A JSE Fanfic
Chapter Ten: Rise and Fall and Rise Again
[This is part of an INCOMPLETE SERIES that I wrote in about 2018-2019. I don't know if I'll ever finish it, but I still think there's good stuff in it, and merit in reposting it here. Schneep struggles with the aftermath of his breakdown. JJ and Marvin meet up with the others carrying urgent news and something important, but the police show up, and they’ve brought trouble with them.]
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Where was he? How did he get here?
He blinked a bit. There was a cloudiness to his thoughts. Not like static—just normal fogginess, like he’d just woken up. But he’d never gone to sleep.
The overhead light was turned on, full blaze. It showed him that he was in a bedroom, lying on the bed. There was a small window showing the night sky outside, and a shut door. The walls were covered in posters, and there were figurines and other various memorabilia on dressers and tables around the room. The whole place seemed familiar…
Schneep bolted upright as he was struck by memory. This was Jackie’s room, in his apartment. What was he doing here? Shouldn’t he be somewhere else?
He stood up. His legs wobbled a bit, as they had been for too long now. Why was that? The reason flickered in his mind for a bit before he pushed it out. It wasn’t important. He had to remember how he got to Jackie’s apartment and why he was there. Maybe the hero himself was home, and could answer these questions. With a goal in mind, Schneep wandered over to the door and opened it, entering into the main living area of the apartment.
Jackie and Chase were there, Jackie on the sofa and Chase on the beanbag. Curiously, Chase was holding a bloody tissue to his nose. A box of leftover pizza was sitting on the coffee table, a few slices missing. The two of them had been talking, as evident by the sudden silence that fell the moment Schneep walked into the room. Both of them were staring at him with wide, worried eyes. “Um…hello,” Schneep said.
“Hi, Henrik,” Jackie said cautiously. “How are you feeling?”
“I am…confused,” Schneep admitted. “I do not remember how I got here.”
Chase and Jackie exchanged looks. “Do you…remember what happened at the hospital?” Chase asked.
Schneep frowned, casting back his mind. “We—we were trying to wake up Jack. We tried the normal way, but it didn’t work. So we called Marvin, and he used magic—” he faltered. There was something missing there. But it probably wasn’t important. “—but it also did not work. So—so then—so then—” Schneep struggled to remember. He knew things were missing. He knew they were important. Or were they? He would remember them if they were, wouldn’t he? “—I am sorry, that is all.”
“Oh…” Chase trailed off. He looked over to Jackie again, who in turn shook his head.
“Repression,” Jackie muttered.
“Excuse me?” Schneep said.
“I said you repressed what happened,” Jackie said, standing up and walking to Schneep, stopping and arm’s length away. “I guess it’s expected. Honestly, I’m surprised it didn’t happen earlier. But…well, it’s not healthy. And normally I’d ask you to get some professional help and work this out slowly, but we’re in the middle of a crisis right now, and…I don’t think any therapist would believe the truth. So…I’m sorry.”
Schneep took a step back. “Sorry for what?”
Jackie took a deep breath. His eyes were suddenly watery, so he blinked a couple times before asking, “Henrik…why did we need to wake Jack up?”
“I—he is in one of the deep sleeps, a coma.”
“Yes, but how did he get into the coma in the first place?”
“He—” Schneep shook his head. The memory was there, fleeting, but he couldn’t access it. Something was blocking it, like static—no, not like static, why on Earth did he think about that specific word? “Jack, he got sick. And I—I was trying to fix him, because I am good doctor. But—” Bits and pieces were coming back. Frantically trying everything he could to save his friend, injecting every drug he could, giving him oxygen, whatever would work. Panicking. “—but I failed and—and I had to put him to sleep. It was the only way.”
“Jackie…” Chase said. “Maybe this isn’t the best time for this.”
“Yeah, no, it’s definitely not,” Jackie snapped. Then he sighed. “It’s not. But with everything going on, when is the right time?”
Chase didn’t have an answer for that. So instead he just slumped deeper into the bean bag and pulled his hat lower. The sight of his friend so sad…it triggered something in Schneep’s memory. “There is something about the kids, isn’t there?” Schneep said slowly. “That is what the crisis is.”
“Yes,” Jackie nodded. “That’s a good start. Bobby and Trevor are in danger. Do you remember what from?”
“…no.” Schneep folded his arms, seeming to shrink inward. “I’ve forgotten.”
“You haven’t,” Jackie whispered. “You’re just too afraid to remember. And I wish we could take our time with this, but we can’t. We have urgent matters. So, I’m just…gonna have to give you a nudge…I’m just gonna…” it sounded more like Jackie was trying to convince himself. He closed his eyes, composed himself, and asked, “Henrik…who was the other person with Marvin?”
“There wasn’t—”
“Yes, there was. Who was it?”
“There wasn’t—” Schneep cut off his own denial. There was an answer. He could almost feel it. He knew that when he called Marvin for help, Jackie and someone else had come too. Who was that last person? He’d seemed familiar. Schneep made a small sound of frustration, pressing his fists into his eyes in an effort to help his memory. This person…he’d looked familiar because he was another one of them: this strange group of friends who’d bonded over their similar faces…No, no he’d recognized him for reasons other than that. He’d seen him before…
And with a sudden flash, he broke through the wall he’d built protecting himself. He remembered, amidst the terror and dread of trying to save Jack, the breaking of reality like it was a faulty video game, the laughter of someone who looked too much like his friend, the feeling that he wasn’t in control anymore as he’d caught the infectious laughter and done exactly what he had wanted—and from there, EVERYTHING came back.
He gasped, stumbling back, falling into the door frame and grabbing it for support. “Henrik—!” Jackie reached forward to help.
Schneep flinched. “No, please do not—”
Jackie froze. His hand dropped to his side. “I—okay. Okay.”
The doctor closed his eyes. “You were right. I did not want to remember.”
Footsteps. Chase’s voice, coming from nearby. “Doc? Henrik? Are you…going to be okay?”
“What do you think, Chase?!” Schneep snapped, his eyes flying open. “I am not okay! I just—I do not know—” It was hard to explain. How could he tell two of his best friends that he’d thought they weren’t real? That he’d thought everything was just an illusion, because it had happened often enough during the course of nine months?
“I didn’t ask if you WERE okay, I asked if you were GOING to be okay,” Chase said quietly. “I mean—that breakdown you had in the hospital, we, uh, figured enough of what was going through your head. You did punch me in the face, cause you thought I was him. Don’t worry, my nose is pretty much alright now.” Chase laughed nervously. “Anyway…it’s pretty obvious you aren’t okay right now. But…will you be able to…not get over it, but…”
“You can’t understand.” Schneep noticed that he was shaking pretty badly. “I—Ant—he is—I was—I did terrible things—”
Jackie looked thoughtful. “You’re right. We can’t understand. But we’re willing to listen. And…I think there’s someone who you could talk to. Someone who would actually get it.”
Schneep looked over at the hero. Did such a person exist? “Who.”
“The dude you freaked out on,” Chase said. “JJ.” When Schneep began to shake his head, he pressed on. “No, listen, don’t say anything. I know you think that he’s some evil agent of him, but he’s not. You were wondering how we all knew he wanted Jack as a host? That’s because Jameson told us. He was…I guess you could call him Jack’s predecessor. He was the host before him. He was USED, for an insanely long time. And he feels awful about it. If there’s anyone else in the world who knows what it’s like to be stuck with him, it’s JJ. So, if you won’t talk to us because we can’t understand, then talk to someone who will.”
Instead of immediately denying him like he wanted tom Schneep paused, and actually thought about Chase’s words. Anti was a master of hiding in plain sight. He could’ve placed an agent among them and fabricated this story to fool the others. But…Schneep could feel every little wound on his body, and could remember every single nightmare. If there was a chance, even the slimmest chance, that there was someone who could relate to this? Maybe he would take it. And if it turned out that this Jameson was truly an agent of Anti, then Schneep would probably be able to tell. He’d take it slow.
A buzzing sound broke the moment, causing all three boys to jump. “It’s just the intercom,” Jackie sighed. “I got it.” He walked quickly over and pressed the talk button. “Hello?”
“Uh, hi, all three of you guys are there, right?” Marvin’s voice came through the crackly intercom.
“Uh…yeah…” Jackie said hesitantly. There was something about this…Marvin sounded pretty anxious. “What’s the problem? I’ll remind you it’s the middle of the night and we’re all tired.”
“Doesn’t stop you from being awake,” Marvin said. “Look, something showed up at JJ’s house, and you really, REALLY need to see it, so can you buzz us in?”
“Two questions. One: are you both here? Two: is it bad news? ‘Cause you sound nervous.”
“Yeah, we’re both here,” Marvin confirmed. At this, Jackie and Chase both gave Schneep a look of hey-this-is-an-opportunity-to-work-through-your-issues, which the doctor responded to by scowling and giving them a this-is-my-problem-please-stay-out-of-it look. “And no, it’s not bad news,” Marvin continued. “But, ah…bad news has followed us here, and you need to get us in before it realizes you’re here.”
Jackie blinked. “What does that mean?”
“It means BUZZ US THE FUCK IN, ASSHOLE!” Marvin yelled.
“Okay, okay,” Jackie muttered, then pressed the button.
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Minutes later, Marvin burst into Jackie’s apartment, carrying what looked like a blue blanket that had been wrapped up into a ball. JJ followed close behind, wearing a backpack that did not match his dapper outfit. By this point, Chase and Schneep had taken places on the sofa. Schneep briefly made eye contact with JJ before they both looked away awkwardly. Jackie was still standing. His hands on his hips, he said “So what’s so important you had to demand I let you into my apartment at nearly one in the morning? And what’s that deal about bad news following you here?”
“THIS is what’s so important, my hoodie-loving friend,” Marvin said, holding up the blanket. “And the bad news? Well, the police are on stake-out around the building, and they were paying particularly close attention to us as we were approaching.”
Chase sat up straight. “What?”
“Yeah…” Marvin winced. “I think they know you’re here. Either that, or Jackie and/or the rest of us are suspects by association.”
'We suspect that they may try to follow us up here,' JJ signed. 'They looked like they were getting ready to move, getting out of their automobiles and such things.'
“They need a warrant,” Jackie said. “Or at the very least probable cause.” Unless they were corrupt. That was always possible.
“Jackie…” Chase whispered. “If I’m here, would that be probable cause?”
“Wha—no, no!” Jackie assured him. “Not unless they actually had something they could pin on you. There’s no proof you took the kids.”
“Is there?” Schneep muttered.
A collective chill went around the room. “What do you mean?” Marvin asked.
Schneep took a deep breath. “He can alter digital data at will. He could fake evidence easily, if he wanted to.”
A heavy silence filled the room. “But…would he want to?” Jackie asked.
A knock at the door. “This is the police! Open up!”
Every single one of them could feel the tension in the room rise twenty degrees. Marvin and JJ were the first to move, getting out of the way of the door, going to stand near the kitchenette. Schneep shrank into himself a bit more, Jackie’s old blue hoodie seeming way too large on him. Chase swallowed nervously. Jackie hesitated, then gave the room a shaky smile, trying to be optimistic. He walked to the door and opened it with a pleasant “Hello. What seems to be the problem?”
The two detectives, Bowman and Akela, were standing in the hallway. Behind them were three uniformed cops, including the one from yesterday, Beaton. “You’re Mr. Parker, right?” asked Detective Bowman.
“Yes, ma’am. What’s the problem?”
The detectives glanced at each other. “Yesterday, one Mr. Chase Brody entered this building. He hasn’t come out since,” explained Detective Akela. “Earlier tonight, a warrant was obtained for Mr. Brody’s arrest. We’ve been told you’re a friend of his, so there’s a high chance that he’s here, or if he’s not, you at least know where he is. We need to enter your apartment.”
“You…have a warrant?” Jackie repeated blankly.
“Yes, we do.” Bowman leveled him with a stare. “And you know what that means. If you don’t let us in, you are obstructing justice.”
That was true. Yet still, Jackie hesitated. Chase was his friend. Could he really just…let him get arrested?
“Jackie, open the door.” As if he knew the question Jackie just thought, Chase himself answered. He sounded…resigned. Uneasily, Jackie did what he said and let the detectives and the cops into his apartment.
“Jesus christ, did we walk into a cloning factory?” one of the cops muttered. Marvin bristled at the comment, but nobody else reacted.
Chase stood up, folding his arms. “Hello, detectives,” he said dully. “I’d say it’s good to see you, but I’d be lying.”
“That’s understandable enough,” Akela admitted. “After all, we did just come to arrest you under suspicion of kidnapping. Are you—will you come quietly?”
“I…I just want to know one thing,” Chase said. “What proof do you have?”
“We—” Akela started, but quickly noticed the glare his partner was giving him. He gave her a sour look right back, then continued. “We talked to the Davidsons’ neighbors. One of them, who wishes to remain anonymous, remembered that there was a security camera in the neighborhood. It was meant to monitor traffic in the area, but it catches other things just as easily. We looked over the footage, and it showed you, Mr. Brody, breaking into Ms. Davidson’s house, then leaving again with the two children, Roberta and Trevor.” He sighed. “The evidence is clear. We need to take you in.”
“Digital camera, I presume,” Schneep muttered.
Bowman immediately latched onto that response, scowling at him. “Yes, it is. I don’t see how that’s relevant.” She looked back toward Chase. “Actually, there are several other things we’d like to discuss with you while we’re there. Like the fact that this man—” she pointed at Schneep “—was apparently reported missing by this person—” she pointed at Jackie “—nine months ago, yet here he is, not missing, with the person who filed the report. There are several oddities like this that we’d like you to answer for.”
Marvin couldn’t keep quiet any longer. He’d never liked police, they were a great example of when too much power goes to someone’s head. And now they were treating his friend like this? “Come on!” he cried. “You don’t seriously think Chase is at the heart of some conspiracy, do you?”
“Oh look, he said your favorite word,” Bowman muttered to Akela.
“Not the time,” Akela responded, before turning his attention to Marvin. “We need to take everything into account. The fact is that the evidence points this way, and we need to at least question Mr. Brody.”
Marvin growled. He put the ball of blanket down on the kitchenette counter, then stomped over and stood between Chase and the detectives. “And exactly how good is this digital evidence you’ve somehow gotten your hands on?” he demanded. “A few blurry pixels?” He was vaguely aware of JJ signing 'What in the world do you think you are doing?' in the background, and of Jackie giving him another are-you-crazy-do-you-want-to-get-arrested look, but he didn’t care.
“It’s very clear,” Akela said.
“Mm-hmm, sure it is.” Marvin rolled his eyes.
Bowman glared. “Listen here, Mr…?”
“Moore. Marvin Moore.”
“Oh.” Somehow, giving his name made the detective’s expression darken further. “Okay, listen here, Mr. Moore. We have evidence. We need to act on that evidence. The safety of the children is our highest priority, and your friend is our main suspect and most likely the culprit. So we need to arrest him so we can learn where the kids are, and prevent any further harm to them. If it turns out we got the wrong guy, we’ll let him go. That’s how this works. It’s been working this way for years with no problems.”
“The people who’ve been falsely convicted would beg to differ,” Marvin drawled. “And if you really wanted to keep the kids fucking safe, you wouldn’t take away their fucking dad who’s trying his god damn best to find them! You’d be trying to find the real culprit instead of taking it out on one of the sweetest guys to ever walk the earth! But NO, clearly, a single video means he MUST be the one who took them, fuck the other possibilities!”
“Oh yeah?” Bowman was clearly trying her best to not raise her voice in turn. Judging by the way her face was slowly turning red, it was very hard. “And what, exactly, are the other possibilities? Someone disguised as him? The video is clear enough to show his face, and our facial recognition has matched the one in the footage to him. What about it being faked? We ran a preliminary test on it, and it’s authentic, not to mention we just sent it to be looked at more thoroughly, though it would take some sort of Photoshop genius to fake footage of this quality. Perhaps the camera itself was planted? It’s registered with the city, and has been there for four years. So what else could have possibly happened?”
Time froze for Marvin. In his mind, he ran through several facts. Anti seemed to be out for Chase. Anti couldn’t be allowed to get what he wanted. Chase wouldn’t outrun the police, because he didn’t like to break the law. Chase couldn’t outrun them even if he wanted, because despite his mild parkour skills and the single pistol he owned, he was not simply not capable of fighting them nor fleeing from them. If Chase went to jail, he wouldn’t even last a month before his depression set in, grew worse, and permanent consequences occurred.
And if the police had such a clear image of the culprit’s face, they should have realized that there were five people in this room who all shared the same one.
“Maybe he didn’t know the camera was there,” Marvin said quietly. “Maybe he only dressed as Chase so that Bobby and Trevor would trust him when he told them they had to follow him right now. Maybe he knew that the rest of his appearance was close enough to would fool them.”
The room was dead quiet. The detectives, the cops, and the others were all staring at Marvin. He exhaled, slowly. If he could save his friend this way, he would do it. That was what a good person would do.
“Marvin…?” Chase’s voice broke on the second syllable. The magician didn’t turn around. He didn’t want to see the expression on his friend’s face.
“You missed them so much, Chase,” he said, making up the excuse as he went. “I thought you wanted to see them again. I just needed the right moment to tell you.”
“Well…” Detective Bowman took a few steps back, trading a meaningful look with her partner. “This wasn’t what we expected to happen…but…it’s gotten us a lot farther than the initial arrest would have.”
“No!”
Everyone turned to look as Jackie ran across the room. The cops instinctively reached for their tasers, but they needn’t have worried. Jackie practically leaped in front of JJ, who’d started forward with a dark expression on his face. When the latter tried to get around, Jackie retaliated by wrapping his arms around him. “JJ, no! This has to happen!” he yelled.
JJ didn’t seem to hear him. He just stared at Marvin with a strange expression: part accusing, part pleading, part desperation. The magician merely smiled, and made a few simple signs with his hands, betting that none of the cops understood BSL. Jackie, for his part, looked at Marvin with an uncertain expression, but upon seeing the signs, or maybe the resolve in his eyes, he merely nodded.
“I guess we’re making a different arrest today,” Akela muttered.
“No, you’re not,” Marvin smirked.
“Mr. Moore, you are very clearly outnumbered,” Bowman said sternly.
“Yeah, maybe.” Marvin slipped his hand into his pocket. Mentally, he ran through the spells he knew that didn’t require words. “But you’ve forgotten one thing.” He looked at the detectives, making eye contact with each. “I’m fucking magic!”
A single mental push channeled his energy through the wand hidden in his pocket. A flash of bright white light flared, followed by a puff of green smoke. The onlookers would see a shadow run toward the window and its fire escape.
But by the time they thought to chase it, the real Marvin had already disappeared.
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The clock read 2:13 a.m. The detectives and the cops had searched the area around the building for an hour, but found nothing. Of course they wouldn’t. Marvin’s teleportation spell probably took him to the other side of the city, though the illusion of having someone climb out the window was a nice touch. Eventually, the police had pulled out, admitting they lost him. The two detectives personally apologized to Chase for suspecting him, and had also shared a little bit of Marvin’s history that most of the boys hadn’t known about.
Now the remaining four sat and sorted things out, Chase in the bean bag, Jackie and Schneep on the sofa, and JJ in the armchair. “So…” Jackie said. “Marvin just took the fall.”
“Yeah…” Chase nodded. “I-I didn’t want him to. He just did it. I don’t—why? Why would he do that?”
'Because that’s the kind of person he is,' JJ signed.
They sat quietly for a moment. Then Chase took a deep breath and said, “So, Doc, what was that deal about Marvin needing a psych eval?”
Schneep winced. “He…asked me not to tell you. But that is how we met. Something went wrong at a performance of his, some black magic targeted him and caused him to…freak out, more or less. They thought he had psychotic break, they sent him to me so I could look after him. I, ah, did not tell them that I didn’t actually perform the evaluation. After all, if I told them that Marvin was quite literally magic, then they would have sent me in for one as well.”
JJ looked thoughtful at the mention of black magic. He was the only one in the room who knew that some of the consequences of using it could resemble some forms of a psychotic break. But he chose not to share that. Marvin had chosen not to tell them, and he wouldn’t betray his trust.
“Did we all catch the words he signed?” Jackie asked.
Everyone nodded in unison. The signs had passed rapidly, and there were some gaps even in such a short message, but the point had been made: 'I will come back.'
“I think…we have to trust him,” Jackie said slowly. “As much as it sucks.” A nervous smile. “He’s very street smart, y’know. And he has powers.”
“So we just have to wait,” Chase sighed. “It feels like that’s all we’ve been doing lately.”
“We can’t do much else, my friend,” Schneep said comfortingly. “Not until we find something out, or a new thing happens.”
“Actually…” Chase looked at JJ. “The whole reason you two showed up here was because ‘something’ appeared at your house. You said it wasn’t bad, so what was it?”
JJ’s eyes widened as he remembered. He made a wait gesture, then stood up and hurried into the kitchenette, grabbing the ball of blanket that Marvin had left behind. He returned, took his place in the armchair again, and set the ball in his lap. The others leaned forward to look at it.
“Is there something in the blanket, or is that it?” Schneep asked.
JJ gave Schneep a flat stare, then started unwrapping the blanket. As each layer of the ball unraveled, it shrank from the size of a basketball to a tennis ball. Then one last layer of cloth was removed. A green glow spread through the air. The boys gasped in unison, staring at the object…which stared back at them.
“Impossible,” Schneep muttered.
“I thought Jack made them up…” Jackie whispered.
Chase struggled to find words…but eventually he let out a single syllable: “Sam?!”
The glowing eye’s pupil widened. Somehow, everyone felt joy emitting from them, much like the green light they gave out. If they could have smiled, they would have.
“Well…” Schneep leaned back. “I think this counts as something new.”