"Omni-Man?!" Rex exclaimed, hands shooting to his head as he, like the other guardians, recognized the figure. "That psycho's here?!"

"Is he the enemy you-" Black Samson turned towards Clockwork, but his eyes widened when he saw that the specter wasn't there anymore. "Clockwork?"

Suddenly they heard the sound of an explosion a few blocks away.

"It doesn't matter who the enemy is." Mark said, hovering into the air as he looked at the Guardians. "People need our help, and I'm gonna do everything I can to help them."

Before anyone could object, Mark rocketed off, breaking the sound barrier with ease as he flew.

The Guardians watched him go for a moment, before Robot stepped forward.

"He's right." He said. "Omni-Man is powerful, but it doesn't matter who we're facing. If people need help, it's our responsibility to help." He said, turning to look at the rest of the Guardians.

Despite the visible apprehension on their face at the thought of facing the most powerful being to ever live upon their own world, every single one of the Guardians had a look of resolute determination on their face.

He was right. They were the Guardians of the Globe.

"Let's move, team." Black Samson ordered, taking off towards the sound of the explosion as the rest of the team followed him.

"What is the situation, Omni-Man?" Dobrinya asked as he stood, waiting for the bay doors to open as they approached their destination.

"Supe attack in Hell's Kitchen." Omni-Man answered through the communicator. "From what I'm gathering, it's a bank robbery. The Supe apparently has the ability to supercharge objects with kinetic energy."

"Should we expect explosions?" Maeve asked through the communicator.

As if on cue, an explosion sounded out that could be heard pretty clearly, as they were practically right overhead right now.

"I think you have your answer." Omni-Man remarked. "Now, let's get this done quickly, please. I have a date tonight and I do not feel like being late."

"Oh, making Sam a happy girl, aren't you, Nolan?" Ice Princess asked with a grin.

Nolan could be hear chuckling through the communicator. "Damn straight."

"Well then," Maeve said, grinning as she opened the bay doors. "Wouldn't want to keep a gal waiting."

Once the bay doors were opened up, Maeve jumped from the plane, the others following her lead as they all jumped, Kimiko and Supersonic hitching a ride with Dobrinya.

Up ahead, they could see a supe running along the street, throwing what looked like glowing rocks on the ground, which would explode after a few seconds.

Considering they dropped in front of him, he stopped pretty quickly.

"Shit!" The man exclaimed, holding his bag of cash as he glared at the superheroes. "It's a fucking bank robbery, why are you here?"

"You're a supe, young man." Nolan said, hovering down above the Guardians. "You are our specialty."

The man growled, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a few rocks.

Nolan rolled his eyes, expecting him to throw them at him as he watched the man slip a bunch into his opposite.

Instead, the man threw them somewhere else.

The Guardians watched in horror as the man threw his arms out, throwing the rocks at the buildings nearby.

Anybody close by was blown away as the kinetically charged rocks exploded against the buildings on each side of the street.

Luckily, no one was killed, but the now collapsing buildings could easily change that.

The supe was smart enough not to stick around, immediately taking off down a nearby alleyway as the heroes watched in horror.

"Supersonic, put out those fires! Maeve, help me keep those buildings standing long enough for Starlight, Black Noir, and Kimiko to clear out civilians. Ice Princess, try to stabilize the buildings while they are holding them up! Dobrinya, you go after him!" Omni-Man barked, immediately flying to one of the buildings and holding it up with ease.

Everyone nodded, and followed his orders without fail. Maeve immediately jumped to the building, catching it before it could collapse and tilt any further as Ice Princess immediately began creating as sturdy of structures as she possibly could. Meanwhile, Starlight and Black Noir booked it towards Nolan's building, while Kimiko ran in Maeve's. Dobrinya immediately cut off from the group, running down the alleyway after the supe at a speed one that one would not expect for his size.

Nolan was holding the building with ease, but it was Maeve who was struggling.

Unlike Nolan, holding a four-story building up was no easy feat, and considering she was the strongest person here, Nolan was glad that she was holding it as long as she was.

But it wouldn't last.

"Just a little longer, Maeve!" Nolan encouraged, turning to Ice Princess. "Princess, prioritize Maeve's building! She can't hold all the weight for long!"

"On it!" Ice Princess immediately left her half constructed makeshift pillar and moved to the other side of the street, following Nolan's orders as she began constructing one for Maeve's side.

Unfortunately, Ice Princess had to do it slowly, otherwise the ice pillar would be too thin, and it wouldn't be strong enough.

Maeve could feel her muscles straining from the pressure, and if it didn't let up soon, she knew her wrist was going to break again.

Just because she was a supe didn't mean she didn't have her weak points, and saving that bus full of kids all those years ago had created one in her right wrist.

She was groaning as her body buckled under the pressure. "Fuck this is heavy! Kimiko, Ice Princess, I can't hold this for long!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Ice Princess said, worry and desperation in her features as Kimiko quickly led another group of people back towards the entrance.

Her ankles felt like they were going to crack, and by now she was supporting the building more with her back than her arms.

"Maeve!" Omni-Man shouted, seeing the pressure becoming too much for her.

"I'm losing it!"

She could feel the weight of the building overwhelming her. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold it up.

When she was close to losing her strength, though, suddenly, the weight lifted.

No, not just lifted, it was removed completely.

Suddenly, she was no longer supporting a building on her back. She no longer had her muscles burning under strain.

It was all gone.

"Ma'am, you okay?"

Suddenly, Maeve looked up.

Floating in front of her, holding up the building, was a teenage boy, no older than seventeen, in a blue and yellow suit, goggles covering his eyes as his black hair poked through his face mask.

And when she said he was holding the building, he was doing it rather easily.

"Ma'am?" The boy spoke, looking at her with concern.

Now that she no longer had the weight of the building bearing down on her, she was able to recover from her stupor pretty easily, standing back to her feet as she nodded.

"Yeah, thanks kid." Maeve said. "You think you can hold that building for long?"

The boy smiled. "You should've seen the 20 story apartment building I held up." He remarked as he lifted the building a little higher until it was level as he turned towards Ice Princess, who was staring at him in surprise. "How long will it take you to create an ice support?"

Shaking herself from her stupor, she got back to work. "Give me ten minutes and I can have a stable pillar on both side."

Nodding, the boy held the building in place rather easily.

Seeing that this was taken care of, she turned to Nolan, intent on asking for further orders.

She was surprised to see the look on his face.

His eyes were completely wide, his jaw dropped, and he was pale.

Deathly pale.

And he was staring right at the newcomer, who had since turned to face him, smiling at him.

"Mark…" Nolan whispered out, his voice barely audible enough for Maeve to hear it.

But the boy's response stunned everyone.

He grinned, and looked directly at Nolan. "Hey, Dad."

Dobrinya growled as he closed the distance between himself and the supe criminal in front of him. "Get back here, you filthy coward!"

"Screw you, you fucking commie!" The man yelled out, to Dobrinya's rage. The Russian growled, and pushed himself even farther.

The man in front of him clearly had the basic abilities of a supe, considering they were both outrunning vehicles like they were children learning to walk.

"Come here!" Dobrinya yelled, jumping the last few inches of the distance in the hopes of catching the man.

He didn't expect the guy to suddenly spin around and nail him in the face with a charged bear bottle.

The man wasted no time in creating distance as Dobrinya crashed to the ground, trying to regain his bearings from the explosion he just took to the face.

"I believe the man said to halt."

The new voice surprised the supe, and before he knew it, a literal orange robot had landed in front of him, with glowing green eyes.

The supe was admittedly surprised. Ever since Vought had been exposed, every single one of the supes they owned had been outed.

None of them, not even Tek Knight, was an actual robot.

"Who the hell are you?" The supe asked, getting ready to charge another blast.

"I am Robot." The creature said, raising its arm and aiming at the supe. A second later, a green blast of energy shot from its hand, blasting the supe with a lot more force than he expected.

Dobrinya watched in surprise as the energy blast knocked the supe unconscious immediately, with minimal damage.

"You, friend. Are you an actual robot?" Dobrinya asked as he stood to his feet.

The being in front of him shook his head. "This particular unit is a suit for me to fit in. I am not actually a robot."

"Well, I appreciate the assistance." Dobrinya nodded, walking towards the unconscious supe as he hauled him onto his shoulder. "I take it you are by yourself?"

"Not quite." The now revealed man in a suit answered. "I am with the rest of my team. They are currently preparing to engage Omni-Man."

Dobrinya's eyes widened. "What?! What for?!"

"To hopefully save this world from the catastrophe he brought upon ours."

Dobrinya's eyes narrowed. "We know of his past, robot. We do not care."

While outwardly, the robot didn't do anything, Dobrinya could imagine that the man within the suit was pretty shocked. "You don't care?"

"No. He has done much good for our world." Dobrinya said, dropping the unconscious supe to the ground. "He has revealed much to us, including his home, and his true mission. He seeks redemption."

"Do you really beleive that?"

"I do." Dobrinya said firmly. "And if you are attacking a comrade, you are attacking me."

"I do not want to do this." Robot replied.

"Then do not. It is your choice."

"How… when…" Nolan was absolutely speechless. His son… his son was here! He was looking at Mark!

"Your buddy, Clockwork." Mark explained, filling in the shocked silence. "He… well, he showed me what you've been up to."

Clockwork… Nolan wanted to thank him.

Finally, Ice Princess had finished her pillars, and Mark was able to let go of the building.

"Alright, that should hold it. Thanks kid." Ice Princess said as Mark let go of the building.

"I'm glad I can help." Mark said, turning to his dad. "Need help?"

Nolan was able to somewhat shake himself from his stupor as he spoke. "I uh… sure."

He could see by the look on his face that Mark knew it was a lie, but Mark still smiled anyway.

Moving over next to him, he grabbed the building, though it was mostly just for show, since Nolan was holding it up with ease.

He was happy to see his son, but Nolan couldn't help the guilt that built up within him. The last time he'd seen Mark, he'd been left beaten within an inch of his life by Nolan's own hands.

"So, how have things been?" Mark asked, trying to start up some conversation.

"I uh… Good! It's been good…" Nolan replied somewhat awkwardly, a little unsure of how to really proceed. "And yourself?"

"Things have been great! I've been helping the Guardians with a lot of missions lately, like you used to, and Cecil's been a real help." Mark said, his smile still on his face.

He actually was happy to see Nolan. It was surprising.

Nolan knew he had to ask one more question.

"And how's… Debbie?"

At that, Mark's face visibly fell. He was silent for a moment, looking as if he was unsure of how to really respond, before he sighed.

"Not good, Dad. She cries herself to sleep every other day, and she sneaks out to drink with Art when she thinks I don't know."

Somehow, even despite knowing that Debbie had to have been doing terribly, it still didn't make it any better, having actually been told that.

"I… I'm sorry." Nolan said quietly, turning his gaze away from Mark. "I know it's not enough, but I am sorry."

"She still misses you, you know." Mark replied, unintentionally driving the knife deeper. "She wishes you would come back. Talk."

"I can't leave this world, Mark." Nolan said with a shake of his head. "Clockwork had to alter me, so that I could stay in this world permanently. I can never set foot outside of this world again without dying."

Mark's eyes widened. "You mean… you really can't ever come back?"

"No…"

Even with his eyes covered, Nolan could tell the news was more heartbreaking than it should've been.

The others continued with their jobs, Maeve helping Kimiko finish evacuating the building across the street, but it was obvious that they were all curious, and it was impossible for Ice Princess to not be listening considering how close she was to the conversation.

"What was the plan, Dad?" Mark asked, his voice finally quivering with the hurt that he'd kept hidden. "You were happy for 20 years. Truly happy. Were you really just going to throw it all away?"

"Do you remember the day you got your powers?" Nolan asked suddenly.

Mark looked at Nolan, confused, but he nodded. "Yeah."

"You remember the look on my face?" Nolan asked, looking at his son.

"Yeah."

"I was hiding my emotions. I was horrified."

Mark's eyes widened under his goggles in disbelief as he looked at his dad. "What?"

"I was hoping you would never inherit my powers." Nolan revealed. "I wanted… I wanted to be there for your entire lives. I was hoping you'd be… human. Both you and your mom would peacefully die of age. You wouldn't have to see the monster I was."

The news was like a punch to the gut. Even despite his happiness, he'd always planned to help Viltrum invade. "Why? You were happy! Not just with me and mom, but saving people! Why throw everything away for Viltrum?!"

"Because the truth is, Mark, that I wouldn't have been able to stop them." Nolan admitted, to everyone's surprise. "I might be powerful to everyone, even you, but I'm not the strongest Viltrumite."

Nolan turned to look at his son, and he completely dropped his mask.

Mark could see the pain, the anger, the regret, the horror, the sadness… the complete destruction of what happiness he had back home being completely taken from them.

"I was so cruel in our fight, because I'd hoped it would make the pain of losing everything I'd gained easier." Nolan scoffed as his own words left his mouth. "Instead, I have more regrets. I have to live with the knowledge that I beat my only son to a bloody pulp. I shrugged off your mom as nothing more than a pet. I killed thousands of people."

"Why wouldn't you have been able to stop them?" Mark asked. "You're the strongest being on the face of the planet, both back home, and I'm willing to bet you are here."

"Mark, Viltrumites get stronger with age. I was a high ranking general in the Viltrumite Empire, but Thragg… he's the most powerful Viltrumite alive."

"What would they have done? If you hadn't reported in?"

"Mark, Earth was a high priority planet. Compared to other planets we'd conquered, it was pretty advanced, and Viltrum wanted to eliminate a potential threat before it could become an actual threat." Nolan looked at Mark seriously. "I never got the chance to report in, but eventually, the entire Viltrumite army will come for Earth. And while I may be powerful, not even I could stop them all."

"But you wouldn't have been alone, Dad." Mark replied. "You would've had me. You could've trained me to prepare. You could've… would've, had all the heroes on the planet."

"I know." Nolan replied. "Viltrum will come for Earth unless they're stopped. The only saving grace is that by the time they find out, and do come, you'll most likely be much stronger. The best you can hope for is finding a way to stop them before they come, Mark."

The news was very disheartening, but Mark took solace in the fact that the potential invasion was years away.

"I have to ask, Dad… did you love us?" Mark asked, looking at his dad seriously. "Did you truly love us?"

"Yes, Mark. And I can't tell you how much what I did haunts me."

By then, the rest of the group had finishd their objectives.

"You can let go of the building now, boys." Ice Princess said, backing away as she finished her pillar. "It's stable."

With her confirmation, the men let go of the building, lowering themselves to the ground as they looked at each other.

"I'm truly sorry, Mark. I can never take back what I did."

Mark looked at his father. Nolan was half expecting to get punched.

And he was right.

Everyone gasped when Mark punched Nolan square in the face. While he still wasn't on Nolan's level, credit was given where it was due, and Nolan had to admit that Mark was much stronger than he was in their first fight.

"That's for what you said about Mom."

Nolan looked back at Mark, his face saddened. "I deserve more than that."

"Yeah." Mark nodded. "You do."

Nolan was not expecting Mark's next actions.

Rather than another punch, a verbal assault, anything he would've deserved, Mark closed the distance.

And he hugged him.

"It's good to see you, Dad."

Nolan couldn't help the tears that were welling in his eyes.

"I love you, Dad."

Without any hesitation, Nolan wrapped his arms around Mark, gladly returning the hug.

"I love you too son."

The tender moment was ruined when an orange form came flying into view, from the alleyway Dobrinya had chased the supe.

And without fail, the Russian superhero came bulldozing after the form. "You will not hurt my friend!"

"Please." The form of who Nolan now recognized as the superhero, Robot, responded as he jumped out of the way. "I don't want to fight you."

"You started this fight when you decided that you and your team decided that you were going to attack my friend!" Dobrinya yelled back in response as everyone watched in surprise.

Nolan turned towards Mark. "Who else is here with you?"

Mark didn't get a chance to answer.

Because in the next second, all hell broke loose.

A/N: And that's the end of the chapter.

Mark and Nolan finally got the reunion they needed.

Also, yes, the second Guardians are going to try and bring down Nolan, because Mark's words lit a fire under them in a way he didn't really expect it too.

Obviously, as you can tell by Dobrinya's reaction, that's not sitting well with the new Guardians.

Also, once the next chapter goes up, I'm going to be closing the poll for Project Icon's name. So far, the lead is for the name to stay the same, though it has fluctuated slightly between Icon and Apex.

We'll just have to see.

Anyway, that's the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to review, and I'll see you in the next chapter.