The next morning, Eve and Mark decided to leave campus because Eve said she wanted to show Mark something.
William, for his part, stayed to watch over Rick, who was still dizzy from last night.
When they brought him back, they simply said that Rick had been attacked and knocked unconscious by a drunk student and it was luck that they were passing by to help him and bring him back.
William and Rick thanked them and left.
Far, far away from the city, Mark was guided by Eve into the forest where with the help of her powers a few days earlier, she had built a beautiful house in a large tree.
The house was beautiful, peaceful and airy. Mark was totally won over by the place and Eve explained to him that she had left her parents' house because she could no longer stand their attitude towards her and the atmosphere that reigned in the house.
Mark: (Sighs) With my parents too it's becoming almost unbearable, they don't really talk to each other since Lucas died. My mother has withdrawn into herself a little and my father...he acts as if Lucas' death meant nothing to him.
Eve: But...you discuss it, right?
Mark: I tried to talk to my mother about it, she assured me that she was fine and that was just her way of grieving. Between Lucas and me, he was the one closest to her, I always admired my father...a little too much even and now that Lucas is no longer there, she must feel abandoned and I blame me to death especially since I train a lot with my father.
Eve: You should get closer to her!
Mark: But we are close, it's just that Lucas was closer than me, much more and I tried to be more present but she withdrew a little into herself or will do something sport with Saeko. It's always the same but… different. Besides, fortunately Saeko is there, this little one is a real angel.
"What about Omni-man?!" Eve asked as she went to make some tea.
Mark: My dad acts really strange, I know him well and sometimes in training I feel like he wants to tell me things, important things but can't get it out of his mouth. I thought that his indifference to Lucas' death was his way of grieving, but I have the impression that it's something else and I won't hide the fact that it scares me.
Eve: (Sighs) It can't be easy to live with.
Mark: I have to get stronger Eve, I don't want to lose anyone else otherwise...I feel like I'll go crazy.
He and Eve hugged each other on the magnificent wooden terrace while the fresh wind filled with a forest scent danced around them (I can never describe this smell, it smells …wood).
At the Grayson's, Deborah after a night's sleep was much calmer and above all sober resumed the conversation with Nolan for more explanation.
Deborah : Nolan, please explain to me. We've been married for twenty years, I'm your wife and you have no right to lie to me, your problems are my problems.
Nolan: Debbie, it's a lot more complicated than you might think.
Deborah : Did a bad guy take control of your mind ? The children and I were under such great threat that even you couldn't do anything about it and you were blackmailed ? Maybe it was one of those ancient gods you used to-(interrupted)
Nolan: DEBBIE! It wasn't any of that...what I did was for Mark and m-it was for our family. But you have to trust me.
Deborah : You killed our oldest friends and you're asking me to trust you ?! Trust about what ?! What are you hiding from me ? I deserve to know at least if you have an ounce of consideration for me, I AM YOUR WIFE!
"YOU'RE NOTHING AT ALL, IT'S SOMETHING BEYOND SOMEONE LIKE YOU !!" Nolan on edge exploded and said whatever was on his mind at the moment before realizing what he had just said. (EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!!! Oh YEAH, I wanted to make this a little spicier than in the original discussion of the series)
Nolan: Debbie, wait...I didn't mean that. I-(interrupted)
"I want you to go…go away." She said softly as she slowly backed away as tears fell from her eyes.
Nolan: Debbie, you don't know-(interrupted again)
Deborah : GET OUT OF MY HOUSE !!
"We'll discuss it later!" Nolan said coldly before flying away from there while Deborah behind sobbing sat weakly on the couch.
Nolan had just now made her feel stupid and unimportant so she felt belittled and humiliated, Saeko further up the stairs witnessed everything and came to console her. (I repeat, for those who still don't know, Nolan didn't realize he loved his wife until much later in Viltrumite Prison.)
Later that evening, when Mark came home he found neither his mother nor his father and even Saeko was absent.
He wondered before sitting down to pick up his phone and call his mother, he hadn't opened his phone until now and when he did he found a few missed calls from Deborah and a message.
[Mark darling, there are things you need to know but only your father could tell you completely. I'm going to retire to your late little brother's house for a few days with Saeko to rest, I need it right now. I left you some money and food but if you want, you can meet me at Lucas's house. When I'm rested enough, maybe we'll discuss important things and talk to your dad, he needs help right now. I love you my baby.]
He frowned after reading the message and tried to contact his father without success, Nolan at the moment had gone who knows where to calm down and take a step back, the anger and frustration of a Viltrumite could last for days, months or decades without change.
Above all, he needed to plan an approach to explain everything to Mark about his mission of conquest on Earth to prepare humans for an annexation of his people's empire, it was his duty, he was proud of it, his devotion to Viltrum was total and he wanted to share all this with his son because if he failed, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Mark didn't understand the whole situation and initially thought about his parents potentially divorcing but abandoned the idea as he found it ridiculous.
He texted his mother to ask if everything was okay and she assured him that everything was fine and that she just needed somewhere restful for just a few days.
She didn't want to panic her son because they were freshly coming out of a horrible loss, telling her child that his father was behind the murder of the guardians of the globe was unthinkable at the moment, especially for her who had to reorganize her thoughts.
Mark sighed and seeing that he had some time to himself contacted Cecil before heading straight to the GDA , he didn't know what was going on with his parents but he wanted to keep busy for the next few days and he knew precisely how, training.
Intensive training that would put his Viltrumite genes to the test in order to become stronger.
The few days that Debra went to Lucas's house turned into two long weeks of talking to Mark from time to time on the phone.
This situation was starting to worry Mark, especially since Nolan had not been seen during all this time (I warned you that the emotions of the Viltrumite race were not easy to manage, especially since these guys in general are not into the feeling).
Invincible himself under the intensive training at GDA had not seen the time pass. Of course, he still goes to school in the meantime.
Today at exactly 8 a.m., Mark was under a Gigantic machine that he was trying to lift with some difficulty. This machine was programmed to test the physical strength of heroes and its weight could be adjusted up to a certain level.
"HnnFFF!" Ngggmff! How much ?! How many tons is that?!" he asked as he pushed the machine.
Donald: A little over 700 tonnes, you are progressing really quickly! It's incredible ! How are you feeling ?!
Mark: It's quite difficult, even unpleasant and painful, but I already feel stronger.
Cecil: Kid, you've been here for exactly two weeks, training like crazy. In two weeks, the weight you could carry increased by around 300 tonnes, it's extraordinary but too extraordinary. Even if you're not like normal humans, I still think that overtraining your body all the time can be bad for it.
Mark:…
Cecil: Kid ?
Mark: (Sighs) You might be right but...I just need to get stronger. It's quite strange, I can feel like bad things might happen soon and at that moment I won't be allowed to be weak if only I don't want to lose anyone again.
Cecil: Have you heard from your father recently ?
Mark: No, but he will come back on his own, if Omni-man wants to isolate himself then no one will be able to find him. Maybe he left the planet for a while. When I was little, he would sometimes disappear like that for a few weeks.
Cecil: Hum, I see.
Mark: I would like to move on to the close combat simulation please.
Cecil sighed and Mark went to a special room where he stood there flying. Suddenly, four humanoid holograms materialized in fighting stance as Mark assumed a boxing guard.
" Ready ?!" Donald in another room next to Cecil asked as Mark nodded gently.
"Don't forget to record everything, capture and measure this kid's movements and speed, it might be useful later." Cecil said discreetly next to him with an extremely calculating smile before Donald pressed some buttons and the four holograms immediately began attacking Mark in the room.
The speed of the holograms was terrible and Mark immediately stood ready, they each sent him a series of punches and kicks which he dodged without much difficulty, he only dodged in the air and he did it with great ease, they were holograms so he didn't want to block or parry anything, it was useless.
"Increase the speed. he asked and Donald increased the speed of the holograms, they were light projections and their speed could be increased as much as possible.
Their movements had exceeded the speed of sound and Mark had a lot more difficulty dodging the blows and even blocked some unnecessarily, Donald and Cecil could not even properly follow the fight because it was so fast.
Mark flexibly dodged the punch of one of the holograms and the kick of another hologram that attacked at the same time and stepped back into the void before using his arm as a sword to decapitate a hologram that intended to attack him from behind and the latter was immediately deactivated.
Without wasting time, he sent an uppercut to another hologram in counter after a dodge and it was also disabled. He got the last two holograms with counters to deactivate each before stopping short of breath with beads of sweat on his forehead.
"His counter techniques are incredible, he has truly exceptional precision when you watch the images in slow motion. I think on a purely technical level he would be the best boxer of all time." Donald said very impressed as he wiped off his own sweat.
Cecil: Losing his brother really changed him. Invincible will perhaps finally live up to its pseudonym better from now on.
Donald: Do you think so?!
Cecil: I said "maybe" Donald, maybe.
Mark later showered and went out for a certain date with Eve, it had been two days since they had seen each other so to rest and relax, Mark decided to spend some time with her, a lot of time.
But Mark had barely been gone for almost two hours when his mother came to the GDA and found herself in discussion with Cecil.
Cecil: Indeed, what Mark said was not jokes, you look more rested and serene Debbie. Happy to see you again !
Debbie: Hello Cecil, I needed some perspective, it's true and it works better than you think. Where is Mark?!
Cecil: Your son just went on a date with his girlfriend. Do you know he trains like hell here ?
Debra: That's really not good, I wanted to talk to him about something important since Nolan still hasn't made an appearance and you should know that too. It's about Nolan, he did a horrible thing!
Cecil: He murdered the guardians of the globe, we've known that for a while thanks to Darkblood and FEAR.
"Cecil I would have slapped you right now if i didn't have the minimum amount of calm I have now. YOU KNEW ?! LUCAS TOO ?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ANYTHING?!" Deborah asked with great anger.
Cecil: Calm down Debbie. The kid knew but how could he have told you ? We decided to keep this matter a secret because neither the world nor you, Nolan's wife, were ready to deal with this. When Darkblood approached you for his investigation, your reaction was distrust and hostility because you are Nolan's wife, it was unacceptable to suspect him and from what I know, the kid during his lifetime had not a very good relationship with his father. If he had come to talk to you about it you would have put it down to his hostility towards him, these were serious accusations we couldn't-(interrupted).
Donald: Sir, Omni-man has just been spotted, he is moving quickly towards the family home at the moment.
Cecil: Is the Delta team ready there?!
Donald: Yes sir.
Cecil: So let's wait and watch.
Deborah : CECIL WHAT'S Happening ?!
The screens immediately showed images of the Grayson house and it shocked Deborah . "ARE YOU SPYING ON US THIS WHOLE TIME Cecil ?! WHAT KIND OF SICK ARE YOU?! "
Cecil: It's only for your safety Debbie, that I can assure you. Nolan is easily the most powerful creature in this world so not having your eye on him would be pure madness.
The safety of the world might have been at stake and now you know that might be the case considering what he did to the guardians.
They saw on the screens Nolan search for his wife and son in the house without success before he spotted the soldiers camouflaged in the house and began to massacre them in front of the eyes of his wife who watched the butchery live.
One of the soldiers was thrown out and crawled towards the house across the street. Nolan saw this and frowned upon seeing this and quickly discovered a surveillance team in this house and started slaughtering the agents in his anger.
Cecil: Shit ! Go ahead Donald, we need to give our men in the neighborhood time to evacuate.
Donald pressed a certain button and the entire house blew up in a huge explosion.
"NOLAN!!" Debra screamed thinking they had killed him but Cecil reassured her that this explosion would probably stun him for a few seconds but it was a miscalculation since it had done absolutely nothing to Nolan except increase his anger.
Knowing Cecil, he immediately thought that the whole neighborhood was inhabited by surveillance agents so he under the eyes of Deborah and Cecil began to massacre everyone he saw.
"Mark, I have to find him...." he said covered in blood before quickly flying away.
Deborah looked at everything speechless in front of the terrifying massacre that her husband had committed, she no longer recognized him, he was now a terrifying and bloodthirsty being.
Deborah : WE NEED TO FIND MARK , QUICKLY!!
" NOT GOOD !! CONTACT THE KID, HURRY UP!!" Cecil firmly ordered the team around him.