Really sorry for the late upload again, guys! College and public transport got in my way again 🙂 Thank you all for understanding and enjoy the chapter!
***
Chapter 19 – Puppet Masters
“So…” Anti snarled, his eyes narrowing as Dr. Jacobs approached, “You finally decide to show your face.” “Says the one who’s been hiding behind other people’s faces,” Dr. Jacobs said, his smirk not fading, “Tell me, what have you been trying to hide?” “Wait…Dr. Jacobs?” Chase said, stepping forward slightly to get a better look at the man stood before them, “I…I thought you were dead!” “Yeah…that’s right!” Marvin said, “You died in Anti’s first attack back at the lab!…Didn’t you?” “That’s what you all thought,” Dr. Jacobs said. The still living scientists started to stand up slowly, staring at Dr. Jacobs the whole time. His presence seemed to fill these people with a strange confidence. “But I and a few others actually escaped. I asked the kind folks here to patch up our wounded and give us a space to recuperate. They’ve been incredibly nice.” “So you’re the one who sent all those people after us?” Marvin said, “The man on the train, the robot Jack, the police officers in disguise?! That was all you?!” “Of course it was him!” Anti shouted, shoving everyone aside and striding towards Dr. Jacobs, “How did you not see that?!” Dr. Jacobs laughed. “Oh right, this all my fault. Mine and only mine.” he leaned in close to Anti until the two men’s noses were nearly touching, “Do forgive me, I seem to have forgotten my lines. What was it you wanted me to say, glitch?” Anti began to physically shake with rage, his eyes flaring with hatred. “I…don’t understand…” Jackaboy said quietly. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.” Anti snapped. “Cut the act, glitch,” Dr. Jacobs said, stepping back and letting the other scientists gather behind him. There seemed to be more of them now, (a few of them were probably reinforcements from Dr. Jacobs), white-coated men and woman of all different ages staring them down with a collective confidence. Dr. Jacobs turned to Jackaboy, “Isn’t it obvious? Anti’s the one that brought us all together, is he not? Surely that means he is just as responsible as me for all this.”
“Shut up!” Anti screamed, the small bit of sanity he had left snapping at last “I’m fucking sick of listening to you ramble on!” “Anti…” Jack warned. Suddenly, Officer Turner’s body collapsed to the floor, dropping dead from the strain of the possession. However, instead of vanishing, Anti stood over the body. For the first time, he was physically in front of them; he looked exactly like Jack and the others, with his trademark black eyes and a slit throat, except he seemed to be glitching in and out of existence, random parts of his body jerking in one direction before returning to normal. He also had a strange aura around him now, a large black haze that started to crawl along the floor and wrap around the clones and Jack in wisps. As the wisps touched them, the group staggered and fell to their knees, clutching their heads. “No…Anti! Stop!” Jack spat, his mind burning. “What’s happening?!” Chase yelled, visibly shaking. Anti started to laugh maniacally. “I’ll wipe that smug smile off your face!” Anti shrieked, his eyes widening with insanity, “You’ll regret this! I’ll make sure each and every one of you bleeds for what you’ve done to me!” The black glitchy whisps tightened around the clones and Jack, causing them to moan in pain. After a moment, they all looked up slowly, meeting the scientists with the same pitch black eyes Anti possessed. Some of the scientists screamed, others ran, but a few stayed still, frozen in fear. Dr. Jacobs was the only one seemingly unaffected by this sudden demonstration of power.
Anti stretched out his hand and the egos began to lumber toward Dr. Jacobs in sync, all under the same possession. The head scientist didn’t flinch, instead pulling out what appeared to be a remote control and aiming it at Anti. When he pressed the button on top, Anti shrieked and disappeared, breaking the black strands that controlled the egos. As they slowly regained their personalities again, Jack bent over suddenly, groaning, before rising back up again with black eyes. “H-how…?” Anti stammered through Jack’s voice. He sounded seriously hurt. “I’ve had access to practically unlimited resources here,” Dr. Jacobs said, throwing the device and catching it again repeatedly, “Not to mention access to digital versions of all of your records. I’ve had a long time to develop something to that could compete with your games. Now…” he continued, turning to the other scientists that hadn’t run away, “Get them.”
Before any of the scientists could take a step forward, Anti in Jack’s body sprang forward and tackled Dr. Jacobs to the ground. “You will not take us again!” he screamed. “What the hell is going on?!” Jane said from the doorway, running into the room with Steven at her heels, “We heard screaming and saw everyone running outside!” “What are you waiting for?! Get them!” Dr. Jacobs cried as he struggled to throw Anti off of him, “And get their friends too!”
This time, the scientists obeyed, splitting up with small fractions in order to attack everyone at once. As two scientists came for Marvin and Jackaboy, they turned to each other and smiled before both flying up into the air. Marvin used his magic to send one of the scientists flying into the other and rocketing into the far wall, as Jackaboy helped Jane and Steven from afar by picking off scientists with his laser vision that they couldn’t get with their guns. He hated the thought of killing these people, but he knew the only other option was to be caught and locked in a white cell again. Chase had his own gun gripped in his hands, picking off one scientist after another while giggling with glee. He seemed to have completely forgotten he was ending lives. Schneeple was having a rather up close and personal fight with a male scientist; with his gun scattered on the floor somewhere, he was forced to use his fists, dealing out punches and kicks until the man was out for the count. Robbie leaped onto a female scientist, biting her neck almost immediately and relishing in the taste of blood and skin. It’d been a while since he’d eaten. Anti (or rather, Jack) and Dr. Jacobs were still wrestling on the floor, the lead scientist putting up much more of a fight both physically and mentally that he would’ve liked. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get into this man’s mind to possess him. It’s like he had a steel door blocking his memories or something.
As he was trying to make a mental attack, Anti suddenly found that Jack’s body was flying across the room and into the far wall. Once he hit the wall he slumped to the ground, Jack’s body stunned. As Anti struggled to make the body rise, Dr. Jacobs calmly walked over to him, with nothing but a bloody nose to show for the battle. “You think you’re so great,” he said, kicking Jack in the ribs. Anti felt a rib crack as he slumped to the ground once more, “You think you’re some sort of divine being who has the power to do anything he wants. But you’re wrong.” He kicked Anti in the stomach as he tried to stand, sending him crumpling to the floor once more in a heaving, coughing mess. Stupid human bodies, Anti thought. The body was slowly getting weaker, but Anti was as strong as ever. “You’re nothing but a glitch. A mistake. A burden on whoever owns you.” Dr. Jacobs continued, bending over to stare Anti directly in the eyes, “You’re a freak.” “Says you!” a voice rang out. Suddenly, Dr. Jacobs was the one flying across the room in a flash of light. Anti looked to the side to see Marvin the Magnificent with his arm outstretched, another ball of light forming in his palm. Dr. Jacobs tried to stand, but his arm was suddenly burned by a laser beam, sending him crashing down screaming in pain. “Anti may not be the most moral of the group, but he’s one of us,” Jackaboy said, his eyes still flaring red. “No…” Dr, Jacobs muttered, blood pouring down his arm. He was stopped from rising again by a gun barrel pointing in his face. “And we’re not going to step back and watch you hurt him,” Chase said, aiming the gun at the doctors head. A figure suddenly sprang up to sit on Dr. Jacob’s chest, pinning him to the ground. “Or Jack!” Robbie cried, spitting some flesh from the recently eaten scientists onto his face. “So vhat are you going to do?” Schneeple asked, aiming his own gun at the lead scientist, “Surrender, or keep on fighting?” Dr. Jacobs looked around him, at the egos, at Jane and Steven stood to the side, and then at all of his fellow scientists lying on the floor – some bloodied and dying, some simply knocked out. He began to laugh as he struggled under Robbie’s weight. “What is this, some sort of cheesy kids movie?!” He cried, “Are you going to use the power of friendship to kill me or something?!” he continued to laugh as Anti finally succeeded in getting Jack’s body to stand. “Nope,” Anti said, “But I am going to do this.”
Before Dr. Jacobs could react, Jacks body crumpled to the floor and Anti wormed his way into the scientist’s mind. Dr. Jacobs thrashed harder, yelling and screaming in agony as Anti shut each of his vital organs down, one by one. You created us, Anti said as he worked, So who’s fault is it that we’re freaks, huh? Dr. Jacobs gasped as his respiratory system stopped working, throwing himself from side to side in silence with his mouth opening and closing in a desperate attempt to get oxygen. Anti was barely aware of Jack regaining control of his body and standing up slowly as he watched the torture of his former captor. Though I must say, out of all of them, I’m probably the freakiest of them all, Anti said, you wanna know why? A gurgling noise erupted from the lead scientist’s throat as he regurgitated blood, dark red oozing out of his mouth as he thrashed in one last desperate attempt to save himself. Finally, he lay still; eyes wide open in silent terror and blood still drilling down his chin and oozing out of his mouth. Because I’m a killer. Anti finished. And worst of all, I enjoy it.
(Damn anons leaving damn sad and angsty ideas of how this could’ve continued made my damn muse fly and I had to write this damn thing. Wanting, it’s sad and angsty):
“You…. want myyyy help…?” Robbie asked Marvin in slight surprise, turning his blind eyes on the excited magician sitting beside him. No one ever wants Robbie’s help. Well, nobody except for Marvin wants his help, anyway.
“Well of course!” Marvin exclaimed in his usual boisterous tone, clapping a hand on the zombie’s back. Robbie doesn’t comment on how hard he’s hitting or how he’s pushed into the table because of the friendly pat. “I can’t think of anyone else who could help me with this!”
“Wellll…. if you’re… ssssuree….” Robbie muttered quietly but in the inside he is excited. He’s just not very good at showing his emotions on the outside. He’s hardly good at showing them on the inside to just himself, either. Emotions still completely puzzle him even if he has been getting used to them.
“Yes, I’m sure!” Marvin shouts and grabs Robbie’s hand and the zombie falls silent because of this gesture. He’s always loved it when Marvin has held his hand or wrapped an arm around his shoulders. The contact with the kind human is comforting to him in a way and he loves it so much. He love Marvin so much, then again. “Now come come, we haven’t got all day.”
Robbie doesn’t say how they do because really he doesn’t know if they do or not. And normally if Marvin says something about anything he’s the correct one because he knows what he’s talking about unlike Robbie who is confused always. The zombie is never not confused about one thing or another, large or small of a problem.
Marvin basically drags Robbie outside, the zombie actually having a difficult time keeping up with the magician. Which is strange to Robbie in the slightest because Marvin is usually slow and goes at the speed Robbie needs to go because he knows the zombie can’t move too fast. He’s always been the most patient out of all of the egos.
They exit the house they were into the backyard and Robbie nearly trips. He would have if Marvin hadn’t continue to drag him along, pulling him back to his feet. He can already feel an ankle detaching from its place. Wonderful.
“Alright!” Marvin said, stopping suddenly and catches Robbie by the shoulders when he nearly falls. The magician claps his hands together and gestures to a large and bright red blob beside them. “Inside of this pot should be the ingredients to my new spell! It should help you not fall apart anymore, in fact.”
Robbie tilts a head in curiosity. Marvin had actually been working on that… for him? That would warm his heart if he still had one.
“What… do iiii… dooo?” Robbie asked in a tone a little higher than a hiss, now needing to be louder because they are outside where it’s loud. His voice is still probably very hard to hear because it’s so raspy.
“Simple, actually,” Marvin replied and grabs his hand once more, pulling him closer to the the large blob. They’re standing directly in front of it now and Robbie can feel the warm air coming from it even against his freezing and wrinkling skin. “Stick your hands in and then lick the liquid from them. Strange to hear, I know, but it should go through your entire body and heal it.”
Robbie considers this and turns his eyes towards the blob. It is a very strange procedure. But, he trusts Marvin. With every fiber in his undead body he trusts Marvin and knows that the magician would never have any ill intent towards him no matter what.
And, so, Robbie plunges both of his hands into the normally boiling liquid for any other being. But because he can’t feel pain the liquid only feels pleasantly warm for the zombie and he slowly draws his hands out, dragging his tongue along the liquid like instructed to.
Only a moment passes before the pain erupts in his abdomen. A tearing and burning pain, blossoming in his stomach and spreading throughout his entire body. He let out an agonized screech, falling to his knees because he never feels pain what is this what is this to too much it’s too much-
Out of the corner of his mind he can hear the sound of Marvin laughing, amusement clear in the burst of it. The magician walked closer to the zombie before kicking him over, Robbie in too much pain to hold any resistance. In fact, the kick has made a whole new form of pain explode in his side.
Everything hurts. His limbs, his joints, his stomach, his sides, his chest.
His heart.
He continues to writhe on the floor, gasping at the air even though he knows it will not help. What happened? Why is he hurting? He only ever hurts if he’s hungry but this is beyond that pain. Marvin said that this would have helped him why is this happening did Marvin do this to him?
No, of course not. Marvin would never do this to him. He knows that for a fact.
“And so the presumed immortal now grovels at my feet in pain,” he can barely hear Marvin speaking above him, leaning over so that he could grin cruelly down at the zombie’s face. There’s something not right about his face but Robbie is in too much pain to process what. “You were such an idiot to believe you could never be hurt, never die. Now look at you. Poisoned by me and slowly dying before me.”
No… no! Marvin did not just say that! Marvin would never poison Robbie! Marvin loves Robbie, he’s told him that! Marvin would help him, wouldn’t let him suffer.
A hand grabs his shirt collar and yanks him from the floor and he can’t help but scream in pain because he’s moving too quickly it all hurts too much. Their faces are brought close and now Robbie can see what’s off about Marvin’s face. It’s too wrong. It shouldn’t be there.
His eyes are a deep and dangerous green, glowing ominously through the eyeholes of the cracked cat mask. Even Robbie can tell his eyes are a different color somehow. Not because of the temperature, either- he can just process in his mind when a color majorly changes.
Such as Marvin’s eyes.
This is not Marvin. Marvin would never have eyes such as this creature’s, would never poison him or try to kill him. Only one person would. And he is currently succeeding.
“Only I can be eternal,” Not-Marvin snarled, lips drawing away from his teeth in a sign of aggression and Robbie can feel his breath on his pained face. “You are but a mere distraction.”
Robbie couldn’t handle the pain after that. He could only scream.
____
Yes I know it’s short too stfu I already told you why
Is this what you were wanting you damn terrible anons??
George sighed. He’d been in this god-forsaken prison for who knows how long. When the Eglic attacked the colony on Zedlum-8B, they had been swift and effective. He didn’t know how many had survived, but too many hadn’t. The colony had been wiped out.
Why? Who knew. He’d overheard the guards, who spoke about intense radio interference coming from Earth. It seemed they didn’t like loud noises. It was driving George a little stir-crazy. Every time he spoke above a whisper, the guards cracked down on it. Every. Freaking. Time.
George got up and started pacing, his shoes clacking against the floor. It was the only noise the Eglic guards wouldn’t punish him for. He’d been electrocuted by the guards’ spears numerous times for making noise, but it was worth it to banish the silence. It was so… oppressive.
The colony had been full of sound and life. Here, for all George knew, he was alone. He had little to no idea where he was or why, and of course, the guards weren’t allowing any contact with the outside world. For all he knew, he was going to die here- so what did it even matter?
Maybe there were other humans here, humans from the colony on Zedlum-8B- but they would never know he was here. He’d never know they were there.
Then, he got an idea. If there were other humans in this place, they’d be just as lonely, and they’d respond. And if no one responded, he’d know he was alone.
George took a deep breath. He’d seen several guards walk past his door on the way to their equivalent of a “lunch break”. This was as good a time as any to try.
He stopped pacing in the center of his cell and took a deep breath. He stomped twice on the floor, and clapped once, then waited a beat.
Stomp. Stomp. Clap!
Again.
Stomp. Stomp. Clap!
And again.
Stomp. Stomp. Clap!
And…
“What are you doing?” There was a guard at the door. George froze.
Stomp. Stomp. Clap!
That hadn’t been George.
The guard whirled around to face another door. Someone had responded.
There was another human here!
George took up the beat again. After a few more rounds, he could pick up three distinct claps. Then four. Then more. He’d had no idea there were so many humans here.
He could have cried, but the guard had been joined by two more. George watched as their faces turned puce.
“What do we do? They’ve never done this!” one asked another.
“Someone tell the warden!”
“Silence! All of you!” a third called out. But it was far too late for that to stop anyone.
STOMP. STOMP. CLAP! STOMP. STOMP. CLAP!
It wasn’t just this hallway, either. As the beat grew stronger, George could hear humans from all over the prison adding to it. Rattling bars. Pounding walls. The Eglic were running everywhere, trying to stop it, completely ineffectual. Confused.
“What is this? WHAT IS THIS?”
George decided it was time to kick this up a notch. He was so glad he’d memorized the verses to this song.
“Buddy, you’re a boy, make a big noise, playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday…”
Several more voices from all directions, everyone who knew the words, sung out the next lines.
“You got MUD on your FACE, you BIG DISGRACE! Kicking your can all over the place!”
And every human voice shouted, loud enough to rock the prison:
“WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
CLAP! THUD, THUD, CLAP!
“WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
CLAP! THUD, THUD, CLAP!
“Get the riot gear!” someone called.
The door to George’s cell flew open. “Here’s the one who started it!” Two guards dragged him out of the cell as he started the second verse.
“Buddy, you’re a young man, hard man, shouting in the street, gonna take on the world some d-Agh!”
A guard slapped him in the face… but silencing him didn’t stop anything. Others took up the verse.
“You got BLOOD on your FACE, you BIG DISGRACE! Waving your banner all over the place! Sing it!”
“WE WILL, WE WILL ROCK YOU!”
George laughed out loud as the guards forced him ahead of them at spear point.
A situation has arisen at the prison on Zedlum-7F. Nineteen cycles ago, a Humin captive from their Zedlum-8B colony began an ancient Humin war cry during the rest period for the guards normally stationed in his area. The substitutes reacted quickly, but the war cry was continued by nearly every Humin in the facility. Standard protocol for prison riots dictates seizing and punishing the ringleaders via nonlethal injections, but the instigator, Humin Jorj, seems unrepentant. The riot lasted fifteen minutes before it could be quieted.
Every two days or so, the Humins riot again with different chants. Some speak of nonsense, such as igniting rainfall. Others speak of places presumably on their home world, such as a “why emcee ay”. Different Humins instigate these riots every day, and not all Humins participate in any given riot. We cannot find a pattern.
All guards and nonhuman inmates are showing signs of anxiety. These riots seem to quiet themselves after a few minutes, but if action is not taken, they may escalate. Please advise.
Jervod Agnil
Warden of Prison 279 on Zedlum-7F
____________
I actually have to thank you for the new policy on uncredited stories. It gave me the chance to rewrite this. I like the rewrite better.
I imagine that someday, after whatever problems the Eglic and Humanity have are sorted out, the Eglic will ask about the Human battle cry. The Humans will have no idea what they are talking about until an Eglic starts the stomp-clap thing, and then all the Humans in the room will join in, totally freaking out the Eglic.
Ferrai has this bullshit agreement that if you buy one of their cars new off the lot, you have to sign a contract saying you basically don’t own the car and have to uphold their brand standards with it.
It’s sets a startling example of not owning something despite buying it and the court needs to use this as a chance to strike it down as unethical.
This shit again? And I thought it was bad enough with ford and john deer telling farmers they didn’t own the tractors they bought from them….
Yeah, they have this really unethical clause in the purchase contract you can’t modify the car or do anything with it that they’d consider “unbecoming of the brand”, which is why they were able file this suit.
It seems kind of bizarre at first until you realize how horrifying that is in the age of “do you own what you buy?” being a huge a debate (especially in tech).
This is pretty much Ferrari’s philosophy from the start, they are extremely prideful of their cars like if they were made from God’s hands or something.
They are very snobby, infact the owner of Ferrari doesn’t like the people who buy their cars since because they are bought for “status”.
They also never test their cars on public tracks in comparison with other racing cars like when they wanted to test out the Porche 918 Spyder vs The McLaren P1 vs LaFerrari. Take a guess who bailed out on the performance test.
Just an update
Lambo are the perfect people to jump in on this because they make insane cars and they are never above clowning them up because Lambo are all about THE DRAMA ™
A Glitch Named Anti 