— Darius Johnson (Several Months Later) —
I gnashed my teeth together as I delivered several powerful, underhanded blows to the punching bag in front of me.
Ever since the whole Eve origin story thing, I've felt completely useless. Had my father not been a powerful hero, she likely would have ended up with the same fate as Eve from the comics, and that was the last thing I wanted.
With all that finally finished and Eve's mother recovering in the Pentagon, Eve had decided to take a break from doing hero work, which gave me more time to work on myself.
I've always been big on mixed martial arts, but now I had even more of a fire for it. Right now, even with all my training and skill, I can still be considered weak, and if I were to awaken my Viltrumite powers right now, I'd likely be more skillful than most other Viltrumites but lack the raw field experience.
This means I need to develop my skills beyond anyone else's. That was the only way I could guarantee I'd be helpful in any and every situation.
So now, my personal goal, at least until I unlock my powers, is to place first at the National Youth Mixed Martial Arts Championship that happens yearly. The tournament is made for young fighters, ages 13-17, to compete against the most skillful youths in the United States of America.
I'll be thirteen in a couple of months, and the tournament takes place a year after that since unfortunately, my birthday is just a few days after the tournament.
The Tournament itself requires a great deal of effort even to enter. First, a competitor must work their way up to Nationals. Starting with Sectionals, then States, and from there, Nationals. There is a level beyond known as Internationals, but my mother doesn't want me to go to another country to fight, and there's no winning with her.
So, I would have to be satisfied with being the best in the country, and if I succeeded, then I'd be deemed not only incredibly talented but also skillful.
This would make me leagues above some random Viltrumite who, while stronger, doesn't know the various martial arts like Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, Orthodox, and Southpaw Boxing. No Viltrumite could beat me in a contest of skill, and after hundreds of years, I'd be deemed unstoppable to all!
Hundreds of years were very far away, but if I succeeded in my goal, it would be a destiny that's only a matter of time to claim.
I switched off and started jabbing the punching bag, giving taps before following up with heavy overhands.
"One, two, Ha!" I repeated over and over as I worked my reps.
Suddenly, I felt two taps on my back and turned around to see Mark with a towel over his neck. Sweat dripped down his forehead as he grinned at me.
"What did the punching bag do to you?" He asked with amusement in his tone.
"Right now, it's the reason why all my problems exist, and when I get my powers, my enemies will take its place."
Mark's smile faded away as I continued punching the bag.
"That's not healthy." He said after a while.
"I'm venting; I'm pretty sure it's the healthiest thing I could do."
"Yeah, for now." Mark groaned. "But when you start fighting Villains with strength like Dad and Uncle Lucan have, I don't think it will be anymore."
Here we go again.
I let out an annoyed grunt as I punched the bag one last time. I turned around and used my teeth to take my right glove off, then used my right hand to take off my left glove. I placed both hands on my hips and looked at Mark with a raised eyebrow.
"Mark, we've talked about this. You can do whatever you want when you get your powers, but when I get mine, I have no intention of holding back when I shouldn't."
Mark opened his mouth and closed it. His fists clenched at his sides as his eyes screamed he was trying to find the right words to say.
I placed a hand on his shoulder, realizing I might have gone about it wrongly. "Listen, Mark. Our dads are two completely different heroes. Your dad is the World's Greatest Hero in the sense that he is the most powerful and the most marketable. He often helps the Guardians of the Globe with problems and is usually seen greatly in the public eye." I explained, earning a nod from Mark.
"Now, we have my dad. He's considered one of the strongest heroes, but nobody besides the lower middle class and below seriously finds him super entertaining. He's the kind of hero who will show up at night and deal with a threat how he sees fit, whether that be lethally or not. He's like Dark Wing, but my dad will kill if he wants, not if he needs to. I want to be like my dad, not yours."
Mark frowned at my words, and while it bothered me that he didn't like the kind of hero I wanted to be, he had to understand that I wouldn't change simply because of his dislike.
"Your dad…he doesn't kill that much," Mark whispered after moments of silence.
"You'd be surprised." I snorted, then walked toward the locker room. Mark followed after me, and we walked in silence. My dad had told me a great deal about his time on Earth, and trust me when I say he kills—especially powerful villains who may threaten Viltrumite's rule later on.
If there's one thing I can say for sure, it's that Nolan is more loyal to Viltrum than my dad is, but my dad is more active in his loyalty than Nolan is. My father wants to see his family—my mother, me, and my little brother, who is on the way—happy. And he'll destroy the entirety of Earth if it means my family will prosper.
Viltrumites are weird, but as I spend more time around my dad and Uncle Nolan, I am coming to understand them more and more.
— Mark Grayson (A Few Days Later) —
He sat in his room, doing homework at his desk while Darius was laying on his bed, reading the newest issue of Seance Dog.
"Darius?" Mark asked, glaring at his paper.
"Yeah?"
"Can you help me with this problem?"
Mark heard Darius get off of the bed and walk over to him. He felt his presence lingering over him as Darius looked at the paper.
"Ah, it's that problem. Dude, why don't you just copy mine?" Darius questioned.
"I can?!" Mark asked in shock.
"You always could." Darius blinked. "You've done it before."
"Yeah, but last time, you pulled it away from me before I could." Mark pouted with a frown.
"That's because we were already in class, and the teacher was going to see you copying me." Darius shrugged, walking back over to Mark's bed and grabbing his backpack. He pulled out a folder and handed it to Mark, who gratefully accepted.
At times like this, he was happy to have a strong and intelligent friend. For years Darius had defended him when he was bullied by jerks who just wanted to feel good about themselves, and with his best friend around helping him study, Mark has never failed a test in his life.
He wondered how Darius was always so smart and knew things even when they weren't explained yet, but Mark just chalked it up to Darius being a different breed of man like Eve.
As Mark began copying Darius' homework, he paused and clenched his pencil tightly in his hand. More than once he wished he was like his friend. It's the whole reason he started training like Darius does. But training and smarts wasn't the only thing he was good at.
He was also really good with girls.
Mark would be lying if he said he hadn't started taking notice of girls, and as he took notice of them, he also took notice of how much they would cling around his friend group, or more specifically, Darius.
His friend group consisted of a bunch of boys deemed nerds by the rest of the school, Darius, and Eve. Honestly to most people it was surprising that Eve and Darius even spent time around them, and the influx of girls trying their best to grow closer to Darius, all while he had Eve's eyes on him ticked Mark off.
It's not that he hated Darius for it, but it's the fact that the guy was good at most things without even trying.
"You good Mark?" Darius asked, looking past the comic.
Mark snapped out of his thoughts and turned his chair around so he was looking at his friend. He didn't know if he should tell Darius about everything that was on his mind. He didn't want to start an unnecessary problem between the two, but he knew if he didn't say anything now, it'd likely bother him more and more until he explodes one day.
"Darius…how are you good at everything?"
His dark-skinned friend paused at that and tilted his head. "I work hard."
In training, sure, but in everything else?
Bullshit.
"Darius…" Mark trailed off, not knowing how to speak the words in his mind.
"Alright, I guess that wasn't a good answer." Darius put the comic book down and Mark nodded. "Explain what you mean by "everything" though."
"You're smart, you're strong, you have the entire school staring at you in the hallways, and all of the girls want to be around you, even some girls that are older than us!"
"Ah, so you've reached that point in your life." Darius nodded sagely.
"W-What?!" Mark waved his hands in front of him, but Darius had his assumption locked in his head.
"You've taken notice of girls and aren't revolted by their mere existence. I was wondering when the day would come."
"Please don't do this now." Mark whined and Darius laughed.
"Yeah, my fault, I won't." Darius held his hands up in surrender. "But to answer your question: I'm strong because I work hard. I'm smart because I am…no real explanation for that one. As for the school staring? I think they're just starting to grow up more."
"Starting to grow up?" Mark asked in confusion.
"Yeah. It's not like I'm acting inherently different. Maybe I'm more focused than before on bettering myself, but besides that I haven't changed. If I had to guess, I'd say people have come to see me bettering myself as admirable and want to grow closer to me. There's also the fact that I whooped Randy without even trying."
Mark thought about Darius' words. Now that he thought about it, Darius really hadn't changed much in the time they'd known each other. So was he right? Were the people just attracted to his work ethic?
Mark clenched his fists and lowered his head a bit. "C-Can you teach me how to be like that?"
Darius raised an eyebrow. "Why? Just be yourself dude."
Mark shook his head and looked back down. "T-There's this girl I-"
"Beth?" Darius asked, tilting his head.
How the fuck did he know?!
"You stare at her like a dumbass everytime we pass her by in the hallway. Dude, trust me when I say you don't need to change to pull a girl like her."
"..." Mark stayed quiet as he closed his eyes. Darius didn't get it. He had things easy. Beth was like Eve in many ways, totally out of his league. If he hadn't been friends with Darius, he wondered if Eve would even care to talk to him.
"Stop beating yourself up." Darius said, picking up the comic book and handing it to him. "Get your mind right, I'll copy my answers onto your homework." He gently pushed Mark out of the chair and began working.
Mark watched in shock as Darius just nonchalantly started doing his homework.
Was he really overthinking everything?
Mark threw himself on his bed and began reading the comic, although his head wasn't in it. He wanted to be better than he was, but maybe just finding ways to improve himself without changing himself was the way to go.
"Thanks, Darius." Mark said quietly.
"Mhm."
*RING*
Mark shot up and looked at the phone on his bed, Darius' phone. He looked at the Caller ID and saw it was Eve.
"Who is it?" Darius asked, not looking up from the papers.
"Eve." Mark said and walked over to his friend, handing him his phone.
He picked up the call and put the phone to his ears.
"What's up, Eve?"
Mark watched as Darius' face shifted from a casual look to surprise.
"Alright, we'll be right there!" Darius shot up and began packing his things back into his bag.
"What happened?!" Mark asked with no small amount of concern.
Darius turned to him with a serious face. "Eve's mom is awake."
— Chapter End —
Beta Reader: Basilisk Dragonboy1
Author's Note: Not sure how this chapter is going to look since I'm posting it on my phone, hopefully the spacing is right.
It's been a while since I've posted publicly and I'm surprised by how fast time has flown by. Unfortunately I've been going through some rough patches recently. I won't go too in detail but I've recently aided my family in buying a place to get away from the house I've spent my entire life in.
My family has faced threats, not by anyone who reads my fics but rather by my crazy dad (the main reason my family had to move away) and now I've been dealing with his shit and getting the legal affairs in order because he filed for divorce from my mom. I know my words don't fully paint a picture of everything that has kept me away and I'm sorry about that, but I don't want to share more.
I apologize the wait and I promise I'll be updating and posting publicly on a consistent basis from now on.