SaltyEnthusiast

No Goggles Mark

Violent Love Language

Summary: After being sent on a quick mission by Cecil, you catch the attention of one of the variants.

You stand up walking around your room. You look in your closet, behind your door, and under your bed.

Gone. The bag that Mark was hiding from you is gone.

You do a quick glance over your room before sighing. You grab the covers and start to make your bed.

What was so serious that Mark felt it necessary to hide the bag from you? You can’t imagine it’s that important. He did look realllyyyyy upset though.

“What are you doing?” 

You jump in surprise, not even hearing Mark enter. “Making the bed?” You respond, looking from the covers to Mark. He leaned against the doorway with his infamous indecipherable expression and arms crossed. 

“I can see that.” He responds dryly.

You pause for a moment, looking at him before returning to making the bed. You aren’t sure if he’s mad at you for whatever you did yesterday, but you don’t want to test it. 

You feel a presence looming over you, you turn around and look at him face to face. You stare into his eyes for a brief moment, and he returns the stare. You watch as his eyes flicker down to your lips, and then return their gaze to your own eyes.

“I’ll handle it. You are still ill.” He slowly grabs your hand, removing the fabric from your grasp. You look down and watch as his hand gently touches yours.

You scoff, “That doesn’t mean I’m useless.” You look away from him, but let him take the covers nonetheless. 

He shakes his head as if dismissing the idea. “Of course not. I just want to help ease your struggles.” Your lips part in surprise at his actions. Is this his way of apologizing or something?

You watch as he makes the bed to perfection. You go and try to help him, but every time you walk over to help he pauses in his actions and gives you a look. Eventually, he finishes, and you stand there feeling guilty for not helping (despite the fact that he wouldn’t let you).

Once he finishes he walks over to you and lifts your hand up into his. 

You try and play off your embarrassment, “I thought you didn’t want to get ‘contaminated by my sickness.’” You scoff, attempting to pull your hand away. His grip on you tightens, not letting you go. You look up at him in surprise. He looks down at your hand, and you see his eyes soften. 

“I can make exceptions.” He responds softly. He starts to walk out of your room, taking you with him.

You feel your jaw drop as you see the food laid out. Pancakes, bacon, eggs, and that’s just what you can see from where you’re standing. There are more trays of food, and you can imagine that he has anything you could ever want to eat for breakfast.

“Mark…” You look over at him awestruck. 

“I…” He looks conflicted, like he’s struggling to say something. “I just wanted to thank you…” He eventually settled on. “For everything. I know I didn’t make it easy on you.” He looks at your hands clasped. 

“Is this an apology?” You ask, a smile growing on your face.

He blinks, “I don’t apologize.”

“Yeah sure, okay.” You nod, chuckling to yourself. “Still,” You squeeze his hand, “thanks for your ‘not apology.’” You grin at him.

He looks at you, his lips parted in surprise before they slowly turn upward.

“OH MY GOD!” You exclaim, and the short-lived smile disappears.

“What is it?” He instantly looks around, as if looking for danger.

You laugh, “You can still smile!”

He furrows his eyebrows, “I smile all the time.” 

You shake your head, the smile still plastered on your own face. “Nuh-uh. You always look amused like you’re entertaining a pet or something. Not a real smile.” You drag him over to the table of food. He looks away as if rolling his eyes, but lets you drag him.

“You know I won’t be able to finish this all, right?” You sit down, grabbing a fork to serve yourself.

He shrugs, “I can eat it.” 

You laugh, “Oh? Was this supposed to be for me or you?” You joke.

He takes a couple pancakes, “Can it not be for both of us?” 

You tsk, “You think you’re soooo smooth.” 

He raises an eyebrow, “Hey, I can take the food back.”

You look at him offended, “Hey now, don’t be rash. How much did you pay for this anyway?” You look over at the trays of food that will take days to finish.

“Less than whatever you’re thinking.”

”Really?”

--------------------------

“… and five plates of pancakes.” 

“Sir, we aren’t going to serve you if we can’t see your face. Please remove the face covering.”

“The people back there are wearing masks.” Mark justifies, pointing to the kitchen in the back.

“Yeah, they’re also handling food and not covering their whole face as if they’re about to stage a robbery. Sir, please.” The cashier responds tiredly. 

Mark stares blankly at the worker.

“Sir.” The cashier glares at Mark. Suddenly, without warning, he is pinned to the wall.

“Well apologies, but I’m not in a great mood right now. I have to get this food for… somebody.” Mark holds him up against the wall. The other employees all freeze in fear. "Well?" Mark asks coldly, letting the cashier drop harshly to the ground. “Get to work.”

The employees frantically cook as Mark watches them. He leans down to the ground, lifting the cashier up like he weighs nothing. “Oh, and if you think to call the police, you will all be dead before you can get a word in.”  

Eventually, after twenty scary minutes (for the employees), Mark walks out with bags of food in his hand. “Appreciated.” He calls out before exiting and taking to the skies.

Meanwhile, about five minutes after this occurs, Cecil Stedman receives a report.

”He stole pancakes?” 

“It appears so, sir.” Donald frowns at his boss. “Oh and waffles, sausages, hash browns, eggs—” Cecil waves him off, getting the point.

”What the fuck is happening?” Cecil asks nobody in particular.

--------------------------

“It had to be expensive for sure. You sure you could cover it all?” You frown, taking a pause from eating momentarily. 

He shakes his head, “Don’t worry about it. It was well within my budget. I found a place that had good prices.” 

You shake your head in amusement, “You gotta tell me how you do it. You’ve never shown me any of these restaurants before, and I’ve known you for years. Good food and good prices?” 

“Perhaps one day.” He replies distractedly. 

You both eat in peace, chatting while eating your food. Eventually, you get full and put some away to save for later.

“Thank you, Mark.” You smile at him, grabbing his dish, and heading over to the sink to wash it.

“Have you taken your medicine yet?” He asks in response, you laugh in surprise.

“No, not yet. I feel much better anyway.” You reply casually before abruptly sneezing.

“Hm, yes, ‘better.’” He hums.

“Hey, I have allergies. That’s unrelated to… this.” You sniffle. He grabs a tissue box, before extending it to you.

“Sure, whatever you say.” He replies amused.

You feel your phone vibrate and pull it out to check what happened. William texted you, asking if you’re okay. You haven’t really gotten the chance to talk to him since the last time you saw him. You stare at the notification for a minute, pondering.

“Something wrong?” Mark asks. 

“Not at all.” You reply absently. You start to message him back when Mark walks over to you. You immediately turn off your phone. 

“You sure?” He asks confused, staring into the dark reflection of your screen. 

“Yeah,” you tap the screen, “Hey I’m gonna go out for a bit.” You start to grab your keys and purse.

“Oh… okay?” Mark responds bemused. “Where to?” He asks casually.

“Eh nowhere in particular, I just need some fresh air.” You continue to grab any items you may need, not looking Mark in the eye.

You can feel him frowning at you, “I can come with you.”

You immediately shake your head, “No, that’s okay.” You pause, “Not that I don’t want you here. I just… I just need some time alone.” You finally look up at him.

Mark’s eyebrows are furrowed, and his lips are parted in confusion. He quickly glances at your phone before looking up again. He looks like he wants to protest, but instead…

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

You nod, heading to the front door. “I’m sure. Don’t wait for me, it might be a minute.” You say closing the door. You ignore the fact that he looks lost as you walk out the door.

You pull out your phone again, dialing William’s number. “Hey William… Could you perhaps pick me up? It’s a long story.”

“Oh, uh, sure? Where are you at?” He asks.

You glance at your place, before turning away from it. “Basically my place. I’ll wave you down once you show up.” You respond. “Do you mind if I invite Eve? I need to talk to you both.” You tap your foot lazily against the sidewalk.

“All good with me. Are you okay?” He asks, you can tell he’s worried.

You shake your head, “I don’t know. I’m just trying to figure something out. I don’t know who else to talk to.” 

“Well, we’re here for you no matter why. Oh, I’ll be there in five.” William says.

You nod, “Thank you.”

You bid your goodbyes before you hang up. You start to call Eve.

“Hello?”

“Hey, are you busy?” You ask.

“Not at the moment, is everything okay?” She asks, immediately on alert.

You grimace, “Eh, it’s not great. Could we meet somewhere? William is coming too. I need your guys’ advice.” 

“Of course.” She replies reassuringly. “Where at?” 

“Burger Mart sounds okay?” You propose. “I can pay.” You add on.

“Works for me. I’ll meet you there.” She says.

“Alright, see ya.” You hang up the phone. You aren’t left waiting long before you see William’s car in the distance. You start waving, and he pulls up to you.

“Hey.” He greets, smiling. 

“Hey.” You respond, getting into the passenger seat. “I will explain. It’s just a long story. Oh, I told Eve we’d meet at Burger Mart if that’s cool?” You look toward your apartment, knowing that Mark is in there. You look toward your car sitting there in the parking lot. What a fun "walk" you'll be going on.

William nods, “Yeah sure,” He starts to drive off. “I was getting concerned. I hadn’t really heard from you since you know… everything happened. It’s been a crazy few weeks.” 

You nod, “You have no idea.”

Eventually, you both pull up to Burger Mart. You walk into the building and see Eve in there already waiting. She waves at you, and you return the gesture. “I ordered some burgers for us already if that’s cool with you guys. I just got the cheeseburger since I don’t exactly know what you guys typically order.”

You sit in the booth and smile, “That’s fine.” You take a sip of water. “Thanks, Eve.”

She nods smiling as William sits down as well. “I take it you're feeling better at least?” 

You nod, “Yeah, I am, thank you.” You smile back at her. “I’m really sorry to pull you two out here for this.” You run your hand through your hair.

“Hey, it’s all good. Not like I was doing anything anyway.” William replies, eating a fry. Eve glances at him. “What? I literally had nothing to do. I wasn’t being sarcastic!”

Eve rolls her eyes, “Of course, call us any time you need.” She elbows William as he yelps.

You sigh, “Okay, I might as well dive straight into it.” You fiddle with your fingers. Are you making a mistake? Maybe you overreacted last night.

You rub your temples, “I… Does Mark seem okay to you guys?”

They both blink, then look at each other. They seem to share some look before deciding on an answer. “No? I mean, he’s been having a rough time recently, but he seems fine.” William replies.

You frown, looking at your food, then at them. “What did he tell you guys?” You ask.

“Well, he’s been kinda… busy lately. Always running off. Did he tell you something?” Eve asks, contemplating.

Perhaps you really were overreacting. What are you doing? Going behind Mark’s back to try and figure out what he’s hiding? God, you’re such a terrible friend.

You shake your head, “Sorry, it’s just…” You groan leaning against the back of the booth. “He’s been acting weird recently. Like he’ll be perfectly fine one day, but the next he’ll be all serious.” You gesture wildly, recounting your experience.

“I mean yesterday,” Eve glances up at you, “he was just cold. He had—”

Eve says your name in such a serious tone that you freeze. “What do you mean ‘yesterday?’” She asks, leaning forward. Even William pauses, his burger in his hand forgotten as he looks at you uncharacteristically solemn.

You frown, looking at them both confused. “Uhh, yesterday? Like the day before today?” You respond a little unsettled.

“You saw Mark yesterday?” William confirms. You nod, why are they making a big deal out of this.

Eve looks instantly horrified, and William pales at your action. “Okayyy let’s go eat in my car. This requires a more private location.” William instantly stands up heading out. Eve grabs your hand and you both follow William.

“What? Guys, what’s going on?” You ask, concern growing as they drag you to the car. Once you all get settled in, Eve turns toward you looking extremely worried.

“Are you hurt?” She asks gently.

Your mouth drops, “What?! Mark wouldn’t hurt me! Why would you ask that?! Is this why he’s been acting strange?”

Eve looks at William, who nods, before turning back to you. She sighs, “This will be a lot to take in.” You raise an eyebrow, still very concerned, but prompting her to continue.

“Well, I guess I’ll start with the fact that I’m Atom Eve.” She smiles, but it’s not a happy one.

Your eyes widen as you take in a deep breath. “Oh my God…” You mutter. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… We couldn’t say anything. It’s not that you’re not trustworthy, it’s just better that as few people know as possible.” She rambles, you hold your hand up and she stops.

“Ohhh my God… I can see it now.” You gape at her. 

She frowns, “Yeah, most people can immediately see it after I tell them. I’m really sorry for not saying anything sooner.” You shake your head.

“Don’t apologize. I get it. Well, I don’t ‘get it’ as I have had a similar experience, but I understand why. You don’t have to explain yourself.” You say, the momentary astonishment almost makes you forget about him.

She smiles, “Thank you, I’m glad you can understand…” She looks to William once again who grimaces but remains silent.

“Also,” she takes a deep breath, “I don’t know how to say this,” she exhales, “but Mark is Invincible.”

Mark is Invincible. 

Those three words ring in your ear for a moment. It feels like time freezes. All you can do is stare past the windshield looking out into nothing. It hurts. It’s one thing with Eve, who you’ve only just started to get to actually know…

But Mark?

You’ve known Mark, or at least you thought you did. You’ve grown up with him, laughed with him, cried with him. 

What makes it worse is you understand why. You understand the whole superhero identity thing. What hurts is that it feels like you're his only friend left out of the loop. Everybody knew but you. 

You also feel foolish. The signs were there. He would constantly go missing, rushing off to go do God knows what. He’d be “injured” from “clumsiness” after going missing. He’d cancel on plans abruptly moments before Invincible showed up. God, how did you not see it?

“Are you okay?” William asks, receiving a blank stare as a response. “Yeah, don’t worry when I first found out...” He exhales heavily, his eyes widening before glancing off to the side. “That was a rough week.”

You eventually snap out of it, “Okay so you’re Atom Eve and Mark’s Invincible.” You feel yourself repeating the sentence before pausing.

“Wait, didn’t Conquest beat up Invincible?” You ask, feeling dread pool up in your stomach. Things aren’t adding up…

Eve looks distressed as if you just confirmed something for her. “That name, ‘Conquest,’ was never shared with the public.” She informs you. You feel…well you aren’t sure what you feel.

“Mark told me that.” You state absently. “We watched Invincible get beat up on TV by Conquest.” You slump back in the car seat.

“Wait, wait, wait, now I’m confused.” William jumps in.

Eve looks distraught, “There’s more that the public doesn’t know…” She looks down, avoiding your eyes. “You guys know those Invincible variants?” She asks the question, but the moment she says it you know the answer. You know where this is heading, but you don't want to believe it.

She pauses, gauging your reaction, “They didn’t want the public to know until they could get the situation under control.” 

William looks toward you, “And what did they not want us to know?” He asks, but you can tell by his tone he already knows the answer.

Eve looks up at you, “There’s one more out there. There’s still another Invincible out there.”

You don’t even sob, no sound comes from you. You vaguely register the tears rolling down your face. 

Everything since the Invincible War has been a lie. He didn’t care for you, he deceived you. Even this morning where he acted as if there was… something.

You angrily wipe the tears away, as Eve and William watch you sympathetically. They rub your shoulder in comfort, but all you can do is sit there.

Was any of it real? That man… That monster entered your home as if he belonged there mere minutes after murdering thousands maybe even millions.

“I helped him hide…” You mutter before sniffling and choking on your breath. “I gave him a place to hide from the public.” 

“I helped him.” You lean forward before William catches you. 

“None of this is your fault, do you understand?” Eve grabs your hands. “You had no idea what was happening. He would’ve found a hiding spot no matter what happened. I’m just sorry we couldn’t help you sooner.” Eve looks down guiltily.

“Why didn’t he kill me?” You ask softly. “Why did he try and pretend?” You ask nobody in particular.

Eve looks pained to hear your question. She opens her mouth to say something before closing it. Instead of speaking, she hugs you, not saying anything.

You all sit in the car in silence for what feels like an eternity. “The bag was his old clothes…” You eventually tell them. They listen silently. “The white uniform that the Conquest guy wore. It was the same. It was stained with blood in his bag. I only saw it for a brief second, but after I saw it…” You pause, shaking your head and sucking in a deep breath, “I couldn’t get it out of my head. I knew there was something up with it.” Eve and William listen to your words, watching you as if you will break any second.

“What do I do now?” You ask, covering your face with your hands.

Eve rubs her fingers along your hand comfortingly. “I’m going to tell the GDA director. Do you have any contact with… him?” 

You shake your head. “Do you know where he currently is?” She asks.

“Probably at my apartment, but knowing him he could be anywhere.” You respond absently.

She nods before placing a hand on your shoulder and exiting the car. “I need to make a call. I won’t be long.” She walks off to an empty area of the parking lot. 

Above you, you hear a large crash. You and William press your faces against the window, looking up and seeing a tall building explode almost directly above you. In addition to that, you see a few figures fighting. You watch in awe (and horror) as Atom Eve flies up to join them. Now that you know that Atom Eve is the Eve you know, you can’t help but feel more anxious than usual.

“Holy shit,” William says before immediately pulling out of the parking lot to drive away. You don’t comment on anything, just stunned by the current situation. 

Just as he is going to exit the parking lot, a ginormous slab of concrete drops in front of the car, causing you both to shout in surprise.

You are frozen in horror as William repeats “Oh fuck” a million times. He attempts to drive away again, but the concrete raining above you guys does not make maneuvering easy.

Eventually, something slams into the ground not far from you. From what you can tell, it’s the Immortal. The person standing above him isn’t identifiable. He doesn’t seem to be wearing a costume that you’d recognize. After a few blows are traded, the Immortal’s head is sliced off cleanly. 

You and William gape in horror. Slowly the unknown figure begins to approach the parking lot you’re in. Their face is covered, so you can’t see who it is.

“Do we make a run for it at this point?!” William asks frantically.

You, still reeling from the past ten minutes, have absolutely no idea what to do. You push the car door open, not even thinking about the consequences because all you can think of is how no matter what happens here, you will most likely die.

You will die knowing that he never knew that you figured it out.

You scramble out of the car, William not far behind you. You suddenly feel an intense heat and watch as the Burger Mart you sat at less than half an hour ago erupts into flames. At this point, you two are the only remaining civilians in the area, you don’t know if that’s a good thing.

The villain turns toward you two slowly. You can barely make out any identifiable features from them. They appear to be wearing dark clothes and a mask that completely covers their face. You don’t get a chance to closely analyze them before turning around and running as fast as you can.

Suddenly you see Eve fly above you and create a shield for you and William.

The villain immediately breaks the barrier before tackling Eve. “Atom Eve!” You yell out concerned, but William grabs your hand, encouraging you to keep on running. Eventually, you arrive in an alley.

“I’m,” you try to slow your breathing, “am so sorry.” You lean against the wall trying to catch your breath. 

“Life,” he breathes heavily, “is boring anyway.” He also leans against the wall. 

“Do you think we’re safe here?” You ask, he shakes his head.

“We should be fine for now, but I wouldn’t say we’re in the clear just yet. We should keep heading away from that.” He gestures to where Eve and the villain were.

You nod, “Right, do you think Eve’s okay?” You ask. 

William looks unsure, “I think” he looks down, “she has a better chance of surviving this than we do at the moment.”

You both sit there in silence, trying to catch your breath. You see a shadow growing in size above you. You look up at the same time William does, seeing another massive slab of concrete headed for you. 

“RUN!” You manage to call out as you each run in opposite directions, trying to avoid the slab’s trajectory. Just as you think you’ve escaped it, you’re slammed down to the floor.

“ARGH!” You cry out in blinding pain. You attempt to stand up, but your left leg is held underneath the unyielding grasp of the cracked rubble. You turn around to see the injury, but you can’t see the damage. All you can see is the mass amounts of blood around it. You can’t feel your leg.

You start to cry again, not even getting the chance to recover from the last crying session. Is this where you die? You try to search for William, but you don’t see anybody. 

You can feel the weight of the situation finally catching up to you, and you start to feel a headache. Your vision starts to blur in and out of focus.

You see a figure descend from above, you look up to see who it is. You can see them in the sky, you try to crawl away from them, but you cry out in pain. 

They freeze after hearing you cry out. After a moment of your sobs being the only sound heard, they continue their approach. You can’t see what they look like, and you’re afraid if you look up, they will be the last thing you see. 

An arm is extended into your vision, and your reaction is visceral. You shout for help, screaming at the top of your lungs as they pause. You attempt to create more distance between you two, but it sends sharp pain throughout your leg.

They immediately react to your cries and move closer toward you. At this point, you’re sobbing. Sobbing like you never had before. You’re sure you look like a mess, but you can’t bring yourself to care.

Suddenly you feel the weight around your leg be removed. You dare to take a glance up and see them holding the concrete that was previously on your foot. They throw it behind them like it’s nothing, you feel the vibrations of it slamming against the ground.

Now that your leg is free, you attempt to stand but quickly realize your foot isn’t exactly a foot anymore. You can’t even mourn the mangled mess that used to be your foot, you can only crawl.

Suddenly you feel them hold your leg in place, preventing your movement. You finally dare to look at them. This is it.

There’s nothing identifiable about them. They’re wearing a basic black costume. There are no symbols on them. Their face is completely covered. The only thing that isn’t is their hair.

You look at them, face wet with tears and sobbing. They seem to be staring into your eyes, despite the fact you can’t see theirs.

You see them reach toward your face, and you shut your eyes flinching away. They pause before flinching back as well as if hurt. 

“Pl- please.” You stutter, not seeming to care how pathetic you sound.

Their attention snaps to you the moment you speak. 

“Please spare m- me.” You struggle to breathe with all the crying. 

They stare at you. Nothing is said, but eventually, they slowly reach their hand out as if attempting to approach a wild animal.

You remain stationary, only being able to watch as their hand lightly caresses your chin. 

You don’t even get a chance to react before another hero slams them into a wall. 

“No way in hell you’re killing another innocent.” Bulletproof states, pinning the villain to the wall. The punch to their face uncovers one of the villain's eyes. It’s dark brown.

You can see their eye flicker down to you. 

“Hey man, stay focused on the fight.” Bulletproof punches their face again and again. For a brief moment, the villain is actually getting beat up. However it doesn’t last, Bulletproof is slammed against the wall in the same spot the villain previously was. You can see their face better now.

The villain is a man, his eyes are brown, but the sun’s lighting makes them look gold. His hair is dark and isn’t too long. His light face is splotched with blood.

He slams Bulletproof into the wall over and over again, his teeth clenched the whole time. You watch in horror, feeling the blood splatter onto you. You can’t move, so you can only watch as this occurs right in front of you. Eventually, he stops after Bulletproof stops moving. You don’t even know if he’s dead. 

He slowly turns to you, and at this point, your vision is so blurry you can feel yourself slipping into unconsciousness. 

You vaguely register the sound of dead weight hitting the floor. You feel yourself get picked up, not far off the floor but held. You don’t even have the energy to cry for help. At this point, you have accepted that this is your final moment. You try to look for any discerning features of the man in your blurry haze. 

The last thing you think before knocking out is that he looks like Mark.

--------------------------

Beep

Beep

Beep

You slowly open your eyes. You immediately notice the blinding white lights of what appears to be a hospital. As your vision begins to clear up, you start to look at your surroundings. Besides your bed, you can see Eve, William, and…

“Mark,” You rasp, not having spoken in who knows how long.

Immediately everybody around you wakes up. He says your name before immediately walking over to you.

He can see your hesitation and suspicion. “It’s me, the real me.” He tells you. “I heard about everything. I’m sorry.” He looks away from you ashamed.

You frown, “Why are you sorry?” You ask.

“If I had told you sooner, you would’ve known that he wasn’t me.” Mark cups his hand over his mouth. 

You begin to sit up, feeling a sharp pain in your leg. “Do not blame yourself for this. I should apologize. I am the reason he was so hard to find. If I hadn’t been so stupid then—”

“Oh my God, neither of you is at fault for what happened.” Eve interrupts.

“But—” Mark attempts to protest, but is quickly shut down by Eve’s glare. “Okay,” He sighs.

“How long have I been out?” You ask, looking at the bouquet of flowers left at the side of your bed.

William frowns, “Like five days, you’ve woken up a few times, but I doubt you remember.” You nod in understanding.

“What about,” you glance at your left leg. Mark walks over to that side. “Cecil,” he starts before pausing, “the guy in charge of the Global Defense Agency, was able to get a replacement. You won’t be able to tell the difference unless you rip it off again.” Mark explains.

You sit up straighter and attempt to move your foot, it feels the same. “Woah,” You smile.

The doors open to your right, and everybody turns toward them. An older man walks in, his face is scarred, you’re assuming this is Cecil. 

Cecil says your name, “I’m glad to hear you’ve woken up. How are you feeling?” He asks. 

You smile, “I feel alright.” 

“Good, because we need to talk.” Cecil crosses his arms, stepping further into the room.

Mark scoffs, “Seriously?! She just woke up. You want to do this now?” He asks, irritated.

Cecil sighs, “Mark, this might be our only real chance to catch him off guard. We can’t afford to waste this opportunity. Millions more could die if we don’t catch him.”

“She could die. She almost died!” He starts to walk over to Cecil. 

You furrow your eyebrows, “Can I at least know what we’re talking about?”

Mark looks away, fuming, as Cecil turns toward you. “How much do you know about the Mark you stayed with?” You flinch thinking about it.

“Not much, I just found out that Mark is Invincible. The other one never said anything.” You say looking down.

Cecil sighs, before turning toward Mark, he doesn’t say anything. “Mark is what we call a Viltrumite. They’re biologically similar to humans, but they have abilities beyond what any human is capable of. Mark’s dad, Omni-Man, is one of these Viltrumites as well. The difference is that he is from the planet Viltrum. We don’t know much about Viltrum at the moment, but it is believed that the version of Mark you grew up with lived there in his dimension.”

You process the truckload of information. You aren’t exactly surprised to hear that Omni-Man is his dad, honestly, you’re also surprised you didn’t figure that one out. The backstory thing is kind of cool though. You’d feel much more excited if it didn’t feel like everybody was witnessing you walk into your own grave.

”Okay,” You acknowledge, prompting him to continue. 

“He isn’t aware you know about him, correct?” Cecil asks. You nod, and he hums. “Then forgive me, but we want to ask if you would help us capture him.”

The words are way more conflicting than they should be. You want to be able to say “Oh, of course!” However, you find yourself pausing, not out of fear, but out of something else. 

You remember joking with him. You remember jokingly asking for pizza from Italy. You remember getting sick and him giving you medicine. You remember him getting that massive breakfast for you days ago. You can’t help but hesitate.

“What if he can be changed?” You ask. You see Eve look smugly toward Cecil. Cecil rubs his temples as if he’s heard this before. 

“Do you want to replace your other foot too?” He asks, a little cold, but realistic.

“Not particularly,” You respond. 

“Then don’t engage with him. From what we can tell he is one of the stronger variants that appeared in our dimension. If he decided that he wanted you dead, he would do it. Hell, he was the one that hurt you, to begin with.” 

You freeze, “That was him? Under the mask?” You ask. You can vaguely remember the masked villain approaching you as you remain trapped on the ground. You can't remember much after his initial approach. You blink away any tears you feel. “It meant nothing…” You whisper to yourself. Cecil nods, but he doesn’t look pleased to hear you say those words.

“I’m sorry, kid. I really am.” He frowns.

“What would you need me to do?” You ask, feeling numb. You don’t even know who saved you, but all you know is that if they didn’t, then he would’ve killed you.

He sighs, “We need to know where he is, and we also need him distracted. If you’re sure he’ll return to your apartment,” you nod confirming your belief, “then we just need you to distract him until we find the right time to strike.”

You look away, frowning. “How long will that take?” 

“Depends, but I figure you’d just have to talk to him like nothing happened. We’ll be monitoring from here.” You nod before pausing.

“Wait, you’re monitoring? As in you have cameras in my house?” You ask, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the idea.

“Sorry, kid, it’s a safety precaution. We can remove them after this whole fiasco is over, but for now, they need to stay for your own safety.” Cecil explains. Everybody else in the room looks slightly uncomfortable with the idea too, but they don’t protest. Mark looks furious but remains silent.

“If you capture him, what will you do to him?” You ask, and Mark immediately looks to Cecil.

“Yeah, what will you do to him? Rehabilitate him perhaps?” Mark asks walking up to Cecil. 

Cecil frowns, looking sternly at Mark. “We’ll take him in for questioning, and figure out what to do with him afterward,” Cecil tells you as Mark exhales sharply.

You feel everybody’s eyes on you. Do you aid them in capturing him?

“Okay,” you sigh, “I’ll help. When do I leave?” You ask.

Cecil nods approvingly, and Mark looks distressed. “We can check you out now. I’ll have one of my agents drive you back.”

“I can take her.” William interrupts, and everybody looks at him. “What? Wouldn’t it look less obvious if a friend is driving her back, rather than the GDA?” He asks. 

Cecil pauses, “William can take you back then.” You nod, mouthing a “Thank you” to William. 

You stand out of the hospital bed, Eve assisting you for the first time walking since that incident. Eventually, you get the hang of it and walk normally after a moment. You walk towards the front desk, checking yourself out, before following William to the parking lot. Cecil bids you farewell on your way out. 

“I’m sorry that I left you there,” William says guiltily once you get into the car. Your mouth opens in surprise. “William, there was nothing that could be done. I’m glad you got out safely. How’d you escape anyway?” You ask as he pulls out of the parking lot.

“After I ran out of the alley, I wasn’t able to see you anymore. I tried looking back for you, but I was blocked off. I was about to run away when I saw the Guardians arrive.” He explains, you nod in understanding.

“I can’t believe what happened this past week. I mean I didn’t even know there was another variant out there until recently. Eve told me she only learned because he beat up the Guardians that one time.” William continues to ramble.

“We talked about that,” you stare out the window, despondent. William glances at you. “The Guardians getting beat up,” you elaborate, “he lied to my face about that.” 

William looks at you sympathetically, “I’m sorry.” 

“I am too.”

You eventually pull up to your apartment complex. You get out of the car. “Good luck, please don’t die,” William tells you, he is smiling, but it looks strained.

Nonetheless, you return the smile, “No promises.” You close the car door, waving as William leaves. You sigh, looking at your apartment.

You slowly walk up to the door, and you grab your keys. Just as you’re about to open the door, it is slammed open. Your eyes widen in surprise. 

He exhales, saying your name like he can’t believe you’re really here. He grabs your hand, and you stare at his hand holding you.

“Are you alright?” He asks, guiding you to the couch. “I heard what happened.” He sits down next to you.

You smile, but there’s no humor in it, “Did you?” You ask, but you can’t bring yourself to look him in the eyes. 

He nods, and he looks down at your foot quickly before glancing back up to your face. “I shouldn’t have let you leave that day.” He says with a seriousness you haven’t heard from him, which is impressive because he’s almost always serious. He grabs your hand and holds it tighter, as if afraid you will disappear if he lets go.

You shake your head, “Nothing could have changed what happened that day.”

He glares, not at you, but you have to look away from his cold stare. “If I was there…”

You cut him off, “If you were there, then nothing would have changed. You would’ve gotten hurt as well.” You both stare at each other. What are you doing? You’re both lying directly to each other's faces.

He looks pained by your words, he opens his mouth to say something before closing it. He moves closer to you on the couch. You hold in the urge to move away. He pulls you close, and you let yourself get pulled. He smells just like Mark. 

How can a person fake this? The brief touches, quick glances, did they truly mean nothing? You feel tears rise to your eyes, and you attempt to blink them away. He holds you tight, and for a moment you forget everything that has happened. 

As a stray tear escapes your eyes, he brings his hand up to wipe it. “I won’t let anybody touch you again.” He vows.

Before you would’ve just dismissed it as just a comment. A sentiment he wishes he could fulfill. You look at him in the eyes, his gaze hardened. Before you may have even laughed at the idea. Now, you know differently. He truly could make it so that nobody could ever touch you again. You don’t know how to feel about that. 

Just as you start to find yourself relaxing while being held by him, you are rudely awakened by GDA agents appearing out of thin air. 

Immediately Mark holds you tighter, and he looks down at you. You don’t even have to fake the shock on your face.

“How dare you. You come into our home?” Mark looks livid. 

“Let the girl go.” An agent commands him. Mark doesn’t move, his cold gaze looking at all the agents, then down to you. 

“I…” He hesitates, before being shot by their ray guns. You yelp in surprise ducking down. You don’t look up to see what happened to him after getting shot, but you’d guess not much.

Eventually, once you get to the ground, out of shooting range you look up at him. He doesn’t look angry, he looks furious. Just as you thought you were safe, a stray beam brushes past your arm. You yelp out in surprise, it burns. He immediately turns to you, gauging your injuries. 

He slowly turns toward the agents, he says your name softly, and you can’t bring yourself to look up. As you stare at the ground, trying to ignore the burning pain of your skin being melted off, you see blood splatter across your apartment. Your breathing starts to become uneven, you try and see if you can run out of the door, but there are more agents there. You aren’t sure if you’d be able to make it past them without getting shot again. You don’t really want to try, you look down at your injury once again.

In less than thirty seconds, almost all the agents are dead. Only one remains, and he floats to them. “Tell Cecil to fuck off.” He says calmly, before grabbing the agent’s head and exploding it on the spot.

You can’t even cry, you can barely even think. All you see is red, literally. Your previously clean apartment is coated with blood, dripping on every surface. You, still alive on the floor, finally look at him. He is floating above you, looking down at you. Blood coats his arms like a second skin, and his eyes look down at you. 

“This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out.” He says as if it’s merely an inconvenience. He reaches for you, and you move back, seeing the blood drip from his hands onto your pants. He pauses, his eyes softening briefly before continuing to touch you. He grabs you, and no matter how much you squirm, you cannot escape his hold. 

“You may not understand right now, and that’s okay. I… Sometimes I struggle with it too, but you’ll eventually come to terms with it like I did.” He talks to you softly, and you barely register the words. 

He gently picks you up, and you attempt to escape his grasp for a minute before you eventually get tired and realize it’s futile. You don’t look at his face, but you know he’s looking at yours. “You’ll understand.” You feel him slowly levitate off the ground. He flies out of the door, and you instinctively lean closer to him, afraid of falling to your death. He holds you tighter, the blood stains your clothes, but you can’t bring yourself to care at the moment. 

Eventually, he arrives at a desolate location. You are gently placed down as he immediately flies to Robot, choking him. “Have you finished the device?” Mark asks.

Robot nods, “It should be complete.” You aren’t sure if you imagine it, but there seems to be disdain in Robot’s tone. Can Robots feel disdain?

Mark hums, “How do I know it works as intended and you aren’t just sending me off into nothing?” He grabs the device Robot was holding.

Robot looks blankly at him, and you remain still. “You’ll just have to trust me, then,” Robot responds, tone even. Mark looks at him, then toward you. He presses a button on the device, and a green portal opens up.

Mark looks toward Robot, “If this isn’t the correct dimension, I will be back.”

Robot looks towards him, then to you, “Yes, I know. We don’t want you back. Truly, you’re doing us a favor by leaving.”

The two share a moment of silence, before Mark looks over to you. He slowly approaches you, as you glare at him. “Are you serious? Do you think I’m just going to allow you to take me to another dimension? Away from everybody I care about?!” You start to back up, away from him feeling hysterical.

He looks saddened by your response, “You’ll understand, just,” he approaches you again, “let me show you.” He grabs you before holding you up and flying to the portal, going inside. 

“YOU CAN’T JUST–” The moment you enter the portal you blink then slowly open your eyes. Your jaw drops.

You are surrounded by buildings and skyscrapers. You look in awe around you, people wearing that (regrettably) familiar white uniform. They’re flying in the sky, going about their day as if this is normal. You gape at your surroundings, before turning to face him. The moment you face him, he instantly turns away, as if caught staring. 

“This is where I’m really from.” He says softly. You look down below you, seeing a civilization unlike anything you’ve seen before. Despite the situation, you can’t help but admire it. Eventually, he comes to a stop, landing on a building that stands taller than the rest. 

You look at the building, it looks royal. You can see other Viltrumites flying around doing work in it. 

“My dad is the Emperor, I’m next in line,” Mark explains, answering some of your silent questions. You stand in your spot, watching as the Viltrumites work. “Come, I will take you to my chambers.” He guides you to his room.

As you walk down the halls, you get glances from the surrounding Viltrumites. They appear to have some sort of interest in you. This kinda makes sense, the prince of an empire brings back a human after being gone for who knows how long. However, you still don’t like the attention on you. He looks at you before walking in front to shield you from their prying eyes. 

Eventually, you enter his room, it’s clean. It’s also the complete opposite of the Mark you know. Where his was dirty and covered in comic posters. This is so clean it looks like nobody is ever in here.

“You can stay here.” He shifts, almost as if he is nervous. “I have some business to attend to, so I will not see you until later tonight. I will have food delivered to you.” He informs you. You sit on the bed.

He looks from you, down to the ground, then back up to you. “I…” He starts but then stops. He doesn’t say anything else before he turns around to exit. The doors behind him open and close automatically. 

The moment he leaves, you exhale. You stand up to look out the window, the outside world looks unreal here. You look back at the room, there is nothing notable about it. You wonder if this Mark even heard of Seance Dog before coming to your Earth. You sit down on the bed and look down at the ground. You start to cry again. 

The tears flow freely now that you’re alone. 

A/N: Sorry this one took longer, I've been busy. Also, side note I am aware reader cries a lot, but man she's going through it lol. You'd probably cry too if you got kidnapped to another planet, so please don't come at me!

For future reference I probably will not respond individually to each comment asking to be added to the taglist. I will add you still, but I feel like I'm flooding my own comment section with my own comments lol. You're just gonna have to trust me that I've got you down. If I do miss you then I'm very very VERY sorry :( This means I will probably respond to more comments that aren’t just taglist comments. (Which omg thank you for the support)

That being said, leave a comment if you'd like to be added to the taglist for the next part.

“It appears that multiple versions of Invincible have entered our dimension.” You say, clearing your stack of papers. You know Cecil is going to make you work for that paycheck today.

“No shit, many are we talking?” He asks.

“Sixteen, sir.” You reply, attempting to pull up any cameras you can access on your computer. You pull up the ones from the prison and see some weird Mohawk version of Invincible.

“Huh, well, that’s not what I expected.” You blink, taken aback briefly by the difference.

“It doesn’t matter what he looks like. We need to figure out how to stop them. Get every superhero on the planet out there.” Cecil commands.

You nod, getting ready to notify all the teams Cecil has at his disposal, which is a lot.

“Donald, come with me,” Cecil says, walking toward the door before pausing at the door and calling your name. 

You whip your head toward him, confused if you heard him correctly, “Yes, you come too.” He snaps.

You don’t want to piss him off more than he already is. You can’t imagine that dealing with a crisis like this is very fun. You’re stressed out with your current position, so you can’t imagine being the GDA director. 

“Everybody else, make sure that at least some heroes are trying to stop every single Invincible,” Cecil calls out before turning back toward the door, you and Donald following suit.

“I called you for a special mission. I tried to keep it on the down low as much as possible. However, with current circumstances, I need a favor.” The three of you continue to walk down the hallway. 

You start to feel a little anxious, “Whatever you need, sir. Will it be dangerous?” You ask.

He doesn’t immediately respond, “Usually no, but right now potentially.” He sighs. “I am trusting you with this job. It could potentially save millions of lives if you’re successful.”

Geez, no pressure. You feel yourself start to sweat, “If it saves lives, it is worth it. What is it you need me to do, sir?” You ask.

Cecil brings you to a new room, “You’re going to be looking for a black suitcase. In that suitcase, there will be about twenty small devices in there. They’re experimental, but hypothetically, they should be useful in dealing with Viltrumites. They’re portable versions of the chips that we implanted into Mark. They have a working radius of around fifty miles out.” 

You gape at him; you can't help but feel bad for Mark. You don’t know him personally, but he seems to be a good person. Cecil had made these intending to stop this dimension’s Mark, not other ones.

“Judge all you want about it, but it’s our best hope,” Cecil says, grabbing a watch-looking device. You recognize it immediately.

“Sir, where exactly is this located?” You ask, putting on the device.

Cecil looks at you solemnly, “Guardians HQ. If you’re lucky, you can find it and be in and out in five minutes. However, realistically, you’re going to have to pass all the security checks, which require everybody here to approve.” He sighs.

“I won’t lie, kid. There’s a large chance one of these Invincible variants will be there. If that’s the case, we’ll try and get you out of there. We’ll be monitoring from here.” Cecil gestures between himself and Donald.

You nod, “Yeah,” You take a deep breath, “Okay. Wait, so I get to use the teleporter?” You ask, feeling a little excited.

“Yes, you should just be going there and back,” Cecil explains, motioning for Donald to get everything ready.

“This isn’t coming out of my paycheck right…” You admire the watch. It looks simple, but you know this is very expensive. Cecil stares at you unamused. 

“Uh, okay, I’m ready. How does this— OH MY GOODNESS-” You feel yourself stumble as you land in Guardians HQ.

“Woah…” You look around, you haven’t been here before, not being a superhero. “Damn, really wish he gave me some idea of where it could be.” You mumble to yourself.

You look around the vast room, noticing a large desk. “Guess I’ll start here.” You rummage around briefly, not seeing anything catch your eye.

You spend the next ten minutes just trying to find the suitcase. Was Cecil trying to get you killed? He could’ve at least pointed you in the right direction.

Eventually, you find a door; there isn’t anything special about it. You go to see if you can open it. You try to twist the handle, failing miserably. “Oh, come on.” You groan.

You look at the screen on the door handle’s keypad, which requires higher security access. 

You turn around the room, “Uhh, if you guys can hear me, could you maybe unlock the door?” You point at it, feeling stupid.

Suddenly, a loud crash resonates in the room. You immediately try to find cover, but you’re standing out in the open. 

“Ah damn, I thought they’d be here.” You hear Invincible say, but you know it’s not the one you know. 

You slowly try and inch away out of sight. Maybe you’ll get lucky and he won’t see you?

“Cecil, I know you’re watching.” Not Mark announces in a sing-song tone. “Here! Let me get rid of all these cameras for you.” 

You watch as this Mark variant destroys every camera. Damn, you were relying on those. 

You try and see if there are any differences between this Mark and the one you know. He seems to have the older costume. Other than that, there doesn’t appear to be any differences in it. 

You squint, trying to see. Oh, no goggles, that's a choice.

Just as you try and find a spot to cover, you hear him laugh loudly, “Oh, ho! Look who we have here!” He calls your name out. You stiffen. How does he know you?

“It really is you! Damn, I started to actually miss you. I killed you in my world, you were a reallll challenge.” He floats just above you. You feel a little pathetic crouched down beneath him.

“Is that so?” You counter, feigning confidence. Cecil, where are you? You take a quick glance at the watch, hoping it'll activate, but it doesn't.

“Oh yeah, for sure! I was so sad when I killed you. I got you to scream for hours. You lasted so long. It was soooo cool.” He gestures excitedly. You nod as if interested. Keep him busy, somebody’s gotta come eventually.

“How nice.” You reply sarcastically. Not Mark nods enthusiastically, not noticing the sarcasm.

I still remember what you sounded like. “God, I can’t believe I get a second opportunity to do it.” He lands right in front of you.

“Woah, uh, maybe take a step back.” You step back, creating distance. You feel unnerved by the wide grin on his face.

“Oooh, setting up the match, huh? We’re getting serious. Okay, okay, I’ll play along!” He gets into a fighting stance. You stand there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

“For somebody who seemed to enjoy torturing me so much, I’m surprised I’m only the second version to have the honor to fight you.” You can feel yourself start to sweat. You are running out of ways to stall him.

“I know. I mean, I wanted to conquer other dimensions,” He waves a hand casually, “but this is fun too.”

You see a shift in the lighting above. You subtly glance up, finally somebody’s here. You can’t tell who it is, but you can see it’s not an Invincible. 

“Hmm.. yes, fun.” You reply uninterested. “You know what else is fun?” You ask, moving closer.

He starts to grin wider, getting into a more serious position, “What?”

You push him down the stairs, catching him off guard. You got lucky there. If he wanted to resist that, he definitely could’ve. You see the Guardians descend from the ceiling, restraining him.

You look towards the open door, which was locked earlier. You run towards it.

“Hey! AGH!” You hear him get hit. “DUDE IT WAS A ONE V ONE! RESPECT THE MATCH!” You hear him yell across the room. Ha.

You grab the suitcase waiting in the room, watching as the Guardians attempt to knock him unconscious. 

You frown, “You guys need him alive or something?” You ask, watching them beat down on Not Mark.

“Yeah, Cecil thinks he’s our best shot at getting answers.” You hear Darkwing reply. You nod, “Alright then. Not my business.” You start to walk away, “Wait, before I leave, can I do something?"

All the Guardians look at each other, “Sorry, it’ll just take a moment.” You set the suitcase down, taking a heel off your foot. 

You throw it as hard as you can at Not Mark, hitting him dead in the eye. “Hey! What’d you do that for?!” He frowns pettishly.

You grab the suitcase, picking it up again. You adjust yourself before looking him dead in the eye with a straight face, “Fun.” 

You turn around to walk away from the Guardians, feeling the odd sensation of being teleported once again.

All the Guardians watch, flabbergasted. “She’s got guts.” Darkwing breaks it, amused. Immortal nods, “Let’s just knock this guy out. There’s still more out there.” 

Not Mark remains on the floor, awestruck. How did this human come in here, trick him into an ambush, and then have the audacity to hit him? His eyes linger on where you teleported away. 

It was at this moment that he decided he would meet you again.

---------------------------

“That was a bold move, kid.” You hear Cecil’s voice. You look up, still nauseous from the teleportation, and his arms are crossed.

“He killed another version of me.” You justify, handing him the suitcase. “Even if I don’t have super strength to beat him up, I wanted to at least hit him for what he did. I would’ve slapped him, but I’m not stupid enough to go into neck snapping range.”

“Whatever," He sighs, "it’s done now. We’ll try and send these out with some teams. They should at least reduce the damage that could be done.” Cecil says, opening the suitcases. He grabs one of the devices.

“What about Mark, sir?” Donald asks, frowning. 

“If you can get in contact with him, tell him to get off the planet. Otherwise, it’s a small price to pay for the greater good. He’ll recover, humanity may not.” Cecil replies. Donald nods and goes back to typing.

Cecil turns toward you, putting a hand on your shoulder. “Good work, kid. Sorry that you had to deal with that.”

You shrug, “It’s okay, he didn’t actually get the chance to do anything.” You reply. “What are you planning on doing with him? Are you sure you can restrain him?” You ask, frowning.

“We’re planning on implanting the same chip that Mark had into him. Don’t worry, we have a plan for what to do with him. We might be able to extract some answers out of him eventually.” Cecil sighs. “I don’t even know if we’ll be able to rehabilitate him.” He shakes his head. 

You know this is what Cecil does. While you may find some moral issues in using villains, you know this is how he works. There’s nothing you can do to change that.

You nod, “It’s worth a shot, sir.” You reply. “If we can have two Invincibles out there, that’d be a huge advantage.” 

“Yeah, that’s if he will change. These variants seem pretty set in their ways.” Cecil watches Donald work. “One step at a time. We need to get answers out of him first.” 

You nod, “Probably a good idea.” 

Cecil turns back to you before dismissing you back to your desk, “Thank you for your help.”

You nod, “Of course, sir. Call me anytime.”

—

“You sure he won’t wake up?” Darkwing asks, looking nervously at the body of the unconscious Invincible slung over Immortal’s back.

Duplikate walks up next to them, “I doubt it. If he does, Cecil told us he has a backup. We can also knock him out again.”

“We were lucky. If he wasn’t caught off guard, then we would not have knocked him out. He would’ve killed us all.” Darkwing responds solemnly.

Immortal slides the variant into the special cell that Cecil told them to put him in.

“Thank you, Guardians.” A scientist comes up to them, locking the special prison cell. “You needn’t worry about him escaping. You are free to go.” He smiles. 

The Guardians nod before rushing out of the Pentagon. Cecil walks into the room. “Is he up yet?” He asks.

The scientist shakes his head, “No, sir. We expect he’ll wake up in the next few minutes, though.” He taps his pen on the clipboard. 

“Good, all safety measures have been checked, yes?” Cecil asks. The scientist nods, “Yes, sir. He will not be escaping.” He responds. The two watch as the Invincible starts to stir.

“Agh, my head… Hey, where am I?” He looks around before making eye contact with Cecil. “You seriously think that I can’t escape this?” He sounds amused. He slowly stands up, walking up to the front of his cell. 

“Perhaps, but you will regret your attempts,” Cecil replies, his voice betraying nothing. 

The Invincible variant laughs, taking off his mask. “You had me knocked out, why not kill me?” He puts his finger through the mask and spins it.

“You aren’t in a position to be asking questions.” Cecil narrows his eyes.

The variant suddenly slams into the front of the cell where Cecil and the scientist stand. The scientist flinches back, but Cecil remains still.

“You truly think. I can’t kill you right now?” He laughs. “All it takes is— ARGH!!” He immediately falls down onto the ground, gripping his head. 

Cecil presses the button once again, cutting out the noise playing in the Invincible’s ear. “Like I said, you’re not in a position to be asking questions.” The variant looks up at him, the amused smile gone from his face.

"Now tell me why you’re here,” Cecil demands. 

The variant wipes the blood from his suit, “I’m not tellin’ you shit.” He smears the blood on his fingers to the ground. Suddenly, he says your name, the smile returning to his face.

“What?” Cecil asks, confused. “How do you know her?” He asks.

“Does it matter?” The variant rolls his eyes. “Where is she? I want to talk to her.”

“Sorry to say, we can’t do that.” Cecil didn’t sound very sorry.

The variant clicks his tongue, “Damn, guess you’re not getting a word out of me then.” He leans against the wall smugly.

“You can rot in this cell then,” Cecil replies.

The variant snaps and then does finger guns, “Oooh, so you see, that won’t work.” He laughs loudly. “I mean you’ll die eventually. I have centuries to escape, and trust me...” 

He leans towards the wall, placing his hands against it, “It will not take me a century to escape. You’re lucky if you last a week.” He pushes away from the wall, pacing in his room.

“Now, if you want answers. Bring her. It’s a win-win. I get the girl, you get your answers!” He grins widely, as if that’s a very fair deal.

Cecil sighs.

--------------------------

“Uh, what is it you need, sir?” You ask your boss over the phone. 

“It appears that the Invincible variant we captured refuses to answer any questions,” Cecil responds, annoyed, looking over toward the variant, who is grinning with two giant thumbs up.

“Okay..?” You respond, not liking where this is headed.

“I hate to involve you again, kid, but he will only answer questions if you are there,” Cecil replies exasperated.

You are frozen for a moment; this monster almost killed you. Why on Earth could he possibly want to talk to you?

“..Which cell is he in?” You eventually concede. You can hear Cecil sigh in relief. 

“Thank you, he’s in cell two hundred forty-three,” Cecil informs you. 

“I’ll be there in a minute.” You tell him before you hang up. 

You grab all your stuff and begin your long trek to the special prison Cecil has. It’s supposed to be able to withstand anything, but after seeing Omni-Man take a nuke, you aren’t certain.

You eventually get down to that level, and the security asks for your identification. You scan your card before walking in. You see Cecil and Donald standing at the end of the row.

You slowly approach, “There she is! I was wondering if you were gonna show!” You hear Not Mark (at this point, that’s his new name) call. 

“How long do I need to be here for?” You whisper to Cecil. 

“Long enough to figure out why they’re here and who sent them,” Cecil responds, matching your volume.

“You got your wish, now can you answer our questions?” Cecil asks, crossing his arms.

“Mmmm, I don’t know.” He looks at you and frowns. “I thought it was just gonna be me and her.” He looks disappointedly at Cecil.

You and Cecil share a look, you nod at each other, before he looks down shaking his head. “Everybody out! You get ten minutes with her, nothing more.” He states before the area clears out.

You shift uncomfortably, he is just watching you. He seems content just to stare at you. 

“What?” You ask, feeling scrutinized by his stare. He looks up at you, “You’re amazing.” He replies breathless.

You raise an eyebrow, “I’m amazing. After you told me that the other version of me you tortured was one of the best things you’ve done? Hate to break it to you, but I am just a normal person.” You cross your arms, looking at him. “I think you’ve noticed that already.”

He nods, “Of course I have. She was strong, sure, but you. You played me like a fool. When you hit me with that shoe at the end? Way to leave a guy with a cliffhanger.” He mockingly swoons.

You look at him unimpressed. “Very funny. Now we don’t have much time, so please just cooperate and answer these questions. It saves us both trouble.”

He nods enthusiastically, “Of course. What do you want to know?” He sits on the ground, criss cross, looking up at you like you hung the moon.

You ignore his gaze, “Why are you here?” You ask.

“Well… You see, I got into a fight with the Guardians. Oooh, I was so looking forward to actually fighting them. Instead, I met you.” He rests his elbows on his knees, holding his face with his hands.

“I was so enraptured by your presence that I got caught off guard.” He holds his hands out. “Now, I’m in prison.”

You look at him, glaring. “You know what I meant.”

He frowns, “Not big on jokes? We were chatting perfectly fine earlier.” He says to himself. You exhale annoyed.

“Sheesh, just playing! Okay, so this guy, right? He promised me the most fun dimensions for me to take over.” He shifts his weight onto his side. 

“What was his name?” You ask. 

“Angstrom Levy.” He says, and you freeze. “Oh, you’ve met?” He asks.

“Not personally, but I’ve heard stories.” You look down. “What exactly did he ask you all to do?” You ask.

“Eh, something about making everyone here fear Invincible. It seemed like he just wanted chaos, which I didn’t mind one bit.” He holds his hands up in surrender.

“How long are you guys meant to do this for?” You ask.

He shrugs, “Until he says stop, I guess.” 

“And when would that be?” You walk up closer to his cell. He stands up, meeting your gaze. His eyes glance down at your lips.

“I…” He stares at your face, “have no idea.”

You frown, “Helpful.”

“I try to be.” He grins.

You shake your head, rubbing your temples. This is way above your paygrade. “So, let me get this straight: Angstrom Levy brought over a dozen different versions of yourself,” He nods, “and he just told you guys to ‘cause chaos.” 

“Sounds about right.” He starts spinning his mask with his fingers again.

“And in return, he’d give you dimensions to conquer?” You frown.

“Yeeep.” 

“So you have no idea why he wants you guys to cause chaos?” You lean up against the cell. He leans against his cell, too, mirroring your action.

“To be honest, I didn’t particularly care.” He taps his finger against the cell. “But, I do know the me of this dimension did something to piss him off.”

You think back to the whole incident with the Mauler Twins and the other incident where Mark almost killed him. “Oh.” You respond.

“‘Oh?’” He quotes. “You gonna share with the class?” 

“I thought I was the one asking questions.” You look at him.

“And I answered! Come on, throw me a bone here, will you?” He grins at you, looking far more innocent than you know him to be.

You look at him unimpressed. 

“Please?! Come on. There’s nothing fun around here. You’re my only source of entertainment right now.” He leans against the wall dramatically.

“Glad to know I’m contributing to your lack of entertainment.” You respond, detached.

“Aha! There she is! I was wondering if you left all your personality back where we met.” He snaps his fingers and does finger guns at you.

You look at him blankly. “Cecil will be back any moment now.” You begin to walk away.

“Wait, wait!” He calls out, and you pause.

“Will you come and visit me?” He asks, giving you false puppy dog eyes. You know if he wasn’t in that cell, he’d probably kill you.

You scoff but find yourself smiling, “Why, so I can be a source of entertainment for you?” You ask, walking back to his cell. He walks up to where you are, and you both stare each other down.

“Perhaps.” He grins.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you don’t look like you’re getting answers out of him.” Cecil walks in. You immediately distance yourself from the cell, breaking eye contact with Not Mark. He doesn’t move from where you two had your little staring competition.

“Forgive me, sir.” You look away from him, slightly embarrassed. “I did get answers, though.” You consciously ignore Not Mark, who is waving at you both to try and get your attention.

“We heard,” Cecil responds dryly, he does sound a bit amused though. He puts his hand on your shoulder, “Thanks for your assistance. Sorry we had to bring you out again for.. him.” You both turn to look at Not Mark, who grins innocently.

“Yeah, no problem.” You say, feeling as if it were very much a problem.

“Wait, Cecil, is she allowed to visit me?” Not Mark asks, butting into your conversation.

“That’s up to her.” Cecil says, at the same time you say, “It’s prohibited.”

You look at Cecil, distressed. “What? It pays to be in his good graces.” Cecil whispers to you.

“Yeah? What’s his good graces? Not breaking out and killing everyone?” You respond frustrated. Cecil raises an eyebrow before looking over at Not Mark. “Fair enough.” You sigh despondently.

“I can hear you two.” Not Mark comments helpfully.

You look at Cecil, and he nods. “You can head back now.”

You nod, “Thank you, sir.” You start to walk away, ignoring Not Mark’s cries of “Wait!” and “Don’t go!”

You walk past the security, giving a nod of acknowledgement. You walk into the elevator.

Once you arrive on the floor, you were supposed to be on (before all of that happened). You sit down at your desk, grabbing your stack of papers you threw aside earlier. 

“How are the Guardians doing, or all the teams for that matter?” You ask your coworker, Bryan, casually.

He groans. “We’ve already seen at least three be eliminated or seriously injured.”

“Teams? Like they killed off entire teams?” You ask, shocked.

He nods, “Yep. Down and out.” He types frantically on his keyboard.

“…Have we managed to kill any of the Invincibles at all?” You ask hesitantly, unsure if you want to know the answer. 

“At the moment? Four.” He responds.

“Oh, that’s more than I expected.” You look around the panicked room. Every person around you is frantically working. Crazy to think that not even 10 minutes ago you were talking to one of those Invincibles while everybody up here was stressing.

“Did you find out any valuable info from the one we captured?” Bryan asks.

“Not much. Levy sent him.” You start to log in to your computer.

“Levy? As in Angstrom Levy?” He asks, flabbergasted.

“Yep.” You pop your lips. “Turns out Mark didn’t kill him.” 

“From what I heard, there was no way anybody could survive that.” 

“Well, apparently he did. He wants revenge on Mark, I think.” You respond.

“Great, so he brought sixteen different Invincibles in order to kill our Invincible.” He sighs, pausing in his typing.

“Eh, basically. Apparently, they won’t stop causing damage until told to by Levy himself.” You tell him. “The captured one didn’t even know when that’d be.”

“Oh, so they could go on until they destroy the world?” Bryan laughs humorlessly.

“Yeah. I have no idea when—”

A loud crash resounds in the room. You and Bryan whip your heads around, looking at the giant hole in the ceiling. You look and see an Invincible floating over the rubble. 

You quickly glance at Bryan before you both scurry out of the room. You start to run out when…

“HOLY SHIT!” You hear him yell. You turn around to look at him, narrowly missing the body that was flung inches in front of your face.

You stare in horror, watching as employee after employee is murdered. You begin to run again. 

“Ugh damn it…” You frantically yank your heels off your feet. You run off to the exit. You, Bryan, and a few other coworkers manage to escape that room, but you can still hear the screams from where the crash was.

“Where is Cecil?!” Somebody asks. You shake your head. “Probably dealing with the other one we captured.” You groan. This Invincible is probably here to break that one out of prison.

“Let’s go, it’s safer in the halls than it is here.” You look at the remaining people, who nod. You start to run out again before the wall on your left explodes. 

“Other way, other way!” You yell, panicked. You push back against the remaining people. They start to head in the other direction. 

“Are all of you guys okay?” You ask. Out of the thirty of you in that room, seven (including you) made it.

“We should’ve just let him go.” You hear a coworker mumble, and everybody turns to look at them. “What? Am I wrong? This never would have happened if we didn’t keep that other one hostage.” You hear some murmurs of agreement.

“We don’t know that. The Pentagon might’ve been a target regardless of the Invincible we kept.” You frown, shaking your head. 

“Yeah? Well, we can’t be too sure, can we? How about we find out, huh?” The worker pushes past you all, heading back into the original room.

“What are they doing?” Bryan asks. You all watch as they run to their death.

Suddenly, static cuts in from the PA speakers: “Cell two hundred and forty-three is open.”

You all sit in silence for a bit before some people in your group begin to sob. 

The door the worker ran into earlier opens, and you all watch as a head rolls through the door. It is the head of that worker.

You all look up in horror. The Invincible variant crushes the head of the worker before looking up. 

You, being in the back, turn in the opposite direction. You think you’ll take your chances with random exploding walls over that. Bryan notices, and you motion him to be quiet, and duck so that the variant doesn’t see you two escape.

You both crouch, walking in the other direction. The group is still back there facing off against that Invincible. Do you feel bad for leaving them there? Yes, but you can’t dwell on it. It’s either all of you die, or some of you die. 

You don’t even hear the screams of them, just the wet slap of their bodies hitting the blood-soaked floor. You flinch, knowing that you two are now in plain view.

“Bryan, Bryan, we have to ru—” You turn to look at your friend, but pause in horror. The variant stabbed his hand right through him. You cup your hands up to your mouth, holding back a sob. You look at the variant before attempting to sprint away. You feel yourself get slammed into the wall, and you let out a soft “Oof!”

You look up in fear, the Invincible’s goggles block you from seeing his eyes. You can feel the tears roll down your face at this point. You don’t say anything, just stare at him silently as he raises his hand to strike you down.

Suddenly, you’re thrown to the ground, out of the Invincible’s grip. You look up.

“Dude, what are you doing here? God, you ruined my whole plan.” Not Mark pouts petulantly.

“I wasn’t aware you were here.” The other Mark replies.

“Well?” He does jazz hands. “I am! Now get out.” 

“Sure, whatever, just let me kill the human first. Angstrom said kill as many as possible.

Within an instant, Not Mark tackles the other one, sending a cloud of dust throughout the entire area. You cough, watching in both awe and horror. You attempt to stand up, but feel a sharp pain in your leg.

“Agh… shit.” You whimper, an action that seems to catch Not Mark’s attention. Within a millisecond, he’s in front of you, “Do you trust me?” He asks.

You blink at him, feeling the gust of wind from him speeding towards you. “Absolutely not!” You suck in air from the pain.

He grins, “Great.” He then grabs you bridal style before blasting into the air.

“OH MY GOD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” You attempt to yell over the rushing wind. You feel yourself suffocating, unable to breathe with the high speed and rushing wind.

“Aw shit, forgot humans can’t breathe when I move this fast. You think you can last a little longer?” You hear him ask. You try and nod, but can barely move against the strong force. 

Eventually, you come to a stop, he places you down gently on the ground. “Do not move. Go inside that building, I’ll be back shortly.” He points to a relatively run down looking building.

“What?! Where did you drop me off-” You watch him speed off back into the sky. “Unbelievable!” You yell out to nobody. Who is going to believe this happened to you today? Nobody! 

“I’m not waiting here, asshole.” You grumble to yourself.

--------------------------

You sigh, waiting inside the building.

“How long is his definition of ‘shortly'? It’s been days.” You lean your elbows on your knees. 

Luckily, despite its run down appearance the place Not Mark dropped you off at has running water and food. 

It took you a while to actually try and consume any of it, but you decided that you didn’t want to die in the middle of nowhere. You’ll take your chances. Worst-case scenario, Cecil pays for your healthcare. He is the one who put you in this situation anyway.

Suddenly, the door gets thrown open. You jump back into the corner of the room you’re in. You hear Not Mark call your name.

“Hellooo? Anybody here?” You hear him approach you before looking directly at you. “There she is!” He walks up to you.

You grimace in disgust, looking at him. He’s covered from head to toe in blood. 

“What’s wrong?” He frowns. “Do I have something on my face?” He asks.

You look him up and down again, “Blood.” You respond disgustedly.

He blinks, confused, “You don’t like the blood? I thought you’d like it.” He looks at the ground as if trying to figure out a puzzle. “I’ll be right back.” He zooms out of the room, the door shutting itself behind him.

You look at the spot he was just at, unimpressed. Suddenly, the door opens again, and his suit is clean. You furrow your eyebrows, “How’d you clean it?” You ask.

“Flew to space and back. It comes off.” He mentions casually, as if that’s normal. “Anyway, ready to head home?” He grins, looking at you, holding his arms out ready to carry you. 

You look at him, suspicious.

He rolls his eyes, “Oh come onnnn. If I wanted to kill you, I could’ve done that way earlier.” He raises a hand and waves it back. At your horrified expression, he elaborates, “I mean like… You know what I mean. I don’t want you dead. I kinda went out of my way to make sure you didn’t die.” 

You nod, “Oh, yeah, okay… So I should just let you whisk me to who knows where.” You feign calmness.

“I mean, yeah.” He shrugs before grinning widely. “OOH, unless you want to give me your address.”

You stare at him, trying to discern whether he is serious. He stares back, smiling, looking like a dog begging for a treat. 

“No!”

“Worth a shot.” He sighs dejectedly. 

He carries you back, flying a lot slower this time, but still fast enough where you can’t bring yourself to talk in fear of choking on air or on a bug.

You feel him gaze at you a couple of times and pointedly ignore his stare. Suddenly, he pauses, slowing to a stop mid-air. “What’s wrong?” You ask, panic growing. 

You see him groan before throwing out some earpiece in his ear. “Oh, they didn’t take that out when you entered the Pentagon?”

“I don't know, I should be asking you that.” He leans down to your ear. “Hold on tight.” He whispers.

“What? OH MY—” You see him attack something. It explodes in the air. You both watch the debris fall onto the earth.

“What was that?” You ask, unsure if you want to know the answer. 

“Angstrom.” He says, pulling you closer before flying back where he was originally headed. 

You go the rest of the flight in silence. It wasn’t like you could talk if you wanted to. The wind made it difficult.

“Andddd we’re here. Wow, we really did a number on this place.” You look down, seeing half the Pentagon decimated. 

Out of nowhere, ReAnimen jump up into the sky. Not Mark drops you out of surprise. You feel yourself fall, closing your eyes and bracing for the impact. God, was this finally it? After everything you survived today?

A pair of arms catch you, and you open your eyes to see the singular red light of a ReAniman. You try to lean back away from the undead creature. You know they work for Cecil, but it doesn’t mean that you have to like them.

“Oh, good you’re alive. How’d you live?” Cecil asks. You feel yourself questioning for a moment if he is actually happy to see you alive. You turn toward Not Mark. He is fighting the ReAnimen. 

“Woahh, I never fought these guys in my world. They’re kinda fun.” He slams five of them using the body of one he already killed. “I killed you before you got the chance to create them, but man, Cecil. Good stuff.” He hovers over them.

“He saved me.” You tell Cecil, not exactly sounding enthusiastic.

He raises an eyebrow, “From the other one that came?” He asks, you nod.

“Hm…” He pauses, looking at the ground before pointing at you suddenly.

“What?” You whisper.

All the ReAnimen slowly turn their heads toward you. “Wait, Cecil, what are you doing?” You ask, panic growing. He looks at you coldly. “Cecil…” You try again.

Not Mark, noticing the lack of new opponents looks down. He spots you getting circled before he immediately dives in and lands right behind you, putting his hands on your shoulders.

“And just what do you think you’re doing?” He asks coldly. The grin on his face from the fight earlier is nowhere to be seen.

Cecil suddenly holds his hand up, and all the ReAnimen halt. “I see.” He says to himself. He says your name, “I apologize for my actions just now. I just had to…” He looks at Not Mark, “test something.” 

You look at Not Mark and then Cecil. “Please tell me you aren’t thinking what I’m thinking.” You look at Cecil in disbelief.

“What is it?” Not Mark asks right behind you. You step forward to create some distance between you two, and he steps forward to compensate.

“Say, how about you work for the GDA, Mark?” 

You and Not Mark both gape at Cecil before both of you simultaneously cry out:

“Are you SERIOUS?!”

“Oooh.” Not Mark laughs loudly. “Yeah, absolutely not. Why would I ever work for you?”

Cecil looks at you, his eyes seem sympathetic, yet unapologetic. “You can work with her.” 

So now here you are. Watching an evil version of Invincible shake hands with Cecil Stedman. The deciding factor? Getting to work with you. Truly, you’d feel flattered if it were anybody else.

“Soooo we’ll be in contact?” Not Mark grins at you, leaning into your personal space. You step away from him, but he follows.

“Kill yourself.” You deadpan. 

He smiles wider, and you know he heard it. “Now, is that how you talk to the person who saved your life? Oh, and your new coworker.” He removes his mask.

You feel your eye twitch. Is this seriously your life now?

“Why the long face?” He mocks your traumatized expression before breaking character and laughing loudly. “Come on, let’s get to work!” He floats up, flying in circles around you in the air like a hyperactive dog. 

“This is my life now.” You tell yourself, Not Mark nods because of course he heard you.

“Our life now.” He grins at you. 

You groan.

“You have all the superheroes you could ever need on call. You could defeat half of them without me. You don’t need me right now. I have to be there for Eve. If this other version of me is really that big of an issue, then just send every other superhero you have.” Mark walks past Cecil, leaving him alone in Eve’s room. 

“Mark, please try to be reasonable.” Cecil follows him soon after. 

Mark scoffs, “If I see him, I will take action.” He stops in his tracks. “This does not mean I’m working for you. I will take action if people are getting hurt. Do not expect me to be at your beck and call.” He turns, glaring at Cecil.

Cecil sighs, “If that’s the most you’ll do…”

“It is.” Mark cuts in sharply. “In case you have forgotten, I refuse to work with you. Now, I have other things to attend to.”

“At least let us know if you see him out in public, please, Mark. If not for me, then for the betterment of humanity.” Cecil tries.

“Oh yes, I’ll just shoot you a text! ‘Hey, Cecil, I know we hate each other, but there’s another version of me destroying the world right now.’” Mark exclaims sarcastically, holding his hands up as if questioning whether Cecil is serious. Cecil looks at him unimpressed.

“I don’t hate you, kid.” Cecil responds.

“Yeah, okay, but why even ask? I’m sure you’ll know if there’s an attack or something before I do. I wouldn’t even be surprised if you spy on me even when I’m not out saving people.” Mark looks at Cecil suspiciously.

Cecil sighs; he looks like he’s given up. “Just keep an eye out, kid. Please.”

“I will let you know if another version of me decides to attack me. Otherwise, call somebody else.” Mark reiterates, beginning to walk past Cecil.

“Wait,” Mark stops in his tracks. “You know we’re always here to talk, right?” Cecil looks at Mark, who returns a conflicted look. 

“I don’t really want to talk to you,” He shakes his head, continuing his path, “but thanks.” Mark continues as he exits the Pentagon.

--------------------------

“Dude, where'd you get this coffee?” You ask, examining the foreign packing of the coffee beans Mark returned with. You take a sip from his cup, and he gives you a weird look.

“Brazil.” He answers.

You roll your eyes. “Very funny. No, seriously, you have to tell me. I gotta know your sources.” 

He looks at you, “Can’t expose all my secrets.” He looks at you, amused.

“Okay fineeee, but you gotta promise to get me some more if we run out.” You relent, finishing his coffee.

“...That was my cup.” He sounds a little despondent.

“Sorry, we can make another batch.”  You smile guiltily. He sighs, but goes to make more. You check the bag of groceries he brought. “Woah, this all looks authentic.” You examine the dry pasta that he bought. 

“Did you travel to Italy too?” You joke, smiling at him.

“Yes.” He responds seriously. You laugh in response and stand up to wash the cup you stole from Mark.

“Oooh, next time you go, you should bring back pizza or something!” You grin at him, finding it funny how he seems so solemn with his responses.

“Hm, perhaps.” He says as he grabs two mugs. 

“Oh, you don’t have to get a mug for me.” You say as he looks up at you, unimpressed.

“Really? So you won’t drink from my cup if I only make one for myself?” Mark narrows his eyes suspiciously.

You shake your head, “No, I won’t, Scout’s honor.” You place a hand on your chest. 

Mark sighs before putting away the second mug. He pours himself a cup and takes a sip. He looks at you, then at his cup. “We should put away the groceries.” 

You nod, “Of course.” You go to help him put the groceries away. 

Mark stops in his tracks, “Are you serious?”

You look at him, then back at the cup you stole again. “Sorry, I wasn’t going to, but you commented on it, so I had to.” You take a slow sip, making it as loud as possible.

“You said ‘Scout’s honor.’ Do you have no honor?” He shakes his head in disappointment.

You snap your fingers, “That’s the thing! I was never a scout.” You put the cup down. “Don’t worry, I didn’t finish it this time.” You gesture vaguely to the cup. 

He walks up to you, frowning. He looks at the cup, “You contaminated it.” 

You laugh in surprise, “Oh, come on, you’ve drunk from my cups before. Think of this as payment for providing you with temporary housing.”

Mark furrows his eyebrows, “I have?” He hesitantly picks up the cup before drinking from it.

“Uh yeah? Wait, I think? Great, now you got me questioning it.” You sigh, heading over to the couch to turn on the TV. “Let’s see what’s on…”

The camera focuses on a massive floating figure. He seems to be towering over Invincible. They appear to be engaging in some sort of fight. The headline proves that your guess is correct.

“Hey, that looks like what the Chicago Destroyer Invincibile was wearing.” You comment offhandedly. Mark, on the other hand, coughs violently before walking over to watch with you.

“‘Chicago Destroyer Invincible?’” Mark quotes you incredulously.

“What? He destroyed Chicago, it’s either that or that one Invincible wearing white. That doesn’t really roll off the tongue— ooh, that was a nice punch.” 

Mark still seems hung up on the “Chicago Destroyer” part. “From planet conqueror to Chicago Destroyer.” He scoffs, muttering the words low enough that you don’t hear. 

“It looks like Invincible’s getting his ass handed to him though… Ouch, that looks like that’d hurt.” You comment, watching as the unknown attacker slams Invincible into the ground.

“Yeah…” Mark doesn’t sound very upset, “He’ll probably die here. That guy looks powerful.” You glare at Mark. 

“You’re supposed to root for the good guy, Mark. Invincible is on our side.” You shake your head disapprovingly, placing a hand on your chest, feeling offended for Invincible. 

He holds his hands up in surrender, “I’m just saying. I mean, look at him. Didn’t you also just say he’s getting his ‘ass handed to him?’” You both look at Invincible getting slammed on the ground and punched into the sky. You grimace as the fight goes out of frame… anddd probably out of that city. 

“Okay, fine, but have some faith. Invincible is the one defending us. I mean, what’s gonna happen if this guy wins? Take over the Earth?”

“Yeah, probably,” Mark responds unfazed. 

You chuckle at his deadpan response. “Damn, if we were conquered, what would happen to us? I can’t imagine we’re useful to people who can fly and have super strength like that. Maybe we'd be like slaves? I’d be such an awful slave.” Marks looks at you like you’re crazy.

”You wouldn’t be a slave.” Mark responds. 

“Aww, thanks, I don’t think you’d be a slave either.” You respond affectionately. 

“What? No, of course I wouldn’t— That’s not the point.” Mark shakes his head, looking back toward the TV. 

You laugh at his response, placing your hand onto him, “Didn’t realize you feel so strongly about your ability to not be enslaved.” He stares at your hand, but he doesn’t flinch. He moves slightly away from your touch.

“Very funny.” He replies unamused. “He could, though. Enslave humanity.”

“Invincible? Nah, doubt it.” You play dumb, also knowing fully well that if he wanted, he probably could. Mark gives you a disappointed stare. “Fine, fine. If he truly wanted to, he could. I felt like that was pretty obvious. Not sure why you’re so serious about this.” You mumble. 

“You could die out there,” Mark states, wow, okay. Somebody is feeling optimistic.

“Of course, I could die out there, Mark. Unless you’re secretly Invincible, then there’s nothing we can do if somebody like that invaded us.” You gesture to the TV, feeling yourself get frustrated by his negative outlook.

“Last I checked, Invincible is getting beaten up out there, so like it or not, we can’t change anything.” He gives you a conflicted look. “I’m going to go do some work. I’ll be at my desk.” You stand up, he looks like he wants to say something, but he doesn’t.

--------------------------

“Conquest was defeated.” Mark later walks into your room. 

“Who?” You ask, still a little on edge. Normally, you wouldn’t care about Mark's comments here and there, but Mark had been making comments like this ever since he started staying with you. It was just so unlike him.

He pauses for a moment, and you turn your chair to him. “That guy who was beating up Invincible. He’s apparently called ‘Conquest,’” Mark elaborates. You nod in understanding.

You look over, and Mark is standing over at the door like a lost puppy. A tall and serious lost puppy. The image is so jarring you almost burst out laughing. You sigh, “I’m sorry.” 

He blinks, “You apologize a lot.” 

You remain silent, “Sorry..?” He looks vaguely amused.

You decide to change the subject, “I tried texting Eve. She is okay. William is fine, too.” Mark hums. 

“Did you tell them I was here?” Mark asks. He makes his tone seem casual, but there is something hidden underneath the surface.

“Uhh, not yet, I literally just heard back from her… I’ll text them right now—“ You jolt as he grabs your hand, halting your movement. “Mark, what—“

“Don’t tell her anything. For a matter of fact, don’t tell William either.” He replies with a sense of urgency in his tone.

You frown, “Did you guys all argue or something? Even if they’re mad at you, I still think they’d want to know you’re safe.” You remove your hand from his grip, barely registering the loss of warmth in your confusion.

“Look… just please don’t tell them. They have enough on their plates as it is. They don’t need to find out my house is destroyed.” Mark tries, looking at you with eyes reflecting some emotion.

“Do you trust me?” He asks.

“Of course…” You reply softly. “Mark, you have to talk to them eventually.”

He nods, “I will, but not today. Just… trust me on this.” He looks down at your hand. He looks up, “Don’t tell them.”

You look at his eyes, pleading. This is probably the most genuine emotion he’s shown (other than joy at destroying you in that game of Uno, but you don’t count that). 

You sigh, “Fine…” The conflict in his eyes is suddenly gone; it’s back to that blank look. You both sit in silence, before he eventually stands up. You frown, “Where are you going?” You ask, watching as he heads towards the front door to leave. 

“Out.” He turns to leave before pausing. “Do you… need anything while I’m gone?” He seems unsure whether he should ask the question. 

You smile, “Oh yeah, just that Italian pizza I was asking for earlier. With your skills in finding hidden gems, I can’t imagine it’s too difficult.” You joke, leaning against your room’s doorway. He gives you a deadpan look before nodding and closing the door behind him.

You frown, “He could’ve at least said yes or no.” You close the door to your room behind you. You go back to work for the next few hours.

Eventually, you take a peek out of your room. Huh, still not here. Whatever he decided to do must be taking up quite a bit of time.

You are scrolling on your computer when you see a headline. It reads “NEW CAMERA SHY SUPER VILLAIN FIGHTS WITH GUARDIANS, ALL GUARDIANS SEVERELY INJURED.” 

Normally, you wouldn’t spare a second glance, but it’s unusual that all the guardians get attacked. You open the article. The giant photo showing this new “super villain” is blurry. There are no defining features. All you can see is that they are wearing dark colors and are floating over the injured Guardians.

“New super villain is pictured decimating the Guardians. There seems to be no previous record of this figure. It appears as if he was after the Guardians specifically. Nobody knows names, but everybody is asking questions. Why did they do this?”

“Early witnesses describe seeing the fight originally between this mysterious individual and Atom Eve. It must have been a planned attack, as Atom Eve was recently out due to presumed injuries acquired during the Invincible War.”

“Whoever this is seems to have a vendetta against her. As of now, all the Guardians are safe and receiving medical attention. Perhaps the most odd thing about this is that this figure fled the fight. Why? We have no idea. However, we’re grateful nonetheless. Eyewitnesses seemed to see the figure flee soon after they started filming the fight up close. Perhaps the new villain is camera shy?” You snort reading that last line.

You look at the photos provided by various witnesses. All show the initial battle between the person fighting Atom Eve. All you can see is their back, you vaguely register that they look to be masculine, but it’s difficult to tell with the low quality and distance. Eventually, when they turn to face the camera’s direction, it just turns into a blur. 

After scrolling through the photos, you read the rest of the article. The second half seems to detail the damage done to the Guardians. It’s crazy how much is occurring right now. First, those Invincibles, then Conquest, and now the Guardians? 

“That’s wild…” You mutter, scrolling up and down through the article.

“What’s wild?” A voice says.

“OH MY GOSH! MARK?!” You press yourself to the back of your chair, jumping in surprise. “When’d you get back?! I didn’t even hear you open the front door?”

He doesn’t respond, instead, your eyes are drawn to the pizza box he holds up.

“Oh, you actually got pizza.” You smile, standing up and walking out to the kitchen. He trails behind you and places the box down.

“You doubted me?” He asks as you grab plates for you two.

“Nah.” You grab a slice. “Anyway, where’d you go?” You ask casually, sitting down.

“Out.” He responds, grabbing the plate and getting a slice.

“Ooh, how descriptive.” You chuckle, taking a bite of the pizza. 

“How were you while I was gone?” He asks, changing the subject. 

“Eh, bored. I was doing some work, but then I got caught up reading an article. Apparently, some guy went out and attacked the Guardians.” His head slowly turns toward you as you speak.

“Somebody attacked the guardians.” He said, looking at you, nodding in affirmation. “Did you see who it was?” He asks casually.

You shake your head, “No. People are saying he’s camera shy. Nobody could get a clean shot without him fleeing the scene.” You chuckle at the thought. Imagine being so powerful that you could take on the Guardians alone, but flee at the first sign of a phone.

“Camera shy.” He repeats, looking at you, and he looks slightly disturbed. 

“Yep, at least that’s what the article said. Wouldn’t show his face anywhere. Must be new. Probably doesn’t want people to be able to trace his identity. Hey, it’s kinda funny how he popped up after Invincibile went MIA.” 

“I doubt he’d want to fight Invincible. Probably creates too many issues.” He looks at the pizza slice, studying it.

“Where’d you get this pizza anyway? I think this is the best pizza I’ve ever had.” You continue, you turn your gaze to the blank pizza box. Not even a company name on there. You snap your attention back to him, “Don’t tell me you’re gonna keep it a secret too.”

He eats in silence, not making eye contact with you.

“Markkkk!” You groan. “Come on, it can't be that important to keep it a secret.” You frown, looking at him. He continues to eat in silence, ignoring your presence entirely. “We’re friends, right? Come on.”

He finally looks up, “Oh, friends? Hm, didn’t realize.” He says offhandedly. “Are you going to want more?” He asks, looking at the box.

“Changing the subject, I see.” You observe. “We can save it for later.” You finish up your slice.

“Don’t tell me you were actually getting pizza for two hours?” You ask as you start to clean the dishes.

His lips turn up to resemble a smile, “I wasn’t.”

--------------------------

“Are you sure it was him?” Cecil asks, standing across Eve’s hospital bed. 

She narrows her eyes before standing up, “Yes, I’m sure. I think I’d recognize Mark when I see him.” She starts to walk to the door.

“Anything notable about him?” Cecil asks, following her to the doorway, she pauses.

“Aside from the fact that he single-handedly beat us in combat?” She asks, turning to face him.

“You barely had any time to recover after Conquest, and you were unprepared.” Cecil justifies, shaking his head.

“We didn’t get the chance to tell you that it wasn’t Mark out there. Don’t beat yourself up.” He places a hand on her shoulder.

Eve looks down, frowning, “He fought much differently than I had expected from Mark, even an alternate version.” 

Cecil nods as if expecting that, “He fought like a Viltrumite, right?” She nods. “That’s expected.” He walks past her, gesturing to her to follow. 

“Based on the information we gathered, the version that was left behind joined the Viltrum Empire. We highly suspect he was even raised on Viltrum.” Eve follows behind as he explains.

“While I hate to say it, he’s probably going to share more similarities with Nolan than he will with our Mark.” He pauses to look at Eve.

She looks down, conflicted, “But.. isn’t he a version of Mark? Can we maybe appeal to him in some way? I mean, they are the same person in a literal sense. Deep down, maybe he can be reasoned with.” 

“I doubt it,” Cecil responds, and Eve looks up at him.

“Have you even tried?” She asks, slightly frustrated.

Cecil shakes his head, “No, and if you know what’s good for everyone, you won’t. He’s a Viltrumite. Our Mark is a different case, and if we’ve learned anything from Viltrumites from Viltrum…” He pauses before turning towards her. 

“They see us as lower beings, pets. They cannot be appealed to. Our Mark is the special case. Don’t think that because they’re the same person, they have the same principles.” 

She goes silent, “So, what do you want me to do if I encounter him?” She asks softly.

Cecil looks at her, determined, “Don’t hold back.” 

--------------------------

You wake up the next morning feeling a tingle in your throat. No…

You are not getting sick. You refuse to. Maybe if you drink water..?

You take a sip, hoping the tingle will go away. It doesn’t. You try clearing your throat to see if it will go away. Damn.

Mark walks into your room, “Are you dying?” He asks, unconcerned. 

“Maybe,” He suddenly looks up alarmed, “I think I’m getting sick.” You both look at each other.

He takes a step back, creating distance between you two. “Oh, come on. Seriously? You’ve been here for days, and you’ve been fine.” 

“I don’t want whatever foreign illness you may have acquired.” He grimaces. 

“Oh, don’t be dramatic.” You roll your eyes. 

“I’m not. I just don’t like viruses.” He states. 

“You never even get sick! I rarely see you get sick, if ever!” You exclaim.

“Yeah, cause I keep my distance.” He replies.

“It’s just a sore throat, Mark. It’s not like I have the plague.” You groan. “I’m going to make some tea.” 

He watches you walk past him to the kitchen, following behind you. “How did you even get sick?” He asks.

You shrug, “I don’t know. Stress perhaps? I haven’t been around anybody but you recently. Unless you were recovering from being sick when you came over.” You theorize out loud. Mark watches as you grab a tea bag and mug. 

“I doubt that. Why would you be stressed?” He asks, sitting down on one of the kitchen stools.

“Not sure. There was that attack all those Invincibles did and that whole Conquest thing.” You guess. 

“You weren’t even near those attacks, though.” Mark frowns.

“Yeah, but you were near one of them.” You attempt to clear your throat.

“So you’re stressing over me?” He asks, seemingly confused over the concept.

You misinterpret his confusion, “Mark, you don’t stress me out. Life,” You gesture outside, “does. The possibility of death is a little bit stressful.”

He looks at you, conflicted. You can’t imagine why. “So you’re sick cause you’re stressed about my, what, well-being?” He asks.

You sigh, “Don’t think too hard, Mark.” You can see the gears turning in his head. For some reason, he can’t seem to fathom you caring like that. “I was just guessing anyway.”

“So you don’t even know why you’re sick?” He reiterates, seeming incapable of not understanding how you don’t know the exact cause of your illness.

“That’s kinda what a ‘guess’ means, yeah.” You nod amused.

“Are the hospitals here that bad?” He asks. You can’t tell if he’s actually asking you or not. It seems like he’s talking to himself. 

“What?” You chuckle, confused, “I don’t think a cold requires a hospital trip.” He looks at you, seemingly conflicted.

“Okay…” He doesn’t seem to accept the answer, “Do you need anything?” He asks.

You smile, “Probably just some rest.” You clear your throat. “Ugh, I sound awful.” You shudder. 

Mark watches you for a moment before leaving the room suddenly. You frown, “Damn, bye I guess.” You mutter to yourself.

You drink your tea for about a minute before he returns. He has a blanket in his arms.

You watch as he walks behind you, placing it on your back like a cloak. His hand lingers on your shoulder.

You feel moved by his kindness, so you don’t mention that you feel like you're burning alive. You accept the blanket. “Thanks.” You smile.

He looks at you, eyes softening for a brief moment before looking away. You wonder if you imagined it, seeing as there’s been nothing but a serious expression on his face these days.

“We can share the bed if you’d like. You don’t have to sleep on the couch. I can’t imagine it’ll be helpful for your recovery.” He avoids eye contact.

You chuckle amused before coughing, “Weren’t you the one who didn’t even want to be near me?” You can feel your face heating up. Damn, maybe you have a fever. You do feel like you’re melting.

He eventually looks at you, all softness (imagined or not) gone from his expression. “The offer stands.” He responds.

“What is this, a business transaction?” You start laughing, but launch yourself into a coughing fit. “Maybe I’ll take you up on your offer.” You say, not thinking anything of it.

Mark nods stoically, not saying anything else on the subject.

“Mark,” you feel reluctant to bring the topic up, “are you doing… okay?” You think back to his distance from Eve and William.

He pauses, unsure where this is going. “Yes, why?” He responds, his tone betraying nothing.

“It’s just… I thought you and Eve had a” you gesture at him, “thing… going on.” You take a sip of your tea. 

Mark stared at you, “You thought we were courting?” He asks, seemingly appalled by the idea.

“Yeah, I mean you’re with her all the time. Then suddenly you’re here and refuse to speak with her.” You tap on your mug. “It’s not any of my business, I know, but I just want to make sure you’re doing okay.” You look up at him. He looks at you silently.

“I don’t care about Eve.” He eventually breaks the silence.

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion, “Mark…” You sigh, “You don’t have to tell me what happened if you don’t want to.” You take another sip. 

“Just…” you pause, looking up at him. His eyes are dead set on you, his expression cold. “Remember, she’s also your friend. William too. Don’t push them away over something trivial.”

Mark says your name, “Nothing is going on between us. Don’t misunderstand,” you see his expression shift as he says that last part, “I really have nothing going on with Eve.” 

You smile softly, not really believing him. You’ve seen them together. They lean into each other like nobody else exists. They share smiles with each other that nobody seems to understand. They seem to exist purely in each other’s existence. 

“Okay.” You sigh, not really believing him. “Just, at least try to contact them. They’d want to know you’re safe.” 

Mark nods, avoiding eye contact, “Alright.”

--------------------------

After you finish your tea, you go to watch TV on the couch. Nothing interesting is on the screen. You cough again, and you can feel Mark watching you.

You let the TV drone on for a while before you feel yourself drifting off. Suddenly, you hear a knock at the door. Mark’s attention snaps to the door. You sigh, getting up.

You go to the door, covered in the blanket Mark gave you. ”Eve?” You look at her, surprised. “What’re you doing here?” You sniffle.

“I came here to see how you’re doing.” She smiles, amused. She looks at the blanket on your back. “Sick?”

You nod miserably, “Yeah. Woke up this morning not feeling too good. Do you wanna come…” Something catches your attention to your left.

You can see Mark wildly gesturing an “X,” mouthing something along the lines of “DON’T LET HER IN!” You furrow your eyebrows, but he looks at you expectantly.

“... back later? I’m really not feeling too well.” You force another cough. It sounds real since you are actually sick.

She frowns sympathetically, “Of course. Get some rest. Let me know if you need anything. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay after everything that’s been going on. Haven’t really gotten a chance to check in.” 

You nod, as you watch Mark shake his head disapprovingly to the side. “Of course. I’m glad to hear you’re okay. I trust William is fine, too?” You ask. She nods, smiling, “Yeah, both he and Mark are fine.” You nod before pausing.

“Wait, Mark contacted you?” You frown, confused. You see Mark move toward you, still out of view of Eve.

“Yeah..?” Eve frowns even more confused. 

You look toward Mark, confused, and he gestures for you to close the door on Eve. “Oh, okay, well, thanks for checking in, Eve. I’m going to rest.” You gesture to your room. She nods.

“Of course, get better soon.” She smiles. You wave as she walks away before closing the door and turning to Mark.

“So…” You say slowly. Mark looks down, glaring at the floor as if it offended him. “You did contact her.” 

You sigh, “Mark, I’m not mad or anything. I’m just concerned.” You frown. “Why did you lie about contacting her?” Mark looks up, seeing you looking at him, hurt. 

“It’s nothing.” He brushes it off. You furrow your eyebrows. “Mark, if you’re here just to avoid Eve, then yes, it is something.”

”You think I’m here just to avoid her?” He asks incredulously. 

You look away from him, “Let’s just drop the subject. I’m going to bed.” You start to go to your room to lie down. Mark watches you leave, and he looks hurt. You can’t imagine why.

As you enter your room, you close the door behind you. You are about to go to bed when you see Mark’s bag open. His stuff is scattered right next to it. You sigh, picking up some of his items and throwing them into the bag. You don’t want to step on it or trip over anything.

When you throw some of his stuff into the bag, you notice some bright piece of clothing stashed neatly in there. You were going to ignore it until you saw a bright red stain on it. 

Your eyebrows furrow before you slowly move closer. You didn’t mean to snoop. It’s just that white is a very distinctive color, and a red stain like that doesn’t look normal. Perhaps you can offer to wash it for him? 

Suddenly, he opens the door, medicine in hand, his eyes gravitate to you. He looks at his bag. “What are you doing?” He asks gravely.

“Your stuff was making a mess. I didn’t want to trip over it.” You say. He (not subtly) moves to cover your view of the bag, zipping it up. 

“Get some rest.” He responds coldly. You feel yourself shrink under his cold demeanor. Is he mad at you because of the (unintentional) snooping, or because of the whole Eve situation? You don’t even know.

You do know one thing, however. Mark is hiding something. You don’t know how big, but it’s something he clearly does not want you to know.

Sure, it may not be any of your business, but you can’t help but feel like this is not something you should turn away from. You sit down on the bed, getting under the covers. 

You look at the lone bag that Mark zipped up. He didn’t have to say anything, but the message was clear. “Don’t open this bag.” His eyes told you. 

You flip over, facing the other direction. He has been acting so weird recently, distant. You kept telling yourself it was just shock from what happened, but does shock justify lies? You don’t know.

You look towards the medicine he left on the nightstand. You look at the extra blanket he grabbed for you. You snuggle closer to the blanket. Sure, he’s distant, but he’s still Mark. You turn again to the zipped-up bag.

Right?

Side note: I think this will probably be a 4-5 part series. While I will get that done, I also want to make other fics. I have this one idea for a no goggles mark fic that I'm in the middle of writing, so be on the lookout for that if you're interested. I'll probably post that one next. So yes, there will be a part 3. It just might be a bit of a longer wait than this one was though.

Sometimes you think about how many others got hurt during the war and its aftermath. You were so oblivious. You think about how he spared you like he did.

--------------------------

“Mark! Eve!” You call out, waving your hand to your friends across the hallway. Mark stops in his tracks, along with Eve.

Mark is more of your friend than Eve is, but you get along with her well. You walk purposefully to Mark, feeling like he may disappear if you take too long to get to him. It seems like he disappears all the time now.

“I haven’t seen you recently. Where have you been?” You approach him smiling.

Mark shares an indecipherable look with Eve, and chuckles awkwardly, “Around… You know, I’ve been busy with… stuff.” He says gesturing to his backpack. You raise an eyebrow seeing his backpack filled with books. 

“Studying? You? My, we really haven’t talked in a while. The last time we all hung out, you bailed halfway through.” You smile teasingly, not truly mad, but more concerned than anything.

He grimaces, “I know, I know. I’m sorry. It’s just been so hectic lately.” He looks over at Eve once again, she seems to empathize with whatever Mark is going through. You can’t help but feel… insignificant.

Mark was once one of your closest friends. What happened for them to grow so close? You can’t even bring yourself to be mad, Eve seems to understand him way more than you ever could.

Perhaps at one point, you would have felt different about that truth, but Mark as your friend is more important.

“Woah!” You chuckle, “It’s okay, really. I just want to make sure you aren’t, ya know, dead.” You smile, jokingly gesturing to your neck as if it was slit. He smiles and shakes his head, “Nope! Still kicking. I’ll be around for a while.” He glances at Eve, who seems to find what he said extra funny.

You laugh, “Yeah huh... Hey, I was wondering if you’d wanna hang out with us sometime soon. You, William, me, maybe one of my friends? Serena perhaps?” You raise a finger for each person you talk about. “Eve is free to join us too of course.” You smile at her, which she returns in good nature. 

Mark nods, “Yeah, I’ll make time for it. It’s been a minute since we’ve all hung out. Eve, would you wanna join?” Mark asks, turning to Eve.

“Sure. It’s been a while since we’ve all hung out as a group. I look forward to it.” She smiles at you. “I should be busy for a bit, but I’ll let you know when I’m free.”

You smile, “Great! That works for me!” You start to walk off before you stop abruptly and turn around. “You know we’re always here right?” You look at Mark and glance at Eve. He smiles back, but it looks more like a grimace. 

”Of course.” Suddenly he stands up straight. “Oh shoot I gotta go.” He announces before looking at Eve silently expressing… something? 

“No worries, see you guys…” They’re already speeding off to who knows where. They certainly have a mission in mind. They weren’t that rushed five minutes ago. Could whatever Mark forgot be that important?

(You didn’t know it at the time, but the reason he left was actually important. You later found out the reason on TV, even if you weren't aware it was him under the suit.)

“Hey, did you see what happened on the news?” Your friend, Serena, asks you later that day back in your apartment. She would often come over after classes to hang out.

You raise an eyebrow shaking your head, “No? Why? Anything interesting?” You sit down on the couch, leaning your head on the back as you respond.

“Somebody was trying to get Invincible’s attention earlier. He was talking for ages. Was claiming that he was the one who killed all those people in Chicago. I don’t know, he definitely has some issues he needs to sort out.” She waves a hand dismissively. 

That catches your attention, “Really that happened today? How’d I miss that? Wait, he was mad that Invincible ‘killed those people,’ but he is trying to kill people to get his attention?” You ask, doing air quotes as you say “killed those people.” 

“I’m not sure, it mainly just seemed like he wanted Invincible. I don’t know, I stopped questioning these villains a while ago. I only know the bare details.” She sighs.

You nod in agreement, “Fair enough.” You search for the remote and find it between the couch before turning on the TV. Perhaps this story is on the news?  

“ . . . just in! The newest villain, going by the name “Powerplex” has been arrested. Invincible was there to stop him this time, but that did not come without a cost. There were two casualties during this specific attack by him, not even counting his other attacks during this week. The casualties of this attack were his wife and child, who were electrocuted to death. It appears he took them hostage to get Invincible’s attention. You will all be happy to know that he has been arrested. . .” 

“That’s awful.” You frown. “Can’t believe he brought his wife and kids into it. That’s such a cruel thing to do… You think she knew what she was getting into with him?” You ask, turning toward Serena. 

“I mean maybe he was just a good actor? Perhaps he was able to blend in for a while?” Your friend throws out suggestions. “She could’ve also known though. Not that it’s my business. We’ll never know, and I don’t think I want to know.” She sighs before standing up.

“It’s horrific in either scenario. Imagine living with somebody for that long and not truly knowing who they are.” Serena chuckles, but there is no humor. You both stare at the TV screen, watching as the reporter drones on about the details.

“I think I’m going to head back home.” Serena stands up, grabbing her keys and swinging them in her hand. You nod, “Okay, drive home safe… Don’t get electrocuted.” You give her a thumbs up and smile. Is it wrong to joke about events like this? Probably, but if you don’t laugh you cry so…

She gives you an unamused expression “Ha. Ha. Very funny.” She rolls her eyes good-naturedly,  “I’ll see you later.” You wave as she walks out, turning your attention back to the TV. 

You have no connection to Invincible or any of that “superhero” life. The idea of superheroes excites you, but after seeing what occurred in Chicago, you can’t help but feel like it’s not all it’s made out to be.

It’s not like you’d be able to help. You’d end up as a casualty, another body to clean off the field. The thought makes you shiver.

Every time you see a story like this you wonder if there is a universe where it was you that died. It’s easy to just brush these events off like nothing when you aren’t living them.

That was how most people do it nowadays. Doesn’t affect you? Not your problem. It was a frustrating way to live. You didn’t like to think about how people are dying every day due to these villains.

However, you can’t not think about them. Hearing about this whole situation with, what’s his name, Powerplex? It creates this feeling of dread, a feeling you’re unable to ease. Who is to say that you aren’t going to be the next casualty mentioned on the news?

It truly was easy for the whole world to live in that ignorance. It was easier for you to live in ignorance, then they appeared.

--------------------------

DAY ONE

Honestly, the first day wasn’t that eventful for you. It wasn’t until the late evening you even heard about it.

You didn’t live in an area that was immediately affected by the attacks, so it wasn’t as if your apartment suddenly came crashing down on you. Instead, you got a call from Serena. You raise an eyebrow before picking up the phone. 

“Uh hey?” You wonder why she called you, it wasn’t like you got calls often.

”Oh my God, you’re okay.” She breathes out in relief, and now you know something is up. “Please tell me you’ve seen the news.” Her voice is filled with worry.

You stop moving, “No… You know I don’t check the news that often.” You respond. Admittedly, that's on you. You probably should keep up with the news more often.  

She sighs, “Turn it on. There’s like over a dozen Invincibles out destroying major world cities.” You feel your heart drop before immediately moving to your TV and turning it on. You switch to the news.

No words are being spoken, they don’t have to. The screams of panic strike fear into your heart.

The camera shows a gigantic building in Chicago crumbling down. The cameraman focuses their lens on the figure floating above it all. Whoever it is, they’re wearing a white uniform.

The camera isn’t advanced enough to zoom in on their face, but you don’t find yourself doubting Serena’s information. Suddenly a white blur knocks the camera away, and it fades into static. You watch in horror. 

“Oh shit…” You whisper to yourself, forgetting that you are still on the phone. 

“It’s being recommended that we don’t exit our homes. We just pretend like nobody is home.” Serena’s words barely register, but you nod, forgetting that she can’t see your visual response.

“Okay… So we just sit here until they leave?” You ask, feeling stupid for asking the question. What else could you do? Fight them? You’d sooner kill a bear with your bare hands than somehow survive facing off one of them. 

The silence between you two is loud, “Not like we have any other choice.”

--------------------------

DAY TWO

By this point, you had been living in relative darkness for a little over a day. Serena sent you a link to an article advising citizens what to do: keep the lights off, and stay away from windows. You don’t want them to know you’re there. You had occasionally gone to get some food and drinks from the kitchen, but besides that, you were pretty much locked in your room.

The small peeks you took of the outside world showed promise. Realistically, the chances of one of the variants coming to your suburban neighborhood to wreak havoc aren’t high.

You close the curtains and look away from the window. To be fair, they also aren’t zero.

After being bored and doing nothing for over a day, you were instantly aware when something changed in your environment. You felt your heart stop for a moment. It sounded like somebody entered your apartment. 

You remain frozen as you try and listen for any more signs of life outside your room. Eventually, you hear something. A voice calling your name, whoever it is sounds familiar. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll come running out. You don’t respond immediately, sitting there in silence and fear, slowly inching towards the closet to hide.

On the way, you pass by your door, which was slightly cracked open. The intruder could walk in whenever they wanted. It wasn’t the most brilliant move you’ve made, but it wasn’t like you were expecting guests okay?

Your eyes widen as you take in who it is. “Mark?” You push the door open hesitantly. His attention immediately snaps to you. “What are you doing here?” You ask, exhaling slowly and calming your pounding heartbeat. 

He stares at you stoically, before walking over to you, his steps are unhurried. Suddenly you realize that he left the door open behind him. You feel your heart rate spike up again. 

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!?” You whisper yell as you push past him to the door. You accidentally bump your shoulder onto his while walking by, causing him to halt and falter in surprise.

”How did you get in? I thought you said you lost that emergency key I gave you.” You lock the door and turn to him again. He observes you silently.

“I found it.” He responds, tone even. 

“Well yes, I kinda assumed that.” You respond dryly before feeling the anger leave your body.

“Hey…” You place your hand on his shoulder and he stiffens. “Are you okay? Did one of those variants attack you or your mom?” He finally looks you in the eye for the first time since he unexpectedly entered. His stare is piercing, it feels like he’s looking at your entire soul. 

He pauses for a moment before answering, “They came through and destroyed my house.” His voice sounds detached like he’s somewhere else right now.

You feel your eyes widen and your heart drops, “Oh my God, is your mom okay?!” You guide Mark back to your room, he seems to follow with no resistance. You sit on the floor, but he remains standing.

“She’s fine. She wasn’t there.” He responds, and you breathe a sigh of relief. 

“That’s good… I mean not good that your house was destroyed, but good that she got out of there. I mean have you seen the damage that these Invincibles have done?” Mark looks at you like he’s expecting something, and you feel slightly unnerved. Maybe he’s in shock? You can’t exactly blame him. You do feel kinda awkward though. How exactly do you comfort somebody who just had their home destroyed and almost had their mom killed?

“I was watching the news when it started, there was this one I saw. I think it was Chicago he hit?” Mark freezes slightly, his eyes narrowing in on you, but you don’t notice.

“It was crazy… He didn’t look like Invincible at all. However, judging by how many of the other attackers look like Invincible, I want to say that this one was probably some weird Invincible variant in white.” Mark gives you a weird look.

“What’s wrong? Still worried? Don’t worry we should be safe here. I don’t see why an Invincible variant would attack me. I don’t even know who is under that mask. We’ll be safe here if you wanna stay until it’s over.” You feel like you’re talking too much at this point, so you stop before you embarrass yourself more than you already have. 

“So I can stay.” Mark eventually speaks, getting your attention. The phrase is less of a question, and more of a statement, like he needs you to reaffirm what you already said.

You nod, “Of course, stay as long as you need.” You smile at him. Mark stares down at you before nodding and sitting right next to you on the floor. 

You raise an eyebrow, “You know you can sit on my bed right? You don’t have to sit on the floor.” He looks at you and slowly nods. 

“Right…” He sounds hesitant, but eventually stands up walking over to your bed. He sits down on it and looks back at you. He stares at you expectantly. You feel scrutinized under his gaze.

"Uh, is there something on my face?" You ask. He continues to stare at you before he looks away.

"You look different." Well okay then. Is that an insult or compliment?

“Uhh, I don’t exactly look much different than the last time I saw you. Maybe it’s the lack of sunlight.” You joke. He looks at you like you’re stupid. “Hey don’t give me that. Come on wanna play a game or something? I’ve been bored out of my mind here.”  You stand up stretching.

“A game…” He repeats dryly. “What ‘game’ would you wanna play?” He asks.

You hold your hand out giving him the “wait” gesture. He watches as you search around your room before finally finding what you're looking for. “Here we go!” You show him your deck of Uno cards. 

“Uno?” Mark responds confused. “You want to play this... ‘Uno?’” He gestures to the cards. You raise an eyebrow looking back at the cards.

”Yes…? Something wrong with that? I only have the original one if that’s what you’re upset about. Couldn’t find the Seance Dog version, I must've lost it.” You sit next to him starting to shuffle the cards.

”That’s not the problem…” Mark starts to sound unsure looking at the deck of cards. ”Do you perhaps have its original packaging?” He asks. 

You blink in confusion, “No, why?” You start giving him his cards.

”I just need to see its instructions.” He looks at the cards blankly.

You sigh, “No, stacking plus twos and plus fours is not in the rules. Yes, we will play with it anyway.”

You give yourself your cards before setting the giant stack down and flipping over the first card, it’s a green four. “I’ll go first.” You place a green seven down.

Mark stares at the cards, before looking up at you. He stares at his cards for half a minute. “You gonna play a card or are we just gonna sit here?” You joke. 

“Just…” He sounds frustrated, “Just give me a moment…” He looks at the cards. 

After another period of silence, you eventually break it, “Dude just place down a seven or green, please. Whatever strategy you’re thinking of, it clearly isn’t working.” You chuckle.

He looks at his cards before slowly placing a green five down. “Right… I was just planning something.” 

You immediately slam down a blue five. “Yeah sure, try all you want. You aren’t gonna win this time.”

He looks at you with the most serious look you’ve ever seen on his face, “I wouldn’t count on that.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“HOW?! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” You point at the stack of cards in the middle, telling you to take 14 cards. 

“The rules are the rules. Take the cards.” Mark points to the deck of cards, his lips upturned slightly. 

You glare at him before smiling. That was the first time he’s "smiled" today. He’d been off all day, and if losing a game of Uno was what it took to cheer him up, it was a price to pay.

You both play a few more rounds before you get tired of losing. “Okay, you never win this much. Are you cheating?” You jokingly ask.

He scoffs, “Cheating? I don’t need to cheat to win.” He taunts holding his singular card in plain view. The words "UNO" in the back taunt you for the seventh time. The trace of a smile is gone from his face, but you can see the mirth in his eyes. 

“Yeah, yeah, enjoy it while you can.” You sigh placing down your only play. You look up at him, and he stares at you for a long moment.

“You know dramatically holding out your move doesn’t make you mysterious. Just draw more cards, I know you don’t have a yellow or two.” You roll your eyes. 

He looks at his card and sighs in the most contrived manner possible, a stark contrast to the serious demeanor he had when entering the apartment. “You’re right. I don’t have either…” He places his last card down, a wild.

You look at him blankly, he returns the stare with a smugness he didn’t previously have. You place your cards down before walking out into the kitchen, Mark follows you. “What are you doing?” He asks, the smug tone gone. 

“I'm gonna sacrifice myself to those variants running around, that fate might be better than having a seven-time losing streak.” You respond sarcastically.

“You know what,” You point out to the window, “at least I would beat them in Uno.” You say referring to the Invincibles out destroying the world.

Mark looks at you, then at the window, then back at you, “I doubt that.” 

You lean back on the counter dramatically, feigning offense, “Oh how you wound me! I think I could beat their asses in Uno! I bet at least one of them doesn’t even know how to play it!” 

“I’m sure.” He replies, there seems to be amusement in his voice, but you can’t imagine why. 

“Hey, I beat you in Uno all the time. Consider this your lucky day.” You grab a bag of chips. “I was going easy on you today.” You say before you begin grabbing chips out of the bag. “Want some?”

Mark looks at the bag, his face turning to a grimace, “I’ll… pass.” You shrug and continue snacking before putting the bag away.

”Suit yourself. Feel free to eat whatever I have, just don’t eat it all.” You gesture toward your pantry, his gaze following the direction you point. 

You start to walk away, “Where are you going?” He asks as you pause.

”Pillows? Blankets? I need to grab some extra for myself. You can take my bed.” You look into one of your cabinets, grabbing an extra couple of pillows and a blanket. 

“Is it not your bed though?” Mark asks, frowning.

”Well, yeah, but you’re my friend and my guest.” You smile walking towards your room, and he follows behind you. “I mean with everything you’ve been through recently, I’d feel bad if I forced you to the floor.” Mark remains silent.

You start to create a pile of blankets on the floor, rearranging the pillows how you like them. Mark watches silently. 

“Hey, could you turn my TV on? Make sure it’s muted. As long as the lights aren’t flashing too bright on it I think we’ll be okay.” You ask Mark, he gives a hum of acknowledgment before heading back to the living room.

You finish setting up the makeshift bed before joining him. You look around making sure all the windows are closed and secure before joining him. 

“Oh my God…” You whisper as you watch different clips play out on the TV. These Invincible are destroying cities. You can only stare in shock, you watch as buildings topple over, skyscrapers crumble to the ground, citizens get buried under rubble, and nearby life burns.

What you saw that Invincible in Chicago do was a fraction of the damage.

Mark doesn’t say anything, and the initial glance you took towards him when you walked in reflects that indecipherable look once again. Who knows what he’s thinking? These monsters almost killed his family.

You look over to him to see if he’s watching, his gaze looks detached and uninterested. You turn back toward the TV. “I’m sorry…” You mutter, feeling his eyes turn toward the back of your head.

“For what?” He asks, and he sounds genuinely confused. “You didn’t do it.”

You look back at him, his eyes reflecting disbelief at an apology. “No, but I’m sorry it happened to you.” You look at the screen, showing the burning buildings. It feels like you can hear their screams despite the muted volume. 

He looks at you, not that you can see, as if you're a puzzle. “Why apologize for something you didn’t do? Seems pointless.” He asks.

You look at him, your eyes meeting again, “Sympathy, perhaps.”

--------------------------

DAY THREE

You open your eyes to the blinding light of your window. You blink the sleepiness away before processing that your window is OPEN.

You stand up quickly, tripping over your pillow before you reach to close the window and curtains. You look at your empty bed, perfectly made. 

”Mark?” You call out. You open your door to see him in the kitchen with a mug in hand, windows all open, and lights bright as day.

You gape for a minute before walking over and closing all of them. Once you close them, you turn off the lights, you can still see, but you will admit you kind of missed lighting like that. “What are you doing?!”

Mark looks at you, raising an eyebrow.

You gesture wildly to the house around you, “Uhh I don’t wanna burst your bubble, but we are not Invincible. What are you gonna do if one of those variants attacks us? The attack on your house proves that nobody is safe.”

Mark looks at you uninterested, “Nobody will attack this place.”

”You can’t guarantee that, Mark.” You respond exasperated. “If you could, you wouldn’t be here right now.” You frown as Mark stares at you stoically.

“Look, I’m sorry. I really don’t want to take this out on you, but it’s scary out there. I don’t want to be this paranoid, trust me, but I can never be too sure what will happen.” You sigh looking at him.

“Hell I mean, one of those Invincibles could kick that door down, and we’d be toast. I mean how many even are there?” You ramble.

“Sixteen total.” 

“Sixteen?! Damn.” You exhale in disbelief. “That’s sixteen different Invincibles who could essentially destroy the world. Wait, how’d you even know there are sixteen?” You ask.

Mark gestures lazily toward the TV. “Righttttt, that was a dumb question.” You sigh. Suddenly you pause that train of thought, “Wait, what happened to Eve?”

Mark takes a slow sip of his coffee, “Not sure.”

You frown in concern, “Have you had contact with anybody since they invaded?”

”Just you.” He takes another sip.

”Damn, that’s sad… Do we want to try and contact her?” You ask hesitantly. It doesn’t seem like he wants to talk about Eve.

He shrugs, “Lost my phone.”

You frown, “Oh… Do you wanna. . .” You look up at him, his eyes dead set on you. “You know what, never mind.” You make a mental note to check if you have Eve’s number later, and maybe ask what his whole attitude is about.

“Anyway, were you up long before I got up?” You ask, changing the subject. 

He shakes his head, “No.” He responds. 

“Okay good, I was worried I had slept in or something.” You feel your phone vibrate in your pocket. You pull it out and see that Serena sent you a new link, you’re so grateful that she keeps up with news better than you can.

”Hey it seems like the variants disappeared from the cities.” You casually mention, Mark looks up, suddenly interested. 

“Where did they go?” He asks. You shrug in response, reading the rest of the article. He walks over to try and read over your shoulder.

“It seems like they all left at roughly the same time, perhaps something called them. Maybe they have a ‘Boss Invincible’ or something.” You joke.

Mark chuckles humorlessly, “You think?”

“You don’t think that?” You retort, smiling.

“No, I mean you’re probably right.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “It just sounds strange.” He continues.

You nod understanding, “Yeah, but I mean what else could bring them together? They have to have a leader of some kind. This attack seems too coordinated to just be unplanned.” 

Mark sips his coffee loudly, “I guess.” It sounds like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t. 

You feel your phone vibrate again. You check it and see a text from William. “Hey, William texted me! You’ll be glad to hear that he is okay.” You hear Mark hum in acknowledgment before opening the message. 

It’s safe. They’re gone for good.

You look at the text message surprised. You have multiple questions.

How do you know?

Just trust me on this, I know some people who work with the government. The Invincibles are gone. 

Mark notices your silence, “What is it?” He asks.

You turn towards him, “They’re gone gone. The Invincibles apparently vanished, completely. They didn’t just stop attacking the cities or get called away, they aren’t here anymore. They’re gone for good. ” This catches his attention. 

“Are you serious?” He asks. His eyebrows furrow, is he mad?

”...Yeah.” You pause before confirming. “Are you okay?” You walk up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He immediately tenses up.

“Hey, they’re gone. They can’t do any more damage. Everything will be okay.” You try to reassure him.

He looks down before relaxing. “They’re gone.” He repeats, you nod. “All of them?” He asks quietly, you nod. 

“All of them.”

--------------------------

“What do you mean they’re not all accounted for?” Cecil yells out walking down the hallway as one of the assistants follows closely.

“You mean to tell me that there is still one of those Marks out there?”

The assistant nods frantically, “We accounted for every single one that died, and the ones that were sent to that alternate dimension. There is still one here, and he’s not our Mark.”

Cecil stops walking, “Does Mark know?” He asks.

The assistant shakes their head, “No… We weren’t sure if we should tell him. I thought it was best to tell you first.”

Cecil nods in approval, “I’m glad you did… Do you know where he was last seen?”

“It was the Invincible that destroyed Chicago, he left after decimating that city. We aren’t entirely sure where he went. He could be on the other side of the globe, but we do know he hasn’t left the atmosphere.” The assistant replies.

"Good, we need to see if there’s a way to locate him. For all we know, he’s already aware that his counterparts have been banished. I can’t imagine he’d serve himself up on a silver platter for us to eliminate." Cecil starts walking towards Eve’s room, there’s a large chance Mark is still there. 

“He can’t hide for long, sir. We’ll find him.” The assistant follows closely behind him.

"Like you already said, he could be halfway across the globe. We can’t leave a threat like that lying around ready to strike whenever. We need whatever leverage we can get right now. If we make it public information that he’s wanted, he might just leave the planet."

"I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly feel safe knowing an evil version of Invincible is out there somewhere in the universe. We were unprepared for this attack, next time we’ll be ready." Cecil walks down the hall watching through the windows as more ReAnimen are being created. He continues to walk past them.

“There’s only one of him. We’ll bide our time. Keep me updated on any status updates on him. If you hear anything that sounds like Viltrumite sightings, I need to know as soon as possible. I will spare no expense, understand?”