Chapter Text
The portal opened up, and his new friend Agent Spider used his web to propel him through it and he was suddenly back home. He had to stop himself from crashing in the wall but he was home and ripping off the spider web on his back and turning to face Angstrom.
When he did he could see Angstrom, his mother, and Oliver.
“Don’t! One wrong move and they fall.” Said Angstrom as a green ring formed around his terrified mother and brother.
“I’ve got a dimension all picked out, where ground is eight stories lower than it is here.”
There was a malicious glint in his eyes and tone as if he was praying Mark would give him the excuse.
Mark felt his anger course through him, but one look at his family was enough to stop him in his tracks.
He couldn’t risk it. He needed a different approach with this guy.
Mark floated to the ground and put up his hands.
“You’re not gonna hurt them and you’re not gonna hurt me. I don’t know what game you’re playing but... you’re not a killer. I’m sorry I didn’t remember you, but I remember that night. You were tryna save me. Maybe the accident changed you, but... you were a good person trying to do a good thing.” Said Mark in a calm and placating voice.
Maybe if he remembered that he was trying to do good, he could get him to let his family go and then they could talk.
“Trying to save you? After all the pain and suffering you caused. The Lives you’ve taken?” Stuttered Angstrom in pure disbelief before spat venomously “NEVER!”
He felt the floor give away as he started to drop into a portal, but he used his flight to propel himself upwards, but Angstrom had already formed the second portal above his head and Mark flew straight through it.
He loosened his entire body as he hit the ceiling to avoid ripping a hole through it. The action didn’t stop a large dent from appearing in it as he smacked back into the ground floor.
Mark looked up just in time to see the whisp of the portal close.
He sighed and rolled onto his back for a moment.
This guy was crazy, and he wasn’t gonna stop until he was dead. Mark didn’t really care that he wanted to kill him. Mark could tell that the guy’s head was messed up in more ways than one. He was just worried about what he was willing to do to his family.
He needed to get his mom and Oliver to safety first then deal with Angstrom, but this was already the third portal he had sent him through.
He was surprisingly quick for a non Viltrumite though Mark knew he was holding back too. He was still human after all and if he moved to fast without care he could kill him or even his mom and Oliver.
He wouldn’t risk that.
So, what did he do?
He needed help, but how did he get it? Angstrom blocked out any signal to contact Cecil.
He was sure there was no Agent Spider in his world or any of the other heroes he had met in the other dimension. Then again, he knew the guy's real name. Maybe he had yet to become a hero in his world.
Still, that didn’t help Mark.
Could he somehow contact Eve or the Guardians?
He didn’t know how to do that with his signal blocked to his phone too and currently he was in a different dimension.
Mark pulled his phone from his suit.
He was lucky it hadn’t smashed considering he had almost been eaten by talking Dinosaurs and thrown around by an old man with mechanical arms.
He looked at his phone again.
The screensaver was him and Amber.
He felt his heart burn.
He couldn’t even grieve the end of his relationship properly without some bullshit going down.
Why was everything so fucked up for him?
He sat up. Now was not the time to be emotionally distressed. He had to focus and think.
Maybe when a portal opened back up he could hit angstrom with a weapon and knock him out.
Yeah, surprise attack him, get mom and Oliver out of the house and then deal with him and get him to Cecil.
It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only one he had.
Now he just needed a weapon. One that he could control the swing ratio so that it wouldn’t kill Angstrom upon impact.
He looked around and jolted.
Mark came to the realization that he was in his house. Of course, in a different dimension but his house all the same.
The last two dimensions he had landed outside but this was the first time he was in his house.
His house, which looked incredibly abandoned.
Dust coated nearly every surface he could see. His mom would have a fit if she saw the state of this place.
It sounded empty and smelt almost stale.
It was clear as he sat in the darkness, that this house had not been lived in for some time now. He didn’t even want to garner a guess as to why. He didn’t really care either.
He got to his feet and looked around. No green portal yet. What was Angstrom waiting for?
It didn’t matter, he needed a minute to find a weapon anyway. What kind of weapon though? What weapons did they have in the house?
What weapons did you need when you had lived with Omni Man most of your life?
He was not using a knife. That was too dangerous.
Well, anything in his hands was too dangerous he supposed but a Knife would kill Angstrom for sure.
So nothing sharp. What options did that leave him with?
Something blunt. Maybe.... like a baseball bat!
Yeah. He had one in his room.
The question was, did the Mark Grayson of this world have one?
Actually, did a Mark in this world even exist?
Mark had no clue.
Mark looked at the walls.
He looked around again.
They were covered in dust, but they were there. Pictures! Less of them than in his world he noted.
He sped over, curiosity getting the better of him. He saw pictures that were familiar and unfamiliar to him. Pictures of alternative Grayson's. Himself, mom and dad. Though he noted no Oliver like Angstrom had suggested.
He didn’t know how to feel about that.
He studied the pictures with intensity.
His mom had slightly longer hair here but otherwise, looked exactly the same. As for himself and his dad, they could be twins with how identical they looked to these counterparts.
They looked happy in these photos. Yet the house filled Mark with dread.
What had happened for this once happy home to be abandoned now?
A second after that thought Mark’s ears pricked up as he heard a familiar sound. Though it wasn’t a green portal. No, it was a sound he was far more familiar with.
Someone had just flown by the house, and they were approaching from outside.