Mark stood in front of Mauler One, wearing the suit the twins had made for him. It was designed to withstand far more punishment than the original Invincible suit made by Art. Its quality was superior in every way. It could handle higher temperatures and was far more resistant to being torn apart.
"How's the suit?" Mauler One asked, eager to hear Mark's opinion.
Mark examined himself, checking how the suit covered his body. He liked it. It felt comfortable against his skin. The design was a black suit with red outlines, similar to a certain Kyrptonian. He finally gave his answer with a thumbs up.
"Here's the mask you asked for as well," Mauler One said, handing it over. It was a half mask, red, covering from his nose down to his chin.
Mark took it and put it on. He had expected it to feel stuffy, but it didn't. He was surprised. From the look of it, he had assumed it would be.
"We installed an air filtration system in it as a bonus, since you look like you're going to be a hero," Mauler One said. He didn't seem particularly worried that Mark would play hero.
"Nice," Mark said, appreciating the added feature.
Mauler Two finally emerged from a side room, carrying the new version of the gravity watch. It looked simpler than before, black in color with a red glow. He approached Mark and handed it over. "This is version two of the Personal Gravitic Intensifier."
Mark strapped it on. Mauler One began explaining how it worked and how to use it, just like before. Mark nodded along. It functioned the same way as the previous version.
"Good." Mark was impressed by their work, as usual. He looked at them. "I've already given you enough money for now. Tell me if you need more for the next upgrade."
"We will," Mauler One said, offering a handshake.
Mark shook his hand, then shook Mauler Two's hand as well. He prepared to leave, but didn't head out just yet. He needed to drop the gravity watch off at home first. He didn't want to risk getting caught with it on camera while doing his hero work.
'Now I don't have to keep buying new clothes for my hero work. And maybe now I can train in space,' Mark thought, feeling the new suit against his skin. 'I'll still need to wash it every time, though. Better safe than sorry.'
He thought this because his senses were getting sharper by the day, likely due to the training. He was gaining more experience with them. He could smell things and hear things from much farther away now.
With that in mind, he changed back into his normal clothes. It wasn't time to play hero yet, not like he usually did. There wasn't much time left in the day. He headed straight home to continue his training, gravity pulling him down like always.
. . . .
The next day.
Right after school, Mark was in his superhero suit, floating high above Washington, D.C. He looked down at the populated city, closed his eyes, and focused on his hearing. He began differentiating the tones of voices, searching for anyone who genuinely needed help. Then he heard someone wailing for mercy. He quickly flew toward the location.
When he arrived, he saw the scene below.
"Please stop! I'm sorry!"
"Shut the fuck up!" A man was beating another man on the ground, backed by a group of his friends.
Mark floated down but remained hovering in the air, looking down at them. One of the men noticed a new shadow stretching over them. He turned, saw Mark, and began frantically tapping his friends to look.
When they all turned, including the man on the ground, the victim cried out in relief at the sight of a hero. He had been sure he was going to die. "Please help me!"
"Why are you beating him?" Mark asked, wanting to know why they were ganging up on a lone man.
Fearlessly, one of them answered. "He put my little brother in a coma."
"Is that true?" Mark asked. He listened closely to their breathing, trying to gauge if they were lying, though he wasn't entirely sure of his ability yet.
"Yes," the man said confidently.
Mark thought for a second before answering. "Then you should wrap it up quickly." He looked around. "The police or the heroes nearby might hear you beating someone." His voice came out muffled through the mask. "I can't help you with that. Next time, take him somewhere people can't hear."
The group of men were stunned. A hero was letting them slide and even giving advice on how to do it cleanly. With that, Mark simply left the scene.
"What?" the man on the ground muttered under his breath.
The group of men looked around at each other before continuing to beat the man until he was left broken on the ground.
Mark, already back to listening, sighed and shook his head. "I can't believe that actually happened. And here I thought they were beating up a defenseless man."
He released a breath and refocused. "Let's try again. I only need to search for people who really need help. No, I shouldn't think like that. I need to search for people who need help, and more importantly, organized crime."
With that, he officially began his first day of being a hero.
He tuned into the voices around him, focusing on hearing everything close by. He filtered out all noise except the sound of people. Then he began zeroing in on important conversations that could lead him to organized crime or a genuine cry for help.
Within five minutes, he found a group of men in a parked van discussing an upcoming drug shipment and a protection money collection. Without much effort, he flew straight to the location and stopped it completely from the root.
And Mark repeated this a few more times, until it was time to head back home for dinner.