The dream then shifted to Titans Tower after the Titans were fully established.
The Tower's training room stretched wide around, it was bright and reinforced, with polished metal walls, high impact-resistant flooring, and enormous reinforced glass floor to ceiling windows facing the ocean. Sunlight poured through window's turning the room bright and warm despite the hard training equipment built into every corner.
A holographic projector room in a adjacent walls Free weight's lined near one side. Reinforced combat drones hung inactive from ceiling ports. The whole room smelled faintly of hormones, sweat, and ozone.
The tower itself hummed softly beneath Caius's feet.
To him this was like a second home, or at least, it had been. Back then, Titans Tower felt alive and full of potential.
You could hear voices echoing from different floors. Beast Boy was laughing too loudly in the kitchen as he was making his tofu breakfast that no one wanted. While Cyborg and Static were arguing about the security system because Cyborg had upgraded it and somehow made it more annoying.
Raven's was in the meditation room as per usual, her hood covering her face, but she never came off as distant or mean. Starfire was humming songs from Tamaran that sounded beautiful even no one understood the words. Dick was instructing other's while making joke like he was everyone's older brother.
Wally was raiding the multiple fridges in the tower. Donna, Jackson , and Garth were sparring outside and shaking half the training deck. Speedy was showing Artemis and a new recruit Mia Dearden around the tower.
It was all so chaotic and loud. But it was also one of the most safest place in the world. For teens and young meta's who needed guidance. Or at least, that was what Caius had believed.
In the training room, Starfire and Superboy faced him from opposite sides.
Superboy stood with his arms folded, wearing a black shirt with the red Superman symbol across the chest. His dark hair was messy, his sunglasses sitting low on his nose even indoors. He had that cocky look he always wore when he was pretending he wasn't taking something seriously.
Starfire floated a few inches above the floor, her long red hair flowing around her like fire caught in a soft current. Her green eyes glowed faintly, they were bright and warm. She wore her purple Tamaranean combat outfit, that fit tightly on her body and new nothing about modesty. She smiled at Caius with open excitement.
Ciaus stood between the two of them wearing a dark training suit, sweat already running down his neck. As his hands were raised, his breathing was heavy but controlled. His body ached from the last several rounds.
Conner tilted his head. " You ready?"
"No," I said.
Starfire smiled wider. "Then we shall begin again."
I chuckled. "That's not how consent works."
Conner smirked. "It's a fight, your enemy isn't gonna wait for you to be ready or your consent."
Then they moved and Starfire came first.
She shot forward in a blur. I barely had time to shift my stance before she was on me. Her first strike came in low, fast, and hard. I managed to block with my forearm, even with my tactile telekinesis absorbing and block the impact, I still felt the force drive through his bones.
She hit alot harder than I expected. That had been one of the first things I learned about her.
Starfire looked kind and was warm. She laughed openly and hugged like she meant it. But in combat, she was a powerhouse from a warrior culture that did not treat violence like a game.
I twisted away from her next punch, pushing off the floor, but Conner was already moving. A chunk of reinforced training debris came flying at him.
I slapped a hand against it, pushing telekinetic force through contact and redirecting it into the floor. The slab slammed to the mat and skidded away.
Conner blurred in behind it. "Not bad," he said, throwing a punch toward my shoulder. "Your ground fighting is getting cleaner."
I slipped it, pivoted, and went for a counter. Conner caught the punch in one hand. "But you still think like the floor is always going to be there."
Caius yanked his hand free. "That's rich coming from the guy who's barely a year old, and thinks he's a better fighter."
Conner's grin sharpened. "And yet I'm still right. Not to mention I training in thousands of fight simulations since I was born."
Then green light flashed, but I looked up too late.
Starfire's starbolt slammed into the floor beside him and exploded in a burst of heat and pressure. The blast didn't hit clean, but it scorched the edge of my training shirt and forced me to move sideways. I slid across the mat, my boots scraping hard before my tactile field caught my balance.
"Star!" I shouted.
She floated above me, her hands glowing, as her expression was apologetic but still cheerful. "Forgive me, honored Caius! I adjusted the intensity to be lower than last time. So I do not, reck your shit as your human's say it."
"Yeah, last time you nearly burned my clothes off! Still feel like your bolts can burn a hole through me."
Conner laughed. "Keep complaining man. It's so helping."
Then both of them attacked me together. Conner pressed from the front while Starfire maneuvered from above and behind.
I ducked under one strike, and blocked another, I used the floor to redirect force through my stance, and pushed myself into the air. And for three seconds I held the advantage, I was moving between them with bursts of telekinetic flight, throwing quick strikes and using contact with their bodies to shift my own momentum.
But That's when Starfire vanished from my line of sight. My eyes widened as a hand caught the back of my neck.
"I am sorry about this, honored Caius," Starfire said brightly.
"Oh, come on Star...."
Starfire slammed me into the floor hard. So hard the impact shook the whole training room. Making even the reinforced glass panels trembled. The floor absorbed most of the force, but not enough to stop the shock from rattling through My ribs and spine. My tactile field flared instinctively, becoming visible as a translucent golden aura appeared around me, as it cushioned what it could.
I laid there stunned, my breath knocked halfway out of me. Starfire then landed on top of me, straddling my torso with a victorious smile, her red hair spilling forward around her face and brushing near his cheek.
"You did very well," she said. "You lasted a whole minute longer than last time."
I blinked up at her, trying to ignore the fact that my heart had started beating faster for several reasons at once.
"Yeah," he managed. "Well, you were holding back, and still kicked my ass."
Starfire tilted her head. "I was not kicking your ass Honored Caius, I was helping you learn how to fight multiple opponents."
"That was a metaphor Star." I smiled.
She smiled, leaning closer. " I know not what you humans call a metaphor, but I know you Caius have great potential, and your stronger then you know. But you hide it beneath hesitation and fear."
I swallowed hard. Her face was even closer now. Too close. Her green eyes looked soft, curious, and completely unbothered by personal space. Her long hair fell around my face like a curtain.
"You hit like my dad sometimes," I said, my voice a little weaker than I wanted. "And you're fast too almost to fast."
Starfire's smile shifted into something playful. "Would you like to know my secret, honored Caius?" she asked. "If it is you," she said, leaning closer, "I might not mind sharing. "
I froze, my brain had stopped working. For one terrifying second, I thought she was about to kiss me. I be lying if I said I didn't want it at all
Conner sighed loudly from nearby. "Get a room, you two. Preferably not this one. This place is already dirty as."
Starfire looked over her shoulder, unashamed as she looked back at me with a wanting look in her eyes. I silently thanked Conner and hated him at the same time.
Then Conner's expression changed as his head turned toward the giant window. The sunlight glinted off his sunglasses as he focused his eyes.
"Hey lovebirds quick question," Conner said slowly. "Is that Mark?"
I looked toward the glass, and for half a second, I saw a figure in the sky. It was hard to see because of the sun, but I recognized a blue and yellow suit and black hair. It was Mark based off of that, but he was floating in the air with his arms crossed.
For some reason my stomach dropped.
"Mark?"
The word barely left his my before Invincible burst through the reinforced window. As glass exploded inward in a storm of glittering shards.
The sound was deafening as Mark hit Conner first.
One punch was all it took. Conner flew backward through the training room wall, smashing through reinforced plating and disappearing into the next room in a cloud of dust and debris.
Starfire moved instantly, green energy flaring around her hands, but Mark was faster in that moment. He slammed into her before she could fire, driving her across the training room and down into the floor hard enough to crater hard enough to break the floor itself. I rolled to my feet, confused, my heart racing, and my ears ringing from the alarms that began screaming through the tower.
Red emergency lights flashed as debris filled the air. The training room shook like a earthquake. For one second, I couldn't understand what was happening.
Then Mark came through the dust fast and hit me.
The punch connected with my chest and sent me flying through the broken training room doors, down the corridor, and across the large open interior space down towards the front entrance level. My body slammed through a railing, bounced off a reinforced wall, and crashed hard onto the lower floor.
Pain ran through my body. I laid there dazed, staring up through blurry vision. Above me, through the broken levels of the tower, Mark moved like a missile.
He flew through walls, rooms, and through people, as blood smeared across his suit. My eyes widened from the realization.
No.
No, no, no.
Why?
Why are you doing this, Mark?
This wasn't supposed to happen like this. Not to this Mark.
Not the Mark he had grown up with. Not the boy who had laughed at birthday parties and shared ice pops with. Not the same kid who complained about homework. You were supposed to be a hero Mark, not this.
That's when I saw him. Speedy.
Roy barely had time to raise his bow, when Mark grabbed him. I screamed trying to standing, " No, Stop!"
But it was too late. Mark ripped Roy's arm off and snapped his neck, killing him with brutal efficiency and tossed the body aside like he was nothing.
Something inside me snapped. I launched myself upward with everything I had, my tactile field flaring around my body as I crossed the distance in a blur.
My fist flew toward Mark's face, but Mark didn't even look as he caught me punch. "Oh," Mark said, dodging another punch without effort. "You're up already?"
I swung again, but Mark leaned away. " You know I was saving you for last, but I guess you're not as weak as I thought."
My blood began to boil. "What the hell are you doing?" I shouted. "These are our friends!"
Mark raised an eyebrow. "Friends?"
He looked almost offended by the word. "Who said I'd ever friends with these insects and freaks?"
I stared at him lost for words, as Mark's expression twisted with cold disgust.
"They may be good enough for you," Mark said, "but I'm better than that."
I clenched my fist and attacked. I threw punch after punch.
I threw everything I had into those strikes, wrapping tactile force around my fists and pushing harder with each movement. Mark just blocked, parried, and slipped away with infuriating ease. His face held that same smirk from our training sessions, only now it was cruel.
"Your attacks are pathetic."
I then threw a hook, but Mark caught it.
"Your so weak it's infuriating."
I then tried to knee him, but Mark shifted out of the way and slammed his fist into my stomach faster than I could defend. The impact was so hard it emptied my lungs.
I folded forward to the ground, my vision flashing white.
"How the hell are you even a Type Two?" Mark asked, almost conversationally. "I think my dad was right. You might just be a Type Three with a metagene. Just slightly more useful than the others."
I gasped for breath. Then I noticed shapes moved through smoke and broken concrete. Conner came first, shirt torn no sunglasses, his face bloody, and eyes blazing red. Donna followed, silver blue lasso in hand.
Robin moved along the broken side corridor with escrima sticks ready. Aqualad's, both Garth and Jackson, came from the lower level, water weapons forming around them as broken pipes spilled across the floor.
Beast Boy landed nearby in the form of a massive green gorilla before shifting back halfway, his face twisted with fear and anger.
"What is invincible doing?" Gar asked.
"I don't know, but right now we need to stop him, Titans are dead and the coms to the Justice League are down." Robin said.
"Titans Together!"
They hit Mark together.
Donna's lasso wrapped around him first, silver blue light snapping tight. As Conner drove a punch into Mark's jaw. While Jackson and Garth struck from opposite sides, hammering into his ribs and back. Donna pulled with all her strength, trying to keep him restrained.
For a moment, they moved him, but barely.
Mark just smiled. "Not bad," he said. "I knew Atlanteans had potential."
Garth gritted his teeth. "Shut him up!"
Conner hit him again, and Mark's head turned slightly from the blow, but his smile stayed. " The Clone is just slightly better, but guess this was all you guy's had."
Raven appeared beside me in a flicker of shadow. Her hood was up, her face pale, her eyes glowing faintly as magic spread from her hands over my ribs and stomach. The pain eased enough for me to breathe.
"How are the others?" I gasped.
"Starfire is rescuing those trapped under rubble with Cyborg," Raven said quickly. Her voice remained calm, but I could hear the strain beneath it. "Several are injured, and alot are... dead ."
I forced myself upright, my breathing hard. "You, Robin, and Beast Boy need to go help her."
Raven's eyes sharpened. "You are injured and we need to stop him."
"I know Rachel." I looked at Mark, who was already starting to slowly overpower the others. "You guys can't help against him. Not like this. We need Starfire and the other heavy hitters. We can't hold back against Mark. He's too strong and durable, we We have to aim to kill or else we won't come close to hurting."
Raven looked toward the fight.
Donna's boots were carving lines into the floor as Mark dragged her forward despite the lasso. Conner's fists struck again and again, but Mark barely reacted. Jackson and Garth kept moving, but every exchange looked more dangerous for them than for him.
Raven's mouth tightened. "I think you're right," she said. "But the others may have a hard time accepting that."
"I'll worry about them," I said. "Get the non-heavy hitters out of here."
Raven nodded once. "I will tell Robin."
Then she sank into my shadow and vanished. Across the ruined room, I could tell Mark's patience had ended.
"Well," he said, rolling his shoulders against the lasso, "that's enough playing around."
As his eyes moved over the team.
"Dad said to keep the strong ones alive." His gaze landed on Beast Boy. "But you?"
Gar tensed as Mark's mouth curled. "You're a freak and I don't need you."
Jackson lunged forward with his water weapons. Mark headbutted him first, smashing his nose and kicked him. Sending Jackson reeling backward into Garth. Both Aqualads flew across the floor and hit broken debris hard.
Donna pulled the lasso tighter, but Mark grabbed it with both hands, and then he yanked. Donna flew forward, but he spun, using her own momentum to swing her across the room and slam her into Conner. Before either could recover, Mark shot upward and dropped knees-first into both of them.
The loud sound that followed made my stomach twist. As Donna cried out, and Conner's breath exploded from his lungs.
The lasso went slack and Mark stood slowly. "Now," he said, looking toward Gar. " Your turn greeny, and just so were clear I never thought you were funny."
Beast Boy's face shifted between fear and defiance. Then he transformed. Bones stretched. Muscles expanded. His body ballooned upward into the massive form of a green Tyrannosaurus rex. He roared, the sound shaking dust from the broken ceiling.
"How's this for a freak?" Gar thundered.
For one second, he looked huge, powerful, and untouchable. But then Mark moved and became a nearly unseeable blur. As he went through Gar's head and out the other side.
The giant dinosaur form collapsed, as blood and green flesh hit the ruined floor. The tower went silent for one impossible second.
I screamed. "No! Gar!"
I launched myself at Mark. This time, my fist connected. The punch cracked across Mark's face and drew blood.
Mark's head snapped sideways. But I kept going. I hit him again, and again.
The impacts felt like I was punching a wall made of living steel, but I didn't care. I focused my TTK force tighter around my fists and drove every ounce of rage through my strikes. Mark blocked one, but I kicked him into a pile of debris and sent him skidding back.
I turned toward Robin. Dick stood frozen for half a second, eyes wide behind his mask, face pale beneath blood and dust.
" Robin. Get to the others!" I shouted. " Keep trying to call the League!"
Robin looked at him. "Caius...."
"Go, Dick!" Caius roared. "I'll hold him as long as I can!"
Mark launched from the debris. I turned just in time to meet him head on.
The two collided in midair and crashed through a broken support wall, fists moving in brutal bursts. I focused on defense, letting my tactile field spread the hits as much as possible. Mark hammered away at me, each strike feeling like a car crash compressed into a fist.
I caught both of Mark's hands, our fingers interlocked. We strained against each other, our boots scraping against broken floor, the surrounding air pressing outward from the force.
Mark smiled through blood on his lip. "Those last hits weren't bad," he said. "I actually felt them. But don't think that means you can win."
I bared my teeth. "You killed my friends Mark," Caius said.
Mark's smile vanished. " Oh. Don't think the League will help either," he said. "My father is dealing with them as we speak. Then he'll deal with your father," Mark continued. "Who seems to have forgotten his mission"
Caius's blood ran cold, but he pushed harder, while Mark pushed back.
"You know I was instructed to let you live," Mark said. "But if I have to break you first, I will."
Mark headbutted me and pain burst across Caius's face. Then Mark uppercuted me. I flew upward from the hit, but twisted midair and drove his knee into Mark's chin to reduce the momentum. Mark staggered just enough.
I slammed both hands down on the back of Mark's head, and he dropped to one knee.
For half a second, I thought he had an opening. As I went in for another strike, Mark punched upward, and the air cracked.
The blow sent me flying toward the higher levels of the ruined tower. All the way to the roof of the outer tower. Before I could recover, Mark appeared behind me and seized the back of my neck in a crushing grip.
I froze, my teeth gritted, hands clawing at Mark's wrist. As Mark's voice came close to his ear, clearly irritated now.
"You really believe you're fighting for these pathetic people? For this pathetic planet?"
I forced the words out. "Of course I am. This is our home. Not Viltrum. How can you turn your back on it?"
Mark was silent for a second, then he said, "Because I'm better than them."
His grip tightened. "And so are you even if it's just be a little."
My eyes burned. "What about your mother?" I asked. "Is she pathetic like them too?"
Mark went quiet. That silence felt different. For one second, I thought maybe the words had reached him.
Then Mark spoke. "She knew who her betters were," he said. "And she helped give birth to one of the saviors of the Viltrum Empire. The universe will be better for it."
I laughed once out of pure shock. A harsh, breathless sound. "How bad did your dad have to beat you to turn you into a patriot for intergalactic space Nazi-Spartans?"
Mark's grip tightened so hard Caius felt pressure spike through his neck. "My dad didn't lay a hand on me, he didn't have to."
Mark's voice went cold. "Seam's you know the truth about the Empire."
I said nothing.
"But since you're stuck in your ways," Mark continued, "and we're forbidden from killing Viltrumites without the council judgment, I'll settle for educating you on how different we are from them."
Then he flew dragging me toward the broken tower. I had an eerie feeling I knew what was about to happen. I had a split second to brace before Mark drove me face-first through Titans Tower.
Everything became violence and a blur. I went through steel, concrete, glass. And bodies. so many bodies and so much blood.
I couldn't see clearly. I only felt impact after impact as Mark used me like a living battering ram through walls, floors, and people trapped in the wrong place. My tactile field flared and failed and flared again, overwhelmed by the speed and force. Of my body smashing through multiple reinforced levels, all the way down into the lower sublevels.
When they finally crashed into the sub-basement, Mark let go of Caius as he hit the floor and rolled through dust and broken metal. He lay there bloody and bruised, ears ringing. His hands shook as he looked down and saw them and his whole body covered in blood and guts.
Not all of it his. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
Mark landed nearby and whistled. "Wow," he said. "Look at that. You're still in one piece."
I looked back toward the path of destruction above us.
"Can't say the same for whoever you went through."
I shook my head weakly. " No. No. Please stop," he mumbled.
Mark walked closer.
"Please…"
His voice cracked.
"Please…"
Mark's fist slammed into my gut. I was sent launching upward through the sublevel ceiling, smashing through another set of floors, until I crashed back onto the ground level. I bounced across broken tile and rolled toward the shattered entrance.
Mark floated down after me. "Now be a good boy and stay there," Mark said. "Wait for me to finish with these brats."
Caius coughed, trying to breathe, while Mark looked toward the ruined tower, scanning.
"I need to find Starfire. She was important for some reason but Dad wouldn't say why." His mouth curved. "Can't believe a bombshell like that matters to Viltrum or maybe I can."
I tried to push myself up. Mark dropped beside me and grabbed my head, forcing me to look toward the sky through the large opening in the tower.
"Look see right there?" Caius's eyes followed and he saw it.
Far above, cutting through the atmosphere like a falling star, the Justice League Watchtower burning and falling apart. The satellite was coming down as pieces of it tore through the sky, wrapped in fire and smoke.
Farther off, the air itself seemed to crack and ripple as two figures fought at impossible speed.
Superman and Omni-Man.
They collided again and again, each blow sending shockwaves through clouds. Superman looked like he had more raw power, his strikes pushing Nolan back when they landed clean. But Omni-Man moved better and was more ruthless, and better trained with plenty of experience. He fought like a demon.
Mark chuckled. "Looks like your dad and mom were taken care of," he said. "They aren't out there fighting."
I went still, as the words struck deeper than any punch.
Mark leaned closer. "But don't worry. When I'm ruling this world, maybe you can see her again if she isn't dead yet."
Caius's breathing changed. But Mark kept talking.
"I definitely want to go to Themyscira too. See if Amazon women are really that good. That pussy must be, if your dad went native on the Empire. Don't worry you can have the ones I don't want if your empire let's you and your dad life. Who knows I might just have some fun with your mom. "
That's when something snapped in me, and what happened next I don't remember at all.
Caius didn't remember deciding to move. His body moved for him, as his hand tore Mark's grip away, And his elbow slammed into Mark's face.
Mark staggered back as blood ran from his nose, and for the first time since the attack began, surprise crossed his face.
Caius rose slowly, as his breathing came out in low growls.
A golden translucent aura began to radiate from his body, faint at first, then brighter. His tactile telekinetic field was expanded, rippling over his skin like heat. Then blood red wisps bled into the gold, curling around his entire body, shoulders, arms, and fists.
His amber eyes shifted, becoming blood red.
Mark stared. "What the hell is this?"
Caius moved fast. Faster than he had ever moved before, and faster then Mark could react to. His fist slammed into Mark's face.
Followed by another and another.
Mark barely got his guard up before Caius broke through it. Punches rained down with savage force, each one reinforced by tactile telekinesis and something deeper, something ancient and primal.
Mark countered with a punch, and Caius met it fist to fist. The collision cracked the air. Both fists split open, but only Mark's bones broke.
Mark's eyes widened as he grunted in pain. Caius followed that by headbutting him to the ground. Then Again. Again. And again.
Blood burst across Mark's face as his teeth flew. His nose flattened under another strike. His lips split and his eyes swelled. Caius roared and kept hitting him, the red-gold aura blazing around him like a storm.
Everyone nearby saw it.
Robin. Raven. Starfire carrying an injured Titans out of the wreckage. Cyborg half-buried but alive. Donna and Conner struggling to rise others.
They all saw Caius beat Mark into the ground. Caius kicked Mark's face down over and over again. The floor cracked beneath them as a crater formed under Mark's head and shoulders. Caius raised his foot again and slammed it with such great force the whole tower shook.
Then he heard someone whisper his name, the sounded scared.
"Caius…"
I froze, as my senses began returning in pieces. The smell of smoke. The sound of alarms, and the taste of blood. The strain and ache throughout my body.
Then I felt it, as my TTK expanded like never before in silence around me. I could feel their fear. I looked up. Everyone around me looked terrified.
Not of Mark but me. I looked down at Mark's broken, bloody body beneath me. Mark was barely breathing.
I looked at my own hands, coated in blood. "What…" my voice shook. "What the hell have I done?"
Then the sky filled with engines as the League Javelins jet's descended in formation around the ruined tower.
Floodlights cut through smoke.
Caius turned as one of the Javelins opened, and Batman dropped down in a heavy mech suit, landing between him and the others with a thunderous impact.
The armor was black and gray with the bat symbol, plated and reinforced, with glowing white lenses and weapons systems unfolding across the shoulders.
Batman's voice came through the suit, hard and immediate. "Canary. Manhunter. Now."
I barely understood what was happening. Then Martian Manhunter suddenly appeared before me. J'onn's eyes glowed.
As I felt my mind feel like a a spear struck through my skull. He was hitting me with a powerful psychic attack.
I dropped to my knee's and screamed in horrible pain. Then Black Canary landed nearby and unleashed her sonic cry. The high-pitched sonic scream sound tore through my inner ears and nervous system like every part of me was being shredded.
Pain swallowed me from both sides, psychic and physical, as skull felt like it was splitting in two. My ears rang with blood-hot agony, as my body locked up, I couldn't focus my TTK to block out the sound, causing my TTK aura to flicker wildly before collapsing inward.
I tried to speak.
I wanted to explain, and say Mark attacked first, that I was on their side, but the pain overtook me until everything went black, and the dream broke.
Caius shot upright in bed.
His entire body was covered in cold sweat, as his shirt clung to his chest and back, soaked through. The sheets beneath him were damp, twisted around his legs. His breathing came hard and fast, each inhale dragging through his throat.
For a second, he didn't know where he was. Then he remembered he was in his room
at his house in Gotham county.
I sighed as I looked towards the window. The morning sun hadn't not come yet. The room was dark except for a faint line of moonlight through the blinds.
I pressed a hand to his face, fingers trembling. My heart was hammering in his chest. I had to tell myself it wasn't a dream anymore. The taste of blood wasn't real, neither was the smoke or the screams.
It was a memory and that's all
I sat there for a long time, breathing hard, sweat cooling against my skin. Then I lowered my hand and whispered into the dark.
"Every damn night."
My voice sounded small in the quiet room. I was tired and angry. I felt so broken in places he kept pretending had healed.
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, and stared at the floor until the shapes in the darkness stopped looking like bodies.
The images faded slowly. But like every other night, they didn't leave completely.
They never did.