The memorial service for the Guardians was enormous. Thousands of people who'd knew, and worked with them attended. The whole crowd was dressed in black. Hundreds of people wept quietly.
Clark took his seat. He was in one of the back rows. He looked no different to the thousands of other mourners.
'He'll be here soon.' Clark thought to himself.
He'd asked the GDA for a seat at the memorial service. Although he respected, and missed the Guardians, he hadn't come to honour them. Omni-Man was the key speaker for the service. It was an easy opportunity to copy his powers. Despite his immense fame, Omni-Man's public appearances where limited to battling monsters or thwarting supervillains. Unlike most heroes, he had no interest in his fans.
Two fighter jets soared through the sky. A white blur flew between them. Then, as the fighter jets dissapeared into the horizon, the white blur plummeted from the sky.
Omni-Man landed gently on the podium. The sides of his hair were greyed, but his muscular physique showed no sign of aging. His shoulders were much broader than his son's. His muscle density was greater as well. Despite Mark's superhuman strength, he could barely be considered a juvenille amongst viltrumites.
"I've fought the unimagimable in defense of this world. I've battled alien tryants, defeated nightmares from the deep. Gone toe to toe with ancient gods..."
Clark wasn't listening to Omni-Man's speech. He was focused on the new form that had appeared in his mind. Even without shifting into Omni-Man, he could feel the immense power contained in the alien warrior's body. Omni-Man was in a different league to Invincible.
'They're related, maybe father and son.' Clark thought to himself. When he'd laid eyes on Omni-Man, his powers had instantly created a copy. He knew, by the similarity of their representations in his mind, that they were belonged to the same alien species.
'He managed to survive the attack. That means I have a chance of fighting off whoever, or whatever, attacked the Guardians.' The weight that had been pressing on Clark's shoulders since he'd called the number on the silver card lifted slightly.
Omni-Man was earth's mightiest protector. Now that Clark could change into his body, his safety had increased by a considerable margin. Invincible was strong, but he was far from being able to defeat his father.
'He's different to Omni-Man though. Not all of him is viltrumite.' Clark pondered to himself. He wondered how Mark's human side would affect his development.
Judging by how recently Mark had debuted as Invincible, and his clumsy use of his powers, he hadn't had them for long.
The memorial service lasted for most of an hour. When it finished, Clark left quietly. He walked for a while until he found a deserted alleyway.
Clark placed the silver mask onto his face. He'd added a special mesh that allowed it to adhere more comfortably. He then switched to the body of his newest acquisition.
'God he's strong!' Clark thought to himself. His biceps were as thick as tree trunks. Every part of his body was packed with muscle. If every Viltrumite was as strong as Omni-Man, then the universe truly was lucky that they were a peaceful race.
Clark willed himself upwards. He rocketed into the sky with astonishing speed. He hurriedly slowed down. It would take a while for him to adapt to using Omni-Man's body.
Clark had changed into a massively oversized grey hoodie and sweatpants after he'd left the funeral. Despite his efforts to plan ahead, the clothes still squeezed tightly around Omni-Man's gigantic physique. Regardless, it was enough to disguise his identity as he flew.
He flew throught towards a secure GDA facility. For the past few days, since he'd made the call to Cecil, he'd been spending his mornings and evenings there, training. The GDA had access to an unimaginable amount of resources. Instead of practicing flying between trees and lifting boulders, he now trained with top martial arts experts and specially crafted machinery.
The GDA had created a specific training plan for him. They'd handed it to him without ever needing to ask what his powers were. They already knew. Even before he'd shown himself publicly in the first Flaxan invasion, his identity and suspected abilities had been recorded on a secure database.
An ordinary looking area in the deset opened up like a giant mouth. Hydraulic machinery hissed as it shifted several tonnes of earth. Clark flew through the opening and landed smoothly. The floor beneath his feet was made of an advanced composite material.
A muscular man wearing a martial arts uniform was waiting for him, "You're back."
The man grinned fiercely. He circled around Clark, looking him up and down from head to toe, "And it looks like you learned some new tricks."
Without warning, the man launched himself at Clark. He moved with superhuman agility, the strength behind his fist could smash through bricks.
Clark stopped the punch with a single finger. The man in martial arts uniform felt an overwhelming force stamp out the momentum of his strike. His instincts screamed at him to run. On a primitive level, his body knew that he was facing a predator who towered over the rest of the food chain.
The man, Clark's combat tutor, and a professional hero, Steel Fist, gritted his teeth. He leaped back, creating distance between himself and his opponent. He raised his hands into a standard boxing guard. With rapid steps, he advanced again.
Whoosh!
Steel Fist unleashed another savage punch. If it had landed on an ordinary person, it would've shattered ribs.
To Clark, his opponent's attack moved as if it were travelling through thick treacle.
A viltrumite's perception of time sped up as they did. When they flew at high-speed, the entire world slowed almost to a halt. If they chose to, they could also speed up the perception of time to a much lesser extent while standing still or moving slowly.
Clark's perception sped up slightly in a natural response to the approaching strike. It wasn't deliberate. Even if he was shackled with unbreakable chains, he could still pulverise Steel Fist into dust with the tip of his pinky finger.
Clark grabbed Steel Fist's hand. His feet lifted off the floor, and he held the hero dangling in the air from one arm, "It's useless."
Steel fist grunted and struggled to free himself from Clark's grip. After a few seconds, the battle-hungriness in his eyes started to deflate. He ceased struggling.
Clark dropped his opponent back to the ground. He slowly floated back down.
"Why do you always insist on doing that? You think the outcome will change if you try hard enough?" Clark asked.
Steel Fist rubbed his shoulder. With a grunt, he popped the dislocated joint back into place. He wiped his mouth, "God loves a trier."
The GDA had chosen Steel Fist to be Clark's combat instructor. He was a veteran superhero and an expert martial artist. He'd mastered dozens of different styles to the peak. As well as making his body stronger than an ordinary person's, his powers gave him an extraordinary aptitude for martial arts.
"You want a fair fight? Change back." Steel Fist said. His voice had a gleeful, anticipatory quality.
'Time to get beaten up.' Clark thought to himself.
He switched back into his real body. Steel Fist was charging towards him in an instant. The martial arts hero had a wide grin on his face.
Bang!
A punch slammed into Clark's hastily raised guard. The force behind the blow caused him to stumble backwards. He spotted Steel Fist turn his body, ready to throw another punch, but he couldn't react quickly enough to dodge. All he could do was tense the muscles in his stomach where the blow would land.
Whoosh!
Clark felt the wind forcibly rush out from his lungs. Pain exploded in his abdomen. He forced himself to stay standing. He'd been winded before, he knew that he couldn't allow the feeling of breathlessness to make him panic.
'Fuck!'
Clark twisted and turned as fast as he could. He narrowly managed to avoid a few of Steel Fist's attacks. The majority still tore through his amateurish guard and hit their target.
The GDA's training plan for him laid out several clear weaknesses. The real Omni-Man was an elite alien warrior. In combat, he moved with calculated precision. There was no wasted movement.
By comparison, Clark fought like a savage beast. He followed his instincts blindly. Against weaker opponents, he was invincible, but against a foe with equal strength, his lack of combat training would become glaringly, and perhaps fatally, obvious.
Clark didn't have Omni-Man's millenia of experience, and he was no soldier. But under Steel Fist's violent tutelage, his combat skills were evolving rapidly. Since he was too strong to spar with while using Invincible's body, he fought as his real self. Despite the painful beatings, he was happy that he could become stronger in his own body.
"Break!" Clark yelled.
Steel Fist paused reluctantly. His fist was barely half an inch away from Clark's chin.
Clark's chest rose and fell rapidly. The oversized clothes he'd been wearing while he flew in Omni-Man's body were soaked with sweat. He casually tossed the shirt and hoodie to one side.
Clark changed back into Omni-Man. The exhaustion he'd felt from fighting vanished instantly, as if it had never existed. He didn't linger in the foreign body. As soon as his stamina was restored, he switched back into himself.
"Keep going!" Clark shouted.
Steel Fist's eyes lit up. He twisted his waist and launched a fierce kick toward's Clark's head. Clark barely managed to block the attack with his forearms. The skin and bone where he had recieved the blow immediately began to throb painfully. He gritted his teeth and ignored the pain. He managed to weave to one side and avoid a jab aiming for his ribs.
Clark didn't need to rest like an ordinary person. Just a fraction of a second in Invincible's, or now Omni-Man's body, could instantly restore his stamina.
Steel Fist and Clark fought for nearly two hours. When he became too exhausted to fight, Clark called break and restored his energy. The training was merciless, and effective. If an observer had been present, Clark's incredible rate of progress would've left them slack-jawed.
"You're tough kid, I'll give you that." Steel Fist commented while taking a loud drink from his water bottle.
Clark swirled his tongue in his mouth. He could taste blood. He reached for his own bottle. He didn't switch into a different body. He needed to know how it felt to fight through pain and fatigue.
'Whoever killed The Guardians is still out there. I need to be stronger.' Clark thought to himself.
"Again!"
The training went on. Clark fought with an almost desperate intensity. He was constantly pushing himself to his limits.
The GDA performed daily analysis on his normal body, as well as his other forms. The intensive combat training, combined with instant viltrumite recovery, was accelerating his muscle growth by hundreds of times. In just a few days, he'd gone from being an ordinary person, to an elite athlete. The chubbiness in his cheeks was melting rapidly.
Clark flew home an hour later. When he changed into Omni-Man's body, the physical and mental fatigue from training were wiped clean, but a different kind of tiredness still remained.
Olivia and David were waiting for him at the table. He smiled and sat down. The rapid muscle growth and skeletal development had turned his stomach into a bottomless pit. He finished his plate and filled it again until there was nothing left in the dish.
Olivia watched how he devoured the food. There was a kind of weariness behind his eyes that she'd never seen in him before.
"Clark, honey, your father and I are so proud of how hard you're working." Olivia said gently.
Clark could tell that there was a but coming.
"But darling, we're worried. With all the training, and your schoolwork, there's no time left for you to rest. We just want you to be happy honey." She finished.
David looked across the table to his son, "We know that your life can't be the same as it was before. You've got pressure on your shoulder's that we can't even imagine. You're so brave kiddo. And your heart is pure gold. We don't want to see you work so hard that you forget what makes you, you. Because to us, it was never your powers."
Clark's hands trembled. He lowered his chin. His shoulders shook, tears trickled down his cheeks, "Thank you."
Olivia rushed over to him. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. She rested her chin gently on his forehead, "Oh honey, it's okay."
"But what if it's not?" Clark replied. He couldn't stop the tears that were flowing down his face.
He felt his father's hand firmly squeeze his shoulder.
David cupped his son's face and rubbed his cheek like he'd done when Clark was a little boy, "It will be son. I promise. You're enough, you always have been, and you always will be."
Clark cried while his parents held him. His seventeenth birthday was still a month away. He was sixteen, and carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. It wasn't the kind of load that a child was supposed to bear.