Jackie even did an eyeroll. Maddie was assured that she was back in control. But for how long…

“So, that’s what we’re running with…?” Jackie’s voice still wrought and wrecked from emotion. “High tail it to the boarder…?”

“Unless you have something else in mind, fearless leader…” Maddie said.

It took careful yet effortful motion to shake her head, as if Jackie was questioning every move she was going to make. “Let’s. We ARE going to get something good out of this day.”

Maddie withheld a sigh, glancing at Tracy and River in succession. She knew that this false hope is going to get them hurt.

But maybe it’d be the wake up call they needed. Provided, if they fucking survive it too.

“Main Street…” Jackie began. “It’s not too far from here. Like Steppe Avenue, it’ll lead us to the other road we need.”

“Main Street huh—” Maddie put her hands on her hips. “Really? Like Disneyland--?”

“Maddie, I get that you’re trying to keep me here, but I think you’re doing too good of a job now.”

“Oh no, this is just me questioning how vanilla the States are—”

“Well sorry that we focused on making the streets just streets and not focus on how our ‘plant’ theme will work,” Jackie snipped back—again the pain lingering in her voice undercut the fact she was joking, that she moved on.

Maddie propped up her imaginary glasses, and became cartoony in her delivery, “Actually, it’s based on growth—”

She laughed, genuinely. Good. Everything’s a gamble at the moment, so Maddie and everyone should be focusing on easing, defusing.

The girls gathered, to face the new obstacle before them.

What was once a street, it was curved and pitched upwards. Not even in a neat fashion, it was smudged to the right, was string up towards the left. It was less of a steep, straight line and more of a spill from a liquid across a surface.

Maddie flinched, was caught off guard, because her mind allowed her to see something she has no access to. She remembered that she recently had to scale an upward street.

And as she looked to the others, it seemed like they were remembering to.

Jackie shook her head. “We went through this. We got through this. And we can do it again.”

She pointed to the near top, where a smear twisted to the far left.

“I can see the street sign: Bowing Road. We take that and we’d be halfway there.”

And with that, Jackie took the lead, with the rest following after.

Her legs instantly flared with siVis, without Maddie’s input… Or conscious input, she figured. Maybe Jackson was on the money; they had done this before in a sense. Their bodies did learn.

Their legs locked against the gravity of the ramp, then popped forward to scale it. Repeated again and again until they were dashing up the street as the incline only got steeper and steeper.

It hurt Maddie like hell, she can feel her back aching up again as her legs also started screaming—she only applied siVis to her spine as well, just to hold herself together as she kicked up the dust, pebble and loose asphalt chucks behind her.

It wasn’t until Aiko nearly slipped that Maddie noticed the street’s surface was trying to cause problems.

It was like harden magma: the street was warped—settled within it’s distortion, but was still slowly moving, still extremely dangerous.

Basically, as they climbed, the mountain decided to have an avalanche when they were halfway there.

It was amazing to Maddie how Jackie didn’t tell them to change tactics, to do some leader thing to achieve the plan. Almost like a step team, they went into motion.

Leaning in on their left leg, popping up, land and leaning in with their right, rinse and repeat.

They were practically jumping up a street and Maddie wished that she could laugh at the sheer stupidity that they’re in. But this was life now, doing Middle School Fitness Test moves to climb a landsliding street.

Hopefully they’ll survive, so they can do it later.

As they scaled to the top, the more of a slope the place was becoming. Maddie couldn’t focus on her surroundings, even with the physical effort she’s doing, as the street and what would’ve been buildings… Stores… Maybe even some old house with a stubborn senior in it that may or may not have eaten snails because Johnny from down the street saw it—All of it was white and warped. Gone. Removed.

The fucking idea… Everything that Maddie knew—the only things she truly known. Gone, just like that.

She knew she was going to shiver and preemptively stopped it. Forget Jackson needing to meditate, she had to join her if that means getting a damn hold of herself.

They made it to the street corner, with either Jackie or River shouting, “EXPECT THE WORSE!”, at everyone. Galloping over the last bit of blown up hill, putting their feet together and hopping in a bound, they made it.

There was no way they could’ve expected it to be as worse as it was.

The whole street, the whole neighborhood, was twisted into a downward spiral. And due to the momentum, the girls started to slide down.

Maddie instantly tried to anchor herself, shooting siVis control over her legs to remain uprooted, and got a horrible shot of pain for her troubles.

She instinctively tried to grab a leg, or at her knee, and despite her jerking still, she couldn’t save herself.

She tumbled forward, feeling someone try to grasp at her, but she fell forward regardless.

The physics of it, the pull, was truly something else. Maddie couldn’t have moved as she twirled around, yanked side-to-side, all due to each of the corkstrewed areas having their own since of logic on how things fall or not.

Being twisted, almost as the surrounding areas doing this to her, made her already tired muscles scream from being pulled, made her bones ring out for being contorted, and her mind hazy.

She quickly scanned her hell, trying to find something—anything, expanding her eyesight just to see what’s coming for her.

Good thing that she did.

Maddie guarded her face using her arms, and felt the razor sharp leaves pelt against them. She shouted, she screamed, but she refused to wince, to be paralyzed again.

She passed the unusual debris, and quickly looked up again to gauge the exact fresh hell she’s in.

Bushes, that probably once belonged to a mini park or something—uprooted and suspended in a way where they hover along the totaled and bended space.

But no time to remark, Maddie glanced down, seeing that she was speeding towards a warped mailbox, and used everything in her power to dodge, twist out of the way.

She felt things pop, she felt herself reach her limits of her siVis, but she managed to do it.

And landed side first onto a stretched apart car for her troubles, with a thud.

She grunted loudly, holding back the scream her body begged her to do—it was called for, it was okay. She refused, and tried to get out of the impressive dent she made.

But she couldn’t move. Or rather, she tried to move and she felt her hand suddenly weigh a ton.

She watched her hand try to struggle under this weight, it was practically twitching—shaking because Maddie was working against what is right now. Gravity, physics, what is up and down—is telling her to be pressed against this car.

And the dent she made, she was getting pushed into it more and more as she struggled.

Maddie was reaaaaaaally hoping for her bullshit power to kick in right about now…

But she didn’t need her power. Before she knew it, she was flipped over and began to fall forward back down again.

She was confused, she looked around, and saw a fast falling Jackson—clutching her arm as her eyes were glazed over again.

It was hard, trying not to yell at her, given that she wasn’t awake.

But Maddie started to gravitate, twisting and turning towards the rolled up sidewalk at a pleasant speed.

She really wanted to yell at Jackson, now.

She tried to brace herself, tuck into herself, as she rolled onto the ground, still being jerked about while being dribbled.

Up, down, left, right, down, left, left, right, down, up, up.

At some point, she finally came to a stop, rolling onto her shoulder as she rested on the concrete.

Maddie coughed, then held her stomach, “Hoow… The fuck… Are we alive still…?”

She heard a thud, and heard an unrelated groan. She thinks it was River’s voice…

“Y’know… Maybe that’s the catch…”

Maddie lifted herself up, gritting her teeth—that feeling more complete and together versus her other motions.

Aiko was on her back, reeling and covered in leaves and twigs. River and Jackie, the latter on her belly struggling to get up and the former sitting up, were banged up but not on the level of Aiko… And Tracy. Who’s hair frizzled, blown up, with bits of dirt and crumbs in it, while covered in dirt.

“We just had a shooooowaaa…” she groaned out.

Maddie put her face in her hands.

“Now… We only have to keep doing that again and again until we get close out of town… And we could end up here again if we take a wrong turn…” River croaked out.

“Good… Great… Awesome…” Maddie rubbed her face. “We’ll break our bones by mid-day.” She looked to the glazed over sky. “Oh wait.”

“You say that, but the only reason why we aren’t instantly dead from whiplash alone is because of siVis…”

“And even then… We still got fucked up,” Maddie mused. “Even then, it’s not enough…”

She shook her head. Looked over to Jackson, who was on her knees, looking around with a vacant face.

“…Jackie?” Maddie instantly turned her gears. “Do you recognize this place…?”

“…Well, River was right about us jumping all over the place,” she began. “It just happened now…”

Maddie scanned the area, just to gain any context clues, something.

But… It was a normal street. Filled with boring and dull colors—but color none the less. It was a typical suburban neighborhood, lined with houses—that used to have the typical wife and kids with dogs and dad’s on the lawn.

“…Don’t tell me,” Maddie said. “Is this your place…?”

“Not too far, actually…” Jackie then pointed down the long street. “Just down the street.”

“Well, that’s great!” Tracy exclaimed. Maybe we can crash there, rest! Have running water or something possibly-?”

Jackie smiled, trying not to be overwhelmed by the possibility. “Yeah. Yeah.”

“…I don’t mean this to be… A dick or something,” River began, as Jackie shot a look at her.

“River, there’s no way that it’s been warped—We’re practically there now!”

“A lot can happen,” River reasoned. “We’re dealing with things that doesn’t subscribe to logic. We JUST got done dealing with that.”

“Yes, but--!” Jackie pleaded desperately.

“Jackie,” Maddie said firm. “Either way, it’s a bad idea. We might risk you exploding if you find your house. I think River’s right.”

Tracy was helping Aiko now, both watching on instead of helping.

“But…! It’s there! Just right there! I can handle this!”

“I don’t think you can.”

She stood up, and instantly, her pieces began to pop open, crackle. “We could end this! We could call this a day! We could’ve saved this day, made it good!”

“I’m going to say this and hopefully you’ll start to get ahold of yourself again—” Maddie tried to say, reason.

Jackie crumpled over, grabbing her head, screaming out. She started to glow from her widening and crumbling cracks along her body, unleashing unhealthy blue light and inhumane hum.

“SOMETIMES SHIT IS JUST SHIT!” Maddie screamed over here. “AND LOOKING THROUGH SHIT WILL COVER YOU IN MORE OF IT! Bad days will always exist! Bad shit will always exist! THE THING WE HAVE TO DO IS DEAL—DEAL AND NOT LET IT FUCKING GET TO US! IGNORE THE PAIN—NEVER LET IT FUCKING RULE YOU!”

It was too late.

There was a visual shuddering, before Jackie exploded in a blue light—knocking everything and everyone away and down. Such a concessive blast made Maddie skid backwards, hitting a stone wall that elevated a lawn.

Maddie gasped; the air knocked out of her.

Her vision was blurring, but she focused on Jackie, still glowing and quivering.

She was crying, but the cracks were open so wide, her tears ran out of the gash that was once her cheek. She was building up for another blast.

“You… Talk about good days…” Maddie choked out. “Look… At what you’re doing…!”

Another blast, but weaker this time. But no less hard on Maddie’s body.

She only had an eye open and she forced herself not to pass out.

“Fine… Destroy the last piece of what you have… You’re a hypocrite… And to think… I thought you were…”

There was a loud rumbling and it wasn’t Jackie.

A shadow was casted over them and Maddie looked up.

There was a floating Diamond, chrome—white—and black. Extant.

The undercarriage was opened, and five metal coffins fell out, each landing with a thunderous crash as each one ripped up the street.

Each one was stainless, bulky, and armored. Pretty trademark, finishing the look off with a helmet prodding out.

With whirring and hissing, they became the Extant Enforcers one would ever see on TV, never up close. Heavily armored limbs, black body suit, a helmet take took over one’s head, along with a main body, torso and back that housed all the life support and fire power they need—giving them a hunched over look.

Jackie quickly turned to them, face cracked open and leaking, her eyes red and shunken. Half human, other unrecognizable.

The middle Enforcer was reading themselves, but stopped for a moment, oddly hesitated. It was a pregnant second, but they combined both their gauntlets together, transforming seamlessly into a cannon—the other two on their respective sides held them in place.

It fired and flung out a net of some kind—lancing forward and trapping Jackie. Trapping her, head to toe, as the net shrunk around her as well.

And even when covered with gray wrapping paper, the light from the cracks started to flair up again.

The last two Enforcers rushed in, despite being so worn down by that armor, and one held a piece of a device each on opposite hands. They got close to Jackie, connected the device on her head—forming a ring—and then backed away. She went completely still.

“YOU ARE NOW FORCED INTO YOUR MINDSCAPE,” the Enforcer bellowed. “FOR YOUR SAFETY AS WELL AS OTHERS, YOU MUST GAIN A HOLD OF YOUR SIVIS ABILITY. REPAIR OR HOLD TOGETHER YOUR ACTIVATION OR YOU WILL BE RESIGITERED AS A SIVIS TREND AND TAKEN TO DR. TABER MEMORIAL RESEARCH!”

Maddie would laugh if her lungs weren’t caved in (and she quickly checked—nope, shit just hurts). Jackie Jackson: The Next Cassie Morgan, Nathaniel Fuuki. N’atural Savage.

“hey, im slowly turning into a monster and no one can stop me” is really different to, “yeah I lost my house and I managed to fuck up getting siVis”.

It was a long wait. Maybe too long. But the lights begun to wind down, and the two Enforcers moved forward to take off the crown, then unwrapped Jackson—who while covered in tears and sweat, was returned to normal.

The other three spread out, hopefully tending to the others. It was the roaring hum of the diamond ship getting ready to touch down that Maddie passed out to.

***

“You guys were lucky. We were only passing over, just to get to somewhere else…”

Maddie awoke, finding herself sitting along with the others, at the bottom of the open ramp of the diamond ship.

The Enforcer had a posture—they stood as if they gave little to no shits. Hand on their hip, lean to that said hip… And then they sighed, looking straight at Jackson.

There was a hiss, similar to the hiss where they transformed outta coffin-mode. They reached up, and took off their helmet.

Whoever she was, she made Jackson cover her mouth in surprise. She looked like she honestly couldn’t have taken anymore.

The chick shook her head, her crimson hair bun swaying a bit before she spoke again, “You were supposed to be one that never got into messes, Jackson…”

Jackson jumped up, and hugged the red-haired chick… And she didn’t instantly hug back. Only wrapping an arm around her and patting her back, reluctantly.

Maddie could only rub her forehead, prepping for the trainwreck. Maybe Jackson was right. Shit’s getting waaaay too shitty…

“So uh,” Maddie broke the silence. “Are you gonna introduce your ex, Jackie or-?”

The redhead chuckled, “Fuck, I wish… But nah. Name’s Scarlett. We went to high school together… Here…”

“Jesus,” River managed to make sound monotone. “Like. We’re getting into poorly written soap territory…”

“The hell are you people doing here…?” Scarlett asked. “And more importantly, did you guys force her to do any of this?”

Tracy waved her hands in fear, with her makeshift ‘fro bouncing as well, “NO! NONONONO—NOT AT ALL! We all made the choice-!”

“And not only that, it didn’t even happen the way we wanted…” Aiko backed up.

“In the interest of my slightly suss cohorts here…” Maddie cut in. “We only met like… Days ago. We were gonna chance getting siVis, blew up in our faces, and since then—we’ve been royally fucked by the universe by just existing. We WERE promised to be going home by using PATH-OS, but that fucked up and landed us here.”

“You’re shitting me—” Scarlett blunk.

“I wish I was…”

Scarlett scratched her head, with her free hand. “Well… We have PATH-OS built into the Carrier here, but if you people are having problems fucking going home…”

“I think we were conned, but the running theory is that big girl there thought about home and well, popped us here.”

Scarlett sighed. “That right…? Shit’s weird enough today, I can buy it getting worse like that…”

Jackie finally stopped hugging her, as she grabbed Scarlett’s shoulders.

“What? No insults? N-no bragging…? I finally did something stupid, why aren’t you rubbing it in, huh…?”

“UNIT-7785!” one of the Enforcers yelled behind Scarlett, forcing everyone sans her to turn to them. “YOU HAVE AN OBILGATION, AND I SUGGEST YOU STICK TO IT!”

Scarlett only sighed, rolled her eyes. She backed away from the girls, from Jackie, leaving her standing there.

“I regret to inform you that I, Scarlett, am currently serving what could have been a prison sentence as a Unit for Extant. While my record will not be stricken clean, this is my journey in redeeming myself.”

Jackie looked crushed.

Scarlett looked at her and shrugged. “I did something stupider.”

The girl slowly put on her helmet, clicking it back into place. “We’ll get you girls teleported back to where you were. I’ll just inform my bosses and we’ll make the reports, so it’s going to be a while.”

She begun to turn around, only glancing back with her featureless mask.

“Too bad we can never make up now, huh?”

And as Scarlett turned away, walking to her superiors, Jackie just simply ran. Ran away down the street, without a second thought.

“Goddamn it—” Tracy shouted.

“Nah,” Maddie got up, stood up with hands in her pockets, looking at the rest. “I got this.”

“Listen Maddie, you making fun of her being a cynical asshole isn’t going to help!” Tracy shouted. “She’s lost everything! Everything she’s cared about! Sarcasm and being nihilist with puns isn’t solving her hurt!”

“…Nihilist, huh?” Maddie remarked. “If anything, cutting out the things that don’t matter only helped me.”

She walked away, walking down the path Jackie took.

She prepared her speech, her grand justification, trying to add ethos to her weary journey down memory land.

She prepared to tell Jackie that her parents were terrible, incompetent, not in her life anymore due to her sister’s death. That she was malnourished for a while. That every single event in her childhood that she could recall always ended in some sob story, some tragedy. Just because her parents were scared of the Shifts and turned to drinks to not be there to experience life—no matter how much they told her that she loved them. Her.

It ruled them, everything did, and still will rule them if they ever do get clean. Maddie knows she’s wounded, she saw it when she got trapped in the Mindscape. But if you don’t do shit about the wounds, they’ll only get infected by something far worse. So you remove, you dig, pour acid or cut whole arms off if you need to. Maddie was prepared to make Jackie see that you can only be hard, against a world that only serves to knock you down into paste.

But when she found Jackie…

She was sparing at an uprooted and twisted hill. It was embedded with what would’ve made up a house—door, walls, windows—scattered away and broken beyond repair. Hell, even a tree—turned brittle and gray, wrapped around the hill, almost looking like a bony hand petting the abomination. It was so bad, the ground before Jackie was a chasm, so deep it was black.

Jackie stood there, because she couldn’t get any further.

Maddie glanced her fist, as it was balled tight.

She nodded to herself, leaving her to grieve on her own.

***

“You guys promise that you’re sending us back to Davenport?” Maddie stood, clean and only slightly fucked up again, in the teleporter with the rest of the girls. They told them that this is a special model, allowing for mass transports.

They all nodded, all in formation.

“…Ya’ll better be lucky that I can’t tell—the armor’s cool and all but—” Maddie.

And with that, the rings descended, scanning them up and down, before disappearing into a beam of light again.

But before it took hold… Maybe the others heard it too, but Maddie heard the Enforcers’ radio talk.

“We’re done with our detour, we’ll be on bound to assist you, Ms. Masters.”

“Thank you for your services, Officer. Maybe we’ll solve this whole mess yet…”