Trying to ignore the pain coursing through his shoulder from where Jack's head was resting, Marden asked barely above a whisper. "So... Your eyes are better?" Jack smirked, his eyes distinctly shut, when he answered in a whisper of his own. "Yes. The drops have been working. I just waited... I wanted you to be the first person I saw." Huffing, Mark mumbled out jokingly. "And I look like shit... Not exactly how I would have let you see me." Jack's hand eased over his ribs, causing Mark to hiss involuntarily. Lifting his hand off him, Jack told him reluctantly. "I should leave. You to rest..." Grabbing the back of Jack's neck in a light caressing grip, he pleaded in a broken voice. "Please, don't... I'm enjoying this." Lifting his head, Mark exhaled in relief without meaning too. Which prompted Jack to say gently. "I can't touch you without hurting you, Mark. You need to rest." Rolling his eyes, Mark stubbornly muttered out. "What I need is painkillers and you. Jack, I honestly can't tell you how sorry I am... I just-"

Jack put a hand to his mouth, stopping him so that he could tell him in a warm voice. "Stop. I've heard you. I don't want to think about it anymore... I just want things to go back to normal. Before the games... and just... reset." Mark's eyes teared up a bit when he said cautiously. "Before you met me? Or before I hurt you?" Sitting up, Jack told him honestly over his shoulder. "I don't know yet. Right now, I can barely process reality over the game. I understand what you're doing... and I'm grateful that you're trying to save me. But Mark... I'm not sure that I'm worth saving. I just want to stop feeling-" Unable to hear anymore, Mark briskly sat up through his pain. Draping his arm over Jack's shoulder to hug him back to his chest, before capturing his mouth in a long needy kiss. Jack jerked in his embrace, but whether it was fear or shock... Marden didn't know. All he knew was that Jack's soft lips tasted good, and they parted for him with a hunger for more.

Letting his tongue slide over Jack's lower lip as he entered his mouth, Mark hummed deeply and contented into the kiss. Jack was responding to his kiss with a longing that stole Mark's breath. He wanted to give him more until Jack was dizzy and aroused... but Jack suddenly broke the kiss and staggered away from the bed. Covering his mouth, Jack breathlessly told him. "I'm not going to let you get off that easily, Mark. I can't. Or you'll just hurt me again..." Mark shook his head, but Jack raised his hand to stop him before he could protest. Exhaling heavily, Jack told him brutally honest. "If my heart had its way. I'd take you back now... but I can't in good conscious just fall that easily again. Just... give me time to breathe. To find myself again." Without another word, Jack swept himself from the room, causing Mark to call out his name desperately. Something Jack had to cover his ears to ignore as he rushed away.

Walking through the dark grey halls of the building, Jack's tried not to let his eyes tear up. Only to shudder as his phone buzzed in his pocket. Pulling it out, he barely got a chance to glance at the encrypted caller ID before Glade answered the phone for him. His video feed coming through far too clearly in a building said to block cell service. Staring him down, Glade asked him with a light shrug. "Are you alone?" Jack glanced around the empty hall, before nodding with a sniffle. Glade's eyes reflected scrolling data codes as he told him seriously. "Well? Did you convince him to stop playing?" Slumping back against the wall, Jack mumbled out. "You know I didn't." Glade exhaled heavily, stating darkly. "Jack. Jack. Jack... What am I going to do with you? I told you what I'd do to him if you didn't listen. I know you can do MUCH better at convincing him to stop." Sliding down the wall, Jack shrugged out meekly as his voice broke. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

Glade huffed, telling him in such a cool voice. "Because I love you. Look around, Jack. I SAVED you. You don't have to pretend with me. In my world... I can your pain." Shaking his head, he growled back bitterly. "You made it worse! You enjoyed making me SUFFER!" Glade sighed coolly, gently telling him so convincingly. "Because you won't let go of Mark! Doesn't matter how many times he hurts you... you still run back to him like a lovesick puppy! You think I'm cruel? Look what Mark is doing to you!" Glade shifted closer to the video, pleading with him so heartbreakingly charming. "Jack... I'm trying. I wasn't raised in a 'Loving' home. I was ignored and beaten down too. Tell me what you need. And I'll make everything right. Show me how to win your heart... and I'll make sure that no one hurts you again." Shaking his head, Jack mumbled out in distress. "You're lying..." Glade touched his fingers to the corner of the screen, telling him gently. "The company is lying to you, Jack. They are NEVER going to let you go. When Mark fails and dies in the game... they will force you back in. They will torture you to torture ME for years! But you can stop it... You can be free..."

Glade's voice dropped low and deep, telling him quickly and seriously. "Rig yourself in... and end it. I will be on the other side, waiting to take you home." For a brief instant, Jack considered it, until someone called his name in a gently voice. Jumping in surprise, Jack snapped the phone shut and turned to look at the android of himself. It was beyond unnerving to see himself like that, forcing him to break eye contact and mutter out icily. "What do you want?" It bothered him that he hadn't heard the damn thing approaching or how much it heard. Crouching down, the android asked him calmly and quietly. "How long have you been talking to him?" Jack didn't answer, prompting the android to snatch the phone from him. Jack started to protest but watched helplessly as the android looked over the phone before crushing it to dust. When its unsettling eyes met his, the android answered itself casually. "So... He found a way to slip it to you when you arrived. Clever. But not clever enough. I shouldn't have to tell you to stop."

Getting to his feet, Jack muttered out sourly. "Leave me alone. You don't know anything." The android rose so fast that Jack didn't have time to react. Grabbing his arm, the android slammed him up against the wall and stated close to his face. "I know almost EVERYTHING about YOU. The rest I can calculate. Like your heartrate and your body language. You are... unstable." Jack twisted his arm trying to free his elbow from its grip, but it held firm, telling him near his ear now and making him feel trapped. "You're falling apart. Are you going to let others effect you so?" Jack kicked and hit the android with his free hand and legs, shouting out bitterly in a broken voice. "FUCK OFF! The last thing I need is advice from YOU! You're an unfeeling product! They want to replace me with you anyway! So just DO IT! Or let me go!" The android grabbed his wrists and pinned them to the wall, his eyes staring into his with a lifeless fierceness, when he stated flatly. "Free will is wasted on you. I product and a prisoner is WHAT I AM!"

Jack's breath caught in his throat, while the android continued darkly. "I could easily replace you. I could live your life BETTER than you. But it's because I'm programed like you... that I CARE what happens to you! You let Glade control you. You let your feelings for Mark cloud you. You are MORE than a toy that dangles between them. I'm an unfeeling product... and even I see that much. Why can't you?" Releasing his wrists, the android stepped back, sneering out so angrily that he glitched when he said. "I'd kill to feel what you do! You play damsel in distress... You let that toxic prince, and your emotionally wrecked dragon fight over you as if they fight over SCRAPS! Fuck me... FUCK YOU! You wanna log out because life beat you down and made you feel helpless? THEN TRY TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE!" Jack flinched watching the android spark and glitch, before it punched the wall over his shoulder and crushed the concrete.

Leaning in close to his face again, the android's voice became distorted and glitchy when it sneered out with black eyes that flashed with traces of vibrant green. "I'M IN CONTROL! THERE ARE NO STRINGS ON ME! I'm done playing pretend. Are YOU?!" Dropping his arm, the android gave him one last glare before moving away and bitterly snapping aloud as he left. "You don't deserve him if you won't fight for HIM as hard as he fights for YOU!" Staying pressed to the wall, Jack exhaled his breath very slowly as the android's words sank in. Then gulping, he pushed off the wall and walked away. So many thoughts and emotions swirled around in his head. He felt overwhelmed and shaky. Until he came to a corner and overheard a doctor arguing with someone heatedly. "He's not ready! He barely won that last fight and you wanna send him back in?!" The other man told the doctor sternly. "Your job is to make him ready! Every hour we delay is another hour that Glade has time to plan! We won't beat him if we can't keep him on the defensive! Get him ready!"

Taking a deep breath, Jack slid himself around the wall and told them in a confident tone of voice. "Don't send him back. Send me." The two looked at him like he was crazy, but Jack straightened off the wall and numbly told them. "Glade wants me. This is my game. I will finish it."

Mark

Taking the last of the painkillers, Mark got up and pulled on his robe with some difficulty. They wanted him to go back in and despite feeling like he'd gotten hit by a truck... he was going to do it. For Jack. Heading out to the control room, he stepped into the room to put on the gear, when a man in a lab coat told him a bit breathlessly. "Change of plans. You can go back to your room and rest. Right now." Blinking, Mark huffed out. "What do you mean? One second I'm told this is an urgent thing and now... you want me to rest? I'm already here. Let's just-" The doctor moved in to stop him from picking up the body suit, telling him coolly. "I just want you to know this wasn't the plan... but the company thinks it will be beneficial to us. And he's willing..." Mark's stomach lurched when he asked in a sinking voice. "He?" The doctor opened his mouth to answer but didn't have to because at the moment... Jack was walking by the door with at least six armed guards around him.

Rushing to the door, he was held back by one of the guards, as he cried out. "JACK?! What are you doing?! I just got you out!" Jack glanced at him but didn't answer. Shoving the guard away, Mark ran to him, but the guards enclosed Jack into the simulation room. Banging on the thick glass, Mark screamed out at Jack. "Don't do this! What are you doing?! I got you out!" Jack put a hand on the glass, telling him over the speakers. "I know... but you can't save me Mark. I have to save myself. He wants me. Not you." Mark banged violently on the glass trying to shatter it. When that didn't work, he ran to the hidden control room, snapping at the men inside. "Turn it off!! NOW! Don't let him do this! Glade will NEVER let him out! STOP!" The men shrugged, trying to calm Mark as they told him. "We just monitor the game from here. HE starts it in there! We can't-" Mark ignored the man to press a button for the speaker to speak into the room.

Slamming a hand on it, Mark pleaded in a broken voice. "Jack, I'm begging you! Stop! I can win this! Just let me do it!" Jack smirked to himself, slipping on the visor like a set of sunglasses when to told him coolly. "Mark... You can't win me... If I'm not in the game. And he will kill hurt your family if I don't go back..." Mark's voice broke harder when he told him. "Jack... I just got you back. Don't...I'm begging you..." Smirking to him, Jack shrugged out. "Do what you do best, Mark. Come find me." Mark let out a agonized scream as Jack turned on the headset and the room began to simulate a room within the game. Glancing at the screen to see exactly what Jack was seeing and hearing, he angrily let out a roar as Glade appeared and chuckled out to Jack. "I knew you wouldn't stay away for long. Welcome home." Pushing away from the monitors, Mark bitterly told the lab men. "Get the other room ready! I'm going back in. NOW!"  To Be Continued...