Before the graduation test
"Hey Mark!" Domino calls from downstairs.
Mark, who has been trying to get some work done in his office, rolls his eyes. He has been waiting for this conversation for a few days now. The excitement in her voice, tells him exactly what this is about: Galaxy.
Standing up from his chair, he stretches his body a bit, before making his way downstairs, calling, "Yes Mother?"
A flicker of annoyance flashes across her face at the word 'Mother' but she tells herself that it's just how Mark talks. "You and I need to have a conversation about tomorrow ok?"
"What about it?" Mark asks, even though he knows what it's all about.
"Well sit down first honey."
Mark hides his smirk at her awkwardness, trying his best to not let on that he knows exactly what's going on.
Once he's seated on the couch in the study, with the doors closed to keep others from listening in, Domino jumps straight in, "it's about your sister."
"Which one?" Mark asks gruffly.
Domino winces at the slight hostility in her son's voice, "Galaxy, she… there's… oh I'll just say it… she is taking a test today and if she fails it she will never be coming home, but if she passes she will be home tomorrow night or the day after."
Mark gets a look of confusion on his face, "But why won't she come home ever again?"
"Well the only way to pass the test would be to kill all the others in the test before they can kill you, so I wanted to prepare you for the phone call I will be getting tomorrow."
"Shit! If she doesn't come back I blame you and Father for putting her there! She didn't deserve it. She was a fucking child! At 5 years old I wouldn't be surprised if she had forgotten all of us!" Mark screams at his mother.
Domino cries, knowing she has lost the love of not only her daughters, but also her oldest son. As Mark stands to leave, she falls to her knees balling. He doesn't even spare her a glance before walking out with a huge smirk on his face.
Galaxy had told him her plan weeks ago and he knew that his mother would get a call saying she was dead by the end of the day. When he got back upstairs, the phone Galaxy had sent him rang. There was a message with a smiley face. “Not long now till she gets that call.” he mutters to himself.
While waiting, he decides to put in a call to the men he sent to help her, Shawn and Ricky. “Hey Shawn, how’s everyone doing?” He says the minute the phone is picked up.
“Oh hey boss! Well the groups are somewhat glaring at each other, but so far we are being civil. Everyone knows G would kill us all if we messed up any part of this plan.” Shawn answers quietly. He’s trying to give off the aura of a boss, but he can’t exactly convince everyone if they know he’s talking to his boss.
“So true! She wouldn’t even give you a chance to explain yourself, you’d be dead in a second.” Mark muses in a proud voice.
Shawn starts to tremble at the sincerity in his voice, flinching when Ricky puts his hand on Shawn’s shoulder asking for the phone, “Hey boss Ricky wants to talk to you.”
After the grunt of consent from Mark, he hands Ricky the phone glad that he doesn’t have to talk anymore.
Ricky tries to take on an air of being a professional, but whines out, “Are you sure I can’t do anything to others here?”
Shawn can hear the annoyance in Mark’s voice the second he starts yelling into the phone. Once they hang up, they both realize that Ghost must mean a lot more to Mark than he lets on because no matter who they are helping he never gets that pissed at the mention of putting a few guys in their place. Glancing between each other, they silently agree that they will never do anything to ruin the plan when Ghost is involved.
Mark on the other hand is pacing around his office trying to figure out how to distract himself from the anxiety as he waits for the rest of the signals. When he gets the next message of a thumbs up, he sucks in a deep breath knowing Galaxy just sacrificed herself in the test. He walks downstairs, hoping to see his mother when she receives the call and finds her in the kitchen just as the phone rings. He pretends to get himself a glass of water as he listens in on the conversation on the phone.
When she hangs up the phone she collapses once more to her knees shaking, muttering “No, no, I can’t. I just can’t. There’s no way she’s gone.” before curling up into a ball on the floor still muttering, but rocking herself trying to calm the impending panic attack.
Mark does his best to hide his happiness at his mother’s pain, but he still has a slight smirk on his face. Deciding to appear at least a little sympathetic, he goes to find his father to make him calm her down. After finding him in his office, he gasps as if out of breath, “Mother… Phone… Kitchen… Panic attack… help”
His father gasps at his words knowing that only their daughters and that school could ever give his wife a panic attack and rushes out the door of his office and into the kitchen finding her right where Mark left her.
“What’s wrong honey?” Jackson quietly asks his wife as he picks her up gently carrying her to the living room so he can sit on the couch with her laying on top of him.
She shakes her head muttering “No, I can’t. I can’t do this”
Jackson starts to feel some fear for his daughters because of his wife’s state, but refuses to show it. “What can’t you do dear?”
Mark just observes them from the corner, hoping that the cameras he had set up days ago were getting everything like Galaxy asked him to.
Domino refuses to answer him, but keeps muttering. When Jackson finally gets tired of his wife’s antics he decides that he should find a way to calm her down first, so he carries her to their bedroom.
A little while later, Mark is back in his office trying to distract himself with paperwork for Electra Inc. Galaxy had given him temporary control while she was back at the school. All of a sudden he jumps as his phone dings. Pulling it out of his pocket, he sees the message is merely eggplant and he groans. But the weight he had felt on his shoulders was slightly lifted knowing his little sister will be back in the land of the living soon.
He turns back to the paperwork trying to place all of his attention on it as he waits for the next message. When his phone buzzes again he almost lunges across the desk to where he had set the phone, seeing the nurse on the screen, his smile turns huge, knowing that his sisters will be with him again soon.
That night Galaxy called him to let him in on the rest of the plan. He had agreed with most of it, but had suggested that she tweak a few things here and there. For example, he told her to leave some of the alumni alive after the initial attack, so that those who were forced into it could still fight back against the faculty. After they hung up, Mark was finally able to relax just enough to fall asleep with a small smile on his face.
The next morning, when he went down to breakfast, one look at his parents told him that they had not slept a wink last night and spent most of the night in tears. After they had sent Jace off to school with his bodyguard, Mark confronted his parents. “Now what the hell was that call yesterday? Why does it look like you’ve been crying all night?”
Domino burst into tears yet again, but Jackson looked away from his son before saying as bluntly as possible, “Galaxy died yesterday, she failed her test.”
At that Mark’s anger went through the roof, “YOU PIECES OF SHIT! YOU SENT HER THERE TO GET STRONGER AND THEN YOU FORGET THAT SHE WOULD DIE IF SHE EVER FAILED! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS! IF I FIND OUT THAT THE SAME THING HAPPENS TO ROSIE, YOU WILL NOT LIVE TO SEE THE NEXT DAY!”
Jackson tries to calm him down as much as possible, but every word he says makes it so much worse. “Son please! Try to understand! We weren’t told that she could die! We just thought that they would train her!”
“BULL-FUCKING-SHIT! YOU THINK I HAVEN’T HEARD YOUR YELLING MATCHES EVERY HOLIDAY AND BIRTHDAY! I KNOW DOMINO WENT TO THAT SCHOOL! I KNOW THEY RAPE THE STUDENTS THERE! I KNOW THAT YOU KNEW EVERYTHING ALREADY AND THAT DESPITE IT DESTROYING DOMINO OVER HERE YOU SENT MY BABY SISTERS ANYWAYS. SO IF YOU THINK I WILL EVER FORGIVE YOU, EITHER OF YOU, YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING.” Mark screams out at his parents. He may know that his sister is alive, but this anger he feels is overwhelming and he has been dying to let it out at his parents.
Domino sobs harder and harder as Mark’s rant continues, but once he’s finished and speeding out of the driveway, Jackson breaks down too. Once she has calmed her tears down enough though, Domino starts her own rant towards her husband, whose tears get stronger with each word she says.