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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 4: Merms
Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs | Read MerMay Stories
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Bro lands somewhere completely unexpected, but also, beautiful. He's landed on a beach, looking out over a wide expanse of blue-green water. A bay? A lagoon? Something like that. Behind him are tall trees with vibrant green leaves. A forest. To the left and the right, at the far ends of the beach, are tall dark rocks--tide pools and little alcoves full of water. There are no people around. Or... even any signs of people. Where is he?
Bro blinks and pushes himself up, looking over the landscape with widening eyes. “…what the fuck? This-this isn’t home??” He has to admit it is beautiful but, “Where the fuck is this?!”
Everything is quiet and still, or as quiet and still as a beach and forest can be... until there's a splash over to the left, near the rocks. Bro can see someone grab onto one of the rocks and hoist themself out of the water. They're sort of far away, but it looks like a man with brown hair. He leans down close to the water, like he's looking at something still underneath the surface.
Bro is freaked out, frantically pulling out his phone to see if he can call Alt or Jackie. Something definitely wasn’t right here! He jumps slightly and almost drops his phone but manages to grab it before it slips into the water. He looks at the sound of the splash and sees the man. Not wanting to miss his chance- Bro flies over and lands a bit away so hopefully he can approach without startling them. 
“H-Hey! Can I ask ya something?” He shouts out, trying to sound friendly.
The man looks over at him, startled. And now that Bro is close, he realizes that something is off. There are... are those... fins? Poking out from behind his ears? That's definitely a long yellow dorsal fin going down his back. And his forearms are covered in blue and green scales. 
Bro skids to stop and stares with wide eyes, his jaw falling open. “W-What the fuuuuckkk….??” 
Before the man can respond, something shoots out of the water, grabs him, and pulls him back into the water. It happens too fast for Bro to really see what grabs the guy other than that it's green.
Bro shouts as he sees the man get dragged under water. He skids to the edge of the rocks and looks around frantically. Then, against his better judgment, he kneels down and then shoves his head under the water- trying to find any proof of what he just saw.
Underwater is blurry, of course, but Bro can make out what looks like two creatures fighting, both of them different shades of green. The darker-green one notices him and lunges forward, but the other pushes that one away. This whole time, there's a sound like... dolphin chatter? 
Bro blinks past the harsh burning of the water and tries to focus on what he can see-they’re- fighting? Why can’t he understand them??
Suddenly, Bro finds himself pushed back out of the water. While he recovers from this, the man--man?--from before stares at him, head and shoulders out of the water, looking worried.
Bro gasps as he’s pushed out and then blinks comically at the man- merman? That pushed him out. He waves, “uh…. Hi?”
The man waves--showing that there are more fins on his wrists. "H-hiii," he says. And then... then he makes some strange sounds. Random vowels interspersed with clicks, whistles, and chirps--in other words, the dolphin-like noises. 
Bro blinks in surprise at the new sounds and then holds up his hands. “Ahhh fuck- I can’t understand you… but- holy shit… you’re a merman…!” He laughs and pushes his bangs out of his face, blinking in disbelief. “I… I don’t know why I can’t believe this- I’ve seen weird shit before but- this!” 
Another head pops out of the water behind him. Someone else, with green hair, green-tinted skin, and glowing green eyes. There are fins behind his ears like this first... guy. The new one scowls and glares at Chase.
P
Chase tilts his head at the other figure. Huh… that green in his eyes almost looks familiar. “Um… you might not be able to understand me but um- I’m Chase! …and I’m so fucking lost.” 
"You're not Chase." Now that--perfect English--comes from the green-tinted one in the back. 
Chase blinks and then points at himself, "... Yes I am! I'm Chase- Chase Brody! Who the fuck are you-" Then he pauses and looks surprised, "Wait- you spoke English! Oh okay brilliant maybe you can-" 
"I don't know what sort of--of ssshhhit you're trying to pull--" The one in front turns around and splashes the other one, chattering in a harsh tone. The green one splutters and responds snappily in the same chatter. 
And the two of them have a quick back and forth. Then the green one sinks in the water. "...How did you get here?" he mutters, grudgingly civil. 
"Uh... well.. that's... complicated. But um... I came from another.. universe...?" Bro says. ...Why does the grumpy green one kinda remind him of Alt?
"Universe...?" the green one repeats, understanding the word but not the concept. 
The other one smiles at him. He points at himself "Dak." And then back at the green one. "Antee." 
Chase's eyes widen as he whispers. "...no way-" He stares straight at Antee- now clearly seeing the resemblance in the face- despite the green tint and scales. 
The green one protests in the chattery language, but the other one splashes him again and says something that asks like a question. 
The green one sighs. "Jack wants to know if that's somewhere far away, and how you got here if that's the case."
Bro slightly shakes out of his surprise and then nods, "Uh... yeah. R-Really far away. And uh- we got here by... magic mostly. A bit of tech- but mostly magic. My brother's a magician."
Jack's eyes light up. He chirps and chatters something, grabbing Anti and shaking him slightly. Anti rolls his eyes. "We know magicians," he mutters. "Didn't know humans could use magic, too." 
"Y-Yeah he's really good at magic! Best magician I know at least," Bro grins. 
Jack asks something. "He wants to know if your brother came with you." Anti interprets.
Bro quickly nods, "Yeah! He's... probably somewhere around here... we tend to get separated when we come to new places."
Jack and Anti look around. The lagoon is clearly empty of people. "Well. Good luck looking for him," Anti says, and starts to sink underwater. 
Jack makes an offended whistling sound--like putting voice behind a gasp--and grabs him, pulling him back up. "Look, if he's human then his brother is human, and probably on land! We can't help!" 
Jack slumps, then perks up again, asking something. Anti rolls his eyes. "Alright, Chase Brody. Why don't you use your metal slab to call your brother, then?" 
"Fon," Jack adds. 
"Your phone."
"Oh! Well... I could try? Wasn't sure it'd work here but- Guess they do exist here! That's handy-" Chase laughs as he pulls out his phone, trying to see if he can reach Alt.
It looks like cell reception doesn't translate between universes, but there is a tiny, tiny bit of WiFi that he can use to send a text. 
Anti swims a bit closer as Bro messes with the phone, trying and failing to hide his curiosity.
Chase curses as he takes the phone away from his ear and studies it- trying to send a message: Alt! I'm at a beach near a forest- where are you? Did the TRVLR glitch? Are you okay??? ...probably overkill but- just in case.
The text takes longer than usual to go through, but it does eventually. And now, they wait. 
----------- 
Alt lands on a solid surface, and Jackie lands right next to him. They've arrived on a... boat? Yes, a boat floating out on the water, with a distant, pier-lined coast in sight. They sky overhead is a bright blue, contrasting against the endless dark blue water all around them. A table (and two chairs) sits on the deck, pushed up against the metal railing, its surface covered in burgers, fried chicken, French fries, ice cream--basically any fast food you can think of. 
Alt groans and curls up as he lands on something solid, finding it hard to breathe momentarily. 
"Alt!" Jackie cries out and goes to help him up. 
Alt blinks at him in confusion. "J-Jackie? Wait... no.. what??" He looks out at their surroundings, his stomach dropping. "T-This isn't-!" 
"What the hell?!" a young man, leaning over the boat's railing, jerks backwards. "Where did you two come from?!"
Jackie and Alt both jump as they hear the young man. Jackie scrambles to say something and just blurts out, "Uhhh... from the sky??" 
Alt gives him a confused 'are you serious' look.
The young man laughs. "Yeah, right. Okay, where were you guys hiding? There aren't many spots on here. You know that trespassing is still illegal if it's on a boat, right? Cause this is my boat, and I didn't say you could be here." He frowns. "Why are you guys here, anyway?" 
“O-Oh fuck uh- sorry sir, we didn’t know!” Jackie tries to say, holding up his hands. “I was trying to make a joke- we uh… god this is gonna sound crazy but we couldn’t actually control where we landed? It’s uh- magic and shit. We uh… came from another universe…?” Jackie grins a wide nervous smile, looking very uncomfortable. 
But as they talk, Alt notices something. Some of the fries from the table have fallen onto the ground. And a hand reaches up from the side of the boat and grabs some of them.
Alt gets distracted from trying to diffuse the situation as he sees the hand reach up. His eyes widen and he glances at the man before hurrying over to the side of the boat to look.
"Another universe? Yeah, sure. You can at least try to--hey!" The man tries to grab Alt as he hurries over but barely misses. 
Down in the water beneath the boat are three--people? They're clearly not normal. One wearing a cap has orange fins behind his ears and white and black stripes across his chest and arms. One with a bag has blue-green tentacles poking out of the water around him. And one in a sleeveless woven hoodie has a dorsal fin sticking out of his back. That one chokes on the fries he hurriedly shoved in his mouth while the one with the tentacles shoves the other two underwater. 
"Uh--don't mind that!" the young man rushes over, pulling Alt back. 
Alt’s eyes widen and he wants to shout but he gets dragged away. 
"Those are, uh, my friends! We're--practicing for a--a stunt show! R-really real costumes, huh?" The man laughs nervously. 
Alt looks back up at the young man and gapes at him. “…mermaids- those were mermaids!” 
“What??? Lemme see lemme see!” Jackie says excitedly, running to the railing to look over.
"No! No no no, those weren't mermaids!" the man protests. "They were just--dressed like mermaids!" 
As Jackie peers over the side of the railing, some of the spray from the water hits his face, as it's splashing a lot. But there definitely seem to be both human-like limbs and fish-like tails under all that splashing. Briefly, the one in the hoodie breaks away from the struggle and waves at Jackie, allowing him a closer look at him. Long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, sharp teeth bared in a grin, and scars across his eyes. Yet, somehow, he looks familiar. And then a tentacle wraps around his chest and pulls him underwater again.
Jackie stares at the water and then the hoodied man before he pushes away from the railing. “H-Holy shit…!” 
Alt whips around at the young man, “Don’t try to trick me! I know what I saw! No costumes are that realistic! And an illusion wouldn’t hold up with all them moving like that-“
"I--uh--uh--" The young man pauses, clearly mentally scrambling for an explanation. Then he suddenly switches tactics. "Did you know this all along?! I-is that why you snuck aboard?! W-well, I'll have you know you have no way of proving it! E-everyone's gonna call the pictures photoshopped if you post them!" 
“Hah?!?” Alt says. He glitches slightly in anger and presses up against the young man, “You got sea water in your ears, kid?! We just told you we didn’t mean to come here! I don’t even know where the hell we are! I couldn’t care less about proving anything!” 
The young man's eyes widen as Alt glitches. His mouth falls open and he's at a loss for words. 
Again, the hoodied mermaid pulls away from the struggle. He grabs the edge of the boat and smiles. "H-h-hayy," he says to Jackie. "Yoo.. luck... layk mmme."
Jackie startles as the hoodied merman pulls himself up towards him. He bends down and cocks his head at him, looking confused for a second. But then it clicks and he gasps, pointing at the merman. “OH MY GOD!! Alt! ALTTT!! ITS ME AS A MERMAN!! I FOUND A MERMAN JACKIE!!!” 
Alt glitches again and glares at the man before glitching over by Jackie. His eyes widen. “Yo- what the fuck…?”
The man stands there, stunned, while Alt and Jackie move to talk to the merpeople. 
The mer-Jackie makes a startled sound when Alt suddenly glitches next to Jackie, jerking backwards and into the water. Then he looks excited, turning back to the still-splashing part of the water. And he makes some strange sounds, like dolphin speech interspersed with human-made vowels. Whatever he says, it gets the other two to stop fighting. The one with the cap swims over next to Jackie, looking back up at the two guys curiously. The other one stays where he is, just his eyes poking out of the water, darting back and forth between the guys on the boat and the merms in the water.
Jackie shakes Alt’s shoulder excitedly. “Look dude look!! A merman me!!” 
“I am looking dude- I still don’t believe it-“ Alt breathes. He kneels down by the edge again, tilting his head at the merms curiously. When he notices their strange way of speaking he knits his eyebrows together and then tries to see if he can cast a translation spell.
The mer-Jackie and the cap merman make an "oooo"ing sound at Alt's magic. They turn to each other and chatter. 
"--was--" 
"I--was--maybe?" 
"I--humans--not--use magic?" 
"--don't know that. Maybe they--know magic--forgot?" 
"Maybe we should ask Marvin later." 
The spell really struggles with this language, even more so than Glasish when they visited that fantasy world before. But it gets there eventually. 
"Well go on, Chase!" mer-Jackie says, shoving the other one. "Talk to them in human! Ask them about their magic!" 
"It's called 'English,' Jackie. They have a lot of languages." 
Alt honestly was afraid it wouldn’t work at all- but he seems to relax as it starts to make sense. He blinks then laughs and waves at them both, “Actually- it’s okay. I can understand you both now.” He grins. 
“What??? Alttt why’d you leave me out??? I wanna hear! Your doppelgänger isn’t even here!” Jackie whines. 
“Oh yeah- right… sorry Jackie-“ Alt says, quickly casting the spell on Jackie too. Then, Alt studies the capped merman. Is this one really Chase?
"Oh, you can?" mer-Jackie blinks. "Alright, how many fingers am I holding up, then?" He holds up three fingers. 
“3!” Jackieboy says excitedly, pointing down. Alt gives him another done look. 
The one in the back swims over and smacks the other Jackie in the back of the head. "That makes no sense! Idiot." 
"Owww! Don't be mean, Schneep!" 
Chase laughs. "Well, um... hi?" He waves. "We don't... usually see humans using magic like that. O-or looking like a broken computer."
Alt blinks back down at Chase and smiles, “Well- 1) cool that you know about computers! Didn’t think a merman would know that- 2) I’m a special case~ not many magicians like me exist! Anddd 3) we’ve never seen real life mermen before!” 
“Much less mermen that are us!!” Jackie grins, bouncing on the railing. “This is insane! It’s me and our friends as fucking mermaids, dude!!!” 
“Man Jackie you are bringing so much energy into these trips-“ Alt mumbles, rubbing at his ear.
Chase laughs, a sound that's sharper and more chittering than a human laugh. "Most merms don't know about computers, but I'm special. Oh, that's what the general term is, by the way, 'merm.' I-I know you guys tend to default to just mermaids but that's only for women." 
“Oh! That’s helpful to know!” Jackie says, “Mermmmm- heh- that’s fun to say! Merm merm merm merm-“ 
The one in the back--a mer-Schneep, it seems--eyes the two guys suspiciously. "Are you sure they can be trusted, Chase?" he mutters. 
"Schneep, they can hear you," Jackie points out. 
"It's fine, Schneep, I-I think they're different," Chase says. 
Alt hums, trying to ignore Jackie still saying merm over and over, “I know we look strange but- we know other people who look like you, and they’re our friends.” 
"Ollie?!" Chase calls. 
The young man walks over, looking over the railing. "These guys... are cool?" he asks hesitantly. 
"They're cool," Chase agrees in English. 
"O-okay." Ollie nods.
At the name, Alt’s eyes widen and he whips around, finally taking in all the features of the young man- he feels his breath get taken away ,a flush coming to his cheeks. “O-Oliver…?” He breathes.
"Uh... yeah? That's what Ollie is usually short for." Ollie laughs a bit. 
Alt is just staring at Ollie like he’s looking at a ghost. This is the first time they’ve seen someone else outside their friend group in another universe. He never thought he’d see a copy of his boyfriend?? This was super duper weird- and Alt can’t stop his cheeks from turning red. “U-Uh yeah… right… s-sorry… you just.. l-look like someone I… know.” 
"I do, huh?" Ollie smiles a bit. "I-I hope it's someone you like. It, uh, probably is." He doesn't want to comment on the obvious blush.
Alt makes a squeak at this. 
"Um... so... h-how'd you get on the boat? I didn't even notice you guys." Ollie asks.
"I think they just appeared," Chase says. 
"Appeared?" Ollie glances at Alt, confused. "Uh... sorry, I-I'm still getting used to the merm thing, people appearing and, uh, glitching around... is a bit much." 
Alt eventually shakes himself out enough to answer. “Uh yeah we.. just kinda do that… cuz of m-magic! Which I do- and used to get here- w-with this device.” He pulls out the TRVLR to show them. “But uh… we weren’t supposed to be here. I was sure I plugged in the coordinates for home.” 
As Alt looks over the TRVLR, he notices something. After tinkering with the settings between adventures, he'd found one that makes the current universe code show up in the top left corner. This... isn't the code for their world. Instead, it reads UA-0501019MM. 
He blinks and then narrows his eyes at the universe code. What the heck?? This isn’t even close to their code!
Meanwhile, mer-Jackie is joining in with his human counterpart repeating "merm merm merm merm." 
Schneep rolls his eyes at that and looks at Alt. "Who are you, then?" he asks. "Your names?"
Alt looks down and then lightly smacks Jackie to get him to stop. He gestures at Schneep then at Jackie. Jackie blinks then looks back at Schneep and grins, “I’m Jackie! Jackie Mann!”
"Jackie! Like me!" Jackie says. 
Jackie beams, “Yeah! Just like you! We’re like- the same person but from different worlds!” 
Alt raises his hand, looking timid. “‘M Alt… Alt Brody. But um… I-Im also known as Anti.”
The three merms glance at each other when Alt mentions his name. "We know an Anti," Schneep says. "That is funny. Names are funny." 
“Yeah… figured you would,” Alt mutters.
"Different... worlds?" Jackie repeats, uncertain. 
"Oh, like another dimension?" Chase asks. 
“Uhh yeah! I think that’s the same thing!” Jackieboy says, grinning. 
"What the fuck do you mean, 'dee-men-shun'?" Schneep asks. 
"Uhhh... it's hard to explain. It took me a while to get it." 
"Wait, you mean you guys weren't kidding about being from other universes?!" Ollie gasps. 
Alt laughs, “Nope- weren’t kidding at all. Where we’re from- mermaids don’t exist.” 
“As far as you know!” Jackie points out, “What if they’re just like- lurking so low we never see them? Like a giant squid! We’ve barely explored the ocean bro!” 
“Your wife is rubbing off on you,” Alt chuckles. 
“Hey! I have a fascination with the ocean outside of my wife too you know!!!” 
And shortly after, Alt's text tone goes off. The glitch then jumps slightly as his phone buzzes. He switches out the TRVLR for his phone, checking the message. Alt! I'm at a beach near a forest- where are you? Did the TRVLR glitch? Are you okay??? 
“Oh well- texting works here at least… that’s nice.” Alt comments. 
"Oh, your phone messages." Schneep nods. 
Alt looks back at Jackieboy. “Chase is on a beach somewhere-“
"I'm not on a beach, I'm right here," Chase says. "Or--do you know a Chase like we know a Jackie and Anti?" 
Alt blinks at Chase and then laughs shaking his head, “Yeah, we have a Chase too. He’s my older brother.” 
"Brother?" Chase repeats. "I have a couple siblings, but we don't really keep in contact. Maybe I should reach out to them. I think they all still live in the school we grew up in." 
Alt blinks, “huh- you might be one of the first Chases I met that actually has siblings too.” 
"A lot of merms have siblings," Chase says. "But you kind of drift away from them. In the ocean, at least. Everything's so big. It might be different for freshwater merms." 
“That’s so interesting…” Alt replies. 
"If your friend is on a beach, I can try to take you guys there," Ollie says, still barely grasping the idea of these visitors being from another world. "I mean, I can't really take you anywhere, but if it's nearby."
Alt can’t help but smile at Ollie- even if it feels weird to look at him for too long. Stop trying to heat up cheeks! “Uh- t-that’d be awesome if you could. He’s said he’s one the beach near a forest- does that sound familiar?”
"Oh!" Jackie's eyes light up. "A beach near land with trees? Is it the beach of a lagoon? With big brown rocks at the entrance and some deep tide pools?" 
Schneep looks at Jackie and frowns. "Do you think he found where Jack and Anti are?" 
"Yeah, I do!"
Jackie and Alt exchange looks. Alt seems uneasy for a second but- it’s not like they’re saying anything bad about this other Anti. He sighs. “If your friends live over there… then that’s probably where he is. We get drawn towards people we know when we drop into these worlds.”
Jackie blinks. "I don't think I'm really understanding this thing about worlds and 'oo-nee-versus' but we can take you there! Ah-lee can follow us in the boat!" 
"We are sure about this?" Schneep mutters. 
"I'm curious, at least," Chase says. 
"Come on, come on!" Jackie dives back underwater, swimming over to the prow of the ship. His dorsal fin sticks out of the water as he goes, highlighting that yes, he is indeed a sharklike merm, as opposed to Schneep's tentacles and Chase's more traditional fishy shape. 
Jackie laughs in surprise and delight as he sees mer-Jackie swim. “Oh my god!! He’s a shark!! That’s so cool!!!” 
Schneep grins at Jackie's enthusiasm. "Yes, Jackie is a yellow shark. Chase is an anemonefish and I am a great ocean octo." 
"Lemon shark, clownfish, great Pacific octopus," Chase says. "You guys have different words for us. Oh, and we're going to Jack and Anti, who are a discus and an electric eel." 
“That’s so sick!! You’re all so different!” Jackie says excitedly, “In cartoons and shit- all mermaids look the same!!” 
Chase laughs. "Oh yeah, we've seen some of your cartoons. We know. But it's fine, don't worry. I think it's great, actually!" 
"Well, if we are going, you should message your brother," Schneep says to Alt. "So he is not waiting and not knowing."
Alt blinks and then nods and texts Bro back: Hang tight bro- we landed on a ship and found help. Coming to find you. All safe 
Then Schneep looks at Ollie. "Can you follow us?" 
"No problem." Ollie gives him a thumbs up. "Try to stay slow, though. You guys are really fast." 
Alt hums in thought, shrugging his backpack off and starting to skim through the pages. He wonders if he has any spells that can help… Because… These guys know about magic- and there’s one other person from their world who’s left unaccounted for.
And with that, he and Schneep go join Jackie at the prow, and the boat heads off across the ocean. 
-----------
 Magnificent does not appear anywhere familiar. Or even anywhere he would want to be. He lands on a small beach. This is on the edge of a large body of water, surrounded by thin trees. Judging by the lack of salt smell, it's not the ocean, but an especially large lake. And one that people know about, since there's a small area with a picnic table and trash can nearby.
Magnificent rolls onto his stomach, growling against his binds and hoping he can get away from those pesky-! Wait- this… isn’t their universe. As Mag thinks this, Alt’s magic breaks apart, freeing him. He quickly teleports to his feet and dusts himself off. Then he hisses and scrambles back as he sees his close he is to the water. Fucking water- as much as he doesn’t want to lean too heavily into cat stereotypes… he can’t stand large bodies of water. And getting wet. But… new universe… what magic could lie around here..?
Well... there are pros and cons to him reaching out with his magic. Pro, there is a great deal of magic nearby, strong and deep and rippling with power. Con, it's clearly under the lake.
Magnificent starts to brighten as he senses the magic- then his face quickly falls as he sees it’s under the lake. He curses up a storm, kicking at the sand and basically throwing a fit. Once he lets out his rage he breathes and then braces himself before jumping into the water. He casts a quick spell to make sure he can breathe and see, while cursing whoever left this magic down here. He’s not a great swimmer but he pushes forward, aiming to follow the pull of the magic.
As Magnificent sinks through the lake, the light becomes dimmer, but fish become more plentiful--though they all scatter whenever he gets near. And as he starts to reach the floor of the lake, he notices something strange. Some of the plants are glowing. They give off faint magical signatures, but aren't really worth his time. There are also... glowing starfish? But those live in the sea, not lakes. And yet here they are, scattered about, getting closer together as the pull of magic becomes stronger. He comes to a spot clear of any plants, and finds something strange. A structure made of pillars and slabs of stone, most of it having no walls except for a single attached room. What is this? Some sort of ruin?
Magnificent swims past most distractions, eager to get a boost and then get out of this lake. But… the starfish are odd. And so is this… structure. Curiously, Mag swims towards it and tries to peek inside.
But then he runs into something coming out of the structure. It’s not immediately clear what it is, but as it makes some sort of chirping whistling sounds, the details sink in. It’s… a merman. That’s the only word for it. The bottom half is a silver tail with glints of yellow and blue, the upper half is mostly human (wearing a dark green cape) but has silvery fins trailing from the upper arms, and the face… is startlingly familiar. The merman trails off, fully taking in Mag’s appearance as he takes in his. Then his eyes widen in fear and he swims backwards, making a loud whistling noise.
Magnificent’s eyes widen and his jaw falls in disbelief. A merman… he thought those only existed in fairytales! And well, unfortunately, he knew this thing’s face all too well. But, the mad magician tries to put on his most charming smile and tries to back up, looking apologetic. “My apologizes, noble merfolk! I was just… searching the area. Did not mean to intrude~!”
But it doesn't matter how kind or apologetic he seems, the merm turns and darts into the structure, whistling and chattering loudly. Once inside, he grabs something from a shelf carved from rock and puts it on his face--a mask with four bits of orange sea glass embedded in the forehead--and starts rummaging through round stones on the shelves.
Mag’s face goes from cordial to dangerous in an instant. He growls and then darts to follow the merm into the structure. Once he sees him he lashes out to try to grab him by his wrist.
But the merman's wrist slips out of his grasp, the skin less grippy than Mag expected. He looks at the magician with wide eyes and grabs tight to one of the stones. Strange symbols carved on the surface light up with seafoam green light. And that's when Magnificent realizes. The power he'd felt--it wasn't one big source, it was a lot of sources gathered together. One of them being this merman. And many others being the little round rocks he was looking through.
Magnificent growls, his own eyes lighting up with magic. Then, he pauses as he reads the room. Oh… okay. He grins, then tries to grab one of the stones for himself.
The merman notices what he's doing and tries to stop him, going to smack his hand away. 
Mag is stopped and he yells out in frustration as he slapped away- but he manages to lash out again and grabs the merm’s hand. He laughs sinisterly, digging claws into his flesh. “Don’t worry, little fish… this won’t hurt a bit~!” And he tries to drain the merm of his magic.
The merm shrieks and manages to backpedal his way out of Mag's grip, tail pumping hard to push him through the water. But not without Mag's claws scraping down his skin--and not without some of his power being stolen. It flows into Magnificent like the water that surrounds them, bubbly as the seafoam its green color is named after. It's only a fraction of what the merm had, but it's something. The merm looks at him in horror, then turns and swims out of the structure.
Magnificent laughs, studying the magic as it flows through his veins. He laughs as the merm runs, going to scoop some of the power stones up for himself. Curious little things… worth studying he thinks. Hmm… should be off that little anomaly of him? Or capture it to see what it could explain about the magic here? …or- he could do both. He grins and then rockets after the merm, quickly trying to see if he can teleport to cut it off.
He’s surprised to see he can but grins menacingly as he appears in front of the merm, reaching out to try to catch him.
The mern shrieks again, ducking down to swim under him. And as it chatters, something happens. 
"--the--trying--me!--my magic! Where--you?!" Huh? The sounds are starting to make sense. 
Mag yells in rage and tries again, trying this time to throw out strings to catch it.
But the strings alone get pushed away by the currents of the merm moving. He circles around the structure to the more solid part--and something pops up from the other side of it. A person, just their head poking above the ceiling of the structure. He has brown hair and a thick mustache. His eyes widen as he sees Mag, then he looks at the other merm and makes weird gestures. The merm hurries towards him.
Magnificent is getting tired of this chase- he rockets back down and then conjures up a net with his magic, whipping it out towards his look-a-like.
The merm is too focused on reaching his friend to notice the net. It wraps around his body, pulling him to a stop. He shrieks. "No! You--! Let me go!--help!" 
Whatever magic Mag absorbed must be translating the chatter. 
Magnificent laughs and starts to pull the magic back towards him. “Well! That was a fun chase, Marvin.” He spits out his name. “But I’m afraid playtime is over, little fish~” 
The other merm dives forward, hurriedly trying to pull his friend out. This one is very different than the other, with strange wings attached to his arms and sides. A ray of some kind, maybe.
Magnificent finally takes notice of the other merm and he laughs, floating above him. “Now now little one- you can run along~! I’m sure I have no need for you~” He sends out a wave of magic, trying to push the Ray merm away.
The ray clings to the net but the magic pushes him away and he goes flying over the structure. "No! No! Jameson!" Marvin shouts, struggling. He looks back at Magnificent. "Wh-who are you?! How do you know my name?! Can you--can you even understand me?!"
Magnificent laughs, “Yes I can~ and since we can now hold a conversation… I think you will be such a good source of knowledge for me. So- why don’t we get to know each other, Marvin? You can call me Magnificent.”
"Magnificent? S-stupid name for a h-human." Marvin tries to smile smugly, but there is clear fear under the mask."I don't--I don't know what you could want. I just live here, I don't know anything a-about your human stuff."
“Oh my dear child, I am no human~” Magnificent laughs, showing off his fangs, “I am something so much greater.” 
 "Not human, huh? Th-that would explain how you're down this far and still breathing." He tries for a smile again but doesn't even manage a smirk this time. 
Magnificent tightens the net and brings Marvin close to his face, going to use his claws to turn his back and forth by his chin. He chuckles, tilting his head like a curious predator. “Why that’s okay, little fish. I think I will find what you know sooo much more interesting. Like- how these stones work- for instance? Or how you got your magic?”
Marvin swallows a lump in his throat. Tiny slits on either side of his neck open and close in miniscule motions."I--My magic, it--it's something I was born with, a-a lot of merms are, though most don't do anything with it. A-and the stones, they store power. You pour some of yours in and pull it out at later times."
Magnificent tsks, “It’s that trivial? Hm…” He twirls some of the strings of his magic with a thoughtful expression. “You said a lot of …merms- have magic? Where could one find a bigger source of that?”
Marvin opens his mouth to answer--and then realizes that it's probably not a good idea to give this guy what he wants. So he shuts his mouth. "I don't know."
Magnificent’s expression darkens. He grabs Marvin harder by the chin and forces him to look up at him as he whispers, “Are you lying to me, kitten?” His eyes start to spiral with magic as he chuckles, “I don’t think you should lie to me, Marvin. Because- I believe I can actually make use of you~ don’t you want to be useful to me, Marvinnn~?” He tries to pump the mark full of his influence.
Marvin blinks, confusion momentarily snapping him out of fear. "What d'you mean, 'chishin'?" he mutters, terribly mispronouncing 'kitten.' But then the spirals appear, and he gasps, closing his eyes immediately-- And before Mag can do much more, something slams into him from behind.
Magnificent growls, “that doesn’t mat-!” He gets cut off as he’s slammed into, dropping the net with Marvin in it. He growls and whips around to blast magic at whatever hit him. 
The magic hits his attacker point-blank--the same ray merm from before, who now gets flung into the ground. A cloud of sand flies into the air from the impact. "Jameson!" Marvin gasps, struggling to break free of the net.
Magnificent is quick to scoop Marvin back up and magic builds up behind him- making an even stronger spiral. “Enough games! You will help me find stronger magic or I’ll find bigger fish to fry after making you dinner! You will obey me!”
Marvin glances from Jameson to Magnificent--and freezes upon seeing the spiral. It flickers in his eyes. "I-I-I... n-no, I-I can't..." he says quietly, his struggles growing weaker and weaker. "I-I... Don't... hurt Jameson... please. I-I'll do... whatever you want, just... don't..."
“Is that all? Then of course, little fish… I won’t harm, Jameson. All you have to do is help me~” Magnificent giggles quietly.
"O... kay..." Marvin slumps entirely. "I'll... help." 
Jameson watches this happen in horror, frozen in plaze.
“Very good~” Magnificent grins. He snaps and the net disappears from around Marvin. “Grab whatever you need for the journey, Marvin. Then, you can lead me towards where this power is, hm?” 
"Okay." Marvin turns and swims into the structure. "We're going... to the ocean. Magic is stronger in deeper waters." He's grabbing a woven bag and filling it with things: a couple power stones and some kelp packages. 
Mag glances at Jameson, his eyes glowing unnaturally in the water.
Jameson tenses, and then abruptly turns and dashes away, keeping close to the sand. With the speckled pattern on his back he quickly blends into the ground.
Magnificent snorts with a smirk. Good. This Jameson was a coward. He wouldn’t get in the way then. Looking over himself he hums in thought. If he’s going to be down here… he needed a better way to swim and also not attract too much attention. He snaps and a burst of magic swirls around his legs and transforms them into a sleek black tail- resembling the tail of a pacific black dragon. He flicked the long eel-like tail and grinned as it lit up slightly green. Perfect. He abandoned his normal attire to have a material like his cape drape over his chest. Now- hopefully he wouldn’t draw too much unwanted attention…
Marvin stops, staring at Magnificent transform with shock. "S-so easy...?" he mutters, sounding in awe. "That tail... like a deep dweller." He shivers at the thought of them, then the hypnotism takes hold again. "Are you ready to go?"
Magnificent grins, “Yes. Lead the way, little fish~” He makes a sweeping motion like a showman, gesturing out towards the rest of the water.
Marvin nods. "Yes. The river to the ocean is this way." And he starts swimming, leading Magnificent there.
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crystalninjaphoenix · 18 hours
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my personal character design opinion
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crystalninjaphoenix · 18 hours
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today's children are gonna become teens and clown the shit out of us for 'eepy' and 'blorbo' but they'll say it in cocomelonese so we won't understand them
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Favorite thing about renaissance faires is that they have fuck all to to with the renaissance. This thang is not about historical anything this is about dressing up like a fairy and watching a joust
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y’all remember being 15? That was fucked up
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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 3: SepticHeroes Revisited
Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs | Read Septicheroes
Read SITCV | SITCV SepticHeroes Chapters | AO3 Link
A few minutes pass in silence. And then Jackie inhales sharply. "They're coming!" He flings the curtains open so everyone can see. 
There are five of the SAMs flying down the street towards them. Three are the black models they'd seen before, one is the same size but red instead, and one is green and softball-sized. 
Soren nods. "I'll go on up, then. Chase?" 
"Yeah, I'll come with," Chase says, grabbing Frosty's lead and following him up the stairs. 
I won't be much use against Machines so I'll hang back, JJ says. He reaches into a lamp in the living room, pulling out a metal pipe for defense, and then backs up. 
"Everyone else, get ready," Jackie says.
Jackie Mann hurries up the stairs and holds his knife out, watching the door. 
Alt glitches to his feet and bubbles up magic at his hands. "... Hopefully the shield holds..." He whispers anxiously. 
Bro looks nervous as he gets into a fighting stance, watching the door. 
The red SAM starts glowing. And then it flies towards the window, glowing brighter and brighter--and it lets out a blast of energy, shattering the glass and Alt's shield at once. 
"Holy shit!" Jackie shouts, using a gust of wind to deflect most of the flying glass. "Cover!" 
As the shield gets immediately cracked, Alt screams and crashes to the ground, gripping at his chest like the blast hurt him. 
Bro pales and hurries over to crouch by him, "A-Alt!" 
"H..How...?" Alt coughs, looking even more pale. "H-How did they do that??"
The small green SAM flies into the fray first, and its camera flips over to a screen, its projector sliding open too. Both the screen and the projector show a 3D animated model of a man with an LED screen for a face. "Hello world."
Both Alt and Bro look up at the man. Bro hurries to put a hand out to protect Alt. And Alt pales even more, shaking slightly. "I-It's you!" 
Jackie growls and bares his teeth, pointing his knife at the hologram, "The fuck do you think you are, tin man?! Too cowardly to fight us in person?!"
Anti laughs in his robotic voice. "Unfortunately fighting you in person is impossible. I am not there. But there is someone who is coming soon." The three black SAMs fly into the room. "And I'm willing to get things ready for him." 
"Fucking bitch! Just leave us alone!" Jackie yells.
One SAM has part of it slide away as a gun-like attachment pops out the top. The other two have the end of their peripherals shift into something like laser pointers. And they all fire at once, with the two laser pointers firing energy blasts at Bro and this world's Jackie while the big gun fires a heavy-looking projectile at Marvin.
Alt tries to yell out, "Chase! Watch out!" But, the energy hits Bro and he hits one of the back walls, momentarily disorienting him. 
Jackie yelps and jumps out of the way of the energy blast, but Marvin gets knocked back by some sort of canon ball, sending him sprawling across the ground. Schneep gasps, glancing back and forth between Marvin and Bro before JJ gestures for him to go help Bro. Schneep nods and rushes to his side while JJ helps Marvin up.
Alt growls and whips out a hand to try to shoot one of the SAMs with a blast of lightning.
 Two of the SAMs dodge the lightning attack but one of them is too slow and gets immediately fried, falling to the ground completely dead. "Oh?" Anti says. "So you can do THAT, can you? Fine, then." And both of the SAMs aim their weapons at Alt, firing the canon and the energy attack. Marvin sits up, clutching his stomach. He gasps as he sees the SAMs fire on Alt and throws a ball of energy in their direction. 
Marvin's attack brushes both SAMs but don't do enough damage to divert their course. 
Alt's eyes widen and he gasps and tries to get out of the way- but the energy blast hits him first before the canon hits him and sends him, skidding back. He curls up into a ball, coughing and clutching at his chest. 
"Alt!" Bro cries as Schneep helps him up. He whips on the SAMs and growls, momentarily forgetting his powers are blocked and trying to aim to punch a SAM as hard as he can.
The SAM doesn't try to dodge Bro's attack, thinking that a neutralized hero won't be able to do much. But, surprisingly, there's enough force behind Bro's punch that the SAM with the canonball attachment goes spinning into the wall. 
Marvin laughs. "Nice one!" he says, and aims a second attack at the other SAM. The beam this time shears off its peripheral. 
Bro blinks in surprise then grins, getting into another fighting stance. "I'm not completely out! Watch it, ya eyeball freaks!" 
Meanwhile, Schneep turns his attention to Alt, checking him over. 
Alt coughs more, his chest aching terribly after being hit. It's hard to think. He blinks up at Schneep with an unfocused gaze, "S-Schneep-" God- it hurts to breathe... he keeps having to drag in deep gasping breaths.
"Shh, it's okay," Schneep mutters. "That hit you in the chest, there could be damage, but you are still breathing and that is good." He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a cold pack, which he hands to Alt. "Put that where it hurts most and I can tie it into place." 
Alt nods and takes the pack, placing it over the pain. 
"You may not be out yet, but you haven't faced the worst yet," Anti says. "He's coming." Marvin eyes' widen as Anti says that. He gets ready, conjuring a protective shield around Alt and Schneep before scrambling to his feet.
Alt blinks at the shield and then shrinks in on himself as he feels a familiar presence in the air. “…fuck-“ 
Schneep looks up at the shield, feeling the heat it gives off. "Oh no."
Evil laughter echoes around them before static shimmers in front of Marvin and a clawed hand reaches out, aiming for his face. 
Marvin shouts in surprise as he dodges to the side, Mag's claws scraping along his mask but not doing any permanent damage. "Fucking shit!" he shouts. 
Magnificent growls, baring his teeth as he skids into a cat-like stance, just having missed Marvin.
JJ whips into action, throwing at string at Mag, aiming to wrap him up.
Mag sees the string coming and then slices at the air with his claws as his eyes burn with hatred. He laughs, showing his fangs. “Oh no- we’re not playing that game this time, kitten.” Mag holds out his hands and a bright spiral appears behind him, trying to draw the people around under his power. “We’re gonna play my way this time~!” 
“N-No! L-Look aw-!” Alt tries to yell, but his voice gets cut off with a strangled gasp.
The spiral is… beautiful. It’s so hard to try to look away once it captures your gaze. Magnificent’s smooth voice beckons you to listen… to obey. 
“Yes… that’s it puppets! Why don’t we make this interesting hm?” The mad magician cackles, “Kill your friends- kill any super that gets in your way.” 
Jackie and Bro know better, they manage to cover their eyes. 
Alt tries but- he slips and purple green magic spirals in his eyes. He staggers and tries to get up- ignoring the shield- almost trying to walk past it, despite the heat coming off it. 
Schneep is too busy looking through his backpack for bandages to pay attention to the spiral. And Marvin acts fast enough to close his eyes. But Jackie and JJ are looking at Magnificent when the spiral appears. They both slump, relaxing immediately. JJ looks over at Marvin, more strings appearing around his fingers. 
"JJ...?" Marvin says in a shaky voice. "Please don't--" 
But JJ attacks anyway, strings lashing out. 
Jackie's spiraling eyes look at Bro and Jackie. He lunges for the two of them, aiming to punch whoever's closest. 
"Alt!" Schneep grabs Alt and pulls him back before he can walk straight into the burning hot shield. "No! Wake up!"
Bro’s head whips up as he sees the spirals in Jackie’s eyes. “n-no- Jackie! C’mon man! Don’t listen to-!” The hero gets cut off as Jackie punches him right in the face. Bro staggers back, blinking spots out of his eyes. 
“Hey! Other me! Not cool!!” Jackie Mann shouts, sliding down the stairs parkour style - then he tries to kick Jackie in the face. 
Jackie easily dodges Jackieboy's kick, turning his attention to him instead, lunging at him for another attack. 
Jackieboy skids as he misses and has a second of losing his balance before he gets punched by Jackie. He holds his cheek and staggers back. Bro sees this and yells, trying to grab Jackie’s arms from behind to stop him. 
Jackie is in the middle of swinging back another punch when Bro grabs him. He struggles against him, trying to pull free. 
Alt looks back at Schneep and his expression darkens. He quickly glitches to face him and then tries to tackle him to the ground by his neck, his pocket knife suddenly in his hand.
Schneep yelps as Alt grabs him and quickly goes intangible before Alt can pin him down. 
Alt blinks at the empty space below him, blinking slowly. 
Schneep backs up, disappearing through the wall to their backs and circling around to the other side of Marvin's shield. He pulls a pocket knife of his own out and goes for Mag--but is intercepted when the red SAM from earlier rushes at him, emitting some sort of energy pulse. Schneep yelps and falls as the SAM runs into him--not being hit by the machine itself, but by the energy it's emitting. He clutches his head--why is it aching all of a sudden?
Mag looks amused as the SAM attacks for him, grinning and waving at Schneep from behind it. 
Marvin gasps and slices through JJ's strings before they get close. He's suddenly breathing heavily, eyes darting back and forth. "J-Jameson, please don't do this again! Y-you don't want to be like this anymore!" 
Alt hears Marvin’s shouting and bares his teeth- finally glitching out of the shield and then trying to lash out to attack Marvin from behind with his knife. 
Marvin spins around, sees Alt, and quickly ducks. 
JJ, still hypnotized, lunges for Marvin as he drops to the ground, and Marvin immediately freezes up when JJ grabs his wrists. "No!" he screams, panicking, struggling. "JJ! No! Don't do this! Please! What about your friends?! What about your family?! What about Dahlia?!" 
Something in JJ's eyes flickers at that. Dahlia? Dahlia. Dahlia... And suddenly he gasps, spirals disappearing. And he jerks backwards, looking down at his hands in horror. 
Alt’s eyes flicker at the scene of Marvin freaking out- some part of him sympathizing. 
But, Mag shouts angrily as his hold on JJ breaks and this snaps Alt back to attention, magic flaring brighter in his eyes. He yells too and sends out a sound wave to try to hit Marvin and JJ.
Bro seems to have forgotten he’s powerless right now- Jackie easily fights his way out. Bro staggers then shouts at Jackie. “C’mon Jackie! Windstorm would never work for a bad guy, right?! Fight this!” 
Jackie's eyes flicker. "Wind... storm...?" he repeats. He shakes his head, backing away and pressing his hands over his eyes. Then his head snaps up. "H-holy shit!" 
Bro deflates with a relived smile, “H-Hey hey it’s okay! You’re-“ The sound wave goes off and startles Bro and Jackie, who whip around to look. 
This moment comes at the same time Alt's sound wave fires off, sending both Marvin and JJ sprawling across the floor. JJ reacts worse than Marvin does, clutching his ears and writhing. Marvin gasps and scrambles over to JJ, covering him protectively. His eyes snap to Magnificent and he aims a beam of energy at him--and that red SAM swoops to intercept it. The beam slams into it, burrowing a hole in its side--and yet it stays flying. 
Magnificent yells as his control gets broken again. “Insolent pests!” He cringes as Marvin’s blast comes towards him but- the SAM intercepts. Mag grins, laughing. “Ha! These things are handy!” 
Alt glitches in front of Marvin and JJ, towering over them with bright spiraling eyes. He opens up his hand in front of Marvin’s face, magic bubbling up hot and dangerous as he aims like he might try to shoot Marvin through the skull. “No!! Alt stop!!” Bro tries to yell.
Marvin's eyes widen--and he kicks Alt in the knees, knocking him to the ground.
Alt hits the ground like ton of bricks, jostling his injured chest and making him let out a strangled gasp. His eyes flicker wildly. 
Bro looks at Windstorm with wide eyes and then his eyes flicker to Mag. His expression darkens. “We need to take out Mag. But the eyes are getting in the way!” 
Magnificent yells in anger, then slams a hand against the wall. Green flames burst out and then crackle around the room-cutting off their exits. “None of you fucking heroes are winning today!” He snarls dangerously. “None of you will leave this place alive!”
The whole group tenses as the fire appears--but Schneep gasps. He points towards the hallway leading out of the room, now blocked off by flames. It's--someone-- 
A blur rushes across the room towards Mag, crossing the length in less than a second, and Mag suddenly feels something hit him very hard against the back of the head. 
Now it’s Magnificent’s turn to hit the ground like a ton of bricks. He wasn’t expecting this at all. He’s out- and the fire flickers out around them as Mag slips into unconsciousness. 
Standing behind him is one Dahlia Jackson, holding the metal bat Soren had earlier. 
Bro and Jackie stare dumbfounded at the now downed Mag and triumphant Dahlia. 
The magic in Alt’s eyes breaks when Mag falls and he rolls onto his stomach, coughing and gasping. He starts to shake wildly, trying to take in the scene. 
The remaining SAMs have all been knocked to the ground, though they're all quickly getting back up. 
Jackie cheers and jumps up, “YEAHHH DAHLIA!! That was bad fucking ass!” 
She grins at the group... and then blood begins to leak from her nose and she immediately collapses. 
Jackie gasps- JJ lets out a voiceless scream and hurries over to her. Schneep is right behind him, checking Dahlia's vitals. 
Bro rushes over and kneels down by her too, but tries to give Schneep room. “W-What just happened?! How- how did she do that…??” 
“Is she okay??” Jackie asks worriedly, hovering behind them. 
The guys don't say anything for a while, Jackie and Marvin hurrying closer while Schneep works. Then, Schneep sighs. "She overexerted herself," he mutters. "The nosebleed is a side effect of using her powers too much, yes?" 
JJ nods. It starts coming from her ears too if she goes too hard. 
"Yes. And because she is still so weak, even a short use of the powers was too much. She needs rest." 
Jackie lets out a breath of relief. 
Marvin is also visibly reassured. "Thank goodness," he mutters. And Jackie looks at Bro. "'How did she do that'...? Heh, y-yeah, I guess we never explained her powers, huh? Dahlia is--was, maybe, I dunno if she still wants to do it--a hero called Timekeeper." His eyes light up. "She can manipulate time to her will, speeding up or slowing it around her. She must have slowed time for us, which is why she looked like she moved so fast!" 
Bro’s eyes widen and then he grins, “Just like Henny! Oh my god- now they need to meet!” 
"Whoa!" Marvin suddenly shoots a blast at one of the SAMs, which is up again and aiming its canon attachment at Bro. It dodges, but at least Marvin succeeded in drawing attention to it. 
Bro yelps as Marvin yells and then he turns to protectively holds his arms over Dahlia. 
Alt peeks up his eyes and then growls seeing the SAM. He narrows his eyes and tries to see if he can dismantle it with his magic.
The SAM falls apart into pieces. 
Marvin blinks as he sees that happen, then laughs. "That also reminds me of someone. Maybe Alt should meet her, too. Next time you guys should come on a non-school day." 
Alt blinks at Marvin and then laughs breathlessly, pushing himself up on shaky arms. “Sounds like s-someone I’d like to meet too.” 
Then Marvin spins around and shoots another beam at the red SAM, finishing off the job he started. It falls to the ground with a hole right through it. "Think you can do that with the last one?" 
The last black SAM has its peripheral burned off earlier, but it's preparing to fire something else--looks like more neutrinalin darts.
Alt looks at the last SAM and nods, jerking his head to the side as his eyes flash green, trying to take this one apart as well.
The SAM's lens pops out, followed shortly by all its panels falling open and then its hovering mechanism failing as it crashes again. 
Jackie applauds. "That's so cool!" Then he looks at Alt and his smile fades. "Are you okay?" 
Alt’s eyes quickly dim back down and then he sighs and grips at his chest. He smiles tightly at Jackie. “M-Magic exhaustion and ngh- getting hit in the chest by whatever those things fired… I… I’ll be fine…” 
"Alright... if you're sure," Jackie says. 
"We have medical supplies, if you have time to get patched up," Schneep offers. 
Jackieboy hurries over to Alt’s side and helps him sit up properly, the smaller boy resting his head on Jackie’s shoulder. Alt smiles gratefully. “thanks…” 
Footsteps. Soren comes running into the room, aiming a--that's a crossbow. Why and how does he have a crossbow? Everyone in the room shivers for a moment as the sight of him rushing in and aiming it, eyes flashing menacingly, is pretty intimidating. But as he lowers it, the feeling abruptly disappears. 
Bro stiffens as Soren comes in and then relaxes only slightly- “…why the fuck do you have a crossbow??”
Soren examines the crossbow in his hands. "Because I couldn't find a trustworthy firearms dealer in the city. Underworld's really gone to shit in the past year." 
"Also, What the fuck happened?! Dahlia disappeared--Dahlia?!" 
She'll be okay, Soren, JJ says. She took out Magnificent and Alt took apart the Machines, like how G-computer does.
He looks at JJ, raising an eyebrow. "Really? A man of many talents." He gives Alt a grin. "Nice job."
Alt flushes a bit then smiles at Soren’s compliment. “T-Thanks.” 
"You know this isn't over, yes?" The green SAM is still intact. 
Alt stiffens as he hears Anti’s voice. 
"Shut the fuck up you--you hellspawn!" Marvin snaps. 
"I didn't spawn from hell. I spawned from man like the rest of you." 
“Yeah? Well why don’t you fuck off before we spawn you outta existence, freak!” Jackie shouts. 
"Get out of here!" Jackie shouts. "How dare you use that SAM?!" 
Anti laughs.
Alt’s eyes burn with magic as he glares at the last SAM, looking ready to take it apart too. 
"Fine," Anti says, noticing Alt's look and none too eager to lose this more specialized SAM. "But I will see you again. And next time, you won't be ready." And the SAM flies back out through the broken window. 
Alt glares after the SAM as Jackie Mann shouts after it, “Yeah! Run with that tail between your legs, bitch!” 
Jackie grumbles wordlessly, folding his arms. 
"The fucking window is broken?" Soren notices. "Dannazione, come osi..." He shakes his head. 
Schneep gently lifts Dahlia up. She's awake, but looking really out of it. "Come on, Dahllie, let's get you some rest," he says quietly. "You all can come upstairs too, I am sure Chase is worried about all of us."
Bro gets to his feet, still feeling kinda weird without his powers. He almost offers to take Dahlia from Schneep but thinks better of it. 
Alt starts to push himself up and Jackie helps him. Alt narrows his eyes at Mag and then mumbles some spell words- ropes of magic coming to wrap up his arms and legs and a magic gag over his mouth. He sags a bit against Jackie who keeps him upright as his eyelids flutter. “Okay bud- no more magic for a bit…” Jackie gently scolds him, putting on his dad voice. 
“D…didn’t… want him… causing trouble…” Alt mumbles sleepily. 
“That really helps, Alt, thanks,” Jackie says, grabbing Mag. “We’ll keep an eye on him. But you should rest up, okay?” 
The group heads upstairs again. Bro helps Jackie to take Alt up. Chase is waiting in the bedroom, standing up and looking nervous. He jumps when the door opens, grabbing a knife Soren lent him, then relaxing as everyone comes in, all looking relatively unharmed. “E-everyone good?” He asks. “We h-heard a bunch of shouting downstairs a-and then all of a sudden Dahlia was gone—” 
“She helped,” Schneep says, putting Dahlia down on the bed. She rolls over, closing her eyes. “But she completely wiped herself out.” 
JJ gets to his knees next to the bed so he’s level with Dahlia’s face. When she opens her eyes he signs, Thank you, but be careful, Dahlia, okay? 
“Yeah…” Dahlia mumbles, closing her eyes again. 
“Oh, Alt, wanna sit down?” Marvin asks. “You uh… you’re tired. Do you need anything?”
Alt tiredly smiles and nods. Bro is quick to help Alt sit down and worriedly checks him over. He’s a bit warm but- not worryingly so. Alt blinks and starts to shake his head but then pauses, “…maybe some water? S-something to eat… it’ll be a second until I’m back up completely though. Food doesn’t fix everything…” 
“Oh oh alt! Cant you like- drain electricity from stuff for power? I swear you’ve done that once-“ Jackieboy says, leaning on the back of the chair. 
Alt shivers slightly, “…I could but… I don’t want to b-break anything… I-it’ll be okay… I’ll be okay.” 
Bro frowns in worry, looking between Dahlia and Alt.
“I’ll go get you some water, then,” Soren says. “And snacks. Do you think you guys will stick around for dinner, or do you have to deal with him quickly?” He points at Mag, who Jackie just kinda dropped in the corner farthest from the door. 
“Man! I’d love to stay for dinner… but this fucker will probably wake up.” Jackieboy gestures to Mag, “Jays always says people don’t stay knocked out that long.” 
“Yeah… we should probably take him home… once Alt has enough energy to power the TRVLR that is… maybe we can take a break…” Bro mumbles, not looking happy. 
JJ looks over at Soren. Before you go, can you— and he makes some signs that don’t really make sense. It translates directly to relax me but it must mean something else in this context. 
Soren bites his lip. “You know it’ll fade as soon as I leave the room. If you’re still worried when I get back, though, sure.” 
JJ nods. That’s fine.
Bro does blink at the sign language and looks between Soren and JJ, “…’relax me’? What does that mean?”
JJ blinks. He gestures at Soren to explain. “I can affect people’s emotions,” Soren says. “Make them feel happy, sad, angry, afraid—it sounds worse than it is, really, cause I have to see you to do it. Jem worries a lot, so I try to help out.” He glances at JJ. “But I can’t do it all the time.” 
I know, JJ says. I’m figuring stuff out. 
“You need a therapist,” Schneep says bluntly. 
I know! That’s kind of difficult to find when we’re in hiding. JJ sighs. He glances at the rest of the room. I’m not going to air all my personal feelings, but I DO know how to deal with problems in ways that don’t involve direct emotional change. It just helps sometimes for short periods of time. 
“Wouldn’t agree if I didn’t know that,” Soren mutters. “Alright, I’ll be right back.” And he quickly leaves. 
“…you do need therapy,” Marvin says. 
Well so do you, JJ responds. 
“Touché.”
“Ooooh- okay,” Bro says, nodding. “That makes sense- hell we all have a therapist but if I had an easy access to something to relax me right away I’d take it.” 
“Damn seems like we need to bring Dr. J here too!” Jackie grins. 
Bro bops him on the head, “We’re not bringing Dr. J to another dimension for him to just do his normal job for our doppelgängers! Really Jackie??” 
“It was a joke!!” Jackie says defensively, then pauses. “…kinda. Jay wouldn’t judge- …but maybe it’d be weird to… therapy an alternate version of yourself.” 
“It’d be super fucking weird!!” 
Alt looks at Jj tiredly but mumbles out quietly. “…I get it… getting controlled by Mag really messed with you, huh?” He grips at his wrist, massaging his purple markings.”…I know the feeling.”
JJ looks at Alt thoughtfully. He nods. I almost did something I promised myself I would never do again… he signs slowly. 
“H-hey.” Marvin clears his throat. “It wasn’t your fault. You know what mind control is like. It wasn’t really you. And i-if you’re worried about me… it’s fine. I forgive you.” 
…Thank you, Marvin, JJ says. He shakes his head. Anyway, Soren is really smart about people’s emotions, and it’s not just because of his powers. 
“Could’ve been a therapist if he wasn’t a fucking crime lord,” Jackie mutters. 
“I don’t think he is still like that,” Schneep says slowly. “Everything has sort of disbanded.” 
“Because you put him in jail,” Chase adds, looking at Jackie. “So you should really know.” 
“Well yeah but—but that’s not the point. I’m saying that he would’ve been a great therapist in another world where he wasn’t a villain in the first place. He could still be one now, but I don’t know many people who’d be eager to have Pathos as their therapist.”
Alt looks at JJ sympathetically and then finds himself giggling quietly as he mutters. “Heh… Pathos means feelings… that’s funny- good name-“ 
“Oh god he’s getting loopy,” Jackie mutters. 
“‘M not loopy… yer loopy…” Alt grumbles. 
Bro blinks and looks between everyone, “…I feel like I’m missing vital info here- Soren was a villain???” He throws his arms up into the air and then gestures at Schneep and Marvin, “How many of you were villains before that I had no idea about?!? …I mean- it doesn’t change anything! But I still feel like this should have gotten brought up!!”
"Uhhhh... everyone but me, Chase, and Time--Dahlia," Jackie says. "Which like--Bro. I get it. Do you know how much it rocked my shit to hear that Chase's doctor had been moonlighting as a master thief for years?" 
"Master thief?" Schneep repeats, clearly flattered. 
Jackie makes a face at him. "Not to mention the whole thing with JJ as the Puppeteer. My whole world just flipped upside down then. I mean, sure, turns out JJ was blackmailed to do it, but at the time... my, like, brain fucking broke." 
"At least you're now much more open?" Chase says. 
"I... yeah, I guess. I used to have a very, uh, black and white type of view on heroes and villains. But having it turn out that some of my friends are them, and then Marvin and Soren turned out to be, you know, people beyond their crimes, it... yeah." Jackie falls into a contemplative silence. 
Bro looks at Jackie and nods, holding his arms. “…I’m trying to be… better about that too. The black and white thinking… I.. I really hurt people… thinking like that.” 
“…cuz I was a villain too.” Alt speaks up, “…only for a couple months… and I was hella influenced by Mag when doing it but…” He closes his eyes and takes a steady breath, “…we’re all so much more than the bad things we do… especially when we try to be better.” 
Bro blinks then smiles softly and hugs Alt to his side.
 Meanwhile, JJ gives Alt a small smile. 
Alt looks up at JJ and then smiles too.
Soren soon returns. "Alright, here." He hands Alt a water bottle and a plate with a peaunut butter sandwich, a banana, and a wrapped chocolate bar. "Not my best work, but if you guys have to leave soon I figured faster was better. And I also grabbed my old phone. It's charged but there's no SD card on it, so don't worry about breaking it if you need an electric boost."
Alt blinks open his eyes and they light up with delight. “Oh my god- this is more than enough, thank you!” He hungrily starts to dig in. 
"Hey Jem, are you okay now?" Soren asks gently. 
JJ nods. A little bit. I can handle it now. 
"Okay, let me know."
Jackie laughs, sitting down on the floor. “Man- I wonder if like- being hungry after using magic or powers is like- worst then being regular starving… I wouldn’t know. But like- I forget to eat cuz of my ADHD and that sucks!” 
"Oh, I know, it's the worst, isn't it?" Jackie agrees, jumping in with his other self. "Especially since like--okay I don't get hungry directly from using my powers but I do have to concentrate and if I'm concentrating on flying I'm not thinking about how hungry I am so I don't eat." 
"Broooo," Chase says, turning the word into a booing sound. 
"Oh don't give me that, you forget, too." 
"Frosty helps remind me, though," Chase says, patting Frosty's head. "You don't have him, you gotta do it yourself." 
“Bro tell me about it! I swear I sit down to make my kids and me lunch and then I’m like oh I should do the dishes real quick and then I’m like oh a mug! Let’s make coffee! Then I’m like oh yeah I need to make a coffee date with the mates soon- and next thing I know I’m on the couch watching videos on my phone with two sandwiches half made wondering why I feel like rubbish!” Jackie laughs. Then he pauses and frowns, “…my life sounds so boring compared to a superheroes though-“ 
"Bruh, tell me about it," Chase says. "Everyone in this room except for you and me has powers." 
"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Chase," Jackie says. "Just because you guys don't have powers doesn't mean you're not needed. Or wanted. You're like, my best friend." 
"...oh." Chase looks unbelievably touched by that comment. 
Bro grins and pulls Jackie into a hug with his arm around his neck. “Yeah! You’re my best friend too ya dummy! I don’t know where I’d be without you and your stern dad voice!” 
“I don’t have a stern dad voice!” 
“Oh you so do-“ Alt laughs. 
Bro nudges his Jackie. “So, Don’t sell yourself short, Jackaboy- dealing with kids is hard work!”
Schneep glances at Jackieboy. "And this may sound cheesy, but I bet you are your children's hero. Good parents are something to be valued." 
Jackie looks touched too.
Bro softens and then hugs Jackieboy tighter. “And believe me bro- Schneep’s right. your kids… they think you’re the coolest guy in existence. You’re a big hero in their eyes.” Jackie’s eyes get a bit misty and he quickly wipes at them with his jacket sleeve. 
“But, since you were curious! I know I feel ravenous after flying around for a bit- but only afterwards.” Bro continues. “Flying takes a lot of thinking!” 
“Really? I thought it just made you an airhead-“ Alt snickers. 
“Hey!”
Marvin snorts at Alt's comment. "Hah. Airhead." He nudges Jackie. "You." 
"Wha--excuse you?" Jackie glares at him.
Alt bursts into giggles. 
After a few more minutes Alt seems to be back in working order, finishing up the food. He grabs Soren’s old phone and grips it in his hand, draining the energy from it. His eyes glow brighter green and soon enough pixels vibrate around his shoulders and he grins, glitching back to his feet. He winces slightly as he moves his chest too much but he grins. “Fuck yeah! Oh, that was just the boost I needed!”
"Whoa!" Chase grins. "That's so cool!" 
"Whoooo." Dahlia raises a hand into the air, giving a supportive thumbs-up and announcing to everyone that she's more awake now. Schneep and JJ laugh. 
"Just in time too, I bet bitch other-me is gonna wake up at any moment now," Marvin says, glancing at Magnificent. 
"So are you guys gonna, like, drop him off and then come back, or are you gonna stay in your world for a while?" Jackie asks. "Because I'd be down for both." 
"We do not know if time between worlds is consistent," Schneep muses. "Perhaps even if they come right back, much time will have passed for us." 
Like Narnia, JJ says, spelling out the name. 
"Th' endin' ov that series sucked," Dahlia mutters.
Jackieboy laughs at this. Then, he turns to Bro. 
Bro frowns, sighing. "...I dunno how much time passes to be honest... We might be able to come back but... we don't know if the TRVLR is-" 
"Maybe it was just a fluke-" Alt says with a shrug, "Sure once we bring back Mag we can come back! But, just in case- maybe we should get each other's numbers- just so we can warn you next time we're around." He says with a grin. 
Jackieboy frowns, "Can that work across dimensions?" 
"Eh... probably not- but I know an Anti who could help with that- or maybe my glitches make it so I can... cuz I talk to him a lot," Alt replies. It does indeed seems like Mag is stirring- but is not quite awake yet. 
Jackie raises an eyebrow. "Really? That'll be cool. Yeah, hang on." He reaches into a pouch on his supersuit and pulls out his phone. "I dunno about everyone else, but I'll give you guys mine." 
"Me too," Chase says, taking his phone out. 
Schneep frowns. "That does not seem like the best idea to me. What if it does not work and you end up texting someone else with my number?" 
I'm a bit reluctant to give out my phone number these days, JJ says. 
"It's fine, if they have Windstorm and Chase's those guys can contact the rest of us," Marvin says. 
"Motherfucker I can't contact you," Jackie says. "I still don't have your number." 
"And you never willlll~" 
Alt laughs at Marvin's comment- 
Jackie rolls his eyes. "Okay, Marvin's up in the air, but the rest of us should be informed if you can contact us. Here, gimme your guys's number, too."
The boys all quickly exchange numbers. Alt, Bro and Jackie all give theirs. Jackieboy bounces up and down, "I hope we can get this to work!! I wanna hear all the cool hero things that happen here!" 
"Um?? Hero best friend right here?? Kinda offended??" Bro says raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms, "Am I not good enough anymore?" 
"You know what I mean! I wanna hear what other me gets up to! Besides they all have different villains and shit!” Bro snorts and rolls his eyes. 
“Oh my god- dude if we could face time my kids would lose their minds if they met you!" Jackie says excitedly, clutching his phone. 
"That might be pushing the universes' boundaries a bit-" Alt laughs.
"Oh I'd love to talk some more whenever you guys come by next!" Jackie says excitedly. "I could tell you all about my rouges gallery. Hyper Spike, Glacier, Titanium, Dark Storm--Marvin was actually one of my rouges for a long time but we're chill now so I wonder if I could chill with some of those guys." 
Jackieboy’s eyes sparkle, “I have no idea who any of those are but I wanna know!! Oh my god- new heroes and villains to learn about!! That’s so fucking cool!!”
"Dark Storm's a bitch, he won't want to chill with you," Marvin mutters. "But, uh, yeah, I-I'd love if you guys could... come visit again... and chat." 
Alt smiles at Marvin and nods, “Yeah… someday we can just- chill. But… gotta get the cat home first-“
Bro kneels down by Dahlia and blinks at her, "Hey- you gonna be okay? We never said thank you for saving our asses back there-"
Dahlia grins up at Bro. "Not a problem, it's what I do. I'll be fine. 've come back from this before." 
"The coma makes it a bit tricky," Schneep mutters. "But we will take care of her." JJ nods, grabbing his sister's hand and squeezing it tightly. 
"Hope we'll see you guys again," Chase says.
Bro smiles and nods, “I get it- just… take care of yourself. Seems like you got a lot of people who care about you.” He gets up and then grins and lightly punches his other self’s arm, “You will! We’ll be back! Promise!” 
Jackie Mann frowns at Mag and then looms over him- just in time for Mag to blearily open his eyes. He glares up at Jackie and struggles, shouting out against the gag. Jackie’s expression darkens and he kicks his foot against Mag’s cheek. Mag’s head snaps to the side and he looks almost stunned. 
“That’s for ruining our trip ya egomaniac!” Jackieboy bites. 
“Okayyy here Jackie just- lemme handle the mad angry hostile villain.” Bro says, dragging Jackie back. He goes to lift up Mag and then- finds he once again can with ease. He relaxes and laughs, grinning. “Just in time! Seems like power suppressing stuff wore off!” 
“Thank god.” Alt sighs with a smile. He pulls out the TRVLR and finds their own dimensions again, setting it up to jump.
"Whoa, I feel like that wore off faster than usual." Jackie laughs. "I guess that's the benefit of being from another world." He then glares at Mag. "You stay away last time. Or we'll kick your ass even harder than we just did." Dahlia glares at Mag as well. And Soren smiles, an expression accompanied by a chill of... fear? When was the last time Magnificent felt fear? 
Magnificent squirms and spits out curses against Alt’s magic- all up until that surge of fear gets sent through him. Then he quiets, seeming to shrink against Bro’s shoulder. Bro blinks then laughs, “Hey! That’s a handy trick!” He beams and nods his thanks to Soren and the others. 
JJ, in between Dahlia and Soren, signs, Don't come back. 
"You all can come back, though," Schneep says, nodding at Jackieboy, Alt, and Bro. 
"Any time!" Chase adds. 
"We'll see you around," Marvin says. "Good luck with all this."
Jackie grins, “We’ll be back real soon! For a proper day!” 
Alt smiles and salutes, “Until then~!” He then grabs the others and presses the jump button, preparing to go home.
And the familiar falling sensation happens, the world around them going dark. But... again, there it is. That ripple. And, like fish in water, the group feels themselves diverted just slightly off course as the space around them shifts.
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So I started working again today, and me and my coworker had to squeeze lemons which usually is a really un fun job but TODAY. We had the mostly lovely batch of lemons to work with. So we rated how smoothly they cut and how nice the insides of them looked for about an hour. An absolutely marvelous time I gotta say
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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 2: SepticHeroes Revisited
Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs | Read Septicheroes
Read SITCV | SITCV SepticHeroes Chapters | AO3 Link  It sounds like your friend Bro showed up near Schneep and Marvin, JJ says. And now everyone is coming here to meet up. 
“Oh good!” Dahlia says. 
Jackie perks up from where he was resting against the wall. "Oh sick!" He grins. 
“We should probably let Soren know so he doesn’t try to freeze them for intruding.” Dahlia says. 
JJ raises an eyebrow. I thought you liked Soren. 
“He could be worse. But he would definitely react badly to lookalikes suddenly showing up with your friends.”
Jackie  tilts his head, "Freeze? Oh oh! Does Soren have ice powers??"
Dahlia laughs. “I meant that metaphorically. Like you know, when people freeze up with fear?” 
"Oohhh sorry- I thought lots of people had powers here." Jackie replies with a timid smile. 
“Oh no, you’re right, lots of people do,” Dahlia says. “I’ve fought three different ice villains over the years.” 
I’ll go find him and let him know about all this, JJ says. Jackie, do you want to come? You know, meet him? 
Jackie looks at JJ then grins, hopping up to his feet. "Yeah! I'd love to meet him!"
Dahlia leans back against the pillows. “Tell Soren I say hi.” 
I will, JJ says, standing up. Follow me, Jackie. 
They leave the room and enter a narrow upstairs hallway. All the doors up here are ajar so JJ only glances inside each—bedroom, bedroom, bathroom, closet—before heading down the stairs at the end of the hall. This whole house seems very generic, with single color walls and almost no decorations. Didn’t Bro and Alt mention some of the guys here were in hiding? This must be a place they’re staying, not anyone’s home. 
Jackie observes the house with interest. He can definitely tell this is not a lived in house- he knows what a lived in house looks like. His kids have taught him that lesson over and over. This place seems wayyy too clean. 
The first floor has an office, a bathroom, a living room, a dining room, and, finally, a kitchen. Which is the last place they look and the place where they finally find who they’re looking for. There a man crouches on the floor, looking through the cabinets. 
JJ whistles and the man looks over at him. 
“Hey Jem. Jackie.” He stands up. He’s wearing a dark red jacket over a white crop top with a purple heart in the middle. His hair is red, cut short on the right and longer on the left, and his eyes are—dark purple? Huh. He’s also taller than both Jackie and JJ. “I was just about to start—” And then the man stops. His eyes narrow at Jackie, and Jackie feels a little afraid all of a sudden. “Jameson, that’s not Jackie.” 
No, I know, JJ says. He can be trusted.
Jackie stands stiff as they meet Soren- he's almost surprised he knew his name... before remembering he's technically a copy. He smiles timidly and raises a hand in greeting. "Yo...? You're.. not too far off. I am Jackie but... Jackie Mann. I'm... from another universe...?"
Soren blinks. Then he looks at JJ. "Wait, you were telling the truth about all that?" 
Did you think I was messing with you? JJ asks, raising an eyebrow. 
"Actually I thought you were delirious." 
JJ looks like he wants to say something defensive, but then he sighs. That's fair. But yes, it's all true. We really met people from another world, and now they're back. More are coming here soon, along with everyone else. 
"...huh." Soren leans back against the kitchen counter, contemplating that. Then he nods. "Alright. Nice to meet you, then, Jackie Mann." He looks at the shirt Jackie's wearing, the one that says 'Oh No Everyone's Hot' in the bi pride colors, and grins. "Heh. Mood." The fear Jackie felt briefly is gone now.
Jackie finds himself blushing- not only cuz this guy is attractive but... its not often he meets someone with the same eye color as his wife. A bit darker than hers but...mmmm. He looks down at his shirt and blushes more. "O-Oh uh.. y-yeah! Mood-" Oh god he's being cringe- where are the others??
It turns out, the others are right outside, as Alt glitches Jackie and Chase onto the path to the front door. Frosty shakes himself, fur floofing out like he's trying to shake off the glitches. 
"Here we are!" Jackie says, making sure his mask is secure. He walks up to the front door and rings the doorbell. 
Alt shakes off the glitches too, feeling momentarily dizzy but being able to push it off. He's fine- it's fine. He smiles and follows after Jackie towards the door.
JJ, Soren, and Jackieboy can hear that doorbell from the kitchen. Soren raises his eyebrow. "Is that them or should we ignore it?" he asks. 
It might be some of them, JJ says. Alt can teleport people.
Jackie's phone chimes. A text from Alt: Yo nerd we're outside 😼
Jackie laughs and tilts his head towards the door. "It's them! Alt just texted me." 
JJ giggles. Alright, let's go meet them, then. 
"I'm coming with," Soren announces. "I want to meet the people coming into my house." 
JJ laughs as the group leaves the kitchen. Let me and Jackie answer the door, at least. 
"Yeah, sure." Soren leans against the entrance hall wall while JJ opens the door. 
"Hey!" Jackie grins--and then grins wider when he sees his other self. "OH! HEY! HI!"
Jackie Mann’s eyes widen and then he grins super big, stimming slightly. "oh my god oh my god!! It's true! You really are a super hero!! Or youre like- totally yanking my chain and wearing a costume and this is all a joke and if it is imma kill Chase but AHHHH"
Alt bursts into laughter, "Jackie, breathe man! You're gonna pass out!"
“No no no, I really am! I—” Jackie glances around, then hurries through the doorway. “Check this out!” He jumps—and stays in the air, hovering a few inches over the floor. 
Jackie's jaw drops and then he stims even more, practically vibrating, "THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL!!" 
Alt glitches over and puts a hand on his Jackie's shoulder, "Inside voice, my guy-" He giggles. 
Jackie lands, grinning and giggling. “It really is so cool! I forget about how cool it is sometimes.” 
Chase walks in with Frosty. “I was so surprised the first time he showed me,” he says. “I didn’t even believe him until I saw the flying. Hey, other Jackie! I’m Chase.”
Jackie blinks and then beams at Chase, "Omg! Other Chase!! AND A PUPPY!!" He bends down to admire Frosty and almost pets him before seeing his vest. "OH! working pup- I see. Carry on good sir and/or ma'am!" 
Chase grins. “This is Frosty! He’s my good boy. You can give him a couple pats, it’s okay.” 
Jackie's eyes sparkle as he gets down and pats Frosty on the head, "oh! Hello Frosty!! Oh aren't you the best boy?? Damn- I should get a dog... maybe once Penny is older." He laughs. 
JJ laughs silently. Hi Alt, it’s good to see you again. 
Alt smiles, "Hey JJ! Good to see you too." 
Bro isn’t here yet, apparently he and Marvin and Schneep had to take the train. 
Alt tilts his head and frowns, "The train? huh... Guess the others didn't wanna get flown around... you know what? that's fair." He laughs. 
In the background, Soren watches all this happen with visible curiosity.
Alt blinks at Soren and then waves a bit, "Uh hi! I'm Alt-"
Soren grins and raises a hand. "Hello. Call me Soren."
Alt smiles, "Hey, nice to meet you. I think I remember them mentioning you last time!" 
"JJ's boyfriend," Chase says teasingly. 
We're not officially dating, JJ says. 
"Oh really?" Soren raises an eyebrow. "So what was it last night when we--" 
I am going to make you shut up, I swear to god, JJ says hurriedly, a few strings appearing around his fingers. 
Soren laughs. 
Jackie looks back and forth between each other. "...wait a second, did you guys--" 
Jackie springs up to his feet and rubs his hands together, "Oh!! I'm sensing drama and tea~??" 
It's not what you think! JJ interrupts, his face turning very red. 
"Aaaaanyway," Chase says. "Where's Dahlia?" 
Jackie's face falls and his points dramatically at Chase, "Noooo! Don't change the subject!!" 
Alt bonks him on the head, "Stop being weird, ya doof-" 
Still upstairs, JJ says, relieved at the change of subject. Do you want to meet her, Alt? 
Alt blinks at JJ and then smiles, "Oh yeah sure!" 
Jackie grins, "I think you'll like her, Alt. She's real cool~"
She'd love to meet you, JJ says. I think she's love your powers. 
Alt flushes but grins happily. "Neat, let's see her then."
Come on! He turns and hurries towards the stairs. 
"I'm coming too, I wanna hang out with Dahlia," Jackie says excitedly. 
"Fanboy," Chase whispers under his breath. 
"Hey!" 
"You guys have fun, I'll wait for your other friends down here," Soren says, waving the rest of them off as everyone heads upstairs. 
Dahlia sits up straight when everyone returns to the bedroom. "Hey Jays. Jackie, Jackie, Chase, Frosty--and new guy, hello!" She waves. 
Alt glitches a bit and tries not to get into his old habit of hiding his face in his mask. "Hi! I um-- I'm Alt. You're Dahlia, then?"
"Yep!" Dahlia says cheerfully. "Nice to meet you, love. You're the one who can turn into electricity, right?" 
Alt blushes a bit more and grins, "Uh yeah- kinda? I'm... a magician so I do magic but... electricity is mostly it." 
"He can do all sorts of shit," Jackie says. "Like glitching--that's how we got there." 
"Nice, nice. Sorry there's not many spaces to sit in here. Chase, d'you need the chair?" 
"No, I'd rather not, uh, change position too much," Chase says. 
"Alright, in that case, it's a race to claim it," Dahlia chuckles.
Jackie and Alt glance at each other and seem to share a thought- and race towards the chair. Alt glitches into it though and grins. "Too slow~!" 
"Hey! No fair ya cheating bastard! I could run circles around you!" Jackie pouts. 
"But why would i try that if I can just glitch~?" Alt laughs.
"Whoa!" Dahlia's eyes light up. "That's so cool! It's like--teleportation with an effect." 
Jackie laughs at Jackieboy and Alt's interaction. "Isn't it? It's so cool! Last time, Alt went into my phone--I mean, that didn't really work out too well but it's because Anti was there." 
"Ah yes, the hellspawn," Dahlia comments in response to Anti. 
"H-hey, uh, be careful." Chase glances at Alt. "We, um... might... You know how weird other dimensions get?" If Alt really was another version of Anti, he doesn't want to indirectly insult him. 
"Do you mean universes? Dimensions are different," Jackie says. 
"Jackie's right," Dahlia says. "And I know, I studied physics." 
You dropped out, JJ says, grinning. 
"Hey! That's a family secret!"
Alt grins at Dahlia, "Hey no sweat- I never finished secondary school. So you got me beat!" He laughs.
"Also, Don't worry Chase- I've been to lots of universes now. Most Antis I meet fit the description of hellspawn. I was just born different~" He grins mischievously. He then glitches out of the chair, "By the way- I don't need this, I just wanted to beat Jackie~" 
"Yer such a jerk," Jackie laughs. 
Dahlia blinks. "Wait... you're an Anti? How?" 
"It doesn't really make sense, does it?" Jackie says. "But apparently it's true. I guess there are infinite possibilities with other universes." 
"Huh. I suppose that's right." 
Alt hums, "The only reason I'm an Anti in my universe is cuz... I picked that name when I was little. Was better than my old name. But, now I just stick with Alt. Only Bro really still calls me Anti." He shrugs, "But, apparently, Antis have lots of similar... traits." He seems to shiver, sticking his hands in his pockets and bunching up some, his confidence shrinking a bit. "... Glitching is one of them," He pulls at his mask, rubbing up against his neck.
JJ claims the chair now that no one is moving for it. How many universes did you guys go through before you reached home again? he asks. It must have been a lot if you've met lots of versions of yourself. 
Alt blinks up at JJ and then thinks, "Oh... um... yeah it was a lot." He mentally counts, "We've been to two of them twice before this one- i think it's been... 7 ish?" 
"That's a lot of other worlds," Jackie says in awe. 
Alt seems to shrink in more and rocks on his feet, looking away. "... Antis aren't... usually the greatest... in other places. Typically they're... bad guys. Freaky villains and..." He presses his lips shut and closes his eyes, trying to push back some thoughts. "...i... I'm not like them though. I'm trying my best not to be. Cuz... I'm more than just an Anti. I'm Alt." 
Jackie gives Alt a gentle smile and pats his shoulder, looking at him proudly.
"Well, I can guarantee that you're nothing like the Anti here, Alt," Chase says. "Everyone is themselves, y'know? Not just like... a role to fill. Besides, we just said that the universes are, like, infinite, so there's probably more good Antis than you know. I bet there's some bad versions of us out there, too." 
"Ha! I'll always be a hero," Jackie says, folding his arms. "No matter what world I'm in." 
I don't think so, JJ says. Look at other Jackie here. I mean--I'm sure you're a good guy, other Jackie, but it sounds like Chase is the main hero in your world. 
"...uhhhh... good point." Jackie blinks, at a loss for words. 
Chase laughs at the blank look on Jackie's face. "Bro. We were just talking about how different everything is, and you come in like 'nah I'll always be the same.'" 
"It's just--just hard for me to picture being evil, is what I mean!" Jackie stammers defensively.
Alt opens his mouth and then shuts it, not sure he wants to tell Jackie about the bad Jackies he's met. Like Sangira... or- well... that Jackie is getting better now. But still- He has killed people. 
Jackie laughs, "Man! I wish I was a hero! But nah- I'm just a geek who's a dad and does parkour~" He grins, "Chase is our main hero. I'd love to help but- as our Dr. J says im 'injury prone'." He adds air quotes. 
"You are injury prone-" Alt deadpans, "You're hiding a wrist brace right now!" 
Jackie pulls down on his jacket sleeve, "No I'm not, you're a liar!"
Chase laughs. "Bro, I didn't even notice that!" 
JJ also chuckles. I don't think anyone would have said anything if Alt didn't point it out. 
"Hey look, I get you, man--Mann, haha." Chase laughs some more. "My balance sucks. Frosty helps out with that, along with some other stuff, but accidents still happen sometimes." 
Jackie's ears turn red but he grins, "I mean... it sucks but- being clumsy is how I became best friends with my Chase. ... wouldn't change that for the world." 
While this nice conversation is happening inside, outside, Marvin, Schneep, and Bro are walking down the street. "Why do we have to walk everywhere in this city?" Marvin grumbles. 
"Learn how to drive," Schneep says, still invisible. 
"No, I don't want to." 
"Your loss, then." 
"You don't drive, either, don't talk shit to me." 
Bro laughs and hovers a bit in front of them, "Maybe you two just need to learn to fly~" He jokes before touching back down. He walks backwards grinning at them. "I don't drive either- but Jackie does! I try to avoid it though-" 
Schneep is quiet for a moment. "Anyway, we are almost there." He flickers back into view long enough to point out a house. "That is it." 
Bro blinks and then notices the house as Schneep points to it and grins. He hurries over to the door and knocks on it.
"Whoa whoa hey!" Marvin and Schneep rush after Bro. "I think it's best if we don't lead with the stranger. Soren's as paranoid as me." 
Schneep walks through Bro and ends up in front of him, returning to visible view. 
“Oh right-“ Bro starts to say and then shivers as Schneep passes through him. He backs up and pats the spot where he went. “…that was so weird woah-“ 
And then the door opens. Soren leans against the doorway and looks down at the three of them. "Marvin, Specter, good to see you." He smiles, then looks at Bro. "New guy. You look very heroic. Other Chase, I'm told. I'm Soren, Soren Moizone."
Bro blinks up at Soren and then grins. “that’s cuz I am! I’m called Bro Fantastic back at home! Nice to meet you, Soren!” 
"Heh. Fun name." Soren grins and Bro feels immediately at ease. "Your friends are inside, talking upstairs. I was going to start making dinner in the meantime." 
"It's like four in the afternoon," Marvin says. 
"And? There's a lot of you. We need a lot of food." 
"I'm not sure we have the time for that..." Schneep mutters. "Something has happened." 
Soren's easy demeanor immediately shatters, replaced by a hard, serious look. "Get in, then." He steps aside so everyone can come in.
Bro’s smile drops and he looks sad for a second. Damn… if Mag hadn’t gotten here… they could have actually had a good time. He squeezes his eyes shut and pushes down his anger and walks in to find his friends. “…thanks, Soren.”
"Not a problem," Soren says. "I'll head on up with you." 
They walk up the staircase. The door to Dahlia's room is ajar a bit. Schneep hurries over and pushes it fully open. "Hey, Hen!" Dahlia waves. "I was just about to bring up when you'd get here." 
"Hey, other me!" Chase says. "Hi!" 
Jackie waves furiously at Bro. "Hey! Good to see you again!"
Bro smiles as he walks into the room and waves, "Hey guys-" 
Alt immedately straightens up, "...what's wrong?' He asks in a quiet voice. 
"What? Huh- how did you-??" 
"Please Chase- I know you." Alt says with a raised eyebrow. 
Bro looks conflicted. But eventually he sighs, his shoulders dropping. "...Magnificent is here..." 
"WHAT?!" Jackie and Alt shout almost in unison.
"I thought you guys were just visiting?!" Jackie gapes. The curtains flutter as a nervous breeze flies through the room. "Did he tag along somehow?" 
"Whatever happened, it was not intentional," Schneep says. "Bro said that it may be something wrong with your TRVLR device." 
"Magnificent is... a villain, right?" Dahlia says. 
"A bad one?" Soren asks. 
A bad one, JJ confirms. 
Chase shudders. "Last time he was here he got in my head. I-it was freaky."
Alt starts to pace and glitch anxiously, tugging at his hoodie. "NO no! I... I was so careful! All that planning! The warding! The protection spells! It all meant nothing?!" He shouts at the end, the electronics in the room all flickering and shuddering from Alt's anger and panic. 
"Hey hey lil bro, Breathe!" Bro says, coming over and holding his shoulders. "It wasn't your fault! he... it must be something with the TRVLR! Did anything seem weird about it??" 
Alt shakes his head, "I.. I dunno- It seemed fine... just- why?!" He shouts, angry tears in his eyes. "Why is he here, again??" 
Jackie looks at Chase with a sympathetic gaze before turning back to Dahlia, "Yeah he's... our main villain back home. A power hungry maniac corrupted by black magic... he wants to make people into his puppets or steal their power or... lots of other fucked up shit. He's a dangerous dude..." 
"Where's Marvin?? He was with you guys, right?" Alt suddenly shouts, worry on his face, "Mag really hurt him last time- he didn't-?!" 
"Alt please, try to calm down..." Bro whispers.
"I'm right here." Marvin steps forward. He'd hung back to take off Bro's spare clothes, which he then shoves at him. "Yeah, I still have the scars from him turning into a fucking tiger. But he clearly still wants to kill me." 
Alt deflates a bit, less worried now that he knows Marvin is okay. Bro fumbles with the clothes then stuffs them back in his bag. 
"Turning into a tiger...?" Soren repeats slowly. 
"The powers from the other world are more varied than ours," Schneep says. "A 'magician' there can do many incredible things at once." 
"Uhhhh okay," Dahlia says. 
"At least, uh, h-he can't find us here," Chase says. 
JJ frowns. Can he? How did he find your flat last time? 
"Um... I-I don't know. I never really thought about that." 
I think he had help, JJ says. He signs something: the letter A, and then smacking his hands together. A-virus. The meaning is clear.
Alt's eyes narrow and he growls, "That Anti fuck... he's probably gonna try to help him again! Fuck... fuck fuck fuck!" Alt shouts, looking like he's ready to hit something or explode- pixels coming off him as his body breaks in and out of being whole by his glitches. 
Jackie Mann looks between everyone and tries to smile, "M-Maybe it wont be so bad! Maybe... this is actually hidden this time? Mag usually can't find shit without magic!"
"Uhhhhh..." Jackie bites his lip and stares at his other version. "How do I put this...? Anti can look through cameras. All our phones have cameras. We all have phones on us right now." 
"We should have never started using them again!" Schneep curses. 
"God damn it all!" Marvin punches the wall. 
Soren rubs his eyes. "Yang and I only have so many safe houses in the city, you know," he says tiredly. "Why did you all start using computers again?" 
"Well, we figured that now we know Anti can't reach us, we'd just have to be very careful what we said," Chase says slowly. 
Clearly this was a mistake, JJ says. We have to get out of here. 
Alt sighs and crosses his arms, "...trying to run might get innocents hurt. Knowing Mag and how hard we kicked his ass last time... he's not gonna be happy. He's gonna hunt all of us down..." 
"If Magnificent is coming here, why don't we wait for him?" Jackie argues. "We could spring a trap!" 
I'm not putting Dahlia in danger. 
"I can handle danger," Dahlia mutters. "Even like this."
"I mean- yeah! We know he's coming so we can prepare! We got him really good last time!" Bro smiles,
JJ still looks reluctant, but he nods. Alright, I suppose we have to prepare for a fight, then. 
"Great, we can put these to use." Soren walks over to the armchair, bends over, and opens a hidden compartment in one of the legs, pulling out a knife. JJ looks at this, surprised, and bursts into silent laughter. How long has that been there?! 
"Since before you guys moved in. There are weapons in all the chairs and lamps, some of them with special features." 
Chase leans closer to Jackie. "I told you," he whispers. 
Alt blinks and then grins, "Fuck yeah that's metal!" 
Bro looks worried. "Are the houses around all safehouses? Because our powers aren't necessarily... discrete?" 
"And what about us powerless people huh?" Jackie says, pointing to himself. "I mean- save a face punch from me for Mag- but I'm also fragile!"
"Super fights happen all the time, don't worry," Jackie says. "I don't think any of us are destructive enough to level the neighborhood or anything." He hesitates. "Even so, I-I--I can go around and ask people to clear out. The citizens know me, they'll listen." 
"And don't worry, other Jackie, I have all sorts of stuff," Soren says. "My powers aren't exactly combative so I have to make up for it. What are you, blades, guns, or blunt instruments? I'm sure I have some protective vests somewhere, too." 
Jackie brightens up, "oh! I just learned how to use a knife better! Gimme!" 
Soren grins. "Alright, here you are." He flips the knife over and holds it out to Jackie hilt-first. 
Jackie grins and flips the knife, testing out the feel. “Sick- I’ll cut some new whiskers on Mag’s face!” 
"I'll try and find those protective vests." And Soren stands up and leaves.
"I can try to cast some wards and stuff-" Alt says, digging out his spellbook. "He's a strong magician but I... I can probably keep him back for a bit..." 
Go ahead and do your magic, Alt, JJ says. Any time you can buy us will be great. And he gets up. Dahlia? 
"I'll be careful, Jays," Dahlia says. "Promise." 
JJ nods, then goes out to follow Soren in the search for the protective vests.
Alt nods and starts flipping through the pages. His eyes burn with green blue light as he recites some words, going to trace some runes in the air above the walls.
Bro shifts nervously, "I could come with you if you need, Windstorm-" 
Jackie looks at Bro. He nods. "That's a good idea. If we spot something suspicious while out, one of us can fly back and tell the others here. I think we should avoid texting for now." 
Bro nods with a small smile and puts back on his mask, his hair flaring to green-yellow. “Right!” 
"Alright." Jackie nods. "Let's go!" 
Time passes as everyone prepares. Soren passes out weapons to everyone who doesn't have more combative powers. He also finds three protective vests--which are smaller and thinner than traditional bulletproof vests, but which he assure everyone is just as protective as Kevlar. JJ insists that Dahlia gets one, and the other two go to Chase and Jackieboy. 
Outside, Jackie and Bro fly around, telling the neighbors that theere's going to be a fight happening soon and they need to either hunker down or leave. Nobody protests, understanding the gravity that comes with a Hero--and another hero--telling them directly. 
Until, about half an hour later, Jackie nudges Bro. "Look," he says. "Do you see that?" 
Bro narrows his eyes at where Jackie points and then frowns. “Uhhh… no? What am I looking at?”
Jackie glances at him, then back to where he was pointing. At a line of bushes in someone's front yard. Indeed the movement he saw there before is gone now—until it isn't. 
Suddenly Jackie yells and tackles Bro to the side, just barely knocking him out of the way as a soccer-ball-sized metal sphere rockets towards the spot where Bro's head had been seconds before. 
Bro yelps as he's pushed to the ground. 
The sphere spins around midair and rushes at them again. Jackie raises a hand and a gust of powerful wind knocks it off course, sending it crashing to the sidewalk next to them. It's some sort of robot, mostly spherical with a tail-like peripherary. "That's a SAM," Jackie breathes. "Semi-Autonomous Machine. SepTech made them to help people but then Anti took control of most of them. I think it was spying on us."
Bro pants and then looks at Jackie with wide eyes. "If... if Anti took control of them- could he send them to the house??"
Jackie's eyes widen in turn. "Definitely." 
The SAM's peripheral writhes, and it slowly hovers back into the air, pointing a camera lens in its center at the two heroes. 
"We gotta warn the others then-!" Bro starts to say but freezes as the SAM gets airborne again. 
Compartments on the side of the SAM open up, and out pop small devices--devices that then shoot a hail of sharp darts at the two of them.
Jackie dodges out of the way, a gust of wind pushing the darts away from him. 
Bro yells in surprise as the darts are shot and crosses his arms in front of his face to try to block them. But, a few stick in his arm- one even breaking through his suit. "Ah- fuck!! What the fuck??" He pulls it out and looks at it then waves it at the SAM, "The fuck did you stick in me ya round orb bitch?!"
Jackie looks at Bro and pales. "Wait a minute." He plucks one of the darts that didn't pierce through Bro's suit from his arm. Inside the tiny glass compartment is a pale lavender liquid. "Shit! That's neutrinalin! It'll muffle your powers!" 
Bro's eyes widen. "What?! Shit-!" 
The SAM prepares for another volley of darts, aiming at Jackie this time. He barely dodges another round. "Go back to the house!" he shouts at Bro. "Quick, before it takes effect! Tell the others the SAMs are coming!" 
Bro looks hesitant to leave Jackie but he quickly nods and takes back off into the air, hurrying back towards the house. He barrels through the door, nearly tripping into Alt who was prepping a seal against the door. 
"What? Chase what's- dude what happened??" Alt asks. He's a bit pale and seems shaky but he's also half chewing on a snack bar Jackie brought. 
Bro pants, wiping at his face. "That bitch Anti is sending machines this way! R-Round bitches that shoot out power nullifying shit! They look like eyes-" 
Alt's eyes widen and he grabs Bro and pulls him in, "Where's Windstorm?" 
"H-Hopefully right behind me!"
Schneep suddenly appears next to Alt. "You mean the SAMs?" he says. "The Semi-Autonomous Machines. They were made by SepTech to be helpful for people and Heroes. 
"Yes! Those guys! Jackie said Anti-!" 
“They should not be able to--what was it? Shoot power nullifying... you mean neutrinalin?" 
 "Yeah yeah that!”
JJ has arrived about halfway through the conversation. He frowns. Anti must have modified some of them. Did you get hit with the-- he makes a sign that the other-world visitors don't know, like JJ is pushing something down. It must be the sign for 'neutrinalin.' 
Bro blinks and then nods to JJ, “uh... yeah i think so- I felt a prick-" 
Then there's a distant screaming. It slowly gets closer--
Alt glitches and throws Bro and the others out of the way of the door. 
—and then Jackie flies right through the doorway, still shouting, and crashes into the living room wall. "Oof!" 
"Jackie!" Bro shouts, hurrying over to him. "Are you okay??" 
Alt wastes no time in shutting the door and hurriedly chants another spell over it. He holds two hands over the wood and pours his magic in, sweat breaking out on his forehead. "A-Any sign of Mag??"
Jackie recovers surprisingly quickly, popping back up. "I'm okay!" he gasps. "No sign of Magnificent. But there's at least one SAM out there, and probably more coming, with--" 
"Neutrinalin? Yes, Bro just told us," Schneep says. "He also said he might've been injected. Can you still access your powers, Bro? Will it even work on you?" 
"I-if it will, it should be working by now," Jackie adds.
Bro blinks and then looks down at himself- for a second, he feels kinda dizzy. He shakes this off though and tries to see if he can hover in the air. He's able to for a second before he crashes down. His normally bright blue eyes under his mask seem a bit duller and he pales. "... f-fuck...!" 
JJ looks at Alt. Do those wards block out any threats or just magical ones?
Alt grits his teeth and concentrates, trying to spread out his magic over more than just the door. "I... I started with just magic wards but- I-I'm trying to expand them to anything now that Bro and Windstorm are back! Hopefully they can hold for a bit... but if... if these machines are coming the wards I put over Dahila's room might not be enough...!" 
Bro pushes himself up on shaky arms. "Alt- you're not draining yourself, are you??" 
"I'm giving us a fighting chance!" Alt bites back. "We need every advantage we can get!" 
"You know what would be giving us a chance? Having you ready to fight if they show up, Alt," Schneep points out. 
Bro nods along with Schneep. "You're just as powerful as the rest of us Alt! We need you!" 
Alt laughs at this, giving them a semi-pained look. "... Mag used me against you all last time- I dont want to give him that chance again. I'll be fine- but... I... I'll try to refuel." He backs up from the door, letting his hands slip off. The door and the walls/windows on that side of the house glimmer slightly with green- like the effect of looking at something under sunlight in water. 
JJ pales a bit at Alt mentioning Dahlia. Do you think someone should stay with her? he worries. Maybe Chase? Or other Jackie? 
Marvin appears just as he asks that. "You know your sister can take care of herself, right?" 
Yes, but she was in a COMA until a couple weeks ago, so there's some difficulty there! JJ snaps, practically throwing his hands in Marvin's face. 
"Whoa!" Marvin leans back. "Um... s-sorry. I didn't mean to... sorry."
Jackie peeks up from where he's been sitting on the stairs, nervously fiddling with the vest and the knife. He blinks at JJ and then smiles, "Hey- Jays- I can try to protect Dahlia if you want! Dunno how much use I'd be in the big fight but, I'm sure I can keep some metal fuckers away from her!"
JJ smiles at him. Thank you. But you said you were best at knife fighting, right? Knives won't be much use against robots. 
Soren and Chase peek into the living room. "I can stay with Ti--with Dahlia, Jem," Soren offers. "I'm sure I can handle some drones." His weapon of choice is a metal bat, which he taps threateningly against his hands. 
Jackie pouts slightly, "They're like- eyes right? Just- jab em in the pupil!" He tries to demonstrate, jabbing at the air. 
Schneep laughs. "Their 'pupils' are their cameras, so that may actually work out. If there is no camera, they cannot see." 
"But I also know... some martial arts! ... but I guess that'd hurt against a robot. Mannn what the hell! I hate being normal..." Jackie mutters. 
Chase looks down at Jackieboy. "Yeah, I know how you feel, bro. Not sure how much I can do. All anyone would need to do to take me out is knock me down." 
"If you guys want to get somewhere safe, we're not gonna stop you," Jackie says. "It's up to you." He peers out through the curtained windows.
Bro smiles at his friend with sympathy. "Well... looks like I'm in your boat too, Jackie..." He looks down at his hands and flexes them, as if willing his power to come back. 
Alt sits down on the floor and grabs more things to eat, tiredly trying to get his energy back. He leans against the wall and tries to catch his breath, looking a bit pale and clammy.
Marvin nods. "Alright. Sounds like it's time to wait." 
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microwave mimic that just eats the food instead of cooking it
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movies where someone hears an important message only once and retains all the details….
girl if that were me, we’d be fucked. I have to reread emails like 4 times.
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1. wait until you’re absolutely sure the ink is dry
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It begins! :D
This is a slight jump ahead from where SepticHeroes currently is, but there's no real spoilers, I think. Tbh I just really wanted to include some original characters in there that wouldn't be around in the present day XD
But here we are! The start of the adventure! ^-^
Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 1: SepticHeroes Revisited
Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs | Read Septicheroes
Read SITCV | SITCV SepticHeroes Chapters | AO3 Link
The swapboys have once again found themselves in the Brody Brothers’ apartment. Jackie Mann sits on the edge of their armchair, kicking his feet. He has a backpack next to him as he fastens a bracelet on his wrist. “The kids were so bummed you wouldn’t let them watch this happen at our place, Alt.” He laughs. 
Alt rolls his eyes, “Well- I’m not sure they’d react too well to seeing their dad just * pop * out of existence right in front of them. Even if they know about magic.” He goes back to checking over the TRVLR settings. 
Jackie holds up his hands with a laugh. “Alright, alright! Fair point!” He smiles, “They’re with their mom anyways~! Since this is a quick visit- I’m sure they’ll hardly miss me at all!” 
“Then why did you pack such a big bag, dude?” Chase laughs, pointing at the backpack. 
Jackie laughs, “Please! Between all the injuries I sustain and you two? This thing is a necessity- it’s got extra snacks and a med kit- bandages, water, chargers, an extra jacket for me-“ 
“Oh my god Jackie if you need anything they have stuff there!” Alt says with a laugh. 
“You’re taking a bag too, Alt!” Chase points out. 
Alt turns red and turns away, “I’m bringing my iPad and my… art and stuff…” He adjusts the headphones around his neck and his usual mask. “So I can you know- have something to do while you all geek out about heroes and junk.” On the subject though Alt does double check that he has what he needs- his spellbooks, iPad, notebook, pens, and… the tracking bracelets he made for all of them. The brown leather bracelet is tight on each of their wrists, with runes inscribed on the inside and a turquoise gem on top. 
“Please Alt- don’t act like you’re not gonna join the hero fun!” Bro grins. Alt rolls his eyes but doesn’t respond, readjusting so everything fits right in his backpack. 
“See though? Alt gets it! Better safe than sorry! Take it from a dad- it’s better to be prepared for anything!” Jackie says with a grin. “I even have those little plastic ponchos for if it rains!” 
“Oh my god-“ Bro bursts into giggles. “Well besides being cautious- are you excited to meet these guys, Jackie?” 
Jackie’s eyes light up and he excitedly stims, “Hell fucking yeah!!! I get to meet me! As a hero!! That’s so fucking cool! Ohhh I’m gonna be such a dork I can already tell oh jeez what if I embarrass myself or talk too much or fall off a building trying to look cool and-?!” 
Alt turns to the others and laughs, holding up the now powered TRVLR. “You’ll be fine, Jackie. Windstorm is super cool- you’ll get on like a house on fire.” 
“Yeah bro! We instantly clicked- he’s just like you! ‘Cept he can fly- and he’s not a dad-“ Bro says. 
Jackie laughs, shaking his head. He jumps off the couch and hoists his backpack onto his shoulder. “Well then- l-let’s jet before I lose my nerve! If you’re all ready, Alt.” 
Alt grins, “Yup! One superhero universe all locked and loaded!” He then looks to Jackie and Bro, “you guys remember how the tracking bracelets work right?” 
“Yeah yeah!” Jackie says, “You touch the gem and say… looney-“ 
“Loonu, Jackie,” Alt laughs.
“Oh yeah- and then those wisps pop up and tell us where to go!” 
Alt grins, “Good, you got it!” 
“LessGOOOO!” Chase cheers, wrapping an arm around Jackie’s neck and pulling him tight to his side. Jackie bursts into laughter. Alt laughs too and grabs Jackie’s hand and then presses the jump button- heading to UA-1212021SH. 
And for once- Magnificent doesn’t try to stop them. He’s actually home- asleep with his panthers, unaware his usual annoyances were traveling to other worlds without him. 
And yet, as the group pressed the jump button, Mag is woken up by a sudden falling sensation and green light. A ripple spreads through the Space In-Between.
--------------
Jackie lands by himself in a room. The falling sensation lingers with him for a bit--strange, did it do that before?
Jackie rubs at his head and groans, “Ugh… how are they used to that…?” He mumbles.
 Well, this isn't the time to dwell on it. 
"Holy hell!" 
He's landed in a bedroom with yellow-painted walls. There's a window with curtains drawn and two doors, one of which is slightly ajar to show a connected bathroom. The room is faily bland. The furniture-- a bed, a dresser, an armchair, and a nightstand--are more functional than decorative. Pretty much the only thing that has any personality is a TV stand across from the bed, with a television and game console that are currently on. Two people are in the room, each holding a video game controller and staring at Jackie in shock. One is a man in a button-down shirt who has a distinct mustache. He is sitting in the armchair. The other is a person with longer hair wearing a pink sweater. They're lying in the bed. Both of these people have identical bright blue eyes. 
"Jays, I thought your friend was a flyer, not a teleporter," says the one in the bed. 
The other shakes his head and puts the controller down to sign, He isn't. I don't think this is J-hoodie. I think it's something else. 
Jackie blinks up at the two people and quickly gets to his feet. He waves awkwardly and stiffy, lifting his hand up really fast almost like a salute. “Um hi! I…I’m Jackie! J-Jackie Mann cuz um- you probably know another Jackie who looks like me but isn’t me uhhhh my f-friends Alt and Chase- well Bro Fantastic-! They wanted me to come visit and- fuck I knew they said we landed in random places but I thought I’d land near other me…!” He then blinks. “…fuck I’m talking too much aren’t I? S-Sorry for interrupting… this-“ He gestures vaguely at the room and the tv. 
The two people blink. And then the one in the bed laughs. "Don't worry about it, love. We weren't really doing much anyway. JJ, is that, uh, Bro Fantastic guy the alternate Chase you told me about?" 
JJ nods. He smiles at Jackie. So you're their Jackie, are you? It's nice to meet you! I'm Jameson, and this is Dahlia. He spells out all the names so there can be no mistakes. My sister. She wasn't around when your friends fist visited. 
"Nice to meet you!" Dahlia says cheerfully. 
Jackie blinks in surprise and then grins. “oh sick- my JJ has a half-bro, not a sister! Crazy! S’nice to meet ya too, both of you!” 
"Well--I was his brother," Dahlia says, a smile twitching at her lips. 
JJ raises an eyebrow. That's surprisingly open of you. 
"Well, if he's another Jackie, I think he's a good guy. And maybe like our Jackie, ifyouknowwhatImean." 
Jackie blinks and then his eyes widen. He points at Dahlia with a Pog face and goofy stance as he fumbles to spin his bag around. Then he points to a trans patch stitched on the side. “I’m too!! Trans that is!! Female to male!” He grins sillily.
"Yeahhhh!" Dahlia throws her hands up into the air. 
Dahlia, careful! JJ says, using her name sign of flower-time for the first time. 
"I can put my hands in the air, JJ, I'm not made of glass." But she does lower her hands. 
Anyways, Bro and Alt managed to get home, then? Good for them! JJ says. 
Jackie rocks on his feet and adjusts his backpack and nods. “yeah! Though I think they said they had a bit of rough go of it after they met you all. But, now Alt’s pretty confident in his jumping so! They thought I’d be nice for me to meet some other mes!” He laughs.
Dahlia grins and JJ can't help but smile back, then he looks at Jackie. Well, our Jackie isn't here. It's just the two of us and another friend in the house. Schneep is staying here too but he's out right now. We can contact him, if you want. 
"Are you here by yourself, by the way?" Dahlia asks. "Or do we need to watch out for more of you guys?"
Jackie messes with his hair with a nervous laugh. “Oh well- that makes sense! Uh Alt and Bro are here too! Chase was so excited to see everyone again- and Alt is too but he’s being Alt and trying to act like he’s not.” He laughs. “Oh but! We have a way to find each other this time!” He shows off the bracelet on his wrist. “Tracking spell~!”
"Tracking spell?" Dahlia asks. 
That's some of the magic in your world, is it? JJ asks. How does it work?
Jackie grins. “I just gotta say the word and then this magic orb-y stuff shows up and will lead me to the signal of another bracelet!” He raises up his sleeve and whispers to the stone at the top of the bracelet, “Loonu!”
The green-blue trail appears, pointing diagonally across the room and going out the window. JJ stands up and opens the curtains, revealing the cityscape outside. 
"Ooo, flashy," Dahlia says, impressed. "We don't have that here. Or if we do, I've never seen it. Where's it going?" 
It's pointing to the center of the city, JJ says. Which doesn't mean much. Henrik figured out last time that you all appear near people you're close to. So that COULD be pointing to Jackie, Chase, Henrik, or Marvin. 
"What about the, uh... Anti, was it?" 
If Anti counts, then Alt and Bro could be anywhere. 
"Hmm. True. Well, maybe contact Jackie's flat first, see if either of them are there."
“Yeah- that’s the issue aint it? At least for us we only gotta worry about the two. Alt saidddd blue means close- green means far away. I think-“ Jackie shrugs. “If you guys wanna ring your friend that’d be brilliant! I don’t wanna interrupt anything. But I also… don’t know where I am at all so-“ He laughs.
JJ shakes his head. it looks more blue than green, so that's good. I'll text Jackie. 
Jackie grins, rocking on his feet again. “Thanks dude! ‘Perriciate it!” 
"I belieeeve we're sort of on the edge of Daindover," Dahlia says slowly. "Near the East SepTech location. Though I suppose that means nothing to you.”
“It does indeed mean Jack shit to me.” 
“Uh, we're in JJ's boyfriend's house." 
We're not dating, JJ says stubbornly. 
"Yet," Dahlia adds with a grin. 
I can't believe you of all people are encouraging me to date S-heart. 
"Ehhh could be worse." 
Jackie’s eyes widen and then he grins, “Oooh a boyfriend~?” He tries to tease- then stops himself. “oh wait. I probably shouldn’t tease you- you aren’t my Jay. I would give him such a hard time if I found out he liked someone.” 
"It's okay, I'll tease him for you," Dahlia says jokingly.
Jackie bursts into giggles. “Deal! I like ya, Dahlia!” 
 "Though to be honest Jays doesn't get teased easily." 
I'm just still shocked that you approve, JJ says, then takes his phone out of his pocket and starts texting. 
"Like I said, Soren could be worse. And I believe him when he says he's turning over a new leaf. And if he's lying, I can beat his ass." 
“Oooh Soren~? That’s a fancy name- must be a fancy dude- someone as sophisticated as J’s mustache!” The father giggles more.
JJ grins a little at the mustache comment. 
Dahlia laughs as well--though she stops quickly as it gains a wheezing edge. "I guess you can say that. He had a big, important family--though it's pretty much just him and his niece's family now. I suppose you don't know him in your world. If he's there at all." 
“Oh neat! Yeah I don’t think we know a Soren- but that makes sense. S’abig universe out there! Lots of people to meet!” Jackie grins. 
Then, after a moment, JJ nods. Jackie, Jackie says that one of your friends is at his apartment, he says, differentiating the two with slightly different name signs (J-hoodie, J-visit).
Jackie beams at JJ and laughs at the sign differences. “Oh neat! Sign name! J-hoodie must be your Jackie! But yay! One mystery solved!”
JJ grins. One mystery solved. Now we just need to figure out how to get you together and figure out where your other friend landed. 
Jackie looks up to think and then digs out his phone, “oh yeah- I could just… text them I think. Maybe- …my plan miiight not work across dimensions.” 
"You guys can go out, it's fine," Dahlia says. 
JJ shakes his head. I don't want to leave you alone. 
"Jays, like I said, I'm not glass." 
But you are still recovering. 
Dahlia shrugs. "Soren is still here. If I need something, I'll ask him.”
That is... SO strange to hear coming from you.
Jackie blinks, looking back at Dahlia, “oh- are you… injured or something?”
Dahlia sighs. "Yeah... I was in an accident a couple of years ago. Got knocked out, and when I woke up it was two years later. As you can expect, that has some lingering side effects." She makes a face. "I started growing facial hair again." It's a joke, but it's clear that there's real sadness beneath it. 
Jackie winces at the mention of the accident then, “Nooo! That’s awful!” Jackie says with complete sympathy to Dahlia’s last statement. He gets it. He’d be devastated if any of his features started going backwards!
"Thanks, Jackie." Dahlia smiles gently. "I'm getting used to it. I can heal faster than most people, but this is a lot of damage. It'll be fine, though." 
Jackie gives her a sympathetic smile and nods. 
JJ walks back over and gives his sister a side hug. Then he looks at Jackie. You can try texting if you want. I know that Alt's phone connected to the Internet last time.
Jackie blinks at Jj then smiles, “Right! Letsss see-“ He texts Alt: Alttt! I’m alive! I’m by this world’s Jj and his sister! :D 
Jackie giggles, “This is insane- texting my friend to come find me like we’re meeting up at a shop- but it’s in another universe… fucking wild man.”
Jackie's text doesn't go through right away. But after a while, it does, with a little sent through WiFi notification attached underneath the bubble. 
I can imagine it's very strange, JJ says. But it's good to meet you! Strange, but nice. I hope we can spend time together. 
Jackie blinks and smiles as his text goes through and he pockets his phone. “Yeah! I hope so too!” 
----------
Alt falls through the dark space, feeling it ripple slightly, and then appears somewhere that he--after a moment--recognizes. This is Jackie's place--the hero Jackie's place, the one he shares with this world's Chase. Speaking of whom-- 
"Whoa!" Chase jumps. 
Alt blinks around and smiles as he immediately recognizes the place. Then he jumps and glitches back to hide slightly behind the closest furniture he can find. 
Chase is sitting on the sofa with Frosty, who barks when Alt appears but calms down when Chase pats his head. "Who the hell--oh! Oh! Y-y-you're uhhhh--fuck, I'm so bad with names. One of the guys from the other world! Hey!"
Alt blinks up behind it comically and then smiles shyly. “Heyyy! Other Chase hi! Um- Alt. That’s me- um… s-sorry to just- drop in!”
"Alt! Right." Chase nods, giving Alt a bit smile. "It's good to see you again! You, uh, stopping by? Oh, hang on." He twists to the side. "Jackie! The guys from the other world are back!" 
Footsteps rush down the hall and Jackie appears. He's wearing a red hoodie and the lower half of his supersuit, either just about to leave or just returning from hero duties. 
"Hi!" Jackie waves at Alt excitedly. "Hey! Welcome back! Where's your brother? Oh right, you guys didn't appear in the same place last time, you probably didn't this time, either. Anyway. How are you? Did you guys figure out how to get home?" 
Chase laughs. "Give him time to answer, bro."
Alt blinks and glitches a bit in surprise at Jackie's appearance. But then he laughs and glitches closer, grinning wide. "Hey man! Good to see you two again!" 
"okay to answer questions- I dunno where Ch- Bro is but I can find him quicker than last time! I'm good- and yes! We got home... relatively okay." He grins, lifting up a finger for each question he answered.
"Oh cool! I'm glad you guys could do that." Jackie grins. "Why are you back, then? Stopping by to visit? Sounds great if you are! We can show you around the city!" 
"Yeah, that'd be fun!" Chase says excitedly. 
Alt smiles. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and adjusts his mask. "Yeah- to visit! And also, we brought our Jackie along this time! He's dying to meet you all." 
Jackie's eyes light up. "Oh! Other me! Cool! I'd love to meet him too--hope he didn't appear too far away. Ooo! Maybe we can get the whole gang together! Do you think Schneep and JJ will want to come? I know they might be busy, but they're more likely to come than Marvin, right?" Jackie laughs.
Alt laughs at the Marvin comment. "If they're up for it- Jackie's pretty excited to see stuff. But, of course we don't wanna get in the way of anything too!"
“uhhh, we've kinda hit a dead end in our investigation. Last we saw you guys we promised to kick Anti's ass but uhhh... That's a bit difficult, turns out." Jackie smiles. "We can use a break. If heroes never take breaks, they collapse." 
Alt looks excited at them being free. "Shame about the trail going cold but! That means we can hang!" 
"Hell yeah," Chase agrees. "In that case, should we start calling people to see where other-me and other-Jackie are?" 
"Mm-hmm." Jackie nods. "Lemme text some people real quick." He takes his phone out of his pocket and starts texting. 
Alt grins happily, pixels buzzing in the air around him. "Bro will be so happy. And Jackie!" He then blinks and looks to his phone, checking the screen. He laughs, "Speak of the devil- the timing is insane... My Jackie is with JJ... and his... sister? What??"
"Oh yeah!" Jackie grins. "We didn't get time to tell you last time you were here!" 
"Well to be fair we were still adjusting to it, too," Chase says. "Yeah, JJ has a sister that he didn't tell me or Jackie about at all." 
"Bit of a complicated story," Jackie says. "She was a hero, too. Not a capital H Hero, just a hero in that she was helping people out. But then she was in an accident. and got put in the hospital for a long time." 
Chase nods. "I was there, too. A building collapsed. And, well, that's why I need Frosty." Frosty wags his tail at being mentioned. 
"Anyway, we got her back recently, but she's still recovering," Jackie continues. "Her name's Dahlia. She's great."
Alt looks between the both of them in surprise. "Woah- that's... intense." But, then he smiles. "But, I'm glad she's better. That must be making JJ very happy... is he still in hiding? Him and Schneep?"
Jackie sighs. "Unfortunately. I keep pushing the police to review the Puppeteer case but they're so slow. I'm hoping that now that Anti's out and doing stuff they'll move faster." 
"We're being a bit less cautious with phones and stuff, though, as you can see," Chase says. "It just got exhausting so we decided they're worth the risk." 
"Well that will make stuff easier~" Alt laughs. 
"Anyway, if Jackie's there, where's Bro, then?" Jackie asks. "He must've showed up by Schneep or Marvin, right? Assuming Schneep isn't also in Soren's safe house right now." 
"Text the doc, maybe he'll answer." Chase shrugs. 
"Yeah, I'll do that." Jackie nods and keeps texting. "He's been bad at answering texts lately, though. I wonder what he's doing..." 
"In the meantime, feel free to hangout, Alt!" Chase says cheerfully. "We'll figure out how to get everyone together once we're sure where everyone is." 
Alt glitches over to an armchair and sits down- not getting comfy, just balancing on the edge. But like- that's kinda big for him. 
He texts Jackie back: Sick dude- I'm with other Jackie and Chase, we'll figure out where you are soon, hang tight.
----------- 
Bro falls a few feet and lands on the flat roof of a building. No, it's not a roof. The building is still under construction, with beams and scaffolding extending high above. But this is the highest floor that's been completed, so it's basically the roof. Across the street is a glass and concrete triangular building with the words SepTech glowing green across its side. And Bro doesn't land alone. Somehow, there's someone else with him. Magnificent has arrived in this world as well.
Bro pushes himself off and brushes himself off, adjusting his costume so its just so. He had to make a good first hero impression! Yes, he'd been here before but now it was official cuz he's actually in his uniform! He grins and starts to look around and then yelps as magic is thrown at him from behind. 
"What the-?!" Bro jolts into the air and then stares at the angry face of Magnificent crouched on the ground. "M-Magnificent?!" 
"Why have you brought me here, hero?!" Magnificent snarls, throwing another barrage of magic at him. "Where is that idiotic cub?! Don't you two know better than to bother a villain when he's scheming?!" 
"What are you talking about?!" Bro yells, dodging the magic. "Did you hitch a ride with us again?!' 
"What are you talking about?! You-" Magnificent's face falls for a second as he looks around. Then, he slowly starts to laugh. "Oh... I see... you and your brother are playing dimension hopper again, are you? And yet it seems... the universe still chose to include me~" He grins at Bro his eyes lighting up bright green as he chuckles. "And how unfortunate for you, hero." He spits. 
Bro backs up, looking around for any sign of Alt or Jackie around. Shit shit shit! This was supposed to be a fun adventure! They warded and cast protection spells! Alt was gonna be pissed... 
"Now- tell me Hero... where did you bring us this time, hm?"
Before Bro can answer that question, there's the sound of footsteps. The unfinished building has an unfinished staircase leading up to this floor, and the sound seems to be coming from there. But... there's no one in sight. Even as the footsteps sound like they come up onto the floor Bro and Magnificent are on, there's still no one there. ...But Magnificent can hear a faint voice come from that direction. "Schiesse," it curses. 
Bro blinks and looks around- the complete opposite way the footsteps are going- thinking he's missing something. 
Mag hears the curse and he grins, going to try to teleport behind the invisible super and try to grab him.
There's a yelp, and a person flickers into view. They're wearing an outfit that seems to be shifting colors, disguising most of their features. Magnificent manages to grab him--but not for long, as the person quite literally slips out of his grasp, passing through his arms. "Y-you! What are you doing back here?!" If it wasn't obvious who it was before, the voice gives it away. Schneep. 
Magnificent curses as Schneep literally slips from his grasp. 
He backs away from Magnificent, then looks at Bro. "Ah! Um, h-hello, ah--What the fuck?!" He points at Mag.
Bro makes an 'i dunno' exggerated shrug then points at Mag with both of his arms. "I dunno bro!! We tried to make sure he wasn't gonna follow us this time!! Alt was so careful!!" 
Mag laughs evilly, "And yet~ here I am~!" He giggles and then sends a blast of magic out at both of them.
Schneep doesn't move--not processing the magic as a threat until it slams into him and knocks him down. He yelps, forgetting to concentrate on his intangibility and slamming against the floor. "So that... is an... energy attack," he says as soon as he gets his breath back. "Noted..." 
Magnificent laughs loudly and builds up more magic in his hands. "There's more where that came from, Henrik~! I have yet to taste that delightful power of yours~" 
"Ew why you gotta say it like that??" Bro makes a face then gets hit out of the air by Mag's magic. He hits the roof and skids before trying to get back on his feet. 
Schneep gets to his hands and knees--and then shouts out "SPITIFRE GET UP HERE!" 
More footsteps from the staircase, and now someone else joins the fray--the brightly colored costume and cat mask makes him easily recognizable. Marvin's eyes lock on Magnificent. "Motherfucker!" 
Mag's eyes light up with delighted manic glee at seeing Marvin. "Well hello again!" He throws out magic his way, "Do me a favor and die-!" He growls out.
Marvin's eyes widen. He conjures up a shield to block the magic but Mag throws it with such force that the attack still knocks Marvin over. 
Schneep gasps and scrambles to his feet, rushing over to help Marvin up. 
"Why don't--you die?" Marvin says through gritted teeth. Before Schneep even pulls him up, he shoots a beam of orange energy at Magnificent.
Magnificent grins and throws out a shield that shimmers like murky pond water. He throws out his hand and then tries to douse the water on top of Marvin and Schneep.
Schneep looks up and turns intangible, the water going right through him. Marvin gets doused, but all it does is make him annoyed. "Do you think I'm made of fire?! Idiot?!" He makes a blade of yellow energy and throws it at Magnificent, spinning end over end and getting longer as it gets closer.
Magnfiicent cries out as the blade grazes his arm. He glares at Marvin and hisses, "Principles of magic have to apply somewhere here." He bunches up his hand and then sends out a blast of freezing magic at Marvin. 
Bro yells out and tries to tackle Mag away.
Mag just teleports out of the way of Bro, making him fly past him and back into the hard floor of the roof.
"Magic doesn't fucking exist here you pri--" Marvin is so busy yelling at Mag that his reflexes aren't quite as sharp as they should be. The magic blasts him before he can finish conjuring his shield and frost coats his skin as he falls down again. Schneep also collapses. The magic blast passed right through him, but he can still feel the temperature change, and the cold is so shocking that his knees buckle right away and turns him tangible again. "J-jesus fuck," Marvin whispers. 
"W-we have to retreat!" Schneep gasps. "Get the others!" 
"Not yet!" Marvin's skin...glows? and the frost covering him melts away. "We gotta take this fucker down!" And he aims another beam of red energy--but not at Mag. At the floor beneath his feet, cutting through it, aiming to collapse it.
"You're not going anywhere~!" Magnificent cackles and attempts to teleport to try to grab Schneep again- he doesn't notice the floor until it cracks. He yells out and manages to catch himself on the edge, tearing at the floor desperately with his claws. Then, he falls. 
Bro hurries up to his feet and back into the air. He rushes over and holds out his hands for Schneep and Marvin. "H-Hurry! I can fly you out of here!" 
They glance at each other, clearly a bit nervous, but they both take Bro's hands in unison. "I better not dangle," Marvin mutters. "That's so undignified." 
"Take what you can get," Schneep snaps.
Bro laughs, "If you don't wanna dangle I might have to hold you like a baby- I dunno which is worse." He hauls up Marvin and pulls him to his chest and then grabs Schneep and tries to load him on his back. Then, he rockets off into the sky, just trying to get them as far away as possible.
"OHJESUSFUCK--!" Marvin shouts, surprised at how fast Bro goes. Schneep doesn't say anything, just holds on tightly. 
The cityscape passes beneath them. Bro is heading deeper into the city, where the buildings get taller and shinier, occasionally interspersed with older-looking townhouses. Soon the construction site--and Magnificent--is out of sight. 
"I-I think we can go down now?" Schneep says, voice almost lost in the sound of rushing wind.
Bro laughs and nods, finding the closest place he can. He almost wants to set them on another rooftop but... heroes are common around here! He finds an empty looking park and sets them both down. "Sorry about that, are you two okay???"
Marvin staggers for a bit. "M...my face is cold," he says, sounding mildly surprised at that. He pushes off his mask briefly to wipe his eyes. "I-I didn't realize flying was so cold?" 
"The wind makes it so," Schneep says. He fared better than Marvin; between his goggles and his mask most of his face was covered. "But I-I am fine. It was a bit more... tall... than I thought. But I'm fine now." 
Bro can't help but laugh, "Yeah it gets kinda chilly. That's why I have my jacket!" He says, lifting up his arms to show off his signature Bro Fantastic jacket. 
"Yeah, just... wasn't expecting that." Marvin shakes his head. "Anyway. Hi, other Chase. Why?" 
Bro bursts into even more laughter as Marvin's bluntness. "Ha ha! No yeah- It's a fair question!"
"Don't be rude," Schneep mutters. "But Marvin has a good point. We are happy to see you again, but why are you here? With Magnificent?"
Bro straightens back up and then frowns, "....Magnificent wasn't supposed to be here. Alt made sure he couldn't! But... we wanted to come see you guys again... and we brought our Jackie to come meet you- and the other him." He then blinks and then narrows his eyes at the two of them, "...but... what were you two doing at an abandoned construction site? In your super get up?" He raises an eyebrow.
Marvin blanks. "Uhhhhh..."
"We can tell him, he is also a hero where he comes from," Schneep says. 
"Right." Marvin nods. "Nice outfit, by the way. Uh, well. We were staking out that building across the street. The East SepTech location. Last time we saw you guys, we talked about that villain who made JJ do all that terrible shit. Anti-Virus." He laughs. "God. What an appropriate name." 
"It turns out that Anti-Virus was part of SepTech," Schneep says. "Very... integral to it, in fact. But now, Anti is gone. We are not sure where. Or how to search, in all honesty. But we figure that keeping an eye on SepTech locations is a good place to start." 
"In case Anti returns," Marvin agrees. "There's a... long history between them." 
"Oh okay- I thought you were maybe trying to steal shit- but considering it was like- abandoned that now seems dumb." Bro laughs. "That bitch Anti is just gone? Fucking coward..." He shakes his head and sighs.
"I'm sure Anti is planning something," Marvin mutters. "Calculating bitch..." He shakes his head. "But we should handle Mag first." 
"Back to what you said," Schneep says. "You just came to visit, but Magnificent somehow came along, is that it? So... Alt and your Jackie do not know he's here."
"Yeah... they wouldn't know. It seems like Mag was surprised to be here too... which means... he wasn't planning it." Bro scratches at his head. "... last time we used the TRVLR- he like... messed with it and its power... maybe that had something to do with it?" He looks back at the other two, "The point is though... He wasn't planned. But... I dunno how much trouble he'll be... we all seemed to really kick his ass last time!"
Schneep frowns. "If he messed with your universe traveling device, that is not good. Perhaps he found some way of... attaching himself to it? I don't know. Your world's powers are strange." 
"But Bro is right, we can kick his ass!" Marvin agrees. "Well, Jameson was a big part of that, I think. And he does not want to leave the new safe house much. Wh-which, I understand. Now that Dahlia is back, he does not want to leave her in case something happens to her again."
Bro tilts his head to the side, "Dahlia? Who's that?"
Marvin's eyes widen. "Oh shit! Right, we never mentioned her! Schneep, you tell him." 
"Dahlia is my cousin, and JJ's sister," Schneep explains. "Anti kidnapped her to force Jameson to do things for him, and Jameson agreed because Dahlia... is a hero. W-we found her, and she is awake from the coma she was in, but she is still quite weak." He takes a deep, shaky breath. This is clearly an emotional subject for him.
Bro's face falls with concern, "Oh... fuck. I... I'm sorry Schneep... I mean... at least she's awake now! That's good!" He tries to smile. "I know I-I heal really fast... maybe its the same for some supers here!"
Schneep laughs. "Th-thank you. Dahlia has said she heals faster. Which I believe. Her powers are strong. And so are Jameson's. Really, their whole side of the family got lucky." 
"You're pretty powerful, too, Henrik," Marvin says. 
"No, I am not. I have done the research, my powers are not stronger than any other super who can become invisible or pass through things." 
"Well you use them really well, so that counts." 
Schneep laughs again. "If you say so."
Bro grins. "No I agree! Powers are only as strong as the people who wield them! Anyone can be strong- anyone could have power. But, the people who learn to use them well and for good are the strongest!" He then looks around the city and sighs, "Well... guess its another race to find my brother and now Jackie... i hope they ended up somewhere safe. Sounds like it's all been kinda calm though- before Mag showed his ugly tail."
"Pretty calm, yeah." Marvin nods. 
"Oh! We started using phones again, perhaps they have texted me," Schneep says, reaching into a pocket in his outfit. 
"How many fucking pouches and pockets do you have?" 
"I was a thief before this, they were necessary." Schneep pulls out his phone, then yanks off a glove with his teeth and starts tapping at the screen. He nods. "Yes, they sent messages. Your Jackie is with JJ and Dahlia, and Alt is with our Chase and Jackie." 
Bro relaxes slightly, "Oh good- they're safe... that's... that's good."
Marvin raises an eyebrow. "Do you think they could've appeared near Anti? Would've been helpful to know where that center of operations is." 
"Probably dangerous for them, though, so let's be happy. I am letting them know Bro is with us. Should I tell them about Magnificent?" 
"Ummm... maybe I should tell them- let them... just be happy for a second." Bro says with a wince. "We can... deal with that in a bit. I don't think Mag will find us all right away..."
Schneep nods. "Very well, then. I think we are closer to the safe house than the apartment, so I will ask if we can meet there." 
"Can't Alt glitch pretty far distances, too?" Marvin asks. "He can probably bring Jackie and Chase to the safe house. Unless he needs to have been there to do that?"
"Ummmm-" Bro thinks, "It's easier for him to glitch to places he's been to but like... I dunno. He got us to Jackie's apartment building without ever being there last time- I think he can sometimes be pulled places as long as someone has like... a visual or something."
"That is good, then. Jackie definitely knows what the house looks like." Schneep nods, finishing up his text message. "We should make our way there now, then." 
"Are we gonna take the train in outfit, have Bro fly us again, ooooor walk the whole way?" Marvin asks. "Honestly, none of those sound ideal to me."
"Is riding the train dressed in uniform so bad?" Bro laughs, "I thought supers were more common around here!"
"Well yeah--but we're wanted supervillains," Marvin says. 
"... oh. That... didn't get brought up last time." Bro says, blinking rapidly. But, who is he to talk? Alt was a villain for a bit too. 
"Spitfire Cat is pretty recognizable, in particular," 
Schneep adds, gesturing to Marvin. "So, can you change quickly, Marvin?" 
"No," he grumbles.
Bro looks at the small bag he brought with him, containing a change of clothes for him in case he needed to be out of uniform. "Uhhh i got... a jacket, shirt and some... jeans? If you'd like?" Then he looks and smirks at them, "Or- flying is faster."
Marvin hesitates, then quietly takes the offered clothes. "We can take the train," he mutters. "I'm putting this on over my clothes." As he does, he continues to talk. "And don't worry, we're not going to attack random pedestrians or anything, Chase. We're not those types of people. Schneep just steals stuff from large businesses and my crimes are more... symbolic. I don't hurt innocents." 
"Hey I'm not judging. I already know you two are cool." Bro grins. "I try not to judge without knowing the full story- if i can help it. I learned my lesson about doing that..." He sighs, refluffing his hair under his hat.
Marvin grins. "Heh. Windstorm--Jackie had that same sort of journey, too. Learning not to judge, I mean." 
"Learning that two of his friends were criminals helped on that," Schneep says. 
"Alright, I'm ready." Marvin takes his mask off and hides it in his jacket. The only weird thing about him now are his gloves, but those can be brushed off. "The nearest train station is that way. Come on. You two will get stares but the ride won't be long." 
Schneep abruptly vanishes from view. "What stares?" his disembodied voice says jokingly. 
“Cheater." Bro laughs as he takes off his mask and shoves it in his pocket.
"Ha ha." Marvin rolls his eyes. "Just keep up, Schneep, we don't want to lose you." 
Bro looks over himself. It's not perfect but, no one in this town knew him. It'd be fine. He follows after the other two towards the train. 
----------- 
“Hey Alt, your brother ended up with Schneep and Marvin," Jackie says. He's sitting on the sofa with Chase now, still half-wearing his suit. "Schneep wants us to go to the safe house where JJ and your Jackie are. He says that Bro says you can glitch us there?"
Alt looks up at the others and then glitches to his feet, stretching. "Sure thing- I'm decently powered. You all have been there before? That helps~" He grins.
"I have a few times, but Chase has only been there once," Jackie says. "Is that a problem?" 
"Nope that should be plenty." Alt shrugs his bag back on.
"I want to come," Chase says, pouting a bit. "All I did last time was talk to you guys on the phone and then get hypnotized." 
"Will you have trouble taking Frosty, Alt?" Jackie asks. "Chase needs him."
"Mmmm no I don't think so! I glitch with my cat all the time. That's how she got her name." Alt smiles. "We just need to link up! So like- as long as we all have a connection somehow."
"Ohhh yeah your cat!" Jackie awes. "I wish we could meet her!" 
Alt laughs, "I feel like she'd get into trouble on these trips- but I have about a million pictures. Despite the fact she's a little void and i wear mostly black." 
"You can show us the pictures of your cat when we get there." Jackie chuckles.
Chase laughs too. "Alright, let's link up, then. Focus on the house. Or, uh, I think we should aim for just outside the house. I don't want Soren to suddenly shoot us for intruding." 
"Shoot us? He doesn't have a gun, Chase." 
"Look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't figure out how to get one."
"... I both like and dislike what I'm learning about this Soren guy-" Alt mutters. 
“Soren is a mixed bag," Jackie mutters. 
Alt offers his hands out to the others, green-blue magic pulsing in his eyes. 
"Whoo!" Chase makes sure to grab Frosty by the scruff. "Let's go!" 
Once, the others have linked up and Chase has a good  good hold on Frosty, Alt concentrates at they all zip away towards the safe house.
---------- 
Magnificent falls down one floor, delaying him slightly. But it's enough of a delay. By the time he recovers, that annoying hero and those two infuriating supers are gone.
The world flashed to white as he head hit the floor hard- and for a good long while all he can hear is ringing in his ears. Magnificent springs up once he has his bearings and then teleports back up to the roof- but... its clear that they're all gone by now. 
He curses and kicks at the floor and then starts to pace. "Okay... collecting my thoughts... we're back in the world with the supers... which I had a hard time stealing power from... but its possible. And my annoyances are here... so... hmm.... What to do...." He laughs to himself, his eyes glowing bright. "I want to end all those annoying supers. Drain them for every ounce of power in them and lord over their corpses... they will not humiliate me again... I need to find this world's Jameson... he will be the first one I destroy." He looks out over the edge of the unfinished building towards the city, arms behind his back as he searches around. "Now... where would my little kittens be hiding~?"
"How very vicious." The voice comes from behind Magnificent. There's something floating just beyond the other edge of the unfinished building. It's... that black flying robot from last time. It floats closer to Magnificent. "I see you've returned," says that same computerized voice. "Do you remember me?"
Magnificent jumps in the air like a startled cat. He whirls around, magic bright in his hands. But, once he realizes who this is, he slowly grins. "Well Well... Anti, wasn't it~? I do remember you." He glances around and then tilts his head at the robot. "... why are you here?"
"Those supers were staking out SepTech for signs of me, so I was stalking them in turn," Anti says. "They had no idea that what they were looking for was right under their noses all that time." Part of the robot slides open, revealing a small device. Its use is revealed as it projects a life-size hologram of a person. ...Wait. No, it's not exactly a person. It's a 3D animated model, depicting a man wearing black robotic armor and a hood. The man's face is replaced by an LED screen with a simplified face: two red circles for eyes and a curving red mouth. "But then you arrived. And that other one. And now I wish to talk. Face to... not-face, as it is." The model gestures to his LED screen.
Magnificent's eyes widen as he sees the hologram. He prowls around it and studies it with interest. "Impressive... very impressive." 
"Thank you. I did work hard on it." Somehow, Anti's robotic voice sounds smugly proud. 
Mag stops to stand in his original place and smirks, gesturing at Anti. "Well, let's hear it then~"
"You wish to take out my nuisances. I wish to do so too. So far I have preferred hiding and concentrating on my plan. But this is an opportunity I cannot ignore. What if I aided you once more? More... directly this time."
“Oh? In the flesh?” Magnificent giggles, “How bold of you, Anti!” 
"Oh, if only in the flesh. Unfortunately, I am... limited." Anti's model gestures at himself. "This is the best I can do. But I have several of these Semi-Automatic Machines equipped with combat features. They can act as backup for you." 
“Ah I see. Well- I can work with that.” Magnificent hums. His face falls to something deadly serious in a blink, his eyes flashing dangerously. “I want those wannabe heroes dead. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
The model tilts his head. "I know where they are hiding from the police. And everyone is heading there. All of those from your world, and the supers from mine." He chuckles. "Though it is funny that you call them all 'heroes'. I can promise many of them have less than stellar records."
Mag chuckles and shrugs, “On the rating of heroes to villains- no one tops me in villainy~! I bet those records mean nothing.” He giggles and then tilts his head back at Anti, “do we have a plan, Anti, dear? Or are we charging in, machines blazing~?”
"'Machines blazing' is what I was thinking, in fact," Anti says. "They know I have been laying low. They won't be expecting it. I will gather my Machines while you head to the house. Its address is 78 Ivy Lane. In that direction." The model points to the north.
Magnificent hums and then giggles in manic delight. “Alright. I can do that~” He laughs and tilts his head at Anti, “This will be one hell of a collab~!” Then, in a blink and buzz of static- he teleports off the roof to search for the heroes.
“Indeed.” The hologram of Anti disappears as the Machine flies away, ready to meet up with others of its kind. 
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when you try to get into the png nightclub but you see the dotted rectangle surrounding the bouncer stretch him wider to block the entrance cus ur not on his clipboard
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From @veggiedayz: “Blackberry has a song he wants to sing for you.” #cutepetclub [source: http://ift.tt/28SdMmN ]
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Just to let you guys know, there probably won't be a fic posted this week. I've been working a lot on writing the past two months, what with uploading the Bad End to AO3, writing the Jackie and Jameson routes of Many Roads Diverge, working on stuff with my friend Huffle, and more. So I think I'll be taking this week to recharge, to make sure that I'm good to go later and don't get burnt out.
But that doesn't mean there won't be stuff being uploaded ;)
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