Magnificently Malcontent

Chapter 3

Chase was frozen where he stood. His eyes were fixated solely on the dark brown door in front of him. He couldn't understand what he just saw. Marvin glitched. Marvin glitched like Anti . His mind was trying to reject the possibility that Marvin had anything to do with Anti, but there was no other way to see it. His little brother was becoming like the demon. Chase was hit with an overwhelming wave of despair. His little brother. The one who was always so excited to show him and JJ his latest trick. The one who would come to Chase for emotional support when he needed it. The one who was there to cheer him up during the worst of the divorce. His little brother. The one whom Chase had failed.

Chase didn't have much time to spiral within his own mind, although it felt like an eternity to him, because it was right then that the hallway erupted into madness. JJ scrambled towards Marvin's door. He started pounding on the wood and clawing at it. Tears poured down his cheeks, and his neck was strained. JJ was trying to scream. Chase couldn't begin to imagine the devastation he had to be feeling. After all, before Marvin started pulling away, the two of them were practically inseparable. Jackie would call them the ultimate partners in crime.

Jackie wasn't doing much better. However instead of reacting in sadness, he chose anger. He paced up and down the hallway at a rapid speed. His face was beet red, and he glared at the floor as if it were the one to blame. A vein was pulsing near his right temple. Chase had never seen Jackie this furious before. Henrik had told him once that Jackie used to have a massive temper, but that was before Chase had gotten there. It was before Anti...

Before Chase could be led astray by another train of thought, he shook his head and looked around for the good doctor. Henrik was nowhere to be seen. It seemed like he had bolted before the rest of them could think to act. Chase couldn't blame him though. Out of all of all of them, Henrik was the one with the most experience with the glitch. He made a mental note to check on him later, but Chase had to get to his other brothers first before everything fell apart.

Chase made his way to the door to tear JJ away from it, but he wasn't going down without a fight. JJ kicked and scratched. Chase had to shut his eyes. He just couldn't see him like this. Soon they were far enough away, and JJ gave up. He turned around and collapsed into Chase's supportive arms. They weren't sure how long they stayed like that, kneeled down on the floor within each other's arms.

Once it seemed like JJ had no more tears to shed, Chase helped him stand and looked over to Jackie, still pacing. "Jackie, I need you to help me get JJ downstairs bro," Chase hollered over to the hero, but it didn't look like he was listening. He was almost completely in his own world, lost in his own mind. "Jackie!" Chase got up and walked shakily over to him. He put a hand on the hero's shoulder which brought him out of whatever thought vortex he had been in. Chase's voice dropped to just above a whisper, "Jackie, we need you right now man."

"Y-yeah. Okay," Jackie's eyes softened as he looked over towards JJ. They both walked over to JJ and each took an arm around their shoulders. Working in tandem, it didn't take long to get them all downstairs and away from the scene of disaster. Chase took a good look at his brothers. He wasn't used to taking charge of the situation unless it had to do with his kids, but just one look at the state they were all in made it clear he was the only one who could.

"Alright my dudes, I'm gonna go get Henrik. You guys stay here, breathe Jackie, and when I get back, we're all gonna figure this out." Chase meant for that to be more confident, but he could tell how much his voice was wavering. Nevertheless he turned on his heel and went in search for Henrik. One step at a time. They could do this.