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huffle-dork · 3 months

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Swap into the CrystalVerse Chapter 26: Inverted

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix

Read Swapboys | Read Inverted | Read The InvertedSwap Crossover |AO3 Link

Taglist: @brokentimewatch @di-diwata

"That's it." Anti points at a five-story building, just like the other buildings around it. "Doesn't look like much, does it? But there it is." The hotel.

Alt looks up at the building and gulps, "...yeah- it almost looks normal." He then looks back at Anti and gestures at it. "So... how we gonna do this? You got a plan?"

Anti tilts his head, considering. "They have it warded from my eyes and blocked up all the windows. The front doors are locked but that won't be a problem for us. They do have cameras inside, though. I saw them before the wards. So they'll be able to see us. I guess we just go in, prepared for anything."

Alt purses his lips at this, crossing his arms. He then sighs and gives a small smile to Anti. "Alright- I think we can take them. I'm a lot stronger than I was last time I was here!"

"I can tell." Anti nods. "Alright. In we go, then." And he glitches through the front doors. The lobby beyond is empty of people, but there's a lingering sweet smell in the air.

Alt glitches in after Anti and then at the sweet smell- makes sure to cover his face.

Anti points at a corner where there's a small black dome. "Camera." Then he looks around. "Do you smell that? I think that's the gas. They used it recently."

"... so either Chase just got here.... or something else did."

Alt glances at the camera and glares at it. He then cocks his head and tries to send a current to turn it off.

The camera lets out a spark and dies. Anti grins. "Guess they're not warded against you." Then he becomes serious again. "Either one is bad. It means there's someone here. I... try to get as many people out as I can, but sometimes a few slip through the cracks." He pauses. "We need to get a lay of the land. Someone's bound to show up at any moment. Here." He teleports to one of the doorways leading out of the lobby. "Best stick together. Tell me if you see anything."

Alt beams at Anti, then nods to him and follows after him in a quick glitch. "Got it." Once in the hallway, Alt starts to look around- trying to see if there's a sign of anything off.

There's a pair of elevators leading upward as well as several doors. At the far end is a metal door with runes drawn in what look like charcoal around its edge.

Alt notices the runes and narrows his eyes before glitching over to get a closer look. Maybe he might recognize some of them.

Anti notices Alt heading there and follows.

Most of the runes are unfamiliar. Apparently not all rune alphabets translate through universes. The few that he does recognize are symbols of containment and suppression.

Alt figured as much but he narrows his eyes at the runes he does recognize and looks towards Anti. "...they're keeping something in here. ...Maybe this is where they'd keep Chase?"

Anti narrows his eyes as well. It's almost comical in how identical the two of them look in that moment. He reaches out and wipes at the runes. They don't smear like they should. He tries to open the door. It's locked. His body turns into pixels flies at the door--only to bounce back.

"Strong wards," he mutters. "It'll take a minute to break through." There's suddenly a knife in his hand. He slices the air and a thin purple membrane appears. There's a gash in it but it does not go all the way through. "You know anything that can help?"

"Hm..." Alt steps up to the membrane and presses his hand against it. "... I can try a counterspell- maybe I can break it? It's dark magic... and mine is light so-" He concentrates, his eyes blaring blue as he tries to send a spell to disrupt the ward.

The thin membrane of the ward glows brighter--and then abruptly hardens and shatters, falling harmlessly to the floor.

"Nice," Anti says. "Let's check it out."

Alt glitches with excitement, beaming at Anti again.

Down below, Marvin's head snaps up. "Oh. Looks like you're right, Bro. Your Anti is here." He grins. "What a shame."

Bro blinks blearily out through dizzying vision as the attacks stop. "A-Alt...?" He whispers, trying to push himself up but not having the strength.

The cat constructs back off, melting back into magic. They've left no wounds on Bro's body or clothes, but he feels the bites and scratches all over him. How long has it been? How long was he trying to protect himself? It feels like forever. "I'll see you again soon," Marvin says. He disappears in a puff of dark purple smoke.

Anti opens the door, revealing a dark corridor... and a pair of glowing purple eyes. "Hello, Anti."

Alt sees the glowing purple eyes and he yells out and immediately sends an electric attack at Marvin.

Marvin disappears in a puff of smoke and reappears behind the Antis. He throws his arm out and a gust of wind, glowing with magic, closes the door. "It's yoooouu," Marvin says, grinning at Alt. "Your brother said--"

Alt glitches back as Marvin appears behind them. He glares at him, eyes sparking like ruined wires as he mentions his brother. "You do have Chase you fucker-!"

Anti throws a knife at Marvin. It lodges into his stomach, just under his ribcage. Marvin takes a step back in surprise. "Okay. No talking then. Fine." A black violet rope leaps from Marvin's hand and flies towards Alt.

When Marvin tries to throw the rope Alt glitches out of the way by skidding on the ground then lashing out to try to grab Marvin and shock him.

Marvin's body jolts as the electricity wracks his body. He grits his teeth. Claws grow on his fingers and he swipes at Alt.

The claws catch on Alt's chest and he gasps and staggers back, clutching at his wounds. His previous stitches flare up in agony and he cries out, stumbling to his knees as he tries to heave through the pain.

"Alt!" Anti shouts. He growls and throws himself at Marvin, leaving a trail of pixels behind him. Arms wrap around Marvin and a knife plunges towards his back but a blast of violet magic knocks him to the wall. Some of it sticks to his upper arm, burning into the flesh and causing it to break into static. Anti gets up again. "Alt, go!" he shouts.

"No, stay!" Marvin throws another rope.

Alt cries out and clumsily throws himself to the side to dodge the rope- and then tries to half run/half glitch down the hall.

Marvin hisses. A violet web appears further down the hall, and then a second one appears blocking the door. When Alt tries to glitch through them they just catch the pixels.

Alt yells out as his glitching gets caught in the web and throws him back.

"Motherfucker!" Anti's form stretches into shadow and static and attacks Marvin like a wild animal. Marvin conjures a blade in each hand made of purple magic and slices at Anti's form until Anti is forced to retreat. He reforms next to one of the webs, body covered in cuts and one hand missing.

Alt watches Anti and Marvin fight with wide scared eyes.

"Alt, there's always another way out," he says. His eye flicks upwards... to the lamps in the ceiling.

Alt looks to Anti and then follows his gaze. He quickly glitches up into the lights and tries to use them to escape.

Anti slumps a bit in relief.

Marvin screams. "No! NO! He's flesh! He shouldn't DO that!" He whirls on Anti and leaps for him, grabbing his head in his hands and eyes glowing brighter.

Anti laughs and dissolves away, reforming next to Marvin. "People have tried that one on me before, turns out the patterns don't bother my mind like they do yours," he says casually.

Marvin screams again and lunges forward. Anti jumps to meet him.

Alt travels up, up, up into the building, getting spit out somewhere on the third floor.

Alt crashes to the ground as he's spit out of the lights and he coughs, curling up slightly and holding his cut up chest. Ow ow ow- god he can feel the pain of his other wounds creeping up again. Motherfucker-! He's gotta find a way to get back downstairs to Chase... but if he's not careful, Marvin is gonna kill him.

He painfully pushes himself up and leans against the wall, taking in the hallway. This is where the hotel rooms are. They all look pretty much unchanged from when this was an actual functional hotel. Most are ajar, showing the rooms inside are dark.

...if this was a hotel... then maybe he can rip up some bed sheets from one of the rooms to bandage himself up. He can't risk bleeding out here. He staggers forward to try to look around.

It's easy enough to do that. Well, the sheets are sewn into the mattress but they come free with enough desperation. But they're cheap and easy to rip.

Alt makes quick work of making strips and bandaging up his wound. Though he's upset that his shirt from Jack got clawed up... maybe Blaise knows a mending spell or something. Once sure he's all set he staggers back out into the hallway and continues looking.

Once he returns to the hallway, he notices something. All of the doors are ajar or slightly ajar... except for one, which is closed.

He pauses at the closed door, tilting his head at it. ... could this be where they're keeping Jack...? Alt looks around and then tries to see if he can open the door.

It opens easily enough. Which is strange, don't hotel rooms usually need a key? All the others do, even if they're slightly open. Inside is a regular-looking hotel suite. There's a bathroom, a small area with a microwave, mini fridge, and coffee maker, a bed, a TV, a dresser, and a desk. The desk is the thing with the most personality, set up with a computer that has a couple monitors and a green screen behind it--some sort of gamer setup. But even that seems rather... generic, in a way. Not a hint of the personality you would normally see in this type of setup. There is a man sitting in the chair at the desk.

Alt freezes as he sees the man- is that...? "...Jack?"

The man turns towards the sound of Alt’s voice. He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his clouded eyes. “Hi. No, I'm not Jack right now. Who are you?” His voice is quiet and sounds far away, with a slight American accent. “Do you want me to be Jack?”

Alt stiffens and stands up straighter, coming more into the room. He... He knows his brother's face anywhere. "Chase-'' He breathes. He knows it's not his Chase... but this world's Chase. He... he doesn't even remember him? "Oh.. oh my god- I mean no uh you don't have to be... Jack." He swallows and comes more into the room, "you- you don't remember me? I.. I'm Alt- from ... a-another universe?"

Chase stares at him. His head slowly lists to the side. It takes a worryingly long time for him to answer. "Oh. That one. Hi."

"T-That's all you have to say? Hi?" Alt emphasizes as he tries to get closer. "...holy fuck Anti wasn't kidding... t-they got you down really deep."

Alt is conflicted- This guy was part of the reason Jameson got to him last time- he convinced him to stay and let him just get his mind fucked. But... what Marvin and Jameson was doing to him just... seemed way too cruel.

He glitches in front of him and then tries to get in his line of sight. "... Chase- you gotta wake up...! Jameson and Marvin can't just... keep you here like you're livestock-! You realize this is all wrong, right??"

"...hmm?" Chase hums. "Wrong?" His expression is pretty blank, but there's a hint of confusion in it. "Marvin and Jameson are wrong? About what? Did they make a mistake?"

"Yes they made a mistake! They've fucking made you into a blank slate dude!" Alt shouts, grabbing onto his wrist. "When's the last time you were out of this room? Or got sunlight? Or even got up from this desk??"

"...I went downstairs," Chase says dully. "Are we going downstairs now?"

Alt's at a loss for words. Then, his expression darkens. "...you know- I really... really hated you for what you did. For tricking me and convincing me to stay with you and your friends when I got lost here... but even if I hate you... I can't let them keep you here like this. I'm gonna try to wake you up, okay?"

Alt was able to wake Jackie from Distorter's control with some electricity and his glitches.... maybe that could work here too. Alt goes to put a hand against the side of Chase's head- and then sends a wave of glitches and magic to try to disrupt whatever magic is keeping him under.

It's difficult. By god, it's difficult. It's like slicing through layers and layers of cloth. What the fuck? How did this happen? It's probably some of the most intense hypnotism Alt has ever encountered.

Chase gasps and jerks his head to the side. "Wh-wh-what the hell?" He leans over, resting his head in his hands, and groans. "That... hurt. That... d-don't do that. You're not... supposed to... Ugh." He looks at Alt again. "Weren't you... Anti? You were... you..." He's struggling. "We... And there was..."

Alt jerks back, panting and dripping sweat, quickly wiping at his face. He then holds up his hands and looks apologetically at Chase, "Sorry i-I didn't know how else to weaken their control.... are you okay? And um... you can call me Alt- less confusing that way..."

"No, I... yeah, Alt. The other..." Chase shakes his head. "You... wait, you're not... supposed to be here. Why are you here? Where are... where are... them? Th-the other... others?"

"It's... a long story." Alt sighs and as Chase asks where the others are, Alt can't hide his pained look. "...luckily most of them are home... except my brother... the other you." Alt gently grabs both of Chase's shoulders and looks him in the eyes, "Chase... I don't know how much you remember- but you need to get out of here!"

"What? No, I... I'm supposed to stay here..." Chase says. "I'm... I'm busy. Did you... get permission?"

Alt shakes Chase with a sudden growl, "No! Jesus man, Snap out of it! You can't stay here- Jameson and Marvin are using you! You're not even you right now!"

"No, I'm me. I'm not Jack right now." Chase pauses. "I... where is Jack...? Where's... Jackie? I haven't... seen either of them... in a while."

"...i dunno where Jack is-" Alt admits. "But I... I can try to find him too- and Jackie he's.... He's safe. M-Maybe I can take you to him! Cuz you can't stay here dude... whatever those bastards are doing to you is fucked up!"

"...okay," Chase says quietly. "I want to see Jackie. I'm... worried about him." He braces a hand against the chair and pushes himself upright. He stumbles, almost falling forward onto the desk before catching himself with his hands. "Why... Why am I jelly...? Wobbly. That's... What time is it?" There are no clocks in the room. Even the spot where the time would be on a desktop computer is covered up with a sticky note.

Alt stumbles and tries to help Chase right himself. "...they've fucked with like... every part of you dude... I-I gotta get you out of here..." He mumbles to himself, then addresses Chase. "Uh- it's late I think... night time-" He tries to think- maybe he can glitch Chase out of the building... but where could they go? Trying to glitch all the way to Red's End would completely wipe him out again! Plus leave Bro and Anti in even more shit... He bites on his lip trying to think of any plan at all.

"Night time...? Did I just... sit there all day?" Chase mumbles. "No, I... I got up for the bathroom, I... Other than that, though... Wait, did I eat anything?" The cloudiness in his eyes is lessening a bit. "I... Anti, Alt, I think... I think someone's supposed to be coming soon. I think... I think they have to bring food..."

Alt curses and looks around some more. "Fuck okay uh- shit. Then, I'll just- w-wait until they come by and I'll hide and then we can take you somewhere else! That way they won't be suspicious-" He quickly looks around the room- is there a camera anywhere? Maybe he could hide in that-

There is indeed a camera in there, up in the corner. It has a good view of most of the room. "...okay." Chase nods slowly. "Okay. I'll... just..." He staggers over to the bed and lies down.

Alt swallows shakily and then looks back at the camera before glitching into it.

It's not as easy as glitching into the lights. A few purple runes swim in Alt's vision, but he pushes through the wards they had set up. Time to wait.

Back downstairs, Marvin and Anti have taken the fight to the lobby. Marvin throws a blast of black magic, which ricochets around the room. Anti dissolves into pixels, letting the blast go through him every time it gets close. He glitches behind Marvin and tries for another stab but Marvin moves and Anti's knife only slices down his back. Neither of them are exchanging words. Just magic and blows. Anti hopes that Alt can handle himself. He'll probably be keeping Marvin busy for a while. In the chaos of their fight, neither one of them notices the newly-broken window in the lobby. That wasn't caused by them...

Magnificent wakes up slowly as the drugs wear off. When he regains consciousness, he notices that he's been strapped to a bed--the sort usually found in hospitals. And the restraints have runes drawn on them. This appears to be in some sort of homemade operating room, as evident by the tools hanging on the walls--and the man in the bloodstained lab coat. "Hallo," Schneep grins, waving.

Magnificent blinks open his eyes and tries to move his arms- only to find them trapped. He thrashes against them like a trapped animal, hissing and trying to claw against the table. He bares sharp teeth at Schneep and writhes some more. "Release me this instant! Or I'll fry what little brains you have left!"

Schneep giggles. "But you cannot do anything! These are special ones, they make sure you cannot use the magic."

There's a crash from somewhere else in the building. Schneep turns towards it and frowns. "I hope Marvin does not break anything too expensive with... whatever he is doing. Maybe he is throwing a tantrum. I tried calling him to tell him but he has not answered his phone so he has to be busy." He looks back at Mag and shrugs. "Ah, well. Why are your eyes so different? It looks like one is blind, is that true or is it simply because of magic?"

Magnificent growls more and fights against the restraints. They really did suppress his magic... There has to be a way out of this...! "If you're so smart, figure it out yourself-!" The mad magician snarls.

Schneep blinks. He grins. "People do not say that often in this situation. Oh, I think I will! Hmm... I think obviously the strange coloring is magic, but you have all these scars, so those must have caused the difference in that eye. You must have difficulty seeing with it, if you can at all. I will probably have to give you to Marvin soon, but I can try to fix that for you first. I have some spares in our freezer."

This causes Magnificent's stomach to drop. He hisses ferally and pulls at his restraints. "Do not! Don't fucking touch me! I can see just fine!"

"Alright, alright if you insist." Schneep rolls his eyes. "Some people—"

There are footsteps out in the hallway. "Oh, maybe that is Marvin." Schneep turns and walks to the room's door, throwing it open. "Mar—WHAT THE F—"

A man pushes into the room, pressing a hand against Schneep's mouth. Magnificent doesn't recognize him. He's tall, with dark hair and a swirling tattoo on his neck, and—isn't that interesting. One of his hands is made of wood. And... he has a magical signature.

"What the fuck, Frederick?!" Another man whisper-shouts from the doorway. Now, that one Magnificent recognizes, though it takes a second to see through the scars.

Schneep cries out. He pushes the stranger's hand away. "Jackie?! What are you doing—"

"Nope. Ain chyin." The stranger's eyes turn green for a moment as he grabs Schneep by the shoulders. An emerald green mist settles in front of Schneep's mouth, silencing what he was going to shout. He tries to wave it away but it regenerates instantly.

Magnificent stops his struggling as the new man and Jackie pop into the room. He eyes the magician hungrily- eager to get some magic back. He's very very interesting... He tries to fight through the restraints again- something's gotta give!

This draws Jackie's attention. His eye widens. "Holy shit..."

The stranger—Frederick—follows Jackie's gaze. "Uh... hello." He pauses. Then goes a bit pale. "Holy shit, that black magic—if there wasn't a Void in here he'd be a beacon."

"Yeah." Jackie nods. "That's... the guy I told you about. He came with the guys from the other universe."

Schneep is trying to shout something. Then he gives up, frustrated, and starts walking for Jackie.

Jackie flinches and takes a few steps back, holding his staff in front of him protectively. Schneep stops, looking confused.

Magnificent glares at the two and pulls on his straps as he bites out. “Yes hi hello- can you imbeciles stop gawking and get me out of these?”

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Jackie hisses. "You're the fucker who fucking hypnotized me almost a fucking year ago! Fuck you!"

"Jackie," Frederick says, sounding tired.

"No, you don't get this, he's not—"

"Jackie."

Magnificent laughs at Jackie’s distress, grinning at him. “oh yes! You were such a good little puppet, Jackieboy~! Keep me tied here and I’ll find a way to destroy that mind of yours for good.” He growls.

Jackie glares at Magnificent.

"He has to go back to his own universe," Frederick says."Can't really do that right now."

"We can come back for him."

"When you just about had a panic attack on the way here? Don't do that to yourself." Frederick walks over to Magnificent and starts undoing the straps.

"...be careful, at least," Jackie grumbles.

"I'm not an idiot, Jackieboy."

But Mag’s threat doesn’t need to be used on Jackie at least as the magician comes to release him. Perfect… As soon as Mag can feel his magic again he lashes out at Fredrick and tries to drain some of his magic.

Frederick shouts in surprise. Jackie instantly runs forward, pushing past the still-confused Schneep and grabbing Frederick. His urgency, while appreciated, is not as needed as he thinks. As soon as Mag starts to drain Frederick he realizes something is wrong. This magic--it's light. Bright light to contrast his darkness. Unusable to him... and worse.

Magnificent releases Fredrick with a hiss, recoiling back like touching him burned him. And it is burning him- fucking light magic! It fizzles and bubbles in his core, eating at the blackness in a painful burst. He curls up and curses to himself in Gaelic.

Jackie laughs. "That's what you fucking get, oh my god."

Frederick flexes his hand--the flesh one, where Magnificent grabbed him. "Did he just try to... steal my magic? What the fuck?" He looks at Magnificent in horror. Maybe it's different in other universes, but here, that is some seriously dark shit.

"Yeah, he did that with Marvin the first time. Worked then."

"Hmm. Guess we're incompatible." Frederick's eyes glow green again. "And now that I know that, I can keep a very close eye on him. Look, Mr... I didn't catch your name but I probably wouldn't use it anyway. We are here to get out any victims, especially you guys from this other world. But we're not going to take any chances, because the last time I was here, this happened." He opens and closes his wooden hand. "So if you cause trouble, I will leave you behind. Understand?"

Jackie stares at Frederick in surprise. Is his face getting red?

Magnificent grits his teeth at the two, glaring at them with burning eyes. But… They have a point. He does need to get out of here- being put on this table was enough to make him realize these guys weren’t gonna fuck around this time. He pushes himself up and even though he had a murderous expression he nods to Fredrick. “Fine.”

Schneep's eyes widen. He tries to shout something more, running forward, but Frederick holds out a hand and pushes him back. He stumbles, then looks at Jackie, lunging forward and grabbing him by the hoodie, saying something frantically. Jackie goes white, and Frederick quickly goes over there to push Schneep back.

"Can we... take him too?" Jackie whispers. "Try to... fix it?"

Frederick looks at him with a pained expression. "We'll try. He doesn't want to go." Indeed, Schneep is protesting this right now. Frederick grabs him by the arm and starts pulling him towards the door. "Hurry."

Magnificent narrows his eyes at Schneep. He can feel an influence over him- Jackson’s. If he was gonna get in their way- then Mag couldn’t really let that influence stay. He teleports behind Schneep and then grabs his head, pushing in his own magic to try to disrupt Jameson’s. But… only disrupt. So he won’t slow the rest of them down.

"Holy fuck!" Jackie immediately hits Mag on the head with his staff. "What the fuck?! This is not a fucking opportunity!"

That bonk interrupts Mag's spell, not allowing it to sink in deep--which it would need to for it to work. This isn't a particularly strong spell but it blends in well with the rest of Schneep's mind.

Magnificent shouts out and backs up, rubbing at his head. “You idiot! I was trying to disrupt Jackson’s spell!”

"Well maybe say that? Before you do it? Idiot?"

“Ah yes! Let me announce my plan out loud to the person I’m trying to throw off guard! Brilliant idea!” Mag bites out sarcastically.

"Jackie, please do not call the practically-a-Void-magician an idiot," Frederick mutters. Schneep has been momentarily dazed by Mag's attempt, but he's starting to recover.

Seeing Schneep recover has Mag gritting his teeth as he lashes out and tries to send a shock through him to knock him out.

Schneep stiffens, eyes going wide, and topples over. Jackie instinctively runs over and catches him.

"What the--?" Jackie gasps. "Fuck! You could've at least said you were going to do something."

Schneep isn't quite out, but he's definitely not moving.

"Okay. Okay." Jackie swallows a lump in his throat. "I-it's going to be okay, Schneep. You might not--might not think it right now, but it is."

Frederick sighs. He pops his head out the door to get a look at what's happening. Marvin and Anti have returned to fighting in the hallway, but neither of them are concerned with seeing the operating room door open slightly. As Frederick watches, Marvin throws a blast of dark purple magic towards Anti, who smiles, and waits until the last moment to glitch out of the way--letting Marvin's attack hit the not-warded-anymore door at the end of the hallway. The metal immediately gets eaten away. Anti gives Marvin a little salute and disappears through the open doorway. Marvin screeches and runs after him.

"Okay, we have an opening," Frederick says. "We can probably run out to the car, drop off your friend, and then get back in before the Void notices."

"Him?" Jackie asks, jerking his head to Mag.

"Yeah, not letting him out of my sight. He comes back in with us."

Magnificent shakes off his hand and rubs his wrist once he’s done, staring down coldly at Schneep. As the other two talk about him he bristles and bares his teeth. “I don’t need to be babysat!”

"Think of this more like police custody," Frederick says. "Now let's go."

Upstairs, back in the room Chase has been kept in, Alt sees the door open. It's been a couple minutes since he went to hide. It was starting to get to the point where he was worried nothing would happen. But it did. Jameson walks into the room, holding a plate of one of those ready-meals that you just need to throw in the oven to make. He notices Chase lying on the bed and walks over, putting the plate down on the night stand. After Jameson stares at him for a moment, Chase mumbles, "I'm tired..." Clearly responding to some telepathic question.

Hatred flares red and hot in Alt’s nerves as he sees Jameson come in. In a jolt of electricity, Alt glitches out of the camera and tries to tackle Jameson to the ground.

Jameson doesn't see it coming for a moment--and even if he did, he's not exactly physically capable. He gasps as he goes down. Chase sits up, faintly alarmed as if he feels like he should be doing something.

{Anti!} Jameson says, then narrows his eyes. {No. Not Anti. You were in the cameras. How did you get past the eye ward?}

Alt bares his teeth in feral rage, magic sparking around him in green blue hues. He chuckles darkly, his eyes glowing green as he grins. “I’m a lot stronger than I used to be, bitch. Here lemme show you!” He tries to shock him.

Jameson kicks Alt off him and scrambles backwards before Alt can attack him. {How funny. I got stronger too.} He pulls out his watch. {You don't even have to look now.} And he slams his will against Alt's.

Alt glitches away and seems to freeze for a second before he closes his eyes and thinks a bunch of nonsense thoughts- mainly colors to try to push back Jameson’s attack. Then he snarls. “Nice try!” He steps closer, magic sparking around him without him controlling it, reacting to his rage. “What you’re doing to Jack and Chase is fucking sick! Even for a sick bastard like you! I’m not gonna let you get away with this!” He tries to throw a whip of Magic at Jameson again.

Jameson scrambles to his feet and dodges. {Maybe,} he says. {Things could be worse. You should have heard what Marvin was doing to Jackie.}

“I don’t need to! I saw it! You’re both fucking sick!” Alt roars.

Jameson glances at Chase, and projects something just for him to hear. {Aren't you going to help?} Chase shudders. Then he stands up and tries to tackle Alt.

Alt is about ready to send another blast out when Chase tries to tackle him. He glitches out of the way and then glares at Jameson. “Leave him out of this! This is between you and me!” Alt makes a knife out of his magic and then rushes at Jameson.

Jameson sidesteps him. Now that was something he could do. {Well. There's no convincing you, then.} And he tries again, this time slinking towards Alt's mind more subtly.

Alt swipes his knife out to try to stab at him again- only to feel that foreign sensation he dreaded. He stumbles and pushes a hand against his head and shuts his eyes, focusing on pushing it back. “N-No! Fuck you!” He tries to throw the knife at Jameson.

This time, Jameson is too slow. The knife buries itself in Jameson's stomach. He goes pale and staggers backwards, looking down at it in shock. He really expected... {Stronger in more ways than one, I see.}

Alt looks at Jameson with murder in his eyes as he looms over him. The air feels electric like lightning is about to strike. He bares his teeth and then uses Jameson’s weakness to push him down, stepping on his stomach next to the wound and pushing the knife in more.

“You have no idea the hell I’ve fucking been through.” He twists the knife and leans in close, eyes electric. “What fuckers like you have put me through- and I’m fucking s̴i̶c̵k̵ ̶o̷f̵ ̶i̵t̸!̸ ̸”

Jameson's eyes go wide and his face drains of color. The benefit of not having a voice--he can't cry out or whimper. He can't show that sign of weakness as the knife gets driven deeper--But he does visibly react with the twist, back arching as he clutches at the wound. Come on, come on, there has to be some way out of this before Alt thinks to find the way to kill him. He scrambles at Alt's recent memories--easy enough since they're on his mind--and finds something. He grits his teeth and stares at Alt. {Oh... I honestly doubted for a while that you could be like Anti... but I suppose not. I suppose you're just like him. And all of them.}

Alt’s face immediately goes pale and he lets go of the knife and stumbles back, staring at Jameson with wide eyes. He stares down at his hands like he can’t believe they’re his and he trembles slightly. “N…No!” He breathes, his terror overtaking his logic.

Jameson sits up, panting heavily. He has to push this a little more--maybe he can get into Alt's mind this way. {No? You just stabbed a man. Self-defense, sure, but twisting the knife? You have a cruel streak I didn't know about.}

“S-Shut up!” Alt shouts, trembling backwards, “Y-You… you deserve it! You-!” He shudders and grips at his head. “Shut up shut up! I’m not like them I’m not—!”

{If you were so sure, would my saying that be bothering you right now?} Jameson prompts. {You've seen it yourself. So many Antis out there, all so awful. How are you any better?}

Alt feels tears in his eyes as he tugs on his hair. “I-I…! I help people- I’m t-trying to be better! I don’t- I don’t want to hurt-!” He cuts himself off, starting to breathe a bit more panicked. “I…I’m not- I’m not like…!”

{And yet it seems like you still do hurt them.} Jameson slowly shifts position, cautious of the knife still embedded in his stomach. While Alt is distracted with his emotional breakdown, he starts sinking into the cracks of his mental defense...

“I didn’t mean to…! I didn’t-!” Alt protests- but he sees it. The times he’s hurt- putting dapper Marvin under hypnosis, becoming that thing and stabbing Mag, holding Chase down while trying to stab his suicide wound! Attacking the hero thems- hurting the fantasy guys… being compared to the anti in the last world-! the good things he did feel like they pale in comparison to the hurt he causes. Like being Impulse- all he ever does is hurt his friends- the people he cares about…! He chokes on a sob, holding his head tight.

"Alt?" Chase is standing where Alt left him after he tried to tackle him. There is struggle and distress visible on his face, tied together with confusion. "Alt, what's... what's happening?" His voice is quiet. And scared. Like a child asking for their parents.

Chase’s voice gets through. Alt looks up and sees his distress and he glitches in place. “C-Chase- Chase you… you need to get out of here! Now!” He tries to plead.

"...Wh... why..." Chase asks, staring at Alt. "What's... I-I can't... Can you... come with me?"

Jameson's attention snaps to Chase. No, that took days to do, he can't lose that! {Calm down, Chase,} he says soothingly. {Everything is okay. Go to sleep.}

"I don't... want..." Chase blinks slowly, sleepily. He shakes his head. "I-I don't want to..." He looks at Alt again. "Can... can you come with me?"

Alt’s eyes widen and then narrow in determination. He promised he was gonna get Chase out of here… that’s how he’s different. “Yeah, c’mon!” He glitches over to Chase and grabs his hand. He then sticks his middle finger at Jameson before glitching both of them out of sight.

Jameson lunges forward, pushing past the pain, reaching for Alt and Chase with his hand and his mind--but it's too late, Alt is too fast. His expression darkens and his hands curl into fists. If he could shout, the room would be filled with all kinds of profanity. But he has to settle for punching the floor.

Anti runs down the stairs, hearing Marvin behind him. Come on, come on! He just has to get there fast enough! If Alt's brother wasn't here-- But he is. "Hey!" Anti shouts.

Bro blinks from his delirious nap and squints at the approaching figure coming his way. “A..alt…?” He croaks. He tries to reach out a hand but he just shudders and curls up again, his head pounding.

Oh gods. He looks terrible. Not so much physically, but he's clearly in pain. There's no time to deal with his confusion. "Yeah, it's Anti," he says, crouching by Bro and pulling off his eye-patch. "This is going to sound weird, but I need you to close your eyes."

Bro blinks up at him and then he slumps to the ground and nods, “Okay… trust you-“ He mumbles as he closes his eyes.

"Great." Anti's eyes darken--literally, scleras turning black and leaving just white pinpricks in the center. He grabs Bro as gently but quickly as he can. Behind him, Marvin screams and throws a fistful of magic-- And then Anti and Bro are gone, shackles hanging loose.

Jackie and Frederick reenter the lobby, climbing in through the broken window. "C'mon, cat man," Frederick says, glancing back at Magnificent with glowing green eyes. He had a spell prepared to grab him if he tried to run.

He doesn’t need to though- even if Magnificent doesn’t look happy. He teleports into the lobby behind them, crossing his arms.

“Come on, we can check the upstairs,” Frederick says.

The group heads over to the stairwell. They get up to the second floor landing when— Alt glitches in out of nowhere, Chase with him. A bit off target, but hey, they’re away from Jameson.

“Whoa!” Jackie whirls around, staff raised, but stops himself. “Oh it’s you. We were going to find—” Then he stops, eyes going wide. “…Chase?” he whispers.

Alt staggers and pants, holding Chase up. He stiffens at the sound of the others and holds a hand out to charge up some magic- but he relaxes slightly. “J-Jackie!”

Magnificent slinks back, watching.

Chase is more than a little confused by what just happened. He looks at Jackie when he says his name. “…Who are you?”

Jackie flinches. “Chase, it’s… it’s me, it’s Jackie. I-I know I look a bit different, but it’s me.”

“…oh.” Chase looks at him again, taking everything in with concern. “What… what happened?”

“…A lot, but this isn’t the time. Alt, do you know if there’s anyone upstairs? On the other floors?”

Alt watches the two of them with a heavy heart. “Uh- we just escaped Jameson, upstairs. That’s all I know…. Anti was fighting Marvin last I checked- they have- they have Bro in one of the rooms.”

At that very moment there’s a loud crash and a furious scream downstairs. “Okay, back down we go, then, cause that sounds fucking bad!” Jackie says, exasperated. “Came up here for no reason!”

“This isn’t the time to complain, Jackie!” Frederick shouts, going back down the stairs.

Alt helps Chase to rest his arm over his shoulder before following after the others. Magnificent regrettably follows even though he rolls his eyes.

Back downstairs, Anti is clutching Bro to his chest, protecting him as Marvin throws magic around the lobby. The furniture has been wrecked and part of Anti's torso and back are glitching and dripping with purple magic. Anti glares--his eye-patch is missing, something only Magnificent has seen before-- and throws another knife at Marvin. Halfway across the lobby it splits into three knives, one hitting Marvin as he dodges out of the way. The lights are flickering red.

Alt glitches down with Chase and seeing Anti with Bro has him freezing for just a second- before he gives Chase to Jackie. “I’m gonna go help!”

He’s injured but he’s not out yet! He glitches into the battle and glitches around Marvin in a confusing pattern to throw him off guard- then from the side, he tosses out a sound blast, trying to throw him off his feet by the sound waves and noise. It sounds like an electric guitar riff.

Marvin takes a step backwards, shocked by the sudden glitching. "What the f--AUGH!" He covers his ears. The sound is annoying but it doesn't actually hurt him. He turns and glares at Alt. "Ohhh you want to play like that?" His hands light up with violet light. He slams them downward, causing a shockwave intending to knock people off their feet.

Anti grabs onto Bro and jumps--jumps INTO the air, hovering over the shockwave until it's gone. Jackie grabs onto the nearest sofa, keeping himself and Chase upright. Frederick tries to conjure up a shield but he's not fast enough, and he gets knocked to the ground.

Alt gets sent flying off his feet and skidding across the room, his head thunking hard against one of the walls and making his vision spin. Magnificent easily dodges but he slinks into the shadows- not wanting to draw the void’s anger.

Marvin laughs when he sees Alt hit his head. "Wellll, so good to seeee you. And your all your friends. Hello, Jackie. I never expected to see you and your savior again." Jackie is standing there frozen, an expression of sheer terror on his face.

Frederick gets to his feet and immediately steps in front of him and Chase, tendrils of green magic flickering around his fingers. "Leave them alone," he says. "We outnumber you."

"Do you think that'll make a difference?" Marvin asks. He makes a swirling gesture with one hand. Four purple orbs, crackling with black energy, appear around his gesture. He points forward and each one flies for one of the separate groups--Alt, Anti and Bro, Mag, and Jackie, Frederick, and Chase.

Alt shouts out and throws his hands out in front of him and summons a quick electric shield. He then growls and cracks his hand against the shield, breaking into sparking shards like glass to fly at Marvin.

Mag ducks the blast and bares his teeth at Marvin before laughing, “Your hubris will be your downfall, Marvin~” He taunts.

Marvin conjures up a black-violet shield. The electricity sticks into it and gets dissolved. But before Marvin can attack Alt back, his head snaps over to Magnificent. He bares his teeth. "And yours won't?" he says. And in a puff of dark smoke he teleports over to Mag and lunges for him, growing claws and fangs.

Magnificent screeches as he’s tackled to the ground and then he tries to grab both of Marvin’s wrists, giggling as he tries to drain the corrupted magician. “We’ll just have to see, won’t we?” He laughs.

Magnificent finds something out that day. Void magic is not just black magic, which he would've been able to drain and absorb well enough. It is the difference between a winter day and the Antarctic. One can be handled well enough but the other is on a whole different level. Void magic burns.

Meanwhile, Marvin's previous attacks fly at Anti and Jackie. Anti grabs a knife and slices the magic in half, keeping Bro safe.

And Frederick jumps in front of Jackie, who is still standing there frozen, and quickly weaves together a magic shield. It's not strong enough, breaking immediately under the attack and knocking him down again.

"Frederick!" Jackie gasps.

"I-I'm fine," Frederick breathes, part of his shirt burning with violet magic. "You get out of here. Get Chase out of here!"

Jackie hesitates, then runs, pulling Chase towards the broken window they used to get in.

Anti watches Jackie run and climb out of the window, taking Chase with him. He looks at Bro. "We got to get you out of here," he mutters, heading for the window, too, and taking Bro with him.

Bro doesn’t protest- too out of it to really realize what’s going on.

Alt pushes himself up on wavering legs, his wounds starting to hurt even more. He blinks spots out of his eyes and tries to take stock of everything. Bro blinks heavily, trying to understand what’s happening. He feels like he needs to help but- his body hurts so much it’s hard to stand.

While Marvin is preoccupied with Magnificent, Frederick gets to his feet. He notices Alt's condition and runs over. "Hi. I know we don't know each other, but--" And he gently touches Alt's shoulder. Green magic sprouts from the point of contact, and Alt feels the pain reduce as his wounds partially heal.

Alt blinks blearily up at Fredrick. He flinches as he touches him then blinks in surprise, looking down at himself to feel some of his strength returning. He grins up at Fredrick and laughs, “T-Thanks! You’re the guy that helped Jackie, right? Who’s he living with?”

"Yep." Frederick nods. "Frederick Chiu, And you're Alt, nice to meet you."

Alt grins, “Alt Brody! Nice to meet-“

Magnificent screams out as the void magic burns him and tries to throw Marvin away from him, clawing at his veins to try to get it out- get it out!!

When Magnificent screams, Fredrick’s head whips over to him. "God damn it. We gotta stop that." He doesn't sound too enthusiastic about it, but he conjures up a length of green magic and snaps it over to Marvin.

He glitches in surprise and then sighs, “Fucking Mag-!” He growls and he glitches to catch up to Fredrick.

"Yes, we'll just have to SEE, won't we?!" Marvin laughs, adjusting his grip so his claws dig into Mag's in turn.

Mag screams more and tries to kick Marvin off of him, trying to put a blast of magic into the attack. His eyes turn black.

Burning purple magid drips from his eyes onto Magnificent's face--and then the green magic wraps around his torso and pulls him off. His attention whips back around. He hisses. "Why didn't you die the last time you were here?!" He shouts, and throws a splash of magic towards Frederick and Alt.

As Alt sees the magic coming he tries to shout and throw out a shield but the magic dissolves and splashes onto both of them. Alt staggers back, biting down a scream and trying to stay standing.

Anti reaches the window, dragging Bro with him. "Hate to do this to you," he says to Jackie on the other side, "but here." He pushes Bro towards him. Jackie looks a bit harried--having to take care of two Chases that are out of it is a lot after he'd just seen his torturer again--but he takes Bro anyway.

Bro blinks deliriously and tries to right himself so Jackie won’t fall over carrying them both. Bro grins at him and mutters. “Sorry… head’s’llfuzzy-“

Outside, Jackie nods. "That's fine. Come on, we have a car nearby." He starts hurrying in that direction, going as fast as he can. Luckily, Chase is able to walk on his own, if a bit slowly, so Jackie can focus on supporting Bro while holding onto Chase's hand and pulling him along.

Bro tries his best to hobble along, gritting his teeth and trying to keep his eyes open.

Frederick gasps, clutching his shoulder where the magic splashes. But even so, he instinctively steps in front of Alt. "Hard to keep me down," he comments, eyes glowing. He whispers something under his breath and green magic vines erupt out of the ground, wrapping around Marvin, who hisses in anger.

"That's not going to last long," he says to Alt. "We have to go!" Indeed, Marvin is already burning his way through the vines. "Get your guy!"

"I got him." Anti glitches over next to Mag and grabs him, pulling him to his feet. "Don't think I've forgotten about what I said,'' he mutters just loud enough for only Mag to hear. "You're lucky I wouldn't wish a Void on anyone."

Mag is yanked up and he bares his teeth at Anti but he’s in too much pain to really protest or fight.

Alt gets his bearings and then tries to send out a bubble of magic to trap Marvin in, yelling to Fredrick- “I can glitch so! Get out of here! I’ll hold him back!”

Marvin screams out as he breaks out of the vines just for Alt's bubble to trap him again. He slams his hands against the walls, black violet magic hissing against them. It won't last long.

"Okay!" Frederick nods and runs for the window, meeting Anti halfway and helping him pull Mag along. Anti's eyes flash green and the wall under the window suddenly disappears, like it was deleted. They all run out onto the street. "Whoa!" Jackie jumps in surprise. "That was fa--"

"Go go go go!" Anti shouts. Frederick's car is parked on the other side of the street. Frederick reaches it first and opens up the door--and then pauses. "What the--broken?!" The window in one of the back doors is smashed, glass scattered on the ground. "Wh-where's Schneep?" Jackie asks.

"No fucking time, get in!" Anti shouts.

Alt holds both his hands out to make the bubble shrink in on Marvin as much as possible. Then he turns and runs, hurrying to glitch back to the others.

Marvin screams louder and keeps trying to break down the bubble.

Alt appears next to the car, skidding frantically. "I-Is everyone okay?!"

Frederick jumps. "Oh fuck! Oh, you don't have the--god, you scared me. Yes, we're fine enough, get in!"

"Gonna be crowded," Jackie mutters, opening the back door and pushing Chase and Bro in.

"I can meet you guys at the house, don't worry about me," Anti says.

Alt nods, "I can follow behind too- just- get going before he breaks out!" Alt winces as he feels his magic getting broken. "H-Hurry!"

"Okay." Frederick nods. "You." He points at Mag. "Passenger seat. Jackie, keep an eye on the Chases."

"Got it." Jackie gets into the back with the two of them.

Magnificent growls but doesn't protest as he gets in the car- the void's magic still burning like crazy in his veins.

Bro looks out at Alt with blurry vision but Alt just smiles reassuringly at him and waves. "I'll see you soon, okay?" He mouths. This seems to make Bro relax some as he slumps in the seat.

Frederick gets in the driver's seat last, starting the car. "See you soon," he says to Alt and Anti. Then he peels away from the curb and drives off as fast as he can. Anti looks at Alt.

"We have to go. Now. The Void can teleport, once he thinks to try that he'll be after us any moment." Alt can feel his magic breaking beneath Marvin's magic.

Alt winces again and quickly nods to Anti, "O-Okay, let's go!" He starts to glitch after the car.

Anti follows. The two of them are fast. By the time Marvin breaks through Alt's magic and runs out into the street, they're gone. He screams again, full of rage, and starts looking. But he's probably not going to find them.

#SITCV inverted #swap into the crystalverse #alt anti #swap magnificent #bro fantastic #THE SCENE WITH JAMESON AND ALT IS MY FAV ARGHHH #it shows how much stronger he's getting #but also all his fears after seeing so many evil hims ;A;#and just- ugh the action here is great #AND FREDRICK IS HEREEE YEAHHH I LOVE FREDRICKKK #only 2 more chapters after this!!

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