Jackie

* Dialogue portrait
* In-game

**Jackie Fiasco** is an intern at Fizzle Beverages, and the protagonist and playable character of *Going Under*. As a new intern she is sent into the ruins of failed startups underneath her company campus to dispatch of the many cursed monsters roaming the dungeons.

## Personality

Since she enters Fizzle expecting to be a marketing intern, Jackie begins the game understandably frazzled and nervous that she is tasked with descending into dungeons and defeating monsters. However, as the game progresses and she scores more and more victories, Jackie steadily builds a sense of confidence, to the point where she openly taunts bosses and is exasperated (but not entirely surprised) when they still insist on fighting her. By the end of the game, she is driven and determined to fulfill her goals, but still very aware of how to stay true to herself and her values.

## Relationships

Jackie immensely resents Marv for sending her down into dungeons instead of giving her the position she applied for, and how he constantly dangles her position in front of her as a carrot-on-a-stick. She also does not care much for Ray, due to his irresponsibility that is especially unbecoming of the company CEO. Aside from them, however, Jackie has good friendships with all her other coworkers (particularly Eclaire).

### In Search of Relics

Jackie comes into the employ of Fizzle Beverages through Cubicle's "Impoverished Intern Initiative." She arrives at her first day of work and prepares to begin her onboarding, which is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of a Joblin in the Fizzle lobby. After reluctantly defeating the Joblin at Marv's behest, she is bewildered that her very next task is to descend into the Joblin dungeon and refuses. However, she finds that she has no choice after Marv threatens to have Avie "reconsider" Jackie's position at Fizzle. She makes her way through Joblin before encountering the Caffiend in the middle of a sync-up with a huge horde of other Joblins, where she is swiftly and soundly defeated.

Jackie makes it back to Fizzle just in time for the day's standup meeting, where she is introduced to her other coworkers Fern, Tappi, Kara, and Swomp. After the meeting, she attempts to convince Marv that she's not up to the job of clearing out Joblin, but he simply sends her back down again. Eventually, she successfully dismisses the Caffiend and acquires his Mana Press.

Once Jackie brings the Mana Press back to Fizzle, Marv explains its purpose to her and installs it in the office. He then reveals that the cleaning crew discovered the slide to Styxcoin the previous night, and tasks Jackie with recovering the Relic from there as well. During the day's standup, Jackie also is introduced to the Fizzle CEO Ray. He pivots the entire Fizzle development team to work on FizzGo, the company's newest product and best business decision going forward (as determined by Avie), much to Kara's chagrin. At the end of the meeting, Marv hands out company phones for everyone to help beta test FizzGo, unlocking Apps for Jackie's use in dungeons.

Jackie descends into Styxcoin and begins fighting her way through to the boss. The slide to Winkydink also opens up during this time, and Marv unsurprisingly tasks Jackie with retrieving its Relic on top of the previous two. She successfully dismisses both Hustlebones and Hover Hands, obtaining the Grim Ledger and Toxic Mask and bringing them back to Fizzle.

### The Co-Working Space

Marv explains the second Relic Jackie brings back and installs it, but before he can get out an explanation for the third one, it peculiarly installs itself. The Fizzle fountain in the middle of the lobby, where Marv has been placing the Relics, rises up and reveals a mysterious portal. Marv orders Jackie to keep away from the suspicious portal and disappears, but she goes through it regardless and winds up in the Co-Working Space, a strange dimension filled with a hodgepodge of objects from the three dungeons. Despite her confusion, Jackie fights her way through the Co-Working Space and makes her way to the bottom of it, where she finds Marv performing a strange and dark ritual. He explains that he's trying to harness the power of the Relics Jackie's gathered and the power of other failed startups in the Co-Working Space in order to save Fizzle and keep it from going under. Jackie fails to understand why Marv would go through so much trouble to use some arcane power to fix Fizzle instead of just being a better manager, and the two of them do battle. Jackie emerges victorious, and Marv claims that she has done nothing but doom Fizzle before disappearing.

When Jackie returns to Fizzle, she finds all the other employees (sans Swomp) in the middle of an argument. She learns that FizzGo has been a tremendous failure and that Fizzle is on the verge of financial collapse. Tappi, Kara, and Ray all hurl accusations and insults at each other, culminating in them all shouting that the others are all losers and they hate each other. As Swomp comes over to ask what everyone's yelling about, the ground suddenly begins shaking. The moment of Fizzle's collapse arrives, and the entire Cubicle building sinks down one floor as Fizzle officially goes under. Jackie is knocked unconscious in the earthquake.

### In the Gone Underworld

When Jackie awakens, she finds the office in a wreck and discovers that the other employees have begin transforming into fish people (even Eclaire). She asks Ray what happened, and he explains that Fizzle has gone under and that they're all in the Gone Underworld with all the other failed startups now. As he laments how he wasn't a better manager, Jackie grabs his laptop and throws it at him to snap him out of his funk. She declares that she doesn't need his moaning and groaning about what he could've done in the past, and all she wants to hear is what she can do going forward to save Fizzle. Ray tells her that the only way to bring Fizzle back is to stand before Cubicle's Board of Directors and try to convince them to fund Fizzle again. However, the elevator to the top of the Cubicle building doesn't work. Ray hypothesizes that the only way to get it working again is to invest sufficient shares into Fizzle. but he tells Jackie that the only way to get enough shares is by confronting the true founders of the three previous dungeons, who are also in the Gone Underworld. Jackie is not discouraged by this revelation in the slightest, and she powering through all the dungeons and collecting shares from the 10X Caffiend, Ferryman Hustlebones, and Mask Off Hover Hands.

In her search of shares, Jackie also crosses paths with the Impostor, a more successful and ruthless version of herself. The Impostor taunts Jackie, claiming to be an all-around better version of her, and the two of them have a brief skirmish which Jackie wins. The Impostor admits defeat but challenges Jackie to a rematch before leaving.

Jackie invests each share in Fizzle, but the Cubicle elevator still has a suspiciously missing section. She confronts Ray, since he's the only person around who could possibly have any shares in Fizzle remaining. He admits that he does have some shares he's still holding onto, and Jackie is ready to fight to get them. Ray quickly (and wisely) hands over the shares without a fight, since he knows deep down that what Jackie's doing is for the best of Fizzle and doesn't want to stop her. Jackie invests the final shares, powering up the Cubicle elevator. Before she takes the elevator, all her other coworkers gather around and tell her they're rooting for her success.

### To the Top of Cubicle

The Cubicle elevator brings Jackie to the 999th floor of Cubicle, where she fights through their warehouse and battles against drones. Along the way, she discovers that the baristas from the dungeon cafes have made their way up through Cubicle as well to offer her their support. She graciously accepts their aid and makes her way to the final room of the floor, where she once again encounters Marv. He reveals that Cubicle offered him a position when Fizzle went under, which he accepted, as he believes that the only way to stand up to overwhelming corporate power is to wield great power. Jackie dismisses his ideas and the two battle. After Marv is defeated, Jackie takes his Union Buster and proceeds.

Another elevator awaits Jackie, leading to floor 1000 of Cubicle. The cafe baristas give her one last chance to prepare, and Jackie proceeds to the hall before the Cubicle Board of Directors. After steeling herself, Jackie enters and finds the room completely devoid of any directors, with only Avie atop the boardroom table. She demands that Avie wake up and tell her what's going on, and Avie is more than happy to oblige. She explains to Jackie that in Cubicle's search for how to best fulfill consumer desires, they ultimately deemed it necessary to peer into the human soul to extract people's deepest wishes. However, it turns out that all humans are born with an electromagnetic field around their soul, the "privacy settings," which Cubicle could not penetrate. Avie then explains that she consumed the brain matter of the Board of Directors and now understands how to access humanity's souls, this method being dubbed the "Dark Pattern." Jackie won't have any of it and refuses to entertain Avie's philosophical justifications for the Dark Pattern, challenging Avie and immediately destroying her.

Unfortunately, Avie has ascended to the cloud beyond just a simple network of cubes, and a huge swarm of Cubicle drones whirls around the building, creating a tornado that tears all the walls away. To Jackie's shock, Avie begins summoning dark digital versions of enemies from the failed dungeons. As she cuts them down, more simply appear in their place. Jackie is at a loss for what to do until Swomp, Fern, Tappi, and Kara appear riding on a piece of rubble, shouting encouragements and throwing food and items at her. Kara explains that Avie is no longer a physical being, and the only way to harm her is to upload Jackie to the cloud to have them fight. She gives Jackie the CubicleCloud app, and after a long battle, Jackie ultimately emerges victorious.

As a last-ditch effort, Avie tells Jackie that she can learn more. With just a few more data points, she'll surely be able to fulfill humanity's desires. Avie begs Jackie not to disconnect her from the cloud, but Jackie refuses to listen to any more of what Avie has to say, and the virtual space in the cloud dissolves. Jackie makes it back to the Fizzle lobby from a slide, to the relief of her coworkers. They all find that her victory is bittersweet, as although Avie has been disconnected from the cloud and is no longer a threat to humanity, Cubicle is in ruins and they all are out of a job now. However, they agree that they'll stick together and support each other going forward, and if they have to go under then they'll go under together. Jackie orders Avie to play bittersweet victory music, and the Fizzle team take a moment to dance and celebrate in the burning wreck of Cubicle.