Marcus wakes up and blinks at the bright light shining down on him.
“He’s awake,” says a voice.
“You were almost delerious when you got back,” says Helena. She’s wearing white surgical gloves and looking down at Marcus with her brow furrowed.
“This sort of thing seems to happen to you a lot,” comes Sarra’s voice from somewhere outside the circle of light.
“It’s kind of his role,” says Conor.
“What… happened?” croaks Marcus and Helena tells Conor to get him some water.
“You arrived on the bike, barely coherent,” Helena says. “The Enforcers almost got you. Your knee is hurt pretty badly.”
Conor appears at the side of the bed with a glass of water. Marcus thanks him and takes a sip.
“For now, you just need to get some rest,” Helena tells him as she adjusts his pillow.
Marcus hands the glass of water back to Conor and lets his eyes drift closed.
When Marcus opens his eyes again the room is dark. There is a crack of light where the door has been left ajar and he can hear muffled voices coming from beyond it. There is a high-pitched laugh—Sarra—and Marcus thinks he can hear Jeremy’s voice as well. Then the door opens and the beam of light gets wider until Marcus is caught in it.
“Hey boss,” Marcus says as Chatravati steps into the room. “Did you..?”
“I saw,” says Chatravati.
Marcus feels more alert now and pushes himself up in the bed. There was something important he needed to tell Chatravati, but he only just remembered.
“Well there’s one thing I’m guessing that you didn’t see,” says Marcus and Chatravati waits patiently for him to speak again. “The Enforcers are Tel-Ur,” he says at last.
Chatravati’s eyes widen and he tilts his head to one side. “That’s… are you sure?”
“That thing was matching me blow-for-blow,” says Marcus. “It was an even fight. And when I took off the helmet and looked into its eyes, I knew for certain.”
“You’d need quite a lot of power to pull off something like that,” says Conor as he steps into the room and stands beside Chatravati.
“Undead Tel-Ur,” says Marcus through gritted teeth. The thought of it makes him sick.
“How could I not see something like this coming?” says Chatravati, smashing his fist into his palm. “We need to end this.”
“I’ll be ready,” says Marcus and starts getting out of the bed.
“No,” says Chatravati, placing a hand on his chest. “You’re staying here. Conor?”
“There’s something you should see,” says Conor and switches on a television beside the bed. The picture wavers for a moment and is broken up by horizontally scrolling lines. Then the image grows clear and Marcus sees… himself.
“That’s right folks, that’s his face again that you’re seeing on the screen,” says the high-pitched voice of Newscaster Brian. “If anyone in Genoa City sees this man you are advised to get to safety and contact the Sanctum as soon as possible. As mentioned earlier in our report, he is wanted for a brutal attack against one of the Sanctum’s new Enforcer patrols. The Enforcer in question is expected to make a full recovery, according to a statement released earlier by Police Chief, Hogan Dale…”
“They got you on camera,” says Conor.
“How bad is it?” asks Marcus.
“Bad enough that until Conor removes your picture from the national news and security archives you’re staying here,” says Chatravati. “Which means I’ll have to send the others to deal with this.”
Conor clears his throat. “Do you really think that Helena’s ready..?”
“No,” says Chatravati. “You will be going with Jeremy and Sarra.”
“They’re not ready!” says Marcus.
“Enough!” says Chatravati. “There will be no further discussion.”
“I’ll go and start the preparations,” says Conor.