Schneep says, curling his hands into fists.

"I'm not hiding now, am I?" Distorter spreads his arms wide. "Welcome everyone! So good to see you."

Bro glares and puffs out his chest, standing taller. Until Distorter back bends and he jumps back with wide eyes. “Oh what the fuck?!”

Alt’s eyes widen as Anti’s name gets spoken and then he bares his teeth, electricity crackling. “Fucker! Leave us the hell alone! Why are you even here anyways?”

"I'm here because you're here," Distorter says. "You can't just forget about me and leave!"

"Why not? You--you want to be forgotten." Jackie stutters. He's pale just looking at Distorter but holds his ground.

"Not by my friends!" Distorter's grin widens. "We are friends, aren't we, Jackie?"

Immediately, Jackie's eyes start to glaze over behind his glasses. He lets go of Anti, who stumbles forward and then looks back in shock. "Jackie," he says quietly. "Don't listen--"

Distorter laughs. "I knew it." He turns to look at Alt and Chase. "I'll handle this. You handle them."

Jackie nods slowly, a single drop of red falling from his eye, and lunges at Anti. "No!" Schneep runs for Jackie, trying to pull him back. The three of them are immediately fighting. Jackie's putting his all into fighting his friends, throwing punches and grabbing throats, but the other two are reluctant to hurt him.

Alt’s stomach drops, “Jackie-!”

Distorter turns to look at the Swaps. "You know who's inside this building?" he says. "You old friend. It's just the two of you now. You can't win that fight. Maybe I can help..."

Alt stumbles back as Distorter looks at them.

Bro scoffs and crosses his arms, “We’ve handled Mag more times then you have, ya grayscale bitch.”

Alt tries to growl at Distorter, but his hands are shaking. He’s scared- he’s scared of being so close to Distorter. Of what Mag could be doing. But, he can’t let himself get distracted by Distorter. “Where is he?”

"Hmm. Somewhere in one of these buildings," Distorter says noncommittally. "And I'll point out that quantity does not imply quality. I've won every time so far. You? Not so much. Right, Blitz? Or do you prefer Impulse? Maybe you'd be able to handle Magnificent more if you had some cat tranquilizers on hand, you know."

Alt feels his blood go cold, hearing those names. He staggers back, feeling like he got punched in the gut.

“Hey! Leave him fucking alone!” Bro yells as he tries to fire another electric shot at him. “You’ve done more than enough to him today!”

Distorter laughs and tries to dodge Bro's attack.

In the background, Schneep has managed to pin Jackie to the ground with both hands behind his back. Anti breathes heavily, but looks at Jackie. "H-he's in your head, doc! You hate this, remember? Do you remember what he did to you? Fucking months, Jackie! We were all worried about you! Rama and Michelle were worried about you!"

Jackie shudders. "Anti..." he breathes. "Aodhan... it's... i-it's hard..."

Bro's attack goes wide, and Distorter just laughs harder. "Fucking useless as always!"

"Oh you shut the fuck up!" Schneep snaps from where he is. "Do not listen to him, Chase! You are one of the strongest people I know!"

Chase snorts and grits his teeth, trying to shoot out another shot. “Alt! See if you can help Jackie or try to look for Mag! I’ll handle the gray bitch!”

Alt seems hesitant, glancing at the others. He remembers that- that JJ could shock him out of it… and Jackie didn’t like the glitches. He hurries over to the others and kneels down by Jackie. “Jackie just- sorry- I think this’ll help!” He then grabs Jackie’s shoulder and tries to send a bit of his glitches and magic under his skin.

The glitches under Jackie’s skin don’t feel- great. It’s like fizzling soda but sharp, bringing a bit of an electric jolt through his system.

Jackie's eyes immediately fly open and he gasps, jolting. "Ack! Okay I'm back I'm back! Volt, let me up!" Schneep waits for a moment before standing up, pulling Jackie with him. "Th-thanks, Alt. I guess."

Alt blushes and holds up his hands, “Fuck sorry- I just… jj shocked me out of it but with… cold- god I guess that would be more pleasant…”

At once, the group switches their attention to the conflict between Distorter and Chase.

Inside, it seems like the chips are the most powerful thing in this particular building of the facility. No matter how many doors Mag breaks open, he doesn't find anything more powerful than that.

Magnificent snarls and then tries to teleport into the next building, rushing as fast as he can to try to find something- anything that he could use!

Magnificent has teleported into a building that is just one big room, lined with lockers and...what look like weapons racks. But they don't hold guns or knives. Instead, there are weird metallic boxes and collapsible staffs, handheld devices with extending prongs and loops of black metallic rope. They are all giving off that artificial magic feeling, though more electric than the rest.

Magnificent looks around the room in confusion. Fuck- tech… his cub was better with all of then him. He tries to search around to see if the chips might work with any of these. Before quickly remembering these look like phone chip cards. Okay no fuck! Time to try the last building then- he quickly teleports to the last one, starting to feel a slight drain of his magic that has blood falling from his eyes.

This next attack takes Distorter off guard and hits him square in the chest, knocking him over. His limbs jitter for a moment before he gets back up, shoulders rolling, knees bending. He looks at Chase and growls, dropping the smile for a split second. "You know you're going to die alone," he whispers. "And you know you'll deserve it." Before he tries for a blunt mental attack--not looking for control. Just looking for pure damage.

Bro feels his blood run cold as he sees Distorter’s smile drop. But before he can brace himself there’s a mental weight so severe on his mind that he doubled over and screams, curling up as he digs fingers into his skull.

Alt screams at seeing Bro fall and then glitches to try to tackle Distorter to the floor, electricity sharp and bright around him.

Distorter is so concerned with torturing Bro that he doesn't notice Alt until it's too late. The tackle slams him to the ground, Alt's loose electricity zapping him into immobility. He screams--not in pain, but frustration.

The other three all immediately rush over, following Alt. Schneep helps him pin Distorter to the ground, grabbing his blackened wrists. He's not bothered by the proximity to Alt's zapping.

"You shut the fuck up!" Anti shouts. "You shut the fuck up! Leave him alone! Leave all of us alone!"

Alt repeatedly slams Distorter into the ground, pulling him up and down by his shirt. “TOUCH MY BROTHER AGAIN!! I’LL KILL YOU İ̵̘’̵̤͒L̶̆ͅĹ̷̳ ̵̯̃F̴̩͋U̵̙͆C̵̥̆K̵̹͆I̴̗̽NG KILL YOU!!” Alt screams, voice glitching with his body as he slams more and more electricity into Distorter- his magic reaching dangerous levels.

Jackie rushes for Bro. "What happened?!" He's instantly in doctor mode, looking for injuries but seeing none.

Bro slowly uncurls and blinks blearily out, his head absolutely killing him. His whole body feels off and heavy but- there’s no fog. “hngh- yeah yeah i- im okay…” He pushes himself up and then stares at Alt losing his shit with wide eyes. “Alt! Hey I’m okay! It’s okay!”

Both Anti and Schneep stare at Alt with wide eyes--the reaction makes sense but it's more than they were expecting. "Alt, please! Stop!" Schneep tries to push Alt away from Distorter but Alt is too furious to be stopped, and Anti doesn't want to get close to the electricity.

The last building has its power off, looking locked down. This is rooms and rooms of storage of some kind. Everything in here is either on a shelf or in a box, labelled with a series of numbers or letters and a reason why it's in here instead of being used. Most of them are labeled "failed prototype" and have an attached explanation.

Somewhere in the mess is a small, phone-sized box. And inside are three devices stacked on each other that very much resemble smart phones. They are made of white metal with a glass screen, and a single power on button at the top. This box is labelled "TRVLR - failed prototype. Lack of adequate portable power." They feel like the chips do.

Mag hurries to look around and finally stumbles across the box. His eyes widen, seeing the name and then fumbling to try to insert one of the chips into the TRVLR.

The back of the TRVLR slides open easily enough, but it looks like it already has all the parts, chip included. After all, the labelled issue with it was the power source. Perhaps it just needs a jolt. A zap.

Magnificent sees the chip there already and is confused- until he remembers how they got here in the first place. He grins and laughs to himself, already feeling the familiar spark of his cub.

He grabs the device and then teleports back out into the battle, reaching out and yanking Alt off of Distorter, quickly wrapping his arm around Alt’s neck, choking him.

Alt flails and tries to claw his way out of Mag’s arms.

“Now now Anti! We really must teach you how to manage your temper~!” Magnificent laughs sinisterly and then holds up the device. “I think it’s time we had a change of scenery, don’t you?”

"Whoa, what the fuck?!" Anti aims his knife at Magnificent. "Put him down you bitch!" He knows that a single knife is not so threatening but fuck it, he's not going to let Mag get away with that!

Distorter is very shaken from Alt's attack but still tries to lunge forward. Schneep grabs him. "I have this!" He says through gritted teeth.

"The only reason you 'have this' is because IRIS fucked your brain into pieces!" Distorter spits, venom in his voice as he struggles. Schneep flinches but won't let go. A few blue sparks fly off his hands.

Jackie gasps and stands up as well. "What is that?! What does that do?!" He points at the TRVLR.

Magnificent laughs wildly, “I can feel it- this must be it! It must be how I can get to another world~! But of course, I need help from my favorite cub~!”

Alt pales and then fights more against Mag, “No! Fucking- let me go! I just want to go home!”

“But this will let us go home, Alt! Don’t you wanna help us get back to your precious family?” Magnificent whispers smoothly. Alt hesitates.

Bro struggles up and glares at Magnificent’ “Let him go Mag! You can’t keep fucking using him like he’s a battery!”

Magnificent tilts his head to the side and smirks, “But that’s all he’s good for, isn’t he? Can’t do much but hurt others with those powers of his~ at least with me, he can serve a higher purpose!”

Alt cringes and looks away, fighting a little less, a look of regret and sorrow in his eyes.

"Oh you shut the FUCK up!" Anti snaps. "Alt is more than his powers! And he doesn't need the self-delusional bullshit that you live on to convince yourself that you're more than some sad pathetic man who doesn't have anything he cares about or anyone who cares about him!"

Distorter laughs, oddly endorsing Anti's words. Schneep zaps him again.

"You don't even know if that'll work in the first place!" Jackie adds desperately. "And you don't know how to use it! You could end up somewhere terrible!"

Magnificent turns to Anti with a murderous expression, throwing out green fire towards him in a fit of rage. “SHUT UP! You know fucking nothing you second rate failure of a father!”

He then grips Alt’s arm and builds up black magic again, digging his claws in. “I don’t care- as long as it works, I don’t care! I’ll find something more than the wasted magic here.”

Alt pleads, tears in his eyes.“No! S-Stop! I don’t want to do this again! Just let us go home!” He wants to glitch away but he could set off the machine and send Mag rampaging into another world!

“Mmm how bout we make this a bonding trip, kitten? It seems like your brother will be in good hands here!”

“No- no!! Fucking let me GO!!”

Bro looks at this with fear in his eyes. He can’t let Mag just leave him here. But- he can’t let Mag corrupt Alt either! He’s gotta think- gotta think!

The fire is unexpected. Anti barely dodges it. But it does get the end of his jacket sleeve. He hurriedly pulls it off and stomps out the fire. "Yeah?! Yeah?! Tell me something I haven't heard before you piece of shit! You got nothing on me after the shit I've been put through!"

Faintly, Distorter smiles proudly. But this isn't good. They just got here, he can't lose two great asset--friends now. Schneep's electricity is preventing him from moving, but if he concentrates... he still has a hold on Magnificent.

{Let go.} The words are accompanied by a push of fog.

Magnificent growls, pressing claws further into Alt’s skin, ready to corrupt Alt fully again.

Then, the link with Distorter rushes over his mind, everything turning into fog. His eyes widen and go hazy, and he slowly lets Alt fall to the ground.

Alt doesn’t hesitate to run, then once he’s far away, glitch back over towards the others. But he does look back at Mag with confusion, panting heavily.

The others know the signs of Distorter's influence when they see them. "What the fuck?!" Schneep gasps.

Distorter looks up at him. "Did you think I couldn't--"

Schneep shocks him again and looks at the others in alarm. "We have to get out of here!"

"There have to be more of those things somewhere in here!" Jackie says, indicating the TRVLR. He glances around the buildings, noticing the small difference in the IRIS logos painted on the side. "There!" he points. "I-I think that's the storage!"

"Gotta go either way!" Anti says. "Go go go go!"

They all break into the run. Schneep makes sure to give Distorter a big shock before he runs.

Alt stares at Mag with apprehension but Bro is quick to scoop him up and then carry him fireman style after the others. “H-Hey! Chase!”

“I can run faster than you just- c’mon!”

Magnificent tries to shake his head, trying to push past the gray. He was… doing something important.

The group get stalled at the door for a moment befoer Schneep shouts "Fuck it!" and grabs the keycard scanner, jolting it with so much electricity that it smokes. Nothing happens--but now the door is unlocked. Jackie leads the way inside, scrambling through his memories. Where would IRIS store a multiverse jumping device?! It looked like a phone--somewhere they could tuck it away easily, maybe--

The group checks a couple different doors before Anti yells out. "This it?!"

Bro sets Alt down once they’re inside and they quickly help the others search. Once Alt hears that Anti found something, he glitches over.

Everyone else rushes to him. He's found the box with the two other TRVLRs. "It says they don't have a good power source--that's why that bitch wanted Alt."

Alt looks at the device curiously- and now that they have some distance from Mag… he sends a bit of his electricity into the machine. Worse comes to worse… he’ll destroy it if Mag tries to take it.

The TRVLR's screen lights up as soon as Alt sends a jolt into it. There are three white circles arranged on a triangle against a black background. The top one has an X icon, the left one has an upwards-pointing arrow, and the right one has a gear icon. "Weird," Anti mutters. He taps the gear and it opens up a screen of technical-looking text. "Nope." Luckily, there's a handy Back icon at the bottom. "What is this?"

Jackie leans over and presses the circle with the up arrow. A pop up appears, with the words Are you sure you want to initiate jump? and a Yes and No option.

"Nooooo no no, not yet." Jackie quickly presses No. He looks at Alt and Chase. "I, uh... I think that button can... get you home. If you're ready."

"What about the top?" Schneep asks.

Anti presses the button with the X icon. The three circles disappear, now replaced by a list of letters and numbers. In the middle is U-0407019SW - Current Location.

"Oh. It's a map. Uhhh... how do we know which one is these guys's home?"

"It must be close, for them to get here so easily," Schneep says. "Perhaps the one above or below?"

Alt stares at the device as the others poke and prod at it. At least he knows now Mag would have been just as confused… Alt’s heart leaps into his throat as Jackie tells them about the jump button. He nods.

Chase squints at the numbers, “god- that’s confusing… we wouldn’t know the fucking area code of our dimension! We just get dragged places…”

“What if we chose wrong,” Alt asks quietly. “What if we really do end up somewhere worse? And we… we can’t leave Mag here- he’ll…” He swallows thickly.

"Hey," Anti says gently. "There's going to be risk with this no matter what you do. Even if you could find that weird doorway, how would you know you'd go back home using it? If you'd rather stay for a while and figure this out... It'd be fine. We'd be cool with that. But...It won't make the risk go away."

"Well, uh, if it helps, you probably shouldn't go to the ones marked with exclamation marks." Jackie points to one on the lists that has a red exclamation point in front of the code. "Those are probably marked off for a reason."

Alt narrows his eyes at the exclamation points and then nods. Okay… at least they know what to avoid. “…we need to get Mag out of here… the longer we stay- the more we put the rest of you at risk-“

Outside, Distorter gets to his feet and stretches, arching his back so far that it pops. He looks at Magnificent, who is still confused. Hmm... you know what? That was a mistake. He should've taken the opportunity to get into Alt's head while he was freaking out because of the magician. But he was distracted by the shock-induced convulsions. Well, Mag will get over the confusion. For now, Distorter heads towards the building where they ran. Even if Mag recovers and takes Alt away, he might still be able to get rid of that copy of once-him.

Magnificent clutches at his head as he’s left alone. He then blinks and through the slowly clearing fog starts to stumble towards the storage building. Right right- he was looking for something- god c’mon! Think!

Distorter can hear them talking. He walks closer--slowly, he can't just hide from them with that one there. What are they talking about? Risk?

{You don't have to go anywhere if it's too dangerous,} Alt hears the voice in his head. {Stay here, where it's safe.} It's accompanied by a gentle push.

Alt pauses, the voice slithering in his head. There’s a push but Alt quickly shakes himself out of it and whips around, wide eyes looking around for Distorter. “Fuck- he’s already here?”

Magnificent digs his claws into the doorway and leans against it, dazed eyes narrowing at the group. He sees- they have the device too. He growls, pushing himself forward. His cub was going to pay for escaping him- trying to steal his victory.

Bro hears this and spins around, sliding in front of the others and holding his arms out protectively, flashing silver blue eyes at Mag. “Don’t you fucking dare, Mag.”

"Well it's all just going to shit, isn't it?" Anti mutters. "Here." He hands the TRVLR to Alt. "You should at least hold onto it."

"He's dazed," Jackie whispers, too quiet for Mag to hear. "Because of Distorter. You might not have another chance to get him out of here." He glances back and forth between Chase and Alt. "Don't worry about us. We've dealt with our bastard before, we can do it again."

“Alright, I can grab him. Then Alt- you try whatever address feels right-“ Bro replies.

“Wait i-!” Alt holds the TRVLR close and then starts searching through the addresses with wide eyes, trying not to panic.

Distorter sees Magnificent coming. He got over that sooner than expected, actually. And he can feel the link between them straining. He can't push it too far or it'll break. Fine. He'll settle for taking care of the once-him copy. If Mag takes Alt, that one will no doubt have a crisis he can use. {Well? What are you waiting for? Don't you want to get out of here?}

Magnificent sees the device is working and he yells out in wild desperation, especially as he hears Distorter echoing in his head. He tries to push past Bro to grab at Alt. Bro quickly tries to grab him, trying to wrestle him to the floor. “Choose one, Alt! Hurry!”

"Mother fucker!" Schneep spots Distorter ducking out of sight. "Stop this! I have it, you guys, go on!" He only hesitates for a moment to look at Alt.

"Good luck. And goodbye."

Alt is trying not to panic but he meets Schneep’s eyes. He nods, “G-Goodbye Volt.”

Then Volt lunges for Distorter, who shrieks in frustration and actually runs, not wanting to enter another cycle of shocks.

"Make sure you've all got a hold of each other!" Jackie advises.

There's a number close to the current location on the list reading U-1030018ST. That has to be promising, right? It doesn't have a mark and has the same prefix as this one. That means it's probably similar, right? Their home is similar, right?

Alt hesitates but scrolls to the address and thinks it looks right- but he can’t hesitate for too much longer. He rushes to Chase, who holds out a hand for him to take while Magnificent squirms and hisses in his grasp. Alt takes Bro’s hand and then looks back at Anti and Jackie. He looks scared but- grateful. “..t-thank you guys- for everything!”

He then chooses the address and clicks the jump button, confirming yes before he can hesitate further.

The others barely have time to nod in acknowledgement before Alt presses the jump button. Then, to Alt, Bro, and Magnificent, there is a split second where they area falling--through space?--it's dark with pinpricks of light--and then they are no longer here.

Anti stares at the spot where they just were, before green light enveloped them and they disappeared without a trace. "I hope they make it," he whispers.

Jackie can only nod. Then he takes a deep breath. "Let's get Schneep and get out of here."

"Yeah."