Control | Moon Knight

32

The screams continue, echoing throughout the abandoned halls of the asylum as the men's minds scramble for an answer. Even the hippo begins to scream as well.

Then, Marc flashes out, entering a new reality, one where he's back in front of Dr. Harrow and screaming at the top of his lungs. The doctor tries to calm him, to assure him that it's alright.

But perhaps, it's not Marc whose mind is in control of the body. Maybe it's not even Steven, but something else entirely presents itself when he stands up holding a sharp glass pyramid and begins speaking with a New York accent, of which neither Marc nor Steven have. It ends with a needle in his neck, sending the drug coursing through his veins to bring him back to where things left off.

With the hippo.

The screams soon subside, and while Steven stares in awe at the giant animal in front of them, Marc bends over with his eyes wide.

" Wow, these meds are really amazing," He gasps.

" Is he always so... intense?" The hippo asks.

" Him?" Steven asks as he points to the man identical to him, " Yeah, pretty much."

" So, are you two, like, twins?"

" No."

" Well, yeah, sort of."

" Okay, great," The hippo says with artificial reassurance, " That's really cleared this whole situation up for me."

" That makes two of us, cause just a second ago I thought I'd been shot to death," Marc quips.

" Oh, gosh! This will really bake your noodle, but I think you were just taking a little time out," The hippo chuckles, " I'm afraid you're actually quite dead."

Dead?

No... no it can't be.

" I'm sorry, what?" Marc questions, " I'm dead, we're dead?"

" Yes," Steven breathes, eyes wide and body still, " Yes, Marc, I think she's right. I think we died."

The men watch as the hippo pulls a stack of cards out from her pocket and prepares herself to read the words on the page. She takes a deep breath and licks her lips then swings her arm upward to make the greeting all the more dramatic.

" Welcome, gentle traveler... travelers, to the realm of the Duat."

" The Duat? The Egyptian Underworld?" Steven asks excitedly as he begins to put the pieces together, " This is Tarweret, goddess of women and children, and... she's guiding us through our journey to the afterlife. Wow."

But Marc doesn't buy it as he eyes his surroundings skeptically.

" Right, so this is the afterlife? The afterlife?" He jousts.

" An afterlife, not the afterlife," Tarweret corrects, " You'd be surprised how many intersectional planes of untethered consciousness exist," she gasps, " Like the Ancestral Plane. Oh! Just gorgeous. Anyway, I do actually have cards for this," she shuffles through the cards and smiles once she finds the right one, " Okay, so, because the Duat's true nature is impossible for the human mind to comprehend..."

" Right," Steven says as he nods along.

" You may perceive this realm as something more easily recognizable to you," Tarweret adds as she looks around, " A psych ward's a first for me, but, hey, we can roll with it, right?"

And while it makes sense to one, it does not make sense to the other.

" Why would we imagine this realm as a psychiatric hospital?" Steven asks with furrowed brows.