Ethan arrives at the forest and looks around. There is no one in a 50-mile radius, so he was good. He takes off his shirt because it will only get dirty and damaged. He is already wearing his training pants, so there's nothing to do about that. And as much as he is proud of his physique and has little shame, he won't train in his underwear. He rises into the air slightly and then looks forward. He thinks about what his father told him and Mark when they started flying, about them being able to push themselves through physical space. This grants them mobility that is overpowered in a fight. The sheer implications of it were lost on Mark but not on a martial arts monster like Ethan. The fighter who is more mobile in a fight has a great advantage. Now, imagine if you could move through 3-dimensional space unhindered and in all directions. This gives you limitless possibilities of how to move and makes you unpredictable.
Ethan liked this very much. But he had to master this before he could celebrate. His father did it instinctively, but Ethan had noticed that there was a problem with that. By doing something instinctively, he had lost his touch. Not in the way that he can't do it anymore, which he absolutely could, but he doesn't use this to the maximum potential anymore. Omni-Man is, without a doubt, the most powerful being on the planet, and Ethan was 100% sure of that. He had seen his father's muscle and bone structure and the way his organs worked. He saw his weaknesses and knew... that there was but one. And that was the equilibrium in their ears.
But, back to his father's mistake. Due to being the most powerful being on the planet, simply punching his way through problems is how he does it, and that was enough. There is nothing to say against this, but for someone like Ethan, who was a Hanma, that wouldn't go. He would push his flight skills to the absolute max and redevelop his fighting style.
Ethan looks forward and sees the trees blocking his path. He doesn't take a horizontal position, but stays vertical. Quality over quantity. Suddenly, his body starts moving and shoots forward towards the tree. He tries to stop himself as fast as he can, but he overshoots and crashes through the tree.
*CRACKK*
Ethan shakes his head and tries again. He uses the highest speed available right now to do this. Training his acceleration and deceleration is something he feels will be necessary. Should he ever fight in the city, the civilians will thank him. Once again, Ethan shoots forward and tries to stop right before the tree trunk. But without luck.
*BOOM*
Another tree falls down. Ethan doesn't care. He repeats the process again and again. By the fifth time, he doesn't pass through the tree and instead manages to stop just before he passes through the other side. Progress. Ethan follows Samuel Beckett's advice.
"Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."
*BOOM*
But sometimes, he also follows Yoda's words.
"There is no try, only do."
Ethan is a broken genius, but even he must adapt to a new power set like the Viltrumite's. After the tenth try, he doesn't even crash fully into the tree again, and after the 20th try, he manages to stop in front of the tree entirely. One might argue that if he truly were a genius, he would master it immediately, but that's not true. It took Omni-Man thousands of years to reach his level of skill, and here was Ethan, who managed to control his speed after 20 tries. That doesn't mean Ethan has reached the same level of skill in flying as his father; of course not. But he would reach that level of skill in a few days, a week at most.
Now that he has done that, Ethan moves to the next part of his training. He starts to do the same thing again. He uses his top speed and flashes in front of a tree trunk. He stops right in front of it and changes his direction without changing his posture. So he shoots forward, stops, then moves to the left or right, continuing to look forward and then stops in front of the next tree. He trains to use his flight through space from all directions while not looking where he is flying—a skill he will surely need.
From the sky, one would see trees falling to the ground every once in a while. Ethan flashes through the forest, without looking anywhere but forward and moves left, right, diagonally and in circles, but all of this in a horizontal plane. Not upwards or down, not yet. As time passes, Ethan grows into a very skilled flyer, and he makes it harder and harder for himself, smiling from one ear to the other as he does so.
Ethan stops using only the x-axis and adds the y-axis to his training as well. He moves from the ground up to the canopy and then to the ground again while keeping the rest of the exercise the same. He moves through the forest that way, up and down, from tree to tree, trying not to destroy the ground and break through the canopy. No setbacks would hinder him from doing this; no failure would ever stop him. He would succeed, and that was a fact.
.
After hours of training, Ethan has had enough, seeing the sun already setting and makes his way back to where he started all this, at the other end of the forest, where he left his shirt. His pants are ruined. He grabs his shirt and then shoots it into the sky. He feels the difference in flying already. He doesn't have to move in the direction he looks. He zooms through the sky, reaching home. He enters through his window and takes off his clothes, moving through the hallway and into the bathroom. He lets the shower run, washing off all the grime and dirt from the day. His perception of space has been altered slightly. Movement is no longer something he necessarily does the 'normal' way.
He turns off the shower and floats slightly above the ground, moving backward and grabbing a towel to dry himself with.
*Sigh*
"Mom's not going to like this," Mark says as he looks at his trousers.
The crashes have ripped them open all over and basically ruined them. He can, of course, by himself new ones, but it's still a waste. He walks back into his room with a towel around his waist as he hears his mother call for him.
"Mark? Ethan?"
"Yes, Mom? I'm here."
"Where were you?" she asks.
"Out training my flying. Why? Did something happen? Where's Dad?"
"He hasn't come home, and neither have you. You could have told me you wouldn't come for dinner."
"Sorry about that. I forgot about the time again."
"I thought as much. Say, have you seen your brother?" Debbie asks.
"From the sound of it, he's outside training how to crash."
*boom*
Debbie hears it and walks downstairs. She slides the glass to the side and walks into their garden.
"Mark?"
*BOOM*
Mark crashes into the ground next to her, cratering the grass of their garden. Two other holes are next to the one he just created, telling of other failed attempts.
"Urgh..."
"What the hell was that?"
"Uh... practicing my landings?"
"Yeah, I see that now."
"Uh, sorry about the yard." Mark apologises.
"What are you doing?"
"I need practice, Mom. I can't land well; I can't fly all that fast. I need to be better."
"Mark, you need to sleep."
"I need to practice."
"Honey, it's the middle of the night. I have work tomorrow, and you have school. Get inside right now." Debbie orders.
...
"Make me."
Debbie is surprised at that answer.
"Does that make you feel strong? To know I can't physically make you do something? Is that what you need?"
*Sigh*
"This is important," Mark says like a beaten dog. Debbie, seeing her son like that, understands what is wrong.
"Remember when you and Ethan were little, and we'd talk almost every night before you two went to bed? You'd tell me about whatever jerk made fun of your hair, Ethan about whatever jerk he punched because he made fun of your hair, and I'd tell you about all the girl drama I lived through so you would feel better?"
"Yeah."
"I can't talk to you while we soar through the clouds, but... but I'm still here. It used to be you, Ethan, me and this crazy world-saving, super-powered father of yours. Now it's you two and him and your boring old, normal mom."
"Don't talk about yourself like that," Ethan says as he sits beside the two. "You still rock. And besides, there was this jerk at school today..."
"Haha, it's okay, sweethearts. I get it. Both of you have to move away from the normal life with me and get used to being... something more. Like your dad." Debbie says.
"Yeah, but see, that's what I'm worried about. I'm nothing like Dad. Ethan is, but he doesn't even want to become a superhero. Meanwhile, I'm more like you. I'm nothing special." Mark says.
"Ooooh, that one hurt, Mark," Ethan says.
"Like a knife to the heart," Debbie chuckles.
"Ah, crap... You two know what I mean. After everything he's done, how can I possibly live up to all that? And why is it that Ethan seems to be unbothered about all this?" Mark asks.
"Ethan is a bit of a special case. Who says you have to live up to your father? You don't have to be the greatest Omni-Man ever or the greatest knuckleheaded martial artist ever. You just have to be the greatest Mark you." Debbie says while she stops Ethan from talking.
"And what if the greatest me isn't enough?"
"Mark, you stupid boy. How could he be greater than you enough?" Debbie asks.
"Thank you. I love my boring, powerless, everyday, run-of-the-mill Mom and my different brother." Mark says.
"And I love my asshole sons."
"It's okay; I'm just sitting here anyway. There's no need to include me in the discussion," Ethan says after a moment of silence.
"And where were you the entire day, Ethan?" Debbie asks.
"Uhhh, good talk."
.
Ethan wakes up from his meditation at 4 AM. He doesn't need sleep, and he does this to pass the time, so he doesn't care about when he starts his day. He gets down on the floor and does his daily morning workout. It doesn't help him at all anymore; it hasn't for a few years. But it's his morning ritual he does anyway. After he does 1000 push-ups, sit-ups, squats and pull-ups, he leaves the house for a run. He makes sure to keep a human pace and then accelerates once he leaves the suburbs.
When he returns, he finds his mother sitting at the table, drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper.
"Morning, Mom."
"Good morning, Ethan. How was your run?"
"Better than your night, it would seem. What's wrong? Did Dad not come home last night?"
"No."
"Want me to look into it?" Ethan asks. Ethan had a talent for finding clues and putting together facts to form a picture. Something he would use in the future.
"No, honey. I'm sure it's nothing. I'll go take a shower, and you should do that, too. Then, off to school."
"Sure."
Ethan takes a shower and then dresses for the day, getting ready to go to school. Mark is already downstairs eating breakfast, and Debbie is about to leave the house.
"Make sure you're not late for school, you two."
"Eh, don't worry," Ethan says and sits down. He hears his mother gasp lightly and moves towards her. Two men in black tuxedos stand in front of the door.
"Who're you?"
...
The Grayson family is brought to the Pentagon, where they are told that Nolan was hurt and is in their hospital being treated. Debbie is distraught, and Mark can't fully grasp it, while Ethan finds that strange. He knows how powerful his father is, and he is certain that there shouldn't be anything that could hurt him. So if there was someone who could harm him that he needed a hospital, then things were serious.
"Nolan's receiving the absolute pinnacle of care." Donald Ferguson says as they take a secret lift down. "As the Global Defense Agency, we have access to medical technology far beyond any normal hospital."
They make their way through the facility, and Mark is impressed with what he sees. Trying to light the mood a bit, Donald starts explaining.
"That's one of our threat-response teams. They're able to go anywhere..."
"We're not in the mood for a tour, Donald."
"Sorry, Debbie."
"Our Dad never mentioned you guys," Mark says.
"That's the idea. We work with superheroes like your father to keep the world safe." Donald explains.
"Then you have been doing a shit job. The world is no safer than it was before. In fact, I'd say it's more dangerous now." Ethan interjects.
"Uhhh, well... who knows. Maybe one day we'll even work with Invincible and... whatever superhero name you choose, to make the world safer." Donald says.
*Tsschh*
The door slides open, and they see Nolan lying on a bed, surrounded by medical devices. His right arm is encased and bandaged, and he has wounds on his face and a swollen eye.
"Oh, my god, Nolan," Debbie exclaims and rushes to her husband's side.
"Dad!" Mark does the same.
Ethan, on the other hand, stops walking and looks to the left, where he sees an old man standing in the corner. His eyes roam over the man's figure and evaluate him. After placing him in the potentially dangerous, but not now category, he also moves towards his father.
"He's gonna be okay, right?" Mark asks.
"We... hope so, and our doctors are doing their best, but we don't get a lot of Viltrumites in here." Donald says.
"He'll be fine," Ethan says.
Everyone in the room suddenly looks at him. Ethan just looked at his father and saw the different things keeping him from waking up right now. He perceived all who came into Ethan's sight, including all their weaknesses. From small cancer cells people themselves weren't aware of yet, the decaying tooth they have yet to discover, Ethan can spot everyone's vital points 100% of the time without fail. He picks up all of it, making all medical tools pale in front of him. So he saw that his father was already on his way to recovering very soon. Him lying here was but a formality.
"How do you know that?" Donald asks.
"Ethan has an eye for injuries; he always had," Debbie says and smiles at her son with tears in her eyes, thanking him for telling her.
"Who did this?" Mark asks.
"We have no idea. Not yet, anyway. But we'll find out, and when we do, they're gonna look a hell of a lot worse than your dad over there. Cecil Stedman." The man in the corner introduces himself after that 'dramatic' entrance.
"I'm the director of the GDA."
He shakes Mark's hand but is ignored by Ethan, who still looks at his father with a pensive look on his face. Something bothers him.
"Deborah, and you must be Ethan. I've heard a lot about you already. The martial arts genius. I'm so sorry." Cecil says.
"Cecil, you have a lot of nerve."
"Someone murdered the Guardians of the Globe last night." Cecil interrupts Debbie from ranting.
"Oh my god." Mark and Debbie are shocked.
"Hmm."
"All of them." Cecil continues. "Tore 'em limb from limb. Now we tried like hell to bring 'em back, but Nolan was the only survivor."
"How is that even possible?" Mark asks.
"We don't know yet. We also don't know why your dad was at Guardians' HQ. Now working theory is, whoever killed the Guardians lured him there, tried to wipe 'em all out at once." Cecil explains.
"Why?" Mark asks further.
"Why? Well, that's the easy part. There isn't a super-villain alive who doesn't want Omni-Man and the Guardians six feet under. Now, we're keeping this all hush-hush for now, but news will break. I wanted you, Mark and Ethan to know first." Cecil finishes.
Debbie wipes her tears away.
"Cold towels and ice water, and have a cot brought in here for me," she tells the government agents.
"Deborah, we've got the best-trained..." Cecil starts but is interrupted by the emotional Debbie.
"I've patched Nolan up for 20 years, Cecil. I am not leaving." Debbie stares at Cecil, who eventually relents and nods his head.
"Of-of course, Debbie," Donald says.
Donald suddenly receives something and touches the receiver in his ear.
"Sir... There's some kind of attack happening downtown, it seems. Numerous contacts. Heavy weaponry. Multiple casualties." Donald tells his boss.
"Now? We're a little understaffed in the hero department." Cecil says and walks out of the room with Donald.
After the two men leave the room, Mark starts to think. But before he comes to a conclusion, Ethan addresses him.
"Well, Mark?"
"What?"
"He said that to you," Ethan says.
"Who said what?"
"The government director. He said those words to you. So, will you go or stay?"
"I..."
Mark looks at his father and then at Ethan and his mother.
"This is your choice, Mark. You don't have to do it; you can take your time. This is not about Dad; this is what you want to do." Ethan continues.
Mark grabs his father's hand and then nods his head.
"I'll do it."