After Jane sent that last text to Jon in episode 22 ('Keep him. We have had our fun. He will want to see it when the Archivist’s crimson fate arrives.'), Martin probably cancelled the contract on his old phone when he got a new one. But what if the archive staff had tried to communicate with Jane instead, to try to gain even a slight hint about where she was and what she was planning, in the early days before they'd even read her statement? Broadly speaking there are quite a few ways you could run with this, if it's a 'what if' that catches the imagination:
- The attack comes as quickly as canon, or sooner, with all the more opportunities for threats, misinformation, failed location tracking attempts etc. Maybe Martin texts questions like 'why did you let me go?' and 'what do you want?' and gets only the malice he expected in return, without Jane letting slip anything useful. Maybe Jane texts back with verbal taunting, or pictures of other victims (dead or alive), or nudes of her worm-infested flesh. Or she finds nudes Martin had taken of himself at some point, and sends them to Jon and the others, leading to some uncomfortable conversations about whether they should cancel that contract and block that number after all. Maybe she even sends nasty texts to Elias, or Martin's mum, which he'd find hard to handle in season 1.
- Jane bides her time with the worm-circle in the tunnels that she was using to start her ritual, which would've taken years to develop, and doesn't rush into attacking the basement archives in the meantime. Maybe she shares the Distortion's niche as a malevolent source of hints about the Eye, and the archives staff don't really have a way of getting rid of her, so they just take whatever cryptic info they can get. Maybe she hangs around long enough to attack different characters at different times - the staff's allies or enemies? Maybe she finds Gertrude's body and sends a photo along with some happy emojis? Maybe as Jon questions his own humanity and eventually starts comparing himself to her, he texts her instead of just staring at her remains in the jar/tunnels and wondering what had gone through her mind? (Artistic liberties could be taken for Jane to be capable of holding a conversation beyond 'lol i want to kill you all'... it's striking that she couldn't seem to remember her own life very clearly even before she stuck her hand in the wasps' nest.)
Gen's fine, or ships within the archives staff, and/or assault by Jane! (Any kind of tone's ok - pure horror, dark humour, creepy smut, or other emotions if an idea evokes them.)
Prompt: Jane & archive staff, ongoing texting
- The attack comes as quickly as canon, or sooner, with all the more opportunities for threats, misinformation, failed location tracking attempts etc. Maybe Martin texts questions like 'why did you let me go?' and 'what do you want?' and gets only the malice he expected in return, without Jane letting slip anything useful. Maybe Jane texts back with verbal taunting, or pictures of other victims (dead or alive), or nudes of her worm-infested flesh. Or she finds nudes Martin had taken of himself at some point, and sends them to Jon and the others, leading to some uncomfortable conversations about whether they should cancel that contract and block that number after all. Maybe she even sends nasty texts to Elias, or Martin's mum, which he'd find hard to handle in season 1.
- Jane bides her time with the worm-circle in the tunnels that she was using to start her ritual, which would've taken years to develop, and doesn't rush into attacking the basement archives in the meantime. Maybe she shares the Distortion's niche as a malevolent source of hints about the Eye, and the archives staff don't really have a way of getting rid of her, so they just take whatever cryptic info they can get. Maybe she hangs around long enough to attack different characters at different times - the staff's allies or enemies? Maybe she finds Gertrude's body and sends a photo along with some happy emojis? Maybe as Jon questions his own humanity and eventually starts comparing himself to her, he texts her instead of just staring at her remains in the jar/tunnels and wondering what had gone through her mind? (Artistic liberties could be taken for Jane to be capable of holding a conversation beyond 'lol i want to kill you all'... it's striking that she couldn't seem to remember her own life very clearly even before she stuck her hand in the wasps' nest.)
Gen's fine, or ships within the archives staff, and/or assault by Jane! (Any kind of tone's ok - pure horror, dark humour, creepy smut, or other emotions if an idea evokes them.)