Marcus's small Shibuya apartment was silent, bathed in the soft glow of sunlight filtering through the blinds. Lying on his futon, Marcus felt every fiber of his body as if weighed down, burning. The aftereffects of his radiation exposure were tenacious. His superhuman regeneration was working tirelessly, rebuilding what the radiation had ravaged, but the process was painful and exhausting. A dry cough still tore at his throat from time to time.
Suddenly, a visceral instinct, a legacy of his powers, made him stiffen. Danger. Close.
Before he could even get up, the facade of his building exploded in a crash of concrete and glass. Two massive figures burst into the living room, trampling his precious manga pages and computer equipment.
Mammoth, a colossus with misshapen muscles, sneered as he crushed a chair underfoot. Devastation, armed with her terrible power-gauntlets, aimed her weapon directly at Marcus, still lying vulnerable on the futon.
"So this is the little star?" Mammoth growled. "The Queen doesn't think you're at your best."
"Finish up and come on," Devastation barked. "We have a flight to catch."
Marcus tried to rise, but a wave of nausea and pain made him stagger. His powers were there, beneath the surface, but weak, unstable. He was terribly weakened.
"Sorry... but I'll have to decline the invitation," he managed to growl, getting into a shaky fighting stance.
Mammoth charged like a bull. Marcus barely dodged, the giant's fist pulverizing the wall behind him. The shockwave threw him against a bookshelf. He coughed, the taste of blood in his mouth.
Devastation fired an energy net. Too slow, Marcus was captured. The bonds burned his skin, draining his already precarious energy.
"This is the big threat?" Mammoth mocked, lifting him by the net. "You can't even entertain us."
As the giant turned to leave the wrecked apartment, a figure landed gracefully on the shattered windowsill. A woman, powerful and determined, armed with a mace and possessing great wings.
Hawkgirl.
Her eyes blazed with cold fury.
"I heard home deliveries were fast in Japan," she said, her voice sharp. "But I think you forgot one detail."
Without waiting for a reply, she launched herself, her wings giving her a lightning-fast propulsion. Her mace came down on Mammoth's arm holding Marcus.
"Ow! Pest!" roared the colossus, letting go.
Marcus fell heavily to the floor, struggling to free himself from the weakened net.
"You... you shouldn't have come," he gasped, even as immense relief washed over him.
"You're right," Hawkgirl retorted, dodging a power-gauntlet punch from Devastation. "I should have arrived earlier."
The battle raged in the cramped apartment. Hawkgirl, fast and precise, used her agility to circumvent Mammoth's brute force and Devastation's shots. She was a whirlwind of steel and feathers.
Marcus, seeing his friend fighting for him, tapped into his last reserves. Ignoring the pain, he stood up. His eyes glowed weakly with a red light.
"Shayera, get down!" he shouted.
Hawkgirl obeyed instinctively. A thin beam of heat, pale and less focused than usual, shot from Marcus's eyes and struck Mammoth squarely in the chest. The giant screamed in surprise and pain, stumbling backward.
Seizing the opening, Hawkgirl delivered a mace blow behind Devastation's knee, who collapsed with a cry.
The two mercenaries, wounded and surprised by this unexpected resistance, realized the mission was compromised. Mammoth, clutching his burned chest, rushed towards the breach and jumped into the void, followed closely by a limping Devastation.
Silence fell again, broken only by the panting breaths of Marcus and Hawkgirl.
She rushed to him as he sagged again, exhausted.
"Idiot," she murmured, helping him sit up. "You could have called me."
"I... I didn't want you to see me like this," he admitted weakly.
She lifted his chin, her gaze stern but worried. "Like this? Like a man brave enough to face a tsunami and a nuclear reactor, but too proud to ask a friend for help?"
A tired smile touched Marcus's lips. "Damn, you're always right."
"Of course I'm right," she said, helping him to his feet. "Now, we're getting you to a real doctor. And then, you're going to tell me everything. About this 'Queen'."
Marcus nodded, leaning on her. The battle was won, but the war against his past had just begun. And this time, he wasn't alone.