Chapter 17

° Grayson Residence

° One Week Later, On a Weekend

Matthew darted forward and punched towards Mark, Mark shifted to the side and retaliated but his fit was caught and then used to throw him out of the way.

Mark caught himself and charged towards Matthew, once again beginning another round of sparring.

Nolan stood not far from both, watching the action with a critical eye.

They were sparring about 50 meters above the backyard, giving them enough space to fully explore any avenue of movement and actions they desired. Or so Nolan intended, but given his sons current showing of skills he was feeling slightly disappointed.

"You're both holding yourselves back too much. Try actually hitting each other or it wouldn't matter" he said.

Matthew ignored the comment and dodged out of the way as Mark threw a jab towards his face simply by taking a slight dip to his elevation.

"Hey! No fair!" Mark complained.

"We're fighting in the air, horizontal rules don't mean shit. Besides, it lets me do this" Matthew turned sideways and delivered a swift kick towards Mark's left lower jaw.

Mark caught the foot and delivered his own, which was once again dodged by completely slipping away.

Nolan sighed, "It's like you're not even trying"

His words stung Mark, making his movements more aggressive and forceful as he closed in on Matthew. Matthew parried the blows with his arms, going on the defensive first before striking. Landing a blow to Mark's chest that sent him spinning head over heel backwards.

Nolan flew to Mark's trajectory, catching him mid-spin and orienting him correctly before giving him a stern look.

"What? I tried to--"

"Yes, I can see that. But you brother has trained himself in fighting for sometime and knows you well. So don't be surprised that he managed to get one up on you" Nolan explained.

Mark let out his dissatisfaction and nodded begrudgingly.

"As for you, Matthew" Nolan looked at his other son, "Well done, but you need to practice more. A more trained and experienced fighter will run circles around you. Try to teach your brother in your free time, will you?"

"Will do" Matthew accepted, giving his brother a prideful smirk. Nolan looked away in annoyance.

"Now, go again" Nolan said, pushing Mark forward.

As Mark was about to dash forward, Debbie interjected loudly.

"Nolan!" she called out.

The three all paused and looked below them. Debbie stood just a step away from the backdoor and she wasn't alone.

"Cecil?" Nolan asked.

"We have an emergency, Nolan" was all Cecil said to bring down the mood.

"Oh great" Nolan complained.

****

The Graysons sat around the living room, facing Cecil who stood by the flatscreen TV and was fiddling with some on his wristwatch. Matthew tried to get a peek in but could only hear and see the man complaining endlessly at a number of people in glasses and plaid shirts.

Eventually, after a few moments, the screen changed when Cecil flicked a holographic protection towards it and began to explain why he was in their home.

The screen showed a blurry image of something moving through space

"We picked this up near Mars an hour ago. Moving fast" Cecil said to Nolan.

Nolan met his gaze and held it, both men sharing a silent conversation that spoke of what they both already knew. Matthew peeked in and finally got the gist of the issue, his eyes widened in wonder at that he saw.

"He's back" Nolan figured.

Cecil nodded grimly, "15 minutes till he's breathing our air. I wouldn't ask, Nolan, but with the Guardians gone..."

"I'll stop him" Nolan stood and said confidently.

"Who's he?" Mark asked, but no one answered him.

Matthew whispered from his side, "Must be one of dad's alien enemies coming back for revenge or something"

"Dude, that's literally like a plot point for every superhero show out there" Mark whispered back.

"So? What are you thinking then?" Matthew asked.

"I don't know. Let's listen" Mark said as he focused on their parents argueing against Cecil.

"Nolan's been home a week, and you already want to send him to space?" Debbie sounded understandably upset "No. No way. He doesn't work for you"

"Sweetie..." Nolan tried to convince Debbie, soothing her concerns with a warm hand.

"There's no one else, Debbie" Cecil replied.

"I'll go" Mark suddenly said, but everyone ignored him but Matthew.

"What are you doing?" Matthew whispered, grasping his shoulder.

"Dealing with it" Mark said.

"I said, no. You're still injured" Debbie firmly stood by her decision.

"I'll go" Mark said once again, louder this time so that no one can ignore.

Nolan gave him one look and said, "Okay"

""What?"" Both Matthew and Debbie asked at the same time, shocked by the immediate answer.

"Why not? He's not that tough. Mark can take him" Nolan said confidently, showing his trust in Mark's abilities.

Matthew became concerned, "I can take him"

"Oh, wonderful. That's your solution?" Debbie asked sarcastically.

"Could you define 'not that tough'?" Mark asked to clarify.

"Just knock some sense into the guy and throw him back where he came from. Easy" Nolan said, treating the whole thing like some simple meeting with his publishers.

"Right, easy" Matthew said, "And where exactly does he come from?"

"I don't know, never got to ask. But he's definitely not from this Solar System" Nolan answered.

"Oh, right" Matthew turned to Mark "I don't care what they say, I'm coming with you"

"No" Nolan disagreed, "Let him take care of this on his own"

"I don't want to leave Mark without back up" Matthee insisted, hiding his true intentions behind his slight concern.

"You won't" Cecil interjected, "If you'll allow, I can set up a direct link to our satellite feed on your TV. You can track Mark's encounter live and you'll be able to rush in to help quickly. If he needs it"

Matthew gritted his teeth.

In truth, he simply wanted to share in the experience of travelling into the vacuum of space. Also, he wasnt about to pass up the chance to meet another alien that wasn't Viltrumite or half-viltrumite. Disregarding dimension invading Flaxans.

But he couldn't say that and not sound like a child, so Matthew reluctantly agreed to Cecil's offer.

"Good. That'll be entertaining, at least" Nolan said.

"How do I breathe in space?" Mark asked his father.

"That's the neat thing" Nolan said, "You don't"

Mark was at a loss as for how to respond.

Matthew looked at his father with a stoney expression "If that was a joke, then it wasn't funny"

"12 minutes" Cecil reminded them.

****

The satellite feed didn't take long to set up, merely a minute or so and the family was privy to a live video of Mark flying through the air and to the upper atmosphere. He paused to take a deep breath before finally reaching outer space.

Matthew sat at the furthest chair while the rest sat closer to the TV, watching the encounter silently.

Mark stayed stationary for a while, looking around for any sign of the new arrival. He couldn't see it yet, but the satellite did.

A bipedal human with 2 legs and 2 arms flew around and well behind Mark's blind spot, its large single eye and 3 digit hands visible even through the screen.

"What is that?" Matthew asked.

"A Unopan" Nolan answered, "A race of humanoid-sized cyclopses. One of the many sentient, bipedal races of the galaxy. Nearly extinct"

"Nearly? And I thought you didn't ask" Matthew added.

"Our people have extensive knowledge of every sentient race in the galaxy" Nolan explained.

Matthew was about to ask more questions about the Viltrumite race when his father continued his explanation

"Their people suffered through several wars until the planet couldn't take it anymore. Billions died as their world crumbled, leaving only about a thousand or so to flee on seedships that managed to escape its destruction" Nolan said "My people were already too late by the time we arrived"

"That's awful" Debbie said, snuggling closer to him for comfort.

"Yep" Nolan said sympathetically, "We offered to help build them their new home somewhere else, but they were stubborn. And this one is the most special of them all"

The Unopan flew behind Mark and attacked, slamming both fists on his back with enough strength to send Mark hurtling away.

"Because he's strong?" Matthew asked.

"Not on our level, no. Let's just say he's a much weaker version" Nolan shrugged dismissively.

Mark caught himself and just floated there for a moment as both locked eyes.

"What's happening? Is the feed buffering or something?" Matthew looked pointedly at Cecil.

"No" Cecil answered, sounding somewhat offended "The GDA doesn't have buffers, we have the fastest damn internet in the world"

"Cecil's right" Nolan interjected, "Aside from the obvious powers you can see, he also has the ability to talk directly into someone's mind"

Matthew stiffened as the words sunk in, "He's...a telepath?"

"No. He has alien tech that lets him 'talk' to someone's brain directly, that's it. Psionic races are rare in the universe" Nolan said "Earth has some, but not powerful enough to do those things comic characters do"

Mark finally moved. Surging forward and catching the Unopan in his arms, then punched it straight into the path of a satellite. The Unopan took the blow easily and grabbed onto the satellite, which he then easily tossed towards Mark.

"Woah, he is strong" Matthew commented.

Nolan shrugged nonchalantly.

The satellite exploded on Mark, sending him reeling back and skewing his flight orientation. The Unopan lounged towards him and struck, Mark dodged out of the way by mimicking Matthew's vertical tricks and delivered a sucker punch to the alien's face. The alien was pushed back, but looked undamaged from the blow. It grinned at Mark and delivered a punch straight for his abdomen, seemingly weakening Mark enough to send him far back into Earth's atmosphere with one more blow.

"Shit!" Matthew rose and was about to exit the house when Nolan called him.

"Hold on" he said, stopping Matthew in his tracks.

Matthew looked back in the television and saw Mark had caught himself in a group of clouds, taking a deep breath once again before flying out into space with a determined look on his face.

Mark searched for his opponent, but was once again surprised from the back. The Unopan secured him with both arms tightly. Mark angrily shoved the back of his head backwards and hit the alien square on its eye, making it loosen its hold on him.

Then Mark grabbed the alien by the torso and pushed him through, flying both of them towards the Moon.

Cecil stood and contacted someone over his wristband, "I'm losing visual over the kid. I need eyes on the moon"

Before Cecil could even look at Matthew, the teen hero was already out of the door and took off to the sky.

Heading towards the Moon. All while hiding the excited smile that bloomed on the corners of his mouth.

****

Matthew halted near the edge of the upper atmosphere, when he felt the air was thinnest to take in a deep breath.

He was nervous but he had no time to waste.

Other than his own excitement, Mark was in danger of losing his life if he was knocked out in space, or worse. He couldn't afford to wait to calm down.

Remembering his dad's earlier words, he held his breath in and blasted through into space

Once he emerged, he felt a sudden freedom that came from no longer being affected by the Earth's gravity. As if a weight that he didn't know he was wearing just disappeared from his body, giving him a new sense of weightlessness that he couldn't compare to regular flying.

He let himself appreciate the feeling, taking it all in before coming to himself and to the situation that gave him the opportunity to experience it all.

Angling himself with much more ease, he made a beeline towards the moon. Surprise came over him as his speed was seemingly multiplied in the empty space, rushing to the moon in less them a couple of seconds.

The moon drew closer and he spotted a pair of colorful outlines on its unsurprisingly dull grey surface. When he was close enough, he headed straight for the alien who was pummeling a prone Mark under him.

He delivered a punch to its face as it suddenly paused its punches, feeling the facial bone underneath its orange skin break from his fist as the alien was flung away.

'Matt?' Mark's voice rang in his mind then.

Matthew landed near his brother and held up his hand.

'Woah, that is weird. Hey, can you hear me?' he said, pretending to act surprised.

Meeting his scowling gaze but unsurprised when his brother gripped his hand tightly and pulled himself up.

'How are you doing that? The talking in my head?' Mark asked.

'Don't know. Must be that guy powers it something' Matthew pinned the blame on the alien.

'Ow! That hurt!' the voice of someone who Matthew thought was similar to a bugs-bunny voice actor spoke, 'That was completely unfair'

Matthew got a good look at the alien. It was muscular and stood about 7-8 feet above the twins, its

'No! What's unfair is hitting someone who's on a timeout. Who are you, man?' the voice asked again, the alien raised its fists as it looked at him.

'Who am I--Who the fuck are you? You're the one who came to and started punching my brother' Matthew pointed at Mark.

The Unopan stopped and visibly relaxed his stance, 'You're brothers?'

'Yeah' Mark's voice chimed in, startling Matthew.

The Unopan closed its eyes and put a hand on its chin, adapting a pseudo-Thinker pose mid-float. Considering something.

'I'm guessing you also don't know why I'm here or the rules' the Unopan asked Matrhew.

Matthew slowly nodded his head while keeping his guard up, 'There are rules?'

Somehow, the Unopan managed a loud sigh through the mental connection and slowly relaxed his posture. Adapting a more calm one for conversation.

Without a word, the alien turned and walked over a few large moon rocks nearby then promptly arranged them around a circle. He sat on one and looked to the twins, motioning for them to sit down.

'Come on. I don't have all day, I have other planets to evaluate' its voice spoke again.

Mark hesitantly sat first, while Matthew chose to stand where his seat would be instead.

'Geez, you are so uptight for a younger generation of your species. Lighten up' the Unopan said.

'I still don't trust you' Matthew said.

'Hey! You sucker punched me first' it stated, 'But I'm willing to set that aside and start out fresh. We have a lot to talk about'

'Fine' Matthew relented, taking his seat mid float.

'All right, um... I'm an evaluation officer for the Coalition of Planets' the Unopan said.

'What's that?' Mark asked.

'It's a group of planets that formed an alliance for their common good, basically' the Unopan answered.

Matthew was only somewhat surprised. The concept wasn't entirely foreign to him given the many sorts of media he consumed. Especially that one where it was federation of planets instead of a coalition.

'Yeah. Anyway. I drop by little dirtballs like yours to make sure there's someone capable of defending them against, you know, planet-conquering monsters, things of that nature' the Unopan explained.

'I literally have no idea what any of that means' Mark admitted.

Matthew elbowed him, 'Dude, its literally just like UN when they want to assess if a country has the political and economic strength to join in. They send a delegation'

Mark looked to his brother with a raided eyebrow, 'And how do you know that?'

'I read magazines in the toilet to pass the time, sue me' Matthew said dismissively.

'Well, I don't know what to tell you, kids. Your planet signed up for the program' the Unopan held out a handheld computer and showed them 'See? Request from Urath for evaluation'

And it indeed showed, in perfect readable English, the name of Urath and the request for evaluation. However.

"Urath! This is Earth!" Mark annoyedly pointed to the beautiful sphere of oceans and continents behind him.

Matthew face-palmed, already knowing where this whole thing was going and unable to hide the grin from his face.

'Earth?' the Unopan asked slowly.

'Yes!' Mark nodded profusely.

'Not Urath?' the Unopan asked, scratching its bald orange head.

'Nope' Matthew answered, shaking his head in amusement.

'Is that with an E or a U?' the Unopan asked for clarification.

'E!' Mark almost screamed through the mental connection.

'Oh, I'm in so much trouble' he looked down, defeated.

Matthew suddenly felt a pang of pity for the guy/thing, but not enough to want to console him for it.

'Well, thanks for letting me know' the Unopan stood and held up its hands towards them ''I'm Allen, by the way'

Matthew shook first, 'Superboy'

Allen nodded appreciatively, 'Nice name. Kind of weird to call yourself a boy but whatever'

Matthew's impression of the alien grew a little more favourably after that comment.

Mark went next, 'Invincible'

Allen chuckled, 'Oh, yeah? A little optimistic, isn't it?'

'Yeah, I know' Mark said, clearly embarrassed.

'I just fought you, and I think you're quite 'vincible'' Allen joked.

Matthew smirked at the joke and Mark took it in stride, a little annoyed but did not outwardly react otherwise.

'Okay, well, as long as I don't get fired, I'll see you around, Invincible. Sorry about all the... you know' Allen jabbed his arms then flew up away, disappearing into the void of space.

Both boys watched him go before they got talking. Or at least Mark did.

'So, are you gonna tell me why you're here? I could've taken care of it myself' Mark said, looking at his brother with crossed arms.

Matthew acted oblivious and confused, raising an eyebrow in question.

'Oh right' Mark realized something, concluding the telepathy to be no longer available with Allen's exit.

Matthew helped him out though, pulling out his phone and showing him a typed out message.

[Are you trying to tell me something? I can't hear you anymore] Matthew lied.

Mark quickly pulled out his own phone and types out.

[Nothing. Let's talk about it later, on Earth. Let's go]

Mark rose from the surface of the moon and stopped when he noticed Matthew raise his phone forward, the camera flashing a moment later.

Looking satisfied, Matthew rose up and hovered beside Mark to show him another message.

[Wanted to remember this moment so I took a picture]

Then, they were off.

Just after Mark took a quick pic of his own.