Dark cracked his neck.
He hated it but it was time to make a move.
He told Google to help with the efforts but he doubted the android was in any hurry to do so.
He had hoped that perhaps Anti would either escape and/or find the device in their house but perhaps that was too much for the glitch to handle.
'And here I thought he'd be best suited for it. Guess I was wrong. Over two weeks it's been.' Almost three. What if they offered HIM a deal?'
Dark felt rage bubble up inside of him and his eyes glowed red, "No, Celine, we're not giving him more time"
He needed that device and he needed it NOW.
He had finally convinced most of the weaker Iplier egos to join his side and now the only ones he needed to gather were Eric, the Jim Twins and King. He didn't necessarily need them but he wanted to make a point. An example. To exact fear into Mark to take him down and rip the channel from under his feet.
He wanted to take everything away from him first and he needed Eric, the Jims and King.
But even after that, he still needed the device otherwise he might not keep them for long.
'Perhaps . . . . . perhaps I should put some fear into the Septics.' he smiled, 'Show them who they're really dealing with'
Dark stood up from his desk and fixed his suit, "It's high time I took matters into my own hands anyway. I can't rely on anyone it seems but myself"
Anti was in his cage . . or well . . . the cell. Jackie had Marvin enlarge it some more so it was more like a room now. There's been a bed in it and plenty room for pacing. The bed DID look comfortable but he had never rested on one. He preferred a computer file to sneak into.
But he was on the floor looking up at the basement window at the moment.
He was finally slowly coming to terms that he'll probably never find the device in the house. Whatever Marvin had done with his powerful objects, he hid them very well just as Host had told him to.
He was slowly starting to break. He hated doing things for them.
'Fucking Septics and their fucking needs. Having me do practically EVERYTHING for them!'
His eye twitched just remembering it. Just yesterday had been the worst day there yet. His bands had hurt him a number of eight times and he was still exhausted from it. He knew if he had just cooperated from the start, though, he wouldn't still be in pain.
That was his fault, right?
Anti shook his head, 'No, I can't think like that! I know their game! They're trying to make me compliant! Fucking Stockholm Syndrome bullshit! I bet it was the doctor's idea! Manipulating me by using my own pain! Bastards!'
But Anti just sighed heavily, 'Maybe I should just tell them about the device. Jackie did say that if I did, then they'd stop telling me what to do all the time'
He was very close to thinking about doing it.
And then the basement door opened and Marvin came down the steps.
'Oh just great. Where's Chase? Usually he's the one to come and take me out of here'
The magician yawned but didn't have anything to say yet. He just came up to the cage and unlocked it. Anti stayed a fair distance away against the wall.
'I don't wanna leave the cell. I don't wanna do this anymore!'
"Well? Get the fuck out, dumbass" Marvin snapped at him, "I don't have all day to fish you out. You got work to do"
Anti squinted at him, 'But I'd rather burn in hell than surrender to HIM'
Before his bands could hurt him, he glitched out of the cage past Marvin. He didn't trust him to walk past him.
Just yesterday, Marvin had locked him up in the storage room and told him he couldn't use his glitching to get out and he couldn't tell anyone why he was in there or that he locked him inside. It took a while but Chase finally found him in there. When Chase asked him why he was in there, it was a conundrum for Anti and he ended up on the floor in pain and thrashing until Chase finally took back his question.
Chase did look at Marvin suspiciously, though, the rest of the night.
But just because Anti was being compliant with Marvin didn't mean he wasn't going to dish out attitude.
"What's the matter, kitty? Get neutered last night or something?"
"No, but I'm sure Henrik would love to neuter you. Maybe snipping you will shut you up"
"Well that was a shit comeback. I can't HAVE kids anyway, shitlord"
Marvin paused at that but he wasn't going to be outdone, "That's good. At least you can't ruin their lives like you do everyone else's if they don't exist"
Anti scoffed at him and finally turned around to face him, "Man, you really have spite for me don't ya? It was a fucking accident, remember!? I didn't MEAN to scar your face!"
Marvin was actually taken aback. He didn't actually think that Anti would bring it up.
But Anti took Marvin's silence as a win and ran the rest of the way upstairs grumbling to himself.
Marvin sighed. He knew it wasn't fair to put his scars on Anti. He knew it had been an accident but he wanted to blame someone. And why not him?
But after what Anti had done to all the others, Marvin knew he should feel grateful. And they all have put aside their hatred for the glitch trying to be nice to him. It for to get information out of him but still. It was more than what he was doing.
The magician groaned softly to himself and stomped up the stairs after him.
Anti crossed his arms but glanced around at everyone getting their coffee and breakfast, counting the number of dishes he'd have to do. Or would he have to do them? If he spoke up now . . . . . .
He shook his head. He hated doing these stupid chores but he didn't want to be a traitor, either.
But as he looked around at the room again, he realized something.
"Where the fuck is Chase?"
Jackie chuckled, "Aw, do you miss him waking you up?"
Anti glared death at him, "No"
He snorted, "Sure you don't. Anyway, it's your turn to cook dinner tonight, Anti. Got any ideas?"
Henrik looked like he wanted to strangle Jackie, "He didn't know vhat snacks were the other day. You really trust him to make dinner?"
"Hey! I can make dinner!" Anti pouted indignantly, "You might get sick, but-"
'I'll make it!' Jameson signed, 'How about a nice hearty stew tonight?'
Anti mentally pumped his fist. At least that was one thing less he'd have to do.
"Oh about your earlier question, Anti" Jackie got the plates out, "Chase left earlier this morning to spend the morning with Stacey and his kids. He might not even be here for lunch but he should be back tonight"
"Unless he gets lucky 🎶" Marvin wiggled his brows suggestively.
Anti rolled his eyes at them all. He didn't really give a shit where Chase was. It was just one less person he'd have to take orders from this morning.
"Anti, set the table will ya?" Jackie handed him the plates.
The glitch stifled a yawn but did as he was told. He didn't want to feel pain first thing this morning.
"And when you're done vith the dishes, I need you to help me with something in my lab"
"And when you're done with THAT" Jackie cut in, "You need to do your other chores and then help be my spotter in the gym"
"And then you need to do prep for my potions" Marvin slid in with a smirk.
Jameson didn't ask anything of him, though and Anti was grateful for that.
'This is gonna be a long day'
Chase drove into the breakfast diner's parking lot, his ex-wife next to him and the kids in the back, "Alright, kids! You ready for pancakes!?"
"YEAH!" Sammy shouted.
"YES! PANCAKES ARE THE BEST!" Kallie laughed.
Stacey chuckled and rolled her eyes at Chase, "Already getting them all hyped up, I see. Nothing new for you"
Chase smirked, "Of course not. Nothing wrong with happy kids"
She laughed sweetly and pecked his cheek, "You sure the others didn't want to come?"
Chase paled, "What? Nah, they're fine. They wouldn't have wanted to come anyway. Too crowded, you know"
"Right" Stacey gave him a knowing look, "I know they're hectic, Chase but they're also your family. We're BOTH trying to work on our relationship, right? I'm trying to be more accepting of their . . . chaos just as you're trying to get over what happened with that monster"
Chase unbuckled his seat belt, "Let's get in there before they run out, huh?"
Stacey huffed, "This conversation isn't over, Chase Brody"
"Oooooooo!!!" the kids taunted, "Daddy's in trouble!"
"Shut it, brats" Chase smiled teasingly at them.
But they couldn't know the real reason. He couldn't tell Stacey yet that their demon that had ruined their lives was LIVING with him and his brothers. He wasn't sure he could tell her that they were practically enslaving him, either. The nature wasn't lost on him. He wasn't ignorant. He knew what they were doing was wrong but also . . . hadn't Anti wronged all of them?
He felt wrong doing it all. He just hoped he wouldn't have to go along with it much longer.
It was after lunch time and Chase returned to the Septic house and Anti hoped to god he didn't want him to do anything for him.
Henrik had wanted him to clean all his vials and jars, Jackie made him help him lift weights and Marvin had him do so much cutting, slicing and dicing that he was actually sick of having a knife in his hand for once.
Unfortunately, he had accidentally nicked himself, too and gotten blood on the table making Marvin angry. Anti didn't mean to. He felt horrible but not for the reason anyone else would think. He wanted to just go home. He wanted to just crawl into a laptop and and let the battery die with him in it.
It wasn't his fault he got blood on the table. He had been cutting too much and Marvin kept telling him to go faster! His stomach hurt. He felt ill. Anti just wanted to run away from Marvin, regardless of getting hurt by the bands or not.
When he was done, Anti had sucked on his finger to make it stop bleeding but Henrik noticed and wrapped it up for him. Anti didn't want him to. He hated getting help from any of them. But it did feel better . . . .
They were all in the living room now and Anti was in the kitchen watching over the stew Jameson fixed up. All he had to do was watch it and if it boiled over, he had to turn it down. He had to stir it every once in a while, too, to make sure nothing stuck to the bottom of the pan.
He was coming up to his breaking point, though. Today was a bad day. What if it just got worse from here?
Suddenly, though, Anti heard a familiar noise.
A low hum reverberated from in the living room.
"What the fuck?" the others seemed to have heard it, too and Anti peeked in the living room to see Chase trying to fix the TV.
"The picture cut out but it's just the TV. The power in the house should be alright" Jackie deduced, "Anti, you're not doing this are you?!" he called out to him.
Anti growled, though, "No! Why the fuck would I fuck with your stupid TV? What the hell would I gain from that?"
"Oh gee!" Marvin snapped at him, "I wonder! To annoy us!?!"
Anti scoffed but he WAS curious. But not curious enough to investigate going into the living room with them.
"You're all . . . so pathetic"
Anti froze.
He knew that voice.
The Septics went quiet, not expecting it, either.
"It's time I collected what is mine and you're going to give it to me or die"
Anti edged a little closer to the door frame, listening.
'It can't be . . . . is it really . . him?'
"Darkiplier" Jackie growled.
Anti lit up, suddenly getting excited, 'He's here! He finally came for me! Now they're gonna get it! Dark will break in, we'll fight 'em and make them talk, get the device and get out of here! I knew he wouldn't just abandon me!'
"What do you want, Dark?" Marvin hissed at him, "If you're here for Anti, then-"
"Oh don't be ridiculous. I'm not here for that clown"
Anti's face fell and he felt the air in his lung evaporate, 'What? . . N-no . . . he's lying to them. He . . isn't he?'
From in the living room, Chase could see Anti's expression. That's how he knew this wasn't a play of Dark's, "Then what do you want? The device that you broke into Marvin's store for?"
"Oh how clever of you" Dark taunted him from on the screen.
'He must have . . . . had Google do it . . . or something' but Anti still really couldn't think. What was Dark doing?
"You'll never find out where it is. Thanks to a little mole of yours, I was able to hide everything so not even the best of your egos would find out"
"Anti told you?" Dark assumed, "I knew he was pathetic, too, but I expected him to be more loyal than that. Seems I was right to leave him"
"For your information!" Jackie shouted at him, "Anti hasn't said a damn thing!" he glanced over at the glitch who still looked near paralyzed from the conversation, "In fact, he's still in our cell. He hasn't talked since he's been here. What are you even after?"
Dark snorted, "As if any of that makes a difference to me. He fucked up. It serves him right to be the mouse in the trap for once. Feel free to erase him while you're at it. I don't need him anymore"
"Dammit, what are you after?!" Marvin shouted.
Dark smirked, "I don't need Anti to find out where the device is. Celine wanted me to wait but I disagree. He's nothing but a nuisance. He'll die, too, once I get what I'm after. And I WILL get it. See you soon, Septics"
And suddenly with a flick of the picture, he was gone. The TV turned back to its regular scheduled program and everyone was left stunned in silence.
Jackie slowly looked up towards Anti who had been listening to the entire conversation. The others slowly looked up towards him, too.
But Anti didn't even register that they were looking at him.
He just . . . felt numb.
His friend . . . or the person he thought was his friend had just . . . . .
Anti felt something wet on his face and briefly thought maybe the ceiling was leaking and dripped on him. But when he went to wipe it off, he realized it was coming from his eyes.
He shuddered in fear . . fear, rage and grief. His chest felt . . . wrong.
"Anti?" Jackie got his attention, coming closer, "Are you okay?"
'Am I?' the glitch shook and even Marvin seemed a bit concerned, 'No . . I don't need their pity . . . . I don't need it! Stop looking at me like that! I hate you! I don't need you or your concerns! FUCK YOU!'
But he couldn't bring himself to say any of it.
Instead, Anti just bolted back into the kitchen and downstairs into the basement in his cell, slamming the door on himself and running into the corner of the room.
He slid down on the floor, holding himself.
Honestly . . . . ..
He didn't have a single clue of what to do now.
All of his reasons for keeping Dark's secret. . . . staying loyal. . . . .. being his friend . . . . .
. . . staying alive. . . . . . .
They all went out the window when Dark left the TV.