Alt. Exe Corrupted Chapter 3
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Blitz is carefully licking his wounds in a darkly lit cellar. In front of him is a prisoner his master wanted him to watch. The tiger didn’t understand why but it gave him a chance to try to clean himself up.
Dr. Jameson Jackson watches the tiger with a mixed expression of terror and worry. He no longer had a voice- how was he supposed to warn Alt of the fate Magnificent had for him? He tried signing but… it’s like Alt had forgotten how to understand it.
Words weren’t working either- he tried to write on the semi soft ground of his cell but… he guesses being turned into a tiger also messes with your ability to read.
He has no idea what Magnificent has done to him… but he knows the boy hadn’t been here nearly as long as him. Maybe a little over a month… since Mag said he needed to wait for the next full moon. Jameson has lost count on how long he’s been here… but that doesn’t matter. Alt doesn’t deserve the fate Magnificent has planned for him. No one does.
He taps on the ground and tries to think of how to get a message to him… He starts to draw some figures on the ground before him- upside down so maybe Alt can understand them better.
The tiger is too busy licking at his cuts to pay attention to what Jameson is up to.
Eventually, Jameson coughs slightly to get the tiger to look up and when the feline does, the doctor starts to tap the crude pictures he made on the ground.
Blitz tilted his head and looked at the figures. One was a thing that- looked like the panthers but with stripes. That was… him… right? The way the human was staring at him made him think so. And the other one… it was a man with a cape and a mask. He looked just like his master. Blitz chuffed a bit and laid down his head, his tail flicking in admiration.
Jameson shuddered at this act of affection. Magnificent has Alt down good… but… maybe this can still warn him. Dr. J made sure the tiger was still watching as he drew an arrow from Mag to Alt, then drew an x over the tiger. Blitz raised his head at this and cocked it curiously. Jameson shakily drew what he could remember the vestige looked like… even though it brought tears to his eyes and made him feel sick. He drew the spirit seeming to come off of the crossed out Alt, trying to hint at his fate.
He looked up to meet Blitz’s eyes, which were slowly starting to widen- his pupils looking more circular.
Jameson gasped quietly and scribbled to try to write something- if he was beginning to remember then…!
Alt! Please you need to wake up You’re in danger!
Blitz looked at the words almost like he could comprehend them and starts to back pedal, chest rising and falling fast like he’s close to panicking. Jameson watched with bated breath.
Then- the door to the cellar flew open, startling both the tiger and the doctor. Magnificent stood in the shadowed hallway, his glowing eyes the easiest thing to see.
“Blitz! We need to have a chat, my pet. Come.” He hissed, showing his fangs.
Any clarity Alt was getting was snapped out of him at the command and the tiger stood up straight, expression falling back to something inhuman as he slunk out the door to follow his master.
Magnificent looked down at Jameson and at his crude attempts to communicate. He chuckled and threw out a hand, letting magic erase all the evidence. The doctor gaped then looked angry and tried to get up to charge at him but was stopped by the chains keeping him to the wall.
Magnificent laughed again and grinned at Jameson, “A valiant attempt, Jackson. But, it will prove useless, I can assure you. After all- you can’t warn anyone without a voice~”
Magnificent’s laugh echoes down the hall and echoes in Jameson’s mind once he leaves. The doctor attempts to make a noise of frustration but nothing much comes out. He holds his head against his knees and tries to bite back tears. He… he hopes the others will find Alt in time…
———
Magnificent leads Blitz to his main warehouse space, the cat following after him loyally. All seems to be fine until-
Wham!
The mad magician throws a green tinted slap across Blitz’s face, making the tiger skid back with a yelp of pain. Magnificent’s eyes glow with anger as he growls out, “You miserable excuse for a cub! You couldn’t find better than this at that magic shop?!”
He grips one of the trinkets Blitz managed to find and clenches it tight in his hands, the gem of the locket cracking and magic energy flowing up Mag’s arm, lighting up his veins. The magic reaches up his arm and crawls up to just below his neck before disappearing. He cracks his neck and then bares his teeth at the cowering tiger.
“hm… fine- it will suffice… but- I fear you may have alerted that bumbling hero to us…” Magnificent sighs dramatically and circles Blitz for a second before appearing in front of him and grabbing his chin to make the cat look him in the eyes.
“My pet… you mustn’t let these heroes and that doctor lead you astray…! They feed you nothing but lies. Because I know your truth- I know you better than any of them. And I need you, Blitz.” Magnificent almost pleads to the tiger. The tiger blinks loyally at him, chuffing slightly. Magnificent peered into his eyes and studied them. The longer the spell went on…. The more that green ring in Alt’s eyes grew, overtaking the blue. Soon… he wouldn’t even be recognizable. And that’s just what Magnificent needed.
He smiled at the tiger and scratched his chin, cooing to him in a soft voice. “Don’t let those silly humans tell you any different, kitten. You have been my loyal pet your entire life~ and that will never change, right?”
Blitz chuffed again in agreement and licked at Mag’s hand, tail flicking happily.
Magnificent smiled and got to his feet, wiping himself off then patting Blitz on the head. “Get some rest out here, Blitz. That doctor isn’t going anywhere… and well- we both need to be well rested for tomorrow, don’t we?”
Blitz huffed a bit and went back up licking his wounds, now licking at the slightly green tinted fur from Mag’s magic. Magnificent nodded in approval and gathered up the rest of the stolen items from that witch’s shop and headed off to his room. He had much to do…
——
The rest of the morning goes smoothly for Blitz. He grooms- he naps- he plays with his panther siblings. They were such great fun! And they all loved him the second he was brought back into Mag’s little family. Why did he ever leave? That was Too much to think about though so he just focused on the fun!
He glitched around his siblings’ attacks, earning roars of protest that made him snicker. He pounces on the back of one of them- Lucky? Why did a human name come to him when he looked at them? and the panther tries to spin around but Blitz keeps them pinned down. He playfully grabs at their ear and tugs, the panther below playfully biting at his face.
Then- there’s a distant sound of something being knocked over in the warehouse.
All the cats’ ears perk up as they look around. Blitz gets off his sibling and sniffs at the air, starting to growl and buzz with glitches. Something wasn’t right here… something smelled off. An intruder?
Bro had just barely caught what almost gave them away, his other hand holding a squirming Glitches. He carefully tried to set down the box he caught and held Glitches closer in both his hands, trying to calm her down.
“Why did you think bringing Glitches was a good idea, again?” Jackie hisses quietly to the hero.
Chase narrows his eyes at Jackie and whispers back, “I told you! We need all the help we can get to spark Alt’s memories… maybe he’ll see Glitches and it’ll kick start something!”
“What if she gets hurt…?” Henrik asks, eyeing the now patrolling panthers as they start to fan out.
“…she won’t. I know my brother- he wouldn’t hurt her.” Chase replies back with certainty.
He then looks back at Henrik, “Hen- you ready with the distraction?”
Henrik nods, teal light flashing in his eyes as he holds his pocket watch tight.
Chase looks at Jackie and notices the father has a good hold on the rope leading to the door. Now… to get rid of the panthers…
“Okay… now!”
Thrusting out a teal covered hand, Henrik flicks open his pocket watch and clicks down the pin. A collection of huge warehouse boxes he suspended outside all fall at once, creating a huge crash.
All the panthers and Blitz look towards the noise and roar- charging outside to investigate.
Chase and Jackie watch the mass carefully- finally noting that Blitz is right at the edge of the pack. They wait- wait- then…!
“Now!” Chase yells and Jackie let’s go of the rope. The sliding bay door that lead to outside quickly clunks down and stops Blitz in his tracks before he can get outside. Blitz roars at the door and bats at it with his claws then prowls in front of it, roaring in anger.
Henrik and Jackie suck in breath as the watch the beast.
“That… that’s Alt?” Jackie asks in disbelief.
Chase nods sadly. “Yeah…” But then he narrows his eyes in determination and takes off towards him. “But not for long…!”
The other boys exchange warily looks before following after the hero.
Bro touches to the ground a safe distance from Blitz- but close enough he’d be in trouble if the tiger charged. But still he called out to him. “Alt!”
Blitz looks back at the sound and looks at Chase with a bit of confusion. Then he snarls and growls ferally, digging his huge claws into the floor at the sight of his enemy.
Chase backs up slightly and holds out a hand towards the tiger, the other one holding Glitches as best as he can. Jackie and Henrik go to stand next to Chase, though they eye the tiger with a bit of fear.
“R-Relax..! Relax baby bro… it’s us! Your friends- and your brother and-“ The hero then yelps as Glitches scratches him and escapes his grasp, heading towards the tiger. “F-Fuck! Glitches!”
The small cat bounds straight up to Blitz and then stops in front of him. The tiger growls deeply and starts to raise a paw to bat this tiny annoyance away.
But, Glitches starts to meow and mewl at Blitz and the tiger blinks slowly and tilts his head in confusion. His paw lowers and he blinks slowly at the kitten.
Why… does she feel so familiar…?
Blitz suddenly roars in pain and ducks down his head, stumbling back some. Flashes of things he doesn’t understand are appearing before his eyes.
Human hands holding a small beaten up kitten. His hands feeding her fries. Her purring and curled up by his side on his bed in his old rundown apartment. He can feel the smile curling up on my lips and-
No no! That- that wasn’t right- he’s not a human…!
“W-What’s happening?” Jackie whispers in slight panic.
“Alt!” Henrik cries out in fear at hearing the cry of pain.
The tiger looks up at the three men and more images flash: the cafe- Jackie stealing his phone to put in all their numbers. Henrik’s kind smile over their first shared drinks. Chase’s unsure but earnest smile as he took off his mask for him. That same smile on a child- that held him close at night and told him everything was okay.
That same face is looking at him- with tears in his eyes… but the same amount of love.
Blitz’s heart is pounding- his chest heavy, his breathing picking up speed. This isn’t right…. This isn’t…!
Why- why does this feel so wrong?
Human light comes back to Alt’s eyes as he stumbles back and whines. He trips slightly over himself and then- looks down at his paws, as if just seeing them for the first time.
He starts to panic- making deep sounds like he’s trying to talk but they just sound animal. He looks to the others and flattens his ears, rowaring at them as he starts to back up and curl in on himself.
Glitches mewls in distress and tries to rub up against Alt’s massive paws. The tiger whines in response.
Chase tries to approach, holding up his hands, “Alt alt! It’s okay… it’s okay buddy… I-I know it’s scary right now but… w-we’ll figure this out together okay?”
“Will you now?” An amused voice laughs from the rafters. Glitches ears stick up then she hisses fiercely and backs up into Alt’s paw with hackles raised- as if she can protect him.
Magnificent looks down at the scene with an amused smile up from the catwalk he’s sprawled upon.
Chase bares his teeth and shouts up, “okay you Cheshire Cat motherfucker! This has gone on long enough! We broke your stupid memory spell so- let Alt go!”
At this- the mad magician frowns, a dangerous glint in his eyes. In a swish of color and static he suddenly appears in front of Alt and grabs his chin. The glitch yelps out and looks at Magnificent with clear fear in his eyes. That’s all he needs to confirm it.
His eyes flare in rage as he grabs Alt by the collar and bites out, “you fucking pathetic mistake! Who said you could wake up?!” He throws Alt back in a wave of magic before turning enraged eyes to the other boys. Chase backs up and puts his arm out in front of Hen and Jackie protectively.
“You will pay for breaking my cub, you useless wastes of space!” Magnificent snarls.
He thrusts out magic at the boys and suddenly, Henrik launches in front of Chase and Jackie and throws out a teal tinted hand- seemingly freezing Mag’s magic in mid air, like it was paused.
“What?!” Magnificent roars in anger.
“I’ll hold him off! Try to get to Alt!” Henrik shouts back to the other boys.
The magic suddenly flickers and just barely misses Henrik as he gets out of the way. He pants and then narrows his eyes at Magnificent in defiance.
Jackie and Chase exchange looks then try to book it over to help Alt.
Magnificent laughs as he cocks his head at Henrik, showing off his fangs. “My my… does the puppet think himself brave now? Does he think he’s a magician now? With your little… party tricks, hm?”
The normally happy go lucky actor bares his teeth in rage, his eyes glowing teal as he bites back. “I am just as much magic as you! But I will use mein for good!”
The dark magician thrusts out a hand and grabs one of Henrik’s arms in a green string, suspending the gentleman’s hand in the air. Henrik yelps out and tries to shake it off but Mag quickly grabs his other hand and grabs it in the same way, leaving Henrik semi dangling in the air. Henny stares to panic, trying to fight off the strings.
In a smear of color Mag is in front of Henrik and harshly grabbing his cheeks with his claws, really digging them into the flesh. He looks enraged as he whispers darkly to the trapped actor, “You are not magic- you don’t have an ounce of power on your own! If it wasn’t for that watch of yours- you’d be melting in my power the same as your pathetic friends! At least my cub will have a purpose but you…”
Magnificent holds out his other hand, thick claws sharpening and looking like he’s ready to carve out Henrik’s stomach.
“…you have long outlived your usefulness, Henrik~”
He laughs madly and Henrik feels his blood go cold as he tries to shout and fight in the magic.
The other boys reach Alt as he’s whining and pawing at his face, panting heavily. His irises can’t seem to pick which size to be- slitted or circles and the constant flux is making him dizzy and unable to see. Plus- all the noise and confusion and thoughts inside his head! It’s too much… too much…!
He barely feels Glitches trying to paw at him- hardly hears Jackie trying to call his name. He just barely feels the hands on his cheeks as Bro enters his line of sight. Alt looks desperately at his brother and tries to say his name, but all that comes out in a scared sounding growl.
Chase looks back at him with concern but reassured him, “It’s okay Alt- we’re gonna get you out of here and find a way to change you back! Just- focus on us, okay? Try to remember all the awful things Mag has done to you! You can’t listen to him, okay?”
Alt growls back with a hushed whimper and tries to nod.
That’s when they hear Henrik scream.
Magnificent’s hand has been thrust into Henrik’s stomach and the actor screams out in agony.
Alt feels anger explode in his chest, burning hot. His eyes glow as he roars loudly then charges at Magnificent, claws ready to tear into flesh.
Magnificent freezes at hearing the roar- momentarily paralyzed by something akin to fear. But then he turns around just in time to catch Alt in his magic, his hand still dripping blood. He crushes his hand and magic swarms Alt’s form-
And then… a tiny white tiger cub crashes to the floor. It shakes its head out in confusion and then looks up at Mag with conflicted eyes- more magic messing with his head.
Magnificent tilts his head at his cub, studying him quietly with a calculating eye. It was a shame he was awoken from his spell but… it seems whatever his friends were doing wasn’t holding up that well either. Perhaps… he had time to play a little game with them… a game that would crush them all even more when he won.
He snaps and the strings holding up Henrik disappear. The actor falls to the floor with a pained moan, curling up to hold his stomach.
“H-Henrik!” Jackie cries out and rushes over to help him, quickly taking off his jacket to help with the blood.
Chase hesitates then scoops up the now tinier Alt as Glitches climbs up onto his back. He narrows his eyes at Magnificent.
“W-What are you playing at, Mag? Are you just… toying with us?”
“Oh yes- very much so~,” Magnificent replies, grinning wolfishly at Bro. He flicks his cape and slinks around the hero and his cub. “I mean- my puppet annoyed me but… I suppose I can continue to let him live… for now. Im sure he’d also love to see how this alll plays out~! And well… I certainly made is easier for you to transport our precious cub, didnt I?”
Bro holds Alt closer and bares his teeth at Mag. “Just stop being a cryptic asshole and say what you wanna say!”
Magnificent frowns and straightens up and then sighs dramatically.
“Fine… if you must take away all my fun…”
He eyes all the boys and then meets Chase’s.
“I want to see who will win, in this game of tug of war. Who has the most pull over our dear sweet Alt~ I have my magic and you have your… ‘love’ or whatever. I’m very curious to see… if this is where it will all end~”
“Of course it won’t be, you-!” Bro tries to interrupt but Mag snaps and a flicker of static sticks over Bro’s mouth, silencing him.
“Let me finish, hero.” He snaps.
“Your dearest brother has had quite a time with me… and I’m very confident in my hold. And now looking at the time…” He looks through the crumbling walls of the warehouse and smirks at the rising moon before addressing Bro again. “You have about 24 hours…”
Bro startles and mumbles against the magic keeping him quiet, gripping Alt tighter. Alt is cowering in Chase’s grip- his eyes flickering between human and feline again.
Magnificent laughs madly and grins, holding out his arms, “Tomorrow night! When the moon is full and risen- if Alt returns here, still in his rightful form, then you all will have lost. There will be no saving him again… he will forever belong to me~
However… if by some miracle- you all figure out how to turn him human again and break my spell. Then… I will admit defeat.” He eyes Henrik, “You all seem to be more… confident in your magic. I’m sure you all will figure something out~” He teases sinisterly.
“In fact! It’ll be such a miracle that perhaps…” He snaps his fingers again and then tugs at the air- pulling something out of a collection of static. He grips a dirty mop of brown hair in his claws as he cackles out, “Mayhaps I may return your doctor to you all as well.”
Jameson looks up and around the warehouse with wide eyes. Magic is tight around his mouth like a gag and is keeping his arms bound behind his back. Once he sees his friends he tries to make sounds against the gag and fight against Mag some- but he looks awful and sickly. He’s so pale- so fragilely thin. His hair is long overgrown and in his eyes, his glasses cracked and filthy. And there’s a heavy iron collar around his neck like he’s a sick pet. He can hardly seem to make any noise loud enough for them to hear.
All of them gasp. Tears come to Henrik’s eyes as he struggles to get up, wanting to fight to get their friend. “J-Jameson!”
Bro looks enraged and tries to charge but Magnificent quickly tugs on Dr. J’s hair and in another burst of static he’s gone.
“Nuh uh uh heroes~! You can’t get that prize without beating me first!” He laughs and then lifts up into the air in a cloud of colored static, grinning manically down at the crowd below him.
“And with that! I believe our stage is set, gentlemen! I’m so looking forward to the performance tomorrow~!”
He grabs his cape then makes sure to meet Alt’s eyes, his eyes the only thing Alt can make out in his shadowed form. He grins at him and announces.
“Don’t be late, kittens.”
And in a dramatic pull of his cape, he disappears into static- leaving his threats to weigh heavily on the boys as the sky grew dark.
The clock was now ticking…