The Truth

Mark's POV:

I've always thought I understood my dad.

Strong, reliable, principled - the perfect father and the perfect hero. Omni-Man, Earth's greatest defender. My role model. The standard I've been trying to live up to since my powers manifested.

A perfect person. Flawless, all-powerful.

But as I sit in our living room, watching him pace with that strange tension in his shoulders, I'm not so sure anymore.

Mom bustles around, gathering first aid supplies with the efficiency of someone who's patched up a superhero husband for years.

She's worried - I can see it in the tight lines around her eyes, the way she keeps glancing at Dad's torn costume, the dried blood still visible despite his Viltrumite healing.

"Nolan, sit down and let me clean those wounds properly," she insists, her voice carrying that mix of exasperation and concern that's so uniquely Mom.

Dad stops pacing, his expression softening as he looks at her. "They'll heal on their own, Debbie. Viltrumite physiology-"

"I don't care about Viltrumite physiology," Mom interrupts, pointing firmly at the couch. "I care about infection and proper wound care. Sit."

To my surprise, Dad complies without further argument, something almost like amusement flickering across his face.

It's a look I've seen a thousand times - the mighty Omni-Man, defeater of alien armadas and natural disasters, yielding to my five-foot-five mother with a dish towel over her shoulder.

Except today, there's something different about it. Something... sad.

My attention shifts to Megumi, who sits in the armchair across from Dad, looking even worse than when we found them.

The adrenaline of their return seems to have worn off, leaving him pale and drawn, the partially healed wounds stark against his skin.

Eve hovers near him - literally hovers, her feet barely touching the ground as she uses her powers to examine his injuries at a molecular level.

She hasn't moved more than three feet from him since we arrived at the house.

I've never seen her like this - so intensely focused on one person, her scientific detachment replaced by something more... personal.

"The damage to your cellular structure is extensive," she's saying, her hands glowing with pink energy as she passes them over a particularly nasty gash on his arm. "I can accelerate the healing process, but you'll need to remain still."

Megumi nods, his eyes meeting hers with an unreadable expression. "Thank you, Eve."

There's a weird tension between them that I can't quite figure out. It's not romantic exactly, but it's definitely not just professional concern either.

Something happened while I wasn't paying attention, some shift in their dynamic that I missed.

"Mark," Mom calls, breaking my train of thought. "Can you get the extra bandages from the upstairs bathroom? The ones in the blue box."

"Sure, Mom." I'm halfway to the stairs when Dad's voice stops me.

"Wait, Mark. Before you go..." He exchanges a look with Megumi, some silent communication passing between them. "There's something we need to discuss. All of us."

The seriousness in his tone makes me pause. "What is it?"

"It should wait until Debbie has finished," Megumi suggests quietly, wincing slightly as Eve's energy probes a particularly deep wound.

Dad shakes his head. "No. We've waited long enough." He turns to Mom, his expression gentle but resolute. "Debbie, I need you to sit down for this."

Mom's hands freeze in the middle of unwrapping a bandage. "Nolan, what's going on? You're scaring me."

"Please, just... sit."

The room falls silent as Mom slowly takes a seat beside Dad on the couch.

Eve pauses her ministrations, though her hands remain near Megumi's wounds, pink energy still flowing softly.

I find myself standing awkwardly by the stairs, suddenly unsure where I should be.

"You too, Mark," Dad says, gesturing to the space beside Mom. "This concerns all of us."

As I sit, a knot of anxiety forms in my stomach. Whatever happened in the Flaxan dimension, it was clearly more significant than a simple "misunderstanding" followed by fighting aliens.

The way Dad and Megumi keep exchanging glances, the tension in the room - something big is coming.

"What I'm about to tell you," Dad begins, his voice taking on a formality I rarely hear at home, "will change how you see me. It will change... everything. But it's the truth, and you deserve to hear it."

Mom reaches for his hand instinctively, but Dad doesn't take it. Instead, he clasps his hands together, staring at them as if gathering his thoughts.

"I am not who you think I am," he says finally. "Or rather, I am not only who you think I am."

"What does that mean?" I ask, confusion mixing with growing unease.

Dad looks up, his eyes meeting mine directly. "I came to Earth with a purpose, Mark. A mission. One I've been carrying out for the past twenty years while living among humans."

"A mission?" Mom echoes, her voice small. "From Viltrum, you mean?"

"Yes." Dad takes a deep breath. "But not the mission I've claimed. Not to protect and guide humanity toward advancement."

The knot in my stomach tightens. "Then what?"

"To evaluate Earth for conquest."

The words hang in the air, simple and devastating. For a moment, I think I've misheard him. Dad - Omni-Man - Earth's greatest hero... here to prepare for conquest?

"That's not funny, Nolan," Mom says, her voice shaking slightly. "If this is some kind of joke-"

"It's not a joke, Debbie," Dad replies quietly. "Viltrum is not the benevolent civilization I've described.

It's an empire, built on conquest and subjugation. I was sent here to determine Earth's suitability for incorporation into that empire."

I feel like I'm falling, like the ground has disappeared beneath me. "But... all these years... saving people, protecting Earth..."

"Part of my cover," Dad explains, though there's a strange hesitation in his voice. "And a way to establish myself as this planet's dominant protector. To learn its defenses, its weaknesses."

"No." The word escapes me before I can stop it. "No, that can't be right. You're Omni-Man. You're a hero. You're my dad."

Dad's expression softens as he looks at me. "I am your father, Mark. That part is real. You are my son, Viltrumite and human both. But the rest..." He shakes his head.

"The persona of Omni-Man, Earth's selfless protector - that was a fabrication. A means to an end."

Mom has gone very still beside me, her face pale. "Twenty years," she whispers. "Our entire marriage... was it all a lie?"

For the first time, Dad looks genuinely pained. "Not all of it, Debbie. Not... not the important parts."

"The important parts?" Mom's voice rises, anger beginning to break through the shock.

"What parts would those be, Nolan? The part where you pretended to love me? The part where you fathered a child with me as part of some alien evaluation process?"

"It wasn't supposed to be like that," Dad says, a note of frustration entering his voice.

"The mission was simple: live among humans, assess their potential, prepare for eventual conquest. But then..."

"Then what?" I demand, my own anger rising to match Mom's. "Then you decided to play house for two decades? To raise a son you were planning to... what? Turn over to your empire?"

"No!" The vehemence in Dad's voice startles all of us. "No, Mark. You were never part of the original plan. You were..." He struggles visibly with the words. "You were unexpected. A complication."

"A complication," I repeat, the word bitter in my mouth. "Great. Glad to know where I stand."

"That's not what I meant." Dad runs a hand through his hair, a gesture of frustration I've seen a thousand times, but now it seems like it belongs to a stranger. "

Viltrumite-human compatibility wasn't certain. Your birth was... significant. It proved that our species could interbreed successfully."

"So I'm what, a successful experiment?" The hurt in my voice is raw, undisguised.

"You're my son," Dad insists, and for a moment he sounds like the father I've always known. "Whatever else is true, whatever my original mission, that fact has never changed."

Throughout this exchange, Megumi has remained silent, watching with that calculating intensity that sometimes makes him seem older than his years. Now, he speaks up.

"Your father's mission has evolved, Mark," he says quietly. "That's what happened in the Flaxan dimension. We didn't just fight each other and then the Flaxans. We... came to an understanding."

I turn to him, betrayal stinging fresh. "You knew about this? For how long?"

"I suspected," Megumi admits. "The spiritual energy surrounding your father has been... conflicted. It suggested a hidden purpose, a deeper agenda."

"Spiritual energy?" Mom asks, momentarily distracted from her own shock.

"A aspect of my abilities," Megumi explains briefly. "I can perceive certain energies that others can't. Including the kind of conflict that comes from a divided purpose."

Eve, who has been silent until now, looks between Megumi and my father. "So in the Flaxan dimension, you confronted him about this? That's what the fight was really about?"

Megumi nods. "I challenged his mission. His intentions toward Earth."

"And I reconsidered them," Dad adds, his gaze returning to Mom and me. "For the first time in centuries, I questioned my orders. My purpose."

"Because of us?" Mom asks, her voice small but steady.

Dad's expression softens in a way I've only ever seen when he looks at her. "Yes, Debbie. Because of you. Because of Mark.

Because after twenty years of living as Nolan Grayson, husband and father, the thought of destroying what we've built became... unacceptable."

There's a rawness in his admission that catches me off guard. This doesn't sound like the calculated deception of an infiltrator. It sounds like... truth. Painful, complicated truth.

"So what now?" I ask, trying to process everything I'm hearing. "You just... decided not to conquer Earth anymore? Will your people accept that?"

"No," Dad replies grimly. "They won't. Which is why we need to prepare."

"Prepare? For what?"

"For war," Megumi says simply. "The Viltrumite Empire won't abandon their plans for Earth just because one agent has reconsidered his mission.

They'll send others. We need to be ready when they come."

The enormity of what he's suggesting hits me like a physical blow. War. Against an empire of beings with powers like Dad's. Like mine.

"How?" I ask, the word barely audible. "How do we fight an entire empire of Viltrumites?"

"Together," Dad says, and there's a determination in his voice I recognize - the same resolve he shows when facing impossible odds.

"With preparation, with strategy, with every advantage we can create. Earth has resources and defenders the Viltrumites don't fully understand."

"Like Megumi," Eve interjects, her scientific mind clearly already calculating possibilities. "His abilities operate on principles entirely different from Viltrumite physiology. They were effective against you, weren't they?"

Dad nods, a hint of respect in his expression as he glances at Megumi. "More than effective. In all my centuries, I've rarely encountered power like his. It's one of the reasons I've reconsidered Earth's potential."

"And there are others," Megumi adds. "The Guardians of the Globe, the Teen Team, other heroes and powered individuals across the planet. With proper training, proper equipment, proper strategy..."

"We can resist," Dad finishes. "It won't be easy. The odds are... not in our favor. But it's possible."

Mom, who has been silent through this exchange, suddenly stands. Her face is pale but composed, her eyes hard as she looks at Dad.

"You lied to me," she says, her voice steady despite the tears gathering in her eyes. "For twenty years, you lied about who you are, why you're here. You married me as part of a... a mission."

Dad rises to face her, his expression pained. "Debbie-"

"I'm not finished," she interrupts, holding up a hand. "You lied, and that's... that's something I'll have to process. But you're here now, telling us the truth. Choosing us over your mission, your people. That has to mean something."

The surprise on Dad's face is genuine. He clearly expected a different reaction - more anger, more rejection.

"It means everything," he says quietly. "You and Mark... you've become more important to me than an empire I was born to serve.

That's not supposed to happen to a Viltrumite. We're trained from birth to value conquest above all else. But somehow..."

"We got through," Mom finishes for him, a single tear escaping despite her control. "Somehow, we became real to you."

"You've always been real to me," Dad insists, reaching for her hand. This time, she lets him take it. "More real than anything in my centuries of existence."

The moment between them is so raw, so intimate that I have to look away.

My emotions are a tangled mess - anger at the deception, fear of what's coming, confusion about who my father really is.

But beneath it all, there's a strange thread of... relief? The sense that a puzzle piece that never quite fit has finally been replaced with the right one.

It explains so much - Dad's occasional aloofness, his sometimes alien perspective on human affairs, the way he can shift from warm father to cold tactician in the blink of an eye.

He's been living a double life, and the strain of it has been showing in ways I never recognized until now.

"I need some air," I mutter, standing abruptly. No one tries to stop me as I head for the back door, stepping out onto the porch that overlooks our suburban yard.

The normalcy of the scene - the carefully maintained lawn, the basketball hoop over the garage, the neighbor's cat stalking through the flower beds - seems surreal after what I've just learned.

How can the world look so ordinary when everything has changed?

I hear the door open behind me and turn, expecting Mom or Dad. Instead, it's Megumi, moving stiffly but with determination, his injuries clearly still paining him despite Eve's treatment.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" I ask, the question automatic despite everything.

"Probably," he acknowledges, coming to stand beside me at the railing. "But I thought you might want to talk."

"About how my dad's been lying to us for my entire life? About how he was planning to help conquer Earth until you supposedly changed his mind?

About how we're now facing war with an empire of super-powered aliens?" I can't keep the bitterness from my voice.

Megumi doesn't flinch at my tone. "Yes. About all of that."

For a moment, we stand in silence, looking out at the yard. Then I turn to face him directly.

"How long have you known?"

"Suspected, not known," he corrects. "And only for a few months. The spiritual conflict within him became more pronounced recently, as if he was approaching some kind of decision point."

"And you didn't think to mention this to me?" I can't help the accusation in my voice. "We're supposed to be friends, Megumi."

"We are friends," he says, his expression serious. "Which is why I needed to be certain before bringing this to you. Imagine if I'd been wrong, Mark.

If I'd told you your father was planning Earth's conquest based on a misinterpretation of spiritual energy patterns."

Put that way, it makes a certain sense, though it doesn't entirely soothe the sting of being kept in the dark.

"So what happened in the Flaxan dimension? Really?"

Megumi's expression grows distant, as if revisiting the battle. "We fought. Seriously fought. I challenged him directly about his intentions, and he... didn't deny them. Not at first. It escalated from there."

"You fought my dad," I repeat, trying to process this. "And you're still standing. How is that possible?"

A flicker of something - pride? amusement? - crosses Megumi's face. "My abilities operate on principles your father hasn't encountered before. They bypass certain Viltrumite advantages."

"Like invulnerability," I guess, remembering the deep cuts I'd seen on Dad's body.

"Among others," Megumi confirms. "It was... educational for both of us."

"And after you fought? How did you convince him to change his mind about his entire mission?"

Megumi's expression softens slightly. "I didn't, not really. I just made him confront what he already knew but wasn't admitting to himself. That he cares about his life here.

About you and your mother. That the thought of destroying that life, even for the empire he was raised to serve, had become unthinkable to him."

I try to reconcile this with the father I've known all my life - strong, certain, sometimes distant but always principled. "It's hard to believe he would change his entire worldview just like that."

"It wasn't 'just like that,'" Megumi corrects. "It was the culmination of twenty years of living among humans. Of building a family, a life.

The conflict has been growing in him for a long time, Mark. Our confrontation just forced him to finally choose a side."

The door opens again, and this time it's Eve who steps out, her expression concerned.

"Your mother's talking with your father," she says, coming to stand on my other side. "I thought it best to give them some privacy."

"How's she taking it?" I ask, worried about Mom despite my own turmoil.

"Better than expected," Eve replies. "She's hurt, obviously, but also... I don't know. Relieved, in a way? Like some things that never made sense to her suddenly do."

That resonates with my own feelings. As shocking as Dad's revelation is, it explains so much about him that I've never quite understood.

"What happens now?" I ask, the question directed at both of them.

"We prepare," Megumi says simply. "We gather allies, develop strategies, create defenses.

The Viltrumite Empire won't abandon their plans for Earth easily, but with your father's knowledge of their tactics and weaknesses, we have advantages no other world has had."

"And we need every advantage," Eve adds, her mind clearly already calculating possibilities. "I've been analyzing your father's injuries - the ones you inflicted," she says to Megumi.

"The molecular disruption patterns are fascinating. If we could replicate that effect in weapons technology..."

"Wait," I interrupt, a realization hitting me. "The Guardians of the Globe. Dad's original mission - was he planning to...?"

Megumi and Eve exchange a glance, and I know I've hit on something significant.

"Yes," Megumi confirms quietly. "The first phase of his mission would have been eliminating Earth's primary defenders. The Guardians would have been his initial targets."

The thought makes me physically ill. My father, planning to murder the Guardians - heroes he's worked alongside for years, people I've looked up to my entire life.

"But he's abandoned that plan," Eve adds quickly, seeing my expression. "That's the whole point, Mark. He's chosen a different path."

"Because of you," Megumi says, his gaze direct. "You and your mother. The connection he's formed with you both was strong enough to overcome centuries of Viltrumite conditioning."

I want to believe that. I need to believe that. But the revelations of the past hour have shaken my trust in everything I thought I knew.

"I need time to process all this," I admit, running a hand through my hair in a gesture I suddenly realize I inherited from Dad. "It's a lot to take in."

"Of course," Megumi nods. "But time is also something we may not have much of.

Your father believes we have months, perhaps a year before Viltrum investigates his lack of reports. We need to use that time wisely."

"Which means bringing the Guardians into this," Eve adds. "And the rest of the Teen Team. Cecil and the GDA too, eventually. We need a coordinated defense strategy."

The scale of what they're suggesting is overwhelming. Not just personal revelations but planetary defense, preparation for an invasion by beings with powers like mine and Dad's.

"What if we can't stop them?" I ask, voicing the fear that's been growing since Dad's revelation. "What if they're too strong, too many?"

"Then we make them pay so dearly for Earth that they question whether it was worth the cost," Megumi replies, his voice carrying a cold certainty that reminds me of the moments I've seen him in combat - calculating, precise, ruthless when necessary.

"We're not without resources," Eve adds more gently. "Earth has defenders with diverse abilities, technologies that can be adapted, strategies that can be developed.

And now we have your father's inside knowledge of Viltrumite weaknesses."

"And we have you, Mark," Megumi says, surprising me. "Half Viltrumite, half human. You represent something new, something with potential beyond either parent species."

"Me?" I can't keep the doubt from my voice. "I barely know how to use my powers. I'm still learning."

"And you'll continue to learn," Megumi says. "Faster now, with focused training. Your father can teach you Viltrumite combat techniques.

I can help you develop strategies against opponents with similar abilities to your own. Eve can provide scientific insights into the limits and possibilities of your physiology."

The confidence in his voice is steadying, a counterpoint to my own uncertainty.

"We're stronger together," Eve agrees, "All of us, combining our different perspectives, abilities, knowledge."

I look between them - Eve with her brilliant scientific mind and molecular powers,

Megumi with his mysterious abilities and tactical precision, and inside the house, my father with his centuries of experience and Viltrumite strength.

An unlikely alliance, formed in the shadow of an approaching threat.

"Okay," I say finally, straightening my shoulders. "I'm in. Whatever it takes to protect Earth. To protect my mom, my friends, everyone."

Megumi nods, a hint of approval in his expression. "That's the Mark Grayson I know."

Eve smiles, her relief evident. "We should go back inside. Your parents will need support too."

As we turn toward the door, I pause, one last question nagging at me. "Megumi," I say, "why did you follow my dad into the Flaxan dimension in the first place? Did you already know what you'd find?"

He considers the question carefully before answering. "I knew something was coming. Something significant.

The spiritual conflict within your father was reaching a breaking point. When he entered the portal alone, I sensed... opportunity."

"Opportunity?"

"To confront him away from Earth, away from potential collateral damage. To force the issue before his original plan could be implemented."

The implication is clear - he followed Dad to protect Earth, to prevent the attack on the Guardians that might have already been in motion.

"Thank you," I say simply. "For stopping him. For giving us this chance."

Megumi nods, accepting the gratitude without comment.

As we reenter the house, I steel myself for the difficult conversations ahead, for the painful process of rebuilding trust with my father, for the task of preparing Earth for what's coming.

Everything has changed. My father isn't who I thought he was.

The future isn't what I imagined. But as I look at the people gathered in our living room - Mom and Dad sitting close together despite everything,

Eve and Megumi with their different but awesome strengths - I feel something unexpected.

Hope.

It's not much. But for now, it's enough to take the next step forward.

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(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!

Do tell me how you found Mark's pov.

So... this will be quite the change for Mark.

It will also make Mark very grateful to Megumi when he processes everything he learned more, and their friendship will become even stronger - very much brotherhood like.

Since Sukuna basically saved his entire established life.

Mark may geniunely grow to trust Sukuna above literally everyone else -

always, because out of everyone, to him, Sukuna even if he hides things from him, always has his best interest in mind, and therefore deserves that level of trust.

That he, to make sure, and not make him distrust his father,

risked his life by confronting his father in another dimension entirely without any back up when things could've gone incredibly side ways - well this is Mark's perspective.

So yeah, I hope to see you all later,

Bye!)