"And I'll see you all, in the next videoooo!" Jack screamed before looking over to see Mark cringing with his headphones around his neck. "Sorry... that gets loud."
"A little warning next time." Mark chuckled.
Jack smirked. "You know what my outro is! You've tried to mock it before. That's warning enough!" He smirked, then glanced back to his camera. "Thanks Robin!" He sighed, before stopping the recording.
Mark got up and made his way over, making sure it was all stopped before he sighed. "He's going to have questions."
"He already has a lot of questions." Jack mumbled.
Leaning against the desk, Mark shrugged. "Have you considered... telling him?"
Jack laughed. "Oh yeah. Hey Robin! Remember how I started editing the Anti videos on my own, even though you came up with a lot of the effects and in general do a better job? That was because all the characters popped into existence, and I've just been filming them. What? Losing my mind? Nooo... I'm fine. No, you don't have to come check on me. I don't need to see a therapist! I promise!"
Mark sighed. "Look, I thought it was going to freak Amy out a lot too... and... it did, but she got over it alright, and a lot of the time they like her better than me." He laughed. "Just like my audience!"
"Well... she is a lot nicer than you, so..." Jack smirked.
"I mean... yeah." Mark chuckled. "If they're coming to my videos for nice, they're in the wrong place. You're the loud guy, and I'm the asshole."
Jack laughed, shaking his head. "We have more videos to make."
"Fuck!" Mark huffed. "I still don't have any ideas!"
"Let me send a message to Robin with this footage so he can get started, and then maybe we can brain storm together? I've been thinking about something..." Jack shrugged.
Mark sighed, nodding. "Sure. I'm just gonna check in on Amy, and... maybe text Dark and see how everyone is." Jack nodded, giving him a thumbs up as Mark left the room.
Dark was just reading the text from Mark when a frantic Anti ran into the room, his form nearly collapsing behind the intense glitches. "You need to come upstairs. Now!"
"Why?" Dark muttered, unphased by the state of the glitch.
"Now!" Anti screeched before running out of the room again.
Dark sighed, looking over the sleeping King as he stood. He glanced over to make sure Yandere didn't look at all different and then headed upstairs. He was starting to understand the problem as he approached ward one and could hear a familiar voice, yelling. "And how are there two of you? If I shoot THIS Mark, does that Mark feel it?!" Groaning, Dark opened the door, slowly stepping in beside Anti, who was just looking back and forth. Camera Jim was ducked down behind Reporter Jim, the camera shaking as it was trained on Wilford who was pointing his gun at them. Hearing the door, Wilford's attention snapped to Dark and he grinned. "Oh! Damien."
"William." Dark hummed, placing his hands behind his back, and crossed the room. "I think perhaps you are a little tired, and not feeling yourself. Seeing double Mark?"
"Well I-" Wilford started, pausing as he squinted at the Jims. "I did have a strange dream."
"Strange dream?" Dark asked, gently lowering Wilford's arm as the mad man allowed it.
"We were at the old estate..." Wilford chuckled, the laugh slowing to a stop after a few seconds, a worried smile taking hold of his expression. "We were estranged from Mark, because of some business with... and..." Wilford laughed, shaking his head. "You... you had a hard time."
Dark slowly nodded. "Did I die?"
Wilford swallowed hard. "I think you may have. Does that mean something?" He looked at Dark, tilting his head. "Perhaps I should ask Celine." Dark's aura flickered, a tinge more red jumping out, and Anti backed up a little, stepping closer to the Jims. "She was into a lot of that non-sense, I'm sure she knows what dreams mean..."
"You can ask her another time, perhaps." Dark grunted. "For now, you should go back to bed. Are you not tired?"
At the mention, Wilford yawned. "I am... I am a fair bit knackered." He nodded, sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked down at his gun, staring intently for a moment, then chuckled slightly, looking up at Dark. "Maybe I do need a nap."
"I think that would be good." Dark nodded, turning away.
"Good night Dark." Wilford smiled, laying down.
Dark grunted, glancing over his shoulder at the man and then sighed, heading for the door. "Jims? Downstairs."
Anti followed him into the hall quickly. "What the fuck was that?" He hissed. "Who the hell is Damien? Or Celine? And did you call him William? And why did-"
Dark turned, clamping a hand over Anti's mouth to shut him up. "None of your concern." He growled, letting go just before Anti could bite him.
"Don't fucking touch me." Anti snarled, sighing as Dark started to walk again. "I'm so confused!" He whined, chasing after the man.
The Jims had watched Wilford a moment before sleepily stumbling into the hall and followed after the others. Hearing a smash, Dark stopped and looked back to see Camera Jim, wide eyed as they both stared down at his camera on the ground. "I am sure you have broken cameras before." Dark stated.
Camera Jim looked up, his eyes starting to water, and slowly shook his head. Dark groaned, pushing Anti to the side and walked back down the hall, scooping up the damaged equipment. "Does it still run?" He asked, holding it out to Jim.
Taking the device, Camera Jim fiddled with it a moment, smiling as it turned on, then frowned as it turned off again. "No." He sighed.
"Rest in pieces, Jimy shooty." Reporter Jim sighed, patting the camera.
"We will have Mark buy you another one when all of this is over." Dark promised, taking the camera away from him again as Camera Jim desperately reached for it. "Come now. You can rest on the couch downstairs."
"Why are you moving them now?" Anti grunted. "Wilford's been waving that gun around since day one! That bastard stabbed me!"
Dark turned to glare at him, thrusting the broken camera into Anti's hands before he turned back, grabbed the Jims each by an arm to lead them downstairs. "I know Wilford, and what he will do... and I know William and what he is capable of... but he seems to be flipping back and forth more rapidly than I have ever seen. A confused Wilford, is a very dangerous Wilford. Do you understand?"
"No." Anti sighed. "Who's William?"
"It does not matter. Wilford is confused, and dangerous." Dark muttered. "Just leave him alone."
Anti rolled his eyes. "So you're taking care of him them?"
"Yes." Dark sighed. "I will take care of him." As they reached the sick ward, Dark settled the Jims on the couch.
"My Jim shooty." Camera Jim whined, reaching for the broken device in Anti's hands.
The glitch smirked, holding it out as if he was going to give it back, before easily tossing it across the room. Both Jims gasping, looking over to where it had hit against the wall. Dark's aura flared around him as he turned to Anti, glaring at him. "Get out." He growled, his voice even lower than normal, and the echo frantically layered.
Anti's eyes widened and he held his hands up, backing out of the sick ward. Dark didn't necessarily scare him, but he wasn't entirely sure if he was full strength yet. Not too mention, if they beat each other senseless, there would be no one left to keep an eye on the others. Still, Anti was embarrassed and mad at himself for backing off so easily. As Dark went to pick up the camera and try to explain to the Jims that they didn't need it at the moment, Anti headed up to ward two.
The room was eerily quiet, as most parts of the hospital were by this point. Anti looked over the Google bots which all seemed to be powered down for the moment, and at Chase, curled up on his side in the bed and facing the wall. Sighing, the glitch sat down on one side of the air mattress, causing Jameson to bounce. The mute thrashed a little as he woke and Anti quickly reached out to still him. "Jameson, it's just me..." Anti giggled.
Jameson opened his mouth, then clawed at his throat, shaking his head. "Shh... you can't talk. Remember? Just like earlier." Anti promised, taking the man by the wrists and pulled them away from his face, as he sat him up. Jameson closed his eyes tightly, turning his head. "It's Anti." Anti sighed. "Do you... uh... still remember me?" Jameson's eyes slowly opened and he looked over at Anti, nodding slightly. "Good!" Anti grinned widely. "Uh..." He looked over at Chase, then looked back, lowering his voice. "You trust me, right?" Jameson slowly nodded and Anti sighed. "Alright, so... trust me now. You can't talk, but that's ok. You haven't talked the entire time I've known you." Anti tilted his head, and watched as Jameson's eyebrows furrowed while he thought. "That's alright though. You manage to get your point across, and everyone loves you. Right?"
Jameson frowned, gently taping his throat. Anti sighed. "You don't talk." He reminded, then looked around the room. "Uh..." He got up, Jameson's eyes widened as the air mattress shook slightly. Finding a few scraps of paper and a pen that the doctor's had left lying around at some point, Anti sat down again, holding them out to Jameson. "Here. You write."
The mute's hand shook slightly as he took the pen, and Anti cringed. The glitch hadn't realized just how weak the man was becoming. If Jameson was this weak already, it was no wonder that Marvin was barely waking up anymore. A series of intense glitches ran through Anti as he imagined what he would do to Jack if the man didn't fix this. Jameson watched the glitching curiously for a moment before writing out, "I'm scared.", in large, sloppy writing. It wasn't like his normal writing at all, but it seemed to make sense based on how awkwardly he was griping the pen. "What's happening to me?" He added, before showing Anti his note.
A frown took over the glitch's expression and his form only became more unstable. "Uh..." He took a deep breath, trying to find some instinct to comfort, somewhere. "It's ok Jamie. It's... uh... it's ok. I know it's scary, but I won't let anything bad happen to you, alright? Jack... he's gonna fix this. I'll make him."
Jameson stared down at his note a moment, before a small smile crossed his face and he nodded, yawning before laying his head on Anti's shoulder. Sighing, Anti watched him. "Tired?" Jameson nodded a little, and Anti turned, taking his shoulders and gently laid him down. "You... go back to sleep for now, ok?" Jameson looked up at him sleepily, and nodded slightly. "Good. Good man!" Anti sighed, getting up and wandered into the hall. He closed the door to ward two and began pacing up and down the hall. Anti wasn't prepared to go back down and face Dark after he'd fled, but he couldn't bare to see any more of how far the others had fallen. The only thing that brought him comfort was up and down this hall.
Every now and then, he would catch pieces of Wilford babbling aloud to himself in ward one. Sometimes he was promising the miracle cure of bubbles, sometimes he was screaming out for whoever Damien and Celine were, and sometimes he was laughing about how much people enjoyed being tickled with knives. Whatever was going on with the mad man, the glitch had already decided to actually take Dark's advice for once, and leave the man alone.
Meanwhile, Mark was sitting on his couch, staring at his phone as he awaited an update that Dark had decided he was too busy to give. Jack cleared his throat, frowning. "You alright?"
Mark sighed, looking up at him. "Dark's not answering."
"Does that mean something's wrong?" Jack cringed.
"Nope. It means he's kind of an ass sometimes." Mark sighed, tucking his phone away.
Jack opened his mouth, then closed it. Taking a deep breath he decided to make the joke anyway, they both needed it. "Oh, so not answering messages makes you an ass, does it?"
Mark stared blankly for a moment and Jack was just about to apologize, when a huffy breath rushed out of Mark. "I'm a self proclaimed asshole!" He defended.
Jack smiled, sitting down beside him. "I won't fight you on that."
"Thanks... buddy." Mark smirked.
"Ah... so I've been thinking." Jack sighed, leaning back on the couch. "I did something awhile back where I just put ego hints in the background of videos... and everyone lost their minds. Like I literally just hung Marvin's mask off my white board."
Mark was silent a moment as he absorbed the information. "And then you did what?"
Jack shrugged. "I just made an unrelated video, like normal."
Mark thought it over and smirked. "And just never talked about it? That's... devious. That's genius!" He grinned.
Jack smiled. "Thanks. It really got them talking though."
Slowly nodding his head, Mark shifted. "I could leave hints, get them talking and re-watching old videos, and then just... never talk about it again. That's something I would do!"
"I know." Jack chuckled. "And I can eventually address it... when I decide what I'm doing with their story lines. But... do you think it'll be enough?"
Mark sighed, shrugging his shoulders. "There's only one way to find out really. I'll test it with Yandere." He clapped his hands, standing and Jack jumped a bit. "I need a bloody school girl outfit!"
"That's... not something you should scream." Jack laughed.
Mark hesitated, then took a deep breath. "I need a bloody school girl outfit!" He screamed louder.
Amy leaned out of the kitchen. "What?"
Jack burst out laughing and Mark grinned. "I think we know how to save the egos."
"Good." Amy smiled, leaning against the wall. "Don't get arrested."
"I would never." Mark swiped a hand through the air, before he turned and headed off to a closet where he sometimes kept old props.
Amy shook her head, making her way over and leaned on the back of the couch. "How are you doing?"
Jack shrugged his shoulders, smiling as Chica made her way around the couch, having followed Amy out from the kitchen. "Much better now." He sighed, grinning as he patted the dog.
Amy smiled. "Good. It's getting late... do you think you guys-"
"Found it!" Mark screamed, running out with a bloodied school girl outfit, just as he had wanted.
"Yandereiplier?" Amy questioned, watching him.
Mark nodded. "I have to go set up the recording room! I need a game!" He groaned, turning and headed off, rushing along with purpose.
"Oh!" Jack grinned, jumping to his feet and chased after Mark with a suggestion.
Chica wagged her tail, rushing after them, only to be met with the door closing in her face. The dog let out a slight sneeze, then bowed down before laying in front of the door and whined. Amy sighed, making her way over and crouched down, petting her. "Shh, Chica. I know he's being crazy, and you don't understand. It'll be back to normal soon." She smiled, standing. "And he'll just be a little bit crazy again." Chica looked up at her, her tail thumping on the floor. "Come on girl! Let's get treats!" Chica let out a bark and Amy cringed a bit, but the dog jumped, racing around her feet and Amy easily lead her back to the kitchen, where Henry was asleep under the table.
Mark downloaded Hitman 2, under Jack's suggestion, and Jack left him to record, sitting on the couch to try and field the tirade of questions from Robin. He answered some, keeping things rather vague, while still trying to convey that he needed the zombie io gameplay edited ASAP.
Just as Mark finished recording, he left his room, stretched and yawned. "I think... I'm going to call it a night. Where's Amy?"
"Uh..." Jack looked up from his phone. "Not sure actually."
Mark nodded, leaning into the kitchen and smiled at Amy, sleepily reading on an ipad with the dogs curled up at her feet. "You could have gone to bed." He pointed out.
Amy smiled, shrugging her shoulders. "I wanted to wait. I'm worried about yo-"
Mark's phone rang, and he frowned, but quickly answered it when he saw the name. "Dark? How are they?"
"It's happening." Dark growled. He was standing at the end of Yandere's cot, watching the static dance across his form, reminding him of his glitchy adversary. "Yandere is turning to static Mark. Fix this." He snarled.
Mark sighed, giving Amy a sad, sympathetic smile. "I'm going to. Keep a close eye on him." He hung up the call, shaking his head. "I have to edit this video and get it up."
Amy frowned. "You're going to post a video in the middle of the night?"
"I have to." Mark shrugged. "I'm on a timer now. If the subtle hint doesn't work, I have to have another video ready to go." He yawned, crossing the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine. Amy got up, putting a hand on his shoulder and he turned, wrapping his arms around her and kissed her cheek. "Go ahead to bed. There's nothing you can do."
"I could edit for you." Amy pointed out.
Mark shook his head. "I'm sorry hun, I'm going to be too particular about this. I need certain things I said in the video, I moved at certain times so it would be visible in the background... I have to do this one myself. I'll be fine."
"You're sure?" Amy frowned, and Mark nodded. "Alright." She yawned. "I love you." She kissed him softly.
Mark smiled as the kiss broke. "I love you too." He promised, before letting her go and stepped back stretching. "All nighters are good sometimes."
Amy only nodded, sighing softly. "Night."
"Night." Mark smiled, then leaned down, petting Chica. "My good girl. Go to bed with Amy." Henry got up, running over as well and Mark sighed, sitting on the floor to pet them.
Amy waited a moment before she called the dogs, and lead them out of the room. "Good night Sean." She said softly and he returned the gesture as she headed off to bed.
Mark wandered out of the kitchen, groaning. "Go to bed, I'm gonna be up all night."
Jack frowned. "You just said-"
"Dark called." Mark shook his head. "Yandere's starting to fade. I have to get this video up now." Jack looked down at his watch and Mark shrugged. "I don't care. They'll think I'm losing my mind, but that's not really new. I'll just... tweet out tomorrow that I fucked up scheduling. That won't be surprising."
Jack sighed, nodding. "What if it it doesn't work?"
"I'm gonna record and edit a back up video. If he isn't getting better by tomorrow when people are waking up... I'll post it." Mark shrugged.
"What are you going to do for-" Jack started but Mark cut him off.
"Something. Probably something stupid. It's starting to get desperate." Mark chuckled. "I want to keep the channel's integrity... I've worked so hard to get it where I want it... but I won't lose them over it." Jack just fell silent, knowing exactly how the man was feeling. If it came down to it, Jack was almost ready to just make a video that was just a mash up of all the egos, saying random lines, but he had been comforted by Mark saying they had time. He didn't seem to think there was time anymore.