#SATCV septicheroes

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Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 3: SepticHeroes Revisited

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A few minutes pass in silence. And then Jackie inhales sharply. "They're coming!" He flings the curtains open so everyone can see. 

There are five of the SAMs flying down the street towards them. Three are the black models they'd seen before, one is the same size but red instead, and one is green and softball-sized. 

Soren nods. "I'll go on up, then. Chase?" 

"Yeah, I'll come with," Chase says, grabbing Frosty's lead and following him up the stairs. 

I won't be much use against Machines so I'll hang back, JJ says. He reaches into a lamp in the living room, pulling out a metal pipe for defense, and then backs up. 

"Everyone else, get ready," Jackie says.

Jackie Mann hurries up the stairs and holds his knife out, watching the door. 

Alt glitches to his feet and bubbles up magic at his hands. "... Hopefully the shield holds..." He whispers anxiously. 

Bro looks nervous as he gets into a fighting stance, watching the door. 

The red SAM starts glowing. And then it flies towards the window, glowing brighter and brighter--and it lets out a blast of energy, shattering the glass and Alt's shield at once. 

"Holy shit!" Jackie shouts, using a gust of wind to deflect most of the flying glass. "Cover!" 

As the shield gets immediately cracked, Alt screams and crashes to the ground, gripping at his chest like the blast hurt him. 

Bro pales and hurries over to crouch by him, "A-Alt!" 

"H..How...?" Alt coughs, looking even more pale. "H-How did they do that??"

The small green SAM flies into the fray first, and its camera flips over to a screen, its projector sliding open too. Both the screen and the projector show a 3D animated model of a man with an LED screen for a face. "Hello world."

Both Alt and Bro look up at the man. Bro hurries to put a hand out to protect Alt. And Alt pales even more, shaking slightly. "I-It's you!" 

Jackie growls and bares his teeth, pointing his knife at the hologram, "The fuck do you think you are, tin man?! Too cowardly to fight us in person?!"

Anti laughs in his robotic voice. "Unfortunately fighting you in person is impossible. I am not there. But there is someone who is coming soon." The three black SAMs fly into the room. "And I'm willing to get things ready for him." 

"Fucking bitch! Just leave us alone!" Jackie yells.

One SAM has part of it slide away as a gun-like attachment pops out the top. The other two have the end of their peripherals shift into something like laser pointers. And they all fire at once, with the two laser pointers firing energy blasts at Bro and this world's Jackie while the big gun fires a heavy-looking projectile at Marvin.

Alt tries to yell out, "Chase! Watch out!" But, the energy hits Bro and he hits one of the back walls, momentarily disorienting him. 

Jackie yelps and jumps out of the way of the energy blast, but Marvin gets knocked back by some sort of canon ball, sending him sprawling across the ground. Schneep gasps, glancing back and forth between Marvin and Bro before JJ gestures for him to go help Bro. Schneep nods and rushes to his side while JJ helps Marvin up.

Alt growls and whips out a hand to try to shoot one of the SAMs with a blast of lightning.

 Two of the SAMs dodge the lightning attack but one of them is too slow and gets immediately fried, falling to the ground completely dead. "Oh?" Anti says. "So you can do THAT, can you? Fine, then." And both of the SAMs aim their weapons at Alt, firing the canon and the energy attack. Marvin sits up, clutching his stomach. He gasps as he sees the SAMs fire on Alt and throws a ball of energy in their direction. 

Marvin's attack brushes both SAMs but don't do enough damage to divert their course. 

Alt's eyes widen and he gasps and tries to get out of the way- but the energy blast hits him first before the canon hits him and sends him, skidding back. He curls up into a ball, coughing and clutching at his chest. 

"Alt!" Bro cries as Schneep helps him up. He whips on the SAMs and growls, momentarily forgetting his powers are blocked and trying to aim to punch a SAM as hard as he can.

The SAM doesn't try to dodge Bro's attack, thinking that a neutralized hero won't be able to do much. But, surprisingly, there's enough force behind Bro's punch that the SAM with the canonball attachment goes spinning into the wall. 

Marvin laughs. "Nice one!" he says, and aims a second attack at the other SAM. The beam this time shears off its peripheral. 

Bro blinks in surprise then grins, getting into another fighting stance. "I'm not completely out! Watch it, ya eyeball freaks!" 

Meanwhile, Schneep turns his attention to Alt, checking him over. 

Alt coughs more, his chest aching terribly after being hit. It's hard to think. He blinks up at Schneep with an unfocused gaze, "S-Schneep-" God- it hurts to breathe... he keeps having to drag in deep gasping breaths.

"Shh, it's okay," Schneep mutters. "That hit you in the chest, there could be damage, but you are still breathing and that is good." He reaches into his backpack and pulls out a cold pack, which he hands to Alt. "Put that where it hurts most and I can tie it into place." 

Alt nods and takes the pack, placing it over the pain. 

"You may not be out yet, but you haven't faced the worst yet," Anti says. "He's coming." Marvin eyes' widen as Anti says that. He gets ready, conjuring a protective shield around Alt and Schneep before scrambling to his feet.

Alt blinks at the shield and then shrinks in on himself as he feels a familiar presence in the air. “…fuck-“ 

Schneep looks up at the shield, feeling the heat it gives off. "Oh no."

Evil laughter echoes around them before static shimmers in front of Marvin and a clawed hand reaches out, aiming for his face. 

Marvin shouts in surprise as he dodges to the side, Mag's claws scraping along his mask but not doing any permanent damage. "Fucking shit!" he shouts. 

Magnificent growls, baring his teeth as he skids into a cat-like stance, just having missed Marvin.

JJ whips into action, throwing at string at Mag, aiming to wrap him up.

Mag sees the string coming and then slices at the air with his claws as his eyes burn with hatred. He laughs, showing his fangs. “Oh no- we’re not playing that game this time, kitten.” Mag holds out his hands and a bright spiral appears behind him, trying to draw the people around under his power. “We’re gonna play my way this time~!” 

“N-No! L-Look aw-!” Alt tries to yell, but his voice gets cut off with a strangled gasp.

The spiral is… beautiful. It’s so hard to try to look away once it captures your gaze. Magnificent’s smooth voice beckons you to listen… to obey. 

“Yes… that’s it puppets! Why don’t we make this interesting hm?” The mad magician cackles, “Kill your friends- kill any super that gets in your way.” 

Jackie and Bro know better, they manage to cover their eyes. 

Alt tries but- he slips and purple green magic spirals in his eyes. He staggers and tries to get up- ignoring the shield- almost trying to walk past it, despite the heat coming off it. 

Schneep is too busy looking through his backpack for bandages to pay attention to the spiral. And Marvin acts fast enough to close his eyes. But Jackie and JJ are looking at Magnificent when the spiral appears. They both slump, relaxing immediately. JJ looks over at Marvin, more strings appearing around his fingers. 

"JJ...?" Marvin says in a shaky voice. "Please don't--" 

But JJ attacks anyway, strings lashing out. 

Jackie's spiraling eyes look at Bro and Jackie. He lunges for the two of them, aiming to punch whoever's closest. 

"Alt!" Schneep grabs Alt and pulls him back before he can walk straight into the burning hot shield. "No! Wake up!"

Bro’s head whips up as he sees the spirals in Jackie’s eyes. “n-no- Jackie! C’mon man! Don’t listen to-!” The hero gets cut off as Jackie punches him right in the face. Bro staggers back, blinking spots out of his eyes. 

“Hey! Other me! Not cool!!” Jackie Mann shouts, sliding down the stairs parkour style - then he tries to kick Jackie in the face. 

Jackie easily dodges Jackieboy's kick, turning his attention to him instead, lunging at him for another attack. 

Jackieboy skids as he misses and has a second of losing his balance before he gets punched by Jackie. He holds his cheek and staggers back. Bro sees this and yells, trying to grab Jackie’s arms from behind to stop him. 

Jackie is in the middle of swinging back another punch when Bro grabs him. He struggles against him, trying to pull free. 

Alt looks back at Schneep and his expression darkens. He quickly glitches to face him and then tries to tackle him to the ground by his neck, his pocket knife suddenly in his hand.

Schneep yelps as Alt grabs him and quickly goes intangible before Alt can pin him down. 

Alt blinks at the empty space below him, blinking slowly. 

Schneep backs up, disappearing through the wall to their backs and circling around to the other side of Marvin's shield. He pulls a pocket knife of his own out and goes for Mag--but is intercepted when the red SAM from earlier rushes at him, emitting some sort of energy pulse. Schneep yelps and falls as the SAM runs into him--not being hit by the machine itself, but by the energy it's emitting. He clutches his head--why is it aching all of a sudden?

Mag looks amused as the SAM attacks for him, grinning and waving at Schneep from behind it. 

Marvin gasps and slices through JJ's strings before they get close. He's suddenly breathing heavily, eyes darting back and forth. "J-Jameson, please don't do this again! Y-you don't want to be like this anymore!" 

Alt hears Marvin’s shouting and bares his teeth- finally glitching out of the shield and then trying to lash out to attack Marvin from behind with his knife. 

Marvin spins around, sees Alt, and quickly ducks. 

JJ, still hypnotized, lunges for Marvin as he drops to the ground, and Marvin immediately freezes up when JJ grabs his wrists. "No!" he screams, panicking, struggling. "JJ! No! Don't do this! Please! What about your friends?! What about your family?! What about Dahlia?!" 

Something in JJ's eyes flickers at that. Dahlia? Dahlia. Dahlia... And suddenly he gasps, spirals disappearing. And he jerks backwards, looking down at his hands in horror. 

Alt’s eyes flicker at the scene of Marvin freaking out- some part of him sympathizing. 

But, Mag shouts angrily as his hold on JJ breaks and this snaps Alt back to attention, magic flaring brighter in his eyes. He yells too and sends out a sound wave to try to hit Marvin and JJ.

Bro seems to have forgotten he’s powerless right now- Jackie easily fights his way out. Bro staggers then shouts at Jackie. “C’mon Jackie! Windstorm would never work for a bad guy, right?! Fight this!” 

Jackie's eyes flicker. "Wind... storm...?" he repeats. He shakes his head, backing away and pressing his hands over his eyes. Then his head snaps up. "H-holy shit!" 

Bro deflates with a relived smile, “H-Hey hey it’s okay! You’re-“ The sound wave goes off and startles Bro and Jackie, who whip around to look. 

This moment comes at the same time Alt's sound wave fires off, sending both Marvin and JJ sprawling across the floor. JJ reacts worse than Marvin does, clutching his ears and writhing. Marvin gasps and scrambles over to JJ, covering him protectively. His eyes snap to Magnificent and he aims a beam of energy at him--and that red SAM swoops to intercept it. The beam slams into it, burrowing a hole in its side--and yet it stays flying. 

Magnificent yells as his control gets broken again. “Insolent pests!” He cringes as Marvin’s blast comes towards him but- the SAM intercepts. Mag grins, laughing. “Ha! These things are handy!” 

Alt glitches in front of Marvin and JJ, towering over them with bright spiraling eyes. He opens up his hand in front of Marvin’s face, magic bubbling up hot and dangerous as he aims like he might try to shoot Marvin through the skull. “No!! Alt stop!!” Bro tries to yell.

Marvin's eyes widen--and he kicks Alt in the knees, knocking him to the ground.

Alt hits the ground like ton of bricks, jostling his injured chest and making him let out a strangled gasp. His eyes flicker wildly. 

Bro looks at Windstorm with wide eyes and then his eyes flicker to Mag. His expression darkens. “We need to take out Mag. But the eyes are getting in the way!” 

Magnificent yells in anger, then slams a hand against the wall. Green flames burst out and then crackle around the room-cutting off their exits. “None of you fucking heroes are winning today!” He snarls dangerously. “None of you will leave this place alive!”

The whole group tenses as the fire appears--but Schneep gasps. He points towards the hallway leading out of the room, now blocked off by flames. It's--someone-- 

A blur rushes across the room towards Mag, crossing the length in less than a second, and Mag suddenly feels something hit him very hard against the back of the head. 

Now it’s Magnificent’s turn to hit the ground like a ton of bricks. He wasn’t expecting this at all. He’s out- and the fire flickers out around them as Mag slips into unconsciousness. 

Standing behind him is one Dahlia Jackson, holding the metal bat Soren had earlier. 

Bro and Jackie stare dumbfounded at the now downed Mag and triumphant Dahlia. 

The magic in Alt’s eyes breaks when Mag falls and he rolls onto his stomach, coughing and gasping. He starts to shake wildly, trying to take in the scene. 

The remaining SAMs have all been knocked to the ground, though they're all quickly getting back up. 

Jackie cheers and jumps up, “YEAHHH DAHLIA!! That was bad fucking ass!” 

She grins at the group... and then blood begins to leak from her nose and she immediately collapses. 

Jackie gasps- JJ lets out a voiceless scream and hurries over to her. Schneep is right behind him, checking Dahlia's vitals. 

Bro rushes over and kneels down by her too, but tries to give Schneep room. “W-What just happened?! How- how did she do that…??” 

“Is she okay??” Jackie asks worriedly, hovering behind them. 

The guys don't say anything for a while, Jackie and Marvin hurrying closer while Schneep works. Then, Schneep sighs. "She overexerted herself," he mutters. "The nosebleed is a side effect of using her powers too much, yes?" 

JJ nods. It starts coming from her ears too if she goes too hard. 

"Yes. And because she is still so weak, even a short use of the powers was too much. She needs rest." 

Jackie lets out a breath of relief. 

Marvin is also visibly reassured. "Thank goodness," he mutters. And Jackie looks at Bro. "'How did she do that'...? Heh, y-yeah, I guess we never explained her powers, huh? Dahlia is--was, maybe, I dunno if she still wants to do it--a hero called Timekeeper." His eyes light up. "She can manipulate time to her will, speeding up or slowing it around her. She must have slowed time for us, which is why she looked like she moved so fast!" 

Bro’s eyes widen and then he grins, “Just like Henny! Oh my god- now they need to meet!” 

"Whoa!" Marvin suddenly shoots a blast at one of the SAMs, which is up again and aiming its canon attachment at Bro. It dodges, but at least Marvin succeeded in drawing attention to it. 

Bro yelps as Marvin yells and then he turns to protectively holds his arms over Dahlia. 

Alt peeks up his eyes and then growls seeing the SAM. He narrows his eyes and tries to see if he can dismantle it with his magic.

The SAM falls apart into pieces. 

Marvin blinks as he sees that happen, then laughs. "That also reminds me of someone. Maybe Alt should meet her, too. Next time you guys should come on a non-school day." 

Alt blinks at Marvin and then laughs breathlessly, pushing himself up on shaky arms. “Sounds like s-someone I’d like to meet too.” 

Then Marvin spins around and shoots another beam at the red SAM, finishing off the job he started. It falls to the ground with a hole right through it. "Think you can do that with the last one?" 

The last black SAM has its peripheral burned off earlier, but it's preparing to fire something else--looks like more neutrinalin darts.

Alt looks at the last SAM and nods, jerking his head to the side as his eyes flash green, trying to take this one apart as well.

The SAM's lens pops out, followed shortly by all its panels falling open and then its hovering mechanism failing as it crashes again. 

Jackie applauds. "That's so cool!" Then he looks at Alt and his smile fades. "Are you okay?" 

Alt’s eyes quickly dim back down and then he sighs and grips at his chest. He smiles tightly at Jackie. “M-Magic exhaustion and ngh- getting hit in the chest by whatever those things fired… I… I’ll be fine…” 

"Alright... if you're sure," Jackie says. 

"We have medical supplies, if you have time to get patched up," Schneep offers. 

Jackieboy hurries over to Alt’s side and helps him sit up properly, the smaller boy resting his head on Jackie’s shoulder. Alt smiles gratefully. “thanks…” 

Footsteps. Soren comes running into the room, aiming a--that's a crossbow. Why and how does he have a crossbow? Everyone in the room shivers for a moment as the sight of him rushing in and aiming it, eyes flashing menacingly, is pretty intimidating. But as he lowers it, the feeling abruptly disappears. 

Bro stiffens as Soren comes in and then relaxes only slightly- “…why the fuck do you have a crossbow??”

Soren examines the crossbow in his hands. "Because I couldn't find a trustworthy firearms dealer in the city. Underworld's really gone to shit in the past year." 

"Also, What the fuck happened?! Dahlia disappeared--Dahlia?!" 

She'll be okay, Soren, JJ says. She took out Magnificent and Alt took apart the Machines, like how G-computer does.

He looks at JJ, raising an eyebrow. "Really? A man of many talents." He gives Alt a grin. "Nice job."

Alt flushes a bit then smiles at Soren’s compliment. “T-Thanks.” 

"You know this isn't over, yes?" The green SAM is still intact. 

Alt stiffens as he hears Anti’s voice. 

"Shut the fuck up you--you hellspawn!" Marvin snaps. 

"I didn't spawn from hell. I spawned from man like the rest of you." 

“Yeah? Well why don’t you fuck off before we spawn you outta existence, freak!” Jackie shouts. 

"Get out of here!" Jackie shouts. "How dare you use that SAM?!" 

Anti laughs.

Alt’s eyes burn with magic as he glares at the last SAM, looking ready to take it apart too. 

"Fine," Anti says, noticing Alt's look and none too eager to lose this more specialized SAM. "But I will see you again. And next time, you won't be ready." And the SAM flies back out through the broken window. 

Alt glares after the SAM as Jackie Mann shouts after it, “Yeah! Run with that tail between your legs, bitch!” 

Jackie grumbles wordlessly, folding his arms. 

"The fucking window is broken?" Soren notices. "Dannazione, come osi..." He shakes his head. 

Schneep gently lifts Dahlia up. She's awake, but looking really out of it. "Come on, Dahllie, let's get you some rest," he says quietly. "You all can come upstairs too, I am sure Chase is worried about all of us."

Bro gets to his feet, still feeling kinda weird without his powers. He almost offers to take Dahlia from Schneep but thinks better of it. 

Alt starts to push himself up and Jackie helps him. Alt narrows his eyes at Mag and then mumbles some spell words- ropes of magic coming to wrap up his arms and legs and a magic gag over his mouth. He sags a bit against Jackie who keeps him upright as his eyelids flutter. “Okay bud- no more magic for a bit…” Jackie gently scolds him, putting on his dad voice. 

“D…didn’t… want him… causing trouble…” Alt mumbles sleepily. 

“That really helps, Alt, thanks,” Jackie says, grabbing Mag. “We’ll keep an eye on him. But you should rest up, okay?” 

The group heads upstairs again. Bro helps Jackie to take Alt up. Chase is waiting in the bedroom, standing up and looking nervous. He jumps when the door opens, grabbing a knife Soren lent him, then relaxing as everyone comes in, all looking relatively unharmed. “E-everyone good?” He asks. “We h-heard a bunch of shouting downstairs a-and then all of a sudden Dahlia was gone—” 

“She helped,” Schneep says, putting Dahlia down on the bed. She rolls over, closing her eyes. “But she completely wiped herself out.” 

JJ gets to his knees next to the bed so he’s level with Dahlia’s face. When she opens her eyes he signs, Thank you, but be careful, Dahlia, okay? 

“Yeah…” Dahlia mumbles, closing her eyes again. 

“Oh, Alt, wanna sit down?” Marvin asks. “You uh… you’re tired. Do you need anything?”

Alt tiredly smiles and nods. Bro is quick to help Alt sit down and worriedly checks him over. He’s a bit warm but- not worryingly so. Alt blinks and starts to shake his head but then pauses, “…maybe some water? S-something to eat… it’ll be a second until I’m back up completely though. Food doesn’t fix everything…” 

“Oh oh alt! Cant you like- drain electricity from stuff for power? I swear you’ve done that once-“ Jackieboy says, leaning on the back of the chair. 

Alt shivers slightly, “…I could but… I don’t want to b-break anything… I-it’ll be okay… I’ll be okay.” 

Bro frowns in worry, looking between Dahlia and Alt.

“I’ll go get you some water, then,” Soren says. “And snacks. Do you think you guys will stick around for dinner, or do you have to deal with him quickly?” He points at Mag, who Jackie just kinda dropped in the corner farthest from the door. 

“Man! I’d love to stay for dinner… but this fucker will probably wake up.” Jackieboy gestures to Mag, “Jays always says people don’t stay knocked out that long.” 

“Yeah… we should probably take him home… once Alt has enough energy to power the TRVLR that is… maybe we can take a break…” Bro mumbles, not looking happy. 

JJ looks over at Soren. Before you go, can you— and he makes some signs that don’t really make sense. It translates directly to relax me but it must mean something else in this context. 

Soren bites his lip. “You know it’ll fade as soon as I leave the room. If you’re still worried when I get back, though, sure.” 

JJ nods. That’s fine.

Bro does blink at the sign language and looks between Soren and JJ, “…’relax me’? What does that mean?”

JJ blinks. He gestures at Soren to explain. “I can affect people’s emotions,” Soren says. “Make them feel happy, sad, angry, afraid—it sounds worse than it is, really, cause I have to see you to do it. Jem worries a lot, so I try to help out.” He glances at JJ. “But I can’t do it all the time.” 

I know, JJ says. I’m figuring stuff out. 

“You need a therapist,” Schneep says bluntly. 

I know! That’s kind of difficult to find when we’re in hiding. JJ sighs. He glances at the rest of the room. I’m not going to air all my personal feelings, but I DO know how to deal with problems in ways that don’t involve direct emotional change. It just helps sometimes for short periods of time. 

“Wouldn’t agree if I didn’t know that,” Soren mutters. “Alright, I’ll be right back.” And he quickly leaves. 

“…you do need therapy,” Marvin says. 

Well so do you, JJ responds. 

“Touché.”

“Ooooh- okay,” Bro says, nodding. “That makes sense- hell we all have a therapist but if I had an easy access to something to relax me right away I’d take it.” 

“Damn seems like we need to bring Dr. J here too!” Jackie grins. 

Bro bops him on the head, “We’re not bringing Dr. J to another dimension for him to just do his normal job for our doppelgängers! Really Jackie??” 

“It was a joke!!” Jackie says defensively, then pauses. “…kinda. Jay wouldn’t judge- …but maybe it’d be weird to… therapy an alternate version of yourself.” 

“It’d be super fucking weird!!” 

Alt looks at Jj tiredly but mumbles out quietly. “…I get it… getting controlled by Mag really messed with you, huh?” He grips at his wrist, massaging his purple markings.”…I know the feeling.”

JJ looks at Alt thoughtfully. He nods. I almost did something I promised myself I would never do again… he signs slowly. 

“H-hey.” Marvin clears his throat. “It wasn’t your fault. You know what mind control is like. It wasn’t really you. And i-if you’re worried about me… it’s fine. I forgive you.” 

…Thank you, Marvin, JJ says. He shakes his head. Anyway, Soren is really smart about people’s emotions, and it’s not just because of his powers. 

“Could’ve been a therapist if he wasn’t a fucking crime lord,” Jackie mutters. 

“I don’t think he is still like that,” Schneep says slowly. “Everything has sort of disbanded.” 

“Because you put him in jail,” Chase adds, looking at Jackie. “So you should really know.” 

“Well yeah but—but that’s not the point. I’m saying that he would’ve been a great therapist in another world where he wasn’t a villain in the first place. He could still be one now, but I don’t know many people who’d be eager to have Pathos as their therapist.”

Alt looks at JJ sympathetically and then finds himself giggling quietly as he mutters. “Heh… Pathos means feelings… that’s funny- good name-“ 

“Oh god he’s getting loopy,” Jackie mutters. 

“‘M not loopy… yer loopy…” Alt grumbles. 

Bro blinks and looks between everyone, “…I feel like I’m missing vital info here- Soren was a villain???” He throws his arms up into the air and then gestures at Schneep and Marvin, “How many of you were villains before that I had no idea about?!? …I mean- it doesn’t change anything! But I still feel like this should have gotten brought up!!”

"Uhhhh... everyone but me, Chase, and Time--Dahlia," Jackie says. "Which like--Bro. I get it. Do you know how much it rocked my shit to hear that Chase's doctor had been moonlighting as a master thief for years?" 

"Master thief?" Schneep repeats, clearly flattered. 

Jackie makes a face at him. "Not to mention the whole thing with JJ as the Puppeteer. My whole world just flipped upside down then. I mean, sure, turns out JJ was blackmailed to do it, but at the time... my, like, brain fucking broke." 

"At least you're now much more open?" Chase says. 

"I... yeah, I guess. I used to have a very, uh, black and white type of view on heroes and villains. But having it turn out that some of my friends are them, and then Marvin and Soren turned out to be, you know, people beyond their crimes, it... yeah." Jackie falls into a contemplative silence. 

Bro looks at Jackie and nods, holding his arms. “…I’m trying to be… better about that too. The black and white thinking… I.. I really hurt people… thinking like that.” 

“…cuz I was a villain too.” Alt speaks up, “…only for a couple months… and I was hella influenced by Mag when doing it but…” He closes his eyes and takes a steady breath, “…we’re all so much more than the bad things we do… especially when we try to be better.” 

Bro blinks then smiles softly and hugs Alt to his side.

 Meanwhile, JJ gives Alt a small smile. 

Alt looks up at JJ and then smiles too.

Soren soon returns. "Alright, here." He hands Alt a water bottle and a plate with a peaunut butter sandwich, a banana, and a wrapped chocolate bar. "Not my best work, but if you guys have to leave soon I figured faster was better. And I also grabbed my old phone. It's charged but there's no SD card on it, so don't worry about breaking it if you need an electric boost."

Alt blinks open his eyes and they light up with delight. “Oh my god- this is more than enough, thank you!” He hungrily starts to dig in. 

"Hey Jem, are you okay now?" Soren asks gently. 

JJ nods. A little bit. I can handle it now. 

"Okay, let me know."

Jackie laughs, sitting down on the floor. “Man- I wonder if like- being hungry after using magic or powers is like- worst then being regular starving… I wouldn’t know. But like- I forget to eat cuz of my ADHD and that sucks!” 

"Oh, I know, it's the worst, isn't it?" Jackie agrees, jumping in with his other self. "Especially since like--okay I don't get hungry directly from using my powers but I do have to concentrate and if I'm concentrating on flying I'm not thinking about how hungry I am so I don't eat." 

"Broooo," Chase says, turning the word into a booing sound. 

"Oh don't give me that, you forget, too." 

"Frosty helps remind me, though," Chase says, patting Frosty's head. "You don't have him, you gotta do it yourself." 

“Bro tell me about it! I swear I sit down to make my kids and me lunch and then I’m like oh I should do the dishes real quick and then I’m like oh a mug! Let’s make coffee! Then I’m like oh yeah I need to make a coffee date with the mates soon- and next thing I know I’m on the couch watching videos on my phone with two sandwiches half made wondering why I feel like rubbish!” Jackie laughs. Then he pauses and frowns, “…my life sounds so boring compared to a superheroes though-“ 

"Bruh, tell me about it," Chase says. "Everyone in this room except for you and me has powers." 

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, Chase," Jackie says. "Just because you guys don't have powers doesn't mean you're not needed. Or wanted. You're like, my best friend." 

"...oh." Chase looks unbelievably touched by that comment. 

Bro grins and pulls Jackie into a hug with his arm around his neck. “Yeah! You’re my best friend too ya dummy! I don’t know where I’d be without you and your stern dad voice!” 

“I don’t have a stern dad voice!” 

“Oh you so do-“ Alt laughs. 

Bro nudges his Jackie. “So, Don’t sell yourself short, Jackaboy- dealing with kids is hard work!”

Schneep glances at Jackieboy. "And this may sound cheesy, but I bet you are your children's hero. Good parents are something to be valued." 

Jackie looks touched too.

Bro softens and then hugs Jackieboy tighter. “And believe me bro- Schneep’s right. your kids… they think you’re the coolest guy in existence. You’re a big hero in their eyes.” Jackie’s eyes get a bit misty and he quickly wipes at them with his jacket sleeve. 

“But, since you were curious! I know I feel ravenous after flying around for a bit- but only afterwards.” Bro continues. “Flying takes a lot of thinking!” 

“Really? I thought it just made you an airhead-“ Alt snickers. 

“Hey!”

Marvin snorts at Alt's comment. "Hah. Airhead." He nudges Jackie. "You." 

"Wha--excuse you?" Jackie glares at him.

Alt bursts into giggles. 

After a few more minutes Alt seems to be back in working order, finishing up the food. He grabs Soren’s old phone and grips it in his hand, draining the energy from it. His eyes glow brighter green and soon enough pixels vibrate around his shoulders and he grins, glitching back to his feet. He winces slightly as he moves his chest too much but he grins. “Fuck yeah! Oh, that was just the boost I needed!”

"Whoa!" Chase grins. "That's so cool!" 

"Whoooo." Dahlia raises a hand into the air, giving a supportive thumbs-up and announcing to everyone that she's more awake now. Schneep and JJ laugh. 

"Just in time too, I bet bitch other-me is gonna wake up at any moment now," Marvin says, glancing at Magnificent. 

"So are you guys gonna, like, drop him off and then come back, or are you gonna stay in your world for a while?" Jackie asks. "Because I'd be down for both." 

"We do not know if time between worlds is consistent," Schneep muses. "Perhaps even if they come right back, much time will have passed for us." 

Like Narnia, JJ says, spelling out the name. 

"Th' endin' ov that series sucked," Dahlia mutters.

Jackieboy laughs at this. Then, he turns to Bro. 

Bro frowns, sighing. "...I dunno how much time passes to be honest... We might be able to come back but... we don't know if the TRVLR is-" 

"Maybe it was just a fluke-" Alt says with a shrug, "Sure once we bring back Mag we can come back! But, just in case- maybe we should get each other's numbers- just so we can warn you next time we're around." He says with a grin. 

Jackieboy frowns, "Can that work across dimensions?" 

"Eh... probably not- but I know an Anti who could help with that- or maybe my glitches make it so I can... cuz I talk to him a lot," Alt replies. It does indeed seems like Mag is stirring- but is not quite awake yet. 

Jackie raises an eyebrow. "Really? That'll be cool. Yeah, hang on." He reaches into a pouch on his supersuit and pulls out his phone. "I dunno about everyone else, but I'll give you guys mine." 

"Me too," Chase says, taking his phone out. 

Schneep frowns. "That does not seem like the best idea to me. What if it does not work and you end up texting someone else with my number?" 

I'm a bit reluctant to give out my phone number these days, JJ says. 

"It's fine, if they have Windstorm and Chase's those guys can contact the rest of us," Marvin says. 

"Motherfucker I can't contact you," Jackie says. "I still don't have your number." 

"And you never willlll~" 

Alt laughs at Marvin's comment- 

Jackie rolls his eyes. "Okay, Marvin's up in the air, but the rest of us should be informed if you can contact us. Here, gimme your guys's number, too."

The boys all quickly exchange numbers. Alt, Bro and Jackie all give theirs. Jackieboy bounces up and down, "I hope we can get this to work!! I wanna hear all the cool hero things that happen here!" 

"Um?? Hero best friend right here?? Kinda offended??" Bro says raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms, "Am I not good enough anymore?" 

"You know what I mean! I wanna hear what other me gets up to! Besides they all have different villains and shit!” Bro snorts and rolls his eyes. 

“Oh my god- dude if we could face time my kids would lose their minds if they met you!" Jackie says excitedly, clutching his phone. 

"That might be pushing the universes' boundaries a bit-" Alt laughs.

"Oh I'd love to talk some more whenever you guys come by next!" Jackie says excitedly. "I could tell you all about my rouges gallery. Hyper Spike, Glacier, Titanium, Dark Storm--Marvin was actually one of my rouges for a long time but we're chill now so I wonder if I could chill with some of those guys." 

Jackieboy’s eyes sparkle, “I have no idea who any of those are but I wanna know!! Oh my god- new heroes and villains to learn about!! That’s so fucking cool!!”

"Dark Storm's a bitch, he won't want to chill with you," Marvin mutters. "But, uh, yeah, I-I'd love if you guys could... come visit again... and chat." 

Alt smiles at Marvin and nods, “Yeah… someday we can just- chill. But… gotta get the cat home first-“

Bro kneels down by Dahlia and blinks at her, "Hey- you gonna be okay? We never said thank you for saving our asses back there-"

Dahlia grins up at Bro. "Not a problem, it's what I do. I'll be fine. 've come back from this before." 

"The coma makes it a bit tricky," Schneep mutters. "But we will take care of her." JJ nods, grabbing his sister's hand and squeezing it tightly. 

"Hope we'll see you guys again," Chase says.

Bro smiles and nods, “I get it- just… take care of yourself. Seems like you got a lot of people who care about you.” He gets up and then grins and lightly punches his other self’s arm, “You will! We’ll be back! Promise!” 

Jackie Mann frowns at Mag and then looms over him- just in time for Mag to blearily open his eyes. He glares up at Jackie and struggles, shouting out against the gag. Jackie’s expression darkens and he kicks his foot against Mag’s cheek. Mag’s head snaps to the side and he looks almost stunned. 

“That’s for ruining our trip ya egomaniac!” Jackieboy bites. 

“Okayyy here Jackie just- lemme handle the mad angry hostile villain.” Bro says, dragging Jackie back. He goes to lift up Mag and then- finds he once again can with ease. He relaxes and laughs, grinning. “Just in time! Seems like power suppressing stuff wore off!” 

“Thank god.” Alt sighs with a smile. He pulls out the TRVLR and finds their own dimensions again, setting it up to jump.

"Whoa, I feel like that wore off faster than usual." Jackie laughs. "I guess that's the benefit of being from another world." He then glares at Mag. "You stay away last time. Or we'll kick your ass even harder than we just did." Dahlia glares at Mag as well. And Soren smiles, an expression accompanied by a chill of... fear? When was the last time Magnificent felt fear? 

Magnificent squirms and spits out curses against Alt’s magic- all up until that surge of fear gets sent through him. Then he quiets, seeming to shrink against Bro’s shoulder. Bro blinks then laughs, “Hey! That’s a handy trick!” He beams and nods his thanks to Soren and the others. 

JJ, in between Dahlia and Soren, signs, Don't come back. 

"You all can come back, though," Schneep says, nodding at Jackieboy, Alt, and Bro. 

"Any time!" Chase adds. 

"We'll see you around," Marvin says. "Good luck with all this."

Jackie grins, “We’ll be back real soon! For a proper day!” 

Alt smiles and salutes, “Until then~!” He then grabs the others and presses the jump button, preparing to go home.

And the familiar falling sensation happens, the world around them going dark. But... again, there it is. That ripple. And, like fish in water, the group feels themselves diverted just slightly off course as the space around them shifts.

#SATCV #SATCV Septicheroes #alt anti #bro fantastic #jackie mann #swap magnificent #super fight time!! #and dahila being BADASS LETS GOOO!! #new world tomorrow!! :D

[huffle-dork]

Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 2: SepticHeroes Revisited

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs | Read Septicheroes

Read SITCV | SITCV SepticHeroes Chapters | AO3 Link  It sounds like your friend Bro showed up near Schneep and Marvin, JJ says. And now everyone is coming here to meet up. 

“Oh good!” Dahlia says. 

Jackie perks up from where he was resting against the wall. "Oh sick!" He grins. 

“We should probably let Soren know so he doesn’t try to freeze them for intruding.” Dahlia says. 

JJ raises an eyebrow. I thought you liked Soren. 

“He could be worse. But he would definitely react badly to lookalikes suddenly showing up with your friends.”

Jackie  tilts his head, "Freeze? Oh oh! Does Soren have ice powers??"

Dahlia laughs. “I meant that metaphorically. Like you know, when people freeze up with fear?” 

"Oohhh sorry- I thought lots of people had powers here." Jackie replies with a timid smile. 

“Oh no, you’re right, lots of people do,” Dahlia says. “I’ve fought three different ice villains over the years.” 

I’ll go find him and let him know about all this, JJ says. Jackie, do you want to come? You know, meet him? 

Jackie looks at JJ then grins, hopping up to his feet. "Yeah! I'd love to meet him!"

Dahlia leans back against the pillows. “Tell Soren I say hi.” 

I will, JJ says, standing up. Follow me, Jackie. 

They leave the room and enter a narrow upstairs hallway. All the doors up here are ajar so JJ only glances inside each—bedroom, bedroom, bathroom, closet—before heading down the stairs at the end of the hall. This whole house seems very generic, with single color walls and almost no decorations. Didn’t Bro and Alt mention some of the guys here were in hiding? This must be a place they’re staying, not anyone’s home. 

Jackie observes the house with interest. He can definitely tell this is not a lived in house- he knows what a lived in house looks like. His kids have taught him that lesson over and over. This place seems wayyy too clean. 

The first floor has an office, a bathroom, a living room, a dining room, and, finally, a kitchen. Which is the last place they look and the place where they finally find who they’re looking for. There a man crouches on the floor, looking through the cabinets. 

JJ whistles and the man looks over at him. 

“Hey Jem. Jackie.” He stands up. He’s wearing a dark red jacket over a white crop top with a purple heart in the middle. His hair is red, cut short on the right and longer on the left, and his eyes are—dark purple? Huh. He’s also taller than both Jackie and JJ. “I was just about to start—” And then the man stops. His eyes narrow at Jackie, and Jackie feels a little afraid all of a sudden. “Jameson, that’s not Jackie.” 

No, I know, JJ says. He can be trusted.

Jackie stands stiff as they meet Soren- he's almost surprised he knew his name... before remembering he's technically a copy. He smiles timidly and raises a hand in greeting. "Yo...? You're.. not too far off. I am Jackie but... Jackie Mann. I'm... from another universe...?"

Soren blinks. Then he looks at JJ. "Wait, you were telling the truth about all that?" 

Did you think I was messing with you? JJ asks, raising an eyebrow. 

"Actually I thought you were delirious." 

JJ looks like he wants to say something defensive, but then he sighs. That's fair. But yes, it's all true. We really met people from another world, and now they're back. More are coming here soon, along with everyone else. 

"...huh." Soren leans back against the kitchen counter, contemplating that. Then he nods. "Alright. Nice to meet you, then, Jackie Mann." He looks at the shirt Jackie's wearing, the one that says 'Oh No Everyone's Hot' in the bi pride colors, and grins. "Heh. Mood." The fear Jackie felt briefly is gone now.

Jackie finds himself blushing- not only cuz this guy is attractive but... its not often he meets someone with the same eye color as his wife. A bit darker than hers but...mmmm. He looks down at his shirt and blushes more. "O-Oh uh.. y-yeah! Mood-" Oh god he's being cringe- where are the others??

It turns out, the others are right outside, as Alt glitches Jackie and Chase onto the path to the front door. Frosty shakes himself, fur floofing out like he's trying to shake off the glitches. 

"Here we are!" Jackie says, making sure his mask is secure. He walks up to the front door and rings the doorbell. 

Alt shakes off the glitches too, feeling momentarily dizzy but being able to push it off. He's fine- it's fine. He smiles and follows after Jackie towards the door.

JJ, Soren, and Jackieboy can hear that doorbell from the kitchen. Soren raises his eyebrow. "Is that them or should we ignore it?" he asks. 

It might be some of them, JJ says. Alt can teleport people.

Jackie's phone chimes. A text from Alt: Yo nerd we're outside 😼

Jackie laughs and tilts his head towards the door. "It's them! Alt just texted me." 

JJ giggles. Alright, let's go meet them, then. 

"I'm coming with," Soren announces. "I want to meet the people coming into my house." 

JJ laughs as the group leaves the kitchen. Let me and Jackie answer the door, at least. 

"Yeah, sure." Soren leans against the entrance hall wall while JJ opens the door. 

"Hey!" Jackie grins--and then grins wider when he sees his other self. "OH! HEY! HI!"

Jackie Mann’s eyes widen and then he grins super big, stimming slightly. "oh my god oh my god!! It's true! You really are a super hero!! Or youre like- totally yanking my chain and wearing a costume and this is all a joke and if it is imma kill Chase but AHHHH"

Alt bursts into laughter, "Jackie, breathe man! You're gonna pass out!"

“No no no, I really am! I—” Jackie glances around, then hurries through the doorway. “Check this out!” He jumps—and stays in the air, hovering a few inches over the floor. 

Jackie's jaw drops and then he stims even more, practically vibrating, "THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL!!" 

Alt glitches over and puts a hand on his Jackie's shoulder, "Inside voice, my guy-" He giggles. 

Jackie lands, grinning and giggling. “It really is so cool! I forget about how cool it is sometimes.” 

Chase walks in with Frosty. “I was so surprised the first time he showed me,” he says. “I didn’t even believe him until I saw the flying. Hey, other Jackie! I’m Chase.”

Jackie blinks and then beams at Chase, "Omg! Other Chase!! AND A PUPPY!!" He bends down to admire Frosty and almost pets him before seeing his vest. "OH! working pup- I see. Carry on good sir and/or ma'am!" 

Chase grins. “This is Frosty! He’s my good boy. You can give him a couple pats, it’s okay.” 

Jackie's eyes sparkle as he gets down and pats Frosty on the head, "oh! Hello Frosty!! Oh aren't you the best boy?? Damn- I should get a dog... maybe once Penny is older." He laughs. 

JJ laughs silently. Hi Alt, it’s good to see you again. 

Alt smiles, "Hey JJ! Good to see you too." 

Bro isn’t here yet, apparently he and Marvin and Schneep had to take the train. 

Alt tilts his head and frowns, "The train? huh... Guess the others didn't wanna get flown around... you know what? that's fair." He laughs. 

In the background, Soren watches all this happen with visible curiosity.

Alt blinks at Soren and then waves a bit, "Uh hi! I'm Alt-"

Soren grins and raises a hand. "Hello. Call me Soren."

Alt smiles, "Hey, nice to meet you. I think I remember them mentioning you last time!" 

"JJ's boyfriend," Chase says teasingly. 

We're not officially dating, JJ says. 

"Oh really?" Soren raises an eyebrow. "So what was it last night when we--" 

I am going to make you shut up, I swear to god, JJ says hurriedly, a few strings appearing around his fingers. 

Soren laughs. 

Jackie looks back and forth between each other. "...wait a second, did you guys--" 

Jackie springs up to his feet and rubs his hands together, "Oh!! I'm sensing drama and tea~??" 

It's not what you think! JJ interrupts, his face turning very red. 

"Aaaaanyway," Chase says. "Where's Dahlia?" 

Jackie's face falls and his points dramatically at Chase, "Noooo! Don't change the subject!!" 

Alt bonks him on the head, "Stop being weird, ya doof-" 

Still upstairs, JJ says, relieved at the change of subject. Do you want to meet her, Alt? 

Alt blinks at JJ and then smiles, "Oh yeah sure!" 

Jackie grins, "I think you'll like her, Alt. She's real cool~"

She'd love to meet you, JJ says. I think she's love your powers. 

Alt flushes but grins happily. "Neat, let's see her then."

Come on! He turns and hurries towards the stairs. 

"I'm coming too, I wanna hang out with Dahlia," Jackie says excitedly. 

"Fanboy," Chase whispers under his breath. 

"Hey!" 

"You guys have fun, I'll wait for your other friends down here," Soren says, waving the rest of them off as everyone heads upstairs. 

Dahlia sits up straight when everyone returns to the bedroom. "Hey Jays. Jackie, Jackie, Chase, Frosty--and new guy, hello!" She waves. 

Alt glitches a bit and tries not to get into his old habit of hiding his face in his mask. "Hi! I um-- I'm Alt. You're Dahlia, then?"

"Yep!" Dahlia says cheerfully. "Nice to meet you, love. You're the one who can turn into electricity, right?" 

Alt blushes a bit more and grins, "Uh yeah- kinda? I'm... a magician so I do magic but... electricity is mostly it." 

"He can do all sorts of shit," Jackie says. "Like glitching--that's how we got there." 

"Nice, nice. Sorry there's not many spaces to sit in here. Chase, d'you need the chair?" 

"No, I'd rather not, uh, change position too much," Chase says. 

"Alright, in that case, it's a race to claim it," Dahlia chuckles.

Jackie and Alt glance at each other and seem to share a thought- and race towards the chair. Alt glitches into it though and grins. "Too slow~!" 

"Hey! No fair ya cheating bastard! I could run circles around you!" Jackie pouts. 

"But why would i try that if I can just glitch~?" Alt laughs.

"Whoa!" Dahlia's eyes light up. "That's so cool! It's like--teleportation with an effect." 

Jackie laughs at Jackieboy and Alt's interaction. "Isn't it? It's so cool! Last time, Alt went into my phone--I mean, that didn't really work out too well but it's because Anti was there." 

"Ah yes, the hellspawn," Dahlia comments in response to Anti. 

"H-hey, uh, be careful." Chase glances at Alt. "We, um... might... You know how weird other dimensions get?" If Alt really was another version of Anti, he doesn't want to indirectly insult him. 

"Do you mean universes? Dimensions are different," Jackie says. 

"Jackie's right," Dahlia says. "And I know, I studied physics." 

You dropped out, JJ says, grinning. 

"Hey! That's a family secret!"

Alt grins at Dahlia, "Hey no sweat- I never finished secondary school. So you got me beat!" He laughs.

"Also, Don't worry Chase- I've been to lots of universes now. Most Antis I meet fit the description of hellspawn. I was just born different~" He grins mischievously. He then glitches out of the chair, "By the way- I don't need this, I just wanted to beat Jackie~" 

"Yer such a jerk," Jackie laughs. 

Dahlia blinks. "Wait... you're an Anti? How?" 

"It doesn't really make sense, does it?" Jackie says. "But apparently it's true. I guess there are infinite possibilities with other universes." 

"Huh. I suppose that's right." 

Alt hums, "The only reason I'm an Anti in my universe is cuz... I picked that name when I was little. Was better than my old name. But, now I just stick with Alt. Only Bro really still calls me Anti." He shrugs, "But, apparently, Antis have lots of similar... traits." He seems to shiver, sticking his hands in his pockets and bunching up some, his confidence shrinking a bit. "... Glitching is one of them," He pulls at his mask, rubbing up against his neck.

JJ claims the chair now that no one is moving for it. How many universes did you guys go through before you reached home again? he asks. It must have been a lot if you've met lots of versions of yourself. 

Alt blinks up at JJ and then thinks, "Oh... um... yeah it was a lot." He mentally counts, "We've been to two of them twice before this one- i think it's been... 7 ish?" 

"That's a lot of other worlds," Jackie says in awe. 

Alt seems to shrink in more and rocks on his feet, looking away. "... Antis aren't... usually the greatest... in other places. Typically they're... bad guys. Freaky villains and..." He presses his lips shut and closes his eyes, trying to push back some thoughts. "...i... I'm not like them though. I'm trying my best not to be. Cuz... I'm more than just an Anti. I'm Alt." 

Jackie gives Alt a gentle smile and pats his shoulder, looking at him proudly.

"Well, I can guarantee that you're nothing like the Anti here, Alt," Chase says. "Everyone is themselves, y'know? Not just like... a role to fill. Besides, we just said that the universes are, like, infinite, so there's probably more good Antis than you know. I bet there's some bad versions of us out there, too." 

"Ha! I'll always be a hero," Jackie says, folding his arms. "No matter what world I'm in." 

I don't think so, JJ says. Look at other Jackie here. I mean--I'm sure you're a good guy, other Jackie, but it sounds like Chase is the main hero in your world. 

"...uhhhh... good point." Jackie blinks, at a loss for words. 

Chase laughs at the blank look on Jackie's face. "Bro. We were just talking about how different everything is, and you come in like 'nah I'll always be the same.'" 

"It's just--just hard for me to picture being evil, is what I mean!" Jackie stammers defensively.

Alt opens his mouth and then shuts it, not sure he wants to tell Jackie about the bad Jackies he's met. Like Sangira... or- well... that Jackie is getting better now. But still- He has killed people. 

Jackie laughs, "Man! I wish I was a hero! But nah- I'm just a geek who's a dad and does parkour~" He grins, "Chase is our main hero. I'd love to help but- as our Dr. J says im 'injury prone'." He adds air quotes. 

"You are injury prone-" Alt deadpans, "You're hiding a wrist brace right now!" 

Jackie pulls down on his jacket sleeve, "No I'm not, you're a liar!"

Chase laughs. "Bro, I didn't even notice that!" 

JJ also chuckles. I don't think anyone would have said anything if Alt didn't point it out. 

"Hey look, I get you, man--Mann, haha." Chase laughs some more. "My balance sucks. Frosty helps out with that, along with some other stuff, but accidents still happen sometimes." 

Jackie's ears turn red but he grins, "I mean... it sucks but- being clumsy is how I became best friends with my Chase. ... wouldn't change that for the world." 

While this nice conversation is happening inside, outside, Marvin, Schneep, and Bro are walking down the street. "Why do we have to walk everywhere in this city?" Marvin grumbles. 

"Learn how to drive," Schneep says, still invisible. 

"No, I don't want to." 

"Your loss, then." 

"You don't drive, either, don't talk shit to me." 

Bro laughs and hovers a bit in front of them, "Maybe you two just need to learn to fly~" He jokes before touching back down. He walks backwards grinning at them. "I don't drive either- but Jackie does! I try to avoid it though-" 

Schneep is quiet for a moment. "Anyway, we are almost there." He flickers back into view long enough to point out a house. "That is it." 

Bro blinks and then notices the house as Schneep points to it and grins. He hurries over to the door and knocks on it.

"Whoa whoa hey!" Marvin and Schneep rush after Bro. "I think it's best if we don't lead with the stranger. Soren's as paranoid as me." 

Schneep walks through Bro and ends up in front of him, returning to visible view. 

“Oh right-“ Bro starts to say and then shivers as Schneep passes through him. He backs up and pats the spot where he went. “…that was so weird woah-“ 

And then the door opens. Soren leans against the doorway and looks down at the three of them. "Marvin, Specter, good to see you." He smiles, then looks at Bro. "New guy. You look very heroic. Other Chase, I'm told. I'm Soren, Soren Moizone."

Bro blinks up at Soren and then grins. “that’s cuz I am! I’m called Bro Fantastic back at home! Nice to meet you, Soren!” 

"Heh. Fun name." Soren grins and Bro feels immediately at ease. "Your friends are inside, talking upstairs. I was going to start making dinner in the meantime." 

"It's like four in the afternoon," Marvin says. 

"And? There's a lot of you. We need a lot of food." 

"I'm not sure we have the time for that..." Schneep mutters. "Something has happened." 

Soren's easy demeanor immediately shatters, replaced by a hard, serious look. "Get in, then." He steps aside so everyone can come in.

Bro’s smile drops and he looks sad for a second. Damn… if Mag hadn’t gotten here… they could have actually had a good time. He squeezes his eyes shut and pushes down his anger and walks in to find his friends. “…thanks, Soren.”

"Not a problem," Soren says. "I'll head on up with you." 

They walk up the staircase. The door to Dahlia's room is ajar a bit. Schneep hurries over and pushes it fully open. "Hey, Hen!" Dahlia waves. "I was just about to bring up when you'd get here." 

"Hey, other me!" Chase says. "Hi!" 

Jackie waves furiously at Bro. "Hey! Good to see you again!"

Bro smiles as he walks into the room and waves, "Hey guys-" 

Alt immedately straightens up, "...what's wrong?' He asks in a quiet voice. 

"What? Huh- how did you-??" 

"Please Chase- I know you." Alt says with a raised eyebrow. 

Bro looks conflicted. But eventually he sighs, his shoulders dropping. "...Magnificent is here..." 

"WHAT?!" Jackie and Alt shout almost in unison.

"I thought you guys were just visiting?!" Jackie gapes. The curtains flutter as a nervous breeze flies through the room. "Did he tag along somehow?" 

"Whatever happened, it was not intentional," Schneep says. "Bro said that it may be something wrong with your TRVLR device." 

"Magnificent is... a villain, right?" Dahlia says. 

"A bad one?" Soren asks. 

A bad one, JJ confirms. 

Chase shudders. "Last time he was here he got in my head. I-it was freaky."

Alt starts to pace and glitch anxiously, tugging at his hoodie. "NO no! I... I was so careful! All that planning! The warding! The protection spells! It all meant nothing?!" He shouts at the end, the electronics in the room all flickering and shuddering from Alt's anger and panic. 

"Hey hey lil bro, Breathe!" Bro says, coming over and holding his shoulders. "It wasn't your fault! he... it must be something with the TRVLR! Did anything seem weird about it??" 

Alt shakes his head, "I.. I dunno- It seemed fine... just- why?!" He shouts, angry tears in his eyes. "Why is he here, again??" 

Jackie looks at Chase with a sympathetic gaze before turning back to Dahlia, "Yeah he's... our main villain back home. A power hungry maniac corrupted by black magic... he wants to make people into his puppets or steal their power or... lots of other fucked up shit. He's a dangerous dude..." 

"Where's Marvin?? He was with you guys, right?" Alt suddenly shouts, worry on his face, "Mag really hurt him last time- he didn't-?!" 

"Alt please, try to calm down..." Bro whispers.

"I'm right here." Marvin steps forward. He'd hung back to take off Bro's spare clothes, which he then shoves at him. "Yeah, I still have the scars from him turning into a fucking tiger. But he clearly still wants to kill me." 

Alt deflates a bit, less worried now that he knows Marvin is okay. Bro fumbles with the clothes then stuffs them back in his bag. 

"Turning into a tiger...?" Soren repeats slowly. 

"The powers from the other world are more varied than ours," Schneep says. "A 'magician' there can do many incredible things at once." 

"Uhhhh okay," Dahlia says. 

"At least, uh, h-he can't find us here," Chase says. 

JJ frowns. Can he? How did he find your flat last time? 

"Um... I-I don't know. I never really thought about that." 

I think he had help, JJ says. He signs something: the letter A, and then smacking his hands together. A-virus. The meaning is clear.

Alt's eyes narrow and he growls, "That Anti fuck... he's probably gonna try to help him again! Fuck... fuck fuck fuck!" Alt shouts, looking like he's ready to hit something or explode- pixels coming off him as his body breaks in and out of being whole by his glitches. 

Jackie Mann looks between everyone and tries to smile, "M-Maybe it wont be so bad! Maybe... this is actually hidden this time? Mag usually can't find shit without magic!"

"Uhhhhh..." Jackie bites his lip and stares at his other version. "How do I put this...? Anti can look through cameras. All our phones have cameras. We all have phones on us right now." 

"We should have never started using them again!" Schneep curses. 

"God damn it all!" Marvin punches the wall. 

Soren rubs his eyes. "Yang and I only have so many safe houses in the city, you know," he says tiredly. "Why did you all start using computers again?" 

"Well, we figured that now we know Anti can't reach us, we'd just have to be very careful what we said," Chase says slowly. 

Clearly this was a mistake, JJ says. We have to get out of here. 

Alt sighs and crosses his arms, "...trying to run might get innocents hurt. Knowing Mag and how hard we kicked his ass last time... he's not gonna be happy. He's gonna hunt all of us down..." 

"If Magnificent is coming here, why don't we wait for him?" Jackie argues. "We could spring a trap!" 

I'm not putting Dahlia in danger. 

"I can handle danger," Dahlia mutters. "Even like this."

"I mean- yeah! We know he's coming so we can prepare! We got him really good last time!" Bro smiles,

JJ still looks reluctant, but he nods. Alright, I suppose we have to prepare for a fight, then. 

"Great, we can put these to use." Soren walks over to the armchair, bends over, and opens a hidden compartment in one of the legs, pulling out a knife. JJ looks at this, surprised, and bursts into silent laughter. How long has that been there?! 

"Since before you guys moved in. There are weapons in all the chairs and lamps, some of them with special features." 

Chase leans closer to Jackie. "I told you," he whispers. 

Alt blinks and then grins, "Fuck yeah that's metal!" 

Bro looks worried. "Are the houses around all safehouses? Because our powers aren't necessarily... discrete?" 

"And what about us powerless people huh?" Jackie says, pointing to himself. "I mean- save a face punch from me for Mag- but I'm also fragile!"

"Super fights happen all the time, don't worry," Jackie says. "I don't think any of us are destructive enough to level the neighborhood or anything." He hesitates. "Even so, I-I--I can go around and ask people to clear out. The citizens know me, they'll listen." 

"And don't worry, other Jackie, I have all sorts of stuff," Soren says. "My powers aren't exactly combative so I have to make up for it. What are you, blades, guns, or blunt instruments? I'm sure I have some protective vests somewhere, too." 

Jackie brightens up, "oh! I just learned how to use a knife better! Gimme!" 

Soren grins. "Alright, here you are." He flips the knife over and holds it out to Jackie hilt-first. 

Jackie grins and flips the knife, testing out the feel. “Sick- I’ll cut some new whiskers on Mag’s face!” 

"I'll try and find those protective vests." And Soren stands up and leaves.

"I can try to cast some wards and stuff-" Alt says, digging out his spellbook. "He's a strong magician but I... I can probably keep him back for a bit..." 

Go ahead and do your magic, Alt, JJ says. Any time you can buy us will be great. And he gets up. Dahlia? 

"I'll be careful, Jays," Dahlia says. "Promise." 

JJ nods, then goes out to follow Soren in the search for the protective vests.

Alt nods and starts flipping through the pages. His eyes burn with green blue light as he recites some words, going to trace some runes in the air above the walls.

Bro shifts nervously, "I could come with you if you need, Windstorm-" 

Jackie looks at Bro. He nods. "That's a good idea. If we spot something suspicious while out, one of us can fly back and tell the others here. I think we should avoid texting for now." 

Bro nods with a small smile and puts back on his mask, his hair flaring to green-yellow. “Right!” 

"Alright." Jackie nods. "Let's go!" 

Time passes as everyone prepares. Soren passes out weapons to everyone who doesn't have more combative powers. He also finds three protective vests--which are smaller and thinner than traditional bulletproof vests, but which he assure everyone is just as protective as Kevlar. JJ insists that Dahlia gets one, and the other two go to Chase and Jackieboy. 

Outside, Jackie and Bro fly around, telling the neighbors that theere's going to be a fight happening soon and they need to either hunker down or leave. Nobody protests, understanding the gravity that comes with a Hero--and another hero--telling them directly. 

Until, about half an hour later, Jackie nudges Bro. "Look," he says. "Do you see that?" 

Bro narrows his eyes at where Jackie points and then frowns. “Uhhh… no? What am I looking at?”

Jackie glances at him, then back to where he was pointing. At a line of bushes in someone's front yard. Indeed the movement he saw there before is gone now—until it isn't. 

Suddenly Jackie yells and tackles Bro to the side, just barely knocking him out of the way as a soccer-ball-sized metal sphere rockets towards the spot where Bro's head had been seconds before. 

Bro yelps as he's pushed to the ground. 

The sphere spins around midair and rushes at them again. Jackie raises a hand and a gust of powerful wind knocks it off course, sending it crashing to the sidewalk next to them. It's some sort of robot, mostly spherical with a tail-like peripherary. "That's a SAM," Jackie breathes. "Semi-Autonomous Machine. SepTech made them to help people but then Anti took control of most of them. I think it was spying on us."

Bro pants and then looks at Jackie with wide eyes. "If... if Anti took control of them- could he send them to the house??"

Jackie's eyes widen in turn. "Definitely." 

The SAM's peripheral writhes, and it slowly hovers back into the air, pointing a camera lens in its center at the two heroes. 

"We gotta warn the others then-!" Bro starts to say but freezes as the SAM gets airborne again. 

Compartments on the side of the SAM open up, and out pop small devices--devices that then shoot a hail of sharp darts at the two of them.

Jackie dodges out of the way, a gust of wind pushing the darts away from him. 

Bro yells in surprise as the darts are shot and crosses his arms in front of his face to try to block them. But, a few stick in his arm- one even breaking through his suit. "Ah- fuck!! What the fuck??" He pulls it out and looks at it then waves it at the SAM, "The fuck did you stick in me ya round orb bitch?!"

Jackie looks at Bro and pales. "Wait a minute." He plucks one of the darts that didn't pierce through Bro's suit from his arm. Inside the tiny glass compartment is a pale lavender liquid. "Shit! That's neutrinalin! It'll muffle your powers!" 

Bro's eyes widen. "What?! Shit-!" 

The SAM prepares for another volley of darts, aiming at Jackie this time. He barely dodges another round. "Go back to the house!" he shouts at Bro. "Quick, before it takes effect! Tell the others the SAMs are coming!" 

Bro looks hesitant to leave Jackie but he quickly nods and takes back off into the air, hurrying back towards the house. He barrels through the door, nearly tripping into Alt who was prepping a seal against the door. 

"What? Chase what's- dude what happened??" Alt asks. He's a bit pale and seems shaky but he's also half chewing on a snack bar Jackie brought. 

Bro pants, wiping at his face. "That bitch Anti is sending machines this way! R-Round bitches that shoot out power nullifying shit! They look like eyes-" 

Alt's eyes widen and he grabs Bro and pulls him in, "Where's Windstorm?" 

"H-Hopefully right behind me!"

Schneep suddenly appears next to Alt. "You mean the SAMs?" he says. "The Semi-Autonomous Machines. They were made by SepTech to be helpful for people and Heroes. 

"Yes! Those guys! Jackie said Anti-!" 

“They should not be able to--what was it? Shoot power nullifying... you mean neutrinalin?" 

 "Yeah yeah that!”

JJ has arrived about halfway through the conversation. He frowns. Anti must have modified some of them. Did you get hit with the-- he makes a sign that the other-world visitors don't know, like JJ is pushing something down. It must be the sign for 'neutrinalin.' 

Bro blinks and then nods to JJ, “uh... yeah i think so- I felt a prick-" 

Then there's a distant screaming. It slowly gets closer--

Alt glitches and throws Bro and the others out of the way of the door. 

—and then Jackie flies right through the doorway, still shouting, and crashes into the living room wall. "Oof!" 

"Jackie!" Bro shouts, hurrying over to him. "Are you okay??" 

Alt wastes no time in shutting the door and hurriedly chants another spell over it. He holds two hands over the wood and pours his magic in, sweat breaking out on his forehead. "A-Any sign of Mag??"

Jackie recovers surprisingly quickly, popping back up. "I'm okay!" he gasps. "No sign of Magnificent. But there's at least one SAM out there, and probably more coming, with--" 

"Neutrinalin? Yes, Bro just told us," Schneep says. "He also said he might've been injected. Can you still access your powers, Bro? Will it even work on you?" 

"I-if it will, it should be working by now," Jackie adds.

Bro blinks and then looks down at himself- for a second, he feels kinda dizzy. He shakes this off though and tries to see if he can hover in the air. He's able to for a second before he crashes down. His normally bright blue eyes under his mask seem a bit duller and he pales. "... f-fuck...!" 

JJ looks at Alt. Do those wards block out any threats or just magical ones?

Alt grits his teeth and concentrates, trying to spread out his magic over more than just the door. "I... I started with just magic wards but- I-I'm trying to expand them to anything now that Bro and Windstorm are back! Hopefully they can hold for a bit... but if... if these machines are coming the wards I put over Dahila's room might not be enough...!" 

Bro pushes himself up on shaky arms. "Alt- you're not draining yourself, are you??" 

"I'm giving us a fighting chance!" Alt bites back. "We need every advantage we can get!" 

"You know what would be giving us a chance? Having you ready to fight if they show up, Alt," Schneep points out. 

Bro nods along with Schneep. "You're just as powerful as the rest of us Alt! We need you!" 

Alt laughs at this, giving them a semi-pained look. "... Mag used me against you all last time- I dont want to give him that chance again. I'll be fine- but... I... I'll try to refuel." He backs up from the door, letting his hands slip off. The door and the walls/windows on that side of the house glimmer slightly with green- like the effect of looking at something under sunlight in water. 

JJ pales a bit at Alt mentioning Dahlia. Do you think someone should stay with her? he worries. Maybe Chase? Or other Jackie? 

Marvin appears just as he asks that. "You know your sister can take care of herself, right?" 

Yes, but she was in a COMA until a couple weeks ago, so there's some difficulty there! JJ snaps, practically throwing his hands in Marvin's face. 

"Whoa!" Marvin leans back. "Um... s-sorry. I didn't mean to... sorry."

Jackie peeks up from where he's been sitting on the stairs, nervously fiddling with the vest and the knife. He blinks at JJ and then smiles, "Hey- Jays- I can try to protect Dahlia if you want! Dunno how much use I'd be in the big fight but, I'm sure I can keep some metal fuckers away from her!"

JJ smiles at him. Thank you. But you said you were best at knife fighting, right? Knives won't be much use against robots. 

Soren and Chase peek into the living room. "I can stay with Ti--with Dahlia, Jem," Soren offers. "I'm sure I can handle some drones." His weapon of choice is a metal bat, which he taps threateningly against his hands. 

Jackie pouts slightly, "They're like- eyes right? Just- jab em in the pupil!" He tries to demonstrate, jabbing at the air. 

Schneep laughs. "Their 'pupils' are their cameras, so that may actually work out. If there is no camera, they cannot see." 

"But I also know... some martial arts! ... but I guess that'd hurt against a robot. Mannn what the hell! I hate being normal..." Jackie mutters. 

Chase looks down at Jackieboy. "Yeah, I know how you feel, bro. Not sure how much I can do. All anyone would need to do to take me out is knock me down." 

"If you guys want to get somewhere safe, we're not gonna stop you," Jackie says. "It's up to you." He peers out through the curtained windows.

Bro smiles at his friend with sympathy. "Well... looks like I'm in your boat too, Jackie..." He looks down at his hands and flexes them, as if willing his power to come back. 

Alt sits down on the floor and grabs more things to eat, tiredly trying to get his energy back. He leans against the wall and tries to catch his breath, looking a bit pale and clammy.

Marvin nods. "Alright. Sounds like it's time to wait." 

#SATCV #SATCV septicheroes #alt anti #bro fantastic #jackie mann #more introductions then!! trouble starts!! :O #i love dahila and soren so much ajhbak beans

[huffle-dork]

Swap Across the CrystalVerse Chapter 1: SepticHeroes Revisited

Read Swapboys | Crystal’s AUs | Read Septicheroes

Read SITCV | SITCV SepticHeroes Chapters | AO3 Link

The swapboys have once again found themselves in the Brody Brothers’ apartment. Jackie Mann sits on the edge of their armchair, kicking his feet. He has a backpack next to him as he fastens a bracelet on his wrist. “The kids were so bummed you wouldn’t let them watch this happen at our place, Alt.” He laughs. 

Alt rolls his eyes, “Well- I’m not sure they’d react too well to seeing their dad just * pop * out of existence right in front of them. Even if they know about magic.” He goes back to checking over the TRVLR settings. 

Jackie holds up his hands with a laugh. “Alright, alright! Fair point!” He smiles, “They’re with their mom anyways~! Since this is a quick visit- I’m sure they’ll hardly miss me at all!” 

“Then why did you pack such a big bag, dude?” Chase laughs, pointing at the backpack. 

Jackie laughs, “Please! Between all the injuries I sustain and you two? This thing is a necessity- it’s got extra snacks and a med kit- bandages, water, chargers, an extra jacket for me-“ 

“Oh my god Jackie if you need anything they have stuff there!” Alt says with a laugh. 

“You’re taking a bag too, Alt!” Chase points out. 

Alt turns red and turns away, “I’m bringing my iPad and my… art and stuff…” He adjusts the headphones around his neck and his usual mask. “So I can you know- have something to do while you all geek out about heroes and junk.” On the subject though Alt does double check that he has what he needs- his spellbooks, iPad, notebook, pens, and… the tracking bracelets he made for all of them. The brown leather bracelet is tight on each of their wrists, with runes inscribed on the inside and a turquoise gem on top. 

“Please Alt- don’t act like you’re not gonna join the hero fun!” Bro grins. Alt rolls his eyes but doesn’t respond, readjusting so everything fits right in his backpack. 

“See though? Alt gets it! Better safe than sorry! Take it from a dad- it’s better to be prepared for anything!” Jackie says with a grin. “I even have those little plastic ponchos for if it rains!” 

“Oh my god-“ Bro bursts into giggles. “Well besides being cautious- are you excited to meet these guys, Jackie?” 

Jackie’s eyes light up and he excitedly stims, “Hell fucking yeah!!! I get to meet me! As a hero!! That’s so fucking cool! Ohhh I’m gonna be such a dork I can already tell oh jeez what if I embarrass myself or talk too much or fall off a building trying to look cool and-?!” 

Alt turns to the others and laughs, holding up the now powered TRVLR. “You’ll be fine, Jackie. Windstorm is super cool- you’ll get on like a house on fire.” 

“Yeah bro! We instantly clicked- he’s just like you! ‘Cept he can fly- and he’s not a dad-“ Bro says. 

Jackie laughs, shaking his head. He jumps off the couch and hoists his backpack onto his shoulder. “Well then- l-let’s jet before I lose my nerve! If you’re all ready, Alt.” 

Alt grins, “Yup! One superhero universe all locked and loaded!” He then looks to Jackie and Bro, “you guys remember how the tracking bracelets work right?” 

“Yeah yeah!” Jackie says, “You touch the gem and say… looney-“ 

“Loonu, Jackie,” Alt laughs.

“Oh yeah- and then those wisps pop up and tell us where to go!” 

Alt grins, “Good, you got it!” 

“LessGOOOO!” Chase cheers, wrapping an arm around Jackie’s neck and pulling him tight to his side. Jackie bursts into laughter. Alt laughs too and grabs Jackie’s hand and then presses the jump button- heading to UA-1212021SH. 

And for once- Magnificent doesn’t try to stop them. He’s actually home- asleep with his panthers, unaware his usual annoyances were traveling to other worlds without him. 

And yet, as the group pressed the jump button, Mag is woken up by a sudden falling sensation and green light. A ripple spreads through the Space In-Between.

--------------

Jackie lands by himself in a room. The falling sensation lingers with him for a bit--strange, did it do that before?

Jackie rubs at his head and groans, “Ugh… how are they used to that…?” He mumbles.

 Well, this isn't the time to dwell on it. 

"Holy hell!" 

He's landed in a bedroom with yellow-painted walls. There's a window with curtains drawn and two doors, one of which is slightly ajar to show a connected bathroom. The room is faily bland. The furniture-- a bed, a dresser, an armchair, and a nightstand--are more functional than decorative. Pretty much the only thing that has any personality is a TV stand across from the bed, with a television and game console that are currently on. Two people are in the room, each holding a video game controller and staring at Jackie in shock. One is a man in a button-down shirt who has a distinct mustache. He is sitting in the armchair. The other is a person with longer hair wearing a pink sweater. They're lying in the bed. Both of these people have identical bright blue eyes. 

"Jays, I thought your friend was a flyer, not a teleporter," says the one in the bed. 

The other shakes his head and puts the controller down to sign, He isn't. I don't think this is J-hoodie. I think it's something else. 

Jackie blinks up at the two people and quickly gets to his feet. He waves awkwardly and stiffy, lifting his hand up really fast almost like a salute. “Um hi! I…I’m Jackie! J-Jackie Mann cuz um- you probably know another Jackie who looks like me but isn’t me uhhhh my f-friends Alt and Chase- well Bro Fantastic-! They wanted me to come visit and- fuck I knew they said we landed in random places but I thought I’d land near other me…!” He then blinks. “…fuck I’m talking too much aren’t I? S-Sorry for interrupting… this-“ He gestures vaguely at the room and the tv. 

The two people blink. And then the one in the bed laughs. "Don't worry about it, love. We weren't really doing much anyway. JJ, is that, uh, Bro Fantastic guy the alternate Chase you told me about?" 

JJ nods. He smiles at Jackie. So you're their Jackie, are you? It's nice to meet you! I'm Jameson, and this is Dahlia. He spells out all the names so there can be no mistakes. My sister. She wasn't around when your friends fist visited. 

"Nice to meet you!" Dahlia says cheerfully. 

Jackie blinks in surprise and then grins. “oh sick- my JJ has a half-bro, not a sister! Crazy! S’nice to meet ya too, both of you!” 

"Well--I was his brother," Dahlia says, a smile twitching at her lips. 

JJ raises an eyebrow. That's surprisingly open of you. 

"Well, if he's another Jackie, I think he's a good guy. And maybe like our Jackie, ifyouknowwhatImean." 

Jackie blinks and then his eyes widen. He points at Dahlia with a Pog face and goofy stance as he fumbles to spin his bag around. Then he points to a trans patch stitched on the side. “I’m too!! Trans that is!! Female to male!” He grins sillily.

"Yeahhhh!" Dahlia throws her hands up into the air. 

Dahlia, careful! JJ says, using her name sign of flower-time for the first time. 

"I can put my hands in the air, JJ, I'm not made of glass." But she does lower her hands. 

Anyways, Bro and Alt managed to get home, then? Good for them! JJ says. 

Jackie rocks on his feet and adjusts his backpack and nods. “yeah! Though I think they said they had a bit of rough go of it after they met you all. But, now Alt’s pretty confident in his jumping so! They thought I’d be nice for me to meet some other mes!” He laughs.

Dahlia grins and JJ can't help but smile back, then he looks at Jackie. Well, our Jackie isn't here. It's just the two of us and another friend in the house. Schneep is staying here too but he's out right now. We can contact him, if you want. 

"Are you here by yourself, by the way?" Dahlia asks. "Or do we need to watch out for more of you guys?"

Jackie messes with his hair with a nervous laugh. “Oh well- that makes sense! Uh Alt and Bro are here too! Chase was so excited to see everyone again- and Alt is too but he’s being Alt and trying to act like he’s not.” He laughs. “Oh but! We have a way to find each other this time!” He shows off the bracelet on his wrist. “Tracking spell~!”

"Tracking spell?" Dahlia asks. 

That's some of the magic in your world, is it? JJ asks. How does it work?

Jackie grins. “I just gotta say the word and then this magic orb-y stuff shows up and will lead me to the signal of another bracelet!” He raises up his sleeve and whispers to the stone at the top of the bracelet, “Loonu!”

The green-blue trail appears, pointing diagonally across the room and going out the window. JJ stands up and opens the curtains, revealing the cityscape outside. 

"Ooo, flashy," Dahlia says, impressed. "We don't have that here. Or if we do, I've never seen it. Where's it going?" 

It's pointing to the center of the city, JJ says. Which doesn't mean much. Henrik figured out last time that you all appear near people you're close to. So that COULD be pointing to Jackie, Chase, Henrik, or Marvin. 

"What about the, uh... Anti, was it?" 

If Anti counts, then Alt and Bro could be anywhere. 

"Hmm. True. Well, maybe contact Jackie's flat first, see if either of them are there."

“Yeah- that’s the issue aint it? At least for us we only gotta worry about the two. Alt saidddd blue means close- green means far away. I think-“ Jackie shrugs. “If you guys wanna ring your friend that’d be brilliant! I don’t wanna interrupt anything. But I also… don’t know where I am at all so-“ He laughs.

JJ shakes his head. it looks more blue than green, so that's good. I'll text Jackie. 

Jackie grins, rocking on his feet again. “Thanks dude! ‘Perriciate it!” 

"I belieeeve we're sort of on the edge of Daindover," Dahlia says slowly. "Near the East SepTech location. Though I suppose that means nothing to you.”

“It does indeed mean Jack shit to me.” 

“Uh, we're in JJ's boyfriend's house." 

We're not dating, JJ says stubbornly. 

"Yet," Dahlia adds with a grin. 

I can't believe you of all people are encouraging me to date S-heart. 

"Ehhh could be worse." 

Jackie’s eyes widen and then he grins, “Oooh a boyfriend~?” He tries to tease- then stops himself. “oh wait. I probably shouldn’t tease you- you aren’t my Jay. I would give him such a hard time if I found out he liked someone.” 

"It's okay, I'll tease him for you," Dahlia says jokingly.

Jackie bursts into giggles. “Deal! I like ya, Dahlia!” 

 "Though to be honest Jays doesn't get teased easily." 

I'm just still shocked that you approve, JJ says, then takes his phone out of his pocket and starts texting. 

"Like I said, Soren could be worse. And I believe him when he says he's turning over a new leaf. And if he's lying, I can beat his ass." 

“Oooh Soren~? That’s a fancy name- must be a fancy dude- someone as sophisticated as J’s mustache!” The father giggles more.

JJ grins a little at the mustache comment. 

Dahlia laughs as well--though she stops quickly as it gains a wheezing edge. "I guess you can say that. He had a big, important family--though it's pretty much just him and his niece's family now. I suppose you don't know him in your world. If he's there at all." 

“Oh neat! Yeah I don’t think we know a Soren- but that makes sense. S’abig universe out there! Lots of people to meet!” Jackie grins. 

Then, after a moment, JJ nods. Jackie, Jackie says that one of your friends is at his apartment, he says, differentiating the two with slightly different name signs (J-hoodie, J-visit).

Jackie beams at JJ and laughs at the sign differences. “Oh neat! Sign name! J-hoodie must be your Jackie! But yay! One mystery solved!”

JJ grins. One mystery solved. Now we just need to figure out how to get you together and figure out where your other friend landed. 

Jackie looks up to think and then digs out his phone, “oh yeah- I could just… text them I think. Maybe- …my plan miiight not work across dimensions.” 

"You guys can go out, it's fine," Dahlia says. 

JJ shakes his head. I don't want to leave you alone. 

"Jays, like I said, I'm not glass." 

But you are still recovering. 

Dahlia shrugs. "Soren is still here. If I need something, I'll ask him.”

That is... SO strange to hear coming from you.

Jackie blinks, looking back at Dahlia, “oh- are you… injured or something?”

Dahlia sighs. "Yeah... I was in an accident a couple of years ago. Got knocked out, and when I woke up it was two years later. As you can expect, that has some lingering side effects." She makes a face. "I started growing facial hair again." It's a joke, but it's clear that there's real sadness beneath it. 

Jackie winces at the mention of the accident then, “Nooo! That’s awful!” Jackie says with complete sympathy to Dahlia’s last statement. He gets it. He’d be devastated if any of his features started going backwards!

"Thanks, Jackie." Dahlia smiles gently. "I'm getting used to it. I can heal faster than most people, but this is a lot of damage. It'll be fine, though." 

Jackie gives her a sympathetic smile and nods. 

JJ walks back over and gives his sister a side hug. Then he looks at Jackie. You can try texting if you want. I know that Alt's phone connected to the Internet last time.

Jackie blinks at Jj then smiles, “Right! Letsss see-“ He texts Alt: Alttt! I’m alive! I’m by this world’s Jj and his sister! :D 

Jackie giggles, “This is insane- texting my friend to come find me like we’re meeting up at a shop- but it’s in another universe… fucking wild man.”

Jackie's text doesn't go through right away. But after a while, it does, with a little sent through WiFi notification attached underneath the bubble. 

I can imagine it's very strange, JJ says. But it's good to meet you! Strange, but nice. I hope we can spend time together. 

Jackie blinks and smiles as his text goes through and he pockets his phone. “Yeah! I hope so too!” 

----------

Alt falls through the dark space, feeling it ripple slightly, and then appears somewhere that he--after a moment--recognizes. This is Jackie's place--the hero Jackie's place, the one he shares with this world's Chase. Speaking of whom-- 

"Whoa!" Chase jumps. 

Alt blinks around and smiles as he immediately recognizes the place. Then he jumps and glitches back to hide slightly behind the closest furniture he can find. 

Chase is sitting on the sofa with Frosty, who barks when Alt appears but calms down when Chase pats his head. "Who the hell--oh! Oh! Y-y-you're uhhhh--fuck, I'm so bad with names. One of the guys from the other world! Hey!"

Alt blinks up behind it comically and then smiles shyly. “Heyyy! Other Chase hi! Um- Alt. That’s me- um… s-sorry to just- drop in!”

"Alt! Right." Chase nods, giving Alt a bit smile. "It's good to see you again! You, uh, stopping by? Oh, hang on." He twists to the side. "Jackie! The guys from the other world are back!" 

Footsteps rush down the hall and Jackie appears. He's wearing a red hoodie and the lower half of his supersuit, either just about to leave or just returning from hero duties. 

"Hi!" Jackie waves at Alt excitedly. "Hey! Welcome back! Where's your brother? Oh right, you guys didn't appear in the same place last time, you probably didn't this time, either. Anyway. How are you? Did you guys figure out how to get home?" 

Chase laughs. "Give him time to answer, bro."

Alt blinks and glitches a bit in surprise at Jackie's appearance. But then he laughs and glitches closer, grinning wide. "Hey man! Good to see you two again!" 

"okay to answer questions- I dunno where Ch- Bro is but I can find him quicker than last time! I'm good- and yes! We got home... relatively okay." He grins, lifting up a finger for each question he answered.

"Oh cool! I'm glad you guys could do that." Jackie grins. "Why are you back, then? Stopping by to visit? Sounds great if you are! We can show you around the city!" 

"Yeah, that'd be fun!" Chase says excitedly. 

Alt smiles. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and adjusts his mask. "Yeah- to visit! And also, we brought our Jackie along this time! He's dying to meet you all." 

Jackie's eyes light up. "Oh! Other me! Cool! I'd love to meet him too--hope he didn't appear too far away. Ooo! Maybe we can get the whole gang together! Do you think Schneep and JJ will want to come? I know they might be busy, but they're more likely to come than Marvin, right?" Jackie laughs.

Alt laughs at the Marvin comment. "If they're up for it- Jackie's pretty excited to see stuff. But, of course we don't wanna get in the way of anything too!"

“uhhh, we've kinda hit a dead end in our investigation. Last we saw you guys we promised to kick Anti's ass but uhhh... That's a bit difficult, turns out." Jackie smiles. "We can use a break. If heroes never take breaks, they collapse." 

Alt looks excited at them being free. "Shame about the trail going cold but! That means we can hang!" 

"Hell yeah," Chase agrees. "In that case, should we start calling people to see where other-me and other-Jackie are?" 

"Mm-hmm." Jackie nods. "Lemme text some people real quick." He takes his phone out of his pocket and starts texting. 

Alt grins happily, pixels buzzing in the air around him. "Bro will be so happy. And Jackie!" He then blinks and looks to his phone, checking the screen. He laughs, "Speak of the devil- the timing is insane... My Jackie is with JJ... and his... sister? What??"

"Oh yeah!" Jackie grins. "We didn't get time to tell you last time you were here!" 

"Well to be fair we were still adjusting to it, too," Chase says. "Yeah, JJ has a sister that he didn't tell me or Jackie about at all." 

"Bit of a complicated story," Jackie says. "She was a hero, too. Not a capital H Hero, just a hero in that she was helping people out. But then she was in an accident. and got put in the hospital for a long time." 

Chase nods. "I was there, too. A building collapsed. And, well, that's why I need Frosty." Frosty wags his tail at being mentioned. 

"Anyway, we got her back recently, but she's still recovering," Jackie continues. "Her name's Dahlia. She's great."

Alt looks between the both of them in surprise. "Woah- that's... intense." But, then he smiles. "But, I'm glad she's better. That must be making JJ very happy... is he still in hiding? Him and Schneep?"

Jackie sighs. "Unfortunately. I keep pushing the police to review the Puppeteer case but they're so slow. I'm hoping that now that Anti's out and doing stuff they'll move faster." 

"We're being a bit less cautious with phones and stuff, though, as you can see," Chase says. "It just got exhausting so we decided they're worth the risk." 

"Well that will make stuff easier~" Alt laughs. 

"Anyway, if Jackie's there, where's Bro, then?" Jackie asks. "He must've showed up by Schneep or Marvin, right? Assuming Schneep isn't also in Soren's safe house right now." 

"Text the doc, maybe he'll answer." Chase shrugs. 

"Yeah, I'll do that." Jackie nods and keeps texting. "He's been bad at answering texts lately, though. I wonder what he's doing..." 

"In the meantime, feel free to hangout, Alt!" Chase says cheerfully. "We'll figure out how to get everyone together once we're sure where everyone is." 

Alt glitches over to an armchair and sits down- not getting comfy, just balancing on the edge. But like- that's kinda big for him. 

He texts Jackie back: Sick dude- I'm with other Jackie and Chase, we'll figure out where you are soon, hang tight.

----------- 

Bro falls a few feet and lands on the flat roof of a building. No, it's not a roof. The building is still under construction, with beams and scaffolding extending high above. But this is the highest floor that's been completed, so it's basically the roof. Across the street is a glass and concrete triangular building with the words SepTech glowing green across its side. And Bro doesn't land alone. Somehow, there's someone else with him. Magnificent has arrived in this world as well.

Bro pushes himself off and brushes himself off, adjusting his costume so its just so. He had to make a good first hero impression! Yes, he'd been here before but now it was official cuz he's actually in his uniform! He grins and starts to look around and then yelps as magic is thrown at him from behind. 

"What the-?!" Bro jolts into the air and then stares at the angry face of Magnificent crouched on the ground. "M-Magnificent?!" 

"Why have you brought me here, hero?!" Magnificent snarls, throwing another barrage of magic at him. "Where is that idiotic cub?! Don't you two know better than to bother a villain when he's scheming?!" 

"What are you talking about?!" Bro yells, dodging the magic. "Did you hitch a ride with us again?!' 

"What are you talking about?! You-" Magnificent's face falls for a second as he looks around. Then, he slowly starts to laugh. "Oh... I see... you and your brother are playing dimension hopper again, are you? And yet it seems... the universe still chose to include me~" He grins at Bro his eyes lighting up bright green as he chuckles. "And how unfortunate for you, hero." He spits. 

Bro backs up, looking around for any sign of Alt or Jackie around. Shit shit shit! This was supposed to be a fun adventure! They warded and cast protection spells! Alt was gonna be pissed... 

"Now- tell me Hero... where did you bring us this time, hm?"

Before Bro can answer that question, there's the sound of footsteps. The unfinished building has an unfinished staircase leading up to this floor, and the sound seems to be coming from there. But... there's no one in sight. Even as the footsteps sound like they come up onto the floor Bro and Magnificent are on, there's still no one there. ...But Magnificent can hear a faint voice come from that direction. "Schiesse," it curses. 

Bro blinks and looks around- the complete opposite way the footsteps are going- thinking he's missing something. 

Mag hears the curse and he grins, going to try to teleport behind the invisible super and try to grab him.

There's a yelp, and a person flickers into view. They're wearing an outfit that seems to be shifting colors, disguising most of their features. Magnificent manages to grab him--but not for long, as the person quite literally slips out of his grasp, passing through his arms. "Y-you! What are you doing back here?!" If it wasn't obvious who it was before, the voice gives it away. Schneep. 

Magnificent curses as Schneep literally slips from his grasp. 

He backs away from Magnificent, then looks at Bro. "Ah! Um, h-hello, ah--What the fuck?!" He points at Mag.

Bro makes an 'i dunno' exggerated shrug then points at Mag with both of his arms. "I dunno bro!! We tried to make sure he wasn't gonna follow us this time!! Alt was so careful!!" 

Mag laughs evilly, "And yet~ here I am~!" He giggles and then sends a blast of magic out at both of them.

Schneep doesn't move--not processing the magic as a threat until it slams into him and knocks him down. He yelps, forgetting to concentrate on his intangibility and slamming against the floor. "So that... is an... energy attack," he says as soon as he gets his breath back. "Noted..." 

Magnificent laughs loudly and builds up more magic in his hands. "There's more where that came from, Henrik~! I have yet to taste that delightful power of yours~" 

"Ew why you gotta say it like that??" Bro makes a face then gets hit out of the air by Mag's magic. He hits the roof and skids before trying to get back on his feet. 

Schneep gets to his hands and knees--and then shouts out "SPITIFRE GET UP HERE!" 

More footsteps from the staircase, and now someone else joins the fray--the brightly colored costume and cat mask makes him easily recognizable. Marvin's eyes lock on Magnificent. "Motherfucker!" 

Mag's eyes light up with delighted manic glee at seeing Marvin. "Well hello again!" He throws out magic his way, "Do me a favor and die-!" He growls out.

Marvin's eyes widen. He conjures up a shield to block the magic but Mag throws it with such force that the attack still knocks Marvin over. 

Schneep gasps and scrambles to his feet, rushing over to help Marvin up. 

"Why don't--you die?" Marvin says through gritted teeth. Before Schneep even pulls him up, he shoots a beam of orange energy at Magnificent.

Magnificent grins and throws out a shield that shimmers like murky pond water. He throws out his hand and then tries to douse the water on top of Marvin and Schneep.

Schneep looks up and turns intangible, the water going right through him. Marvin gets doused, but all it does is make him annoyed. "Do you think I'm made of fire?! Idiot?!" He makes a blade of yellow energy and throws it at Magnificent, spinning end over end and getting longer as it gets closer.

Magnfiicent cries out as the blade grazes his arm. He glares at Marvin and hisses, "Principles of magic have to apply somewhere here." He bunches up his hand and then sends out a blast of freezing magic at Marvin. 

Bro yells out and tries to tackle Mag away.

Mag just teleports out of the way of Bro, making him fly past him and back into the hard floor of the roof.

"Magic doesn't fucking exist here you pri--" Marvin is so busy yelling at Mag that his reflexes aren't quite as sharp as they should be. The magic blasts him before he can finish conjuring his shield and frost coats his skin as he falls down again. Schneep also collapses. The magic blast passed right through him, but he can still feel the temperature change, and the cold is so shocking that his knees buckle right away and turns him tangible again. "J-jesus fuck," Marvin whispers. 

"W-we have to retreat!" Schneep gasps. "Get the others!" 

"Not yet!" Marvin's skin...glows? and the frost covering him melts away. "We gotta take this fucker down!" And he aims another beam of red energy--but not at Mag. At the floor beneath his feet, cutting through it, aiming to collapse it.

"You're not going anywhere~!" Magnificent cackles and attempts to teleport to try to grab Schneep again- he doesn't notice the floor until it cracks. He yells out and manages to catch himself on the edge, tearing at the floor desperately with his claws. Then, he falls. 

Bro hurries up to his feet and back into the air. He rushes over and holds out his hands for Schneep and Marvin. "H-Hurry! I can fly you out of here!" 

They glance at each other, clearly a bit nervous, but they both take Bro's hands in unison. "I better not dangle," Marvin mutters. "That's so undignified." 

"Take what you can get," Schneep snaps.

Bro laughs, "If you don't wanna dangle I might have to hold you like a baby- I dunno which is worse." He hauls up Marvin and pulls him to his chest and then grabs Schneep and tries to load him on his back. Then, he rockets off into the sky, just trying to get them as far away as possible.

"OHJESUSFUCK--!" Marvin shouts, surprised at how fast Bro goes. Schneep doesn't say anything, just holds on tightly. 

The cityscape passes beneath them. Bro is heading deeper into the city, where the buildings get taller and shinier, occasionally interspersed with older-looking townhouses. Soon the construction site--and Magnificent--is out of sight. 

"I-I think we can go down now?" Schneep says, voice almost lost in the sound of rushing wind.

Bro laughs and nods, finding the closest place he can. He almost wants to set them on another rooftop but... heroes are common around here! He finds an empty looking park and sets them both down. "Sorry about that, are you two okay???"

Marvin staggers for a bit. "M...my face is cold," he says, sounding mildly surprised at that. He pushes off his mask briefly to wipe his eyes. "I-I didn't realize flying was so cold?" 

"The wind makes it so," Schneep says. He fared better than Marvin; between his goggles and his mask most of his face was covered. "But I-I am fine. It was a bit more... tall... than I thought. But I'm fine now." 

Bro can't help but laugh, "Yeah it gets kinda chilly. That's why I have my jacket!" He says, lifting up his arms to show off his signature Bro Fantastic jacket. 

"Yeah, just... wasn't expecting that." Marvin shakes his head. "Anyway. Hi, other Chase. Why?" 

Bro bursts into even more laughter as Marvin's bluntness. "Ha ha! No yeah- It's a fair question!"

"Don't be rude," Schneep mutters. "But Marvin has a good point. We are happy to see you again, but why are you here? With Magnificent?"

Bro straightens back up and then frowns, "....Magnificent wasn't supposed to be here. Alt made sure he couldn't! But... we wanted to come see you guys again... and we brought our Jackie to come meet you- and the other him." He then blinks and then narrows his eyes at the two of them, "...but... what were you two doing at an abandoned construction site? In your super get up?" He raises an eyebrow.

Marvin blanks. "Uhhhhh..."

"We can tell him, he is also a hero where he comes from," Schneep says. 

"Right." Marvin nods. "Nice outfit, by the way. Uh, well. We were staking out that building across the street. The East SepTech location. Last time we saw you guys, we talked about that villain who made JJ do all that terrible shit. Anti-Virus." He laughs. "God. What an appropriate name." 

"It turns out that Anti-Virus was part of SepTech," Schneep says. "Very... integral to it, in fact. But now, Anti is gone. We are not sure where. Or how to search, in all honesty. But we figure that keeping an eye on SepTech locations is a good place to start." 

"In case Anti returns," Marvin agrees. "There's a... long history between them." 

"Oh okay- I thought you were maybe trying to steal shit- but considering it was like- abandoned that now seems dumb." Bro laughs. "That bitch Anti is just gone? Fucking coward..." He shakes his head and sighs.

"I'm sure Anti is planning something," Marvin mutters. "Calculating bitch..." He shakes his head. "But we should handle Mag first." 

"Back to what you said," Schneep says. "You just came to visit, but Magnificent somehow came along, is that it? So... Alt and your Jackie do not know he's here."

"Yeah... they wouldn't know. It seems like Mag was surprised to be here too... which means... he wasn't planning it." Bro scratches at his head. "... last time we used the TRVLR- he like... messed with it and its power... maybe that had something to do with it?" He looks back at the other two, "The point is though... He wasn't planned. But... I dunno how much trouble he'll be... we all seemed to really kick his ass last time!"

Schneep frowns. "If he messed with your universe traveling device, that is not good. Perhaps he found some way of... attaching himself to it? I don't know. Your world's powers are strange." 

"But Bro is right, we can kick his ass!" Marvin agrees. "Well, Jameson was a big part of that, I think. And he does not want to leave the new safe house much. Wh-which, I understand. Now that Dahlia is back, he does not want to leave her in case something happens to her again."

Bro tilts his head to the side, "Dahlia? Who's that?"

Marvin's eyes widen. "Oh shit! Right, we never mentioned her! Schneep, you tell him." 

"Dahlia is my cousin, and JJ's sister," Schneep explains. "Anti kidnapped her to force Jameson to do things for him, and Jameson agreed because Dahlia... is a hero. W-we found her, and she is awake from the coma she was in, but she is still quite weak." He takes a deep, shaky breath. This is clearly an emotional subject for him.

Bro's face falls with concern, "Oh... fuck. I... I'm sorry Schneep... I mean... at least she's awake now! That's good!" He tries to smile. "I know I-I heal really fast... maybe its the same for some supers here!"

Schneep laughs. "Th-thank you. Dahlia has said she heals faster. Which I believe. Her powers are strong. And so are Jameson's. Really, their whole side of the family got lucky." 

"You're pretty powerful, too, Henrik," Marvin says. 

"No, I am not. I have done the research, my powers are not stronger than any other super who can become invisible or pass through things." 

"Well you use them really well, so that counts." 

Schneep laughs again. "If you say so."

Bro grins. "No I agree! Powers are only as strong as the people who wield them! Anyone can be strong- anyone could have power. But, the people who learn to use them well and for good are the strongest!" He then looks around the city and sighs, "Well... guess its another race to find my brother and now Jackie... i hope they ended up somewhere safe. Sounds like it's all been kinda calm though- before Mag showed his ugly tail."

"Pretty calm, yeah." Marvin nods. 

"Oh! We started using phones again, perhaps they have texted me," Schneep says, reaching into a pocket in his outfit. 

"How many fucking pouches and pockets do you have?" 

"I was a thief before this, they were necessary." Schneep pulls out his phone, then yanks off a glove with his teeth and starts tapping at the screen. He nods. "Yes, they sent messages. Your Jackie is with JJ and Dahlia, and Alt is with our Chase and Jackie." 

Bro relaxes slightly, "Oh good- they're safe... that's... that's good."

Marvin raises an eyebrow. "Do you think they could've appeared near Anti? Would've been helpful to know where that center of operations is." 

"Probably dangerous for them, though, so let's be happy. I am letting them know Bro is with us. Should I tell them about Magnificent?" 

"Ummm... maybe I should tell them- let them... just be happy for a second." Bro says with a wince. "We can... deal with that in a bit. I don't think Mag will find us all right away..."

Schneep nods. "Very well, then. I think we are closer to the safe house than the apartment, so I will ask if we can meet there." 

"Can't Alt glitch pretty far distances, too?" Marvin asks. "He can probably bring Jackie and Chase to the safe house. Unless he needs to have been there to do that?"

"Ummmm-" Bro thinks, "It's easier for him to glitch to places he's been to but like... I dunno. He got us to Jackie's apartment building without ever being there last time- I think he can sometimes be pulled places as long as someone has like... a visual or something."

"That is good, then. Jackie definitely knows what the house looks like." Schneep nods, finishing up his text message. "We should make our way there now, then." 

"Are we gonna take the train in outfit, have Bro fly us again, ooooor walk the whole way?" Marvin asks. "Honestly, none of those sound ideal to me."

"Is riding the train dressed in uniform so bad?" Bro laughs, "I thought supers were more common around here!"

"Well yeah--but we're wanted supervillains," Marvin says. 

"... oh. That... didn't get brought up last time." Bro says, blinking rapidly. But, who is he to talk? Alt was a villain for a bit too. 

"Spitfire Cat is pretty recognizable, in particular," 

Schneep adds, gesturing to Marvin. "So, can you change quickly, Marvin?" 

"No," he grumbles.

Bro looks at the small bag he brought with him, containing a change of clothes for him in case he needed to be out of uniform. "Uhhh i got... a jacket, shirt and some... jeans? If you'd like?" Then he looks and smirks at them, "Or- flying is faster."

Marvin hesitates, then quietly takes the offered clothes. "We can take the train," he mutters. "I'm putting this on over my clothes." As he does, he continues to talk. "And don't worry, we're not going to attack random pedestrians or anything, Chase. We're not those types of people. Schneep just steals stuff from large businesses and my crimes are more... symbolic. I don't hurt innocents." 

"Hey I'm not judging. I already know you two are cool." Bro grins. "I try not to judge without knowing the full story- if i can help it. I learned my lesson about doing that..." He sighs, refluffing his hair under his hat.

Marvin grins. "Heh. Windstorm--Jackie had that same sort of journey, too. Learning not to judge, I mean." 

"Learning that two of his friends were criminals helped on that," Schneep says. 

"Alright, I'm ready." Marvin takes his mask off and hides it in his jacket. The only weird thing about him now are his gloves, but those can be brushed off. "The nearest train station is that way. Come on. You two will get stares but the ride won't be long." 

Schneep abruptly vanishes from view. "What stares?" his disembodied voice says jokingly. 

“Cheater." Bro laughs as he takes off his mask and shoves it in his pocket.

"Ha ha." Marvin rolls his eyes. "Just keep up, Schneep, we don't want to lose you." 

Bro looks over himself. It's not perfect but, no one in this town knew him. It'd be fine. He follows after the other two towards the train. 

----------- 

“Hey Alt, your brother ended up with Schneep and Marvin," Jackie says. He's sitting on the sofa with Chase now, still half-wearing his suit. "Schneep wants us to go to the safe house where JJ and your Jackie are. He says that Bro says you can glitch us there?"

Alt looks up at the others and then glitches to his feet, stretching. "Sure thing- I'm decently powered. You all have been there before? That helps~" He grins.

"I have a few times, but Chase has only been there once," Jackie says. "Is that a problem?" 

"Nope that should be plenty." Alt shrugs his bag back on.

"I want to come," Chase says, pouting a bit. "All I did last time was talk to you guys on the phone and then get hypnotized." 

"Will you have trouble taking Frosty, Alt?" Jackie asks. "Chase needs him."

"Mmmm no I don't think so! I glitch with my cat all the time. That's how she got her name." Alt smiles. "We just need to link up! So like- as long as we all have a connection somehow."

"Ohhh yeah your cat!" Jackie awes. "I wish we could meet her!" 

Alt laughs, "I feel like she'd get into trouble on these trips- but I have about a million pictures. Despite the fact she's a little void and i wear mostly black." 

"You can show us the pictures of your cat when we get there." Jackie chuckles.

Chase laughs too. "Alright, let's link up, then. Focus on the house. Or, uh, I think we should aim for just outside the house. I don't want Soren to suddenly shoot us for intruding." 

"Shoot us? He doesn't have a gun, Chase." 

"Look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't figure out how to get one."

"... I both like and dislike what I'm learning about this Soren guy-" Alt mutters. 

“Soren is a mixed bag," Jackie mutters. 

Alt offers his hands out to the others, green-blue magic pulsing in his eyes. 

"Whoo!" Chase makes sure to grab Frosty by the scruff. "Let's go!" 

Once, the others have linked up and Chase has a good  good hold on Frosty, Alt concentrates at they all zip away towards the safe house.

---------- 

Magnificent falls down one floor, delaying him slightly. But it's enough of a delay. By the time he recovers, that annoying hero and those two infuriating supers are gone.

The world flashed to white as he head hit the floor hard- and for a good long while all he can hear is ringing in his ears. Magnificent springs up once he has his bearings and then teleports back up to the roof- but... its clear that they're all gone by now. 

He curses and kicks at the floor and then starts to pace. "Okay... collecting my thoughts... we're back in the world with the supers... which I had a hard time stealing power from... but its possible. And my annoyances are here... so... hmm.... What to do...." He laughs to himself, his eyes glowing bright. "I want to end all those annoying supers. Drain them for every ounce of power in them and lord over their corpses... they will not humiliate me again... I need to find this world's Jameson... he will be the first one I destroy." He looks out over the edge of the unfinished building towards the city, arms behind his back as he searches around. "Now... where would my little kittens be hiding~?"

"How very vicious." The voice comes from behind Magnificent. There's something floating just beyond the other edge of the unfinished building. It's... that black flying robot from last time. It floats closer to Magnificent. "I see you've returned," says that same computerized voice. "Do you remember me?"

Magnificent jumps in the air like a startled cat. He whirls around, magic bright in his hands. But, once he realizes who this is, he slowly grins. "Well Well... Anti, wasn't it~? I do remember you." He glances around and then tilts his head at the robot. "... why are you here?"

"Those supers were staking out SepTech for signs of me, so I was stalking them in turn," Anti says. "They had no idea that what they were looking for was right under their noses all that time." Part of the robot slides open, revealing a small device. Its use is revealed as it projects a life-size hologram of a person. ...Wait. No, it's not exactly a person. It's a 3D animated model, depicting a man wearing black robotic armor and a hood. The man's face is replaced by an LED screen with a simplified face: two red circles for eyes and a curving red mouth. "But then you arrived. And that other one. And now I wish to talk. Face to... not-face, as it is." The model gestures to his LED screen.

Magnificent's eyes widen as he sees the hologram. He prowls around it and studies it with interest. "Impressive... very impressive." 

"Thank you. I did work hard on it." Somehow, Anti's robotic voice sounds smugly proud. 

Mag stops to stand in his original place and smirks, gesturing at Anti. "Well, let's hear it then~"

"You wish to take out my nuisances. I wish to do so too. So far I have preferred hiding and concentrating on my plan. But this is an opportunity I cannot ignore. What if I aided you once more? More... directly this time."

“Oh? In the flesh?” Magnificent giggles, “How bold of you, Anti!” 

"Oh, if only in the flesh. Unfortunately, I am... limited." Anti's model gestures at himself. "This is the best I can do. But I have several of these Semi-Automatic Machines equipped with combat features. They can act as backup for you." 

“Ah I see. Well- I can work with that.” Magnificent hums. His face falls to something deadly serious in a blink, his eyes flashing dangerously. “I want those wannabe heroes dead. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

The model tilts his head. "I know where they are hiding from the police. And everyone is heading there. All of those from your world, and the supers from mine." He chuckles. "Though it is funny that you call them all 'heroes'. I can promise many of them have less than stellar records."

Mag chuckles and shrugs, “On the rating of heroes to villains- no one tops me in villainy~! I bet those records mean nothing.” He giggles and then tilts his head back at Anti, “do we have a plan, Anti, dear? Or are we charging in, machines blazing~?”

"'Machines blazing' is what I was thinking, in fact," Anti says. "They know I have been laying low. They won't be expecting it. I will gather my Machines while you head to the house. Its address is 78 Ivy Lane. In that direction." The model points to the north.

Magnificent hums and then giggles in manic delight. “Alright. I can do that~” He laughs and tilts his head at Anti, “This will be one hell of a collab~!” Then, in a blink and buzz of static- he teleports off the roof to search for the heroes.

“Indeed.” The hologram of Anti disappears as the Machine flies away, ready to meet up with others of its kind. 

#SATCV #swap across the crystalverse #SATCV Septicheroes #Septicheroes au #alt anti #swap magnificent #bro fantastic #jackie mann #jackie joins the group!! #tbh we had one other multiverse rp before this one but thats not quite ready to share yet!! #so they'll be hints to it here and there but it shouldnt take away from the story! ^^ #so excited to be posting more of these for you guys!! #we have written soooo much fun new stuff and i can't wait for you all to see them!