"Communication is key" Unknown
GDA HEADQUARTERS - COMMAND ROOM
"We have a lock on invincible, Sir he turned a tracker on, Invincible is 5 minutes away from Omni-Man," an analyst reported.
Cecil swore. "Damn it, Can we teleport him out?"
"Negative, sir. The teleporter bracelet needs to be placed directly on the subject. We'd need physical contact."
"Get the teleporter ready and someone go get me that prototype" Said Cecil as Debbie watched as he was teleported away.
ROCKY MOUNTAINS - REMOTE LOCATION
Nolan flew through the mountain range, his eyes scanning the landscape below. Mark was out there somewhere. He could feel it. They needed to talk. He needed to explain everything before—
A blast of purple energy struck him from behind.
The impact sent him tumbling through the air, crashing through a rock formation. He recovered quickly, spinning to face his attacker.
Cecil Stedman stood on a rocky outcrop, holding new GDA Flaxan plasma rifle prototype—one of the weapons the GDA had reverse-engineered from the technology Mark had brought back.
"Cecil," Nolan growled, flying toward him at incredible speed.
Blue static crackled. Cecil teleported just as Nolan's hand was about to close around his throat, reappearing fifty feet away.
"Keep out of this," Nolan said, his voice carrying a warning.
"I can't do that." Cecil aimed the rifle again. "Why did you kill the Guardians, Nolan? Help me understand."
"I never needed their help." Nolan's expression hardened. "They were weak. All of them."
"They were your friends." Cecil lowered the rifle slightly. "You worked with them for years. Saved the world together. There has to be a reason. Something that made you—"
Nolan clapped his hands together in front of him.
BOOM.
The thunderclap sent a shockwave of compressed air toward Cecil. Blue static crackled—Cecil teleported away just in time, reappearing on another outcrop.
"Debbie deserves an answer," Cecil said, his voice carrying across the distance. "You fooled her. Hell you fooled all of us for twenty years. The least you can do is tell us why."
Nolan grabbed a boulder the size of a car and hurled it at Cecil.
Blue static. Cecil vanished. The boulder exploded against the rock face where he'd been standing.
"Do you know Mark knows?" Cecil asked, reappearing behind Nolan.
Nolan spun, surprise flickering across his face for just a moment.
"I see," Cecil said, reading Nolan's expression. "You didn't know. Interesting."
Nolan's eyes narrowed. "You're wasting my time."
He shot forward with blinding speed, hand outstretched to grab Cecil by the throat.
Blue static crackled. Cecil began to teleport—
Nolan's hand caught the edge of Cecil's tie.
For a split second, they were connected. Then the teleportation completed, and Cecil vanished—but the momentum of Nolan's grab and the sudden disconnect sent Cecil flying backward when he rematerialized in the GDA command room.
Cecil crashed into a table, monitors and equipment scattering. Analysts rushed to help him up.
"Sir! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Cecil grunted, pushing himself up. His tie was torn where Nolan had grabbed it. "Deploy the Reanimen. Now."
ROCKY MOUNTAINS - CONTINUED
Nolan hovered where Cecil had been, frustrated. Then he heard it—the sound of something falling from above.
Three large pods crashed into the mountainside around him, metal doors hissing open.
Reanimen emerged. But these weren't like Sinclair's previous creations. These were upgraded—heavily armored, with Flaxan technology integrated into their bodies. Their right arms had been replaced with plasma cannons, and their movements were coordinated, professional.
They opened fire immediately.
Purple energy bolts struck Nolan from three directions. He raised his arms to shield his face, the impacts actually forcing him back slightly.
What the hell are these?, Nolan thought. Has Cecil written all over it.
One Reanimen charged while the others provided covering fire. It tackled Nolan mid-air, its mechanical strength surprising. They tumbled through the air together, the Reanimen trying to lock Nolan in a grapple.
Nolan grabbed its head and twisted.
CRACK.
The neck broke, but the Reanimen kept fighting. No pain receptors. No fear. Just programming and enhanced strength.
Nolan ripped the head completely off and threw the body away.
The second Reanimen was already on him, plasma cannon charging. It fired point-blank into Nolan's chest. The blast actually burned through his suit, leaving a scorch mark on his skin.
Nolan grabbed the cannon arm and tore it off, then drove his fist through the Reanimen's chest cavity. Wires and circuits sparked. The Reanimen went limp.
The third Reanimen tackled him from behind, wrapping both arms around Nolan in a bear hug. Its grip was incredibly strong—enhanced hydraulics in its mechanical limbs.
"Get. OFF!" Nolan roared.
He flew straight up at maximum speed, then dove straight down. They hit the ground with enough force to create a crater. The impact would have killed any normal human instantly.
The Reanimen's grip loosened slightly. Nolan took the opportunity to break free, spinning and grabbing the Reanimen by both arms.
He pulled.
The arms tore free from the body with a sickening sound of metal and flesh separating. Nolan threw them aside and stomped down on the Reanimen's head, crushing it.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
Nolan stood in the crater, breathing a bit, surrounded by the destroyed Reanimen. He looked up at the drone hovering above him—the GDA surveillance device that had been recording everything.
He walked over to one of the Reanimen bodies and ripped open its chest cavity. Then he grabbed the drone and shoved it inside, covering the camera with mechanical organs and wiring.
GDA HEADQUARTERS - COMMAND ROOM
The main screen showed the inside of the Reanimen's body—a horrific view of mechanical and organic components mixed together. Then it went dark as Nolan closed the chest cavity.
Several analysts retched. One ran from the room to vomit.
D.A. Sinclair, who'd been brought up to watch his creations in action, screamed in frustration. "No! NO! Those were perfect! The calculations were flawless! How could he—"
"Get him out of here," Cecil ordered. Two agents grabbed Sinclair and dragged him away, still ranting about his ruined work.
Debbie stood beside Cecil, her face pale. She'd just watched Nolan tear apart three cyborgs like they were made of paper.
"What have you become?" she whispered.
MAULER TWINS' WAREHOUSE
The Mauler Twins stood over the Immortal's body—or rather, his reassembled body. They'd spent hours reattaching his head to his torso, carefully reconnecting tissue and bone.
"Robot was a dick," one twin said, adjusting a piece of equipment.
"Total dick," the other agreed. "But these schematics for the control collar are impressive. I'll give him that."
They placed the collar—a more advanced version of what the GDA used—around the Immortal's neck.
"You really think this will work?" one twin asked. "Even Cecil couldn't bring him back to life."
"Cecil's an idiot," the other twin replied. "The Immortal isn't called that for nothing. His body just needs the right... encouragement."
He pulled out a defibrillator and placed the paddles on the Immortal's chest.
"Clear!"
ZAP.
The Immortal's body convulsed but didn't wake.
"Again!"
ZAP.
Nothing.
"Come on!" The twin hit the Immortal's chest with his fist. Once. Twice. Three times. "Wake up, you ancient bastard!"
The Immortal's eyes snapped open.
He gasped, his body arching as life returned to it. Memories flooded back—dying. Being killed. Omni-Man's fist through his chest. The meeting. The betrayal.
The Immortal roared, raw fury in his voice.
He sat up, grabbing the nearest Mauler Twin by the throat. "WHERE IS HE?"
"The collar!" the other twin shouted. "Activate the collar!"
They pressed the remote.
The collar sparked. Electrical current surged through the Immortal's body. He screamed—not in pain, but in rage—and grabbed the collar with both hands.
He ripped it off his neck, metal tearing like tissue paper.
Both twins immediately raised their hands in surrender.
"We don't know where Omni-Man is!" one said quickly. "We just brought you back! That's all!"
"Please don't kill us," the other added.
The Immortal looked at them, his ancient eyes burning with purpose. Then he flew straight up, smashing through the warehouse roof, leaving the twins unharmed but terrified.
"Did we just make things worse?" one twin asked.
"Probably," the other replied.
GDA HEADQUARTERS - COMMAND ROOM
"Sir!" an analyst called out. "We found Invincible!"
Cecil rushed over to the screen. "Where?"
"Heading directly toward Omni-Man's location. ETA: three minutes."
"No," Debbie whispered. "No, he can't—"
Cecil's jaw clenched. "We might have no choice." He turned to another analyst. "Deploy the Kaiju."
"Sir?" The analyst looked uncertain. "Are you sure? The Kaiju is... unstable. The enhancements we gave it—"
"I'm sure," Cecil said coldly. "Deploy it. Now."
ROCKY MOUNTAINS - NOLAN'S LOCATION
Nolan had just destroyed the last Reanimen when the ground began to shake.
He turned to see something massive rising from behind a mountain—a creature easily two hundred feet tall. It looked like a fusion between a giant bull and an octopus and tentacles around its mouth and dark green skin, with armored plating covering its body and multiple eyes that glowed with unnatural light.
The Kaiju roared, the sound echoing across the mountains.
Nolan's eyes narrowed. "Cecil, I've already defeated this thing once."
A new drone had appeared, hovering nearby. Cecil's voice came through its speakers: "This time it feels no pain. We juiced it up with every drug, enhancement, upgrade available and right now its pissed and it just want to kill the last thing it remembers..... YOU. Good luck."
The Kaiju charged.
Nolan met it head-on, flying straight at its face. He punched it in one of its many eyes. The creature roared but didn't slow down. No pain receptors. Just like the Reanimen.
Nolan dodged a massive claw swipe and grabbed onto the creature's arm, trying to break it.
The Kaiju slammed him into the mountainside with its other arm. Rock exploded from the impact.
Two news helicopters appeared overhead, their cameras broadcasting everything.
"This is Sandra Williams with Channel 7 News," a reporter's voice carried over the loudspeaker. "We're witnessing an incredible battle between Omni-Man and some kind of giant monster, actually this is the same monster he fought a few months ago—"
The Immortal flew at incredible speed, his newly resurrected body still adjusting but his mind crystal clear.
Omni-Man.
The name burned in his thoughts. The betrayal. The murder. His friends—his family—all dead.
Never again.
He followed the news reports, the public broadcasts leading him directly to where he needed to be.
ROCKY MOUNTAINS -
Mark flew over the mountain range and saw it—Nolan fighting the Kaiju, the creature's massive size making even Omni-Man look small by comparison.
He activated his communicator. "Cecil, call it off."
"Mark—"
"Call off the Kaiju. Now."
"That monster might be our only chance at stopping your father," Cecil said. "If he's gone rogue, if he's planning something—"
"I said call it off!" Mark's voice was hard. "I'll handle my father. But I'm not letting you kill him with that thing."
"Mark, we don't know if we can trust—"
Mark cut the call and accelerated, his gravity belt still active at sixty times Earth's gravity making every movement a challenge. But he pushed through it.
Below, the Kaiju had Nolan in its massive jaws, about to bite down.
Mark flew straight at the creature's face and punched it with every ounce of strength he had.
CRACK.
The Kaiju's head snapped to the side. Several teeth broke. It released Nolan and stumbled backward, roaring in confusion.
Nolan fell from its mouth, catching himself in mid-air. He looked up to see Mark hovering there, his suit gleaming in the sun.
"Mark—"
Mark looked at the news helicopters overhead, their cameras recording everything. He looked back at his father.
"We'll talk later," Mark said. "First, we deal with this."
The Kaiju had recovered and was charging at them, its massive feet shaking the ground with each step.
"Together?" Nolan asked.
"Together," Mark confirmed.
GDA HEADQUARTERS - COMMAND ROOM
Debbie grabbed Cecil's arm. "Call it off. Please. They're working together. They're not fighting each other. Call off the Kaiju."
"I can't," Cecil said, pulling his arm free. "Not until I know Mark isn't compromised. If Omni-Man convinced him, if they're working together—"
"That's my son!" Debbie shouted.
"And that's why you can't be objective!" Cecil shot back. "Mark could be helping his father. We can't take that risk."
"This is why I've always hated you," Debbie said, her voice cold. "You see everything as tactics. Strategies. Pieces on a board. But those are people out there. My family."
Cecil's expression softened slightly. "I know. And I'm sorry. But I have to protect Earth. Even if it means making the hard choices."
"Sir!" an analyst called out. "New object approaching Omni-Man's location. Fast. Very fast."
"What is it?"
The analyst pulled up the feed. "It's... it's the Immortal, sir."
Everyone in the command room went silent.
"How is that possible?" someone whispered. "He's dead. We buried him."
"Not dead enough, apparently," Cecil said grimly.
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
Mark and Nolan worked in sync; their movements coordinated despite the tension between them.
The Kaiju swiped at Mark with its massive claws. Mark flew under the attack and drove his fist into the creature's leg. The impact created a shockwave, but the Kaiju barely reacted.
Nolan attacked from above, flying down and punching the creature's back. The armored plating cracked but held.
"It's tough!" Mark shouted. "We need to hit it harder!"
"Together!" Nolan flew toward the creature's head. "Aim for the same spot!"
They both charged, building speed and momentum. Their fists struck the creature's skull simultaneously from opposite sides.
CRACK.
The skull fractured. The Kaiju roared and stumbled, but didn't go down.
It lashed out with its tail, catching Mark and sending him flying. He crashed through a mountainside, rock and debris raining down.
Nolan caught the tail on its return swing and pulled with all his strength. The Kaiju lost its balance, falling onto its side with an earth-shaking impact.
Mark pulled himself from the rubble, shaking his head to clear it. This isn't working. We need to end this fast.
Then he saw it—a figure flying toward them at incredible speed. A figure he recognized.
The Immortal.
"Dad, look out!"
But Nolan had already seen him. The Immortal slammed into Nolan like a missile, both of them tumbling through the air.
"YOU KILLED THEM!" the Immortal roared, his fists pounding into Nolan's face. "YOU KILLED MY FRIENDS! MY FAMILY!"
Nolan tried to defend himself, but the Immortal's rage made him unpredictable. He fought with no strategy, just raw fury and the strength of someone who'd lived for thousands of years.
They crashed into the mountainside, then through it, emerging on the other side still fighting.
Mark looked between the Immortal fighting his father and the Kaiju that was getting back to its feet.
Time to end this.
He reached down and deactivated his gravity belt.
The difference was immediate and incredible. Suddenly he felt light as a feather. His muscles, which had been straining against sixty times Earth's gravity for weeks, were now operating at normal gravity.
He felt like a god.
Mark shot into the air, accelerating faster than he ever had before. He spun his body, building momentum, and extended his hand in front of him like a spear.
The Kaiju looked up just in time to see Mark coming.
He flew straight through its skull.
The impact was devastating. Mark's hand punched through armored plating, bone, and brain matter like it was paper. He emerged from the other side, covered in gore, as the Kaiju's massive body collapsed.
The creature was dead before it hit the ground.
NOLAN and THE IMMORTAL
They fought like titans, every blow capable of leveling buildings. The Immortal grabbed Nolan and flew straight up, then dove down, slamming him into the ground hard enough to create a crater.
Nolan kicked the Immortal off him and flew after him, catching him mid-air. "You should have stayed dead!"
"Then you should have finished the job!" the Immortal shot back.
They grappled, spinning through the air, trading blows that would have killed anyone else.
The Immortal headbutted Nolan, breaking his nose. Blood flew.
Nolan responded by driving his knee into the Immortal's ribs, cracking them.
They separated, hovering twenty feet apart, the Immortal breathing hard.
"Why?" the Immortal demanded. "Why did you kill them? They trusted you! We all trusted you!"
"You wouldn't understand," Nolan said.
"Make me understand!"
Nolan's eyes hardened. "I don't owe you anything."
He charged.
The Immortal met him halfway.
Their fists collided with a sound like thunder. The shockwave rippled outward, visible in the air, rocks rippling from the ground from the shockwave.
They fought with renewed intensity. The Immortal landed a solid punch to Nolan's jaw, spinning his head. Nolan retaliated with an uppercut that lifted the Immortal off his feet.
The Immortal recovered and tackled Nolan, driving both of them into the ground. They tumbled across the terrain, tearing up earth and rock.
Nolan managed to get on top, pinning the Immortal down. His fist came down like a hammer.
CRACK. The Immortal's ribs broke.
CRACK. His jaw fractured.
CRACK. His eye socket caved in.
But the Immortal wouldn't stop fighting. He grabbed Nolan's head and tried to twist it.
Nolan grabbed the Immortal's arm and broke it at the elbow. Bone pierced through skin.
The Immortal screamed in rage and pain but kept fighting with his other arm.
They were both covered in blood—their own and each other's. The mountain around them was destroyed, reduced to rubble by their battle.
Nolan caught one of the Immortal's punches and held it. For a moment, they were locked together, both straining.
"Enough," Nolan said quietly.
Then he drove his fist through the Immortal's stomach.
The news helicopters captured it all. The world watched as Nolan's hand emerged from the Immortal's back, covered in blood.
The Immortal gasped, his eyes wide with shock and pain.
But even mortally wounded, even dying again, he refused to give up.
His hands came up, thumbs extended, and jabbed into Nolan's eye sockets.
Nolan roared in agony, his head thrown back. Blood ran down his face from his damaged eyes.
He grabbed the Immortal with both hands and pulled.
The Immortal's body split in half at the waist with a horrific tearing sound.
The two halves fell to the earth separately, landing in the blood-soaked crater.
The Immortal was dead.
Again.
Nolan floated above the battlefield, blood covering him, his eyes red but already healing. He looked down at the Immortal's body—a friend he'd killed again.
Then he looked up at Mark, who was hovering nearby, covered in Kaiju blood.
Father and son stared at each other across the devastated landscape.
The news helicopters circled overhead, broadcasting everything to the world.
The GDA drone captured it all in high definition.
Nolan floated slowly toward Mark, his movements careful, non-threatening.
"We need to talk," Nolan said, his voice heavy with grief, with something Mark couldn't quite identify.
Mark didn't respond. He just stared at his father—at the blood, at the destruction, at the man who'd raised him and who'd killed the Immortal with his bare hands.
The rain began to fall, washing some of the blood away but unable to clean the horror of what had just happened.
GDA HEADQUARTERS - COMMAND ROOM
The screens showed Mark and Nolan facing each other in the rain. The entire command room was silent.
"What do we do?" someone asked quietly.
Cecil didn't answer. He was watching the screen, his mind racing through scenarios, through possibilities.
Debbie stood beside him, tears streaming down her face. "Please," she whispered. "Please don't hurt my son."
On screen, Nolan reached out toward Mark.
GUARDIANS HEADQUARTERS
The team watched the same feed in stunned silence. They'd seen Omni-Man kill the Immortal. Seen him tear a seven-thousand-year-old hero in half like he was nothing.
"What do we do if Mark needs help?" Throwbolt asked, her voice small.
"We go," Black Samson said. "We're Guardians. That's what we do."
"Against Omni-Man?" Powerplex's voice cracked. "You saw what he just did. He killed the Immortal. Again. We wouldn't last ten seconds."
"Then we last nine seconds and give Mark a chance to run," Monster Girl said quietly, holding the belt Rudy had given her.
They all looked at each other, fear and determination mixing in equal measure.
On the screen, Nolan was saying something to Mark. The audio was clear enough to hear, and they could see Mark's expression—controlled and steeled.
"Come on, Mark," Eve whispered. "Whatever you're going to do, do it fast."
ROCKY MOUNTAINS - MARK AND NOLAN
The rain fell harder now, mixing with the blood, washing it down the mountainside in pink rivers.
Nolan floated in front of Mark.
"Mark," Nolan said. "I need you to understand. Everything I've done—everything—has been for a reason. And I need you to hear it. All of it. Before you make your choice."
"My choice?" Mark's voice was hollow.
"Whether to stand with me," Nolan said, "or against me."
The words hung in the air between them.
Thunder rolled across the mountains.