When the first punch landed, Nolan had been unprepared for the force behind it.
That was likely why he crashed into the building.
"What the fuck?!" He could hear Maeve's voice shout out as he tried to regain his bearings.
"Team, focus on bringing down Omni-Man!" He heard the familiar voice of Markus Grimshaw echo out, and he knew almost immediately who else was here.
It was the second Guardians, the ones who replaced Immortal and the others after he killed them.
If he had to guess, he just took a hit from Monster Girl.
Meanwhile, his own Guardians weren't just going to stand by.
"Stop them!" Dobrinya shouted as he blocked an attack from Robot, having witnessed the appearance of the other Guardians. "They wish to neutralize Omni-Man!"
At his words, the new Guardians of the Globe immediately jumped into action. "Not happening!" Maeve shouted.
"Please, for your own safety, stand back." Dupli-Kate ordered, as they all prepped for a fight, while Monster Girl took off towards where Omni-Man had landed.
"Lady, You're attacking our friend. You started this fight." Supersonic responded. Kate gasped when Supersonic tackled her, not expecting the speed.
Luckily she was able to create a duplicate.
"Kate!" Rex yelled, glaring at the speedster. "You fucking asshole, I'm gonna-"
"Standing down is what you're gonna do!" Starlight's voice caught his attention as he turned towards her, only to get a beam of plasma straight to the face.
Before she could do much more, she felt an immense pressure on her neck, and a voice in her ear.
"Cool it, sister. We're taking that monster down." Shrinking-Rae said into her ear as she tried to choke the woman unconscious.
She yelped when she was suddenly pulled off Starlight in her shrunken form, and found herself staring into the masked face of Black Noir for a second before he chucked her away.
"You don't know who you're defending." Samson said as lightning sparked across his hands.
"Actually, yeah, we do." Maeve replied, cracking her neck. "We're defending our leader.
And with those words, she charged the superhero.
Meanwhile, back with Nolan, he was in combat with Monster Girl. Without the element of surprise, Monster Girl's attacks were relatively easy to dodge. She was nowhere near as fast or as experienced as Nolan was in combat.
"Stand down, Monster Girl!"
"Not happening!"
Nolan ducked under a wild right hook, and his hand shot out towards Monster Girl's chest, sending the large ogre like hero flying back.
"You know you can't beat me." Nolan warned, looking sternly at the woman.
"Maybe not," Monster Girl admitted. "But I'll be damned if I'm just gonna sit by while you terrorize another world!"
With a roar, Monster Girl charged Omni-Man once more.
Omni-Man narrowed his eyes, and he caught her fist with ease, using her own momentum to throw he back in the direction she'd come from, flying after her, bringing their own dual back to the rest of the Guardians.
It was an all out brawl in the streets of Hell's Kitchen.
The Guardians of the Globe vs The Guardians of the Globe.
Everyone was involved in the fight.
Maeve was taking on Black Samson.
Starlight and Rex Splode were trading light attacks of different types.
Robot was trying to avoid being crushed by Dobrinya.
Shrinking Rae was currently avoiding Black Noir's deadly precise attacks and Kimiko's wild moves..
Dupli-Kate was holding off both Supersonic and Ice Princess.
And Omni-Man was pretty easily defending against Monster Girl's attacks.
That left only one person.
"ENOUGH!"
Mark.
Apparently lungs of steel were a trait passed down through the Grayson family, as everyone, even Nolan, froze at the sound of Mark's voice.
His gaze was passing through the group of people, he didn't look happy.
"Guardians, stand down!" He ordered.
"Kid, I know Omni-Man's your dad, but-"
"Samson, even though I understand where you're coming from, not only do I know more than you do at the moment, but we are all severely outmatched." Mark reasoned, looking at the veteran hero sternly. "Dad's only toying with Monster Girl. I speak from experience when I say that he alone could end this fight. And clearly, his team here knows more than we did."
"We simply wanted to prevent another catastrophe like the one that befell our Earth." Robot explained as he looked towards the others.
"Trust me, tin can. We know what he's done." Ice Princess said, a frown on her face. "He made it a point to spill his guts. Trust is important to him on this team."
"That's rich!" Monster Girl snarled, glaring at the Viltrumite. "20 years, and he throws it all away for a planet filled with monsters?"
"He saved this planet from a worse monster, you ugly freak." Maeve growled, glaring at the ogre.
"I doubt that." Black Samson retorted with narrowed eyes. "Thousands dead, including his own friends, his own son beaten to a pulp, and his own wife is nothing more than a pet?"
"All in a desperate bid of trying to ascertain his loyalties." Dobrinya spoke up. "Compare that to a rapist who believes we are all his toys, with enough power than none of us could stop him."
"Wonder who has the higher body count?" Rex commented, glaring at Nolan.
"I wonder who wanted his victims to suffer?" Starlight retorted.
"Oi! Cunts!"
Suddenly, a gruff, british voice echoed out, catching the attention of all present.
Exiting their black van, was the Boys, Billy Butcher leading them..
And he didn't look happy. "What the blood hell is going on?!"
"Who are you?" Dupli-Kate asked with a raised eyebrow as she recalled her dopplegangers.
"Billy Butcher. I'm in charge of keeping track of supes who might be doing some nasty stuff, and you, my cloney little friend, definitely snapped onto our radar." Billy said, his eyes narrowed.
"We were sent to help this world." Black Samson spoke up.
"Really?" MM questioned with a raised eyebrow. "Cause attacking the Guardians of the Globe definitely isn't helping your case."
The Guardians from another world, plus Mark, had wide eyes at MM's words.
"Attacking?!" Rex exclaimed, his face twisted in rage. "We're the Guardians of the Globe, you moron!"
"Not here, you aren't." Frenchie retorted firmly. "Here, you are so far nothing more than a bunch of supes, who decided that attacking the world's only international superhero team was a good idea."
"They're being led by a monster!" Shrinking-Rae said, eyes wide in disbeleif.
"What, you mean Omni-Man?" Hughie asked with a raised eyebrow. "Everyone here is very well filled on it what he's done, and we don't care."
"How the hell can you not care?!" Monster Girl exclaimed.
"Listen here, ugly!" Billy growled, surprising most of them as he marched directly up to the seven foot form of Monster Girl without an iota of fear. "That had done a lot of shit, no one's denying that!" He said, jerking his finger in Nolan's direction. "But he's made it clear, we didn't have to figure it out. And he's done more good for our world than any of you right now. So unless you want to make yourselves enemies to the entire fucking planet, stand the fuck down, cunt!"
His tirade had many of the other Guardians surprised, while everyone else looked at Butcher with grins.
"Only Billy Butcher will talk to a group of people who can turn him into paste like their just a couple of second rate thugs." Maeve remarked with a grin.
"Hey, this is him being nice." MM remarked with a chuckle.
The new Guardians looked at Butcher for a moment, before Black Samson sighed.
"Stand down, Guardians."
With sighs and looks of disappointment, all of the Guardians visibly relaxed, backing away from their opponents, Robot and Dobrinya moving to join their respective teams.
Butcher's face went from angry to completely shellshocked when the beast in front of him suddenly changed in a swirl of color, with a young girl no older than twelve standing in front of him. "You're a fucking kid?"
The girl deadpanned. "I'm cursed, dickhead. I'm 24."
At those words, all of them were laughing their asses off at Butcher's surprised face.
"Huh. Learn something new every day."
After a tense ride and much silence, when they had returned to the Guardians base, the other Guardians and Mark had been filled in on the events of this world in recent times.
Suffice to say, the news of Homelander had many of them disgusted.
"He really thought everyone was just toys?" Black Samson asked Butcher as everyone sat in front of the large computer screen, showing a picture of the late criminal.
"You kidding? A lot of supes were like that before this bloke came along." Butcher remarked, jerking his thumb towards Nolan.
"We know you hate the guy, and for good fucking reason." MM spoke, looking at the other Guardians. "But the guy really does regret what he did. And he's doing his damndest to keep this world safe."
None of the other Guardians knew what to say to that.
Somewhere else in the base, Nolan and Mark were watching Ryan and Silver Kincaid, the woman teaching the boy how to control his flight a little better since Nolan had been called off with the other Guardians.
The Supe they had gone after had been picked up by The Boys before they'd left Hell's Kitchen, the mission was a success, despite the obstacles.
"So, have you made a life for yourself here?" Mark asked, glancing at his dad, his mask down.
Nolan nodded. "I have, actually. I do make a paycheck from leading the Guardians, that's a nice bonus, but outside of being a superhero, I work at a little movie theater called Kirkman's Theater." He grinned. "Doesn't pay as good as being an author, but I enjoy helping people." He looked at Mark. "How about you?"
Mark smiled. "Well, Cecil is kind of helping keep us up, especially since Mom is… yeah." Mark trailed off, noticing the look of guilt on his dad's face. "Things are also going good with Amber!" Mark spoke, hoping to bring Nolan's focus away from his mom.
It worked.
"Oh?" Nolan asked, raising an eyebrow. "And how's that going?"
Mark smiled fondly. "It was her, Will, and Eve that helped me through the most of it at the beginning." Mark said, looking at his father. "They were the greatest friends I could ask for, and Amber has been there for me ever since."
"Um… how's Will?" Nolan asked, catching Mark off guard.
"Huh?"
"I found Will after Donald tried to blow me up." Nolan explained. "I uh… I scared the hell out of him. Probably didn't help that he noticed blood on my suit."
"Well, he didn't say much about it, honestly." Mark admitted. "While I was recovering, Will kept stopping by. He actually kept the house organized while we were out."
At the word 'recovery', Nolan visibly deflated as guilt became aparent on his face once more. Mark cringed as he realized what he'd said.
"How long?" Nolan asked, refusing to meet Mark's gaze. "How long were you recovering."
Mark was silent for a moment. "Two Weeks." He admitted.
Nolan shook his head, gritting his teeth. "I'm sorry, Mark. I'm so, so sorry."
"Dad, look at me." Mark said, resting his hand on his father's shoulder. When Nolan finally met his gaze, he smiled. "I'll admit, I was hurt, angry after those days. I'd never wanted to see you again, and I wanted to kill you if I had."
Nolan visibly flinched at the harshness of his blunt words.
"But," Mark continued. "Then Clockwork showed me how you were doing. At first, I was worried, but then he showed me you, and he explained things to me." Mark's face visibly brightened as he recounted the memory. "And I was happy. I couldn't be angry with you anymore. I still wanted answers, sure, and I was definitely hurt, but… not angry."
Nolan turned to face Mark completely. "You weren't?"
"No." Mark smiled. "I was happy. Because I knew that despite it all, everything you did, everything you said… you still loved us. Not as pets, or tools. You truly loved Mom and me."
Nolan smiled. He didn't say anything, he had no words. He just smiled.
"Thanks, Mark."
Mark smiled. "No problem, Dad." He turned back towards the training happening in front of him. "So, little guy out there? He's got powers too?"
"Only natural born superhuman in this world, to my knowledge." Nolan nodded. "Kiddo was fenced off from the rest of the world, for most of his life."
"Why?" Mark asked in disbelief. "What the hell could possibly justify that?"
"Nothing justifies it." Nolan responded, raising an eyebrow. "But the reasoning behind it is somewhat understandable. His dad was a psycho."
"Was his dad that Homelander guy you were telling us about?" Mark asked. Nolan nodded.
"Yeah. The day I killed his dad, most of Vought's files were released." Nolan explained. "We found out that Butcher's wife, Becca, had been raising her son in isolation for the past eight years."
The implication of what Nolan was saying hit Mark hard. "Jesus Christ."
"Yeah."
The two continued to watch the two train in silence for a few minutes.
Until Nolan got a call.
"Who's that?" Mark asked curiously as Nolan pulled out his phone.
"It's-"
Nolan suddenly went silent, and his entire body froze as he read the caller ID on his phone.
SAM is calling…
Reggie sighed as he walked down the street. It was broad daylight, but he still felt more secure in his hoodie.
Probably just some paranoia.
It had been weeks since he had gone off the grid, per say. He still kept in contact with Nathan, whom he'd meet with and visit every once in a while, but he was mostly by himself in California.
Charlotte was with him, obviously. She'd stuck by his side through it all, and he'd be lying if he'd said that he'd have it any differently.
They'd both kicked the V habit. It was hard, but they basically gave themselves no choice.
Charlotte had made the call to the Boys, who had a public line in case a normal person was experiencing any supe related incident. Reggie had left the bag filled with V in an abandoned building for them to pick up.
They were essentially left without any V.
And considering they'd found out V had been hurting Reggie's heart, both were very glad they quit when they did.
They had taken a decent amount of money with them, and Reggie had transferred his money to a separate bank account off the grid. With a bribe, an old friend deleted the files.
He hadn't heard much from the other Seven members, and he was fine with that. Starlight, he never really talked to. Maeve was with Starlight on the new Guardians of the Globe team. Noir… well, obvious reasons.
Homelander and Translucent were dead, and he couldn't say he was gonna shed any tears, especially not over Homelander.
And the Deep? The last he'd heard, that creepy fish fucker had been arrested and thrown in prison for trying to rape a woman… with a dolphin…
Yeah, the less said about him, the better.
Outside of his occasional visits to Nathan, it was just him and Charlotte.
And not a lot of people recognized him outside of his suit, luckily. Let his hair grow out a bit, go without shaving for a while, and no one recognized him.
He had reflected a lot on how his life had changed recently.
And though he wasn't living the high life anymore, he was actually relatively happy now.
When he was with Vought, it was constant pressure, the constant push to be the best, for a bunch of people who never cared for him.
But now… it was just him. His own peace and happiness, no one hovering over his back constantly, telling him to show off so that he would be the best.
He was throw from his thoughts as he passed by an alley, freezing when he heard a commotion from within.
"Please, please, no, please!"
"Shut the hell up lady, and this might not end badly for you."
"Please, don't, I'm begging you."
"Hah, look at that boys, she's begging us! Let's go ahead and give it to her, then!"
"No, please!"
Down the alleyway were three men, and a woman. The woman had her face pressed against the wall, two of the men holding her against it while another one fought with her clothes.
In another time, A-Train wouldn't have cared.
As much as he thought it was a bad idea to out himself to some strangers, Reggie Franklin wasn't A-Train.
Reggie Franklin was Reggie Franklin.
And he wouldn't ignore this.
"I'm pretty sure the lady said stop." Reggie spoke as he began walking down the alleyway, his hands still in his pockets. His voice caught the attention of all of them.
"Hey, how about you keep on walking, pal." The third guy said as he stood up, leaving the woman's pants down partially, though luckily for her, she wasn't completely indecent yet.
"Yeah man, this is none of your business."
"I don't think the lady is any of your business either, shitbirds." Reggie replied without a beat, raising an eyebrow. "She said stop. It'd be in your best interest to go ahead and let the woman leave."
The third man raised an eyebrow, before turning to his buddies. "Keep a hold on her, I'll deal with this asshole."
Reggie chuckled as the man began walking towards him. "Buddy…"
Suddenly, the man jumped back in shock as Reggie closed the distance in a second, now standing right in front of him as he looked up at him with a smirk.
"If you plan on starting a fight, you'll have to catch me, before I catch you." Reggie finished, as all of the alleyways occupants looked at him with startled realization.
"You… you're A-Train!" The man in front of him shouted, all bravado gone as he backed away in fear.
"Not anymore, I'm just a guy trying to help someone. And if that means I gotta crack a few skulls, well…" Reggie took his hands from his pockets and cracked his knuckles. "So be it."
The three men looked at him for a few moments, before they all turned tail and ran off in the opposite direction, leaving Reggie with the woman.
Reggie turned to look at the woman, concern lacing his face as she slowly lowered herself to the ground..
"Are you alright, Ma'am?" Reggie asked as she pulled her pants back up, offering his hand to help her off the ground.
She looked at him nervously. "Are you… are you really A-Train?"
Reggie shook his head. "I was. But I'm not anymore."
The woman looked at Reggie's face for a moment, before she hesitantly took his hand.
Reggie smiled as he easily pulled the woman to her feet, the woman gasping slightly at the sudden force. "Sorry. Speed's my forte, but I'm still a lot stronger than normal people."
"Thank you, sir." She said, smiling slightly, still shaken from the traumatic event that nearly occurred.
Reggie smiled. "Glad to help, ma'am."
"Do you protect this place in secret now?" The woman asked, hoping to take her mind off of the terrifying experience.
Reggie laughed. "I guess you could say that. If I come across somebody who needs help, I'll help them." He said, putting his hands back in his pockets. "May I suggest staying out of alleyways in the future? This is a bad area after all."
The woman nodded, smiling. "Thank you, A-Train."
Reggie chuckled, but decided against correcting her this time. "No problem, ma'am."
With nothing else to say, he decided to take off, leaving the woman with the knowledge that she'd just encountered the missing A-Train.
As he ran, he couldn't help but think.
Helping people, truly helping people, was something that felt better than he'd expected it too.
And while He may not actively patrol, so as to not draw attention, he'd be damned if he didn't enjoy the feeling.
Despite not living the high life anymore, Reggie truly enjoyed his new life.
A/N: So, we catch up with A-Train, Guardians have a brief brawl, and the other Guardians got a first hand meeting with Butcher.
And Nolan has realized he had one more thing to tell Mark.
Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting.
Also, as I've stated last chapter, now that this one is up, the poll is now closed.
And the winning vote is for the name to stay the same.
So in the next two chapters, we will be introduced to Icon!
Anyway, that's the end of the chapter.
I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter.
P.S: To Adam Luck, yes, I do agree that Amber did Mark horribly, and I do think she was lucky he took her back, but I'm not gonna write Mark as dumping her, since that really doesn't sound like something he'd do quite yet.