Mark shoved his father's hand away, "Don't touch me!"
The half-viltrumite was breathing quickly. His hands were shaking.
"Calm down Mark." Nolan kept his voice quiet. The circumstances of the conversation had been all wrong. His son didn't understand the importance of the mission.
"I will not calm down! This is insane! What do you think is gonna happen? That I'm gonna go enslave my friends for a bunch of aliens I've never met!"
"This my life! These are my people!" Mark yelled.
Nolan's nostrils flared. The viltrumite struggled to hold back his anger at Mark's failure to recognise the truth, "We have a responsibility to viltrum-"
Mark swept his hand through the air furiously, "I don't give a shit about viltrum! And I don't care if I live a fuckin' million years! This is my home and I won't let you destroy it!"
The viltrum empire trained its warriors to forego emotion. The violence bubbling up in Nolan's chest suddenly morphed into icy apathy, "You don't know what you're saying."
"I know exactly what I'm saying!" Mark raised his fists.
Nolan closed his eyes. The situation had spiralled out of control. Reasoning alone wasn't enough to make Mark understand his role in Viltrum's plans.
"So be it." Nolan's eyes shot open. He flew at his son with blinding speed.
Mark gasped and hastily tried to protect himself from the attack. His attempt to defend himself was like a child standing before an adult. He wasn't skilled or strong enough to stand a chance against his father.
Bang!
The gust of wind swept away the tears from Mark's cheeks. He blinked. The pain he was waiting for didn't come.
A humanoid shape tore through the clouds. A violent kick to Omni-Man's shoulder sent him hurtling higher into the atmosphere. The pain caused the viltrumite to growl. The centuries of training and battle Nolan had endured kicked in swiftly. He forcefully willed his body to a stop.
The viltrumite's fists began to clench. Then, before he had the chance to react, a punch slammed into his jaw. The force behind it made the Omni-Man's consciousness temporarily scatter. When the viltrumite regained awareness of his body, the battle had already moved multiple kilometers away from the earth's surface.
Nolan hurriedly willed his flight to stabilise. This time his opponent allowed him to come to a standstill.
"Is this really worth it? Losing your wife? Your son?"
The question made Nolan's chest ache. He looked up at his opponent, "You could never understand."
Omega said nothing. The hero floated silently amidst the clouds. After several seconds, he replied, "Maybe you're right."
"But you cannot have earth."
The hairs on the back of Nolan's neck stood on end. His instincts screamed at him to dodge. He mobilised every ounce of his strength and willed his body to the side.
The punch slammed into Nolan's chest. His desperate attempt to evade had shifted the punch's point of impact away from his face. The enormous force sent him hurtling higher into the atmosphere. The viltrumite warrior groaned in pain.
Mark flew desperately. The battle between his father and the Guardian happened too rapidly for him to keep up. He hated how slow he was compared to them. He screamed out, "Stop!"
Omega watched the teenager approach. He felt sympathy for what Mark was going through. He refrained from launching another attack. The half-viltrumite came to a clumsy stop a few meters away from them. The teenager's chest heaved up and down.
Nolan's gaze towards his son was conflicted beyond measure.
His training urged him to disregard the heartache. He was fighting for the honour of viltrum. Throughout his life he had fought in dozens of battles where the odds seemed insurmountable. He had claimed victory in all of them.
"You're hurting him!" Mark screamed to Omega.
The teenager's emotions were all over the place. He'd just listened to his father call his mom a pet. The childhood he'd spent believing that viltrumites were noble peacekeepers, hoping that one day he could be just like his dad, had been shattered into pieces.
Despite all of that, when Mark watched his father be sent hurling through the air by punches that echoed like claps of thunder, he found himself overcome by the urge to help.
"He was going to hurt you Mark. Can you not see that?"
The truth stung like poison. Mark squeezed his head tightly between his hands. Nothing made any sense. The dark whirling mess of his thoughts made him feel like the world was about to end.
Anger overcame Mark. The half-viltrumite screamed and streaked towards Omega. His fist was drawn back ready to strike, "Just stop!"
A hand caught Mark's fist.
"I'm sorry."
For Mark, the world suddenly became a blur of motion. The wind howled around him. Omega had tossed him down from the skies. Mark tried frantically to fight back against the enormous force. He strained with everything he had.
Mark's struggle was useless. In the GDA facility beneath the pentagon, Debbie gasped in horror as a drone captured the video feed of her son crash violently into the earth.
"How can you let him do this! Mark's done nothing wrong!" Debbie screamed.
Cecil's gaze was fixated on a different screen. The two muscular figures, one in black and white, the other in red and white, stood facing each other in the air.
"The Guardians didn't do anything wrong either."
Cecil's reply made Debbie's tumultuous emotions surge. Her legs gave way and she crumpled to the floor. The black eyeliner she wore became a river of stained tears running down her face.
"You can't win."
Nolan gritted his teeth. His opponent hadn't spoken with arrogance or bloodlust. It was a calmly given statement of fact. He struggled to tell himself that it wasn't true.
The desperation in Nolan's chest mingled with the adrenaline pumping through his veins. The viltrumite warrior cried out and flew at his opponent.
"You're not listening." The voice sounded from next to Nolan's ear. His eyes darted to one side. He saw his opponent floating beside him. A fist grew larger and larger in his vision.
Bang!
The punch was immediately followed by a second. The viltrumite warrior could do nothing to fight back. From every angle, violent strikes slammed into his body. He was sent hurtling higher and higher into the atmosphere.
Nolan's consciousness began to blur. The dull impacts of the attacks echoed to him like ripples on a lake. The distinction between darkness and thought became murky.
The barrage of attacks stopped. Nolan's eyelids fluttered. He drifted on the edge of consciousness. The battle had moved to the very edge of the earth's atmosphere. From so high up, the rotating green and blue orb felt almost insignificant.
The sensation of movement pulled Nolan back to reality. His left eye was swollen shut. His vision in the other was blurry. There were tears and rips all over his costume. Through the tears, bruised purpleish-skin could be seen.
A hand gripped Nolan's collar tightly. The viltrumite braced, expecting to feel another stinging blow land. The pain didn't come.
The hand released Nolan. He blinked. His vision cleared just enough to recognise the white shapes. They were clouds. He clutched his aching stomach. His posture wasn't proud or militant anymore. The viltrumite warrior looked like an injured animal.
"What happens if I kill you?"
The question was asked plainly.
Nolan chuckled. The movement of his stomach and shoulders caused radiating waves of pain. The viltrumite winced, but he didn't cry out. Warriors of the viltrum empire were taught not to fear death. The mission given to them was greater than the life of any individual.
Perhaps in the stillness of death he would find peace from the heartbreak he felt when he thought of Debbie and Mark. What he felt when he pictured Mark's tear-covered face was far worse than his current wounds.
Nolan unhurriedly started to speak, "If I die, Viltrum will send a warrior for reconnaissance. If they discover that I died at the hands of an earth-warrior, they will mark your planet for execution."
The viltrumite paused and thought over the battle he had just fought, "You're strong. Immensely strong. Perhaps only the Grand Reagent can defeat you."
"They won't send just a lone warrior like me to destroy your planet."
"I have every confidence you'll tear apart those who come. But they will destroy your world."
There was nothing boastful about Nolan's speech. He didn't express any joy at the prospect of surviving. The elite warrior of a galaxy's mightiest conquerers looked broken. The sorrow pooled in his eyes was so great that it seemed to swallow the light from the sun.
Omega thought over the viltrumite's words. His emotions didn't fluctuate. He'd noticed that he was beginning to "feel" less often.
"If I spare you?" Omega asked.
Nolan looked up at distant crescent of the moon. He didn't answer for some time, "I cannot return to Viltrum. Not after what I have done."
Nolan shook his head wearily. He had bred with a human woman and concealed the birth of a half-viltrumite child. Worse still, he truly regarded that child as his son.
"They will notice my absence. The empire will send a scout to investigate."
The implication behind his words was clear. Nolan waited to see how his opponent would respond. He didn't attempt any persuasion. His life was in the hands of another and he understood this completely.
"And if I kill the scout?"
The viltrumite warrior smiled bitterly, "An execution team will come. The empire won't want the news to spread that a planet repelled viltrumite rule."
Not every problem could be solved by force. Whether Nolan lived or died, the empire would send a response. The paths laid out by the viltrumite all led back to the same thing - earth's subjugation or destruction.
"Will your reagent listen to reason? If you tell him that earth wishes to remain neutral in your war?"
Nolan shook his head, "There is no inbetween. If your planet cannot be brought under our rule, then it is better that it does not exist at all."
His opponent fell silent.
"What should I do?"
The question took Nolan by surprise. For a moment, the viltrumite warrior forgot about his injuries.
"You want advice, from me?" Nolan questioned.
"I want earth to be safe."
Nolan recognised something in his opponent's voice. It was the same conviction he felt-or at least had once felt for Viltrum.
"There is nowhere in the galaxy that is safe from Viltrum. Whether you slaughter me now or allow me to flee, a scout will come to earth. This world is marked for takeover. The empire must act." Nolan said. His voice was lacking the usual pride he carried for his people.
"If I kill you, your son will never forgive me. Should I die, earth will need him more than ever. You must survive so that Invincible may continue your legacy. Even if that legacy is built on lies." Omega came to a decision.
The masked hero looked down to the world below. He spotted a yellow and blue blur rising desperately.
"You must leave, now. If you refuse I will kill you here. Your people must believe that you have truly abandoned your post. I will deal with the scout." Omega instructed.
Nolan's jaw clenched. His gaze pierced through the layers of clouds and to his son. Mark flew as fast as he could, a sense of urgency gripped his heart tightly.
A tear dribbled down Nolan's cheek. The alien warrior cast one final bitter glance at his son. Then, with the crash of a sonic boom, he soared into the atmosphere above, leaving the planet where he had found love, where he had sired a heir, behind.
Mark cried out desperately, "Dad!"
Nolan's speed was increasing rapidly. The warrior's tears fell in droplets to the world below. For the first time in thousands of years, the battle-hardened warrior sobbed.
The vast silence of space swallowed all sound. The GDA's satellites watched the viltrumite departing into deep space.
Mark's shoulders heaved up and down. The boy who's world had just been torn out from underneath him cried for the father he had lost. The half-viltrumite didn't try to give chase. Something within him told him that his father could never return to earth.
The father-less teenager floated in the clouds a few feet away from Omega. The masked hero sighed. The repercussions of the murders Omni-Man had committed had always been destined to catch up with him. It had only been a matter of when that day would arrive.
Omega felt no joy seeing how Omni-Man's actions had torn his son's world into pieces, "I'm sorry Mark."
Mark wept. The half-viltrumite turned to the masked figure who had fought against his father. He jabbed out with his finger and yelled, "You did this!"
"Go to your mother Mark. She needs you."
Mark wiped the tears from his eyes. His anger didn't subside, but he recognised the truth in Omega's words. The half-viltrumite yelled from rage that had nowhere to go.
Omega watched the teenager dash back down towards earth. His gaze swept across the city below. The clash between himself and Omni-Man had cost Mark his father. Omega wondered what price the world would've paid if he hadn't been there to stand against the viltrumite warrior.
The lights of Chicago twinkled beneath his feet.