Firewall

Chapter 24

"A golden animatronic?"

Jack nodded, keeping his eyes on Mark rather than Felix, whom he was speaking to. His hands were clasped tightly around Mark's limp arm, as if he was trying to keep the unconscious AI from leaving, even though he was clearly going to be asleep for a while. His glasses had been removed and set on the nightstand Jack was currently sitting next to, his flannel neatly hung up on the corner of his bed frame. Jack found the image of Mark without his glasses to be almost unnatural to him, since he had been wearing glasses for as long he had known him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes... Well... It looked sorta gold. Not shiny, like an ingot. Just yellowish... Kinda faded and discolored" Jack found himself whispering "It was right there, right next to me before... I had to leave it" he admitted, his eyes fixated on Mark's still, peaceful face "I knew it... It was Mark's. It was from that same game, but... It looked really, really scary and... Well... That's not important..."

Jack glanced up at Felix for only a second before turning back to Mark "the moment I saw it... I just knew it was a sign... That Mark would be okay..."

"That's sounds awfully whimsical, coming from you" MatPat spoke up as he continued to look Mark over from the other side of the bed they had laid him in, the rest of the medical bay void of any other visitors "you feeling alright, Jack?"

Jack shook his head, closing his eyes "no... Not at all..."

"I don't blame you... I mean... What the hell?" MatPat looked up at Felix "did Mark really just do the impossible? Something even you would have struggled with?"

"Apparently so" Felix's frown was immense, his eyes narrowed as he watched over his unconscious friend "I'm still struggling to believe it, even if most of our fighters can attest to that fact."

"But... It was a level 70 Virus..." MatPat looked back at Mark "and he literally incinerated it..."

"Incinerated? More like vaporized..."

Jack blinked and looked up to see Vanoss walking into the medical bay, his movements as taunt as his facial expression "practically roasted us all alive, rising up from the ground like some goddanm phoenix or some shit." His voice was dry, his Owl's eyes looking down at Mark with an almost accusing look "didn't think it was him at first, I mean, who the fuck was expecting this?"

"Freddy, obviously."

Even Vanoss looked surprised to see Sky wander in after him, looking more exhausted than Jack had ever seen him. He stopped to stand beside Vanoss, his brown gaze flickering from Mark to Jack in a hyperactive manner despite his obvious lack of energy "sure, it looked like a kidnapping at first... But Freddy was the real deal..." He shook his head side to side; closing his eyes as he reached up to take his glasses off his face so he could rub his eyes "I can only assume that... Freddy helped him kill that thing..."

"Uh... I don't see how an animatronic bear with a top hat equals giant pillar of motherfucking fire..."

"No... That was all Mark... Somehow..." Sky put his glasses back onto his face, taking a deep breath as he straightened up, running a hand through his curly hair "I can't tell you anything else without more information about Freddy himself... I-"

"I saw a golden animatronic."

Sky blinked and looked over at Jack "really?"

"Yeah..." Jack looked back down at Mark "but... I had to run after Mark. It must have gone back into the Antechamber afterwards..."