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The world had gone insane.
Eve heard what Rex was telling her—that Omni Man had destroyed the GDA’s main headquarters and was systematically eliminating the rest. That the UN was already calling for peace talks, that Omni Man had reportedly broken into the bunker under the White House and killed the Vice President. That Cecil had apparently told the Guardians to stay put, before the screen went dark. But she wasn’t really hearing him.
When they came to Mark’s to study or hang out (or when it was just her and Mark, her private favorite), sometimes, Omni Man was in the living room typing at his laptop. Once, Mr. Grayson told them about how, when Mark was first adjusting to his powers, he crashed into a landfill in Wyoming and sent a stack of banana peels nearly a mile into the sky. They’d all laughed, Mark went red, and for the first time, Eve processed that one of the strongest heroes on Earth was a person. Omni Man was a person, Mr. Grayson, and when she’d come over last Friday, just her and Mark, she stayed later than normal (despite both of them finishing their reviews of the state capitals an hour in), and she had dinner with Mark and his family. A dinner where Mr. Grayson flew to Naples to get them all pizza. Mark blushed about it of course, but Eve didn’t mind that.
“It’s like he’s trying to take over the world!” Rex exclaimed, “What the fuck?”
Eve watched, a little numb, as the main computer screen showed dozens of tiny camera feeds from various GDA facilities. Over half of them were static.
“Where’s Invincible?” Eve asked.
Looking at the screen, Robot (who was a human now?) said, “I calculate a 95.6 percent chance that Invincible is working with his father. So perhaps it is a boon that he is not here.”
“Could you give us a few more numbers there?” Rex asked. “Be a little more precise?”
Still looking at the screen, Robot said, “Considering the circumstances, I don’t have the time to explain significant figures, Rex.”
“Hold on,” Eve said. “I know Mark. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Who’s Mark?” Rex shook his head. Then his eyes went wide. “Wait, like that Mark? The one you go to school with? Whose dad is Omni Man?!”
“Shut it,” Black Samson clamped a hand on Rex’s shoulder. “His name doesn’t matter. What matters is whether he’s with us or against us.”
Right after he said that, with a ringing crash, Mark blasted through the far wall. He flew inside, casting a long shadow against the wall he broke.
“I need to talk to Eve.” he said. The Guardians looked at her, and after a moment, she followed Mark as he flew out of the hole he’d made.
When they were a few hundred feet up, he took off his mask. He sniffled. Purple dark enough to be black hung heavy under his eyes.
“When was the last time you slept?” Eve asked.
“I need you to trust me,” Mark said. “I really, really need you to trust me.’
"You know I trust you,” Eve said. “But whatever you’re talking about can wait. Omni Man—”
“Is saving us.” Mark cut her off. Eve blinked.
“He’s attacking the GDA.” she said, bewildered. “Mark, he’s already killed hundreds of people!”
“Cecil is an idiot,” Mark said with more force, “he can’t see the bigger picture. But you can. I… I need you too. I’ll have Dad, but I don’t want to do this alone.”
His eyes were wide, pleading. He didn’t look fit to stop a bank robbery, let alone help his father take over the world.
“Mark,” Eve said, “I don’t understand. Your dad betrayed us.”
Mark shook his head. “Cecil betrayed us. The Guardians betrayed us.”
“What do they have to do with this?” Eve narrowed her eyes.
“The old ones,” Mark said. “This all started with them.”
“Started with…” Eve trailed off, then began to gawk. “… Mark. Please tell me your dad didn’t kill the original Guardians.”
Mark just looked at her.
After a space of stunned silence, she said, “Mark, this is crazy.”
“I’m not crazy,” Mark’s voice dropped into something low. “I am not fucking crazy.”
“I—I’m not calling you that,” Eve said. “But Mark, this is all so much. Too much. Your dad killed the Guardians and now he’s trying to kill us all!”
Mark’s expression hardened. “My dad isn’t a murderer.”
“Really?” Eve asked, “Really?”
“It isn’t murder to protect people,” Mark said. He floated toward her, and after asking with his eyes, took one of her hands, knitting their fingers together. His hand was firm, warm. Her heart skipped a beat. “I need you to listen to me.”
Eve hesitated, then said, “Okay. Okay, Mark, I’m listening.”
Mark took a long breath. Then he said, “So I got my powers three years ago, right?”
Eve nodded.
“And—and we’ve been working together for almost that entire time, right? You guys at Teen Team really showed me the ropes.”
Eve hummed.
“Do remember that one day, after I turned sixteen?” Mark asked.
“You mean when you came to school with a broken nose and bruises all over your face? Yeah, I remember that.” Eve said.
“That, um, that was my dad.” Mark said. Eve blinked hard.
“Excuse me?” she asked.
“The important thing is,” Mark squeezed her hand, “He told me why he was really here that day. Why I’m really here. I didn’t take it well, and Dad had to knock some sense into me.”
Mark had come to school with more bruises than face, and angry cuts mapped on his hands. He said it was fine, and they gave him that one, but…
“My dad is here to protect us,” Mark said. “It’s one of his responsibilities to Viltrum. Responsibilities I have, too. Earth is joining the Viltrum Empire, Eve, and to get it ready, the Guardians, Cecil—anyone who might resist—they have to go.”
Eve let go of his hand. “Mark, don’t.”
“Yes, they had to die,” Mark said. “And the new ones have to go too. They’d fight, and the more my dad and I have to fight, the more people are put in danger for no good reason. Because there isn’t, Eve. You can’t stop us. People would be hurt and die for nothing.” Mark sighed heavily. “I know it’s hard to get, but what Dad and I are doing is the right thing. My mom can’t see that, but I know you can, Eve. You were always the best of us.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Eve asked.
“You said you trust me,” Mark said. “I need you to trust me on this. Joining the Empire will make things so much better. Earth will be protected forever, there would be no more cancer, no more starvation, no more wars!”
“All we have to do is bow down, right?” Eve spat.
Mark said, “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Especially you, or Amber, or William.” He made a calming motion with his hands. “You don’t even have to fight with me. I don’t want to do this with just my dad, but I won’t force you to do anything either. Just don’t be in the way.”
He reached for her, and Eve smacked it.
“You’re disgusting,” she said. “If you really don't know what you’re saying, then you need to be stopped.”
Mark looked down at the mask in his hands. Eve could've sent atoms directly into his eyes, but couldn't find it in her.
Mark put on the mask. “I know exactly what I’m saying.”
She would try. They would all try. But in the end, all she could do was flee with Rex and Robot, leaving the bodies of Black Samson, Dupli-Kate, and Shrinking Ray behind as Monster Girl sacrificed herself. Eve never saw William, Amber, or her parents again.