Mark found himself outside of Allyssa's and back in his own world. He took a moment to reorient himself, as being suddenly sent back to his own body had rattled his senses. Once Mark was comfortable moving his real body again, which was a weird thing to have to wait to do. He made his way to his kitchen, fixing himself a late dinner and eating it swiftly before changing his clothes before proceeding to bed.
Mark didn't really check if he was going to bed early or late; he was just going to bed regardless of the time as he was so mentally drained from the siege of Carthax. He slept deeply, so deep, in fact, that it would have taken mortars to wake him up. Luckily for him, he appeared to have gone to bed early, as he got up early, which allowed him to get to work on time. So Mark got up and went through his usual morning routine.
He even made his usual breakfast of pancakes and eggs with lemon juice to drink. He began eating and drinking rapidly before he got in his old junk car and got on the interstate to make it to work. He turned the radio on to hear what was going on and if they were finally talking about anything besides the usual kill or not killing of the mad patients. luckily for him, they were talking about something else on the radio.
"This is the greatest movie I've ever seen, and honestly I don't know if the effects artist needs a raise or to be sent to a mental institution." The man on the radio confused Mark about what exactly was being talked about, making him start to think he had missed some new trending movie that had just come out. Though as the conversation went on, it became clear that wasn't what they were talking about; in fact, they were talking about the video game Allyssa.
It seemed several people had put together their game footage into videos, and with the game being so realistic, they had been mistaken for movies. Which explained the comment he had heard at the start about effects, as several of the monsters they had fought were rather disturbing, and you would probably question the sanity of the guy working to make such realistic depictions of such horrors. Though he didn't know what to say about the fact that game footage had gotten big enough to be mistaken on the radio for a movie but not big enough for anyone to correct the record on the radio.
Mark was pretty sure that said something, but he wasn't entirely sure. So Mark spent the rest of his drive to work flipping through different radio stations listening to people's different takes and misunderstandings about the game that was Allyssa while practicing the use of his powers creating the different three-dimensional barriers. He got a real good chuckle out of a couple of the takes if he was being honest. Though eventually the fun had to end as he pulled into his workplace's parking lot. He got out of his car and walked through the front door and made his way towards the front desk.
"Hi Sharon, lovely morning we're having." Mark said to the front desk lady, filled with enthusiasm for the day, as he didn't have to listen to the ever-ongoing discussion about how the mad should be dealt with by society. Not only that, but he had impressed people at the siege of Carthax, and it felt good to know he still had some skills at combat that qualified him to be a hero despite his long absence from the regular battles of good and evil that went on in the world as he watched over the Asylum.
"It's a good morning indeed, Mark. I watched that new movie that came out! The siege of Carthax was a proper thriller, though how they got the effects so realistic I'll never know." Sharon said with a happy smile on her face, as she usually did, as she Sharon was a well of positivity for the asylum, both for the
Visitors and her fellow asylum workers.
"Good to hear, Sharon. I'll be heading on to the patients. So I'll be seeing you in a bit." Mark said with a smile and wave to Sharon before heading deeper into the asylum to perform his duties and help those that needed him. Meanwhile, in another part of the city, at a tower called the Great Light that belonged to a team of superheroes, the leader of this superhero team was looking over the news for the siege of Carthax.
The hero in question is the Gold King, one of the most famous heroes in the world and the most powerful in the city. He was sitting at his desk in his personal quarters wearing his costume, which consisted of a red robe with golden armor that covered his body as well as a gold mask to cover his face. To go along with said mask was a crown. The Gold King at this moment was sitting in his room trying to figure out what exactly was going on with this supposed movie, The Siege of Carthax.
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The movie has triggered his paranoia because, as a hero who had fought many horrors over the years, he could tell the movements of the monsters on display in the movie were no special effect, as their movements were far too detailed to be something someone had designed. So that left him with a movie where people were fighting real monsters with plant-based weapons, and he had to figure out why that was, because if he didn't, it could lead to something far more dangerous than a new hit movie on the Internet.
So the Gold King spent some time digging through anything he could find on the movie, trying to figure out where it came from and how exactly it was made, considering a few people disappeared in a flash of light during the movie, which could mean something sinister, such as them dying and their bodies being moved before the viewer could see the corpse and realize the death they had just witnessed.
So after much searching, he found out where the movie originated from, which was from game footage of an online game called The World of Allyssa, a very advanced video game as far as anyone could tell. The Gold King suspected there was something more to the game than just advanced video game programming. No, the Gold King felt there was something more going on, and he would get to the bottom of it.
But before the Gold King could purchase the game and delve deeply into it to gain its secrets to be certain what type of threat he was dealing with, he was interrupted by his base, the Great Light, as it informed him of a villain causing damage and destruction near a red area. Sadly, he was too far away, and the villain needed to be stopped now before he reached the red zone. Luckily, a hero was stationed to watch this particular red zone. So Gold King sent out the emergency message, having the hero stationed at the danger zone intercept the villain before he could get there.
Mark had just finished his rounds with his regular patients and was going around to the ones he was truly here to watch, which were the mad ones at that particular moment. He was spending time with the Cut and was watching cartoons with the Cut watching him as he cheered on the usual cartoon heroes. Just as Mark was about to cheer along with him, his wristwatch began to ring for the first time in a long time.
Mark stared at it shocked for a moment before he collected himself and spoke to the cat. "Sorry, I have to go cheer on the hero for me." Mark said quickly, to which the Cut just nodded happily and proceeded to do just that while Mark headed to the men's restroom to take his wristwatch message. Once there, he sat down and popped open his wristwatch to see the message and looked down in shock to see that he was being called to fight the villain Roodini before he reached the asylum.
Mark sat there in shock for a moment, wondering if he was ready for this after being out of the action for so long. Then he remembered all the battles he had fought in Alyssa, all the times he had stood his ground against terrifying monstrosities, and he knew he was ready for this. The only real question was if he could remember where the hell he hid his hero suit at the asylum.
"While it looks like our numbers are doing good, just not as good as we expected." Simon said to a morose Robert. He was trying to be positive for Robert, but Robert wasn't having it and responded with the cold hard truth.
"A movie! Everyone thinks it's a movie; at this rate, it'll be years before my expansions see the light of day." Robert yelled, clearly depressed at the fact that the people of the wonders and the mad had misunderstood, which had caused such a huge setback and made all the hard work and time he'd spent making sure the expansions were ready for the expected boost in numbers redundant.
"Come on, you're getting your name out there, and they'll set the record straight eventually!" Simon said keeping his positivity mostly because whether people saw Allyssa as a game or movie, his rating stayed the same, and since they were going up, he was more than okay with the current movie misunderstanding.
Robert realizing this gave him the stink eye, though Simon was only there audibly, not physically; he still felt the stink eye. So Simon decided it was best to cheer up Robert. "How about this, Robert? We take a break from watching Allyssa, and its reaction from potential customers will instead focus on the world of wonders and the mad watch a few super fights to improve your mood." Simon said, hoping to appease Robert, who just nodded morosely and turned to the many TV screens in his workshops that then began to show the world of wonders and the mad.