At the GDA, Cecil was looking at the live footage of a giant red-skinned cyclops destroying buildings and anything it came across. The Guardians of the Globe were trying to get him to stop or stop him forcefully, but it wasn't working. Nothing really was.
Rex threw his explosives at the large cyclops, but other than bothering him slightly, they didn't do any damage.
"That's for stepping on my favourite bar, you piece of shit!" he shouted.
"Don't call me that! I'm the Giant!" the cyclops yelled and tried to step on Rex, destroying other properties in the process. "And I wanna be president of America. And an astronaut. Urgh."
Robot distracted the 'Giant' while Dupli-Kate did ground control, saving civilians.
"Those are very specific requests," she said.
"Based on his speech patterns and vocabulary, the Giant seems to have the mental capacity of an eight-year-old," Robot said.
"Well, that explains the astronaut at least."
Shrinking Ray appeared in front of the Giant's eye and punched it, while Black Samson threw a car into his face. But nothing seemed to work; they were all not doing well.
"I don't care how old he is; he needs to go down," Samson said.
The Giant roared and swatted them aside, smashing buildings as he stumbled forward uncoordinated. Rudy lost control of his flying cycle as he crashed into the large feet. The Giant stomped to his left, right, and forward, crushing more cars and pavement, and continuing to increase the damage.
He swung his arms wildly through the air, trying to block Rex's explosives and the objects the others threw at him, smashing rooftops and tearing chunks of concrete free.
"Stop that!" he shouted, and he hurled them through the air.
He pounded a large building, leapt forward and crashed down, almost hitting Samson, who managed to dodge to the side. Shrinking Ray tried to sneak attack again, hitting his large singular eye, but she was swatted from the sky, as the child Giant thought she was a fly and reacted accordingly.
"AAHHH!" she shouted as she hit the ground hard.
"URGH!!"
Black Samson was thrown into a storefront.
Dupli-Kate's duplicates were crushed one by one, by falling debris or the chaotic movement of the Giant, while Rex's explosives went off harmlessly against his red skin.
Robot fired from the ground. Amidst the chaos, he slid under falling rubble and was nearly crushed. He experienced fear for the very first time as he saw the Giant's foot rise above him and come down. His entire life flashed before his eyes, and the monstrous foot cast a massive shadow over him.
At the last second, Monster Girl, who was the only one who had been able to inflict some damage on the Giant, saves him.
"What happe--"
*BANG*
Having seen her, the Giant kicked Monster Girl and sent her flying through several buildings, doing major damage.
.
"This is bullshit," Cecil said after watching another restaurant being stepped on by accident.
"I agree, Sir. It isn't good. They could really use... Invincible," Donald said.
"I'm not making the same mistake I made with Nolan. There's only one way this kid goes back out there, and that's on a very short leash."
As if to counterdict Cecil, Invincible suddenly walked out of a destroyed building and onto the scene. He looked around and saw the damage and the bad state of the Guardians.
"Invincible! What are you doing here?" Black Samson asked.
"Who cares?! Finally, we can end this shit mission," Rex yelled.
"OI! Cyclops!" Invincible yelled.
The Giant looked around for the source of the voice and found Invincible standing on the ground.
"Huh? What do you want?" he asked.
"You're damaging the city randomly. What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"Why are you doing this?" Invincible asked.
"I want to be president of America and an astronaut!" the Giant yelled.
"Then you're going about it the wrong way. The damage and nakedness should come after the election, not before."
"Huh?"
"You're a half-wit, aren't you?"
"I'm the Giant!"
"Mm-hmm. Put on some pants, you're flashing people."
"Who are you?" the Giant asked.
"Invincible, sadly."
"What? You're not invincible, I'm the strongest!"
The Giant pulled back his fist and brought it down on Invincible. Seeing the massive fist approach, Invincible didn't dodge or block; he didn't do anything at all.
"Did I get the groceries?"
*BOOOOM*
The fist impacted him and smashed into the ground, creating a large crater. The bystanders watched this in awe, and their jaws dropped. The Guardians were shocked as well, since they were certain that Invincible was stronger and faster.
"What the fuck was that?!" Rex shouted.
"Hm, he wasn't that strong," the Giant said and looked at his fist.
"Hey."
The Giant looked down at the ground, where Invincible climbed out of the dirt without visible damage to him. Seeing this, the Giant lifted his foot and stomped down on Invincible. But this time, Invincible lifted his hand, catching the descending foot on his forearm. The ground cracked beneath him, but he himself didn't budge.
"RAAAHHHH!"
The Giant bellowed and jumped into the air, planning on using his entire weight to crush Invincible. But before he could do that, Invincible pushed off the ground and shot forward. He pulled back his fist with a passive expression and slammed it into the Giant's jaw.
*BOOOOOOOM*
The cyclops reeled, his momentum adding weight to Invincible's blow, sending shockwaves through the city block and making him shoot high into the sky. Everyone looked as the large orange figure of the Giant became a dot and then fell to earth again, crashing into the ground. His eyes rolled back as he collapsed unconscious, shaking the ground one final time.
"Stick to school, big guy. Astronaut-president's a tough gig. And you'll need all the help you can get. But don't let anyone tell you you won't make it. In the end, all that matters is what a man can do and what he can't do. So put your back into it."
Without elaborating, Invincible disappeared.
At the GDA, Cecil was not having a good day. This was exactly what he didn't want anymore. He wanted Mark to approach him and 'ask' to be given tasks and the like. He counted on him becoming bored eventually, and in some ways, he was right, but Mark wouldn't ever ask for permission to punch some bloke destroying the streets.
"What are you going to do, Sir?" Donald asked.
"I'm going to talk to someone," Cecil said and teleported away.
.
Cecil teleported inside the Greysons' house. Debbie was sitting at the kitchen counter, with her laptop in front of her and a hot coffee on the side. There was an almost content look on her face as she typed. But as soon as she saw the lighting from Cecil's teleporter, she grew displeased.
"Debbie, we need to talk."
"How many times have I told you not to do that?! Do you think now that Nolan isn't here anymore, you can do that again?!" she yelled.
"No, please, Debbie, it's important, I--"
"I don't care what you think, you will not teleport inside our house!"
"It's about Mark," Cecil said, knowing what to say to get her to forget that topic.
She stopped talking for a moment and looked at Cecil. She didn't trust him, probably never fully had, but after what happened with Nolan, Mark was the only one she trusted fully.
"What about Mark?"
"He appeared downtown and fought a new villain. Caused quite some destruction."
"So? What's the problem?" Debbie asked.
"The time, Debbie. It's been a month since he came out of the hospital. He nearly died fighting Nolan, and now he is out there doing whatever he pleases, without telling me or anyone about it. Several businesses were destroyed in the streets. That will leave a lasting impression. He needs time to process what happened."
"I still don't understand what you're getting at. Mark has recovered from what happened more than anyone else. In fact, he came out stronger. He watches out for others, especially me, and I am thankful to him. So trust me when I tell you, he doesn't need your help or supervision to be a hero."
"What about the people who died, those who got hurt and will get hurt in the future?" Cecil asked.
"Are you trying to guilt-trip my son into working for you?" she asked suspiciously.
"No, of course not. But after Chicago, heroes and villains of his calibre got a new position in how we handle or can't handle them. The amount of destruction Nolan and Mark caused was unimaginable before. And we can't ever let that happen again. There has to be some security to make sure it doesn't."
"So you want to put a leash on my son," Debbie said angrily.
"No, I simply--"
"Get out!"
"Debbie, please."
"Get out, now! And don't ever dare to teleport into our home again!"
"Sigh... Very well. I'm only trying to help. Call me if anything happens. Despite what you think, I only want what's best for everyone."
.
Meanwhile, Mark was in deep space, collecting raw materials which he sold on the market for millions of dollars. How anyone who had the power of flight and could go to space could not make a fortune very quickly was beyond him. He zoomed through space, reaching Saturn, and started to do some exercise. After his fight against his father, Mark had started to feel a bit bored. Not in the sense that he didn't know what to do with himself, as there were enough things to do, but in the bigger sense.
The life and death battle he went through seemed to unlock something within him which had been slumbering. His narcolepsy had disappeared after the fight, and despite not getting anything close since then, he no longer had it. But instead, he felt 'wanderlust' ever since. Some mysterious, unknown factor or force, whatever you wanted to call it, pulled him away from Earth to discover and fight strong people. He also felt other desires, which he attributed to his Viltrumite heritage. Nothing sexual, surprisingly, but maybe he hadn't met the right 'gal' yet.
Mark flew through the asteroid belt at his highest speed. He didn't need to dodge, but he wanted to. Every time he could, he would train to try and reach his limits, so that he could break them. But it was hard and getting harder, so he went to deep space, since the fundamental forces were most obviously present there. After getting through with his agility and speed training, Mark switched to endurance and strength.
He shot past the edge of the solar system and used small moons to try to push them out of their orbit. He still remembered how he had difficulty or some minor difficulty pushing away that asteroid. But this was bigger and harder, and that's why he liked it. If he were a reincarnator, he would think of Monkey D. Garp, who used large ships to train the strength of his fists and punches. Mark used moons to achieve similar results. He uses all of his strength to literally push against the moons as hard as he could until he passed out from exhaustion. And when he woke up again, he repeated the process.
Needless to say, he didn't manage to push a small moon out of orbit, just yet. But success was not in question; the question was when he would succeed.
Other than that, he used the ground to punch the moon or any asteroid and train strength, endurance and speed all at once. Mark led a solitary lifestyle. Other than his mother, he didn't have contact with anyone else. As he lay on the surface of the increasingly destroyed moon's surface, the image of Eve appeared in his mind.
'Should I call her?'