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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SHOW ME A SAINT 

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I stand within the embrace of the cold, black expanse. Innumerable resplendent stars dot the dark, giving the illusion of omnipresence—billions of glittering eyes appearing infinitely closer than they were. Beneath me was the round planet made up of more blue than green and brown, with blankets of white clouds drifting over its surface. You could tell it was a unique ball of dirt, out of all others, this one was special. 

I turn to the sun, the goggles protecting me from its hard glare, unlike that of the Flaxan’s our sun was a young and healthy g-type sequence star. My AI fitted goggles would’ve told me all that and then some if I still had it on hand—I hope Art makes those upgrades soon. 

Space is…peaceful, the perfect environment to collect your thoughts, to be alone with yourself, and unlike Flaxan space I wasn’t here to hide from a homicidal superhero hoping for my shattered arm to heal before he found me—those were fun times.

Space is a vacuum, it’s quiet, so quiet in fact that you don’t hear someone creep up on you, but if you’ve spent as much time as I have fighting and being flirtatious with death each time you do, you develop combat instincts. 

Those instincts were telling me to duck!

I obeyed, dodging a double armed blow that somehow managed to produce faint shockwaves.

I stared at the alien, a bald, muscular cyclopean humanoid with orange skin, massive human-like arms and fingers and digitigrade legs with only two digits. 

‘Not bad’ His voice appeared in my head, it sounded friendly and warm, a stark contrast to his earlier action. Surprising, but expected. I observed him some more, he had a envy-inducing velvet jacket over white skin tight suit, a utility belt on his waist and matching silver arm braces. And no nose. Just a cartoonishly large eye and elf-like ears which made him look like a circus doll.

‘Dodge this!’ He dove at me, a wide smile on his face and a wicked punch aimed for my face. His fist gradually enlarged in my vision and when it was within reach, I raised a palm. 

There is no sound in space, but I felt the rumble of his strike, it was…weak.

His sneer changed to confusion when I wrapped my palm over his fist and held it in place. He minutely tugged but couldn’t remove it from my grasp. He noticed the difference between our levels, he was a fighter after all.

‘You’re strong--!’ I punched his face so hard I felt a crack, it wasn’t my knuckle. 

I raced after his tumbling form, shoving my shoulder deep into his midsection, delivering a vicious spear that made him nearly hack up a lung, I extended my arm around his midriff, holding him in place as I flew for the closest planetary body in sight at a breakneck velocity.

—Booom I felt the rattle from his bones and instantly pulled back instead of slamming him deeper as intended. I hovered above the newly formed impact crater, letting the alien beneath me roll in excruciating pain within the new pockmark on the moon’s milk white face.

It’s nothing surgery can’t fix my fair lady.

‘Ahkk—Time Out!’ His pain translated over too. I gave him as much respite as he needed, allowing the dust storm to settle. The earpiece in my ear vibrates, but it can wait. 

The alien was working for the coalition of planets as an evaluation officer, going from planet to planet to test the combat prowess and abilities of their respective representatives. Of course it wasn’t as simple as it sounded, it was a thin guise for cultivating warriors, to prepare an army for the eventual war with the seemingly expanding Holy Viltrum Empire—they were called the coalition of planets for a reason. 

After what seemed like an hour he slowly crawled to his feet, dusting moon dust off his sweet jacket.

You should jack it.

No, shut up.

 ‘Champion of Urath you ace the evaluation, you’re definitely up to coalition standards’. He pulled out a console of some and fiddled with it. ‘I can see why you took over from the last guy.’

‘This is Earth, not Urath.’ I projected. 

‘Huh?’ He gave me a long stare and looked back at his console. ‘Oh crap!’ 

‘What’s your name evaluation officer?’

‘I’m Allen.’ Barry Allen, fastest alien alive. Was not what he said. 

He flew up, extending his hand for a shake.

‘I’m Mark, nice to meet you, Allen. I’d say sorry for beating you so badly but you kinda did sneak attack me.’ Plus, he actually does grow stronger any time he’s beaten to near death, like a true Saiyan this guy was.

He smiled sheepishly. ‘You were early and I might have been a bit too excited.’ This Goku like bastard.

‘Hey before you go, give me a way to contact you.’

‘What do you need it for?’

‘To reach you, obviously. Trust me, it’ll be important. When you get back to your home, just tell them you’ve been to Earth and you’ll understand.’

He shrugged, handing me a metal disc with a touch display in the center. ‘That’s a contactor, you press it and I’ll receive your coordinates and message.’

‘Allen, pass this on to them for me too; we don’t work for the empire.’ I said, turning and heading back to Earth. 

I was grateful for the alien’s limited telepathy, it allowed me to communicate what I needed to in discretion. Once I broke past the stratosphere I pressed on the device in my ear “Cecil, it’s handled. What’s the other emergency?”

*.*.*.*

I needed to get this over with, I had somewhere I needed to be. 

The sound barrier barked at my feet for my blatant disregard of its limiters. The wind buzzed in my ears as I tore through fog and clouds leaving a white jet trail to mark the tail of my path. 

I saw him in the distance, his tiny nearly hunched over form would imply of his aged fragility but the elderly man still held on to the youth within his heart. He laughed and jeered, spouting something menacing at the figure heads carved into the cliff face.

He took a stance and brought his arms together, the massive red bands on his wrist clanged at a high pitch and produced massive shockwaves that displaced the very air in addition to destroying whatever obstacle was in its path until it slammed against the mountain, breaking the face of a figurehead clean off. 

I couldn’t have this become a prolonged battle, regardless of my interest in his equipment but I also didn’t have to use lethal force. I had to be smart as always.

People screamed, their voices muffled by the gale force winds produced from the shockwaves, some ran for cover as it rained baseball sized rocks. Others stood frozen from fear upon facing the enormous rock organ that toppled towards them. 

I flew beneath the rock and held it with a spread-out grip slowing its descent and making sure it didn’t break off into smaller pieces.

“Yeah!” The kids and their scoutmaster cheered. I deposited the rock face at an unoccupied spot and yelled at the old man. “Hey!” I wasn’t about to start bantering, I just needed him distracted.

His attention snapped to me, “I see they sent a boy to do a man’s--!” 

Now! 

I rushed at him, for an old guy his reaction was quite fast. He clanged his bands, utilizing a shockwave to jump to the side. It was the perfect way to avoid someone coming at you like a bullet—unlike a bullet however I was faster, very much so and I could turn. 

It was a shock to him when I held his arms apart and lifted him off the floor. I assumed he couldn’t create shockwaves without clanging them together but I had too little information to make such a bold assumption.

He kicked and struggled, eyeing me with malice as he opened his mouth to either curse or spit at me, I brought my head down on his, he blacked out instantly with eyes rolling back and foam gathering in his still open mouth.

“They sent the very best old man.” I quipped to his unconscious body. I easily pried the bands from his hands, breaking a finger or two of his in the process. Not my fault he put in size restraint redundancies. 

These things were neat, and if its output was directly proportional to how hard you could slam them together, then I could produce great destructive power, of course the backlash was something I could take for longer since I was much more durable than baseline humans.

“Invincible to base, target neutralized.”

“Great job kid, your efficiency is godlike.” Cecil complimented. 

“I’ll be stashing him here for you guys, I’m already late for the funeral.” I restrained the old guy and secured him to the base of a tree. 

“We’ll handle it from here. Thank you for your hard work, Invincible.”

“Just doing my part Cecil, after all this world is the only home I have. Thanks for giving me the chance and trust tho, call me whenever you need me. Invincible out.”

“Will do kid.” 

With that settled, I flew home, took a shower and got properly dressed for the affair. 

*.*.*.*.* 

The rain pitter pattered against my umbrella, a thousand fingers tapping on glass. I missed the public funeral, but made it in time for the private laying of the bodies. 

Seven wooden caskets lowered into a hole in the ground, returning to the dust from whence they came. Nolan offered up the eulogy, I knew he was sincere in his sadness, these were people he called friends and partners yet when measured up against his duty, they were found lacking. 

Hypocrite, he was. Sad and confused, maybe even a bit relieved, he was too. A confused man fighting to save an empire he didn’t even know was in its death throes. 

I stared at the caskets, at the woman in tears shouting for her lover to return, at the family members weeping for the loss of their loved ones. 

Did they cry for me like this in my world? Did they suffer at my loss? Will I fail in my mission and end up in a box like this too?

Who was I to seek pity when I was guilty. I could have stopped this or helped them. I didn’t. I accept my sin, I’ll carry it and move on.

“Bury me in the sun, lay me among the stars, let my mortal remains find peace in the embrace of the expanse.” I whispered my wishes to no one.

Who? 

Warm fingers gripped mine, rousing me from my thoughts. I turned to stare at their owner. 

Eve, I didn’t know when she had appeared next to me. Did she hear my whisper, I hope not. “It’s going to be okay.” She smiled weakly.

She must have heard. Did she think I was sad and depressed? I wasn’t. “Of course.” I smiled back and withdrew my hand from hers. Wrapping it around her shoulder instead. She was a friend, I hope she remained as such.

She nuzzled comfortably closer, I thought nothing of it, I hope she didn’t. 

Fog escaped my lips as the temperature dropped, the tingle along my neck warned me of some type of a sinister gaze, said gaze was coming from the trees in the back and upon focusing on it, it evaporated just as quickly as the cold with it.

The eulogy ended, “See you later.” I said to Eve, leaving with my mom who’d just returned from comforting the Red Rush’s widow, she clamored to see his corpse, but the sight of it would traumatize her if she could even recognize the headless body. 

Cecil sent me a nod as he approached Robot. Nolan was still back at the gravesite, probably confronting the demon. 

He returned soon after, the ride home was a quiet one until we reached the house. 

Nolan talked about getting pizza from Nepal, the more sensible Debbie asked him to let the delivery guy handle it for today, I quietly flipped through the tv channels, each one playing his speech of relying on people he knew to have his back and the works. This guy could be a Politician. 

New mom mistook my silence for sadness, “Mark, why don’t you call Will.”

“I have to be somewhere later so I can’t. You should get some rest mom.” I told her, giving her a hug “I’m fine, don’t worry too much about me.” With that said I ascended the stairs, entered my room and collapsed into the bed….

I could watch superhero porn, but I needed to be holy for the crusade. So I chose the next best thing, messing around with my contacts.

I scrolled through my contacts and hit dial on her number. 

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

“What is it?”

“Lady, are you still mad over the crystals?”

“What do you want, Mark?”

“Is your heart crystal? Why are you so cold to me?”

“You still haven’t apologized.”

“Let’s go on a date.” I never will.

“No.”

“Ok bye.”

I hung up. Wait for it. Wait for it…keep waiting…

Ring! Ring!

Ring! Ring!

“Hello?” I answered. 

“Are you insane, why’d you hang up?”

“You said no, I didn’t want to disturb.”

“Shouldn’t you be a bit more persistent.”

“Wanna go on a date?”

“You’re such an asshole…when and where?”

“Amazon prime and a quality time, my place, later.”

“hmm…did you complete the math assignment?”

“Yeah?”

“Ok, sure. Where’s my apology?”

“Let’s talk about it when I see you.”

“You’re so cheesy. Bye.”

“Kisses darling.”

Well that didn’t go quite as planned. I was hoping for her to tell me no, so I could prolong the hunt. 

Knock knock

Outside my window hovered Eve, ‘Let’s go’ she gestured, “Gimme a minute.” I told her, undressing and pulling my suit on. I exited through the window before sticking my head back in, “Guys, I’ll be gone for a while, don’t wait up.” I told them, hoping that in my absence they wouldn’t fuck in my room again. 

“Take your time.” Nolan said, as cheery as a whistle.

Damn. 

“What?” I asked a blushing Eve as we flew up. 

“Nothing.” She flew higher, avoiding my eyes. 

“I gotcha now, you were peeking on me weren’t you.” She saw me undress, but I wasn’t even fully naked then. 

“N-no!” She faltered in her flight “I mean no way.” 

“Yeah right.” 

*.*.*.*

“Invincible.”

“Robot.”

“It is nice to meet you again, under peaceful circumstances.”

“I agree, conflict brings the worst out in me.”

“I am glad you could make it, your presence here is inspiring.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world; all these supes trying their hardest to get a spot on the new Guardians team.” And a great chance to see just what they’re made up of. 

“Yes, it is the crowning achievement of every crusader’s career to be selected for the new Guardians of the globe, which makes me wonder again why you refuse my offer to join.” He offered in his monotone voice, staring at me with those green glazed eyepieces.

“They need it more than I do besides I’m too independent to properly function in a team.”

“Perhaps so, but I’m certain there are solutions.”

“When does this start?”

“Now actually.” He said taking the stage and upon drawing everyone’s attention, he began his speech of how they’d aspire to do justice by the Guardians’ name and all that. I really wasn’t one for long talks, the cure to my boredom arrived fast enough. 

Eve went down into the ring, facing off against muscle man, it wasn’t his name and I didn’t care. She proceeded to weave under his wide attacks, sending a blast that took his footing and pounding him in the face with a powered fist wrapped in pink energy, utterly wrecking his shit. 

Man, she was mad, and looking to my left I could see why. Rexplode retreated from the viewing platform, avoiding her heated gaze.

Next was Duplikate fighting some spider chick. Duplicate swarmed her with a literal human wave and won that one.

Ah, Duplikate the things I want to do to you.

Zip it, brain.  

The ant woman lady fought the gorilla man, crawled up into his “Ass! Get up his ass and expand.” Someone yelled. For a moment I was afraid that my brain had finally managed to vocalize without my control but turns out it was the mature loli. I sent her a secret thumbs up, and she smiled in return. 

The fights went on. People won, people lost. Winners were put up against winners, and the best of the best got a spot. 

“What couldn’t hear me over your tiny dick.” Said monster girl, the mouth on this one. 

“Someone needs to teach you some motherfuckin—what the fuc-!!” Monster girl partially transformed and punched him so hard he flew through the glass and into the ring below. She punched his fucking mask off. Damn. 

She jumped into the ring, transforming from an adorable child into a juiced up goblin like creature. Man, for her sake I hope she never meets the goblin slayer.

“You were saying?” Her voice turned heavy and gruff. 

“You little bitch!” Rex threw his explosives at her, she walked out of the blast unscratched throwing a punch at his midsection that sent sailing halfway through the ring.

“Please stop, this is hardly constructive.” Robot said.

Eve smiled seeing Rex pounded into the ground and repeatedly punched over and over again “He asked for it.”

I actually liked the guy. A bit. I flew in to stop the fight because no one else would, and knowing powerhouses and their tempers, she’d probably mush his brain before stopping herself. 

“Hey, can you let him go, pretty please.”

“Fuck off!”

“Okay then.” I grabbed her by the arm, whipped her off him and into the wall on the other side.

“Hey, she’s just a little girl!” Someone shouted. 

“No, no, it was my bad, I get a bit carried away at times.” Monster loli said, turning back into human form to remove herself from the hole in the wall. 

“You good?” I asked her.

“Not always, but I am fine.” She nodded.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m not hurt at all.” Said Rex. 

“Good to know.” I grabbed him by the waist as I did monster girl and took us back to the upper level.

Robot resumed his speech about who made the team and who didn’t. The day was still young and I wasn’t about to waste it here. 

I left with the others, leaving Robot to iron things out with his new team. I did hear Eve’s declaration of not being on the same team with Rex and Kate which made me speed up since I didn’t want to have to deal with the emotional aftermath, plus she needed the space to think. 

I took a swerve down towards the city center below, drawn in by the sounds of explosions and bullets.

Police men took cover behind their cars as they opened fire on the large framed man with a robotic arm. Said man pointed at a high-rise apartment complex and shot a laser beam that tore clean through it, screams ensued as did the explosions. 

I rushed through the hole and into the burning building, the smoke made it difficult to see, I was able to identify them by their screams of help, those were the ones I evacuated first. 

“If you can hear me, come towards my voice. If you can’t move, yell so I know where you are!” No one spoke, I continued my search breaking doors down and yelling within while I looked. 

“M-mister help my mommy.” A child cried past the last door. I found her buried beneath an upturned couch, she lit the torch on her phone which allowed me to locate her, she was relatively safe but I couldn’t say the same for her mother, who was trapped under rubble and unconscious. 

“Hey don’t cry, your mommy’s safe now.” I pried the rubble off the lady, she had a nasty gash on the side of her arm, and…fuck I broke the metal bar poking throw her side from the rock it was attached to, I knew better than to go pulling it out but that didn’t stop the fact that she was bleeding, she needed first aid asap. I carefully carried her in my arms and gestured for the child to climb my back, “Hold on tight, we’re gonna save mommy.” 

“Okay.” She said, grabbing onto my neck as she settled on my back. 

Another explosion rang out in the streets below, a crown vic blown to bits and with it the officer who took cover behind it. 

“Hold on tighter, kid.” I said, blasting off towards the laughing guy with the laser cannon. 

He saw me coming but couldn’t react fast enough. The gust of my approaching attack pushed the folds in his face back, my foot met his face in an arcing kick that made his helmet explode and followed through by flattening his jaw, the vicious attack snapped him face first into the solid asphalt so hard it cratered with a boom! For a moment he remained vertically planted in it like a pole before falling over unconscious and bleeding. He wasn’t dead but well…I don’t think he had much time to live if he didn’t get help.

I left that up to the cops as I dashed towards the closest hospital, depositing the lady in my arms to the ER doctors, and held the child close, waiting for a relative of hers to come through. I wiped the dust off her face and hair, she cleaned the sooth off my eyepieces, blackening her little innocent hands. 

“Will my mommy be fine?” 

“Of course, your mom is strong just like you.” I told her.

Why are you lying?

“Amy? Amy!” A lady cried—a relative I assumed, running towards us, the child jumped out my arms and ran towards the other lady. She was safe, I had no reason to be here.

What a fucking day.

*.*.*.*.*

“Let’s do it tomorrow.” I told Amber over the phone, I needed some peace and quiet right now. 

“Sure, no problem. You okay?” She sounded concerned. Wow. 

“I’m Mark, of course I’m fine.” 

“Bye Mark, make it up to me tomorrow.”

“I will, take care, Amber.”

I fell into the bed, arms behind my head and closed my eyes. Today was hell of a day, I could’ve done better. I should’ve flown faster and intercepted the blast before anything, and then taken the guy out. 

I needed multiple viewing modes embedded in all my goggles, AI or not. I also needed to carry a first aid kit and brush up my skills on offering it to people. I needed to come up with moves like cold breath or making cyclones with my arms. 

I took inventory of things I could’ve done better, skills I needed to develop and some more tools I’d need to enable me to become more effective. I was very combat-skewed, it made me a great at tackling threats, but to become a hero I had to be more diverse or team up with someone who could handle those aspects. 

Guess she was right in a way. 

“Hey.” 

My eyes snapped open, I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice her fly in through my window. It’s creepy how keeps getting the drop on me.

“Eve.”

“Can I stay for a while?” She asked, sitting on the bed before I could even answer.

“Eve you should go home—”

“Please?” She was already on the bed, her eyes wet but a smile on her face.

“Eve you should really go…sigh.” She curled up next to me regardless of my words to her, wrapped her arms around me from the side, telling me how she’d broken it off with Rex tonight. How she just needed my company. 

She cuddled up closer, I could feel her breath on my cheeks. She felt warm and smelled of cherry blossoms. 

I needed to calm down. Yet, there went my arm gripping her waist and caressing her spine in a sensual manner. 

No.

I inhaled. Exhaled. 

No.

She planted a kiss on my cheek, I turned to look at her, her lips were soft and enticing and her eyes were closed. Was she sleeping? I drew her face forth, her eyes still remained shut. I held her face closer, kissing her… on the forehead, she cracked a smile, her grip on me tightening.

She was making a mistake, I wasn’t the right guy for this. 

“Rest.” I whispered. “You’re safe.”

*.*.*.*

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Longest chapter EVER! You’re all welcomumoru! I hope you enjoyed it. 

This brings Vol 1 to a soft close. I’ll be doing a chapter for The Hammer Effect. I’ll also be reviving The Iceman soon, so read up and get acquainted with the material. The MCU…might have to go through some tuff days but luckily for us we’ve got ME! And my golden touch. Kek!

Oh I’m also working on an original series, y’all going to love it! Trust me. 

You know what to do, like, comment, review, send hard nudes. Seriously tho leave a comment, I need to know your thoughts, yes you my friend. I hope this one made your day better too.

Stay dangerous and safe. I need to catch some zzzs. 

Emperor Rain, your favorite in the whole wide world, away. Muah ~~

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