First Encounter

(Carter POV)

After getting on the bus to school, I sat beside Mark. While we didn't share any words, I could tell he was feeling a bit better, which was nice and took a small load off my mind.

Sitting back in the chair as the bus began to move, I was brought back to a time before all of this, and I almost chuckled, thinking about why I seemed to care so much.  Growing up, I never had any siblings. It was just me and my parents; honestly, I was happy about that.

I didn't want siblings, not because they wouldn't have to deal with what I did, but now I have responsibility. I also have my own path to take, and so does Mark.

Nothing else happens on the way there other than me practicing my telekinesis, which, to be honest, is one of my favorite things to do. It just feels calming and in some mysterious way.

Maybe it's because I can exert my own will on the world, something I felt like I could never do before, but that's enough soul-searching for now. I see William getting out of his mother's car as we get off the bus. After I give him a small wave, he heads over and joins us as we walk inside.

"Think you'll be able to go to the game tonight, Mark?"

" I'm sorry, Will, but Carter and I have something to do tonight, so we'll have to cancel that raid."

" Ah man, we've been planning that for a couple of days now. Well, if it's really important, then fine other than that, hey Carter, you feel like doing me a-"

" I will not do your history essay for you Will."  The man deflates right before me as a small chuckle makes its way to my lips.

Thankfully, Todd seems to have gotten the message. As I see him in the hallway, I give him a small look, to which he turns around and immediately starts walking toward his class.

" Hey bro, what did you say to Todd that makes him so scared of you?" Mark asks while grabbing his stuff from his backpack.

" I may or may not have threatened to show some pictures that he really does not want other people to see."  Mark seemed confused for a moment, but after a couple of seconds, it dawned on him, and he started laughing to himself. 

But right before we could head into our math class, I was tapped on the back. After turning around, I saw Amber again. " Hello, Miss Bennett. How can I help you?"

"You know you can call me Amber, right? Miss Bennett is my mom." I raised an eyebrow, and I simply waved it away.

" Well, every time I have tried to talk to you before, you don't seem to respond to your normal name, so I started calling you Miss Bennett, which seems to get your attention."  Not that I wanted it in the first place anyway; it's mostly just because whenever we were partners, it was hard to get her attention on anything.

That, and to be honest, she is not my type. I don't even know what my type is; something to think about for later.

" Well, I was just checking to make sure Todd wasn't bothering you three again, and it seems my fears are unfounded."  I almost started laughing, as I could literally fly Todd into the sun before the next period began.

Mark then interjects, " What about you, Amber? How are you doing?"

Smiling, she says, " Oh, you know, I'm just trying to find a field that doesn't pay a woman anything less than a man."  The comment seemed to throw Mark for a loop, but I decided to save his dignity before he could further embarrass himself.

" Well, that sounds fascinating, but we're about to be late for home. I appreciate your concern, Amber." After saying this, I dragged Mark into the classroom. He was still trying to think of a response to Amber's words, but he seemed to come to his senses after I placed him in his seat.

" Hey man, what gives?  I had a good conversation going there." My brother in Christ, you couldn't even think of a response, but patience is a virtue.

" I'm just saving you from saying anything you might regret, but I do honestly need to ask: Are you trying to start something with her?"  Mark then proceeds to ponder my question for the rest of the period while I simply stare at the board, trying to calculate if I could create some type of gravity chamber for my training. Ironically enough, the increased gravity would help increase my strength dramatically. 

While the training wouldn't be possible for a normal member of the viltrumite race, thanks to my perk that allows me to adapt to environmental circumstances and a small form of reactive evolution, it would help with my gains. However, I will most likely need to wait to find the flaxan dimension to take advantage of the time dilation.

Thankfully, I can already calculate methods of replicating set-time dilation, but I need more data, so patience is key.

Also, I want to thank the person who created this jump chain for allowing me to skip through these classes.

(One School Day Later)

"Thank the gods above; it's over!" Will exclaims, reaching his hands to the sky.

" Sorry to burst your bubble, but you know that we still have about two weeks left in school, right?" Mark says as I wonder if I should try to collect the guardians' DNA samples after Dad pastes them.

I am most interested in is the immortal, as his self-sustenance power would be a perfect addition to our arsenal. While Viltrumites can survive in space and fly through space at near relativistic speeds, but we actually need to hold our breath throughout the entire time. If I use the power injector to gain his power as much as possible, even his healing factor, that would be a force multiplier for my existing adaptation.

Sadly, based on my studies of the power injector, I can only inject a certain number of powers before my body needs to settle in a way, but thanks to my dominant genetics. I won't need to worry about my DNA being corrupted by any of the new powers; I wouldn't want a rogue-type Situation occurring with my powers actually gaining sentience.

So far, the highest priorities are the immortal's and Atom Eve's powers. The power injector allows me to increase and gain their powers naturally, which means I will eventually be able to affect organic matter with time and practice, making beings like Thragg into Swiss cheese with a single touch.

But that would most likely take years of practice. Even with the various alternate dimensions having different time flows, it does have the drawback of not actually reducing my time in this jump, as time only flows for my jump on this earth or an alternate earth with a similar time flow.

Before I could think about this further, Mark and I bid farewell. But before we could get on the bus, I heard gunshots in the distance, and I assume Mark did, too. As I looked at him, I knew what was about to happen.

" You can go, Mark. I'll be right behind you."  Mark then takes a bandanna out on him and uses it as a makeshift mask and some goggles. After heading into a secluded place on the school grounds, he begins flying towards the source of the gunshots.

Well, I simply activate my trackless perk, which makes me invisible to any and all tracking technology. For the first time, my suit—my normal, super suit—appears around me, and a small flash of light appears.

While I wish I could examine the material it was made of, I use my telekinetic senses and spread them across the city, trying to locate where the gunshots are coming from. After a couple of milliseconds, I am immediately in the alleyway where a certain rock man is covering for two thieves.

After examining the situation in my superspeed mode, which I will have to find a better name for, I wish I could use the flash time. However, I don't think it would be applicable, as I don't have to speed force and trust me. Sadly, I tried to use the formula but didn't do anything.

Using my x-ray vision on all three of them, I see that only two of them are armed, with the Rockman being their hired muscle. From what I could remember, he's mostly doing this for money. After deciding on what to do next, I drop down in front of them while activating my voice changer.

" Hello there," I say as my voice echoes across the alleyway.

"Shit, it's a hero open fire!"  One of the guys in a suit says while the other guy unloads his pistol. I grabbed all their guns telekinetically and crushed them into powder before I could even say anything. The guy with the rock for skin tries to punch me, too, to which I simply raise my hand, and the punch stops right in front of me.

"What the hell is this!" The rock man asks in confusion as his punches are stopped inches from my body. And after around 10 consecutive punches, I freeze the man in place before beginning to crack his rocky shell telekinetically.

"It doesn't matter.  What does matter is what you guys are stealing." After I grabbed the briefcase and opened it, I saw that it was filled with bills of at least a couple million dollars in 20 dollar bills.

"Look, man, I don't know who you are, but you have no idea who you are dealing with," One of the thugs says as I close the case.

" I already know who you are, Gerald. I already know where you live, and I already know that you have over 50 TB worth of child pornography on your computer." The last part causes the other two to look at him in disgust.

After saying that, said collector of child pornography, then tries to swing at me, to which I flick him into a nearby wall and thanks to my perfect control perks. I don't need to worry about snapping his neck.

After he lands and falls to the ground, the other thug looks at me and simply gets on the ground with his hands behind his back.

" What about you, big guy? What's your move?"  The question is met with silence before he slowly turns back into his normal form and gets on the ground.

" Dude, how did you get here before I could?" Mark asks while flying in.

"Also, where the hell did you get the costume from? Did you make it yourself?"  I nodded as the police who were chasing these three finally got past the fences they jumped over after seeing us. I placed the briefcase on the ground.

" Hello there, officers. I believe these three were giving me some trouble." The officer, who looks like he is about to pass out from running, simply nods before his partner speaks up.

"Well, it seems that you handle these guys already. Are you two new?" After looking at Mark, he and I both looked at the officer, but before we could say more, my telekinetic senses then ping Omni man entering the city.

"It seems we need to talk, boys. Let's get out of here."  After handing the briefcase to the officer, Mark and I begin flying after Nolan. After flying across several city blocks, we all land on a nearby building.

" Well, firstly, I would like to say that you did well, Carter. You examined the situation and handled it strictly and efficiently. And Mark, what exactly is that costume?" Mark just shrugs while looking me over.

" That's definitely not Art's work, so where'd you get the costume from, son?" While it does seem like an innocent question on the surface, I can tell that there's a lot more than this question.

" I made it myself using materials I could buy from my allowance, although I did get a design from a friend whose name shall remain anonymous as per our agreement." Nolan looks like he wants to ask further but is stopped by Mark, who asks.

"Dad, shouldn't we have stayed with the police to ensure they could bring the guy in?"  The question does bring a small smile to my face as my brother slowly learning, but I already have eyes on him through the various cameras, and I can see that all three have been arrested and are being taken to the police station.

"That's what the authorities are for, Mark, but I do feel like you two are skipping a decent amount of steps. There's a process to this, too. You don't just step out on the streets without experience, and this went relatively well. It might not happen like that next time." After saying this, Mark does appear to get a bit more defensive as he walks up to Nolan.

"Look, Dad, we both want to be out here doing something, trying to make a difference, and we're just doing what you said: getting experience for the job, even though I still don't know how Carter got there before I did." I simply chuckled to myself while Nolan looked at Mark.

"It's not always about being experienced, Mark, any day. A supervillain with a weapon might present a potential threat that both of you may not be prepared for. There's a process to this." Mark gets more upset and continues.

"This is about what happened during training, then hit me. I want you to hit me. I need to prove to you that I'm strong enough, and we're both strong enough."

"Mark, that's enough-" Nolan tries to stop Mark, but he continues.

"It's not! Look, just let me prove you wrong. So hit me!" But instead, he just walked over to him and hugged him, and I let it happen.

After the two separate, Nolan looks at both of us and says, "Look, I know you two want to be out here on the streets or across the world fighting the bad guys, but it's not always that simple. Sometimes, you boys are going to need to make the hard choices, and you're definitely going to regret making them. But this is not the place to have this conversation. Come with me."

Nolan then lifts off towards what I assumed to be Art's tailor shop, and we both follow closely behind him.

As we land in front of the shop and enter the store using the back entrance, we enter what looks to be some type of sub-basement. I see an older man sitting over a table, putting a piece of cloth together.

The man then turns around and hugs Omni man, saying in a jovial tone, "It's been ages since you last needed my help. What can I do for you, Nolan?"

"Well, Art, it's time." Art then looks us over, and after seeing my suit, he whistles in approval as he looks over my suit.

"Wow, kid, that's a nice-looking suit you made yourself?" I nodded as he looked over to Mark and began taking measurements.

But before I could ask any questions, no one gripped me by the shoulder and said, "Carter, we need to have a conversation. Art, take care of Mark for me. Carter and I need to talk upstairs."

The man simply shooed us away as I walked up the stairs. My mind began racing, thinking of possible questions and answers about what was about to happen. Worst case scenario, I would have to immediately open a portal to another dimension, but it may have been nothing but curiosity.

After we enter the upper parts of the shop, Nolan closes the door behind him, and as I turn around to face him, I already find the man in front of my face, looking me dead in the eyes.

(I'll tell you what people nothing like listening to Lord Of The Rings music to fill me with motivation. A bit of a strange question here, but if I said that I would be going to follow Aragorn or Theoden the battle does that make me weird)