Chase, Jameson and Henrik sat together at the dining table drinking their coffee while Jackie leaned against the kitchen counter.

Marvin was currently on his third cup of coffee mumbling to himself about the 'plan'.

"So uh . . " Chase whispered to Jameson and Henrik, "Who here thinks the wizard is off his rocker?"

"Aren't we all?" Henrik drawled, "I mean look at us .. .  we're not exactly all normal. We've all been traumatized in one way or another by zhe same psychopath"

Jackie lifted his mug, "Here, here"

Chase signed, "It's just . . . I'm wondering about plan B"

'I'm sure Plan A will work' Jameson tried his best to be optimistic. Who else was going to be?

"But what if it doesn't?" Chase never was one to look on the positives anymore, "Merlin over there seemed . . . . odd about it, you know? Like he didn't even wanna THINK about plan B. Must suck if he doesn't even wanna talk about it to us. He was all crypticy about it."

Henrik shrugged, "Vell right now, he's our best chance"

Jameson shook his head and pointed to him, 'You're the one who's going to make that gun thing, right? I'd say our best chance is YOU'

"Fantastic" Henrik groaned, "Just what I vanted to hear" he dragged on sarcastically, "It's going to take a miracle to make a gun with zhat much power. And zhen you have to hit zhe bastard vith it" he snorted, directed the last bit to Chase.

"Oh yeah" Chase sighed, "We're so fucked"

Jackie rolled his eyes at them, 'They really don't have any faith, do they? . .. I guess I can't blame them. Before today, I didn't either but that was also before I knew magic existed.' 

Jackie glanced over at Marvin who was jittering. He looked worried, which concerned him.

"Hey . . . I'm sure everything will turn out fine"

Marvin absentmindedly nodded, " . . .Yeah . . . sure" he didn't look like he believed himself.

"Hey . . so . . . exactly what KIND of wizard are you?"

Marvin momentarily stopped jittering and looked up at him, "Hm?"

Jackie realized that probably sounded a bit douchey, "What I mean is . .  well I saw what you did and could do. . ..  but . . .. What CAN you do . . .. I guess is what I'm asking?"

"Ah" Marvin nodded, "I see . . . well . .. I don't know, I guess. I can do a lot of things. I started my magical research a few years ago after I discovered I COULD do it and then . . . I just couldn't stop learning I guess."

"So you can teleport through dimensions, make potions and create weird shields  . . . what else is there?"

"Well . . ." Marvin tried to think of some other things, "I can conjure certain items . . . see tiny bits and pieces of the future or fortune-telling I guess . . . lower class magic tricks . .. I've brought small animals back to life-" he stopped himself, remembering what happened to Evan.

 Jackie smirked, "That's all kinda cool. My nephew Benny would have loved that stuff. The magic tricks, that is"

"Can you do one for us?" Chase got up from his chair and came closer to them, "Maybe you could make me disappear, huh?"

"Like an magician's assistant?" Marvin chuckled, "Nah, sorry but you ain't nearly pretty enough"

Henrik finished his cup of coffee, "Alright . . . I'm going to go start. You lot have fun. I have vork and planning to do. Marvin, I'll let you know vhen I need you"

They all watched him go practically running back down into the basement.

Marvin sighed, fiddling with his mask on the top of his head, "What was Jack like, Chase? You think he would have liked magic?"

Chase tensed but breathed in and out, thinking about his son, "Oh  . . . . probably . . . he liked make-believe a lot"

Marvin blinked, "Make-believe?"

"Well" Chase just shrugged, "It's make-believe in the dimension I'm from, dude."

"Nah" Marvin laughed softly, "Sorry, but you're wrong. There's magic in all dimensions. Otherwise it wouldn't exist at all and Antisepticeye would have destroyed all of them already"

"What?" Jackie, Jameson and Chase just stared at him, very confused.

Marvin sighed, "We're all linked. Like a bridge. Magic links us all together in the set we're all in. Think of us like a jumping rope. There's the magician, the hero, the mad scientist, the performer, the trick-shot . . . . . . ."

Chase looked a little full of himself at that but then frowned, "Wait . .  you said it's like a jumping rope . . . then who's at the other end? If the magician's at one end then there's gotta be someone else just as powerful on the other, right?"

Marvin nodded, "Yeah . . . and that's Antisepticeye"

Jackie swallowed, "Shit. . . you're saying there's MORE of that bastard?"

Marvin looked a bit uneasy but nodded, "Yeah . . .more or less . . . ." he cleared his throat suddenly and cracked his neck and knuckles, "So magic. . .. yeah, you guys wanted to see a magic trick?"

Jackie froze was still thinking, though.

'Marvin sounded like he was going to name off another link after the trick-shot . . .  nah, I'm just imagining it. We're all here. . . . . I just hope we don't run into another Antisepticeye. One's enough'

Antisepticeye was calmer than before but still furious. When wasn't he furious?

'So close . . .almost there. So fucking close. They were right THERE!!' 

He clenched his fists, kicking at the debris he left behind.

Antisepticeye scoffed, growling under his breathe, growing more mentally unstable by the minute, "Where'd you go, magician?" he spoke to himself, "You couldn't have gone too far. You're not strong enough to leave this dimension just yet. You just got here . . . . ."

He thought about it but he didn't have to for long. It was too obvious.

'The doctor . . . . you're there . ..  aren't you?'

He knew he could probably go there now and surprise them. He'd have the advantage then to do so. But with losing his temper like he did-

No, he couldn't. He depleted a lot of energy losing control like he did.

'Stupid. . . .' he put a hand over his one eye, 'I shouldn't use so much with limited resource. . . this eye . . . it doesn't quite. . . connect correctly. It's weak . . just like HIM.'

Then it clicked.

He started to grin, 'The doctor's reactor. . . . they think they can kill me with it, if they can even manage to do anything with that power'

He glitched and snapped himself inside of Henrik's desktop computer just like he had done a long time ago.

'Well then . . . I'll just have to take that power for myself before they can use it on ME'

But for now, he had to play the waiting game. He had to be patience. Gather strength and wait for the doctor to finish whatever project he was cooking up to try and kill him.

He didn't have to wait long. Henrik came down the stairs by himself and started to set himself to work.

'I'll get you all this time. Play-time's fucking over.'

A few days passed and everyone was starting to get even more worked up than before.

Henrik was still working on stabilizing Marvin's energy. No one thought he even took a break to sleep. Coffee and work was his life at the moment.

Chase couldn't stop pacing and mumbling to himself about how much it was a bad idea to just be squatting in one place. They were just sitting ducks there.

Jameson kept himself busy with board games he found in a closet. Here and there one of the others would cave and play a quick game with him.

Jackie kept himself useful by working out, trying to stay in top condition for whenever Antisepticeye attacked again.

And Marvin . . . Marvin was working the hardest above all of them, putting all his energy into the reactor, trying to multiply it to the way it was before Anti had attacked and killed Henrik's family.

It was working, but slowly. He wasn't trying before so it had trickled like sand through fingers before through his mask to the reactor.

Things were faster now that he WAS trying and forcing it through but it was still slower than they all would have liked.

Antisepticeye could attack them at ANY moment.

And he could.

But he chose not to. Watching and waiting for them to complete the project. To finish whatever weapon they were making so he could steal it for himself. He nearly had it the last time when he had killed Henrik's wife and children. If it wasn't for Marvin's protection spell, he'd have all the power and then some to destroy ALL the sets of them in the universe.

All he had to do for now was wait.

They thought they were so far ahead when in reality, Antisepticeye was still ten steps ahead of them.

"Dude, can we order pizza?" Chase finally came down to the basement, feeling safer that Henrik hadn't blown the whole house up yet.

Henriks eye twitched. This was the fifth time Chase had asked the entire time they had been there, "I already told you. Ve have food here"

"Yeah but pizza just sounds SO fucking good!" Chase groaned, "Come on. You don't like pizza?"

"I didn't say zhat. Have Marvin conjure some, then"

Marvin, who was sitting on a lab counter with test tubes next to him, was fiddling with a deck of his cards when he heard that, "Uh-uh. I don't like conjuring food. It never tastes as good as the real thing"

Henrik paused and looked over at him, "Vhat? Tis still food, is it not?"

Marvin shrugged, "Sure, it tastes OKAY but there's no LOVE in it!"

Now Henrik knew he was fucking with him. He could do it, he just didn't WANT to.

"What love is in zhe pizza you want? It's made from some depressed teenager at a gas station" Henrik pointed out.

Chase snorted, "Yeah! So? That's the best KIND of pizza! He still has HOPE left! You can taste it!"

Henrik groaned, rolling his eyes, "Fine. Go ask Jackie and James vhat kind zhey want. One better be pepperoni"

"YES!!!" Chase pumped his fist and ran off back upstairs.

Marvin chuckled to himself, "You just gave in so he'd leave you alone"

"Damn right. You were no help, either" Henrik snorted, " . . . .Ve are ready for the first test"

The magician blinked, "Wait . . .. what?"

Henrik wiped off the sweat from his brow and smirked, "First test. Zhen we stabilize it vith zhe gun. Whipped it up from the schematics last night"

"You're joking!" Marvin hopped down from the counter, "Doc, you shitting me right now!? Did you even SLEEP!?"

Henrik snorted, "For my line of vork?" he huffed, "Sleep is for zhe weak"

Marvin laughed in celebration and high fived him, "YES! We GOT this! YOU'RE FUCKING BRILLIANT, DOC!!"

"You doubted me before?"

"What? No, of course not"

Henrik didn't seem convinced but they moved on to the next phase before dinner would be ready.

Jackie watched Chase run from up the basement stairs, looking excited, "Dude! He said yes! What's the number? Let's order!"

Jackie already had the phone ready, "What we ordering?"

During the last few days, Jackie and Chase had actually become pretty good friends, having sort of similar personalities. They were all derivatives of the same person but still . .. they were the most similar.

"Doc said he wants a pepperoni. OOo! Let's do a meat lovers, too! And Hawaiian!"

Jackie raised a brow at him, "Bro . . .. I thought you were better than that"

"What?" Chase halted, "Wait, you don't like Hawaiian? Come on, it's okay every once and a while!"

Jackie shook his head, "No . . . no, it's not."

"Well we're getting one. Like it or not"

Jameson walked in, 'What are you two arguing about this time?'

"Chase likes Hawaiian pizza" Jackie ratted him.

"And what's wrong with that, action-man!?" Chase poked his chest, "Just order it!"

"Jameson, what do you think about pineapple on pizza?" Jackie wasn't going to let this go.

But Jameson had other plans, "I think you should just order food and stop arguing."

Jackie just grumbled, knowing he had lost this one but refused to admit it, "Whatever"

"HA!" Chase stuck his tongue out at him, "TAKE THAT!"

It was about forty minutes later when the doorbell rang.

Jackie got up first, "I'll get it. Go let doc and the magician know"

"Dude wait" he stopped Jackie from getting the door, "You have your fucking superhero suit on! You're gonna look sketchy. Let me get the door and you go tell the nerds."

"I could have gotten it" Jackie scoffed under his breathe.

"At least I'm the most normal looking one here!" Chase shot back and went to the door.

Meanwhile, Henrik and Marvin's test was a success and the doctor was now currently trying to complete his work on  his mini stabilizer that was a part of the gun.

It was very delicate work and not even Marvin made a sound or even moved.

"Alright . . . now to try and transfuse some of the mask's power from the Pheno Reactor into the Mini Pheno"

"Can we not call it that?" Marvin huffed, "It sounds dumb"

"I create zhe shit, I name zhe shit. Deal with it."

Marvin rolled his eyes but as he did, something else caught his eye.

"What .. . ." 

The computer almost seemed to glitch but maybe he was just imagining it.

Marvin stepped closer to the desktop computer and sat in the office chair, "Hm . . .  Hey Doc, I think you have too much on this computer. You might wanna consider decluttering it and-"

"HEY! ZHAT IS MY CHAIR!" Henrik threw a pencil at him, "Out! Get out of my chair! I have one rule and no one sits in my chair!"

"Alright, alright!" Marvin hopped out of it, "Fine, geez . . ." he paused, staring at Henrik in amazement, "Man, you work fast."

Henrik had the Mini Pheno set up and transfusing from the Pheno Reactor and it was finally working. Now all they had to do was wait until it had enough and build the gun around it.

"Zhere."

"HEY GUYS, THE PIZZA'S HERE!" Jackie ran half way down, "Come on and get ya some. Fueling Time!"

"I could use some more coffee, too" Henrik grabbed his mug.

Marvin didn't say anything but looked very concerned, 'Geez, he already downed four mugs today. He's worse than me with caffeine!'

Together, they went upstairs and immediately, Henrik scowled, "You ingrates ordered HAWAIIN pizza!? Vhat is WRONG vith you?!"

"See?!" Jackie laughed in Chase's face.

"How did you even know?!" 

Henrik pouted but got his own pepperoni pizza, "You can SMELL it.. . . despicable."

Jameson shrugged, 'I think it's alright"

They all looked to Marvin for his opinion.

He smirked at them, "Don't look at me to be the tie-breaker. I don't like pepperoni"

Of course this ended up causing a huge debate in the dining room.

But after a few minutes, everything settled down. They all went quiet, eating perhaps their last meal for all they knew.

Chase looked more depressed than usual.

"Hey" Jackie nudged him, "What's up?"

Chase shrugged, "We all know what's up. . . .  what if I fail? What if I can't shoot him? Then we all die . . .just like my family"

"Why do you think you'd fail?" Marvin asked.

" . . . . I hesitated in shooting him before. . . after he killed them. What if-"

"You won't hesitate again" Jackie stopped him.

Chase locked eyes with him, "How do you know?"

"Because now you're ready. You're ready for him this time. . . . we all are" Jackie felt it bubbling inside him again, the anger but held it back. He'd have plenty inside to unleash it all on Antisepticeye when he saw him again.

Chase gave a half-assed nod, "Except I hesitated twice . . . . I just wish . . . I wish I could just see them one last time. When I was teleported here, my picture I had of them didn't make it through. I can't even see a picture of them before I . .  before we. . . . . . ." he couldn't finish.

But Jackie had a lightbulb go off in his head, "I wonder . . . ." he reached in his own pocket and pulled out the last picture he had of Sammie and Benny. He always kept it in his pocket, "I don't know if it's the same . . . but here . . . . this is my sister Sammie and next to her is her son. My nephew Benny"

Chase took the picture and swallowed thickly, "Jesus Christ . . . He looks just like my little Jack . . ." he sighed, "I guess anyone related to us would all look pretty similar, right? But damn . . . they're beautiful, Jackie"

Jackie nodded, "Yeah . . . yeah, they were"

Henrik sighed and walked away. At first, they thought they had bothered him with the sap but he soon returned with a picture album.

He laid it in front of them and opened it up, "Zhese are . . . Zhese are my loves. Eva was my wife. And Olivia was my daughter." he pointed to them. In the album there were so many pictures but mostly of Eva and Olivia. Eva loved taking pictures of them but Henrik hated getting pictures taken of him. Every once in a while, though, she snuck one of him.

Marvin smiled slightly, "I wonder if I had a family . . . . if they'd look anything like them. What do you think, Jameson?"

Jameson smiled, his mustache curled cutely, 'I'm sure you and Evan would have had a wonderful family together'

Marvin closed his eyes and shuddered out a breathe, trying to stop himself from tearing up.

Meanwhile, on the inside, despite Jameson's smile, he was just as broken.

'What would it have been like if Emily and I had a family? If we had been together?'

Chase wiped away his tears and gave Jackie's picture back to him.

As he did, he felt something jump in his heart.

The lights flickered and not just one.

They felt that familiar presence in the air.

Marvin sucked in a breathe, "Antisepticeye's here!" he snapped his head to Henrik, "The Mini Pheno!!"

Henrik connected the dots, to, "SCHEISSE!!!"

They all broke away from the table and raced to the basement door.

Jackie was right behind Henrik, ready to rip Antisepticeye's head off his body when he saw him.

"HURRY!" Marvin shouted, right behind Jackie, "We have to get to it before-"

They made it down the stairs but all at once, they stood there frozen.

There he was, holding the Mini Pheno in his hands with that big grin on his face.

Like he had already won.

Marvin's heart plummeted, "Before he does"

They were all frozen.

Stock still.

Antisepticeye felt their inward fear and hesitation and smiled even wider, knowing the effect he had on all of them. He was their monster.

Their demon in the night.

"You all let your guards down"

Marvin shuddered, "No . . . . no"

Chase's heart raced. This was really happening?

Jackie was remembering the last fight they had. Could he really do anything against him, even now? What was he going to do with the Mini Pheno?!

Jameson held onto Henrik who was having flashbacks. It was just like that night when Antisepticeye murdered his family. . . 

The monster chuckled darkly, "You all should have paid more attention. I was watching. . . . always. . .  watching and you never even knew"

He locked eyes with Marvin, "You thought you were so fucking clever. Time to take you down some notches. . . magician"

Antisepticeye clenched his fists around the Mini Pheno. It was just a thick-glassed ball but it held SO much power.

There was no telling what breaking it would do.

Marvin sucked in air, "Antisepticeye! WAIT! Don't do that!!"

Antisepticeye clenched his fist tighter, cracking it slightly and he showed his teeth with how amused he was, "You forgot your protection spells. And this isn't in that gun, yet. I can draw in this power . . . . I CAN DRAW IT IN INSIDE OF ME AND FINALLY KILL YOU ALL!"

Marvin swallowed, "No, you won't. You'll just end up killing all of us INCLUDING YOURSELF. That really what you want?"

Antisepticye tilted his head, but his lips curled up in a smile. He snorted at him, "Please . . . . You can't trick me again." he straightened his back, standing tall, "Your power is MINE now!"

He cracked the glass ball more. It couldn't hold up anymore.

Marvin acted as fast as he could.

He grabbed them all, "HOLD ON!!!!!"

They reacted, gripping onto each other and just as Marvin created a wormhole, they saw Anti break the Mini Pheno ball.

Marvin wasn't lying, though.

There was a huge explosion but Marvin put a shield around them.

They saw Antisepticeye become engulfed in the flames and blast but just as the wormhole closed, Marvin stared in shock at what he was seeing.

All at once, the blast closed in on itself and into Antisepticeye. He glowed green but even if he lived, it still seemed too much for his body and he collapsed.

Marvin turned as the wormhole closed and focused.

He had to be quick.

'Plan B it is'

The others with him held onto Marvin until, most with their eyes closed until they stepped onto Earth again.

"Alright" Marvin let go of them, "You guys can let go now. But let me explain first"

Jackie opened his eyes first and looked around, "Wait . . . . where are we?"

Henrik gawked around, "Zhis . . .. we're back at my house! By vhy!? I thought it'd be destroyed in zhe blast from the Mini Pheno!"

"Yeah, it probably was" Marvin agreed.

"So where are we?" Chase asked, "This DOES look like where we just came from . . sort of."

Jameson grabbed onto Marvin's arm suddenly and pointed his finger.

They all followed the hand at a figure standing in the corner.

"Hey! You there! W-who are you!?" Chase shouted at him bravely.

The figure came a little closer and they could hear his voice.

"Ch . . . chase? G-guys? I. . . is that really you?" the voice sounded broken. . . filled with a small twinge of hope.

Everyone just stood there again, horridly in shock.

Anti came out of the shadows, a big smile on his face, "It's you!! It really is you!!!"

He ran to them only for Jackie to burst out of his shock first and race in front of him, punching him across the face.

Knocking him out.

Marvin popped his lips, biting them, "Oh . . . Uh . . . that's not OUR  . . . Antisepticeye, Jackie."

Jackie whirled around to him, "Wait . . . . WHAT?!"

"Yeah . . .I should have led with that, shouldn't I have?"

They all stared at him.

Yeah, maybe he should have.

Marvin walked up to the unconscious Anti and turned his face to the side with his foot revealing an eye patch over half his face, "Yeah . . . This is the previous Anti. The uh . . . . the good one"

Yeah.

Marvin had a lot of explaining to do now.