Chapter Text
Sitting on the roof ledge, Mark stared up at the night sky. The way the stars glimmered really did pale in comparison to the view of them from space, no matter how far away they still were right above the atmosphere–
A whoosh and deafening crash from the other side of the yard tore into his thoughts. Mark whirled around, cursing not having sensed whoever it was coming earlier. He hadn’t expected Eve to drop by, and anyway, that impact had been preceded by the characteristic sonic boom that would probably always chill him to the bone.
Mark decided to sprint rather than fly over to investigate, so as to approach with as much stealth as possible. Though somehow, he figured no Viltrumite would have landed in his backyard by accident. Mark set his jaw at the possibility it could be whoever that other Viltrumite Anissa warned would come if he refused to take over Earth for the Empire.
As the dust slowly cleared across his trajectory toward the crash, Mark’s first thought was that it could be his dad. Good thing his mom was out late, and Oliver hadn’t come home yet from the park.
The last of the debris faded before him, leaving the outline of a figure lying in the shallow crater left behind by the impact. The person was prone, and…far more slender than his father.
Anissa - lying there deathly still, right behind his home.
Pursing his lips, Mark crept over to the fallen figure. Once the dust had settled, the muggy silence set back in as if nothing had happened. Mark froze, calculating his next move, gaze trained on the soft starlight across high cheekbones.
She still wore her white and grey uniform. Those sharp features already brought to mind the strikes of steel that had been strong enough to pummel him high into the atmosphere and send him plummeting back toward the unforgiving ground.
Yet now, she lay as still as he stood, eyes closed.
It had to be a trick. This had to be a trap, maybe to ambush his mom when she got home or maybe even kidnap Oliver as a backup for their genocidal ranks-
Were he fully human, the buzz from the pager in his pocket probably would have given him a heart attack.
Deciding against suiting up, Mark hooked up his earpiece.
“Yeah?” he asked, as quietly as possible without whispering.
“Mark,” came Cecil’s voice, “we picked up a signal heading from deep space to your house. I take it it’s hit by now?”
Mark almost just nodded before remembering Cecil couldn’t hear him. “Yeah.”
“Angle yourself so we can see everything,” the older man demanded, quietly, but the request was unmistakable.
Irritation spiked at the constant orders, already regretting wearing the earpiece despite not being suited up. There had to be boundaries.
“You know what,” Mark said, “I got this.”
He pressed off the device, putting it back in his pocket.
Mark hated this. He hated being born into this mess, how what he did affected his family, how a big part of the issue was part of his family. Next of all, how someone he’d grown to look up to - when he wasn’t being shady as fuck - had proven he expected Mark could become a sociopath just like his father.
No, he wasn’t going to be puppeteered by two species. He was going to defend his home turf on his own terms-
Mark took half a step back when Anissa bolted upright with a gasp. Her head darted from side to side, a current of alarm flitting across her clear blue eyes in the lights from the house.
Alarm - that was an emotion he definitely hadn’t seen on her last time.
He went to take another step back when that gaze met his.
“M-Mark Gray-”
“Stop,” he held up his hands, as she forced herself to her feet.
She looked injured, movements stunted and stance unsteady. That stammer in her voice. Nothing like last time. As if the woman who had flown through a behemoth’s skull, threatened Amber, and terrified her to the point of leaving Mark was barely there.
He contemplated taking off to try and outrun her as she strode forward, stopping just outside of his personal space.
“I-”
“You can’t be here,” he cut her off, trying his best to assert dominance.
That seemed to be the only language they understood, anyway.
Anissa paused, frame stilling. Those striking eyes once again flitted around in what looked like silent panic, before-
An iron force struck his chest hard enough to send him staggering back just a few feet. Hmm, not so tough now, maybe benching that iceberg hadn’t been a needless exercise.
A fraction of a second into launching himself into a frontal assault, Mark leapt away, as she dove to the right in time to spew a crimson fountain on the lawn between them. The way the scant surrounding light lit up the gore was an image that would haunt him for who knew how long.
If he even survived this encounter.
“Stay back!” she commanded, voice hoarse, clearly struggling to stand upright.
“You think?” Mark managed despite his heart pounding out of his chest.
This woman who could have been made of steel and beat the crap out of him last time they met was now puking blood in his backyard. What the hell could do that to a Viltrumite, and…why had she come to him?
It was then that she stepped fully into the light, and he froze yet again.
Her skin was ashen, dark shadows outlining dull eyes that held none of the aggression from their last meeting. Blood spattered her lips, chin, and that usually pristine uniform.
“What the hell’s going on, Anissa?”
Anissa glanced up at the sky before shutting her eyes and drawing a deep breath against what he assumed to be vertigo.
As much as this wasn’t looking like an attack, the Angstrom Levy situation still gnawed at him, seeing someone so dangerous at his home.
She was still panting, something he’d never seen from another Viltrumite. She wouldn’t meet his eyes, gaze trained on the ground as she spoke.
“I can’t be seen,” she said. “They are after me.”
“Who?” Mark asked. No way the GDA could pull off injuring her like this.
Despite the humidity, her teeth began to chatter. “Our p-people.”
That was when it dawned on him. “You’re asking for help.”
Those eyes met his for half a second before glancing to the side once again. “I never hurt you…n-not more than you could handle. You’re s-strong. I only need cover-”
Whipping her head to the side, she doubled over once again, more blood erupting from her lips. Mark forced down his fear at the sight of small chunks of viscera among the liquid across the moist grass.
This was no act.
He stared down at her shivering form, as she muttered in some other language–another reminder of something else his father had never shared with him.
“I don’t understand,” he said, rooted to the spot while she caught her breath once again. “Did they poison you or something?”
“...There’s t-talk of a plague that the resistance unleashed on us long ago during the previous generation,” she said, closing her eyes for a second before trying to look back up at him. “It might have returned. Another of us f-fell ill after an attempted diplomatic meeting with the Coalition of Planets where they promised to exchange s-several worlds with bountiful r-resources but only primitive life forms. Th-they held me down and forced his blood into my m-mouth before launching him into the nearest star. Then jettisoned me from the station. I barely managed to reach here.”
“Why?” was all Mark could manage.
This time, her gaze lingered on his own. “Because I failed to persuade you to join us.”
Her shaking seemed to have stopped at least, as long as she didn’t try to get up again.
Suddenly, the Guardians and even the GDA didn’t seem like such a bad option. She could be useful for information about whatever else was coming.
“I’ll need to fly you by car to keep distance. The people I work with here have advanced medical tech for people like…like us.”
He didn’t miss the current of alarm in her eyes, though the rest of her expression didn’t change.
“No human medical support,” she rasped before clearing her throat.
“Anissa,” he said, managing to keep the tremble from his voice at the sight of so much gore on her, “if you want my help, this is the only option. I can’t deal with this myself.”
“You will accompany me through it.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I don’t think you’re in a position to be making demands,” he said, then…"we have to go now. Wait here.”
Not that she looked to be going anywhere.
He probably suited up faster than ever before, snagging an empty grocery bag from the kitchen before returning to her side and pausing at a distance of about four feet.
“Can you walk?” he asked, inwardly marveling at how not-nosy the neighbors were to have ignored routine deafening crashes over the years. As long as they didn't start questioning right now.
Anissa managed to get to her feet so slowly the humiliation radiating off her was palpable.
“I can’t guarantee your transport won’t be soiled,” she said, moving to follow him.
He tossed her the plastic bag. “Wear it over your head and tie it at the neck. Don’t let your hands or front touch any of the inside. I’m not risking whatever you have getting on our stuff.”
Presumably, she was still more or less able to hold her breath. Regardless, he was spraying down that vehicle with bleach later. Or just snagging a new one from somewhere.
“Is your ground transportation so slow as to require airborne acceleration?” she asked, voice quiet, as he opened the front passenger door and stepped back.
He shut the door without humoring her with a response.
Once he’d lifted the car into the air, Mark dialed Cecil again. “I’m coming in. I’m bringing in the Viltrumite agent who stopped the kaiju. The Empire chased her out, so she might have some intel for us on what they're planning. But she’ll need to be put into some kind of quarantine, she’s got some really nasty disease, there’s blood everywhere.”
Mark - this is really something you need to clear with me first, not just on a whim when you’re already almost here. She can’t know our location.
“She has a bag over her head,” Mark replied, and he could’ve scoffed at how that sounded in any other situation. “We’re touching down.”
Anissa apparently had another incident in the car. Despite Mark’s call ahead to Cecil, the guard stationed at the front eyed Anissa with an obvious combination of nerves and disgust. That uniform that usually symbolized unbeatable power was now as drenched as her throat just visible beneath the rim of the bag, including below the waist and now accompanied by a horrific smell.
“Transporting to quarantine,” the guard spoke into the speaker at his wrist before the doors behind him hissed open, and he gestured for them to step into the lift beyond.
Once the elevator doors had closed, Anissa tore off the bag with a huff.
“Don’t you throw that away,” he all but growled. “You’ll spread that shit everywhere.”
Anissa’s lips pursed beneath a nose now trickling with blood which she wiped away with the back of her hand, her pallor almost zombie-like in the fluorescent lights overhead. Mark’s skin crawled with the images of someone so strong being so defeated…by the same people Allen worked for who would probably target Mark next. Maybe they had already gotten to his father…
The moment they stepped out into the small corridor, two men wearing hazmat suits gestured Anissa toward a chamber on the right, illuminated by a lime-green glow. Mark could feel the heat filtering out despite the sealed entrance. He noted the tasers clipped to their belts.
“Those won’t do a thing to her,” Mark warned before he sensed a presence behind him.
He turned to see Cecil, closely followed by Donald.
“No need to worry, Mark,” said Donald, as Anissa eyed the newcomers with unbridled indignance. “Scans show her metabolism and endurance levels are barely above the human average at this point.”
“Just like everyone else,” Cecil didn’t take his gaze off the alien before them.
One of the quarantine workers chose that moment to shove Anissa into the chamber and follow her inside, the doors shutting behind them.