[Mark Grayson/Invincible POV]
Mark had expected pain.
Actually... He expected a lot of pain.
Lifting weights, maybe buildings or even pushing asteroids.
Facing space monsters or giant robots.
Endless sparring and beatings, maybe even getting punched through mountains and deep earth but no!
Instead...
He was standing barefoot inside what looked suspiciously like a dojo "...for real?"
An android wearing a plain white gi bowed politely, if Mark didn't know and the android didn't have some electric pulsing lights running through some of his parts he would have thought it was a human instead "Good morning, Mister Grayson."
Mark blinked still in a state of bafflement and weirdness. "...Morning?"
The android...
"You can call me teacher"
"...Teacher?"
"Correct" ...nodded with a suspiciously satisfied human smile "Today's lesson is balance."
"...Balance?"
Mark is still in a state of confusion and utter bafflement that he's just reacting at this point. He looked around again and there were no weights, no weapons, no danger.
Just polished wooden floors and his curling toes on it.
The android gestured, he still found it hard and funny to call it teacher.
"Please assume a fighting stance."
Mark shrugged and raised his fists while the android looked at him for several seconds, then...
It simply pushed his shoulder.
Nothing more.
Mark stumbled three steps backward before catching himself. His face utter shock and confusion.
How did it do this? He heard the sound of metal and joints clicking but he was the one pushed back? There was no pain or anything but he clearly felt some wind pressure? some concentrated blast out of the android's palm and he staggered backward!
"...Seriously?" It wasn't even strong like the wind that hits his face while flying!
Another push and this time Mark almost fell.
"What the..?" The android gestured him to straighten up and did it again.
Then another and another and another.
The android wasn't even trying to hurt him just... pushing him softly with a gust of wind making him lose balance and fall.
Three hours later...
Mark lay on the floor staring at the ceiling.
"...How...
...am I...
...this tired..?" He hadn't even thrown a single punch!
The teacher android stood over him.
"You rely on strength to compensate for poor posture."
"...Ouch."
"Emotionally or physically?"
"...Both." the android actually laughed!
The following lessons weren't anything normal like he thought they would be.
A gravity chamber, he smiled thinking this is his forte. Finally something familiar before gravity increased.
Two times.
Five times.
Ten.
Twenty.
He gritted his teeth at the fifty but he could still handle this.
Then the teacher android spoke "Recite emergency evacuation procedures."
"Sure... wait what?" He almost stumbled down after realizing what he heard.
"Continue." Gravity doubled again.
"Why..."
"Heroes must communicate while under pressure."
Another increase and Mark could barely breathe now.
The android remained perfectly calm and unaffected.
"Civilian on your left and fire behind you and a bridge collapse in thirty seconds. Prioritize."
Mark's brain froze, his muscles weren't the problem. Thinking was.
By lunch he had discovered something horrifying, Zane's training wasn't designed to exhaust his body or making him stronger.
It was designed to exhaust his brain.
Looking up across the cafeteria Oliver looked...
Happy. Very happy in fact.
Mark just slammed his face down and groaned, because the table didn't creak but his face got hurt.
[Oliver's POV]
"This is awesome!"
Oliver was practically vibrating with excitement, his classroom looked nothing like school as he thought at first
There were holograms everywhere.
Alien monsters, planetary maps and tiny drones flying around.
The teaching android smiled "Today's lesson..." A small spacecraft appeared "... you have crashed."
Oliver looked around confused "...Okay?"
"Your communication system has failed."
"...Uh-huh."
"The atmosphere contains toxic methane."
"...That's bad."
"You have one hour before sunset."
"...Worse."
"Build a shelter."
"...Out of what?"
The hologram zoomed in at some rocks, plants, metal debris.
Oliver's eyes lit up "Oh!"
The next three hours disappeared in a flash of things getting broken and metal getting bent or things falling down all the while the teaching android was giving instructions and showing him holographic books and videos on how-to.
"Correct." 'Teacher' nodded with a smile "You survived."
Oliver grinned proudly "Can I do another one?"
"Certainly."
"YES!"
Another simulation, different planet, different problems, different solutions.
He wasn't just memorizing facts he was solving puzzles and every lesson felt like a game.
When lunch finally arrived Oliver actually frowned "...Already?"
Mark stared at him tiredly "...You actually LIKE class?"
He nodded enthusiastically "It's fun!"
"...You're weird." Mark groaned and buried his face between his hands.
[Eve's POV]
Eve honestly thought Zane had finally gone crazy.
She looked at the enormous pile in front of her "Are these... Legos?"
Thousands, maybe even millions of tiny colorful plastic bricks.
She looked toward the teaching android "...Seriously?"
The android nodded "Correct."
"..."
"..."
"...You're serious."
Another nod "Build a bridge."
"...With Legos."
"Correct."
She sighed dramatically "This is officially the weirdest thing I've ever done."
Twenty minutes later, the bridge collapsed.
Again and again then again.
She frowned "...Why?" Is she really bad at a simple game?
The android enlarged the model while giving some advice and showing construction simulations. "Weight distribution."
Another attempt aaaand... collapse.
"Support structure."
Another.
"Material fatigue."
"They're plastic!" She shouted in bafflement.
"Simulation."
"...Right."
Three hours later, the bridge finally stayed standing.
She smiled in relief and bit of pride.
The teaching android wasn't finished tho " now ncrease capacity."
"...Excuse me?"
"Support three times the previous load."
"...You're evil."
"Correction..." it paused dramatically with an impossibly humane smile "... educational."
Later that afternoon the Legos disappeared.
A rabbit appeared instead and she blinked "...Please tell me that's not for dissection."
The android actually managed to look offended and rebuted her "Absolutely not."
The rabbit hopped onto the table and a holographic image appeared beside it.
Muscles, bones, organs, blood vessels. Every layer could be viewed individually.
"Observe..." The rabbit calmly ate a carrot.
"... understanding life is the first step toward manipulating it responsibly."
She slowly sat down and observed while the teacher kept showing her different animals and organisms"...Okay, that's actually really cool."
.
.
.
By evening everyone met again in the cafeteria and nobody looked particularly exhausted.
At least... not physically.
Mark dropped into his chair with a sigh "I've never been beaten up without getting punched before."
Oliver laughed "I built three alien houses!"
Eve poked at her food "I lost an argument to Legos."
Both boys actually got quiet and looked at her weirdly "...What?"
She buried her face in her hands "...Don't ask."
From the balcony above, Zane watched the three of them with Holly standing beside him.
"They look miserable." She was smiling despite the sympathy.
Zane just shrugged "They're learning."
Holly smiled "And that's the important part" while he jus nodded "They're finally training the one thing superheroes neglect the most.
"Their brains."
The 'training arc' as Zane liked to call it continued like that for a while.
While Eve was taking her time since she needed it for her powers to stabilize and go back to normal and Oliver was growing at a visible and astonishing degree, Mark had it the most intense.
He wouldn't stay here all the time and ignore his world even though he was told many time that there were others to do the job and he was training to get better.
But Mark was stubborn and Zane couldn't be bothered to save those who didn't want to be saved. It is not that dramatic but it always annoyed Zane how heroes just never utilized their time or arranged their priorities responsibly.
So Mark's schedule got compressed and expanded at the same time. In addition to bodily control, mental stimulus and decision-making training he was also getting therapy and psychological evaluation.
No matter how annoyed or resistant he was to it he was forced to do it, infact he was not the only one but everyone else had to do that too even Holly.
Although dealing with her was easier since she's way experienced and 'jaded' so to say and she prefered 'bed-therapy'. Atleast she's expressing her emotions loudly?
Now Zane on the other hand didn't have a sudden change of hearts or was trying to be helpful... well he was but it wasn't entirely a selfless decision.
Beside Holly who he had a relationship with and Eve who is attracted to him and he liked her a bit, the reason he was helping Mark and his brother Oliver wasn't entirely out of the goodness of his heart.
He was preparing them, making them ready and more useful to do some things for him say for example getting rid of couple evil Marks from alternate dimensions?
He didn't forget those worlds the Angstrom Levys came from and was actually keeping watch and taking info.
He simply didn't have the time nor the motivation to do anything about it before and now that he has two or more capable hands to do it for him why not take the chance right?
So the next phase of the training arc was field experience and Zane chose a couple of worlds that he knew were beyond fixing with all the destruction and death they went through.
He will let the boys do the work while he stepped in later and 'fixed' the problem from it roots. He didn't really value these worlds nor he had a need for their resources but he may as well since they were there and up for the taking.