Jackie had to recite the plan in her head, as a sense of comfort during this terrible event. An event she’s capitalizing on, to take advantage of, so that when she crosses the line—there’s a means to escape the consequences. And all it took was betraying someone that, along with having a similar mindset, feels the same way about betrayal and selfishness as well.
The plan, the plan—the technical, the steps. She knew if she dwelt on what she’s done, the Shift’s stutter wouldn’t be the only thing weighing on her.
As she slammed her entire shoulder against the staggering walls, Jackie was grateful for the helmet—it was taking the worst of the reality disturbance for her. Getting it was such a rogue element, she told the girls over their messages that they shouldn’t count on obtaining one. The scenarios she thought of—maybe her taking the fall, feinting for the helmet, so a rookie or vain officer tackles HER and the others rush for it. Or use the power of numbers to possibly overwhelm, but it ran into the same problem of underestimating both the Enforcers and the home field they’re on.
But it would’ve been worth it—is worth it, as Jackie was the leveled head in this sequence now. Able to see through the chaos, to check to see if the others are okay—and if this suicidal plan is working.
And importantly, it made her both see and realize that Tracy was still on the floor, clutching her head—crying. This time, it wasn’t acting.
Jackie ceased what she was doing, and even a simple turn of her body felt like she ran 40 meters in the Olympics. She knew that if a helmet was asking too much, then wishing she had an Enforcer suit would’ve been a straight-up miracle. She moved forward, with each step she took resulting in her legs feeling full of lead, causing her to stumble.
The great thing about being so hunched over, meant that she was able to crouch downward to get the shivering Tracy, hoisting the both of them up as if she was a Greek protagonist doing an impossible labor for both their lives. Jackie knew, in her head, that this was… What, a minute? Someone could’ve informed her that it was 20 years in actuality, and she wouldn’t have argued against it. This was terrible.
And this was them being PROTECTED by the Shift’s effects.
Jackie tried to move her mouth, but there wasn’t any sound—and in a second’s retrospect, realized that she probably opened her mouth and it closed just as instantly. She looked at Tracy in her hold, struggled to point at the wall, and Tracy with her big, doughy eyes; sluggishly got out of Jackie’s embrace to proceed with her task.
The tall girl scanned across the room. Leech was still on the ground, on his knees. The rest of the girls were repeatedly rushing against the walls, the constant action surely would’ve made a series of dents by this point.
But that was counting on the fact that this place was remotely normal. For every indent, blemish or “bruise” these walls began to suffer from—they settled back to their natural state. As if nothing happened.
As if all of this was for naught.
Maddie was smashing the wall, using her fists in addition to her using her shoulder. Aiko was thrusting with her entire body in rapid strikes, before backing up to kick at it with somehow faster speeds. And River was steadily leaned into the wall, using her weight to force the wall to give in.
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And she watched, as every action they took was reversed within moments. Only for them to go at it again, more desperate than before.
Jackie shook her own head, as the doubts added to the cosmic weight. This was terrible, this outright sucked. Every movement they took, it expended so much energy and mobility that they needed to complete the rest of the plan. This was merely Step 1.
She took a big sigh that lasted for moments. If they were all truly damned from the beginning, might as well damn themselves in a way that they could control. So, like the fool that she was, she resumed rushing the wall, the loud thuds resonating in the fluttering air around them.
Regardless of the foolishness of the action, this was the crux of the plan—relying instead on the faultiness of CRUX itself. Jackie and River researched and doubly confirmed the claim that—while the technology that lined not only EXTANT buildings, but will be rolling out to normal ones, can take the brunt of the Shift’s effects—CRUX can’t have too many disturbances to occur during said events.
So of course, one fool banging against the wall wouldn’t do much, they planned for that—they made sure to prepare for that eventually. But six fools, with nothing to lose, during the advent of the Meta Crisis—banging against the walls at once?
Each slam got louder, more rough. Jackie feared that someone’s arm would get broken as a result, or one of the walls caving in versus opening. More and more possibilities formed in her fervid mind that she could not focus on at this moment. Otherwise, they’ll lose.
As she opened her eyes, from the latest trip of banging against the wall, Jackie noticed that the stuttering began to clear up.
Turns out, the worse-case scenario she tried pushing away from her mind, turned out to be their reality.
There is. No way, that she’s going to let that happen.
What was rushing became ramming, at least on Jackie’s part. She can handle pain, take a broken shoulder, or whatever sacrifice that was needed. This was all on her, and damn it, she was going to succeed. To lose, was to suffer. And clearly, they all suffered enough in their own ways.
The resounding bangs started to hurt as much as the impacts, somehow. But Jackie, as she was literally against the wall—felt it reform effortlessly against her stinging skin that made her clothes feel like sandpaper. She forced her palm against the smooth surface, struggled to rise from the wall, panting as she readied herself for a full body slam in this desperate hour.
“I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT I GOT IT—”
Who else but Tracy, ended up being the one that managed to open the wall.
The CRUX technology that made up the wall shuddered into protocol, opening a passageway as if someone toggled the code to do so. Due to the sudden and conflicting nature of the activation, the “door” was poorly formed, a hole with violently twitching edges. As if the wall was made of 2x4 wood, reeling back as if they were curtains someone was struggling to open.
It didn’t matter to Tracy, as she did a series of small screams as she made her exit—the first to get away.
“Thank fucking Christ, my hand was gonna fucking explode--!” Maddie grunted, sprinting ahead. “Let’s move, I ain’t made for prison--!”
The rest of the girls responded in kind, and Jackie took a few steps. Looking back at Leech, stirring from confusion and brain oversensory.
Jackie allowed the guilt to shape her face. She hated her heart, sometimes.
She silently took off his helmet, setting it down gently, wasting precious time she knew was going down the drain. But she had to do it.
And with a full sprint, Jackie made it to the door in possible record time.
But a malformed entrance also resulted in a malformed tunnel out of the chamber, weirdly smooth yet with cave formation-like ridges. While it was steep and took a lot of effort to scale, Jackie felt it was child’s play compared to moving within the stutter of a Shift.
All she had to aim for, was the light at the end of it. She couldn’t help but smile at what that could end up representing.