Chapter 17: Things Are Falling Apart

BEEP BEEP

The constant sound of the heart monitor graded in the stoic hero's ears. The surroundings revealed a hospital bed. Dupli-Kate lay on the bed recovering from surgery. Taz floated beside her in a cross-legged sitting position. A month had passed since the incident, and his lover was close to a full recovery.

"I knew you would save me." She commented weakly. The viltrumite raised an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't I?" He responded.

"What if you were still off-world? What if you didn't hear the frequency? What if…" As she thought of more hypothetical scenarios, Taz rubbed her hand.

"No what ifs. I'm here."

Kate turned her head and looked into his eyes. There was a moment of silence. After a while, she squeezed his hand.

"Can you stay on Earth? Please don't leave anymore." She pleaded. The young soldier thought for a second.

'What if I receive another mission…I…can't just ignore it.' He thought.

The soldier was loyal to his home. The Viltrum Empire is the greatest place in its galaxy. Eventually it would be the universe. With its manpower, nothing would stand in the way of the viltrumites. Did he really wish to defy something like that? At the end of the day, he was just a high ranked soldier.

Taz's eyebrows creased as he prepared to speak. Seeing his expression, Kate frowned. Her grasp on the man tightened.

"Please…" She begged. The stoic hero sighed.

"Alright. Now get some rest. You'll need the energy tomorrow when you get checked out." He relented and gently booped her nose.

'All of the deeds I've done for Viltrum. They wouldn't turn on me just for delaying a mission, right?' He thought.

Kate smiled and relaxed on the hospital bed. Taz pulled up a chair and sat beside her. After a few kisses to the cheek, he leaned back in his chair. The viltrumite's hand reached into his pocket to reveal a touchpad device.

During his time on Thokk's planet, a lot of things happened. The public didn't take kindly to his overall rule in the beginning. The king was still in place, but he was now just a puppet to be controlled. Many times, the strongest warriors would ambush the young soldier.

It always ended in their defeat, but Taz never killed them. They would be incapacitated but alive. This happened constantly to the point where the elite viltrumite searched for their headquarters. Upon finding them, he obliterated them. This was the moment he gained respect from the masses.

Even though he beat them to an inch of their life, they remained. The society was based on strength, and it was obvious who held the real power. The blue sun had powered him daily, allowing his smart atoms to devour the radiation. His strength had skyrocketed once again. Even now as he sat beside Kate, his flight was active so as to not sink through the planet. His body mass had become extremely dense.

Taz feared that if he lost his hold on his power, he would become a celestial body. This would cause the planet to destroy itself in an attempt to orbit around him. Like the sun, he had become a source of planetary pull. Was this the power Thragg held? The young hero had no clue.

The device in his hand allowed him to open a portal directly to Thokk's world. Fortunately, Battle Beast survived and swore fealty to him. As long as there was a good fight, he would burst through the portal along with an army to assist. The stoic hero now had a world at his disposal along with an inside spy to the Coalition of Planets.

"Taz?" Kate chimed. The young viltrumite woke from his daze and turned to his lover.

"Hmmm?"

"I have a question. Promise you won't be angry?" She spoke cautiously. Taz raised an eyebrow.

"Speak." He said.

"You have to promise me."

"I promise."

Kate took a deep breath. It seemed like it was taking a colossal amount of courage and bravado to follow through. Once she found her nerve, she spoke.

"Remember when the detective came to our home and asked you questions?"

"Yes…" He droned casually. On the inside, he was on high alert.

"You said that you could only shoot lasers out of your eyes. That's not what you did when you saved me…When you answered Damien Darkblood's questions, were you telling the truth?" She asked.

"I was telling the truth." He lied.

Taz's aura slowly turned cold. His uncaring expression hardened. Kate could feel the change, but she continued. Her hand grasped his closed fist, implying that he was battle ready.

"Please…Tell me. I want to know. Don't you think I deserve to know? I've never questioned you once…I've never gone against you…Can't you trust me? Do you actually know what happened to the Guardians of the Globe? Why were you so adamant that I didn't join?"

"Because they are weak. They will die in time."

"But why? Why will they die in time? What are you hiding? You've never told me where you're from…Are you even from Earth?"

"I'm not hiding anything. I can tell you where I'm from. I'm a being of the sun, birthed by -"

"Taz, we've been together for a while now. I can tell when you're lying!"

Taz's face fell. Pulling his hand out of her grasp, he stood up and turned to leave.

"We'll talk later." He said.

Kate's eyes widened. She realized that if she let him leave, their relationship would never be the same.

"Wait!" The weak heroine sat up from her bed and wrapped her arms around his waist. Some of the hospital tubes fell from her body. Her eyes began to water.

"No! Don't go! Please…don't leave!" She begged.

Taz paused. The desperation in her voice made him sigh. His arms wrapped around her weak frame. Giving her a kiss on the forehead, he spoke.

"I won't leave…I need you to trust me, okay? When you get discharged, I'm staying home with you until you recover. No hero work." He promised.

Kate buried her head into his chest. It was as if she wanted to meld into him.

_________

Meanwhile, in another hospital room beside the stoic hero, an injured Invincible could be seen. Nolan and Debbie stood over his bed. The two seemed to be in a heated argument.

"This is why I didn't want him to be a hero so soon! This on top of everything going on?! Where were you when he was about to die?!" Debbie exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Debbie. I was fighting a monster in South Korea! I don't have super hearing." Nolan responded. His wife pointed at him angrily.

"And you still haven't told me what the deal is with you and Cecil! Why is he still constantly looking over our shoulders?! Appearing in our home!"

"Mom? Dad? Can you not fight? It's hurting my ears." Mark complained. He seemed to have woken up. The two parents stopped and smiled at their son.

"Of course, son. We were just having a small discussion." Nolan said.

"That's right, honey. You just need to get more rest, okay?" Debbie said.

Once they left the room, she glared at him. Nolan frowned seeing her expression. He didn't want to argue with his wife.

"You're sleeping on the couch tonight. No sex for you." She declared.

"Babe-"

"I don't want to hear it!"

…

…

…

At the edge of the atmosphere, two figures could be seen. They seemed to be conversing. Space was all that was left beyond the planet.

"My wife…she's gotten suspicious of me. I don't know how long I can last at this rate." Omni Man said. Absolver frowned.

"Kate is the same, but I don't think she'll leave me." He said. Nolan smirked.

"That's because you guys haven't been together for 20 years. She doesn't want to lose you and hasn't found the confidence to speak out against you. Debbie was like that at first. At least until we got married. Just wait a few more years." He retorted. The stoic hero shook his head.

"Your personality makes it easier for her to argue with you. It's different with us. There are no arguments in our household. And there never will be." Taz said. Nolan frowned.

"I doubt it. You may not see it, but you're getting soft." He mocked. The stoic hero shrugged.

"Whatever."

Now that the small talk was over, their expressions became serious. Omni Man crossed his arms.

"I don't know how long I can wait anymore." He said. Absolver raised an eyebrow.

"What does that mean?" Taz asked. Nolan gazed at the planet beneath them with a bit of hidden sadness.

"I think…our time here is coming to an end." He declared softly. The young soldier rubbed his temples. He didn't like what he just heard.

"...How long?"

"Maybe a month. Maybe a week."

"Not yet." Taz said. Omni Man shook his head.

"It's our duty. Unfortunately-"

"NOT YET!" Absolver roared. The sound wave made Nolan clutch his ears.

"Calm yourself." He spoke sternly. His eyes had gone cold. Trained viltrumites knew that anger only made one an easier target. The young hero controlled himself.

"Just give it some more time. Don't ruin this for me." Taz said. Omni Man sighed.

"Fine. I'll do my best to keep Cecil off my back. Don't blame me if something happens to you as well. He uses any means necessary. You should know that by now." He said.

Absolver nodded in response. His expression seemed to lighten up when he gained more time. By this point, the conversation was over. The elite soldier took a step off the air and burst into motion. He was gone in only a moment.

Nolan continued to stare in the direction he went. His eyes became cold and detached. He then gazed down at the planet once again.

"You may be stronger than most, but you're still just a kid." He muttered.

…

…

…

The next day, Kate was checked out of the black ops hospital. Taz carried her all the way back home. The chinese beauty greedily inhaled his scent during the journey. Even though they had a 'fight' earlier -if one could call it that- it was easy to see how much she loved him.

It took a good while for them to return home. The young viltrumite was immediately in the kitchen, cooking up a storm for his injured lover. The injuries she retained that day made it hard for her to walk for more than a few minutes.

"Just relax. I bet you're tired of hospital food, so let me whip something up." He said. The nonchalant heroine slowly limped over to the high chair overlooking the kitchen. This way she could watch him cook.

"I'm sick of it. Why is their food so disgusting?" She groaned.

"A universal question. Not even I know the answer to that." He joked.

Once he placed the ingredients in the hot pan, he left it to cook for a while. He then leaned over the sink. Their faces were inches apart.

"I'm glad I'm injured." She exclaimed. Her chin rested on her hand. Taz tilted his head.

"Hmm? Why?" He asked in confusion. Kate smiled.

"Because now I can take advantage of you. I'm going to have you take care of me every minute of every hour until I recover." She answered with glee. The stoic man shook his head.

"That's not cool." He commented.

"Cool is overrated. You're not going to have a second alone." She declared.

And she was right. For the next few weeks, she had the man wrapped around her finger like a string. Taz would carry her from the bedroom to the living room, even the bathroom. She would pretend that she was too tired to bathe, causing him to wash her as well in the bath. The young viltrumite was truly spoiling her.

Eventually, Kate thought of her brother. Grabbing a stack of money from her hero savings, she stuffed it in a few envelopes. She then leaned back in the bed.

"Taaazzzzzz!" She called out lazily.

After a few moments, the man in question entered the bedroom. He wore an apron, with a bit of cookie dough stains. It seemed like he was in the middle of baking. The elite soldier was growing more and more comfortable with exploring his desires.

Taz stood beside the bed and leaned over her. Their lips met and they indulged in each other for a few minutes. Upon pulling back, a glistening string of saliva connected their lips.

"Taz, can you give this to my brother? He probably won't know how to exchange it for yuan. You'll need to help him with that too." She handed him the envelopes of cash.

"Sure, but you'll have to pull the cookies out of the oven when they're done." He said.

"Cookies aren't a problem."

"I'll eat your cookie." He joked. Kate giggled.

"You already have. You should be full." She responded.

"I could go for more." He said. Taz buried his face in her cleavage.

"It tickles! Tazzz, gooooo!" She hummed while pushing against his face.

The young viltrumite took off his apron and went to the balcony. With the envelopes in hand, took to the skies.

BOOM

A sonic boom could be heard as he broke the sound barrier. Once she was sure he was gone, she rushed to the closet and grabbed his suit. She had seen him tap his wrist guard before. She fiddled with it before a holographic screen popped up. Kate frowned.

"I can't read this." She muttered.

RING RING

At that moment, her phone rang. The chinese beauty ignored it and fiddled with the screen a bit longer. Unfortunately she couldn't understand anything. She picked up the phone with disappointment.

"Hello…" She spoke in an unhappy tone.

"Hi, is this Kate?" A feminine voice chimed.

"It is. Who's this?"

"This is Debbie, Nolan's wife."

"Who? Who the hell is Nolan?" Kate questioned.

"Um…He's really strong like your…boyfriend."

Kate's eyes widened. Sitting up in bed, she focused on the phone.

"I understand. What can I do for you?" The heroine responded.

"I was wondering…Can we talk?"