Used to the Cage

Not My Friend

They all stared at Anti strangely and the poor stressed out glitch twitched erratically at their question followed by silence.

'Shit . . . . don't tell me' Anti didn't want to believe it. His eyes widened in horror.

But Marvin's clueless eyes said it all.

"What's . . . . the merger?"

Jackie sighed heavily and covered his face with his hand, "Oh my fucking god . . . . Marvin . . . I hate to ask this but PLEASE tell me you actually do have something like that?"

Marvin still just looked so confused, "Merger . . . . Not that I recall . . ?"

"Dude" it was all Chase could muster to say. This situation was just so messed up.

"FUCK" Henrik groaned, "We have wasted so much time for nothing, zhen!"

'And Anti's' Jameson felt the worst. 'All this time, we were torturing him for nothing, basically?'

Anti was starting to lose it again, "No. . .n-no, no, no . . . heheheeh" he went into a humorless laugh, "Fooking hell . . . .NO! No! NO! NO! NO!"

"Anti-" Jackie tried to calm him but the glitch was just losing it.

"NO! Fucking shut the fuck up! No! This is so fucking stupid! STUPID! Fuck you all! FUCK YOU! You fooking KNOW what it is, don't you fooking lie, stray! I know your fooking tricks!"

Marvin just sighed, though, "Anti, I really-"

Anti made a noise like growling and screaming together and pulled at his hair, "RrrrrhhhhhhHuhuhuhuh!!!"

"Stop it, Anti!" Henrik shouted at him, "Stop hurting yourself and just calm down for a moment!"

Chase tried to speak up, too, "Dude, just relax. We'll try and-"

"NO!" he whined only causing him pain as the bands activated and he cried out, shaking.

"GaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhH!!!"

Jackie turned to Marvin, "Stop the bands"

The magician's eyes widened, "What?! But Jackie-"

The hero growled at him, having lost his calm demeanor, "I SAID FUCKING STOP THE BANDS, MARV! NOW!"

Shrinking back a bit, Marvin waved his hand at Anti who was on the floor by this time now, shaking.

Almost immediately, though, afterwards, he stopped crying out and was reduced to trembling. But he didn't get up off the floor, hugging himself.

The others watched, a little unsure of what to do now.

'Well, this certainly is a pickle' Jameson signed, 'What now?'

None of them really knew what to do for Anti. Indeed, it certainly was a messed up situation. Here Dark had told Anti about the device and how he was sure the magician had it according to his resources. Was it all a lie or did Dark mess up?

But Anti knew better.

Dark NEVER messed up.

And that was why now, he couldn't get up off the floor. He just laid there holding himself. Trying to keep himself together.

The others tried speaking to him but it was as if Anti's mind was completely elsewhere. And they were too nervous to move or come near him at all. They were all in the kitchen now talking amongst themselves about what to do.