"I can't fucking believe him" Marvin rolled his eyes.
Jackie watched it again and snorted to contain himself from laughing, "Yeah, I mean after sort of knowing you a bit more, this is pretty laughable"
Anti glared at him, sucking furiously on his straw to drink his yummy lemonade. It was Sunday and they were together at the furniture shop that gave out free lemonade and cookies.
Marvin clattered his sharp nails together, "Ya gotta admit, he's right. It IS pretty hilarious"
Jackie motioned to Marvin as if to prove his point.
Anti rolled his eyes, finishing his drink, "Whatever. I should have known better that he'd have a body cam on. He'd stoop to anything to get what he wants"
"Which apparently is video footage of you acting like a maniac" Marvin quipped.
Jackie rewound the vid a little to go back to the part where Anti was glitching and grinning. It was so triggering but in a different way now, "Should we . . . . get rid of it?"
Anti looked at him strangely but before he could say anything, Sherry came back over to refill their drinks, "Hello there dears! More lemonade for my favorite customers?"
She had just met Jackie and Marvin but had known Anti for a year now having come mostly for the free cookies and drinks.
"Sure!"
Marvin and Jackie gave her their cups to fill as well and she slipped them an extra cookie looking rather scandalous.
"Have a good day, boys! I hope you see you lot again. Dear Andy has needed some friends for quite a while! Poor boy"
Anti blushed but Jackie and Marvin waited patiently until the sweet old store owner walked away to laugh at the glitch.
Anti just munched on his cookie violently, "Fuck off. Anyway, you were saying, Jackie?"
Biting his lip, Jackie shrugged, "I was saying . . . you don't like the video right? Technically Sean didn't ask to film you and he uploaded you onto the internet to solely make a profit. Seems rather illegal to me. Whoever just so happened to delete the video wouldn't exactly be doing anything wrong"
Anti wasn't dumb. He knew where the hero was getting at, "I don't know. I don't want either of you to get into trouble"
"Are you kidding?!" Marvin slammed his fists down on the table, "Sean literally TOOK CONTROL OVER YOU! He forced you to try and attack him, Jackie and Henrik! If you ask me, that deserves a little revenge. Which it just so happens, I'm very good at" he smirked.
"He's right" Jackie nodded, "He makes some dope prank potions"
"I don't know"
"Come on~~~~" Marvin tried goading him, "It'll be fun! I promise not to physically harm Sean!"
Anti just shrugged, "I mean, if you guys want. That's up to you and you gotta face the repercussions for it. Just don't do anything to make him wanna-"
Anti trailed off, staring out across the store.
Jackie and Marvin tried to see what he was looking at but were confused.
"What you looking at?" Marvin asked, trying to get into his eye level, scooting over closer to him, "Is Chase or Sean here!?"
Anti blinked and blushed a little, "N-no . . . sorry. Just . . lost in thought is all"
Jackie glanced in the direction Anti was staring off in and smirked, "Right . . . lost in thought. Couldn't possibly be that eye candy over there with the muscles and black clothes?"
"No. Shut up"
"Oh! I see now!" Marvin licked his lips, "Ooo~, I SO knew you went both ways! Want me to go get his number for ya!?"
"NO!"
"It's funny how he kind of looks like Dark" Jackie remarked.
"I swear, if Sean doesn't kill you, I will"
"Wasn't that the whole point of your existence anyway?" Marvin scoffed, "I mean-"
Anti looked a little hurt but rolled his eyes, "For your information, no. That wasn't the point of my existence. It was more of a secondary thing to Sean."
This sparked interest in Jackie, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Never mind. I don't wanna talk about it right now. You guys wanna get out of here?"
Marvin whined, "Aw but the hot guy just glanced over here! You sure you don't want his number? I could help you get laid REAL quick, bro"
"I'm leaving" Anti promptly stood up, throwing away his garbage and walking away, leaving Jackie and Marvin to run after him, teasing him.
It was going to be a little harder to go back and forth in and out of Sean's head but Jackie figured that if they went out together, Marvin could just teleport them back into HIS room so they wouldn't be noticed and teleport immediately into Anti's apartment and vice versa.
Let's just say this morning, Anti had one of the biggest shocks of his life when trying to change his clothes. From then on, they'd have to phone Anti to let him know they were coming first.
When Jackie and Marvin returned in Sean's head in Marvin's room, Marvin saw the look in the hero's eyes.
"What is it?"
Jackie glanced at him, " . . . what do you think Anti meant when he said Sean's SECONDARY meaning for him was to hurt us?"
Marvin thought about it but just shrugged, "I don't know. Why didn't you ask?"
"I don't know . . I guess I didn't want to trouble him too much. Bring anything up he isn't ready to explain himself on his own terms"
"Hm . . . Yeah . . .. . Well . . I know we SHOULD be trying to figure out a way to bring Hen and James over to the 'Dark Side'" he used quote fingers, "But also, I really wanna corrupt Sean's latest video"
"It's got millions of views already. He'll notice if it was suddenly gone"
"That's the point. It'll piss him AND millions of fans off." Marvin slowly grinned, "But don't you think Anti at least deserves this?"
Jackie couldn't deny that. Although it was tampering with Sean's property . . . . he really wanted to help Anti.
"Yeah . . . let's do it. How we gonna-"
"Magic. Duh"
"Right"
Chase was at Sean's place munching on some chips and watching some TV.
He didn't want to be around Jackie or the others today. Chilling out of Sean's head away from them seemed like a reprieve. Every day it seemed like him and Jackie were about to get in a fight.
'And the other day was just . . . weird. I don't understand any of it. One moment Anti looked like he was about to kill us and the next, something in his eyes changed and he glitched out of there. Something's up. What the hell is he planning?'
Chase was certain Anti was trying to distract them. Continuously getting in their way only to disappear. What was he playing at?
It was starting to get ridiculous, too.
'Anti's been a lot more active lately and Jackie and Marvin have started to act weirder, too. How, I don't know but something's going on like they're hiding something. I can't prove they're being manipulated by the glitch-bitch, though'
He heard footsteps upstairs, 'Evelien and Sean are upstairs streaming together . . . . . I honestly didn't think Sean was going to upload a video like that with Anti. I don't necessarily agree with it but maybe it'll calm the bastard down now that he's gotten some show time'
Something inside of him still burned for answers, though.
'He lives nearby. He has to. He was at the store and the girl seemed to know him.'
Chase thought of something risky but he was really thinking about doing it.
'Maybe since Jackie needs some help with the recon . . .. If he IS compromised or being manipulated by him, he wouldn't tell us. This way, I can prove it and Sean will put him back on the right track and we'll have more steps forward in beating Anti again!'
Chase bit his lip and settled on it, getting up off the couch. BB watched him go but stayed laying on the couch too comfy to move.
Without asking, which was also a risky move, Chase grabbed Sean's car keys and left.
Jackie watched as Marvin put the last touches on his potion, "You sure this'll be okay? It won't hurt him?"
Marvin snickered, "He might be on the toilet for a while but no, it won't hurt him."
The hero snorted, "I'm gonna be a lot more careful about pissing you off, Marv."
"You better. Say. Does Anti still ever go to that general store?"
"Marv, you know he doesn't like us gossiping about him"
"Oh, I don't care! He's not here!" the magician bottled the potion and wiggled his shoulders a little, "So you think he's more interested in the girl there or the boy at the furniture store?"
"Marv-" Jackie sighed and rolled his eyes, "Honestly I don't know. Whatever makes him happy, though"
"If he ever fooking TALKS to one of them" Marvin mumbled snippily.
There was silence between them for a few moments until Jackie finally spit it out, "What do you think was Anti's trick to escaping Sean?"
"Hold that thought" Marvin put up a finger and teleported out of the room. When he returned, the potion was gone and he had a Cheshire cat smile on his face, "You were saying? Ah yes! The secret tunnel and all that. I have no idea but I wish I knew! I'd love to get some fresh air on my own terms without asking permission"
"Yeah . . . it has been nice, hasn't it?" Jackie trailed off, "It's gotta be some sort of trick. A mind thing or something"
"Maybe. Why you so worked up about it? You DO think we'll get Hen and Jameson to come with us, right?"
Jackie didn't answer.
Marvin sighed, "Look, I know Hen's stubborn but he's also logical. There's a lot of new evidence going against Sean and I have no doubts Jameson will convert"
"You make it sound like a cult"
"Might as well be"
"Do you really think Chase will stay by Sean's side after we get the others, too?"
Marvin looked like he didn't want to answer that, "To be frank . . . . I think Chase will do anything to believe Anti's the bad guy. He's got a lot more grief hung up with Anti than any of us"
They didn't say any more on it. They couldn't. Even if they knew now it wasn't Anti's fault, there's no way Chase would accept that.
Chase pulled up to the general store. He knew that girl liked Anti. Perhaps she might know where he lived since she gave him her phone number. . . .
Meanwhile, Sean was live on a twitch stream with Evelien. They took a short break but came right back to it quick enough.
Sean wasn't quick enough.
He had left his coffee on his desk.
He took a rather large gulp of it and put his headphones back on, "Where were we, babe? Oh yeah. This part"
He clacked his fingers on the keyboard and moved his mouse. They were normal motions.
Until he started to feel something strange. Deep in his belly.
His stomach started to gurgle, "Ugh, geez, this coffee's really getting to me. . . sup, chat? Oh, you all liked the video? When's Anti coming back? Hell, I don't know. I wanna get everyone else's screenplay done, too. Just thought you guys would want a little sneak peek is all."
He read chat some more but his stomach started to hurt, "Ugh . . .. Uh . . hey Gabs?"
"Yeah , babe?"
"Oh fook."
'That wasn't a fart'
He threw his headphones off and bolted up, "I'll be right back! Just keep playing! Subscribe to Gab!"
He ran out of his recording room and immediately, people started to go to Evelien for answers but she was just as confused as they were.
"I guess . . . he'll be right back? Just hang tight, guys. Let's do this part while he's gone"
He didn't return for nearly an hour.
Anti thought about all the ways he could try and talk to Henrik or Jameson. This was his next priority.
However, when his phone went off, he found himself being drawn away from his plans, reading the text.
'It's from Marvin. 'Check out Sean's stream?' Why would I wanna do that?'
But Anti flipped over to his on his computer, reading chat and it wasn't long until he discovered what had happened.
He text Marvin back, 'You guys are awful. It IS pretty hilarious, though :P Thnx'
He found himself watching the stream for a little bit more, seeing how pale and run down Sean was.
'Not that it'll change anything. You'll never change your mind about me, will you? You probably think I glitched in and messed with your coffee but I won't tell Jackie or Marv that. Let then have their fun'
Sean looked angry underneath his cloud of deception. He tried to make it seem like he had just caught a bug and he was just fine now.
But Anti could see right through him.
He always could.
And then suddenly the chat room exploded with similar comments to one another, pulling Anti AND Sean away from their thoughts.
Sean looked even MORE angry and worried.
Anti went to the video to see if it was true.
'Marvin, you sneaky bastard' he couldn't help but to smirk at the magician's creativity.
The video Sean uploaded of him changed so it was age restricted.