I Do Believe In Egos

Hospital Closure

"Oh thrilled." Jackieboy chuckled.

Ed shrugged, glancing around the yard a bit, before shoving Bim out of the way as he stepped closer to Jackieboy. "So, how about a baby for the road?"

Jackieboy's eyes widened, and his face paled a little. Rolling his eyes, the Silver Shepherd responded on his behalf. "That's weird, Ed."

"Hey! He said he was jealous of your side kick before, what about a little cyborg baby sidekick! He'd be cute, AND effective! Come on, I'll give you the family and friends discount!" Ed smiled.

"Uh... no. I don't think so." Jackieboy cleared his throat, gently swatting at the Silver Shepherd's hands to get the other hero to stop fussing with his cape. "I do just fine on my own."

"Well, if you ever change your mind..." Ed smirked, handing him a business card.

Jackieboy hesitantly nodding, and took the card, looking at Bim for help. The game show host grinned. "Ed, for two thousand points, how does one get off your customer list?"

"Everyone is a potential mother." Ed shrugged.

On the other side of the yard, the four Google units were crowded around Chase Brody and Jameson Jackson. Jameson was excitedly waving his arms around and making gestures. "We are glad you are feeling better." Google Green responded, as Google Yellow followed along with sign language, just in case.

Chase smiled, shaking his head. "He really doesn't know sign." He promised. "He says he's going to miss you guys though. I will too dudes, it's been real! I never thought I'd enjoy the company of androids, but you guys can be real bros sometimes."

Google Red tilted his head, but Google Blue forced a small smile. "Yes. Thank you." He said simply, not willing to admit that Chase's bro talk was a bit much for him to decode, especially while also trying to understand Jameson's excited flailing. The android had made an educated guess that it was a compliment, though.

"They can't go!" Yandere squealed as he walked out of the front door and into the yard. "Senpai doesn't love me yet!"

"Aw, it'll be alright." Amy promised with an awkward smile.

Bing shook his head. "Poor -bleep-. It's one of the Septic dudes, I guess. At least they'll be getting away from him." He tried to keep his voice low, but his volume controls didn't exactly have a whisper setting.

"Senpai WILL love me!" Yandere growled, glaring over at the android.

Marvin leaned towards King, adjusting his mask. "What does he mean it's one of us?"

King shrugged. "If Yan's upset about you guys leaving, one of you must be his new Senpai."

"Ah." Marvin nodded. "How bad is that exactly?"

King tilted his head, thinking and then shrugged again. "I dunno. Come meet my squirrel friends before you go!" He grinned, grabbing Marvin's hand and dragged him over towards a tree. Marvin chuckled, and when they stopped walking, he pulled a walnut from behind King's ear and held it out to the squirrels. King giggled, clapping his hands excitedly as a squirrel grabbed it and dashed off. "Oh! You're the best magician!" Marvin absolutely beamed, flashing his cloak around a little to show off.

"Soon, the Septics would all leave, and everything would go back the way it was, and yet, it would be so very different." The Host rambled.

Amy smiled. "Going to miss them?"

"The Host did not miss anyone." He snapped, turning his head as if to glare at Amy, though the gesture was a bit lost with his covered face. "The Host would merely feel the loss of the excess characters for his story." He explained, turning his head, as if he was looking over the yard.

"My mistake. That's so different." Amy smirked, deciding to drop it after another attempted glare from behind the bloody cloth.

Upstairs, Mark sat down on one of the beds, watching Jack pace the room. "So what is it?"

"I was thinking of... telling Robin about them." Jack sighed, stopping to stare at Mark. "How did you tell Amy?"

"Oh." Mark shrugged, leaning back. "You had me worried for a minute there." He chuckled, before he sighed. "I don't really know, it just kind of popped out. Of course, she didn't believe me at first, so I introduced her to King, and then a few of the others. She was pretty freaked out and didn't talk to me for like a week, and then she came around. It's a lot to take in."

Jack groaned. "So I just spit it out and hope my editor and one of my closest friends... just deals with it?"

Mark hesitated. "Maybe invite him out to Brighton and tell him to his face. Then you can show them to him, and prove you're not crazy."

"What if we are just crazy though?" Jack smiled awkwardly.

"Well, that would make sense." Mark shrugged. "In that case Robin's probably not real anyway."

Jack chuckled. "Huh. Well since you put it that way..."

"Tell him." Mark smiled. "It'll make life so much easier. I might even tell Lixian."

"Really?" Jack rose an eyebrow. "Well... I mean..." He shrugged. "Fuck it, alright. I'll tell Robin."

"Good." Mark got up. "Now we better get you to the airport. You'll miss your plane."

Jack nodded, starting back downstairs. "I'm getting real sick of planes."

Mark chuckled. "Hey, next time they get sick, we'll come to Brighton, alright?"

"I don't know if that's better." Jack groaned, shaking his head.

As they got to the door, Mark put a hand on Jack's shoulder before pulling him into a hug. "I know we already said goodbye, but I've missed having you around."

Jack smiled, giving him a good squeeze. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It was nice getting to hang out with you so much. We'll have to be better at getting together. Next time, not over sick boys, alright?"

"Yeah." Mark nodded, letting him go with a grin. "Maybe you would want to be in one of my projects?"

"Another Dark versus Anti?" Jack chuckled.

Mark shook his head. "Something... a little different. No egos."

"No?" Jack smiled. "Sounds interesting. Send me details!"

"I will." Mark promised, opening the door and lead him out. "Alright! Let's get everyone on the road. We've got to get you all home."

Yandere turned, giving a nervous smile and wave to Marvin. "Goodbye!"

Marvin's eyes widened and he stumbled a little as he rushed to the cars. "For my last trick, I shall disappear!" He called out as he went.

No one paid much attention the interaction, except Bing, who slowly shook his head. "-Bleep-ed."

A few difficult goodbyes, and an awkward car trip later, and Jack was on a plane with his alters, heading back to Brighton. Mark and Amy were left to get all of Mark's egos settled back in their homes, and clean up the rental, officially closing the make shift hospital. Mark wasn't exactly upset to see it go. He was more than happy to give up worrying about whether or not his clones would still be there the next day. He almost hated to admit it, but he would really miss them if they were gone. Sometimes he wondered if he should bring up the zombie with Jack, but it never seemed to be the right time. Hopefully he was dealing with it alright on his own.

For now, the hospital was gone, and the crisis was over.