#SATCV Facility

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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 12: The Facility

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Alt lands hard on the ground. He's in front of a row of doors with numbers on them--a motel, one of the ones where the room doors open directly into the outside. It's really run-down looking, with peeling paint and stains on the ground. A cracked asphalt car lot holds only a couple cars. The sky is alight, pink and orange with either sunset or sunrise. Distant traffic noises come from somewhere. It's not clear where, as the only sign of other civilization is a road heading left and right. 

Alt pushes himself up and groans, rubbing at his head. He looks around the area and cringes a bit. He recognizes a place like this… cheap motel for a quick rest on a dirty bed that probably smelt like cigarettes. He glitches to his feet and glances around the area, trying to see what else is around. He’s not eager to stay in a place like this.

Suddenly, someone leans through the nearest door. Leans through is the right way of putting it, as the door doesn't open at all and the figure passes straight through it. The figure is transparent, reminiscent of the ghost Chase they just saw, but completely monochrome instead of that strange white-tinted coloring. Even though the figure is a bit blurry and flickering, some details can be made out. The man has a thick mustache and is wearing a T-shirt over a button-up shirt. 

Alt screeches in surprise and slight fear as he glitches back, away from the figure. He stares with wide eyes at him and blinks rapidly, trying to process what he’s seeing. That’s- JJ.

The monochrome man’s eyes land on Alt and he smiles in a friendly way, giving a little wave before pulling back into the room.

But then he just- disappears back into the room. Alt just kinda stares at the door- wondering if that was an… invitation or just a coincidence.

After a moment passes, the door opens a little bit, just wide enough for a person to appear in the gap. It's a guy, with brown hair pulled back into a small ponytail, wearing a baggy red hoodie and a blue bandanna around his neck. His eyes are green. And there seems to be a slight green glow coming from the room, too. 

"Uh..." he says. "Where'd you come from?"

Alt glitches a bit in place and waves stiffly. “Uh- hi! I uh… kinda just… fell here. It’s a long story… sorry though, didnt mean to uh… loiter.” He blinks at the green light behind him and slightly points. “…I’m assuming you know your room is glowing-“

The man tenses a little. "Y-yeah, yeah, I know. Uh... hi. Hi. Um..." He looks back into the room for a moment, and then turns back to Alt. "My friend is saying you should come inside. So... come inside?"

Alt looks around and turn slowly nods. “Um.. alright.” He gingerly steps through the door, smiling awkwardly.

"Alright." The man steps aside. 

The room beyond is small, with just a little bit of walking space in between the two beds, the night stand, and a small table. At the back are two ajar doors, one leading to a closet and one to a bathroom. The patterned wallpaper looks like it's from the 70s or earlier, and has some water stains on it. 

The ghostly JJ is still there, and he waves at Alt again. Along with him and the man in the red hoodie, there are two others. A man with square glasses, wearing a blue turtleneck and a pair of gloves. And a man wearing a snapback cap and red scarf, the ends of his brown hair holding the remains of yellow-green eye. That man is holding a toy dart gun in both hands. He also has... scars all over his arms. Straight and regular. There's also one crossing his eye and one crossing his neck. Wait a minute? Where's the green glow coming from? ...Oh. It's coming from the guy in the red hoodie, who hurriedly closes the door. 

Alt’s eyes widen as he takes in all the people in here. JJ, Jackie he’s guessing opened the door and… that looks like Chase. So many scars… does he have as many as Bro? Or even more? 

"So," says the man in the turtleneck, fidgeting with his gloves. "Who are you, then?"

“Oh um… I’m Alt. Alt Brody? I’m a magician… from another world.” He stuffs his hands into his pockets and fidgets nervously.

"Another world?" the man in the hoodie repeats. "You mean like in comic books? So that's real?" 

The man in the turtleneck frowns. "Does that make sense?" 

"I mean... we've seen weirder stuff," the man in the cap says slowly. 

It's true, the ghostly man says. He and his friends appeared out of nowhere and they'll disappear just as suddenly. 

"I trust J3 on this," the man in the hoodie says. 

"It is just a bit hard to believe," the man in the turtleneck says, doubt clear in his voice. "What if this is a trick?" 

"I don't think it's any harder to believe than the rest of our lives," the man in the cap mutters.

Alt looks at the man in the turtleneck. “I mean… it’s not a trick. I’m from a parallel world… one where… I’m friends with people who look a lot like all of you.”

Alt looks between everyone as they talk, getting more and more confused. “Wait… how do you know we’ll … do that?” He asks the ghostly man. Then he looks to the hoodied man, “J…3?” 

"That's J3," the hoodied man points at the ghostly man. 

The ghostly man waves. He reaches up to his neck, grabbing the collar of his shirt-- 

"J3!" The man in the cap hurriedly steps in front of him. "We can't just--" 

J3 steps right through the man and shows Alt something. A tattoo on either side of his neck. A series of letters and numbers. 

J3110. 

And I know it will happen because I'll be there when it does, J3 says. 

The man in the turtleneck sighs. "You are just confusing him more."

Alt staggers back, eyes wide as he sees J3 step through the other man and show his neck. He’s at a loss for words. It’s like… a brand. “C-Can… can you see the future…?” He asks quietly.

J3 nods. In a way. I don't exist in just one time at once. I know it's hard to understand. 

"You just have to accept that he knows things sometimes," the man in the cap says. 

Alt blinks a lot more at this, “…woah. That’s… insane.” He says to J3. 

"You said We're friends in another world?" The hoodied man smiles and looks around at the others. "Do you guys hear that? We're all friends in another world!" His excitement is almost contagious.

Alt’s head whips to the hoodied man and he blinks almost comically at his enthusiasm. He laughs quietly. “Y-Yeah… you are. Are you… not friends now…?”

"Well, I think we are!" the man in the hoodie says. "I mean--we're sort of new to it. We didn't have that much time to get to know each other." 

The man in the turtleneck chuckles. "I think we are friends, yes. Even if M is being a bitch right now." 

"I'm just so happy to hear that we're still friends in other places," the hoodied man says, beaming. "We don't know an 'Alt' right now, but maybe we'll meet you someday!"

Alt can’t help but smile. “Well… that’s good to hear… I mean to be fair… I’ve only known my friends for like… a year or so? Maybe two? So… I get it.” 

Alt does seem to cringe a bit at them not knowing an Alt and grips at his arm. “I mean… do you … know an Anti…?” He asks quietly.

"Anti?" the hoodied man repeats. "That's a weird name. I mean--no offense." 

Alt laughs and shakes his head, “None taken. I made it up when I was like 4.” 

The man in the cap blinks. "That's... what A called himself... one time." 

The man in the turtleneck looks back at him. "What? When did you hear him say that, C?" 

"While we were leaving. Wh-when me and J were alone with him for a while." C swallows a lump in his throat. A moment passes. 

"Well that doesn't mean anything," the hoodied man says firmly. "Alt here is clearly different. He's not trying to stab us."

Alt listens to the others and sighs, “that’s what I was afraid of… my parallels in other places seem to be very… stabby. And fucked up.” He tries to process all of this and then looks up at everyone. “Wait.. do you all… just go by letters? All of you?”

"Heh. Unfortunately." C pulls away the scarf he's wearing, revealing tattoos reading C1104. "This is all we really have to go off." 

The man in the hoodie removes his bandanna next. J1007. 

Then, reluctantly, the man in the turtleneck pulls down his shirt, revealing H1509. 

"I'm J1, by the way," says the one in the hoodie. "J is someone else."

Alt seems to pale slightly, looking at all their tattoos. “N…no way. You guys don’t… even know your names?? Just a letter? H…how? How did that happen?”

"Well if we knew that we'd be calling each other our names," C mutters. 

J3 sighs. There is... a company in this world. A corporation. They like to control unusual things. Including people. But people prove hard to work with, so they remove their memories. 

"J3 was only a partial success, though," H says. "Due to his... state." 

But even though I know more about the world and what happened, I don't know any personal details of who I was before, J3 clarifies.

Alt looks heartbroken for them, his chest aching. Seeing versions of his friends reduced to just… letters and numbers. Things to control and… experiment with. Just like how SCLERA saw him and chase…! 

He’s quiet for a couple beats before he softly says, “…I could tell you… I could tell you your names. If… if you wanna know…”

The group falls silent, their eyes going wide in shock. None of them were expecting this. Even J3 seems a little surprised. 

"I... are you sure they are the same?" H asks. 

“Pretty sure…” Alt says. “I’ve been… to a lot of parallel worlds. I know all your faces. Every name has been pretty much the same…” 

C fidgets. "Um... s-someone called me... something once. It might... be true... So... I don't think it's fair that I might know and you guys don't." 

J1 takes a step back. "Um... I-I don't... I..." He shakes his head. "We should all be here when you do that. M and J aren't here, a-and only J3's shadow is." 

"And... it is strange, but... it feels like cheating," H says. "Perhaps... you can offer again, later. Perhaps things will be different then."

Alt nods but he looks… uncomfortable. It’s so strange to be around people who just… don’t even have names. “‘Course- wherever you guys want.” 

Alt does knit his eyebrows together though, “Okay then… random question. If this is J3 and you’re J1 … who’s J2?”

"Oh, there's not one," J1 says. "There's just J, J1, and J3." 

"They are nicknames derived from our subject identifications," H says, indicating the neck tattoos again. "There was never one starting with J2 at the facility." 

"Which is weird," C says. 

No, because the numbers are dates, J3 say. It just means they didn't pair up a J with someone they brought in on a 20th of a month. 

"Ohhh. Still weird. But less weird."

"Ohhh okay.... that makes sense," Alt says. He looks around the room again and then asks, "...so... why are you all just- holed up in a motel room? and you said that ...M and J weren't here? Any idea where they are?"

The group exchanges uneasy glances. J3 leans against the wall, waiting for others to do the talking. 

Finally, C sighs and sets the toy gun down on the night stand. “We… escaped from somewhere. A facility run by this corporation J3 mentioned. Th-they’re still looking for us, so we’re hiding from them. And running. We… needed somewhere to sleep, so…” He gestures around at the room. 

"Oh..." Alt mumbles quietly. "I'm... so sorry. I... kinda know the feeling but... not as bad as you guys have it." 

“J got left behind,” J1 says quietly. “He’s still back there. W-we we’re talking about going back for him. But, uh, when we brought it up…” 

“M started acting like a little bitch baby and left,” H grumbles. “He took the van we were using, too. J3 went with him—which I know is confusing considering J3 is right here—” J3 waves. “—but think of him as a version from the future, and our current J3 left.” 

“I mean… I don’t blame M for freaking out,” C says. “But still. Did he have to take the van?”

Alt sighs and rubs his head. "Well... it was nice meeting you all but... if you're in hiding I don't want to expose you all... I need to find my brother and my friend... and a dangerous man who's been brought with us here."

“A dangerous man…?” J1 says. “Ooo! We can help! We’re like—we can be superheroes, yknow?!” 

J3 nods. I know where your friends appeared. 

“Of course you do,” J1 laughs. “Where?” 

With M. 

“Of fucking course,” H mutters.

Alt blinks in surprise. "...that is like- super freaky. But... helpful!" He laughs. "If you guys wanna help... I'm all for it. Hey- maybe we can get you your van back." 

“Love to get the van back,” C mutters. “I don’t think M knows how to drive. I think I’m the only one.”

He then turns to J1 and studies him. "You said you're... like superheroes? What can all of you do?"

“Ooo! Well I am super strong!” J1 bends over and easily lifts up the end on the bed. 

“Careful, do not make too much noise,” H says. 

“I’m careful!… these days.” J1 gently sets the bed down. “I can also be pretty fast but I have to build up to that speed. And I glow, obviously, and I make people less sad! And then H can heal people while touching them, and C can’t die, and you know about J3’s time thing, and M, when we find him, can do a ton of stuff, he can move stuff without touching and make things suddenly appear and disappear and heat up things—well I guess it’s just those three things when you boil down to it—” 

“Jeez, J1, give him some space to talk,” C laughs.

Alt looks impressed and he laughs shaking his head. "Don't worry I'm used to that. Ch- My brother and... my friend are just like that. But, awesome! That'll all be really helpful. The dangerous man- his name is Magnificent... he's a dark magician from my world that is constantly looking for power and he doesn't care who he hurts to get it. Though hm... I dunno if what you guys can do counts for what he's looking for..."

"Ooooo, a magician," J1 repeats, looking excited. "It's really like in the comic books!" 

"Well, uh, if we don't count, then we might be helpful," C says. "It means he wouldn't be targeting us? Maybe?" 

Alt chuckles at J1's excitement. So much like Jackie... "Yeah... he uh... also goes after his parallels... which I'm pretty sure is M so... best we find them." Alt says quietly. 

"In any case, if your friends appeared near M, we need to find him," H says. "J3? Where did you guys go?" 

Turn right when leaving the motel and head straight that way, J3 says. And then, abruptly, he disappears. 

C blinks. "Just when the shadows start giving you good information, they fade away every time. Well. At least we know where to head."

Alt blinks too as J3 disappears and then laughs, "Guess that happens a lot then."

"Yeah, they don't tend to stick around," J1 says. "The actual guy does, who we'll meet soon if we're finding M." 

"Great. Let's go, then." H heads into the bathroom, reappearing with a small black bag slung over one shoulder. "We don't have much to take with us." 

"Yeah." C walks over to the closet and grabs a backpack from the floor inside. "Do you think we should be worried about M? If this Magnificent guy is going after him, I mean." 

"M can take care of himself," J1 says. "I think he can handle his own. Not sure if he'd win, though... so that's why we're going." 

"Hope you do not mind walking," H says to Alt.

Alt chuckles, "I mean... I can try to glitch us- but I dunno how close I can get if we don't know exactly where he is..."

J1 looks confused. "Glitch...?" 

"Do you... appear and disappear?" C asks. "Like--teleporting? And it looks all, uh, pixelly and stuff?"

Alt laughs and then glitches from one side of the room back to where he was, "Pretty much yeah~!" He smirks.

"Ooooo!" J1 gasps. 

"That can come in very handy," H agrees. 

C tilts his head. "A could do that too... but I think it mostly traveled through, like, electrical systems and stuff. And you can... take other people? Huh." 

"I can... kinda do that too. But, I try not to do it too often... messes with my brain and shit." Alt says, hunching up in his hoodie. 

"But we do not know where he is, so I do not think we could go right there," H says. 

C sighs. "You're right. We're gonna have to walk." 

"It's gonna be a nice day, though!" J1 says cheerfully. "So let's get to it!" 

Alt chuckles, "Walking's fine. Let's get going then."

----------- 

Bro and Jackie fall together, landing in a patch of tall grass. It looks like it's around sunrise. On one side of them are some scraggly trees forming a rough forest. On the other side of them is a long single-lane road. A van has pulled off the side of this road, parked directly on a dirt spot by it. It's a white van that looks like it had a logo once, but which was covered up by household off-white paint.

Bro groans and rubs at his head, blearily looking around at the surroundings. 

Jackie lays on the ground for a minute, sighing. "Dude... I'm so tired. I think after this I'm gonna sleep for like ... a week." 

Bro chuckles, "Maybe you'll actually fix your sleep schedule this time." 

"Doubtful." Jackie smirks and then pushes himself up. He looks around, squinting. "Why the fuck are we in the middle of nowhere?" 

"Near a freaking- creepy van too..." Bro comments, pointing it out. 

"... I hope they don't offer us candy- or a puppy." Jackie tries to joke.

The doors at the back of the van open up, and a man hops out. He’s wearing a white button up shirt underneath a blue T shirt, and has a thick mustache. His eyes land on the two of them, and he freezes. 

Then immediately climbs back into the van and closes the doors again.

Bro and Jackie blink at the sight of the man and watch him climb back into the van. They're silent for a second. 

"...that looked like Jay." Jackie says. 

"No yeah 100%." Bro replies. 

"...should we... I dunno... knock?" 

"I dunno- what's proper etiquette for trying to enter someone's van?" Bro makes a face, "...Now I sound like Jays." 

Jackie giggles.

The man doesn’t appear again. Nothing else moves.

After a bit of waiting, Bro finally sighs and gets up, moving towards the van. Jackie trails nervously behind him. 

Bro hesitates, then knocks on the van door. "Uh- hello?" Bro tries to call.

Suddenly, the van door bursts open again. A different person stands there, a man with shoulder-length hair wearing a loose long-sleeved shirt. He glares at Chase and Jackie. His eyes are strange. Normal blue, but with strands of white light dancing across the surface, like sunlight through water. 

“Don’t fucking talk to me C, J1!” he snaps. “I don’t care what you say! I’m not coming with you! I’m not going back! Sorry that you wasted the trip out here, but fuck off!”

Bro and Jackie both step back with wide eyes. 

Bro puts up his hands in a calming gesture. "Woahhh! Hey I uh- dunno who those... guys are? But- not them! I'm Chase- and this is my friend Jackie? We uh... saw someone we thought we recognize go into that van and so we uh... wanted to see?"

The man pauses. His eyes flick over the two of them, taking in the details. And he starts to look confused. He turns over his shoulder and looks back into the van. “It’s not them,” he whispers, too quietly for Jackie’s non-super ears to pick out. “I don’t know. Are they going to hurt us? Well go check!”

Bro tilts his head. He calls, "We're not gonna hurt you! We just... wanna know where we are. And uh... well- see if you guys can help us? We need to find some people but we're kinda lost?"

The man tenses, looking back at Bro. “Wha—no, you didn’t hear that! You didn’t hear that!” He suddenly closes the van doors. 

Bro balks as the door gets slammed in his face.

"...I think these guys might be a tad bit paranoid-" Jackie whispers. Bro tries to hide a laugh.

Then, a moment later, the doors open again, and now the man from before is in front while the second one lingers in the background. 

Can you understand me? he asks in sign language. 

Bro perks up as the first man pops back in. He nods, "Yeah I can! We both can understand sign language." He gestures to Jackie who is still lurking behind him, almost like a shy child.

The first man sighs. I’m sorry about my friend’s reaction. He’s not good with people, and you look like some guys we know who he argued with. If we can help, I’d like to. You’re looking for someone?

Bro deflates in relief and he smiles. "Yeah... we're looking for my little brother. Andddd someone... not so great. A villain. Tho we did just drop in so... I don't think he's gotten into too much trouble yet." He sticks his hands in his pockets. "We just... need to know where we can go to start looking for them. Cuz- I dunno where the hell we are."

We’re sort of isolated right now, the man says. But there’s a town back there. He points down the road. 

“The town’s called Mooridge, I think,” the other guy mutters. He brushes back his hair absentmindedly, and for a moment, the guys catch a glimpse of some sort of black mark on his neck. A tattoo of some kind. 

We haven’t seen anyone else, the first one says. But it is early in the day. We were asleep for a while. We could have missed someone.

"Ah, that makes sense." Bro nods. "Well- sorry to disturb you both. I guess we'll head that way." 

Jackie looks at Bro and then tugs on his jacket pulling him back to whisper to him, "What are you doing? Shouldn't we be... I dunno- sticking with these two? They're... kinda our friends. And they know how this world works!" 

"They clearly don't want to be around anyone, Jackie! I'm sure we can manage on our own..."

The two in the van stare at Bro, and the first looks at the second. 

“Can you check?” the second asks. “They’ve already seen my eyes.” 

The first one nods. And something flickers. It looks like a copy of him, monochrome and blurry, walks away from him and fades into nothing. Then another one of those copies comes back and walks over to him.

Bro and Jackie stop their conversation to stare wide eyed at the blurry copies coming and going off the first man. 

"...am I hallucinating?" Jackie breathes. 

"Nooo I see it too. W-What the hell?" Bro whispers. "Uh... w-what are you... checking, exactly?" 

I hope you’re not offended by this, but I was checking to see if you were telling the truth when you said you wouldn’t hurt us, the first man says. 

“And?” The other prompts. 

They’re not. 

The other man breathes a sigh of relief. 

The first one sits down, legs dangling out of the open doorway. Are you two really from another universe? 

“Wha—” the other man chokes in surprise.

The swaps exchange confused glances but kinda just shrug it off- until the first one asks his question. Bro and Jackie also choke slightly- eyes wide. 

"How... How did you know that??" Jackie asks, flabbergasted.

You’ll talk about it a lot in the future, the first man says. 

“J3, are you sure this is safe to talk about?” The second man asks. 

Yes, I trust the three of them.

"You can see the future??" Bro gasps, then smiles, "Just like Jair! Oh- that's really cool! ... I don't think you're an oracle though-" 

"Ohhh yeah!" Jackie blinks at the first man and then sheepishly smiles. "Well... since you seem to know so much about us and trust us now... can we get your names?"

J3 smiles sadly. Unfortunately, we don’t know our names. Our memories were lost. So we call each other nicknames. 

Bro and Jackie look shocked. “You don’t even know your names…?” Bro whispers in sympathetic horror. 

The second man sighs. “I’m M. This is J3. You are Chase and Jackie. Glad we’re all introduced.”

“Oh… well… n-nice to meet you then, M… J3…. Why the 3?” Jackie asks.

Because we know two others who also started with a J, J3 says. 

“You know even more people who don’t know their names?! And they- they look like us??” Bro looks absolutely flabbergasted. This whole situation… it’s making him feel… weird. And uncomfy. And he’s not sure why… 

Unfortunately, J3 says. Four others, to be exact. 

“I… thought you were one of them…one of the Js,” M mutters, glancing at Jackie and then looking away. “Thought him and someone else we know had come here to try and… talk to me. Convince me to do something.”

“Ah- that explains the yelling then,” Jackie says, crossing his arms. “Immm guessing you all split off?”

M fold his arms. “They wanted to do something stupid. Well if they want to do that, fine, I’m not going with though and they can’t fucking make me.” 

They might be mad that we took the van, though, J3 says.

“I mean- I’d be mad if someone took my car.” Jackie comments. 

Bro knits his eyebrows together, “…what did they want to do?”

"They wanted to go back to that place!" M snaps. "Back to the place we came from! The place where they--where we were--" He shudders, looking to the side. "We were... stuck in this... this facility. A-and the people there, they--they--" And he stops again. 

It was not a kind place, J3 signs slowly. But one of us got left behind in the confusion when we escaped. The others wanted to go back for him.

Bro's eyes widen. That... sounds like what Alt told him about... about that place- SCLERA. He shudders and holds his arm. Then, after a beat he says, "...M-Maybe... we could help. We could help you get him back?" 

Jackie looks at Bro like he's crazy.

"What?! No! We're not going back there!" M shouts. "I-I don't want to--I really don't want to--I--" He turns around and walks farther into the van, disappearing after sight. 

J3 watches him go with a sad expression. Then he sighs and turns back to the other two. I do think we should go get our friend, but... M's experience there was... terrible. I don't blame him for not wanting to go back. But I don't want him to be out here by himself, so I'm staying with him. But... we may be able to help you find YOUR friend, maybe?

Jackie nods, “That’s a good idea. We’d really appreciate that. We don’t wanna get too much into things that don’t involve us.” He slightly nudges Bro. 

Bro glares at bit at Jackie but then slowly nods. “Yeah… okay. We need to find my brother, Alt. …god I hope he didn’t end up in this- facility place…”

Hold on, I can check where he appeared, J3 says. Another one of those monochrome shadows stands up and disappears. He nods. You said his name was A-L-T? He didn't appear there. He showed up with our other friends. 

M comes back just in time to see this. "You're fucking kidding."

“Heyyy that’s handy!” Jackie grins. 

Bro sighs in relief. “Okay… at least he’s safe. Can you… help us get to them? Even if… you don’t wanna see them. Sorry, M.”

M groans for a long time, staring up at the sky. "Fine," he finally says, shortly. "Get in. I'm driving. We can meet them halfway." He climbs out of the van and walks around towards the driver's side door. 

Thank you! J3 says. That's so kind! 

"Yeah, yeah."

Jackie laughs. That was such a Marvin-ism. Takes him back. 

“Thank you!” Bro calls too. Then him and Jackie climb into the van.

The area in the van is mostly empty. There's a pile of clothes in the corner and a handful of blankets and pillows in the center. Clearly a crude sleeping area. Sitting on top of one of the pillows are three plush animals. A purple llama, a rainbow elephant, and a black and white seal. Part of the llama's fur is a bit burned. 

As soon as the two guys are in, J3 closes the van doors, leaving the area dimly lit. 

M pushes open a window that connects the main body of the van to the part where the driver sits. "J3, can you hand me Lia?" 

J3 nods. He picks up the llama plush and passes it to M though the window. 

"Thanks." M takes it. A moment later, the engine starts up.

Bro and Jackie look around and then try to find a place to get comfy. Bro sits up against the wall of the van. Jackie sticks close by. 

Jackie smiles when he sees the stuffed animals and M grabbing one. “aw those are cute. Remind me of one’s my daughters have. Do the other two have names?”

"Yeah well I'm not a child!" M snaps. Then he pauses. "Sorry. That was... you weren't implying anything. Didn't mean to shout." 

Another pause. "Ella and Seth. That's the other two. They're... very important to me."

Jackie blinks in surprise then laughs nervously. “Oh.. well- those are nice names! I’m… um- glad you have them.” 

“They’re very cute.” Bro adds with a smile.

"Thanks. I think so, too." M slowly turns the van around and starts driving down the road. 

Slowly. J3 knocks on the window. You can go a bit faster, you know. 

"Oh, but last night you were complaining about me going to fast." 

There has to be a middle ground. 

Jackie laughs, “yeah- that middle ground is usually called the speed limit.”

"You know, I don't think I drove a lot before this," M says. "This all feels new. C was driving us before, he said that driving felt familiar. I don't feel that." 

C came from somewhere else, like H did, maybe people over there drive more than here, J3 says.

“…are you saying you haven’t driven before??” Jackie asks, suddenly nervous. “I-I have my license if you’d like! I could drive just steer me in the right direction!!” 

Bro chuckles, “Hey they’ve gotten this far- seems like he’s at least decent.”

"I-it's just a straight line, it'll be fine," M says. "But, uh. You could come up to the passenger seat if you want. And tell me how I'm doing."

“…yeah sure why not. Practice for when my kids get older I guess.” Jackie mumbles. 

Once the car stops he makes his way over to the passenger side and hops in. Bro tries his best to hide his laughter. 

M nods at Jackie as he climbs in . "Good to h-have you here," he says, suddenly a bit nervous. Lia the llama is sitting on the drink tray between the two seats. The driver's cabin is pretty generic... except for the world 'AMBREL' stamped across the dashboard. "Now let's keep going." He puts the van in gear again and keeps going. 

Still a bit slow.

Jackie smiles encouragingly. He watches for a while before leaning over, “You can step on the gas a little bit more. Try to press with just the front of your foot instead of putting your whole weight.”

"Just the front... okay." The van lurches forward for a moment before M figures out a good speed. 

Jackie clings to his seat in slight for a second before he gives M a shaky thumbs up. “That’s good!” 

There's someone else who came from your universe with you besides your friend Alt, right? J3 asks. I heard him talking about someone else, and you mentioned someone earlier. 

Bro blinks at J3’s signs and then nods. “Yeah… there’s also a… a dangerous guy here. His name is Magnificent. He’s a seriously messed up dude- who can do all sorts of messed up mental magic and like control people.”

J3 shudders. We know something like that. They called it A1010. It can put people in a trance or make them see things. But it prefers to be more... direct. 

"Do you think A1010 is still at the facility?" M asks J3. 

J3 nods. 

"Well in that case, at least we won't have to worry about him as well as this Magnificent guy."

Bro shudders, "Yeah,,, I'd hate to have to deal with two people like that... Mag is bad enough." He can't help thinking about the King and Mag working together. Yeah he'd really like to avoid that if he can.

----------- 

Magnificent appears in a room that's entirely white. Walls, floors, ceiling, all white. But the lighting is red, so it's all bathed in crimson. A single door leads into the room, made of metal and halfway slid open. The main feature of the room is a glass wall. Or, three, actually, making a room within a room. Inside the glass is a set of furniture, like you'd find a bedroom, all generic and metal. Cameras are scattered across the area outside of the glass, on the ground and on tripods, cables connecting them all to a corner of the room where the plaster has been torn away, with the cables feeding into the resulting hole.

Magnificent awoke as they fell and so he falls into the room and has to push himself up, his face aching. He growls and bares his teeth, "Fucking... Brodys- both of them! I'm gonna rip that hero into fucking shred-!" He pauses as he realizes where he is and his stomach slowly drops as he pushes himself up to his feet. "W-What... what is this...?" He breathes. Then, his anger spikes and he throws himself at the glass, trying to break out of it.

The glass is surprisingly--unnaturally, in fact--sturdy. 

"Um..." A man pokes his head out from around one of the furniture pieces--the free-standing wardrobe. He's wearing a black hoodie, and the sclera of his right eye is bright green. "Who... are you?" he asks timidly. "How did you get in here?"

Magnificent screams in rage, ready to strike again when the voice gives him pause. He straightens up to look back at the other man and tilts his head. He narrows his eyes. "...You can call me Magnificent. As for how I got here... I have no earthly idea. Usually the device doesn't put us in such... situations." He glares up at the ceiling and crosses his arms, trying to hide how unnerved he really is. "... suppose the universe is having a laugh at me." He then sighs and looks back at the man. "Who are you? What is this place?"

"I'm, um... J? J0702. That's what they call me." The man pulls aside the edge of his hoodie, showing that sequence tattooed on his neck. "This is... a facility, I guess? The location is called JSE2012. I-I don't know where it is. Sorry." J gives a small, nervous laugh. "You... got in here with a... device?"

Magnificent makes a face seeing the man's tattoo. "Huh... a facility." He then snorts and waves his hand, "Yes- some device my cub picked up. It takes us from our own world into others. Appearing in a new world is random... hence... my being... here."

"You're from another universe?" J asks. "I... guess I've heard weirder. There are probably things to help you travel to other worlds here." 

Suddenly, the sound of static fills the room. Red lights start blinking on all the cameras. 

J tenses, staring in horror. "Oh god." He scrambles backwards, glancing around wildly for somewhere to hide. The closet isn't deep enough for him to fit. There's a chest, but it's also not big enough for a grown man to fit. The only real option is the attached bathroom, which is just big enough for a toilet. 

"I--If you can get out of here, you should. Or--if you can hide somehow, you should."

Magnificent raises an eyebrow, looking back at J. "And... why is that?" He glances at the cameras and bares his teeth at them. He could always try teleporting out of here.... how did he forget that? He blames Fantastic for scrambling his brain.

A mass of black stuff pours out on the lens of a camera, something grisly. It glitches, breaking into green pixels and broken static. 

“Because of that!” J says, running into the bathroom and sliding the door closed. The mass pours onto the ground and then rises again, forming a humanoid shape. And then the figure shifts, turning into… a perfect image of Magnificent himself. Well, almost perfect. The right eye is dangling from the socket.

Magnificent still looks confused then watches the camera thing glitch and- "What the hell?!' He growls at the copy and lights magic in his hands, baring his teeth. "What kind of joke is this?!"

"You see your own face and think it's a joke?" The other him laughs and tilts his head. "That's not a good way to think of yourself." He walks up to the glass, pressing his forehead against it. "Have you trapped yourself in there? Are you too afraid to try and get out?"

Magnificent snarls at the copy. "I can get out just fine!" He tries to teleport out of the glass to attack this cheap imitation!

He can teleport out just fine but- he ends up barreling past the copy and skids on the floor. He seems temporary relived there was no magic barrier or anything keeping him in.

The copy laughs, twisting around to look at Magnificent--first the head, then the torso, then the legs. "You're not that smart, are you?" it says. "Never have been. And not as powerful as you think. Otherwise you wouldn't keep getting knocked out every time you fight someone in these worlds. Maybe you're just a bit... o̴u̕t̴ ͟o̢f̶ ̀y̢o̕ur͠ ̨dep̛th̶.̕"

 A knife appears in the copy's hand and it rushes for him.

Magnificent makes a disgusted face and staggers back. Then, he yells out in rage and tries to block the copy's attack but he gets sliced across the arm. He grunts then whips out to blast fire its way.

The copy screeches as the fire burns him. He loses concentration, dropping Magnificent's appearance and returning to a black skeletal look. He crouches close to the ground and shifts again--now looking just like that man from before, J0702. Still with that dangling eye, and with the addition of a slit throat weeping blood. He looks up at Magnificent and laughs. "Always so blunt. Except for when you're not, and even then, you are." 

The air behind him flickers, glitches and colored static running together, forming... a spiral.

Magnificent backs up more, watching this thing with wide eyes. "W-What are you?!" He cries. He then watches at the spiral forms- but soon enough he growls, not being pulled into its thrall. He starts to laugh madly, "Fine! You wanna copy each other?! I can do that too!" He spreads out his hands and an array of magic knives appears above him in an arc. He shouts and sends them all flying at the creature.

The creature glitches wildly, avoiding most of the knives--however, a couple hit him, and he screeches again. He disappears and reappears inside the glass wall. And, smiling, he gives a smug little wave. "You ask me what I am? I am ▒A░n░t░i▒, and I am the only one like me in this world."

Magnificent hisses at the creature then laughs, "You call yourself that then? Pity- I know far greater Antis then you. Ones that don't cower behind glass."

"Cower...? Do you think it matters to me where this body is?" All at once, the cameras in the room turn towards Magnificent. Electricity sparks along the cables, turning the floor into a minefield. "This facility is mine now," A hisses. "You will not escape it." 

He reaches up towards the lights in the ceiling. His form becomes electric and disappears up into it. The half-open entrance to the room shuts and clicks, sealing itself closed.

"What?!" Magnificent gasps, he tries to run towards the door- seeing if he can try to teleport out of it-! He can't be trapped here, he can't!

He appears on the other side of the sealed door in a long hallway, all with equally sealed doors. There's a hole in the ceiling, through which dangle wires and metal parts sparking with electricity. The ceiling creaks, like something heavy is moving on top of it.

Magnificent tries to keep his panic back as he rushes forward, trying to look for another way out.

Every single door is sealed shut. The only ones that aren't are ones that aren't all that important, leading to janitor closets or electrical rooms that are so full of loose electricity that he can't step inside at all.

"No no no!" Magnificent hisses. Okay... maybe there's... power around here? Something he can use? He tries to look around for any source of magic or power nearby.

Yes, there's power all around, though it feels slightly different than what he's expecting. It's hard to describe. Like someone was recreating a recipe but got the ingredients slightly wrong. It's mostly... above him? On the higher floors of this facility.

Magnificent purses his lips at this. But, at least it gives him a goal. He stops his running and tries to teleport up higher.

The next floor up is exactly the same as the one below--though some of the walls are knocked down, revealing large, featureless rooms beyond. 

And inside one of those rooms, a large creature is moving...

Magnificent tries to focus but... what is that thing? He... He's too curious not to get a closer look. He approaches the creature with a tilted head.

That thing turns out to be a giant animal. A raccoon, to be specific, The thing is about ten feet tall, sniffing along the edge . There's a collar wrapped around its neck, on which is written, in massive letters, S1707. It raises its head, looks at Mag, and growls.

Magnificent is startled by the raccoon. "What is the world??" He asks and then shakes his head and looks around for that source of power.

There are several sources around... and the closest is, indeed, the raccoon. But the second closest comes from some way down the hall. It seems like it's actually two sources close together.

...he doesn't want to chance being mauled by a raccoon. He heads towards the other two sources.

In one of the smaller rooms with the walls broken, there's... a cat. A cat right in the middle of the room. It's a very fluffy white one, and it's batting at a ball of purple string. Seems like the power is coming from both the cat and the yarn ball. Oh... it's such a pretty cat, too.

Magnificent inherit love of cats has him softening slightly at the sight. He chuckles and starts to approach the cat, kneeling down close to it and offering it his hand. "Well.. hello there beautiful!"

The cat looks up at him with big green eyes. There's a collar around its neck with the ID W3012 on it, along with a small black box. It meows gently and bats the yarn ball towards him. It misses, and just keeps rolling. It's unraveling... and unraveling... and unraveling... the ball doesn't look any smaller but the string trailing from it is now about ten feet long. Heh. How funny.

Magnificent watches the ball roll with increasing concern. "What... the fuck...?" He shakes his head then tries to pet the cat.

The cat sniffs his hand, then flicks her tail and sits down, purring, allowing herself to be pet. For some reason, Magnificent is reminded of something... Some time when he last felt... content... 

How long ago was that...? 

...too long. It's been far too long. 

Since he became... this- he always yearned for something more. For power... for magic.. for souls. Contentment isn't something he's used to anymore. 

So... the last memory that comes up into his head is... uni. He's sitting in the living room, excitedly telling Jackie about a new spell he learned as he works on a costume for class. Jackie is laughing, his cheeks red and Mag feels his own cheeks flushed, having an easy relaxed smile. ...how long has it been since he smiled like that? 

He gasps and pulls away from the cat, feeling a... wetness in his eyes. He trembles back from her, his voice caught in his throat.

"Aw... isn't that s̀w̕eet̛?" 

The cat's head snaps to the side. It yowls and suddenly bolts. Away from the figure who suddenly appeared. 

The black, skeletal figure that soon transforms into... Jackie, just as he looked in that memory. 

Magnificent stiffens and then scrambles away from the creature- but his breath is taken away as he sees Jackie. Just how he remembered him. 

But that cruel smile ruins it. 

"You know you can't go back there," A whispers. Blood starts to leak from his eyes as they roll back in his head.

A choked noise comes from Mag’s mouth at A's words. But, then he growls and shoots a bolt of magic at him. "I know I can't! I-I don't need to!"

The bolt hits Jackie square in the chest and he screams, falling backwards. He lands hard on his back, the front of his shirt burned and smoking from the impact. "M...Marvin...?" he breathes. "Wh-why...?" 

And then he breathes out and stops moving.

Magnificent stands there, frozen, his hand still outstretched. He feels like he can't breathe. Part of him knows- knows this isn't Jackie- but the other part of him, that part of his heart that still beats- still convinces him he's human- its screaming. 

He backs up, another choked noise of confusion and suppressed pain escaping his lips.

Moments pass in silence. Jackie lies there, unmoving. 

Until... "Fascinating," a voice whispers behind him. "I thought you were heartless."

Magnificent shudders and then moves to slash behind him, breathing heavily. "S-Shut up! S-Stop messing with me!"

His claws scrape across A's chest--once again in the form of Magnificent himself--and he falls backwards, laughing. "But it's so fun, isn't it?!" he shouts, still laughing. "And you'd better get used to it! Because you'll be here for a while." 

And then his body disperses into pixels and disappears.

Magnificent huffs, a mix of rage and sudden exhaustion. He takes a second to compose himself, breathing deeply. Then, he rubs at his eyes, growling to himself. He shakes his head and goes to move forward... he needs to find a way out of here.

#SATCV #SATCV Facility #alt anti #swap magnificent #jackie mann #bro fantastic #jse facility #this one was sooo fun #i love playing with bro and jackie's friendship #and showing mag's vulnerable side too! #oh- and some stuff is gonna be revealed about the swaps in this section so- that'll be fun :)

[huffle-dork]

Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 14: The Facility

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs| JSEFacility

Read SITCV | SATCV Masterpost | AO3 Link

Time passes. Buildings fall into the distance. The sun shifts through the sky. They’re driving through miles of blank countryside. Until they see a fence in the distance. A plain chain link fence with a check point and gate. Beyond the gate are shapes of buildings, half hidden by a swell of hills. 

“That’s it,” J1 says.

The swaps had all fallen into various states of anxious dozing for the next several hours. But once Bro hears J1’s statement he perks up and starts to rouse the other two. Alt glitches up and tries to push back the anxiety that wants to swallow him whole. 

Jackie yawns and double checks his bag, before slinging it on. “Okay so- the plan is for Alt to glitch us inside, right?” Jackie asks.

J3 nods. We just picture a spot for him to take us, yes? Where should we picture? 

“What about the first floor?” H suggests. “Getting to the surface elevator is always the hardest part.” 

C parks the van and he and J1 leave the cabin, heading around to the back. 

“When you’re ready, Alt,” M says quietly. “Take your time.”

Alt swallows shakily and takes some more deep breaths, giving Seth one more squeeze before gently leaving him on the ground. 

Bro pats his shoulder and gives him an encouraging smile.

 Alt takes a trembling breath and makes sure he has all his things then says, “We need to link up- just.. try to make sure everyone is touching.” 

Jackie nods and goes to grab Alt’s hand, Bro grabs the other. They both offer their hands for the others to take.

J1 takes Jackie’s hand, and C takes Chase’s. That just feels right. From there, H takes off his gloves and grabs onto C while J3 grabs J1 and M grabs him.

Once they’re all linked up the air starts to feel electric as Alt closes his eyes and builds up his power. 

Then, in a quick zip they all glitch away into the building. The landing is a bit bumpy but manageable. The air seems like burnt metal and there’s a feeling of static electricity in the air and the lingering feeling of sparks trails in the others’ veins as the feeling of glitching wears off.

They’ve found themselves in a white hallway—completely white, walls, ceiling, floor. It’s almost too bright to look at, like a field of snow. They’re near a T intersection where the hall diverges. Spaced along the walls are doors, some of them normal, some of them looking more secure, made of metal and sliding. 

And there’s a man standing here, wearing a white coat. His hair is black and so are his eyes—though his left one is half green. What’s that called? Right, sectoral heterochromia. He looks down at a device in his hands. It looks strangely like the TRVLR, but with the world Ambrel stamped across the back. “So this does work, then.” 

C is the first to recover from the feeling of glitching. “Dr. Lawson?” 

Alt hears the new voice and immediately crouches down and builds up electricity in his hands, just in case this guy is a threat. He stops though when he sees the device and seems to pale and double checks his pocket to make sure he still has the TRVLR. 

Yes, there it is, safe in his pocket. That must be something else that just looks like the TRVLR by inter-universal coincidence. 

Bro gets into a fighting stance, “the fuck are you?”

"Dr. Michael Lawson, head of the S-class department," Lawson says, completely unphased by Alt's electricity.

 "And direct supervisor of A1010. Meaning the mess downstairs is my fault, to everyone else." 

"So he's still running free down there," C mutters. 

"Indeed. We've set up a CC barrier to contain it but that takes a lot of the facility's energy, so it's not a permanent solution." 

"Wh-why the fuck are you talking to us?" M demands . "A-and what do you mean 'this does work'?" 

"Interceptor," Lawson says, raising the device. "It's experimental. Supposed to direct unknown energy to its location while turned on. Very unknown energy." His eyes flicked back to Alt, and then to Bro and Jackie. "You... you're not from this world." 

Alt and Bro glare at the doctor with burning glowing eyes.

Alt bares his teeth and snarls out, “What of it?” 

Jackie is hiding a bit behind Bro and slowly pops out. “L-Listen mate- we don’t want trouble. We just need to grab our other guy and then get out of your hair. I’m sure he’s already been a… handful- to say the least.”

"You mean the other sudden strange appearance of a person on the floors below?" Lawson asks. "He's stuck down there because of the CCB, too. So, not really. Though every time we manage to take temporary control of the camera system, people are very confused before A1010 wrests it away." 

"H-how did you know they were from another world?" H asks. 

"We know of the existence of other worlds. This has been the first direct incursion of someone else into ours, though." Lawson shrugs. "It's no matter to me. But what is a matter to me is that the facility director is highly considering collapsing the structure and burying everything below ground. I would not like that to happen. But if I am unable to stop it, you should get your others out."

“Are you… trying to help us?” Bro asks with confusion. 

Alt narrows his eyes, not trusting any of this.

“I am trying to complete the number one tenant of my position: not letting the S-class die.” Lawson points down the hallway. “Straight down that hall in the downward stairwell. Believe me or don’t. I will keep the cameras disabled for one hour, more than that will be suspicious.” 

“…wow you’re like… really committed to your job-“ Jackie mumbles.

A moment passes in silence. 

“J3, what do you think?” M whispers. 

A quantum shadow flickers around J3. He’s telling the truth. And I know where J and the magician are now.

Alt still glares at Lawson until J3 says otherwise. He sighs and then nods. “…Alright. Let’s get this done quickly then.” 

“Uh.. thank you then, Dr. Lawson,” Bro says politely, starting to push Alt and Jackie towards the hallway.

Lawson nods and watches the group go. 

The stairwell is pretty industrial looking, spiraling down for two landings before it ends at the third floor below the surface. Pasted to the walls are small discs, each with three blue dots. 

M frowns. “I know those…” he mutters. A beam of white light suddenly shoots out, shearing a line of the disks from the wall, smashing them in the process. “Break them. Otherwise we won’t be able to get out once we go past.”

Alt blinks and then grins, "You don't need to tell me twice." He goes to try to zap a couple disks with some lightning. 

Bro goes to try to punch some of them.

The discs shatter under his super strength. 

They reach the bottom of the staircase. Down here, the red emergency lighting makes the hallways easier to see, but kind of foreboding. 

Surprisingly, there's something already here. It's--J3. One of his quantum shadows. He signs something. Don't let him do it. And then disappears. 

J3 frowns. Well that's ominous, he comments. 

"It's not good when you say that," C mutters. He's holding his toy gun in both hands again, like he's going to fire at whatever comes by.

Alt's eyes widen at J3's shadow's warning , "...I don't like that..." He whispers. 

Jackie grips Alt's pocket knife in his hand, keeping it at the ready.

Bro narrows his eyes at the red light, hating how it almost feels... familiar. Like something he's seen in a dream. "...they need to pick a different color for the lighting in here-" He mutters, trying to keep the mood light. 

"This is the emergency lighting," M comments. "It's not normally like this." 

"Remember that time you crushed an alarm?" J1 asks. 

"Yeah. Because I was stabbed shortly before that. It's a very vivid memory." 

"ah- still sucks though. Makes the place creepy." Bro shudders. 

M glances at J3. "Where to, then?" 

There's another staircase, we need to head that way, J3 says, leading the way down the halls.

Alt anxiously look around the area and stops- seeing what's on the floor before them. 

It's just- a mess. Craters and burn marks tinged with green and purple litter the walls and floor. Anything that wasn't bolted down was smashed or crushed or clawed like it lost a fight with an angry cat. 

Alt winces. "... Mag was definitely here..." 

"...where did he go then? This is like- the exit right?" Jackie mutters. 

"Maybe he got sick of trying to get through here..." Bro answers. 

"Your man has a temper," J1 mutters. 

"That's a massive understatement," Alt replies.

There are two staircases leading down into the floor, J3 explains as they go. He's trying the other one. 

They walk in silence. 

Until, suddenly, C stops. "Whoa, holy shit." He pushes open a half-slid door. "This is where I stayed." 

The room is the size of an average bedroom, and has a bed, a closet, a table and two chairs, and a low table. "There used to be a TV and game console in here," he mutters. "That was my designated entertainment."

Bro and Jackie stick their heads in to look with C. "Huh... kinda barren." Bro says. 

"Well it's not exactly an ethical living situation, Chase." Jackie mutters.

"Well I know it's not ethical. Didn't realize it was... barren, though," C says. He glances back at the others who were in here. "Is it?" 

"Not... especially more barren than the other rooms... we had," H says slowly. 

"I mean- makes sense. They're not gonna give you a lot of stuff if you're... you know." 

There's a bit of movement underneath the table.

Jackie shrugs. Bro blinks at the movement and moves slowly into the room, trying to get a closer look. 

Alt glitches anxiously out in the hallway, "C-Chase- be careful."

An animal crawls out from under the table. It's... a cat. A fluffy black cat with big yellow eyes. A collar around its neck reads B3012. 

"A cat?" C says, confused.

Bro blinks in confusion and tilts his head. "What's a cat doing here?" He hums. He smiles though, "It looks like a fluffy Glitches." 

"You're only saying that cuz its black," Alt mutters, "Glitches is wayyy prettier." 

Bro laughs and then offers his hand to the cat, pspspsing to it. "Hey little guy! It's okay... not gonna hurt you."

The cat is a bit skittish, freezing when it sees Bro. But, slowly, it creeps closer. 

M leans into the doorway as well, gasping. "Oh that's Bee! That's what I call her. I met her and her sister Dub a while ago. I think it was a test? But I'm not sure for what." 

The cat sniffs Bro's hand carefully.

"Ha- Bee and Dub- that's an adorable duo name." Bro laughs. Once Bee smells his hand he goes to try to pet her. "Aw... you're a sweet thing, aren't ya?" 

"C-Chase- didn't H say not to touch any of the animals??" Alt calls. 

"Oh it's okay Alt! It's just a cat!"

"It's probably fine, they didn't do anything to me," M says, shrugging. Bee balks for a moment, before arching her back into Bro's hand, letting him pet her. What a cute cat. 

…

 C, H, J1, and J3 are all glancing around uneasily. Sure, it might be harmless. But... this place... C shudders suddenly, rubbing a scar that goes around his elbow.

Bro chuckles and pets Bee all over, scratching her chin and behind her ears. "See Alt? Perfectly safe~!" 

Alt still seems hesitant but he does look at the cat curiously. ... She is really cute. He glitches over, trying to keep a good distance not to scare her before slowly approaching. He starts to smile wide when he sees her. "oh...! You are a pretty baby..!" 

"Are we seriously getting distracted by a cat right now?" Jackie grumbles.

"Cats are cute," M says defensively. "I asked them for a cat plush multiple times after meeting these guys. Nothing." 

H groans and clutches his head. "C-can we move fast? I--I am feeling some... I-I don't know what, but I am feeling something ." 

The others look unsettled. A shivery, jumpy feeling has settled in their stomachs. And though the cat is cute, Alt, Bro and Jackie start to feel it, too. 

When was the last time they felt like this...? 

Alt shudders with a quick inhale of breath and stumbles back. He sees- he's back in that awful room with Dr. Cornelius. He's staring at the blinking light of the WITNES camera- hearing the evil presence within taunt him. Pure dread fills him as he looks at his hands and sees his veins filling with bright hot purple corruption. It's eating up all his senses- his thoughts! A voice that's not his slithers through his mind, piloting his body- making him crave destruction and chaos. His core is burning- swallowing him whole. Then- he sees someone else- a woman with blond hair who's grabbing him. She's shocking him- hurting him! Telling him this will help him! 

But she lied- she always lied!! 

Bro freezes, his head suddenly killing him. He shouts out and grips at it, curling up on the floor as it feels like his skull is threatening to crack in half. He gasps as images start to fill his head- but... it can't be a memory- he doesn't recognize what he's seeing. And yet... part of him knows it must be. 

Chase is running- running through sleek sterile hallways, looking behind him as he runs. The lights are red and flashing, alarm bells threatening to burst his eardrums. Still, he runs- he runs because it's all he can do. 

Then, a hand lashes out and catches him and he screams, squirming and trying to punch the people who grabbed him. "NO! Let me go!" His voice screams but- it sounds so... young. Like a child. 

The sound of clicking heels is heard over the alarms and Chase's stomach drops. A kind face with cool eyes and blond hair kneels down in front of him. "Aw Chase... that was a good attempt! But were you really going to leave your sister behind?" 

"NO! I was trying to find him! Where is he?! Where's Anti??" Chase's voice cries, still trying to fight the hands holding him. 

"Anthea's in her own tests today, Chase, did you forget? Yours was strength and hers was endurance." 

"Stop calling him that! He's not a girl, he's a boy! And his name is Anti!" Chase spits. 

The woman looks annoyed and wipes at her face. "That's not what I named her. I wish you both would stop with this nonsense. It's becoming more trouble than it's worth." She sighs and gets up, pulling something from her pocket, a syringe filled with blue liquid. 

Chase feels like he can't breathe as he kicks and fights, yelling out, "No no no! Mum! Stop it!" 

"Hush now, Chase.. it's time for our next game~!" His mother coos to him sweetly, injecting him with the syringe. And then it all fades to black. 

Jackie had watched Bro and Alt collapse and tries to rush over to help them. Then, he's suddenly hit with whatever this is too. It's... a hazy memory. One that doesn't make much sense. Marvin is holding him- magic is spiraling behind him. He looks like he did right before he disappeared. He's talking urgently to Jackie, trying to... convince him of something. Make him forget something. It's hard to remember what... His eyes wander past Marvin towards the floor and he sees Zara there- and he feels cold dread fill his body. He starts to fight Marvin, yelling at him even if he feels weak and dizzy. He doesn't want this! He doesn't want this!! Stop it!! Marvin's face looks furious- he's so angry, his eyes burning a horrifying green. Jackie feels so scared- he's never seen Marvin look like that before. He shuts his eyes- trying to get his hypnotic voice out of his head-! 

Jackie crashes to his knees, looking out like he's in a trance. Terrified tears in his eyes as he mumbles for someone to stop- stop-!

Bro is curled up on the ground, panting like he's ran a marathon, tears running rapidly down his face. 

Alt is curled up into a protective ball, glitching rapidly and hardly able to stay together as he pants in panic, eyes stare wide out at nothing. 

Honestly, the guys from this world don't look too much better. 

C keeps rubbing at that scar on his elbow, H clutches at his head and keeps muttering "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" over and over, J3 has collapsed to the floor and is shaking slightly, and J1's eyes have gone distant... blank and hopeless. 

M looks back and forth between everyone. Then he looks at Bee. "Oh. Um." He hurries forward and scoops her up, then runs down the hallway a bit. When the others don't start looking any better, he puts her down on the floor. "Go on," he mutters, nudging her with his toe. "Go find your sister or something." 

Bee stares at him, betrayed, and then walks into a doorway and turns the corner. 

Abruptly, like flipping a switch, the memories fade, and the anxiety disappears.

The switch happens so fast it leaves them all breathless. 

Alt jerks and seems to snap back together- though he's afraid to uncurl, his limbs trembling. 

Jackie shudders violently and grips at his head, wanting to crash to the floor completely. 

Bro slumps and is still breathing heavily- not able to take anything else in. Even with the switch he feels like he's still trapped in that memory. ...were he and Alt...? He panics, holding a hand over his mouth and looking like he's gonna be sick as he heaves and gasps in breath after ragged breath.

"G... guys?" M says tentatively, looking around at how everyone is a mess. "Is... is everyone okay? Is everyone okay? I-I'm sorry. I didn't... know she could do that." 

H keeps muttering under his breath. J1 keeps staring at nothing. J3 slumps against the wall, blinking rapidly. Several quantum shadows get up and leave as he tries distancing himself from what just happened. 

"Guys?" M asks again in a quieter voice. "What... Is there... anything I can do?" 

"I-it's fine," C whispers. "It's fine."

Jackie eventually groans and shakes out his head, "I... I'm okay... I'm..." He shudders. 

Alt tries to speak up but all that comes out is a choked squeak. He's trying to calm down his breathing. 

Both of them seem to notice Bro as the same time. Alt glitches over and tries to shake his shoulder. "Chase?! Chase!" Jackie hurries over to his side and crouches down. "B-Breathe man! Breathe! You need to breathe h-here I'll help just follow me!" He slowly starts to demonstrate to Chase, pulling his hand away and showing the movements. Bro is still having trouble- but eventually he seems to start to come back to himself as starts to breathe a bit slower. He's shaking like a leaf. 

M walks over to J3, crouching down by him and speaking gently. Words that don't really mean anything, just repeated reassurances of safety.

"H-Here... s-stay with him, Jackie... I'll... try to help the others," Alt says quietly and then shakily tries to shake H.

H yelps the moment Alt touches him. He jolts away and stares at Alt in fear--not fear of him, more like... fear for him. He looks down at his hands, then reaches into his pocket and quickly puts on the gloves he took off earlier. "I am not just a healer," he whispers. "I am a... hurter, as well. To make people sick as easily as to cure them... I-I do not want... Do no harm. Do no harm." He shakes his head. "I--I'm sorry. I'm sorry." 

Alt glitches back, momentarily shaken but his quick reaction. He stares at H and then swallows and nods. "...It's okay... you don't mean to. That's... that's okay." He sits crossed legged next to him and sighs, "...I think we... all... hurt people when we don't want to. I know I have... a lot." 

H takes a deep breath. "...yes. I-it is... not me. It is not me." He looks at Alt. "I am... sorry. If you have felt something like this before." 

Alt shrugs, "...you get used to it." He says quietly. 

M hold out his hand for J3 and pulls him to his feet. J3 hears the tail end of Alt and H's conversation. He wanders over, eyes still a bit distant. It's in the past, he says. And that's what matters. 

H breathes deeply again. He nods silently. 

Alt looks up to J3 and nods too, trying to smile. "Yeah." 

Jackie has finally got Bro to slow down and breathe and he slumps with relief. 

But, Bro suddenly grabs onto Jackie's wrist and pulls him closer, panic in his eyes. He whispers to him. "Jackie I... I saw a... a memory I think... but i.. I've never seen it before and... i-if its true then... me and Alt we... we...!" 

"Hey hey- don't panic again, Chase! Breathe,... Breathe..." Jackie tries to soothe him. 

Bro has tears in his eyes again and hiccups. "...if its true then... me and Alt are... are-" He looks around at the others- the ones from this world and swallows thickly. "..we're more similar than I ever k-knew...!" 

Jackie looks confused and alarmed, "W-What do you mean? Similar to... t-the guys here? But then that means you-" He suddenly goes pale and sits back, "...oh..." 

Alt hears Bro's distress and looks back over, eyes widening as he hears his name and starts to piece together his words the same time as Jackie does. He starts to shake even more- afraid to approach now. He holds a hand over his mouth and curls up again. The image of the blonde woman he saw earlier pops in his head again and fills him up with even more fear. 

"...C? C?" H asks. 

C isn't doing too well. He presses a hand to his head, and looks over at Bro. Slowly, he gets up and moves over to him. And he wraps his arms around him in a silent hug.

Bro is shakily trying to push himself up so- he's surprised by C's hug. He's stiff at first but then he slowly goes to wrap his arms around him too. And then he starts to cry again, gripping onto C tighter. "... I don't want it to be true! I don't want it- I don't... i-i-it's not true...!" He whispers through shaky sobs.

"You can move past it," C whispers. "You can move past it. I never thought I'd get out of here. I thought... I wanted to... But we got out. We got out, a-and we're going to make a new life. You can move past it." 

H nods slowly. "It won't go away. But you can move past it."

"I don't remember it- I don't... that's probably good r-right? but i..." Bro hiccups but he slowly listens to the other words. "...w-we've got past it... we're... we're okay..." He whispers.

"Besides... you can't tear down that place if you break down," M adds. 

Bro  chuckles a bit at M's comment, "R-Right..." 

Bro lets go of C and pats his shoulder. "T-Thanks man." He then looks over and sees Alt curled up again- and now it's his turn to give some comfort. He comes over and scoops Alt up, whispering reassurances to him. "Hey... when we get back home... we can... we can try to find out more and... g-get some closure. But they're right... we can move on. We're okay now... we're okay...." 

Alt chokes on a very quiet sob and hides his face in Bro's arms- nodding but... needing a minute.

C watches Bro and Alt. "We can wait for a moment," he says quietly. 

J3 shakes J1 gently. He blinks, and his eyes slowly regain their life. "H-huh? What happened?"

Jackie smiles sadly at C, Bro and Alt and then goes to kneel down next to J1, "Hey man- you okay?" 

J1 blinks again. "I... just..." He looks around at where they are. "I guess... they were right. I couldn't ever escape this place."

 J3 shakes his head. What are you talking about? We're only back here for a moment. We'll be out again. 

J1 laughs. "I-I know you're like... in the future and all, but you can't know about forever. What if we come back here? I jumped the fence once. They found me right away. They always found me. They'll always find us." That distant look is back again.

Jackie knits his eyebrows together and shakes J1's shoulder, "Hey! That kinda talk ain't like ya, J1! Snap out of it! You got out once, and we sure as hell aren't letting any of you guys stay here- we already made a way out- you're getting out! And we'll burn this motherfucker to the ground to make sure you can't get put back in- okay?!"

J1 laughs dully. "Don't burn it. There are still people and animals in here. Ones that didn't do anything," 

"He's right, though, J1," C says softly. "We got out once before. We've avoided them for a while now. Who's to say we can't shake them forever?" 

"It just... seems..." J1 looks down. 

The future is never certain, J3 says. But I'm certain that if we stay together, we can shoulder past anything that we couldn't get through alone.

"Exactly- they kept you all apart for a reason- they're probably scared of what you guys can do together! You won't get stuck here again... I'm sure of it." Jackie smiles.

"...maybe." J1 nods, slowly at first, and then faster. "Y-yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Why would they do that? Why else would they be so scared to let us meet?" He gives Jackie a weak smile. "Th-thanks. That... that does help. Thanks." He shakes his head, taking a deep breath. "Alright. I'm ready, but if anyone else needs time, let's wait."

Jackie smiles and offers his hand to help him up. "Anytime, J1!" 

Alt and Bro seem to have calmed down and Alt glitches to his feet, wiping at his face. "I...I'm okay... for now. Let's just... focus. We all need to get out of here." 

Bro nods and gets to his feet. "...sorry I touched the cat." He says sheepishly.

M shrugs. "It's okay. Sorry I made you guys thought she was harmless. I, uh, don't understand why it wasn't affecting me." 

"You're just, uh... what was that phrase we heard the kids use on the mall?" C mutters. "You're built different." 

M laughs. "I guess I am. But then again, we all are." 

Bro and Jackie laugh at this. Alt gives a weak smile. He glitches back out into the hallway to start their search again.

J3 nods. Alright. Let's keep going.

The group rushes down the hallways. Occasionally they see a stray strange animal but no one wants to get too close after what happened with Bee the cat. Some items litter the floor, but again, no one wants to touch it or anything. 

Soon, it becomes clear that they're approaching something. There's the distant sound of... smashing? 

"Uh... do we... go towards that?" C asks. 

J3 nods.

"...that's probably Mag," Alt mutters. "Temper, remember?" He moves to glitch faster down the hall. 

"Just as long as he doesn't hit us-" Jackie groans, trying to keep up.

The group speeds up. They turn a corner, and see a hallway leading to another set of stairs, this one going both up and down, with the part going up plastered with more of those discs from earlier. And in this hallway... is Magnificent.

Magnificent is throwing magic desperately at the barrier, screaming out in wordless anger. He builds up another burst of magic and then freezes as he hears footsteps. He whips around and holds the magic out at the group, eyes blown wide with wild anger and desperation. He almost relaxes for a second before his eyes narrow and he hisses. "What kind of trick are you pulling this time, A?" He laughs a bit unhingedly, "Turning into my cub and his friends?! Ha! I didn't think you could do multiples... and Like I'd believe they'd actually come here!" 

The swap exchange glances, unsure how to approach this. "Um... Mag? It's... actually us. We- we came to get you out of here." 

Anger flares in Mag's eyes as he suddenly yells out and throws fire their way, "LIES!"

C yelps and tries pushing Alt--the nearest one to him--out of the way, while J1 grabs Jackie--the nearest one to him and pulls him back.

Alt yelps and glitches slightly in C's grasp but lets him grab him. Jackie stumbles back with J1 as the flames hit the floor. 

Bro jumps up into the air and then dives down to grab Mag and pin him up against the wall. "Hey! Mag- fucking! Cool it man! We're actually trying to help your sorry ass for once! You're welcome!" 

Mag growls and fights against Bro, spitting. "I'm not gonna let this place get to my head! S-Stop messing with me!"

"Hey, um, Mag? If that's your name? If we're A messing with you, then where do you know us from?" J1 gestures at himself and the others from this world. 

M walks up to Bro, staring at Magnificent with wide eyes. "Uh...do you need help getting him to stop being, what's the word? Pissy? Cause I can hold him." 

Magnificent looks at the others like he's just now realizing they're there. He stops squirming as much- looking at them with confusion. He opens up his mouth to come up with something clever but gets distracted as M joins them. He's starting to get drained again- not having any new sources to try to take and using so much power trying to get out. 

Bro sighs and releases Mag a bit, gesturing at M. "Yeah if you have something that could work M that'd be-" 

Mag's eyes flash desperately as he lashes out and grabs M's arm, digging his claws in and trying to drain his power.

M's eyes widen. And as Magnificent starts to drain his power, he realizes something--strange. He's taking this power, but... the source isn't draining. And M isn't tired at all. Even so, the power just sort of sits on top of Mag's own, not converting at all. 

Magnificent looks confused and then yells as Bro grabs him around the waist and pulls him away. "Goddamnit Mag! Can you like not for 5-?!" 

"Wh-what the fuck are you doing?!" M shouts, terrified. Instinctively, he reacts. A strand of white light wraps around Magnificent's neck-- 

And out of nowhere, J3 runs at M and tackles him to the side. 

Bro and Mag freeze as the light wraps around Mag's neck and M gets tackled. 

Magnificent's head turns sharply to the side, sharp enough to hurt... but not sharp enough to snap like it would have.

Mag yells out in pain and his head snaps and Bro is startled enough to drop him. 

"T-The fuck?! What just happened??" Bro gasps. 

Mag holds his neck and stares out wide eyed- now realizing that... he could have just died there... that was so close. If it wasn’t for M getting tackled…

"M! What the fucking fuck?!" H gasps. 

"I-I don't know! I--I got scared!" M shouts. He's shaking slightly. "I-I-I'm not a battery!" 

J3 pats him on the shoulder. He stares at Magnificent. I understand now, what that shadow said, he says. Don't let him do it. 

M clutches his head. "I-I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" 

Alt hurries over to M and tries to calm him down, "Hey it's okay! You didn't mean to! It's okay..." 

M takes deep breaths. I'm okay, he signs. I just need a moment.

"Well if anything proves we're not an illusion, we got that at least," C mutters darkly.

Bro sighs and rubs at his face. He gestures at C then looks at Mag, "...do you believe us now, Mag?" 

Mag thoughtfully holds his neck without looking at them, "...why are you here? I know you all- you'd sooner let me rot here then rescue me." 

"Well lucky for you- we're not just here for you." Bro says getting to his feet. 

Jackie steps up and glares at Mag. 

Mag seems to flinch a bit. 

"...As much as we hate you... we're not the kind of people that would just... strand someone here. Even someone like you." Jackie offers his hand to Mag. "...c'mon- we got one more stop to make before we bust you out of here." 

Magnificent looks at Jackie's hand like he's afraid it will disappear at any second. He hesitates- then lets Jackie help him up.

"Well... while we're here..." J1 says slowly. "Magnificent. H-have you seen a man while you were stuck in here? Brown hair, and one eye has a green sclera. Kind of looks like all the rest of us." 

"Not A," H clarifies. "Someone other than him."

Magnificent knits his eyebrows to think and then eventually nods. "Yes... when I first came here there was another man in the cell. Downstairs- the... lowest floor i think. he hid as soon as A appeared."

C inhales sharply. "That has to be him! Wh-what did the cell look like? Any details?"

"Glass, 3 walls of glass and... basic furniture. The lightning was red. There were many cameras outside the cell." Magnificent says.

"All the lighting here is red now," H mutters. 

"That was my room, J3 says. It's on the sixth floor down. There are eight floors total. But I wouldn't be surprised if the bottom two are very unsafe considering A1010 and the more dangerous animals were kept there. He frowns. The cameras are new, though. I wasn't supposed to have any cameras there because A1010 took an interest in me once. 

"A must've brought them there," C figures. "To keep an eye on J." 

"Well, we know now!" J1 says. "Let's keep going! I doubt the elevators are safe so here we go!" He runs for the stairs.

Bro nods and looks to Mag. "Stick with us and try not to cause any more trouble?" Mag grumbles but nods. The swaps soon follow after the others, running to keep up with J1.

Unfortunately, keeping up with J1 is impossible, as he quickly gains speed while running down the stairs, increasing to inhuman levels. 

"J1! Slow down!" M shouts, panting. 

But he doesn't slow down. He skips over missing stairs easily, until they reach a landing labeled 6, beyond which the stairs decay into ruin. 

J1 opens the door, rushing into the floor--and suddenly shrieks.

Alt pushes to catch up, glitching to be next to him, panting slightly. "J1?! What's the matter?!"

J1 turns to look at him. 

J1 turns to look at him. 

... 

Nope, his eyes aren't playing tricks on him. There are two of them. 

Alt gasps and stumbles back. "... oh fuck-" 

C is the second one to catch up wtih J1, followed by the rest of the group. He skids to a halt, going pale. "A--!" 

"C! Guys! I--I don't know what's going on!" the first J1 says. "I came down here and--" 

"No, don't listen to him!" the second J1 says. "He's lying! That's A!"

The other swaps stumble in and blink at the exchange. "It's the second one," Jackie says, pointing, "It's always the one that tries to accuse the other of being the 'bad' one first." 

"... how do you know that??" Bro asks. 

"I read a lottt of comic books bro."

"What?! Nononono, I was just explaining!" the second J1 shouts, real-sounding panic in his voice. 

Jackie pales, "Oh uh- n-never mind I guess??" 

"No, you're right, I'm the real one!" the first J1 says. "C! Shoot the other one!" 

C goes a bit pale. "Uh... I-I don't think J1 is capable of telling me to shoot someone." 

"Right?!" the second one says. "I'm literally unable to hurt people!" 

"Shooting A1010 isn't gonna bother him!" the first one protests. 

"Wh-what the fuck...?" H whispers.

Bro looks between the two like a ping pong match. "Uh Uh- fuck this is hard??" 

After a bit Mag suddenly shouts in frustration and shoots both of the J1s with bolts of his magic, "I'm not gonna play this idiotic game!" He snarls. 

The fire hits both of the J1s and they fall back, screaming in agony. 

C stumbles back in horror while H rushes forwards, pulling off his gloves again. 

M gasps. J3 goes pale. 

And then, as H approaches, the two forms of J1 collapse into static, the two parts rushing together to form a whole as A1010 grabs H from behind. "Hey there," he says, twirling his knife in his hand. 

"Wh-what the fuck?!" M gasps. "H!" 

"Let him go!" C aims his toy gun at A. "Wh-where the hell is J1?!" 

"Right here." A's head jerks to the side. Part of the air seems to shimmer, revealing J1 slumped forward on his knees, a drop of blood leaking from one eye. "Can you grab him and this one before I slit his throat?"

Alt gasps as A appears and staggers back. his stomach dropping. Then, he goes to meet Bro's eyes and the two of them nod. Bro flies for J1 while Alt glitches over to try to grab H and glitch away with him.

Alt yoinks H right out of A's hands, and A actually looks surprised. 

"Th-thank you," H breathes. Alt hands H over to one of the others. 

But Bro doesn't fare as well. Not because he's unable to grab J1. But because the moment he gets close, J1 slams a super-strong punch into his face. 

Bro cries out as he gets punched and flies across the floor. 

A sees that happen and laughs. "Oh, you two are similar, aren't you? Have some fun!" 

J1 lurches to his feet and rushes at Bro. 

Bro yelps as J1 rushes him and tries to leap into the air to dodge him. “J1! C’mon man! I don’t want to fight you!” 

Meanwhile, A looks at Alt, grinning. "I'm not the first me you've seen, hmm?" His form shifts. He looks like Alt. Then he looks like the vampire Anti from the previous universe. Then he looks like that hologram of Anti-Virus. Then he looks like a royal King with a gold circlet.

Alt’s breath feels like it’s been punched out of him as he sees the other Antis. Especially as he sees the King- he flinches and staggers back. “S-Stop that- don’t-!“ He breathes, voice shaking.

And then A’s appearance finally settles on an Anti with an eye-patch and green scarf.

As he sees the final form Alt yells in anger, magic brimming around him, “STOP IT!” He glitches in front of A then tries to rush at him with a burst of magic.

A shrieks and falls backwards as Alt blasts him. The electricity causes his form to spasm, becoming a glitchy black figure before he recovers, turning into his usual mimicry of J. “Oh, clever, aren’t you? Then again, we usually are.” A glitches forward, swiping with the knife.

Alt bares his teeth in a snarl and tries to send out another blast but he’s not prepared for A to glitch too and is caught off guard- getting slashed across the chest. Alt cries out in pain, staggering back. 

J1 misses, going for an attack again—only to be caught by ribbons of white light that wrap around him, pinning his arms to his side. “We don’t have time for this!” M shouts. “We need to get J and get out of here!” 

“But A is on the way!” C protests. 

“No he’s not!” M points to the side, and white light bursts through the wall, creating an entrance into a room. “Go around!” 

Bro blinks in surprise at M holding back J1- and as he makes an entrance into the room he flies through and quickly starts to look around for J. 

The room M blasted into is empty. So M rushes into the room, dragging J1 with him, and blasts a hole into the next room. “Keep going! J3, how far is it?” 

A ways, J3 says, joining them. Keep going! 

Bro nods and hurries after them too. 

Alt recovers quickly from being slashed and eyes the hand that A has the knife in as the others start to run-  and lashes out magic to try to see if he can blast it out of his hand.

The knife goes flying out of A’s hand as his hand jitters with glitches from Alt’s magic. He scowls at Alt, glitching away to go get it. 

“Go go go go go!” H grabs Alt’s hand and starts pulling him down the hallway. He also starts… humming? Or, emitting a hum is a better way to put it, like a radio frequency. 

Alt yelps as H grabs him but quickly follows after him, looking confused about the humming. 

“Come on, hurry!” C looks back at Jackie and Magnificent and gestures for them to follow while A is distracted.

Jackie and Mag look at each other and then hurry to follow after everyone else.

The group sprints down the hallway, with Bro and M rejoining the others. 

Behind them, A1010 shrieks. The red lights get dimmer, making it hard to see, and cables sparking with electricity burst from the ceiling, narrowly avoiding the group as they turn corners and rush through straight sections. 

Bro and Alt try their best to bat away the cables and obstacles as the group runs. 

Until, finally, J3 darts down a small side hallway that ends in a sliding metal door. He points to it and looks back at the others urgently. 

“Guessing that’s it, then,” M says, his eyes glowing. White strips of light dig into the seal where the door is shut and forces it open with the screech of metal. 

Inside is the room where Magnificent first appeared, complete with loose cameras. Behind the glass wall, J0702 jumps up from the chair he’s sitting in and stares at the newcomers. He looks doubtful while looking at the guys from this world. “Y-you can’t trick me,” he stammers. “You can’t… wait, who are you?” He looks at Bro, Alt, and Jackie with confusion.

Once inside with J- the swaps all breathe and look at each other. 

Alt steps forward, "It's a long story but- we're from another world and we're here to help get you out!"

“From another world?” J notices Magnificent. “Oh, you’re back. You said that too.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Um—alright, I guess? A can’t make new people, so—” And then he suddenly stops, eyes going wide. 

Behind Bro, a second Alt appears, slashing down a knife to stab him in the back— 

“No!” C shouts, shoving Bro out of the way. The knife sinks into his chest instead.

Bro gasps, quickly turning around to see C get stabbed. "NO!" He cries and tries to tackle the second Alt to the ground. 

Alt glitches back and watches with wide eyes, suddenly frozen. "C!"

A goes in for a second stab—and the knife goes through Bro’s arm as he tackles him. He screams in frustration as he falls to the ground. 

Bro screams out in pain but tries to keep A down. "F-Fucking piece of shit!" 

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” C gasps. There is… so much blood coming from the stab wound over his heart. “Get J out of there! Hurry!” 

“Fucking DIE you piece of shit!” A screams at C, glitching out from under Bro. 

M runs up to the glass wall, white light trailing behind him. The glass warps to the side, like it’s melting. He runs in and grabs J’s hand. “E-everyone link up! For Alt!” he shouts. 

Alt snaps out of his daze and hurries to try to grab C and pull him towards everyone. 

Bro flies and grabs Mag and Jackie, putting them all together with Alt, J and M. 

"Y-You heard M! Hurry!" Alt shouts. He holds out his other hand for someone else to take. 

H grabs onto it, then reaches out and grabs J3, who makes sure he has a good hold on J1. M links onto them in turn. “Go go go!” he shouts. 

A screams and lunges forward, trailing electricity—

Bro grabs onto Alt's shoulder and Alt quickly closes his eyes and pictures the van- glitching them out of there. 

And suddenly, the hellish red light of the facility is replaced by clear sunlight. The group has appeared right next to the van. 

J1 suddenly gasps and stumbles back, rubbing his eye. “W-woah. I wasn’t expecting that. You weren’t kidding about that hypnosis holy shit.” 

J looks around. Confused at first… but that soon gives way to awe. “Oh. O-oh it’s… it’s so pretty out here.” 

C laughs. “I know, the pictures don’t do it justice.” He starts to give J a hug. “We missed you. I’m sorry it took so long.” 

J laughs. “I-it’s okay, really. Dude, you are covered in so much blood.” 

“Yeah that’s what happens when it hits your heart. And a lung too, feels like.” 

Alt shakes himself out and then wavers to sit down on the ground, catching his breath. 

M sits down next to Alt. He doesn't look tired. He must just be there to support or something. Then J3 sits next to him to support. 

Magnificent slinks away from the others, going to curl up by the van and process everything.

Jackie goes and pats J1 on the shoulder, "You good dude?" Then he balks and looks at C with wide eyes, "WAIT WHAT?!" 

“I will be with you in a moment, C,” H says, grabbing onto Bro. That humming starts up again, and suddenly the wound on Bro’s arm closes up. “Huh. Normally that takes much longer.”

Bro staggers for a second before H heals him. He blinks and then grins, "Oh yeah- I'm usually a fast healer! Super healing~! Or like- super regeneration and... stuff." He looks back at C too and looks freaked out, "Wait wait- it was that bad??! H- forget me hurry and get to C!! How.. how are you still alive?!" 

"Oh, um... yeah, J1 only mentioned that to Alt, and only really in passing," C says, giving a little, wheezing laugh. "I, uh... I can't die. Or at least, I can't be killed by most things." H latches onto his arm and the humming starts up again. "I've been, uh, stabbed, shot, fell from a high place, they injected me with some stuff that I'm pretty sure were poisons, I don't bleed out, I don't suffocate... I mean, I might die if you strap a bomb to me but I think I'd actually just exist as a bunch of tiny pieces so I really hope that never happens." 

"You know you're probably freaking them out, yes?" H mutters. 

The swaps indeed do look freaked out. "Y-You went through... a-all of that...?" Bro asks in a small voice, looking pale, "That's... that's insane." 

"...seems useful," Mag comments quietly. 

Jackie whips on him and glares, "Your opinion is not wanted here, bitch." 

"I mean... he's right, it can be," C says slowly. "But mostly it just... Well, honestly, I think the concept speaks for itself."

Alt checks on his own chest wound, trying to see if its still bleeding. As he does... he sees A in his head again- becoming all those other Antis. It makes him shudder.

"We are not going back there, so hopefully, this will never happen again," H says firmly. He glances at Alt, noticing him checking the wound. "Oh, sorry, Alt, I was not able to finish healing that. I will be right with you." 

The chest injury isn't bleeding as much, and it seems shallower. 

Alt blinks up at H and then smiles, "Oh- I wondered what that humming was. Thanks H just... take your time. I'm okay." 

J looks around. "So... I guess you guys... from another world... that's not normal there, either." He blinks. "I probably shouldn't introduce you to Sam, then," he mutters. "Well... are you all okay?"

Jackie laughs and shakes his head, "Yeah no... as the most normal out of this group- ... none of this is normal. But, I have two superpowered friends so... kinda used to it? ...kinda being the operative word-" 

"We're all good it looks like!" Bro says with a smile. "Even better now that we know you are okay! Hearing about you being trapped down there was awful- I'm so glad we could help!"

“Heh. Yeah… thank you.” Tears we’ll update in J’s eyes. “Thank you so much. I thought we’d be stuck there.” 

J1 shakes his head. “We wouldn’t have left you there.” 

“Y-yeah…” M whispers.

Alt smiles at the others, "...things can be different now." 

Bro nods, "You can move on... start a new life. Far far away from this hell hole."

“Hell. Yeah.” C nods. “We can take this van and drive somewhere far away. Find some way to make money so we can buy stuff. Try to figure out who we were before.” 

H lets go of C’s arm, going over to Alt and gently taking his hand to finish healing. “Speaking of… you said you might know who we are, back when you first showed up.” H looks at the others. “If we want to know… I mean, it will be helpful to have names to introduce ourselves as…” 

M blinks. “You do? You mean… because you know us in your world?” 

The others are quiet for a moment. 

“I think I’ve figured it out.” C nods at Bro. “It wouldn’t be fair for the rest of you to have to not know.” 

“I’d like that,” J whispers. 

The others all nod.

Alt blinks and looks around at the others. Then he smiles at glitches to his feet. He nods to Bro and Jackie. "...why don't you two go first." 

Bro smiles and extends his hand out to C, "...good to meet ya, Chase Brody." 

C--Chase smiles, taking Bro's hand. "Good to meet you, too."

Jackie hesitates then laughs going to J1 and clapping him on the back, "...how do you do, fellow Jackie?" 

J1 blinks. He laughs. "Jackie, huh? Jackie... y-yeah." Jackie shakes his head, smiling. "Yeah, I'm... yeah." 

Jackieboy shakes his head with another chuckle, "I dunno what your last name is though... I think that changes in each universe." 

Alt glitches to his feet then looks at M, "Umm.. same for you M... your last name kinda changes but... You're Marvin." 

M nods slowly. "That feels right," Marvin says slowly. "J1--Jackie. Do you want to have the same last name? We could be related or something." 

Jackie laughs some more. "Sure, M. Sure, Marvin. We can do that." 

Alt looks to the others and starts to point, "J3, you're Jameson Jackson.”

J3 nods. That feels right, Jameson says. He looks down at his hands, then makes the J sign twice. That's me. He grins. 

Alt grins back. “You're Jack Mcloughlin, J.” He says, pointing at Jack. 

"Jack and Jackie, huh?" J, Jack, smiles. "That's funny. That's... I-I don't mind, it feels right, like J... Jameson said." 

“and H, you're Henrik von Schneeplestein." Alt smiles fondly. 

"What an odd name," H mutters. But then Henrik smiles. "You're all right, though, it feels right. It matches my voice when I hear myself."

"Thanks, Alt," Chase whispers. "Thanks."

Alt smiles so big, he even feels his eyes get a little misty. "... it's nothing... I'm just glad I can help." 

Bro stretches and shakes himself out, "Well- with everything wrapped up so nicely- suppose its time we try to get back home again. Or... wherever the TRVLR wants to take us next." 

Alt sighs, taking out the device. "Yeah... guess we better move on too." 

"Man- I was secretly hoping for another nap," Jackie laughs. 

"You slept like the whole way here!" Bro argues. 

"I have insomnia, bitch! I'm always tired!" 

Mag snorts and rolls his eyes, getting to his feet. ...he could turn all of this to chaos... but... considering what the others did for him... he supposes he can act on good will. ... for now at least.

H nods. "I feel you with that insomnia, Jackie. Or, ah, I suppose I should call you other Jackie now?" 

"I'm glad we could meet you guys," Chase says, smiling. "Not just cause it helped us figure out who we are a bit more. You guys are... you're good guys." 

The TRVLR lights up as Alt powers it on. This universe is identified as UA-1030019TF. 

"So that's what takes you to other worlds, then," Marvin mutters. "It does look like something the company would make. No wonder that doctor wasn't surprised to hear you guys were from another universe."

"I guess that makes sense... if they made all those... creatures in there. And... you guys? Kinda?" Alt shrugs. 

They didn't make us, Jameson says. They just... found us. In which case, I wonder how we got these abilities in the first place. 

"It was nice to meet you all too though. ...we'll come visit someday. Check in to see how you all are doing." Alt says.  

JJ smiles. I'd love to see you all again. 

Bro grins. "Yeah! We'll catch back up and... I dunno- get Mcdonalds again." He laughs. 

Jackieboy rolls his eyes, "Nah- I'll cook us something! Better than that place-"

"You can make food better than the fast places?" Jackie gasps. "Ohhhh I waaaant it." 

Jackieboy laughs, "Hell yeah! We'll make a feast!" 

Jack laughs, nudging other Jackie. "Maybe you can learn to make it yourself." 

"That'd be amazing. New goal, learning how to cook stuff." 

"I'll learn with you J1--Jackie," Chase says. "We can show you guys how we've improved if we see you again." 

"It was lovely to meet you," Henrik says, smiling gently. 

"Goodbye," Marvin adds. "Maybe goodbye for now." 

"And... thanks again." Jack looks at the world around him with awe.

Jackieboy goes over and grabs Mag, who grumbles a bit. Alt smiles and takes Jackie's hand and Bro takes his. Alt looks back at the others and grins. "Well- until then, take care of yourselves, okay?" 

Then- he clicks the jump button on the TRVLR.

The group falls into darkness once again, and once again, there is that ripple. They are pulled off course, heading somewhere else. A snowflake's journey cut short when it is caught on a hand.

#SATCV #SATCV Facility #im nervous for this one cuz this reveals a big thing about bro and alt :') #and like reveals some stuff i wanna write in the future #eeee i can't wait to see reactions though #alt anti #bro fantastic #jackie mann #swap magnificent

[huffle-dork]

Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 13: The Facility

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs| JSEFacility

Read SITCV | SATCV Masterpost | AO3 Link

The sun is slowly rising, blue overtaking the orange. J1 is unbothered by their long walk along the side of the road, but H and C seem to be lagging behind a bit. There's nothing around except for fields and poles of telephone and power lines. 

Alt isn't fairing much better than H and C, he's so tired. He's not sure how many days they've been jumping through so far but... he's starting to feel the exhaustion in his muscles, especially now that he has to walk. He rubs at his eyes and stumbles a bit as he shakes out his head.

C squints down the road. "Hey... is that... a car?" 

The others all look. 

"That's our fucking van!" H shouts. 

Alt blinks up and then laughs, "Ha... what are the odds?" 

"Well... we were heading down here because J3 said they just went straight this way," H says. "So... really high, actually."

"... touche-" Alt grumbles. "Guess I didn't expect them to be driving our way-"

J1 laughs. "I guess we wait here for them to come to us." He glances at the others. "Looks like you guys need it." 

The van approaches quickly--and then stops suddenly, perhaps a bit too suddenly. 

"Sorry!" M says in the driver's cabin to the rest of the van's occupants.

Bro was closing his eyes just for a second so the sudden stop jolts him up and onto his side with a big 'oof'! 

Jackie catches himself on the dashboard before he hits his head on it. "Ooohh my god-" He mumbles then gives M a shaky smile. "Uh! good stop! Just- not so much pressure, you know?"

"Thanks for the encouragement, even if you don't believe it," M says. "Now... that's your friend?" He looks out the window at Alt and the others. "Huh. Not what I expected. Then again, I don't know what I was expecting." 

Jackie snickers, "Yeah- he's a bit unassuming isn't he? He's a great lad though."

J3 gets off the floor and walks over to the back of the van, throwing the doors open. He waves at the group.

Bro pushes himself up and then joins J3 at the back of the van. He grins wide, "Alt!" 

Alt smiles and waves back, "Hey! Glad you all are okay~" 

Nice to see you in person, A-L-T, J3 says, smiling. 

Alt nods with a smile, "You too J3. Oh! If you want- my friend has a sign he does for my name." He shows J3 A, then lightning is sign and smiles sheepishly. "Just in case you dont wanna,..spell it out all the time." 

M opens up the driver's side door and hops out. He's holding Lia the llama in one hand. He stares at C, J1, and H. They all stare back. "So... hi again." 

J1 gives a little wave. 

"Ah... nice to... see you," H says awkwardly. 

"Yeah." C nods. Then... he looks at Bro. His brows furrow. "Wait a--wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a--are you guys seeing this?"

"Ah there it is-" Bro grins. He hops out of the car and waves, "Hi you all, I'm Chase!" 

"Chase...?" C repeats. "Chase... Chase." He nods slowly, and gives Bro a smile. "Nice to meet you." 

Bro smiles more and nods, "Yeah and you're... C, I'm guessing?" Calling his other him by just a letter feels so wrong but... if that's what they wanna be called... 

Jackie steps out of the van and looks between all the guys staring at each other. Oof... awkward. He doesn't like the tension in the air. Still, he lightly nudges M with a head tilt. He... must wanna say something to the rest of them, right?

M blinks at Jackie like he doesn't know what he's asking of him. 

"Um..." J1 clears his throat. "M, I'm sorry if we... made you think... We didn't want to hurt you. I-I mean... w-we were all... in there, too. We don't want to go back, but... we want to get J out of there. So he... doesn't get hurt anymore, you know?" 

"...okay," M says quietly. "I'm sorry I took the van." 

H sighs. "It is fine. Just... don't do it again, please?" 

"Yeah. I-I'm not a good driver, anyway."

Jackie smiles as the others seem to make up and he claps his hands together, "Yay! Everyone is friends again!" 

"Friends? I, um..." M stutters wordlessly for a bit. 

J3 laughs silently and nudges him. 

"Yeah. I think--yeah." 

Alt looks at everyone and then hums in thought. "...did you guys see any signs of Mag around here when you guys fell?" He asks his friends. 

Bro shakes his head, "Haven't seen hide or tail of him... i dunno if that's a good or bad thing though."

"Hmm..." H hums. "Well, you all know the most about your universe traveling thing. Is there a pattern for where people will be? A limit to how far they can appear? If not, I suppose J3 could see if we run into him at any point in the next week."

Alt knits his eyebrows together, "If... he didn't appear by any of you... then he must be by the... parallel me... or maybe J?" As Alt processes this thought he slowly starts to pale. "Wait... that means-" 

"...didn't you guys say that... J was in the Facility?" Bro asks quietly. 

The group goes silent. They exchange uneasy glances. 

"Y... yeah..." C whispers. "He got... left behind..." 

"And A is still there, too," H adds. "So... if your person is appearing by either of them..." 

Expressionless, M turns, walks into the back of the van, and closes the doors.

Bro cringes slightly as the door closes. "...so... that's not good." 

"I dunno- maybe we can just leave him there!" Jackie announces. 

"Jackie!" Bro gasps. 

"We can't just leave him there!" Alt emphasizes. 

"Why not? He only causes us trouble. Now he can be locked up somewhere. Sounds like a win to me?" Jackie mumbles.

"Jesus christ, dude!" C says, going pale. "I mean--yeah, he took our van, and yeah, we had a fight, but that doesn't mean we can just leave him there!" 

"No no no, he's talking about Magnificent, not M," H says. 

"Oh." 

"I mean--i-it's not so bad in there," J1 says slowly. 

J3 shakes his head. I appreciate your optimism, but it wasn't 'not so bad' for all of us. 

"I don't think anyone deserves to be stuck in there," H says. "If Magnificent really causes this much trouble, he should be in a prison, but that is not a prison. It is worse." 

Jackie pouts but then slowly his expression softens. He sighs, "No... you're right... we... we can't leave him. I... I'm sorry I just-" 

Bro comes over and pats his shoulder, "...I know bro... seeing all this must be really hard for you. You only really heard stuff from us before." 

"Yeah I... it's... different... seeing it all. He... He's not... not Marvin anymore. But... he also is? I... I dunno it's..." Jackie squeezes his eyes shut. 

"... I hate him too Jackie... I hate that he hurts us but... I.. I can't leave anyone in danger like that... not even Mag." Bro says quietly, giving his friend a side hug.

"Not to mention... A is still there," C says. "He... might be running around free. A-and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

Alt feels his stomach drop, "...A is really bad, isn't he?" He ask quietly. 

"A has, um... done some stuff..." C says slowly. 

"Personally, I think that it is less good to think about A1010 as a person, and more as a force of nature," H says. 

J3 just shudders. 

"Guys... you aren't making Alt feel good about maybe being him in another world," J1 says carefully. 

Alt does look a lot more pale, hugging himself slightly. 

"O-oh shit, um. Right." C shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Alt. I know you're not like A." 

Alt nods weakly to C but he doesn't look excited to meet A.

J3 takes a deep breath. Well... if we're heading back there, we need to talk to M about that. I mean... see if he wants to help... 

"Judging by his reaction, I don't think he does," H says. But we should still talk to him about it.

Bro gives Jackie a final hug and then looks at the van, "... I could try talking to him? It sounds like we could use all the help we can get..."

H nods. "To be honest... M is quite powerful. J1 told Alt about his abilities, but... just saying it is very different from seeing it. We might really need him." 

I'll come with you, J3 says. I've been able to talk with him before. 

"Heh... the rest of us should probably stay back," J1 admits. "I mean... we did just get over the fight."

Bro smiles, "Okay J3, I can follow your lead."

J3 nods back at him. He turns and walks over to the van doors, opening it up just enough for him and Bro to walk in. 

M is sitting up against the van wall. Lia the llama and Ella the elephant are beside him, and he clutches Seth the seal in his arms. He's breathing heavily, and the white light in his eyes has increased, almost hiding his irises. The space feels a bit warmer than it was before. 

M? J3 asks. 

"I-I'm not going back," M gasps. "I'm not going back, I'm not going back, I'm not going back—!"

Bro holds up his hands and talks in a gentle voice, "M? Just... try to breathe for us, okay? Focus on breathing..." 

M nods. He tries to slow down, inhaling and exhaling shakily. 

J3 sits down next to him. We can talk more when you're ready, he says. 

M nods again. Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale. He squeezes Seth tighter, then after a moment, when he seems calmer, he makes a 'go ahead' gesture, asking the other two to talk first.

Bro gives him a sympathetic smile. Then, he lets it fall as he say quietly, "I know... its a lot to ask.. to go back there for a stranger. But, forget about Mag for a second. Don't you want to help get J back? Isn't he your friend?"

I didn't know him that well, actually, M says, signing instead of speaking. We were on different floors. And I wasn't allowed to interact with anyone. I only knew J3 because they couldn't stop him from walking through time. 

J3 sighs. That's true. But you know that J is a good person, right? C and H love him. And he's innocent. He doesn't deserve to stay there. 

M shakes his head. I know. I know. But when I think of going back, I feel all shaky inside.

"That's a natural reaction..." Bro comments gently, "It's okay to be scared. Especially of a place like this... but... here's what I'm thinking. The others say you're powerful and I can believe it. Wouldn't it feel so good to go back to the place that hurt you and tear it down?"

M's eyes widen. He stares at Bro like he hadn't considered that. They said that about me? he asks. 

Well, you are, J3 says. The first time I met you, you destroyed a room full of filing cabinets. 

M laughs a little. "I-I did do that, you're right." He tilts his head. "They... they'll have ways to take care of us, you know that, right?" 

But we'll be taking them by surprise, J3 says. Instead of the other way around. He pauses. And I won't let anyone get hurt. 

"Don't put that all on you," M whispers. He nods slowly. "Alright. Alright. I-I think... I think if we can prepare... I can... do it."

Bro smiles wide, "And hey! I doubt they have ways of stopping me and Alt! We're pretty powerful too~! We'll catch them all off guard! And we'll keep you safe, promise." He holds out his pinky finger for Marvin, grinning. "We can pinky swear it, even."

M gives him a small smile. “You don’t need to do that. I-I’m not a kid. But I, uh, appreciate the gesture. I… hope they won’t have a way to get you. Maybe having extra people will help. So… alright. Let’s go.” 

J3 sighs. Thank you, M. 

Bro blinks and looks embarrassed as he puts his hand back. "Ah... right- sorry. But, yeah, thank you M."

“You’re welcome, I guess.” M smiles a bit. “Let’s go tell the others. W-we should come up with a plan.” 

J3 nods. Let’s do that. He gets up. M does too, still holding Seth, and they leave the van.

Bro hops back out and smiles at the group. “We got M on board!” 

Alt smiles slightly. “Hey… that’s great. Glad to have ya, M.” 

M nods, squeezing Seth a little bit. 

“So… what now- how do we get to this facility place?” Jackie asks.

C sighs. "We drive. I-I think we're all very aware of where the facility is. It's, uh, kind of in the middle of nowhere. So we'll have to do some off-roading." 

"If we can scrape the paint off the van, we can blend in," H says. "The company's logo is beneath that. We could drive right up." 

"Assuming they, uh... forgot we stole a van of theirs," J1 says delicately.

Alt thinks and then sheepishly raises his hand. “…I could glitch us there- since you guys know where it is.” 

“Mmmm maybe- but if we leave from there they’ll need a way back out. So… we should probably make sure they have their van.” Jackie says. 

“…oh. Yeah I can’t… glitch a van.” Alt says, hiding a bit in his mask.

M's eyes widen. "Glitch?" 

"He can teleport around!" J1 says excitedly. "It's really cool!" 

Alt looks to M and then glitches back and forth to show him before smiling shyly. “Glitch- it’s… pretty handy.” 

M inhales. Then he grins. "That's so cool! I can do something like that." He holds out Seth, and the plushie abruptly disappears. It's then replaced by Elly. "Not with things that are alive, though."

Alt’s eyes widen and then he grins too. “Oh!! That’s really cool!” 

"Uh… Well... if we drive there, then Alt can, uh, glitch us inside once it comes in view." M says. 

"Of course!" H gasps. "I mean--we should not speak for you capabilities, Alt, but it would help." 

"We'd still have to drive a while to get there," C says. "So... you can rest during that time period, gather your energy."

Alt nods to H and C, “I can do it with all of us. …resting will help I think. We’ve been going kinda non-stop for a bit.” 

“Yeah.. a nap sounds kinda good right now.” Jackie laughs. 

“On the way there then, we can think of a strategy… and you guys can fill us in on what we’re dealing with.” Bro says. 

C nods. "It's going to take a couple hours... if not the whole day. So that's a perfect amount of time for you to nap. I can drive." 

"He's much better than me, I promise," M says to Jackie. 

Jackie exhales. “Okay good- if you need a break at all I can help too!” 

No time to waste, then, J3 says. Let's go. The others nod and start filing into the van. 

"Who gets the passenger seat?" J1 asks.

Bro looks around and then shrugs. “Whoever wants to hang out with C the most, I guess! Or doesn’t want to join the nap pile.” 

"I'll sit up with him, then!" J1 says, laughing. 

"What? Oh, bro." C looks touched. 

"C'mon, I'll keep you in high spirits." 

Alt glitches into the van and hunches down in a corner. Bro snorts out a quiet laugh then goes to join him. Alt hesitates for a second before shifting to lean up against him. Jackie grins and pushes over to sit next to Bro and then makes a big show of stretching and laying on his leg. Bro shoves him slightly with a laugh.

H settles down at the back near the doors, facing forward as he mumbling something about how he can't stand going backwards. M sits down where he'd been before, holding his plushies nearby. J3 takes up a spot in the corner. 

Feel free to use any of our sleep supplies if you need it, J3 says. 

Jackie grins and grabs a pillow, putting it under his head and taking up Bro’s lap. “Ahhh! Cozy!” 

“You’re such a little bitch.” Bro laughs. 

Alt reaches over to grab a blanket and huddles closer to Bro, already closing his eyes. He dreads going to this place but… it’s coming either way. Might as well rest and get prepared.

"Alright, here we go," C says. The van starts up and drives away. 

----------- 

It becomes increasingly clear that this facility is not a safe space. There are no windows or doors out, only stairs and elevators (all of which are inoperable.) And there are creatures wandering the halls. Some of them are harmless, like the gecko with a third eye, but some of them look more dangerous, like the bird made entirely of metal with a razor-sharp beak. All the red lighting gives this space a hellish look. And... there are cameras everywhere.

Magnificent warily walks down the hall- trying to find some indication of a way out. He warily eyes the creatures- wondering if it’d be worth it to drain their power. But- he’s still pretty full despite the last world. Plus… he’s wary of the effects after dealing with that cat.

As he turns a corner, he finally notices a door that's open, not sealed shut by A's control over the facility. It's a regular door that... looks like an office of some kind? And inside is... a voice.

Magnificent is almost too desperate to not proceed with caution- wanting to run straight into the room. But he tries to breathe and slowly and quietly approaches the door to listen.

There's a slight violet light coming from the inside, too, a faint glow that shifts in hue. The muttering is a female voice, repeating the same thing over and over. "Can't let go... can't let go... can't let go..."

And... there's a power signature coming from the room. Something that's similar to his own black magic, but slightly off.

Magnificent’s curiosity is hard to ignore again, especially as he feels a power so similar to his own. He carefully makes his way inside.

There's a woman lying on the ground inside, staring up at the ceiling. She's wearing a gray jumpsuit. In her hand is clutched a crystal ball with purple light swirling around the inside. Her eyes are also slightly glowing purple. And she keeps muttering that over and over.

Magnificent tilts his head curiously. Then he teleports so he’s next to her and kneels down to her level. “…what power is this?” He mutters, trying to get a better look.

There's a sticker on the side of the crystal ball, with writing on it. "C3010 L-Agressive." 

Maybe... maybe he should touch it...

For a second, Mag hesitates. But then he scoffs. Maybe this orb is aggressive to a mortal- but he’s a higher being. He can probably best whatever this is. And he’s… just so curious. The power this thing could hold… he reaches out to grab it.

The moment he touches it, he understands. This--this orb is a well of power! Everything he ever wanted could be his with this crystal sphere in his hand. He should take it with him. He should take it with him and never let go--but this woman is holding onto it tightly. How dare she. This is his, he can't let it go!

Magnificent feels the power overwhelming him- yes… yes! He could use this to escape- to beat that creature! To best everyone in his way! But- this woman…! He growls ferally and tries to yank the orb out of the woman’s grasp.

She tightens her grip, dazed violet eyes briefly focusing on him.

Magnificent growls and digs his claws into her hands, trying to pry her off. “Let go!”

Even though his claws draw blood, she just keeps holding onto it. Maybe--he just needs--some more force! 

Mag tugs more, and then lashes out, grabbing her wrist- trying to see if he can snap this woman’s hand off the orb. He needs it! It’s his! He attempts to break her wrist.

And-- Snap. 

The woman flinches slightly, and lets go. But she keeps staring blankly at the ceiling.

Magnificent grins triumphantly and grabs the orb, holding it protectively in his hands. His eyes flare purple. He giggles dazedly, so glad that he’s won. It’s his! He can do so much with it…! 

…right?

And then, out of nowhere, the sound of static. A1010 fizzles into view right in front of Mag, once again wearing J0702's appearance, grinning with a smile too wide.

Magnificent startles back and holds the orb to his chest and curls up around it, hissing at A. “Y-You! Get away!”

A laughs. "Oh, I really didn't expect you to fall for it. I mean, you're at least smart about magic." He leans closer. "So... what's that crystal ball so important?"

Magnificent bares his teeth, “What’s that supposed to mean?!” He backs up a bit more and holds the orb tighter. “It has power- power I can use to defeat you! A-And to get me out of this dreadful place!” He teleports to his feet and holds the orb in his hands, trying to see if he can siphon any power from it to use. “Here- I’ll show you!”

... 

...... 

"You look ridiculous," A says, and lunges forward, swiping with his knife. The blade slices through the crystal, dividing it into two parts that are roughly one-quarter and three-quarters in size. 

Magnificent tries to scramble back but the orb is cut- and… what? 

As the smaller part falls to the ground, the violet light from the orb disappears, and Mag hears a faint scream in the back of his mind. 

...wait, why is he holding onto this?

Mag blinks in sudden confusion and looks down at the orb. He quickly drops it and tries to back up some more, dread settling thick in his stomach. He… he got controlled by that thing! Him! That- shouldn’t be possible. He has a stronger will power than that.

"Oh, did someone just have their confidence shaken?" A says teasingly, tossing the knife back and forth between his hands. There's a tag on it, actually, reading K1010.

“Shut up.” Magnificent tries to spit but it comes out hollow. “…what do you want me with anyways? You want to just mess with me?”

"I like seeing how people work," A states plainly, grin widening further. "I liked chaos once. But after they brought me here, they taught me how to examine things. Though they don't know they did that." He giggles. "So, yes, I just want to mess with you."

“I refuse to be just some- plaything for your amusement!” Mag snarls, building up black magic fire in his hand and then lashing out to try to burn him.

A glitches out of the way, reappearing behind him. "Fine, then!" he laughs. "Try to escape! Try to reach the surface! I'd love to see if you can break through that barrier they've set up."

Magnificent whips around and tries to lash out again. But he stops himself and just glares at A. He bares his teeth. “Fine. I will! This place can’t hold me!” He quickly teleports away- focusing on just getting away from A.

It's not too hard to teleport around the facility. Magnificent goes up to the next floor, and then the one above that. The higher he gets, the less destroyed the facility looks, with intact walls that don't have cables and wires everywhere. And the more creatures there are wandering around. How are they all surviving here? 

Magnificent appears in a hallway that ends in an upwards staircase. Right by the stairs are a couple of creatures. A bright blue snake, unusually long and thin, and some sort of combination between a stingray and a cat, with the head and front legs of a cat but the lower half of a stingray.

Magnificent stops to catch his breath and shake off some of the static from so many jumps. He then sees the creatures and makes a face. “…they have… the most peculiar creatures here…” He tries to approach the stairs and the creatures.

The catray seems to be making biscuits on a discarded bit of cloth--a white coat?--but the snake responds to Mag. It raises its head, hisses, and slithers towards the stairs. It starts floating a couple inches over the ground, using this ability to climb the steps--until, suddenly, it stops, suddenly jerking back as though it hit a wall.

Magnificent watches this with fascination. He gingerly tries to step around the snake and catray… thing- and see if he can find this barrier…

It's about five steps up the staircase. Just, suddenly, a completely invisible wall. There's no sign that it exists... though, farther up the staircase, there are small round disks pasted onto the wall, metallic and with three blue lights in the center forming a triangle. 

Magnificent narrows his eyes in determination and places his hands on the wall- and tries to pump it full of his magic. Surely a world like this wouldn’t be prepared for that?

Purple light ripples across its surface, revealing its shape. For a moment, it seems like the wall softens--and then the disks on the wall start letting out an annoying high-pitched beeping. The blue lights turn red, and a force pushes Magnificent back.

Magnificent shouts out and skids back against the floor. He growls and narrows his eyes at the disks. He has to get rid of those… he most likely can’t teleport past this wall. That’s why he stopped here… maybe… he can find someone on the other side? He does not want A to gloat though so he tries to see if he can get an even bigger concentration of magic and then rushes at the wall.

The wall bends slightly with the force. The beeping increases, becoming louder in volume. And then small bolts of lightning zap out from the disks towards the wall, hitting Magnificent.

Magnificent screeches and flies back, curling up as he’s shocked. Fucking- damnit! He bites back a frustrated angry yell and just tries to let the pain pass. There… has to be some way…! Maybe… if lightning could pass through the wall then… he gets back up and tries to shoot a bolt of purple lighting at one of the disks.

The lightning bounces back at him.

Mag cries out and tries to duck. Okay… not his greatest idea. Fucking! He yells in rage and frustration and starts stomping around, spitting out curses in Gaelic.

The catray gets up and flies away as he starts stomping around, but the snake hisses again, baring its fangs. 

"I'm almost disappointed that you didn't make it through." A appears leaning against the wall nearby. The blood from his slit throat is spilling out over his chest, absolutely covering it. "I thought surely someone from another world would make it. But I guess not. We're stuck with each other, Marvin." He grins. "Or you're stuck with me." 

And then he disappears again.

Magnificent freezes and flinches back as A appears. He yells in rage as he says his name but then he just… disappears. Mag staggers back and then ends up sliding down to the floor. He… can’t be trapped here… he can’t be. …no one was going to free him from this. For all he knows- the others from his world were more than happy to let him rot in here. He leans back and stares at the door, trying to think of something… anything.

----------- 

"Hey. Hey." They'd been driving for a few hours when J1 knocks on the half-open window connecting the cabin to the rest of the van. "Anyone who's taking a nap, wake up." 

"We're getting McDonald's," Chase says. "Tell us what you want if you want anything. Also pass me the cash."

Alt and Jackie had been dozing off pretty much the whole time. Bro tried to stay awake for a while but soon found himself falling asleep too. 

The swaps stir at the knock, Alt and Bro blinking up at the sound of food while Jackie grumbles and curls up towards Chase’s stomach. 

Bro chuckles. He digs into his bag and finds his wallet, handing over some money. “Fucking sick- uhhh I want two Big Macs and some fries- Jackie what do you want?” Jackie mumbles something against Chase. “…okay two mcchickens forJackie and a Coke.” 

“I want a 20 piece- and fries, and a sprite please.” Alt says quietly, blinking sleep out of his eyes. 

“Oh! And a coffee for me! please!” Bro adds.

"Oh thanks!" C says, taking Bro's money. 

"I want what Alt's getting," M says. 

"You got that last time, do you not want to try something new?" H asks. 

"Why? I know I like this." 

H chuckles. "I want to try the crispy one this time. And also a coffee." 

The fish one and fries with a coke, J3 says. 

"Fish fillet and fries with a coke for J3," J1 repeats. "I'll get the quarter pounder with cheese and a coffee. Unless they have shakes available, then I want a strawberry one. What're you getting, C?" 

"Big Mac and fries and drink, I'll keep it simple," C says. 

H sighs. "You know, I know, in my brain, that fast food is not healthy, I have read that so much. But it tastes so good." 

"Oh yeah, totally," J1 agrees. "So much better than back there." 

Bro chuckles, “Sometimes you just need some unhealthy food! It’s like- good for the soul… or something.” 

Alt snorts out a laugh and rolls his eyes.

"You heard that guys, we all have to heal our souls by getting McDonald's," C says. 

They pull through the drive thru and C starts ordering. 

"We do need to consider buying food stores, though," H muses. "We cannot live off fast places forever." 

"Yeah, especially since you and M are so picky," J1 says. 

"I am not picky, I just... feel like I can't eat some foods." 

"I will admit I'm picky," M says quietly. "It took them a while to find something I would like."

Bro snickers, “Alt was really picky when we were growing up. Not so much now.” 

“Yeahhh living on the streets will change that for ya.” Alt snorts. “…fast food is good sometimes- I think I prefer good cooked meals though. ..or pizza.” 

“We eat so much fucking pizza,” Bro laughs.

The van pulls up to the window and C starts taking stuff from the window. "Pass those out to everyone," he says to J1. 

"Yep. Come up here, guys." J1 hands some of the bags through the interior window to the back of the van.

Bro reaches out to grab the bags, much to Jackie’s displeasure as he’s moved and forced to sit up. 

Bro chuckles and hands him his stuff and starts handing out everyone else’s food.

"We should get pizza some time," J1 says. "It always looks so good in pictures." 

Pictures don't always live up to expectations, J3 says. 

“You’ve never had pizza?!” Bro gasps. “We should buy you all a pizza!!” 

Alt laughs, “…I’d be inclined to agree with J3 but- pizza is that good. Even just plain pepperoni.”

"I'd still want to try it," M says. "Even if it doesn't meet expectations." 

"Oh, but you will not get a hamburger?" H says teasingly. 

"No, I don't like beef stuff, they tried that." 

“I mean… we’ve probably had pizza before, we just don’t remember,” C says. “Hang on, lemme find somewhere to park do I can eat too.” 

The van parks in the lot of a strip mall and everyone digs in. 

“After this, we’re not gonna see other buildings for a while,” H says. “We will be going off road. It will be bumpy.”

“At least we got some decent sleep before that then,” Alt laughs between bites. 

Jackie grumbles and Bro pats his head.

“Back on pizza though- maybe getting some would help your memory! I mean- I think Dr. j told us that smell sometimes really helps with memory.” Bro says between bites. 

Alt nods, “Or music- music helps too.” 

“Yes but I’d like to think a decent pineapple and ham pizza would just bring everything back.” Bro laughs.

“Music, huh?” M mutters. “I wish I managed to get my music player when leaving but I had to prioritize.” 

“Maybe you can get it once we reach there,” J1 says. 

“I don’t think we should go any deeper in there than necessary,” M says in between bites of nuggets. 

We should tell you guys about the layout, J3 says. Most of it is underground. The top is just stuff for the staff. 

“How many floors is it again?” C wonders. “Below ground… seven?” 

“That sounds right,” M says.

“Damn- that’s a big facility.” Jackie comments, digging into his second sandwhich. 

Bro hums, “Maybe if we’re lucky- mag will be on one of the top floors.” 

“He’s probably desperate to get out of there…” Alt speaks up quietly, “…he talked to me once like he… he was a victim of Sclera. Like I was… if this is a place like there then… he probably wants out.” 

“Also cuz of that- A guy probably.” Jackie adds.

"I wonder if they got A back into containment," C muses. 

"Wait... SCLERA?" J1 asks. "What's that?" 

"It is the white part of your eye," H says. "Or, green, for J. The tissue that protects your eye and maintains shape." 

"How the hell do you know that?" M asks. 

"Not sure."

“It’s also that… but Well for us- it’s a company that studies magic and then uses it to make… invasive machines. They… study abnormal people like.. like lab rats.” Alt mumbles quietly, gripping at his wrist.

The group goes quiet. 

"Oh. Okay, so it's just like this company," C says. "I mean... I don't think you could call us magic. That sort of implies... that it's more... mystical? But we are different. And... they did study us." 

"Light way of putting it," H mutters. "Every time I met C it was because I needed to heal him." 

Ambrel, J3 spells out. That's what the company is called here.

Alt shudders and goes to hold his arms, curling up his legs to his chest- his food forgotten. “Studying is also a mild way of putting it. They… they tortured me… d-didn’t see me as human. I was only there for a few days I think but… it felt so familiar and I don’t know why and n-now we’re going to a place just like it-“ Alt breathes heavily- starting to panic. 

Bro is quick to scoop Alt up and try to calm him down. “It’s okay Alt… it’s okay…! It’s not Sclera- nothing is gonna happen to you here… you’re gonna be okay…”

C stares at Alt. "I... I get it." He absentmindedly traces a long scar on his arm. "It was... the same for me. For all of us. Just... in different ways." 

J1 turns around, staring through the window, wanting to go back there but not sure if his support would be welcome. "We're all feeling that," he says quietly. "We don't want to go back there. But we have to. We can't leave anyone else there." 

Alt looks back towards C and J1 with red-rimmed eyes. “…I guess… we all got to be… brave together.” 

Bro smiles gently, “That’s the spirit. None of you have to do this alone.”

"Remember to breathe," M says quietly. "We're not going to stay there long." He hesitates. "Do you... want something to hold? Lia's a bit delicate, but..."

Alt looks to M and starts to slow down his breathing but he blinks at him and then smiles, “um… I-if you don’t… mind? I… I think that would h-help…”

M nods. “Sure. Here, I think Seth is good to squeeze. And sometimes you need to squeeze something.” He passes the seal to Alt. 

If it gets too much, you can wait outside, J3 offers. Do you have a phone? We don’t, but if two of you do, we can communicate.

Alt takes Seth and holds him tight in his arms, closing his eyes for a second to breathe. He looks up to J3 in time to see his signs and he shakes his head. “No… I… I need to be there to glitch you all. I… I’ve handled scarier things before… I.. I didn’t have it as bad as I’m sure you guys did.” He says with a sad smile. He squeezes Seth a bit more. 

Bro frowns and hugs him a bit closer to him. 

J3 nods slowly. Alright. If you’re sure. But remember, just because others might have had it worse doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad for you. 

Alt hesitates at J3's words then nods, burrowing more against Bro's side. 

“It’s gonna be okay…” Bro reassures everyone, “We’re a fierce team! I’m sure it’ll be a quick mission! Get in- fuck some shit up! Find mag and j and then get the hell out of there!”

J1 quickly shoves the last of his burger into his mouth. “Alright… we should tell these guys what to expect.” 

“I mean, it depends on if the facility stayed how it was after the escape, or if the company fixed it back to how it was before,” C reasons. 

“Before, it was very cold and there were cameras everywhere,” M says. “And groups of guards. And alarms. There’s only one elevator from the surface to the lower levels.” 

“After, a lot of the subjects broke free,” H says. “Animal subjects, I mean. Us and J and A were the only ones like humans. Many of them destroyed parts of the levels. And if things have continued, I do not think there are many people down there anymore. And then there is A1010. I found its file once. It can shapeshift, cause hallucinations, hypnotize people, and control electronics.” 

“And there’s his knife,” C adds. “That can cut through anything. Literally. Except for J’s optic cord, for some reason.”

The swaps listen with wide eyes. Until- "Wait IT TRIED TO CUT OUT HIS EYE???" Jackie screeches. 

Alt looks paler and squeezes Seth more as he hears what A can do.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds!” C says quickly. “J’s eye can pop out of his head on its own! And it’s also, uh, alive? Has a mind of its own? Look, it’s one of the weirdest things in that place, but you can get used to it. J calls the eye Sam. He used to call it A, because they called it J0702-A, but we all decided that would get confusing.”

Jackie does not look comforted by this. "What the fuckkkk?" 

"Okay so uh- avoid the knife A has- got it." Bro says quickly. "Anything else we should know?" 

“Not off the top of my head,” H says slowly. 

“What about your guy?” M asks. “What can he do?”

“Hypnotism usually-“ Bro says, squeezing Alt’s shoulder. “He also has like black magic and uses a lot of fire. But usually he tries to make people listen to him and do whatever he says. Mess with your mind.”

M blinks. “And… that guy’s me?” he whispers sadly. 

“In another universe, it doesn’t count,” J1 says stubbornly. 

“Right…” M still looks a bit unsettled. 

Bro nods to J1’s words, “It doesn’t count. Just like how A isn’t Alt, Mag isn’t you, M.”

“Okay, so basically don’t touch anything, don’t go near any animals, watch out for guards, and always be on your guard mentally,” C sums up. “That’s fine. We can do that. We’ll have numbers on our side.” His optimism is somehow both forced and genuine.

Jackie snorts out a laugh, “Is that all? …yeah- we can do that. Sure we can. I’m not gonna let some- creepy fucking building get the best of us!” 

Alt hugs Seth a bit more- wanting to give him back to Marvin but… having something to hold right now is nice. Like… he can almost imagine its Glitches.

“Alright!” C takes a sip from his drink. “Let’s just maintain this confidence for the next couple hours until we get there, then!”

 He puts the van into gear again and starts driving.

#SATCV #SATCV Facility #love this part #especially rping them getting mcdonalds XD #its surprisingly fun to write the boys doing mudane things we do everyday XD #also i just love all the boys interactions this chapter its so good <3 #alt anti #swap magnificent #bro fantastic #jackie mann