Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Darkwing was the last one to arrive as he looked around, everyone was there except Nolan and Aquarus.

“Darkwing, did you call us here?” The look of concern on his face brought a sudden feeling of worry, as Red Rush suddenly raced across the platform as he pushed Immortal out of the way stepping back just in time as he felt the full force of Nolan’s fists rush by his face burning the very hairs that it touched.

“GUYS, NOLANS GONE BALLISTIC.” With that, it seemed a resignation dawned on all of their faces as they stared him down as Nolan rushed forward, fist speeding for Green Ghost’s skull, as she felt her body be snatched from where she stood tossed to Nolan’s back by Red Rush as she activated her power sinking his body down as he cried out before Red Rush came shooting by grabbing her and tossing her back.

Immortal and War Woman charged forward as Nolan burst through the platform with chunks of metal sticking through his feet looking like a bloody mess rather than his own feet as he charged forward, only for a barrage of explosives came sailing past from Red Rush knocking him back as a burst of smoke obscured his sight only for War Woman’s mace came smashing into his face knocking him to a stumble as his body was sent slamming back the Martian rushing to bind him arms down as his legs were trapped against the nearest pole keeping him in the air for no more than a moment as Immortal and War Woman came, their fists knocking him into the air as Red Rush leapt into the air with Green Ghost and Darkwing in tow launching the pair as the Martian unwound for but a moment but it was all Nolan needed as he blitzed forward. His fists were poised as his fingers were aimed for their skulls as Red Rush leapt back into the fray knocking them both out of the way before Nolan cleaving through Red Rush’s arms tearing through bone and flesh like wet paper, the sloshing of his blood like drums hammering inside of his skull using Nolan as a jump board as she shot back like a bullet landing on the ground as he watched Nolan coming like a divine hammer. He had never felt so slow before but gazing upon that red adorned fist shooting through the air faster than he was sure he was going to move, hefroze. He simply froze, feeling the very blood falling like raindrops stuck in the air by their slowness and yet, Nolan was speeding through it all, he was getting faster, adjusting to each blow as he was nearly ready to cave in his skull.

And like a hail mary, War Woman’s hammer came swinging with full force as Nolan shot his gaze upon the swing, arm raised as it cut through War Woman, splitting her body in two, but his rush was his own folly as Immortal smiled as his body fell apart falling on the waysides as his body was brought smashing through the platforms blow after blow rammed into his back from War Woman having caught the mace in hand and swung and swung smashing deeper into the earth below swinging the mace to counter each attempted grapple keeping his back open and yet through it all, he turned around stepping on the ground as his skull came smashing into his head, arms racing to get a grasp on her skull and like a red blur, Red Rush came charging down, leaping on the very shards of rock and metal they left on their rampage down below to the chasm. He could feel his body growing light, each step weighing more than the last, his body caked by his own blood and yet, he had not time. If they lost here, God only knew what would befall the earth but he refused to let that happen. Even as the thought of never seeing Olga again crossed his mind, he still dove, crashing into War Woman as she tumbled out of the way. Not Fast enough as the very force of pulling against Nolan tore her arm from its very shoulder as he crashed into a roll and tried to run only for Nolan’s hand to grab his leg. In those moments once again, it felt as if the world was slowing down but the voices of his family, of his love of his friends, he swung his stump of an arm sharpening the very broken bones upon the rock as he came cleaving his legs clean off as his leg went sailing back with Nolan as War Woman grabbed him shooting back up onto the platform as Darkwing stared down Nolan with a look of regret. A single beep and that was it before a blast of light converged on Nolan, exploding around him over and over and over as they ran for the exit. It was a Hail Mary for the strongest soldier of earth they had, Omni-man and as they raced past the exploding cave, Darkwing was the last on the way out and he saw it. A speeding enraged creature crying, a look of horror on his face and tapped his utility belt tossing it into the air before him as a large gooey mess exploded forward blocking the entrance before Nolan was sent shooting back into the explosions as Darkwing ran with everyone else as they shot through the exit doors crashing into the snow outside tumbling down the mountain.

“What the hell? He just kept going? Oh my god, Red Rush.” War Woman rushed to Red Rush’s side as she began surveying his wounds. Only one working limb and several bruises or cuts. He had that same cheeky smile of his as usual.

“You crazy bastard, you did not have to go this far, look at you, you Russian doofus.”

“Ey, this Russian doofus just saved your life.” He groaned as the pain once more rushed as the adrenaline came back.

Green Ghost was already calling in Cecil as the mountain was collapsing upon itself.

“He will be here in a few minutes. You think he killed Aquarus already?”

They all snapped to look in the direction of the sound seeing a half dead Aquarus surrounded by his own blood trying to propel himself faster.

“Yeah, we are defiantly fucked if he still alive.”

The ground shook and Green Ghost stared in utter horror as someone burst through the mountain crashing and tumbling before them. They all stared at Omni man’s body tumbling to a halt as he looked as if he was unconscious.

A loud zoosh was heard as Cecil arrives, his GDA units moving across the area to provide support while he walked over to War Woman.

“So, you were saying?”

“Now is not the time for your jokes, Cecil. Half the team is brutally injured, Immortal is dead and Nolan is still fucking alive.” She had never liked how cold Cecil’s eyes felt in the heat of battle.

“Least the fail safes worked, did they not?” Cecil glanced at Nolan, his body was a mangled mess of bone and flesh, his own bones jutting out at odd angles with which breath seeming like it was a struggle to even breath. In every meaning of the word, he was on death’s door and yet, he kept breathing consistent yet raggard.

“Did he show any signs of restraint? Guilt?”

“Ey, Cecil. I can fill in that part, at the end he looked like he was crying. It definitely can't be pain because I have never seen him injured to such a point but god only knows at this point.”

“God, this is going to be so annoying to deal with. Get everyone back to the hospital, anyone else capable of walking come with me, we have things to start doing. Green Ghost go get Immortal’s corpse, Darkwing, come, we will need some more failsafes.” Soon the area lay barren, removed of the combatants who had nearly lost their lives.

Elsewhere, Mark lay in bed. His dad had not come back from whatever meeting he had gone to. He wondered what was taking him so long. Ever since his powers had developed, he was starting to feel something else. His body was starting to burn up and he could feel an almost odd feeling of aches all across his body. He tried to simply sleep it off but his body was only hurting all of the more. He stumbled out of bed as he headed to his parent’s bedroom knocking on the door.

“Mom, my chest hurts, do you have any pain killers?” He peeked inside seeing the light was off? He stared down the hallway to the stairs below, the kitchen light was on. He stumbled all the way before his mom caught him at the stairs.

“Mark, what's wrong?”

“My body hurts. It did not hurt as much when I got my powers but its bene getting worse.” Debbie carried him over to the couch as she began rifling through her storage cabinets searching for something to help.

“I did not know that it would be this painful before I’ve even gotten into my first fight.”

“Truly like your father, you two just itch for the chance to show your skills off. He used to try so hard when we first met, barely could hold himself together in the bedroom though.” Mark groaned as he laid there unable to leave the room.

“Okay, here you go, drink this.” She held a glass to his lips as she watched him grow more silent as he stopped looking as if he was going to keel over.

“I’ll call Cecil just in case. Might be some space ailment or something.” She pulled out her phone calling on the helpline she had been given as part of the spouse notice system Cecil put in place after a former hero’s entire family was unaware that he had taken a leave of absence and gotten a new family halfway across the world.

“Yes, Cecil, his body has been acting up since he got his powers. Might be like growing pains for Viltrumites or something. God knows what else might pop up, would you mind sending in one of your guys to come check up on him?”

Mark could barely hear the conversation but it felt odd. It was like every part of his body was simply aching all throughout in such a way that it hurt and did not at the same time, his body lay confused with nothing to ground himself around. An alien pain.

“GAHHHHH!” He cried out as he kept smashing his fist into the sofa smashing through it like it was made of cardboard, the splinters spreading across the entire room, he saw the destruction and pushed himself off of the sofa and tumbling to the doors to the backyard tossing the door to the side and he cried out rolling out of the house. He could not help himself. It was like his body kept firing off at the wrong points, muscles twitching as he kept tumbling in the dirt, fists coming down onto the earth like hammers from god leaving miniature craters wherever his fist landed.

His voice got higher as he squirmed in place, clothes now covered in dirt and a visible trail of blood dripping from his nethers. Debbie could do nothing but watch as he cried out , his pitch growing higher and higher until it seemed almost feminine.

“MOM!” His voice sounded so different.

“MOM!” She could feel the force of each of his swings leaving their backyard a ruined mess and yet, her heart felt for him. She could not just stand here, each step that she took, she was wracked with fear but with each step, she only got faster and faster until she jumped into his arms pulling him close as she watched his arms flail about, he was trying so hard to handle the pain but she refused to let him suffer alone.

“I am here, Mark. I am here, you don’t have to suffer through this alone, don’t let your misery be yours alone.” Her hand trailed across the back of his head seeing his arms trembling as he wanted to destroy more, to get this energy out and yet, his mother was right there, his body shook, the red only grew darker as he cried out into her chest, letting her feel the tears on her shirt and then finally silence. Several GDA agents stood observing the chaos as they began setting up a stretcher.

“Debbie, could we just have a single moment where things are not happening, this is the second incident to happen today.” Cecil walked to her as Mark was escorted away.

“I doubt it could be that important if I had not heard about it.”

“Someone attacked the Guardians. Your husband and Aquarius are in critical condition.”

“Oh my god,can I see him?”

“He is still in surgery, you don’t want to see what he looks like right now.” Debbie looked him dead center. Nothing showed on his face, so she could not tell why his words made her feel so doubtful.

“Can I at least follow my son?”

“That is fine, I think they just might be growing pains, since he got his powers.”

“How did you know that?”

“There is a pile of trash that came from his workplace near the white house.”

“Oh.”

Chapter Text

Nolan dreamt. He dreamt of the days on Viltrum where he felt the blows of his trainers rain down like lightning, swift and too fast to catch. It was his day to get trained by Conquest and he was being put through his paces forced to shoulder more and more weight. Those that trained under him, left bruised and nearly broken physically but they all came about stronger. He had begun to notice how frequently he kept getting paired up with him. First it would be one offs where he would meet him long after others had their turns, then it was half that time again and again until he would spend most of his days under his tutelage, week after week, month after month, his body burned with the blows that Conquest landed on him. He could not even remember the amount of times that he had to regrow his own teeth because they had gotten bashed out of his face.

And yet, he still kept coming back, because his body healed with each battle, each spar, each training session that destroyed his body at every turn, breaking bones and pounding flesh until it was a dark purple, leaving him barely able to fly back to his home where his grandparents cared for him. He grew to cherish those moments, he would watch many older than him die from their own hubris. There were moments where they lost themselves in their own idealism of being undefeated, of being the epitome of raw power only to be butchered by those that managed to get the better of them. He had thought that he would never suffer that same hubris as he tempered himself, he trained where he could and then the reality simply dawned on him as he fought the guardians, his time on earth had weakened him. He had realized that his time on earth had wounded him far deeper than his healing could ever fix. He remembered each moment he spent with them, each day that he was allowed to be vulnerable with them, it hit harder than he had thought. Each memory slowed his blows and allowed them to win, at least that was what he thought. His mind denied their power, they were strong but he was meant to be stronger, to make them feel powerless, to be undefeated and yet, even in this lucid state of mind, he could feel the bruises on his form, how they ached and ebbed like waves.

He hated this and yet, simply persisted through it, his mind finally peaking through, groggy and yet barely awake enough to realize he was not on earth.

“Where am I?” He saw he was inside a room but there was no gravity, how it shifted and bobbed within the space around it, everything nailed to the floor.
“Hello, Nolan, how is recovery going?”

“I failed to kill the guardians didn’t I?” Cecil raised a brow.

“You sound oddly apathetic to it. Why did you want to kill them?”

Nolan laid there in that bed as he thought of simply shutting up and bursting through wherever he was but he knew it would be pointless, they were not dumb enough to let him simply be in a space where he could escape from.

“Nolan, why did you kill the guardians?” Nolan laid there stuck in his own thoughts as his mind raced with the life he had lived that had brought him here, only they could have broken him so. He felt enraged at having failed the one thing that he had been entrusted with, a world fighting amongst itself over and over and over again, a world teeming with those with powers he could barely comprehend fighting against, he had failed in every conceivable way possible. He was a failure. He wanted to stop the tears, to stop this feeling of pathetic shame but he could not. He simply thought of Debbie and his walls fell. The idea of meeting her now haunted him, he had never fallen for the creatures that he had dated and yet, Debbie’s smile haunted him. He covered his face in shame at letting emotion ruin his work.

Cecil had seen Nolan do many things but cry was never one of them. It hit him so hard, he simply stood there shifting in place and trying to look anywhere but at him. Everything about this felt so alien to him. Most did not fall apart like this. He could hear the snot, the sound of stitched up wounds opening up and the sound of his cries. All of those at the GDA all stared at the screen with looks of concern. None of them were sure how or what to say exactly.

Cecil groaned before sitting down beside the bed as he laid a hand on Nolan.

“Nolan, what’s up?”

“What?”

“Nolan, clearly this has hit you harder than it should if you were simply doing this for yourself. What is up?” Cecil did his best and simply sat there in silence. He had thought of resorting to torture but this development could yield more. But there was something else to address. The red that was now steadying travelling across the blankets. The machinery attached to the bed reached beneath the sheets quickly sewing up his wounds from the inside.

“Cecil, what does it feel like to have your whole worldview just destroyed?”

“Explain.”

“I thought I was strong, I thought we as Viltrumites were strong, capable of easily handling you all. Sure, a bruise here and there but never an outright loss but I lost to you all. I was beaten back again and again and at the very end, I lost. If we are not strong enough to defeat you then what have I suffered all these years for? Why did I bleed and break and nearly die so many times if I were to lose so deeply? Your planet is a maelstrom of issue after issue, cursed by some inherent need to rebel, a war every other day, a poor part of your world, you humans just refused to unify all together, refuse to share within a single ideology. I failed to fix and prepare this world for the empire, I failed to defeat your strongest. I am a failure in the worst of ways and I am sure my death is coming for me.”

“So you were sentto weaken and conquer us? Why?”

“The Viltrum Empire is one that thrives on the three ideals of our forebears, Kill, Consume and Multiply. We usually select worlds that are able to offer some benefit to the Viltrum empire and yours was rife with opportunities. Not only did your planet have a dominant species that resembled us, it also had resources of shocking amounts, people with talents that could dominate galaxies if only used right. Losing this planet was going to be a loss and required a softer hand but doing so ruined me. Look at me.” Cecil stared Nolan down seeing this face, cheeks wet with tears, snot dripping from his nose. So much misery plastered across his face.

“So what are you going to do?”

“Await another to take my duties from me and if they fail, they will send Conquest.”

“Ooooo, terrifying. Look, Nolan, do you love your wife and son?”

“Of course.”

“Then you have to play the role of a good father, a good husband and a superhero for them. Even if it means leaving everything you have believed in, those people are not the ones who made you happy, you are weeping and are terrified of failure that you are utterly a wreck right now. I don’t know what your life has been but trust in us and we will make sure that you don’t lose the bonds you have made, that you won’t have to stand against them alone. Unlike them, we will stand by your side. Well, more of the other supes but I will be there in spirit.”

Nolan sat there.

“Are you willing to help us bring down the Viltrum Empire?”

“There are some people you can absolutely not ever fight.”

“We will take note of that. Now, tell us how to win.”

“Well, you’re not going to believe what I am about to say, but it will involve some reading.”

Elsewhere, Mark would be waking up as a nurse stood behind him utterly kitted head to toe in some sort of armor.

“What the hell?”

“Hello, Mr Greyson, I assume you are hungry for answers to what happened?” The nurse seemed to be tapping at something on her touchpad as the armor seemed to release tension as he seemed finally able to move.

“T…..that would be nice. What happened?”

“Rapid mutation. It seemed that your genetics underwent a sudden turn and it caused some changes in your biology. It seemed they paired with certain genomes that have-

“I am sorry, never been that great with biology, could you simplify it for me?”

“Basically your body is preparing itself to become breedable. Or at least to have the capacity to carry children.” The nurse would have chuckled at the look on his face if this did not make a drop of sense. Everything this told her, held some unforeseen theories on what was actually happening and Cecil would want to know this.

“How? Why?”

“Best way I can explain it, as we have been informed, you recently gained your powers correct?” The nurse walked closer showing him her touchpad as several images of him would appear showing various scans of his body in various states of being.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Your DNA paired so well with your father’s alien DNA that it actively wanted to make more of itself. Your body saw the active potential in having more of you and adjusted as needed. It basically means that your father’s species in highly adaptive to the things that affect it, but it leads to sometimes odd instances like this. The body does not care much for anything but fulfilling basic needs. At least that is what we have as of right now. We will need more tests.”

Makr sat there with that information as he studied the images of himself. He wasn't sure what to say. So much was happening and he could barely keep up. He did not know what to do. He wanted to ask his parents, to get their opinion. He was actually scared. Would he turn into some kind of mosnter because of this? Seeming to catch on to his worries, the nurse would pipe up.

“But based on my theories, you will likely not change that extremely. At most, your form will simply adopt more feminine traits to a degree or until we have more concrete research, just hope for the best. I promise we will try our best.”

“Thanks. Could I talk with my mom? And my dad if he is available?” The swift shift in tone of her eyes put Mark off as she answered “He is currenlty injured. Along with the other Guardians of the Globe. They were attacked but managed to defeat their attackers. You will be able to see him soon. I will call in your mom.” With that, the nurse, offering him a pat on the back briskly exited the room as Debbie walked inside. The suit of medical equipement seemed to unfold, peeling off it and loading itselfinto compartment except for the parts clinging to his torso and groin.

“Mom, being a superhero is weird as heck.”

“Well, life changes your expectations of most things. Still wanna be a hero?”

“How can I? My body is doing all this weird stuff and I don't even know if Dad is safe yet. How can I focus on becoming a hero when I can’t even control myself?” Debie hugged her son as they simply sat there. It felt odd that the longer the silence hung, the more comfortable he felt with everything. He did not know what to say, there was simply too much to do so, but just sitting there, sharing in the moment. He felt better.

“I know this is hectic. I am sure you have like so many things you want to ask about but don’t let it take away from your dreams and what you hopeto do with yourself, okay? You are still my son, regardless of what happens to you because of your Dad’s alien junk.”

“Eugh, mom!”

“Come on, you are almost 18, you can’t keep acting like a big ole baby about this.”

Outside the room, Cecil stood gazing at the scene. He hated everything about this and he was sure if he still had hair, he would be growing bald. Why could one day never just be easy. But he guessed that was the job, he teleported once more as he stood before a room of his best.

“I assume you all have heard about the threat we are to face?” They all grimly looked upon him.

“We barely managed to defeat Nolan and apparently, there is a whole empire of them out there. That is a terrifying thought.”

“We can handle them though, we just need more time.” Immortal would pipe up.

“No, what we need is to get you all stronger and to do that, you all will need the time and energy to better yourselves. We have to get you at peak capacity and maintain the safety we usually provide to the World. We cannot become weak for the internal threats to defeat the external, so we are having tryouts for more heroes.” The room was silent.

“We really almost died though, like actually how are we alive?”

“Fastest man alive, baby!” Josef shouted as a new leg was being put together beside him as they tried to find one that could handle his acceleration.

“Anyway, once you are healed up, we are going to start hosting some tryouts to add to our numbers and working on creating more localized teams. We need you all to have the most amount of time to balance your lives, both work and personal.”

“But we can grow faster if we focus solely on getting stronger, the lives of humanity matter more than wasting time with other stuff.”

“War Woman, I know you fear what's to come, but you all need your people, your comforts. If you all start hating your jobs and such, we will have a harder time working together. I do not need machines out of you, I need Heroes who are gonna be in the right mindset to make the right choice. Now, call your families already, they have been blasting the GDA channels for the past week.” With that, Cecil walked out of the room as Donald appeared at his side. He cheered at his smile and sighed. This job was not worth it sometimes and he was getting tired of it.