I didn't give Mark time to recover.
The moment my fist connected with his gut, I was already moving into the next strike. My body flowed like water, like Wildcat had drilled into me over and over again. Never stay still. Never give your opponent time to think, and never let them breathe.
I followed up with a sharp elbow strike aimed at Mark's chin, my TTK reinforcing the blow with enough force to shatter concrete. But Mark's instincts kicked in at the last possible second. He shifted his head back, his body moving with that speed I remembered all too well, and my elbow whistled past his face by inches.
He tried to counter immediately, his fist cocking back for a punch, but I saw the hesitation. That split-second pause where his eyes flickered with something that looked like guilt or uncertainty.
That hesitation cost him.
I sent a forward kick straight into his chest before his punch could land. The impact was like a thunderclap, and Mark's body flew backward through the air, tumbling end over end as the force of the blow sent him careening across the white void of the training room.
But I didn't let up.
My blood was pumping, my anger rising like a tide I couldn't control, and for the second time in my life, it felt natural. I wanted blood. I wanted to see him hurt. I wanted to break him the way he'd broken me five years ago.
And I knew I could test out all my new techniques on Mark. He was a superhero-grade punching bag, and I was going to break him in.
My TTK aura focused around my fists, glowing blood red with black lines wrapping around them like living shadows. The energy vibrated, humming with barely contained power, and I could feel it responding to my rage, feeding off it, growing stronger.
I roared as Mark recovered mid-air, his body twisting to face me, and he threw a punch. Our fists were about to collide in a perfect cross-counter, the kind of simultaneous strike that would send shock waves through the entire room.
But I twisted my body at the last second, moving on pure instinct, and came up with an uppercut instead.
My fist connected with Mark's jaw, and the impact sent him flying upward like a rocket. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and I heard the crack of bone, not broken, people like us were too durable for that to break us, but he definitely felt it.
I flew after him immediately, propelling me through the air with speed that surprised even me. We met mid air and exchanged punches and strikes mid-flight, our bodies moving so fast that we were barely visible, just blurs of motion and flashes of red and black energy.
Each time our attacks collided, small shock waves rippled through the air around us, distorting the white void of the training room. The sound was deafening, boom after boom after boom.
Mark was better at aerial combat than I was. I could tell immediately. He moved through the air like he'd been born to it, his body shifting and twisting with an ease that came from years of experience. He knew how to use three-dimensional space, how to attack from angles I wasn't expecting, how to control his momentum in ways I was still figuring out.
But I was adapting.
I used a mix of Wildcat's boxing styles, the precision strikes I'd learned from from Batman's training years ago, even some of the grappling techniques Donna and Diana had shown me. It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't perfect, but it was effective.
After I landed a powerful hook to Mark's ribs, I felt the impact reverberate through my entire arm. His body armor, the GDA suit, absorbed some of the blow, but I still felt his ribs compress under my fist.
Mark's eyes widened slightly, and I saw the realization dawn on his face. My punches were as way stronger then they'd been five years ago, but I wasn't using the full power of my mass manipulation. I wasn't use to fighting in the air, relying on my TTK strength and instead of synchronizing it with my Viltrumite abilities.
He grabbed my arm before I could pull back, his grip like iron, and sent a series of rapid punches to my face.
Each punch landed with brutal precision, and I felt my head snap back with each impact. Blood filled my mouth, the taste of copper and salt, and my vision blurred for a moment.
But I didn't black out or fall. Instead, I focused my TTK and unleashed red heat vision directly into Mark's face.
The beams of crimson energy hit him square in the eyes, and he winced, his grip on my arm loosening for just a second. It wasn't enough to burn him, Viltrumites were too durable for that, but it hurt like hell. I could see the pain flash across his face.
And that was all the opening I needed.
I headbutted him on the nose, putting every ounce of strength I had into the blow. The impact was like a gunshot, and Mark's head snapped back, blood spraying from his nostrils. He released my arm and flew backward, his hand coming up to cover his face instinctively.
I sent another punch toward his face, but then I felt it—the gravity increased again. The weight pressing down on my body doubled, maybe tripled, and suddenly it was harder to fly, harder to move, harder to breathe.
I saw Mark's hand still covering his face.
I roared, my voice echoing through the training room. "I don't know who the fuck you are, but you're not the Mark Grayson I know! You're not the Invincible I know! Whoever the fuck you are, get lost and bring that guy back! At least he was more ruthless and didn't hesitate every other punch he threw!"
Mark looked pissed. His eyes were bloodshot, his face covered in blood from his broken nose, and I could see the anger building in him. But he fought against it, his jaw clenching as he tried to control himself.
"I'm not that guy anymore," he said, his voice strained. "I've changed. I'm trying to be better, and I know I can't take back or change what I did, but I want to be better. I want to...."
I cut him off.
"Fuck off with that bullshit," I snarled. "You're a murderer, so own it. You killed children who were looking for a home. You talked about life like humans were for your entertainment. I don't care about your journey to be better. Save that for yourself and whatever bitch you're fucking in your most loneliest of nights when you're vulnerable, after the sex, bloodshed, and violence can't help you escape how ugly and unloved you are."
Mark's face twisted with rage. "I'm not that guy anymore! I was...."
"You were what?" I interrupted again, my voice dripping with venom. "Young? Dumb? Impressionable? Mark, you killed people. You talked about raping my mother and the women of her culture. I don't care what Cecil, the League, or you say. You crossed a line, and you will pay in blood."
I smirked, and I knew it was a cruel expression. "Don't worry. I'll protect Debbie. She was too good of a mother for a monster like you."
Mark's eyes widened, and something in him snapped.
He rushed toward me with a roar, his body moving faster than I'd seen him move all fight. The force of his charge sent us both flying backward despite the increased gravity, and we slammed into the far wall of the training room with enough force to crack the reinforced material.
Mark sent punch after punch to my face, his fists moving in a blur of motion. Each blow landed with devastating force, and I felt my head snap back again and again. Blood poured from my nose, my mouth, a cut above my eye.
But with each punch he threw, I only felt stronger.
The pain was there, sharp and immediate, but underneath it was something else. A growing power, a rising tide of energy that filled my body with every impact. My TTK was responding to the damage, adapting, reinforcing my body in real-time.
I smiled through the blood, my teeth stained red. "Yes! That's the look I want! That's the person I want to fight! I want the Viltrumite Invincible, not Guardian!"
"Shut the fuck up!" Mark roared.
Mark's eyes were wild now, all traces of hesitation gone. He wasn't holding back anymore, and his punches hit harder, so hard that my TTK and natural durability didn't completely stop them. Each blow sent shock waves through my body, rattling my bones, bruising my organs.
But I was grinning like a madman.
I broke the hold Mark had on me, twisting my body and using my TTK to create a burst of force that pushed him back. We separated for a moment, both of us breathing hard, both of us bleeding. I saw the blood dripping from my nose, felt it running down my chin, and an idea came to mind.
I focused my TTK on the blood in my body, on the crimson liquid that was leaking from my wounds, and I pulled. The sensation was strange, like reaching inside myself and grabbing hold of something fundamental. I compressed the blood's molecular density with my TTK, forcing the molecules closer and closer together until they were as hard as diamond.
And then I shaped it.
The blood materialized outside my body, extending from my skin in the form of a blade faster then sound, so fast its created a sonic cut. It was crimson and black, the edges sharp enough to cut through steel, and it moved with the speed of sound.
Invisible Black.
I slashed at Mark, and the blood blade left a deep cut across his chest, tearing through his GDA suit like it was paper. The fabric split open, revealing the wound beneath, not deep enough to be fatal, but deep enough to hurt.
Mark's eyes widened in shock, but he didn't stop. The adrenaline was pumping through his veins now, increasing his power, helping him ignore the pain. He was blinded by his rage, by the need to prove himself, to show that he wasn't the monster I was calling him.
He kicked me hard in the ribs, and I felt something crack. I kicked him back, and we exchanged blows in rapid succession, each of us attacking the other with everything we had.
The shock waves from our collisions grew stronger and stronger, each impact sending ripples through the training room that made the walls shudder. The gravity was still increasing, making it nearly impossible to keep fighting in the air, and we both touched down on the ground, our feet slamming into the white floor with enough force to create craters.
I felt my mind slipping, lost to the bloodlust, but I also felt my mind expanding with the possibilities of how to use my TTK. My body moved on its own the longer the fight went on, instinct and training taking over, pushing me beyond what I thought I was capable of.
I didn't know how much time had passed. Seconds? Minutes? It all blurred together in a haze of violence and pain.
I threw another heat vision attack at Mark, the red beams lancing through the air, but he tanked it this time. He pushed through the pain and sent a devastating combo to my face—left hook, right cross, uppercut, knee to the gut.
I staggered back, my vision swimming, and I knew I'd had enough of this back-and-forth.
I brought my hands up, focusing my TTK into them, and they began to vibrate. The energy built and built, humming with barely contained power, and I moved faster than Mark could react.
I slammed my hands against both of his ears simultaneously.
The nova blast exploded outward, a concussive wave of pure kinetic force centered on Mark's head. The shock wave was so powerful that it destroyed what was left of his clothes, shredding the fabric and leaving him in tatters.
Mark screamed, his hands flying up to cover his ears as blood poured from them. The blast had ruptured his eardrums, and I could see the agony written across his face.
But his eyes became more bloodshot, the pain only fueling his rage, and he tackled me to the ground. The increased gravity made it easier for him to pin me, his weight pressing down on me like a mountain.
He threw punch after punch, his fists raining down on my face with brutal efficiency. Then his hands wrapped around my throat, and he started to choke me.
I felt him starting to overpower me, his Viltrumite strength combined with his adrenaline rage giving him an edge I couldn't match with brute force alone.
But this was my chance.
I focused my TTK on my blood again, but this time I did something different. I thought about Killua from Hunter x Hunter, about his Godspeed technique, and I wondered if I could replicate it with my TTK.
I used my TTK to bypass my own nervous system's natural latency, telekinetically forcing my bio-electrical signals to travel instantly from my brain to my muscles. Electricity formed around my body, crackling and sparking, blood red and black arcs of energy that danced across my skin.
And then I sent it through Mark's body.
The electricity hit him hard, and his entire body seized up. But I wasn't done. I reached up with one hand, touching Mark's neck, and I used my TTK to hijack his body through the physical contact.
I telekinetically disrupted the specific electrical signals traveling up his vagus nerve and brainstem. By instantly muting these currents, I caused Mark's brain to short-circuit, inducing instant unconsciousness without needing to beat him bloody.
Mark's eyes rolled back in his head, and his smoking body went limp on top of me.
For a moment, I just lay there, breathing hard, my body screaming in pain. Every inch of me hurt. My face was a mess of blood and bruises, my ribs were cracked, and I was pretty sure I had a concussion.
But I'd won. I'd beaten Mark Grayson.
The gravity suddenly shut off, and I felt the weight lift from my body. Nolan came over, his expression unreadable, and checked Mark's pulse.
"He's alive," Nolan said, his voice calm.
Then he looked at me, and I saw his eyes widen slightly. My eyes were still blood red, my TTK aura still flickering around my body in crimson and black wisps.
"That's it for today," Nolan said. "Go to the med bay and rest up. Or do you want to continue?"
I noticed the concern in his voice, the way he was watching me carefully, and I realized I needed to calm down. I centered myself, breathing in and out in a controlled rhythm, and I felt my body relax. The red faded from my eyes, the aura dissipating, and I was just Caius again but the exhaustion was hitting me hard.
"I'm gonna take a nap," I said, my voice hoarse.
And then I dropped back to the floor, unconscious before I even hit the ground.
Watchtower — Observation Room
Nolan looked down at the two unconscious young men on the training room floor and sighed. He turned to Oliver, who was standing nearby with wide eyes, clearly shaken by what he'd just witnessed.
"Oliver, can you take Caius to the med bay?" Nolan said. "I'll take your brother."
Oliver nodded quickly. "Yes, Father."
The boy moved forward, his strength enough to lift Caius's unconscious form easily. He was gentle, careful not to jostle him too much, and he flew toward the exit with Caius cradled in his arms.
Nolan bent down and picked up Mark, slinging his son over his shoulder. Mark's body was covered in blood and bruises, his clothes torn to shreds, and Nolan felt a pang of something he couldn't quite name.
He pushed the feeling aside and flew toward the med bay.
In the observation room above the training area, Mr. Terrific whistled low as he reviewed the footage of the fight. The data scrolling across the multiple monitors in front of him was staggering.
"Crazy work," he muttered to himself, his eyes scanning the readouts. "Guardian's output of power, speed, and reactions was higher than the records Cecil gave us, especially under the increased gravity."
He pulled up another set of data, this one showing Caius's performance throughout the fight, and his eyes widened.
"Superior not only showed powerful outputs, but they kept growing higher and higher as they fought," Mr. Terrific said, his voice filled with a mix of awe and concern. "Mark was originally higher in raw power, but Superior was getting stronger and stronger the longer the fight went on."
He zoomed in on a particular section of the footage, showing Caius using his blood as a weapon, the crimson blade slicing through Mark's suit.
"Not to mention using his TTK to mimic different powers is incredible," Mr. Terrific continued. "Blood manipulation, bio-electric disruption, kinetic amplification... this kid is a walking Swiss Army knife of abilities."
He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples. "What do you think, Batman?"
Batman stepped out of the shadows at the back of the observation room, his cape billowing slightly as he moved into the light of the monitors. His eyes were narrowed, focused on the screen showing Nolan and Oliver carrying the two unconscious fighters out of the training room.
"I think we still won't be fully prepared for what the Empire's hybrids can do," Batman said, his voice low and gravelly. "But I will make sure we do everything we can."
Mr. Terrific turned in his chair to face him. "You mean Project Rebirth? But I thought it was far from being complete?"
Batman nodded, his expression grim. "It isn't ready. But all we can hope is that it can create a miracle."
He turned to leave, his cape swirling behind him as he walked toward the door.
"Otherwise," Batman said, pausing at the threshold, "we have to go with Project 52. And no one wants that."
The door hissed closed behind him, and Mr. Terrific sighed, turning back to the monitors.
"I hope so too," he muttered. "Otherwise, we're all fucked."
Titans Tower — San Francisco
Atom Eve sat in her room, her legs crossed on her bed, surrounded by papers and notebooks. Doctor Stein's notes were spread out in front of her, and she was smiling as she read through them for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Doctor Stein is a genius," she said to herself, her finger tracing over a particularly complex equation. "His notes are the pieces I've been missing to help me understand my powers more."
The notes detailed the fundamental nature of matter manipulation, the quantum mechanics behind atomic restructuring, and the theoretical limits of what someone with her abilities could achieve. It was dense, technical material, but Eve was absorbing it like a sponge.
She was so engrossed in her reading that she almost didn't notice it at first.
But then she felt it, a presence approaching. Something powerful, and moving fast.
Eve looked up from her notes, her eyes drifting to the giant ceiling-to-floor reinforced window that made up one entire wall of her room. The window overlooked the bay, offering a stunning view of the water and the city lights beyond.
In the far distance, she saw a light approaching. At first, it was just a pinprick, barely visible against the night sky. But it was moving fast, getting closer and closer with each passing second.
Eve stood up from her bed, her pink energy beginning to flicker around her hands instinctively. She walked toward the window, her eyes narrowing as she tried to make out what the light was.
It got closer and closer. And then she saw it clearly, and her eyes widened in shock.
"Oh my god," Eve whispered.