It didn't take long at all for Nolan to return from the Flaxan Dimension. He came home at the time Debbie and I were in the middle of eating dinner.
His uniform was tattered, stained with green blood and scorch marks. But the biggest change was his face. He sported a thick, rugged beard that made him look like a castaway Viking. He told us how he was in the dimension for about eight months and fought his way through enslavement.
His time in the dimension was something I was always curious about. When I read the source material, I always thought that Nolan lied about the time he spent with the Flaxans in order to appear somewhat vulnerable, but it seems that he might have been actually telling the truth.
Who would have thought?
The next day was a much somber affair. The funeral for the Guardians of the Globe.
It was held at a private memorial site. Rows of empty caskets—or caskets filled with whatever pieces the GDA could find—lined the stage. I stood next to Nolan, who was clean-shaven again, and Debbie.
Ah, this is what happened in the comic.
I looked around at the other attendees. Black Samson was looking bitter without his powers. Kid Thor & Knockout, Commander Capitalism The few remaining B-list heroes were crying.
Look at them, I thought, analyzing the crowd. They have no idea the killer is standing right next to them, looking sad.
It was a masterclass in acting. Nolan even feigned tears during the eulogy. If I didn't know better, I would have believed him.
Truly an Oscar-worthy performance.
The heaviness of the funeral didn't last very long. We went home after, then the next day I went back to school like nothing happened.
The life of a hero is wild, honestly.
"Double date," William announced, cornering me at my locker.
"Huh?!"
"You and I are going on a double date," he stated, his voice echoing in the hallway.
"Nah, I'm good," I said, grabbing my books without looking at him.
"It wasn't a suggestion, Mark. It's a demand. You flake on study sessions. You disappear constantly. You're turning into a hermit crab with biceps."
"I've been busy with family stuff."
"Bullshit," William snapped, grabbing my shirt like a Disney Channel bully.
"Whoooaaa! He's lost it."
"You're going. Me, you, Amber, and some guy named Justin. Amber says he swims. You know I have a weakness for swimmers. Don't ruin this for me man!" he said, starting to spazz out.
"Aye man, take it easy. It's me, Mark, ya boy."
"Is it?! Is it?!" he exclaimed. "Then why has he been flaking?!"
I sighed and looked around the empty hallway. Then I looked at William. He was my homie; he was going to find out eventually.
"Come with me," I said, dragging him to the back of the gym.
"Oh my god, Mark man, If you're selling drugs I don't think—"
I didn't let him finish. I grabbed him by the back of his jacket and launched us straight up.
"HOLY SHIIIIIIII—" he exclaimed.
We hit near the cloud layer in three seconds. I hovered there, holding him by the scruff of his neck like a kitten.
"Open your eyes, my boy."
He peeled his eyes open, looked down at the school thousands of feet below, screamed again, and then looked at me.
"You... you're..." he stammered.
"Invincible," I said. "Well, that's the name I picked. Kind of ironic considering I got my ass beat last week."
William stared at me. Then, slowly, a massive grin spread across his face. "Oh my god. You're a superhero? That explains everything! The disappearances! The muscles! The terrible excuses!"
"Terrible?! Man watch out," I waved off. "Now go ahead and cancel that date. I have planetary threats to monitor or whatever."
"Are you kidding man?" William laughed, punching my arm. "Now you have to go! You owe me you bastard!"
"Huh?! How?!"
"All the times you put my life in danger, I've always wanted to know why. And now I finally do," he said. "You're a sadist."
"Now wait a minute, I didn't have my powers then." I tried to argue.
"So you put my life in danger for fun." he replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Be there or I'll tell everyone how you got 1st degree burns on your dick, after seeing American Pie a couple summers ago."
"You wouldn't!" I gasped.
"I'm a fan of swimmers Mark, try me."
I stared at him intensely. He held my gaze.
Damn, this bastard isn't bluffing.
I gave him a hesitant nod. "Alright, alright, I'll be there."
Damn, I might've played myself.
Before the impromptu date, I had actual work to do. Or rather, I had a front-row seat to the most dysfunctional talent show on Earth.
I stood on the observation deck of the GDA training facility, watching the tryouts for the new Guardians of the Globe. Robot stood next to me holding a clipboard, looking like a stressed substitute teacher.
We watched as several prospects struggled through the obstacle course. Then, Rex Splode stepped up. He was loud, arrogant, and threw explosive discs with unnecessary flair.
He's a show off, but he's definitely good. Better than the rest of these guys at least.
He blew up a target, did a backflip, and landed right in front of a small girl sitting on a bench.
"Hey, sweetie," Rex smirked, spinning a disc on his finger. "The petting zoo is down the street. This is for the big leagues."
Oh shit, is that Monster Girl?
The girl didn't say a word. She just transformed. Her skin split, muscles expanded, and in two seconds, the little girl was replaced by a hulking, ogre-like beast.
"Oh, crap," Rex yelped.
Monster Girl roared and swung a fist the size of an engine block directly at Rex's head, sending him across the room. She rushed towards him in an instant and started beating the absolute dog shit out of him.
Oh my goodness! Is anyone gonna help him?! He might actually die!
As I looked around the area I saw nobody in a rush to help, even Eve said he was getting what he deserved. He was a dickhead, but he didn't deserve to die for it here. So, I landed between them, catching Monster Girl's fist in my open palm. The shockwave cracked the concrete under my boots, but I didn't budge.
"Aye, Shrek, you gotta chill," I said, staring up at the beast. "He's an idiot, not a chew toy. Save that aggression for the bad guys."
Monster Girl blinked, surprised that I stopped her cold. She huffed, shrinking back down to her human form. "He started it."
"You might have to work with each other, it's better to adapt now than later," I said, letting go of her hand. I looked at Rex, who was pale and shaking. "Damn, she fucked you up!"
I looked around. Robot was staring at me, calculating. Black Samson gave me a nod of respect. But someone was missing. I looked at the exit just in time to see a flash of pink hair storming out. I followed her out to the balcony overlooking the city. She was leaning against the railing, gripping it so hard the metal was warping.
I approached her slowly. "Aye, you missed the part where Rex almost became a smear on the pavement."
"I don't care," Eve snapped, wiping her eyes. "I hope she rips him apart."
"Damn, trouble in paradise?"
Eve let out a bitter laugh. "Paradise? Try a dumpster fire. I walked in on him in the showers. With Kate. All of the Kates."
"Reeeaaally?!" I couldn't help the smirk forming on my face. "That's a whole lot of betrayal."
I ain't even mad at bro, he saw a chance for multiple cheeks and took it.
"It's humiliating, Mark. I trusted him."
"Aye look, Eve," I said, draping an arm over her. "Sometimes the universe throws you signs for things to come. Some things work out, while others don't. I think this is one of those times."
"What? What does that mean?" she asked, confused.
"I don't know, but what I'm trying to say is, instead of looking at this situation as a bad thing, how bout you look at it as a chance to figure out who you are and what you want. Get to know who Atom Eve is."
Eve looked at me, a small, genuine smile breaking through the anger. "You always know what to say, don't you?"
"I call it like I see it," I shrugged. "Focus on yourself. Focus on being a powerhouse. And all that jazz."
"Thanks, Mark," she said, bumping my shoulder with hers. "I needed that. You want to go grab a burger? Blow off some steam?"
I checked my watch. "Nah, I can't. William's holding a gun to my head."
"What?"
"Double date," I waved off. "Me, him, his flavor of the month, and Amber. If I don't show up, he's going to tell people things that may or may not be true."
Eve laughed. "Amber? The girl from school? Good luck. She eats guys like you for breakfast."
Tch, we'll see.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said, walking backward toward the edge of the balcony. "Well I gotta go. Try not to kill Rex. At least not until the team is fully formed."
"No promises!" she called out as I launched into the sky.
I didn't go straight to the date, though. I had one more stop.
I flew high, entering the lower atmosphere to avoid radar, and circled back toward the industrial docks. I'd been cross-referencing energy signatures similar to the Dimension Hoppers I read about in the files. I've been doing it in an attempt to find that guy; Angstrom Levy.
I found his hideout in an abandoned shipping container yard. It looked in very poor condition from the outside, but when I focused my hearing on the building, I was able to pick up the hum of dimensional tech inside. A low, thrumming vibration that felt like the air was hiccupping.
I landed silently on a crane overlooking the yard. I engaged the zoom on my cowl's lenses. Through a dirty skylight, I saw him. Angstrom. He was pacing around the warehouse and introducing a variant of himself to dozens of others he had stored in the building.
How the hell did all this go unnoticed? Does nobody really check these warehouses? And how does his dimension transporting not get picked up on any government radar? Those bastards are always watching 24/7.
I needed him to continue acquiring variants and building up his plans. I needed him comfortable, until it was time for me to strike, that being when the Maulers made their escape from Jail again. Angstrom, The Maulers, & The Flaxan dimension were all things I needed in order to even have a chance at surviving the Viltrumite Empire.
I marked the location on my internal GPS.
All I can do is watch for now, but I hope things start to pick up soon.
Then, I checked the time.
Oh shit! The date!
I broke the sound barrier, racing toward the diner. The fate of the multiverse could wait. William's wrath could not.
I flew back home in record time, crashing through my window and scrambling to find something to wear."
"Blue polo? Nah, too generic. Button-down? Too try-hard." I threw a shirt onto the bed. "Why is saving the world easier than picking a good fit?"
I was just about to settle on a dark green, short-sleeved Henley when my earpiece screeched from my desk table.
"Kid! We have a situation!" Cecil's voice blared, loud enough to make me wince from across the room.
"Now?!" I snapped, grabbing the earpiece and looking at the clock. "You can't send anyone else?!"
"No," Cecil responded. "It's Mt. Rushmore. Doc Seismic. He's holding a tour group hostage and threatening to bring the whole mountain down. Atom Eve is already en route, but she needs heavy support."
I stared at the shirt in my hand. Then I stared at the clock.
If I don't go, there's a high chance that people might die. But If I do go and I'm late for the date, then William ruins my reputation. It's a possible lose-lose situation."
"Fine, I'm on the way." I said, letting out a sigh.
I suited up and broke the sound barrier, arriving at South Dakota in minutes. The scene was chaotic. Dust clouds choked the air, and the ground was vibrating violently. Doc Seismic—a frantic little man with massive gauntlets—was standing on top of George Washington's head.
"You call yourselves heroes?!" Seismic screamed, his voice amplified by the tremors. "I am a scholar! A visionary! And you treat me like a criminal!"
"What's he yapping about?!" I asked, landing next to Eve.
"Hey," Eve smiled, creating a pink shield to block a massive boulder from crushing a group of terrified tourists. She looked tired; holding up a mountain wasn't easy. "Nice of you to join the party."
"Couldn't leave you to handle the geology professor alone," I said, cracking my knuckles. "What's the play?"
"He's destabilized the structural integrity of Lincoln and Jefferson," Eve gritted out, straining against her forcefield. "If I drop this shield to attack him, the faces slide off and crush the gift shop below."
"So I'm on offense. Got it."
I launched myself at Seismic. He turned to me, eyes manic. "Invincible! Another brute sent to silence the truth!"
He clapped his gauntlets together. A shockwave of condensed sound and earth rippled toward me. I banked hard left, the air pressure popping in my ears.
He's stronger than he looks.
I closed the distance in a blur, aiming to grab his wrists and crush the gauntlets. But just as I reached for him, Seismic slammed his fists into the stone beneath him.
"You want to save the day?!" he shrieked. "Then save them!"
CRACK.
A massive fissure opened up under Lincoln's chin. A slab of granite the size of a bus broke loose, plummeting directly toward the evacuating civilians below.
"Shit!"
I abandoned the attack, diving faster than the falling rock. I caught the slab inches from the ground, the weight of it driving my boots into the asphalt.
"Eve! Catch!" I grunted, heaving the slab upward.
Eve caught it with a pink construct, but the distraction was all Seismic needed.
"This isn't over!" he yelled. "The under-dwellers will rise!"
The ground beneath him liquefied. He dropped straight down into a magma tunnel he'd bored into the rock, sealing the hole behind him instantly.
"We got a runner!" I shouted, about to punch my way after him.
"Mark, wait!" Eve called out. "The mountain is still shaking! I need you to weld the support beams back together or this whole place comes down!"
I looked at the sealed tunnel, then at the crumbling monument.
He used the hostages as bait. Smart.
"On it," I growled.
It took five minutes of super-speed structural repair—flying rebar into place and using friction to weld steel—before the shaking stopped.
"He got away," Eve sighed, landing next to me on Washington's shoulder. She wiped dust from her cheek. "Sorry. I couldn't hold the shield and stop him."
"Nah, that's on me. I fell for the distraction," I said, checking my watch. My eyes widened. "Oh man."
"What?" Eve asked, concerned. "Did he plant a bomb?"
"Worse. I'm late for the date."
Eve's smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but she covered it with a smirk. "Oh. Have fun, Loverboy. Go. I'll handle clean up."
"I owe you one!" I yelled, already launching myself into the sky.
I pushed my speed, ignoring the sonic booms trailing behind me. I had to get back, change, and get to the diner before William started spilling my secrets.
I arrived at the diner three minutes late, changing into my civilian clothes in the back alley at super speed. I timed my braking deceleration perfectly so the sonic boom was masked by a passing semi-truck.
I smoothed out my shirt, checked my reflection in a dirty puddle—good enough—and walked inside.
I spotted the booth instantly. William was there, looking like he was about to explode with impatience. Next to him was Justin—the swimmer. Across from them sat Amber. She was wearing a burgundy top, tapping her nails against the table with the rhythmic precision of a ticking time bomb.
Oh that boy's gonna kill me.
"You made it," William grinned through gritted teeth, kicking me hard under the table as I slid into the booth next to Amber. "I was just telling them about your... intense workout schedule."
"Yea, sorry I'm late. Traffic was a nightmare."
Amber looked up. She didn't smile immediately. Her eyes scanned me, looking for a lie. "Traffic? In a town with three stoplights?"
"Construction," I lied smoothly. "Big pothole on Main."
"Or were you saving a cat from a tree?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Could be. This city's pretty bizarre at times."
She laughed, the tension breaking. "I'm kidding. You look stressed, Mark. Relax. I don't bite. Unless you're into that."
What the fuck is this freak going on about?!
The date... wasn't bad. Actually, it was pretty good.
Justin was decent enough, mostly just nodding along to William's stories and laughing at the right times. He had the personality of a wet cardboard box, but my dawg was happy, so I gave him a pass.
Amber, on the other hand, was different. She was funny, smart, and didn't put up with William's nonsense. She actually asked me about me, not just school or sports. She talked about her volunteer work, her plans for college, and how much she hated the cafeteria pizza.
For an hour, I almost forgot about Angstrom Levy. I almost forgot about the Viltrumites. I was just a teenager eating mediocre fries.
As the night wound down, William and Justin went their own way. I walked Amber home.
The streetlights hummed overhead. We walked in silence for a block, but it wasn't awkward. It was comfortable.
"So," Amber said, stopping in front of her porch steps. "You're mysterious, Mark Grayson. You flake on plans, you disappear, you talk about responsibility like you're forty years old."
"Funny enough, I've had this same conversation before," I said honestly, shoving my hands in my pockets. "Besides, my life is weird."
"I like weird," Amber said, stepping closer. She looked up at me, those warm brown eyes searching mine.
Whoooaaaa! I know where this is heading. Gotta defuse it now.
Why though? Look at that face, that ass in those jeans. They've been bouncing all night, huh?
The fuck?! Who said that?!
It's me, my boy. I've always been with you.
Are.. are you my conscience?
Pfft, not at all. I'm something better.
And that would be?
The colossus between your legs.
Ain't no way! You don't mean….
Hehehe. You know it, now grab that butt.
"Aye look," I said to her, breaking out of the mental conversation. "My life is kinda weird right now, so—"
"Mark?" she interrupted.
"Yea?"
"Shut up." she said, leaning in and pressing her mouth to mine.
Huh, tongue on the first meet. Mmm mmm mm.
Nice huh? Now grab her ass.
Would You Get Out Of Here!
We pulled apart after a long moment, breathless. Amber laughed, biting her lip. "Call me tomorrow, Mark. And actually pick up."
Gotta say no.
"Yea ight." I responded.
Fuck! She used her mind tricks on me.
I watched her go inside. As the door closed, I touched my lips, a stupid grin spreading across my face. I looked up at the stars, checked to make sure the coast was clear, and then launched myself into the night sky.
"Oh well, back to the grind."