Discover Top Posts Tagged with #inversion subversion

Inversion Subversion

Chapter 5: Rescue Mission

Bro wakes up in a strange place. Again. For the third time. This time, he's on the floor of a wide room. The floor is made of a lot of metal squares, brightly lit by panels in the ceiling. In one wall is a wide window, through which he can see Dr. Prosopsi and the other doctors from before.

Bro almost wants to just keep his eyes closed and pretend to keep sleeping. But eventually he clumsily pushes himself up and groans, rubbing at his head. He takes in the room then glares once he sees all the doctors through the windows. “…okay… what fresh hell do you have for me now?” He asks, annoyance and exhaustion clear in his voice.

Dr. Prosopsi presses a button on a control panel. It turns out to be an intercom, as her voice comes through a speaker, sounding tinny. "Hello, Mr. Brody! How's the leg?"

It's... fine, actually. Completely normal.

Bro makes a face at her- then looks down at his leg. He experimentally flexes it and tries to see if it hurts. …nope- it’s like he never broke it. “…S’okay I guess- “He mutters. He doesn’t want to give Prosopsi an even bigger head.

"Good to hear!" Prosopsi says cheerfully. "Now, you're currently in our testing facility. This is used to help train our C&C guards, but it was currently upgraded for our EX project--”

“I thought that was cancelled?" says one of the doctors, their voice more distant. Is that the same doctor who talked about Portal?

Prosopsi looks over at them, briefly letting go of the intercom button to talk to them. Then she turns back to the window. "My point is, we have some physical tests to do."

“EX project?” Bro questions. Then he sighs and leans back on his hands. “…fucking figures. You only see me as your little lab rat right now. You gonna make me run through mazes?”

"Not exactly." Prosopsi gestures at the other doctors, who immediately mess around with the control panels. One of the tiles on the ground slides open, and a platform rises up from the ground. On it are three humanoid robots with thin limbs and cubes with cameras for heads. Two have heavy metal spheres for hands, while the third has curved blades. They run forward--or roll forward, as they have wheels on their feet--and charge at Bro.

Bro yells in surprise and immediately bursts into the air to dodge these guys. “Fucking shit! You’re seriously gonna make me fight without my fucking shoes??!”

“Maybe you can have them if they seem like they’d be a help!” Prosopsi calls.

The bot with the blade hands reaches up and swings its blade towards Bro’s stomach.

Bro looks over to Prosopsi and gives her a look like she’s crazy- and just barely dodged getting sliced in half by the bot- it’s blade just grazing his stomach. He growls and then builds up energy in his foot to try to land on this robot’s head and crush it.

The bot dodges out of the way, its wheeled feet giving it an advantage. Bro lands heavily on the floor and the other two bots roll forward to attack with their blunt metal spheres.

Bro gasps then gracefully rolls away to dodge, landing behind the robots. He builds up energy on his fist and tries to punch one of the robots from behind. Maybe he can dent it enough to mess with its mechanisms!

His fist connects and the robot flies forward, a huge dent in its back. It skids across the floor and stops moving.

But there are still two more to deal with! They both charge Bro at once.

Bro leaps into the air to avoid their actions then goes to try to kick the robot with the knife hands- seems like that’s the biggest threat!

His kick lands directly on the joint where the robot’s neck meets its body. Something must have been damaged there because it collapses immediately under Bro’s weight—but the last one comes in swinging!

Bro lands and spins around, grabbing the last robot by its arm and then throwing it into the nearest wall.

The bot goes sailing through the air. Despite the room being wide enough to fit a couple tennis courts, Bro is able to throw it at the wall with the window, where it smashes right next to the glass.

The doctors inside all jump in surprise. Prosopsi looks impressed. She turns to talk to the others excitedly.

Bro pants in the center of the room, blue glowing brightly in his eyes as he glares at the doctors. “That good enough for you?!” He yells.

There's no immediate answer, as the doctors continue to discuss.

{I don't think it's over yet...} Anti says slowly.

“Yeah no shit…” Bro whispers, “They don’t seem like the type to give up easily.” He takes the time to massage out his muscles and his foot. “Jeez… it sucks to fight without good soles…”

{That does seem a bit unfair,} Anti says. {I guess they were worried they might be weapons. I've been told it hurts more to get kicked by a shoe than a bare foot.}

“Cowards-“ Bro mumbles.

"Alright, time for the second test," Prosopsi suddenly says over the intercom. Three tiles slide open, platforms rising up. One has two robots, another one with blades for hands, and one with nunchucks for hands. Another platform has a robot that's taller, without wheels for feet, its head a pyramid shape instead of the square camera.

And another... has a pair of boots. Not his shoes, but they look sturdy enough.

{Oh they heard you,} Anti comments.

Bro braces himself and gets into a fighting stance. Then he sees the boots and his expression falls into a look of annoyance. He looks back at the doctors and gestures, “Really? This feels patronizing!”

Prosopsi smiles and waves.

Bro flips Prosopsi off.

The big robot's head swivels around to him. The point of the pyramid starts to glow, and a beam of orange light shoots at him while the other robots start to charge.

Bro rolls out of the way of the beam and the charging robots. He shakes himself out and then zips into the air, trying to kick the pyramid headed robot in its head to damage the laser.

His kick slams against it--but this pyramid is more sturdy than the cube cameras the other robots have. Bro yelps in surprise as his kick doesn’t hit. Damn that hurt!

The laser bot takes a step backwards and its arms fly up towards Bro's leg. It's going to sandwich his leg between them! He tries to scramble back but the moment the robot has a hold of his leg it throws him to the side.

He’s flung through the air and hits the ground briefly before pushing back up. He heaves for breath and wipes at his face. He’s gotta take down that laser… he builds up energy in his hand and then shoots out a bolt of concentrated electricity towards the center of its head.

The lightning hits the robot just as it's charging up for another beam attack. Its head jerks back and it collapses to the ground.

Bro laughs out triumphantly as he watches the big behemoth go down. That's the big one taken care of, but the other two are still in play, rushing for Bro. They come at him from either side, one swinging its nunchucks, the other slicing with its blade hands.

Bro just barely dodges the nunchucks, leaping back into the air- only for the blades of the second one to slice across his back. He yells out in pain and quickly flies up to the ceiling and presses against it to get his bearings. “S-Son of bitch! These things don’t hold back!” He breathes.

Okay- next threat is the one with the sharp blades. He builds up energy in his hand and then darts down as fast as he can to try to cave in that one’s head. Usually he has to hold back when fighting criminals- but here he can go all out!

His fist slams into the blade bot's head, denting it immediately. The lens of the camera pops out and it collapses. Through the window, the doctors look surprised and delighted. Then the nunchuck one immediately attacks again before Bro can really take in his triumph.

Bro uses the other robot he just destroyed as leverage to spin around and kick the nunchuck robot back in its camera too. The kick hits the bot right in the lens, and it also collapses.

Bro lands on the ground, more blue power glowing brightly in his eyes and somewhat in his veins as he catches his breath.

For a moment, there's quiet.

Beyond the window, Prosopsi and the other doctors are buzzing excitedly.

{...you're fucking badass, Chase,} Anti says, impressed. {I'm guessing you hold back when it's people?}

Bro pushes back his hair and nods, grinning. {ha thanks! Yeah, don’t really fight anything but humans so I hold back a bunch. S’been a while since I got to attack with full force!} While he has a second to breathe, he goes to put on the other pair of boots- though he frowns at them. They’re not as fun as his hero boots… they feel weird too.

{I don't know why they didn't just give you your own shoes back,} Anti says. {Or like, your jacket. The fuck could be in your jacket? Assholes.}

{You fucking said it… stealing all my identity as a hero-!} Bro makes an annoyed face as he finishes tying up the shoes. {and it’s fucking cold in these labs- my jacket would be so nice right now…}

The intercom turns on again. "We're going to be skipping a couple levels of the tests, since you've proven to be very capable," Prosopsi says. Some of the tiles in the floor and ceiling rise up and down, forming columns, platforms, stalactites, and holes in the floor.

Bro whips around as the room transforms, eyes widening. “Yo- what the fuck?!”

More of the tiles open up, and more robots rise up into the room. There are two of the blade hand robots, two of the pyramid head robots, and two really bulky robots that are at least seven feet tall with arms thick as barrels. The pyramid robots instantly fire at Bro.

Bro gasps as he sees all the new robots and instantly dives behind a pillar on the ground. “You all are fucking crazy!!” He shouts towards the window.

He tries to gather his thoughts and experimentally tries to see if he can kick the pillar- only for it to hurt like a bitch! Okay okay- no using these for weapons… it’d be easier to grab a robot probably. He can still use these to his advantage though…. Somehow. He tries to see where the nearest robot is and dives towards it to try to punch its camera out.

This time, it's like the bots are expecting him. The one he's aiming for swivels out of the way, and the other blade bot rolls over, swinging the blade right at his face!

Bro isn’t expecting them to be ready for him- the fuck?? Are they learning or something?! And so he’s not prepared and gets slashed across the nose and cheek. He yells out and slams to the ground, holding his face. “F-Fuck!”

The blade bots continue to approach, trying to slice him. Meanwhile, the pyramid bots are charging up as well, and the big bots are slowly approaching, their footsteps thudding heavily on the ground.

Bro isn't ready- the blades come down and shred into his arm and side. He screams and starts to panic- there's so little places to escape! These things are gonna kill him! He desperately looks around for one of the holes in the ground and tears towards one.

The bots try to slice him some more as he moves past but he's too fast, even dodging the beams that the pyramids shoot towards him. He dives into a hole in the ground. It's about four feet deep, its sides made of the same smooth metal as the floor.

Bro presses up against the walls of the hole, sinking down and pulling his knees towards him. He struggles to catch his breath. He grips at one of his numerous injuries and pants out, "T-Theyre fucking trying to kill me! Y-Yeah I heal fast but at this rate i'm gonna bleed out if I keep getting slashed by those fuckers! T-There's too many!"

{If it's any consolation, I don't think IRIS would want you to die,} Anti says.

Indeed, Bro hears the sound of collapsing metal. Seems like some of the robots have been deactivated.

"Subject--Mr. Brody, please come out and continue the test," Dr. Prosopsi says through the intercom. "It will continue until all enemies have been defeated." The heavy thuds of the big robots are continuing to approach.

Bro growls as he hears Prosopsi catch herself from calling him ‘subject’. He does not want to keep jumping hoops for these bastards! “Fuck you!” He calls out to them. But he doesn’t want to be pommeled inside a hole… so he pushes off and flies back out into the air to see what he’s still dealing with.

It looks like the two blade bots have been deactivated, and are now sprawled on the floor. The two heavy bots are still around, as are the pyramid bots--who both immediately aim for him when he appears. One fires.

Bro immediately gets grazed by the laser on his leg. He bites back a yelp then yells as he hurtles himself down towards the pyramid bot with two fists outstretched, charging both up with energy to knock into it like a bullet.

He crashes into it, tackling it to the ground. The other pyramid robot tried to shoot him with another beam in the middle of his dive but he was too fast. The bot beneath him is immediately broken. The heavy bots are getting close! He just has the two of them and the last pyramid bot now.

Bro sees the others are closing in and he tries to breathe. He grabs the foot of the robot he just downed and tries to throw it towards one of the heavy bots.

It smashes against the heavy bot's head with a great deal of force. It wobbles on its feet then crashes to the ground. It's not deactivated yet but it's having trouble getting back to its feet. The other heavy bot speeds up just a bit. It raises one of its thick arms and swings it towards Bro. To the side, the last pyramid bot fires another blast.

Bro is more preoccupied with the laser than the heavy robot. So he dodges the blast but ends up getting hit out of the air by the heavy bot like someone swatting a fly with a fly swatter.

He groans and pushes himself up, trying to think about how to approach this. He’s starting to feel a little dizzy… He zips towards the other heavy robot and tries to see if he can grab its arm and hold on. If he can get a good grip- maybe he can yank it under its legs and throw it off balance!

He grabs its arm easily enough--but it yanks its arm out of his grip with just as little effort, sending Bro spinning through the air.

Bro yells in surprise as he’s flipped in dizzying circles and struggles to right himself. Okay… bad strategy. Maybe he should just do what he did with the other one. He shifts course and goes to kick the pyramid one in the head.

It's in the middle of charging up when Bro kicks it. This seems to have caused some sort of backfire as the pyramid head snaps backwards and some of the panels burst open, sending out sparks of orange energy. Bro whistles, impressed at the explosion and giggles to himself. “Eat it fucker!”

The heavy bot is continuing forward, pulling back its arm for a big punch.He does not see the punch until the last second- and then it’s punching him in the gut and sending him rocketing across the room. He hits the ground then rolls, coughing up a lung and wheezing as he holds his stomach.

If there's a bright side to this, it's that the heavy bot is still very slow, so he has some time to recover while it walks towards him.

{C'mon, you're almost there!} Anti says encouragingly. {You're faster than this thing! Maybe you can get behind it or something?}

Bro coughs and struggles to take in a breath as he watches the robot lumber towards him slowly. He’s really starting to feel all the hits he’s taken and all his injuries… using so much energy all at once isn’t something he’s used to. If he uses up too much his body won’t be able to heal either… so he needs to end this quickly. Maybe then he’ll get a rest…

He bites down a pained whimper as he pushes himself back up to his feet. He is faster… maybe there’s a weakness on its back? He cracks his neck then rushes towards the last robot and tries to go between its legs to get behind it.

It tries to bend over to catch him but these things must not have the best coordination because Bro slips right between its bulky arms and legs. There! On the robot's upper back, just under where the neck joint connects, is a clear panel of some sort, through which some circuitry can be seen.

Bro grins and then rears back in the air before diving down to punch it with as much force as he can muster.

The clear material cracks and his fist goes right through! His hand is buried in circuitry and wires. The heavy bot tries to turn around to get him, but of course, Bro is on its back. It tries to reach back to him but its arms aren't meant to bend that way.

{You can control lightning right?! Do it now!} Anti says.

“What?! N-Not as well as Alt can!” Bro cries. But he grabs onto the wires and pulls them back slightly, trying to concentrate. He tries to redirect the lightning in these wires to overload the robot!

Some sparks fly. The robot freezes in place. It sways back and forth for a moment and then falls forward, slamming into the ground. Bro falls with it, still holding onto its back and wires.

Through the window, Bro can see the doctors chattering excitedly. He shakily pushes himself to his feet and glares at the doctors, blaring his teeth as his eyes glow almost neon blue and sparks fly around his fists. He staggers off the robot and starts to walk towards the window- he’s gonna break all their fucking faces in! He’s not some spectacle- some lab rat for them to watch run around!

But then, the room dips and spins and Bro wavers, swaying slightly. Then his eyes roll up a bit into his head as he collapses bonelessly to the floor.

As he falls, he begins to smell something sweet... and a bit familiar...

Bro tries to lift his head and croaks out, “w-wait… no…!” He doesn’t want to fall asleep again!

And then darkness consumes his vision.

◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈◆◈

They drive for a while before Yvonne tells them to divert to a small dirt road, and then they drive for a while down that before she tells them to divert again.

Frederick is a bit upset, saying that his car isn't designed for going off-road, but he does it anyway. Alt is nervously balled up in his seat, hugging his backpack and watching the landscape outside their windows for any sign.

Not long after that, a tall stone wall comes into view. The tops of buildings are visible poking over the wall... and one has the IRIS logo on the side.

"We should probably stop here and walk the rest of the way," Jackie says.

Alt glitches upright as he recognizes the logo and then nods. “Y-Yeah… I should be able to just glitch us back here once we get everyone.” He says as he hops out of the car and puts on his backpack.

"Hopefully," Frederick mutters. "I don't want to leave this car behind. I still have four thousand pounds left on the loan."

Jackie laughs. "It'll be fine." He follows Alt out of the car.

Yvonne grins. "If Alt can't glitch us, I'll teleport us. It'll take the rest of my magic, but it's worth it." Then she and Frederick step out as well.

"Alright." Frederick claps his hands together. "Jackie, get over here."

Jackie walks over and Frederick puts his hands on his shoulders. They begin to glow green, and then the light ripples over Jackie's form from the point of magic. The invisibility follows after that, and Jackie disappears, leaving only a person-shaped distortion in the air.

Alt blinks and then grins, “Jackie! You look just like Chase did when we hid from Glitch!” "Oh I do?!" Jackie looks down at himself, spinning around, causing the person-shaped distortion to shift. "Cool! “I really need to learn an invisibility spell…” Alt sighs.

“I could print a spell out for you when we get home if you want, Alt," Frederick offers.

Alt grins at Fredrick and nods, “That’d be great!” Then, he shakes out his head and straightens up, “uh- should I get into one of our phones first or… wait until we’ve walked a bit more?”

"That depends, are you comfortable doing that?" Yvonne asks.

Alt shifts on his feet and is quiet for a second as he pulls up his mask. “…I can walk for a bit-“

"Then let's wait until we're closer," Yvonne says.

"Alright, let's go, then," Jackie says, and some footsteps appear in the grass as he starts leading the way towards the facility.

Yvonne laughs. "That looks funny." Alt laughs too and follows after him.

Frederick grins as well. The two of them start heading that way too. "The disguise spell is concentration-based, so it's probably better that we wait until we're closer to cast those as well," he says.

Alt nods and looks at the IRIS buildings. He holds his arms and sighs. “I hope Chase is okay… who knows what they could be doing to him…?”

"If only we could contact Anti, I'm sure he would know," Jackie says.

"Whatever's happening, we'll get him out fast," Frederick promises.

"These guys are scientists, right?" Yvonne says. "Are they doing some sort of experiments on him?"

The air shivers--no wait, that's Jackie shuddering. "Let's not talk about it."

Alt opens his mouth to say but then shuts it at hearing Jackie. He nods. “If these guys are anything like SCLERA then…” He bites his lip. “I’m also worried about Anti… he can’t feel pain so I’m sure he’s fine physically but… god I hope we can find them both fast…”

"It is very weird that he hasn't reached out to us," Jackie says slowly. "But maybe he's just trying to help Bro escape?”

“I'm sure he's fine," Frederick says.

"Mmm..." Jackie sounds a bit uncertain. "Well... he's not undefeatable. One time, Schneep and Marvin came up with something together. Some sort of magical EMP. They managed to capture Anti. So if they could figure something out, surely an organization like IRIS could." He sighs. "Let's not talk about it."

Alt shudders wildly at that and grips his arms. He can’t imagine getting taken down like that… “I-I hope he’s helping Chase. H-He would be freaking out, being in there alone. It’s been a long time since he’s been alone…”

Frederick puts a hand on Alt's shoulder. "Whatever's happened in there, we're almost there now." He nods towards the facility walls. "We'll be able to help." Alt gives Fredrick a tight smile and nods.

The walls slowly loom closer. After a while, Yvonne stops in her tracks. "This seems like a good spot to prepare," she says. "We don't want to get in range of any cameras. " She takes a deep breath. "What do we want our disguises to look like? We can adjust them as long as we're concentrating on the spell, but where do we start?"

Alt makes a face and thinks, “I mean… I can try to describe some of the doctors I saw in my visions… but that runs the risk of us running into the real ones…”

"A place like this must have security," Jackie mutters. "Those people are a lot less memorable than the scientists in charge surely will be. Did you see any security guards in your visions?"

“That is a good idea! Much easier to sneak in that way- more anonymity!” Alt quickly nods, “Hm, they wear all black and have mirror visors over their eyes. And the logo on their chest in white.” He taps on his chest where he remembers them being.

"So... like this?" Yvonne closes her eyes. Foggy wisps of blue magic wrap around her arms, legs, and torso, and solidify into a uniform that vaguely looks like what Alt described.

Alt watches and then glitches around Yvonne to look. “Hmm… the fabric is more… like windbreaker material? And the gloves are longer- and they have a gun holster on their right leg… and their boots are taller. Oh! And now that I remember the logo is on their sleeve not their chest! About this big.” He gestures to the size. “But other than that- great!” He grins sheepishly. “Sorry sometimes the details don’t come until you see it the wrong way you know?”

"No no, that makes sense," Yvonne says. As Alt talks, her disguise shifts around, growing and shrinking and changing material appropriately.

Frederick watches this, then closes his eyes. Green tendrils of power wrap around him, and an identical uniform appears around him.

"That looks good on you!" Jackie says.

"Really?" Frederick grins.

"I mean--I like your suit better, but yeah!"

Frederick laughs.

Alt laughs too and then gives them both a once over. He gives them a thumbs up. “Looks perfect!” He nervously buzzes with glitches as he looks around. “Uh once I’m in one of your phones- I won’t be able to see but I can hear… and I can glitch out the second you need more or I think you guys are in trouble, okay?”

"Thank you, Alt." Frederick smiles at him. "We'll find Bro quickly." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone, holding it out.

Alt nods with a small smile and then glitches into Fredrick’s phone. The surface jitters with the colors of his glitches and it seems like his phone probably isn’t useable now- it looks like it does when a phone’s light screen gets broken.

Yvonne leans over and frowns. "That looks... concerning.”

“I'm going to assume that's normal," Frederick says. He puts his phone back in his pocket--passing right through the disguise to do so. "Alright, let's hurry." He and Yvonne add some illusory helmets to their uniforms, then they and Jackie hurry forward.

There's an indent in the wall, with a metal door inside it. They walk up to it, hesitating for a moment. But then a camera in the corner beeps, a red light on it turning green, and something clicks. The two of them glance at each other and Frederick reaches for the door, opening it up.

"What was that about?" Frederick mutters.

"I guess there was something that recognized our uniform," Jackie replies.

They pass through a short tunnel, and emerge into an interior yard.

"Where do we go from here?" Jackie whispers.

Yvonne pauses for a moment. "The big one in the middle."

This courtyard is filled with people. Most of them are wearing blue or white coats, while some are wearing the black guard uniforms. Frederick and Yvonne shift their disguises slightly to fill in some details. Nobody seems to look at them for longer than a glance... though some people do a double-take or squint at the distortion caused by invisible Jackie. The group walks up to the central, largest building and find a doorway... but this one doesn't open like the one that led into the facility. Frederick grabs the handle only to find it locked.

"Keycard scanner," Jackie points out. There's a black box next to the door. "What d'we do?"

Alt struggles to figure out something but then tries to make Frederick’s phone vibrate like he’s gotten a text.

"Oh." Frederick takes the phone out again--his disguise instinctively forming a pocket in a reasonable place so it doesn't look like he's pulling it straight through the fabric. "Yeah?"

Alt’s voice comes out from the phone like he’s whispering from the other line. “Try to put your phone towards the scanner- maybe I can short it out!”

Frederick nods and does so.

Alt reaches out with his magic and tries to send a small electrical charge to open the scanner.

The black box lets out a zzzrt! sound. Yvonne tries the door again and it opens easily. "Yes!" Jackie says. "Thanks, Alt!"

Alt chuckles, “No problem. Hopefully I can do that with any others we come across.”

"Hopefully," Frederick says, and they head inside.

This area looks vaguely like an office building. They walk into a wide lobby-like space, with rows of chairs and tables with magazines. There are hallways leading left, right, and forward.

"Yvonne?" Frederick asks.

"Um... up," Yvonne says.

"Great. We need to find stairs or a lift, then."

Alt hums as he listens. “All these fancy places have lifts- there’s gotta be one nearby…”

"Guessing you don't have any particular preference to which way we go, then," Frederick says. "Forward it is, then."

They head down the hallway, passing doors as they head deeper into the building. Eventually, they reach a T-intersection. To the left are more doors... though these are a bit different, being made of dark, heavy-looking metal. To the right... is a set of elevator doors.

"Yep, there it is," Jackie says. He hurries over and presses the button, leaving Frederick and Yvonne to catch up. By the time they get there, the elevator has arrived. The doors open and they head inside--and all look up.

"Huh... why's there a square missing from the ceiling?" Yvonne asks. "Doesn't seem safe."

Alt hears this and hums. “…maybe- do you think that might have been Chase trying to escape?! He’s strong enough to punch off a metal door like that!”

"Ooo maybe!" Jackie says, cheerful at first. But then he pauses and continues in a duller tone. "But I think the place would be on alert if he actually escaped so... I guess he failed.”

“It's a good sign, though," Frederick says determinedly. "Yvonne? Where next?”

“Just press buttons to take us up floor by floor," Yvonne says.

Frederick nods and pushes the button for the next floor up.

Alt makes a sad noise at this. “I always feel like places like this keep their unethical stuff on the lowest floor- but maybe this one is different.” He muses.

"This whole place is unethical," Jackie mutters. "I don't think it gets more or less ethical depending on the level."

“…touché-“ Alt replies.

They head up to the next floor. Yvonne frowns and shakes her head. "Go up still. I think... it might be that one." Frederick presses the next button. The elevator continues up. By the time it stops at the next floor, Yvonne nods. The two of them glance at each other and hurry out through the doors, finding themselves in a short white hallway with a pair of double doors at the end.

Alt makes sure he’s quiet as they exit the elevator- but his nerves are making the phone buzz with a bit of static and the screen glitches a bit more.

"Ah shit, there's another keycard scanner," Jackie reports, walking up to the double doors. "Alt?”

“We're getting really close now, it might be safe for you to come out," Yvonne reports. "If you want," Frederick adds.

Alt zips out of the phone as soon as he gets the okay, taking in a couple deep breaths. “God- that always feels so weird… tingly-“ He then looks at the scanner and places a hand over it- trying to short circuit this one too.

But this time, when the scanner buzzes, the door doesn't unlock. Alt blinks in surprise when it doesn’t work and looks down at his hands, “Huh.. I don’t think being in the phone messed with my power- in fact I think it gave me a little boost… weird-“

"Maybe this one just has higher security, don't worry about it," Jackie says to Alt.

"Oh, for--" Yvonne throws a hand in the air. "Alright, we're dropping the subtlety." She disappears in a puff of blue smoke, reappearing on the other side. She tries to open it from there--but the door is still locked.

Frederick sighs. "It sounds like you did something, Alt. Maybe... maybe we can now unlock it with magic?" He puts a hand on the door and concentrates. There's a clunk, and when Frederick tries to open the door this time, it pulls easily.

Alt blinks as the door opens then chuckles, “Well- at least something worked! Where to know, Yvonne?” He asks as he hurries through the doors.

"Hmm." Yvonne pauses. This door is lined with more metal doors. Thick ones. She walks forward, leading the others, and points to one of the doors. "Through there. He's through there.”

“I bet these are cells or something," Frederick mutters.

Alt’s heart leaps through his chest as he rushes towards the door Yvonne pointed too. He almost glitches through by himself- but then stops to think and looks back at the others. “S-Should I try to glitch us all through?”

"You go in, Alt," Jackie says. "We'll stay out here and figure out a way to open up the door." Frederick is already crouching, examining the door.

Alt looks grateful at them all and nods, glitching through to the other side.

The room beyond is a strange long rectangle shape, with a bed and an alcove with a curtain at the far end. Bro is lying on the bed. He's barely coming out of whatever drugs they used. And he… he looks terrible. So many cuts on his arms and a nasty looking one on his face. He looks exhausted, dark bags under his eyes and tears in his clothes. And missing clothes too! Where are his jacket, hat and boots? He has some boots on but they are not what he would wear.

Alt gasps and glitches over to be by his bed and tries to shake him awake. “C-Chase?!”

Bro groans quietly and blearily opens his eyes, still groggy and unable to focus from whatever was used to knock him out. But… the sounds and the smell of metal in the air. “A…Alt…?” Bro croaks.

Alt chokes on a quiet sob and goes to hold his hand. “Y-Yeah, Chase, it’s me! We’re here to get you out of here…!”

Bro smiles dazedly and then looks behind Alt, something occurring to him. “A-Alt… c-careful… cameras-!”

Alt stiffens at this and looks around the room, trying to see where the cameras are in the room.

There are two in the room, hanging from diagonal corners. And... definitely facing towards Alt and Bro. In addition to them, one of Bro's ankles is in a cuff tethering him to the ground. A green light comes from the doorway, and tendrils of green magic creep from the gap. There's a creaking groaning sound as the others outside work on getting in. One of the cameras swivels to face the door instead.

Alt narrows his eyes in determination and throws out both of his hands- each one sending a bolt of lightning to try to destroy the cameras.

The nearest one sparks and fizzles, drooping in its cradle. The other one, despite being hit by lightning, only sparks a little but seems functional.

Frederick pulls the door open. He lost concentration on his disguise spell, so it's very clear who he is. He looks at the sparking cameras, then at Alt. "Well. Definitely time to get out of here, then.”

Alt looks ready to blast the other camera again, eyes flaring with magic- but gets distracted by hearing the door open. He nods.

“Bro!" Jackie's voice shouts. Bro suddenly feels a pair of arms around him.

Bro stiffens slightly at being grabbed since he’s still waking up. He weakly opens up his eyes and is confused why he doesn’t see anything. “…am I being hugged by the air right now? Or am I still tripping?” He mumbles out.

Jackie laughs. "I'm invisible, Bro! It's me, Jackie! We snuck in--Frederick, can you dispell the spell?"

Frederick claps his hands, and Jackie suddenly appears. "Like that?”

“Yeah, thanks." Jackie looks back at Bro and grins. "It's so good to see you! Once we realized what happened we ran right here.”

Bro blinks then laughs and hugs Jackie back- though it’s not as tight as he did before. “H-Hey! God… it’s so good to see you all…”

“Are you alright? I mean, obviously not, but--" Jackie says. Bro looks at everyone and breathes, “H-How did you guys know I was here? How did you find me?”

“I used another scrying spell- and Yvonne was able to track you,” Alt says with a smile.

“Mmm thank god you all found me… I dun wanna fight more robots…” Bro slurs sleepily.

Yvonne pokes her head into the room. "Oof. What did they do to you?”

“I can fix that." Frederick walks over. He places a hand on Bro's shoulder, healing up the worst of the wounds. "I can do more later, but I want to save my magic until we're out of here."

Bro blinks in surprise as the biggest wounds, his back, side, cuts on his legs and bruised ribs feel loads better. He seems to get some clarity back and he nods. “T-This is plenty, Frederick… I-I hope I won’t slow you all down…”

“You? Slow us down? C’mon Chase,” Alt tries to laugh.

Bro looks serious though as he shakes his head, “They made me use a lot of my power earlier- I-i haven’t been this low since I first got my powers…”

Alt’s eyes widen in surprise. “Woah…”

Bro then also kicks up his tethered leg with a grimace. “I’m also stuck… I-I haven’t been able to break out of this- and we need to f-find where they’re keeping Anti…!”

Alt gasps, “So they did capture him?!”

"What the fuck?!" Jackie gasps.

"I--they were able to --what the--how?!" Frederick actually looks more shocked. Anti has always seemed invincible and super powerful to him.

"God..." Jackie shakes his head. "Well we pretty much just revealed that we were here now, so we have to hurry!" He looks at the tether. "These are like the things in SCLERA... JJ was able to break out of those, wasn't he? So Frederick, Yvonne, you should be able to do something."

Yvonne steps forward. She holds up a hand, gathering some magic in her hand. "Hold still," she says, and then shoots it forward at the tether.

It slices through the plasticky material easily enough.

Bro shakes his foot once it’s off and grins tiredly at Yvonne. “T-Thanks.” Yvonne makes an okay sign with her fingers.

Bro staggers to try to push himself up, “You’re all right we need to… to hurry and get Anti and get out of here.”

“Once we find him, I can glitch us all out,” Alt reassures, going to help Bro up. Bro staggers a bit but seems okay to walk. “Do you know where Anti might be, Chase?”

“Um… I-I almost got to him before… he’s… lower- lower than we are right now. Right, Anti?” Bro asks, looking up.

Alt gives him a look like he’s crazy.

{Right,} Anti says. {After seeing what was in the elevator shaft, I think I might be on the bottom floor.}

Jackie raises an eyebrow. "Is he talking to you telepathically?"

Bro shakes his head, “A part of him is stuck in my brain. The… wern..tickle… something. I’ve been able to hear him this whole time-”

“Wait- he’s stuck in your brain?!” Alt asks, mouth falling open.

“We can worry about it later! He says he thinks he’s on the bottom floor.” Bro says quickly.

"So... Anti is able to split into two people?" Yvonne says, confused. "Being in two places at once?”

“That makes sense, actually," Jackie says.

“I mean… he’s just like… energy,” Alt says. “He’s been able to split between my phone and Bro’s and be in multiple places… he’s never tried to go in our brains though-“

Frederick frowns. "Wait, did he mean the ground floor or the basement?”

“There's a basement?" Jackie asks.

"Yeah, didn't you see on the buttons? B, G, 1, 2, 3. Basement, ground floor, first floor, so on."

{...well I didn't know there was a basement but now that I do, I think I'm there,} Anti says.

Bro stands up straighter, “Basement, he says basement.”

“Let’s hurry then!” Alt says, grabbing onto Bro and offering his hand to the others. “I can glitch us to the lift!”

Frederick and Yvonne grab onto each other, and then Alt's hand. Jackie is about to, but he then stiffens and turns towards the door. There are footsteps thundering down the hall--from the same direction they came from. "Go go go go go!" he says, grabbing onto Alt's shoulder.

Alt immediately shuts his eyes and focuses on getting them back onto the lift.

They glitch away, appearing in the elevator car--which is currently open, facing the hallway which is now filled with guards in black uniforms. "Shit!" Jackie gasps.

Frederick and Yvonne both simultaneously conjure a shield in front of the open elevator doors, just in time to block a barrage of darts that the guards fire at them. Jackie lunges for the buttons, slamming the one to close the doors.

Bro gasps and tries to duck into the corner. Alt glitches over to try to help Jackie, pressing the basement button rapidly.

The doors close slowly. The guards are able to fire various weapons at the shields--taser lines, more darts, a couple freaking laser beams--before the doors shut and the lift moves.

"So... we should probably expect a bunch of guards to shoot at us when we arrive in the basement..." Jackie says slowly.

“Goddamn they have a lot of different kinds of weapons!” Alt breathes. Then he nods. “I think- I got an idea for a spell that’ll get them out of our way.” He looks to Fredrick and Yvonne. “Can either of you like- summon water? I know it sounds random but.. trust me.”

"Hmm... how much water do you need?" Yvonne says. "We both know a spell to do so, but it doesn't conjure that much.”

“We can make more, but it'll drain more magic than usual," Frederick adds.

“Hmmm… enough to make a decent puddle on the floor-“ Alt replies, “Hopefully spreading as far as the guards will be. It shouldn’t need too much…”

“Alt… are you gonna shock all the guards at once?” Bro asks warily.

Alt grins, magic sparking in his eyes. “That's the plan.”

Jackie's eyes light up. "Fuck yeah, man. Knock 'em down!"

Yvonne grins. "We can definitely conjure up that much."

Frederick raises an eyebrow. "Sounds like we should throw it far."

Alt nods, “As long as we don’t get wet and stay here we should be fine-”

The elevator is slowing down--and it stops.

"Get ready!" Jackie says, pushing everyone to the sides of the elevator. Frederick and Yvonne mutter something under their breath, the same spell. Green and blue magic flares in their respective hands, and beach ball-sized globes of water hover in the air.Bro tries to bite back a nervous whine as the elevator stops, still hunkering down in the corner. Alt builds up electricity in his hands as glitches build up around him. He watches the door.

The doors open up, revealing a concrete hallway with ducts and pipes lining its walls. Sure enough, it is full of black-uniformed guards, though not as many as upstairs. They all point their weapons, and Frederick and Yvonne immediately hurl the water at the ground, causing large splashes. Once the water is down Alt glitches in front of everyone and slams down his hands in the water, lighting it up with as much electricity as he can muster.

Lightning arcs through the hallway, and all the guards immediately stiffen and then collapse before any of them can do anything more than aim their weapons.

Alt glitches to his feet then grins wide, pumping his fists in triumph. “Fuck yeah! That was awesome!”

Jackie whistles, impressed. "Nice job, everyone!" Bro peeked his head out to watch then laughs. “Dude… that was sick-!”

{I'm definitely down here,} Anti says in Bro's mind. {Forward. Uh--after the electricity dies down, of course.}

Bro looks up as he hears Anti then tells the others. “Anti says he’s for sure down here- we can go forward… once it’s safe.”

Alt blinks and looks back at the electricity still sparking on the water. “Oh uh… oops.”

"Don't worry about it, Alt, it worked, didn't it?" Yvonne laughs. Alt grins sheepishly.

"How do we tell when it's safe to go?" Jackie asks.

The sparks slowly die down. Then Frederick conjures up a small leaf and throws it into the water. It plops without much reaction. "I think it's safe now," he says.

"Alright!" Jackie steps out of the elevator first--and luckily, isn't hurt.

Bro goes in after Jackie and then nods, “Alright- forward then!” Then he takes the charge, running past the guards and heading further into the level. Alt glitches after him.

The basement must be for maintenance. In addition to the pipes and vents, there are also bundles of wires lining the ceiling. The group hurries forward through the hallway until they reach a T-intersection. Doors line the left and right hallways, with several sets of double-doors among them. The left and right hallways both bend, heading forwards.

"I bet these hallways form a large square," Frederick says. "Now where do we go?"

{I think we just have to continue forwards,} Anti says, despite there not being a way to go directly forwards.

“Anti says just… continue forward. Sooo I choose this way-“ Bro says as he rushes to the right.

"Alright, I guess?" Jackie hurries after him. "Maybe he's in one of these rooms?" He opens up one of the doors. "Nope, this is a supply closet."

Alt glitches forward to try to check one of the double doors. Bro just kinda- keeps going. Hoping Anti will give him a hint.

The door Alt checks is locked with a keypad. While Jackie and Yvonne hurry after Bro, Frederick slows down next to Alt. He narrows his eyes. "Hey!" he shouts after the others. "This is the only door with a keypad! It might be important!"

Bro stops and peeks his head back. “Oh?? Okay!” He hurries back over.

Alt frowns and then presses his hand to the keypad and pumps it full of electricity. But instead of shocking the keypad, the keypad suddenly starts to glow red from beneath the keys and Alt gets shocked instead.

Alt yells and glitches back, holding his hand. “What the fuck?! That’s never happened before!”

Bro's headache suddenly spikes. {What the--I felt that!} Anti gasps. {I felt Alt's energy!}

Bro grips at his head then blinks a couple times. “Alt! Anti said he felt that!”

“W-What? What does that mean?” Alt asks, shaking out his hand.

Jackie frowns. "I don't know, but one thing's clear. We got to get in here somehow." He backs up. "Alright. I'm gonna kick the door down.”

“Wait, Jackie--" Frederick says.

Jackie shouts out and runs forward, kicking the door against the handle. He helps and backs up, hopping on one foot. "Motherfucker!"

Alt and Bro blink at Jackie in bewilderment. Then Bro stands up taller and cracks his knuckles, “If we’re brute forcing it? Lemme give it a try!”

“Chase- I don’t think that’s a-!” Alt tries to warn.

Then, Bro rushes at the door and tries to kick it open himself, but with a super kick!

The doors fly open, slamming against the walls.

Jackie frowns at Bro. "Bitch.”

Bro grins sheepishly and rubs the back of his head. “Sorry dude!”

“I bet you loosened it, melon," Frederick says jokingly. Jackie folds his arms, grumbling.

Yvonne is the first to lean into the room. She whistles. "Wow... you guys see this?"

The room beyond is a wide area with high vaulted ceilings. In the center is a large black sphere of some kind, surrounded by a black table encircling it like a ring. Red glowing wires and circuit patterns flow from the sphere, thick glowing cables being the only light in the room. There is nothing else in this room. Only the sphere and the cables that come from it, filling the room like spiderwebs.

Alt glitches in and then looks at all the glowing red light with a slack jaw. He can’t help but shudder- the color reminding him of the Anti from the rift world. “W-What the hell is all this…?” He whispers.

Bro peeks in and gasps. “Yooo this is spooky as hell?”

A pulse of brighter light passes through the cables, and the wrrrr of humming machines increases in the air. {...I'm in there,} Anti says quietly.

Bro’s eyes widen. He points to the sphere and says, “…Anti’s in that thing. Is… is he powering all this stuff?”

Alt stiffens, magic sparking in his eyes as he suddenly curls his hands up into fists. He sparks like a live wire as he growls. “T-They’re using him as a battery?!”

Jackie's expression darkens. "That's so fucking fucked up. H-how do we get him out of there?!”

“Well... how did they get him in there in the first place?" Frederick asks. He glances at Bro. "Can you ask him?"

{I can hear them, you know,} Anti says.

“Anti says he can hear you guys,” Bro says, tapping the side of his head.

{As for how I got in there... Well, this part of me actually doesn't know, because I got separated. I remember feeling... cramped? For a while? And now I'm less cramped but still kind of... pushed down... They used that box thing to catch me, they must've hooked it up to this or something."

“He says he doesn’t know cuz this part is separate from the past that got captured. But he remembers feeling cramped… oh!” Bro suddenly hits his hand on his palm, “I remember a little box! It glowed green at the edges- that’s what they caught him with! It like sucked him in like those vacuums in ghostbusters!”

Alt starts to glitch around, trying to see if he can find anything that looks like what Bro described.After a while, he finds a small shelf on the edge of the room with three of those black boxes. It looks like they all have a place for a plug to go--is that related to how they got Anti into that... sci-fi generator thing?

Alt grabs one of the boxes and looks it’s over in confusion. Then he glitches back over to the cables and looks around for something that looks like it can fit. “These things have a place for a plug… maybe if we plug it back in it’ll go in reverse and put Anti back into one of these?”

"That makes sense!" Jackie says, nodding. "Alright, everyone, let's look around. This room is big but it's pretty open."

The group splits up to explore the area. Quickly, Frederick finds a box full of different cables. Bro finds a loose cable on a shelf not long after. At the same time, Alt notices a circular socket on the big sphere in the center that's the same shape as the one on the black box.

Bro holds up the cable he found, “I think I found a cable that could fit!”

Alt looks at the sphere and touches the socket and compares it to the one on the box. “Got it! Let’s try it out!” Bro quickly runs over and gives his cable to try. Alt studies it to make sure I can fit.

"In case that cable doesn't work, there's a lot of ones in this box," Frederick says, bringing it over.

"Are we sure this will work?" Yvonne asks. "What if Anti just gets stuck in the box?”

“Then we'll smash the box!" Jackie says. Bro grins, “Yeah! Seems easier to smash than this sci-fi shit right here.”

"Go on, plug it in! It looks like it's the right one!" Jackie encourages.

Alt grabs the cable from Bro and plugs it in- first into the sphere then into the box. “Alright… here’s hoping it works!”

And…! nothing happens.

After an awkward moment, Jackie asks, “Is there a button we need to press or something?” He steps up to examine the black box. “No buttons here, uh…” Then he looks around. “Oh! Maybe this?” He picks up what looks to be some sort of remote control and points it at the box, pressing buttons randomly. Immediately the sphere and box start to emit loud VRRRRRR sounds.

Alt glitches a bit in surprise and holds out the box.

“Nice thinking Jackie!” Bro says, clapping Jackie on the back.

“Love that you had to turn it on like it’s a tv,” Alt chuckles.

Jackie laughs as well. “Yeah what gives?”

“It must be some sort of distance device,” Frederick says. “But Jackie, in the future, maybe don’t randomly press buttons on a strange remote?”

“Well what else was I supposed to do? They’re not labeled!” Jackie holds up the remote for others to see. “Just a bunch of identical black buttons! How does anyone use this, much less these IRIS guys?” Bro laughs, “Yeah what that hell? You just supposed to memorize which button is right? That’s not how that works!”

As they talk, something begins to change in the room. The red energy in the cables slowly shifts to green, and then it all retreats towards the sphere, leaving the wires and circuits gray. The black box starts to get warm, like a laptop left running.

Alt watches the color shift then looks down at the box as it gets warm. He grins, “I think he’s in here now guys!” He looks over the box, frowning. “ now… how do we get this open…?”

The box lights up green around the edges as the sphere fully depowers.

{Yep, there’s that cramped feeling,} Anti says. {I’m definitely in there. But it’s probably not designed to “open.”}

“Smash it!” Jackie says encouragingly.

Bro looks up as he hears anti and nods. “Anti’s in there for sure but he’s not sure it’s designed to open. Soo yeah!! Smash it!!” He grins.

Alt laughs and then unplugs it from the sphere before chucking it down at the ground to try to smash it open.

IRIS technology proves to be very durable, though, and just throwing it at the ground proves useless. “Guess we need something more powerful,” Yvonne comments.

Bro cracks his knuckles and grins sharply. “That’s a job for me then!” He grabs the box and tosses it in the air for a second before building up some energy and throwing it at one of the walls like a baseball pitcher.

It slams against the wall with a loud CRACK sound. The green lights on the edge flicker, and one edge goes out. Some green pixels fizzle in midair around it.

{Do that again!} Anti says excitedly. {I can almost push out of the circuits!}

Bro laughs and zips over to grab the box again then throws it at another wall with a loud CRASH!

“Chase, careful!” Alt calls out.

One of the faces of the box pops off and goes spinning across the room. More green lights go out. And as the box falls to the ground, a flurry of static swirls out from it, and reforms into a familiar figure. Bro jumps into the air and pumps his fists, “Yes!! We did it!!”

Anti takes a deep breath. “It’s good to have a solid body again,” he says. He looks at Bro. A few glitches flicker around his head and his headache disappears. “Thank you.” Bro blinks and massages his head as he feels his headache go away and he grins. “Any time dude!! So glad we got you out of that!”

“Anti!” Jackie says, grinning. “Good to see you! Everything okay?”

“More or less.” Anti stretches his hands over his head. Alt sighs with relief, “I’m so glad you’re alright…”

Outside, there are noises. Frederick and Yvonne stiffen in unison and turn to the door. “That sounds like people…” Frederick says slowly.

Alt and Bro freeze too and Alt throws out his hands. “Link up! Let’s get out of here!”

Bro immediately rushes to grab Alt’s hand. Then he blinks and curses, “wait shit! They still have all my stuff! My jacket- my belt- my fucking phone!”

“M-Maybe we can go get that later!” Alt replies quickly.

“I got it.” Anti briefly disappears—then reappears with Bro’s stuff. “Here we are. Good to see you guys too by the way. Forgot to mention that.”

Bro blinks, “…dang I forgot how convenient that is.” He laughs, taking his stuff and bundling it in his arms- he also kicks off IRIS’s boots for good measure. Just in case.

Jackie grabs onto Alt’s other hand, and then Frederick and Yvonne grab him. Surprisingly, Anti also grabs Alt’s shoulder.

“Can’t you get yourself out?” Jackie asks, confused. “Better safe than sorry,” Anti says. “I’ll help. Now let’s go!”

Alt waits until everyone is good and grins, picturing Fredrick’s car back in the forest and glitching them all out of there.

It feels… difficult in a way that glitching usually doesn’t. Like he’s running into some sort of stretchy film over the whole facility. But with Anti’s help, Alt breaks through and they all reappear next to the car.

Alt staggers a bit once they reappear and shakes out his head. “Jesus… that was rough.”

Yvonne shivers. “That felt different than teleporting.”

Frederick runs for the car and unlocks it. “In in in!”

“Your car only fits five people!” Jackie points out. “Don’t worry about me!” Anti says. He glitches out of sight, and static comes from the car radio as the screen on the dash glitches wildly.

“Better not break anything!” Frederick says to him as he gets into the driver’s seat.

Bro pulls Alt into the car with him as he piles into the middle back seat and Alt sits by the window. Bro drops all his stuff in his lap and breathes. “Goddd fresh air is so nice already. Jesus fucking Christ-“

Yvonne gets into the backseat of the car while Jackie gets into the passenger seat. Frederick starts the car and slams on the gas, grass flying as he spins around and drives back towards the road.

“Ooookay!” Frederick says. “We’re probably good but don’t let your guard down!”

“What did they do to you, Bro?” Jackie asks, twisting in his seat. “I mean… you look like you’ve been in a fight, not gone through some science experiments. Is everything okay?”

Bro shrugs on his boots and sighs heavily as Jackie asks. “I mean… they kinda did an experiment on me? I think? Basically they tried to ask me questions and why I was involved with Anti… then when they tried to take me somewhere I broke free and was able to escape them for a bit. I punched my way through the lift-”

“Oh! That was you!” Alt says.

Bro laughs, “Yup- that was me. I fled into the elevator shaft and was climbing down to get to Anti but they drugged me with something… so I started losing consciousness in there. Anti tried to help control my body but I ended up falling and breaking my leg…”

Alt winces at this.

Bro nods. “I came back to and they were scanning me. They used something called an accelerator to heal my leg faster because they needed me for something and it ‘won’t heal in time’. It hurt like nothing else- worse than breaking my leg in the first place. Anti had to knock me out…”

Alt puts a hand over his mouth then his eyes flicker in anger. “That’s fucking horrible!”

Bro nods solemnly. “Then well… before you all found me they made me fight all these robot fuckers. At first it was easy then it just kept getting harder. And I didn’t have to hold back but that just means I was exhausting myself faster. The robots had like blade hands and some could shoot lasers and some were like 7 feet tall and were super tough.” He touches the cut on his face that is starting to heal now. “… once I started to pass out there they drugged me with some smoke then… I woke up to you guys being there.”

“…that’s so fucking awful,” Jackie says, looking stunned. “All of that.” He clenched his fists. “Next goal after we take care of Marvin and Jameson: fucking murder IRIS.”

“Yeah, that’d be good,” Anti adds from the radio. “Fucking… hurt my friends. Use me to power that building. That’s what you get. Is that what they always wanted to do? Gods.” Alt looks furious too, glitching slightly in his seat as his eyes glow bright with magic. “I’ll kill all those fuckers- using Chase like that! They probably wanted to see if they could use you as a weapon- those fucking bastards!”

“What… history do you have with IRIS, Anti?” Frederick asks slowly.

Anti doesn’t answer right away. “I was in the US in the 50s and 60s. IRIS was there too. They tried to hunt me down. I met a friend who helped me hide. Then I went home for a while until I met Jack.”

Jackie frowns, knowing that there had to be more to that story. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay now, Bro, Anti.”

Alt blinks, “You’ve been around since the 50s?”

“Longer than that!” Bro says, “Anti told me he’s been around since the Middle Ages!”

“What?!” Alt gasps. Then he blinks and sits back, “…that feels vaguely familiar- but… still like- shocking to think about.” He crosses his arms. “Stalking you since the 60s is fucking creepy ass behavior too.”

“They didn’t think of it as stalking,” Anti says. “They thought of it as containing a dangerous entity. Which… I’ll be honest, might have been slightly justified. But only slightly. I never wanted to hurt anyone…” His voice trails off.

Bro sighs and leans back, staring at the ceiling of the car. “It’s over now… man… we haven’t even gotten close to getting Jack back though…”

“Once we get home and I’m sure we’re not being followed, I’ll heal up the rest of those injuries for you,” Frederick adds, glancing at Bro in the rear view mirror.

Bro looks up and smiles sheepishly at Fredrick. “If you can, that'd be grand.” He then looks back between Alt, Frederick and Jackie. “How did your mission go by the way? Were you able to get Schneep?”

“Oh, uh… no,” Jackie says. “We kinda… got… kidnappedbeforeweevengottothehotel.” He rushes through that last statement.

“You WHAT?!” Anti shouts.

“Some dark magicians joined up with the Poison Blossoms and attacked us!” Jackie says defensively. “We were completely unprepared!” Bro’s jaw drops and he looks to Alt with wide worried eyes. “Kidnapped?! Oh my god- by a gang?! Jesus are.. are you okay Alt?”

Alt can’t look at Bro as he curls up his seat but he nods. “I freaked out at first… probably more than I should have…”

Frederick shudders. “What did they even want with us…?”

Jackie shrugs. “Revenge on Marvin, it sounds like? That would explain why there was a group of them by the hotel, they were keeping an eye on it.” He pauses, expression darkening. “They we’re gonna lure him out with me as bait. Then sell Alt, it sounds like. Fuckers. They’re one of the worst gangs. I don’t know what they wanted with Frederick, though.”

Now, Bro’s eyes flash angry with concealed power as he hears what the poison blossoms wanted to do. “They were gonna use you and sell my baby brother?! What the fuck! I’ll rip those assholes apart!”

“They… they apparently have been losing a lot of people because of Marvin…” Alt says quietly, “I-I think I heard they didn’t want to lose a doctor… that’s probably why they wanted Frederick…”

Bro sighs heavily and rubs his head, “So… none of us have gotten any closer to stopping Marvin and Jameson and freeing Jack and Schneep… mannn and we were so prepared! How did everything go so wrong?”

“Well we weren’t exactly prepared for some evil scientists and a street gang, were we?” Frederick says patiently.

“In retrospect I should’ve expected the gang, at least,” Jackie says. “There’s like three of them in the city, just because we were dealing with a bigger threat doesn’t mean they wouldn’t jump us.” He pauses. “They… didn’t want to lose a ‘doctor’… not a healer, they said doctor specifically… Mae said that she's a magician, wouldn’t she say…” He trails off, going a bit pale beneath his scars. Then he shakes his head. “Don’t mind me, I’m probably reading too much into stuff.” Alt makes a face at this too and nods, “Huh… that is a good point Jackie… if they wanted to keep Frederick… it does feel weird for them to say ‘doctor’ instead… why did they that? Maybe they wanted Frederick to heal a doctor they already had? But then… why lock him in that closet?” Jackie doesn’t say anything more, just looks worried.

“We can still go through with the original plan,” Yvonne says, glancing at Jackie and Alt curiously but deciding to move on. “I don’t think we alerted them.” “True-“ Bro hums, “I don’t think we should spilt up again. I think we need to face each obstacle together.”

Static squawks from the radio. “Then we’ll need to be fast. Once they’re alerted they’ll throw everything at us. I say we go rescue Jack first—”

“No,” Jackie drawls sarcastically. “Really?”

“Not just because I’m biased!” Anti snaps. “If they realize the wards there are broken they might rush out and leave the hotel less defended.”

Alt nods, “I think rescuing Jack should be a priority too… he’s been locked up there for so long… that’s not to say I don’t think we should rescue Schneep cuz he deserves help too. But striking the most fortified place first is the best strategy.”

Bro nods, “And now that IRIS hopefully won’t be around there anymore- we should be able to go straight in.”

Jackie hesitates, then sighs. “You’re right. Schneep isn’t in immediate danger. He’s… happy enough, under their spell. From what Anti’s said, the same can’t be said for Jack. Though, I guess he’s not unhappy either. But that’s no state for someone to be in.”

They’ve reached the dirt road by now. Frederick carefully turns onto it. “Then it’s settled. We’ll drop the car off, fuel up some more, then head right out to the cabin. Or… as close as we can get before that Vergessil spell kicks in.”

“We can definitely handle it,” Anti says firmly. “We have to.”

#inversion subversion

Trending Tags

Recently Viewed Tags

#inversion subversion