Mark could not believe his eyes, his lips cracking a smile seeing his old friend alive and well, "I thought you were..."

"Dead?" Wilford finished, before wheezing out a laugh, "I'm sure one bullet isn't enough to put down old Warfy here." He gloated, being the self-centered man he always was, "...except if he went for the head."

The agent nodded.

"Alright, I'll leave you guys to yourselves so you can have your little reconciliation," Felix said, turning around and walking out of the room, "I'll see you back in the office, Mark."

"Right, thanks, K." Mark said as the boss closed the door behind him.

"So tell me, Mr. Markiplier," Wilford began, blowing on his pink mustache and flashing his friend a cheerful smirk, "What is our friend Damien up to now?"

At that instant, Mark's heart sank. He slowly and nervously sat on the couch, feeling throbbing pain from the bullet wound on his shoulder as he did so.

"I failed you, William." Mark hung his head low, "I let Damien take the ruby."

In Wilford's head was a jumble of emotions. He was furious, betrayed, and disappointed. But he kept his calm and laid back demeanor, inhaling deeply and releasing it slowly, the wound on his gut stinging when he did.

"What happened?" Will asked, clutching his belly, adjusting himself to sit on the bed and face Mark.

"Damien held a so-called loved one of mine hostage in exchange for the MacGuffin. I mean, I consider Jack as a loved one, but not that kind of loved one."

"So he took your Internet boyfriend?" He rubbed his beard.

"Whoa-whoa!" Mark interrupted, "for the record, he is not my boyfriend. Only fangirls think we are a thing. He's just... a close friend who's in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Now I feel bad for the poor Irish potato, he's strung up somewhere God knows where while Damien is about to complete his master plan."

"I see." He blew on his mustache.

"I'm sorry that I let you down."

He was within reach that Wilford placed a hand on his back, "Aw, come on, I know that you failed me and you only have yourself to blame."

Mark's head shot back up, eyes wide in surprise, "Gee thanks, Will, I thought you're gonna say that I shouldn't."

Laughter came from Wilford, grinning, "That's not how I roll, Fischbach, you know I tend to make people feel worse."

"Ah, the crazy William." Mark chuckled.

"And you, the ambitious Mark." He retorted.

"What brought us together, though? I can't remember." The agent leaned to his side on the edge of the mattress.

"We were, I think, ten or eleven years old when we shared the same Science class, and we had a lesson about outer space. And after that you wouldn't stop blabbering about a video game about space. I think it was called,"

"Homeworld." Mark said, a smile forming on his face, "It was one of the reasons why I've grown to love the vastness of space."

"So did Damien and I." Will said, "One day you invited us over and we played that game for sixteen hours straight, heck, I think it was longer. Video games and the fascination of space brought us together."

Memories came flooding back to him, he turned his head and faced the window, staring at the morning sky that still had the stars twinkling above.

"You know," The agent said, his voice low, "Whenever I look up at the skies, it would give me with some sort of comfort, and that moment when you realize how small you are compared to the limitless universe."

"And all three of us wanted to be astronauts, just for the heck of exploring the space in our own satellite." Will said.

"I remember that time when we pretended to be one." Mark laughed, "Damien and I pretended that we were in zero gravity and I basically freakin' dived down the stairs and cracked my skull."

"Despite the pandemonium it caused, it was fun." Wilford remarked.

"Yeah. But my, how that bond crumbled to dust." Mark frowned, this phrase suddenly shifting the atmosphere in the room, "What on earth happened to us?"

"We both have our own dreams and aspirations. It so happens that Damien sees the world as such an evil place."

"But is wiping us out the right thing to do? It's as evil as he thinks the world is."

"You cannot blame him, Mark." The man said, "He's the hero of his own story."

"I know." The agent replied, "Apparently I'm also to blame why he's like this way. I'd always antagonize him on his antics. Maybe I'm really that token good guy out of the three of us."

"I wouldn't say that, though. What made you the most likable out of us three is that you see both ends of the spectrum, you know that there's good and evil, and you choose to emphasize the good." Wilford said, "I for one, just don't give a fuck."

Mark laughed.

"But I realized," Wilford continued, his accent posh British, "Dark just wants to change the world."

"Who doesn't?" Mark said, "All of us wanted to leave a lasting Mark, pun intended, that the people everywhere will remember us by. Come to think of it, we are not permanent, but it's what we leave behind in this little old planet is what lives on forever. Damien wants to leave his own mark."

"And they call me the deep one." Wilford said, "That was so deep I can see Adele rolling in it."

________

Bob and Wade were in the facility's control room, facing a giant screen that covered majority of the wall it was hanging on. Bob had his eyes glued on the tablet while Wade was continuously typing on the keyboard. Ethan and Tyler were also there, both of them having their arms crossed leaning on a desk as they looked up on the screen that displayed a GPS map of Brighton. The map itself was outlined blue that illuminated the room in a cool hue except for a red dot that was blinking and moving on the road.

Then Felix stepped inside, a cup of coffee in hand, "Good morning, boys."

"Good morning, K." Ethan greeted.

"Any news on our guy?" He asked, taking a sip of coffee.

"He's been driving to countless places around Brighton since we've began tracking him, which was six hours ago." Bob said, adjusting his glasses on his nose, "He's currently at Taco Bell." He raised an eyebrow.

"A man's gotta eat, I guess?" Wade added.

"He also swung by an Adult shop earlier."

"That kinky fuck." Felix shuddered.

Then without any warning, the blip on the map vanished.

"What the?" Wade said.

"What's going on?" Felix asked.

"We lost transmission from the tracker." Wade said, pressing a bunch of keys on the keyboard inputting codes to try and remedy the situation.

"Try rebooting the system." Bob said.

"I can't." Wade replied, "I can't even control the device remotely."

"Shit." Felix muttered, "We're fucked."

A large white popup appeared on the screen, shining on them it was almost blinding. The notification was in bold letters:

INCOMING MESSAGE

Bob gasped, "K, we've got an incoming transmission."

"From who?"

"Darkiplier."

"What?" Felix turned, conflicted, his heart skipping a beat realizing that Damien must've one-upped them as they did with the tracker. With a trembling tone he said, "Let him through."

Wade pressed a couple of keys and the wide monitor in front of them went static. And soon enough, a video of Darkiplier from his waist up standing in a black background appeared. Felix took a step back seeing the wide grin on the man's face as his eyes happened to look down at them.

"Greetings, Pewdiepie." Damien began, his voice reverberating in the video, "How stupid of you to put your faith in others, let alone Mark. It's a grave mistake that'll bring forth your demise."

K stood there unfazed.

"And using a tracker? Please." Damien scoffed, "That's one of the oldest tricks in the book."

All of them stood in silence.

Dark smirked, a soft chuckle escaping his mouth as he whipped his red hair to the side. "It is the beginning of the end for you and the entire human race, my friend. Watch as my grand scheme come to fruition, witness the skies glow red before everyone drowns."

"He does talk too much." Tyler said.

"Tell me about it." Mark replied, who had just barged in the room.

"The end is here." Damien said before abruptly ending the video.

Mark looked at Tyler who had a shocked expression on his face. He saw fear in him. He then turned to Felix, who kept a blank expression, the liveliness in his ocean blue eyes were gone. Silence filled the room, they were left staring at a screen that only displayed static.

"What now?" Ethan said, finally breaking the silence.

"We have to stop him." Tyler mumbled, "There's always a way."

"Any ideas, Apocalypto?" K turned to face him, gently pulling on the hairs of his thick beard. "Any wild guess on his whereabouts? Huh?"

Tyler did not respond.

"I think I may have an idea." Mark interjected, still looking up at the monitor.

"Where?" Felix asked.

"In space." Wilford interrupted, walking in the room, making the others turn their heads at him, all staring in surprise and confusion.

"What?" K raised an eyebrow.

Mark's heart skipped a beat.

"You heard me, gentlemen." He said, mustache wiggling from his exaggerated accent, "Damien's death ray is up there..." he pointed up,

"...in space."