Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes…etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies. 

This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire.

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TOUGH BLOODY LOVE

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“You’re quite good at this.” He said as we hovered above the clouds. “Really good actually.”

“What can I say, I’m a genius.” 

He scoffed at my self-praise and gestured for me to follow as he sped up a notch. It wasn’t as effortless for me to keep up with him now, but I still did. He spoke about letting my momentum propel me, and further streamlining myself by positioning my arms forward. 

I followed his advice and found it much easier to break through the air resistance. Landscapes blurring beneath me all the while. The amazement coupled with wonder and genuine surprise spurred me on further with a childlike enthusiasm. 

I was actually flying! 

I know I should get used to it by now, but goodness gracious, days ago I was just a man, now I’m humanity’s greatest wish come through—man flying unaided by nothing but elastic physics and pseudo-scientific rational. 

“Let’s land over the field.” Said Omni-man. Banking downwards, I sped past him. “Slow down Mark, I said to land.”

I didn’t just want to do a normal landing, I wanted to do the landing. 

“Slow down.” He said from behind me as I neared the grass covered field. 

I touched down with a boom, dust and debris exploded outwards as the ground shattered and sunk beneath my knee and fist. I had achieved it—the superhero landing notoriously bad on human knees, except I wasn’t exactly human, not anymore. 

Judging by the smirk on his face, I could see that even he was impressed. “Don’t let the powers get to your head.”

“You’re just jealous I’m cooler.” I joked.

He shook his head at me and gestured for me to come forth. “You wanted to be stronger right?” There it was. I’d appealed not to his human side, but to his alien side—the one that was raised on a planet ruled by the doctrine of survival of the fittest, the one that faced death and destruction, dealing it to countless worlds. The side that was more of a mighty conqueror and warrior than a gentle savior. 

“Yes.” I said, preparing myself for what I’d just chosen. There was no complaining or going back, not if I wanted to be the only thing I could—the very fucking best.

He hovered inches above the floor and gestured for me to as well. The smile that never left his face turned predatory, his aura became subtly unrestrained, almost feral even. I thought he’d ask me to punch him to prove just how ready I was, but like thunder on a clear day, he defied common sense and struck me faster than I could even register.

His fist landed on my stomach so hard it kissed the back of my spine. It was so fast that the pain didn’t come the first few moments I spent rolling through the grasslands. When I remembered to breath, I found myself gasping for air, with my back against a broken tree trunk. 

He quickly flew towards me. Silent and observant, waiting to see my next action—would I cry and ask why he did what he did which would make him adopt an apologetic stance and never push me this far again till I defied him, would I get up and run away from him in fear filling him with disappointment and disgust, or would I stand up and fight back realizing the intent of his teaching and trust in him to guide me. 

Option two was the most logical and enticing of them all. But I couldn’t run away forever, this was a make it or break it moment. 

I crawled to my feet, and hovered. Taking deep pained breaths as I did. My eyes, red and watering, on him, focused and burning with anger and a bit of resentment. 

“Very good Mark, very—”

I threw a punch before he could even finish. My vindictiveness was nothing to scoff at, the strike was too painful to leave unpaid and I was too pissed to listen to this guy lecture me. I couldn’t even insult him in my head—damn. 

He sidestepped, easily avoiding my strike. “It’s great that you want to take initiative, and anger is as good a motivator as any, but it has to be focused for it to work.” He blurred out of sight; reappearing where the air shifted, behind me.

“You have to understand your opponent.” He said calmly. A fist to the back, fed my face to the earth. I felt something clamp on my ankle and draw me out. “You can fly Mark, anything can be your leverage, don’t limit yourself.”

Right.

I chucked the dirt I managed to grab into his eyes, utilizing my power of flight to pull away from him. “Excellent use of your environment. But how long do you think you can last if you don’t fight back? Give up now if you want to son, there’s no shame in it.”

“Yes, there is.” Yes there fucking is. “I’m going to be the best dad, I’ll never give up.”

“That’s the spirit.” He smirked. “Don’t tell your mom about this.” He warned.

“C’mon old man, we’re aging here.”

Viltrumites grew stronger the more stress they faced or the older they aged. It was synonymous to working out for muscle growth, just without a hard upper limit to your growth potential.

“You asked for it.” He rushed me. I anticipated his punch to the guts and slid under it. The power of flight allowed me to pull off moves I couldn’t conventionally accomplish otherwise.

I expected him to sail past me from his momentum, but he was strong enough to even cancel that out by pure resistance force. So, there I was, horizontally floating in air like an awkward log in still water, with Omni man above me, his fist an axe straight to the nose. 

Blood and tears flew out as I fell like a comet. I could feel my skull creak in protest as it shattered a boulder. I felt my new found accelerated healing factor kick in. The broken cartilage and bone reaching out to reconnect to each other in an irritating, itchy kind of way. 

I wiped the bloody snot and tears, blinked the double vision away and dug myself out the pit. 

“Do you want to give up yet?”

“I can do this all day.” Maybe I should call myself Captain America. Who’d sue me? Marvel didn’t exist here.

“So can I.” He laughed with unrestrained joy. He then proceeded to kick my ass harder than a sadistic priest disciplining a left handed child. He wasn’t even letting me touch the ground now, I was having my ass handed to me in the clouds, all across the globe.

The scary thing was that I knew he was holding back, I was as afraid as I was anticipant of when I’d make him go all out. That day wasn’t today though.

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Suplaise!!! Hehehe. Enjoy. Leave reviews. Reproduce and fill the earth.

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