Chapter Text
It was a regular dinner, Mark came from his part time job, Dad came back from whatever he was doing, and then Mark started talking ”Guess who’s finally getting his powers?” you were excited for Mark, well more for the fact that if he got powers you shouldget them soon too. Your Dad’s reaction surprised you, he asked if Mark was sure, in a kinda grim tone… Then after your mom kicked him under the table, he reacted more like you’d expect him to and talked about training Mark, you just chalked it up to him being surprised that after 17 years Mark finally got powers, after all from what he told you two Viltrumites get powers around puberty, but puberty came and went and no powers in sight, he probably accepted you and Mark would just be civilians for the rest of your life, still you got excited you’d surely get your powers soon, just like Mark.
The next day, Mark and your father went out to train, while you stayed at home, one day you’ll get to join them, when they came back, Mark had a sour expression on his face, clearly training didn’t go very well, you went after him, but you stopped mid way on the stairs when you heard Nolan got snappy at Debbie, What happened out there? You had no answers and a few questions.
The next day at School, Todd approached Mark shoved him into the locker, Mark let him punch him, it freaked him out and he left, it felt weird to see Mark act like that, but maybe he was just testing the indestructibility of himself, he seemed off since the training, but you didn’t wanna question him, even f it was worrying.
Then while just chilling at home, you heard a loud bang outside, you and Debbie came out to investigate. Apparently Mark was training his landing, putting holes in your mother’s garden, he argued with mom, when she told him to get inside he said “Make me.” how dare he speak to your mother that way, if Debbie didn’t scold him, you would have slapped him for speaking to her like that, they continued talking, making up from the short argument, honestly a part of you wondered if it was better not to get powers, since now it’s Mark and Nolan, maybe it could be You and Mom, though flying seemed like a better deal in the end.
Mark and Nolan, continued training, and you, you continued hoping for your powers to kick in, and they took their time, Mark got a hero name and suit and you still had no powers, you were outside in the garden, trying to jump up and fly, Mark explained the concept of it to you, yet you just jumped, when will you get your powers? That question was constantly on your mind. Your tries were interrupted by your mother’s voice “What are you doing?” the embarrassment hit you quickly “Nothing! Just exercising?” Debbie sighed “You’re trying to fly aren’t you?” The silence stretched for a few seconds. “I get it, you’re excited to get powers just like Mark, nothing to be ashamed of.” she continued, “It’s just… Mark has his powers, he’s got a hero name and suit, he can do all this cool stuff like flying and being strong, and I can't, he’s constantly out with dad training and doing cool stuff, while i’m not." Who wouldn’t want to fly? Debbie sighed “I’m sure you’ll get your powers some day and join the two of them, but until then it can be you and me.” she smiled at you, it made you feel better.
It was a normal day, until the news got to you, you dad was in a bad condition, every kid sees their kid as indestructible, someone who's always strong but your dad was different he actually was indestructible and superpowered, the thought of him being hurt was never something you were worried about, it didn’t seem real, not when your mother told you what the suited up men told her, not when the 3 of you came to the facility, not even when you saw him, bruised with all that machinery around him, no one ever expects to see their dad like that, especially a dad who is superpowered… and yet you saw him like that anyway.
Then you learned that the GDA has no idea who did it even worst all of the guardians were dead, your dad being the only survivor, in that second you were glad that at least your father survived, but you knew the guardians, for christs sake Darkwing was on your 7th birthday party, and how did immortal even die, his entire shtick is that he’s well immortal, it makes no sense, how could anyone kill the guardians and injure your dad, thats all the strongest people on the planet, maybe there was more than one? You had no answers, just worry. You and your mom stayed with your dad while Mark went out to be a hero. When he returned he had blood on him, and was kinda breaking down, mom hugged him.
Mark was taking it worse than you, he was pretty detached at school and all, not that you blame him, the situation is fucked up, but surely your father would recover, and be okay, he had to be, he was Omni-man the strongest person on earth, he had to come back and be fine, like always… then Mark weirdly wants to approach Eve, he apparently recognised her as some hero, he left you with William… Ever since he got powers it felt like he grew more distant from you, he was your twin you were supposed to have that super bond like in all those movies, and you used to be pretty close as children, even after puberty you and him still had that close bond, but soon after he got his powers he started to drift away more, there was a gap in your relationship that you couldn’t fix, and it stung, it really did.
He was meeting heroes doing hero stuff, and you were still powerless. The closest you got to the hero life is being in the facility with your mom looking over your dad, you wanted to be a hero too, you wanted to have powers too, you wanted to help people, and yet no matter how much you yearned you never got them. Mark went out of school to do hero stuff yet again, and some time later you got a call, your father was awake, you didn’t even explained to any teacher, you just rushed to get there, Mark was there before you, but you still threw yourself at Nolan when you saw he was awake, you were worried about him, and now he was awake, that meant he was totally going to be okay! And Debbie said he could come home, this was good news, and then Nolan started asking Mark about hero stuff, you felt left out again, this was no time to be jealous, and yet you still were, you wanted this bond with Nolan too, you want to relate to the two of them.
Once you all were back, everything returned to normal, well not fully normal, more like a normal after a big flood, there still was that gap, of Mark and Nolan training, and you and Debbie being normal… Sometimes you wished that you got powers instead of him, it felt like he became Nolan’s favorite child, and you were jealous of his powers, and the attention, it’s not like Nolan never paid attention to you, he just now gave it more to Mark…
Than the weird GDA guy came to your house, his name was Cecil the big guy of the global defence, some alien guy was coming to earth and he wanted Nolan to go stop him, which both Debbie was against, so were you, he just came back home, only a week ago, and you don’t want him to be in danger again, after what happened to him you learnt that he could be hurt, he wasn’t indestructible and that left a bitter taste in your mouth. Mark said he’d go and he went, here he was going to do cool hero stuff again, and you felt jealous again, like a little kid at a candy store with no money.
More stuff happened, Mark came back home looking devastated, he told you and Debbie that Nolan went into a portal and well the portal was gone, goddamn it can you not have 5 minutes with your dad? Debbie reacted with no worry, much to both of your surprises, she explained herself, but you don’t get how she can be that calm after what happened, he almost got killed. But later in the day he was back like nothing happened, maybe you were overreacting a little…
After that the fureral for the guardians was held, first there was the big public funeral, then a smaller real one, it didn’t feel real, but it was, and it was happening, it could have been your father, put in the dirt, Red Rush's wife Olga was breaking down, that could have been your mother, crying about your father’s passing, in that moment you felt glad, glad that he got to be the one to survive no matter how selfish it was, you were glad that the one to make it out was Omni-man…
Once you were home, your father was weird… he wasn't sad? He wasn’t fully on cheerfully, but he didn’t seem to grieve the guardians at all, when Mark snapped at your mother he stepped in telling him not to bring the hero stuff home, you just chalked it up to how differently people grief, maybe his was was trying to distance the feelings of it from himself… that's at least that’s what you told yourself it was.
Some time later Mark invited a girl friend over for a study date, and you as his sibling had to listen in, on how it was doing, it seemed like he got a good start, but then his phone started calling over and over, and when the girl went to the bathroom, you heard a noise and then Mr.Big guy Cecil telling Mark to go be a hero, and he left the Girl alone in his room, maybe being a hero wasn’t so good, you ended up talking to her, a favour to your brother so she won’t get bored of him and leave, family is all about sacrifice, he finally came back after a whole hour, Amber the girl he invited and then ditched in his own home, was very mad at him, and you believed he fumbled it, but apparently she must have been a really forgiving girl.
Later that night, the demon detective Damian Darkblood showed up in your house, and he tried to question you, you think you heard him downstairs. First he must have questioned your mom, and now he was trying it with you, he asked if Nolan said anything to ease your mind, after all, would he try to calm his child down after such an accident? You told him to get the hell out of your room, was it racist to say hell to a demon? You don’t know.
Another day, you heard a thud down stairs, you went to the stairs, and saw Nolan who was grabbing Cecil by the neck, you stayed on the stairs listening to their conversation, he wanted Nolan to go on a space mission, Nolan didn’t want to go, you didn’t want him to go either, you haven’t had much time to spend with him ever since he came back… Mark joined in the conversation, volunteering for the mission… if he went Nolan wouldn’t train him, you’d get a whole week of having your dad to yourself… “He should go.” you interjected, Debbie agreed with you, and then you learnt Mark has no idea how far Mars is, you weep for his future. In the end he did go, you were going to get some one on one time with your dad!
Reality didn’t live up to expectations, Nolan was more interested if you had gotten powers then actually spending time with you on normal father-child things, he never said it outright to you, but it felt like he was disappointed in the fact you haven’t gotten your powers yet… And it hurt, you wanted him to spend time with you like how he constantly goes to train with Mark, it wasn’t fair, it’s not fair Mark gets his attention. Debbie and Nolan argued a little more, they made up and went out on a date, he was spending more time with your mom, you knew you should be jealous of your mom, she’s his wife, and all but it felt like he was spending time with everyone but you.
Mark returned home, and he didn’t even talk about what happened to you, you just heard him go to his room. You thought back on your childhood, when you were sitting under a tree, Mark made a promise, “Once we get our powers, I promise that’ll we will always go together on adventures, every single one of them.” he smiled at you “What if only one of us gets to go somewhere or we get separated?" you asked, “Well, then we’ll share the stories of what happened!” he answered, sure it was a few years back, but you’d hope he still remembered it, he probably didn’t and if he did, he broke it long ago… Maybe you do wish he never got these powers…
Mark was constantly late or absent to everything, his dates with his new girlfriend, his job and even school, you had to cover for him constantly, teachers would ask where's your brother, it started to feel like your life started to revolve around him, dad was always with him, you mom comforting him and telling him the right thing to do, teachers and friends were asking about what's with him, where is he and all that, but what about you, you want someone to pay attention to you and not him, do you have to get powers to be noticed, why does he get to be special, you want to be special too, everything was about Mark every dinner it was Mark talking about hero stuff, your mom and dad giving him their opinions about what he should do, and it’s not like you had anything special to say to them, you just had normal teenage things.
Mark was in the hospital, he went to help a guy out, and got injured during it, it looked bad, you felt horrible for always being jealous of him, and now here he was in a terrible condition, he still was your brother you didn’t want anything bad to actually happen to him, you saw him on the operating table, you mom and dad also watching, they started to argue again, they were arguing more often recently, everyone was stressed, first your dad and the guardians, now Mark… he finally woke up after 6 days, you were glad he was fine. He went to school, and made plans to go with Amber and William, to a collage, you also wanted to go, he hasn’t been spending any time with you either, you talk to him and William and it was decided the 4 of you would go. Things were finally looking up for you.
Yeah it didn’t go well, there was an explosion, some robo guy came out and started attacking people, it killed itself on the clock thing, William found out Mark was Invincible and Amber pretty much broke up with Mark. Later Rick the guy you were staying with disappeared, William went to look for him, shit hit the fan, apparently Mark fought some more robo guys, Cecil showed up and did his thing, everywhere Mark goes there seems to pop out a tragedy, maybe having powers isn’t so great…
The 4 of you drove home, William dropped Amber at her house and Mark followed after her, and you got out after him, “I’ll wait for Mark, go home” you told William “You sure you don’t want me to drive you home?” he asked, “I’m sure just go.” William drove away, as you looked at the house, you didn’t think Amber would forgive Mark, you don’t think he can fix it, and he’ll need to talk to someone once he gets really dumped. He ended up flying out her window in his costume, “Mark!” you tried to get his attention, but he flew off ignoring you, you really should have let William drive you home. Now you had to walk home, when you finally made it to your house, there was a hole in the damn in it and no sight of your parents “What the fuck.” was the first reaction you had, the second was being startled when a GDA agent showed up out of nowhere.
You were taken to the pentagon, where you saw Debbie, “Mom what is going on? Why is there a hole in our house, where's dad??” what you heard made your world twist upside down and around, Nolan killed the guardians, your father was the murderer all along, also those little things you dismissed were clues, and now, you were confronted with the horrible truth, you watched as on the big screen, Cecil used a big space laser on your father trying to stop him, all it did was give him a nosebleed, then throw those robots that attacked the collage at your father, they put up some fight but he easily ripped them apart, and lastly teleported a whole goddamn kajiu at him, you thought that it would maybe stop him. But then Mark showed up to help, he didn’t know what Nolan did yet.
Mark was getting hurt and Cecil wouldn’t do shit about it, you wanted to punch Cecil, Mark didn’t do anything wrong he just thought he needed to help Nolan, it’s not his fault, then the goddamn Immortal showed up, he really did live up to his name in the end, this fight was giving you a headache so much was going on at once, your father was in danger but he also was the danger. He cut immortal in half, it was hard to believe he was a murderer, but that, that really confirmed it. You didn’t know how to react, denial, rage, anger, sadness, or grief over the man you thought your father was, all these conflicting feelings and no time to process them.
You watched as Mark and Nolan started talking, he called your mother a pet, a pet, your mother, the woman who he raised you with, a pet, what were you to him? You didn’t get to focus on that as he started to fight Mark, your father was beating your brother, Cecil tried to send some pilots after them, but it fuck all, he continued beating Mark, Mark could barely do anything as your father attacked him, you watched as Nolan beat the living shit out of your brother, you heard him say ”I still have your sibling, they’ll get their powers soon enough, and if they disagree too, whats 17 more years? I can always make another kid." He was going to kill Mark, and if you didn’t agree with him would he kill you too? Did he ever care for Mark, did he ever care for you? You first felt envious that Mark got his powers, but now it seemed like a curse, a curse that turned your father into a Monster, you don’t want to get powers if it means that your dad will do this to you too.
You coulding watch, you were about to turn away from the screen when Nolan suddenly flew away, after that the GDA got you and Debbie to Mark, he was in a bad shape, he was in the medical facility for a while, it was hard for your mother and you, life was never going to be same, not after your father almost killed your brother, he called your mother a pet, and you were nothing more to him then a replacement for Mark apparently, why did Mark get powers, why did it have to happen, maybe it would have different if he never got them, maybe it wouldn’t, you couldn’t know it but it didn't make it hurt any less. Cecil fixed up your house, Debbie was taking it horribly, Mark left with his friends to talk about it, you were left alone to deal with this too, you still had questions, many things you wanted to get answers to. But at the end of this, the only thing you really get to know, is that your father was a monster in a hero's skin.