Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 15: Outer Space AU
Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs
Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV
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Glitching feels electric and tingling under the skin, making the others feel a bit jittery afterwards. But it was probably a big boost to Anti. They reappear in an awkward sort of place, a small alcove with a door behind them. In front of them is Layer Four of the Zypso Station. It looks a lot like the previous layer Bro was on, with the tall buildings and the walkways and railways. But there are fewer bright signs here, and fewer booths set up on the side for small street vendors. The buildings are in a slightly different style of architecture, more utilitarian, though they do at least have fun colored lights along the edges. Through these towering structures, the tallest building can be seen. The IRIS building.
Alt shakes himself off as they appear- and then his jaw drops as he sees Layer Four, “holy shit…!”
Bro grins, “pretty cool isn’t it?” He then squints at the IRIS building and looks towards Anti, “Why’d you make us appear so far away, dude?”
"This layer is covered in camera systems," Anti explains. "Even more so than Layer Three, where commerce takes place. This is one of the few spots where they are blind."
"Don't worry, we should be able to take a railcar there really fast," Chase says. He looks around. "There." He points. There's a sign hanging on a nearby wall, with a drawing of a rectangular trolley-car-like object, and then an arrow. There were a lot of those on the last layer too, though they were often overshadowed by the other signs. "That direction."
"Let's hurry, then," Marvin says.
Bro blinks then shrugs, grinning. “Okay sweet! Get to take some future transportation!”
Alt's phone lets out a squawk of white noise. "I'll help with the cameras as much as I can," Anti says from the phone.
Alt blinks and takes out his phone to nod at Anti with a smile. “Thanks, dude.”
"Not a problem." Anti gives a thumbs up on the screen.
The rest of the group leads the way, doing their best to look casual about it. Anti lingered in the back, head turning around. His expression is still that neutral one, but the rest of his body language says that he's nervous, on guard.
They reach a railway and find a platform that looks a lot like a train platform back home. The design is smoother, with rounded edges and a lot of silver and white, but it's still clear what it is. Chase walks up to a kiosk and taps around on its touchscreen, purchasing tickets. He almost swipes his card, but then hesitates and pays in cash instead, sliding some of those square metal pieces into a gap that looks perfectly fit for them.
"Looks like we're just in time," Jackie says, reading the train arrival times on a hanging sign. "One's coming in literally one minute."
"Okay, everyone, get your hands stamped," Chase says. There's a cylindrical device coming out the side of the kiosk, a small red light coming from the bottom. As Chase puts the back of his hand into the light--it's perfectly positioned to be at hand level--the red light scans his hand and a small stamp appears in black, that same trolley logo from the signs directing them here.
“Oooh neat! Very streamlined!” Bro says excitedly as he goes to put his hand under the stamp. Alt looks hesitant but he goes to let himself be stamped too.
The mark just appears, without any sort of feeling that it did. The others get stamped as well. The ink sticks to Jackie and Anti's metal hands just fine, as well as Marvin's furry one.
Almost as soon as they're all done, the railcar approaches, heading down the rail without much sound at all, only a slight hsss as it approaches. "Now approaching: Blue Line Railcars," says a robotic voice. The railcar is sleek and rounded. Its cabin is made of metal, but the rest of it is all glass--or at the very least some see-through material--showing benches and handrails inside. A door slides open on the side.
“Oohh it’s so quiet!!” Bro whispers as he hurries after the others. Alt also looks impressed- and tries to keep his glitches down as he eyes the people around.
The railcar is mildly crowded. This is Alt's first time seeing other aliens besides Schneep and Marvin. He spots a couple who seem to be the same reptilian species as Schneep--kritzeins--and a handful that are hovering in midair, insectile wings buzzing. There's one that looks like a pile of green slime with two lighter-green eyes. And a few scattered about who are really tall and have big eyes and pinkish hair.
Alt stares wide eyed at the aliens but tries to keep his composure. Thank god for his mask… even though he doesn’t like crowds he sticks close to Bro’s side. Bro chuckles and pats Alt’s shoulder.
Luckily, they don't have to stay in the railcar for long. The thing is really fast, even as it stops at three locations on the way. The IRIS building gets closer and closer... Until it looms overhead. The railcar stops at the end of its line, at the base of the IRIS building.
There's a big empty square around this area, decorated with curving, alien plants in planters. Crowds mill about. Anti did say that this area was a tourist attraction. Pretty much all the remaining passengers get out of the railcar here. Others wait on the platform to get on.
Alt shrinks in more, “god there’s so many people…”
“Tourist attraction-“ Bro mumbles and starts to shuffle out with the crowd, holding onto Alt’s hand.
"Not a fan of crowds either," Marvin whispers.
JJ tilts his head. "Is that a felorr thing?"
"No. Just a me thing."
“Maybe I’m a felorr in another life,” Alt mumbles.
They make their way towards the building. There's a low fence surrounding it, waist-high and made of metal. There are a couple locations where the fence is broken up by an archway. People are filing through those arches to get into the building.
"Scanners," Anti says, nodding towards them. "If something strange appears as they scan, they start beeping."
"What's an example of something strange?" Jackie asks. "Weaponry or strange devices. Or, in a more extreme example, a robotic being."
Alt looks at the scanners, humming in thought, “… I might be able to disable the scanners from here… but I don’t think I can do it discreetly…. I might need to be able to touch them.”
Anti nods slowly. "Discreet would be better."
"What if... you go through first, and you touch the scanner as you do?" Jackie suggests. "That should keep it disabled for the rest of us."
“Oh! Good idea- I’m not hiding anything…” Alt mumbles. He takes a deep breath then starts to walk through the scanners. He briefly touches the arch wall and sends a discreet jolt of electricity as he passes through.
The interior of the gateway is lined with blue lights. As Alt sends electricity through it, the lights suddenly go out. The others quickly hurry through--Anti and JJ first, then the four others. A few other tourists manage to slip through as well. There's a short path leading up to a set of sliding glass double doors.
As they walk along it, Schneep asks, "Any new, ah... information?"
Alt looks back at Schneep then checks the tracker by holding it in his pocket, out of sight. “Lemme see…” Bro tries to scan around for any sign of trouble.The tracker tells him that it's on the twentieth floor.
Alt looks to Schneep, “It’s somewhere on the 20th floor.”
They head into the IRIS building. Everything in here is sleek whites and silvers, and there are holograms hovering in midair with information plaques about the history of IRIS, of the building, of Zypso Station. In the center is a big, rotating hologram of the IRIS logo. There seem to be a couple doors into this room, but most of them have signs that say "Staff" on them in varying languages. The one that doesn't reads "Stairs." There is also a set of elevator doors, which there seems to be a line for.
Bro looks at the elevator line and groans, “does that mean we gotta go up 20 flights of stairs??”
"Uh... I think the stairs only go up to floor ten or so?" Chase says. "So... no."
"Sam is reminding me of the diagram earlier," Anti reports. "There are thirty floors in the building. Thirty-one, if the roof counts. Sixteen through thirty are closed to the public. The visitor stairs go up to floor fifteen."
"Either way, we'll have to find some other way," Jackie mutters. "We could try to get through one of these Staff doors. Or we could... go up the stairs? See if there's a way from there? Or uh... wait in line for the elevator to see if there's a way from the roof? I mean, we could also take the elevator to floor fifteen, I think... still means we'd have to wait a lot."
“If we can find another blind spot- I can try to glitch us up there,” Alt says quietly, “they cause a flash of green light so… I can’t just do it now on my own and not be discovered.”
Alt's phone glitches. "I think there are blind spots on the staircase landings," Anti reports from the screen. "You just need to get to one that's absent of people."
Schneep sighs. "Climbing the stairs it is, then."
Bro sighs too, “Alright gents- stairs it is.” He heads towards them, grumbling, “you’d think the future would have abolished stairs by now…!”
Alt rolls his eyes with a chuckle and follows after him.
"Stairs are good for your health!" Schneep says defensively.
"Doesn't mean they don't suck," Marvin says. "I'm surprised they don't have more elevators."
Turns out, there are regular stairs and also an escalator running parallel to them as they spiral up. At each landing, the escalator becomes a moving walkway, seamlessly merging into the ground so that the escalator rider doesn't even have to step to transition to the walkway.
Bro blinks in surprise at the escalator, “oohh woah! Neat!” Bro climbs onto it.
Alt laughs, following him, “you’re complaining a lot for a superhero who can probably climb these stairs faster than all of us.”
“I can fly dude- you think I actually take the stairs? Fuck those things man!”
"I'm surprised that more are not flying, actually," Schneep says, looking around. There are a couple aliens with wings on the escalator, mostly smaller insectoid ones and those draconic-looking fellows.
"I suppose it would not be worth the energy?"
Bro hums, “Yeah- it can be kinda tiring sometimes. I like doing it as much as I can though.” He shrugs.
Jackie leans closer to Alt and mutters, "Where are the blind spots?"
"Always in the left corners, looks like," Anti reports from the phone. "You just need to wait for a landing empty of people."
More and more people get off as the stairs go higher. Apparently the more fun exhibits are lower in the building.
“Left corners… okay-“ Alt mumbles, eyeing the crowds of people as they get thinner and thinner.
Looks like the landing for floor fourteen is empty of people. There are more on floor fifteen though--maybe people curious about what's on the highest possible story.
"I don't think it will get better than this," Chase mutters, and steps off the escalator.
"Just need to wait for a moment when no one is in sight," Anti adds, also stepping off.
Alt nods and steps off, anxiously playing with his necklace.
Bro hops off and hums, “Wonder what’s in all these floors that everyone goes to see-“
"There was a directory on the ground floor," Marvin recalls. "They're a lot of exhibits. Mostly old inventions and belongings to historical figures. The place is basically a museum."
"Oh, I remember there was this one floor that was a recreation of old office buildings, that was so interesting," Chase says.
“Ohhh damn that's kinda cool-“ Bro hums.
“I never thought office buildings would be a museum exhibit someday,” Alt chuckles.
"You'll want to huddle up really close," Anti says from the phone. "The blind spot is small."
"We're about to look really suspicious," Jackie comments.
Alt goes to squeeze the best he can into the corner.
It's more than a little awkward as everyone presses into the corner. Fortunately, it's not long before a moment comes when the stairs are free of people. "Now!" Anti says, and everyone quickly links up.
Alt quickly closes his eyes and tries to focus on getting to the 20th floor.
They disappear in a flash of light and reappear in the middle of a white hallway, the light reflecting off its walls so bright that it's almost blinding. Everything in this hallway is that same color--though there isn't much in this hallway at all. Just white sliding doors, white plaques with the names of rooms, and... the one thing that isn't the white color. Some sort of... metal mannequin with a blank, featureless head. It stands next to one of the doors, completely still.
Bro blinks at the mannequin and points, “…don’t like that thing-“ he whispers.
“Chase, focus-“ Alt hisses as he checks the tracker again.The tracker tells them that the piece is in the Large Testing Room.
Alt pales a bit, “…it’s in a testing room,” he mumbles.
As Alt looks up from the tracker, his gaze lands on the mannequin again. And... that's strange, isn't it? For a moment, he thought he was looking at Anti. But that doesn't make sense.... does it? Now that he's looking closer, Anti's metal body is... a lot like the mannequin's. Except for the head, of course, but everything else... it's eerily similar to Anti's design.He blinks and then slowly looks between Anti and the mannequin. “…Anti… that- that mannequin…”
"It's a robot," Anti says quickly. "Don't worry about it. It cannot do anything without orders." Anti has trouble with expressions. He'd only been programmed with so many. So it's hard to tell how he's feeling. But it seems like he's deliberately not looking towards the robot.
"A... testing room, I see," Schneep says haltingly, noticing the same thing Alt did. "Ah... maybe there are... directions that way?"
"Let's just start looking," Jackie says. "Uhhh... I don't see directions, so let's just go this way." He turns in the opposite direction of the robot and heads down the hallway, forcing the others to follow.
Alt spares one last look at the mannequin before following. “It says it’s in the large one- maybe there’s only one of those.” Alt suggests.
“…it seems strangely empty up here,” Bro comments under his breath.
Just as Bro says that, someone turns a corner up ahead, appearing suddenly. It's a human woman with dark skin and frizzy hair pulled back by a headband. She's wearing a white coat. "Oh!" She sees the group and stops walking. "Um... sorry, I think you've got lost. This area is closed to the public."
Bro freezes and Alt elbows him with a murderous expression. Bro grins nervously, “Oh uh yeah! Must have gotten really lost! What… floor is this??”
"This is the twentieth floor." The woman laughs a bit nervously. "Um... here, let's get you all back to where you were heading. This way." She walks past the group, indicating they should follow her.
"Uh... we can find our way back where we came from," Jackie says quickly. "You're probably really busy. We'd hate to interrupt you."
“Yeah don’t worry!” Bro waves his hand, “hate to give you more work for a bunch of tourists!”
As Bro talks, Alt looks around at the rooms and tries to inch farther ahead.
The woman frowns. "I really shouldn't leave you all alone in here..."
"It will be fine," Schneep says. "It is not like we can get in any of these doors. They probably need keys, yes?"
"Well, yeah, I suppose so." The woman still looks reluctant. "But you might get lost."
"We're capable of retracing our steps, you know," Jackie laughs.
“Such a shame no one can come up here though! I bet you could tell us a lot of really interesting things!!” Bro laughs.
"Well, uh, not really," the woman says, laughing awkwardly. "It's all boring really..."
As the others distract her, Alt sneaks around the woman and peers around the corner she'd come from. There's a large set of sliding double-doors down the corridor. Those seem important.
Alt doesn’t hesitate- he glitches down the hall and then tries to go through the doors.
Alt's glitching is accompanied by a flash of light, and she frowns and turns towards it. "What was--hey!"
Unlike the doors in the bunker, these doors don't open as Alt gets close. But the plaque next to this set of double doors reads "Large Testing Room." This is the right place.
Bro’s stomach drops and he tries to grab the lady, “Hey no maybe we need directions after all!”
Alt immediately goes to glitch through the doors, going as fast as possible.
"Whoa, hey, no grabbing!" She shakes her arm free, turning back to Bro with wide eyes. "I-I can call security!"
Bro let’s go, holding up his hands, “sorry! …that’s usually okay on my … planet?” He says nervously.
Her eyes dart to the translator in Bro's ear. "Well... you get one warning. Now please, let me show you the way out."
“Alright sure-“ Bro says, eyes darting back to the door.
Alt glitches through the door easily, ending up in a large room, made of the same white material as the hallway. There are a handful of people in white coats--all human except for one kritzein. They're all gathered around some sort of instrument in the center of the room, dangling from the ceiling and reaching down towards a circular platform in the center. It's hard to know what the instrument is, but it looks kind of like GLaDoS from portal but without the face.
"Hey! How did you get in here?!" One of the scientists demands.
Alt ignores the scientists and checks the tracker, eyes darting around the room.The tracker tells him it's on the circular platform in the center.
“Fucking- of course it is,” Alt grumbles.
"We're going to call security!" Another one of the scientists shouts.
Then, Alt glitches towards the platform and tries to grab whatever is on it.The scientists all cry out in surprise as he suddenly glitches over. The item on the platform is a long, L-shaped bit of metal with a tiny microchip on the corner. As Alt scoops it up, one of the scientists reaches into their pocket-- And yellow alarm lights start flashing in both the Testing Room and the hallway.
"Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert."
Alt quickly puts it in his pocket then curses and glitches back out into the hallway.
"Shit!" Anti curses outside. "The plan was to be subtle!"
The woman blinks at his voice. "...wait a second. Are you--Septic?" She glances around. "Y-you're all with him, aren't you?!" Then she turns and runs down the hallway away from them.
“I’m not sure Alt had a choice!” Bro says to Anti. Then, he blinks at the woman’s reaction. “Woah-“
"I'm sure there were other ways!" Chase shouts.
“Link up!!” Alt shouts as he sprints down the hall towards the others.
As Alt appears, the others rush towards him, reaching out-- But then, behind them, the robot from the hallway appears, raising an arm. Part of its arm slides out and out shoot several blue bolts of light.
One of the bolts hits Chase and he immediately stiffens up, then goes limp, falling to the floor. Another hits Anti, and while he doesn't stop moving like Chase did, the blue light turns into electricity that crackles along his body, causing spasms.
Bro’s eyes widen as the robot starts to shoot and quickly ducks out of the way, rolling across the ground.
Alt gets hit and stiffens up, a reaction halfway between Chase’s and Anti’s as his muscles lock up but also crackle with electricity that has him crying out in pain and spasming. He soon enough falls limp too.
“Alt!” Bro cries out.
Schneep helps Chase up--or tries to, at least. He's gone completely boneless, eyes wide above the mask hiding his face. Jackie hurries over and the two of them support Chase between them.
The robot continues to shoot. JJ starts pushing the others around the corner, blocking its aim. A bolt skims him as he does so, causing him to stiffen, but he doesn't go limp like Chase and Alt did. But there are more robots showing up, identical to the first one, raising their arms in a similar way.
Bro rushes to Alt and scoops him up and Alt is just as boneless as Chase is- eyes wide and hands twitching with electricity. “Shit shit shit shit!!” Bro curses quietly as he backs up, holding Alt to his chest. He’s desperately looks around for some kind of idea- if there was a window maybe they could all- break out?? But it’s the 20th floor- the others might not survive!
"Attention intruders," a voice says over an intercom. Feminine-sounding with a slight British accents. "Our security bots are quite persistent. If you do not wish to be stunned, surrender the IRIS property you have and give yourselves up. We will escort you from the building."
Bro looks up at the voice and then growls, “The thing we took was ours anyways! So f-fuck off!”
"Our scans are reporting a bot that is IRIS property with you," the woman's voice says calmly. "Regardless of modifications you have made, it was built from IRIS technology and therefore must be returned for reprog--" Anti's head suddenly snaps up.
"I am not a robot!" he shouts. "I am not a robot!" He punches the wall, causing a crack, and the woman's voice cuts off.
JJ looks around wildly. He rushes to the nearest door. It doesn't open, of course. "Bro, your belt!" he says, typing quickly. "Hurry!"
His belt? Right! The devices!
Bro jumps at Anti’s anger, backing up and looking stunned. His attention is quickly turned back to JJ though as he scrambles to grab the deactivator and hands it to JJ.
JJ takes the hacker. It's a bit like a gun, if instead of a barrel it had a large bit of rectangular metal. He presses the flat part against the door and pulls the trigger mechanism. After a second, during which the robots get closer, the door slides open. He rushes in the room and gestures for the others to follow. The room beyond is filled with shelves full of boxes, some clear, some metal. As soon as everyone is inside Marvin hits a button on the inside, closing it.
"That won't delay them for long," Jackie says. "Wh-what do we do? Do we need to check Alt and Chase over?"
"Th-the stun will we-wear off in a few--few minutes," Anti says, his voice glitching slightly.
Bro hurries in and tries to shake Alt but Alt still doesn’t respond. Bro looks to Anti with wide scared eyes, “W-We don’t have a few minutes! Is there any way to speed it up?? Or c-cure this?! Something!!”
"I d-d-do not know of one," Anti says. "My--my call with Sam was dropped when the st-stun hit me. I can--cannot ask them."
"Great, now we've closed ourselves into some supply room and they're going to get us at any moment!" Jackie's head darts around. "Um--is there an air vent or something?"
Marvin points at a spot above a set of shelves. There's a square grate up there. "I don't know if you all could fit in there though."
“Damnit!” Bro curses, blinking back frustrated tears. “I-If Alt wasn’t hit we’d probably be back in the b-base by now! I-I can’t fly all of us out of here-“ He’s trying not to panic.
"Okay, okay." Jackie is trying to take deep breaths. "We--we have to try the vent, it's the only way out of here."
Anti backs into the corner of the room, crouching down and putting his hands over his head. His expression is stuck on fear as his irises flicker. "I can--I c-cannot get stuck here," he says in a quiet voice. "I cannot--there is s-so much more to do--I cannot leave S-Sam--they cannot c-continue his work on th-their own--"
Bro seems to shake out of his panic by hearing Anti’s. He takes a shaky breath then tries to sit Alt up against the wall. Then, he looks for heavy things he can start to push against the doors. “We’re not gonna let them get you Anti-“ he says, determination bright in his eyes. “…w-we just need to stall until Alt recovers. You guys try to get into the vent-“
"I do not think I can climb up there," Schneep says, looking at the vent.
"We can use the shelves as a ladder, we just need to get the stuff off," Marvin says, starting to move the boxes off the shelves.
Anti watches him do this. Then he takes a deep breath--or, well, imitates taking a deep breath--and stands up, walking over to help move the items. The heaviest things in the room are the shelves and the boxes. And wouldn't you know? Some of the shelves have ball-like things on their feet, like wheels. There are also small switches near each sphere, with the words "locked" and "unlocked" written on them. They're currently in the "locked" position.
Bro hums as he sees this and unlocks them, going to move the heaviest feeling ones in front of the door and locking them back in place. “…I-if they try to break through- I can probably hold them back… super strength, you know?” He laughs nervously.
"IIIII don't think you mentioned the super strength earlier, actually," Jackie says.
“Oh- well… yeah!! I got that and super Speed- flying… can sometimes shoot some electricity but Alt is wayyy better at that.” Bro says, pushing more stuff in the way.
Chase, lying on Schneep's shoulder, mumbles something indecipherable.
"Uh--that's cool, though!" Jackie continues. Once the shelves are clear,
Marvin quickly scrambles up to the vent and pulls at the vent. "JJ, will that unlocking thing work on this?"
JJ frowns. "It disrupts electronic locks. Do you think that has one?"
"...not suuuuure."
Bro looks back at Marvin and then hovers a bit to look, “…want me to try?” He asks. “Maybe I can pry it open.”
Marvin nods. "Might as well." He climbs back down so Bro can have access. Bro curls his fingers around the vent and tries to pry it open, bracing his feet against the wall for better leverage.
"Attention intruders," the intercom turns on again, the same feminine voice speaking. "This will be your final appeal to surrender. If you do not surrender now, we will have to use force to reclaim our property and have you vacate the premises."
Brolooks up at the announcement then looks back at Anti, “H-How much longer do you think they’ll be stunned??”
"Average amount of time to recover from a stun bolt is five minutes," Anti says. "It has been about two."
Chase groans. His fingers twitch a little. "'m... f'nn..."
"If you are saying you're fine, you most certainly are not," Schneep says.
Alt’s arm twitches a bit and he tries to move, “mm- ngh…” but nothing is responding. Even though he feels himself panicking and his heart pounding so hard against his chest.
The vent really seems to be stuck on there, but little by little, it gives way, until it suddenly pops off. “I got it!” Bro exclaims as he gets the vent open. “Marvin you wanna give it a try?”
Marvin nods and quickly climbs up the shelves again. He slips into the air vent easily, tail waving and feet kicking until he disappears out of sight. "No room to turn around," he reports. "And I don't think the bulkier ones of you will be comfortable. But it will probably work for an emergency. I think it slopes instead of drops."
“Okay… hopefully we won’t have to use it…” Bro mumbles as he nervously looks towards the door.
The intercom turns on again. "Attention intruders. You have not surrendered, and thus, we will begin using force. We waive all responsibility for any injuries you gain while resisting."
Alt grunts as he tries to get himself to move again- but all that moves is his fingers. He makes a frustrated noise.
Bro glares up at the ceiling and flips it off, “Fuck off ya IRIS pricks!!”
Marvin scrambles back out of the vent backwards. But he slips on the edge of the shelf and tumbles down with flailing limbs and a loud "MRRAAH!" He lands on the floor and quickly gets to his feet, brushing himself off and looking around embarrassed.
Jackie bursts into laughter. "What the fuck? I thought felorrs always landed on their feet, comp!"
"I'm not literally a cat," Marvin mutters. "Cats don't even land on their feet."
Bro jumps in surprise then blinks in confusion, “What?!! Cats landing on their feet isn’t true?!” Alt makes an exasperated noise.
"Yeah, what?" Jackie says.
Marvin sighs. "Do you really think any animal can defy gravity like that so expertly?"
"Where does the rumor come from, then?" Jackie says in rebuttal.
"I believe it's because Terran cats are quite flexible and were often--but not always--seen correcting themselves in midair," Anti says.
“I swear Glitches always lands on her feet…” Bro mumbles, crossing his arms.
“Nnnnr-“ Alt grunts.
“…are you okay though, Marv?” Bro asks.
"Yes, are you okay?" JJ asks as well.
"I'm fine, more surprising than anything," Marvin says. "Even if I don't always land on my feet, I can recover fast."
The relatively light-hearted moment is interrupted by a banging on the door to the room. It then slides open--but thankfully whatever's on the other side is blocked by the shelves.
"Surrender," says a robotic voice.
Bro startles then curses, “Damn future doors! I forgot it could just slide open!” He holds out his arm protectively and steps in front of the others. “Take cover guys!” He quickly looks around for something he can use as a shield.
"Cover?! Where?!" Schneep asks, eyes darting around.
"Here, we'll move some of the shelves!" Jackie hurries over and pushes a shelf away from the wall, sliding into the space behind it.
Schneep hesitates, then gently puts Chase down and moves over, helping to move the shelf. JJ joins them as well, and together the three of them manage to get a couple shelves away from the wall. Marvin scrambles back up the shelves and into the vent again. There's not much that can be a shield. But some of these boxes are big, maybe their lids could work?
Anti stares at the door intently. Waiting. "They will push the shelves over," he says in a quiet voice. "Then they will fire directly ahead of them. Get out of the line of fire." He moves to the left of the door, pressing against the wall and picking up a smaller box, gripping it so tightly in his hands that the metal warps slightly.
Bro grabs a lid off a large metal box and holds it. He then blinks at Anti in confusion. “H-How do you-?” He doesn’t question this for long though. He ducks out of the way to the right.
Though… Alt is still stuck up against the wall in front of the door, staring at the robots with wide scared eyes.
"Shit!" Jackie curses from behind the shelf. "Alt and Chase--!"
"They were already stunned, we can protect them," Anti says. "Now get--"
The shelves tip forward and the robots fire their stun bolts into the room. They were aiming at chest-height for the average person, so luckily the bolts don't hit Chase or Alt sitting on the floor. Chase flinches and manages to slowly move an arm, grasping vaguely at the floor to try and pull himself out of the way. Alt vaguely glitches around his shoulder and hands but it’s not enough to do anything. He tries to move his feet or legs- something!
The robots start walking into the room-- And Anti yells out, smashing one in the head with the box. Bro quickly follows Anti’s lead and sends a super charged punch right into another robot’s head.
Bro's punch goes straight into the robot's jaw area, sending its head snapping to the side with the sound of something snapping. Anti's blow manages to dent the head of the bot he attacked. Both of them fall backwards into the two bots behind them, knocking them over.
But then the second pair of bots get up again and aim their stun bolts again. Anti swings for a second time. Bro yells and sends another punch. This time, he smacks the robot in the shoulder and manages to push its aim off course, but it doesn't break like the last one. "Aim for joints or the head!" Anti shouts, bringing the box down on the other bot's arm and disrupting its aim in the same way.
Chase's head slowly turns to Alt and he tries to pull himself towards him.
Alt jerkily looks at Chase, his hands starting to grip better and sparking with some of his magic. …he’s been able to dismantle stuff by just barely moving before- maybe he can do that now. He looks towards one of the robots and twitches his head to the side as his eyes flash bright blue-green, trying to take apart its stun gun.
The one Bro hit raises its stun arm again, aiming directly at him—but instead there's a flicker of blue-green lightning as it doesn't fire. Not exactly collapsing like Alt wanted, but momentarily jamming it.
Bro nods and his eyes widen as he recognizes the sight of the magic. He grins then grabs the robot by the arm- on its joint- and then tries to flip it to crush it against the ground. The robot flies through the air, landing hard on the ground. Something snaps again and it goes limp. Bro whoops and gives the downed robot the finger, “Yeah take that, bitch!” He quickly moves to try to take out another one.
Alt’s eyes widen too and he slowly squeezes his hand in determination. He flares open his eyes to try to jam or take apart more of the guns.
Anti can't help but wince—he can't help but see himself in these bots—and almost misses another bot running forward to take the fallen one's place, aiming its stun arm. But then... its arm falls apart, pieces falling to the ground. Anti looks back, expression shifting to surprise, and then a smile. Alt also seems surprised. But he smiles a bit at Anti- but slowly. Anti grips his box weapon tightly and smacks it to the side.
"Alt..." Chase manages to say. "Wh'n... c'n y... gl'sh?" He's asking 'when can you glitch?'
Alt turns to Chase and grunts, squeezing and releasing his hand with a lot of effort, “ne’d t’b… a-ab’l t’m’ve..!” ‘Need to be able to move’. His hand glitches a bit- but not to the degree he was able to earlier.
"...sucks," Chase says. Alt lets out a choked chuckle.
If there's one good thing about this situation, it's that the doorway forms a bit of a bottleneck, only allowing two robots at a time to get through. Anti grabs one as it passes through, wrestling it to the ground.
Bro misses as the robot moves- making him strike its torso. He growls a bit then tries to kick the robot back into the others.The robot staggers backwards from the unexpected super strength of Bro's kick, falling into the others outside and knocking them down in turn.
“Yeah! Strike!!” Bro laughs as he jumps up and punches the air.
"Nice!" Jackie shouts, leaning around the shelf to watch. JJ grabs him and pulls him back.
Meanwhile, Anti manages to take out the bot he'd been fighting on the ground. These things were ordered to swarm in and subdue the group. They're not good at thinking beyond that goal. Not with their actions being limited by the priority of the orders.
Even so— "They will keep coming," Anti says. "IRIS has many of these models. Even the ones not designed for combat will be thrown at us."
“We can handle them,” Bro says cockily, adjusting his hat. “Just until Alt can glitch. You doin’ okay, baby bro?”
“M’ f’nn!” Alt tries to call. Feeling is slowly, slowly coming back. Still… there’s gotta be more he can do. His eyes wander to the door button. …if he destroyed it- could it keep the door shut? He narrows his eyes then jerks his head to the side- trying to short circuit it before the next wave of robots recover.
Two more robots surge into the room. Anti smacks one in the head. Bro throws another powered punch to the other’s head.
That green lightning flickers around the door button... but nothing happens. "...you?" Chase whispers. "K-keep... try'n...!"
Alt grits his teeth and tries to push more power out, magic sparking around him a bit more. He tries to short circuit the door again. Green lightning sparks around the door button, and for a second, he feels connected to it. He somehow knows that if he short circuits the door it will stay in the state it's in, so he manages to trigger the close state before the short circuit fully goes through.
Shortly after, Anti and Bro knock down the two bots they were fighting, denting their featureless heads in the process.
Bro pants as he backs away from the last robot he downed and looks at the door shutting. He grins back at Alt, “Hey!! Good idea dude!! Hopefully that’ll keep the rest of them out!”
Alt attempts to smile.
Jackie leans out from behind the shelf again. “That. Was. So. COOL!” He says, grinning. “I mean—it was scary and life-threatening but it was cool! Man, I bet I could have helped. With these metal fists of mine.”
Bro grins wide, “Maybe bro! But fighting is hard if you’re not used to it!”
Jackie, Schneep, and JJ all come out from behind the shelf. Marvin also appears, carefully backing out of the vent and making sure that he has secure footing this time.
“How are you both feeling, Chase, Alt?” JJ asks.
Chase tries to sit up. He fails, but he manages to get about halfway before he falls back, groaning. “Sucks.”
“Right, I should’ve expected that,” JJ says, embarrassed.
Bro knocks a friendly fist against Anti’s shoulder, “you did great dude!”
Alt also tries to pull himself up, glitching a bit but soon slips back down with a groan. “Hate… this…” he grumbles.
“Stunning is very inconvenient,” Anti agrees. “But it is painless and leaves no side effects after it wears off, so it is the preferred way of subduing someone in most places in the galaxy.”
“How do you know all that?” Marvin asks. “You’re a ro—an android!”
“That doesn’t mean I cannot read and learn,” Anti says. “And it doesn’t mean I don’t know something similar.” His eyes dart down to the disabled robots for a moment.
“…because you… ah..” Schneep hesitates. “You are…?” He trails off.
Bro furrows his eyebrows and looks down, and it dawns on him. “…because you’re like these guys…!” He looks back at Anti with wide eyes, “…did you like- go rogue? Like a deviant in that… one robot game-? Detroit… something- …wait that’s like ancient now-“
“Chase…!” Alt groans in exasperation.
"Detroit: Become Human, developed by Quantic Dream, released in 2018." Anti shakes his head, puhing away the robotic response. "It is not exactly like that. I was..." He hesitates. For a moment, that same fear expression crosses his face. Then he makes a sighing sound. "IRIS likely already knows all this. And I suppose I owe an explanation--to Alt and JJ, at least." He folds his arms, leaning against the wall, not looking directly at anyone. "I was... repurposed."
"By the human who lived with you and Sam?" JJ asks.
Anti looks at him in surprise. "How do you know that?"
"You have a room in your bunker with a bed and facilities for a human," JJ says. "But neither you or Sam need that. They were there before you found me. It's not hard to put together."
Anti laughs, then looks down again. "There was... a man named Jack," he continues in a soft voice. "He broke into an IRIS facility and took one of their robots. One that had been fully built and programmed, but not activated. He would feel bad about deleting any memories. He took it home, and switched out some parts--notably the head--and reworked the programming using the IRIS protocols as a base. Keeping simple code that allows for movement and language formation and such, but taking out other code, such as the orders protocol, and... adding a lot, lot more to it. That was... how I was made." He pauses. "In the early days, I was... there was conflict. I thought I was an experiment, or a servant. I didn't want to be either of those things. But that's not what Jack intended. He asked me what I wanted. He... always asked me what I wanted."
Bro’s safe softens, “… Jack helped make you into a person. Not just a machine…” he smiles. “I think he did a great job too.”
Alt tries to sit up more, looking at Anti. “…where’s… Jack…?”
Anti pauses, and his expression becomes sad. "He's disappeared. It's likely that he's either been arrested or... died. But Sam doesn't want to think about that possibility. In either case... he asked us that if anything ever happened to him, that the two of us continue his plan."
Alt looks sad too, eyebrows knitting together in worry.
Suddenly, Schneep gasps. "You--was Jack--was he Se--" Then he stops himself. "R-right, there are probably cameras watching us."
"I can only assume what you assumed," Anti says. "But... yes."
Bro looks between the two of them in confusion. “…you’ll have to catch us up when we get out of here I guess…”
"Right, I actually forgot you guys weren't from here for a second," Jackie says. "Uh--I think we brought him up at the table in the restaurant? Before your screen assistant friend appeared."
Bro scrambles his brain, “Ohhh! …I’m not sure I get it but I think I remember-“
"Alt wouldn't know, though," Marvin points out. Seems like all the guys have come to the same realization as Schneep.
Chase tries getting up again. He manages to hold himself up for a bit this time before collapsing.
Alt tries to pull himself up too, glitches collecting around him- and he manages to glitch to his feet. Then he braces himself against the wall for a second before his arm gives out and he falls too.
“J-Jesus!” Bro exclaims and comes over to help the two of them. “Don’t push yourselves too hard guys- I think we’re safe for now!”
"'s fine," Chase grunts.
Schneep hurries over as well, giving them both a cursory examination. "Can either of you move your legs? That will be the important part."
Chase tries, jerking one leg into the air.
"Even if they can move it, doesn't mean they can support their weight." Anti walks over to the door, tilting his head to listen through it. "I hear no movement outside. I suppose they know their doors are quite sturdy and are not going to bother to brute force it down."
Alt also tries to move his leg, but it’s shaky and jerky in its movement.
Bro sighs in relief, “Okay… so we have time again- how much longer till the stunning wears off do you think?”
"Perhaps about two more minutes," Anti says. "It varies depending on species and body weight."
"I don't think they'd be able to get in here in two minutes," Marvin says slowly.
"Yeah, big organization like this?" Jackie nods. "They're probably debating what to do."
“Hate… waiting…” Alt mutters. Bro pats his shoulder. The hero looks back towards the door and hums, “…I wonder if… they’re more worried about the TRVLR piece or… getting Anti back. …maybe both. Technically… the TRVLR was made by IRIS- just… from another universe.” He shudders, “…I hope they didn’t get too much info from it..”
JJ raises his eyebrows. "The IRIS from another universe was able to make a multiverse travel device? But ours hasn't?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if they tried," Anti says. "But such a device would likely take a great deal of power."
“To be fair- we found ours in an abandoned lot. It was defective but we found out Alt’s magic is enough to work it. We thought it was just cuz of his electricity…but it’s cuz he’s also a Glitch.” Bro says, “which… I kinda get but also don’t. Somehow… Alt broke through some barrier of our world and… that’s how he can glitch and do this kinda stuff, apparently.”
Alt’s body glitches a bit in place as he nods.
Anti tilts his head. "Interesting. Very interesting."
"Do you think something like that could happen in our world?" Jackie wonders.
"Maybe!" Marvin says, eyes dilating wide. "Well--we don't have magic here--or not magic like you all do. But I do think there's something more to the world. Maybe that could be called magic."
“Magic… is… a-anywhere-“ Alt says quietly.
“But we’ve met glitches in several other places! Ones that didn’t have magic too I think- so it’s totally possible!” Bro says, “But I’m one of those people that believes anything is possible sooo”
"Hell yeah, anything is possible!" Jackie says excitedly.
"Well." Schneep's brows lower as he looks thoughtful. "I would not say anything is possible. If your planet has a blue sky, it will not suddenly become, for example, green."
"Killjoy," Chase comments.
Bro bursts into giggles. “I dunno man- I’ve seen some pretty impossible things. …this place is definitely one of them.” He smiles.
Schneep blinks. "Well if it happened then it is clearly possible--"
"Schneep. Think about it." Jackie says, grinning a bit. "Look at yourself and remember they've never seen other planets."
He looks down at his hands with their scales and claws. "...ah."
Chase laughs a little. Alt and Bro laugh too. Chasetries to sit up again. His head lolls but he's able to keep his balance.
Alt sees Chase able to get up and shakily tries himself. Bro helps to support him. Alt grits his teeth then shakily reaches out his hand. “I-I… think I can- glitch!”
"You can?!" Marvin's eyes widen. "W-well then we should probably get out of here then!"
Anti puts his head near the door again. "I can hear movement outside there. It is probably for the best."
Jackie grabs onto Chase and Alt. "Okay, let's link up to try!"
Alt nods and closes his eyes once everyone is linked up. It takes a second- like a program loading. Magic and glitches zing and zip around Alt as he struggles to get his glitches to work. Then finally, they manage to glitch out of the closet and zip back down to Anti’s base.
It's a big jump, but they make it, landing in the middle of the intersection beneath the exit.
Chase yelps in surprise and starts to topple over, but Schneep quickly catches him.
Alt’s eyes roll up a bit from the jump and starts to topple but Bro is quick to catch him. Alt mumbles incoherently, pressing up against him.
Sam flies out of a room at the end, some sort of long metal pole wrapped in their tail, the end crackling with electricity--then they drop it and the electricity goes out. "It's you!" they type. "You're back!" Then they fly over to Anti, bumping against him and wrapping their tail around his arm in a big hug. He looks surprised, then smiles.
Bro blinks at Sam’s reaction then smiles at Anti too, “Aww! They missed you!”
Sam pulls away again. "I was so worried when our call got cut off! Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"
"We are all fine," Anti says. "Relatively. Chase and Alt were stunned but they should be recovering."
"Are you okay, Alt?" Schneep asks worriedly. "Do you need something?" He glances at Bro. "That did not happen the last times we teleported."
"It's probably the stun bolt," Marvin suggests.
“I think it was just a big jump when he’s still recovering- so… can’t reach all his magic and it drained what he got back.” Bro says, lightly tapping Alt’s face to keep him awake.
Alt blinks blearily out, “‘m fine- mmmm good…” he mumbles. He half collapses against Bro, the adrenaline from being trapped wearing off now that he knows eveyone is safe.
JJ looks at him worriedly. "Let's get him to lay down," he says, and walks back towards his room.
"What about Chase?" Marvin asks.
"I'm fine," Chase says, raising a hand. "I'm... getting there. Alt just... used magic. More important."
Bro nods and goes to scoop Alt up. The younger Brody tries to protest but doesn’t get far- Bro follows after JJ.
Back in the room, JJ presses a hand against a metal section of the wall and part of the wooden paneling slides up, revealing a bed in an alcove. The blankets and pillows are a pale, cheery yellow. "Sorry it's not made," JJ says, despite the bed looking pretty 'made' already.
Bro chuckles, “Don’t sweat it, bro.”
JJ blinks. "Don't sweat it? What a strange expression."
“Huh? …I guess it is kinda weird-“ Bro laughs, setting down Alt on the bed and Alt sighs, showing his exhaustion. Hopefully once all the stunning effects go away he’ll get his energy back. He hadn’t even use much magic…Bro sits down to him on the bed.
The others file in. Schneep puts Chase in one of the chairs at the table and he slumps forward.
"Do you all need anything?" Sam asks. "We have an old medkit."
"I think everyone is fine, besides the stunning," Schneep says.
"So..." Jackie looks at Sam and Anti. "You guys knew Septic, huh?"
Sam's eye widens. They spin on Anti. "You told them?!"
"There were a lot of those IRIS bots, they noticed the similarities," Anti says. "I told them about Jack, but they figured out who he was on their own."
Bro blinks out at the others, “Oh yeah what’s the deal with that? Jack was… Septic? I thought that was Anti!”
"I suppose technically, Septic is all three of us," Sam says thoughtfully. "But Jack is the face."
Anti picks up the holo projector. His eyes become loading circles for a moment. "Uploading." And then they stop. Anti presses a couple buttons and the holo projector flips on, projecting a video into midair. It's of that same man Jackie had shown Bro a video of. The man with one mechanical green eye and metal plates on his face.
"Are we rolling?" he says, messing with his hair.
"Rolling," Anti's voice comes from out of sight.
"Great. Why do we say that, anyway? You ever wondered?"
"Perhaps it is linked to film rolls."
"Ah, right." The man shakes his head. "Okay, from the top."
Anti pauses the video. His sad expression is back.
Alt and Bro watch the hologram with wide eyes. Bro looks back at Anti and his expression turns sympathetic. “…you really miss him, huh?”
Anti nods.
"We both do," Sam says. "It's... strange how he disappeared. He went out, and never came back, and we haven't heard anything about him since. You would think the Station Security would announce if they arrested him."
“Hmm.. yeah… you guys- mentioned a plan of his, right?” Bro asks, “What was that? I know you said Septic was like… an anarchist?”
"Yeah, he disrupts a lot of stuff on the station," Jackie agrees.
"He disrutps things that are run by IRIS," Anti states. "Which is quite a lot, given how the Zypso Station was built by them. But he always said that the Station could run on its own, without depending on them." He pauses. "The goal was always to cause enough chaos to force them out."
"Um..." Marvin raises his hand. "I understand why you'd have a personal flyer to shoot with IRIS, but... they seem alright otherwise?"
"They run the station well enough, I suppose," Anti acknowledges. "But that is not all they do. Jack was convinced for years that there was something behind their mask. And he was right. Even if they are not actively malicious, they are, at the very least, very negligent and willing to bend rules."
Bro’s expression darkens, “Just from what we saw today- IRIS is bad news. They were willing to forcibly reprogram Anti- something they saw themselves has sentience and emotions. That’s… that’s evil. But… we have our own bias with them.”
Alt shakily sits up and nods, “…in other worlds… IRIS has kidnapped our friends… t-treated people like experiments… if we had g-gotten caught… they might have d-done the same to us.”
"...well. That doesn't speak well to their character," Schneep says slowly.
"They would not even do a good job at reprogramming," Anti says quietly. Sam pats his shoulder with their tail.
"We... all live on... the station, though," Chase says slowly. "That's... is that... bad?"
"It is not the station that is the problem," Anti says. "There are plenty of businesses here that could sustain the place." He nods at Bro and Alt. "From the information Jack has discovered, there's a chance that might have happened."
Jackie shivers. "You guys should probably get out of here soon, then."
“Probably…” Bro sighs, but he looks out at the others, knitting his eyebrows in worry. “…will you all be okay? I hate to leave if we just got you all into… deep shit. Just for helping us…”
"They didn't see our faces," Marvin says. "We'll... probably be fine. There are a lot of humans, kritzeins, and felorrs on the station."
"If worst comes to worst, you can stay with us," Sam says. "We can expand the bunker. I've been thinking about doing that for a while, actually."
"Heh. Thanks." Jackie grins.
"The masks should have scrubbed your appearance details from most camera systems, including what species and gender you are," Anti says. "You will simply appear as spot of white noise."
Bro sighs in relief, “That’s good then…” He looks down at Alt. “Well, lil bro? …you ready to head to the next one?”
Alt tries to shake himself out, flexing his hands and shaking off the numbness. “I… I think so…?”
Alt's phone turns on. "Actually, there isn't a next one," Anti says. "Not really. We have all the parts together. Now we just have to head back to the world where you first got the TRVLR, since they're likely the most well-equipped to repair it--"
"Is̢ t̡h̕at ̀s͟o?" The familiar voice echoes from every corner of the room.
Alt and Bro both freeze- their faces going pale.
“No-“ Alt whispers in fear.
Bro springs to his feet, “Anti! Sam! Get the others out of here! Now!” He shouts with authority.
Anti and Sam immediately spring into action. Anti grabs Chase, still slightly stunned, and pulls him out, while Sam flies around and starts pushing the others out.
"Are you going to be okay?!" Jackie shouts, resisting being pushed.
"I-if we don't see you again--goodbye!" Marvin says.
"It was nice to meet you!" JJ gives one last smile before grabbing Jackie and pulling him out.
“We’ll… we’ll be okay-“ Bro tries to smile at them reassuringly but there’s that tension in his body- he’s scared. Alt tries to look back at them and smile but his falls short as his eyes snap to the locked door and the red Anti.
As soon as they're all gone, the door shuts, and a light by its doorway turns red--locking it. An image forms in front of it as several of the light squares go out. It's that same red Anti who had been stalking them the whole time, his smile wide beneath static-filled eyes. "My business isn't with them, anyway," his voice says, though his mouth doesn't move.
Bro gets into a fighting stance and bares his teeth at Anti. “If you think we’re just gonna hand you over the pieces, bitch, you’re wrong! You might as well just give up!”
Alt backs up, holding the bag and the newest piece still inside his hoodie pocket. He tries not to show how much his heart is pounding- how much his hands are shaking.
His laugh echoes throughout the room. "You're not going to? Well, alright." Suddenly his image is right in front of them--two, one for each. "Let me ask you two a question. Or, maybe let me ask you three a question. Why... why haven't I been able to delete anything?"
Alt staggers back but Bro stands firm, glaring down the image of him. Alt’s eyes glow as he growls, “You don’t have enough power- no body does. You’ve been chasing a false goal this whole time!”
"Nobody does? No... no, that can't be right. These worlds are infinite." His voice lowers. "Do you know what it means? To see infinity? To see infinite pain? Do you know what it means to be a copy of a copy of a copy?...no, you don't. None of you understand."
Alt glares more at the red Anti and bares his teeth. “Even if that’s your pain… it’s not enough to destroy infinite lives…!”
There's a bit of static, and suddenly, Alt is not alone. Someone is next to him--it's Anti, the same Anti who's been with them the whole time. Out of the phone and glaring at this red other version of him. "It's you who doesn't understand anything. You're the one who thinks you can destroy infinity."
Alt blinks and looks back at Anti before nodding at him and looking back.
“Listen, Anti-“ Bro tries to say, “If you’re… feeling jealous or angry… this isn’t the way to go about it! Revenge hurts everyone- but especially yourself! You don’t have to do this…” he says sympathetically. This guy… he’s evil but.., deep down he’s still Anti right? Somewhere… there has to be a part in there that’s like his brother.
Anti stares at Bro with wide static eyes. He blinks. And then he laughs. "Like I said. None of you understand.
“C’mon man-!” Bro tries to say, reaching out.
“Chase what are you-?!” Alt shouts.
“Hey... lơo͞k d̀o̢w̛n͡."
The ground beneath them is tearing open, a crack forming in the fabric of the world, a black rift. Suddenly, there is no support beneath their feet.
The brothers gasp as they look down and before Alt can even think of glitching- they both scream and fall straight into the rift.
Anti looks at them and dives down, slipping back into Alt's phone before they disappear into the space between worlds.
The other Anti, the red Anti, grins. "There must be someone who can do it," he says to himself. "We have to go back far. Where it all started." And then his image disappears as he also goes through.