peep this art of mark + mc by grayscale2001 !! I absolutely adore it, I hope you guys do too!!! thank you sm for your patience :)

What A Teacher's Salary Does To A MF

•••

Cecil had given me a new watch just a couple days ago. Considering there were no more guardians, there was no longer a need for one to call everyone to HQ or otherwise. Instead, this watch was meant to communicate strictly between Cecil and I.

There was no big ceremony for it or cool reveal. The package appeared in my mailbox three-to-five business days after it had been sent, and inside was a new watch that looked exactly like my old one.

After playing around with the interface, I learned it had hardly changed at all. The only differences were 1. the Spotify premium feature and 2. the rechargeable teleportation device.

Inside was a note, written in rough handwriting that read 'Don't be late'.

Message received loud and clear.

I had to admit it was disorienting the first few times I used it. The first time, I was out of commission for the next ten minutes thinking I was going to lose my lunch. If I was going to be completely honest, it still made me feel a little off kilter. The sensation of moving completely through space was unlike any I'd ever felt, and I had to imagine the closest thing to it would be learning how to fly.

Thanks to Cecil's little device, I made it to the scene just as Invincible and Atom Eve arrived. With time to spare, even, allowing me to catch my bearings as they flew in.

The scene in question appeared to be some random, nondescript house not too far from the heart of town. It was small and brown, looking like some average Joe's place he could come back to after his 9-5 to spend time with his wife and kids. No obvious strange activity. Nothing that looked remotely like an evil lair or disturbance.

As I approached the other two heroes, Eve shot me an apprehensive look. "Did Cecil tell you why we're here?"

"Nothing more than a location," I remarked, lifting my wrist to display the coordinates blinking on my watch.

"Great. Robot said something about a weapons engineer located in the area," Eve began to explain, her eyes wandering around our immediate area. "Have you noticed the kids going missing?"

"What would they have to do with weapons?" I asked, my face scrunching in confusion.

"Remember a while back when the mall was bombed? It was never re-opened as a case because it was some strange one-off. Apparently Robot found the guy."

"And?"

"Well, you know our physics teacher, Mr. Hiles?" Eve remarked. She paused for dramatic effect. "It was him."

"No way. That guy? He barely teaches the class," Invincible exclaimed in disbelief.

I had to agree with him on that one. I'd never been one to dislike the man, but his teaching skills had something to be desired. I couldn't recall a single thing I learned all year. I guess his bomb designing skills must be a bit better.

"Yeah, I'm talking that guy. Supposedly he's working on creating more human bombs," Eve finished. Her eyes glanced quickly around the area, dancing from house to house.

"I don't know about you, but that definitely sounds like a one way ticket to lose your teaching job to me," I commented.

Suddenly, I saw someone walking up to a faded green house. Two guesses who it was. I took a double take, still completely in disbelief this was the culprit of one of the biggest stories going around school.

"Hold it right there," Eve announced, leading our confrontation. She stepped toward him confidently, Invincible and I following closely behind.

"Huh?" He seemed surprised, his eyes wide, mouth dropped in shock, but quickly dropped expression. "Oh. You. I didn't expect to get caught so early. And I certainly expected more... conventional authorities when the time came."

Invincible and I shared a brief glance, both with mild suspicion. Mr. Hiles attention passed over each of us individually, his eyes so much as darting across the neighborhood behind us, before finally landing on Eve again.

"Very well," he remarked, holding the door open for us. "Please come in."

I peered in skeptically, watching as Eve and even Invincible entered with little to no reserve. I hesitated, almost more nervous about the fact this was my teachers home, but after feeling Mr. Hiles eyes staring me down, I swiftly entered the home.

Almost immediately, he shut the door behind us.

"You know, I'd had my suspicions about you all, but seeing you so up close I'm proud to know I was right," Mr. Hiles commented, a satisfied smile crossing his features. "What're the odds I'd get caught by my students?"

I looked quizzically at my fellow heroes. Alright, Eve I knew. But Invincible? Maybe if I could see him without the mask.

"What gave it away?" Eve asked, her eyebrows slightly cocked. I was wondering the same thing.

"You'd be surprised how much you notice when nobody thinks you're looking. Follow me."

Mr. Hiles led us deeper into his house, squeezing past us to take up the front of the pack. I took notice of little details around his house, from the family photos to the pieces of accent furniture. It didn't matter how many times I heard about teachers having a life outside of school, it was so strange to take a walk though it.

I couldn't even recall Mr. Hiles even mentioning a family, much less one he seemed to treasure so much. There were various photos placed anywhere they'd fit.

Finally, we came to a green door on the other side of the home. It looked like it probably led into a basement or otherwise overflow room.

"This is where I've kept the fourth missing student," Mr. Hiles announced, placing a hand on the wooden door. "I assure you, I have no plans in resisting."

"Wait, fourth?" Invincible asked. I paused for a moment, counting in my head the students I'd noticed reported missing.

Invincible was right. I'd only heard of three.

"That's correct. One of them hasn't been reported missing yet."

While we were left to sit on that, Mr. Hiles opened the wooden door to reveal a shorter hallway, ending with a large metal door containing multiple different gadgets and gizmos on its exterior.

"It's just through here," he remarked, messing with the controls and locks spanning the door. It made loud clangs and clanks as he messed with it, definitely screaming 'do not touch'.

Out of all the sketchy things you could have in a home, this was definitely up there. A survival bunker?

"It?" Eve asked, trying to look past Mr. Hiles as he slowly cracked the door open.

"Yes... It. I can't think of a more fitting segue into my confession," Mr. Hiles began. Here we go. "You see, it was the constant pestering and belittling from things like what you'll see before you that caused my son to commit suicide, leading to my divorce, and ultimately losing my job."

Woah. Pause. That's a quick string of events.

After that stunning confession, he finally opened the door enough for us to step in, almost proudly presenting whatever horrors happened to be hidden beyond. The room was incredibly dark and filled end to end with mechanical constructions and strange, elixir looking substances, whos uses I couldn't fathom. It was your classic supervillain setup, but our villain today was some dude a little too skilled in mechanical engineering.

In the middle of it all was a boy I'd seen every day for the past school year - he sat in front of me diagonally in, funnily enough, Mr. Hiles' physics class - laid unconscious and strapped to a bed. He was shirtless, outfitted only with a metal plate attached to his chest.

"Derek!" Invincible yelled, racing into the room. Immediately, he stood over Derek and began feeling for a pulse.

"Losing your job?" I asked, keeping a fair distance from anything that could potentially pose threat to me. It looked like Invincible had it covered, and it wasn't the most spacious room anyways. Besides, you can never be too safe, you know.

Mr. Hiles nodded. "Effectively destroying my life. You think I would've became a teacher by choice?"

I paused. Looked at Derek. Looked at the room decor. Looked back at Mr. Hiles. "I suppose not."

Mr. Hiles sighed, a strong start to his monologue. In that moment, there was something churning throughout his facial features that made him look even older than I figured he really was. "I'll spare you the details. It's not the death of my son, or even the loss of my job on its own I'm avenging. It's the entire destruction of my life, caused by those who spend too much time at the mall and attend parties when they should be doing homework. And to do that, I'm destroying theirs."

"Don't you think that's a little much?" I asked, keeping a watchful eye on Mr. Hiles. He was so strangely calm in this situation. Like, 'whatever. Might fuck around and kill some kids'. "Why not just... fail them or something."

Mr. Hiles shrugged. "Poetic justice. Cinema."

I paused. "Fair enough."

"What did you do to him?" Invincible exclaimed, patting down Derek's metal abdomen. He examined the boy with worry, still focused on his strange state.

"What I did to all of them," Mr. Hiles said simply, his eyes glazed over as if he was lost in thought. "I turned him into a living bomb."

"Holy hell," Eve remarked, taking a cautious step away from Derek.

You can say that again.

"-And I can't think of a more fitting way to end my crusade than the death of three superheroes."

Mr. Hiles words rang out, reverberating through my ears. I could've sworn the room got more echoey just for dramatic affect.

In the moments it took for me to register the meaning behind his words, my previous physics teacher had already opened up his shirt. Usually, this sentence would be followed by a series of words of terror and fear, which it definitely was, but in this case my fear was born from the metal contraption strapped to his chest instead of anything more nefarious.

I comment, as if this isn't nefarious in its own right.

The apparent bomb Mr. Hiles wore appeared not unlike the one attached to Derek. The biggest difference? Derek's wasn't counting down.

40... 39... 38... 37...

"Woah now," I exclaimed once I successfully pulled my head out of my ass.

"Oh dear, looks like I must have started the timer too late after you got here," Mr. Hiles commented, glancing down disappointedly at the seconds passing on his chest. "No matter, you'll have a few more seconds to..."

For a moment I felt my life flash in front of my eyes. What were we supposed to do about that?

I took two of my last few seconds to contemplate at what point he had had time to activate the bomb timer. I thought I had kept a pretty watchful eye on the man ever since I had walked in his front door.

Quickly, I realized I had bigger priorities. I turned to Invincible, thinking it was the end and opened my mouth to make a heartfelt speech in thirty seconds.

"I am not waiting around for this," Invincible said sternly, his eyes hardening as he focused his gaze on Mr. Hiles. "C'mere."

Invincible grabbed Mr. Hiles around his waist and blasted into the air. The motion was so fast, if I had blinked I would've missed it. I was sure everyone's favorite physics teacher hardly had a chance to react.

The pair burst through the ceiling of Mr. Hiles humble abode, leaving behind crumbling bits and pieces of the roof that fell in. I watched in awe, my hand shielding my eyes from debris, as Invincible dragged him up into the sky at record speeds. It wasn't long before the two were so little in the sky I could hardly spot them, much less tell who was who.

Even more worrying was the large gray cloud that appeared in the air in the last spot I'd seen them.

Squinting, I crossed my fingers and tried to manifest good vibes from the universe as the clouds filled the sky. Just to my luck, there was a movement. A movement of blue.

I watched as Invincible was ricocheted across the sky, likely from the force of the explosion, waiting for his return. He moved like a little jet plane up there, barely bigger than a bird from this vantage point.

Moments later, Invincible touched down, brushing snow off of his suit he got from who knows where. The dude must've been flung half way across the country.

"Is it over?" He asked, wiping sweat and snow off his brow. A slightly exhausted smile was present on his face, giving him an incredibly boyish look.

"As over as it'll ever be," I affirmed, my attention flickering to the explosion still dispersing through the sky.

Put in perspective, it was insane nobody else would ever know about this. We would just have a new teacher tomorrow morning and that would be that.

Either that, or the whole school would know by tomorrow.

"Robot and the police are on their way to sweep for anything dangerous," Eve explained. I could hear, faintly, sirens in the distance. "You guys can leave, I'm heading out after robot gets here."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Invincible agreed. He held out a hand to me, eyebrows raised. "Affinity?"

"Seconded," I said, slapping his hand with a high five.

I noticed Eve's eyes lingering on Invincible, something hidden within them, for a second longer than I felt necessary. I knew they were friends, and she had to have been hurting after Rex's little affair, but I felt a pang of... something less than pleasant.

Still, as I walked out listening to Invincible mutter about the days events, I couldn't help but let my pride get the better of me. He could've stayed, but instead he walked home with me.

I laid back, my body cold atop the hard blacktop roof. As one of Chicago's tallest buildings, it was an easy choice for a getaway. Not a single soul would come looking for me here.

The stars were vibrant tonight. The Big Dipper was clear against the dark sky, allowing me a glimpse into the outer edges of the universe. It never got any less mind blowing.

Getting up here took a little bit of force, and by force I mean lockpicking, because of my lack of flight, but it was worth it. The only caveat was I had to be out by 9 or risk losing the ride down the elevator.

And I definitely had no interest in going down all those flights by foot.

Realistically, I could teleport, but from what I understood the teleportation device was an 'emergencies only' toy. I didn't want to make Cecil upset if I could avoid it, and it had a crazy long charging time, too. I could make do.

Not to mention I still don't know how this thing would work trying to teleport somewhere down.

"Hey," I heard a voice from behind me. Immediately, I knew who it was.

"What brings you up here?" I asked, sitting up to face him.

Invincible shrugged. "I was just flying around and I thought I saw you. I needed to clear my head."

"Same here," I nodded. I patted to the spot beside me, eagerly inviting Invincible to sit down. He happily obliged.

I had hoped to be alone, but I couldn't say I was complaining about his company. Something about Invincible always made me feel safe. Maybe it was the fact he was a superhero, but I was too.

I guess, maybe, kinda, I trusted him.

"Have you ever thought about how massive the universe is?" I commented, gesturing to the space surrounding us.

"Yeah. It's huge, and most people never get to touch more than this planet," Invincible commented. I wondered if he ever had. He could fly, after all.

"Yet out of all that, here we are together. On the roof of this building," I remarked. Invincible nodded, mouthing a silent 'yeah.'

For a moment, the two of us just sat there, lost in our own cliche thought, watching the universe move around us.

"I'm glad I met you, Affinity," Invincible finally said. He met my eyes with a lopsided smile.

I inhaled a sharp breath, eyes wide. I could feel my ears grow hot.

"I'm glad I met you too. You're pretty cool, I guess," I replied, trying to articulate words that wouldn't make me sound sappy. It was a struggle, my face clearly flustered under my mask.

"You kinda make me feel stronger. In more ways than one," Invincible commented. "You care so much and you're someone worth knowing."

"You act like you're nothing special," I scoffed, shifting nervously. "Look at you over here, diamond in the rough."

"Okay, I am pretty cool. But you're ice cold," Invincible reiterated.

"I think you're more hot," I thought to myself, proud of how smooth I could be in my head.

"I think you're more hot," I apparently said out loud before immediately wanting to fall down all 30 floors of the building.

"Woah there," Invincible laughed. "At least let me see the rest of your face first."

"I could say the same to you."

I chuckled, and contemplated it for a moment. I felt compelled in his direction, pulled like a magnet. Invincible moved a hand right beside mine, his thumb hitting the outer edge of mine.

My breath stopped. Was I leaning in? Was he leaning in?

His eyes closed, and I hardly registered when I closed mine. Holy shit???

Ding!

My watch rang loud and clear. The both of us jumped away, and I was thankful for the mask to cover the greater portion of my definitely flushed face.

What am I doing.

"Duty calls," I awkwardly laughed, feeling almost dizzy. I stood up hurriedly, a blast of thoughts running through my brain all at once.

Was what I thought was gonna happen about to happen?

"Affinity..." Invincible called out, his voice sounding gentler and more vulnerable than I had ever heard it.

Invincible watched me stagger to my feet, rushing quick as lightning to the exit door. It wasn't that I wanted to leave, but I had to. And I needed to think about my actions and their consequences. People are dying in the world and I'm over here being horny.

Thankfully, I had about a five minute elevator ride to ponder through and a brain filled with thoughts.