writing fight scenes is the hardest thing in the world ————— When I Asked You to Spill Your Guts, I Didn't Mean Literally

•••

"So, the moon," I said at a very reasonable voice level in the crowded school hallway. "How was that?"

I stood a couple of steps behind him as Mark fished his belongings out of his locker. I watched him tilt his head in a way that indicated he would be scratching at it if he hadn't been hunting for his math binder. Tentatively, he clicked his tongue.

"More action packed than I had hoped, but I kept it cool," Mark replied, turning around and slamming his locker shut. He smiled at me with a confidence suggesting he kept it anything but cool, but I admired the fact that there was no news to prove my theory.

"I missed you," I remarked, feeling a little cheesy. I wasn't big on PDA, but I left a soft kiss on his cheek. "I'm glad everyone got home safe. Especially you."

"I'm happy to get such a warm welcome," Mark replied, depositing an equally soft kiss onto my lips. "Actually, I almost forgot... I brought you something."

"Oh? A souvenir?"

Mark paused, digging around in his overly full backpack for my mystery gift. He gasped as he wrapped his hand around it, causing me to bite my lip in anticipation.

"A rock!" Mark exclaimed as he pulled it out, the orange specimen resting nicely in the palm of his hand. "Just like you asked for."

"A rock?" I asked stupidly as he transferred it to my grasp.

"What you're looking at is pure mars matter," Mark proudly stated, pointing at the stone. "Kind of an invasive species, but it's just like you."

"What does that mean?" I feigned offense.

"Just like how you invaded my heart," Mark stated, probably a little too proudly for his cheesy joke.

"You're too much," I laughed, although I held the rock to my heart before setting it in my bag. With my free hand, I laced my fingers in his. "I'll keep it forever."

Mark sighed, squeezing my hand a little tighter. "You're the best girlfriend I could ask for."

I raised my eyebrows, clicking my tongue. "Girlfriend?" I asked. "Who said I was your girlfriend?"

Suddenly, Mark's face fell, his grip on my hand loosening significantly. "Did you... not want to be?"

The genuine confusion in his voice almost made me feel bad for trying to bait him into officially asking me.

"I just... didn't realize we were there yet," I stated honestly, trying to double back on my teasing.

"I just... assumed..." Mark hesitantly tried to explain.

"I think it's better not to," I remarked, the vigor coming back into my voice. "Just in case."

"Oh. Well, in that case, would you, (Y/N) (L/N), do me the honor of being my girlfriend?" Mark asked, making my heart swell. Despite the fact I knew it was coming, and I was essentially asking for it myself, it still gave me butterflies.

"I would absolutely love that," I replied, my cheeks heating up as I smiled.

"Awesome," Mark cheered, his classic smile gracing his features once again. "Let me try this again - you're the best girlfriend I could ask for."

Shaking my head, I laughed good naturedly. "You're a total goof."

The next few weeks, Mark was in and out of it. He was constantly busy, often working on his superhero stuff and skipping class. It wasn't anything I was unfamiliar with within myself, but sometimes it was still annoying.

It felt different, now that he had so many more solo missions and work with his dad. I couldn't blame him - he was the strongest guy I knew - but sometimes I got a little lonely.

I was glad to have William and Eve in my reserve. The best friends a girl could ask for.

Thankfully, when Mark was present, he made every effort to be fully present. He listened intently, engaged in conversation, and constantly went above and beyond. He brought me gifts, like the latest edition of a comic I liked, or a shirt he thought I'd look beautiful in. Sometimes, he even took me flying.

Unfortunately, I couldn't fill all of my time. Meaning, sometimes I found myself falling back into my thoughts. About my powers, my future... Minta.

I hated that I kept coming back to her. It should've been resolved by now, considering I'd been able to prove all of her other statements wrong. Yet I just couldn't get past the concept of my mom being... a villain. Something less than great.

Whether or not she was good wasn't even the part that mattered. It just hurt, the idea that she might have been someone totally different than I thought she was. Realizing I really didn't know her at all.

This silly little obsession had me finding myself asking cryptic, philosophical questions during times that were probably slightly less than appropriate.

"If someone asked you to kill them," I asked Mark slowly while we worked on our homework, picking every word with precision, "or, like, gave you permission, would you?"

I laid on his bed, propped up on my elbows, hovering my legs in the air. Mark sat next to me, hunched over his laptop. Subtly, I glanced at him from over my work.

His face scrunched up, eyebrows furrowed. Turning away from his work he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Like an assisted suicide," I elaborated, turning my full attention to him. "Morally, would it still be wrong?"

"I guess it depends," Mark replied. "I've never really thought about it. Any reason for the sudden philosophy?"

'What about... someone in the hospital?" I elaborated, pocketing his question for later. Mindlessly, I kicked my legs slowly behind me.

"I don't think it's right, no, but it's not wrong," Mark answered thoughtfully. "In a tough situation nobody should have to suffer. Obviously it would be better to save them, but I assume you're talking people who are going to die anyway?"

"Sure," I replied, although truly I had no idea what kind of people I was talking about. The vision Minta gave me had no words, and little sound. Only a scenario.

"It's like assisted suicide," Mark offered. "Although if you're asking for yourself, I think that would be vigilantism which isn't necessarily smiled upon."

"We are basically vigilantes," I countered. "Especially since I left the Guardians. And I'm asking for a friend."

"Well, I think if your friend has the right intentions in mind, and the person dying consented, it can't be that bad, right?" Mark decided. His brown eyes gazed into mine. "I'm not sure if I'd make the same decision, but I wouldn't argue it's wrong."

The problem was, no matter how many times I considered it, I could never get past the fact I didn't know. I really had no idea what my mom was thinking when she did it, or what her intentions were, or why. What the patient thought.

And then there was the question of 'why wouldn't she heal them?' If they were so desperate to be free of suffering, couldn't she just... free them of their suffering?

At this point, it wasn't really the morality that bothered me. The uncertainty and brainstorming was the worst.

While I had my problems, Mark was growing into his. He was a little more secretive with his endeavors, not because he was hiding anything but just because he 'didn't think it was interesting.'

Plus, he thought it was cooler for me to watch him on the news. I got one too many texts telling me to 'turn on channel 7' or 'check YouTube trending.' It was cute, I'll admit, but I preferred to hear the words in his voice. To hear the story the way he experienced it, not how the world saw it.

Luckily, I always knew I'd get to hear the whole of it when I was invited to Grayson family dinner. They were the type of unit to share every detail of their day while they ate, and no sentence would be spared.

"This guy Titan approached me today," Mark explained, dumping a spoonful of corn onto his plate with a few wet clinks. "He wants my help to take down someone called 'Machine Head', who has a machine for a head. Go figure."

"What's his motive?" I asked, trying not to come across as overly nosy despite, in fact, being overly nosy.

"He's caught up in some trouble. Seems Machine Head is this ruthless inner city drug lord," Mark replied. "I could take Machine Head, but he has a right hand man who can teleport him away if I'm not fast enough. What do you think, dad?"

"I think it would be a huge mistake," Nolan replied, setting his fork down on his napkin. "He's using you."

"I'm not an idiot - I know when someone's lying. Titan never wanted to be a criminal to begin with. He has a family. I think his daughter is sick," Mark explained.

I frowned, his brief story seeming sadder with every word. The kind of situations people could end up in when they were desperate for money were horrible. Living in the nicer side of Chicago made it regretfully easy to forget the troubles of those living in worse areas.

"Even if that was true, you're a Viltrumite, okay?" Nolan stated firmly, his eyes cloudy. "You fought off an alien invasion, saved the country from an asteroid. This is beneath you."

I knew it really wasn't my place to talk, but I felt a little offended that Nolan would consider normal people's problems 'beneath him'. Mark was a wonderful guy - I couldn't imagine him stepping away from helping someone, especially when there were no bigger problems to deal with. That was one of the things I liked so much about him.

Besides, he wasn't that removed from the rest of us. I knew very very little about Viltrumites, but from what Mark had told me, they would've cared about the little guy, too.

"Mom?"

"I know some people aren't always who they appear to be..." Debbie responded kindly, although not before shooting her husband a dirty look. "But I also know that helping someone is never beneath you."

"I can help you, too," I added, hoping it wouldn't stir the pot. Mark's mom had taken the words right out of my mouth. "I'm with you, no matter what choice you make."

There were a few moments of standoff as we all waited for Mark to make a decision. Silverware clanking on plates and the sound of people chewing had never been quite so loud.

"I'm gonna sleep on it," Mark decided plainly.

"Fine," Nolan replied, although his tone of voice indicated it was anything but fine.

I shot Mark a mildly worried glance, hoping I wasn't witnessing a supermassive rift opening up between the two of them. Mark checked in my direction, discreetly shaking his head that it was nothing to worry about. I wasn't sure how much I believed him, or how much I trusted my skills at reading his nonverbal cues for that matter, but I dropped it.

We ate the rest of our dinner in relative silence. Small talk popped up here and there, and compliments went to the chef at the end of the night, but it was largely quiet and uneventful.

Somehow, I felt like the argument stood for more than just social issues.

Later, we went up to his room and sat side by side on the bed. Mark's khakis crinkled as he sat, sliding his hands up and down his knees.

"Do you think I'd be doing the right thing?" Mark asked. I didn't need to inquire to know what thing he was talking about.

"It's hard to tell. The 'little guy' is a person, too, but the situation seems to be a lot bigger than that," I admitted honestly. I placed a supportive hand gingerly atop his, quelling his nervous motion. "I trust that whatever you do, you'll make the right choice. Not because I know you will, but because whatever choice you make, you'll make it the right one."

Mark scoffed, but he couldn't stop himself from softly smiling. "Yeah. Right," Mark stated, shaking his head. "You're right. Thank you."

"Don't thank me for that," I chuckled, nudging his shoulder. "I just wanted to make a cool speech."

"Well, you succeeded."

"Thanks," I smiled. Mark leaned back onto the bed and I followed, laying my head on his chest. "You doing anything tomorrow night?"

"I don't think so, why?" He wrapped an arm around my shoulders, holding me safe against him.

"You wanna go see a movie? Do something normal, take your mind off of it?" I could hear his heart beating in his chest, slightly faster than normal.

Mark sighed, but ultimately gave a halfhearted smile. "Yeah. I'd love that."

As it turned out, the movies were not meant to be. That same night, hardly an hour before Mark was planning to pick me up, my phone rang, it's familiar jingle startling me out of the homework I was largely not doing.

I placed my work beside me and leaned over to my nightstand, briefly glancing at the sweet picture of Mark eating ice cream as part of the caller ID, and picked up the phone. Intently, I held it up to my ear.

"Can you meet me in twenty? I'll send you the address," Mark asked as soon as the line connected, his voice cracking through the speaker.

"What ever happened to 'hello'? 'How are you'?" I joked, sighing into the phone.

"How are you, (Y/N)?" Mark asked. I thought I detected the slightest bit of snark in his voice, but I chose to overlook it.

"Great! Thanks for asking," I replied, animatedly chipper.

"That's awesome," Mark said. "Anyway, it's about Titan. He wants to take down Machine Head today. If we're fast enough, we can still make that movie."

I hummed, pretending to think it over. I knew it was immature, especially with the current stakes, but I'd be lying if I hadn't been really excited for that movie. "I dunno, Mark," I stated, "I've got a lot of homework tonight."

"What? I really need you for this one, (Y/N)." I could tell by his tone of voice he knew I was messing with him, but flattery gets you anywhere.

"In that case, send me the address and I'll be there in 15."

With my teleporter, I made it in 10.

To be completely honest, I didn't think I would be needed at all. Invincible was strong - and getting stronger. From what he had said, too, Titan could put up a good fight. Against some crime bosses?

I would've never guessed the mess I'd be walking into. Or anything even close to it.

Rubble littered the floor already, residue from the gruesome fight. There appeared to be a few unexpected guests, heroes (or maybe villains) I had yet to have seen before. In the middle of it all laid Titan on the floor, and beside him, suspended in air, was Invincible himself.

"How nice of you to join us... Affinity," Machine Head stated, directing all attention towards me before I even had time to fully grasp my surroundings. "I wish I could say you're a pleasant surprise, but really, I'm not surprised at all. I knew you wouldn't miss the fun."

"I'm sure you're having a great time sitting there doing nothing," I remarked. Unfortunately, my wit was under appreciated. I hardly had time to step out of the way before a large bat slammed down in the exact spot I once stood.

The white beast roared, tearing up for another swing. Fear painted my face, kicking me into action. I had thought this would be easy. I was sorely mistaken.

"I'm gonna grind you up and use you to pave my driveway," Machine Head stated. "It's gonna bring a smile to my face."

Hot, molten lava shot out at Titan, and the... tongue... holding Invincible flicked around, shooting him into the direct line of a bolt of lightning. I winced - both from seeing everyone else get hurt, and the blinding pain that shot down my shoulder where the beast struck me.

I knew it would benefit me later. But right now, it hurt like all get out.

"No!" Invincible shouted, his eyes widening where his mask had broken. He groaned with effort, the charge running through his body more than enough to take out a normal person. "You guys are fucking dead!"

Not wasting a second, he broke from his restraint. He sent back a flying punch to his captor, shooting him into the wall. I tried to distance myself to join the fight, but the beast tracked my movements like a hawk. I had little wiggle room to avoid him, and even less to get away.

Invincible slammed the tongue guy into the electric man, sending them crumbling into each other. When the molten man tried to retaliate, Invincible came through splitting him. He splattered to the floor like an abstract painting, split wholly in half.

"Who's next?" Invincible called out, panting.

It became clear to me in this minute that the battle beast had only been playing so far. The feeling of blood rushing to my head was unlike any I'd ever experienced before as he put his full force into swinging on me. The blunt edge of his hammer slammed into my shoulder, knocking me onto my side and crumbling me to the floor. My shoulder was dislocated for sure, as heard by the loud crack on impact.

"Mark!" I sputtered, feeling a mix of blood and bile come up in my throat. The beast delivered another hard kick to my stomach, feeling like I was going to pop open.

As my vision clouded, I could only watch as he advanced on Invincible. He'd hardly turned to face the beast before he grabbed his head and threw him to the ground with a crunch.

"Hello, boy," the beast greeted, his voice low and tenor.

I pushed myself off the ground, willing my body to cooperate and heal faster than it wanted. Now was not a good time to be down, and I needed overwhelming pain to transcend into overwhelming power. Unfortunately, it was taking longer than I'd like, and the current baddies were getting to their feet a little faster.

Titan was fighting off the now re-enabled tongue man and electric guy as I pushed myself off the floor, grunting with effort. From somewhere beside me, Invincible was faring the same fate.

Battle Beast stood over him, swinging his mallet down. Invincible hardly had a chance to react before his hands were met with hard metal, using all of his strength to resist.

"Shit," I hissed, standing to my unsteady feet. Fear coursed through my veins, adrenaline firing up. I felt like shit - but good shit.

Battle Beast took another stance, stepping down right on Invincible's face. He created a crater in the ground, groaning. I haphazardly picked up a piece of rubble, holding it above my head.

Invincible wasn't recovering - especially not after Battle Beast picked him up and slammed him into the ground again. I threw the rock at the beast's back as hard as I could, but it bounced harmlessly off of him. He hardly took his attention away from Invincible to give me a stern look, before going back to pummeling him.

I tried to throw a few punches, but without a real weapon, the guy was much bigger than me. I was like an insect to him, clearly.

To really drill it in my head, he shot out a free arm and threw me to the ground once again.

"Wow. Ten out of ten! This is the best show of my life!" Machine Head mocked, clapping slowly. He opened his mouth to begin again, but abruptly stopped as the doors to the room slammed open.

In walked the new Guardians of the Globe. I could've cheered.

"Cecil got an anonymous call," Black Samson announced. I wish I could've said it was me, but I hadn't even thought of that.

Immediately, the playing field leveled out again. Despite Invincible and I being worse for the wear, and for some reason my health hardly recovering, our battle was much closer matched.

The fight went by in a blur. Robot and Black Samson shot at Battle Beast, although their ammunition seemed to do little more than tickle him. Monster Girl transformed into a monster, creating a harder opponent for the bigger guys. Rex did well creating explosions while Dupli-Kate took on the electric man. Everyone seemed to pick an opponent, giving Invincible, Titan, and I time to recover.

"What're you guys doing?" Machine Head shouted, seeing how the tides had began to change. "Murder these assholes!"

In times like these, I really wish I had a ranged power. Something I could use to reach people. I finally pulled myself off the floor, and made myself useful elsewhere as the rest of my teammates and friends fought with all they had. I felt a little undignified, sitting in the eye of the storm, but I was placing myself where I'd do best in a battle of ranged weapons - support.

I placed all of my strength into Mark, who was struggling to get up.

"You're okay, you got this," I muttered while he groaned, my hands charging up. "We need you right now."

"(Y/N)," Invincible muttered. His eyes widened. "Affinity, look out!"

I turned, only in time to see Black Samson hit the ground right beside me, his inertia sending us both flying. A pile of rubble engulfed him, bits and pieces landing on my body. I shouted, trying to do what I could to get us out.

Battle Beast, of course, was the culprit. Robot did his best to shoot him down, but his body was like armor. It only took two good hits for Robot's circuits to fail.

My breath picked up, watching as Battle Beast turned his attention back towards Invincible. He was just barely picking himself off the floor, the last bit of fight left in him compelling him to stay alive. It was admirable, but it made me want to scream.

I cursed under my breath, quickening my pace at escaping. I was lucky all eyes were on Invincible, or I wouldn't have even had the chance. Panting, I shared my attention between the two of us.

"I was promised this world offered worthy opponents," Battle Beast grumbled, advancing on the hero. "But oh, how you disappoint me. Killing you is an act of mercy."

The Battle Beast grinned, lifting his weapon above his head as Mark desperately scrambled to get away. I cried out, more frantically pushing shit off my body, and immediately the electric man shot blinding voltage through my veins, shooting me further into the rubble.

Black Samson, luckily, was able to use my misfortune to his advantage, pushing his body through the rocks and powering up. "Asshole!" He shouted, and I mentally cheered as he prepared to fire a massive ball of power at the beast.

Unfortunately, it fizzled, short corrupting his suit. Samson crumbled down, clutching his arm.

Luck was clearly not on our side that day.

I screamed as the Battle Beast roared, his iron weapon slamming down right into Invincible's chest. Blood splattered, a sanguine rain of fluids and body parts that shouldn't be visible. Invincible groaned, his body getting air as the beast tore his weapon away. It was like he was a rag doll.

"Mark!" My voice didn't sound like it came from me.

I found it within myself the strength to get up again, pushing through every pain. My act of perseverance seemed to be the killer - I felt myself charging up, firing on all cylinders. I was terrified. I felt tears in my eyes.

One thing was for sure - we definitely weren't making that movie tonight.

"Fuck you!" I yelled, putting all of my strength into a football-like shoulder into the Beast's leg. He stumbled, but didn't fall.

He raised his weapon again, but seemed to contemplate. Instead, he scoffed at me, sheathing his weapon. "I should send you off with your friend. But you're too weak to even dignify that."

With the flick of his wrist, he sent me skidding to the floor.

I growled, wanting to say anything, anything, to help, but I couldn't. I felt like every move I'd made in this fight had gone wrong - so horribly horribly wrong. All I could do was get to my knees and charge myself up.

As I knelt down next to Invincible, feeling my hands warm up, I took him in. Hot tears ran down my face, terrified for him, terrified I lost him. His body hardly twitched - the only sign of life were extremely soft, ragged breaths. His stomach was ripped open, exposing dark red innards, and his face and body were covered in blood. One of his eyes was stark red, and his limbs all appeared bent in odd and unnatural directions.

"Stay with me, okay?" I muttered, the Battle Beast lowly chuckling at my futile attempt to save my friend. I didn't know what I could do about someone who was so ripped open like that - if there was anything I could do.

I'd never seen him look so crumpled, so down. I shivered at what would've happened if the Guardians hadn't shown up.

From behind me, I heard their commotion. Samson and Rex had gotten up, making advances to fight again. I admitted their tenacity, their will to fight until the very end.

The Guardians had been picked well. I felt proud, knowing our future would be protected with drive and grit.

When you're up against opponents much stronger than you, however, drive and grit can get you killed. Robot could hardly call out a warning before Black Samson had removed his malfunctioning suit and attempting to fight hand to hand against the beast.

I could see the events before they happened. Battle Beast hardly batted an eye as he snapped Black Samson's wrist and threw him limply against the wall. He was out cold - another member down.

The same thing happened to Monster Girl, who went for a one v one. She fared the same fate. I could hardly bear to look at her, her Goliath face exposed to the bone.

Robot got up, thankfully, recharged and rejuvenated. Still, as bionic as he was, he could only create a topical burn on the Beast's arm. It was infuriating.

One by one, the other heroes began to stand up and assemble. The sacrifices of our friends, apparently, had bought enough time for everyone else to get themselves to their feet - including me.

Wiping my face with a bloodied hand, removing hot tears, I steeled myself. I had done enough for Mark's body - if that didn't save him, the next best thing was to avenge him.

"You guys just fucked up," Rex announced. I could feel a new charge, something within the team had shifted.

Unity. We were a unit.

What followed was one of the coldest fight sequences I'd ever had the honor of being a part of. I teleported Isotope, a battle between the two hoppers. Fortunately for me, he wore out before technology did, leaving him standing on some random street. He seemed to hardly put up a fight, not that I was complaining. Robot vaporized the magma man, Shrinking Rae choked out the man with many tongues. For good measure, I tied him up with them, hopefully giving him a nice surprise for later.

"There is no honor in killing insects," the Battle Beast announced, dragging Black Samson and Monster Girl's decimated bodies over to where Invincible lay. He shook his head, disgusted with himself, and fiddled with a device on his wrist which opened a bright portal behind him.

He slinked away, which felt mildly disappointing. As unlikely as it was we'd be able to beat him, I was tempted to give it another try. Maybe, just maybe, five against one would have been enough.

The room was a blood bath. Machine Head was going to have to make some major renovations, with red splatters all across the wall and jagged, broken pieces of decor and interior laying all around. I placed my hands on my hips, taking a moment to catch my breath, and trying to ignore the new wave of emotion catching up to me.

After a moment, I took back to healing Invincible. I had to tell myself he was going to be okay. I couldn't let myself accept that every hero I'd considered a true 'teammate' was going to die around me. After the original Guardians, I couldn't handle Invincible dying, too.

I couldn't handle not seeing Mark again, not going to school and seeing his goofy smile. I had felt so happy with him - I couldn't bear to let myself think it was all lost in the blink of an eye.

And it would be all my fault.

He was going to be okay. He had to.

Robot seemed to be going through the same grieving process as I, picking up Monster Girl and holding her as she transformed into her original body. Luckily, this form seemed slightly less damaged, although she had blood everywhere and laid limp in his arms.

"No... no, no, no," Robot cried, rocking her in his arms.

Without thinking, I felt my eyes widen. I was a little jealous of his ability to do that. I was afraid if I touched Mark too much, his body would fail altogether.

"This was an unexpected possibility," Machine Head commented, speaking the exact words I thought. "Isotope, let's go."

But Isotope was gone. In his place was Rex.

I had little time to watch Rex absolutely body him, however, because in that moment, Invincible's eyes fluttered open. I gasped, my hands faltering for a moment.

"You're alive," I exclaimed. The words came out no louder than an excited whisper.

"(Y/N)," he muttered, no more than a gasp.

"I got you," I told him. "You did good."

I wasn't even sure if he heard me. His eyes fluttered closed, caked with blood. Exhausted, heartbroken, and defeated, I rested my hands on his relatively unharmed shoulder and raised my head to the sky, a silent plea for him to be okay.

I swallowed dry air, tears forming but not leaving my eyes.

And then I stood up, sending yet another desperate message to Cecil.

The first to leave was Titan, who stopped to stand over a barely breathing Mark.

"I'm sorry, kid. I didn't mean for it to end this way, but I've gotta take care of mine. This girl of yours, make sure you keep her."

I looked up at him, taking him in. He wasn't a villain, but he was no hero. He was just trying to save his family - and that was enough. I gave him a respectful nod, but I knew I would never again be working with him.

Not too much later, Cecil and a team of health officials arrived. I hadn't been able to leave Mark's side, too worried he might die and have no one by his side. I couldn't let that happen.

The other members of the team had approached me, offering condolences, which I tried to take with grace. No matter what I tried, though, I couldn't stop myself from wanting to fall into someone's arms.

The paramedics murmured amongst themselves all sorts of things that didn't make me feel very great. I was less away by one, who gave me a personal inspection and evaluated that I looked perfectly fine. I was glad - it would've been a cause for concern if I wasn't.

Still, I felt different. I felt sluggish, slow. Like I really hadn't healed right. I didn't say a word about it, but a special worry filled my head.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Cecil stated. "Are we losing him?"

"It's a possibility, sir," the paramedic remarked, making me cringe.

"No. We need him. Do whatever it takes."

As Cecil took out Machine Head's main power chip, I hardly even felt a sense of pride. I was scared - even though we had won, I felt like we had lost.

I felt empty and afraid as Cecil led me and the other heroes out of the decimated building. As much as it was for Mark, I worried about Monster Girl and Black Samson, too. And I thought about how that could've been any one of us.

There are threats we are hardly equipped to handle. Battle Beast was one. And knowing there might be more like him, even stronger than him, sent shivers down my spine.

I knew from that moment that even Minta was nothing. Even Battle Beast could be nothing.

One day, there would come a threat that none of us could handle. And on that day, the world would face its greatest danger with no hope of stopping it.