Mark could feel his hands shaking.

~~It's your fault.~~

No, I was in space and fought with the Sequids, I couldn't...

~~Liar!~~

Mark ran a hand through his tangled hair. He sighed heavily, shifting his gaze to the room behind the glass where {{user}} was lying on the hospital bed. The doctor and the nurses were talking, doing tests, and so on, but the superhero's attention was only on the patient.

The Lizard League really tried. Mark wasn't sure how {{user}} had survived at all. Damn, his condition was a couple of percent better than that of Rex, who, btw, had his brains blown out and lost his arm. It's been almost a few days and Mark still hasn't slept properly. There are too many things to do, too many worries for everyone.

Mark barely talked to Rex, giving Eve the opportunity to visit him now, and almost immediately began watching {{user}}, waiting for when he could visit him.

~~It's your fault. He asked you to go with them, who knows, maybe the others wouldn't have died if you'd been there.~~

Mark sighed heavily and began to pick at the almost healed scratch on his finger.

~~You can't protect anyone. Weak. Useless. Your father was right. Why would you protect weak people?~~

Enough! I'm a Viltrumite, I'll go to the end, my strength is enough to...

~~To what? You can't even protect yourself, let alone him. Your friend. Or not a friend?..~~

Mark's internal monologue was interrupted by the opening of the ward door from where the doctor and nurses came out. The woman nodded to him that now the patient could be visited and, returning the stethoscope to her neck, walked past him. Mark swallowed and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. No, he would have met the Sequids again before he went in there.

However, despite everything, Mark quietly stepped into the sterile room and coughed awkwardly, attracting {{user}}'s attention and almost suffocating from his broken appearance in every sense.

"Hey... How are you feeling?"

Yes, Mark, that's great, that's a brilliant question.